During the year 1916 there was little mo_History of the World War

Allies had settled down at Saloniki and intrenched themselves so

strongly that their positions were practically impregnable. These

intrenchments were on slopes facing north, heavily wired and with seven

miles of swamp before them, over which an attacking army would have to

pass. It was obviously inadvisable to withdraw entirely the armies at

Saloniki. So long as they were there it was possible at any time to make

an attack on Bulgaria in case Russia or Roumania should need such

assistance. And moreover, it was evident that it was only the presence

of the Saloniki army that kept Greece neutral. During the year there

were a few fights which were little more than skirmishes; almost all of

the German soldiers had been withdrawn, and it was chiefly the Bulgarian

army that was facing the Allies. On May 26th Bulgarian forces advanced

into Greece and occupied Fort Rupel, with the acquiescence of the Greek

Government.

The Greeks were in a difficult position. It was not unnatural that King

Constantine and the Greek General Staff believed that the Allies had

small chance of victory. Moreover, they had no special ambitions which

could be satisfied by a war against the Central Powers. On the other

hand, Turkey was an hereditary enemy, and the big sea coast would put

them at the mercy of the British navy in case they should join their

fortunes to those of Austro-Germany. To an impartial observer their

policy of neutrality, if not heroic, was at least wise. The Greek

Government, therefore, did its best to preserve neutrality. The

surrender of Fort Rupel was not, however, a neutral act and roused in

Greece a strong popular protest.

Venizelos, who at all times was strongly friendly to the Allies and who

was the one great Greek statesman who not only believed in their

ultimate victory but who saw that the true interests of Greece were in

Anatolia and the Islands of the AEgean, was strongly opposed to King

Constantine's action. The Allies showed their resentment by a pacific

blockade, to prevent the export of coal to Greece, with the object of

preventing supplies from reaching the enemy. This led to a certain

amount of excitement and the Allied embassies in Athens were insulted by

mobs. The governments, therefore, presented an ultimatum commanding the

demobilization of the Greek army, the appointment of a neutral Ministry,

and the calling of a new election for the Greek Chamber of Deputies, as

well as the proper punishment of those who were guilty of the disorder.

In substance, the Greeks yielded to the Allied demand, but before a new

election could be held an attack by the Bulgarians on the 17th of August

changed the situation. The Bulgarian armies entered deep in Greek

territory in the eastern provinces and captured the city of Kavalla

without resistance from the armies of Greece. A portion of the Greek

army at Kavalla surrendered and was taken to Germany as "guests" of the

German Government.

This action of the Greek army led to a Greek revolution which broke out

at Saloniki on the 30th of August. The King pursued a tortuous policy,

professing neutrality and yet constantly bringing himself under

suspicion. The Revolutionists organized an army and finally M.

Venizelos, after strong efforts to induce the King to act, became the

head of the Provisional Government of the Revolutionists. The Allies

pursued a policy almost as tortuous as that of King Constantine. They

could not agree among themselves as to the proper policy, and took no

decided course. King Constantine apparently had the support of Russia

and of Italy.

Meantime the fighting against Bulgaria was still proceeding. The main

force of the Allies was directed against the city of Monastir, which,

after considerable fighting, was captured on November 19th. This gave

the Serbians possession of an important point in their own country and

naturally proved a great stimulus to the Serbian armies.

From that time on, and during the year 1917, little was done. Minor

offensives were undertaken, some of which, like the Allied attack upon

Doiran, deserve mention, but on the whole the fighting was a stalemate.

Meanwhile the action of the Greek Government had become so

unsatisfactory that it was finally determined to demand the abdication

of King Constantine, and on June 11th he found himself compelled to

yield. In his proclamation he said:

Obeying necessity of fulfilling my duty toward Greece, I am departing

from my beloved country accompanied by the heir to the crown, and I

leave my son Alexander on the throne. I beg you to accept my decision

with calm.

Early the next morning the King and his family set sail for Italy on his

way to Switzerland, where he became another "King in exile." His son

Alexander accepted the throne and issued the following proclamation:

At the moment when my august father, making a supreme sacrifice to our

dear country, entrusted to me the heavy duties of the Hellenic throne I

express but one single wish--that God, hearing his prayer, will protect

Greece, that He will permit us to see her again united and powerful. In

my grief at being separated in circumstances so critical from my

well-beloved father I have a single consolation: to carry out his sacred

mandate which I will endeavor to realize with all my power, following

the lines of his brilliant reign, with the help of the people upon whose

love the Greek dynasty is supported. I am convinced that in obeying the

wishes of my father the people by their submission will do their part in

enabling us together to rescue our dear country from the terrible

situation in which it finds itself.

The whole country to all appearances received the abdication with

satisfaction. On June 21st, M. Venizelos came to Athens and the Greek

Chamber, which was illegally dissolved in 1915, was convoked and

Venizelos once again became Prime Minister. At last he had succeeded,

and he proceeded at once to join the whole of the Grecian forces to the

cause of the Allies. Of all the statesmen prominent in the Great War,

there was none more wise, more consistent or more loyal than the great

Greek statesman.

For more than a year the Allied armies facing Bulgaria remained upon the

defensive, when, suddenly, on the 16th of September, 1918, in the midst

of the wonderful movements that were forcing back the German armies in

France, a dispatch was received from the Allied forces in Macedonia. The

Serbian army, in co-operation with French and English forces, had

attacked the Bulgarian positions on a ten-mile front, had stormed those

positions and progressed more than five miles. On the next day news was

received that the advance was continuing; that the Allies had occupied

an important series of ridges, and had pierced the Bulgarian front; that

more than three thousand prisoners had been captured and twenty-four

guns. The movement took place about twelve miles east of Monastir and

the ridge of Sokol, and the town of Gradeshnitsa were captured by the

Allied troops.

It soon became evident that one of the most important movements in the

whole war was being carried on. The Bulgarian armies were crumbling, and

the German troops sent to aid them had been put to flight. The Allied

troops had advanced on an average of ten miles and were continuing to

advance. The Serbs, fighting at last near their own homes, were showing

their real military strength. Four thousand prisoners had been taken,

with an enormous quantity of war supplies. The Bulgarian positions which

had yielded so easily were positions which they had been fortifying for

three years, and had been previously thought to be impregnable.

On September 23d it became evident that the retreat of the Bulgarians

had turned into a rout. Notwithstanding reinforcements of Germans and

Bulgars rushed down in a frantic effort to check them, the Allied armies

were advancing on an eighty-five mile front, crushing all resistance.

The Italian army, on the west, was meeting with equal success, and the

news dispatches reported that the first Bulgarian army in the region of

Prilep had been cut off. A dispatch received by the British War Office

reported "As the result of attacks and continual heavy pressure by

British and Greek troops, in conjunction with the French and Serbian

advance farther west, the enemy has evacuated his whole line from Doiran

to the west of the Vardar." As it retreated the Bulgarian army was

burning supplies and destroying ammunition dumps, burning railway

stations and ravaging the country.

By this time it was felt throughout the Allied world that the Bulgarian

defeat would have important political consequences. It was remembered

that a short time before King Ferdinand had paid a visit to Germany, and

after long conferences with the German War Lord, had hastily returned to

Bulgaria. It was recalled that there had been many signs of serious

disorder in Bulgaria, where the Socialist party had been in close touch

with the advance parties in the Ukrainian Republic. It seemed possible

that the Bulgarian defeats had been brought about by Bulgarian

dissension and it was also evident that Germany was in no position to

offer effective support to its Bulgarian accomplice.

As the days passed by the news from this front became more and more

favorable. At all points the Bulgarian armies were retreating in the

most disorderly manner, closely pursued by the Serbians, French,

English, Italians, and Greeks. Bulgarian troops were deserting in

thousands, and thousands of others were surrendering without resistance.

On September 26th it was announced that the Bulgar front had

disappeared; that the armies had been cut into a number of groups and

were fleeing before the Allied troops. Town after town was being

captured, with enormous quantities of stores. On Friday, September 27th,

it was announced that Bulgaria had asked the Allies for an armistice of

forty-eight hours, with a view to making peace.

The situation was now causing intense excitement. The Germans tried to

minimize the Bulgarian surrender. A dispatch from Berlin declared that

Premier Malinoff's offer of an armistice was made without the support of

other members of the Cabinet or of King Ferdinand, and that Germany

would make a solemn protest against it. German newspapers were demanding

that Malinoff be dismissed immediately and court-martialed for high

treason. The Berlin message asserted that the Premier's offer had

created great dissatisfaction in Bulgaria and that strong military

measures had been taken to support the Bulgarian front. According to

statements from Sofia it was added a counter-movement against the action

of the Premier had already been set on foot. It was declared in Germany

that the Premier's act was the result of Germany's refusal to send

sufficient reinforcements to Bulgaria. Secretary Lansing made the

announcement that the United States Government had received a proposal

for an armistice.

It appeared that Bulgaria had been maneuvering toward peace for some

time. The Bulgarians had foreseen their inability to meet the expected

Allied attack, and had made every effort to obtain German

reinforcements. Moreover, they were highly dissatisfied with the

treatment they had received from Germany in connection with Bulgaria's

dispute with Turkey as to territorial dispositions to be made after the

war. Probably the most important reason, however, for the Bulgarian

overthrow was that by this time they were sick of the war. They had not,

in the first place, gone into it with any enthusiasm, and though they

could fight bravely enough against their Serbian foe, no true Bulgarian

could ever feel himself in a natural position facing his old-time

Russian friend.

Bulgaria had come to the end. Malinoff, the Premier, had from the

beginning been opposed to the war. Mobs in Sofia were demanding

surrender. Ferdinand was compelled to give way to the wishes of his

Cabinet and his people, and in spite of the fact that he had promised

the Kaiser to remain faithful to the Alliance, he gave his consent to

the movement for unconditional surrender.

An official Bulgarian statement read as follows: "In view of the

conjunction of circumstances which have recently arisen, and after the

position had been jointly discussed with all competent authorities, the

Bulgarian Government, desiring to put an end to the bloodshed, has

authorized the Commander-in-Chief of the army to propose to the

Generalissimo of the armies of the Entente at Saloniki, a cessation of

hostilities, and the entering into of negotiations for obtaining an

armistice and peace. The members of the Bulgarian delegation left

yesterday evening in order to get into touch with the Plenipotentiaries

of the Entente belligerents." This statement was dated September 24th.

When the Bulgarian officers entrusted with the proposal for an armistice

presented themselves at Saloniki, General d'Esperey gave the following

reply: "My response cannot be, by reason of the military situation,

other than the following. I can accord neither an armistice nor a

suspension of hostilities tending to interrupt the operations in course.

On the other hand, I will receive with all due courtesy the delegates

duly qualified of the Royal Bulgarian Government." The Bulgarian

delegates were General Lonkhoff, commander of the Bulgarian Second Army,

M. Liapcheff, Finance Minister, and M. Radeff, a former member of the

Bulgarian Cabinet.

On the evening of the 29th an armistice was signed. The terms of the

surrender were approved by the Entente governments, and hostilities

ceased at noon September 30th. The terms of the armistice were as

follows:

Bulgaria agrees to evacuate all the territory she now occupies in Greece

and Serbia; to demobilize her army immediately and surrender all means

of transport to the Allies. Bulgaria also will surrender her boats and

control of navigation on the Danube, and concede to the Allies free

passage through Bulgaria for the development of military operations. All

Bulgarian arms and ammunition are to be stored under the control of the

Allies, to whom is conceded the right to occupy all important strategic

points. The military occupation of Bulgaria will be entrusted to

British, French and Italian forces, and the evacuated portions of Greece

and Serbia, respectively, to Greek and Serbian troops.

This armistice meant a complete military surrender, and Bulgaria ceased

to be a belligerent. All questions of territorial rearrangement in the

Balkans were purposely omitted from the Convention. The Allies made no

stipulation concerning King Ferdinand, his position being considered an

internal matter, one for the Bulgarians themselves to deal with. The

armistice was to remain in operation until the final general peace was

concluded.

The request of Bulgaria for an armistice and peace, stunned Germany,

which at that time was living in an atmosphere of political crisis and

military misfortune. The German papers laid much of the blame on the

desperate economic conditions in Bulgaria, which had been made worse by

political strife.

After the Bulgarian collapse the Serbians, with the other Allied troops

who had just captured Uskub, swept northward to drive the remaining

Germans and Austrians out of Serbia and beyond the Danube. On October

13th they captured Nish, thus cutting the famous Orient railroad from

Berlin to Constantinople. German authorities announced that henceforth

trains on this line would run only to the Serbian border.

On October 4th King Ferdinand abdicated his throne in favor of his son

Crown Prince Boris, and left Sofia the same night for Vienna. Before

leaving he issued the following manifesto renouncing the Bulgarian

crown:

By reason of the succession of events which have occurred in my kingdom,

and which demand a sacrifice from each citizen, even to the surrendering

of oneself for the well being of all, I desire to give as the first

example the sacrifice of myself. Despite the sacred ties, which for

thirty-two years have bound me so firmly to this country, for whose

prosperity and greatness I have given all my powers, I have decided to

renounce the royal Bulgarian crown in favor of my eldest son, His

Highness the Prince Royal Boris of Tirnovo. I call upon all faithful

subjects and true patriots to unite as one man about the throne of King

Boris, to lift the country from its difficult situation, and to elevate

new Bulgaria to the height to which it is predestined.

Before signing his declaration of abdication he had consulted with the

party leaders and received their approval. King Ferdinand had lost his

popularity ever since it became apparent that he had made a mistake in

siding with the Teutonic Powers. He was undoubtedly in fear that a

revolution might upset the whole dynasty. Premier Malinoff announced the

abdication to the Bulgarian Parliament, and the accession of Prince

Boris to the throne was received with much enthusiasm. The church bells

were rung, and great crowds gathered in the streets.

Speaking from the steps of the Palace the new King said; "I thank you

for your manifestation of patriotic sentiments. I have faith in the good

star of Bulgaria, and I believe that the Bulgar people, by their good

qualities and co-operation, are directed to a brilliant future." King

Ferdinand, it was given out, had renounced politics and was intending in

the future to devote himself to his favorite pursuits, chiefly to

botany.

The surrender of Bulgaria was at once recognized as the overthrow of

Germany's "Mittel-Europa" threat, which had apparently been carried into

effect when Turkey and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers. It had for a

long time been one of Germany's most coveted aims. After the

Franco-Prussian war the German people had grown enormously in wealth and

in numbers. It had become one of the greatest manufacturing powers in

the world. Its ships were transporting its commerce on every sea, but it

was not satisfied. The German leaders, most of whom were young men at

the time of the war with France, and had been deeply impressed by a

sense of the German power, were full of the idea that Germany was the

greatest of nations, and that she should impress her will on all the

world.

They might have done this peacefully, for the seas were free, but German

self-esteem was not satisfied with peaceful progress. They felt that it

was necessary to reach out in the world for colonies. They seized a

province in China. They meddled with affairs in Morocco. They annexed

colonies in Africa, but none of these projects were wholly satisfactory.

They provided no great outlet for the products of their workshops, nor

for their overflow population, which largely went to North and South

America and became citizens of these foreign nations.

Their eyes finally turned to the great East. There in China and India

and the neighboring countries were three hundred millions of men whose

trade would be a worthy prize for even Germany's ambition. Then began

the development of what is sometimes called Germany's Mittel-Europa

dream. Her scholars encouraged it; her travelers brought reports which

stimulated the interest, and soon she began practically to carry it into

effect. It meant the building of a great railroad down to the Persian

Gulf; a railroad to be controlled by nations where her influence would

be all-powerful. She needed Austria, she needed Serbia, she needed

Bulgaria and Turkey.

[Illustration: Map: Most of Asia, Africa and Australia, showing

Germany's hoped for rail and ship routes from the North Sea to Australia,

South Africa and China.]

HOW THE PAN-GERMANS PLANNED TO EXTEND THEIR "MITTEL-EUROPA" DREAM

At first the project was carried out peacefully. Friendly relations were

stimulated with Turkey and the other necessary powers; permits were

obtained to build the railroad. But Germany was not the only power that

had dreamed this dream. Alexander the Great had done it. Napoleon had

done it, and England had carried it out. From the days of Queen

Elizabeth the English control of India was one of its greatest assets.

Through most of the nineteenth century the English power in the East was

threatened, not by Germany, but by Russia. It was because of this threat

that England had always protected Turkey. Turkey and Constantinople were

her barrier against Russia. The literature of England in the last days

of the nineteenth century shows clearly her fear of Russian intrigues in

India. Kipling's Indian stories are full of it. But now that fear had

passed. It was no longer the imaginary danger which might come from the

great Slavic Empire, but a trade weapon in the grasp of the most

efficient military power ever developed that was threatening. Against

this threat England had been doing her best. Here and there near the

Persian Gulf she had been extending her influence. Here and there, as

German Consuls obtained concessions, they would find them later

withdrawn, because England had stepped in. Yet just before the war

England, anxious for peace, had come to an agreement with Germany

practically admitting the German plans to be carried out as far as

Bagdad.

It looked as though it were only a question of time, but when the Balkan

wars established Serbia as the greatest of the Balkan powers, and gave

Russia a preponderating influence among the Balkan nations, and when it

began to look as if some great Balkan state might be established which

should be friendly to Russia and consequently a hindrance to the German

scheme, then it was that it was necessary that war should come. The

Germans had been wonderfully successful. For a time they controlled

Austria, Bulgaria, Serbia and Turkey, but with Bulgaria's fall the end

had come. They were compelled to awake from their Mittel-Europa dream.

[Illustration: Photograph]

BULGARIANS CELEBRATE PEACE

The first peace picture. The Bulgarian army is holding a solemn

thanksgiving mass on the battlefield just after the signing of the

armistice which ended their participation in the war.

[Illustration: Photograph]

French Official Photograph

AMERICAN COLORED SOLDIERS IN ALSACE

Inspection of arms before going into action. Colored troops were in

battles with the Germans many times and succeeded in beating the enemy

in every instance.

CHAPTER XLVII

THE CENTRAL EMPIRES WHINE FOR PEACE

The Allied victories in France during the months of August and September

of 1918, led to a new peace offensive among the Central Powers. It was

very plain to the German High Command, as well as to the Allied leaders,

that Germany's great ambitions had now been definitely thwarted. It

seems clear that, in spite of the hopeful and encouraging words which

they addressed to their own armies, the expert soldiers, who were

controlling the destinies of Germany, understood well the conditions

they were facing. Putting aside all sentiment, therefore, they

deliberately set out to obtain a peace which would leave them an

opportunity to gain by diplomacy what they were sure that they were

about to lose on the field of battle. They had made pleas for peace

before, but their pleas had been rejected.

The Allied leaders were fighting for a principle. They could not be

satisfied with a draw. They could not be satisfied if Germany were left

in a position which would enable her after a rest of a few years to

renew her effort to impose her will upon the world. It was unanimously

recognized that the war must be carried on to the very end. The Allies

took this position when the fortunes of war seemed to have gone against

them, when Russia was defeated, Roumania and Serbia crushed, and the

German lines in France were approaching the capital. It was unlikely

that now, when Germany was suffering defeat and every day was yielding

the Allied armies encouraging gains, there should be any change in the

strong determination of the Allied leaders. Nevertheless, it was

necessary to make the attempt.

On September 15th, the Austro-Hungarian Government addressed a

communication to the Allied Powers and to the Holy See suggesting a

meeting for a confidential and non-binding discussion of war aims, with

a view to the possible calling of a peace conference.

The official communication from the Austro-Hungarian Government was

handed to Secretary of State Lansing in Washington at 6.20 o'clock on

September 16th.

At 6.45 the following abbreviated reply of the United States Government

was made public, by the Secretary of State:

I am authorized by the President to state that the following will be the

reply of this government to the Austro-Hungarian note proposing an

unofficial conference of belligerents. "The Government of the United

States feels that there is only one reply which it can make to the

suggestion of the Austro-Hungarian Government. It has repeatedly and

with entire candor stated the terms upon which the United States would

consider peace, and can and will entertain no proposal for a conference

upon the matter concerning which it has made its position and purpose so

plain."

Arthur J. Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, in a statement made

September 16th said: "It is incredible that anything can come of this

proposal.... This cynical proposal of the Austrian Government is not a

genuine attempt to obtain peace. It is an attempt to divide the Allies."

Premier Clemenceau in France took similar grounds, and stated in the

French Senate: "We will fight until the hour when the enemy comes to

understand that bargaining between crime and right is no longer

possible. We want a just and a strong peace, protecting the future

against the abominations of the past." Italy joined with her Allies and

declared that a negotiated peace was impossible.

The refusal on the part of the Allies to respond to the Austrian peace

proposal evidently greatly disturbed the German leaders. The continued

German reverses, and the surrender of Bulgaria had taken away all hope.

They were anxious to conclude some kind of peace before meeting

irretrievable disaster. They therefore determined to appoint as

Chancellor of the Empire some statesman who might be represented as a

supporter of an honest peace, and Count von Hertling, whose previous

utterances might put under suspicion any peace move coming from him, was

removed and Prince Maximilian of Baden appointed as his successor on

September 30th.

Prince Maximilian was put forward as a Moderate, in accordance with the

evident purpose of the government to continue peace proposals. He was

the heir apparent to the Grand Ducal throne of Baden, and was the first

man in public life in Germany to declare that the Empire could not

conquer by the sword alone. He did this in an address to the Upper

Chamber in Baden, of which he was President, on December 15, 1917.

"Power alone can never secure our position," he said, "and our sword

alone will never be able to tear down the opposition to us."

At the same time he made an attack upon the ideals set up by President

Wilson. "President Wilson," he continued, "after three years of war

gathers together all the outworn slogans of the Entente of 1914, and

denounces Germany as the disturber of the peace, proclaiming a crusade

for humanity, liberty and the rights of small nations." Then, forgetting

that the United States had entered the war nearly a month after the

abdication of the Czar of Russia, he added: "President Wilson has no

right to speak in the name of democracy and liberty, for he was the

mighty war ally of Russian Czardom, but he had deaf ears when the

Russian democracy appealed to him to allow it to discuss peace

conditions." The Baden address created a great sensation all over

Germany, which was increased when, in an interview in January, he

declared that all ideas of conquest must be abandoned, and that Germany

must serve as a bulwark to prevent the spread of Bolshevism among the

western nations.

There can be no doubt that the appointment of Prince Maximilian was a

definite attempt to seek peace. It was thought that he would be

recognized by the Allied leaders as an honest friend of peace, and that

any effort he would make would be treated with respect. He was, however,

a vigorous supporter of the Kaiser and of German autocracy, and while

his appointment might mean that Germany was desirous of peace it did not

mean that she had changed her ways. Three days before the appointment of

Prince Maximilian, President Wilson, in an address delivered in the

Metropolitan Opera House in New York, had restated the issues of the

war, declaring (1) for impartial justice, (2) settlement to be made in

the common interests of all, (3) no leagues within the common family of

the league of nations, (4) no selfish economic combination within that

league, and (5) all international agreements and treaties of every kind

must be made known in their entirety to the rest of the world.

Prince Maximilian, coming into power undoubtedly for the purpose of

arranging a peace, proceeded at once to make a new peace offer. He based

his action on President Wilson's speech and on October 4th sent to

President Wilson, through the Swiss Government, the following note:

The German Government requests the President of the United States to

take in hand the restoration of peace, acquaint all the belligerent

states with this request, and invite them to send plenipotentiaries for

the purpose of opening negotiations. It accepts the program set forth by

the President of the United States in his message to Congress on January

8th, and in his later pronouncements, especially his speech of September

27th, as a basis for peace negotiations. With a view to avoiding further

bloodshed the German Government requests the immediate conclusion of an

armistice on land and on water and in the air.

He followed this note on October 5th with an address before the German

Reichstag, of which the following are the most important points:

In accordance with the Imperial decree of September 30th, the German

Empire has undergone a basic alteration of its politic leadership. As

successor to Count George F. von Hertling, whose services in behalf of

the Fatherland deserve the highest acknowledgment, I have been summoned

by the Emperor to lead the new government. In accordance with the

governmental method now introduced I submit to the Reichstag, publicly

and without delay, the principles by which I propose to conduct the

grave responsibilities of the office. These principles were firmly

established by the agreement of the federated governments and the

leaders of the majority parties in this honorable House before I decided

to assume the duties of Chancellor. They contain therefore not only my

own confession of political faith, but that of an overwhelming portion

of the German people's representatives--that is, of the German

nation--which has constituted the Reichstag on the basis of a general,

equal, and secret franchise and according to their will.

Only the fact that I know the conviction and will of the majority of the

people are back of me, has given me strength to take upon myself conduct

of the Empire's affairs in this hard and earnest time in which we are

living. One man's shoulders would be too weak to carry alone the

tremendous responsibility which falls upon the government at present.

Only if the people take active part in the broader sense of the word in

deciding their destinies, in other words, if responsibility also extends

to the majority of their freely elected political leaders, can the

leading statesman confidently assume his part of the responsibility in

the service of folk and Fatherland.

My resolve to this has been especially lightened for me by the fact that

prominent leaders of the laboring class have found a way in the new

government to the highest offices of the Empire. I see therein a sure

guarantee that the new government will be supported by the confidence of

the broad masses of the people, without whose true support the whole

undertaking would be compelled to failure in advance. Hence what I say

today is not only in my own name, and those of my official helpers, but

in the name of the German people.

The program of the majority parties, upon which I take my stand,

contains first, an acceptance of the answer of the former Imperial

Government to Pope Benedict's note of August 1, 1916, and an

unconditional acceptance of the Reichstag resolution of July 19th, the

same year. It further declares willingness to join the general league of

nations based on the foundation of equal rights for all, both strong and

weak. It considers the solution of the Belgian question to lie in the

complete rehabilitation of Belgium, particularly of its independence and

territorial integrity. An effort shall also be made to reach an

understanding on the question of indemnity. The program will not permit

the peace treaties hitherto concluded to be a hindrance to the

conclusion of the general peace. Its particular aim is that popular

representative bodies shall be formed immediately on a broad basis in

the Baltic provinces, in Lithuania and Poland. We will promote the

realization of necessary preliminary conditions therefore without delay

by the introduction of civilian rule. All these lands shall regulate

their constitutions and their relations with neighboring peoples without

external interference.

He went on to point out the progressive political developments in

Prussia and declared that the "message of the King of Prussia promising

the democratic franchise must be fulfilled quickly and completely."

President Wilson did not find Prince Maximilian's proposal wholly

satisfactory, and on October 8th, he inquired of the Imperial Chancellor

whether the meaning of the proposal was that the German Government

accepted the terms laid down in his address to the Congress of the

United States and in subsequent addresses; and whether its object in

entering into discussions would be only to agree upon the practical

details of their application. He also suggested that so long as the

armies of the Central Powers were upon the soil of the governments with

which the United States was associated, he would not feel at liberty to

propose a cessation of arms to those governments. He also inquired

whether the Imperial Chancellor was speaking merely for the constituted

authorities of the Empire, who had so far conducted the war.

President Wilson's reply aroused much difference of opinion among the

Allies, but on the whole was regarded as a clever diplomatic move.

The German Government responded to these questions of the President on

October 12th, by a message signed by Dr. W. S. Solf, who had just been

appointed Imperial Foreign Secretary. In this reply the German

Government declared that it did accept President Wilson's terms; that it

was ready to comply with the suggestion of the President and withdraw

its troops from Allied territory, and that the German Government was

representing in all its actions the will of the great majority of the

German people.

Germany had, indeed, made enormous concessions, and the German people

appeared to have taken for granted that such an offer would be accepted.

An Amsterdam despatch declared: "People in Berlin are kissing one

another in the street, though they are perfect strangers and shouting

peace congratulations to each other. The only words heard anywhere in

Germany are 'Peace at last'."

The President however, had been struck by the news coming in from day to

day of new atrocities in France, and of new cases of submarine murders,

and in his reply of October 14th, he declared that while he was ready to

refer the question of an armistice to the judgment and advice of

military advisers of the government of the United States and the Allied

governments, he felt sure that none of those governments would consent

to consider an armistice as long as the armed forces of Germany

continued the illegal and inhuman practices which they were persisting

in. He also emphasized the fact that no armistice would be accepted that

would not provide absolutely satisfactory safeguards and guarantees of

the maintenance of the military supremacy of the armies of the United

States and of the Allies in the field. The President also called the

attention of the Government of Germany to that clause of his address on

the Fourth of July in which he had demanded "the destruction of every

arbitrary power that can separately, secretly and of its single choice

disturb the peace of the world, or, if it cannot be presently destroyed,

at least its reduction to virtual impotency." He declared that the power

which had hitherto controlled the German nation was of the sort thus

described, and that its alteration actually constituted a condition

precedent to peace.

This answer of the President was greeted with approval in the United

States and everywhere in the Allied countries. It meant that the

Imperial Power of Germany was not to be allowed to hide itself behind a

so-called reorganization done under its own direction. As one of the

Senators of the United States expressed it: "It is an unequivocal demand

that the Hohenzollerns shall get out."

During these negotiations the Allied armies under Marshal Foch had been

driving the enemy before them. When Baron Burian was making his peace

offer on behalf of Austria-Hungary the Americans were engaged in

pinching off the St. Mihiel salient, and about that date the British

were launching their great attack on the St. Quentin defenses. The

reports of the great Allied drive indicated a constant succession of

Allied victories.

On September 19th, the British advanced into the Hindenburg line,

northwest of St. Quentin, and on September 20th, while the American guns

were shelling Metz, the British were advancing steadily near Cambrai and

La Bassee.

Day by day the advance proceeded. On September 26th, the first American

army smashed through the Hindenburg line for an average gain of seven

miles, between the Meuse and the Aisne rivers on a twenty-mile front. On

September 27th, the French gained five miles in an advance east of

Rheims, and the British were attacking in the Cambrai sector on a

fourteen-mile front, crossing the Canal du Nord and piercing the

Hindenburg line at several points. On September 28th, the Americans

reached the Kriemhilde line, while the British were close in on Cambrai.

On September 30th, the British took Messines Ridge, while the French

were still advancing between the Aisne and Vesle Rivers. On October 1st,

the French troops entered St. Quentin and the British took the northern

and western suburbs of Cambrai. During the next week an enveloping

movement was instituted north and south of Lille. On October 5th, the

Germans evacuated Lille, on October 9th the British took Cambrai.

In these drives the American colored troops played a conspicuous part.

The entire Three hundred and sixty-fifth regiment, composed wholly of

colored troops, was later awarded the coveted Croix de Guerre, or War

Cross, by the French Government. It was a well-deserved honor, for the

boys of the Three hundred and sixty-fifth bore themselves with great

gallantry in the September and October offensive in the Champagne sector

and suffered heavy losses. In conferring the Croix de Guerre, the

citation dealt in considerable detail with the valor of particular

officers and praised the courage and tenacity of the whole regiment.

The Germans were retreating in Belgium day by day, under the attacks of

the Belgian and French armies. On October 11th the Germans evacuated the

Chemin des Dames. On October 16th the Germans began the evacuation of

the Belgian coast region and each day increased the number of Belgian

towns once more in Allied control.

CHAPTER XLVIII

BATTLES IN THE AIR

He who conquers the fear of death is master of his fate. Upon this

philosophy fifty thousand young men of the warring nations went forth to

do battle among the clouds. The story of these battles is the real

romance of the World War. In 1914 no one had ever known and history had

never recorded a struggle to the death in the air. When the war ended a

new literature of adventure had been created, a literature emblazoned

with superb heroisms, with God-like daring, and with such utter disdain

of death that they were raised out of the olden ranks of mere

earth-crawling mankind and became supermen of the air.

Some of these heroic names became household words during the war. These

were the aces of the French, American and German air-forces. The British

adopted a policy in news concerning their airmen similar to that

governing their publication of submarine sinkings. They argued that the

naming of British, Canadian and Australian aces would direct the attacks

of German aviators against the most useful men in the British forces.

They also felt that publicity would tend toward the swagger which in

English slang was "swank" and toward a deterioration in discipline.

Raoul Lufberry, Quentin Roosevelt, son of ex-President Roosevelt, and

Edward Rickenbacher were names that figured extensively in news of the

American air forces.

Lufberry and Roosevelt were killed in action. Rickenbacher, after dozens

of hair-raising escapes from death, came through the war without

injury. The pioneer of American aviators in the war was William Thaw of

Yale, who formed the original Lafayette Escadrille.

Besides these men, America produced a number of other brilliant aces, an

ace being one who brought down five enemy planes, each victory being

attested by at least three witnesses.

The French had as their outstanding aces Georges Guynemer and Rene

Fonck. Guynemer went into the flying game as a mechanician. He became

the most formidable human fighting machine on the western front before

he was sent to death in a blazing airplane.

Lieut. Rene Fonck ended the war with a total of seventy-five official

aerial victories. He had an additional forty Huns to his credit but not

officially confirmed. His greatest day was when he brought down six

planes. His quickest work was the shooting down of three Germans in

twenty seconds.

He fought three distinct battles in the air when, on May 8, 1918, he

brought down six German airplanes in one day. All three engagements were

fought within two hours. In all, Fonck fired only fifty-six shots, an

average of little more than nine bullets for each enemy brought down--an

extraordinary record, in view of the fact that aviators often fired

hundreds of rounds without crippling their opponent.

The first fight, in which Lieutenant Fonck brought down three German

machines, lasted only a minute and a half, and the young Frenchman fired

only twenty-two shots. Fonck was leading two other companions on a

patrol in the Moreuil-Montdidier sector on May 8th, when the French

squadron met three German two-seater airplanes coming toward them in

arrow formation. Signaling to his companions, Lieutenant Fonck dived at

the leading German plane and, with a few shots sent it down in flames.

Fonck turned to the left, and the second enemy flier followed in an

effort to attack him from behind, but the Frenchman made a quick turn

above him and, with five shots, sent the second German to death. Ten

seconds had barely elapsed between the two victories.

The third enemy pilot headed for home, but when Lieutenant Fonck

apparently gave up the chase and turned back toward the French lines the

German went after him, and was flying parallel and a little below, when

Fonck made a quick turn, drove straight at him and sent him down within

half a mile of the spot where his two comrades hit the earth.

The German heroes were the celebrated Captain Boelke, and the no less

famous inventor of the "flying circus," Count von Richthofen. Captain

Boelke caused a great many Allied "crashes" by hiding in clouds and

diving straight at planes flying beneath him. As he came within range,

he opened up with a stream of machine-gun bullets. If he failed to get

his prey, his rush carried him past his opponent into safety. He rarely

re-attacked. Count von Richthofen was responsible for many airplane

squadron tactics that later were used on both sides. The planes under

his command were gaily painted for easy identification during the thick

of a fight. Their usual method was to cut off single planes or small

groups of Allied planes, and to circle around them in the method

employed by Admiral Dewey for the reduction of the Spanish forts and

ships in the Battle of Manila Bay.

The dangers of aerial warfare were instrumental in producing high

chivalry in all the encampments of air men. Graves of fallen aviators

were marked and decorated by their former foes, and captured aviators

received exceptionally good treatment, where foemen aviators could

procure such treatment for them.

Until the advent of America into the war, neither side had a marked

advantage in aircraft. At first Germany had a slight advantage; then the

balance swung to the Allied side; but at no time was the scale tipped

very much. American quantity production of airplanes, however, gave to

the Entente Allies an overwhelming advantage. Final standardization of

tools and design for the "Soul of the American Airplane" was not

accomplished until February, 1918. Yet within eight months more than

15,000 Liberty engines, each of them fully tested and of the highest

quality, were delivered.

The United States did not follow European types of engines, but in a

wonderfully short time developed an engine standardized in the most

recent efficiency of American industries.

According to Secretary of War Baker, an inspiring feature of this work

was the aid rendered by consulting engineers and motor manufacturers,

who gave up their trade secrets under the emergency of war needs.

Realizing that the new design would be a government design and no firm

or individual would reap selfish benefit because of its making, the

motor manufacturers, nevertheless, patriotically revealed their trade

secrets and made available trade processes of great commercial value.

These industries also contributed the services of approximately two

hundred of their best draftsmen. Parts of the first engine were turned

out at twelve different factories, located all the way from Connecticut

to California. When the parts were assembled the adjustment was perfect

and the performance of the engine was wonderfully gratifying.

Thirty days after the assembling of the first engine preliminary tests

justified the government in formally accepting the engine as the best

aircraft engine produced in any country. The final tests confirmed the

faith in the new motor.

British and French machines as a rule were not adapted to American

manufacturing methods. They were highly specialized machines, requiring

much hand work from mechanics, who were, in fact, artisans.

The standardized United States aviation engine, produced under

government supervision, said Secretary of War Baker, was expected "to

solve the problem of building first-class, powerful and yet

comparatively delicate aviation engines by American machine methods--the

same standardized methods which revolutionized the automobile industry

in this country."

The manufacture of De Haviland airplanes equipped with Liberty motors

was a factor in the war. One of these De Havilands without tuning up,

made a non-stop trip on November 11, 1918, from Dayton, Ohio, to

Washington, D. C., a distance of 430 miles, in three hours and fifty

minutes. Great battle squadrons of these De Haviland planes equipped

with Liberty motors made bombing raids over the German lines in the

Verdun sector. Others operated as scouting and reconnaissance planes and

as spotters for American artillery.

In the period from September 12th to 11 o'clock on the morning on

November 11th, the American aviators brought down 473 German machines.

Of this number, 353 were confirmed officially. Day bombing groups, from

the time they began operations, dropped a total of 116,818 kilograms of

bombs within the German lines.

Bombing operations were begun in August by the 96th Squadron, which in

five flying days dropped 18,080 kilograms of bombs. The first day

bombardment group began work in September, the group including the 96th,

the 20th and 11th Squadrons. The 166th Squadron joined the group in

November.

In twelve flying days in September the bombers dropped 3,466 kilograms

of bombs; in fifteen flying days in October, 46,133 kilograms, and in

four flying days in November, 17,979 kilograms.

On November 11th, the day of the signing of the armistice, there were

actually engaged on the front 740 American planes, 744 pilots, 457

observers and 23 aerial gunners.

Of the total number of planes, 329 were of the pursuit type, 296 were

for observation and 115 were bombers. In addition, several hundred

planes of various types were being used at the instruction camps when

the war ended.

America, although the last of the great nations to embark upon a great

aircraft production program, was the birthplace of the airplane, the

Wright Brothers being the undisputed inventors of the modern type.

Wilbur and Orville Wright made their first experiments in flying at

Kittyhawk, N. C. Their first attempts were of a gliding nature and were

accomplished by starting from the top of a dune or sand hill, the

operator lying full length, face downward, on the under plane of the

machine. During these experiments they succeeded in flying six hundred

feet.

Their first flight with an airplane driven by a motor was on December

17, 1903, when they succeeded in flying about two hundred and seventy

yards in fifty-nine seconds. This machine was driven by a

sixteen-horse-power motor.

Santos Dumont was one of the early pioneers in aeronautical experiments.

After showing a marked talent with balloons, he turned his attention to

heavier-than-air machines, and in 1906 created a world's record in a

flight of 230 yards at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour.

In 1907 Henry Farnum made a half circular flight in a Voisin biplane,

using a fifty-horse-power motor, returning to his starting point. About

this time a flight of nine minutes and fifteen seconds was recorded by

Delagrande on a Voisin constructed biplane.

The first previously announced public flight was made on July 4, 1908,

by Glenn H. Curtiss at Hammondsport, N. Y., and was witnessed by a

number of New Yorkers who had gone to Hammondsport to see the flight.

In the winter of 1913-14 Mr. Rodman Wanamaker gave Glenn H. Curtiss a

commission to build a flying boat which would fly across the Atlantic.

Commander Porte was brought from England, and he, with Mr. Curtiss,

worked out the designs for a flying boat much larger than any previously

built, and fitted with two motors instead of one. As entirely separate

power plants would be used, one motor would naturally run somewhat

faster than the other, and it was freely predicted that the machine

could not be handled. The first trial, however, proved that it would not

only fly, but that after it was once in the air, one motor could be

slowed down and even stopped and the machine continue to fly. This

machine was the forerunner of the seaplane, used by the American,

British and other navies in the war, although somewhat changed in

detail. The beginning of the war stopped the transatlantic experiments

and this machine found its way into the British navy. It was christened

the "America," and the larger flying boats or seaplanes which are now

being built and used by the British and American navies are still known

as the "America" or super-American type.

At first fighting operations were carried out by individual aviators or

comparatively small squadrons, but the battles of March, 1918, witnessed

the definite development of larger squadrons, maneuvering as effectively

as bodies of cavalry, and in massed formation attacking infantry

columns. The possibilities of the new aerial arm were further

demonstrated in the creation of a barrage, as effective as that of heavy

artillery, for the purpose of holding back advancing bodies of infantry.

In the first days of the German offensive there took place an aerial

battle which up to that time was unique in the annals of warfare. It was

a battle not merely for the purpose of gaining the mastery of the air,

but to aid Allied infantry and artillery in stemming the tide of the

German advance, and when the drive finally slowed down and came to a

halt in Picardy, the Allied airmen had undoubtedly contributed largely

to the result.

During March 21 and 22, 1918--the opening days of the great German

drive--there was comparatively little aerial activity. The aviators of

both sides were preparing for the impending battle, which actually began

on the morning of March 23d and lasted all that day and the day

following.

The story of the air battle of March 23d-24th reads like one of the most

extraordinary adventure tales ever imagined. The struggle began with

squadrons of airplanes ascending and maneuvering as perfectly as

cavalry. They rose to dizzy heights, and, descending, swept the air

close to the ground. The individual pilots of the opposing sides then

began executing all manner of movements, climbing, diving, turning in

every direction, and seeking to get into the best position to pour

machine-gun fire into enemy airplanes. Every few minutes a machine

belonging to an Allied or German squadron crashed to the ground, often

in flames. At the end of the first day's fighting wrecked airplanes and

the mangled bodies of aviators lay strewn all over the battle-field.

All next day, March 24th, the struggle in the air went on with unabated

fury. The Allied air squadrons were now on the offensive and penetrated

far inside the German lines. The German aviators counter-attacked

whenever they could, and more than once succeeded in crossing the French

lines. But at the close of the second day victory rested with the Allied

airmen, and during the next five scarcely a German airplane took the

air.

The sudden termination of the war caused speculation throughout the

world concerning the future of the airplane. When rumor declared that

America's newly-won pre-eminence in aviation would disappear, Captain

Roy N. Francis, of the Division of Military Aeronautics, made this

statement.

America cannot afford to junk the airplane fleet which has cost her so

many millions of dollars. I do not believe that any other nation will do

so. Even if the peace congress should decide on universal disarmament,

there are still any number of uses to which airplanes can be put in time

of peace.

Take the air mail service, for instance. This is now only in its

infancy, but it is destined to become as common as the railway mail

service. It will employ hundreds of airplanes and aviators all over the

country.

Then there is the possibility of our machines being used for seacoast

patrol work, a valuable addition to our coast-guard forces which save

many ocean vessels from disaster every year.

They will be largely used for army dispatch work. Instead of sending

official messages from post to post by the present methods, airplanes

will be used after the war as they are now being used at the front.

On the Great Lakes, airplanes can be used for coast-guard work, as on

the seacoast, and they can also be used for patrolling the lakes

themselves. Think how many wrecked lake vessels might have been saved in

the past had there been an airplane nearby to carry its message of

distress and guide rescue ships to the scene.

Forest patrol is still another opening for the use of expert aviators.

Every year, almost, our great forest fires in the northwest demonstrate

that our present methods of prevention of forest fires are faulty;

chiefly because the fires are not discovered while they are still

smoldering. Constant airplane patrol over our great forests would make

forest fires a thing of the past.

Then there are any number of commercial uses to which airplanes can be

put. Instead of a cargo of bombs, a commercial airplane could carry a

cargo of small package freight for which immediate delivery is

necessary.

The use of the airplane for passenger carrying is now being developed.

The huge Caproni and Handley-Page machines will be used for this purpose

in the future. Thousands of persons will want to fly just for the

novelty, and the possibility of accidents will be reduced to the

minimum.

Again, there is the need for scientific research and improvement of the

airplane, which will keep scores of men and machines busy for years.

It will not be necessary, of course, to maintain the numerous government

training fields for aviators after the war, but some of the best of them

should be retained. I do not believe it will be necessary to discharge a

single pilot or observer from the army or to junk a single undamaged

airplane after the war.

Henry Woodhouse, Governor of the Aero Club of America and a world-wide

authority on aeronautics, made the following forecast:

Aircraft capable of lifting fifteen tons, with a speed of one hundred

miles an hour, are now in actual production. The first of the

American-built Caproni planes, equipped with four Liberty motors and

developing 1,750 horse-power has just been successfully tested. This

giant plane has a total lifting capacity of 40,000 pounds, or twenty

tons. The super-Handley-Page or the Caproni could easily carry fifty

bags, or more than a ton of mail. This means 100,000 letters. Judging

the future development of aircraft by what has taken place in the last

two years, we may look for the building of a 5,000-horse-power airplane,

possibly within a year.

If the people of the various cities along the eight great air-ways

already proposed insist on it, at least a dozen additional aerial mail

lines can be established within twelve months. This can be done by

utilizing only machines not needed by the army or navy. That means it

will be possible to send by postplane at least 50,000,000 of the

100,000,000 day and night letters, and at least 25,000,000 of the

50,000,000 special delivery letters that are sent each year in the

United States.

Postoffice officials estimate that the average cost of telegraphic day

and night letters now going over the wires is close to one dollar each.

Special delivery letters average about thirteen cents apiece.

This makes a total of more than fifty million dollars' worth of

potential aerial mail business that is simply waiting for the

establishment of aerial mail routes which can easily be established

within the next twelve months.

Four hundred miles is the distance over which postplane day mail is most

effective. Aerial mail letters are effective over any distance, since,

with proper stations, light signals and guides for night postplane

flying, the air mail can be carried more than one thousand miles between

the hours of 6 P. M. and 8 A. M.

The cost of aerial mail night and day letters will be less than that of

wire communication. The cost of an aerial mail letter is sixteen cents

for two ounces. For this price there can be sent a message that would

cost five dollars to send by telegraph.

The estimate of $50,000,000 of potential postplane business takes no

account of the possibilities of transporting parcel post aerial mail.

One of the Caproni 2,100-horse-power machines now in operation could

easily transport 2,500 pounds of mail. At least $25,000,000 worth of

parcel post could be sent by airplane.

Enthusiasts who look forward to the transatlantic transportation of

aerial mail as certain to come within the next twelve-month assert that

there is another twenty-five million dollars' worth of transatlantic

mail waiting for an aerial mail service. They point out that Uncle Sam

now pays eighty cents a pound to American steamships to carry

transatlantic mail and that a charge of one dollar per letter across the

Atlantic would be a paying proposition.

[Illustration: Painting]

PICKING ONE "OFF THE TAIL"

The German Albatross airplane going down in flames was in pursuit of

the light British "Quick" machine seen on the left, when suddenly a

British Nieuport (at the right) dived through the clouds. The

Albatross nose-dived, the British following with his guns working, and

soon the German burst into flames and crashed to earth, his pursuer

straightening out his course.

[Illustration: Photograph]

CARRYING THE WAR INTO GERMANY

Mechanics "tuning up" one of the giant British bombing machines

developed in 1918 that raided Germany. The size is shown by comparison

with the human figures. Note the forward gunner, the pilot, the rear

gunner and the window of the commodious cock-pit within which the

airmen could stand upright.

Charges of mismanagement and graft were investigated by the United

States Senate and by the Department of Justice. Former Justice of the

United States Supreme Court Charles E. Hughes was named by President

Wilson to conduct the latter inquiry. Waste was found, due largely to

the emergency nature of the contract. Justice Hughes recommended that

Col. Edward Deeds, of the United States Signal Corps, be tried by court

martial for his connection with certain contracts, and recommended that

several other persons be tried in the United States courts. Justice

Hughes and the Senate Investigation Committee gave their unqualified

approval to the management of America's aircraft production by John D.

Ryan. Mr. Ryan resigned his charge as head of the Aircraft Production

Board in November, 1918. His last public announcement was of the

invention of an aerial telephone, by which the commander of a squadron

standing on the ground could communicate with-aviators flying in battle

formation.

CHAPTER XLIX

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS OF THE AMERICAN FORCES

Since the fateful day when Cain slew Abel, thereby setting a precedent

for human warfare, no fighter has been so well protected from disease

and discomfort of mind and body, so speedily cured of his wounds, as the

American soldier and sailor during the World War.

The basis of this remarkable achievement was sanitary education preached

first by competent physicians and sociologists; then by newspapers to

the civilian population; and ultimately by the soldiers and sailors

themselves, each man acting as an evangel of personal and community

health and sanitation. In 1914, before war was declared, the words

"venereal diseases" were relegated to the advertisements of quacks and

patent medicines. When the war ended, virtually every young and old man

and woman knew the meaning of the words and the miseries that come in

their train. So it was with other details of the care of the human body,

with sewage problems, with the grave community question of pure water,

with the use of intoxicating beverages, and with other problems

inter-woven with the health and happiness of humanity.

Among the leaders in this wide-flung campaign of education was the

American Red Cross. Starting with a mere nominal membership before the

war, its roster rose to the mighty total of more than 28,000,000

American men, women and children when the war ended. More than

$300,000,000 was poured into the American Red Cross treasury. In

addition to these contributions of money, came the free services of

millions of Americans, mostly women. Red Cross workshops dotted the

land, and from these came bandages, sweaters, comfort-kits, trench

necessities, clothing for homeless refugees, and a vast quantity of

material aid in every conceivable form. American Red Cross workers

during the war knitted 14,089,000 garments for the army and navy. In

addition, the workers turned out 253,196,000 surgical dressings,

22,255,000 hospital garments and 1,464,000 refugee garments. Sewing

chapters repaired old clothing and sent it overseas to the orphaned and

the widowed, and millions of Americans learned the sublime lesson of

sacrifice through the Red Cross--a lesson that left its imprint upon

America for generations.

The work of the American Red Cross extended through many lands. It

followed the flags of the Entente Allies into Palestine, Mesopotamia,

India, South Africa, and other battle-grounds. Its work on the western

front was a miracle of achievement. In Russia through the Red Terror of

the Revolution the workers of the American Red Cross went serenely about

their tasks of mercy, relieving the hungry, aiding the sick, and

clothing the ragged peasants.

Henry P. Davidson left the firm of J. P. Morgan & Company to devote his

administrative genius to the affairs of the American Red Cross. Other

men and women of rare executive ability joined in the free tender of

their services to the work of the Red Cross.

While the organization strove mightily against famines, wounds and

disease overseas, it was suddenly confronted during the period from

September 8th to November 9th, 1918, with the severest epidemic America

had experienced in generations. Returning American troops brought the

germs of the malady known as "Spanish influenza" into New York and

Boston. Thence it spread throughout the country. During its brief career

the epidemic claimed a total of 82,306 deaths in forty-six American

cities, having a combined population of 23,000,000. Philadelphia, a

great center of war industry, with the Philadelphia Navy Yard harboring

thousands of sailors and marines, showed the highest mortality in

proportion to population, 7.4 per 1,000; Baltimore with 6.7 per 1,000

showed the next greatest mortality.

The record of the Red Cross in this epidemic was one of instant service.

Hundreds of thousands of masks were made in Red Cross workrooms, and

these were worn by nurses and by members of families in afflicted homes.

On May 1, 1917, just before the appointment of the War Council, the

American Red Cross had 486,194 members working through 562 chapters. On

July 31, 1918, the organization numbered 20,648,103 annual members,

besides 8,000,000 members of the Junior Red Cross--a total enrollment of

over one-fourth the population of the United States. These members

carried on their Red Cross work through 3,854 chapters, which again

divided themselves into some 30,000 branches and auxiliaries.

The total actual collections from the first war fund amounted to more

than $115,000,000. The subscriptions to the second war fund amounted to

upward of $176,000,000. From membership dues the collections

approximated $24,500,000.

The Home Service of the Red Cross with its more than 40,000 workers,

extended its ministrations of sympathy and counsel each month to upward

of 100,000 families left behind by soldiers at the front.

Supplementing, but not duplicating, the work of the American Red Cross,

were the services of the Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Knights of Columbus,

Jewish Welfare Association, Salvation Army, American Library Association

and other bodies.

These operated under the general supervision of the War and Navy

departments: Commissions on Training Camp Activities. Raymond B. Fosdick

was the chairman of both these bodies. Concerning these commissions,

President Wilson declared:

I do not believe it an exaggeration to say that no army ever before

assembled has had more conscientious and painstaking thought given to

the protection and stimulation of its mental, moral and physical

manhood. Every endeavor has been made to surround the men, both here and

abroad, with the kind of environment which a democracy owes to those who

fight in its behalf. In this work the Commissions on Training Camp

Activities have represented the government and the government's

solicitude that the moral and spiritual resources of the nation should

be mobilized behind the troops. The country is to be congratulated upon

the fine spirit with which organizations and groups of many kinds, some

of them of national standing, have harnessed themselves together under

the leadership of the government's agency in a common ministry to the

men of the army and navy.

Afloat and ashore the organizations operating under the supervision of

the two commissions gave to the men of the American forces home care,

suitable recreation, and constant protection. The club life of the army

and navy, both in the training camps and after the men went into the

service, was most capably directed by the Y. M. C. A., Knights of

Columbus, and the Jewish Welfare Association. Non-sectarianism was the

rule in all of the huts and clubs conducted by these organizations.

Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chaplains mingled with workers of the

Salvation Army, with professional prize-fighters who became athletic

instructors, with actors and actresses who contributed their talents

freely to the entertainment of soldiers and sailors. Moving-picture

shows, boxing contests, continuation schools, canteens where women

workers served American-made dishes--these were some of the activities

following the men. The Y. M. C. A. and Knights of Columbus bore the

largest share of this work. More than $300,000,000 was contributed by

the people of America to the maintenance of these activities.

The other organizations rounded out the work of the first two

organizations and filled in with special attention to needs on which the

others did not specialize.

The larger organization, the Y. M. C. A., was chosen by the government

to carry out a portion of the government program--the conducting of the

canteens.

The Knights of Columbus specialized in comforts less considered by other

war relief organizations.

Nothing gave greater relaxation to the fighting man, coming from the

trenches, or the battle line caked with mud and blood and weary with

long hours, than a shower bath, and generous facilities were provided

close to the fighting front.

Back of the lines in the rest billets and concentration camps,

provisions were less generous than at the front until the Knights of

Columbus took up the task of seeing that the men who were temporarily

away from the active fighting had these facilities for bathing. It was

but one of the many activities of the Knights of Columbus, but one of

the most appreciated.

One of the first requisitions made by Rev. John B. De Valles, one of the

first chaplains sent over by the Knights of Columbus, was for a shower

bath and he set it up in connection with his headquarters in a little

French town and it was overworked from the first. From this spread the

movement for establishing shower baths in club houses being opened

behind the lines and in villages.

There was no preaching in a Knights of Columbus hall or club room, but

there was clean moral environment and healthy recreation and amusement,

for this was proven the thing to keep up the morale of fighting men.

The Y. M. C. A. built 1,500 huts in Europe costing from $2,000 to

$20,000 each, equipped with canteen, reading and writing and

recreational facilities to soldiers. It operated twenty-eight different

leave areas with hotels that had a total of 35,000 beds. In addition, in

Paris, port towns, and several big centers in the war zone there were

"Y" hotels for transient soldiers where one could get a clean bed and a

good meal at about half the price charged by French hotels. Over 3,000

movie and theatrical shows a week were provided free, and 300 "Y"

athletic directors had charge of the sports in the American army,

operating 836 athletic fields. Enormous quantities of cookies and

chocolate and cigarettes were supplied.

A hundred of the best known educators from America directed educational

work. The staff consisted of Professor Erskine of Columbia University,

Professor Daly of Harvard, Professor Coleman of Chicago University,

Professor Appleton of the University of Kansas and Frank Spaulding,

superintendent of the Cleveland public schools.

Seconding the work of the Y. M. C. A., its sister organization, the Y.

W. C. A., extended its activities from the training camps of America to

the battle-fields of Europe.

At the close of its first year of America's participation in the war,

the Y. W. C. A. had six established lines of work in France:

Hostess Houses, clubs for French working women and business girls, clubs

for nurses with the American army, clubs for women of the signal corps,

clubs for British women (Waac's) working with the American army, and

recreation work for all women employed in any way by the American

Expeditionary Force. In one year its activities spread to twenty-five

cities, and it had forty-three units.

The Hostess Houses were at Paris and Tours. The Hotel Petrograd, on the

Rue Caumartin, was leased in Paris and turned out to be one of the most

interesting centers of American life in France. It was run on the most

liberal lines, in a thoroughly democratic way. The meals were good and

in the big dining-room men were admitted on the same footing as women.

There were two of these Hostess Houses at Tours.

For the girls of the signal corps twenty-two homes were opened and there

were huts for the Waacs at Bourges and Tours. Y. W. C. A. secretaries

were attached to twenty base hospital units and opened fourteen clubs

for nurses.

The most interesting and unique work of the Y. W. C. A. was that of its

foyers for French working women and business girls. There were thirteen

of these in Lyons, Rouen, Bourges, Tours, Ste. Etienne, Paris and Mont

Lucon.

The Salvation Army erected hotels at the various large training camps in

America, and its workers made American doughnuts for the soldiers close

to the battle-lines in France. The work done by the men and women of the

Salvation Army aided materially in bringing the heart of America into

France.

The Jewish Welfare Association not only performed notable service in

following the men from training camps into actual service, but it also

planned and executed a great reconstruction program under the direction

of Felix M. Warburg, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee.

The American Library Association solved the grave problem of providing

the soldiers and sailors with suitable reading matter. Each of the

cantonments had its special library building in charge of a trained

librarian, and interesting literature followed the men into the field

through the services of this organization.

Some idea of the work of these various organizations is gained by

reading the following order received by Raymond B. Fosdick at his

headquarters in Washington after the steamship Kansas carrying supplies

for the various huts at American field quarters, was sunk:

Send 20 tons plain soap, 20 tons condensed milk, 10 tons chocolate, 5

tons cocoa, 2 tons tea, 5 tons coffee, 5 tons vanilla wafers, 50 tons

sugar, 20 tons flour, 2 tons fruit essences, 2 tons lemonade powder,

120,000 Testaments, 120,000 hymn-books, tons of magazines and other

literature, 30 tons writing-paper and envelopes, 50,000 folding chairs,

500 camp cots, 2,000 blankets, 20 typewriters, 60 tents, 75

moving-picture machines, 200 phonographs, 5,000 records, 1 ton ink

blotters, $75,000 worth athletic goods, 30 automobiles and trucks.

The order was filled at once.

Besides the associations above enumerated, other volunteer organizations

contributed to the health and happiness of American soldiers and

sailors. The Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania established two clubs, one in

Paris, the other in Tours, both of which performed notable services in

feeding and restoring the spirits of American soldiers and sailors. The

club in Paris was under the direction of the Rev. Frederick W. Beekman,

and that at Tours was directed by Amos Tuck French. Mrs. Barclay

Warburton of Philadelphia was designated by Governor Brumbaugh as

Commissioner-General of Overseas Work for the Emergency Aid. Other

states had similar organizations looking after the comfort of the men.

But it was upon the professional doctors, nurses and sanitarians that

the bulk of the task devolved. This task included the prevention as well

as the cure of maladies menacing the American forces. It reached out

into years after the war into the problems of re-education and

re-habilitation of the shell-shocked and the wounded. Major-General

William C. Gorgas, former Surgeon General of the Army, stated this

concept when he said:

"The whole conception of governmental and national responsibility for

caring for the wounded has undergone radical change during the months of

study given the subject by experts serving with the Medical Officers'

Reserve Corps and others consulting with them. Instead of the old idea

that responsibility ended with the return of the soldier to private life

with his wounds healed and such pension as he might be given, it is now

considered that it is the duty of the government to equip and re-educate

the wounded man, after healing his wounds, and to return him to civil

life ready to be as useful to himself and his country as possible."

To carry out this idea reconstruction hospitals were established in

large centers of population. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,

Washington, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Paul, Seattle, San

Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis,

Richmond, Atlanta and New Orleans were sites of these institutions. Each

was planned as a 500-bed hospital but with provision for enlargement to

1,000 beds if needed.

These hospitals were not the last step in the return of the wounded

soldiers to civil life. When the soldiers were able to take up

industrial training, further provision was ready.

Arrangements were made by the Department of Military Orthopedics to care

for soldiers, so far as orthopedics (the prevention of deformity) was

concerned, continuously until they were returned to civil life.

Orthopedic surgeons were attached to the medical force near the firing

line and to the different hospitals back to the base orthopedic hospital

which was established within one hundred miles of the firing line. In

this hospital, in addition to orthopedic surgical care, there was

equipment for surgical reconstruction work and "curative workshops" in

which men acquired ability to use injured members while doing work

interesting and useful in itself. This method supplanted the old and

tiresome one of prescribing a set of motions for a man to go through

with no other purpose than to re-acquire use of his injured part.

Instructors and examiners for all the troops were furnished by the

Department of Military Orthopedic Surgery. A number of older and more

experienced surgeons acted as instructors and supervisors for each of

the groups into which the army was divided.

A peculiar condition arising from the use of heavy artillery in the war

was that called "shell-shock."

The most pathetic wrecks of war were soldiers suffering from shattered

nerves. Paris had many of them. They appeared to be normal. But they

were human wrecks.

Shell-shock or the aftermath of illness from wounds left them in

weakened health, subject to violent heart attacks. Most of them lacked

energy and perseverance. They became awkward, like big children. If

employment was found for them--for many had large families to

support--they quickly lost their jobs through apathy or collapse.

A society in Paris did everything possible to relieve the sufferings of

these victims of the war. It operated with the authorization of the

French Government under the name "L'Assistance aux Blesses Nerveux de

la Guerre."

American hospitals after the war contained many of these cases. Some of

the victims became incurably insane.

Besides the noble work done by the great army of American physicians,

surgeons and nurses, in caring for soldiers and sailors, a service of

scarcely less magnitude was rendered to the civilian populations of

France, Belgium and Italy. Tuberculosis in France was a real plague,

taking a toll of 80,000 lives every year. American physicians and nurses

preached the doctrine of fresh air, care of the teeth and proper food

for children. Almost immediately this campaign of sanitation had its

effect in a decreasing death-rate from tuberculosis.

European nations generally were benefited by the stay of the American

army overseas. The straightforward manner in which the social evil was

attacked had direct benefits. The important detail of dental care also

received an interest through the advent of the American soldier. The

London Daily Mail made this comment on that question:

"One thing about the American soldiers and sailors must strike English

people when they see these gallant fighters, and that is the soundness

and general whiteness of their teeth. From childhood the 'Yank' is

taught to take care of his teeth. He has 'tooth drill' thrice daily and

visits his dentist at fixed periods, say, every three or four months. If

by chance a tooth does decay, the rot is at once arrested by gold or

platinum filling. American dentists never extract a tooth. No matter how

badly decayed it may be, they save the molar by crowning it with gold.

"The United States soldiers have set us a splendid example in this

matter. They fairly shame the ordinary 'Tommy' by the brilliance of

their molars, but they will do so no longer if young English mothers

will only wake up to the fact that bad teeth cause bad health, and that

doctors' and dentists' bills will be saved by the regular use of the

tooth-brush."

CHAPTER L

THE PIRATES OF THE UNDER-SEAS

Germany relied upon the submarine to win the war. This in a nut-shell

explains the main reason why the United States was drawn into the World

War. Von Tirpitz, the German Admiral, obsessed with the theory that no

effective answer could be made to the submarine, convinced the German

High Command and the Kaiser that only through unrestricted submarine

warfare could England be starved and the war brought to an end with

victory for Germany. Since August, 1914, the theory held by von Tirpitz

and his party of extremists had been combated by Prince Maximilian of

Baden and by Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg and by others high in the

council of the Kaiser. These men pointed out that, leaving out such

questions as piracy on the high seas, the drowning of women and

children, the destruction of the property of neutrals, there still

remained the question of expediency. America, they asserted, was certain

to enter the war if unrestricted submarine warfare was decreed. These

men were denounced as cowards and von Tirpitz finally triumphed.

The submarine employed by the Germans was of the type designed by Simon

Lake, an American. The Germans bought two submarines built by Mr. Lake

at Kronstadt for the Russians during the Russian-Japanese war. Various

improvements upon the Diesel engine and special training for submarine

crews enabled the German navy to strike terrible blows during the early

part of the war.

Little by little, however, the Allies discovered the answer to the

submarine menace. One of these was the convoy: fleets of merchant

vessels surrounded by fast destroyers made life a misery for the

submarine crews. In the early days vessels of all character fled from

the approach of the submarine. The destroyers of the convoys, however,

adopted a different method. They rushed at the periscopes in efforts to

ram the submarine, and as they raced over the spot where the submarine

had been at the rate of twenty-two knots or more an hour, they dropped

huge containers, dubbed "ash cans", containing depth charges of

trinitrotoluol.

Sea planes carrying bombs, small dirigible balloons known as "blimps,"

observation balloons moored on the decks of warships, steel nets, and

especially devised anti-submarine mines, were also factors in the

general work of submarine destruction.

In addition to all these, every ship, both cargo carrier and war vessel,

had its well-trained gun crew, and hundreds of thousands of keen-eyed

mariners daily and nightly swept the seas with binoculars watching for

anything that resembled a periscope.

As a consequence of this combination of destructive agencies the British

Admiralty was enabled to announce at the close of the war that more than

150 German submarines had been destroyed.

The names of the commanding officers of the German submarines which had

been disposed of were given out by the government in order to

substantiate to the world the statement made by the Prime Minister in

the House of Commons on August 7th, and denied in the German papers,

that "at least 150 of these ocean pests had been destroyed." The

statement included no officers commanding the Austrian submarines, of

which a number had been destroyed, and did not exhaust the list of

German submarines put out of action.

The fate of the officers was given, and of these the majority (116) were

dead; twenty-seven were prisoners of war, six were interned in neutral

countries where they took refuge, and one succeeded in returning to

Germany.

Further light on the subject of German submarines was given on September

18, 1918, by Senator William H. Thompson of Kansas in a speech in which

he told the Senate:

The submarine is no longer a serious menace to transportation across the

seas. It is, of course, an annoyance and a great hindrance, and as long

as there is a single submarine in the waters of the sea every effort

must be made by the allied powers to destroy it, for it is an outlaw and

must not exist. The truth is that Germany never had more than 320

submarines all told, including all construction before and since the

war.

We have positive knowledge of the destruction of more than one-half of

these submarines, and we also know that it is practically impossible for

Germany to keep in operation more than 10 per cent of those remaining.

It is therefore reduced to a negligible quantity so far as its ultimate

effect upon the result of the war is concerned.

1 saw a reliable statement in France to the effect that there is one

ship of some character leaving the eastern shores of America for the war

zone every six minutes, and it is only a few vessels which are ever

torpedoed, estimated at about one per cent. This is less than the loss

by storm and accident in the earlier days of transportation and is not

much greater than such loss now. We must bear in mind that we read only

of the ships which have been torpedoed and see but little account of the

hundreds of ships which pass over the ocean safely and undisturbed.

Three hundred thousand soldiers are conveyed across the Atlantic every

thirty days, and an average of about 500,000 tons of freight carried to

the French coast. There are warehouses in only one of the many ports of

France with a capacity of over 2,000,000 tons.

It is to the navy that the credit for the destruction of this outlaw

seagoing craft is due. The navy is and has been the backbone of this

war, the same as it has been of almost every great war in history.

Without the allied navy the submarine would have perhaps accomplished

its nefarious purpose in starving the European allies and in preventing

them from securing the necessary munitions of war to defend themselves.

It has utterly failed in this respect. The Allies are amply supplied

with food, and there are provisions enough on hand now, if every ship

should be sunk, to last the Allies and armies for months. The destroyer

is the ship which has brought Germany to her knees in submarine warfare

and will keep her there. We have not enough destroyers, and it is for

this reason we are obliged in this great transportation problem to run

risks which would not be taken under ordinary conditions. If every ship

was escorted by a sufficient number of destroyers I doubt if there would

be a single ship of any consequence sunk, except by the merest accident.

Upon the same subject, Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the British

Admiralty, on October 14th, reviewing the British effort in the war said

that during 1918 the casualties of the British on the western front

equaled those of all the Allies combined. The British navy, he said,

since the beginning of the war had lost in fighting ships of all classes

a total of 230, more than twice the losses in war vessels of all the

Allies.

In addition to these, Great Britain had lost 450 auxiliary craft, such

as mine-sweepers and trawlers, making a total of 680. He revealed the

fact that the effective warship barrage, which had been drawn between

the Orkneys and Norway against German submarines and surface craft, was,

during the later months of the war, maintained largely by ships of the

United States.

The British merchant ships lost since 1914 exceeded 2,400, representing

a gross tonnage of 7,750,000, nearly three times the aggregate loss of

all other allied and neutral countries.

In his statement on the submarine situation he said:

In February, 1917, the ruthless submarine warfare confronted us, whilst

the armies in France at that time were feeling a sense of superiority

over the enemy which was illustrated by the successes of the battle of

Arras, the taking of Vimy Ridge, the advance between the Ancre and the

Somme, the offensive in Champagne, Chemin des Dames, Messines and

Passchendaele Ridges. Thus we felt, and rightly felt, that the weakest

front at that time was the sea--not on the surface, but under water.

The whole of the available energies of the Allies were consequently

thrown into overcoming the submarine and the menace which threatened to

destroy the lines of communication of the Alliance. The reduced sinkings

which have been published since that period show how we gradually

overcame that menace--and today most men say that the submarine menace

is a thing of the past.

That it is a thing of the past in so far as it can never win the war for

the enemy or enable the enemy to prevent us from winning the war,

provided we do not underrate the danger but take adequate steps against

it, I affirm now as the opinion of the British Admiralty; but it is a

menace that comes and goes.

The end of the great submarine menace came on November 20th, when twenty

German submarines were officially surrendered to Rear-Admiral Tyrwhitt

of the British Navy, thirty miles off Harwich, England. Within the

following week more than eighty other German submarines and a number of

Austrian craft were also surrendered to the British. The spectacle of

the surrender was most impressive.

After steaming some twenty miles across the North Sea, the Harwich

forces, which consisted of five light cruisers and twenty destroyers,

were sighted. The flagship of Admiral Tyrwhitt, the commander, was the

Curacao. High above about the squadron hung a big observation balloon.

The squadron, headed by the flagship, then steamed toward the Dutch

coast, followed by the Coventry, Dragoon, Danal and Centaur. Other ships

followed in line with their navigation lights showing. The picture was a

noble one as the great vessels, with the moon still shining, plowed

their way to take part in the surrender of the German U-boats.

Soon after the British squadron started the "paravanes" were dropped

overboard. These devices are shaped like tops and divert any mines which

may be encountered, for the vessels were now entering a mine field.

Almost everyone on board donned a life belt and just as the red sun

appeared above the horizon the first German submarine appeared in sight.

Soon after seven o'clock twenty submarines were seen in line,

accompanied by two German destroyers, the Tibania and the Sierra

Ventana, which were to take the submarine crews back to Germany after

the transfer.

All the submarines were on the surface with their hatches open and their

crews standing on deck. The vessels were flying no flags whatever and

their guns were trained fore and aft, in accordance with the terms of

surrender.

A bugle sounded on the Curacao and all the gun crews took up their

stations, ready for any possible treachery.

The leading destroyer, in response to a signal from the admiral, turned

and led the way towards England and the submarines were ordered to

follow. They immediately did so. The surrender had been accomplished.

Each cruiser turned, and, keeping a careful lookout, steamed toward

Harwich. On the deck of one of the largest of the submarines, which

carried two 5.9 guns, twenty-three officers and men were counted. The

craft was estimated to be nearly 300 feet in length. Its number had been

painted out.

Near the Ship Wash lightship three large British seaplanes, followed by

an airship, were observed. One of the submarines was seen to send up a

couple of carrier pigeons and at once a signal was flashed from the

admiral that it had no right to do this.

When the ships had cleared the mine field and entered the war channel

the "paravanes" were hauled aboard. On reaching a point some twenty

miles off Harwich the ships dropped anchor and Captain Addison went out

on the warship Maidstone.

British crews were then put on board the submarines to take them into

harbor. With the exception of the engine staffs all the German sailors

remained on deck. The submarines were then taken through the gates of

the harbor and the German crews were transferred to the transports and

taken back to Germany.

As the boats went through the gates a white signal was run up on each of

them with the German flag underneath.

Each German submarine commander at the transfer was required to sign a

declaration to the effect that his vessel was in running order, that its

periscope was intact, that its torpedoes were unloaded and that its

torpedo heads were safe.

Orders had been issued forbidding any demonstration and these

instructions were obeyed to the letter. There was complete silence as

the submarines surrendered and as the crews were transferred.

On November 21st, the German High Seas fleet that had been protected by

the submarines surrendered to the combined fleet consisting of British,

American and French battleships. The British admiralty's terse statement

concerning the historic spectacle follows:

The commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet has reported that at 9.30

o'clock this morning he met the first and main installment of the German

high seas fleet, which is surrendering for internment. Admiral Sir David

Beatty is Commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet.

On the same day another flotilla of German U-boats also was surrendered

to a British squadron. There were nineteen submarines in all; the

twentieth broke down on the way.

The Grand Fleet, accompanied by five American battleships and three

French cruisers, steamed out at 3 o'clock on the morning of November

21st, from its Scottish base to accept the surrender. The vessels moved

in two long columns.

The German fleet which surrendered consisted of nine battleships, five

cruisers, seven light cruisers and fifty destroyers, Seventy-one vessels

in all. There remained to be surrendered two battleships, which were

under repair, and fifty modern torpedo-boat destroyers.

One German destroyer while on its way across the North Sea with the

other ships of the German High Seas fleet to surrender struck a mine. It

was so badly damaged that it sank.

Describing the surrender of the German warships to Sir David Beatty, the

Commander-in-Chief of the grand fleet, correspondents said that after

all the German ships had been taken over, the British admiral went

through the line on the Queen Elizabeth, every Allied vessel being

manned and greeting the admiral and the flagship with loud and ringing

cheers.

[Illustration: Painting]

GERMAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS

After torpedoing their ship the submarine shelled the lifeboats and

jeered at the struggles of the helpless crew.

[Illustration: Painting]

Courtesy of Joseph A. Steinmetz, Phila.

THE EYE OF THE SUBMARINE

Diagram of a periscope, showing how, when its tip is lifted out of

water, a picture of the sea's surface is reflected downward from a

prism, through lenses, and then a lower prism, hence to the officer's

eye. It turns in any direction.

The British grand fleet put to sea in two single lines six miles apart,

and so formed as to enable the surrendering fleet to come up the center.

The leading ship of the German line was sighted between 9 and 10 o'clock

in the morning. It was the Seydlitz, flying the German naval ensign.

A telegram received in Amsterdam from Berlin gave this list of

surrendered warships, which includes one more battleship than later

reports showed:

Battleships--Kaiser, 24,113 tons; Kaiserin, 24,113 tons; Koenig Albert,

24,113 tons; Kronprinz Wilhelm, 25,000 tons; Prinzregent Luitpold,

24,113 tons; Markgraf, 25,293 tons; Grosser Kurfuerst, 25,293 tons;

Bayern, 28,000 tons; Koenig, 25,293 tons, and Friedrich der Grosse,

24,113.

Battle Cruisers--Hindenburg, 27,000 tons; Derflinger, 28,000 tons;

Seydlitz, 25,000 tons; Moltke, 23,000 tons, and Van Der Tann, 18,800

tons.

Light Cruisers--Bremen, 4,000 tons; Brummer, 4,000 tons; Frankfurt,

5,400 tons; Koeln, tonnage uncertain; Dresden, tonnage uncertain, and

Emden, 5,400 tons.

CHAPTER LI

APPROACHING THE FINAL STAGE

The might and pride of Germany were smashed and humbled by Foch in

frontal attacks divided roughly into three great sectors. The first of

these attacks was delivered by the French and Americans in the southern

sector which included Verdun and the Argonne. The second smash was

delivered by British, French and Americans in the Cambrai sector. The

third was delivered by British, Belgians, French and Americans in the

Belgian sector on the north of the great battle line.

The Cambrai operation had as its first objectives the possession of the

strategic railways both of which ran from Valenciennes, one to the huge

distribution center at Douai; the other to Cambrai itself. To reach

these objectives the Allies were obliged to cross the Sensee and the

Escaut canals under infantry and artillery fire. Besides these natural

obstacles, there was the famous Hunding line of fortifications erected

by the Germans between the Scarpe and the Oise River.

The attack was opened in force on September 18, 1918, by the Fourth

British army under General Rawlinson and the First French army under

General Debeney. The assault was successful northwest of St. Quentin and

determined German counter-attacks were broken down by French and British

artillery fire.

The Third British army under General Byng and the Thirtieth American

division co-operating with the First British army under Sir Henry

Horne, attacked furiously over a fourteen-mile front toward Cambrai. The

net result of this operation was the possession of the Canal du Nord,

the taking of several villages, and 6,000 prisoners. This was on

September 27th. The following day the same forces captured

Fontaine-Notre Dame, Marcoing, Noyelles, and Cantaing. More than 200

guns were captured and 10,000 prisoners. On September 29th the Americans

took Bellecourt and Nauroy, and invested the suburbs of Cambrai. The

British crossed the Escaut canal and the Canadians penetrated some of

the environs of Cambrai.

The resolution and ferocity of the attack thoroughly dismayed the

Germans, and the salient produced by the smash forced the Teutons to

evacuate the greatly prized Lens coal fields on October 3d. Horne and

Byng continued their advance, the former occupying Biache-St. Vaast

southwest of Douai, and the latter reaching a position five miles

northwest of Cambrai.

Caught between the jaws of the pincers, the German forces occupying

Cambrai made haste to escape outright capture. The city that had been

the objective of British hopes and thrusts for two years, fell into the

hands of the Allies. The German retreat extended over a thirty-mile

front and included both St. Quentin and Cambrai. Simultaneously the

German forces between Arras and St. Quentin fell steadily backward. Le

Cateau and Zazeuel fell into the hands of the British October 17th,

three thousand prisoners and a quantity of war material being included

in the bag.

In the meantime General Mangin attacking in the Laon sector, drove the

Germans from the strategic Chemin des Dames and with General Berthelot

captured Berry-au-Bac, the St. Gobain massif and completed contact with

Generals Pershing and Gouraud on the right and with Generals Rawlinson

and Debeney on the left.

The Allied advance now became a huge steel broom, sweeping the Germans

irresistibly before it. The operation extended from the Oise southeast

to the Aisne, broadening thence until it included the entire front. The

Hindenburg line, the Somme battle-field, the Hunding line, were all

quickly overrun. The fortress of Maubeuge, fifty miles northeast of St.

Quentin, which was connected with that city by a triple railway

connection, was evacuated as a direct result of this operation.

When St. Quentin itself fell into the hands of Debeney, it was found

that the Germans had deported the entire civilian population of 50,000.

This was the crux of the operations by Foch. Germans were given no rest;

night and day the pressure continued. Every clash showed the increasing

superiority of the Allies both in men and material and the corresponding

deterioration of the German forces. This demoralization of the Germans

extended from the High Command to the private soldier. Prisoners poured

into the hands of the Allies. Evacuation of Lille was commenced on

October 2d and Roubaix and Turcoing also fell.

It was the beginning of Germany's military debacle. The time was ripe

for the coup-de-grace soon to be delivered by Americans co-operating

with the Allies on a seventy-one mile front.

The Kaiser, Ludendorf and von Hindenburg abandoned hope. The command

went forth from the German general headquarters to retreat, retreat,

retreat, while Prince Maximilian of Baden appealed to America for an

armistice. The sword in Germany's hand was broken. Autocracy, defeated

in the eyes of its deluded subjects and discredited in the eyes of the

world, was in headlong flight. Its only concern was to save as much as

possible from the ruins of the ostentatious temple it had reared.

CHAPTER LII

LAST DAYS OF THE WAR

From November 1st until November 11th, the day when the armistice

granting terms to Germany was signed, the collapse of the German

defensive was complete. The army that under von Hindenburg and Ludendorf

had smashed its way over Poland, Roumania, Serbia, Belgium, and into the

heart of France, was now a military machine in full retreat. It is only

justice to that machine to say that the great retreat at no place

degenerated into a rout. Von Hindenburg and the German General Staff had

planned a series of rear-guard actions that were effective in protecting

the main bodies of infantry and artillery. Machine-gun nests and

airplane attacks were the main reliance of the Germans in these

maneuvers of delay, but the German field artillery also did its share.

Immense quantities of material and many thousands of prisoners were

captured by the British, Canadians and Australians in the north, and by

the French and Americans in the south. Simultaneously with this wide and

savage drive upon the Germans along the Belgian and French fronts, came

the heaviest Italian attack of the war. Before it the Austrians were

swept in a torrent that was irresistible. French, English and American

troops co-operated in this thrust that extended from the plains of the

Piave into Trentino. The immediate effect of the Italian offensive was

to force Austria to her knees in abject surrender. An armistice,

humiliating in its terms, was signed by the Austrian representatives,

and the back door to Germany was opened to the Allies.

Germany's frantic plea for an armistice followed. There were those in

the Allied countries who maintained that nothing short of unconditional

surrender should be permitted. Cooler counsel prevailed, and an

armistice was offered to the German High Command through General Foch,

the terms of which far exceeded in severity those granted to Turkey and

Austria. These were read for the first time by Germany's representatives

on Friday, November 8th. General Foch, when he gave the document to the

German delegation, declared that Germany's decision must be made within

seventy-two hours. Eleven o'clock on Monday, November 11th, was the time

limit permitted to Germany. The armistice was signed by General Foch and

the German representatives on the morning of November 11th, but fighting

did not actually cease until eleven o'clock, several hours after the

terms had been agreed to. This was in accordance with arrangement made

between the signers.

Sedan, where Marshals McMahon and Bazaine, commanding the armies of

Napoleon III, surrendered to the King of Prussia in 1870, marked the

last notable victory of the American forces in France. The Sedan of 1870

marked the birth of German militarism. The Sedan of 1918 marked its

death.

Preceding the advance of the Americans upon Sedan, came a cloud of

aviators in pursuit and bombing planes, headed by the famous aces of the

American forces. The First and Second divisions of the First army led

the way. In the van of the Second division were the Marines, whose

heroism in Belleau Wood marked the beginning of Germany's end. The

famous Rainbow division made the most savage thrust of the action,

pursuing the foe for ten miles and sweeping the Freya Hills clear of

machine nests and German artillery.

The last action of the war for the Americans followed immediately on the

heels of the battle of Sedan. It was the taking of the town of Stenay.

The engagement was deliberately planned by the Americans as a sort of

battle celebration of the end of the war. The order fixing eleven

o'clock as the time for the conclusion of hostilities, had been sent

from end to end of the American lines. Its text follows:

1. You are informed that hostilities will cease along the whole front at

11 o'clock A. M., November 11, 1918, Paris time.

2. No Allied troops will pass the line reached by them at that hour in

date until further orders.

3. Division commanders will immediately sketch the location of their

line. This sketch will be returned to headquarters by the courier

bearing these orders.

4. All communication with the enemy, both before and after the

termination of hostilities, is absolutely forbidden. In case of

violation of this order severest disciplinary measures will be

immediately taken. Any officer offending will be sent to headquarters

under guard.

5. Every emphasis will be laid on the fact that the arrangement is an

armistice only and not a peace.

6. There must not be the slightest relaxation of vigilance. Troops must

be prepared at any moment for further operations.

7. Special steps will be taken by all commanders to insure strictest

discipline and that all troops be held in readiness fully prepared for

any eventuality.

8. Division and brigade commanders will personally communicate these

orders to all organizations.

Signal corps wires, telephones and runners were used in carrying the

orders and so well did the big machine work that even patrol commanders

had received the orders well in advance of the hour. Apparently the

Germans also had been equally diligent in getting the orders to the

front line. Notwithstanding the hard fighting they did Sunday to hold

back the Americans, the Germans were able to bring the firing to an

abrupt end at the scheduled hour.

The staff and field officers of the American army were disposed early in

the day to approach the hour of eleven with lessened activity. The day

began with less firing and doubtless the fighting would have ended

according to plan, had there not been a sharp resumption on the part of

German batteries. The Americans looked upon this as wantonly useless. It

was then that orders were sent to the battery commanders for increased

fire.

Although there was no reason for it, German ruthlessness was still

rampant Sunday, stirring the American artillery in the region of

Dun-sur-Meuse and Mouzay to greater activity. Six hundred aged men and

women and children were in Mouzay when the Germans attacked it with gas.

There was only a small detachment of American troops there and the town

no longer was of strategical value. However, it was made the direct

target of shells filled with phosgene. Every street reeked with gas.

Poorly clad and showing plainly evidences of malnutrition, the

inhabitants crowded about the Americans, kissing their hands and hailing

them as deliverers. They declared they had had no meat for six weeks.

They virtually had been prisoners of war for four years and were

overwhelmed with joy when they learned that an armistice was probable.

The last French town to fall into American hands before the armistice

went into effect was Stenay. Patrols reported they had found it empty

not more than a quarter of an hour before eleven o'clock. American

troops rushed through the town and in a few minutes Allied flags were

beginning to appear from the windows. As the church bell solemnly tolled

the hour of eleven, troops from the Ninetieth division were pouring into

the town.

The inhabitants told the usual stories of German treatment. They were

forced to work at all sorts of tasks from seven in the morning until six

at night. In return they received paper bills with which they were

unable to purchase milk and similar necessities. The majority, however,

were so overjoyed at their deliverance that they were almost incoherent

in discussing the enemy occupation.

The inhabitants of Stenay remained hiding in their cellars even after

the Americans had entered the town. They came out hesitatingly and in

small groups.

Hostilities along the American front ended with a crash of cannon.

The early forenoon had been marked by a falling off in fire all along

the line, but an increasing bombardment from the retreating Germans at

certain points stimulated the Americans to a quick retort. From their

positions north of Stenay to southeast of the town the Americans began

to bombard fixed targets. The firing reached a volume at times almost

equivalent to a barrage.

Two minutes before eleven o'clock the firing dwindled, the last shells

shrieking over No Man's Land precisely on time.

There was little celebration on the front line, where American routine

was scarcely disturbed over the cessation of fighting. In the areas

behind the battle zone there were celebrations on all sides. Here and

there there were little outbursts of cheering, but even those instances

were not on the immediate front.

Many of the French soldiers went about singing.

"Well, I don't know," drawled a lieutenant from Texas while the

artillery was sending its last challenge to the Germans, "but somehow I

can't help wondering if we have licked them enough."

The Germans were manifestly so glad over the cessation of hostilities

that they could not conceal their pleasure. Prisoners taken at Stenay

grinned with satisfaction. Their demeanor was in sharp contrast to that

of the American doughboys who took the matter philosophically and went

about their appointed tasks.

In the front line it was the same. The Americans were happy, but quiet.

They made no demonstrations. The Germans, on the other hand, were in a

regular hysteria of joy. They waited only until nightfall to set off

every rocket in their possession. In the evening the sky was ablaze with

red, green, blue and yellow flares all along the line.

Flags appeared like magic over the shell-torn buildings of Verdun,

French and American colors flying side by side.

In every village, even those from which the Germans had been driven,

there were flags and decorations which were brought up to the front by

the soldiers. In the villages back of the line there were impromptu

celebrations and the civilians in holiday spirit saluted the Americans,

shouting "the war is finished."

Northeast of Verdun, just before 11 o'clock, American artillery-men in

loading a six-inch howitzer, wrote "good-luck" on a ninety-pound shell

and "let 'er go." The shot was aimed at the crossroad at Ornas, just

ahead of the American lines.

While the bells of the ancient Verdun Cathedral were ringing the news of

peace the fortress city was illuminated and a military procession headed

by the drum corps of the Twenty-sixth American division swung along the

crowded streets accompanied by a French detachment of buglers

representing the famed defenders of Verdun.

Only a half hour before the Germans had thrown large shells within the

city walls, apparently as a reminder that Verdun was still within the

range of their guns to the hills to the northeast.

Monday afternoon and night virtually was the first time that Verdun had

not been shelled in many hours almost since the war began.

CHAPTER LIII

THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER

The end of the war came with almost the dramatic suddenness of its

beginning. Bulgaria, hemmed in by armies through which no relief could

penetrate, asked for terms. The reply came in two words, "Unconditional

Surrender."

Turkey, witnessing the rout of her army in Palestine by the great

strategist, General Allenby, and a British army, asked for an armistice.

The Porte signed without hesitation an agreement comprising twenty-five

severe requirements.

The surrender of Bulgaria and Turkey forced Austria's hand. The terms

under which it was permitted to capitulate were even harder than those

granted to Turkey. They comprised eighteen requirements divided into

military and naval clauses.

Germany, proud, imperial Germany, met the greatest humiliation of all

the Teutonic allies when the Kaiser and the German High Command were

brought to their knees. Thirty-five clauses, the most severe and drastic

ever demanded from a great power, were included in the armistice

agreement. Only the imminent menace of an invasion of Germany would have

sufficed to compel the German representatives to sign such a document.

Following are the drafts of the Turkish, Austrian and German armistice

agreements.

THE TURKISH AGREEMENT

1. The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and access to the

Black Sea. Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and Bosporus forts.

2. The positions of all mine fields, torpedo tubes and other

obstructions in Turkish waters are to be indicated, and assistance given

to sweep or remove them, as may be required.

3. All available information concerning mines in the Black Sea is to be

communicated.

4. All Allied prisoners of war and Armenian interned persons and

prisoners are to be collected in Constantinople and handed over

unconditionally to the Allies.

5. Immediate demobilization of the Turkish army, except such troops as

are required for surveillance on the frontiers and for the maintenance

of internal order. The number of effectives and their disposition to be

determined later by the Allies.

6. The surrender of all war vessels in Turkish waters or waters occupied

by Turkey. These ships will be interned in such Turkish port or ports as

may be directed, except such small vessels as are required for police

and similar purposes in Turkish territorial waters.

7. The Allies to have the right to occupy any strategic points in the

event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the

Allies.

8. Use by Allied ships of all ports and anchorages now in Turkish

occupation and denial of their use by the enemy. Similar conditions are

to apply to Turkish mercantile shipping in Turkish waters for the

purposes of trade and the demobilization of the army.

9. Allied occupation of the Taurus Tunnel system.

10. Immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from Northern Persia to

behind the pre-war frontier already has been ordered and will be

carried out.

11. A part of Transcaucasia already has been ordered to be evacuated by

Turkish troops. The remainder to be evacuated, if required by the

Allies, after they have studied the situation.

12. Wireless, telegraph and cable stations to be controlled by the

Allies. Turkish Government messages to be excepted.

13. Prohibition against the destruction of any naval, military or

commercial material.

14. Facilities are to be given for the purchase of coal, oil, fuel and

naval material from Turkish sources, after the requirements of the

country have been met. None of the above materials are to be exported.

15. The surrender of all Turkish offices in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica

to the nearest Italian garrison. Turkey agrees to stop supplies and

communication with these officers if they do not obey the order to

surrender.

16. The surrender of all garrisons in Hedjaz, Assir, Yemen, Syria and

Mesopotamia to the nearest Allied commander, and withdrawal of Turkish

troops from Cilicia, except those necessary to maintain order, as will

be determined under Clause 6.

17. The use of all ships and repair facilities at all Turkish ports and

arsenals.

18. The surrender of all ports occupied in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica,

including Mizurata, to the nearest Allied garrison.

During the year 1916 there was little movement in the Balkans. The