When it became apparent to General French that the line of the Aisne,
to which the Germans had retreated after the battle of the Marne, was
too strong to be forced, he withdrew his troops, about 100,000 men,
from the line, his place being filled by the French reserves. The
object of the withdrawal was another flanking movement against the
German right. The idea seems to have been that by withdrawing and
entraining at night the movement would be entirely concealed from the
Germans until the British were actually in Belgium, and that an
advance along the left bank of the Scheldt would turn the flank of the
whole German army in France, compelling a general retreat. The
movement was discovered by German air scouts, however, and the troops
that had been before Antwerp met and checked the British, who took up
finally the line along the Yser Canal, through Ypres to La Bassee,
opposed by three German army corps.
But one thing saved the British from another defeat and prevented a
more disastrous retreat than that from Mons and Charleroi. When the
Germans took Antwerp the Belgian garrison of about 50,000 men escaped
and by a brilliant retreat retired to a line from Nieuport to Dixmude.
They thus guarded the left flank of the British line and by a
stubborn resistance prevented this flank from being turned and the
British driven south toward Paris. Nothing else prevented Dunkirk,
Calais, and Boulogne from falling into German hands at this time.
As it afterward turned out, the German plan, after the fall of
Antwerp, was a sudden drive to Calais. The plan was conceived and the
movement begun at the same time General French put into execution his
attempt to outflank the German position. These forces met on the
Ypres-La Bassee line, and both were halted. It was a fortuitous
chance, then, that the Germans were held back from the coast, as well
as deprived of an opportunity to strike at Paris from the north. For
three weeks the Germans battled fiercely, with almost total disregard
for the loss of life involved. Finally the attack died out, and with
its death the whole line from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier
settled down to trench warfare.
While the armies in the west were checking each other until the status
of a "stalemate" had been reached, affairs in the eastern theatre had
been moving rapidly. Persuaded by German money, a temptation the Turk
has ever been powerless to resist, Turkey late in October joined hands
with the Teutons and declared war on the Allies. The Japanese, who had
at the outset joined hands with England, had, after a wonderful
defense by the Germans, taken the German Chinese city of Kiao-Chau.
But of more importance still was the activity of the opposing armies
in Russia and in Galicia.
After the battle of Fannenburg, in which Russia was defeated and
driven back to her own borders, the Germans invaded Suwalki Province
in Northern Poland. The Russians again took the offensive, defeated
the Germans in the battle of Augustovo, and, pressing westward, again
entered East Prussia in the region of the Mazurian Lakes. In this
territory a deadlock followed, both Russians and Germans remaining
with horns locked and unable to move until early Spring.
In Galicia, however, events moved with greater rapidity, and the
results were vastly more important. After the fall of Lemberg and
Jaroslau the Russians pressed forward across the San to Tarnow,
masking Przemysl on the way, and took up a line along the Dunajec to
the Carpathians and east through Galicia along the Dniester and the
Pruth to the Rumanian frontier, thus threatening not only the plains
of Hungary, which lay just across the Carpathian summits, but also
Bukowina, the Crownland of Austria.
Austria's plight was desperate, and German assistance was necessary.
Von Hindenburg's first attack on Warsaw, the battle being called the
battle of the Vistula, was the answer. The Germans advanced against
the Russian centre, the Austrians against the left in Galicia. At
first both were successful, but heavy Russian reinforcements succeeded
in turning the German left, almost at the very gates of Warsaw. The
Germans were forced to retreat, and fell back to their own borders.
The Austrians were at the same time compelled to retreat, due to the
uncovering of their flank, and again Russia was in supreme control of
Galicia as far west as Cracow. As the Germans retreated the Russians
followed, and another invasion of Germany was threatened, and it was
von Hindenburg again who was to throw it back.
This he did, driving forward in three columns, two of which were
intended to move against the Russian flanks. The Russian centre fell
back to Lodz, but the right was still threatened. Again Russia
assembled her reserves, and before von Hindenburg realized the
situation a Russian army was not only on his flank but in his rear. A
retreat was necessary. The Germans, assisted by corps drawn from the
west, cut their way out and escaped from the Russian trap through the
failure of one of the Russian armies to co-operate in the movement in
time. But the German offense had failed and the effort had been
terribly expensive.
Another offense was immediately planned--this time to move along the
Vistula and strike at Warsaw from the southwest. This also was a
failure, and the two armies finally became deadlocked along the line
of the Bzura and the Rawka Rivers.
No further fighting of importance in this theatre until February, when
the battle of the Mazurian Lakes was fought. It will be recalled that
after the German defeat at Augustovo the Russians pursued the Germans
into the lake district, where the two armies became practically
deadlocked. This situation was broken by the Germans, who suddenly
attacked both flanks of the Russian army and inflicted upon it a
disastrous defeat, in which one army corps surrendered and the
remainder escaped only after enormous losses.
But the victory, like other German victories, while decisive as far as
the particular Russian army involved was concerned, did nothing toward
hastening peace. The beginning of Spring found the armies in both
theatres completely at a standstill, except in Galicia.
In the west since the failure of the German drive on Calais there has
been no movement that has affected the general situation. The
anniversary of the declaration of war finds the lines of the Germans
and the French practically where they were six months ago. A number of
battles have been fought for the possession of certain points of
vantage--in the Champagne, the Argonne, at Neuve Chapelle, Ypres, Les
Eparges, Hartmannsweilerkopf, Metzeral, Souchez--but they have
resulted in only a local effect, although they have been accompanied
in almost every case by losses that have been staggering.
The principal event of the Spring in the west has been the advent of
Italy into the maelstrom. But this has not affected the situation up
to the present time. Italy has a hard problem on her hands which must
be solved before she can make herself felt. She has but one line of
advance--the line of the Isonzo. But she dare not advance and leave
the passes through the Tyrolean and the Carnic Alps open for Germany
and Austria to pour troops in against her flank and rear. Her task
therefore is first to stop every pass by which this can be done; and
then, and then only, is she ready to move. This is being done, but
the task is a difficult one, the country impossible from a military
viewpoint, and progress necessarily slow.
In the east, however, the coming of Spring brought a series of the
most tremendous movements of the war. The Allies began an operation
against the Dardanelles, with the object of forcing the strait, taking
Constantinople, and thus at once releasing the great store of grain in
Southern Russia and providing a means of getting ammunition to Russia
from the west. The operations at first were entirely naval. But after
serious loss, with no corresponding advantage, it was realized that
the naval forces alone were not sufficient, and troops were landed on
the western end of the Gallipoli Peninsula. This force has been for
three months hammering at the positions of the Turks along the
Achibaba line, but, except for the possible influence on the Balkan
States of the presence of these expeditionary forces on Gallipoli,
little headway has been made. Certain it is that there is no
indication that the near future will bring the Allies into
Constantinople.
In Galicia the Spring began with the capitulation of Przemysl and the
surrender to the Russians of about 125,000 Austrians. This was the
greatest victory in the eastern theatre thus far, and immediately
opened the way wide to the passes in the Carpathians that led to the
Hungarian plains and to Cracow. Russia evidently felt that if she
confined her operations to Austria she could, by pushing the attack
into Hungary, crush Austria completely and eliminate her from the war.
Accordingly, the opportunity of laying siege to Cracow was passed by
and Russian efforts concentrated in forcing the Carpathian passes.
For weeks the battle of the Carpathians was in progress. The
Austrians, reinforced by strong German contingents, fought
desperately, and, although several of the passes were finally
captured, Uzok Pass, the centre of the line and the key to the whole
Carpathian situation, held out. While the battle for its possession
was in progress the Germans were quietly concentrating along the
Dunajec. Suddenly their attack was launched, the line of the Dunajec
forced, and the Russian flank and their lines of communication were
seriously involved. To prevent being cut off, the forces in the
Carpathians were compelled to fall back to their lateral lines.
Preponderance of artillery forced the retreat through Galicia, and in
an incredibly short time Jaroslaw, Przemysl, and Lemberg were again in
the hands of the Teutons and Galicia practically cleared of the
Russian invaders.
Earlier in the Spring the Germans under von Buelow had landed in
Northern Russia and the Gulf of Riga, and, gradually working south,
had effected a junction with von Hindenburg's army in front of Warsaw.
Coming north through Galicia, Mackensen had driven the Russians back
to the line of the Ivangorod-Lublin railroad and had established
connections with von Hindenburg's right. Von Linsengen and the
Austrian Archduke Francis Joseph completed the line facing the
Russians along the upper Viprez, the Bug, the Flota Lipa, and the
Dniester. Simultaneously, with all flanks guarded, the Teutons began
to close in on Warsaw in the most stupendous military movement of
history. As this article is written it seems that nothing can save the
Polish capital; before it goes to press, even Warsaw may be in German
hands. One thing is evident--the Kaiser has returned to his plan of a
year ago--Napoleon's plan--the only plan that can succeed--completely
to crush one opponent first and then turn against the other; only now
it is Russia and not France upon which the blows are falling.
NOTE: A military review of the European warfare during
August will appear in the next number of CURRENT HISTORY, in
connection with the Chronology.--[_Editor_, CURRENT
HISTORY.]