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Title: New York Times Current History: The European War, Vol. 8, Pt. 2, No. 1, July 1918

Author: Various

Release Date: May 27, 2014 [EBook #45785]

Language: English

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*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NY TIMES CURRENT HISTORY; VOL. 8, PT. 2, NO. 1, JULY 1918 ***




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Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

The New York Times
Current History
July 1918

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND INDEX

Volume VIII.

[SECOND PART]

July-September, 1918

Pages 1-570

[Titles of articles appear in italics]

A
AERONAUTICS,
"Aerial Record," 51;
"The War in the Air," 80;
hospitals bombed, 83;
Lufbery's last fight, 85;
Richthofen's death, 85;
list of German aviators killed, 86;
ingenious devices for sending propaganda to the enemy, 198;
German giant airplane described, 201;
casualties from bombing of hospitals, 204;
"War in the Air," 439;
number of enemy machines brought down during year ended June 30, 439;
Allies' activities during period ending Aug. 15, 439;
allied raids on German cities, 439.
See also PROGRESS of the War, 51, 223, 436.

AIMS of the War,
defined by Emperor of Germany,36;
stated by Pres. Wilson, July 4 at Mount Vernon, 191;
reply of Austrian Foreign Minister, 194;
Chancellor von Hertling's reply in Reichstag, 311;
Viscount Milner speaks of German domination over her allies, 313;
Count Burian replies, 313.
See also
CAUSES of the War;
Peace.

AIRPLANES, see AERONAUTICS.

ALBANIA,
"Albanian and Slav," 201.

ALIEN Enemies, see ENEMY Aliens.

Allied Man Power Compared with That of Central Allies, 75.

ALMEREYDA, editor of "Bonnet Rouge,"
dies mysteriously in prison, 198.

Alsace-Lorraine: Its Relation to France, 308.

American Invasion of England, 433.

American Offensive a Success. First, 57.

American Soldiers in Action, 55.

Americans, Premier Lloyd George Lauds, 148.

Americans on the Battlefront, 226.

Americans' Defense of Chateau-Thierry, 62.

America's Answer, (poem,) 144.

America's Army, No Size Limit to, 70.

America's First Anniversary in France, 78.

America's First Field Army, 429.

Anniversary of the War, Fourth, 529.

ANNUNZIO, Gabriele d', 440.

ARMENIA,
Turkish invasion under Brest-Litovsk Treaty, 131.

ARMIES,
"Armies Under Foreign Generals," 2;
allied war power compared with that of Central Allies, 75.
See also under names of countries.

ASPHYXIATING Gas, see GAS Warfare.

ASQUITH, Herbert H.;
"Final Phases of the War," 301;
"President Wilson and the League of Nations," 511;
address on occasion of silver wedding anniversary of King George, 532.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY,
"New Austro-German Alliance." 91;
"Austrians at Grips with Italians," 33;
Austria's leaders accept Germany's policy, 513.
See also
CAMPAIGN on Austro-Italian Border;
JUGOSLAVIA;
PROGRESS of the War, 53.

Austria's Disastrous Offensive, 218.

B

BAKER, (Sec.) Newton D.,
"America's War Effort," 229.

BALFOUR, Arthur J.,
"The Basis of Peace"; "Belgium as a Pawn," 516.

BALKAN States, see
CAMPAIGNS in Balkan States;
CZECHOSLOVAKS;
JUGOSLAVIA, and under names of States.

BARRES, Maurice,
"Fraternity of English and French," 533.

BASTILE, History of, 200.

BASTILE Day
in the United States, 244;
"Fraternity of English and French," 533.

Battle, A, Seen from Above, 54.

BATTLES, see
CAMPAIGNS,
NAVAL Operations.

BEGBIE, Harold,
"The Living Line," (poem,) 149.

BELGIUM,
"Belgium as a Pawn," 312, 516;
Belgian courts superseded, 323;
"Belgium Under the Iron Heel," 519;
zinc coins issued, 87;
"Saving Belgium from Starvation," 521;
Germans seize church bells and organ pipes, 344.

Belleau Wood, Capture of, 65.

BENNETT, Arnold,
"A Peace League of Nations," 355.

BERG, (Lieut.) von,
German official army report, 243.

Bessarabia, Rumania and, 326.

Bessarabia's Historical Background, 328.

BIDDLE (Gen.), 336.

Bombing Hospitals, 330.

BONNET Rouge,
proprietor and staff tried for treason, 198.

BORAH (Sen.),
criticises America's inaction with regard to Russia, 260.

BORDEN, Sir Robert,
"Canada's War Achievements," 306.

Boycotting Germany, 545.

BRIDGE, Admiral Sir Cyprian,
reviews debatable phases of Battle of Jutland, 152.

Britain's Imperial Hopes Realized, 299.

BRYCE (Viscount),
"England and the War's Causes," 162;
speech at Fourth of July celebration, 336.

BUCHAREST, Treaty, see
PEACE—Rumanian Separate Peace.

BUCHET, Marguerite,
"Agony of the City of Lille," 281, 456.

BULLARD, (Maj. Gen.) R. L., 243.

BUNDY, (Maj. Gen.) Omar, 243.

BURIAN (Baron),
reply to American war aims, 194;
replies to Viscount Milner's reference to German domination over her allies, 313.

BURR, Amelia Josephine,
"Pershing at the Tomb of Lafayette," (poem,) 329.


C

CAINE, (Sir) Hall,
"The World's Independence Day," 342.
[Pg II] CALDWELL, Charles Pope,
"War Record of the United States," 73.

CAMMAERTS, Emile,
"Another Cross for Belgium to Bear," 344.

CAMPAIGN in Asia Minor—
Anglo-Indian advance blocked by Turks, 15.
See also PROGRESS of the War, 51.

CAMPAIGN on Austro-Italian border,
"The Austrian Defeat on the Piave," 463;
unsuccessful Austrian offensive in Piave region, 13;
"Austrians at grips with Italians, 33;
"Along the Piave," 210;
"Austria's Disastrous Offensive," 218.
See also PROGRESS of the War, 51, 436.

CAMPAIGN in Balkan States,
Greeks take 1,500 Bulgar-German troops in Macedonia, 15;
Allies' success, 211.
See also PROGRESS of the War, 51, 223, 436.

CAMPAIGN in Eastern Europe,
allied troops guard Murman coast, 252;
Czechoslovak Army fight Bolshevists in Siberia and Volga region, 253.

CAMPAIGN in Western Europe,
review of month's fighting, 1, 9;
Germans cross the Aisne, 9;
second battle of the Marne, 10, 12;
description by Geo. H. Perris, 17;
"The German Offensive," 17;
"The Turning Point of the Battle," 28;
description of the French counterblow, 30;
"End of the Fourth Phase," 32;
Petain's tactics by W. Duranty, 32;
"A German View of Germany's Effort," 35;
"A Battle Seen from Above," 54;
American soldiers in action in Champagne and Picardy, 55;
capture of Cantigny by Americans, 57;
"First American Offensive a Success," 57;
"Americans' Defense of Chateau-Thierry," 62;
"Capture of Belleau Wood," 65;
"The War in the Air," 80;
hospitals bombed, 83;
Americans advance northwest of Chateau-Thierry,
take Vaux and Belleau Wood, 197;
Australians and Americans take Hamel, 197;
French drive back Germans near Rheims, 197;
"Allied Successes on Three Fronts," 205;
American troops check German advance between
Chateau-Thierry and Jaulgonne, 213;
beginning of the allied offensive, 216;
"Americans on the Battlefront," 226;
"Taking the Village of Vaux," 233;
"Thorough American Work at Vaux," 235;
"The Advance at Hamel," 237;
"Agony of the City of Lille," 281, 456;
"Nieuport, City of Desolation," 286;
German offensive, 17;
enemy offensive in its fifth phase defeated on the Marne, 389;
America's part in second battle of the Marne described, 398;
account of the strategical plan which won the
second battle of the Marne, 414;
"How Foch Outgeneraled the Germans," 416;
German gains claimed, 425.
See also Progress of the War, 50, 221, 435.

CANADA,
war finance in Canada, 72;
war achievements, 306.

CANADA'S Four Years of War Effort, 451.

CANBY (Prof.), 336.

CARRE, (Dr.) P.,
"Chemists and Chemistry in the War," 294.

CASUALTIES,
Chaplains on service, 8;
losses due to bombing of British hospitals in France, 83;
list of German aviators killed, 86;
casualties of belligerents during four years, 279;
losses from bombing of hospitals, 204;
estimate of German losses on western front, 389;
summary of American losses to Aug. 16, 431;
losses from air raids on Paris, 441.
See also PRISONERS of War.

CAUCASUS Region, see ARMENIA.

CAUSES of the War,
Prince Lichnowsky's memorandum, 162;
Lord Haldane's report of his conciliatory mission to
Germany in 1912, 166;
"Albanian and Slav," 201,
Dr. Wm. Muehlon lays responsibility for the war on
German Government, 547.
See also AIMS of the War.

Cavalry in Recent Battles, 387.

CENTRAL Powers,
"Austria's Leaders Accept Germany's Policy," 513;
man power of, compared with that of the Allies, 75.
See also
AUSTRIA—HUNGARY;
GERMANY.

CECIL, (Lord) Robert,
views on an economic league of nations, 297.

CHATEAU-THIERRY,
historical sketch, 6.
See also CAMPAIGN in Western Europe.

Chemists and Chemistry in the War, 294.

CHELMSFORD, Baron, 204.

CHINA,
Chinese-Japanese military alliance, 498.

CHURCHILL, Winston Spencer,
speech at Fourth of July celebration, 336;
"American Independence Day," 535.

CLEMENCEAU (Premier),
text of speech of defiance to Socialist pacifists, 307;
"Clemenceau's Defiance of Obstructors," 149.

CIOTORI, D. N.,
"Bessarabia's Historical Background," 328.

COLLEGE graduates in United States service, 203.

COMMERCE,
"American Exports Versus the U-boats," 45;
"An Economic League of Nations to Govern Trade After the War," 297;
"Trade After the War," 160;
world movement against German trade, 545.
See also SHIPPING.

COMMUNIST Party, see RUSSIA—Bolsheviki.

COMPIÉGNE,
historical sketch, 6.
See also CAMPAIGN in Western Europe.

Constantine's Treachery, 504.

COST of the War,
public debts of chief belligerent powers, 277.
See also FINANCES under names of countries.

COSTA RICA
declares war on Germany, 8.

Current History Chronicled, 1, 191, 381.

CURZON, Earl,
on League of Nations, 352.

CZECHOSLOVAK Nation,
Austria-Hungary denounces British recognition, 386.

CZECHOSLOVAKS,
role in Russian affairs, 265;
allied assistance, 465;
recognized as a nation, 489;
Czechoslovaks of Bohemia and Moravia, 491.
See also PROGRESS of the War—Russia, 437.

CZERNIN von Chudenitz, (Count) Ottokar,
"Austria's Leaders Accept Germany's Policy," 513.


D

DALY, John,
"A Toast to the Flag," (poem,) 360.

Death Knell of Empire, 353.

DECORATIONS and honors,
distinguished service crosses, awarded to 100 Americans, 242;
Gen. Petain receives Military Medal, 382;
Gen. Foch becomes Marshal of France, 382;
conferring of foreign decorations on Americans, 383;
Legion of Honor conferred on Lieut. Nungesser, 442.

DEGOUTTE (Gen.),
sketch of career, 384.

DESCHANEL, Paul,
"American Ideals in the War," 543.

DISTINGUISHED Service Crosses,
see DECORATIONS.

DOBRUDJA,
see PEACE—Rumanian Separate Peace.

DRUNKENNESS,
reduced in England, 3.

DUBOST, Anthonin,
"What America Gives and Gains," 542.
[Pg III]
DURANTY, Walter,
"The Turning Point of the Battle," 28;
Petain's masterly tactics, 32;
"How Foch Outgeneraled the Germans," 416.

DUVAL, Emile,
proprietor of Bonnet Rouge, shot for treason, 198.


E

EDDY, Sherwood,
"Poison Gas in Warfare," 291.

"ENEMY Aliens in the United States," 249;
property of, 250;
"Rumely Propaganda Case," 251.

England and the War's Causes, 162.

ENGLAND:—
Achievements 1914-1918 reviewed by Premier Lloyd George, 505.
Anniversary of the war, Fourth, 529.
Army, Irish volunteers, 1914-1917, 8.
Drunkenness reduced in, 3.
Finances, new vote of credit given, 8;
war pensions, 203.
"France's Tribute to Great Britain," 77.
Germany, Relations with,
Lord Haldane's official report of his conciliatory mission
prior to the war, 166;
Prince Lichnowsky's memorandum, 162;
"England and the War's Causes;" Prince Lichnowsky's memorandum, 162;
Lord Haldane's report of his conciliatory mission of 1912, 166;
British official statement issued in 1915, 169.

Exchanging Thousands of Prisoners, 94.


F

FERDINAND, (King) of Rumania,
accepts terms of treaty of Bucharest, 321.

Final Phases of the War, 301.

FINANCES, public debts of chief belligerent powers, 277.
See also under names of countries.

FINLAND,
proposed constitution, 265;
German influence, 264.
See also PROGRESS of the War, 53.

Flame Throwers, 397.

FOCH, (Gen.) Ferdinand,
receives Marshal's baton, 382;
his use of cavalry, 387.

FOODSTUFFS:—
Belgium, "Saving Belgium from Starvation," 521.
Canada's contribution, 307.
England, 7.
Ireland's food shipments to England, 90.
United States, "How America Has Fed the Allies," 450.
United States assistance to Allies, 387.

FOURTH of July,
worldwide celebration, 335;
"The World's Independence Day," 342;
addresses and papers, Cherioux Adolphe, 541;
Churchill, Winston Spencer, 535;
London Times editor, 538;
London Telegraph editor, 539;
Dubost, Anthonin, 543;
address and papers, Deschanel, Paul, 543.

FRANCE—
Premier Clemenceau receives vote of confidence, 149;
Bastile Day greeting received from Pres. Wilson, 245;
"Reconstructing the Life of France," 286;
"Alsace-Lorraine: Its Relation to France," 308.
See also CAMPAIGN in Western Europe.

Fraternity of English and French, 533.

French Armies at Close Range, 414.


G

GALEAZZI, (Prof.) Riccardo,
"Rebuilding Disabled Soldiers," 101.

GALSWORTHY, John,
"The Soldier Speaks," (poem), 79.

GAS Warfare,
sneezing powder in gas attacks, 102;
"Poison Gas in Warfare," 291;
gas masks for horses. 290;
U-boat makes mustard gas attack off North Carolina, 448.

GASES, asphyxiating and poisonous, see GAS Warfare.

GEORGE V., (King of England,)
reviews American troops in London, 69;
Paris renames street in honor of, 204;
attends fourth anniversary of the war ceremonies at
St. Margaret's, Westminster, 529;
congratulatory address on occasion of silver wedding delivered by
Premier Lloyd George, and H. H. Asquith, 532, 248.

German Aims and Servile States, 313.

German Official View of the Americans, 243.

Germany and Great Britain in 1912, 166.

GERMANY:—
Army,
text of order for fraternization on Italian front, 16;
estimate of losses on the western front, 389.
Austria-Hungary, Relations with,
"New Austro-German Alliance," 91.
Commerce,
world movement against German trade, 545.
Demoralization and crime in England;
Relations with, see
ENGLAND.
England, Relations with;
ENGLAND—Germany, Relations with.
Finances,
"Germany's Debt and Credit," 460.
Foreign relations,
von Kuhlmann's summary of war situation, 315;
criticised by Count Westarp, 318;
by Socialist leaders, 319;
Germany's financial burden, 550.
Infant welfare in, 7.
Population declining, 4.
Russia, relations with;
German Ambassador at Moscow assassinated, 258;
German intervention in Russia, 262.
South American States, relations with, 8.
See also CENTRAL Allies.

Germany's Control of the Danube, 324.

"Germany's First Great Defeat," 389.

GIBBS, Philip,
"The Advance at Hamel," 237.

GOURAUD (Gen.), 385.

Great Britain's War Record, 505.

GREECE,
"Constantine's Treachery," 504.

GREY of Falloden (Viscount),
"A League of Nations," 345.


H

HALDANE (Lord),
official report of his conciliatory mission to
Germany prior to the war, 166.

Hamel, The Advance at, 237.

HAMEL,
see CAMPAIGN in Western Europe.

HELSINGFORS, 8.

HENDERSON, Daniel M.,
"The Road to France," (poem,) 534.

HEROES, Pershing (Gen.)
cites many Americans for special acts of bravery, 241.
See DECORATIONS and Honors.

Heroic American Deeds, 239.

HERTLING, (Chancellor) George F. von,
outlines German official view on peace, 311.

HINTZE, (Admiral) von,
appointed German Foreign Secretary, 312.

HONORS, Military,
see Decorations and Honors.

HOOVER, Herbert C.,
"How America Has Fed the Allies," 450.

HORVATH, Gen.,
declares himself dictator in East Siberia, 199, 254.

HOSPITAL ships,
sinkings, 447;
Llandovery Castle sunk, 246.

HOSPITALS
bombed, 83;
casualties, 204;
Col. Andrews describes attack on hospital at Boulenes,
Chaplain describes it to King George, 330;
protest by Conan Doyle, 331;
by Prussian Order of St. John, 331.

How Foch Outgeneraled the Germans, 416.

How America Has Fed the Allies, 450.


I

"In Flanders Fields," (poem), 144.

INDEPENDENCE Day,
see FOURTH of July.

INDIA,
report on constitutional reforms, 204.

IRELAND,
food shipments to England, 90;
69 Sinn Feiners arrested, 88;
statistics of volunteers 1914-1917, 8.

Irish Plotters, Arrest of, 88.

ITALY,
"Italy's Third Year of War," 76;
address by Secretary Lansing in honor of the
third anniversary of Italy's entrance into the war,145;
speech of Count Macchi di Cellere, Italian Ambassador,
at Italian anniversary celebration, 146.

Italy's Third Year of War, 76.

Italy's Troops, Trying to Corrupt, 16.


J

JAMES, Edwin L.,
"America's Part in a Historic Battle," 398;
"Capture of Belleau Wood," 65;
"Defeating the German Offensive," 213;
"The Enemy Outflanked and Beaten," 216;
"Heroic American Deeds," 239;
"Thorough American Work at Vaux," 23.

JAPAN,
"Chinese-Japanese Military Alliance," 498.

JOHNSON, Thomas F.,
"First American Offensive a Success," 57.

JORDAN, E.,
"Czechoslovaks of Bohemia and Moravia," 491.

JUGOSLAVIA,
project for a South Slavic State Threatens to Disrupt
Austria-Hungary, 115;
Supreme War Council favors free Poland and Jugoslavia, 126;
"Great Britain and the Jugoslav State," 275;
conference of Poles, Jugoslavs, and Italians at Rome, 119;
the case of Bohemia, 123;
the case of Transylvania, 125;
Supreme War Council at Versailles favors free Poland and Jugoslavia, 126;
"Growth of the Jugoslav Movement," 115;
declaration of Czech members of Reichsrat, 115;
Jugoslav deputies and Croatian labor demand independent States of
Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs, 118.

Jutland, Battle of, 152.


K

KERENSKY, (ex-Premier) Alexander,
speech in London on Russian affairs, 259.

KIPLING, Rudyard,
"American Invasion of England," 433.

KOLA,
see MURMAN District.

KROPOTKIN (Prince), speaks on Russian internal conditions, 263.

KUHLMANN, (Dr.) Richard von,
resignation, 312;
address leading to resignation, 315.

KUHLWETTER, (Capt.) von,
"Battle of Skagerrak as Germany Sees It," 156.


L

LANSING, (Sec. of State) Robert,
address In honor of third anniversary of Italy's
entrance into the war, 145.

LEAGUE of Nations,
views of Lord Robert Cecil, 297;
discussion by Viscount Grey of Falloden, 345;
by Premier Lloyd George, 351;
by Earl Curzon, 352;
"The Death of Empire," by H. G. Wells, 353;
French view, 350;
"Based on Population," by Arnold Bennett, 355;
"President Wilson and the League of Nations," 511.

LEWIS, J. Hamilton,
"Price of Peace," 523.

LICHNOWSKY (Prince),
record of his conduct while German Ambassador in England, 162.

LILLARD, R. W.,
America's answer, (poem), 144.

LILLE,
Agony of the city of, 281, 456.

LISLE, Claude Joseph Rouget de,
see ROUGET de LISLE, CLAUDE JOSEPH.

LITHUANIA,
proclaimed an independent State allied to Germany, 109.

Living Line, The, (poem), 149.

LLANDOVERY Castle (hospital ship) sunk, 246.

LLOYD GEORGE, (Premier) David,
congratulates Pershing on Fourth of July celebration, 336;
"A Real League of Nations," 351;
"Britain's Imperial Hopes Realized," 299;
"Great Britain's War Record," 505;
address on occasion of silver wedding anniversary of King George, 532.

LUXEMBURG,
sketch of the history of, 202.


M

MACCHI DI CELLERE (Count),
speech at Italian anniversary celebration, 146.

McCRAE, (Lieut. Col.) John,
"In Flanders Fields," (poem), 144;
"America's Answer," (in honor of Lieut. Col. John McCrae,) 144.

McCUDDEN, (Capt.) James B.,
awarded Victoria Cross, 87.

McCUDDEN, (Maj.) James B.,
death, 442.

McGILLICUDDY, Owen E.,
Canada's four years of war effort, 451.

MACKENZIE, Cameron,
"Taking the Village of Vaux," 233.

MACLAY, (Sir) Joseph,
"Transporting America's Army Overseas," 443.

MAETERLINCK, Maurice,
"Brute Force Versus Humanity," 150.

MALVY, Louis J.,
trial for treason by French Senate, 198;
banishment, 384.

MAN Power—
Allied man power compared with that of the Central Powers, 75.

MANGIN, (Gen.) Joseph,
sketch of career, 385.

Marne, Second Battle of, 398.

MASARYK (Prof.),
receives message from Czechoslovaks, 469;
sends messages to Pres. Poincare and Secretary Balfour on recognition
of the Czechoslovak Nation, 489.

MARSEILLAISE,
story of, 200.

MEXICO and the United States, 142.

MEYNELL, Alice,
"In Honor of America," (poem), 445.

MILITARY Medal,
see DECORATIONS and Honors.

MILNER (Viscount), British War Secretary,
speaks on German aims, 313;
Count Burian replies, 313.

MIRBACH (Count) von, German Ambassador,
assassinated in Moscow, 259;
his duplicity, 261.

MONTAGUE, Edwin Samuel, 204.

Mount Vernon Address, 191.

MUEHLON, (Dr.) Wilhelm,
lays responsibility for the war on the German Government, 547.

MURAVIEFF,
Bolshevist Commander in Chief, 266.

MURMAN District,
see RUSSIA—Murman District.

MUSTARD gas,
see GAS Warfare.


N

NATIONS at war, 388, 461.

NAUDEAU, Ludovic,
"Russia's Constituent Assembly," 267.

NAVAL operations,
Capt. Rizzo sinks Austrian dreadnoughts off Trieste and Dalmatia, 15;
"The Battle of Jutland," 152;
Thomas G. Frotheringham's account of the battle of Jutland reviewed
by Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, Vice Admiral E. F. Fournier, and
Arthur Pollen, 152;
"Battle of Skagerrak (Jutland) as Germany Sees It," 156.
See also
PROGRESS of the War, 224, 437;
SUBMARINE warfare.

NEW York Evening Mail, 251.

NICHOLAS, (Romanoff) ex-Czar of Russia,
"The Imprisoned ex-Czar in the Crimea," 93;
biographical sketch, 381.

Nieuport, City of Desolation, 285.

NUNGESSER (Lieut.),
cited for Legion of Honor, 442.


P

PALLIS (Gen.),
sentenced for disloyalty, 204.

PARIS,
re-names streets in honor of allies, 204;
account of bombardments given by le Temps, 204.

Peace League of Nations, 355.

Peace, The Basis of, 303.

PEACE:—
"International Socialists' Peace Campaign," 158.
General Chancellor von Hertling outlines official view of
Berlin Government, 311;
"American Government's Peace Terms," 523.
Rumanian separate peace ratified, 321;
view of Rumanian ex-Premier, 323;
Protest of Rumanians in exile against, 325.
Russo-German, views of Trotzky and Savinkov,113.
See also AIMS of the War.

PENSIONS, England, 203.

PERRIS, George H.,
"The German Offensive," 17;
description of the French counterblow, 30;
"French Armies at Close Range," 414.

Pershing at the Tomb of Lafayette, (poem), 329.

PERSHING (Gen.),
cites Americans for special acts of bravery, 241.

PETAIN (Gen.),
masterly tactics in allied counterattacks, 32;
receives Military Medal, 382.

PICARDY,
see CAMPAIGN in Western Europe, 423.

POINCARE, (Pres.) Raymond,
replies to Pres. Wilson's Bastile Day greeting, 245;
congratulates Pres. Wilson on Fourth of July celebration, 337.

POISON Gas,
see GAS Warfare.

POLAND,
Allies Supreme War Council favors independent State, 126;

POLLEN, Arthur,
reviews debatable phases of Battle of Jutland, 155.

PRISONERS of War, number taken in third German offensive, 1;
Franco-German agreement for release of, 94;
inhuman treatment of civilian prisoners in Austrian prison camps, 97;
abuses in German prison camps, 100;
prisoners taken in Bouresches Sector, German report on
examination of, 243;
appalling cruelty of Germans to, 288;
"Acme of German Cruelty," 314;
treatment of in German prison camps, 332.

Prisons, Horror of Austrian, 97.

Progress of the War, 49, 221, 434.

PROPAGANDA,
German, in the United States, 251;
sent to the enemy by balloons, 198.

PUTNAM, George Haven, 336.


R

RAILROADS,
Cairo to Jerusalem, 5;
Cape to Cairo, 5;
Kola to Petrograd, 255.

Rebuilding Disabled Soldiers, 101.

Reconstructing the Life of France, 286.

RED Cross,
second drive, 8;
President Wilson's address to inaugurate second Red Cross campaign, 137;
"Remarkable Work of American Red Cross in Italy," 472.

REHABILITATION,
see SOLDIERS and Sailors, Rehabilitation.

RELIEF Work,
see Hospital Ships.

RHEIMS,
see CAMPAIGN in Western Europe.

RICHTHOFEN, Capt. Baron von,
death, 85.

RIGGS, Edward G.,
estimates college graduates in United States Service, 203.

RIZZO, Capt., 15.

Road (The) to France, (poem,) 534.

RODMAN (Admiral),
awarded the Order of the Bath, 383.

ROGERS, D. G.,
war finances, 277.

ROOSEVELT, (Lieut.) Quentin,
death, 441.

ROOSEVELT, Theodore,
sends letter to be read at Philadelphia celebration of Bastile Day, 246.

ROSENBERG, von,
appointed German Ambassador in Moscow, 259.

ROUGET DE LISLE,
Claude Joseph, 200.

RUBIN, A.,
Rumania and Bessarabia, 326.

RUMANIA,
signs legal and political supplementary agreement to
Peace of Bucharest, 127;
German control of Rumanian oilfields and harvest, 129;
Ferdinand accepts terms of Treaty of Bucharest, 321;
Rumanian peace treaty ratified, 321;
"Rumania and Bessarabia," 326;
"Rumania's Thralldom," 127;
"Rumania's Humiliation," 502.

RUMELY Propaganda Case,
see Enemy Aliens.

RUSSIA:—
Allied intervention discussed by Allies, 110;
Japan and China make treaty for intervention in Siberia, 110;
Sen. King's resolution in favor of, 111;
"New Forces at Work to Save Russia," 252.
"Czechoslovaks, Role of," 265.
Finances, Russia's debt, 277;
Germany, relations with, 258, 261, 262.
Internal conditions, 105, 259, 283.
Murman district, Anglo-American occupation of Kem, 199;
German-Finnish forces attack Murman railway, complete a railroad to
Kem, German submarines in White Sea, 255;
meaning of word "Murman," 256;
Murman railway, 257;
importance of the port of Kola, 257;
Allies intervene at request of Murman inhabitants against Soviet, 259;
Bolshevist and Finno-German invasion, 259;
intervention of the Allies, 259, 465;
allied forces at Murmansk and Archangel, 470.
Revolution, Bolsheviki fail to make peace with the Ukraine, 105;
"Russia under Many Masters," 103;
Czechoslovak Army fighting Bolsheviki in Siberia and in
Volga region, 252;
attitude of Czechoslovaks toward Soviets, 254;
Armed allied intervention discussed, 110, 259, 260, 261;
German intervention, 262;
Russia's Constituent Assembly, 267;
non-Bolshevist Government established in Siberia, 199, 254, 467;
anti-Bolshevists establish "Provisional Government of the Country of the North," 470;
Japan sends aid to Czechoslovak troops, 466;
"Siberian Temporary Government" established, 467.
See also
CAMPAIGN in Eastern Europe;
ESTHONIA—Finland;
GERMANY;
JAPAN—Chinese-Japanese Military Alliance;
Relation with Russia;
UKRAINIA, LITHUANIA, POLAND;
PROGRESS of the War—RUSSIA.

RUSSIAN Situation, summary of, 265.


S

ST. JOHN of Jerusalem, Order of,
protest against bombing of hospitals, 331.

SAVINKOV, (ex-Minister) Boris,
on Bolshevist peace, 113.

SHERMAN, L. Y.,
"Germany Must Be Vanquished," 527.

SHIPBUILDING,
new records in, 43;
statistics of allied output for Jan. to May, 1918, 248;
American output Jan. to July, 1918, 203;
British and American output to August, 49.

SHIPPING,
"American Exports Versus the U-boats," 45;
American losses, 203;
tonnage acquired from other nations, 204;
Allies' losses Jan. to May, 1918, 248;
losses to allied and neutral during Jan.-Aug. 15, 446;
Canada's contribution, 307.
See also SHIPBUILDING.

SHIPYARDS, new American shipyards, 449.

SIBERIA,
temporary non-Bolshevist Government with Gen. Horvath as President established, 254.

SIMS, Admiral, 336.

SINN FEIN,
see IRELAND.

SKAGGERRAK, Battle of,
see NAVAL Operations.

SLAVS,
account of Slavonic peoples, 3;
"Albanian and Slav," 201.
See also
CZECHOSLOVAKS;
JUGOSLAVIA.

SNEEZING Powder, see GAS Warfare.

SOCIALISTS,
"International Socialists Peace Campaign," 158;
criticism of von Kuhlmann's summary of war situation, 319;
view of Treaty of Bucharest, 322;
text of Premier Clemenceau's speech of defiance to Socialist pacifists, 307.

SOISSONS, 21, 386;
see also CAMPAIGN in Western Europe.

Soldier Speaks, (poem), 79.

SOLDIERS and sailors,
rehabilitation of, "Rebuilding Disabled Soldiers," 101;
pensions granted to British disabled soldiers, 203.

Somme, Third Battle of, 423.

Stars and Stripes, (poem,) 225.

STEPHENS, Winifred,
"Reconstructing the Life of France," 286.

STRESEMANN, (Dr.) Gustave,
criticises von Kuehlmann's summary of war situation, 319.

STURGES, (Lieut.) R. S. H.,
"Fashions of the Firing Line," 309.

SUBMARINE warfare,
"The U-boat Raid in American Waters," 38;
other submarine activities of the month, 40;
"Out of the Sleep of Death," 42;
summary of losses, 49;
Llandovery Castle sunk, 246;
statistics of Allies' losses, January to May, 1918, 248;
"The Submarine's Increasing Failure": summary of recent activities, 446.
See also Hospital Ships.
See also Progress of the War, 49, 221, 434.

SUPREME War Council, favors independent Poland and Jugoslavia, 126.

SWITZERLAND an oasis in wartime, 289.


T

Theodoric and Attila on the Marne, 427.

"Toast to the Flag, A," (poem,) 360.

TRADE, see COMMERCE.

TRANSATLANTIC Trust Company, 251.

Transporting America's Army Overseas, 443.

Troops, Transportation of, 2.
See also U. S. Army.

TROTZKY, Leon,
attitude on peace with Germany, 113.

TURKEY,
invasion of Caucasus under Brest Treaty,131.


U

U-BOATS, see SUBMARINE Warfare.

UKRAINIA,
refuses to make peace with Bolshevist Government, 105;
peace signed with Russia, 264.

UNITED STATES:—
Army,
number of troops in France, 1;
"Transportation of Troops," 2;
"Armies Under Foreign Generals," 2;
"First units of our new army reviewed by King George," 69;
"No Limit to Size America's Army," 70;
"War Record of the United States," 73;
America's first anniversary in France, 78;
"Premier Lloyd George Lauds Americans," 148;
number of negroes in, 204;
"America's War Effort," 229;
German official view of, 243;
reorganizations of, 429;
consolidation of all branches into one "United States Army," 430;
"Transporting America's Army Overseas," 443.
See also CAMPAIGN in Western Europe.
Commerce,
"American Exports Versus the U-boats," 45;
finances, address by President Wilson on Federal Revenue bill, 139.
See also COST of the War.
French aid in the American Revolution, 201.
"Mexico and the United States," 142.
Navy, largest naval appropriation bill passed, 431.
Russian Situation—Inaction criticised, 260.

SHIPPING, see
SHIPPING;
SHIPBUILDING.

War Dept.,
summary of achievements to July, 1918, 229;
war with Germany and Austria-Hungary, "War Record of the United States," 73.
See also TITLES Beginning
America,
American.
See also PROGRESS of the War, 49, 221, 434.


V

VAN DYKE, Henry,
"The Stars and Stripes," (poem,) 225.

Vaux, Taking the Village of, 233.

Vaux, Thorough American Work at, 235.

VERSAILLES Council, see SUPREME War Council.

VICTORIA Cross
awarded to Capt. James B. McCudden, 87.

VILLERS-COTTERETS,
historical sketch, 6.
See also CAMPAIGN in Western Europe.


W

"War in the Air," 80.

WELLS, H. G.,
"Boycotting Germany," 545;
"The Death Knell of Empire," 353.

WEST, Austin,
"Austrians at Grips with Italians," 33.

WESTARP (Count), leader of Conservatives,
criticises von Kuhlmann's summary of war situation, 318.

WHEELER, W. Reginald,
"Chinese-Japanese Military Alliance," 498.

WILLIAM II., Emperor of Germany,
defines issues of the war, 36.

WILLIAMS, Harold,
summary of the Russian situation, 265.

WILSON, (Pres.) Woodrow,
Red Cross speech in New York, 137;
Federal Revenue Bill, 139;
appeals for economy, 141;
Memorial Day proclamation, 141;
address to Mexican editors, 142;
"Mount Vernon address"; a statement of American war aims, 191;
reply of Baron Burian, 194;
Chancellor von Hertling's reply in Reichstag, 311;
Paris renames street in honor of, 204;
sends greeting to France on Bastile Day, 245;
reply of Pres. Poincare, 245;
congratulated by Pres. Poincare on Fourth of July celebration, 337;
reply, 337;
by King George of Greece, 340;
reply, 341;
denounces mob action, 384;
"President Wilson and the League of Nations," 511.

Portraits

ARNIM, (Gen.) Sixt von, 47.

BERTHELOT, (Gen.) Henri, 410.

BOEHM, (Gen.) von, 47.

BOROEVIC (Field Marshal). 237.

BRITISH Imperial War Conference, Members, 474.

BULLARD, (Maj. Gen.) R. L., 191.

BUNDY, (Maj. Gen.) Omar, 191.

BURNHAM, (Maj. Gen.) W. P., 204.

BURTSEFF, Vladimir, 268.

CAMERON, (Maj. Gen.) G. H., 394.

CHAPMAN, Victor, 395.

DICKMAN, (Maj. Gen.) J. T., 14, 191.

DUNCAN, (Maj. Gen.) G. B., 204.

EICHHORN, (Field Marshal) von, 427.

FOSDICK, Raymond B., 269.

GLENN, (Maj. Gen.) E. F., 204.

GOURAUD (Gen.), 410.

GREENE, (Maj. Gen.) H. A., 14.

HAAN, (Maj. Gen.) W. A., 394.

HALDANE, Viscount, Lord High Chancellor of England, 47.

HALE, (Maj. Gen.) H. S., 14.

HARBORD (Maj. Gen.), 68, 191.

HINTZE, (Admiral) Paul von, 411.

HITCHCOCK, (Sen.) G. M.,15.

HOLUBOWICZ, H. M.,78.

HORVATH (Gen.), 268.

HUMBERT (Gen.), 410.

HUTIER, (Gen.) von, 47.

KITCHIN, (Congressman) Claude, 15.

KNIGHT, (Rear Admiral) Austin M., 205.

LENINE, Nikolai, 458.

LIGGETT, (Maj. Gen.) Hunter, 191.

LOMONOSSOFF, (Dr.) G. V., 268.

LUFBERY, (Maj. Gen.) Ravul, 395.

McMAHON, (Maj. Gen.) J. E., 394.

MANGIN, (Gen.) Joseph, 410.

MARWITZ, (Gen.) von der, 47.

MARTIN, (Maj. Gen.) C. T., 204.

MASARYK (Prof.), 78.

MAUD'HUY, (Gen.) de, 220.

MIRBACH, (Count) von, 427.

MITCHEL, (Maj.) J. Purroy, 395.

MUIR, (Maj. Gen.) C. H., 394.

NIBLOCK, (Rear Admiral) Albert T., 205.

NICHOLAS, Romanoff, 426.

OVERMAN, (Sen.) L. S., 15.

PETLJURA (Gen.), 78.

READ, (Maj. Gen.) George W., 381.

RODMAN, (Rear Admiral) Hugh, 205.

ROOSEVELT, (Lieut.) Quentin, 395.

SENATE Committee on Military Affairs, 475.

SIMMONS, (Sen.) F. M.,15

SIXTUS (Prince of Bourbon),79.

SKOROPADSKI, Pavel Petrovitch, 268.

SVINHUFVUD (Judge),78.

TALAAT Pasha, 236.

TCHITCHERIN, Georg, 459.

VALERA, (Prof.) Edward de, 79.

WILSON, (Rear Admiral) H. B., 205.

WOOD, (Maj. Gen.) Leonard, 14.

WRIGHT, (Maj. Gen.) Wm. M., 381.

Maps

ALBANIA, relation of, to other Balkan States, 212.

ARMENIA, 134.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, showing populations in threatened revolt, 117.

AUSTRO-ITALIAN
Campaign, 15;
Piave delta, 210;
Albania, Italo-French advance, 212;
Cairo-Jerusalem Railway, 4.

CAUCASUS region, 133.

EUROPE, showing territorial status of the war at the end of the
fourth year, 462.

JUGOSLAVIA, projected States, 116.

MURMAN Coast, 256.

MURMAN District, 471.

MURMAN-PETROGRAD Railway, 255.

RUSSIA, showing points where Bolsheviki have been fighting, 260.

RUSSIA, showing positions of Allied Expeditionary Forces, 476.

RUSSIA, railway system, 262.

SIBERIA, showing Trans-Siberian Railway, 263.

WESTERN Campaign:
German offensive of May, 10;
offensive of June 9, 12;
offensive of March to June, 18;
Cantigny captured by American troops, 59;
territory near Chateau-Thierry won back by American soldiers, 66;
Aisne-Marne region showing Allies' gains July, 1918, 206;
Marne front, 206;
Rheims, 207;
Allies' gains near Albert, Chateau-Thierry, and Bethune, 208;
battlefront, August, 1918, 391;
Chateau-Thierry "pocket," 393;
Lys Salient, 395;
Montdidier Salient, 396.

Illustrations

AMERICAN officers decorated by Gen. Philipot, 31.

AMERICAN patrol in trenches in France, 142.

AMERICAN troops on German soil, (Massevaux, Alsace,) 523.

BATTLEFIELD in France, 316.

CAMP Jackson, 333.

CHATEAU-THIERRY, bridge across the Marne, 506.

COLISEUM, Rome, during Italian celebration of anniversary of America's
entry into the war,126.

DOGS trained for the British Army as dispatch bearers, 284.

FRENCH Chasseurs Alpins visiting Statue of Liberty, 1.

FRENCH town wiped out in German offensive, 95.

FRENCH town wrecked by retreating Germans, 506.

GAS attack as seen from an airplane, 317.

GAS masks, 317.

GUNS of the largest calibre, 285.

KENNELS of French war dogs, 284.

KING George's message to the soldiers of the United States, 69.

LOCRE, Ruins of village of, 221.

PICARDY inhabitants leaving their homes when German advance began, 94.

LUSITANIA'S victims' graves, 127.

PONT-A-MOUSSON, 143.

RED CROSS parade in New York reviewed by President Wilson, 1.

TANK, armored man power, 332.

TANK, new British type, 332.

UNITED STATES National Army men parade in London,30

VILLIERS-BRETONNEUX, entrance to chateau, 221.

WAR Dept. Building, Washington, 522.


Cartoons

171-190; 361-380; 551-570.

French Chasseurs Alpins, during a visit to New York City, visiting the Statue of Liberty on Bedlow's Island

(© International Film Service)

Opening of Second Red Cross Campaign, May 18, 1918. The parade in New York City, which was led and reviewed by President Wilson, passing down Fifth Avenue at Twenty-fifth Street

(Times Photo Service)

[Pg 1]

CURRENT HISTORY CHRONICLED

[Period Ended June 20, 1918]

A Month of Battles

Military activity superseded everything else during the month under review. Europe shook with the roar of battle. From May 27 to June 15 fully 3,000,000 men were engaged in deadly conflict along the battlefronts of France, with a ghastly toll of blood, while in Italy along a front of 100 miles more than 2,000,000 joined battle on June 15 and were furiously fighting when this issue went to press. The third German offensive, which continued for three weeks, did not break the front, nor did it divide the Allies, nor were the Channel ports reached, nor was Paris invested. In all these respects the drive failed, but important new territory was won by the Germans, and they claimed over 85,000 prisoners and an enormous amount of booty; the Allies declared that the failure of the Germans to obtain any of their objectives, coupled with the frightful price they had paid in killed and wounded, the shock to the army morale, and the disappointment in the enemy leadership, operated practically as a German defeat almost approaching disaster.

American co-operation in the war became profoundly significant during the month. The announcement was authorized early in June that more than 800,000 Americans were in France and that American soldiers were occupying important sectors on the front. Their brilliant stand on the Marne and at Belleau Wood, where they were victorious over crack Prussian divisions, created great enthusiasm throughout this country and evoked warmest encomiums from all the Allies. It was announced that American forces were holding a sector on German soil in the Vosges. It was understood that United States troops were crossing the Atlantic at the rate of nearly 40,000 a week, and that with the steady gain in shipping facilities an American Army in France of 1,500,000 was assured by Oct. 15, 1918. There was evidence that the Germans had realized the gravity of American intervention, and that their great offensive was based on the fear that ultimate defeat awaited them unless they could obtain immediate victory.

The offensive launched by the Austrians in Italy on June 15 was their most ambitious undertaking during the war. It was reported that they had 1,000,000 men engaged and 7,500 guns. At the end of the fourth day it was generally felt that the offensive had failed, as none of the objectives was obtained.

There were no important military activities on any of the other fronts.

German submarines invaded American waters late in May and within three weeks torpedoed twenty vessels, among them several steamships. There was no panic; the only effect was a fuller realization that the country was at war, with a marked speeding up of recruiting and a deepened determination that the war should be waged until victory was won. The raid caused no pause in the steady flow of troops to Europe. The submarine sinkings materially diminished in European waters, and the completion of new tonnage by the Allies during the month outstripped the losses by thousands of tons. It was clear during this period that the United States had attained its full stride in building ships, airplanes, and ordnance.

The growing importance of aerial warfare was universally recognized during the month, and the deadly efficiency of air squadrons in battle was demonstrated as never before.

The Russian situation became no clearer, though there was a growing impression that the Bolsheviki were steadily declining in power, while the forces of order and moderation were strengthening. The movement for intervention by Japan in Siberia gained momentum, but Washington gave no indication of giving its assent. The German progress into Russia continued, yet there were signs that [Pg 2] the Ukrainians were resenting German methods and were becoming a troublesome factor to the invaders. The Germanization of Finland and the other Russian border provinces proceeded apace. In the Caucasus the Turks continued to acquire new power over former Russian territory, and the spread of Turanian dominion was advanced.

Austria-Hungary was in a ferment during the month, and there was every indication that the Poles, Czechs, and Slavs were working in harmony and were threatening the existence of the Dual Empire.

In Great Britain, Italy, and France political matters were quieter, and a better feeling prevailed than for many months, while in our own country there was more war enthusiasm and less political discord than at any previous time in the nation's history.

The Transportation of Troops in Great Wars

The announcement on June 15 that the United States had successfully carried over three-quarters of a million troops to France, a distance of more than 3,000 miles by sea, with the statement, made at the same time, that the Allies had successfully transported the enormous number of 17,000,000 to and from the various battle zones, both with absolutely negligible losses, serves to bring up the interesting question of the movements of vast bodies of men in earlier wars. Leaving out the primitive wars, in which troops were moved only by land, and almost wholly on foot, to begin with the great Persian invasion of Europe, in the fifth century before our era: Xerxes transported an enormous army, fabled to number five millions, and certainly reaching nearly half a million combatants, across the water-barrier of Europe by building a pontoon bridge over the Hellespont, between three and four miles wide; but the Persians had also, at Salamis, between 1,000 and 1,200 ships, which was a sufficiently great achievement in transportation. On the return invasion of Asia by the Greeks, Alexander the Great likewise crossed the Hellespont, at the site of the Gallipoli fighting, by a bridge of boats; the latest crossing of a great army on pontoons being that of the Russians at the Danube, when they invaded Turkey in 1877. A feat in transportation of another kind was that of Hannibal, who carried his mixed army of Africans, Spaniards, and Gauls across the Alps, probably at Mont Genevre, in the Summer of 218; an achievement later repeated by Napoleon and the Russian General Suvoroff. A more recent feat in transportation was the bringing of British and French troops to America, in the days of Washington. But the closest analogy to the present achievement of the American Army and Navy is probably that of the transportation of British troops to South Africa, twenty years ago, the distance being over 6,000 miles, or about twice the distance of our Atlantic port from the landing place of our troops in France. The total British losses in South Africa have more than once been equaled by one week's British casualties in the present struggle in France, the ratio of killed to wounded being about the same, namely, one to five.

Armies Under Foreign Generals

The brigading of American troops with French and English commands and the fact that the entire forces of England and Italy, as well as America, on the Continent, are commanded by a French soldier recall that in many past wars large forces of one nation served under leaders of another nation. In the Napoleonic wars there were numberless instances of these armies of composite nationality, the most striking example being, probably, the Grand Army which invaded Russia in 1811, in which there was only a minority of French soldiers, nearly all Western Europe contributing the majority. But these foreign troops served by compulsion, not of good-will. A better analogy is the war of the Spanish succession, in which both the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene commanded composite armies, voluntarily united; this war transferred Newfoundland and Nova Scotia from France to England. In the wars in India, English commanders have almost invariably had a majority of native troops in their[Pg 3] forces, and this was conspicuously the case in the second half of the eighteenth century, as in Clive's decisive victory at Plassey.

Considerable numbers of French troops served under an American Commander in Chief at an eventful period in this country's history; of the 16,000 who forced the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, about half were French troops, under Lafayette and Rochambeau. A generation later, when Napoleon was trying to subdue Spain, mixed forces of English, Portuguese, and Spanish troops fought, under the Duke of Wellington and his colleagues, against the invaders. At Waterloo also the Duke of Wellington had an army of several different nationalities under his command, though the Dutch and Belgian troops played no great part in the later stages of the battle. In the war of 1877, considerable Russian and Rumanian armies fought under a single commander who was, for a considerable period, Prince Charles (later King) of Rumania.

The Northern and Southern Slavs

The conference at Rome, April 10, 1918, to settle outstanding questions between the Italians and the Slavs of the Adriatic, has once more drawn attention to those Slavonic peoples in Europe who are under non-Slavonic rule. At the beginning of the war there were three great Slavonic groups in Europe: First, the Russians with the Little Russians, speaking languages not more different than the dialect of Yorkshire is from the dialect of Devonshire; second, a central group, including the Poles, the Czechs or Bohemians, the Moravians, and Slovaks, this group thus being separated under the four crowns of Russia, Germany, Austria, and Hungary; the third, the southern group, included the Sclavonians, the Croatians, the Dalmatians, Bosnians, Herzegovinians, the Slavs, generally called Slovenes, in the western portion of Austria, down to Goritzia, and also the two independent kingdoms of Montenegro and Serbia.

Like the central group, this southern group of Slavs was divided under four crowns, Hungary, Austria, Montenegro, and Serbia; but, in spite of the fact that half belong to the Western and half to the Eastern Church, they are all essentially the same people, though with considerable infusion of non-Slavonic blood, there being a good deal of Turkish blood in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The languages, however, are practically identical, formed largely of pure Slavonic materials, and, curiously, much more closely connected with the eastern Slav group—Russia and Little Russia—than with the central group, Polish and Bohemian. A Russian of Moscow will find it much easier to understand a Slovene from Goritzia than a Pole from Warsaw. The Ruthenians, in Southern Galicia and Bukowina, are identical in race and speech with the Little Russians of Ukrainia.

Of the central group, the Poles have generally inclined to Austria, which has always supported the Polish landlords of Galicia against the Ruthenian peasantry; while the Czechs have been not so much anti-Austrian as anti-German. Indeed, the Hapsburg rulers have again and again played these Slavs off against their German subjects. It was the Southern Slav question, as affecting Serbia and Austria, that gave the pretext for the present war. At this moment, the central Slav question—the future destiny of the Poles—is a bone of contention between Austria and Germany. It is the custom to call these Southern Slavs "Jugoslavs," from the Slav word Yugo, "south," but as this is a concession to German transliteration, many prefer to write the word "Yugoslav," which represents its pronunciation. The South Slav question was created by the incursions of three Asiatic peoples—Huns, Magyars, Turks—who broke up the originally continuous Slav territory that ran from the White Sea to the confines of Greece and the Adriatic.

Drunkenness Reduced in Great Britain

The result of the control of the liquor traffic in Great Britain is shown by the following figures of convictions for drunkenness in the years named, the upper line of figures referring to males, the lower line to females:

[Pg 4]

In England and Wales the deaths due to or connected with alcoholism (excluding cirrhosis of the liver) fell from 1,112 (males) and 719 (females) in 1913 to 358 (males) and 222 (females) in 1917; deaths due to cirrhosis of the liver, from 2,215 (males) and 1,665 (females) to 1,475 (males) and 808 (females); cases of attempted suicide, from 1,458 (males) and 968 (females) to 483 (males) and 452 (females); deaths from suffocation of infants under one year declined from 1,226 to 704.

Germany's Population Declining

A careful study of the vital statistics of Germany and Great Britain reveals the fact that the population of Germany is declining, while that of Great Britain is increasing. The German Empire, which in June, 1919, at the previous rate of increase should have had 72,000,000 people, will have no more than 64,500,000. Germany as a whole will have 5 per cent. less population than when the war began. Of those who have been killed the greater number were men in the prime of life and energy, whom Germany could least spare. By deaths in the battle zone the empire has lost at least 3,000,000 men.

The birth rate has sunk to such a figure that by next year the number of births will have fallen short of what they would have been had there been no war by 3,333,000. In the same period the annual number of deaths among the German civilian population, owing to the stress and anxiety of the war, and sickness, which has been aggravated by hardships and food troubles, has increased by 1,000,000 over the normal.

While by next year the German Empire will be 7,500,000 lower in population than it would have been had the war not taken place, the vitality of the peoples of Austria and Hungary has suffered even more. The peoples of Austria will be 11 per cent. poorer in numbers next year than if the war had not taken place. They will be 8 per cent. lower in numbers than they were in 1914. Hungary will be still worse off. It will have a population 9 per cent. lower than before the war, and 13 per cent. lower than it would have been if there had been no war.

Meanwhile, despite the losses suffered in the war zone, the British population has been growing. By the middle of 1919 this population will be only 3 per cent. lower than it would have been without war. Great Britain in 1919 will have a larger population than in 1914.

Cairo to Jerusalem by Rail

It was officially announced May 11 that the swing bridge over the Suez Canal at Kantara was completed, and that on May 15, 1918, there was direct railway service from Cairo to Jerusalem. When the war broke out there were no railways between the Suez Canal and the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway, a distance of some 200 miles, mainly desert.

At that time a line ran along the western bank of the canal from Suez to Port Said. It was linked up with the main lines of the Egyptian State railways by a single track from Ismailia to Zagazig. [Pg 5]A few miles to the north of that track another line from Zagazig stopped some eighteen miles short of the canal at El Salhia. At the beginning of the war, to facilitate the transport of troops and supplies to the canal and beyond, the track from Zagazig to Ismailia was doubled, and a new line was pushed out from the dead end at El Salhia to the canal opposite Kantara, a village on the eastern, or Sinai, side of the canal. Later, when the British troops entered the Sinai Peninsula, a railway was begun from Kantara eastward, and as the British troops advanced so did the railway. It followed the northern track across Sinai, and had been taken within a few miles of Gaza when that town was captured last November. Meantime the Turks had built a branch from the Jaffa-Jerusalem line to a point only five miles north of Gaza, and by February General Allenby had joined the two systems, so that there was direct railway connection between Kantara and Jerusalem.

Kindling the Holy Fire

The annual ceremony of the Kindling of the Holy Fire took place May 4 in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In Turkish days it was the custom to provide a guard of not less than 600 soldiers in order to keep the peace between the Greeks and Armenians, as disorders almost invariably occurred. On this occasion there was no guard of any kind other than the ordinary police, and the ceremony took place without any sign of disturbance.

The ceremony of the Holy Fire—at which, it is held, flame comes by a miracle from heaven to kindle the lamps of the Holy Sepulchre—apparently began in the ninth century, and was formerly attended by leading representatives of all the churches. These have long ago withdrawn from it, and it is now attended by members of the Greek and Armenian Churches, mostly ignorant pilgrims of Eastern Christendom. Many enlightened members of the Greek Church discouraged the ceremony, as the vast crowds of frenzied people attending it had to be kept in some sort of order by Turkish soldiers. At the appointed time a bright flame of burning wood appears through a hole in the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre; the rush to obtain this new fire is overwhelming, and it is handed on from taper to taper until thousands of lights appear. A mounted horseman takes a lighted torch to convey the sacred fire to the lamp of the Greek Church in the convent at Bethlehem. In 1834 hundreds of lives were lost in the violent pressure of the unruly crowd.

Building the Cape to Cairo Railway

Notwithstanding the war, 200 miles of the Cape to Cairo Railway in Africa were laid in the last four years, and a total of 450 miles in the last eight years from the Rhodesian frontier to the navigable waterway of the Congo. The latest section of the Katanga Railway reached Bukama, on the Congo River, May 22.

The railway starts from Cape Town and crosses Bechuanaland and Rhodesia; it reached the Congo frontier in 1909. The first section (158 miles) reached the copper mines of the Star of the Congo in November, 1910, where Elizabethville, a populous town, inhabited by 1,400 white men, has since developed. The railway was pushed in 1913 as far as Kambové, another important mining district, (99 miles.) In spite of the difficulties caused by the war, a third section was open to traffic north of Kambové, reaching Djilongo (68 miles) in July, 1915. It was through this road that the two English monitors, under the direction of Commander G. B. Spicer Simson, reached the waters of Lake Tanganyika, which they cleared of enemy craft. Understanding the advantages which the line would afford, the Belgian Colonial Government opened new credits for the completion of the railway as far as Bukama, (125 miles.) The building started from Djilongo and Bukama at the same time, and, in spite of the difficulties of the ground and the scarcity of labor in the region traversed, has now been successfully completed. More than 30,000 tons of copper are annually transported from the Congo copper mines.

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Compiegne and Its Forest

Compiegne, the northern support of the French battlefront during the early part of June, goes back to Roman days. Its name is a modernization of Compendium, which seems to have meant the "short cut" between Soissons and Beauvais. The castle, which was founded by Charles the Bald, was rebuilt by Charles V. and Louis XV. It is now practically a historical museum of pictures, sculpture, vases, beautiful French furniture. The Hôtel de Ville, the Town Hall, was built under Louis XII., and is now adorned by a recent statue of Jeanne d'Arc, whose cult has been so widely revived in the last few years in France. And the old churches of Saint James and Saint Antony go back to the France of Charles VIII. and Louis XII. The magnificent forest of Compiègne, with its century-old oaks and beeches, covers some 36,000 acres, or almost sixty square miles, and has nearly ninety miles of parkways under its shady boughs. Within it, near Champlieu, are old Roman ruins, and the huge, many-towered Château of Pierrefonds, which was a favorite hunting lodge of the Kings of France. Built in the fourteenth century, it was rebuilt by Viollet-le-Duc. It is curious that the modern use of airplanes in military scouting, in conjunction with our powerful artillery, has given these forests a significance in battle which takes us back not merely to the days of mediaeval warfare with its forest ambushes but to the earlier fighting of primitive tribes.

The Forest of Villers-Cotterets

The immense importance of forests in the present battle is only one among many returns to the machinery of mediaeval war, like the revival of helmets, bombs, mortars, the use of a trench knife, which is simply an adapted Roman broadsword. And, in exactly the same way, the pressure of races in the present war has brought the fighting back to the old, famous battle areas, on which the Latin races have fought against the barbarians any time these two thousand years. This is particularly true of the area of the fighting in the first half of June. Much of the history here goes back to old Roman times, much to the earliest Kings of France. Villers-Cotterets, in the old feudal territory of Valois, has developed from a sixth century hamlet, first named Villers-Saint-Georges. The great forest, which has been so strong a buttress for the French and American line, was then known as Col-de-Retz, and was a favorite hunting ground of the early Kings. The Château Malmaison, rebuilt by Francis I. in 1530, was really a magnificent hunting lodge; his son, Henry II., and Francis II. often sojourned there. Charles V. halted there during his campaign in Champagne. Charles IX. spent his honeymoon there with his young Queen Elizabeth. The castle was restored by the Duke of Orleans in 1750, at a cost of 2,000,000 francs, when the great walls of the park were built. He was the father of Philippe-Egalité and the grandfather of King Louis Philippe. Alexandre Dumas, who was born at Villers-Cotterets, described the castle as being "as big as the whole town." Later it became an orphanage, sheltering 800 children. In the forest is the "enchanted butte," 752 feet above sea level, which is dimly visible from Laon, forty-four miles away; here the fairies were traditionally believed to dance in the moonlight. Finally, in the last martial act of Napoleon's Hundred Days—on June 27, 1815, a week after Waterloo—Marshal Grouchy fought the Prussians under Pirch within sight of Villers-Cotterets.

Chateau-Thierry

Chateau-Thierry, which has added a splendid page to the martial history of the American Army, is another of the ancient strongholds whose strategic position has given it equal significance in the recent fighting. It was originally a Roman camp, Castrum Theodorici. The castle, built in 730 by Charles Martel, was given in 877 by Louis II., "the Stammerer," to Herbert, Count of Vermandois, from whose family it passed in the tenth century to the Counts of Troyes. At the end of the eleventh century the town, which had grown up under the shelter of the [Pg 7]fortress, was surrounded by a wall, and the Burgesses of the town, in 1520, received permission from Francis I. to found a leather and cloth fair, which was long famous. Often a battleground, Château-Thierry was captured by the English in 1421. It was sacked by the Spanish in 1591. It was a centre of French resistance in the invasion of 1814, and Napoleon with 24,000 veterans decisively beat Blücher with 50,000 men under the historic walls of the ancient fortress. The fabulist La Fontaine was born here on July 8, 1621.

Infant Welfare in Germany

The British Local Government Board issued a report on infant welfare in Germany, May 17, 1918, from which the following facts are taken:

During the war there has been a heavy fall in the number of births in Germany. The first three years alone of the war reduced by over 2,000,000 the number of babies who would have been born had peace prevailed. Some 40 per cent. fewer babies were born in 1916 than in 1913. The infantile death rate has been kept well down, but is 50 per cent. higher than in Great Britain.

The birth rate, which had risen from 36.1 per 1,000 inhabitants in the decade 1841-1850 to 39.1 per 1,000 in the period 1871-1880, fell in the succeeding decades to 36.8, 36.1, and 31.9. The rate for the last year of the period 1901-1910 was under 30 per 1,000, and the continuance of the fall brought the rate as low as 28.3 in 1912.

In 1913 there were 1,839,000 live births in Germany; in 1916 there were only 1,103,000—a decrease of 40 per cent. as compared with 1913. The corresponding figures for England and Wales (785,520 live births in 1916 against 881,890 in 1913) show a decrease of 10.9 per cent.

In 1913 the infant mortality rate for Germany was 151 per 1,000, as compared with 108 in England and Wales. The rates in 1914 for Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria (comprising nearly 80 per cent. of the total population of Germany) were 164, 173, and 193 per 1,000 respectively. The abnormal increase in infant mortality during the first months of the war is shown by the fact that in Prussia in the third quarter of 1914 the rate rose from 128 to 143; in Saxony from 140 to 242; and in Bavaria from 170 to 239.

The principal measure adopted in Germany to promote infant welfare during the war has been the distribution of the imperial maternity grants. "Necessity" must first be proved, but instructions have been given that the term "necessity" is to be liberally interpreted. There was a general demand that some further provision should be made for soldiers' wives who could not meet the extra expenses connected with the birth of a child, and by a Federal Order, published on Dec. 3, 1914, provision was made for the payment (partly from imperial funds and partly from the funds of the sickness insurance societies) of the following allowances:

  (a) A single payment of $6.25 toward the expenses of confinement.

  (b) An allowance of 25 cents daily, including Sundays and holidays, for eight weeks, at least six of which must be after the confinement.

  (c) A grant up to $2.50 for medical attendance during pregnancy if needed.

  (d) An allowance for breast-feeding at the rate of 12½ cents a day, including Sundays and holidays, for 12 weeks after confinement.

These grants were afterward extended to women whose husbands were employed on patriotic auxiliary service and women who were themselves employed on such service. In addition to this special measure, steps were taken to encourage the formation of local societies for promoting infant welfare and the establishment by the societies of infant welfare centres. Steps were taken to protect illegitimate children by assisting unmarried mothers from municipal funds and to give expectant and nursing mothers additional rations of food.

As a result of intensive farming propaganda, the acreage of cereals and potatoes in England and Wales in 1917 was 8,302,000, an increase of 2,042,000 over 1916. It is estimated that the tillage in 1917 in Scotland increased 300,000 acres over 1916, and in Ireland the figures showed an increase of 1,500,000 acres, making a total of about 4,000,000 acres increase in the United Kingdom in the year. This was accomplished in the face of the fact that in England and Wales alone there were 200,000 fewer male laborers on the land in 1917 than before the war. It is estimated that the United Kingdom in 1918-19 will produce 80 per cent. of the total breadstuff requirements for the year, whereas in 1916-17 the production was but 20 per cent. of the needs.

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The volunteers furnished by Ireland, divided between Ulster and the rest of the country, were as follows:

The Parliamentary Under Secretary to the British War Office, Mr. Macpherson, in a statement in Parliament, May 3, 1918, gave the following figures of Chaplains in the war, killed, died of wounds, or died of disease while on service in the war. The figures do not include colonial Chaplains or the Chaplains of the Indian Ecclesiastical Establishment:

The Government of Costa Rica declared war on Germany May 23, 1918, bringing the number of nations aligned against the Central Powers to a total of twenty-one. Of the other Central American States Panama, Nicaragua, and Guatemala had issued declarations of war. Honduras severed diplomatic relations, and San Salvador proclaimed neutrality, but explained that it was friendly to the United States. The Government of Peru seized 50,000 tons of interned German ships, and the Government of Chile is negotiating with the United States for the seizure, by appropriation or sale to this country, of 200,000 tons interned in its ports.

The Second American Red Cross drive was begun on May 20. The final subscriptions, as announced on May 28, were $148,833,367, an oversubscription of more than $48,000,000. The subscriptions in New York City exceeded $33,000,000; in the rest of New York State they were about $9,000,000. The oversubscription maintained a similar average in all parts of the country.

When the Germans came in possession of Helsingfors there were seven British submarines in the Baltic with stores, workshops, and barges for floating mechanics, which had been moved into the harbor from different parts of the Baltic as the Germans advanced into Russia. The British naval contingent was in charge of Lieut. Commander Downie, and when it was apparent that the Germans would come in possession of the harbor the entire property was destroyed, including all the submarines, repair shops, and supplies, estimated in value at $15,000,000.

Andrew Bonar Law, Chancellor of the British Exchequer, in introducing a new vote of credit in Parliament June 18, announced that it was felt that the German offensive in France had wholly failed and that the Austrian offensive in Italy was the war's worst initial failure. He extolled America's aid in the war and the brilliant part taken already by American troops. He moved a vote of credit of $2,500,000,000, which was promptly given. The vote brought the total British war credits to $36,500,000,000. It will cover expenditures to Sept. 1, 1918. Bonar Law stated that the daily cost of the war to Great Britain was $34,240,000. The debt due Great Britain from her allies was stated to be $6,850,000,000, and from the Dominions $1,030,000,000.

It was announced June 16 that an American contingent had been assigned to the Vosges Mountains in Alsace in territory which belonged to Germany prior to the war. Private W. J. Gwyton of Evart, Mich., of this force was the first American killed on former German soil, having met his death by machine-gun fire on the day after the unit entered the line, (May 27, 1918.) He was awarded the Croix de Guerre.

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Battles in France and Italy

Military Review From May 18 to June 18, 1918—Fighting on the Marne and Oise—The Austrian Offensive

The third month of the great German offensive may be considered the complement of the second; it has been an attempt to accomplish south of the great Picardy salient what north of it had been tried and had failed. In the second month the Lys salient had been developed, but the barrier ridges of Ypres and Arras still held. At the end of the third month the southern barriers—the Chemin-des-Dames and the watershed of the Oise-Aisne—had been carried by the enemy, but the terrain of occupation was so constricted, the enemy troops so distributed, that neither of his ambitious objectives had been brought nearer attainment. These objectives were the reaching of the sea by the Somme via Amiens, with its corollaries, the isolation of the allied armies north of that river and the occupation of the Channel ports; the decisive defeat of the French armies in the field, with whatever moral and political corollary that eventuality might produce; the occupation of Paris, and the demoralization of the French body politic. [See map on Page 19.]

But the German failure of the third month is far more significant, has a far greater bearing on the war, than the failure of the second. The enemy has not only failed to broaden the Picardy front so as to permit a further advance down the Somme, to inflict vital losses on the Allies, to force the French back on the defenses of Paris, but, in attempting to do these things he has transformed all his potential resources into active resources, and these give evidence of approaching exhaustion.

Only one conclusion is possible: Ludendorff with an initial preponderance of men and war material, with the tactical advantage of being able to manoeuvre from the centre outward, has been outgeneraled both in tactics and in strategy by Foch, so that the former's gains of terrain, while being of no advantage whatever—even a danger in certain sectors—have been purchased at an expenditure of men and material utterly incommensurate with their area and position.

FORCING THE AISNE

Ludendorff, on May 27, with a simultaneous diversion on the Lys salient and another at the southwest angle of the Picardy salient, northwest of Montdidier, began, with the most stupendous preparations ever concentrated, an attack on the southern barriers over a forty-mile front. He forced the Aisne the next day on an eighteen-mile front, and on May 31 he brought up at the Marne on a six-mile front, having made a penetration of thirty miles to the south. There he attempted to deploy both east and west, and was held.

Meanwhile his baseline had been extended twenty miles to the west—to near Noyon. He had occupied about 650 square miles of new territory and had reduced his nearest approach to Paris from sixty-two to forty-four miles.

Then, on June 9, with even a greater array of men and material, he attempted to invert the western bow-like side of the salient already formed by turning it outward. He made a fierce attack from a twenty-mile front between Montdidier and Noyon in the direction of Compiègne. With this objective attained, his Picardy front would have been sufficiently broadened to enable him to resume his journey down the Somme. Moreover, he would have been within striking distance of Paris. He gained seven miles, which was later reduced to less than six by French counterattacks. French counterattacks and a thrust of American marines on his flanks in the three succeeding days not only held him in a vise, but revealed his tremendous losses and the extraordinary means he had expended in preparations. By June 12 his failure, the ramifications of which actually demonstrated his defeat, was an established fact. Then, on the following Saturday, June 15, this failure was acknowledged by the sudden launching of an Austrian offensive in Italy. How this was an acknowledgment we shall see in the proper place.

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UPPER MAP: WHERE THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE BEGAN ON MAY 27, 1918
LOWER MAP: WHERE IT WAS STOPPED, MAY 31

SECOND MARNE BATTLE

Held at the Ypres and Arras barriers in the north it was inevitable that Ludendorff's next move would be in the south. The railways freed by the expansion of the Picardy salient in March, the unhampered concentrations made possible at Péronne, St. Quentin, La Fère, and Hirson, and the admirable surface of the Laon Plateau for purposes of manoeuvring large bodies of troops—all pointed to the line northwest of Rheims as the probable point of attack. Then, when it came on May 27, consternation reigned among military critics as they observed the apparent ease with which the Germans carried, first, the mighty Chemin des Dames, protected on the east by Craonne and its three plateaux and on the west by the Ailette and the Oise, and then the south bank of the Aisne, with its formidable prepared fortifications at Soissons. The German feints in the Lys salient and before Amiens in the preceding week were said to have distracted Foch, who had thus been outgeneraled. And when the Marne was reached between Dormans and Château-Thierry, it was remembered how the Third German Army under General von Hausen had swept across the river at that identical spot on Aug. 25, 1914.

In the first three days of the drive the Germans with the greatest auxiliary force of tanks, machine guns, and poison gas projectors they had ever mobilized employed twenty-five divisions, or 325,000 men. When they doubled their base line and had reached the Marne and were trying to deploy they were using forty divisions containing over 400,000 of their best troops. When the offensive quieted down in the first days of June it was estimated that they had lost fully 30 per cent. of the total in casualties. On [Pg 11]the other hand, they claimed to have captured over 45,000 prisoners and taken 400 guns. They had come thirty miles and had occupied 650 square miles of territory. But they were held.

What is the explanation of this seeming paradox? Foch could by calling on a certain number of reserves easily have held the Chemin des Dames until—he had been flanked and enfiladed out, between Neufchatel and Rheims on the east and from the Oise where it enters the Aisne on the west. He might have held out longer on the southern bank of the Aisne, but the result would have been the same—losses equaling if not surpassing those of the enemy and the surrender of thousands of guns and large quantities of war material. Finally, he would have gained nothing and might even have been unable to hold the Marne.

It is obvious that he did none of these things. But what did he do? He left his front protected by only sufficient men and guns to produce the greatest possible losses among the enemy as he slowly advanced south and concentrated heavily on the enemy's flanks. It was he and not Ludendorff who decreed that the Germans should reach the Marne between Dormans and Château-Thierry, and nowhere else. But it was Pétain who executed the plans of Foch.

THE FIGHT IN DETAIL

The German attack under the personal command of the Crown Prince launched on the morning of May 27 was mainly directed against the British 8th, 50th, 25th, and 21st Divisions and the French 6th Army, which occupied the front from Vauxaillon eastward to the Brimont region—from north of Soissons to the north and a little west of Rheims. Certain sectors at once gave way under the strong pressure—particularly in the Chambrettes. There was no mistaking this for the main offensive, although in the Lys salient, between Ypres and Arras in the north, and on both sides of the Somme and the Ardre in the centre, there were simultaneous artillery preparations of great violence. Toward the end of the day the weight of the enemy's attacks carried his troops across both the River Aisne and the Chemin des Dames. The line, however, remained unbroken, as the Allies retreated across the Aisne between Vailly and Berry-au-Bac, which are eighteen miles apart, and then gave way across the Vesle near Fismes.

On the 28th Franco-British troops proved the assault in the north to be abortive by quickly re-establishing their lines east of Dickebusch Lake and capturing a few prisoners. On the main field of battle in the south the Franco-British right deployed to the east covering the Brouillet-Savigny-Thillois line protecting Rheims. On the west they did the same, but with more elasticity, while the centre continued to give. On the 29th the acute angle of the German penetration, with its vertex covering Fismes, suddenly sprung to the shape of a bow. The line still held covering the Cathedral City, but on the west the defenders of Soissons were killing their last Germans, and in the south Savigny on the Ardre had been reached. At Savigny the line of advance was diverted westward until it embraced Fère-en-Tardennois and Vezilly. And still the retreating but unbroken Allies were deploying east and west as its pressure increased, or were taken prisoner when retreat became impossible.

On the 30th the enemy attempted to broaden his front northwest of Rheims and failed, but he succeeded in obliterating the salient south of Noyon, from the Oise Canal to Soissons, and on the 31st by an advance from a twenty-five-mile curved front he reached the Marne between Château-Thierry and Dormans on a contracted six-mile front. Here he met on the south bank the prepared defenses, and has been kept on the north bank ever since.

AMERICAN MARINES

In the enemy's attempts to broaden his front on the Marne salient, June 1 and 2, he managed to rectify the eastern side by reaching Sarcy and Olizy and by working along up the Marne a couple of miles east of Dormans. He also measurably consolidated his positions between the Oise Canal and Soissons, and south of[Pg 12] the latter stretched the line into a segment with a five mile vertical as far south as, but not including, Château-Thierry on the Marne. This swing to the westward appears to have been a deliberate attempt to force Foch to meet shock with shock by throwing in his reserves, as the German advance had reached a point only forty miles from Paris.

OFFENSIVE OF JUNE 9, AIMED AT COMPIEGNE, AND BLOCKED BY THE FRENCH AFTER FIVE DAYS. LIGHT SHADED AREA WON BY GERMANS; DARK SHADED AREA AT BOTTOM WON BACK BY AMERICANS NEAR CHATEAU-THIERRY

This was unnecessary, however, for here, north of Château-Thierry, the enemy was to meet a new foe—the American marines. It is doubtful whether the extraordinary performance of this corps and its French supports between June 6 and June 12, when they bent back the lower part of the bow between La Feste-Milon and Château-Thierry—from Grandeles, Champillon, and Clerembant Wood to Bussiares and Bouresches—can be included in the second battle of the Marne or serves as a diversion to the later battle of the Oise, directed against Compiègne. At any rate, the ardor of the marines had the desired effect, for on the very day they began their work the inspired Berlin Vossische Zeitung said: "The German Supreme Command cannot well proceed now against the newly consolidated French front, which is richly provided with reserves, and bear the great losses which experience shows are entailed by such operations." Thus ended the second battle of the Marne, sometimes called the Aisne-Marne battle.

BATTLE OF THE OISE

The flanking lines between which the Germans were directed to the Marne made the battle of the Oise inevitable as far as the Marne salient was concerned. For the salient, there was only this alternative,[Pg 13] if its front could not be broadened: it must be "dug in" or be abandoned. But, being necessary, if it could be waged beyond a certain point, it would also become ambitious. It would supplement the Picardy front by continuing its line down to the Marne. Reaching the Oise at Montmacq, it would flank the French salient north of the Oise. Utilizing the Oise and Ourcq Valleys, it would envelop the defensive forests of Aigue, Compiègne, and Villers-Cotterets. This would mean Compiègne. From Compiègne the investment of Paris was possible.

The battle, as far as the Germans are concerned, was probably their most disastrous effort of the war within the given time. Between thirty and thirty-four divisions were completely used up—a cost of over 400,000 effectives. Not only did their advance lack the element of surprise, but it entered a veritable trap. Their front was enfiladed with a destructive fire from impregnable flanks.

The battle was also a revelation; it demonstrated as nothing else the waning man power of the enemy—the desperate mobilization of 16-year-old boys, of old men, of convicts, even.

The artillery preparation, rich in gas shells, began at midnight on June 8-9. On the following morning at 4:30 the attack was launched over the twenty miles from Montdidier to Noyon. And, as usual, there was the northern diversion—the pounding of the British lines by gunfire from Villers-Bretonneux to Arras. Even on the first day of the assault, when the German centre advanced two and a half miles, the French made a spirited counterattack near Hautebraye, between the Aisne and the Oise. On the second day the enemy took at tremendous cost the villages of Mery, Belloy, and St. Maur and debouched from Thiescourt Wood. On the third day, with the aid of four fresh divisions, he managed to reach the Aronde, on the west; to descend a mile astride the Matz and to occupy its northern bank almost to the Oise, in the centre; and to envelop the forest of Ourscamps, on the east. Before the sun set the French, by a counterattack, had entirely won back the gains on the west, with over 1,000 prisoners captured. On the fourth and fifth days (June 13 and 14) the French heavily attacked on the flanks of the centre—at Courcelles and at Croix Ricard. Then came two final kicks from the foe; on June 16 he attempted to cross the Matz near its junction with the Oise and was driven back with heavy losses. The next day he drenched the south bank of the Marne with gas shells, but did not attempt to cross the stream.

All this time abortive diversions had been going on in the north, in the Lys salient, where on June 15 the British and Scottish troops took the initiative and captured two miles of enemy positions seven miles west of La Bassée and just north of Béthune.

THE AUSTRIAN OFFENSIVE

Just as the German defeat on the Marne and Oise was beginning to be realized abroad—its losses calculated, its meaning interpreted—the Austrians, on June 15, suddenly launched an offensive in the mountain region of Veneto and from the left bank of the Piave. So far the enemy has been firmly held in the mountains, but has crossed the river at two places without, however, being able to bring over any effective artillery—on the middle reaches he has gained the Plateau of Montello, defended by the intrenchments prepared there by the British under Plumer last December, and near the mouth he has succeeded in establishing one or two bridgeheads in the vicinity of Capo Sile.

As a military proposition the offensive has lacked the so far inevitable successes of a prepared initiative; in the mountains the first attacks were almost instantly broken up by simultaneous counterattacks. Along the river, especially in the vicinity of the crossings, the battle is developing in scope and intensity.

Aside from the military paradox already noted, this offensive possesses several characteristics, some military, some political, which seem well worth while dwelling upon.

In the first place, the location of the active front east of the Lago di Garda, from the Asiago Plateau to the sea, offers [Pg 14]a certain indication of the German military situation in France. Its abortive character may also indicate the political situation in Austria-Hungary. With the lines in the mountains held, the operations on the Piave present no formidable danger to Italy.

It was well known by the Italian General Staff that the Austro-German High Command intended to make the attempt to confirm the Italian disaster of Caporetto as soon as the melting of the snows permitted the transportation of men and supplies through the Alps. In the first place, the material and man power lost by the Italians in the retreat to the Piave, which included the actual elimination of the 2d Army, were replaced. In the second, it was absolutely necessary to rectify, even in the Winter, the northern mountain line east of the Lago di Garda. West of the lake up to the Tonale Pass, over the great glacier of the Adamello, it was practically invulnerable, save through the Giudicaria Valley.

From west to east there were three doors, as it were, which had only been partly shut—the Vallarsa south of Rovereto, the path of the Frenzela Torrent and the angle it forms with the Brenta just above Valstagna, and the approach down the Piave in the region of Monte Monfenera from the Calcina Torrent. There were also other minor openings—the passes of Monte Asolone, between the Brenta and the Piave, covering the path south along the Val San Lorenzo, the Nos and Campo Mulo Valleys between Asiago and the Brenta. All these were closed in December and January, with a total loss to the enemy of over 10,000 men and 100 guns, save the domination of the Vallarsa, that was taken from the Austrians by the capture of Monte Corno on May 15. Meanwhile, the British and French armies had been transferred, the former from Il Montello on the Piave to the Asiago Plateau, and the latter from the Monfenera region to that of Monte Grappa. Between 200,000 and 300,000 Italian troops had been sent to the aid of France.

Thus the Italian General Staff awaited the inevitable with confidence—a confidence fully seconded by people and press, for if the mass of the Italians had fought in ignorance before the catastrophe of Caporetto, since then they had learned the objects of the war—national as well as allied.

But the General Staff had also learned something else. This was most important. If Ludendorff in France should be successful—if he should succeed in isolating the allied armies north of the Somme, or force the French back upon the defenses of Paris, or both—then the Austrian Commander in Chief with his million men would be aided by German generalship and German divisions, and, together, they would strike down the Giudicaria to the west of the Lago di Garda, with all strength and disregarding all sacrifices in order to reach the metallurgic centre of Italy in Lombardia and Emilia, thereby forcing Italy out of the war and gaining access to the back door of France. If, however, Ludendorff should be blocked in France, the offensive must still be made at the propitious moment, but its plan of attack would be to the east of the Lago di Garda, from the Astico to the sea. It would be entirely an Austrian affair, and would naturally be limited by the political and military situation in the Dual Monarchy.

It is of significance, therefore, that the offensive has been launched to the east and not to the west of the Lago di Garda. Its locality reveals Ludendorff's conviction that he is at least blocked in France, if nothing else, whatever light its development may later throw upon the parlous internal conditions of the Hapsburg Empire.

This admitted, the Austrian plan of campaign becomes a simple problem—simple because there could be no other. At the beginning of the war Italy attempted to neutralize the Trentino and the Carnic region by sealing the passes and then made her attack across the Isonzo. But she could never be certain that the passes had been effectually sealed. A successful Austrian invasion through them would jeopardize her armies on the Isonzo, isolate them by cutting their lines of communication. That was the danger which threatened those armies when the Austrians made their drive upon the Asiago Plateau in May, 1916, which was ultimately outflanked and forced back. That was also the disaster when last October the Austro-German armies, having penetrated the Isonzo line from the north, forced it to retire westward, forced a withdrawal from the passes in the Carnic and the Dolomite Alps, and again reached the Asiago Plateau, this time free from the danger of being flanked.

LEADING GENERALS OF THE AMERICAN ARMY

Major Gen. H. A. Greene
(Press Illus. Service)

Major Gen. Leonard Wood
(© Clinedinst)

Major Gen. H. S. Hale

Major Gen. J. T. Dickman

PROMINENT IN AMERICAN WAR LEGISLATION

Senator G. M. Hitchcock
Chairman Foreign Relations Committee
(Harris & Ewing)

Congressman Claude Kitchin
Chairman House Ways and Means Committee
(Harris & Ewing)

Senator L. S. Overman

Senator F. M. Simmons

[Pg 15]

SCENE OF THE NEW AUSTRIAN OFFENSIVE

It is thus of most vital influence upon the operations going on along the Piave that the British on the Asiago Plateau, on June 15, and the French on Monte Grappa, the next day, and the Italians elsewhere even covering a diversion at the Tonale Pass, should have hurled back with severe losses the initial assaults of the enemy in the mountain regions. On June 18 the Austrians claimed to have taken 30,000 prisoners and 120 guns since the 15th; the Italians and their allies claimed 2,500 prisoners.

That the Greeks are certainly in the war was revealed on May 31, when the news was published that they had, with the aid of French artillery, captured some 1,500 Bulgar-German troops on the Struma front in Macedonia. Meanwhile, however, General Guillaumat, who succeeded General Sarrail as commander of the allied armies there in December, has returned to France to take charge of the defenses of Paris.

Advices from Constantinople, via Moscow and London, indicate that the Turks, having reached an agreement with the Caucasus peoples, are assembling troops across the Armenian-Persian frontier, so as to block the advance of General Marshall with the Anglo-Indian forces up the Tigris. The left wing of the Turks, on June 14, reached Tabriz and Lake Urumiah, in Persia, 200 miles northeast of Mosul on the Tigris. Marshall is 60 miles south of that place.

Captain Rizzo of the Italian Navy, who on the night of Dec. 9-10 sank the Austrian pre-dreadnought Wien in the Harbor of Trieste and put another ship of the 5,000-ton class, now known to be the Budapest, out of commission, again distinguished himself on June 10, when with two torpedo boats he cut through the destroyer convoy of two dreadnoughts of the Viribus Unitis class (20,000 tons) and sent certainly one and probably both to the bottom off Dalmatia—one being seen to sink before his eyes and the wreckage of the other being subsequently picked up. This exploit leaves only one of these mighty ships afloat, the first having been torpedoed in the Harbor of Pola on May 15.

[Pg 16]

Trying to Corrupt Italy's Troops

The Astounding German Order for Fraternization and Penetration on the Italian Front

The April issue of Current History Magazine contained the text of a German order for undermining the morale of Russian troops by fraternization. Early in May a similar order was found on a German prisoner captured by French troops on the Italian front. The order is as follows:

281st Division, First Section, No. 226.—Confidential.

Not to be communicated to troops in the first line.

First—Following the telephone order, Geroch No. 2,080, you are asked to intensify with efficacy the propaganda with the enemy army.

Second—The object of this propaganda is to disorganize the enemy army and to obtain information regarding it. The propaganda must be carried out in the following manner: (a) By throwing into the enemy's trenches newspapers and proclamations destined for the more intelligent elements; (b) by persuading the troops by oral propaganda. For that it will be necessary to utilize officers, under-officers, and soldiers who appear to be most adapted. The posts for making contacts with the enemy must be placed under the direction of the company commander, who must be in the first-line positions. These officers must ascertain the points where it will be the easiest to throw into the enemy trenches newspapers, proclamations, &c. At these points you must seek to gain contact with the enemy by means of our interpreters, and if the enemy consents then fix an hour for future conversations. You must then advise immediately by telephone the chief of the Information Bureau of the division of every contact with the enemy.

Only the chief of the Information Bureau will have the right to direct the conversations according to the instructions he has received. It is rigorously prohibited for any of our soldiers to enter into relation with the enemy except those who have received the mission to do so, for fear that the enemy may seek to profit by their ingenuousness. All letters and printed matter which the enemy may have on his person must be taken from him, and transmitted to the chief of the Information Bureau. Company commanders, above all, must seek to establish the points where the enemy's soldiers have received newspapers, the points where the newspapers were taken openly, and without precaution. There are posts of observation for the artillery, as it may happen that French officers or foreign army instructors are in these posts.

In these enterprises for obtaining contact with the enemy, success depends on the ability with which you operate. Good results can be obtained by calling in a friendly tone and indicating sentiments of comradeship or by reiterated promises not to fire and offers of tobacco. The tobacco for this purpose will be furnished by the company commanders.

Every evening, at 8 o'clock, the company commander must transmit directly to the information officer a report of the propaganda accomplished during the day. This report must contain the following indications: (a) Has the enemy picked up our newspapers and proclamations? (b) Have you endeavored to enter into relations with the enemy? (c) With whom have you had contact—officers, under-officers, soldiers? (d) Where and when were our newspapers and proclamations thrown into the enemy's trenches? (e) All other information of the enemy's conduct. At the same time, our interpreters will send to the chief of the Information Bureau a detailed report on all conversations they have had with the enemy. The enemy's positions where propaganda is under way must not be shelled by our artillery; they must indicate to the batteries the positions of these points to be spared. The enemy is perfidious and without honor, and it is necessary as a consequence to be careful that they neither take our propagandists prisoners nor kill them. Those of our soldiers who leave our lines for the purpose of carrying newspapers and pamphlets to the enemy must be advised. To protect them it will be necessary to constitute with care special detachments, who will mount guard in the trenches, and who will fire only on the order of the company commander who is directing relations with the enemy.—Signed, on behalf of the temporary commander of the division, the Major General commanding the 62d Brigade.

[Pg 17]

THE GERMAN OFFENSIVE

Third Month of Desperate Effort to Break the French and British Lines in France

By GEORGE H. PERRIS

Special Correspondent with the French Armies

[Copyrighted in the United States of America]

The May and June issue of Current History Magazine contained detailed descriptions of the first and second months of the great German offensive in France, which began with a terrific blow in Picardy, apparently with the object of driving a wedge between the French and British, and then shifted to a deadly attack on the British in Flanders, aiming to break through to the Channel ports. These phases of the great battle were described by Philip Gibbs. The new phases, sometimes called the third and fourth offensives, began May 27 and June 9, respectively, and are known as the battle for Paris and the battle of the Oise. The blow of May 27 was delivered between Rheims and Montdidier, with the evident purpose of breaking the French lines and clearing the way for a drive to Paris. The descriptions which follow are written by George H. Perris, a special correspondent with the French armies.

[This dispatch was written before the drive toward Paris was launched, and indicates that Mr. Perris had a clear and correct idea of the German plan]

May 26, 1918.—The delay of the third act of the German offensive was abnormal. The first was perhaps, in design and execution, the most powerful operation in the history of warfare. The second, the attack in Flanders in the middle week of April, almost certainly began as a diversion intended to draw the British reserves from the Amiens front and to fill the interval needed for the reorganization of forces.

Up to the middle of April the German armies not occupied in fighting could do little but commence the strengthening of their new fronts, as lines of defense and departure. Their staffs, high and low, must, however, have been already engaged upon plans for the next push. Six or seven weeks then have passed in constituting a new mass of attack, with its armament and transport, in constructing roads and railways, dumps and supply centres, in bringing forward batteries, airdromes, hospitals, and so on.

True, this is not as long as the time of preparation for the first phase of the battle, which may be broadly counted as from New Year's to March 21. But there should be a vast difference between the mounting of a wholly fresh offensive and its pursuit into the later stages. A relentless continuity of pressure is evidently of very great importance after the advantage of the initial surprise. It is the thing which a commander will most aim at.

If the Germans did not keep going on the main line of their attack north and south of the Somme after the middle of April, it was because they could not do so; and the partial success of their ex-temporized campaign in Flanders should not disguise from us this significant fact.

It would be useless at this period of the war, when all Germany demands a decision and nothing less, if the new offensive did not lead to the capture at least of some place of symbolic importance, such as Rheims, Verdun, or Nancy. But that would require a force so large as to cripple the major effort in the northwest. All the military virtue of the German strategy is against such a dispersal of effort.

[Pg 18]

CHEMIN DES DAMES LOST

May 28—The opening of the attack and the first day's results are thus described by Mr. Perris:

Hindenburg has scored another spectacular success. At dawn yesterday, after three hours' bombardment, composed largely of gas shells, a new German mass attack was thrown upon a twenty-five-mile front, extending from the Ailette near Vauxaillon to the Aisne-Marne Canal near Brimont.

It was four or five times as numerous as the defenders, and in other regards correspondingly stronger. In these circumstances, an attempt to retain the line of the Chemin des Dames would have meant that the French troops would have been massacred before reserves could reach them, and there was nothing for it but to fall back steadily and in good order, using successive lines of trenches and deep folds of ground to punish the enemy for every forward step he made.

As I anticipated in my last message, the method of the first phase of the German offensive was again employed with some improvements. This method rests upon two main elements—the prodigal expenditure of the large reserves obtained by the collapse of Russia and Rumania, and the skillful use of the great advantage of what are called interior lines of communication to throw a mass attack suddenly upon the chosen sector, and so to gain the further advantage of surprise.

The front now chosen was held till a day or two ago by parts of two armies belonging to the group of which the Prussian Crown Prince is the titular chief. General von Boehm's army, extending from the Oise at Noyon to east of Craonne, numbered nine divisions. In the sector of General Fritz von Below, extending across the Rheims front to Suippe, near Auberive, there were eight divisions. The whole twenty-five miles attacked yesterday had therefore been held till the eve of battle by only seven or eight divisions. The exact number of divisions engaged yesterday is not yet known, but it seems to have been about twenty-five, or over a quarter of a million combatants.

There is here a curious difference and likeness as compared with the first phase of the offensive on March 21. To the seventeen divisions already holding the sector of attack there were added another seventeen. This time the same number has been added where there were only eight. Two months ago the front of attack was about forty miles long. This time a rather denser force was employed, perhaps because the Aisne height constituted a formidable position, and it was intended to carry it at a single rush.

While the front keeps its present shape the German staff has necessarily a great advantage over that of the Allies in that it is acting from the centre of a crescent, and they are around and outside of it. If enough time can be given to preparations—and as my last message showed the pause had been abnormal—they must gain a certain benefit of surprise, and with this benefit such a mass of shock must win a certain depth of ground.

Our only notions of the Chemin des Dames were obtained in a time very different from the present emergency, the time of fixed fronts and of methods defensive and offensive that are already old-fashioned to those of us who have watched these blood-soaked hills and gullies for nearly four years through heartrending vicissitudes, who remember Haig's and Smith-Dorrien's first attempts to scale what seemed an impregnable fortress, who saw the French bluecoats rush forward last Summer till at length they stood firm on the cliffs of Craonne and Heurtebise, who explored the Dragon's Cave at Malmaison Fort and the vast Montparnasse quarry when they still stank from rotting flesh.

WITHDRAWAL NECESSARY

It is not a light thing that ground so full of tragic memories should be lost. It seems only the other day that I was adventuring along the Ailette by Anizyle-Château, sleeping in a dugout in Pinon Forest, and examining the outposts that then held the northern edge of the hills.

War pays little regard to sentiment, and it is not any spectacular stroke or sentimental score that will restore the falling fortunes of the Hohenzollerns.

[Pg 19]

Total Gains of German Drive

SHADED PORTIONS SHOW TOTAL GAINS OF THE GREAT GERMAN OFFENSIVE. THE NUMERALS INDICATE THE SEQUENCE OF THE FOUR BATTLES OR PHASES. THE DRIVE ON THE SOMME WAS LAUNCHED MARCH 21, THAT IN FLANDERS APRIL 9, THE CHAMPAGNE DRIVE MAY 27, AND THE OFFENSIVE ON THE OISE JUNE 9

[Pg 20]

No doubt the French command found it grievous yesterday to order a retreat to the Aisne. Feebler men might have temporized and lost in doing so many good lives which are, after all, more sacred than the most sacred earth.

The attack could not be anticipated. It was far beyond the powers of the small defending forces to ward it off. With sound tactical sense the heaviest assault was directed toward the eastern end of the Aisne Hills at Craonne as soon as it became evident that this corner could not be held, and that from here the whole line was in danger of being turned.

The German forces included some of the specially trained units that fought in von Hutier's army in the March attack—two divisions of the Prussian Guard and other crack formations. It was only at heavy cost that they got forward so quickly. The French retired from position to position without confusion, firing continuously. The fact that their losses are small in comparison with those of the enemy is an essential point.

THE SECOND DAY

May 29—There has been very severe fighting today, with results necessarily favorable on the whole to the enemy because the allied reserves are only just beginning to reach the front. A strong thrust toward Soissons and the road and railway from Soissons to Coucy-le-Château at the moment when the head of the columns of the offensive were striking south of the Vesle from Braisne, Bazoches, and Fismes suggests that the armies engaged have already been reinforced. [See maps in preceding pages.]

So far an almost insolent boldness has won through, but the French resistance is steadily increasing, and more prudence will soon be necessary. For instance, the River Aisne is a most awkward obstacle to have on your line of communications. The enemy was able to prevent the Allies from destroying all the bridges during the withdrawal, but it is not too late, and the bombarding squadrons of the Allies will doubtless find telling work to do in the early future.

Last evening when the enemy had got across the Aisne near Pontavert part of the British brigade was falling back. A group of French territorials, firing continuously upon the swarming graycoats, were taking refuge in Germicourt Wood and being gradually surrounded. Some Englishmen and older Frenchmen decided to make their last stand, to die there together or to beat the enemy off. A handful of territorials got away to tell the tale. The Englishmen fell to a man.

The French officer who told me of this episode of the battle spoke also of the gallant work of a British cyclist battalion fighting with the French before Fismes, and of the fate of some British officers who lost their lives in blowing up Aisne bridges near Craonne. There was no time to take the usual precautions, but the thing had to be done, and they did it. My informant showed that he felt all the nobility and pathos of these sacrifices, and he wished, as much as I, that the folk at home should hear of them.

The first reports seemed to indicate that the success of the German assault on the British sector led the defenders by a threat of envelopment to retreat from the Aisne heights. This was not so. The Germans first crossed the river further west, and the British left was therefore obliged to fall back.

TERRIBLE BOMBARDMENT

It was the left, and particularly the 50th Division, that had to bear the heaviest of the shock. The bombardment, which lasted three hours, was of indescribable intensity, the chill night air being soon saturated with poison gas, and when at dawn the German infantry, hideous in their masks, broke like a tidal wave upon the thin British line it was overwhelmed. The 50th is a territorial division.

A counterattack toward Craonne failed under a flank fire from tanks and machine guns, and step by step the heroic line was withdrawn through wooded and marshy ground to the Aisne.

The French on the left were resisting like masses with the same bravery; contact was lost with them for a short time,[Pg 21] as also with the British 25th and 8th Divisions further east, and as the men fell back a front could be preserved only by a converging retreat toward the south by night. When the hills north of Vosle were reached the 50th Division had lost a number of its officers and other ranks.

The British centre, consisting of part of the 25th and 8th Divisions, was more fortunate. The 25th had been in reserve, and its support in the low and difficult ground at the east end of the Aisne Valley was most important. It and the 8th maintained their second positions till late in the afternoon.

On the right the 21st Division, together with the neighboring French division, had to defend the line of the canal from Berry-au-Bac to Bermericourt against the onset of four German divisions, aided by the strongest fleet of tanks the enemy has yet put into the field. This northwestern edge of the great plain of Champagne is very favorable ground for the use of cars of assault, and it was here that the French made their first experiments with indifferent results that have since been greatly bettered.

These two British and French divisions had the advantage of a line of heights with batteries and perfect observation behind them. They held out obstinately till the retreat of the left made it necessary to move southward.

DESTRUCTION OF SOISSONS

May 30.—During last night the enemy took Fère-en-Tardenois and drove the allied rearguards back to Vesilly, whence the line ran this morning northeast to the outskirts of Rheims. As the Marne is thus brought into the picture, it is pertinent to point out that in the famous battle of September, 1914, the Germans reached to more than thirty miles south of the river in this region.

This is at present their strongest push. The road from Soissons to Compiègne is closed to them, but further south they have got to the road Soissons-Hartennes.

Lest it be thought that the allied reserves are slow in coming into play, I may point out that the front of the offensive has been nearly doubled in length in the last three days. At the outset it was about thirty-five miles. It is now sixty. Merely to make good losses and to provide a screen of troops along this greater extent, with everything in movement, has required effort.

At midnight on May 26 the battlefront was ten miles away from Soissons. The few civilian inhabitants and the many hospital patients had settled down to sleep, the usual hour for airplane raids having passed.

An hour later they and the few army bureaus in the neighborhood were aroused by a sudden outbreak of bombardment, such as they had never heard before, and soon afterward shells began to crash upon the town.

With the wounds of four years of war upon it, the northern quarter completely destroyed and the cathedral grievously damaged, Soissons still possessed something of its old-time grace and air of substantial well being. It would be an exaggeration to compare it with Richmond, for the Aisne is not the Thames and the French woods are not English parks; but after the victory of Malmaison had put the boche back beyond the Ailette we hoped to see the great mansions repaired and the happy life of the shopping quarters gradually revived. Today the Germans are camped in the smoking ruins of Soissons.

INCENDIARY SHELLS

On May 27 at least 1,200 explosive and incendiary shells were fired into the place. The hospitals, including a special hospital for poison gas cases, were hurriedly evacuated, American ambulance cars doing good service in carrying away the wounded.

On Tuesday, the 28th, the bombardment continued, its purpose being, no doubt, to put out of service the most important bridgehead of the Aisne Valley and one of the most important lines of communication between the regions to the south and north, the town being a railway centre of some local consequence. That afternoon a good many houses were in flames, and during the night a large part of the town was involved in fire.

The enemy had now shouldered his way on the north of the Aisne westward from Pinon, Laffaux, and Vregny, and had reached the highroad running from Coucy-le-Château to Soissons. Yesterday he pressed still further west, and the road being thus covered, as well as the roads from Laffaux and Vailly, made a powerful direct attack upon the town.

It looked at first like being an easy success. The French, wearied with thirty hours of unceasing combat and impossibly outnumbered, fell back, and the Germans reached the centre of the town. In the narrow streets, however, the effect of superior numbers largely disappeared. The French fought fiercely from corner to corner, and at last, gathering themselves together, swept the[Pg 22] enemy back to the northern and eastern suburbs. In the afternoon new German contingents were brought up and in a few hours gained complete possession of the place.

Soissons was, of course, in no sense fortified, and, the northern and eastern roads having been lost, it had no military value. The highway down the valley to Compiègne is bordered by the old French trench and wire systems and dominated by hills on either side of the river. The range on the south bank is covered for miles by the great forests of Villers-Cotterets and Compiègne.

[Another correspondent stated that 1,200 shells fell in Soissons on May 27. The Bishop of Soissons stated in Paris on June 7 that 100 churches had been razed to the ground by the Germans, and that at least 100 others had been pillaged and partially demolished. The famous cathedral in Soissons suffered severely. The Bishop added that the Germans knew neither faith nor law. They knew nothing but war and pillage. The Germans, he said, were stripping and carrying everything away methodically.

The Bishop also asserted that women, children, and old men had been brutally murdered by German aviators, who flew over and fired with their machine guns upon long lines of refugees on country roads.]

VON HUTIER'S METHOD

Something like forty divisions, most of them the best troops available, have now been thrown across the Aisne—400,000 men who might possibly have reached some vital part of the allied defenses in the north.

The von Hutier method is a prodigious invention, but it is as costly in fire and blood as it is impressive for force and speed. In the last week of March it was, in a purely military sense, properly employed, even though it failed, because the objective could be said to be of a vital or decisive character.

What vital objective is there in the present operation? The central part of the German line has been pressed a little further in the last twenty-four hours in the obscure region of scattered hamlets, large farms, and deep tortuous valleys, midway between the Aisne and the Marne. It now comes nearly down to the small market towns of Fère-en-Tardenois and Ville-en-Tardenois, thence running east-northeast to the Vesle just outside of Rheims.

The advance is meeting everincreasing resistance, and by the time the first week is out it will perhaps be definitely arrested. But suppose that it goes much further and reaches the Marne Valley, or even still further to the Montmirail Valley. Two useful highroads, with some country towns, would be lost to the Allies in these altogether unlikely contingencies, but nothing vital would be lost. The German Army would be no nearer than it now is to winning the war.

A TRAIN UNDER FIRE

In an evacuation station, where a number of British were waiting for the hospital train, the ragged fellows told me of adventures that only their scarlet, honest faces made credible. There was a young Lieutenant who was on a train that was sent up north yesterday toward Fismes. The exact whereabouts of the enemy was unknown. They ran right into the German lines.

The outposts received them with a volley of rifle shots and then came on with grenades. The engine driver stopped the train, jumped down, and took refuge in a ditch. While the fight waxed hotter he was induced to return, and they managed to steam backward just in time, carrying some wounded and three German prisoners with them. The Lieutenant's satisfaction in this last item seemed, however, to be marred by the impression that the Germans were not forcibly captured, but wished to surrender.

The civilian refugees are going south in processions of farm carts, high-ended wagons, and ancient traps, or footing it behind barrows and perambulators. I would not speak lightly of the temporary loss of their lands and homes, but in their ranks there was no sign of panic or fear for the final result.

Most of them were women and children, with a few gaffers, heading a family group or driving cows and big white oxen. Girls with umbrellas up against the hot sun and dust clouds, little children in their Sunday best, and old ladies in Scotch caps sat on piles of straw, amid bedding and furniture, on high wagons. Many of the younger folks had bicycles and many walked, with dogs and goats frisking about them.

EXTENSION OF THE BATTLE

On May 31 Mr. Perris described the extension of the battlefront during the preceding twenty-four hours. He wrote:

The battlefront now forms a vast triangle, the apex pointing markedly toward Château-Thierry and less markedly toward Dormans. The west side runs for about fifty miles from the Oise opposite Noyon to the Marne. The east side runs back thirty miles to Rheims.

The enemy goes on multiplying his objective and distending his lines. The military worth of this strategy is perhaps in inverse ratio to its shown appearance on the map.

On the opposite flanks of the battlefield the allied forces have here been drawn slightly back from the acute salient, marked by the two trivial points named in a previous message, Betheny and Laneuvillette. The ruins of Rheims thus become the corner of the allied defenses on this line. I have explained that the city lies exposed in a saucer at the southwestern corner of the Champagne and is completely dominated by the allied crescent[Pg 23] of high positions on the mountains of Rheims.

FIRM ON THE FLANKS

In contrast with the further advance of the German centre, the French and British forces on the wings are holding firm. The great highroad from Soissons to Château-Thierry marks broadly the western limit of the offensive.

On the northern stretch of it there was hard fighting yesterday. In the morning the enemy crossed the road at Hartennes and attacked westward with a number of tanks, but was checked near the hamlet of Tigny.

Further north a well known French division made, with its traditional spirit, a thrust westward across the road and the little River Crise and reached the village of Noyant. It had to fall back, but here, too, the German advance was arrested. The Compiègne road is firmly held, and the disparity of forces is being rapidly reduced.

On the other flank of the battlefield the French and British divisions stand across the hills on the other bank of the Ardre, a small tributary of the Vesle, from Brouillet to Thillois, on the northern foothills of the mountain of Rheims, whence the front runs around the ruined city.

This French division struck out from Le Neuvillette along the canal and captured two hummocks, called Castalliers and De Courcy. It was a bold effort, intended to check the enemy rather than in the hope of retaining the position. This indeed proved impossible, but the French were slow to retire, and the lesson will not be lost upon their adversaries.

FIGHT TO THE DEATH

The news is gradually coming in of what happened on the front, submerged by the assault of Monday morning, (May 27.) Its most northerly part was the low ground beside the Ailette called the Forest of Pinon, which I described fully last Christmas, when I spent several days with the outposts by which it was held, in conditions somewhat reminiscent of Wild West warfare. The nearest trenches were on the hills a mile or two behind, this ground being too marshy to dig in. In the forest blockhouses were then being built, and were laid out while each side raided the other across the frontier on the stream and canal. Nothing then seemed less likely than an attack across such ground, but preparations were being pushed forward with the idea that a few groups of defenders would gather in and around the blockhouses and fight a delaying action, and then, if possible, escape back to the hill trenches.

The event turned out otherwise. When the surviving groups and outposts, amounting in all to three battalions, got together on Monday morning they decided to intrench themselves and to fight to the death. Carrier pigeons brought notes from them to this effect. The last note received was dated 2 P. M. on Tuesday. The best that can be hoped is that some survive as prisoners.

I think it may be said that there is now no danger of a break through toward any vital objective.

STRONGER RESISTANCE

Mr. Perris on June 2 gave the first hint of improved aspects of the battle in the following dispatch:

On Friday afternoon, May 31, General von Boehm's troops opened a new pocket beyond Oulchy of a depth of about five miles and on either side of the Ourcq Valley yesterday. In the course of stubborn fighting this salient was slightly extended, and at the same time a narrow bend was added to their gains between the Oise about Pont Eveque and the Aisne west of Soissons.

The main line of pressure was thus changed from south to southwest, and while the rest of the new front is relatively quiet, there have developed two bulges, which represent the acutest stress of the battle.

The first of these is between the Oise and the Aisne, directed toward the angle of the two rivers at Compiègne; the second, midway between the Aisne and the Marne, points westward along the Ourcq, toward the ancient town of Laferte-Milon.

In both these fields there has been a series of violent struggles this morning, with a notable increase of the power of resistance of the Allies. North of the Aisne the German assaults have been nearly everywhere broken. A slight advance by the Germans on the Ourcq has been won at the cost of very heavy losses, and the French are standing with splendid resolution along its small tributary, the Savieres, which marks the border of the forest region of Villers-Cotterets.

As the enemy has reached the heights northwest of Château-Thierry, where we watch them from the south side of the river, an attempt to push westward along the north bank of the Marne is to be expected.

THE ADVANCE CHECKED

On June 3 Mr Perris was more optimistic than at any time since the battle began. He wrote as follows:

There is a slackening in the violence of the battle. Yesterday's fighting was the most equal I have seen in this stage of the offensive. We lost Faverolles again—this village has since been recaptured—but regained Hill 163, just west of the village of Passy, and broke attacks against Corcy, Troesnes, and Torcy. It is to be expected that the enemy will make new efforts to destroy the French bastion on the bare plateaus between the Aisne and the Ourcq.

Local currents of fortune are also in the nature of things, according as one side or the other decides to throw its local reserves[Pg 24] upon this or that point. So far as the intentions of the German command have been revealed, however, it may now be said that the position is in hand at the end of the first week of this third act of the German offensive.

What is the outlook? By lengthy preparation aimed at an unlikely sector the enemy gained ground to nearly as large an extent as in the first act. In the last week of March von Hutier pierced from St. Quentin to Montdidier, say, thirty-five miles. In the last week von Boehm advanced from the Ailette to Château-Thierry, about thirty miles, on a similar length of front. It is too early to attempt comparison of the cost of the two enterprises in losses and exhaustion.

The German staff seems to have counted on employing forty-five divisions in the Aisne offensive. Before the end of last week this figure had been exceeded. No essential objective has been attained, and none has been approached as nearly as in the two northern phases of the offensive. Concentration, not dispersal, of effort is the means to a quick decision. If Germany were not pressed for time and could be content with partial victories, she might be satisfied, but Germany is decidedly pressed for time, and only decisive actions now count.

The Americans are coming into the battlefront, and will presently be there in force. This front now extends over 200 miles. The superiority of aggressive force given by the collapse of Russia and Rumania is ebbing away.

FRENCH OUTNUMBERED

The question will have arisen in some minds why, if the defenses of the Chemin des Dames were as strong as I had represented them to be, last Monday's attack should have so quickly overcome them. Detailed narratives are being accumulated which throw light on this subject. I take the case of the division holding the French left a week ago. We all remember its front, which was naturally and artificially of the strongest. It had nearly twelve hours' notice of what was afoot.

In the first place, the German artillery preparation, though short, was of infernal violence. The rolling barrage was two miles deep. It destroyed the French telephone wires and filled the battery emplacements and machine-gun posts with various kinds of poison gas. Dust and artificial smoke clouds isolated groups of defenders and hid the waves of assault till they broke with a four-fold superiority of force. Many groups were thus surrounded, but fought on for a couple of hours, causing the enemy heavy losses. Many short counterattacks delayed advances and every line of trench wire was used.

But the next most important thing, since reinforcements could not arrive immediately, was that the mass of the division should be held together and drawn back gradually for the defense of more essential positions. These lay beyond the Soissons bridgehead. Reinforced last Tuesday night, the division defended the plateau southeast of Soissons for four days with obstinate heroism.

AIR SUPREMACY OF ALLIES

It may now be said that the allied airmen have established decided supremacy in the new battlefield. The Germans had a week ago, in this as in other respects, the advantage of their preparations and initiative, and they used it boldly, flying low in numbers, and machine-gunning our retreating ranks.

The balance could not be instantly redressed. The airplane seems to be the very type of mobility, but it devours petrol, demands repairs, and, in brief, must carry its camp with it.

Every day of this critical week has seen a larger concentration between the Oise and the Marne, and an increasing number of combats and expeditions. The first essential was to have constant information of the enemy's movements; and this scouting work, though less sensational than some other parts of the air program, remains perhaps the most important of all.

Then followed with growing vigor the development of the aggressive functions of the air service in which it became a sort of extension of artillery and cavalry and even of infantry. A single group in one day brought down six boche planes and three sausages, dropped seventeen tons of bombs in the region of Rheims, and tons on marching columns of the enemy in the neighborhood of Ville-en-Tardenois.

"Our pilots," said a group commander, "had orders not to come back with a single cartridge or bomb, and you may take it from me that they do not waste their munitions on clouds."

On Thursday another group commander, receiving news that an enemy column was stretched over three miles of a certain road, sent about fifty machines to deal with it. They charged as a squadron of cavalry would do, coming down to within twenty and even ten yards of the earth, and with bombs and machine guns effectually dispersing and demoralizing the graycoats.

Many enemy planes and sausage balloons have been brought down, but that is in the circumstances a secondary effort. Lines of communication and rear camps and centres of the enemy also have been harried. On Friday no less than seventy tons and on Saturday sixty-two tons of explosives were dropped by airmen on German bivouac troops.

IN THE MARNE VALLEY

I went down to the Marne Valley yesterday afternoon and from the edge of a wooded hill looked across over part of the north bank where the Germans are established. [Pg 25]Established is hardly the word, for everything is floating and provisional in this phase of the war, and it is more than ever invisible except where infantry actions are in course, because there are no fixed intrenched lines. I could not find any trace of the enemy on the opposite amphitheatre of hills, but an observer hanging above at the tail of a sausage balloon may have seen something, for from time to time the French guns blazed angrily over my head and buildings were on fire in the villages.

In this winding stretch of the valley crests rise 500 feet above the broad, strong stream, and there are five or six miles between the two ridges. The French have guns and machine guns in position, and any considerable attempt to cross will be very costly.

Two hundred Germans came over yesterday morning and are now more or less contented guests of the French Republic. But the enemy does not seem to contemplate an immediate passage, if at all. It would probably be tried further west at some point where the northern hills are more dominant. The section of the important objectives appears to lie in this direction.

Immediately behind the zone of mutual observation, all the humming activities of arms are proceeding with a freedom unknown in the days of trench warfare, partly because this is the nature of the war of movement and partly because, like other services, the air squadrons are dispersed and the German airmen cannot obtain more than local and momentary equality. And amid all the flow of troops and guns, the pitching of camps, the laying of field telegraphs, shifting of hospitals and hangars, bringing up of munitions and supplies, there is an air of calm over the whole scene that would astonish those who see the offensive only as it is concentrated in a newspaper sheet.

FIERCE FIGHTING JUNE 3

In his dispatch dated June 4 Mr. Perris described the fighting on the 3d, which was the last desperate attempt of the Germans to advance in that phase. He wrote:

The battle blazed out afresh last night along and south of the upper Ourcq, and the struggle is raging with violence, due, in part, to the fact that both sides have brought up many guns and in part to the desperation of the Germans as once more they see victory slipping out of their hands.

Tactically, the chief feature today is the attempt of the enemy to support the attack on the Ourcq by a thrust further south along its tributary, the Clignon, a small stream following a marshy valley westward to the middle course of the Ourcq. There the most bitter combats have taken place and continue about the villages of Bouresches, Torcy, and Veuilly-la-Poterie. At the latter point the Germans tried to get around to the southward, but were effectually stopped in the Veuilly Wood, a mile south of the village, by Americans. In all this fighting the enemy's losses have been very severe, for in every case we had the best defensive positions, well supported by machine guns and 75s.

I spoke yesterday of the importance of the French stand to the southwest of Soissons, both as limiting the enemy's access to the Aisne Valley and as narrowing his approach to the Ourcq Valley. A slight withdrawal to the line of the villages of Pernant, Saconin, Missy, and Vaucastille yesterday did not materially weaken this buttress of the front. Nor is it seriously weakened by another short withdrawal this morning between Pernant and Missy, for which the enemy has had to pay dearly. We still hold Tresnes and Faverolles, and the prospects of von Boehm reaching Villers-Cotterets are not bright enough to cheer the drooping spirits of Berlin.

AMERICANS AT WORK

Another small warning of the rising power of American arms was given on the Marne yesterday morning, when a fresh band of machine gunners helped a French regiment to break an attempt to cross the river.

Between the Oise and the Aisne homeric conflicts are reported from the neighborhood of Carlepont Wood, in which the hill called Mont de Choisy, after having been lost and recaptured five times, remains in French hands.

In all fields, therefore, the equalization of forces produces a result more and more favorable. The defense of Mont de Choisy is the work of French colonials. These troops had already distinguished themselves, particularly at Douaumont, before Verdun.

Though the pressure upon the Franco-British line from Verneuil, on the Marne, to Rheims, has been much less severe than that on the western flank of the offensive, it is to be noted that the enemy has some of his best divisions in the former area.

French cavalry corps, generally dismounted, but sometimes playing their old part, have rendered excellent service during the battle. One of them after forming an essential element in the retreating line, had to meet Saturday and Sunday repeated attacks conducted by four—perhaps five—German divisions in the Malmaison and Trotte Woods, which crown the hills northeast of Verneuil, forming the buttress of the allied positions beyond the Marne. In the Ourcq Valley toward La Fierté-Milon another body of dismounted cavalry had to stand against some of the best Prussian troops, including the first division of the Guards.

ENEMY'S LONG PAUSE

In his dispatch dated June 5 Mr. Perris noted that a marked pause had fallen on the battlefield. His comment was this:

The pause in the enemy's adventure is a sign of weakness on his part and of advantage to us. Germany is fighting against[Pg 26] time. The superiority she gained from the east is passing. The power of surprise has been her greatest asset. After that everything depends for her on speed in the exploitation of her success, and every delay is loss.

The next thing to remark is the great skill with which General Foch has pursued what may be called his provisional Fabian strategy. With surprise and superior reserves in the hands of the enemy, he had to face a situation of extreme difficulty. To weaken other parts of the front prematurely in order to defend the Aisne would have invited a fresh blow in those other parts.

Two needs rose supreme—that of economizing men so as to hasten the day when the Allies should have the superiority of forces necessary to victory, and that of barring the road of the enemy toward every vital objective. These objects have been attained, and if it should turn out that the third act of the offensive is finished, this will mean that, with all the unquestionable ability and daring of the German General Staff, Foch has beaten them for the third time in the two and a half months of their maximum power.

In any case, nothing of first-class importance has been lost. The allied front has not been broken. The roads to Paris, toward which the offensive was turned on the third day, are blocked. The ruins of Rheims are nearly indefensible, but the road to Châlons is barred. The plateaus between the Oise and the Aisne and between the Aisne and the Ourcq stand like bastions of a vast fortress. Château-Thierry is lost, and the eastern railway and the high road are locally interrupted, but the Marne and the Paris road beside it are covered.

Finally, the enemy has engaged fifty divisions of his reserves in this battle, and many of them have suffered very heavily.

AT CHATEAU-THIERRY

The attempt of part of the German 36th Division to cross the Marne at Jaulgonne was frustrated brilliantly by the Americans and French. It appears that a few men succeeded in getting across the river Thursday night [May 30] at this point, eight miles east of Château-Thierry, where the Marne makes a loop by the north.

They took shelter in the cutting and tunnel of the Paris-Châlons railway, which runs along the south bank, and though they lost seriously and their pontoons were destroyed, they got reinforcements over to the strength of a battalion.

An attack to clear them out was, therefore, organized, and this took place Sunday night, [June 2.] By that time the Germans had put twenty-two light bridges across the stream, of which four had been smashed by the French artillery, and had established a bridgehead with six machine guns and a hundred men in the railway station on the south bank opposite Jaulgonne.

This post was frontally attacked by a section of dismounted cavalry who, however, were held up by machine-gun fire until American machine guns came into action. Two sections of French infantry simultaneously fell upon the bridgehead and the Germans broke before them.

The prisoners, of whom there are a hundred, declare that their officers abandoned them at the beginning of the attack. A few men escaped by swimming, and thirty or forty others gained the northern bank by the pontoon boats. The rest of the battalion was wiped out.

The German losses in the action at the bridge of Château-Thierry were severe. It is estimated that a thousand bodies lay by and near the bridge, and the American machine gunners fired tens of thousands of cartridges.

HOW THE BATTLE BEGAN

In his dispatches on June 2 and June 5 Mr. Perris gave these further details of how the battle began:

As further details which I have received of their part in the beginning of the battle clearly show, these divisions, the 50th, 8th, 21st, and 25th, were, it will be remembered, tired from bitter and repeated actions in the course of the northern offensive. They had been on the front only seventeen days when last Monday's attack was made, and therefore had hardly had time to become thoroughly acquainted with the sector. The main force of the enemy assault fell on the front of the 50th and 8th Divisions, against whom there were four German divisions in line and two more in immediate reserve. The odds against the British on this day were two and a half to one.

The 50th Division on the left was doing well on the Craonne Plateau, when in the course of the morning they suddenly found that the enemy was behind them. Owing to this surprise, the neighboring brigade of the 50th Division suffered badly.

By afternoon General Fritz von Below's men had got to the line of the river, and in the evening the British were back at Guyencourt. By Wednesday evening they held a large crescent around Fismes from Lopeigne on the west through Coulanges and Lagery back to the Vesle at Muizon. By this time the fighting strength of the British units was greatly reduced, but reinforcements were coming up and the worst of the crisis was over. The full story of the splendid episode can hardly yet be told, but some day it will shine among the greatest achievements of the war.

Some time must yet elapse ere we can know fully and exactly what occurred on the Chemin des Dames at and after 4 A. M. on May 27. Many of the combatants have died a martyr's death and been buried by[Pg 27] alien hands where they fell. Many more will long languish in prisoners' camps; but the remnants of some regiments have now come down from the front to rest, and by piecing together the narratives of these weary men it is possible to make the first outline of the story that will one day be told in all its pitifulness and terror.

One of them is the French infantry regiment which had long held the central sector of this front. For this last trial it had been prepared by months of trench raiding and strengthening its defenses. Submerged by a storm of fire and poison gas and by wave upon wave of assault, it went down in a single morning, fighting the hopeless fight to the bitter end. A small number lived to cross the Aisne in the afternoon, and these had to continue the struggle for four days and nights, practically without respite. Few are those, even in this war, who have survived such agony.

They were warned, and, so far as their local means allowed, were prepared for the attack. Gas masks, machine guns, grenade stores—everything was ready. The order was to hold ground between the second and third positions or to die in the effort, and it was carried out. It was to be expected that the telephone wires would be cut. There remained carrier pigeons. A rolling barrage two miles deep and of indescribable violence extinguished the poor efforts of the local batteries to reply. Thick clouds of artificial smoke, gas, and dust shrouded the assault, so that rocket signals were not seen at the rear and the enemy was invisible till he reached the parapets.

The line was almost immediately broken and the battle became a struggle of isolated groups, heavily outnumbered without the possibility of reinforcement, defending scraps of broken trench dugouts or quarries and still resisting long after the main tide of the conflict had passed south.

A copy lies before me of messages dated from 3:30 to 8:30 A. M. and sent back from these isolated groups by pigeon. No words could be so eloquent as their laconic brevity. When permission to retreat was given some officers refused to avail themselves of it.

The Colonel, with his staff papers, crossed the Aisne at 10 A. M. and organized the defense of the passage. The survivors of the regiment were re-formed on the south bank, and on the following day received a reinforcement of men, bringing it up to a quarter of its original strength. This handful had to meet the heavy attack southwest of Soissons on May 29, and a series of attacks on the following two days. No more was humanly possible, and they were withdrawn. They say that not a man had uttered a complaint.

BATTLE OF THE OISE

A fourth phase of the German offensive opened June 9 on a front of 20 miles between Noyon and Montdidier, which Mr. Perris describes thus:

A new phase of the German offensive opened this morning at 4:30 o'clock on a front of about twenty miles, extending from Montdidier to Noyon. The artillery preparation, which again was rich in gas shells, began at midnight, and covered not only the front, but a deep zone behind it, especially villages and roads where the enemy thought to catch the French local reserves.

There were evident reasons for the choice of this sector, and in particular for seeking control of part of it, for a successful push south along the line of the Roye-Compiègne railway would add another converging road to the four roads leading toward Paris by the Oise, Aisne, Ourcq, and Marne Valleys, which had already been tried. On the other hand, the enemy could not reasonably hope for any such surprise as was obtained in the first act of the offensive before St. Quentin and in the third act of that on the Chemin des Dames.

In general, the French are resisting with dogged courage in their covering positions, which are beyond range of the enemy mine throwers. Evidence accumulates of the heaviness of the German losses in the recent fighting and of the disappearance of the shallow enthusiasm with which the offensive was begun.

In describing the progress of this assault Mr. Ferris wrote on June 10:

The front of the attack was twenty miles in length, as compared with a front of thirty miles in the attack on the Chemin des Dames and fifty miles in the first phase of the offensive on March 21, and so far it is only on the central half of this smaller front that any considerable impression has been made on the French lines.

Whatever may have been the exact design, there had not been this time the same extreme scruple to conceal troop movements, and for some days past the exceptional traffic of convoys, the suspicious activity of the enemy batteries in the correction of ranges and other signs had given warning of what was afoot.

HEAVIER GERMAN LOSSES

One consequence was that, when the German infantry advanced yesterday morning, it had to meet a volume of fire very different from that which had answered the surprises of St. Quentin and the Aisne Heights. French gunners had thoroughly studied the ground before them and were all ready to deluge every path of approach directly that graycoat waves appeared. From the beginning, therefore, the German losses have been heavier than on the earlier occasions, and this must affect the development of the action.

In other respects the now familiar von Hutier manoeuvre appears to have been repeated, shock battalions carrying light[Pg 28] machine guns and machine rifles concentrating upon local breaches in our line and leaving the task of cleaning up islands of resistance to the support troops while they pressed on rapidly to exploit the first success. It will probably be found that the operation was begun with about fifteen divisions in the line, approximately 150,000 men, giving a density of one division to a mile and a third.

Faced with a force superior in all arms, long resistance of the first line is impossible, but it is significant that at 8 o'clock yesterday morning, that is after four hours of a terrible storm of gas and explosive shells, followed by four hours of hand-to-hand struggle, our allies were still in a large part of the field fighting within what is called the zone of advanced posts, and only the centre had fallen back on the zone of principal resistance. Plemont Hill, overlooking Lassigny, was still holding out at that hour, although the front had lain immediately beneath it. The villages of Le Fretoy and Courcelles were lost during the morning, but were recovered by counterattacks, in which the French troops showed the highest spirit.

Up to late last night the only result that von Hutier could regard as in any degree justifying the effort made and the losses suffered was the capture of the villages of Ressons-sur-Matz and Mareuil-la-Motte, whereas on the French left before Ribecourt, by Le Tretoy to Courcelles, and on the right from Belval to Cannectancourt, the advance varied from one to two miles. At the centre it rather exceeded three.

This is a poor gain, judged by precedent, and was bought at an exorbitant price, but it has a certain tactical and perhaps superior consequence.

Later on June 10 Mr. Perris gave this further description of the progress of the fighting:

"This is the real battle," said a French staff officer, meaning to contrast today's fierce fighting between forces unequal indeed, but not crushingly so, with the attack on the Chemin des Dames. Here the French had a stronger line, their reserves were nearer, and they had sufficient notice to bring their batteries at every point into effective action. Effective, do I say? At many points it was a massacre of the columns of assault, and there is unanimity as well among the prisoners as among our own combatants that the ranks of the enemy have been torn and plowed with shot and shell. Never, perhaps, has the German Army paid so dearly for an advance which nowhere exceeds five miles.

This is the essential fact which governs all that follows; for if, as the German official press says with a measure of truth, the German objective is not a city or a port, but the complete destruction of the allied armies, so our objective is not to hold a certain geographical area, but to punish the advance so that the enemy forces will be exhausted, while ours are being constantly recruited from oversea for the last stroke that will give us the victory.

The smallness of the enemy's gains in this fourth phase of the grand battle is merely the sign that von Hutier found across his path an adversary prepared as far as was humanly possible, determined and able to contest every yard of ground.

Thus the village of Courcelles, only two miles from the old front, was lost, retaken, lost again, recovered, and remains in the hands of the French. Thus Plemont, a position insignificant as compared with the Aisne Heights, although encircled and covered with fire, was being defended till last evening. Since then no carrier pigeon has come in, and it must be presumed that the heroic handful of men who held this point of the front have been overcome. Their countrymen will not forget them.

The Turning Point of the Battle

By WALTER DURANTY

[Copyrighted]

The turning point of the great battle came on June 11, when the French delivered a desperate counterblow south of Montdidier and drove the Germans back from the Aronde River, regaining important ground along a front of seven and one-half miles, and capturing 1,000 prisoners and many heavy guns. This phase of the struggle is described by Walter Duranty, another special correspondent, whose dispatch is copyrighted for Current History Magazine. It is dated June 11, 1918.

As the battle continues it seems that the second week of June will rank as one of the bloodiest and most decisive periods in the world's history.

It is the veritable climax of four years of struggle. In the last twenty-four hours the violence of the fighting has increased still further. The limit of human endurance has been forced yet another notch higher. Along a front of nearly twenty miles the Germans are driving more than a quarter of a million men forward through a sea of blood. The defenders say that it is as though the whole of the German Army is engaged against them; no sooner is one battalion annihilated than another takes its place, and another and another.

Early yesterday morning a handful of dismounted[Pg 29] cavalry, greatly employed for liaison work, fought their way back to the French lines from the surrounded hill of Plemont. They reported that the survivors of the French battalion occupying the position were still holding out when they left, and that no less than fourteen attacks had already been repulsed.

CARPETED WITH DEAD

The grassy slopes of the hill bore a hideous carpet of thousands of German dead, over which new forces still advanced with the same madness of sacrifice as the Carthaginians of old, flinging their children, their possessions, and themselves into Moloch's furnace. The bloody religion of militarism that Germany has followed for forty years has led its votaries to culminating orgies of destruction.

But the defenders are not appalled by the fury of the struggle, nor by numbers. Each position is held until every foot of ground has been paid for by German blood. Again and again a swift counterattack, delivered at the right moment, has wrested from the assailant the fruits of the success he won so dearly and forced him to pay a toll of lives twice over. In the villages thus retaken, the poilus say, gray-clad corpses lay heaped up as though they had been collected for a gigantic funeral pyre, and more than once the advancing enemy was screened from the defenders' fire by a rampart of his own dead.

The general situation of the battle has changed little. In the centre the French have retired slightly. On the left also there is a southward bulge in the line. The right is still held by a wooded massif above Drelincourt. On the right the towers of Noyon Cathedral could just be distinguished. To the left smoke haze marked Lassigny, half hidden in a hollow. It was a natural fortress with an infinity of cover for guns, men, and machine guns against which no fury of sacrifice might prevail. Well may the Germans try to turn that grim salient by an advance further south in the centre—clearly their immediate objective. They held it once before last year's retreat and they know its strength.

As I returned from the observation post I passed through a great natural amphitheatre in a sort of mountain. At one side the Germans had carved a huge eagle, colored blood red, on a slab of rock above a grotto that had been their headquarters. Beneath it in Gothic letters was the Brandenburg motto, "On, Brandenburg, on!" The artist who designed the bird that is the symbol of German violence was well inspired. The Kaiser's eagles are red, indeed, clotted and stained from beak to claw with the crimson of countless slaughters.

The latest information from the battlefront emphasizes still more clearly the difference between the results of the new German method of attack when applied on a weakly held sector and a front where the allied strength is normal. On two previous occasions Hindenburg's storm divisions gained sensational success right from the outset by literally swamping small forces by sheer weight after the defenders had been half-stunned by the terrific bombardment to which their inferiority of artillery permitted no adequate response.

Conditions are very different today. In the first place there was no strategic surprise—the German move in this sector had been foreseen. The utmost vigilance was everywhere maintained, and unmistakable signs, such as the movement of troops, convoys, and artillery registration, had been carefully noted. Precautions to meet the shock had been taken. Against attack in depth by successive waves a depth defense had been planned, with a front line of thinly held outposts to minimize loss, and successive lines of greater strength extending back for kilometers.

When the German artillery storm broke out it was answered by a perfect hurricane of French fire. Not only was every possible point where the enemy troops might advance or batteries be hidden thoroughly registered, but artillery held in reserve had its guns trained on targets offered further in the rear by each hill, wood, or valley that the enemy might assail as a vantage point or medium for infiltration.

The consequence has been that, in direct contradiction to the former drives, the enemy's initial losses have been enormous and his gains small; and the French losses were greatly decreased. Above all, there has been no penetration of the line of resistance. In places it bulged slightly under pressure, but only at the price of the most dogged fighting and heavy sacrifice, and withal very slowly. One fact marks the difference sufficiently:

HOW THEY WERE CHECKED

On May 27 the Germans had reached the Aisne—seven kilometers from the starting point, across difficult country—in four and one-half hours after the attack. In the first thirty hours of the present attack they had barely passed thinly held outposts. Along the whole thirty-kilometer front, from the Oise to Assainvillers—somewhat shorter than the area of bombardment—fifteen to twenty assaulting divisions were met by a galling machine-gun barrage and the terrible "75" fire curtain from quick-firers and batteries. Irreplaceable storm troops, whose training had taken months and whose existence was essential to the continuance of Hindenburg's new strategy, melted like snow beneath the August sun.

At Plemont—the scene of one of the most gallant actions in the checking of the March drive by the men of the same army—the Germans met a stubborn resistance, though their dead lay there thick as fresh-cut wheat but a few hundred yards beyond the line[Pg 30] of outposts. Even in the centre, where the enemy's progress was deepest, an unbroken line of defense was constituted by the same troops that had withstood the attack from the beginning. Their spirit and numbers were still sufficient, though the Germans opposing them had sent forward fresh storm troops in wave after wave.

Mr. Perris's Description of the French Counterblow

The French counterblow described above by Mr. Duranty was of great importance in changing the entire aspect of affairs for the Allies. Mr. Perris, in a dispatch dated June 12, gave these further particulars:

Faces that wore a serious expression yesterday morning are decidedly cheerful today. The battle has, in fact, taken a better turn. It is a very dreadful struggle; no Frenchman can forget that fact, and in the fever of weighing and measuring results more distant observers should not for a moment overlook what they mean in flesh and blood. That being said, we may join in the satisfaction of our allies that on its third day the German onset has suffered a distinct check.

Following the front from west to east, the first thing to note is the series of French counterattacks on the left, carried to a considerable measure of success by skill in the direction and high spirit and fortitude in the ranks.

At 11 A. M. yesterday a movement began from a little east of the railway line between Domfront and Wacquemoulin. The infantry were supported by tanks, and along the whole line the Germans were swept back. A French contingent actually reached points which were within the German front. The French advance went well beyond Rubescourt and Le Fretoy, half way between Courcelles and Mortemer, and between Mery and Couvilly, beyond Belloy, and to the border of St. Maur.

Meanwhile the enemy had delivered a very powerful blow at the French centre and had driven a way, despite vigorous opposition, as far as the village of Antheuil, two miles south of the Matz. At 4 P. M. a further counterattack was therefore made from the French left centre, and the enemy advance was completely arrested. In these combats a certain amount of confusion was apparent in the German ranks, and the fact that 1,000 prisoners and some cannon were taken speaks eloquently. This was not the heaviest punishment. Eyewitnesses say that German corpses strew the battlefield in piles.

Three critical days of the offensive have then given the enemy at the cost of enormous losses a not very magnificent result. We now know that the program was to reach Compiègne on the second day. General von Hutier must be greatly disappointed.

The attack was begun with fourteen divisions, at full strength, in the line. They included at the centre divisions of the Prussian Guard and four other crack divisions. About twice as many divisions have now been thrown into this battle, ten already holding the sector and the rest being fresh reserves.

These figures may be measured by the fact that the total German forces in the west amount to 207 divisions, and that of these before the offensive only sixty-two were in the general reserve, the rest being engaged on the front. The more we consider in the light of material considerations like these what the German command essayed and what it has accomplished the more we shall appreciate the valor of the French armies and the qualities of their chiefs; and it is impossible to do justice to either without such reflection.

FRENCH HOLD GAINS

On June 12 Mr. Perris reported that the French were holding their gains and gave these further details of the counterattack the day before:

The French lines hold all the way round from the important position of Mery Plateau by the hamlets of St. Maur and Antheuil to Marest and Chevincourt. Time after time, last night and this morning, the gray-coated masses of General von Hutier came on, only to be mowed down by waves of fire from the 75s and machine guns, and their remnants dispersed with bayonet and grenade.

Yesterday's French counterattacks met great bodies of the enemy prepared to force another advance. Four divisions were found to be ranged in a space of two miles. Hence the frightful intensity of the combat and the abnormal slaughter.

The French tanks did very good service, and fleets of airplanes, British as well as French, swept down upon the battlefield before and behind our infantry, dropping bombs and raining down volleys of bullets wherever a group of enemy soldiers was seen. The numerical inferiority of the French was thus made good.

The block of wooded hills was very difficult to defend, even if the enemy had got no further than Mareuil. The woods prevented long views and open fields of fire; the deep ravines invited infiltrations; the Oise Valley at the back left supply and relief columns open to the German guns, and the Matz Valley, on the west, was the plain path of envelopment. These are the reasons why this corner was not held longer.

Among the wheat and beet fields of the gently rolling plateau further west, on the other hand, the defense had more advantage. There are folds of ground enough to hide its batteries and reserves, but in every direction there are open lines of fire, room for manoeuvre and nume rous railroads. Striking northeast from the Estrées Railway, the French threaten the German centre.

To continue the southward march, even if it were possible, before this pressure on the west had been disposed of would be reckless. Hutier has met his match.

First parade of United States National Army men in London. The photograph shows them rounding the corner at Hyde Park
(© Central News Photo Service)

General Philipot of the French Army decorating American officers who distinguished themselves in opposing the German advance in Picardy
(French Pictorial Service)

[Pg 31]

THE COMPIEGNE THRUST

On June 13 General von Hutier made a threatening thrust toward Compiègne, which was parried by the French and was practically the termination of further serious efforts in this phase by the Germans. Mr. Perris tells the story of it as follows:

South of the Aisne the high, bare farmlands extending from Soissons to the borders of the forest of Compiègne are cut by a valley running up from the other great forest of Villers-Cotterets to the river at Ambleny. This valley, with the villages of Laversine, Coeuvre, Cutry, Dommiers, and St. Pierre-Aigle, has constituted the front for the last fortnight, with French outposts on the east side, but the real line of resistance on the west.

Von Hutier having met with trouble beyond his expectations on the west of the Oise, his colleague, von Boehm, was sent yesterday morning to create a diversion on this flank of the battlefield. Five divisions, two of them fresh ones, were thrown forward on both sides of Laversine, a front of four miles.

Though outnumbered, the French have given a fine account of themselves, breaking repeated assaults of the enemy, who is reported to have got into the villages of Coeuvre and St. Pierre, a feat more than counterbalanced by the French advance at Damard, further south on the border of Villers-Cotterets Forest, and the admirable action of the Americans on the ground recently taken by them in Clignon Valley.

This, however, is not the best sign for the fifth day of the offensive. Von Hutier's thrust from the north toward Compiègne was by far the most threatening of the numerous lines of attack the German command has now opened. It has been brought to a stop by reactions of the French left and centre, and was this morning contained, as we may hope definitely, from the Mery Plateau and along the course of the Matz.

ENEMY'S FEVERISH HASTE

The feverish haste with which the enemy's attacks are multiplied as the field of the offensive is enlarged, speaks eloquently of the conscious need to bring the grand adventure to a speedy climax. But this haste involves heavy moral as well as numerical usury. Instead of a full normal period for refilling and new equipment, including rest at the rear, or in a quiet sector, and a course of fresh training being given to a division withdrawn from the line owing to its losses, it is hurriedly reconstituted and pushed back into the battlefront after as few days as possible.

Up to now the German armies have been sustained, not only by reinforcements from Russia, but by the long rest of the Winter months; otherwise they could not have accomplished what they have done. These sources of strength are being rapidly exhausted. The human material—cannon food—is failing in quality. The field depots have been emptied of recruits. Men from the depots in Germany are rushed to the front. Cavalry officers are dismounted to fill gaps in the infantry. Men detached for special work are called back to their units, and still the war god is unsatisfied.

Incorporation of the 1920 class began in April and May. Miners and mechanics are again turned into the fighting ranks, ill as they can be spared from industry. It is probable that not a division has been left in the east that would be fit for the western front. Wounded men and invalids imperfectly cured are pressed back into service. And behind the armies thus replenished there is the nation, hungry, enfeebled, terrorized, uttering words of despair even in its letters to the front. Ludendorff may well hurry!

DEFENSE OF COURCELLES

A very brief diary of the battle at a single point will give an idea of its bitter violence. The small village of Courcelles lies across the chief road of the western wing of the offensive, only about two miles from its starting point with the Montdidier-Estrées railway, and the same distance behind it. For these reasons, and because it stands on a spur of the Mery Plateau, it was certain to be a hardly contested position.

On Sunday morning, June 9, taking advantage of the cover afforded by broad fields of well-grown wheat, the Germans came up the slope from Rollot and rushed the village. At 9:40 the French re-formed and retook it, capturing 200 men and four officers. Forty minutes later a new wave was brought up from the north, but was thrown back. Some storm troops, however, got around by the rear. These were in turn repulsed.

Several hours passed in which the three streets of broken houses were put in order for a siege. At 3 P. M. a fresh attack was repulsed. Later in the afternoon the German success at Mery and Belloy resulted in Courcelles being beset on three sides, only a narrow alley of communication to the west remaining open.

The defenders now had their blood up. The reserves would soon arrive. This western flank of the battle was of the utmost importance. It had become a point of honor that the village should not be lost.

At 4:40 A. M. on Monday, after a preparatory bombardment, the next blow fell. In ten minutes its failure was evident, though [Pg 32]the fighting about the barbed wire continued for an hour. Three more assaults followed in the afternoon and evening. In the last of these some Germans got into the village, but they were at last driven out. On Tuesday the heroes of this splendid defense reaped the only reward they desired. The great French counterattack definitely freed their little fortress.

TABLES TURNED

This time it was the turn of the French to win the benefits of initiative and surprise. Only a quarter of an hour was given to the French artillery for its preparation work. Tanks and infantry then went forward in alternate lines. An officer describes the advance of the tanks rolling over the green wheatfields, while shells burst around them, as having the appearance of a battle at sea.

The allied airmen, swooping above the moving line, not only sowed death in the enemy's ranks with their machine guns, but also raced forward and dropped bombs with effect on heavy batteries in the rear, killing their crews and putting the guns out of action.

In some enemy units during this battle the men fought well. In others there have been unmistakable signs of demoralization. Such inequalities are not surprising in this crisis. The total superiority of force which a few months ago was enough to have terrified us, and which is still sufficiently serious to require every effort that can be put forth, is ebbing away.

End of Fourth Phase—Two Expert Views

All correspondents on June 14 united in the conclusion that the counterblows of the Allies and the brilliant reaction of the French from Courcelles to Mery ended the fourth phase of the great German offensive. Mr. Perris summed up the situation as follows on June 14:

The front has subsided into actions of no more than local importance. The five days' battle west of the Oise has ended for the Germans, after an advance varying from two to six miles, in a very costly reverse, and for the Allies in a brilliant success of good generalship and indomitable spirit in the ranks.

Beside the losses of the enemy, the French loss of the Thiescourt hills and the wooded part of the valley opposite is of little importance. The offensive which was to give a decision against them is far from finished, but in relation to the resistance it encounters it shows a falling, not a rising, gamut of power.

The first push toward Amiens ended in ten days, having entailed upon the Allies the sacrifice of a tract forty miles deep and serious casualties. The following attack in the north lasted about as long, but with much slighter gains. The German success on the Chemin des Dames brought the Crown Prince's vanguard to the Marne, twenty-five miles from its starting point, but that it touched much less vital ground is proved by the transfer of its centre of pressure to the Ourcq Valley near Villers-Cotterets.

From these results to those of the present week's fighting there is a marked descent, and this failure occurs in what must be accounted one of the most critical directions the enemy can pursue. The ambitious character of his design is now clear. It is not merely to divide the British from the French army and then destroy one of them, but also by a single series of converging operations to destroy them both.

His approach to Amiens as the centre of their joint communications and to Hazebrouck as the door to the Channel ports has been followed by an approach along four converging lines to the region of Paris, the centre of French administrative life. In fact, the attainment of all these objectives would not end the war, for I am sure there is in France, and there probably is in the other countries concerned, a deadly resolution that it shall not be ended in any such way; that, if Paris should be destroyed—which heaven forfend—another capital shall be found, and that there shall be no surrender while there is an army on its legs.

This offensive has had two aims—to reach the crescent north and east of Paris, whence a general attack could be launched, and to draw down, disperse, and harry the allied reserves preparatory to the final "Kaiserschlacht," the crowning blow along the whole line. Its relative failure is a great encouragement.

PETAIN'S MASTERLY TACTICS

Walter Duranty, in reviewing the fourth phase of the offensive, sent the following cable dispatch to The New York Times on June 13:

It has been said that the secret of Pétain's rise in three years from the position of Colonel to Commander in Chief of the French armies is his knowledge of when to launch counterattacks. The ability to select the right place and time for a sudden stroke which nullifies the enemy's gains has been the attribute of great captains throughout history, and is one of the cardinal bases of successful strategy. In that one word, counterattacks, lies the explanation of the triumphant French resistance in the present battle against vastly superior numbers—that and the indomitable courage of the defenders.

The master tactician commanding the army whose sector has been assailed has so imbued his subordinates with his own principles[Pg 33] that there is hardly a position in the whole range of operations that the Germans have not been forced to take two or three times over. For it is not only the counter-stroke on a grand scale, like that which has won back nearly all the Germans' gains on the left wing, which counts in a struggle of this kind, where the losses inflicted on the enemy are far more important than a hill or a village saved or abandoned. It is the unexpected change from defense to attack, at the psychological moment, that has maintained the spirit of the French troops and smashed their weakened assailants just as they were thinking their success was assured.

As the situation stands today [June 13] the Allies have won a great victory in one of the hardest fought battles of the war, and a carefully planned move in Hindenburg's desperate struggle against time has been met and nullified. The Germans have also learned to their cost that the American troops are already to be counted with. The enemy, whose morale is daily weakening under the strain of non-successes and never-ending calls upon his strength, has received a bitter reminder of the American menace, which more than any other factor is responsible for his convulsive striving after a speedy decision.

[M. Tardieu, in a cablegram June 18 to the French High Commission at Washington, stated that 80,000 Germans had been put out of action in the Noyon-Montdidier offensive, and that General von Hutier had failed completely to realize his objective—the capture of Compiègne.]

Austrians at Grips With Italians

By AUSTIN WEST

[Copyright, 1918, by The New York Times Company and Current History Magazine]

[See Map of Italian Front, Page 15]

An offensive was launched June 15, 1918, by the Austrians against the Italians with an army estimated to number 1,000,000 men. The attack was on a front from the Asiago Plateau to the sea, a distance of ninety-seven miles. The course of the struggle in the first four days indicated the failure of the drive. The details of the earlier stages of the battle are given herewith.

According to statements of prisoners, the Austrian objectives on the first day of the attack were Bassano, eight miles down the Brenta, and Treviso, eight miles west of the Piave. The attack along the Piave from the Venetian lagoons to Montello was aimed at possession of the main roads leading to Montebelluna, Treviso, and Mestre, five miles west of Venice, thereby cutting off Venice and thrusting toward the heart of the Venetian Plain.

In the meantime General Conrad von Hoetendorf's armies from Monte Grappa to Asiago were to sweep down upon Asolo and Bassano to prevent the retreat of the 3d Italian Army from the Piave and complete the march of invasion from the north.

Austria's hopes and aims are reflected very strikingly in an Order of the Day, dated June 14, compiled from Field Marshal Boroevic's proclamation and circulated among the troops of the 3d Regiment over Commander Mitteregger's signature. A copy has just fallen into Italian hands. It runs as follows:

From the Adige to the Adriatic the Austrian Army descends into the field against Italy. All the forces and all the material of the monarchy are for the first time massed against one single enemy as the outcome of preparations begun many months ago. Tomorrow the Italian command will learn this tremendous news from the mouths of our guns. The entire Italian front will be attacked, and to free himself from our iron grip, which will encircle his whole front, the enemy would be obliged to engage reserves far vaster than those at his disposal.

From trench warfare we shall pass to that of movement and shall occupy a country abounding in victuals and stores of every sort. Let us therefore press forward resolutely toward the City of Verona, where a century ago the august founder of our regiment stood victor against the combined armies of France and Italy.

Today, (June 17,) nevertheless, after forty-eight hours of fighting, the enemy still is held upon his first lines.

The British forces regained all the positions they held on the eve of the battle. The French contingents southeast of Asiago on Turcio Road recaptured Pennar in a bayonet charge and drove the Austrians back far beyond their starting point. Counterattacking at Cornone, our allies stopped effectually the enemy's dash toward Valstagna and took 500 prisoners. Fenilon and Moschin Mountains, overlooking the Brenta Valley, which the enemy overwhelmed in his first onrush, have also been retaken at the point of the bayonet, with 200 prisoners and forty machine guns.

Along the Piave enemy masses concentrated, chiefly on the eastern slopes on Montello and west of San Dona. In both districts[Pg 34] passage across the river was facilitated by a heavy rain of tear shells and smoke bombs, and amid the smoke pontoons and rafts were taken down to the water's edge. Three divisions got across from Colfosco and Ilas, fronting Nervesa, but they were hemmed around at the foot of Montello, at Fagare and Zenson, where the Austrians had penetrated some way ahead. The Italians, after thrusting them from the latter place, encircled some detachments in the river bend.

Croce Village, west of San Dona, was rewon and lost twice over, and now rests in the possession of Italian bombardiers, Bersagliere, and cyclist corps. But the best stroke of luck on the Piave occurred in the Saletto sector. Taking advantage of numerous islets at this point, where the river is nearly two miles wide, one Hungarian battalion of the 96th Regiment had safely crossed, and was being quickly followed by another. Italian gunfire smashed its boats, flinging the occupants into the water. Many were carried away and drowned in the rapid currents, while over a thousand survivors, including a Lieutenant Colonel, a Major, and thirty other officers, out of the haul of 3,000 odd prisoners taken during the day, were made captives by the Italians at that spot.

The Austrians employed such a large amount of gases that the whole battleline was enveloped in dense, impenetrable clouds. Fortunately, a heavy rain fell in that region, which lessened to some extent the effects of the gases.

The Italians fought fiercely with great dash, glad to get at the enemy after so many months of forced inactivity and with an intense desire to regain the country desecrated by the enemy's invasion.

The Austrians kept the Italians under deadly fire, especially aiming at their second lines, to prevent the arrival of reinforcements. This bombardment has small effect in the mountains, as, owing to the limited number of men one can employ at one time, these are able to protect themselves in dugouts excavated in the solid rock.

Snow, which is still lying on the mountains, is heaped up into immense mounds by the bombardment. Italian troops, clothed in white overalls to prevent their being seen against the whiteness, slowly advanced to engage the enemy in hand-to-hand fighting.

Despite the rain, the work accomplished by the English and Italian aviators was above praise. Flying low over the enemy troops, they brought confusion and terror into their midst, intrepidly engaging the Austrians in aerial combats, and bringing down in twelve hours many enemy planes, while also collecting invaluable military information. The English and French contingents co-operated with the Italians in perfect accord and a splendid spirit of camaraderie.

Except for lack of secrecy, the Austrians organized this supreme effort of theirs better than might have been expected. It was well planned and resolutely delivered. The credit due the Italians is all the greater for repulsing it completely in many places, containing it in others, and nowhere allowing it to break through.

The sector on which the enemy gained most ground is on the Piave. There the Austrians made three principal crossings of the river and established three bridgeheads or salients into the original Italian line.

To make this possible they blinded the Italian artillery and airplanes by using great quantities of smoke shells which covered the river and the Italian trenches on its bank with a dense black fog. Thus hidden, the Austrian patrols hurried across the water in boats and on rafts under no more than a random fire from the defense.

Having reached the western bank they pulled pontoon bridges across and pushed reinforcements rapidly forward. The most notable of these crossings was the enemy's penetration in the Montello sector, the position which the British forces held all last Winter.

This sector is the hinge between the mountain and the Piave sectors; it stands at the angle where the Piave leaves the mountains and enters the Venetian Plain. It is an isolated hog's back, 700 feet high in the middle and seven and a half miles long, running almost east and west, with the foot of its northern and eastern slopes washed by the river, its surface undulating, dotted with farms and little woods—an unusual feature—crossed from north to south by no fewer than twenty-four roads. The value of Montello to the enemy would have been that it would dominate from the flank and rear all the Italian positions defending the line of the Piave in the dead flat plain to the south.

The British, after reconquering the advanced positions, momentarily abandoned on June 15 with a view of strengthening the line, not only resisted all Austrian attempts, but counterattacked in a fashion that caused an Italian superior officer to remark: "They are slamming the gates of Italy in the face of the invader."

In a dispatch on June 19 Mr. West recorded the fact that the enemy, while maintaining pressure on the mountain front and Montello district, was redoubling his efforts on the Piave especially west of San Dona. The dispatch continues:

The Austrian hold of the last-named vicinity, also in the Zenson bend and at Saint Andrea, southeast of Montello, is being considerably weakened by the Italian artillery fire and constant counterattacks.

Saint Andrea itself, with the adjacent villages of Giavera, Bavaria, and Sovilla, has changed hands ten times over. The railroad running thence toward Montebelluna is hidden under a litter of dead bodies for a length of several kilometers. The haul of prisoners has risen from 6,000 to 9,000, General Diaz announced last night—an almost unique fact in an offensive of this nature and undoubtedly[Pg 35] the fruit of Italy's immediate readiness for an energetic reaction.

Stupendous acts of heroism are recorded. Gunners of an Alpine regiment stationed at the foot of Montello Hill, after being twice driven from their batteries, united themselves to some storm troops, fought the foe in a hand-to-hand encounter with daggers, and, recovering the cannon, readjusted the breechlocks, which they had taken away with them, and then fired pointblank into the adversary's ranks.

At Fagare two Hungarian battalions were annihilated amid the ruins of houses where they had taken refuge. At Candelu an enemy machine-gun corps, which had transformed the village into a fort, were killed by Italian mountain artillery, and in the neighboring sector of Salettuol the 3d Austrian Division lost 60 per cent. of its effectiveness.

Many of the prisoners at the moment of capture present the appearance of Bedouins, being clad merely in tattered shirts, with their rifles slung over their shoulders and a dagger in their hand. Nearly all carried postcard maps marking out their journey, with a program inscribed: "June 15, halt at Treviso. June 16, occupation of Venice." They also carried little packets of money coupons printed in Italian for spending in those cities.

A German View of Germany's Effort

The Recent Offensive

[By the Cologne Gazette Editor at German Headquarters]

The task confronting us before the offensive seemed monstrous. What the combined and many times superior armies of the Napoleonic School and Kitchener's Army, young indeed but drawing its supplies from the resources of a world empire, had failed to accomplish against a force of almost Frederickian inferiority in numbers, this task was to be performed by the German Army, which, even after the absorption of the eastern units, was scarcely equal in strength, much less superior to the enemy. The big hammer had failed to beat down the little hammer; it was now the turn of the little hammer to pit itself against the big hammer. The German hinterland, diminutive in comparison with the continents working for the coalition, was not only to hold its own, but also to help to conquer in battle against the raw materials and industries of half Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. The German victory at Cambrai, which in a sense represented a transition from the old to a new era in the history of the war in the west, had already illuminated the difficulties that a brave and numerically superior enemy could oppose to our attack.

In contrast with the victorious confidence of our veteran defense troops—a confidence that at times excited the amazement of their own leaders—the enemy continued to contemplate the German undertaking with inveterate skepticism. British and French prisoners captured during the Winter months indeed held out to us the prospect of achieving an initial success similar to that which their own offensive had achieved. But nowhere in the world did any one reckon upon more than the customary initial success for our enterprise.

The German High Command decided from the very outset not to fight a "battle of matériel," but to build up success upon a more ideal foundation. Numerical inferiority was to be compensated by the warlike and moral qualities peculiar to the German Army organism. The same virtues that had proved the essential cause of the enemy's defeat were to form the surest guarantees of German victory. To the undeniable bravery of the English and French storming troops was to be opposed the utmost bravery of the German tribes; the good quality of the enemy leaders was to be met by better leading on the German side, and the thorough preparation of our adversaries by one still more thorough.

As the Supreme Command could confidently reckon upon the two first as given quantities, there remained as the chief task the preparation of the attack. Unity of command and of forces, the latter non-German only in respect of a[Pg 36] valuable group of Austrian batteries that had been placed in the line, facilitated the tremendous work. Frictions and impediments that are inherent even in the best organized coalition armies were spared us. It is impossible to picture what was accomplished in the map rooms of the German staffs by experienced specialists in defensive warfare, who worked in silence for months, at the highest nervous pressure, in the face of the confident expectation of the homeland and growing tension and impatience abroad. But it is certain that an altogether enormous expenditure of organizing energy was required in order to impart the method of attack; to ascertain and control the situation of the enemy; to supply the striking force with munitions and provisions; and finally to produce that masterpiece, the veiled march into line.

Addresses by the Kaiser

He Extols Militarism and Defines the Issues of the War

The German Kaiser in two telegrams acknowledging congratulations on the thirtieth anniversary of his accession to the throne made announcements of historic interest regarding the issues of the war and the uses of militarism. On June 17 he telegraphed to the German Chancellor, Count von Hertling:

I express cordial thanks and kind good wishes to your Excellency and the State Ministry on the day on which, thirty years ago, I ascended the throne. When I celebrated my twenty-five-year jubilee as ruler I was able, with special gratitude, to point out that I had been able to do my work as a prince of peace. Since then the world picture has changed. For nearly four years, forced to it by our enemies, we have been engaged in the hardest struggle history records. God the Lord has laid a heavy burden upon my shoulders, but I carry it in the consciousness of our good right, with confidence in our ship, our sword, and our strength, and in the realization that I have the good fortune to stand at the head of the most capable people on earth. Just as our arms under strong leadership have proved themselves invincible, so also will the home land, exerting all its strength, bear with strong will the sufferings and privations which just now are keenly felt.

Thus, I have spent this day 'midst my armies, and it moved me to the depths of my heart, yet filled with the most profound gratitude to God's mercy.

I know that Prussian militarism, so much abused by our enemies, which my forefathers and I, in a spirit of dutifulness, loyalty, order, and obedience, have nurtured, has given Germany's sword and the German Nation strength to triumph, and that victory will bring a peace which will guarantee the German life.

It will then be my sacred duty, as well as that of the States, with all our power to see to healing the wounds caused by the war and to secure a happy future for the nation. In most faithful recognition of the work hitherto performed, I rely on your approved strength and the help of the State Ministry. God bless our land and people!

In an address at Main Headquarters on June 15 he said that the war was not a matter of strategic campaign, but a struggle of two world views wrestling with each other. "Either German principles of right, freedom, honor, and morality must be upheld," he added, "or Anglo-Saxon principles with their idolatry of mammon must be victorious."

The Anglo-Saxons, he asserted, aimed at making the peoples of the world work as slaves for the Anglo-Saxon ruling race, and such a matter could not be decided in days or weeks, or even in a year.

The Emperor emphasized the fact that from the first he had realized that the trials of war would be great. The first outbreak of enthusiasm had not deceived him. Great Britain's intervention had meant a world struggle, whether he desired it or not. He said he was thankful that Field Marshal von Hindenburg and General Ludendorff had been placed at his side as counselors. Drinking to the health of the army and its leaders, the Emperor said:

The German people and army indeed are now one and the same and look up to you with gratitude. Every man out there [Pg 37]knows what he is fighting for, the enemy himself admits that, and in consequence we shall gain victory—the victory of the German standpoint. That is what is in question.

The Emperor referred to the period of peace, which he described as "twenty-six years of profitable but hard work, though they could not always be regarded as successful in a political respect and had brought disappointments."

His interests had been centred in the work connected with the development of the army and the effort to maintain it at the level at which it had been intrusted to him. Now, in time of war, he could not better celebrate the day than under the same roof with the Field Marshal and his faithful, highly gifted Generals and General Staff. The Emperor continued:

In peace time in the preparation of my army for war my grandfather's war comrades gradually passed away, and as the German horizon gradually darkened, many a German, and not the least I, hoped with assurance that God would in this danger place the right man at our side. Our hope has not been disappointed.

In your Excellency and in you, General Ludendorff, Heaven bestowed upon the German Empire and the German Army and staff men who are called upon in these great times to lead the German people in arms in its decisive struggle for existence and the right to live, and with its help to gain victory.

He sent the following telegram to the Crown Prince:

Under your leadership the armies of Generals von Boehm, von Below, and von Hutier have severely defeated the enemy and shattered the storm of his hurriedly brought-up army reserves. Eighty-five thousand prisoners and more than 1,000 guns are the outward signs of this tremendous battle success. To you and the participating commanders and troops I express my thanks and those of the Fatherland. The fighting spirit and fighting strength of my incomparable troops guarantee our final victory. God will further help.

Field Marshal von Hindenburg, in congratulating the Emperor on behalf of the army, extolled the Emperor's "wise care for peace" during the first twenty-six years of his reign and Germany's brilliant progress in all works of peace in that period. If the German Army and people had been able for nearly four years in the face of a world of enemies to show such proof of their strength and right to existence as never yet in history had been demanded and given in such measure, he added, they also owed this to their war lord, who had indefatigably watched over the fighting efficiency of his armies. The Field Marshal renewed the unswerving loyalty until death of Germany's sons at the front, and concluded:

"May our old motto, 'Forward with God for King and Fatherland, for Kaiser and Empire,' result in many years of peace being granted to your Majesty after our victorious return home."

Demoralization and Crime in Germany

Evidence that the war has brought a great increase of crime in Germany is forthcoming in many forms. At a conference held in Berlin early in 1918 to discuss "public insecurity" in all parts of Germany, it was stated that most of the burglaries and other crimes were committed during the nights between Friday and Monday. Statistics were given of the payments made by companies which issue insurance policies against burglary and theft. Payments on account of burglaries increased from $400,000 in 1914 to $1,100,000 in 1916, and to about $5,000,000 in 1917. Compensation for stolen goods to the amount of nearly $15,000,000 was paid by the Prussian railways in 1917, as compared with a total of only $1,050,000 in 1914.

Owing to the constant thefts of food in Berlin an official order has been issued that no wheat or flour is to be moved through the streets after dark. The theft of letters is becoming more and more common. One night nineteen letter-boxes in Charlottenburg were broken open, and the letters were destroyed after the postage stamps had been torn off. Owing to frequent thefts of letters at a small town named Mittenwalde, the Postmaster laid a trap for the thief, with the result that his own wife has been sent to prison for six months.

[Pg 38]

The U-Boat Raid in American Waters

Twenty Vessels, Mostly in the Coastwise Trade, Sunk Off the New Jersey and Virginia Coasts

One or more German submarines—the number was not definitely established—appeared off the coast of the United States on May 25, 1918, and began sinking merchant ships on a large scale. Up to June 20 more than twenty steamers and sailing vessels, mostly of American register, had been sent to the bottom.

This was the second visit of an armed German submarine to the American side of the Atlantic for hostile action. In October, 1916, before the United States entered the war, the U-53 held up coastwise traffic off Nantucket and sank four British, one Dutch, and one Norwegian ship. The U-53 had been preceded by the merchant submarine Deutschland, which arrived at Baltimore on July 9, 1916, from Bremen and returned with a cargo of nickel and rubber. The Deutschland made a second trip, arriving at New London, Conn., in October.

The appearance off the American coast of the unidentified submarine, or submarines, which made the raid on American and neutral shipping in May and June, 1918, was not altogether unexpected. For several weeks the American naval authorities had been searching for U-boats in home waters in consequence of a dispatch from the British Admiralty stating that two German submarines of the latest type, with a cruising capacity of 10,000 miles, had left the North Sea and were observed proceeding westward, probably in an attempt to cross the Atlantic.

The first information that German U-boats were conducting a transatlantic campaign was brought to New York City on June 4 by Captain Humphrey G. Newcombe and the ten members of the crew of the American four-masted schooner Edward H. Cole, which was sunk with bombs on the afternoon of June 2, fifty miles southeast of Barnegat, N. J. All were agreed that the U-boat was about 200 feet long, of more than 20 feet beam, and with 5 feet freeboard, that it carried a three-inch gun fore and aft, and a one-pounder quick-firer amidships, and that it had a speed of 17 knots. The mate of the Edward H. Cole told how he had noticed a submarine moving around the vessel at a high speed and believed that it was an American craft with Naval Reserve cadets on board, who were trying to have some fun with the sailors of the merchant ship.

"I thought," the mate continued, "that it would be a good idea to have a little fun with our skipper, who had turned in for a nap in his cabin, and I yelled down the skylight, 'Tumble up on deck lively, Cap! There's a big German submarine close astern, getting ready to attack us.' Then I took the marine glasses and looked through them at the stern of the U-boat, where her ensign was flapping limply against the short flagstaff. For a moment or two I could not make out her nationality, and then a gust of wind came and blew the ensign straight so that I could see that it was the German flag, and then I shouted in earnest to Captain Newcombe, 'It's no joke this time. By gosh, she is a German submarine!'"

The schooners Hattie Dunn and Edna were the first vessels sunk—on May 25. Their crews, as well as that of the schooner Hauppauge, which was sunk three days later, numbering twenty-three men, were taken on board the submarine and kept prisoner there for eight days. When the tank steamer Isabel Wiley was sunk, on June 2, the twenty-three prisoners were placed, with the crew of the Isabel Wiley, in the tanker's four boats and left to find their way to the shore. They were picked up by a coastwise steamer and brought safely back to land.

Captain Charles E. Holbrook of the Hattie Dunn, the first skipper to encounter[Pg 39] the U-boat, thus described his experience:

We left New York for Charleston in ballast on May 23, and when, two days later, we were about fifteen miles south of Winter Quarter Lightship bowling along under an eight-knot breeze, I heard a shell pass near the vessel. Then another shell, which fell perhaps a quarter of a mile away. I was not taking much notice, because I believed the vessel which I saw about two miles away was an American submarine at target practice.

A third shell exploded close by us on the weather quarter, and I knew that, whoever it was, wanted us to stop. I brought the vessel up into the wind. The submarine, with her superstructure and conning tower showing plainly above the water, came within two hundred yards, and I saw that she was flying the two code letters "A B," meaning "stop immediately."

From a small staff at the rear end of the superstructure fluttered a small flag of the Imperial German Navy. An officer and three men came over in a small boat, not over twelve feet long. In perfect English the officer told us to get into our boats and that we had but ten minutes allotted to us to get clear of our vessel. They placed bombs along the sides of our vessel and blew her up immediately, in the meantime putting an armed German sailor on board the small boat in which were seven men and myself. This did not give me time to rescue my personal effects and nautical instruments. My men only saved what they stood in.

Perhaps I would have been given more time if the commander of the submarine had not seen the Hauppauge under full sail about four or five miles away. Like us the Hauppauge was light, and, I understand, was bound from Portland to Newport News. He destroyed Captain Sweeney's fine new schooner after ordering him and his crew to take to their boats, and within a half hour both crews were on board the submarine and both the small boats had been placed on the submarine's deck and lashed down.

ON BOARD THE U-BOAT

Captain C. M. Gilmore of the Edna said that when he was stopped by the U-boat an officer came aboard and told him he had ten minutes to abandon ship. During the week he was on board the submarine, Captain Gilmore said the Americans were treated with such extreme courtesy by the Germans that it was evident that the whole matter was being done under orders with the hope of having an effect on American public opinion. Captain Gilmore added:

The officers of the submarine included a spare Captain who was apparently on hand to take charge of any prize that might be worth while turning into a raider, the commander of the U-boat itself, and two others. These gave up their berths to me and the master of the Hattie Dunn, and the Germans of the crew gave up their bunks to the sailors and slept in hammocks themselves. The officers gave us wines, cordials, and fine cigars, and in general treated us with such marked hospitality that it seemed apparent that they were carrying out a course that had been laid upon them. The commander said that he had fuel and supplies for a month in American waters and intended to stay here for that time before going back.

The Carolina, a 5,000-ton passenger steamship belonging to the New York and Porto Rico Steamship Line, which was sunk at 6 P. M. on June 2, had on board the largest number of persons of any of the ships destroyed. Passengers and crew numbered 331. All escaped except seven out of the twenty-six who were put on board on a motor launch. The launch encountered a heavy storm and overturned. Christian Nelson, Chief Engineer of the Carolina, who was in charge of the launch, after a great effort managed to right it, but in the meanwhile seven persons had disappeared in the sea. With the aid principally of a young Porto Rican girl, who did not understand English, but who behaved very intelligently and bravely, Nelson kept the launch afloat, although it was waterlogged and the engine would not work. The launch was finally picked up by a British freighter, which took the survivors into Lewes, Del. The rest of the passengers and crew of the Carolina were picked up by other vessels and safely landed. Some of the survivors were more than twenty hours at sea in open boats.

LIST OF VESSELS SUNK

[Pg 40]

The complete list of ships attacked up to June 20 is as follows: The complete list of ships attacked up to June 20 is as follows:

All the ships mentioned were sunk except the Herbert L. Pratt and the Edna. Most of them were destroyed by bombs placed alongside after the crews had left. In some cases gunfire was used. The submarine also laid mines, which caused some damage. The commander of the submarine was reported as saying that he was saving his torpedoes for bigger ships. With the exception of the British and Norwegian vessels all were American. The raid extended along the coast from within a couple of hundred miles of New York southward as far as the entrance to Chesapeake Bay.

HUNTING THE RAIDER

As soon as the first news was received that a submarine campaign was being conducted off the American coast, prompt action was taken by the Navy Department. Destroyers, submarine chasers, and airplanes were sent out in large numbers to patrol the coast and search the neighboring waters, but the U-boat eluded detection. New York Harbor was temporarily closed, and, though there was no indication of the presence of hostile airplanes, the lighting of the city was for several nights diminished by darkening the main thoroughfares. There were rumors that the submarine either had a "mother ship" or was using a base on the Mexican coast. Marine insurance rates were not raised, but the officers of vessels in the coastwise trade were granted a bonus by the Shipping Board.

Other Submarine Activities of the Month

The British Admiralty's official statement of all losses of shipping during the month of April, 1918, shows that 220,709 tons of British and 84,393 tons of allied and neutral vessels, a total of 305,102 tons, were destroyed by submarines and lost by accident. The total for the preceding month was 381,631 tons. In April, 1917, the total losses amounted to 893,877. April, 1918, showed the lowest figures for any month since the beginning of 1917. Another satisfactory feature of the situation was that 40,000 tons more shipping was built by Great Britain and the United States than was lost during the month.

Georges Leygues, the French Minister of Marine, informed the Army and Navy War Committees of the Senate on May 25 that the means employed to rid the seas of submarines had become increasingly effective since January and had given decisive results. Tremendous strides had recently been made by the Allies in repairing ships damaged by torpedoes or mines. The Minister added that co-ordination between the allied nations had become so smooth during the past four months that the tonnage restored to the sea exceeded 500,000 weekly. Great Britain had repaired 598,000 tons in one week recently, while France had effected repairs upon 260,000 tons in one month. The increased building and more efficient and speedier repair work were constantly bringing better results in the transport of troops and supplies.

Twelve German submarines were sunk or captured in British waters by the American and British destroyers during the month of April, which was a record. This means that twelve U-boats were officially reported and recognized as sunk and that evidence, either a ca pbearing the name of the submarine, a portion of the craft, or a live or dead German, was produced when each case was recorded.

[Pg 41]

A YEAR'S DECLINE IN SHIPPING LOSSES

In addition to this number, at least two other U-boats were destroyed during that period. One was sunk on April 8 in the North Sea while making an attack on a convoy to Holland. Another U-boat, making the total fourteen, was sunk on Friday, April 26, during the forenoon while attempting to attack a convoy of transports filled with American troops on the way to France. In the case of these two U-boats no débris or other direct evidence was recovered, and the British Admiralty accordingly withheld official recognition.

Senator Swanson of Virginia, a member of the Senate Naval Committee, made the statement on June 7 that the allied and American naval forces had destroyed 60 per cent. of all German submarines constructed. Senator Lodge of Massachusetts on June 15 said that since Jan. 1, 1918, the United States Navy had sunk twenty-eight German submarines.

The American troop transport President Lincoln, 18,168 gross tons, was sunk by a German submarine on May 31 while returning under convoy from Europe. The ship was struck simultaneously by three torpedoes and sank in eighteen minutes. Three other vessels were in company with her at the same time. The crew and passengers abandoned the ship in excellent order. All passengers, including the sick, were saved. One of the American destroyers which went to the rescue saved 500 persons, and another destroyer the remainder of the survivors. The number missing was twenty-seven, comprising four officers and twenty-three enlisted men. One of the officers was taken prisoner by the submarine.

The British armed mercantile troop-ship Moldavia, with American troops on board, was torpedoed and sunk on May 23. Of the American soldiers fifty-six were reported by the British Admiralty as "unaccounted for." The British transport Ausonia was torpedoed and sunk on May 26. Forty of the officers and crew were reported missing. The British transport Leasowe Castle was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine May 26 in the Mediterranean. Thirteen military officers and seventy-nine of other ranks, and of the ship's company the Captain, two wireless operators, and six of other ratings were drowned.

[Pg 42]

Out of the Sleep of Death

Rescue of a Submarine Crew Imprisoned Fathoms Deep for Three Days

By an act which must stand among the most heroic in the records of the war, Commander Francis H. H. Goodhart sacrificed his life to save the crew of a British submarine, fast in the mud in thirty-eight feet of water. It was in the first week of May, 1918, that the commander's vessel found itself in this perilous plight. When the air supply of the imprisoned men was about exhausted, Goodhart entered the conning tower, giving instructions that he was to be blown upward in the hope of reaching the surface and bringing aid to the imperiled crew. As he entered the tower with the senior officer a small tin cylinder containing instructions for rescuers was fastened to his belt, and the commander's last words were: "If I don't get up, the cylinder will."

Air at high pressure had been forced into the conning tower, and the lid was opened. Taking a deep breath, Commander Goodhart was shot upward, but he struck a portion of the superstructure and was killed.

The senior officer, who had intended to remain in the submarine, was forced from the tower by the air pressure and reached the surface safely. The remainder of the crew was rescued soon afterward. A posthumous reward of the Albert Medal for gallantry in saving life at sea was conferred on Commander Goodhart.

The sufferings of the crew were thus described by one of the rescued sailors in a letter to The London Telegraph:

When the first night of imprisonment passed, and it appeared from our watches—we had artificial light enough to see the time—that the dawn of a new day had come with no sign of release, some of the company threatened to chuck hope. But others of us put as bright a face on a black outlook as we could, and gave them such cheer as a waterless and breadless situation would allow. Of course, too, we had to remember that our air supply was running out.

Speak of dropping sovereigns down a well! Every tick of my watch I knew was as a lost sovereign, so far as air was concerned. But those of us who were blessed with big batteries of optimism did our best to distribute the current, and so the time dragged on. Then a great thing happened. Two heroes came forward and offered to risk all in an attempt to win to the surface. All honor to them! How they did it and at what a cost may be told later on, but the thing was done, and the outer world was thus made aware of our terrible plight. That much we realized when we knew of the presence of divers about our craft. What a relief! We had been located, practical measures were being taken for our salvage, and that splendid prospect made us take in a draught of new life. Artificial light was fast failing, but hope was burning brightly, so what did it matter?

Our ordeal, as it turned out, was but a young thing as yet, however. We had still a long way to go. The day dragged through, and when we entered on the silence and uncertainty of the night we were a forlorn enough lot, I can assure you. The nerve of the toughest of us was wearing thin. My fear that it might snap suddenly all round was not realized, however, for we were given further indications, which our practical ears were not slow to catch, that the great work of rescue was well in hand. The constant tapping of the divers outside was a cheering sound, and brought hope to those of us who, in the steadily increasing stifle of the atmosphere, were now breathing hard to live.

But rescue was long delayed, and in the early hours of the following day most of us wrote our last farewell to our loved ones—short, tender messages scrawled in pencil—and some of us made our wills. Then, as if by a miracle, three strong strands in the ladder of escape came to us from above. Exactly in what manner this was made possible I cannot tell you. We got air, water, and food, in only the smallest quantities, but just enough to stir us into new life. That was a godsend as welcome as it was unexpected. And we had not to wait long for the opening of our prison door. When the details of that liberation are given it will cause surprise and congratulation everywhere. It verges on the miraculous. When we scrambled into freedom we were a dazed and shaken lot of men, but I[Pg 43] warrant you our hearts were full of gratitude to God for saving mercies.

It was left to others to give fuller details of the impression caused by the unexpected arrival of the three "strands" in the life ladder. The first was air—life-giving air—which was forced into the stifling compartment from above. The boon came just in time; the prisoners had had about fifty hours of captivity, their last light was burning dimly, and the atmosphere of their prison house was vile. More than one of the company had lost consciousness, but the effect of the tiny air current was instantaneous. The senseless men stirred as if in troubled sleep, and opened their eyes, breathing hard, while those of the company who had stood up to the ordeal with all their senses about them felt instantly the glorious effect of the air draught.

The second strand was water—fresh, cold water—also forced down by the splendid salvage party. The quantity was very small—only a sip to each—but, oh! the refreshment of it! "We were parched in lip and mouth and throat," said one of the prisoners, "and never was a drop of water more welcome." The third strand was food, pellets of compressed food. The salvage party had accomplished almost the impossible. And this was not their greatest achievement. It was the forcing of a way of escape for the entombed men that was the marvel. Ingenuity backed up by tireless tenacity, resourcefulness that absolutely refused to own either defeat or despair, triumphed over difficulties that seemed insuperable.

What a picture for brush or pen is offered in the scene of rescue in the dead of night, when these dazed prisoners won once again their liberty. They came forth in single file from the prison house. Near the head of the procession was a bronzed sailor, one whose coolness in the dragging hours of extremity had done much to maintain the flickering life of his comrades. He thrust out at arm's length his oilskin, and followed with a wonderfully nimble step, thus providing the only touch of lightness in the grim tragedy.

Shelter was awaiting them, and from there they dispatched hurried messages to loved ones at home, to relieve hearts nearly broken by suspense. And a while later a grateful little company heard read to them by one of the survivors the metrical version of the 124th Psalm. They needed no preacher to interpret to them its beauty and its significance—for they had been there, and they knew:

New Records in Shipbuilding

Forty-four Ships in One Month

New records in the production of ships by the United States and the United Kingdom were established during the month of May, 1918. American shipyards completed and delivered to the Shipping Board forty-three steel ships and one wooden ship, representing, in the aggregate, 263,571 deadweight tons. These figures do not refer to launchings, but to ships fully equipped and ready for service. The month's work in the United States in comparison with previous months is shown in the following table of tonnage produced:

The May deliveries comprised thirty-nine requisitioned steel vessels, four contract steel and one contract wooden ship. In the last six days of the month there were delivered one wooden and fourteen steel ships, totaling 82,760 tons. The[Pg 44] best previous week was that ended May 4, when the deliveries totaled 80,180 tons.

Launchings kept pace with the number of ships completed. Among the vessels launched in May was the Agawam, the first "fabricated" ship in the world, "fabricated" being the technical term applied to ships built from numbered pieces made from patterns. Approximately 27 steel mills, 56 fabricating plants, and 200 foundries, machine, pipe, and equipment shops were engaged in the production of the parts.

On June 1 it was unofficially stated that there were in operation by the United States Government 2,200,000 deadweight tons of shipping engaged in the transportation of troops and supplies and in kindred work for the army. Reviewing the shipping situation as a whole, Edward N. Hurley, Chairman of the Shipping Board, in an address on June 10, said:

On June 1 we had increased the American-built tonnage to over 3,500,000 deadweight tons of shipping. This gives us a total of more than 1,400 ships, with an approximate total deadweight tonnage of 7,000,000 now under the control of the United States Shipping Board.

In round numbers, and from all sources, we have added to the American flag since our war against Germany began nearly 4,500,000 tons of shipping.

Our program calls for the building of 1,856 passenger, cargo, and refrigerator ships and tankers, ranging from 5,000 to 12,000 tons each, with an aggregate deadweight of 13,000,000. Exclusive of these, we have 245 commandeered vessels, taken over from foreign and domestic owners, which are being completed by the Emergency Fleet Corporation. These will aggregate a total deadweight tonnage of 1,715,000.

This makes a total of 2,101 vessels, exclusive of tugs and barges, which are being built and will be put on the seas by the Emergency Fleet Corporation in the course of carrying out the present program, with an aggregate deadweight tonnage of 14,715,000.

Five billion dollars will be required to finish our program for 1918, 1919, and 1920, but the expenditure of this enormous sum will give to the American people the greatest merchant fleet ever assembled in the history of the world, aggregating 25,000,000 tons.

American workmen have made the expansion of recent months possible, and they will make possible the successful conclusion of the whole program. From all present expectations it is likely that by 1920 we shall have close to 1,000,000 men working on American merchant ships and their equipment.

We have a total of 819 shipways in the United States. Of these, a total of 751, all of which except ninety are completed, are being utilized by the Emergency Fleet Corporation for the building of American merchant ships.

In 1919 the average tonnage of steel, wood, and concrete ships continuously building on each way should be about 6,000. If we are using 751 ways on cargo ships and can average three ships a year per way, we should turn out in one year 13,518,000 tons.

The total gross revenue of our fleet is very impressive. From the ships under the control of the Shipping Board a total gross revenue is derived of about $360,000,000.

An appropriation of $1,761,701,000 for the American merchant marine was provided in the Sundry Civil bill reported to the House on June 10 by the Appropriations Committee. The amount recommended for ships and shipping was $1,282,694,000 less than the Shipping Board requested, but Chairman Sherley explained that receipts from the operation of ships could be devoted to building charges, and that no curtailment of the building program was contemplated. Of the Shipping Board total $1,438,451,000 was for construction in this country, $55,000,000 for building American ships abroad, $87,000,000 for establishing shipyards, $60,000,000 for operating ships heretofore acquired, and $6,250,000 for recruiting and instructing ships' officers.

As the result of an agreement between the United States and Japanese Governments, twenty-three Japanese ships, aggregating 151,166 tons deadweight, have been chartered to the United States for the allied transport services. On June 4 it was announced that twelve Japanese ships, obtained either by purchase or charter, had arrived in Pacific ports and were being transferred to the Atlantic Coast.

More than 400,000 tons of ships were released to the United States and the Allies by Sweden under the terms of the commercial agreement signed at Stockholm by representatives of the two Governments. Under a modus vivendi, in effect for some months, the War Trade[Pg 45] Board had permitted exports to Sweden in sufficient quantities to meet immediate and urgent needs.

The shipbuilding situation in the United Kingdom has shown considerable improvement, as seen in the following table of merchant vessels, in gross tons, completed in British yards and entered for service:

It should be noted that the British practice is to express merchant shipbuilding statistics in "gross tons," whereas in the United States and some other countries the figures are recorded in "deadweight" tons, which is a much higher figure.

The total ships completed in the shipyards of the United Kingdom during the twelve months ended May 31, 1918, were 1,406,838 gross tons. The corresponding figures for the year ended April 30, 1917, were 1,270,337.

Raising torpedoed ships has become a considerable source of increased tonnage for the Allies. According to a report of the British Admiralty Salvage Department, made public June 17, no less than 407 ships sunk by Germans in British waters were salvaged in the years between January, 1915, and May, 1918. Up to December, 1917, 260 ships were recovered. In the first five months of 1918 the number salvaged was 147, the increased rate being due to improved methods.

Among the difficulties encountered was the danger of poisonous gases from the rotting cargoes of sunken ships, which sometimes caused the loss of lives. One salvage ship was torpedoed while working on a wreck, and sometimes the work of weeks is destroyed by one rough sea. Feats performed by the Salvage Department include the raising of a large collier sunk in twelve fathoms of water and involving a dead lift of 3,500 tons. Another vessel was raised fifteen fathoms by the use of compressed air.

American Exports Versus the U-Boats

By CHARLES FREDERICK CARTER

Notwithstanding a net loss of the world's shipping, due to the usual perils of the sea as well as to enemy mines and submarines, of 2,632,279 tons from the beginning of the war to April 1, 1918, the vital trade route across the Atlantic has shown a steady increase in efficiency. Even more gratifying is the fact that in recent weeks the gain in efficiency has been accelerated.

All the essential requirements of our allies as well as of our own expeditionary forces abroad appear to be met, according to these official statistics from the Department of Commerce. For instance, exports of nitric, picric, sulphuric, and other acids, so essential in the manufacture of munitions, are going to Europe in a steadily increasing volume. Exportsof acids increased from a total value of $10,003,647 in the calendar year 1915 to $52,695,640 in 1917. Exports of copper, no less necessary for cartridges and other uses, to France, Italy, and Great Britain increased from 229,129,587 pounds in 1915 to 890,819,053 pounds in 1917.

The same three allies, which needed only 499,719 tons of steel billets, blooms, and ingots in the calendar year 1915, took 1,395,019 tons in 1916 and 1,847,201 tons in 1917. Exports of steel plates to the same three allies for ships, tanks, and other military uses increased similarly from 63,584,467 pounds in 1915 to 72,242,656 pounds in 1916 and 165,630,514 pounds in 1917. All Europe took but a negligible tonnage of steel rails in 1913, the last full year before the war.[Pg 46] France alone took 5,362 tons in 1915 and 122,858 tons in 1917. Exports of locomotives to France kept pace with the rails, increasing from 38 in 1915 to 570 in 1917, and 129 in the month of January, 1918. Exports of metal-working machinery to these three allies increased from a total value of $29,229,683 in 1915 to $47,666,606 in 1916 and $54,906,405 in 1917.

Statistics on the exports of barbed wire epitomize the history of defensive works by our allies. Italy, for example, took only 2,000 pounds of that commodity in 1915. Next year her requirements jumped to 58,367,004 pounds, while last year the necessity of constructing an entirely new system of defenses in haste called for 204,972,438 pounds of American barbed wire. On the other hand, France, which needed 264,310,493 pounds of barbed wire in 1916, called for only 29,952,532 pounds in 1917.

EXPORTS OF LEAD

France, Italy, and England laid in a stock of lead from which to make bullets in 1915, the former country taking 21,234,108 pounds, Italy 5,176,794 pounds, and Great Britain 81,483,866 pounds. Next year total shipments to all three countries fell off to 23,015,071 pounds, but rose again to 59,470,181 pounds in 1917, "unrestricted" U-boat warfare to the contrary notwithstanding.

Not all exports of lead went to our allies. Although at peace, Denmark, Holland, and Sweden, each and severally, bought more American lead in 1916 than Italy needed in any one of three years of desperate fighting, total exports to these three neutrals in that year aggregating 18,113,859 pounds. Even last year, after the United States had declared war against Germany, 3,470,415 pounds of lead went to these three neutrals, all of which just happen to drive a thriving trade with Germany. The patriots who supplied this brisk neutral demand for material from which bullets are made probably would not care to trace the shipments to their ultimate effect in swelling American casualty list.

Exports of explosives, including shells and projectiles, increased from a total value of $188,969,893 in 1915 to $715,575,306 in 1916. In 1917, after England and France had attained such marvelous efficiency in the production of these essentials of war, exports declined, but still reached the enormous total of $633,734,405. Just to show that we are keeping our stride in supplying explosives to the firing line the fact may be mentioned that in spite of delays due to a lack of bunker coal in the unprecedentedly severe month of January, 1918, we shipped 2,606,297 pounds of dynamite during the month, as compared with 1,787,600 pounds in January, 1917, and 37,587,662 pounds of powder, against 36,767,984 pounds in the corresponding month of 1917.

Gasoline, the foundation on which present allied supremacy in the air is based, and which also plays so great a part in land transportation, is going to Great Britain, France, and Italy in swiftly increasing volume. Shipments to these three countries in 1915 totaled 36,936,303 gallons; in 1916, 98,178,139 gallons; in 1917, 141,327,159 gallons. As a basis of comparison it may be said that America's total exports of gasoline to all the world in 1913 amounted to only 117,728,286 gallons.

Gasoline engines are going abroad at a similar rate of increase, 50,317 being shipped in the seven months ended Jan. 31, 1918, as compared with 36,209 in the corresponding period of 1916-17.

So much has been said about submarine losses that the average man may be pardoned for accepting the German figures, which have been exaggerated from 46 to 113 per cent., and the German delusion that England is about to be "brought to her knees" by the modern form of piracy. To whatever extent this impression of Prussian frightfulness has been disseminated the submarine campaign has been a success; but right there success ends. In spite of the utmost the U-boats could do, munitions have flowed in steadily increasing volume from America to Europe, while the destructiveness of the undersea boats has as steadily declined. Furthermore, the fact must not be forgotten that not all ships sunk by submarines have been eastbound with cargoes of munitions for the Allies. Some have been lost on the westward voyage; others have been laden with grain for the starving Belgians, or for neutrals which have developed such an astonishing appetite for lard, lead, and other things of which Germany stands in need; still others have been hospital ships.

VISCOUNT HALDANE
British War Secretary from December, 1905, to June, 1912, when he became Lord High Chancellor
(Photo Underwood & Underwood.)

GERMAN COMMANDERS ON WEST FRONT

General von Hutier

General Sixt von Arnim

General von Boehn

General von der Marwitz

[Pg 47]

If any further evidence of America's great part in the war, irrespective of participation by American troops in the fighting, is needed it can be found in statistics of exports of foodstuffs to the Allies, who have been obliged to depend more and more upon this country for the necessaries of life.

Exports of wheat flour to France in the calendar year 1915 were 2,392,952 barrels; in 1916, 2,263,990 barrels; in 1917, 2,659,328 barrels. Italy called for 148,999 barrels of American wheat flour in 1915 and 1,494,816 barrels in 1917, while Great Britain's requirements were 3,269,262 barrels in the former year and 4,808,141 barrels in the latter.

Our total exports of fresh beef to all the world in 1913 were only 6,580,123 pounds. In 1915 we sent Great Britain, France, and Italy 256,198,283 pounds. In 1916 exports to these three countries fell off to 160,879,642 pounds, but rose again to 172,940,833 pounds, in spite of von Tirpitz's unrestricted destructiveness.

In 1913 France took only 716,266 pounds of American bacon; but in 1915 the demand jumped to 52,044,475 pounds, increasing still further to 60,606,802 pounds in 1916 and to 73,195,974 pounds in 1917. Great Britain, which got along with 145,269,456 pounds of American bacon in 1913, needed 284,783,009 pounds in 1916 and 341,674,452 pounds in 1917. In the same period exports of hams and shoulders to France increased more than twelvefold and to Great Britain more than a third.

Exports of lard to France, Italy, and Great Britain increased from a total of 200,490,003 pounds in 1913 to 210,139,760 pounds in 1915 and 224,683,383 pounds in 1916. In 1917 exports to these three countries fell to 189,024,889 pounds. It is an interesting coincidence that Holland, whose appetite for American lard was fully satiated by 38,313,677 pounds in 1913, and which was able to skimp along with a trifle more than 20,000,000 pounds a year during the first two years of the world war, required 64,888,545 pounds in 1917, when Germany's need for fats grew desperate.

Exports of sugar have gone forward to the Allies on the same vast scale. In 1913 our entire export trade absorbed only 14,995,232 pounds of sugar. In 1915 we sent to Great Britain, France, and Italy alone 860,456,311 pounds; in 1916, 1,126,022,067 pounds; in 1917, 519,881,377 pounds. No wonder the sugar bowl disappeared from the American restaurant table last Fall and still remains in strict seclusion!

SOLDIERS AND CHEWING GUM

Not only have we been rendering the Allies a useful service by supplying so important a portion of their necessary food and munitions of war, but we have been for some months forwarding troops to the battleline. No figures are given out regarding movements of troops, but there is a significant bit of evidence in the monthly summaries of foreign commerce which proves that the number of American fighters abroad must be very large. As the Government has published this evidence, there can be no harm in referring to it here.

Gum is not chewed by Europeans, but seems to be regarded as a necessary of life in the United States, if the wagging jaws to be seen in street cars and other public places are any indication. Well, according to Government figures, no chewing gum whatever was exported in 1915; but in the calendar year 1917 the value of chewing gum exported was $1,403,888! The figures given, being at wholesale prices, represent upward of 176,000,000 cuds! Even on the most liberal allowance; so vast a quantity would supply a great many fighting men.

Viewed from another standpoint, these chewing-gum statistics are even more encouraging. If the shortage of cargo space to allied ports were as desperate as Germany's press agents would have us believe, it does not seem reasonable to [Pg 48]suppose that any part of it would be frittered away on chewing gum in such formidable quantities. This conviction is strengthened by the discovery that exports of candy have increased one-third in the three calendar years of war, to a total of $2,108,081 in 1917.

Most gratifying of all is the fact that despite the utmost endeavors of the submarines, and notwithstanding upward of 3,000 strikes in American shipyards last year, the capacity and efficiency of transatlantic shipping increases from day to day not only positively but also negatively by the withdrawal of the heavy tonnage formerly serving enemy countries through contiguous neutral nations.

True, exports fell off somewhat for the eight months ended Feb. 28, 1918; but Europe received 63 per cent. of the total. Now when Europe is spoken of it means substantially England, France, and Italy. Russia obtained very little in those eight months, and Germany's neutral neighbors still less. The shrinkage in the volume of supplies to our fighting partners was not so much on account of anything the submarines could do as because of the temporary breakdown of our own system due to extraordinarily severe weather and to other causes.

Now the weather handicap has been lifted, our industrial machine has been geared up and more ships have been placed where they could render the most effective service. While in February, 1918, we could send our allies only 750,000 tons of food, which was 50,000 tons less than their minimum requirements, in the next month this was increased to 1,100,000 tons.

OUR NEW MERCHANT MARINE

After having the decadence of the American merchant marine dinned into our ears for decades, we may be pardoned for gloating over the way this same merchant marine has come back under the stress of war. Of total imports worth $1,778,596,695 in 1915, goods valued at $342,796,714 arrived in vessels flying the American flag. In 1917 the value of goods arriving in American vessels had increased to $732,814,858. The increase was the greatest shown by ships of any nation, and the total value was the highest for any, British ships ranking second with imports valued at $693,565,240. This was a decrease of only $7,000,000 from 1915, in spite of all the U-boats could do. French ships, fighting the same sneaking foe, were actually able to increase the value of goods delivered at American ports from $70,275,445 in 1915 to $102,346,317 in 1917, considerably more than making up for the decrease in imports arriving under British and Italian flags. In the seven months ended Jan. 31, 1918, nearly 29 per cent. of all imports arrived in ships flying the American flag.

And the efficiency curve is still climbing. Up to April 10 America, by restricting imports, withdrawing ships from less essential trade routes, and by obtaining neutral tonnage by agreement—in other words, by good management—had been able to place 2,762,605 tons of shipping in the transatlantic service to carry food, munitions, and men to France. Of this total, 2,365,344 tons were under American registry. By skillful handling in port at both ends of the route the efficiency of this tonnage had been increased 20 per cent., which was equivalent to adding more than 400,000 tons to the carrying capacity of the fleet as compared with normal times.

These figures include very little of the 500,000 tons of Dutch shipping requisitioned, and none at all of the 250,000 tons Japan has promised to contribute during the Summer. Neither do they include any of the tonnage of England and the other allies which the American Shipping Control Committee has the power to reroute, nor yet do they take into consideration any of the tonnage under way or to be built in American shipyards, nor the 200,000 tons Japan has agreed to build for us as soon as we can deliver the plates; for this article deals only with conditions as they now exist.

To sum up, the shipping situation, as disclosed by Government statistics, is far more satisfactory than current comment would lead one to believe. If it is not all we could wish, we have the satisfaction of knowing that Germany is much more dissatisfied with it than we are.

[Pg 49]

Progress of the War

Recording Campaigns on All Fronts and Collateral Events From May 18, 1918, Up to and Including June 18, 1918

UNITED STATES

President Wilson signed the new selective draft bill on May 20, and issued a proclamation designating June 5 as the day when all young men who had reached the age of 21 since June 5, 1917, should register. Figures given out by the War Department on June 15 indicated that 744,865 men had responded. On May 23, Major Gen. Crowder announced that an amendment to the law, compelling men not engaged in a useful occupation either to apply themselves to some form of labor contributing to the general good, or to enter the army, would become effective July 1.

On May 27 President Wilson addressed the Congress urging the enactment of a new revenue bill during the present session. Hearings were begun at once by the House Committee on Ways and Means.

The German Government on April 20 offered to free Siegfried Paul London, an alleged American, held in custody by the Germans in Warsaw, in exchange for the release of Captain Franz von Rintelen, and threatened reprisals against Americans in Germany in case the offer was refused. Secretary Lansing, on June 4, sent a reply through the Swiss Minister, flatly refusing to comply with the demand, and indicated that if reprisals were undertaken the United States would retaliate.

Indictments charging conspiracy to commit treason against the United States and to commit espionage were returned on June 7 against Jeremiah A. O'Leary, John T. Ryan, Willard Robinson, Emil Kipper, Albert Paul Fricke, Lieutenant Commander Hermann Wessels, and the Baroness Maria von Kretschmann, reported to be a kinswoman of the German Empress. Dr. Hugo Schweitzer and Rudolph Binder, now dead, were also named in the indictment. O'Leary, who had fled from justice after being indicted for conspiracy in connection with the publication of The Bull, was taken into custody in Washington on June 12.

General Peyton C. March announced on June 15 that over 800,000 men had been sent abroad.

A supplementary note from the Netherlands Government was delivered to the State Department on May 22, contending that Secretary Lansing's reply to the original protest against the seizure by the United States Government of Dutch merchant shipping in American ports did not fully answer the objections.

SUBMARINE BLOCKADE

German submarines began to raid shipping off the eastern coast of the United States on May 25. On June 3 it became known that twelve ships had been sunk. They were the schooners Hattie W. Dunn, the Edward H. Cole, the Edward Baird, the Isabel B. Wiley, the Samuel C. Mengel, the Samuel W. Hathaway, and the auxiliary schooner Hauppauge, and the steamships Texel, Winneconne, and the Carolina. Twelve lives were lost on the Carolina. The schooner Edward was attacked, but was saved and towed to port. Mines were set afloat by the submarines, and the tanker Herbert L. Pratt struck a mine off the Delaware Capes, but was raised and saved. Precautions were taken at once to guard against air raids on New York City and other places near the coast.

On June 4 the Norwegian steamship Eibsvord was sunk off the Virginia Capes, and an American destroyer interrupted an attack on the French steamer Radioleine about sixty-five miles off the Atlantic Coast.

The British steamer Harpathian was sunk off the Virginia Capes without warning on June 6, and the next day the Norwegian steamer Vinland was sunk in the same area.

On June 9 the American steamer Pinar del Rio was sunk seventy-five miles off the coast of Maryland.

Two Norwegian steamers, the Vindeggen and the Henrik Lund, were sunk on June 10 100 miles east of Cape Charles, and on the same day an American transport fired at a U-boat off the New Jersey coast.

Germany announced on June 9 that seven submarines were operating in American waters.

The sinking of two Norwegian barks, the Krinsjoa and the Samoa, off the Virginia coast was announced on June 16.

The American oil tanker William Rockefeller was sunk in European waters on May 18. Three lives were lost.

The American troops transport President Lincoln, bound for the United States, was sunk in the naval war zone on May 31. Four officers and twenty-three men were lost.

The Argonaut, an American ship, was torpedoed off the Scilly Islands on June 5.

The Irish steamer Inniscarra was sunk on May 24 on the way from Fishguard to Cork. Thirty-seven members of the crew were reported missing. Another Irish ship, the Innisfallen, was sunk in British waters on June 7 and eleven lives were [Pg 50]lost. News was received on June 14 that an Irish fishing fleet of about twenty ships was torpedoed on May 31 between County Down and the Isle of Man.

The sinking of the British steamer Ellaston was announced on June 6. On June 12 announcement was made that the British transport Ausonia had been torpedoed in the Atlantic while on her way westward.

The Köningen Regentes, a hospital ship, was sunk off the English Coast, June 6.

The Swedish steamer New Sweden was torpedoed in the Mediterranean Sea on May 30, and on June 14 word was received that the Swedish steamship Dora had been sunk without warning and nine members of the crew killed.

An American ship arriving at an Atlantic port from the war zone on June 1 reported that an American destroyer had sunk two submarines within a half hour. A British transport, arriving at an Atlantic port on June 8, reported that she had sunk two U-boats, and two British ships that reached the United States on June 11, each reported the sinking of one U-boat. Senator Weeks announced on June 15 that twenty-eight submarines had been sunk by the American Navy since Jan. 1.

CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN EUROPE

May 18-24—Brisk raiding operations in all sectors, with varying success.

May 27—Germans resume their great offensive by delivering a terrific blow on a forty-mile front from around Vauxailion nearly to Rheims and take the Chemin des Dames and attack the French lines on the northern flank of the Lys salient between Voormezeele and Locre; Americans drive Germans back at three points in Picardy; long-range guns renew the bombardment of Paris; three persons killed, fourteen injured.

May 28—Americans take Cantigny; Germans advance about six miles on a nine-mile front from Vauxailion to Cauroy, take many towns, cross the Aisne and the Vesle Rivers, and drive a wedge to Fismes; Allies re-establish their line on the Lys-Ypres front east of Dickebusch Lake.

May 29—Germans take Soissons; Allies, with their centre forced back four miles, retire across the Vesle River and fall back on Rheims; Americans repulse three counterattacks at Cantigny; British make a successful raid southeast of Arras; French repulse a local attack north of Kemmel.

May 30—Germans held at both flanks near Soissons and Rheims; gain four miles in drive toward the Marne, take Fère-en-Tardenois and Vezilly; Americans defeat all attempts of the Germans to recover ground near Cantigny; French better their positions north of Kemmel; German attack near Festubert fails; German long-range gun resumes bombardment of Paris despite British promise not to carry out air raids on German cities on Corpus Christi Day.

May 31—Germans reach the Marne in an eight-mile drive, and are closing in on Château-Thierry; Americans make successful raid in the Woevre region and penetrate German line near Toul to a depth of 400 meters.

June 1—Germans turn west in their drive toward Paris, push forward along the Ourcq River six miles or more into the area beyond Neuilly and Chony, beat back the French between Hartennes and Soissons, press on northwest of Soissons, reaching Nouvron and Fontenoy, and attack east of Rheims.

June 2—French counterattacks slow up German drive between Soissons and Château-Thierry; Germans occupy Longport, Corcy, Faverolles, and Troesnes, but lose them all; Germans in possession of the eastern half of Château-Thierry; French hold the western half and recover ground southwest of Rheims.

June 3—Germans make slight gains west of Nouvron and Fontenoy, take Chaudun, and push ahead slightly west of Château-Thierry; French retake Faverolles north of the Ourcq.

June 4—American troops, co-operating with the French west of Château-Thierry, check the Germans, beating off repeated attacks and inflicting severe losses; Germans thrown back at all points except in the neighborhood of Veuilly-la-Poterie; British recover Thillois, southwest of Rheims.

June 5—Americans beat off two more attacks on the Marne battlefield; German advance checked all along the line; attempt to cross the Oise near Montalagache fails; French regain ground north of the Aisne near Vingre; British repulse a raid near Marlancourt.

June 6—American and French troops advance two-thirds of a mile in the neighborhood of Veuilly-la-Poterie; American marines gain two and a sixth miles on a two and a half mile front northwest of Château-Thierry; Germans recapture ruins of Locre Hospice.

June 7—American marines drive on two and one-half miles northwest of Château-Thierry, storm Torcy and Bouresches, and take Veuilly-la-Poterie in co-operation with the French.

June 8—Germans resume shelling near Montdidier; Americans again attack near Torcy and hold Bouresches against fresh assault; French push on north of Veuilly, reach the outskirts of Dammard, gain east of Chezy, and retake Locre Hospice.

June 9—Germans begin new offensive on a front of twenty miles extending from Montdidier to Noyon, and gain two and a half miles in the centre; Americans[Pg 51] again repulse the enemy near Veuilly; Germans pound British positions between Villers-Bretonneux and Arras; Paris again shelled by long-range guns.

June 10—American marines penetrate German lines for about two-thirds of a mile on a 600-yard front in the Belleau Wood; Germans gain two and a half miles around Ressons and Mareuil.

June 11—French deliver two counterblows in the centre and left of the Noyon-Montdidier line, drive Germans back between Rubescourt and St. Maur, regaining Belloy, Senlis Wood, and the heights between Courcelles and Mortemer, and regain Antheuil, but lose Ribecourt, and are forced to give ground along the Oise, as German drive to the Matz River flanks their position; Americans take Belleau Wood; Australians drive Germans back half a mile on a mile and a half front between Sailly-Laurette and Morlancourt; Americans gain at Château-Thierry and cross the Marne.

June 12—French make further advances between Belloy and St. Maur, on the left of the Montdidier-Noyon line; Germans gain a foothold on the southern bank of the Matz River, occupying Melicocq and adjoining heights, and advance east of the Oise and on the Aisne flank; French win further ground east of Veuilly, and occupy Montcourt and the southern part of Bussiares.

June 13—French make successful counterattack against the German centre on the Matz, retaking Melicocq and Croix Ricard, and throwing the enemy back across the river; Germans gain a footing in the eastern end of the line in Laversine, Coeuvres, and St. Pierre-Aigle; Americans repel attempt to retake Bouresches.

June 14—German offensive west of the Oise ends; artillery fighting south of the Aisne and in the area between Villers-Cotterets and Château-Thierry.

June 15—British and Scottish troops in the Lys salient capture German forward positions on a front of two miles north of Béthune; French improve their position at Villers-Cotterets Forest; French recapture Coeuvres-et-Valsery, south of the Aisne; Americans repulse night raid south of Thiaucourt; announcement made that Americans are holding sectors in Alsace.

June 16—Americans drive Germans off with gas attacks northwest of Château-Thierry; French repulse Germans on the Matz River.

June 17—French improve their positions between the Oise and the Aisne, near Hautebraye; Germans drench American lines near Belleau with gas.

June 18—French improve their positions in local operations in the Aisne region.

ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

June 11—Italians repulse attacks at Monte Carno and Cortellazzo and east of Capo Sile.

June 14—Austro-Hungarian forces launch attack against the Italian lines on Cady Summit and the Monticello Ridge, but are beaten back.

June 15—Austrians begin great offensive on a 97-mile front from the Asiago Plateau to the sea.

June 16—Austrians cross the Piave River in the vicinity of Nervesa and in the Fagara-Musile area; Italians give way at the Sette Comuni Plateau and in the regions of Monte Asolone and Monte Grappa, but later re-establish their lines.

June 17—British and Italians check Austrians in the regions of Asiago and Monte Grappa; Austrians extend their gains west of the Piave River opposite San Dona di Piave and capture Capo Sile.

June 18—Austrians repulsed on the eastern edge of the Asiago Plateau and fail in attempt to cross the Piave between Meserada and Cardelu, a mountain position across Piave on their eastern flank, but suffer enormous losses.

BALKAN CAMPAIGN

May 31—Greek troops, supported by French artillery, capture strong enemy positions of Srka di Legen, on the Struma front.

June 2—Greeks enlarge their gains west of Srka di Legen.

June 11—Serbs repulse attacks in the region of Dobropolje.

CAMPAIGN IN EAST AFRICA

May 19—Nanungu occupied by the British.

May 24—Announcement made that direct communication had been established between the advanced troops of Brigadier Edward's column, advancing westward from Port Amelia, and Major Gen. North's troops, advancing eastward from Lake Nyassa.

CAMPAIGN IN ASIA MINOR

May 22—British advance north of Tekrit on the Tigris to Fatha.

May 29—Turks on the Irak front occupy Kirkuk.

June 14—Turks occupy Tabriz in Persia.

AERIAL RECORD

The London area was raided on May 19. Forty-four persons were killed and 179 wounded. Five German airplanes were brought down by the British.

On May 22 the Germans made an ineffectual attempt to raid Paris. Three persons were killed and several were injured in the outskirts of the city, and one German machine was brought down. In another raid, on May 23, one German machine succeeded in reaching the city. One woman was killed and twelve persons injured. The city was raided again on [Pg 52]June 1 and June 2, and several persons were wounded.

Cologne was raided by allied airplanes on May 18. Fourteen persons were killed and forty injured. On the nights of May 21 and May 22 British aviators bombed railway stations in German Lorraine, a chloride factory in Mannheim, and the railway near Liége. In an allied air raid over Liége, on May 26, the railway station was destroyed and twenty-six persons were killed. Karlsruhe was bombed by the British on June 1, and tons of explosives were dropped on Metz, Seblon, and other towns. Twenty-seven German machines were downed. Metz and Seblon were again attacked on June 6. During the period from May 30 to June 12 the British carried out many raids against Bruges, Zeebrugge, and Ostend. On June 13 British aerial squadrons made raids into Germany, bombarding the railway station at Treves, in Rhenish Prussia, and factories at Dillingen, Bavaria.

A British official statement issued May 21 announced that 1,000 German planes had been downed in two months.

On the night of May 19 four squadrons of German airplanes raided British hospitals behind the battlelines in France. Hundreds of persons were killed or wounded. Hospitals containing French and American wounded were again raided on the nights of May 29 and May 31. One nurse was killed, several persons were injured, and a number of civilians died of their wounds.

Two hundred and fifty-two German airplanes were brought down by allied aviators on the western front in the week ended May 23. In the first two days of June the French downed fifty-seven German machines and dropped 130 tons of explosives in the battle area. British airmen destroyed or damaged 518 German airplanes and seven observation balloons in the month of May.

Major Raoul Lufbery, the foremost American air fighter, was killed May 19 in a combat with a German armored biplane back of the American sector north of Toul. The plane which brought him down was later downed by a Frenchman.

On May 25 announcement was made that the first airplanes to be furnished to the American Army from the United States had arrived in France and were in use in a training camp.

The first American bombing squadron to operate behind the front raided the Baroncourt railway on June 14, at a point northwest of Briey and returned safely in spite of German attacks. A second excursion was made later in the day, when the railway station and adjoining buildings at Conflans were bombed.

NAVAL RECORD

An official announcement was made on May 23 that the British Government had on May 15 established a new mine field between the Norwegian and Scotch coasts.

One Austrian dreadnought, the Szent Istvan, was sunk by two Italian torpedo boats off the Dalmatian coast June 10, and a second was badly damaged.

RUSSIA

On May 23 General Semenoff established an autonomous Government in the Trans-Baikal region, after a report of a quarrel with Admiral Kolchak. The Bolshevist Foreign Minister, Tchitcherin, sent a protest to China on May 26 charging the Chinese Government with officially protecting General Semenoff in his activities against the Soviet power.

The Germans continued their advance into Ukraine, and on May 25 broke the armistice on the Voronezh front, in spite of the truce between Russia and the Ukraine, and occupied Valuiki after four days' fighting. Atrocious methods were used in reprisal for disorders among the peasants. On May 31 several villages near Kiev were drenched with gas.

The Bolshevist Foreign Minister, Tchitcherin, protested to France on May 29 against the further retention of Russian troops on the French front.

The Chinese Government informed Tchitcherin on May 29 that it was unable to admit Russian Soviet councils in China because the Soviet Government had not been recognized by China.

On May 29 announcement was made that a new Cossack Government had been set up in the Don country with General Krasnoff at the head. His first proclamation announced that the Austro-Germans had entered the territory to aid in the fight against the Red Guard and for the establishment of order.

The Bolshevist Government offered to surrender the Russian Black Sea fleet to Germany on condition that the warships be restored to Russia after peace had been declared and that the Germans refrain from using the vessels, June 6.

Several moves were made looking toward intervention by the Allies to save Russia from complete domination by Germany. A military agreement between China and Japan relating to the expedition into Siberia was signed on June 2. On June 10 Senator William H. King introduced a resolution in the United States Senate proposing that a civilian commission be sent to Russia, backed by an allied military force, for the purpose of overcoming German propaganda and to aid in giving freedom to the country. The Russian Ambassador at Washington, Boris Bakhmeteff, presented to the State Department[Pg 53] on June 11 a resolution adopted by the Central Committee of the Cadet Party of Russia urging allied intervention.

June 18—Further advances into Russia by the Germans in contravention of Brest treaty.

FINLAND

General Mannerheim, Commander in Chief of the Finnish White Guards, resigned on May 23 because of the plan of the Finnish Conservatives to invade the Russian Province of Karelia.

The Cabinet resigned on May 25 as a result of the appointment of former Premier Zvinhufvud as temporary dictator. M. Paasikivi, a member of the old Finnish party and a former Senator, was asked by the dictator to form a Cabinet.

On June 2 Russia agreed with Germany that she would accept proposals for the regularization of her relations with Finland.

A Swedish Socialist paper, according to a dispatch printed in The London Times of June 3, published a statement that a secret treaty existed between Finland and Germany whereby the Finnish Government undertook to establish a monarchy under a German dynasty, to place the Finnish Army under German leadership, to allow Finland to be used as a passageway to the arctic and the Aland Islands as a naval base. Later reports announced that Prince Oscar, the fifth son of the German Emperor, would probably be the ruler.

On June 12, the Government proposal for the establishment of a monarchy with a hereditary ruler was presented to the Landtag.

Kronstadt was seized by the Germans May 30, and on the same day announcement was made that General von der Goltz had been placed in supreme command of the Finnish Army as well as of the German forces in Finland.

Announcement was made on June 10 that Germany and Russia had reached an agreement concerning the boundaries of Finland, providing that Finland cede to Russia the fortresses of Ino and Raivola under guarantees that they were not to be fortified. Russia ceded to Finland the western part of the Murman Peninsula with an outlet to the Arctic Ocean.

In response to communications from the French and British Legations at Stockholm, the Finnish Government announced that it had no designs on the Mourmansk railway, but would not undertake not to reunite Carelia with Finland, and on June 17 it was announced that Finland would annex Carelia.

RUMANIA

Lord Robert Cecil announced in the British House of Commons on May 28 that diplomatic representatives of the Allies at Jassy had notified Rumania that their Governments considered the Rumanian peace treaty with the Central Powers null and void.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

An official French dispatch received in Washington May 22 announced that a decree had been issued in Vienna dividing Bohemia into twelve district governments, with advantages to the Germans which would reduce the Czech powers in the Reichsrat at Vienna as well as in Bohemia itself. Martial law was proclaimed in some parts of Bohemia.

The aspirations of the Congress of Oppressed Races of Austria-Hungary, which was held in Rome in April, were indorsed by Secretary Lansing in a statement issued May 29.

Disorders throughout Bohemia and the Slavic regions of Austria-Hungary by the Poles, Slovenes, Czechs, and Slavs. Serious political unrest throughout the Dual Empire. Prime Minister of Austria, Dr. Seidler, resigns.

Austria and Germany fail to block an agreement regarding disposition of Poland.

MISCELLANEOUS

The Manchester Guardian announced on May 18 that the war treaty between England, France, Italy, and Russia, which embodied Italy's terms of entering the war, and which was published by the Bolshevist Government in Russia on Jan. 26, had been abrogated, and that its place had been taken by a new treaty.

The Radoslavoff Ministry in Bulgaria resigned June 16.

China and Japan reached an agreement on military affairs, including the expedition into Siberia, and on other matters on May 20, and the formal compact was signed June 2. A naval convention had been signed May 23.

The Belgian Foreign Minister, Charles de Broqueville, resigned on June 3. He was succeeded by M. Cooreman, former President of the House of Representatives.

A memorandum presented to the American State Department and made public on June 14 showed that Belgians were still being deported and were compelled to work behind the German lines.

On June 12 the lower house of the Prussian Diet adopted the fourth reading of the suffrage bill, including provision for the proportional representation of the mixed language districts of the eastern provinces, and also passed bills settling the composition of the upper house and providing for a revision of the Constitution.

Peru seized interned German ships of 50,000 tonnage at Callao, June 15.

Costa Rica declared war against Germany May 23.

[Pg 54]

A Battle Seen From Above

By a Correspondent at the Front

[By arrangement with The London Chronicle]

The night mists came creeping up like a smoke screen, and the battalion that marched up toward the edge of the battlefield along the road that skirted the far end of the aerodrome was a regiment of shadow forms. A band of drums and fifes was playing them out with a merry little tune, so whimsical and yet so sad also in the heart of it.

It had been decided that an important railway junction behind the German lines was to be bombed. All day long had been the continuous roar of death, and now, when night had fallen, all the sky seemed on fire with it. Voluminous clouds, all bright with a glory of infernal fire, rolled up to the sky, the most frightful and tragic thing it has ever been given to men to behold, with an infernal splendor beyond words to tell.

With a tense, restless emotion the order to set off out over the enemy lines was awaited. In the ground-fog the machine, with a load of bombs tucked away under the wings, looked a mysterious, weird thing, and shadowy forms flitted hither and thither across the aerodrome. The tramp of marching men could be heard, and the tap of drums to the rhythm of their feet, and those transport columns which shake the Flemish cottages of the little hamlets as they pass along.

At last the order was given, and up into the chill air the machine rose. Circling round a couple of times, the nose of the airplane was set in the direction of the objective, away behind the inferno of the hell-fires of No Man's Land.

Only the mighty voice of the engine could be heard, and headlights were switched off just before crossing the line. There was still a dank, heavy mist hanging over the ground, and visibility was not so good as might have been desired.

But down below one of those terrible bombardments, a beautiful and devilish thing, was in full blast. All the sky seemed on fire with it, and thousands of gun flashes were winking and blinking from hidden places and hollows. Shells rushed through the air as though flocks of colossal birds were in flight. Amid all the noise and din of those fires of hate and hell it was certain the monotonous drone of the engine would not be heard.

Then, when the Hun lines had been crossed without trouble from "Archies," glancing back, star-shells could be seen bursting and pouring down golden rain. And as far as the eye could see, northward and southward, stretched seemingly unbroken lines of Verey lights. The enemy was also sending up his flares, as he often does, to reveal any masses of men who may be moving between his shell craters and ours.

Quickly the "eggs" were dropped on the objective, and two terrific bursts of flame indicated the explosions. Evading the beams of a searchlight that sought to pick up the machine, home and the friendly darkness were sought.

The German lines were recrossed, and, glancing below, it was seen that S O S light signals, with their little cries of color to the German gunners behind, were being sent up into the skies. It was some time ago that such lights were first seen up in the sky, and they had never ceased their winking for a single night, though now they appeared blurred in the white breath which had arisen from the wet earth.

And to pass over all this is to conceive a great admiration for these gunners, who, amid all the tumult, deafening and nerve splitting, of our batteries, work with an endurance and courage to the limit of human nature. G. B.

[Pg 55]

American Soldiers in Action

Achievements of General Pershing's Troops in the Terrific Battles in Champagne and Picardy

[Month Ended June 18, 1918]

With over 800,000 American troops in France, as the Secretary of War announced on June 15, 1918, the United States in the last month has assumed a far greater portion of the Allies' burden and has begun to take its full share in the large-scale fighting on the western front. Within a year since the first American troops landed in France, a period primarily one of preparation, the United States Army has developed into an important military factor. Evidence of this was seen in June in several engagements in which the Americans distinguished themselves by their gallantry, resourcefulness, and efficient methods. Prominent in the month's record were the American offensive at Cantigny, and later, on a much larger scale, the operations at Château-Thierry and in the Marne region near that town.

General Pershing directed the offensive which resulted in the capture of the strongly fortified village of Cantigny, northwest of Montdidier, thereby creating a small salient. The attack, which was delivered on May 28, was on a front of one and one-quarter miles. The Americans, supported by French heavy guns in addition to their own artillery and French tanks, swept forward with remarkable speed and precision, occupied the village, captured 200 prisoners, and inflicted severe losses in killed and wounded on the enemy. Then, with equal rapidity, they consolidated their newly won positions and were thus able to repulse some very fierce counterattacks during the following days. The American casualties were relatively small. The troops that captured Cantigny were sent to that sector a month previously, after Pershing's offer to place all his men and resources at the disposal of the Allies. During the four weeks preceding the offensive the Americans had held their positions under comparatively heavy shelling.

Both before and after the Cantigny engagement, the Americans in all the sectors where they held positions were occupied in ceaseless fighting of minor importance. There were many artillery duels, with plentiful use of gas on both sides, many raids, and considerable aerial activity. The Americans began to feel the effect of increased aircraft production, and in several sectors where the Germans had previously had the advantage the situation was now reversed and American aviators had the upper hand.

AT CHATEAU-THIERRY

Château-Thierry, a town on the Marne, was the next place where the Americans distinguished themselves. On May 31, when the capture of the town by the Germans was imminent, American machine gunners began to arrive on the river banks. Joining a battalion of French colonial troops, they entered the town, and by their well-organized defense positions and accurate fire, caused the advancing Germans to hesitate and halt. The Americans not only repulsed the Germans at every point at which they were engaged, but took prisoners without having any prisoners in turn taken by the Germans. The Americans in this sector were units drawn from the Marine Corps.

The successful resistance against the Germans at Château-Thierry was followed by the marines beating off two determined German attacks on the Marne. The Germans concentrated large forces before Veuilly Wood, and began a mass attack. They were mowed downc by the[Pg 56] American machine gunners, and the attack was broken up before reaching the American line. The Germans fled in confusion and with heavy losses.

It was now the Americans' turn to attack. The marines, pushing forward on the morning of June 6, penetrated to a depth of over two miles on a front of two and a half miles, and occupied all the important high ground northwest of Château-Thierry. The French co-operated to the left of the Americans. The Germans were so hard pressed by the Americans that in three days it was necessary to bring up three new divisions of the best German troops.

The Americans continued to advance, pushing forward to a line which lay through Les Mares Farm, just north of the village of Lucy le Bocage, and on through the outskirts of the town of Triangle. This line included strong positions in Bussiares Wood, the crossroads south of Torcy, and the southern edge of Belleau Wood. During the night of June 6 the fighting raged with great fierceness for five hours. The Americans captured Bouresches and Torcy. Further fighting on June 7 extended the American line over a front of about six miles to a depth of nearly two and a half miles. While the losses of the Americans were necessarily heavy, the German dead were piled three deep in places.

The importance of the operations of the Americans on the Marne sector was evident from the fact that the day before they arrived on the front and began fighting, the Germans advanced about six miles. While the Americans advanced their line, the French completed the capture of Vilny, Veuilly-la-Poterie, and the heights southeast of Hautevesnes.

BELLEAU WOOD ENGAGEMENT

Following the capture of Bouresches came the fierce fighting for the possession of Belleau Wood to the north. This wooded hill was a stronghold of German infantry and machine gunners, and the only way to attack it was by advancing to the other side. The American infantry had the assistance of the artillery in clearing the wooded heights, and in the biggest artillery engagement in which the Americans had yet been engaged more than 5,000 high explosive and gas shells were thrown into the German machine gun nests in the woods. Meanwhile German attacks against Hill 204, west of Château-Thierry and commanding the town, were repulsed.

The United States marines attacked again on the morning of June 10 and penetrated the German lines for about two-thirds of a mile on a 600-yard front in Belleau Wood, with the result that the Germans were driven from all but the northern fringe of the wood. On June 11 the wood was captured and 300 prisoners were taken.

FIRST FIELD ARMY

The War Department received reports on May 21 which showed that the first of the field armies had been organized and was in service in France. The army, composed of two army corps, each made up of one regular army, one National Guard, and one National Army division, was placed under the temporary command of Major Gen. Hunter Liggett, the senior Major General then in foreign service. General Liggett was selected to command the first army corps organized in France, and this corps, with that temporarily commanded by Major Gen. Charles T. Menoher, made up the first field army, the total strength of which was almost 200,000 men. By June 14 the American forces in France had become so numerous that General Foch had informed General Pershing that it was desirable to maintain them as purely American units. This fact was communicated to the House Military Affairs Committee by the War Council at Washington. In accordance with this policy two full American divisions were engaged in the fighting in the Château-Thierry sector. The Secretary of War told the committee that General Foch was gradually decreasing the number of Americans brigaded with the French and British, and thereby increasing the American unit.

Official announcements made at Washington showed that approximately half a million soldiers had landed in France[Pg 57] since the German drive began on March 21, 1918, and that Americans held no more than fifty miles of the whole western front. One element of Pershing's mobile forces, by direction of General Foch, guarded the way at the apex of the whole German wedge near Montdidier. Cantigny, which was captured by these forces, was very close to the point of maximum penetration achieved by the enemy after nearly three months of desperate fighting.

The total casualties sustained by the American Expeditionary Forces from the beginning of American participation in the war up to June 17, 1918, is shown in the following figures issued by the War Department at Washington:

First American Offensive a Success

Capture of Cantigny by General Pershing's Troops Described in Vivid Detail

By THOMAS M. JOHNSON

Correspondent with the American Army

This stirring narrative of the first attack and capture of enemy territory by the American forces in France was written by a staff correspondent of The New York Evening Sun. It constitutes a memorable chapter in our military history, not because of the size of the town captured, but because the event marks the beginning of offensive operations in Europe by the United States Army. The brave men who took Cantigny—at the apex of the German salient aimed at Amiens—continued to hold it against all counterattacks through the succeeding weeks. Under date of May 29, 1918, Mr. Johnson cabled from the front:

The Americans have made their first real attack of the war, and it is a complete success. Advancing up a wooded slope behind French tanks and protected by a perfect and annihilating barrage from French and American guns, our infantry at 7 o'clock Tuesday morning, May 28, stormed and captured the village of Cantigny, northwest of Montdidier, and the German defenses to the north and south, making an advance of a mile on a two-mile front.

The Americans went over in open formation at 6:45 o'clock, advancing at an easy walk and maintaining intervals as if on parade. The sun had just risen, and through streaky clouds all about tongues of red flame were darting from the muzzles of hundreds of massed guns, big and small, while the air itself quivered with the shock of explosions, mingled with the deafening yet purring roar that is called drum fire.

Cantigny itself was turned into a veritable hell, a pillar of fire and smoke, and into it went the crawling, sinister tanks followed by the American infantry in thin lines or little groups. For a while they were swallowed up in the great white and brown and black cloud that enveloped the village, then back to the American line came the first message: "We're here! Everything O. K.!"

Thus these troops of the New World made their first real entry into the war. Thus they did what they could to help in offsetting the new German effort. Compared with the giant struggle going[Pg 58] on elsewhere it was just a little outburst, but we did our best with it and have succeeded.

AN UNFORGETTABLE SCENE

No one who had the privilege to be on the scene at the time of this first American attack will ever forget the sight. It was unforgettable. The whole thing is uneffaceable from the time in the pregnant darkness when the troops that had been chosen for this most honorable of tasks went quietly along the shell-pitted roads to the jumping-off place; from the time the grotesque monsters called tanks rumbled up the same roads to hide until dawn in lairs behind the front line, while other monsters with long snouts crouched upon their heavy carriages like coiled serpents and were given their last drop of oil and their last daub of grease to make sure that their devastating charges would fall true upon their mark; from the time the men were given their last orders and their last "good luck" and went off, they knew not to what, in the first early streak of rosy dawn when the cannonade began and the first airplanes whirred overhead toward the doomed village.

From then until that last throbbing hour when the tempest of shellfire drowned out everything, yes, up to that tense minute at 6:45 o'clock when we turned to one another and in an awestruck whisper said, "They're over," it is all unforgettable. One lives such moments but once.

This operation had been planned for weeks down to the minutest detail under the direction of the Superior French Command, and in the closest co-operation with the French, to whom must go a liberal measure of the credit for its success.

So far as its objects may be disclosed, they were the following: To reduce the enemy salient and capture its strong point and observation post. Cantigny was all those things. Jutting out from the German front, it gave the enemy an advantage in the field of fire, while, because of its strong cellars, which were linked up with an especially long tunnel under the château in the southern part of the village, which might be likened to its citadel, it was decidedly a strong post.

Perhaps most important of all, it gave the boche a local advantage comparable to that of a man looking down a well. It commanded a sort of valley running back into our lines and permitted the enemy observers to see many things that went on there and so direct his artillery fire upon our back areas. For all of those reasons Cantigny was a prize of value out of all proportion to its size.

ATTACK CAREFULLY REHEARSED

The attack was carefully planned and was rehearsed by our infantry with tanks. They had the further advantage of valuable data gained by our patrols in frequent night explorations of the village, whence the boche seems to have withdrawn his infantry during darkness.

To two American soldiers goes the credit for the fine and loyal thing they did which immeasurably contributed to the success of their comrades. These two soldiers were captured early yesterday morning in a trench raid, and last night the question on every one's mind was, "did they tell?" They knew what was coming and had rehearsed it. Subjected to Prussian grilling, would they tell? The answer came this morning. The Germans were caught completely by surprise just as they made relief. The prisoners taken by us included some incoming and some outgoing troops. They hadn't the slightest idea the attack was coming. They didn't tell, those boys of ours. All the more honor to them for it!

PLAN OF THE ATTACK

This is how the attack was executed: The troops selected to make it entered the trenches in two shifts, the first on Sunday night and the second on Monday night, May 27. Special trenches had been constructed to accommodate a larger number of men than usual. Two hours before zero—that is to say, at 4:45 o'clock this morning—the men withdrew to supporting trenches, whence they went to the front line at zero, or 6:45.

[Pg 59]

CANTIGNY, THE FIRST TOWN CAPTURED IN FRANCE BY AMERICAN TROOP

They were divided into three waves for the main attack, with separate detachments to whom had been allotted the task of mopping up the Cantigny cellars. On the right and centre the advance was made to the furthest objectives, while on the left, according to the plan, after mopping up the German trenches, our troops withdrew slightly to a better position, connecting with our old front line.

The troops went forward in extended order, preceded by the powerful tanks, all of which entered Cantigny and went some distance beyond. With the infantry went a detachment of flame throwers who were used against the cellars when the boche refused to come out when ordered to do so. They were also accompanied by a strong detachment of engineers, signal corps men, and carrier pigeons, but the wires have remained intact.

The artillery fire was tremendous. The German batteries at the rear were also drenched by gas. A rolling barrage behind which the infantry advanced was laid by the field guns. The infantry went forward first at the rate of fifty yards per minute and then at twenty-five yards per minute. The moving barrage of fire stalked ahead of our men into Cantigny, keeping the boche down until the infantry was upon him.

The timetable was adhered to perfectly. At 4:45 o'clock the artillery began a heavy concentrated fire, swelling to a drum fire at 6:45, "zero," continuing thence onward to 7:20, when the infantry reached their final objectives. At 7:30 the infantry outlined their position with flares so as to enable the airplanes to signal back. Thus it will be seen that Cantigny was taken in less than thirty-five minutes, for the final objectives were beyond the village.

ALL MODERN WEAPONS USED

There were some tough nuts to crack besides Cantigny itself, such as the trench system protecting it on the south, also part of the Fontaine Wood, and some separate houses at the crossroads at the southeastern outskirts of the town, but all were reduced with bombs, bayonets, or rifles, while the machine guns which went along with the infantry also aided.

Besides all this, a heavy smoke barrage was used, not only to screen our infantry from boche observers, but to blind the boche gunners. The tremendous effectiveness of the whole thing was[Pg 60] shown by the fact that for nearly a half hour after the infantry went over the top, the German artillery was practically silenced. This was due especially to the accurate counterbattery work of the French heavies.

So the Americans in their first attack had the aid of every engine of modern warfare—tanks, gas, flame throwers, smoke barrage, numbers of airplanes, machine guns and automatic rifles, while some especially heavy trench mortars also were concentrated and hurled great bombs into the German trenches from close range. Reports all agree that the German defenses were completely leveled, and the smashed up trenches look like a field plowed by a giant harrow. Our men walked into the trenches through great gaps torn in the barbed wire, but in many places there was no wire at all for great stretches. So much for the main outlines of the attack.

WATCHING THE BEGINNINGS

Waking up early in the morning on the blanket bed on the floor of the dugout and taking a first peek through the sandbagged entrance, it was plain that our best hopes were going to be realized and that it would be a clear day with good visibility. The sun had not yet appeared, but the clouds were few and the early light showed every feature of the country. Here and there were dark dots denoting the waiting batteries, while sausage balloons were already swinging overhead.

In the messroom the commanding General sat at breakfast, cleanly shaven and unworried, although he had been on the front line most of the night. This General, who was in immediate command, talked not about the attack, but about the censorship, tactfully choosing the favorite subject of every correspondent.

By this time the artillery had started, so we went out along the road toward the front, passing a line of ambulances parked under the trees. The further we went along the road the more frequent became the flashes of the explosions on either side, but thus far not a single boche shell had come in and the sounds overhead were all caused by the familiar rushing of our shells and none by the whistle of the boche shells.

Some distance up the road was a vantage spot whence we got a clear view of Cantigny, or the spot where it had been. It was a picture terrible in its grandeur. Cantigny might have been a volcano in eruption shooting up clouds that were first white, then brown, then black, while above the air was filled with spiral shaped black clouds of exploding shrapnel.

GUNNERS BEAT THEIR RECORD

That great smoke cloud was eternally writhing and twisting and taking on new forms as if anguished Cantigny were trying to escape its fate, but every instant more guns flashed. Beside the observation post the cloud grew larger. Finally the smoke streamed off to the right. Near by the American gunners were working, stripped to their undershirts, dripping with perspiration. We walked over there.

"This is the fastest firing we've ever done," said one breathless officer.

Further to the right was the house where the correspondent spent several days and nights a month ago. It is ruined now, but batteries are still there, and they, too, were spouting fire and smoke.

To the left new batteries had opened and the din was terrific. It was hard to resist the impulse to put one's fingers in one's ears. A glance at the watch showed that it lacked barely five minutes of the "zero" hour. Those five minutes passed more rapidly, and yet more slowly, than any I had ever experienced.

Ahead was a green slope dotted with trees, up which our infantry was to advance. It was bare and empty. It seemed incredible that in a few minutes our men would be there. The second hand crawled, yet raced, around the dial. It rested on the figure 10 and we looked at one another. "They're over," we whispered.

We looked up from our watches to find that the smoke clouds had drifted down the slope until the whole country for miles about Cantigny was obscured[Pg 61] by shifting, changing vapor from the great caldron toward which our unseen men were plunging. We almost groaned our disappointment, for in a moment there came a little rift in the smoke, revealing something moving on the ground.

Imagine looking at the teeth of a black comb through a wire screen and having some one pass the comb slowly before your eyes. That was what it looked like—those black teeth, our men, were screened by the shifting smoke. It was only the tiniest glimpse. Then the smoke drifted over and rose again, but we had seen them going forward and upward to Cantigny. After a time the smoke spread still further. Nothing remained to be seen.

ALL WENT AS REHEARSED

Walking back along the road, where now there were a few belated boche shells coming, the heavy artillery officer said: "From my observation post we could see them for a couple of minutes. They went just the way they rehearsed, just walked along slowly, keeping in fine alignment. We could see two of the three waves and not a single man out of place, following the barrage like veterans. We could even see an individual man sometimes."

Beside the road ambulances were waiting. From overhead an observer came sweeping down to drop a message near a white marker on the ground. He leaned out of his seat and waved his hand; then the machine soared up again. Evidently all was going well. Other planes were hovering over Cantigny.

As we entered headquarters all about the guns were crashing and flashing. Headquarters was an underground hive swarming with activity. Officers were hugging telephones or were bent over maps under electric lights. Some were in khaki and some were in light blue. The first of these latter was Lieut. Col. de Chambrun, a descendant of Lafayette. "It goes well," he said, and a moment later an American officer called from a telephone: "They can see the boche throwing down his arms in Cantigny." After that the messages came thick and fast:

"The first boche shell hit our front line at 7:06—the Colonel has twenty prisoners—the right flank is sending back about a hundred—balloon reports grenade fighting west of Cantigny where our men are mopping up the trenches—two of our stretcher bearers are returning with an empty stretcher—one tank returning from Cantigny—our men are seen walking around the street of Cantigny—flame throwers can be seen through the smoke clearing out the dug-outs—enemy fire beginning on Cantigny Wood at 7:30, three-quarters of an hour after zero."

After that come other reports of German batteries at last able to operate, though haltingly. Shortly afterward the officer reported, laconically, "There goes my observation post. Steve's gone to capture Cantigny single-handed. Couldn't keep him there."

The French and Americans were jubilant. There were mutual handshakings, then silence, and in came a grimy, sweaty, but happy soldier, the first of the men who'd been over the top into Cantigny. He saluted punctiliously: "Sir, I have brought back twenty prisoners."

PEN READY FOR PRISONERS

Sure enough, there they were outside, about to be herded into a detention pen that was already prepared for them. They were dull-looking men, still half stunned, in dirt-gray uniforms, looking like slugs or earthworms, sullen and angry at being captured by Americans. The officer said 120 had been counted up above already, and added: "Hope we get enough to even up for Seicheprey."

The soldier was triumphant. "I went with the first wave," he said. "We got to a sort of trench, and all of a sudden the boches jumped right up in front of us and started to throw grenades. We went at 'em with grenades, bayonets, rifles, pistols, whatever came handy. I spitted one big fellow on my bayonet, but the bayonet stuck. So I pulled out my trench knife and went for another, but he yelled 'Kamerad!' so I grabbed his gun and hit a third over the head with it. There were grenades busting all around, but I[Pg 62] could hear our fellows shouting 'Go to it, Yanks!' the same as they did all the way over No Man's Land.

"Pretty quick all the boches were yelling 'Kamerad!' and putting up their hands. The Captain told me to herd these together and get them down quick so they could be questioned. There's about a hundred more up in the woods cut off by the barrage."

A little later the wounded began coming back to the dressing stations which had been specially prepared. The wounded were all cheerful, saying, "We went right through 'em—nothing to it—go back and do it again tomorrow." Every man asked only two things: "How many boches did we get?" and "Have you got a cigarette?"

These are the real victors of Cantigny. When all's said and done, the staff may plan, guns may fire, tanks may crawl, but the common infantry soldier is the real hero of all.

Americans' Defense of Château-Thierry

United States troops, mostly inexperienced in actual warfare, on June 1 played a brilliant part in the defense of Château-Thierry. By their prompt and resolute support to the French they assisted in driving the Germans from the south bank of the Marne at that vital point, and were largely responsible for blocking the enemy's determined advance across the river toward Paris, thus preventing the development of a most serious situation for the Allies. The French official report of the incident was as follows:

American troops checked German advanced forces which were seeking to penetrate Neuilly Wood, and by a magnificent counterattack hurled back the Germans north this wood.

Further south the Germans were not able to make any gains. On the Marne front an enemy battalion which had crept across to the left bank of the river above Jaulgonne was counterattacked by French and American troops and hurled back to the other bank, after having suffered heavy losses. A footbridge which the enemy used was destroyed and 100 prisoners remained in our hands.

A BRITISH ACCOUNT

The Reuter correspondent under date of June 5 described the feat of the Americans at Château-Thierry in these words:

On May 31, when the Germans were already in the outskirts of Château-Thierry, an American machine-gun unit was hurried thither in motor lorries. Château-Thierry lies on both banks of the Marne, which is spanned by a big bridge. A little to the northward a canal runs parallel to the river and is crossed by a smaller bridge.

The Americans had scarcely reached their quarters when news was received that the Germans had broken into the northern part of Château-Thierry, having made their way through the gap they had driven in our lines to the left of the town and then pouring along the streets to the bridge, intending to establish themselves firmly on the south bank and capture the town.

The American machine gunners and French colonials were thrown into Château-Thierry together. The Americans immediately took over the defense of the river bank, especially the approaches to the bridge. Fighting with their habitual courage and using their guns with an accuracy which won the highest encomiums from the French, they brought the enemy to a standstill.

Already wavering under the American fire, the Germans were counterattacked by the French colonials and driven from the town. They returned to the attack the next night and under cover of darkness crept into the town along the river bank and began to work their way through the streets toward the main bridge. At the same moment a tremendous artillery bombardment was opened upon the southern half of the town.

BLOWING UP THE BRIDGE

When within range of the machine guns the Germans advanced under the cover of clouds of thick white smoke from smoke bombs, in order to baffle the aim of the American gunners. A surprise, however, was in store for them. They were already crossing the bridge, evidently believing themselves masters of both banks, when a thunderous explosion blew the centre of the bridge and a number of Germans with it into the river. Those who reached the southern bank were immediately captured.

In this battle in the streets, and again at night, the young American soldiers[Pg 63] showed a courage and determination which aroused the admiration of their French colonial comrades. With their machine guns they covered the withdrawal of troops across the bridge before its destruction, and although under severe fire themselves, kept all the approaches to the bank under a rain of bullets which nullified all the subsequent efforts of the enemy to cross the river. Every attempt of the Germans to elude the vigilance of the Americans resulted in disaster.

During the last two days the enemy has renounced the occupation of the northern part of Château-Thierry, which the American machine guns have made untenable. It now belongs to No Man's Land, as, since the destruction of the bridges, it is not worth while for the French to garrison it.

Against their casualties the Americans can set a much greater loss inflicted by their bullets on the enemy. They have borne their full part in what a French staff officer well qualified to judge described as one of the finest feats of the war.

THE QUICK ADVANCE

The story of the quick advance of the American marines was related in detail by Wilbur Forrest in The New York Tribune as follows:

It is a narrative that stands for more, perhaps, than most of those written in American history books. It is literally another story of American minute men who abandoned the figurative plowshares of peaceful training camps and rushed to the scene of action. They met the enemy with weapons they knew how to handle.

On May 30 the enemy reached the Marne east of Château-Thierry and began a forceful advance along the north bank toward the city. The same day American machine gunners received orders 100 kilometers to the rear to jump into auto trucks and hurry into action.

They started almost immediately, and an all-night journey found the battalion at 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 31st on a hill overlooking Château-Thierry. All around them French batteries were firing full tilt. The enemy was advancing on the city.

Right here those American machine gunners got their first glimpse of real war. German shells crashed into villages within plain view and the little city below them was not being spared. The officers chose a small nearby village as headquarters and the marines waited for darkness before loading little black machine guns on their shoulders and marching into Château-Thierry.

GERMAN SHELLS RAKE CITY

German high explosives and shrapnel were raking the city, but the young Americans under fire for the first time coolly placed their guns in position on the south bank of the river. They saw heavy shells strike the railroad station and they saw it burn. They saw houses fall like packs of cards, and I have the word of a Frenchman, who was present, that they were "cool like American cucumbers."

During the night the Germans gradually filtered into the outskirts on the north side of the town. Roughly speaking, the American guns were so placed between the houses and in the gardens as to enfilade the approaches to the bridges and the streets on the opposite sides. All remained on the south bank of the river with the exception of a Lieutenant, (John T. Bissell,) a youthful Pittsburgher, who was one of West Point's latest graduates.

The Lieutenant with a dozen men and two guns was ordered to cross the river to prevent the enemy's advance along forked roads which merge to the right of the northern approach to the iron bridge. For convenience sake it is permissible to say that A Company was charged with holding the left part of the town on the south bank and the approaches to the larger bridges, while B Company's guns swept the opposite approaches to the iron bridge, and, therefore, held the right portion of the town.

Several hundred yards separated the two companies. The enemy's shelling was intensified during the night, but no Germans were yet in sight. The machine guns were quiet, although A Company's commander, O. F. Houghton of Portland, Me., was forced to abandon the headquarters he had chosen in a house on the bank of the river and change the position of some guns because of the enemy's precise fire.

It was a waiting game for Company A's guns. In the meantime Company B, at about 5 A. M., in broad daylight, saw two columns of the enemy of twelve men each, advancing across an open field toward the river to the right of their position. The Germans carried light machine guns and were blissfully ignorant that our men were here. One American gun swung its shy little nose around toward the Germans and waited. Behind it was an unpoetic youth named Must of Columbia, S. C., a Sergeant, who waited until he saw the whites of their eyes, and then let them have it, as he explained today.

AT CLOSE RANGE

"I got eight out of the bunch by a little surprise shooting," said the Sergeant with a considerable show of pride. "They flopped nicely. Then I turned on the[Pg 64] other squad, but they were leary and I only got one. The rest of them got into the ditch and crawled back without showing themselves. Later in the day their Red Cross men came out to pick up the wounded. We've got orders not to fire on members of the Red Cross, so I let 'em work unmolested. But I kept tally all day when their Red Cross men came out. By my count they carried off nine and they weren't all wounded, either."

The Germans during the day of June 1 gained the hills overlooking the north bank of the river. Their machine guns and their artillery observers, therefore, were able to direct a galling fire on the south bank and portions of the north bank which still were held by French colonials and two machine guns under an American Lieutenant.

DEADLY MACHINE GUNS

The enemy's position thus made the north bank untenable and orders were given to retire to the south bank under cover of the darkness. At 9:30 P. M. the French, in accordance with these plans, retired to the south bank and blew up a stone bridge. The American machine gun companies during the retirement poured a galling fire from the flanks into the areas evacuated by the retiring troops.

The enemy was now shelling the south bank more heavily and the enemy machine-gun fire was multiplied. The commander of Company A was forced to change the position of his guns in order to secure a better field of fire. With the light Hotchkiss pieces on their shoulders he led his men into a wood further down the river. Here they were spotted by enemy observers and thirty high explosive shells crashed into the wood. The shelling ceased and the guns went into their positions.

The French were still retiring at 10:30 P. M. It was pitch dark, except for shell bursts and the streaky flame stabs from the machine guns on both sides—the Americans were in the wood and along the south bank of the river, the Germans on the crest of the hill on the other side.

Suddenly there was an immense detonation. It was the big bridge blowing up. Then there came out of the darkness across the river, as the firing lulled, the ghostly chant of the advancing enemy. It was one of those German mass attacks, where men, shoulder to shoulder, singing inguttural tones the praise of Germany and the Kaiser, blindly walk into death like fanatics.

The sort of creaky, shuffling sound their boots made as they trotted into the open road came across the river like the wailing of lost souls, converged toward the bridge and was heard by these young Americans, who strained their eyes across the river to get what machine-gun men call "the target." But it was in pitch darkness, and there was only the sound to tell them there were plenty of "targets." Every little black devil of a machine gun tore loose with hellfire. The Americans behind them, who saw their first glimpse of war about thirty hours before, fed in bullets as fast as human hands could work. And the bullets caught their "targets" on the opposite side.

The "target" came on again and again, but nothing could live in that leaden hail. The enemy waves melted in the darkness.

Now come the even more thrilling experiences of the little band of Americans under Lieutenant Bissell who had been cut off and surrounded by the enemy across the river. Even experienced soldiers could not be blamed if they had surrendered there.

At the beginning of the German mass attack a few French colonial soldiers, also cut off by the blown-up bridge, made the Lieutenant understand that then it was every man for himself. The north bank was becoming a seething mass of Germans. All other forces had retired across the river. Bullets were registering on every foot of the space approaching the bridges.

The Germans chant to keep up the courage of the advancing masses. They sometimes yell to disconcert their enemies. With this ghostly chanting drawing nearer to the Lieutenant and his men and the weird yells of the Germans occasionally splitting the night, there was no thought of surrender. Their orders were to retreat by the main bridge, and orders were orders.

SERIOUS PREDICAMENT

Picking up both guns, each man carrying his allotted piece in manoeuvres, the party of thirteen started along the river for the main bridge. Reaching the vicinity of the approach, they discovered their plight. The enemy was almost upon them. Still carrying their guns, they jumped down, taking cover under the stone parapets at the river's edge. Thus they worked their way down to the iron bridge, though the Germans on the very parapet above were marching into a hail of American machine guns from the south bank.

B Company did not know that a detachment had not escaped. The German attack remained at its height, and the enemy, despite its losses, kept sweeping toward the iron bridge. Bissell and his men attempted to cross under their own fire. Three were immediately wounded. They retired, picking up their wounded.

The Lieutenant knew that B Company's guns were across the bridge, and he approached as near as he dared and yelled[Pg 65] repeatedly. B Company's officers finished the story, which was narrated and corroborated by the Lieutenant and others at the rest camp today.

The first B Company knew that Americans were opposite was when they heard a voice calling "Cobey! Cobey!" Cobey was the other Lieutenant.

This time the German attack melted. B Company's guns ceased fire long enough for Cobey to cross the bridge and lead the Lieutenant and the men to safety. Throughout the remainder of the night the enemy vented his rage by heavy shelling. The next day, June 2, the heavy shelling continued. The enemy had picked up his dead and wounded across the river under cover of darkness and could be seen occasionally flitting from house to house.

Sniping was continuous between the French and Germans. Machine guns were silent during the day in order not to give away their positions. Nightfall was so quiet that the Americans were not able to understand such warfare. They thought all war was noisy.

However, at 9 o'clock at night the enemy made a fierce rush for the iron bridge. Fifteen minutes of heavy machine-gun firing squelched the attack and the shelling was resumed. The heavy bombardment continued.

"GOT" WHOLE PLATOON

On June 3 the Sergeant in charge of one of our platoons at the iron bridge saw a German platoon of about fifty men forming on top of a hill. They made a beautiful target, according to the Sergeant's story today. He and his companions believe he got them all.

The enemy brought more artillery up by night and began a terrific shelling to culminate in what appeared to be an attempted attack. The French artillery sprinkled the opposite bank of the river with a barrage which the "novice" American fighters called beautiful. They thought it was less than a hundred yards away, and stood up to watch it, and there wasn't any attack.

The French engineers on this night laid a charge under the iron bridge while the American guns laid down a leaden protective barrage. When the charge was detonated the Germans rushed forward from the house to ascertain the cause of the explosion. It was here that a prearranged petrol flare lit up the vicinity like day, and again American machine gunners had what they insist on calling "targets."

"I was impressed by many things," a company's Captain said. "First of all, the coolness of every man, and especially of a young Georgia theological student who had been drafted, who on the third day complained because the boche shells kept mussing up his gun position. Second, the attitude of those wonderful French colonial troops with us. They gave us inspiration. They said we gave them inspiration; so it was a fifty-fifty exchange. Third, that beautiful French barrage and our wonderful 'targets.'"

Capture of Belleau Wood

Brilliant Exploit of American Troops Northwest of Château-Thierry

The American troops achieved their most important exploit on June 6, 7, and 8 in the region northwest of Château-Thierry. Here they drove back the Germans for nearly two miles along a front of several miles, took from them the important Belleau Wood, captured over 1,000 prisoners, successfully resisted and seriously demoralized two crack divisions of Prussians which had been picked especially to punish them, and effectively blocked a desperate attempt of the Germans to break through the line, an attempt which, if successful, would have given them an open road toward Paris and created a situation of extreme peril to the Allies. Edwin L. James, a correspondent of The New York Times, described this achievement as follows:

[Copyrighted]

There was considerable wonderment among French and American officers last week when it was discovered that the crack 5th Guard and 28th German Divisions were in front of us. It was generally believed then that the Germans planned no immediate attempt to advance northwest of Château-Thierry, and there was much speculation as to why Hindenburg had sent these troops there. This is now explained by a captured German officer's statement, and is substantiated by documents found on him. He said these two divisions already were on their way to the rear for a four weeks' rest, to take part in another offensive, when suddenly they were ordered to go at once to the front northwest of Château-Thierry, "in order to prevent at all costs the Americans being able to achieve success."

[Pg 66]

TERRITORY BETWEEN THE TWO DARK LINES WAS WON BACK IN HEAVY FIGHTING BY AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND MARINES

This showed the anxiety of the German High Command regarding the effect that an American success would have on the German Army and the populace, and of the great desirability of preventing such a happening.

UNDERESTIMATED OUR EFFORT

When I visited the headquarters of this French army today [June 14] a sheet of paper was handed to me on which was written a report of information gained from the examination of a large number of prisoners from the 28th German Division. The report said:

American assistance, which was underestimated in Germany because they doubted its value and its opportunity worries the German High Command more than it will admit. The officers themselves recognize that, among other causes, it is the principal reason for which Germany hastens to try to end the war and impose peace. They believe that if we succeed in holding on for the rest of this year the German cause will be lost. But they say that until the end of the year they will allow us no respite in their effort to break our morale and our will to conquer. They hope that fear of devastations and the terror caused in Paris, as well as continuing attacks of the German Army, determined to end the war, will get the best of our resistance before American aid will become truly effective.

All agree that the war is reaching the supreme crisis at this moment. They all declare that the offensives will be renewed and prolonged in view of this decision until the German forces are exhausted.

In addition, the prisoners did not conceal their great surprise at the training and quickness that the Americans have shown against them, nor at the good work accomplished by the artillery, which for three days engaged them, cutting off all food supplies and all reinforcements and causing them very heavy losses—practically all of the officers and twenty-five of the men were killed or wounded in a single infantry company and twelve in a machine-gun section, of which the full quota was seventeen men.

Especially important is this report coming from the French Army, not because the Americans would emphasize such statements by prisoners, but because of the probability that the Germans[Pg 67] might be rather praiseworthy of Americans when questioned by our officers with a view to getting better treatment as prisoners of war. There is no question that this document speaks the truth.

A letter written by a German officer and found on his body said:

"The Americans are so courageous that they do not allow themselves to be made prisoners." Another letter written by a German private called the Americans "devilhounds."

GERMANY FEARS AMERICA

Germany fears America, and that fear is growing. At first the High Command told their officers and the officers told the soldiers that the Americans could not get to France because the U-boats would stop them. Then the German fighters began to find Americans appearing against them here and there, and finally at many points. Then the officers told the German soldiers the Americans would not fight. Now the German soldiers know the Americans can and will fight; and more and more of them are learning it every day. There is no lack of evidence that the German populace fears America's power in the war, and no question that the German High Command is seriously perturbed at the results when the real news of the Americans' fighting gets back to the people.

In no spirit of boastfulness it may be said that American fighters, with a proper amount of training, are the best fighters in France today. The soldiers of other armies of necessity are tired after nearly four years of fighting, but the Americans are fresh, fresh in spirit and physique. Other soldiers hope that Germany will be beaten; the American soldiers know that Germany will be beaten. And Germany knows that Germany will be beaten unless she wins in the next four months. That is her only chance, and she will play it for what it is worth. Everything is to be thrown into that effort. There will be ruthlessness, there will be frightfulness.

The four days' victorious fight for possession of the important Bois de Belleau, northwest of Château-Thierry, resulted in the capture, besides the prisoners mentioned, of two German field guns, 77s, and thirty machine guns, besides some small mortars. This was the first capture of German artillery by Americans. I believe that when the history of the war is written the Americans' capture of the Bois de Belleau will be ranked among the neatest pieces of military work of the conflict.

Five days ago, [June 9,] after the capture of the town of Bouresches, the Americans started the task of taking away the Bois de Belleau from the Germans. In the rush at Bouresches they had been unable to secure the rocky strongholds in the woods, and passed on, leaving many nests of machine guns there, which afterward kept up a harassing fire. The Americans several times made big raids into the woods, clearing out part of the Germans, but the next day the Germans would reappear with a harassing fire. Despite strong artillery work, the Germans seemed able to stay there.

On Sunday, the 9th, a rain of extra heavy artillery fire began on the woods. This kept up all Sunday night and Monday. On Monday night the fire was redoubled and the woods literally raked with lines of shellfire.

At about 3 o'clock Monday morning the marines started, as soon as the artillery fire was stopped, to go through those woods. At the nearer edge of the woods, devastated by our shellfire, they encountered little opposition. A little further on the Germans made a small stand, but were completely routed; that is, those who were not killed. By this time the marines were fairly started on their way. They swept forward, clearing out machine gun nests with rifle fire, bayonets, and hand grenades.

WORK OF MARINES

The Germans started in headlong flight when the Americans seized two machine guns and turned them on the Germans with terrific effect. The Germans soon tired of this, and those nearest the Americans began surrendering. In the meantime the marines kept up the chase.

[Pg 68]

MAJOR GENERAL HARBORD, IN COMMAND OF AMERICAN MARINES

While this was going on the Americans almost surrounded the woods, and the Germans, fleeing from some of the Americans, ran into the machine gun and rifle fire of the others. Then those left rushed headlong the other way to surrender. In a short time the gallant marines had got to the other side of the woods, and immediately, with the aid of the engineers, started the construction of a strong position.

Prisoners counted that day numbered more than 300. It was found that they belonged to the crack 5th German Guard Division, which includes the Queen Elizabeth Regiment. There had been 1,200 Germans in the woods. With the exception of the prisoners nearly all the rest were slain.

The prisoners said they were glad of the chance to surrender and get out of the woods, because the American artillery fire for three days had cut off their food and other supplies and they had lived in a hell on earth. The Germans seemed deeply impressed by the fury of the American attack. One of the captured officers, when asked what he thought of the Americans as fighters, answered that the artillery was crazy and the infantry drunk. A little German private, taking up his master's thought, pointed to three tousled but smiling marines, and said: "Vin rouge, vin blanc, beaucoup vin." He meant he thought the Americans must be intoxicated, to fight as they did for that wood.

Our boys took especial delight in corralling the machine guns. These guns had been very well placed behind trees and in rocky caves and well supplied with ammunition. The Americans had practiced on a German machine gun previously captured, and knew just how to use them against the "Heinies." The captured guns were cleverly camouflaged and were almost overlooked by the Americans. The mortars had been used to throw gas shells from the heights into the woods upon the Americans.

GERMAN MORALE LOW

There was the greatest surprise among American officers at the evident low morale among members of the 5th Guard Division, thought to be one of the Kaiser's very best.

The Germans had tried their best to get the Americans out of the wood and to hold the valuable position. They had sent attack after attack there, always failing to gain complete free possession, but making things very unpleasant for our men. It was after four days of this that the marines got on their hind legs and went after the Germans.

An American General tonight characterized the capture of Belleau Wood as the most important thing the Americans at the front had yet accomplished. Its possession straightens our line, taking away from the German his protected wedge into our positions, and gives an excellent starting point for further operations.

Two hours after the Americans started through the wood the Germans launched their heavy attack to regain Bouresches. A dark and cloudy night had aided their preparations for the rush, but the Americans, expecting something of the sort, had the northern side of the town lined with machine guns, and had artillery all trained on the railroad embankment over[Pg 69] which the Germans had to come. The Americans seem to have excellent tab on the German movements, and when, at 5 o'clock, the Germans came over, they met a terrific machine gun fire, while a heavy barrage which was put right behind the attacking party and gradually lowered on it not only cut off reinforcement for it but killed many in it. The slaughter of Germans in this attack was the heaviest the Americans have yet been able to inflict. Our men, in excellent positions at the edge of the town, suffered almost no losses. In this operation we took fifty prisoners, including one officer.

United States Troops in London

First Units of Our New Army Reviewed by King George Amid Dense Throngs

A regiment of the new army of the United States from Camp Gordon, Georgia, 2,700 strong, marched through London May 11, 1918, and was reviewed by the King; Colonel Whitman was in command. Each soldier received a facsimile copy of the following letter from the King:

KING GEORGE'S MESSAGE TO THE SOLDIERS OF THE UNITED STATES

The London Times, in describing the occasion, referred to the attitude of the British public as follows:

All along the way people gathered thickly. There were dense crowds in the neighborhood of Charing Cross, in the Mall, around the Victoria Memorial, and in Grosvenor Gardens. Rarely has the Stars and Stripes been so conspicuous in London; the flag flew from public and private buildings. It was waved here and there by spectators. It was worn in many buttonholes. London Americans set the fashion of bringing flags small enough to carry and big enough to add emphasis to a personal demonstration. Some English people followed their example, and others were heard wishing that they had "brought their American flags from home." Street hawkers of buttonhole favors had learned the phrase "Old Glory," and shouted it familiarly.

But the real lesson of the day came from the crowd everywhere. It taught those critics who have complained that during the war London has forgotten how to cheer, that London still remembers. The people cheered the American troops, they cheered the Guards, they had a special shout for wounded sailors and soldiers; and by no means did they forget to cheer the King. Occasionally, however, there were silences which seemed to speak of an understanding of the mission of this array of martial youth; of the sacrifice that mingled with the [Pg 70]glory of devotion; perhaps also of the history that Britain and America have begun to make in union.

The bearing of the American troops was described in the following passage:

It is worth noting that when the colors passed many men received them with bared heads, and that "Off with your hats!" was heard now and then in admonition from a civilian. Considering that the custom of so honoring the colors of British regiments is still far from universal, this may be accepted by Americans as a rather notable tribute.

Three things were striking in these Americans—their youth, their seriousness, and their modesty. The first quality is easily conceded to America; we all think of her as young. Those of her sons whom London scrutinized so keenly came under arms only last Summer. They are officered chiefly by men who then passed through the Officers' Training Corps, thoug the commanding officer and the Lieutenant Colonel belong to the old regular army. They might, therefore, be expected to deserve the name of boys, by which they were affectionately called. But it was their presentation of the idea of youth, of the quintessence of youth, which struck the spectator. Nor was it modified by the suggestion of dead earnestness which accompanied it and might seem to clash with it. The qualities in combination distinguished the American battalions from any young English regiment, which strikes the observer as at once older and more light-hearted. Not that there was really any lack of hilarity about the Americans in their hours of ease. The one who sang a comic song in front of the barracks before parade had a joyful heart, and was certainly a cause of joy to the Londoners who stood listening to him. As for the men's modest demeanor, it ought to dispose of the notion that the Americans cherish any intention "to show us how things should be done"—if that suggestion is not long since dead.

Physically, the regiment was marked by well-set shoulders, bronzed faces, and general fitness. It looked sinewy, and went along with a fine swing. A few men were pointed out for their unusual height. Spectators on the outskirts of the crowd had an excellent opportunity of appraising these giants. Otherwise the standard of stature was level.

The pride of Americans in the troops—and there were many Americans, naval, military, and civil, among the onlookers—was easy to see. Before the embassy it reached its highest manifestation. The building was decorated with flags, like most of the houses in Grosvenor Gardens. The American Ambassador (Mr. Page) took the salute outside the embassy. In his company were Admiral Sims, Commander Babcock, and Lieut. Col. Slocum. Mrs. Page was an interested spectator in the balcony above. Here the bands played "Pack Up Your Troubles" and "John Brown's Body." A reminder of American history and of the foundations of the United States was introduced when several veterans of the civil war joined the procession.

No Limit to Size of America's Army

More Than 700,000 Additional Young Men Registered Under the Draft Law

On the recommendation of the Secretary of War, who appeared before the House Committee on Military Affairs on May 23, the committee agreed to give President Wilson authority to raise an army of practically unlimited size. The text of the provision to be incorporated in the Army bill was adopted unanimously. The committee had originally been in favor of limiting the size of the army to 5,000,000.

On June 5 male residents of the United States who had reached the age of 21 years since that date in 1917 were required to register under the amended selective draft law. Nearly complete reports to the Provost Marshal General's office showed that 744,865 men complied with the law. This was 266,724 below the Census Bureau estimate, but as more than 200,000 did not register because they had already enlisted in the army, navy, or Marine Corps, the military authorities found the result entirely satisfactory.

So-called "work or fight" regulations were issued by the Provost Marshal General on June 3. All citizens were called upon to report to the nearest local board all men of military age who should be in [Pg 71] the idler or nonproductive classification after July 1, 1918. The local boards were given authority to summon any man who may be idle or nonproductively employed within its territory.

With the double purpose of increasing the number of men available for military service and of insuring fairer administration of the selective service law, Provost Marshal General Crowder on June 7 instituted a reinvestigation of the draft classification lists throughout the nation. General Crowder believed that by "slacker marriages" and underground claims to exemption on the ground of industrial or agricultural work registrants had escaped service, and that in some districts the local boards had interpreted the regulations too strictly. It was expected that more than 500,000 men would be brought by the reclassification into Class 1, which was being rapidly exhausted.

Another move toward the full utilization of the nation's man power was made on May 24 when the Secretary of War sent to Congress the draft of a bill authorizing the raising of the maximum age limit for voluntary enlistment in the army from 40 to 55 years. Between these ages there were probably 7,500,000 men, and thousands of them have applied to the War Department to be allowed to serve. The department planned to assign men over 40 years to noncombatant service, which calls for a very large proportion of men for every combatant at the front.

The War Department on June 6 permitted publication of reports to the Acting Chief of Ordnance (Brig. Gen. C. C. Williams) showing that since the United States declared war 1,568,661 rifles had been produced for the army. This total was made up of 1,140,595 modified Enfields, 1917 model; 176,796 Springfields, 1903 model, and 251,270 Russian rifles. The last named are used for training purposes and to equip home guards. There were also the equivalent of 100,000 Enfields and 100,000 Springfields made up in spare parts. With the rifles already in hand when war was declared, and allowing for the fact that only one-half of the soldiers in an army carry rifles, the Ordnance Department had enough rifles for an army of about 2,000,000 men, after making allowance for one year's wastage.

The organization of five new regiments and nineteen battalions of Railway Engineers, to be used in addition to the regiments already working in France, was announced by the War Department on June 6. The work was carried out by the staff of the Director General of Military Railways, Samuel M. Felton, in conjunction with the Engineer Corps. This brought the number of Americans engaged in railroad construction and operation in France up to 50,000.

A total of $160,000,000 has been spent on railway materials alone, not including supplies provided and used by the Engineer Corps proper. Director General Felton, describing the growth in personnel and the increase in the size of the task confronting his staff, beginning with the organization of the first railway regiment, said that early in 1917 the Chief of Engineers decided to organize a railway operating regiment. Mr. Felton, who had acted as his railway adviser in 1916, was asked to take charge of the work. Six railroads having headquarters in Chicago were called on to recruit one company each. The regiment formed the nucleus of the present railway organization. While it was being formed, the United States entered the war. One of the first requests transmitted to this Government by the French Mission was for assistance in strengthening the French railway systems to meet the increasing war strain. This request was made in April, 1917, and early in May Mr. Felton was called to Washington to organize nine railway regiments, including the Chicago regiment.

[Pg 72]

War Finance in Canada

Income Tax Begins at $1,000—New Taxes on Luxuries

The new Canadian taxes in the budget for the fiscal year 1918-19 show marked increases, especially in income taxes. Exemption in the case of unmarried persons is reduced from $1,500 to $1,000, and for married persons from $3,000 to $2,000, the rate being 2 per cent. from $1,000 to $1,500 in the case of the unmarried and the same amount from $2,000 to $3,000 in the case of the married. The present rate of supertax is continued upon incomes up to $50,000, and above that there is a gradual increase, reaching 50 per cent. on incomes over $1,000,000. In addition there will be a war surtax upon incomes over $6,000, running from 5 per cent. on incomes between $6,000 and $10,000 and 25 per cent. on incomes over $200,000. It has also been decided to grant an exemption of $200 per child. The total war tax on incomes over $1,000,000 reaches 77 per cent.

The tax on tobacco is increased from 10 to 20 cents per pound; on cigars from $5 to $6 per 1,000; on cigarettes from $3 to $6 per 1,000; on foreign raw leaf tobacco from 28 to 40 cents per pound, and on foreign leaf tobacco stemmed from 42 to 60 cents per pound. It has also been decided to place a tax of 10 cents per pound on tea, and it is proposed to increase the duty on coffee to 5 cents for British coffee and to 7 cents for the general tariff. There will be a tax of 8 cents per pack on playing cards and a specific rate customs duty of 5 cents per lineal foot on moving-picture films. A special war excise tax of 10 per cent. is to be imposed upon the selling value of motor cars, jewelry, gramophones, phonographs, mechanical pianos, imported into or manufactured in Canada.

The Minister of Finance stated that $258,000,000 was the revenue for the year ended March 31, 1918, with civil expenditures of $173,000,000. The increase in interest and pensions for the coming year was estimated at $25,000,000. The Finance Minister stated that the war expenditures of the last year approximated $345,000,000, of which $167,000,000 had been spent in Canada. Up to March 31 the total outlay on the war was approximately $878,000,000, which included all expenditures at home and abroad. During the last two years they had applied $113,000,000 toward war expenditures, in addition to expenditures on interest and pensions. The net debt of Canada was now approximately $1,200,000,000.

He pointed out that trade was annually increasing, and that exports were now much greater than imports. The total trade had increased since 1913 from $1,000,000,000 to $2,500,000,000 last year, the balance of trade in favor of Canada being $625,000,000. Exports to Great Britain totaled $860,000,000, while imports were only $81,000,000. On the other hand, the balance of trade against Canada with the United States was $350,000,000.

Referring to immigration, the Minister of Finance said that, in spite of the war, over 200,000 people had entered Canada in the last three years, largely farmers from the United States. He anticipated large immigration into Canada shortly after the end of the war.

[Pg 73]

War Record of the United States

An Official Summary of American Activities During the First Year of Belligerency.

By CHARLES POPE CALDWELL

Member of Congress from New York

[Delivered in the House of Representatives, May 22, 1918]

At the outset, let me say frankly that we have made mistakes—yes, grievous mistakes—and had our foresight been as keen as the afterthought of our critics we might have accomplished more. But, notwithstanding these mistakes and omissions, America has done her share—indeed, more than her share—for she has done many times more than any of our allies suspected that she was capable of doing and more than the greatest enthusiast in America hoped she could do. She has confirmed our friends and confounded our enemies. Or, let me put it in another way: America has raised and equipped a bigger army in shorter time and now holds a greater section of the fighting front, transporting her forces 3,000 miles across an infested sea, in ten months, than England was capable of doing in twelve months across the English Channel of less than thirty miles. We began with less, went further, and arrived with more in shorter time. Yet their motive was necessity and ours only desire.

When war was declared in April, 1917, the standing army of the United States consisted of 136,000 officers and men, many of whom were in the foreign service, and the National Guard consisted of 164,000 officers and men, many of whom were too old for active service, and a large part of them physically unfit to perform the duty for which they had volunteered. Our experts told us that it would take two years to raise an army of 1,000,000 men and five years to train the commissioned personnel. It has now been about one year since the first legislation was passed authorizing the increase of our army for war purposes. The strength of our military forces is now as follows:

Grand total, 2,038,222 officers and men.

So we have today an army of more than 2,000,000, of which 500,000 have already been shipped to France and 1,000,000 more have had the necessary training to fit them for foreign service. These are now waiting for the boats to carry them over. Our critics now complain that we have not done more, yet we have done in one year twice as much as they thought we could do in two years.

When war was declared, each of our allies sent commissions to America to advise us what to do and to assist us wherever possible in our preparation. The English told us that they did not need men, but they did need money and supplies; the Italians that they did not need men, but that they did need material and money; the Russians that they did not need men or material, but did need money and ammunition; the French told us that they needed raw material and money, and asked that a small expeditionary force be sent to hearten their people and as an earnest of our intention of seeing the war through.

Under this tutelage and squaring our conduct with the requests of our friends, it was thought by many to be inadvisable to attempt to raise an army of more than[Pg 74] 1,000,000 men. Congress was therefore requested to pass military legislation limiting the army to the 136,000 regulars, the 164,000 National Guardsmen, and 500,000 drafted men, with authority to call an additional 500,000 in case they should be needed. Under the legislation that Congress passed, in spite of the recommendation from the Allies, we have already raised more than 2,000,000 men, and early in the year 1919 will have 3,000,000 men in the army. We have lately taken the "lid off" so that the President may have as big an army as necessity requires and our man power permits. Notwithstanding the fact that the appropriation measure now pending before the House is drawn with the view of supporting an army of only 3,000,000 men, I am confident that before many months deficiency appropriations will be necessary. The army is growing so rapidly and its needs are so urgent that the efforts heretofore made will be small in comparison with those of the next twelve months. We will probably have between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 men before the end of the next fiscal year.

TWENTY MILLION FIGHTING MEN

When we were considering legislation in the Spring of 1917, it was thought that our largest task would be getting men. Experience has shown that this is easy of accomplishment, made so by reason of the fact that we have left open the door for a reasonable amount of volunteers in the National Guard and regular army and passed a draft law under which all men of military age may readily be mobilized. The justness and fairness of the scheme as worked out by the Provost Marshal General have obtained the earnest co-operation and enthusiastic support of our people as a whole.

As I have said, our military law has been amended giving the President authority to call additional increments of men from time to time as needed. It has also been amended to permit him to register and classify all men that reach the age of 21 years. We now have 2,000,000 men in the army. The men between the ages of 21 and 31 years in 1917 have been classified, and there remains in Class 1 approximately 2,000,000 men physically fit not called. The class of 1918, which will be registered this Summer, will add another million, making a grand total of 5,000,000, without calling Classes 2, 3, 4, or 5, containing nearly 6,000,000, and without calling the boys from 18 to 21—3,000,000 more. If the war lasts until 1924 there will be added 6,000,000 more men. The potential man power of America for a seven-year war, therefore, may be conservatively estimated at 20,000,000 fighting men of recognized military age. This out of a population of 125,000,000.

Not because I think that all of our man power will be needed, but in order that we may get a view of the task that is in front of us and understand the necessity for the large army we are calling and the huge expenditures we are making, let me recall these facts.

THE ENEMY'S STRENGTH

The Central Powers at the outbreak of the war had a population of 142,250,000, in round numbers, of which 26,310,000 were males between the ages of 18 and 44, and if 70 per cent. of them were available for military service their man power would be approximately 18,360,000. Since the Russian fiasco Germany has occupied a territory greater in area than both Germany and Austria, in which there live upward of 51,000,000 people. And if the reports that we get are to be believed, the Kaiser has compelled the boys between 18 and 21 in this occupied territory to enter the German training camps, and he hopes in a short time to have them on the western front, thus augmenting his man power to approximately 21,000,000 fighting men.

This is the job we have on our hands. The newspapers tell us that the Kaiser has only 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 soldiers, but it would be wise for the members of this House in passing legislation affecting the conduct of the war to keep in mind the figures that I have just indicated. To meet this Great Britain—the British Isles, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—France, Italy, and the United States have a combined population from which they can draw 30,000,000 [Pg 75] or 40,000,000, and in addition to these numbers there is an enormous reservoir from which to draw further man power in the colonies and possessions of the Allies and the twenty-three smaller countries now allied with us in the war. To show something of the relative strength of the contending forces I will read the following capitulation, which is believed to be substantially accurate and has been compiled after very careful inquiry from the best sources available:

The casualties resulting in death, permanent injury, or incapacity in the German Army have amounted to admittedly about 3,000,000 men during the four years of war, or approximately the same number as have been supplied by the young men who have reached military age during the same period. From this statement it would appear that from the point of man power Germany is no worse off today than when she started the war. The weakening of the German forces is represented, however, by the lack of nourishment for her workers, her women and children, and the discharges which must necessarily follow the reaching of advanced age by the old men called to the colors, both of which will be felt more keenly as time goes on, as well as the disease which must necessarily accompany conditions such as the war has produced. America will not begin to discharge her men on account of advanced age for twenty years. In other words, the man power of America will get stronger and the man power of the enemy must get weaker for the next twenty years, if, by any chance, the war should last that long. We have nothing to fear from this source.

DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED

The first war difficulty encountered came when we looked for shelter for the vast army being assembled. Much to the surprise of every one, it was soon discovered that there was not cloth enough in the world to put tents over an army the size of the one we were organizing, and there were not mills and machinery enough to make it. Therefore wooden cantonments were constructed. We built thirty-two cantonments with a floor space of 640,000,000 square feet, with the necessary water, sewers, lighting plants, storehouses, ice plants, hospitals, and recreation centres to take care of 1,280,000 men, in which undertaking there was used in ten weeks' time more human labor than went into the building of the Panama Canal. Besides these, we have constructed aviation fields, ordnance schools, and training schools for officers—herculean tasks in themselves. We have also put up at the ports of embarkation, and throughout the country, supply depots, and storage warehouses with a combined floor space of 24,220,000 square feet for the army, in addition to what the navy has done in that respect, and have constructed the enormous buildings erected for administrative purposes in Washington and elsewhere. Verily, your Uncle Samuel is a modern Aladdin, who, when he wants a thing devoutly, rubs the lamp of American patriotism and the genius of America produces overnight all that he requires.

When we entered the war we had practically no surplus clothing for our army, our reserve supply having been used up in the Mexican expedition. Our allies were using practically the full output of[Pg 76] all of our mills capable of producing cloth of the character used for uniforms. To take over these factories would have discommoded our allies. We met the difficulty by a change of the machinery in carpet factories, ducking mills, and kindred industries, and have been able to, during the last year, make Summer and Winter clothing enough for 2,000,000 men, and have a reserve supply of every article of wear for our soldiers sufficient to take care of the authorized increase.

TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT

England trained her first million a whole year in citizens' clothes and top hats, with walking sticks for guns, because she could not do otherwise, and this in spite of the fact that she was the greatest textile manufacturing country in the world and had all America to help her. Notwithstanding this shortage, our first 1,500,000 men were trained in uniforms and taught the manual of arms with a rifle. When England went into the war she had shortly before adopted a new type of gun, but her factories were not equipped to supply it. She abandoned her new type of gun, and has fought the war thus far with an admittedly inferior type of rifle, a large portion of which were made on order in the United States.

There went up a hue and cry that America adopt a foreign type of rifle, notwithstanding the facts that the rifle is the most necessary weapon of warfare, and we had the Springfield rifle in substantial quantity, admittedly the best rifle then being used in the world, shooting the most powerful and efficient ammunition ever prepared. In the face of this criticism, we adhered to our own weapon, adopting a modified and rechambered Enfield, which differs from a Springfield in such a small way that it is not worthy of discussion, now known as the United States rifle, model of 1917, resulting in some delay but now being produced in sufficient quantity.

When General Joffre made the request for a small expeditionary force, the critics of the Administration demanded what they thought was the impossible—i.e., that we ship to France during the first year 50,000 to 100,000 men. During the first ten days of May we shipped 90,000. Within one year after the first shipment America will have an army of 1,000,000 men in France, with their necessary arms, equipment, and supplies. It will be the best-fed, the best-clothed, the best-paid army of its size that the world has ever known, speaking the same language, worshipping the same God, and following the same flag. Its personnel will have the quickest perceptions of any soldiers in the world, and will have been trained under modern conditions, surrounded by the best moral influences, with the lowest percentage of disease, and will be nerved by the highest motives that actuate men.

Victory for our cause is therefore certain.

Italy's Third Year of War

Other Anniversaries, With Official Greetings Exchanged by the Allies and the United States

The third anniversary of Italy's entry into the war was the occasion of an address by Prime Minister Orlando, delivered in the Augusteum at Rome on May 24, in which, in reaffirming the unity of the Allies, he said:

For this unity, so solemnly consecrated again today, I express in the name of Italy my deep gratitude to all. To England, which could not send a more noble or more agreeable messenger than your Royal Highness, who brings to us a message reaffirming friendship with our country, a friendship which was shown at a time which was painful to us, and which has been strengthened by the intimacy of affection in the days of grief still more than in those of joy. To France, to our great sister toward whom with a feeling of renewed admiration our hearts are turned. To the United States, to this [Pg 77]young people, powerful in its strength and already rich in glory owing to the wisdom of its leader and the numerous virtues of its men. To the peoples conquered by the enemy because of their smallness, for which reason their heroic sacrifice and admirable bravery are all the more apparent. To those nations from the Baltic to the Adriatic which the common enemy has oppressed. To the oppressed nations in the interior and on the frontiers of enemy States which heroically rise in rebellion with the cry "Long Live the Entente!"

In the royal box were the Prince of Wales and Prince Peter of Montenegro. The vast audience contained the official representatives of all the allied powers and the United States, and the leaders of all political and social groups of Italy, with representatives from all the important cities. The Prince of Wales in his address said:

I come to you to assure you of the constant friendship and sincere affection of the British people for your nation, whose enlightened and precious sympathy is a proof of the creative unity of arms which nothing can again dissolve. In the city of Rome, the ancient capital of the world, the source of social order and justice, I proudly proclaim my conviction that the great object for which our two nations are fighting against the forces of reaction is inevitably destined to triumph, owing to the union of which our meeting this evening is symbolic.

The King of Italy addressed the following Order of the Day to the army and navy:

Soldiers on land and sea! The fourth year of war, which began today, finds you full of pride for the hard trials you have faced, and which, with admirable courage, you have overcome. In face of your firm decision to resist to the utmost the enemy was obliged to call a halt, and in daring and magnificent actions you have many a time shown him the indomitable spirit and resolute will to conquer with which you are animated. This priceless energy, revivified by the faith which your country has in you, is strengthened still further by the anxiety with which your oppressed and despoiled brothers await your coming.

Soldiers on land and sea! With the sacred image of a country entirely freed from the enemy imprinted in the very depths of your hearts, together with the ideals of justice and civilization which our war has adopted as its aims, I will accompany you in your future struggles, certain that the reward for the tireless energy which you, in common with our valiant allies, have shown will not be delayed much longer.

President Wilson sent the following message to the Italian people, after it had been read by Secretary Lansing at a Washington celebration of Italy's anniversary:

I am sure that I am speaking for the people of the United States in sending to the Italian people warm fraternal greetings upon this, the anniversary of the entrance of Italy into this great war, in which there is being fought out once for all the irrepressible conflict between free self-government and the dictation of force. The people of the United States have looked with profound interest and sympathy upon the efforts and sacrifices of the Italian people, are deeply and sincerely interested in the present and future security of Italy, and are glad to find themselves associated with a people to whom they are bound by so many personal and intimate ties in a struggle whose object is liberation, freedom, the rights of men and nations to live their own lives and determine their own fortunes, the rights of the weak, as well as the strong, and the maintenance of justice by the irresistible force of free nations leagued together in the defense of mankind. With ever-increasing resolution and force we shall continue to stand together in this sacred common cause. America salutes the gallant Kingdom of Italy, and bids her Godspeed.

France's Tribute to Great Britain

Great Britain's "Empire Day" was celebrated May 24 throughout France. In Paris there was an imposing demonstration at the Sorbonne, at which were present the President of the republic, Ministers, Ambassadors, and Deputies. President Deschanel of the Chamber in speaking of "the prodigy of Great Britain's effort" said:

This people of seamen and merchants came forward as volunteers in crowds; in the Spring of 1915 there were 2,400,000, and at the end of the same year 3,000,000. In May, 1916, King George announced that 5,000,000 men had been raised by voluntary recruitment. But this did not suffice. Parliament voted compulsory service, the greatest victory that the people ever gained over itself, a triumph of duty and conscience, the pledge of that [Pg 78]victory which we shall win together over the enemy.

When Germany over a year ago proclaimed unrestricted submarine warfare, she announced, too, England's capitulation at short notice. Instead of that hundreds of thousands of Americans are crossing the seas as allies. Germany has united France and England not for the present struggle but forever.

Before the war there was in a Calais belfry a Flemish peal of bells. On the clock dial two knights armed with lances—Henry VIII., King of England, and Francis I., King of France. Every time the hour struck they exchanged lance thrusts—one at 1 o'clock, three at 3 o'clock, and twelve at midday. A German shell hit the knights and ended the fight forever. It is the only German shell which ever showed esprit, remarked a French wit.

Georges Leygues, Minister of Marine, who spoke in the name of the French Government, said that, thanks to the maritime supremacy of Great Britain, the Entente had the mastery of the sea and could look to the future without concern Reviewing the work that the navies silently accomplished, he mentioned that in the course of last month they had sunk more submarines than the Germans were building. They protected the transports which in April disembarked on the coasts of France more than 400,000 soldiers.

"In the past," he continued, "mastery of the sea was always a powerful means of conquest. At present it forms in addition a powerful guarantee with which none other is comparable. The enemy knows that he will retain neither in the east, nor in the west, nor in the south the territories which he momentarily occupies, and he knows, moreover, that he will not wrest from us the mastery of the sea. That being so, the issue of the war is certain, and the navies take their place in the gratitude of the Entente alongside of its incomparable armies."

America's First Anniversary in France

President Poincaré of France sent the following cablegram to President Wilson on June 13, the anniversary of the arrival in France of the first American troops:

The Allies, owing to the Russian capitulation, are living through the most difficult hours of the war, but the rapid formation of new American units and the uninterrupted increase in oversea transportation are leading us with certainty toward the day when the equilibrium is restored.

President Wilson replied as follows:

Mr. President: Your telegram was certainly conceived in the highest and most generous spirit of friendship, and I am sure that I am expressing the feeling of the people of the United States, as well as my own, when I say that it is with increasing pride and gratification that they have seen their forces under General Pershing more and more actively co-operating with the forces of liberation on French soil.

It is their fixed and unalterable purpose to send men and materials in steady and increasing volume until any temporary inequality of force is entirely overcome and the forces of freedom made overwhelming, for they are convinced that it is only by victory that peace can be achieved and the world's affairs settled upon a basis of enduring justice and right. It is a constant satisfaction to them to know that in this great enterprise they are in close and intimate co-operation with the people of France.

WOODROW WILSON.

President Poincaré also sent a message to General Pershing, heartily praising "the gallant troops of your command who behaved so magnificently in the recent battles." He expressed the firmest hope in the continuation of the American successes.

General Pershing replied to President Poincaré as follows:

Permit me to thank you, Mr. President, for your kind message on the occasion of this anniversary. The enthusiastic reception which Paris gave us then has since been extended by all your people to the American Army.

Today our armies are united in affection and resolution, with full confidence in the final success which will crown the long struggle for liberty and civilization.

The following telegrams were also sent to General Pershing:

On the anniversary of your arrival in France to take command of the American troops I wish, my dear General, to express to you once more the greatest admiration for the powerful aid brought by your army to the cause of the Allies. With ever-increasing numbers the American troops cover themselves with glory under your orders in barring the route of the invader. The day is coming when, thanks to the superb effort of your country and the valor of persons, the enemy, losing the initiative of operations, will be forced to incline before the triumph of our ideal of justice and civilization.

CLEMENCEAU.

NATIONAL LEADERS IN EASTERN EUROPE

Judge Svinhufvud
Dictator of Finland

Professor Masaryk
Leader of Czech independence movement
(© Harris & Ewing)

M. H. Holubowicz
Premier of Ukrainia

General Petljura
Ukrainian War Minister

Professor Edward de Valera
President of the Sinn Fein, arrested in connection with an alleged German plot in Ireland
(© International Film Service)

Prince Sixtus of Bourbon
To whom the Emperor Karl wrote his famous peace letter. The Prince is fighting on the side of the Allies

[Pg 235]

A year ago you brought to us the American sword. Today we have seen it strike. It is the certain pledge of victory. By it our hearts are more closely united than ever.

FOCH.

[Pg 79]

---

My Dear General: Your coming to French soil a year ago filled our country with enthusiasm and hope. Accept today the grateful homage of our soldiers for the daily increasing aid on the battlefield brought by their American brothers in arms. The last battles, where the magnificent qualities of courage and military virtue of your troops were demonstrated in so brilliant a manner, are a sure guarantee of the future. The day is not far off when the great American Army will play the decisive rôle, to which history calls this army on the battlefields of Europe. Permit me, my dear General, to express to you, on this anniversary day, my entire confidence and assure you of my feelings of affectionate comradeship.

PETAIN.

The Soldier Speaks

By JOHN GALSWORTHY

[By Arrangement with The London Chronicle.]

[Pg 80]

The War in the Air

Attacks by Massed Squadrons of Airplanes Become an Important Factor in Battle

Aerial warfare entered upon a new phase with the opening of the German offensive in March, 1918, and largely bore out the prediction that the operations in the air would become almost as vital as those of infantry and artillery. Since early in the war airmen have been performing the scouting and observation functions which formerly belonged to the cavalry arm; and as the conflict has developed they have also become skilled in the art of harassing the enemy. So far these operations had been carried out by individual aviators or comparatively small squadrons, but the operations of March, 1918, witnessed the definite development of larger squadrons, manoeuvring 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 the first two days (March 21-22) of the German drive there was comparatively little aerial activity. The aviators on both sides were preparing for the impending battle, which actually began on the morning of March 23 and lasted all that day and the day following. At the end of the two days' struggle the allied airmen had gained a decisive victory, the point of which was complete ascendency in the air during the next five days, when the German aviators were entirely unable to prevent the allied fliers from doing what they liked.

UNPRECEDENTED AIR BATTLE

The story of the air battle of March 23-24 reads like one of the most extraordinary adventure tales ever imagined. The struggle began with squadrons of airplanes ascending and manoeuvring 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 now 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 battlefield.

All next day, March 24, 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 counterattacked 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 days scarcely a German airplane took the air.

The nature of the military operations on the earth below during these five days, (March 25-29,) favored the allied airmen and permitted them to secure important results in attacking infantry. The Germans were advancing through the valley of the Oise and across the Picardy plains, while the Allies were endeavoring[Pg 81] bring up sufficient reserves to hold back the advance. The fighting was now in the open, and except for walls, trees, and ditches there was practically no cover of which the Germans could take advantage. This was exactly what suited the allied air squadrons as they sallied forth to harass and hamper the advancing German columns, which they attacked by day and night. Many German units were completely destroyed by showers of bombs, others were dispersed and demoralized, and there is no doubt that the allied squadrons, unopposed for the time by German aviators, did much to retard the advance of the enemy columns. The allied airmen literally swarmed in the air, but in carefully organized formations, so that their attacks would reap the largest possible gain.

ARTILLERY COLUMN SHATTERED

Some of the separate episodes illustrate the advantage of unopposed aerial operations. On March 25, for instance, a German artillery column moving along the road between Guiscard and Noyon, was attacked by French airmen and entirely dispersed. The machine gunners in the airplanes killed or wounded many horses which either fell down in their harness and blocked the road, or, panic-stricken, bolted in all directions, leaving the roads and adjoining fields covered with dead men and animals, wrecked guns, caissons, and wagons. Bodies of infantry were similarly broken up, dispersed, or demoralized. Showers of bombs from the airplanes created a barrage, and entire companies of German infantry were annihilated. In addition, railroad stations were damaged, transports blocked, and military works and depots of all kinds destroyed or put out of commission. At no previous time in the war did armies suffer so severely as did the German forces during the five days, March 24-29, 1918. The allied airmen did not come out unscathed. Many were killed by rifle fire, and many machines were lost. But the Allies held the mastery of the air and turned it to the fullest advantage, while the Germans were organizing new aerial squadrons.

On the fifth day of this period of allied air supremacy German airplanes began to appear once more, and with the organization of new enemy squadrons, the Allies' ascendency was no longer uncontested. Richthofen and other German air commanders came on the scene with their squadrons, and from March 30 onward there was continued fighting in the air between the opposing forces.

OFFICIAL DESCRIPTION

A day-to-day story of the air fighting on the Western front would vary little in its recital of duels and raids and battles between opposing squadrons. But on some days there was more intense fighting than usual. Such a day was April 12, when the Allies achieved the feat of destroying or bringing down ninety-three enemy airplanes.

That day's work is described in Sir Douglas Haig's report from British Headquarters:

On the 12th inst. atmospheric conditions were favorable for flying, and a great concentration of our airplanes was effected by us on the battlefront. Large numbers of low-flying machines were employed in bombing and sweeping with machine-gun fire roads packed with the enemy's troops. Thirty-six tons of bombs and over 110,000 rounds of ammunition were fired by us.

While these attacks on ground targets were in progress, other formations, flying at a greater height, engaged the enemy's airplanes, which were extremely active in this sector. Other machines reconnoitred the battle area, bringing back information as to the positions of our own and the enemy's troops.

On the remainder of the British front the usual work in co-operation with our artillery was carried out, and a very large number of photographs taken.

In air fighting forty German machines were brought down by our airplanes, and twenty other hostile airplanes were driven down out of control. In addition, two of the enemy's machines were shot down by anti-aircraft-gun fire. Three hostile observation balloons were also destroyed. Twelve of our airplanes are missing.

After dark the incessant bombing carried out by us during the previous twelve hours was continued until dawn. Over twenty-two tons of bombs were dropped on different targets, including the Don and Douai railway stations, two important railway junctions between Mazières and [Pg 82]Rheims, and roads leading up to the battlefront in the neighborhood of Estaires.

Sir Douglas Haig's report next day stated that low-flying machines reconnoitred the battlefront during the day and dropped over 1,200 bombs on the enemy's troops on roads leading to the front. The numbers of German airplanes destroyed on various days evidence the intensity of the air fighting. Thus, reports of successive days showed these totals: 21, 53, (two days;) 55, 21, 30, 97, (four days.) On May 25 it was stated that many more German airplanes had been added to the total of 1,000 machines recorded as having fallen to earth, or having been sent down out of control since the opening of the drive on March 21.

WORK OF BOMBING SQUADRONS

Some slight indication of the work of the bombing planes was given in a report of the British Air Ministry, which stated that the number of bombs dropped by British airmen over enemy lines in France, opposite the British front, during March was 23,099 by day and 13,080 by night. The Germans dropped in the area occupied by British troops 517 by day and 1,948 by night. During April the British dropped 6,033 bombs behind the enemy lines along the British front, and the Germans retaliated with 1,346 in the area occupied by British troops.

By reuniting practically all their available air force in the sector of attack the enemy won a short-lived superiority. On June 4 there was a good deal of air fighting, that day turning more steadily in favor of the Allies, who by the following day had gained the upper hand over the Germans.

A brilliant exploit by French aviators was that briefly recorded in the official report of June 5 to the effect that in the valley of the Savière French bombardment squadrons threw more than seventeen tons of bombs on enemy troop concentrations. Early in the afternoon the airmen were informed that a large number of Germans were assembling in the valley of the Savière. Owing to the configuration of the ground they were sheltered from the fire of artillery and it evident that they intended to reinforce the German move westward into the Forest of Villers-Cotterets. Bombplanes were sent out.

The effect of the bombs was tremendous. The German soldiers broke headlong for cover, abandoning all thought of fight. Ten minutes later a bombplane group of the same strength arrived on the scene. At first no Germans were visible; then circling low, the airmen discovered the enemy hiding in the horseshoe wood of Hautwison on the eastern side of the valley. Again the devoted battalions were subjected to a terrible bombardment amid trees that gave no protection. Before the decimated units could re-form the first squadron had returned with a new load, and once more the wood was filled with the roar of explosions.

No human morale could stand such triple strain. In vain the German officers tried to re-form their panic-stricken men. When the French infantry counterattacked they had an easy victory over the weakened forces that had made the advance. The airmen's success against the reserves had nullified an advance that might have been dangerous.

GERMANS FIGHT GERMANS

One of the most extraordinary episodes of recent aerial fighting was the battle waged on June 5 between two flights of German planes. It was an unintentional but disastrous fight between brother aviators, during which British pilots joyfully and impartially rendered assistance first to one side, then to the other, until so many of the German fliers had been destroyed or damaged that the conflict could not continue. According to eyewitnesses two British officers in a fighting machine were leading a patrol along the lines, when they sighted a German Halberstadt two-seater, which, upon their appearance, fired a green signal light. The British leaders expected a trap, and waited to see what this unusual performance meant. In a short time six German scouts came wheeling out of the blue and joined the Halberstadt. Almost at once six other enemy scouts dived out of the sun on their comrades, whom [Pg 83]apparently mistook for a British patrol about to attack the Halberstadt.

What happened was this: The Halberstadt had been acting as a decoy, and the green light had been meant as a signal for assistance. But there had been no expectation that two flights of German planes would respond at the same time. Not being able to distinguish the markings of their friends—and this has happened not infrequently before—the newcomers immediately began a furious attack upon them. The British leaders then guided their patrol into this mad mêlée and took a hand. The Halberstadt was the first victim, and this was shot down by a British commanding machine. Another British fighter in the meantime had accounted for two more enemy scouts, which were sent swirling to destruction. All the time the German aircraft were continuing their bitter battle among themselves, and several of them were seen to go down out of control before the engagement finally ended. The British leaders by their good judgment had led the Germans into their own trap.

ATTACKS ON HOSPITALS

Some hundreds of the personnel and patients of British hospitals behind the battlelines were killed and wounded on May 19 in the heavy attack by German bombing planes. Among those on the casualty list were several nurses, some of whom were killed, and several medical officers who were wounded. A large American hospital in the neighborhood escaped. A great number of the bombs were of extraordinary size, digging vast craters in the hospital grounds, while others were high-explosive shrapnel bombs, which scattered bullets through the crowded hospital tents and buildings. A three-seated airplane was brought down by gunfire while flying at a low altitude, and the occupants were made prisoner. The German Captain and the pilot sustained comparatively light shrapnel wounds, while the observer was not hurt. When questioned why he had directed his men against hospitals, the Captain asserted that he did not see the Red Cross signs. He said that he was seeking military objectives and had no desire to molest hospitals. With a shrug shoulders, the Captain added that if the British chose to build their hospitals near railways, they must expect to get them bombed.

The same group of hospitals was attacked again on the night of May 31. Several of them were hit and the casualty list among patients and workers was considerable. One hospital was almost demolished when an enemy aviator dropped an explosive on it after getting his bearings by letting fall a brilliant flare which lighted up the whole district. The raid lasted two hours. In one hospital one ward was destroyed and two other wards were damaged. Several attendants were killed in this place, and there were other casualties. The operating theatre of still another hospital was wrecked.

Altogether between May 15 and June 1 German airmen bombed British hospitals in France seven times, causing casualties totaling 991, as follows: Killed—Officers, 11; other ranks, 318; nursing sisters, 5; Women's Auxiliary Corps, 8; civilians, 6. Wounded—Officers, 18; other ranks, 534; nursing sisters, 11; Women's Auxiliary Corps, 7; civilians, 73.

On the night of May 28 German airmen deliberately dropped bombs on hospitals many miles in the rear of the front, in which there were scores of American and hundreds of French sick and wounded. A number of Americans were slightly injured by flying glass. One French nurse was killed and another injured. Several civilians died of wounds.

In addition to their operations against the Germans in France and Belgium, the Allies continued to carry the war into Germany. In a raid during the night of May 27 British long-distance bombing machines dropped between four and five tons of bombs on chemical works at Mannheim, the Landau railroad station, an electric power station at Kreuzwald, and on the Metz-Sablons railroad station. Very large explosions were caused and much damage done. The same night the important railway triangle at Liége in Belgium was bombarded. In spite of determined opposition by German airplanes, British aviators on May[Pg 84] dropped bombs on factories and the railroad station at Saarbrücken in Rhenish Prussia.

Cologne, the sixth largest city of Germany, was raided by British bombing planes on May 18. Bombs were dropped on railroad stations, factories, and barracks. Eighty-eight of the persons who were killed were buried in the same grave. The people of the city became panic-stricken. Aix-la-Chapelle was also attacked and factories set on fire.

TONS OF BRITISH BOMBS

British air squadrons carried out successful raids in Germany on May 31. Long-distance bombing machines crossed the Rhine and, in spite of strong opposition from enemy aircraft, dropped over a ton of bombs on the station and workshops at Karlsruhe. Another group of British airplanes dropped a ton of bombs on the railway triangle of Metz-Sablons with good effect and without losses. During the course of the day thirty-one tons of bombs were dropped on different targets behind the enemy lines. Twenty German machines were destroyed in air fighting, and six were driven out of control. During the night sixteen tons of bombs were dropped on targets in enemy territory. Six tons were dropped on the Bruges docks and on the Zeebrugge-Bruges Canal. In addition, four tons were dropped on railway junctions and the stations at Metz-Sablons, Karthaus, and Thionville.

Another typical day's work of the British aviators was that described in the official report issued on June 6. On the previous night long-distance bombing machines again attacked the Metz-Sablons station triangle and also the railway sidings at Thionville, dropping five tons of bombs with good results, although the visibility was indifferent. Next morning (June 6) the railway station at Coblenz was heavily attacked. The fine weather of June 5 enabled the British airmen to carry out much photographic, reconnoissance, and artillery work. Twenty tons of bombs were dropped on different targets, including hostile dumps and railway billets, the Armentières and Roye stations, and the Zeebrugge seaplane base. In addition long-distance day bombing machines heavily attacked the railway station and barracks at Treves, and the Metz-Sablons railway station, and the railways at Karthaus, returning without loss. Seven hostile machines and three German observation balloons were shot down during the day, and three hostile airplanes were driven down out of control. Four of the British machines are missing. On the night of June 5 thirteen tons of bombs were dropped on the St. Quentin, Boesinghe, Cambrai, and Armentières stations.

PARIS AND LONDON RAIDED

German aviators made an ineffectual attempt on the night of May 21 to raid Paris. Three persons were killed and several wounded in the outskirts of the city, but none of the raiders reached Paris itself. The following night another attack was made, and this time one of the German aviators succeeded in reaching the city. Bombs were dropped at various places, causing thirteen casualties, with one killed. German aviators also attacked the railroads north and northeast of Paris, but the bombs dropped caused no serious damage.

Forty-four persons were killed and 179 injured in the London area during an air raid on the night of May 19. Four of the German machines were destroyed, and a fifth fell flaming into the sea. This was the sixth raid on London since the beginning of 1918, and with the exception of that on Jan. 28 the most disastrous. Many of the casualties were among persons who were on the streets or in doorways, thus disregarding the warnings to seek shelter.

AMERICAN AVIATORS

Aerial fighting is the only form of modern warfare which gives opportunities for individual deeds of heroism; and every army has its list of airmen, dead or alive, who have distinguished themselves in thrilling fights high above the earth. Here, because there were Americans fighting in the air, mainly with the French, before the United States entered the war, this nation has already a [Pg 85]record which can vie with that of the other belligerents. On April 27 the standing of American aviators based on the number of adversaries shot down was as follows: Major Raoul Lufbery, 18; Major William Thaw, 5; Lieutenant Frank Baer, 5; Sergeant Baylies, 5; Captain Charles Biddle, 2, and Sergeant Vernon Booth, Sergeant August Grehore, Second Lieutenant Henry Grendelass, Sergeant Thomas Hitchcock, Lieutenant Friest Larner, Sergeant David Putnam, Sergeant W. A. Wellman, Lieutenant Allan Winslow, and Lieutenant Douglas Campbell, 1 each.

As the above list shows, Major Raoul Lufbery was easily America's leading airman, having far surpassed the initial record of an "ace," attained when an airman destroys five enemy machines. But his career was cut short on May 19, when he was killed in a dramatic combat with a German biplane behind the American sector north of Toul. Lufbery lost his life after six other American airmen had tried in vain to bring down the German machine. A German bullet set his petrol tank on fire, and Lufbery leaped from his machine.

LUFBERY'S LAST FIGHT

It was early in the morning when the German biplane appeared over the American airdromes moving slowly. Immediately the "alerte" signal was given and two Americans started up, and two others followed. When they got to a height of about 2,500 meters they found themselves face to face with a giant German biplane with a wing spread of sixty feet, carrying a pilot and two gunners, and driven by two engines. The engines were armored, and the pilot sat in a steel house. The gunners wore armor and occupied protected positions, each manning a heavy machine gun. The American fighters sent streams of bullets in vain against the new enemy.

By this time other Americans were in the air, trying to bring down the German, who loafed along, not seeming to mind bullets at all. The scene, in full view for many miles, looked like a lot of swallows pecking at a giant bird of prey. When one of the Americans landed, out of ammunition, reported his inability to do damage to the German machine, Lufbery asked and received permission to try. He mounted up above the German, got his machine gun going well, and swept head first at the monster plane. When part of the way had been traversed he swerved off, supposedly because his machine gun jammed. But in a few minutes he was back at the German again, dashed by with his machine gun going, but produced no effect. He was seen to turn and start up at the enemy again, when suddenly he swerved and a thin line of flame shot from his machine, which seemed to hang still for a moment and then dart down. This took place at an altitude of 2,000 meters. When his machine was at an altitude of about 1,500 meters the American ace was seen to arise and leap into midair. From long experience he knew that to stay in his seat meant to be burned to death horribly. His body fell like a plummet, landing in the midst of a flower garden back of a residence in the village of Maron, while his machine fell in flames and landed on the ground a mass of wreckage. At Lufbery's funeral it was announced that the battleplane which had caused his death had been brought down by French airmen.

Lieutenant Douglas Campbell, a Californian, by bringing down his fifth German airplane on May 31, secured the distinction of being the first American-trained ace. Besides Campbell, America then had two other aces, Major William Thaw and Captain D. M. K. Peterson, but both Thaw and Peterson got their training with the French Army.

RICHTHOFEN'S DEATH

Germany has also lost her most aggressive aviator, Captain Baron von Richthofen, who commanded the most efficient of the German air squadrons. He was killed just after bringing down his eightieth machine. He was shot down in an aerial combat near Sailly-le-Sec on the Somme. With his "flying circus" of more than twenty followers, Captain von Richthofen flew toward the British lines about noon on April 20. Here they met two British airplanes, and von Richthofen separated himself from his[Pg 86] followers and started on a furious pursuit of these machines. Meanwhile a score of other British planes came swirling up and engaged the Germans. The Captain kept after his man and attempted to outmanoeuvre him. The British plane, which was accompanying the one under attack, got above the German. The three machines raced toward the British lines, their machine guns chattering like mad. They kept getting lower, until at last, when they were about fifty yards back of the British trenches, they were only a few hundred feet high. Meanwhile the other German machines were fighting the British squadron more than three miles away.

Machine guns and rifles on the ground came into action against Captain von Richthofen, who was also being fired at by at least one of his adversaries in the air. Suddenly his machine turned its nose downward and crashed to the earth. Examination later showed that the German pilot had a bullet through his heart. Von Richthofen was apparently killed while trying to break through the British aerial defenses in the Ancre region in order that enemy reconnoissance machines might cross the lines to make observations on the defenses. A document captured by the British revealed the reason for his presence there. It was a communication from the "group commander of aviation" to the First Pursuit Squadron, of which von Richthofen's eleventh pursuit flight was part, saying: "It is not possible to fly over the Ancre in a westerly direction on account of strong enemy opposition. I request that this aerial barrage be forced to break in order that a reconnoissance up to the line of Marieux-Puchevillers (ten miles from the front) may be carried out."

Richthofen was buried with military honors behind the British lines. A large number of British fighting men and aviation officers, as well as Americans stationed at a neighboring airdrome, were in attendance. Mechanics of an aviation squadron had constructed a coffin, on which they placed a plate giving the aviator's name, rank, and other data. The body was carried on a motor car, with which marched a firing squad many officers and men. Six British air service officers acted as pallbearers. As the procession moved to the burial place, scores of busy aviation mechanics paused and stood at attention as a tribute to the dead aviator. The Baron was buried under a hemlock tree, and the squad fired the last shots across the grave.

LIST OF GERMANS KILLED

A list printed in the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag on April 24 showed that of the forty-one German aviators who had brought down fifteen or more opponents since the beginning of the war, nineteen had fallen in action and two had been reported missing. The list of the fallen German fliers, together with the alleged number of their victims and the year of their death, follows:

Lieutenant von Bülow, with twenty-eight victims, and First Lieutenant Dostler, with twenty-six, were reported missing.

At the beginning of the offensive in March, Germany claimed 102 army aviators, each of whom had brought down more than seven airplanes or balloons in battles, and that the total number of victims up to May of these star fliers was 1,698. In this period forty-three of these aces had been killed and three were missing. Others probably had been disabled and were no longer in service. Of those still alive, whether still in the service or not, the ones with the best records were then Lieutenant Bongartz with thirty-three victories, Lieutenant Bucker also with thirty-three, and Lieutenant[Pg 87] von Richthofen, brother of the dead ace, with twenty-nine.

FRENCH AND BRITISH "ACES"

France has produced a number of brilliant military airmen, the latest to come into special prominence being Lieutenant René Fonck, who in one day (May 10) brought down six German airplanes. This achievement had not been equaled even by the late Captain Guynemer, of whom Fonck has become the successor in daring, skill, and resourcefulness as an air fighter. On June 4 it was announced that Lieutenant Georges Madon had won his twenty-eighth aerial victory.

A British airman with an extraordinary record, Captain James B. McCudden, who is only 23 years of age, was awarded the Victoria Cross on March 29 "for most conspicuous bravery, exceptional perseverance, keenness, and very high devotion to duty." He had already won nearly every decoration awarded in the British Army, including the Military Medal, the Military Cross, and the Distinguished Service Order. He went to France with the first British army in August, 1914, and, having had some experience of the air, was pressed into service as an observer at Mons and gave valuable information of enemy movements during the retreat. As a Sergeant he was officially promoted to be an observer, and quickly won fame for his expert handling of guns in several stiff fights. As the pilot of a single-seater scout McCudden has had over 100 fights and some wonderful escapes without sustaining the slightest hurt. The crack German pilot Immelmann was a deadly rival, and they had three duels, but the fight was broken off on each occasion without either man being able to claim an advantage. In the official announcement of the award of the V. C., it was stated that Captain McCudden had then accounted for fifty-four enemy airplanes, forty-two being definitely destroyed. The official statement added:

On two occasions he has totally destroyed four two-seater enemy airplanes on the same day, and on the last occasion all four machines were destroyed in the space of one hour and thirty minutes.

While in his present squadron he has participated in seventy-eight offensive patrols, and in nearly every case has been the leader. On at least thirty other occasions, while with the same squadron, he has crossed the lines alone, either in pursuit or in quest of enemy airplanes.

The following incidents are examples of the work he has done recently:

On Dec. 23, 1917, when leading his patrol, eight enemy airplanes were attacked between 2:30 P.M. and 3:50 P.M. Of these two were shot down by Captain McCudden in our lines. On the morning of the same day he left the ground at 10:50 o'clock and encountered four enemy airplanes; of these he shot down two.

On Jan. 30, 1918, he, single-handed, attacked five enemy scouts, as a result of which two were destroyed. On this occasion he only returned home when the enemy scouts had been driven far east; his Lewis-gun ammunition was all finished and the belt of his Vickers gun had broken.

As a patrol leader he has at all times shown the utmost gallantry and skill, not only in the manner in which he has attacked and destroyed the enemy but in the way he has during several aerial fights protected the newer members of his flight, thus keeping down their casualties to a minimum.

This officer is considered, by the record which he has made, by his fearlessness, and by the great service which he has rendered to his country, deserving of the very highest honor.

Zinc Coins in Occupied Belgium

To obviate the great shortage of fractional currency in occupied Belgium, a shortage that hindered the most modest transactions, the German authorities decided early in March, 1918, to emit a large issue of zinc coins with a face value of 50 centimes, (10 cents.) The new coins have a diameter of 24 millimeters and bear on the face a coat-of-arms with a lion above a laurel branch, and with the value of the coin on the right. The obverse bears a five-pointed star, the inscription "België-Belgique," and the date. The centre of each coin is pierced by a hole 4½ millimeters in diameter.

[Pg 88]

Arrest of Irish Plotters

Sixty-nine Sinn Fein Members Imprisoned for Treasonable Relations With the Enemy

Current History Magazine for June contained a brief reference to the arrest of leaders of the Sinn Fein movement in Ireland, May 18, 1918, for being in treasonable communication with the Germans. Among the leaders arrested was Professor Edward de Valera, President of the Sinn Fein Society and a member of Parliament, who had refused to take his seat; also George Noble Plunkett, a Count of Rome and Member of Parliament; Mme. Markievicz, wife of a Polish Count; Arthur Giffith, one of the founders of the Sinn Fein movement; William T. Cosgrove, Treasurer of the Sinn Fein and Member of Parliament from Kilkenny City; Joseph McGuinness, Member of Parliament for South Longford; Darrel Figgis, an Irish poet; Dr. Richard Hayes, Herbert Mellowes, who led the Sinn Fein rising in Galway in 1916; Professor Monaghan, President of the local Sinn Fein Club at Drogheda; Pierce McCann, President of the East Tipperary Sinn Fein Executive; Frank Drohan, President of the Clonmel Sinn Fein Club; Dr. Thomas Dillon, Sean Milroy, and Sean McEntee, members of the Sinn Fein Executive; George Nichols, Coroner for the County of Galway, and Peter Hughes, Chairman of Dundalk Urban Council and a prominent Sinn Feiner. In all sixty-nine were arrested and imprisoned in England, not 500, as at first reported. The arrests were made between midnight and dawn by domiciliary visits, and were accomplished without any disorder, being a complete surprise.

OFFICIAL PROCLAMATION

Preceding the arrests the following proclamation was issued by Field Marshal French, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland:

Whereas, It has come to our knowledge that certain subjects of his Majesty the King domiciled in Ireland have conspired to enter into treasonable communication with the German enemy; And whereas, Such treachery is a menace to the fair name of Ireland and its glorious military record—a record which is a source of intense pride to a country whose sons have always distinguished themselves and fought with such heroic valor in the past, in the same way as thousands of them are now fighting in this war; And whereas, Drastic measures must be taken to put down this German plot, which measures will be directed solely against that plot,

Now, therefore, we, the Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, have thought fit to issue this our proclamation declaring, and it is hereby declared, as follows:

That it is the duty of all loyal subjects of his Majesty to assist in every way his Majesty's Government in Ireland to suppress this treasonable conspiracy, and to defeat the treacherous attempt of the Germans to defame the honor of Irishmen for their own ends.

That we hereby call upon all loyal subjects of his Majesty in Ireland to aid in crushing the said conspiracy, and so far as in them lies to assist in securing the effective prosecution of the war and the welfare and safety of the empire.

That as a means to this end we shall cause still further steps to be taken to facilitate and encourage voluntary enlistment in Ireland in his Majesty's forces, in the hope that, without resort to compulsion, the contribution of Ireland to those forces may be brought up to its proper strength and made to correspond to the contributions of other parts of the empire.

EFFECT OF ARRESTS

News of the arrests created a profound sensation in Ireland, but no breaches of the peace followed anywhere; in fact, the excitement over conscription subsided appreciably after the episode, likewise the activities of the Sinn Feiners. The leader of the Nationalists repudiated the treasonable work of the Sinn Feiners, and, in consequence of the disclosures, the alliance against conscription that had been formed between the Nationalists and Sinn Feiners was ruptured.

On May 25 the British Government issued a statement reviewing the causes of the arrests. In this document it was[Pg 89] that definite proof was at hand that after the abortive rebellion of Easter week, 1916, plans were made for a revolt in 1917, but that this miscarried because of America's entry into the war and Germany's inability to send troops to Ireland. An uprising in Ireland was planned for 1918 after the German offensive in the west had been successful and when Great Britain presumably would be stripped of troops.

The discovery of a German-Sinn Fein plot for landing arms in Ireland was made about April of this year, and even after the capture, on April 12, of the German agent who reached Ireland by submarine, munitions were shipped from Cuxhaven in the early part of this month.

Concerning the arrests in Ireland, the statement said that facts and documents, for obvious reasons, could not be disclosed at this time, nor could the means of communication between Germany and Ireland.

DETAILS OF INTRIGUE

With reference to the activities in 1918 the text of the statement was as follows:

Professor de Valera, addressing the convention of the Irish Volunteers on Oct. 27, 1917, said:

"By proper organization and recruiting we could have 500,000 fighting volunteers in Ireland. That would be a big army, but without the opportunity and means for fighting it could only be used as a menace. There already has been too much bloodshed without success, and I would never advocate another rebellion without hopeful chances of success. We can see no hope of that in the near future, except through a German invasion of England and the landing of troops and munitions in Ireland. We should be prepared to leave nothing undone toward that end."

On another occasion in January of this year de Valera said: "As long as Germany is the enemy of England, and England is the enemy of Ireland, so long will Ireland be a friend of Germany."

For some considerable time it was difficult to obtain accurate information as to German-Sinn Fein plans, but about April, 1918, it was ascertained definitely that a plan for landing arms in Ireland was ripe for execution, and that the Germans only awaited definite information from Ireland as to the time, place, and date.

The British authorities were able to warn the Irish command regarding the probable landing of an agent from Germany from a submarine. The agent actually landed on April 12 and was arrested.

The new rising depended largely upon the landing of munitions from submarines, and there is evidence to show that it was planned to follow a successful German offensive in the west and was to take place at a time when Great Britain presumably would be stripped of troops.

According to documents found on his person, de Valera had worked out in great detail the constitution of his rebel army. He hoped to be able to muster 500,000 trained men. There is evidence that German munitions actually had been shipped on submarines from Cuxhaven in the beginning of May, and that for some time German submarines have been busy off the west coast of Ireland on other errands than the destruction of allied shipping.

It will thus be seen that the negotiations between the executive of the Sinn Fein organization and Germany have been virtually continuous for three and a half years. At first a section of Irish-Americans was the intermediary for most of the discussions, but since America's entrance into the war the communication with the enemy has tended to be more direct. A second rising in Ireland was planned for last year, and the scheme broke down only because Germany was unable to send troops.

This year plans for another rising in connection with the German offensive on the western front were maturing, and a new shipment of arms from Germany was imminent.

An important feature of every plan was the establishment of submarine bases in Ireland to menace the shipping of all nations.

In the circumstances no other course was open to the Government if useless bloodshed was to be avoided and its duty to its allies fulfilled but to intern the authors and abettors of this criminal intrigue.

LANDING FROM SUBMARINE

On June 10 it was announced that the man who was put ashore on the west coast of Ireland from a German submarine on April 12, 1918, and who is now a prisoner in the Tower of London, was Lance Corporal J. Dowling of the Connaught Rangers. The collapsible boat in which Dowling was landed was made of canvas with a bottom of twenty-three wooden slats, each four inches wide, making the boat about eight feet long and two feet wide. The canvas sides, about twenty inches high, had an inner lining[Pg 90] rubber fabric, to be blown up from a valve at the rear to give the boat buoyancy. There were loops along the sides in which short wooden braces or struts kept the boat from collapsing. The whole craft when rolled up weighed less than forty pounds. When the buoyancy chambers were pumped full of air the boat would easily support three men.

No effort had been made up to June 20 to put into execution the conscription law in Ireland, notwithstanding there had been a very meagre response to the call for volunteer enlistments.

Ireland's Food Shipments to England

A Limerick correspondent of The London Telegraph, on May 15, 1918, sent that newspaper the following table of Irish food exports to England, with other information not before made public:

Values of Foodstuffs Imported Into and Retained for Consumption in Great Britain from Undermentioned Countries. (Figures for 1917 are not available.)

This shows that for years Ireland's food supply to Great Britain was only exceeded by that of the United States of America, whose people, now fighting with us, probably will want more in future for themselves.

As regards the quantities of foodstuffs exported to Great Britain from Ireland, the following table speaks:

The following shows the quantities of foodstuffs, as nearly as possible, imported from foreign countries and British possessions, and is the latest we could obtain:

It must be remembered that Ireland has now no foreign imports, and has to feed herself as well as help Great Britain. She consumes only one-fourth of her own cattle, and with only 10 per cent. of the population supplies 40 per cent. of the cattle and 30 per cent. of the pigs of the United Kingdom, despite shortage of imported cattle cakes, &c., formerly obtainable. Ireland also, by her position with regard to Great Britain, minimizes loss by U-boats, and by her proximity also makes more trips possible, and consequently more cargoes landed in a short time than is possible by any foreign nation or British possession.

As regards increased tillage, under the 1918 orders it is required that in holdings of over ten acres the area under cultivation this year must be 15 per cent. of the total arable land of the holding, in addition to that under cultivation in 1916, and in the case of holdings of over 200 acres 20 per cent. of the arable area. The result is that at the present time there are well over 1,000,000 more acres under cultivation than in 1916, a large proportion of such cultivation being voluntary. In County Limerick alone the area under corn crops shows an increase of 148 per cent., and that of all green crops, potatoes, mangolds, and turnips, of 33 per cent.

[Pg 91]

New Austro-German Alliance

Official Declarations Regarding It by the Chief Ministers of Both Empires

The official text of the new treaty of alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary—as a result of the meeting of the Emperors, May 12, 1918—was not made public. Baron Burian, Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, made the following declaration regarding it on May 16:

The extension of the alliance, which in long years of peace had deeply penetrated the minds of the peoples and has stood the test of hard times, not only corresponds with what has now become a historic necessity, and is not only an imperative necessity, owing to the fact that Austria-Hungary and Germany, who are surrounded by a ring of common enemies, must firmly hold together in the centre in order to be able to resist the terrible embrace, but it also corresponds with the requirement of all patriotic Austrians, Hungarians, and Germans who think clearly about our future.

Austria-Hungary and Germany do not desire to renew or extend the alliance in order to attack or oppress any one in the world, but to stand by each other when their vital interests are assailed. The new alliance will again be a defensive alliance, which today serves to bring about peace and will in future serve for its preservation. It will show the world that Austria-Hungary and Germany united are not to be beaten, and will convert our opponents to peace by the strength of our will for peace.

Dr. Wekerle, the Premier of Hungary, announced in the Hungarian lower house that the new alliance was a strengthening of the existing alliance and was for a considerable period. He added:

I think that it will be a matter for general approval by Hungarians that our interests are so well looked after, and that they will be maintained by such a proved alliance. This alliance is therefore being renewed, and very naturally it will also extend to those questions which are directly connected with it. Naturally certain military agreements will also be concluded, but these cannot be called a military convention.

Count Michael Karolyi here interjected inquiry, "During the war?" Dr. Wekerle proceeded:

Agreements may be concluded during the war relating to common action and common equipment, but having no connection with army organization as such. We shall in no respect give up our right of decision as regards economic rapprochement. Count Karolyi continually talks about "Central Europe," but "Central Europe" is a very vague idea. No one doubts that closer economic ties are desirable and also possible. I repeat that we shall not give up in a single respect our independent right of decision. The validity of the economic agreement will depend on the approval of the House. War aims were not discussed, for there can be no question of war aims.

The entire alliance aims only at the maintenance of peace in all directions. The alliance can but improve the mutual relations between us allies, but it is not to be regarded in any way as a hindrance to any eventual relations which may be established in the economic domain with other nations; neither is it a hindrance to an eventual entrance into the so-called League of Nations. The guarantee lies in the fact that we have arranged a purely defensive alliance.

ANDRASSY'S VIEWS

Count Julius Andrassy, one of the most influential statesmen of Austria-Hungary, in a public statement discussed the new alliance in detail. He asserted that when Bismarck and the elder Andrassy were negotiating the treaty of alliance in 1879 the Iron Chancellor expressed a wish that the two great powers should conclude a defensive and offensive alliance against every eventuality. Andrassy, however, was absolutely opposed to this, and, being convinced that the German statesman would give way, was determined to break off the negotiations altogether rather than conclude an alliance of such a general character. His view prevailed, Count Julius added, and the treaty was directed exclusively against Russia.

The treaty which was discussed by the[Pg 92] two leading statesmen at Gastein nearly forty years ago, and which has since then directed the events of the world, has served its purpose so well, the Count continued, that it has become superfluous in its old form. "It has smashed the adversary against whom it provided protection." The treaty in its new form, he asserted, is merely an adaptation of the original one to altered conditions. In 1879, he stated, Russian Imperialism was the only common danger for Austria-Hungary and Germany, and it was appropriate therefore that the alliance should be directed against Russia. Now, however, the situation is completely changed, and "the danger against which we must protect ourselves is no longer Russian imperialism but the permanent animosity of, and possible new attacks by, those countries which have endeavored during the last four years, while straining all their forces to the utmost capacity, to annihilate the Central Powers and split them up into their component parts."

PARTITION OF AUSTRIA

The chief aim of those powers, according to Andrassy, is the partition of Austria-Hungary, on the ground that a lasting peace can be assured only by giving autonomy on a democratic basis to the various nationalities composing the Dual Monarchy. "Our present need is thus," he added, "an alliance that will protect us against these dangers of the future as it has protected us in the past." The Hungarian statesman considers it possible also that in course of time the old danger may revive in a new form, for the idea of a union of all Slavs in a Socialist Republican Confederation is the old program of most Russian revolutionaries and agitators. For this reason, too, he contends, the alliance in its new form is imperatively necessary, though the immediate danger has to be met first.

"It is only by holding together those forces which have saved our two empires now," he asserted, "that we can protect ourselves against the future danger that menaces us in the form of a fresh attempt on the part of our adversaries to attain what they are this time unable to attain." The world is today divided into two parts, Count Julius observes, and he declares that it would be illusion and fanaticism to believe that things will be otherwise in the near future. He wishes to make it clear that the Central Powers are not responsible for this, and maintains that the new Dual Alliance is formed to insure that another already existing alliance shall not imperil "our existence and our future." He wishes also to point out most emphatically that the new Dual Alliance, like the old one, is purely defensive.

He believes that when this war is over no nation will be inclined to pursue an aggressive foreign policy, but he, nevertheless, maintains that guarantees must be given that neither of the contracting parties shall be involved in any plans of conquest and hegemony cherished by the other. He insists, furthermore, that the peace concluded with their defeated enemies by the victorious allied Central Powers must manifest clearly that it is no obstacle to the development of an international law which would prevent the waging of war as much as possible, and would settle the armament question on an international basis, and also that this alliance does not wish to continue to fight after peace has been concluded, but will pursue a peaceable policy in every respect; that it does not wish to be exclusive, but is desirous of effecting a friendly rapprochement with the countries today opposed to it.

Finally, he expressed the opinion that the interest of the Dual Alliance requires that "our relationship also with Bulgaria and with Turkey shall be made stable and shall be strengthened."

THE TWO EMPERORS

The following exchange of telegrams between Emperor Karl and the Kaiser was made public on May 15:

At the moment of leaving the favored soil of the German Empire on my way home I feel impelled again warmly to greet you and to express my heartiest thanks not only for the very gracious but also for the truly friendly reception which you gave me yesterday. I am highly satisfied with our harmonious conference. From my heart and in true friendship I say may we soon meet again. Karl.

[Pg 93]

The Kaiser telegraphed in reply:

Many thanks for your friendly telegram. I am exceedingly glad that you are so satisfied with your visit here. It is a great joy to me also to have seen you and to have again established in our detailed discussions our entire accord regarding aims which guide us. Their realization will bring great blessings on our empires. I hope soon to be in a position to take advantage of your kind invitation. Hearty greetings to Zita and yourself. In true friendship. Wilhelm.

CHANCELLOR'S STATEMENT

Count Hertling, the German Chancellor, in a statement regarding the new understanding between the two empires, said that the agreement had not been signed, but the basic ideas had been agreed upon. He added:

The deepening and further development of the work created by the great statesman Bismarck and by Count Andrassy will assuredly have beneficial consequences for Germany and Hungary. I need not specially emphasize the fact that all efforts aiming at the improvement of German and Hungarian relations and at bringing the peoples closer together have my warmest sympathy. M Clemenceau, who indulged in the illusion that he would be able to sever our firm alliance, will now be able to see from the results of the negotiations the fruits of his intrigues. The new Dual Alliance will, in particular, comprise two important sections, namely, the economic and military agreements.

The economic union of Germany and Austria-Hungary is not aimed at any State whatever. I am quite prepared for aggressive intentions and tendencies to be ascribed to us by our opponents, and the watchword given out by the Entente of an economic war after the war against the Central Powers can now go ahead. This assertion, however, is entirely false. We want nothing but our place in the sun. We are quite entitled to harmonize our common interests and to act together. As regards the military side of the discussions, I must emphasize the fact that our agreements for the future have no aggressive character. We only desire the consolidation of our present relations. We also desire to remain just as closely bound together after the war as during the war, which has drawn us together.

If the world should one day unite in an International Peace League Germany would unhesitatingly and joyfully join in. Unfortunately the present conditions give very little hope of that. Our desire is to win and to preserve peace. Our policy has ever been a policy of peace, just as our alliance with the monarchy is a peace alliance; that is, an alliance for the preservation of peace. We are now fighting for our existence and for peace, which we also long for.

I am still optimistic enough to believe that we shall have peace this year. I say "optimistic," as the speeches which we hear from Entente statesmen still talk of crushing the Central Powers. It might have been thought that the attacks on Mr. Lloyd George, which, after all, indicate a strengthening of the peace idea, would have created a better basis for possibilities of peace. That, however, has not been the case. At the moment I cannot say more than that I cherish firm confidence that further events in the west will bring us nearer to a speedy end of the war, and that the alliance of Germany and Austria-Hungary, which has been tested and extended during the war, will then bring renewed prosperity and rich blessings.

The Imprisoned ex-Czar in the Crimea

Djuber Castle, in the Crimea, became the compulsory residence of the Romanoff family in April, 1918, after their removal from Tobolsk, Siberia. A correspondent of the Frankfurter Zeitung who visited the ex-Czar in May gives this account of his new prison home:

"The castle is splendidly situated with a commanding view of the sea. The vicinity is embellished by beautiful residences. Twenty-five Soviet soldiers form the special guard of the former imperial family; armed with rifles and machine guns and hand grenades, they are under the orders of one officer. These soldiers are determined to prevent any attempt at flight, but, on the other hand, they are also firmly resolved to protect the ex-imperial family against any odious attack. Till recently the Romanoffs spent money freely on their garrison, but now they have financial difficulties, and can no longer pay the soldiers so well. The presence of the Soviet soldiers is sometimes irksome to the imperial family, but at times they are also glad to show their appreciation at being protected against the raids of brigands who infest the country. * * * Grand Duke Nicholas refused to be interviewed, declaring that as a private individual he had nothing to say."

[Pg 94]

Exchanging Thousands of Prisoners

Franco-German Agreement, Signed at Berne, Provides for Release of More Than 300,000 Captives

The exchange of certain classes of French, Belgian, and German prisoners, totaling about 330,000, began on May 15, 1918, in accordance with an agreement arranged at Berne, Switzerland, by a conference of French and German delegates held there from April 2 to April 26, and later ratified by both Governments. It was announced at the same time that Italy had completed a similar arrangement.

The news of the Franco-German agreement came as a complete surprise to Great Britain and the other allies, and aroused an instant demand for negotiations looking to a release of British prisoners on similar terms. There was a tendency in some quarters to criticise the French Government for its separate action in the matter. After a lively debate on the subject in the House of Commons on May 28, Lord Newton, head of the Prisoners of War Department, stated that the British Government had "already entered into negotiations with the German Government with a view to arranging a wide scheme of exchange, following, broadly speaking, the agreement recently concluded between France and Germany." On the same day a dispatch from Holland announced that both the British and German Governments had informed the Netherlands Government that they wished to send delegates to The Hague shortly to discuss matters relating to the exchange of prisoners.

TOTALS OF PRISONERS

Between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 prisoners have been taken on both sides since the beginning of the war. The latest exact figures on the subject were published in the Summer of 1917, when the Central Powers held 2,874,271 prisoners, and the Entente Allies held a total of 1,284,050. Germany alone had 1,690,731 prisoners, including 17,474 officers; Austria-Hungary, 1,092,055; Bulgaria, 67,582, and Turkey, 23,903, a total of 2,874,271, of whom 27,620 are officers. This total was made up of the following nationalities:

The British prisoners of war not in Germany were divided between Bulgaria and Turkey.

The prisoners of the Allies, not including 40,000 Austrians and Bulgarians captured by the Serbians and now in Italy or 20,000 Turkish prisoners in Egypt, were distributed as follows:

At the same time Switzerland was sheltering 26,000 interned war prisoners, of whom 16,000 were French, English, and Belgian, while 10,000 were German. In addition, 7,000 relatives were visiting interned men in Switzerland. Most of these interned prisoners will be released by the new agreements, while other thousands will take their place.

FRANCO-GERMAN TERMS

The Franco-German agreement, which, being the first exhaustive document of its kind in this war, will serve as a model for those that follow, provides that all privates and noncommissioned officers who have been prisoners in France and Germany for eighteen months shall be exchanged, man for man and rank for rank, in the order of priority of capture. Officers over 48 years of age are to be released, and certain other classes of officers are to be interned in Switzerland, while the French and Belgian interned soldiers already in Switzerland are to be released. It is estimated that there are 150,000 prisoners on each side who will be exchanged under the Franco-German agreement alone, and as transportation difficulties will prevent the moving of more than 10,000 a month each way, the repatriation of the 300,000 or more who have been in captivity since 1914 will require at least fifteen months. The interned civilians, it is stated, should all be back in their own countries in six months. The release terms are to go on applying to later prisoners as soon as their captivity amounts to eighteen months.

Inhabitants of Picardy who were forced to leave their
homes when the German advance began
(© International Film Service)

A town in France practically wiped out in the German offensive which began on March 21, 1918. The road was cleared subsequently for the passage of British troops
(British Official Photo from Underwood)

[Pg 95]

The status of citizens of occupied territory is profoundly modified by the provisions of the agreement, which expressly stipulate that deportations shall cease. Both sides bind themselves not to use released soldiers or civilians in war work. The validity of Germany's promise on this point was a theme of bitter comment in England when the terms of the French agreement first became known.

SUMMARY OF DOCUMENT

The most important articles in the Franco-German convention, which is very long, may be summarized as follows:

Article 1. Direct repatriation, without regard for rank or numbers, for sub-officers, Corporals, and soldiers who have been in captivity at least eighteen months at the time when this agreement goes into force: (a) who have reached the age of 40 years and are not yet 45, and are fathers of at least three living children; (b) who have reached the age of 45, but are not yet 48.

Art. 2. Direct repatriation, man for man and rank for rank, for sub-officers, Corporals, and soldiers in captivity for at least eighteen months, and not included in any of the classes mentioned in Article 1.

Art. 3. In the exchange provided for in Article 2 no distinction will be made between sub-officers. Corporals will be ranked with them.

Art. 4. Internment in Switzerland, without regard for rank or numbers, for all officers in captivity at least eighteen months: (a) who have reached the age of 40 years and are not yet 45, and are the fathers of at least three living children; (b) who have reached the age of 45 years, but are not yet 48.

Art. 5. Internment in Switzerland, man for man, regardless of rank, for sub-officers in captivity at least eighteen months and not included in the foregoing categories.

Art. 6. The order of priority for repatriation and internment shall be determined by priority of captivity and by equal duration of imprisonment after considering age. If this order cannot be followed exactly, the repatriation of the prisoner who has to remain shall not be delayed beyond two months at most.

Art. 9. Repatriation, without regard to rank or numbers, for officers, sub-officers, Corporals, and soldiers who were taken prisoner prior to Nov. 1, 1916, and who on April 15, 1918, find themselves interned in Switzerland by reason of wounds or illness.

TRANSPORTING PRISONERS

Art. 10. The repatriation of these prisoners shall be effected in the following manner: Each train in either direction shall contain 700 prisoners of war to be exchanged, man for man. Each train coming from Germany, moreover, shall contain 100 French prisoners of war designated in Article 1, and each train from France shall contain 50 German prisoners of the same category, until the total in this class on both sides is exhausted. The repatriation shipments should contain a monthly average of 15 per cent. of noncommissioned officers and 85 per cent. of privates.

Art. 11. At the beginning of each series of ten trains of private soldiers there shall be formed on each side a convoy of 400 officers to be interned in Switzerland in accordance with Article 5. This convoy shall include, besides, 100 French officers coming from Germany and 50 German officers coming from France to be interned under Article 4, until the total on each side is exhausted.

Art. 12. The first two trainloads of officers provided for in Article 11 shall start from Lyons, the third from Constance, the fourth from Lyons, and so on alternately. The first ten trains of private soldiers arranged for under Article 10 shall start from Constance; the ten trains of the second series shall go from Lyons, and so on alternately.

Art. 13. Prisoners of war who do not yet come under the conditions prescribed in Articles 1-5 shall be repatriated or interned in Switzerland, as the case may be, as rapidly as the prescribed conditions are fulfilled.

Art. 14. Officers in sound health who are interned in Switzerland either under the present agreement or under the Berne agreement of March 15, 1918, cannot be repatriated save in exceptional cases and solely for serious illness or accident.

Art. 16. Article 19 of the Berne convention of March 15, 1918, concerning the employment of repatriated soldiers shall be applicable to prisoners benefiting from the present agreement. Released Belgian prisoners can be employed in France under the same conditions as repatriated French prisoners.

Art. 17. All the foregoing provisions are to apply to German prisoners of war captured by Belgian troops and to Belgian prisoners taken by German troops. The Belgian officers, [Pg 96]sub-officers, and soldiers shall be included in the repatriated and interned French groups in the proportion of one Belgian for ten Frenchmen, up to the exhaustion of the number of German war prisoners who were captured by Belgian troops and who come under the foregoing provisions.

Art. 18. In the repatriation and internment of prisoners under Articles 1-5 only men in sound health are to be counted. Ill or wounded prisoners will continue to be repatriated directly or interned in Switzerland under the conditions laid down under Articles 7-18 of the Berne agreement of March 15, 1918.

Art. 20. The provisions contained in Articles 1-19 of the present convention shall cease to be in force on Aug. 1, 1919, if one of the two Governments shall have given notice to that effect to the Swiss Political Department before May 1, 1919.

FOOD FOR PRISONERS

The articles following those just summarized relate to the treatment of prisoners remaining in captivity. The most important are these:

Art. 25. The daily rations of officers must be sufficient in quantity and quality, especially as regards meat, vegetables, and seasoning, after taking into account the food restrictions imposed upon the civil population. The management of food supplies by the prisoner officers themselves is to be favored in every way.

Art. 26. The daily rations allotted to imprisoned privates in Germany and in France must contain a minimum of 2,000 calories for men not working, 2,500 calories for ordinary workers, and 2,850 calories for prisoners doing heavy work.

Art. 27. Prisoners of war shall, in general, receive the same ration of meat as the civil population.

Art. 28. The minimum ration of bread allotted to imprisoned German officers, sub-officers, and soldiers in France is fixed at 350 grams a day. It will be increased to 400 for prisoners working outside the camp. The minimum bread ration allotted to French war prisoners in Germany is the same as that for the civilian population and is never allowed to go below 250 grams.

Art. 29. The German Government authorizes for all war prisoners a collective assignment of bread at the rate of two kilograms (four pounds) of bread per man per week. The providing and distributing of these consignments of food will continue to be assured for all the camps and detachments affected by the present agreement. The provisions are to be sent free and by fast freight. The consignments are to be distributed without any charge whatever and by the most direct and rapid routes available. The empty sacks can be returned to the country of origin.

Art. 33. The provisions of Articles 25-32 are applicable to Belgian prisoners in Germany as well as to German prisoners who have fallen into the power of the Belgian Government and are now in France.

LIBERATING CIVILIANS

The second part of the agreement deals solely with civilian prisoners:

Art. 1. Civilian prisoners, regardless of age or sex, are authorized, upon their own demand and under conditions hereafter stated, to leave the country where they are held; this applies alike to interned persons and to those who have been liberated after a period of internment.

Art. 2. The word internment is to include all civilians who, whatever the cause or date of their commitment, are or have been detained in any place of internment against their will.

Art. 3. Civilians who at the beginning of the war had their domicile or habitual residence either in the State where they are or on the free territory of the other State will be conducted to the Swiss frontier, whence they can proceed to Germany if they come from France or to France if they come from Germany.

Art. 4. Civilians who at the beginning of the war had their homes in a locality of the occupied regions will be sent back there. They can ask to be taken to the Swiss frontier, and the request will be complied with whenever military necessity does not stand in the way. In cases where, for military reasons, the return of such persons to their homes is impossible, the civilians in question shall be sent to the frontier or to another part of the occupied territory, which will be assigned to them, as nearly as possible, in accordance with their wishes.

Art. 5. If a civilian desires to remain in the territory or State where he now is interned, he will be authorized to do so on condition that his residence there shall be permanent.

Art. 9. The civilians interned in Switzerland at the moment when this agreement goes into effect will be freed from internment.

Art. 12. Civilians who return to their country under the present agreement cannot be employed in military service, either at the front, or in the war zone, or in the interior of occupied enemy territory, or in the territories or possessions of an allied State.

Art. 13. The arrangements for the liberation of civilians shall be put into operation immediately after this agreement goes into effect. Reckoning from that date, the transportation ought to be finished in a space of not more than three months for civilians now actually interned and six months for those interned at some time in the past. This transportation will be furnished free.

[Pg 97]

The following articles deal with the population of occupied territory:

Art. 17. The inhabitants of occupied territory cannot be compelled to work, except under the following rules: The work must be done under the best material and moral conditions, with due regard to personal aptitudes, social conditions, sex, age, and the physical status of the workers. Members of a family, so far as possible, must not be separated. Their labors must never involve any obligation to take part in war operations against their own country. Work can be demanded only (a) as service for the needs of the army of occupation, within the limitations laid down in Article 52 of The Hague Convention regarding war on land; (b) with the object of preventing idleness on the part of persons capable of working, who are supported at public expense, and who have refused voluntary employment; (c) with the object of providing, in the absence of other means, for the existence of the population.

Art. 18. Persons compelled to work under Article 17 must be employed, with the exception mentioned, in the locality of their domicile or in its immediate neighborhood. If for military or economic reasons an inhabitant has to be removed from his home in order to put him at work, this removal shall not in any case take him outside the occupied territory, nor shall it bring persons whose residence is more than thirty kilometers from the firing line within the limits of that zone.

Suitable provision shall be made for housing and food for workers who shall receive fair remuneration, and, if need be, medical service. Besides rest periods and normal changes they shall be given permission as often as possible to visit their families, with whom they shall also be allowed to correspond and exchange parcels.

Art. 19. Aside from the cases designated in Article 18, and aside from the case of a total or partial evacuation of a locality for military reasons, an inhabitant of occupied territory cannot be displaced from his home against his will, unless, because of his personal attitude, his presence endangers military security or public order.

Art. 20. No civilian coming from one of the two States can in future be interned in the other State or in the occupied territories. Nevertheless, a civilian who, by reason of his personal attitude, and in the interest of military security or public order, has to be removed from his domicile in occupied territory, can be taken into the territory of the occupying State. The duration of his absence from occupied territory must be limited to a period of strict necessity and must not exceed six months, save in exceptional cases. At the expiration of this period the interested person is authorized to return to the occupied territory, unless the authorities should prefer to conduct him to the Swiss frontier.

The foregoing Franco-German agreement was entered into for an initial period of fifteen months, beginning May 15, 1918, and can be renewed for periods of three months each. A Belgo-German agreement of narrower scope was signed at Berne on March 22, 1918, relating only to civilian prisoners.

Horrors of Austrian Prisons

Inhuman Treatment of Civilian Women and Men at Internment Camps

A correspondent of The London Telegraph who spent three years in captivity in Austria has told of the horrible brutalities and cruelties suffered by interned aliens in that country. He states that there are both stations and camps for the interned prisoners, but the former are employed to exploit the captives; they are more livable than the horrible camps, but to live at a station one is charged three to ten times more for food and lodging than the current rates for citizens, and the prisoners suffer greatly for want of food and decent sanitation.

He describes the experiences of prisoners at a place called Illmau, in lower Austria, as typical of Austrian methods. A party of Englishmen were taken there shortly after they had been arrested in Vienna. They were marched along for about twenty kilometers, carrying their bags or packages. It was very cold, below freezing point, and when at last they arrived at Illmau at dark they were pushed into a kind of cellar, three or four steps below the level of the ground. A soldier locked them in, telling them they could go there and die. It was a place with no windows—only a small hole in[Pg 98] floor. The floor, bare earth, was wet and muddy, water trickling down the walls. For every two men was one straw sack, also damp, of course, and they were so closely packed that they could not lie straight.

During the day it was so dark that they could not see each other's faces. In the morning they were told that, if they wanted to wash, they might go to the pump from which they also got their drinking water. This pump stood in the middle of a manure heap, and could only be reached by wading knee deep through the liquid pool surrounding the manure heap. The quality of the drinking water can be rather imagined than described. The treatment was most rough; the only argument a guard ever used was the butt end of his rifle—if not the bayonet. Not many words were wasted on the "Schweine - Engländer," (Swine - English.)

One day some high officials came to inspect Illmau, and after they had seen the above-ground portion, the Englishmen, who were shut up in their cellar, could hear them asking if no one was shut up in the cellars, as by rights they ought to inspect the cellars, too. But the guard officer assured them on his solemn word of honor that the cellars were empty. And those who were there did not dare to call out—they knew what their punishment would be—"stringing up" at least. This is an old punishment, where the wrists are fettered behind the back, a cord attached and passed through a ring in the wall over the prisoner's head. This cord is then pulled tight, till the man is forced right on to his toes. He is then kept so for about an hour, or till he faints. This was often done at Illmau.

After the Englishmen had been in their wet cellar for a week, and were nearly all ill with the terrible cold, they were told they could go into an upstairs room. These rooms were occupied by Serbs and Poles, nearly all very ill with consumption and very dirty. Each man received a blanket of a kind of checked pattern. When these blankets were hung up in the yard to air it was impossible to recognize their pattern—they were all a crawling mass. The room into which the Englishmen were put was so full that when they lay down at night they were almost one on the top of the other. The consumptives were always expectorating, and "sanitary arrangements" were unknown.

Drosendorf was a camp where, especially during the first months, prisoners endured the greatest hardships. They slept in sheds, in stables, sometimes on wet straw, sometimes without, and were treated as brutally as in other camps. "Here were also some women," says the correspondent, "and a lady I knew personally. When the latter was brought there with other prisoners, male and female, after walking for miles, they were shut into a large room—men and women together. There the 'sanitary arrangements' consisted of a large pail put down in the middle of the room. This lady was kept in this room with the men for some days, and not allowed to leave it. In this camp at present there are principally Russians, and rarely a day passes that a death does not occur from starvation. Here, as also in the large camp of Katzenau, the rations are as follows:

Breakfast.—Tea made of a mixture of dried birch and strawberry leaves, and sixty grams (about two ounces) of bread.

Midday.—Soup made of turnips, or potatoes boiled and served in the water they are boiled in, (no salt or fat,) and another sixty grams of bread.

Evening.—Same as breakfast. At some places the same vessels are used for washing the floors and for boiling the soup.

Estergom in Hungary was at the beginning a much dreaded place. It is surrounded on three sides by the Danube and barbed wire on the fourth. At the beginning there were over 30,000 prisoners—men, women, and children—there, but not sufficient accommodation, so many spent the nights out of doors in the rain and endless mud. Some lived in tents. Of course striking a match in the dark was strictly forbidden, and when once some one did strike one, the guards rushed in, striking about them blindly with their fixed bayonets. Once one unfortunate Scotchman was attacked very badly with dysentery in the middle of the night, and came out to ask the guard to take him to a doctor. The guard simply[Pg 99] ordered him to go back to the tent and be quiet. When the sick man begged again, the guard knocked him down with the butt end of his rifle.

One camp, which was even lately mentioned as a disgrace in the Austrian Parliament, is Thalerhof, near Graz, the capital of Styria. Here they kept principally their own refugees from Galicia.

The London Telegraph correspondent writes of Thalerhof:

"One Polish lady who had been there for eight months is now in Raabs. She was taken away from her own house in Galicia in the clothes she stood in, allowed to take nothing with her. Eventually she reached Thalerhof. Through her sufferings there the poor woman is so broken down that it is almost impossible to get her to speak of what she has been through. A little she told me. When they—she and other ladies, priests, peasants, men of all classes—were brought to Thalerhof, the ladies (not the peasant women) were told they must come and bathe. It was many degrees below freezing point, but they were taken to a shed, open all round, down the middle of which a long row of troughs half filled with dirty water was arranged. The water had already been used by soldiers for washing their clothes. Then they were ordered to undress.

"The soldiers with fixed bayonets surrounded these ladies, while they completely undressed in the open, and forced them to bathe in the troughs, threatening them with fixed bayonets all the time and torturing them with coarse jokes. The low-class women were left quiet, not forced to bathe like this. After the bath was over they were shut up in a room crowded with people full of vermin. The ladies were always chosen for the dirty work—never the peasant women, just as the priests were set to clear up the 'sanitary arrangements,' which there consisted of a long open ditch with a board along one side of it.

CIVILIANS KIDNAPPED

"At the beginning they had a cruel way of arresting people. They would march them off as they stood, not letting them communicate with wives or friends or relatives. I know of one lady who for about two months did not know where her husband was, while he knew just as little about her. Two Serbian ladies, mother and daughter, who had also been at Salzerbad, had been staying at a little watering place in Dalmatia, where they had gone for many years. One evening, when they were only dressed in cotton dressing gowns, they were asked by an official to come down to a steamer lying at the wharf. Only for a few minutes, he said; there were just a few questions to be asked. So they went just as they were, and went on the boat with several others; some one began to ask them questions, when, to their horror, they noticed the ship was moving. They were taken right away, as they were. At every port they stopped and brought in others in the same way.

"In Fiume they landed, were handcuffed two and two, and marched through the streets to the prison. There the daughter and her 65-year-old mother, who had been also handcuffed, spent the night in a cell, with only two upright chairs in it. Next day they and all the other prisoners collected up to then were packed into third-class carriages, packed as close as they would go, and in each compartment two soldiers, fully accoutred, with fixed bayonets, and smoking like chimneys. Although it was hot Summer, all the windows were kept shut. In this way they were brought to Marburg—a journey of some four or five hours in ordinary time—but they took two days for it. All this time they had nothing to eat. People came to the train selling things; but, as all their money had been taken away from them on the boat, they could get nothing. In Marburg they were put in the prison, and kept there for eight months."

[Pg 100]

Abuses in German Prison Camps

Examples of Heartless Treatment

Quartermaster Sergeant T. Duggan of the First Coldstream Guards, who was at the prison camp at Schneidemühl (Posen) from 1914 to March, 1918, described the horrors at that camp as follows:

Prisoners of all nationalities, Russians, French, British, and Belgians, were kept there, the majority being Russians. At the beginning they lived in holes in the ground without any covering whatever. Quartermaster Sergeant Duggan showed me a photograph illustrating this condition of things, which lasted for some time, it being a month before the prisoners had any covering over their heads. The food was so bad that the British could never eat it.

About December, 1914, a typhus epidemic began. It continued for four or five months. Schneidemühl has one camp divided into three inclosures, the whole camp containing about 40,000 prisoners. The daily average of deaths was certainly not under thirty. Another photograph was shown to me depicting a long procession of coffins during the epidemic. A gigantic German carrying a rifle headed the procession, which was mainly composed of unfortunate Russian prisoners. Anything more pathetic cannot be imagined. Photographs were also shown me of the actual funeral service and place of interment. These photographs showed many being buried at one time in one long trench. After the interment, where the bodies were deposited four deep, one above another, the Germans made mounds surmounted by crosses, intimating that only two persons were buried beneath each mound.

It is impossible to estimate now how many were buried altogether, but many thousands died from this typhus epidemic. When the epidemic broke out a terrible condition of affairs quickly ensued, and it was not until it had been raging for a fortnight that Russian doctors arrived on the scene. Some of the patients were then first sent to hospital. The camp's condition, even after the doctors' arrival, was perfectly awful.

A British merchant Captain, who was released in May from internment in a German camp, asserted under oath that after his ship was torpedoed he was locked up for twenty-four hours in the U-boat for refusing to answer questions. On the following day he was searched, and for still refusing to answer was sentenced to be shot on reaching port, or before if he should cause any annoyance. One of the principal officers called him a liar and an English swine.

Some days later the submarine put into Heligoland, and the Captain was transferred to an underground cell ashore. Later, after scanty and bad food had made him ill, he was marched with other prisoners from merchant ships to a camp. Kept naked in intense cold for three hours while his clothes were being searched, German officers stood about laughing. His garments were returned to him wet, and he was put in barracks, where his only covering was verminous blankets.

In another compound the conditions were better, but the food uneatable. The prisoners were skeletons in rags. If they fell down from weakness they were kicked and clubbed, beaten with the flat of swords, and kept standing at attention in freezing weather. They had to fight like wild beasts for food that a dog would refuse. Funerals were a daily occurrence.

Transferred to Brandenburg, where he lived five and a half months, the fare was such that, by the time his own parcels of food arrived, he had lost twenty-eight pounds in weight. Twenty degrees of frost have been registered on the inside wall of the barrack in the mornings, and in Summer the heat was intolerable and the flies and mosquitos very trying. Sanitation was almost nil; 850 Russians died at that camp earlier in the war, and several were burned to death there shortly before the Captain arrived.

[Pg 101]

Rebuilding Disabled Soldiers

Wonderful Work That Italy Is Doing to Render Maimed Men Self-Supporting

By PROFESSOR RICCARDO GALEAZZI

[Lieutenant Colonel Italian Royal Medical Corps]

Professor Galeazzi is at the head of the Milan Institute for the After-Care of Disabled Soldiers. The article herewith presented is published by Current History Magazine by arrangement with The London Chronicle.

Our idea is that the future prospects of a disabled soldier must not be built upon his assurance of obtaining a pension, but upon the rebuilding of him physically, and the retraining of him technically, to take up a self-supporting position in life.

Therefore, there must be no scrapping of the broken soldier. When we bring him from the battlefield, and find that a limb or limbs have to be amputated, the soldier thus wounded is placed in a special category, and we cannot discharge him from the army until every care has been taken to rebuild him physically, morally, and professionally. Then, having given him his limbs and his re-education gratuitously, we also give him gratuitously whatever implements or machinery may be necessary for him to practice his new trade. Not until then do we put him on his new road of life.

The organization for the different stages of this treatment is interesting. In Italy each army corps has its special province or district. And each of those geographical sections has a complete organization for the care of the disabled. There is the surgical hospital, the orthopedic institute, and the school for retraining the soldier in whatever trade he may be capable of following.

When the amputation wound is sufficiently healed in the surgical hospital, we give the soldier a month's leave, fitting him with a temporary limb for use during that time. When the month is out—that is, before he has had time to get into lazy habits at home or suffer from the effects of misdirected sympathy—he must enter the school for the re-education disabled. To this school is also attached the orthopedic institution. Here he has his definite set of limbs fitted. A plaster cast is taken and each limb is made with particular individual care; and during the first weeks of its use the soldier is under the constant supervision of the doctors, so that they can alter the artificial limbs according as any defects become manifest.

I may also say, for it is an important point, that the limbs made for the common soldier are the same as those made for the Colonel, and the one gets them gratis just as the other does. Not only that, but we have a National Institute whose duty is to take care of these limbs, renew them and alter them free of cost, as long as the soldier lives.

What are the limbs like? Well, for instance, even where a man has lost both hands, we have fitted artificial ones which enable him to write with pen or pencil, to use knife and fork, to button his clothes, and to shave with a safety razor. Thus we get rid of the constant depression from which a soldier would otherwise suffer were he to feel dependent upon some friend for every hand's turn in his daily life.

One of the great sources of success in applying these limbs is the special Italian system, the theory of which was laid down by Vanghetti, of making the amputation so that the muscles from the living part of the arm can be attached in such a way to the artificial limb as to get an organic muscular connection. Thus the natural muscles of the living arm actually can be got to work the artificial fingers or leg, as the case may be. I have made several of these connections[Pg 102] full success. And the system is now becoming almost the rule all over the country. It is a special Italian invention, though some of the German professors want to claim the credit for it.

The most important feature, however, of our Italian system is the insistence on retraining. If the soldier's disablement does not allow him to follow his ordinary calling in life, and if he be not of independent means, he is absolutely bound to spend at least a month or six weeks in the training school. There he is asked to choose a trade or calling in keeping with his physical ability. We keep him for at least about six weeks, and show him the whole system in working order. Of course, if he cannot be persuaded, we must allow him to go home, for, after all, we are a free country. But when he remains he is put through a thorough course of training.

During these first weeks in the school the new limbs are fitted, for the school works in connection with the orthopedic institute. In the school we teach the illiterate peasants to read and write. We teach all sorts of designing and drawing, all commercial subjects, all the artisan trades, and also technical farming. Generally we give preference to these trades that can be practiced at home; and we do not encourage largely such trades as would call for work in large factories. In the case of farmers or farm laborers, who are too seriously injured to undertake the heavy work in the fields, we teach them the finer technique of vine culture, wine making, cheese making, &c.

And it generally happens that these disabled men return to life better fitted for their work than they were before the war.

Sneezing Powder in Gas Attacks

A report from a correspondent on the Picardy front, dated May 6, 1918, described how the Germans launched a heavy gas attack against the Americans, sending over within a short period 15,000 shells, containing chiefly mustard gas. This attack was notable for a new German device, which is described as follows:

The Germans introduced gas warfare, forcing modern soldiers to wear gas masks. Now after the use of masks has proved an effective weapon against gas they are using a new weapon to force the allied soldiers to take off masks that they may be easily killed by lethal phosgine and diphosgine gases.

The weapon is nothing more or less than sneezing powder fired in high explosive shells. This powder percolates through mask respirators and brings on sneezing spells which lead the men to take off their masks and to receive the full effect of lethal gases. It has been used against the Americans. The method in use is to fire a number of sneezing powder shells just before a gas attack or to scatter them along among lethal gas shells.

The German now uses his gases in four methods: First, clouds, which depend on a favorable wind; second, projectors, also depending on the wind; third, long-range artillery gas shells, and, fourth, hand grenades. Deadly gases, such as phosgine and diphosgine, are used in short-range guns, while neutralization gas, intended only to prevent activities of allied soldiers far back of the lines, is used at long range. Mustard gas is much used in this way. The latest perfection in the use of lethal gases is to fire twelve or more mortars shooting large-calibre shells at the same time by an electrical arrangement, thus producing great concentration.

[Pg 103]

Russia Under Many Masters

A Month's Events Amid the Chaos Produced by Bolshevist Misrule and German Invasion

The State Department at Washington on May 16, 1918, published the text of a protest to Germany made by the Russian Government on April 26. The document opened with the following statement: "The Russian Government has taken every measure possible strictly to fulfill the Brest- Litovsk treaty from the Russian side, and in this way to secure for our people the chief aim of this treaty—a state of peace. But in reality no such state of peace exists." The message then enumerated the grievances of the Russians. It pointed out that by advancing upon Kursk and Voronezh the German and Ukrainian troops infringed the Russo-Ukrainian frontier line, "which was one-sidedly established by the Ukrainian Rada itself, and officially made known to us by the German Government." At the same time, the protest said, Russian military property in Finland was being seized by the White Guards, operating in agreement with German detachments and under instruction from the German staff.

The document also called attention to the fact that, although the Soviet authorities had declared their readiness to open peace negotiations with the Ukrainian Central Rada, neither the Ukrainian Government, "which is now directed by Germany," nor the Berlin Government itself, had given any answer to the Russian offer. "Owing to such circumstances," the message declared, "the Soviet Government considers itself compelled to mobilize all necessary forces in order to secure the freedom and independence of the Russian Republic, which is now menaced beyond the limits established by the Brest-Litovsk treaty." The document concluded by reiterating the complete readiness of the Russian people to fulfill the conditions of the Brest-Litovsk pact, and by demanding the German Government should formulate the new demands, "in the name of which it directs Ukrainian, Finnish, and German troops against the Russian Soviet Government."

GERMAN PROMISES

In response to this protest, Berlin, on May 13, advised the Soviet Government through the Russian Ambassador in Berlin, that Germany would stop the invasion of Russian territory, and that it would observe the Brest-Litovsk treaty and restore the rights of Russians residing in Germany. In spite of this assurance, however, the advance of the German Army in Great Russia did not cease. According to a Moscow dispatch, dated May 25, the Germans occupied the district town of Valuyki, in the Government of Voronezh, which is Great Russian territory, and made further advances. The occupation was preceded by a battle which lasted four days. The Teutons also continued their operations in the Don region, where a battle occurred near Bataisk, and in the Caucasus. They mined the Strait of Kerch, or Yenikal, known to the ancients as the Cymmerian Bosporus, which is the only passage from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov. German airships appeared over Novorossysk, on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, and their submarines entered its port. This was done apparently to intimidate the Transcaucasian Government, which refused to cede Novorossysk to Turkey. About the same time Bolshevist detachments crossed the Caspian, attacked the Turks and recaptured the port of Baku. Another battle was won by the Russians over the Turco-German troops in the Kars district of Transcaucasia on May 24. The enemy retreated along the Ardahan road, massacring the population as they went.

Early in June the Germans made a [Pg 104]further advance in the south, namely, in the Roslav region and in the district of Rylsk, Government of Kursk. They advanced from the Rostov Railway toward Voronezh and captured Roventki. They also made an attempt to cut the Tsaratsyk Railway near the Kumyigar River. On June 10 the Germans started a new movement eastward along a front sixty miles wide, between Valyiki, captured previously, and Zhukovo.

BLACK SEA FLEET

A large part of the Russian Black Sea fleet fell into the hands of the Germans when they captured Sebastopol, but two large ships and two destroyers escaped. A telegram to the Berliner Tageblatt, dated May 12, said that the majority of the captured vessels had been so neglected that only two battleships were in good condition. One dreadnought and four cruisers had previously been captured at Odessa. On June 6, the Moscow Government offered to surrender the Black Sea fleet to Germany on the following conditions: 1. The ships to be restored after the war is over. 2. Germany to refrain from using the vessels. 3. Invasion of Russia to stop.

According to a memorandum sent on May 21 by Foreign Minister Tchitcherin to the Bolshevist Ambassador Joffe in Berlin, Russian merchantmen and even a hospital ship were attacked by the Germans in the Black Sea, and the menace of German attack constituted a serious obstacle to navigation in the Baltic and Arctic.

On June 6, Germany delivered an ultimatum to the Soviet Government, demanding the return of the remainder of the Russian Black Sea Fleet from Novorossysk to Sebastopol, as a condition for the cessation of hostilities on the part of the Central Powers. The Commissary for Foreign Affairs expressed himself in favor of acceding to the demand, and Lenine ordered the surrender of the ships.

The Soviet Government had no illusions as to the stability of the Brest-Litovsk peace, but in its opinion the time for a new clash with the Central Powers was not yet ripe. Consequently, in the of German aggression, it pursued a policy of preserving this "bad peace" by all manner of concessions and compromises.

The tasks which the Soviet Government were facing were outlined by Nikolai Lenine in several speeches made before the Central Executive Committee of the Councils, in the middle of May. His words were to the effect that war was threatening the Soviet Republic from many quarters. Either of the belligerent groups of imperialistic powers might, in his opinion, at any moment attack Russia. The ambitions of Skoropadsky and of the new Caucasian Government, which was under the influence of German militarism, was regarded as another source of danger. "We shall do the little we can," said Lenine, "all that diplomacy can do to put off the moment of attack. * * * We shall not defend the secret agreements which we have published to the world; we shall not defend a 'Great Power,' for there is nothing of Russia left but Great Russia, and no national interests, because for us the interests of the world's socialism stand higher than national interests. We stand for the defense of the socialistic fatherland."

Lenine professed belief that this defense was facilitated by the profound schism which divided the capitalistic Governments, by the fact that "the German bandits" were pitted against "the English bandits," and that there were economic rivalries between the American bourgeoisie and the Japanese bourgeoisie. "The situation is," said Lenine, "that the stormy waves of imperialistic reaction, which seem ready any moment to drown the little island of the Soviet Socialist Republic, are broken one against another." It was his intention to take full advantage of this situation, and to keep Russia out of the war for as long a time as possible, with a view to curing her economic wounds and building up her military power for the coming clash with world capitalism. Economic recuperation, in the largest sense of the word, was thus declared to be the immediate problem of the revolution. The expropriation of capital became a matter of [Pg 105]secondary importance in comparison with the task of consolidating the gains of the proletariat and putting them to good use. "We have accomplished two tasks," said Lenine in concluding his speech before the Central Executive Committee on May 16. "We have seized the power, and we have divided it among all Russia. We point to the realization of the third and most difficult task, namely, the disciplining of the proletariat to such a degree that every corner of Russia shall be permeated thereby."

NO PEACE WITH UKRAINE

The Bolshevist Government made efforts to come to terms with the Ukraine, and also with Finland. In the middle of May a Russian peace delegation arrived in Kiev. Germany appointed Baron Mumm von Schwarzenstein, Ambassador to the Ukraine, as its representative to the peace conferences, with almost dictatorial powers, especially in questions relating to boundaries. The efforts of the Soviet Government to make peace with the Ukraine remained ineffectual. The delegates were unable to agree regarding the frontier line. Repatriation of Ukrainians living in Great Russia was another stumbling block. The removal of property by repatriated Ukrainians, it was objected, would conflict with the Soviet regulation allowing only small sums of money to be exported from Russia. Besides, said the Bolsheviki, this would give propertied Russians a simple means of escape from the Soviet Republic.

According to a London dispatch, dated June 7, Germany was responsible for the delay in the negotiations. The German command at Kiev was reported to have declared Russo-Ukrainian peace inopportune before all important points in the Ukraine were occupied.

It was reported on June 10 that Germany and Russia had entered into an agreement under which Finland ceded to Russia the fortresses of Ino and Raivola, with the understanding that they were not to be fortified, while Russia surrendered to Finland a part of the Murman Peninsula, with an outlet to the ocean, thus bringing German influence to Russia's arctic ports and to the railroads connecting them with the interior of the country.

INTERNAL CONDITIONS

Upon the whole, conditions in Russia showed no signs of improvement. Famine existed in Petrograd and in other, particularly urban, districts of Great Russia, while civil war was still raging in Siberia and in some parts of European Russia. According to information made public by the State Department at Washington on May 21, cholera broke out in Astrakhan and in the Caspian Sea region. Observers of Russian life also noted the growing moral laxity of the population and its complete indifference to public affairs.

Reports from Eastern and Central Russia indicated that in many districts less than half the usual acreage was plowed. This was attributed to the shortage of seed, horses, and implements. Even where seed was available the peasants, uncertain of the disposition of the land and the crops, did not plant extensively. Breadstuffs were scarce even in grain centres, and prices were very high. The attitude of the farmers to the city people continued to be one of distrust and hostility, and the exodus of the city dwellers into the country continued.

A recent article in Maxim Gorky's daily Novaia Zhizn (New Life) speaks of the conditions prevailing in the Russian village in the following terms:

All those who have studied the Russian village of our days clearly perceive that the process of demoralization and decay is going on there with remarkable speed. The peasants have taken away the land from its owners, divided it among themselves, and destroyed the agricultural implements. And they are getting ready to engage in a bloody internecine struggle for the division of the booty. In certain districts the population has consumed the entire grain supply, including the seed. In other districts the peasants are hiding their grain underground, for fear of being forced to share it with starving neighbors. This situation cannot fail to lead to chaos, destruction, and murder.

The article gives also a glimpse of what is going on in the remnants of the Russian Army:

There are numerous reports to the effect[Pg 106] that the soldiers are dividing among themselves the military property of the country and committing unspeakable acts of violence. Wild rumors are current about the troops returning from Asia Minor. It is said that they have brought with them into the Crimea a large number of "white slaves" and that there is in Theodosia a veritable slave market. The supply is so great that the price has fallen from 100 or 150 rubles to 15 or 30 rubles apiece.

RUSSIA A MADHOUSE

A terrible picture of the chaos in Russia is given by an educated woman in Petrograd, the daughter of a Russian diplomat formerly in Washington, and the widow of an officer in the Russian Army. To a former classmate in the United States she wrote:

It was bad enough before the March revolution, when our unhappy, half-witted Emperor, under the influence of his German wife, seemed to do everything possible to make people lose patience. But now we have a thousand anonymous potentates, the top ones paid by Germany, and the lower ones lured into supporting them by money, money, and money.

The present Government has abolished all laws, all courts, the police, land ownership, all private real estate in towns, all distinction of castes and grades in the army and navy. They have seized all the banks, are opening all the private safes, and confiscating all gold and silver found therein, though it had never been said before that it was criminal to have it. Of course, everything they "decree" is so mad that it is quite sure not to last forever, but the chaos they make will take centuries to forget. The country is going back to a savage state. And we will not live to wait for better times.

All Russia is suffocating—every day brings new surprises that show that there is but one way out of it—the grave. On the ground of liberty they abolish all laws, Judges, attorneys, and substitute for it "people's courts of justice," with only soldiers, workmen or peasants, often quite illiterate and always without the slightest knowledge of court proceedings, taking the places of the former judiciary.

On the same ground they abolish all police, let loose all the criminals from the prisons, arm them, constituting from their number, together with workmen, deserters and hooligans, a "red guard," and fill the prisons to their utmost with all those who crave for order and will not work together with them toward the total ruin of the country.

On the pretense of equality they abolish all grades in the army and navy and make all posts elective by the simple soldiers. In most places it is understood as complete extermination, lynching of the officers, who, for being better educated, are under suspicion of being "counter-revolutionary." The highest posts are occupied by elected soldiers who very often can hardly sign their names, and the former officers are made simple soldiers, with a soldier's pay of $3.50 a month, and ordered to the lowest tasks, cleaning of the barracks, cooking food, taking care of the horses.

Our great country could only exist when all the wheels of the Government were working in harmony. Now everything is a perfect chaos. Everybody was willing to throw over the Czaristic Government, but not in order to change it for this one, of loot, anarchy, and treason toward our allies! Ah, the shame, the disgrace, and the folly of it!

LOOTING AND DESTROYING

The army, which now consists of young boys, (the regular one is long ago killed,) without any sense of duty, morals, and discipline, see their acquired "freedom" in the freedom to go home when they want to. And so all the trains, all the stations, are attacked and destroyed by this horde of savages, who kill engineers, if it seems to them the train goes too slowly, who martyrize the railway agents who tell them of the impossibility of starting their train, for there is another one coming toward them on the same track. As this human flood goes home without any organization, everything is looted and destroyed.

Some months ago I was believing myself to be quite well off. I have a house in Petrograd. Last Spring I was offered $125,000 for it, but was advised not to sell and go over to America to have my little girl become a happy American school girl. Now—I have on hand about $2,000 and no other resources; the house, like other private property, is being confiscated, the revenue going to the Government, that is to say, to the private pockets of the usurpers. The Government bonds annulated (repudiated)—and even if I had more money—believe me—there is nothing to buy.

Life in Petrograd is horrible—all the criminals, all the workmen, and demoralized soldiers rob the few cars that still bring some kind of products. In the very heart of the city, in daytime, you have your clothes taken off your back literally. Just think that there is no police, nobody to call for help, for those who would like to help have had their firearms confiscated, even the officers, even the highest Generals. All the soldiers, &c., are armed[Pg 107] them to come into your private lodging and, under the pretense of "perquisition," take away all your money and valuables.

Our money is not accepted anywhere abroad. Russia is bankrupt, so that it is impossible to escape. All my friends and relatives are in the same awful position. Everybody lives on his last money, even those who were quite rich. Their money was in Government or private bonds, and, as they are declared void, where will you get money from? My poor mind cannot grasp the whole thing; it is too great a madness. My only chance to save my little girl's life and my own would be to get away from here and go to the United States. Here, if we do not die in the next months, we will be slaves, regular slaves, of our lowest classes.

RAILROAD SITUATION

Some light was shed on the railroad situation in Russia by the report made on June 2 to the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets by the Assistant Commissioner of Railroads. The percentage of disabled locomotives, he stated, was about 30, that of crippled cars being higher. In 1917 Russia had 560,000 cars and upward of 20,000 locomotives. The Germans seized a large number of cars and locomotives. Nevertheless, there was no scarcity of rolling stock, for the mileage had been reduced from 45,000 to 35,000. The general conclusion of the report was that the situation had slightly improved, especially in Siberia.

On April 22, Leon Trotzky made a report to the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets on the newly organized Russian Army. He defended the employment of officers of the old army on the ground that they were just as valuable as the military property taken over by the Soviet Government, and pointed out the eventual necessity of conscription. According to a London dispatch, dated June 8, the Soviet Government decided to introduce conscription. "One of the most promising things," said a Bolshevist diplomat in an interview on June 5, "is the steady growth of the new Red army. Its discipline already is better than that of the old one. Its members have so far been recruited from town and factory workers. * * * We take measures to provide for military training in villages and towns and all necessary steps toward raising the fighting capacity of our new army, which already is by no means negligible."

BOLSHEVIKI AND THE JEWS

A statement bearing on the situation of the Russian Jews under the Bolshevist régime was issued by the celebrated Russian jurist and former Senator, Oscar Grusenberg, and made public on June 10. The document follows:

Those who think that the Jews are at present ruling Russia are profoundly mistaken. The new laws, or rather administrative regulations, which the Bolsheviki have promulgated, have hurt the Jewish population more than other citizens, for the Bolshevist legislation has ruined the commerce and industry of the country.

After the Bolshevist insurrection we lived through events similar to those of October, 1905. In October, 1917, pogroms occurred in 200 Jewish towns and hamlets.

The tragedy of the Jews in Russia is heart-breaking. The united Russian Jewry, counting upward of 6,000,000, exists no longer. With the secession of the Ukraine, Lithuania, and Poland, the number of Jews in Russia is reduced to a million and a half. The situation of the Jews in the Ukraine, and particularly in Poland and Lithuania, under German domination, is very sad. The Jews have lost in this war, in killed and wounded, the majority of their youth. A great many Jewish soldiers are pining in prison camps, others are locked up in jails on slanderous charges of treason.

The Jews are almost the only nationality in Russia which, by every means available, is seeking to arrest the process of splitting up the Russian Empire, and which works for the reunion of the portions that have seceded.

Hundreds of thousands of Russian Jews were ruined at the moment when the Bolsheviki took over the Governmental power. The population visited its wrath on the Jews, because some of the Bolshevist leaders are or are said to be Jews. But the Russian Empire has been demoralized, not by the Jews, but by the old régime. Russia lacks great leaders with heroic characters, who know how to act in an hour of distress. This made possible the triumph of men like Lenine and Trotzky.

The Jewish leaders of the Bolsheviki are themselves a product of the old régime. Czarism persecuted and exiled them. Education they were forced to seek [Pg 108]abroad, and there, in foreign lands, they lost all connection with and love for Judaism and Russia. Every country is to them but a railroad station. It is these former Jews and present Bolshevists that are responsible for the appalling misery which has befallen the Russian Jews.

ANTI-BOLSHEVIST MOVEMENTS

An official French dispatch received in Washington on May 16 asserted that the opposition to the Soviet régime was growing stronger. On June 2 a Russian wireless message announced the discovery of a vast counter-revolutionary conspiracy, with ramifications throughout the country. Moscow was declared in a state of siege, a large number of persons were arrested, and stringent measures were taken to restrain the press. Boris Savinkov, Chief of the War Department under Kerensky, and Prince Kropotkin, the famous revolutionist and writer, were reported to have taken part in the conspiracy. A week later a Moscow dispatch reported that factory workers were boycotting Soviet delegates, that some provincial towns elected anti-Bolshevist Deputies to the Soviets, and that a general political strike appeared imminent.

In the middle of May the Central Committee of the Russian Social Revolutionary Party addressed to the National Council of the French Socialist Party and to the Parliamentary Socialist group the following message:

The Bolshevist Government, which exists but by the grace of our German masters, assumes, under the pressure of Germany's Ambassador, a provoking attitude toward the allied powers, and particularly toward France, addressing to them insulting ultimatums which are in striking contrast with the servile docility they manifest in executing the orders of German imperialism. The Russian Social Revolutionary Party sends its socialist greetings to the French section of the Labor International, and protests against the spirit of the foreign policy of the present dictators of Russia.

The Social Revolutionary Party declares at the same time that the newly formed Communist group, formerly Bolsheviki, must on all accounts be excluded from the International for having called upon the most elementary principles of democracy to resuscitate forms of despotism and violence. They have betrayed the cause of international socialism by an infamous separate peace with the crowned despots of Central Europe, transforming Russia, disarmed, humiliated, and crushed, into an administrative supply house destined to sustain the German offensive in the west.

The Social Revolutionary Party expresses the hope that all the national sections of the Labor International will determine their attitude as regards the Bolshevist usurpers, taking into consideration this declaration of our party, which itself has the right to speak for all Russian labor, having held an absolute majority in the Constitutional Convention, whose powers will be resuscitated in spite of the sanguinary repressions made by the usurpers of power. We beg our French comrades to send this declaration to the Socialist parties of the allied countries.

FIGHTING IN SIBERIA

Armed opposition to the Soviet Government was confined chiefly to Eastern Siberia. In the first week of June clashes occurred in Transbaikalia between the Government troops and the anti-Bolshevist forces led by General Semenoff. The Soviet troops were apparently mastering the situation. It was reported that they included armed Teuton prisoners, and that General Semenoff was expecting Japanese reinforcements. The other leaders of anti-Bolshevist forces, Admiral Kolchak, Colonel Orloff, and General Kalmakoff, co-operated in protecting the railways and massed their troops, which include Russians and Chinese, for an offensive. The Soviet Government repeatedly protested to China against the assistance it had given to General Semenoff, requesting that the Chinese Government should either close the Manchurian frontier to the General's forces or permit the Bolshevist troops to cross into Manchuria and subdue the rebel. On May 25 Ambassador Francis published a statement from Secretary Lansing to the effect that American Consuls had given no aid to General Semenoff, or any other anti-Bolshevist leader. The message contained an assurance of "the friendly purposes of the United States toward Russia, which will remain unaltered so long as Russia does not willingly accept autocratic domination by the Central Powers."

Late in May a new Government appeared[Pg 109] the south of Russia. It claimed to represent the regions of Don, Kuban, Terek, Astrakhan, and Northern Caucasus, and was emphatically Bolshevist in its orientation. It was headed by a dictator, General Krasnoff, who had served under Kerensky up to the fall of the Provisional Government. His manifesto declared that the Don Government was a sovereign State, at war with the Soviet Republic, and on friendly terms with the Ukraine. This manifesto contained the following statement: "Yesterday's foreign foes, the Austro-Germans, have entered our territory in alliance with us to fight against the Red Guard and for the establishment of order on the Don."

Another anti-Bolshevist Government was formed, early in June, in Eastern Siberia. The new State, which proclaimed itself an independent republic, purported to include the entire territory stretching from Lake Baikal to the Pacific, as well as the district of Irkutsk and the Island of Sakhalin, comprising a population of 2,500,000.

Violent clashes occurred between the Soviet forces and the Czechoslovak troops, which had joined the Russian Army to fight for the allied cause. The Czechoslovaks defeated the Soviet army, which was trying to enforce Trotzky's order to disarm them, seized the railway stations at Penza, on the Volga, in an effort to force their way to Vladivostok, and penetrated into the Ural region.

DISMEMBERING RUSSIA

During the month under record Germany made further steps in pursuance of her policy of subjugating the membra disjecta of the former Russian imperium.

On May 13 it was reported that Berlin planned to turn Lithuania into a "semi-federal" German State. The next day Emperor William issued a proclamation declaring Lithuania a free and independent State, on the basis of the action of the Lithuanian Landsrat, which, on Dec. 12, 1917, had announced "the restoration of Lithuania as an independent State, allied to the German Empire by an eternal, steadfast alliance, and by conventions chiefly regarding military matters, traffic, customs, and coinage, and solicited the help of the German Empire." The declaration assumed that Lithuania would "participate in the war burdens of Germany, which secured her liberation." According to information made public by the State Department at Washington, the Germans were forcing the Lithuanian peasants to work for the landowners at a starvation wage and were taking stringent measures against city workers.

Similar conditions prevailed in Livonia. A message sent on May 21 by Tchitcherin to Ambassador Joffe stated that the Germans had created a reign of terror there, persecuting labor and assisting the Barons in suppressing their political adversaries.

In the Ukraine the Germans disarmed the troops of the overthrown Rada and backed Skoropadsky's dictatorial régime with bayonets. Sporadic uprisings of peasants against the Teutons continued. In the Province of Kiev the Germans used gas bombs against several revolted villages, and whole communities were asphyxiated. Revolts also broke out in the Governments of Podolia and Poltava. Resistance was offered mainly in connection with German food requisitioning. It was reported that the Germans had twelve army corps in the Ukraine. In the middle of May the Central Powers granted a loan of 4,000,000 marks to the Ukraine.

GERMAN ATROCITIES

The German atrocities in White Russia are thus described in a Russian Government dispatch received in London on May 14:

In the Bobrinsk district entire villages have been set afire and plundered. In the village of Buda a Uhlan patrol extorted a contribution of several thousand rubles, and, when the peasants had paid part of it and were unable to pay more, the Uhlans surrounded the village and bombarded it.

In other villages peasants, women, and children who endeavored to escape from fires were pursued by Uhlans and cut to pieces with swords or flogged with whips. In one village an old Jew was first flogged and then hanged in the presence of all the villagers. Most savage acts were perpetrated in Jewish villages. All [Pg 110]persons suspected of belonging to the Bolsheviki and those in military uniforms were immediately shot.

In Finland the Germans helped the White Guards to suppress the revolution, and strengthened their grip on the country. Some of the captured Red Guards were shot—7,000 were reported executed on June 6—others were to appear before twenty-one specially created courts. The reprisals of the White Guards were directed particularly against the Russians in Finland. A Russian wireless, dated May 14, contained the following statements: "Even 12-year-old children have been shot. At Viborg one witness saw 200 corpses, mainly Russian officers and mere schoolboys. According to other witnesses, more than 600 persons were executed in two days." The German headquarters in Finland estimated the number of persons massacred at 70,000. The Finnish High Court of Justice ordered the arrest of all Socialist members of the Finnish Diet. In contravention of the Brest-Litovsk treaty, the German commander demanded the control of the Russian war supplies at Helsingfors, which were valued at 150,000,000 rubles.

On June 12 the Finnish Government introduced into the Diet a bill providing for the establishment of a monarchic form of government in Finland. The Finnish King, who is to be a hereditary ruler, shall be invested with broad powers regarding treaties with foreign States, and shall have the absolute veto in several important matters.

The new Finnish Government is emphatically pro-German. This was illustrated by the membership of the new Cabinet formed by Paaskivi. There were signs, however, that anti-German sentiment was developing among the masses of the people. General Mannerheim, Commander of the White Guard, resigned late in May, apparently as a protest against the Germanization of the Finnish Army. This army is now commanded by German officers. The Germans also took over the control of the Finnish Military College, and undertook to organize the Finnish coast fleet. They are constructing two railways in Northern Finland.

In the middle of May the White Russian Republic was proclaimed with the consent of Germany. The new Government seemed to favor a union with Lithuania, under the military protectorate of Germany. On June 4 it was reported that the new republic had been recognized by the Ukraine.

Early in May the Tartar National Council met at Bakhchisaray, Crimea, and issued a statement protesting against the entrance of the Austro-German troops into the Crimea. The council declared that the Crimea, whose population is 70 per cent. Tartar, intends to maintain its complete independence till conditions in Russia grow more settled.

According to a London dispatch, dated June 7, fierce fighting was going on between the troops of the Caucasian Government and the Turks. These are reported to have massacred 10,000 Armenians in a fortnight. The Government had ordered the mobilization of all men between the ages of 19 and 42.

ALLIED INTERVENTION

The subject of allied military intervention in Russia for the purpose of freeing the country from German domination attracted a great deal of attention in June. The allied Governments did not define their attitude toward this matter, but it seemed certain that the United States did not favor sending an interallied military expedition into Russia. Japan refrained from any action in this direction. The only measure it took was to enter into an agreement with China for the protection of the general peace in the Orient from possible German and Bolshevist aggression. The principal clauses of the military treaty between China and Japan, signed May 16, 1918, are in substance as follows:

The two Governments, with a view to warding off the danger constituted for them by the penetration of German influence toward the eastern frontier of Russia, have decided to regulate their conduct in regard to the enemy by placing themselves in agreement on a footing of perfect equality, and in according each other mutual aid in that region where their common action is to be exercised.

The Chinese authorities will facilitate the task of the Japanese authorities, who will be enabled to conduct the transport[Pg 111] of troops and establish in the occupied territories works which shall be removed at the conclusion of military operations, and, moreover, undertake to supply war material and munitions, as well as engineers and a medical staff and other necessary specialists.

The Japanese must in return respect Chinese sovereignty and local customs, and will evacuate Chinese territory as soon as the operations are terminated. The agreement will automatically cease to be valid as soon as the state of war between the two contracting parties and the Central Powers is terminated.

One article of the agreement provides that Chinese troops may be employed outside the national territory, and another stipulates that the two Governments shall come to an understanding with the Chinese Eastern Railway Company if this railway should have to be used during the course of the operations.

RUSSIAN OPINION

In Russia proper the Soviet authorities and radical public opinion opposed foreign intervention of any kind. Late in May the official Bolshevist organ printed an article asserting that Russia desired from the Allies no help intended to drag her back into the war, but that Russia would appreciate in the highest degree any assistance toward the improvement of transportation and communication facilities and the rehabilitation of her economic life." Even the moderate press found foreign military intervention undesirable. The Moscow Prizyv, the official organ of the Social Revolutionaries, however, declared editorially that "the intervention of the Allies alone can give us the real military strength and indispensable support for thrusting back the yoke of the German, and for reconstituting Russia." On June 11, Boris Bakhmeteff, the Russian Ambassador at Washington, transmitted to the State Department a resolution adopted by the Central Committee of the Constitutional Democrats, (also known as Cadets,) the Russian Liberal Party. The resolution pointed out that the Cadet Party did not recognize the Brest peace, and looked to the Allies for the amelioration of Russian conditions. The statement emphatically denied the assertion that the Russian democracy was opposed to allied aid. It insisted, however, that the success of the action would depend upon "the support of national feeling in Russia." The resolution concluded: "It is further imperative for Russian public opinion to receive assurances that the expedition will be co-ordinated with the inviolability of the rights and interests of Russia, and that the actions of all the Allies on Russian territory will be performed under international control."

SENATOR KING'S RESOLUTION

On June 10 a resolution favoring intervention in Russia was offered in the Senate by Senator King of Utah. It was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. The full text of the resolution follows:

Whereas, The people of Russia after centuries of political servitude are finally about to realize their aspirations for liberty and the constitution of a federal republic; and,

Whereas, The innate sense of justice, desire for public order, and the community life of the Russian people promise a sound moral basis for the institutions of liberty and the equal rights of men under the law as incorporated in a republican form of government; and,

Whereas, It is the traditional policy and the interest of the United States of America to promote and protect the progress of liberty and the principles of democracy as incorporated in republican institutions; and,

Whereas, The people and the Government of the United States hailed with great and sincere good-will the prospects for the establishment of these principles in the great domains of Russia for the permanent welfare, political dignity, and beneficence of the Russian people; and,

Whereas, The Imperial Government of Germany, by intrigues and propaganda, and in perfidious violation of the pretended peace with Russia, designs to destroy the Government of Russia and the unity and nationality of the Russian people, and for this purpose is attempting to separate Russia into small vassal States in order to more effectually bring the people, territory, and resources of Russia within the German power; and,

Whereas, In the pursuit of this perfidious purpose, Germany is now subjecting Russia to industrial and economic servitude, and is attempting to recruit troops from among the people of Russia to replenish her depleted armies, and to promote her felonious purpose in the world; and,

Whereas, The Russian people desire to establish a republican form of Government[Pg 112] and are in sympathy with the cause of the United States of America and of the Allies, and would welcome assistance in neutralizing German intrigue and propaganda, and in repelling the intrusion of German power; and,

Whereas, German troops are now operating in Russia and are making advances, with a view to taking possession of Russian territory, including Siberia, and subjecting the same to political domination and industrial servitude; and,

Whereas, The cause of the Allies and the principles for which they wage war are thus placed in jeopardy; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate of the United States that a commission be sent to Russia to co-operate with the American Ambassador and other representatives of our Government to overcome and neutralize German propaganda in Russia and to aid in Russia's economic, industrial, and political freedom; and be it

Further Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate of the United States that a military expedition be organized and sent by the United States of America, in conjunction with the Allies, including Japan and China, to co-operate with the armies of the Russian people to repel the advance of German arms and to expel from Russia German military power and establish therein the authority of the people and Government of Russia.

The policy of the Washington Government in June remained one of nonintervention in Russia, but there was a strongly representative and widely increasing public opinion that the United States should join with Japan, China, and the Allies to aid Russia and prevent further German penetration. This sentiment was especially outspoken and vigorous in the West and on the Pacific slope, where previously anti-Japanese and anti-Chinese prejudices had predominated.

INTERVENTION URGED

A Supreme Council was held at Tokio June 7, attended by Prince Fushimi, Field Marshals Yamagata and Terauchi, (the Premier,) and Lieut. Gen. Oshima, the Minister of War. A joint conference of the Field Marshals and the Admirals was summoned for June 10.

The Entente Governments of Europe were declared in a Tokio dispatch dated June 15 to be bringing increasing influence to bear to induce Japan to intervene in Russia. Among the several French officers who arrived in Tokio to consult with the General Staff was Major Pichon, who was head of the French military mission to Russia, and whose recall was demanded by the Bolsheviki. Major Pichon was reported to be striving for intervention in Siberia as a military necessity with the same energy that he opposed Rumania's entrance into the war as an ill-advised step. Major Pichon formerly was Military Attaché at Bucharest. The partisans of intervention were finding support from A. I. Konovaloff, formerly Minister of Trade and Industry in the Russian Provincial Government, and especially from Jules Destrée, who was appointed Belgian Minister to Petrograd in August, 1917. M. Destrée, who is a Socialist, arrived in Japan after vainly seeking to return to Europe across Finland.

"It is urgently imperative for the defense of the interests of the Entente that there shall be a liberation of the Russian people from Germanic domination," M. Destrée declared. "The Trans-Siberian Railroad is the only remaining communication with the outside world, and this could be destroyed at any time by the German prisoners, of whom there are 20,000 under arms in Siberia. I saw armed Germans at every station, ostensibly allies of the Bolsheviki. The destruction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad would mean the complete abandonment of Russia to the Teutons."

CZECHS IN SIBERIA

It was reported on June 15 that the Czechoslovak troops operating against the Russian Soviet Government in Siberia and the Ural region continued their successes. During the 9th and 10th of June, having occupied Samara, they advanced rapidly toward Ouffa.

On the Siberian railroad from Theliabinsk to Tomsk (a distance of 1,250 miles) all the towns were reported to be in the hands of the Czechoslovaks. Omsk was occupied on June 8 by a united force of Slavs and Cossack peasants under command of Colonel Ivanoff, the Soviet forces having retired from Omsk and Tunen.

The new Siberian Government established[Pg 113] the Omsk-Nicholaevsk region notified the Soviet Government at Moscow of the abolition of the government of soldiers and deputies in Siberia and of the creation of the new Provisional Government. The notification stated that the Siberian Government, which is joined by Commander Ivanoff in the forwarding of communication, does not intend to work for the separation of Siberia from Russia, and is ready to negotiate for a supply of provisions to the northern district of Russia.

Should the Council of Commissioners at Moscow, however, attempt to re-establish the Soviet power in Siberia, it was declared, the Siberian Government would resist and would discontinue the sending of bread grains to Northern Russia.

Letters From Trotzky and From Kerensky's War Minister

Two letters from Russian officials, very different in contents but both of historical significance, were brought to the outside world by Herman Bernstein, who had been sent to Petrograd by The New York Herald. One is a confidential letter from Trotzky to Lenine, written at Brest-Litovsk at the end of the peace conference, as follows:

It is impossible to sign their peace. They have already agreed with fictitious Governments of Poland, Lithuania, Courland, and others concerning territorial concessions, military and customs treaties, in view of self-determination. These provinces, according to the German interpretation, are already independent German States, and as independent States have already concluded territorial and other agreements with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Today I put these questions squarely and received a reply leaving no room for misunderstandings. Everything was stenographed. Tomorrow we shall present the same questions in writing. We cannot sign their peace.

My plan is this: We announce the termination of the war and demobilization without signing any peace. We declare we cannot participate in the looting war of the Allies nor a looting peace. Poland's, Lithuania's, Courland's fate we place upon the responsibility of the German working people. The Germans will be unable to attack us after we declare the war ended. At any rate, it would be very difficult for Germany to attack us because of her internal conditions. The Scheidemannists adopted a formal resolution to break with a Government that makes annexationist demands of the Russian revolution. The Berliner Tageblatt and the Vossische Zeitung demand an understanding with Russia by all means; Centrists favor an agreement. Internal strife is demoralizing the Government, a bitter controversy is raging in the press about the struggle on the western front; we declare that we end the war, but do not sign peace.

They will be unable to make an offensive against us. Verteidigungskrieg. If they attack us our position will be no worse than now, when they have the opportunity to declare us agents of England and Wilson, after his speech and comments on attack. I must have your decision. We could well drag negotiations one, two, three, or four days; afterward they must be broken off. I see no other solution than that proposed.

I clasp your hand.

Your TROTZKY.

Answer by direct wire: "I agree to your plan" or "I do not agree."

This letter is in accordance with the published circumstances. Trotzky apparently endeavored to persuade Lenine that if Russia should declare the war at an end, while refusing to sign a formal peace, the Germans would not attack. They, on the contrary, attacked at once, and Trotzky collapsed. History must determine whether he was honestly mistaken or was merely seeking a means of "saving his face," while acting in the German interest.

FROM BORIS SAVINKOV

The other letter is by Boris Savinkov, Kerensky's Minister of War, and for many years a leader in the terrorist wing of the Social Revolutionary Party. It was published last April in the Russky Viedomosti. The Lenine Government promptly suppressed it and confiscated the paper, but Mr. Bernstein succeeded in smuggling a copy out of Russia. It reads as follows:

We are vibrating with indignation at the Bolshevist decrees and their ignominious peace. We feel ourselves humiliated [Pg 114]and disgraced. We are mercilessly handed over "Kamerad" to any one. Nevertheless, we are doing nothing, because we do not even venture to say, "God be praised, it was not we but our neighbor who was shot." Yet we shall never forget that Lenine, Nathanson and company arrived in Russia via Berlin. The German Government helped them. The gift demands a gift in return. Lenine and his satellites have repaid Germany handsomely, first through the subsidized journal Pravda, next by the naked front, then by Brest-Litovsk, and finally by an incredible peace.

What have they done with my Russia? It is necessary to be a fanatic or a paid agent to be able seriously to maintain that the international proletariat would help us. Only criminals and lunatics could base a political computation upon such support when Lenine and his co-adjutors entirely destroyed Russia's former means and power. The Germans lifted the mailed fist and Lenine instantly gave way, but others commenced howling about the necessity to defend the fatherland, not only my Russia, but the newly invented fatherland. Who can believe the men who destroyed the army and declared that the idea of fatherland is a prejudice? Who can believe that they would defend Russia? They are impotent. Nor do I believe that they are sincere. The Soviet admitted that the declaration of Lenine was right that we Russians ought to put up with the loss of Finland, Esthonia, Livonia, Courland, White Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and part of the Caucasus districts. The rights of Russia exist no longer. There are only separated towns and villages, economically dependent upon foreigners. The position of Russia is like that of Poland after the partition. Has not William realized his dream? Have not the People's Commissaries deserved the Iron Cross?

The Bolsheviki have served Germany and serve Germany still. It is no secret that Russia is covered with a net of German organizations, and that the Russians who are wishing for the restoration of the monarchy are working hand in hand with the Germans. It is no secret that many Russians dream of the day on which the Germans will enter Petrograd and German policemen appear in the Nevsky Prospekt. They prefer the devil himself to the Bolsheviki. What have they done with my Russia?

The Bolsheviki are our national misfortune, but Russia must be saved, not by our enemies, not by German bayonets, but by ourselves. We Russians must again be masters of Russia. It must never be said that we are weak without the imperial assistance of William and are unable to organize a State. It was not to reach this goal that we sacrificed streams of Russian blood throughout three years, nor was it in order to follow the program of the Bolsheviki or to stretch out our hand toward the enemy. As sure as it is treason against Russia to compromise with the Bolsheviki, so sure is the agreement with Germany under which we are now living worse treason against Russia. We must not forget that the Russian Nation does not die. Sooner or later it will dawn upon the people of Russia what my Russia ought to be, and the treason will never be pardoned. It is an aberration to believe that Nicholas will be able to return. But when will my Russia stand forth again vigorous and free? I only know one thing. I learned when young: Through work and fight thou shalt win thy right. We must work and fight against the Germans and the Bolsheviki.

After the revolution of March, 1917, had achieved what terrorism had been powerless to accomplish, M. Savinkov threw himself heart and soul into the task of saving the army. He realized more clearly than did any of his revolutionary associates, Kerensky included, that a surrender to the Germans with the Socialists in power would inevitably compromise the Socialist cause in Russia. As Chief Commissioner of the Coalition Government with the armies of the southwestern front he strongly supported General Korniloff in taking stern measures to restore discipline. Kerensky quarreled with Savinkov because the latter, becoming Minister of War, continued to support General Korniloff. Savinkov is a comparatively young man, of great determination and resource. He is well known as a writer.

[Pg 115]

Growth of the Jugoslav Movement

Project for a South Slavic State, Aided by the Czechs, Threatens to Disrupt Austria-Hungary

Of the many internal troubles tending toward the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the one that has grown most rapidly in the last year is the Jugoslav movement—the movement for an independent State to be known as Jugoslavia, and to include all the Southern Slavic provinces of Austria-Hungary, as well as Serbia and Montenegro in the Balkans. This project assumed a new phase in May, 1918, when it received the active support of the millions of Czechs in Bohemia, Austria's northwest border province. The Czech demand for a free Bohemia and Jugoslavia helped to precipitate a political crisis at Vienna, which Emperor Charles met by summarily suppressing Parliament. All indications pointed to the existence of a united effort of the Slavs, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians, Croatians, and Italians to throw off the Teutonic yoke, completely dismembering the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The only session of the Reichsrat that has been held in Austria-Hungary since the war began was opened on May 31, 1917, and closed abruptly by imperial order on May 4, 1918. Throughout that period the Slavic Deputies in the lower house showed increasing hostility to the war methods and plans of the Teutonic minority which rules the empire. The house consisted of 516 members, of whom only 233 were Germans. The dominant nationality has for years managed to keep its control of the Reichsrat through alliance with the Poles, who hold 80 or 90 seats, but in the Spring of 1918 the Poles broke away from the Germans, and suddenly the Government discovered that it was in a minority and that its war budgets were in serious danger of being defeated. Then it resorted to the drastic measure of adjourning Parliament under threat of force.

Already the Czechs, Slovaks, and Jugoslavs been working together in Parliament, generally getting the support of the Ruthenians (Ukrainians) and the Italians. In the closing months of 1917 this tendency was accentuated, when the Polish leaders came into closer alliance with the Czecho-Slovaks and Jugoslavs. This was cemented by a congress of Czech Deputies, held in Prague on Jan. 6, 1918, which adopted unanimously the declaration given below. The document was at first suppressed by the Austro-Hungarian censor, and the few publications that got hold of it were not allowed to leave the country.

THE CZECH DECLARATION

Despite this attempt at suppression the text of the document reached the outside world through the Czecho-Slovak National Council. It is as follows:

In the fourth year of this terrible war, which has already cost the nations numberless sacrifices in blood and treasure, the first peace efforts have been inaugurated. We, the Czech members of the Austrian Reichsrat, which, through the verdicts of incompetent military tribunals, has been deprived of a number of its Slav Deputies and Czech Deputies to the dissolved and as yet unsummoned Diet of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and to the equally unsummoned Diets of Moravia and Silesia, recognize the declarations of the Czech Deputies in the Reichsrat, and deem it our duty emphatically to declare, in the name of the Czech Nation and of its oppressed and forcibly silenced Slovak branch of Hungary, our attitude toward the reconstruction of international relations.

When the Czech Deputies of our regenerated nation expressed themselves during the Franco-Prussian war on the international European problems they solemnly declared in their memorandum of Dec. 8, 1870, that "all nations, great or small, have an equal right to self-determination, and their complete equality should always be respected. Only from the recognition of the equality of all nations and from mutual respect of the right of self-determination can come true equality and fraternity, a general peace and true humanity."

[Pg 116]

SHADED AREA SHOWS THE PROJECTED STATE OF JUGOSLAVIA, INCLUDING SERBIA, MONTENEGRO, AND SLAVIC PORTIONS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

We, the Deputies of the Czech Nation, true even today to these principles of our ancestors, have, therefore, greeted with joy the fact that all States based upon democratic principles, whether they are belligerent or neutral, now accept with us the right of nations to free self-determination as a guarantee of a general and lasting peace.

Also the new Russia accepted the principle of self-determination of nations during its attempts for a general peace as a fundamental condition of peace. The nations were freely to determine their fate and decide whether they want to live in an independent State of their own or whether they choose to form one State in common with other nations.

DEMANDS INDEPENDENCE

On the other hand, the Austro-Hungarian delegate declared, in the name of the Quadruple Alliance, that the question of the self-determination of those nations which have not hitherto enjoyed political independence should be solved in a constitutional manner within the existing State. In view of this declaration we deem it our duty to declare, in the name of the Czecho-Slovak Nation, that this point of view of the Austro-Hungarian representative is not our point of view. On the contrary, we have in all our declarations and proposals opposed this solution, because we know, from our own numberless bitter experiences, that it means nothing but the negation of the principle of self-determination. We indignantly express our regret that our nation was deprived of its political independence and of the right of self-determination, and that by means of artificial electoral statutes we were left to the mercy of the German minority and of the Government of the centralized German bureaucracy.

Our brother Slovaks became the victims of Magyar brutality and of unspeakable violence in a State which, notwithstanding all its apparent constitutional liberties, remains the darkest corner of Europe, and in which the non-Magyars, who form the majority of the population, are ruthlessly oppressed by the ruling minority, extirpated, denationalized from childhood, unrepresented in Parliament and civil service, deprived of public schools, as well as of all private educational institutions.

The Constitution, to which the Austro-Hungarian representative refers, falsified even the justice of the general suffrage by an artificial creation of an over-representation of the German minority in the Reichsrat, and its utter uselessness for the liberty of nations was clearly demonstrated during the three years of unscrupulous military absolutism during this war. Every reference to this Constitution, therefore, means, in reality, only a repudiation of the right of self-determination for the non-German nations of Austria who are at the mercy of the Germans; and it means an especially cruel insult and injury to the non-Magyar nations in Hungary, where the Constitution [Pg 117]is nothing but a means of shameful domination by the oligarchy of a few Magyar aristocratic families, as was again proved by the recent electoral reform proposal.

Austria-Hungary Sketch Map Showing Slavic Populations in Threatened Revolt

THE SLAVS IN ALL PARTS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, SINCE THE SIGNING OF THE BREST-LITOVSK TREATY, HAVE DEVELOPED AN ORGANIZED OPPOSITION TO THE RULE OF THE GERMAN MINORITY AT VIENNA. IN THE NORTHWEST THE CZECHS OF BOHEMIA AND THE SLOVAKS OF MORAVIA, CONSTITUTING THE CZECHOSLOVAK MOVEMENT, HAVE TAKEN PART IN SERIOUS RIOTS AT PRAGUE AND ELSEWHERE ON BEHALF OF INDEPENDENCE. THE POLES AND RUTHENIANS OF GALICIA AND BUKOWINA ARE SUPPORTING THEM POLITICALLY. IN THE SOUTHWEST THE SLOVENES, CROATS, AND SERBIANS HAVE DEVELOPED A STRONG JUGOSLAV MOVEMENT, DEMANDING THE CREATION OF A NEW STATE HEADED BY THE KING OF SERBIA. THIS MOVEMENT RECENTLY GAINED THE SUPPORT OF THE ITALIANS BOTH IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND IN ITALY.

[Pg 118]

SELF-DETERMINATION

Our nation longs with all the democracies of the world for a general and lasting peace. But our nation is fully aware that no peace can be permanent except a peace which will abolish old injustice, brutal force, and the predominance of arms, as well as the predominance of States and nations over other nations, and which will assure a free development to all nations, great or small, and which will liberate especially those nations which still are suffering under foreign domination. That is why it is necessary that this right of free national development and to self-determination of nations, great or small, to whatever State they may belong, should become the foundation of future international right, a guarantee of peace, and of a friendly co-operation of nations, as well as a great ideal which will liberate humanity from the terrible horrors of a world war.

We, deputies of the Czech nation, declare that a peace which would not bring our nation full liberty could not be and would not mean a peace to us, but only a beginning of a new, desperate, and continuous struggle for our political independence, in which our nation would strain to the utmost its material and moral forces. And in that uncompromising struggle it would never relax until its aim had been achieved. Our nation asks for independence on the ground of its historic rights, and is imbued with the fervent desire to contribute toward the new development of humanity on the basis of liberty and fraternity in a free competition with other free nations which our nation hopes to accomplish in a sovereign, equal, democratic, and socially just State of its own, built upon the equality of all its citizens within the historic boundaries of the Bohemian lands and of Slovakia, guaranteeing full and equal national rights to all minorities.

Guided by these principles, we solemnly protest against the rejection of the right of self-determination at the peace negotiations, and demand that, in the sense of this right, all nations, including, therefore, also the Czecho-Slovaks, be guaranteed participation and full freedom of defending their rights at the Peace Conference.

WAGRAM GATHERING

On March 2 a gathering of Jugoslavs met at Zagrub (Wagram) which included the Jugoslav Deputies of the Reichsrat, practically the entire membership of the Croatian Sabor, (the Legislature which exercises a limited amount of local autonomy,) and other representatives of the nation. According to the Hrvatska Drzhava, extracts from whose accounts have been translated by the Serbian Press Bureau in Geneva, they contained the following statement:

After having discussed the general political and national situation the assembly has agreed on the necessity of a concentration of all parties and groups which, from the point of view of national self-government, demand the creation of a national and independent States of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs founded on the principle of democracy.

The language of this passage parallels the Declaration of Corfu, by which exiled leaders of the Jugoslav movement demanded the union of the Jugoslav territories in Austria-Hungary with Serbia and Montenegro into one kingdom under the Karageorgevitch dynasty. Austrian papers at once became agitated because there was no reference to the carrying out of this aim within the framework of the Hapsburg Empire. The fact that many, if not most, of those present were known to be in accord with the Declaration of Corfu, and the suspicion that practically all of them favored it at heart, caused many protests against the "introduction of the policy of Belgrade" in the Viennese press.

The matter was further complicated by the activity of the police in the affair, they having broken up the first session of the assembly and posted a guard around the hall. Demonstrations of the students against this, which seem to have gone no further than parading up and down the streets singing Slavic national songs, were broken up by the police with the utmost violence, and many were arrested.

This did not prevent a large gathering, principally of students, at the station the next day to bid farewell to Dr. Koroshetz, leader of the Jugoslav Club in the Reichsrat. Dr. Koroshetz is taking the lead in the organization of a Jugoslav National Council of some twenty-four members, whose aims are euphemistically described for the present [Pg 119] as "to arrange the tactics of the general Jugoslav policy."

The economic conditions which contribute to the revolutionary ferment in the Jugoslav countries were set forth in a speech in the Reichsrat in the course of a budget discussion just before this assembly by Dr. Matko Leginja, Deputy from Istria and Vice Chairman of the Jugoslav Club. He quoted the appeal from an Istrian commune which ended:

We beg, ask, and demand bread, peace, and the return of our brethren, fathers, and sons to console us, to see that our fields are worked properly, and that there should be some one with us to close the eyes of the dying parents.

Of many instances of starvation which he gave was one of a parish in which in 1912 there were 67 births and 23 deaths. In 1917 there were 23 births and 68 deaths, without counting those who died in military service.

CONFERENCE AT ROME

The significance of the whole movement was deepened by the Conference of Oppressed Austrian Nationalities held at Rome on April 10, when a full understanding with Italy was reached. The territorial and other questions at issue between the Italians and Jugoslavs were settled, and the Poles joined the other delegates in the demand for a complete overthrow of the present Austrian Empire, declaring that the future of Poland lay in a firm alliance with the reconstituted nations of the Czecho-Slovaks, the Jugoslavs, and the Rumanians. The text of the formal declaration then adopted, is as follows:

1. Every people proclaims it to be its right to determine its own nationality and national unity and complete independence.

2. Every people knows that the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy is an instrument of German domination, and a fundamental obstacle to the realization of its rights to free development and self-government.

3. The Congress recognizes the necessity of fighting against the common oppressors.

The representatives of the Jugoslavs agree:

That the unity and independence of the Jugoslav Nation is considered of vital importance by Italy.

That the deliverance of the Adriatic Sea and its defense from any enemy is of capital interest to the two peoples.

That territorial controversies will be amicably settled on the principle of nationality, and in such a manner as not to injure the vital interests of the two nations; interests which will be taken into account at the peace conferences.

The Polish delegates added their declaration that they considered Germany to be Poland's chief enemy, and that they believed the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to be indispensable for the obtaining of their independence from Germany.

ITALY'S ACTIVE HELP

As a result of this important conference, a separate section was established by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to look after the propaganda in favor of the Allies in the Austro-Hungarian countries and in their armies. The Austrian Premier, Dr. von Seidler, stated in his last speech before the adjourning of the Reichsrat that the Austro-Hungarian Government was fully aware of this propaganda and had taken measures to combat it. A Slovene paper, the Slovenic, commented as follows:

The German newspapers have begun at the same time to call the attention of the Jugoslavs to Italian imperialistic aims and to show all at once great devotion to our country, which, they say, is menaced by the Italian peril. With a special affection for our people, an affection never known before, they urge us to beware of our Italian neighbors, enumerating all the points of the London understanding with regard to our territory.

In publishing this agreement the Grazer Tagblatt, that ultra national German organ, wished to give us a political lesson of which they might have saved themselves the trouble. It was superfluous, if for no other reason, because it came from German nationalists, whose counsels we can never follow.

The Austrian Government and the German newspapers are troubling themselves in vain as to how to circumvent the Italian propaganda. It would be of more importance if they would take care to improve their system of government, the oppression and injustice of which only help the work of the propaganda. (Further thirty lines censored.)

PROTEST IN REICHSRAT

The Czecho-Slovak Deputies in the Reichsrat introduced a motion on April[Pg 120] which was suppressed by the Vienna censorship. In the name of the Slovak Parliamentary Union, the motion, introduced by Deputy Kalinov, demanded that the Reichsrat refuse to sanction the imperial ordinance of May 1, 1915, which extended the age of service in the Landsturm from 43 to 50 years. The arguments presented in support of this demand, as summarized by a Berne correspondent of the Paris Temps, constitute a protest of all the Czecho-Slovak nations:

1. Against the war.

2. Against the militarism which, directed by the absolute will of the monarch, has enchained the free will of nations.

3. Against the military tyranny that has installed itself in Bohemia, and which is militarizing every stratum of society.

4. Against the spirit and tendencies of the army leaders, who have made of the army an instrument of Germanization and Magyarization.

5. Against absolutism, because the law has been interpreted in an unconstitutional manner, without the consent of the Reichsrat.

6. Against the dual system and the will for annexation, against peace based on violence, and, still more emphatically, against the shameful exploitation of Czecho-Slovak territory through requisitions and incessant contributions.

The Czecho-Slovak Deputies added:

An attempt is being made to starve our country, which was the granary of the whole Hapsburg Monarchy, and whose population, alike in villages and cities, is now suffering atrociously from famine and misery.

Our declaration is, above all, a unanimous manifestation of the collective will of the nation. It proves:

That the Czecho-Slovak Nation is firmly resolved to dispose henceforth of its own life and goods and children by the sole agency of its freely elected representatives.

That our nation and, first and foremost, our women demand a general and just peace, which alone can bring liberty and independence to the nation, and which alone can cause justice to reign in the whole world.

That we wish henceforth to live our own life in a State of our own, as a member of a society of free nations, a society that will solve without violence the questions that arise between peoples, depending upon a friendly understanding, and thus bringing happiness to liberated humanity.

When the Austro-Hungarian Government under Premier von Seidler found itself confronted by a hostile Slavic majority in the Reichsrat, threatening the defeat of its war budgets, Emperor Charles empowered the Premier to "adjourn Parliament forthwith and inaugurate measures to render impossible the resumption of its activities." This was done on May 4. The Parliament had been composed of 233 Germans, 108 Czechs, 92 Poles, 33 Ruthenians, 42 Jugoslavs, and 19 Italians. The Germans had considerably less than a majority.

In another respect the suppression of Parliament was viewed as a concession to the Magyars. Those holding reign in Hungary since 1867 had been resentful at the claims of the Czechs and the Jugoslavs, fearing that the Government would be forced to make some concessions to them. If the project of unity were realized Hungary would be reduced to about half of its present size. On several occasions the Magyars had called on the Government at Vienna to suppress the Parliamentary agitation, threatening to form a separate Hungarian army and impose restrictions on the exportation of foodstuffs.

The Government, in a public statement, ascribed its action to the food crisis, which was very acute, adding: "The Government will devote its entire strength to the economic problem and will try to create conditions required to enable the population to hold out."

THE PREMIER'S ADMISSION

A Vienna dispatch stated that the Premier, addressing a conference of party leaders, had demanded that the Parliamentary sittings be postponed, and added that, unless they took this step, the Government would prevent the sessions by force. In the debate that followed he had admitted the existence of many problems which must receive consideration, especially that of the agitation for a South Slavic State, but had added:

Discussion of this problem, however, is impossible at present, because it concerns not only Austria but also Hungary and Bosnia. But one thing is certain—if such a State were created it could be only under the sceptre of his Majesty, as a [Pg 121]component part of the monarchy. It could not include those parts of Austrian territory which border on the Adriatic and are closely connected with districts where the German language is spoken. But national aspirations exist also in these districts, and it is only natural that the national wishes of the Southern Slavs be duly considered.

In the course of discussion of the question of revising the Constitution on the basis of national autonomy, Premier von Seidler announced that in Bohemia the Government would speedily issue regulations providing for the appointment of administrators for districts inhabited by distinct nationalities. After sounding a warning against inciting nationalities against one another, he said:

Our entire military and political situation has reached a climax. The next few months will bring a big decision. I am firmly convinced the decision on the battlefield will be in favor of Austria and her allies. Our economic, especially our food, conditions are very serious, but they are not at all desperate. To hold on now to a final happy decision is the vital question for the State. It therefore is necessary that, unhampered by Parliamentary confusion, the Government be left in a position to devote all its strength to these tasks.

FOOD SHORTAGE

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was at that time facing a dozen different crises, all aggravated by the problem of food. Even the racial animosities, always threatening to overturn the unstable rule of the German and Magyar minority over the Slavic majority, was inflamed into bitterness by sectional jealousies over food distribution. These crises reached a culmination in the decision of the Government to prorogue Parliament.

What straits the empire had reached were partially revealed by the Premier's speech to the party leaders, and also by the German official statement that all food supplies from the Ukraine during the month of May would be given to Austria-Hungary, on account of its greater need. Still more significant was Dr. von Seidler's admission, made public on May 4, that Austria was unable to feed the populations of North Tyrol and Northern Bohemia, and that he had, therefore, consented that the former be attached for provisioning purposes to Bavaria, and the latter to Saxony. This concession, the dispatch added, had been wrung from him by leaders of the German parties after a conference lasting six hours. It meant that for food supply purposes these portions of Austria were being annexed to Germany. The Austrian Government yielded with the greatest reluctance, realizing that the political consequences might be far-reaching. It was pointed out that this would accentuate the feud between the German and non-German races in Austria-Hungary, since the provinces affected are German-speaking, and would strengthen the agitation for the incorporation of Austria into a German federation.

The meeting of the German and Austrian Emperors at the German Great Headquarters on May 12 did not tend to allay fears of this nature. Though the results of the meeting remained secret, the belief was expressed in many quarters that it had constituted a formal acknowledgment of the subservient relations of Austria-Hungary toward the German Empire.

MARTIAL LAW IN PRAGUE

Shortly after the beginning of the war the Hungarian authorities suppressed the Slovak press almost in its entirety. Thus the Slovaks came to depend upon the Czech newspapers of Bohemia for their political and other information. On May 5 the Hungarian Government issued an order forbidding Czech newspapers from Bohemia and Moravia to circulate in Slovakia.

The whole Czech and Slovak population, indeed, was seething with hostility to the Imperial Government and its war policies. Prague, the capital of Bohemia, had become a centre for leaders of the Czecho-Slovaks, Jugoslavs, and Poles in their agitation for independence. Demonstrations of an anti-German character became frequent, and Czechs and Jugoslavs paraded the streets shouting "Long live Wilson, Clemenceau, and Lloyd George!" The manifestations against the Austrian State began afresh on the evening of May 17, when the police made[Pg 122] arrests, and culminated on May 20, when the Government declared Prague under martial law. All political meetings were prohibited, and the police issued a proclamation announcing that any further disorders would be met with violent measures.

One of the events that had aroused popular hostility was the suppression of the Czech newspaper Narodni Listi. The last copy of this paper contained the text of the oath taken at Prague by the Czecho-Slovak, Jugoslav, and Polish journalists, as follows:

Gathered at Prague while the world war has made necessary a new reorganization of the world on the basis of a higher authority given to the people, we proclaim that we shall remain in the front line of battle for the freedom of peoples, that we shall fight together in favor of each other's interests, that we shall repulse together any despotic measure, and that we shall denounce together the oppression of the Austrian State.

We want to promote together the confidence of our people in the achievement of their aspirations, to encourage them to express their will more positively.

We raise our right hand and solemnly swear that we shall give all that we own, all our strength, all our possessions, for the liberation of our people and for the achievement of the political unity of the Czecho-Slovak people, the political unity of the Jugoslavs, and the political unity of the Polish people.

RIOTS IN WENSEL SQUARE

The disorders leading to the declaring of martial law were described by the Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger a few days later in these terms:

The chief demonstration in the new outbreak occurred in Wensel Square in Prague on May 20. The demonstration was a big one and reached such pitch that in the evening the police had to interfere. The Czechs sang their patriotic hymn with its additional anti-German verses and raised cheers for President Wilson and Professor Masaryk, the Bohemian delegate now in the United States. Although Wensel Square was thereafter barred to the demonstrators by the police, the demonstrations were repeated at 10 o'clock at night, and not until midnight did the mounted and foot police succeed in restoring order.

Another account gave other details:

At the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Czech National Theatre speeches violently attacking Germany were delivered, and the renewal of the alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary was denounced. Several deputies addressed the crowd, urging resistance to the end and the sacrifice of wealth and blood for Bohemia. The theatre was then closed and rioting occurred in the streets outside. The Jugoslavs who had participated in the Bohemian festivities were ordered to leave the city. Crowds singing patriotic songs accompanied them to the railway station.

In the next week about 800 Czechs were arrested at Prague and other Bohemian cities on a charge of seditious conspiracy.

REVOLT IN AUSTRIAN ARMY

Riots and disorders in Bohemia continued to increase during the following weeks. Crowds at Chozen, exasperated by police brutality, set fire to barracks and to the City Hall, where the mounted police were lodged. Eight of the officers were burned to death. At Kolin the people pulled down the Austrian and raised the Bohemian flag. Public buildings were burned at Tabor and in other Bohemian towns, also at Olmutz, Moravia. At Prague the offices of two German newspapers were sacked. The Neue Freie Presse of Vienna declared: "Only the tenacity and union of those who desire the preservation of the State can make the monarchy survive this great crisis."

Mutinies among the Slavic troops in the Austrian Army also assumed serious proportions. A Vienna dispatch to the Berliner Tageblatt on May 3 gave the following details:

The troubles began in the Slovene Battalion of the 9th Infantry Regiment at Judenbourg. The German officers were killed, after which the troops gave themselves up to acts of anarchy. In time they were driven into the mountains, where they finally were disarmed after a combat.

The Czechs of Pilsen, stationed at Fumberg, also revolted. The rising was put down by the sword. Part of the rebels, having succeeded in passing the frontier, took refuge in the mountains of Saxony, where they were made prisoner by the Germans.

A third case of serious revolt took place at Funkirchen, where a Serbian regiment from Austria revolted and massacred the officers. The exact details of these revolts are difficult to obtain. It appears,[Pg 123] however, the instigators were Austrian soldiers returned from the prisoners' camps in Russia.

GERRYMANDERING BOHEMIA

On May 22 the Austro-Hungarian Government issued a decree dividing Bohemia into twelve districts, under a system giving new administrative and electoral advantages to the Germanic population. The German minority in the Imperial Parliament had been about to be completely isolated by a union of the Czechs, Slovaks, Jugoslavs, Ruthenians, and Poles. The electoral redistribution sought to avoid this by reducing the Czech strength in the Reichsrat at Vienna as well as in the Bohemian Diet. An official French bulletin dated May 22 said:

The law bulletin of the Austrian Empire publishes a decree according to which the district Governments which were so long demanded by the Germans are established in Bohemia. The twelve district Captains who are nominated will represent the Statthalter of Prague in each district and will have the same powers.

The boundaries of the districts are fixed, so far as possible, according to the national grouping. In the words of the decree, "the aim is to take the first steps toward the re-establishment of order in Bohemia." This decree foreruns undoubtedly a policy of repression, the first act of which tends to dismember Bohemia by granting to the German elements the guarantees or, better, the privileges which they demand.

Up to the present, Bohemia comprised thirteen districts, only two of which had a majority of German population, according to statistics from Vienna. In four of the districts there are hardly any Germans. The new plan aims at creating in each of the twelve new districts a German minority and to grant to this minority, however small it may be, considerable advantages in the administrative and electoral domains.

This method is meant to bring about as a first result a considerable increase in the number of German deputies in the Diet to the prejudice of the Czechs, who until now have held the majority of the seats. It is clear that this device of the Pan Germans is bound to arouse the most violent opposition on the part of the Czechs.

A dispatch printed in all the Wagram papers calls attention to the fact that martial law has been proclaimed in several districts of Bohemia because in certain regions serious riots have occurred. More than 150 persons have been put in prison. The estate of Prince Furstenberg was ransacked. Riots occurred at Marsch, Ostrau, Pilsen, and Nachod. The Czech press expresses itself very violently. The Vetcher writes:

"The Government is trying in vain to present its reform under bright colors, but it is evident at first sight, in fact, that nothing but the dismembering of Bohemia is under way. The Ministerial decree is preparing the parceling out of our fatherland and the foundation of a German province made of our own flesh."

The Narodni Listi, which was suppressed by the censorship as guilty of "criminal dealings," has written:

"It is in vain that threats are hurled at us to divert us from the line of conduct which we have decided to follow according to our proclamation. It is in vain that the sessions of Parliament are adjourned. Our indignation will not be less in June (the Austrian Chamber is to resume its sittings on June 19) and our opponents will have the opportunity of realizing it. The chart which, according to von Seidler, is to be granted to us will not change our resolution: 'We shall fight on without any consideration, with compromise, for the defense of the Czech State.'

"This evidently shows the attitude of all the nationalities crushed by the Germans and the Magyars in the Dual Monarchy. The movement was not entirely unexpected, but it is possible that the fact of threatening them with a pitiless repression has advanced it and made it more formidable.

"Emperor Charles is away from Vienna, and on his return he will find political conditions which the food situation will make even more distressing. Once more the frightfulness of German methods, so dear to the Germans, will bear its fruit by arousing rebellion of the people oppressed."

AUSTRIAN OFFICIAL VIEW

An official Austrian note, referring to the decree, said:

Certain events, which were a danger to the safety of the State and presented even a character of high treason, took place during the first days of the fiftieth anniversary celebration of the founding of the National Bohemian Theatre, and led the authorities to take repressive measures.

Swiss commentators explain that this alludes to a note from the police posted in Prague, which declared that mob gatherings and processions would be dispersed by force if necessary. Jugoslav guests, who had come to Prague to participate in the celebration, were obliged[Pg 124] leave the city, and the newspaper Narodni Listi was suspended because the Austrian authorities declared: "The manner in which this paper is worded tends to arouse sympathy in favor of the Entente States."

Accounts of the great gathering at Prague, which caused the Austrian Government to declare martial law, stated that the city was adorned with the Czech colors and the Slav tricolor flag. The Czech press expressed regret at the absence of Russians and great satisfaction at the presence of Poles. It was reported that the Ruthenians of Eastern Galicia were prevented by the authorities from attending.

The festival was organized by the recently formed Independence Party of Dr. Kramarcz, and the ceremonies consisted generally of a glorification of the union of the Slavic peoples.

WEAKENING NATIONALISM

It is stated by American sympathizers of the Czechs that the new decree is intended also to weaken the Bohemian national movement by decentralizing the forces of the nation and partly to prepare for the possible establishment of a province of "German Bohemia," such as has been talked of in case the national movement is so strong as to force the Austrian Government to try to compromise on some sort of federalization.

The Czecho-Slovak Nation, which has declared its demands for unity and complete independence, includes the Slovaks in the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Czechs, now divided among Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, three of the seventeen crown lands of Austria.

There has been much reference in German-Austrian papers recently to the possible establishment of a German Bohemia, to include the districts with the largest German population. Any rearrangement on this basis would be beset with obstacles, for the Czecho-Slovaks refuse to consent to any partition and the Germans demand not only the border districts for their German Bohemia, but the City of Prague itself.

It was recently reported that in April the Pope, acting through the Papal Nuncio at the request of the Vienna Government, had caused the arrest of Dr. Yeglitch, Prince Archbishop of Laibach, on account of his activities in behalf of the Jugoslav movement. Dr. Yeglitch was the head of the Slovene Catholic party in Parliament, and his arrest produced an outburst of indignation in Croatia and Slovenia. A Vatican dispatch later declared the report of the Pope's connection with the matter to be entirely without foundation.

BOHEMIANS IN ITALY'S ARMY

Troops from Bohemia began joining the Italian Army in April to fight against Austria. The first detachments of this Czecho-Slovak army, which is being formed in many centres out of the one-time subjects of Emperor Karl, have taken up their positions in various parts of the Italian line. They wear the Italian uniform, with certain distinctive signs. The effect upon their fellow-Slavs who are still fighting under the Austrian colors is a subject of considerable interest on both sides. The new position of affairs is being assiduously explained to them by airplane propaganda, and committees of their own race are accredited to and working with the Italian high command. G. Ward Price, a British correspondent, telegraphed from Italian headquarters on May 1:

One night recently some of the Czechs fighting with the Italians were in the front line at a place where the Austrian battalion holding the trenches opposite consisted largely of their fellow-countrymen. After some preliminary conversation by megaphone one of the allied Czechs crawled out to the other lines and urged his compatriots to come over to our side, where they would be treated not as prisoners or deserters but as friends. The Austrian Czechs replied that they would willingly do so, but that the line behind their own was held by Hungarians, who would almost certainly see them moving out of the trench and open fire on them with machine guns.

The allied Czech brought this message in to his friends, whereupon the Italian guns were asked to put down a barrage between the Austrian front trenches and their support line, driving the Hungarians to cover and isolating them from the Czechs, of whom some were thus able to cross over in safety to our side.

[Pg 125]

RACIAL DIVISIONS IN HUNGARY

Hungary in no less degree than Bohemia presents a problem of racial antipathies which has been a cause of serious unrest for centuries; aggravated by the present worldwide aspiration for independent nationalism it has thrown the country into turmoil and given a strong impetus to a revolutionary movement by the non-Magyar inhabitants. In a recent issue of The New Europe, D. Draghicescu, in discussing the situation in Hungary, gives the following facts regarding its racial divisions:

Hungary is a country of 22,000,000 souls, of whom approximately 9,000,000 are Magyars and 13,000,000 non-Magyars, belonging to four or five different races. The Magyars have always insisted upon the fact that in Hungary they form by themselves a block of 9,000,000, while the other nationalities, taken altogether, are but 13,000,000, and that each of these, taken separately, constitute beside the Magyars a negligible minority. Naturally, if the 9,000,000 Magyars lived dispersed in all the provinces of Hungary, mingled with other nationalities in the proportion of 9 to 13, or 41 per cent., or if in each or in the majority of these provinces they formed a majority over the non-Magyars, or even an overwhelming majority over the most important of these nationalities, nothing could be done; the racial question in Hungary should not and would not arise. In that case, no doubt, the Hungarian State would properly bear the impress of the most numerous race, and would be, in fact, a national Magyar State, and the minority races would necessarily be sacrificed, even although their blood-brothers across the frontier might form powerful and prosperous States, (Rumania, Serbia, &c.) However objectionable might be the measures taken by the Magyars against these nationalities, they would, in such conditions, be up to a certain point excusable. It is impossible to create a strong and workable State and to insure peace and prosperity in a country so heterogeneous and containing an imbroglio of peoples each facing in its own direction and gravitating toward other neighboring States.

EACH RACE ISOLATED

He states that the Magyars, however, have never allowed it to be understood how the various races have been distributed in the kingdom, and he elucidates this as follows:

Hungary consists of several provinces, each of which is inhabited by a separate nationality, homogeneous and compact. Of these provinces one of the most important beyond question is the Hungarian Pousta, situated on the banks of the Theiss and the middle Danube, and inhabited by 7,000,000 to 8,000,000 Magyars. The remaining 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 Magyars are scattered over the other provinces, forming the ruling caste and providing officials, magistrates, and police. Their business is to dominate the nationalities of these provinces and bend them under the yoke of the Magyars.

In these other provinces each race is at home, and is as compact and homogeneous as the Magyars in the Pousta. Transylvania, for example, with the neighboring plains of the Banat, of Chrishana and Mamaramuresh is peopled by 4,000,000 or 5,000,000 Rumanians, among whom there are to be found here and there small bodies of Magyars. The Southern Slavs in their turn dwell in compact masses of between 5,000,000 and 6,000,000 in the southern part of Hungary; and there are at least 2,000,000 Slovaks in the north, who also form a compact group. The Magyars are determined that the 7,000,000 to 8,000,000 of the Hungarian Pousta shall rule the 13,000,000 of non-Magyars in Transylvania, Jugoslavia, and Slovakia, and that these nationalities shall disappear, losing their language and individuality and adopting those of the Magyar people. It is nothing less than national suicide which the Magyars demand from these races, and, since this is refused, the jingoes of Budapest, enjoying carte blanche from the Emperor and the European powers, have for sixty years been carrying out a veritable campaign of murder against the non-Magyar races of Hungary.

TRANSYLVANIA'S CASE

The problem is intensified by the fact that the Serbs and Rumanians of Hungary see 5,000,000 of their brother Serbs and 7,500,000 of their brother Rumanians across their frontiers in Serbia and in Rumania under separate sovereignties of their own people. Mr. Draghicescu continues as follows:

Doubtless, if Transylvania and Jugoslavia were merely isolated provinces without affinity or resemblance to neighboring States, as is, for example, the case of Ireland in the United Kingdom, we should admit that, however great might be the majority of these races over the Magyars, the racial question would not and could not arise. It would in that case be merely a question of domestic politics and administration without international interest. But this is far from being[Pg 126] the case in Transylvania, for instance, where the Rumanian population touches upon three sides the Rumanians of the kingdom, and where it has no contact with the Magyars, except on one-third of its racial frontier. Moreover, assuming the Magyars to have a certain superficial claim to ascendency in Hungary, where they are 41 per cent. of the whole population, this claim cannot be admitted in Transylvania, where they are but 15 per cent. to 18 per cent. In Jugoslavia the proportion of Magyars is even smaller. Now, if we imagine the reunion of Transylvania to Rumania to be an accomplished fact, the proportion of races in Greater Rumania would be 92 per cent. Rumanians to 8 per cent. Magyars; for if to the 7,500,000 Rumanians of the kingdom there are added 4,500,000 Rumanians of Hungary among whom there live scattered bodies of Magyars to the number approximately of 1,000,000, we shall have 12,000,000 Rumanians to 1,000,000 Magyars.

In this case, in place of the crying injustice of a 15 per cent. Magyar population seeking to dominate and exterminate a Rumanian population of 60 per cent., we should have a liberal State in which the Rumanians would constitute 93 per cent. and the Magyars between 6 and 7 per cent. In Jugoslavia the same process would give similar results. It is impossible for Serbs and Rumanians to be indifferent to the fate of their kinsmen threatened with Magyarization. If they desire to save their captive brethren, if they desire to liberate them and unite with them, it is not because they are themselves impelled by a spirit of conquest and inspired by a reprehensible imperialism. In them such aims would be absurd. They are roused against the Magyars by legitimate fears for their own fate and liberty in the future. If the Rumanians and Serbs of Hungary were finally Magyarized it would be a proof that the Serb and Rumanian Nations were ephemeral and might easily disappear without harm to any one. Once the resistance of the Serbs and Rumanians of Hungary was broken, the fate of the Serbian and Rumanian Kingdoms would be sealed. The Magyars, with the help of their German allies and masters, would soon overcome the Serbs and Rumanians in the free kingdoms, exposed as these would be to the treacherous onslaughts of Bulgaria.

Therefore, the true terms and proportions of this question may be stated as follows: It is a war of life or death between 9,000,000 Magyars and some 25,000,000 Slavs and Latins. The former are vigorously upheld by the Germans and the Bulgars. And the others? Surely they should have for allies all who desire that Germany and her vassals should not destroy the liberties of the world.

Supreme War Council Favors Free Poland and Jugoslavia

The session of the Supreme War Council of the allied Governments, held at Versailles on June 4, 1918, was attended by the Premiers of Great Britain, France, and Italy. At the close of its deliberations it issued the following statement:

The Supreme War Council held its sixth session under circumstances of great gravity for the alliance of free peoples. The German Government, relieved of all pressure on the eastern front by the collapse of the Russian armies and people, has concentrated all its effort in the west. It is now seeking to gain a decision in Europe by a series of desperate and costly assaults upon the allied armies before the United States can bring its full strength effectively to bear.

The advantage it possesses in its strategic position and superior railway facilities has enabled the enemy command to gain some initial successes. It will undoubtedly renew its attacks and the allied nations still may be exposed to critical days.

After a review of the whole position, the Supreme War Council is convinced that the Allies, bearing the trials of the forthcoming campaign with the same fortitude as they have ever exhibited in defense of the right, will baffle the enemy's purpose and in due course bring him to defeat. Everything possible is being done to sustain and support the armies in the field. The arrangements for unity of command have greatly improved the position of the allied armies and are working smoothly and with success. The Supreme War Council has complete confidence in General Foch. It regards with pride and admiration the valor of the allied troops.

Thanks to the prompt and cordial co-operation of the President of the United States, the arrangements which were set on foot more than two months ago for the transporting and brigading of American troops will make it impossible for the enemy to gain victory by wearing out the allied reserve before he has exhausted his own.

The Supreme War Council is confident of the ultimate result, and the allied peoples are resolute not to sacrifice a single[Pg 127] one of the free nations of the world to the despotism of Berlin. Their armies are displaying the same steadfast courage which has enabled them on many previous occasions to defeat a German onset. They have only to endure with faith and patience to the end to make victory for freedom secure. The free peoples and their magnificent soldiers will save civilization.

The scene in the Coliseum at Rome on April 7, 1918, when the Italian official celebration of the anniversary of America's entry into the war took place
(Photo Audigier)

The third anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania May 7, 1915. Three large graves at Queenstown, Ireland, where 178 of the victims were buried
(British Official Photo from Underwood)

A supplemental official statement announced that the following declarations had been unanimously agreed to by the Premiers of the three nations:

The creation of a united, independent Polish State, with free access to the sea, constitutes one of the conditions of a solid and just peace and the rule of right in Europe.

The Allies have noted with satisfaction the declaration of the American Secretary of State, to which they adhere, expressing the greatest sympathy with the national aspirations of the Czechs and Jugoslavs for freedom.

AMERICA AND JUGOSLAVS

The American declaration referred to above was made public by Secretary Lansing on May 29 in these words:

The Secretary of State desires to announce that the proceedings of the Congress of Oppressed Races of Austria-Hungary, which was held in Rome in April, have been followed with great interest by the Government of the United States, and that the nationalistic aspirations of the Czecho-Slovacs and the Jugoslavs for freedom have the earnest sympathy of this Government.

Secretary Lansing's declaration was greeted with enthusiasm by Jugoslavs in both Europe and America. Premier Pashitch of Serbia a few days later communicated to the American Chargé d'Affaires at Corfu his profound appreciation of the action of the United States. Another result was a formal offer of military service by Jugoslavs residing in this country. The offer was made to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on June 5 by Don Niko Grskovich and John J. Grgurevich, acting as spokesmen for their fellow-Slavs. They explained that the Slovenians, Croats, and other South Slavs in the United States were intensely hostile to the German-Austrian cause, and were eager to cast their lot with the Allies, but because they were technically subjects of the Austrian Crown they occupied the status of enemy aliens and were unable to join the army.

"If Congress will enact a law taking this stigma from our people 50,000 enlistments in the American Army will be the immediate result," Mr. Grskovich told the committee. "Ultimately, nearly 500,000 of our people will be found fighting under the American flag."

Rumania's Thralldom

Subjection of the Nation to German Tyranny Under a Supplementary Economic Treaty

Current History Magazine for June contained the text of the main treaty imposed on Rumania by Germany, known as the Peace of Bucharest. On May 10 it was announced that a "legal and political supplementary agreement" had been exacted, which completed the economic subjection of the country. The main clauses of this treaty follow:

Clause I.—This provides for the resumption of Consular relations and the admission of Consuls. The treaty demands that a further Consular treaty shall be concluded as soon as possible, and stipulates for the indemnification of all damage suffered during the war by Consular officials or done to Consular buildings.

Clause II.—This clause says that Rumania renounces indemnifications and damages caused on Rumanian territory as the result of German military measures, including all requisitions and contributions. Amounts which Germany has already paid for damages of the nature just described will be refunded by Rumania in so far as these have not been refunded from the country's means, or paid in the newly issued notes of the Banca Generale of Rumania, (note issue department.)

Within six months after the ratification of[Pg 128] the peace treaty Rumania will redeem out of her own means (with notes of the Rumanian National Bank or other legal means of payment) the notes issued by the Banca Generale, on the order of the occupation administration, and will not put them into circulation again, so that the balances and deposits which are held by the German Reichsbank for the covering of the same may become free.

Until redemption, the notes of the Banca Generate shall be recognized as legal tender. After the ratification of the peace treaty such notes shall no longer be issued.

Another article, under the same clause, provides that Rumania shall indemnify the Germans for all damages suffered by them on Rumanian territory as the result of the military measures of one of the belligerent powers. This stipulation also applies to the losses which the Germans have suffered as participants, and especially as shareholders, of undertakings situated in Rumanian territory. Immediately after the ratification of the treaty a commission shall meet in Bucharest to fix the amount of such losses. The contracting parties will each appoint a third of the members, and the President of the Swiss Federal Council will be asked to designate neutral personages to make up the other third, which is to include the Chairman.

Rumania will also indemnify neutral nations for damage which has been caused them on Rumanian territory as a result of German military measures, and which must be made good according to the principles of international law.

Clause III.—This clause stipulates for the restoration of treaties and agreements between the contracting parties which were in force before the war, except for those cases in which the peace treaty provides otherwise, and in cases where such instruments are undenouncable for a certain period. This period is prolonged by the period of the duration of the war.

The contracting parties reserve until after the conclusion of a general peace the fixing of their attitude toward separate and collective treaties of a political character.

Clause IV.—This contains prescriptions governing the restoration of ordinary relations between debtor and creditor. It says, too, that each contracting party will, immediately after the ratification of the treaty, resume the payment of its obligations, particularly the public debt service, to subjects of the other party.

Restoration and compensation for concessions and privileges in land and other rights are also dealt with.

Clause V.—This deals with compensation for damage suffered during or immediately before the outbreak of war by civilian subjects of the respective parties in life, health, liberties, or property through acts contrary to international law.

Germans who were in the Rumanian public service before the war, and who were dismissed as enemy foreigners, shall, on their request, be restored to equal rank and equal salary, or, if this is impracticable, they shall be given fair compensation.

Clause VI.—This clause says that the respective prisoners of war shall be sent home in so far as they, with the assent of the State concerned, do not desire to remain in its territory or to proceed to another country. The exchange of prisoners is to follow as soon as possible, at definite times to be further agreed upon.

The expenditure of each party for prisoners of war belonging to the other party up to April 1, 1918, will be calculated on the basis of an average rate of 2,000 marks (£100) for each officer in Germany, and 1,000 for all other prisoners in Germany, and 2,500 (£100) and 1,250 lei respectively for prisoners in Rumania. Immediately on the ratification of the treaty a commission composed of three members of each party is to meet in Bucharest to arrange details and to supervise the carrying out of the agreement.

Interned civilians will also be gratuitously sent home as soon as possible, in so far as they do not wish to remain in the country of their internment or go elsewhere.

Clause VII.—This relates to the right of subjects of the contracting parties to return to the country of their origin without suffering prejudice.

Clause VIII.—This stipulates an amnesty for offenses committed by prisoners of war, interned men, and certain others. It incidentally stipulates that Rumania shall grant an amnesty to its subjects for their political conduct or military conduct based upon political grounds during the war.

Clause IX.—This provides that captured river craft, merchant ships, and cargoes shall be returned, or, if no longer in existence, be paid for, and compensation shall also be paid for the period they were in the captor's possession. Here, too, a commission will be appointed.

Clause X.—This stipulates that various rights shall be accorded to German churches and schools in Rumania.

Clause XI.—This says: "Rumania, after having obtained the assent of the Rumanian National Bank, agrees that the balances and deposits of the National Bank now at the German Reichsbank shall remain in the Reichsbank's charge for five years (and if Rumania falls behind with an installment, for ten years) as a security for Rumania's Public Debt Service, as regards the subjects of Germany; and may also, if necessary, be drawn on to pay interest and redeem drawn bonds."

The representatives of the contracting parties will meet in Berlin within four weeks after the signature of the treaty to make further arrangements regarding the fulfillment and further guaranteeing of Rumania's financial obligations.

Clause XII.—This provides that the respective representatives shall meet in Berlin[Pg 129] within four months after the ratification of this treaty, further to supplement it.

CONTROL OF OIL FIELDS

Under the petroleum agreement between the Central Powers and Rumania, the Central Powers' controlling company, the Oil Lands Leasing Company, is endowed with exclusive rights of the most far-reaching character for thirty years, with the right of prolongation for two subsequent periods of thirty years, making ninety in all.

Up to one-quarter of the foundation shares will be offered to the Rumanian Government with the right of transfer to private interests, but Germany and Austria-Hungary insure their control by the creation of preference shares with a fifty-fold voting right, and these shares are exclusively at their disposal.

A State trading monopoly in oil in Rumania is also provided for, the exercise of the monopoly to be intrusted to a company that is to be formed by a financial group designated by the German and Austro-Hungarian Governments.

All kinds of privileges are stipulated for the Oil Lands Leasing Company, the position of which is most carefully hedged around.

The parties are agreed by the terms of Article IV. of the foregoing agreement that immediately after the ratification of the peace treaty the Rumanian Government will enter into negotiations with the Governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary regarding the manner in which Rumania's surplus oil and oil products can be placed at the disposal of Germany and Austria-Hungary without endangering the vital interests of Rumania in respect of the country's industries and its own needs. The provisions of Article IV.,therefore, only enter into force should no other understanding have been arrived at before Dec. 1, 1918.

COST OF RUMANIA'S PEACE

A correspondent who was at Jassy for years and left there only a few days before the peace treaty was signed thus writes of Rumania's hard fate:

"What is the balance sheet of Rumania after eighteen months' hard struggle? Before August, 1916, she had absolute economic freedom and could sell her harvests to any one she pleased at any price she wanted. In 1915 and 1916 the Rumanian exporters sold wheat to Germany and Austria at from 10s. to 12s. a bushel. The Austro-German importers had to pay, besides, a heavy export tax in gold to the Rumanian Government. Now Germany has secured for herself and her allies practically the whole Rumanian harvest for years to come, at a price which she is going to fix, and in such conditions that 'no diplomatic intervention should be necessary in the future for securing the grain necessary for the allied Central Powers.'

"Rumania had in Europe, after Russia, the richest oil fields and the greatest production of oil. The fields were in American, German, and English hands, but the Rumanian Government had full control of the production and drew very large benefits. When the war broke out in 1914 the Rumanian Government at once prohibited the export of petrol and heavy oils to Germany. The German companies tried hard to send the much-needed petrol to their countries, but succeeded in smuggling only a small quantity through at enormous cost. After a year the production of petrol increased so much that the Government was compelled to allow the export of a small quantity, asking Germany in exchange to agree that Rumania should receive a certain quantity of goods the export of which was prohibited in Germany. The Germans will not forget that they had to pay for the petrol at the rate of about $200 a ton."

GERMAN OIL MONOPOLY

"Since November, 1916, the Rumanian oil industry has been destroyed. In the last ten days before the Germans penetrated into the rich Prahova Valley the British mission under Lieut. Col. Norton Griffiths destroyed everything—wells, tanks, refineries were burned, smashed to pieces, or blown up, so that even now, after a year and a half, the Germans have not been able to reconstruct them. According to statements made by German prisoners in November last, none of [Pg 130]obstructed wells had been put in order again. The German engineers have worked hard, boring new wells, but have not succeeded in getting more than 10 to 15 per cent. of the normal production. However, although the refineries and wells have been destroyed, the oil fields exist, and I think that not even 50 per cent. of them have yet been worked in Rumania. The Germans know this, and the clause in the peace treaty that they should have the control and monopoly of the oil fields for ninety-nine years will make them the real owners and entirely independent of the American market. These two assets—the corn and the oil—on which the whole wealth of the Rumanian Kingdom was based, are thus under direct German control."

"Furthermore, Rumania has suffered much during the war. Towns and villages have been destroyed, and nearly the entire stock of railway carriages, vans, and locomotives has been lost. The productive capacity of the country has been enormously diminished. About 60 per cent. of the horned cattle and more than 70 per cent. of the horses have gone. Famine and disease have made ravages among the rural population, nobody having paid any attention to them. I have seen villages of 300 to 500 inhabitants reduced to 40. All the rest died from spotted typhus or other scourges. This shows how reduced are the means of national recovery after peace is signed. The financial situation is probably worse than the economic. At the outbreak of the war the budget amounted to 500,000,000 lei, ($100,000,000,) while the national debt was about 1,500,000,000 lei, ($300,000,000.) A few weeks before I left Jassy the Minister of Finance told me that the debt had increased to about $1,250,000,000. In the period from August, 1916, to February, 1918, the revenue had been very greatly reduced. As the military situation was always critical and the Government had decided twice, before the Russian disaster, to move to Russia, everybody who had a little money kept it at home and did not invest it in Government securities. Therefore only a small amount had been raised in Rumania by loans; the greatest part of the money had to be obtained from abroad, mainly from England, but also from France and the United States, at a rate of 4 to 5 per cent. Thus the interest which Rumania had to pay on her national debt represented about $62,500,000, or more than three-quarters of her budget in the pre-war days."

VON KUEHLMANN'S EXPLANATION

Dr. von Kühlmann, the German Foreign Secretary, who forced the treaty, in an address before the Berlin Chamber of Commerce May 24, explained the advantages which the peace of Bucharest had brought to Germany. He said:

Two points must be taken into consideration: First, guaranteeing Rumanian agricultural and petroleum production as urgently necessary for the carrying on of the war by the Central Powers and for the transition period; and, secondly, the important rôle which Rumania has to fill in providing a thoroughfare to the East, especially as she dominates the lower course of the Danube.

It is here that there comes into effect the International Danube Delta Committee, upon which only States on the banks of the Danube can be represented. Only if the States agree to it will the countries lying on the Black Sea be able to come into it. Therefore, it is especially important for the German seaboard traffic that we have been able to secure sites for dockyards.

Along with the Danube, the importance of the Rumanian railways must be considered, especially the Bucharest-Czernavoda-Constanza line, over which Germany must have control. It has been agreed with Bulgaria that this railway to Constanza, which is to be made a free port with grain silos and petroleum tanks, is to be leased to a German company for ninety-nine years.

The cable between Constantinople and Constanza played an important rôle before the war. This cable is to be developed to the utmost and secured from enemy control.

Alluding to the agreement by which Germany had secured the Rumanian harvest of 1918-19, and the far-reaching option upon the entire Rumanian harvest for the next seven years, Dr. von Kühlmann said:

One can look forward to the whole food question with a certain amount of confidence. * * * Formal war indemnities were not demanded by Germany, but the numerous privileges we secured[Pg 131] are equivalent, in the opinion of experts, to anything which would have been yielded by indemnities. When, some day, the damage caused by the U-boat warfare shall have been made good by newly-built ships, the sea route from Constanza will regain its importance. Whether traffic on the Danube will be able to compete with it is a question of the distant future. For the present we shall have to rely on the Danube.

MODEL PEACE TERMS

Discussing this treaty on June 1, the Nachrichten of Munich declared:

The peace concluded with Rumania should serve as a model for the general peace terms to be concluded by the Central Powers. Germany has found a method of making conquered countries share her enormous war burdens without actually inflicting a crushing war indemnity. This method consists in enforcing on them a stipulation for preferential treatment to be accorded to Germany over a long period, so that Germany may be fully supplied with goods she needs. In this way Rumania will furnish the Central Powers with wheat and petroleum on advantageous terms for ninety years. A similar happy solution must also be adopted in all peace treaties to be conducted in the future.

ARMENIA'S SUFFERINGS IN A NEW PHASE

Turkish Invasion of the Caucasus Under the Brest Treaty—Struggle of the Georgians

By the terms of the Brest-Litovsk treaty the Bolshevist Government of Russia gave up to Turkey the districts of Batum, Kars, and Erivan, comprising the southwestern portion of the Caucasus, between the Black and Caspian Seas. This region includes the Russian part of the former Kingdom of Armenia, with Turkish Armenia adjoining it on the south. It is inhabited largely by Armenians and by that other ancient people, the Georgians, between whom and the Turks there has been an age-long and deadly feud. Hundreds of thousands of Armenian refugees from Turkish persecution in Asia Minor had taken refuge here under the Russian flag in the last three years, especially after the first Petrograd revolution gave promise of liberty under a republic. Now Georgians and Armenians alike find themselves betrayed into the hands of their Turkish enemies.

Soon after the signing of the treaty on March 3, 1918, the Turks sent armed forces to take possession of the three districts named. They met with resistance both from the Armenians and from the Georgians, but neither of the betrayed nationalities had an army competent to cope with the enemy. The result was a new reign of terror, similar to that of the atrocities that ensued.

PROTEST OF ARMENIANS

The Armenian National Council on April 14 addressed the following protest to the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and to the President of the Reichstag:

The Armenian National Council, as the supreme body for the expression of the will of the Armenian people, is addressing you in connection with the tragic state of things in Armenia. Armenia is flooded with blood and, only recently saved from centuries of slavery, is again condemned to fresh sufferings. Following upon the withdrawal of the Russian troops, Turkish troops have already invaded the undefended country and are not only killing every Turkish Armenian but also every Russian in Armenia.

In spite of the terms of the peace treaty, which recognizes the right of self-determination for these Caucasian regions, the Turkish Army is advancing toward Kars and Ardahan, destroying the country and killing the Christian population. The responsibility for the future destiny of the Armenians lies entirely with Germany, because it was Germany's insistence that resulted in the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Armenian regions, and at the moment it rests with Germany to prevent the habitual excesses of the Turkish troops, increased by revengefulness and anger.

[Pg 132]

It is hard to believe that a civilized State like Germany, which has the means for preventing the excesses of her ally, will permit the Brest-Litovsk treaty to be used by the German people, who have been involved in war against their own will, as a means for the creation of incalculable sufferings.

The National Council firmly believes that you will undertake the necessary measures, which depend solely upon you, to influence the Turkish authorities with a view to saving the Armenian people from fresh horrors.

POLICY OF ANNIHILATION

To this protest the Bolshevist Government of Russia added the following:

The offensive of the Turkish troops and detachments on the Caucasian front has been followed by the murder of the whole Armenian population. The peaceful population of women and children have been killed without mercy and their property has been plundered and burned.

The peace treaty, which we were forced to sign at Brest-Litovsk, left the determination of the future destiny of the people of the provinces of Ardahan, Kars, and Batum to themselves. The events which have taken place in these provinces testify that the old policy of the annihilation of the Armenian people is still to be applied.

On the Turkish front the advantage of the war was on the side of Russia, and Russia was forced to give up Ardahan, Kars, and Batum only because Germany was the ally of Turkey. The responsibility for all the horrors which the Armenian population is now suffering in those regions already occupied by the Turkish troops lies, therefore, with the German Government, which directly helped Turkey to secure these regions.

The People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs protests against such abuse of the right of self-determination of the population of these provinces, and expresses the hope and insists on the necessity of immediate and energetic intervention on the part of Germany in the Caucasus, with a view to stopping further murders and the annihilation of the peaceful population, such as has taken place in Ardahan.

The Armenians and Georgians fought the advancing Turks, but their efforts were in vain; on April 17 Batum fell to the Turks, and the Ottoman troops were said to have a firm grip on these and other portions of the Caucasus.

STORY OF THE GEORGIANS

The rugged mountain region between the Black and Caspian Seas, known as the Caucasus, covers 180,603 square miles consists of 14 provinces. The population in 1914 was 11,735,100, of whom 87 per cent. were illiterate; there are no less than 46 distinct nationalities among the inhabitants, chief of which are the Georgians and Armenians. The Georgians were the only nationality to maintain their independence up to the end of the eighteenth century. Georgia existed as a State long before the Christian era; Alexander the Great conquered the country. In 1080 the Kingdom of Georgia was established by David III. Peter the Great of Russia, recognizing its importance, entered into an alliance with the kingdom, and in 1721 Russian and Georgian troops penetrated to Baku, the rich industrial district bordering on the Caspian Sea. King Heraklius II., who reigned during the middle and end of the eighteenth century, received high praise from Catherine the Great and Frederick the Great for his military prowess and intellect, and in 1768 Russia and Georgia took joint action against the Turks.

In 1783 the Turks and Persians invaded Georgia, and Russia again concluded a treaty of protection, in which Georgia's independence was guaranteed. In 1801 Russia violated this treaty by annexing Georgia as a Russian province. The people revolted, but the uprising was unsuccessful. The Georgian mountaineers, however, never became reconciled to Russian dominion, and in connection with the Circassians carried on guerrilla warfare for forty years. In 1864 they were finally defeated and given the choice of submitting or emigrating to Turkey. Only 90,000 submitted and 418,000 emigrated to Turkey.

The jubilee of 100 years' alliance between the Kingdom of Georgia and Russia was celebrated in Tiflis, Sept. 26, 1901. At that time Czar Nicholas II. issued a manifesto acknowledging the loyalty of the Georgian people, who "voluntarily placed the kingdom under our protection," expressing imperial thanks to the Georgian Nation, and extending the promise of "my special attention and care for this brave nation, which is united with us by common ties of religion." This in face of the further fact that in 1811 the independence of the[Pg 133] Georgian Church, which had existed since the year 542, was abolished by the Russians and only six Bishoprics out of twenty-eight were allowed to remain, while more than $350,000,000 of church property was confiscated!

RUSSIAN CAUCASUS REGION, INCLUDING GEORGIA AND RUSSIAN ARMENIA, PARTS OF WHICH WERE HANDED OVER TO THE TURKS BY THE TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK

PROGRESS AMONG GEORGIANS

D. Ghambashidze, in a recent statement regarding the Georgian Nation, alludes to the progress made in the second half of the nineteenth century as follows:

The number of daily papers and weeklies in 1913 was twenty-four, and the number of books published in the same year on various subjects was about 240, amounting to 460,000 copies. It must also be remembered that 75 per cent. of the total population can read and write, and there are many schools and libraries. Eighty-five per cent. of the total population is composed of peasantry, whose chief occupation is very intensive agriculture, tobacco, wine, cotton, and silk being included in their products. The co-operative movement is also very strong in Georgia, there being about 400 co-operative societies, nearly 70 per cent. of the peasants being members.

During the last eight centuries the nobility of Georgia has devoted its attention chiefly to military occupations. There were about 5,700 officers in the Russian Army, among whom may be mentioned the very distinguished Generals, Princes Bagration, Amilakhvari, Tchavachavadze, Orbelliani, and Amiradjebi. Prince Imeretinski has acted as Governor General of Poland, and through his wise rule won great respect among the Poles. He was instrumental in obtaining the permission of the Emperor for the erection of a monument to the great Polish poet Mickevits in Warsaw. General Kazbek was commander of the fortress of Vladivostok and General Orbelliani was Commander in Chief of the Russian troops stationed in Finland.

Among the Georgian Bishops the most celebrated was Bishop Gabriel, whose famous sermons have been translated into English by the Rev. Dr. Malan, one-time Vicar of Oxford. There were also a great many Georgian professors at various Russian universities, among them the celebrated physiologist, Professor Tarhanov; the philologist, Professor D. Tchubinov, and Petriev, the late Dean of Odessa University. Distinguished Georgians like Prince Tchavachavadze and Eristov were members of the Russian House of Lords, while Mr. Tsereteli, the celebrated Georgian Deputy in the Duma, acted as one of the leaders during the present revolution.

The Armenian Nation also goes far [Pg 134]back into ancient history. Six centuries before Christ the texts engraved on the rocks by King Darius mentioned Armenia by its present name. During centuries immediately before and after the beginning of the Christian era Armenia was an independent kingdom occupying the region between Mesopotamia and the valleys south of the Caucasus Mountains. This kingdom became Christian about the same time as the Roman Empire, and since then the Armenian Church has not ceased to be independent, not only of the Eastern, Greek, and Slavic Churches, but also of the Roman Church.

ARMENIA, SCENE OF EARLIER TURKISH ATROCITIES

Professor Meillet of the Collège de France, Paris, states that there has been an Armenian literature since the fifth century of our era, and that the old Armenian writings are more original and interesting than the ancient Slavic literatures, which date from several centuries later. Historians of art agree that in architecture, from the fifth to the ninth century, the Armenians were creators of new forms. Professor Meillet adds that at a time when the very name of Franco did not yet exist, and when the French language had not been differentiated literature of its own.

At the period of the Crusades the Armenians founded a kingdom in Cilicia and aided the Crusaders. Since the last of the Crusades there have been no independent Armenians. Mussulman, Persian, and Turkish States have dominated their former country. In the nineteenth century the Caucasus portion was taken by Russia. But the Armenian Nation had its own customs, language, literature, and church, and all these it has kept. It had the will to live, and in spite of its subjugation it has lived.

SUCCESSFUL EMIGRANTS

Armenians, hindered by persecution from tilling their lands, emigrated to other countries, where they developed eminent qualities. Industrious farmers, attached to their native land, they have yet known how, under necessity, to adapt themselves to all the professions of the modern world. Thus they came to fill a large place in Constantinople, in Egypt, in Transylvania, in Poland, and more recently in Baku, in the whole basin of[Pg 135] the Mediterranean, and even in America. Everywhere they have made useful citizens; it was an Armenian, Althen, who introduced the cultivation of madder in Southern France. In their own country, where they had preserved a patriarchal system, most of them remained farmers.

The Armenian Church, which has not ceased to be autonomous, is the most democratic of the ancient Christian Churches; it is the only one in which laymen take part with the priests in the election of the head of the Church, the Catholicos, who lives in the Convent of Etchmiadzin, in Russian Armenia.

In the nineteenth century, though possessing no intellectual centre of their own, the Armenians found means for giving a modern literature to Russian Armenia and another to Turkish Armenia. Occupying a part of Asia that is a natural passageway between the Orient and the Occident, says Professor Meillet, they have been, since the fifth century, carriers of European civilization. Their vanguard position has made of them the martyrs of Western culture. Their success and their European character made them odious to their Turkish masters, who were less industrious than they. By the Treaty of Berlin in 1878 Turkey pledged herself to introduce reforms and ameliorations in Armenia, and to protect these people from attacks by the Kurds and Circassians; but the pledge was never kept. After the massacres at Sassun in 1894 Europe made a more imperious demand for reforms; Sultan Abdul Hamid promised them—and immediately ordered the great massacres of 1895 and 1896, which won for him the name of the Red Sultan.

UNDER THE YOUNG TURKS

The Young Turk revolution promised to improve the lot of the Armenians by instituting liberty in the Ottoman Empire; in reality the Young Turks desired only to make a unified empire of which they should be masters; they tried to "Turkify" all the races under them by persecuting those who wished to keep their own character; in 1909 they caused the Armenians at Adana to be massacred.

When the Young Turk Government allied itself with the Central Empires, learning organization from the Germans, it organized the destruction of the Armenians in 1915 on scientific lines. It ordered the deportation of these people from land which they had occupied for more than 2,000 years, and, after massacring the men and seizing the young women, it caused the rest of the women and the children to perish of hunger, thirst, and fatigue along the highways into which they had been driven; it sent them to die in the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were thus destroyed. When the victorious Russian troops entered Erzerum and Trebizond they found only a few dozens of Armenians out of the tens of thousands who had inhabited those cities. The German authorities knew of these massacres; they made no protest.

In Syria the Christian population was destroyed by other methods; all the food was taken away, and then the district was isolated and the entrance of new food supplies forbidden. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians died of hunger. Germany knew of this crime; it did not protest.

EXTERMINATING A RACE

The great war gave the Young Turk leaders their long-desired opportunity to crush the Armenians. Henry Morgenthau, the United States Ambassador at Constantinople at that time, says in a recent statement:

During the Spring of 1915 they evolved their plan to destroy the Armenian race. They criticised their ancestors for neglecting to destroy or convert the Christian races to Mohammedanism at the time when they first subjugated them. Now, as four of the great powers were at war with them and the two others were their allies, they thought the time opportune to make good the oversight of their ancestors in the fifteenth century. They drafted the able-bodied Armenians into the army without, however, giving them arms; they used them simply to build roads or do similar work. Then, under the pretext of searching the houses for arms, they pillaged the belongings of the villagers. * * * The final and worst measure was the wholesale deportation of the entire population from their homes[Pg 136] and their exile to the desert, with all the accompanying horrors on the way. * * * The facts contained in the reports received at the embassy from absolutely trustworthy eyewitnesses surpass the most beastly and diabolical cruelties ever perpetrated or imagined in the history of the world.

BARBAROUS TORTURES

Many of these horrors were told in detail in the monumental report of Viscount Bryce, portions of which were published in Current History Magazine, November, 1916. To these may be added a statement made to Mr. Morgenthau personally by an eyewitness—a German missionary!—and put into writing at the American Embassy in Constantinople, which reads in part as follows:

It was that very afternoon that I received the first terrible reports, but I did not fully believe them. A few millers and bakers, whose services were needed by the Government, had remained, and they received the news first. The men had all been tied together and shot outside of the town. The women and children were taken to the neighboring villages, placed in houses by the hundreds, and either burned alive or thrown into the river. (Our buildings being in the main quarter of the town we could receive the news quite promptly.) Furthermore, one could see women and children pass by with blood streaming down, weeping. * * * Who can describe such pictures? Add to all this the sight of burning houses and the smell of many burning corpses.

Within a week everything was nearly over. The officers boasted now of their bravery, that they had succeeded in exterminating the whole Armenian race. Three weeks later when we left Moush, the villages were still burning. Nothing that belonged to the Armenians, either in the city or the villages, was allowed to remain. In Moush alone there were 25,000 Armenians; besides, Moush had 300 villages with a large Armenian population.

We left for Mezreh. The soldiers who accompanied us showed us with pride where and how and how many women and children they had killed.

We were very pleased to see upon our arrival at Harpoot that the orphanages were full. This was, however, all that could be said. Mamuret-ul-Aziz has become the cemetery of all the Armenians; all the Armenians from the various vilayets were sent there, and those who had not died on the way came there simply to find their graves.

Another terrible thing in Mamuret-ul-Aziz were the tortures to which the people had been subjected for two months, and they had generally treated so harshly the families of the better class. Feet, hands, chests were nailed to a piece of wood; nails of fingers and toes were torn out; beards and eyebrows pulled out; feet were hammered with nails, as they do with horses; others were hung with their feet up and heads down over closets. * * * Oh! How one could wish that all these facts were not true! In order that people outside might not hear the screams of agony of the poor victims, men stood around the prison wherein these atrocities were committed, with drums and whistles.

On July 1 the first 2,000 were dispatched from Harpoot. They were soldiers, and it was rumored that they would build roads. People became frightened. Whereupon the Vali called the German missionary, Mr. ——, and begged him to quiet the people; he was so very sorry that they all had such fears, &c. They had hardly been away for a day when they were all killed in a mountain pass. They were bound together, and when the Kurds and soldiers started to shoot at them some managed to escape in the dark. The next day another 2,000 were sent in the direction of Diarbekr. Among those deported were several of our orphans (boys) who had been working for the Government all the year round. Even the wives of the Kurds came with their knives and murdered the Armenians. Some of the latter succeeded in fleeing. When the Government heard that some Armenians had managed to escape they left those who were to be deported without food for two days in order that they would be too weak to be able to flee.

All the high Catholic Armenians, together with their Archbishop, were murdered. Up to now there still remained a number of tradesmen whom the Government needed and therefore had not deported; now these, too, were ordered to leave, and were murdered.

TOTAL NUMBER MURDERED

The total Armenian population in the Turkish Empire in 1912 numbered between 1,600,000 and 2,000,000. Of these 182,000 escaped to the Russian Caucasus, where now again they have been placed in peril of extermination at the hands of the Turks. About 4,200 escaped into Egypt, while 150,000 still remain in Constantinople. To these figures must be added the relatively small number of survivors still in hiding or scattered in distant provinces. Mr. Morgenthau concludes that 1,000,000 Armenians were harried out of their homes in Asia Minor,[Pg 137] that the murdered number between 600,000 and 800,000. The remainder, in pitiful want of the barest necessities of life, hold out their hands to the Christian fellowship of America for aid.

In how far was the German Government responsible for the murder and deportation of the Armenians in Turkey? Mr. Morgenthau, summing up the story of his own fruitless efforts to get Baron Wangenheim, the German Ambassador, to intervene in their behalf, says: "Let me say most emphatically, the German Government could have prevented it." Now again it is the German Government that has handed over the Armenian refugees in the Russian Caucasus to the tender mercy of the Turks.

President Wilson's Addresses

Important Utterances on War Themes

President Wilson delivered two public addresses in May, 1918, the first in New York City, May 17, to inaugurate the second Red Cross campaign, the second before a joint session of the United States Congress, May 27, on the subject of a Federal revenue bill. The speeches are given herewith.

Red Cross Speech in New York

[Delivered in the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, May 17, 1918]

There are two duties with which we are face to face. The first duty is to win the war. And the second duty that goes hand in hand with it is to win it greatly and worthily, showing the real quality of our power not only, but the real quality of our purpose and of ourselves. Of course, the first duty, the duty that we must keep in the foreground of our thought until it is accomplished, is to win the war. I have heard gentlemen recently say that we must get 5,000,000 men ready. Why limit it to 5,000,000?

I have asked the Congress of the United States to name no limit, because the Congress intends, I am sure, as we all intend, that every ship that can carry men or supplies shall go laden upon every voyage with every man and every supply she can carry. And we are not to be diverted from the grim purpose of winning the war by any insincere approaches upon the subject of peace. I can say with a clear conscience that I have tested those intimations and have found them insincere. I now recognize them for what they are, an opportunity to have a free hand, particularly in the East, to carry out purposes of conquest and exploitation.

Every proposal with regard to accommodation in the West involves a reservation with regard to the East. Now, so far as I am concerned, I intend to stand by Russia as well as France. The helpless and the friendless are the very ones that need friends and succor, and if any men in Germany think we are going to sacrifice anybody for our own sake, I tell them now they are mistaken. For the glory of this war, my fellow-citizens, so far as we are concerned, is that it is, perhaps for the first time in history, an unselfish war. I could not be proud to fight for a selfish purpose, but I can be proud to fight for mankind. If they wish peace let them come forward through accredited representatives and lay their terms on the table. We have laid ours and they know what they are.

But behind all this grim purpose, my friends, lies the opportunity to demonstrate not only force, which will be demonstrated to the utmost, but the opportunity to demonstrate character, and it is that opportunity that we have most conspicuously in the work of the Red Cross. Not that our men in arms do not represent our character, for they do, and it is a character which those who see and realize appreciate and admire; but their duty is the duty of force. The duty of the Red Cross is the duty of mercy and succor and friendship.

WHAT THE WAR IS DOING

Have you formed a picture in your imagination of what this war is doing for us and for the world? In my own mind I am convinced that not a hundred years of peace could have knitted this nation together as this single year of war has knitted it together, and better even than that, if possible, it is knitting the world together. Look at the picture. In the centre of the scene, four nations engaged against the world, and at every point of vantage, showing that they are seeking selfish aggrandizement; and, against them, twenty-three Governments representing the greater part of the population of the world, drawn together into a new sense of community of interest, a new sense of community of purpose,[Pg 138] sense of unity of life. The Secretary of War told me an interesting incident the other day. He said when he was in Italy a member of the Italian Government was explaining to him the many reasons why Italy felt near to the United States.

He said: "If you want to try an interesting experiment go up to any one of these troop trains and ask in English how many of them have been in America, and see what happens." He tried the experiment. He went up to a troop train and he said, "How many of you boys have been in America?" and he said it seemed to him as if half of them sprang up. "Me from San Francisco"; "Me from New York"; all over. There was part of the heart of America in the Italian Army. People that had been knitted to us by association, who knew us, who had lived among us, who had worked shoulder to shoulder with us, and now friends of America, were fighting for their native Italy.

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. And this intimate contact of the great Red Cross with the peoples who are suffering the terrors and deprivations of this war is going to be one of the greatest instrumentalities of friendship that the world ever knew, and the centre of the heart of it all, if we sustain it properly, will be this land that we so dearly love.

SERVICE BY GIVING

My friends, a great day of duty has come, and duty finds a man's soul as no kind of work can ever find it. May I say this? The duty that faces us all now is to serve one another, and no man can afford to make a fortune out of this war. There are men among us who have forgotten that, if they ever saw it. Some of you are old enough—I am old enough—to remember men who made fortunes out of the civil war, and you know how they were regarded by their fellow-citizens. That was a war to save one country—this is a war to save the world. And your relation to the Red Cross is one of the relations which will relieve you of the stigma. You can't give anything to the Government of the United States; it won't accept it. There is a law of Congress against accepting even services without pay. The only thing that the Government will accept is a loan, and duties performed; but it is a great deal better to give than to lend or to pay, and your great channel for giving is the American Red Cross.

Down in your hearts you can't take very much satisfaction in the last analysis in lending money to the Government of the United States, because the interest which you draw will burn your pockets, it is a commercial transaction, and some men have even dared to cavil at the rate of interest, not knowing the incidental commentary that constitutes upon their attitude.

But when you give, something of your something of your soul, something of yourself goes with the gift, particularly when it is given in such form that it never can come back by way of direct benefit to yourself. You know there is the old cynical definition of gratitude as "the lively expectation of favors to come." Well, there is no expectation of favors to come in this kind of giving. These things are bestowed in order that the world may be a fitter place to live in, that men may be succored, that homes may be restored, that suffering may be relieved, that the face of the earth may have the blight of destruction taken away from it, and that wherever force goes there shall go mercy and helpfulness.

And when you give, give absolutely all that you can spare, and don't consider yourself liberal in the giving. If you give with self-adulation, you are not giving at all, you are giving to your own vanity; but if you give until it hurts, then your heartblood goes with it.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION

And think what we have here! We call it the American Red Cross, but it is merely a branch of a great international organization, which is not only recognized by the statutes of each of the civilized Governments of the world, but it is recognized by international agreement and treaty, as the recognized and accepted instrumentality of mercy and succor. And one of the deepest stains that rests upon the reputation of the German Army is that they have not respected the Red Cross.

That goes to the root of the matter. They have not respected the instrumentality they themselves participated in setting up as the thing which no man was to touch, because it was the expression of common humanity. We are members, by being members of the American Red Cross, of a great fraternity and comradeship which extends all over the world, and this cross which these ladies bore today is an emblem of Christianity itself.

It fills my imagination, ladies and gentlemen, to think of the women all over this country who are busy tonight and are busy every night and every day doing the work of the Red Cross, busy with a great eagerness to find out the most serviceable thing to do, busy with a forgetfulness of all the old frivolities of their social relationships, ready to curtail the duties of the household in order that they may contribute to this common work that all their hearts are engaged in, and in doing which their hearts become acquainted with each other.

When you think of this, you realize how the people of the United States are being drawn together into a great intimate family whose heart is being used for the service of the soldiers not only, but for the service of civilians, where they suffer and are lost in a maze of distresses and distractions. And you have, then, this noble picture of justice and mercy as the two servants of liberty. For only where men are free do they think the[Pg 139] thoughts of comradeship; only where they are free do they think the thoughts of sympathy; only where they are free are they mutually helpful; only where they are free do they realize their dependence upon one another and their comradeship in a common interest and common necessity.

MAKING THE WORLD DEMOCRATIC

I heard a story told the other day that was ridiculous, but it is worth repeating, because it contains the germ of truth. An Indian was enlisted in the army. He returned to the reservation on a furlough. He was asked what he thought of it. He said: "No much good; too much salute; not much shoot." Then he was asked: "Are you going back?" "Yes." "Well, do you know what you are fighting for?" "Yes, me know; fight to make whole damn world Democratic Party." He had evidently misunderstood some innocent sentence of my own.

But, after all, although there is no party purpose in it, he got it right as far as the word "party"—to make the whole world democratic in the sense of community of interest and of purpose; and if you ladies and gentlemen could read some of the touching dispatches which come through official channels, for even through those channels there come voices of humanity that are infinitely pathetic; if you could catch some of those voices that speak the utter longing of oppressed and helpless peoples all over the world, to hear something like the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," to hear the feet of the great hosts of liberty going to set them free, to set their minds free, set their lives free, set their children free, you would know what comes into the heart of those who are trying to contribute all the brains and power they have to this great enterprise of liberty.

I summon you to the comradeship. I summon you in this next week to say how much and how sincerely and how unanimously you sustain the heart of the world.

Address on Revenue Legislation

[Delivered Before Congress May 27, 1918, by President Wilson]

It is with unaffected reluctance that I come to ask you to prolong your session long enough to provide more adequate resources for the Treasury for the conduct of the war. I have reason to appreciate as fully as you do how arduous the session has been. Your labors have been severe and protracted. You have passed a long series of measures which required the debate of many doubtful questions of judgment and many exceedingly difficult questions of principle, as well as of practice. The Summer is upon us, in which labor and counsel are twice arduous and are constantly apt to be impaired by lassitude and fatigue. The elections are at hand, and we ought as soon as possible to go and render an intimate account of our trusteeship to the people who delegated us to act for them in the weighty and anxious matters that crowd upon us in these days of critical choice and action. But we dare not go to the elections until we have done our duty to the full. These are days when duty stands stark and naked, and even with closed eyes we know it is there. Excuses are unavailing. We have either done our duty or we have not. The fact will be as gross and plain as the duty itself. In such a case lassitude and fatigue seem negligible enough. The facts are tonic and suffice to freshen the labor.

And the facts are these: Additional revenues must manifestly be provided for. It would be a most unsound policy to raise too large a proportion of them by loan, and it is evident that the $4,000,000,000 now provided for by taxation will not of themselves sustain the greatly enlarged budget to which we must immediately look forward. We cannot in fairness wait until the end of the fiscal year is at hand to apprise our people of the taxes they must pay on their earnings of the present calendar year, whose accountings and expenditures will then be closed. We cannot get increased taxes unless the country knows what they are to be and practices the necessary economy to make them available. Definiteness, early definiteness, as to what its tasks are to be is absolutely necessary for the successful administration of the Treasury. It cannot frame fair and workable regulations in haste; and it must frame its regulations in haste if it is not to know its exact task until the very eve of its performance. The present tax laws are marred, moreover, by inequities which ought to be remedied. Indisputable facts, every one; and we cannot alter or blink them. To state them is argument enough.

WAR PROFITS AND LUXURIES

And yet, perhaps, you will permit me to dwell for a moment upon the situation they disclose. Enormous loans freely spent in the stimulation of industry of almost every sort produce inflations and extravagances which presently make the whole economic structure questionable and insecure, and the very basis of credit is cut away. Only fair, equitably distributed taxation of the widest incidents and drawing chiefly from the sources which would be likely to demoralize credit by their very abundance can prevent inflation and keep our industrial system free of speculation and waste. We shall naturally turn, therefore, I suppose, to war profits and incomes and luxuries for the additional taxes. But the war profits and incomes upon which the increased taxes will be levied will be the profits and incomes of the calendar year 1918.[Pg 140] It would be manifestly unfair to wait until the early months of 1919 to say what they are to be. It might be difficult, I should imagine, to run the mill with water that had already gone over the wheel.

Moreover, taxes of that sort will not be paid until June of next year, and the Treasury must anticipate them. It must use the money they are to produce before it is due. It must sell short-time certificates of indebtedness. In the Autumn a much larger sale of long-time bonds must be effected than has yet been attempted. What are the bankers to think of the certificates if they do not certainly know where the money is to come from which is to take them up? and how are investors to approach the purchase of bonds with any sort of confidence or knowledge of their own affairs if they do not know what taxes they are to pay and what economies and adjustments of their business they must effect? I cannot assure the country of a successful administration of the Treasury in 1918 if the question of further taxation is to be left undecided until 1919.

The consideration that dominates every other now, and makes every other seem trivial and negligible, is the winning of the war. We are not only in the midst of the war, we are at the very peak and crisis of it. Hundreds of thousands of our men, carrying our hearts with them and our fortunes, are in the field, and ships are crowding faster and faster to the ports of France and England with regiment after regiment, thousand after thousand, to join them until the enemy shall be beaten and brought to a reckoning with mankind. There can be no pause or intermission. The great enterprise must, on the contrary, be pushed with greater and greater energy. The volume of our might must steadily and rapidly be augmented until there can be no question of resisting it. If that is to be accomplished, gentlemen, money must sustain it to the utmost. Our financial program must no more be left in doubt or suffered to lag than our ordnance program or our ship program or our munition program or our program for making millions of men ready. These others are not programs, indeed, but mere plans upon paper, unless there is to be an unquestionable supply of money.

A TAX ON PROFITEERING

That is the situation, and it is the situation which creates the duty; no choice or preference of ours. There is only one way to meet that duty. We must meet it without selfishness or fear of consequences. Politics is adjourned. The elections will go to those who thing[?think?] least of it; to those who go to the constituencies without explanations or excuses, with a plain record of duty faithfully and disinterestedly performed. I for one, am always confident that the people of this country will give a just verdict upon the service of the men who act for them when the facts such that no man can disguise or conceal them. There is no danger of deceit now. An intense and pitiless light beats upon every man and every action in this tragic plot of war that is now upon the stage. If lobbyists hurry to Washington to attempt to turn what you do in the matter of taxation to their protection or advantage, the light will beat also upon them. There is abundant fuel for the light in the records of the Treasury with regard to profits of every sort. The profiteering that cannot be got at by the restraints of conscience and love of country can be got at by taxation. There is such profiteering now, and the information with regard to it is available and indisputable.

I am advising you to act upon this matter of taxation now, gentlemen, not because I do not know that you can see and interpret the facts and the duty they impose just as well and with as clear a perception of the obligation involved as I can, but because there is a certain solemn satisfaction in sharing with you the responsibilities of such a time. The world never stood in such a case before. Men never before had so clear and so moving a vision of duty. I know that you will begrudge the work to be done here by us no more than the men begrudge us theirs who lie in the trenches and sally forth to their death. There is a stimulating comradeship knitting us all together. And this task to which I invite your immediate consideration will be performed under favorable influences, if we will look to what the country is thinking and expecting and care nothing at all for what is being said and believed in the lobbies of Washington hotels, where the atmosphere seems to make it possible to believe what is believed nowhere else.

SPIRIT OF THE NATION

Have you not felt the spirit of the nation rise and its thought become a single and common thought since these eventful days came in which we have been sending our boys to the other side? I think you must read that thought, as I do, to mean this, that the people of this country are not only united in the resolute purpose to win this war, but are ready and willing to bear any burden and undergo any sacrifice that it may be necessary for them to bear in order to win it. We need not be afraid to tax them, if we lay taxes justly. They know that the war must be paid for, that it is they who must pay for it, and, if the burden is justly distributed and the sacrifice made a common sacrifice from which none escapes who can bear it at all, they will carry it cheerfully and with a sort of solemn pride. I have always been proud to be an American, and was never more proud than now, when all that we have said and all that we have foreseen about our people is coming true. The great days have come when the only thing that they ask for or admire is duty, greatly and adequately. done; when their only wish for[Pg 141] America is that she may share the freedom she enjoys, when a great, compelling sympathy wells up in their hearts for men everywhere who suffer and are oppressed, and when they see at last the high uses for which their wealth has been piled up and their mighty power accumulated, and, counting neither blood nor treasure, now that their final day of opportunity has come, rejoice to spend and to be spent through a long night of suffering and terror in order that they and men everywhere may see the dawn of a day of righteousness and justice and peace. Shall we grow weary when they bid us act?

The President's Appeal for Economy

Secretary McAdoo, realizing that to carry the war through to a successful issue may test this nation's resources to the extreme limit of endurance and self-denial, inaugurated a campaign in the middle of May, 1918, for fuller conservation of food, fuel, labor, and money. In support of this campaign President Wilson issued the following signed letter on May 29:

This war is one of nations—not of armies—and all of our 100,000,000 people must be economically and industrially adjusted to war conditions if this nation is to play its full part in the conflict. The problem before us is not primarily a financial problem, but rather a problem of increased production of war essentials, and the saving of the materials and the labor necessary for the support and equipment of our army and our navy. Thoughtless expenditure of money for nonessentials uses up the labor of men, the products of the farm, mines, and factories, and overburdens transportation, all of which must be used to the utmost and at their best for war purposes.

The great results which we seek can be obtained only by the participation of every member of the nation, young and old, in a national concerted thrift movement. I therefore urge that our people everywhere pledge themselves, as suggested by the Secretary of the Treasury, to the practice of thrift; to serve the Government to their utmost in increasing production in all fields necessary to the winning of the war; to conserve food and fuel and useful materials of every kind; to devote their labor only to the most necessary tasks; and to buy only those things which are essential to individual health and efficiency; and that the people, as evidence of their loyalty, invest all that they can save in Liberty bonds and war savings stamps.

The securities issued by the Treasury Department are so many of them within the reach of every one that the door of opportunity in this matter is wide open to all of us. To practice thrift in peace times is a virtue and brings great benefit to the individual at all times; with the desperate need of the civilized world today for materials and labor with which to end the war, the practice of individual thrift is a patriotic duty and a necessity.

I appeal to all who now own either Liberty bonds or war savings stamps to continue to practice economy and thrift and to appeal to all who do not own Government securities to do likewise and purchase them to the extent of their means. The man who buys Government securities transfers the purchasing power of his money to the United States Government until after this war, and to that same degree does not buy in competition with the Government.

I earnestly appeal to every man, woman, and child to pledge themselves on or before the 28th of June to save constantly and to buy as regularly as possible the securities of the Government; and to do this, so far as possible, through membership in war savings societies. The 28th of June ends this special period of enlistment in the great volunteer army of production and saving here at home. May there be none unenlisted on that day!

WOODROW WILSON.

Memorial Day Proclamation, 1918

Following is the proclamation issued by the President of the United States for Decoration Day observance, May 30, 1918:

Whereas, The Congress of the United States on the second day of April last passed the following resolution:

Resolved, by the Senate, (the House of Representatives concurring,) That, it being a duty peculiarly incumbent in a time of war humbly and devoutly to acknowledge our dependence on Almighty Godand to implore His aid and protection, the President of the United States be, and is hereby, respectfully requested to recommend a day of public humiliation, prayer, and fasting, to be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity and the offering of fervent supplications to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of our cause, His blessings on our arms, and a speedy restoration of [Pg 142]an honorable and lasting peace to the nations of the earth; and,

Whereas, It has always been the reverent habit of the people of the United States to turn in humble appeal to Almighty God for His guidance in the affairs of their common life;

Now, therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Thursday, the 30th day of May, a day already freighted with sacred and stimulating memories, a day of public humiliation, prayer and fasting, and do exhort my fellow-citizens of all faiths and creeds to assemble on that day in their several places of worship and there, as well as in their homes, to pray Almighty God that He may forgive our sins and shortcomings as a people and purify our hearts to see and love the truth, to accept and defend all things that are just and right, and to purpose only those righteous acts and judgments which are in conformity with His will; beseeching Him that He will give victory for our armies as they fight for freedom, wisdom to those who take counsel on our behalf in these days of dark struggle and perplexity and steadfastness to our people to make sacrifice to the utmost in support of what is just and true, bringing us at last the peace in which men's hearts can be at rest because it is founded upon mercy, justice, and good-will.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done in the District of Columbia, this eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighteen, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and forty-second.

WOODROW WILSON.

By the President:

ROBERT LANSING,

Secretary of State.

Mexico and the United States

The President's Pledge

President Wilson delivered the following important speech to a delegation of Mexican editors at the White House June 7, 1918:

I have never received a group of men who were more welcome than you are because it has been one of my distresses during the period of my Presidency that the Mexican people did not more thoroughly understand the attitude of the United States toward Mexico. I think I can assure you, and I hope you have had every evidence of the truth of my assurance, that that attitude is one of sincere friendship—not merely the sort of friendship which prompts one not to do his neighbor any harm, but the sort of friendship which earnestly desires to do his neighbor service.

My own policy and the policy of my own Administration toward Mexico was at every point based upon this principle; that the internal settlement of the affairs of Mexico was none of our business; that we had no right to interfere with or dictate to Mexico in any particular with regard to her own affairs.

Take one aspect of our relations which at one time may have been difficult for you to understand. When we sent our troops into Mexico our sincere desire was nothing else than to assist you to get rid of the man who was making the settlement of your affairs for the time being impossible. We had no desire to use our troops for any other purpose, and I was in hopes that by assisting in that way and thereupon immediately withdrawing the troops I might give you substantial proof of the truth of the assurances that I had given your Government through President Carranza.

GERMAN INTRIGUES

And at the present time it distresses me to learn that certain influences, which I assume to be German in their origin, are trying not only to make a wrong impression, but to give an absolutely untrue account of the things that happen.

You know distressing things have been happening just off our coast; you know of vessels that have been sunk. I yesterday received a quotation from a paper in Guadalajara which stated that thirteen of our battleships had been sunk off the Capes of Chesapeake.

You see how dreadful it is to have the people so radically misinformed. It was added that our Navy Department was withholding the facts with regard to these sinkings. I [Pg 143]have no doubt that the publisher of the paper printed this in perfect innocence and without intending to convey a wrong impression, but it is evident that allegations of that sort proceed from those who wish to make trouble between Mexico and the United States.

An American patrol under a French officer in the trenches in France. Some of the rifles are equipped for firing grenades
(© Committee on Public Information, from international Film Service)

Pont-à-Mousson, in the Toul sector, showing the Church of St. Laurent. The transparent fabric hung across the street is for the purpose of misleading enemy aerial observers
(French Pictorial Service)

Now, gentlemen, for the time being at any rate, and I hope that it will not be a short time, the influence of the United States is somewhat pervasive in the affairs of the world, and I believe it is pervasive because those nations of the world which are less powerful than some of the greatest nations are coming to believe that our sincere desire is to do disinterested service.

We are the champions of those nations which have not had the military standing which would enable them to compete with the strongest nations in the world, and I look forward with pride to the time which I hope will come when we can give substantial evidence not only that we do not want anything out of this war, but that we would not accept anything out of this war; that it is absolutely a case of disinterested action.

And if you will watch the attitude of our people you will see that nothing stirs them so deeply as the assurances that this war, so far as we are concerned, is for idealistic objects. One of the difficulties that I experienced during the first three years of the war, the years when the United States was not in the war, was in getting the Foreign Offices of the European nations to believe that the United States was seeking nothing for herself, that her neutrality was not selfish, and that if she came in she would not come in to get anything substantial out of the war—any material object, any territory or trade or anything else of that sort.

In some Foreign Offices there were men who personally know me and they believed, I hope, that I was sincere in assuring them that our purposes were disinterested; but they thought that these assurances came from the academic gentleman removed from the ordinary sources of information and speaking the idealistic purposes of a cloister. They did not believe I was speaking the real heart of the American people, and I knew all along that I was. Now I believe every one who comes in contact with American people knows that I am speaking their purposes.

READY TO HELP RUSSIA

The other night in New York at the opening of the campaign for funds for our Red Cross I made an address. I had not intended to refer to Russia, but was speaking without notes, and in the course of what I said my own thought was led to Russia, and I said that we meant to stand by Russia just as firmly as we would stand by France or England or any other of our allies.

The audience to which I was speaking was not an audience from which I would have expected an enthusiastic response to that. It was rather too well dressed. It was an audience, in other words, made up of a class of people who would not have the most intimate feeling for the sufferings of the ordinary man in Russia; but that audience jumped to its feet in enthusiasm. Nothing else that I said on that occasion aroused anything like the enthusiasm that single sentence aroused.

Now that is a sample, gentlemen. We cannot make anything out of Russia. We cannot make anything out of our standing by Russia at this time—the remotest of European nations so far as we are concerned, the one with which we have had the least connections in trade and advantage—and yet the people of the United States rose to that suggestion as to no other that I made in that address.

That is part of America as we are ready to show it by any act of friendship toward Mexico. Some of us, if I may speak so privately, look back with regret upon some of the more ancient relations that we have had with Mexico long before our generation; and America, if I may now so accept it, would now feel ashamed to take advantage of her neighbor.

NO SELFISH AGGRESSION

So I hope you can carry back to your homes something better than assurances and words. You have had contact with our people. You know of your own personal reception. You know how gladly we have opened to you the doors of every establishment that you wanted to see and have shown you just what we are doing, and I hope you have gained the right impression as to why we are doing it. We are doing it, gentlemen, so that the world may never hereafter have to fear the only thing that any nation has to dread—the unjust and selfish aggression of another nation.

Some time ago, as you probably all know, I proposed a sort of Pan-American agreement. I had perceived that one difficulty in our past relations with Latin America was this: The famous Monroe Doctrine was adopted without your consent and without the consent of any Central American or South American States. If I may adopt a term that we so often use in this country, we said: "We are going to be your big brother whether you want us to be or not."

We did not ask whether it was agreeable to you that we should be your big brother. We said we are going to be. Now, that was all very well as far as protecting you from aggression from the other side of the water, but there was nothing in it that protected you from aggression from us, and I have repeatedly seen an uneasy feeling on the part of representatives of States of Central and South America that our self-appointed protection might be for our own benefit and our own interest and not for the interest of our neighbors. So I have said:

"Very well, let us make an arrangement by which we will give bonds. Let us have a common guarantee that all of us will sign a declaration of political independence and territorial [Pg 144]integrity. Let us agree that if any one of us, the United States included, violates the political independence or territorial integrity of any of the others, all others will jump on her."

I pointed out to some gentlemen who were less inclined to enter into this arrangement than others that that was, in effect, giving bonds on the part of the United States that we would enter into an arrangement by which you would be protected from us.

PEACE BY MUTUAL TRUST

Now, that is the kind of agreement that will have to be the foundation of the future life of the nations of the world, gentlemen. The whole family of nations will have to guarantee to each nation that no nation shall violate its political independence or its territorial integrity. That is the basis—the only conceivable basis—for the future peace of the world, and I must admit that I was anxious to have the States of the two Continents of America show the way to the rest of the world as to how to make a basis of peace.

Peace can only come by trust. If you can once get a situation of trust then you have got a situation of permanent peace. Therefore, every one of us, it seems to me, owes it as a patriotic duty to his own country to plant the seeds of trust and confidence instead of seeds of suspicion.

That is the reason I began by saying to you that I had not had the pleasure of meeting a group of men who are more welcome than you are, because you are our near neighbors. Suspicion on your part, or misunderstanding on your part, distresses us more than we would be distressed by similar feelings on the part of those less near to us.

It is you who can see how Mexico's future must depend upon peace and honor, so that nobody shall exploit her. It must depend upon every nation that has any relation with her and the citizens of any nation that has any relations with her keeping within the bounds of honor and fair dealing and justice, because so soon as you can admit your own capital and the capital of the world to the free use of the resources of Mexico it will be one of the most wonderfully rich and prosperous countries in the world.

And when you have foundations of established order and the world has come to its senses again we shall, I hope, continue in connections that will assure us all permanent cordiality and friendship.

[Pg 145]

Secretary Lansing on War Themes

Why the United States Is at War

Robert Lansing, Secretary of State of the United States, delivered an address in New York on May 23, 1918, in honor of the third anniversary of Italy's entrance into the war. He said in part:

Oh, you of the blood of a people who have given so much to civilization, no greater task has ever fallen upon you, no greater duty has ever been the lot of the Italian race, than that which is yours today. You are called forth to defend the land which is enshrined in the hearts of the world as the cradle of justice and liberty. Fail you cannot, fail you must not, fail you will not in such a cause and such a crisis.

This is no time to measure the price which must be paid in blood and treasure. No price is too large, no sacrifice too great for the protection of your sacred heritage from the invaders.

Today, America, youngest of the great powers of the earth, is proud to cross the seas and to stand side by side with the most ancient power of Europe in upholding the standard of democracy, and to unite in proclaiming to the nations tortured by war that peace must be won and will be won by the might of liberty-loving men, a glorious peace which will endure throughout the ages because it is written in the book of destiny that freedom will rise triumphant from the ashes of this desolated world.

To gallant Italy, to our loyal associate and friend, we of America extend greetings on this day of reconsecration to a noble cause, on this day when the Italian people renew their solemn pledge to resist to the uttermost the accursed ambitions of the military rulers of Germany and Austria.

Italy's decision was the decision of a people who preferred the horrors of war to dishonor, who preferred to die rather than to be enslaved by Prussian masters or by Prussia's vassals. It breathed anew the valor of Rome.

United with you of the Latin race are we who could desire no prouder title than "the Romans of the West." A citizen of this young Republic could crave no higher public virtue nor covet a more devoted patriotism than that which inspired a dweller on the Seven Hills in the brave days of the old Roman Republic.

My friends of America and of Italy, we will win this war. It may be on the wasted fields of Flanders and Picardy; it may be in the valley of the Piave and the snow-crowned peaks of the Alps; or it may be on German lands beyond the Rhine. Somewhere and somehow and some time we will win. It cannot be otherwise, for we fight for justice, for liberty, and for humanity.

AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Secretary Lansing delivered another address in New York on June 5 at the commencement exercises of Columbia University. In accepting an honorary degree from that institution he said:

Today this Republic stands with the democracies of the earth arrayed in battle against the most relentless enemy of human liberty which the ages have produced. To save this country of ours and to save the civilized world from Prussianism has become the supreme duty of the American people and of all other peoples who love justice and freedom.

In this titanic struggle we are joined not only with France, our historic ally, but also with Great Britain, our ancient foe. On the blood-stained fields of France we three, together with Italy, Belgium, and Portugal, are standing shoulder to shoulder against the plunderers. Our traditional friendship for France, which can never be forgotten, and our traditional enmity for Great Britain, which is forgotten, are swallowed up in this supreme crisis of liberty, our common heritage. The grave perils to our lives as nations unite us with bonds of steel as our armies face the foe of all mankind.

I am proud that in these terrible days we are associated with the tenacious warriors of Britain; I am proud that with our blood we can on French soil prove the affection which we cherish for the French people; I am proud that Italy, superb in her determined resistance, is our partner in this conflict, and that the indomitable spirit of the Belgians and Serbs is a living inspiration to gallant deeds and noble sacrifice. I am proud, as I know every American is proud, to be thus united with the nations which hate Prussianism and loathe the evil desires which it engenders in the hearts of men.

Prussianism has appealed to the sword, and by the sword Prussianism must fall. It is the divine law of retribution which we as the instruments of justice must enforce so that the world may be forever rid of this abomination. * * *

[Pg 146]

Let us understand that a Prussian-made peace would not be the end; that it would only postpone the final struggle. Now that this war has come upon us we must carry it through to a decision. We must not transmit to future generations the germs of militarism. From the spirit of despotism, which has caused this awful tragedy, this war must free the world. We have suffered enough. The nations must never endure such black days of agony as those in which we are living.

It is the supreme task of civilization to put an end to Prussianism. To listen to proposals for a Prussian peace, to compromise with the butchers of individuals and of nations so that they would by agreement gain a benefit from their crimes would be to compound an international felony, which this Republic will never do.

Force is the one way to end Prussianism, for it is the only thing which the Prussian respects. This war for democracy must be waged to a successful conclusion to make liberty and justice supreme on the earth. It will be a bitter struggle, with lights and shadows, for the foe is strong and stubborn; but in the end we shall triumph, for we must triumph or abandon all that is worth while in this world. May every American so live and so serve that when the day of victory over the Prussians dawns, as it will dawn, he may, by right of faithful service, share in the glory.

To that bright hour let us look forward with confidence, for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe could not decree otherwise. He has imposed upon us and our brave comrades in arms the task of freeing mankind from the curse of avarice and inhumanity which besets us. He has put upon us the burden of making this world a fit dwelling place for civilized men. Let us not shrink from the task or seek to avoid the burden. Convinced of the righteousness of our cause and of our destiny let us make war with all our energy. Let us keep our banners unfurled and our trumpets sounding to battle until victory is achieved.

Prussia wickedly sought war and Prussia shall have war and more war and more war until the very thought of war is abhorrent to the Prussian mind. So I read the spirit of America. So I read the supreme purpose of the Allies. Victory lies before us and beyond victory a just and enduring peace. Until that peace is sure America cannot and will not put aside the sword.

ITALIAN AMBASSADOR'S SPEECH

Count Mocchi di Cellere, the Italian Ambassador to the United States, in his address at the Italian anniversary celebration, said:

Literally speaking, this is the third anniversary of Italy's formal entry into the war. But perhaps I need not remind you, gentlemen, that our struggle against the enemy goes back to the time when, some twenty centuries ago, on those selfsame fields and mountains that are now a part of our common allied front, the Roman eagle was already waging that fight against the barbarians in which the American eagle has more recently joined us.

The struggle of today is to us Italians the rounding-out of a tremendous cycle of world history, in which, alone of all civilized nations, Italy was in at the beginning and is in at the finish. Since the time when Roman law laid the foundations for the international intercourse of the world, the struggle has gone on against Teutonic brutality. We are in it as a nation with all the traditions and survivals of centuries, with all the memories of the race, with all the influences of obscure ancestral heredities.

One verse of our national hymn reminds us that no Teuton stick ever curbed Italy, and that the children of Rome do not bow their necks to a yoke. That was the blunder of the enemy—he did not realize that to a liberty-loving people the spirit of freedom is like the breathing of pure air, an essential of life. Sometimes a man does not know how essential it is until some one tries to take it from him. Then he must die or revolt. Italy revolted. * * *

Whatever the enemy may have to say or may desire others to believe about it, Italy is not in this war for any base and selfish motives of conquest, imperial or unlawful territorial aggrandizement. While in fact fighting for the liberation of mankind threatened with oppression and slavery, Italy is aiming at the liberation of her oppressed sons within and beyond the boundary imposed upon her by an iniquitous treaty.

For the freedom of our country we need security on land and sea; a security which nature herself had assured us with well defined geographic boundaries and which the violence of oppressive and barbarous nations has too long stolen from us. Now we see our duty clear; and faithful to our duty, we will not lay down our arms until the freedom of mankind, which implies the freedom of our oppressed brothers, and the security of our land, is attained.

Secretary Lansing delivered the chief address at the commencement exercises of Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., June 10. He said in part:

It is hardly open to debate, in the light of[Pg 147] subsequent events, that the philosophical and political ideas which have been taught for years from the university platforms, from the pulpits, and through the printed word to young and old in Germany, excited in them an insolent pride of blood and infused into their national being an all-absorbing ambition to prove themselves supermen chosen by natural superiority and by Divine mandate to be rulers of the earth. Not only in Germany, but among those of German descent in other lands, has this pernicious belief spread, linking Germans everywhere to the Fatherland in the hope that they would be considered worthy to share in the future glory of the masters of the world. * * *

A decade before the war Reiner, inspired with the imperialism of Prussia, announced: "It is precisely our craving for expansion which drives us into the paths of conquest, in view of which all chatter about peace and humanity can and must remain nothing but chatter."

Not less ominous to liberty are the words of Professor Meinecke: "We want to become a world people. Let us remind ourselves that the belief in our mission as a world people has arisen from our originally purely spiritual impulse to absorb the world into ourselves."

Observe that extraordinary phrase, "to absorb the world into ourselves." To conceive such a national destiny is to resurrect the dead ambitions of an Alexander or a Caesar; to teach it as a right to young men is to sow in their minds an egotism which breeds distorted conceptions of individual honor and justice, and gives to them an utterly false standard of national life.

Not alone from the lecturer and the essayist came this idea that the Germans are a superior race set apart to rule the world. It was preached in the pulpits as a Divine truth by those who even had the effrontery to support their assertions by references to the Holy Scriptures. Listen to some of the thoughts proclaimed by ordained ministers of Christ to their German congregations:

"It may sound proud, my friends, but we are conscious that it is also in all humbleness that we say it; the German soul is God's soul; it shall and will rule over mankind."

May we be spared the consequences of a German "humbleness" which fairly struts and swaggers, and which finds further expression in the words of another Doctor of Divinity when he declares: "Verily the Bible is our book. It was given and assigned to us, and in it we read the original text of our destiny, which proclaims to mankind salvation or disaster as we will it."

"As we will it!" There in four words is the whole story of the Prussian doctrine of the "superman," of a "place in the sun."

Paganism, tinctured with modern materialism and a degenerate type of Christianity, broods today over Germany. Christian ministers have proclaimed Jehovah to be the national deity of the empire, a monopolized German God, who relies on the physical might of His people to destroy those who oppose His will as that will is interpreted by His chosen race. Thus the Prussian leaders would harmonize modern thought with their ancient religion of physical strength through brutalizing Christianity.

In view of the spirit of hypocrisy and bad faith manifesting an entire lack of conscience, we ought not to be astonished that the Berlin Foreign Office never permitted a promise or a treaty engagement to stand in the way of a course of action which the German Government deemed expedient. I need not cite as proof of this fact the flagrant violations of the treaty neutralizing Belgium—and the recent treaty of Brest-Litovsk. This discreditable characteristic of the German foreign policy was accepted by German diplomats as a matter of course and as a natural if not a praiseworthy method of dealing with other Governments.

Frederick the Great, with cynical frankness, once said: "If there is anything to be gained by it, we will be honest. If deception is necessary, let us be cheats." That is in brief the immoral principle which has controlled the foreign relations of Prussia for over 150 years.

It is a fact not generally known that within six weeks after the Imperial Government had, in the case of the Sussex, given to this Government its solemn promise that it would cease ruthless slaughter on the high seas, Count Bernstorff, appreciating the worthlessness of the promise, asked the Berlin Foreign Office to advise him in ample time before the campaign of submarine murder was renewed, in order that he might notify the German merchant ships in American ports to destroy their machinery because he anticipated that the renewal of that method of warfare would in all probability bring the United States into the war.

How well the Ambassador knew the character of his Government, and how perfectly frank he was! He asked for the information without apology or indirection. The very bluntness of his message shows that he was sure that his superiors would not take offense at the assumption that their word was valueless and had only been given to gain time, and that, when an increase of Germany's submarine fleet warranted, the promise [Pg 148]would be broken without hesitation or compunction. What a commentary on Bernstorff's estimate of the sense of honor and good faith of his own Government!

We must go on with the war. There is no other way. This task must not be left half done. We must not transmit to posterity a legacy of blood and misery. We may in this great conflict go down into the Valley of Shadows, because our foe is powerful and inured to war. We must be prepared to meet disappointment and temporary reverse, but we must, with American spirit, rise above them; with courageous hearts we must go forward until this war is won.

Premier Lloyd George Lauds Americans

David Lloyd George, the British Premier, speaking at the Printers' Pension Fund dinner in London, June 7, 1918, paid this tribute to the American soldiers in France:

I have only just returned from France, and met a French statesman who had been at the front shortly after a battle in which the Americans took part. He was full of admiration not merely of their superb valor but of the trained skill with which they attacked and defeated the foe.

His report of the conduct of the American troops, a division that had been in action for the first time, was one of the most encouraging things I have heard, because they are coming in steadily. There is a great flow, and we are depending upon them, and the fact that we know that when they appear in the battleline they will fight in a way which is worthy of the great traditions of their great country is in itself a source of support and sustenance and encouragement to all of those who with anxious hearts are watching the conflict which is going on in France.

The toast with which you have done me the honor to associate my name is "Success to the Allied Cause." If for any cause the Allies were not to succeed, it would be a sorry world to live in. Most times people are inclined to exaggerate events of the day, but there are occasions when generations of men underestimate the significance of events. You cannot exaggerate the importance or significance of the issues with which we are confronted today.

In the past you have had in the history of the world great struggles for domination of a certain civilization, a certain ideal or a certain religion, and the fate of the world and the destiny of man and the lives of untold millions for generations have been fashioned upon the triumph or failure of this cause. Take the time of Turkish military power in the past or the Saracens' attempt to trample down and overrun the civilization of the West. Nations were wiped out, great countries devastated. You had untold misery and wretchedness throughout vast tracts of territory for ages. At last that tide was stemmed. Supposing that had failed. What a difference it would have made for European civilization today!

At this hour there is a struggle with an ideal more material, more sordid, more brutal, than almost any other which has been sought to be imposed upon Europe—the Prussian military ideal, with its contempt for liberty, its contempt for human right, its contempt for humanity. If they were to succeed today, you would fling back human civilization into the dark dungeons of the past.

The crisis is not past, but with a stout heart we shall win through, and then woe to the plague. In the interests of civilization, in the interests of the human race, it must be stamped out. You cannot allow it to come again to darken the lives of millions, and to desolate millions of homes. That is what we are fighting for.

This is a country which has faced a great crisis in the past. We hear about Ludendorff's hammer blows. Hammer blows crack and crumble poor material. Hammer blows harden and consolidate good metal. There is good metal in British hearts. It has stood the test of centuries. It will stand this. So will that gallant little people, that gallant great people across the Channel who are fighting for their liberties, for the honor of their native land, fighting without flinching. I have seen them. I never saw signs of wavering in any French face. They are full of courage, full of determination to fight through to the end, and it is a united France more than ever. So it is a united Britain. Unity and resolution are two qualities we need. We have sunk our political differences. We have bigger things to think about. I am not despising the political controversies of the past. In some form or another they will come again. These controversies are the very essence of freedom, but for the moment we have one purpose.

Let us be one people, one in aim, one in courage, one in the resolve never to give in. Let Britain stand like a breakwater against the torrent, and, God willing, we will break it in two.

[Pg 149]

Clemenceau's Defiance of Obstructors

Premier Clemenceau of France received a vote of confidence in the Chamber of Deputies on June 6, 1918, by a vote of 377 to 110. An attempt was made by the militant Socialists to embarrass the Government by demanding information of military matters which it was deemed inexpedient to reveal. In his victorious speech defying his critics he said:

The collapse of Russia enabled the enemy to set free an army of a million men to add to his forces on our front. Anybody can understand that under such enormous weight our line must give way at some points. Some of our men have fought one against five without sleeping for three or four days. The losses of our allies, the British, in the heroic struggle have been more than we could have believed possible.

The situation has become dangerous for our armies, but in all this I see nothing to diminish our confidence in our troops. As to the Government, it will continue to make war stubbornly and obstinately. We will never capitulate. If you are not satisfied with our work, turn us out. It is for you to decide.

The only thing that matters is final success. Our effectives are lessening in number, but so are those of Germany, while the Americans are coming in larger and larger numbers to take part in the final victory. * * *

Down there all that the heroes can do is to die, but you by your firm and resolute attitude can give them what they deserve—victory. You have before you a Government which told you the very first day that it did not enter into power to negotiate without victory. As long as we are here the fatherland will be defended at all costs, and no force will be spared to obtain success.

We have allies who represent the greatest nations in the world, that have decided to go on until success is certain, success which is near. The Americans are arriving for the final blow.

[Pg 150]

Brute Force Versus Humanity

By MAURICE MAETERLINCK

[Translated for Current History Magazine from Les Annales, Paris]

The struggle of today is only a resumption of the conflict that has never ceased to redden the soil of Western Europe ever since its birth into history. The two chief episodes of this conflict, as everybody knows, are the invasion of Roman Gaul (including Northern Italy) by the Germans, and the conquest of Great Britain by the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans. Ignoring questions of race, which are complex, uncertain, and always debatable, one can, by viewing the subject from another point, see in the persistence and desperation of this war the conflict of two wills, either one of which succumbs for a moment only to rise again with more energy and determination.

On one side there is the will of earth, or of nature, which openly, in the human species, as in all others, favors physical and brutal force; on the other, the will of humanity, or at least of a part of humanity that is seeking to establish the reign of other energies more subtile and less animal. It is incontestable that brute force thus far has always triumphed. But it is equally certain that it has never triumphed save in appearance and for a brief moment. Gaul, invaded and overcome, quickly assimiliated the invaders, and England gradually transformed her conquerors. The instruments of the will of earth turned against it on the morrow of victory and armed the hand of the vanquished.

It is probable that, even today, if events followed the course prescribed by destiny, the same phenomenon would be reproduced. Germany, after having crushed and enslaved the greater part of Europe, throwing it back and overwhelming it with numberless evils, would herself end by turning against the will which she represents; and that will, which hitherto had found a docile instrument and a chosen accomplice in the German race, would be obliged to find these elsewhere, a task less easy than formerly.

But now, to the stupefaction of those who will some day examine this epoch dispassionately, behold, events are suddenly moving upward against the irresistible current, and, for the first time since man is in a position to observe it, brute force is meeting an unexpected and insurmountable resistance. If this resistance remains victorious to the end, there will, perhaps, never have been a change of course comparable to it in the history of man; it will mean a triumph over the will of earth, of nature, or of fate, a triumph infinitely more significant, more heavy with consequences, and perhaps more decisive, than all those which in other domains appear to have crowned our effort with more glory.

Let us be not at all astonished, then, that the resistance is enormous and prolonged beyond all that experience of war has taught us. Our prompt and easy defeat was written in the annals of destiny. We had against us all the force of aggression acquired since the origin of Europe. We have to reverse the wheel of history. We are on the point of succeeding; and if it is true that intelligent beings on the heights of other worlds are watching us, they are doubtless contemplating the most curious spectacle that our planet has offered them since they discovered it in the star dust scintillating around them in space. They must be saying to themselves, disconcerted, that age-long and fundamental laws are being unexpectedly transgressed.

Unexpectedly? That is too much to say. This transgression of an inferior law, no longer as high as man, has long been in process of preparation; but it came very near to being frightfully punished. Its success will be due only to the aid of a part of those who formerly swelled the great flood which today they are resisting with us, as if something in the history of the world or in the plans of destiny had been changed; or, rather, as if we had finally succeeded in changing[Pg 151] something, and in bending laws to which we have hitherto been entirely subject.

But we need not think that after victory the struggle will be ended. The profound forces of earth (brute force) will not lay down their arms so soon, and the invisible war will go on for a long time under peace. If we do not take care, victory will be even more fatal than defeat. In fact, this defeat, like its predecessors, would have been only an adjourned victory. It would have worn out, scattered, absorbed, the adversary by dispersing his energies over the world, while our victory will bring us a double danger. It will leave our enemies in a fierce isolation, where, massed upon themselves, fenced in, purified by misfortune and misery, they will secretly strengthen their formidable virtues, while we, no longer held in check by their intolerable but salutary menace, may give free rein to defects and vices which, soon or late, will place us at their mercy. Before thinking of peace, therefore, it would be well to assure ourselves of the future and make it powerless to harm us. We cannot take too many precautions when going, as we are, against the manifest desire of the power that is carrying us.

This is why our effort is painful and meritorious. We are going, it cannot be too often repeated, against the law of force. Our adversaries are driven forward by a power that drives us back. They are advancing in the direction of nature, whereas we are swimming against the great current that flows around the globe. Earth has an idea that is no longer ours. She is convinced that man is an animal in all respects like other animals. She has not yet noticed that he has drawn away from the herd. She does not yet know that he has climbed her highest mountains. She has not yet heard of justice, of pity, of loyalty, of honor; she knows not what these are, or she confuses them with weakness, inefficiency, stupidity, and fear. She has held to the original certitudes that were indispensable in the beginnings of life. She is falling behind us, and the space between is growing rapidly. She thinks less swiftly and has yet had the time to comprehend us. Besides, she does not count as we do, and the ages for her are less than our years. She is slow because she is almost eternal, while we are swift because we have not many hours before us. It is possible that her thought may some day rejoin ours; meanwhile, we have to defend our advance and prove to ourselves, as we are beginning to do, that it is permitted to be right against her will, that our advance is not fatal, and that it is possible to maintain it.

For it is beginning to be difficult to maintain that earth, or nature, or brute force, is always right, and that those who do not blindly follow its mandates are doomed to perish. We have learned to observe nature more attentively and have acquired the right to judge her. We have ascertained that, far from being infallible, she never ceases to deceive herself. She hesitates, she gropes. She does not know just what she wants. She begins with enormous blunders. She first peoples the world with fantastic and inchoate monsters, not one of which is stable, and they all disappear. Gradually, at the expense of the life which she creates, she acquires an experience which is the cruel fruit of innumerable sufferings inflicted with indifference. In the long run she grows wiser, learns moderation, corrects herself, retraces her steps, redresses her errors, and devotes to their reparation the best of her intelligence and of her forces. It is incontestable that she is perfecting her methods and that she is showing herself more able, more prudent, less given to excess, than in the beginning. It is none the less true that in all reigns, in all organisms, and even in our own bodies, the bad workmanship, the double uses, the inadvertencies, the things repented of, the absurdities, the useless complications, the sordid economies, and the senseless wastes continue.

There is no reason, therefore, to believe that our enemies have the truth on their side because nature's primal force is with them. Nature does not possess the truth any more than we do. She searches for it as we do, and does not find it any more easily. She does[Pg 152] not seem to know any more than we where she is going or whither she is being led by that which leads all things. We do not have to obey her without questioning, and there is no need to be disturbed or to despair if one is not of her opinion. We are not dealing with an infallible and immutable wisdom against which it would be madness to oppose one's thought. We are on the way to prove to her that she is in error, that the raison d'être of man is higher than that which she has provisionally assigned to him, that he has already surpassed her previsions, and that she is wrong to retard his march. Besides, she is full of good-will, knows how to recognize her faults on occasion, to avoid their disastrous consequences, and never stiffens herself in an inflexible and majestic self-esteem. We can convince her if we can persevere. It will take a great deal of time, for, I repeat, she is slow, but not at all obstinate. It will take a great deal of time, because it involves a very long future, a very great change of direction, and the most important victory for which man has ever hoped.

The Battle of Jutland

Debatable Phases of the Great Naval Conflict Reviewed by Eminent British Experts

By ADMIRAL SIR CYPRIAN BRIDGE, G. C. B.

In the May number of Current History Magazine appeared a general review of the battle of Jutland by Mr. Thomas G. Frothingham, with a footnote and diagrams by Professor Westcott of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. The article was brought to the attention of Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge, one of the most noted naval experts of Great Britain, and was also sent to Mr. Arthur Pollen, an internationally recognized naval writer in England, both of whom contribute comments on the American writer's article. Since his review appeared Mr. Frothingham has joined the National Army of the United States as Captain.—Editor.

There is only one thing certain in naval history, and that is that every great sea fight—as to the circumstances of which we have detailed information—has been criticised as indecisive and as not fought in the way which it should have been. Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, whose fairness and accuracy as a naval historian have been generally recognized, has said: "Every historian ought to feel a sense of the most lively gratitude toward Nelson; in his various encounters he never left any possible room for dispute as to which side had come out first best." Unfortunately, this is going rather too far, for the merits of every one of Nelson's battles have been disputed, and his way of fighting each has been adversely criticised. This fate he shares with the great De Ruyter and with less important men. Rodney and Lord Howe, as commanders in general actions, were fiercely criticised. Lord Hawke did not receive the customary recognition of his services until seventeen years after the great battle of Quiberon Bay. Roosevelt tells us that: "In every one of De Ruyter's last six battles each side claimed the victory." If we had minute accounts of the talk that went on in the gardens and porches of ancient Athens we should, without doubt, learn that Salamis was far from being decisive and that, anyhow, it ought to have been fought in a different way. It is just as well to remember this whenever we are discussing a naval battle, whether of old date or recent. Land battles have not been treated in quite the same fashion. Their results have not been disputed so often, nor has the manner in which they were fought been so often adversely criticised.

[Pg 153]Perhaps we may account for this difference in the treatment of conflicts on the two elements by noting the fact that naval historians and critics of naval operations have but rarely been men of naval experience, while the historians and critics of military operations have usually been soldiers. There has, of course, been some conflict of opinion as to the results of fighting on shore, as we can see on comparing the communiques of the contending sides in the present war. Even after allowing for the unprecedented mendacity of the German authorities and the unprecedented gullibility of the German public there is still some sign of an honest difference of opinion. The difference is not due to lay or unprofessional ignorance.

As regards naval operations in war—indeed, as regards naval affairs in general—it has been shown times without number that it is impossible for any one without naval experience to take a comprehensive or accurate view of naval conditions. This is by no means to disparage what shoregoing writers have done in naval history or in the discussion of some subjects largely though not totally naval. As long as they record facts they do very valuable work. It is when they express opinions and draw inferences from very technical data that they are almost certain to go astray. As a searcher in authoritative records and a narrator of detailed occurrences James is distinctly superior to Mahan; but who would give a fig for James's opinions? Whereas Mahan's govern the naval thought of the world.

JUTLAND RECORDS INCOMPLETE

Thomas G. Frothingham's "Review of the Battle of Jutland" in The New York Times Current History Magazine is a valuable account of the events of the engagement. It would not have been possible within the limits of his article to have related every incident, but he has made a judicious selection of those which he does bring forward. He had, of course, to depend on his sources; and on some important points these contained little or no information. Anything like a full account from the German side was virtually nonexistent. It would have been instructive to have put the German naval authorities into the witness box and to have subjected them to that species of cross-examination which consists in a comparison of some of their statements with others and with the statements of their opponents. It would be here that a writer with the true instinct of a historian, which Mr. Frothingham evidently does possess, could render valuable service had the necessary materials been at his disposal.

A writer who draws inferences from data by no means full and perhaps open to dispute can hardly expect to carry conviction to every reader. It might be sufficient to deal with Mr. Frothingham's general conclusion concerning the battle of Jutland; but it will be well before doing so to notice also one or two minor but still important inferences which he draws from the events of the battle.

GERMAN FLEET'S OBJECT

Mr. Frothingham maintains that the German fleet came out with the object, and no other, of engaging the British fleet, a force known to be greatly superior in number of ships and power of ordnance. He apparently, but not quite clearly, suggests that the Germans knew how the British fleet would be employed and how it would be disposed. It would be difficult to put any other construction on the words—"With the object of engaging a fleet usually so disposed and so employed, the Germans came out from their bases." Surely this is a pure assumption which can only be supported by other assumptions founded on improbability rather than on probability. There is another assumption which is more plausible and which is supported by evidence—indirect, it is true, but copious. The war had been going on for more than a year and a half, and yet the German High Sea Fleet, in spite of its name, had sedulously refrained from venturing on the high seas. This made it the object of perpetual taunts by the enemies of Germany. There was some not completely suppressed restlessness among the German people.

[Pg 154]It has been an almost invariable rule in war that the fleet which keeps on lying in port is eventually forced to put to sea by public opinion. The tone and wording of many official German statements justify the conclusion that the German fleet put to sea with the object, not of meeting the British fleet, but of returning to port with the assertion that the British fleet had kept out of the way and that the North Sea had been "swept" for it in vain. Contrary to the probable expectation, Sir David Beatty's force was met with and there seemed a chance of being able to attack him with the whole strength of the German Navy. Unforeseen opportunities of the kind have frequently occurred in naval war, and may be expected frequently to occur again.

FRENCH EXPERT'S OPINION

Here may be quoted some observations, dated March 11, 1918, by the very distinguished French flag officer Vice Admiral E. F. Fournier, in a preface to a translation of an account of the general work of the British Navy:

Je m'associe également aux regrets de l'auteur de cette notice qu'une ombre injustifiée ait été portée sur le tableau, si flatteur pour l'amour-propre de la Grande Bretagne, par certains critiques de la presse anglaise sur la bataille du Jutland. Je le fais d'autant plus volontiers que, dès la nouvelle de cette memorable rencontre navale, j'écrivis dans le Matin un article ou je vantais l'esprit de décision et la résolution si opportune de l'Amiral Beatty, n'hésitant pas à se jeter, malgré l'infériorité de ses forces, à la tête de la flotte allemande toute entière pour la contrecarrer dans ses desseins, en s'y accrochant énergiquement jusqu'a l'arrivée du renfort anglais, comme l'eût fait, sans aucun doute, Nelson lui-même, en pareil cas.

TRANSLATION:

I regret as much as does the author of this article that an unjustified shadow has been cast upon the picture, so flattering for the self-esteem of Great Britain, by certain English press criticisms upon the battle of Jutland. I indorse his view the more willingly because, on first receiving the news of that memorable naval combat, I wrote for the Matin an article in which I extolled Admiral Beatty's spirit of decision and very opportune resolution, in not hesitating to throw himself, despite the inferiority of his forces, at the head of the whole German fleet to checkmate its designs, and in hanging on firmly until the arrival of English reinforcements, as Nelson himself undoubtedly would have done in such a case.

Mr. Frothingham holds that the German fleet had not been led into a trap. Here, perhaps, something turns on the meaning given to particular words. A trap may be reasonably defined as an unforeseen and unfavorable position. Was it a deliberately sought or an unforeseen result that at 9 P. M. the German fleet was so placed that it had between it and its bases a hostile fleet which, as Mr. Frothingham tells us, still had an "overwhelming superiority in ships and guns?" Was such a position favorable or unfavorable? Surely there can be but one answer to each of these questions.

LOSS OF BRITISH SHIPS

Those who prefer to do so may use long words like "psychology" and "mentality," but the plain English of the situation is that the public mind in the allied and neutral countries was greatly impressed by the news that the British fleet had lost several ships, and by the fact that these losses were announced in the earlier part of the official communiqué concerning the battle. In the few great sea fights of which anything was generally remembered, the British had not lost ships. This, however, was far from being the universal rule.

In the great naval actions of the seventeenth century we lost many ships. It was recognized that a fleet might be victorious and still lose ships. The great Lord Hawke at Quiberon Bay lost ships. The contending fleets of the present day are so very large that they recall those of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, when ships were lost in action by both sides. This, especially in view of the power of the naval ordnance of today, is almost certain to occur again. There is a wide difference between the naval gun of the present day and that of Nelson's and earlier times. The primary object of the older gun was to cause casualties among the enemy's crews; the modern naval gun is meant to[Pg 155] destroy his ships. A fifteen-inch gun is not necessary to kill or wound a man. Naval weapons would be complete failures if, in sea fights, they were to prove incapable of destroying ships, and there is no probability that the destruction will fall on one side only.

Mr. Frothingham's final conclusion is that the "actual tactical result of the battle was indecisive." A very full definition of an indecisive tactical result would be instructive. One result of the battle of Jutland is beyond dispute and is in no way a matter of opinion. These lines are being written on the 12th of May, 1918, close upon two years after the battle of Jutland was fought. Not once during all that long time has the German High Sea Fleet ventured on the high seas or done more than just peep over the edge of its sheltering mine fields.

Comment by Mr. Arthur Pollen

Arthur Pollen, the English naval critic, offers the following observations on debatable phases of the battle:

I have read Mr. Frothingham's article, and it seems to me to be substantially accurate as a synopsis of the officially published events of the afternoon and evening. The writer's comments also seem to be judicious and fair. The battle raises, however, so many and such large problems, strategical, tactical, and technical, that it is impossible for any writer to exhaust the matter, or even to indicate the disputable points in so small a space as Mr. Frothingham has been able to devote to it.

In one or two not unimportant particulars I hold a different view of the facts and different opinions from the writer. For example, it seems to me that the Grand Fleet did not, as Mr. Frothingham states on Page 339, at 6:25 form in battle line astern of the battle cruisers. The plan published with the dispatches makes it seem more probable that the van of the Grand Fleet followed a course considerably to the north though parallel to that of the battle cruisers, and that it was not until about 7:05 that they turned from an easterly to a southerly course and formed astern of the Vice Admiral commanding the battle cruiser fleet. The story of the action might have been very different had circumstances permitted of the Grand Fleet going into action astern of the Vice Admiral at 6:15.

Again, Page 337, I cannot agree that it is evident that the German fleet was not forced into action with the Grand Fleet, but that Vice Admiral Scheer deliberately chose to engage that force. There is nothing to show that Scheer suspected Jellicoe was on the scene until he began to turn from north to southeast about a quarter of an hour before the Grand Fleet was sighted.

Again, Page 339, I cannot agree that it was the night disposition of the fleet that was the crucial decision. It is true it ended the battle for the night, but the decision which gave the battle its character was taken earlier in the day, when the enemy was allowed to open the range under the cover of destroyer attacks and smoke screens. In the existing atmospheric conditions and light it was impossible for gunnery to be effective, even at 12,000 and 9,000 yards and the only terms on which the German fleet could be defeated and sunk would have been those of close action. The refusal of close action was due to the menace of the German destroyer attacks, used on this occasion for purposes of defense and to afford an opportunity of evasion, with masterly skill and decisive effect. The dispositions and tactics of the night action are a different matter, but of these we are still completely ignorant.

[Pg 156]

Battle of Skagerrak as Germany Sees It

By CAPTAIN VON KUEHLWETTER

of the German Imperial Navy

[This article on the battle of Jutland was written during the
week following the day on which it was fought, May 31, 1916]

Although Trafalgar, Tsushima, and Skagerrak will be treated and discussed together in future naval histories, it is not yet possible to draw the full historical consequences from the two last-named naval battles. We can estimate the effects of Trafalgar on the history of the world, for we know that it laid the foundations of British naval supremacy. With the exception of the immediate military advantage gained, the full results of the battle of Tsushima have not yet been developed. Still less can the battle of Skagerrak have left its impress upon world history.

For us Skagerrak [Jutland] has been a great, decisive victory, which our whole High Sea Fleet gained after a long, bitterly contested battle on the open sea, far from the home coast and its points of support, against the superior British Grand Fleet. Our naval forces inflicted upon the British fleet losses which, in terms of tons, even according to the British Admiralty, were double ours. But the tonnage does not fully represent the seriousness of the losses, since the British lost three dreadnoughts, as against one of ours, and three armored cruisers, as against one of our old armored cruisers.

If we add to this what our own observations, supported by statements of British prisoners, show, the enemy's losses were three and a half times ours; that is, in terms of fighting units, six dreadnoughts, including two older types, as against one dreadnought and one pre-dreadnought, and four armored cruisers and one small cruiser, as against four small cruisers.

The purpose of a battle is destruction, the victor being the side which goes further in this direction. The figures just quoted can leave no doubt on this point.

The German fleet remained on the battle area. After the repeatedly successful attacks of our torpedo boat flotillas the British fleet was forced to sheer off, and we never saw it again. Although the British ships were superior in speed and were reinforced by the arrival of twelve additional battleships, they made no attempt to recover contact with us and continue the battle. Our numerous torpedo boats searched for the British fleet all night without finding it, and instead utilized the opportunity to rescue a large number of British sailors.

This justifies us in calling the battle an absolute victory for us. It has demonstrated that the German fleet had within it the power to beat the more numerous and more up-to-date British fleet, and it opens up great possibilities for the future.

The battle of Skagerrak did not decide the war. Neither did Trafalgar nor Tsushima, nor did Tannenburg or the battle of the Masurian Lakes. A single battle between great powers will never be ultimately decisive. How much it contributes to the final outcome of a war cannot be estimated. The greatest result so far is not in the fact that Great Britain lost ships, but in the victory.

TRAFALGAR AND JUTLAND

Trafalgar and the name of Nelson stand high in naval history. Let us draw a military comparison between Trafalgar and the battle of Skagerrak. At Trafalgar there were on the British side 27 ships of the line, (of which 8 had 80 guns, 16 had 74 guns, and 3 had 64 guns,) four frigates, and two smaller vessels. On the side of the allied French and Spanish fleet there were 33 ships of the line, (of which 10 had from 80 to 110 guns, 22 had 74 guns, and one had 64 guns,) three frigates, and two smaller vessels. The French and Spanish[Pg 157] fleet was not only numerically stronger, but its ships were better built and better armed.

A GERMAN DIAGRAM OF THE BATTLE OF THE SKAGERRAK (JUTLAND)

In the battle of Skagerrak we had opposing each other: On the British side, thirty-one dreadnoughts, inclusive of six battle cruisers, and four armored cruisers; on the German side, twenty-one dreadnoughts, inclusive of five battle cruisers, and six older cruisers. Roughly speaking, we had twenty-seven big ships against thirty-live. Here also the better quality, judged by size, up-to-dateness, and armament, was on the side of the larger fleet. Apart from these big ships, there were on each side about fifty smaller vessels.

The total tonnage of the British fleet at Trafalgar was equal to about two modern dreadnoughts, as one of the ships of the line in Nelson's time was of about 2,000 tons. In numbers of guns and of crew there were more at Trafalgar, as at that time the ships were sailing vessels.

The British had between 17,000 and 20,000 men engaged, against 21,000 to 24,000. At Skagerrak we had from 35,000 to 40,000, as against 45,000 to 50,000 men. In this way we can compare the battle in its general aspect with Trafalgar. But if we look into the matter more closely, the French and Spanish fleet had within it an element of weakness arising from the fact that it consisted of two allied forces, between which there is never complete co-ordination. The French were further weakened by effects of the Revolution and exhaustion from previous battles. The French Admiral himself said: "Never before was the French fleet at such a low standard. We had bad masts, bad sails, bad rigging, bad officers, and bad seamen." Of the Spanish, Nelson said: "They have neither seamen nor officers." At the head of the allied forces was a French Admiral who had no confidence in the fleet and who was acting under instructions issued by Napoleon, which he felt incapable of carrying out. Opposed to him was the seasoned and well-schooled fleet of Nelson, so that it was not a battle of equal opponents and the result was annihilation. None of the French or Spanish ships was again seen at sea; nineteen were captured or destroyed, ten were driven into harbor and blockaded; four escaped, only to fall into the hands of the victors a few days later.

COMPARED WITH TSUSHIMA

And now Tsushima, another parallel. A Russian fleet, made up of any old vessels the Russians could get together, and of what ships still remained in the East—supported by Port Arthur—made one last bid against the sea power of the enemy. Without training, without points of support, honeycombed with revolutionary ideas, the Russian fleet started[Pg 158] on its trip to the Far East, where it arrived on May 27, after suffering terrible hardships and being more than six months on the way to meet the enemy. Meanwhile, Port Arthur, with its fleet, had fallen. The Russian Admiral knew that he had absolutely no chance, but he did not have enough courage to retreat. Blindly and without confidence he started the battle against an opponent who was superior in numbers, equipment, and training. Of the 38 Russian ships which arrived on the morning of May 27, 1905, in the Strait of Korea, 19 were sunk and 7 captured, including 2 hospital ships. The Russian Admiral, 273 officers, and 5,833 petty officers and men were taken prisoner; 201 officers and 4,344 men were killed. Against this the Japanese lost only three torpedo boats and about 700 men.

Trafalgar was not a battle between equal forces, and still less so was Tsushima; hence, as regards their military value, they cannot be compared with Skagerrak. In this battle for the first time there were two sides equally well trained, equally imbued with the same spirit, equally determined. Here also the smaller force won. The superior force had to quit the battle area, and only the power it retained within itself saved it from annihilation. This battle gave us, in the military sense, a victory such as naval history has never yet recorded. Its moral effect upon our fleet, especially after the long harassing wait, cannot be expressed in words. It did not end the war, but it gave us more confidence and startled England, who always thought she had an invincible fleet.

On the victory of Trafalgar England founded her colonial world power, because she thereby obtained the mastery of the seas, which remained unchallenged. Tsushima gave Japan the sea power in the East which she needed to carry out her military plans on land. It no more ended the Japanese-Russian war than Trafalgar had ended the struggle of that day, but it gave Japan a military success which was of great value to her in peace negotiations. We hope that Skagerrak is a blow against the victory of Trafalgar and the first step toward the smashing of British sea power, and that other mighty hammer blows will fall against the barriers which shut off other peoples from the freedom of the seas.

International Socialists' Peace Campaign

A Message Sent to the Socialists of the Central Powers by Those of the Entente Nations

Emile Vandervelde and Camille Huysmans, the Chairman and Secretary of the International Socialist Bureau, on March 1, 1918, signed and transmitted a message to the Socialists of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria, inviting them to consider the declaration on war aims adopted by the Interallied Labor and Socialist Conference in London, Feb. 23, and asking them to propose conditions of their own for comparison. The communication was printed April 17 without comment in the German Socialist organ, Vorwärts, being reproduced by it from the Paris Humanité. It is as follows:

The third Interallied Socialist Conference, which was held in London from Feb. 20 to Feb. 23, has commissioned the President and Secretary of the International Socialist Bureau to communicate to you the authentic text of the memorandum which has been adopted by the meeting: of delegates of the Labor and Socialist organizations of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium. The main ideas of this document have received, or had received in advance, the approval of the parties of Serbia, Portugal, Greece, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

A special mission, consisting of Stuart, Bunning, (England,) Jouhaux and Cachin, (France,) a Belgian delegate, an Italian delegate, and the Secretary of the International Socialist Bureau, Camille Huysmans, has gone to the United States in order to obtain the adhesion of the American working class to this memorandum, which expresses the point of [Pg 159]view of the organized proletariat of the Entente countries with regard to the necessary foundations of a democratic peace and the principal conditions for a general international Labor and Socialist conference, which has been summoned to a neutral country by "a committee which provides all guarantees of impartiality toward the various elements which are called to take part."

In making this communication to you the signatories of this message consider it profitable to recall objectively the reasons which determined the acceptance of the procedure proposed by the London Conference.

The conference was of the opinion that it would be of no use to assemble a general congress unless its aim had been established in principle.

The conference was of the opinion that "the principal condition for the holding of a plenary assembly of the International consists in its organizers satisfying themselves that all the organizations to be represented formulate in precise terms and by a public declaration their peace conditions upon the basis of the principles of peace without annexations and without indemnities of a punitive character, and the right of the peoples to self-determination," and, further, that these organizations will "work with all their power to obtain from their Governments the necessary guarantee that these principles shall be applied honestly and without arriere-pensées in the settlement of all questions raised at the official peace conference."

In order itself to satisfy these conditions, the London Conference has considered it necessary to state precisely its views and its action in the memorandum which we are commissioned to communicate to you.

The conference expects that your party, following the same idea, will resolve to issue a public declaration of a similar kind, whether separately or jointly with the Labor and Socialist organizations of Central Europe.

In the opinion of those who took part in the London Conference the comparison of these documents will be of the greatest importance. It will be a principal means of establishing whether a sufficient agreement of views exists between the proletariats of the two belligerent groups to make possible a common action against imperialism and for a democratic peace. This preliminary examination is all the more necessary, because it is obvious that no important party, conscious of its responsibility, will run the risk of having the resolutions of an international congress imposed upon it by the will of a majority. Only resolutions which were the expression of a general and common will would possess moral authority and practical effect.

The sum of the matter is that the Socialists of the Entente countries request you in this grave hour, in which it is necessary to know whether the world is to be freed by democracy or to be handed over to imperialism, to ask your consciences whether a real, sincere, and effective agreement of the wills of the proletariats is possible in order to put an end to the law of violence, in order to lay the foundations not of a peace, but of the peace, and in order to help the peoples to liberate themselves from the endless chain of military war which leads to economic wars, and of economic wars which will again produce military wars.

We add to the messages only one observation. Since the London Conference momentous events have taken place which constitute the gravest menace for the workers of all countries. The principles to which they appeal have been shamefully violated. The right of the peoples to self-determination has been openly disregarded. In Austria and Germany themselves Socialists have expressed the fear that Russia, disarmed and for the moment impotent, might become a battleground in which the rival imperialisms and their claims would meet and ultimately satisfy themselves jointly at the cost of the defeated revolution.

The working classes have a common interest in protesting against such events and in preventing the realization of such projects.

That is the wish of the authors and the signatories of the memorandum. In the same spirit we beg you to subject this document to a conscientious and thorough examination.

In communicating this request to you we address to you, comrades, our Socialist greetings.

At a meeting of the Socialist Party Committee in Berlin on May 31, according to the Vorwärts, Friedrich Ebert, Vice President of the Social Democrats, announced that the party leaders had indirectly received a copy of the Entente Socialist memorandum on war aims. Philipp Scheidemann declared that the aims of the Entente Socialists were to a great extent in complete accord with the annexationist aims of the Entente Governments. The committee adopted a resolution pledging continued adherence to the Reichstag peace resolution of July, 1917, which declared for no annexations and no indemnities.

[Pg 160]

Trade After the War

The State Department at Washington announced on June 5, 1918, that it had appointed an economic representative, who was to join the American Embassy at Rome. This was regarded as the first step in a general policy of more active participation by the United States in preparations of the nations at war with Germany for the after-the-war trade struggle.

The new treaty of alliance between Germany and Austria to control all Central European sources of raw materials, and to exclude other nations from equal trade privileges, with similar restrictions imposed by the new treaties forced on Finland, Ukrainia, and Rumania, changed the attitude of the American Government, which at first had not assented to the proposals of the Paris Economic Conference to interpose artificial obstructions to free commerce with the Central Powers after the war.

The Italian Government recently named a commission to study after-the-war problems, and with this commission the American economic delegate will have close relations. Italian importing and exporting interests in the United States also have taken advantage of the opportunity afforded by the decision of the Italian Government to consider this important subject, and have joined in the dispatch of a committee to Italy to co-operate. Italian industries, though of great potential strength and capable of returning large profits on their capitalization, are said to require substantial assistance from America if they are to go on after the war without relapsing into the control of German financiers.

It is reported that economic representatives will be sent to the American Embassies in all the allied capitals.

On May 14 Mr. Bonar Law, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in the House of Commons that, in order to leave its country's hands free for the time when peace arrived, the French Government had denounced all commercial conventions containing a general clause regarding "most-favored nations"; and that, in view of the probable scarcity of raw material after the war and the necessity for providing for the needs of the British Empire and the Allies, the British Government intended to adopt a similar course.

In answer to other questions, Mr. Bonar Law said that the British Government had not changed its policy expressed in the Paris resolutions since the entrance of the United States into the war; he had every reason to believe that America was very anxious for unity of economic control, and agreed that any useful action would be much more effective if taken in conjunction with our allies.

Lord Balfour of Burleigh's committee considered the question of the denunciation of commercial treaties and reported against it. The report contains a summary of the various commercial treaties which are in existence between Great Britain and other countries. Those with enemy countries have been terminated by the war. In the case of allied countries commercial treaties on the basis of reciprocal most-favored-nation treatment are in force between the United Kingdom and Italy, Portugal, Russia, the United States, Japan, Serbia, and Montenegro. There is a similar treaty with Rumania. United Kingdom goods have most-favored-nation treatment in France, owing to a legislative enactment and not by treaty right, for customs duties were excepted from the scope of the Anglo-French commercial convention of 1882.

Great Britain has commercial treaties on the most-favored-nation basis with Switzerland and Greece. In the case of the Netherlands and Denmark, the general principle of most-favored-nation treatment is subject to minor limitations. The position with regard to Sweden and Norway is doubtful; but the old treaty of 1826 with Sweden and Norway on a reciprocal most-favored-nation basis has continued in operation in practice, in spite of the dissolution of the union between Sweden and Norway in 1905.

[Pg 161]

Outside Europe, Great Britain has commercial treaties providing for reciprocal and unconditional most-favored-nation treatment with Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Venezuela. Those with Costa Rica and Liberia are conditional.

Nearly all these commercial treaties are subject to a fixed period of notice on either side as a condition of denunciation. The treaty with Japan cannot be terminated before 1923. The treaty with Portugal has only recently been completed, after years of negotiation. Twelve months' notice of termination is required in the case of the treaty with Switzerland and of most of those with neutral countries outside Europe. The Spanish agreement—it is based on an exchange of notes in 1894—is subject to six months' notice.

Before the war there was no commercial treaty between the United Kingdom and Germany. The United Kingdom enjoyed most-favored-nation treatment in Germany in customs matters by virtue of a biennial law.

Exchange of Naval Greetings With England

The following exchange of greetings between the heads of the navies of the United States and Great Britain was made public:

Washington, April 5, 1918.

My Dear Sir: Your references to the splendid spirit of co-operation between the navies of our two countries, and your warm praise of the officers and men of the navy who have gone abroad, have been most grateful to me and to the men in the navy and to all Americans. The brightest spot in the tragedy of this war is this mutual appreciation of the men in the naval service. Our officers who have returned confirm the statements of Vice Admiral Sims of the courtesies and kindness shown in every way by the Admiralty and officers of the British fleet, and we have reciprocated by receiving cordially the able and efficient officers who have come from your country to confer and work elbow to elbow with our officers in the difficult work which this war imposes upon the naval service of all the countries allied in the war against the submarine menace.

I had hoped to have the pleasure of visiting Great Britain and personally expressing this feeling of mutual working together and of exchanging views, but the task here of making ready more and more units for the fleet is a very serious one, and my duty chains me here. The order in all the navy is "full speed ahead" in the construction of destroyers and other craft, and the whole service is keyed up to press this programme forward as rapidly as possible. Therefore I shall not have the pleasure until this program shall materialize better and better of personal acquaintance and conference, which would be of such interest and value.

Sincerely yours,

(Signed) JOSEPHUS DANIELS.

Sir Eric Geddes, First Lord of the Admiralty, London.

April 23.

Dear Mr. Daniels: I am exceedingly grateful to you for your letter of April 5, in which you thank me for the public reference which I have made to the very cordial relations which exist between the navies of our two countries. As you know, we all of us here have a great admiration for your officers and men and for the splendid help which they are giving in European waters; and, further, we find Vice Admiral Sims invaluable in counsel and co-operation.

I fully appreciate how onerous your office must be at the present time; and much though I regret that you do not see your way to visiting this country in the near future, I hope that we may some day have the pleasure of welcoming you here. Yours sincerely,

(Signed) E. C. GEDDES.

---

Commander in Chief's Office,

Queenstown, May 4.

On the anniversary of the arrival of the first United States men-of-war at Queenstown, I wish to express my deep gratitude to the United States officers and ratings for the skill, energy, and unfailing good nature which they have all consistently shown, and which qualities have so materially assisted the war by enabling the ships of the allied powers to cross the ocean in comparative freedom.

To command you is an honor, to work with you is a pleasure, and to know you is to know the best traits of the Anglo-Saxon race.

(Signed) LEWIS BAYLY,

Admiral, Commander in Chief.

[Pg 162]

England and the War's Causes

Prince Lichnowsky's Memorandum a Document of Vital Importance to History

By VISCOUNT BRYCE

Former British Ambassador to the United States

[Copyright, 1918, by The New York Times Company]

The secret memorandum which Prince Lichnowsky wrote as a record and vindication of his conduct while German Ambassador in England is the most important single document which has come before the world since the first days of the war. It was not meant to become known during the war, perhaps not within his own lifetime. It was written not to justify England but to criticise the policy which tied Germany to Austria, and was published without, and indeed against, its author's will. It may have been composed partly to relieve the writer's own feelings, from an impulse which those will understand who are prevented by considerations of public duty from vindicating their conduct to the world. It may also be due to the sense, natural to men who have borne a part in great events, that they owe it to posterity to contribute what they can to the truth of history. Anyhow, it has exposed him to the anger and persecution of the German Government; and this persecution is evidence of the importance it attaches to it as a condemnation of its conduct. The truth of its contents has been confirmed, if indeed it needed confirmation, by the statements of Herr von Jagow, late German Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and of Herr Mühlon, one of the Krupp directors.

Prince Lichnowsky appears in this document as a man of clear vision and cool judgment, an acute observer of social as well as political phenomena, a good witness both to what he noted during his residence here and to what he knew of the action of his own Government. And now let us see what he records.

When the war began in August, 1914, the German Government entered on two campaigns, which it has ever since prosecuted with equal energy and an equal disregard of honor and humanity.

One of these was the campaign by arms. It suddenly invaded Belgium, a peaceful neutral country, whose neutrality it was pledged to respect, and which it has treated with the utmost cruelty, murdering, or reducing to the slavery of forced labor, its civilian and noncombatant inhabitants. It has similarly enslaved the inhabitants of Poland, and has encouraged its Turkish allies to massacre their innocent Armenian subjects.

A CAMPAIGN OF FALSEHOOD

The other campaign was one of falsehood, conducted by speeches and through the press, and intended to mislead public opinion. It was an effort to deceive both its own people and neutral nations by mendacious misrepresentations of German aims, purposes, and conduct, and by equally false descriptions of the aims, purposes, and conduct of Germany's antagonists, and especially of the British Government and the British people. It tried to represent the war as having been forced upon Germany by Britain. Germany, it said, was merely defending herself against an unprovoked attack. She desired to live at peace with her neighbors, developing her own resources, cherishing no aggressive designs. Her enormous army and navy had been created only to protect her against the jealous and malicious enemies by whom she was surrounded, and especially against Great Britain. Britain, it seems, was envious of Germany. Being herself "a decadent nation"—this was the prevailing German[Pg 163] view—she feared the commercial competition of Germany, and tried to keep the latter out of all foreign markets. British policy—so they said—under the direction of King Edward VII., had formed alliances with France and Russia in order to hem in Germany, and after trying to block Germany's outlets in Africa and Asia, contrived this war to destroy by arms the rival whom she could not face up to in trade and manufacturing industry.

While these accusations were brought against Britain, attempts were made to excuse the invasion of Belgium by the false stories, dropped as soon as they had served their temporary purpose, that French officers had been sent into Belgium to help to organize the Belgian troops against Germany and that French aviators had been flying over German territory.

Grotesque as all these inventions were, they were repeated with such audacity as to produce some effect in neutral countries. But their chief and more lasting influence was on the German people. A large part of the German press, inspired and controlled by the German Government, had for some time past been holding up England as the persistent foe of Germany. It now redoubled its falsehoods, representing Sir Edward Grey as having plotted to bring about a war, and urged Russia to refuse a peaceful solution; and it added equally groundless charges that England had secretly planned with Belgium to attack Germany through Belgian territory. These fables, repeated incessantly by German politicians, as well as by the newspapers, found ready credence with the German people, easily led by their press, always docile to the orders of their Government, and now swept off their feet by a wave of patriotism and by the belief that they were about to achieve a victory as rapid and complete as that of 1870. It was this conviction of the malevolence and the grasping ambition of England that created that ferocious hatred of the English which has continued to display itself in the treatment of English prisoners and in the exultation over such crimes as the sinking of the Lusitania.

ORGANIZED HATE

This sudden outburst of hatred in a nation so intelligent startled and amazed us. It can be understood only when we remember that the German Government did everything in its power not only to create hatred, but also to stifle every voice that was raised to let the people know the truth. They never have been permitted to know the truth, and the disappointment that fell upon them when their march on Paris was arrested with the help of a British Army and their coasts strictly blockaded by a British fleet added fuel to their anger and has made it ever since an easier matter to keep the truth from them.

Now, what was the truth?

The British people bore no hatred whatever toward the German people. King Edward VII. meant no harm to Germany when he showed his liking for the French. Neither did his Ministers when they took steps to remove the differences that had been causing trouble between ourselves and France, and again when they came to a friendly understanding with Russia. These arrangements were made in the interests of European peace and good-will, not in order to damage Germany. British merchants and manufacturers never dreamed of fighting Germany to get rid of her commercial competition. Had such an idea occurred to them, they would have reflected that Germany was England's best foreign customer, not to add that two years of even a successful war would have inflicted far more loss upon them than the extension of German trade competition could have repaired in twenty years. British men of science and learning admired the immense contributions Germany had been making to the progress of knowledge, and they had many personal friends in Germany. British statesmen did not desire to add to British possessions abroad, feeling that we had already all we needed, and that the greatest interest of the British Empire was a universal peace.

No section of our people, neither traders, nor thinkers and writers, nor statesmen, had any idea of the dangers to[Pg 164] the mind and the purpose of those who ruled Germany. We did not realize what the feudal aristocracy and military caste of Germany were pondering and planning, nor how little weight they attached to considerations either of good faith or of humanity. Hence, beyond maintaining a strong fleet, the indispensable protection of a country open to sea attack which did not maintain a large army, we had made no preparations for war, and had scarcely bethought ourselves of what action we should have to take on land if we became involved in war. In this belief and attitude there may have been less prudence than was needed. But our absence of suspicion is the best proof of how little we expected aggression. It is an absolute refutation of the calumny that Britain, with her tiny army, was planning an attack on the greatest military power in the world.

All this every Englishman knows. I repeat it only because it has now received not only a confirmation but also a valuable further proof in the Lichnowsky memorandum, a proof unsolicited and uncontemplated, and, moreover, unimpeachable, because it comes from one who bore a leading part in what it records, and who never meant to let it become known.

ENGLAND'S PACIFIC SPIRIT

First—The memorandum bears witness to the pacific spirit of the British people. Here are some of its words:

"The commercial jealousy about which we [in Germany] hear so much is based on a wrong conception of the circumstances. Certainly Germany's rise as a commercial power after 1870 and during the following decades was a menace to British commercial circles which with their industries and export houses had held a virtual monopoly. The increasing commerce with Germany, which was the leading country in Europe as regards British exports, had, however, given rise to the wish to maintain friendly relations with their best customer and business friend, and had driven all other considerations into the background. Notably, in commercial spirit and the effort to further our common commercial interests.

"At the English cities to which I was invited (by the Chambers of Commerce and municipalities) I was well received everywhere. * * * In all other circles I also met with the most friendly reception and co-operation—at Court, in society, and from the Government.

"On account of our fleet alone England would not have drawn the sword any more than on account of our trade, which has been alleged to have produced jealousy and finally war. * * * It was possible to arrive at an understanding in spite of the fleet, and without a 'naval holiday,' [intermission of naval shipbuilding.]"

Second—The memorandum shows that the attitude of the British Government, and in particular of Sir Edward Grey, then Foreign Minister, was entirely pacific. The admirable characterization of Sir Edward it contains is too long to quote, but it testifies to his perfect straightforwardness and constant wish to maintain good relations with Germany, and after describing how "the simplicity and honesty of his ways secured him the respect even of his opponents," it adds: "This is a true picture of the man who is decried [in Germany] as 'Liar Grey' and instigator of the world war."

The memorandum goes on to show how sincerely Sir Edward had worked for peace, first in 1913, during the Balkan troubles, when he went hand-in-hand with Germany, "hardly ever supporting the French or Russian claims. He conducted the negotiations with circumspection, calm, and tact." Frequently, when appealed to by Lichnowsky to use his influence with the Russian Government to arrange difficulties between it and Germany, "Sir Edward gladly did this, and his intervention contributed in no small degree to smooth the matter over."

Third—A still weightier evidence of the good-will of the British Government is supplied by the account given of the concessions made to German wishes in Asia and Africa. "Sir Edward Grey," says the memorandum, "after having[Pg 165] outstanding points of difference with France and Russia, wished to make similar agreements with us. It was not his object to isolate us, but to the best of his power to make us partners in the existing association. As he had succeeded in overcoming Anglo-French and Anglo-Russian differences, so he also wished to do his best to eliminate the Anglo-German, and, by a network of treaties, which would no doubt have led in the end to an agreement on the troublesome question of naval armaments, to insure the peace of the world.

THE BAGDAD RAILWAY

"His plan was, in his own words, without interfering with England's existing friendship, which had no aggressive aims and does not entail any binding obligations, to arrive at a friendly rapprochement and understanding with Germany to bring the two groups [of powers] nearer." In pursuance of this policy, the British Government went a very long way to meet German wishes in respect to the Bagdad Railway. They agreed to let it be prolonged to El Basra; they included the whole of Mesopotamia as far as that town in the German sphere of influence, and also the whole district of the Bagdad and Anatolian railway, i. e., all the centre of Asia Minor.

Not less large were the concessions made in South Central Africa. "The new agreement [regarding the interests of Germany and England in the African possessions of Portugal] was fully in accord with German wishes and interests. For these the British Government showed the greatest consideration. Sir E. Grey intended to demonstrate his good-will toward us, but he also wished to assist our colonial development as a whole." These arrangements were embodied in two treaties highly advantageous to Germany, which, however, the German Government, for some reasons of its own, had postponed signing, so that they remained unpublished up till the outbreak of the war. Had we in the inner spirit of the German Government, and the use it would make of our concessions, British Ministers might well have hesitated to go so far as they did. But that they conceded so much is the completest proof of their good-will and the most convincing refutation of the charges which the German Ministers and press have brought against them.

It would take too long to follow out in this article the constant efforts of the British Government during the fateful days before the outbreak of the war to avoid a conflict by means of Sir E. Grey's repeated plans of mediation and adjustment. The memorandum shows how earnestly he labored for peace at Berlin, at Petersburg, at Vienna, and how all his attempts were baffled by the settled purpose of the German Government to force on war.

THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE

Britain may, like other nations, have in the past sometimes indulged her ambition, sometimes abused her strength, sometimes embarked in wars that might well have been avoided. But on this occasion at least she is blameless. Never in her long history has she had so perfectly clear a conscience as in the case of this war. Her people neither contemplated it nor desired it. They were driven into it by the action of the German Government, which persisted in pushing it on even when Austria seemed willing to draw back. All had evidently been settled at that famous Potsdam conference, when (as the German Ambassador at Constantinople, before Italy had declared war against Austria, told his Italian colleague) the Emperor had inquired of his military and naval chiefs whether they were ready for the conflict for which, during some months preceding, preparations had been in progress. Neither when the war began did Britain wish to do more than prevent Germany from destroying Belgium and mortally wounding France. Sir E. Grey spoke truly for the nation when, as the memorandum records, he said: "We don't want to crush Germany."

[Pg 166]

Germany and Great Britain in 1912

Lord Haldane's Official Report of His Conciliatory Mission Prior to the War

Lord Haldane, the British Minister for War in 1912, was sent on a mission to Berlin in that year to confer with the German Chancellor, Dr. von Bethmann Hollweg, in the hope of reaching some agreement with Germany for a mutual reduction of armament, and for the establishment of conditions that would preserve European peace. The hope regarding armaments was not fulfilled, and the conversations that had taken place were not made public by either Government; but late in May, 1918, in view of the revelations of Prince Lichnowsky regarding Germany's responsibility for the war, the British Government at length published Lord Haldane's report. It is in the form of a daily record, beginning Feb. 8, 1912, and is here reproduced in full, with the exception of parts relating solely to British defensive measures:

At the interview with the Chancellor, which took place at 2 o'clock and lasted for more than an hour and a half, I began by giving him the message of good wishes for the conversations and for the future of Anglo-German relations with which the King had intrusted me at the audience I had before leaving. He was pleased with this message, and intimated that he would write through the German Ambassador to thank the King. I then said that perhaps it would be convenient if I defined the capacity in which I was in Berlin, and there to talk to him; and I defined it as above intimated. I proceeded to ask whether he wished to make any observations or desired that I should begin. He wished me to begin, and I went on at once to speak to him as arranged in a conversation I had had with Sir Edward Grey before leaving London.

"At the interview with the Chancellor, which took place at 2 o'clock and lasted for more than an hour and a half, I began by giving him the message of good wishes for the conversations and for the future of Anglo-German relations with which the King had intrusted me at the audience I had before leaving. He was pleased with this message, and intimated that he would write through the German Ambassador to thank the King. I then said that perhaps it would be convenient if I defined the capacity in which I was in Berlin, and there to talk to him; and I defined it as above intimated. I proceeded to ask whether he wished to make any observations or desired that I should begin. He wished me to begin, and I went on at once to speak to him as arranged in a conversation I had had with Sir Edward Grey before leaving London."

"I told him that I felt there had been a great deal of drifting away between Germany and England, and that it was important to ask what was the cause. To ascertain this, events of recent history had to be taken into account. Germany had built up, and was building up, magnificent armaments, and with the aid of the Triple Alliance she had become the centre of a tremendous group. The natural consequence was that other powers had tended to approximate. I was not questioning for a moment Germany's policy, but this was the natural and inevitable consequence in the interests of security. We used to have much the same situation with France when she was very powerful on the sea that we had with Germany now. While the fact to which I referred created a difficulty, the difficulty was not insuperable; for two groups of powers might be on very friendly relations if there was only an increasing sense of mutual understanding and confidence. The present seemed to me to be a favorable moment for a new departure. The Morocco question was now out of the way, and we had no agreements with France or Russia except those that were in writing and published to the world."

"The Chancellor interrupted me, and asked me whether this was really so. I replied that I could give him the assurance that it was so without reserve, and that in the situation, which now existed I saw no reason why it should not be possible for us to enter into a new and cordial friendship, carrying the two old ones into it, perhaps, to the profit of Russia and France as well as Germany herself. He replied that he had no reason to differ from this view."

"In connection with my remarks as to the events of last Summer, he interposed that we had military preparations. I replied that no preparations had been made which were other than those required to bring the capacity of the British Army in point of mobilization to something approaching the standard which Germany had long ago reached, and which was with her a matter of routine. For this purpose we had studied our deficiencies and modes of operation[Pg 167] * * * We could not be caught unprepared."

NO AGGRESSIVE ALLIANCES

The Chancellor seemed much pleased with Lord Haldane's explanation, and said: "There had been much talk of our fleet and our army, and the steps we had taken, but that he understood the position I had indicated." "I said, in reply, that it was a pleasure to me to hear this, and that I hoped I should carry him with me still further in my belief that if Germany had really, which I did not at all suppose, intended to crush France and destroy her capacity to defend herself, we in England would have had such a direct interest in the result that we could not have sat by and seen this done."

"He said he did not dissent from this view, nor did he wish to hamper our freedom in such a case. But he wished to propose a formula; the balance of power was a phrase he did not like, though he admitted that the historical considerations I had referred to made it natural that some grouping should take place, and that England should lean toward the weaker side. He had, however, proposed, in his communication to us, a formula of neutrality which might go a long way to help."

"I said I cordially agreed with the good intention of his formula, the working of which was that neither was to enter into any combinations against the other. If this meant combinations for attack or aggression, I was entirely of his mind. But I must put on spectacles in looking at his words, and, first of all, I would put on German spectacles. How would Germany find herself if, when bound by such a formula, we were so wicked as to attack her ally Austria or to try to grab Denmark, which was of deep strategical interest to her? Again, suppose Germany joined in an attack on Japan or Portugal or Belgium—he then interposed 'or Holland'—but I said I really hadn't all our treaties sufficiently in my head to be as sure about Holland as I was about the others. Or if, I added, Germany were to pounce upon France and proceed to dismember her, what would happen? He answered that these cases were not at all likely, but he admitted that they were fatal to his formula. I asked him whether he would be satisfied with mutual undertakings against aggressive or unprovoked attacks and against all combinations, military and naval agreements, and plans directed to the purpose of aggression and unprovoked attack. He said it was very difficult to define what was meant by aggression or unprovoked attack. I replied that you could not define the number of grains which it took to make a heap, but one knew a heap when one saw one." * * *

QUESTION OF GERMAN FLEET

"We then passed on to the question of the German fleet, as to which he asked me to make any observations. I said I must. He and I had been talking with the most absolute candor and friendliness to each other, and I felt he would regard me as wanting in character were I not very frank with him about the new navy law. What was the use of entering into a solemn agreement for concord and against attack if Germany at the same moment was going to increase her battle fleet as a precaution against us, and we had consequently to increase our battle fleet as a precaution against her? This was vital from our point of view, because we were an island power dependent for our food supplies on the power of protecting our commerce, and for this we needed the two-power standard and a substantial preponderance in battle fleets. He said that it was absolutely essential to Germany to have a third squadron in full readiness for war. At present, owing to her system of recruiting, for three months in the year she had virtually, owing to the necessity for training recruits, no fleet ready at all. I said I did not contest this; she was quite entitled to have it if she thought it necessary, but the result would be that we should not be able to rely on the two battle squadrons and reserve squadrons which had sufficed hitherto, but that we should be compelled to have five, or even six, squadrons ready in home waters, perhaps bringing ships from the Mediterranean to strengthen them."

"He asked me was that necessary if we had a friendly agreement? I said it would be a less convincing proof of friendliness if Germany prepared her third squadron, and we should have no option. Still, I said, this was not so serious as the proposal to add a third ship every second year to the German construction program. This would put us in great difficulties so far as securing the good opinion of the public in England about the value of an agreement. We should certainly have to proceed at once to lay down two keels to each one of the new German additions, and that would cost money and cause feeling. It was true that each country could bear the additional cost without difficulty. They were rich and so were we. If it was for the purpose of the navy our people would not complain, in my opinion, of the addition of another shilling to the income tax, but it would be a great pity. He asked was that really likely to be our program, the laying down of two additional keels for each German one. I said that I had no doubt that it would be the result, and the Government would be turned out if they failed to accomplish it; and therefore some modification seemed to be of the utmost importance, if the agreement was to be a real success."

"After a pause he said he would consider this and 'die Sache überlegen.' The conversation up to this point had been largely in German, I taking to English whenever there was a delicate topic, and the Chancellor occasionally speaking English, but nearly always German. In order to avoid misunderstanding [Pg 168]repeated sentences in the other language. I was impressed by his evident desire to meet us wherever he could, and I derived considerable hope from the manner and emphasis with which he said that he would reconsider the question of the ships. But I must add that he went on to say that the question of the new squadron was vital, and that some new ships would be necessary in it. Could I suggest any way out, for they must keep to the plan of a new law. I observed that it was not for me to venture to make any suggestion to his Excellency, but that a spreading out in size of the new program might make a difference. He said, 'Perhaps, eight or nine years'; I added, 'or twelve, if he could not do better.' He again said that he would take this matter into serious consideration and consult his experts. 'My Admirals,' he said, 'are very difficult.' 'That was an experience,' I observed, 'which we sometimes found in England also.'"

THE KAISER AND VON TIRPITZ

On the following day, Feb. 9, Lord Haldane had an interview with the Emperor, the Chancellor, and Admiral Tirpitz on the navy, at which Tirpitz held out for the new German naval program, which was discussed at great length. Lord Haldane wrote:

"I insisted that fundamental modification was essential. The tone was thoroughly friendly, but I felt that I had come to the most difficult part of my task of getting material fit to bring back for the consideration of my colleagues. The utmost I was able to get was this: The Emperor was so disturbed at the idea that the world would not believe in the reality of the agreement unless the shipbuilding program was modified that he asked me what I would suggest. I said that it was a too technical matter for me to discuss here, but that if he would not drop the new law—which I saw he felt he could not—he might at least drop out a ship. This idea was never abandoned, but Admiral Tirpitz combated it so hard that I said: 'Well, can we not spread the tempo?' After much talking we got to this, that, as I insisted that they must not inaugurate the agreement by building an additional ship at once, they should put off building the first ship till 1913, and then should not lay down another till three years after, (1916,) and not lay down the third till 1919."

"Admiral Tirpitz wanted us to give some understanding about our own shipbuilding. He thought the two-power standard a hard one for Germany, and, indeed, Germany could not make any admission about it. I said it was not a matter of admission. Germany must be free and we must be free, and we should probably lay down two keels to their one. In this case the initiative was not with us, but with them. An idea occurred to all of us on this observation that we should try to avoid defining a standard proportion in the agreement, and that, indeed, we should say nothing at all about shipbuilding in the if the political agreement was concluded the Emperor should at once announce to the German public that this entirely new fact modified his desire for the fleet law as originally conceived, and that it should be delayed and spread out to the extent we had discussed. For the rest, each of us would remain masters in our own houses as far as naval matters were concerned."

"The Emperor thought the agreement would affect profoundly the tendency in shipbuilding, and he certainly should not desire to go beyond the three ships. The fact of the agreement was the key to everything. The Chancellor, he said, would propose to me this afternoon a formula which he had drafted. I said that I would see the Chancellor and discuss any further territorial questions with him, and would then return as speedily as I could and report the good disposition which I had found to my colleagues, and leave the difficulties of not being able to stop shipbuilding more completely, and, indeed, all other matters to their judgment. I could only assure the Emperor that I had been much struck with the friendly disposition in Berlin, and that he would find a not less friendly disposition in London."

NO AGREEMENT REACHED

Lord Haldane mentions that he was in communication with M. Jules Cambon, the French Ambassador in Berlin, and recounted his conversations to him. The Ambassador quite appreciated that the purpose of the mission was to create a detente, as distinguished from an entente. M. Jules Cambon reported his conversation with Lord Haldane to M. Poincaré.

Lord Haldane had another conversation with the Chancellor in the hope of arriving at a formula with regard to the navy. The Chancellor said that the "forces he had to contend with were almost insuperable. Public opinion in Germany expected a new law and the third squadron, and he must have these. I said we could not contest Germany's right to do in these matters, and indeed in other matters, as she pleased. But why not postpone the shipbuilding for longer and adapt the law accordingly? * * *"

"The Chancellor said he would try. He asked me to consult the experts in London and make a suggestion. I had said, he remarked, that everything was good only on balance, and Germany must for a greater end give up a minor advantage. The new squadron and the new fleet law she must have, but it was a question for the experts, on which he did not pronounce, whether a retardation of greater magnitude than Tirpitz proposed might not be possible. I promised to let him know privately the state of feeling here about the Tirpitz proposals on my return."

The Ministers then endeavored to arrive at a formula, the whole purpose of which was to bring about conditions which would prevent[Pg 169] war; to endeavor to get a definition of the duty of neutrality; and, in the event of war, to combine in order to localize the conflict.

After Lord Haldane's return to London, negotiations in search of a formula were continued. Prince Lichnowsky preserved a friendly atmosphere, but the German Government never agreed to conditions which would have safeguarded the neutrality of Belgium or maintained her honorable obligations to our allies. The nearest they got at the eleventh hour was, as Lord Grey said, "far too narrow an engagement for us."

British Official Statement Issued in 1915

The German press in 1915 made certain incorrect allegations regarding the Haldane Mission, whereupon on Aug. 31, 1915, the British Government issued the following official statement:

The Foreign Office Issued the Following Statement Respecting the Anglo-German Negotiations of 1912:

An account of the 1912 Anglo-German negotiations was published in the semi-official Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung last month. This account was misleading, and was no doubt intended to mislead, and made it appear that the British Government had at that time rejected what would be regarded in many quarters as a reasonable offer of friendship from Germany.

In these circumstances it may be as well to publish a statement of the facts compiled from official records here. Early in 1912 the German Chancellor sketched to Lord Haldane the following formula as one which would meet the views of the Imperial Government:

1. The high contracting parties assure each other mutually of their desire of peace and friendship.

2. They will not either of them make or prepare to make any (unprovoked) attack upon the other, or join in any combination or design against the other for purposes of aggression, or become party to any plan or naval or military enterprise alone or in combination with any other power directed to such an end, and declare not to be bound by any such engagement.

3. If either of the high contracting parties become entangled in a war with one or more powers in which it cannot be said to be the aggressor, the other party will at least observe toward the power so entangled a benevolent neutrality, and will use its utmost endeavor for the localization of the conflict. If either of the high contracting parties is forced to go to war by obvious provocation from a third party, they bind themselves to enter into an exchange of views concerning their attitude in such a conflict.

4. The duty of neutrality which arises out of the preceding article has no application in so far as it may not be reconcilable with existing agreements which the high contracting parties have already made.

5. The making of new agreements which render it impossible for either of the parties to observe neutrality toward the other beyond what is provided by the preceding limitation is excluded in conformity with the provisions in Article 2.

6. The high contracting parties declare that they will do all in their power to prevent differences and misunderstandings arising between either of them and other powers.

GERMAN PLAN ONE-SIDED

These conditions, although in appearance fair as between the parties, would have been grossly unfair and one-sided in their operation. Owing to the general position of the European powers and the treaty engagements by which they were bound, the result of Articles 4 and 5 would have been that, while Germany in the case of a European conflict would have remained free to support her friends, this country would have been forbidden to raise a finger in defense of hers.

Germany could arrange without difficulty that the formal inception of hostilities should rest with Austria. If Austria and Russia were at war, Germany would support Austria, as is evident from what occurred at the end of July, 1914; while as soon as Russia was attacked by two powers France was bound to come to her assistance. In other words, the pledge of neutrality offered by Germany would have been absolutely valueless, because she could always plead the necessity of fulfilling her existing obligations under the Triple Alliance as an excuse for departing from neutrality. On the other hand, no such departure, however serious the provocation, would have been possible for this country, which was bound by no alliances with the exception of those with Japan and Portugal, while the making of fresh alliances was prohibited by Article 5. In a word, as appeared still more evident later, there was to be a guarantee of absolute neutrality on one side but not on the other.

It was impossible for us to enter into a contract so obviously inequitable, and the formula was accordingly rejected by Sir Edward Grey.

Count Metternich upon this pressed for counter proposals, which he stated would be without prejudice and not binding unless we were satisfied that our wishes were met on the naval question. On this understanding Sir Edward Grey on the 14th of March, 1912, gave Count Metternich the following draft[Pg 170] formula, which had been approved by the Cabinet:

England will make no unprovoked attack upon Germany, and pursue no aggressive policy toward her.

Aggression upon Germany is not the subject, and forms no part of any treaty, understanding, or combination to which England is now a party, nor will she become a party to anything that has such an object.

Count Metternich thought this formula inadequate, and suggested two alternative additional clauses:

England will therefore observe at least a benevolent neutrality should war be forced upon Germany; or

England will therefore, as a matter of course, remain neutral if a war is forced upon Germany.

This, he added, would not be binding unless our wishes were met with regard to the naval program.

SIR EDWARD GREY'S VIEW

Sir Edward Grey considered that the British proposals were sufficient. He explained that, if Germany desired to crush France, England might not be able to sit still, though, if France were aggressive or attacked Germany, no support would be given by his Majesty's Government or approved by England. It is obvious that the real object of the German proposal was to obtain the neutrality of England in all eventualities, since, should a war break out, Germany would certainly contend that it had been forced upon her, and would claim that England should remain neutral. An admirable example of this is the present war, in which, in spite of the facts, Germany contends that war has been forced upon her. Even the third member of the Triple Alliance, who had sources of information not open to us, did not share this view, but regarded it as an aggressive war.

Sir Edward Grey eventually proposed the following formula:

The two powers being mutually desirous of securing peace and friendship between them, England declares that she will neither make nor join in any unprovoked attack upon Germany. Aggression upon Germany is not the subject, and forms no part of, any treaty, understanding, or combination to which England is now a party, nor will she become a party to anything that has such an object.

Sir Edward Grey when he handed this formula to Count Metternich said that the use of the word "neutrality" would convey the impression that more was meant than was warranted by the text; he suggested that the substance of what was required would be obtained and more accurately expressed by the words "will neither make nor join in any unprovoked attack."

Count Metternich thereupon received instructions to make it quite clear that the Chancellor could recommend the Emperor to give up the essential parts of the Novelle (the bill then pending for the increase of the German Navy) only if we could conclude an agreement guaranteeing neutrality of a far-reaching character and leaving no doubt as to any interpretation. He admitted that the Chancellor's wish amounted to a guarantee of absolute neutrality, failing which the Novelle must proceed.

Count Metternich stated that there was no chance of the withdrawal of the Novelle, but said that it might be modified; it would be disappointing to the Chancellor if we did not go beyond the formula we had suggested.

Sir Edward Grey said that he could understand that there would be disappointment if his Majesty's Government were to state that the carrying out of the Novelle would put an end to the negotiations and form an insurmountable obstacle to better relations. His Majesty's Government did not say this, and it hoped that the formula which it had suggested might be considered in connection with the discussion of territorial arrangements, even if it did not prove effective in preventing the increase of naval expenditure.

Sir Edward Grey added that if some arrangement could be made between the two Governments it would have a favorable though indirect effect upon naval expenditure as time went on; it would have, moreover, a favorable and direct effect upon public opinion in both countries.

A few days afterward Count Metternich communicated to Sir Edward Grey the substance of a letter from the Chancellor, in which the latter said that, as the formula suggested by his Majesty's Government was from the German point of view insufficient, and as his Majesty's Government could not agree to the larger formula for which he had asked, the Novelle must proceed on the lines on which it had been presented to the Federal Council. The negotiations then came to an end, and with them the hope of a mutual reduction in the expenditure on armaments of the two countries.

[Pg 171]

THE EUROPEAN WAR AS SEEN BY CARTOONISTS

[American Cartoon]

"Advance!"

—From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

[Pg 172]

[Italian Cartoon]

There Is a Reason

——From Il 420, Florence.

ST. PETER: "Why do you not protest against these German barbarities?"

POPE BENEDICT: "Because I don't want to be a protestant pope!"

[German Cartoon]

The Modern Miracle

The Statue of Liberty suddenly changed into a Fury!

[Referring to President Wilson's "force to the uttermost" speech.]

[German Cartoon]

Paris Under Bombardment

Poincaré and Clemenceau when the big gun roars.

[Pg 173]

[German Cartoon]

German Hatred of England

A Berlin version of what would happen if the
peoples under British rule could do as they pleased.

—From Kladderadatsch,Berlin.

[Pg 174]

[Dutch Cartoon]

Emperor Charles' "Dear Sixtus" Letter

—From De Amsterdammer, Amsterdam.

JESTER VON BUELOW: "I was discharged because my master talked too much."

JESTER CZERNIN: "And I because my master wrote too much."

[Pg 175]

[English Cartoon]

The "Dear Sixtus" Episode

"And a smile on the face of the tiger!"

—From Passing Show,London.

[Pg 176]

[English Cartoon]

Another War Problem

—From London Opinion.

THE LAND LADY: "Will you show me to the underclothing department, please?"

THE SHOPWALKER: "Certainly—er—men's or women's?"

[Swiss Cartoon]

The War and the Bread Basket

—From Nebelspalter, Zurich.

[Pg 177]

[Italian Cartoon]

The German Drive

—From L'Asino, Rome

Still more blood—by the wish of the Kaiser and his people.

[Pg 178]

[American Cartoon]

"Men! Bah!"

—From The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

[Pg 179]

[American Cartoons]

Change, Son, It's One or the Other

—St. Louis Republic.

"We Must Tighten the Bonds"

—Baltimore American.

No Compromise

—St. Louis Republic.

The Harder the Blow the Brighter the Sparks

—Cincinnati Post.

[Pg 180]

[German Cartoon]

The German Obsession of Militarism

TROTZKY TO DIPLOMATS: "Nothing doing, gentlemen. I'm deaf in both ears."

TROTZKY TO ARMY OFFICERS: "Why—yes!— With pleasure—and haste!
Any peace looks good to me!"

—From Kladderadatsch, Berlin.

[Pg 181]

[American Cartoon]

Good Fishing in Troubled Waters

—From The New York Times.

[French Cartoon]

Bombs and Shells

—From La Victoire, Paris.

"Who said peace?"

[Pg 182]

[American Cartoon]

"The Bear That Walks Like a"—Lamb!

—From The New York Herald.

[Pg 183]

[American Cartoon]

Shearing the Victim

—From The New York Times.

THE ALLIES: "Perhaps we should save the Bear, even though he doesn't yelp."

[German Cartoon]

German Anti-Japanese Propaganda

How "Wily Wilson" and "Juggling John" tried to use the Japanese puma—
—and the result, somewhat different from what they expected.

[Pg 184]

[Italian Cartoon]

Italy's Fighters in France

—From Il 420, Florence.

ITALY: "Here I am, to lend a hand!"

[Pg 185]

[Spanish Cartoon]

The Russian Peace

—From Iberia, Barcelona.

TROTZKY AND LENINE: "We have done more than Kerensky!"

[German Cartoon]

The American Brother

"Damn! I believe I'm too late for the entry into Berlin!"

[German Cartoon]

The Effect in New York When the long-distance shells fall in Paris.

[German Cartoon]

Seventy-five Miles

A Berlin boast of what the long-range gun will do.

[Pg 186]

[American Cartoon]

Picking the Lock

—From The Galveston News.

He expected inconvenience; he found difficulty, and is coming up against impossibility.

[Pg 187]

[German Cartoon]

The Wish Is Father to the Thought

—From Kladderadatsch, Berlin.

To the Adventurer: Stay at home and remain all write, (right.)

[Pg 188]

[Dutch Cartoons]

Holland Begging From Warring Powers

SHADE OF ADRIAAN VAN DER WERFF: "Has my story taught you nothing?
Look out for yourself. Suffer anything rather than budge."

Paris Bombarded by the Kaiser

—From De Amsterdammer, Amsterdam.

[Pg 189]

[American Cartoons]

How Long Can They Keep It Up?

—Chicago Herald and Examiner.

A Bumper Hun Harvest Is Predicted

—Central Press Association.

The New Austro-German Treaty>

—Dayton Daily News.

[Pg 190]

[American Cartoons]

Family Troubles

The Winning Hand

Ukrainian Independence

The Watch on the Rhine

—From The San Francisco Chronicle.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of New York Times Current History: The
European War, Vol. 8, Pt. 2, No. 1,, by Various

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NY TIMES CURRENT HISTORY; VOL. 8, PT. 2, NO. 1, JULY 1918 ***

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