The Russian Advance through Persia.
The Russian Advance through Persia.
Nuredin Pasha was well aware when he selected his defensive position near the ruins of this memorial to the valor of Islam in ancient days, that every Turk, Arab, and tribesman of his troops was familiar with the story, and he doubtless hoped that its memory might inspire the descendants of the Prophet's army to fresh deeds of valor for the honor of Islam.
Around this ruin the Turks had constructed their position, on the right bank of the river and on the left. For miles around the country was perfectly flat and devoid of cover of any description. A network of deep and narrow trenches stretched back to within a short distance of the River Dialah, six miles to the rear, which flows into the Tigris at this point. The earth from the trenches had been carried to the rear, and there were no embankments or parapets of any kind. Along the entire front a thick barbed-wire fence had been set up.
The hard-fought action at Ctesiphon must rank as one of the greatest battles in which the Indo-British army has ever been engaged. The troops were in an emaciated condition through constant fighting, first in excessively hot weather, and afterward suffering intensely from the cold, which made the nights unendurable at this time of the year in Mesopotamia. In such a physically weakened condition did the Indo-British troops engagethe vastly stronger forces of Nuredin Pasha at Ctesiphon. An officer who participated in the battle describes in a letter home some of the striking incidents of that important action.
"Morning of the 22d of November, 1915, found the troops in readiness to attack, stretched out on the wide plain facing the Ctesiphon position, the troops detailed for the frontal attack nearest the river. As soon as dawn broke the advance commenced. The left of the columns marching against the enemy's flank were faintly visible on the horizon. The gunboats opened fire against the enemy's trenches close to the left bank. The field artillery drew in and pounded the ground where they imagined the trenches must be, but there was no reply, nor any sound of movement at Ctesiphon until the lines of advancing infantry got within 2,000 yards of the wire entanglements. Then, as by signal, the whole of the Turkish line broke into a roar of fire, and we knew that the struggle had commenced.
"Under the heavy artillery fire the attack pushed in toward the enemy with a steadiness which could not have been beaten on parade until effective rifle range was reached, where a pause was made to build up the strength. The fight for the trenches from now on until the British succeeded in reaching the first line of trenches baffles description. The gallant advance across the open ground, the building up of the firing line, the long pause under murderous rifle fire, while devoted bodies of men went forward to cut the wire, the final rush and the hand-to-hand fighting in the trenches, are stories which have been told before. No description could do justice to the gallantry of the men who carried it out.
"Meanwhile, the flank attack had crushed the enemy's left and driven it back on its second line a mile or so to the rear. Courage and determination carried the day, and by the afternoon the whole of the front Turkish position, and part of the second line was in the hands of the British. The intensity of the fighting, however, did not abate. The Turks pressed in counterattacks at several points from their second position on which they had fallen back. Twelve Turkish guns were captured, taken again by the enemy, recaptured by the British, and retaken finally by the Turks, andso the fighting went on until a merciful darkness fell, and, as if by mutual agreement, the fire of both sides, too weary for more, died away."
Nuredin Pasha's forces were numerically far superior to the British. General Townshend had only four brigades, while the Turkish commander had four divisions, and was much stronger in artillery.
The Turkish commander, who was well informed as to the strength or weakness of the British force, may well have looked forward to an easy victory. But the many successes gained by British arms during the campaign in Mesopotamia had not failed to impress the Turkish troops and the tribesmen, their allies, with a wholesome respect for British valor. If General Townshend had been reenforced by another division that might easily have been spared to him from the army that had been in training in India for ten months previous, he could have smashed the Turks at Ctesiphon and conquered Mesopotamia. As it was, the British victory was all but complete. An entire Turkish division was destroyed. They took 1,600 prisoners and large quantities of arms and ammunition. But these successes had been dearly won. Some of the British battalions lost half their men. According to the best authorities the British casualties totaled 4,567, of whom 643 were killed, 3,330 wounded, and 594 men not accounted for. According to the Turkish accounts of the Battle of Ctesiphon, which emanated from Constantinople, the British had 170,000 men in action, and their losses exceeded 5,000. This estimate of General Townshend's strength was far from the truth. At no time did the British commander's troops number more than 25,000, and 16,000 men would be a liberal estimate of his striking force.
A graphic description of what followed the battle is furnished by a letter home, written by an officer who participated in the struggle.
"The cold of the night, want of water, the collecting of the wounded, gave little rest to the men, though many snatched a few hours' sleep in the trenches among the dead. Dawn of November 23, 1915, broke with a tearing wind and a dust stormwhich obscured the landscape for some hours, and then the air, becoming clearer, allowed us to take in the scene of the fight. Whatever losses we suffered the Turks must have suffered even more severely. They had fought desperately to the end, knowing that to attempt to escape over the open ground was to court instant death. The trenches were full of their dead, and here and there a little pile of men showed where a lucky shell had fallen. Ctesiphon loomed through the dust before us, still intact for all the stream of shell which had passed it, for our gunners had been asked not to hit the ancient monument.
"The early part of the morning was occupied in clearing to the rear the transport which had come up to the first line during the night. At about ten o'clock the air cleared and the enemy's artillery began to boom fitfully. Their guns from across the river began to throw heavy shells over us, and as the light grew better it developed into an artillery duel which lasted throughout the day. General Townshend during the afternoon parked his transport two miles to the rear, and while holding the front line of the Turkish position swung his right back to cover his park. In the late afternoon the artillery fire briskened, and long lines of Turkish infantry could be seen in the half light advancing against the British. The first attack was delivered against our left just after dark with a heavy burst of fire, and from then until four o'clock the next morning the Turkish force, strengthened by fresh troops that had arrived from Bagdad, flung themselves against us and attempted to break the line. On three separate occasions during the night were infantry columns thrown right up against the position at different points, and each effort was heralded by wild storms of artillery and infantry fire. The line held, and before dawn had broken the Turks had withdrawn, subsequently to re-form on their third position on the banks of the Dialah River."
By November 24, 1915, the casualties had been evacuated to the ships eight miles to the rear. The British force remained on the position which they had won for another day and then withdrew toward Kut-el-Amara.
General Townshend's force reached the Kut on or about December 5, 1915, having fought some rear-guard actions on theway, and lost several hundred men. The news had been skillfully spread about the country that the Turks had won a great victory at Ctesiphon, in proof of which it was known that the British were retreating, and that the Turkish forces were in pursuit. These facts had the usual effect on the Arabs, who had been friendly to the British, and who now deserted them to join forces with the Turks. For the wily nomads are ever ready to go over to the side which seems to be winning, for then there is promise of much loot. There is no profit in aiding lost causes or the weaker side.
An officer describing General Townshend's retreat on Kut-el-Amara through a country swarming with hostile Arabs has this to say: "It speaks well for the spirit of the troops under his command that, in the face of overwhelming numbers the retirement was carried out with cheerfulness and steadiness beyond all praise, and not even the prisoners, of whom 1,600 had been captured at Ctesiphon, were allowed to fall into the hands of the enemy. The country around is perfectly flat, covered with short grass or shrub, though here and there old irrigation channels make it difficult for carts or motor cars to negotiate. The operations above the Kut were carried out by land, though ships bore an important part in bringing up supplies and the thousand and one things required by an army in the field. An enemy report was published to the effect that the Turks had captured one of our armored trains. It will not be giving away a military secret when I say that no railway of any sort exists south of Bagdad."
How closely General Townshend was pressed by the enemy in his retreat to Kut-el-Amara is evident from an officer's letter: "We found the Turks in camps sitting all around us. We had to fight a rear-guard action all day and marched twenty-seven miles before we halted. After lying down for two or three hours, we marched on fifteen miles more to within four miles of the Kut. Here we had to stop for a time because the infantry were too tired to move."[Back to Contents]
STAND AT KUT-EL-AMARA—ATTEMPTS AT RELIEF
Kut-el-Amara, where General Townshend and his troops were so long besieged, stands on the left bank of the Tigris, almost at the water's level, with sloping sand hills rising to the north. The desert beyond the river is broken here and there by deep nullahs which, when they are filled with water after a rainfall, are valuable defensive features of the country. Five miles from the town, and surrounding it on all sides but the waterside, is a series of field forts of no great value against heavy artillery. Had the Turks been equipped with large guns such as the Germans employed in Europe these fortifications would have been shattered to pieces in a few hours. But the forts proved useful.
The spaces between them were filled with strong barbed-wire entanglements and carefully prepared intrenchments. To the southeast the position was further strengthened by a wide marshy district that lies just outside the fortified line. General Townshend was holding a position that was about fifteen miles in circumference, to adequately protect which it would have been necessary for him to have twice as many men as were at his disposal. For one of the lessons that has been learned in the Great War is that 5,000 men, including reserves, are required to the mile to properly defend a position. General Townshend's occupation of the Kut was therefore precarious, and he could only hope to hold out until the arrival of reenforcements which had been held back by the Turks when they were within sight of the British general's position.
The Turkish success in checking the British advance and in bottling up General Townshend's troops in Kut-el-Amara had inspired them with hope and courage and the town was subjected to almost constant bombardment. Confident of the outcome the Turks fought with considerable bravery.
It was known to the Turks that reenforcements had been sent to the relief of the British commander, and they hoped to capture the Kut before these arrived. On December 8, 1915, they shelled the British position all day; the bombardment was continued on the 9th and they made some desultory attacks on all sides. From the British point of view the attitude of the Arabs at this time was satisfactory. General Townshend received encouraging news that a relieving force was pushing its way rapidly to his aid.
On December 10, 1915, the Kut was again heavily bombarded by the Turks and an attack was developed against the northern front of the position, which however was not pressed. On the day following the bombardment was continued. Two attacks made on the northern front of the British position were repulsed, the enemy losing many men.
December 11, 1915, the bombardment was renewed. The Turks reported the capture of Sheik Saad on the line of retreat, twenty-five miles east of the Kut. They also gave out a statement that the British had lost 700 men in this fight.
Heavy musketry fire marked the Turkish offensive on December 12, 1915. They attacked on the same day a river village on the right bank of the Tigris, but were repulsed with heavy casualties. It was estimated by the British commander that the Turks lost at least 1,000 men during this abortive attack.
British losses at the Kut since their return totaled 1,127, including 200 deaths, 49 from disease. Reenforcements were constantly joining the Turkish besieging army, and it was estimated that in the first weeks of December, 1915, they had been strengthened by 20,000 men. Every day the enemy's ring of steel became stronger, while the British were in such a position that if the Kut became untenable they could not retreat with any hope of success. If forced out into the open, there would be nothing left for them to do but surrender.
A sortie of British and Indian troops was made on December 17, 1915, who surprised the enemy in the advanced trenches, killed 30, and took 11 prisoners and returned without suffering any casualties.
On or about this date, on the Sinai Peninsula, a British reconnoitering party routed a hostile band of Arabs near Matruh, losing 15 men killed and 15 wounded, 3 of whom were officers. The Arabs had 35 killed and 17 taken prisoners.
On December 24, 1915, the Turks having made a breach in the north bastion of one of the Kut forts succeeded in forcing their way in, but were repulsed, leaving 200 dead. On Christmas Day there was fierce fighting again at this point, when the Turks once more entered through the breach and were driven out with heavy losses.
The garrison consisting of the Oxford Light Infantry and the 103d, being reenforced by the Norfolk Regiment and 104th Pioneers, drove the Turks back over their second line of trenches and reoccupied the bastion. The total British losses in the fighting on Christmas Day were 71 killed, of whom three were officers, one missing, and 309 wounded. It was estimated that the enemy lost about 700.
The Turks continued to bombard the Kut almost hourly, but the only serious damage effected by their fire was when on December 30, 1915, shells burst through the roof of the British hospital and wounded a few men.
General Aylmer's leading troops under General Younghusband of the British force sent to relieve the besieged army at the Kut left Ali Gherbi on January 4, 1916. Following up both banks of the Tigris, British cavalry came in contact with the enemy on the following day. These advanced Turkish troops were on the right bank of the river and few in number, but farther on at Sheik Saad, the enemy in considerable strength occupied both sides of the river. On January 6, 1916, the British infantry attacked and then dug itself in in front of the Turkish position on the right bank. In the morning of the following day by adroit maneuvering, the British cavalry succeeded in getting around to the rear of the enemy's trenches on the right bank and destroyed nearly a whole battalion, taking over 550 prisoners.
Among the number of captives were sixteen officers. Several mountain guns were also taken. The British casualties were heavy, especially among the infantry.
The remainder of General Aylmer's force having advanced from Ali Gherbi, January 6, 1916, fought a simultaneous action on the left bank of the river while the action on the right bank just described was in progress.
Early in the afternoon of this day the British forces were subjected to heavy rifle and Maxim fire from the Turkish trenches 1,200 yards away. The hazy, dusty atmosphere made it difficult to see with any accuracy the enemy's defenses. Their numerous trenches were most carefully concealed. Toward evening the Turkish cavalry attempted an enveloping move against the British right, but coming under the fire of the British artillery, that move failed. Finding the resistance of the Turkish infantry too strong, the British troops abandoned any further offensive and intrenched in the positions they had won. Later in the evening the Turks suddenly evacuated their defenses and retired. A heavy rainfall hindered the British commander from pursuing, and a stop was made at Sheik Saad to enable him to get his wounded away. The Turks finding that General Aylmer did not pursue, fell back on Es Sinn, from which they had been ousted by General Townshend in September of the previous year. The Turkish version of the Battle of Sheik Saad estimated the British losses at 3,000.
On January 12, 1916, the Turks advanced from Es Sinn to the Wadi, a stream that flows into the Tigris about twenty-four miles from Kut-el-Amara. Here the British relieving force came in touch with the enemy on January 13, 1916, and a hotly contested struggle ensued that lasted all day long. The British force consisted of three divisions. One of these, occupying a position on the south bank of the Tigris, was being opposed by a column under General Kemball. On the northern bank General Aylmer's troops engaged two divisions in the neighborhood of the Wadi.
On January 14, 1916, the Turkish army began a general retreat and General Aylmer moved his headquarters and transport forward to the mouth of the Wadi. On the day following the whole of the Wadi position was captured by the British relieving force, and the Turkish rear guard again took up a position at Es Sinn. It was reported that German officers were with the Turkish force.
Further military operations against the Turks were delayed by storms of great violence that continued for about ten days. General Aylmer found it impossible to move his troops through the heavy mire, and not until January 21, 1916, could he advance and attack the Turks who after their retreat occupied a position near Felahie, about twenty-three miles from Kut-el-Amara. Here a brisk engagement was fought in the midst of torrents of rain that greatly hindered operations. The struggle was indecisive. Owing to the floods, General Aylmer could not attack on the following day, but took up a position about 1,300 yards from the enemy's trenches.
Mr. Edmund Candler, the well-known English writer, who was with the British troops operating on the Tigris, furnishes some striking details of the engagement. His picturesque description of what took place at this point in General Aylmer's advance to relieve the besieged army at the Kut, shows the desperate character of the Turkish resistance:
"The Turks were holding a strong position between the left bank of the Tigris and the Suweki Marsh, four miles out of our camp. It was a bottle-neck position, with a mile and a half of front: there was no getting around them, and the only way was to push through.
"We intrenched in front of them. On January 20, 1916, we bombarded them with all our guns and again on the morning of the 21st preparatory to a frontal attack.
"At dawn the rifle fire began, and the tap-tap-tap of the Maxims, steady and continuous, with vibrations like two men wrestling in an alternate grip, tightening and relaxing." It was not light enough for the gunners to see the registering marks, but at a quarter before eight in the morning the bombardment began. "The thunderous orchestra of the guns shook the earth and rent the skies. Columns of earth rose over the Turkish lines, and pillars of smoke, green and white and brown and yellow, and columns of water, where a stray shell—Turkish no doubt—plunged into the Tigris.
"The enemy lines must have been poor cover, and I was glad we had the bulk of the guns on our side. All this shell fire shouldhave been a covering roof to our advance, but the Turk it appears was not skulking as he ought.
"The B's came by in support and occupied an empty trench. They were laughing and joking, but it was a husky kind of fun, and there was no gladness in it, for everyone knew that we were in for a bloody day. One of them tripped upon a telegraph wire. 'Not wounded yet!' a pal cried. Just then another stumbled to an invisible stroke and did not rise. A man ahead was singing nervously, 'That's not the girl I saw you with at Brighton.'
"I went on to the next trench where a sergeant showed me his bandolier. A sharp-nosed bullet had gone through three rounds of ammunition and stuck in the fourth, during the last rush forward.
"I could conceive of the impulse that carried one over those last two hundred yards—but as an impulse of a lifetime; to most of my friends this kind of thing was becoming their daily bread. The men I was with were mostly a new draft. I could see they were afraid, but they were brave. Word was passed along to advance to the next bit of cover.
"The bombardment had ceased. The rifle and Maxim fire ahead was continuous, like hail on a corrugated roof of iron. The B's would soon be in it. I listened eagerly for some intermission, but it did not relax or recede, and I knew that the Turks must be holding on. The bullets became thicker—an ironic whistle, a sucking noise, a gluck like a snipe leaving mud, the squeal and rattle of shrapnel.
"I found the brigade headquarters. We had got into the Turkish trenches, the general told me, but by that time we were sadly thin, and we had been bombed out. At noon the rain came down, putting the crown upon depression. All day and all night it poured, and one thought of the wounded, shivering in the cold and mud, waiting for help. At night they were brought in on slow, jolting transport carts."
The writer met a boy, the only officer of his regiment who had come out of the trenches alive and unwounded, and who had a bullet through his pocket and another through his helmet. He was in a dazed state of wonder at finding himself still alive.
"It was a miracle that anyone had lived through that fire in the attack and retreat, but the boy had been in the Turkish trenches and held them for an hour and a quarter. Oddments of other regiments had got through, two British and two Indian. I saw their dead being carried out during the truce of the next day."
The boy officer's regiment had been the first to penetrate the enemy's trenches. As he dropped into the trench a comrade next to him was struck in the back of the head and dropped forward on his shoulder. "I saw eight bayonets and rifles all pointing to me," said the boy officer describing his experiences. "I saw the men's faces, and I was desperately scared. I expected to go down in the next two yards. I felt the lead in my stomach. I thought I was done for. I don't know why they didn't fire. They must have been frightened by my sudden appearance. I let off my revolver at them and it kicked up an awful lot of dust."
The British troops that had charged the Turkish trenches were not supplied with bombs, but the enemy were well equipped with them. Consequently the British were gradually driven down the trench from traverse to traverse, in the direction of the river, where they encountered another bombing party that was coming up a trench at right angles. The British were placed in a desperate position, being jammed in densely between these attacks, and literally squeezed over the parapet. In evacuating the trench they were subjected to a deadly fire in which they lost more men than in the attack.
The British Campaign in Mesopotamia.
The British Campaign in Mesopotamia.
The uniform flatness of the terrain in this region and entire absence of cover for the attacker, whether the movement be frontal or enveloping, was responsible for the heavy losses the British incurred in this engagement. Here there were no protecting villages, hedges, or banks. A swift, headlong rush that could be measured in seconds was impossible under the circumstances. At 2000 yards the British infantry came under rifle fire, and had no communication trenches to curtail the zone of fire. An armistice was concluded on January 21, 1916, for a few hours, to allow for the removal of the wounded and the burial of the dead. In forty-eight hours the Tigris had risen ashigh as seven feet in some places and the country around was under water, which effectually prevented all movements of troops by land.
General Townshend meanwhile, besieged at Kut-el-Amara, continued cheerfully to repel attacks and to await the arrival of the relieving force. He was well supplied with stores, and there was no fear of a famine. He described his troops at this time as being in the best of spirits. Evidently he was not in a position to be of any assistance to the relieving force, whose advance had been delayed by the storms. At the close of January, 1916, he reported that the enemy had evacuated their trenches on the land side of the Kut defenses, and had retired to a position about a mile away from the British intrenchments.
The floods of January, 1916, were a distinct benefit to General Townshend, for the Turks, intrenched in a loop of the Tigris, were driven out by the deluge and compelled to seek higher ground.
In the first days of February, 1916, Sir Percy Lake, who had succeeded Sir John Nixon to the chief command of the British forces in Mesopotamia, dispatched General Brooking from Nasariyeh with a column up the River Shatt-el-Har, a branch of the Tigris, to make a reconnaissance. On February 7, 1916, on his way back, General Brooking was attacked by hostile Arabs near Butaniyeh. He was also attacked by tribesmen who had been considered friendly to the British and who issued from villages along the route. There was some sharp fighting in which the losses were heavy on both sides. The British had 373 men killed or wounded, while the Arab dead numbered 636. On the 9th a small punitive expedition was sent against the treacherous tribesmen, and four Arab villages were destroyed. The incident offered another striking proof that no dependence could be placed on the faith of the Arabs.
General Aylmer finding, after his failure at Felahie, that his force was too weakened physically to attempt to break through to relieve the beleaguered division at the Kut, decided to intrench in the position then occupied by his troops and to await the reenforcements which were on the way.
On February 17-19, 1916, hostile aeroplanes dropped bombs on the Kut, without doing any damage, General Townshend reported. For two and a half months the British army had been bottled up in this river town, and the Turks had tried every means to dislodge them.
On February 22, 1916, British columns under General Aylmer advanced up the river on the right bank to Um-el-Arak, occupying a position which commanded the Turkish camp behind their trenches at El Henna, a marsh on the left bank. At daybreak the British guns opened a heavy bombardment on the enemy's camp across the Tigris, which at this point makes a sharp bend to the north. The Turks were evidently taken by surprise, for a lively stampede followed.
On March 6, 1916, General Aylmer marched up the Tigris to the Turkish position at Es Sinn, which is only seven miles from Kut-el-Amara. This is a Turkish stronghold and was carried by General Townshend on his way to the Kut. The position had been greatly strengthened since that time, that General Aylmer could hardly have hoped to succeed in driving the enemy out. But the effort had to be made, and resulted in a failure. The enemy lost heavily according to the British accounts, while their own casualties were unimportant. The Turkish version of the struggle was as follows:
"On the morning of March 8, 1916, the enemy attacked from the right bank of the Tigris with his main force. The fighting lasted until sunset. Assisted by reenforcements hastily brought to his wing by his river fleet, he succeeded in occupying a portion of our trenches, but the latter were completely recaptured by a heroic counterattack by our reserves, the enemy being then driven back to his old positions."
Owing to the lack of water, General Aylmer was forced to fall back on the Tigris. On March 10, 1916, information reached the Tigris corps that the Turks had occupied an advanced position on the river. The following day a British column was sent to turn the enemy out. The British infantry daringly assaulted the position and bayoneted a considerable number of the Turks, after which the column withdrew.[Back to Contents]
DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF AIR FIGHTING
The student or observer of the Great European War inevitably must be impressed with its impersonal character. Everywhere masses and organizations rule supreme, and men and material are thought of and used as aggregations rather than as individuals and units for destruction and defense. The individual, save as he gives himself up to the great machine, everywhere is inconspicuous, and while no less courage is demanded than in the days of the short-range weapons and personal combat, yet the heroic note of personal valor and initiative in most cases is unheard, and the individual is sunk in the mass. One is almost tempted to believe that chivalry and individual heroism no longer bulk large in the profession of arms, and that in the place of the knightly soldier there is the grim engineer at telescope or switchboard, touching a key to produce an explosion that will melt away yards of trenches and carry to eternity not tens but hundreds and thousands of his fellows; there are barriers charged with deadly currents; guns hurling tons of metal at a foe invisible to the gunners, whose position is known only by mathematical deductions from observers at a distance.
All of this and much more the engineer has brought to twentieth-century warfare, and the grim fact remains that trained masses are used, made and destroyed in vain attempts at an object often unknown to the individual.
Accordingly, when we turn to the work of the aviators we pass back from the consideration of the mass to the individual. Whatever may be the airman's convictions as to the ethics of the Great War, always his duty and his adversary are well defined, and it is his personal devotion, his skill and daring, his resourcefulness and intrepidity that are to-day playing no small part on the battle fronts of Europe. He too is an engineer with scientific and technical knowledge and training that control the most delicate of machines ever at the mercy of the elements, and engineer and scientist have supplied him with instruments and equipments embodying the results of refined research and investigation. Withal, he is a soldier, yet not one of a mere mass aggregation, but an individual on whose faithful and intelligent performance of his duty mid extreme perils the issue of a great cause may depend. But not entirely a free-lance, for experience in aerial warfare has shown that in the air, as on the ground, harmony of action and plan of operation avail and contribute to success. Consequently, with the development of military aeronautics during the course of the war, the work of the flying corps, with training and practical experience, gradually became more systematic and far more efficient.
While many of their achievements were distinctly sensational, involving extreme personal daring and heroism, yet usually the general operations were as methodical and prearranged as other forms of military activity carried on by the different armies on the ground below. No longer were single aeroplanes used exclusively, but large numbers of machines were brought to bear, with the pilots drilled not only in the manipulation of their individual machines, but to work with others in military formations and groups, while increased attention was paid to weapons and the protection of vulnerable parts.
The flying craft cooperated constantly with the intelligence departments of the various staffs, observing the enemy positions, the distribution and movement of troops, and photographing the territory, and their observations were not only useful but essential to the artillery engaged so extensively in indirect fire. As their work became more practical and understood, it was themore appreciated and its volume increased. Indeed, by the summer of 1915 the aviation corps of the various belligerent armies in Europe had settled down to more or less of a routine of observation, reconnaissance, and patrol, enlivened by bombing expeditions against the enemy and frequent aerial combats. What once would have been considered feats of usual intrepidity and skill on the part of the aviators, long since had become commonplace, and the standard of operation developed to a degree that at the beginning of the war would have been considered phenomenal.
Reconnaissance was actively in progress on all of the battle fronts, combats in the air were more frequent, bombing expeditions were conducted across the frontiers, and with a constantly increasing supply of new and improved machines, and freshly trained aviators, the work progressed, so that before the end of 1915, on the part of the Allies at least, there was probably ten times as much flying as at the beginning of the year. Even when the heavy fogs pervading the battle fields of western Europe in the early part of 1916 prevented other operations, reconnaissance was actively carried on, and this, with the routine work of determining ranges, positions, etc., for the artillery, in active progress, gave little quiet to the airmen. With the development of the war there was a constantly increasing demand on the skill of the aviators.
Many of the places from which it was necessary to begin flights did not furnish good starting, and often the same condition held as regards the landing places. Furthermore, flying was attended with much greater danger, with a corresponding increase in fatalities, on account of the improvements in the antiaircraft guns and ranging apparatus and the skill of the gunners. Withal, all official reports agree in stating that the proportion of casualties was smaller in the air service than in other branches of the service. There has been an ever-increasing number of combats in the air. Often when aeroplanes were observed in reconnaissance the enemy would make an attack upon them in force and endeavor to destroy the machines. Indeed, this was a marked tendency of the war, and the record from the first of August would show not only an increased number of duels betweenindividual machines, but of skirmishes between air patrols, and contests in which a number of machines would attack in force opposing aeroplanes.
As the war developed there was an increased tendency toward the tactical maneuvering of a number of aeroplanes, a greater frequency of bombing raids, and these attempts naturally led to reprisals as well as to defensive efforts. Often the aeroplanes designed for dropping bombs were heavy and powerful machines, not armed primarily for attack, but depending for protection upon one or more fighting aeroplanes of greater maneuvering power which accompanied them and carried machine guns and other weapons. In these bombing raids the tendency was to use a number of machines. In the raids of October 2, 1915, on the stations of Vosiers and Challeranges, sixty-five machines were employed. A few days later a fleet of eighty-four French aeroplanes made a raid on the German lines, starting from an aerodrome near Nancy. Since then raids by large flocks of aeroplanes have become common.
One important objective of such attacks was the destruction of the enemy's communication, and the bombing of railway trains bringing up supplies or reenforcements, became a most important feature. Often this involved considerable daring on the part of the pilot and his companion, as to insure a successful dropping of bombs the aeroplanes had to descend to comparatively low levels. The British Royal Flying Corps on several occasions dropped bombs from a height hardly more than 500 feet, and in the operations at the end of September, 1915, within five days, nearly six tons of explosives were dropped on moving trains with considerable damage.
The most striking feature, perhaps in the work of the aeroplanes, was the increased height of flight which developing conditions made necessary. At the beginning of the war it was assumed that overhead reconnaissance could be carried on in safety at a height of from 4,000 to 6,000 feet above the surface of the earth. At such altitude it was assumed that the aeroplane was safe from terrestrial artillery on account of offering so small a target, as well as on account of its speed and the difficulty ofdetermining its range, but this condition of affairs did not long remain. Both armies, and particularly the Germans, acquired experience in the use of their antiaircraft guns, and improved weapons were placed at their disposal, so that it was not long before the gunners could cause their shrapnel to burst with deadly effect some three miles in vertical height above the ground, and up to 10,000 feet their shooting compelled the admiration of the aviators of the Allies.
Such efficient gunnery practice, of course, contributed to the loss of life among the aviators and the destruction of machines, notwithstanding the constantly increased height of flying. In some cases aeroplanes managed to reach the ground safely with as many as 300 bullet holes, but in other cases a single bullet sufficed to kill the aviator or to hit a vital part, and this was a compelling reason for armoring the aeroplanes and protecting their engines and controls.
All of this naturally produced a higher standard of skill in the European armies than was ever before realized, and the training of new aviators, especially in the light of war experience, was carried on in large part by convalescent members of the aviation corps who had seen actual service in the field, so that the quota of recruits was not only maintained but supplied, trained to a high degree of efficiency.
The progress of the war marked changes in the tactics of the aerial services of the various armies. The French and English believed that in the course of the war the Germans had lost a number of their most skilled and intrepid aviators, and that the expert pilots were held in readiness for more serious effort rather than being sacrificed for any contests of doubtful outcome. The Germans for a time became more cautious in their fights over the French lines, and in the summer and autumn of 1915 seldom crossed. This probably was due in large part to the increased number of aeroplanes at the disposal of the French and English. Apparently for a number of weeks there was a decrease in the reckless flights on the part of the Germans and desire to give battle, and more attention was paid to developing tactical efficiency and securing military results. Often their aeroplanesoperated in connection with the artillery, and in many cases their object was to draw the Allies' machines within range of the German antiaircraft artillery, which was efficiently served.
A complete chronicle of the flights and air battles of the period of the war under review would contain a record where hardly a day passed without some flight or contest of greater or less significance. A duel between two hostile airmen might be of less importance than an exchange of shots between members of opposing outposts, yet it might involve heroic fighting and a skillful manipulation of aeroplane and machine gun, when one or both of the contestants might be thrown headlong to the ground. So for these pages we may select some of the more significant of the battles in the air with the understanding that many of those ignored were not without their vital interest.[Back to Contents]
ZEPPELIN RAIDS—ATTACKS ON GERMAN ARMS FACTORIES—GERMAN OVER-SEA RAIDS
The second year of the war opened with a spirited combat between the German and French aeroplanes, on August 1, 1915, when six attacking German machines engaged fifteen French machines over Château Salins. This fight, which at the time was widely discussed, lasted three-quarters of an hour, and as the French reenforcements came the Germans retreated to their own lines, though it was reported that several of the French machines were disabled and forced to land. Regarding this contest the opinion was expressed that the French were inadequately armed to fight the Germans, and that the latter were not driven back until armed scouts had joined the French. Furthermore, it was believed that the German aeroplanes were more heavily armed than those previously employed, and represented a new and more powerful type of machine. If the French suffered in this battle for lack of armament, the lesson was taken to heart, for the followingweek a French squadron of thirty-two units, including bombing machines convoyed by a flotilla of armed scouts (avions de chasse) made an attack on the station and factories of Saarbrücken.
There was air war over sea as well as over land. On August 3, 1915, a squadron of Russian seaplanes attacked a German gunboat near Windau and forced her to run ashore, while the same squadron attacked a Zeppelin and two German seaplanes, one of which was shot down. The Russians the following day attacked Constantinople and dropped a number of bombs on the harbor fortifications. That the advantage was not entirely with the Allies at this time was shown by the report that on August 10, 1915, a Turkish seaplane attacked an ally submarine near Boulair. The Russian seaplanes were again successful on August 10, 1915, when they participated in the repulse of the Germans off the Gulf of Riga, where they attempted to land troops. The Russians had merely small sea craft such as torpedo boats and submarines in this engagement, but their seaplanes proved very effective, and the Germans retired with a cruiser and two torpedo boats damaged.
After the attack by German Zeppelins on the east coast of England in June, 1915, there was a lull in the activity of the German airships. Count Zeppelin had stated early in the spring that in August fifteen airships of a new type capable of carrying at least two tons of explosives would be available, and accordingly, when a squadron of five Zeppelins were sighted off Vlieland, near the entrance of the Zuyder Zee, pointed for England, it was realized that attempted aerial invasion was being resumed in earnest. These airships bombed war vessels in the Thames, the London docks, torpedo boats near Harwich, and military establishments on the Humber, with the result, slight in its military importance, of some twenty-eight casualties and a number of fires due to incendiary bombs. This attack encountered resistance and counterattacks from the British aerial services, not without effect, but lacking in positive achievement. One Zeppelin was damaged by the gunfire of the land defenses, and upon her return an Ally aeroplane squadron from Dunkirk attackedthe disabled airship and finally blew her up after she had fallen into the sea off Ostend.
It was realized, particularly by the British, that the best way to meet the Zeppelins was by aeroplane attack, yet on the raid just described, the great airships entirely escaped the British aviators. This Zeppelin raid was followed by a second on the night of August 12-13, 1915, which was directed against the military establishment at Harwich. Six people were killed and seventeen wounded by the bombs, and the post office was set on fire by an incendiary bomb. Aside from this, damage was limited. On August 17 and 18, 1915, a squadron of four Zeppelins again attacked the English east coast, and their bombs killed ten persons and wounded thirty-six. Once again the airships were able to escape the British air patrols and made their escape apparently without damage, though one, theL-10, while flying over Vlieland, Holland, was fired upon by Dutch troops.
An important effect of the Zeppelin raids was to bring the war directly to the experience of the British public, and the effect on recruiting as well as in arousing an increased national spirit for defense was marked. On the other hand, in Germany the Zeppelin raids produced great elation, and the German populace anticipated that the aerial invasion of Great Britain would contribute materially toward the conclusion of the war.
In the early summer of 1915 there had been rather less activity on the war front in eastern France and Flanders, especially on the part of the Germans, and as later developments proved, they apparently were engaged in experiments with new types of machines and engines. There was also in this time a manifestation of increased skill on the part of the German air pilots, so that when the new machines were brought out they were handled with skill and ease, especially when climbing to the upper air and dodging the shells from antiaircraft guns of the Allies.
In the meantime, and especially during August, 1915, the French began to develop bombing attacks against German arms and ammunition factories, railway junctions, and other military establishments, on a scale never before attempted in aerial warfare. Toward the middle of the month as many as eighty-fourFrench aeroplanes were assembled for a flight over the German lines, and so carefully were these aviators trained that in less than four minutes the eighty-four aeroplanes were in the sky, arranged in perfect tactical formation. On this particular occasion a reconnaissance was made in force, and the various evolutions and the distributions of the machines were carefully tried. With such practice, on August 25, 1915, a French aerial squadron, including sixty-two aviators, flew over the heights of Dilligen in Rhenish Prussia, thirty miles southeast of Trèves, and dropped more than 150 bombs, thirty of which were of large caliber. This raid, while successful in many respects, was not without damage, for the French lost four aeroplanes. One fell to earth on fire near Bolzhen with the pilot and observer killed. A second was captured by the Germans, together with its occupants, near Romilly, a third was forced to land near Arracourt, north of Lunéville, and was destroyed by German artillery, and the fourth landed within range of the German guns near Moevruns, south of Nomeny, behind the French front. On this very day a second French squadron bombed the German camps of Pannes and Baussant, starting fires, and discharged bombs over other German stations and bivouacs. In Argonne stations were bombarded as well as the aviation park of Vitry-en-Artois. Allied fleets of French, British, and Belgian aeroplanes, both of the land and sea services, comprising some sixty machines in all, bombarded the wood of Houthulst and set a number of fires.
It must not be inferred that at this time there was any lack of individual effort or achievement. Often bombs were dropped at important stations on lines of communication, and on August 26, 1915, a poisoned gas plant at Dornach was bombed by a French aeroplane and ten shells dropped.