Part 19

The association has nearly 400 motor trucks engaged in various kinds of transport work. It aids greatly in caring for and entertaining the soldiers, as many as 4000 of them at a time. It has opened many hotels in France, four of them in Paris, and owns several factories for the making of chocolate. It holds religious services for the men, providing preachers of all the different faiths. So it, too, shares in the godlike services of the Red Cross and Knights of Columbus.

Near the trenches and at training camps, other work has been done similar to that of the Y.M.C.A. and Knights of Columbus, by the Salvation Army. The soldier boys have especially enjoyed the doughnuts and pies furnished them by this society.

It has, it is said, placed 153 comfort and refreshment huts at the front in Europe, and is building many more. It maintains about 80 military homes, caring for about 100,000 men each week. It operates nearly 50 ambulances. Over 700 of its members are devoting their lives to war work in the trenches and at the camps. It was the first, it is said, of the societies of mercy at the front, and spent for the work mentioned $1,000,000, all made up of nickels and dimes of small givers, before the society made any "drive" for funds.

Letters from officials, friends, and soldier boys tell what glorious work these and other similar societies have done and are doing. They bring a little touch of heaven into the very worst places and conditions, and show the God in man.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MCCRAE.

THE WORLD WAR

The story of the World War is the story of the control of the sea by the Allies, of land fighting on two fronts, the western and the eastern, and of separate scattered campaigns in Africa and Asia.

THE WESTERN FRONT

Here the war really began and here it seems likely to be decided and ended. The Germans who planned the war were ready and, using their railroads built for that purpose, rushed their armies to the Belgian border before France had hardly begun to mobilize. Luxemburg was overrun at once and Belgium invaded. The brave Belgians under General Leman held up the advance for several days at Liége and saved France and western civilization. The Huns soon occupied nearly all of Belgium, taking Brussels on August 20 and Antwerp on October 9.

They pushed on directly toward Paris, driving the British who had been landed, the Belgians, and the French, before them. They advanced to within twenty miles of Paris, near Meaux on the Marne, and were there defeated September 5-10, 1914, and forced to retreat to the Aisne, where they entrenched themselves.

The Germans had driven the British south by constantly threatening to outflank them, and there had been a race to the gates of Paris. Now the British turned the tables and, in attempting to outflank the Germans, there was a race away from Paris to the North Sea, with the final result that the enemies were lined up opposite each other, from Switzerland near the German border to the coast between Dunkirk and Ostend.

Until 1918 trench warfare continued. The Germans sought to drive the English out of Ypres, but did not succeed. In one of these attacks on April 22, 1915, gas was used for the first time.

The British and French won a great victory on the Somme, July, 1916, taking nearly 75,000 prisoners. This battle is recognized as one of the turning points of the war, for it caused the extensive retreat of the Germans the following spring. The Huns devastated the territory from which they retreated more completely and mercilessly than any army, even barbarians, had ever done before in the history of the world. The British attempted to capture Lille and the bases of the German submarines on the Belgian coast at Ostend and Zeebrugge, but were unsuccessful.

In November, 1917, General Byng, in a surprise attack in which for the first time a large number of tanks were used, broke the famous Hindenburg line of trenches and captured 8000 Germans. He soon lost all the territory he had gained and many men, through being surprised himself by attacks on both sides of the pocket or salient which he had pushed into the German lines.

The Battle of the Somme referred to above was intended to relieve the terrible pressure of the Germans on the French forts at Verdun. The German Crown Prince had attacked these in July, 1916, determined to break through at whatever cost. But the soul of France rose to the occasion and declared, "They shall not pass!" The Battle of Verdun lasted from July until December, 1916. The Germans lost half a million men, _but they did not pass_. Before many months every vantage point which the Germans had won was back in French hands.

In 1917, the French pushed the Germans back between Rheims and Soissons to the Ailette River, where they remained until the Second Battle of the Marne, July, 1918.

Little of importance happened during the winter of 1917 and 1918, and Germany, with Russia out of the way, prepared to deliver a final blow and win the war, before American troops should arrive in force. The Germans, with large numbers of troops from the eastern front, were so confident, that great fear was felt among the Allies that America would be too late.

The German plan as it unfolded itself was to attack, wave after wave, with tremendous numbers of men; to use great quantities of a new and more terrible gas; to pay no attention to losses, but to break through where the French and English lines joined; then to push the French south towards Paris and the English north towards the sea. They expected to take Amiens, forty miles from the mouth of the Somme, and to push down the river to the sea. With the broad river between them and the French, a small force could keep the French from crossing, while the great German army captured or destroyed the British, who would be hemmed in by the sea.

The attack was launched on March 21 over a front of fifty miles and it nearly succeeded. It brought the Germans to within six miles of Amiens, which would have been captured if the English on Vimy Ridge had not prevented them by holding the German line from advancing. The Germans waited a month, planning an attack which should capture Vimy Ridge and prepare the way for the capture of Amiens. In this they were unsuccessful.

Not being able to divide the armies of the French and English or to take the Channel ports, they turned in May toward Paris. They attacked in tremendous force between Rheims and Soissons and pushed forward thirty-two miles to the Marne. On July 15 they launched another great offensive over a front of fifty miles from east of Rheims to west of Château-Thierry. They crossed the Marne and were making some progress when, on July 18, the French and Americans struck them on the flank between Soissons and Château-Thierry. The Germans were forced to retreat, having lost 220,000 men, hundreds of guns, and vast stores.

At this time over 1,000,000 American soldiers were in France. They arrived in time and showed themselves "the bravest of the brave." One of the American units was granted, for its bravery in the Second Battle of the Marne, the only regimental decoration ever awarded by France to a foreign regiment; and the French commander bestowed upon one division the most thrilling praise. "They showed," he said, "discipline that filled the Germans with surprise. They marched with officers at the sides and with closed ranks exactly like veteran French troops."

Italy began operations against Austria in May, 1915. For more than two years, she advanced over almost impassable mountain ranges to the reconquest of the territory Austria had stolen from her. Then, in October, 1917, Italy met with a terrible disaster; she lost 180,000 men and was driven back to the river Piave and to within fifteen miles of Venice. This costly defeat was due partly to lack of supplies which her allies should have furnished her; partly to printed lies dropped from Austrian airplanes among the Italian soldiers telling of the wonderful peace and liberty that had come to Russia, where Germans and Russians were like brothers; and partly to the mistake of Italy and her commanders. It resulted in making all the Allies realize that they could not succeed separately but must work together as one, if they were going to win; and in the appointment of General Ferdinand Foch as commander in chief of all the allied forces in the West, including European Russia.

In the spring of 1918, the Austrians, at Germany's command, renewed their attack and succeeded in crossing the Piave, which in its upper reaches towards the mountains was almost a dry river bed. They waited until, as they supposed, the mountain snows had melted. After many of them were across and after they had been checked on the western bank by the Italians, they attempted to recross the river. In the meantime floods had poured down from the mountains changing the dry bed into a rushing river, deep and broad, in which thousands of the Austrians were lost. Austria was able to make no further effort.

THE EASTERN FRONT

Russia was the first of the Great Powers among the Allies to enter the war, but Germany did not count upon her remaining in it long. German influence, especially that of the German Socialists with the uneducated Russians, was so strong that the Kaiser expected a revolution long before it happened. The Russian leaders were self-seeking, and the Tsar and his advisers were lacking in ability and force. The Germans thought Russia would collapse very soon, and thus leave Germany free to turn and conquer France; after which they could settle with England, and then with the United States.

Until the close of 1916, the Russian armies gave the Germans fierce opposition except when, through treachery of the officers of the government, supplies and ammunition were withheld and the soldiers had to fight cannon, machine guns, and rifles with the butts of their muskets. Of course the Russians were driven back, but not until they had come within one hundred and eighty-five miles of Berlin, which was the nearest approach of an enemy army during the first four years of the war.

In the fall of 1914, the Russian armies suffered through treachery a terrible defeat near Tannenberg in the Masurian Lake region of East Prussia, but the great leader of their armies farther south, Grand Duke Nicholas, invaded Austria, capturing stronghold after stronghold until treachery of Russian officials forced him to retreat. The retreat of his armies was conducted in so masterly a manner that it has ranked him as one of the great generals of the World War.

As soon as German money and German lies had undermined the directing forces at the Russian capital, it was an easy matter for German armies to overrun Russian Poland, to capture Warsaw and the great Russian fortresses, and to advance as far north as Riga.

Then in the spring of 1917 came the revolution, when the Duma refused to obey the order of the Tsar. The soldiers sided with the people; the Tsar was thrown into prison, to be shot more than a year later. Germany made a "peace drive," and soon had the entire Russian army ready to quit. Leaders in the service of Germany, like Lenine, used dreamers like Trotsky to help on the breaking up of Russia. Kerensky, who had been chosen to lead the government after the first revolution, was deposed and obliged to flee the country as the result of a second revolution by soldiers, sailors, and workmen. Lenine became Prime Minister and Trotsky, Foreign Minister. Then the way was clear for Germany to work her will. Agreeing to all proposals, she led the _Bolsheviki_, which means "the majority," into such a situation that they were powerless. Then throwing aside all her agreements, she forced them to sign the disgraceful treaty of peace at Brest-Litovsk. It broke up a portion of the old Russia into several nations or independent provinces, which separated the Russia that remained entirely from the rest of Europe. The provinces, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Esthonia, Livonia, Courland, and Lithuania were really dependencies of Germany. Turkey was also rewarded by receiving a part of Transcaucasia, which Germany later attempted to take from her.

The Germans promised not to use soldiers from the eastern front against Russia's former allies in the West; but this promise was only another "scrap of paper," and she transferred vast numbers to the front in Italy and in France and, by their help, nearly won her great drives of 1918.

When Russia collapsed and made peace with the Central Powers, Roumania, who entered the war on the side of the Allies, August 27, 1916, was left entirely surrounded by enemies and, to save herself from the fate of Belgium and Serbia, was obliged to consent to peace terms offered by Germany. She ceded a large part of her territory south of the Danube to Bulgaria, who had joined the Central Powers "for what she could get out of it," on October 4, 1915. Bulgaria's king is called "The Fox of the Balkans" and looks upon agreements, treaties, and honesty in the German manner. Like the Germans, all his acts show that he believes "might is right" and that any act is justified if necessary to his success.

THE DARDANELLES AND FARTHER EAST

In the spring of 1915, English and French fleets attempted to force the Dardanelles, but failed. Had the straits been opened and Constantinople taken, Russia would probably have been saved and the war shortened. Many believe now that a mistake was made in not sacrificing the ships necessary to force the straits and to capture Constantinople, but at the time the French and British leaders were unwilling to make the sacrifice. Troops had been landed at Gallipoli to assist the fleets, but they were withdrawn in January, 1916.

England sent an expedition from the Persian Gulf to capture Bagdad in the fall of 1914. It was small in numbers and suffered some reverses, but succeeded in capturing the city on March 11, 1917.

When Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, the Germans hoped to stir up a religious war, uniting all the Mohammedans in the East under the lead of Turkey, against the Christian nations. All Mohammedans, however, do not recognize the Sultan of Turkey as their leader, and the King of Hedjaz revolted against Turkey in June, 1916. Hedjaz includes all the Arab tribes between the Tigris on the east and Syria on the west. Arabia forms the largest part of the territory of this kingdom.

With the assistance of the King of Hedjaz, the English have been able, by advancing across the Sinai Desert, to capture Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the Holy City of the Christians, has been in Mohammedan hands, except for two short periods, for seven hundred and thirty years. The Crusades were fought to take it from them, and ever since, Christians have mourned that it had to be left in the hands of the Moslems. It probably will never again pass from the control of Christian nations.

Japan entered the war early, August 23, 1914, as an ally of Great Britain and, on November 7, had taken the only German colony in China, Tsingtau. Germany had forced this from China, as punishment for the murder of two German missionaries. Japan and Australia soon captured all the German possessions in the Pacific, and Great Britain all the German colonies in Africa, leaving Germany without a single colonial possession.

THE SEA

The Kaiser is reported to have said, "Germany's future lies on the sea"; and it seems as if the control of the sea by the Allies has really determined her future, for had the Central Powers controlled the sea, they would have won the war.

By the wise foresight of those directing the movements of the British navy, the Grand Fleet, numbering about four hundred vessels, had been assembled for inspection just before the war broke out, and they were ready, when England entered the war, to move to ports from which they could attack the Germans, if the latter should decide to send out their fleet. The Grand Fleet has all through the war remained hidden, and, like some invisible power, is protecting the freedom of the world. Hundreds of swift scout ships keep watch ready to report every move of the enemy. Only once has Germany come out in force, to be driven back to shelter, defeated, in the Battle of Jutland, May 31, and June 1, 1916.

Germany placed her hopes in the submarine, but she has had little chance to use it against English war vessels. She also scattered mines upon the high seas in violation of the laws of war and of nations. One of these mines on June 5, 1916, sank the British cruiser _Hampshire_, which was carrying Lord Kitchener to Russia. Lord Kitchener and his staff were lost.

Germany used every power in her hands to win, never hesitating to set aside the laws of nations or the opinions of civilized men. So she turned her submarines against merchant ships in violation of international law. The sinking of the _Lusitania_ was the first great shock to the United States. President Wilson protested on behalf of the American people, and after other merchant vessels had been sunk and more American lives lost, Germany was given her choice of a break with America or of promising that she would give up her submarine attacks without warning upon merchant ships. Germany promised to do so, but made this promise, as the United States learned later, only to give her time to build enough submarines to starve out England in a year or less by using them against merchant ships in violation of her agreement with the United States. It was only another "scrap of paper."

So America entered the war April 6, 1917, and at once the danger from submarines began to grow less, for American destroyers, combined with those of the other Allies, soon were sinking submarines faster than Germany could build them, and American shipyards began to turn out merchant ships in such unheard-of numbers that the sinking of a few ships each month became a minor matter. At the close of the fourth year of the war, an English writer said of what America had done in one year:

It would be idle to recount here what America has done. But for what she has done the heart of every Briton beats with gratitude. There is physical evidence of it over here. American soldiers throng the streets. American sailors gather in our ports. American naval vessels are scouring our home waters in fullest coöperation with the British and French and have reduced the destruction by submarine pirates by more than half what it was one year ago. On land they are fighting with the Allies the battles of civilization and dying for its ideals, and the fondest wish of every patriot both here and in France is that the community of feeling thus cemented in blood will never pass away.

In October, 1918, there were about two million American soldiers in France. They had made possible the great victories, beginning with the Second Battle of the Marne, by which all the German gains of 1918 were wiped out and the St. Mihiel salient recovered. The Huns had held this salient since 1914. Its capture was a brilliant victory for the American army under General Pershing. It was accomplished in twenty-seven hours.

King George of England wired President Wilson as follows:

London, Sept. 14, 1918.

On behalf of the British Empire, I heartily congratulate you on the brilliant achievement of the American and Allied troops under the leadership of General Pershing in the St. Mihiel salient.

The far-reaching results secured by these successful operations, which have marked the active intervention of the American army on a great scale under its own administration, are the happiest augury for the complete, and, I hope, not far-distant triumph of the Allied cause.

President Wilson cabled to General Pershing:

Please accept my warmest congratulations on the brilliant achievements of the army under your command. The boys have done what we expected of them and done it in the way we most admire.

We are deeply proud of them and of their chief. Please convey to all concerned my grateful and affectionate thanks.

Frank H. Simonds, the famous military critic, says:

In our own national history, therefore, as in world history, the Battle of St. Mihiel will have an enduring place. To the world it announced the arrival of America in her appointed place in the battle line of civilization.... The road from Concord Bridge to the heights above the Meuse is long, but it runs straight, and along it men are still led by the same love of liberty and service of democracy which was revealed in our first battle morning nearly a century and a half ago.

At the beginning of October, 1918, the Allies were everywhere successful, in Palestine, in the Balkans, in northern Russia, in Siberia, and on the western front. The world was proving again that deceit and violence always lose in the long run.

THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE WAR

In July, 1918, the western battle line, running from the North Sea to Switzerland, was, in general, a huge curve bending into France. Germany had been working on interior lines on this western front--that is, as her forces were needed to defend or to attack, she moved them from place to place on the inside of the circle. The Allies were obliged to work on the outside of the circle and were therefore at a considerable disadvantage.

Then, too, the Germans had the initiative, that is, they could determine when and where to attack, while the Allies in 1918, up to July 18, were having all they could attend to in defending themselves and preventing a serious break in their lines.

With July 18, 1918, all this was changed. The Allied forces were now under the direction of a single commander, Marshal Foch, one of the great military geniuses of all time. His plan was to strike at a weakened point; then, when the Germans had rushed reinforcements to ward off the danger, to strike at some other point in the line and thus use up the German reserves; and to give the German commanders no time to prepare an offensive on a large scale. The German by nature seems to think that size determines victory. The big things seem to him the things that are effective and that win. So his offensives were planned on a great scale and required months of preparation; and after one offensive had been stopped, he required more months of comparative rest to plan and prepare another. The French nature is different; it is subtle, deft, and skillful, and by repeated strokes of less force, often accomplishes what the German fails to do with one mighty blow. In riveting the plates on a ship, or in joining the framework of a steel skyscraper, a riveting machine is used which, by very rapidly repeated blows, does the work quickly and well. Somewhat in this way did Marshal Foch strike the German line, now in this spot, now in that, capturing or putting out of action large numbers of German troops, outflanking first one strategic point and then another. As a consequence, the German line was obliged to draw back and back to prevent the Allies from breaking through and attacking the German supply trains coming up in the rear with food and munitions.