CHAPTER XXII

LATER EVENTS OF THE WAR

_Results of the Battle of the Aisne_--_Fierce Fighting in Northern

France_--_Developments on the Eastern Battle Front_--_The Campaign in

the Pacific_--_Naval Activities of the Powers_.

With a battle front reaching from the Belgian coast on the North Sea

to the frontier of Switzerland, or a total distance of 362 miles, the

operations in the western theater of war toward the end of October were

being conducted on a more gigantic scale than was ever witnessed before.

On both sides reinforcements were being rushed to the front. German

efforts to break through the Allies' lines were concentrated on the main

center at Verdun and on the right flank of the Allies' left wing, above

its elbow, between Noyon and Arras, while powerful coincidal movements

were in progress on the extreme western end of the line in Belgium and

on the southeastern wing in Alsace. At Verdun continuous fighting of the

fiercest character had been going on for over sixty days, surpassing

in time and severity any individual battle in history. The army of

the Crown Prince had been unable to force the French positions in the

vicinity of Verdun and the check sustained by the Germans at this point

early in the campaign constituted a principal cause of General von

Kluck's failure in his dash toward Paris.

All along the tremendous battle front the allies' lines as a rule held

firm in the thirteenth week of the war, when the great conflict had

entered upon what may well be called its fourth stage. The third stage

may be said to have ended with the fall of Antwerp and the subjugation

of all Belgium but a small portion of its southwestern territory. On

the main front the Allies were maintaining the offensive at some vital

points, while repulsing the German assaults at others. One or two of

the French forts commanding Verdun had fallen but the main positions

remained in the hands of the French, and all along the line it was a

case of daily give-and-take.

FIERCE FIGHTING IN FLANDERS

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

or unfortified town, and occupied it with slight resistance from the

Belgian army, which was reforming its broken ranks to the south, between

Ostend and the French frontier, and preparing to contest the passage of

the Kaiser's forces across the River Yser. Moving northward from Lille,

the Allies encountered the Germans at Armentières, which was occupied

by a Franco-British force and there was also fierce fighting at Ypres,

where there is a canal to the sea. For more than a week the Belgians

gallantly held the banks of the Yser in spite of the utmost endeavors of

the Germans to cross, and it was not until October 24 that the latter

finally succeeded in getting south of the river, with the French seaport

of Dunkirk as their next objective point. Bloody engagements were fought

at Nieuport, Dixmude, Deynze and La Bassée.

At this time the battle line formed almost a perpendicular from Noyon in

France north to the Belgian coast, south of Ostend. A battle raged for

several days in West Flanders and Northern France and both sides claimed

successes. The losses of the Allies and the Germans were estimated

in the thousands and the wounded were sent back to the rear by the

trainful. In the Flemish territory the flat nature of the terrain, with

its numerous canals and almost total absence of natural cover, made

the losses especially severe. The passage of the Yser cost the Germans

dearly and Dixmude was strewn with their dead. And their advance could

get no farther.

The necessity of holding the French ports, Dunkirk and Calais, was

fully realized by the Allies, who threw large reinforcements into their

northern line. The Germans also drew heavily on their center and left

wing to reinforce the right, and for a while the forces opposing one

another at the extreme western end of the battle front were greater than

at any other point. The Germans were firmly held on a line running from

south of Ostend to Thourout, Roulers and Menin, the last mentioned place

being on the border north of Lille. Flanking attacks being no longer

possible, as the western flanks of both armies rested on the North Sea,

the Germans were compelled to make a frontal assault along the line

formed by the Belgian frontier. As the Belgian troops, assisted by

a British naval brigade, were pushed back from the Yser, they were

gradually merged into the army of the allies, by whom they were received

with the honors due the men who had made, for twelve long weeks, such

a gallant and determined defense of their country against invasion and

despoilment.

BRITISH WARSHIPS AID BELGIANS

Soon after the German occupation of Ostend, several British warships

shelled the German positions in and around the city and aided in

hampering the German advance along the coast. The principal vessels

engaged in this work were three monitors which were being completed in

England for the Brazilian government when the war started and which were

bought by the admiralty.

These monitors, which had been renamed Mersey, Humber and Severn, drew

less than nine feet of water and could take up positions not far from

shore, from which their 6-inch guns and 4.7-inch howitzers, of which

each vessel carried two, were able to throw shells nearly four miles

across country, the range being given them by airmen.

French warships of light draft later joined the British monitors and

destroyers and assisted in patrolling the coast, shelling German

positions wherever the latter could be discovered by the aeroplane

scouts. One reported feat of the naval fire was the destruction of the

headquarters of a German general, Von Trip, in which the general and his

staff lost their lives.

From time to time German aerial attacks were made in the vicinity of

Dover, across the Straits, but these without exception proved to be

without military importance in their results. Steps were taken to

organize anti-aircraft artillery forces on the eastern coast of England

and the continued failure of Zeppelin attacks, annoying as they were,

soon restored the equanimity of the British public in this respect.

INDIAN TROOPS IN ACTION

The first word of the employment of British Indian troops at the front

came on October 27, when it was reported that in the fighting near Lille

a reserve force of Sikhs and Ghurkas, the former with bayonets and the

latter with the kukri (a short, curved sword) played havoc with an

attacking force of Germans. "Never has there been such slaughter," said

the dispatches. "Twenty thousand German dead and wounded, nearly half

the attacking force, lay upon the field, while the British losses did

not exceed 2,000."

THE FRENCH CAMPAIGN IN ALSACE

At the end of October the French right wing in Alsace-Lorraine was

reported to be making distinct progress. It was said to be advancing

through the passes of the Vosges in the midst of heavy snowstorms. Paris

reported that the Germans, who were attempting a movement against the

great French frontier fortress of Belfort, had been driven back with

heavy losses, while from other sources the Germans were reported to be

bringing up heavy mortars for the bombardment of Belfort. There

were persistent reports of German defeats in Alsace, but these were

repeatedly denied in Berlin. The situation in the territory coveted by

the French appeared to resemble that farther west--neither side was

making much headway.

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

In the eastern theater of war the conflict during October was waged with

fortunes that favored, first one side and then the other. Contradictory

claims were put forth from time to time by Petrograd, Vienna and Berlin,

but the net result of the operations at the end of the thirteenth week

of the war appeared to be that while the intended Russian march on

Berlin had been completely checked, the Germans had been repulsed with

heavy losses in all their attempts to cross the Vistula and occupy

Warsaw, the capital of Russian Poland, which was at one time seriously

threatened.

The fighting along the Vistula was fierce and prolonged for several days

at a time. The Germans made numerous attempts to cross the river at

different points by means of pontoon bridges, but these were destroyed

by the Russian artillery as fast as completed. The slaughter on both

sides was considerable. On October 28 the Russian battle front reached

from Suwalki on the north to Sambor and Stryj on the south, a distance

of about 267 miles. The German operations on the Vistula were still

in progress and Poland furnished the main arena of battle. East Prussia

was practically free from Russian troops, save at a few points near the

boundary, but they strongly maintained their positions in Galicia.

THE AUSTRO-SERVIAN CAMPAIGN

After eleven weeks' bombardment by the Austrians, the Servian defenders

of Belgrade were still bravely resisting, although half the city had

been destroyed. The situation was such as to cause at once astonishment,

pity and admiration.

In the open field the Servians continued to hold their own against the

Austrian forces opposed to them. Their Montenegrin allies, under General

Bukovitch, were reported to have defeated 16,000 Austrians, supported by

six batteries of artillery, at a point northeast of Serajevo. The battle

terminated in a hand-to-hand bayonet conflict which lasted four hours.

The Austrians are said to have lost 2,500 men, killed and wounded, while

the Montenegrins claimed that their losses amounted to only 300 men.

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE PACIFIC

Beginning with the loss of its colonies in the China sea, Germany was

compelled to witness during the first two years of the war the passing

into enemy hands of practically all its colonial possessions, which more

than balanced its temporary possession of enemy soil in Europe. One

by one its colonies in Asia and Africa were captured, and in these

operations not only the Japanese but the Belgians assisted, the latter

in Africa.

Late in October, 1914, the Japanese received the surrender of Tsing

Tau, the important German city in Kiauchau, China. The place had been

battered for weeks by land and sea by the Japanese forces, and the

surrender was ordered, it was said, to save the German forces and

civilians from certain annihilation if a defense by the garrison to the

end were to be carried on. German warships were powerless to assist the

beleaguered city, as Japanese and English war vessels had driven them

far from the coast of China.

The Japanese cruiser Takachiho was sunk by a mine in Kiauchau Bay on the

night of October 17. One officer and nine members of the crew are known

to have been saved. The cruiser carried a crew of 284 men. Her main

battery consisted of eight 6-inch guns.

MAIN FLEETS STILL INACTIVE

Up to the last week in October the main fleets of the warring powers

were still inactive, but rumors of intended German naval activity were

frequent. The cat-and-mouse attitude of the British and German fleets

in the North Sea was continued, the Germans lying snug in their ports,

protected by their mines and submarines, while the British battleships

lay in wait at all points of possible egress. The situation tried the

patience of the people of both countries and there were frequent demands

for action by the great and costly naval armaments. But the Germans

apparently were not ready to risk a general engagement, and the British

could not force them to come out and fight. The British admirals,

therefore had, perforce, to pursue a policy of "watchful waiting,"

irksome as it was to all concerned, and "the tireless vigil in the North

Sea," as it was termed by Mr. Asquith, was maintained day and night.

No sea captain becalmed in the doldrums ever whistled for a wind more

earnestly than the British Jack tars prayed for a chance at the enemy

during those three months of playing the cat to Germany's mouse; and on

the other hand, the German sailors were, no doubt, equally desirious

of a chance to demonstrate the fighting abilities of their brand-new

battleships. All were equally on the _qui vive_, for any hour might

bring to the Germans the order to put to sea, and to the British the

welcome cry of "Enemy in sight!"

CARING FOR BELGIAN REFUGEES

The plight of the Belgian people, including the refugees in Holland,

England and France, was pitiable in the extreme and by the end of

October had roused the sympathy of the entire world. A conservative

estimate placed the number of Belgians expatriated at 1,500,000 out of a

population of 7,000,000. On October 26 Mr. Brand Whitlock, United States

minister to Belgium, reported that the entire country was on the verge

of starvation, while Holland and England had their hands full caring for

the Belgians who had sought refuge in those countries. In eight cities

of Holland there were said to be 500,000 Belgian refugees. Over 70,

arrived in London in one week and a central committee in London had

twenty-seven subcommittees at work in different cities in England,

Scotland and Wales, placing the refugees in homes as rapidly as

possible. The humanitarian problem of taking care of the Belgians was

one of tremendous responsibility, but the people of the three countries

in which most of them sought refuge rose nobly to the occasion and

spared no effort to lessen their sufferings.

MORE CANADIANS FOR THE FRONT

It was announced in Ottawa, Canada, on October 19 that the Dominion

Government had decided to put 30,000 more men in training in Canada, to

be despatched to England when ready. As soon as the first unit of 15,

was embarked, probably in December, another 15,000 men would be enlisted

to replace them, the plan being to keep 30,000 men continuously in

training, to be drawn upon in units of 10,000 or 15,000 as soon as

equipped, during the continuance of hostilities in Europe. Thus with the

32,000 Canadian volunteers already landed in England, and 8,000 under

arms guarding strategic points in the Dominion, Canada would soon raise

100,000 men as part of her contribution to Imperial defense.

But this was only a beginning. Later in the war Canada stood ready to

furnish half a million men to the cause of the Empire, if required.

Nearly 360,000 of that number had been enlisted when the war was two

years old. The greatest problems were encountered in the first year, or

rather in the first six months of the war, after which time efforts were

systematized, the military machine worked smoothly, and the Dominion's

splendid response to the call to arms was maintained throughout. General

prosperity in the face of adverse conditions happily attended this

record of patriotic achievement, and the predominant spirit in Canada

was one of buoyant optimism as to the inevitable outcome of the great

conflict.

THE "EMDEN" DRIVEN ASHORE A WRECK

During the first three months of the war the German cruiser Emden,

operating principally in the Indian ocean, played havoc with British

merchantmen, sinking over twenty vessels engaged in far Eastern

commerce, besides a Russian cruiser and a French torpedo-boat. But she

met her match in the second week of November, when she was engaged off

the Cocos or Keeling group of islands, southwest of Java, by the fast

Australian cruiser Sydney and driven ashore a burning wreck after an

hour's fight, with a loss of 280 men.

NAVAL BATTLE OFF CHILEAN COAST

Early in November a fleet of five German cruisers, under Admiral von

Spee, encountered a British squadron composed of the cruisers Good

Hope, Monmouth and Glasgow, in command of Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher

Cradock, off the coast of Chile, in the Southern Pacific. Despite a

raging gale, a long-range battle ensued, resulting in the defeat of the

British and the loss of the flagship Good Hope, with the admiral and all

her crew, and of the cruiser Monmouth. The Glasgow escaped in a damaged

condition. The loss of life was about 1,000, officers and men.

Up to November 15, the struggle in the coast region of Belgium continued

with terrific intensity and appalling loss of life on both sides. The

Germans occupied Dixmude November 11, only to lose it on November 13,

after a fierce attack by reinforced British troops.

DAILY COST OF WAR

The daily cost of the present war to the nations engaged in the struggle

is estimated at not less than $54,000,000 a day--a sum which fairly

staggers the imagination. This enormous cost of the armies in the field

gives a decided advantage to the nation best supplied with the "sinews

of war" and may contribute to a shortening of hostilities. War is indeed

a terrible drain upon the resources of a nation and only a few there

are that can stand many months of war expenditures like those of

August-October, 1914, amounting in the grand aggregate to nearly five

billions of dollars ($5,000,000,000).

TURKEY ENTERS THE WAR

On October 29 an act which was regarded in Russia as equivalent to a

declaration of war by Turkey was committed at Theodosia, the Crimean

port, when that town was bombarded without notice by the cruiser

Breslau, flying the Turkish flag, but commanded by a German officer and

manned by a German crew. The Breslau was a former German ship, and was

said to have been purchased by the Turkish government, with the German

battleship Goeben, when they sought refuge in the Dardanelles at

the beginning of the war, from the French and British fleets in the

Mediterranean.

FOURTH MONTH OF THE WAR

The month of November, the fourth month of the war, was marked by the

heaviest losses to all the nations concerned, but made little change in

the general situation.

Along the Aisne the battle begun early in September continued

intermittently. Both sides literally dug themselves in and along the

battle line in many places, the hostile trenches were separated by only

a few yards. At the end of the month the burrowing had been succeeded by

tunneling, and both sides prepared for a winter of spasmodic action. It

was a military deadlock, but a deadlock full of danger for the side that

first developed a weak point in its far-flung front.

With the utmost fairness and impartiality it can be said that at the

beginning of December both the allied armies and the German forces

facing them from the Belgian coast east and south to the borders of

Alsace-Lorraine were exhausted by the strenuous efforts of the campaign.

By December 5, the 130th day of the war, after a seven-weeks' struggle

by the Germans for the possession of the French and Belgian coast, there

was a general cessation of offensive operations by both sides and the

indications were that this condition was due to pure physical weariness

of leaders and men. The world had never before witnessed such strenuous

military operations as those of the preceding three months and the

temporary exhaustion of the armies therefore was not surprising.

In the last days of November, the city of Belgrade fell into the

hands of the Austrians after a siege that had lasted, with continual

bombardments, since the war began. The city was finally taken by storm

at the point of the bayonet in a furious charge which fairly overwhelmed

the gallant defense of the Servians.

In this month it began to be generally realized that the war was likely

to be of prolonged duration. Strenuous preparations for the winter

campaign were made on both sides and the recruiting for the new British

army surpassed all previous records, the serious menace of the war being

at last recognized.

The month of November was also marked by enormous contributions of cash

and food stuffs by the people of the United States for the relief of

the impoverished and suffering Belgians. The people of Chicago alone

contributed over $500,000 and this was but a sample of the manner in

which Americans rose to the opportunity to alleviate the distress in

Belgium. "The United States has saved us from starvation," said a

Belgian official on December 1.

The casualties of all the armies in the field during the month of

November exceeded those of any previous period of the war. Basing an

estimate of the total casualties upon the same percentage as that

employed in the table given on another page, it is therefore safe to

say that up to December 5 the total losses of the combatant nations in

killed, wounded and missing aggregated not less than 3,500,000 men.

DECEMBER IN THE TRENCHES

The month of December, 1914, the fifth month of the war, registered but

little change in the relative positions of the combatant nations. In the

west the lines held firm from the North Sea to Switzerland. Daily duels

of artillery and daily assaults here and there along the battle fronts

proved unavailing, so far as any change in general conditions was

concerned. Frequently the assaults were of a desperate character,

especially in Flanders, where in the middle of the month the Allies

assumed the offensive all along the line and sturdily strove to push

back the German front in Belgium. But the utmost valor and persistence

in attack were invariably met by resolute resistance. Both sides were

strongly entrenched and the gain of a few yards today was usually

followed by the loss of a few yards tomorrow.

Never before in the history of warfare had the science of entrenchment

been developed to such an extent. The German, French, British and.

Belgian armies literally burrowed in the earth along a battle front of

150 miles. In many places the hostile trenches were separated by only a

few yards, and mining was frequently resorted to. Tunneling toward each

other, both the contending forces occasionally succeeded in blowing up

the enemy's trench, and whole companies of unsuspecting troops were

sometimes annihilated in this way. In the trenches themselves scenes

unparalleled in warfare were witnessed. With the arrival of winter the

troops on either side proceeded to secure what comfort they could by all

manner of clever and unique devices. Winter clothing was provided as far

as possible, but on both sides there was inevitable suffering for lack

of suitable supplies for the winter campaign, and individual initiative

had frequently to supply the deficiencies of official forethought.

Many unique features of trench life were developed during the first

month of winter warfare. Two-story trenches became common on both

sides of the firing line. Bombproof underground quarters for staff and

commanding officers were constructed, and these were fitted up so as to

provide all the comforts of the winter cantonments of old-time warfare.

The ever-necessary telephone was installed at frequent points in

trenches that stretched for scores of miles in practically unbroken

lines. Board roofs were built and provision made for heating the dugouts

in which thousands of men passed many days and nights before their

reliefs arrived. On the German side miles of trenches were provided with

stockade walls, leaving ample room inside for the rapid movement of

troops. The British built trenches with lateral individual dugouts

at right angles to the main trench, protecting the men against flank

fire--and these aroused the admiration even of their enemies. In the

French trenches the ingenuity of a French engineer provided a system

of hot shower baths on the firing line, and from all points along the

deadlocked battle front came stories of the remarkable manner in which

the troops of all the armies speedily accommodated themselves to

unprecedented conditions and maintained a spirit of cheerfulness truly

marvelous under the circumstances, especially as there was no cessation

of the constant endeavor to gain ground from the enemy and no end to the

daily slaughter.

IN THE GERMAN TRENCHES

A correspondent with the German army who visited the firing line in the

Argonne forest late in November, by special permission of the German

crown prince, described the conditions in the trenches as follows: "Here

in the now famous Argonne forest--the scene of some of the war's most

desperate fighting--the Germans are trenching and mining their way

forward, literally yard by yard. This afternoon I reached the foremost

trench, south of Grandpré. About 160 feet ahead of me is the French

trench. Picture to yourself a canebrake-like woods of fishpoles ranging

in size from half an inch to saplings of two and three inches thick and

so dense that you can hardly see forty yards even now when the leaves

have fallen. Among these is a scattering of big trees, the trunks of

which are veritable mines of bullets.

"Irregular lines of deep yellow clay trenches zigzag for miles.

Other trenches run back from these to what looks like a huge Kansas

'prairie-dog town'--human burrows, where thousands of soldiers are

literally living underground. From the lines of trenches running

parallel to one another comes a constant, spitting, sputtering, popping

of rifles, making the woods resound like a Chinese New Year in San

Francisco or an old-time Fourth of July. Field guns and hand grenades

furnish the 'cannon-cracker' effect. Through the woods the high-noted

'zing zing' of bullets sounds like a swarm of angry bees, while high

overhead shrapnel and shell go shrieking on their way. Here and there

you may see spades full of earth being thrown up as if by invisible

hands, marking the onward work of the German gopher-like pioneers in

their subterranean warfare. That is the Argonne forest.

"As the trench I am in was still in the hands of the French three days

ago and as the crown prince is advancing steadily, the trenches are

temporary and contain little in the way of comforts. In deep niches cut

in the side the soldiers rest, play cards or even sleep on damp ledges

between fights.

"The trenches also serve as a cemetery. When the enemy's fire is so hot

that it is impossible to stick your head out or to take the dead out to

bury them, the grave is made in a niche or a ledge cut into the side of

the trench."

GERMAN ADVANCE HALTED

The western operations in December made it clear that the German advance

to the Channel ports of France had been definitely halted. In the

terrible battle of Ypres in Flanders, following the prolonged

engagements along the Yser river, the Allies succeeded in repulsing the

desperate German onslaught, and the German offensive was brought to

a full stop. Towns and villages in Flanders, in Artois and in Champagne,

that had been captured in the early German rush, were retaken one by

one by the Belgians, French and British, slowly but surely, until

the Germans were forced to act upon the defensive along a line of

entrenchments prepared to enable them to keep open their communications

through Belgium with their great base at Aix-la-Chapelle.

An incident of the desperate fighting at Ypres, in which British and

French troops practically annihilated six German regiments, including

the crack Second regiment of Prussian Guards, has been graphically

described by an eye-witness as follows:

"A long valley stretches out before us and the little rise on which we

stand--about fifty feet above the plain--commands it. The British guns

are shooting almost horizontally at the German infantry trudging through

the mud 2,000 yards away.

"I count easily five regiments together, but further to the right a

sixth one evidently wards off a flank attack on the part of the French

colonial troops. The lone regiment is the Second Prussian regiment of

the guard, the emperor's own, the elite of the Kaiser's army, 2,500 of

the brawniest, most disciplined men in the world. It is now 1 o'clock.

In one hour only 300 of these men will leave the field.

"A gust of wind brings to our ears the sound of music. The guards' band

is encouraging the men. At the foot of the small hill on which we stand

are twenty lines of trenches filled with Scotch and English infantry.

The men are silently awaiting the attack. Not a rifle is being fired.

The trenches are the Germans' goal; these and the British batteries once

taken, the road into Ypres is clear.

"In the valley the Germans halt. The range is only 1,500 yards now and

every British shot is telling. The effects are appalling. The gray

masses move onward once more, seem to hesitate, but sharp bugle blasts

launch them forward again and on the run they come for the trenches.

"At 1,000 yards our batteries again stop them. Whole rows are

mowed down, vast spaces appearing between the ranks. The companies

intermingle, then the regiments themselves seem to amalgamate and

melt into one another. Officers are seen galloping along the sides,

evidently trying to bring order out of chaos.

"The artillerymen work silently, the perspiration streaming down their

cheeks, and continue sending on their messengers of death.

"The Second regiment of the Guard alone, off to the right, seems

untouched, and on it comes. Suddenly the sound of a bagpipe is heard.

The Scots are awake. From the trenches an avalanche rushes forward

toward the disordered Germans.

"At the double-quick Scots and English, a few feet apart, yelling like

demons, pounce on the attackers. Rifles are silent. It is cold steel

alone. Our battery captains cry 'Stop firing.' There is a risk of

shelling our own men now. We become spectators.

"On the right the Guard has suddenly turned toward the hill. A bugle

blast and the mass of men half turns and seems to be thrown on the back

of the British, outflanked. The situation is desperate. Our artillery is

useless.

"Listen! Over the valley, rising louder and still louder, comes a song

which the Germans have heard before. A crash of brass, a hoarse roar

fills the air, echoing across the valley, drowning the shouts and curses

of the human wave fighting below.

"The 'Marseillaise'--the English and Scots have heard it. 'Hold tight,

the French are coming,' we scream. They cannot hear us, but we must

shout--the strain is too intense.

"Past our batteries a company of Spahis rushes like a cyclone. Two more

follow, then the Zouaves. Rifles close to their hips, bayonets low,

throwing out over the valley its glorious anthem, the human flood

crashes against the Guard.

"The lines waver in an indescribable jumble of gray, yellow, blue, and

red uniforms, then seem to bounce back from the very force of the shock.

Men appear, raised from their feet, and raised high in the air.

"Caught in a vise between the British and the French, the Guard alone

remains. Ten times the shattered remnants of the Kaiser's proud regiment

charged, and ten times was thrown back, first against the French, then

against the British. Crying, 'Comrades, comrades!' hundreds began

throwing their guns aside.

"At 2 o'clock it was over. The Allies had lost 1,200 men. Only

prisoners remained of the Second Prussian regiment of the Guard.

PROGRESS OF THE EASTERN CAMPAIGN

The campaign in the eastern theater of war attracted the attention

of the whole world in December, when the German operations begun in

November under Field Marshal Von Hindenburg, the victor of Tannenberg

earlier in the war, were continued with varying successes. Early in the

month the Germans captured Lodz, the second city and chief manufacturing

center of Russian Poland, with a population of about 500,000, after a

bombardment of a week's duration, the city being set on fire in many

places. The Russians made a desperate resistance, and the fighting

around Lodz constituted the most bitter struggle of the entire war on

this front. A general Russian retirement in the direction of Warsaw

followed, but the Germans failed in their subsequent efforts to

envelop the flanks of the Russian army to the north and south. Russian

reinforcements from Warsaw coming up promptly, the Germans were in their

turn compelled to retire. Two German army corps were then practically

cut off by the Russians, but made a successful retreat, fighting their

way back to safety with the bayonet in one of the most brilliant

exploits of the war. Thus the net result of the German campaign in

Poland in December left the general situation there practically

unchanged and the Russian front unbroken, while in East Prussia, too,

the Russian invasion continued despite German efforts to roll it back

across the frontier.

The losses on both sides in the eastern campaign in December were

appalling, the fighting being of the fiercest possible nature. A typical

struggle occurred a few miles west of Lodz in the little churchyard of

Beschici, where the Russians, in one of the final phases of the

struggle for the Polish city, showed that in spite of their defeats and

discouragements they knew how to fight and die. This churchyard lies

on a small eminence which formed a salient into the German lines. The

Germans were able to make an attack from three sides with infantry and

artillery. All the Russian trenches were enfiladed by shrapnel from

one direction or another, but the Russians clung to their positions

obstinately. When the Germans finally captured the trenches 878 Russian

corpses were found in a space about eighty yards square.

It was resistance of this nature which the Germans had to overcome in

order to capture Lodz. Later in December it became clear that Russia

was getting her millions into the field and that the strategy of the

commander-in-chief, the Grand Duke Nicholas, would soon be aided by the

weight of overwhelming numbers.

BELGIUM THANKS AMERICA

During November and December Madame Vandervelde, wife of a member of

the Belgian cabinet, toured the United States soliciting aid for her

suffering fellow-countrymen. The response everywhere was extremely

generous and in appreciation of the aid given the war victims of her

country Madame Vandervelde penned the following poem, entitled "Belgium

Thanks America:"

But still we tell the story which once we loved to tell.

"Good will! Good will!" we read it, and "Peace!"--we hear the name,

And crouch among the ruins, and watch the cruel flame,

And hear the children crying, and turn our eyes away--

For them there's neither bread nor home this happy Christmas day.

But look! there comes a message from far across the deep,

From hearts that still can pity and eyes that still can weep--

O little lips a-hunger! O faces pale and wan!

There's somewhere--somewhere--peace on earth, somewhere good will to man,

Across the waste of waters, a thousand leagues away,

There's some one still remembers that here it's Christmas day.

0 God of Peace, remember, and in thy mercy keep

The hearts that still can pity, the eyes that still can weep,

Amid the shame and torment, the ruins and the graves,

To theirs, the land of freedom, from ours, the land of slaves,

What answer can we send them? We can but kneel and pray:

God grant--God grant to them, at least, a happy Christmas day.

GRIM REALITIES OF THE WAR

A vivid picture of the horrible realities of the war, as seen in a

field hospital near the firing line, was given in "The New Republic" of

November 28 by Mr. Henry W. Nevinson, who described his experiences at

Dixmude in Belgium as follows:

"When I entered Dixmude one night in the middle of October the first

bombardment was over, but from both sides the heavy shells flew across

the town. From the end of the main street came an incessant noise of

rifles and machine guns. Unaimed bullets wailed through the air, and

pattered as they struck the walls. Flaming houses shed a light upon the

ruined streets, but only one house looked inhabited, and all the others

which were not burning stood silent and empty, expecting destruction.

"That one house was used as an outlying hospital or dressing-place

nearest the firing line, and the wounded had to be led or carried only

two or three hundred yards to reach it. They sat on the dining-room

chairs or lay helpless on the floor. A few surgeons were at work upon

them, cutting off loose fingers and throwing them into basins, plugging

black holes that welled up instantly through the plug, straining

bandages, which in a minute ceased to be white, round legs and heads.

The smell of fresh, warm blood was thick on the air. One man lay deep in

his blood. You could not have supposed that anyone had so much in him.

Another's head had lost on one side all human semblance, and was a

hideous pulp of eye and ear and jaw. Another, with chest torn open,

lay gasping for the few minutes left of life. And as I waited for the

ambulance more were brought in, and always more.

"In a complacent and comfortable account of hospital work I lately read

that 'deaths from wounds are happily rare; one surgeon put the number as

low as 2 per cent.' Happy hospital, far away in Paris or some Isle of

the Blest! The further from the front the fewer the deaths, because so

many have died already.

"In the nearest hospitals to the front, half the wounded, and on some

days more than half, die where they are put. Often they die in the

ambulance, and one's care in drawing them out is wasted, for they will

never feel again. I found one always took the same care, though the

greenish-yellow of the exposed hands or feet showed the truth. Laid on

the floor of the main hospital itself, some screamed or moaned, some

whimpered like sick children, especially in their sleep, some lay quiet,

with glazed eyes out of which sight was passing. Mere fragments of

mankind were there extended, limbs pounded into mash, heads split open,

intestines hanging out from gashes. Did those bones--did that exquisite

network of living tissue and contrivances for life--cost no more in

the breeding than to be hewed and smashed and pulped like this?

Shrapnel--shrapnel--it was nearly always the same. For this is, above

all, an artillery war, and both sides are justly proud of their

efficiency in guns."

GOVERNMENT RETURNS TO PARIS

Confidence of safety having been restored in the French capital, the

Paris bourse reopened on December 7, after having been closed since

September 3. President Poincaré transferred his official residence back

to Paris from Bordeaux on December 9 and a meeting of the French cabinet

was held in Paris on December 11, for the first time since the capital

was threatened by the German advance at the end of August.

BRITISH NAVAL VICTORY

In the second week of December the British navy avenged the defeat of

Rear Admiral Cradock's squadron off the Chilean coast in November, when

a powerful special fleet, under Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee,

encountered the German cruiser fleet, under Admiral von Spee, off the

Falkland Islands and practically destroyed it. Only one of the five

German cruisers escaped. The flagship Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau, the

Leipzig and the Nurnberg were sunk in the action, which lasted for five

hours, and the German admiral with three of his sons and most of the

officers and men of the German crews perished. The British losses were

inconsiderable.

This sea fight in the South Atlantic was the most important engagement

in which British men-of-war had participated since the era of Napoleon.

The sailing of the British fleet in quest of Admiral von Spee's

squadron had been kept secret and the news of the victory was therefore

especially welcome to the people of England, who had been considerably

worried by a succession of minor naval losses inflicted by German

cruisers, submarines and mines. The action was gallantly fought on both

sides. The advantage in weight of metal and range of guns lay on the

side of the British, and the battle was decided at long range. Admiral

von Spee, refusing to surrender, in spite of the odds against him,

went down with his ship. The flagship of the victorious admiral, Sir

Frederick Sturdee, was the modern battle cruiser Invincible. A number of

the German sailors were rescued by the British after the engagement and

sent as prisoners of war to England. The total German loss was over

2,000 officers and men.

Fine strategy was shown by the British admiralty in sending Admiral

Sturdee to South American waters. He was ordered to sea from his desk as

chief of the British naval board, after Von Spee's Chilean victory in

November, and was placed in command of some of the fastest and most

powerful cruisers of the British fleet. The entire affair, from the time

the admiral left London until he succeeded in finding and sinking the

German squadron in the South Atlantic, took about a month--a truly

remarkable exploit.

RULERS AT THE FRONT

During December all the armies in the field were visited by the rulers

of their respective countries. The Czar spent some time with his troops

near the firing lines in Poland; King George of England visited the

British forces in Belgium and Northern France and conferred the Victoria

Cross ("For Valor") on a number of officers and men; and President

Poincaré made several trips to the front, conferring decorations upon

General Joffre, commander-in-chief, and other French officers, for

distinguished service. The gallant and devoted soldier-king, Albert of

Belgium, remained steadfastly at the front with his troops, sharing all

their privations and dangers during the fierce fighting in Flanders.

Kaiser Wilhelm was also at the front, both east and west, but was forced

to return to Berlin early in the month by an attack of illness. On his

recovery after two weeks he again visited the western field headquarters

in Belgium, but in the first week of January, 1915, he was again

compelled by his ailment to make a hurried return to Berlin for medical

treatment and rest. British and German naval losses in the world war to

January 1, 1915, are shown in the following, compiled from admiralty

reports, and, where these are missing, from other authoritative sources.

The figures are approximately correct.

BRITISH LOSSES

Date Name and Type How Sunk Tonnage Lives Lost

Aug. 7--Amphion, protected cruiser Mined 3,440 136

Sept. 4--Speedy, torpedo gunboat Mined 810 ...

Sept. 5--Pathfinder, protected cruiser Mined 2,940 250

Sept. 7--Warrior, protected cruiser Stranded 13,500 ...

Sept. 9--Oceanic, auxiliary cruiser Wrecked 17,000 ...

Sept. 18--Fishguard II, training ship Foundered ...... 21

Sept. 19--AE-1, submarine Lost 800 25

Sept. 20--Pegasus, protected cruiser Shelled 2,200 25

Sept. 22--Aboukir, protected cruiser Torpedoed 12,000 510

Sept. 22--Cressy, protected cruiser Torpedoed 12,000 561

Sept. 22--Hogue, protected cruiser Torpedoed 12,000 362

Oct. 16--Hawke, protected cruiser Torpedoed 7,350 350

Oct. 18--E-3, submarine Shelled 800 25

Oct. 27--Audacious, dreadnought Torpedoed 25,000 2

Oct. 31--Hermes, protected cruiser Torpedoed 5,600 ...

Nov. 1--Monmouth, armored cruiser Shelled 3,800 540

Nov. 1--Good Hope, armored cruiser Shelled 14,100 875

Nov. 5--D-5, submarine Mined 550 21

Nov. 11--Niger, torpedo gunboat Torpedoed 819 ...

Nov. 20--Bulwark, battleship Explosion 15,000 800

Jan. 1--Formidable, battleship Torpedoed 17,000 579

Number of vessels lost, 21. --------------

Totals 172,700 5,082

GERMAN LOSSES

Date Name and Type How Sunk Tonnage Lives Lost

Aug. 5--Panther, gunboat Shelled 900 75

Aug. 6--Koenigin Luise, mine layer Torpedoed 1,800 70

Aug. 7--Augsburg, protected cruiser Shelled 4,280 158

Aug. 9--U-15, submarine Shelled 400 12

Aug. 27--Kaiser Wm.

der Grosse, aux. cruiser Shelled 14,849 30

Aug. 27--Magdeburg, protected cruiser Shelled 4,478 200

Aug. 28--Ariadne, protected cruiser Shelled 2,620 200

Aug. 28--V-186, V-187, destroyers Shelled 1,290 100

Sept. 14--Cap Trafalgar,auxiliary cruiser Shelled 26,000 14

Sept. 15--Hela, small cruiser Torpedoed 2,000 10

Oct. 17--S-115, 117, 118, 119, 4 destroyers 1,660 193

Oct. 20--S-30, destroyer Ran Ashore 400 ...

Oct. 25--Submarine Shelled 400 12

Oct. 30--Submarine Shelled 400 12

Nov. 4--Yorck, armored cruiser Mined 9,350 226

Nov. 7--Jaguar, gunboat Shelled 330 50

Nov. 7--Luchs, gunboat Shelled 880 50

Nov. 7--Iltis, gunboat Shelled 880 50

Nov. 7--Cormoran, gunboat Shelled 1,600 100

Nov. 7--Tiger, gunboat Shelled 880 50

Nov 7--Taku, destroyer Shelled 280 26

Nov. 7--Ruchin, mine layer Shelled ... ...

Nov. 9--Emden, protected cruiser Shelled 3,540 200

Nov. . .--Wilhelm der Grosse, battleship Mined 10,790 400

Nov. . .--Hertha, cruiser Mined 5,569 200

Dec. 8--Scharnhorst, armored cruiser Shelled 11,420 764

Dec. 8--Gneisenau, armored cruiser Shelled 11,420 700

Dec. 8--Leipzig, cruiser Shelled 3,200 280

Dec 8--Nurnberg, cruiser Shelled 3,200 256

Dec. 10--Three submarines Shelled 1,200 36

Number of vessels lost, 38. ----------------

Totals 134,026 5,005

CANADIANS AT THE FRONT

Late in December the first of the Canadian troops to leave their English

training camp on Salisbury Plain were sent to the front in Northern

France. The Princess Patricia regiment had the military honor of leading

the Canadians to the firing line. It was made up largely of men who had

seen previous service and promptly proceeded to give a good account of

itself. A British guardsman returning wounded from the front on December

28 paid a characteristic tribute to the efficiency and daring of the

Canadian troops, when he said: "They are all old soldiers. They knew as

much about the game as we did and a blooming sight more than the enemy's

infantry."

The Canadians first went into action at one of those ticklish spots

where yards count. The trench of the British ended at a village which

was vigorously shelled by the Germans, and was practically in ruins.

Another trench on the right of a little town held by unmounted French

cavalry made it impossible for the Germans to reach the village, but

their "snipers" had ensconced themselves in some farm buildings to the

northeast, making it extremely hazardous for supplies to reach the

advanced British posts.

"About twenty of the Canadians," said the wounded guardsman, "managed to

gain the ruins at the extreme end of the village during Christmas night

and when daylight came they accounted for practically all the German

'snipers' and dashed back into safety before the German artillery fire

was directed to the stronghold."

SERVIANS REOCCUPY BELGRADE

Just when it appeared likely that Servia might share the fate of

Belgium, a turn in the fortunes of war changed the entire situation of

affairs in the little Slav kingdom. Aided by a fresh advance of Russian

troops across the Carpathians, which caused the hurried withdrawal

of three Austrian army corps from Servian territory to defend the

threatened cities of Hungary, the Serbs again took the offensive and,

inspired by the presence in the field of old King Peter, a gallant

soldier of France in 1870, they reoccupied Belgrade and drove the

Austrians before them in a disorderly rout, so that by December

Servia was free of the Austrian enemy. Budapest, capital of Hungary,

became panic-stricken at the Russian advance and the Servian victory,

and the year 1914 closed with every evidence that the people of Austria,

at any rate, were tired of the war, discontented at the prospect, and

desirous of peace.

GERMAN ATTACK ON BRITISH COAST

For the first time in history since the days of the American commander,

Paul Jones, British coast towns were bombarded on December 16, when a

squadron of German cruisers, slipping across the North Sea in a fog,

from their Heligoland base, appeared off Scarborough, Hartlepool and

Whitby, on the eastern coast of England, and shelled each of them in

turn. The loss of life in the three towns was about 100 men, women and

children, and a considerable number of buildings were partially wrecked

by the German shells. Comparatively speaking, of course the damage

inflicted was trifling and from a military point of view the incident

was unimportant, the German ships disappearing in the fog after a

half-hour's bombardment But the moral effect upon the British public was

tremendous. The event came as a distinct shock to their over-confidence

and as a reminder that the German navy was still to be reckoned with.

The warships of the Kaiser brought home to the people of the United

Kingdom the meaning of the war, as no previous incident had done, and

fear of further attacks took possession of them. This fear, however,

soon turned to rage, and then to a fierce determination to prosecute

the war to a bitter end. The attack stimulated recruiting for Lord

Kitchener's new army, and this was its chief result, though Germany

had proved that her ships could reach British shores and bombard their

defenseless towns, in spite of all the vigilance of the British fleet.

BRITISH RAID GERMAN PORT

By way of answer to the German attack on Scarborough and Hartlepool, a

daring raid was made Christmas Day by the British navy on the German

naval base at Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe. The chief participants

were seven British naval airmen. They were assisted in the attack by

several light cruisers, destroyers and submarines. The airmen

piloted seaplanes and succeeded in dropping a number of bombs in the

vicinity of Cuxhaven, in an attempt to bring out into the open a portion

of the German fleet lying there. The affair resulted in a contest

between the most modern of war machines. No surface warships were sent

out by the Germans, but the attack was repelled by means of Zeppelins,

sea-planes and submarines. No great damage was done on either side and

the British airmen all escaped without injury, though four of them lost

their machines. One, Flight Commander Hewlett, fell with his plane into

the North Sea at a considerable distance from Cuxhaven and was picked up

by a Dutch trawler, which landed him in Holland several days afterward.

The British vessels remained off Cuxhaven for three hours, engaged in

the most novel combat in naval history.

A short time previous to the attack on Cuxhaven, the British submarine

B-11 accomplished one of the most remarkable exploits of the war when

it penetrated into the Dardanelles and torpedoed the Turkish battleship

Messudieh. In doing so the submarine successfully passed and repassed

five lines of submerged mines and returned to its base in safety after

being under water for many hours at a stretch.

U.S. PROTEST ON MARINE CONDITIONS

On December 31, by mutual agreement between the State Department at

Washington and the British Foreign Office, the text of a note sent by

the United States to England, requesting an early improvement in the

treatment of American shipping by the British fleet, was made public.

The note of protest had been presented on December 29. It dealt with the

manner in which American ships suspected of carrying contraband of

war had been held up on the high seas and sent into British ports for

examination. Sir Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary, and Walter

Hines Page, United States ambassador, conferred on the subject in

London, and it was announced on January 1, 1915, that an answer to the

American note would be drawn up as soon as possible and that it would be

in the same friendly spirit in which the American note was written.

ON THE WESTERN BATTLE FRONT

The battle lines in the western theater of war held firm and fast during

the first two months of 1915. Along the entire front, from Flanders to

the Swiss frontier, there were few changes in the relative positions of

the German forces and the Allies up to March 1, at which time both

sides were occupied with preparations for the spring campaign. British

reinforcements, forming part of Lord Kitchener's new army, were being

transported to the front, while the far-flung lines of trenches were

filled with battle-weary veterans of the winter campaign. In many places

the entrenchments of the opposing forces were only a few yards apart and

trenches were frequently destroyed by mines, resulting in losses to

both sides, but without materially changing the general aspect of the

conflict.

NAVAL BATTLE IN THE NORTH SEA

One of the most important naval battles of the war took place on January

24 in the North Sea between a British battle cruiser squadron under

Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty, comprising the battle cruisers Tiger,

Lion, Princess Royal, New Zealand and Indomitable, assisted by a few

light cruisers and destroyers, on the one hand, and on the other a

German squadron, consisting of the battle cruisers Derflinger, Seydlitz

and Moltke, the armored cruiser Bluecher, one of the finest in the

Kaiser's navy, and several light cruisers.

It was a running fight, covering over one hundred miles and lasting four

hours. At the end of this time the German armored cruiser Bluecher was

at the bottom of the sea and two of the German battle cruisers had been

damaged. Two of Vice-Admiral Beatty's ships were seriously damaged,

namely, the giant battle cruiser Lion, which was Sir David's flagship,

and the torpedo boat destroyer Meteor, one of the largest and fastest of

this class afloat. However, both of these vessels were safely towed

into port. The loss in men on the British side was fourteen killed and

twenty-nine wounded, while on the side of the Germans only 125 of the

crew of 850 men on the Bluecher were saved; the other 725 went down with

the ship. The loss of the Bluecher was the hardest blow the German navy

had sustained up to this time, as she was one of the newest and best

vessels of her class. She was built at a cost of $6,750,000. Her speed

was slower than that of the other vessels in the German squadron, which

doubtless accounted for her loss. The battle began about 150 miles from

Heligoland and ended within about fifty miles of this German naval base.

Early in the month of February, England threatened to put all foodstuffs

destined for German ports on the contraband list. In retaliation,

Germany, on February 4, through Admiral von Pohl, chief of the admiralty

staff, issued a proclamation designating the waters around Great Britain

and Ireland as a war area, to become effective February 18 and to be

enforced by a formidable fleet of submarines, the object being to

conduct war operations in this area for the purpose of destroying

commercial ships of the enemy.

Just at this time the great passenger steamship Lusitania, in her

passage from New York to Liverpool, hoisted the American flag while

sailing through the Irish Sea, and Germany charged that the British

Admiralty had issued confidential orders to captains of all British

ships to sail under the stars and stripes or other neutral flags when

necessary to use this means of protection against destruction by the

warships of the enemy. This situation seriously menaced the commerce of

the United States as well as that of all other neutral nations, and the

American Government, therefore, promptly issued a note of warning

to both belligerents and demanded in strong terms the protection of

American neutral rights on the high seas. Germany responded promptly

and promised to use every precaution to protect neutral shipping, but

pointed out that the use of the American flag by British ships would

make it difficult to distinguish neutral vessels from those of the

enemy; hence neutral shipping was urged to avoid the indicated war area.

Great Britain, on the other hand, claimed the right to use neutral flags

when necessary to protect human life and ships, when endangered by the

war vessels of the enemy; and under the laws of warfare and customs of

the nations this contention was correct.

It can readily be seen that this situation placed the sea commerce of

the United States, as well as that of all other neutral countries, in

a most dangerous position. Up to March 1, 1915, about twenty merchant

vessels of various nationalities were destroyed or damaged in the

war zone established by Germany, including Dutch, Norwegian, Danish,

American and British ships.

GREAT GERMAN VICTORY IN EAST PRUSSIA

After a difficult campaign against the Russian invaders in East

Prussia, the German army, by the masterly strategy of Field Marshal von

Hindenburg, practically annihilated the Russian Tenth Army of 150,

men, completing the task February 20. It was the most spectacular

campaign in the history of modern warfare.

The object of the German commander was not only to free East Prussia

from the Russian invasion, but to completely capture the Russian Tenth

Army. He sent one column in from the south to drive back the Russians

who occupied the Mazurian lake gateway to East Prussia, and another

column from the north was swung around in wide circles to the east

and south, aiming to join hands with the southern German column, thus

cutting off the Russian retreat. This movement would have succeeded

absolutely except for delay in passing through the swamps, caused by

mild weather which broke up the ice. A commander of one of the German

corps said: "Nature has always helped Russia. Two days of hard frost and

we should have had every man."

In the south also nature aided the Russians. There the German hosts

attacked the enemy in the face of a driving snowstorm from the north,

which hindered their operations but did not prevent them from gaining a

victory which resulted in freeing Prussian territory from the invader.

ALLIES FORCE THE DARDANELLES

On March 1 a great allied fleet of forty British and French warships,

having reduced the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles, was on its

way through the straits and the Sea of Marmora to Constantinople, with

the object of capturing the city. Panic prevailed in the Turkish capital

at the approach of the fleet, while for the first time in history

hostile flags flew over the forts at the mouth of the Dardanelles.

The naval operations of the Allies in the Dardanelles, which began on

February 17, proceeded without any serious check for a month. Mine

sweepers were in daily use, to clear the channel of submerged and

floating mines, and the forts at the Narrows, several miles inside the

entrance of the straits, were subject to bombardment every fine day.

High winds and fog hampered the operations to a considerable extent,

but the purpose of the Allies under Vice-Admiral Carden was adamant and

would not be denied. They were determined to hammer their way through to

the Turkish capital. The greatest battle of all history between warships

and shore forts was the result. Soon after the bombardment began it

became known that the allied fleets were led by the great new British

superdreadnaught Queen Elizabeth, launched after the war began and

armed with 15-inch guns of immense range which proved most effective in

reducing the forts at the mouth of the straits.

[Illustration: FROM THE DARDANELLES TO THE BLACK SEA

This Map Shows the Route of the Allied Fleets on the Way to

Constantinople, The Principal Fortified Places Are Clearly Indicated.]

THREE WARSHIPS SUNK

On March 18 three of the allied warships were sunk inside the

Dardanelles and two crippled by the Turks during a bombardment in which

ten vessels of the combined fleet participated. The official report of

the battle was as follows:

"Mine-sweeping having been in progress during the last ten days inside

the straits, a general attack was delivered by the British and French

fleets on Thursday morning upon the fortresses at the Narrows. At

10:45 A.M. the Queen Elizabeth, Inflexible, Agamemnon, and Lord Nelson

bombarded forts J, L, T, U and V, while the Triumph and Prince George

fired at batteries F, E and H. A heavy fire was opened on the ships from

howitzers and field guns.

"At 12:22 o'clock the French squadron, consisting of the Suffren,

Gaulois, Charlemagne and Bouvet, advanced up the Dardanelles and engaged

the forts at closer range. Forts I, U, F and E replied strongly. Their

fire was silenced by the ten battleships inside the straits, all the

ships being hit several times during this part of the action.

"By 1:25 P.M. all the forts had ceased firing. The Vengeance,

Irresistible, Albion, Ocean, Swiftsure and Majestic then advanced to

relieve the six old battleships inside the straits. As the French

squadron, which had engaged the forts in a most brilliant fashion, was

passing out, the Bouvet was blown up by a drifting mine. She sank in

fathoms north of Arenkeuf village in less than three minutes.

"At 2:23 P.M. the relief battleships renewed the attack on the forts,

which again opened fire. The attack on the forts was maintained while

the operations of the mine-sweepers continued.

"At 4:09 P.M. the Irresistible quitted the line, listing heavily, and

at 5:50 o'clock sank, having probably struck a drifting mine. At 6:

o'clock the Ocean, also having struck a mine, sank. Both vessels sank

in deep water, practically the whole of their crews having been removed

safely under a hot fire. The loss of the ships was caused by mines

drifting with the current, which were encountered in areas hitherto

swept clear.

"The British casualties in personnel were not heavy considering the

scale of the operations, but practically the whole of the crew of the

Bouvet were lost with the ship, an internal explosion having apparently

supervened on the explosion of the mine." [About 500 lives were lost on

the Bouvet.]

On March 16 Vice-Admiral Carden, who had been incapacitated by illness,

was succeeded in the chief command by Rear-Admiral John Michael De

Robeck, with the acting rank of vice-admiral.

ADMIRAL DE ROBECK'S TRIBUTE TO THE FRENCH

After the engagement of March 18 Admiral De Robeck telegraphed to the

British Admiralty the following tribute to the gallantry of the French

in action:

"I desire to bring to the notice of your Lordships the splendid behavior

of the French squadron. Their heavy loss leaves them quite undaunted.

They were led into close action by Rear-Admiral Guepratte with the

greatest gallantry."

About this time it was noted by the press and generally commented upon,

in both England and America, that the Admiralty had not made public a

single word of commendation for the work of the British navy since

the war began. This unusual fact was interpreted as evidence of the

inflexible purpose of the British to ignore minor losses and even

defeats until the main battleship fleets of the belligerents should come

to grips in the open sea. English newspapers began to taunt the Germans

with permitting their navy to "rust in the Kiel Canal."

The sinking of the battle cruisers Irresistible, Ocean and Bouvet was

the heaviest loss sustained by the Allies since the war began. The

British crews were rescued, almost to a man, and the loss of the French

crew was due mainly to the internal explosion following that of the

mine. All the ships sunk were of the earlier pre-dreadnought type. On

the same day, March 18, the British battle cruiser Inflexible and the

French battleship Gaulois were put out of commission temporarily by the

fire of the Turkish forts.

The Irresistible, the Ocean and the Bouvet were all sunk in portions

of the straits which had been swept clear of anchored mines, and the

drifting mines which proved so deadly were undoubtedly set afloat by the

Turks, probably under the direction of German officers, on the swift

current of the Dardanelles at points near the allied ships after the

action began. On March 24 the allied fleets renewed with vigor their

attack upon the forts at the Narrows of the Dardanelles. A large body of

troops was also landed upon the peninsula of Gallipoli, commanding the

approach to Constantinople, and the Russian Black Sea fleet co-operated

by a bombardment of the Turkish naval base, which left the Turkish fleet

without supplies and practically paralyzed its movements.

BATTLE OF NEUVE CHAPELLE

The presence of part of Earl Kitchener's new British volunteer army at

the western front in Belgium and France was signalized between March

and March 16, when the British gained a series of successes that drew

marked attention to their operations. To the south of Ypres in Flanders

the British army, which a German attack had compelled to fall back

beyond St. Eloi, recaptured that village and almost all of the

neighboring German trenches, in spite of several counterattacks.

On March 11 Field Marshal Sir John French described the fighting which

led to the capture of Neuve Chapelle in Northern France as follows:

"Since my last communique the situation on our front, between

Armentières and La Bassée, has been materially altered by a successful

initiative on the part of the troops engaged. Shortly after 8 A.M. on

March 10 these troops assaulted and carried German trenches in the

neighborhood of Neuve Chapelle.

"Before noon we captured the whole village of Neuve Chapelle. Our

infantry at once proceeded to confirm and extend the local advantage

gained. By dusk the whole labyrinth of trenches on a front about 4,

yards was in our hands. We had established ourselves about 1,200 yards

beyond the enemy's advanced trenches.

"During the 11th the enemy made repeated efforts to recover the ground

lost. All his counter-attacks were repulsed with heavy loss.

"We continue to make steady progress and hard fighting continues. The

local initiative displayed by our troops daily is admirable. It says

much for the spirit which animates the army. The success achieved on the

10th and 11th is a striking example." "THE END OF THE WORLD"

An officer who was wounded in the fighting thus vividly describes the

battle of Neuve Chapelle:

"Modern warfare is such an infernal business that any man who is not

killed ought to be cheerful. It all seems like a wild dream to me.

I never heard such a row in all my life. And the bullets and the

shells--it was like passing through the most awful hail storm.

"We were in our trenches at dawn when suddenly a most infernal din

commenced. You never saw such a sight; you never heard such a noise. I

heard one of my men say, 'This is the end of the world,' and I did not

blame him for thinking so. We could see in the distance great masses of

flame, earth and brick in great clouds of smoke, all ascending together

as enormous shells screamed over our heads and burst among the German

entrenchments and the houses of the village. At the end of a half-hour's

bombardment the fire ceased as suddenly as it had begun.

"All this time we were awaiting the order to advance towards Aubers. At

length we jumped out into the open. The air seemed alive with bullets

and shells. There was a buzzing noise, such as you hear in a tropical

forest on a hot summer day. On we moved, until we came to an open

stretch, which was being swept by an infernal shell fire. We crossed

this in rushes to gain the shelter of a few houses, losing some 40 or

men. There we remained for some little time, reforming the battalion and

awaiting further orders. When these came we moved forward over rough,

open ground, coming upon lots of our poor fellows lying dead. They were

from the only battalion which had preceded us.

"Then we entered the German trenches which had been captured. Again we

halted. All this time our shells, German shells and rifle and machine

gun bullets were shrieking overhead.

"Thank goodness, in an action like this you seem to lose your senses!

A kind of elevation above all ordinary feelings comes over you and

you feel as though you were rushing through air. There is so much to

frighten you that you cease to be afraid. Then your senses gradually

come back. That is why all infantry attacks should be carried through

with one overwhelming rush."

GERMAN ADVANCE IN POLAND

On March 12 two German armies were on the move in Poland, seeking to

pierce the Russian lines. One of these armies was advancing along the

road to Przasnysz with the bank of the River Narew as its objective.

This was the main German attack and inaugurated one of the biggest

battles of the war.

Farther south, on the Pilica, a German feint was in progress with

the object of weakening the Russian defense in the north. But while

Petrograd seemed to be resigning itself to the idea of a second

withdrawal from before Przasnysz, there was little doubt of the ultimate

outcome of this German attempt to gain a firm footing on Russian soil.

The German troops were moved forward in close order and only in the

daytime, and were entirely dependent on what natural cover they could

find between the rushes, as the ground was frozen too hard to permit the

use of intrenching tools.

These tactics naturally involved very heavy losses. The German

casualties are also understood to have been extremely severe around

Simno, especially on their extreme left, where they lost the greater

part of their transport. It appeared certain that the Russians had

fallen back before an onrush of forces of overwhelming numerical

superiority, but it was equally certain that with every yard of the

German advance from their railways the shock of their impact weakened

while the Russian powers of resistance were enhanced.

BRITISH RELIEVE THE PRESSURE

Just as the French attacked the Germans in the western campaign when

Field Marshal von Hindenburg made his rush from East Prussia in

February, so the British army operating in Flanders undertook the task

of relieving the pressure on its Russian ally when the Russians again

were attacked in north Poland. This was part of the general plan of the

allied generals. When one was attacked the other attacked, so as to

compel the Germans and Austrians to keep strong forces at every point,

and endeavor to prevent them from sending new troops where they could do

the most good.

In March the Germans were occupied in an attempt to crush the Russians.

For this purpose they had an army estimated at nearly half a million men

marching along the roads toward Przasnysz. To prevent this army from

being further strengthened the British began to thrust at the German

line north of La Bassée, and besides reporting the capture of the

village of Neuve Chapelle, they advanced beyond that town.

BRITISH AUXILIARY CRUISER LOST

On March 12 the Admiralty issued a report of the loss of the large

British auxiliary cruiser Bayano while on naval patrol duty in the

Irish Sea. Evidence pointed to her having been torpedoed by a German

submarine. Only 27 of the Bayano's crew of 250 were saved. Fourteen

officers, including the commander, went down with the ship. The Bayano

was a new twin screw steel steamer of 5,948 tons. The survivors were

afloat on a raft when rescued. The loss of the Bayano was the most

serious of the submarine blockade of the British coasts up to that time.

GERMAN CRUISER DRESDEN SUNK

For several months British warships in the South Atlantic and South

Pacific oceans sought in vain for the German cruiser Dresden, one of the

German squadron defeated off the Falkland Islands by Admiral Sturdee in

December, when she was the only German vessel to escape. On February

she sank the British ship Conway Castle off Corral in the South Pacific,

and on March 14 she was caught near Juan Fernandez Island by the British

cruisers Glasgow and Kent and the auxiliary cruiser Orama. An action

ensued and after five minutes' fighting the Dresden hauled down her

flag. She was much damaged and set on fire, and after she had been

burning for some time her magazine exploded and she sank. The crew were

saved. Fifteen badly wounded Germans were landed at Valparaiso, and the

remainder of the crew were taken on board the auxiliary cruiser Orama as

prisoners of war.

The Dresden was a sister ship of the famous Emden, and was commissioned

in October, 1907. In the spring of 1914 the Dresden was on the Caribbean

station, and was lying off Tampico when the American forces captured

Vera Cruz. Later on in the summer the Dresden was the vessel on which

Victoriano Huerta, upon abandoning Mexico, traveled from Puerta to

Jamaica. Upon the outbreak of the war the Dresden was still stationed in

Central American waters, and for a time was hunted by the British and

French cruisers in the North Atlantic. She steamed south, however, and

after sinking the British steamer Hyades and the Holmwood off the coast

of Brazil, respectively, on August 16 and 26, went through the Strait

of Magellan and joined Admiral Count Von Spee's fleet in the southern

Pacific.

The sinking of the Dresden left at large on the high seas, so far as was

known, only the German cruiser Karlsruhe, last reported as operating in

the West Indies, and the auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm, which was

still raiding commerce in the South Atlantic.

THE FALL OF PKZEMYSL

On March 22 the long siege of Przemysl, the formidable Galician fortress

that had been called the "key to the Austrian empire," ended with the

surrender of the city to the Russians. The siege stands as the fifth

longest in 136 years, having lasted 185 days, surpassed in duration only

by the sieges of Gibraltar, Sebastopol, Vicksburg, Richmond and Port

Arthur. The news of the Austrians' surrender was the most important that

had come from the eastern front in weeks. For six months the stronghold

had withstood assault, remaining a constant menace in the rear of the

Russian advance in Galicia. From 120,000 to 150,000 Russians had been

held in the neighborhood by the necessity of masking the fortress.

Numerous efforts had been made to reach the beleaguered city by

relieving armies, but each in turn proved unavailing, though for a time

in December it appeared likely that a combined German and Austrian army

would succeed in raising the siege.

The fall of Przemysl was preceded by a sortie of the garrison in a last

desperate attempt to hack its way through the enemy's lines. After a

seven hours' battle they were compelled to retreat with a loss of nearly

4,000 prisoners. Only three days' rations were left. In the surrender of

the city the Russians announced the taking of nearly 120,000 prisoners,

including nine generals, 93 officers of the general staff, 2,

officers and officials, and 117,000 soldiers.

Twenty-four thousand soldiers of the Przemysl garrison were killed

during the long siege, according to dispatches from Petrograd. Twenty

thousand more were wounded making the total casualties of the Austrian

defenders 44,000 men. Depleted by disease, subsisting on horseflesh, and

surrounded by a superior force of Russians, the garrison of Przemysl was

forced to surrender, but fell with honor, the gallant character of the

defense under General von Kusmanek being conceded on all sides. The

Russian commander who received the surrender was General Seliwanoff. In

the early days of the siege a Bulgarian, General Radko Dimitrieff, was

in command of the investing forces. General Seliwanoff commanded the

Russian forces at Vladivostok during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05.

The duration of the siege compared with the length of time it took the

Germans to capture such strongholds as Liège, Namur and Antwerp was due

to two causes, one being the desire of the Russians to keep the loss of

life among the besieging army at a minimum, the other to the lack of

great guns which the Germans had in Belgium.

The investment was not a close one, the garrison having had a radius

of about twelve miles in which to move about. An aeroplane post was

maintained almost up to the last, and it is said that even some scanty

food supplies were carried in by aeroplane.

Although the victory was a big one, it cost the Russians dearly. It

is estimated that 150,000 Russians were killed and wounded during the

months that the siege went on. Not only were many Russians killed by the

efficient fire of the Austrian gunners, but the fierce sorties

where attackers and defenders fought hand-to-hand resulted in heavy

casualties.

Przemysl was the greatest fortress in the Austrian empire. Hill, rock,

marsh and river combined to give it strength and the work of nature had

been supplemented by the labors of the finest military engineers in

central Europe. The gallant defense which the garrison put up for

days is recorded as Austria's most noteworthy contribution to the war.

For a long time the fortress had faced famine.

With the fall of Przemysl the only important fortified town in Austrian

Galicia which was not in the hands of the Russians was Cracow, close to

the German border. A large Russian army with artillery was released for

action. The Russian left wing stretched from the province of Bukowina on

the southeast to Tarnow and the Vistula River near Cracow on the west.

ON THE EASTERN FRONT

On the eastern front of the stupendous battle line in March the most

sanguinary fighting of the war occurred. Losses on both sides were

appalling, while the gains in territorial acquisition amounted to little

or nothing.

Describing the enormous losses on both sides in Poland, a neutral

observer, Mr. Stanley Washburn, said in the American Review of Reviews:

"The German program contemplated taking both Warsaw and Ivangorod and

the holding for the winter of the line between the two formed by the

Vistula. The Russians took the offensive from Ivangorod, crossed the

river, and after hideous fighting fairly drove Austrians and Germans

from positions of great strength around the quaint little Polish town of

Kozienice. From this town for perhaps ten miles west, and I know not how

far north and south there is a belt of forest of fir and spruce. Near

Kozienice the Russian infantry, attacking in flank and front, fairly

wrested the enemy's position and drove him back into this jungle. The

Russians simply sent their troops in after them.

"The fight was now over a front of perhaps twenty kilometers; there

was no strategy. It was all very simple. In this belt were Germans and

Austrians. They were to be driven out if it took a month. Then began the

carnage. Day after day the Russians fed troops in on their side of

the wood. Companies, battalions, regiments, and even brigades, were

absolutely cut off from all communication. None knew what was going on

anywhere but a few feet in front. All knew that the only thing required

of them was to keep advancing.

"Yard by yard the ranks and lines of the Austrians were driven back, but

the nearer their retreat brought them to the open country west of the

wood the hotter was the contest waged. The last two kilometers of the

woody belt are something incredible to behold; there seems hardly an

acre that is not sown like the scene of a paperchase--only here with

bloody bandages and bits of uniform. Men fighting hand to hand with

clubbed muskets and bayonets contested each tree and ditch. The end was,

of course, inevitable. The troops of the dual alliance could not fill

their losses, and the Russians could. "At last came the day when the

dirty, grimy, bloody soldiers of the Czar pushed their antagonists out

of the far side of the woodland--and what a scene occurred in that

open bit of country with the quaint little village of Augustowo at the

crossroads! Once out in the open the hungry guns of the Russians, so

long yapping ineffectively without knowing what their shells were doing,

had their chance. Down every road through the forest came the six-horse

teams with the guns jumping and jingling behind, with their accompanying

caissons heavy with death-charged shrapnel, and the moment the enemy

were in the clear these batteries, eight guns to a unit, were unlimbered

on the fringe of the wood and pouring out their death and destruction on

the wretched enemy now retreating hastily across the open. And the place

where the Russians first turned loose on the retreat is a place to

remember.

"Dead horses, bits of men, blue uniforms, shattered transport,

overturned gun-carriages, bones, broken skulls, and grisly bits of

humanity strew every acre of the ground.

ENORMOUS LOSSES ON BOTH SIDES

"A Russian officer who seemed to be in authority on this gruesome spot

volunteered the information that already they had buried at Kozienice,

in the wood and on this open spot, 16,000 dead. Those that had fallen in

the open and along the road had been decently interred, as the forests

of crosses for ten miles along that bloody way clearly indicated, but

back in the woods themselves were hundreds and hundreds of bodies that

lay as they had fallen. Sixteen thousand dead means at least 70,

casualties all told, or 35,000 on a side if losses were equally

distributed. And this, figured on the basis of the 16,000 dead already

buried, without allowing for the numbers of the fallen that still lie

about in the woods. And yet here is a battle the name of which is hardly

more than known in America, yet the losses on both sides amount to more

than the entire army that General Meade commanded at the Battle of

Gettysburg.

"He who has the heart to walk about in this ghastly place can read the

last sad moments of almost every corpse. Here one sees a blue-coated

Austrian with leg shattered by a jagged bit of a shell. The trouser

perhaps has been ripped open and clumsy attempts been made to dress the

wound, while a great splotch of red shows where the fading strength was

exhausted before the flow of life's stream could be checked. Here again

is a body with a ghastly rip in the chest, made perhaps by bayonet or

shell fragment. Frantic hands now stiffened in death are seen trying to

hold together great wounds from which life must have flowed in a few

great spurts of blood. And here it is no fiction about the ground being

soaked with gore. One can see it,--coagulated like bits of raw liver,

while great chunks of sand and earth are in lumps, held together by this

human glue. Other bodies lie in absolute peace and serenity. Struck dead

with a rifle ball through the heart or some other instantly vital spot.

These lie like men asleep, and on their faces is the peace of absolute

rest and relaxation, but of these alas! there are few compared to the

ones upon whose pallid, blood-stained faces one reads the last frantic

agony of death.

"The soldiers themselves go on from battlefield to battlefield, from

one scene of carnage to another. They see their regiments dwindle to

nothing, their officers decimated, three-fourths of their comrades

dead or wounded, and yet each night they gather about their bivouacs

apparently undisturbed by it all. One sees them on the road the day

after one of these desperate fights marching cheerfully along, singing

songs and laughing and joking with one another. This is _morale_ and it

is of the stuff that victories are made. And of such is the fiber of the

Russian soldier, scattered over these hundreds of miles of front to-day.

He exists in millions and has abiding faith in his companions, in his

officers, and in his cause."

TERRIFIC FIGHTING IN MIDWINTER

Writing of the desperate fighting in Poland in midwinter when the

Germans made a tremendous effort to pierce the Russian lines on the

Bzura and Rawka front, with Warsaw as their objective point, an American

correspondent, Mr. John F. Bass, said: "The fighting was terrific.

The detonations of the cannon came in such rapid succession that they

sounded like giant machine guns and the windows of the dressing stations

for the wounded shook as if from an earthquake. It was not possible to

distinguish individual gun explosions from the Battle of the infantry

fire. All were mingled in one inarticulate battle shriek. At

night, as in a furious thunderstorm, the darkness was pierced with the

unintermittent flashes of the guns, while sickly green rockets shed a

ghastly light over the fighting lines. The wounded brought in filled the

hospitals to overflowing.

"It was estimated by the Russians that the Germans lost 60,000 men. I

was told by an officer that the bodies of German soldiers were piled up

before the Russian trenches in many of the assaults so high that German

shells bursting among them threw mangled pieces of human beings into the

trenches among the Russians.

"At night, under the glare of search-lights, the undulating mass of

wounded made efforts to extricate themselves. Then, toward 2 o'clock in

the morning, they moved no more." The winter cold had done its deadly

work.

FRENCH MAKE GAINS IN MARCH

In the Champagne country of northern France the month of March was

marked by almost continuous fighting of the fiercest character. French

advices from Chalons-sur-Marne on March 29 were to the effect that

11,000 German dead had been taken from the trenches won by the French in

the previous twenty days and that the total German losses during that

time in the Champagne district exceeded 50,000 in killed, wounded and

prisoners.

STIRRING EVENTS OF THE SPRING

All through the month of April the days were crowded with important

occurrences east and west along the battle lines. The Russian movement

across the Carpathians was pressed with vigor and some of the fiercest

fighting of the war resulted, as the combined German and Austrian troops

resisted the Russian advance into Hungary.

Early in the spring the British forces gained a notable victory at

Neuve Chapelle in the western theater of war. Then the German forces

in Flanders were heavily reinforced until it was estimated that they

numbered not less than half a million men, gathered for the purpose of

smashing the line of the Allies at the strategic point where the British

and the Belgian troops were in touch with one another. Here, for three

days, the Germans succeeded in pushing forward, driving a wedge for

several miles into the line of the allied armies of England, France

and Belgium. And here, too, the Canadian division of the British army

covered itself with glory and once more demonstrated the value to the

British empire of the "lion's whelps." On one notable occasion, destined

to be recorded in history as a red-letter day for Canadian arms, the

gallant fellows from the great Dominion "saved the situation," to quote

from the report of Field Marshal French, by a splendid charge, during

which they recaptured from the Germans four of their field guns that had

been lost the day before.

HOW CANADIAN COMMANDER DIED LEADING YPRES CHARGE

_From Sir Max Aitken's official account of the battle of Ypres._

"It did not seem that any human being could live in the shower of shot

and shell which began to play on the advancing troops. They suffered

terrible casualties. For a short time every other man seemed to fall,

but the attack was pressed even closer and closer. The 4th Canadian

battalion at one moment came under a particularly withering fire. For a

moment it wavered.

"Its most gallant commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. Birchall, carrying,

after an old fashion, a light cane, coolly and cheerfully rallied his

men and at the very moment when his example had infected them, fell dead

at the head of his battalion.

"With a cry of anger they sprang forward as if to avenge his death. The

astonishing attack which followed, pushed home in the face of direct

frontal fire made in broad daylight by battalions whose names should

live forever in the memories of soldiers, was carried to the first line

of German trenches. After a hand-to-hand struggle the last German who

resisted was bayoneted and the trench was won.

"It was clear that several German divisions were attempting to crush or

drive back the Third Brigade and to sweep around and overwhelm our left

wing. The last attempt partially succeeded. German troops swung past the

unsupported left of the brigade and, slipping in between the wood and

St. Julien, added to our torturing anxieties by apparently isolating us

from the brigade base.

"In the exertions made by the Third Brigade during this supreme crisis,

Major Norsworthy, already almost disabled by a bullet wound, was

bayoneted and killed. Captain McQuaig of the same battalion was

seriously wounded.

"General Curry flung his left flank around and in the crisis of this

immense struggle held his trenches from Thursday afternoon until Sunday

afternoon. He did not abandon them then. There were none left. They had

been obliterated by artillery.

"He withdrew his undefeated troops from the fragments of his field

fortifications and the hearts of his men were as completely unbroken as

the parapets of his trenches were completely broken.

"The Ninetieth Winnipeg Rifles, which held the extreme left of the

brigade position at the most critical moment, was expelled from the

trenches early Friday morning by an emission of poisonous gas, but

recovering in three-quarters of an hour it counter-attacked, retook the

trenches it had abandoned and bayoneted the enemy.

"General Alderson, commanding the reinforcements, directed an advance by

a British brigade which had been brought up in support.

"As the troops making it swept through the Canadian left and center,

many of them going to certain death, they paused for an instant with

deep-throated cheers for Canada, indicating the warm admiration which

the Canadians' exertions had excited in the British army.

"On Monday morning General Curry was again called upon to lead his

shrunken Second Brigade, reduced to a quarter of its original strength,

into action at the apex of the line, which position the brigade held all

that day. On Wednesday it was relieved and retired to the rear. 'Not a

Canadian gun was lost in the long battle of retreat.'"

Concluding his account, Sir Max wrote: "The empire is engaged in a

struggle without quarter and without compromise against an enemy still

superbly organized, still immensely powerful, still confident that its

strength is the mate of its necessity. To arms then, and still to arms!

The graveyard of Canada in Flanders is very large."

GERMAN DRIVE TO THE COAST

Before the beginning of the spring campaign, it was realized by the

Allies that the German general staff was preparing for a determined

drive to the coast through the British and Belgian lines that protected

the approach to Calais. It was for this reason that the British took the

offensive at Neuve Chapelle and at the important strategic point known

as Hill 60. The purpose of Field Marshal French was to strike the first

blow, and the attacks were seemingly successful; but later news from the

front showed that "something went wrong" at Neuve Chapelle, which in a

large measure upset the British plans.

At Hill No. 60, though the British captured that important position,

they were held back from further advance. Then came the long-expected

German attack in the direction of Ypres, which was considered as one of

the keys to the French seaport of Calais. By this attack the Allies

were forced back from the Ypres canal, and the positions gained by the

Germans brought them within twenty-five miles of the coast at Dunkirk.

The fighting at Neuve Chapelle, Hill 60 and Ypres was probably the most

sanguinary of the entire war up to that time. The losses on both sides

were enormous. Germans, British, Belgians and French were killed

literally by the thousand, the British losses at Neuve Chapelle alone

being estimated at 20,000, while the German casualties in forcing the

passage of the Ypres canal a few days later exceeded 9,000 men.

PRAISE FOR THE CANADIANS

It was in the most furious conflict of the western campaign--a battle

between Langemarcke and Steenstrate, in Flanders--that the Canadian

troops saved the British army from what seemed almost inevitable defeat.

The Canadian division was in the front line of the British forces on

April 23, when the Germans made their sudden assaults and broke

through the line for a distance of five miles. Only the brilliant

counter-charges of the Canadians saved the situation. They had many

casualties, but their gallantry and determination brought success and,

in the language of the official report of the prolonged battle, "their

conduct was magnificent throughout."

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 hell."

In their great effort to smash the Allies on the Yser the Germans also

sustained terrible losses. By April 27 it was asserted that the German

force that managed to pass 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

canal 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

passage through the straits to the Bosporus. The landing was resisted by

Turkish troops, but the Allies succeeded in establishing 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 warships 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 canal 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.