Many of these summary executions took place against the wall of the St.
Pancras Station at the corner of Euston Road. Men and women were
pitilessly sent to death. Wives, daughters, fathers, sons were ranged up
against that wall, and, at signal from the colonel, fell forward with
German bullets through them.
Of the men who had so gallantly held the fortified house, not a single
one escaped. Strings of men and women were hurried to their doom in one
day, for the troops were savage with the lust of blood, and Von
Kronhelm, though he was aware of it by telephone, lifted not a finger to
stop those arbitrary executions.
But enough of such details. Suffice it to say that the stones of
Islington were stained with the blood of innocent Londoners, and that
those who survived took a fierce vow of vengeance. Von Kronhelm’s
legions had the upper hand for the moment, yet the conflict and its
bloody sequel had the effect of arousing the fiercest anger within the
heart of every Briton in the metropolis.
What was in store for us none could tell. We were conquered, oppressed,
starved; yet hope was still within us. The League of Defenders were not
idle, while South London was hourly completing her strength.
When the day dawned for the great revenge--as it would ere long--then
every man and woman in London would rise simultaneously, and the
arrogant Germans would cry for quarter that certainly would never be
given them.
It seems that after quelling the revolt at King’s Cross wholesale
arrests were made in Islington. The guilt or innocence of the prisoners
did not seem to matter, Von Kronhelm dealing out to them exemplary and
summary punishment. In all cases the charges were doubtful, and in many
cases the innocent have, alas! paid the penalty with their lives.
Terror reigns in London. One newspaper correspondent--whose account is
published this morning in South London, having been sent across the
Thames by carrier pigeon, many of which were now being employed by the
newspapers--had an opportunity of witnessing the wholesale executions
which took place yesterday afternoon outside Dorchester House, where Von
Kleppen has established his quarters. Von Kleppen seems to be the most
pitiless of the superior officers. The prisoners, ranged up for
inspection in front of the big mansion, were mostly men from Islington,
all of whom knew only too well the fate in store for them. Walking
slowly along and eyeing the ranks of these unfortunate wretches, the
German General stopped here and there, tapping a man on the shoulder or
beckoning him out of the rear ranks. In most cases, without further
word, the individual thus selected was marched into the Park at Stanhope
Gate, where a small supplementary column was soon formed.
Those chosen knew that their last hour had come. Some clasped their
hands and fell upon their knees, imploring pity, while others remained
silent and stubborn patriots. One man, his face covered with blood and
his arm broken, sat down and howled in anguish, and others wept in
silence. Some women--wives and daughters of the condemned men--tried to
get within the Park to bid them adieu and to urge courage, but the
soldiers beat them back with their rifles. Some of the men laughed
defiantly, others met death with a stony stare. The eye-witness saw the
newly-dug pit that served as common grave, and he stood by and saw them
shot and their corpses afterwards flung into it.
One young fair-haired woman, condemned by Von Kleppen, rushed forward to
that officer, threw herself upon her knees, implored mercy, and
protested her innocence wildly. But the officer, callous and pitiless,
simply motioned to a couple of soldiers to take her within the Park,
where she shared the same fate as the men.
How long will this awful state of affairs last? We must die, or conquer.
London is in the hands of a legion of assassins--Bavarians, Saxons,
Würtembergers, Hessians, Badeners--all now bent upon prolonging the
reign of terror, and thus preventing the uprising that they know is,
sooner or later, inevitable.
Terrible accounts are reaching us of how the Germans are treating their
prisoners on Hounslow Heath, at Enfield, and other places; of the awful
sufferings of the poor unfortunate fellows, of hunger, of thirst, and of
inhuman disregard for either their comfort or their lives.
At present we are powerless, hemmed in by our barricades. Behind us,
upon Sydenham Hill, General Bamford is in a strong position, and his
great batteries are already defending any attack upon London from the
south. From the terrace in front of the Crystal Palace his guns can
sweep the whole range of southern suburbs. Through Dulwich, Herne Hill,
Champion Hill, and Denmark Hill are riding British cavalry, all of whom
show evident traces of the hard and fierce campaign. We see from
Sydenham constant messages being heliographed, for General Bamford and
Lord Byfield are in hourly communication by wireless telegraphy or by
other means.
What is transpiring at Windsor is not known, save that every night there
are affairs of outposts with the Saxons, who on several occasions have
attempted to cross the river by pontoons, and have on each occasion been
driven back.
It was reported to Parliament at its sitting at Bristol yesterday that
the Cabinet had refused to entertain any idea of paying the indemnity
demanded by Germany, and that their reply to Von Kronhelm is one of open
defiance. The brief summary of the speeches published shows that the
Government are hopeful, notwithstanding the present black outlook. They
believe that when the hour comes for the revenge, London will rise as a
man, and that Socialists, Nonconformists, Labour agitators, Anarchists,
and demagogues will unite with us in one great national, patriotic
effort to exterminate our conquerors as we would exterminate vermin.
Mr. Gerald Graham has made another great speech in the House, in which
he reported the progress of the League of Defenders and its widespread
ramifications. He told the Government that there were over seven
millions of able-bodied men in the country ready to revolt the instant
the word went forth. That there would be terrible bloodshed he warned
them, but that the British would eventually prove the victors he was
assured. He gave no details of the organisation, for
+------------------------------------------------------+
| LEAGUE OF DEFENDERS. |
| |
| DAILY BULLETIN. |
| |
| The League of Defenders of the British Empire |
| publicly announce to Englishmen, although the |
| North of London is held by the enemy: |
| |
| (1) That England will soon entirely regain |
| command of the sea, and that a rigorous blockade |
| of the German ports will be established. |
| |
| (2) That three of the vessels of the North |
| German Lloyd Transatlantic passenger service |
| have been captured, together with a number of |
| minor German ships in the Channel and Mediterranean. |
| |
| (3) That four German cruisers and two destroyers |
| have fallen into the hands of the |
| British. |
| |
| (4) That |
| |
| ENGLAND’S MILLIONS ARE READY |
| TO RISE! |
| |
| Therefore |
| |
| WE ARE NOT YET BEATEN! |
| BE PREPARED, AND WAIT. |
| |
| League of Defenders. |
| |
| Central Office: Bristol. |
+------------------------------------------------------+
COPY OF THE “DAILY BULLETIN” OF THE LEAGUE
OF DEFENDERS.
to a great measure it was a secret one, and Von Kronhelm was already
taking active steps to combat its intentions; but he declared that there
was still a strong spirit of patriotism in the country, and explained
how sturdy Scots were daily making their way south, and how men from
Wales were already massing in Oxford.
The speech was received on both sides of the House with ringing cheers,
when, in conclusion, he promised them that, within a few days, the fiat
would go forth, and the enemy would find himself crushed and powerless.
“South London,” he declared, “is our stronghold, our fortress. To-day it
is impregnable, defended by a million British patriots, and I defy Von
Kronhelm--indeed, I dare him to attack it!”
Von Kronhelm was, of course, well aware of the formation of the
Defenders, but treated the League with contempt. If there was any
attempt at a rising, he would shoot down the people like dogs. He
declared this openly and publicly, and he also issued a warning to the
English people in the German official _Gazette_, a daily periodical
printed in one of the newspaper offices in Fleet Street in both German
and English.
The German Commander fully believed that England was crushed; yet, as
the days went on, he was puzzled that he received no response to his
demand for indemnity. Twice he had sent special despatch-bearers to
Bristol, but on both occasions the result was the same. There was no
reply.
Diplomatic representations had been made in Berlin through the Russian
Ambassador, who was now in charge of British interests in Germany, but
all to no purpose. Our Foreign Minister simply acknowledged receipt of
the various despatches. On the Continent the keenest interest was
manifested at what was apparently a deadlock. The British had, it was
known, regained command of the sea. Von Kronhelm’s supplies were already
cut off. The cables in direct communication between England and Germany
had been severed, and the Continental Press, especially the Paris
journals, gleefully recounted how two large Hamburg-American liners
attempting to reach Hamburg by passing north of Scotland had been
captured by British cruisers.
In the Channel, too, a number of German vessels had been seized, and one
that showed fight off the North Foreland was fired upon and sunk. The
public at home, however, were more interested in supremacy on land. It
was all very well to have command of the sea, they argued, but it did
not appear to alleviate perceptibly the hunger and privations on land.
The Germans occupied London, and while they did so all freedom in
England was at an end.
A great poster headed “Englishmen,” here reproduced, was seen
everywhere. The whole country was flooded with it, and thousands upon
thousands of heroic Britons, from the poorest to the wealthiest,
clamoured to enrol themselves. The movement was an absolutely national
one in every sense of the word. The name of Gerald Graham, the new
champion of England’s power, was upon everyone’s tongue. Daily he spoke
in the various towns in the west of England, in Plymouth, Taunton,
Cardiff, Portsmouth, and Southampton, and, assisted by the influential
committee, among whom were many brilliant speakers and men whose names
were as household words, he aroused the country to the highest pitch of
hatred against the enemy. The defenders, as they drilled in various
centres through the whole of the west of England, were a strange and
incongruous body. Grey-bearded Army pensioners ranged side by side with
keen, enthusiastic youths, advised them and gave them the benefit of
their expert knowledge. Volunteer officers in many cases assumed
command, together with retired drill sergeants. The digging of trenches
and the making of fortifications were assigned to navvies, bricklayers,
platelayers, and agricultural labourers, large bodies of
+------------------------------------------------------+
| =ENGLISHMEN!= |
| |
| Your Homes are Desecrated! |
| Your Children are Starving! |
| Your Loved Ones are Dead! |
| |
| =WILL YOU REMAIN IN COWARDLY |
| INACTIVITY?= |
| |
| The German Eagle flies over London. Hull, Newcastle, |
| and Birmingham are in ruins. Manchester |
| is a German City. Norfolk, Essex, and Suffolk |
| form a German colony. |
| |
| The Kaiser’s troops have brought death, ruin, and |
| starvation upon you. |
| |
| =WILL YOU BECOME GERMANS?= |
| |
| =NO!= |
| |
| Join THE DEFENDERS and fight for England. |
| You have England’s Millions beside you. |
| |
| =LET US RISE!= |
| |
| Let us drive back the Kaiser’s men. |
| |
| Let us shoot them at sight. |
| |
| Let us exterminate every single man who has |
| desecrated English soil. |
| |
| Join the New League of Defenders. |
| |
| Fight for your homes. Fight for your wives. Fight |
| for England. |
| |
| =FIGHT FOR YOUR KING!= |
| |
| The National League of Defenders’ Head Offices, |
| Bristol, September 21st, 1910. |
+------------------------------------------------------+
A COPY OF THE MANIFESTO OF THE LEAGUE OF
DEFENDERS ISSUED ON 21ST SEPTEMBER 1910.
whom were under railway gangers, and were ready to perform any
excavation work.
The Maxims and other machine guns were mostly manned by Volunteer
artillery; but instruction in the working of the Maxim was given to
select classes in Plymouth, Bristol, Portsmouth, and Cardiff. Time was
of utmost value, therefore the drilling was pushed forward day and
night. It was known that Von Kronhelm was already watchful of the
movements of the League, and was aware daily of its growth. Whether its
gigantic proportions would place him upon his guard was, however, quite
uncertain.
In London, with the greatest secrecy, the defenders were banding
together. In face of the German proclamation posted upon the walls,
Londoners were holding meetings in secret and enrolling themselves. Such
meetings had, perforce, to be held in unsuspected places, otherwise all
those present would be arrested and tried for conspiracy by martial law.
Many of the smaller chapels in the suburbs, schoolrooms, mission halls,
and such-like buildings were used as meeting-places; but the actual
local headquarters of the League were kept a profound secret except to
the initiated.
German spies were everywhere. In one case at a house in Tottenham Court
Road, where a branch of the League was discovered, no fewer than
twenty-seven persons were arrested, three of whom were on the following
day shot on the Horse Guards’ Parade as warning to others who might seek
to incite the spirit of revolt against German rule.
Nevertheless, though there were many arrests, and though every branch of
the Defenders was crushed vigorously and stamped out wherever found, the
movement proceeded apace, and in no city did it make greater headway,
nor were the populace more eager to join, than in our dear old London.
Though the German Eagle flew in Whitehall and from the summit of St.
Stephen’s Tower, and though the heavy tramp of German sentries echoed in
Trafalgar Square, in the quiet, trafficless streets in the vicinity,
England was not yet vanquished.
The valiant men of London were still determined to sell their liberty
dearly, and to lay down their lives for the freedom of their country and
honour of their King.
BOOK III
THE REVENGE
CHAPTER I
A BLOW FOR FREEDOM
“‘DAILY MAIL’ OFFICE, _Oct. 1st_, 2 p.m.
“Three days have passed since the revolt at King’s Cross, and each day,
both on the Horse Guards’ Parade and in the Park, opposite Dorchester
House, there have been summary executions. Von Kronhelm is in evident
fear of the excited London populace, and is endeavouring to cow them by
his plain-spoken and threatening proclamations, and by these wholesale
executions of any person found with arms in his or her possession. But
the word of command does not abolish the responsibility of conscience,
and we are now awaiting breathlessly for the word to strike the blow in
revenge.
“The other newspapers are reappearing, but all that is printed each
morning is first subjected to a rigorous censorship, and nothing is
allowed to be printed before it is passed and initialled by the two
gold-spectacled censors who sit and smoke their pipes in an office to
themselves. Below, we have German sentries on guard, for our journal is
one of the official organs of Von Kronhelm, and what now appears in it
is surely sufficient to cause our blood to boil.
“To-day, there are everywhere signs of rapidly-increasing unrest.
Londoners are starving, and are now refusing to remain patient any
longer. The _Daily Bulletin_ of the League of Defenders, though the
posting of it is punishable by imprisonment, and it is everywhere torn
down where discovered by the Germans, still gives daily brief news of
what is in progress, and still urges the people to wait in patience for
‘the action of the Government,’ as it is sarcastically put.
“Soon after eleven o’clock this morning a sudden and clearly
premeditated attack was made upon a body of the Bremen infantry who were
passing along Oxford Street from Holborn to the Marble Arch. The
soldiers were suddenly fired upon from windows of a row of shops between
Newman Street and Rathbone Place, and before they could halt and return
the fire they found themselves surrounded by a great armed rabble, who
were emerging from all the streets leading into Oxford Street on either
side.
“While the Germans were manœuvring, some unknown hand launched from a
window a bomb into the centre of them. Next second there was a red
flash, a loud report, and twenty-five of the enemy were blown to atoms.
For a few moments the soldiers were demoralised, but orders were shouted
loudly by their officers, and they began a most vigorous defence. In a
few seconds the fight was as fierce as that at King’s Cross; for out of
every street in that working-class district lying between the Tottenham
Court Road and Great Portland Street on the north, and out of Soho on
the south, poured thousands upon thousands of fierce Londoners, all bent
upon doing their utmost to kill their oppressors. From almost every
window along Oxford Street a rain of lead was now being poured upon the
troops, who vainly strove to keep their ground. Gradually, however, they
were, by slow degrees, forced back into the narrow side-turnings up
Newman Street, and Rathbone Place into Mortimer Street, Foley Street,
Goodge Street, and Charlotte Street; and there they were slaughtered
almost to a man.
“Two officers were captured by the armed mob in Tottenham Street, and
after being beaten were stood up and shot in cold blood as vengeance for
those shot during the past three days at Von Kleppen’s orders at
Dorchester House.
“The fierce fight lasted quite an hour; and though reinforcements were
sent for, yet, curiously enough, none arrived.
“The great mob, however, were well aware that very soon the iron hand of
Germany would fall heavily upon them; therefore, in frantic haste they
began soon after noon to build barricades, and block up the narrow
streets in every direction. At the end of Rathbone Place, Newman Street,
Berners Street, Wells Street, and Great Titchfield Street huge
obstructions soon appeared, while on the east all by-streets leading
into Tottenham Court Road were blocked up, and the same on the west in
Great Portland Street, and on the north where the district was flanked
by the Euston Road. So that by two o’clock the populous neighbourhood
bounded by the four great thoroughfares was rendered a fortress in
itself.
“Within that area were thousands of armed men and women from Soho,
Bloomsbury, Marylebone, and even from Camden Town. There they remained
in defiance of Von Kronhelm’s newest proclamation, which stared one in
the face from every wall.”
* * * * *
“‘DAILY TELEGRAPH’ OFFICE, FLEET STREET,
_Oct. 1st_, 2 p.m.
“The enemy were unaware of the grave significance of the position of
affairs, because Londoners betrayed no outward sign of the truth. Now,
however, nearly every man and woman wore pinned upon their breasts a
small piece of silk about two inches square, printed as a miniature
Union Jack--the badge adopted by the League of Defenders. Though Von
Kronhelm was unaware of it, Lord Byfield, in council with Greatorex and
Bamford, had decided that, in order to demoralise the enemy and give him
plenty of work to do, a number of local uprisings should take place
north of the Thames. These would occupy Von Kronhelm, who would
experience great difficulty in quelling them, and would no doubt
eventually recall the Saxons from West Middlesex to assist. If the
latter retired upon London they would find the barricades held by
Londoners in their rear and Lord Byfield in their front, and be thus
caught between two fires.
“In each district of London there is a chief of the Defenders, and to
each chief these orders had been conveyed in strictest confidence.
Therefore, to-day, while the outbreak occurred in Oxford Street, there
were fully a dozen others in various parts of the metropolis, each of a
more or less serious character. Every district has already prepared its
own secret defences, its fortified houses, and its barricades in hidden
by-ways. Besides the quantities of arms smuggled into London, every dead
German has had his rifle, pistol, and ammunition stolen from him.
Hundreds of the enemy have been surreptitiously killed for that very
reason. Lawlessness is everywhere. Government and Army has failed them,
and Londoners are now taking the law into their own hands.
“In King Street, Hammersmith; in Notting Dale, in Forest Road, Dalston;
in Wick Road, Hackney; in Commercial Road East, near Stepney Station;
and in Prince of Wales Road, Kentish Town, the League of Defenders this
morning--at about the same hour--first made their organisation public by
displaying our national emblem, together with the white flags, with the
scarlet St. George’s Cross, the ancient battle-flag of England.
“For that reason, then, no reinforcements were sent to Oxford Street.
Von Kronhelm was far too busy in other quarters. In Kentish Town, it is
reported, the Germans gained a complete and decisive victory, for the
people had not barricaded themselves strongly; besides, there were large
reinforcements of Germans ready in Regent’s Park, and these came upon
the scene before the Defenders were sufficiently prepared. The flag was
captured from the barricade in Prince of Wales Road, and the men of
Kentish Town lost over four hundred killed and wounded.
“At Stepney the result was the reverse. The enemy, believing it to be a
mere local disturbance and easily quelled, sent but a small body of men
to suppress it. But very quickly, in the intricate by-streets off
Commercial Road, these were wiped out, not one single man surviving. A
second and a third body were sent, but so fiercely was the ground
contested that they were at length compelled to fall back and leave the
men of Stepney masters of their own district. In Hammersmith and in
Notting Dale the enemy also lost heavily, though in Hackney they were
successful after two hours’ hard fighting.
“Everyone declares that this secret order issued by the League means
that England is again prepared to give battle, and that London is
commencing by her strategic movement of local rebellions. The gravity of
the situation cannot now, for one moment, be concealed. London north of
the Thames is destined to be the scene of the fiercest and most bloody
warfare ever known in the history of the civilised world. The Germans
will, of course, fight for their lives, while we shall fight for our
homes and for our liberty. But right is on our side, and right will win.
“Reports from all over the metropolis tell the same tale. London is
alert and impatient. At a word she will rise to a man, and then woe
betide the invader! Surely Von Kronhelm’s position is not a very
enviable one. Our two censors in the office are smoking their pipes very
gravely. Not a word of the street fighting is to be published, they say.
They will write their own account of it before the paper goes to press!
“10 p.m.
“There has been a most frightful encounter at the Oxford Street and
Tottenham Court Road barricades--a most stubborn resistance and gallant
defence on the part of the men of Marylebone and Bloomsbury.
“From the lips of one of our correspondents who was within the
barricades I have just learned the details. It appears that just about
four o’clock General Von Wilberg sent from the City a large force of the
19th Division under Lieutenant-General Frankenfeld, and part of these,
advancing through the squares of Bloomsbury into Gower Street, attacked
the Defenders’ position from the Tottenham Court Road, while others
coming up Holborn and New Oxford Street entered Soho from Charing Cross
Road and threw up counter barricades at the end of Dean Street, Wardour
Street, Berwick, Poland, Argyll, and the other streets, all of which
were opposite the defences of the populace. In Great Portland Street,
too, they adopted a similar line, and without much ado the fight,
commenced in a desultory fashion, soon became a veritable battle.
“Within the barricades was a dense body of armed and angry citizens,
each with his little badge, and every single one of them was ready to
fight to the death. There is no false patriotism now, no mere bravado.
Men make declarations, and carry them out. The gallant Londoners, with
their several Maxims, wrought havoc among the invaders, especially in
the Tottenham Court Road, where hundreds were maimed or killed.
“In Oxford Street, the enemy being under cover of their
counter-barricades, little damage could be done on either side. The
wide, open, deserted thoroughfare was every moment swept by a hail of
bullets, but no one was injured. On the Great Portland Street side the
populace made a feint of giving way at the Mortimer Street barricade,
and a body of the enemy rushed in, taking the obstruction by storm. But
next moment they regretted it, for they were set upon by a thousand
armed men and by wild-haired women, so that every man paid for his
courage with his life. The women, seizing the weapons and ammunition of
the dead Germans, now returned to the barricade to use them.
“The Mortimer Street defences were at once repaired, and it was resolved
to relay the fatal trap at some other point. Indeed, it was repeated at
the end of Percy Street, where about fifty more Germans, who thought
themselves victorious, were set upon and at once exterminated.
“Until dusk the fight lasted. The Germans, finding their attack futile,
began to hurl petrol bombs over the barricades, and these caused
frightful destruction among our gallant men, several houses in the
vicinity being set on fire. Fortunately, there was still water in the
street hydrants, and two fire-engines had already been brought within
the beleaguered area in case of necessity.
“At last, about seven o’clock, the enemy, having lost very heavily in
attempting to take the well-chosen position by storm, brought down
several light field guns from Regent’s Park; and, placing them at their
counter-barricades--where, by the way, they had lost many men in the
earlier part of the conflict while piling up their shelters--suddenly
opened fire with shell at the huge obstructions before them.
“At first they made but little impression upon the flagstones, etc., of
which the barricades were mainly composed. But before long their
bombardment began to tell; for slowly, here and there, exploding shells
made great breaches in the defences that had been so heroically manned.
More than once a high explosive shell burst right among the crowd of
riflemen behind a barricade, sweeping dozens into eternity in a single
instant. Against the fortified houses each side of the barricades the
German artillery trained their guns, and very quickly reduced many of
those buildings to ruins. The air now became thick with dust and smoke;
and mingled with the roar of artillery at such close quarters came the
screams of the injured and the groans of the dying. The picture drawn by
the eye-witness who described this was a truly appalling one. Gradually
the Londoners were being overwhelmed, but they were selling their lives
dearly, fully proving themselves worthy sons of grand old England.
“At last the fire from the Newman Street barricade of the Defenders was
silenced, and ten minutes later, a rush being made across from Dean
Street, it was taken by storm. Then ensued fierce and bloody
hand-to-hand fighting right up to Cleveland Street, while almost at the
same moment the enemy broke in from Great Portland Street.
“A scene followed that is impossible to describe. Through all those
narrow, crooked streets the fighting became general, and on either side
hundreds fell. The Defenders in places cornered the Germans, cut them
off, and killed them. Though it was felt that now the barricades had
been broken the day was lost, yet every man kept courage, and fought
with all the strength left within him.
“For half an hour the Germans met with no success. On the contrary, they
found themselves entrapped amid thousands of furious citizens, all
wearing their silken badges, and all sworn to fight to the death.
“While the Defenders still struggled on, loud and ringing cheers were
suddenly raised from Tottenham Court Road. The people from Clerkenwell,
joined by those in Bloomsbury, had arrived to assist them. They had
risen, and were attacking the Germans in the rear.
“Fighting was now general right across from Tottenham Court Road to
Gray’s Inn Road, and by nine o’clock, though Von Wilberg sent
reinforcements, a victory was gained by the Defenders. Over two thousand
Germans are lying dead and wounded about the streets and squares of
Bloomsbury and Marylebone. The League had struck its first blow for
Freedom.
“What will the morrow bring us? Dire punishment--or desperate victory?”
* * * * *
“‘DAILY MAIL’ OFFICE, _Oct. 4_, 6 p.m.
“The final struggle for the possession of London is about to commence.
“The metropolis is in a ferment of excitement. Through all last night
there were desultory conflicts between the soldiers and the people, in
which many lives have, alas! been sacrificed.
“Von Wilberg still holds the City proper, with the Mansion House as his
headquarters. Within the area already shown upon the map there are no
English, all the inhabitants having been long ago expelled. The great
wealth of London is in German hands, it is true, but it is Dead Sea
fruit. They are unable either to make use of it or to deport it to
Germany. Much has been taken away to the base at Southminster and other
bases in Essex, but the greater part of the bullion still remains in the
Bank of England.
“Here, in Whitefriars, the most exciting stories have been reaching us
during the last twenty-four hours, none of which, however, have passed
the censor. For that reason I, one of the sub-editors, am keeping this
diary, as a brief record of events during the present dreadful times.
“After the terrific struggle in Marylebone three days ago, Von Kronhelm
saw plainly that if London were to rise _en masse_ she would at once
assume the upper hand. The German Commander-in-Chief had far too many
points to guard. On the west of London he was threatened by Lord Byfield
and hosts of auxiliaries, mostly sworn members of the National League of
Defenders; on the south, across the river, Southwark, Lambeth, and
Battersea formed an impregnable fortress, containing over a million
eager patriots ready to burst forth and sweep away the vain, victorious
army; while within central London itself the spirit of revolt was rife,
and the people were ready to rise at any moment. The train is laid. Only
the spark is required to cause an explosion.
“Reports reaching us to-day from Lord Byfield’s headquarters at Windsor
are numerous, but conflicting. As far as can be gathered, the authentic
facts are as follows: Great bodies of the Defenders, including many
women, all armed, are massing at Reading, Sonning, Wokingham, and
Maidenhead. Thousands have arrived, and are hourly arriving by train,
from Portsmouth, Plymouth, Exeter, Bristol, Gloucester, and, in fact,
all the chief centres of the West of England, where Gerald Graham’s
campaign has been so marvellously successful. Sturdy Welsh colliers are
marching shoulder to shoulder with agricultural labourers from Dorset
and Devon, and clerks and citizens from the towns of Somerset, Cornwall,
Gloucestershire, and Oxfordshire are taking arms beside the riff-raff of
their own neighbourhoods. Peer and peasant, professional man and pauper,
all are now united with one common object--to drive back the invader,
and to save our dear old England.
“Oxford has, it seems, been one of the chief points of concentration,
and the undergraduates who re-assembled there to defend their colleges
now form an advance-guard of a huge body of Defenders on the march, by
way of Henley and Maidenhead, to follow in the rear of Lord Byfield. The
latter holds Eton and the country across to High Wycombe, while the
Saxon headquarters are still at Staines. Frölich’s Cavalry Division are
holding the country across from Pinner through Stanmore and Chipping
Barnet to the prison camp at Enfield Chase. These are the only German
troops outside west London, the Saxons being now barred from entering by
the huge barricades which the populace of West London have during the
past few days been constructing. Every road leading into London from
West Middlesex is now either strongly barricaded or entirely blocked up.
Kew, Richmond, and Kingston Bridges have been destroyed, and Lord
Byfield, with General Bamford at the Crystal Palace, remains practically
in possession of the whole of the south of the Thames.
“The conflict which is now about to begin will be one to the death.
While, on the one hand, the Germans are bottled up among us, the fact
must not be overlooked that their arms are superior, and that they are
trained soldiers. Yet the two or three local risings of yesterday and
the day previous have given us courage, for they show that the enemy
cannot manœuvre in the narrow streets, and soon become demoralised.
In London we fail because we have so few riflemen. If every man who now
carries a gun could shoot we could compel the Germans to fly a flag of
truce within twenty-four hours. Indeed, if Lord Roberts’s scheme of
universal training in 1906 had been adopted, the enemy would certainly
never have been suffered to approach our capital.
“Alas! apathy has resulted in this terrible and crushing disaster, and
we have only now to bear our part, each one of us, in the blow to avenge
this desecration of our homes and the massacre of our loved ones.
“To-day I have seen the white banners with the red cross--the ensign of
the Defenders--everywhere. Till yesterday it was not openly displayed,
but to-day it is actually hung from windows or flown defiantly from
flagstaffs in full view of the Germans.
“In Kilburn, or, to be more exact, in the district lying between the
Harrow Road and the High Road, Kilburn, there was another conflict this
morning between some of the German Garde Corps and the populace. The
outbreak commenced by the arrest of some men who were found practising
with rifles in Paddington Recreation Ground. One man who resisted was
shot on the spot, whereupon the crowd who assembled attacked the German
picket, and eventually killed them to a man. This was the signal for a
general outbreak in the neighbourhood, and half an hour later, when a
force was sent to quell the revolt, fierce fighting became general all
through the narrow streets of Kensal Green, especially at the big
barricade that blocks the Harrow Road where it is joined by Admiral
Road. Here the bridges over the Grand Junction Canal have already been
destroyed, for the barricades and defences have been scientifically
constructed under the instruction of military engineers.
“One of our reporters despatched to the scene has just given me a
thrilling account of the desperate struggle, in which no quarter was
given on either side. So overwhelming were the number of the populace,
that after an hour’s hard fighting the Germans were driven back across
Maida Vale into St. John’s Wood, where, I believe, they were held at bay
for several hours.
“From an early hour to-day it has been apparent that all these risings
were purposely ordered by the League of Defenders to cause Von Kronhelm
confusion. Indeed, while the outbreak at Kensal Green was in progress,
we had another reported from Dalston, a third from Limehouse, and a
fourth from Homerton. Therefore, it is quite certain that the various
centres of the League are acting in unison upon secret orders from
headquarters.
“Indeed, South London also took part in the fray this morning, for the
Defenders at the barricade at London Bridge have now mounted several
field-guns, and have started shelling Von Wilberg’s position in the
City. It is said that the Mansion House, where the General had usurped
the apartments of the deported Lord Mayor, has already been half reduced
to ruins. This action is, no doubt, only to harass the enemy, for surely
General Bamford has no desire to destroy the City proper any more than
it has already been destroyed. Lower Thames Street, King William Street,
Gracechurch Street, and Cannon Street have, at any rate, been found
untenable by the enemy, upon whom some losses have been inflicted.
“South London is every moment anxious to know the truth. Two days after
the bombardment we succeeded at night in sinking a light telegraph cable
in the river across from the Embankment at the bottom of Temple Avenue,
and are in communication with our temporary office in Southwark Street.
Over this we report the chief incidents which occur, and they are
printed for the benefit of the beleaguered population over the water.
The existence of the cable is, however, kept a strict secret from our
pair of gold-spectacled censors.
“The whole day has been one of tension and excitement. The atmosphere
outside is breathless, the evening overcast and oppressive, precursory
to a storm. An hour ago there came, through secret sources, information
of another naval victory to our credit, several German warships being
sunk and captured. Here, we dare not print it, so I have just wired it
across to the other side, where they are issuing a special edition.
+----------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| [Illustration] |
| |
| =LEAGUE OF DEFENDERS.= |
| |
| CITIZENS OF LONDON AND LOYAL PATRIOTS. |
| |
| The hour has come to show your strength, and to |
| wreak your vengeance. |
| |
| TO-NIGHT, OCT. 4, AT 10 P.M., rise, and strike |
| your blow for freedom. |
| |
| A MILLION MEN are with Lord Byfield, already |
| within striking distance of London; a million follow |
| them, and yet another million are ready in South London. |
| |
| RISE, FEARLESS AND STERN. Let “England for |
| Englishmen” be your battle-cry, and avenge the blood of |
| your wives and your children. |
| |
| AVENGE THIS INSULT TO YOUR |
| NATION. |
| |
| REMEMBER: TEN O’CLOCK TO-NIGHT! |
| |
+----------------------------------------------------------+
“Almost simultaneously with the report of the British victory, namely,
at five o’clock, the truth--the great and all-important truth--became
revealed. The mandate has gone forth from the headquarters of the League
of Defenders that London is to rise in her might at ten o’clock
to-night, and that a million men are ready to assist us. Placards and
bills on red paper are everywhere. As if by magic, London has been
flooded with the defiant proclamation of which the copy here reproduced
has just been brought in to me.
“Frantic efforts are being made by the Germans all over London to
suppress both posters and handbills, but without avail. The streets are
littered with them, and upon every corner they are being posted, even
though more than one patriot has paid for the act with his life.
“It is now six o’clock. In four hours it is believed that London will be
one huge seething conflict. Night has been chosen, I suppose, in order
to give the populace the advantage. The by-streets are for the most part
still unlit, save for oil-lamps, for neither gas nor electric light are
yet in proper working order after the terrible dislocation of
everything. The scheme of the Defenders is, as already proved, to lure
the Germans into the narrower thoroughfares, and then exterminate them.
Surely in the history of the world there has never been such a bitter
vengeance as that which is now inevitable. London, the greatest city
ever known, is about to rise!
“Midnight.
“London has risen! How can I describe the awful scenes of panic,
bloodshed, patriotism, brutality, and vengeance that are at this moment
in progress? As I write, through the open window I can hear the roar of
voices, the continual crackling of rifles, and the heavy booming of
guns. I walked along Fleet Street at nine o’clock, and I found, utterly
disregarding the order that no unauthorised persons are to be abroad
after nightfall, hundreds upon hundreds of all classes, all wearing
their little silk Union Jack badges pinned to their coats, on their way
to join in their particular districts. Some carried rifles, others
revolvers, while others were unarmed. Yet not a German did I see in the
streets. It seemed as though, for the moment, the enemy had vanished.
There was only the strong cordon across the bottom of Ludgate Hill, men
who looked on in wonder, but without bestirring themselves.
“Is it possible that Von Kronhelm’s strategy is to remain inactive, and
refuse to fight?
“The first shot I heard fired, just after ten o’clock, was at the Strand
end of Fleet Street, at the corner of Chancery Lane. There, I afterwards
discovered, a party of forty German infantrymen had been attacked, and
all of them killed. Quickly following this, I heard the distant booming
of artillery, and then the rattle of musketry and pom-poms became
general, but not in the neighbourhood where I was. For nearly half an
hour I remained at the corner of Aldwych; then, on going farther along
the Strand, I found that the defenders from the Waterloo Road had made a
wild sortie into the Strand, but could find no Germans there.
“The men who had for a fortnight held that barricade at the bridge were
more like demons than human beings; therefore I retired, and in the
crush made my way back to the office to await reports.
“They were not long in arriving. I can only give a very brief résumé at
the moment, for they are so numerous as to be bewildering.
“Speaking generally, the whole of London has obeyed the mandate of the
League, and, rising, are attacking the Germans at every point. In the
majority of cases, however, the enemy hold strong positions, and are
defending themselves, inflicting terrible losses upon the unorganised
populace. Every Londoner is fighting for himself, without regard for
orders or consequences. In Bethnal Green the Germans, lured into the
maze of by-streets, have suffered great losses, and again in
Clerkenwell, St. Luke’s, Kingsland, Hackney, and Old Ford. Whitechapel,
too, devoid of its alien population, who have escaped into Essex, has
held its own, and the enemy have had some great losses in the streets
off Cable and Leman Streets.
“With the exception of the sortie across Waterloo Bridge, South London
is, as yet, remaining in patience, acting under the orders of General
Bamford.
“News has come in ten minutes ago of a fierce and sudden night attack
upon the Saxons by Lord Byfield from Windsor, but there are, as yet, no
details.
“From the office across the river I am being constantly asked for
details of the fight, and how it is progressing. In Southwark the
excitement is evidently most intense, and it requires all the energy of
the local commanders of the Defenders to repress another sortie across
that bridge.
“There has just occurred an explosion so terrific that the whole of this
building has been shaken as though by an earthquake. We are wondering
what has occurred.
“Whatever it is, one fact is only too plain. Both British and Germans
are now engaged in a death-struggle.
“London has struck her first blow of revenge. What will be its sequel?”
CHAPTER II
SCENES AT WATERLOO BRIDGE
The following is the personal narrative of a young chauffeur named John
Burgess, who assisted in the defence of the barricade at Waterloo
Bridge.
The statement was made to a reporter at noon on October 5, while he was
lying on a mattress in the Church of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, so
badly wounded in the chest that the surgeons had given him up.
Around him were hundreds of wounded who, like himself, had taken part in
the sudden rising of the Defenders, and who had fallen beneath the hail
of the German Maxims. He related his story with difficulty, in the form
of a farewell letter to his sister, who was a telegraph clerk at the
Shrewsbury Post Office. The reporter chanced to be passing by the poor
fellow, and, overhearing him asking for someone to write for him,
volunteered to do so.
“We all did our best,” he said, “every one of us. Myself, I was at the
barricade for thirteen days--thirteen days of semi-starvation,
sleeplessness, and constant tension, for we knew not, from one moment to
another, when a sudden attack might be made upon us. At first our
obstruction was a mere ill-built pile of miscellaneous articles, half of
which would not stop bullets; but on the third day our men,
superintended by several non-commissioned officers in uniform, began to
put the position in a proper state of defence, to mount Maxims in the
neighbouring houses, and to place explosives in the crown of two of the
arches of the bridge, so that we could instantly demolish it if
necessity arose.
“Fully a thousand men were holding the position, but unfortunately few
of them had ever handled a rifle. As regards myself, I had learned to
shoot rooks when a boy in Shropshire, and now that I had obtained a gun
I was anxious to try my skill. When the League of Defenders was started,
and a local secretary came to us, we all eagerly joined, each receiving,
after he had taken his oath and signed his name, a small silk Union
Jack, the badge of the League, not to be worn till the word went forth
to rise.
“Then came a period--long, dreary, shadeless days of waiting--when the
sun beat down upon us mercilessly and our vigilance was required to be
constant both night and day. So uncertain were the movements of the
enemy opposite us that we scarcely dared to leave our positions for a
moment. Night after night I spent sleeping in a neighbouring doorway,
with an occasional stretch upon somebody’s bed in some house in the
vicinity. Now and then, whenever we saw Germans moving in Wellington
Street, we sent a volley into them, in return receiving a sharp reply
from their pom-poms. Constantly our sentries were on the alert along the
wharves and in the river-side warehouses, watching for the approach of
the enemy’s spies in boats. Almost nightly some adventurous spirits
among the Germans would try and cross. On one occasion, while doing
sentry duty in a warehouse backing on Commercial Road, I was sitting
with a comrade at a window overlooking the river. The moon was shining,
for the night was a balmy and beautiful one, and all was quiet. It was
about two o’clock in the morning, and as we sat smoking our pipes, with
our eyes fixed upon the glittering water, we suddenly saw a small boat
containing three men stealing slowly along in the shadow cast by the
great warehouse in which we were.
“For a moment the rowers rested upon their oars, as if undecided, then
pulled forward again in search of a landing-place. As they passed below
our window I shouted a challenge. At first there was no response. Again
I repeated it, when I heard a muttered imprecation in German.
“‘Spies!’ I cried to my comrade, and with one accord we raised our
rifles and fired. Ere the echo of the first shot had died away I saw one
man fall into the water, while at the next shot a second man half rose
from his seat, threw up his hands, and staggered back wounded.
“The firing gave the alarm at the barricade, and ere the boat could
approach the bridge, though the survivor pulled for dear life, a Maxim
spat forth its red fire, and both boat and oarsman were literally
riddled.
“Almost every night similar incidents were reported. The enemy were
doing all in their power to learn the exact strength of our defences,
but I do not think their efforts were very successful. The surface of
the river, every inch of it, was under the careful scrutiny of a
thousand watchful eyes.
“Day after day passed, often uneventfully. We practically knew nothing
of what was happening across the river, though we could see the German
standard flying upon the public buildings. The ruins of London were
smoking for days after the bombardment, and smouldering fires broke out
again in many instances.
“Each day the _Bulletin_ of our national association brought us tidings
of what was happening beyond the barricades. We had regained command of
the sea, which was said to be a good deal, though it did not seem to
bring us much nearer to victory.
“At last, however, the welcome word came to us, on the morning of
October 4th, that at ten that night we were to make a concerted attack
upon the Germans. A scarlet bill was thrust into my hand, and as soon as
the report was known we were all highly excited, and through the day
prepared ourselves for the struggle. I regret to say that some of my
comrades, prone to drink, primed themselves with spirits obtained from
the neighbouring public-houses in York Road and Waterloo Road. Not that
drunkenness had been the rule. On the contrary, the extreme tension of
those long, hot days had had a sobering effect, and even men used to
drink refrained from taking any. Ah! I have of late seen some splendid
examples of self-denial, British patriotism, and fearless valour. Only
Englishmen could have conducted themselves as my brave comrades have
done. Only Englishmen could have died as they have done.
“Through all yesterday we waited, watching every movement of the enemy
in our line of fire. Now and then we, as usual, sent him greetings in
the form of a shell or two, or else a splutter from a Maxim, and in
reply there came the sweeping hail of bullets, which flattened
themselves upon our wall of paving-stones. The sunset was a red, dusky
one, and over London westward there spread a blood-red light, as though
precursory to the awful catastrophe that was about to fall. With the
after-glow came the dark oppression of a thunderstorm--a fevered
electrical quiet that could be felt. I stood upon the barricade gazing
over the river, and wondering what would happen ere the dawn. At ten
o’clock London, the great, mysterious, unknown city, was to rise and
cast off the German yoke. How many who rebelled would live to see the
sunrise?
“I had watched the first flash of the after-glow beyond Blackfriars
Bridge every morning for the past ten days. I had breathed the fresh
air, unsullied by smoke, and had admired the beauty of the outlines of
riverside London in those early hours. I had sat and watched the faint
rose turn to purple, to grey, and then to the glorious yellow sunrise.
Yes. I had seen some of the most glorious sunrises on the river that I
have ever witnessed. But should I ever see another?
“Dusk crept on, and deepened into night--the most momentous night in all
the history of our giant city. The fate of London--nay, the fate of the
greatest Empire the world has ever seen, was to be decided! And about
me in groups waited my comrades with fierce, determined faces, looking
to their weapons and gossiping the while. Each of us had brought out our
precious little badge and pinned it to our breasts. With the Union Jack
upon us we were to fight for country and for King.
“Away, across, upon a ruined wall of Somerset House the German standard
floated defiantly; but one and all of us swore that ere the night was
past it should be pulled down, and our flag--the flag of St. George of
England, which flapped lazily above our barricades--should replace it.
“Night fell--a hot, fevered night, breathless and ominous of the storm
to come. Before us, across the Thames, lay London, wrecked, broken, but
not yet conquered. In an hour its streets would become, we knew, a
perfect hell of shot and shell. The oil lamps in Wellington Street,
opposite Somerset House, threw a weird light upon the enemy’s
counter-barricade, and we could distinctly see Germans moving, preparing
for a defence of their position, should we dare to cross the bridge.
While we waited three of our gallant fellows, taking their lives in
their hands, put off in a boat and were now examining the bridge beneath
to ascertain whether the enemy had imitated our action in placing mines.
They might have attached them where the scaffold was erected on the
Middlesex side, that spot which had been attacked by German spies on the
night of the bombardment. We were in a position to blow up the bridge at
any moment; but we wanted to ascertain if the enemy were prepared to do
likewise.
“Minutes seemed like hours as we waited impatiently for the appointed
moment. It was evident that Von Kronhelm feared to make further arrests,
now that London was flooded by those red handbills. He would, no doubt,
require all his troops to keep us in check. On entering London the enemy
had believed the war to be over, but the real struggle is only now
commencing.
“At last the low boom of a gun sounded from the direction of
Westminster. We looked at our watches, and found that it was just ten
o’clock. Next moment our bugle sounded, and we sprang to our positions,
as we had done dozens, nay, hundreds, of times before. I felt faint, for
I had only had half a pint of weak soup all day, for the bread did not
go round. Nevertheless the knowledge that we were about to strike the
blow inspired me with fresh life and strength. Our officer shouted a
brief word of command, and next moment we opened a withering fire upon
the enemy’s barricade in Wellington Street.
“In a moment a hundred rifles and several Maxims spat their red fire at
us, but as usual the bullets flattened themselves harmlessly before us.
Then the battery of artillery which Sir Francis Bamford had sent us
three days before, got into position, and in a few moments began hurling
great shells upon the German defences. We watched, and cheered loudly as
the effect of our fire became apparent.
“Behind us was a great armed multitude ready and eager to get at the
foe, a huge, unorganised body of fierce, irate Londoners, determined
upon having blood for blood. From over the river the sound of battle was
rising, a great roaring like the sound of a distant sea, with ever and
anon the crackling of rifles and the boom of guns, while above the night
sky grew a dark blood-red with the glare of a distant conflagration.
“For half an hour we pounded away at the barricade in Wellington Street
with our siege guns, Maxims, and rifles, until a well-directed shell
exploded beneath the centre of the obstruction, blowing open a great gap
and sending fragments high into the air. Then it seemed that all
resistance suddenly ceased. At first we were surprised at this; but on
further scrutiny we found that it was not our fire that had routed the
enemy, but that they were being attacked in their rear by hosts of
armed citizens surging down from Kingsway and the Strand.
“We could plainly discern that the Germans were fighting for their
lives. Into the midst of them we sent one or two shells; but fearing to
cause casualties among our own comrades, we were compelled to cease
firing.
“The armed crowd behind us, finding that we were again inactive, at once
demanded that our barricade should be opened, so that they might cross
the bridge and assist their comrades by taking the Germans in their
rear. For ten minutes our officer in charge refused, for the order of
General Greatorex, Commander-in-Chief of the League, was that no sortie
was to be made at present.
“At last, however, the South Londoners became so infuriated that our
commander was absolutely forced to give way, though he knew not into
what trap we might fall, as he had no idea of the strength of the enemy
in the neighbourhood of the Strand. A way was quickly opened in the
obstruction, and two minutes later we were pouring across Waterloo
Bridge in thousands, shouting and yelling in triumph as we passed the
ruins of the enemy’s barricade, and fell upon him with merciless
revenge. With us were many women, who were, perhaps, fiercer and more
unrelenting than the men. Indeed, many a woman that night killed a
German with her own hands, firing revolvers in their faces, striking
with knives, or even blinding them with vitriol and allowing them to be
despatched by others.
“The scene was both exciting and ghastly. At the spot where I first
fought--on the pavement outside the Savoy--we simply slaughtered the
Germans in cold blood. Men cried for mercy, but we gave them no quarter.
London had risen in its might, and as our comrades fought all along the
Strand and around Aldwych, we gradually exterminated every man in German
uniform. Soon the roadways of the Strand, Wellington Street, Aldwych,
Burleigh Street, Southampton Street, Bedford Street, and right along to
Trafalgar Square, were covered with dead and dying. The wounded of both
nationalities were trodden underfoot and killed by the swaying,
struggling thousands. The enemy’s loss must have been severe in our
particular quarter, for of the great body of men from Hamburg and Lübeck
holding their end of Waterloo Bridge I do not believe a single one was
spared, even though they fought for their lives like veritable devils.
“Our success intoxicated us, I think. That we were victorious at that
point cannot be doubted, but with foolish disregard for our own safety
we pressed forward into Trafalgar Square, in the belief that our
comrades were similarly making an attack upon the enemy there. The error
was, alas! a fatal one for many of us. To fight an organised force in
narrow streets is one thing, but to meet him in a large open space with
many inlets, like Trafalgar Square, is another.
“The enemy were no doubt awaiting us, for as we poured out from the
Strand at Charing Cross we were met with a devastating fire from German
Maxims on the opposite side of the square. They were holding
Whitehall--to protect Von Kronhelm’s headquarters--the entrances to
Spring Gardens, Cockspur Street, and Pall Mall East, and their fire was
converged upon the great armed multitude which, being pressed on from
behind, came out into the open square only to fall in heaps beneath the
sweeping hail of German lead.
“The error was one that could not be rectified. We all saw it when too
late. There was no turning back now. I struggled to get into the small
side-street that runs down by the bar of the Grand Hotel, but it was
blocked with people already in refuge there.
“Another instant and I was lifted from my legs by the great throng going
to their doom, and carried right in the forefront to the square. Women
screamed when they found themselves facing the enemy’s fire.
“The scene was awful--a massacre, nothing more or less. For every
German’s life we had taken, a dozen of our own were now being
sacrificed.
“A woman was pushed close to me, her grey hair streaming down her back,
her eyes starting wildly from her head, her bony hands smeared with
blood. Suddenly she realised that right before her red fire was spitting
from the German guns.
“Screaming in wild despair, she clung frantically to me.
“I felt next second a sharp burning pain in my chest.... We fell forward
together upon the bodies of our comrades.... When I came to myself I
found myself here, in this church, close to where I fell.
“What has happened, I wonder? Is our barricade at the bridge still held,
and still defiant? Can you tell me?”
* * * * *
On that same night desperate sorties were made from the London,
Southwark, and Blackfriars Bridges, and terrible havoc was committed by
the Defenders.
The German losses were enormous, for the South Londoners fought like
demons and gave no quarter. South London had, at last, broken its
bounds.
CHAPTER III
GREAT BRITISH VICTORY
The following despatch from the war correspondent of the _Times_ with
Lord Byfield was received on the morning of the 5th October, but was not
published in that journal till some days later, owing to the German
censorship, which necessitated its being kept secret:--
“WILLESDEN, _4th October_ (Evening).
“After a bloody but successful combat, lasting from early dawn till late
in the afternoon, the country to the immediate west of the metropolis
has been swept clear of the hated invaders, and the masses of the
‘League of Defenders’ can be poured into the West of London without let
or hindrance. In the desperate street-fighting which is now going on
they will be much more formidable than they were ever likely to be in
the open field, where they were absolutely incapable of manœuvring.
As for the Saxons--what is left of them--and Frölich’s Cavalry Division,
with whom we have been engaged all day, they have now fallen back on
Harrow and Hendon, it is said; but it is currently reported that a
constant movement towards the high ground near Hampstead is going on.
These rumours come by way of London, since the enemy’s enormous force of
cavalry is still strong enough to prevent us getting any first-hand
intelligence of his movements.
“As has been previously reported, the XIIth Saxon Corps, under the
command of Prince Henry of Würtemberg, had taken up a position intended
to cover the metropolis from the hordes of Defenders which, supported
by a small leaven of Regulars, with a proportion of cavalry and guns,
were known to be slowly rolling up from the west and south. Their front
facing west, extended from Staines on the south, to Pinner on the north,
passing through Stanwell, West Drayton, and Uxbridge. In addition they
had a strong reserve in the neighbourhood of Hounslow, whose business it
was to cover their left flank by keeping watch along the line of the
Thames. They had destroyed all bridges over the river between Staines
and Hammersmith. Putney Bridge, however, was still intact, as all
attacks on it had been repulsed by the British holding it on the south
side. Such was the general state of affairs when Lord Byfield, who had
established his headquarters at Windsor, formed his plan of attack.
“As far as I have been able to ascertain, its general idea was to hold
the Saxons to their position by the threat of the 300,000 Defenders that
were assembled and were continually increasing along a roughly parallel
line to that occupied by the enemy at about ten miles’ distance from it,
while he attacked their left flank with what Regular and Militia
regiments he could rapidly get together near Esher and Kingston. By this
time the southern lines in the neighbourhood of London were all in
working order, the damage that had been done here and there by small
parties of the enemy who had made raids across the river having been
repaired. It was, therefore, not a very difficult matter to assemble
troops from Windsor and various points on the South of London at very
short notice.
“General Bamford, to whom had been entrusted the defence of South
London, and who had established his headquarters at the Crystal Palace,
also contributed every man he could spare from the remnant of the
Regular troops under his command who were in that part of the metropolis
and its immediate neighbourhood that was still held by the British.
“It was considered quite safe now that the Germans in the City were so
hardly pressed to leave the defence of the Thames bridges to the masses
of irregulars who had all along formed the bulk of their defenders. The
risk that Prince Henry of Würtemberg would take the bull by the horns,
and by a sudden forward move attack and scatter the inert and
invertebrate mass of ‘Defenders’ who were in his immediate front had, of
course, to be taken; but it was considered that in the present state of
affairs in London he would hardly dare to increase the distance between
the Saxon Corps and the rest of the German Army. Events proved the
correctness of this surmise; but owing to unforeseen circumstances, the
course of the battle was somewhat different from that which had been
anticipated.
“Despite the vigilance of the German spies our plans were kept secret
till the very end, and it is believed that the great convergence of
Regular troops that began as soon as it was dark from Windsor and from
along the line occupied by the Army of the League on the west, right
round to Greenwich on the east, went on without any news of the movement
being carried to the enemy.
“Before dawn this morning every unit was in the position to which it had
been previously detailed, and everything being in readiness, the Royal
Engineers began to throw a pontoon bridge over the Thames at the point
where it makes a bend to the south just above the site of Walton Bridge.
The enemy’s patrols and pickets in the immediate neighbourhood at once
opened a heavy fire on the workers, but it was beaten down by that which
was poured upon them from the houses in Walton-on-Thames, which had been
quietly occupied during the night. The enemy in vain tried to reinforce
them, but in order to do this their troops had to advance into a narrow
peninsula which was swept by a cross-fire of shells from batteries which
had been placed in position on the south side of the river for this very
purpose.
“By seven o’clock the bridge was completed, and the troops were
beginning to cross over covered by the fire of the artillery and by an
advance guard which had been pushed over in boats. Simultaneously very
much the same thing had been going on at Long Ditton, and fierce
fighting was going on in the avenues and gardens round Hampton Court.
Success here, too, attended the British arms. As a matter of fact, a
determined attempt to cross the river in force had not at all been
anticipated by the Germans. They had not credited their opponents with
the power of so rapidly assembling an army and assuming an effective and
vigorous offensive so soon after their terrible series of disasters.
“What they had probably looked for was an attempt to overwhelm them by
sheer force of numbers. They doubtless calculated that Lord Byfield
would stiffen his flabby masses of defenders with what trained troops he
could muster, and endeavour to attack their lines simultaneously along
their whole length, overlapping them on either flank.
“They realised that to do this he would have to sacrifice his men in
thousands upon thousands, but they knew that to do so would be his only
possible chance of success in this eventuality, since the bulk of his
men could neither manœuvre nor deploy. Still they reckoned that in
the desperate situation of the British he would make up his mind to do
this.
“On their part, although they fully realised the possibility of being
overwhelmed by such tactics, they felt pretty confident that, posted as
they were behind a perfect network of small rivers and streams which ran
down to join the Thames, they would at least succeed in beating off the
attack with heavy loss, and stood no bad chance of turning the repulse
into a rout by skilful use of Frölich’s Cavalry Division, which would be
irresistible when attacking totally untrained troops after they had been
shattered and disorganised by artillery fire. This, at least, is the
view of those experts with whom I have spoken.
“What, perhaps, tended rather to confirm them in their theories as to
the action of the British was the rifle firing that went on along the
whole of their front all night through. The officers in charge of the
various units which conglomerated together formed the forces facing the
Saxons, had picked out the few men under their command who really had
some little idea of using a rifle, and, supplied with plenty of
ammunition, had sent them forward in numerous small parties with general
orders to approach as near the enemy’s picket line as possible, and as
soon as fired on to lie down and open fire in return. So a species of
sniping engagement went on from dark to dawn. Several parties got
captured or cut up by the German outlying troops, and many others got
shot by neighbouring parties of snipers. But, although they did not in
all probability do the enemy much damage, yet they kept them on the
alert all night, and led them to expect an attack in the morning. One
way and another luck was entirely on the side of the patriots that
morning.
“When daylight came the British massed to the westward of Staines had
such a threatening appearance from their immense numbers, and the fire
from their batteries of heavy guns and howitzers on the south side of
the river, which took the German left flank in, was so heavy that Prince
Henry, who was there in person, judged an attack to be imminent, and
would not spare a man to reinforce his troops at Shepperton and
Halliford, who were numerically totally inadequate to resist the advance
of the British once they got across the river.
“He turned a deaf ear to the most imploring requests for assistance, but
ordered the officer in command at Hounslow to move down at once and
drive the British into the river. So it has been reported by our
prisoners. Unluckily for him, this officer had his hands quite full
enough at this time; for the British, who had crossed at Long Ditton,
had now made themselves masters of everything east of the Thames Valley
branch of the London and South-Western Railway, were being continually
reinforced, and were fast pushing their right along the western bank of
the river.
“Their left was reported to be at Kempton Park, where they joined hands
with those who had effected a crossing near Walton-on-Thames. More
bridges were being built at Piatt’s Eyot, Tagg’s Eyot, and Sunbury Lock,
while boats and wherries in shoals appeared from all creeks and
backwaters and hiding-places as soon as both banks were in the hands of
the British.
“Regulars, Militia, and, lastly, Volunteers, were now pouring across in
thousands. Forward was still the word. About noon a strong force of
Saxons was reported to be retreating along the road from Staines to
Brentford. They had guns with them, which engaged the field batteries
which were at once pushed forward by the British to attack them. These
troops, eventually joining hands with those at Hounslow, opposed a more
determined resistance to our advance than we had hitherto encountered.
“According to what we learned subsequently from prisoners and others,
they were commanded by Prince Henry of Würtemberg in person. He had
quitted his position at Staines, leaving only a single battalion and a
few guns as a rearguard to oppose the masses of the Defenders who
threatened him in that direction, and had placed his troops in the best
position he could to cover the retreat of the rest of his corps from the
line they had been occupying. He had, it would appear, soon after the
fighting began, received the most urgent orders from Von Kronhelm to
fall back on London and assist him in the street fighting that had now
been going on without intermission for the best part of two days. Von
Kronhelm probably thought that he would be able to draw off some of his
numerous foes to the westward. But the message was received too late.
Prince Henry did his best to obey it, but by this time the very
existence of the XIIth Corps was at stake on account of the totally
unexpected attack on his left rear by the British regular troops.
“He opposed such a stout resistance with the troops under his immediate
command that he brought the British advance to a temporary standstill,
while in his rear every road leading Londonward was crowded with the
rest of his army as they fell back from West Drayton, Uxbridge, Ruislip,
and Pinner. Had they been facing trained soldiers they would have found
it most difficult, if not impossible, to do this; but as it was the
undisciplined and untrained masses of the League of Defenders lost a
long time in advancing, and still longer in getting over the series of
streams and dykes that lay between them and the abandoned Saxon
position.
“They lost heavily, too, from the fire of the small rearguards that had
been left at the most likely crossing-places. The Saxons were therefore
able to get quite well away from them, and when some attempt was being
made to form up the thousands of men who presently found themselves
congregated on the heath east of Uxbridge, before advancing farther, a
whole brigade of Frölich’s heavy cavalry suddenly swept down upon them
from behind Ickenham village. The _débâcle_ that followed was frightful.
The unwieldy mass of Leaguers swayed this way and that for a moment in
the panic occasioned by the sudden apparition of the serried masses of
charging cavalry that were rushing down on them with a thunder of hoofs
that shook the earth. A few scattered shots were fired without any
perceptible effect, and before they could either form up or fly the
German Reiters were upon them. It was a perfect massacre. The Leaguers
could oppose no resistance whatever. They were ridden down and
slaughtered with no more difficulty than if they had been a flock of
sheep. Swinging their long, straight swords, the cavalry-men cut them
down in hundreds, and drove thousands into the river. The ‘Defenders’
were absolutely pulverised, and fled westwards in a huge scattered
crowd. But if the Germans had the satisfaction of scoring a local
victory in this quarter, things were by no means rosy for them
elsewhere. Prince Henry, by desperate efforts, contrived to hold on
long enough in his covering position to enable the Saxons from the
central portion of his abandoned line to pass through Hounslow, and move
along the London road, through Brentford.
“Here disaster befell them. A battery of 4·7 guns was suddenly unmasked
on Richmond Hill, and, firing at a range of 5000 yards, played havoc
with the marching column. The head of it also suffered severe loss from
riflemen concealed in Kew Gardens, and the whole force had to extend and
fall back for some distance in a northerly direction. Near Ealing they
met the Uxbridge brigade, and a certain delay and confusion occurred.
However, trained soldiers such as these are not difficult to reorganise,
and while the latter continued its march along the main road the
remainder moved in several small parallel columns through Acton and
Turnham Green. Before another half-hour had elapsed there came a sound
of firing from the advanced guard. Orders to halt followed, then orders
to send forward reinforcements.
“During all this time the rattle of rifle fire waxed heavier and
heavier. It soon became apparent that every road and street leading into
London was barricaded and that the houses on either side were crammed
with riflemen. Before any set plan of action could be determined on, the
retiring Saxons found themselves committed to a very nasty bout of
street fighting. Their guns were almost useless, since they could not be
placed in positions from which they could fire on the barricades except
so close as to be under effective rifle fire. They made several
desperate assaults, most of which were repulsed. In Goldhawk Road a
Jäeger battalion contrived to rush the big rampart of paving-stones
which had been improvised by the British; but once over, they were
decimated by the fire from the houses on either side of the street. Big
high explosive shells from Richmond Hill, too, began to drop among the
Saxons. Though the range was long, the gunners were evidently well
informed of the whereabouts of the Saxon troops, and made wonderfully
lucky shooting.
“For some time the distant rumble of the firing to the south-west had
been growing more distinct in their ears, and about four o’clock it
suddenly broke out comparatively near by. Then came an order from Prince
Henry to fall back on Ealing at once. What had happened? It will not
take long to relate this. Prince Henry’s covering position had lain
roughly between East Bedfont and Hounslow, facing south-east. He had
contrived to hold on to the latter place long enough to allow his right
to pivot on it and fall back to Cranford Bridge. Here they were, to a
certain extent, relieved from the close pressure they had been subjected
to by the constantly advancing British troops, by the able and
determined action of a portion of Frölich’s Cavalry Brigade.
“But in the meantime his enemies on the left, constantly reinforced from
across the river--while never desisting from their so far unsuccessful
attack on Hounslow--worked round through Twickenham and Isleworth till
they began to menace his rear. He must abandon Hounslow, or be cut off.
With consummate generalship he withdrew his left along the line of the
Metropolitan and District Railway, and sent word to the troops on his
right to retire and take up a second position at Southall Green.
Unluckily for him, there was a delay in transmission, resulting in a
considerable number of these troops being cut off and captured.
Frölich’s cavalry were unable to aid them at this juncture, having their
attention drawn away by the masses of Leaguers who had managed to get
over the Colne and were congregating near Harmondsworth.
“They cut these up and dispersed them, but afterwards found that they
were separated from the Saxons by a strong force of British regular
troops who occupied Harlington and opened a fire on the Reiters that
emptied numerous saddles. They, therefore, made off to the northward.
From this forward nothing could check the steady advance of the English,
though fierce fighting went on till dark all through Hanwell, Ealing,
Perivale, and Wembley, the Saxons struggling gamely to the last, but
getting more and more disorganised. Had it not been for Frölich’s
division on their right they would have been surrounded. As it was, they
must have lost half their strength in casualties and prisoners.
“At dark, however, Lord Byfield ordered a general halt of his tired
though triumphant troops, and bivouacked and billeted them along a line
reaching from Willesden on the right through Wembley to Greenford. He
himself established his headquarters at Wembley.
“I have heard some critics say that he ought to have pushed on his
freshest troops towards Hendon to prevent the remnant of our opponents
from re-entering London; but others, with reason, urge that he is right
to let them into the metropolis, which they will now find to be merely a
trap.”
* * * * *
Extracts from the diary of General Von Kleppen, Commander of the IVth
German Army Corps, occupying London:--
“DORCHESTER HOUSE, PARK LANE, _Oct. 6_.
“We are completely deceived. Our position, much as we are attempting to
conceal it, is a very grave one. We believed that if we reached London
the British spirit would be broken. Yet the more drastic our rule, the
fiercer becomes the opposition. How it will end I fear to contemplate.
The British are dull and apathetic, but once aroused, they fight like
fiends.
“Last night we had an example of it. This League of Defenders, which Von
Kronhelm has always treated with ridicule, is, we have discovered too
late, practically the whole of England. Von Bistram, commanding the
VIIth Corps, and Von Haeslen, of the VIIIth Corps, have constantly been
reporting its spread through Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield,
Birmingham, and the other great towns we now occupy; but our
Commander-in-Chief has treated the matter lightly, declaring it to be a
kind of offshoot of some organisation they have here in England, called
the Primrose League....
“Yesterday, at the Council of War, however, he was compelled to
acknowledge his error when I handed him a scarlet handbill calling upon
the British to make a concerted attack upon us at ten o’clock.
Fortunately, we were prepared for the assault, otherwise I verily
believe that the honours would have rested with the populace in London.
As it is, we suffered considerable reverses in various districts, where
our men were lured into the narrow side streets and cut up. I confess I
am greatly surprised at the valiant stand made everywhere by the
Londoners. Last night they fought to the very end. A disaster to our
arms in the Strand was followed by a victory in Trafalgar Square, where
Von Wilberg had established defences for the purpose of preventing the
joining of the people of the East End with those of the West....”
CHAPTER IV
MASSACRE OF GERMANS IN LONDON
“‘DAILY MAIL’ OFFICE, _Oct. 12_, 6 p.m.
“Through the whole of last week the Germans occupying London suffered
great losses. They are now hemmed in on every side.
“At three o’clock this morning, Von Kronhelm having withdrawn the
greater part of the troops from the defence of the bridges, in an
attempt to occupy defensive positions in North London, the South
Londoners, impatient with long waiting, broke forth and came across the
river in enormous multitudes, every man bent upon killing a German
wherever seen.
“The night air was rent everywhere by the hoarse, exultant shouts as
London--the giant, all-powerful city--fell upon the audacious invader.
Through our windows in Carmelite Street came the dull roar of London’s
millions swelled by the Defenders from the west and south of England,
and by the gallant men from Canada, India, the Cape, and other British
colonies who had come forward to fight for the Mother country as soon as
her position was known to be critical.
“In the streets are seen Colonial uniforms side by side with the
costermonger from Whitechapel or Walworth, and dark-faced Indians in
turbans are fighting out in Fleet Street and the Strand. In the great
struggle now taking place many of our reporters and correspondents have
unfortunately been wounded, and, alas! four of them killed.
“In these terrible days a man’s life is not safe from one moment to
another. Both sides seem to have now lost their heads completely. Among
the Germans all semblance of order has apparently been thrown to the
winds. It is known that London has risen to a man, and the enemy are
therefore fully aware of their imminent peril. Already they are beaten.
True, Von Kronhelm still sits in the War Office directing
operations--operations which he knows too well are foredoomed to
failure.
“The Germans have, it must be admitted, carried on the war in a
chivalrous spirit until those drastic executions exasperated the people.
Then neither side gave quarter, and now to-day all through Islington,
Hoxton, Kingsland, and Dalston, right out eastward to Homerton, a
perfect massacre of Germans is in progress.
“Lord Byfield has issued two urgent proclamations, threatening the
people of London with all sorts of penalties if they kill instead of
taking an enemy prisoner, but they seem to have no effect. London is
starved and angered to such a pitch that her hatred knows no bounds, and
only blood will atone for the wholesale slaughter of the innocent since
the bombardment of the metropolis began.
“The Kaiser has, we hear, left the ‘Belvedere’ at Scarborough, where he
has been living incognito. A confidential report, apparently well
founded, has reached us that he embarked upon the steam-trawler _Morning
Star_ at Scarborough yesterday, and set out across the Dogger, with
Germany, of course, as his destination. Surely he must now regret his
ill-advised policy of making an attack upon England. He had gauged our
military weakness very accurately, but he had not counted upon the
patriotic spirit of our Empire. It may be that he has already given
orders to Von Kronhelm, but it is nevertheless a very significant fact
that the German wireless telegraph apparatus on the summit of Big Ben is
in constant use by the German Commander-in-Chief. He is probably in
hourly communication with Bremen, or with the Emperor himself upon the
trawler _Morning Star_.
“Near Highbury Fields about noon to-day some British cavalry surprised a
party of Germans, and attempted to take them prisoners. The latter
showed fight, whereupon they were shot down to a man. The British held
as prisoners by the Germans near Enfield have now been released, and are
rejoining their comrades along the northern heights. Many believe that
another and final battle will be fought north of London, but military
men declare that the German power is already broken. Whether Von
Kronhelm will still continue to lose his men at the rate he is now
doing, or whether he will sue for peace, is an open question.
Personally, he was against the bombardment of London from the very
first, yet he was compelled to carry out the orders of his Imperial
master. The invasion, the landing, and the successes in the North were,
in his opinion, quite sufficient to have paralysed British trade and
caused such panic that an indemnity would have been paid. To attack
London was, in his opinion, a proceeding far too dangerous, and his
estimate is now proved to have been the correct one. Now that they have
lost command of the sea and are cut off from their bases in Essex, the
enemy’s situation is hopeless. They may struggle on, but assuredly the
end can only be an ignominious one.
“Yet the German Eagle still flies proudly over the War Office, over St.
Stephen’s, and upon many other public buildings, while upon others
British Royal Standards and Union Jacks are commencing to appear, each
one being cheered by the excited Londoners, whose hearts are now full of
hope. Germany shall be made to bite the dust. That is the war-cry
everywhere. Many a proud Uhlan and Cuirassier has to-day ridden to his
death amid the dense mobs, mad with the lust of blood. Some of the more
unfortunate of the enemy have been lynched, and torn limb from limb,
while others have died deaths too horrible to here describe in detail.
“Each hour brings to us further news showing how, by slow degrees, the
German army of occupation is being wiped out. People are jeering at the
audacious claim for indemnity presented to the British Government when
the enemy entered London, and are asking whether we will not now present
a claim to Germany. Von Kronhelm is not blamed so much as his Emperor.
He has been the catspaw, and has burned his fingers in endeavouring to
snatch the chestnuts from the fire.
“As a commander, he has acted justly, fully observing the international
laws concerning war. It was only when faced by the problem of a national
uprising that he countenanced anything bordering upon capital
punishment. An hour ago our censors were withdrawn. They came and shook
hands with many members of the staff, and retired. This surely is a
significant fact that Von Kronhelm hopes to regain the confidence of
London by appearing to treat her with a fatherly solicitude. Or is it
that he intends to sue for peace at any price?
“An hour ago another desperate attempt was made on the part of the men
of South London, aided by a large body of British regulars, to regain
possession of the War Office. Whitehall was once more the scene of a
bloody fight, but so strongly does Von Kronhelm hold the place and all
the adjacent thoroughfares--he apparently regarding it as his own
fortress--that the attack was repulsed with heavy loss on our side.
“All the bridges are now open, the barricades are in most cases being
blown up, and people are passing and repassing freely for the first time
since the day following the memorable bombardment. London streets are,
however, in a most deplorable condition. On every hand is ruin and
devastation. Whole streets of houses rendered gaunt and windowless by
the now spent fires meet the eye everywhere. In certain places the ruins
were still smouldering, and in one or two districts the conflagrations
spread over an enormous area. Even if peace be declared, can London ever
recover from this present wreck? Paris recovered, and quickly too.
Therefore we place our faith in British wealth, British industry, and
British patriotism.
“Yes. The tide has turned. The great Revenge now in progress is truly a
mad and bloody one. In Kilburn this afternoon there was a wholesale
killing of a company of German infantry, who, while marching along the
High Road, were set upon by the armed mob, and practically exterminated.
The smaller thoroughfares, Brondesbury Road, Victoria Road, Glendall
Road, and Priory Park Road, across to Paddington Cemetery, were the
scene of a frightful slaughter. The Germans died hard, but in the end
were completely wiped out. German-baiting is now, indeed, the Londoner’s
pastime, and on this dark and rainy afternoon hundreds of men of the
Fatherland have fallen and died upon the wet roads.
“Sitting here, in a newspaper office, as we do, and having fresh reports
constantly before us, we are able to review the whole situation
impartially. Every moment, through the various news-agencies and our own
correspondents and contributors, we are receiving fresh facts--facts
which all combine to show that Von Kronhelm cannot hold out much longer.
Surely the Commander-in-Chief of a civilised army will not allow his men
to be massacred as they are now being! The enemy’s troops, mixed up in
the maze of London streets as they are, are utterly unable to cope with
the oncoming multitudes, some armed with rifles and others with anything
they can lay their hands upon.
“Women--wild, infuriated women--have now made their reappearance north
of the Thames. In more than one instance where German soldiers have
attempted to take refuge in houses these women have obtained petrol,
and, with screams of fiendish delight, set the houses in question on
fire. Awful dramas are being enacted in every part of the metropolis.
The history of to-day is written in German blood.
“Lord Byfield has established temporary headquarters at Jack Straw’s
Castle, where Von Kronhelm was during the bombardment, and last night we
could see the signals exchanged between Hampstead and Sydenham Hill,
from whence General Bamford has not yet moved. Our cavalry in Essex are,
it is said, doing excellent work. Lord Byfield has also sent a body of
troops across from Gravesend to Tilbury, and these have regained Maldon
and Southminster after some hard fighting. Advices from Gravesend state
that further reinforcements are being sent across the river to operate
against the East of London and hem in the Germans on that side.
“So confident is London of success that several of the railways are
commencing to reorganise their traffic. A train left Willesden this
afternoon for Birmingham--the first since the bombardment--while another
has left Finsbury Park for Peterborough, to continue to York if
possible. So wrecked are the London termini, however, that it must be
some weeks before trains can arrive or be despatched from either Euston,
King’s Cross, Paddington, Marylebone, or St. Pancras. In many instances
the line just north of the terminus is interrupted by a blown-up tunnel
or a fallen bridge, therefore the termination of traffic must, for the
present, be at some distance north on the outskirts of London.
“Shops are also opening in South London, though they have but little to
sell. Nevertheless, this may be regarded as a sign of renewed
confidence. Besides, supplies of provisions are now arriving, and the
London County Council and Salvation Army are distributing free soup and
food in the lower-class districts. Private charity, everywhere abundant
during the trying days of dark despair, is doing inestimable good among
every class. The hard, grasping employer, and the smug financier, who
hitherto kept scrupulous accounts, and have been noteworthy on account
of their uncharitableness, have now, in the hour of need, come forward
and subscribed liberally to the great Mansion House Fund, opened
yesterday by the Deputy Lord Mayor of London. The subscription list
occupies six columns of the issue of to-morrow’s paper, and this, in
itself, speaks well for the open-heartedness of the moneyed classes of
Great Britain.
“No movement has yet been made in the financial world. Bankers still
remain with closed doors. The bullion seized at Southminster and other
places is now under strong British guard, and will, it is supposed, be
returned to the Bank immediately. Only a comparatively small sum has
been sent across to Germany. Therefore all Von Kronhelm’s strategy has
utterly failed. By the invasion Germany has, up to the present moment,
gained nothing. She has made huge demands, at which we can afford to
jeer. True, she has wrecked London, but have we not sent the greater
part of her fleet to the bottom of the North Sea, and have we not
created havoc in German ports?
“The leave-taking of our two gold-spectacled censors was almost
pathetic. We had come to regard them as necessities to puzzle and to
play practical jokes of language upon. To-day, for the first time, we
have received none of those official notices in German, with English
translations, which of late have appeared so prominently in our columns.
The German Eagle is gradually disentangling his talons from London, and
means to escape us--if he can.”
“10.30 p.m.
“Private information has just reached us from a most reliable source
that a conference has been arranged between Von Kronhelm and Lord
Byfield. This evening the German Field-Marshal sent a messenger to the
British headquarters at Hampstead under a flag of truce. He bore a
despatch from the German Commander asking that hostilities should be
suspended for twenty-four hours, and that they should make an
appointment for a meeting during that period.
“Von Kronhelm has left the time and place of meeting to Lord Byfield,
and has informed the British Commander that he has sent telegraphic
instructions to the German military governors of Birmingham, Sheffield,
Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, Northampton, Stafford, Oldham, Wigan,
Bolton, and other places, giving notice of his suggestion to the
British, and ordering that for the present hostilities on the part of
the Germans shall be suspended.
“It seems more than likely that the German Field-Marshal has received
these very definite instructions by wireless telegraph from the Emperor
at Bremen or Potsdam.
“We understand that Lord Byfield, after a brief consultation by
telegraph with the Government at Bristol, has sent a reply. Of its
nature, however, nothing is known, and at the moment of writing
hostilities are still in progress.
“In an hour’s time we shall probably know whether the war is to
continue, or a truce is to be proclaimed.”
“Midnight.
“Lord Byfield has granted a truce, and hostilities have now been
suspended.
“London has gone mad with delight, for the German yoke is cast off.
Further information which has just reached us from private sources
states that thousands of prisoners have been taken by Lord Byfield
to-day, and that Von Kronhelm has acknowledged his position to be
absolutely hopeless.
“The great German Army has been defeated by our British patriots, who
have fought so valiantly and so well. It is not likely that the war will
be resumed. Von Kronhelm received a number of British officers at the
War Office half an hour ago, and it is said that he is already making
preparations to vacate the post he has usurped.
“Lord Byfield has issued a reassuring message to London, which we have
just received with instructions to print. It declares that although for
the moment only a truce is proclaimed, yet this means the absolute
cessation of all hostilities.
“The naval news of the past few days may be briefly summarised. The
British main fleet entered the North Sea, and our submarines did most
excellent work in the neighbourhood of the Maas Lightship. Prince
Stahlberger had concentrated practically the whole of his naval force
off Lowestoft, but a desperate battle was fought about seventy miles
from the Texel, full details of which are not yet to hand. All that is
known is that, having now regained command of the sea, we were enabled
to inflict a crushing defeat upon the Germans, in which the German
flagship was sunk. In the end sixty-one British ships were concentrated
against seventeen German, with the result that the German Fleet has
practically been wiped out, there being 19,000 of the enemy’s officers
and men on the casualty list, the greatest recorded in any naval battle.
“Whatever may be the demands for indemnity on either side, one thing is
absolutely certain, namely, that the invincible German Army and Navy are
completely vanquished.
“The Eagle’s wings are trailing in the dust.”
CHAPTER V
HOW THE WAR ENDED
Days passed--weary, waiting, anxious days. A whole month went by. After
the truce, London very gradually began to resume her normal life, though
the gaunt state of the streets was indescribably weird.
Shops began to open, and as each day passed, food became more plentiful,
and consequently less dear. The truce meant the end of the war,
therefore thanksgiving services were held in every town and village
throughout the country.
There were great prison-camps of Germans at Hounslow, Brentwood, and
Barnet, while Von Kronhelm and his chief officers were also held as
prisoners until some decision through diplomatic channels could be
arrived at. Meanwhile a little business began to be done; thousands
began to resume their employment, bankers re-opened their doors, and
within a week the distress and suffering of the poor became perceptibly
alleviated. The task of burying the dead after the terrible massacre of
the Germans in the London streets had been a stupendous one, but so
quickly had it been accomplished that an epidemic was happily averted.
Confidence, however, was not completely restored, even though each day
the papers assured us that a settlement had been arrived at between
Berlin and London.
Parliament moved back to Westminster, and daily meetings of the Cabinet
were being held in Downing Street. These resulted in the resignation of
the Ministry, and with a fresh Cabinet, in which Mr. Gerald Graham, the
organiser of the Defenders, was given a seat, a settlement was at last
arrived at.
To further describe the chaotic state of England occasioned by the
terrible and bloody war would serve no purpose. The loss and suffering
which it had caused the country had been incalculable; statisticians
estimated that in one month of hostilities it had amounted to
£500,000,000, a part of which represented money transferred from British
pockets to German, as the enemy had carried off some of the securities
upon which the German troops had laid their hands in London.
Let us for a moment take a retrospective glance. Consols were at 50;
bread was still 1s. 6d. per loaf; and the ravages of the German
commerce-destroyers had sent up the cost of insurance on British
shipping sky-high. Money was almost unprocurable; except for the
manufacture of war material, there was no industry; and the suffering
and distress among the poor could not be exaggerated. In all directions
men, women, and children had been starving.
The mercantile community were loud in their outcry for “peace at any
price,” and the pro-German and Stop-the-War Party were equally vehement
in demanding a cessation of the war. They found excuses for the enemy,
and forgot the frightful devastation and loss which the invasion had
caused to the country. They protested against continuing the struggle in
the interests of the “capitalists,” who, they alleged, were really
responsible for the war.
They insisted that the working class gained nothing, even though the
British Fleet was closely blockading the German coast, and their outcry
was strengthened when a few days after the blockade of the Elbe had
begun two British battleships were so unfortunate as to strike German
mines, and sink with a large part of their crews. The difficulty of
borrowing money for the prosecution of the war was a grave obstacle in
the way of the party of action, and preyed upon the mind of the British
Government.
The whole character of the nation and the Government had changed since
the great days when, in the face of famine and immense peril, the
country had fought Napoleon to the last and overthrown him. The strong
aristocratic Government had been replaced by a weak Administration,
swayed by every breath of popular impulse. The peasantry who were the
backbone of the nation had vanished, and been replaced by the weak,
excitable population of the towns.
Socialism, with its creed of “Thou shalt have no other god but Thyself,”
and its doctrine, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,” had
replaced the religious beliefs of a generation of Englishmen taught to
suffer and to die sooner than surrender to wrong. In the hour of trial,
amidst smoking ruins, among the holocausts of dead which marked the
prolonged, bloody, and terrible battles on land and at sea, the spirit
of the nation quailed, and there was really no great leader to recall it
to ways of honour and duty.
Seven large German commerce-destroyers were still at sea in the Northern
Atlantic. One of them was the splendid ex-Cunarder _Lusitania_, of 25
knots, which had been sold to a German firm a year before the war, when
the British Government declined to continue its subsidy of £150,000 per
annum to the Cunard Company under the agreement of 1902. The reason for
withdrawing this subsidy was the need for economy, as money had to be
obtained to pay members of Parliament. The Cunard Company, unable to
bear the enormous cost of running both its huge 25-knot steamers, was
compelled to sell the _Lusitania_, but with patriotic enterprise it
retained the _Mauretania_, even though she was only worked at a dead
loss.
The _Mauretania_, almost immediately after the outbreak of war, had been
commissioned as a British cruiser, with orders specially to hunt for the
_Lusitania_, which had now been renamed the _Preussen_. But it was
easier to look for the great commerce-destroyer than to find her, and
for weeks the one ship hunted over the wide waters of the North Atlantic
for the other.
The German procedure had been as follows:--All their commerce-destroyers
had received orders to sink the British ships which they captured when
these were laden with food. The crews of the ships destroyed were
collected on board the various commerce-destroyers, and were from time
to time placed on board neutral vessels, which were stopped at sea and
compelled to find them accommodation. For coal the German cruisers
relied at the outset upon British colliers, of which they captured
several, and subsequently upon the supplies of fuel which were brought
to them by neutral vessels. They put into unfrequented harbours, and
there filled their bunkers, and were gone before protests could be made.
The wholesale destruction of food, and particularly of wheat and meat,
removed from the world’s market a large part of its supplies, and had
immediately sent up the cost of food everywhere, outside the United
Kingdom as well as in it. At the same time, the attacks upon shipping
laden with food increased the cost of insurance to prohibitive prices
upon vessels freighted for the United Kingdom. The underwriters after
the first few captures by the enemy would not insure at all except for
fabulous rates.
The withdrawal of all the larger British cruisers for the purpose of
defeating the main German fleets in the North Sea left the
commerce-destroyers a free hand, and there was no force to meet them.
The British liners commissioned as commerce-protectors were too few and
too slow, with the single exception of the _Mauretania_, to be able to
hold their adversaries in check.
Neutral shipping was molested by the German cruisers. The German
Government had proclaimed food of all kinds and raw cotton contraband of
war, and when objection was offered by various neutral Governments, it
replied that Russia in the war with Japan had treated cotton and food as
contraband, and that no effective resistance had been offered by the
neutral Powers to this action. Great Britain, the German authorities
urged, had virtually acquiesced in the Russian proceedings against her
shipping, and had thus established a precedent which became law for the
world.
Whenever raw cotton or food of any kind was discovered upon a neutral
vessel bound for British ports, the vessel was seized and sent into one
or other of the German harbours on the West Coast of Africa. St. Helena,
after its garrison had been so foolishly withdrawn by the British
Government in 1906, remained defenceless, and it had been seized by a
small German expedition at the very outset. Numerous guns were landed,
and it became a most useful base for the attacks of the German
commerce-destroyers.
Its natural strength rendered its recapture difficult, and the British
Government had not a man to spare for the work of retaking it, so that
it continued in German hands up to the last week of the struggle, when
at last it was stormed after a vigorous bombardment by a small force
despatched from India.
The absurd theory that commerce could be left to take care of itself was
exploded by the naval operations of the war. The North Atlantic had
continued so dangerous all through September that British shipping
practically disappeared from it, and neutral shipping was greatly
hampered. All the Atlantic ports of the United States and the South
American seaboard were full of British steamers, mainly of the tramp
class, that had been laid up because it was too dangerous to send them
to sea. The movement of supplies to England was carried on by only the
very fastest vessels, and these, as they ran the blockade-runners’
risks, demanded the blockade-runners’ compensating profits.
In yet another way the German Government enhanced the difficulty of
maintaining the British food supply. When war broke out, it was
discovered that German agents had secured practically all the “spot
wheat” available in the United States, and had done the same in Russia.
Germany had cornered the world’s available supply by the outlay of a
modest number of millions, and its agents were instructed not to part
with their supplies except at an enormous price. In this way Germany
recouped her outlay, made a large profit, and caused terrific distress
in England, where the dependence of the country upon foreign supplies of
food had been growing steadily all through the early years of the
twentieth century.
The United Kingdom, indeed, might have been reduced to absolute
starvation, had it not been for the fact that the Canadian Government
interfered in Canada to prevent similar German tactics from succeeding,
and held the German contracts for the cornering of Canadian wheat,
contrary to public policy.
The want of food, the high price of bread and meat in England, and the
greatly increased cost of the supplies of raw material sent up the
expenditure upon poor relief to enormous figures. Millions of men were
out of employment, and in need of assistance. Mills and factories in all
directions had closed down, either because of the military danger from
the operations of the German armies, or because of the want of orders,
or, again, because raw materials were not procurable. The British
workers had no such accumulated resources as the French peasant
possessed in 1870 from which to meet distress. They had assumed that
prosperity would continue for all time, and that, if it did not, the
rich might be called upon to support them and their families.
Unfortunately, when the invasion began, many rich foreigners who had
lived in England collected what portable property they possessed and
retired abroad to Switzerland, Italy, and the United States. Their
example was followed by large numbers of British subjects who had
invested abroad, and now, in the hour of distress, were able to place
their securities in a handbag and withdraw them to happier countries.
They may justly be blamed for this want of patriotism, but their reply
was that they had been unjustly and mercilessly taxed by men who derided
patriotism, misused power, and neglected the real interests of the
nation in the desire to pander to the mob. Moreover, with the income-tax
at 3s. 6d. in the pound, and with the cost of living enormously
enhanced, they declared that it was a positive impossibility to live in
England, while into the bargain their lives were exposed to danger from
the enemy.
As a result of this wholesale emigration, in London and the country the
number of empty houses inordinately increased, and there were few
well-to-do people left to pay the rates and taxes. The fearful burden of
the extravagant debts which the British municipalities had heaped up was
cruelly felt, since the nation had to repudiate the responsibility which
it had incurred for the payment of interest on the local debts. The
Socialist dream, in fact, might almost be said to have been realised.
There were few rich left, but the consequences to the poor, instead of
being beneficial, were utterly disastrous.
Under the pressure of public opinion, constrained by hunger and
financial necessities, and with thousands of German prisoners in their
hands, the British Government acceded to the suggested conference to
secure peace. Von Kronhelm had asked for a truce, his proposals being
veiled under a humanitarian form. The British Government, too, did not
wish to keep the German prisoners who had fought with such gallantry
longer from their hearths and homes. Nothing, it added, was to be gained
by prolonging the war and increasing the tale of bloodshed and calamity.
A just and honourable peace might allay the animosity between two great
nations of the same stock, if both would let bygones be bygones.
The response of the German Government was chilling and discouraging.
Germany, it practically said, had no use for men who had surrendered.
Their hearths and homes could well spare them a little longer. The
destruction of the German Navy mattered nothing to Germany, who could
build another fleet with her flourishing finances. Her army was in
possession of Holland and the mainland of Denmark, and would remain so
until the British Army--if there were any--arrived to turn it out. The
British Government must state what indemnity it was prepared to pay to
be rid of the war, or what surrender of territory it would make to
obtain peace.
At the same time the German Press, in a long series of inspired
articles, contended that, notwithstanding the ultimate British
successes, England had been the real sufferer by the war. The struggle
had been fought on British soil, British trade had been ruined, British
finances thrown into utter disorder, and a great stretch of territory
added to the German Empire. Holland and Denmark were ample recompense
for the reverses at sea.
The British blockade of the German coast was derided as ineffective, and
the British losses due to German mines were regarded as a sign of what
the British Navy had to expect if it continued the war. Then a picture
was painted of Germany, strong, united, triumphant, confident, firm in
her national spirit, efficient in every detail of administration, while
in England corruption, inefficiency, and incompetence were alleged to be
supreme.
But these Press philippics and the haughty attitude of the German
Government were, in reality, only attempts to impose upon the British
people and the British Government. Subsequent information has shown that
German interests had suffered in every possible way, and that there was
grave danger of foreign complications. Unfortunately, the behaviour of
the German Press had the expected effect upon England. The clamour for
peace grew, and the pro-Germans openly asserted that a cessation of
hostilities must be purchased at any price.
At the mediation of the French Government negotiations between the
British and German Governments were resumed in the first days of
November. But the Germans still adhered inflexibly to their demand for
the _status quo_. Germany must retain Holland and Denmark, which were to
become States of the German Empire, under their existing dynasties.
Turkey must retain Egypt, whither the Turkish troops had penetrated
during the chaos caused by the invasion of England. The Dutch East
Indies must become a part of the German Empire.
Certain foreign Powers, however, which had been friendly to England now
avowed their readiness to support her in resisting these outrageous
demands. But the outcry for peace in England was growing continually,
and the British Ministry was helpless before it. The Germans must have
got wind of the foreign support which was secretly being given to this
country, since at the eleventh hour they waived their demands as regards
Egypt and the Dutch East Indies.
The lot of these two territories was to be settled by an International
Congress. But they finally secured the consent of the British Government
to the conclusion of a peace on the basis that each Power should retain
what it possessed at the opening of October. Thus Germany was to be
confirmed in her possession of Holland and Denmark, while England gained
nothing by the peace. The British surrender on this all-important head
tied the hands of the foreign Powers which were prepared to resist
vehemently such an aggrandisement of Germany.
As for the Congress to deal with Egypt and the East Indies, this does
not fall within the sphere of our history.
* * * * *
Peace was finally signed on 13th January 1911. The British Empire
emerged from the conflict outwardly intact, but internally so weakened
that only the most resolute reforms accomplished by the ablest and
boldest statesmen could have restored it to its old position.
Germany, on the other hand, emerged with an additional 21,000 miles of
European territory, with an extended seaboard on the North Sea, fronting
the United Kingdom at Rotterdam and the Texel, and, it was calculated,
with a slight pecuniary advantage. Practically the entire cost of the
war had been borne by England.
Looking back upon this sad page of history--sad for Englishmen--some
future Thucydides will pronounce that the decree of Providence was not
undeserved. The British nation had been warned against the danger; it
disregarded the warning. In the two great struggles of the early
twentieth century, in South Africa and the Far East, it had before its
eyes examples of the peril which comes from unpreparedness and from
haphazard government. It shut its eyes to the lessons. Its soldiers had
called upon it in vain to submit to the discipline of military service;
it rebelled against the sacrifice which the Swiss, the Swede, the
German, the Frenchman, and the Japanese made not unwillingly for his
country.
In the teeth of all entreaties it reduced in 1906 the outlay upon its
army and its fleet, to expend the money thus saved upon its own comfort.
The battalions, batteries, and battleships sacrificed might well have
averted invasion, indeed, have prevented war. But to gain a few
millions, risks were incurred which ended ultimately in the loss of
hundreds of millions of money and thousands of lives, and in starvation
for myriads of men, women, and children.
As is always the case, the poor suffered most. The Socialists, who had
declaimed against armaments, were faithless friends of those whom they
professed to champion. Their dream of a golden age proved utterly
delusive. But the true authors of England’s misfortunes escaped blame
for the moment, and the Army and Navy were made the scapegoats of the
great catastrophe.
That the Army Council and the Admiralty had been criminally weak could
not be denied. Their weakness merely reflected the moral tone of the
nation, which took no interest in naval or military affairs, and then
was enraged to find that, in the hour of trial, everything for a time
went wrong. When success did come, it came too late, and could not be
utilised without a great British Army capable of carrying the war into
the enemy’s country, and thus compelling a satisfactory peace.
THE END
_Printed by_ MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED, _Edinburgh_
Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:
United Kingdom=> United Kindgom {pg 22}
atached to his=> attached to his {pg 86}
had themelves been=> had themselves been {pg 215}
even a possilibity=> even a possibility {pg 301}
position to be atacked=> position to be attacked {pg 313}
had pratically=> had practically {pg 332}
cross at his thoat=> cross at his throat {pg 339}
of his mazagine=> of his magazine {pg 437}
the whole popluation=> the whole population {pg 464}
was re-reported=> was reported {pg 525}
retain Holland and Demark=> retain Holland and Denmark {pg 548}
End of Project Gutenberg's The Invasion of 1910, by William le Queux