The United States did not follow European types of engines, but in a wonderfully short time developed an engine standardized in the most recent efficiency of American industries.

According to Secretary of War Baker, an inspiring feature of this work was the aid rendered by consulting engineers and motor manufacturers, who gave up their trade secrets under the emergency of war needs. Realizing that the new design would be a government design and no firm or individual would reap selfish benefit because of its making, the motor manufacturers, nevertheless, patriotically revealed their trade secrets and made available trade processes of great commercial value. These industries also contributed the services of approximately two hundred of their best draftsmen. Parts of the first engine were turned out at twelve different factories, located all the way from Connecticut to California. When the parts were assembled the adjustment was perfect and the performance of the engine was wonderfully gratifying.

Thirty days after the assembling of the first engine preliminary tests justified the government in formally accepting the engine as the best aircraft engine produced in any country. The final tests confirmed the faith in the new motor.

British and French machines as a rule were not adapted to American manufacturing methods. They were highly specialized machines, requiring much hand work from mechanics, who were, in fact, artisans.

The standardized United States aviation engine, produced under government supervision, said Secretary of War Baker, was expected "to solve the problem of building first-class, powerful and yet comparatively delicate aviation engines by American machine methods—the same standardized methods which revolutionized the automobile industry in this country."

The manufacture of De Haviland airplanes equipped with Liberty motors was a factor in the war. One of these De Havilands without tuning up, made a non-stop trip on November 11, 1918, from Dayton, Ohio, to Washington, D. C., a distance of 430 miles, in three hours and fifty minutes. Great battle squadrons of these De Haviland planes equipped with Liberty motors made bombing raids over the German lines in the Verdun sector. Others operated as scouting and reconnaissance planes and as spotters for American artillery.

In the period from September 12th to 11 o'clock on the morning on November 11th, the American aviators brought down 473 German machines. Of this number, 353 were confirmed officially. Day bombing groups, from the time they began operations, dropped a total of 116,818 kilograms of bombs within the German lines.

Bombing operations were begun in August by the 96th Squadron, which in five flying days dropped 18,080 kilograms of bombs. The first day bombardment group began work in September, the group including the 96th, the 20th and 11th Squadrons. The 166th Squadron joined the group in November.

In twelve flying days in September the bombers dropped 3,466 kilograms of bombs; in fifteen flying days in October, 46,133 kilograms, and in four flying days in November, 17,979 kilograms.

On November 11th, the day of the signing of the armistice, there were actually engaged on the front 740 American planes, 744 pilots, 457 observers and 23 aerial gunners.

Of the total number of planes, 329 were of the pursuit type, 296 were for observation and 115 were bombers. In addition, several hundred planes of various types were being used at the instruction camps when the war ended.

America, although the last of the great nations to embark upon a great aircraft production program, was the birthplace of the airplane, the Wright Brothers being the undisputed inventors of the modern type.

Wilbur and Orville Wright made their first experiments in flying at Kittyhawk, N. C. Their first attempts were of a gliding nature and were accomplished by starting from the top of a dune or sand hill, the operator lying full length, face downward, on the under plane of the machine. During these experiments they succeeded in flying six hundred feet.

Their first flight with an airplane driven by a motor was on December 17, 1903, when they succeeded in flying about two hundred and seventy yards in fifty-nine seconds. This machine was driven by a sixteen-horse-power motor.

Santos Dumont was one of the early pioneers in aeronautical experiments. After showing a marked talent with balloons, he turned his attention to heavier-than-air machines, and in 1906 created a world's record in a flight of 230 yards at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour.

In 1907 Henry Farnum made a half circular flight in a Voisin biplane, using a fifty-horse-power motor, returning to his starting point. About this time a flight of nine minutes and fifteen seconds was recorded by Delagrande on a Voisin constructed biplane.

The first previously announced public flight was made on July 4, 1908, by Glenn H. Curtiss at Hammondsport, N. Y., and was witnessed by a number of New Yorkers who had gone to Hammondsport to see the flight.

In the winter of 1913-14 Mr. Rodman Wanamaker gave Glenn H. Curtiss a commission to build a flying boat which would fly across the Atlantic. Commander Porte was brought from England, and he, with Mr. Curtiss, worked out the designs for a flying boat much larger than any previously built, and fitted with two motors instead of one. As entirely separate power plants would be used, one motor would naturally run somewhat faster than the other, and it was freely predicted that the machine could not be handled. The first trial, however, proved that it would not only fly, but that after it was once in the air, one motor could be slowed down and even stopped and the machine continue to fly. This machine was the forerunner of the seaplane, used by the American, British and other navies in the war, although somewhat changed in detail. The beginning of the war stopped the transatlantic experiments and this machine found its way into the British navy. It was christened the "America," and the larger flying boats or seaplanes which are now being built and used by the British and American navies are still known as the "America" or super-American type.

At first fighting operations were carried out by individual aviators or comparatively small squadrons, but the battles of March, 1918, witnessed the definite development of larger squadrons, maneuvering as effectively as bodies of cavalry, and in massed formation attacking infantry columns. The possibilities of the new aerial arm were further demonstrated in the creation of a barrage, as effective as that of heavy artillery, for the purpose of holding back advancing bodies of infantry.

In the first days of the German offensive there took place an aerial battle which up to that time was unique in the annals of warfare. It was a battle not merely for the purpose of gaining the mastery of the air, but to aid Allied infantry and artillery in stemming the tide of the German advance, and when the drive finally slowed down and came to a halt in Picardy, the Allied airmen had undoubtedly contributed largely to the result.

During March 21 and 22, 1918—the opening days of the great German drive—there was comparatively little aerial activity. The aviators of both sides were preparing for the impending battle, which actually began on the morning of March 23d and lasted all that day and the day following.

The story of the air battle of March 23d-24th reads like one of the most extraordinary adventure tales ever imagined. The struggle began with squadrons of airplanes ascending and maneuvering as perfectly as cavalry. They rose to dizzy heights, and, descending, swept the air close to the ground. The individual pilots of the opposing sides then began executing all manner of movements, climbing, diving, turning in every direction, and seeking to get into the best position to pour machine-gun fire into enemy airplanes. Every few minutes a machine belonging to an Allied or German squadron crashed to the ground, often in flames. At the end of the first day's fighting wrecked airplanes and the mangled bodies of aviators lay strewn all over the battle-field.

All next day, March 24th, the struggle in the air went on with unabated fury. The Allied air squadrons were now on the offensive and penetrated far inside the German lines. The German aviators counter-attacked whenever they could, and more than once succeeded in crossing the French lines. But at the close of the second day victory rested with the Allied airmen, and during the next five scarcely a German airplane took the air.

The sudden termination of the war caused speculation throughout the world concerning the future of the airplane. When rumor declared that America's newly-won pre-eminence in aviation would disappear, Captain Roy N. Francis, of the Division of Military Aeronautics, made this statement.

America cannot afford to junk the airplane fleet which has cost her so many millions of dollars. I do not believe that any other nation will do so. Even if the peace congress should decide on universal disarmament, there are still any number of uses to which airplanes can be put in time of peace.

Take the air mail service, for instance. This is now only in its infancy, but it is destined to become as common as the railway mail service. It will employ hundreds of airplanes and aviators all over the country.

Then there is the possibility of our machines being used for seacoast patrol work, a valuable addition to our coast-guard forces which save many ocean vessels from disaster every year.

They will be largely used for army dispatch work. Instead of sending official messages from post to post by the present methods, airplanes will be used after the war as they are now being used at the front.

On the Great Lakes, airplanes can be used for coast-guard work, as on the seacoast, and they can also be used for patrolling the lakes themselves. Think how many wrecked lake vessels might have been saved in the past had there been an airplane nearby to carry its message of distress and guide rescue ships to the scene.

Forest patrol is still another opening for the use of expert aviators. Every year, almost, our great forest fires in the northwest demonstrate that our present methods of prevention of forest fires are faulty; chiefly because the fires are not discovered while they are still smoldering. Constant airplane patrol over our great forests would make forest fires a thing of the past.

Then there are any number of commercial uses to which airplanes can be put. Instead of a cargo of bombs, a commercial airplane could carry a cargo of small package freight for which immediate delivery is necessary.

The use of the airplane for passenger carrying is now being developed. The huge Caproni and Handley-Page machines will be used for this purpose in the future. Thousands of persons will want to fly just for the novelty, and the possibility of accidents will be reduced to the minimum.

Again, there is the need for scientific research and improvement of the airplane, which will keep scores of men and machines busy for years.

It will not be necessary, of course, to maintain the numerous government training fields for aviators after the war, but some of the best of them should be retained. I do not believe it will be necessary to discharge a single pilot or observer from the army or to junk a single undamaged airplane after the war.

Henry Woodhouse, Governor of the Aero Club of America and a world-wide authority on aeronautics, made the following forecast:

Aircraft capable of lifting fifteen tons, with a speed of one hundred miles an hour, are now in actual production. The first of the American-built Caproni planes, equipped with four Liberty motors and developing 1,750 horse-power has just been successfully tested. This giant plane has a total lifting capacity of 40,000 pounds, or twenty tons. The super-Handley-Page or the Caproni could easily carry fifty bags, or more than a ton of mail. This means 100,000 letters. Judging the future development of aircraft by what has taken place in the last two years, we may look for the building of a 5,000-horse-power airplane, possibly within a year.

If the people of the various cities along the eight great air-ways already proposed insist on it, at least a dozen additional aerial mail lines can be established within twelve months. This can be done by utilizing only machines not needed by the army or navy. That means it will be possible to send by postplane at least 50,000,000 of the 100,000,000 day and night letters, and at least 25,000,000 of the 50,000,000 special delivery letters that are sent each year in the United States.

Postoffice officials estimate that the average cost of telegraphic day and night letters now going over the wires is close to one dollar each. Special delivery letters average about thirteen cents apiece.

This makes a total of more than fifty million dollars' worth of potential aerial mail business that is simply waiting for the establishment of aerial mail routes which can easily be established within the next twelve months.

Four hundred miles is the distance over which postplane day mail is most effective. Aerial mail letters are effective over any distance, since, with proper stations, light signals and guides for night postplane flying, the air mail can be carried more than one thousand miles between the hours of 6 P. M. and 8 A. M.

The cost of aerial mail night and day letters will be less than that of wire communication. The cost of an aerial mail letter is sixteen cents for two ounces. For this price there can be sent a message that would cost five dollars to send by telegraph.

The estimate of $50,000,000 of potential postplane business takes no account of the possibilities of transporting parcel post aerial mail. One of the Caproni 2,100-horse-power machines now in operation could easily transport 2,500 pounds of mail. At least $25,000,000 worth of parcel post could be sent by airplane.

Enthusiasts who look forward to the transatlantic transportation of aerial mail as certain to come within the next twelve-month assert that there is another twenty-five million dollars' worth of transatlantic mail waiting for an aerial mail service. They point out that Uncle Sam now pays eighty cents a pound to American steamships to carry transatlantic mail and that a charge of one dollar per letter across the Atlantic would be a paying proposition.



Copyright Illustrated London News. PICKING ONE "OFF THE TAIL" The German Albatross airplane going down in flames was in pursuit of the light British "Quick" machine seen on the left, when suddenly a British Nieuport (at the right) dived through the clouds. The Albatross nose-dived, the British following with his guns working, and soon the German burst into flames and crashed to earth, his pursuer straightening out his course.



CARRYING THE WAR INTO GERMANY Mechanics "tuning up" one of the giant British bombing machines developed in 1918 that raided Germany. The size is shown by comparison with the human figures. Note the forward gunner, the pilot, the rear gunner and the window of the commodious cock-pit within which the airmen could stand upright.

Charges of mismanagement and graft were investigated by the United States Senate and by the Department of Justice. Former Justice of the United States Supreme Court Charles E. Hughes was named by President Wilson to conduct the latter inquiry. Waste was found, due largely to the emergency nature of the contract. Justice Hughes recommended that Col. Edward Deeds, of the United States Signal Corps, be tried by court martial for his connection with certain contracts, and recommended that several other persons be tried in the United States courts. Justice Hughes and the Senate Investigation Committee gave their unqualified approval to the management of America's aircraft production by John D. Ryan. Mr. Ryan resigned his charge as head of the Aircraft Production Board in November, 1918. His last public announcement was of the invention of an aerial telephone, by which the commander of a squadron standing on the ground could communicate with-aviators flying in battle formation.



CHAPTER XLIX

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS OF THE AMERICAN FORCES

Since the fateful day when Cain slew Abel, thereby setting a precedent for human warfare, no fighter has been so well protected from disease and discomfort of mind and body, so speedily cured of his wounds, as the American soldier and sailor during the World War.

The basis of this remarkable achievement was sanitary education preached first by competent physicians and sociologists; then by newspapers to the civilian population; and ultimately by the soldiers and sailors themselves, each man acting as an evangel of personal and community health and sanitation. In 1914, before war was declared, the words "venereal diseases" were relegated to the advertisements of quacks and patent medicines. When the war ended, virtually every young and old man and woman knew the meaning of the words and the miseries that come in their train. So it was with other details of the care of the human body, with sewage problems, with the grave community question of pure water, with the use of intoxicating beverages, and with other problems inter-woven with the health and happiness of humanity.

Among the leaders in this wide-flung campaign of education was the American Red Cross. Starting with a mere nominal membership before the war, its roster rose to the mighty total of more than 28,000,000 American men, women and children when the war ended. More than $300,000,000 was poured into the American Red Cross treasury. In addition to these contributions of money, came the free services of millions of Americans, mostly women. Red Cross workshops dotted the land, and from these came bandages, sweaters, comfort-kits, trench necessities, clothing for homeless refugees, and a vast quantity of material aid in every conceivable form. American Red Cross workers during the war knitted 14,089,000 garments for the army and navy. In addition, the workers turned out 253,196,000 surgical dressings, 22,255,000 hospital garments and 1,464,000 refugee garments. Sewing chapters repaired old clothing and sent it overseas to the orphaned and the widowed, and millions of Americans learned the sublime lesson of sacrifice through the Red Cross—a lesson that left its imprint upon America for generations.

The work of the American Red Cross extended through many lands. It followed the flags of the Entente Allies into Palestine, Mesopotamia, India, South Africa, and other battle-grounds. Its work on the western front was a miracle of achievement. In Russia through the Red Terror of the Revolution the workers of the American Red Cross went serenely about their tasks of mercy, relieving the hungry, aiding the sick, and clothing the ragged peasants.

Henry P. Davidson left the firm of J. P. Morgan & Company to devote his administrative genius to the affairs of the American Red Cross. Other men and women of rare executive ability joined in the free tender of their services to the work of the Red Cross.

While the organization strove mightily against famines, wounds and disease overseas, it was suddenly confronted during the period from September 8th to November 9th, 1918, with the severest epidemic America had experienced in generations. Returning American troops brought the germs of the malady known as "Spanish influenza" into New York and Boston. Thence it spread throughout the country. During its brief career the epidemic claimed a total of 82,306 deaths in forty-six American cities, having a combined population of 23,000,000. Philadelphia, a great center of war industry, with the Philadelphia Navy Yard harboring thousands of sailors and marines, showed the highest mortality in proportion to population, 7.4 per 1,000; Baltimore with 6.7 per 1,000 showed the next greatest mortality.

The record of the Red Cross in this epidemic was one of instant service. Hundreds of thousands of masks were made in Red Cross workrooms, and these were worn by nurses and by members of families in afflicted homes.

On May 1, 1917, just before the appointment of the War Council, the American Red Cross had 486,194 members working through 562 chapters. On July 31, 1918, the organization numbered 20,648,103 annual members, besides 8,000,000 members of the Junior Red Cross—a total enrollment of over one-fourth the population of the United States. These members carried on their Red Cross work through 3,854 chapters, which again divided themselves into some 30,000 branches and auxiliaries.

The total actual collections from the first war fund amounted to more than $115,000,000. The subscriptions to the second war fund amounted to upward of $176,000,000. From membership dues the collections approximated $24,500,000.

The Home Service of the Red Cross with its more than 40,000 workers, extended its ministrations of sympathy and counsel each month to upward of 100,000 families left behind by soldiers at the front.

Supplementing, but not duplicating, the work of the American Red Cross, were the services of the Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., Knights of Columbus, Jewish Welfare Association, Salvation Army, American Library Association and other bodies.

These operated under the general supervision of the War and Navy departments: Commissions on Training Camp Activities. Raymond B. Fosdick was the chairman of both these bodies. Concerning these commissions, President Wilson declared:

I do not believe it an exaggeration to say that no army ever before assembled has had more conscientious and painstaking thought given to the protection and stimulation of its mental, moral and physical manhood. Every endeavor has been made to surround the men, both here and abroad, with the kind of environment which a democracy owes to those who fight in its behalf. In this work the Commissions on Training Camp Activities have represented the government and the government's solicitude that the moral and spiritual resources of the nation should be mobilized behind the troops. The country is to be congratulated upon the fine spirit with which organizations and groups of many kinds, some of them of national standing, have harnessed themselves together under the leadership of the government's agency in a common ministry to the men of the army and navy.

Afloat and ashore the organizations operating under the supervision of the two commissions gave to the men of the American forces home care, suitable recreation, and constant protection. The club life of the army and navy, both in the training camps and after the men went into the service, was most capably directed by the Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, and the Jewish Welfare Association. Non-sectarianism was the rule in all of the huts and clubs conducted by these organizations. Catholic, Protestant and Jewish chaplains mingled with workers of the Salvation Army, with professional prize-fighters who became athletic instructors, with actors and actresses who contributed their talents freely to the entertainment of soldiers and sailors. Moving-picture shows, boxing contests, continuation schools, canteens where women workers served American-made dishes—these were some of the activities following the men. The Y. M. C. A. and Knights of Columbus bore the largest share of this work. More than $300,000,000 was contributed by the people of America to the maintenance of these activities.

The other organizations rounded out the work of the first two organizations and filled in with special attention to needs on which the others did not specialize.

The larger organization, the Y. M. C. A., was chosen by the government to carry out a portion of the government program—the conducting of the canteens.

The Knights of Columbus specialized in comforts less considered by other war relief organizations.

Nothing gave greater relaxation to the fighting man, coming from the trenches, or the battle line caked with mud and blood and weary with long hours, than a shower bath, and generous facilities were provided close to the fighting front.

Back of the lines in the rest billets and concentration camps, provisions were less generous than at the front until the Knights of Columbus took up the task of seeing that the men who were temporarily away from the active fighting had these facilities for bathing. It was but one of the many activities of the Knights of Columbus, but one of the most appreciated.

One of the first requisitions made by Rev. John B. De Valles, one of the first chaplains sent over by the Knights of Columbus, was for a shower bath and he set it up in connection with his headquarters in a little French town and it was overworked from the first. From this spread the movement for establishing shower baths in club houses being opened behind the lines and in villages.

There was no preaching in a Knights of Columbus hall or club room, but there was clean moral environment and healthy recreation and amusement, for this was proven the thing to keep up the morale of fighting men.

The Y. M. C. A. built 1,500 huts in Europe costing from $2,000 to $20,000 each, equipped with canteen, reading and writing and recreational facilities to soldiers. It operated twenty-eight different leave areas with hotels that had a total of 35,000 beds. In addition, in Paris, port towns, and several big centers in the war zone there were "Y" hotels for transient soldiers where one could get a clean bed and a good meal at about half the price charged by French hotels. Over 3,000 movie and theatrical shows a week were provided free, and 300 "Y" athletic directors had charge of the sports in the American army, operating 836 athletic fields. Enormous quantities of cookies and chocolate and cigarettes were supplied.

A hundred of the best known educators from America directed educational work. The staff consisted of Professor Erskine of Columbia University, Professor Daly of Harvard, Professor Coleman of Chicago University, Professor Appleton of the University of Kansas and Frank Spaulding, superintendent of the Cleveland public schools.

Seconding the work of the Y. M. C. A., its sister organization, the Y. W. C. A., extended its activities from the training camps of America to the battle-fields of Europe.

At the close of its first year of America's participation in the war, the Y. W. C. A. had six established lines of work in France:

Hostess Houses, clubs for French working women and business girls, clubs for nurses with the American army, clubs for women of the signal corps, clubs for British women (Waac's) working with the American army, and recreation work for all women employed in any way by the American Expeditionary Force. In one year its activities spread to twenty-five cities, and it had forty-three units.

The Hostess Houses were at Paris and Tours. The Hotel Petrograd, on the Rue Caumartin, was leased in Paris and turned out to be one of the most interesting centers of American life in France. It was run on the most liberal lines, in a thoroughly democratic way. The meals were good and in the big dining-room men were admitted on the same footing as women. There were two of these Hostess Houses at Tours.

For the girls of the signal corps twenty-two homes were opened and there were huts for the Waacs at Bourges and Tours. Y. W. C. A. secretaries were attached to twenty base hospital units and opened fourteen clubs for nurses.

The most interesting and unique work of the Y. W. C. A. was that of its foyers for French working women and business girls. There were thirteen of these in Lyons, Rouen, Bourges, Tours, Ste. Etienne, Paris and Mont Lucon.

The Salvation Army erected hotels at the various large training camps in America, and its workers made American doughnuts for the soldiers close to the battle-lines in France. The work done by the men and women of the Salvation Army aided materially in bringing the heart of America into France.

The Jewish Welfare Association not only performed notable service in following the men from training camps into actual service, but it also planned and executed a great reconstruction program under the direction of Felix M. Warburg, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee.

The American Library Association solved the grave problem of providing the soldiers and sailors with suitable reading matter. Each of the cantonments had its special library building in charge of a trained librarian, and interesting literature followed the men into the field through the services of this organization.

Some idea of the work of these various organizations is gained by reading the following order received by Raymond B. Fosdick at his headquarters in Washington after the steamship Kansas carrying supplies for the various huts at American field quarters, was sunk:

Send 20 tons plain soap, 20 tons condensed milk, 10 tons chocolate, 5 tons cocoa, 2 tons tea, 5 tons coffee, 5 tons vanilla wafers, 50 tons sugar, 20 tons flour, 2 tons fruit essences, 2 tons lemonade powder, 120,000 Testaments, 120,000 hymn-books, tons of magazines and other literature, 30 tons writing-paper and envelopes, 50,000 folding chairs, 500 camp cots, 2,000 blankets, 20 typewriters, 60 tents, 75 moving-picture machines, 200 phonographs, 5,000 records, 1 ton ink blotters, $75,000 worth athletic goods, 30 automobiles and trucks.

The order was filled at once.

Besides the associations above enumerated, other volunteer organizations contributed to the health and happiness of American soldiers and sailors. The Emergency Aid of Pennsylvania established two clubs, one in Paris, the other in Tours, both of which performed notable services in feeding and restoring the spirits of American soldiers and sailors. The club in Paris was under the direction of the Rev. Frederick W. Beekman, and that at Tours was directed by Amos Tuck French. Mrs. Barclay Warburton of Philadelphia was designated by Governor Brumbaugh as Commissioner-General of Overseas Work for the Emergency Aid. Other states had similar organizations looking after the comfort of the men.

But it was upon the professional doctors, nurses and sanitarians that the bulk of the task devolved. This task included the prevention as well as the cure of maladies menacing the American forces. It reached out into years after the war into the problems of re-education and re-habilitation of the shell-shocked and the wounded. Major-General William C. Gorgas, former Surgeon General of the Army, stated this concept when he said:

"The whole conception of governmental and national responsibility for caring for the wounded has undergone radical change during the months of study given the subject by experts serving with the Medical Officers' Reserve Corps and others consulting with them. Instead of the old idea that responsibility ended with the return of the soldier to private life with his wounds healed and such pension as he might be given, it is now considered that it is the duty of the government to equip and re-educate the wounded man, after healing his wounds, and to return him to civil life ready to be as useful to himself and his country as possible."

To carry out this idea reconstruction hospitals were established in large centers of population. Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Paul, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Kansas City, St. Louis, Memphis, Richmond, Atlanta and New Orleans were sites of these institutions. Each was planned as a 500-bed hospital but with provision for enlargement to 1,000 beds if needed.

These hospitals were not the last step in the return of the wounded soldiers to civil life. When the soldiers were able to take up industrial training, further provision was ready.

Arrangements were made by the Department of Military Orthopedics to care for soldiers, so far as orthopedics (the prevention of deformity) was concerned, continuously until they were returned to civil life. Orthopedic surgeons were attached to the medical force near the firing line and to the different hospitals back to the base orthopedic hospital which was established within one hundred miles of the firing line. In this hospital, in addition to orthopedic surgical care, there was equipment for surgical reconstruction work and "curative workshops" in which men acquired ability to use injured members while doing work interesting and useful in itself. This method supplanted the old and tiresome one of prescribing a set of motions for a man to go through with no other purpose than to re-acquire use of his injured part.

Instructors and examiners for all the troops were furnished by the Department of Military Orthopedic Surgery. A number of older and more experienced surgeons acted as instructors and supervisors for each of the groups into which the army was divided.

A peculiar condition arising from the use of heavy artillery in the war was that called "shell-shock."

The most pathetic wrecks of war were soldiers suffering from shattered nerves. Paris had many of them. They appeared to be normal. But they were human wrecks.

Shell-shock or the aftermath of illness from wounds left them in weakened health, subject to violent heart attacks. Most of them lacked energy and perseverance. They became awkward, like big children. If employment was found for them—for many had large families to support—they quickly lost their jobs through apathy or collapse.

A society in Paris did everything possible to relieve the sufferings of these victims of the war. It operated with the authorization of the French Government under the name "L'Assistance aux Blesses Nerveux de la Guerre."

American hospitals after the war contained many of these cases. Some of the victims became incurably insane.

Besides the noble work done by the great army of American physicians, surgeons and nurses, in caring for soldiers and sailors, a service of scarcely less magnitude was rendered to the civilian populations of France, Belgium and Italy. Tuberculosis in France was a real plague, taking a toll of 80,000 lives every year. American physicians and nurses preached the doctrine of fresh air, care of the teeth and proper food for children. Almost immediately this campaign of sanitation had its effect in a decreasing death-rate from tuberculosis.

European nations generally were benefited by the stay of the American army overseas. The straightforward manner in which the social evil was attacked had direct benefits. The important detail of dental care also received an interest through the advent of the American soldier. The London Daily Mail made this comment on that question:

"One thing about the American soldiers and sailors must strike English people when they see these gallant fighters, and that is the soundness and general whiteness of their teeth. From childhood the 'Yank' is taught to take care of his teeth. He has 'tooth drill' thrice daily and visits his dentist at fixed periods, say, every three or four months. If by chance a tooth does decay, the rot is at once arrested by gold or platinum filling. American dentists never extract a tooth. No matter how badly decayed it may be, they save the molar by crowning it with gold.

"The United States soldiers have set us a splendid example in this matter. They fairly shame the ordinary 'Tommy' by the brilliance of their molars, but they will do so no longer if young English mothers will only wake up to the fact that bad teeth cause bad health, and that doctors' and dentists' bills will be saved by the regular use of the tooth-brush."



CHAPTER L

THE PIRATES OF THE UNDER-SEAS

Germany relied upon the submarine to win the war. This in a nut-shell explains the main reason why the United States was drawn into the World War. Von Tirpitz, the German Admiral, obsessed with the theory that no effective answer could be made to the submarine, convinced the German High Command and the Kaiser that only through unrestricted submarine warfare could England be starved and the war brought to an end with victory for Germany. Since August, 1914, the theory held by von Tirpitz and his party of extremists had been combated by Prince Maximilian of Baden and by Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg and by others high in the council of the Kaiser. These men pointed out that, leaving out such questions as piracy on the high seas, the drowning of women and children, the destruction of the property of neutrals, there still remained the question of expediency. America, they asserted, was certain to enter the war if unrestricted submarine warfare was decreed. These men were denounced as cowards and von Tirpitz finally triumphed.

The submarine employed by the Germans was of the type designed by Simon Lake, an American. The Germans bought two submarines built by Mr. Lake at Kronstadt for the Russians during the Russian-Japanese war. Various improvements upon the Diesel engine and special training for submarine crews enabled the German navy to strike terrible blows during the early part of the war.

Little by little, however, the Allies discovered the answer to the submarine menace. One of these was the convoy: fleets of merchant vessels surrounded by fast destroyers made life a misery for the submarine crews. In the early days vessels of all character fled from the approach of the submarine. The destroyers of the convoys, however, adopted a different method. They rushed at the periscopes in efforts to ram the submarine, and as they raced over the spot where the submarine had been at the rate of twenty-two knots or more an hour, they dropped huge containers, dubbed "ash cans", containing depth charges of trinitrotoluol.

Sea planes carrying bombs, small dirigible balloons known as "blimps," observation balloons moored on the decks of warships, steel nets, and especially devised anti-submarine mines, were also factors in the general work of submarine destruction.

In addition to all these, every ship, both cargo carrier and war vessel, had its well-trained gun crew, and hundreds of thousands of keen-eyed mariners daily and nightly swept the seas with binoculars watching for anything that resembled a periscope.

As a consequence of this combination of destructive agencies the British Admiralty was enabled to announce at the close of the war that more than 150 German submarines had been destroyed.

The names of the commanding officers of the German submarines which had been disposed of were given out by the government in order to substantiate to the world the statement made by the Prime Minister in the House of Commons on August 7th, and denied in the German papers, that "at least 150 of these ocean pests had been destroyed." The statement included no officers commanding the Austrian submarines, of which a number had been destroyed, and did not exhaust the list of German submarines put out of action.

The fate of the officers was given, and of these the majority (116) were dead; twenty-seven were prisoners of war, six were interned in neutral countries where they took refuge, and one succeeded in returning to Germany.

Further light on the subject of German submarines was given on September 18, 1918, by Senator William H. Thompson of Kansas in a speech in which he told the Senate:

The submarine is no longer a serious menace to transportation across the seas. It is, of course, an annoyance and a great hindrance, and as long as there is a single submarine in the waters of the sea every effort must be made by the allied powers to destroy it, for it is an outlaw and must not exist. The truth is that Germany never had more than 320 submarines all told, including all construction before and since the war.

We have positive knowledge of the destruction of more than one-half of these submarines, and we also know that it is practically impossible for Germany to keep in operation more than 10 per cent of those remaining. It is therefore reduced to a negligible quantity so far as its ultimate effect upon the result of the war is concerned.

1 saw a reliable statement in France to the effect that there is one ship of some character leaving the eastern shores of America for the war zone every six minutes, and it is only a few vessels which are ever torpedoed, estimated at about one per cent. This is less than the loss by storm and accident in the earlier days of transportation and is not much greater than such loss now. We must bear in mind that we read only of the ships which have been torpedoed and see but little account of the hundreds of ships which pass over the ocean safely and undisturbed. Three hundred thousand soldiers are conveyed across the Atlantic every thirty days, and an average of about 500,000 tons of freight carried to the French coast. There are warehouses in only one of the many ports of France with a capacity of over 2,000,000 tons.

It is to the navy that the credit for the destruction of this outlaw seagoing craft is due. The navy is and has been the backbone of this war, the same as it has been of almost every great war in history. Without the allied navy the submarine would have perhaps accomplished its nefarious purpose in starving the European allies and in preventing them from securing the necessary munitions of war to defend themselves. It has utterly failed in this respect. The Allies are amply supplied with food, and there are provisions enough on hand now, if every ship should be sunk, to last the Allies and armies for months. The destroyer is the ship which has brought Germany to her knees in submarine warfare and will keep her there. We have not enough destroyers, and it is for this reason we are obliged in this great transportation problem to run risks which would not be taken under ordinary conditions. If every ship was escorted by a sufficient number of destroyers I doubt if there would be a single ship of any consequence sunk, except by the merest accident.

Upon the same subject, Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the British Admiralty, on October 14th, reviewing the British effort in the war said that during 1918 the casualties of the British on the western front equaled those of all the Allies combined. The British navy, he said, since the beginning of the war had lost in fighting ships of all classes a total of 230, more than twice the losses in war vessels of all the Allies.

In addition to these, Great Britain had lost 450 auxiliary craft, such as mine-sweepers and trawlers, making a total of 680. He revealed the fact that the effective warship barrage, which had been drawn between the Orkneys and Norway against German submarines and surface craft, was, during the later months of the war, maintained largely by ships of the United States.

The British merchant ships lost since 1914 exceeded 2,400, representing a gross tonnage of 7,750,000, nearly three times the aggregate loss of all other allied and neutral countries.

In his statement on the submarine situation he said:

In February, 1917, the ruthless submarine warfare confronted us, whilst the armies in France at that time were feeling a sense of superiority over the enemy which was illustrated by the successes of the battle of Arras, the taking of Vimy Ridge, the advance between the Ancre and the Somme, the offensive in Champagne, Chemin des Dames, Messines and Passchendaele Ridges. Thus we felt, and rightly felt, that the weakest front at that time was the sea—not on the surface, but under water.

The whole of the available energies of the Allies were consequently thrown into overcoming the submarine and the menace which threatened to destroy the lines of communication of the Alliance. The reduced sinkings which have been published since that period show how we gradually overcame that menace—and today most men say that the submarine menace is a thing of the past.

That it is a thing of the past in so far as it can never win the war for the enemy or enable the enemy to prevent us from winning the war, provided we do not underrate the danger but take adequate steps against it, I affirm now as the opinion of the British Admiralty; but it is a menace that comes and goes.

The end of the great submarine menace came on November 20th, when twenty German submarines were officially surrendered to Rear-Admiral Tyrwhitt of the British Navy, thirty miles off Harwich, England. Within the following week more than eighty other German submarines and a number of Austrian craft were also surrendered to the British. The spectacle of the surrender was most impressive.

After steaming some twenty miles across the North Sea, the Harwich forces, which consisted of five light cruisers and twenty destroyers, were sighted. The flagship of Admiral Tyrwhitt, the commander, was the Curacao. High above about the squadron hung a big observation balloon.

The squadron, headed by the flagship, then steamed toward the Dutch coast, followed by the Coventry, Dragoon, Danal and Centaur. Other ships followed in line with their navigation lights showing. The picture was a noble one as the great vessels, with the moon still shining, plowed their way to take part in the surrender of the German U-boats.

Soon after the British squadron started the "paravanes" were dropped overboard. These devices are shaped like tops and divert any mines which may be encountered, for the vessels were now entering a mine field.

Almost everyone on board donned a life belt and just as the red sun appeared above the horizon the first German submarine appeared in sight.

Soon after seven o'clock twenty submarines were seen in line, accompanied by two German destroyers, the Tibania and the Sierra Ventana, which were to take the submarine crews back to Germany after the transfer.

All the submarines were on the surface with their hatches open and their crews standing on deck. The vessels were flying no flags whatever and their guns were trained fore and aft, in accordance with the terms of surrender.

A bugle sounded on the Curacao and all the gun crews took up their stations, ready for any possible treachery.

The leading destroyer, in response to a signal from the admiral, turned and led the way towards England and the submarines were ordered to follow. They immediately did so. The surrender had been accomplished.

Each cruiser turned, and, keeping a careful lookout, steamed toward Harwich. On the deck of one of the largest of the submarines, which carried two 5.9 guns, twenty-three officers and men were counted. The craft was estimated to be nearly 300 feet in length. Its number had been painted out.

Near the Ship Wash lightship three large British seaplanes, followed by an airship, were observed. One of the submarines was seen to send up a couple of carrier pigeons and at once a signal was flashed from the admiral that it had no right to do this.

When the ships had cleared the mine field and entered the war channel the "paravanes" were hauled aboard. On reaching a point some twenty miles off Harwich the ships dropped anchor and Captain Addison went out on the warship Maidstone.

British crews were then put on board the submarines to take them into harbor. With the exception of the engine staffs all the German sailors remained on deck. The submarines were then taken through the gates of the harbor and the German crews were transferred to the transports and taken back to Germany.

As the boats went through the gates a white signal was run up on each of them with the German flag underneath.

Each German submarine commander at the transfer was required to sign a declaration to the effect that his vessel was in running order, that its periscope was intact, that its torpedoes were unloaded and that its torpedo heads were safe.

Orders had been issued forbidding any demonstration and these instructions were obeyed to the letter. There was complete silence as the submarines surrendered and as the crews were transferred.

On November 21st, the German High Seas fleet that had been protected by the submarines surrendered to the combined fleet consisting of British, American and French battleships. The British admiralty's terse statement concerning the historic spectacle follows:

The commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet has reported that at 9.30 o'clock this morning he met the first and main installment of the German high seas fleet, which is surrendering for internment. Admiral Sir David Beatty is Commander-in-chief of the Grand Fleet.

On the same day another flotilla of German U-boats also was surrendered to a British squadron. There were nineteen submarines in all; the twentieth broke down on the way.

The Grand Fleet, accompanied by five American battleships and three French cruisers, steamed out at 3 o'clock on the morning of November 21st, from its Scottish base to accept the surrender. The vessels moved in two long columns.

The German fleet which surrendered consisted of nine battleships, five cruisers, seven light cruisers and fifty destroyers, Seventy-one vessels in all. There remained to be surrendered two battleships, which were under repair, and fifty modern torpedo-boat destroyers.

One German destroyer while on its way across the North Sea with the other ships of the German High Seas fleet to surrender struck a mine. It was so badly damaged that it sank.

Describing the surrender of the German warships to Sir David Beatty, the Commander-in-Chief of the grand fleet, correspondents said that after all the German ships had been taken over, the British admiral went through the line on the Queen Elizabeth, every Allied vessel being manned and greeting the admiral and the flagship with loud and ringing cheers.



GERMAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS After torpedoing their ship the submarine shelled the lifeboats and jeered at the struggles of the helpless crew.



Courtesy of Joseph A. Steinmetz, Phila. THE EYE OF THE SUBMARINE Diagram of a periscope, showing how, when its tip is lifted out of water, a picture of the sea's surface is reflected downward from a prism, through lenses, and then a lower prism, hence to the officer's eye. It turns in any direction.

The British grand fleet put to sea in two single lines six miles apart, and so formed as to enable the surrendering fleet to come up the center. The leading ship of the German line was sighted between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning. It was the Seydlitz, flying the German naval ensign.

A telegram received in Amsterdam from Berlin gave this list of surrendered warships, which includes one more battleship than later reports showed:

Battleships—Kaiser, 24,113 tons; Kaiserin, 24,113 tons; Koenig Albert, 24,113 tons; Kronprinz Wilhelm, 25,000 tons; Prinzregent Luitpold, 24,113 tons; Markgraf, 25,293 tons; Grosser Kurfuerst, 25,293 tons; Bayern, 28,000 tons; Koenig, 25,293 tons, and Friedrich der Grosse, 24,113.

Battle Cruisers—Hindenburg, 27,000 tons; Derflinger, 28,000 tons; Seydlitz, 25,000 tons; Moltke, 23,000 tons, and Van Der Tann, 18,800 tons.

Light Cruisers—Bremen, 4,000 tons; Brummer, 4,000 tons; Frankfurt, 5,400 tons; Koeln, tonnage uncertain; Dresden, tonnage uncertain, and Emden, 5,400 tons.



CHAPTER LI

APPROACHING THE FINAL STAGE

The might and pride of Germany were smashed and humbled by Foch in frontal attacks divided roughly into three great sectors. The first of these attacks was delivered by the French and Americans in the southern sector which included Verdun and the Argonne. The second smash was delivered by British, French and Americans in the Cambrai sector. The third was delivered by British, Belgians, French and Americans in the Belgian sector on the north of the great battle line.

The Cambrai operation had as its first objectives the possession of the strategic railways both of which ran from Valenciennes, one to the huge distribution center at Douai; the other to Cambrai itself. To reach these objectives the Allies were obliged to cross the Sensee and the Escaut canals under infantry and artillery fire. Besides these natural obstacles, there was the famous Hunding line of fortifications erected by the Germans between the Scarpe and the Oise River.

The attack was opened in force on September 18, 1918, by the Fourth British army under General Rawlinson and the First French army under General Debeney. The assault was successful northwest of St. Quentin and determined German counter-attacks were broken down by French and British artillery fire.

The Third British army under General Byng and the Thirtieth American division co-operating with the First British army under Sir Henry Horne, attacked furiously over a fourteen-mile front toward Cambrai. The net result of this operation was the possession of the Canal du Nord, the taking of several villages, and 6,000 prisoners. This was on September 27th. The following day the same forces captured Fontaine-Notre Dame, Marcoing, Noyelles, and Cantaing. More than 200 guns were captured and 10,000 prisoners. On September 29th the Americans took Bellecourt and Nauroy, and invested the suburbs of Cambrai. The British crossed the Escaut canal and the Canadians penetrated some of the environs of Cambrai.

The resolution and ferocity of the attack thoroughly dismayed the Germans, and the salient produced by the smash forced the Teutons to evacuate the greatly prized Lens coal fields on October 3d. Horne and Byng continued their advance, the former occupying Biache-St. Vaast southwest of Douai, and the latter reaching a position five miles northwest of Cambrai.

Caught between the jaws of the pincers, the German forces occupying Cambrai made haste to escape outright capture. The city that had been the objective of British hopes and thrusts for two years, fell into the hands of the Allies. The German retreat extended over a thirty-mile front and included both St. Quentin and Cambrai. Simultaneously the German forces between Arras and St. Quentin fell steadily backward. Le Cateau and Zazeuel fell into the hands of the British October 17th, three thousand prisoners and a quantity of war material being included in the bag.

In the meantime General Mangin attacking in the Laon sector, drove the Germans from the strategic Chemin des Dames and with General Berthelot captured Berry-au-Bac, the St. Gobain massif and completed contact with Generals Pershing and Gouraud on the right and with Generals Rawlinson and Debeney on the left.

The Allied advance now became a huge steel broom, sweeping the Germans irresistibly before it. The operation extended from the Oise southeast to the Aisne, broadening thence until it included the entire front. The Hindenburg line, the Somme battle-field, the Hunding line, were all quickly overrun. The fortress of Maubeuge, fifty miles northeast of St. Quentin, which was connected with that city by a triple railway connection, was evacuated as a direct result of this operation.

When St. Quentin itself fell into the hands of Debeney, it was found that the Germans had deported the entire civilian population of 50,000.

This was the crux of the operations by Foch. Germans were given no rest; night and day the pressure continued. Every clash showed the increasing superiority of the Allies both in men and material and the corresponding deterioration of the German forces. This demoralization of the Germans extended from the High Command to the private soldier. Prisoners poured into the hands of the Allies. Evacuation of Lille was commenced on October 2d and Roubaix and Turcoing also fell.

It was the beginning of Germany's military debacle. The time was ripe for the coup-de-grace soon to be delivered by Americans co-operating with the Allies on a seventy-one mile front.

The Kaiser, Ludendorf and von Hindenburg abandoned hope. The command went forth from the German general headquarters to retreat, retreat, retreat, while Prince Maximilian of Baden appealed to America for an armistice. The sword in Germany's hand was broken. Autocracy, defeated in the eyes of its deluded subjects and discredited in the eyes of the world, was in headlong flight. Its only concern was to save as much as possible from the ruins of the ostentatious temple it had reared.



CHAPTER LII

LAST DAYS OF THE WAR

From November 1st until November 11th, the day when the armistice granting terms to Germany was signed, the collapse of the German defensive was complete. The army that under von Hindenburg and Ludendorf had smashed its way over Poland, Roumania, Serbia, Belgium, and into the heart of France, was now a military machine in full retreat. It is only justice to that machine to say that the great retreat at no place degenerated into a rout. Von Hindenburg and the German General Staff had planned a series of rear-guard actions that were effective in protecting the main bodies of infantry and artillery. Machine-gun nests and airplane attacks were the main reliance of the Germans in these maneuvers of delay, but the German field artillery also did its share.

Immense quantities of material and many thousands of prisoners were captured by the British, Canadians and Australians in the north, and by the French and Americans in the south. Simultaneously with this wide and savage drive upon the Germans along the Belgian and French fronts, came the heaviest Italian attack of the war. Before it the Austrians were swept in a torrent that was irresistible. French, English and American troops co-operated in this thrust that extended from the plains of the Piave into Trentino. The immediate effect of the Italian offensive was to force Austria to her knees in abject surrender. An armistice, humiliating in its terms, was signed by the Austrian representatives, and the back door to Germany was opened to the Allies.

Germany's frantic plea for an armistice followed. There were those in the Allied countries who maintained that nothing short of unconditional surrender should be permitted. Cooler counsel prevailed, and an armistice was offered to the German High Command through General Foch, the terms of which far exceeded in severity those granted to Turkey and Austria. These were read for the first time by Germany's representatives on Friday, November 8th. General Foch, when he gave the document to the German delegation, declared that Germany's decision must be made within seventy-two hours. Eleven o'clock on Monday, November 11th, was the time limit permitted to Germany. The armistice was signed by General Foch and the German representatives on the morning of November 11th, but fighting did not actually cease until eleven o'clock, several hours after the terms had been agreed to. This was in accordance with arrangement made between the signers.

Sedan, where Marshals McMahon and Bazaine, commanding the armies of Napoleon III, surrendered to the King of Prussia in 1870, marked the last notable victory of the American forces in France. The Sedan of 1870 marked the birth of German militarism. The Sedan of 1918 marked its death.

Preceding the advance of the Americans upon Sedan, came a cloud of aviators in pursuit and bombing planes, headed by the famous aces of the American forces. The First and Second divisions of the First army led the way. In the van of the Second division were the Marines, whose heroism in Belleau Wood marked the beginning of Germany's end. The famous Rainbow division made the most savage thrust of the action, pursuing the foe for ten miles and sweeping the Freya Hills clear of machine nests and German artillery.

The last action of the war for the Americans followed immediately on the heels of the battle of Sedan. It was the taking of the town of Stenay. The engagement was deliberately planned by the Americans as a sort of battle celebration of the end of the war. The order fixing eleven o'clock as the time for the conclusion of hostilities, had been sent from end to end of the American lines. Its text follows:

1. You are informed that hostilities will cease along the whole front at 11 o'clock A. M., November 11, 1918, Paris time.

2. No Allied troops will pass the line reached by them at that hour in date until further orders.

3. Division commanders will immediately sketch the location of their line. This sketch will be returned to headquarters by the courier bearing these orders.

4. All communication with the enemy, both before and after the termination of hostilities, is absolutely forbidden. In case of violation of this order severest disciplinary measures will be immediately taken. Any officer offending will be sent to headquarters under guard.

5. Every emphasis will be laid on the fact that the arrangement is an armistice only and not a peace.

6. There must not be the slightest relaxation of vigilance. Troops must be prepared at any moment for further operations.

7. Special steps will be taken by all commanders to insure strictest discipline and that all troops be held in readiness fully prepared for any eventuality.

8. Division and brigade commanders will personally communicate these orders to all organizations.

Signal corps wires, telephones and runners were used in carrying the orders and so well did the big machine work that even patrol commanders had received the orders well in advance of the hour. Apparently the Germans also had been equally diligent in getting the orders to the front line. Notwithstanding the hard fighting they did Sunday to hold back the Americans, the Germans were able to bring the firing to an abrupt end at the scheduled hour.

The staff and field officers of the American army were disposed early in the day to approach the hour of eleven with lessened activity. The day began with less firing and doubtless the fighting would have ended according to plan, had there not been a sharp resumption on the part of German batteries. The Americans looked upon this as wantonly useless. It was then that orders were sent to the battery commanders for increased fire.

Although there was no reason for it, German ruthlessness was still rampant Sunday, stirring the American artillery in the region of Dun-sur-Meuse and Mouzay to greater activity. Six hundred aged men and women and children were in Mouzay when the Germans attacked it with gas. There was only a small detachment of American troops there and the town no longer was of strategical value. However, it was made the direct target of shells filled with phosgene. Every street reeked with gas.

Poorly clad and showing plainly evidences of malnutrition, the inhabitants crowded about the Americans, kissing their hands and hailing them as deliverers. They declared they had had no meat for six weeks. They virtually had been prisoners of war for four years and were overwhelmed with joy when they learned that an armistice was probable.

The last French town to fall into American hands before the armistice went into effect was Stenay. Patrols reported they had found it empty not more than a quarter of an hour before eleven o'clock. American troops rushed through the town and in a few minutes Allied flags were beginning to appear from the windows. As the church bell solemnly tolled the hour of eleven, troops from the Ninetieth division were pouring into the town.

The inhabitants told the usual stories of German treatment. They were forced to work at all sorts of tasks from seven in the morning until six at night. In return they received paper bills with which they were unable to purchase milk and similar necessities. The majority, however, were so overjoyed at their deliverance that they were almost incoherent in discussing the enemy occupation.

The inhabitants of Stenay remained hiding in their cellars even after the Americans had entered the town. They came out hesitatingly and in small groups.

Hostilities along the American front ended with a crash of cannon.

The early forenoon had been marked by a falling off in fire all along the line, but an increasing bombardment from the retreating Germans at certain points stimulated the Americans to a quick retort. From their positions north of Stenay to southeast of the town the Americans began to bombard fixed targets. The firing reached a volume at times almost equivalent to a barrage.

Two minutes before eleven o'clock the firing dwindled, the last shells shrieking over No Man's Land precisely on time.

There was little celebration on the front line, where American routine was scarcely disturbed over the cessation of fighting. In the areas behind the battle zone there were celebrations on all sides. Here and there there were little outbursts of cheering, but even those instances were not on the immediate front.

Many of the French soldiers went about singing.

"Well, I don't know," drawled a lieutenant from Texas while the artillery was sending its last challenge to the Germans, "but somehow I can't help wondering if we have licked them enough."

The Germans were manifestly so glad over the cessation of hostilities that they could not conceal their pleasure. Prisoners taken at Stenay grinned with satisfaction. Their demeanor was in sharp contrast to that of the American doughboys who took the matter philosophically and went about their appointed tasks.

In the front line it was the same. The Americans were happy, but quiet. They made no demonstrations. The Germans, on the other hand, were in a regular hysteria of joy. They waited only until nightfall to set off every rocket in their possession. In the evening the sky was ablaze with red, green, blue and yellow flares all along the line.

Flags appeared like magic over the shell-torn buildings of Verdun, French and American colors flying side by side.

In every village, even those from which the Germans had been driven, there were flags and decorations which were brought up to the front by the soldiers. In the villages back of the line there were impromptu celebrations and the civilians in holiday spirit saluted the Americans, shouting "the war is finished."

Northeast of Verdun, just before 11 o'clock, American artillery-men in loading a six-inch howitzer, wrote "good-luck" on a ninety-pound shell and "let 'er go." The shot was aimed at the crossroad at Ornas, just ahead of the American lines.

While the bells of the ancient Verdun Cathedral were ringing the news of peace the fortress city was illuminated and a military procession headed by the drum corps of the Twenty-sixth American division swung along the crowded streets accompanied by a French detachment of buglers representing the famed defenders of Verdun.

Only a half hour before the Germans had thrown large shells within the city walls, apparently as a reminder that Verdun was still within the range of their guns to the hills to the northeast.

Monday afternoon and night virtually was the first time that Verdun had not been shelled in many hours almost since the war began.



CHAPTER LIII

THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER

The end of the war came with almost the dramatic suddenness of its beginning. Bulgaria, hemmed in by armies through which no relief could penetrate, asked for terms. The reply came in two words, "Unconditional Surrender."

Turkey, witnessing the rout of her army in Palestine by the great strategist, General Allenby, and a British army, asked for an armistice. The Porte signed without hesitation an agreement comprising twenty-five severe requirements.

The surrender of Bulgaria and Turkey forced Austria's hand. The terms under which it was permitted to capitulate were even harder than those granted to Turkey. They comprised eighteen requirements divided into military and naval clauses.

Germany, proud, imperial Germany, met the greatest humiliation of all the Teutonic allies when the Kaiser and the German High Command were brought to their knees. Thirty-five clauses, the most severe and drastic ever demanded from a great power, were included in the armistice agreement. Only the imminent menace of an invasion of Germany would have sufficed to compel the German representatives to sign such a document. Following are the drafts of the Turkish, Austrian and German armistice agreements.

THE TURKISH AGREEMENT

1. The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and access to the Black Sea. Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and Bosporus forts.

2. The positions of all mine fields, torpedo tubes and other obstructions in Turkish waters are to be indicated, and assistance given to sweep or remove them, as may be required.

3. All available information concerning mines in the Black Sea is to be communicated.

4. All Allied prisoners of war and Armenian interned persons and prisoners are to be collected in Constantinople and handed over unconditionally to the Allies.

5. Immediate demobilization of the Turkish army, except such troops as are required for surveillance on the frontiers and for the maintenance of internal order. The number of effectives and their disposition to be determined later by the Allies.

6. The surrender of all war vessels in Turkish waters or waters occupied by Turkey. These ships will be interned in such Turkish port or ports as may be directed, except such small vessels as are required for police and similar purposes in Turkish territorial waters.

7. The Allies to have the right to occupy any strategic points in the event of any situation arising which threatens the security of the Allies.

8. Use by Allied ships of all ports and anchorages now in Turkish occupation and denial of their use by the enemy. Similar conditions are to apply to Turkish mercantile shipping in Turkish waters for the purposes of trade and the demobilization of the army.

9. Allied occupation of the Taurus Tunnel system.

10. Immediate withdrawal of Turkish troops from Northern Persia to behind the pre-war frontier already has been ordered and will be carried out.

11. A part of Transcaucasia already has been ordered to be evacuated by Turkish troops. The remainder to be evacuated, if required by the Allies, after they have studied the situation.

12. Wireless, telegraph and cable stations to be controlled by the Allies. Turkish Government messages to be excepted.

13. Prohibition against the destruction of any naval, military or commercial material.

14. Facilities are to be given for the purchase of coal, oil, fuel and naval material from Turkish sources, after the requirements of the country have been met. None of the above materials are to be exported.

15. The surrender of all Turkish offices in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to the nearest Italian garrison. Turkey agrees to stop supplies and communication with these officers if they do not obey the order to surrender.

16. The surrender of all garrisons in Hedjaz, Assir, Yemen, Syria and Mesopotamia to the nearest Allied commander, and withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cilicia, except those necessary to maintain order, as will be determined under Clause 6.

17. The use of all ships and repair facilities at all Turkish ports and arsenals.

18. The surrender of all ports occupied in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, including Mizurata, to the nearest Allied garrison.

19. All Germans and Austrians, naval, military or civilian, to be evacuated within one month from Turkish dominions, and those in remote districts as soon after that time as may be possible.

20. Compliance with such orders as may be conveyed for the disposal of equipment, arms and ammunition, including the transport of that portion of the Turkish army which is demobilized under Clause 5.

21. An Allied representative to be attached to the Turkish Ministry of Supplies in order to safeguard Allied interests. This representative to be furnished with all aid necessary for this purpose.

22. Turkish prisoners are to be kept at the disposal of the Allied Powers. The release of Turkish civilian prisoners and prisoners over military age is to be considered.

23. An obligation on the part of Turkey to cease all relations with the Central Powers.

24. In case of disorder in the six Armenian vilayets the Allies reserve to themselves the right to occupy any part of them.

25. Hostilities between the Allies and Turkey shall cease from noon, local time, Thursday, the 31st of October, 1918.

THE AUSTRIAN AGREEMENT Military Clauses

1. The immediate cessation of hostilities by land, sea and air.

2. Total demobilization of the Austro-Hungarian army and immediate withdrawal of all Austro-Hungarian forces operating on the front from the North Sea to Switzerland. Within Austro-Hungarian territory, limited as in Clause 3 below, there shall only be maintained as an organized military force reduced to pre-war effectiveness. Half the divisional, corps and army artillery and equipment shall be collected at points to be indicated by the Allies and United States of America for delivery to them, beginning with all such material as exists in the territories to be evacuated by the Austro-Hungarian forces.

3. Evacuation of all territories invaded by Austro-Hungary since the beginning of the war. Withdrawal within such periods as shall be determined by the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces on each front of the Austro-Hungarian armies behind a line fixed as follows:—

From Pic Umbrail to the north of the Stelivo it will follow the crest of the Rhetian Alps up to the sources of the Adige and the Eisaeh, passing thence by Mounts Reschen and Brenner and the heights of Oetz and Zoaller. The line thence turns south, crossing Mount Toblach and meeting the present frontier Carnic Alps. It follows this frontier up to Mount Tarvis and after Mount Tarvis the watershed of the Julian Alps by the Col of Predil, Mount Mangart, the Terglou and the watershed of the Cols di Podberdo, Podlaniscam and Idria. From this point the line turns southeast towards the Schneeberg, excludes the whole basin of the Save and its tributaries. From Schneeberg it goes down towards the coast in such a way as to include Castua, Mattuglia and Volosca in the evacuated territories.

It will also follow the administrative limits of the present province of Dalmatia, including the north Lisarica and Trivania and, to the south, territory limited by a line from the Semigrand of Cape Planca to the summits of the watersheds eastwards, so as to include in the evacuated area all the valleys and water course flowing towards Sebenaco, such as the Cicola, Kerka, Butisnica and their tributaries. It will also include all the islands in the north and west of Dalmatia from Premuda, Selve, Ulbo, Scherda, Maon, Paga and Puntadura in the north up to Meleda in the south, embracing Santandrea, Busi, Lisa, Lesina, Tercola, Curzola, Cazza and Lagosta, as well as the neighboring rocks and islets and passages, only excepting the islands of Great and Small Zirona, Bua, Solta and Brazza. All territory thus evacuated shall be occupied by the forces of the Allies and of the United States of America.

All military and railway equipment of all kinds, including coal belonging or within those territories, to be left in situ and surrendered to the Allies, according to special orders given by the commander-in-chief of the forces of the associated Powers on the different fronts. No new destruction, pillage or requisition to be done by enemy troops in the territories to be evacuated by them and occupied by the forces of the associated Powers.

4. The Allies shall have the right of free movement over all road and rail and waterways in Austro-Hungarian territory and of the use of the necessary Austrian and Hungarian means of transportation. The armies of the associated Powers shall occupy such strategic points in Austria-Hungary at times as they may deem necessary to enable them to conduct military operations or to maintain order. They shall have the right of requisition on payment for the troops of the associated Powers whatever they may be.

5. Complete evacuation of all German troops within fifteen days not only from the Italian and Balkan fronts, but from all Austro-Hungarian territory. Internment of all German troops which have not left Austro-Hungary within the date.

6. The administration of the evacuated territories of Austria-Hungary will be entrusted to the local authorities under the control of the Allied and associated armies of occupation.

7. The immediate repatriation without reciprocity of all Allied prisoners of war and internal subjects and of civil populations evacuated from their homes on conditions to be laid down by the commander-in-chief of the forces of the associated Powers on the various fronts. Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from evacuated territory will be cared for by Austria-Hungary personnel, who will be left on the spot with the medical material required.

Naval Clauses

1. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all Austro-Hungarian ships. Notification to be made to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived.

2. Surrender to Allies and the United States of fifteen Austro-Hungarian submarines completed between the years 1910 and 1918 and of all German submarines which are in or may hereafter enter Austro-Hungarian territorial waters. All other Austro-Hungarian submarines to be paid off and completely disarmed and to remain under the supervision of the Allies and United States.

3. Surrender to Allies and United States with their complete armament and equipment of three battleships, three light cruisers, nine destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, one mine layer, six Danube monitors, to be designated by the Allies and United States of America. All other surface warships, including river craft, are to be concentrated in Austro-Hungarian naval bases to be designated by the Allies and United States of America and are to be paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision of Allies and United States of America.

4. Freedom of navigation to all warships and merchant ships of Allied and associated Powers to be given in the Adriatic and up the River Danube and its tributaries in the territorial waters and territory of Austria-Hungary. The Allies and associated Powers shall have the right to sweep up all mine fields and obstructions, and the positions of these are to be indicated. In order to insure the freedom of navigation on the Danube, the Allies and the United States of America shall be empowered to occupy or to dismantle all fortifications or defense work.

5. The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allied and associated Powers are to remain unchanged and all Austro-Hungarian merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture, save exceptions may be made by a commission nominated by the Allies and the United States of America.

6. All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and impactionized in Austro-Hungarian bases to be designated by the Allies and United States of America.

7. Evacuation of all the Italian coasts and of all ports occupied by Austria-Hungary outside their national territory and the abandonment of all floating craft, naval materials, equipment and materials for inland navigation of all kinds.

8. Occupation by the Allies and the United States of America of the land and sea fortifications and the islands which form the defenses and of the dockyards and arsenal at Pola.

9. All merchant vessels held by Austria-Hungary belonging to the Allies and associated Powers to be returned.

10. No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted before evacuation, surrender or restoration.

11. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of the Allied and associated Powers in Austro-Hungarian hands to be returned without reciprocity.

THE GERMAN AGREEMENT

1. Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after the signature of the armistice.

2. Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops which have not left the above-mentioned territories within the period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the Allied and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms.

3. Repatriation beginning at once and to be completed within fifteen days of all inhabitants of the countries above mentioned, including hostages and persons under trial or convicted.

4. Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following equipment: Five thousand guns (two thousand five hundred heavy, two thousand five hundred field), twenty-five thousand machine guns, three thousand minenwerfers, seventeen hundred airplanes. The above to be delivered in situ to the Allies and the United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in the annexed note.

5. Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left bank of the Rhine. These countries on the left bank of the Rhine shall be administered by the local troops of occupation under the control of the Allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation of these territories will be carried out by Allied and United States garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine, Mayence, Coblenz, Cologne, together with bridgeheads at these points in thirty kilometer radius on the right bank and by garrisons similarly holding the strategic points of the regions.

A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between the stream and a line drawn parallel to it forty kilometers (twenty-six miles) to the east from the frontier of Holland to the parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of thirty kilometers (twenty miles) from the east of stream from this parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further period of sixteen days, in all thirty-one days after the signature of the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be regulated according to the note annexed.

6. In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall be no evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the persons or property of the inhabitants. No destruction of any kind to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be delivered as well as military stores of food, munitions, equipment not removed during the periods fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc., shall be left in situ. Industrial establishments shall not be impaired in any way and their personnel shall not be moved. Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no manner impaired. No person shall be prosecuted for offenses of participation in war measures prior to the signing of the armistice.

7. All civil and military personnel at present employed on them shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, one hundred fifty thousand wagons and five thousand motor lorries in good working order with all necessary spare parts and fittings shall be delivered to the associated Powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within thirty-six days, together with all pre-war personnel and material. Further material necessary for the working of railways in the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and material for the upkeep of permanent ways, signals and repair shops left entire in situ and kept in an efficient state by Germany during the whole period of armistice. All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to them. All civil and military personnel at present employed on such means of communication and transporting including waterways shall remain.

8. The German command shall be responsible for revealing within forty-eight hours all mines or delay acting fuses disposed on territory evacuated by the German troops and shall assist in their discovery and destruction. The German command shall also reveal all destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting of springs, wells, etc.) under penalty of reprisals.

9. The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allies and the United States armies in all occupied territory, "subject to regulation of accounts with those whom it may concern." The upkeep of the troops of occupation in the Rhine land (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be charged to the German Government.

10. An immediate repatriation without reciprocity according to detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all Allied and United States prisoners of war. The Allied Powers and the United States shall be able to dispose of these prisoners as they wish. This condition annuls the previous conventions on the subject of the exchange of prisoners of war, including the one of July, 1918, in course of ratification. However, the repatriation of German prisoners of war interned in Holland and in Switzerland shall continue as before. The repatriation of German prisoners of war shall be regulated at the conclusion of the preliminaries of peace.

11. Sick and wounded, who cannot be removed from evacuated territory will be cared for by German personnel who will be left on the spot with the medical material required.

12. All German troops at present in any territory which before the war belonged to Roumania, Turkey or Austria-Hungary shall immediately withdraw within the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 1, 1914. German troops now in Russian territory shall withdraw within the frontiers of Germany, as soon as the Allies, taking into account the internal situation of those territories, shall decide that the time for this has come.

13. Evacuation by German troops to begin at once and all German instructors, prisoners and civilian as well as military agents now on the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to be recalled.



French Official Photograph. DRAFTING THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER The above French official photograph is the first received in this country showing the statesmen of the Allied Powers at Versailles drafting the armistice terms, which later were accepted by the German plenipotentiaries, and virtually brought the World War to an end. The men in the photograph are: Left side of table, left to right—General di Robilant of Italy; Baron Sidney Sonnino, Italian Foreign Minister; Vittorio Orlando, Italian Premier; Colonel E. M. House, representative of President Wilson; General Tasker H. Bliss, U. S. A.; (next man unknown); Eleutherios Venizelos, Greek Premier; Vesnitch, Serbian Premier. Right, side of table, left to right—Admiral Wemyss, R. N. (with back turned); General Sir Henry Wilson; Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; General Sackville-West; Andrew Bonar Law, British Chancellor of the Exchequer; David Lloyd George, British Premier; Georges Clemenceau, French Premier; Stephen Pichon, French Foreign Minister.



Copyright Press Illustrating Service. GERMANS FLEEING BEFORE ALLIED ADVANCE To speed their retreat the German engineers built a temporary bridge using a British tank as a foundation.



Copyright Press Illustrating Service. THE GERMAN GOOSE-STEP The Kaiser reviews his troops marching with the goose-step. This photograph shows the pick of the German army. Most of these men were killed by the end of the first year of the war.

14. German troops to cease at once all requisitions and seizures and any other undertakings with a view to obtaining supplies intended for Germany in Roumania and Russia (as defined on August 1, 1914).

15. Renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and of the supplementary treaties.

16. The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier either through Danzig or by the Vistula in order to convey supplies to the populations of those territories and for the purpose of maintaining order.

17. Evacuation by all German forces operating in East Africa within a period to be fixed by the Allies.

18. Repatriation, without reciprocity, within maximum period of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixed, of all civilians interned or deported who may be citizens of other Allied or associated states than those mentioned in clause three, paragraph nineteen.

19. The following financial conditions are required: Reparation for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies for the recovery or repatriation of the cash deposit, in the National Bank of Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money together with plant for the issue thereof, touching public or private interests in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Roumanian gold yielded to Germany or taken by that Power. This gold to be delivered in trust to the Allies until the signature of peace.

20. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and merchant marines of the Allied and associate Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived.

21. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of war of the Allied and associated Powers in German hands to be returned without reciprocity.

22. Surrender to the Allies and the United States of America of all German submarines now existing (including all submarine cruisers and mine-laying submarines), with their complete armament and equipment, in ports which will be specified by the Allies and the United States of America. Those which cannot take the sea shall be disarmed of the material and personnel and shall remain under the supervision of the Allies and the United States. All the conditions of the article shall be carried into effect within fourteen days. Submarines ready for sea shall be prepared to leave German ports immediately upon orders by wireless, and the remainder at the earliest possible moment.

23. The following German surface warships which shall be designated by the Allies and the United States of America shall forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports, to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America and placed under the surveillance of the Allies and the United States of America, only caretakers being left on board, namely:

Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers, including two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern type. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to be concentrated in naval bases to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America, and are to be paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision of the Allies and the United States of America. All vessels of the auxiliary fleet (trawlers, motor vessels, etc.) are to [be] disarmed. Vessels designated for internment, shall be ready to leave German ports within seven days upon directions by wireless, and the military armament of all vessels of the auxiliary fleet shall be put on shore.

24. The Allies and the United States of America shall have the right to sweep all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are to be indicated.

25. Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated Powers. To secure this Allies and the United States of America shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications, batteries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from the Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and obstructions within and without German territorial waters without any question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all such mines and obstructions are to be indicated.