CHAPTER LIII

RUPTURE WITH GERMANY

The movement for peace was at its crest, and President Wilson was

apparently sanguine that his efforts in furthering it were on the eve

of bearing fruit, when Great Britain planned to extend her blockade of

the German coast in the North Sea. She enlarged the dangerous area

which hitherto only barred the entry of German naval forces south into

the Straits of Dover and the English Channel by cutting off the German

North Sea coast altogether, in order to prevent the egress and ingress

of German sea raiders by the northward route and to curtail the

chances of the kaiser's warships making successful forays on the

English coast. The significance of this action was not seen until it

became known that Great Britain had discovered that Germany, while

seemingly occupied with peace, was preparing a warning to neutrals of

her intention to establish a deep-sea blockade of the entire British

and French coasts. By extending the mined area round the German coast

Great Britain sought to counteract and anticipate the new German

project, the aim of which was to starve the British Isles by a bitter

and unrestrained submarine war on all ships. The British warning of

the extended dangerous area came on January 27, 1917. Germany

announced her new policy four days later, proclaiming that it was in

retaliation of Great Britain's latest attempt to tighten her strangle

hold on German food supplies. But there was overwhelming evidence--the

German Chancellor himself provided it--that the German plan had been

matured long in advance of Great Britain's course, and that the peace

overtures had really been made by Germany in order that their certain

rejection could be seized upon as a justification for the ruthless

sea warfare projected.

The Wilson Administration, round whose horizon mirages of peace still

appeared to linger, was not prepared for the blow when it came. The

President could scarcely credit the news brought by a note from

Germany on January 31, 1917, that she had withdrawn her pledges to the

United States not to sink ships without warning. But the situation had

to be faced that a crisis confronted the country in its relations with

the German Empire.

Germany found occasion in her note of renunciation to link its purport

with that of the President's address delivered to the Senate nine days

previously. (See Part VI, Chapter LVIII, "Peace Without Victory.") In

its exalted sentiments she gave a perfunctory and manifestly insincere

acquiescence by way of prefacing familiar reproaches to the Allies for

refusing to accept her peace overtures. In rejecting them, she said,

the Allies had disclosed their real aims, which were to "dismember and

dishonor Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Bulgaria."

Germany was poignantly grieved by the continuance of the war, not

solely because of fear of this supposititious dismemberment, but

because "British tyranny mercilessly increases the sufferings of the

world, indifferent to the laws of humanity, indifferent to the

protests of the neutrals whom they severely harm, indifferent even to

the silent longing for peace among England's own allies. Each day of

the terrible struggle causes new destruction, new sufferings. Each day

shortening the war will, on both sides, preserve the lives of

thousands of brave soldiers and be a benefit to mankind."

Anything to end the war, was Germany's slogan. Because of the

sufferings of the German people "a new situation" had been created

which forced her to "new decisions." Because of the sufferings of

other nations, and the Entente Powers' refusal to make peace at her

bidding, she thus announced her resolve: "... The Imperial Government,

in order to serve the welfare of mankind in a higher sense and not to

wrong its own people, is now compelled to continue the fight for

existence, again forced upon it, _with the full employment of all the

weapons which are at its disposal_."

The Imperial Government furthermore hoped that the United States

would "view the new situation from the lofty heights of impartiality,

and assist on their part to prevent further misery and unavoidable

sacrifice of human life."

[Illustration: New German Submarine War Zone of February 1, 1917.]

The "new situation" as presented to the United States was that within

a barred zone Germany had drawn round the British and French coasts,

extending from the Shetlands as far south as Cape Finisterre, and to

the west some 700 miles into the Atlantic, and also in the

Mediterranean, all sea traffic would be stopped on and after February

1, 1917, and that neutral vessels navigating the proscribed waters

would do so at their own risk. The only exception made was a "safety

lane" permitted for one American vessel a week with identifiable

markings to sail to and from Falmouth through the Atlantic zone (the

United States Government to guarantee that it did not carry

contraband) and another safety lane admitting sea traffic through the

Mediterranean to Athens. All other vessels would be sunk without

regard to the pledges Germany made to the United States. Germany thus

practically shut off American traffic with Europe in pursuance of her

new sea warfare against her enemies.

The edict was extended to hospital ships on the charge that the Allies

used them for the transportation of munitions and troops. The charge

was denied by the British and French Governments; but frightfulness

admitted of no truth nor acceptance of denials of German charges,

obviously made deliberately to justify barbarities, and so hospital

ships, with their medical and nursing staffs and wounded, were to be

sunk whenever found by submarines.

The real attitude of Germany toward her withdrawn pledges to the

United States was betrayed by the German Chancellor in addressing the

Reichstag Committee on Ways and Means. He revealed that the pledges

were merely a temporary expedient, made to fill up a gap until more

submarines were available. It appeared that in March, May (when

Germany surrendered to the American demands), and in September, 1916,

the question of unrestricted warfare was not considered ripe for

decision--that is, Germany was not ready to defy the United States.

Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg thus defined the situation:

"I have always proceeded from the standpoint of whether U-boat war

would bring us nearer victorious peace or not. Every means, I said in

March, that was calculated to shorten the war constitutes the most

humane policy to follow. When the most ruthless methods are considered

best calculated to lead us to victory, and swift victory, I said then

they must be employed. This moment has now arrived.... The moment has

come when, with the greatest prospect of success, we can undertake the

enterprise."

What changes, he asked, had come into the situation? A firm basis for

success had been established by a considerable increase in submarines;

poor harvests confronted England, France, and Italy, who would find

their difficulties unbearable by an unrestricted submarine war; France

and Italy also lacked coal, and the submarines would increase its

dearth; England lacked ore and timber, her supplies of which would be

diminished by the same means; and all the Entente Powers were

suffering from a shrinkage in cargo space due to the submarines. With

the bright prospect of success afforded by the supposed plight of the

Allied Powers, Germany, he indicated, was prepared to accept all the

consequences that would flow from the unrestricted submarine warfare

decided upon.

So was President Wilson. The German Chancellor made it clear that

after Germany gave her solemn pledge on May 4, 1916, not to sink ships

without warning, she had occupied the intervening months in feverish

preparations to break it and to tear up the pledge like a scrap of

paper and throw it to the winds. On the Chancellor's own words Germany

had been convicted of a breach of faith.

The President considered the crisis for three days. There was no

question of the United States tolerating Germany's disavowal of her

unlawful blockade of American trade with the belligerent countries.

The only questions to be decided were whether to warn Germany that a

rupture would follow her first act hurtful to American life or

property; to demand the withdrawal of her decree by an ultimatum; to

wait until she committed some "overt act" before taking action; or

whether to cease diplomatic relations without any parley at all.

The last-named course was determined upon. On February 3, 1917,

President Wilson addressed the two Houses of Congress in joint

session, informing them that the United States had severed its

relations with Germany. The President reviewed the circumstances which

led to the giving of the German undertaking to the United States

following the sinking of the _Sussex_ on March 24, 1916, without

warning. He reminded Congress that on the April 18 following the

Administration informed the German Government that unless it "should

now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present

methods of submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying

vessels, the Government of the United States can have no choice but to

sever diplomatic relations with the German Empire altogether." The

German Government consented to do so with reservations. These the

United States brushed aside, and committed Germany to the plain pledge

that no ships should be sunk without warning unless they attempted to

escape or offered resistance. In view of Germany's new declaration

deliberately withdrawing her solemn assurance without prior

intimation, the President told Congress that the Government had no

alternative consistent with the dignity and honor of the United States

but to hand Count von Bernstorff, the German Ambassador, his

passports, and to recall Ambassador Gerard from Berlin. But the

President refused to believe that the German authorities intended to

carry out the decree.

"I cannot bring myself to believe," he said, "that they will indeed

pay no regard to the ancient friendship between their people and our

own or to the solemn obligations which have been exchanged between

them and destroy American ships and take the lives of American

citizens in the willful prosecution of the ruthless naval program they

have announced their intention to adopt. Only actual overt acts on

their part can make me believe it even now."

But in the event of such overt acts the duty of the United States was

clear:

"If this inveterate confidence on my part in the sobriety and prudent

foresight of their purpose should unhappily prove unfounded, if

American ships and American lives should in fact be sacrificed by

their naval commanders in a heedless contravention of the just and

reasonable understanding of international law and the obvious dictates

of humanity, I shall take the liberty of coming again before the

Congress to ask that authority be given me to use any means that may

be necessary for the protection of our seamen and our people in the

prosecution of their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas.

I can do nothing less. I take it for granted that all neutral

governments will take the same course."

Should Germany compel the United States to declare war, the President

repudiated that any aggressive attitude would dictate such a course:

"We do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial German

Government. We are the sincere friends of the German people, and

earnestly desire to remain at peace with the Government which speaks

for them. We shall not believe that they are hostile to us unless and

until we are obliged to believe it, and we purpose nothing more than

the reasonable defense of the undoubted rights of our people. We wish

to serve no selfish ends. We seek merely to stand true alike in

thought and in action to the immemorial principles of our people which

I have sought to express in my address to the Senate only two weeks

ago--seek merely to vindicate our right to liberty and justice and an

unmolested life. These are the bases of peace, not war. God grant that

we may not be challenged to defend them by acts of willful injustice

on the part of the Government of Germany!"

War was apparently inevitable. Submarine warfare on Atlantic shipping

made certain some "overt act" offensive to the United States. The

German attitude was that the new decree would be remorselessly acted

upon; it could not and would not be modified; it was absolute and

final; and the only security for American shipping was to avoid the

prohibited zone by abandoning its trade with Europe.

Germany frankly discounted the effect of the entrance of the United

States, as a belligerent opposed to her. Measuring her estimated gains

from the pursuit of an unbridled sea war, she decided that they would

more than outweigh the disadvantage of American hostility.

CHAPTER LIV

NOTHING SETTLED

With the Allied Powers the American Government's relations continued

to be friendly under certain diplomatic difficulties, due to a group

of unadjusted issues relating to the blockade of German ports, mail

seizures, and the blacklist. Popularly, overwhelming pro-Ally

sympathies and an enormous trade due directly to the war more than

offset commercial irritation arising from Allied infractions of

American rights; but while they continued they intruded as obstacles

to the preservation of official amity. If the Administration was

content to enter its protests and then let matters rest, its inaction

merely meant that the Allies' sins were magnanimously tolerated, not

condoned. The Allies, on the other hand, maintained that they were not

sinning at all, that they were only doing what the United States

itself had done when engaged in war and would do again if it ever

became a belligerent. Diplomacy failed to reconcile the differences,

and so nothing was settled.

Great Britain, as the chief offender in trampling roughshod over

American privileges of trade in war time, added to her manifold

transgressions, in August, 1916, by placing further curbs on neutral

trade with the Netherland Overseas Trust. Under a scheme to ration the

neutral countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland--that is,

restricting their imports to their estimated domestic needs--further

licenses granted to British exporters to trade with these countries

were discontinued. Here was a check on British exports for fear of the

surplus reaching Germany through neutral channels. A check on

American exports followed by Great Britain forbidding the Overseas

Trust to accept further consignments of certain commodities from the

United States for Holland, and by her refusal to grant letters of

assurance safeguarding the delivery of American shipments destined for

the three other countries. By these devices Great Britain controlled

supplies to these countries at the source. The effect was that certain

American consignments predestined for Holland were stopped altogether,

while the shipping companies trading between the United States and

Scandinavia could not take cargoes without British assurances of safe

discharge at their ports of destination. The British official view was

that excessive exports from Great Britain to these countries could not

very well be forbidden while permitting them from the United States

and other neutral sources. The veto had to be general to be effective.

One measure passed by Congress, providing for the creation of a

Shipping Board, empowered the Secretary of the Treasury to forbid

clearance to any vessel whose owner or agents refused to accept

consignments offered for transport abroad by an American citizen for

reasons other than lack of space or inadaptability of the vessel to

carry the cargo offered. Another measure, the Omnibus Revenue Law,

made similar provisions in a more drastic form, aiming specifically at

retaliation for the Allies' blacklist of German-American firms, and

the various blockades and embargoes in operation against American

products. It provided that the owners or agents of vessels affiliated

with a belligerent engaged in a war to which the United States was not

a party must neither discriminate in favor of nor against any citizen,

product, or locality of the United States in accepting or refusing

consignments on pain of clearance being refused.

The same penalty attached to vessels of any belligerent which denied

to American ships and citizens the same privileges of commerce which

the offending belligerent accorded to its own vessels or to those of

any other nationality. An alternative penalty, to be exercised by the

President in his discretion, denied to such offending belligerents'

ships and citizens the privileges of commerce with the United States

until reciprocal liberty of trade was restored. A third provision

aimed at penalizing a belligerent who prohibited the importation at

its ports of any American product, not injurious to health or morals,

by barring importation into the United States from the offending

country similar or other articles.

The prevailing view was that the exercise of such reprisals by the

President would virtually mean nonintercourse in trade and involve

serious international complications. An isolated English impression,

only of moment because it placed the aspects of the legislation in a

nutshell, recognized that while it might be merely a "flourish" having

a special virtue on the eve of a presidential election, the reprisals

were aimed at the Allies, primarily against Great Britain, and were

popular in the United States as a commercial club that could be

wielded instead of having recourse to the threats that brought Germany

to respect American demands. But the British official attitude as

taken by Lord Robert Cecil was unmoved. "It is not likely," he said,

"that Great Britain will change her blacklist policy at the request of

the United States. The idea that Great Britain is adopting a

deliberate policy with which to injure American trade is the purest

moonshine, since outside of our own dominions our trade with the

United States is the most important. Of course, natural trade rivalry

exists, but no responsible statesman in this country would dream of

proposing an insane measure designed to injure American commerce."

The blacklist was the last straw which provoked the retaliatory

legislation. But, alone of the seemingly unadjustable disputes pending

between the United States and Great Britain, it was on the blacklist

issue that the latter had an unanswerable defense. The British stand

left official Washington's complaint bereft of foundation under

international law. The only ground on which the American protest could

be justified was by contending that the blacklist violated

international comity. In other words, if it was not illegal--there was

no doubt of its legality--it was an incivility.

There had been the usual diplomatic exchange between the two

governments on the subject prefacing a lengthy communication sent by

Lord Grey--the new title of the British Foreign Secretary upon his

promotion to the peerage--on October 10, 1916. Therein he repeated

that the blacklist was promulgated in pursuance of the Trading with

the Enemy Act (a war measure explained in a previous volume), and was

a piece of purely municipal legislation. Moreover, the American

Government was assured, "the Government of Great Britain neither

purport nor claim to impose any disabilities or penalties upon neutral

individuals or upon neutral commerce. The measure is simply one which

enjoins those who owe allegiance to Great Britain to cease having

trade relations with persons who are found to be assisting or

rendering service to the enemy."

Nor were the steps taken confined to the United States:

"With the full consent of the Allied Governments, firms even in Allied

countries are being placed on the statutory list, if they are firms

with whom it is necessary to prevent British subjects from trading.

These considerations may, perhaps, serve to convince the Government of

the United States that the measures now being taken are not directed

against neutral trade in general. Still less are they directed against

American trade in particular; they are part of the general belligerent

operations designed to weaken the enemy's resources."

The burden of the note was that Great Britain maintained the right,

which in the existing crisis she also deemed a duty, to withhold

British facilities from those who conducted their trade for the

benefit of her foes. This right Lord Grey characterized as so obvious

that he could not believe the United States Government seriously

contested the inherent privilege of a sovereign state to exercise it

except under a misconception of the scope and intent of the measures

taken. It would appear that the American Government gracefully

surrendered, by default, its earlier contention that Great Britain had

no right to forbid her subjects from trading with American firms

having Teutonic affiliations.

The American objections to detentions and censorship of mails by the

Allied Powers, which were bent on preventing German sympathizers from

using the postal service to neutral countries as a channel for

transmitting money, correspondence, and goods for the Central Powers,

brought a further communication from Lord Grey on October 12, 1916. It

threw no new light on the subject, the bearings of which were dealt

with in a previous volume. The American contentions, so far from being

conceded, were themselves attacked in an argument intended to refute

them. The Allied governments were only prepared to give assurances

that they would continue to lessen the annoyances caused by the

practice and were "ready to settle responsibility therefor in

accordance with the principles of law and justice, which it never was

and is not now their intention to evade."

Lord Grey thus defined the Allied position:

"The practice of the Germans to make improper use of neutral mails and

forward hostile correspondence, even official communications, dealing

with hostilities, under cover of apparently unoffensive envelopes,

mailed by neutrals to neutrals, made it necessary to examine mails

from or to countries neighboring Germany under the same conditions as

mails from or to Germany itself; but as a matter of course mails from

neutrals to neutrals that do not cover such improper uses have nothing

to fear."

Germany's treatment of mails, Lord Grey pointed out, went much further

than mere interception:

"As regards the proceedings of the German Empire toward postal

correspondence during the present war, the Allied governments have

informed the Government of the United States of the names of some of

the mail steamers whose mail bags have been not examined, to be sure,

but purely and simply destroyed at sea by the German naval

authorities. Other names could very easily be added. The very recent

case of the mail steamer _Hudikswall_ (Swedish), carrying 670 mail

bags, may be cited."

The discussion was as profitless as that arising from the blacklist.

As to the blockade issue, involving interference with American

commerce on the high seas, both sides appeared to epistolarily bolt,

and the question remained in suspended animation. The blacklist and

mail disputes acquired a similar status.

PART VII--WESTERN FRONT

CHAPTER LV

THE GERMAN RETREAT ON THE ANCRE

In January, 1917, the British forces in France captured 1,228 Germans,

of whom twenty-seven were officers. The first month of the new year

passed unmarked by any striking gains for either side. The Allies had

maintained and strengthened their old positions, made slight advances

at some points, and continued to harass and destroy the enemy in

trench raids, artillery duels, and in battles in the air.

Some record of the principal minor operations in France and Belgium at

this time is necessary, as every offensive movement had a set purpose

and was a part of the Germans' or Allies' plans.

On February 1, 1917, in the neighborhood of Wytschaete, parties of

Germans dressed in white attempted two surprise assaults on British

trenches, but were rolled back with severe losses before they could

get within striking distance. In these encounters the British took

prisoners without losing a man or incurring the slightest casualty.

On the same date the French were engaged in lively artillery actions

at Hartmannsweilerkopf and east of Metzeral. Around Altkirch and to

the east of Rheims they were successful in spirited encounters with

enemy patrols. In Lorraine during the night the Germans attacked

trenches south of Leintrey, but were shattered by French fire. In the

sector of St. Georges in Belgium a surprise attack also failed.

On the British front in the course of the same night a dashing raid

was carried out against German trenches northeast of Guedecourt (Somme

sector) in which two officers and fifty-six men were taken prisoners.

The British carried out another successful operation on February 3,

1917, north of the Ancre, pushing forward their line east of Beaucourt

some 500 yards on a front of about three-quarters of a mile. Over a

hundred prisoners and three machine guns were captured. On the same

night southeast of Souchez German trenches were penetrated and

twenty-one prisoners and some guns were taken. Several dugouts

containing Germans were bombed and an enemy shaft was destroyed.

While the British continued to make slight gains and to harass the

enemy, the French were engaged in minor operations no less successful.

A surprise attack in the region of Moulin-sous-Toutvent resulted in

the capture of a dozen prisoners. A similar operation in the region of

Tracy-le-Val between the Oise and the Aisne was also a victory for

French arms. The Germans fought with determination, but were unable to

make any headway against the indomitable French spirit. The number of

casualties incurred by the Germans was not known, but the French took

twenty-two prisoners.

During February 4, 1917, the Germans displayed intense activity, as if

determined to retrieve their frequent failures since the month opened.

Three hostile raids were attempted by strong German forces during the

night and early morning of February 4-5, 1917, on the British lines on

the Somme front. The Germans in each attack were thrown back in

disorder, leaving a number of prisoners in British hands.

Northeast of Guedecourt during the night of the 4th the British

occupied 500 yards of a German trench, capturing a machine gun and

seventy prisoners, including two officers.

In the space of twenty-four hours (February 4-5, 1917) the Germans

made four successful counterattacks against the new British front east

of Beaucourt. The British continued the work of consolidating their

new positions undisturbed by the frantic efforts of the Germans to

oust them, and in raids and counterattacks captured forty prisoners,

including one officer.

British airmen registered a number of victories during February 4,

1917. Three German machines were destroyed and six others driven to

earth seriously damaged. Only one British machine was counted missing.

During the evening on this date the French south of the Somme defeated

a German raid near Barleux, inflicting heavy casualties and taking

some prisoners. Incursions into German lines in Alsace and the

Chambrette and Pont-a-Mousson sectors were carried out with

satisfactory results. They captured a considerable amount of war

material and brought back one officer and a number of prisoners.

The British on the Somme front were now determined to push on to the

capture of Grandcourt. On February 6, 1917, they occupied 1,000 yards

of German trench in the neighborhood of that place. Artillery activity

on both sides of the Somme front and in the Ypres sector continued

during the day and night. The British brought down ten German machines

in aerial battles and lost two of their own flyers.

On February 5-6, 1917, the French continued to raid German lines with

good results. In Alsace near Anspach they penetrated three German

positions, wrecking enemy works and bombing shelters and returned to

their own lines without losing a man.

The continuous pressure which the British brought to bear on both

sides of the Ancre River forced the Germans to evacuate Grandcourt on

February 6, 1917. The capture of the village was regarded as

important, marking a notable advance for the British on the forts of

Miraumont and Grandcourt, which covered Bapaume from the west.

In Lorraine on this date the Germans succeeded in piercing a salient

in the French lines, but were driven out by a spirited counterattack.

Three German planes were brought down during the night, Lieutenant

Huerteaux scoring his twentieth victory.

[Illustration: The Entire Western Front, August 1, 1917.]

The British followed up their success in capturing Grandcourt by

advances on both sides of the Ancre. On the morning of February 8,

1917, they drove the Germans out of a position of importance on the

highest point of Sailly-Saillisel hill, gaining all their objectives

and capturing seventy-eight prisoners, of whom two were officers. In

the operations along the Ancre a German officer and eighty-two men

were made prisoner.

South of Dixmude a strong German raiding party attempted to attack a

Belgian outpost. They were received by such a hurricane of infantry

and machine-gun fire that the field was strewn with dead, and few of

the raiders succeeded in making their escape.

During February 9-10, 1917, the French and British continued to

register minor successes in daring raids, bombarding enemy positions

and capturing in one way or another several hundred prisoners.

An advance worthy of special note was made by British troops in the

night of February 10, 1917, when they captured a strong system of

German trenches on a front of more than three-quarters of a mile in

the Somme line. This was on the southern front just north of Serre

Hill. The German prisoners taken during this operation numbered 215,

including some officers.

On the same date French raiders penetrated German trenches in the

Forest of Apremont, destroying defenses and capturing prisoners. In

the neighborhood of Verdun a German plane was shot down, and in other

sectors French aviators during fiercely fought combats in the air

brought down in flames two other machines.

North of the Ancre the British continued to make progress, occupying

without difficulty a German trench some 600 yards long and taking a

good number of prisoners. The Germans tried to force the British out

of their recently won positions south of Serre Hill, but, caught in

artillery barrage and machine-gun fire, were driven off with serious

losses. On this date also the French carried out successful raids

during the night on the Verdun front in the neighborhood of the

famous Hill 304, and another in the Argonne which resulted in the

destruction of enemy works and the capture of a number of prisoners.

The small gains made by the French and British during the first weeks

of February, 1917, were not especially important in themselves, but

each slight advance brought the Allies nearer to important German

positions. The daily trench raids served to harass and bewilder the

common enemy, and while the number of prisoners taken were few in each

instance, in the aggregate the number was impressive. The British and

French were not disposed to squander lives recklessly in these minor

exploits, and it was only when they were within striking distance of

an important objective that they operated with strong forces and the

most powerful guns at their command.

The Canadians, who always displayed a special liking for trench raids,

and were uncommonly successful in such operations, engaged in one on

the morning of February 13, 1917, which merits description in some

detail. The attack was made on a 600-yard front between Souchez and

Givenchy. The Germans under the shell storm that shattered their

trenches had retreated to the depths of their dugouts, and while it

lasted few ventured forth to oppose the raiders. The British

bombardment had been so effective that the German machine-gun

emplacements must have been destroyed or were buried under debris, for

only a few guns spoke out as the Canadians "went over." The Germans in

the dugouts could not be coaxed out. Explosives thrown into their

hiding places must have produced appalling consequences. The sturdy

Canadians did not relish this kind of work, but there was no

alternative. For an hour they searched the mine shafts and galleries

around Givenchy and destroyed them. Some Germans in the depths were

killed before they could explode certain mines they had prepared under

British positions. About fifty prisoners of the Eleventh Bavarian

Regiment were captured who had fought in Russia, at Verdun, and on the

Somme.

Five hours later the same Canadian troops, unwearied by this strenuous

experience, were carrying out another raid farther south, where they

obtained good results.

On this date, February 14, 1917, the steady pressure maintained by

the British forced the Germans to abandon advanced positions between

Serre and the Somme and to fall back on their main fighting position.

[Illustration: One of the strange armoured automobiles or "tanks" with

which the British surprised the Germans in September, 1916. Their

caterpillar trucks and peculiar form make it possible for them to

advance easily over obstructions and trenches.]

On the following day, February 15, 1917, the troops of the German

Crown Prince achieved a success of some importance. After intense

artillery fire they stormed four French lines south of Ripont in the

Champagne, on a front of about a mile and a half, gaining ground to a

depth of half a mile. They captured twenty-one officers and 837 men of

other ranks, and a considerable quantity of war material. On the same

date the British carried out a successful raid southeast of Souchez,

penetrating enemy positions and taking prisoners. In air combats in

different sectors British airmen disposed of nine German machines and

lost four of their own.

The British made important gains on both banks of the Ancre when in

the morning of February 17, 1917, they attacked German positions

opposite the villages of Miraumont and Petit Miraumont on a front of

about two miles. North of the river a commanding German position on

high ground north of Baillescourt Farm was carried on a front of about

1,000 yards. In these operations along the Ancre the British captured

761 prisoners, including twelve officers.

During the preliminary bombardment of the German positions a British

artillery sergeant slipped out of the trenches with a telephone, and,

establishing himself in a shell hole in a forward position, directed

the gunfire which shattered the German barbed-wire defenses.

The Germans made a courageous attempt to oust the British from their

newly won positions on the spur above Baillescourt Farm in the morning

of February 18, 1917. Their infantry, advancing in three waves with

bodies of supporting troops in the rear, were swept by the

concentrated fire of the British artillery. The storm of fire

shattered the attack and the German forces were rolled back in

confusion. At no point were they able to reach the British lines.

During the night the British carried out four successful raids on

German positions southwest and northwest of Arras, south of

Fauquissart and north of Ypres, during which nineteen prisoners were

taken and great damage was wrought to hostile defenses.

The British continued their successful minor operations during the

succeeding days. On February 20, 1917, New Zealand troops penetrated

German lines south of Armentieres to a depth of 300 yards, where they

wrecked dugouts and trench works. The intense preliminary bombardment

which preceded the raid had proved so destructive that the New

Zealanders found the German support lines filled with dead. The raid

resulted in the capture of forty-four prisoners. In an attack

southeast of Ypres the British, advancing on a front of 500 yards,

reached the German support line after desperate fighting. They

destroyed dugouts and mine shafts and took 114 prisoners, including an

officer and a number of machine guns.

The steady pressure of the British on the German positions along the

Ancre since the beginning of the month brought results that surpassed

Field Marshal Haig's most sanguine expectations. The Germans were

forced to abandon their front on the Ancre, escaping to a new line of

defenses along the Bapaume ridge. Their retreat covered about three

miles and the British were able to occupy a number of German

strongholds which they expected to win by hard fighting. Serre, the

two Miraumonts, and Pys were occupied without a struggle. The Germans

succeeded in saving their guns during the retirement, but were forced

to destroy ammunition dumps and military stores. In the night of

February 24, 1917, British troops, advancing south of Irles and toward

Warlencourt, occupied the famous butte which had been the scene of

intense fighting in the previous month.

The foggy, misty weather which prevailed at the time in this region

had greatly facilitated the German retreat, as the keen eyes of the

British airmen were unable to study their movements. It was surmised

that some important operation was under way owing to the reckless

expenditure of shells which had been going on for some days. The

Germans were shooting up stores of ammunition which they found

impossible to take with them in their retreat.

During February 25-26, 1917, the British continued to harass the

retiring Germans, pressing forward over the newly yielded ground and

forcing back the rear guards of the enemy. In these actions the

Germans depended chiefly on their heavy guns mounted on railway

trucks, which in case of necessity could be rushed away at the last

moment.

Early in the morning of February 26, 1917, heavy explosions were heard

in the direction of Bapaume, where the Germans were engaged in

destructive work to prevent the British entry. Along their lines of

retreat large trees had been felled across the roads, forming lofty

barriers, on the other side of which great mine craters had been

opened up.

Despite desperate rear-guard actions, and the strenuous efforts made

by the Germans to hinder the advance, the British continued to press

forward. The village of Ligny about a mile and a half west of Bapaume

was occupied, as well as the village of Le Barque. North of the Ancre

the western and northern defenses of Puisieux were wrested from the

Germans.

On February 27, 1917, the British pushed forward all along the

eleven-mile line stretching from south of Gommecourt to west of Le

Transloy. The British objective at this time was a crest overlooking

the high ground running between Achiet-le-Petit and Bapaume. At every

stage of the British advance fresh evidences were found of the German

destructive methods before retiring. The carefully built dugouts which

they had so long occupied had been reduced by explosives to heaps of

rubbish.

The Germans had left certain bodies of men behind with machine guns to

hinder the British pursuit. As they had carefully chosen their

positions they were enabled to work considerable damage. The British

had encounters with some of these outposts on the 27th in the

neighborhood of Box and Rossignol Woods. The Germans, having found

that their machine-gun fire did not restrain the advance, tried a

shrapnel barrage which proved more effective, but only delayed the

pursuers for a short time.

The British troops were so elated over the fact that the Germans were

retreating that they made light of the ingenious obstacles thrown in

their way. The great advance continued, the British occupying

Rossignol Wood, Rossignol Trench, and considerable ground to the

northeast of Puisieux. The latter place was partly occupied by Germans

who fought as if determined that the British should pay a high cost

for possession of the village. The British had worked their way into a

corner of the line, and other parties were engaged in driving out the

defenders, who fought from house to house.

Southeast of the village the British line was being pushed out above

Miraumont and Beauregard Dovecote. The Germans in the Gommecourt

salient shelled Miraumont and bombarded the neighborhood with high

explosives in reckless fashion as if eager to consume their supplies.

During the night of February 27, 1917, the German troops abandoned

Gommecourt and the British took possession. Here on July 1, 1916, the

Londoners had fought with desperate valor in assaulting an almost

impregnable position, and in the storm of massed gunfire were

threatened with annihilation.

To the northeast of Gommecourt the British advanced their line more

than half a mile, and also captured the villages of Thilloy and

Puisieux-le-Mont. A successful raid carried out in the night by the

British in the neighborhood of Clery resulted in the capture of

twenty-two prisoners.

There was sharp fighting among the ruins of Puisieux, where the

Germans had to be hunted from their hiding places. After this

clearing-out process the British line now ran well beyond Gommecourt

on the left and down to Irles on the right. The Germans concentrated

heavy shell fire on Irles, and showered high explosives on Miraumont

and upon other places on the front from which they had withdrawn. The

British were now less than a mile from Bapaume, in the rear of which

the German guns on railway mountings were firing incessantly on

British positions.

On March 1, 1917, British headquarters in France, summarizing the

operations during February, stated that the British had captured 2,133

German prisoners and occupied either by capture or the withdrawal of

the Germans eleven villages. Some of the positions captured were of

the highest importance, to which the Germans had clung as long as they

could with desperate energy, and from which the British had tried

vainly to conquer. The Germans had retired on the Ancre on a front of

twelve miles to a depth of two miles.

The first stage of the German retirement plan was completed on March

2, 1917, when they made a definite stand, their line now running from

Essarts through Achiet-le-Petit to about 1,000 yards southeast of

Bapaume. The Loupart Wood occupying high ground along this line had

been transformed into a strong field fortress after German methods,

and here it was evident every preparation was made for a stiff

defense.

The British had an enormous task before them in building roads through

the recovered ground. The Germans had carefully timed their retirement

when the ground was hard, but now owing to a week's thaw most of the

Somme and Ancre area was transformed into liquid mud. In addition to

the difficulties presented by the terrain, the British patrols in the

evacuated territory constantly encountered isolated bodies of German

defensive troops who, obedient to their instructions, fought bravely

to hold the positions they had been assigned to. Everything that

cunning could devise was resorted to to delay the British advance. An

Australian patrol discovered in one place a chain stretched across a

ravine which was connected with a mine at either end.

CHAPTER LVI

THE GERMAN RETREAT CONTINUES--FRENCH RECOVER 120 TOWNS

The British troops continued to advance in the Ancre area in spite of

the difficult terrain and the desperate defense of the Germans who had

been left behind in the retirement and who occupied positions where

they might work the greatest damage to the pursuers. East of

Gommecourt on March 3, 1917, the British gained two-thirds of a mile

along a two-mile front. They were also successful east of

Bouchavesnes, where they captured the enemy's front and support lines

on a front of two-thirds of a mile. In these operations they captured

190 prisoners and five machine guns.

On March 4, 1917, the Germans made a violent attack on the Verdun

front which was repulsed by the French. North of Caurieres Wood the

Germans gained a footing in French advanced positions. They were

driven out on the following day in a spirited counterattack, leaving

many of their comrades dead on the field.

Thaws, fogs, and snows continued to hamper military operations in all

sectors of the fighting area. On March 8, 1917, the French won a

decided victory over the Germans in Champagne. Notwithstanding the

snow, which rendered any military movement difficult, French troops

operating between Butte du Mesnil and Maisons de Champagne carried

German positions on a front of 1,680 yards to a depth varying from 650

to 865 yards. As the French crossed no-man's-land, preceded by a

complete curtain of fire which raised and dropped mechanically, the

German artillery was everywhere active, but their massed fire could

not check the attackers' steady advance. As the French reached the

first lines of German trenches the occupants offered little

resistance, but came running out with uplifted hands in token of

surrender. At some points, however, the Germans had converted their

positions into regular fortresses, and here there was desperate

fighting with grenade and rifle. The French cleared out these

strongholds and made their way slowly up the slopes toward the

objective. During the fight French aeroplanes circled overhead

watching the movements of the Germans behind the points attacked. Not

a German machine was visible, but some were hidden among the snow

clouds, for the rattle of machine guns, heard at times, denoted their

presence above the battle field.

On the following day, March 9, 1917, the Germans launched three

violent attacks in this sector in an attempt to force the French out

of their newly won positions. The Germans did not lack bravery, and

pressed forward in the face of a strong barrage and machine-gun fire.

The French guns, however, wrought such destruction in their ranks that

they were finally forced to retire, their number shattered and

depleted. In the two days' fighting in this sector the French took 170

prisoners, of whom four were officers.

The British captured Irles in the morning of March 10, 1917. Previous

to the attack their howitzers had deluged the place with shells. The

infantry followed closely, one force advancing from the south and

another turning north, to head off any attempt of the Germans to

retreat. In a sunken ravine the British found a small garrison of old

men with machine guns. Here thirty prisoners were taken and the rest

killed. The British swept on over the German trenches, meeting with

very little opposition. About 150 Germans were taken in this main

attack and quite as many more were gathered in by troops working west

and north. The prisoners were all Prussians, belonging chiefly to the

Second Guards Reserve. The Germans succeeded in withdrawing without

very heavy losses, leaving their rear guard to bear the brunt of the

British attack. The evacuation of Irles, which had become untenable,

had been fixed by the Germans for the 10th at 7.30 a. m., but the

British caught them napping by striking two hours earlier, with the

result that they captured three officers and 289 men.

In the night of March 10, 1917, the French carried out successful

surprise attacks on the German trenches in the Lassigny and

Canny-sur-Matz regions, and in the neighborhood of the Woevre north of

Jury Wood, destroying defensive works in these operations and taking

fifteen prisoners and some machine guns.

In the afternoon of March 12, 1917, the French troops operating on the

Champagne front recaptured all the trenches on Hill 185. These lines

lay west of the Maisons de Champagne Farm which the Germans had won

in the previous month. The attack was made over a front of nearly a

mile. During the night of March 11, 1917, French troops had crawled

forward and by the use of grenades prepared the way for the general

assault on the German positions which were carried on the following

day. All the German trenches were taken on the hill and a fortified

work on the slopes north of Memelon. In the course of the action the

French captured about 100 prisoners and a considerable number of

machine guns.

On March 12, 1917, the British advance was resumed on a front of

nearly four miles to the west of Bapaume. The Germans, retreating,

left only a strong screen of rear guards to oppose, but they avoided

contact with British patrols as far as possible. It was evident that

the Germans were reserving their strength for some important

operation.

The British, pushing onward, advanced their line north of Ancre Valley

on a front of over one and a half miles southwest and west of Bapaume.

South of Achiet-le-Petit the British made important progress and

occupied 1,000 yards of German trenches west of Essarts. On March 13,

1917, Haig's troops had won the coveted ridge overlooking Bapaume from

the northwest. For the first time since the struggle began on this

front the British had the advantage of the highest ground. Bapaume,

which the Germans had been blasting and piling up with the wreckage of

stores and the trunks of fallen trees, was now within easy striking

distance and the next point to be captured in the British advance.

Grevillers was occupied by the British during the night, their line

now stretching along the ridge which runs northwest from that point to

the outskirts of Achiet-le-Petit, where the Germans were in

possession.

In the course of this latest advance Loupart Wood was occupied. It is

situated on the shoulder of a high ridge which overlooks the entire

Somme battle front. The British were highly elated over the capture of

the wood, where for eight months German batteries had rained shells

upon the British positions. It was regarded as one of the strongest

artillery posts which the Germans held on the western front.

The Germans had made desperate efforts to hold this strong position,

but thirty hours of incessant bombardment by British guns leveled

their defenses and crushed in the dugouts, and they withdrew, a

shattered remnant.

In the Champagne region the Germans continued their attacks during

March 13-14, 1917, on the French positions on Hill 185. The loss of

the hill a few days before, and of positions around Maisons de

Champagne were regarded as important by the Germans, for they

persisted in their attacks though every attempt made was repulsed with

appalling losses. They were unable to reach the French line at any

point, though concentrating strong artillery fire on the lost

positions and attacking with grenades throughout the night. The French

continued to hold their own despite these desperate onslaughts and

were even able to increase their gains in this sector.

In the region of St. Mihiel the French by a dashing operation captured

Romainville Farm with its garrison of thirty Germans. At four

different points French detachments penetrated German trenches between

the Meuse and Apremont Forest, pushing as far as the second line of

defenses and bringing back a number of prisoners.

On March 15, 1917, French forces south of the Somme in the

neighborhood of Roye after an intense shelling of the German lines

penetrated east of Canny-sur-Matz to a depth of about half a mile.

British troops between Peronne and Bapaume made important gains about

this date. Pushing forward on a front of two and a half miles they

occupied German trenches running from the south of St. Pierre Vaast

Wood to the north of the village of Saillisel, a stretch of about

3,000 yards.

On March 17, 1917, the Germans were forced to abandon the whole line

of about fifteen miles between the Oise and Andechy, owing to the

pressure of French forces. These lines were strongly fortified and had

been occupied by the Germans for about two years. The French continued

their advance movement on the following day. Their advance guard

entered Roye in pursuit of a German contingent that had blown up

streets in the interior of the town. About 800 of the civil population

which the Germans had not had time to remove received their

liberators with a wild enthusiasm that was pathetic to witness.

North and northeast of Lassigny the French made further gains,

occupying the town and a number of points beyond, and pushing forward

past the road between Roye and Noyon. During the night of March 17,

1917, French air squadrons bombarded German organizations in the

region of Arnaville, and the factories and blast furnaces at

Voelkingen, where a great fire was seen to break out. Stations and

roads in the region of Ham and St. Quentin were also bombarded with

good results, and all the French aeroplanes returned undamaged.

On March 18, 1917, the Germans were in retreat over a front of

approximately eighty-five miles from south of Arras on the north to

Soissons on the Aisne. They evacuated scores of villages, and the

important towns of Peronne, Chaulnes, Nesle, and Noyon. Evidently the

Germans had been forced to leave somewhat hurriedly, for many of the

places evacuated were only slightly damaged as the result of military

operations.

British and French troops, keeping in close touch with the German rear

guard during the advance, pushed forward to a depth of from ten to

twelve miles, and their cavalry entered Nesle about the same time. The

occupation of Noyon on the Oise was of special importance, as the

nearest point to Paris held by the Germans. The famous Noyon elbow or

salient, from which it was expected the Germans would launch an attack

on the French capital, now ceased to be a source of anxiety and

apprehension to the French fighting forces in this region.

Peronne, for which the French had fought desperately for nearly two

years, was entered by the British on March 18, 1917, after a brief

action with the German rear guard. East of the place the Germans had

fired a number of villages as they retreated. Athies, a town of some

importance, was reduced to a smoldering ruin and the smoke of its

burning buildings could be seen for miles. The Germans displayed their

"thoroughness" as they retired by poisoning the wells with arsenic,

and setting high-explosive traps into which they hoped the British

advance guards would blunder. Bridges over all the waterways were

burned and the crossroads carefully mined.

[Illustration: The German Retreat on the Western Front, March 18,

1917.]

The capture of Bapaume, that quaint Picardy town which the Germans had

transformed into an almost impregnable stronghold and fortress, was a

special cause for rejoicing by the British troops. It was a prize they

had longed for through many weary months. There was no waving of flags

or beating of drums when the British patrols entered the town, for

there was stiff fighting ahead, and the place was filled with

underground strongholds. Soon the welcome message came over the wire

that all the enemy rear guard had been accounted for, and the British

were free to survey their new acquisition. Fires were smoldering in

many parts and not a house was left intact. Shells had wrought a great

deal of the ruin, but it was evident that many of the buildings had

been dynamited. The statue of General Louis Faldeherbe, who defended

Bapaume against the Germans in 1870, was missing, and had evidently

been carried off by the kaiser's troops.

The defensive works around Bapaume were of the most elaborate

description, and the highest ingenuity had been employed in making the

place impregnable. In addition to a splendid trench system forming a

network around the place, there were acres of barbed wire stretched

upon iron posts firmly planted in the earth, and intricate systems of

wires spread over the ground to hamper an enemy attack. In addition to

strong redoubts at different points fitted up with every defensive

device, the cellars under the houses had been consolidated in many

places, forming great underground galleries that could shelter

thousands of German troops.

The British were not permitted to occupy Bapaume in peace, for while

the enemy could no longer be seen, he was heard from constantly and

destructively. All day long and during the night the town was shelled

and great damage was wrought in such sections which the enemy had

registered before leaving.

The German forces were still retiring, hastened on their way by the

British troops, who were pressing them closely. From captured Germans

it was learned that fresh divisions, including one that had fought in

Rumania, had been thrown in as a screen to shield the retiring troops.

The Germans had devised so many traps to catch the Allies and delay

the pursuit that the advance was necessarily slow. The French found

less opposition than the British, and were able to push forward more

rapidly, covering twenty-two miles in the three days since the

retirement began. Over 120 towns and villages were recovered by the

French alone. The joy of the inhabitants who had been for thirty-two

months in the hands of the Germans was a deeply moving spectacle.

Every French soldier was embraced amid smiles and tears. Many of the

women declared that they owed their own lives as well as the lives of

their children to American relief in the occupied territory.

The mayors, assistant mayors, and other officials of Candor and Lagny

had been carried off by the Germans, but owing to the rapidity of

retirement many women and children had been left behind. All over

thirteen were compelled to work without payment. Boys were driven to

dig ditches or small trenches for telephone wires under fire. Those

who refused for religious reasons to work on Sunday were fined. The

Germans had closed all schools during their occupation of the French

towns. The destruction of property was carried out in the most

thorough fashion and according to systematized plans. Captured orders

on the subject directed the blowing up of houses, wells, and cellars

except those held by rear-guard outposts. Farm implements were burned

and destroyed. Orders were given to collect filth in the neighborhood

of wells to contaminate the water. All the fruit trees with rare

exception in the evacuated territory were girdled or otherwise killed.

The use of cavalry by the French and British seemed to have taken the

Germans by surprise and interfered with their plans. In one village

they were forced to hurriedly depart without touching the supper which

was laid out on the table. In other places the Allies found newly

opened boxes of explosives with which the Germans had planned to

destroy the villages before leaving.

The famous castle and stone village of Coucy-le-Chateau on the road

from Paris to Namur, and one of the show places of the Laon region,

were reduced to ruins. The village and castle date back to the

thirteenth century and were regarded by art critics as architectural

gems of medieval France. The castle had been spared from destruction

during the French Revolution, and millions had been expended since on

its preservation. This splendid monument of feudal Europe is no more.

The German retreat was continued more slowly on March 19, 1917, when

all northern France was swept by fierce equinoctial gales, and rain

squalls were frequent in the battle area. Despite weather conditions,

which hampered military operations, the British troops made good

progress, and on the 20th held the line of the Somme in strength from

Peronne southward to Canizy. British patrols were active as far east

as Mons-en-Chaussee, and in several sectors between Bapaume and Arras

British cavalry were engaged in skirmishes with the enemy.

In the course of the following week the British forces restored eleven

villages to France, and the whole department of the Somme was now

cleared of invaders. The capture of Savy, which was held by a garrison

of 600 Prussians of the Twenty-ninth Siegfried Division, brought the

British within four miles of St. Quentin, and near to the Hindenburg

line, where the Germans were strongly concentrated. St. Quentin had in

part been destroyed and its picture galleries and museums looted of

their contents. The outer bastion of the Hindenburg or Siegfried line

was protected by barricades of tree trunks and swathed about with

barbed wire. The Siegfried division holding the new German line of

defense was busy during the last days of March, 1917, in building

concrete emplacements, trenches, and dugouts.

On April 1, 1917, the British troops were within three miles of St.

Quentin, while the French threatened the place from the south.

During the month of March, 1917, the British captured 1,239 Germans,

of whom sixteen were officers, and large quantities of war material,

including twenty-five trench mortars and three field guns. During the

first three months of the year they had taken prisoner a total of

seventy-nine officers and 4,600 of other ranks.

On April 2, 1917, General Haig's troops drove a wedge into the German

line on the ridge protecting St. Quentin on the west, capturing the

villages of Holnon, Francilly, and Selency. With the occupation of the

last village the British had a footing on the ridge overlooking St.

Quentin, which lies in a hollow. If they could maintain their hold on

this position the capture of St. Quentin was certain.

At the northern end of the British line of advance their success was

no less important. Attacking on a front of about ten miles they

captured an important series of German positions defending the

Arras-Cambrai highroad. Six villages were occupied by the British

after heavy fighting. A town of some importance, Croisilles, was also

captured during the course of these operations. This was considered a

valuable gain, as a section of the Hindenburg line lies behind it.

Longatte and Ecourt St. Mien, two villages below Croisilles also fell

to the British. The Germans defended themselves with reckless bravery

acting on Hindenburg's orders that the position must be saved at all

costs.

The French launched a concerted attack on the following day, April 3,

1917, over a front of eight miles on both sides of the Somme, storming

the heights south and southwest of St. Quentin and advancing within

two miles of the city, General Nivelle's forces were now in a position

to begin the final attack on the place.

Haig's troops on the British front west of St. Quentin had extended

their hold on Holnon Ridge and occupied Ronssoy Wood farther to the

north, while in the region of Arras they captured after stiff fighting

the village of Henin.

South of the Ailette River the French fought their way forward foot by

foot. On the 3rd they drove the Germans out of their positions around

Laffaux and brought increasing pressure to bear against the enemy's

line south of Laffaux Mill.

On this date the Germans threw more than 2,000 shells into the open

city of Rheims, killing several of the civilian population.

General Nivelle's troops continued to advance on April 4, 1917,

through violent snow squalls and over sodden ground, and the Germans

were pushed back along the whole front from the Somme to the Oise.

A dashing attack carried out near La Folie Farm, about a mile and a

half north of Urvillers, threw the Germans in such disorder that they

fled precipitately, abandoning three lines of strongly fortified

trenches, leaving behind the wounded and much war material, including

howitzers. The French had now gained the foot of a ridge 393 feet high

on the southern outskirts of St. Quentin. By the capture of La Folie

they cut the railroad connecting St. Quentin with the Oise, leaving

only one line on the north by which the Germans could escape from the

doomed city. On the west bank of the Somme French patrols had pressed

forward to the outskirts of St. Quentin. On the British front west of

the city the Germans made a violent attack, but were driven off with

heavy losses. Farther to the north the British succeeded in

straightening their line between the Bapaume and Peronne highway

converging on Cambrai.

The most important event during April 5, 1917, was a powerful attack

made against the French by picked German troops to the northwest of

Rheims along a mile and a half front. The purpose was to clear the

left bank of the Aisne Canal. They succeeded in gaining a foothold at

certain points in the French first-line trenches, but were thrust out

later by counterattacks.

The only other important event on this date was the strong

bombardment by the Germans of the new French positions south of St.

Quentin. The British and French troops, despite occasional checks

occasioned by the frantic efforts of the Germans to stay their

victorious progress, continued to steadily advance their lines, which

now extended in a semicircle two miles from St. Quentin.

CHAPTER LVII

THE BRITISH TROOPS CAPTURE VIMY RIDGE AND MONCHY--FRENCH VICTORIES ON

THE AISNE

The steady pressure maintained by the Allied troops on German

positions culminated on April 9, 1917, when the British launched a

terrific offensive on a twelve-mile front north and south of Arras.

German positions were penetrated to a depth of from two to three

miles, and many fortified points, including the famous Vimy Ridge,

were captured. The line of advance extended from Givenchy, southwest

of Lens, to the village of Henin, southwest of Arras. For a week

British guns had been bombarding this sector without cessation, and

during the night preceding the attack the fire had increased in

intensity to a degree that surpassed any previous bombardments. The

British literally blasted their way through the German front and

rearward positions. Vimy Ridge, dominating the coal fields of Lens,

where thousands of French had fallen in the previous year, was

captured by the Canadians. The terrific bombardment by British guns

during many days had not depressed the Germans' spirit and the advance

was hotly contested. The British, however, were in excellent fighting

trim, and forced their way onward in spite of the fiercest opposition.

They took a famous redoubt known as "The Harp," virtually an entire

battalion defending it. Here three battalion commanders were captured.

Over 6,000 prisoners were taken by the British, including 119

officers. The majority of these belonged to Bavarian regiments, which

since the fighting began in France had suffered the most heavily.

Wuerttembergers and Hamburgers were also represented. An enormous

quantity of war material fell into British hands, including guns,

trench mortars, and machine guns.

[Illustration: Taking of Vimy Ridge by the Canadians, April 9 and 10,

1917.]

In making their retreat in the Somme sector the Germans had announced

that they had completely disarranged by so doing the British offensive

plans. The smashing blow delivered on April 9, 1917, was the answer.

At other points on the line the British had also made substantial

gains, capturing by storm, on the road to Cambrai, Boursies,

Demicourt, and Hermies. Progress was also made in the Havrincourt Wood

south of the Bapaume-Cambrai railway. To the south, in the

neighborhood of St. Quentin, General Haig's troops captured three

villages, bringing forward their lines to within two miles of the St.

Quentin Canal.

As a result of the first two days' fighting in the Arras region the

number of German prisoners captured by the British had increased to

over 11,000, including 235 officers, 100 guns of large caliber, 60

mortars, and 163 machine guns.

The British troops did not rest to enjoy their first day's victories,

but pushed on along the greater part of the twelve-mile front from

Givenchy to Henin. They penetrated as far as the outskirts of

Monchy-le-Preux, five miles east of Arras. On the way they captured a

high hill which protects Monchy, thus threatening the entire German

line south of the Arras-Cambrai highroad.

More to the north the British troops took Fampoux and its defenses on

both sides of the Scarpe River. The fiercest fighting on April 10,

1917, was on the northern part of Vimy Ridge, where from isolated

positions to which they still clung, the Germans attempted a

counterattack. They were driven out of these positions and from the

slopes of the ridge which was now strongly held by the British.

Vimy village was one of the vaunted German field fortresses, and was

strongly defended. Here the Canadians gathered in over 3,000 prisoners

garrisoning the stronghold and 100 officers. The final British

bombardment had sent most of the German defenders into the deepest of

the dugouts from which they did not venture forth until the British

called upon them to surrender. Among the officers captured on the

ridge were seven lieutenant colonels and several doctors, who

surrendered with all their staffs. They blamed their predicament to

the failure of supports to come up as promised.

The British had carried out their successful onward sweep in the face

of unfavorable weather conditions. During April 10, 1917, when the

last German was being cleared out of the Vimy area, the snow fell

heavily.

Throughout the day following the weather continued unfavorable,

impeding the operation of troops and making observation impossible. In

the morning the Germans attempted two counter attacks on the new

British positions in the neighborhood of Monchy-le-Preux, but were

beaten off with heavy losses. Prisoners reported that they had been

ordered to hold the village at all costs.

To the south bodies of British troops penetrated a German position

near Bullecourt, where they gained a number of prisoners and damaged

the enemy's defenses. This small success was forfeited at midday when

the Germans, attacking with strong forces, drove the British back to

their lines.

The village of Monchy was captured by the British in the morning of

April 12, 1917. Throughout the previous day this tiny village perched

on a hill had been the storm center around which the battle raged.

The attack was made by British and Scottish troops, who fought for

three hours to clear the Germans out of the railway triangle. Having

dispersed the enemy, they fought on to the Feuchy Redoubt, only to

find that the entire German garrison there had been buried by the

British bombardment so that not a man escaped alive.

At 5 o'clock in the morning of April 12, 1917, British troops on the

right, linking up with the Scots and supported by cavalry on the left,

with Hotchkiss and machine guns swept forward to the capture of

Monchy.

The cavalry dashed into the village on the north side, meeting with

few Germans, for as they pressed forward the enemy was retreating on

the southern side, hoping to escape that way. Here they encountered

Scots and Midlanders and fierce fighting ensued. The Germans were well

provided with machine guns, and from windows and roofs sent a

withering fire upon the British as they swarmed into the streets of

the village. The Germans made a brave resistance, but the British

continued to press them hard, fighting their way into houses and

courtyards and capturing or killing the defenders. Some of the

garrison of the place succeeded in escaping to a trench in the valley

below, where they had a redoubt and machine guns.

By 8 o'clock in the morning the British had a number of guns in

position for the defense of the village against counterattacks which

were sure to follow. It was found that the Germans had prepared in the

village an elaborate system of dugouts that could provide shelter from

the heaviest shell fire. Under the chateau there were great rooms

luxuriously furnished and provided with electric lights, where British

and Scotch officers regaled themselves with German beer.

An hour after the occupation of the village it was heavily shelled by

big German guns, German airmen from above directing the fire. The

British held on determinedly in spite of heavy losses, and their

courage never flagged. In the afternoon the Germans made some

determined counterattacks, but their advancing waves were mowed down

by the British machine guns and eighteen pounders, and finally they

were thrown back in confusion. The British now advanced beyond the

village, while the Germans were forced to retreat from the trench

below.

In the opinion of the German press the battle of Arras was an event of

only local importance which did not affect in any degree the strategic

situation. The plan of the Anglo-French command to deliver a

shattering blow on the Somme front and roll up the new Hindenburg line

by assaults on both flanks at Soissons and Arras, they contended, had

been foiled.

With better weather conditions the British were able to push forward

more rapidly and to make further breaches in the Hindenburg line.

Advancing over a wide front, they were drawing nearer to the coveted

line of German communications running north and south through Douai

and Cambrai. On the northern horn the British captured Lievin, the

southwest suburb of Lens, and Cite St. Pierre, northwest of that

place. On the southern horn they advanced within 400 yards of St.

Quentin. Some idea of the extent of the British advance within a week

may be gained from the fact that the British were now three miles

beyond the famous Vimy Ridge.

It was expected that the Germans would stubbornly defend St. Quentin

and Lens, which were now the British objectives, and on which the

heaviest British gunfire was now concentrated. In the course of the

day advances were made south and east of Fayet to within a few hundred

yards of St. Quentin. On the way the village of Gricourt was carried

at the point of the bayonet and over 400 Germans were captured.

Lens, an important mining center, had been in possession of the

Germans since the autumn of 1914. It stretches for several miles and

the surrounding district is rich in mineral wealth. Throughout the day

of April 14, 1917, the British poured heavy high-explosive shells into

the city, using for the first time guns that had been recently

captured from the Germans. The continued bombardment caused fires and

explosions in the city. It was believed that some of these

conflagrations were the work of the enemy, who were preparing to

abandon the place.

In the course of the day, April 14, 1917, the British pushed their way

through Lieven, a straggling suburb of Lens, meeting with stubborn

defense in every street, where the Germans had posted machine guns at

points of vantage and rear-guard posts that gave the British

considerable trouble. Soon a body of British troops had penetrated

Lens itself and were working their way slowly forward. From the

western side other troops were advancing through Lievin, slowly and

cautiously. The main German forces were in retreat, but the

machine-gun redoubts, skillfully manned, were a constant source of

danger and wrought considerable destruction.

From prisoners captured the British learned of wild scenes that had

taken place in Lens while the Germans were attempting to get away

their stores and guns and begin the retreat. Frantic efforts were made

to blow up roads and to carry out orders to destroy the mine shafts

and flood the galleries, so that property of enormous value should not

be left to France. The occasion for this mad hurry was because the

Germans believed that the British might be upon them at any moment.

During the evening they had sufficiently recovered from their first

panic to send supporting troops back into Lens to hold the line of

trenches and machine-gun forts on the western side and check the

British advance while they prepared for themselves positions on the

Drocourt-Queant line, the Wotan end of the Hindenburg line, from which

the British were forcing them to withdraw. It was learned from German

prisoners that there were still about 2,000 persons, principally old

men, women, and children, still in the Lens district waiting for a

chance to break through to the British lines. The condition of these

poor creatures can be imagined, surrounded by destruction from all

sides and hiding in holes in the ground with death always hovering

near.

The British continued to close in around Lens from three directions,

their progress being slow owing to the stubborn attacks made by German

rear guards and the fierce fire of cunningly placed machine guns.

Field Marshal Haig's chief purpose in advancing on Lens was to turn La

Bassee from the south. La Bassee and Lens form the principal outworks

of Lille, which is the key to the whole German position in Flanders.

If the British succeeded in capturing these two places, Lille would be

seriously threatened.

On the 15th the British continued to gain ground in the direction of

St. Quentin and east and north of Gricourt, to the north of the city.

In the morning the Germans delivered a powerful attack over a front of

six miles against the new British position, which extended from

Hermies to Noreuil. In the face of a terrific fire from British

artillery they forged ahead, but lost so many men that they were at

last forced to retreat, gaining no advantage except at Lagnicourt

village, to one part of which they clung tenaciously. Immediately the

British organized a counterattack, which was carried out with dash and

spirit. The Germans were driven out of the village and 300 prisoners

were taken. Some 1,500 dead were left in front of the British

positions.

April 16, 1917, was a day of glory for French arms, when General

Nivelle launched a great attack on a front of about twenty-five miles

between Soissons and Rheims. The French were everywhere successful,

capturing the German first-line positions along the entire front and

in some places penetrating and holding second-line positions.

The scene of General Nivelle's great victory was the historic line of

the Aisne, to which the Germans had retreated after the battle of the

Marne. Ever since that epoch-making event in the history of the Great

War the Germans had held the line despite every effort of the Allies

to dislodge them. The Germans had ample warning that a great offensive

was in preparation, for the French had been bombarding their positions

for ten days before. On their part they had made every effort to repel

the threatened attack, and had massed a great number of men and guns

in that region. In justice to the Germans it must be said that they

fought with courage and desperation along the whole front. They

realized the importance of holding the line at all costs, for if the

French advance proved successful, it would mean the isolation of Laon,

upon which the Hindenburg line depended.

North of Berry-au-Bac, where the old line of battle swings to the

southeast toward Rheims, the French forces gained their greatest

advance. To the south of Juvincourt they succeeded in penetrating the

German second-line positions and held on. Every effort made by the

Germans during the day failed, the French artillery literally tearing

their ranks to pieces. Further advances were made by the French to the

banks of the Aisne Canal at the villages of Courcy and Loivre.

General Nivelle reported that over 10,000 prisoners were captured

during this offensive together with a vast amount of war material.

Meanwhile the British in the Lens area were constantly engaged with

the Germans, who again and again launched counterattacks to recover

lost positions, to impede the advance and to gain time to strengthen

their defenses on the line of retreat.

During the night of April 15, 1917, the British captured Villeret,

southeast of Hargicourt, which served to further widen the second gap

in the Hindenburg line north of St. Quentin. The British were

successful in all these minor struggles in making prisoners, and owing

to the Germans' hurried retreat vast quantities of military stores

fell into their hands. Since April 9, 1917, the British had captured

over 14,000 prisoners and 194 guns.

In the midst of a driving rain and flurries of snow that hampered

military operations the French struck another blow on the 17th, on a

new eleven-mile stretch of front east of Rheims from Prunay to

Auberive. They carried the entire front-line German positions. From

Mt. Carnillet to Vaudesincourt support positions seven miles in extent

also were captured. During this push 2,500 German prisoners were

taken.

The French advance on both sides of Rheims now left that city in a

salient that would prove a great source of danger to the Germans. The

French having captured the German second-line position northwest of

Rheims, smoothed the way for an advance that might force the enemy out

of the forts that held the cathedral city in subjection.

The French continued their offensive with undiminished vigor and dash

on April 18, 1917, driving the Germans in disorder from their

positions north of the Aisne and securing a firm hold on high ground

commanding the river. The number of German prisoners had now increased

to 20,730. Great quantities of war material fell to the French,

including 175 guns, 412 machine guns, and 119 trench mortars.

On the front from Soissons to Rheims General Nivelle's troops captured

four villages, which brought them to the outskirts of Courtecon, an

advance of about two miles for the day.

Another successful French attack was delivered to the west, where the

old German line stood on the south bank of the Aisne, which resulted

in the capture of the important town of Vailly and a strong bridgehead

near by. On the western leg of the German salient, whose apex was at

Fort Conde on the Aisne, the French struck another decisive blow which

gave them the village of Nanteuil-le-Fosse, and endangered the Germans

in the fort, who were now in the position of being cut off.

East of Craonne a French contingent surrounded the forest of La

Ville-au-Bois and forced the surrender of 1,300 Germans.

In the afternoon of April 18, 1917, the Germans delivered a strong

counterattack in which 40,000 men were employed, in an attempt to

recover their lost second-line positions to the east of Craonne which

had been seized by the French in the first onslaught. Though vastly

outnumbered in man power, the French were well supplied with

artillery, and the attackers were rolled back in confusion with heavy

losses before they could reach the French lines at any point. During

the day's fighting in this area the French captured three cannon and

twenty-four guns, together with a number of shell depots. Most of the

guns were immediately turned against the Germans and proved effective

in assisting in their destruction.

Undeterred by heavy losses and constant failure the Germans with

stubborn courage continued to press counterattacks south of St.

Quentin. One of these was successful in seizing a number of French

positions. But the gain was only temporary, when the French came

dashing back in force, regained the positions, and captured or killed

the occupants to the last man.

The double offensive of the British north of Arras and of the French

on the Aisne had disarranged the German plans, according to reliable

information that reached the Allied command. Hindenburg was preparing

an offensive against Riga and another against Italy; attempts on Paris

and on Calais were also projected, but the Allied western offensive

forced him to bring back the greater part of his forces intended for

these fronts.

For several days the fighting in the Arras region slowed down. The

Germans had brought forward new batteries and stationed them around

Lens and Loos, replacing those captured by the British during the

first day's battle. These guns were now constantly active, sending

heavy shells into Lievin, Bois de Riaumont, and into the suburbs of

Lens and Monchy. The neighboring ridge and slopes were also subjected

to machine-gun fire.

Beyond bombarding German positions, the British made no important

advance, though preparations were going forward for the next stage in

the great battle of Arras.

The French continued to make gains along the Oise, pressing back the

Germans toward the Chemin-des-Dames, which runs along the top of the

heights north of the river. On April 20, 1917, General Nivelle's

troops occupied Sancy village and gained ground east of Laffaux. The

French front in this sector now faced the fort of Malmaison, which

crowns a range of high hills protecting the highroad from Soissons to

Laon. The Germans launched a heavy attack on April 19, 1917, in which

large forces of troops were employed in the region of Ailles and

Hurtebise Farm. The French artillery and machine guns delivered such a

withering fire against the attackers that they were thrown back in

disorder with appalling losses.

In Champagne the French continued to make progress, capturing

important points in Moronvilliers Wood.

British troops south of the Bapaume-Cambrai road slowly advanced on

Marcoing, a place of considerable importance and an outpost to

Cambrai. In this push, begun on April 20, 1917, they captured the

southern portion of the village of Trescault, which lies about nine

miles from Cambrai. They also surrounded on three sides Havrincourt

Wood, which from its high position constitutes a formidable barrier in

the way of advance, and which the Germans will eventually be forced to

evacuate. Ground was also gained by the British between Loos and Lens,

and every attempt made by the Germans to regain lost positions was

repulsed.

On the French front in western Champagne the Germans on the 21st made

desperate efforts to recapture the positions on the heights which they

had lost in the previous week. Mont Haut, the dominating position in

this region, was the principal objective against which they launched

repeated attacks, all of which came to naught. There were numerous

minor operations on the Rheims-Soissons front during the night of the

21st. Rheims was repeatedly bombarded, the Germans paying particular

attention to the cathedral, which received further damage from

shells.

What might be termed the second phase of the battle of Arras was begun

in the morning of April 23, 1917, when the British resumed the

offensive. At 5 o'clock in the morning the British advance started

east of Arras on a front of about eight miles, capturing strong

positions and the villages of Gavrelle and Guemappe. The occupation of

these places and of strongholds south of Gavrelle as far as the river

Scarpe broke the so-called Oppy line, defending the Hindenburg

positions before Douai. The British were successful in clearing the

enemy out of the neighborhood of Monchy, which commands the region for

forty miles. The Germans appreciating the value of this position had

launched twenty counterattacks against it in the ten previous days. It

proved to them the bloodiest spot in all this war-ravaged region, and

when the British advanced at early dawn on the 23d, thousands of dead

in field-gray uniforms littered the approaches to the position. During

the day the British took over 1,500 prisoners.

On this date, April 23, 1917, the Germans attacked the French lines in

Belgium at several points in the course. Bodies of Germans succeeded

in penetrating some French advanced positions, but after spirited

hand-to-hand struggles were killed, captured, or driven off. In most

cases the Germans never got in touch with the French, but were rolled

back by the concentrated fire of the French artillery. Fighting

continued in the Champagne, where the Germans renewed again and again

their efforts to capture the new French positions on Mont Haut.

On the second day of the offensive the British had made gains east of

Monchy, and had pushed on between that village and the river Sensee to

within a short distance of Cherisy and Fontaine-les-Croisilles,

holding all their newly won positions against attack.

It was noted by the British command that the Germans during this

second phase of the battle of Arras had fought with exceptional

ferocity, which even the heavy losses they incurred did not weaken. On

the front of about eight miles seven German divisions were employed.

British guns were effective in shattering massed counterattacks, and

there was considerable hand-to-hand fighting in which the British were

sometimes badly handled, but at the close of the day the British had

recovered all the positions they had been forced out of temporarily.

The fighting continued on the 24th, but was less ferocious, the

opponents having exhausted themselves in the previous day's efforts.

In the second and third day of the offensive the British captured

2,000 prisoners.

During the night of April 23, 1917, the British advancing on a wide

front south of the Arras-Cambrai road captured the villages of

Villers-Plouich and Beaucamp and pressed forward as far as the St.

Quentin Canal in the vicinity of Vendhuille.

The second phase of the offensive in the Arras region was especially

notable for the victories won by the British in the air. In one day

forty German machines were brought down, while the British lost only

two.

The British advance was now necessarily slow, for they were no longer

engaged in rear-guard actions as in the first phase of the offensive,

but faced strong bodies of troops whose valor was unquestioned. Thus,

as in the first days of fighting in the Somme, there was desperate

fighting to gain or regain a few hundred yards of trenches. With

varying fortunes the opponents fought back and forth over the same

ground without either side gaining any distinct advantage, though both

were losers in precious lives. By early morning of April 25, 1917,

Scottish and British troops had reestablished the line on the Bois

Vert and Bois de Sart.

A striking incident in connection with the fighting in this area was

the recovery of parties of British soldiers who had been given up as

lost. They had been cut off from rejoining their regiments and had

come through the most ghastly perils, being swept by a British barrage

that preceded an infantry attack and subjected to the deadly and

constant shelling of the German guns. They had clung to their isolated

positions in the face of all these terrors and not a man was killed.

CHAPTER LVIII

FRENCH VICTORIES IN THE CHAMPAGNE--THE BRITISH CAPTURE BULLECOURT

During the night of April 25, 1917, the Germans renewed their attempts

to recover lost positions on the high ground near the Chemin-des-Dames,

and especially west of Cerny. West of Craonne they hurled masses of men

against Hurtebise Farm with disastrous results. Eastward in the vicinity

of Ville-aux-Bois the French artillery dropped shells with mathematical

precision on the German lines. The regiment that was detailed to capture

the village of Ville-aux-Bois, which formed with Craonne one of the

pillars of the German line in this area, carried out the difficult

operation with complete success. It was necessary to capture two heavily

garrisoned woods before the place could be assaulted. At the end of the

first day's fighting the French had taken hundreds of prisoners and

several dozen machine guns. The prisoners alone numbered more than the

French troops who made the attack.

Fighting continued in this region during the 26th. The French repulsed

all attempts made by the Germans to recover lost ground, and extended

their gains.

During the desperate fighting along the Aisne in this offensive the

French captured about 20,000 prisoners and 130 guns. The German losses

in killed, wounded, and prisoners were estimated at over 200,000--one

of the most formidable totals of the Great War.

North of the Scarpe River and in the vicinity of Catelet the British

continued to improve their positions. Thirteen German aeroplanes and

one balloon were brought down on the 26th by British aviators.

On April 28, 1917, the British attacked on a front extending in an

easterly direction from Vimy Ridge at its northern hinge and southward

to the Scarpe River. Gains were made at all points attacked, and the

so-called Oppy-Mericourt line which protects the Drocourt switch to

the Hindenburg line was pierced again. An eyewitness stated that he

saw no less than five gray waves of Germans blindly facing the British

fire in an attempt to regain the lost positions. Torrents of British

shells tore gaps in the German ranks, and those who succeeded in

forcing their way through the barrage were mowed down by sprays of

machine-gun bullets. Under this storm the German attack broke down.

There was bayonet fighting at different points, and many Germans were

killed by blows from rifle butts.

The Canadians, who had been resting since their brilliant work on

Easter day, when they swept the Germans from Vimy Ridge, were in fine

fighting trim. By a brilliant assault they captured Arleux-en-Gobelle

and held the village securely against all attempts made by the Germans

to recapture it.

Southeast of Oppy, the British took Greenland Hill, which overlooks

the Scarpe Valley. There was fierce fighting north of the village of

Roeux, at the chemical works on the Arras-Douai railway, which changed

hands several times. The character of the fighting on the 28th did not

result in the taking of many prisoners, for almost everywhere it was a

struggle to the death.

The loss to the Germans of Monchy-le-Preux was regarded by them as a

serious matter, and they were prepared to sacrifice any number of men

to retake it. Late in the night of April 28, 1917, they launched two

violent attacks against the British positions east of the town. Two

new divisions had been brought up and were hurled into the struggle

only to be literally torn to fragments before they could reach even an

outpost. On this date also Gavrelle was violently attacked from the

north. This was the fourteenth or fifteenth counterattack the Germans

had made against the village, which failed as all the previous ones

had done.

On the same date there were violent outbursts in the Champagne and

Aisne regions on the French front, in which the Germans made no

progress. The French gained ground and prisoners near Ostel in the

Chemin-des-Dames area. German lines were invaded in the sector of Hill

304 on the left bank of the Meuse and a considerable number of

prisoners were taken. At Auberive after a violent bombardment the

Germans attacked in force, but were repulsed by the French artillery.

South of the village of Oppy, where the fighting had raged for several

days, the British captured a German trench system on a front of about

a mile. Here the Germans offered the most stubborn resistance, and

after the position was won they launched furious counterattacks in the

hope of smashing the British before they had opportunity to organize

their gains.

The results of the fighting in this region could not be estimated by

the number of prisoners taken or the amount of ground gained. The

British had a difficult task to perform in assaulting positions

protected by natural defenses, and held in strength with quantities of

machine guns. After forcing the enemy out of the positions, and when

their strength was well-nigh spent, the British troops were forced to

beat off repeated counterattacks preceded by barrage fire and to

destroy the enemy again and again. They encountered no more formidable

conditions in the course of the war than in this region, for the

Germans had machine redoubts on the slopes commanding fields of fire

on both sides of the Scarpe River, and each advance made by the

British exposed their flanks to enfilading fire. In the face of such

deadly opposition the British still continued to press onward, forcing

the Germans to pay a fearful price for Hindenburg's strategic plans.

On the last day of the month French troops in the Champagne made a new

attack on both sides of Mont Carnillet, a commanding peak southeast of

Mauroy. To the west the French captured several fortified lines of

trenches from the heights as far south as Beine. East of the mount

General Nivelle's men forced their way up the northern slopes of Mont

Haut; and northeast of this position to the approaches of the road

from Mauroy and Moronvilliers. This advance widened on the west and

deepened the salient driven into the German lines between Prunay and

Auberive, rendering exceedingly precarious their hold on ground east

of Rheims.

There was no important fighting on the British front on April 30,

1917, and General Haig's troops were not ungrateful for the brief

respite afforded them. The Germans did not attempt any important

attacks owing to a shortage of ammunition and military supplies. From

documents found on prisoners the British learned that there was a

dearth in all war material and that the supply of new guns to replace

those worn out was very limited. During the night General Haig's

troops improved their positions between Monchy-le-Preux and the Scarpe

River, repulsing a feeble German attack on the new positions.

While comparative quiet reigned in the fighting area on the last day

of April, 1917, British airmen were active, and in the course of

twenty-four hours a number of highly dramatic battles were fought in

which the British brought down twenty German aeroplanes and lost

fifteen machines themselves.

During the night of May 1, 1917, the French consolidated their new

positions on the wooded hills east of Rheims. In the course of the

following day the Germans delivered two strong attacks against French

lines northeast of Mont Haut, but were rolled back by the French

barrage fire and machine-gun fire which broke the waves of assault and

scattered the attackers.

The report for the month of April, 1917, issued by the British War

Office stated that in the course of the offensive operations in France

19,343 prisoners had been taken, including 393 officers. In the same

period the British had captured 257 guns and howitzers, 227 trench

mortars, and 470 machine guns. The French during the same period had

captured over 20,000 prisoners. It was estimated that the Germans had

143 divisions in France, but only ninety-nine of these were in the

actual line, the rest being held in strategic reserve.

During the month of April, 1917, more aeroplanes were lost by the

combatants than in any month since the fighting began. A careful

compilation from British, French, and German communiques shows a

total loss of 717 during this period. The Germans lost 369, the French

and Belgians 201, and the British 147.

On May 2, 1917, the French in the Champagne began to push their way

slowly through the great forest south of Beine, which covers

considerable territory from south of Mont Carnillet to La Pompelle

Fort, the most easterly fortification of Rheims.

On May 3, 1917, General Haig's troops struck a fourth blow against the

German front east and southeast of Arras, penetrating the Hindenburg

line west of Queant. The British push toward Cherisy, Bullecourt, and

Queant was at the southern end of the day's major operation, which

covered a range of nearly eighteen miles. At the north Fresnoy was the

chief objective. It lies just east of Arleux, taken a few days before

by the Canadians.

These two villages were strongly organized for defense with

complicated trench fortifications, forming one of the strongest points

on the Mericourt-Oppy-Gavrelle line. Fresnoy was carried by the

Canadians after the most furious fighting, in which the German

positions changed hands a number of times, but at last remained

securely in possession of the troops from oversea. North and south of

Fresnoy a two-mile front was won by the British, who also secured a

grip on the German trench system north of Oppy.

While the British were dealing hammer blows on the enemy's lines the

French had been preparing another coup, which was carried out on May

4, 1917. By this operation they captured the village of Craonne on the

Soissons-Rheims front, several fortified points north and east of the

village, and German first-line positions on a front of about two and a

half miles.

Craonne was an especially valuable capture, for it stands on a height

at the east end of the Chemin-des-Dames, protecting not only the

plateau north of the Aisne, but the low ground between it and

Neufchatel. The Germans had held the place since the first battle of

the Aisne, and against its cliffs many gallant French troops had

vainly flung themselves, only to be thrown back with heavy losses. The

possession of Craonne gave the French command of an open road through

the valley of Miette where a few weeks before they had captured the

German second line south of Juvincourt. They could now, advancing

through this corridor, outflank the entire German position depending

on Laon as its center.

[Illustration: The French Offensive on the Craonne Plateau,

Champagne.]

Throughout May 4, 1917, the British were occupied in organizing and

strengthening the new positions they had won in and around Fresnoy

and in the sectors of the Hindenburg line near Bullecourt. Repeated

German counterattacks were repulsed at all points, except in the

neighborhood of Cherisy and the Arras-Cambrai road, where the British

were forced to abandon some of their new positions. In the day's

fighting the British captured over 900 prisoners. During the night

General Haig's troops made considerable progress northwest of St.

Quentin and northeast of Hargicourt, where the Malakoff Farm was

captured.

By May 5, 1917, the French army was in sight of Laon, and had begun to

shell the German positions on the steep hill on which the city stands.

The position of the French was decidedly favorable for important

operations against the enemy. If they moved up the Rheims-Laon road,

and pushed north from Cerny with a strong force, it would be possible

to outflank from the south the whole German line, which here turns to

the northwest in a wide sweep from Laon, through La Fere to St.

Quentin and Cambrai. This operation if successful would compel the

Germans to retire to the Belgian frontier.

The Germans were not satisfied with the way things were going, so the

Allied command learned from prisoners. It was estimated that they had

lost thus far in the Anglo-French drive on this front no less than

216,000 men, of whom the British took 30,000 prisoners and the French

23,000; about 47,000 were killed on the field and 160,000 were put out

of action. The British and French casualties had also been very

heavy--the former numbering about 80,000 and the latter 93,000

including killed, wounded, and prisoners.

On the British front the Germans continued to make the most desperate

efforts to regain a section of the Hindenburg line east of

Bullecourt, which the Australians had won in the advance of May 3,

1917. From three sides day and night the sturdy defenders were

assailed by the Germans, but their attacks by day were killed by the

British artillery, and at night were driven off by bomb and bayonet.

The Germans had good reason to value this wedge bitten into the

Hindenburg line, for its possession by the Australians weakened an

otherwise strong position that ran formerly from Arras to Queant. The

British were now in touch with the Hindenburg line all the way from

Queant south to St. Quentin, and were pressing the Germans toward the

Drocourt switch in the north.

On the new lines east of Mont Haut held by the Germans a position

garrisoned by 200 men was captured by the French during the night of

May 5, 1917.

The French continued to make progress, slowly but firmly pressing the

Germans back from many points, and gaining more ground than they lost

through counterattacks. By the 6th of May, 1917, they had captured all

the unconquered positions on the Chemin-des-Dames and were masters of

the crest over which it runs for more than eighteen miles. The moral

effect of this victory was to give the French the assurance that they

could beat the Germans on their chosen battle ground and force them

out of their deepest defenses into the open field. German

invincibility had become a shattered myth.

For some days General Haig's troops had been tightening their grip

around Bullecourt, which lies in the original Hindenburg line due east

of Croisilles. The Australians who held this front had surrounded the

village on three sides and its fall was imminent.

On May 8, 1917, Bavarian troops stormed Fresnoy village and wood and

wrested some ground from the British on the western side. During the

night the Germans had concentrated large forces for an attack north of

Fresnoy which were dispersed by British fire. By a strong

counterattack the British recovered all the ground on the west that

they had lost on the previous day.

Some idea of the intense fighting in northern France may be gained

from the fact that since April 1, 1917, over thirty-five German

divisions (315,000 men) were withdrawn from this front owing to their

exhausted condition. The French and British had lost heavily, but

their casualties were from 50 to 75 per cent fewer than they incurred

in the Battle of the Somme.

Fresnoy, which was held by the Canadians, and which jutted into the

German lines, was subjected to intense fire and showers of high

explosives and shrapnel throughout the night of the 7th, and in the

morning of the following day the Germans attacked in force. The

British were overwhelmed, but served their machine guns to the last,

and only fell back from their advanced lines when the village was no

longer tenable. The greater part of the ground lost by them was

recovered on the following day.

The French captured first-line German trenches over a front of

three-quarters of a mile northeast of Chevreux near Craonne, during

the night of May 8, 1917, capturing several hundred prisoners.

Vigorous counterattacks made about the same time by the Germans to

regain lost positions on the plateau of Chemin-des-Dames and on the

Californie Plateau were shattered by the French artillery. The Germans

here displayed the most intrepid bravery, sending forward successive

waves of men again and again until the battle area was strewn with

dead. Northwest of Rheims the French carried 400 yards of German

trench, taking prisoner 100 men and two officers.

Severe and continuous fighting went on during May 9, 1917, in the

neighborhood of Bullecourt, where the Germans tried vainly to shake

the British hold on the position. East of Gricourt a portion of the

German front and support lines were captured by the British, also a

considerable number of prisoners. Counterattacks on the French front

along the Chemin-des-Dames and in the region of Chevreux resulted in

heavy losses to the Germans in men and guns.

Toward the close of the day, May 11, 1917, the British after the

hardest and most sanguinary fighting won two positions at Roeux just

north of the Scarpe, and at Cavalry Farm beyond Guemappe. The loss to

the Germans was serious, for these were observation posts of the

highest value. The British captured about 350 prisoners, mostly of

Brandenburg regiments, who were found crouching in tunnels waiting for

a pause in the storm of shell fire to rush out and meet the attackers

with machine guns. But they waited too long, and Haig's troops were

upon them before they could use their weapons. At Roeux the Bavarian

garrison in the tunnels fought ferociously, and being unwilling to

yield were destroyed.

Around Guemappe, by the Cavalry Farm, which the Scottish troops had

been forced to abandon in the previous month, the fighting was less

intense. The Scots went about their task in a businesslike way and

routed the garrison and took ten guns and a number of prisoners.

Bullecourt, which had been the scene of some of the hottest fighting

since the offensive began, and where the Australians had repulsed a

dozen strong counterattacks, was in large part occupied by the British

on May 12, 1917. North of the Scarpe, British troops established

themselves in the western part of the village of Roeux, and improved

their positions on the western slopes of Greenland Hill.

Along the Aisne and south of St. Quentin the French continued to

bombard enemy lines. A violent attack made by the Germans on the 12th

against French positions on the Craonne Plateau north of Rheims broke

down under French artillery and machine-gun fire.

The British continued to hold their own in Bullecourt and to improve

their position there and at Cavalry Farm and Roeux. In the three days'

operations the British had captured 700 prisoners, including eleven

officers and a considerable number of guns and war material.

May 14, 1917, was a successful day for the Germans when they captured

Fresnoy. Early in the morning they succeeded by strong counterattacks

in gaining a foothold in the British trenches northeast of the

village. At a later hour the British attacked and regained the lost

ground, but were forced to withdraw when the Germans brought forward

two fresh divisions. The Germans continued their violent attempts to

regain Roeux and that part of Bullecourt which was firmly held by the

British. The struggle around these two places which had been raging

for four weeks grew daily more intense, and the ground around the

British positions was heaped with dead.

All of Roeux was by the 15th in British hands: the chateau with its

great dugouts and gun emplacements, the cemetery from which a large

tunnel ran westward to Mount Pleasant Wood, and the village itself.

After a terrible shell fire during the night of the 15th the Germans

launched a strong assault in dense numbers, and the ruins were strewn

with new dead beside the old dead. Despite the intense fire from

British machine guns some German troops penetrated advanced posts and

barricades and desperate fighting with bomb and bayonet followed. The

British fiercely counterattacked, driving the enemy back, and gained

more ground than they had held before.

At Bullecourt there was the same story to tell. This place, to use the

expression of an eyewitness, "had become a flaming hell." In twelve

counterattacks the Germans had only succeeded in destroying a few of

the British advanced positions. They had only been able to maintain a

hold on the southwest corner of the village owing to the tunnels in

which they were protected from the heaviest fire.

A German counterattack of unusual strength was delivered in the

morning of May 16, 1917. No bloodier struggle was fought during the

Allied offensive in 1917 than here at Bullecourt. From shell crater

and from behind bits of broken wall the British with bombs and

bayonets hung on until relieved by the arrival of fresh troops. In the

orchards and gardens and in shallow trenches the opponents struggled

in close combat, springing at each other's throat when the supply of

bombs was exhausted. The British obtained a grip on Bullecourt for the

time being, but they knew the respite would be brief, when the Germans

would return and renew the bloody struggle.

The old Hindenburg line having been breached at Bullecourt and

Wancourt, the Germans were now busy strengthening their new line of

defense which ran through Montigny, Drocourt, and Queant.

The British had improved their defenses to the east, and had pushed

forward a little nearer to Lens. Here the Germans continued to wreck

and destroy buildings and machinery, so that the great mining center

would prove of little value to the Allies when they occupied it.

Early in the morning of May 20, 1917, a British attack broke into the

Hindenburg line between Fontaine-les-Croisilles and Bullecourt,

southeast of Arras. The Germans made several violent attempts to

recover their lost positions, but were unable to make any gains during

the day. The purpose of the British attacks in this sector was to

capture the last salient on the front southeast of Arras. With this

accomplished the German support line from Drocourt to Queant would be

seriously endangered.

The French lines on the Chemin-des-Dames north of the Aisne continued

to be subjected to attack, the Germans throwing great masses of troops

against the positions on the heights.

After very heavy artillery bombardment that lasted the greater part of

the night the Germans in the early morning of the 20th made

preparations for a general assault, but the French counterfire was so

heavy that over the greater part of the front the attack could not be

developed. Northeast of Cerny the Germans succeeded in occupying

French trenches on a 216-yard front, but at all other points where

they advanced the French counterattacks and barrage fire rolled them

back and wrought disaster among their ranks.

During the last week of May, 1917, the French forces along the

Chemin-des-Dames only fought on the defensive. The Germans attempted

to regain lost positions, but were unsuccessful in obtaining the

slightest advantage, while their losses must have been considerable.

CHAPTER LIX

THE BATTLE OF MESSINES RIDGE--BRITISH SMASH THE GERMAN SALIENT SOUTH

OF YPRES

After an intense bombardment that lasted all day of June 1, 1917, and

part of the night the Germans on the 2d, employing large forces,

hurled five attacks on the French Craonne position; three against the

eastern face of Californie Plateau and two against Vauclerc Plateau.

It seemed as if the Germans hoped to win the coveted position on the

heights by sheer weight of numbers. Advancing in dense masses shoulder

to shoulder they formed an impressive spectacle. But not for long.

Soon great gaps were torn in the solid lines by the famous French

artillery.

The ranks quickly closed up and again surged onward in dense gray

waves, only to be shattered again and again by the splendidly served

French guns. The same process was repeated, the Germans advancing,

their ranks depleting, and then as the French fire became even more

destructive they fell back, leaving the battle ground littered with

dead.

The French rightly called this a victory, for they maintained all

their positions and the Germans had not succeeded in gaining a

foothold at any point. The German headquarters was silent concerning

the fight on this date.

While the French continued to hold their position on the eastern

extremity of the Chemin-des-Dames they threatened to turn the right

flank of the Laon bastion by an advance over the open ground north of

Berry-au-Bac. For this reason the Germans were desperately anxious to

recover the Craonne position, which was the key to the whole tactical

situation in this part of the front.

For about two weeks the British had been bombarding the strong German

salient south of Ypres. On June 7, 1917, they delivered against this

position or series of fortifications an overwhelming blow. It was one

of the most spectacular military operations carried out during the war

and marked a brilliant victory for the Allied arms. By this startling

coup the Germans were forced out of one of the strongest positions

they held on the western front. As far as human ingenuity and military

skill could make it so, the position was impregnable. From its

commanding situation the Germans were able to observe with ease all

the preparations that were in progress in the British lines and

arrange to checkmate them. The value of the position to the Germans in

this area was therefore of supreme value.

For two and a half years the Allied armies in this little corner of

Belgium had held the Germans in check, and during that time they were

almost at the mercy of the German guns on the Messines-Wytschaete

Ridge.

The German front defenses of this position consisted of the most

elaborate trench systems and fortifications, forming a belt of about a

mile deep. Farms and woods around were garrisoned and machine-gun

emplacements were set up in every available corner. Concrete dugouts

of the strongest description were provided for the protection of

garrisons and machine gunners, and nothing that labor and skill could

devise was neglected to make the position indestructible. Yet all this

laboriously constructed defense work that had taken many months to

complete and the strength and skill of thousands were swept away in a

few hours' time.

For nearly two years companies of sappers--British, Australians, and

New Zealanders--had been busily engaged in tunneling under the low

range of hills upon which the German position stood. In these

underground passages engineers had planted nineteen great mines,

containing more than a million tons of ammonite, a new and enormously

destructive explosive. The secret of the mines was so well kept during

the time they were preparing that the Germans seemed to have had no

suspicion of the great surprise in store for them.

At exactly 3.10 in the morning of June 7, 1917, all the nineteen mines

were discharged by electric contact and the hilltops were blown off

amid torrents of spouting flames with a roaring sound like many

earthquakes that could be heard distinctly farther away than London.

Large sections of the German front, supporting trenches, and dugouts

went up in debris amid thick clouds of smoke. To add to the terror of

the defenders of the position the British guns after the explosions

shelled the salient steadily until preparations were completed for

attack. Then the British infantry under Field Marshal Haig and General

Sir Herbert Plumer advanced with a rush to the assault and the German

front line for ten miles was captured in a few minutes.

[Illustration: The Taking of Messines Ridge, June 7, 1917.]

Less than three hours after the first attack the Messines-Wytschaete

Ridge was stormed. The British pushed their advance along the entire

sector south of Ypres, from Observation Ridge to Ploegsteert Wood to

the north of Armentieres. Later in the day the German rear defenses,

which ran across the base of the salient, were assaulted. Here the

Germans had concentrated strong forces and the British encountered

stiff opposition, but by nightfall the whole rear German position

along a five-mile front to a depth of three miles was secure in

British hands. The Canadians, who were in the forefront of all the

fighting, had an enjoyable day of it, unsurpassed since they swept the

Germans from Vimy Ridge.

In the course of the day's fighting the British captured over 7,000

prisoners and a large number of guns of all calibers. The Germans, it

was estimated, had about 30,000 casualties, and the British less than

a third of that number.

Eyewitnesses to this spectacular and dramatic operation have described

the shattering effect the terrific explosions had on the Germans

defending the positions, especially on those protecting the ill-famed

Hill 60, where so many brave British soldiers had perished in previous

fights.

When this hill burst open and a dense mass of fiery clouds and smoking

rocks shot skyward, the British troops assigned to take the position

and while still some distance away were thrown down by the violence of

the concussion. But no one was injured, and finding their footing they

dashed on in the direction of the hill. Below Mount Sorrel and in

Armagh Wood they encountered groups of Jaegers and Wuerttembergers, who

crawled out of holes in the still quivering earth, and, shaking with

terror, weakly raised their hands in token of surrender. There was no

desire to fight left in these men, but where the dugouts had not been

shattered by British fire and were partly intact hundreds crouched in

the dark and could only be persuaded to come into the open when bombs

were hurled among them.

In other places the explosions had not produced such terrifying

effects on the Germans, and the British met with stubborn resistance.

This was the case in the neighborhood of the Chateau Matthieu, to the

west of Hollebeke, which was strongly held and where the Londoners who

engaged the Germans had a strenuous time of it before they gained the

upper hand.

The British had looked for stout resistance from the enemy in a street

of fortresslike houses built of huge blocks of concrete six feet

thick, but their shell fire had done its work so thoroughly that most

of the structures were in ruins, while the occupants of those that

remained intact were too cowed and panic-stricken to make any but the

feeblest defense.

For the first time on anything like a large scale the British leveled

woodlands by spraying them with drums of burning oil, thus laying bare

hidden trenches and gun emplacements and clearing the way for their

infantry to advance.

In Dead Wood some German troops of the Thirty-fifth Division attempted

a counterattack on a body of British South Country troops. It was a

fierce, close struggle, when bayonets were the favorite weapon. The

Germans, who are not generally fond of cold steel and hand-to-hand

fighting, on this occasion did their share in the general thrusting

and stabbing, and certainly displayed no lack of courage. But the men

of Kent, who were eager to be on their way, fought with such wild fury

that the Germans, after they had incurred very heavy losses, were

eager to drop their rifles and surrender.

The part the armored tanks played in the battle of Messines Ridge was

not very important, but they would have been missed if they had not

been present in emergencies to help out the infantry. When there was

no particular business for the monsters, pilots and crews sallied

forth and joined in the fight.

Military critics award the principal honors in the battle of Messines

Ridge to the guns and the gunners who served them. For about a

fortnight the gunners had worked incessantly with scarcely any sleep

in the midst of nerve-racking noises and with death constantly

hovering around them. The number of shells used in this battle by the

British was incredible. One division alone fired over 180,000 shells

with their field batteries and over 46,000 with their heavies.

It was a joyous hour for the British in the course of the day's

fighting when they were able to abandon the old gun positions after

two and a half years of stationary warfare. They had no longer to fear

that any more shells would be fired by the Germans from the commanding

position on the ridge. All danger from that quarter had ceased.