October 26. The Teutons then increased their bombardment to deafening
intensity and supplemented this with huge volumes of poison gas and
tear-shells. The humid air and light winds permitted great waves of the
deadly gases to creep low toward the Italian lines, the rear guards
protecting themselves with gas masks and by hiding in caverns.
Amid the onslaught of overwhelming masses of the enemy, the Italians
fell back slowly. The retreat, as in other instances of the war, was
the most terrible for the civilian inhabitants. There was an enormous
movement Westward. All the roads were packed with dense traffic, with
four or five lines abreast of teams, automobiles, motor trucks, pack
mules, artillery wagons, and ox carts. The soldiers marched or rode,
singly, in groups, in regiments, in brigades, or in divisions.
"It was such a time as the world has seldom witnessed," said a Red Cross
spectator. "Even fields and by-roads were utilized for the colossal
migration. The only wonder was that the great army was able to withdraw
at all and establish itself along the new line of defense.
"Many heartrending scenes were witnessed along the route, as the
torrential rain and the vast zone of mud increased the misery of the
moving multitude. Food was scarce and many went without it for days,
while sleep was impossible as the throng trudged westward. The military
hospitals were evacuated, with all other establishments, and pale and
wounded patients obliged to join in the rearguard march or fall into the
hands of the enemy. The roads were strewn with dead horses.
"Families with eight or ten children, the youngest clinging tightly to
the grandfather, trudged amid ranks of soldiers of many descriptions."
The safe retirement of the Tagliamento was due to the unexampled heroism
of large bodies of Italians, of such spirit as the Alpine troops on
Monte Nero, who refused to surrender, and the regiments of Bersaglieri
at Monte Maggiore, the members of which perished to the last man rather
than yield ground. It was by such resistance in the face of overwhelming
forces of the enemy that the civil population was able to retire. And it
was owing to the valor of Italian aviators, combating the Austro-German
army of the air, that the fleeing women, children and old men, who
crowded the roads, were not struck down by bursting bombs.
By November 1 General Cadorna's forces had effected their retirement
behind the Tagliamento River line, but at the cost of tremendous losses,
aggregating 180,000 prisoners and 1,500 guns. It was soon seen, however,
that the Tagliamento line could not be successfully held against the
enemy and a further retirement was carried out, Southward through the
mountainous country to a shorter line along the Piave River East of
Venice and Northwesterly to the Trentino boundary. This gave French and
British reinforcements the opportunity to arrive in sufficient numbers
to aid in checking the invaders.
As one result of the Italian reverses, General Cadorna was relieved of
the chief command, though he was credited with a masterly retreat. He
was succeeded by General Diaz.
The Austro-German offensive continued steadily for three weeks and on
November 21 was being pressed on three main fronts: First, along the
Piave River; second, from the Piave to the Brenta; third, from the
Brenta across the Asiago Plateau. The Italian troops were holding firm
and inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. The spirit of the Italian
people was calm and public opinion strongly supported the most stubborn
resistance to the invader. Although all the fruits of Italy's two years
of strife had been swept away in a single month and a dread enemy was
reaching ever forward, seeking her most treasured possessions of art and
industry, the internal dissensions which Germany probably hoped to start
had not appeared. The population of Venice, however, had been reduced
from 160,000 to 20,000.
ANARCHY RAMPANT IN RUSSIA
The Imperial government of Russia, headed by Premier Kerensky, was
ousted on November 7, when a period of practical anarchy set in. On the
evening of that day a congress of workmen's and soldiers' delegates
assembled in Petrograd, with 560 delegates in attendance. Without
preliminary discussion the congress elected officers pledged to make
"a democratic peace." They included fourteen so-called Maximalists
or members of the Bolsheviki (majority), the radical Socialist party
suspected of pro-German tendencies, headed by Nikolai Lenine and Leon
Trotzky; also seven revolutionary Socialists. These leaders at once
sent an ultimatum to the Kerensky government, demanding their surrender
within 20 minutes. The government replied indirectly, refusing to
recognize the Bolsheviki committee. Rioting then broke out and the
Winter Palace, headquarters of the provisional government, was besieged
by troops favorable to the rebels. The cruiser Aurora, firing from
the Neva River, and the guns of the St. Peter and St. Paul fortress
bombarded the palace and early next morning compelled the surrender of
the government forces defending it. Women of the "Battalion of Death,"
armed with machine guns and rifles, were among the defenders, who held
out for four hours. Soon the Bolsheviki were in complete control of
the city, Kerensky was in flight, several members of his cabinet were
arrested by the rebels, and the provisional government was no more.
Several weeks of political and industrial chaos in Russia followed
the Lenine coup d' etat, which was a triumph, probably temporary,
of extremists. A number of the commissioners appointed by the
Lenine-Trotzky faction to carry on the government, gave up their posts
within a few days, characterizing the Bolsheviki regime as "impossible"
and as inevitably involving "the destruction of the revolution and the
country."
On November 23, Leon Trotzky, styling himself "National Commissioner for
foreign affairs," addressed to the embassies of the Allies in Petrograd
a note proposing "an immediate armistice on all fronts and the immediate
opening of peace negotiations." An official announcement was also made
that the Bolsheviki government had decided to undertake without delay
the reduction of the Russian armies, beginning with the release from
their military duties of all citizen soldiers conscripted in 1899.
SECOND "LIBERTY LOAN" OVERSUBSCRIBED
The second "Liberty Loan" of the United States war bond issues was
largely oversubscribed by the patriotic citizens of the country. When
the books closed on October 27 it was announced that the subscriptions
received from approximately 9,000,000 persons amounted to over
$5,000,000,000, the amount of the bond issue being $3,000,000,000.
BRITISH SMASH HINDENBURG LINE
By a series of attacks on the morning of November 21 that took the
German enemy completely by surprise, the British Third army, under
command of Lieut.-Gen. Sir Julian Byng, broke through the Hindenburg
line on a front of 32 miles between St Quentin and the Scarpe. The
following day, when they consolidated the new positions gained, 10,
German prisoners were sent to the rear, with a large number of guns and
quantities of material abandoned by the astonished enemy, while at one
point the victorious troops were 6-1/2 miles in advance of their former
positions and the city of Cambrai was brought within easy range of their
guns.
It was the greatest and most successful surprise of the war. There was
no preliminary bombardment to warn the enemy, and the advance continued
steadily for two days, when the towns of Masnieres, Marcoing, Ribecourt,
Havrincourt, Graincourt, and Flesquieres, long occupied by the enemy,
all were behind the British lines.
Just before dawn on the 20th there was absolute quiet along the whole
line. A few minutes later British tanks were rumbling along over "No
Man's Land" flanked and followed by the infantry. The tanks smashed down
the barbed wire entanglements and were atop the trenches and, dugouts
before their German defenders were aware of their peril.
The German artillery could lay down no barrage, and line after line of
trenches had been captured before they got into action. Then the British
guns opened, but not for barrage purposes. They were shelling and
silencing the enemy artillery.
Following through the gaps made by the tanks, English, Scottish, and
Irish regiments swept over the enemy's outposts and stormed the first
defensive system of the Hindenburg line on the whole front.
The infantry and tanks then swept on in accordance with the program and
captured the German second system of defense, more than a mile beyond.
This latter was known as the Hindenburg support line.
English rifle regiments and light infantry captured La Vacquerie and
the formidable defense on the spur known as Welsh ridge. Other English
county troops stormed the village of Ribecourt and fought their way
through Coillet wood.
In severe hand-to-hand fighting at Flesquieres near Cambrai, on the
21st, British troops, preceded by tanks, stormed the town. The Germans
fired on the tanks with seven big guns at short range. The British
infantry charged the guns, captured them, and killed the crews. Three
other big guns were captured in a similar manner at Premy Chapelle.
British cavalry captured a battery at Rumilly, sabering the crews.
Highland territorial battalions crossed the Grand ravine and entered
Flesquieres, where fighting took place. West Biding terriorials captured
Havrincourt and the German trench, systems north of the village, while
the Ulster battalions, covering the latter's left flank, moved Northward
up the West bank of the Canal du Nord.
Later in the day the advance was continued and rapid progress was made
at all points, English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh battalions secured
the crossings on the canal at Masnieres and captured Marcoing and Neuf
Wood. On the following day, Wednesday, November 21, reinforcements which
the enemy hurried up to the battlefield to oppose the British advance
were driven out of a further series of villages and other fortified
positions.
Thousands of cavalry co-operated with the great army of tanks and
infantry in continuing the successful assault begun on November 20. Open
fighting went on at many places and the mounted troops, who long had
waited for a chance to vindicate their existence in this war, rendered
invaluable services in "mopping up".
AMERICAN COMMISSION IN EUROPE
A special American Commission, headed by Colonel Edward M. House,
personal friend and trusted adviser of President Wilson, arrived in
London on November 8, on its way to attend the Allies' conference which
met in Paris November 22, to perfect a system of co-ordination among the
nations at war with Germany and secure a better understanding of their
respective needs.
BRITISH NEAR JERUSALEM
On November 24 the British forces contending against the Turks in
Palestine had advanced to the suburbs of Jerusalem, after inflicting
a severe defeat upon the enemy at Askelon, with Turkish casualties of
10,000. More than seventy guns were captured at Askelon, and the British
subsequently occupied the ancient port of Jaffa (Poppa). The fall of
Jerusalem was then considered imminent and the end of Turkish dominion
in the Holy Land was plainly in sight.
[Illustration: ITALIAN BATTLE FRONT, MAY 4, 1918.
The Heavy Line Shows the Position of the Hostile Armies, When the
Austrians Threatened A New Drive in 1918. The Shaded Line Shows the
Italian Positions Before the Austro-German Offensive, in the Fall of
1917.]
WIN AND LOSE AT CAMBRAI
For the first time since the war began England celebrated on November
the victory of Field Marshal Haig and General Byng at Cambrai, in the
old-fashioned way, by the ringing of bells in London and other cities.
Heavy fighting continued for several days at the apex of the wedge
driven into the German line, especially at Bourlon Wood and the village
of Fontaine, where attacks and counter-attacks followed in rapid
succession.
Up to November 30 the British held their gains near Cambrai and that
city lay under their guns. Then the Germans in a determined attack
surprised the British in their turn, and forced them, back from
their new positions for a distance of about two miles, nearly to the
Bapaume-Cambrai road.
Next day, by fierce fighting, the British recaptured Gouzeau-court. The
battle then raged over a fifteen-mile front, desperate efforts being
made by the Germans to regain all the ground taken by the British west
and south of Cambrai. The British had had no chance to dig themselves in
and consolidate their positions in the ground won, and on December 1 and
2 the struggle was in the open, a fierce hand-to-hand conflict unlike
anything previously seen in the war. The British lost guns, for the
first time in more than thirty months. They also lost many men,
taken prisoner by the enemy, but soon succeeded in checking the
counter-offensive.
In their attempt to deliver a great simultaneous encircling attack,
to surround the victorious British in their new Cambrai salient, the
Germans sent forward great forces of infantry, supported by a terrific
bombardment. The British met the shock brilliantly, finally held their
own, and the German drive was declared to have missed its end, at
enormous sacrifice of life.
On the night of December 5 the British strengthened their line by
abandoning certain untenable positions near Cambrai, falling back
deliberately and successfully, unknown to the enemy, upon a well-chosen
line which ruled out the dangerous salient made by Bourlon Wood. Here
they prepared to maintain their hold upon the captured length of the
Hindenburg line against any pressure.
The German casualties in the battle of Cambrai were estimated at 100,
men, greatly exceeding those of the British in consequence of the nature
of the massed attacks made by infantry in the counteroffensive.
As the year 1917 closed there was a succession of German attacks and
counter-attacks by the British in the Cambrai sector, the British lines
holding firmly at all points and continuing to hold during the winter.
SOME RESULTS OP THE YEAR
The British War Office issued the following statement of captures and
losses during 1917: Captures--prisoners on all fronts, 114,544; guns,
781. Losses--prisoners, 28,379; guns, 166.
The following figures, obtained from reliable sources, tell the real
story of Germany's "ruthless" submarine campaign against British
shipping. Tonnage of British, ships of more than 1,600 tons in August,
1914--16,841,519; loss by enemy action in 3-1/2 years, less new
construction, purchase, and captures, 2,750,000; remaining tonnage
January I,1918--14,091,519.
On December 3, 1917, it was announced officially in London that East
Africa had been completely cleared of the enemy. Every German-colony was
then occupied by Allied forces.
DISASTER AT HALIFAX
As the result of a collision in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia,
between the French munition ship "Mont Blanc" and the Belgian relief
ship "Imo" on December 6, thousands of tons of high explosives blew up,
killing more than 1,260 persons, injuring thousands, and destroying
millions of dollars in property in the city.
JERUSALEM CAPTURED BY BRITISH
Advancing steadily upon Jerusalem in the Palestine campaign against the
Turks, the British forces under General Allenby finally, on December 10,
captured the Holy City and restored it to Christendom. The Turks were
driven to the north, with heavy losses, the port of Joppa was occupied,
and Palestine was slowly but surely freed from Mussulman dominion.
General Allenby formally entered and took possession of Jerusalem on
December 11 with a small representative force of British and colonial
troops, being received and welcomed with impressive ceremonies by the
inhabitants.
WAR DECLARED AGAINST AUSTRIA
The United Stages Congress on December 7, 1917, passed a resolution
declaring a state of war to exist with Austria-Hungary. Austrian aliens,
however, were permitted free movement in the United States, only Germans
being classed as alien enemies and subjected to restrictions as such.
It was announced by the Secretary of War during the winter that 500,
American troops would be on the fighting line in France in the spring of
1918 and that a total of 1,500,000 men would be available for the front
during the year.
A portion of the French front was taken over by the United States troops
under General Pershing early in 1918 and in a number of trench raids and
patrol engagements in the last weeks of winter they gave a good account
of themselves, receiving their baptism of enemy fire and gas with the
utmost gallantry and winning several minor engagements. A small number
of Americans were captured in German raids up to March 10, but the
losses inflicted upon the enemy more than counterbalanced those
sustained.
RUSSIA FORCED INTO "PEACE"
On November 28, a few days after German emissaries had been sent to
Petrograd to parley with the peace faction in disorganized Russia, the
Bolshevik _de facto_ government under Nicolai Lenine and Leon Trotzky
began negotiations for an armistice with Germany; and on December 3 an
armistice was arranged. The Cossacks under General Kaledines and General
Korniloff began a revolt against the Bolsheviki, who organized their
forces as Red Guards, and a virtual reign of terror was inaugurated in
Russia while negotiations for a separate peace with Germany proceeded
with numerous interruptions. The administration of Lenine and Trotzky
became an absolutely despotic regime, all forms of opposition, being
summarily dealt with, while crime was rampant and blood flowed freely in
Petrograd and Moscow. The Ukrainian provinces formed a separate republic
and proceeded to make peace with Germany and Austria.
Formal announcement of the armistice with the Petrograd government was
made at Berlin December 16, with the statement that peace negotiations
would begin immediately at Brest-Litovsk on the Eastern front. Russia
thus violated her pledge to the Allies not to make a separate peace.
The peace delegates of Russia and Germany began their sessions December
23. On Christmas Day Ensign Krylenko, the Bolshevik commander-in-chief,
reported that the Germans were transferring large numbers of troops to
the Western front against the Allies, contrary to one of the Russian
conditions of the armistice. Early in the new year, January 2. 1918, the
negotiations at Brest-Litovsk were suspended for several days, owing
to the nature of the German terms of peace, which demanded that Russia
surrender to Germany the territory including Poland, Courland, Esthonia
and Lithuania. Foreign Minister Trotzky declared that the Russian
workers would not accept the German terms.
Germany, however, stood pat and on January 10 negotiations were resumed,
continuing at intervals for several weeks. In the middle of February the
Bolshevik government announced that it had withdrawn Russia from the
war with the Central Empires and had ordered the demobilization of
the Russian armies, but refused to sign a formal treaty of peace with
Germany. Premature rejoicing ensued in Germany, and on February
Berlin announced a resumption of war with Russia. Two days later the
German armies began an advance into Russia along the whole front from
Riga south to Lutsk; occupying the latter city without fighting.
A complete surrender to Germany followed. Lenine and Trotzky stating
that they would sign the peace treaty on the German terms, which
included all the territory claimed by Germany along the eastern coast of
the Baltic Sea, comprising the western part of Esthonia, Courland with
the Moon Islands in the Gulf of Riga, most of the provinces of Kovno
and Grodno, and nearly all of Vilna, with a huge indemnity. Despite the
surrender, the Germans continued their invasion of Russia, with an
eye to booty, and captured without organized resistance of any kind
thousands of guns and vast quantities of rolling stock, motor trucks,
automobiles, and munitions of war. The invasion continued well into the
month of March in the general direction of Petrograd, while to the south
Austria, at first seemingly reluctant to join the German incursion
into helpless territory, also invaded the Ukraine on the pretense of
"restoring order."
SINKING OF THE "TUSCANIA."
The first serious disaster to American troops on the voyage to France
occurred on February 5, when the steamship "Tuscania," a British
transport with 2,179 United States troops on board, was torpedoed and
sunk by a German submarine off the north coast of Ireland. The close
proximity of British convoy and patrol boats enabled most of those on
board to be rescued, 1912 survivors being landed within a few hours at
Buncrana and Larne in Ireland. The lives lost included 267 American
soldiers besides a number of the crew. The attacking submarine is
believed to have been destroyed by the British patrol before the
"Tuscania" sank.
LONG-DISTANCE PEACE TALK
Early in 1918, while the Russian debacle complicated the war situation
in Europe and the United States hummed with war activities, a series of
speeches by statesmen of the powers at war resulted in demonstrating the
futility of all hopes of a general peace.
In an address to Congress on January 8 President Wilson, following and
indorsing a notable speech by the English premier, Mr. Lloyd-George,
laid down fourteen definite peace and war aims of the United States,
closely agreeing with the expressed aims of the European Allies; "and
for these," said Mr. Wilson, "we will fight to the death." Subsequently,
in February, Mr. Wilson stated four general principles on which the
nations at war should agree in seeking a satisfactory peace. The German
chancellor, Von Hertling, addressing the Reichstag, declared that
Germany could agree to Mr. Wilson's basic principles of peace, but
British and French statesmen promptly pointed out that the German
practices in Russia, and elsewhere as opportunity offered, failed to
agree with Von Hertling's profession of the Wilson principles. German
suggestions of an informal discussion of peace terms were therefore
declined by the allied powers, and in March, 1918, all eyes were turned
toward the Western front in anticipation of a long-threatened German
drive.
THE WORLD'S GREATEST BATTLE
All previous battles of the Great War paled into comparative
insignificance when the German offensive of 1918 opened on the Western
front, March 21, with a desperate and partially successful attempt of a
million men to break through the British line, attacking fiercely from
the Ailette to the Scarpe, along a front of sixty miles. For weeks the
battle raged over the territory of the Somme, and when a second German
drive occurred farther north, from Givenchy to Ypres, fully 3,000,
men were engaged on both sides, and all records of human combat were
broken.
The loss of life was appalling, but in the absence of official reports
while the fighting was in progress, could only be guessed at, though the
world knew that the rivers of France and Flanders ran with blood. The
Germans attacked in masses and successive waves, and paid the penalty of
their desperate strategy. For though the British, and later the French,
lines were bent backward for miles, and gaps were occasionally torn in
them by the foe's furious attack, the Allied defensive withstood the
onslaught and after a month of the most terrific struggle the world has
ever seen, both British and French forces presented an unbroken front to
the disappointed enemy.
The city of Amiens, one of the keys to Paris, had been a chief objective
of the German drive, but all efforts to capture that important railroad
center failed. True, Noyon, Peronne, Bapaume, Albert and Montdidier,
on the south, and Festubert, Neuve Chappelle, Armentieres, and
Paaschendaele, to the north, were successively captured from the Allies,
in spite of the most gallant and heroic resistance. But then the lines
held firmly, and all the Germans had to show for an awful sacrifice
of life and morale was a few miles of advance into territory already
devastated by war.
On April 21, when the Hun offensive had lasted a full month, not only
were the armies of the Allies intact, and better still, their spirit and
morale unbroken, but the utmost confidence prevailed among them. All the
Allied forces, British, French, Canadian, and American, on the Western
front, had been by this time placed under the supreme command of the
eminent French strategist, General Ferdinand Foch, an important step in
the co-ordination of effort that met with universal approval among the
Allied nations.
GENERAL PERSHING OFFERS AID
A magnanimous offer by General Pershing, approved by President Wilson,
to brigade the United States troops in France with the British and
French forces, was gratefully accepted by General Foch. While the
Americans bore only a minor part in the big battles, or rather the
continuous battle of March and April on the Somme, and had no part at
all in the fighting in Flanders, they held splendidly to their section
of the front-line trenches in the vicinity of Toul, and gave the enemy a
taste of their quality in many a trench raid. Several attacks by German
storm troops were also beaten off, the most important of these occurring
late in April, when the Americans defeated a force of some 1,200 picked
Hun troops, driving them back to their own lines with a loss of 400,
while the total losses of the Americans was about 200.
GERMANY PREPARES TO STRIKE
The great German drive had been in course of preparation for months
before it began. The Russian situation had been settled, and large
bodies of troops were thereby released for service on the Western front.
The Kaiser and his general staff then determined upon a final effort
to win a decisive victory in the west. Their plan was to vanquish
the British and French, if possible, before the United States could
transport a sufficient number of men to France to turn the tide of
numbers in favor of the Allies, and enable them to take the offensive
with good prospects of success.
German troops were therefore concentrated near the points chosen for
attack, and this was done with the utmost secrecy, the troop trains
running unlighted at night, so as to escape the observation of Allied
aviators. Two hundred divisions in all were gathered for the German
drive, and fully half of them were assembled near the British front
on the Somme. March 21 was set as the date for the attack and every
precaution was taken to render it a surprise to the British. The German
troops were led to believe that they would be irresistible, and that
Paris, their long-looked-for goal, would soon be won.
Meanwhile the Allies had not been idle. Expecting the drive, but not
knowing where it would strike first, preparations had been made all
along the line, not merely for strenuous defense of the positions held,
but also for eventualities in case of enforced retreat. New positions
back of the lines were prepared, reserves were distributed at strategic
points, and full co-operation between the Allied armies was arranged
for. The British took over the section of the French front between St.
Quentin and Chauny, in addition to their former front, and by so doing
relieved the strain on the far-flung French line.
The Germans counted for victory upon their concentration of vast bodies
of troops and the element of surprise, hoping to break through between
the British and French armies before Allied reserves could be brought up
in sufficient numbers to halt them.
OPENING DATS OF THE BATTLE
On the day set, Thursday, March 21, the great battle opened, after a
six-hour bombardment, the British 3rd and 5th armies being attacked
simultaneously. The German infantry advanced in waves, of which there
seemed no end, and these were followed by batteries of trench mortars,
until the front line of German trenches had been reached. Then, wave
after wave, the advance was continued, in the face of a furious British
fire, until the defenders were compelled to draw back through sheer
force and weight of numbers. The German waves moved forward at the
calculated rate of 200 yards every four minutes, wherever it was found
possible to do so. Each wave, on reaching its objective point, dropped
to the ground and opened fire with rifles and machine guns, placing a
barrage 2,000 yards ahead of them, under cover of which the succeeding
wave advanced. Thus each wave passed over the one ahead of it, and fresh
troops were constantly coming to the front. With such tactics, against a
spirited and determined foe, the losses of the attackers were naturally
enormous. In fact, it was estimated that the casualties suffered by the
Germans during the first few days of such fighting amounted to 250,
men. But, driven on by ruthless commanders, they continued to advance in
masses, though mowed down by the British at every successive step.
"All the German storm troops, including the guards, were in brand-new
uniforms," said the correspondent of the New York Times. "They advanced
in dense masses and never faltered until shattered by the machine-gun
fire. The supporting waves advanced over the bodies of the dead and
wounded. The German commanders were ruthless in the sacrifice of life,
in the hope of overwhelming the defense by the sheer weight of numbers.
* * * Still they came on, with most fanatical courage of sacrifice.
When the first lines fell, their places were filled by others, and the
British guns and machine-guns could not kill them fast enough." Two
batteries of field artillery at Epehy, it is said, "fired steadily with
open sights (that is, pointblank) at four hundred yards for four hours,
into the German masses swarming over No Man's Land."
On the first day, some field batteries aided the Germans, but these were
soon left behind in the advance over difficult and shell-torn ground,
and the battle became one of rifle and machine-gun fire and hand-to-hand
combat.
On the north the British 3rd army made a splendid resistance and
held its ground well, but the 5th army farther south, which bore the
principal brunt of the attack, under General Gough, was gradually forced
to retreat, though in good order, in a northwesterly direction, towards
Amiens. French troops were ordered from the southwest to reinforce the
British in the vicinity of Noyon. There the French stemmed the tide of
Germans, and the drive was soon turned northward, with Amiens as its
evident objective.
ALLIED LINES BEGIN TO HOLD FIRM
The battle continued along these lines, with the British still slowly
retiring, with their faces to the foe, until the 26th of March, the
French stretching their lines farther and farther to the left to keep in
touch with the British, and never failing to maintain connection between
the two armies. The Germans' fond hope of cutting them apart was doomed
to disappointment. French and British cavalry aided in keeping the line
intact, and for the second time since the early days of the war the
horsemen came into their own, doing valiant service in covering the
retreat of the British and impeding the enemy's advance at many points
where their aid proved invaluable.
On March 27 and 28, the situation began to improve. British
reinforcements arrived at the points of greatest danger, and the defense
stiffened, then held the lines firmly before Amiens, and at a distance
from that threatened city sufficiently great to prevent its successful
bombardment by all but the heaviest artillery of the enemy. The
devastated and shell-torn condition of the terrain taken over by the
Germans was unfavorable for bringing up the great guns to within
striking distance. From that time on, the Allies were supremely
confident of their ability to cope with any forces.
While the Allied armies, especially the British, lost heavily in men and
guns during the Hun advance, many of the German divisions engaged in the
drive were literally cut to pieces. The 88th division was reported by
prisoners to be practically annihilated. The same prisoners, taken in
counter-attacks, expressed the utmost surprise at the relatively small
number of dead whom they had found in the British and French trenches
as they advanced. They had been informed by their officers that the
offensive would be over in eight days, and that a complete victory over
the Allies would be won within three or four weeks.
GERMAN DRIVE IS HALTED
The eighth day of the German offensive, far from finding the Huns
victorious, resulted in tremendous attacks by the Germans being stopped
by the unbeatable British, while the French won a brilliant victory at
the south of the line. Meanwhile the Germans had begun another attack in
the Flanders sector, with the object of wresting from the British the
control of Messines Ridge, which dominated the lowlands of Flanders and
had been so gallantly won by the Canadians in the previous year. They
gained a partial footing on the ridge, but the greater part of it was
grimly held, and all efforts of the enemy to advance through Ypres
towards the Channel ports were frustrated.
Another sector was added to the north end of the battle line on the
eighth day, March 28, when the Germans attacked heavily on both sides of
the River Scarpe toward Arras. Here some of the fiercest fighting of
the offensive soon developed, but the ground gained by the Germans was
insignificant. Daily, however, they claimed to have captured thousands
of Allied troops and hundreds of guns; while, on the other hand,
enormously long ambulance trains were reported passing through Belgium
with the German wounded, the hospitals in northern France not having
sufficient accommodation for the sufferers. On every battlefield of the
100-mile front--for the fighting now covered that enormous stretch of
territory, in two sections, north of La Bassee and south of Arras--the
German dead lay literally in heaps.
On March 29, the ninth day of the great battle in France, the German
drive was practically halted, and both British and French reports noted
a decrease of the fighting, enemy activity being manifested only by
local attacks all along the front, which was being strengthened each day
by the arrival of Allied reinforcements.
PARIS BOMBARDED AT LONG RANGE
Soon after the great offensive opened, the city of Paris was surprised
by being bombarded from a distance of approximately 70 miles by a new
German long-range gun, which was discovered by French airmen to be
concealed in a concrete tunnel in a wood behind the German lines, A
number of persons were killed and wounded by the nine-inch shells from
this new weapon, 54 women being killed when a shell struck a church in
the suburbs of the city on Good Friday. The Allied commanders refused to
regard the long-range gun as of any great military importance except
as a means of spreading terror among the civilian population,--and
the population of Paris refused to be terrorized by such a method,
exhibiting the same spirit as that of the people of England with regard
to the futile aerial raids.
French estimates of the German losses for the first eleven days of the
offensive placed them at between 275,000 and 300,000 men. The Germans
claimed that during the same period they had captured 70,000 prisoners
and 1,000 field guns.
ANOTHER ATTACK ON AMIENS
Having been foiled in an attempt on March 31 to break through the valley
of the Oise, Paris ceased to be the German objective, and another
offensive against Amiens was undertaken on April 4. By this time a
French army had repaired the ragged line between the French on the south
and the remainder of the British army of General Gough, whose enforced
retirement had been conducted in good order. Though outnumbered two to
one, the British and French repulsed the attack on Amiens with heavy
losses to the Germans, who were effectually stopped at a distance of
fifteen kilometers (nine miles) from that city. This ended the first
phase of the great battle.
BATTLE RENEWED IN THE NORTH
The second phase of the battle which was expected to prove decisive
began April 9 with an attack on the British, aided by Portuguese troops,
on a front of fifteen miles, from La Bassee to Ypres. The center, held
by three Portuguese divisions, was broken through, and on April 12 the
situation seemed critical. Determined counterattacks by the British,
however, and reinforcements by the French, stopped the Germans in the
next few days, and this offensive, like that farther south in the valley
of the Somme, gradually died out, leaving the Germans with gains of only
a few square miles of devastated territory to show for their continued
heavy losses. And the reserve forces of the Allies were still intact,
the strategy of General Foch in this respect being universally applauded
as correct under the circumstances.
SHELLS FIRED BY THE MILLION
In the beginning of the offensive which thus failed to accomplish its
object, the most desperate means were employed by the Germans to break
down resistance; In the first six hours of bombardment on March 21, when
three great German armies were massed for the attack, under Generals Von
Bulow, Von Marwitz, and Von Hutier, commanding from the north to south
in the order named, it is estimated that at least 1,500,000 shells were
fired by one single army--that opposed to General Gough's forces on the
south, while the British 3rd army, under General Byng, to the north, was
similarly assailed. Most of the shells contained gas and were designed
to destroy the occupants of the trenches about to be stormed. Only the
utmost individual valor and persistency of the thin British line, as it
retired still fighting, prevented the desperate and over-confident foe
from turning the gradual retreat into a decisive defeat. As it was,
the Germans paid dearly for every yard of ground they gained, as their
successive waves of troops swept over the zone of trenches and then
engaged the groups of Allied forces in the open beyond.
All the German units were under orders to advance as far and as fast as
possible, being provided with three days' rations and two days' water.
After the first few days, the difficulty of bringing up supplies, with
the expected objectives far from being gained, aided in slowing up and
then halting their advance. Behind the German storm troops great numbers
of reserves were assembled, to fill up the gaps torn in the ranks and
restore the divisions to their normal strength as fast as they were
depleted by the defense. The German tactics took no account of human
life, but expended it in the most reckless manner, with appalling
results throughout the drive. The Allies, on the other hand, sought at
all times to conserve their forces by intrenching as fast as possible at
every point during the period of their retirement. Their artillery was
constantly in action, and aided greatly in checking the German. advance.
ALLIES CONTROL IN THE AIR
German aeroplanes played no great part in the advance, although they
bombed the British and French rear nightly, and the air service of the
Allies proved superior throughout the battle. For the first time in a
great battle British and French airmen attacked the enemy infantry from
low altitudes with their machine guns and bombs, and rendered invaluable
assistance in damming the swelling tide of the Hun hordes. Having gained
the mastery of the air, as they did prior to the British drive on
the Somme in 1916, they retained it until the foe was halted. To a
considerable extent they replaced the heavy guns of the Allies by their
constant bombing and gun fire.
Between March 21 and March 31, the French and British pilots shot down
more than 100 German planes, losing about one-third of that number in
the air battles. After the first few clays there were practically no
German machines in the air over the fighting front, as was the case
on the Somme in 1916, but at the end of March the Hun planes began to
reappear in mass formation patrols, sometimes consisting of as many as
fifty planes in a group of patrols. Then followed a period of intense
air fighting, of which a single day's record of the French may be cited
as an example. On April 12, the Allied aviation report shows that French
fighting scouts made 250 flights, fought 120 combats in the sky, shot
down eight Germans and damaged 23 others, burned five enemy balloons,
damaged five more, and bombarded German troops with 45 tons of
explosives.
GERMANS FAIL IN THEIR OBJECT
The last part of the month of April was marked by a succession of minor
attacks by the Germans along the entire front of the halted offensive,
and by the development of counter-attacks by the Allies at various
points where it was deemed necessary or advisable to strengthen their
defensive positions, but up to May 1 the Germans were as far as ever
from their main objectives in the west. Judged from the standpoint of
their confident expectations, and the promises of success held out as
an encouragement to their troops, the long-heralded and long-prepared
spring offensive of 1918 was a failure. Their much-vaunted strength of
numbers and of organization failed as completely to gain a decisive
result as their initial drive on Paris in 1914. Though they threw into
the fighting in March and April about 125 divisions, they failed to
separate the French and British armies, which was a prime object of
their strategy, and they sustained losses which, while not irreparable,
must have greatly affected the morale of their men. "Remember Verdun!"
said a famous French commander, commenting on the drive. "The Boche is
making this tremendous effort and sustaining these losses to effect
a complete rupture of our front, and if he does not do that he has
failed."
BRITISH LOSSES MADE GOOD
On April 25 the British minister of munitions announced in the House
of Commons that the losses of guns and ammunition sustained by Field
Marshal Haig's forces in France and Flanders during the big German drive
had been more than replaced. The losses were placed by Mr. Winston
Spencer Churchill at nearly 1,000 guns, between 4,000 and 5,000 machine
guns, and a quantity of ammunition "requiring from one to three weeks to
manufacture." More than twice the number of guns lost or destroyed had
been placed at the disposal of the British air and ground services, said
the minister.
GERMANS START ANOTHER ATTACK
Another determined attack in the Somme region was begun by the Germans
on April 24, after three weeks' further preparation. The enemy evidently
had not abandoned hope of capturing Amiens, and, he again began
hammering at the gateway to that city. The first onslaught was repulsed
by the British, but on the following day, April 25, the enemy succeeded
in gaining about a mile of ground. The combined British and French
armies were covering the roads to Amiens, with reserves close at hand,
and part of General Pershing's American forces were co-operating with
the French. The utmost confidence prevailed that the united forces under
General Foch, who was called by Marshal Joffre "the greatest strategist
in Europe," would not only meet and defeat this renewed drive by the
enemy, but that before long the tide of battle would turn strongly in
favor of the Allies, whose reserve armies were held in leash by their
supreme commander, awaiting the strategic hour to strike.
BOTTLING UP U-BOAT BASES
One of the most thrilling exploits of the war occurred on the night of
April 22, 1918, when British naval forces performed an almost incredible
feat, by entering the harbors of Ostend and Zeebrugge, German submarine
bases, and practically bottling them up. French destroyers co-operated
with the British in the daring undertaking.
At midnight, under cover of a remarkably developed smoke screen,
furnished by the raiders themselves, five old British cruisers were run
aground in the harbor channels, blown up, and abandoned by their crews.
The ships were loaded with concrete. An old submarine, loaded with
explosives, was also run under a bridge connecting the mole, or
breakwater, at Zeebrugge with the shore, and there blown up, so as to
prevent interruption of the raiders while they were doing their work
alongside the mole.
Facing dangerous and unknown conditions of navigation, the harbor was
rushed by British monitors and destroyers, under heavy fire from the
shore batteries. A storming party of volunteers, sailors and marines,
was landed under extreme difficulties from the cruiser Vindictive. This
party boarded a German destroyer lying alongside the mole, defeated her
crew, and sank the ship. The concrete-laden vessels were duly sunk with
a view to blocking both harbors, and every gun on the mole at Zeebrugge
was destroyed. The effects of the raid were not easily ascertainable. It
was soon learned that the submarine base at Zeebrugge at least had been
put out of business for a while. The gallantry and daring of the deed
were generally recognized as fully in keeping with the best traditions
of the British navy. The loss of life was quite heavy, but the British
lost only one destroyer and two coastal motor boats, many of the raiders
returning safely to the other side of the Channel. Even the men on the
exploded submarine succeeded in escaping. The officer who planned the
raid, however, was among the killed.
GERMAN ATTACK ON YPRES FAILS
On Monday, April 29, the German 4th army under General von Arnim, having
gained possession of Mount Kemmel, a dominating position, began a
general assault on the British hill positions on the Kemmel front,
southwest of Ypres. The intention was to capture Ypres forthwith, by the
overwhelming power of numbers, and the day's fighting was a crucial test
of the holding power of the Allies in the Ypres salient. The result of
the attack was a stunning defeat for the enemy, who was repulsed all
along the line and suffered frightful losses.
In the words of a French general, "It was a great day for the Allies!"
The repulse of the German attack was a real defeat, for it upset all the
confident calculations of the enemy, who from the height of Mount Kemmel
had seen, first Ypres, and then channel ports, within his grasp. It
brought disappointment and disillusion to his troops, who had been urged
on to their disastrous massed attacks by flamboyant promises of success.
The effect was seen in a renewal of German peace propaganda, which all
the Allies had learned by this time to disregard as unworthy of the
slightest serious attention.
"Extraordinary nervousness and depression prevail in Germany, owing to
the losses in the western offensive," said Reuter's correspondent at
Amsterdam on April 29, quoting a German military writer, Capt. von
Salzmann, who said: "Our losses have been enormous. The offensive in
the west has arrived at a deadlock. The enemy is much stronger than our
supreme command assumed. The region before Ypres is a great lake, and
therefore impassable. The whole country between our Amiens front and
Paris is mined and will be blown up should we attempt to pass."
The preliminary bombardment southwest of Ypres April 29 started in the
early morning and took in the ten-mile front from Meteren, west of
Bailleul, to Voormezeele, two miles south of Ypres. Infantry attacks in
this area followed with great fury, and sanguinary fighting continued
all day. The Germans at the outset advanced with fixed bayonets, but
they came under such an intense machine-gun fire that most of them were
never able to employ the steel. The French at Locre and the British at
Voormezeele repulsed every attack, thrusting the enemy back whenever he
gained a footing in advanced positions, and firmly holding every point
around Ypres at the end of the day.
General von Arnim's losses were particularly staggering at Locre, where
he used battalion after battalion in a vain attempt to hold the village,
a key to Mount Rouge. The previous German capture of Mount Kemmel did
the enemy little good, for the Allied artillery kept the crest of the
hill so smothered with shell fire that it was impossible for the Huns to
occupy it in force.
The attack, which was the fourth great battle of Ypres, was the biggest
effort the Germans had made in the Flanders offensive, the enemy
employing thirty fresh battalions of reserves, in addition to the large
number of divisions in position at the beginning of the battle. The
net result was a tremendous setback for the Germans, who paid an awful
price. Next morning the battlefield in front of the defenders' positions
was covered with the bodies of gray-uniformed men.
AMERICAN TROOPS IN ACTION
American units were in action in Picardy, east of Amiens, on April 28,
having reinforced the British and French in that sector, to aid in
keeping the foe from Amiens and Paris. Their baptism of fire in the
direct line of the German offensive made their previous experiences pale
into the insignificance of skirmishes. During the various engagements in
which they participated in the last days of April and the first week of
May they acquitted themselves with great credit.
After a preliminary bombardment of two hours, a heavy German attack
was launched against the Americans in the afternoon of April 30 in the
vicinity of Villers-Bretonneux, and was repulsed with heavy losses to
the enemy, who left dead and wounded on the field, while the American
losses were reported as "rather severe." There was hand-to-hand fighting
all along the line, and the violent struggle lasted for a considerable
time before the enemy was finally thrust back, leaving prisoners in the
American hands. Their French comrades were full of praise for the marked
bravery displayed throughout by the American troops, who were fighting
at one of the most difficult points on the whole battle front.
U.S. TROOPS BUSHED TO PRANCE
As a result of the great German offensive movements and territorial
gains in the spring of 1918, there was a tremendous increase in the
military activities of the United States, particularly in rushing troops
to Europe. After the selection of General Foch as generalissimo of the
Allied forces, the American troops in the war zone were brigaded with
the French and British all the way from the North Sea to Switzerland,
and their numbers steadily increased.
In the United States the training of the new National Army, national
guards, and officers in the numerous cantonments and training camps was
intensified and hurried. As fast as the men were brought into condition
they were shipped to France. At first much of the space on the
transports was devoted to supplies and materials for the camps and
depots in France, but as the situation became critical owing to
successful enemy offensives, fewer supplies and more men were sent.
Great Britain lent her ships and the number of transports was largely
increased, so that each month of 1918 showed a greater movement of
troops across the Atlantic.
The troop movement record for the spring and summer months of 1918 was
a wonderful one, in view of the submarine menace. In April, 117,
American troops were successfully transported; in May, 244,345; in
June, 276,382, and in July 300,000, The month of August found more than
1,500,000 Americans in France, England and Italy. This immense number of
men were carried over without the loss of a single eastbound American
transport.
AN ARMY OF 5,000,000 PLANNED
On August 5, 1918, plans were announced for increasing the effective
strength of the United States army to 5,000,000 forthwith, by an
extension of the draft age limits and rapid intensive training. Official
statements showed that the armed forces of the United States already
amounted to a total of 3,074,572 men, including 2,570,780 in the army
and 503,792 in the navy. The national army at this date contained
1,400,000 men, the regular army 525,741, the national guard 434,511 and
the reserve corps 210,528. The regular navy had 219,158 men, the marine
corps 58,463, the coast guard 6,605, and the reserve 219,566. On June
of this year 744,865 men reaching the age of 21 since June 5, 1917, were
registered for selective draft purposes.
DEFEATING THE SUBMARINE DANGER
Meanwhile giant strides were taken in the American program of
shipbuilding to offset the ravages of submarine warfare. The U.S.
Shipping Board was reorganized and galvanized into a high state of
efficiency. Under the leadership of Charles M. Schwab, director-general
of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, and Edward M. Hurley, chairman of
the board, the work in the shipyards on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts,
and on the Great Lakes, was speeded up until ships were being built at
the rate of 5,000,000 tons a year. In the first three weeks of July,
1918, twenty-three ships of 122,721 deadweight tons were completed,
making a total of 223 new vessels built under the direction of the board
up to that time, the aggregate tonnage being 1,415,022 tons. On July
alone eighty-two vessels were launched, their splash being "heard around
the world."
With the increased tonnage being put out by the British, French, and
Italian shipyards, and the output of neutral countries friendly to the
Allies, this practically put an end to the submarine peril. In addition
the United States requisitioned seventy-seven Dutch ships with an
aggregate tonnage of about 600,000, while arrangements were made with
Sweden for about 400,000 tons of shipping and contracts were let for the
building of a considerable number of ships in Japanese shipyards.
The knowledge that there were over a million American troops facing the
enemy on the battle fronts in Europe came as a decided shock to the
German army and people, who were forced to realize the failure of their
submarine campaign.
AMERICANS PROVE THEIR METTLE
After the American forces in France had their first serious encounter
with the Germans on April 20 at Seicheprey, a village near Renners
forest, which they recovered from the enemy in a gallant counter-attack,
the fighting was of a more or less local character throughout the rest
of the month and in May, with varying fortunes.
On May 27 the Germans began another great offensive, taking the Chemin
des Dames from the French and crossing the Aisne. On the following
day they crossed the Vesle river at Fismes. But on this day also the
Americans won their first notable victory, by capturing the village of
Cantigny and taking 200 prisoners. The United States marines added to
their laurels in this fight and held the position firmly against many
subsequent counter-attacks.
Continuing their drive toward Paris, the Germans occupied Soissons on
May 29, Fère-en-Tardenois May 30, and next day reached Chateau Thierry
and other points on the Marne, where they were halted by the French.
In the early days of June several towns and villages fell to the
Germans, but the French by counter-attacks recaptured Longpont, Corcy,
and some other places. On June 6 American marines by a spirited attack
gained two miles on a two and a half mile front, taking Hill 142 near
Torcy and entering Torcy itself. The following day, with French aid,
they completed the capture of Vilny, Belleau, and important heights
nearby. In another battle northwest of Chateau Thierry the Americans
advanced nearly two and a half miles on a six-mile front, taking about
300 prisoners.
These battles confirmed the impression that the American troops as
fighters were equal to their allies.
ANOTHER ENEMY OFFENSIVE
On June 9 the Germans began the fourth phase of their offensive, planned
by their high command to enforce peace. They attacked between Montdidier
and the Oise, advancing about four miles and taking several villages. On
the next day they claimed the capture of 8,000 French. The same day the
American marines took the greater part of Belleau Wood. On June 11 they
completed the capture of Belleau Wood, taking 300 prisoners, machine
guns and mortars. The French at the same time defeated the Germans
between Rubescourt and St. Maur, taking 1,000 prisoners. Other battles
followed on the 12th and 13th, but on the 14th the latest German
offensive was pronounced a costly failure.
From this time to the end of the month the fighting was of a less
serious character, though the Americans in the Belleau and Vaux region
gave the Germans no rest, attacking them continually and taking
prisoners at will.
JULY 4 CELEBRATED ABROAD
America's Independence day, 1918, was officially celebrated in England,
France, and Italy, as well as in the United States, making it a truly
historic occasion. On that day Americans assisted the Australians in
taking Hamel with many prisoners. On the 8th and 9th the French advanced
in the region of Longpont and northwest of Compiègne, taking Castel and
other strong points near the west bank of the Avre river. July 14, the
French national holiday, was generally observed in America and by the
American soldiers in France. Then, on July 15, the Germans began the
fifth and disastrous last phase of the offensive which they started in
the spring, on March 21.
STINGING DEFEAT FOR AUSTRIA
But Italy meanwhile had scored a great success against the Austrians.
French and British regiments, with some Americans, were helping to hold
the Italian line when, on June 15, the Austrians, driven by their German
masters, began an offensive along a 100-mile front, crossing the Piave
river in several places. For two days they continued violent attacks,
penetrating to within 20 miles of Venice, at Capo Silo. Then the
Italians, British, and French counter-attacked with great vigor and soon
turned the Austrian offensive into a great rout, killing thousands,
taking other thousands prisoner, and capturing a vast amount of war
material, including many of the Austrian heavy-caliber guns. The entire
Austrian, plan to advance into the rich Italian plains, where they hoped
to find great stores of food for their hungry soldiers, resulted in
miserable failure.
The defeat increased the discontent in Austria-Hungary and added to the
bad feeling entertained towards Germany. Peace feelers were thrown out
by Austrian statesmen, but the continued influence of German militarism
prevented them from receiving serious attention by the Allies.
A WATERLOO FOR THE CROWN PRINCE
When the German divisions of the Crown Prince of Prussia began their
last desperate offensive on July 15, they attacked from Chateau Thierry
on the west to Massiges, along a 65-mile front, crossing the Marne at
several places.
East and west of Reims the battle raged, with the Allies holding
strongly everywhere and the Germans suffering heavy losses. The enemy
aimed at Chalons and Epernay and hoped by turning the French flank at
Reims to capture the cathedral city without a direct assault upon its
formidable defenses. General Gouraud, the hero of Gallipoli, was in
command of the French forces on the right, while General Mangin and
General de Goutte held the left. Most of the Americans taking part in
the battle were under the command of these noted generals, and strong
Italian and British forces were with General Gouraud's army. The French
constituted about 70 per cent of the Allies engaged.
GENERAL FOCH STRIKES
In a single day the German offensive was effectually blocked at the
Marne. Despite the enemy's utmost efforts he could make no further
advance.
Then Foch, the great French strategist and Allied generalissimo, struck
the blow for which he had patiently bided his time!
Apparently having advance information of the German plans, or perhaps
surmising them, General Foch had been preparing a surprise for the Crown
Prince. In the forest of Villers-Cotterets on the German right flank,
he had quietly massed large forces, including some of the best French
regiments, together with the foreign legion, Moroccan and other crack
troops, and many Americans. Everything possible had been done to keep
these troop movements secret from the enemy.
On Thursday morning, July 18, 1918, a heavy attack was launched in force
at the Germans under General von Boehm all along the line from Chateau
Thierry on the Marne to the Aisne river northwest of Soissons.
The Germans were taken completely by surprise, and town after town was
captured from them with comparatively slight resistance. When the first
shock of surprise was over, their resistance stiffened, but the Allies
continued to advance. Mounted cavalry were once more used to assist the
infantry in the open, while tanks in large numbers were used to clear
out enemy machine-gun nests.
The American troops, fighting side by side with the French, did their
work in a manner to excite the admiration of their allies, and acquitted
themselves like veterans. Thousands of prisoners were taken, with large
numbers of heavy guns and great stores of ammunition, besides thousands
of machine guns, many of which were turned against the enemy. The
strategy of General Foch received world-wide applause. His master stroke
met with immediate success.
By the 20th of July Soissons was threatened by the Allies. The Germans,
finding themselves caught in a dangerous salient and attacked fiercely
on both flanks, hurriedly retreated to the north bank of the Marne and
were rapidly pressed back farther. Their condition was critical and the
German Crown Prince was obliged to call for assistance from Crown Prince
Rupprecht of Bavaria, commanding in the north. Taking advantage of this,
the British and French in the north made frequent attacks, gaining
ground and taking prisoners at numerous points.
For ten days the Allies continued their victorious progress on both
sides of the Soissons-Reims salient, the Germans continuing to retire
under strong pressure. They were forced back to the Oureq river, then
to the Vesle, where they made a determined stand. Fère-en-Tardenois and
Fismes fell into the hands of the victorious French and Americans, the
latter gaining a notable victory in the occupation of Fismes over the
vaunted Prussian guards, who had been brought up to endeavor to stay
their progress. The first week of August saw most of the Reims salient
wiped out by the German retreat, while rear-guard actions were being
fought along the Vesle as the Germans sought defensive positions farther
in the rear.
The prisoners captured by the Allies in their drive up to that time
numbered more than 35,000 and more than 700 heavy guns also fell into
their possession, with immense quantities of ammunition and stores. The
Germans, however, succeeded in destroying many of the ammunition dumps
and vast supplies which had been stored in the salient for their
expected drive on Paris.
As they retired the Germans burned many of the occupied French villages,
pursuing their usual policy. As many as forty fires were observed on the
horizon at one time as the Allies advanced.
Soissons was retaken on August 2, and the valley of the Crise was
crossed by the Allies, who dominated the plains in the German rear with
their big guns.
The German losses in the great battle and retreat from the Marne were
variously estimated at from 120,000 to 200,000. General von Boehm
avoided a first-class disaster, but his defeat was a serious one and had
far-reaching moral consequences among the enemy.
It was estimated that from the beginning of their offensive in March,
the German armies lost more than 1,000,000 men in killed, wounded and
prisoners. The Austrians in their ill-fated offensive of 1918 lost more
than 250,000 men.
FOCH A MARSHAL OF FRANCE
On August 6 General Ferdinand Foch, commander-in-chief of the Allied
forces, was elevated by the French council of ministers to the rank of a
Marshal of France. In presenting his name Premier Clemenceau said:
"At the hour when the enemy, by a formidable offensive, counted on
snatching the decision and imposing a German peace upon us, General
Foch and his admirable troops vanquished him. Paris is not in danger,
Soissons and Chateau Thierry have been reconquered, and more than
villages have been delivered. The glorious Allied armies have thrown the
enemy from the banks of the Marne to the Aisne."
AMERICANS AT FISMES
The American troops covered themselves with glory at many points in the
Allied drive, notably in the hand-to-hand fighting in the streets of
Fismes on August 4, when they captured that German base. The fighting
was said to have been the bitterest of the whole war, the Prussian
guards asking no quarter and being bayoneted or clubbed to death as they
stood by their machine guns.
BRITISH VICTORY IN THE NORTH
On the Amiens front, in Picardy, the British Fourth Army, under General
Rawlinson, and the French First Army, under General Debentry, stormed
the German positions on August 8 on a front of over 20 miles, capturing
14,000 prisoners and 150 guns, and making an advance of over seven
miles.
ALLIED GAINS IN PICARDY
Before the Germans had time to recover from the surprise of Marshal
Foch's attack on the Marne, and while they were still retreating to
the Vesle, the Allies delivered another heavy blow, this time on the
Albert-Montdidier front in Picardy. Here the British and French suddenly
attacked in force on the morning of August 8, stormed the enemy
positions along a thirty-mile front and on the first day of the attack
penetrated to a depth of seven miles.
For several days the enemy retreated, closely pursued by allied cavalry
and tanks, which for the first time fought in a combination that proved
irresistible. The tanks used were of a new small variety, known as
"whippets," which rapidly wiped out the machine-gun nests with which the
enemy sought to stem the tide of the victorious onrush. Some American
troops fought with the British in their advance and gained high praise
from the Allied commanders.
By August 15 the total number of prisoners captured by the British
Fourth Army, under General Rawlinson, was 21,844. In the same period of
one week the prisoners taken by the French First Army amounted to 8,500,
making a total of 30,344 Germans captured in the operations of the
Allied armies on the Montdidier-Albert front, besides 700 heavy guns,
quantities of machine guns, and other important spoils of war.
North of the Somme, between Albert and Arras, the Germans continued to
fall back to the old Hindenburg line, where there were strong defensive
positions, with the British and French keeping in close touch with
their retreat. On August 15 they had definitely given up the towns of
Beaumont-Hamel, Serre, Bucquoy, and Puisieux-au-Mont, and at several
points had crossed the Ancre river.
Field Marshal Haig announced that the proportion of German losses to
those of the Allies in the Picardy offensive were greater than at any
other period of the war. The total Allied casualties were not as large
as the number of Germans taken prisoner.
JOY IN AMIENS AND PARIS
One important result of the British drive was that Amiens, the "dead
city of Picardy," began to come to life again. Its population of
150,000, including 40,000 refugees, had fled before the German offensive
in March, 1918, but the former inhabitants began to return when the
menace of the invader disappeared, as the invader himself was chased
back toward the Somme. A service of thanks to the Allied arms was held
in the Great Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens, August 15. Despite the
damage from German guns and bombs, the cathedral retained the title of
the most beautiful in all France.
The city of Paris, at the same time, quietly celebrated the great change
in the situation wrought in one short month. Just four weeks before, on
July 18, the residents of Paris had been awakened by the sounds of such
a cannonade as they never had heard before. It was General Mangin's
counter-preparation against the great German attack which the enemy
believed was to bring him to the gates of Paris. In the meantime the
Germans, who were at the gates of Amiens, Reims, and Compiegne, had been
soundly beaten and outgeneraled at every point, and the initiative had
been forced from them by the military genius of Marshal Foch. The effect
upon the Germans was apparent from the fact that General Hans von Boehm,
the German "retreat specialist" had been appointed to the supreme
command on the Somme front. The German withdrawal north of Albert was
looked upon as the first application of his tactics. It was General von
Boehm and his former command, the German Eighth Army, that stood the
brunt of the Allied pressure in the Marne salient previous to the
retreat of the Huns to the north of the Vesle river, where they were
still standing in the middle of August.
BOLSHEVIKI EXECUTE EX-CZAR
Former Czar Nicholas of Russia was executed by the Bolsheviki in July,
1918, having been held as a prisoner since his dethronement.
[Illustration: BATTLE LINE ON THE WESTERN FRONT AUGUST 21,
Shaded portions of map show territory gained by American and Allied
troops during July and August, 1918. Most of the territory gained by
the Germans in their 1918 offensive was recaptured by the Allies before
September 1, 1918.]