The _Cornwall_ by four o'clock was also near enough to the _Leipzig_

to open fire on her, and three hours later the German cruiser was

having a time of it with a large fire in her hold. British faith

in heavy armament with long range had again been vindicated. There

was something of human interest in this duel between the _Glasgow_

and the _Leipzig_. In their previous meeting, off Coronel, the German

ship had had all the better of it and now the men of the British

ship were out for revenge. Consequently the _Glasgow_ signaled to

the other British ships: "Stand off--I can manage this myself!" By

eight o'clock in the evening the _Glasgow_ had her in bad condition,

and the _Carnarvon_ came up to assist in raking her till there was

nothing left but a mass of wreckage on her decks. But her flag

was still flying and the British ships kept circling around her,

thinking she still wished to fight, but not coming near enough

to permit the use of her torpedo tubes. Miserable was the plight

of the _Leipzig_'s crew, for the two hundred men who were still

alive were unable to get to her flag on account of the fire aboard

her, and they had to remain inactive while the _Carnarvon_ and

_Glasgow_ poured round after round into their ship. Only twelve

remained alive at nine o'clock, when she began to list to port.

Slowly more and more of the under-water part of her hull showed

above the sea, and she continued to heel until her keel was right

side up. In this position she sank, a large bubble marking the

spot.

When the _Nürnberg_ left the line of German ships at one o'clock,

it was the British cruiser _Kent_ that went after her, a vessel

more heavily armed than the German ship, yet about a knot slower.

But by hard work on the part of the engineers and stokers of the

_Kent_ she was able, by five o'clock, to get within firing distance

of the _Nürnberg_. By a strange trick of fate the _Kent_ was sister

ship to the _Monmouth_ which had fallen victim to one of the

_Nürnberg's_ torpedoes in the battle off Coronel. Here, too, was

a duel with human interest in it. In their desire for revenge,

the men of the _Kent_ made fuel of even her furniture in order

to speed up her engines. Her 6-inch guns now began to strike the

German ship, and soon a fire broke out aboard her. She could have

ended the German vessel by keeping a fire upon her while remaining

too distant to be within range of the _Nürnberg's_ 4-inch guns,

but dusk was gathering and an evening mist was settling down upon

the water. Consequently the _Kent_ drew nearer to her adversary.

The firing of the _Nürnberg_ was then effective and more than twenty

of her shells took good effect on the British ship. It was only

through prompt action on the part of her crew that her magazine was

kept from exploding, for a shell set fire to the passage leading

to it.

By seven o'clock in the evening the _Nürnberg_ was practically

"blind," for the flames from the fire that was raging on her had

reached her conning tower. A member of her crew hauled down her

flag, and the _Kent_, thinking that the fight was over, came close

to her. While within a few hundred yards of her, however, she was

greeted with new firing from the German cruiser. But this ceased

under a raking from the _Kent's_ starboard guns, and once again

the flag of the _Nürnberg_, which had been run up on resumption

of shooting, was hauled down. Members of her crew then had to jump

into the sea to escape death from burning--the fire was quenched

only when she went down at half past seven. The overworked engineers

and stokers of the _Kent_ were rewarded for their hard work by being

permitted to come on deck to watch the _Nürnberg_ go down, and

all were soon engaged in helping to save the lives of the German

sailors in the water. Just as the red glow of the sinking _Nürnberg_

was dying down a large four-masted sailing ship, with all sails

set, came out of the mist, her canvas tinged red by the flames'

rays. Silently she went by, disappearing again into the mist, a

weird addition to an uncanny scene.

Chasing the various units of the broken line of German ships had

taken the British ships miles from each other, but after ten o'clock

they began to reach each other by wireless signals and all made

again for Stanley. It was not until the afternoon of the next day,

however, that word came from the _Kent_, for her pursuit had taken

her farther than any of the other British ships.

The _Bristol_ and _Macedonia_ had made good in their pursuit of

the _Santa Isabel_ and _Baden_, but in going after the _Dresden_

the _Bristol_ was not successful; the German ship got away in the

rainstorm which came up during the evening, and the _Bristol_, which

had hurried out of the harbor at Stanley not quite ready for battle,

was unable to keep on her trail. The fast _Eitel Friedrich_, which

as a merchant ship converted into a man-o'-warsman had greater

speed than any of the ships on either side, was able to get away

also. These two German ships now took up their parts as raiders

of allied commerce, and were not accounted for till months later.

There was now on the high seas no German squadron.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXXVII

SEA FIGHTS OF THE OCEAN PATROL

There were some minor naval operations in the waters of Europe which

have been neglected while larger actions elsewhere were recorded.

During the month of September, 1914, the British admiralty established

a blockade of the mouth of the River Elbe with submarines, and the

German boats of the same type were showing their worth also. On

August 28, 1914, the day after the raid on Libau by the German

cruiser _Augsburg_, the date of the battle of the Bight of Helgoland,

the two Russian protected cruisers _Pallada_ and _Bayan_, while

patrolling the Russian coast in the Baltic Sea, were attacked by

German submarines. Surrounded by these small craft, which made

poor targets, the two Russian ships sought to escape by putting

on full speed, but the former was hit by a torpedo and sank. The

other got away.

All of the Allies, with the exception of France, had by the beginning

of September, 1914, suffered losses in their navies. The navy of the

republic was engaged in assisting a British fleet in maintaining

supremacy in the Mediterranean, and kept the Austrian fleet bottled

up in the Adriatic Sea. French warships bombarded Cattaro on September

10, 1914, to assist the military operations of the Montenegrin

Government. These ships then proceeded to the island of Lissa and

there destroyed the wireless station maintained by Austria. The

Austrian navy made no appearance while the allied fleets scoured

the lower coast of Dalmatia, bringing down lighthouses, destroying

wireless stations, and bombarding the islands of Pelagosa and Lesina.

On the 19th of September, 1914, they returned to Lissa and landed

a force which took possession of it, thus establishing a new naval

base against the Central Powers' navies.

Duels between pairs of ships took place in various seas. The career

of the raider _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_, a fast converted liner,

was ended by the British ship _Highflyer_, a cruiser, near the Cape

Verde Islands, on August 27, 1914, after the former had sunk the

merchantman _Hyades_ and had stopped the mail steamer _Galician_.

The greater speed of the German vessel was of no advantage to her,

for she had been caught in the act of coaling. What then transpired

was not a fight, for in armament the two were quite unequal. She

soon sank under the _Highflyer's_ fire, her crew having been rescued

by her colliers.

The next duel took place between the _Carmania_ and _Cap Trafalgar_,

British and German converted liners, respectively. They met on

September 14, 1914, in the Atlantic off South America. In view of

the fact that at the beginning of the war these two ships had been

merchantmen and had been armed and commissioned after the outbreak

of hostilities, this engagement was something of the nature of those

between privateersmen in the old days. In speed, size, and armament

they were about equal. For nearly two hours they exchanged shots

between 3,000 and 9,000 yards, and markmanship was to determine

the victory. The shots from the _Carmania_ struck the hull of the

other ship near the water line repeatedly, and the British commander

was wise enough to present his stern and bow ends more often than

the length of the _Carmania's_ sides. At the end of the fight the

German ship was afire and sank. Her crew got off safely in her

colliers, and the British ship made off because her wireless operator

heard a German cruiser, with which the _Cap Trafalgar_ had been in

communication, signaling that she was hastening to the liner's

aid.

Only two days before this the British cruiser _Berwick_ captured

the converted liner _Spreewald_ in the North Atlantic, where she

had been trying to interrupt allied commercial vessels.

Germany kept up her policy of attrition by clever use of submarines

and mines. The British battleship _Audacious_, while on patrol

duty off the coast of Ireland in the early days of the war, met

with a disaster of some sort and was brought to her home port in

a sinking condition. The rigors of the British censorship almost

kept the news of this out of the British papers and from the

correspondents of foreign papers. It was reported that she had

struck a mine, that she had been torpedoed, and that she had been

made the victim of either a spy or a traitor who caused an internal

explosion. The truth was never made clear. Rumors that she had

gone down were denied by the British admiralty some months later,

when they reported her repaired and again doing duty, but this was

counteracted by a report that one of the ships that was completed

after the start of hostilities had been given the same name.

About the sinking of the _Hawke_ there was less conjecture. This

vessel had gained notoriety in times of peace by having collided

with the _Olympic_ as the latter left port on her maiden voyage

to New York. On the 15th of October, 1914, while patrolling the

northern British home waters she was made the target of the torpedo

of a German submarine and went down, but the _Theseus_, which had

been attacked at the same time, escaped.

Four German destroyers were to be the next victims of the war in

European waters. On October 17, 1914, the _S-115, S-117, S-118_, and

_S-119_ while doing patrol duty off the coast of the Netherlands,

came up with a British squadron consisting of the cruiser _Undaunted_

and the destroyers _Legion, Lance_, and _Loyal_. An engagement

followed, in which damage was done to the British small boats and

the four German destroyers were sunk. Captain Fox, senior British

officer, had been on the _Amphion_ when she sank the _Königin Luise_

and had been rescued after being knocked insensible by the explosion

of the mine that sent the _Amphion_ to the bottom.

The exploit of Lieutenant Commander Horton in the British submarine

_E-9_ when he sank the _Hela_ has already been narrated. The same

commander, with the same craft, during the first week of October,

1914, proceeded to the harbor of the German port of Emden, whence

had sailed many dangerous German submarines and destroyers that

preyed on British ships. He lay submerged there for a long period,

keeping his men amused with a phonograph, and then carefully came

to the surface. Through the periscope he saw very near him a German

destroyer, but he feared that the explosion of a torpedo sent against

her would damage his own craft, so he allowed her to steam off,

and when she was 600 yards away he let go with two torpedoes. The

second found its mark, and the _S-126_ was no more. He immediately

went beneath the surface and escaped the cordon of destroyers which

immediately searched for him. By October 7 the _E-9_ was back in

Harwich, its home port.

On the 31st of October, 1914, the cross-channel steamer _Invicta_

received the S. O. S. signal and went to rescue the crew of the old

British cruiser _Hermes_, which had been struck by two torpedoes

from a German submarine near Dunkirk. All but forty-four of her

men were saved.

The next victim of a German submarine was the gunboat _Niger_,

which, in the presence of thousands of persons on the shore at

Deal, foundered without loss of life on November 11, 1914. But one

of the German submarines was to go to the bottom in retaliation.

On the 23d of November the _U-18_ was seen and rammed off the Scotch

coast, and some hours later was again seen near by. This time she

was floating on the surface and carrying a white flag. The British

destroyer _Garry_ brought up alongside of lier and took off her

crew, just as she foundered.

Three days later the _Bulwark_, a British battleship of 15,000 tons

and carrying a crew of 750 officers and men, was blown up in the

Thames while at anchor at Sheerness. It was never discovered whether

she was a victim of a torpedo, a mine, or an internal explosion. It

is possible that a spy had placed a heavy charge of explosives

within her hull. Only fourteen men of her entire complement survived

the disaster.

It was in November, 1914, also, that the sometime German cruisers

_Goeben_ and _Breslau_, now flying the Turkish flag, became active

again. As units in a Turkish fleet they bombarded unfortified ports

on the Black Sea on the first day of the month. Retaliation for

this was made by the Allies two days later when a combined fleet

of French and English battleships bombarded the Dardanelles forts,

inflicting a certain amount of damage.

On the 18th of November, 1914, the _Goeben_ and _Breslau_ engaged

a Russian fleet off Sebastopol. The composition of this Russian

fleet was never made public by the Russian admiralty, but it is

known that the Russian battleship _Evstafi_ was the flagship. She

came up on the starboard side of the two German ships and opened

fire on the nearer, the _Goeben_, at a distance of 8,000 yards.

The latter, hit by the Russian 12-inch guns was at first unable

to reply because the first shots set her afire in several places,

but she finally let go with her own guns and after a fourteen-minute

engagement she sailed off into a fog. Her sister ship the _Breslau_

took no part in the exchange of shots, and also made off. The damage

done to the _Goeben_ was not enough to put her out of commission;

the _Evstafi_ suffered slight damage and had twenty-four of her

crew killed.

While the daring exploits of German submarines were winning the

admiration of the entire world for their operations in the northern

naval theatre of war, the British submarine commander, Holbrook,

with the _B-ll_ upheld the prestige of this sort of craft in the

British navy. He entered the waters of the Dardanelles on the 13th

of December, 1914, and submerging, traveled safely through five

lines of Turkish mines and sent a torpedo against the hull of the

Turkish battleship _Messudiyeh_. The _B-ll_ slowly came to the

surface to see what had been the result of her exploit, and her

commander, through the periscope saw her going down by the stern.

It was claimed later by the British that she had sunk, a claim

which was officially denied by the Turks. Her loss to Turkey, if

it did occur, was not serious, for she was too old to move about,

and her only service was to guard the mine fields. The _B-ll_ after

being pursued by destroyers again submerged for nine hours and

came successfully from the scene of the exploit.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXXVIII

WAR ON GERMAN TRADE AND POSSESSIONS

With the exceptions of the deeds done by the German sea raiders

the remaining naval history of the first six months of the war had

to do for the most part with British victories. When Von Spee's

squadron, with the exception of the light cruiser _Dresden_, which

was afterward sunk at the Island of Juan Fernandez, was dispersed

off the Falkland Islands there was no more possibility of there

being a pitched fight between German and British fleets other than

in the North Sea.

England began then to hit at the outlying parts of the German Empire

with her navy. The cruiser _Pegasus_, before being destroyed by

the _Königsberg_ at Zanzibar on September 20, 1914, had destroyed

a floating dock and the wireless station at Dar-es-Salaam, and

the _Yarmouth_, before she went on her unsuccessful hunt for the

_Emden_, captured three German merchantmen.

As far back as the middle of August, 1914, the capture of German

Samoa had been planned and directed from New Zealand. On the 15th

of that month an expedition sailed from Wellington, and in order

to escape the _Gneisenau_ and _Scharnhorst_, went first to French

New Caledonia, where the British cruisers _Psyche, Philomel_, and

_Pyramus_ were met with. On the 23d of the month, this force, which

was augmented by the French cruiser _Montcalm_ and the Australian

battleships _Australia_ and _Melbourne_, sailed first for the Fiji

Islands and then to Apia on Upolu Island off Samoa. They reached

there on the 30th. There was, of course, no force on the island

to withstand that of the enemy, and arrangements for surrender

of the place were made by signal. Marines were sent ashore; the

public buildings were occupied, the telegraph and telephone wires

cut, the wireless station destroyed and the German flag hauled

down, to be replaced by the Union Jack. The Germans taken prisoners

were rewarded for the kind treatment they had accorded British

residents before the appearance of this British force, and were

sent to New Zealand.

The next German possession to be taken was that in the Bismarck

Archipelago. It was known that there was a powerful wireless station

at Herbertshöhen, the island known as New Pomerania. A small landing

party was put ashore on the island in the early morning of September

11, 1914, and made its way, without being discovered, to the town.

The surprised inhabitants were too frightened to do anything until

this party left to go further on to the wireless station. By that

time it met with some resistance, but overcame it. A few days later

another landing party had captured the members of the staff of the

governor of New Pomerania, together with the governor himself, at

Bougainville, Solomon Islands, whence they had fled. The wireless

stations on the island of Yap, in the Carolines, and on Pleasant

Island were destroyed during the following month.

Perhaps the strangest operations of naval character ever performed

were the inland "sea" fights in Africa. The great Nyassa Lake in

Africa was the scene of this fighting. With its entire western

shore in British possession and with a goodly part of its waters

within the territory of German East Africa, it was not unnatural

that fighting should take place there. Both countries maintained

small armed vessels on the lake. The British ship _Gwendolen_,

a 350-ton craft, had been built on the Clyde and had been sent

to Nyassa Lake in sections and there assembled and launched in

1898. During August she fought with a German ship and captured

it. The fighting on the lake could not, however, determine the

success of the military operations taking place in those regions.

The preponderance of British naval strength was beginning to tell

severely upon German trade by the end of 1914, and her boast that

through her navy she would starve out Germany aroused the German

Government greatly. In answer to these British threats, Grand Admiral

von Tirpitz, German Secretary of Marine, in an interview given

to an American newspaper correspondent, hinted that Germany's

retaliation would be a war on British merchant ships by German

submarines.

The interview at the time aroused but mild comment; the idea was

a new one, and the question immediately arose as to whether such

action would be within the limits of international law. For the

time being, however, Von Tirpitz's words remained nothing more

than a threat. It was not until months later that the threat was

made good, and the consequences must form a separate part of this

narrative, to be given in Volume III.

The seaplane, the newest naval machine at the time, and as yet an

untried factor, was to see maiden service first at the hands of

the British, when on the 25th of December a raid on Cuxhaven was

made. Seven naval seaplanes attacked a fleet of German cruisers and

destroyers lying off Schilling Roads near the German port. The men

who thus made history in aviation were Francis E. T. Hewlett, son

of the famous novelist, accompanied by seven pilots. A naval force

consisting of a light cruiser, a flotilla of destroyers and another

of submarines brought up near Helgoland during the morning. When

this naval force was first discovered by the lookouts on Helgoland,

there immediately appeared approaching from the German base two

Zeppelins and a number of German seaplanes, together with some

submarines. Meanwhile, from the decks of the British craft there

went up the seven British seaplanes.

In order to give them a place for landing after they returned from

their raid, it was necessary for the British ships to remain in

the vicinity for three hours. The _Undaunted_ and _Arethusa_, with

the rest of the British force, had to "dance" about, dodging the

submarines which were attacking them from beneath the surface of

the water and the aircraft hovering over them. Bombs dropped from

the latter failed to find their targets, and by swift maneuvering

the torpedoes shot at them were also caused to go far wide of the

mark.

The British airmen dropped their bombs on points of military importance

at Cuxhaven, but their effect was kept secret by the German authorities.

Six of the seven returned to the squadron and were picked up by

submarines. Three of the seaplanes were wrecked and had to be abandoned.

Fog not only prevented the British airmen from doing their best

work, but it kept the marksmen on the German aircraft also from

hitting the ships on the waters beneath them. This raid had been

made in answer to a great outcry that had gone up from the British

public after German warships had raided the eastern coast of England.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXXIX

RAIDS ON THE ENGLISH COAST

During the first days of November, 1914, the Germans planned and

carried out a general surprise for the British navy. After the battle

in the Bight of Helgoland, back in August, the British thought that

Germany would continue to keep her navy within the protection of

her coast defenses, perhaps forever. But such was not her intention.

On the afternoon of November 2,1914, there gathered off some part

of Germany's northern shore a squadron consisting of the battle

cruisers _Von der Tann, Seydlitz_, and _Moltke_, the protected

cruisers _Kolberg, Strassburg_, and _Graudenz_, the armored cruisers

_Yorck_ and _Blücher_, together with some destroyers. The slowest

of these vessels could make a speed of 25 knots, and the fastest,

the _Graudenz_ and _Moltke_, could make 28 knots. The guns of the

_Blücher_ were the heaviest in the squadron, those of her primary

battery being 12-inch cannon. Ten-inch guns were on the decks of

the other ships.

The first that the rest of the world knew of the gathered force

was at evening, November 2, 1914, when a fleet of British fishermen

hailed them with friendly signs, thinking them British ships, not

far from Lowestoft some time after six o'clock. The fishermen started

at once for their home ports in order to apprise the British

authorities, but they had not gone far when the news was flashed to

the British admiralty office from the wireless room of the British

gunboat _Halcyon_. But only the first few words of the warning

were able to get through, for the wireless operators on the German

ships "jammed" their keys, and a few shots from the German guns

were sufficient to bring down the wireless apparatus of the gunboat

as well as one of her funnels. She turned off and made for her

home port to report the news some hours later.

It was only ten miles from the British shores that the _Halcyon_

had sighted the German ships, but they were able, nevertheless,

to elude all British warships in those regions and proceeded to

Yarmouth, firing at the wireless station, the naval yards, and the

town itself. Fearing mines near the coast, the German commander

did not attempt to come in too close, with the result that many

of the German shots fell short, and, in spite of the fact that

the bombardment lasted for nearly half an hour, the damage done

by them was not great.

The inhabitants of the towns of Lowestoft and Yarmouth were asleep

in the early hours of the morning when they first heard the booming

of the German guns. In the darkness of the British winter they

hurriedly went down to the water front, where, far out at sea,

they could make out faintly the hull of but one vessel, but the

red flashes from the booming guns showed that other ships were

present. The crowds on the shore watched two British destroyers

and two submarines, which had been lying in the harbor, put out

after the German force. The latter by that time had started off,

dropping in its wake a number of floating mines. This strategy

resulted in the loss of the submarine _D-5_, which hit one of the

mines and sank immediately. The German cruiser _Yorck_ was claimed

by the British to have hit a mine also, with the result that she

sank and carried down with her some 300 of her crew. This was denied

later by the German admiralty, and like all such controversies

must remain a secret with the officials of both Governments.

Judged by material effects, this raid was a failure. But in view of

the fact that the Germans had shown that a squadron could actually

elude the large number of British warships patrolling the North

Sea, and was actually able to strike at the British coast, it was

a moral victory for Germany.

"We must see clearly that in order to fight with success we must

fight ruthlessly, in the proper meaning of the word." These were the

words of Count Reventlow, when he heard the news of the defeat of

the German squadron commanded by Von Spee off the Falkland Islands.

As a result, and in revenge for this defeat, the German admiralty

planned a second raid on the coast towns of England. The towns chosen

for attack this time were Hartlepool, Scarborough, and Whitby. The

first of these was a city of 100,000 persons, and its principal

business was shipbuilding. Scarborough was nothing more than a

seaside resort, to which each summer and at Christmas were attracted

thousands of Englishmen who sought to spend their vacations near the

water. Whitby, though it had some attractions for holiday crowds,

such as a quaint cathedral, was at most nothing more than a home

port for a number of fishing boats.

It was claimed later by the Germans that these three towns, according

to the accepted definitions in international law, were fortified

ports, and consequently open to attack by hostile forces. In reply

the British claimed that there was nothing in any of the three

which could bring them into that category. This controversy is

still another which must remain undecided. There is, however, the

fact that the information which the German Government had obtained

about them, and which it made public, must necessarily have been

less comprehensive than that supplied to the world at large by

the British authorities. Guidebooks, as well as tourists who have

visited the place, reported that an old castle stood in Scarborough

which in past centuries had been a fort, but which at the outbreak

of the war was nothing more than a show place. The only gun in

place at the castle was an obsolete piece that had seen service

in the Crimean War. Whitby, in times of peace, at least, had not

even such "armament."

It was on the 16th of December, 1914, that this second raid took

place. Over the North Sea there hung a light mist. The German admiralty

did not afterward make public the names of the cruisers which

participated in this expedition, but they are believed to have been

the _Derfflinger, Blücher, Von der Tann, Seydlitz_, and _Graudenz_.

It was at eight o'clock in the morning that the residents of the

three English towns first heard the booming of the German guns,

and coast guards near by were able, with the aid of very strong

glasses, to make out the hulls of the attacking cruisers some miles

out to sea. It was not thought possible that the Germans could

again elude the British ships on patrol in these waters, and the

guards therefore thought that the firing came from ships flying the

Union Jack and tried to signal to them. But they came to realize

the truth when they received no answering signals.

As it was not known but that the Germans would make an attempt

to land, the guards in the obsolete fort at Hartlepool took their

positions and two small patrol boats in the harbor made ready to

give what resistance they could. These, the _Doon_ and the _Hardy_,

drew the fire of the German guns, and, seeing it was impossible to

withstand the German fire, they made off and escaped. This time

the Germans were better informed about the conditions they dealt

with, and evidently had no fear of mines, for they came to within

two miles of the shore. The forts on shore were bombarded and private

houses near by were hit by German shells, killing two women who

lived in one of them. The forts tried to reply to the German guns,

but those of the English battery were by no means modern, and firing

them only served to further convince the Germans that the place

was fortified; they inflicted no damage on the German ships.

The lighthouse was the next target chosen by the Germans, one of

their shells going right through it, but leaving it standing. Within

fifty minutes 1,500 German shells were fired into the town and harbor.

While two of the three cruisers which were engaged in bombarding

drew off further to sea and fired at Hartlepool, the third remained

to finish the battery on shore, but in spite of the fact that it

was subjected to long and heavy firing, it was not so terribly

damaged. Many of the shells from the other two ships went over

the towns entirely and buried themselves in the countryside that

heretofore had been turned up only by the peaceful plow. Other shells

did havoc in the business and residential sections of Hartlepool

and West Hartlepool, bringing down buildings and killing civilians

in them as well as on the streets.

At about the same hour the coast guards near Scarborough reported

the approach of foreign ships off the coast, and then telephoned

that the strangers were German cruisers and that they had begun

to bombard the town. A German shell destroyed the shed from which

the telephone message had come and the warnings from it ceased.

It was seen by those on shore that the attack here was being made

by four ships, two of them cruisers and two of them mine layers,

only 800 yards out in the water. This time they were not handicapped

by the fact that they had to stand out so far from shore, and it

was a surprise to the natives to see ships of such draft come so

close to land--a fact which convinced the British authorities that

spies had been at work since the first raid, sending to the German

admiralty either charts or detailed descriptions of the region.

The castle was badly damaged by their fire; the town itself came

next, the Grand Hotel coming in for its share of destruction. They

did little injury to a wireless station in the suburbs, but hit

quite a number of residences, the gas and water works.

Half an hour afterward the two cruisers which had fired upon Scarborough

appeared off Whitby and began to fire at the signal station there.

In the ten minutes that the bombardment of Whitby lasted some 200

shells fell into the place. This time the fact that the German

ships came close to the shore worked against them, for there are

high cliffs close to the water at the spot and it was necessary

for the German gunners to use a high angle, which did not give them

much chance to be accurate. The German ships next turned seaward

and made for their home ports.

The scenes enacted in the three towns during the bombardment and

afterwards were tragic. Considering the fact, however, that the

persons under fire were civilians, many of them women and children,

their coolness was remarkable. They did not know what should be

done, for the thought of bombardment was the last thing that had

come into the minds of the authorities when England went to war,

and as a result no instructions for such an emergency had been

issued by the authorities. Some thought it best to stay within

doors, some thought it best to go into the streets. In Hartlepool

a large crowd gathered in the railway station, some fully dressed,

some only in night clothes.

Many of the women carried babies in their arms and were followed

by older children who clung to their skirts. Policemen led this

crowd out of the station and started them along a street which

would bring them out into the country, but while they were passing

the library they were showered by the stone work as it fell when hit

by the German shells. One shell, striking the street itself, killed

three of the six children who were fleeing along it in company with

their mother. Many other persons met deaths as tragic either within

their own homes or on the streets. St. Mary's Catholic Church as well

as the Church of St. Hilda were damaged, as were the shipyards and

the office of the local newspaper. The destruction of the gas works

left the town in almost complete darkness for many nights afterward.

The authorities issued a proclamation ordering all citizens to

remain indoors for a time, and then began to count the number of

dead and injured. The first estimate gave the former as 22 and the

latter as 50, but subsequent reckoning showed that both figures

were too low.

In Scarborough most of the inhabitants were still in bed when the

bombardment started and for a few minutes did not become excited,

thinking the booming of the guns was the sound of thunder. But when

the shells began to drop on their houses they knew better. Many were

killed or wounded while they hastily got into their clothes. One

shell hit St. Martin's Church while communion was being held. Here,

too, the railway station was made the objective of many refugees,

and the police did what they could to send the women and children

out of range of fire by putting them on trains of extra length.

As in all such scenes there were humorous sides to it. One old

workman, while hurrying along a street was heard to say: "This is

what comes of having a Liberal Government." In all, about 6,000

people left the town immediately and did not return for some days.

Similar were the scenes enacted in Whitby when the turn of that

town came. Only two persons were killed in that town, while thirteen

casualties were reported from Scarborough.

The raid immediately became the subject for discussion in the newspapers

of every country on the globe. In England it was bitterly denounced,

and the term "baby killers" was applied to the men of the German

navy. In Germany it was justified on the ground that the German

admiralty had information and proof that the bombarded cities were

fortified, and therefore, under international law, subject to

bombardment. Nor did the German journalists lose the opportunity

to declare that Great Britain no longer ruled the waves nor to

show pride over the fact that their fleet had successfully left

the German coast and had successfully returned to its home port.

The war, they said--and truthfully--had been brought to England's

door.

The year 1914 ended gloomily for the British public; nothing could

have disappointed them more than the failure to catch the Germans.

Nor did the new year open brightly for Britain, for on the first

day of January, 1915, there came the news of disaster to the

_Formidable_, sister ship to the _Bulwark_. The lesson of the _Hogue,

Cressy_, and _Aboukir_ had not been learned, for this ship went

down under the same circumstances. While patrolling near Torbay

during a night on which there was a bright moon and a calm sea,

this ship, in company with seven other large ships unaccompanied by

a "screen" of destroyers, was hit by a torpedo fired from a German

submarine. Most of her crew were asleep when the torpedo struck and

damaged the engine room so much that no lights could be turned

on. In the darkness they hurried to the deck, which was slanting

from her list. In obedience to orders issued by the admiralty after

the sinking of the _Cressy_ and the ships with her, the rest of

the fleet immediately sailed away from the scene, so that no more

of them would be hit. Only a light cruiser stood by the sinking

_Formidable_. A second torpedo struck her and this had the effect

of letting water into her hold on the side which was slowly coming

out of the water. She took a position with even keel after that,

and this fact enabled most of her crew to get off safely before

she sank.

Once more the Germans were to attempt a raid on the coast cities

of England. The date of this third attempt was January 24, 1915.

This time the British were a bit better prepared, for a squadron

of battle cruisers, consisting of the _Lion, Tiger, Princess Royal,

New Zealand_, and _Indomitable_, put out from a port in the north

of England at about the same time that the Germans left their base.

All of these ships, with the exception of the last named, were

quite fast, having speeds of from 25 to 28.5 knots; they were at

the same time carrying heavy armament--13.5-inch guns in the main

batteries. In company with them went four cruisers of what is known in

England as the "town class"; these were the _Nottingham, Birmingham,

Lowestoft_, and _Southampton_, together with the three light cruisers

_Arethusa, Aurora_, and _Undaunted_, and a squadron of destroyers.

The German fleet which was engaged in this raid consisted of the

_Seydlitz, Moltke, Derfflinger_, and _Blücher_, in company with

a fleet of destroyers. The German ships were not quite as fast

as the English ships, nor did they carry guns of such range or

destructive power as their British opponents.

Early in the first hours of January 24, these two forces, unknown

to each other were steaming head on, the Germans taking a course

leading northwest and the English a course leading southeast. At

twenty minutes past seven in the morning the _Aurora_ first sighted

the enemy and engaged him immediately with her two 6-inch guns,

sending at the same time word of her discovery to Admiral Beatty.

Admiral Hipper, the German commander, as soon as he knew the enemy

had sighted him, turned about and started to steam in a southeasterly

direction.

In view of the results of this battle, it is best to go into the matter

of the tactics involved. Tactics may be of two kinds--spontaneous or

premeditated. When two hostile fleets meet on the high sea far from

the base of either, the object of each is the complete destruction of

the other, and the tactics employed are spontaneous. Such an action

was that off Coronel. But on a closed sea such as the North Sea

spontaneous tactics can rarely be used, for the reason that naval

bases are too near, and from these there may slyly come reenforcements

to one or the other or to both of the fighting fleets, making the

arrangement of traps an easy matter. This is particularly true

of the North Sea, on which it is possible for a fleet to leave

Cuxhaven early in the evening and to be at Scarborough early the

following morning. In addition, sailing is restricted because an

unusually large portion of its waters is too shallow to permit

of the passage of large ships.

The Germans on this occasion had arranged a trap. They knew that

after making two successful raids on the English coast the British

would keep even a closer watch for them. When they sailed from

their base, it was with the expectation of meeting a hostile force,

as was undoubtedly their expectation on the first two raids. But

they did not intend to fight matters out on high waters. What they

wanted to do was to get the British involved in a good running

engagement, steering a southeasterly course the while and luring

the British ships within striking force of a waiting fleet of

superdreadnoughts and perhaps land guns and mines. This explains

why Admiral Hipper turned stern as soon as he got into touch with

the enemy.

There was a distance of fourteen miles between the two fleets when

the _Lion_ got her heavy guns into action. The German line was off

her port (left) bow. At the head of that line was the _Moltke_,

and following her came the _Seydlitz, Derfflinger, Blücher_, and the

destroyers in the order given. At the head of the British line was

the _Lion_, followed by the _Tiger, Princess Royal, New Zealand_,

and _Indomitable_ in the order named. The other cruisers and the

destroyers of the British fleet brought up the rear. In the chase

which followed the Germans were handicapped by the fact that the

_Blücher_ was far too slow to be brought into action, which meant that

either the other ships must leave her behind to certain destruction

or that they must slow down to keep with her. They chose the latter

course, while her stokers did their best to increase her speed. In

the English fleet there was the same trouble with the _Indomitable_,

but inasmuch as the British were the pursuers and had a preponderance

in ships and in the range of their guns, this did not matter so

much to them. But the stokers of the _Indomitable_ worked as hard,

if not harder, than those of the _Blücher_.

By half past nine the two forces were seven miles apart and the

battle was on. It is necessary here to give certain facts about

gunnery on a large modern battleship. Firing at a range of seven

miles means a test of mathematics rather than of the mere matter of

pointing guns. At that distance the target--the ship to be hit--is

barely visible on the sky line on the clearest and calmest sea. If a

hole the size of the head of a pin be made in a piece of cardboard

and the latter he held about a foot and a half from the eye, the

distant ship will just about fill the hole.

The guns on the modern battleships are not "laid"; that is, they

are not aimed as were the cannon of past days or the rifle of today.

It is set toward its target by two factors. The first is known as

"traverse," which means how far to the left or right it must be

pointed in a horizontal plane. The second factor is "elevation"--how

far up or down it must be pointed in a vertical plane. The latter

factor determines how far it will throw its projectile, and up to

a certain point the higher the gun is pointed the further will

go the shell. A certain paradox seems to enter here. It is a fact

that a distant ship presents a target more easily hit if its bow

or stern is toward the gunner. If it presents a broadside there

is the danger that the shells will go either beyond the ship or

will fall short of it, for the greatest beam on a warship is not

much more than 90 feet. If the bow or stern is toward the gunner

he has a chance of landing a shell on any part of the 600 or more

feet of the ship's length. The first firing in a battle at a distance

is known as "straddling," by which is meant that a number of shots

are sent simultaneously, some falling short, some falling beyond

the target, and some hitting it.

The man who really "aims" the gun never sees what he is shooting at.

At some point of vantage on his ship one of the officers observes the

enemy and reports to the chief gunner the distance, the direction,

and the effect of the first shots. The gunnery officer then makes

certain calculations, taking into consideration the speed of his

own ship and the speed of the enemy ship. He knows that at a given

moment his target will be at a given point. He knows also just how

fast his shells will travel and makes calculations that enable him

to place a shell at that point at just the right second. In this

battle the shells of the British ship took about twenty seconds

to go from the mouths of the guns to the German hulls. And they

made a curve at the highest point of which they reached a distance

of more than two miles; and most wonderful of all was the fact

that at the beginning of the firing a man standing on the deck

of one of the German ships could not even see the ship which was

firing the shells at her, though the weather was very clear.

By a quarter to ten o'clock the _Lion_ had come up with and had

passed the slow _Blücher_, firing broadsides into her as she went

by. The _Tiger_ then passed the unfortunate German ship, also letting

her have a heavy fire, and then the _Princess Royal_ did likewise.

Finally the _New Zealand_ was able to engage her and later even

the slow _Indomitable_ got near enough to do so. By that time the

_Blücher_ was afire and one of her gun turrets, with its crew and

gun, had been swept off bodily by a British shell.

Meanwhile the _Lion, Tiger_, and _Princess Royal_ kept straight

ahead till they were able to "straddle" even the leading ship of

the enemy's line. The _Tiger_ and _Lion_ poured shells into the

_Seydlitz_, but were unable to do much damage to the _Moltke_.

While they were thus engaged the _Princess Royal_ singled out the

_Derfftinger_ for her target. The light British cruiser _Aurora,

Arethusa_, and _Undaunted_ were far ahead of the rest of the British

fleet and were firing at the _Moltke_, but thick black smoke which

poured from their funnels as their engines were speeded up got

between the gunners of the _Lion_ and their target, the _Moltke_,

completely obscuring the latter. As a result the three light British

cruisers were ordered to slow down and to take positions to the

rear.

By eleven o'clock there were fires raging on both the _Seydlitz_

and the _Derfftinger_, and Admiral Hipper decided to try to save

his larger ships by sacrificing the destroyers that accompanied

them. Consequently the German destroyers put their bows right toward

the large British ships and charged, but the fire which they drew

was too much for them and they gave up this maneuver.

The British destroyer _Meteor_, which had been maintaining a perilous

position between the battleships, then attempted to torpedo the

_Blücher_, which had fallen far to the rearward to be abandoned by

the rest of the German fleet. Badly damaged as the _Blücher_ was,

the crew of one of her guns managed to get in some final shots,

one of them nearly ending the career of the British destroyer. The

_Arethusa_ had also come up and prepared to launch a torpedo. Cruiser

and destroyer torpedoed her at about the same moment, and later,

while within 200 yards of the sinking German ship the _Arethusa_

sent another torpedo at her. She now began to list, although not

greatly damaged, on her port side till her keel showed. Her crew

showed remarkable bravery.

The men lined up as though at a review and began to sing the German

national airs, intending to go to their deaths in that formation. But

an officer on the _Arethusa_ shouted to them through a megaphone to

jump while they could to save their lives. This had a psychological

effect, and as the starboard side of her hull slowly came up her men

were seen scrambling on it from behind her taff rail and creeping

down toward her keel. Some of them almost walked into the water

while she was in that position. Her guns were pointing toward the

sky, one of them slowly revolving. Finally, when she was completely

upside down she went under. Many of her crew were picked up by

British small boats, and her captain, who was one of them, was taken

to England, where he died later from the results of this experience

and was buried with full naval honors.

The German destroyers had meanwhile come between their own cruisers

and those of the enemy and emitted volumes of heavy smoke, which

they hoped would form an effective screen between the former and

the gunners on the latter. Admiral Hipper then ordered all of his

ships to turn northward, in the hope of getting away behind this

screen, but the British admiral anticipated this maneuver and changed

the course of his ships so that he again had the German ships in

view after both fleets had driven through the smoke.

The _Lion_ of the British fleet was chosen as the target for the

German ships, and by keeping a concentrated fire upon her were

able to do considerable damage. One shell penetrated the bow of

the _Lion_ as it was partly lifted out of the water on account

of the great speed she was making; this shot hit her water tank

and made it impossible for her to use her port engine from that

time on. She slowed down. When she fell out of the line it was

necessary for Admiral Beatty to leave her, and he transferred his

flag to the destroyer _Attack_. But all of this took time and it

was quite long before he was able to rejoin his leading ships. By

twenty minutes past twelve he had got aboard the _Princess Royal_.

Rear Admiral Moore automatically took up command of the British

fleet while his senior officer was making these changes. It is

not known what Admiral Moore's orders had been, but it is known

that he suddenly ordered all ships to cease firing and allowed

the German warships to proceed without further engaging them. By

the time that Admiral Beatty was again on a battle cruiser the

action was virtually over. The _Indomitable_ passed a cable to the

crippled _Lion_ and towed the latter home, the rest of the British

fleet keeping to the rearward to be ready for possible resumption

of fighting.

Much criticism was made by the British press and by laymen on account

of the sudden termination of the fight, and there was great complaint

in England because the career of all the raiding German ships had not

been brought to an end. But when the engagement ended the opposing

fleets were within seventy miles of Helgoland, and the German admiralty

had ready a fleet of dreadnoughts and another of battle cruisers to

engage the British ships when they got within striking distance.

By ending the fight when he did the British commander chose not to

be led into this trap. Nor was there dissatisfaction in England

alone. In Germany the complaint was that the ruse had not worked,

and not long afterward Admiral von Ingenohl was replaced as commander

of the High Sea Fleet by Admiral von Pohl. None of the blame for

the failure was laid at the door of the officer who had actually

been engaged in the fighting--Admiral Hipper--which showed that

his senior officers had considered the engagement as part of a

larger action.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XL

RESULTS OF SIX MONTHS' NAVAL OPERATIONS

The first six months of naval operations in the Great War came to

a close without battle between the main fleets of the navies of

the warring nations. The British navy had kept open communication

with the Continent, allowing the Expeditionary Force, as well as

later military contingents, to get to the trenches in Flanders

and France. It had, in addition, made possible the transportation

of troops from Canada and Australia. The ports of France were open

for commerce with America, which permitted the importation of arms

and munitions, and the same privilege had been won for the ports

in the British Isles.

The northern ports of the Central Powers were closed to commerce

with all but the Scandinavian countries, and the oversea German

possessions, where they were accessible to naval attack, had been

taken from her. The German and Austrian flags had been swept from

the seven seas, with the exception of those on three or four German

cruisers that now and then showed themselves capable of sinking

a merchantman.

In the four engagements of importance which had been fought by the

end of January, 1915, the British had been the victors in three--the

battles of the Bight of Helgoland, the Falkland Islands, and the

third German raid of January 24, 1915--the Germans had been victors

in one--the fight off Coronel.

British and other allied ships were unable to inflict damage on

the coast defenses of Germany, but the latter in two successful

raids had been able to bombard British coast towns, offsetting

in a way the loss of over-sea dominions.

[Illustration: SEA FIGHTS AND THE CRUISES OF GERMAN RAIDERS

THE EMDEN AND THE SYDNEY. FALKLAND AND NORTH SEA BATTLES. SEARCHLIGHTS.

SUBMARINES. WRECKS. SHIPPING ARTILLERY

Among the modern inventions which insure a battleship's efficiency

is the searchlight, which must sweep not only the sea but the sky

to find the enemy]

[Illustration: The German steamer "Walküre" sunk in the harbor of

Papeete, Tahiti, when the German cruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau"

shelled the town]

[Illustration: The Australian cruiser "Sydney" which caught and

destroyed the raider "Emden" near the Cocos Islands]

[Illustration: The famous German raider "Emden" beached on one of

the Cocos Islands after being wrecked by the "Sydney's" shells]

[Illustration: Rescuing drowning sailors after the naval battle

near the Falkland islands, in which the "Scharnhorst," "Gneisenau,"

"Nurnberg" and "Leipzig" were sunk]

[Illustration: Canadian soldiers shipping a rapid-fire gun, on

embarking at Montreal for England, to take their part in the Great

War]

[Illustration: The interior of a submarine, showing torpedo tubes

and batteries. The flooring which covers the batteries has been

removed]

[Illustration: The German cruiser "Blücher" turning on her side

as she sank in the North Sea battle of January 24, 1915. The other

vessels of the German squadron escaped]

Great Britain, after six months of naval warfare had lost three

battleships, the _Bulwark, Formidable_, and _Audacious_;[*] the

five armored cruisers _Aboukir, Cressy, Hogue, Monmouth_, and _Good

Hope_; the second-class cruisers _Hawke_ and _Hermes_; the two

third-class cruisers _Amphion_ and _Pegasus_; the protected scout

_Pathfinder_ and the converted liner _Oceanic_; losses in destroyers

and other small vessels were negligible.

[Footnote *: The British admiralty did not clear up the mystery

of her disaster.]

Germany had lost no first-class battleships, but in third-class

cruisers her loss was great, those that went down being the eleven

ships _Ariadne, Augsburg, Emden, Graudenz, Hela, Köln, Königsberg,

Leipzig, Nürnberg, Magdeburg, Mainz_, and the _Dresden_; she lost,

also, the four armored cruisers _Blücher, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau_,

and _Yorck_; the old cruiser _Geier_ (interned); the three converted

liners _Spreewald, Cap Trafalgar_, and _Kaiser Wilhelm_; and the

mine layer _Königin Luise_.

The German policy of attrition had not taken off as many ships

as had been lost by Germany herself, and, as England's ships so

far outnumbered her own, it may well be said that the "whittling"

policy was not successful. She made up for this by having still

at large the cruiser _Karlsruhe_ which damaged a great amount of

commerce, and by the exploits of her submarines, far outshining

those of the Allies.

Russia had lost the armored cruiser _Pallada_, and the _Jemchug_,

a third-class cruiser, and the losses of the French and Austrian

navies were not worth accounting. With regard to interned vessels

both sides had losses. While the Germans were unable to use the

great modern merchantmen which lay in American and other ports, and

had to do without them either as converted cruisers or transports,

the Allies were forced to detail warships to keep guard at the

entrance of the various ports where these interned German liners

might at any moment take to the high seas.

In naval warfare the number of ships lost is no determining factor in

figuring the actual victory--the important thing being the existence

or nonexistence of the grand fleets of the combatants after the

fighting is finished. Viewed from such an angle, the fact that

the Allies had left no German ships at large other than those in

the North Sea, cannot entitle them to victory at the end of the

first six months of war. So long as a German fleet remained intact

and interned in neutral ports, naval victory for the Allies had

not come, though naval supremacy was indicated.

The fact was apparent, moreover, that while the Central Powers

were being deprived of all their trade on the seas, the world's

commerce endangered only by submarines was remaining wide open

to the Allies.

PART III--THE WAR ON THE EASTERN FRONT

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLI

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THEATRE OF WARFARE

World war--the prophecy of the ages--now threatened the foundations

of civilization. Whether or not the modern era was to fall under

the sword, as did the democracy of Greece and the mighty Roman

Empire, was again to be decided on battle grounds that for seventy

centuries have devoured the generations. The mountain passes were

once more to reverberate with the battle cry--the roar of guns,

the clank of artillery, the tramp of soldiery. The rivers were

to run crimson with the blood of men; cities were to fall before

the invaders; ruin and death were to consume nations. It was as

though Xerxes, and Darius, and Alexander the Great, and Hannibal,

and all the warriors of old were to return to earth to lead again

gigantic armies over the ancient battle fields.

While the war was gaining momentum on the western battle grounds

of Europe, gigantic armies were gathering in the East--there to

wage mighty campaigns that were to hold in the balance the destiny

of the great Russian Empire; the empire of Austria, the Balkan

kingdoms-Serbia, Montenegro, Rumania, Bulgaria. The Turks were

again to enter upon a war of invasion. Greece once more was to

tremble under the sword. Even Egypt and Persia and Jerusalem itself,

the battle grounds of the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and the Trojans,

the bloody fields of paganism and early Christianity, were all to

be awakened by the modern trumpets of war.

Before we enter upon these campaigns in the East it is well to

survey the countries to be invaded, to review the battle lines and

travel in these pages over the fighting ground.

The eastern theatre in the first six months of the war, from August

4, 1914, to February 1, 1915, includes the scenes of the fighting

in the historic Balkans and in the Caucasus. But the eastern front

proper is really that region where the Teutonic allies and the

Russians opposed each other, forming a fighting line almost a thousand

miles long. It stretches from rugged old Riga on the shores of the

Baltic Sea in the far north, down through Poland to the Carpathian

Mountains, touching the warm, sunlit hills on the Rumanian frontier.

When the total losses of the Great War are finally counted it will

probably be found that here the heaviest fighting has occurred.

This is the longest battle line in the world's history. Partly on

account of its great length, and partly because of the nature of

the country, we see the two gigantic forces in this region locked

together in their deadly struggle, swaying back and forth, first

one giving way, then the other. This was especially the case in

the northern section, along the German-Russian frontier.

[Illustration: THE WAR IN THE EAST--THE RELATION OF THE EASTERN

COUNTRIES TO GERMANY]

As we view the armies marshaling along this upper section, along

the Baltic shore, southward, including part of East Prussia as well

as Baltic Russia, we look upon the ancient abode of the Lithuanians,

supposed to be the first of the Slavic tribes to appear in Europe.

Hardly any part of Europe has a more forbidding aspect than this

region. There the armies must pass over a flat, undulating country,

almost as low in level as the Baltic, and therefore occupied in large

part by marshes and lagoons through which they must struggle. In

all parts the soil is unproductive. At one time it was a universal

forest: thick, dark, and dank. A century ago, however, Catherine the

Great distributed large areas of this comparatively worthless land

among her favorites and courtiers. In this way a certain percentage

was reclaimed, and with the incoming of the sunlight more favorable

conditions for human life were established. Yet even now it is

very thinly settled.

Through this region the armies must cross big rivers: the Oder, Dvina,

Warthe, Vistula, Pregel, and Niemen, northward and northeastward.

Just above or eastward of that point, where the German-Russian

frontier touches the shore, the Baltic curls into a dent, 100 miles

deep, forming the Gulf of Riga. Near the southern extremity of

this gulf, eight miles from the mouth of the Dvina, is the city

of Riga, ranking second only to Petrograd in commercial importance

as a seaport, and with a population of about 300,000.

As the armies move across the frontier they come to a vast domain

projecting into this marsh country, like a great, broad tongue

licking the shore of the Baltic; this wide strip of German territory

is East Prussia--a country to be beleaguered. Not far below the

tip of this tongue, about five miles from the mouth of the Pregel

River in the Frische Haff, and about twenty-five miles from the

seacoast, is situated another embattled stronghold--the city of

Königsberg which, since 1843, has been a fortress of the first

rank. These two cities in the following pages will be the immediate

objectives of the enemy forces operating on this section of the

eastern front.

It will be obvious why the lines of battle were less permanently

fixed here than in the more solid and mountainous sections of northern

France. Railroads and fairly well-laid highways do indeed traverse

these swamps in various parts, especially in German territory,

but trenches could not be dug in yielding mire. In yet another

feature were the military operations hampered by the nature of the

terrain here; the use of heavy artillery.

We have seen that one of the chief causes of success attending

German attacks in the other theatres of the war has been their

use of heavy guns. But in the fighting before Riga, we shall see

when the Germans seemed on the point of taking that city their

heavy artillery was so handicapped that it was rendered practically

useless. Being restricted by the marshes to an attack over a

comparatively narrow front, they were compelled to leave their

heavy guns behind on firmer soil. The guns which they could take

with them were matched by the Russians; the fighting was, therefore,

almost entirely limited to infantry engagements, in which the Russians

were not inferior to the Germans. Thus, we shall find the German

advance on Riga was stopped before it could attain its object.

In studying the fighting in this part of the eastern front, it

will be seen why the Germans were more successful below Riga, and

why the Russians were compelled to evacuate Vilna. Here is a broad

rise, something like the back of a half-submerged submarine, which

seems to cross the country, where the land becomes more solid. The

armies must move, instead of through marshes, along innumerable

small lakes, most of the lakes being long and narrow and running

north and south, with a fairly thick growth of timber among them,

mostly pine and spruce and fir. In character this section is rather

similar to parts of Minnesota. There are two cities to be conquered

in this drier region, Dvinsk, and, further south, Vilna, once the

chief city or capital of the Lithuanians. We shall see the Russians

thrust back from Königsberg, and the heavy fighting shifted over

to this section; yet even here, where the huge guns of the Germans

could find footing, the terrain was not suited to trench warfare,

and every arrival of reenforcements on either side would swing

the lines back or forth.

In studying the military movements in a country of this character,

special attention must be paid to the railway lines. Railways, and

more especially those running parallel to the fronts, are absolutely

necessary to success. In looking, therefore, for a key to the object

of any particular movement, the first step must be a close study

of this railroad situation.

We find from Riga to the fortress of Rovno there is a continuous

line of railroad, running generally north and south and passing

through Dvinsk, Vilna, Lida, Rovno, and thence down through Poland

to Lemberg. Every effort of the Russian armies in the succeeding

chapters will be made to keep to the westward of and parallel to

this line, and for a very good reason.

Feeding into this great north and south artery are the branch lines

from Petrograd to Dvinsk; from Moscow to the junction at Baranovitschi;

from Kiev to Sarny. Aside from these three important branch lines,

there are a few other single-track offshoots, but from a military

point of view they are of no importance.

This line was the main objective (short of capturing Riga itself)

of the German operations. This line proves especially vital to

the Russians, for nowhere east of it is there another such line

which could be used for the same purpose.

If, in the campaigns to be described, this railroad falls into Russian

hands, it gives every facility for strengthening or reenforcing any

part of the Russian front where German pressure becomes excessive. It

is, in addition, a solution to the difficult problem of transportation

of supplies. To use a military term, it gives the Russian army a

mobility not possessed by the enemy because of a lack of similar

facilities.

But should this railroad be taken by the Germans, the advantage

would immediately be reversed. And if once the Russian lines were

driven back beyond the railroad, a division of their forces would be

forced upon them; their armies would be obliged to group themselves

beside the three east and west branches already mentioned, for only

by these three systems could their forces be supplied, lateral

communications being absolutely lacking. And this is the key to

the fighting, not only in the northern section of the front, but

all along the line, down to Galicia. Naturally, only the Russian

railroads need be considered, for in the first months of the war

the Germans are the invaders in the northern half of the eastern

front, except for a few short periods in the beginning. Compared

to the German railway lines near the frontier, the Russian lines

are very few.

There are two distinct railway lines running from Germany into

East Prussia, with innumerable branches leading to all points of

the Russian frontier, laid especially for military purposes. It

was along these that we shall witness the German forces rushed from

Belgium to drive back the first Russian advance. But, of course, the

moment the Germans enter Russian territory they have no advantage

over the Russians, since even their wonderful efficiency does not

enable them to build railroads as fast as an army can advance.

Hence, we observe their efforts to gain possession of the Russian

railroads.

We come now to the central part of the eastern front. Here, just

below East Prussia, Russian Poland projects into German territory

in a great salient, about 200 miles wide and 250 long, resembling

a huge bite in shape.

This land is a monotonous, wind-swept plain, slightly undulating,

its higher parts not even 500 feet above sea level. To the northward

and eastward it descends gradually into the still lower lands of

East Prussia and White Russia, but in the south it lifts into the

foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.

Gigantic armies are to move over this plateau, timbered in parts

with oak, beech, and lime, and in some sections deeply cut by small

rivers and streams forming fissures, some narrow and craggy, others

broad and sloping with marshy bottoms. Toward the south the soldiers

must cross narrow ravines in all directions, often covered with wild,

thick undergrowth. The chief river is the Vistula, which enters

by the southern boundary and flows first north, then northwest,

skirting the plateau region at a height of 700 feet, finally making

its exit near Thorn, thence on to the Baltic through East Prussia.

Its valley divides the hilly tracts into two parts: Lublin heights

in the east and the Sedomierz heights to the westward. Picture

in your mind the great armies approaching these ridges, the most

notable of which is the Holy Cross Mountains, rising peaks almost

2,000 feet above sea level.

The fighting forces in the northeast, where the plain slopes gradually

into the Suwalki Province, must pass over a country dotted with lakes

and lagoons, which farther on take on the character of marshes,

stagnant ponds, peat bogs, with small streams flowing lazily from one

to the other. Here and there are patches of stunted pine forests,

with occasional stretches of fertile, cultivated soil. Throughout

this section many rivers flow along broad, level valleys, separating

into various branches which form many islands and, during the rainy

seasons, flood the surrounding country.

Farther west the armies pass through broad valleys or basins, once

the beds of great lakes, whose rich, alluvial soil give forth abundant

crops of cereals. Here, too, flows the Niemen, 500 miles in length,

watering a basin 40,000 square miles in area and separating Poland

from Lithuania. It advances northward in a great, winding pathway,

between limestone hills covered with loam or amid forests, its

banks rising to high eminences in places, past ruined castles built

in the Middle Ages. In the yellowish soil along its banks grow

rich crops of oats, buckwheat, corn, and some rye. Naturally such

a section would be thickly populated, not only on account of the

fertile soil, but because the Niemen, like the Vistula, is one of

the country's means of communication and transportation. As many

as 90,000 men earn their livelihoods in navigating the steamers

and freight barges passing up and down this great waterway. At

Yurburg the Niemen enters East Prussia on its way to the Baltic.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLII

THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF RUSSIAN POLAND

It is in the southern part of Russian Poland, among the foothills

of the Carpathians, that the armies come into possession of its

mineral resources, a fact which will have some influence on the

German military movements in this region. Up in the Kielce hills

copper has been mined for 400 years, though the value of these

mines has decreased on account of the much greater quantity found

in America. A hundred years ago the Kielce mines produced nearly

4,000 tons of copper a year. Brown iron ore is also found here

in deposits 40 per cent pure, while there are also veins of zinc

sometimes 50 feet thick, yielding ore of 25 per cent purity. Sulphur,

one of the ingredients for the manufacture of explosives, is found

at Czarkowa in the district of Pinczow. In the southwest, in Bedzin

and Olkuz, there are coal deposits about 200 square miles in area.

In the southern districts wheat is also grown in some abundance.

The military value of this country is further enhanced by political

conditions. Like the greater part of Galicia to the southward, it

is peopled by the Poles, who form one of the important branches

of the great Slavic family. At one time Poland was a kingdom whose

territory and possessions spread from the Carpathians up to the

Baltic and far into the center of Russia, ruling its subject peoples

with quite as much rigor as the Poles have themselves been ruled

by Russia and Germany.

Poland is a seat of conquest in the Great War. For not much over

a hundred years ago what remained of this old kingdom was divided

among the three great powers: Prussia, Austria, and Russia. Austria,

on the whole, has been much the best master. Germany tried in various

ways to Germanize her subjects in German Poland, thereby rousing

their bitter hatred. Russia was no less autocratic in attempting

to extinguish the spirit of nationality among the Poles under her

rule. But, naturally, the fact remains that between the Poles and

the Russians there are still ties of blood. In moving westward,

by this route Russia would be moving among a race who, in spite

of all they had suffered at the hands of the Czar, still would

naturally prefer Slav to Teuton.

We shall soon stand with the invading armies in the center of Russian

Poland, and enter the great city of Warsaw. This conquered citadel

with more than 400,000 inhabitants, is situated on the Vistula.

It was, next to Paris, the most brilliant city of Europe in the

early part of last century. But under Russian influence it became a

provincial town in spirit, if not in size. It once had the character

of prodigal splendor; within late years it became a forlorn, neglected

city, not the least effort being made by the Russian authorities to

modernize its appearance and improvement. From a sanitary point

of view it became one of the least progressive cities of Europe.

And yet, as the armies march into the capital, there are still

signs of the city's past glory: over thirty palaces rear their

lofty turrets above the tile roofs of the houses, among them the

palace of the long-dead Polish kings.

However, from a military point of view, Warsaw maintained great

importance in the Great War. It is at this time one of the strongest

citadels of Europe, and around it lies the group of fortresses

called the Polish Triangle. The southern apex is Ivangorod on the

Vistula; the eastern, Brest-Litovsk; the northern being Warsaw

itself. To the northwest lies the advanced fort of Novo Georgievsk.

This triangle is a fortified region with three fronts: two toward

Germany and one toward Austria, and the various forts are fully

connected by means of railroads.

It would appear, therefore, that Russian Poland would offer excellent

conditions for an army on the defensive. And this is quite true, the

Vistula, especially, serving as a screen against the attacking armies

from the west. As a matter of fact, it would have been extremely

difficult to take Warsaw by a frontal attack. Warsaw's weakness

lay in the north in the swamp regions.

One of the greatest dangers in all wars, against which a military

commander has to guard his army, is that of being flanked. The road

or roads leading from the rear to the base of supplies, along which

not only food supplies for the soldiers, but, quite as important,

ammunition, is brought up, either in wagons, automobiles, or in

railroad trains, are the most sensitive part of an army's situation.

Unless they are very short--that is, unless an army is very close

to its base of supplies--it is impossible to guard these lines

of communication adequately. Therefore, if the enemy is able to

break through on either side of the front, there is great danger

that he may swing his forces around and cut these lines of

communication. The army that is thus deprived of its sources of

supply has nothing left then but to surrender, sometimes even to

inferior forces. Sometimes, of course, if the army is within the walls

of a fortified city and is well supplied with food and ammunition,

it may hold out and allow itself to be besieged. This may even

be worth while, for the sake of diminishing the enemy's strength

to the extent of the forces required for besieging, usually many

times larger than the besieged force. But in the case of Warsaw

we shall see that that would not have been a wise plan; hardly

any food supply that could have been laid by would have maintained

the large civil population, and the big guns of the Germans would

soon have battered down the city's defenses.

This the Russians realized from the very beginning. As is well

known now, Russia had never intended to hold Poland against the

Teutons. Her real line of defense was laid much farther back. It was

only on account of the protest of France, when the two Governments

entered into their alliance, that any fortifications at all were

thrown up in Poland. A real line of defense must be more or less

a straight line, with no break. And the marshes in the north, as

well as the tongue of East Prussia projecting in along the shores

of the Baltic toward Riga made that impossible. Russia's real line

of defense was farther east, along the borders of Russia proper

and along the line of railroad already referred to. By studying

this territory east of Poland it will become obvious why Russia

should prefer this as her main line of defense against a German

invasion.

As we witness the armies moving along what was once the frontier

between Poland and Russia proper we shall find the plain of Poland

dips into a region which apparently was once a vast lake which

drained into the Dnieper, but the outlet becoming choked, this

stagnant water formed into those immense morasses known as the

Pripet Marshes, forming over two-fifths of the whole province of

Minsk and covering an area of over 600 square miles. Even when

more than 6,000,000 acres have been reclaimed by drainage, the

armies found some of these marshes extending continuously for over

200 miles. In the upper Pripet basin the woods were everywhere full

of countless little channels which creep through a wilderness of

sedge. Along the right bank of the Pripet River the land rises above

the level of the water and is fairly thickly populated. Elsewhere

extends a great intricate network of streams with endless fields

of bulrushes and stunted woods. Over these bogs hang unhealthy

vapors, and among the rank reeds there is no fly, nor mosquito,

nor living soul or sound in the autumn.

Not even infantry could pass over this region--not to consider

cavalry or artillery, save in the depth of a cold winter when the

water and mire is frozen. Even then it would be impossible to venture

over the ice with heavy guns. An invading army must, therefore,

split in two parts and pass around the sides, and nothing is more

dangerous than splitting an army in the face of the enemy. It is

behind these vast marshes that we shall find the Russians planned

to make their first determined stand.

Here, too, the Russians expected to have the advantage of being

surrounded by their own people, for this is the country of the

White Russians, so called on account of their costumes. Here the

purest Slavic type is preserved; they have not blended with other

stocks, as the Great Russians with the Finns and the Little Russians,

farther south, with the Mongols. For a while this territory was

subject to the kings of Poland, who oppressed its inhabitants most

barbarously, from the effects of which they have not even fully

recovered. To-day White Russia is one of the poorest and most backward

parts of the empire. And even yet the great bulk of the landlords

are Poles.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLIII

AUSTRIAN POLAND, GALICIA AND BUKOWINA

Let us now pass ahead of the armies into the southern section of

the eastern front. Here we have to consider only Austrian Poland,

Galicia and Bukowina, for here there is much less swaying back and

forth, the Russians maintaining their lines much more steadily than

farther north. This section is an undulating terrace which slopes

down to the Vistula and the Dniester; behind rise the Carpathian

ranges, forming the natural frontier between the broad, fertile

plains of Hungary and Russia. Here the population is quite dense,

there being 240 inhabitants to the square mile. Nearly half of

the total area is in farm lands, about one-fourth woodland, and

the rest mostly meadow and pasture, less than a quarter of one

per cent being lake or swamp. Rich crops of barley, oats, rye,

wheat, and corn are grown here, while the mineral resources include

coal, salt, and petroleum, the latter especially being important in

modern warfare on account of the great quantities of fuel necessary

for motor carriages.

Here, in Galicia, we shall witness the conquests of the important

city of Lemberg--with its 160,000 population--fourth in size of

all Austrian cities, only Vienna, Prague, and Triest being larger.

Further in toward the mountains we shall see the storming of the

strongly fortified city of Przemysl (pronounced Prshemisel), also

important as the junction of the network of railroads that the

Austrians had built throughout the country, including several lines

passing over the Carpathians into Hungary. And farther west still we

shall look upon the invasion of the old Polish city of Cracow, also

strongly fortified. This section is especially rich in industries,

mines, and agriculture.

Here, too, are staged many of the battles of the rivers--parallel

with the mountain ranges flows the Dniester in a southeasterly

direction, into which, flowing down from the north and running

parallel with each other, empty the Gnila Lipa, the Zlota Lipa, and

the Stripa, all of which figure prominently in the war movements,

for each of these is crossed several times by both armies engaged

at bloody costs.

As will be noted by reading the chapters on the fighting on the

eastern front, here, as in East Prussia, the Russians make a determined

advance and actually succeed in conquering this territory from

the Austrians. At one time we find them even in possession of all

except one of the chief passes in the Carpathians and threatening

to overrun the plains of Hungary. To hold Russian Poland it was

necessary that they should have a firm grip of East Prussia and

Austrian Poland, thus protecting the flanks of their center. Had

they been able to hold their grip, then they could have straightened

out their entire line from north to south, and Warsaw would have

been safe. But we shall see both their extremities driven back;

therefore Warsaw was in danger, in spite of its fortifications.

That the Austrians should have allowed themselves to be thrust

back over the Carpathians is one of the surprises of the early

stages of the war. For these mountains are only second in size

in all Europe to the Alps themselves, forming the eastern wing

of the great European mountain system. They are about 800 miles

long and nearly 250 miles wide in parts. Some of the higher peaks

reach 8,000 feet above sea level.

Imagine the vision of an army marching along the roads from the

foothills to the mountains leading through mysterious, shadowy

spruce forests, where the soil is covered with rich carpets of

moss. Foaming streams ripple in among the moss-covered bowlders.

Then the paths emerge on the cheerful, emerald-green pastures of the

slopes, alive with the flocks of goats, sheep and cattle, attended

by their shepherds. A little farther and the whole scenery changes,

and the armies approach tremendous mountains of solid granite,

ominously dark, shining like hammered iron, rising abruptly from

the stone débris and black patches of mountain fir, and towering

bluffs and crags seem to pierce the sky with their sharp peaks,

bastions and jagged ridges, like gigantic fortresses. Clouds of white

mist, driven and torn by gusts of wind, cling to the precipitous

walls, and masses of eternal snow lie in the many fissures and

depressions, forming large, sharply outlined streaks and patches.

The Magyars inhabit the great central plains of Hungary which

constitutes ethnologically a vast island of Magyars in a sea of

Slavs. The Carpathian slopes on the Hungarian side of the ranges,

including the mounts of the Tatra--with the exception of the Zips

district, which is peopled with German-Saxon colonists--are inhabited,

in their western parts, by two million Slovaks, in the eastern

parts by half a million Ruthenians or Little Russians, and on the

Transylvanian side by nearly three million Rumanians. The border

lines between these Rumanians and the Magyars and between the

Hungaro-Slav groups (Slovaks and Ruthenians) and the Magyars lie

far down within the borders of the great central Hungarian plains.

This line at one point extends to within a few miles of the Hungarian

capital of Bupapest.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLIV

THE BALKANS-COUNTRIES AND PEOPLES

This survey of the fighting ground in eastern Europe brings us

now to the "cockpit of the war." From a military point of view, as

well as from the political, the Balkan theatre is of equal importance

with other big fronts in Europe. It is the gateway to the Orient

for central Europe. Here the armies engaged are numbered only by

the hundred thousands, none reach a million. But from the point of

view of human interest and political intrigue it is by far the most

picturesque. Here the hatred between the combatants is most bitter;

indeed so bitter that when it burst into flame a mad whirlwind of

passion swept over half the world. For here the great conflagration

began.

A map of the Balkan Peninsula is almost, on the face of it, a full

explanation of the causes of the war. The military campaigns, studied

in connection with their physical environment, explain all the

diplomatic intrigues of the past fifty years, for they are the intrigues

themselves translated into action.

Geographically speaking, the Balkan nations are those situated in

the big peninsula of southern Europe which lies below the Danube

River and the northern border of Montenegro. Some authorities,

however, include Rumania, and others even bring in Austria's Slavic

provinces, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The most noticeable feature of this vast war-ridden region is its

mountains. Those same Carpathian Mountains, which form the natural

boundary between the land of the Magyars and the Russian plains,

take a sudden turn westward at the Rumanian frontier, then sweep

around in a great semicircle, forming a shape resembling a scythe,

the handle of which reaches up into Poland, the blade curling around

within the Balkan Peninsula. Behind the handle, and above the upper

part of the blade, stretch the broad plains of Hungary, through

which flows the great Danube, the largest river in Europe next

to the Russian Volga--a river which flowed with blood during the

Great War. Just in the middle of the back of the blade this great

river bursts through the mountain chain, swirling through the famous

Iron Gate into the great basin within the curved blade. On the south

of its farther course to the Black Sea lie the plains of northern

Bulgaria.

The curving chain of mountains below the Iron Gate is the Balkan

Range. But excepting for the plains of Thrace, lying south of the

Balkans, over toward the Black Sea and above Constantinople, the rest

of the peninsula is almost entirely one confused tangle of craggy

mountains, interspersed throughout with small, fertile valleys and

plateaus. This roughness of surface becomes especially aggravated

as one passes westward, and over toward the Adriatic coast, from

Greece up into the Austrian province of Dalmatia, the country is

almost inaccessible to ordinary travelers.

What is the political value of this beleaguered domain? The broad,

significant fact is that any road from western Europe to the Orient

must pass through the Balkan Peninsula, and that these mountains

almost block that road. From north to south there is just one highway,

so narrow that it is really a defile.

This road stretches from the seat of the war at Belgrade on the

Danube down a narrow valley, the Morava, thence through the highlands

of Macedonia into the Vardar Valley to Saloniki, on the Ægean Sea.

At Nish, above Macedonia, another road branches off into Bulgaria

across the plains of Thrace and into Constantinople. This was the

road by which the Crusaders swarmed down to conquer the Holy Land.

This was the road by which, hundreds of years later, the Moslems

swarmed up into the plains of Hungary and overran the south of

Europe, until they were finally checked outside the gates of Vienna.

Nothing is more significant of the terror that these marching hosts

inspired than the fact that, with the exception of a few larger

towns, the villages hid themselves away from this highway in the

hills.