AMERICANS PROVE THEIR METTLE

After the American forces in France had their first serious encounter with the Germans on April 20 at Seicheprey, a village near Renners forest, which they recovered from the enemy in a gallant counter-attack, the fighting was of a more or less local character throughout the rest of the month and in May, with varying fortunes.

On May 27 the Germans began another great offensive, taking the Chemin des Dames from the French and crossing the Aisne. On the following day they crossed the Vesle river at Fismes. But on this day also the Americans won their first notable victory, by capturing the village of Cantigny and taking 200 prisoners. The United States marines added to their laurels in this fight and held the position firmly against many subsequent counter-attacks.

Continuing their drive toward Paris, the Germans occupied Soissons on May 29, Fere-en-Tardenois May 30, and next day reached Chateau Thierry and other points on the Marne, where they were halted by the French.

In the early days of June several towns and villages fell to the Germans, but the French by counter-attacks recaptured Longpont, Corcy, and some other places. On June 6 American marines by a spirited attack gained two miles on a two and a half mile front, taking Hill 142 near Torcy and entering Torcy itself. The following day, with French aid, they completed the capture of Vilny, Belleau, and important heights nearby. In another battle northwest of Chateau Thierry the Americans advanced nearly two and a half miles on a six-mile front, taking about 300 prisoners.

These battles confirmed the impression that the American troops as fighters were equal to their allies.

ANOTHER ENEMY OFFENSIVE

On June 9 the Germans began the fourth phase of their offensive, planned by their high command to enforce peace. They attacked between Montdidier and the Oise, advancing about four miles and taking several villages. On the next day they claimed the capture of 8,000 French. The same day the American marines took the greater part of Belleau Wood. On June 11 they completed the capture of Belleau Wood, taking 300 prisoners, machine guns and mortars. The French at the same time defeated the Germans between Rubescourt and St. Maur, taking 1,000 prisoners. Other battles followed on the 12th and 13th, but on the 14th the latest German offensive was pronounced a costly failure.

From this time to the end of the month the fighting was of a less serious character, though the Americans in the Belleau and Vaux region gave the Germans no rest, attacking them continually and taking prisoners at will.

JULY 4 CELEBRATED ABROAD

America's Independence day, 1918, was officially celebrated in England, France, and Italy, as well as in the United States, making it a truly historic occasion. On that day Americans assisted the Australians in taking Hamel with many prisoners. On the 8th and 9th the French advanced in the region of Longpont and northwest of Compiegne, taking Castel and other strong points near the west bank of the Avre river. July 14, the French national holiday, was generally observed in America and by the American soldiers in France. Then, on July 15, the Germans began the fifth and disastrous last phase of the offensive which they started in the spring, on March 21.

STINGING DEFEAT FOR AUSTRIA

But Italy meanwhile had scored a great success against the Austrians. French and British regiments, with some Americans, were helping to hold the Italian line when, on June 15, the Austrians, driven by their German masters, began an offensive along a 100-mile front, crossing the Piave river in several places. For two days they continued violent attacks, penetrating to within 20 miles of Venice, at Capo Silo. Then the Italians, British, and French counter-attacked with great vigor and soon turned the Austrian offensive into a great rout, killing thousands, taking other thousands prisoner, and capturing a vast amount of war material, including many of the Austrian heavy-caliber guns. The entire Austrian, plan to advance into the rich Italian plains, where they hoped to find great stores of food for their hungry soldiers, resulted in miserable failure.

The defeat increased the discontent in Austria-Hungary and added to the bad feeling entertained towards Germany. Peace feelers were thrown out by Austrian statesmen, but the continued influence of German militarism prevented them from receiving serious attention by the Allies.

A WATERLOO FOR THE CROWN PRINCE

When the German divisions of the Crown Prince of Prussia began their last desperate offensive on July 15, they attacked from Chateau Thierry on the west to Massiges, along a 65-mile front, crossing the Marne at several places.

East and west of Reims the battle raged, with the Allies holding strongly everywhere and the Germans suffering heavy losses. The enemy aimed at Chalons and Epernay and hoped by turning the French flank at Reims to capture the cathedral city without a direct assault upon its formidable defenses. General Gouraud, the hero of Gallipoli, was in command of the French forces on the right, while General Mangin and General de Goutte held the left. Most of the Americans taking part in the battle were under the command of these noted generals, and strong Italian and British forces were with General Gouraud's army. The French constituted about 70 per cent of the Allies engaged.

GENERAL FOCH STRIKES

In a single day the German offensive was effectually blocked at the Marne. Despite the enemy's utmost efforts he could make no further advance.

Then Foch, the great French strategist and Allied generalissimo, struck the blow for which he had patiently bided his time!

Apparently having advance information of the German plans, or perhaps surmising them, General Foch had been preparing a surprise for the Crown Prince. In the forest of Villers-Cotterets on the German right flank, he had quietly massed large forces, including some of the best French regiments, together with the foreign legion, Moroccan and other crack troops, and many Americans. Everything possible had been done to keep these troop movements secret from the enemy.

On Thursday morning, July 18, 1918, a heavy attack was launched in force at the Germans under General von Boehm all along the line from Chateau Thierry on the Marne to the Aisne river northwest of Soissons.

The Germans were taken completely by surprise, and town after town was captured from them with comparatively slight resistance. When the first shock of surprise was over, their resistance stiffened, but the Allies continued to advance. Mounted cavalry were once more used to assist the infantry in the open, while tanks in large numbers were used to clear out enemy machine-gun nests.

The American troops, fighting side by side with the French, did their work in a manner to excite the admiration of their allies, and acquitted themselves like veterans. Thousands of prisoners were taken, with large numbers of heavy guns and great stores of ammunition, besides thousands of machine guns, many of which were turned against the enemy. The strategy of General Foch received world-wide applause. His master stroke met with immediate success.

By the 20th of July Soissons was threatened by the Allies. The Germans, finding themselves caught in a dangerous salient and attacked fiercely on both flanks, hurriedly retreated to the north bank of the Marne and were rapidly pressed back farther. Their condition was critical and the German Crown Prince was obliged to call for assistance from Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, commanding in the north. Taking advantage of this, the British and French in the north made frequent attacks, gaining ground and taking prisoners at numerous points.

For ten days the Allies continued their victorious progress on both sides of the Soissons-Reims salient, the Germans continuing to retire under strong pressure. They were forced back to the Oureq river, then to the Vesle, where they made a determined stand. Fere-en-Tardenois and Fismes fell into the hands of the victorious French and Americans, the latter gaining a notable victory in the occupation of Fismes over the vaunted Prussian guards, who had been brought up to endeavor to stay their progress. The first week of August saw most of the Reims salient wiped out by the German retreat, while rear-guard actions were being fought along the Vesle as the Germans sought defensive positions farther in the rear.

The prisoners captured by the Allies in their drive up to that time numbered more than 35,000 and more than 700 heavy guns also fell into their possession, with immense quantities of ammunition and stores. The Germans, however, succeeded in destroying many of the ammunition dumps and vast supplies which had been stored in the salient for their expected drive on Paris.

As they retired the Germans burned many of the occupied French villages, pursuing their usual policy. As many as forty fires were observed on the horizon at one time as the Allies advanced.

Soissons was retaken on August 2, and the valley of the Crise was crossed by the Allies, who dominated the plains in the German rear with their big guns.

The German losses in the great battle and retreat from the Marne were variously estimated at from 120,000 to 200,000. General von Boehm avoided a first-class disaster, but his defeat was a serious one and had far-reaching moral consequences among the enemy.

It was estimated that from the beginning of their offensive in March, the German armies lost more than 1,000,000 men in killed, wounded and prisoners. The Austrians in their ill-fated offensive of 1918 lost more than 250,000 men.

FOCH A MARSHAL OF FRANCE

On August 6 General Ferdinand Foch, commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, was elevated by the French council of ministers to the rank of a Marshal of France. In presenting his name Premier Clemenceau said:

"At the hour when the enemy, by a formidable offensive, counted on snatching the decision and imposing a German peace upon us, General Foch and his admirable troops vanquished him. Paris is not in danger, Soissons and Chateau Thierry have been reconquered, and more than villages have been delivered. The glorious Allied armies have thrown the enemy from the banks of the Marne to the Aisne."

AMERICANS AT FISMES

The American troops covered themselves with glory at many points in the Allied drive, notably in the hand-to-hand fighting in the streets of Fismes on August 4, when they captured that German base. The fighting was said to have been the bitterest of the whole war, the Prussian guards asking no quarter and being bayoneted or clubbed to death as they stood by their machine guns.

BRITISH VICTORY IN THE NORTH

On the Amiens front, in Picardy, the British Fourth Army, under General Rawlinson, and the French First Army, under General Debentry, stormed the German positions on August 8 on a front of over 20 miles, capturing 14,000 prisoners and 150 guns, and making an advance of over seven miles.

ALLIED GAINS IN PICARDY

Before the Germans had time to recover from the surprise of Marshal Foch's attack on the Marne, and while they were still retreating to the Vesle, the Allies delivered another heavy blow, this time on the Albert-Montdidier front in Picardy. Here the British and French suddenly attacked in force on the morning of August 8, stormed the enemy positions along a thirty-mile front and on the first day of the attack penetrated to a depth of seven miles.

For several days the enemy retreated, closely pursued by allied cavalry and tanks, which for the first time fought in a combination that proved irresistible. The tanks used were of a new small variety, known as "whippets," which rapidly wiped out the machine-gun nests with which the enemy sought to stem the tide of the victorious onrush. Some American troops fought with the British in their advance and gained high praise from the Allied commanders.

By August 15 the total number of prisoners captured by the British Fourth Army, under General Rawlinson, was 21,844. In the same period of one week the prisoners taken by the French First Army amounted to 8,500, making a total of 30,344 Germans captured in the operations of the Allied armies on the Montdidier-Albert front, besides 700 heavy guns, quantities of machine guns, and other important spoils of war.

North of the Somme, between Albert and Arras, the Germans continued to fall back to the old Hindenburg line, where there were strong defensive positions, with the British and French keeping in close touch with their retreat. On August 15 they had definitely given up the towns of Beaumont-Hamel, Serre, Bucquoy, and Puisieux-au-Mont, and at several points had crossed the Ancre river.

Field Marshal Haig announced that the proportion of German losses to those of the Allies in the Picardy offensive were greater than at any other period of the war. The total Allied casualties were not as large as the number of Germans taken prisoner.

JOY IN AMIENS AND PARIS

One important result of the British drive was that Amiens, the "dead city of Picardy," began to come to life again. Its population of 150,000, including 40,000 refugees, had fled before the German offensive in March, 1918, but the former inhabitants began to return when the menace of the invader disappeared, as the invader himself was chased back toward the Somme. A service of thanks to the Allied arms was held in the Great Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens, August 15. Despite the damage from German guns and bombs, the cathedral retained the title of the most beautiful in all France.

The city of Paris, at the same time, quietly celebrated the great change in the situation wrought in one short month. Just four weeks before, on July 18, the residents of Paris had been awakened by the sounds of such a cannonade as they never had heard before. It was General Mangin's counter-preparation against the great German attack which the enemy believed was to bring him to the gates of Paris. In the meantime the Germans, who were at the gates of Amiens, Reims, and Compiegne, had been soundly beaten and outgeneraled at every point, and the initiative had been forced from them by the military genius of Marshal Foch. The effect upon the Germans was apparent from the fact that General Hans von Boehm, the German "retreat specialist" had been appointed to the supreme command on the Somme front. The German withdrawal north of Albert was looked upon as the first application of his tactics. It was General von Boehm and his former command, the German Eighth Army, that stood the brunt of the Allied pressure in the Marne salient previous to the retreat of the Huns to the north of the Vesle river, where they were still standing in the middle of August.

BOLSHEVIKI EXECUTE EX-CZAR

Former Czar Nicholas of Russia was executed by the Bolsheviki in July, 1918, having been held as a prisoner since his dethronement.



CHAPTER III

AMERICANS AT CHATEAU THIERRY

_Personal Accounts of Battle—Gas and Shell Shock—Marines Under Fire—Americans Can Fight and Yell—Getting to the Front Under Difficulties—The Big Day Dawns—The Shells Come Fast—A Funeral at the Front—_Impression of a French Lieutenant— Keeping the Germans on the Run._

The name of Chateau Thierry will be long remembered in the United States, for it was there the American fighting quality was for the first time clearly impressed upon the Germans, to their immense astonishment, and with far-reaching effect. The German people and the German army had been told that the United States had no army, navy, or fighting quality; that the talk of an American army in Europe was "Yankee bluff," and nothing more; that even if we could raise an army we could not send it across the ocean, first because we had no ships, second because if we had ships the submarines of Germany would surely sink them. Yet here at Chateau Thierry they were confronted by United States troops and soundly beaten.

That effect upon the Germans was in itself of tremendous significance; but the historic effect was greater, and will grow in importance with the passage of time, for it is a fact, unperceived by onlooking nations at the moment, that it was the turning point of the war; and that the turning was accomplished by troops of a nation that hated war and was supposed to be incapable of military development; and that these troops had met and whipped the choicest troops of a power that above all things was military, that had assumed proprietary rights in the art of war, and believed itself invincible.

Late in February, 1918, General Ludendorff had told a Berlin newspaper correspondent that on the first of April he would be in Paris. It was inconceivable to the Germans that with the thorough preparation of a mighty army for an offensive that by sheer weight of numbers should drive through an opposition twenty times as strong as that which then confronted them, they could not with ease push in between the French and British forces, thrust straight through to Paris (as a spectacular performance rather than a vital military operation), and then walk over to the channel ports of France and bring both France and England to a plea for mercy.

From the 21st of March until along in May, 1918, it looked as though they might succeed. That is, to anyone unaware of the strategy of Marshal Foch, who sold terrain by the foot for awful prices in German lives, and held an unbroken front until such time as American forces could be brought into action, instead of wearing out his reserves and weakening his power for an offensive.

Unity of command had been accomplished by that time at the urgent demand of the United States Government. Foch had saved France and the world at the first battle of the Marne. Being given supreme authority over all the allied forces, as soon as the arrival of American troops in great numbers had been thoroughly established, he was ready; and the offensive passed from German to allied hands.

The tremendous German drive, which Ludendorff had confidently promised the German people would bring a smashing and decisive victory, was stopped. Retrocession began. On the Marne again, in July, 1918, in the sector held by Americans an action began at Chateau Thierry which forced the German retreat that in a few weeks was to shake the heart of Germany, scare out Bulgaria, Austria and Turkey, in the early autumn bring Germany to a plea for peace, send Ludendorff himself into retirement, dethrone the Kaiser, do away with the imperial form of government, set up a republic, and create conditions that would quash for all time the power of Prussia to disturb a decent world.

Floyd Gibbons, correspondent of the Chicago Tribune, a noncombatant who wanted to see the combat he was there to report, was in that memorable action. He lost his left eye there, and was otherwise severely shattered, but he got his story through. His home paper some months afterward gave Gibbons well earned credit for that contribution to current history. It said he "helped to put the Marines where they belong in the war's history, for he was with them in their early exploits and fell in one of their battles. Six thousand out of 8,000 engaged was their toll. They fought with the French through Belleau Wood, heartening the brave, tired, discouraged poilus, and after they came out upon the other side the name of the battlefield was changed to the 'Wood of the American Marines.' Mr. Gibbons says that when Marshal Foch began his great offensive, which in cosmic importance is second only to creation, he selected the units in which he had the most faith. These units were chosen not because they were braver nor more sacrificial, but because they knew. They were the Foreign Legion of France, two divisions of American Regulars, and the United States Marines."

From that day there was no change in the favorable fortunes of war on the western front.

AMERICANS CAN FIGHT AND YELL

An eyewitness of the first days of the Chateau Thierry battle thus describes the capture of the Beauleau wood:

"The Americans moved stealthily with fixed bayonet until they got into the edge of the woods and atop of the German machine gun-tiers. Then the farm boys cheered, and the lumberjacks shouted, and the Indians yelled. They were where they could mix it at close range with the Boche, and that was what they wanted.

"Their yells could be heard a mile away. They were up against two of the Kaiser's redoubtable divisions, the Two Hundredth Jaegers and the Two Hundred and Sixteenth reserve division. They fought with vim and joy.

"They had lost comrades at the hands of the Germans and now were to avenge them. No quarter was asked or expected. The Germans had orders to fight to the death and the Americans needed no such order.

"Without much artillery on either side and without gas, the Americans fought the Germans through that woods, four kilometers (nearly three miles) long, for six hours. At last we got through and took up a position across the northern end of the woods.

"Perhaps the most sensational part of the fight was when about Germans got around behind our men. They were chased into a clearing, where the Americans went at them from all sides with the bayonet, and I am told that three prisoners were all that were left of the Germans."

"How did you do it?" inquired a dazed Prussian officer, taken prisoner at Chateau Thierry by an American soldier. "We are storm troops."

"Storm hell!" said the American. "I come from Kansas, where we have cyclones."

That was and is the idea. This spirit enabled American soldiers to go wherever they wanted to go. A European officer on observation duty with the United States force at Chateau Thierry wanted to know how our soldiers got through as they did.

"They seem to have been trained somewhere," he said, "for they fight all right. But that doesn't explain to me the way they keep going."

The American officer with whom he was talking gave this explanation:

"They were thoroughly trained in our camps at home in all but one thing. They were not trained to stop going."

It was a splendid exhibition, the first of many of its kind.

A PERSONAL ACCOUNT

The following is one of hundreds of thrilling experience stories that could be told by officers and men who fought at that front.

Details of the participation of the United States Marines in the counter-attack of the allies against German forces on the Marne, July 18, are given in a letter written shortly afterward by Major Robert L. Denig, of the United States Marines, to his wife, in Philadelphia, and which had been forwarded to Washington for the historical files of the Marine Corps.

It is the best and truest form of war history, and important in that it gives details of action during those July days when American troops stopped the German drive.

It also establishes the fact that the Marines who helped stop the German drive on Paris at Belleau wood early in June were honored by being brought from this wood to Vierzy and Tigny, near Soissons, for participation with a crack French division in the great counter-attack which started the disintegration of the German front in the west.

Names that became familiar through the fighting in Belleau wood are mentioned in Major Denig's letter as being prominent in the allied counter-attack—Lieut. Col. Thomas Holcomb, Lieut. Col. Benton W. Sibley, Lieut. Col. John A. Hughes, Capt Pere Wilmer and others who took a prominent part in the fighting. The letter in substance follows:

"We took our positions at various places to wait for camions that were to take us somewhere in France, when or for what purpose we did not know. Our turn to enbus came near midnight.

GETTING TO THE FRONT UNDER DIFFICULTIES

"We at last got under way after a few big 'sea bags' had hit near by. We went at a good clip and nearly got ditched in a couple of new shell holes. Shells were falling fast by now and as the tenth truck went under the bridge a big one landed near with a crash and wounded the two drivers, killed two Marines and wounded five more.

"We did not know it at the time and did not notice anything wrong till we came to a crossroad, when we found we had only eleven cars all told. We found the rest of the convoy after a hunt, but even then were not told of the loss, and did not find it out till the next day.

"After twelve hours' ride we were dumped in a big field, and after a few hours' rest started our march. It was hot as hades and we had had nothing to eat since the day before. We at last entered a forest; troops seemed to converge on it from all points. We marched some six miles in the forest. A finer one I have never seen—deer would scamper ahead and we could have eaten one raw.

"At 10 that night, without food, we lay down in a pouring rain to sleep. Troops of all kinds passed us in the night—a shadowy stream, more than a half-million men. Some French officers told us that they had never seen such concentration since Verdun, if then.

THE BIG DAY DAWNS

"The next day, July 18, we marched ahead through a jam of troops, trucks, etc., and came at last to a ration dump, where we fell to and ate our heads off for the first time in nearly two days. When we left there the men had bread stuck on their bayonets. I lugged a ham. All were loaded down.

"We finally stopped at the far end of the forest, nearing a dressing station. This station had been a big, fine stone farmhouse, but was now a complete ruin—wounded and dead lay all about. Joe Murray came by with his head all done up—his helmet had saved him. The lines had gone on ahead, so we were quite safe.

"Late in the afternoon we advanced again. Our route lay over an open field covered with dead.

"We lay down on a hillside for the night near some captured German guns, and until dark I watched the cavalry, some 4,000, come up and take positions.

"At 3:30 the next morning the regiment was soon under way to attack. We picked our way under cover of a gas infected valley to a town where we got our final instructions and left our packs.

GAS AND SHELL SHOCK

"We formed up in a sunken road on two sides of a valley that was perpendicular to the enemy's front. We now began to get a few wounded; one man with ashen face came charging to the rear with shell shock. He shook all over, foamed at the mouth, could not speak. I put him under a tent and he acted as if he had a fit.

MARINES ADVANCE UNDER FIRE

"At 8:30 we jumped off with a line of tanks in the lead. For two 'kilos' the four lines of Marines were as straight as a die, and their advance over the open plain in the bright sunlight was a picture I shall never forget. The fire got hotter and hotter, men fell, bullets sung, shells whizzed-banged and the dust of battle got thick.

"Lieut. Overton was hit by a big piece of shell and fell. Afterwards I heard he was hit in the heart. He was buried that night and the pin found, which he had asked to have sent to his wife.

"A man near me was cut in two. Others when hit would stand, it seemed, an hour, then fall in a heap. I yelled to Wilmer that each gun in the barrage worked from right to left, then a rabbit ran ahead and I watched him, wondering if he would get hit. Good rabbit—it took my mind off the carnage.

"About sixty Germans jumped up out of a trench and tried to surrender, but their machine guns opened up, we fired back, they ran and our left company after them. That made a gap that had to be filled, so Sibley advanced one of his to do the job, then a shell lit in a machine gun crew of ours and cleaned it out completely.

DIGGING IN

"At 10:30 we dug in—the attack just died out, I found a hole or old trench and when I was flat on my back I got some protection Holcomb was next me; Wilmer some way off. We then tried to get reports. Two companies we never could get in touch with. Lloyd came in and reported he was holding some trenches near a mill with six men.

"Gates, with his trousers blown off, said he had sixteen men of various companies; another officer on the right reported he had and could see some forty men, all told. That, with the headquarters, was all we could find out about the battalion of nearly 800. Of the twenty company officers who went in, three came out, and one, Cates, was slightly wounded.

THE SHELLS COME FAST

"From then on to about 8 p. m. life was a chance and mighty uncomfortable. It was hot as a furnace, no water, and they had our range to a 'T.' Three men lying in a shallow trench near me were blown to bits.

"You could hear men calling for help in the wheat fields. Their cries would get weaker and weaker and die out. The German planes were thick in the air; they were in groups of from three to twenty. They would look us over and then we would get a pounding.

"We had a machine gun officer with us, and at 6 o'clock a runner came up and reported that Sumner was killed. He commanded the machine gun company with us. He was hit early in the fight, by a bullet, I hear. At the start he remarked: 'This looks easy; they do not seem to have much art.'

"Well, we just lay there all through the hot afternoon.

"It was great—a shell would land near by and you would bounce in your hole.

"As twilight came we sent out water parties for the relief of the wounded. At 9 o'clock we got a message congratulating us, and saying the Algerians would take us over at midnight. We then began to collect our wounded. Some had been evacuated during the day, but at that, we soon had about twenty on the field near us.

"A man who had been blinded wanted me to hold his hand. Another, wounded in the back, wanted his head patted; and so it went; one man got up on his hands and knees; I asked him what he wanted. He said: 'Look at the full moon,' then fell dead. I had him buried, and all the rest I could find.

"The Algerians came up at midnight and we pushed out. They went over at daybreak and got all shot up. We made the relief under German flares and the light from a burning town.

"We went out as we came, through the gully and town, the latter by now all in ruins. The place was full of gas. We pushed on to the forest and fell down in our tracks and slept all day.

A FUNERAL, AT THE FRONT

"That night the Germans shelled us and got three killed and seventeen wounded. We move a bit farther back to the cross road and after burying a few Germans, some of whom showed signs of having been wounded before, we settled down to a short stay.

"It looked like rain, and so Wilmer and I went to an old dressing station to salvage some cover. We were about to go when we stopped to look at a new grave. A rude cross made of two slats from a box had written on it:

"Lester S. Wass, Captain U. S. Marines. July 18, 1918."

"The old crowd at St. Nazaire and Bordeaux—Wass and Sumner killed, Baston and Capt. LeRoy T. Hunt wounded. We then moved further to the rear and camped for the night. Dunlap came to look us over. A carrier pigeon perched on a tree with a message. We decided to shoot him. It was then quite dark, so the shot missed. I then heard the following remarks as I tried to sleep: 'Hell! he only turned around!' 'Send up a flare!' 'Call for a barrage!' etc.

"The next day we were back in a town for some rest and to lick our wounds."

IMPRESSION OF A FRENCH LIEUTENANT

A French lieutenant thus describes the American fighting quality:

"The finest thing in the combat was the dash of the Americans. It was splendid to see those grand fellows, with their tunics thrown off and their shirt sleeves rolled up above their elbows, wading the rivers with the water to their shoulders and throwing themselves on the Boche like bulldogs.

"Any one who has seen such a sight knows what the American army is good for henceforth and to the end of the war. At the sight of these men, magnificent in their youth, physical force, good temper and dash, the Germans fled 'with every leg' or surrendered without awaiting the order to throw away their arms and take off their suspenders, which is the first thing a prisoner is told to do, in order that he may be compelled to keep his hands employed and out of mischief.

"The Germans hurried toward our lines gripping their trousers, haggard and mad with terror.

"Would that every mother in France who has lost a son in the war could have seen that epic sight. They would have seen themselves revenged, and it would have been some consolation to them in their sorrow."

KEEPING THE GERMANS ON THE RUN

The trench deadlock in northern France and Belgium was broken by Ludendorff's fatuous drive in March, 1918. After the allies had stopped it and inaugurated their counter-offensive all Europe made a startling discovery. The Germans were tenacious enough in trench warfare; in open fighting, known as war of maneouvre, they could not stand before American and the allied troops. Incessant attacks, rapidly delivered at the same time at many points on the long line between the North Sea and the Swiss border, were more than they could withstand. The mechanically trained troops of the central empires were futile before armies of men who did their own thinking and delighted in fighting an enemy they could see from the feet up. German armies had twice been almost at the gates of Paris. The first time they were driven back they dug themselves in. That was in 1915. The second time, in the spring of 1918, they were allowed no time for digging in. From the July days of 1918, when American soldiers at Chateau Thierry beat the best troops that ever were trained in Prussia, they were kept going. How industriously may be inferred from the story of the young corporal who was sitting on the roadside trying to tie the soles of his shoes to the uppers, in a hurry. Somebody asked him what was the matter.

"O, nothing much," said he. "Only I came over here to kill Germans, but they never told me I'd have to run 'em to death."

A STRANGER TO HIS OWN CHILD

There never was a war so prolific of personal incident in every shade of experience possible to human life. The devastated provinces of France offer perhaps more of these happenings than any other part of the steel-swept, shell-wrecked fronts of all Europe. An Associated Press correspondent tells one that is especially touching.

He was motoring toward Denaen, one of the cities the Germans had occupied through four hard years, when a French officer going in the same direction asked him for a lift, explaining that he had lived there but had neither seen nor heard from his wife during all that time.

Entering the city and turning into his street the officer saw the first house was in ruins. He gave a nervous start. A few doors farther on was his home. The officer climbed out with an effort, his eyes fixed on the place.

There was no sign of life. The windows were shuttered and on the door was a sign showing German officers had been living there. The officer pulled the bell with shaking hand. No one answered. He backed away like a man in a trance and leaned against the car, trembling.

Suddenly the door opened and an aged servant appeared, leading a beautiful baby girl with a wealth of golden curls. The officer took one step toward the child and halted. He was a stranger to his own flesh and blood. The child hid behind the nurse, peering out in fright.

The half blind eyes of the old nurse had recognized her master and she held out her hands, repeating, "Monsieur! Monsieur!" in ecstasy. He crossed the road and grasped her hands, but the baby drew back.

A door opened end a comely young matron came to see what was going on. She caught sight of her husband, then stopped. Her hands flew to her breast. She swayed for a second. With a sob of joy she hurled herself into his arms.

The correspondent moved away. And thus they were left, the nurse beaming on the happy couple and the curly headed youngster looking with troubled eyes at this strong man who had appropriated her mother so completely without a word.

WHAT PERSHING THOUGHT OF HIS YANKS

An American newspaper man who returned from Europe about the time hostilities ceased was informed that General Pershing suggested to Marshal Foch in June 1918, that he thought it bad policy to stick around waiting for the boche and that he felt the time had come to jump in and attack—"But" he was told, "we have not got the troops."

"Whats the matter with the Americans?" Pershing asked.

"They are not yet trained" was Foch's reply.

"Try them and see" said General Pershing. "They will go, anywhere you send them, and I will bet my life on it."

Pershing took the initiative in urging the offensive, supplied the troops that gave Foch his mobile reserve enabling him to strike his blow, and those American troops "delivered the goods."

HEALTH OF ARMY SURPRISING

Official reports to the war department show that the general health of the American army during the war had been surprisingly good. The death rate for all forces at home and abroad up to August 30th, 1918, was 5. per 1,000 men per year, or little more than the civilian death rate for men of the same age groups.

There were 316,000 cases of influenza among the troops in the United States during the late summer and fall of 1918 and of 20,500 deaths, between September 14th and November 8th, 19,800 were ascribed to the epidemic.

ARMY REACHED TOTAL OF 3,664

An official report shows that on the day the Armistice was signed more than twenty-five per cent of the male population of the United States between the ages of 19 and 31 years, were in military service, the army having reached a total of 3,664,000, with more than 2,000,000 of this number in Europe. As compared with an army strength of 189,674 in March 1917, one week before war was declared by the United States.



CHAPTER IV.

AMERICAN VICTORY AT ST. MIHIEL

First Major Action by All American Army—Stories to Folks at Home—Huns Carry Off Captive Women—Hell Has Cut Loose— Major Tells His Story—Enormous Numbers of Guns and Tanks— Over the Top at 5:30 A. M.—Texas and Oklahoma Troops Fight in True Ranger Style—Our Colored Boys Win Credit.

The first major action by an all American army was that which began before the St. Mihiel salient September 11, 1918. The Germans had occupied that salient almost four years, and had built it into what they believed to be an impregnable position. The Americans, under direct command of General Pershing, reduced it in a three days' advance.

The salient was a huge bulge, almost twenty miles in depth, turning southwest from Combres at the north base and Hattonville at the south and looping down around the towns of St. Mihiel and Ailly. It was powerfully held by masses of enemy troops.

General Pershing's army attacked from the west, south and east all the way from Bouzee to Norroy, and by September 13th had pushed it back to a straight line drawn from Combres to Hattonville. The French attacked at Ailly, the apex of the salient as it was on September 11.

The entire operation was conducted with rapidity and with irresistible energy. The dash and enthusiasm of the American soldiers astonished and delighted the French and British as completely as it staggered the Germans.

By September 13th the Americans had taken forty-seven towns and villages, reduced the German front from forty miles to twenty, captured the railway that connects Verdun with Commercy, opened the cities of Nancy and Toul to the allies, and with the French and British on the east, created a new battle front on a line running from Hattonville on the west to Pagny on the east—Pagny being a town on the Moselle river, at the German border.

The importance of this victory could hardly be overestimated. It opened the way to and was followed up by the demolition of the whole German line from the Swiss border to the North Sea, and hastened the great German retreat. In the action itself, September 11 to 13, about 15, Germans were taken prisoner by the Americans.

STORIES TO THE FOLKS BACK HOME

Sidelight stories of what happened in the St. Mihiel fight, mostly in letters written home by men who were in it, go far toward showing how completely the Germans were taken off their guard. Corp. Ray Fick of the 103d Infantry wrote home in this wise:

"We got into the woods and then kept on going until we reached a big city where there was a brewery, but they had set fire to the whole city before they left. We got some beer and wine just the same. It was a little stale, but it was fine. The Huns' warehouses were all fixed for the winter and the boys got cigars and cigarettes, but I was a little too late to get in on it.

"The whole thing was very interesting all the way through. The Huns sure did make themselves scarce in a hurry, but they kept many prisoners, a troop train and an ammunition train.

"Cigarettes are scarce and we look for smokes all the time. The Red Cross and the Salvation Army are the ones who look to our comforts. If any one wants to give, tell them the Red Cross and the Salvation Army are the ones to get it."

HUNS CARRY OFF CAPTIVE WOMEN

But Corporal Fick uncovers another Hun procedure that has no fun in it. While the Huns lost no time in getting away from there, they took care to carry off their captured women slaves.

"The women they have held captives for the last four years," he writes, "were driven ahead of them, but they were brought back by the Americans. Truckload after truckload passed us on the way, and they sure were happy to be free again."

"HELL HAS CUT LOOSE"

Another soldier wrote to his father telling about the first day of attack as he saw it:

"Hell has let loose. The woods are a mass of whistling shell and shrapnel. Every time the big twelves go off the flash lights up the entire camp like a flashlight picture, then the ground heaves and tumbles like old Lake Michigan does on a stormy day.

"The infantry have cleared the top and have gone on far in advance, almost outside of the range of fire. Our big objective has been wiped off the map and our men are preparing to keep right on going after them and backing up the doughboys who are doing such great work.

"I went up to the front last night on an ammunition caisson (which is the only way to get up there) and saw the thing commence. It started with one solitary gun of ours (a big one, too). Then the others joined in on the chorus, and it has been steady ever since.

"When the doughboys were told that they were going over the top at the zero hour, you never heard shouting to equal it; the Board of Trade on a Monday morning was just a whisper in comparison.

"Dad, that is the general feeling of our boys over here—always waiting to move up. I told a lad in one of the outfits that the artillery was right back of them and would blow them through to the objective if they did not make it, and he laughed and said, 'Hoboken by Christmas.' They were all in the best of mood and roaring to go."

These letters are good specimens of the thousands that have come over the sea. They not only give good sidelights on an event that will loom large in history, but they show the indomitable cheer and high spirit of our soldiers.

MAJOR TELLS HIS STORY

Concurrently with the action that originated at St. Mihiel on September 11, 1918, another great battle developed northwest of Verdun. It lasted about three weeks, and is graphically described by Lt. Col. B.M. Chipperfield (then a major) of the 23d Division. Lt. Col. Chipperfield was a participant in as well as an eyewitness of the whole engagement. Under date of September 29, 1918, the described it substantially as follows, in a letter to a friend at home:

"For several days preparations had been in progress for the action that began on Thursday, September 26th. The American troops were moved up by night, jamming the roads with their advancing columns and transport trains.

"Thousands and thousands of them," wrote Major Chipperfield, "trudged along without a light and in almost quiet.

ENORMOUS NUMBERS OF GUNS

"Tanks and cannon and guns of all sorts, every kind of vehicle, ambulance wagon, and transport passed in this continuous procession. It seemed that there was no end to it, and one could not help but admire the wonderful resources that had been gathered together by the United States to help perform its part in this great struggle for freedom.

"I think the greatest collection of guns that has ever been gathered together for participation in any conflict of the world was taken to the front where the attack was about to be made. It is estimated there were 6,000 of these guns, and the soldiers that were gathered together numbered hundreds of thousands.

"These guns and soldiers were conducted to their places so secretly and quietly that, although they marched many miles, the enemy did not even know a small part of the strength and could only speculate what it all meant.

UNDER ENFILADING FIRE

"In the arrangement of the plan of battle our division was on the extreme right. Across the river was a German stronghold. Here there were located a large quantity of artillery and many machine guns. Our officers understood that it was going to be a difficult advance, for a bridge had to be built across a creek, but everything in our division went like clockwork. It had all been planned in advance, and the plan was carried out exactly as made.

"It was arranged that at 11:30 o'clock on Thursday night the battle was to begin. Before that time I had reached my destination at the headquarters of the other division, and together with the rest of the headquarters staff we were in a favorable place to watch the commencement.

"At 11:25 it was silent as the grave, and the night was beautiful. Precisely at 11:30 from every conceivable direction the great bombardment commenced. In an instant the whole night was filled with a roar and thunder and reverberation of the cannon from, every quarter. The shriek and whistle and whine and clamor of the shells made a fearful chorus as they were hurled in the direction of the field occupied by our adversaries.

"From every quarter came the flash of the explosions, until the night was lighted as bright as day. Signal rockets rose from every portion and part of our lines and also from the enemy lines. It looked as though the heavens were ablaze and raining fire. It was a scene which has probably never been seen before upon any battlefield and may never be witnessed again.

"Apparently this fierce bombardment took the enemy entirely by surprise because our fire was so deadly and the extent so great that they could only make uncertain reply. They seemed to be stupefied.

"For six hours this terrific bombardment continued. It is estimated that each of the guns fired an average of three shots a minute and that 1,000,000 projectiles and charges of ammunition were used.

OVER THE TOP AT 5:30 A.M.

"As 5:30 approached the bombardment increased. The machine guns joined in the chorus and a curtain of steel and fire was placed in front of our troops and rained upon the guns and cannon of the enemy.

"After a brief period of this fire our men started over the top, and as they did so they swept the enemy before them in their irresistible rush. They advanced kilometer after kilometer. They could not be resisted or stayed at any stage of the attack.

"Soon the prisoners commenced to come in, and they told of the terrific effect that the great bombardment had upon the Germans. They said the bombardment was so terrible that it disrupted their plans so that they could not be carried out and that they could not resist the attack.

"Several times during the night I went out to witness the scene and as long as life lasts it will be remembered.

ON DEAD MAN'S HILL

"Once when two of our regiments came over a hill and saw the valley that lay before them being terrifically shelled by the cannon and assailed by hail from the machine guns, the whole column was seen to pause and a look of worry came over the faces of these men that for just an instant was pitiful. They knew that ahead of them lay death for many and it is not strange that for several seconds the lines were held up, but then a look of fierce determination and of courage took the place of the former expression and with a great resolve and courage, dash, and daring, the lines shot forward at a redoubled step and the determination to do or die was manifested in every action.

"These machine guns were speedily put out of business, and then the attack would go on. That portion of the lines that the division of which I am a member was given for the purpose of the attack, it was thought would take the entire day, but our division was on its objective by early afternoon and had commenced to dig in, from which position they could defy the Germans with impunity.

"While the attack was going on I went up to Dead Man's Hill. This hill is the last word in the destructiveness of war.

"It is literally rent to atoms. Dugouts have been blown to pieces. Hundreds of thousands of men had been killed in the earlier battles before Verdun, and many of the bodies could not be reached for burial, the place was so torn up."

OTHER PERSONAL GLIMPSES

Many other personal glimpses of the fighting come from officers and men. One division was made up largely of Illinois regiments, among others the 3d Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col. John V. Clinnin. The position held by these troops was vital to the entire advance, and it required rapid action on the first day to reach the objective at the same time as the other units.

Menomme creek is a little stream which is not shown on maps. It runs eastward from the village of Septsarges to the Meuse. The stream holds vivid memories for the Illinois infantry. It was there that it met the most severe resistance, the Germans catching our men just as they were relieving other young soldiers. The men fought their way down to the creek. On the other side along the highway between Septsarge and Dannevoux the Germans had entrenched themselves and were shelling the road which the Americans had crossed. They were also using intrenched machine guns at the edge of the woods.

"I heard bullets whistling overhead," said a wounded soldier in a hospital. "We were lying near the edge of the creek at the time and knew that a machine gun was shooting at us, so I just started out and got it."

"Our colonel was right up there with us getting into line." said Private Hiram E. Burnett. "One night when the shells were bursting all around and several men were wounded the colonel went over the top just like any of us."

The Bois des Forges has been a battle ground since the war began, with trenches in front and miles of barbed wire, machine gun nests and concrete pillboxes inside. A frontal attack on such a stronghold apparently meant suicide, but the Illinois men, led by Col. Sanborn and Col. Abel Davis, took it so neatly and quickly that they bagged nearly 1,000 soldiers, fifteen officers, twenty-six guns ranging from 105s down, 126 machine guns, twenty-one flatcars, two rolling kitchens, an ambulance and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

"We were looking for you in front," said a captured German officer. "We did not expect that you would come through the swamp and outflank us. We did not think that any Yankee outfit was so foxy."

"A GREAT SHOW"

"It was a great show when we crossed that river and rushed on through the woods, cleaning up machine gun nests," said Private Gray McKindy of Woodstock, "The machine guns in the woods started throwing bullets as soon as we reached the river. They thought they could stop us from going up the opposite hill, but we did it and got every gun there."

Private Kenneth W. Steiger was one of those who went in on the second night when his captain called for volunteers to make up a patrol. Steiger became separated from the others in the darkness and ran into a party of three Germans. Quickly covering them with his rifle he brought all three back.

Private Bernard Snyder returned with prisoners before dark on the first day. Making use of his ability to speak German, he induced a dozen Germans to lay down their arms, pick up stretchers and carry American wounded back five kilometers (three miles) to where ambulances were waiting.

A FIGHTING CHAPLAIN

Lieut. Jorgen R. Enger, the chaplain of a Kansas-Missouri outfit, carried the wounded for three days from the Montfaucon woods two miles to the ambulance. Searching in the woods in the darkness one night with shells bursting and bullets whistling he found a husky sergeant wounded in the foot and growing weaker and weaker from loss of blood. The chaplain shouldered the man and carried him back to a dressing station, saving his life.

"I didn't think a chaplain would do a thing like that," said the sergeant. "I would rather save you than save a general," replied the chaplain.

When not searching for wounded hidden in the tangle of under-brush the chaplain was busy helping the surgeons at a first aid dressing station.

"I never thought any clergyman would have the opportunities for doing good such as I am haying," he said when I saw him.

Col. Eugene Houghton, Wisconsin, who was a British major until America entered the war, distinguished himself by personally leading a unit of New York men. According to them he escaped death repeatedly as by a miracle.

"DESERT? NO, WANTED TO FIGHT"

Capt. Carl F. Laurer while assisting in the examination of German prisoners, was surprised when an American prisoner was brought before him. "Where do you belong?" asked the captain. "I am with an aerial squadron in the south of France" replied the prisoner. "I walked fourteen days to get here." "Did you desert?" asked Captain Lauer. "No," the man replied, "I want to fight. That is what I came to France for. When I get home the folks will ask what I did in the war and when I answer 'worked' they will say 'Why the devil didn't you fight?'" The boy's wish was gratified and he was sent forward.

"We have everything good and plenty—rations, ammunition and other things. It looks like a regular Sunday."

TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA TROOPS SHOW GREAT FIGHTING FORM

In this district, the 36th Division, made up of troops from Texas and Oklahoma, veterans and raw recruits together, showed splendid fighting form. They were under terrific shell fire day after day, but they met several murderous attacks firmly, and drove the boches back in brilliant counter attack, chasing them in true Ranger style. All these men showed the same spirit that animated Roosevelt's renowned Rough Riders in the war with Spain, so many of whom were Texas and Oklahoma men.

Reporting this fight, General Naulin, commanding the Corps of which the 2d and 36th Divisions were parts, said "the 36th Division, a recent formation not yet completely organized, was ordered into line on the night of October 6-7 to relieve, under conditions particularly delicate, the 2d Division, and to dislodge the enemy from the crest north of St. Etienne and throw him back to the Aisne. Although being under fire for the first time, the young soldiers of Maj. Gen. W. R. Smith, rivaling in combative spirit and tenacity the old and valiant regiment of General LeJeune, accomplished all the tasks set for them." Every American knows full well the bright record of the 2d Division of Infantry, the regulars of which were composed of the 5th and 6th Marines and the 9th and 23rd Infantry. These are the boys who stopped the Germans up in Belleau Wood when the boches were headed for Paris and cocksure of getting there, blandly unaware that they were goose-stepping toward an American knock-out.

OUR COLORED TROOPS WIN CREDIT

American negro troops had a considerable share in the last few months of fighting, and acquitted themselves in a highly creditable manner. They were great trench diggers and trench fighters, and their endurance on the march was a marvel to the allied armies. They were very popular with the French people, who were delighted with their good nature and their never-ceasing songs. Regular negro melodies these songs were, nearly all of them of the camp-meeting variety—and sung with that choral beauty which especially distinguishes all of their musical performances. The negro notion of war and indifference to death was instanced in the case where a white officer overheard one of them at the zero hour call out, "Good night ol' world! Good mawin,' Mistah Jesus!" as he went over the top.

"The colored boys," said Charles N. Wheeler, a distinguished correspondent with the American armies, "are great fighters, and are no better and no worse than any other group of American soldiers in France, whatever the blood strain. They do take pardonable pride in the fact that 'Mistah' Johnson, a colored boy, was the first American soldier in France to be decorated for extraordinary bravery under fire.

THEY CAN FIGHT AND SING

"The color line has about died out in the American army—in France. They play together, sing their songs together—the blacks and the white—and they go over the top together. They come back together, too, the wounded, and there is no thought of the color of a man's skin. They mix together on the convoy trains going up to the front, and all sing together, sharing each other's dangers and their joys. It is not an uncommon sight to see a crowd of white doughboys around a piano in some 'Y' or Red Cross hut, singing to beat the band, with a colored jass expert pounding the stuffing out of the piano. The white boys enjoy immensely the wit of the colored comrades, and many a bleak and drab day of privation and suffering is made a bit brighter by the humor that comes spontaneously to the lips of the 'bronze boys.'

"The children of France love them. I suppose that is because they wear American soldiers' uniforms. I have seen scores of white children holding the hands of colored boys and trudging along on the march with them or romping into their tents and sitting on their knees and just exuding the affection that all the children of France have for anything and everybody from the United States."



CHAPTER V.

THE WAR IN THE AIR

The Hughes report on air craft, submitted in October, 1918, contained a full account of the difficulties, drawbacks and questionable management that had held back the manufacture and shipment of airplanes to Europe. In September there were on the French-Belgian front between 300 and machines, all of which were in the scout and observation classes, with no regulation combat planes of American build; but American airmen had conducted many successful actions against German battle planes, and a good many Americans were operating French and British battle planes in action back of the German lines. The combined American, British, French and Canadian planes had before that time cleared the air of German observation and other machines in front of the allied lines, thereby preventing hostile observation of allied camps and artillery positions and movements of troops preparatory to attack.

The efficiency of this combined air service is credited with having contributed in an important degree, first to retarding the movement of supplies from the enemy rear to the enemy fighting line, and next to disturbance of the enemy in retreat. The Americans especially distinguished themselves by flying at high speed along the last of the enemy trenches and clearing up the German troops therein by continuous streams of machine gun fire. American flyers also made successful raids across the German border, blowing up munitions works, railway centers, and German troops at concentration points. Between early September and late October, 1918, they dropped thousands of tons of high explosives inside of Germany. At the same time, in association with British and Canadian aviators, they put a definite end to German air raids upon the British Isles and interior France. The Canadian air service during the summer and early autumn of 1918 increased at the rate of 300 planes per month, all manufactured in Canada.

LIBERTY MOTORS AND AIR SERVICE

After July, 1918, the output of Liberty motors for the Government caught up with the immediate demand. It increased until in October it reached a rate of about 5,000 a month. The Ford factory at Detroit alone reported at the end of October an established monthly rate of increase of over 1,500.

AMERICAN FLYERS DOWN 473 PLANES IN TWO MONTHS

American flyers made a great record in the closing days of war. In the period from September 12 to 11:00 o'clock on the morning of November 11, American aviators claim they brought down 473 German machines. Of this number, 353 have been confirmed officially. Day bombing groups from the time they began operations dropped a total of 116,818 kilograms of bombs within the German lines.

THE WAR IN THE AIR

Aviation is the most perilous of all services, calling for young bodies, high spirit, quick wit, personal initiative, and unshakable nerve. Thus it has drawn in the best and brightest of America's sons—brilliant, clear-eyed, steady youths, who take the air and its perils with joyous ardor.

The danger, the romance, the thrill of air fighting, are things that never were known in war until this one called into being vast aerial navies that grappled in the sky and rained upon the earth below "a ghastly dew" of blood.

There are no tales of this war more fascinating than those that have been told by these men. Courage and modesty being inseparable, our aviators avoid print and cannot be interviewed with any satisfaction. But sometimes they write home to a mother, a sweetheart or a pal, and these letters now and then come to light.

CHANCE OF LIVING NOW

"I cannot describe my feelings, right off the bat," said Eddie Rickenbacker, the ace of American aces, the day following the signing of the armistice. "But I can say I feel ninety-nine per cent better. There is a chance of living now and the gang is glad." Rickenbacker became a captain during the last phase of the war and has twenty-four victories over enemy airmen to his credit. To Rickenbacker, whose home is in Columbus, Ohio, the allied command gave the honor of making the last flight over the German front and firing the last shot from the air on the morning of November 11, 1918.

AIR PLANE'S TAIL SHOT OFF

In reporting this most remarkable occurrence Edward Price Bell, an American correspondent, wrote as follows from the front:

A British observer, flying a powerful machine at 16,000 feet over Ostend, had the machine's tail shot off by the direct hit of a shell—a very unusual occurrence. The machine turned upside down, out of control, and the pilot was thrown out of his seat. By some inexplicable maneuver he managed to clamber on to the bottom of the fuselage of the machine, astride of which he sat as if he was riding a horse.

Though the machine was out of control, owing to the loss of its tail planes, yet by moving forward and backward he so managed to balance it that it glided fairly steadily downward, although upside down.

He successfully brought it across the German lines, and came safely to within a few hundred feet of the ground. Then he crashed and was injured, but is now recovering in a hospital.

When it is considered that this incident occurred at a height of 16, feet, over hostile territory, and that during the airman's terribly precarious ride he was subject to antiaircraft fire, and liable to the attack of hostile scouts, it is not too much to say that his was a record achievement.

Recently, another airman was shot down, out of control, from 13, feet, and fell fluttering like a leaf, toward the ground. At a height of 9,000 feet he fainted. Shortly afterward he came to and found himself in the machine upside down, in a marsh, absolutely unhurt. Many airmen, of course, have been through several "crashes" without sustaining so much as a broken collar bone.

JOINS THE SKY FIGHTERS

This story of Lieut. Manderson Lehr, who refused a transfer home and shortly after died in combat, is taken (by permission) from his personal letters written to a friend in this country. It is typical of many that might be told by or about brilliant young Americans who would not wait for America's participation in the war, but went voluntarily, with high hearts and eager hands, to help those other boys of France and the British Empire to whom had fallen so large and so momentous a part in the world's salvation.

Nearly all of these American lads, the choicest spirits of our nation, took up whatever work they could find—anything, so long as it was useful, or contributed in any way to winning out against the German hordes, or stem the flood of German crime that was sweeping over Europe, that would later, if it were not stopped, cover our continent with an inundation of blood and desolation. Most of them, like Lieutenant Lehr, went into ambulance service; and afterward when the air planes were ready and needed men to fly them, took to the air. These were the men who "put out the eyes" of the German armies and piloted the allies to many a victory. And alas! Many of them, like Lehr, gave up their lives—though not in vain, nor without having sent down to crashing death, each one, his share of the flyers of the foe.

LEHR'S STORY

Lieutenant Lehr's story begins with a letter from France just after his arrival in Paris on May 15, 1917, when he joined the Ambulance Corps—later entering the air service. It covered a period of more than a year's experiences at the front.

The last letter from Lieut. Lehr was dated June 14th, 1918, when the big German drive was about at its climax. According to news reports from the front Lehr had a period of intense activity up to July 15th, when he was reported missing. "Bud" was regarded as one of the most adept of American fliers.

One of the last news reports from the front told of him still flying under French colors and having twice returned from raids with his passenger killed by enemy attacks and of his being awarded the war cross. The same report told of a 150 mile raid into Germany with eight other French Machines—when a patrol of twelve German planes were attacked and three of them sent down in flames, while all the nine French machines returned safely.

The following are a few of Lehr's later letters from the front:

FLYING AT THE FRONT

Sector——at the Front, Oct. 12, 1917.—It's blowing terrifically, wind and rain. You can't imagine how I picture you people at home, warm, happy and safe. I've been out here a week now. Three days of it has been flying weather. Up 25,000 feet and ten miles into Germany is my record so far and I've actually had one combat with a boche. He was below me, at first, far in the distance. I was supposed to be protecting a bombing expedition of ten machines. I saw this spot, started away from the rest and through excitement, anticipation and the goodness knows what, I climbed, went faster and faster until I had the sun between us and the German below me. Then I dived; he heard me and "banked"; we both looped and then came head on, firing incessantly.

My machine gun was empty and the boche had more, for he got in behind me and "Putt! Putt! Putt!" past my ear he came, so I dove, went into a "vrille" with him on top, came out and squared off, and he let me have it again. All I could do was to maneuver, for I had no shells left and I did not want to beat it, so I stuck. We both came head on again and I said a little prayer, but the next time I looked Mr. Boche was going home. I "peaked" straight down, made my escadrille, accompanied them home and when I got out of my furs I was wringing wet in spite of the fact it was cold as ice where I had done my fighting.

CONSIDERS HIS OWN TACTICS

I looked my machine over and found five holes in it, but nothing serious. Tomorrow is going to be bad and no one will fly unless they call for volunteers, and then I think most of us will go. I'd like to figure out what I did wrong. First of all, I was so excited that I fired all my shots at the German and he maneuvered out of my way and then came at me as I was helpless. My captain gave me "harkey" for staying when out of bullets, so I guess the rest was O.K., but I'd hate to run from any boche.

MEN DIE IN FAULTY PLANES

The machine I've been flying has been condemned, so I expect to be sent back to get another one, a brand new one that has never been on the front. Twenty-five pilots in the last month have been killed by wings dropping off. I've seen twelve go and it surely takes the old pep out of you. I was above one and saw his wing crumple, then fall. A man is so utterly helpless he must merely sit there and wait to be killed, and when you're flying the same type of machine it doesn't help your confidence any. I was glad they condemned mine, for I've put my old "cuckoo" through some awful tests and it's about ready to fall apart.

We expect to change soon and go up to a new offensive in F——. If I get through that I'm going to change over to the American army. They have offered me a commission and I think I'll take it. My fingers are cramped and my feet have long since been numb. Now I'm going to wrap up in my fur leathers and go to bed. This is war.

FIGHTS WITH FLYING CIRCUS

Feb. 1, 1918.—Had a great time this last week, and made six long bombardments. For the first three times we had no trouble getting across whatsoever. Coming out the last three times we got some real competition. It was in the form of the flying circus or "tangoes," which consists of fifteen of the best pilots in Germany, commanded by Baron von Richthofen, who seems a good sort, for when you fight him and you both miss he waves and we wave back. We had been at it consistently for four days, and so they sent these birds down opposite us to stop us. We had been in Germany for some distance and had reached our objective and bombed it. There was a heavy fog below us, so I took a couple of turns to make sure we could see our objective. We dropped our bombs and then I turned to the right to see the damage. I had to take a large turn, for the "archies" were shooting pretty close. I looked for my escadrille, and saw these machines way off in the distance. I started for them and soon caught up with them. Then I swerved and dipped up to them, for I thought them a little strange. I got up closer, and, wow! all three dived at me like a rock and bullets flew by me, cutting my plane, so I pulled up at them, fired, swerved so my gunner could let them have it also and then saw the iron cross flash by, so I knew it was the Huns. I started getting altitude and went up high and then the boches got the sun between them and my plane and came again, but I thought this would happen and "peaked." They went under me and that left me on top, so I gave them about 120 bullets, and one went for home. The other two came by again and I went into a tight spiral so my gunner could pump at them—but nothing doing. They beat it home and so did I, for it had been three to one. When I landed I had five holes in my machine. One of the wires had been shot away and gave me some trouble in landing.

Feb. 10, 1918.—We have been pretty busy and had some exciting times. I almost got mine day before yesterday and feel pretty lucky to be here. We started out on a long trip into Germany and all the way over we had no trouble at all. After we bombed, my observer and I dived down on some villages and used our own guns on them. We got so low that the anti-aircraft guns were popping too close, so we beat it. We soon saw a bunch of hangars below us and we dived down on them and shot at them. In a few minutes a bunch of Huns came up from the hangars after us and we beat it to catch up with the others. We got up with them and looked behind us and there were a number of Germans sneaking down on us.

Then the battle commenced and for forty minutes we had a hot fight. We picked off (censored) of them and they went plunging down in flames. Then the others went back and we all returned safely, but I noticed that my machine worked queerly, and when I landed I had a hard time, and barely got to the ground without smashing to pieces.

I looked the machine over, and you should have seen it. From top to bottom it was one mass of holes. One bullet passed through my combination and hit a can of tobacco. Another cut a main spar on one of my wings, and another hit my stabilizer, tearing it half in two. One other hit my gas tank and put a hole clear through it. Luckily my gas was low and it did not explode, but, believe me, I was lucky.

IN THE BIG GERMAN DRIVE

April 20, 1918.—The orderly has just tapped on my window to put down my shade, which means the Gothas are on their way. The guns are starting. This attack has been frightful—day after day long lines of ambulances roll by our camp carrying large numbers of wounded. Tomorrow we shall continue our work of knocking down their batteries and bombing their railroads. To-night, now, they are trying to get us.

I started on a "permission" about three weeks ago and had beautiful visions of peace and content for a week, but was called back immediately at the beginning of this horrible attack. Things look bad, and in a few days we are moving farther up.

Our work here has been hard and exciting and always working in any kind of weather. While our loss has been heavy we have accomplished wonders. Going over on cloudy days when the heavy black clouds hang down to within fifty meters of the ground, spotting a group of trucks, a line of cars, or a battery of troops, then bombing them, shooting them up with your machine guns and shooting back up into the clouds midst a rain of luminous machine gun bullets from the ground is interesting work. But the terror of those on the ground, poor devils! Yet it's got to be brought home. Out of twenty-four trips we lost eight machines. Poor Chuck Kerwood was among them. Chuck is an American boy from Philadelphia, and he has been with us for five months.

I had a chance to go back to the states as an instructor, and almost took it, but when the time came around to leave this band of men who have been in it for almost four years, I couldn't do it. They are men, and have pulled me out of tight holes when I was green at this game, and they did it at the risk of their lives. Now I've seen them drop off one at a time, fine young Frenchmen, and I guess the least I can do is to stay right by them and I feel my work is here.

In Hospital, May 3, 1918.—Well, here I am at last, but I fooled them for six months. Finally one slipped up behind me. I never saw him, but felt him. Only got it in the leg, so it isn't very serious, except that the bullet was incendiary. They have oodles of sulphur on them and I'm afraid of complications. This is a nice hospital in a nice location; only thing that I hate about it is that I may not be able to get back to my escradrille for fifteen or twenty days.

SEVERE BOMBING BY GERMANS

May 16, 1918—Going to have another operation tomorrow and then I think I'll be well. And, believe me, if I am I am going back and get somebody for this. We are now on the Somme, near Rouen. I suppose you know Baron von Richthofen has been brought down. I'm sorry, for he was a game, clean scrapper, and I know, for I've had several brushes with him. The Huns came over here last night and dropped sixty bombs, killing people and wounding I don't know how many. Several of the bombs hit about 300 meters from here and our beds shook like the dickens.

COMMENTS ON HIS WAR CROSS

At the Front, June 14, 1918.—I've been back here from the hospital for several days and we are having beautiful weather, doing lots of work and losing lots of men, but getting results. I think by now you have all my letters explaining the change into the American army and the croix de guerre, which doesn't signify a great deal. Things look pretty bad now, but the French are holding strong with the constant arrival of Americans and I think the Hun advance is stopped. We have been working at very low altitudes and while we have lost men heavily the work was extremely effective. We have been shifted from one part of the front to another so that one hardly has time to unpack before we go to a new attack. Our car has a broken piston, so we have had to walk more than usual and my leg gets so worn out in a short time that it is slow going.

GREAT FRENCH FLYER BRINGS DOWN

At the beginning of the year, Lieut. Rene Fonck, the great French flyer and ace of aces of all the belligerent forces, had only nineteen successes to his credit, but during the last days of fighting the wily Lieutenant scored many victories bringing his totals up to seventy five enemy airplanes officially destroyed, with forty more probable successes awaiting official verification. The final list of Lieut Fonck is all the more astonishing when it is considered that he made flights only when he thought himself in the fittest condition, and every time he flew he triumphed over the German Aviators. His wonderful success is accredited to his incomparable tactics, keen eyesight and most remarkable skill.

OTHER CHAMPIONS OF THE AIR

Among other champion flyers of the allied forces Major Bishop of the British is credited with seventy-two victories; Lieutenant Coppens of Belgium, wounded during the late fighting, and with a leg amputated, holds the record of thirty-six victories; Lieutenant Baracchini the Italian flyer has thirty victories to his credit; Eddie Rickenbacker the American ace is responsible for twenty-four enemy victims, and Edward Parsons, another American flyer is credited with eight official victories and seven more unconfirmed. Captain Kosakoff the Russian ace held seventeen successes to his credit at the close of Russias fighting.

ENEMY ACES ALSO SCORE

Lieutenant Udet of Germany is the ace of enemy aces and holds the record of sixty victories; Captain Brunmwsky of the Austrian forces is next with thirty-four to his credit; Sergeant Fiselier the German flyer serving for Bulgaria is credited with seven victims, and Captain Schults also a German serving for Turkey had eleven victories.

QUENTIN ROOSEVELT LOSES HIS LIFE

On Sunday July 14th, 1918, a violent encounter took place between German battleplanes and American Air forces trying to break through the German defense over the Marne. In this engagement Lieut, Quentin Roosevelt was brought down and killed near Chambry, then behind the German lines. He was buried with military honors by German airmen, at the spot where he fell. His grave was located later by one of his fellow air scouts.

AMERICAN AVIATOR GETS IRON CROSS

One of the remarkable feats performed by Yankee air men, was that of Lieut. Wm. T. Webb Jr. of Buffalo, a member of an American squadron which encountered a German battleplane while flying over the German lines. The American flyers surrounded the German Fokker like a flock of birds, and instead of shooting it down, which would have been easy, they maneuvered their planes so the boche machine was forced toward the American lines. The German airmen fought desperately, but in vain, to break through, and was forced lower and lower to the ground. Upon reaching the ground he refused to stop his motor until, after bumping over two fields, a bullet was fired through his gas tank setting it afire. The two Germans jumped from the machine to the ground uninjured. Both wore iron crosses. Lieut. Webb landed his machine, jumped out, grabbed an iron cross from one of the terrified Germans, and rose again to join his companions.

EYES OF THE ARMY ALWAYS OPEN

Few civilians have any idea of the intense, close watch that was kept upon the enemy throughout the struggle. Soldiers on "listening post" would crawl out every night to and sometimes into the enemy lines and on their return report what they had heard. By day, aviators came back from flights over enemy positions and gave details of what they had seen. Every hill, tree-top, church spire, tall building and captive balloon watched every move of the enemy and reported it. These reports by the ears and eyes of the armies enabled American and allied commanders to plan their infantry and artillery attacks.

AMERICAN INFORMATION SERVICE CHART

Knowledge of conditions in Germany during the war was so accurate that the American general staff had computed many weeks in advance almost the exact date on which the breaking point would be reached. A chart in Secretary Baker's office shows the fluctuations in the "morale of the German nation" from August, 1914, to the month of November, 1918.

The chart shows how German morale fell and rose under the influence of the military situation, the results of the submarine campaign, the unanimity of purpose evidenced by the different groups in the reichstag, and the economic condition of the country. So accurate was the information that the "morale line" reached the zero point between Nov. 10 and 15.

The chart indicates clearly that practically every major operation of the German military forces was inaugurated when the morale line showed dangerous slumps.

A big map in the war office locates not only every allied unit but the composition of the opposition forces, their commanders, and, in most cases, their headquarters.

Opposite each German army unit the map shows a list of the "used" and reserve organizations. On Nov. 11, when the armistice was signed, long lists of divisions which had been entirely used up were noted, but the reserves had disappeared entirely, with the single exception of two fresh German divisions in Belgium.



CHAPTER VI. CAUSES OF THE WAR

National and Race Prejudices—The Triple Alliance—The Triple Entente—Teuton vs. Slav—Influence of Russian Diplomacy—Russia vs. Austria—Control of Balkan Seaports—England's Commercial Supremacy Challenged by Germany—Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria by a Serb.

Within the space of less than a week from August 1, 1914, five of the six "great powers" of Europe became involved in a war that quickly developed into the greatest and most sanguinary struggle of all time. The European conflagration, long foreseen by statesmen and diplomats, and dreaded of all alike, had broken out.

Beginning with the thunder of Austrian guns at Belgrade, the reverberations of war were heard in every capital of the Old World. Austria's declaration of war against Servia was followed by the alignment of Germany with its Teuton neighbor against the forces of Russia, France and England. Italy alone, of the six great powers, declined to align itself with its formal allies and made a determined effort at the outset to maintain its neutrality.

Soon the highways of Europe resounded with the hoof-beats and the tramp of marching hosts, with the rattle of arms and the rumble of artillery. Of such a war, once begun, no man could predict the end. But the world realized that it was a catastrophe of unparalleled proportions, a failure of civilization in its stronghold, a disaster to humanity.

For more than forty years the great powers of Europe had been at peace with one another. Though war had threatened now and then, diplomacy had avoided the actual outbreak. But that the dreaded conflict was inevitable had long been recognized. For its coming immense armaments had been prepared, until the burdens of taxation laid upon the people had become in themselves a source of danger. But behind it all lay the sinister influence of the "junker" element of Germany—the military party, swollen with pride in the development of the German army by more than forty years of preparation for conflict, and the naval party, eager for "der Tag" which should bring a trial of the new German navy against the battle fleets of an enemy. Fostering and encouraging these militaristic sentiments was the growing desire of Germany for "a place in the sun," which was translatable only as a desire for world domination. Greater and wider markets for German commerce were urgently demanded, and visions of Germany as mistress of the seas, with a great colonial empire, and of the Kaiser as the undisputed military overlord of Europe, already filled and fired the Teuton imagination.

The political alignment of the great powers prior to the war was as follows: On the one side was the Triple Alliance, including Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy; while on the other was the Triple Entente, comprising Great Britain, France and Russia. As the event proved, the uncertain element in this line-up was Italy, which had a real grievance against Austria in the latter's possession of the former Italian territory known as the Trentino, and which was not consulted by Germany and Austria prior to the outbreak of hostilities. She therefore declined to enter the war as a member of the Triple Alliance, but was later found in the field against Austria, and thenceforth rendered powerful aid to the cause of "the Allies," as the members of the Triple Entente and their supporters soon came to be known.

It was in the Balkans, long regarded as the zone of danger to European peace, that the war-clouds gathered and darkened rapidly. For generations Austria and Russia had struggled diplomatically for the control of Balkan seaports, with the Balkan states acting as buffers in the diplomatic strife. Servia acted as a bar to Austria's commercial route to the AEgean, by way of the Sanjak of Novi Bazar to Saloniki, while Russia was Servia's great ally and stood stoutly behind the little Slav kingdom in its opposition to Austrian aggression.

AMBITIONS OF SERVIA

Then came the recent Balkan Wars, and their outcome was viewed with alarm. Austria uneasily watched the approach of Servia to the Adriatic and the Aegean. The formation of the new new autonomous state of Albania, between Servia and the Adriatic, was all that prevented Austria from attacking Servia during that crisis. The terms of peace left the situation, as it concerned Austria and Russia, practically as it had been. Austria made no further progress toward the sea, and Russia remained the ally of Servia. Bulgaria had failed in its efforts to reach Salonica.

At this stage another element exerted its influence. Servia awoke to the possibility of a Greater Servia. An Empire of the Slavs had long been dreamed of. In Austria-Hungary itself millions of Slavs were dreaming of it and awaiting the disruption of Austria-Hungary, held together now, as they argue, only by the indomitable will of the old Emperor, Franz Joseph. The hatred between the Slavs and the Teutonic Austrians is intense. The annexation by Austria of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which Servians predominate, increased the Servian hatred and the indignation of the whole Slav world to the point of violence. A conflict was avoided with difficulty. These principalities had hoped to form part of a Greater Servia. Had not Russia been exhausted by the war with Japan, Servia would have called upon her ally and the crisis would have come then. As it was, the Balkans teemed with plots and counterplots against the Austrians, culminating in the assassination of the Arch-Duke and heir-apparent to the Austrian throne, Francis Ferdinand, known for his anti-Slav principles, and therefore feared and hated as the king to be. The assassination occurred at Serajevo in Bosnia, where Servian disaffection was seething. Austria immediately laid the crime on the Servian government.

AUSTRIA DECLARES WAR

Failing in her peremptory demands for satisfaction, Austria declared war, July 28, 1914, apparently for revenge, but behind her righteous indignation she still held in view her traditional ambition, a port on the Mediterranean, to be secured by the complete control of the Novi Bazar route to Salonica, a route which, besides its commercial importance, is of tremendous strategic value to the nation which commands it. The treaty of Berlin of 1878, after the Russo-Turkish War, had given Austria the military, political, and commercial control of the route within the Sanjak of Novi Bazar, then a part of Turkey.

But now, in the division of spoils following the Balkan Wars, Servia gained control of Novi Bazar, Pristina, Uskub, and Istip, or practically the entire route to a short distance north of Salonica, where the new boundaries of Greece had been extended. This meant that Austria saw herself shut out from the Sanjak, and only by the destruction and subsequent occupation of Servia could Austria regain her ascendancy over the route. Victory would mean a long step by Austria toward the sea.

PLOTS AND COUNTERPLOTS

The "balance of power" among European nations has hitherto been maintained because the formation of a single nation out of the Balkan States has not been possible. Although the people of these states have similar pursuits, and live much alike in all regions, they have preserved their original racial differences. A village of Albanians may be within a few miles of a village of Greeks. Yet through centuries both have remained racially distinct. Here and there the barriers have given way somewhat, but in general the races persist side by side, sometimes peaceably, more often in mutual distrust or open feud. Such division has been fostered by the great nations, and new states have been created, as recently Albania, since the formation of a great state in the Balkans by the union of all or the absorbing greatness of one, would overthrow the balance of power, and besides interpose an insurmountable obstacle between Austria and Russia, and the sea.

Thus the states have been played against each other. Sometimes the game has been one of diplomacy, or one of force, hurling the states at each other's throats.

HOW WAR WAS DECLARED

Ultimatum, by Austria to Servia—War Declared by Austria— Russia Mobilizes—Germany Declares War on Russia August 1—France and England Involved—Germans Enter Belgium—Scenes in European Capitals.

On Sunday, June 28, 1914, a Servian student named Prinzep shot and killed the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the thrones of Austria-Hungary, and his morganatic wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, in the streets of Serajevo, a town in Bosnia which the royal couple were visiting.

Nearly four weeks later, on July 23, the Austro-Hungarian government, fixing responsibility for the assassination upon Servian intrigues, presented to Servia a number of demands which formed a very drastic ultimatum, requiring compliance within forty-eight hours, with the alternative of war. Servia was required to condemn "the propaganda directed against Austria" and to take proceedings against all accessories to the plot against the Archduke Francis Ferdinand who were in Servia. Austrian delegates were to supervise the proceedings, and Servia was also to arrest certain Servian officials whose guilt was alleged. These exorbitant conditions made it quite obvious that no concessions on Servians part would be accepted. It was a plain prelude to war.

Nevertheless, a virtual acceptance by Servia followed. Acting on the advice of Russia, Servia acceded to all that was required of her, making only two reservations of the most reasonable character. These reservations were found enough to serve as an excuse for war. Austria at once declared herself dissatisfied and though the actual declaration of war was delayed for a brief period, a state of war practically existed between the two countries from Saturday evening, July 25.

EFFORTS TO LOCALIZE THE WAR

Then began efforts on the part of Great Britain to localize the war. Sir Edward Grey, the able foreign secretary in Mr. Asquith's cabinet, repeated solemn warnings in every chancellery of Europe. According to the English "white book," the very day that he was notified of the violent tone of Austria's note to Servia—the day it was presented—he warned the Austrian Ambassador in London that if as many as four of the Great Powers of Europe were to engage in war, it would involve the expenditure of such a vast sum of money and such interference with trade, that a complete collapse of European credit and industry would follow. The reply of Russia to this warning was quite conciliatory. The Russian foreign minister, M. Sazonoff, assured the British minister that Russia had no aggressive intentions, and would take no action unless forced. Austria's action, M. Sazonoff added, in reality aimed at over-throwing Russia's influence in the Balkans.

Thus, on Monday, July 27, Sir Edward Grey was able to state in the House of Commons that his suggestion of a joint conference, composed of the Ambassadors of Germany, France and Italy, and himself, with a view to mediation between Austria and Russia, had been accepted by all except Germany, which power had expressed its concurrence with the plan in principle, but opposed the details on the ground that there was a prospect of direct "conversations" (diplomatic exchanges) between Austria and Russia. This statement was believed in England to lack sincerity. On that Monday afternoon the Russian Ambassador at Vienna warned Austria that Russia would not give way and expressed his hope that some arrangement might be arrived at before Servia was invaded.

Austria's reply came next day in the shape of a formal declaration of war against Servia.

GERMANY'S ATTITUDE PRO-AUSTRIAN

On July 30 Sir M. de Bunsen, British Ambassador at Vienna, made the following statement to Sir Edward Grey regarding the attitude of Germany in the crisis: "Although I am not able to verify it, I have private information that the German Ambassador (at Vienna) knew the text of the Austrian ultimatum to Servia before it was dispatched, and telegraphed it to the German Emperor. I know from the German Ambassador himself that he endorses every line of it."

Naturally enough the Russian foreign minister complained that "conversations" with Austria were useless in the face of such facts. Russia then declared that her forces would be mobilized the day that Austria crossed the Servian frontier. The attitude of Germany at once stiffened and it became evident that Germany meant to regard even the partial mobilization of Russia as a ground for war, not only against Russia, but also against the latter's ally, France.

In vain Russia protested that her partial mobilization was merely a precaution. In vain did the Czar himself offer to give his word that no use would be made of any of his forces. Germany was aware, as subsequent facts have proved, that her own state of mobilization was very much further advanced than that of Russia.

GERMAN ULTIMATUM TO RUSSIA

By Friday, July 31, Germany was ready for the fray and a final ultimatum to St. Petersburg was launched. On the same day Russia declared war against Austria. By six o'clock on Saturday evening, August 1, war between Germany and Russia began, when Germany dismissed the Russian Ambassador, and by Sunday morning Germany was invading France. The next day, August 3, the German Ambassador left Paris and the French Ambassador at Berlin was ordered to demand his passports.

At this point Great Britain passed from the position of general peacemaker to that of a principal. In the House of Commons on Monday, August 3, Sir Edward Grey stated that the question whether Austria or Russia should dominate the Southern Slav races was no concern of England, nor was she bound by any secret alliance to France. She was absolutely free to choose her course with regard to the crisis which had overtaken her. But there were two cardinal points in the situation which had arisen which ultimately concerned Great Britain. The first essential feature of British diplomacy, said Sir Edward, was that France should not be brought into such a condition in Europe that she became a species of vassal state to Germany. On the morning of July 31, therefore, he had informed the German Ambassador that if the efforts to maintain peace failed and France became involved Great Britain would be drawn into the conflict.