Chapter 2

Less than three months ago a charming French country mansion amidst its beautiful gardens and park, all that remained at Christmas of the Château of Vermelles is the shell here shown. Fate made the Château, with the small adjoining village, for upwards of eight weeks a disputed tactical point between the Germans and the Allies, a narrow strip of only 150 yards of ground intervening between the trenches. The Germans held Vermelles from October 16 until early in December, fortifying the Château and grounds. They had to be shelled out By October 21, the Château was only smouldering walls, and French engineers were mining approaches to it. Then an English heavy battery bombarded Vermelles. Finally the French "in a very brilliant attack," stormed and took Vermelles, village and château.

__________________________________________________________________________ 10--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

The new Sultan of Egypt, Prince Hussein Kamel, is sixty years of age and the eldest living Prince of the family of Mehemet Ali, the historic liberator of Egypt from Turkish domination. For years past, as head of various administrative departments in Egypt, he devoted his energies to improving the lot of the natives, by whom he is called "the Father of the Fellaheen."

General Oscar Potiorek commanded the Austrian Army invading Serbia. Elated at occupying Belgrade without firing a shot, he promised his Imperial master at Vienna that in a fortnight Serbia would be conquered. A Field-Marshal's baton and the highest Austrian military decoration were bestowed on him. Within a week Potiorek's army were fugitives. The Field-Marshal is to be court-martialled.

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On September 15, the Prime Minister announced in the House of Commons that he had asked the Home Secretary and the Attorney-General to take such steps as seemed best adapted to provide for the investigation, from evidence obtainable in this country, of accusations of outrage and breaches of the laws of war on the part of Germany, This Committee is constituted of the Right Hon. Viscount Bryce, O.M. Chairman; the Right Hon. Sir Frederick Pollock, Professor of Jurisprudence; the Right Hon. Sir Edward Clarke; Sir Alfred Hopkinson, Vice-Chancellor of the Victoria University, Manchester, 1900-1913; Professor H.A.L. Fisher, Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield University; and Mr. Harold Cox, Editor of the "Edinburgh Review."--[_Photos. by Beresford, Russell, Winter, and Elliott and Fry._]

__________________________________________________________________________ 12--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

An officer of H.M.A.S. "Sydney," which destroyed the German cruiser "Emden" off the Cocos Islands on November 9, has given a vivid account of the event in a private letter recently published in the "Times." After describing the earlier part of the action, he writes: "By now her three funnels and her foremast had been shot away, and she was on fire aft. We turned again, and after giving her a salvo or two with the starboard guns, saw her run ashore on North Keeling Island. So at 11.20 a.m. we ceased firing, the action having lasted one hour forty minutes." Later, the writer of the letter was sent in a cutter to the "Emden" to arrange for the surrender and taking off the wounded. "From the number of men we rescued--_i.e._, 150," he continues, "we have been able to reckon their losses.

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_Continued._]

We know the number of men who landed at Cocos and got away.... They cannot have lost less than 180 men killed, with 20 men badly wounded, and about the same number slightly." As regards the fate of the German landing-party, he says: "Early in the morning we made for the cable-station, to find that the party landed by the Germans to destroy the station had seized a schooner and departed. The poor devils aren't likely to go far with a leaking ship and the leathers removed from all the pumps." It may be that the vessel seen on the right in the right-hand photograph is the one in which they escaped. They had broken up all the instruments at the Eastern Telegraph Cable Station, but those in charge of it had a duplicate set concealed.--[_Photos. by Illustrations Bureau._]

__________________________________________________________________________ 14--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

We illustrate here a system of submerged lamps for guiding vessels into port, invented by M. Léon Dion. It consists of a chain of electric lamps laid under water to mark the navigable channel, connected by an electric cable controlled from the shore. In time of war, of course, the light would be switched on only when a friendly vessel was signalled.--[_By Courtesy of the "Scientific American."_]

This method of stopping the inrush of water was tested on the U.S. battle-ship "North Carolina." An American naval officer wrote: "Its use will permit us to repair from inside all holes made beneath the water-line. Strong pressure is exerted in the holed compartment; slighter pressure, graduated, in those adjacent (shaded darker)."--[_By Courtesy of "Popular Mechanics" Magazine, Chicago._]

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By time-honoured naval usage, on Christmas Day, after Divine Service, on board every ship, the officers, headed by the Captain, visit the men at dinner in their messes, which are always gay with seasonable decorations. At the end of each table stands the cook of the mess, to offer the Captain samples of the dinner he has prepared. These are tasted by the officers, and, with a hearty exchange of good wishes, the procession passes from table to table. It is stated that the officers of the Grand Fleet collectively subscribed to provide Christmas dinners at home for the children of their men. It is certain that friends at home provided Christmas fare for the crews in the North Sea. Never was there a year when seasonable goodwill and seasonable good cheer were more desirable.--[_From a Drawing by S. Begg._]

__________________________________________________________________________ 16--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

Much has been heard of the plague of German spies at the front, and for excellent reason: they have been as daring as they have been ubiquitous. Here we see a suspect being brought through the French lines after having been found in a suspicious position near our Allies' artillery. He is blindfolded, by means of a sack placed over his head, so that he may gain no information en route.--[_Photo. by C.N._]

The British officer, who is once more showing what a magnificent sportsman and fighter he is in the field, is not altogether neglecting sport as he knows it at home while he is at the front. Already we have heard of hare and partridge shooting near the firing-line; and a pack of fox-hounds have joined the forces, for the benefit of the Battle Hunt Club.--[_Photo. by Photopress._]

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This drawing by a German artist shows General Liborius von Frank (riding in front of the standard-bearer) entering Belgrade at the head of the Fifth Austrian Army on December 2. As the troops passed the Konak, the building in the background with a cupola, they sang the Austrian national anthem. General Frank sent the following message to the Emperor Francis Joseph: "On the occasion of the sixty-sixth anniversary of your Majesty's accession permit me to lay at your feet the information that Belgrade was to-day occupied by the troops of the Fifth Army." Belgrade remained in Austrian hands less than a fortnight. The Serbians recaptured it after a desperate battle. At Belgrade they placed 60,000 Austrians _hors de combat_, and from December 3 to 15 had captured 274 officers and 46,000 men.

__________________________________________________________________________ 18--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

This impressive photograph was taken during the bombardment of Tsing-tau, Germany's cherished possession in the Far East, which fell to the Japanese and British arms on November 7. In the distance the smoke of her burning is seen going up to heaven. The blockade of Tsing-tau began on August 27. The Japanese troops landed in Lao-shan Bay on September 18, the small British force on the 24th. On the 28th they carried the high ground 2-1/2 miles from the main German position, and fire was opened on the fortress during the first week in October. The general bombardment began on October 31 and lasted till the night of November 6, when the Japanese stormed the central fort. We illustrate on another page one of the Japanese heavy siege-guns used at Tsing-tau.--[_Photo. by Record Press._]

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We see here one of the heavy siege-guns which the Japanese brought up for the bombardment of Tsing-tau when about to open fire on the German fortress. The gun-team of artillerymen are standing in rear of the piece, and in the foreground, to the right, is one of the detachment receiving orders by telephone from the battery-commandant at his post of observation. Profiting by their experiences in siege-warfare at Port Arthur, the Japanese were fully prepared with a very large and efficient siege-gun train to undertake the attack on Tsing-tau immediately war was declared. The Japanese employed 140 guns in the bombardment, including 28-centimetre howitzers and 21 and 15 cm. siege-guns, firing respectively, 11.2-inch, 8.4-inch, and 6-inch shells.--[_Photo. by Record Press._]

__________________________________________________________________________ 20--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

One of the features of the present war which have been drawn attention to by "Eye-Witness" in his letters from the Front, is the resuscitation of fighting with hand-grenades on both sides. Particularly has this been the case during the battles in Northern France and Flanders, wherever the trenches approached one another within flinging distance. There also, on occasion, where the troops facing one another were further apart, and beyond reach of a throw by hand, an improvised catapult of the classic type has been devised by our men for slinging hand-bombs; utilising a metal spring bent back and held fast in a notch, to be released on the lighting of the fuse. An illustration of a catapult appeared in the "Illustrated War News" of December 23.

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On the page opposite we give a photograph of a Danish experimental gun, designed at Copenhagen, for firing Aarsen hand-grenades. The grenades are shown in the act of being introduced into the breech of the weapons, and the apparatus for holding each grenade in the hand is clearly shown. In the photograph above the shells are seen bursting at a certain distance from the firing-point. Our soldiers in the trenches in Flanders, according to "Eye-Witness," have made improvised hand-grenades for themselves, utilising empty jam-tins. These are charged with gun-cotton and fused, and on being lighted are flung across among the Germans in their trenches. What the jam-tin hand-grenades look like the "War News" illustration referred to shows, and how they are used with catapults.

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It was stated on December 23 that the "Frankfürter Zeitung" had learned from Constantinople that the Turkish Army sent "to deliver Egypt" began its forward march to the Suez Canal on the 21st. The Canal is securely held along its hundred miles of length. Our illustration shows one of the several British advanced-camps on the eastern bank (the Asiatic or Sinaitic Peninsula side), placed there to prevent a surprise attack. In all cases, our positions are well fortified, and, with the desert in front, present a formidable barrier to the enemy. In support of the entrenched camps, movable pontoon-bridges have been constructed at certain points. These, with the permanent railway along the western bank, will enable reinforcements to be thrown across the waterways speedily.]

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There has just died upon her little farm at Clarens, Switzerland, "La demoiselle Juliette Dodu of Pithiviers," forty-four years ago a telegraphist who outwitted the German invaders, was taken prisoner, threatened with death, treated chivalrously by the "Red Prince" Friedrich Karl, released on the proclamation of peace, decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honour, and retired to the little farm, where she ended her days. The spirit of this romance of the Franco-German War of 1870-71 lives in the picture by E.J. Delahaye. Chivalry was not then dead, and the "Red Prince," father of our popular Duchess of Connaught, although Juliette Dodu had hindered the German advance on Paris, shook her by the hand and said that it was "an honour to meet so brave a woman."

__________________________________________________________________________ 24--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

The Admiralty announced on September 13 that the Australian Squadron had occupied, on the 11th, "the town of Herbertshöhe, in the island of Neu Pommern (late New Britain), which is an island in the Bismarck Archipelago; this island lies due east from German New Guinea." At Rabaul, New Britain, on the 13th, a British Proclamation was read, with a special one in "pidgin" English for the natives. The German Acting-Governor, Dr. Haber, surrendered on the 21st. Our photographs show: (1) German troops marching into Herbertshöhe to surrender; (2) A German building at Friedrich Wilhelmshafen, now garrison headquarters; (3) The Australian Naval Brigade marching through Rabaul; and (4) Dr. Haber, followed by the German Commander, riding into Herbertshöhe to surrender.

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The three Northern Monarchs whose portraits are given above are: (1) King Haakon of Norway; (2) King Gustav of Sweden; (3) King Christian of Denmark. King Gustav was the convener of the meeting, the object of which was to arrive at an understanding by means of which the Scandinavian countries might be able to draw closer together in view of the interests common to them all as neutrals. The motive was to maintain the neutrality and independence of the three peoples, and at the same time to mitigate as far as possible the serious inconveniences which all the three Northern States have suffered in regard to the supplies of the necessaries of life and in their general economic condition in consequence of the existence of a state of war in Europe.--[_Photos. by Russell, Florman, and Bieber._]

__________________________________________________________________________ 28--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

In more ways than one, the German soldier would seem on occasion to represent, as it were, a reverting to primitive type: to the barbaric European of centuries back in the world's history. The "reversion" takes many shapes, and we have seen instances of it during the war in various ways. It is surely readily recognisable, for example, in that spirit of sheer ruthlessness which inspired the perpetration of the inhuman outrages that have laid Belgium waste, and of the killing of harmless women and children by naval shells at the peaceful watering-place of Scarborough. Another and more innocuous form of going back to the habits and methods typical of primitive man, is, perhaps, traceable in the illustrations given above. They are some of the handiwork of the twentieth-century German military cavemen of

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_Continued._]

the Aisne battlefield, while making use of the cover of the quarries and natural excavations of the district along the northern side of the river. In very much the same way, as modern exploration has brought to light, the primaeval cave-dwelling inhabitants of Europe in prehistoric times left rudimentary traces of their presence in certain places in the shape of carvings and roughly painted "portraits" of themselves, of the creatures they hunted for food and fought with, and of the implements they used. According to the German newspaper from which we reproduce the illustrations given here, they are the work of a German artist who has had to go to the Front as a conscript and serve in the ranks of an infantry battalion.

__________________________________________________________________________ 30--THE ILLUSTRATED WAR NEWS, DEC. 30, 1914.--[Part 21]

De Wet committed his first open act of rebellion at Vrede, on October 28. There, with a hastily raised commando at his heels, he forcibly seized the place and, after submitting the local officials to brutal ill-treatment, in a wild, incendiary speech called on the Dutch of South Africa to rise in arms against the British Government. It was at Winburg that De Wet performed, as it is stated, the theatrical and unworthy outrage of trampling on and tearing the Union Jack. The identical flag which suffered the maltreatment is shown in our photograph, in the state in which it was after De Wet's puerile act of defiance had been committed. Reparation and atonement are to come, as we shall learn when De Wet faces his court-martial, probably at an early date.

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