VALLEY OF DEATH ON THE AISNE

A non-combatant who succeeded in getting close to the firing lines on the Aisne when the great battle had raged continuously for five weeks, wrote as follows on October 21st of the horrors he had witnessed:

"Between the lines of battle there is a narrow strip, varying from seventy yards to a quarter of a mile, which is a neutral valley of death. Neither side is able to cross that strip without being crumpled by fire against which no body of men can stand. The Germans have attempted to break through the British and French forces hundreds of times but have been compelled to withdraw, and always with severe losses.

"A number of small towns are distributed in this narrow strip, the most important being Craonne. The Germans and French have reoccupied it six times and each in turn has been driven out. The streets of Craonne are littered with the dead of both armies. The houses, nearly all of which have been demolished by exploding shells, are also full of bodies of men who crawled into them to get out of the withering fire and have there died. Many of these men died of sheer exhaustion and starvation while the battle raged day after day.

"Both armies have apparently abandoned the struggle to hold Craonne permanently, and it is now literally a city of the dead.

"It is a typical French village of ancient stone structures; the tiny houses all have, or had, gables and tiled roofs. These have mostly been broken by shell fire. Under the shelter of its buildings both the Germans and French have been able at times to rescue their wounded.

"This is more than can be said of the strip of death between the battle lines. There the wounded lie and the dead go unburied, while the opposing forces direct their merciless fire a few feet above the field of suffering and carnage. I did not know until I looked upon the horrors of Craonne that such conditions could exist in modern warfare.

"I thought that frequent truces would be negotiated to give the opposing armies an opportunity to collect their wounded and bury their dead. I had an idea that the Red Cross had made war less terrible. The world thinks so yet, perhaps, but the conditions along the Aisne do not justify that belief. If a man is wounded in that strip between the lines he never gets back alive unless he is within a short distance of his own lines or is protected from the enemy's fire by the lay of the land.

"This protracted and momentous battle, which raged day and night for so many weeks, became a continuous nightmare to the men engaged in it, every one of whom knew that upon its issue rested one of the great deciding factors of the war."

BRITISH AID FOR FRENCH WOUNDED

The following paragraphs from a letter received October 15th by the author from an English lady interested in the suffrage movement, give some idea of the spirit in which the people of England met the emergency; and also indicate the frightful conditions attending the care of the wounded in France:

"London, October 7, 1914.—The world is a quite different place from what it was in July—dear, peaceful July! It seems years ago that we lived in a time of peace. It all still seems a nightmare over England and one feels that the morning must come when one will wake up and find it has all been a hideous dream, and that peace is the reality. But the facts grow sadder every day, as one realizes the frightful slaughter and waste of young lives. * * *

"But now that we are in the midst of this horrible time, we can only stop all criticism of our Government, set our teeth, and try to help in every possible way. All suffrage work has stopped and all the hundred-and-one interests in societies of every kind are in abeyance as well. The offices of every kind of society are being used for refugees, Bed Cross work, unemployment work, and to meet other needs of the moment.

"Every day of our time is taken up with helping to equip 'hospital units,' private bodies of doctors and nurses with equipment, to go to France and help the French Red Cross work among the French wounded. The situation in France at present is more horrible than one can imagine. Our English soldiers have medical and surgical help enough with them for first aid. Then they are sent back to England, and here all our hospitals are ready and private houses everywhere have been given to the War Office for the wounded. But the battlefield is in France; many of the French doctors have been shot; the battle-line is 200 miles long, and the carnage is frightful.

"Last week we sent off one hospital unit, and a messenger came back from it yesterday to tell us awful facts—16,000 wounded in Limoges for one place, and equal numbers in several other little places south of Paris—just trains full of them—with so little ready for them in the way of doctors or nurses. One hears of doctors performing operations without chloroform, and the suffering of the poor fellows is awful."

COMPARATIVE WEALTH OF NATIONS AT WAR

The wealth of the principal belligerent nations, in terms of property, goods and appraisable resources of all kinds, is estimated as follows:

National National Percent Wealth Debt

United States.............$260,000,000,000 $18,000,000,000 6.

Great Britain.............. 90,000,000,000 36,675,000,000 40.

France..................... 65,000,000,000 23,000,000,000 35.

Russia..................... 40,000,000,000 25,400,000,000 63.

Italy...................... 25,000,000,000 7,000,000,000 28.

Japan...................... 28,000,000,000 1,300,000,000 4.

Germany.................... 80,000,000,000 33,000,000,000 38.

Austria-Hungary............ 25,000,000,000 20,000,000,000 80.

It is worth noting in this connection that the fourth liberty bond issue of six billions was oversubscribed to extent $866,416,300—almost an extra billion. There were over 21,000,000 individual subscribers.

The war bills of the United States between April 6, 1917, and October 31st, 1918, as officially reported at Washington November 2, 1918, amounted to twenty billions, five hundred and sixty-one million dollars ($20,561,000,000). Of this sum, seven billions and seventeen millions ($7,017,000,000) have been loaned to the allies and will be repaid.

Only a little more than one-fourth of the expense had up to the date of the report been raised by taxation. Most of the remainder had been raised by bond issues practically all of which were subscribed by our own people, so that the debt is owing not to foreign creditors, but to ourselves.

The same report shows that on November 1st, 1918, the treasury's working balance stood at one billion, eight hundred and forty-five millions, seven hundred and thirty-nine thousand dollars ($1,845,739,000) the largest sum ever available at any one time in the history of the nation—with continuing receipts of instalment payments on the fourth liberty loan coming in at the rate of two billions per month, and preparations for the fifth loan well under way.

FIGURES THAT ARE DIFFICULT TO COMPREHEND.

The direct cost of the war for all belligerent nations to May 1, 1918, was reported at about $175,000,000,000 by the Federal Reserve board bulletin, issued November 18. It was estimated that the cost would amount to nearly $200,000,000,000 before the end of the year.

For purely military and naval purposes, it appears that all belligerents had spent about $132,000,000,000 to May 1. The remainder represented interest on debt, and other indirect war expenses.

The mobilization and the first five months of the war in 1914 cost all belligerents about $10,000,000,000. In 1915 the expenses jumped to $26,000,000,000, in 1916 they increased to $38,000,000,000; and in they were estimated at $60,000,000,000. In 1918 expenses ran only a little above the rate of 1917.

The public debt of the principal entente allies is calculated at approximately $105,000,000,000, not counting the debt incurred since May 1918. The annual burden to all belligerents to pay interest and sinking fund allowances will be not less than $10,000,000,000, and probably much more.

Unofficial reports indicate that Germany's national debt, represented mainly by war bonds held within the empire, is now nearly $35,000,000,000 (almost two-fifths of the estimate national wealth of $80,000,000,000). Besides this, France claims a return of the indemnity, $20,000,000,000; $28,000,000,000 for pensions; and reparation of damages, $20,000,000,000; being $68,000,000,000 in all.

Whatever may be the weight of the final burden of reparation and restitution to be placed on Germany, the size of the task ahead of her may be illustrated by comparison of her national debt with that of the United States, Germany has 66,000,000 population and $80,000,000,000 of estimated wealth, to pay $35,000,000,000 of war debt already created.

The United States has 110,000,000 population and an estimated national wealth of $250,000,000,000, to pay nearly $18,000,000,000 war debt already created, or approximately $23,000,000,000 up to the end of May, 1919. This means that the per capita burden will be at least three times greater in Germany than in the United States.



CHAPTER XV

THE MYSTERY OF THE FLEETS

Movements of British Battleships Veiled in Secrecy—German Dreadnoughts in North Sea and Baltic Ports—Activity of Smaller Craft—English Keep Trade Routes Open— Several Minor Battles at Sea.

Shortly before war was declared a great review of the British navy was held at Spithead, on the English Channel, when several hundred vessels were gathered in mighty array for inspection by King George and the lords of the Admiralty. The salutes they fired had hardly ceased to reverberate along the shores of the Channel when the momentous struggle was on. It found the British fleet fully mobilized and ready for action. The ships had their magazines filled, their bunkers and oil tanks charged, their victualing completed, and last, but not least, their full crews aboard.

Then, without a moment's delay, they disappeared, under orders to proceed to stations in the North Sea, to cruise in the Channel, the Atlantic or the Mediterranean; to keep trade routes open for British and neutral ships and capture or destroy the ships of the enemy. Silently and swiftly they sailed, and for weeks the world knew little or nothing of their movements or whereabouts.

Mystery equally deep shrouded the German fleet. In all probability it lay under the guns of the coast cities and forts of Germany, but nothing definite was permitted to leak out. The test of the two great navies, the supreme test of dreadnoughts and superdreadnoughts, failed to materialize, and for weeks the people of Great Britain and Germany could only wonder what had become of their naval forces and why they did not come into contact with each other. A few minor engagements in the North Sea, in which light cruisers and torpedo-boat destroyers were concerned, served only to deepen the mystery.

Only naval men and well-informed civilians realized that Germany was biding her time, waiting to choose her own hour for action, realizing the strength of the opposing force and determined not to risk her own ships until the opportune moment should arrive which would offer the best possible chances for success. And meanwhile the main British fleet lay in the North Sea, waiting for the enemy to appear.

After a while letters began to come from the North Sea, telling of the life aboard the vessels lying in wait, scouting or patrolling the coasts. The ships were all stripped for action; all inflammable ornaments and fittings had been left behind or cast overboard; stripped and naked the fighting machines went to their task. All day long the men were ready at their guns, and during the night each gun crew slept around the weapon that it was their duty to serve, ready to repel any destroyers or submarines coming out of the surrounding darkness to attack them.

Vice-Admiral Sir John Jellicoe had assumed supreme command of the British home fleet on August 4, with the rank of admiral. His chief of staff was Rear Admiral Charles E. Madden. Rear Admiral Sir George Callaghan was in command of the North Sea fleet.

AN ADMIRALTY ANNOUNCEMENT

On Thursday, September 10, the secretary of the British Admiralty made the following announcement: "Yesterday and today strong and numerous squadrons and flotillas have made a complete sweep of the North Sea up to and into the Heligoland Bight. The German fleet made no attempt to interfere with our movements and no German ship of any kind was seen at sea."

That much patience had to be exercised by the seamen of the North Sea fleet is evidenced by a letter in which the writer said to his family, "If you want to get away from the excitement of war, you should be here with me." This situation, of course, might be changed at a moment's notice. The London Times said in September: "It is not to be wondered at if our seamen today envy a little the old-time sailors who did not have to compete with such things as mines, destroyers and submarines. In the accounts of the old blockades we read how by means of music and dancing, and even theatrical entertainments, the monotonous nature of the work was counteracted, and the officers of the ships, including Nelson and other great commanders, welcomed these diversions for the prevention of the evils which might be bred by enforced idleness. It is a true saying that everything that stagnates corrupts. There is no possible chance of the crews of our modern vessels stagnating under the new conditions of war. Whether engaged in blockading in the big ships, scouting in the cruisers, or patrolling the coasts in the destroyers, the life is described as tremendously interesting and exciting. There has been no sense of monotony whatever. Indeed, the conditions are such that, were it not obligatory for portions of every crew to take rest, all of them would be continually on the alert. We may be certain that arrangements have been made for ensuring that the crews obtain periods of relaxation from the constant strain; but the only real change comes in the big ships when they have of necessity to refill their bunkers."

LOSS OF THE CRUISER AMPHION

The cruiser Amphion was the first British war vessel lost in the war. The survivors on landing at the North Sea port of Harwich, England, on August 10, stated that hardly had they left Harwich than they were ordered to clear the decks for action. They sighted the German mine-laying vessel Koenigin Luise, and, as it refused to stop even when a shot was fired across its bows, they gave chase.

The German ship fired and then the destroyers, accompanying the Amphion, surrounded and sank it after a brief combined bombardment.

The captain, it is said, was beside himself with fury. He had a revolver in his hand and threatened his men as they prepared to surrender to the rescuing ships. He flatly refused to give himself up and was taken by force.

When the smoke of a big ship was seen on the horizon the Amphion gave chase, firing a warning shot as it drew near the vessel, which at once made known its identity as the Harwich boat St. Petersburg, carrying Prince Lichnowsky, the German ambassador, to the Hook of Holland. While returning to port came the tragedy of the Amphion. As it struck a sunken mine it gave two plunging jerks. Then came an explosion which ripped up its forepart, shot up its funnels like arrows from a bow, and lifted its heavy guns into the air. The falling material struck several of the boats of the flotilla and injured some of the men on board them.

The Amphion's men were dreadfully burned and scalded and had marks on their faces and bodies which resembled splashes of acid.

The scene at Harwich was like that which follows a colliery explosion. Of the British seamen in the hospital thirteen were suffering from severe burns, five from less serious burns, two from the effects of lyddite fumes, and one each from concussion, severe injury, slight wounds, shock, and slight burns. A few wounded German sailors also lay in the hospital.

SINKING A GERMAN SUBMARINE

On August 12 there came from Edinburgh the story of an eyewitness of a naval battle in the North Sea on the previous Sunday between British cruisers and German submarines, in which the German submarine U-15 was sunk.

"The cruiser squadron on Sunday," the story ran, "suddenly became aware of the approach of the submarine flotilla. The enemy was submerged, only the periscopes showing above the surface of the water.

"The attitude of the British in the face of this attack was cool and the enemy was utterly misled when suddenly the cruiser Birmingham, steaming at full speed, fired the first shot. This shot was carefully aimed, not at the submerged body of a submarine, but at the thin line of the periscope.

"The gunnery was superbly accurate and shattered the periscope. Thereupon the submarine, now a blinded thing, rushed along under water in imminent danger of self-destruction from collision with the cruisers above.

"The sightless submarine was then forced to come to the surface, whereupon the Birmingham's gunner fired the second shot of the fight. This shot struck at the base of the conning tower, ripping the whole of the upper structure clean and the U-15 sank like a stone.

"The remainder of the submarine flotilla fled." NAVAL BATTLE OFF HELIGOLAND

In the last week of August a naval engagement occurred off the island of Heligoland, in the North Sea. British war vessels sank five German ships, killing 900 men. A graphic description of the engagement was given by a young lieutenant who was on one of the British torpedo boat destroyers:

"I think the home papers are magnifying what really was but an affair of outposts. We destroyers went in and lured the enemy out and had lots of excitement. The big fellows then came up and afforded some excellent target practice, and we were very glad to see them come; but it was a massacre, not a fight.

"There was superb generalship and overwhelming forces on the spot, but there was really nothing for them to do except to shoot the enemy, even as father shoots pheasants.

"Have you ever noticed a dog rush in on a flock of sheep and scatter them? He goes for the nearest and barks and goes so much faster than the flock that it bunches up with its companions. The dog then barks at another and the sheep spread out fanwise, so in front of the dog there is a semicircle of sheep and behind him none.

"That was much what we did at 7 a. m. on August 28. The sheep were the German torpedo craft, which fell back on the limits of our range and tried to lure us within the fire of the Heligoland forts. But a cruiser then came out and engaged our Arethusa and they had a real heart-to-heart talk, while we looked on, and a few of us tried to shoot at the enemy, too, though it was beyond our distance.

"We were getting nearer Heligoland all the time. There was a thick mist and I expected every minute to find the forts on the island bombarding us, so the Arethusa presently drew off after landing at least one good shell on the enemy. The enemy gave every hit as good as he got there.

"We then reformed, but a strong destroyer belonging to the submarines got chased, and the Arethusa and Fearless went back to look after it. We presently heard a hot action astern, so the captain in command of the flotilla turned us around and we went back to help. But they had driven the enemy off and on our arrival told us to 'form up' on the Arethusa.

CRUISER FIRES ON SHIPS

"When we had partly formed and were very much bunched together, making a fine target, suddenly out of the mist arrived five or six shells from a point not 150 yards away. We gazed at whence they came and again five or six stabs of fire pierced the fog, and we made out a four-funneled German cruiser of the Breslau class.

"Those stabs were its guns going off. We waited fifteen seconds and the shots and noise of its guns arrived pretty well from fifty yards away. Its next salvo of shots went above us, and I ducked as they whirred overhead like a covey of fast partridges.

"You would suppose our captain had done this sort of thing all his life. He went full speed ahead at once, upon the first salvo, to string the bunch out and thus offer less target. The commodore from the Arethusa made a signal to us to attack with torpedoes. So we swung round at right angles and charged full speed at the enemy like a hussar attack.

"Our boat got away at the start magnificently and led the field, so all the enemy's firing was aimed at us for the next ten minutes, when we got so close that debris from their shells fell on board. Then we altered our course and so threw them out in their reckoning of our speed, and they had all their work to do over again.

"Humanly speaking, our captain by twisting and turning at psychological moments saved us. Actually, I feel that we were in God's keeping that day. After ten minutes we got near enough to fire our torpedo. Then we turned back to the Arethusa. Next our follower arrived just where we had been and fired its torpedo, and of course the enemy fired at it instead of at us. What a blessed relief!

"After the destroyers came the Fearless, and it stayed on the scene. Soon we found it was engaging a three-funneler, the Mainz, so off we started again, now for the Mainz, the situation being that the crippled Arethusa was too tubby to do anything but be defended by us, its children.

"Scarcely, however, had we started when, from out of the mist and across our front, in furious pursuit came the first cruiser squadron of the town class, the Birmingham, and each unit a match for three like the Mainz, which was soon sunk. As we looked and reduced speed they opened fire, and the clear bang-bang of their guns was just like a cooling drink.

"To see a real big four-funneler spouting flame, which flame denoted shells starting, and those shells not at us but for us, was the most cheerful thing possible. Once we were in safety, I hated it. We had just been having our own imaginations stimulated on the subject of shells striking.

"Now, a few minutes later, to see another ship not three miles away, reduced to a piteous mass of unrecognizability, wreathed in black fumes from which flared out angry gusts of fire like Vesuvius in eruption, as an unending stream of hundred-pound shells burst on board it, just pointed the moral and showed us what might have been.

"The Mainz was immensely gallant. The last I saw of it it was absolutely wrecked. It was a fuming inferno. But it had one gun forward and one aft still spitting forth fury and defiance like a wild cat.

"Then we went west, while they went east. Just a bit later we heard the thunder of the enemy's guns for a space. Then fell silence, and we knew that was all.

A MARVELOUS RESCUE

"The most romantic, dramatic, and piquant episode that modern war can ever show came next. The Defender, having sunk an enemy, lowered a whaler to pick up its swimming survivors. Before the whaler got back, an enemy's cruiser came up and chased the Defender, which thus had to abandon its small boat.

"Imagine their feelings, alone in an open boat without food, twenty-five miles from the nearest land, and that land an enemy's fortress, with nothing but fog and foes around them, and then suddenly a swirl alongside, and up, if you please, hops His Britannic Majesty's submarine E-4, opens its conning tower, takes them all on board, shuts up again, dives and brings them home, 250 miles."

THREE BRITISH CRUISERS SUNK

On Tuesday morning, September 22, the British cruisers Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue were torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine in the North Sea. Each of the vessels carried a crew of about 650 men, and the total of the death roll was about 1,400.

The three cruisers had for some time been patrolling the North Sea. Soon after 6 o'clock in the morning the Aboukir suddenly felt a shock on the port side. A dull explosion was heard and a column of water was thrown up mast high. The explosion wrecked the stokehold just forward of amidships: and tore the bottom open.

Almost immediately the doomed cruiser began to settle. Except for the watch on deck, most of the crew were asleep, wearied by the constant vigil in bad weather, but in perfect order the officers and men rushed to quarters. The quick-firers were manned in the hope of a dying shot at the submarine, but there was not a glimpse of one.

Meanwhile the Aboukir's sister cruisers, more than a mile away, saw and heard the explosion and thought the Aboukir had struck a mine. They closed in and lowered boats. This sealed their own fate, for, while they were standing by to rescue survivors, first the Hogue and then the Cressy was torpedoed.

Only the Cressy appears to have seen the submarine in time to attempt to retaliate, and she fired a few shots before she keeled over, broken in two, and sank.

British naval officers by this time were beginning to wonder how long the German high seas fleet intended to remain under cover in the Kiel canal.

"Our only grievance," one said, "is that we have not had a shot at the Germans. Our only share of the war has been a few uncomfortable weeks of bad weather, mines and submarines."

A number of the survivors were taken to the Dutch port of Ymuiden, where they were interned as technical prisoners of war.

THE GERMAN COMMANDER'S STORY

The German submarine which accomplished the hitherto unparalleled feat was the U-9, in command of Capt.-Lieut. Otto Weddigen, whose interesting story was given to the public through the German Admiralty on October 6, as follows:

"I set out from a North Sea port on one of the arms of the Kiel canal and set my course in a southwesterly direction. The name of the port I cannot state officially, but it was not many days before the morning of September 22 when I fell in with my quarry.

"British torpedo-boats came within my reach, but I felt there was bigger game further on, so on I went. It was ten minutes after six in the morning of the 22nd when I caught sight of one of the big cruisers of the enemy.

"I was then eighteen sea miles northwesterly of the Hook of Holland. I had traveled considerably more than 200 miles from my base. I had been going ahead partially submerged, with about five feet of my periscope showing.

"Almost immediately I caught sight of the first cruiser and two others. I submerged completely and laid my course in order to bring up in center of the trio, which held a sort of triangular formation. I could see their gray-black sides riding high over the water.

"When I first sighted them they were near enough for torpedo work, but I wanted to make my aim sure, so I went down and in on them. I had taken the position of the three ships before submerging, and I succeeded in getting another flash through my periscope before I began action. I soon reached what I regarded as a good shooting point.

"Then I loosed one of my torpedoes at the middle ship. I was then about twelve feet under water and got the shot off in good shape, my men handling the boat as if it had been a skiff. I climbed to the surface to get a sight through my tube of the effect and discovered that the shot had gone straight and true, striking the ship, which I later learned was the Aboukir, under one of its magazines, which in exploding helped the torpedo's work of destruction.

"There was a fountain of water, a burst of smoke, a flash of fire, and part of the cruiser rose in the air.

STRIKES THE SECOND CRUISER

"Its crew were brave and, even with death staring them in the face, kept to their posts. I submerged at once. But I had stayed on top long enough to see the other cruisers, which I learned were the Cressy and the Hogue, turn and steam full speed to their dying sister.

"As I reached my torpedo depth I sent a second charge at the nearest of the oncoming vessels, which was the Hogue. The English were playing my game, for I had scarcely to move out of my position, which was a great aid, since it helped to keep me from detection.

"The attack on the Hogue went true. But this time I did not have the advantageous aid of having the torpedo detonate under the magazine, so for twenty minutes the Hogue lay wounded and helpless on the surface before it heaved, half turned over, and sank.

"By this time the third cruiser knew, of course, that the enemy was upon it, and it sought as best it could to defend itself. It loosed its torpedo defense batteries on bows, star-board, and port, and stood its ground as if more anxious to help the many sailors in the water than to save itself.

"In the common method of defending itself against a submarine attack, it steamed in a zigzag course, and this made it necessary for me to hold my torpedoes until I could lay a true course for them, which also made it necessary for me to get nearer to the Cressy.

"I had to come to the surface for a view, and saw how wildly the fire was being sent from the ship. Small wonder that was when they did not know where to shoot, although one shot went unpleasantly near us.

"When I got within suitable range I sent away my third attack. This time I sent a second torpedo after the first to make the strike doubly certain. My crew were aiming like sharpshooters and both torpedoes went to their bull's-eye. My luck was with me again, for the enemy was made useless and at once began sinking by the head. Then it careened far over, but all the while its men stayed at the guns looking for their invisible foe.

"They were brave and true to their country's sea traditions. Then it eventually suffered a boiler explosion and completely turned turtle. With its keel uppermost it floated until the air got out from under it and then it sank with a loud sound, as if from a creature in pain.

"The whole affair had taken less than one hour from the time of shooting off the first torpedo until the Cressy went to the bottom.

"I set my course for home. Before I got far some British cruisers and destroyers were on the spot and the destroyers took up the chase.

"I kept under water most of the way, but managed to get off a wireless to the German fleet that I was heading homeward and being pursued. But although British destroyers saw me plainly at dusk on the 22d and made a final effort to stop me, they abandoned the attempt, as it was taking them too far from safety and needlessly exposing them to attack from our fleet and submarines."

MERCHANTMEN CAPTURED AND SUNK

During the first months of the war a large number of merchant vessels, principally German and British, were captured or sunk. According to a British Admiralty return, issued September 28, twelve British ships with an aggregate tonnage of 59,331 tons had been sunk on the high seas by German cruisers up to September 23. Eight other British ships, whose tonnage aggregated 2,970, had been sunk by German mines in the North Sea, and 24 fishing craft, with a tonnage of 4,334, had been captured or sunk by the Germans in the same waters. British ships detained at German ports numbered 74, with a total tonnage of 170,000.

On the other side the Admiralty reported 102 German ships, with a total tonnage of 200,000, detained in British ports since the outbreak of the war; while 88 German ships, of an aggregate tonnage of 338,000, had been captured since hostilities began.

The return also showed that 168 German ships, with an aggregate tonnage of 283,000, had been detained or captured by the Allies. Fifteen ships, with a tonnage of 247,000, were detained in American ports, while fourteen others, with a tonnage of 72,000, remained in the Suez Canal.

The German mines in the North Sea had also destroyed seven Scandinavian ships, with a tonnage of 11,098.

GERMAN CRUISERS ACTIVE

Several German cruisers were amazingly active in distant waters early in the war. Among these were the Goeben, Breslau, Emden, Karlsruhe, and Leipzig, which captured or sank a number of vessels of the enemy. The German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau also operated in the Pacific, bombarding the French colony of Papeete, on the island of Tahiti, and inflicting much damage, including the sinking of two vessels.

On August 26 the big converted German liner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, while cruising on the northwest coast of Africa, was sunk by the British cruiser Highflyer.

The German cruiser Dresden was reported sunk by British cruisers in South American waters in the second week of September. The Emden, operating under the German flag in the Indian Ocean, sank several British steamers. Several Austrian vessels succumbed to mines off the coast of Dalmatia and in the Baltic there were a number of casualties in which both Russian and German cruisers suffered. The Russian armored cruiser Bayan was sunk in a fight near the entrance to the Gulf of Finland.

On September 20 the German protected cruiser Koenigsberg attacked the British light cruiser Pegasus in the harbor of Zanzibar and disabled her. Off the east coast of South America the British auxiliary cruiser Carmania, a former Cunard liner, destroyed a German merchant cruiser mounting eight four-inch guns. About the same time the German cruiser Hela was sunk in the North Sea by the British submarine E-9. The Kronprinz Wilhelm, a former German liner, which had been supplying coal to German cruisers in the Atlantic, was also sunk by the British.

GERMAN COLONY OCCUPIED

The British Admiralty announced on September 12 that the Australian fleet had occupied Herbertshoehe, on Blanche Bay, the seat of government of the German Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands.

The Bismarck Archipelago, with an area of 18,000 square miles and a population of 200,000, is off the north coast of Australia and southwest of the Philippine Islands. The group was assigned to the German sphere of influence by an agreement with Great Britain in 1885. German New Guinea was included in the jurisdiction.

GERMANS SINK RUSS CRUISER

On October 11 German submarines in the Baltic torpedoed and sank the Russian armored cruiser Pallada with all its crew, numbering 568 men. The Pallada had a displacement of 7,775 tons and was a sister ship of the Admiral Makarov and Bayan. She was launched in November, 1906, and had a water-line length of 443 feet; beam, 57 feet; draft of 21-1/ feet, and a speed of 21 knots. She carried two 8-inch, eight 6-inch, twenty-two 12-pounders, four 3-pounders, and two torpedo tubes. Seven inches of Krupp armor protected the vessel amidships and four inches forward.

The Pallada was engaged in patrolling the Baltic with the Admiral Makarov when attacked by the submarines. She opened a strong fire on them, but was blown up by a torpedo launched by one of the submerged craft, while the Makarov escaped.

BRITISH CRUISER HAWKE SUNK

On October 15th, while the British cruisers Hawke and Theseus were patrolling the northern waters of the North Sea, they were attacked by a German submarine. The Hawke, a cruiser of 7,750 tons, commanded by Capt. H.P.E.T. Williams, was torpedoed and sank in eight minutes. Only seventy-three of her crew of 400 officers and men were saved.

BRITISH AVENGE AMPHION'S LOSS

Capt. Cecil H. Fox, who was in command of the British cruiser Amphion when she was destroyed by a German mine early in the war, had his revenge on October 17, when, in command of the cruiser Undaunted, he sank four German torpedo boat destroyers off the coast of Holland. Only 31 of the combined crews of 400 men were saved and these were taken as prisoners of war.



CHAPTER XVI

SUBMARINES AND MINES

Battleships in Constant Danger from Submerged Craft—Opinions of Admiral Sir Percy Scott—Construction of Modern Torpedoes—How Mines Are Laid and Exploded on Contact.

Sir Percy Scott, admiral in the British navy, who through his inventions made possible the advance in marksmanship with heavy guns and increased the possibilities of hitting at long range and of broadside firing, said recently that everything he has done to enhance the value of the gun is rendered useless by the advent of the latest type of submarine, a vessel which has for its principal weapon the torpedo. Dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts are doomed, because they no longer can be safe at sea from the submarine nor find safety in harbors.

"The introduction of vessels that swim under water," he said, "has in my opinion entirely done away with the utility of the ships that swim on top of the water. The functions of a war vessel were these: Defensively, [1] to attack ships that come to bombard our forts, [2] to attack ships that come to blockade us, [3] to attack ships convoying a landing party, [4] to attack the enemy's fleet, [5] to attack ships interfering with our commerce; offensively, [1] to bombard an enemy's ports, [2] to blockade an enemy, [3] to convoy a landing party, [4] to attack the enemy's fleet, [5] to attack the enemy's commerce.

"The submarine renders 1, 2 and 3 impossible, as no man of war will dare to come even within sight of a coast that is adequately protected by submarines. The fourth function of a battleship is to attack an enemy's fleet, but there will be no fleet to attack, as it will not be safe for a fleet to put to sea. Submarines and aeroplanes have entirely revolutionized naval warfare; no fleet can hide itself from the aeroplane's eye, and the submarine can deliver a deadly attack in broad daylight.

"In time of war the scouting aeroplanes will always be high above on the lookout, and the submarines in constant readiness. If an enemy is sighted the gong sounds and the leash of a flotilla of submarines will be slipped. Whether it be night or day, fine or rough, they must go out in search of their quarry; if they find her she is doomed and they give no quarter; they cannot board her and take her as prize as in the olden days; they only wait till she sinks, then return home without even knowing the number of human beings they have sent to the bottom of the ocean.

"Not only is the open sea unsafe; a battleship is not immune from attack even in a closed harbor, for the so-called protecting boom at the entrance can easily be blown up. With a flotilla of submarines commanded by dashing young officers, of whom we have plenty, I would undertake to get through any boom into any harbor and sink or materially damage all the ships in that harbor."

A PRACTICAL MAN'S VIEWS

This is not a mere theorist or dreamer talking, says Burton Roscoe in commenting on Admiral Scott's statements; it is the one man in England most supremely versed in naval tactics, the man to whom all nations owe the present effectiveness of the broadside of eight, twelve and fourteen inch guns and the perfection in sighting long range guns.

The newest type of submarine torpedo is 100 per cent efficient. The torpedo net of steel that used to be the ship's defense against torpedoes is now useless. The modern torpedoes need only to come in contact with a surface like the torpedo net or the armor plate of a battleship to discharge a shell which will burst through a two-inch armor caisson, rupture the hull of a battleship, and sink it in a few minutes.

The torpedo submarines of the modern type have a submerged speed of from eight to ten knots an hour. Only a small surface, including the bridge or conning tower, is exposed, thus making it almost impossible to hit them with the clumsy guns aboard ship. The highest type of submarine has a submerged tonnage of 812 tons and its length is 176 feet.

Each submarine carries from one to six torpedoes, each of which is capable of sinking the most heavily armored vessel afloat. The sighter in the conning tower moves swiftly, up within range of the vessel he is attacking and gives the signal for the discharge of the torpedo. The men aboard the attacked ship have no warning of their impending death except a thin sheaf of water that follows on the surface in the wake of the submerged torpedo and which lasts only an instant.

RUN BY COMPRESSED AIR

By a compressed air arrangement motive power is furnished the torpedo in transit for its propellers. A gyroscope keeps it on a plane and upright. A striker on the nose of the torpedo is released by a fan which revolves in the water. The nose of the torpedo strikes the side of the battleship and the compact jars the primer of fulminate of mercury. The high explosive of gunpowder forces out a shell and exploded with it after the shell has penetrated the armor. Then the work is done.

It is generally believed the principal harbors and fortifications in England are heavily supplied with torpedoes of the new type. It is also believed that the fortifications about the River Elbe are thus equipped. If this is a fact the defending nation will be able not only to repulse any fleet attempting an invasion but also to destroy it. By throwing across the Straits of Dover, or across the lower end of the North Sea, a flotilla of its powerful submarines England can prevent any naval invasion of France or England or Belgium by Germany should the attacking fleet take this route.

In the latest type of submarine the United States is deficient. There are only twenty-nine submarines in the United States naval service at the present time and only eighteen under construction.

The old type of torpedo did not have penetrative power [Illustration: Cross section of Belgian Type of Fortress. The forts at Liege were of this type and long withstood the battering of the German guns.

This kind of modern fort was designed by the famous Belgian military engineer, General Brailmont. The strength of every such work must depend on the spirit of its garrison, and at Liege and Namur, the Belgian defenders gave a good account of themselves. These forts are provided with an elaborate system for repelling attempts to carry the works by assault and for making a counter-attack. There are land-mines, fired electrically from the forts, wire entanglements, disappearing guns, and search-lights to locate and blind an attacking enemy.]

sufficient to sink the modern armor-clad battleship unless it struck under exceptionally favorable circumstances. A large percentage of the destructive power was expended on the outside of the hull. Commander Davis of the United States navy invented the torpedo that carries its power undiminished into the interior of the vessel.

CAN CUT TORPEDO NETS

The new torpedoes are provided with special steel cutters by which they cut through the strongest steel torpedo net. The torpedo has within it an eight-inch gun, capable of exploding a shell with a muzzle velocity of about 1,000 feet a second. The projectile carries a bursting charge of a high explosive, and this charge is detonated by a delayed-action fuse. When the torpedo strikes its target, the gun is fired and the shell strikes the outside plating of the ship. Then the fuse in the shell's base explodes the charge in the shell, immediately after the impact.

With a small fleet of these under-water fighting vessels—say of two or three—an invading or blockading fleet of not more than twenty men-of-war can be destroyed within an hour by an otherwise unprotected harbor or port.

Germany has a few of these latest style submarines, and if it can rush the construction of the thirty-one now being built, it will have a flotilla that will protect its harbor towns against invasion.

France, also with its fifty submarines and thirty-one under construction, and its great corps of scouting aeroplanes, will prove a formidable agent in crippling the activities of Germany's big fleet of dreadnoughts, armored cruisers and battleships. Russia will need its twenty-five submarines for coast defense and probably will not send them out of the Baltic [or out of the Black Sea in the event that Italy is drawn into the conflict.]

Undoubtedly, then, the great battles in the present war, on the water at least, may be decided by these silently moving, dinky sized, almost imperceptible submarines which carry the ever-destroying torpedoes. And the loss of lives will be more prodigious than ever.

SUBMARINE STRENGTH OF THE POWERS

Built Building. Great Britain....................... 69 France.............................. 50 Russia.............................. 25 Germany............................. 24 Italy............................... 18 Austria............................. 6

SUBMERGED MINES—HOW THEY ARE LAID AND THEIR WORKING

The sinking of the light cruiser Pathfinder of the British navy by a German mine in the North Sea early in the war called special attention to the deadly character of the mines of the present day.

A modern mine-laying ship puts to sea with a row of contact mines on rails along her side, ready for dropping into the sea. The rails project over the stern. The essential parts of a special type of mine of recent design consist of (1) the mine proper, comprising the explosive charge and detonating apparatus in a spherical case; (2) a square-shaped anchor chamber, connected with the mine by a length of cable; (3) a plummet-weight used in placing the mine in position, connected with the anchor chamber by a rope. Thus the mine appears on the deck of the mine-laying ship before being lowered over the stern.

Before the mine goes over, a windlass inside the plummet-sinker is revolved by hand until the length of cable between the plummet and the anchor-chamber has been reeled off equivalent to the depth below the surface at which the explosive mine is to float.

Then the entire apparatus is hove overboard. The plummet and anchor-chamber sink, while the spherical mine proper is kept on the surface for the moment by means of a buoyant air-chamber within. A windlass in the anchor-chamber now pays out the cable between it and the mine as the anchor-chamber sinks. On the plummet touching bottom, the tension in the cable between it and the anchor-chamber is lessened, and the windlass mentioned stops. The anchor-chamber thereupon sinks to the bottom, dragging down the spherical mine until that is at the selected depth ready for its deadly work.



CHAPTER XVII

AERO-MILITARY OPERATIONS

Aerial Attacks on Cities—Some of the Achievements of the Airmen in the Great War—Deeds of Heroism and Daring—Zeppelins in Action—Their Construction and Operation.

During the first ten weeks of the war German airmen flew over Paris several times and dropped bombs that did some damage. Aeroplanes, not Zeppelins, were used in these attempts to terrorize the capital and other cities of France.

The early visits of Zeppelin airships to Antwerp have been described in a previous chapter. These were continued up to the time of the fall of Antwerp. While comparatively few lives were lost through the explosion of the bombs dropped, the recurring attacks served to keep the inhabitants, if not the Belgian troops, in a state of constant excitement and fear. When the city fell into German hands, a similar condition arose in England, where it was feared that Antwerp might be made the base for German airship attacks on London and other cities of Great Britain; and all possible precautions were taken against such attacks. The members of the Royal Flying Corps were kept constantly on the alert; powerful searchlights swept the sky over London and the English coast every night and artillery was kept in readiness to repel an aerial invasion. Such was the condition in the third week of October.

BRITISH ATTACK ON DUSSELDORF

A new type of British aeroplane was developed during the war, capable of rising from the ground at a very sharp angle and of developing a speed of 150 miles an hour. And in their operations in France and Belgium the British army aviators proved themselves highly efficient and earned unstinted praise from Field Marshal Sir John French, in command of the British forces on the continent. One of their notable exploits was an attack, October 8, on the Zeppelin sheds at Dusseldorf and Cologne, in German territory. The attack was made by Lieut R.S.G. Marix, of the Naval Flying Corps, in a monoplane, and Squadron Commander Spencer Grey, with Lieut S.V. Lippe, in a biplane. Flying from Antwerp at a height of 5,000 feet, to escape the almost continuous German fire, Lieut. Marix succeeded in locating the Zeppelin hangars at Dusseldorf. Then descending to a height of only 1,000 feet he released two bombs when directly over them, damaging both hangars and aircraft. A German bullet passed through Lieut. Marix's cap and the wings of his aeroplane were pierced in a dozen places, but he succeeded in returning to the burning city of Antwerp, which he was ordered to leave the same evening.

During the same raid Commander Spencer Grey flew to Cologne. He was unable to locate the Zeppelin hangars but dropped two bombs into the railway station, which was badly damaged.

A night or two later a German Zeppelin flew over Ghent and dropped a bomb near the South station. On October 11 two German aviators dropped a score of bombs on different quarters of Paris, killing three civilians and injuring fourteen others. The property damage, however, was slight and the effectiveness of bomb-dropping as a means of destroying a city or fortifications remained to be proved to the military mind. It was noted that a large proportion of the bombs dropped by German aviators failed to explode.

HEROIC ACTS BY AIRMEN

Stories of heroism displayed by aviators on both sides of the great conflict have abounded. One story of the devotion of German airmen, told to a correspondent by several German officers, he succeeded in verifying, but was unable to learn the name of the particular hero of the occurrence. This story was as follows:

"In one of the battles around Rheims it became necessary to blow up a bridge which was about to be crossed by advancing French troops coming to relieve a beleaguered fort. The only way to destroy the bridge was for an airman to swoop down and drop an exceptionally powerful bomb upon it.

"There were twenty-four flyers with that division of the German army. A volunteer was asked for, it being first announced that the required task meant sure death to the man undertaking it.

"Every one of the twenty-four stepped forward without hesitation. Lots were quickly drawn. The chosen man departed without saying farewell to any one. Within five minutes the bridge was in ruins and the aeroplane and its heroic pilot had been blown to pieces. This incident was not published in the press of Germany, because of the fear that it would cause terrible anxiety to the wives of all married German flyers."

A DUEL HIGH IN THE AIR

An aerial victory for a French aviator, fought thousands of feet in the air in the presence of troops of both armies, was reported by Lieutenant de Laine of the French aerial corps on October 10. The air duel was one of the most thrilling since the war began. Lieutenant de Laine's account of the combat was as follows:

"I had been ordered to fly over the German lines with an observer who was to drop pamphlets. These pamphlets contained the following inscription:

"'German soldiers, attention! German officers say that the French maltreat prisoners. This is a lie. German prisoners are as well treated as unfortunate adversaries should be.'

"We had no sooner taken wing than the aeroplane was sighted by German observers in captive balloons anchored about six miles distant. Immediately two Albatross machines rose from the German camp and came forward.

"We continued to advance, meanwhile sending the aeroplane higher and higher until the barograph showed we were 6,000 feet above the ground. Our machine was speedier than the German Aeroplane, which was constructed of steel and was so heavy it could not work up the speed of the French army monoplane.

"We were able to get over the German lines and my companion began hurling thousands of the pamphlets in every direction. It was like a snowstorm.

"In the meantime, the German artillery got their long range air guns in action and were hurling volley after volley against us. The shells were of special type, designed to create violent air waves when they burst. We were too high to be reached, but we had to turn our attention to the two aeroplanes which were rushing toward us.

"As they approached the German artillery fire stopped. We were too high to distinguish what was going on beneath us, but I could imagine the thousands of soldiers staring skyward in wonder at the strange spectacle above them.

"We kept swinging in wide circles over the German lines and I kept getting higher and higher in order to outmaneuver the German plane and to prevent it from getting above us so that bombs could be thrown at us.

"The machines were all equipped with rapid-fire guns, and when we got within 100 yards of each other, both sides opened fire. The bullets went wide. Finally we began to swing backward, getting lower and lower. One of the German machines was thus lured over the French lines and our land artillery opened against it. One of its wings was shattered and it dropped, but the other aeroplane escaped."

HOW A GERMAN AVIATOR ESCAPED

How a German aviator in Belgium secured control of a falling aeroplane after his companion had been killed is described in a thrilling letter received by his father in Berlin September 30. It reads:

"Dear Father: I am lying here in a beautiful Belgian castle slowly recovering from wounds I thought would kill me. On August 22 I made a flight with Lieutenant J., a splendid aviator; established the fact that the enemy was advancing toward us. In the region of Bertrix we came into heavy rainclouds and had to descend to 3,000 feet. As we came through the clouds we were seen and an entire French division began shooting at us.

"Lieutenant J. was hit in the abdomen. Our motor was put out of commission. We were trying to volplane across a forest in the distance when suddenly I felt the machine give a jump. I turned around—as I was sitting in front—and found that a second bullet had hit Lieutenant J. in the head and killed him.

"I leaned over the back of the seat and managed to reach the steering apparatus and headed down. A hail of shots whistled about me. I felt something hit me in the forehead. Blood ran into my eyes. I was faint. But will prevailed and I retained consciousness. Just as we were near the ground a gust of wind hit the plane and turned my machine over. I fell in the midst of the enemy with my dead companion. The 'red trousers' were coming from all directions and I drew my pistol and shot three of them. I felt a bayonet at my breast and gave myself up for dead when an officer shouted: "'Let him live! He is a brave soldier.'

"I was taken to the commanding general of the Seventeenth French army corps, who questioned me, but, of course, got no information. He said I would later be sent to Paris, but as I was weak from loss of blood and seriously wounded I was taken into their field hospital and cared for. The officers were very nice to me and when the French fell back I took advantage of the confusion to crawl under a bush, where I remained until our troops came."

Many occurrences of a similarly thrilling character have been related in the camps of the contending armies. The above suffice to show the patriotic devotion and heroism of the military forces of the air, which for the first time in history have been a prominent feature of warfare in 1914.

ZEPPELINS IN ACTION

The real story of the performances of air-craft in the has not been told, but there has been enough to give the world a terrifying glimpse of these modern weapons.

The three attacks on Antwerp by a Zeppelin airship brought into action the long predicted onslaught by forces of the air against the ground. After one of the great German dirigibles had been brought down by gunfire because it was accidentally guided too near the earth, another returned over the city, and the havoc wrought by this single craft realizes the horrors that would follow any concerted attack by a fleet of the aerial destroyers if they were launched against a city.

The Zeppelin is an impressive thing because of its size, cigar-shaped and ranging from 300 to over 500 feet in length, driven at a rate of miles an hour by four propellers and carrying a huge car. It is most valuable for use at night, of course, but has proved it is capable of doing its deadly work out of range of ordinary gunfire at day. Artillery has been invented which can reach airships flying at 5,000 feet, but there is not much of it. The half dozen German Zeppelins which have been destroyed by French and Russian fire met their fate chiefly because they got too near the ground.

Refugees from Belgium describe the method used by Zeppelins in dropping bombs. The dirigible is kept as much as possible out of range of the enemy's guns while it lowers a steel cage, attached to a steel rope, 200 or 300 feet long. The cage carries a man who throws down the bombs. Because of the small size of the cage and the fact that it is kept constantly in motion it is difficult for heavy guns to hit it. The great airship remains perfectly stable while the missiles, of which there are a variety for different missions, are being hurled. All the military Zeppelins of Germany are armed and there are a large number of unarmed dirigibles in reserve.

It is estimated that there are 100 aeroplanes with the British forces on the continent. The French army has hundreds of aeroplanes of various kinds. Germany's fleet of flying machines has been in action continuously and the aviators have proved a big aid in scouting as well as in dropping bombs and grenades on the enemy.

The newest French aeroplanes are said to be equipped with boxes filled with thousands of "steel arrows."

These "arrows" are really steel bolts four inches long. When the aviator sails over the enemy he opens trapdoors of the "arrow" boxes with a simple device and lets showers of bolts fall on the men below. One of the "arrows" dropped 2,000 feet will go through a German helmet and a soldier's head. A shower of them would prove effective against a massed enemy.

On August 10 the correspondent of the London Times in Brussels, describing the fighting at Liege, said aerial fleets were used by both Belgians and Germans. The fighting in midair was desultory but deadly. A huge Zeppelin sailed over Liege during the early fighting. The fighting in midair was desultory but deadly. A huge Zeppelin sailed over Liege during the early fighting, but was pursued by a Belgian aeroplanist, who risked and lost his life in destroying it.



After the destruction of this Zeppelin the Germans confined their aerial activity to the use of scouting aeroplanes, several of which were destroyed by shots from the forts. Attempts to reach the aeroplanes with shells were often unsuccessful, however, owing to the inability to shoot high enough.

AVIATION CAMPS IN EUROPE

In the early days of the great war only an occasional flash of news was received about the French and Russian aero-military operations or those of the German corps along the Russian and French frontiers. It was difficult to imagine that they were idle, for the German-Russian and the French-German frontiers had been the locations of many military aeronautical camps or fortresses. These were described at the outbreak of hostilities as follows:

"Along the German frontier facing Russia are the important aero centers of Thorn and Graudenz, while the nearest aero base in Russia is at Riga, farther north.

"Against German invasion there are French centers at Verdun, Nancy, Luneville and Belfort. The most important is at Belfort. Sixty miles from the Belgian frontier and 170 miles from Liege is the great center at Rheims, with the even more important base at Chalons-sur-Marne only twenty-five miles distant.

"Seventy-five to 100 miles is the scouting range of the military aeroplanes, while the dirigibles will scout 500 to 1,000 miles from the base, according to the duration efficiency. The Zeppelins might, taking some risk, travel even farther. With this taken into consideration, the fact that there are only two German aero centers on the French frontier—Aix-la-Chapelle and Metz—is not very significant. The range of the Vosges occupies the territory where there is no aero center.

"Back of the mountains, along the Rhone from Dusseldorf to Strasbourg, there are a dozen aero stations, some of them devoted to aeroplanes and dirigibles, others to dirigibles alone.

"The latest data show that Germany has sixty stations, including private dirigible hangars, while France has thirty, in most cases of greater extent than those in Germany, Russia, eight months ago, had ten, but it is believed that this number has been increased twofold since that time.



"The two principal Belgian centers are at Brasschaet, near Antwerp, and Etterbeck, near Brussels. The aviators operating in the early engagements have undoubtedly flown down from Brussels and are in temporary camp at Liege. There are probably not more than four Belgian escadrilles, or little fleets of four machines each, on the scene, while Germany's force is supposedly greater."



CHAPTER XVIII

BATTLE OF THE AISNE

Most Prolonged Encounter in History Between Gigantic Forces—A Far-Flung Battle Line—Germans Face French and British in the Aisne Valley and Fight for Weeks—Mighty Armies Deadlocked After a Desperate and Bloody Struggle.

For a few days after the tide of battle in France turned in favor of the Allies (September 9), the German forces continued to retreat to the north, closely followed by the French and British armies that had fought and won the battle of the Marne, as described in a previous chapter. This northward movement was marked by heavy German losses in men and munitions of war, and lasted until Saturday, September 12, when the Germans were found to be occupying a position of great defensive strength on the River Aisne, north of Soissons. At that time they held both sides of the river and had a formidable line of intrenchments on the hills to the north of eight road bridges and two railway bridges crossing the Aisne. Seven of the road bridges and both the railway bridges had been destroyed.

The Allies gained some high ground south of the Aisne, overlooking the Aisne valley, east of Soissons. Then began (on Saturday, September 12) an action along the Aisne which was destined to go down in history as the greatest and most prolonged battle of all time. Two days, three days, a week, two weeks, three, four, five weeks it lasted, with varying fortune to the contending armies, but no decisive result. Germans, French and British, literally by the thousand, fell under the continuous hail of shrapnel, the hurricane of machine-gun and rifle fire, or in the desperate bayonet charges of daily occurrence, but still the battle raged. Minor positions were gained and lost, towns and villages along the far-flung battle line were occupied and evacuated, countless deeds of heroism were wrought, to be sung and celebrated by posterity in a dozen different lands—but the lines on both sides held and victory refused to perch on any banner.

Modern scientific strategy exhausted its utmost efforts; flanking and turning movements were planned, attempted and failed; huge masses of men were hurled against each other in every formation known to military skill; myriads of lives and millions of money were sacrificed in historic endeavors to breach the enemy's front—but ever the foeman held his ground and neither side could claim decided advantage. Intrenchments such as the world has never seen before covered the countryside for fifty miles. Teuton, Gaul and Anglo-Saxon, Turco and Hindu, literally "dug themselves in," and refused to budge an inch, though hell itself, in all its horror and its fury, was loosed against them.

And thus the battle of the Aisne—also aptly called, from its extent and ramifications, the battle of the Rivers—continued through many weeks while all the world wondered and stood aghast at the slaughter, and the single gleam of brightness that came out of that maelstrom of death and misery was the growing respect of Frenchman, German and Briton for the individual and collective courage of each other and the death-defying devotion that was daily displayed by all.

FIGHTING CONTINUOUS DAY AND NIGHT

Beginning as an artillery duel in which the field-guns of the French and Germans were matched against each other from opposite heights as never before, the battle of the Aisne soon resolved itself into a series of daily actions in which every arm of the opposing hosts engaged. There was little rest for the troops day or night. Artillery fire beginning at daybreak and continuing till dusk might break out again at any hour of the night, the range of the enemy's intrenchments being known. Frequently the artillery seemed to open fire in the still watches of the night for no other reason than to prevent the enemy in his trenches from getting any sleep at all, and many a man was borne to the rear on both sides suffering from no wound, but from utter exhaustion—a state of collapse which is often as deadly as shrapnel to the soldier in the field.

For weeks at a time the only real rest for many of the troops engaged along the line of battle came in snatches of a few hours when they were temporarily relieved by fresh troops brought up from the rear, and these in their turn might be soon exhausted by the continuous strain of keeping on the alert to repel attacks—or, as frequently happened, their ranks might be decimated, or worse, when they were ordered to a charge. Officers and men suffered alike from the strenuous nature of the demands made upon them—and so far as actual casualties are concerned the battle was one in which officers of all ranks, in all the armies, suffered perhaps more severely, in proportion to the number engaged, than in any previous battle. Hundreds of British officers, for example, were among the victims whose bones lie rotting in the valley of the Aisne, as whole pages of their portraits in the London journals, bearing many of the best known names in the British Empire, testified in mute protest against the horrors of war. And both Germany and France have a similar "roll of honor."

REPORTS OF THE BATTLE

While the great battle of the Rivers was in progress the most connected stories of its daily developments came through the British official news bureau, and these are reproduced in part in the pages that follow. The author of these reports is believed to be Colonel Swinton, of Field Marshal French's staff, who is generally credited with having contributed to the literature of the war some of the most interesting and enlightening accounts of the operations of the British and French armies in the field. And these reports are given here, because of their general character of apparent truth and fairness, and in the absence of any similar reports from the other side.

OPENING OF THE GREAT BATTLE

The following report from the British headquarters covers the period when the Allies' forward movement was halted along the Aisne and also describes the terrain, or country, in which the subsequent fighting occurred:

"From Thursday, September 10, the British army made steady progress in its endeavor to drive back the enemy in co-operation with the French. The country across which it had to force its way, and will have to continue to do so, is undulating and covered with patches of thick wood.

"Within the area which faced the British before the advance commenced, right up to Laon, the chief feature of tactical importance is the fact that there are six rivers running across the direction of the advance, at all of which it was possible that the Germans might make resistance. These rivers are, in order from the south, the Marne, Ourcq, Vesle, Aisne, Ailette and Oise.

"The Germans held the line of the Marne, which was crossed by our forces on September 9, as a purely rearguard operation. Our passage of the Ourcq was not contested. The Vesle was only lightly held, while resistance along the Aisne, both against the French and the British, has been and still is of a determined character.

"On Friday, September 11, but little opposition was met with along any part of our front, and the direction of the advance was, for the purpose of co-operating with our allies, turned slightly to the northeast. The day was spent in rushing forward and gathering in various hostile detachments. By nightfall our forces had reached a line north of the Ourcq, extending from Oulchy-le-Chateau to Longpont.

"On this day there was also a general advance of the French along their whole line, which ended in a substantial success, in one portion of the field Duke Albrecht of Wuerttemburg's army being driven back across the Saulx, and elsewhere the whole of the artillery of a German corps being captured. Several German colors also were taken.

"It was only on this day that the full extent of the victory gained by the Allies on September 8 [at the Marne] was appreciated by them, and the moral effect of this success has been enormous. An order dated September 6 and 7, issued by the commander of the German Seventh Corps, was picked up. It stated that the great object of the war was about to be attained, since the French were going to accept battle, and that upon the result of this battle would depend the issue of the war and the honor of the German armies.

"On Saturday, the 12th, the enemy were found to be occupying a very formidable position opposite us on the north of the line at Soissons. Working from the west to the east, our Third Army Corps gained some high ground south of the Aisne overlooking the Aisne valley, to the east of Soissons. Here a long-range artillery duel between our guns and those of the French on our left and the enemy's artillery on the hills continued during the greater part of the day, and did not cease until nearly midnight. The enemy had a very large number of heavy howitzers in well-concealed positions.

"At Braisne the First cavalry division met with considerable opposition from infantry and machine-guns holding the town and guarding the bridge. With the aid of some of our infantry it gained possession of the town about midday, driving the enemy to the north. Some hundred prisoners were captured around Braisne, where the Germans had thrown a large amount of field-gun ammunition into the river, where it was visible under two feet of water.

FATEFUL ENCOUNTER BEGINS

"On our right the French reached the line of the River Vesle. On this day began an action along the Aisne which is not yet finished, and which may be merely of a rearguard nature on a large scale, or may be the commencement of a battle of a more serious nature.

"It rained heavily on Saturday afternoon and all through the night, which severely handicapped transport.

"On Sunday, the 13th, extremely strong resistance was encountered by the whole of our front, which was some fifteen miles in length. The action still consisted for the most part of a long-range gunfire, that of the Germans being to a great extent from their heavy howitzers, which were firing from cleverly concealed positions. Some of the actual crossings of the Aisne were guarded by strong detachments of infantry with machine-guns.

"By nightfall portions of all our three army corps were across the river, the cavalry returning to the south side. By early next morning, three pontoon bridges had been built, and our troops also managed to get across the river by means of the bridge carrying the canal over the river.

"On our left the French pressed on, but were prevented by artillery fire from building a pontoon bridge at Soissons. A large number of infantry, however, crossed in single file the top girder of the railway bridge left standing.

"During the last three or four days many isolated parties of Germans have been discovered hiding in the numerous woods a long way behind our line. As a rule they seemed glad to surrender, and the condition of some of them may be gathered from the following incident:

"An officer proceeding along the road in charge of a number of led horses received information that there were some of the enemy in the neighborhood. He gave the order to charge, whereupon three German officers and 106 men surrendered.

RHEIMS OCCUPIED BY GERMANS

"Rheims was occupied by the enemy on September 3. It was reoccupied by the French after considerable fighting on September 13.

"On the 12th, a proclamation, a copy of which is in the possession of the British army, was posted all over the town. A literal translation of this poster follows:

"'PROCLAMATION—In the event of an action being fought early today or in the immediate future in the neighborhood of Rheims, the inhabitants are warned that they must remain absolutely calm and must in no way try to take part in the fighting. They must not attempt to attack either isolated soldiers or detachments of the German army. The erection of barricades, the taking up of paving stones in the streets in a way to hinder the movement of troops, or, in a word, any action that may embarrass the German army, is formally forbidden.

"'With an idea to securing adequately the safety of the troops and to instill calm into the population of Rheims, the persons named below have been seized as hostages by the commander-in-chief of the German army. These hostages will be hanged at the slightest attempt at disorder. Also, the town will be totally or partially burned and the inhabitants will be hanged for any infraction of the above.

"'By order of the German authorities. (Signed) "'THE MAYOR.'

"Here followed the names of eighty-one of the principal inhabitants of Rheims, with their addresses, including four priests, and ending with the words, 'And some others.'"

HOW THE BATTLE DEVELOPED

The following descriptive report from Field Marshal Sir John French's headquarters was issued September 22:

"At the date of the last narrative, September 14, the Germans were making a determined resistance along the River Aisne. The opposition has proved to be more serious than was anticipated.

"The action now being fought by the Germans along their line is naturally on a scale which, as to extent of ground covered and duration of resistance, makes it undistinguishable in its progress from what is known as a 'pitched battle.'

"So far as we are concerned, the action still being contested is the battle of the Aisne. The foe we are fighting is just across that river, along the whole of our front to the east and west. The struggle is not confined to the valley of that river, though it will probably bear its name.

"On Monday, the 14th, those of our troops which had on the previous day crossed the Aisne, after driving in the German rearguards on that evening, found portions of the enemy's forces in prepared defensive positions on the right bank and could do little more than secure a footing north of the river. This, however, they maintained in spite of two counter-attacks delivered at dusk and 10 p.m., in which the fighting was severe.

"During the 14th strong reinforcements of our troops were passed to the north bank, the troops crossing by ferry, by pontoon bridges, and by the remains of permanent bridges. Close co-operation with the French forces was maintained and the general progress made was good, although the opposition was vigorous and the state of the roads, after the heavy rain, made movements slow.

FIRST CORPS MAKES CAPTURE

"One division alone failed to secure the ground it expected to. The First Army Corps, after repulsing repeated attacks, captured prisoners and twelve guns. The cavalry also took a number of prisoners.

"There was a heavy rain throughout the night of September 14th, and during the 15th the situation of the British forces underwent no essential change. But it became more and more evident that the defensive preparations made by the enemy were more extensive than was at first apparent. The Germans bombarded our lines nearly all day, using heavy guns brought, no doubt, from before Maubeuge as well as those with the corps.

"All the German counter-attacks, however, failed, although in some places they were repeated six times. One made on the Fourth Guards Brigade was repulsed with heavy slaughter.

"Further counter-attacks made during the night were beaten off. Rain came on towards evening and continued intermittently until 9 a.m., on the 16th. Besides adding to the discomfort of the soldiers holding the line, the wet weather to some extent hampered the motor transport service, which was also hindered by broken bridges.

"On Wednesday, the 16th, there was little change in the situation opposite the British; the efforts made by the enemy were less active than on the previous day, though their bombardment continued throughout the morning and evening.

"On Thursday, the 17th, the situation still remained unchanged in its essentials. The German heavy artillery fire was more active than on the previous day. The only infantry attacks made by the enemy were on the extreme right of our position, and, as had happened before, they were repulsed with heavy loss, chiefly on this occasion by our field artillery.

NATURE OF THE FIGHTING

"In order to convey some idea of the nature of the fighting it may be said that along the greater part of our front the Germans have been driven back from the forward slopes on the north of the river. Their infantry are holding strong lines of trenches amongst and along the edges of the numerous woods which crown the slopes. These trenches are elaborately constructed and cleverly concealed. In many places there are wire entanglements and lengths of rabbit fencing.

"Both woods and open are carefully aligned, so that they can be swept by rifle fire and machine-guns, which are invisible from our side of the valley. The ground in front of the infantry is also, as a rule, under cross fire from the field artillery placed on neighboring heights, and under high angle fire from pieces placed well back behind the woods on top of the plateau.

"A feature of this action, as of the previous fighting, is the use by the enemy of numerous heavy howitzers, with which they are able to direct long range fire all over the valley and right across it. Upon these they evidently place great reliance.

"Where our men are holding the forward edges of the high ground on the north side they are now strongly intrenched. They are well fed, and in spite of the wet weather of the last week are cheerful and confident.

HEAVY BOMBARDMENT BY BOTH SIDES

"The bombardment by both sides has been heavy, and on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday was practically continuous. Nevertheless, in spite of the general din caused by the reports of the immense number of heavy guns in action along our front on Wednesday, the arrival of the French force acting against the German right flank was at once announced on the east of our front some miles away by the continuous roar of their quick-firing artillery, with which the attack was opened.

"So far as the British are concerned, the greater part of this week has been passed in bombardment, in gaining ground by degrees, and in beating back severe counter-attacks with heavy slaughter. Our casualties have been severe, but it is probable that those of the enemy are heavier.

"The rain has caused a great drop in the temperature and there is more than a distant feeling of autumn in the air.

"On our right and left the French have been fighting fiercely and have been gradually gaining ground. One village already has been captured and recaptured twice by each side and at the time of writing remains in the hands of the Germans.

"The fighting has been at close quarters and of the most desperate nature, and the streets of the village are filled with dead of both sides.

CHEERING MESSAGE TO THE FRENCH

"As an example of the spirit which is inspiring our allies the following translation of an Ordre du Jour (order of the day), published on September 9, after the battle of Montmirail, by the commander of the French Fifth Army, is given:

"'Soldiers: Upon the memorable fields of Montmirail, of Vauchamps, of Champaubert, which a century ago witnessed the victories of our ancestors over Bluecher's Prussians, your vigorous offensive has triumphed over the resistance of the Germans. Held on his flanks, his center broken, the enemy now is retreating towards the east and north by forced marches. The most renowned army corps of old Prussia, the contingents of Westphalia, of Hanover, of Brandenburg, have retired in haste before you.

"'This first success is no more than the prelude. The enemy is shaken but not yet decisively beaten. You have still to undergo severe hardships, to make long marches, to fight hard battles. May the image of our country, soiled by barbarians, always remain before your eyes! Never was it more necessary to sacrifice all for her.

"'Saluting the heroes who have fallen in the fighting of the last few days, my thoughts turn toward you, the victors in the last battle. Forward, soldiers, for France!'

LETTER FROM A GERMAN SOLDIER

"So many letters and statements of our wounded soldiers have been published in our newspapers that the following epistle from a German soldier of the Seventy-fourth Infantry regiment, Tenth Corps, to his wife also may be of interest:

"'My Dear Wife: I have just been living through days that defy imagination. I should never have thought that men could stand it. Not a second has passed but my life has been in danger, and yet not a hair of my head has been hurt.

"'It was horrible; it was ghastly, but I have been saved for you and for our happiness, and I take heart again, although I am still terribly unnerved. God grant that I may see you again soon and that this horror may soon be over.

"'None of us can do any more; human strength is at an end. I will try to tell you about it. On September 5 the enemy were reported to be taking up a position near St. Prix, southeast of Paris. The Tenth Corps, which had made an astonishingly rapid advance of course, was attacked on Sunday.

"'Steep slopes led up to the heights, which were held in considerable force. With our weak detachments of the Seventy-fourth and Ninety-first regiments we reached the crest and came under a terrible artillery fire that mowed us down. However, we entered St. Prix. Hardly had we done so than we were met with shell fire and a violent fusillade from the enemy's infantry. Our colonel was badly wounded—he is the third we have had. Fourteen men were killed around me. We got away in a lull without my being hit.

"'The 7th, 8th, and 9th of September we were constantly under shell and shrapnel fire and suffered terrible losses. I was in a house which was hit several times. The fear of death, of agony, which is in every man's heart, and naturally so, is a terrible feeling. How often I have thought of you, my darling, and what I suffered in that terrifying battle which extended along a front of many miles near Montmirail, you cannot possibly imagine.

"'Our heavy artillery was being used for the siege of Maubeuge. We wanted it badly, as the enemy had theirs in force and kept up a furious bombardment. For four days I was under artillery fire. It was like hell, but a thousand times worse.

"'On the night of the 9th the order was given to retreat, as it would have been madness to attempt to hold our position with our few men, and we should have risked a terrible defeat the next day. The first and third armies had not been able to attack with us, as we had advanced too rapidly. Our morale was absolutely broken; in spite of unheard-of sacrifices we had achieved nothing.

"'I cannot understand how our army, after fighting three great battles and being terribly weakened, was sent against a position which the enemy had prepared for three weeks, but, naturally, I know nothing of the intentions of our chiefs; they say nothing has been lost.

"'In a word, we retired towards Cormontreuil and Rheims by forced marches by day and night. We hear that three armies are going to get into line, intrench and rest, and then start afresh our victorious march on Paris. It was not a defeat, only a strategic retreat. I have confidence in our chiefs that everything will be successful.

"'Our first battalion, which has fought with unparalleled bravery, is reduced from 1,200 to 194 men. These numbers speak for themselves.'"

EVENTS FROM SEPTEMBER 21 TO

The next report from the official chronicler at the front, dated September 24, was in part as follows:

"The enemy is still maintaining himself along the whole front, and in order to do so is throwing into the fight detachments composed of units from the different formations, the active army, reserve, and landwehr, as is shown by the uniforms of prisoners recently captured.

"Our progress, although slow on account of the strength of the defensive positions against which we are pressing, has in certain directions been continuous, but the present battle may well last for some days more before a decision is reached, since it now approximates nearly to siege warfare.

"The nature of the general situation after the operations of the 18th, 19th, and 20th, cannot better be summarized than as expressed recently by a neighboring French commander to his corps: 'Having repulsed repeated and violent counterattacks made by the enemy, we have a feeling that we have been victorious.'

"So far as the British are concerned, the course of events during these three days can be described in a few words. During Friday, the 18th, artillery fire was kept up intermittently by both sides during daylight. At night the Germans counter-attacked certain portions of our line, supporting the advance of their infantry as always by a heavy bombardment. But the strokes were not delivered with great vigor and ceased about 2 a.m. During the day's fighting an aircraft gun of the Third Army Corps succeeded in bringing down a German aeroplane.

ARTILLERY FIRE BECOMES MONOTONOUS

"On Saturday, the 19th, the bombardment was resumed by the Germans at an early hour and continued intermittently under reply from our guns, which is a matter of normal routine rather than an event.

"Another hostile aeroplane was brought down by us, and one of our aviators succeeded in dropping several bombs over the German line, one incendiary bomb falling with considerable effect on a transport park near LaFere.

"A buried store of the enemy's munitions of war also was found not far from the Aisne, ten wagonloads of live shells and two wagons of cable being dug up. Traces were discovered of large quantities of stores having been burned—all tending to show that as far back as the Aisne the German retirement was hurried.

"On Sunday, the 20th, nothing of importance occurred until the afternoon, when there was an interval of feeble sunshine, which was hardly powerful enough to warm the soaking troops. The Germans took advantage of this brief spell of fine weather to make several attacks against different points. These were all repulsed with loss to the enemy, but the casualties incurred by us were by no means light.