NAVAL BATTLE IN THE NORTH SEA
One of the most important naval battles of the war took place on January 24 in the North Sea between a British battle cruiser squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty, comprising the battle cruisers Tiger, Lion, Princess Royal, New Zealand and Indomitable, assisted by a few light cruisers and destroyers, on the one hand, and on the other a German squadron, consisting of the battle cruisers Derflinger, Seydlitz and Moltke, the armored cruiser Bluecher, one of the finest in the Kaiser's navy, and several light cruisers.
It was a running fight, covering over one hundred miles and lasting four hours. At the end of this time the German armored cruiser Bluecher was at the bottom of the sea and two of the German battle cruisers had been damaged. Two of Vice-Admiral Beatty's ships were seriously damaged, namely, the giant battle cruiser Lion, which was Sir David's flagship, and the torpedo boat destroyer Meteor, one of the largest and fastest of this class afloat. However, both of these vessels were safely towed into port. The loss in men on the British side was fourteen killed and twenty-nine wounded, while on the side of the Germans only 125 of the crew of 850 men on the Bluecher were saved; the other 725 went down with the ship. The loss of the Bluecher was the hardest blow the German navy had sustained up to this time, as she was one of the newest and best vessels of her class. She was built at a cost of $6,750,000. Her speed was slower than that of the other vessels in the German squadron, which doubtless accounted for her loss. The battle began about 150 miles from Heligoland and ended within about fifty miles of this German naval base.
Early in the month of February, England threatened to put all foodstuffs destined for German ports on the contraband list. In retaliation, Germany, on February 4, through Admiral von Pohl, chief of the admiralty staff, issued a proclamation designating the waters around Great Britain and Ireland as a war area, to become effective February 18 and to be enforced by a formidable fleet of submarines, the object being to conduct war operations in this area for the purpose of destroying commercial ships of the enemy.
Just at this time the great passenger steamship Lusitania, in her passage from New York to Liverpool, hoisted the American flag while sailing through the Irish Sea, and Germany charged that the British Admiralty had issued confidential orders to captains of all British ships to sail under the stars and stripes or other neutral flags when necessary to use this means of protection against destruction by the warships of the enemy. This situation seriously menaced the commerce of the United States as well as that of all other neutral nations, and the American Government, therefore, promptly issued a note of warning to both belligerents and demanded in strong terms the protection of American neutral rights on the high seas. Germany responded promptly and promised to use every precaution to protect neutral shipping, but pointed out that the use of the American flag by British ships would make it difficult to distinguish neutral vessels from those of the enemy; hence neutral shipping was urged to avoid the indicated war area. Great Britain, on the other hand, claimed the right to use neutral flags when necessary to protect human life and ships, when endangered by the war vessels of the enemy; and under the laws of warfare and customs of the nations this contention was correct.
It can readily be seen that this situation placed the sea commerce of the United States, as well as that of all other neutral countries, in a most dangerous position. Up to March 1, 1915, about twenty merchant vessels of various nationalities were destroyed or damaged in the war zone established by Germany, including Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, American and British ships.
GREAT GERMAN VICTORY IN EAST PRUSSIA
After a difficult campaign against the Russian invaders in East Prussia, the German army, by the masterly strategy of Field Marshal von Hindenburg, practically annihilated the Russian Tenth Army of 150, men, completing the task February 20. It was the most spectacular campaign in the history of modern warfare.
The object of the German commander was not only to free East Prussia from the Russian invasion, but to completely capture the Russian Tenth Army. He sent one column in from the south to drive back the Russians who occupied the Mazurian lake gateway to East Prussia, and another column from the north was swung around in wide circles to the east and south, aiming to join hands with the southern German column, thus cutting off the Russian retreat. This movement would have succeeded absolutely except for delay in passing through the swamps, caused by mild weather which broke up the ice. A commander of one of the German corps said: "Nature has always helped Russia. Two days of hard frost and we should have had every man."
In the south also nature aided the Russians. There the German hosts attacked the enemy in the face of a driving snowstorm from the north, which hindered their operations but did not prevent them from gaining a victory which resulted in freeing Prussian territory from the invader.
ALLIES FORCE THE DARDANELLES
On March 1 a great allied fleet of forty British and French warships, having reduced the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles, was on its way through the straits and the Sea of Marmora to Constantinople, with the object of capturing the city. Panic prevailed in the Turkish capital at the approach of the fleet, while for the first time in history hostile flags flew over the forts at the mouth of the Dardanelles. The naval operations of the Allies in the Dardanelles, which began on February 17, proceeded without any serious check for a month. Mine sweepers were in daily use, to clear the channel of submerged and floating mines, and the forts at the Narrows, several miles inside the entrance of the straits, were subject to bombardment every fine day. High winds and fog hampered the operations to a considerable extent, but the purpose of the Allies under Vice-Admiral Carden was adamant and would not be denied. They were determined to hammer their way through to the Turkish capital. The greatest battle of all history between warships and shore forts was the result. Soon after the bombardment began it became known that the allied fleets were led by the great new British superdreadnaught Queen Elizabeth, launched after the war began and armed with 15-inch guns of immense range which proved most effective in reducing the forts at the mouth of the straits.
THREE WARSHIPS SUNK
On March 18 three of the allied warships were sunk inside the Dardanelles and two crippled by the Turks during a bombardment in which ten vessels of the combined fleet participated. The official report of the battle was as follows:
"Mine-sweeping having been in progress during the last ten days inside the straits, a general attack was delivered by the British and French fleets on Thursday morning upon the fortresses at the Narrows. At 10:45 A.M. the Queen Elizabeth, Inflexible, Agamemnon, and Lord Nelson bombarded forts J, L, T, U and V, while the Triumph and Prince George fired at batteries F, E and H. A heavy fire was opened on the ships from howitzers and field guns.
"At 12:22 o'clock the French squadron, consisting of the Suffren, Gaulois, Charlemagne and Bouvet, advanced up the Dardanelles and engaged the forts at closer range. Forts I, U, F and E replied strongly. Their fire was silenced by the ten battleships inside the straits, all the ships being hit several times during this part of the action.
"By 1:25 P.M. all the forts had ceased firing. The Vengeance, Irresistible, Albion, Ocean, Swiftsure and Majestic then advanced to relieve the six old battleships inside the straits. As the French squadron, which had engaged the forts in a most brilliant fashion, was passing out, the Bouvet was blown up by a drifting mine. She sank in fathoms north of Arenkeuf village in less than three minutes.
"At 2:23 P.M. the relief battleships renewed the attack on the forts, which again opened fire. The attack on the forts was maintained while the operations of the mine-sweepers continued.
"At 4:09 P.M. the Irresistible quitted the line, listing heavily, and at 5:50 o'clock sank, having probably struck a drifting mine. At 6: o'clock the Ocean, also having struck a mine, sank. Both vessels sank in deep water, practically the whole of their crews having been removed safely under a hot fire. The loss of the ships was caused by mines drifting with the current, which were encountered in areas hitherto swept clear.
"The British casualties in personnel were not heavy considering the scale of the operations, but practically the whole of the crew of the Bouvet were lost with the ship, an internal explosion having apparently supervened on the explosion of the mine." [About 500 lives were lost on the Bouvet.]
On March 16 Vice-Admiral Carden, who had been incapacitated by illness, was succeeded in the chief command by Rear-Admiral John Michael De Robeck, with the acting rank of vice-admiral.
ADMIRAL DE ROBECK'S TRIBUTE TO THE FRENCH
After the engagement of March 18 Admiral De Robeck telegraphed to the British Admiralty the following tribute to the gallantry of the French in action:
"I desire to bring to the notice of your Lordships the splendid behavior of the French squadron. Their heavy loss leaves them quite undaunted. They were led into close action by Rear-Admiral Guepratte with the greatest gallantry."
About this time it was noted by the press and generally commented upon, in both England and America, that the Admiralty had not made public a single word of commendation for the work of the British navy since the war began. This unusual fact was interpreted as evidence of the inflexible purpose of the British to ignore minor losses and even defeats until the main battleship fleets of the belligerents should come to grips in the open sea. English newspapers began to taunt the Germans with permitting their navy to "rust in the Kiel Canal."
The sinking of the battle cruisers Irresistible, Ocean and Bouvet was the heaviest loss sustained by the Allies since the war began. The British crews were rescued, almost to a man, and the loss of the French crew was due mainly to the internal explosion following that of the mine. All the ships sunk were of the earlier pre-dreadnought type. On the same day, March 18, the British battle cruiser Inflexible and the French battleship Gaulois were put out of commission temporarily by the fire of the Turkish forts.
The Irresistible, the Ocean and the Bouvet were all sunk in portions of the straits which had been swept clear of anchored mines, and the drifting mines which proved so deadly were undoubtedly set afloat by the Turks, probably under the direction of German officers, on the swift current of the Dardanelles at points near the allied ships after the action began. On March 24 the allied fleets renewed with vigor their attack upon the forts at the Narrows of the Dardanelles. A large body of troops was also landed upon the peninsula of Gallipoli, commanding the approach to Constantinople, and the Russian Black Sea fleet co-operated by a bombardment of the Turkish naval base, which left the Turkish fleet without supplies and practically paralyzed its movements.
BATTLE OF NEUVE CHAPELLE
The presence of part of Earl Kitchener's new British volunteer army at the western front in Belgium and France was signalized between March and March 16, when the British gained a series of successes that drew marked attention to their operations. To the south of Ypres in Flanders the British army, which a German attack had compelled to fall back beyond St. Eloi, recaptured that village and almost all of the neighboring German trenches, in spite of several counterattacks.
On March 11 Field Marshal Sir John French described the fighting which led to the capture of Neuve Chapelle in Northern France as follows:
"Since my last communique the situation on our front, between Armentières and La Bassée, has been materially altered by a successful initiative on the part of the troops engaged. Shortly after 8 A.M. on March 10 these troops assaulted and carried German trenches in the neighborhood of Neuve Chapelle.
"Before noon we captured the whole village of Neuve Chapelle. Our infantry at once proceeded to confirm and extend the local advantage gained. By dusk the whole labyrinth of trenches on a front about 4, yards was in our hands. We had established ourselves about 1,200 yards beyond the enemy's advanced trenches.
"During the 11th the enemy made repeated efforts to recover the ground lost. All his counter-attacks were repulsed with heavy loss.
"We continue to make steady progress and hard fighting continues. The local initiative displayed by our troops daily is admirable. It says much for the spirit which animates the army. The success achieved on the 10th and 11th is a striking example." "THE END OF THE WORLD"
An officer who was wounded in the fighting thus vividly describes the battle of Neuve Chapelle:
"Modern warfare is such an infernal business that any man who is not killed ought to be cheerful. It all seems like a wild dream to me. I never heard such a row in all my life. And the bullets and the shells—it was like passing through the most awful hail storm.
"We were in our trenches at dawn when suddenly a most infernal din commenced. You never saw such a sight; you never heard such a noise. I heard one of my men say, 'This is the end of the world,' and I did not blame him for thinking so. We could see in the distance great masses of flame, earth and brick in great clouds of smoke, all ascending together as enormous shells screamed over our heads and burst among the German entrenchments and the houses of the village. At the end of a half-hour's bombardment the fire ceased as suddenly as it had begun.
"All this time we were awaiting the order to advance towards Aubers. At length we jumped out into the open. The air seemed alive with bullets and shells. There was a buzzing noise, such as you hear in a tropical forest on a hot summer day. On we moved, until we came to an open stretch, which was being swept by an infernal shell fire. We crossed this in rushes to gain the shelter of a few houses, losing some 40 or men. There we remained for some little time, reforming the battalion and awaiting further orders. When these came we moved forward over rough, open ground, coming upon lots of our poor fellows lying dead. They were from the only battalion which had preceded us.
"Then we entered the German trenches which had been captured. Again we halted. All this time our shells, German shells and rifle and machine gun bullets were shrieking overhead.
"Thank goodness, in an action like this you seem to lose your senses! A kind of elevation above all ordinary feelings comes over you and you feel as though you were rushing through air. There is so much to frighten you that you cease to be afraid. Then your senses gradually come back. That is why all infantry attacks should be carried through with one overwhelming rush."
GERMAN ADVANCE IN POLAND
On March 12 two German armies were on the move in Poland, seeking to pierce the Russian lines. One of these armies was advancing along the road to Przasnysz with the bank of the River Narew as its objective. This was the main German attack and inaugurated one of the biggest battles of the war.
Farther south, on the Pilica, a German feint was in progress with the object of weakening the Russian defense in the north. But while Petrograd seemed to be resigning itself to the idea of a second withdrawal from before Przasnysz, there was little doubt of the ultimate outcome of this German attempt to gain a firm footing on Russian soil. The German troops were moved forward in close order and only in the daytime, and were entirely dependent on what natural cover they could find between the rushes, as the ground was frozen too hard to permit the use of intrenching tools.
These tactics naturally involved very heavy losses. The German casualties are also understood to have been extremely severe around Simno, especially on their extreme left, where they lost the greater part of their transport. It appeared certain that the Russians had fallen back before an onrush of forces of overwhelming numerical superiority, but it was equally certain that with every yard of the German advance from their railways the shock of their impact weakened while the Russian powers of resistance were enhanced.
BRITISH RELIEVE THE PRESSURE
Just as the French attacked the Germans in the western campaign when Field Marshal von Hindenburg made his rush from East Prussia in February, so the British army operating in Flanders undertook the task of relieving the pressure on its Russian ally when the Russians again were attacked in north Poland. This was part of the general plan of the allied generals. When one was attacked the other attacked, so as to compel the Germans and Austrians to keep strong forces at every point, and endeavor to prevent them from sending new troops where they could do the most good.
In March the Germans were occupied in an attempt to crush the Russians. For this purpose they had an army estimated at nearly half a million men marching along the roads toward Przasnysz. To prevent this army from being further strengthened the British began to thrust at the German line north of La Bassée, and besides reporting the capture of the village of Neuve Chapelle, they advanced beyond that town.
BRITISH AUXILIARY CRUISER LOST
On March 12 the Admiralty issued a report of the loss of the large British auxiliary cruiser Bayano while on naval patrol duty in the Irish Sea. Evidence pointed to her having been torpedoed by a German submarine. Only 27 of the Bayano's crew of 250 were saved. Fourteen officers, including the commander, went down with the ship. The Bayano was a new twin screw steel steamer of 5,948 tons. The survivors were afloat on a raft when rescued. The loss of the Bayano was the most serious of the submarine blockade of the British coasts up to that time.
GERMAN CRUISER DRESDEN SUNK
For several months British warships in the South Atlantic and South Pacific oceans sought in vain for the German cruiser Dresden, one of the German squadron defeated off the Falkland Islands by Admiral Sturdee in December, when she was the only German vessel to escape. On February she sank the British ship Conway Castle off Corral in the South Pacific, and on March 14 she was caught near Juan Fernandez Island by the British cruisers Glasgow and Kent and the auxiliary cruiser Orama. An action ensued and after five minutes' fighting the Dresden hauled down her flag. She was much damaged and set on fire, and after she had been burning for some time her magazine exploded and she sank. The crew were saved. Fifteen badly wounded Germans were landed at Valparaiso, and the remainder of the crew were taken on board the auxiliary cruiser Orama as prisoners of war.
The Dresden was a sister ship of the famous Emden, and was commissioned in October, 1907. In the spring of 1914 the Dresden was on the Caribbean station, and was lying off Tampico when the American forces captured Vera Cruz. Later on in the summer the Dresden was the vessel on which Victoriano Huerta, upon abandoning Mexico, traveled from Puerta to Jamaica. Upon the outbreak of the war the Dresden was still stationed in Central American waters, and for a time was hunted by the British and French cruisers in the North Atlantic. She steamed south, however, and after sinking the British steamer Hyades and the Holmwood off the coast of Brazil, respectively, on August 16 and 26, went through the Strait of Magellan and joined Admiral Count Von Spee's fleet in the southern Pacific.
The sinking of the Dresden left at large on the high seas, so far as was known, only the German cruiser Karlsruhe, last reported as operating in the West Indies, and the auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm, which was still raiding commerce in the South Atlantic.
THE FALL OF PKZEMYSL
On March 22 the long siege of Przemysl, the formidable Galician fortress that had been called the "key to the Austrian empire," ended with the surrender of the city to the Russians. The siege stands as the fifth longest in 136 years, having lasted 185 days, surpassed in duration only by the sieges of Gibraltar, Sebastopol, Vicksburg, Richmond and Port Arthur. The news of the Austrians' surrender was the most important that had come from the eastern front in weeks. For six months the stronghold had withstood assault, remaining a constant menace in the rear of the Russian advance in Galicia. From 120,000 to 150,000 Russians had been held in the neighborhood by the necessity of masking the fortress. Numerous efforts had been made to reach the beleaguered city by relieving armies, but each in turn proved unavailing, though for a time in December it appeared likely that a combined German and Austrian army would succeed in raising the siege.
The fall of Przemysl was preceded by a sortie of the garrison in a last desperate attempt to hack its way through the enemy's lines. After a seven hours' battle they were compelled to retreat with a loss of nearly 4,000 prisoners. Only three days' rations were left. In the surrender of the city the Russians announced the taking of nearly 120,000 prisoners, including nine generals, 93 officers of the general staff, 2, officers and officials, and 117,000 soldiers.
Twenty-four thousand soldiers of the Przemysl garrison were killed during the long siege, according to dispatches from Petrograd. Twenty thousand more were wounded making the total casualties of the Austrian defenders 44,000 men. Depleted by disease, subsisting on horseflesh, and surrounded by a superior force of Russians, the garrison of Przemysl was forced to surrender, but fell with honor, the gallant character of the defense under General von Kusmanek being conceded on all sides. The Russian commander who received the surrender was General Seliwanoff. In the early days of the siege a Bulgarian, General Radko Dimitrieff, was in command of the investing forces. General Seliwanoff commanded the Russian forces at Vladivostok during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05.
The duration of the siege compared with the length of time it took the Germans to capture such strongholds as Liège, Namur and Antwerp was due to two causes, one being the desire of the Russians to keep the loss of life among the besieging army at a minimum, the other to the lack of great guns which the Germans had in Belgium.
The investment was not a close one, the garrison having had a radius of about twelve miles in which to move about. An aeroplane post was maintained almost up to the last, and it is said that even some scanty food supplies were carried in by aeroplane.
Although the victory was a big one, it cost the Russians dearly. It is estimated that 150,000 Russians were killed and wounded during the months that the siege went on. Not only were many Russians killed by the efficient fire of the Austrian gunners, but the fierce sorties where attackers and defenders fought hand-to-hand resulted in heavy casualties.
Przemysl was the greatest fortress in the Austrian empire. Hill, rock, marsh and river combined to give it strength and the work of nature had been supplemented by the labors of the finest military engineers in central Europe. The gallant defense which the garrison put up for days is recorded as Austria's most noteworthy contribution to the war. For a long time the fortress had faced famine.
With the fall of Przemysl the only important fortified town in Austrian Galicia which was not in the hands of the Russians was Cracow, close to the German border. A large Russian army with artillery was released for action. The Russian left wing stretched from the province of Bukowina on the southeast to Tarnow and the Vistula River near Cracow on the west.
ON THE EASTERN FRONT
On the eastern front of the stupendous battle line in March the most sanguinary fighting of the war occurred. Losses on both sides were appalling, while the gains in territorial acquisition amounted to little or nothing.
Describing the enormous losses on both sides in Poland, a neutral observer, Mr. Stanley Washburn, said in the American Review of Reviews:
"The German program contemplated taking both Warsaw and Ivangorod and the holding for the winter of the line between the two formed by the Vistula. The Russians took the offensive from Ivangorod, crossed the river, and after hideous fighting fairly drove Austrians and Germans from positions of great strength around the quaint little Polish town of Kozienice. From this town for perhaps ten miles west, and I know not how far north and south there is a belt of forest of fir and spruce. Near Kozienice the Russian infantry, attacking in flank and front, fairly wrested the enemy's position and drove him back into this jungle. The Russians simply sent their troops in after them.
"The fight was now over a front of perhaps twenty kilometers; there was no strategy. It was all very simple. In this belt were Germans and Austrians. They were to be driven out if it took a month. Then began the carnage. Day after day the Russians fed troops in on their side of the wood. Companies, battalions, regiments, and even brigades, were absolutely cut off from all communication. None knew what was going on anywhere but a few feet in front. All knew that the only thing required of them was to keep advancing.
"Yard by yard the ranks and lines of the Austrians were driven back, but the nearer their retreat brought them to the open country west of the wood the hotter was the contest waged. The last two kilometers of the woody belt are something incredible to behold; there seems hardly an acre that is not sown like the scene of a paperchase—only here with bloody bandages and bits of uniform. Men fighting hand to hand with clubbed muskets and bayonets contested each tree and ditch. The end was, of course, inevitable. The troops of the dual alliance could not fill their losses, and the Russians could. "At last came the day when the dirty, grimy, bloody soldiers of the Czar pushed their antagonists out of the far side of the woodland—and what a scene occurred in that open bit of country with the quaint little village of Augustowo at the crossroads! Once out in the open the hungry guns of the Russians, so long yapping ineffectively without knowing what their shells were doing, had their chance. Down every road through the forest came the six-horse teams with the guns jumping and jingling behind, with their accompanying caissons heavy with death-charged shrapnel, and the moment the enemy were in the clear these batteries, eight guns to a unit, were unlimbered on the fringe of the wood and pouring out their death and destruction on the wretched enemy now retreating hastily across the open. And the place where the Russians first turned loose on the retreat is a place to remember.
"Dead horses, bits of men, blue uniforms, shattered transport, overturned gun-carriages, bones, broken skulls, and grisly bits of humanity strew every acre of the ground.
ENORMOUS LOSSES ON BOTH SIDES
"A Russian officer who seemed to be in authority on this gruesome spot volunteered the information that already they had buried at Kozienice, in the wood and on this open spot, 16,000 dead. Those that had fallen in the open and along the road had been decently interred, as the forests of crosses for ten miles along that bloody way clearly indicated, but back in the woods themselves were hundreds and hundreds of bodies that lay as they had fallen. Sixteen thousand dead means at least 70, casualties all told, or 35,000 on a side if losses were equally distributed. And this, figured on the basis of the 16,000 dead already buried, without allowing for the numbers of the fallen that still lie about in the woods. And yet here is a battle the name of which is hardly more than known in America, yet the losses on both sides amount to more than the entire army that General Meade commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg.
"He who has the heart to walk about in this ghastly place can read the last sad moments of almost every corpse. Here one sees a blue-coated Austrian with leg shattered by a jagged bit of a shell. The trouser perhaps has been ripped open and clumsy attempts been made to dress the wound, while a great splotch of red shows where the fading strength was exhausted before the flow of life's stream could be checked. Here again is a body with a ghastly rip in the chest, made perhaps by bayonet or shell fragment. Frantic hands now stiffened in death are seen trying to hold together great wounds from which life must have flowed in a few great spurts of blood. And here it is no fiction about the ground being soaked with gore. One can see it,—coagulated like bits of raw liver, while great chunks of sand and earth are in lumps, held together by this human glue. Other bodies lie in absolute peace and serenity. Struck dead with a rifle ball through the heart or some other instantly vital spot. These lie like men asleep, and on their faces is the peace of absolute rest and relaxation, but of these alas! there are few compared to the ones upon whose pallid, blood-stained faces one reads the last frantic agony of death.
"The soldiers themselves go on from battlefield to battlefield, from one scene of carnage to another. They see their regiments dwindle to nothing, their officers decimated, three-fourths of their comrades dead or wounded, and yet each night they gather about their bivouacs apparently undisturbed by it all. One sees them on the road the day after one of these desperate fights marching cheerfully along, singing songs and laughing and joking with one another. This ismoraleand it is of the stuff that victories are made. And of such is the fiber of the Russian soldier, scattered over these hundreds of miles of front to-day. He exists in millions and has abiding faith in his companions, in his officers, and in his cause."
TERRIFIC FIGHTING IN MIDWINTER
Writing of the desperate fighting in Poland in midwinter when the Germans made a tremendous effort to pierce the Russian lines on the Bzura and Rawka front, with Warsaw as their objective point, an American correspondent, Mr. John F. Bass, said: "The fighting was terrific. The detonations of the cannon came in such rapid succession that they sounded like giant machine guns and the windows of the dressing stations for the wounded shook as if from an earthquake. It was not possible to distinguish individual gun explosions from the Battle of the infantry fire. All were mingled in one inarticulate battle shriek. At night, as in a furious thunderstorm, the darkness was pierced with the unintermittent flashes of the guns, while sickly green rockets shed a ghastly light over the fighting lines. The wounded brought in filled the hospitals to overflowing.
"It was estimated by the Russians that the Germans lost 60,000 men. I was told by an officer that the bodies of German soldiers were piled up before the Russian trenches in many of the assaults so high that German shells bursting among them threw mangled pieces of human beings into the trenches among the Russians.
"At night, under the glare of search-lights, the undulating mass of wounded made efforts to extricate themselves. Then, toward 2 o'clock in the morning, they moved no more." The winter cold had done its deadly work.
FRENCH MAKE GAINS IN MARCH
In the Champagne country of northern France the month of March was marked by almost continuous fighting of the fiercest character. French advices from Chalons-sur-Marne on March 29 were to the effect that 11,000 German dead had been taken from the trenches won by the French in the previous twenty days and that the total German losses during that time in the Champagne district exceeded 50,000 in killed, wounded and prisoners.
STIRRING EVENTS OF THE SPRING
All through the month of April the days were crowded with important occurrences east and west along the battle lines. The Russian movement across the Carpathians was pressed with vigor and some of the fiercest fighting of the war resulted, as the combined German and Austrian troops resisted the Russian advance into Hungary.
Early in the spring the British forces gained a notable victory at Neuve Chapelle in the western theater of war. Then the German forces in Flanders were heavily reinforced until it was estimated that they numbered not less than half a million men, gathered for the purpose of smashing the line of the Allies at the strategic point where the British and the Belgian troops were in touch with one another. Here, for three days, the Germans succeeded in pushing forward, driving a wedge for several miles into the line of the allied armies of England, France and Belgium. And here, too, the Canadian division of the British army covered itself with glory and once more demonstrated the value to the British empire of the "lion's whelps." On one notable occasion, destined to be recorded in history as a red-letter day for Canadian arms, the gallant fellows from the great Dominion "saved the situation," to quote from the report of Field Marshal French, by a splendid charge, during which they recaptured from the Germans four of their field guns that had been lost the day before.
HOW CANADIAN COMMANDER DIED LEADING YPRES CHARGE
From Sir Max Aitken's official account of the battle of Ypres.
"It did not seem that any human being could live in the shower of shot and shell which began to play on the advancing troops. They suffered terrible casualties. For a short time every other man seemed to fall, but the attack was pressed even closer and closer. The 4th Canadian battalion at one moment came under a particularly withering fire. For a moment it wavered.
"Its most gallant commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. Birchall, carrying, after an old fashion, a light cane, coolly and cheerfully rallied his men and at the very moment when his example had infected them, fell dead at the head of his battalion.
"With a cry of anger they sprang forward as if to avenge his death. The astonishing attack which followed, pushed home in the face of direct frontal fire made in broad daylight by battalions whose names should live forever in the memories of soldiers, was carried to the first line of German trenches. After a hand-to-hand struggle the last German who resisted was bayoneted and the trench was won.
"It was clear that several German divisions were attempting to crush or drive back the Third Brigade and to sweep around and overwhelm our left wing. The last attempt partially succeeded. German troops swung past the unsupported left of the brigade and, slipping in between the wood and St. Julien, added to our torturing anxieties by apparently isolating us from the brigade base.
"In the exertions made by the Third Brigade during this supreme crisis, Major Norsworthy, already almost disabled by a bullet wound, was bayoneted and killed. Captain McQuaig of the same battalion was seriously wounded.
"General Curry flung his left flank around and in the crisis of this immense struggle held his trenches from Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. He did not abandon them then. There were none left. They had been obliterated by artillery.
"He withdrew his undefeated troops from the fragments of his field fortifications and the hearts of his men were as completely unbroken as the parapets of his trenches were completely broken.
"The Ninetieth Winnipeg Rifles, which held the extreme left of the brigade position at the most critical moment, was expelled from the trenches early Friday morning by an emission of poisonous gas, but recovering in three-quarters of an hour it counter-attacked, retook the trenches it had abandoned and bayoneted the enemy.
"General Alderson, commanding the reinforcements, directed an advance by a British brigade which had been brought up in support.
"As the troops making it swept through the Canadian left and center, many of them going to certain death, they paused for an instant with deep-throated cheers for Canada, indicating the warm admiration which the Canadians' exertions had excited in the British army.
"On Monday morning General Curry was again called upon to lead his shrunken Second Brigade, reduced to a quarter of its original strength, into action at the apex of the line, which position the brigade held all that day. On Wednesday it was relieved and retired to the rear. 'Not a Canadian gun was lost in the long battle of retreat.'"
Concluding his account, Sir Max wrote: "The empire is engaged in a struggle without quarter and without compromise against an enemy still superbly organized, still immensely powerful, still confident that its strength is the mate of its necessity. To arms then, and still to arms! The graveyard of Canada in Flanders is very large."
GERMAN DRIVE TO THE COAST
Before the beginning of the spring campaign, it was realized by the Allies that the German general staff was preparing for a determined drive to the coast through the British and Belgian lines that protected the approach to Calais. It was for this reason that the British took the offensive at Neuve Chapelle and at the important strategic point known as Hill 60. The purpose of Field Marshal French was to strike the first blow, and the attacks were seemingly successful; but later news from the front showed that "something went wrong" at Neuve Chapelle, which in a large measure upset the British plans.
At Hill No. 60, though the British captured that important position, they were held back from further advance. Then came the long-expected German attack in the direction of Ypres, which was considered as one of the keys to the French seaport of Calais. By this attack the Allies were forced back from the Ypres canal, and the positions gained by the Germans brought them within twenty-five miles of the coast at Dunkirk.
The fighting at Neuve Chapelle, Hill 60 and Ypres was probably the most sanguinary of the entire war up to that time. The losses on both sides were enormous. Germans, British, Belgians and French were killed literally by the thousand, the British losses at Neuve Chapelle alone being estimated at 20,000, while the German casualties in forcing the passage of the Ypres canal a few days later exceeded 9,000 men.
PRAISE FOR THE CANADIANS
It was in the most furious conflict of the western campaign—a battle between Langemarcke and Steenstrate, in Flanders—that the Canadian troops saved the British army from what seemed almost inevitable defeat. The Canadian division was in the front line of the British forces on April 23, when the Germans made their sudden assaults and broke through the line for a distance of five miles. Only the brilliant counter-charges of the Canadians saved the situation. They had many casualties, but their gallantry and determination brought success and, in the language of the official report of the prolonged battle, "their conduct was magnificent throughout."
The correspondent, describing the harrowing scene of the battle on April 23, said: "Long ago Kitchener's army was given its baptism of fire, but yesterday it got its initiation into hell."
In their great effort to smash the Allies on the Yser the Germans also sustained terrible losses. By April 27 it was asserted that the German force that managed to pass the Yser and took possession of the town of Lizerne had been practically annihilated. The fighting was said to have been far more terrible than that of the autumn of 1914, when the Yser canal ran red with blood.
It was charged by the Allies that in the fighting in Flanders late in April the Germans used asphyxiating gases, which placed thousands of the allied troopshors de combat, including many of the Canadian division. Strong protests against the German use of such methods were voiced by the allied generals, and a formal denunciation was made by Lord Kitchener in the British parliament.
ALLIED TROOPS AT THE DARDANELLES
On April 25-27, a strong force of British and French troops under General Sir Dan Hamilton effected a landing on both sides of the Dardanelles, to co-operate with the allied fleets seeking to force a passage through the straits to the Bosporus. The landing was resisted by Turkish troops, but the Allies succeeded in establishing themselves on the Gallipoli peninsula by May 1, and made several thousand Turks prisoners of war. The bombardment of the Turkish forts in the Dardanelles by the allied warships was continued.
The French cruiser Leon Gambetta, with a displacement of 12,351 tons and crew of 714 men, commanded by Rear Admiral Fenet, cruising at the entrance of the Otranto canal in the Ionian sea, was torpedoed the night of April 26th by the Austrian submarine U-5, and went to the bottom in ten minutes; 578 lives were lost; all officers on board, including Rear Admiral Fenet, perished.
SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
Destruction of the Great Cunard Liner by a German Submarine Caused a Serious Crisis in German-American Relations—Over a Hundred Americans and Many Canadians Drowned, Including Citizens of Prominence and Wealth—Prompt Diplomatic Action by President Wilson—The German Campaign of Frightfulness and Its Results.
Steaming majestically over a smiling sea, with the green hills of Erin in sight over the port bow and all well aboard, the greatest, fastest and most beautiful transatlantic liner in commission was nearing the end of her voyage from New York to Liverpool. It was the hour after luncheon on the great ship, the hour of the siesta or the promenade, the most peaceful hour of the day. Little children by the score played merrily about the great decks; families and friends foregathered in the lounges or beside the rail to watch the Irish coast slip by; all the internal economy of the giant ship moved smoothly, as if by clockwork.
It was more than a floating hotel, replete with comfort and luxury. It was a floating town, with a whole townful of people. Over fourteen hundred men, women and children were on the passenger list and six hundred men in the Cunard uniform constituted the crew. Among the passengers were many citizens of the United States and Canada, and there was an unusually large proportion of women and children on board, the families of men who had been drawn into the maelstrom of war.
For in spite of the calm and peace prevailing on the great passenger ship, the shadow of war impended over all. The bloody struggles of the great European cataclysm were proceeding at the other end of the English Channel and dire hints of dangers on the sea in the "war zone" had accompanied the sailing of the ship. But on this bright May day, as the liner approached its destination, danger seemed far distant and few indeed among passengers or crew gave serious thought to its imminence. All was truly well on board. The skies were clear, the sea was smooth, and though the myriad passengers realized that they had entered a danger zone of the world's greatest war they had abounding confidence in the giant ship, in its veteran commander, and in the line to which it belonged, that had never yet lost the life of a single passenger committed to its care. And confidently they looked forward to a safe arrival in port next morning, the happy ending of a wartime voyage which the children on board, and their children's children, should recall with pride for a century to come. BUT—
Right ahead in the path of the floating palace, athwart the prescribed course of the Lusitania there lurked the deadliest slinking serpent of the seas—the tiny volcanic hull of an enemy submarine, most dangerous of war's new weapons. Lying leisurely in wait, its body submerged just beneath the swelling undulations of a summer sea, invisible, ruthless, insatiable; only the protrusion of a foot or so of periscopic tube betokened its presence without betraying its purpose. But in that innocent-looking tube lay vast potentialities for evil—nay, devilish certainties of dealing death and destruction. For the little steel-encased arrangement of lenses and mirrors peeping from the depths was the mechanical eye of the submarine and sufficed to betray to watchful Teutons below the approach of the great ship, treasure laden with human freight of non-combatants and neutrals, but flying the flag of the German's foe.
For the crew of the submarine "der Tag" had come. Without a thought of the innocents and neutrals aboard; reckless alike of immediate results and ultimate consequences, animated only by the deadly designs of a war-madness and a deliberate campaign of frightfulness, the firing signal was flashed from the German commander's station and the fatal torpedo was launched against the unsuspecting and unprotected leviathan. Traveling true to its mark, it tore its frightful way through the thin sheathing of the ship and, exploding on impact, pierced her vitals and sealed her doom. * * *
Barely a quarter of an hour elapsed before the giant vessel disappeared from sight, plunging bow foremost to the bottom in waters scarcely more than one-third of her length in depth, so that the shock of her bow striking the bottom of the sea was felt by the gallant captain on the bridge before he was torn loose from his ill-fated vessel.
And when the waters of the Atlantic closed over the hull of the Lusitania, within sight of the Irish coast on that fatal Friday, the lives of over eleven hundred non-combatant men, women and children, including more than a hundred American neutrals, were ruthlessly sacrificed to the Teuton god of war.
A SUMMER OF SLAUGHTER
Submarine Activities—Horrors in Serbia—Bloody Battles East and West—Italy Enters the War and Invades Austria—Russians Pushed Back in Galicia.
The Lusitania was the twenty-ninth vessel to be sunk or damaged in the first week of May, 1915, in the war zone established by Germany about the British isles. Most of these vessels were torpedoed by German submarines, although in some cases it has not been established whether the damage was inflicted by mines or underwater boats.
Sixteen of the twenty-nine vessels were British trawlers. There were four British and one French merchantman in the list. The others were vessels of neutral nations.
One of them was the American steamer Gulflight, torpedoed off Scilly islands on May 1, with the loss of three lives. There were three Norwegian, two Swedish, and one Danish merchant vessel sunk.
BLOODY BATTLES EAST AND WEST.
The second week in May saw minor German successes on the western front, but these were immediately succeeded by determined efforts on the part of the Allies to retrieve lost ground. The week of May 10 to 15 was marked by fierce assaults by the British and French upon the German positions in Flanders and northern France. Thousands of lives were sacrificed on both sides. At one point on the Yser where the Germans were beaten back, they left 2,000 dead on the field, but this was only a small percentage of the total losses during this series of engagements in May. Around Ypres early in the month the Canadians lost heavily, but made a splendid record for gallantry and endurance in the face of odds. The Germans began at this time the use of asphyxiating gases in their attacks. The results were horrifying in the extreme, and as these inhuman assaults with gas were continued, the Allies prepared to adopt the use of similar noxious gases by way of retaliation.
BRITISH WARSHIP TORPEDOED.
On May 12 the British warship Goliath was sunk by a Turkish torpedo during the continued attack by the Allies on the Dardanelles. Twenty officers and 160 men of the crew were saved and over 500 lives were lost. The Goliath was one of the older British battleships of the pre-dreadnaught type. She was built in 1898, was 400 feet long and feet wide, with a displacement of 12,950 tons. Her armament consisted of four twelve-inch and twelve six-inch guns, twelve twelve-pounders, six three-pounders, and two machine guns.
In the determined attack on the Dardanelles, land forces of British and French troops co-operated with the combined fleets. The Turks made a stubborn resistance, but were compelled to give way gradually before the terrific bombardment of the warships and the persistent attacks by land. In the fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula the British colonial troops from New Zealand covered themselves with glory, fighting like veterans and breaking down Turkish opposition with the bayonet. On May 19 one of the most important forts at the Narrows, guarding the entrance to the Sea of Marmora, was silenced by the warships' fire, and this was an important step on the Allies' way to Constantinople.
Meanwhile an immense German army, said to number 1,600,000 men, had been forcing the Russians back in Galicia to the San River and the gates of Przemysl. A German bombardment of this fortress seemed imminent on May 20.
ITALY ENTERS THE WAR.
On Sunday, May 23, Italy finally plunged into the great conflict with a declaration of war against Austria. The formal declaration, presented to the Austro-Hungarian foreign minister, Baron von Burian, by the Duke of Avarna, Italian ambassador at Vienna, asserted that Italy had "grave motives" for annulling her treaty of alliance with Austria and "confident in her good right," resumed her liberty of action. The declaration of war continued as follows:
"The government of the King, firmly resolved to provide by all means at its disposal for safeguarding Italian rights and interests, cannot fail in its duty to take, against every existing and future menace, the measures which events impose upon it for the fulfillment of national aspirations.
"His majesty, the King, declares that he considers himself from tomorrow (May 24, 1915), in a state of war with Austria-Hungary."
Thus the ninety-sixth anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria, of England, found eleven of the countries of Europe at war, their rulers including three of her grandsons, two arrayed in a bitter struggle against the third. The Triple Alliance on this date became the Quadruple Alliance, when Italy joined the Allies. Austria was of course supported by Germany. Italy was expected to put 3,000,000 men in the field. WHY
ITALY WANTED WAR
The reasons why Italy entered the great conflict were succinctly stated on May 19 by Signor Enrico Corradini, nationalist leader, as follows:
"1. The necessity for Italy to take advantage of the present revolution in European affairs to settle her national irredentist problem at the expense of Austria. Our right to the Trentino, Trieste and Istria, now held by Austria, is not questioned by reasonable people anywhere in Europe.
"2. The necessity for Italy to arrive at a secure and definite settlement of her military frontiers on the north and east.
"3. The necessity for Italy to create for herself by her intervention a new moral and political position in the new European order of the future, to replace that which she had, thanks to her alliance with the central empires, a position which was liquidated at the outbreak of the war.
"4. The necessity for Italy to contribute to repelling the danger of a German hegemony which would flourish at the expense of the various individual cultures and civilizations."
INVASION OF AUSTRIA
Italy promptly threw an army across the Austrian frontier and began active operations in the direction of Trent and Trieste. The fortified city of Luzerne soon fell into Italian hands and continued successes marked the progress of the invaders all through the month of June. The Austrian strategy at first appeared to provide for a series of withdrawals after skirmishing; but late in the month a more determined resistance developed, the defenses of the Austrian troops being skilfully prepared. The loss of life during the month was comparatively light on both sides, but on June 26 the Italians—already masters of Plava on the left bank of the Isonzo river, and the heights dominating that town—were massing heavy bodies of troops before Gorizia and Tolmino for crucial battles at those two points, both of which blocked the way to the coveted Austrian seaport of Trieste.
STRUGGLE FOR THE DARDANELLES
All through the month of June the Allies continued their desperate struggle for the possession of the Dardanelles, the gateway to Constantinople. Under the direction of German officers and engineers, the Turkish troops and gunners offered determined resistance and the British, Colonial and French troops co-operating with the allied fleets, gained headway but slowly and at tremendous cost. But it was declared that the Allies were bent upon forcing a passage through the straits regardless of cost and that every effort would be made to complete the operation during the summer. Several German submarines appeared in the Gulf of Saros during the month and effectively interfered with the activity of the British and French fleets. The results of the operations on the Gallipoli peninsula during the month indicated that the Dardanelles would prove a veritable slaughter pen before the Allies succeeded in winning their way to Stamboul.
LEMBERG IS RECAPTURED
On June 22 the city of Lemberg, capital of the Austrian province of Galicia, was recaptured from the Russians, who had held it for nearly ten months, by combined German-Austrian forces, under General Mackensen. This marked the culmination of a successful Teuton campaign in Galicia, including the recapture of the strong fortress of Przemysl, as well as Lemberg, and the driving of the Russian invaders back to their own borders.
The eastern battle front in June extended for 680 miles north and south, and while the German drive through Galicia was entirely successful, the Russians gained some victories in the north. They were sorely handicapped by the lack of supplies and ammunition for their forces, and at the end of June the Russian authorities were organizing every possible industry for the production of ammunition.
The fiercest fighting of the war, as far as the Baltic provinces of Russia are concerned, occurred in a battle for the mastery of the Dubysa River early in June. The river changed hands five times in one day, and at nightfall the stream was completely choked with the bodies of thousands of dead, so that a plank roadway for artillery was laid by the Russians across a solid bridge of bodies.
HEROIC FEAT OF A CANADIAN
A thrilling and unprecedented feat was performed by Lieut. R. A. J. Warneford, a Canadian aviator, when alone in an aeroplane, he destroyed a Zeppelin airship with its crew of twenty-eight men in Belgium. He received the Victoria Cross for his exploit, but a few days later was killed while testing a new aeroplane near Paris. He was buried with naval honors in London, June 23.
On July 3, 1915, when the twelfth month of the Great War began, it was conservatively estimated that the total losses on all sides, including killed, wounded and missing, had exceeded six millions of men. Over vessels had been destroyed, including 120 ships of war.
DEADLOCK IN THE WEST
During July and August there were no general engagements of importance in the Western theatre of war. The deadlock continued. The troops along the Western battle lines were, however, subjected almost daily to violent artillery bombardment.
By August 22 the British line in northern France and Flanders had been lengthened from 40 miles to over 100 miles, with over 800,000 troops on the firing line. German submarines were very active in the war zone during the month of August, over 170 merchant steamships of more than 500 tons displacement and nearly 2,000 noncombatant lives being the awful toll to date of this new method of warfare.
The British transport Royal Edward was torpedoed and sunk August 14 by a German submarine in the Aegean Sea. Nearly 1,000 lives were lost. The transport had on board a force of 32 officers and 1,350 men, in addition to the ship's crew of 220 officers and men. The troops consisted mainly of reinforcements for the 29th Division and details of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
FALL OF WARSAW
Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was taken by the Germans August 5. Bavarian troops under the command of Prince Leopold carried the forts of the outer and inner lines of the city's defenses, where the rear guards of the Russian troops made a tenacious resistance.
The German armies under Gen. von Scholz and Gen. von Gallwitz advanced in the direction of the road between Lomza, Ostrov and Vyszkoy and fought a number of violent engagements. The brave and desperate resistance of the Russians on both sides of the road between Ostrov and Rozan was without success.
Twenty-two Russian officers and 4,840 soldiers were taken prisoners. The Germans also captured seventeen machine guns.
The fall of Warsaw marked the culmination of the greatest sustained offensive movement of the war. Thrice before Teutonic armies had knocked at its gates, only to be denied by the strength of its defenses and the resistance of the forces holding it.
Warsaw lies on the Vistula, 625 miles southwest of Petrograd and miles east of Berlin. It is an important industrial center and its population is estimated at not far from 900,000.
The great Russian fortress of Kovno was captured by the Germans August 17. More than 400 cannon were taken. The fortress was stormed in spite of the most stubborn Russian resistance.
The capture of Kovno was the most important German victory in the East after the taking of Warsaw.
Kovno fell under the eye of General von Hindenburg. The capture of the fortress was the first personal triumph of the "old man of the Mazurian lakes" since the great Austro-German campaign in the East was inaugurated. The six great forts defending the city from the west and southwest were simply blown to pieces by the incessant pounding of Germany's great 42-centimeter guns and a host of minor pieces.
The forts were under direct attack for scarcely a week, demonstrating again the superiority of modern artillery over fort structures built by man.
Kovno, capital of the Russian province of that name, is on the right bank of the Niemen. It is a fortress of the first class. The civilian population of the city is more than 75,000.
The important Russian fortress of Novo Georgievsk, the last halting place of the Russians in Poland, fell into the hands of the Germans on August 19, after a most stubborn resistance. The garrison consisted of 85,000 men and of these over 20,000 were taken prisoners. Over cannon were captured and a large amount of war ammunition seized.
BATTLE OF THE BAY OF RIGA
Russian naval forces aided by British submarines, in the Gulf of Riga won a decided victory August 18 over the German fleet which penetrated the gulf on August 13.
The great German battle cruiser Moltke, one of the finest ships of its kind afloat, was destroyed in the engagement. The cruiser had a displacement of 23,000 tons and carried a crew of 1,107 men and officers. Its main battery consisted of ten 11-inch guns, mounted in pairs in five turrets. Its secondary battery contained twelve 6-inch guns. Twelve 24-pounders and four torpedo tubes completed its armament. The Moltke was 610 feet long over all, with a beam of 96-3/4 feet, and cost $12,000,000.
With the Moltke three German cruisers and seven torpedo boats, all unnamed, were destroyed.
The Russians lost the destroyer Novik of 1,260 tons, largest in the navy, and the gunboats Sivutch and Koriets, of 875 tons displacement.
The Russian victory did not end with the defeat of the German naval forces. The invading fleet was accompanied by four enormous transports, all crammed with troops. These soldiers attempted to make a landing on Pernau bay, on the northeastern shoulder of the Gulf of Riga. They were permitted to land and were then attacked and exterminated by the Russian forces at that point. The loss was estimated at 6,000 men.
WHITE STAB LINER ARABIC SUNK
The White Star liner Arabic, which sailed August 18 from Liverpool for New York, was sent to the bottom by a German torpedo August 19 off Fastnet on the south coast of Ireland, not far from the point at which the Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine.
Out of 429 persons aboard including crew, 39 lost their lives. Two Americans perished—Mrs. Josephine Bruguière, widow of Emil Bruguière, California millionaire banker, and Dr. E. F. Wood, of Janesville, Wis.
Capt. Finch, who commanded the steamer, gave the following graphic account of the disaster: "We were forty-seven miles south of Galley Head at 9:30 in the morning when I perceived the steamer Dunsley in difficulty. Going toward her, I observed a torpedo coming for my ship, but could not discern a submarine. The torpedo struck 100 feet from the stern, making terrible havoc of the hull. The vessel began to settle immediately and sank in about eight minutes.
"My order from the bridge about getting the boats launched was promptly obeyed. Two boats capsized. We had taken every precaution while in the danger zone. There were plenty of life-belts on deck and the boats were ready for immediate launching. The officers and crew behaved excellently and did everything possible in the circumstances, getting people into the boats and picking up those in the sea.
"I was the last to leave, taking the plunge into the sea as the ship was going down. After being in the water some time I was taken aboard a raft, to which I had assisted two men and women.
"If the submarine had given me a little more time, I am satisfied I could have saved everybody."
The Arabic's tonnage was 15,201 gross. It was 600 feet long, 65 feet beam and 47 feet in depth. It was built at Belfast in 1903 by Harland & Wolff.
On September 4 the German forces under General von Beseler stormed and captured the bridgehead at Friedrichstradt, the most important defense of Riga. The furiousness of the attacks in this region led military critics to believe that the fall of the city of Riga was imminent.
Everywhere as Russians retreated they left a trail of utter devastation, causing the Teutons to march around burning cities, finding the country devoid of food or shelter. This destructive policy, however, resulted in saving the Czar's army and rendering futile the hope of the Kaiser that the military forces of Russia could be crushed.
With the Russian armies in full retreat and their double line of fortresses all fallen to the invader, the apparent calm on the Western front continued to be the marvel of the European campaign, as up to September 7 no development on the Western front indicated that any effort was being made to distract the Kaiser's attention from his victorious expedition into the territory of the Czar.
THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN.
The struggle of combined land and sea forces of the Allies to gain control of the Dardanelles, and thus open the way for the British and French fleets to Constantinople and the Black Sea, continued through the autumn of 1915 and furnished some of the most sanguinary battles of the war. From the day of the landing of British troops on the Grallipoli peninsula up to the end of November the fighting was continuous and bloody. The British losses were tremendous, while the Turkish defenders of the supposedly impregnable straits also suffered heavily, but with Mohammedan stoicism.
A terrible picture of the slaughter at Seddul-Bahr, where the British troops landed from transports under the guns of their fleet, in the face of an awful Turkish bombardment, was painted on his return to England in November by Lieutenant-Commander Josiah Wedgwood, a Liberal member of Parliament, who had received special mention for bravery at the front, and the coveted stripes of the Distinguished Service order.
"Our school books told us," said Commander Wedgwood, "that the bloodiest battle in history was that between the confederates and federals at Sharpsburg during the American civil war, when one-third of all the men engaged were left on the field. But Sharpsburg was a joy ride compared with Seddul-Bahr."
Paying a tribute to the enemy, he said: "The Turks are the finest fighters in the world, save only the Canadians and Australians. And they proved to be humane. They could easily have killed all those who went to succor the wounded, but I found them extraordinarily merciful as compared with the enemy in Flanders."
Commander Wedgwood's first view of fighting at the Dardanelles was at the so-called V beach, where a steamship, the "River Clyde," was run aground to furnish cover for the landing of the British troops.
"This modern 'wooden horse of Troy,'" said Commander Wedgwood, "was run ashore on a beautiful Sunday morning, 400 yards from the medieval castle of Seddul-Bahr. I was on the vessel, but never noticed her grounding for the horrors ahead of us in the shallow waters on the beach. Five tows of five boats each, loaded with men, were going ashore alongside of us. One moment it had been early morning in a peaceful country, with rustic sights and sounds and smells; the next moment, while the boats were just twenty yards from shore, the blue sea around each boat was turning red. It was truly horrible. Of all those brave men two-thirds died, and hardly a dozen reached unwounded the shelter of the five-foot sand dune.
"About 9 o'clock a dash across the row of lighters from the Wooden Horse was led by Gen. Napier and his brigade major. Would they ever get to the end of the lighters and jump into the sheltering water? No; side by side they were seen to sit down. For one moment one thought they might be taking cover; then their legs slid out and they rolled over.