America's War for Humanity · Chapter 9Chapter II. (3)
This chapter is not translated yet. You are reading the original.
It was impossible for the Germans to keep their front line supplied with ammunition or food, the carriers of which were obliged to pass through a tornado of shells and machine gun bullets while crossing the Valley of the Ailette, where their every movement could be observed by the French. Eventually the position became untenable and the Germans retired during the night to the Northern side of the Ailette Valley. The best elements of the Crown Prince's army had sustained severe losses and were compelled to go to the rear to reconstitute their diminished ranks. The evacuated territory North of the crest of Chemin des Dames included several towns that had been pulverized by bombardment, and the retreat brought the important city of Laon within range of the French guns.
The captures by the French in this sector from September 23 to November 1 included 12,000 prisoners, 200 heavy field guns, 220 trench mortars, and 720 machine guns. In ten days, from September 21 to 30, twenty-three German airplanes were destroyed and twenty-eight forced to descend badly damaged.
THE FIRST AMERICAN CASUALTIES
The first list of Americans killed and wounded in combat with the enemy reached Washington on October 17, in an official report from Rear Admiral Sims of an encounter between a German submarine and an American destroyer. One American sailor was killed and five sailors were wounded when the submarine torpedoed the destroyer Cassin on patrol duty in European waters. The destroyer was not sunk and after making a gallant fight reached a British port.
Two days later Rear Admiral Sims reported that the American troop transport Antilles, homeward bound from France, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on October 17. Seventy men of the 237 aboard lost their lives, including four naval enlisted men, sixteen army enlisted men, three ship's officers, and 47 members of the ship's crew. The Antilles was under convoy of American patrol vessels at the time it was sunk.
FRENCH TRIBUTE TO U.S. DEAD
At the burial on November 7 of the first three American soldiers killed in the trenches in France by a raiding party of Germans, a guard of French infantrymen, in their picturesque uniforms of red and horizon blue, stood on one side and a detachment of American soldiers on the other while the flag-wrapped coffins were lowered into the grave, as a bugler blew taps and the batteries nearby fired minute guns. The French officer commanding in the sector paid an eloquent tribute to the fallen Americans, his words being punctuated by the roar of the guns and the whistle of shells. In conclusion he said:
"In the name of the French army and in the name of France, I bid farewell to Private Enright, Private Gresham and Private Hay of the American army.
"Of their own free will they had left a prosperous and happy country to come over here. They knew war was continuing in Europe; they knew that the forces fighting for honor, love of justice and civilization were still checked by the long-prepared forces serving the powers of brutal domination, oppression and barbarity. They knew that efforts were still necessary. They wished to give up their generous hearts and they had not forgotten old historical memories while others forgot more recent ones.
"They ignored nothing of the circumstances and nothing had been concealed from them—neither the length and hardships of war nor the violence of battle, nor the dreadfulness of new weapons, nor the perfidy of the foe. Nothing stopped them. They accepted the hard and strenuous life; they crossed the ocean at great peril; they took their places on the front by our side and they have fallen facing the foe in a hard and desperate hand-to-hand fight. Honor to them! Their families, friends and fellow-citizens will be proud when they learn of their deaths.
"Men! These graves, the first to be dug in our national soil and only a short distance from the enemy, are as a mark of the mighty land we and our Allies firmly cling to in the common task, confirming the will of the people and the army of the United States to fight with us to a finish, ready to sacrifice as long as is necessary until final victory for the most noble of causes, that of the liberty of nations, the weak as well as the mighty. Thus the deaths of these humble soldiers appeal to us with extraordinary grandeur.
"We will therefore ask that the mortal remains of these young men be left here, left with us forever. We inscribe on the tombs, 'Here lie the first soldiers of the republic of the United States to fall on the soil of France for liberty and justice.' The passer-by will stop and uncover his head. Travelers and men of heart will go out of their way to come here to pay their respective tributes.
"Private Enright! Private Gresham! Private Hay! In the name of France, I thank you. God receive your souls! Farewell!"
ITALY INVADED BY TEUTONS
In the first week of October Austrian forces, heavily reinforced by Germans, opened a gigantic drive in an effort to crush Italy. It soon resulted in wiping out all the gains made by the Italians under General Cadorna on the Isonzo and in the Trentino, and in a determined invasion of Northern Italy by the enemy, with the city of Venice as its immediate objective.
The Teuton attack began on the morning of October 24, after an intensive artillery fire in which specially constructed gas shells were thrown at various places. The offensive covered a 23-mile front, from Monte Rombon Southeast through Flitsch and Tolmino and thence Southward to the Bainsizza Plateau, about ten miles Northeast of Goritz, the scene of desperate fighting in the drive by the Italians which wrested important mountain positions from the Austrians.
The greatest shock came from the North, where the Isonzo was first crossed by the enemy. At this point there occurred a weakening of certain troops of the second Italian army, which gave the overwhelming German contingents an opportunity to pass forward between a portion of the army on the North and that on a line farther South. Then began the double exposure of the Southern force to fire in the front and on the flank which required a steady falling back until the entire Italian army was moving towards newly-established positions farther West. The commanding height of Monte Nero, which the Italians had occupied after deeds of great valor, was defended against onslaughts from three sides which gradually resulted in envelopment and the capture of many thousands of Italian troops and hundreds of guns.
A general retreat of the Italian forces was then carried out, with shielding operations by rear guards, and the main body of General Cadorna's army retired to the Tagliamento. The Germans encountered stubborn resistance on the Bainsizza Plateau and heaps of enemy dead marked the lines of their advance. In one of the mountain passes a small village, commanding the pass, was taken and retaken eight times during desperate artillery, infantry and hand-to-hand fighting.
Goritz was shelled heavily and what remained of the city was further reduced to a mass of debris. One of the main bridges from Goritz across the Isonzo was blown up by the Italians and the enemy movement thus was further impeded.
West of Goritz the town of Cormons also was shelled heavily. The great German guns opened enormous craters and literally tore the towns to pieces.
The heaviest pressure began to be felt on the Carso front on Friday, October 26. The Teutons then increased their bombardment to deafening intensity and supplemented this with huge volumes of poison gas and tear-shells. The humid air and light winds permitted great waves of the deadly gases to creep low toward the Italian lines, the rear guards protecting themselves with gas masks and by hiding in caverns.
Amid the onslaught of overwhelming masses of the enemy, the Italians fell back slowly. The retreat, as in other instances of the war, was the most terrible for the civilian inhabitants. There was an enormous movement Westward. All the roads were packed with dense traffic, with four or five lines abreast of teams, automobiles, motor trucks, pack mules, artillery wagons, and ox carts. The soldiers marched or rode, singly, in groups, in regiments, in brigades, or in divisions.
"It was such a time as the world has seldom witnessed," said a Red Cross spectator. "Even fields and by-roads were utilized for the colossal migration. The only wonder was that the great army was able to withdraw at all and establish itself along the new line of defense.
"Many heartrending scenes were witnessed along the route, as the torrential rain and the vast zone of mud increased the misery of the moving multitude. Food was scarce and many went without it for days, while sleep was impossible as the throng trudged westward. The military hospitals were evacuated, with all other establishments, and pale and wounded patients obliged to join in the rearguard march or fall into the hands of the enemy. The roads were strewn with dead horses.
"Families with eight or ten children, the youngest clinging tightly to the grandfather, trudged amid ranks of soldiers of many descriptions." The safe retirement of the Tagliamento was due to the unexampled heroism of large bodies of Italians, of such spirit as the Alpine troops on Monte Nero, who refused to surrender, and the regiments of Bersaglieri at Monte Maggiore, the members of which perished to the last man rather than yield ground. It was by such resistance in the face of overwhelming forces of the enemy that the civil population was able to retire. And it was owing to the valor of Italian aviators, combating the Austro-German army of the air, that the fleeing women, children and old men, who crowded the roads, were not struck down by bursting bombs.
By November 1 General Cadorna's forces had effected their retirement behind the Tagliamento River line, but at the cost of tremendous losses, aggregating 180,000 prisoners and 1,500 guns. It was soon seen, however, that the Tagliamento line could not be successfully held against the enemy and a further retirement was carried out, Southward through the mountainous country to a shorter line along the Piave River East of Venice and Northwesterly to the Trentino boundary. This gave French and British reinforcements the opportunity to arrive in sufficient numbers to aid in checking the invaders.
As one result of the Italian reverses, General Cadorna was relieved of the chief command, though he was credited with a masterly retreat. He was succeeded by General Diaz.
The Austro-German offensive continued steadily for three weeks and on November 21 was being pressed on three main fronts: First, along the Piave River; second, from the Piave to the Brenta; third, from the Brenta across the Asiago Plateau. The Italian troops were holding firm and inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. The spirit of the Italian people was calm and public opinion strongly supported the most stubborn resistance to the invader. Although all the fruits of Italy's two years of strife had been swept away in a single month and a dread enemy was reaching ever forward, seeking her most treasured possessions of art and industry, the internal dissensions which Germany probably hoped to start had not appeared. The population of Venice, however, had been reduced from 160,000 to 20,000.
ANARCHY RAMPANT IN RUSSIA
The Imperial government of Russia, headed by Premier Kerensky, was ousted on November 7, when a period of practical anarchy set in. On the evening of that day a congress of workmen's and soldiers' delegates assembled in Petrograd, with 560 delegates in attendance. Without preliminary discussion the congress elected officers pledged to make "a democratic peace." They included fourteen so-called Maximalists or members of the Bolsheviki (majority), the radical Socialist party suspected of pro-German tendencies, headed by Nikolai Lenine and Leon Trotzky; also seven revolutionary Socialists. These leaders at once sent an ultimatum to the Kerensky government, demanding their surrender within 20 minutes. The government replied indirectly, refusing to recognize the Bolsheviki committee. Rioting then broke out and the Winter Palace, headquarters of the provisional government, was besieged by troops favorable to the rebels. The cruiser Aurora, firing from the Neva River, and the guns of the St. Peter and St. Paul fortress bombarded the palace and early next morning compelled the surrender of the government forces defending it. Women of the "Battalion of Death," armed with machine guns and rifles, were among the defenders, who held out for four hours. Soon the Bolsheviki were in complete control of the city, Kerensky was in flight, several members of his cabinet were arrested by the rebels, and the provisional government was no more.
Several weeks of political and industrial chaos in Russia followed the Lenine coup d' etat, which was a triumph, probably temporary, of extremists. A number of the commissioners appointed by the Lenine-Trotzky faction to carry on the government, gave up their posts within a few days, characterizing the Bolsheviki regime as "impossible" and as inevitably involving "the destruction of the revolution and the country."
On November 23, Leon Trotzky, styling himself "National Commissioner for foreign affairs," addressed to the embassies of the Allies in Petrograd a note proposing "an immediate armistice on all fronts and the immediate opening of peace negotiations." An official announcement was also made that the Bolsheviki government had decided to undertake without delay the reduction of the Russian armies, beginning with the release from their military duties of all citizen soldiers conscripted in 1899.
SECOND "LIBERTY LOAN" OVERSUBSCRIBED
The second "Liberty Loan" of the United States war bond issues was largely oversubscribed by the patriotic citizens of the country. When the books closed on October 27 it was announced that the subscriptions received from approximately 9,000,000 persons amounted to over $5,000,000,000, the amount of the bond issue being $3,000,000,000.
BRITISH SMASH HINDENBURG LINE
By a series of attacks on the morning of November 21 that took the German enemy completely by surprise, the British Third army, under command of Lieut.-Gen. Sir Julian Byng, broke through the Hindenburg line on a front of 32 miles between St Quentin and the Scarpe. The following day, when they consolidated the new positions gained, 10, German prisoners were sent to the rear, with a large number of guns and quantities of material abandoned by the astonished enemy, while at one point the victorious troops were 6-1/2 miles in advance of their former positions and the city of Cambrai was brought within easy range of their guns.
It was the greatest and most successful surprise of the war. There was no preliminary bombardment to warn the enemy, and the advance continued steadily for two days, when the towns of Masnieres, Marcoing, Ribecourt, Havrincourt, Graincourt, and Flesquieres, long occupied by the enemy, all were behind the British lines.
Just before dawn on the 20th there was absolute quiet along the whole line. A few minutes later British tanks were rumbling along over "No Man's Land" flanked and followed by the infantry. The tanks smashed down the barbed wire entanglements and were atop the trenches and, dugouts before their German defenders were aware of their peril.
The German artillery could lay down no barrage, and line after line of trenches had been captured before they got into action. Then the British guns opened, but not for barrage purposes. They were shelling and silencing the enemy artillery.
Following through the gaps made by the tanks, English, Scottish, and Irish regiments swept over the enemy's outposts and stormed the first defensive system of the Hindenburg line on the whole front.
The infantry and tanks then swept on in accordance with the program and captured the German second system of defense, more than a mile beyond. This latter was known as the Hindenburg support line.
English rifle regiments and light infantry captured La Vacquerie and the formidable defense on the spur known as Welsh ridge. Other English county troops stormed the village of Ribecourt and fought their way through Coillet wood.
In severe hand-to-hand fighting at Flesquieres near Cambrai, on the 21st, British troops, preceded by tanks, stormed the town. The Germans fired on the tanks with seven big guns at short range. The British infantry charged the guns, captured them, and killed the crews. Three other big guns were captured in a similar manner at Premy Chapelle. British cavalry captured a battery at Rumilly, sabering the crews.
Highland territorial battalions crossed the Grand ravine and entered Flesquieres, where fighting took place. West Biding terriorials captured Havrincourt and the German trench, systems north of the village, while the Ulster battalions, covering the latter's left flank, moved Northward up the West bank of the Canal du Nord.
Later in the day the advance was continued and rapid progress was made at all points, English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh battalions secured the crossings on the canal at Masnieres and captured Marcoing and Neuf Wood. On the following day, Wednesday, November 21, reinforcements which the enemy hurried up to the battlefield to oppose the British advance were driven out of a further series of villages and other fortified positions.
Thousands of cavalry co-operated with the great army of tanks and infantry in continuing the successful assault begun on November 20. Open fighting went on at many places and the mounted troops, who long had waited for a chance to vindicate their existence in this war, rendered invaluable services in "mopping up".
AMERICAN COMMISSION IN EUROPE
A special American Commission, headed by Colonel Edward M. House, personal friend and trusted adviser of President Wilson, arrived in London on November 8, on its way to attend the Allies' conference which met in Paris November 22, to perfect a system of co-ordination among the nations at war with Germany and secure a better understanding of their respective needs.
BRITISH NEAR JERUSALEM
On November 24 the British forces contending against the Turks in Palestine had advanced to the suburbs of Jerusalem, after inflicting a severe defeat upon the enemy at Askelon, with Turkish casualties of 10,000. More than seventy guns were captured at Askelon, and the British subsequently occupied the ancient port of Jaffa (Poppa). The fall of Jerusalem was then considered imminent and the end of Turkish dominion in the Holy Land was plainly in sight.
The Heavy Line Shows the Position of the Hostile Armies, When the Austrians Threatened A New Drive in 1918. The Shaded Line Shows the Italian Positions Before the Austro-German Offensive, in the Fall of 1917.
WIN AND LOSE AT CAMBRAI
For the first time since the war began England celebrated on November the victory of Field Marshal Haig and General Byng at Cambrai, in the old-fashioned way, by the ringing of bells in London and other cities. Heavy fighting continued for several days at the apex of the wedge driven into the German line, especially at Bourlon Wood and the village of Fontaine, where attacks and counter-attacks followed in rapid succession.
Up to November 30 the British held their gains near Cambrai and that city lay under their guns. Then the Germans in a determined attack surprised the British in their turn, and forced them, back from their new positions for a distance of about two miles, nearly to the Bapaume-Cambrai road.
Next day, by fierce fighting, the British recaptured Gouzeau-court. The battle then raged over a fifteen-mile front, desperate efforts being made by the Germans to regain all the ground taken by the British west and south of Cambrai. The British had had no chance to dig themselves in and consolidate their positions in the ground won, and on December 1 and 2 the struggle was in the open, a fierce hand-to-hand conflict unlike anything previously seen in the war. The British lost guns, for the first time in more than thirty months. They also lost many men, taken prisoner by the enemy, but soon succeeded in checking the counter-offensive.
In their attempt to deliver a great simultaneous encircling attack, to surround the victorious British in their new Cambrai salient, the Germans sent forward great forces of infantry, supported by a terrific bombardment. The British met the shock brilliantly, finally held their own, and the German drive was declared to have missed its end, at enormous sacrifice of life.
On the night of December 5 the British strengthened their line by abandoning certain untenable positions near Cambrai, falling back deliberately and successfully, unknown to the enemy, upon a well-chosen line which ruled out the dangerous salient made by Bourlon Wood. Here they prepared to maintain their hold upon the captured length of the Hindenburg line against any pressure.
The German casualties in the battle of Cambrai were estimated at 100, men, greatly exceeding those of the British in consequence of the nature of the massed attacks made by infantry in the counteroffensive.
As the year 1917 closed there was a succession of German attacks and counter-attacks by the British in the Cambrai sector, the British lines holding firmly at all points and continuing to hold during the winter.
SOME RESULTS OP THE YEAR
The British War Office issued the following statement of captures and losses during 1917: Captures—prisoners on all fronts, 114,544; guns, 781. Losses—prisoners, 28,379; guns, 166.
The following figures, obtained from reliable sources, tell the real story of Germany's "ruthless" submarine campaign against British shipping. Tonnage of British, ships of more than 1,600 tons in August, 1914—16,841,519; loss by enemy action in 3-1/2 years, less new construction, purchase, and captures, 2,750,000; remaining tonnage January I,1918—14,091,519.
On December 3, 1917, it was announced officially in London that East Africa had been completely cleared of the enemy. Every German-colony was then occupied by Allied forces.
DISASTER AT HALIFAX
As the result of a collision in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, between the French munition ship "Mont Blanc" and the Belgian relief ship "Imo" on December 6, thousands of tons of high explosives blew up, killing more than 1,260 persons, injuring thousands, and destroying millions of dollars in property in the city.
JERUSALEM CAPTURED BY BRITISH
Advancing steadily upon Jerusalem in the Palestine campaign against the Turks, the British forces under General Allenby finally, on December 10, captured the Holy City and restored it to Christendom. The Turks were driven to the north, with heavy losses, the port of Joppa was occupied, and Palestine was slowly but surely freed from Mussulman dominion. General Allenby formally entered and took possession of Jerusalem on December 11 with a small representative force of British and colonial troops, being received and welcomed with impressive ceremonies by the inhabitants.
WAR DECLARED AGAINST AUSTRIA
The United Stages Congress on December 7, 1917, passed a resolution declaring a state of war to exist with Austria-Hungary. Austrian aliens, however, were permitted free movement in the United States, only Germans being classed as alien enemies and subjected to restrictions as such.
It was announced by the Secretary of War during the winter that 500, American troops would be on the fighting line in France in the spring of 1918 and that a total of 1,500,000 men would be available for the front during the year.
A portion of the French front was taken over by the United States troops under General Pershing early in 1918 and in a number of trench raids and patrol engagements in the last weeks of winter they gave a good account of themselves, receiving their baptism of enemy fire and gas with the utmost gallantry and winning several minor engagements. A small number of Americans were captured in German raids up to March 10, but the losses inflicted upon the enemy more than counterbalanced those sustained.
RUSSIA FORCED INTO "PEACE"
On November 28, a few days after German emissaries had been sent to Petrograd to parley with the peace faction in disorganized Russia, the Bolshevik de facto government under Nicolai Lenine and Leon Trotzky began negotiations for an armistice with Germany; and on December 3 an armistice was arranged. The Cossacks under General Kaledines and General Korniloff began a revolt against the Bolsheviki, who organized their forces as Red Guards, and a virtual reign of terror was inaugurated in Russia while negotiations for a separate peace with Germany proceeded with numerous interruptions. The administration of Lenine and Trotzky became an absolutely despotic regime, all forms of opposition, being summarily dealt with, while crime was rampant and blood flowed freely in Petrograd and Moscow. The Ukrainian provinces formed a separate republic and proceeded to make peace with Germany and Austria.
Formal announcement of the armistice with the Petrograd government was made at Berlin December 16, with the statement that peace negotiations would begin immediately at Brest-Litovsk on the Eastern front. Russia thus violated her pledge to the Allies not to make a separate peace.
The peace delegates of Russia and Germany began their sessions December 23. On Christmas Day Ensign Krylenko, the Bolshevik commander-in-chief, reported that the Germans were transferring large numbers of troops to the Western front against the Allies, contrary to one of the Russian conditions of the armistice. Early in the new year, January 2. 1918, the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk were suspended for several days, owing to the nature of the German terms of peace, which demanded that Russia surrender to Germany the territory including Poland, Courland, Esthonia and Lithuania. Foreign Minister Trotzky declared that the Russian workers would not accept the German terms.
Germany, however, stood pat and on January 10 negotiations were resumed, continuing at intervals for several weeks. In the middle of February the Bolshevik government announced that it had withdrawn Russia from the war with the Central Empires and had ordered the demobilization of the Russian armies, but refused to sign a formal treaty of peace with Germany. Premature rejoicing ensued in Germany, and on February Berlin announced a resumption of war with Russia. Two days later the German armies began an advance into Russia along the whole front from Riga south to Lutsk; occupying the latter city without fighting.
A complete surrender to Germany followed. Lenine and Trotzky stating that they would sign the peace treaty on the German terms, which included all the territory claimed by Germany along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, comprising the western part of Esthonia, Courland with the Moon Islands in the Gulf of Riga, most of the provinces of Kovno and Grodno, and nearly all of Vilna, with a huge indemnity. Despite the surrender, the Germans continued their invasion of Russia, with an eye to booty, and captured without organized resistance of any kind thousands of guns and vast quantities of rolling stock, motor trucks, automobiles, and munitions of war. The invasion continued well into the month of March in the general direction of Petrograd, while to the south Austria, at first seemingly reluctant to join the German incursion into helpless territory, also invaded the Ukraine on the pretense of "restoring order."
SINKING OF THE "TUSCANIA."
The first serious disaster to American troops on the voyage to France occurred on February 5, when the steamship "Tuscania," a British transport with 2,179 United States troops on board, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the north coast of Ireland. The close proximity of British convoy and patrol boats enabled most of those on board to be rescued, 1912 survivors being landed within a few hours at Buncrana and Larne in Ireland. The lives lost included 267 American soldiers besides a number of the crew. The attacking submarine is believed to have been destroyed by the British patrol before the "Tuscania" sank.
LONG-DISTANCE PEACE TALK
Early in 1918, while the Russian debacle complicated the war situation in Europe and the United States hummed with war activities, a series of speeches by statesmen of the powers at war resulted in demonstrating the futility of all hopes of a general peace.
In an address to Congress on January 8 President Wilson, following and indorsing a notable speech by the English premier, Mr. Lloyd-George, laid down fourteen definite peace and war aims of the United States, closely agreeing with the expressed aims of the European Allies; "and for these," said Mr. Wilson, "we will fight to the death." Subsequently, in February, Mr. Wilson stated four general principles on which the nations at war should agree in seeking a satisfactory peace. The German chancellor, Von Hertling, addressing the Reichstag, declared that Germany could agree to Mr. Wilson's basic principles of peace, but British and French statesmen promptly pointed out that the German practices in Russia, and elsewhere as opportunity offered, failed to agree with Von Hertling's profession of the Wilson principles. German suggestions of an informal discussion of peace terms were therefore declined by the allied powers, and in March, 1918, all eyes were turned toward the Western front in anticipation of a long-threatened German drive.
THE WORLD'S GREATEST BATTLE
All previous battles of the Great War paled into comparative insignificance when the German offensive of 1918 opened on the Western front, March 21, with a desperate and partially successful attempt of a million men to break through the British line, attacking fiercely from the Ailette to the Scarpe, along a front of sixty miles. For weeks the battle raged over the territory of the Somme, and when a second German drive occurred farther north, from Givenchy to Ypres, fully 3,000, men were engaged on both sides, and all records of human combat were broken.