The German successes became more and more important and the Russian

route more and more complete. Stanislau and Nadvorna were now in

German hands and German forces were rapidly approaching Buczacz.

In the Carpathians, too, the Russians began to give way.

Prime Minister Kerensky had rushed to the Galician front as soon as

news had reached him of the Russian debacle. However, even his

presence could not stem the Austro-German advance and the Russian

flight. It was reported that he had even risked his life in this

attempt.

On July 25, 1917, the Austro-German successes were still farther

extended. During stubborn engagements Austro-German divisions gained

heights west of Tarnopol and the Gniza River sector to the

Trembowla-Husiatyn road. Farther southwest Buczacz, Tiumacz, Ottynia,

and Delatyn were taken.

The Russian Carpathian front, owing to the pressure on the north of

the Dniester, now commenced to weaken to the south of the Tartar Pass.

The Russians were retreating there in the direction of Czernowitz.

In the north, south of Smorgon, concentrated German artillery fire

partly closed up the breach in the German lines made by the Russians.

The latter were compelled to retreat, and the Germans regained almost

all of their former positions.

July 26, 1917, brought still further defeats to the Russian forces in

Galicia. In a bitter struggle near Tarnopol, German divisions extended

their gains by a powerful attack at the bridgehead on the eastern bank

of the Sereth, which recently had been contested hotly. Farther

south, in spite of stubborn resistance of Russians, who were sent

forward regardless of the fact that thousands upon thousands of them

were being mowed down under destructive German fire, the Germans

captured the Gniza and Sereth crossings from Trembowla to Skomorocze.

They were also advancing rapidly on both sides of the Dniester.

Kolomea was captured by Bavarian and Austro-Hungarian troops. In the

northeastern portion of the wooded Carpathians Austrian troops were

following on the heels of the Russians who retreated in the direction

of the Pruth.

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

Without let-up the Germans and Austrians continued to press back the

disorganized Russian armies. By July 27, 1917, the Austro-German

divisions under General von Boehm-Ermolli had crossed the

Jablonica-Horodenka-Zablowow line. Austrian troops on the northern

wing were drawing close to the Pruth Plateau below Kolomea. West of

Seletyn-Fundul, on the Moldavian Road in the wooded Carpathians,

German and Austro-Hungarian troops wrested some heights positions from

the still resisting Russians.

By July 28, 1917, the Russians on both sides of Husiatyn had retired

behind the frontier. German corps had reached Zbrocz. Others

approached the confluence of the northern Sereth and the Dniester.

Between the Dniester and the Pruth the Russian rear guard made a

stand. The Germans in a powerful attack broke through their positions

and pursued the Russians on both banks of the Dniester. In the

Cheremosh Valley Kuty was taken. Above and below the town a crossing

of the river was effected by the Austrians.

In the last days of July, 1917, the Russian resistance stiffened

slightly. Still the Teutonic forces gained new successes in eastern

Galicia and Bukowina. The river Zbrocz was crossed at many points by

German and Austro-Hungarian divisions from above Husiatyn to south of

Skala, on a front of thirty-one miles, in spite of the bitter

resistance of the Russians. Between the Dniester and the Pruth the

allied Teutonic troops captured Werenocanka and Sniatyn, in the

direction of Czernowitz.

In a strong assault German chasseurs broke through Russian rear-guard

positions near Visnitz. The Russians were thereby forced to evacuate

the Cheremosh line and retired toward the east. Also in the wooded

Carpathians, on the upper course of the southern Sereth, and on both

sides of the Moldava and the Suczawa, the Austro-Germans gained ground

in an attack toward the east. Under pressure of this success the

Russians abandoned their first-line positions in the Meste-Canaste

sector.

That the Russian rout was not worse, and that they managed to save a

large part of their armies, was due largely to the assistance rendered

by Belgian and British armored cars.

PART XI--AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT

CHAPTER XCV

STALEMATE ON THE ITALIAN FRONTS

On February 1, 1917, on the northern slopes of Monte Maso, along the

Posina Torrent, and in the Astico Valley Italian patrols destroyed

Austrian outposts, taking eleven prisoners. In the Sugana Valley

Austrian artillery bombarded Italian positions on Monte Lebre and

Ospedaletto and in Pesino Hollow with gas shells. On the Julian front

there were minor artillery actions and activity by patrol. At one

point a bombardment of the Austrian lines resulted in a small

ammunition dump being blown up.

On the Trentino front even the artillery was handicapped by snowfall

on February 3, 1917. In the upper Comelico Valley Italian troops

repulsed a surprise attack. On the Julian front there was the usual

artillery firing.

On February 6, 1917, on the Trentino front the artillery fighting was

more intense in the Astico Valley. In the Sugana Valley an Austrian

detachment which attempted to attack advanced Italian positions on

Monte Maso was put to flight, leaving arms and ammunition on the

ground. On the Julian front artillery fighting occurred, during which

the Austrians bombarded Goritz for a short time.

In the Sugana Valley, after a violent bombardment, the Austrians at

dawn on February 7, 1917, attempted another attack on one of the

Italian positions on the right bank of the Brenta. It failed in its

inception, however, owing to the combined action of Italian infantry

and field batteries. A similar operation attempted by the Austrians on

the Freikofel had a like result. In the Posina Valley, at Astico, in

the Plezza sector, before Sagora, and in the vicinity of Boscomalo and

Hudilog, the activity of Italian reconnoitering patrols led to minor

skirmishes.

During the next few days there were desultory artillery actions in the

Trentino. Italian batteries shelled Austrian positions on Monte Creino

and dispersed supply columns on the northern slopes of Monte Pasubio.

On the Julian front the Austrian artillery showed increased activity.

In the area east of Goritz on the night of February 10, 1917, after

heavy artillery and trench mortar preparations, the Austrians in

considerable forces attacked the Italian positions on the western

slopes of Santa Caterina, northwest of San Marco, and east of

Vertoibizza, between Sober and the Goritz-Dornberg railway. After

heavy fighting the Austrians were repulsed nearly everywhere. However,

the Austrians succeeded in entering several portions of Italian

trenches, inflicted heavy losses upon the Italians and captured

fifteen officers and 650 men, ten machine guns, two mine throwers and

much other war material.

This slight success gained by the Austrians resulted in an intense

bombardment and violent counterattacks on the part of the Italian

forces during February 11, 1917. The latter entirely reestablished

their lines and completely repulsed the Austrians, inflicting upon

them serious losses and taking more than a hundred prisoners, among

whom were a few officers. In the Trentino there was moderate

artillery activity. Detachments of Austrian ski runners attempted to

approach the Italian lines on the Pasubio. They were repulsed and

dispersed by a few well-directed shots. In the upper valleys of the

But and Fella there were continuous artillery duels. The Italians

reached the station of Tarvia with their fire. In the Vedel zone,

after throwing hand grenades, an Austrian detachment attacked. It was

speedily repulsed in violent hand-to-hand fighting. The detachment was

pursued and decimated by Italian fire. The few survivors were

captured.

On the Trentino front the activity of the artillery increased again on

February 12, 1917, especially in the Tonale Pass, on the western

slopes of Monte Zugna, in the Lagarina Valley, in the upper

Travignola, and in the Cordevole Valley. In the Arsa Valley and on the

upper Coalba Torrent, on the right bank of the Brenta, Austrian raids

were repulsed. In the upper But Valley the artillery was active.

Italian batteries set fire to some Austrian barracks behind Val

Piccolo.

The following day, February 13, 1917, Italian artillery fire again

reached and hit the station at Tarvia. In the zone north of Sober, in

the Goritz district, an Austrian attack was repulsed. In the Wippach

Valley lively artillery engagements continued. The Italians fired

numerous gas grenades. Italian attacks from the district of St. Peter

were repulsed. Near Tonale Pass Austrian troops surprised an Italian

point of support and took twenty-three Italian prisoners.

Similar events of minor local importance occurred during the next few

days. Thus, on February 16, 1917, the Adige Valley was the scene of

considerable activity by the artillery. Italian batteries caused fires

to break out on the Austrian Zugna line. Minor encounters favorable to

the Italian forces were reported from various places. On the Julian

front there were the usual artillery actions. The railway station at

Santa Lucia di Tolmino was hit by Italian fire.

Increased activity of reconnoitering parties led to small successful

encounters during February 17, 1917, at Cavento Adamello Pass, near

Forcellina di Montozzo, at Valcamonica in Vallaria, in the upper

Posina at Astico, and at Felizon in the Boite Valley, and in Frigido

Valley. In the upper But and on the Carso considerable artillery

actions were reported. During the next few days the Italian artillery

was again lively on several sectors of the mountain front. Tarvia was

repeatedly shelled. On February 19, 1917, Austrian patrols made

twenty-two prisoners as the result of an enterprise against Italian

positions east of Monte Zebio and north of Assio.

During the following night Austrian detachments entered through

galleries dug under the snow one of the Italian trenches near Casere

Zebio Pastorile. After heavy hand-to-hand fighting they were repulsed

with considerable loss, leaving some prisoners in the hands of the

Italians.

On February 20, 1917, the Austrians attempted attacks on the left bank

of the Maso Torreni and east of the Vertoibizza Torrent in the Frigido

Valley. There were desultory artillery actions. They became especially

intense in the south Loppio Valley in the upper Vanol, and on the

Carso.

Other raids attempted by the Austrians during February 21 and 22,

1917, against the Italians on the Zugna in the Adige Valley, between

Strigne and Spera in the Sugana Valley, and on the slopes of Monte

Cadini in the upper Boite Valley, failed owing to firm resistance. In

the Col di Lana area an Austrian detachment by a sudden attack

occupied one of the Italian outposts. The detachment was at once

counterattacked and driven off.

Again on February 23 and 24, 1917, the usual artillery actions took

place, particularly in the Sugana Valley, in the Plava sector, and

east of Goritz. Raids attempted by the Austrians against Italian

positions on the northern slopes of Col Bricon, in the Travignola

Valley, at Navagiust in the upper Degano, and on the slopes of Monte

Nero were repulsed. In the area southeast of Goritz Austrian

detachments, after a violent bombardment, attacked one of the advanced

Italian positions south of Vertoiba. They were driven back and

dispersed.

During the last few days of February, 1917, the weather cleared up

somewhat and brought increased artillery activities. The artillery

duel was more intense in the zone east of Goritz. Some shells fell on

the town. At the confluence of the Vertoibizza and Frigido the

Italians repulsed Austrian detachments that were attempting to

approach their lines. On the northern slopes of San Marco an Italian

detachment made a surprise attack and penetrated into the Austrian

trenches, which were destroyed and the occupants driven out.

The month of March, 1917, opened in the same manner in which February,

1917, had closed. There were intermittent artillery actions all along

the front. Italian batteries destroyed advanced Austrian posts on

Marmolado Mountain, near the upper Avisio River (Trentino front),

causing fires at various places. Detachments of Italian infantry on

March 2, 1917, successfully raided Austrian trenches at different

points, destroyed defensive works, and captured ammunition and other

war material. Austrian patrols made several similar raids.

On March 4, 1917, artillery activity increased noticeably on the

Trentino front from the Travignola Valley to the upper Cordevole. In

the upper part of the San Pellegrino Valley, in the Avisio district, a

brilliant attack by Italian troops resulted in the occupation of a

strong position at an altitude of almost 9,000 feet on the Costabella

group. The Italians captured sixty-one men and one machine gun. On the

Julian front there were again intermittent artillery actions. Italian

batteries caused explosions and fires in the Austrian lines near

Castagnievizza on the middle Isonzo. Austrian detachments that

attempted to approach the Italian positions southeast of Vertoiba were

repulsed.

During the night of March 9, 1917, Austrian detachments, in the midst

of a violent snowstorm, entered advanced positions on the southern

slopes of Cima di Bocche. They were driven out by a counterattack.

There were also the usual artillery duels. Italian batteries shelled

the station at Santa Lucia di Tolmino and the Austrian lines in the

Castaomavilla sector with good results. Not even minor engagements

were reported on the following day, March 10, 1917. But on March 11,

1917, an Austrian detachment, in the Concei-Ledro Valley, in the

Westerdak, after violent artillery and trench-mortar bombardment

against Bezzecoa and Mount View, attacked the Italian position in the

small valley of Vai, northeast of Lenzumo. The Austrians were repulsed

and a few prisoners were taken. On the remainder of the Trentino front

there were patrol encounters and increased artillery activity. In the

Travignola Valley of the Avisio, after trench-mortar preparation

against the southern slopes of Cima di Bocche, the Austrians attacked

toward Peneveggio. They were driven off. There were the usual

artillery actions along the Julian front. In the Castagnievizza

sector, on the Carso, the Italians surrounded an outpost and captured

the garrison, comprising nine men and one officer.

On March 12, 1917, there was the usual artillery activity in the

Trentino. The Austrian batteries showed increased activity in the

Tolmino Basin on the Julian front. On the Carso an Italian detachment

raided the Austrian lines southwest of Lucati and destroyed the works.

The dugouts were burned and twenty-four prisoners and one machine gun

captured. An Austrian counterattack failed.

CHAPTER XCVI

SPRING ON THE AUSTRO-ITALIAN FRONT

With the approach of spring, which of course comes late in the

mountainous regions in which the Austrians and Italians were fighting,

a quickening of all fighting activities became noticeable. Artillery

duels became more frequent and violent, scouting expeditions more

extensive and daring, and air reconnaissances an almost daily

occurrence. All this pointed to the coming of a new offensive. Rumors

were flying around almost as thickly as shells and bullets and they

credited equally both sides with making preparations. However, for

quite some time conditions continued very much in the same way in

which they had been running along during the winter.

In the Monte Forno zone, on the Asiago Plateau, an Austrian detachment

during the night of March 15, 1917, made a surprise irruption into

one of the Italian trenches, but was promptly repulsed by a

counterattack. In the upper Cordevole Valley small patrol engagements

occurred on the slopes of Monte Sief. On the Julian front there were

lively actions by both the artillery and by small infantry

detachments.

In the Adige Valley zone there was intense artillery activity on both

sides on March 16, 1917. Italian artillery bombarded the railway

station at Calliano and Austrian cantonments in the environs of Villa

Lagarina. Minor encounters of infantry occurred at Serravalle, Val

Lagarina, on the slopes of Monte Sief, in the upper Cordevole, near

the lower Studena, at Ponteblana Fella, and on the heights of Hill 126

on the borders of the Carso Plateau. Artillery and mine-throwing

engagements on the Carso Plateau and in the Wippach Valley went on day

and night. On the Cima di Costabella a minor Italian attack was

repulsed.

East of Monte Forno, at the north of the Asiago Plateau, detachments

of an Austrian regiment, advancing through snow tunnels, penetrated

into the Italian trenches, destroyed the dugouts, and inflicted

considerable losses upon the Italians.

On March 17, 1917, after violent artillery preparation the Austrians

attacked Italian positions at the head of the small valley of Coalbo,

in the Sugana, but were driven off with heavy losses. On the preceding

night the Austrians destroyed, by heavy artillery fire, the defensive

works of the position gained by the Italians in the San Pellegrino

Valley on March 4, 1917, and succeeded in occupying the upper portion

of it. On the Julian front increased artillery and trench-mortar

fighting was reported. In the Plava sector the Italians repulsed an

Austrian detachment which attempted to raid positions near Pallioca.

East of Vertoiba an Italian patrol entered the Austrian lines, which

were set afire. Ammunition and war material were taken. In the

district of Kostanjevica an Italian attack preceded by strong

artillery fire was repulsed before the village. On the Tyrolean front

Italian long-range cannon shelled Arco and Villa Lagarina.

On the whole front there was increased activity of the artillery on

March 18, 1917. It was most marked in the Lagarina Valley. Italian

field hospitals at Goritz and Ronchi were struck, causing a few

casualties. The Austrians attempted raids in the Giumella Valley and

in the Lucati sector, but were checked.

On March 19 and 20, 1917, there was again considerable artillery

activity in the Trentino. On Costabella Massif, after a violent

bombardment with gas shells, the Austrians repeatedly attacked

advanced Italian positions. They were repulsed with heavy loss. The

usual artillery actions and patrol encounters were reported on the

Julian front. Two Italian patrols entered the enemy lines in the Goritz

area and destroyed them.

Comparative inactivity was the rule during the following week. But

during the night of March 27, 1917, Austrian detachments in the Sugana

Valley attempted to approach Italian positions on the left bank of the

Maso Torrent west of Samone. They were driven off and dispersed by the

Italian fire.

There was also considerable artillery activity on the Julian front. At

dusk the bombardment was extremely severe in the section between the

Frigido and Dosso Faiti. After destroying the Italian defenses the

Austrians launched two attacks in force, one against Hill 126, where

they succeeded in occupying some advanced trenches, and the other

toward Dosso Faiti, which was repulsed.

Nothing of any importance occurred anywhere on the Austro-Italian

front during the last few days of March, 1917.

April brought somewhat warmer weather, resulting in the beginning of

the spring thaws. This made military operations even more difficult

and brought about a very noticeable reduction in all activities on

both sides. Not until April 6, 1917, was there anything of any

importance whatsoever to report, and even then the operations were

only of minor importance. On that day there were desultory artillery

actions along the front, although the prevailing bad weather greatly

interfered with operations.

During the afternoon the Austrians exploded a large mine in the

vicinity of advanced Italian positions on the second summit of Monte

Colbricon. The Italians suffered no serious damage and no casualties.

On the Carso a small detachment of Italian troops surprised and

occupied an advanced Austrian post north of Boscomalo, capturing the

entire garrison.

On April 10, 1917, the artillery activity, normal on the remainder of

the front, was more lively west of Lake Garda and in the Lagarina

Valley. The Austrians having renewed their attack with medium-caliber

guns on Limone Garda, Italian batteries replied by shelling the

Austrian lines in the vicinity of Arco and Rovereto. On the Carso

Italian patrols pushed back advanced positions of the Austrians at

many points.

During the night of April 11, 1917, the Austrians, after violent

artillery and trench-mortar preparations, succeeded momentarily in

entering one of the advanced Italian trenches to the east of Vertoiba,

but were immediately driven off on the arrival of Italian reserves.

Artillery was again active on April 12, 1917, on the Trentino front

between the Adige and San Pellegrino Valleys. Italian medium-caliber

batteries employed effective bursts of fire against the railway

station of Calliano, where an unusual movement of trains had been

observed. On the Colbricon Massif, in the upper Cismon Valley, the

Austrians had been mining toward Italian advanced positions. During

the night the Italians exploded a countermine, which destroyed the

Austrian gallery. The edge of the crater was occupied by Italian

troops and the position established. On the Julian front artillery

duels were reported in the Plava area, to the east of the Vertoibizza

Torrent and in the northern sector of the Carso. The Italians repulsed

minor attacks in the vicinity of Della Tolmino, and against the

position which they had captured on April 7, 1917, north of Boscomalo.

On April 13, 1917, the railway station at Calliano and moving trains

in the neighborhood were repeatedly hit, an ammunition depot was blown

up, and a fortified position destroyed in the Zugna area. On the

remainder of the Trentino front bad weather interfered with all

operations.

On the Colbricon Massif, in the upper Cismon, Austrian detachments

attempted to attack the position which the Italians had captured on

the preceding night after the explosion of their mine. They were

repulsed with loss. On the Julian front artillery duels took place in

the Goritz Basin.

Again on April 16, 1917, Italian artillery in the Lagarina Valley

renewed the bombardment of the station at Calliano, damaging the

building, putting trains and motor lorries to flight and dispersing

troops. Encounters among small groups of infantry were reported.

In the upper part of the Aravionodo Valley in the midst of a heavy

storm an Austrian detachment made a surprise attack and penetrated one

of the advanced Italian positions west of Lake Bocete. They were

driven back to their own lines. On the Julian front the artillery

fighting was more intense in the vicinity of Goritz.

Bad weather once more interfered seriously with all operations for a

few days. On April 20, 1917, however, there was again lively artillery

fire on the whole front. Italian batteries shelled Austrian camps in

the Lagarina Valley, dispersed Austrian detachments on the northern

slopes of Monte Pasubio and at various points on the Carnia front, and

checked Austrian fire in the Goritz area and on the Carso.

For the next two days only artillery duels were reported. These were

continued on April 23, 1917, in the Sugana Valley, where extensive

movements of troops behind the Austrian lines were reported. In the

upper Cordevole Valley an Austrian detachment, which attempted to

penetrate one of the Italian positions in the Campo zone, was

counterattacked and dispersed, abandoning some arms and munitions. An

Austrian attack at Gabria, northwest of Tolmino, had a like result,

the Austrians suffering appreciable losses.

On April 29, 1917, an Austrian detachment entered one of the advanced

Italian positions at Tonale Pass in the Camonica Valley.

Notwithstanding a violent barrage fire from the Austrian batteries,

Italian reenforcements at once reoccupied the position. The artillery

activity was continued in a desultory way. It was somewhat more

lively, however, in the Travignola Valley, at the head of the

Costeana stream, and in the Goritz area. Reconnaissance patrols were

active along the entire front.

The first definite signs of an impending Italian drive on the Julian

front appeared on May 12, 1917. Along the whole front between Tolmino

and the sea the Italians were active with artillery and mine throwers.

The fire lasted through the entire night. It caused explosions and

fires in the Austrian lines and was continued with unabated vigor in

spite of prompt response from the Austrian guns during May 13, 1917.

CHAPTER XCVII

THE ITALIAN DRIVE AGAINST TRIESTE

It now became quite evident that the Italians once more were ready to

attempt to reach their goal, Trieste. More and more violent became

their bombardment of the Austrian lines on the Isonzo front. On May

14, 1917, on the Julian front from Tolmino to the sea the destructive

fire of the Italian artillery, directed against strong Austrian

positions, reached great intensity and was vigorously answered by

numerous Austrian batteries of all calibers. Toward noon Italian

infantry made several raids on various points along the front, which

led to considerable progress in the Plava area, on the slopes of Monte

Cucco, and on the hills east of Goritz and Vertoibizza. At the same

time other Italian troops made a thrust in the northern sector of the

Carso and reached the wrecked Austrian lines east of Dosso Faiti,

capturing prisoners. The infantry actions continued during the entire

day, supported by artillery and trench mortars, which were keeping the

Austrian artillery in check.

On the remainder of the front the Austrians attempted various attacks

in force on advanced positions northwest of Tolmino and on the Asiago

Plateau. All were unsuccessful and resulted in severe casualties to

the assailants.

This offensive action, it now appeared, had really begun on May 12,

1917, when, in the morning, fire was opened along the whole line from

Tolmino to the sea. It was maintained with a regularly quickened

rhythm until the morning of May 14, 1917, when it was intensified to a

powerful drum fire. During the first part of the bombardment the

Austrians reacted but feebly. It seemed as though the Austrians had

been taken by surprise, but their reply was more vigorous on May 13,

1917, and extremely violent on the morning of the 14th. Austrian

batteries then opened a heavy curtain of fire, pouring thousands of

projectiles on the trenches in the Italian line.

Undeterred by this tempest of fire, the Italian infantry, toward noon,

leaped over the parapets and dashed forward toward the objectives

previously assigned. These positions were almost all difficult ones,

and some of them hitherto had been regarded as impregnable; such, for

instance, as the heights on the left bank of the Isonzo, from Plava to

Salcano Pass. The steep slopes, covered with rocks and dotted here and

there with thick clumps of brush, constituted a formidable obstacle to

an infantry advance. Successive lines of trenches, prepared months

before above deep caverns, well supplied with defensive and offensive

material, were defended by seasoned troops and protected by batteries

placed so as to flank attacks with their fire. Notwithstanding these

conditions, the Italian infantry advanced.

This vigorous offensive movement was continued by the Italian troops

on May 15, 1917. Ably supported by artillery, they succeeded in

establishing themselves on the steep and wooded heights along the

eastern bank of the Isonzo, north of Goritz, which had been

transformed by the Austrians into a formidably fortified defensive

position. On the left wing one of the Italian columns, after forcing a

passage across the river between Loga and Bombrez, captured the

last-named village and fortified itself there.

In the center the heights of Hill 383, northeast of Plava, were

captured, while the Florence infantry brigade and the Vaellino

brigade, after taking by assault the villages of Zagora and Zagomila,

which were infested by machine guns, carried the crests of Monte Cucco

and Monte Vodice with great dash.

On the right wing the other Italian columns made considerable progress

on the steep slopes of Monte Santo. Fierce Austrian counterattacks,

prepared and supported by a bombardment of exceptional violence, were

all repulsed.

In the area east of Goritz the Messina brigade conquered Hill 174

north of Tivoli, which was strongly fortified and stubbornly held by

the Austrians, whose insistent counterattacks were beaten back.

The city of Goritz suffered a heavy bombardment from Austrian

batteries, and some buildings were seriously damaged.

On the remainder of the front down to the sea there were lively

artillery actions. The Austrian rear lines were again effectively

bombed by air squadrons and during the night by airships.

In the first two days of their advance the Italians made 3,375

prisoners, among them ninety-eight officers. They also captured a

mountain battery, about thirty machine guns, and much war material,

including arms and ammunition.

On the following day, May 16, 1917, the Austrian resistance stiffened

somewhat. In spite of this the Italian advance continued. Fighting in

the zone between Monte Cucco and Vodice was bitter and lengthy.

Considerable Austrian masses, supported by the fire of numerous

batteries, were repeatedly launched against Italy's new positions.

Each time they were repulsed, and the Fochux bastion of Monte Cucco

from Height 611 to Height 525 remained firmly in Italian hands.

Moreover, the Italians made appreciable progress toward the important

summit of Height 652, on the Vodice.

In the zone east of Goritz Austrian counterattacks, directed

particularly against the summit of Height 174 and to the east of the

Vertoibizza Torrent, broke down under Italian fire. Afterward Italian

infantry, assuming a counteroffensive, occupied the important height

to the south of Grazigna after a desperate conflict.

On the Carso Plateau the Austrians, with the evident object of

lessening the Italian pressure in the region of Goritz, attempted a

powerful effort against positions at Monte Vuocgnacco and Monte Faiti,

on the northern sector of the plateau. Successive waves of Austrian

infantry were broken down by well-directed fire, or rolled back in

disorder after having suffered serious losses.

On the whole front from Tolmino to the sea there were continuous

actions by artillery of all calibers. The Austrian artillery continued

its work of devastation on the city of Goritz.

On May 17, 1917, the Italian troops were engaged in fortifying the

important position captured east of Goritz and organizing

communication with the rear. The Austrians attempted but failed to

hinder the work of the Italian forces.

During the night the Austrians under cover of darkness attempted

surprise attacks upon positions on the bridgehead of Bodrez (on the

Isonzo seven miles southwest of Tolmino), on the Vodice, Hill 592, and

at Grazigna. In the morning the Austrians brought up strong

reenforcements and renewed their attack, which was particularly

violent in the Vodice region and south of Grazigna. Shattered by

Italian battery fire the Austrian masses were counterattacked and

repulsed by infantry, who at several points surrounded their

assailants and forced them to surrender.

The number of prisoners by now had increased to 6,432, including 143

officers.

All along the front from Tolmino to the sea the artillery continued

very active. Goritz again suffered very heavy damage.

Surprise attacks during the night of May 17, 1917, on Italian

positions on the heights of Hill 592 on Monte Vodice were repulsed. In

the morning of May 18, 1917, Italian troops opened a vigorous attack,

with the object of capturing the heights of Hill 652 on Monte Vodice,

the key to the Austrian defenses north of Monte Santo. The stubborn

resistance of the Austrians, supported by numerous batteries of all

calibers, which kept up a continuous fire from the rear, rendered the

action long and severe. Advancing from rock to rock, expelling the

Austrians from trench and cavern, destroying their machine guns,

Italian infantry by evening succeeded in reaching the crest of the

long-contested heights and maintaining the position against the

concentrated fire of Austrian batteries.

With the capture of the ridge between Monte Cucco and Monte Vodice,

the task of diverting the Austrian attention, which was assigned to

the troops in the sector between Bodrez and Loga, was completed, and

they withdrew to the right bank of the Isonzo without molestation from

the Austrians.

In the region east of Goritz the Italians maintained all their

positions against persistent attacks, which were particularly violent

south of Grazigna and on the heights of Hill 174 south of Tivoli.

On the remainder of the front incessant artillery duels occurred. The

Austrian fire was especially violent against Goritz and the

surrounding villages.

In the area north of Goritz the Italian troops on May 19, 1917,

extended their positions on Hill 652, on the Vodice (a ridge which

links captured Monte Cucco with Monte Santo, the immediate Italian

objective in this region). Dense masses of Austrians preceded by a

heavy barrage fire counterattacked in an attempt to stop the Italian

progress, but each time were driven back with heavy loss. In the

evening the Austrians withdrew their infantry, and concentrated a

strong artillery fire on the lost positions. These the Italians firmly

maintained. They captured two 4-inch guns, two 6-inch mortars, trench

mortars and machine guns, and a large quantity of arms and ammunition.

In the area east of Goritz Italian troops broke into the Austrian line

and took some prisoners. On the Trentino front the Austrians attempted

a diversion by a heavy bombardment and by local infantry attacks

without success.

These attempts were resumed on May 20, 1917, in the Trentino, in the

Campo area, in the Daone Valley, southeast of Lake Loppio, at Rio

Cameras, in the Adige Valley, and on the Maso Torrent line in the

Sugana Valley. Late in the evening masses of Austrian troops

vigorously assaulted Italian positions on the Pasubio, west of Monte

Dente. After heavy hand-to-hand fighting, the Austrians, suffering

severe loss, were completely driven back all along the line of attack.

On the Julian front, Austrian attacks on the northern slopes of San

Marco, east of Goritz, between Monte Vuocgnacco and Monte Faiti, and

in the neighborhood of Hill 268 were repulsed. The Italians took Hill

363, between Palieva and Britof, east of Plava, and extended their

positions still more on the Vodice.

On May 21, 1917, the Austrians on the Trentino front, notwithstanding

the repulse so far suffered, persisted in making desultory and

fruitless attempts to divert the Italians from their main objectives.

Raids were made in force against the advanced Italian line at Caventro

Pass, Adamello, Pluberga Bridge, in the Chiesa, and in the Giumella

Valley, at Rio Pionale. All were repulsed. Between Lake Garda and the

Adige the Austrians, after an intense and prolonged bombardment with

artillery of all calibers, attacked positions on Monte Dosso Alto,

southwest of Loppio Lake, and on Monte Zugna. They were driven back

with heavy loss. Other local attacks which were attempted in the

Posina Valley, on the Asiago Plateau, and in Carnia failed. On the

Julian front, in the sector north of Goritz, the artillery duel,

already spirited, became more intense, but was not followed by

infantry action. The position which the Italians captured on Hill 363,

east of Plava, was consolidated.

East of Goritz the Austrians attempted repeatedly to recapture Hill

126, south of Grazigna, but failed on account of the effective action

of Italian artillery reserves.

A slight lull set in on May 22, 1917, except that the Italians opened

a very heavy fire against the Austrian positions on the Carso Plateau.

This bombardment continued on May 23, 1917, and after ten hours of

violent bombardment, the troops of the Third Italian Army assaulted

and broke through the well-organized Austrian lines from

Castagnievizza to the sea. While they were heavily engaging the

Austrians on the left, other troops, after carrying trenches in the

center and on the right, occupied part of the area south of the

Castagnievizza-Boscomalo road, passed Boscomalo and captured Jamiano,

the important and strongly fortified heights of Hill 92 east of

Pietrarossa, Hill 77, Hill 58, Bagni, and Hill 21. The Austrians, at

first surprised by the sudden onslaught, toward evening

counterattacked in force, supported by an exceptionally heavy

bombardment. They were repulsed with severe loss.

During the day the Italians captured more than 9,000 prisoners,

including more than 300 officers. In the Goritz area Italian troops

repulsed heavy attacks, captured a strong point on the northwest

slopes of San Marco, and after severe fighting made considerable gains

in the Monte Santo and Vodice areas.

It was also announced officially that ten British batteries assisted

in the fighting of these days.

On May 24, 1917, the battle continued to rage along the Julian front

from the sea to Plava. Italian troops, advancing over very difficult

and intricate ground, fought their way, yard by yard, through a deep

labyrinth of fortifications stubbornly defended by strong,

well-trained forces.

In the sector between the sea and the Jamiano-Brestovizza road large

Italian forces, supported by some field batteries which advanced with

the infantry, drove the Austrians back as far as Foce Timavo, Flondar,

and Hill 31, a line south of Jamiano.

North of Jamiano, after heavy fighting, the strongly fortified heights

Hills 235 and 247 were carried and the Italian positions extended as

far as the outlying houses of Versic.

The Austrians attempted to lighten the Italian pressure on the

southern Carso by violent counterattacks from Castagnievizza to

Frigido. All these efforts failed. East of Goritz persistent Austrian

raids were repulsed during the night on Hill 174, north of Tivoli, and

at Grazigna. In the region of Monte Cucco and Monte Vodice the

Austrians vainly made every effort to retake captured positions. An

Austrian column attempted a surprise attack against Italian lines east

of Hill 652 on the Vodice. It was counterattacked and driven back to

its point of departure, which was then carried and held by Italian

troops. East of Plava the Italians extended their occupation on Hill

363.

CHAPTER XCVIII

THE HEIGHT OF THE ITALIAN OFFENSIVE

The struggle which had now been raging for almost a fortnight

continued with unabated strength. Although the Austrians put up a most

gallant and determined resistance, they could not keep back the

Italian advance, which apparently was made with superior infantry and

artillery forces.

On May 25, 1917, heavy fighting continued on the Carso. After intense

artillery preparation lasting until 4 o'clock in the afternoon,

infantry of the Seventh Italian Army Corps vigorously attacked and

carried the network of trenches extending from the mouth of the Timavo

River to a point east of Jamiano and took possession of the heights

between Flondar and Medeazza.

Farther north, after severe hand-to-hand fighting, the Austrian

defenses at the labyrinth east of Boscomalo were broken and Hill 220,

southeast of the village, and trenches around Castagnievizza were

taken. The operations on the northern sector of the Carso were

confined almost exclusively to artillery actions. The Italians

extended their positions on Hill 174, north of Tivoli.

The fighting was very heavy in the Vodice area, where the Austrians

made every effort to dislodge the Italians from the important point

Hill 652, which, however, remained firmly in Italian possession. After

violent artillery preparation dense masses of Austrian troops

attempted repeatedly and stubbornly to attack the Italian lines.

In the Plava zone the Italians made farther progress on the slopes of

Hill 363 in the Rogat Valley. The total number of prisoners captured

so far on the Julian front from May 14 to 25, 1917, was 22,419,

including 487 officers.

It was now the fourth day of this new Carso battle. Still the Italians

extended their positions. On May 26, 1917, artillery action all along

the line continued fiercely from sunrise until evening. In the

afternoon between the coast and Jamiano Italian infantry by a

brilliant assault succeeded in reaching a point beyond the railway

from Monfalcone to Duino, northeast of San Giovanni, and carried the

strongly fortified Hill 145 southwest of Medeazza. They established

themselves a few hundred yards from the village.

North of Jamiano violent attacks and counterattacks followed in

succession all day, supported by artillery fire. Castagnievizza also

was reached and passed, but the persistent and concentrated shelling

by a number of Austrian batteries compelled the Italians to evacuate

ground there. The latter maintained a hold on the western boundary,

however.

In the area east and north of Goritz the artillery action was intense.

The Italians shelled the basins of Cargaro and Britof, in which the

Austrian supplies centered.

In the Plava sector Italian infantry carried the heights at the head

of the Palieva Valley, thus connecting their Monte Cucco lines with

those on Hill 363.

Weather conditions on May 27, 1917, slowed down the fighting

everywhere, but did not prevent the Italians from extending their

various successes slightly in all directions.

On May 28, 1917, however, the Isonzo battle was resumed for the third

time. A new and large Italian attacking wave was directed against the

heights of Vodice and Monte Santo. An Italian attack launched at noon

against the north slope was preceded by powerful artillery fire. It

extended along the entire sector.

During the afternoon it resulted many times in severe hand-to-hand

fighting, which also raged during the night. Especially violent

fighting occurred in the region of Hill 652. The entire extent of the

Austrian front, however, now offered iron resistance to all Italian

efforts.

South of Jamiano the Italians attacked Austrian positions four times,

losing, besides heavy casualties, fifteen officers and 800 men as

prisoners. The number of prisoners brought in by the Austrians since

the commencement of the Isonzo battle amounted to 14,500 men,

according to their official statements.

The Italian offensive now began to come to a stop. The hard fighting

naturally had exhausted the Italian forces and munitions and by now

strong Austrian reserves had come up and made the resistance

sufficiently strong to stop further advances. On May 29 and 30, 1917,

artillery was not very active on the Trentino front and in the Carnia,

but was very heavy on the Julian front, particularly in the sector

from Monte Cucco to Vodice and east of Goritz.

On May 31, 1917, considerable artillery activity developed in the

northern sector of the Carso and on the line from Goritz to Plava. In

the Vodice area numerous massed troops of the Austrians made a violent

attack upon Italian positions on Hills 592 and 652. The attack,

prepared by intense artillery fire and carried out with stubbornness,

failed.

On June 1 and 2, 1917, the activity on the whole front was confined

for the most part to the artillery, which was especially active

against Italian positions east of Plava, in the Vodice area, and in

the northern sector of the Carso.

On the Carso, after several days of violent artillery preparation, the

Austrians attacked in mass on June 4, 1917, from Dosso Faiti to the

sea. Although the Dosso Faiti positions were completely destroyed,

they were strenuously defended by the Italians. The latter also

resisted determined attacks from Castagnievizza to the ridges north of

Jamiano and by counterattacks and heavy hand-to-hand fighting

succeeded in maintaining their positions and even in occupying new

advanced positions near Castagnievizza and Versic.

South of Jamiano, while maintaining their wing positions, the Italians

were obliged to rectify somewhat the center of their new line to avoid

the Austrian fire, at the same time carrying out frequent

counterattacks, effectively stopping the Austrians.

It apparently was now the Austrians' turn. The Italians began to

report slight withdrawals. On June 5, 1917, lively artillery duels

continued on the front from the Monte Nero area to the heights of

Goritz. On the Carso the violent shelling of Italian positions from

Versic to Jamiano was resumed, provoking an energetic reply from their

batteries.

South of Jamiano the fighting was less intense. The new Italian line

fronting Flondar, however, was withdrawn slightly to a position more

advantageous tactically.

The struggle continued during the next few days, especially near

Jamiano. Positions changed hands frequently, but the advantage now

seemed to be slightly with the Austrians, though neither side

registered any extensive successes. The fighting gradually slowed down

to the type which had been employed previous to the Italian drive.

Most of the positions which the Italian forces had gained, remained,

however, securely in their hands.

On June 10, 1917, there was a slight revival of more extensive

operations, especially in the Trentino. Throughout the whole of the

mountain zone of operations there was more fighting than usual,

especially between the Adige and Brenta Rivers. In the night the

Austrians were driven back and followed up at the Tonale Pass, in the

upper Chiesa Valley, on the slope of Dosso Casino, and in the Posina

Valley.

On the Asiago Plateau Italian artillery destroyed the Austrians'

complex system of defenses at several points. Italian infantry,

attacking during a violent storm in the direction of Monte Zebio and

Monte Forno, carried the pass of Agnello, and captured nearly the

whole of Monte Ortigara, 6,924 feet high, east of Cima Undice.

On the remainder of the front there were desultory concentrations of

fire on the part of the Austrian batteries, to which the Italians

replied. On the Carso attacks on the Italian line south of

Castagnievizza were completely repelled.

During the balance of June, 1917, only isolated actions of importance

occurred. On June 15, 1917, east of the Adamello Massif in the eastern

Trentino, Italian Alpine detachments and skiers advanced over very

difficult ground, notwithstanding furious resistance, and attacked the

strongly fortified positions of Corno Cavento, at an altitude of 3,400

meters. The position was carried. The Italians captured what was left

of the enemy garrison and two 75-mm. guns, one trench mortar, four

machine guns, and a large quantity of supplies and ammunition. On the

front of the Asiago Plateau the Austrian artillery continued to show

great activity. Patrol attacks on Italian positions on Monte Zebio

were repulsed.

On the Ortigara at dawn Italian positions on Hill 2,101 were again

attacked with extreme violence. From 2.30 o'clock onward the

Austrians, continually reenforced, redoubled their efforts, but they

all failed.

In the San Pellegrino Valley an attack upon advanced Italian positions

on the massif of Costabella was repulsed.

On the southern slopes of Monte Rombon the Italians occupied by

surprise advanced posts, and maintained the same in spite of the

concentrated fire of the Austrians.

On the Julian front the artillery fire was especially noticeable in

the Tolmino sector, and on the heights northeast of Goritz. Columns of

Austrian motor lorries were dispersed, and troops assembled east of

Castagnievizza were shelled.

Again on June 20, 1917, the Italians renewed their activity in the

Trentino. After twenty-four hours of artillery preparation, an Italian

infantry attack on Sette Communi Plateau began early in the morning,

and was carried out with the greatest display of effort, especially on

the northern wing in the region of Monte Forno and the frontier ridge.

All the assaults failed. A local success which gave the Italians a

gain of about 100 yards was nullified by a counterattack. Nothing of

importance occurred on the Isonzo front.

On the Asiago Plateau fighting was resumed on June 25, 1917. All night

Italian troops opposed the desperate efforts of the Austrians, who,

notwithstanding heavy losses, were attempting to retake the positions

recently lost in the Monte Ortigara sector. Attacks and counterattacks

were continuously made on the contested positions. Diversions at the

same time by the Austrians on other portions of the front were

completely stopped.

On June 28, 1917, the artillery struggle was fairly active on the

whole front. In answer to the fire directed by the Austrians against

Ala the Italians repeatedly shelled the railway station at Calliano.

On the Asiago Plateau the Austrians concentrated a violent fire on

Agnello Pass. Near Santa Lucia, in the Tolmino region, traffic was

interrupted repeatedly by Italian fire.

Throughout the last few days of June, 1917, and all of July, 1917,

only minor operations were undertaken by either side. Artillery

activity varied in extent and frequency from day to day, and so did

the operations of outposts and patrols. In a general way, however,

there was no readjustment of the positions which had been established

by the latest Italian drive.

On March 10, 1917, Austria-Hungary issued a proclamation, ostensibly

to the Albanians, but obviously addressed to the whole world, that

Albania was to enjoy local autonomy under an Austro-Hungarian

protectorate. In June, 1917, Italy responded with a similar

proclamation, granting Albania independence under Italian protection.

At the time the announcement was made a semiofficial interview was

granted to the representative of a London newspaper by Deputy Eugenio

Chiesa, who had recently returned from a tour of inspection of the

parts of Albania held by the Italian army:

"The Italian occupation in Albania and northern Epirus," he said,

"extends well into the Greek kingdom. Not only have the Italians

occupied Valona and its hinterland, but they have passed a long way to

the south of the boundary between Greece proper and northern Epirus at

Cape Stylos and have extended in a northern direction as far as the

river Kalamas, opposite the south end of Corfu, which was intended by

the thirteenth protocol of the Berlin Congress of 1878, and by the

Berlin Conference of 1880, to have been the northwestern frontier of

Greece, but which, since the last Balkan wars, has been well within

the enlarged northwestern boundary. I am opposed," continued Signor

Chiesa, "to the permanent occupation of these places, nor do I believe

the Italian Government intends to retain them. I consider as sincere

the manifesto of the commandant of Valona, but Valona Kanina, north

of Valona, the surrounding districts, and the isle of Saseto must

remain Italian, not only for strategic but for sanitary reasons, owing

to the necessity of draining the pestilential marshes which affect the

health of Valona. Venizelos, with whom I spoke at Saloniki, frankly

recognized this occupation of Valona, Saseto, and the territory about

Valona. The Italians have already constructed over 400 kilometers of

roads and opened over 125 schools, where both Italian and Albanian are

taught.... Corfu cannot remain Italian, it ought to be Greek."

PART XII--WAR ON THE SEA

CHAPTER XCIX

SUBMARINE WARFARE

The six months' period from February 1, 1917, to August 1, 1917,

covers a more intensified submarine activity than any other period

since the beginning of the war. It was on February 1, 1917, that the

so-called unrestricted submarine warfare was initiated by the German

Government. As was to be expected, losses resulting from this new type

of "frightfulness" quickly became very large. As time went on,

however, it became evident that the Germans were unable to maintain

their submarine sinkings on an equal basis at all times. Losses varied

greatly from week to week. However, even at that they soon became so

severe as to cause grave difficulties to the countries fighting

against Germany and her allies, which before long were joined by the

United States as a result of Germany's new submarine policy.

Difficult as it had been in the past to compile an accurate account of

submarine losses, such an attempt became even more impossible now.

All the governments involved soon followed Great Britain's lead and

stopped the publication of detailed data concerning their respective

maritime losses. Figures, it is true, were published, at least by

England, at regular intervals. But they were far from complete or

accurate. It is now next to impossible to give even an approximate

idea of the total losses.

The following data come as close to being correct as a careful

consultation of official statements permits. They must, however, not

be considered complete.

Up to the date of writing the United States had not published any

official figures covering the losses incurred by the American merchant

marine. From newspaper and other accounts, however, it appears that

between February 1, 1917, and July 16, 1917, from thirty to forty

American ships of more than 100,000 tons were lost. The first of these

was the steamer _Housatonic_, sunk on February 3, 1917, near the

Scilly Islands without loss of life. The sailing schooner _Lyman M.

Law_ was sent to the bottom of the sea on February 12, 1917, off the

coast of Sardinia in the Mediterranean, also without loss of life.

Next on the list was the steamer _Algonquin_, sunk on March 12, 1917,

near the Scilly Islands without loss of life. Four days later, March

16, 1917, the steamer _Vigilancia_ went down with a loss of fifteen

men. On March 17, 1917, the _City of Memphis_ was torpedoed, and on

March 18, 1917, the _Illinois_, both without loss of life. The sinking

of the steamer _Healdon_ in the North Sea on March 21, 1917, however,

brought about the loss of twenty-one members of her crew, seven of

whom were Americans. On April 2, 1917, the sinking of the armed

steamer _Aztec_ was reported. With her twenty-eight of the crew,

including a U. S. N. boat-swain's mate, perished. The _Missourian_

went down on April 4, 1917, and the _Seward_ on April 7, 1917, both in

the Mediterranean. On April 24, 1917, the sinking of the schooner

_Percy Birdsall_ was reported. The crew was rescued. Later that month

another small schooner, the _Woodward Abrahams_ was sent to the

bottom. On April 28, 1917, off the north coast of Ireland, the oil

tanker _Vacuum_ was sunk. As a result of exposure in lifeboats,

seventeen of her crew, including some naval gunners, died. On May 2,

1917, the loss of the steamer _Rockingham_ was reported, two of her

crew being lost. During May, 1917, the following American-owned boats

were sunk: _Hilonian_, _Harpagus_, _Dirigo_, _Frances M._, _Barbara_,

and _Margaret B. Rouss_. Between June 12, 1917, and July 16, 1917, the

American merchant marine lost, besides some small boats, the following

eight vessels with a total tonnage of over 38,000: _Hansau_,

_Haverford_, _Bay State_, _Moreni_, _Petrolite_, _Massapequa_,

_Orleans_, and _Grace_.

The following list shows the losses of the British merchant marine

during the period from February 25, 1917, to July 22, 1917. The

figures are those published weekly by the British admiralty. During

the month of February, 1917, 110 British ships of varying size and of

a total tonnage of 316,204 were sunk:

Week Ending Over Under Fishing

1,600 Tons 1,600 Tons Vessels

March 4 14 9 3

March 11 13 4 3

March 18 16 8 21

March 25 18 17 10

April 1 18 13 3

April 8 17 2 6

April 15 19 9 12

April 22 40 15 9

April 29 38 13 8

May 6 24 22 16

May 13 18 5 3

May 20 18 9 3

May 27 18 1 2

June 3 15 3 5

June 10 22 10 6

June 17 27 5 0

June 24 21 7 0

July 1 15 5 11

July 8 14 3 7

July 15 14 4 8

July 22 21 3 1

July 29 18 3 0

These figures show that in twenty-two weeks England lost 438 vessels

over 1,600 tons, 170 vessels under 1,600 tons, and 187 fishing

vessels. The average tonnage of vessels over 1,600 tons has been said

to be 4,500. On that basis the loss in this class alone would amount

to about 2,000,000 tons. If we add to this the total loss during

February, 1917, and an approximate figure representing the loss of

vessels under 1,600 tons and of fishing vessels, it is safe to assume

that the total loss suffered by the British merchant marine between

February 1, 1917, and July 29, 1917, was about 2,650,000 tons.

On June 30, 1917, the German admiralty claimed that since the

beginning of the war more than 5,500,000 tons of shipping available

for Great Britain's supply of food, munitions, and materials had been

destroyed up to June 1, 1917, and that, on that date, there was

available for this purpose from all sources only about 4,500,000 tons

which, it was claimed, could be destroyed at the rate of from 800,000

to 1,000,000 tons a month.

Of the other Allied countries only France supplied from time to time

definite figures. During February, March, and April, 1917, seventeen

French vessels were sunk while nine others were attacked, but escaped.

During May, 1917, twenty-eight French vessels were attacked. Of these

eighteen escaped and ten were sunk. In June, 1917, fourteen French

boats were sunk and twenty escaped. During the early part of July,

1917, two more French steamers were reported sunk having a tonnage of

almost 10,000. On June 22, 1917, a debate in the French Chamber of

Deputies developed the fact that the French merchant fleet was

2,500,000 tons at the beginning of the war and since that time had

lost 560,000 tons, 460,000 by acts of war. During the same period

680,000 tons had been built or bought and another 140,000 was on the

stocks, so that the fleet was actually greater now than before the

war.

The grand total of submarine operations during February, 1917,

according to figures compiled by the British admiralty, showed the

following results:

Number of ships sunk--British, 110; American, 2; other belligerents,

20; neutrals, 51.

Total tonnage destroyed--British, 316,204; American, 3,322; other

belligerents, 44,272; neutrals, 93,019. Grand total February 1-28,

456,817 tons.

On the other hand the German admiralty made the following official

announcement on March 19, 1917; "In February 368 merchant ships of an

aggregate gross tonnage of 781,500 were lost by the war measures of

the Central Powers. Among them were 292 hostile ships, with an

aggregate gross tonnage of 644,000 and seventy-six neutral ships of an

aggregate gross tonnage of 137,500."

The State Department in Washington on April 10, 1917, gave out the

following official figures regarding neutral losses inflicted by

submarines:

"Information has been received by the department that since the

beginning of the war, including April 3, a total of 686 vessels have

been sunk by German submarines, as follows: Norwegian, 410; Swedish,

111; Dutch, 61; Greek, 50; Spanish, 33; American, 10; Peruvian, 1;

Argentine, 1; total, 686. Neutral vessels attacked and escaped:

Norwegian, 32; Swedish, 9; Danish, 5; Greek, 8; Spanish, 2; Argentine,

1; Brazilian, 1; American, 8; total, 66."

On May 8, 1917, a debate in the Reichstag brought out the fact that

the German admiralty claimed to have sunk during February, March, and

April, 1917, 1,325 vessels of all sizes and nationalities with a

tonnage of 2,800,000.

Denmark on May 22, 1917, announced that since the beginning of the war

150 ships had been lost and 210 Danish seamen had perished.

On May 28, 1917, the Athens newspaper "Patris" printed a list of 102

Greek ships of a total tonnage of 300,000 which had been sunk by

submarines, leaving 149 Greek ships with a displacement of 500,000

tons still afloat.

Norway during March, 1917, lost sixty-four ships, during April, 1917,

seventy-five; and during May, 1917, forty-nine.

On June 25, 1917, it was announced that from the beginning of the war

up to that date Norway had lost 572 vessels of 815,000 tons, 431 of

these of 680,000 tons being steamers. This made Norway by far the

heaviest loser among all neutrals.

From all various sources it appears that the total tonnage sunk during

the six months from February 1, 1917, to July 31, 1917, amounted to

somewhere between five and six millions.

Of course the submarine fleet of the Central Powers suffered severe

losses during the six months' period, February to August, 1917. The

means employed to put submarines out of business were manifold. Large

flotillas of small but swift patrol boats, squadrons of destroyers,

guns mounted forward and aft on merchantmen, dragnets, mine fields,

and last but not least aeroplanes, all contributed their share toward

the combating of submarine warfare. Just how many submarines have been

sunk or captured is not even approximately known. From good

authorities, however, it appears that the Germans up to now have been

able to put new submarines into commission at a greater rate than the

Allies have been able to maintain in destroying them.

Only one case of a submarine fighting and destroying another submarine

became known. This occurred on June 2, 1917, when a French submarine

sank a hostile submarine just as it was sailing out of the harbor of

Cattaro on the Dalmatian (Austro-Hungarian) coast of the Adriatic Sea.

CHAPTER C

NAVAL OPERATIONS

The principal feature of naval warfare, aside from that conducted by

and against submarines, was the absence of major engagements. Such

engagements as occurred were of a minor nature and confined to

meetings between patrol units or to local raids.

On February 25, 1917, German destroyers bombarded Broadstairs and

Margate on the English coast. Two deaths but no material damage

resulted.

About the same time it was announced that on February 15, 1917, a

British cruiser had fought a successful engagement against three

German raiders off the coast of Brazil, damaging two of them. The

third escaped.

Not until March 22, 1917, did the German Government announce that the

raider _Moewe_ had returned to her home port from a very successful

second raiding trip in the Atlantic Ocean which had yielded

twenty-seven captured vessels, most of which of course had been sunk.

Still another German raider was heard of on March 30, 1917. On that

day the French bark _Cambronne_ arrived at the Brazilian port of Rio

de Janeiro, having on board the crews of eleven vessels which had been

captured and sunk by the raider. The latter was said to have been the

former American bark _Pass of Balmaha_ which had been captured by the

Germans in August, 1915, and at that time had been taken into

Cuxhaven. She had been renamed _Seeadler_ and was a three-master of

about 2,800 tons, square rigged, with a speed of about twelve knots,

and was equipped with a powerful wireless plant. Her armament was said

to have consisted of two 105-mm. guns and sixteen machine guns, and a

crew of sixty-four men. The boat apparently had left Germany in

December, 1916, escorted by a submarine, and had successfully evaded

the British patrol, not mounting her guns until she had run the

British blockade. The eleven ships known to have been sunk by the

_Seeadler_ were:

_Antonin_, French sailing vessel, 3,071 tons, owned in Dunkirk; 31 men

on board.

_British Yeoman_, British sailing vessel, 1,963 tons, owned in

Victoria, B. C.; 21 men.

_Buenos Ayres_, Italian sailing vessel, 1,811 tons, owned in Naples;

21 men.

_Charles Gounod_, French sailing vessel, 2,199 tons, owned in Nantes;

24 men.

_Dupleix_, French sailing vessel, 2,206 tons, owned in Nantes; 22 men.

_Gladys Royle_, British steamship, 3,268 tons, owned in Sunderland; 26

men.

_Horngarth_, British steamship, 3,609 tons gross, owned in Cardiff;

33 men.

_Lady Island_ (or _Landy Island_), 4,500 tons; 25 men.

_La Rochefoucauld_, French sailing vessel, 2,200 tons; owned in

Nantes; 24 men.

_Perce_, British schooner, 364 tons, owned in Halifax; 6 men, 1 woman.

_Pinmore_, British sailing vessel, 2,431 tons, owned in Greenock, 29

men.

_The Cambronne_, which on her arrival at Rio de Janeiro had on board

263 men, had been brought up by the raider on March 7, 1917, in the

Atlantic Ocean in latitude 21 south, longitude 7 west, or almost on a

straight line with Rio, but twenty-two days east.

During March, 1917, the British Government announced an extension of

the danger area in the North Sea, which affected chiefly the protected

area off Holland and Denmark. On March 28, 1917, German warships,

cruising off the south coast of England, attacked and sank the British

patrol boat _Mascot_.

On April 8, 1917, an engagement occurred between British boats and

German destroyers off Zeebrugge on the Belgian coast. One of the

German destroyers was sunk and another was seriously damaged.

Various raids were carried out during April, 1917, against the English

coast. On April 21, 1917, six German destroyers attempted an attack on

Dover. Two of them were sunk by British destroyers. The Germans also

claimed to have sunk two British patrol boats. Six days later, on

April 27, 1917, another German destroyer squadron attacked Ramsgate,

killing two civilians before they were driven off by land batteries.

During another engagement a few days later between British light

cruisers and destroyers and eleven German destroyers off Holland, one

German boat was damaged.

Both Calais and Dunkirk were bombarded by German destroyers. In the

former town some civilians were killed. As a result of the attack on

Dunkirk one French destroyer was sunk.

On May 10, 1917, a squadron of eleven German destroyers about to sail

out of Zeebrugge was attacked by a British naval force and forced back

into the former Belgian harbor, then serving as a German naval base.

Two days later, May 12, 1917, the same British force assisted by an

air squadron successfully attacked Zeebrugge, destroying two submarine

sheds and killing sixty-three persons.

During May, 1917, it was also announced that American warships had

arrived safely in British waters and had begun patrol operations in

the North Sea. At about the same time Japanese warships made their

appearance at Marseilles to assist in the war against submarines

operating off the French coast.

On May 15, 1917, Austrian light cruisers operating in the Adriatic

Sea, sunk fourteen British mine sweepers, torpedoed the British light

cruiser _Dartmouth_, and sunk an Italian destroyer.

An engagement occurred between a French and a German torpedo-boat

flotilla on May 20, 1917, during which one of the French boats was

damaged. A few days later British warships bombarded Ostend and

Zeebrugge. Six German destroyers engaged in a running fight with a

British squadron, as a result of which one German destroyer was sunk

and another damaged. On May 29, 1917, a Russian squadron, operating

along the Anatolian (south) coast of the Black Sea bombarded four

Turkish-Armenian ports and destroyed 147 sailing vessels carrying

supplies.

Thirteen Bulgarian ships successfully bombarded the Greek port of

Kavala, then occupied by Allied forces.

Fort Saliff on the Red Sea was captured by British warships. Fort

Saliff is a Turkish fortress on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea.

Nothing of importance happened during June, 1917.

Early in July, 1917, a German submarine bombarded Ponta Delgada in the

Azores, but was beaten off by ships lying in the harbor, including an

American transport.

On July 17, 1917, it was announced that British destroyers had

attacked a flotilla of German merchant ships on their way from the

Dutch port of Rotterdam to Germany, sinking four and capturing four

others.

Mines, submarines, and explosions also made inroads on the naval

establishments of the various belligerents. During February, 1917, the

Russian cruiser _Rurik_ was damaged by a mine in the Gulf of Finland.

On February 28, 1917, a French torpedo destroyer was sunk by a

submarine in the Mediterranean.

On March 19, 1917, the French warship _Danton_ was torpedoed in the

Mediterranean, 296 of her crew having perished.

A mine was responsible for the sinking of a British destroyer on May

4, 1917, causing the loss of one officer and sixty-one men.

Mines also were responsible for the sinking of the French armored

cruiser _Kleber_ off Point St. Mathieu on June 27, 1917, with a loss

of thirty-eight men, of a British destroyer and of a German torpedo

boat in the North Sea, and, on June 30, 1917, of a Russian torpedo

boat in the Black Sea.

A torpedo sent the British auxiliary cruiser _Hilary_ to the bottom of

the North Sea with the loss of four men, while a collision was the

cause of the loss of a British torpedo boat.

On July 9, 1917, the British battleship _Vanguard_ of the dreadnought

class, 19,250 tons, was destroyed by an internal explosion while at

anchor in a British port.

According to figures compiled by the New York "Times" the naval losses

at the end of the third year of the war (August 1, 1917) had reached

approximately the following figures: Allied navies, 120 ships with a

total tonnage of 662,715; Central Powers, 122 ships with a total

tonnage of 387,911.

PART XIII--WAR IN THE AIR

CHAPTER CI

AERIAL WARFARE

As the war progressed the use of aeroplanes of all kinds became more

and more extensive. This was due chiefly to the wonderful progress

which had been made in aeronautics, the full story of which will not

be told until the end of the war has come. Not only have aeroplanes,

since the beginning of the war, become safer, but they have also

become marvelously swifter and more powerful. As this is being written

news comes from Washington that some recently imported very big and

powerful Italian aeroplanes have made successfully a flight from

Newport News to the Federal capital--a distance of some 150 miles--at

the rate of 135 miles per hour and carrying ten passengers. This is

typical of the recent development in the science of flying.

The result of this development has been the more varied uses to which

aeroplanes are now being put. Not only do they continue to act as

observers of hostile positions and movements and as guides to

artillery operations, but they have also come into vogue as offensive

weapons. With increased carrying capacity and extended radius of

action it has become possible to utilize aeroplanes extensively for

the bombardment of important positions or localities far behind

hostile lines. Even for the purpose of hunting down and destroying

submarines aeroplanes are being used to-day, and frequently they

cooperate with naval forces in strictly offensive operations.

The six months' period covering February, 1917 to August, 1917,

therefore, shows the greatest activity of the various aerial forces

since the beginning of the war. On the other hand there has been a

greater lack of news and an extreme scarcity of details concerning

aerial operations than ever before. However, in spite of this latter

condition, it is possible to state that aeroplanes were used more

frequently and more extensively than ever before on all fronts,

especially the western front. From such reports as are available it

appears that the combined English and French aerial forces have become

superior, both in number and in efficiency, to those of Germany. The

latter, however, have maintained a remarkably high standard.

It is impossible from the reports which are available to give anything

like a complete history of aerial warfare during the period from

February to August, 1917. Throughout February, 1917, English, French,

German, Italian, Russian, and Austrian aeroplanes were extensively

employed wherever and whenever conditions permitted. Furnes in

Flanders was one of the places frequently bombed by German aeroplanes,

while British planes with even greater frequency visited the harbor of

Bruges (Zeebrugge) where heavy damage was inflicted on German torpedo

boats, docks, and railway lines. Zeebrugge is the German submarine

base in Belgium.

On February 10, 1917, aeroplanes were especially active on the western

front. German machines unsuccessfully attacked Nancy and Pont St.

Vincent. During the same night French air squadrons visited many

places in Lorraine and bombed factories at Hauts Fourreaux, La Sarre,

Hagodange, Esch, and Mezieres-les-Metz. A fire was caused in the

neighborhood of the Arnaville station. The aviation ground at Colmar

and the fort of Zeebrugge were likewise bombarded.

February 13, 1917, was an especially active day for Russian aeroplanes

on the eastern front. They dropped bombs on the Povursk railway

station, east of Kovel, and on the depots north of the Povursk

station. Bombs were dropped on the station at Rodenrois, east of Riga;

on the little town of Lihinhof, in the vicinity of Friedrichstadt; on

Valeika, the village of Sviatica, north of Vygonov Lake, south of

Kiselin; on Radzivilov, and in the regions south of Brody.

On the same day French and German aviators were busily attacking many

places on the western front. A German aviator dropped bombs on

Dunkirk. There were no victims and no damage was done. In the vicinity

of Pompey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, bombs were dropped. Two civilians were

killed and two were wounded. Nancy, too, was visited. During the night

French air squadrons dropped projectiles on aviation grounds at

Etreillers (Aisne), and Rancourt (Somme), on the railway stations at

Athies, Hombleux, Voyenne, Curchy, St. Quentin, and Ham; and also on

manufactories east of Tergnier, where several explosions occurred.

Similar activities were reported almost daily, and of course

observation flights were made continuously by the aerial forces of all

the belligerents.

On February 25, 1917, a French dirigible was shot down by German

antiaircraft guns near Weelferdingen, west of Saargemund, in Lorraine.

It was completely destroyed and its entire crew of fourteen perished.

On February 28, 1917, the German admiralty made the following

announcement:

"In the northern AEgean Sea a German seaplane successfully dropped

bombs on a hostile transport. Notwithstanding the fact that it was

fired on by artillery and pursued by two enemy aeroplanes, the

seaplane returned safely."

This well illustrates the superiority which aeroplanes had achieved

when they could, far from their base, successfully attack steamships

guarded in every possible way.

During the great advance of the Allied troops in France in March,

1917, unusual activity in the air played an important part. This was

especially the case on March 17, 1917, when the British either

destroyed or damaged sixteen German planes, the French ten, and the

Germans accounted for a total of twenty-two British and French

machines. At this time aeroplanes were active not only in

reconnaissance work, but even attacked with bombs and machine guns

smaller units of the retreating Germans. The British official report

covering March 18, 1917, for instance, contains the following passage:

"Our aeroplanes did much valuable work yesterday in cooperation with

our infantry. Enemy troops were engaged successfully with machine

guns, and bombs were dropped on a number of places behind the enemy

lines," while the French report says: "During the evening of March 17

and the following night a French air squadron bombarded the factories

and blast furnaces at Thionville and in the Briey Valley, as well as

certain convoys of enemy troops which were marching in the region of

Guiscard."

The same kind of aerial activity was an almost daily occurrence during

April, 1917. The last days of that month, however, were red-letter

days for military aeronautics. On April 29, 1917, the British claimed

to have winged twenty German machines, while the Germans stated that

they had shot down during April 28 and 29, 1917, a total of

thirty-four British and French planes.

Again on May 7, 1917, the British accounted for fifteen German

machines, while the French claimed to have brought down during the

week May 1 to 7, 1917, seventy-six German aeroplanes, of which

twenty-five were known to have been destroyed.

During the last days of May, 1917, Allied aeroplanes were especially

active in Belgium. On May 26 and 30, 1917, Hest, Blankenberghe,

Zeebrugge, and Ghent were attacked and considerable damage was

inflicted on railway stations, docks, and other buildings of military

value.

Again on June 4, 1917, British aeroplanes attacked and severely

damaged German vessels in Zeebrugge.

French airmen were busy, too, in June, 1917. The French War Office on

June 21, 1917 published the following statement covering their

activities:

"Fourteen aeroplanes and a German captive balloon were destroyed on

our front in the period from June 8 to 20. Eleven of these machines

were brought down by our pilots during aerial combats, and three of

them by the fire of our machine or antiaircraft guns. In addition,

seven enemy machines seriously damaged fell in our lines.

"In the same period our squadrons effected numerous sorties. They

bombarded notably the railroad station at Bensdorf, factories at

Hayatge-Jesuf at Moyeuvre, blast furnaces at Burbach and in the Saar

Valley, railroad stations at Bethienville, Chatelet-sur-Retourne,

Bethel, Mezieres, Charleville, and Molshelm; the bivouacs in Suippes

Valley, and munitions depots in the region of Laon, etc. Thirteen

thousand kilograms of projectiles were dropped during the expeditions,

which caused serious damage to enemy establishments."

British, French, and German air squadrons continued their activities

throughout June and July, 1917. July 12, 1917, was particularly

successful for the British airmen, who claimed to have brought down

near Ypres thirty-one German planes without loss to their own forces.

On the Russian and Italian fronts and in the Balkans and the Near East

aerial activities were slightly fewer and less extensive than on the

western, due to the difference in conditions, such as the greater

scarcity of machines and the greater distance from the source of

supplies.

A novel use of aeroplanes was made after the entrance of the United

States into the war. On April 4, 1917, it was stated that British and

French aviators dropped large numbers of German translations of

President Wilson's war message over the German lines and Italian

aviators did the same over the Austrian lines.

On a few occasions aircraft violated the neutrality of countries

adjoining belligerent territory. In one case a French aeroplane

dropped bombs on a Swiss town. A prompt and complete apology on the

part of the French Government followed. On March 13, 1917, Dutch

troops shot down a German plane which had flown over Sluis in Holland,

ten miles northeast of Burges. Before they could capture the aviator,

he succeeded in restarting his machine and in making his escape to

the German lines. On June 1, 1917, a Zeppelin appeared first over

Swedish territory near Malmoe and then over Danish territory south of

Copenhagen. Swedish torpedo boats and Danish troops fired on it

successively and it quickly disappeared in a southerly direction.

One remarkable enterprise of Russian airmen was reported officially on

April 3, 1917, from Petrograd and deserves, on account of its highly

adventurous nature, detailed repetition. The statement read: "On the

Black Sea on March 27, 1917, during a raid by our seaplanes on Derkas,

one of them was hit by the enemy. The petrol tank being punctured, the

machine was compelled to descend.

"The aviators, Lieutenant Sergeev and Sublieutenant Thur, seeing a

Turkish schooner, attacked it by opening machine-gun fire. The crew

thereupon left the schooner. Our aviators, having sunk their machine

after taking from it the compass, machine gun, and valuable

belongings, boarded the schooner and set sail for our shores.

"They encountered a heavy storm during their adventure, but arrived

with the schooner at the Duarlidatch Peninsula, west of Perekop, on

Sunday. From this place our aviators returned to Sebastopol on a

torpedo boat. The only provisions available on the schooner consisted

of a few pieces of bread and a little fresh water."

Naturally interest in the activities of American airmen in the French

service continued unabated. They continued to cover themselves with

glory. During the second half of May, 1917, members of the Lafayette

Escadrille engaged in twenty-five combats with German machines.

Adjutant Raoul Lufbery was engaged five times, Sergeant Willis

Haviland (Minneapolis) twice, Sergeant Dovell three times, Corporal

Thomas Hewitt (New York) twice, and Corporal Kenneth Marr (San

Francisco) twice.

As a result of these activities an official report announced the

decoration of Adjutant Lufbery with the Military Medal by the King of

England, and cited the meritorious conduct of this aviator and also of

Sergeant Haviland, Sergeant Charles Johnson (St. Louis), and

Lieutenant William Thaw (Pittsburgh).

In June, 1917, the American aviators flying under the French flag

were even more active. In the short period from June 10 to 16, 1917,

they made fifty-four patrol flights and fought nine air battles, of

which Adjutant Raoul Lufbery, Edwin Parsons, and Sergeant Robert

Soubiran each fought two, and Stephen Bigelow, Sergeant Walter Lowell

and Thomas Hewitt each fought one.

Unfortunately death claimed two American flyers. On April 16, 1917,

Pilot Edmond C. C. Genet of Ossining, N. Y., was killed during a fight

with a German aeroplane over French territory. Genet was twenty years

old and was the great-great-great-grandson of Governor Clinton and the

great-great-grandson of Citizen Genet, who was French Minister in the

days of Washington. He had originally fought in the Foreign Legion,

but had later been transferred to the aviation service.

In March, 1917, Sergeant J. R. McConnell, also a member of the

Escadrille, had been killed in action. On May 24, 1917, it was

announced that the commander of the Escadrille, Captain de Laage of

the French army, had been killed while flying near Ham on the Somme

front.

Another death of interest to this country and caused by aerial

operations was that of H. E. M. Suckley of Rhinebeck, N. Y., who was

in charge of a unit of the American Ambulance Field Service. He was

wounded while on duty near Saloniki by an aeroplane bomb and died the

following day. He was thirty years old and had been with the Ambulance

Service almost from the beginning of the war, first in the Vosges,

then at Pont-a-Mousson, and finally with General Sarrail's army.

Regarding the losses suffered by the various aerial forces, authentic

information available is very scant and incomplete. Up to February 1,

1917, the Germans claimed to have destroyed 1,002 Allied aeroplanes

and to have put out of commission a total of 1,700, valued at

$12,500,000. During April, 1917, according to the London "Times," a

total of 714 machines was brought down on the western front. These

were distributed as follows: German machines, 366; British, 147;

French and Belgian, 201. Of the 366 German aeroplanes brought down 269

fell to the British, ninety-five to the French, and two to the

Belgians. British airmen accounted for 263 German aeroplanes and

antiaircraft gunners for six. On the other hand the Germans admitted

the loss of only seventy-four machines, but claimed to have brought

down 362 Allied aeroplanes and twenty-nine captive balloons.

During May, 1917, according to London newspapers, 713 aeroplanes were

brought down on the western front. Of these 442 were said to have been

German and 271 French and British.

CHAPTER CII

AIR RAIDS

The second phase of aerial warfare was represented by the raids

carried out by the various belligerents over enemy territory at a

considerable distance from the actual theaters of war. In these

operations the Germans, as in the past, were the most active and

England was the greatest sufferer. But unlike their previous custom,

the Germans, during the period from February to August, 1917, used

aeroplanes more frequently than Zeppelins.

On February 25, 1917, British naval aeroplanes raided iron-works near

Saarbruecken in Rhenish Prussia, about fifty miles beyond the border.

On March 1, 1917, one German plane bombed Broadstairs, an English

watering place on the island of Thanet off the Kentish coast.

During the night of March 4-5, 1917, French aeroplanes bombed

Freiburg-im-Breisgau (Black Forest) and Kehl near Strassburg.

German airships bombed the southeastern counties of England during the

night of March 16-17, 1917. Margate was attacked by a German seaplane

at the same time. One of the Zeppelins was brought down later by

French antiaircraft guns near Compiegne, northeast of Paris, its

entire crew being killed.

A French aeroplane bombed Frankfort-on-the-Main on March 17, 1917,

causing only little damage.

On April 5, 1917, a German aeroplane again bombed the Kentish coast

town without causing any damage.

Freiburg-im-Breisgau was once more the object of an attack by English

aeroplanes, made, as announced later, in reprisal for the torpedoing

of British hospital ships. Ten civilians and one soldier were killed,

and twenty-seven civilians, mostly women and children, wounded. Three

of the British aeroplanes were shot down. Considerable damage to

public buildings was caused.

On May 5, 1917, Odessa, the Russian port on the north shore of the

Black Sea, was visited for the first time by a German aeroplane.

On May 14, 1917, British naval forces detected a Zeppelin in the act

of approaching the English coast. The alarm was given immediately and

a squadron of British seaplanes was sent after the invader. The fire

from the machine gun of one of these soon reached the big airship, and

before long the latter was seen to burst into flames and disappeared.

During the night of May 23, 1917, four or five Zeppelins appeared over

East Anglia and penetrated some distance inland. Bombs were dropped in

a number of country districts. One man was killed, but otherwise the

damage was negligible.

Two days later, May 25, 1917, early in the evening, seventeen

aeroplanes appeared over Folkestone on the southeast coast of England.

They dropped about fifty bombs. As a result seventy-six persons were

killed and 174 injured, most of them civilians, and a large percentage

of these women and children. The returning German aeroplanes were

pursued by machines of the British Naval Air Service from Dunkirk and

attacked. Three German machines were shot down.

Again on June 5, 1917, sixteen German aeroplanes appeared over Essex

and the Medway. They succeeded in dropping a large number of bombs

which caused two casualties and considerable material damage and

injured twenty-nine persons before antiaircraft guns and British

planes drove them off. At least four German machines were shot down.

On June 11, 1917, a British patrol boat sighted five German

aeroplanes off Dover. Attacking them at once, the British craft

destroyed two of the machines and captured their pilots. The remaining

three German machines fled.

At noon of June 13, 1917, London was subjected to the most extensive

and destructive raid in its experience. In the middle of a beautiful

summer day fifteen German aeroplanes appeared over London and

dispatched their death-dealing burden of explosives on England's

capital; 157 men, women, and children were killed, and 432 injured.

Considerable material damage was caused, although the raid lasted only

fifteen minutes. All but one of the German planes escaped. The East

End, London's tenement district, inhabited chiefly by the poor, was

the principal sufferer.

On the same day British naval forces attacked and brought down a

Zeppelin in the North Sea. The airship was a total loss and apparently

the entire crew perished.

On June 16, 1917, two Zeppelins attacked the East Anglian and Kentish

coast. Considerable damage was done by the bombs dropped. Three deaths

and injuries to about twenty people resulted. A British aeroplane

succeeded in bringing down one of the Zeppelins, which, with its crew,

was destroyed completely.

Three times in July, 1917, German aeroplane squadrons appeared in

England. On July 4, 1917, about twelve attacked Harwich, a port in

Essex; two of the planes were shot down, but not until the attackers

had inflicted considerable damage, killed eleven people and injured

thirty-six. Three days later, July 7, 1917, twenty aeroplanes bombed

London, forty-three people were killed and 197 injured, while three of

the German planes were destroyed. Again on July 22, 1917, fifteen to

twenty German aeroplanes reached the English coast. Felixstowe and

Harwich were raided. Eleven persons were killed and twenty-six

injured. On the way back to their base one of the German planes was

brought down off the Belgian coast.

During the third year of the war, that is from August, 1916, to

August, 1917, air attacks on England caused death to 393 people and

injuries to 1,174, according to figures compiled by the New York

"Times." The same source claims that from the beginning of the war up

to August 1, 1917, or during a period of practically three years, 751

people were killed and 2,007 injured in England as a result of German

air raids, of which there were officially recorded eighteen in 1915,

twenty-two in 1916, and eleven in the first seven months of 1917.

A fitting end to this chapter is the record of the deaths at the age

of seventy-nine of the Zeppelin's inventor, Count Ferdinand von

Zeppelin, which occurred at Charlottenburg on March 8, 1917, as a

result of an attack of pneumonia.

INDEX

Abyssinia, Italian defeat in, I, 192

Adige River, fighting along, V, 280

Adige Valley, operations in, VI, 460

Admiral Sims, commanding American destroyer flotilla, VI, 357

Aerial combats, number of, V, 426

Aerial maneuvering, French, IV, 55

Aerial raids, VI, 492

Aerodromes, attacks on, IV, 473

Aerodromes, German, IV, 470

Aeroplane attack by Germans on Lemnos, VI, 169

Aeroplane coast battle, IV, 471

Aeroplanes, losses in, VI, 255

Aeroplanes, number of, V, 420

Aeroplanes, western front, VI, 486

Aeroplanes and submarines, I, 23

Aeroplane warfare, VI, 168-181

Aeroplane warfare on submarines, V, 414

Africa, British possessions in, I, 181

African coast, operations on, III, 493

Agadir, I, 140

Agar Khan, III, 24

Aircraft, losses in, IV, 479; VI, 51

Air fighting, strategy and tactics of, IV, 459

Air fights along the Somme, VI, 50

Air raids on England, IV, 16

Air raids on Paris, IV, 19

Aisne, battle of, II, 130-135

Aisne, counterattacks on the, VI, 248

Alaska, garrisons in, I, 11

Albania, Austrian advance, IV, 336

Albania, Serbian retreat, IV, 303

Albania, withdrawal of Serbian forces from, IV, 337

Albanian uprising, I, 247

Albanians, racial characteristics, I, 220

_Alcantara_, merchantman, V, 59

Alexander II, assassination, I, 152

Alexander III and France, I, 152

Alexandretta, III, 503

Alexiev, General, commander in chief Russian army, VI, 429

_Algonquin_, sinking of, by German submarine, VI, 317

Allenstein, capture of, II, 437

Allied aviators, work of, V, 421

Allied commands in Champagne, IV, 80

Allied demands on Greece, V, 224-227

Allied nations, policy of, I, 105

Allied offensive, March, 1915, IV, 45

Allied raid, Houlthulst Forest, IV, 56

Allies, withdrawal of, into Greece, IV, 308

Alsace, French in, IV, 40

Alsace-Lorraine, conditions in, I, 138

Alsace and Lorraine, campaign in, II, 38-45

Altkirch, capture of, IV, 40

American airmen in France, VI, 490

American army, I, 11

American aviators, VI, 181, 490

American citizens, rights of, defended by President Wilson, IV, 503

American Commission to Russia, VI, 416

American Congress, resolution on sinking armed merchantmen, IV, 502

American destroyer flotilla, VI, 357

American expedition in France, VI, 357

American Government's assertion of neutral rights at sea, IV, 480

American merchant marine, VI, 476

American navy, strength of, I, 11

American navy, work of, in foreign waters, VI, 357

American negotiations over _Ancona_ sinking, IV, 490-496

American note to Austria on _Ancona_ issue, character of, IV, 492

American war preparations, VI, 328

American Prussian treaties, VI, 298

American response to German note on _Sussex_, V, 458

American second note on _Ancona_ issue, IV, 494

American training camp in France, VI, 361

American troops, transportation of, to France, VI, 358

American vessels sunk, VI, 202

American warships in European waters, VI, 482

Anafarta Ridge, attack on, IV, 352

_Ancona_, destruction of, IV, 490

_Ancona_, yielding of Austria-Hungary on issue, IV, 494

Ancre, British gains in, VI, 223

Anglo-American trade balance, V, 52

Anglo-Chinese conference, I, 184

Anglo-French agreement, I, 136

Anglo-Russian agreement, I, 136

Anti-Catholic movement in France, I, 163

Anti-Serbian riots, I, 260

Antwerp, Belgian withdrawal to, IV, 40

Antwerp, fall of, II, 167

Anzacs, heroism of, III, 460, 462

_Appam_, capture of, IV, 160

_Arabic_, sinking of, IV, 150, 480-490

_Arabic_, German version, IV, 483

Arabs, assistance given British in Mesopotamia, IV, 423

Arabs, confederation of, IV, 429

Arbitration, failure of, I, 14

Archibald papers, V, 11

Area of British Empire, I, 286

Area of France, I, 286

Area of German Empire, I, 286

Area of Russia, I, 286

Argechu River, VI, 117

Argonne, activity in, III, 158

Argonne, campaign in, II, 193-194

Argonne Forest, fighting in, IV, 48

Argonne, German attacks in, in September, 1915, IV, 55

Argonne, operations in, V, 375

_Argyll_, loss of, IV, 154

Armed-merchantman resolution, final form of, in Congress, V, 439

Armed-merchantmen resolutions, debate in Congress, V, 434-435

Armed neutrality, address of President Wilson, VI, 304

Armed-shipping resolution in Congress, V, 436

Armenian atrocities, III, 472

Armenians, massacre of, IV, 378

Army, American, strength of, I, 11

Arras, Canadian victories at, VI, 56

Arras, fourth blow by Haig, VI, 256

Arras, operations around, IV, 127

Arras, operations around, VI, 39

Arras, second phase of, VI, 249

Artillery, II, 366

Artillery activity on the western front in September, 1915, IV, 55

Artois, British successes in, IV, 85

Artois, fighting in, III, 121-128

Artois, French campaign in, IV, 85

Artois sector, V, 373

Asia Minor, Germany in, I, 50

Asiago, Austrian advance, V, 256

Asiatic Turkey, disorders in, IV, 377

Asphyxiation from gas, I, 53

Assassination of crown prince, Austrian report on, I, 350

Athens, street fighting in, VI, 147

Atkutur, battle at, III, 474

Aubers Ridge, attacks on, III, 128

Augustovo, Battle of, II, 444

Ausgleich, I, 146

Australians at Suvla Bay, IV, 356

Australian troops at Pozieres, V, 409

Austria and Prussia, I, 127

Austria-Hungary, American relations with, VI, 328

Austria-Hungary, area of, I, 286

Austria-Hungary, explanation of sinking of _Ancona_, IV, 465

Austria-Hungary, position of, I, 142

Austria-Hungary, request for recall of Dr. Dumba, V, 10

Austrian air attacks on Italian cities, V. 291

Austrian army, I, 309

Austrian armies in Poland and Galicia, command of, IV, 181

Austrian army in Serbia, IV, 259

Austrian and Balkan nationality, I, 258-259

Austrian captures of Durazzo, IV, 338

Austrian note, July 27, 1914, I, 270

Austrian counterattack, repulsed by Italians, V, 269

Austrian defenses in Alps, IV, 394

Austrian demands on Serbia, I, 261-265

Austrian fleet in the Danube, VI, 97

Austrian forces along the Italian front, increase of, V, 245

Austrian-Italian aviators, V, 428

Austrian-Italian front, V, 229

Austrian losses at Lutsk, V, 159

Austrian losses in Serbia, II, 343

Austrian naval strength, II, 206

Austrian note to Serbia, I, 261

Austrian offensive in Trentino, V, 246

Austrian offensive in Trentino, increase of, V, 235

Austrian offensive in Volhynia, V, 138

Austrian press, accusations, I, 353

Austrian proposals to Rumania, III, 377

Austrian raids on Italian coast, III, 394

Austrian rupture with the United States, VI, 328

Austrian squadron shells Italian coast cities, IV, 168

Austro-German capture of Bucharest, VI, 119

Austro-Hungarians defeated near Kuty, V, 190

Austro-German invasion of Serbia, IV, 263

Austro-German resistance to the Russians, VI, 73

Austro-Hungarian press, I, 351

Austro-Hungarian reply to _Ancona_ note, IV, 492

Austro-Italian line, V, 233, 234

Austro-Russian front, III, 236

Austro-Russian operations, resumption of, V, 133-141

Aviators, loss among, V, 425-426

Avlona, battle between Austrians and Italians near, V, 220

Avlona, Italians at, IV, 327

Avocourt Wood, German occupation of, V, 351

Aylmer, General, IV, 446

Azerbayan, failures in, III, 477

Babuna Pass, resistance of Serbians, IV, 283

Bagdad, British at, IV, 419-425

Bagdad, expedition against, I, 62

Bagdad, Russian advance, V, 330

Baiburt, capture of, by Russians, V, 337

Balfour, Arthur J., reply to Churchill, V, 61

Balkan League, I, 248

Balkans, conditions in, 1916, V, 212

Balkans, countries, II, 275-286

Balkans, diplomacy in, I, 59

Balkans, summary of first year's conditions, IV, 255

Baltic Sea, operations in, III, 191

Ban-de-Sapt, attacks on, III, 164

Bapaume, capture of, VI, 232

Basra, capture of, II, 508

Battle cruisers, British, lost in Jutland naval battle, V, 90-91

Battle cruisers, importance of, I, 21

Battle line on eastern front, II, 262

Battle line on the eastern front in the spring of 1916, V, 116

Battleships and fortifications, I, 24

Battleships, advantages of, I, 21

Battleships at Jutland battle, V, 80

Bavarians, bravery of, at Eaucourt, VI, 30

Beatty, Admiral, movements at Jutland naval battle, V, 75-78

Beaucourt, attacks on, VI, 218

Beaumont, abandonment of, by French, IV, 142

Belgian coast, bombardment of, by British fleet, IV, 60, 112

Belgian neutrality, I, 276

Belgian neutrality, unity of powers, I, 476

Belgian territory, alleged violation of, I, 283

Belgian envoys, visit of, to United States, VI, 352

Belgian withdrawal, IV, 40

Belgium, American lessons from, I, 12

Belgium appealed to powers guaranteeing neutrality, I, 384

Belgium, area of, I, 287

Belgium, location of, I, 197

Belgium, attacks in, July, VI, 279

Belgium, German attacks on the French lines in, VI, 250