On May 21, 1917, the Austrians on the Trentino front, notwithstanding the repulse so far suffered, persisted in making desultory and fruitless attempts to divert the Italians from their main objectives. Raids were made in force against the advanced Italian line at Caventro Pass, Adamello, Pluberga Bridge, in the Chiesa, and in the Giumella Valley, at RioPionale. All were repulsed. Between Lake Garda and the Adige the Austrians, after an intense and prolonged bombardment with artillery of all calibers, attacked positions on Monte Dosso Alto, southwest of Loppio Lake, and on Monte Zugna. They were driven back with heavy loss. Other local attacks which were attempted in the Posina Valley, on the Asiago Plateau, and in Carnia failed. On the Julian front, in the sector north of Goritz, the artillery duel, already spirited, became more intense, but was not followed by infantry action. The position which the Italians captured on Hill 363, east of Plava, was consolidated.
East of Goritz the Austrians attempted repeatedly to recapture Hill 126, south of Grazigna, but failed on account of the effective action of Italian artillery reserves.
A slight lull set in on May 22, 1917, except that the Italians opened a very heavy fire against the Austrian positions on the Carso Plateau.
This bombardment continued on May 23, 1917, and after ten hours of violent bombardment, the troops of the Third Italian Army assaulted and broke through the well-organized Austrian lines from Castagnievizza to the sea. While they were heavily engaging the Austrians on the left, other troops, after carrying trenches in the center and on the right, occupied part of the area south of the Castagnievizza-Boscomalo road, passed Boscomalo and captured Jamiano, the important and strongly fortified heights of Hill 92 east of Pietrarossa, Hill 77, Hill 58, Bagni, and Hill 21. The Austrians, at first surprised by the sudden onslaught, toward evening counterattacked in force, supported by an exceptionally heavy bombardment. They were repulsed with severe loss.
During the day the Italians captured more than 9,000 prisoners, including more than 300 officers. In the Goritz area Italian troops repulsed heavy attacks, captured a strong point on the northwest slopes of San Marco, and after severe fighting made considerable gains in the Monte Santo and Vodice areas.
It was also announced officially that ten British batteries assisted in the fighting of these days.
On May 24, 1917, the battle continued to rage along the Julian front from the sea to Plava. Italian troops, advancing over very difficult and intricate ground, fought their way, yard by yard, through a deep labyrinth of fortifications stubbornly defended by strong, well-trained forces.
In the sector between the sea and the Jamiano-Brestovizza road large Italian forces, supported by some field batteries which advanced with the infantry, drove the Austrians back as far as Foce Timavo, Flondar, and Hill 31, a line south of Jamiano.
North of Jamiano, after heavy fighting, the strongly fortified heights Hills 235 and 247 were carried and the Italian positions extended as far as the outlying houses of Versic.
The Austrians attempted to lighten the Italian pressure on the southern Carso by violent counterattacks from Castagnievizza to Frigido. All these efforts failed. East of Goritz persistent Austrian raids were repulsed during the night on Hill 174, north of Tivoli, and at Grazigna. In the region of Monte Cucco and Monte Vodice the Austrians vainly made every effort to retake captured positions. An Austrian column attempted a surprise attack against Italian lines east of Hill 652 on the Vodice. It was counterattacked and driven back to its point of departure, which was then carried and held by Italian troops. East of Plava the Italians extended their occupation on Hill 363.[Back to Contents]
THE HEIGHT OF THE ITALIAN OFFENSIVE
The struggle which had now been raging for almost a fortnight continued with unabated strength. Although the Austrians put up a most gallant and determined resistance, they could not keep back the Italian advance, which apparently was made with superior infantry and artillery forces.
On May 25, 1917, heavy fighting continued on the Carso. After intense artillery preparation lasting until 4 o'clock in the afternoon, infantry of the Seventh Italian Army Corps vigorously attacked and carried the network of trenches extending from the mouth of the Timavo River to a point east of Jamiano and took possession of the heights between Flondar and Medeazza.
Farther north, after severe hand-to-hand fighting, the Austrian defenses at the labyrinth east of Boscomalo were broken and Hill 220, southeast of the village, and trenches around Castagnievizza were taken. The operations on the northern sector of the Carso were confined almost exclusively to artillery actions. The Italians extended their positions on Hill 174, north of Tivoli.
The fighting was very heavy in the Vodice area, where the Austrians made every effort to dislodge the Italians from the important point Hill 652, which, however, remained firmly in Italian possession. After violent artillery preparation dense masses of Austrian troops attempted repeatedly and stubbornly to attack the Italian lines.
In the Plava zone the Italians made farther progress on the slopes of Hill 363 in the Rogat Valley. The total number of prisoners captured so far on the Julian front from May 14 to 25, 1917, was 22,419, including 487 officers.
It was now the fourth day of this new Carso battle. Still the Italians extended their positions. On May 26, 1917, artillery action all along the line continued fiercely from sunrise until evening. In the afternoon between the coast and Jamiano Italian infantry by a brilliant assault succeeded in reaching a point beyond the railway from Monfalcone to Duino, northeast of San Giovanni, and carried the strongly fortified Hill 145 southwest of Medeazza. They established themselves a few hundred yards from the village.
North of Jamiano violent attacks and counterattacks followed in succession all day, supported by artillery fire. Castagnievizza also was reached and passed, but the persistent and concentrated shelling by a number of Austrian batteries compelled the Italiansto evacuate ground there. The latter maintained a hold on the western boundary, however.
In the area east and north of Goritz the artillery action was intense. The Italians shelled the basins of Cargaro and Britof, in which the Austrian supplies centered.
In the Plava sector Italian infantry carried the heights at the head of the Palieva Valley, thus connecting their Monte Cucco lines with those on Hill 363.
Weather conditions on May 27, 1917, slowed down the fighting everywhere, but did not prevent the Italians from extending their various successes slightly in all directions.
On May 28, 1917, however, the Isonzo battle was resumed for the third time. A new and large Italian attacking wave was directed against the heights of Vodice and Monte Santo. An Italian attack launched at noon against the north slope was preceded by powerful artillery fire. It extended along the entire sector.
During the afternoon it resulted many times in severe hand-to-hand fighting, which also raged during the night. Especially violent fighting occurred in the region of Hill 652. The entire extent of the Austrian front, however, now offered iron resistance to all Italian efforts.
South of Jamiano the Italians attacked Austrian positions four times, losing, besides heavy casualties, fifteen officers and 800 men as prisoners. The number of prisoners brought in by the Austrians since the commencement of the Isonzo battle amounted to 14,500 men, according to their official statements.
The Italian offensive now began to come to a stop. The hard fighting naturally had exhausted the Italian forces and munitions and by now strong Austrian reserves had come up and made the resistance sufficiently strong to stop further advances. On May 29 and 30, 1917, artillery was not very active on the Trentino front and in the Carnia, but was very heavy on the Julian front, particularly in the sector from Monte Cucco to Vodice and east of Goritz.
On May 31, 1917, considerable artillery activity developed in the northern sector of the Carso and on the line from Goritz toPlava. In the Vodice area numerous massed troops of the Austrians made a violent attack upon Italian positions on Hills 592 and 652. The attack, prepared by intense artillery fire and carried out with stubbornness, failed.
On June 1 and 2, 1917, the activity on the whole front was confined for the most part to the artillery, which was especially active against Italian positions east of Plava, in the Vodice area, and in the northern sector of the Carso.
On the Carso, after several days of violent artillery preparation, the Austrians attacked in mass on June 4, 1917, from Dosso Faiti to the sea. Although the Dosso Faiti positions were completely destroyed, they were strenuously defended by the Italians. The latter also resisted determined attacks from Castagnievizza to the ridges north of Jamiano and by counterattacks and heavy hand-to-hand fighting succeeded in maintaining their positions and even in occupying new advanced positions near Castagnievizza and Versic.
South of Jamiano, while maintaining their wing positions, the Italians were obliged to rectify somewhat the center of their new line to avoid the Austrian fire, at the same time carrying out frequent counterattacks, effectively stopping the Austrians.
It apparently was now the Austrians' turn. The Italians began to report slight withdrawals. On June 5, 1917, lively artillery duels continued on the front from the Monte Nero area to the heights of Goritz. On the Carso the violent shelling of Italian positions from Versic to Jamiano was resumed, provoking an energetic reply from their batteries.
South of Jamiano the fighting was less intense. The new Italian line fronting Flondar, however, was withdrawn slightly to a position more advantageous tactically.
The struggle continued during the next few days, especially near Jamiano. Positions changed hands frequently, but the advantage now seemed to be slightly with the Austrians, though neither side registered any extensive successes. The fighting gradually slowed down to the type which had been employed previous to the Italian drive. Most of the positions which theItalian forces had gained, remained, however, securely in their hands.
On June 10, 1917, there was a slight revival of more extensive operations, especially in the Trentino. Throughout the whole of the mountain zone of operations there was more fighting than usual, especially between the Adige and Brenta Rivers. In the night the Austrians were driven back and followed up at the Tonale Pass, in the upper Chiesa Valley, on the slope of Dosso Casino, and in the Posina Valley.
On the Asiago Plateau Italian artillery destroyed the Austrians' complex system of defenses at several points. Italian infantry, attacking during a violent storm in the direction of Monte Zebio and Monte Forno, carried the pass of Agnello, and captured nearly the whole of Monte Ortigara, 6,924 feet high, east of Cima Undice.
On the remainder of the front there were desultory concentrations of fire on the part of the Austrian batteries, to which the Italians replied. On the Carso attacks on the Italian line south of Castagnievizza were completely repelled.
During the balance of June, 1917, only isolated actions of importance occurred. On June 15, 1917, east of the Adamello Massif in the eastern Trentino, Italian Alpine detachments and skiers advanced over very difficult ground, notwithstanding furious resistance, and attacked the strongly fortified positions of Corno Cavento, at an altitude of 3,400 meters. The position was carried. The Italians captured what was left of the enemy garrison and two 75-mm. guns, one trench mortar, four machine guns, and a large quantity of supplies and ammunition. On the front of the Asiago Plateau the Austrian artillery continued to show great activity. Patrol attacks on Italian positions on Monte Zebio were repulsed.
On the Ortigara at dawn Italian positions on Hill 2,101 were again attacked with extreme violence. From 2.30 o'clock onward the Austrians, continually reenforced, redoubled their efforts, but they all failed.
In the San Pellegrino Valley an attack upon advanced Italian positions on the massif of Costabella was repulsed.
On the southern slopes of Monte Rombon the Italians occupied by surprise advanced posts, and maintained the same in spite of the concentrated fire of the Austrians.
On the Julian front the artillery fire was especially noticeable in the Tolmino sector, and on the heights northeast of Goritz. Columns of Austrian motor lorries were dispersed, and troops assembled east of Castagnievizza were shelled.
Again on June 20, 1917, the Italians renewed their activity in the Trentino. After twenty-four hours of artillery preparation, an Italian infantry attack on Sette Communi Plateau began early in the morning, and was carried out with the greatest display of effort, especially on the northern wing in the region of Monte Forno and the frontier ridge. All the assaults failed. A local success which gave the Italians a gain of about 100 yards was nullified by a counterattack. Nothing of importance occurred on the Isonzo front.
On the Asiago Plateau fighting was resumed on June 25, 1917. All night Italian troops opposed the desperate efforts of the Austrians, who, notwithstanding heavy losses, were attempting to retake the positions recently lost in the Monte Ortigara sector. Attacks and counterattacks were continuously made on the contested positions. Diversions at the same time by the Austrians on other portions of the front were completely stopped.
On June 28, 1917, the artillery struggle was fairly active on the whole front. In answer to the fire directed by the Austrians against Ala the Italians repeatedly shelled the railway station at Calliano. On the Asiago Plateau the Austrians concentrated a violent fire on Agnello Pass. Near Santa Lucia, in the Tolmino region, traffic was interrupted repeatedly by Italian fire.
Throughout the last few days of June, 1917, and all of July, 1917, only minor operations were undertaken by either side. Artillery activity varied in extent and frequency from day to day, and so did the operations of outposts and patrols. In a general way, however, there was no readjustment of the positions which had been established by the latest Italian drive.
On March 10, 1917, Austria-Hungary issued a proclamation, ostensibly to the Albanians, but obviously addressed to the wholeworld, that Albania was to enjoy local autonomy under an Austro-Hungarian protectorate. In June, 1917, Italy responded with a similar proclamation, granting Albania independence under Italian protection. At the time the announcement was made a semiofficial interview was granted to the representative of a London newspaper by Deputy Eugenio Chiesa, who had recently returned from a tour of inspection of the parts of Albania held by the Italian army:
"The Italian occupation in Albania and northern Epirus," he said, "extends well into the Greek kingdom. Not only have the Italians occupied Valona and its hinterland, but they have passed a long way to the south of the boundary between Greece proper and northern Epirus at Cape Stylos and have extended in a northern direction as far as the river Kalamas, opposite the south end of Corfu, which was intended by the thirteenth protocol of the Berlin Congress of 1878, and by the Berlin Conference of 1880, to have been the northwestern frontier of Greece, but which, since the last Balkan wars, has been well within the enlarged northwestern boundary. I am opposed," continued Signor Chiesa, "to the permanent occupation of these places, nor do I believe the Italian Government intends to retain them. I consider as sincere the manifesto of the commandant of Valona, but Valona Kanina, north of Valona, the surrounding districts, and the isle of Saseto must remain Italian, not only for strategic but for sanitary reasons, owing to the necessity of draining the pestilential marshes which affect the health of Valona. Venizelos, with whom I spoke at Saloniki, frankly recognized this occupation of Valona, Saseto, and the territory about Valona. The Italians have already constructed over 400 kilometers of roads and opened over 125 schools, where both Italian and Albanian are taught.... Corfu cannot remain Italian, it ought to be Greek."[Back to Contents]
SUBMARINE WARFARE
The six months' period from February 1, 1917, to August 1, 1917, covers a more intensified submarine activity than any other period since the beginning of the war. It was on February 1, 1917, that the so-called unrestricted submarine warfare was initiated by the German Government. As was to be expected, losses resulting from this new type of "frightfulness" quickly became very large. As time went on, however, it became evident that the Germans were unable to maintain their submarine sinkings on an equal basis at all times. Losses varied greatly from week to week. However, even at that they soon became so severe as to cause grave difficulties to the countries fighting against Germany and her allies, which before long were joined by the United States as a result of Germany's new submarine policy.
Difficult as it had been in the past to compile an accurate account of submarine losses, such an attempt became even more impossible now. All the governments involved soon followed Great Britain's lead and stopped the publication of detailed data concerning their respective maritime losses. Figures, it is true, were published, at least by England, at regular intervals. But they were far from complete or accurate. It is now next to impossible to give even an approximate idea of the total losses.
The following data come as close to being correct as a careful consultation of official statements permits. They must, however, not be considered complete.
Up to the date of writing the United States had not published any official figures covering the losses incurred by the American merchant marine. From newspaper and other accounts, however, it appears that between February 1, 1917, and July 16, 1917, from thirty to forty American ships of more than 100,000 tons were lost. The first of these was the steamerHousatonic, sunk on February 3, 1917, near the Scilly Islands without loss of life. The sailing schoonerLyman M. Lawwas sent to the bottom of the sea on February 12, 1917, off the coast of Sardinia in the Mediterranean, also without loss of life. Next on the list was the steamerAlgonquin, sunk on March 12, 1917, near the Scilly Islands without loss of life. Four days later, March 16, 1917, the steamerVigilanciawent down with a loss of fifteen men. On March 17, 1917, theCity of Memphiswas torpedoed, and on March 18, 1917, theIllinois, both without loss of life. The sinking of the steamerHealdonin the North Sea on March 21, 1917, however, brought about the loss of twenty-one members of her crew, seven of whom were Americans. On April 2, 1917, the sinking of the armed steamerAztecwas reported. With her twenty-eight of the crew, including a U. S. N. boat-swain's mate, perished. TheMissourianwent down on April 4, 1917, and theSewardon April 7, 1917, both in the Mediterranean. On April 24, 1917, the sinking of the schoonerPercy Birdsallwas reported. The crew was rescued. Later that month another small schooner, theWoodward Abrahamswas sent to the bottom. On April 28, 1917, off the north coast of Ireland, the oil tankerVacuumwas sunk. As a result of exposure in lifeboats, seventeen of her crew, including some naval gunners, died. On May 2, 1917, the loss of the steamerRockinghamwas reported, two of her crew being lost. During May, 1917, the following American-owned boats were sunk:Hilonian,Harpagus,Dirigo,Frances M.,Barbara, andMargaret B. Rouss. Between June 12, 1917, and July 16, 1917, the American merchant marine lost, besides some small boats, the following eight vessels with a total tonnage of over 38,000:Hansau,Haverford,Bay State,Moreni,Petrolite,Massapequa,Orleans, andGrace.
The following list shows the losses of the British merchant marine during the period from February 25, 1917, to July 22, 1917. The figures are those published weekly by the British admiralty. During the month of February, 1917, 110 British ships of varying size and of a total tonnage of 316,204 were sunk:
These figures show that in twenty-two weeks England lost 438 vessels over 1,600 tons, 170 vessels under 1,600 tons, and 187 fishing vessels. The average tonnage of vessels over 1,600 tons has been said to be 4,500. On that basis the loss in this class alone would amount to about 2,000,000 tons. If we add to this the total loss during February, 1917, and an approximate figure representing the loss of vessels under 1,600 tons and of fishingvessels, it is safe to assume that the total loss suffered by the British merchant marine between February 1, 1917, and July 29, 1917, was about 2,650,000 tons.
On June 30, 1917, the German admiralty claimed that since the beginning of the war more than 5,500,000 tons of shipping available for Great Britain's supply of food, munitions, and materials had been destroyed up to June 1, 1917, and that, on that date, there was available for this purpose from all sources only about 4,500,000 tons which, it was claimed, could be destroyed at the rate of from 800,000 to 1,000,000 tons a month.
Of the other Allied countries only France supplied from time to time definite figures. During February, March, and April, 1917, seventeen French vessels were sunk while nine others were attacked, but escaped. During May, 1917, twenty-eight French vessels were attacked. Of these eighteen escaped and ten were sunk. In June, 1917, fourteen French boats were sunk and twenty escaped. During the early part of July, 1917, two more French steamers were reported sunk having a tonnage of almost 10,000. On June 22, 1917, a debate in the French Chamber of Deputies developed the fact that the French merchant fleet was 2,500,000 tons at the beginning of the war and since that time had lost 560,000 tons, 460,000 by acts of war. During the same period 680,000 tons had been built or bought and another 140,000 was on the stocks, so that the fleet was actually greater now than before the war.
The grand total of submarine operations during February, 1917, according to figures compiled by the British admiralty, showed the following results:
Number of ships sunk—British, 110; American, 2; other belligerents, 20; neutrals, 51.
Total tonnage destroyed—British, 316,204; American, 3,322; other belligerents, 44,272; neutrals, 93,019. Grand total February 1-28, 456,817 tons.
On the other hand the German admiralty made the following official announcement on March 19, 1917; "In February 368 merchant ships of an aggregate gross tonnage of 781,500 were lost by the war measures of the Central Powers. Among themwere 292 hostile ships, with an aggregate gross tonnage of 644,000 and seventy-six neutral ships of an aggregate gross tonnage of 137,500."
The State Department in Washington on April 10, 1917, gave out the following official figures regarding neutral losses inflicted by submarines:
"Information has been received by the department that since the beginning of the war, including April 3, a total of 686 vessels have been sunk by German submarines, as follows: Norwegian, 410; Swedish, 111; Dutch, 61; Greek, 50; Spanish, 33; American, 10; Peruvian, 1; Argentine, 1; total, 686. Neutral vessels attacked and escaped: Norwegian, 32; Swedish, 9; Danish, 5; Greek, 8; Spanish, 2; Argentine, 1; Brazilian, 1; American, 8; total, 66."
On May 8, 1917, a debate in the Reichstag brought out the fact that the German admiralty claimed to have sunk during February, March, and April, 1917, 1,325 vessels of all sizes and nationalities with a tonnage of 2,800,000.
Denmark on May 22, 1917, announced that since the beginning of the war 150 ships had been lost and 210 Danish seamen had perished.
On May 28, 1917, the Athens newspaper "Patris" printed a list of 102 Greek ships of a total tonnage of 300,000 which had been sunk by submarines, leaving 149 Greek ships with a displacement of 500,000 tons still afloat.
Norway during March, 1917, lost sixty-four ships, during April, 1917, seventy-five; and during May, 1917, forty-nine.
On June 25, 1917, it was announced that from the beginning of the war up to that date Norway had lost 572 vessels of 815,000 tons, 431 of these of 680,000 tons being steamers. This made Norway by far the heaviest loser among all neutrals.
From all various sources it appears that the total tonnage sunk during the six months from February 1, 1917, to July 31, 1917, amounted to somewhere between five and six millions.
Of course the submarine fleet of the Central Powers suffered severe losses during the six months' period, February to August, 1917. The means employed to put submarines out of businesswere manifold. Large flotillas of small but swift patrol boats, squadrons of destroyers, guns mounted forward and aft on merchantmen, dragnets, mine fields, and last but not least aeroplanes, all contributed their share toward the combating of submarine warfare. Just how many submarines have been sunk or captured is not even approximately known. From good authorities, however, it appears that the Germans up to now have been able to put new submarines into commission at a greater rate than the Allies have been able to maintain in destroying them.
Only one case of a submarine fighting and destroying another submarine became known. This occurred on June 2, 1917, when a French submarine sank a hostile submarine just as it was sailing out of the harbor of Cattaro on the Dalmatian (Austro-Hungarian) coast of the Adriatic Sea.[Back to Contents]
NAVAL OPERATIONS
The principal feature of naval warfare, aside from that conducted by and against submarines, was the absence of major engagements. Such engagements as occurred were of a minor nature and confined to meetings between patrol units or to local raids.
On February 25, 1917, German destroyers bombarded Broadstairs and Margate on the English coast. Two deaths but no material damage resulted.
About the same time it was announced that on February 15, 1917, a British cruiser had fought a successful engagement against three German raiders off the coast of Brazil, damaging two of them. The third escaped.
Not until March 22, 1917, did the German Government announce that the raiderMoewehad returned to her home port from a very successful second raiding trip in the Atlantic Oceanwhich had yielded twenty-seven captured vessels, most of which of course had been sunk.
Still another German raider was heard of on March 30, 1917. On that day the French barkCambronnearrived at the Brazilian port of Rio de Janeiro, having on board the crews of eleven vessels which had been captured and sunk by the raider. The latter was said to have been the former American barkPass of Balmahawhich had been captured by the Germans in August, 1915, and at that time had been taken into Cuxhaven. She had been renamedSeeadlerand was a three-master of about 2,800 tons, square rigged, with a speed of about twelve knots, and was equipped with a powerful wireless plant. Her armament was said to have consisted of two 105-mm. guns and sixteen machine guns, and a crew of sixty-four men. The boat apparently had left Germany in December, 1916, escorted by a submarine, and had successfully evaded the British patrol, not mounting her guns until she had run the British blockade. The eleven ships known to have been sunk by theSeeadlerwere:
Antonin, French sailing vessel, 3,071 tons, owned in Dunkirk; 31 men on board.
British Yeoman, British sailing vessel, 1,963 tons, owned in Victoria, B. C.; 21 men.
Buenos Ayres, Italian sailing vessel, 1,811 tons, owned in Naples; 21 men.
Charles Gounod, French sailing vessel, 2,199 tons, owned in Nantes; 24 men.
Dupleix, French sailing vessel, 2,206 tons, owned in Nantes; 22 men.
Gladys Royle, British steamship, 3,268 tons, owned in Sunderland; 26 men.
Horngarth, British steamship, 3,609 tons gross, owned in Cardiff; 33 men.
Lady Island(orLandy Island), 4,500 tons; 25 men.
La Rochefoucauld, French sailing vessel, 2,200 tons; owned in Nantes; 24 men.
Perce, British schooner, 364 tons, owned in Halifax; 6 men, 1 woman.
Pinmore, British sailing vessel, 2,431 tons, owned in Greenock, 29 men.
The Cambronne, which on her arrival at Rio de Janeiro had on board 263 men, had been brought up by the raider on March 7, 1917, in the Atlantic Ocean in latitude 21 south, longitude 7 west, or almost on a straight line with Rio, but twenty-two days east.
During March, 1917, the British Government announced an extension of the danger area in the North Sea, which affected chiefly the protected area off Holland and Denmark. On March 28, 1917, German warships, cruising off the south coast of England, attacked and sank the British patrol boatMascot.
On April 8, 1917, an engagement occurred between British boats and German destroyers off Zeebrugge on the Belgian coast. One of the German destroyers was sunk and another was seriously damaged.
Various raids were carried out during April, 1917, against the English coast. On April 21, 1917, six German destroyers attempted an attack on Dover. Two of them were sunk by British destroyers. The Germans also claimed to have sunk two British patrol boats. Six days later, on April 27, 1917, another German destroyer squadron attacked Ramsgate, killing two civilians before they were driven off by land batteries. During another engagement a few days later between British light cruisers and destroyers and eleven German destroyers off Holland, one German boat was damaged.
Both Calais and Dunkirk were bombarded by German destroyers. In the former town some civilians were killed. As a result of the attack on Dunkirk one French destroyer was sunk.
On May 10, 1917, a squadron of eleven German destroyers about to sail out of Zeebrugge was attacked by a British naval force and forced back into the former Belgian harbor, then serving as a German naval base. Two days later, May 12, 1917, the same British force assisted by an air squadron successfully attacked Zeebrugge, destroying two submarine sheds and killing sixty-three persons.
During May, 1917, it was also announced that American warships had arrived safely in British waters and had begun patroloperations in the North Sea. At about the same time Japanese warships made their appearance at Marseilles to assist in the war against submarines operating off the French coast.
On May 15, 1917, Austrian light cruisers operating in the Adriatic Sea, sunk fourteen British mine sweepers, torpedoed the British light cruiserDartmouth, and sunk an Italian destroyer.
An engagement occurred between a French and a German torpedo-boat flotilla on May 20, 1917, during which one of the French boats was damaged. A few days later British warships bombarded Ostend and Zeebrugge. Six German destroyers engaged in a running fight with a British squadron, as a result of which one German destroyer was sunk and another damaged. On May 29, 1917, a Russian squadron, operating along the Anatolian (south) coast of the Black Sea bombarded four Turkish-Armenian ports and destroyed 147 sailing vessels carrying supplies.
Thirteen Bulgarian ships successfully bombarded the Greek port of Kavala, then occupied by Allied forces.
Fort Saliff on the Red Sea was captured by British warships. Fort Saliff is a Turkish fortress on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea.
Nothing of importance happened during June, 1917.
Early in July, 1917, a German submarine bombarded Ponta Delgada in the Azores, but was beaten off by ships lying in the harbor, including an American transport.
On July 17, 1917, it was announced that British destroyers had attacked a flotilla of German merchant ships on their way from the Dutch port of Rotterdam to Germany, sinking four and capturing four others.
Mines, submarines, and explosions also made inroads on the naval establishments of the various belligerents. During February, 1917, the Russian cruiserRurikwas damaged by a mine in the Gulf of Finland. On February 28, 1917, a French torpedo destroyer was sunk by a submarine in the Mediterranean.
On March 19, 1917, the French warshipDantonwas torpedoed in the Mediterranean, 296 of her crew having perished.
A mine was responsible for the sinking of a British destroyer on May 4, 1917, causing the loss of one officer and sixty-one men.
Mines also were responsible for the sinking of the French armored cruiserKleberoff Point St. Mathieu on June 27, 1917, with a loss of thirty-eight men, of a British destroyer and of a German torpedo boat in the North Sea, and, on June 30, 1917, of a Russian torpedo boat in the Black Sea.
A torpedo sent the British auxiliary cruiserHilaryto the bottom of the North Sea with the loss of four men, while a collision was the cause of the loss of a British torpedo boat.
On July 9, 1917, the British battleshipVanguardof the dreadnought class, 19,250 tons, was destroyed by an internal explosion while at anchor in a British port.
According to figures compiled by the New York "Times" the naval losses at the end of the third year of the war (August 1, 1917) had reached approximately the following figures: Allied navies, 120 ships with a total tonnage of 662,715; Central Powers, 122 ships with a total tonnage of 387,911.[Back to Contents]
AERIAL WARFARE
As the war progressed the use of aeroplanes of all kinds became more and more extensive. This was due chiefly to the wonderful progress which had been made in aeronautics, the full story of which will not be told until the end of the war has come. Not only have aeroplanes, since the beginning of the war, become safer, but they have also become marvelously swifter and more powerful. As this is being written news comes from Washington that some recently imported very big and powerful Italian aeroplanes have made successfully a flight from Newport News to the Federal capital—a distance of some 150 miles—at the rate of 135 miles per hour and carrying ten passengers. This is typical of the recent development in the science of flying.
The result of this development has been the more varied uses to which aeroplanes are now being put. Not only do they continue to act as observers of hostile positions and movements and as guides to artillery operations, but they have also come into vogue as offensive weapons. With increased carrying capacity and extended radius of action it has become possible to utilize aeroplanes extensively for the bombardment of important positions or localities far behind hostile lines. Even for the purpose of hunting down and destroying submarines aeroplanes are being used to-day, and frequently they cooperate with naval forces in strictly offensive operations.
The six months' period covering February, 1917 to August, 1917, therefore, shows the greatest activity of the various aerialforces since the beginning of the war. On the other hand there has been a greater lack of news and an extreme scarcity of details concerning aerial operations than ever before. However, in spite of this latter condition, it is possible to state that aeroplanes were used more frequently and more extensively than ever before on all fronts, especially the western front. From such reports as are available it appears that the combined English and French aerial forces have become superior, both in number and in efficiency, to those of Germany. The latter, however, have maintained a remarkably high standard.
It is impossible from the reports which are available to give anything like a complete history of aerial warfare during the period from February to August, 1917. Throughout February, 1917, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Austrian aeroplanes were extensively employed wherever and whenever conditions permitted. Furnes in Flanders was one of the places frequently bombed by German aeroplanes, while British planes with even greater frequency visited the harbor of Bruges (Zeebrugge) where heavy damage was inflicted on German torpedo boats, docks, and railway lines. Zeebrugge is the German submarine base in Belgium.
On February 10, 1917, aeroplanes were especially active on the western front. German machines unsuccessfully attacked Nancy and Pont St. Vincent. During the same night French air squadrons visited many places in Lorraine and bombed factories at Hauts Fourreaux, La Sarre, Hagodange, Esch, and Mezières-les-Metz. A fire was caused in the neighborhood of the Arnaville station. The aviation ground at Colmar and the fort of Zeebrugge were likewise bombarded.
February 13, 1917, was an especially active day for Russian aeroplanes on the eastern front. They dropped bombs on the Povursk railway station, east of Kovel, and on the depots north of the Povursk station. Bombs were dropped on the station at Rodenrois, east of Riga; on the little town of Lihinhof, in the vicinity of Friedrichstadt; on Valeika, the village of Sviatica, north of Vygonov Lake, south of Kiselin; on Radzivilov, and in the regions south of Brody.
On the same day French and German aviators were busily attacking many places on the western front. A German aviator dropped bombs on Dunkirk. There were no victims and no damage was done. In the vicinity of Pompey, Meurthe-et-Moselle, bombs were dropped. Two civilians were killed and two were wounded. Nancy, too, was visited. During the night French air squadrons dropped projectiles on aviation grounds at Etreillers (Aisne), and Rancourt (Somme), on the railway stations at Athies, Hombleux, Voyenne, Curchy, St. Quentin, and Ham; and also on manufactories east of Tergnier, where several explosions occurred.
Similar activities were reported almost daily, and of course observation flights were made continuously by the aerial forces of all the belligerents.
On February 25, 1917, a French dirigible was shot down by German antiaircraft guns near Weelferdingen, west of Saargemund, in Lorraine. It was completely destroyed and its entire crew of fourteen perished.
On February 28, 1917, the German admiralty made the following announcement:
"In the northern Ægean Sea a German seaplane successfully dropped bombs on a hostile transport. Notwithstanding the fact that it was fired on by artillery and pursued by two enemy aeroplanes, the seaplane returned safely."
This well illustrates the superiority which aeroplanes had achieved when they could, far from their base, successfully attack steamships guarded in every possible way.
During the great advance of the Allied troops in France in March, 1917, unusual activity in the air played an important part. This was especially the case on March 17, 1917, when the British either destroyed or damaged sixteen German planes, the French ten, and the Germans accounted for a total of twenty-two British and French machines. At this time aeroplanes were active not only in reconnaissance work, but even attacked with bombs and machine guns smaller units of the retreating Germans. The British official report covering March 18, 1917, for instance, contains the following passage: "Our aeroplanes didmuch valuable work yesterday in cooperation with our infantry. Enemy troops were engaged successfully with machine guns, and bombs were dropped on a number of places behind the enemy lines," while the French report says: "During the evening of March 17 and the following night a French air squadron bombarded the factories and blast furnaces at Thionville and in the Briey Valley, as well as certain convoys of enemy troops which were marching in the region of Guiscard."
The same kind of aerial activity was an almost daily occurrence during April, 1917. The last days of that month, however, were red-letter days for military aeronautics. On April 29, 1917, the British claimed to have winged twenty German machines, while the Germans stated that they had shot down during April 28 and 29, 1917, a total of thirty-four British and French planes.
Again on May 7, 1917, the British accounted for fifteen German machines, while the French claimed to have brought down during the week May 1 to 7, 1917, seventy-six German aeroplanes, of which twenty-five were known to have been destroyed.
During the last days of May, 1917, Allied aeroplanes were especially active in Belgium. On May 26 and 30, 1917, Hest, Blankenberghe, Zeebrugge, and Ghent were attacked and considerable damage was inflicted on railway stations, docks, and other buildings of military value.
Again on June 4, 1917, British aeroplanes attacked and severely damaged German vessels in Zeebrugge.
French airmen were busy, too, in June, 1917. The French War Office on June 21, 1917 published the following statement covering their activities:
"Fourteen aeroplanes and a German captive balloon were destroyed on our front in the period from June 8 to 20. Eleven of these machines were brought down by our pilots during aerial combats, and three of them by the fire of our machine or antiaircraft guns. In addition, seven enemy machines seriously damaged fell in our lines.
"In the same period our squadrons effected numerous sorties. They bombarded notably the railroad station at Bensdorf, factories at Hayatge-Jesuf at Moyeuvre, blast furnaces at Burbachand in the Saar Valley, railroad stations at Bethienville, Châtelet-sur-Retourne, Bethel, Mezières, Charleville, and Molshelm; the bivouacs in Suippes Valley, and munitions depots in the region of Laon, etc. Thirteen thousand kilograms of projectiles were dropped during the expeditions, which caused serious damage to enemy establishments."
British, French, and German air squadrons continued their activities throughout June and July, 1917. July 12, 1917, was particularly successful for the British airmen, who claimed to have brought down near Ypres thirty-one German planes without loss to their own forces.
On the Russian and Italian fronts and in the Balkans and the Near East aerial activities were slightly fewer and less extensive than on the western, due to the difference in conditions, such as the greater scarcity of machines and the greater distance from the source of supplies.
A novel use of aeroplanes was made after the entrance of the United States into the war. On April 4, 1917, it was stated that British and French aviators dropped large numbers of German translations of President Wilson's war message over the German lines and Italian aviators did the same over the Austrian lines.
On a few occasions aircraft violated the neutrality of countries adjoining belligerent territory. In one case a French aeroplane dropped bombs on a Swiss town. A prompt and complete apology on the part of the French Government followed. On March 13, 1917, Dutch troops shot down a German plane which had flown over Sluis in Holland, ten miles northeast of Burges. Before they could capture the aviator, he succeeded in restarting his machine and in making his escape to the German lines. On June 1, 1917, a Zeppelin appeared first over Swedish territory near Malmö and then over Danish territory south of Copenhagen. Swedish torpedo boats and Danish troops fired on it successively and it quickly disappeared in a southerly direction.
One remarkable enterprise of Russian airmen was reported officially on April 3, 1917, from Petrograd and deserves, on account of its highly adventurous nature, detailed repetition. The statement read: "On the Black Sea on March 27, 1917, duringa raid by our seaplanes on Derkas, one of them was hit by the enemy. The petrol tank being punctured, the machine was compelled to descend.
"The aviators, Lieutenant Sergeev and Sublieutenant Thur, seeing a Turkish schooner, attacked it by opening machine-gun fire. The crew thereupon left the schooner. Our aviators, having sunk their machine after taking from it the compass, machine gun, and valuable belongings, boarded the schooner and set sail for our shores.
"They encountered a heavy storm during their adventure, but arrived with the schooner at the Duarlidatch Peninsula, west of Perekop, on Sunday. From this place our aviators returned to Sebastopol on a torpedo boat. The only provisions available on the schooner consisted of a few pieces of bread and a little fresh water."
Naturally interest in the activities of American airmen in the French service continued unabated. They continued to cover themselves with glory. During the second half of May, 1917, members of the Lafayette Escadrille engaged in twenty-five combats with German machines. Adjutant Raoul Lufbery was engaged five times, Sergeant Willis Haviland (Minneapolis) twice, Sergeant Dovell three times, Corporal Thomas Hewitt (New York) twice, and Corporal Kenneth Marr (San Francisco) twice.
As a result of these activities an official report announced the decoration of Adjutant Lufbery with the Military Medal by the King of England, and cited the meritorious conduct of this aviator and also of Sergeant Haviland, Sergeant Charles Johnson (St. Louis), and Lieutenant William Thaw (Pittsburgh).
In June, 1917, the American aviators flying under the French flag were even more active. In the short period from June 10 to 16, 1917, they made fifty-four patrol flights and fought nine air battles, of which Adjutant Raoul Lufbery, Edwin Parsons, and Sergeant Robert Soubiran each fought two, and Stephen Bigelow, Sergeant Walter Lowell and Thomas Hewitt each fought one.
Unfortunately death claimed two American flyers. On April 16, 1917, Pilot Edmond C. C. Genet of Ossining, N. Y., waskilled during a fight with a German aeroplane over French territory. Genet was twenty years old and was the great-great-great-grandson of Governor Clinton and the great-great-grandson of Citizen Genet, who was French Minister in the days of Washington. He had originally fought in the Foreign Legion, but had later been transferred to the aviation service.
In March, 1917, Sergeant J. R. McConnell, also a member of the Escadrille, had been killed in action. On May 24, 1917, it was announced that the commander of the Escadrille, Captain de Laage of the French army, had been killed while flying near Ham on the Somme front.
Another death of interest to this country and caused by aerial operations was that of H. E. M. Suckley of Rhinebeck, N. Y., who was in charge of a unit of the American Ambulance Field Service. He was wounded while on duty near Saloniki by an aeroplane bomb and died the following day. He was thirty years old and had been with the Ambulance Service almost from the beginning of the war, first in the Vosges, then at Pont-à-Mousson, and finally with General Sarrail's army.
Regarding the losses suffered by the various aerial forces, authentic information available is very scant and incomplete. Up to February 1, 1917, the Germans claimed to have destroyed 1,002 Allied aeroplanes and to have put out of commission a total of 1,700, valued at $12,500,000. During April, 1917, according to the London "Times," a total of 714 machines was brought down on the western front. These were distributed as follows: German machines, 366; British, 147; French and Belgian, 201. Of the 366 German aeroplanes brought down 269 fell to the British, ninety-five to the French, and two to the Belgians. British airmen accounted for 263 German aeroplanes and antiaircraft gunners for six. On the other hand the Germans admitted the loss of only seventy-four machines, but claimed to have brought down 362 Allied aeroplanes and twenty-nine captive balloons.
During May, 1917, according to London newspapers, 713 aeroplanes were brought down on the western front. Of these 442 were said to have been German and 271 French and British.[Back to Contents]
AIR RAIDS
The second phase of aerial warfare was represented by the raids carried out by the various belligerents over enemy territory at a considerable distance from the actual theaters of war. In these operations the Germans, as in the past, were the most active and England was the greatest sufferer. But unlike their previous custom, the Germans, during the period from February to August, 1917, used aeroplanes more frequently than Zeppelins.
On February 25, 1917, British naval aeroplanes raided iron-works near Saarbrücken in Rhenish Prussia, about fifty miles beyond the border.
On March 1, 1917, one German plane bombed Broadstairs, an English watering place on the island of Thanet off the Kentish coast.
During the night of March 4-5, 1917, French aeroplanes bombed Freiburg-im-Breisgau (Black Forest) and Kehl near Strassburg.
German airships bombed the southeastern counties of England during the night of March 16-17, 1917. Margate was attacked by a German seaplane at the same time. One of the Zeppelins was brought down later by French antiaircraft guns near Compiègne, northeast of Paris, its entire crew being killed.
A French aeroplane bombed Frankfort-on-the-Main on March 17, 1917, causing only little damage.
On April 5, 1917, a German aeroplane again bombed the Kentish coast town without causing any damage.
Freiburg-im-Breisgau was once more the object of an attack by English aeroplanes, made, as announced later, in reprisal for the torpedoing of British hospital ships. Ten civilians and one soldier were killed, and twenty-seven civilians, mostly women and children, wounded. Three of the British aeroplanes were shot down. Considerable damage to public buildings was caused.
On May 5, 1917, Odessa, the Russian port on the north shore of the Black Sea, was visited for the first time by a German aeroplane.
On May 14, 1917, British naval forces detected a Zeppelin in the act of approaching the English coast. The alarm was given immediately and a squadron of British seaplanes was sent after the invader. The fire from the machine gun of one of these soon reached the big airship, and before long the latter was seen to burst into flames and disappeared.
During the night of May 23, 1917, four or five Zeppelins appeared over East Anglia and penetrated some distance inland. Bombs were dropped in a number of country districts. One man was killed, but otherwise the damage was negligible.
Two days later, May 25, 1917, early in the evening, seventeen aeroplanes appeared over Folkestone on the southeast coast of England. They dropped about fifty bombs. As a result seventy-six persons were killed and 174 injured, most of them civilians, and a large percentage of these women and children. The returning German aeroplanes were pursued by machines of the British Naval Air Service from Dunkirk and attacked. Three German machines were shot down.
Again on June 5, 1917, sixteen German aeroplanes appeared over Essex and the Medway. They succeeded in dropping a large number of bombs which caused two casualties and considerable material damage and injured twenty-nine persons before antiaircraft guns and British planes drove them off. At least four German machines were shot down.
On June 11, 1917, a British patrol boat sighted five German aeroplanes off Dover. Attacking them at once, the British craft destroyed two of the machines and captured their pilots. The remaining three German machines fled.
At noon of June 13, 1917, London was subjected to the most extensive and destructive raid in its experience. In the middle of a beautiful summer day fifteen German aeroplanes appeared over London and dispatched their death-dealing burden of explosives on England's capital; 157 men, women, and children were killed, and 432 injured. Considerable material damage wascaused, although the raid lasted only fifteen minutes. All but one of the German planes escaped. The East End, London's tenement district, inhabited chiefly by the poor, was the principal sufferer.
On the same day British naval forces attacked and brought down a Zeppelin in the North Sea. The airship was a total loss and apparently the entire crew perished.
On June 16, 1917, two Zeppelins attacked the East Anglian and Kentish coast. Considerable damage was done by the bombs dropped. Three deaths and injuries to about twenty people resulted. A British aeroplane succeeded in bringing down one of the Zeppelins, which, with its crew, was destroyed completely.
Three times in July, 1917, German aeroplane squadrons appeared in England. On July 4, 1917, about twelve attacked Harwich, a port in Essex; two of the planes were shot down, but not until the attackers had inflicted considerable damage, killed eleven people and injured thirty-six. Three days later, July 7, 1917, twenty aeroplanes bombed London, forty-three people were killed and 197 injured, while three of the German planes were destroyed. Again on July 22, 1917, fifteen to twenty German aeroplanes reached the English coast. Felixstowe and Harwich were raided. Eleven persons were killed and twenty-six injured. On the way back to their base one of the German planes was brought down off the Belgian coast.
During the third year of the war, that is from August, 1916, to August, 1917, air attacks on England caused death to 393 people and injuries to 1,174, according to figures compiled by the New York "Times." The same source claims that from the beginning of the war up to August 1, 1917, or during a period of practically three years, 751 people were killed and 2,007 injured in England as a result of German air raids, of which there were officially recorded eighteen in 1915, twenty-two in 1916, and eleven in the first seven months of 1917.
A fitting end to this chapter is the record of the deaths at the age of seventy-nine of the Zeppelin's inventor, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, which occurred at Charlottenburg on March 8, 1917, as a result of an attack of pneumonia.[Back to Contents]