REFERS TO RHEIMS CATHEDRAL
"Full details of the actual damage done to the cathedral at Rheims will doubtless have been cabled, so that no description of it is necessary. The Germans bombarded the cathedral twice with their heavy artillery.
"One reason it caught fire so quickly was that on one side of it was some scaffolding which had been erected for restoration work. Straw had also been laid on the floor for the reception of German wounded. It is to the credit of the French that practically all the German wounded were successfully extricated from the burning building.
"There was no justification on military grounds for this act of vandalism, which seems to have been caused by exasperation born of failure—a sign of impotence rather than of strength."
FIVE MORE DAYS OF BATTLE
On September 29 Field Marshal French's headquarters reported as follows:
"The general situation as viewed on the map remains practically the same as that described in the last letter, and the task of the army has not changed. It is to maintain itself until there is a general resumption of the offensive.
"No ground has been lost. Some has been gained, and every counter-attack has been repulsed—in certain instances with very severe losses to the enemy.
"Of recent events an actual narrative will be carried on from the 25th to 29th, inclusive. During the whole of this period the weather has remained fine.
"On Friday, the 25th, comparative quiet reigned in our sphere of action. The only incident worthy of special mention was the passage of a German aeroplane over the interior of our lines. It was flying high, but drew a general fusillade from below, with the result that the pilot was killed outright and the observer was wounded. The latter was captured by the French.
"That night a general attack was made against the greater part of the Allies' position, and it was renewed in the early morning of Saturday, the 26th. The Germans were everywhere repulsed with loss. Indeed, opposite one portion of our lines, where they were caught in mass by our machine-guns and howitzers firing at different ranges, it is estimated that they left 1,000 killed or wounded.
"The mental attitude of our troops may be gauged from the fact that the official report next morning from one corps, of which one division had borne the brunt of the fighting, ran thus laconically: 'The night was quiet except for a certain amount of shelling both from the enemy and ourselves.'
AN ALL-DAY ATTACK
"At 3:40 a.m. an attack was made on our right. At 5 a.m. there was a general attack on the right of the——th division, but no really heavy firing. Further ineffectual efforts to drive us back were made at 8 a.m. and in the afternoon, and the artillery fire continued all day.
"The Germans came on in 'T' formation, several lines shoulder to shoulder, followed almost immediately by a column in support. After a very few minutes the men had closed up into a mob, which afforded an excellent target for our fire.
"On Sunday, the 27th, while the German heavy guns were in action, their brass bands could be heard playing hymn tunes, presumably at divine service.
"The enemy made an important advance on part of our line at 6 p.m., and renewed it in strength at one point, with, however, no better success than on the previous night. Sniping continued all day along the whole front.
"On Monday, the 28th, there was nothing more severe than a bombardment and intermittent sniping, and this inactivity continued during Tuesday, the 29th, except for a night attack against our extreme right.
A TYPICAL BATTLE INCIDENT
"An incident that occurred Sunday, the 27th, serves to illustrate the type of fighting that has for the last two weeks been going on intermittently on various parts of our lines. It also brings out the extreme difficulty of ascertaining what is actually happening during an action apart from what seems to be happening, and points to the value of good intrenchments.
"At a certain point in our front our advance trenches were on the north of the Aisne, not far from a village on a hillside and also within a short distance of German works, being on a slope of a spur formed by a subsidiary valley running north and a main valley of the river. It was a calm, sunny afternoon, but hazy, and from our point of vantage south of the river it was difficult exactly to locate on the far bank the well-concealed trenches.
"From far and near the sullen boom of guns echoed along the valley, and at intervals in a different direction the sky was flecked with the almost motionless smoke of anti-aircraft shrapnel.
"Suddenly and without any warning, for the reports of the distant howitzers from which they were fired could not be distinguished from other distant reports, three or four heavy shells fell into the village, sending up huge clouds of dust and smoke, which ascended in a brownish-gray column. To this no reply was made by our side.
"Shortly afterwards there was a quick succession of reports from a point some distance up the subsidiary valley on the side opposite our trenches and therefore rather on their flank. It was not possible either by ear or by eye to locate the guns from which the sounds proceeded. Almost simultaneously, as it seemed, there was a corresponding succession of flashes and sharp detonations in the line along the hillside along what appeared to be our trenches.
"There was then a pause and several clouds of smoke rose slowly and remained stationary, spaced as regularly as poplars.
"Again there was a succession of reports from German quick-firers on the far side of the misty valley and like echoes of detonations of high explosives; then the row of expanding smoke clouds was prolonged by several new ones. Another pause and silence, except for the noise in the distance.
"After a few minutes there was a roar from our side of the main valley as our field guns opened one after another in a more deliberate fire upon the positions of the German guns. After six reports there was again silence save for the whirr of shells as they sang up the small valley. Then followed flashes and balls of smoke—one, two, three, four, five, six—as the shrapnel burst nicely over what in the haze looked like some ruined buildings at the edge of the wood.
TRYING TO ENFILADE THE TRENCHES
"Again, after a short interval, the enemy's gunners reopened with a burst, still further prolonging the smoke, which was by now merged into one solid screen above a considerable length of the trenches and again did our guns reply. And so the duel went on for some time.
"Ignoring our guns, the German artillerymen, probably relying on concealment for immunity, were concentrating all their efforts in a particularly forceful effort to enfilade our trenches. For them it must have appeared to be the chance of a lifetime, and with their customary prodigality of ammunition they continued to pour bouquet after bouquet of high explosives or combined shrapnel and common shells into our works.
"Occasionally, with a roar, a high angle projectile would sail over the hill and blast a gap in the village. One could only pray that our men holding the trenches had dug themselves in deep and well, and that those in the village were in cellars.
"In the hazy valleys, bathed in sunlight, not a man, not a horse, not a gun, nor even a trench was to be seen. There were only flashes, and smoke, and noise. Above, against the blue sky, several round, white clouds were hanging. The only two visible human souls were represented by a glistening speck in the air. On high also were to be heard more or less gentle reports of the anti-aircraft projectiles.
"But the deepest impression created was one of sympathy for the men subjected to the bursts along that trench. Upon inquiry as to the losses sustained, however, it was found that our men had been able to take care of themselves and had dug themselves well in. In that collection of trenches on that Sunday afternoon were portions of four battalions of British soldiers—the Dorsets, the West Kents, the King's Own Yorkshire light infantry, and the King's Own Scottish Borderers."
ARMIES IN A DEADLOCK
Later reports from the Aisne valley, up to October 17, when the big battle had been five weeks in progress, indicated little change in the general situation. Bombardments and artillery duels, varied by general attacks, occurred daily all along the line. The main positions of both armies were firmly held, though the French had gained some ground north of Rheims and continually threatened the German center. The left of the Allies' line had crept north to and beyond Arras, where there was severe fighting for several days; and at the end of the thirty-fifth day of this battle of the Rivers the lines of the opposing armies extended almost continuously from beyond Arras on the northwest, south in a great curve to the Aisne valley, thence east to Verdun, where the Crown Prince's army kept hammering away at that fortress without success, and thence southwest to Nancy and the Alsatian border.
By this time the armies of the center were in a species of deadlock. The strain on both sides had long promised to get beyond human endurance and the antagonists of the Aisne were likened by a French officer to two exhausted pugilists, who would soon be unable to inflict further punishment upon each other. But there was no sign of "throwing up the sponge" on either side, though beyond the actual sphere of conflict it was felt that "something must give way soon."
A BLAZING VALE OF DEATH
Writing on September 16, the fourth day of the battle, a special correspondent behind the British lines by Senlis and Chantilly, said:
"I have passed through a smiling land to a land wearing the mask of death; through harvest fields rich with great stacks snugly builded against the winter to the fields of a braver harvest; by jocund villages where there is no break in the ebb and flow of everyday life to villages and towns that despoiling hands have shattered in ruins.
"And I have passed up this Via Dolorosa toward the very harvesting itself—toward those great plains stretching away on the banks of the River Aisne, where the second act of this drama of battles is at this moment being played.
"Details of this fight, which, as I write, reaches its fourth day of duration, are very scanty, but partly from personal observation and partly from information which has reached me I know that the struggle so far has been a terrible one, equal to, if not greater than, the struggle on the banks of the Marne.
"The events of Monday (September 14) revealed a foe battling desperately for his life; and this defense of General von Kluck's army demanded of the Allies their utmost strength and determination.
"Picture this battlefield, which will assuredly take its place with that of the Marne as one of the greatest combats of the greatest war. Through the middle of it flows the great river, passing from the east to the west. The banks of the river here are very steep. Above the plain, which sweeps away from the northern bank, rises the "massif" of Laon. It is an ideal area for great movements and for artillery work directed upon the valley of the river. Passing eastward a little, there are the heights behind the city of Rheims and above the Vesle, a tributary of the Aisne. Here again nature has builded a stronghold easy to defend, difficult exceedingly to attack.
"I know of heroic work against these great lines, work that will live with the most momentous of this struggle. I know of smashing attacks the thought of which takes one's breath away. I have heard narratives of the trenches and of the bridges—these engineers, French and English, have indeed 'played the game'—which no man can hear unmoved; how the columns went down again and again to the blazing death of the valley, and how men worked, building and girding in a very inferno—worked with the furious speed of those whose time of work is short.
HEROISM IN THE TRENCHES
"And in the trenches, too, the tale of heroism unfolds itself hour by hour. Here is an example, one among ten thousand, the story of a wounded private: 'We lay together, my friend and I...The order to fire came. We shot and shot till our rifles burned us. Still they swarmed on towards us. We took careful aim all the while. "Ah, good, did you see that?" I turned to my friend and as I did so heard a terrible dull sound like a spade striking upon newly turned earth. His head was fallen forward. I spoke, I called him by name. He was moaning a little. Then I turned to my work again. They are advancing quickly now. Ah! how cool I was. I shot so slowly,...so very slowly.
"'And then—do you know what it feels like to be wounded? I rose just a little too high on my elbow. A sting that pierces my arm like a hot wire—too sharp almost to be sore. I felt my arm go away from me—it seemed like that—and then my rifle fell. I believe I was a little dazed. I looked at my friend presently. He was dead.'
THE GRIM STORY OF SENLIS
"So, on these green river banks and across these fair wooded plains the Germans make their great stand—the stand that if they are defeated will be their last in France. And meanwhile behind them lie the wasted fields and the broken villages. It is impossible adequately to describe the scenes which I have witnessed on the line of the great retreat, but here and there events have had place, which, in truth, cry to high heaven for report. Of such is the grim story of Senlis.
"I spent many hours in Senlis and I will recount that story as I saw it and as I heard it from those who lived through the dreadful procession of days. On Saturday, September 5, the Germans reached this beautiful old cathedral town and entered into occupation. They issued a proclamation to the inhabitants calling upon them to submit and to offer no sort of resistance on pain of severe reprisals.
"But the inhabitants of Senlis had already tasted the bitter draft of war making. The people had become bitter to the point of losing care of their own safety. They were reckless, driven to distraction.
"Bitter was the price exacted for the recklessness! The trouble began when, exasperated beyond measure by their insolence, a brave tobacconist declared to a couple of the Prussians: 'I serve men, not bullies.' He followed his words with a blow delivered fiercely from the shoulder.
"The infuriated soldiers dragged him from his shop and hurled him on his knees in front of the door. His wife rushed out shrieking for mercy. Mercy! As well ask it of a stone! A shot rang out...Another...Man and wife lay dead.
"Immediately the news of this murderous act flew through the town. Outraged and furious, the conquerors marched instantly to the house of the mayor—their hostage—and arrested him. They conveyed him without a moment's delay to the military headquarters, where he was imprisoned for the night. On Wednesday morning a court-martial sat to decide his fate. A few minutes later this brave man paid for the indiscretion of his people with his life, dying splendidly.
"And then guns were turned on this town of living men and women and children. Shells crashed into the houses, into the shops, into the station. At Chantilly, seven kilometers away, the amazed inhabitants saw a great column of black smoke curl up into the air; they guessed the horrible truth. Senlis was burning.
"The work, however, was interrupted. At midday the glad tidings were heard, 'The Turcos are here.' Within the hour broken and blazing Senlis was re-relieved and rescued. The Turcos pursued and severely punished the enemy.
"Today these streets are terrible to look upon. House after house has been shattered to pieces—broken to a pile of stones. One of the small turrets of the cathedral has been demolished, and a rent has been torn in the stone work of the tower. The station is like a wilderness."
RHEIMS CATHEDRAL DAMAGED
A correspondent gives a vivid account of the German bombardment of Rheims, during the battle on the Aisne, as viewed by him from the belfry of the famous cathedral.
"What a spectacle it was!" he said. "Under the cold, drifting gray rainclouds the whole semicircle of the horizon was edged by heights on which the German batteries were mounted, three miles away.
"There was nothing but the inferno of bursting shells, those of the Germans landing anywhere within the space of a square mile. Sometimes it was just outside the town that they fell, trying to find the French troops lying there in their trenches, waiting to go forward to the attack of the hills, when their artillery should have prepared the way.
"The cathedral tower made a wonderful grand stand from which to watch this appalling game of destruction. It was under the protection of the Red Cross flag, for directly the shells began to hit the cathedral in the morning some German wounded were brought in from a hospital nearby and laid on straw in the nave, while Abbé Andreaux and a Red Cross soldier pluckily climbed to the top of the tower and hung out two Geneva flags.
"The crescendo scream the shells make has something fiendish in it that would be thrilling apart from the danger of which it is the sign. You hear it a full second before the shell strikes, and in that time you can tell instinctively the direction of its flight.
"Then comes the crash of the explosion, which is like all the breakages you ever heard gathered into one simultaneous smash."
SAVING THE GERMAN WOUNDED
A few of the German shells struck the cathedral and set it on fire. The scene was thus described by Abbé Camu, a priest of Rheims:
"It was all over in an hour. There were two separate fires. We put the first out with four buckets of water, all we had in the place, but soon another shell struck the roof and the wind drove the flames along the rafters inside of the nave. We rushed up, but it was flaming all along and as we could do nothing, we hurried down.
"There were holes in the ceiling of the nave and sparks began to fall through them into a great heap of straw, ten feet high and twenty yards long, which the Germans had piled along the north aisle. We tried to catch the sparks in our hands as they fell, and such of the German wounded as were able to walk helped us. But the first spark that fell on the pile set it blazing. There was time to think of nothing but getting out the wounded.
"They screamed horribly. We carried many of those that could not walk, while others dragged themselves painfully along to the side door in the north aisle. Those who had only hand and arm wounds helped their comrades. We got out all except thirteen, whose bodies were left behind.
"When at last I came out of the flaming building I found the whole body of wounded huddled together around the doors. Opposite to them was a furiously hostile crowd of civilians of the town and a number of soldiers with their rifles already leveled.
"I sprang forward. 'What are you doing?' I cried.
"'They shall all burn,' shouted the soldiers in answer. 'They shall go back and burn with the cathedral or we will shoot them here.'
"'You are mad!' I exclaimed in reply. 'Think of what this means. All the world will hear of the crime the Germans have committed here, and if you shoot these men the world will know that France has been as criminal in her turn. Anyhow,' I said, 'you shall shoot me first, for I will not move.'
"Unwillingly the soldiers lowered their rifles and I turned to six German, officers who were among the wounded and asked if they would do what I told them to. They said they would and I asked them to tell their men to do the same. Then I formed them up in a solid body, those who could walk unaided carrying or helping those who could not. I put myself at the head and we set off to the Hotel de Ville, which is only a few hundred yards away.
"Well, then the crowd, mad with grief and rage, set on us. I can't describe it. You have never seen anything so dreadful as that scene. They beat some of the Germans and some of them they got down.
"'Can't you help me!' I called to a French officer I caught sight of.
"'You will never get to the Hotel de Ville like this,' he replied, so I forced my wounded through the gateway of a private house and we managed to close the gates after us.
"They had been roughly handled, some of them, and they stayed there a day and a night before we could move them again."
[The damage done to the cathedral at Rheims, by the way, though by no means slight, inexpressibly sad and truly regrettable, was not nearly so great as was indicated by many early reports. The friends of architectural art and beauty hope to see the cathedral fully restored at no distant date.]
"SLAUGHTER" AT SOISSONS
Much of the fighting during the battle of the Aisne centered around Soissons. On September 16 a correspondent described the fighting there as follows: "For the last three hours I have been watching from the hills to the south of the town that part of the terrific struggle that may be known in history as the battle of Soissons.
"It has lasted for four days, and only now can it be said that victory is turning to the side of the Allies.
"The town itself cannot be entered for it still is being raked both by artillery and rifle fire, and great columns of smoke mark several points at which houses are burning.
"The center of the fighting lies where the British and French pontoon corps are trying to keep the bridges they have succeeded in throwing across the river.
"Men who have come from the front line tell me that the combat there has been a positive slaughter. They say that the unremitting and desperate firing of these four days and nights puts anything else in modern warfare into the shade, that river crossings are as great an objective on one side to take and keep as on the other to destroy."
SEVEN DAYS OF HELL
A wounded soldier, on being brought back to the hospital at Paris, after only one week in the valley of the Aisne, said in a dazed sort of way:
"Each day was like the others. It began at 6 o'clock in the, morning with heavy shellfire. There was a short interval at which it stopped, about 5:30 every day. Then in the night came the charges, and one night I couldn't count them. It was awful—kill, kill, kill, and still they came on, shoving one another over on to us. Seven days and nights of it and some nights only an hour's sleep; it was just absolute hell!"
None of the wounded found another word to describe the battle and the sight of the men bore it out. Muddied to the eyes, wet, often with blood caked on them, many were suffering from the curious aphasia produced by continued trouble and the concussion of shells bursting. Some were dazed and speechless, some deafened, and yet, strange to say, said a correspondent, no face wore the terrible animal war look. They seemed to have been softened, instead of hardened, by their awful experience.
FALL OF ANTWERP
Great Seaport of Belgium Besieged by a Large German Force—Forts Battered by Heavy Siege Guns—Final Surrender of the City—Belgian and British Defenders Escape—Exodus of Inhabitants—Germans Reach the Sea.
When the battle of the Marne ended in favor of the Allies and the Germans retired to take up a defensive position along the Aisne, the Belgian army renewed its activities against the invader. With the fortified city of Antwerp as their base, the Belgians began (on September 10) an active campaign, having for its object the reoccupation of their cities and towns which had been taken and garrisoned by German troops. In some cases they were successful in regaining possession of points which they had been forced to abandon during the German advance in August, and there were many hot encounters with the Germans who were left to hold open the German lines of communication through Belgium, But the forces of the Kaiser were too numerous and too mobile for successful opposition, and soon the Belgian army, despite the most gallant efforts, was compelled once more to retire behind the outer forts of Antwerp and there await the coming of an enemy who was approaching in force.
Great credit must be given to the Belgian army for the patriotic manner in which it met the sudden invasion by the Germans, and for its continued resistance against tremendous odds. Inspired by the example of King Albert and his devoted Queen, who spent most of their time with the Belgian forces in the field, and shared with them the vicissitudes of war, the defenders of Belgium fought with the utmost pertinacity. The resistance of the Belgians when invaded, and the success of the Allies in halting the advance upon Paris and turning it into a retreat at the Marne, appear to have inflamed the German generals with a desire to crush Belgium completely under an iron heel. An object lesson of the power and possibilities of the great fighting machine must be given somewhere. Halted in France by the Franco-British armies and meeting with varying fortunes against the Russian hosts in the eastern campaign, Germany chose to make Belgium once more the international cockpit and hurled an army against Antwerp. This move, if successful (as it proved to be) would serve two purposes—first, the further punishment of Belgium for her unexpected resistance, and second, the striking of a direct blow at Great Britain, the possession of Antwerp being strategically regarded as "a pistol leveled at the head of London."
THE SIEGE OF ANTWERP
In the third week of September the Germans, having massed a force believed to be sufficient for the capture of Antwerp, brought up their heavy Krupp siege guns which had been used successfully at Liège and Namur, and planted them within their seven-mile range, so as to command the outer belt of forts east and south of the city. [See map of the fortifications of Antwerp on page 102.] These huge howitzers were reinforced by heavy siege guns furnished by Austria. The fortification system of Antwerp was believed by its builders to be practically impregnable, but they had not reckoned with the tremendous shattering power and great range of the latest Krupp siege guns. For Antwerp was destined to fall, her outer and inner defenses broken down, within ten days from the time the siege began in earnest.
BRITISH MARINES AID DEFENDERS
The number of German troops engaged before Antwerp was variously estimated at from 80,000 to 200,000. The siege proper began on Tuesday, September 29. For more than a week previously there had been daily engagements in the suburbs of the city and on several occasions the Belgians made a sortie in force, only to encounter overwhelming numbers of the German enemy, before whom they were compelled to retire behind the shelter of the forts. In all these engagements the Belgians gave a good account of themselves and inflicted severe losses on the enemy. But the odds against them were too great and then when the great siege guns began to thunder, it was soon realized that the city was in imminent danger.
King Albert did all in his power to encourage the defense and by his presence among his troops on the firing lines around the city added greatly to his reputation as a patriotic soldier. A force of several thousand British marines, coming from Ostend, aided the Belgian defense in the last days of the siege, but all efforts were unavailing. One by one the forts succumbed to the German fire with which the Belgian guns could not cope, and German troops penetrated nearer and nearer to the doomed city.
Finally, on October 9, when the inhabitants were in a state of terror as a result of the long-continued bombardment of the forts, and the shelling of the city, further resistance was seen to be useless, the defending forces, Belgian and British, made their escape to Ostend or into the neutral territory of Holland, the city formally capitulated through the Burgomaster, and occupation by the Germans followed immediately. The bulk of the British marines made their way back to Ostend, but a rearguard, consisting of 2,000 British, together with some Belgians, was cut off by the advance of the Germans across the Scheldt, and rather than surrender to them marched across the border into Holland and surrendered arms to the Dutch authorities. The men were interned and will be held in Holland till the end of the war. It is probable that this rearguard was deliberately sacrificed to enable the Anglo-Belgian army to make good its retreat.
The fate of Antwerp shows what might have happened to Paris had the Germans been able to bring up their great siege guns to the outer fortifications of the French capital and protect them while they performed their tremendous task of battering the defenses to pieces. The wrecking of Antwerp's outer and inner forts in ten days proves that solid, massive concrete, chilled steel and well-planned earthworks afford little or no security against the monstrous cannon of the Kaiser's armies. There appeared to be but one way of withstanding them.
As seems to have been demonstrated in the valley of the Aisne, they are apparently ineffective against field forces deeply intrenched in a far-flung line.
THE FIGHTING OUTSIDE ANTWERP
Early on Tuesday morning, October 6, one of the fiercest of the engagements outside Antwerp ended with the crossing of the River Nethe by the Germans and their approach to the inner forts. Monday had been the sixth day of the siege and the Belgian army was fighting with reckless courage to save Antwerp. As a precaution, the boilers of all the German ships lying in the harbor were exploded on Sunday, in order to prevent, if possible, use of these ships as transports for German troops across the North Sea or elsewhere. The detonation of the bursting boilers, resounding through the city, set the excited Sunday crowd very near to a panic. This was accelerated by the constant fear of airship attacks, and most of the population that was not already in active flight from the city sought safety in cellars.
The entire war has presented no greater picture of desolation than that of the hosts fleeing from the last Belgian stronghold. For forty-eight hours before the city fell great crowds of the citizens, dumb with terror as the huge German shells hurtled over their heads, were fleeing toward England and Holland in such numbers that the hospitality of those countries was likely to be taxed to the utmost.
The suburban town of Lierre was bombarded early in the week, the church was destroyed, and a number of citizens killed and wounded. The next day; the village of Duffel was bombarded and the population fled into Antwerp. Many still had confidence in the ability of the Antwerp forts to withstand the German attack.
Although the Germans succeeded in crossing the Nethe, their repeated attempts to effect a passage over the Scheldt were repulsed and they then concentrated their attention on an approach to Antwerp from the southeast. In their trenches the Belgians resisted gallantly to the last. "Most wonderful," said an American observer on October 7, "is the patient, unfaltering courage of the average Belgian soldier, who has been fighting for nine weeks. Tired, with hollow eyes, unkempt, unwashed and provided with hasty, though ample, meals, he is spending most of the time in the trenches.
"King Albert, the equal of any soldier in his devotion to duty, daily exposes himself to personal danger, while the Queen is devoting her time to the hospitals."
The effect of the German siege artillery was especially destructive near Vosburg. Several villages suffered heavily and the barracks at Contich were wrecked. The forts at Waelhem and Wavre-St. Catherines were totally destroyed by the terrific shell fire.
Most of the fighting around Antwerp was a battle of Krupps against men. Every day and night the fighting continued with deadly effect against the forts, while the shrapnel and shell made many of the trenches untenable.
As fast as the Belgians were compelled to withdraw from a position the Germans moved up and occupied it. The Belgians fought stubbornly with infantry and frequently they repulsed the Germans, but these repulses always meant a renewal of the artillery attacks by the Germans, with the eventual retirement of the Belgians until the end of endurance was reached and the city defenses were evacuated by their brave garrison.
An instance of the tenacity with which the infantry stuck to their positions was reported from the Berlaere, where the commanding officer and his aid-de-camp were in one of the most exposed positions. Sandbags protected them for some time, but at last the aid-de-camp was struck by shrapnel and had his face virtually blown away. Unperturbed by this terrible proof of the danger of his position, the commanding officer stuck to his post, and for further shelter placed the body of his junior over his body. In this position he lay firing, whenever possible, from o'clock in the morning until 4 in the afternoon.
FIERCE FIGHT TO CROSS NETHE
The crossing of the River Nethe was attended by great loss to the Germans. They hurled their infantry recklessly against the Belgian trenches, and while they lost enormous numbers, eventually succeeded in crossing the river. One of the unsuccessful attempts was described by an independent observer as follows:
"The Germans succeeded in getting a pontoon completed and they came down to the river bank in solid masses to cross it. As they came every Belgian gun that could be turned on the spot was concentrated on them and they were blown away, blocks of them at a time, and still the masses came on.
"The Belgian officers spoke with enthusiasm of the steadiness and gallantry with which, as each German company was swept away, another pushed into its place. But it was a dreadful sight, nevertheless.
"At last the bridge went, shattered and blown to bits. The Belgian guns continued for a while to search the opposite river bank, but the Germans fell back and no more masses of men came down to where the pontoon had been. Allowing for all exaggerations, there can be no doubt that the German loss must have been extremely heavy."
Near Termonde, on Wednesday, the 7th, the fighting was just as fierce. The Belgians had four batteries of field guns there which succeeded in destroying the locks of the river (the Scheldt), thus flooding a part of the river and blocking the Germans. Later they engaged in a hot duel with the German artillery. Two of the Belgian batteries were completely destroyed early in the action and all of the men serving them were killed. Not until the last of the remaining guns were put out of action did the Belgians withdraw.
Of the casualties in and around Antwerp during the siege it is possible only to make an estimate. It was said after the Germans entered the city that their total loss in killed, wounded and missing was near forty-five thousand men. German officers were credited before the attack with saying that they would sacrifice 100,000 men, if necessary, to take Antwerp. It is probable that the German casualties numbered at least twenty-five thousand, while the Belgian losses in actual killed and wounded were probably five thousand The latter fought from entrenched positions, while the heavy German losses were sustained in the open and at the river crossings. The casualties among the British marines, who arrived only a day or two before the city capitulated, were comparatively insignificant. STORY OF AN EYEWITNESS—HARROWING SCENES
ATTENDING THE FALL OF ANTWERP AND THE EXODUS OF ITS PEOPLE
A vivid picture of the pathetic scenes attending the fall of Antwerp was given by Lucien A. Jones, correspondent of the London Daily Chronicle, who wrote on October 11th as follows:
"Antwerp has been surrendered at last. The bitterest blow which has fallen upon Belgium is full of permanent tragedy, but the tragedy is lightened by the gallantry with which the city was defended. Only at last to save the historic buildings and precious possessions of the ancient port was its further defense abandoned. Already much of it had been shattered by the long-range German guns, and prolonged resistance against these tremendous engines of war was impossible. Owing to this the siege was perhaps the shortest in the annals of war that a fortified city has ever sustained. Heroic efforts were made by the Belgians to stem the tide of the enemy's advance, but the end could not long be delayed when the siege guns began the bombardment.
"It was at three minutes past noon on Friday, October 9th, that the Germans entered the city, which was formally surrendered by Burgomaster J. De Vos. Antwerp had then been under a devastating and continuous shell fire for over forty hours.
"It was difficult to ascertain precisely how the German attack was planned, but the final assault consisted of a continuous bombardment of two hours' duration, from half past 7 o'clock in the morning to half-past 9. During that time there was a continuous rain of shells, and it was extraordinary to notice the precision with which they dropped where they would do the most damage. The Germans used captive balloons, whose officers signaled the points in the Belgian defense at which they should aim.
GERMAN GUNS CONCEALED
"The German guns, too, were concealed with such cleverness that their position could not be detected by the Belgians. Against such methods and against the terrible power of the German guns the Belgian artillery seemed quite ineffective. Firing came to an end at 9.30 on Friday, and the garrison escaped, leaving only ruins behind them. In order to gain time for an orderly retreat a heavy fire was maintained against the Germans up to the last minute and the forts were then blown up by the defenders as the Germans came in at the gate of Malines.
"I was lucky enough to escape by the river to the north in a motorboat. The bombardment had then ceased, though many buildings were still blazing, and while the little boat sped down the Scheldt one could imagine the procession of the Kaiser's troops already goose-stepping their way through the well-nigh deserted streets.
MANY HARROWING SCENES
"Those forty hours of shattering noise almost without lull seem to me now a fantastic nightmare, but the sorrowful sights I witnessed in many parts of the city cannot be forgotten.
"It was Wednesday night that the shells began to fall into the city. From then onward they must have averaged about ten a minute, and most of them came from the largest guns which the Germans possess, 'Black Marias,' as Tommy Atkins has christened them. Before the bombardment had been long in operation the civil population, or a large proportion of it, fell into a panic.
"It is impossible to blame these peaceful, quiet-living burghers of Antwerp for the fears that possessed them when a merciless rain of German shells began to fall into the streets and on the roofs of their houses and public buildings. The Burgomaster had in his proclamation given them excellent advice, to remain calm for instance, and he certainly set them an admirable example, but it was impossible to counsel perfection to the Belgians, who knew what had happened to their fellow-citizens in other towns which the Germans had passed through.
FOUGHT TO GET ON THE BOATS
"Immense crowds of them—men, women and children—gathered along the quayside and at the railway stations in an effort to make a hasty exit from the city. Their condition was pitiable in the extreme. Family parties made up the biggest proportion of this vast crowd of broken men and women. There were husbands and wives with their groups of scared children, unable to understand what was happening, yet dimly conscious in their childish way that something unusual and terrible and perilous had come into their lives. "There were fully 40,000 of them assembled on the long quay, and all of them were inspired by the sure and certain hope that they would be among the lucky ones who would get on board one of the few steamers and the fifteen or twenty tugboats available. As there was no one to arrange their systematic embarkation a wild struggle followed amongst the frantic people, to secure a place. Men, women and children fought desperately with each other to get on board, and in that moment of supreme anguish human nature was seen in one of its worst moods; but who can blame these stricken people?
APPALLED BY THE HORROR OF WAR
"They were fleeing fromles barbares,' and shells that were destroying their homes and giving their beloved town to the flames were screaming over their heads. Their trade was not war. They were merchants, shopkeepers, comfortable citizens of middle age or more; there were many women and children among them, and this horror had come upon them in a more appalling shape than any in which horror had visited a civilized community in modern times.
"There was a scarcity of gangways to the boats, and the only means of boarding them was by narrow planks sloping at dangerous angles. Up these the fugitives struggled, and the strong elbowed the weak out of their way in a mad haste to escape.
"By 2 o'clock Thursday most of the tugboats had got away, but there were still some 15,000 people who had not been able to escape and had to await whatever fate was in store for them.
A GREAT EXODUS OF INHABITANTS
"At the central railway station incidents of a similar kind were happening. There, as down by the river, immense throngs of people had assembled, and they were filled with dismay at the announcement that no trains were running. In their despair they prepared to leave the city on foot by crossing the pontoon bridge and marching towards the Dutch frontier. I should say the exodus of refugees from the city must have totaled 200,000 men, women and children of all ages, or very nearly that vast number, out of a population which in normal times is 321,800. "I now return to the events of Thursday, October 8th. At 12.30 in the afternoon, when the bombardment had already lasted over twelve hours, through the courtesy of a Belgian officer I was able to ascend to the roof of the cathedral, and from that point of vantage I looked down upon the scene in the city.
"All the southern portion of Antwerp appeared to be desolate ruin. Whole streets were ablaze, and the flames were rising to a height of twenty and thirty feet.
"From my elevated position I had an excellent view also of the great oil tanks on the opposite side of the Scheldt. They had been set on fire by four bombs from a German Taube aeroplane, and a huge thick volume of black smoke was ascending two hundred feet into the air. It was like a bit of Gustave Doré's idea of the infernal regions.
CITY ALMOST DESERTED
"The city by this time was almost deserted, and no attempt was made to extinguish the fires that had broken out all over the southern district. Indeed there were no means of dealing with them. For ten days the water supply from the reservoir ten miles outside the city had been cut off, and this was the city's main source of supply. The reservoir was just behind Fort Waelthen, and a German shell had struck it, doing great mischief. It left Antwerp without any regular inflow of water and the inhabitants had to do their best with the artesian wells. Great efforts were made by the Belgians from time to time to repair the reservoir, but it was always thwarted by the German shell fire.
KILLED BEFORE HIS WIFE'S EYES
"After leaving the cathedral, I made my way to the southern section of the city, where shells were bursting at the rate of five a minute. With great difficulty, and not without risk, I got as far as Rue Lamoiere. There I met a terror-stricken Belgian woman, the only other person in the streets besides myself. In hysterical gasps she told me that the Bank Nationale and Palais de Justice had been struck and were in flames, and that her husband had been killed just five minutes before I came upon the scene. His mangled remains were lying not one hundred yards away from where we were standing.
"Except for the lurid glare of burning buildings, which lit up the streets, the city was in absolute darkness, and near the quay I lost my way trying to get to the Hotel Wagner. For the second time that day I narrowly escaped death by shell. One burst with terrific force about twenty-five yards from me. I heard its warning whirr and rushed into a neighboring porch. Whether it was from the concussion of the shell or in my anxiety to escape I caromed against the door and tumbled down, and as I lay on the ground a house on the opposite side crashed in ruins. I remained still for several minutes, feeling quite sick and unable to get up. Then I pulled myself together and ran at full speed until I came to a street which I recognized.
TAKE REFUGE IN CELLARS
"How many of the inhabitants of Antwerp remained in the city that night it is impossible to say, but they were all in the cellars of their houses or shops. The Burgomaster, M. De Vos, had in one of his several proclamations made many suggestions for safety during the bombardment, for the benefit of those who took refuge in cellars. Among the most useful of them, perhaps, was that which recommended means of escape to an adjoining cellar. The power of modern artillery is so tremendous that a cellar might very well become a tomb if a shell fell on the building overhead.
"Sleep was impossible that night, in the noise caused by the explosion of shells in twenty different quarters of the town. About 6 o'clock I was told that it was time we got out, as the Germans were entering the city. We hurried from the hotel and found the streets completely deserted. I walked down to the quay-side, and there I came across many wounded soldiers, who had been unable to get away in the hospital boat.
"On the quay piles of equipment had been abandoned. A broken-down motor-car, kit-bags, helmets, rifles and knapsacks were littered in heaps. Ammunition had been dumped there and rendered useless. The Belgians had evidently attempted to set fire to the whole lot. The pile of stuff was still smoldering. I waited there for half an hour, and during that time hundreds of Belgian soldiers passed in the retreat. Just about this time a pontoon bridge which had been the means of the Belgian retreat was blown up to prevent pursuit by the Germans.
"At 8 o'clock a shell struck the Town Hall, and about 8:15 another shell shattered the upper story and broke every window in the place.
BURGOMASTER PARLEYS WITH GERMANS
"That was the German way of telling the Burgomaster to hurry up. A quarter of an hour later M. De Vos went out in his motor-car toward the German line to discuss the conditions on which the city should be surrendered.
"At 9:30 o'clock the bombardment of the city suddenly ceased, and we understood that the Burgomaster had by this time reached the German headquarters. Still we waited, painfully anxious to learn what would be the ultimate fate of Antwerp. Belgian soldiers hurried by and at 10: proclamations were posted on the walls of the Town Hall urging all in the city to surrender any arms in their possession and begging all to remain calm in the event of the Germans' occupation. A list was also posted of several prominent citizens who were appointed to look after the interests of those Belgians who remained.
"The 'impregnable' city of Antwerp had fallen, but without dishonor to its gallant defenders."
GERMAN MILITARY GOVERNOR OF ANTWERP APPOINTED—GERMAN OFFICIAL REPORTS
On October 10 Baron von der Schutz was appointed military governor of Antwerp. It was expected that the city would become the base for Zeppelin attacks upon England and also for a German naval campaign in which mines and submarines would play an important part. This was intimated in dispatches from Berlin following the German occupation of the city.
The German General Staff, in announcing the capture, added that they could not estimate the number of prisoners taken. "We took enormous quantities of supplies of all kinds," said the official statement.
THE WOUNDED AND PRISONERS
Typical Precautions Used by the German Army—The Soldiers' First-Aid Outfit—System in Hospital Arrangements—How Prisoners of War Are Treated—Are Humane and Fair to All Concerned.
Modern armies take the best possible care of their wounded and none has brought this department of warfare to greater perfection than the Germany army. One detail of this work shows the German army at its best.
Every soldier has sewn under a corner of his coat a strip of rubber cloth. Under this strip is a piece of antiseptic gauze, a strip of bandage and plaster and cloth for the outer bandage. This cloth bears in simple pictures directions for dressing every sort of wound.
When a soldier is wounded either he or some comrade rips open this package and applies at once the life saving dressing, which will last at any rate until the soldier is brought to a station, where the first scientific attention is given.
Through this simple and inexpensive device thousands upon thousands of German soldiers, who have been slightly wounded in battle, have returned to their comrades within a few days completely well and have taken their places in the ranks once more. Without this care a large percentage of the wounds would become inflamed, as has been the case with hundreds of wounded French prisoners captured by the Germans.
The ordinary procedure of caring for the wounded in the German army is for the sanitary corps, which is well provided with stretchers and bandages, to gather up the wounded on or near the firing lines and bring them to a gathering point a little way behind the lines.
Here the army surgeons are ready to begin work at once upon the most urgent cases. They are assisted by members of the corps, who remove the temporary bandages, and put on dressings which will last until the soldier reaches a hospital. Then from this first gathering point the wounded soldiers are put on stretchers in Red Cross wagons and carried to the field hospitals a few miles farther back, where doctors and nurses are at work.
HOSPITALS IN VILLAGE CHURCHES
These hospitals are usually established in village churches or town halls. One room is cleared and arranged for an operating room, where bullets and pieces of shell are removed and amputations are made if necessary.
"I have just visited such a field hospital," said a correspondent with the right wing of the German army in France, writing on September 28. "It was in a little whitewashed village church heated by a stove. Everywhere were white beds made of straw and covered with sheets. Perhaps twenty wounded were here, including two captured Irishmen. They lay quite still when the army doctor ushered us in, for they were too seriously wounded to pay much attention to anything.
"Near this hospital was another in a town hall. While we were there a consulting surgeon arrived to investigate the condition of a seriously wounded lieutenant, whose leg might need amputation. Two orderlies put the patient on a stretcher, and he was taken into the next room for examination. Later in the day the amputation was performed.
MOVED TO HOSPITALS IN CITIES
"From these little field hospitals, as soon as the men can be moved, they are taken to some general hospital in the nearest large city, where several thousands can be cared for. Such a hospital exists in this neighborhood in the building of a normal college, where every corner is used in housing wounded men.
"I made a quick trip through this building and the memory of it is one of the most heartrending pictures I have of the war. Room after room was filled with the victims of the conflict. Every man was seriously wounded. Some had suffered amputations and the heads of others were so bandaged that no feature could be seen, only a tube to the nose permitting breathing.
HORROR IN HOSPITAL SIGHTS
"In one room a surgeon had a soldier on the operating table and was pulling pieces of shell from a huge hole in the inner side of one of his legs. On a stretcher on the floor, waiting for his turn to come under the surgeon's care, was an officer. His face was covered with blood, he was waving his arms wildly and gasping for air. This scene left an impression of the utmost horror upon me.
"Slightly wounded soldiers, whom it is not necessary to leave for a while in the field hospitals, are sent directly to these larger hospitals and thence, after a short convalescence, are loaded into Red Cross trains and sent home for recovery. Later they return to take their places in the regiments. Such trains can be seen daily along any main line of railroad. In some cases freight cars with straw bedding are used.
"One of the finest examples of charity given during the war is a splendid Red Cross train entirely equipped as a modern hospital, even having a first class operating room. This was given to the German army by the citizens of Wilmersdorff, who also employed an excellent surgeon. Scores of lives will be saved through a small outlay of money.
GRAVEYARDS ON BATTLEFIELDS
"Near the large hospital I visited was a graveyard where there were scores of neatly marked fresh graves, each bearing a cross or tablet with the name of the soldier and his regiment, division and corps marked on it. In some cases comrades had added a word or two of scripture. The deaths are too numerous for an imposing ceremony at each burial, but for every one an army chaplain reads scripture and offers a short prayer, while a few comrades stand by with bared heads.
"The identity of each soldier is easily determined from the name plate which he wears in a little leather purse suspended from around the neck. After a battle these plates are gathered from the dead and from these the death lists are made out. [It was said that after the battle of the Marne no fewer than 68,000 of these name plates or tags were found collected in one place.—Ed.]
"After a battle where the deaths mount into the thousands some field will be shut off for a cemetery and there the bodies are buried, each grave receiving some kind of a cross wherever it is possible, but here no names can be attached. There will be many homes in which there will be vacant places and where it will not even be known where the absent ones are buried.
KAISER INSISTS ON ENTERING
"While here I heard a touching story about a lieutenant who was dying in the hospital, while the Kaiser was inspecting it. The Kaiser came to the room where the officer lay and the attendants asked him not to enter, as a man was dying. The Kaiser immediately pushed his way in, went up to the lieutenant, put his hand on the officer's shoulder, and said in German: 'Hello, here I am!'
"The lieutenant began murmuring with his eyes closed.
"'I have been dreaming and I dreamed that my Kaiser came to me, put his hand on my shoulder and spoke to me.'
"'Open your eyes,' said the Kaiser.
"The lieutenant obeyed, smiled a smile of recognition, and then closed his eyes in the final sleep.
SURGEONS WIN IRON CROSSES
"So far, according to official announcement, there have been between 50,000 and 60,000 wounded and immediately after a great battle the sanitary corps has been unable to cope quickly enough with the work, but under ordinary circumstances the provision made has been ample. The number of the sanitary corps was determined upon the experience in the Russo-Japanese war, in which the losses were by no means so heavy as they have been in this war, but where in a few cases numbers have been lacking the surgeons and their assistants have put forth herculean efforts. Many surgeons are now wearing the iron cross for bravery, winning the insignia by dragging out wounded from the rain of bullets.
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF WAR
The prisoner of war has been a conspicuous figure in the news that has come from the seething caldron of Europe. Many thousands of prisoners have been taken from the contending armies by their adversaries. For them the average American reader, perusing "war news" in the comfort of his security from the great conflict, has felt perhaps a grain of sorrow and wondered vaguely what horrors befell them after capture.
Early in September the German war department sent broadcast a statement that 30,000 Russians had been taken prisoners by the German soldiers after heavy battles in East Prussia, particularly around Ortelsburg, Hohenstein and Tannenburg. The statement mentioned the fact that among the prisoners were many Russian officers of high rank.
What is done with these prisoners, how they are handled and treated and whether high officials are punished more severely than mere privates, are questions frequently asked and seldom answered, for the procedure followed in such matters is but little known.
REGULATIONS ARE HUMANE TO ALL
The international laws of warfare, embodied in The Hague conventions, the Geneva convention and the declaration of London, contain provisions that provide expressly what manner of treatment shall be accorded prisoners of hostile nations who are taken in battle. If these provisions of international law are lived up to, the lot of the prisoner of war is not so hard as many people have been led to believe.
After the first year of the war, however, stories of ill-treatment of prisoners in German prison camps began to be told, and before long there were many well-authenticated cases of the kind. Inhuman treatment was reported by English and Canadian prisoners, and protests were duly made by the British government through neutral channels. The growing shortage of food in Germany was alleged as the cause of some of the complaints, but cases of actual brutality, involving cowardly physical abuse and even killing were also reported. The nation which captures its enemy's soldiers and makes prisoners of them is held entirely responsible for whatever happens and shoulders at once a responsibility that is commensurate with the number of prisoners who are taken and detained.
The law of warfare says that a prisoner must be as fair with his captors as they are with him. He must be "humanely treated," so it is prescribed, and when he is questioned by his captors he must give his true name and the rank he holds in the army which has been defeated and of which he was once a part. Contrary to general belief, he is not stripped of "everything" and thrown into a dungeon and fed on a crust of bread and a mug of stale water. His captors do not deprive him of his personal possessions, except weapons, horses and military papers.
Furthermore, they must give him complete religious liberty, and it is specifically decreed that he must be given opportunity to attend a church of the denomination to which he belongs. And there he may pray as much for the success of his own nation or the much-desired relief from detention as the state of his mind dictates.
PRISONERS MAY BE CONFINED
The prisoner of war may be interned in a town or a fort, or even a camp, according to the convenience of his captors, but the enemy may not confine him, except, the law says, as "an indispensable measure of safety," and then only as long as the circumstances make it necessary. Of course the law gives the commanding officer considerable leeway in such matters, for he is left to determine when the "indispensable" occasion arises.
At other times when the prisoner is at liberty, he is subject to all the rules and regulations of the army of the government that captured him, and if he refuses to obey the rules or acts in an insubordinate manner toward the officers in command, he may be punished and disciplined according to his offense. And here it is again left to the discretion of his captors as to what measure of punishment shall be inflicted upon him.
ATTEMPTS AT ESCAPE
If a prisoner of war attempts to escape and his captors are vigilant to the extent of retaking him before he leaves the territory they occupy, or before he has a chance to rejoin his own army, he may be severely punished. On the other hand, if he eludes his captors and makes a clean getaway and his army is again unfortunate, and he is captured the second time, the perfectly good escape from previous captivity must go unpunished and he must be treated as a prisoner of war, just as though he had not made the successful dash for liberty and further glory.
The government that holds prisoners of war is chargeable with their maintenance and must provide them with food, clothing and shelter as good as that provided for its own troops. The officers of the captors are required to keep records of all the prisoners under their charge, and if relief societies, which have been extensively formed by the women of Europe and many American women as well, wish to minister to their needs and comforts, the officers in command must afford them every possible facility. And if the friends of prisoners or the welfare societies see fit to send them presents and clothing, medicine and other necessities, such goods must be admitted to them free of any war duty that might be imposed by the nation holding them, and the railroads owned by the government are bound to carry such supplies free of transportation charges.
CAPTIVES MUST BE PAID FOR WORK
Prisoners of war may be put to work by the government that captures them and the duties must be assigned with a view to their aptitude, fitness and rank. The tasks must not be unduly severe, so as to border on cruelty, and they must have no bearing whatever on the operations of the war. The prisoners must be paid for the work they do, moreover, at a rate equal to that being paid to the soldiers of the national army, and prisoners may be authorized to work for the public service, for private persons or on their own account.
The wages of these prisoners, the law says, must go toward improving their condition, and the balance must be paid them after their release, with the proper deduction for their board and keep. When officers of hostile armies who are captured are put to work they must get the same wage rate as is paid to the corresponding officers of the government whose captives they are. All these moneys must be ultimately refunded by their own governments to their captors after the war is over, peace is declared and the intricate problems of indemnities come up for solution.
A prisoner of war may even be paroled by his captors, and this is done sometimes when he is disabled or there are circumstances that prompt his enemies to let him go to those who are near and dear to him. When parole is granted to a prisoner he makes a solemn pledge and promise that he will live up to the terms under which he is released, and even his own nation may not ask him to perform a service that is inconsistent with that pledge.
BREAKER OF A PAROLE
It goes hard with the prisoner on parole who is caught fighting against the nation that released him, for he is not entitled to be treated as a prisoner of war, and the judgment meted out to him is as terrible as it is sure. Certain codes of honor are supposed to be observed even in international warfare, and a soldier who breaks his word of honor is considered the most despicable of men.