In October, 1914, the headquarters of the second German army at St.
Quentin had issued an Order regulating the use of fire-squirts ejecting
inflammable liquid. A special Corps of Pioneers, attachable to any unit
which might need them, had been organized to handle this novel weapon.
The Order explained that the instrument could squirt a flame which would
cause mortal injury and which, owing to the heat generated, would drive
the enemy to a considerable distance. It was recommended particularly
for street fighting.
_Times History of the War._
[Illustration]
_WE ARE ON OUR WAY TO CALAIS!_
In those days the German headquarters gave continuously the order, "To
Calais, to Calais," and the staff considered no difficulties, calculated
no sacrifices, in order to achieve success.
What these frenzied orders have cost in human lives history will tell
later on.
"_The German Fury in Belgium_,"
By L. MOKVELD.
Then the "seventy fives" were brought up at a gallop and poured a hail
of shell at the demoralized German infantry wading frantically through
the water towards the canal. Rifles and machine guns joined the work of
destruction, and the placid lake between the railway and canal was soon
dotted with drowning Germans fallen from the demoralized crowds
struggling to reach a haven of safety over the bridges of St. Georges,
Schoorbakke, and Tervaete.
The crisis of the battle of the Yser was over; the Germans had made
their great effort and had failed.
_The Times History of the War._
_Battle of the Yser. October, 1914._
[Illustration]
_WRITE IT DOWN, SCHOOLMASTER_
_William: "Write it down, Schoolmaster. Monday shall be Copper Day;
Tuesday, Potato Day; Wednesday, Leather Day; Thursday, Gold Day; Friday,
Rubber Day; Saturday, no Dinner Day, and Sunday, Hate Day!"_
Take you the folk of the Earth in pay,
With bars of gold your ramparts lay,
Bedeck the ocean with bow on bow,
Ye reckon well, but not well enough now,
French and Russian, they matter not,
A blow for a blow, a shot for a shot,
We fight the battle with bronze and steel,
And the time that is coming Peace will seal,
You we will hate with a lasting hate,
We will never forego our hate,
Hate by water and hate by land,
Hate of the head and hate of the hand,
Hate of the hammer and hate of the crown,
Hate of seventy millions choking down,
We love as one, we hate as one,
We have one foe and one alone,
ENGLAND!
_Hymn of Hate, by_ ERNST LISSAUER.
_Translation by_ BARBARA HENDERSON.
_New York Times, Oct., 1914._
[Illustration]
_BARBED WIRE_
[Illustration]
_THE SEA MINE_
Take the very first incident of the war, the mine laying by the _Koenigin
Luise_. Here was a vessel, which was obviously made ready with freshly
charged mines some time before there was any question of a general
European war, which was sent forth in time of peace, and which, on
receipt of a wireless message, began to spawn its hellish cargo across
the North Sea at points fifty miles from land in the track of all
neutral merchant shipping. There was the keynote of German tactics
struck at the first possible instant. So promiscuous was the effect that
it was a mere chance which prevented the vessel which bore the German
Ambassador from being destroyed by a German mine. From first to last
some hundreds of people have lost their lives on this tract of sea, some
of them harmless British trawlers, but the greater number sailors of
Danish and Dutch vessels pursuing their commerce as they had every right
to do. It was the first move in a consistent policy of murder.
SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
_In "The German War."_
[Illustration]
_HIS MASTER'S VOICE_
The _Vlaamsche Stem_ (_Flemish Voice_), a Flemish newspaper, was bought
by the Germans, whereupon the whole of the staff resigned, as it no
longer represented its title.
[Illustration]
_THE PROMISE_
We shall never sheathe the sword which we have not lightly drawn until
Belgium recovers in full measure all and more than she has sacrificed,
until France is adequately secured against the menace of aggression,
until the rights of the smaller nationalities of Europe are placed upon
an unassailable foundation, and until the military domination of Prussia
is wholly and finally destroyed.
H. H. ASQUITH,
_Prime Minister of England._
_November, 1914._
[Illustration]
_THE RAID_
"_Do you remember Black Mary of Hamburg?_"
"_Aye, well._"
"_She got six years for killing a child, whilst we get the Iron Cross
for killing twenty at Hartlepool._"
This morning a German cruiser force made a demonstration upon Yorkshire
coast, in the course of which they shelled Hartlepool, Whitby, and
Scarborough.
A number of their fastest ships were employed for this purpose, and they
remained about an hour on the coast. They were engaged by patrol vessels
on the spot.
During the bombardment, especially in West Hartlepool, the people
crowded in the streets, and approximately twenty-two were killed and
fifty wounded.
_British Admiralty report._
_December, 1914._
[Illustration]
_THE TYPHUS INFERNO AT WITTENBERG_
They were received in apathetic silence (Dec., 1914). The rooms were
unlighted, the men were aimlessly marching up and down, some were lying
on the floor, probably sickening for typhus. When they got into the open
air again Major Fry broke down. The horror of it all was for the moment
more than he could bear.
Major Priestly saw delirious men waving arms brown to the elbow with
faecal matter. The patients were alive with vermin; in the half light he
attempted to brush what he took to be an accumulation of dust from the
folds of a patient's clothes, and he discovered it to be a moving mass
of lice. In one room in Compound No. 8 the patients lay so close to one
another on the floor that he had to stand straddle-legged across them to
examine them.
What the prisoners found hardest to bear in this matter were the jeers
with which the coffins were frequently greeted by the inhabitants of
Wittenberg who stood outside and were permitted to insult their dead.
_Report of the British Committee._
[Illustration]
_REMEMBER WITTENBERG_
These medical officers protested with the camp commander against the
herding together of the French and British prisoners with the Russians,
who, as I have said, were suffering from typhus fever. But the camp
commander said, "You will have to know your Allies"; and kept all of his
prisoners together, and thus as surely condemned to death a number of
French and British prisoners of war as though he had stood them against
the wall and ordered them shot by a firing squad. Conditions in the camp
during the period of this epidemic were frightful. The camp was
practically deserted by the Germans.
At the time I visited the camp the typhus epidemic, of course, had been
stamped out. The Germans employed a large number of police dogs in this
camp and these dogs not only were used in watching the outside of the
camp in order to prevent the escape of prisoners but also were used
within the camp. Many complaints were made to me by prisoners concerning
these dogs, stating that men had been bitten by them. It seemed
undoubtedly true that the prisoners there had been knocked about and
beaten in a terrible manner by their guards.
JAMES W. GERARD
_in "My Four Years in Germany."_
[Illustration]
_THE WONDERS OF CULTURE_
On January 29, 1915, the first Zeppelin raid upon Paris took place.
Twenty-four people were killed outright by the exploding bombs and over
30 were injured. With one exception all the dead and injured were
civilians and the majority were women and children.
[Illustration]
_TIRPITZ' LAST HOPE--PIRACY_
The waters around Great Britain and Ireland, including the whole English
Channel, are declared a war zone on and after February 18, 1915.
Every enemy merchant ship found in this war zone will be destroyed, even
if it is impossible to avert dangers which threaten the crew and
passengers.
Also neutral ships in the war zone are in danger, as in consequence of
the misuse of neutral flags ordered by the British Government on January
31, and in view of the hazards of naval warfare, it cannot always be
avoided that attacks meant for enemy ships endanger neutral ships.
Shipping northward, around the Shetland Islands, in the eastern basin of
the North Sea, and a strip of at least thirty nautical miles in breadth
along the Dutch coast, is endangered in the same way.
_German Navy Official Communication. Berlin, February 4, 1915._
[Illustration]
_ALCOHOLISM--BRITONS NEVER WILL BE SLAVES_
The vast majority belong to a class we can depend upon. The others are a
minority.
But, you must remember, a small minority of workmen can throw a whole
works out of gear. What is the reason? Sometimes it is one thing,
sometimes it is another, but let us be perfectly candid. It is mostly
the lure of the drink. They refuse to work full time, and when they
return their strength and efficiency are impaired by the way in which
they have spent their leisure. Drink is doing us more damage in the war
than all the German submarines put together.
D. LLOYD GEORGE AT BANGOR.
_February 28, 1915._
[Illustration]
_The Crown Prince: "Isn't it an enjoyable war?"_
_William: "Perhaps, but hardly as much so as I anticipated"_
To sum up, the German General Staff has placed upon its record since the
beginning of the campaign--apart from the failure of its great plan,
which aimed at the crushing of France in a few weeks--seven defeats of
high significance, namely, the defeat of the sudden attack on Nancy, the
defeat of the rapid march on Paris, the defeat of the envelopement of
our left in August, the defeat of the same envelopement in November, the
defeat of the attempt to break through our centre in September, the
defeat of the coast attack on Dunkirk and Calais, and the defeat of the
attack on Ypres.
_French Official report, February, 1915._
[Illustration]
_A LETTER FROM THE GERMAN TRENCHES_
"_We have gained a good bit: our cemeteries now extend as far as the
sea_"
The wastage of German effectives is easy to establish. We have for the
purpose two sources--the official lists of losses published by the
German General Staff and the notebooks, letters, and archives of
soldiers and officers killed and taken prisoners. These different
documents show that by the middle of January the German losses on the
two fronts were 1,800,000 men.
These figures are certainly less than the reality, because, for one
thing, the sick are not comprised, and, for another, the losses in the
last battle in Poland are not included. Let us accept them, however; let
us accept also that out of these 1,800,000 men 500,000--this is the
normal proportion--have been able to rejoin after being cured. Thus the
final loss for five months of the campaign has been 1,300,000 men, or
260,000 men per month.
_French Government Official Report._
_March, 1915._
[Illustration]
_NEUVE CHAPELLE_
_Order of the Crown Prince of Bavaria: "You must give those English
heavy blows."_
_Tommy to prisoners after Neuve Chapelle: "Weren't they heavy?"_
Soldiers of the Sixth Army! We have now the good luck to have also the
Englishmen opposite us on our front, troops of that race whose envy was
at work for years to surround us with a ring of foes and to throttle us.
That race especially we have to thank for this war. Therefore, when now
the order is given to attack this foe, practice retribution for their
hostile treachery and for the many heavy sacrifices! Show them that the
Germans are not so easily to be wiped out of history. Show them that,
with German blows of a special kind. Here is the opponent who most
blocks a restoration of the peace. Up and at him!