THE RAID INTO ALSACE.
Perhaps you wonder, as the Belgians did, what the French and the British
were doing while the Germans were battering down the forts of Liége. You
will probably ask why they did not rush at once to the help of the
gallant Belgians, and fight the Germans on their own frontier. The
answer is that neither France nor Britain was prepared for war. Both
were hoping against hope that Russia and Austria would come to some
peaceful arrangement. The fact that neither we nor the French were
prepared shows clearly that we had no desire for war. The fact that
within twenty-four hours after the declaration of war the Germans had
three army corps in front of Liége shows equally clearly that they had
long determined to fight.
All that the Belgians could do was to hold up the German advance for a
short time. As the terrible hours slipped by, the people grew very
anxious, and on every lip were the questions, "Où sont les Anglais?" "Où
sont les Français?" A solitary motor car appeared, decorated with the
Union Jack, and as it passed through the towns and villages the people
cheered it to the echo. "The British are coming!" they cried. "Hurrah!
hurrah!" Alas! both the French and the British were too far away to help
the gallant Belgians struggling in the forts at Liége.
While the French were mobilizing as rapidly as possible they sent a
brigade, with some cavalry and artillery, into Upper Alsace. I need not
tell you what their object was. You will remember that ever since 1871
most Frenchmen have longed for the day when Alsace should again belong
to France. The Alsatians have been harshly treated by the Germans. The
German soldiers stationed in their towns have always been bitter against
them because of their French sympathies.
In the year 1913, at the little Alsatian town of Zabern, a German
lieutenant is said to have offered a reward to any of his men who
stabbed a "Wacke," the German nickname for a native of Alsace.
Disturbances arose, and in the course of them the lieutenant drew his
sword and cut a lame cobbler over the head. The people of the town were
very angry at this treatment, but when they protested their chief men
were seized and imprisoned. An appeal was made to the Prussian
Parliament. The War Minister supported the soldiers, but the Parliament
stood up stoutly for the people of Zabern, and a military court
sentenced the lieutenant to forty-three days' imprisonment. A higher
court, however, did away with this sentence, and also found that no
blame attached to the colonel of the regiment. While the trials were
taking place the Crown Prince sent a telegram to the colonel praising
him for what he had done. Thus, you see, the Germans had overthrown the
rule of law in Alsace, and in place of it had set up the rule of the
sword. Knowing all this, the French thought that the Alsatians would
welcome their former fellow-countrymen with open arms, and would rise as
one man against their oppressors. The appearance of French soldiers in
Alsace would be a sign to them that the day of deliverance had arrived.
We must not think of this advance into Alsace as part of a
well-thought-out plan by the French commander-in-chief. The forces
employed in the work were far too weak to hold Alsace, even if they had
been able to conquer it. From the point of view of strategy it was a
mistake.
Look at the map on page 98, and find, to the south of the Vosges
Mountains, the great French fortress of Belfort. From this place you
will see a little plain across which an army can move easily to the
Upper Rhine. While the Germans were advancing on Liége, French airmen
flew across the plain and discovered that only a few of the enemy's
troops were on the left bank of the Rhine. The French thereupon
determined to occupy the country up to the left bank of the river. On
the evening of Friday, 7th August, the day on which von Emmich asked
General Leman for a truce so that he might bury his dead, a French
brigade marched out of Belfort and crossed the frontier. Just before
sunset it reached the little town of Altkirch, about a dozen miles
inside German territory, and there found small bodies of Germans lining
the trenches and awaiting an attack. The French infantry advanced with
great spirit, carried the trenches, and by bayonet charges put the
Germans to flight. Cavalry at once followed up the retreating enemy, and
worked great havoc on them.
Then the French entered Altkirch, bearing before them the tricolour.
The townsfolk rushed out of their houses to welcome them, and when they
saw the flag under which they had lived and prospered forty-four years
ago, they raised cheer after cheer. Already some of the villagers on the
frontier had torn up the poles which marked the border-line between
France and Germany.
In less than an hour the French were on the outskirts of Mulhouse, the
largest and most important manufacturing town of Alsace, nine miles to
the north of Altkirch. The people of Mulhouse have always been deeply
attached to France. When the town became German in 1871, large numbers
of them left their homes and settled in France and Algeria, in order
that they might not be severed from the country which they loved so
well. Mulhouse was occupied with but little resistance next day, and
that evening General Joffre sent out the following message to the
people:--
"Children of Alsace,--After forty-four years of sorrowful
waiting, French soldiers once more tread the soil of your noble
country. They are the pioneers in the great work of revenge. For
them, what emotions it calls forth, and what pride!
"To complete the work, they have made the sacrifice of their
lives. The French nation as one man urges them on, and in the
folds of their flag are inscribed the magic words, 'Right and
Liberty.' Long live Alsace! Long live France!
"General-in-chief of the French Armies,
"Joffre."
The news that the French army had entered Alsace was received in Paris
with pride and delight. Men were thrilled with the thought that the lost
provinces were on the eve of being restored to them. The Alsatians
living in Paris, led by Alsatian women in Alsatian costume, and carrying
palm branches, went in procession to the Place de Concorde. Ladders were
placed against the monument, and an Alsatian climbed up and wound a
broad tricolour sash around the statue. The crowd below cried, "Away
with the crape!" and in an instant all the signs of mourning that had
been on the statue since 1871 were torn away. After hearing a patriotic
speech, the crowd sang the Marseillaise, and marched away cheering.
* * * * *
On Sunday morning, August 9th, came bitter disappointment. Large bodies
of Germans, very nearly a whole army corps, were seen closing in upon
the town from the north and east. The French were too few to hold them
back, and were obliged to retire. "To retreat," said the French report,
"was the wisest course."
When the French retreated the Germans lost no time in taking vengeance
on the Alsatians. One of the deeds which they did was so terribly cruel
that you will hardly be able to believe it. Yet the story was told in
one of the German newspapers, and the writer actually gloried in the
dastardly crime that he there set forth. It seems that a German column
was passing along a wooded defile when it met a French boy scout, who
was seized, and asked where the French troops were. He refused to say.
At this moment a French battery opened fire from a wood only fifty yards
away. The Germans managed to get into cover, and took the boy with them.
When they asked him if he knew that the French were in the wood, he did
not deny it. They told him that they were going to shoot him, but he
showed no fear. He walked with firm steps to a telegraph post, stood
against it, and with the green vineyard behind him, smiled as they shot
him dead.
[Illustration: The Brave Boy Scout.
"He walked with firm steps to a telegraph post, stood against it, and
with the green vineyard behind him, smiled as they shot him dead."]
The German who told the story said that "it was a pity to see such
wasted courage." The boy's courage was not wasted. It has inspired many
a French boy and girl, as I am sure it will inspire you, to be just as
fearless as he was, and to prefer death to the betrayal of one's
countrymen.
* * * * *
Now let me tell you an incident of quite another character. During one
of the fights the Germans retired, leaving behind them a young wounded
officer. The French soldiers picked him up and treated him with that
kindness which the Allies always show to those who fall into their
hands. The young man, however, was dying, and nothing could save his
life. His last words were, "Thank you, gentlemen. I have done my duty. I
have served my country as you are serving yours."
This young man was the son of a former German ambassador in London, and
up to a short time before the outbreak of war was a Rhodes scholar[200]
at Oxford.
* * * * *
So the raid into Alsace ended. The French had gained nothing, but they
had not fought in vain. They now knew that Alsace was not strongly held
by the Germans, and they had proved that their artillery was far better
than that of the enemy. They had shown, too, that the French infantry
was just as gallant and dashing as it had been in the brave days of old,
and they had encouraged the Alsatians to expect that the yoke of the
tyrants would soon be broken.
On the day that the French retired from Mulhouse, General Joffre decided
that the raid should be followed by an invasion. The forces brought
together for this purpose were commanded by General Pau, an old soldier
who had fought in the war of 1870-71. Like Nelson, he had lost an arm.
He was considered one of the best of French commanders.
The French advanced to the north of their former route, and carried all
before them. On 19th August they again attacked Mulhouse. There was a
good deal of fierce fighting, but the Germans were driven out of the
town, and no fewer than twenty-four of their guns were captured. On 20th
August Mulhouse was in the hands of the French once more.
Then they marched south to Altkirch, and the Germans, who were afraid of
being cut off from the bridges of the Rhine, retreated before them. The
French seized the heads of the bridges on the left bank of the river,
and then began to move northward along the plain towards the fortress of
Colmar, which protects the main crossing of the Rhine. All the time more
and more French troops were swarming across the passes of the Vosges,
and were threatening to cut off the Germans from Strassburg. Things were
looking extremely well for the French. It seemed that before long they
would be in front of Strassburg and Metz.
All this time, however, the Germans were bringing up an overwhelming
number of troops, and on 20th August they began their counter-attack. It
was at once successful; the French were driven back, and the Germans
claimed to have captured 10,000 prisoners and fifty guns. On the Belgian
border, as we shall learn in the following pages, the Germans were also
winning victories, and France needed all her troops to defend her own
soil. By the 25th of August the French had left Alsace. The invasion was
over. It had failed.
[Illustration: The Fight at Mulhouse on August 9, 1914, during the
French Raid into Alsace.]
[Footnote 200: Under the will of Cecil Rhodes, a former Premier of Cape
Colony, a sum of money was set aside to send colonial students to the
University of Oxford. In addition, Oxford scholarships were founded for
two students from each of the states of the United States and for
fifteen students from Germany. The students were not to be merely
bookworms, but clever youths, manly, truthful, upright, and successful
in outdoor sports.]
[Illustration: Uhlans on the March.
_Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd._]