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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 2
+(of 10), by James Edward Parrott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 2 (of 10)
+       From the Battle of Mons to the Fall of Antwerp.
+
+Author: James Edward Parrott
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2011 [EBook #35314]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDRENS' STORY OF THE WAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marcia Brooks, Ross Cooling and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from
+images generously made available by The Internet
+Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: cover--THE CHILDREN'S STORY OF THE WAR
+
+By Sir Edward Parrott, M.A., LL.D.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: British Soldiers crossing the Aisne. (_See page 244._)]
+
+
+
+
+  THE CHILDREN'S STORY OF THE WAR
+
+  by
+  SIR EDWARD PARROTT, M.A., LL.D.
+  AUTHOR OF "BRITAIN OVERSEAS," "THE PAGEANT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE," ETC.
+
+
+  From the Battle of Mons to the Fall of Antwerp.
+
+
+  THOMAS NELSON AND SONS
+  LONDON, EDINBURGH, DUBLIN, AND NEW YORK
+
+
+
+
+  _Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!_
+        _To all the sensual world proclaim,_
+  _One crowded hour of glorious life_
+        _Is worth an age without a name._
+
+    Sir Walter Scott
+
+
+
+
+  CONTENTS.
+
+
+       I. The French Army                                        1
+
+      II. The First Clash of Arms                               11
+
+     III. The Fall of Namur                                     17
+
+      IV. The Battle of Mons                                    26
+
+       V. Soldiers' Stories of the Battle of Mons               33
+
+      VI. The Russian People                                    44
+
+     VII. The Russian Army                                      49
+
+    VIII. The Eastern Theatre of War                            54
+
+      IX. Victory and Defeat                                    65
+
+       X. Stories of Russian Soldiers                           77
+
+      XI. The Fighting Retreat                                  81
+
+     XII. A Glorious Stand                                      91
+
+    XIII. "The Most Critical Day of All"                        97
+
+     XIV. Stories of the Retreat from Mons to St. Quentin      106
+
+      XV. Valorous Deeds and Victoria Crosses                  113
+
+     XVI. Arras and Amiens                                     125
+
+    XVII. The French Retreat                                   129
+
+   XVIII. "Those Terrible Grey Horses"                         138
+
+     XIX. The Story of Battery L of the R.H.A.                 145
+
+      XX. More Stories of the Retreat                          152
+
+     XXI. The Beginning of the War at Sea                      161
+
+    XXII. The Battle of Heligoland Bight                       177
+
+   XXIII. The Turn of the Tide                                 193
+
+    XXIV. The Crossing of the Marne                            205
+
+     XXV. The Battle of the Marne                              209
+
+    XXVI. Stories of the Battle of the Marne                   220
+
+   XXVII. More Stories of the Battle of the Marne              225
+
+  XXVIII. The Aisne Valley                                     236
+
+    XXIX. The Crossing of the Aisne                            241
+
+     XXX. The Battle of the Aisne                              250
+
+    XXXI. Soldiers' Stories of the Battle of the Aisne         257
+
+   XXXII. Verdun and Rheims                                    273
+
+  XXXIII. The Race to the Sea                                  289
+
+   XXXIV. The First Russian Advance to Cracow                  297
+
+    XXXV. Antwerp as it was                                    305
+
+   XXXVI. The Siege and Fall of Antwerp                        310
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE
+CHILDREN'S
+STORY OF
+THE WAR
+
+VOLUME II.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+  THE FRENCH ARMY.
+
+
+In Chapter XXIII. of Volume I. I told you that the French began their
+raid upon Alsace on August 7, 1914. At this time some of the Liége forts
+were still holding out, and the great German advance through Belgium had
+not yet begun. As the French were able to push into the enemy's country
+thus early in the war, you may imagine that they were quite ready for
+action before Belgium was overrun. Not, however, until August 22 were
+their preparations so far advanced that they could begin the business of
+war in real earnest.
+
+Before I tell you the story of the first real battle of the war, let us
+learn something of the French army. In Chapters IV. and V. of Volume I.
+you read an account of the little man, with the pale face and cold blue
+eyes, who made France the greatest fighting nation of the world. He
+became, you will remember, master of continental Europe, and his legions
+marched in triumph through Berlin, Vienna, Naples, Madrid, Lisbon, and
+Moscow. He taught the art of war to all Europe, and France under his
+rule rose to the highest pinnacle of military glory.
+
+When Napoleon fell, Frenchmen turned in loathing from the work of war.
+They remembered the awful waste of life and the terrible misery which
+had resulted from his campaigns, and they longed for peace, during which
+they might build up the nation anew. The French army, therefore, became
+a mere shadow of what it had been formerly. Under Napoleon III.,
+however, there was a revival of military spirit. His army, as you know,
+fought well in the Crimea[1] and in Italy,[2] but it suffered hopeless
+defeat in the war of 1870-1 against the Germans.[1] The French took to
+heart the fearful lessons of this war, and began almost at once to put
+their military house in order.
+
+In 1872 they passed a law which was supposed to compel every young man
+to serve as a soldier for twenty years--five years with the colours, and
+then four years in the Reserve; five years in the Territorial Army, and
+six years in the Territorial Reserve. But this law was not fully
+enforced. The men called up each year were divided by lot into two
+groups, and one of these groups, in time of peace, was let off with only
+one year's service in the Regular Army. Whole classes of persons, such
+as breadwinners and teachers, were free from service altogether, and any
+man could escape with one year's training by paying a certain sum of
+money. This plan proved very unsatisfactory, and in 1889 a new law was
+passed by which every young man was forced to serve twenty-five
+years--three years with the colours, seven years in the Reserve, six
+years in the Territorial Army, and nine years in the Territorial
+Reserve. By this means France hoped to raise her total number of trained
+men to 3,000,000.
+
+Up to the year 1893 France and Germany had about the same number of
+soldiers on a peace footing; but very soon Germany began to forge ahead,
+chiefly because her population grew so rapidly. Soon it was clear that
+France could not hope to raise so large an army as Germany; so in 1897
+she made an alliance with Russia, by which each Power agreed to take
+part in the other's quarrel if either of them should be attacked. In
+1905 France again altered her army law by reducing the time of service
+with the colours to two years, and by increasing the period of service
+with the Reserve to eleven years. But even this arrangement did not give
+her all the soldiers which she needed; so in 1913 she decreed that every
+Frenchman found fit for service must join the colours at the age of
+twenty, spend three years in the Regular Army, eleven years in the
+Regular Reserve, seven years in the Territorial Army, and seven in the
+Territorial Reserve. Thus every strong and able-bodied Frenchman became
+liable for military service from his twentieth to his forty-eighth year.
+Roughly speaking, this new law enabled France to put into the field, a
+month or so after the beginning of war, about 4,000,000 trained men.
+This gave her a first line army of about 1,500,000, a second line of
+about 500,000, and a reserve of about 2,000,000. Germany feared that
+this new law would so strengthen France that she and Russia combined
+would be more than a match for her; and one of the reasons why she
+declared war on August 1, 1914, was to crush the French before the new
+arrangement could come into full working order.
+
+[Illustration: Recruits in the Streets of Paris.
+
+_Photo, Sport and General._]
+
+Every year in the month of February a Council sits in Paris and in the
+provinces, and before it all youths of twenty must appear to pass the
+doctor. If they are found "bon pour le service," they are told what
+regiment they must join and the place where they are to undergo their
+training, and in the following October they join their depots.
+Frequently the young men so chosen pin big paper favours on their coats
+and hats, and, thus decorated, march about the streets. Outside the
+hall in which the Council is sitting there are almost sure to be a
+number of stalls loaded with these blue, white, and red decorations.
+
+When the young soldier arrives at the barracks he is given three suits
+of clothes, one of which is his drill dress, another his walking-out
+dress, and the third his war dress. These clothes he keeps on a shelf
+above his bed, and he so arranges his garments that the French colours,
+blue, white, and red, are clearly seen. In summer he rises at 4 a.m.,
+and in winter at 6 a.m., and he goes to bed at 9 p.m. all the year
+round, except when he is on sentry-go, or has permission to stay out
+late. Every day the barrack-room is inspected, to see that the beds are
+properly made, that the men's clothes are in good order, and that the
+room is clean and tidy. The "little breakfast," which consists of coffee
+and a roll, is served at 5 a.m.; lunch is eaten at ten o'clock, and
+dinner at five. The meals usually consist of soup, meat, vegetables, and
+fruit. On great occasions wine is supplied, and cigars are handed round.
+The conscript's pay consists of one sou (a halfpenny) a day, and his
+tobacco. Some of the men receive money from their parents and friends;
+others have to make shift on the trifling allowance which the Government
+gives them.
+
+The men who begin their service in a particular year are known as the
+"class" of that year. Thus the men who joined the colours in 1914 belong
+to the class of 1914. Frenchmen fix all their dates by reference to "la
+classe." When two Frenchmen meet almost the first question they put to
+each other is, "Of what class are you?" When two or three men who have
+served their time in the same regiment come together they are like old
+schoolfellows; they love to recall their experiences, and chat about the
+jokes and tricks and scrapes of their soldiering days.
+
+If you were to see a regiment of conscripts on the march[3] you would
+not be much impressed. Compared with the well-set-up, smartly-uniformed
+British soldiers, they would seem to you to be badly drilled and badly
+clothed, and to slouch along in any sort of order. You would perhaps
+smile at their blue overcoats buttoned behind the knees, and their
+ill-fitting red trousers; but you must remember that the French do not
+believe in the pomps and vanities of military show, but in making men
+fit for the actual work of war. Battles are not won by clothes, but by
+the men who wear them. The French soldier is very brave, a great lover
+of his country, and a splendid fighter, even though he may not look the
+part in your eyes.
+
+The officers are educated for their profession at one or other of the
+great military schools, and they must pass difficult examinations before
+they receive their commissions. Infantry officers are trained at the
+famous school of St. Cyr, which was founded by Napoleon in 1806.
+Foreigners are admitted to this school, but not Germans or Austrians.
+All French officers must learn to speak German, and this knowledge of
+the enemy's language has more than once proved useful in the present
+war. Some time ago a French officer captured one end of a field
+telephone unknown to the Germans at the other end. He replied in German
+to the questions addressed to him, and was told that a train of
+reinforcements would pass a certain station at a certain time. At once
+he made his plans, and before the train reached the station it was blown
+up.
+
+You know that in the German army the officers belong to the higher
+classes of society, and that few if any of them have risen from the
+ranks. In France any man who has the ability may rise to the highest
+posts in the army. There is a great gulf fixed between the private
+soldier and the officer in Germany; but in France there is a strong
+spirit of comradeship between all ranks, and this knits them together
+far better than the iron discipline of the Germans.
+
+The army of France is inferior in numbers to that of Germany, but it
+easily ranks as the second of the armies of the world. Our regular army,
+as you know, is trained in India; France uses her North African colony
+of Algeria for the same purpose. Her infantry have long been renowned
+for their dash and spirit, and they are, next to our own regulars, the
+best marchers in Europe. The Zouaves, with their baggy red trousers and
+short blue jackets, are picked men. They are to the French army what the
+Highlanders are to our army--men of the most fearless bravery, and
+almost irresistible at the charge. The bayonet, which the Highlander
+calls the "wee bit steel," is their favourite weapon; the Zouave calls
+it by the poetical name of "Rosalie."
+
+[Illustration: Cuirassiers leaving Paris.
+
+_Photo, Central News._]
+
+French cavalry have always been famous, and it is said that they were
+never better than in 1914. The riding was good and the horses were
+excellent. What are known as the Chasseurs d'Afrique are perhaps the
+best of all French horse soldiers. At Sedan their furious charges almost
+turned the fortunes of that black day. The Cuirassiers[4] wear a brass
+helmet, from which a tail of horsehair hangs down the back. The helmet
+is covered with gray cloth in time of war.
+
+French artillery is generally thought to be the best in Europe. What is
+known as the 75-millimetre gun[5] is a very rapid quick-firer, and is
+wonderfully accurate; no better piece of artillery has ever been known
+in the history of warfare. French generals show great ability in using
+their artillery to cover the advance of infantry.
+
+What is known as the Foreign Legion is peculiar to the French army; no
+other army in the world has anything like it. The men who serve in the
+twelve battalions of this Legion are not Frenchmen but foreigners, who
+for one reason or another have taken service in the French army.
+Englishmen, Americans, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, and Russians rub
+shoulders in the ranks; and most of them have enlisted under false
+names. No questions are asked of any man who wishes to join the Legion;
+if he is strong, and can ride and shoot, and is willing to "rough it,"
+he is promptly enlisted.
+
+[Illustration: Infantry of the Line leaving Paris.
+
+_Photo, The Sphere._]
+
+The men of this Legion have been called the "scallawags of Europe," and
+the story of their past is usually sad and painful. Some have committed
+crimes; some are bad characters who have been driven out of society or
+have been thrown over by their friends; others have held honourable
+positions, which they have lost by wicked or foolish conduct; and many
+of them are desperate men, who hope to find death as quickly as
+possible. Like the "free lances" of the Middle Ages, they are prepared
+to sell their swords to any country that will employ them, and they will
+fight as fiercely against their own land as against any other. They have
+only their lives to sell, and, as a rule, they are prepared to sell them
+as dearly as possible. They are not easy to discipline; but it is said
+that they are always courteous to women. One of the rules of the Legion
+is that its members shall always lead the "forlorn hope;" refusal to do
+so means the punishment of death. For this reason they are always placed
+in the firing line at the most dangerous point, and they ask for
+nothing better. In peace time two-thirds of them serve in the French
+possessions in the Far East, and the remainder in North Africa.
+
+Before I close this chapter, I must tell you something about the
+colonial troops of France. Just as we form native armies in our overseas
+possessions, so the French make soldiers of the black and brown races in
+their colonies. Their chief colony is Algeria, in North Africa; but they
+also rule over Morocco, and have large possessions in West Africa and in
+Indo-China. The French colonial troops are chiefly Arabs and Berbers
+from Algeria, Moors from Morocco, and Senegambians from Senegal. The
+native troops of Algeria are known as Turcos and Spahis.[6] The Turcos
+are chiefly Berbers,[7] and they are trained on the same lines as the
+Zouaves.
+
+The most picturesque of all the native troops of France are the Spahis,
+who are mainly Arabs mounted on white Arab steeds. The Arabs are a
+fiercely warlike people, and France conquered them only after a long
+struggle. They are Mohammedans, who believe that death in battle is a
+sure passport to heaven.
+
+[Illustration: Arab Cavalry (Spahis) at the Front.
+
+_Photo, Underwood and Underwood._]
+
+The Spahi is as much at home on horseback as the cowboy of the prairies,
+the Cossack of the steppes, or the Hungarian of the plains. As a light
+horseman he has few superiors. Each man wears on his head a white felt
+cap covered by a _haick_, or long strip of woollen gauze which hangs
+flat at the back of the head, covering the neck and shoulders. The haick
+is attached to the cap by twenty or thirty twisted coils of camel's-hair
+rope, and a fringe of it is allowed to fall on the forehead to shade the
+eyes. The body garment, or _gandoura_, is a gown of white woollen
+material, bound round the waist with a broad silk sash. Over all is worn
+a hooded cloak, or _burnous_, which is usually made of white or fine
+blue cloth. Red leather top-boots complete the costume. Many of the men
+are very tall and of a strikingly noble cast of feature. They carry
+themselves with great dignity, and are very grave and sparing of speech.
+Their love for their horses has been the subject of many a song and
+story.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Never before in the history of warfare have so many men, of such widely
+differing races, creeds, and colours, been gathered together into such
+an army as that which is upholding the cause of the Allies on the fields
+of France and Flanders. When the Romans were masters of Britain they
+garrisoned the Great Wall from the Tyne to the Solway with men from
+nearly all the countries of Europe; but the motley array which then
+struggled to beat back the "slim" Pict cannot compare for a moment with
+the medley of races now under arms in the western theatre of war.
+
+Britain and France hold empires which Cæsar never knew, and they are
+thus enabled to draw troops from every continent on the face of the
+globe. Englishman, Scot, Welshman, Irishman, British and French
+Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, Frenchman, and Belgian, stand
+shoulder to shoulder with Pathan, Gurkha, Sikh, Bengali, Baluchi,
+Senegambian, Arab, Berber, and Moor--Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu, and
+heathen--all united in a vast army determined to overthrow the nation
+which aims at nothing less than the mastery of the whole world. Such a
+remarkable gathering of races in one army has never before been seen.
+
+[Footnote 1: See p. 89, vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See chaps. x. and xi., vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 4: See p. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See p. 199, vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 6: This is really the same word as "sepoys," by which the
+native soldiers in India were first known to Europeans.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Original inhabitants of Algeria and Morocco. Three-fifths
+of the Algerians are Berbers.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+  THE FIRST CLASH OF ARMS.
+
+
+I wonder whether you have ever met with the word _dinanderie_. You will
+find it in an English dictionary, though it is an old word which has
+almost gone out of use. _Dinanderie_ means vessels of chased copper or
+brass used for household purposes. In the thirteenth, fourteenth, and
+fifteenth centuries such vessels were largely made in the little Belgian
+town of Dinant; hence the name.
+
+You can scarcely imagine a more picturesque town than Dinant. It stands
+on the right or eastern bank of the broad river Meuse as it sweeps
+northward from France to join the Sambre at Namur. The main part of the
+town lies at the foot of lofty limestone rocks, which are honeycombed
+with grottoes containing stalactites, or limestone "icicles," such as
+you may see in the caves of Cheddar[8] or Derbyshire. In the
+Grand'-Place, quite close to the foot of the limestone rocks, is the
+Cathedral of Notre Dame, a very handsome building with finely carved
+portals. Behind the cathedral there are four hundred and eight steps cut
+in the rock, by means of which you may ascend to the citadel which
+crowns the summit.
+
+From this citadel, or from the top of the hill behind it, there is a
+glorious view of the Meuse valley. If we face the river, we shall see on
+the opposite bank the houses straggling up a wooded hillside, and to our
+right "Roche à Bayard," a bold pinnacle of rock with an ancient story.
+Bayard[9] was the prince of knights in the sixteenth century, a hero of
+the most noble and unselfish character, "without fear and without
+reproach." We can pay no greater honour to a soldier than to call him a
+"Bayard." Like our own King Arthur, he has become a figure of romance,
+and all sorts of magical deeds have been ascribed to him. It is said
+that on one occasion he defended a bridge single-handed against two
+hundred Spaniards. According to an old legend, he was once pursued by
+Charlemagne, and was only saved from capture by his gallant horse, which
+sprang right across the gorge of the river, and left a hoofmark on the
+rock which now bears his name.
+
+I have described Dinant because it was in and around this town that the
+French first came into contact with the Germans. In Chapter XXX. of our
+first volume I told you that after the entry of the Germans into
+Brussels, von Kluck's army (the First Army), which was to form the
+extreme right of the German line, was rapidly advancing towards the
+Franco-Belgian border, and that von Buelow's army (the Second Army) was
+moving in the direction of the strong fortress of Namur. The first clash
+of arms between the French and Germans took place five days before the
+occupation of Brussels, when von Kluck's army was fighting its way
+towards the capital.
+
+At that time the Duke of Würtemberg's army was marching through the
+wooded hills of the Ardennes towards the Central Meuse, and the Saxon
+army was advancing farther north towards Dinant and Namur. While these
+movements were in progress, the French sent a detachment northwards to
+occupy Dinant, which is only ten miles as the crow flies from their
+border. On 15th August, at about six in the morning, German cavalry and
+artillery of the Duke of Würtemberg's army made an attack on the town,
+which was only held by part of a French infantry regiment. Though the
+French were greatly outnumbered, they fought gallantly, and held the
+bridge across the Meuse stubbornly. By ten o'clock, however, the Germans
+had driven them off, and had hoisted their flag on the citadel. Some of
+their cavalry then crossed the river into the suburbs on the left or
+western bank.
+
+[Illustration: The Battle of Dinant, August 15, 1914. French infantry
+recapturing the town.]
+
+About two in the afternoon, in the very nick of time, French
+reinforcements arrived. A French infantry regiment appeared on the left
+bank of the river, and drove the cavalry out of the suburbs. Meanwhile
+two French batteries took up position, and began a brisk cannonade of
+the citadel. One of their first shots cut the German flag in two. So hot
+was the fire that the enemy was forced to leave the citadel and retire
+along the cliffs to the south. A vigorous artillery duel was kept up
+across the valley; the French dashed across the river by the bridge,
+retook the town, and flung back the Germans, who retreated east and then
+south. Thus in the first battle of the war the French were victorious.
+
+The fight at Dinant, compared with those which were to follow, was a
+mere baby battle. Only about eight thousand men took part in it, and
+there was not much loss on either side. It has, however, a special
+interest, because it marked the first dash of arms between the French
+and the Germans. Not for a week later did the war begin in real earnest.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now we must visit another town of Belgium--the famous fortress of Namur,
+which stands on a hill in the sharp angle between the Meuse and the
+Sambre. Southward and eastward of it lies the trench valley of the
+Meuse; to the west extends the vale of the Sambre, which runs through
+the "Black Country" of Belgium. Standing at the meeting-point of these
+rivers, Namur bars the road into France, and it has been fortified from
+very early times. Brialmont, of whom you have already heard, built a
+ring of four large forts and five smaller forts round it, and about
+three hundred and fifty guns were mounted in them. From this little map
+you will see how they were placed. As most of them were on high ground,
+it was hoped that they would hold out for a long time.
+
+[Illustration: Plan of Namur Forts.]
+
+The Belgians had ten days' notice of the attack, and while the great
+siege trains of the Germans were slowly lumbering westward over the
+cobbled roads they did much to strengthen the place. About twenty-six
+thousand men were moved into it to hold the forts and trenches, large
+areas were mined, houses and trees in the line of fire were cut down,
+and barbed-wire entanglements, charged with a deadly current of
+electricity, were set up.
+
+General Michel, who was in command, was well aware that the forts could
+not long resist the fierce onslaught of the German siege guns, but he
+hoped that before the first shot was fired the French would come to his
+assistance and would man the trenches for him. He had good reason for
+his hope, for French cavalry were already on Belgian soil, and French
+infantry and artillery were at Dinant, only eighteen miles away. He was
+not, however, well served by his scouts, and he does not seem to have
+learned that the Germans were advancing on both sides of the Meuse. Had
+he been better informed he might have struck a blow at the German siege
+train which was crawling slowly towards him. As it was, he did nothing,
+and the Germans were able to bring up their big guns and fix them on
+concrete platforms without being molested.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now let us see how the Allies proposed to meet the Germans. Here is a
+map which you must study carefully, for it shows the positions occupied
+by the British and French on the evening of Friday, 21st August. The
+British army, which was to form the extreme right of the Allied front,
+lay along the line Condé[10]-Mons-Binche.[11] In reserve, behind the
+French fortress of Maubeuge,[12] about twelve miles south of Mons, was a
+French cavalry corps of three divisions, and away to the west, at Arras,
+was a corps of French Territorials, facing east. In the angle between
+the rivers were two French armies, one holding the line of the Sambre
+and the other the line of the Meuse. Farther south, from the French
+border through Mézières,[13] past Sedan, to Montmédy, was another army,
+also holding the line of the Meuse.
+
+[Illustration: Map showing Position of Armies.]
+
+Before we go any further we must look closely at the position of the
+French armies marked 2 and 3 on the map. You notice that they form a
+sharp angle with each other. Military men call any angle less than two
+right angles a _salient_. I think you can easily see that the armies
+holding such a salient as that formed by the two rivers were by no means
+in a strong position. They were very much exposed to attacks on their
+flanks, and they depended at their weakest part--the point of the
+angle--on the fortress of Namur. As long as Namur held out, well and
+good; but if it should fall the line would be pierced, and the French
+would be in a very dangerous position indeed.
+
+[Footnote 8: Village of Somersetshire, famous for its limestone cliffs
+and caves.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Born 1475, died 1524.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Kon-day.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Bànsh.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Mō-būzh.]
+
+[Footnote 13: May-ze-air.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+  THE FALL OF NAMUR.
+
+
+Now let us look more closely at the position which the British were to
+hold.[14] Find the town of Mons, which stands to the west of
+Charleroi,[15] on the highroad running northward to Brussels. Mons is
+the old capital of Hainault, and its history goes back to the days of
+Cæsar. Those of our soldiers who came from colliery districts must have
+been strongly reminded of home when they arrived in the neighbourhood of
+Mons, for it is a place of busy factories, surrounded by a coalfield.
+Tall chimneys, the headgear of pits, huge mounds of refuse, railway
+lines running along embankments, and miners' cottages are the chief
+features of the landscape. Many of the rubbish heaps have been planted
+with little forests of dwarf firs, and look like ranges of low wooded
+hills. The country is, however, flat and much cut up with deep dykes
+filled with muddy water.
+
+The British headquarters was at Mons, and the line which our soldiers
+were to hold extended to the west and to the east of that town. On the
+west it stretched along the banks of a canal which runs west for fifteen
+miles, from Mons to the village of Condé. Still farther to the west, a
+French Territorial battalion held the town of Tournai. Eastward of Mons
+the line ran for another ten miles to the village of Binche, which lies
+south-east of Mons. The British position, you will observe, was not
+quite straight, but in the form of a very flat triangle, with the apex
+at Mons. By the evening of Friday, 21st August, two army corps and one
+cavalry division of the British were in position awaiting the German
+attack. The 3rd Army Corps had not yet arrived.
+
+[Illustration: The Town of Mons.
+
+_Photo, Exclusive News Agency._]
+
+The Commander-in-Chief was Sir John French, of whom we have already
+heard. The 1st Army Corps, which was posted to the east of Mons, was
+commanded by Sir Douglas Haig, a cavalryman like Sir John French, and
+one of the youngest of British generals. He had seen service in the
+Sudan and in South Africa, and had held high military positions at home
+and in India. The 2nd Army Corps, which was posted along the line of the
+canal west of Mons, was commanded by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien,
+also a brilliant soldier, who did fine work in South Africa. The cavalry
+division was under Major-General Allenby, one of the most famous cavalry
+scouts in the British army, and the 5th Cavalry Brigade was commanded by
+Sir Philip Chetwode.
+
+[Illustration: Map showing British and French Positions at the Battles
+of Mons and Charleroi.]
+
+During the 22nd and 23rd of August the 5th Cavalry Brigade and some
+other cavalry squadrons pushed far to the north, and did some excellent
+scouting work. They also met the advanced patrols of the enemy, and
+there were several small fights, in which our troops showed to great
+advantage. One of these fights took place at the corner of a village
+street, where a party of our hussars rode down a strong detachment of
+German cavalry. The two forces met front to front, and there were wild
+hurrahs as our men charged the enemy with flashing sabres. It was all
+over in a few minutes, and the Germans were driven back in confusion.
+"Men and horses were heavier than we were," wrote one of the British
+hussars who was wounded in the skirmish, "but our men were smarter and
+handier."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+You know that von Kluck's army entered Brussels on 20th August. An
+American writer who fell in with an advance division tells us that the
+Germans marched at a very rapid pace towards the Franco-Belgian frontier
+to meet the Allies. To keep up with the column he was forced to move at
+a steady trot. The men did not bend the knees, but keeping the legs
+straight, shot them forward with a quick, sliding movement as though
+they were skating or ski-ing.[16] Many of them fell by the wayside, but
+they were not permitted to lie there, but were lifted to their feet and
+flung back into the ranks. The halts were frequent, and so exhausted
+were the poor fellows that, instead of standing at ease, they dropped to
+the road as though they had been struck with a club. It was these forced
+marches which brought von Kluck's army so rapidly to the right wing of
+the Allies.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+While our soldiers from Condé to Binche were busy digging trenches and
+gun-pits, and clearing their front of cover, they could hear away to the
+right the dull roar of cannon. Fighting was going on not only at Namur
+but along the Sambre. You know that von Buelow's army was marching along
+the north bank of the Meuse towards Namur, and that the Saxon army was
+moving towards the same place along the southern bank. On the evening of
+the day on which the Germans entered Brussels the first shots were fired
+at the fortress. It was a sultry evening, and behind the screen of haze
+the great howitzers were placed in position. They began to fire on the
+Belgian trenches to the north-east of the city, and all night continued
+to bombard them with great accuracy. Any man who lifted his head was
+immediately hit. The guns were three miles away, so the Belgians had no
+chance of rushing on the foe with the bayonet as they had done at Liége.
+They were forced to wait and suffer. After enduring ten hours of
+bursting shrapnel, which killed large numbers of them, they were obliged
+to withdraw, and the Germans pushed within the ring of forts and took up
+a position on the ridge of St. Marc north of the city.[17]
+
+Meanwhile two of the eastern forts had fallen. Upon the fort just to the
+south of the Meuse the Germans guns rained shells at the rate of twenty
+a minute, and it was only able to fire ten shots in reply. The shells
+wrecked concrete and turrets alike, and nothing could resist them. The
+fort directly to the north of the river held out longer; but when
+seventy-five of its garrison had been slain, it too was forced to yield.
+At the same time the southern line of forts was fiercely bombarded, and
+after an attack of two hours three of them were silenced, and a German
+force was pushed across the Meuse into the southern part of the angle
+between that river and the Sambre. All day long an infantry battle
+raged, and the Belgians hoped against hope that the French would come to
+their assistance.
+
+Next morning, 22nd August, five thousand French troops, mostly Turcos,
+arrived from the west, but they were too late and too few to save the
+fortress. It was a black, dread day for the Allies. The skies were
+darkened by an eclipse of the sun, and the people of Namur were in a
+state of panic. German aeroplanes flew over the place and dropped bombs,
+which killed many of the inhabitants and fired their houses. The heavens
+thundered, the great guns roared, and Namur fell.
+
+When the commander, General Michel, saw that he could no longer hold
+out, he tried to call in the troops from the forts and march them
+westward, in the hope that they might join their comrades beneath the
+shelter of the forts at Antwerp. Traitors or spies, however, cut his
+telephone wires, and he was only able to rally a portion of them for the
+retreat. Two Belgian regiments hacked a way through the Germans who
+blocked their road, and managed to join the French and reach Rouen;
+where they took ship to Ostend, and then joined the main Belgian army at
+Antwerp.
+
+On Sunday afternoon, 23rd August, the Germans marched into Namur singing
+their national songs and shouting in triumph. Next day von Buelow
+entered, and with him was the new Governor of Belgium, Field-Marshal von
+der Goltz, who was described by one of the townsfolk as "an elderly
+gentleman covered with orders, buttoned in an overcoat up to his nose,
+above which gleamed a pair of enormous glasses."
+
+The Belgians made their last stand between the forts to the north-west
+of the city. They held out until the morning of Tuesday, 25th August,
+when they left their trenches and moved into the woods on the north bank
+of the Sambre. Here they were surrounded, and were obliged to surrender.
+Only about 12,000 out of the 26,000 men who attempted to hold the
+fortress escaped. Large quantities of guns and stores had to be
+abandoned, and these fell into the hands of the Germans.
+
+[Illustration: The Siege of Namur.]
+
+I have already told you that Namur was considered so strong that it
+could defy attack for a long time. It fell, as we have seen, very
+rapidly. The first shot was fired on the evening of 20th August; by the
+next night five or six forts had fallen; on the 23rd the Germans entered
+the city, and two days later every fort was in ruins.
+
+Now we are able to understand the terrible peril of the Allies. The
+French line along the Meuse and Sambre could only be held so long as
+Namur was able to resist. Now that it had fallen the line was broken,
+and a million men were on the verge of disaster.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+While the German howitzers were battering down the forts at Namur a
+fierce battle was raging round about Charleroi, on the Sambre, some
+fifteen miles to the east. Those who remember the story of the battle of
+Waterloo will recollect that Napoleon's armies crossed the Sambre at
+Charleroi on their way to the famous battlefield. Like Mons, Charleroi
+is a place of coal mines, iron foundries, and glassworks.
+
+Less than ten miles to the north-east of Charleroi is the village of
+Ligny,[18] where Napoleon beat the Germans under Blücher on June 16,
+1815, and forced them to retreat. On the same day Wellington beat
+Marshal Ney at Quatre Bras,[19] which lies a few miles to the north-west
+of Ligny; but because Blücher had retreated he was obliged to fall back
+to the field of Waterloo, where, as you know, he was joined by the
+Prussians, and an end was made of Napoleon. It was over this historic
+ground that von Buelow's army advanced towards Charleroi.
+
+[Illustration: Charge of the Turcos near Charleroi.
+
+_From the picture by Dudley Tennant._]
+
+Not until late in March 1915 did the French lift the veil and give us a
+glimpse of what happened. We are told that General Joffre's plan was, in
+the first place, to hold and dispose of the enemy's centre, and
+afterwards to throw all his available forces on the left flank of the
+Germans. On Friday, 21st August, the French centre attacked with ten
+army corps. On the next day it failed, and the French suffered a severe
+defeat. They frankly confess that their officers and troops were unequal
+to the task imposed on them, that they were imprudent under fire, that
+the divisions were ill engaged, that they deployed rashly and fled
+hastily, and that the lives of the men were thrown away too early in the
+struggle. During the fighting the Zouaves and Turcos behaved most
+gallantly. Twice they cleared the town of Charleroi at the point of the
+bayonet, but all their efforts were unavailing. Five times the town was
+captured and recaptured, and every time it changed hands it was fiercely
+shelled. By Saturday evening it was in the hands of the Germans, who,
+after suffering great losses, crossed the Sambre.
+
+Meanwhile another fierce fight was going on farther east along the line
+of the Meuse. On Saturday morning a German army, which had advanced
+through the Northern Ardennes, crossed the Meuse into the angle between
+that river and the Sambre, where, you will remember, the Germans had
+already gained a footing. This new force attacked the right flank of the
+French, and began to work round to their rear, so as to threaten the
+line of retreat. With von Buelow pressing hard on the front, and the
+Saxon army pressing on the right and rear, the French in the angle
+between the rivers were forced to give way, and in order to save
+themselves from destruction were obliged to retire to the south. So
+rapid and confused was this retreat that the French staff neglected to
+send news of the disaster to Sir John French until the afternoon of next
+day. He thought that the French line was still holding out on his right;
+but as a matter of fact he was without any support in that direction,
+and was left, as the soldiers say, "in the air." Further, von Buelow was
+now able to spare some of his right-wing troops and send them to help
+von Kluck, who was about to swoop down on the British line.
+
+[Footnote 14: See map, p. 19.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Shar-leh-rwa´.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Ski (_shē_) are long, narrow pieces of wood, from 7 to 12
+feet in length and from 2½ to 3 inches wide, which are bound to the feet
+with leather straps, and are used for travelling rapidly over snow. The
+Chasseurs Alpins--that is, the French soldiers who operate in the
+Alps--wear ski.]
+
+[Footnote 17: See diagram p. 15]
+
+[Footnote 18: _Leen-ye´._]
+
+[Footnote 19: _Katr-bráh._]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+  THE BATTLE OF MONS.
+
+
+It is a peaceful Sunday morning; the sun is shining and the bells are
+ringing. The Belgians in Mons and the surrounding mining villages are
+flocking towards their churches; but in the British lines our soldiers
+are hard at work in their shirt-sleeves deepening the trenches and
+making ready to meet the threatened attack. As the morning wears on a
+German Taube[20] comes gliding high over the trenches like a huge
+vulture seeking its prey. It circles round and round, and more than one
+enterprising "Tommy" discharges his rifle at it. Now a British aeroplane
+ascends to give it battle; but the Taube makes a long curve northward,
+and disappears in rapid flight. Meanwhile our own airmen and cavalry
+scouts are coming in with the news that large numbers of the enemy are
+moving through the green woods towards the centre of the line, and that
+towards Binche and Condé other columns are on the march.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Sir John French assembled his commanders at six in the morning on August
+23, and explained to them what he understood to be General Joffre's
+plan. He knew nothing of what had happened on his right, and he believed
+that one, or at most two, of the enemy's army corps, with perhaps one
+cavalry division, were on his front. He had no idea that the enemy
+outnumbered him by at least two to one, and that they were attempting to
+envelop him by attacking his exposed flanks.
+
+A private in the 1st Royal West Kent Regiment tells us how the battle
+began. He says: "It was Sunday, 23rd August, that we were at Mons,
+billeted in a farmyard, and we were having a sing-song, and watching
+the people coming home from church. At about 12.30 an orderly had gone
+down to draw dinners when an aeroplane appeared overhead, throwing out
+some black powder. After this shrapnel began to burst, acquainting us
+with the fact that the Germans were in the vicinity. All was confusion
+and uproar for the moment, because we were not armed, and our shirts and
+socks were out to wash, that being the only chance we had to get them
+washed. It did not take us long, however, to get in fighting trim and go
+through the town of Mons to the scene of operations, which was on the
+other side of a small canal that adjoined."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+The British were soon standing to arms in their position along the whole
+twenty-five miles of the battle-line. Hardly had they thrust the
+cartridges into their rifles before the terrible thunder of the German
+guns began. These guns were massed just outside the southern edge of the
+woods, behind railway embankments, roadside trees, hedgerows, and the
+raised towing-paths of the willow-fringed canals. The thunder of the
+cannonade speedily showed that the enemy was in far greater force than
+had been supposed. Not, however, for some hours did Sir John French and
+his staff realize that they were _everywhere_ outnumbered.
+
+The guns were booming, but there was no sign of the enemy. The front
+seemed empty of men, but an observer would have seen soft, fleecy clouds
+hanging above the British trenches--a sign that shrapnel was bursting
+over them, and that a deadly flail of iron bullets was beating down upon
+them. Our soldiers, who had learned to take cover in South Africa, lay
+close, and waited, whiling away the time by joking and by playing
+marbles with the shrapnel bullets that fell among them. At first the aim
+of the enemy's artillery was not very good, but speedily their
+aeroplanes came circling over the trenches, and by throwing down smoky
+bombs revealed their whereabouts. Then they made very accurate shooting,
+and many of our men were hit. Meanwhile our artillery began to reply,
+and more than once silenced a battery of the enemy.
+
+Our officers knew full well that the roar of the guns was the signal for
+the German infantry to advance. For a time nothing could be seen of
+them, for they took cover well, and their bluish gray uniforms seemed to
+melt into the leafy background. Our officers, who were eagerly scanning
+the landscape with field-glasses, only saw them when they began to open
+fire with rifles and machine guns.
+
+The Germans believed that if they kept up a fierce artillery fire on our
+trenches our men would become so terrified that they would scuttle from
+their burrows like rabbits at the approach of a ferret. They did not
+then know of what stuff British soldiers are made. No fighters in the
+world are so cool and dogged; none can take such severe punishment
+without flinching, or wait so patiently for the right moment to advance.
+
+And now the blue-gray masses of the Germans came into full view. They
+made desperate attacks near Binche, where, owing to the retirement of
+the French, the flank was exposed to a turning movement. Some of the
+troops who were to help in holding this part of the line had only just
+arrived, after a long and trying march under a hot sun, and were busy
+"digging themselves in" while the shrapnel was bursting over them.
+
+When the infantry of the enemy began to appear our soldiers had three
+surprises. In the sham battles which they had fought at Aldershot or on
+Salisbury Plain they had learned to fire at men moving forward in a
+thin, extended line, with eight or ten paces between them. To their
+amazement they saw the Germans coming on in dense masses, as though they
+were parading in the streets of Potsdam. Our men grasped their rifles
+and waited until the enemy came within six or seven hundred yards of
+them. On rolled the Germans, singing their national songs, and believing
+that they could sweep the British out of their trenches by sheer weight
+of numbers. At last the word was given, and a tornado of rifle and
+machine-gun fire crashed down upon the dense masses.
+
+Our men fired as steadily as though they were shooting at targets in
+time of peace. Not a shot was wasted; every bullet found its billet.
+"The Germans were in solid square blocks, standing out sharply against
+the skyline," wrote Sergeant Loftus, "and you couldn't help hitting
+them. It was like butting your head against a stone wall." Before the
+rapid fire and sure aim of the British the hosts of the enemy went down
+in heaps. "It was like cutting hay," said a private. In one place there
+was a breastwork of German dead and wounded five feet high, and our
+soldiers had to leave their trenches in order to see the foe.
+
+The second surprise was the poor shooting of the German infantry. They
+fired as they marched, with their rifles at their hips. Though thousands
+of their bullets whizzed by, very few of them found a mark. "They can't
+shoot for nuts," said one Tommy; "they couldn't hit a haystack." "They
+couldn't hit the gas works at Mons," said another. "If they had, I
+wouldn't be here."
+
+The third surprise was the vast numbers of the enemy that made the
+attack. Our first line did not consist, at any time, of more than 80,000
+men, and against them von Kluck hurled at least 150,000 men, without
+counting the masses of cavalry which were moving towards the space
+between our left at Condé and the town of Tournai. Though the Germans
+were shot down in thousands, they continued to roll on like the waves of
+an incoming tide. "It was like the crowd leaving a football ground on a
+cup-tie day," was the description of one of our soldiers. For every five
+men which the French and the British had in the field in the early days
+of the war the Germans had eight.
+
+Against these terrible odds our men fought stubbornly. Again and again
+the dense masses of the Germans pressed towards them, and as they did so
+a sheet of flame flickered along the line of British trenches, and they
+were beaten down like a field of standing wheat before a hailstorm. But
+no sooner were they swept to earth than their supports appeared, only to
+meet the same fate. Our men grew sick with slaughter. In some places the
+crowded ranks of the enemy managed to come close to the British
+trenches. Then our men leaped forward with a cheer and drove with the
+bayonet through and through the ranks, until the survivors turned and
+fled, followed by the pitiless fire of Maxims and field guns.
+
+[Illustration: The British in their Trenches at Mons.
+
+_From the picture by Dudley Tennant._]
+
+One important feature of the attack was the very large number of machine
+guns used by the Germans. They were mounted on low sledges, so that they
+could be rapidly brought into the firing line and worked by men lying
+down. It seemed in these early days of the war as though the enemy was
+going to do the real fighting with artillery and machine guns, and that
+his infantry were only to act as supports.
+
+You already know that von Kluck was throwing his main strength chiefly
+on the British right, but there were also furious fights along the canal
+towards Condé, where our men were holding the bridges. Frenzied attacks
+were made on these bridges, but they were stubbornly held. When,
+however, the overwhelming numbers of the enemy appeared, our troops were
+withdrawn to the south bank, and orders were given to blow up the
+bridges and the barges in the canal. The engineers did the work with the
+coolest courage in the face of a deadly fire.
+
+A hundred deeds of gallantry were done that day. One bridge was held by
+a devoted company of the Scottish Borderers. When they saw that it must
+be abandoned, a sergeant and three men dashed on to it to fire the fuse.
+The three men dropped in their tracks, and the sergeant went on alone.
+He hacked the fuse short and fired it; but with the destruction of the
+bridge he too was destroyed.
+
+Foiled at the bridges, the enemy now attempted to cross the canal by
+means of pontoons. Our guns were trained on them, and an awful scene of
+slaughter and destruction began. Ten separate times the Germans managed
+to throw their pontoons over the water, and ten separate times the guns
+of the British smashed them to fragments.
+
+Stubbornly as our men were fighting, the terrible pressure of the
+Germans could not be resisted. About three o'clock Sir Philip Chetwode's
+cavalry brigade, which had been guarding the flank, had to be withdrawn;
+whereupon the enemy occupied Binche. Sir Douglas Haig then drew in his
+right, and slowly fell back to a long swell of ground south of the
+village of Bray. You know that the British line had been almost
+straight; the retirement of the 1st Army Corps swung the right half of
+the line towards the south, so that there was a sharp angle between it
+and the 2nd Army Corps, holding the line of the Mons-Condé canal. The
+British were now in the same sort of dangerous position as the French
+when they held the angle between the Meuse and the Sambre. General
+French saw at once that his men in Mons were exposed to attacks from the
+front and the flanks, and that they were in peril of being cut off; so
+he directed the commander of that part of the line "to be careful not to
+keep the troops on this salient too long, but, if threatened seriously,
+to draw back the centre behind Mons."
+
+Hardly had this message been sent off before a startling telegram from
+General Joffre reached General French. It gave him news which he ought
+to have received hours before, and made his gallant stand quite
+unavailing. It told him that Namur had fallen on the previous day; that
+the 5th French Army and the two reserve divisions on his right were in
+retreat; that the passages of the Sambre between Charleroi and Namur
+were in the hands of the enemy; that at least three German army corps
+were moving on the front of his position, while another was making a
+wide turning movement round his left by way of Tournai. Probably at this
+time some 200,000 Germans were about to attack Sir John French's 80,000.
+All this meant that the little British army, though it had done, and
+could still do, miracles of valour, was in peril of being cut off,
+enveloped, and destroyed. There was nothing for it but to hold on until
+nightfall, and then retreat. You can imagine the bitter disappointment
+of our men, who now knew that they were more than a match for the
+Germans.
+
+A sergeant tells us that all day long the British defied every attempt
+of the enemy to dislodge them from their trenches. "After the last
+attack," he says, "we lay down in our clothes to sleep as best we could;
+but long before sunrise we were called out, to be told that we had got
+to abandon our position. Nobody knew why we had to go; but like good
+soldiers we obeyed without a murmur."
+
+[Footnote 20: Dove. A German aeroplane is so called.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+  SOLDIERS' STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF MONS.
+
+
+The account of the Battle of Mons which you have just read has been
+built up from two main sources of information. First, and most
+important, is the dispatch of Sir John French. It is a plain,
+business-like statement, giving a broad outline of the manner in which
+his troops were disposed, and relating in proper order the chief
+features of the struggle, but not telling us much about the details of
+the fighting. Then come the accounts which the soldiers who took part in
+the battle have given of their experiences. Of course each of these
+soldiers only saw but a very small portion of the battle, and they knew
+very little of the "moves" which their commanders were making; but it is
+from them that we hear those details which give life and colour to the
+story. In this chapter you are going to read some accounts of various
+incidents in the battle as told by those who fought at Mons on the 23rd
+day of August 1914.
+
+Here is the story told by a Gordon Highlander named Smiley. He drew a
+little diagram to illustrate the fighting which he saw, and I reproduce
+it on the next page in order that you may the more easily follow his
+story. You will notice that he and his comrades held a trench to the
+south of Mons.
+
+"We marched out of our billets at 4 a.m. We marched up to No. 1 and
+wheeled to the right, which fetched us on the main Paris road (No.
+4.4.4.4), with Mons itself somewhat half-left on our rear. We
+immediately set about clearing the foreground of willows, beans, wheat,
+and anything which gave head cover. About 10 a.m. we had (except
+buildings) a clear rifle range of quite two thousand yards. We then dug
+our trenches, and much labour and love we put into them.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+"The ball opened at 11.30 a.m. by a terrible artillery duel by the
+Germans over our trenches to No. 5. This went on for some hours, until a
+movement of infantry was seen at No. 6. This movement was evidently
+intended for the Gordons, as you will see that had they managed to reach
+the wood in front of us (No. 7) our position would have been made
+untenable by hidden infantry and well-served artillery, who could have
+flanked us by sheer weight of numbers.
+
+"However, we opened on them at No. 6 with a terrific Maxim fire. They
+advanced in companies of quite one hundred and fifty men in files five
+deep. Guess the result. We could steady our rifles on the trench and
+take deliberate aim. The first company were simply blasted away by a
+volley at seven hundred yards, and in their insane formation every
+bullet was almost sure to find two billets. The other companies kept
+advancing very slowly, using their dead comrades as cover; but they had
+absolutely no chance, and at about 5 p.m. their infantry retired.
+
+"We were still being subjected to a terrible artillery fire. But we had
+time to see what was happening on our left flank (1, 2, 3). The Royal
+Irish Regiment had been surprised and fearfully cut up, and so, too, had
+the Middlesex, and it was found impossible for our B and C Companies to
+reinforce them. We (D Company) were one and a half miles away, and were
+ordered to proceed to No. 2 and relieve the Royal Irish as much as
+possible. We crept from our trenches and crossed to the other side of
+the road, where we had the benefit of a ditch and the road camber[21] as
+cover. We made most excellent progress until one hundred and fifty yards
+from No. 1. At that distance there was a small white house flush with
+the road standing in a clearance. Our young sub.[22] was leading, and
+safely crossed the front of the house. Immediately the Germans opened a
+cyclone of shrapnel at the house. They could not see us, but I guess
+they knew the reason why troops would or might pass that house. However,
+we were to relieve the R.I.'s, and astounding as it may seem, we passed
+that house, and I was the only one to be hit. Even yet I am amazed at
+our luck.
+
+"By this time dusk had set in, four villages were on fire, and the
+Germans had been and were shelling the hospitals. We managed to get into
+the R.I.'s trench, and beat off a very faint-hearted Uhlan attack on us.
+About 9 p.m. came our orders to retire. What a pitiful handful we were
+against that host, and yet we held the flower of the German army at bay
+all day!"
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Another soldier who was present in this part of the battlefield says:--
+
+"We were digging trenches, and were totally unaware that the enemy was
+near us, when all of a sudden shells came dropping all around, and the
+Germans bore down on us. One of the Middlesex companies was not at that
+time equipped in any way, with the result that they were terribly cut
+up. Then I witnessed what a real Britisher is made of. One of the
+sergeants of the Middlesex, instead of holding up hands and begging for
+mercy, like the Germans do, fought furiously with his fists, downing two
+Germans with successive blows. Other members of the Middlesex followed
+their sergeant's example. Later on a German sergeant-major who was taken
+prisoner, on viewing our numbers, said, 'Had we been aware that there
+were so few of you, not one of you would have escaped.'"
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+In scores of soldiers' letters we find references to the overwhelming
+numbers of the enemy. One young private wrote as follows to his father,
+who is a gardener: "You complained last summer, dad, of the swarm of
+wasps that destroyed your fruit. That will give you an idea of how the
+Germans came for us." Another man writes: "It looked as if we were going
+to be snowed under. The mass of men who came on was an avalanche, and
+every one of us must have been trodden to death, if not killed by
+shells or bullets, had not our infantry charged into them on the left
+wing, not five hundred yards from the trench I was in." A
+non-commissioned officer also refers to the odds against which our men
+struggled: "No regiment ever fought harder than we did, and no regiment
+has ever had better officers; they went shoulder to shoulder with their
+men. But you cannot expect impossibilities, no matter how brave the boys
+are, when one is fighting forces twenty to thirty times as strong."
+"They are more like flies," said another man: "the more you kill the
+more there seem to be."
+
+[Illustration: Holding the Canal at Mons.
+
+_[By permission of The Sphere._]
+
+Here is the story of Lance-Corporal M'Auslan of the Royal Scots
+Fusiliers, who was fighting on the Mons-Condé line. He says: "I was up
+in the engagement before Mons on the Saturday. We marched thirty miles,
+and had an engagement with the enemy, and fought a rearguard action over
+twenty miles for twenty-four hours. The canal at Mons must be full of
+German dead now. We were working two nights to prevent them crossing the
+canal, and we mowed them down like corn. The D Company of our regiment
+was cut up in about ten minutes, and Captain Ross and Captain Young lost
+their lives. I was with Captain Ross when he got bowled over. It was not
+the rifle fire that hurt us--they could not hit us at fifty yards--but
+it was the shrapnel fire that caused the damage. The German big gun fire
+was good, but their rifle fire was rotten. The aeroplanes did all the
+piloting. They gave the Germans the range of our guns, and they shelled
+us pretty successfully; but we brought down two Zeppelins and an
+aeroplane in the first two days of the battle."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A _Times_ correspondent tells us that he was much impressed by the
+coolness and dash of our men, and their utter indifference to danger. "I
+shall never forget," he writes, "the admirable reply given by an English
+soldier, wounded in the hand, whom I found sitting by the roadside
+outside Mons, wearing an air of consternation. I began to talk to him,
+and asked him if his wound was hurting him. 'It's not that,' he said,
+with a doleful shake of the head, 'but I'm blessed if I haven't been and
+lost my pipe in that last charge!' I gave him mine, and he was instantly
+comforted."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is a fine story of the fights for the bridges at Condé where the
+canal joins the river Scheldt; it is told by Private W. E. Carter of the
+2nd Manchester Regiment:--
+
+"To deliver their attacks it was necessary for the enemy to cross two
+bridges. The officer in command of the Royal Engineers ordered a
+non-commissioned officer to swim the canal and the river, and set fuses
+under both bridges. He reached the farther bank in safety, and on
+returning he set a fuse under the river bridge. When making for 'home'
+one of the enemy's big guns fired on him, and blew away one of his arms
+at the shoulder. Another member of the same corps entered the water and
+assisted him to land. When the Germans had marched over the first bridge
+it was blown up, leaving their ammunition carts on the other side. Then
+the second bridge was blown up, and a German force of 25,000 was placed
+at our mercy. A desperate fight followed, the Germans being left with no
+ammunition but what they carried. They struggled heroically to build a
+bridge with the object of getting their ammunition carts across, but
+every time this improvised bridge was destroyed by our artillery fire.
+Though they were thus trapped, the Germans held their ground very
+stubbornly."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The following is an account of how some of our men were trapped. A
+wounded officer says: "We were guarding a railway bridge over a canal.
+My company held a semicircle from the railway to the canal. I was
+nearest the railway. A Scottish regiment completed the semicircle on the
+right of the railway to the canal. The railway was on a high embankment
+running up to the bridge, so that the Scottish regiment was out of sight
+of us.
+
+"We held the Germans all day, killing hundreds, when about 5 p.m. the
+order to retire was given. It never reached us, and we were left all
+alone. The Germans therefore got right up to the canal on our right,
+hidden by the railway embankment, and crossed the railway. Our people
+had blown up the bridge before their departure. We found ourselves
+between two fires, and I realized we had about two thousand Germans and
+a canal between us and our friends. We decided to sell our lives dearly.
+I ordered my men to fix bayonets and charge, which the gallant fellows
+did splendidly; but we got shot down like ninepins. As I was loading my
+revolver after giving the order to fix bayonets I was hit in the right
+wrist. I dropped my revolver; my hand was too weak to draw my sword. I
+had not got far when I got a bullet through the calf of my right leg and
+another in my right knee, which brought me down.
+
+"The rest of my men got driven round into the trench on our left. The
+officer there charged the Germans and was killed, and nearly all the men
+were either killed or wounded. I did not see this part of the business,
+but from all accounts the gallant men charged with the greatest bravery.
+Those who could walk the Germans took away as prisoners. I have since
+learnt from civilians that around the bridge five thousand Germans were
+found dead, and about sixty English. These sixty must have been nearly
+all my company, who were so unfortunately left behind."
+
+[Illustration: In the Trenches--waiting for an Attack.
+
+_Photopress._]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+One of the finest features of our army is the admiration of the rank and
+file for their officers, and the equally sincere admiration of the
+officers for their men. In letters home they are constantly praising
+each other. A cavalry officer writes in his diary: "Can't help feeling
+jolly proud to command such a magnificent body of men. Hope to goodness
+I am capable of doing the lads full justice. Our men ARE playing the
+game;" while a private pays the following striking tribute to his
+officer: "You know I have often spoken of Captain ----, and what a fine
+fellow he was. There was no braver man on the field. He got knocked over
+early with a piece of shell which smashed his leg. He must have been in
+great pain, but kneeling on one knee, he was cheerful, and kept saying,
+'My bonnie boys, make sure of your man.' When he was taken away on the
+ambulance he shouted, 'Keep cool, and mark your man.'"
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+During the hot hours of the fierce fighting our men were frequently very
+thirsty, and longed for a cooling drink. Over and over again peasant
+women came up to the trenches with water and fruit for the parched and
+wearied men. They showed the most wonderful courage in approaching the
+firing line, and our soldiers were most grateful to them. One man wrote
+home to his mother: "I can assure you they are the bravest souls I have
+ever met." All honour to these noble women for their deeds of mercy in
+the day of battle.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The following stories give us a capital idea of the high spirits and
+undaunted gaiety of our men under fire. A party of British infantry were
+defending a café near Mons. As often as the Germans attacked the place
+they were driven back, though big holes were gaping in the walls and the
+place was rapidly becoming a ruin. There was an automatic piano in the
+café, and every time the Germans appeared, one soldier would say to
+another, "Put a penny in the slot, Jock, and give them some music to
+dance to." Each time the enemy attacked this was done, and the "band"
+struck up.
+
+A wounded lancer tells us that when the Germans bore down on his trench
+the men were singing "Hitchy Koo." "Before we were half through with the
+chorus," he says, "the man next to me got a wound in the upper part of
+his arm. But he sang the chorus to the finish, and did not seem to know
+that he was hit until a comrade on the other side said, 'Don't you think
+you'd better have it bound up? It's beginning to make a mess.'"
+
+Captain Buchanan Dunlop, who was wounded at Mons, tells a splendid story
+to illustrate the pluck and undaunted spirit of our men. He says: "I was
+talking to an officer of my own regiment in town yesterday. He was also
+wounded, and he told me about a fight in which one of his men lying just
+in front of him under a heavy shell fire turned to him and said, 'Sir,
+may I retire?' 'Why?' asked the officer. 'Sir,' replied the man, 'I have
+been hit three times.'"
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Every boy and every girl who reads these pages has heard of the Victoria
+Cross, the highest award of valour known to the British army. Perhaps
+you have seen a man who has won it. If so, I am sure that your eyes
+shone as you looked at him, for there is no nobler sight in all the
+world than a man who is supremely brave. The Victoria Cross is a simple
+Maltese cross of bronze, worth about fourpence halfpenny, and it is so
+called because it was first instituted by Queen Victoria in the year
+1856.
+
+  "Her cross of valour to her worthiest;
+    No golden toy with milky pearls besprent,
+  But simple bronze, and for a warrior's breast
+    A fair, fit ornament."
+
+The special glory of the Victoria Cross is that any soldier can win it,
+be he general or private, son of a peer or son of a scavenger. It is
+given "For Valour," and for valour only. So highly honourable is it
+that, no matter what other distinctions a man may possess, the letters
+"V.C." come first after his name. It is suspended by a red ribbon if
+worn on the breast of a soldier, and by a blue ribbon if worn by a
+sailor. It carries with it a pension of ten pounds a year, which may be
+increased if the possessor cannot earn a livelihood.
+
+[Illustration: The Victoria Cross.]
+
+Let me tell you something of the men who did such glorious deeds of
+valour at Mons that they were afterwards awarded the Victoria Cross.
+
+Captain Theodore Wright, of the Royal Engineers, was engaged in blowing
+up one of the bridges over the Mons-Condé canal. While preparing the
+bridge for destruction he was wounded in the head; but he stuck to his
+work, and refused to retire. The fuse failed to explode the charge, and
+then, wounded as he was, he dashed forward under a very heavy fire and
+fixed another fuse, which this time did its work and blew the bridge to
+fragments. On 16th November he was awarded the Victoria Cross; but,
+alas! he had then been dead two months. He was killed while assisting
+wounded men into shelter.
+
+Lieutenant Maurice James Dease, of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers,
+was commander of the machine-gun section at Mons. Though he was badly
+wounded two or three times, he refused to leave his guns, and kept them
+in action until all his men were shot. He, too, died of his wounds, and
+the coveted Victoria Cross was handed to his relatives, who cherish it,
+you may be sure, with mingled pride and sorrow.
+
+Corporal Charles Ernest Garforth, of the 15th Hussars, also won the
+Victoria Cross on that dread day at a place about three miles south of
+Mons. His squadron was trapped, and the only road of escape was barred
+by entanglements of barbed wire. He volunteered to go forward and cut
+the wire, and this he did while hundreds of bullets flew about him.
+Thanks to his dauntless courage, his squadron was able to reach safety.
+Twice later he did equally heroic deeds, and never was the coveted cross
+more splendidly won.
+
+Lance-Corporal Charles Alfred Jarvis, 57th Field Company, Royal
+Engineers, showed great gallantry at Jemappes on the canal to the west
+of Mons. He worked on a bridge for one and a half hours in full view of
+the enemy, who kept up a heavy fire upon him. For a time he had the
+assistance of his comrades, but finally he sent them to the rear, and
+then all alone fired the charges which brought down the bridge. For this
+deed he was rightly enrolled in that glorious band of heroes who have
+wrought and fought and died to make us inheritors of deathless fame.
+
+[Illustration: Lance-Corporal Jarvis preparing to destroy a Bridge.
+
+_Drawn by Ernest Prater from a rough sketch by Lance-Corporal Jarvis._
+
+Engineers destroy a bridge such as the above by fixing one or more slabs
+of gun-cotton in close contact with it. Wires are attached to the
+gun-cotton, and by means of electricity the charge is fired. The
+engineers must calculate the amount of gun-cotton required, and choose
+the most suitable position for fixing the charge, so that the explosion
+may have the desired effect.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Slight arch or upward bend.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Subaltern, officer below the rank of captain.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER VI
+
+  THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.
+
+
+While our hard-pressed troops are retreating from Mons before
+overwhelming numbers of the enemy, we must turn to what is called the
+Eastern theatre of war and see what is happening there. Before, however,
+I describe the actual fighting, I must tell you something about Russia
+and the Russian army.
+
+You probably know that Russia is not only equal in extent to half
+Europe, but stretches right across the northern part of the continent of
+Asia to the waters of the Pacific Ocean. This vast empire actually
+covers one-seventh of all the land on the globe. Unlike the British
+Empire, it is continuous; you may travel from one end of it to the other
+by rail. You will get some idea of the tremendous railway journey
+involved when I tell you that the distance from the old city of Warsaw
+on the river Vistula to Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan is about 6,200
+miles--that is, about two-fifths of the circumference of the world at
+the latitude of London.
+
+Naturally you will expect this vast empire to be inhabited by vast
+numbers of people. In the year 1912 it was estimated that there were
+more than 171 millions of people under the sway of the Tsar--that is,
+more than one in ten of all the people on earth. I have already told you
+of the extraordinary variety of races which dwell beneath the Union
+Jack; there is almost as great a variety of peoples in the Russian
+Empire. There are, for example, thirty different races in the Caucasus
+alone. The bulk of the inhabitants, however, are of Slav race, and are
+descended from a people who, ages ago, entered Europe from Asia, and
+gradually conquered the land and settled in it. What are known as the
+Great Russians form the strongest and toughest race in the whole
+empire. They are Slavs who in early times intermingled with the Finns
+and set up the kingdom of Moscow. These Great Russians gradually
+succeeded in enlarging their borders, until their territory stretched to
+the Crimea and Turkestan on the south and south-east, to Manchuria in
+the far east, and to Germany in the west. The Great Russians are now the
+largest and most important of all the Russian peoples, and they occupy
+the bulk of the country.
+
+The descendants of the races and tribes which the Great Russians subdued
+still exist, and they differ as widely from their conquerors as a
+northern Frenchman differs from a southern Frenchman. One of these
+conquered races consists of the White Russians, who represent some of
+the earliest Slav colonists, and live near the sources of the Niemen,
+the Dwina, and the Dnieper in the south-west of the country. Most of the
+people of the south, however, are Little Russians. They speak a dialect
+of their own, love dance and song, and are less fond of work than the
+peoples of Northern Russia.
+
+Amongst other races in Russia are the Poles, a Slav people with quite a
+separate language. In Chapter III. of our first volume I told you that
+in the days of the English King Edward III. Poland was an important and
+flourishing kingdom. I also told you how the sovereigns of Prussia,
+Russia, and Austria conspired to seize portions of this kingdom, and how
+it was gradually gobbled up until the Poles, like the Jews, had no land
+which they could call their own. From that day to this they have yearned
+for the time when their old kingdom might be restored to them. On the
+15th day of August, when the war was in full swing, the Tsar addressed
+the Poles as follows:--
+
+"Poles! The hour has sounded when the sacred dream of your fathers and
+grandfathers may be realized. A century and a half has passed since the
+living body of Poland was torn in pieces; but the soul of the country is
+not dead. It continues to live, inspired by the hope that there will
+come for the Polish people an hour of resurrection and of brotherly
+friendship with Great Russia. The Russian army brings you the solemn
+pledge of this friendship which wipes out the frontiers dividing the
+Polish peoples, and unites them under the sceptre of the Russian Tsar.
+Under this sceptre Poland will be born again, free in her religion and
+her language. You will be granted Home Rule under the protection of
+Russia.
+
+[Illustration: Polish Soldiers of the old days crossing the River
+Dneister.
+
+(_From the picture by the Polish artist Juliusz Kossak._)]
+
+"With open heart and brotherly hand Great Russia advances to meet you.
+She believes that the sword with which she struck down her enemies at
+Grünewald[23] is not yet rusted. From the shores of the Pacific to the
+North Sea the Russian armies are marching. The dawn of a new life is
+beginning for you, and in this glorious dawn is seen the sign of the
+Cross, the symbol of suffering, and of the resurrection of peoples."
+
+Cannot you imagine the joy of the Poles, not only of Russia, but of
+Germany and Austria, when they heard these glad tidings? The Poles of
+Germany have always been badly treated by the Germans, and they were
+immediately won over to the side of Russia by this proclamation. When
+the day of victory arrives Germany will have to give up Prussian Poland,
+and Austria will have to give up Galicia; and these provinces, together
+with Russian Poland, will constitute the new kingdom which will rise
+again after being torn asunder and beaten to the dust for a hundred and
+fifty years.
+
+The Poles are by no means the only subject race of the Great Russians.
+There are the Lithuanians and the Finns in the west and north-west, the
+Tartars and Bashkirs in the east, and the Kalmucks, a Mongol people, who
+live beyond the Volga. In addition to these peoples, there are the races
+of the Caucasus, and the many others who inhabit Asiatic Russia. Some
+five million Jews also live in the Empire, chiefly in the south-west and
+in Poland.
+
+The armies of Russia are mainly recruited from the peasants. In Northern
+Russia the peasant is generally a tall, well-built man, with fair hair
+and blue eyes. In the south, as a rule, he is darker. In civil life the
+men wear loose shirts belted round the waist, cloth putties on the legs,
+and, in summer, shoes of plaited straw on the feet. They also wear
+peaked caps and loose knickerbockers of thin cloth. On Sundays and
+feast-days they dress in shirts of the brightest colours--red, blue,
+yellow, and salmon-pink. In winter they wear big top-boots, made of gray
+felt, and brown leather greatcoats, lined with sheepskin. The women do
+not wear hats but handkerchiefs over their heads.
+
+The peasant thinks of himself as a member of a family, and addresses
+his fellows as father, brother, son, or child. He lives in a one-storied
+house, built of logs and thatched with straw. Inside the house there is
+a large high stove, on which the family sleep. On the table you will
+always see the samovar, a large brass urn filled with boiling water for
+making the tea which is so largely drunk. Meat is seldom seen, the usual
+fare being porridge made of buckwheat or millet, cabbage soup, and black
+bread. Formerly a great deal of vodka, a spirit distilled from rye,
+maize, or potatoes, was consumed, and this was manufactured and sold by
+the Government. Since the war broke out the Tsar has shut up the
+Government vodka shops throughout Russia. This is a great step forward,
+and it will certainly do much to benefit the people in body, mind, and
+pocket. The Government is sacrificing much money in thus striving to
+improve the habits of the people, for nearly one-third of its total
+revenue was formerly obtained from the sale of vodka. After eight months
+of war the Russian Minister of Finance was able to say that, owing to
+the shutting down of the Government drink shops, the workmen of the
+country were able to produce from thirty to fifty per cent. more than
+formerly. Our French allies have also taken a similar step by forbidding
+the sale of a very poisonous spirit known as absinthe.[24]
+
+The Russian peasant can do little work during the long winter, when the
+land is in the grip of ice and snow, so that he has a long period of
+enforced idleness every year. Perhaps for this reason he does not love
+continuous work. But he can, if he chooses, do a large amount of hard
+labour in a short space of time. When, for instance, he is putting out a
+village fire, or working in the fields, or intent on finishing a job, he
+will work like an inspired giant. At other times he is inclined to be
+lazy and happy-go-lucky. As a rule, you will find the peasants
+independent in their views--shrewd, full of common sense, and much
+attached to the old ways. They are very stubborn, and nothing can move
+them when they have made up their minds to resist.
+
+[Footnote 23: Place in East Prussia, also known as Tannenberg. A battle
+was fought there in 1410, when the Teutonic Knights, who were then
+masters of East Prussia, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the
+Russians.]
+
+[Footnote 24: _Ab´sant_ (give a nasal sound to the _n_.)]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER VII.
+
+  THE RUSSIAN ARMY.
+
+
+One very interesting Russian people must now engage our attention. North
+of the Black Sea we find what are called the Steppes. They are fertile
+towards the north, but in the south are dry deserts. In the spring they
+are covered with grass and flowers, but by the month of July all is
+parched and bare, and in winter they are deep in snow. The Steppes are
+the home of the Cossacks, who in early times were robbers, living on
+loot and fighting fiercely against the Tartars, who tried to invade
+their lands. Later on the Cossacks became Christians, joined the
+Russians, and fought against the Poles.
+
+The Cossacks are found in Siberia and in ten governments of Russia in
+Europe, where they hold lands on what is called military tenure--that
+is, instead of paying rent they give service in the army whenever called
+upon to do so. You will remember that under the feudal system, which was
+formerly in force in England, men who held land of the king were forced
+to provide him with so many soldiers for so many days in the year. The
+Cossacks hold their lands under somewhat the same system. They find
+their own horses, uniforms, and equipment, and they are required to
+serve from their eighteenth to their thirty-eighth year. They are born
+to the saddle, and are indeed lost without a horse. They ride steeds as
+hardy as themselves, and there is no trick of horsemanship with which
+they are not familiar. Cossacks, for example, will charge down on the
+enemy shielding themselves by hanging between the body of the horse and
+the foe. They have a reputation for being brutal and cruel, because they
+have been largely used by the Government in putting down riots and other
+risings of the people. Nevertheless they are good-natured and
+long-suffering. Here are two proverbs about Cossacks which give you a
+clue to their character: "A Cossack will starve, but his horse will have
+eaten his fill;" "The Cossack's brother is Death."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now let me tell you something about the Russian army, for it is,
+perhaps, Germany's most dangerous foe. In peace time its total strength
+is about 1,500,000 of all ranks, and its war strength is 5,500,000; but
+this by no means represents the number of men which Russia can put into
+the field at a pinch. Every Russian is supposed to serve in the army
+from his twentieth to his forty-third year. Generally speaking, he
+serves four years if in the cavalry and three years if in the infantry
+or artillery, and then is drafted into the Reserve for fifteen or
+fourteen years, during which period he undergoes two trainings of six
+weeks each. But Russia, with her vast population of 171 millions, does
+not need all these men in ordinary times, so she lets off large numbers
+of them, and thus has not so large an army as her vast population would
+lead us to suppose. No one can exactly say how many men she could put
+into the field, but probably it is at least about fifteen millions. You
+will remember that Herr von Jagow, the German Secretary of State, spoke
+of Russia's "inexhaustible supplies of men." But we must remember that
+while her man-power is so great, she has many difficulties to overcome
+in providing transport over her enormous country, and in furnishing her
+soldiers with arms and ammunition. Probably about seven million men
+represents the number which she can actually equip, arm, and feed at the
+front.
+
+About ten years ago the Russians fought the Japanese in Manchuria and
+were badly beaten, chiefly because the officers were not well trained,
+and were much given to drink. Since that time the whole army has been
+thoroughly overhauled, re-armed, and reorganized, and it is now the
+equal of any army in the world. Russia has done away with her drunken,
+incapable officers, and has replaced them by smart, sober, intelligent
+men. Her General Staff is very capable, and at the head of the army is
+the Grand Duke Nicholas, a giant of six feet eight inches in height, who
+is one of the most hard-working generals ever known. His soldiers love
+him, and he is untiring in caring for their comfort.
+
+[Illustration: Cossacks on Active Service.
+
+_Photo, Daily Mirror._]
+
+The great strength of the Russian army lies in its discipline and
+endurance. Napoleon used to say that you were never sure when a Russian
+soldier was dead, and it is so to-day. Russian soldiers are dour and
+dogged, and will bear any amount of hardship and punishment without
+losing heart; like Wellington's men in the Peninsular,[25] they will go
+anywhere and do anything. They regard this war as a Holy War; they are
+full of enthusiasm for it, and ask no greater privilege than to fight
+and die for "Holy Russia." The moment the Cossacks of Siberia received
+the order to mobilize, they telegraphed to the Grand Duke Nicholas, "We
+are coming, Father Commander."
+
+[Illustration: Russian Infantry at a Review.
+
+_Photo, Topical Press._]
+
+I will close this chapter with a noble letter written by a Russian
+mother to her soldier son. You will be impressed by her warm patriotism
+and the high ideal which she sets before her boy. Especially you will
+notice that she urges him not to be led away by "blind vengeance." What
+a contrast between her attitude and that of the Kaiser, who encouraged
+his men to repeat the burning and butchery of Attila! Here is the
+letter:--
+
+"Your father was killed very far from us, and I send you upon the sacred
+duty of defending our dear country from the vile and dreadful enemy.
+Remember you are the son of a hero. My heart is oppressed, and I weep
+when I ask you to be worthy of him. I know all the fateful horror of
+these words, what suffering it will be for me and you, but I repeat
+them. We do not live for ever in this world. What is our life? A drop in
+the ocean of beautiful Russia. We shall not exist always, but she must
+flourish for ever. I know that we shall be forgotten, and our happy
+descendants will not remember those who sleep in 'brothers' graves'
+[soldiers' graves]. With kisses and blessings I parted from you. When
+you are sent to perform a great deed, don't remember my tears, but only
+my blessings. God save you, my dear, bright, loved child. Once more: it
+is written everywhere that the enemy is cruel and savage. Don't be led
+by blind vengeance. Don't raise your hand against a fallen foe, but be
+gracious to those whose fate it is to fall into your hands."
+
+[Illustration: Russian Artillery.
+
+_Photo, Record Press._]
+
+[Footnote 25: The Peninsular War was fought between August 1808 and June
+1814. Wellington, the British general, drove the French out of Spain
+into France, and in March 1814 invaded that country and reached
+Toulouse.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER VIII.
+
+  THE EASTERN THEATRE OF WAR.
+
+
+On page 59 you will see a map of Eastern Germany and Western Prussia. I
+want you to examine this map very carefully, because it shows the region
+in which the bulk of the fighting between the Russians and the Germans
+has so far taken place.
+
+Follow the dotted line which shows the boundary between the two
+countries. You see that it zigzags south, then curves west, and
+straggles southward again to the border of Austria. As a rule, the
+boundary line between two countries follows, partly or wholly, some such
+natural barrier as a range of mountains or the course of a river. The
+Russo-German boundary, however, runs along neither mountains nor rivers.
+There are no mountains until you reach the Carpathians, about three
+hundred and eighty miles south of Königsberg; the whole region is a flat
+plain with scarcely a hill to break its monotony. Innumerable rivers
+wind their way across the country, and in wet weather overflow their
+banks and turn wide districts into one vast slough. The boundary line,
+however, does not follow these rivers, but cuts right across them. The
+dotted line which marks off Russian from German territory is purely
+artificial, and for this reason we may almost leave it out of account.
+
+You will notice that the great river which flows right across this
+region is the Vistula, which we will now follow from its source to the
+German boundary near Thorn. So widespread are the various arms of this
+river, that we might call the region the "Land of the Vistula"--the name
+by which Poland was known of old. The river rises in Silesia, on the
+northern slopes of the Carpathians. It flows through a mountain valley,
+and then turns east and north-east, and forms part of the frontier
+between Austria and Germany. Next it runs through the Austrian territory
+of Galicia, and passes by the old Polish capital of Cracow.
+
+Let us pause a moment and see something of this historic city. You
+notice, at once, that it blocks the road along the Vistula valley into
+Silesia, and that an invader must capture it before he can proceed to
+enter that province. Cracow has been a strong fortress for two and a
+half centuries, and now is surrounded by a circle of forts which the
+Austrians have strongly garrisoned. For two and a half centuries it was
+the capital of Poland. The finest of its thirty-nine churches is the
+Cathedral of Stanislaus, which stands on a rocky hill to the south-west
+of the old town. It was the crowning-place of the Polish kings, and
+within its walls are the tombs of several of the great Poles of history.
+Paintings, sculptures, and other objects of art adorn the cathedral,
+which dates from the middle of the fourteenth century. There is also a
+university with a rich library, and a Polish museum of art. About two
+and a half miles to the north-west of the city is a mound of earth a
+hundred feet high, which was thrown up between 1820 and 1823 in honour
+of Kosciuszko,[26] the great Polish hero. Because of its position,
+Cracow is the natural market for the exchange of goods between Silesia,
+Hungary, and Russia. There are coal and zinc mines in the neighbourhood.
+
+Leaving Cracow the river runs north-east, and for about one hundred
+miles forms the boundary between Austria and Russian Poland. At the town
+of Sandomir the Vistula is joined by the San, which rises on the
+northern slopes of the Carpathians and flows past the fortress and busy
+manufacturing town of Przemysl.[27] About fifty miles to the east of
+Przemysl, on the railway which runs from Odessa on the Black Sea into
+Silesia, we find Lemberg, an old city which is now a busy place of
+trade, because it stands in the broadest part of the Galician plain,
+with excellent communications north, south, east, and west.
+
+[Illustration: This picture gives you an idea of a typical landscape in
+Poland. Notice the difficulties which the Russians have had to overcome
+in bringing up food and ammunition to their armies.
+
+_Photo, Daily Mirror._]
+
+From Sandomir the Vistula runs north and north-west across the high
+plateau of Southern Poland, in a broad valley hemmed in by wooded
+bluffs. Passing the Russian fortress of Ivangorod on its right bank, it
+afterwards receives the river Pilica on its left bank, and crosses the
+plain of Central and Northern Poland. About thirty miles north of the
+confluence with the Pilica is Warsaw,[28] the most important town in the
+whole of Russian Poland. It is a beautifully situated city, and before
+the war was one of the brightest and gayest places in Western Europe. A
+glance at the map will show you why it is so important both to the
+Russians and to the Germans. It is the meeting-place of three great
+Russian railways, by which alone men and ammunition can be carried
+swiftly into Russian Poland. Warsaw also commands the main stream of the
+Vistula, which the Russians largely use for transport. Were it to be
+captured, the communications of the Russians would be cut, and they
+would be powerless to meet the foe in Poland. Were the Germans to seize
+it and hold it, they could keep the Russians so far back from their
+frontier that all fear of invasion through Poland would vanish. Warsaw
+is the chief stronghold of Poland, and is one of the strongest citadels
+in Europe.
+
+North of Warsaw the Vistula swings round to the west, and at the
+fortress of Novo Georgievsk receives the river Bug, which rises not far
+from Lemberg, and sweeps across the plain to the east of, and almost
+parallel with, the Vistula for more than two hundred miles. A right bank
+tributary of the Bug, the river Narew,[29] is worth notice, because
+along it we find a chain of Russian forts. About thirty miles west of
+Novo Georgievsk the Vistula receives on its left bank the sluggish river
+Bzura, which rises within a short distance of the Warta[30] or Warthe, a
+northward and westward flowing tributary of the German river Oder. The
+Vistula now sweeps north-west past Plock, and enters Prussia some ten
+miles above Thorn.
+
+If you look carefully at Russian Poland, you will see that it forms a
+salient which projects into Germany and Austria for about two hundred
+miles from north to south, and two hundred and fifty miles from east to
+west. To the north of this salient is East Prussia, and to the south of
+it is the Austrian province of Galicia. Russian Poland can be entered by
+an enemy from the north, from the west, and from the south. If you look
+at the position of the forts (marked by stars on the map) you will see
+how Russia has prepared to meet invasions from these directions. A chain
+of forts from Novo Georgievsk north-east to Grodno on the Niemen bars
+the way into Russia from East Prussia. Warsaw and Ivangorod hold the
+line of the Vistula against an invasion from the west, and Ivangorod and
+Brest Litovski on the Bug stand in the road of troops advancing from
+Galicia. All these fortresses are linked up by railways.
+
+[Illustration: The Polish Theatre of War.]
+
+When you examine the map you will be sure to notice that in all this
+western part of Russia there are but few railways for so large an area
+of country. There are also few good roads, for the country is so swampy
+that they are difficult to make and to keep passable. Without good roads
+and railways a modern army cannot keep the field; it cannot march, and
+it cannot supply itself with the necessary provision for men and guns.
+The general who has good roads and railways at his command can bring his
+men quickly and without great fatigue to the desired positions; he can
+move them rapidly to the points where he means to make his attacks, and
+he can supply himself promptly and continuously with food and
+ammunition. He can also bring up reinforcements rapidly, and carry his
+wounded and prisoners to the rear. Without good roads and railways he is
+greatly hampered. You can easily see that the Russian commander-in-chief
+has great difficulties to overcome because of the lack of good roads and
+railways in Poland.
+
+When, however, we turn to the German side of the frontier, quite a
+different picture presents itself. The Germans have always paid great
+attention to military railways, and have planned and constructed them
+throughout the empire with great diligence and foresight. It was by
+means of their splendid system of railways that they were able to
+mobilize their troops so quickly, and fling them without an hour's delay
+into Belgium. Behind the eastern frontier of Poland they have two double
+lines of railway, and these are united into a perfect gridiron by
+criss-cross lines. By means of this railway system they can carry their
+troops rapidly to any part of the frontier, and can readily supply
+themselves with food and ammunition. As we shall see later, the German
+generals have been able to transfer their men from the north to the
+south by railway, and have thus been enabled to carry out rapid
+movements which are quite impossible to the Russians.
+
+Before I close this rather dull but very necessary chapter, I must tell
+you something about the two provinces which form the northern and part
+of the southern boundaries of Russian Poland. Let us look first at the
+country which lies between the Lower Vistula and the Lower Niemen, the
+region in which the Germans and Russians first came to blows. Along the
+coast, which is lined with sand dunes, you see two lagoons almost
+entirely cut off from the Baltic Sea by tongues of land. Into the
+westward of these the Vistula and the Pregel discharge themselves; by
+means of the other lagoon the river Memel finds its way to the sea.
+
+A large map would show you that these rivers form deltas at their
+mouths, and this clearly proves that the country is flat and low-lying.
+The rivers are sluggish, and the slightest obstacle causes them to
+change their beds. The deserted channels remain as stagnant pools and
+marshes, and in course of time have become filled with peat. A
+bird's-eye view of this region shows a maze of water-courses, swamps,
+lakes, peat bogs, dense forests, and green meadows. Farther south the
+country rises to a low plateau, which is literally pitted with lakes,
+amongst which is the Spirding See, forty-six square miles in extent, the
+largest inland lake in Prussia. Some of these lakes are wide and
+shallow, with hard gravel floors, but others are simply a film of water
+above yards of mud. Bogs abound, and it is very hard to tell where the
+meadows end and the swampy ground begins. On the map you will notice
+that the lake district is called the Masurian Lake Region; it receives
+this name from the Masures, a section of Poles who have long inhabited
+the country. Round about the lakes are thick, dark forests, in which
+wolves, lynxes, and elks are still found and hunted.
+
+In the valleys of the Pregel and Memel there is fertile soil, in which
+rye, oats, and potatoes are grown; but for the rest the country is
+largely sterile moor and bog. East Prussia is the headquarters of German
+horse-breeding, and there is a great Government establishment for this
+purpose a few miles to the east of Gumbinnen.[31] East Prussia has for
+many years past been a favourite hunting-ground of the Kaiser.
+
+From this brief description you will clearly understand that East
+Prussia is neither a rich nor a very attractive country; yet it is the
+very apple of the Prussian eye. You will remember that it was stolen
+from Poland by Frederick the Great in 1772. When he was only Elector of
+Brandenburg he was King of East Prussia. Königsberg, which you will find
+near the mouth of the Pregel, was the first capital of the kings of
+Prussia, and to them it is almost a sacred city. They still have a
+residence in Königsberg, and are still crowned[32] in its cathedral.
+Every year the victory of Sedan is celebrated in Königsberg with great
+rejoicings. Most of the great Prussian families who have given their
+sons to the Prussian army have estates in East Prussia, where they are
+lords of the soil. Their farm-servants, though supposed to be free, are
+really their serfs, and are kept down with a heavy hand. The Kaiser and
+his nobles regard East Prussia as the very citadel of their power, and
+to lose it would be their ruin.
+
+[Illustration: Insterburg.
+
+_Photo, Exclusive News Agency._]
+
+From what has been said about East Prussia you would suppose it to be
+the last region in which the Russians would willingly fight battles.
+Why, then, did they invade it? I think for two reasons. First, because
+they could push into it very rapidly; and, secondly, because they knew
+that, immediately it was attacked, the Germans must come to its rescue.
+You know that the German General Staff believed that six weeks at least
+would elapse before the Russian mobilization could be completed. In that
+time they hoped to beat France so thoroughly that a few army corps would
+be sufficient to hold her down. Then they meant to swing their
+victorious troops to the eastern theatre of war, and overwhelm the
+Russians in the same way. Such was their calculation; but, like so many
+of their calculations, it went all wrong.
+
+The Russians mobilized in sixteen days, and they had sufficient troops
+ready for the field on 3rd August, less than three days after the
+declaration of war. They could not send these troops against the western
+Polish front, because they were not strong enough in numbers, and they
+were then by no means sure that the Poles would not rise against them.
+They could, however, fling them into East Prussia, which was, as it
+were, on their doorstep. This they did, and though the invasion finally
+ended in defeat, it served a good purpose, for the Germans had to
+withdraw a number of their army corps from France and hurry them
+eastward to defend their beloved East Prussia. The Belgians by their
+gallant fight had upset the German programme; the withdrawal of these
+corps from the western front played further havoc with it, and no doubt
+did much to save France.
+
+[Illustration: Russian Troops entraining for the Frontier.
+
+_Photo, Record Press._]
+
+Now let us look for a moment at the province of Silesia, which, you will
+remember, Frederick the Great wickedly tore from Maria Theresa in the
+year 1741.[33] You will see from the map on page 38 of our first volume
+that Silesia forms a wedge between Bohemia and Hungary on the south, and
+Russian Poland on the east. Whoever holds Silesia can turn the line of
+the Oder, and pass behind the barrier fortresses which Germany has built
+upon her eastern front. He also holds the road northward to Berlin and
+southward to Vienna. At all costs the Germans must defend Silesia, not
+only because it is the key to Germany from the south-east, but because
+it is the German Lancashire, a great industrial province which supplies
+the empire with much of its cotton, linen, woollen, and metal
+manufactures. Should this province be captured, Germany would suffer a
+blow from which she could hardly recover.
+
+There is another but a less important reason why Silesia must be held by
+the Germans. Silesia is, as it were, a wedge between the Slav peoples of
+the east and those of Bohemia. Should Russia conquer Silesia, she would
+be able to join hands with the Slavs of Bohemia, and it is possible that
+they might rise in her favour. These Czechs,[34] as they are called,
+formerly dwelt in the Carpathians, but were driven westward into Bohemia
+about 570 A.D. They number about eight millions, and they speak a
+Slavonic language. About 37 per cent. of the population of Bohemia
+consists of Germans, and between them and the Czechs there is a bitter
+race enmity, which has grown greatly in recent years.
+
+[Footnote 26: _Kosh-tsyūsh´ko_, born 1746, died 1817. In 1794 he raised
+the standard of Polish independence at Cracow, defeated the Russians,
+and defended Warsaw for two months. He was defeated, and, after being
+imprisoned, was released and retired to Switzerland, where he died.]
+
+[Footnote 27: _P´shé-mee-sell_.]
+
+[Footnote 28: _Var´show_.]
+
+[Footnote 29: _Nā-ref´_.]
+
+[Footnote 30: _Var´tay_.]
+
+[Footnote 31: _Goom-bin´-nen_.]
+
+[Footnote 32: See p. 80, vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 33: See p. 44, vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 34: _Che_ch_s_. Pronounce the _ch_ underlined as in the Scottish
+word "loch."]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER IX.
+
+  VICTORY AND DEFEAT.
+
+
+We must now learn something of the fighting that took place between the
+Russians and the Germans during the months of August and September.
+
+Believing that the Russians would be unable to attack them for several
+weeks, the Germans had left but three army corps to defend East Prussia.
+Imagine their surprise when, as early as 3rd August, bands of Cossacks
+came spurring across the border, raiding the frontier posts, and driving
+off their garrisons. The inhabitants of the villages were terrified at
+the very name of Cossack, and fled at their approach. These Cossack
+raids heralded the approach of two Russian armies. On 7th August a swarm
+of aeroplanes flew across the border near Suwalki,[35] and soon
+afterwards General Rennenkampf's army set foot on German soil.
+Rennenkampf was a dashing soldier, who had made a reputation in the war
+against Japan, and his army was just as eager and enthusiastic as he
+was. In the ranks were large numbers of young volunteers belonging to
+the best families of Russia, and it is said that it included some women
+who had cut off their hair and had enlisted as men. Rennenkampf marched
+north-east to strike at the railway which you see on the map running
+from Kowno[36] to Königsberg. His first object was to reach Insterburg,
+the junction of all the railways in East Prussia. If this town could be
+captured, Königsberg itself might be besieged.
+
+At the same time another Russian army, under General Samsonov, who had
+won renown as the commander of the Siberian Cossacks in the war with
+Japan, began to push into East Prussia from Mlava,[37] which you will
+find close to the border line, at the south of the Masurian Lake
+Region. He had a large force, probably consisting of five army corps,
+and his object was to march northward along the fringes of the lake
+district towards Königsberg. Now let us see how these two armies carried
+out their mission.
+
+Rennenkampf first met the enemy in force at Gumbinnen, about fifteen
+miles to the east of Insterburg. All round the town there are great pine
+woods, between which are fields of rye, studded with windmills. The
+Germans had entrenched themselves near the town, and had cut down
+thousands of trees, which they had piled up in front of their trenches
+to form obstacles.
+
+The battle began on Sunday morning, 16th August. Again and again the
+Russians charged the trenches, and again and again they were beaten
+back. A fierce artillery duel raged, and it was soon clear that the
+Russian guns and gunners could more than hold their own against the
+Germans. All day the white-tunicked infantry of the Tsar hammered at the
+German trenches in front, while their comrades were working steadily
+round the left flank. Towards sunset the Germans found themselves almost
+enveloped; they were forced to retreat, and began streaming back towards
+the town, with the Cossacks hard on their rear. The retreat soon became
+a rout, and many prisoners and machine guns were captured.
+
+The Cossacks vigorously followed up the flying foe, and swept all before
+them, cutting and thrusting at the little knots who vainly offered
+resistance, fighting their way through blazing villages, and keeping the
+beaten Germans on the run. Try as they might, the Germans could not stay
+the torrent of the Russian advance. They tried to rally at Insterburg,
+their next line of defence, but all in vain, and were obliged to fall
+back for safety on the fortress of Königsberg. As they retreated a new
+peril appeared, and their flight became so rapid that they were obliged
+to abandon food, stores, ammunition, and guns.
+
+[Illustration: The Tsar and his Commander-in-Chief, the Grand Duke
+Nicholas.
+
+_Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd._]
+
+What was this new peril? While Rennenkampf was attacking the enemy,
+Samsonov's army had advanced northward with as much speed as the
+difficult nature of the ground would permit, and on 20th August his
+vanguard came upon the 20th German Corps strongly entrenched on a line
+about forty miles to the south-east of Königsberg. The Russians
+advanced as furiously and as doggedly as they had done at Gumbinnen,
+and, aided by their artillery, carried the German trenches with hand
+grenades[38] and the bayonet. About eleven next morning the German right
+was turned, and the left fled towards the south-west, while the
+remainder, hotly pursued by Cossacks, hurried towards Königsberg. When
+the news of this defeat reached the Germans who were retreating farther
+north, and they learnt that a new army was on their flank, they hastened
+with all speed towards Königsberg.
+
+These two victories made the Russians masters of East Prussia. They
+occupied Tilsit, on the Niemen--where, you will remember, Napoleon and
+Alexander of Russia met on a raft in the river to make plans for
+dividing Europe between them[39]--and marched on Königsberg. There was
+great joy in Russia when these victories were reported, and on the 27th
+of August a sum of £20,000 was raised by the sale of flags in
+Petrograd,[40] to be given to the first Russian soldier who entered
+Berlin.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now for the sequel. The loss of East Prussia was a bitter blow to the
+Kaiser and his nobility. The knowledge that this precious Prussian land
+was in the hands of the enemy could not be hidden from the German
+people, for there were crowds of refugees in the Berlin streets,
+bemoaning the loss of their farms and villages. Immediately the General
+Staff decided that East Prussia must be recovered at all costs. They had
+no need to look far for the general who was to undertake this task.
+There was only one soldier who could do it--von Hindenburg, a veteran of
+1870, a tough, hardy man, although nearer seventy years of age than
+sixty. He had made a special study of East Prussia; it was his hobby,
+and he knew it like the palm of his hand. He had spent weeks for many
+years past in travelling over this wilderness of lake and marsh,
+sometimes on foot, sometimes in a motor car. He knew every road, every
+quagmire, and every bog-hole. He had tested every path by which an army
+could pass and every position where a gun could be brought to bear.
+There was not a charcoal burner or a forest ranger in the whole of East
+Prussia who knew the country so well as he. When it was proposed to
+drain the region and clear it of forests so that it might become a rich
+agricultural land, he went to the Kaiser and protested strongly. This
+eastern wilderness, he said, was worth many army corps and a dozen
+fortresses to Germany, for it was a great natural bulwark against
+Russia. The Kaiser listened to him, and the scheme was abandoned.
+
+Von Hindenburg had on many occasions played the mimic game of war in
+East Prussia, for he had commanded the German armies during manoeuvres
+in this region. He used to divide his troops into two armies, the one
+wearing a white ribbon, the other a red ribbon. The "Reds" were the
+Russians; the "Whites" were the Germans. When the "Reds" knew that von
+Hindenburg was in command against them, they used to say, "To-day we
+shall have a bath." They knew that everything that they could do would
+be unavailing: whether they attacked from the left or from the right,
+whether they made a frontal attack, or whether they fell upon the
+"Whites" from the rear, whether they were few or many, the end was
+always the same. Von Hindenburg was sure to drive them into a place from
+which they could not extricate themselves. When the signal was given to
+break off the manoeuvres, the "Reds" were sure to be found standing up
+to the neck in water. No wonder the soldiers nicknamed him "Papa
+Coldbaths."
+
+A new army was gathered at Danzig, composed of the troops which had
+retired south-west, of the troops in Königsberg who were carried to
+Danzig by sea, and of reinforcements picked up in various parts of
+Germany. Later on several army corps were withdrawn from the western
+theatre of war. Altogether, von Hindenburg had about 150,000 men with
+which to begin the reconquest of East Prussia. He pushed forward from
+the line of the Vistula by the three railways which you see marked on
+the map. Along these three lines he rushed men, guns, and ammunition
+with great speed.
+
+[Illustration: Russian Infantry Officers saluting the Tsar.
+
+_Photo, Record Press._]
+
+You know that after the battle of Gumbinnen, Rennenkampf had advanced
+towards Königsberg, which is a very strong fortress with an open channel
+to the sea. He was now waiting for his siege train to arrive before
+beginning to attack it. Meanwhile Samsonov seemed as if he were bent on
+seizing the crossings of the Vistula. In order to do this he marched
+his troops south towards the important railway junction of Osterode,
+which stands on the margin of the lake region. He had five army
+corps--that is, about 200,000 men--but they could not deploy owing to
+the lakes and swamps which lay between the roads. His columns could not,
+therefore, come to the assistance of each other in case of attack.
+
+Von Hindenburg chose his ground with all the local knowledge and skill
+which was expected of him. He extended his line from Soldau to the
+north-west of Allenstein, so that his front was barred by lakes and
+swamps, over which his artillery had a great sweep of fire. He made his
+front still stronger by a string of forts built of trees cut down in the
+forests. Then he stood on the defensive, and Samsonov began to attack
+him. Towards the end of August there was a great struggle, which is
+known by the Russians as the battle of Osterode, and by the Germans as
+the battle of Tannenberg, from the name of a little village on a
+fir-clad dune in the neighbourhood.
+
+Von Hindenburg was in no hurry. He let the Russians wear themselves down
+by repeated attacks on his almost impregnable position, and then, when
+the right hour arrived, he counter-attacked. First, he forced back the
+Russian left, and cut it off from the one good road that led southwards
+to Russian Poland. Samsonov made a desperate effort to regain this road,
+and in order to do so was obliged to withdraw troops from his centre. He
+failed, and meanwhile his centre was pushed back into the terrible lake
+country to the east.
+
+Von Hindenburg's attack on the Russian left was a feint to cover a great
+turning movement on the Russian right. All the time the fighting was
+proceeding on the left, the wily old general was busy preparing for
+another Sedan. Motor lorries, omnibuses, and taxi-cabs in large numbers
+had been collected from all parts of Germany, and these were filled with
+men, guns, and Maxims, and hurried north beyond Allenstein, in order to
+curve round the Russian right. The result was that Samsonov's right was
+pushed back into the almost roadless country where von Hindenburg had
+over and over again left the "Reds" of his manoeuvre days up to their
+necks in water.
+
+I need not describe the battle in detail. By 28th and 29th August the
+bulk of the Russians were bundled into the mire of the swamps. As they
+retired, their guns sank up to the axle trees, and had to be abandoned.
+Horses struggled in the bogs, and whole regiments were driven into the
+lakes and drowned in the water or choked in the quagmires. Meanwhile the
+pitiless German guns were working terrible havoc on those who survived.
+The 31st of August was the final day of the battle. A bursting shell
+slew Samsonov and two of his corps commanders, while elsewhere several
+other Russian leaders were lying dead or wounded. The whole Russian army
+was smashed to ruin. Out of 200,000 men, no less than 140,000 were
+killed, wounded, or captured. The Germans took between 80,000 and 90,000
+prisoners--about the same number which fell into their hands at Sedan.
+Not a Russian gun was saved, and the miserable remnants of the army
+crossed their own frontier as a mere rabble. Never was there a more
+complete and decisive victory. Von Hindenburg became the idol of the
+German people, and his triumph was well deserved. By his great skill and
+knowledge of the country he had hopelessly beaten a bigger force than
+his own.
+
+Without losing a day, von Hindenburg pushed northwards in the attempt to
+cut off Rennenkampf's army. Rennenkampf, however, fell back steadily
+from Königsberg, and by rapid marching managed to reach the safety of
+the frontier forts.
+
+So ends the tragic story of Russia's invasion of East Prussia. The whole
+campaign was a mistake. Russia was not yet ready for great adventures;
+she had tried to do too big a job with too small a force, and she had
+failed. Nevertheless she had not failed in vain; she had relieved the
+pressure on the Allies in the west, and had learned those lessons of
+bitter experience which were to serve her well in the future.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now we must turn to the province of Galicia, which projects south of
+Russian Poland, just as East Prussia projects to the north. Early in
+August, while the Russians were conquering in East Prussia, the
+Austrians advanced two main armies, said to consist of more than a
+million men, into Russian Poland. The first of these armies pushed
+north-east, and met a smaller Russian army under General Ivanov, who
+gave way before it, and retired slowly eastwards towards the valley of
+the Bug. The 2nd Austrian Army, which was operating to the north and
+south of Lemberg, had, however, to meet two Russian armies--the more
+northerly one under General Ruzsky, the more southerly one under
+General Brussilov. These armies, each of which numbered about a quarter
+of a million men, came into touch with each other towards the end of
+August, and assailed the 2nd Austrian Army both from the north and from
+the east. Their object was to capture Lemberg, the key of the road and
+railway system of Eastern Galicia. Lemberg is not a fortress; its sole
+defence was the 2nd Austrian Army. During the last week of August
+Ruzsky's army fought its way across the Upper Bug, while Brussilov's
+army, after a fight which lasted nearly three days, stormed the Austrian
+trenches and entered the town of Tarnapol, where fierce hand-to-hand
+combats took place in the streets. Tarnapol was captured, and Brussilov,
+still fighting fiercely, crossed the Dneister and wheeled northwards to
+Lemberg.
+
+[Illustration: Map showing the situation towards the end of August.
+
+Solid black oblongs show Austrians; open oblongs, Russians. C, General
+Ivanov's army; D, General Ruzsky's army; E, General Brussilov's army; F,
+2nd Austrian Army; G, 1st Austrian Army.]
+
+The battle of Lemberg began on the 1st of September, and lasted two
+days. Brussilov struck hard on the Austrian right, while Ruzsky's right
+came sweeping round to the north of the city and drove in the Austrian
+left. So far bent back were the Austrian wings that the general decided
+to abandon the city and fall back through the wooded country that lay
+between him and the Carpathians. The Russians pursued him: the Cossacks
+did great execution on the rearguard, and the big guns played
+remorselessly on the retreating enemy. Soon the retreat became very
+hurried; immense numbers of prisoners and scores of guns were captured.
+Wherever the Austrians made a stand, they cut down tall trees and piled
+them up to form platforms for their machine guns, which were fixed
+between the branches. The Russians swept upon these obstacles with the
+bayonet, and the Austrians fled so quickly that they had no time to get
+the guns out of the trees. Scores of them, with their supplies of
+ammunition, fell into the hands of the Russians, and were immediately
+turned on the flying foe.
+
+[Illustration: Russian Attack on Lemberg, September 1-2.]
+
+At half-past ten on the morning of the 3rd of September the Russian flag
+was hoisted above the town hall of Lemberg. Most of the inhabitants of
+this city are Slavs, and they greeted the victors with loud shouts of
+joy. In the city the Russians found huge stores of every kind, and I am
+glad to say there was no such looting and destruction as disgraced the
+Germans in Belgium. The Russians behaved admirably, and the Grand Duke
+Nicholas issued a proclamation to the Slavs of Austria-Hungary, telling
+them that the Russians had come as their deliverers, and that
+thenceforward they were to live in peace and union with their brothers
+in blood.
+
+"It was a glorious victory." The Russians had captured over 100,000
+prisoners and more than 2,500 guns. The Austrians said that they had
+been defeated because the Slavs in their army had played them false; but
+the real reason was that the Austrian generals had calculated on the
+slowness of the Russian mobilization, and had advanced too far into
+Russia in separate armies which did not work together. The Russian
+generals showed great skill, especially Ruzsky, when he pushed in
+between the two Austrian armies, and thus divided them and threatened
+the flanks of both. The Russian soldiers showed wonderful spirit and
+endurance during the fighting. They made long and trying marches, and
+held out for days in their trenches with but little food. So eager were
+they that they could hardly be kept back from charging with the bayonet
+at the first sight of the enemy.
+
+By 14th September Brussilov had sent his left wing into the Carpathian
+passes, and his centre and right advanced along the railway towards
+Przemysl. The Russians were now masters of a large part of Eastern
+Galicia. The Poles of Galicia received the conquerors with open arms,
+and all the Slav races in Austria-Hungary began to take heart of grace.
+
+Meanwhile what had happened to the 1st Austrian Army, now completely cut
+off from the routed 2nd Army? You will remember that Ivanov's army had
+retired before the 1st Austrian Army to the river Bug. Against the
+centre of this army the 1st Austrian Army, strongly reinforced, made an
+attack about the 4th of September. The attack failed, and then the
+Russians advanced with such effect that the Austrians were taken in
+flank and forced to flee southward in utter confusion. Thus you see that
+while the invasion of Eastern Prussia had ended so disastrously, the
+campaigns in Galicia were crowned with complete success.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+We must not forget that Serbia is also included in the eastern theatre
+of war. Though this chapter is already long, I must find space to tell
+you in a few words how these gallant peasant soldiers were faring. You
+will remember that the great war began with the quarrel between Austria
+and Serbia, and that on 29th July the Austrians began to bombard
+Belgrade.[41]
+
+The Serbians were not ready for war, and were obliged to withdraw from
+their capital and transfer the seat of government to Nish.[42] Their
+troops took up a strong position on the hills to the south of Belgrade,
+and the Austrians massed their armies along the north bank of the Danube
+just below Belgrade, and on the line of the river Save. Other Austrian
+forces were stationed on the Bosnian frontier, along the line of the
+Drina.[43]
+
+When Russia made Serbia's cause her own the Austrians were faced, like
+the Germans, with war on two frontiers. In order to meet the bigger and
+more powerful enemy, they were obliged to draw off many of their best
+troops and attempt to hold the Serbians with about 100,000 men. When the
+Austrians tried to cross the Danube east of Belgrade they were beaten
+back by the Serbians with great loss, one regiment being almost entirely
+wiped out. There were numerous other small fights, and in all of them
+the Serbians held their own.
+
+In the middle of August the Serbians and Montenegrins advanced on
+Bosnia, in the attempt to reach Sarajevo, the capital; but the most
+serious fighting took place along the line of the Lower Save, where, on
+the 17th, the Austrians were badly beaten, and lost many guns and
+prisoners. Shortly afterwards the Austrian army of Bosnia also suffered
+defeat, and was driven over the Drina after a battle which lasted four
+days. By the end of August the Serbians were able to claim that they had
+cleared the Austrians out of their country, and that they were slowly
+advancing into Bosnia.
+
+[Footnote 35: _Soo-val´kee_.]
+
+[Footnote 36: _Kov´no_.]
+
+[Footnote 37: _M'lā´var_.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Hollow balls of iron filled with explosives, and burst by
+means of a lighted fuse. They are usually thrown at the enemy by hand.
+The grenadiers were so called because they were specially trained to
+throw grenades.]
+
+[Footnote 39: See p. 63, vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 40: The German name of St. Petersburg was changed to the
+Russian form, Petrograd, by order of the Tsar on September 1.]
+
+[Footnote 41: See p. 32, vol. i.]
+
+[Footnote 42: 130 miles south-east of Belgrade. It was the birthplace of
+Constantine the Great.]
+
+[Footnote 43: See map on p. 8, vol. i.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER X.
+
+  STORIES OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS.
+
+
+Russian soldiers have long been famous for the contempt with which they
+regard wounds and death. The few stories which have been told of their
+exploits in the battles described in Chapter VIII. prove clearly that
+they have lost none of their old virtues of daring and devotion.
+
+Our first story is that of a Cossack who attacked twenty-seven Uhlans
+single-handed, and managed to kill eleven of them. In this fight he
+received nine wounds in the chest and the back, and lost a finger.
+"These are not wounds," he said. "The Germans thought I was cornered. I
+gave them no time to attack me. An officer tried to cut me down, but he
+was too slow. I hit him over the head, but his helmet protected him.
+Then I got angry, and killed him. The soldiers were charging me with
+lances, so I seized one of the lances, and drove it into them, one after
+another. I was too angry to feel the blows and thrusts which they gave
+me. Then five friends came up and gave me assistance, and the Germans
+fled."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Let me tell you how Colonel Alexieff fought for the flag in East
+Prussia. When the standard-bearer of his regiment was killed he seized
+the flag and cried, "On, friends, after me!" and though wounded in the
+neck by shrapnel, still pushed ahead of his men. Bullets rained round
+him, but his courage so inspired his comrades that with loud cries of
+"For the Tsar! for our leader!" they rushed forward and routed the
+Germans opposed to them.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+I have already mentioned that the Kaiser has an estate in East Prussia,
+which he visits every autumn for shooting elk and other big game. This
+estate comprises a model stud farm and an enormous garden. After the
+Russians had captured Tilsit and were pushing on to Insterburg, they
+occupied the Kaiser's shooting-box, and the exhausted soldiers lay down
+to sleep, muddy as they were, on the royal carpets. When they left this
+fine billet the next day they said, "Thank you, William; we slept well,
+but nevertheless we shall fight you." A Russian officer wrote home as
+follows: "After a series of terrible battles we are reposing on
+William's magnificent estate. Undreamt-of beauty is all round us. The
+place is splendidly equipped, so that we have at our disposal everything
+we could wish for, and we are riding his celebrated horses, and enjoying
+delicious dinners prepared by his man cook. Especially beautiful is the
+park, with its glorious shady avenues. It swarms with rare animals, and
+birds are flying free everywhere. By the way, our soldiers have caught a
+parrot belonging to William. It speaks excellent German, and our men are
+teaching it to say very uncomplimentary things about its imperial
+master."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Amongst the Russian officers was a well-known opera-singer, who was in
+charge of a battery. To encourage his men, he sang many military songs
+about Peter the Great,[44] and the soldiers joined in the choruses. On
+one occasion, when his guns were attacked by a strong German force, the
+guns were ordered to retreat. One battery was unable to do so, because
+the horses had all been killed or wounded. Seeing this, the singing
+officer shouted, "We can't leave any guns behind, boys!" He sprang upon
+a horse, and some of his men followed his example; then they dashed
+towards the stranded guns and moved them into safety.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+You will be interested in the following stories, which give you some
+idea of the Cossack's methods of fighting. An Austrian officer says:
+"Our cavalry advanced to the battle with ardour, but the Cossacks fell
+on us like a whirlwind. Hardly were we in touch before a Cossack gave me
+three rapid blows--one with his lance, the other with his sabre, and the
+third with his fist. How he did it I do not know, but he did not even
+give me time to fall. He seized me by the collar, lifted me on to his
+horse and carried me off. His comrades acted similarly, and a good
+number of our hussars were thus taken prisoners."
+
+[Illustration: A Russian Bayonet Charge in East Prussia.
+
+This picture represents an incident which took place on the evening of
+August 26, 1914, and was witnessed by an Englishman who was managing a
+great German estate in East Prussia when the war broke out. The
+Russians, as shown above, charged the German centre with the bayonet and
+put it to flight. The artist made this drawing under the guidance of the
+Englishman who actually saw the fight.
+
+_(From the picture by F. Matania. By permission of The Sphere.)_]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+How a Cossack put a German patrol to flight is told in the following
+story: "The Cossack was on the lookout, when he was surprised by a party
+of Germans. They saw that he was alone, and they swooped on him from a
+neighbouring wood, headed by an officer waving his sword. Instead of
+making a race for his life, the Cossack spurred his horse and dashed off
+right across the path of the Germans. He skilfully calculated the
+distance, and just as the German officer got ready to sabre him at full
+gallop he whispered, '_Kshi_, _kshi_,' which every Cossack horse
+understands. The horse stopped dead still. The German could not stop his
+horse at such a speed, and just as he galloped past the Cossack
+'removed' him with a deadly lunge of his lance. Seeing their leader thus
+overthrown, the Germans turned tail and fled." This story will remind
+you of the way in which Robert the Bruce slew De Bohun at the battle of
+Bannockburn.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+There seems to be no end to the ingenuity of the Cossack when he is in a
+tight place. Listen to the following story: "A Cossack was captured near
+Lodz,[45] and, with his horse, was taken to the German camp, where man
+and beast were objects of curiosity. A Uhlan officer tried to put the
+Cossack horse through its paces, but it declined to budge. 'Let me get
+on with you,' suggested the Cossack. There were too many German soldiers
+about for escape to be dreamt of, so the officer laughingly agreed. As
+soon as the Cossack was in the saddle he uttered a couple of words, and
+the horse dashed off through the astonished Germans at full gallop. No
+one dared to shoot for fear of killing the officer. That night the
+Cossack joined his company with the Uhlan officer as his prisoner."
+
+[Footnote 44: The greatest of all the Russian Tsars; born 1672, died
+1725. He travelled abroad for two years, during which he learned
+shipbuilding in Holland and England. It was he who built St. Petersburg
+in order to have "a window looking out on Europe."]
+
+[Footnote 45: Great industrial town of Russian Poland, about 75 miles
+south-west of Warsaw.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XI.
+
+  THE FIGHTING RETREAT.
+
+
+While I have been telling you about the course of events in the eastern
+theatre of war, you have, I am sure, been eager to know how our brave
+fellows were faring at Mons. At the end of Chapter IV. you learned that
+Sir John French had decided to retreat. No true soldiers ever like to
+retreat, least of all British soldiers; but retreat could not now be
+avoided unless our little army was to be completely cut off.
+
+You will remember that Sir John received a very belated and most
+unexpected telegram from General Joffre at five o'clock on Sunday
+afternoon, August 23, 1914. This telegram informed him that the French
+on his right were everywhere in retreat, and that the British forces
+were threatened by overwhelming numbers of the enemy, who were not only
+advancing on their front, but were trying to turn their flanks. By this
+time Sir John's air scouts had assured him that General Joffre's
+information was correct. To hold on any longer in his present position
+would have been reckless folly. The only way to retrieve the fortunes of
+the Allies was for the British to fall back to a strong position and
+there make a stand.
+
+Every prudent commander prepares for a retreat, for no general can
+possibly be sure of winning any battle. Napoleon once said that the
+general who went forward without having prepared a line of retreat
+deserved to be shot. Wellington, you will remember, retreated from
+Quatre Bras, and afterwards won one of the greatest battles of history.
+He had previously arranged to meet Blücher and give battle to the French
+at Waterloo, where there was ground favourable to him. In the same way
+General French had chosen and prepared a second position some miles to
+his rear, and to this line he now prepared to retire. In his first
+dispatch he tells us that the new position extended from the fortress of
+Maubeuge on the east to Jenlain on the west. It was not a good position,
+because there were so many standing crops and buildings that the
+trenches could not be well placed, and the field of fire was impeded.
+There were, however, a few places where the big guns could be posted
+well.
+
+[Illustration: Bird's-eye View of the British Line of Retreat from Mons
+to La Fère
+
+_By permission of the Sphere_.]
+
+A general order was issued that the troops were to move to the rear at
+sunrise on Monday, 24th August; but many of them were roused from their
+sleep and sent on their southward march before midnight on the 23rd.
+Already the heavy transports and the ambulances filled with wounded were
+moving as rapidly as possible towards the new position, so that the
+roads might be free for the infantry next day. You can easily understand
+that, if the British had been suddenly withdrawn, the Germans would have
+swooped down on them while they were marching in columns and unable to
+resist. Before the retirement could begin in real earnest our troops
+must check the Germans, and thus gain sufficient time to reach the new
+position before they were again attacked in force.
+
+You will remember that Binche had been abandoned, and that Sir Douglas
+Haig's force had fallen back to a long swell of ground south of the
+village of Bray. In the gray dawn of Monday morning the British troops,
+who had done a certain amount of fighting during the night, stood to
+arms. The Germans were preparing for a great attack on the British
+right, and in this direction Sir John French determined to check them.
+He ordered the 2nd Division of the First Corps, with a strong support of
+more than 120 guns, to advance and make an attack on Binche, as though
+they were determined to recapture it. Meanwhile Smith-Dorrien's Second
+Corps, which had held the line of the canal, was to fall back some
+distance and there form a new battle line, behind which the 1st
+Division, which had been so hard pressed during the previous day's
+battle, might retire to the new position. When this division was well
+upon its way, the Second Corps was to retreat and form up upon its left.
+
+From this brief account of what Sir John proposed to do, you will
+understand the great difficulty of the task imposed upon his army. There
+is nothing so difficult in warfare as to make a fighting retreat when
+pressed by superior numbers. Think of what it means. While one division
+is beating back the enemy, another division is marching to the rear; and
+when it reaches a certain point it faces about and takes up the work of
+holding the foe, while the first division marches to _its_ rear and
+prepares to bear the brunt of attack, in order that the second division
+may retire and begin the business all over again. In a fighting retreat
+there is not a moment's rest for anybody. While one part of the army is
+fighting, another part is marching; and no matter how weary the marching
+men may be, they must be ready at any moment to form a firing line,
+while their comrades in front scramble out of their trenches and hurry
+to the rear.
+
+In such a fighting retreat as this the greatest skill and judgment are
+required of the commanders. If they withdraw their men from the firing
+line too soon, the superior numbers of the enemy will drive them back on
+the marching columns and involve both in a common ruin; if they keep
+their men too long in the firing line, the enemy will probably destroy
+them or cut them off. Any error of judgment on the part of the
+commanders during such a retreat is almost sure to be fatal. The men,
+too, must be as steady as a rock. They must hold on to their positions,
+however hopeless the task may seem, and not budge until the word is
+given, even though their comrades are rapidly falling around them.
+Happily, in this retreat our commanders were cool and skilful, and our
+men were seasoned soldiers, capable of holding on with grim
+determination like British bulldogs.
+
+Several times during the retreat small British detachments failed to
+receive the order to retire. Probably the messengers carrying the order
+were shot or captured on the way. Nevertheless, these groups of men
+fought on with never a thought of retreat, until they were reduced to a
+mere handful, and further resistance was useless. Other small bodies of
+British soldiers lost their way, and some of them wandered into the
+German lines and were made prisoners. One man, David M. Kay, of the 5th
+Lancers, strayed from his comrades, and, worn out with fatigue, fell
+exhausted on the road. Later on he found a resting-place in a deserted
+carriage. Thirty-six hours went by, and then the Germans appeared and
+fired on him. Though he was alone against an armed host, he returned the
+fire and shot down six German officers before he fell, riddled with
+bullets. The French in the village hard by were so impressed by his
+dauntless courage that they buried him where he fell, and above the
+mound that marks his last resting-place set up a wooden cross. For days
+afterwards they strewed his grave with fresh flowers.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+And now the 1st Division of the First Corps began its feigned attack on
+Binche. One hundred and twenty British guns thundered forth, and the
+infantry moved briskly towards the enemy. No doubt this attack came as a
+great surprise to the Germans, who thought that the British had been
+largely reinforced in the night. While the guns were busy belching
+shrapnel on the Germans, the 2nd Division of the same corps was marching
+southwards. The attack continued until this division was well on its
+way, and then came the time for the 1st Division to retire. For the rest
+of the morning it slowly moved to the rear, holding back the enemy by
+powerful artillery fire, and acting as the rearguard to the whole of the
+British right. It reached its new position about seven in the evening.
+
+Now we must see what was happening on the British left, where, as you
+will remember, the Second Corps was stationed under Smith-Dorrien. Early
+in the morning he fell back some five miles from the line of the Condé
+Canal, until his right rested on the mining village of Frameries.[46]
+Here he picked up a British infantry brigade, which had been brought by
+rail from the lines of communication, and sent it to support his left
+flank. His task was to hold back the enemy until the British right had
+arrived at the Maubeuge position. He was to keep the enemy busily
+engaged all day, so that they could not follow up the British retreat;
+and to break off the battle at the most favourable moment, so that he
+could retire to the part of the new line which he was to hold.
+
+It was by no means an easy task. He had only between 30,000 and 40,000
+men, while the Germans numbered more than 100,000. His position,
+however, was a good one. He found a low railway embankment which gave
+him a ready-made rampart for the right of his line, and a clear field of
+fire all along the front. To his left were many colliery lines, with
+similar embankments and buildings that gave a good deal of cover, and
+beyond them fields of standing corn.
+
+All the long morning the British held their front against attack after
+attack of the enemy, though an awful storm of shrapnel continually burst
+upon them. The weakest part of the line was the left, where the Germans
+were trying to work round the flank. So fiercely were our troops also
+assailed round about Frameries, that about half-past seven in the
+morning their general sent an urgent message to the Commander-in-chief
+begging for support. Sir John French had no reserves except General
+Allenby's cavalry division, and these he now sent to help the
+hard-pressed division.
+
+The first of the cavalry to go into action were the 4th Dragoon Guards,
+the 9th Lancers, and the 18th Hussars, who were under the command of
+Colonel De Lisle, the hero of many a dashing charge in South Africa. At
+first the troopers fought on foot, but soon Colonel De Lisle thought
+that he saw a good chance of charging the flank of the German infantry.
+The men of the 9th Lancers were ordered to mount and prepare to charge,
+while the other cavalry regiments acted as supports.
+
+[Illustration: The Charge of the 9th Lancers at Audregnies.
+
+_From the picture by Dudley Tennant._]
+
+Away galloped the lancers, shouting with joy at the prospect of coming
+to hand-grips with the enemy. Alas! all unknown to them the Germans had
+protected their flank with many lines of barbed wire. When the lancers
+were about five hundred yards from the enemy's flank they found
+themselves held up by this terrible entanglement. They tried hard to
+break through, but in vain, and all the while a death-storm raged about
+them from rifle and battery. "We simply galloped like rabbits in front
+of a line of guns," said a lancer who survived, "men and horses falling
+in all directions." The enemy could not be reached, and nothing could
+live in that zone of death. The lancers were forced to retire, and as
+they did so the guns caught them on the flank and made awful havoc
+amongst them. Only a hundred lancers returned out of eight hundred and
+fifty. It was the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava all over
+again--just as gallant, just as thrilling, and just as useless!
+
+The remnants of the regiment, including the squadron of Captain Francis
+Grenfell, found shelter under the lee of a light railway embankment.
+Here they found an artillery officer and a dozen gunners of the 119th
+Royal Field Artillery, whose battery had been put out of action by
+German shells. They were the sole survivors. Captain Grenfell had
+already been badly wounded in the hand and the leg, but he was
+determined to prevent the guns from falling into the hands of the enemy.
+He rode out amidst the hailstorm of shot and shell to see if there was a
+way by which they could be withdrawn to the British lines, and having
+discovered a road, walked his horse back so that his men might not think
+the risk too great.
+
+As soon as he was back under the shelter of the embankment he called for
+volunteers. He reminded his lancers that the 9th had saved the guns at
+Maiwand,[47] and had more than once come to the rescue of artillery in
+South Africa. Every man responded to his call; all were eager to have a
+hand in this glorious exploit. Leaving their horses behind them, they
+rushed out to the stranded guns; and, working with a will, hauled one of
+them over the dead bodies of the drivers, on and on, until it was safe
+from capture. Again and again they returned under a merciless fire,
+until every gun was out of danger. Hardly had the last gun been moved
+into safety when the German infantry appeared. The guns had been saved
+in the very nick of time.
+
+Captain Grenfell was afterwards awarded the Victoria Cross for this
+splendid deed of courage and resolution. Hats off to Captain Grenfell!
+
+By midday the First Corps was so far in the rear that Smith-Dorrien
+could safely begin his retreat. He fell back slowly and steadily, now
+and then halting to beat off an attack, and by nightfall reached his new
+position, after having suffered great losses. The First Corps lay to the
+right of the French village of Bavai, a place of ironworks and marble
+quarries. Its flank was protected by the fortress of Maubeuge. The
+Second Corps lay to the left, holding a line which extended to the
+village of Jenlain. The fortress was a sufficient defence for the right
+flank, and Allenby's cavalry division covered the left flank.
+
+On that Monday evening, when some of our men were beginning to entrench
+themselves, and to hope that a stand would be made against the enemy on
+the morrow, they learned, to their great disappointment, that by five
+the next morning they were to be on the road again, trudging towards
+another position which lay to the south-west. They were under the
+impression that their retirement was at an end, and that the next day
+would see them making an advance. Little did they know that they had
+only begun their retreat, and that they would have to tramp many a long,
+weary mile before that happy hour arrived. Their disappointment soon
+vanished when they heard that Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien appeared as
+bright and cheerful as ever. "Things can't be bad," they said, "or the
+general would be looking more glum than that."
+
+Why was a further retreat necessary? The Commander-in-chief knew what
+his men did not know--that the French on his right were still retiring,
+and that von Kluck was bringing up more and more men in the hope of
+turning his left. He knew that unless he continued his march southwards
+he would probably be forced into the fortress of Maubeuge, and his
+knowledge of history assured him that once an army takes shelter behind
+the guns of a fortress, and is there shut in, it runs but little chance
+of ever getting out again. You remember what happened at Metz in 1870.
+Bazaine was forced into that fortress, and was so hemmed in that he had
+to surrender with 170,000 men. Sir John French was not the man to take
+any such risk, so he ordered the retreat to continue.
+
+By sunrise on Tuesday morning our wearied soldiers were tramping along
+the dusty roads towards the south-west. As the sun rose higher and
+higher in the sky the heat became more and more intense, and the men
+felt the strain very much; but they plodded on with that stubbornness
+which they always display when they are in a tight place. The First
+Corps marched by roads to the east of the Forest of Mormal, a woodland
+about one-fifth of the area of our New Forest, and the Second Corps by
+roads to the west of it. Allenby's cavalry, which covered the exposed
+western flank, had a few skirmishes with Uhlans; but the Germans did not
+harass the retreat to any great extent.
+
+An army chaplain gives us a very vivid account of what he saw during the
+retirement. He writes as follows:--
+
+    "Horses and men, transport and guns, an endless procession they
+    passed, blackened with grime, bearing evident signs of the past
+    few days' fighting. But the men were in good spirits. They were
+    retreating, but this was not a defeated army. 'Wait till we get
+    to a position we can hold, and then we'll give them socks,' was
+    the sort of thing one heard from the ranks as they passed. It
+    was simply glorious country through which we marched--the forest
+    of Mormal, picturesque villages, quaint old farmhouses, and
+    village churches dating from the twelfth century; and everywhere
+    the roads lined with fine avenues of trees--sometimes tall
+    poplars, and at other times apple and plum trees laden with
+    fruit. But the country was deserted, crops standing in the
+    fields, the villages empty, the houses locked and barricaded."
+
+While the columns were on the march German aeroplanes frequently flew
+over them. A private of the 1st Royal West Kent Regiment thus describes
+a sight which greatly interested him and his comrades:--
+
+    "I saw a duel in the air between French and German aeroplanes.
+    It was wonderful to see the Frenchman manoeuvre to get the upper
+    position of the German, and after about ten minutes or a quarter
+    of an hour the Frenchman got on top and blazed away with a
+    revolver on the German. He injured him so much as to cause him
+    to descend, and when found he was dead. The British troops
+    buried the airman and burnt the aeroplane. During that day we
+    were not troubled by any more German aeroplanes."
+
+[Footnote 46: _Frā-meh-ree´._]
+
+[Footnote 47: Place 35 miles west of Kandahar, Afghanistan; the scene of
+a British defeat by the Afghans, July 27, 1880.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XII.
+
+  A GLORIOUS STAND.
+
+
+The position to which the British were now slowly retiring was in the
+neighbourhood of Le Cateau,[48] to the south-east of Cambrai.[49] Your
+geography book tells you that Cambrai gave its name to the fine linen or
+muslin which was first made in the fifteenth century, and is known as
+cambric. Le Cateau has important woollen and merino spinning-mills, and
+figures in British history as the place where peace was signed between
+England, France, and Spain in the second year of Queen Elizabeth's
+reign. The proposed British lines extended from Cambrai through Le
+Cateau to Landrecies,[50] on the Sambre. Landrecies is famous as the
+birthplace of Dupleix,[51] who founded French power in India. There is a
+bronze statue to his memory in the little town.
+
+The ground had been partly prepared and entrenched on the previous day;
+but Sir John French tells us in a dispatch that, owing to the
+ever-increasing numbers of the enemy, he had grave doubts as to the
+wisdom of making a stand before he had shaken off the foe. Early as the
+start had been, it was late in the day before the first of the troops
+from the north reached the new line, and night had fallen when the last
+of them came in. By this time a new British division had reached Le
+Cateau. It had been brought up by train, and was now hurried off to
+protect the left flank of the retreat.
+
+The moment our weary men reached their position they were set to work
+entrenching their front. Then they had supper, and lay down for that
+long sleep which they sorely needed. There was a gap in the British
+line which Sir John French meant to fill up, but "the men were
+exhausted, and could get no farther on without rest." By nine o'clock
+all was peaceful along the front of the Second Corps, and on the right
+the men of the First Corps were settling down for a night's rest. Half
+an hour later there came a sudden alarm. The silence was broken by the
+zip-zip of rifles, the roar of guns, and the whine of shells as they
+flew towards our lines. The Germans were making a night attack in force
+on the British right.
+
+The night was dark; the sky was thick with clouds; a drizzle of rain set
+in, and soon developed into a downpour. Behind their cavalry screen the
+enemy had pushed forward a vanguard of North Germans, who had marched
+rapidly through the leafy shades of the Forest of Mormal, where they
+were hidden from our airmen, and were able to advance with less fatigue
+than along the sun-baked roads amidst clouds of choking dust. The
+Germans were, therefore, fairly fresh when they formed up along the
+margin of forest which lies close upon the outskirts of Landrecies. They
+advanced in heavy column through the pouring rain and the blackness of
+the night, holding their fire and drawing nearer and nearer, confident
+that the harassed and worn-out British could make no long stand against
+them.
+
+The 4th British Brigade, consisting of the 2nd Grenadiers, the 2nd and
+3rd Coldstreams and the 1st Irish Guards, held Landrecies. About 9:30
+the pickets of the Coldstreams, who were guarding the road from the
+forest, heard the dull tramp of armed men. They cried out, "Who goes
+there?" and a voice replied in French, "We are the French. Do not fire."
+The interpreter with the British was not satisfied with the accent of
+the man who replied, and he asked the officer to repeat the challenge.
+This he did, and was at once knocked off his feet by the foremost
+"Frenchman." Then the Germans rushed forward, swept away the pickets,
+and poured into the narrow streets of the town.
+
+For a few minutes there was confusion amongst the Guards, who were
+caught unawares. Then their splendid discipline told. They opened a
+brisk fire, and soon the first line of the Germans was hurled back. On
+they came again in enormous numbers, until the streets were thronged
+with them. The Guards lay on the ground across the road, and a stream
+of bullets flew from their rifles; while the machine guns, some on the
+road and others on the housetops, tore blood-red lanes through the dense
+masses of the advancing enemy.
+
+The Germans were beaten back, but they rallied and came on again, while
+other columns tried to work round to the rear of the town through side
+streets. Everywhere they found their way blocked by the British, and all
+night long the fight raged. Hand-to-hand combats were frequent, and
+terrible struggles were witnessed in the flickering light of the houses
+that had been fired by the German shells.
+
+[Illustration: Men of the 9th Lancers saving the Guns. (See p. 88.)
+
+_From the drawing by Dudley Tennant._]
+
+German batteries pushed up close to the town. Some of the guns began
+firing at the Coldstreams almost at point-blank range. For a moment, in
+the midst of this death hail, our gallant fellows wavered. A major,
+however, rallied them. "Don't retire, boys," he yelled; "come on up."
+And the men advanced again. Well-aimed shots killed the enemy's gunners,
+and the bodies of a thousand German dead cumbered the streets.
+
+Von Kluck's vanguard had been checked; it had hoped to rush the town
+easily, but it had miscalculated the strength of British valour and
+endurance. Shortly after midnight the Germans knew that they had failed,
+and gradually their firing died away. Then the Guards flung themselves
+down amidst the flaming houses and the dead and dying, and snatched what
+slumber they could.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+While the Guards at Landrecies were adding a new and glorious page to
+their proud record, there was heavy fighting at Maroilles,[52] a little
+to the north-east, where Sir Douglas Haig's 1st Division was holding a
+difficult position. A message was sent to Sir John French begging for
+reinforcements. He had got into touch with two French reserve divisions
+on his right, and now he urged them to come up with all speed. To the
+men struggling desperately at Maroilles the French seemed terribly slow
+in arriving. At length, to their great relief, they heard the sound of
+distant firing, and knew that support was at hand. Partly by the help of
+the French, but mainly owing to the skilful generalship of Sir Douglas
+Haig, the First Corps was withdrawn from its perilous position.
+
+At Cambrai, the newly-joined brigade which was protecting the left flank
+was also in action. A soldier of the Connaught Rangers thus describes
+the fighting in which he was engaged:--
+
+    "It was a grand time we had, and I wouldn't have missed it for
+    lashins of money.
+
+    "It was near to Cambrai where we had our best time.
+
+    "The Germans kept pressing our rearguard all the time, and at
+    last our colonel could stand it no longer, so the word was
+    passed round that we were to fight. There were at least five to
+    one, and we were in danger of being cut off.
+
+    "With that up got the colonel. 'Rangers of Connaught,' says he,
+    'the eyes of all Ireland are on you to-day, and I know you never
+    could disgrace the ould country by allowing Germans to beat you
+    while you have arms in your hands and hearts in your breasts.
+    Up, then, and at them, and if you don't give them the soundest
+    thrashing they ever got, you needn't look me in the face again
+    in this world or the next.'
+
+    "And we went for them with just what you would know of a prayer
+    to the Mother of our Lord to be merciful to the loved ones at
+    home if we should fall in the fight. We charged through and
+    through them, until they broke and ran like frightened hares in
+    terror of hounds.
+
+    "After that taste of the fighting quality of the Rangers they
+    never troubled us any more that day."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+While our worn and wearied men were sleeping the death-like sleep of
+exhaustion, Sir John French spent some of the most anxious hours of his
+life. He had intended that the retreat should be continued before dawn,
+and that Smith-Dorrien's corps, with Allenby's cavalry, should hold back
+the enemy on the left while Haig's corps on the right pushed southwards.
+Now he knew that this was impossible. Before daybreak he learnt that the
+enemy was preparing to throw the bulk of his strength against
+Smith-Dorrien; some three hundred thousand Germans were moving up to
+encircle his little force, while six or seven hundred guns were being
+brought into position against it. Sir John had no supports to send to
+his left, and he had earnestly besought the commander of a French
+cavalry corps on his right to come to his aid. Alas! the horses of this
+corps were worn out, and the general was unable to move. Smith-Dorrien's
+corps must depend on itself, and stand or fall by its own exertions. If
+it fell, nothing could save the British army from destruction or
+surrender. The left of the Allies would be gone, and the retreating
+French would be at the mercy of hordes of Germans. The prospect was
+enough to make the bravest man tremble.
+
+[Illustration: The Lonely Gunner.
+
+This picture illustrates an incident during the retreat. A half-battery
+of the Royal Field Artillery, in a rather exposed position, greatly
+galled the Germans by the accuracy of its aim, and a combined attack was
+made on it by the enemy. One by one the British guns were silenced, and
+the men who had been serving them lay dead around. At last one man alone
+was left, and he went on working the gun steadily and calmly until he
+was called away by an officer. Similar instances of resistance to the
+last man abound in the history of the Royal Field Artillery.]
+
+[Footnote 48: _Leh-kā-to´._]
+
+[Footnote 49: _Kam-bray´._]
+
+[Footnote 50: _Lon-dreh-see´_ (_n_ nasal).]
+
+[Footnote 51: _Dū-play´_ (b. 1697, d. 1763), governor of the French
+Indies. It was Clive's brilliant defence of Arcot which brought about
+the failure of his plans and led to his recall.]
+
+[Footnote 52: _Mā-rwāé._]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIII.
+
+  "THE MOST CRITICAL DAY OF ALL."
+
+
+Now dawned the fateful morning of 26th August 1914. The rain had ceased;
+the bright sun shone out; thin mists rose from the wet fields and gave
+promise of a sultry day. At sunrise the German guns began to thunder,
+and a shrapnel fire burst upon the British as though "turned on through
+a hose." The Germans were now determined to make an end of the British
+army. It had thwarted them again and again; it had refused to be beaten,
+and it would not yield. To-day, however, was to see the end of it. By
+nightfall the news of another Sedan would be flashed to all parts of the
+rejoicing Fatherland.
+
+Our men had no time to entrench properly. Most of them lay in
+unprotected fields; nevertheless they showed, as Sir John French tells
+us, "a magnificent front" to the terrific fire that burst upon them.
+Smith-Dorrien had been ordered to break off the battle and retire at the
+earliest possible moment, but he soon saw that he could not obey orders
+without the gravest risk. He must fight on and beat off the Germans
+before he could retire in safety.
+
+All day long the British infantry stood firm, firing steadily, and
+hurling back attack after attack of the enemy. Six times the Germans
+tried to break the British line, and six times they were foiled. German
+cavalry attempted to charge them, and once the horsemen of the famous
+Prussian Guard--the proudest and finest of all the Kaiser's
+troops--burst through an opening in the German firing line and dashed
+down on them, only to retire with heavy loss. Another German cavalry
+regiment rode right into the 1st Brigade, and was only driven back after
+a desperate hand-to-hand struggle, in which men and horses were mixed up
+in frightful confusion.
+
+Allenby's cavalry made several gallant charges, and so did Chetwode's
+5th Cavalry Brigade, consisting of the Scots Greys, the 12th Lancers,
+and the 20th Hussars. An officer tells us that they went through the
+enemy "like blotting paper." Though the German cavalry were big men and
+well mounted, they could not stand before the onset of our horsemen.
+
+Upon our gunners fell the heaviest task of all. They were hopelessly
+outmatched by at least four to one; yet they made a splendid fight, and
+inflicted great losses on the foe, though they suffered terribly both in
+men and horses. German shells frequently smashed gun carriages and
+wheels to matchwood, and strewed the ground with dead and mangled men.
+Some of the most heroic deeds ever known were done by our gunners that
+day. In one battery, towards the end of the fight a single gun remained
+with only one lieutenant and a man to work it. Nevertheless, they stuck
+to their posts, and fought their gun to the last.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The terrible day was wearing on; our men were holding their own, but at
+a great sacrifice of life and limb. While the Germans were making their
+frontal attacks, large bodies of their cavalry, infantry, and artillery
+were sweeping round both flanks, and the new Sedan was hourly expected.
+Unless the whole British force was to be wiped out, it must retreat; so
+about 3.30 in the afternoon Sir John gave the order, and the rearward
+movement was begun. It was full of danger, and while it was in progress
+our losses were very heavy.
+
+The artillery now made a great effort to cover the retreat, and by
+almost superhuman exertions managed to hold off the enemy while the
+infantry drew back. Then came the turn of the guns to retire, and to
+cover them Allenby's cavalry flung itself against the enemy in a series
+of furious charges. Several Victoria Crosses were gloriously won at this
+stage of the battle. Thanks to the artillery and the cavalry, all that
+was left of the Second Corps got away, and without resting dragged
+itself southwards through the August night.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+I am sure you will be interested to know what a German officer thought
+of our gallant men during this anxious and perilous time. Here is a
+report of his conversation with a Dane:--
+
+    "After we had broken through the French positions on the Belgian
+    frontier, and had got Joffre's army on the move towards the
+    south, the German army's advance appeared to be checked. It was
+    General French's army that had stayed the retreat. We ordered
+    the English lines to be stormed. Our troops dashed into them
+    with fixed bayonets, but our efforts to drive the English back
+    were in vain. They are very good at resisting a bayonet attack.
+    The English are strong people, athletic and well-developed. So
+    we decided to shoot them down; but we found that they aimed
+    remarkably well. 'Every bullet found its billet,' as they say.
+
+    "We ordered our best shots to tackle them, but the result was
+    not in our favour. Then we got all our artillery at work that
+    could be spared against them. We swept the English positions
+    with a rain of shells--a regular bombardment. When the firing
+    ceased, we expected to find that the English had fled. . . . We
+    had not heard from them for an hour.
+
+    "How can I describe our astonishment? Beyond the shell-swept
+    zone we saw English soldiers' heads moving, and they began to
+    use their rifles again as soon as the coast was clear. The
+    English _are_ a cool lot! We had to assault them again and
+    again, but in vain. We were, in fact, repulsed after having
+    actually surrounded them. Their perseverance and pluck had
+    gained their just reward. Their retirement could now be carried
+    out in an orderly way. There was now no fear of disaster to the
+    retreating army.
+
+    "Even the sight of the wounded surprised us, and commanded our
+    respect; they lay so still, and scarcely ever complained."
+
+I think you will agree with me that the German who paid this tribute to
+our men was a generous foe and a true soldier.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is an extract from the diary of a cavalry officer of the 3rd
+Cavalry Brigade. It gives you an excellent idea of the way in which the
+cavalry covered the retreat.
+
+    "Up and ready to move off at 4.30 a.m. Moved back to Le Cateau.
+    Did not enter the actual town, but went round the high ground to
+    the south of it, and took up a position on the west of it. Great
+    battle going on. Fifth Infantry Division having a bad time of
+    it, and retiring. We cover their retirement. My squadron on high
+    ground overlooking a railway embankment. See German infantry
+    advancing towards it in columns. G.O.C.,[53] on my reporting
+    this, sends me a section of guns under 'John' G. Pointed out
+    target to him, which he picks up and gets the range at once;
+    smartest bit of R.H.A.[54] work one could wish to see. . . .
+    Every shot seems to have effect. I was carefully watching
+    through my glasses; they must have lost at least a couple of
+    hundred. I could see their dead and wounded lying all over the
+    field. Anyhow, they stopped their advance in that direction, and
+    our infantry opposing them were enabled to get away. Awfully
+    impressed with the way this section of R.H.A. was handled by
+    'John' G. . . .
+
+    "We retire in a westerly direction, and manoeuvre on the flank
+    of the 5th Infantry Division. Late in the afternoon we see in
+    the distance a division of Uhlans. The general tells us he has
+    decided to take them on; but we shall charge at the trot, as our
+    horses are dead beat. We, the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, manoeuvre and
+    get the favourable ground; and the Uhlans, after having a look
+    at us, refuse the fight we offer and disappear. Cowards! Fancy a
+    division refusing to take on a brigade! Great disappointment
+    among all ranks, as we are all longing for a cavalry fight. . . .
+
+    "We retire to ----, where we arrive about 11 p.m., and halt to
+    water and feed the horses. Get some food. Every one awfully
+    tired--raining hard. The orders come that we are to march at 1
+    a.m. Explain to the men we are in rather a tight place, and that
+    in spite of fatigue every one must buck up. Men lie down on the
+    pavements and hold their horses. What a sight! Men and horses
+    absolutely exhausted, but yet there is that spirit of
+    cheerfulness which never fails Tommy Atkins even under such
+    conditions as these. It is apparent to every one that we have
+    taken the I 'knock;' with most armies one would say beaten, but
+    with Tommy Atkins you can't say that, as it would not be true,
+    as the only way to defeat him is to kill him; otherwise, he just
+    goes on suffering every hardship _without_ a grumble, and then,
+    when you think he is absolutely done, he turns round and hits
+    you. People at home don't realize and understand what heroes the
+    men are--brave, suffering every hardship without a grumble,
+    loyal, and in the highest sense true, typical Britons."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The fateful day had passed; the little British army, though its ranks
+were sorely thinned, was still unbroken and undefeated. Smith-Dorrien's
+corps had made a stand which will go down to history as a triumph of
+valour and endurance. It had resisted an army that outnumbered it by ten
+to one, and it had handled it very roughly indeed. All honour to the men
+who fought and died at Le Cateau that day, and all honour to the cool,
+determined, and unconquerable general who commanded them! Sir Horace
+Smith-Dorrien has written his name high on the scroll of fame, and
+henceforth he stands in our annals side by side with Sir John Moore[55]
+of undying memory. His proud boast is that he saved the left wing of the
+British army, and by doing so made the German conquest of France
+impossible.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Sir John French tells us that the retreat was continued far into the
+night of the 26th and through the 27th and 28th. The cavalry officer
+quoted above gives us a vivid picture of the weariness of his men and
+horses, and from the stories of others who took part in the retreat we
+learn that it was just as trying as the battle itself. The night was
+black dark, the rain was falling heavily, and the narrow roads were
+choked with guns, transport, and infantry. The men had to be shaken out
+of their sleep, but once on their feet they marched steadily.
+
+[Illustration: General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, G.C.B., D.S.O.
+
+_Photo, Russell._
+
+Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien commanded the Second Army Corps during the
+retreat from Mons. Sir John French, in his dispatch of September 7,
+ascribed to him the salvation of the left wing of the British army, and
+described him as "a commander of rare and unusual coolness, intrepidity,
+and determination." Had the left wing been rolled up, the rout of the
+whole Allied army would probably have followed.]
+
+    "There was never a halt nor a pause, though horses dropped
+    between the shafts, and men sat down exhausted by the roadside.
+    A heavy gun overturned in a ditch, but it was impossible to stay
+    and get it out; so it was rendered useless, and the disconsolate
+    gunners trekked on. When the horses could draw their loads no
+    longer, the loads were cast by the roadside. . . . I cannot give
+    a connected account of that night. The overpowering desire for
+    sleep, the weariness and ache of every fibre, and the thirst! I
+    had forgotten to be hungry, and had got past food; but I
+    thirsted as I have only thirsted once before, and that was in
+    the desert near Khartum."
+
+On moved the columns, almost at the last gasp, but still undaunted and
+bent on winning through. When the dreadful night was over, and dawn
+broke over the hills, men looked at each other and marvelled at the
+change wrought in their appearance by the terrible experiences which
+they had undergone. They were as worn and gaunt as though they were
+recovering from a serious illness.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Let me tell you a little story, to show the splendid self-restraint of
+our men even when they were suffering agonies of thirst.
+
+    "Soon after sunrise," says an officer, "we came up with two of
+    our ambulance wagons and one of our filter water-carts. The
+    wounded were in such a state of exhaustion with the long trek
+    and the awful jolting of the wagons that it was decided to make
+    some beef-tea for them, and a major rode ahead to find some farm
+    where water could be boiled. He had hardly gone when a battalion
+    of exhausted infantry came up, and as soon as they saw the
+    water-carts made a dash for them. Hastily I rode up to them, and
+    told them that there was very little water left in the carts,
+    and that it was needed for their wounded comrades. 'I am thirsty
+    myself,' I said, 'and I am awfully sorry for you chaps; but you
+    see how it is--the wounded must come first.'
+
+    "'Quite right, sir,' was the ready response. 'Didn't know it was
+    a hospital water-cart;' and, without a murmur, they went thirsty
+    on their way."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+All night long the Germans pressed closely on the British rear, and they
+were able to capture stragglers and detachments that had missed their
+way. Amongst these was a battalion of Gordon Highlanders who had taken
+the wrong road. Between one and two o'clock in the morning, when they
+were marching down a narrow lane, they were fired at from the left. They
+were under the impression that they had been fired on accidentally by
+the French, whom they supposed to be near at hand. They were mistaken.
+Dark shadowy masses of the enemy closed around them and attacked them in
+front, rear, and flanks. The Gordons made a gallant resistance, but in
+vain. They were shot down in heaps, and in a few minutes all were
+killed, wounded, or prisoners.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Still the British army dragged its slow length along the belt of low
+upland on which the Scheldt and the Sambre take their rise, and on
+Thursday morning, August 28, arrived a little to the north of St.
+Quentin,[56] which stands on rising ground on the right bank of the
+Somme. By this time the weight of the enemy's pursuit had been shaken
+off, and the wearied men could rest for a time in safety. The four days'
+battle, which began at noon on Sunday, 23rd August, had ended. The
+British army had emerged with fresh laurels from a great ordeal.
+
+[Illustration: How the Guards held Landrecies on the night of August 25,
+1914.
+
+A description of this incident is given on pp. 93 and 94. As a result of
+this magnificent defence the German vanguard was checked. "It had
+miscalculated the strength of British valour and endurance."]
+
+[Footnote 53: General Officer Commanding.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Royal Horse Artillery.]
+
+[Footnote 55: British general (b. 1761, d. 1809), hero of the famous
+retreat from Astorga to Corunna (1809). He was shot at the moment when
+the British, in sight of the sea, faced about and drove off the French,
+and was buried in the citadel at Corunna, in the north-west of Spain.
+See the famous verses, _Burial of Sir John Moore_, by Wolfe.]
+
+[Footnote 56: _San-kan-tan´_ (the _n_'s are sounded nasally).]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIV.
+
+  STORIES OF THE RETREAT FROM MONS TO ST. QUENTIN.
+
+
+From what you have read in the two previous chapters you will gather
+that, during the four days' battle which was fought between Mons and St.
+Quentin, incident crowded upon incident. You may be sure that our
+soldiers had much to say of their experiences when they wrote home, or
+when they arrived on this side of the Channel to nurse their honourable
+wounds. Before, however, I tell you some of their stories, let us learn
+what happened at Tournai. You will remember that while our men were
+holding the Condé-Mons-Binche line a French Territorial battalion was
+defending Tournai. It was by way of this town that von Kluck was trying
+to turn the British left. In order to help the French in Tournai, the
+British Commander-in-chief sent them twenty-two pieces of field
+artillery, two heavy guns, and a force which only numbered seven hundred
+all told.
+
+Tournai[57] is one of the most ancient cities of Belgium. It is as old
+as Cæsar, and its history is very warlike. Few towns have borne the
+brunt of so many sieges, and have changed hands so often. The Duke of
+Marlborough captured it in 1709. It contains one of the noblest
+cathedrals in Europe; a fine Cloth Hall, which is now a museum and
+picture gallery; a belfry with a set of chimes; and other interesting
+buildings. In 1653, near one of the old churches, a tomb was discovered
+containing the sword and other relics of Childeric I.,[58] one of the
+early kings of the Franks, a group of tribes which settled in the Lower
+Rhine valley about 250 A.D., and afterwards gave its name to France.
+Amongst the relics in the tomb were three hundred small figures in gold,
+resembling bees. When Napoleon ordered the robe in which he was crowned,
+he had it embroidered with gold bees instead of the usual French lilies.
+Tournai is one of the cleanest and pleasantest of Belgian industrial
+towns. The quays on the Scheldt are planted with trees, and the old
+walls have been turned into promenades.
+
+A civilian who witnessed the fighting at Tournai tells us that the
+French Territorials, who were only one thousand strong, had barely
+arrived, after an eleven miles' march, when they were fired on by German
+guns. The firing began at 8 a.m. on Monday, 24th August, and shortly
+afterwards the Germans entered the town. He saw them in the garden of
+the station square taking cover under the bushes and behind the statues,
+and firing along all the streets that radiate from it. Then he heard the
+quick, continuous reports of the machine guns, which, he says, sounded
+like the noise of a very loud motor-cycle engine. The French made their
+last stand before the bridges of the Scheldt. They were mainly men of
+forty, but they held their ground the whole morning against a deadly
+fire, and only gave way when they were surrounded by the Germans.
+
+Our seven hundred British with their guns were posted to the south-west
+of the town. An artillery duel began at 11, and continued fiercely until
+2.30. Shrapnel continually burst over the trenches and batteries; but
+there was no flinching, and the gunners took a fearful toll of the
+advancing foe. Reinforcements had been promised, but they failed to
+arrive. Swarms of German cavalry, not less than five thousand of them,
+now swooped upon the little band of British, who fought desperately, and
+used the bayonet with deadly effect. After an agonizing struggle of an
+hour and a half, during which the Germans rode right up to the muzzles
+of the guns, "all that was left of them," some three hundred men, fought
+their way from the field, and escaped by the Cambrai road. "The last I
+saw of one of our officers," said a survivor, "was that he had a
+revolver in his hand, and was firing away, screened by his gun. He alone
+must have accounted for a dozen Uhlans. They were falling on all sides
+of him." The British guns were captured.
+
+Such was the fine feat of arms performed by a handful of Britons at
+Tournai. They were assailed by a force that outnumbered them ten to one;
+but they stood their ground, and made a defence worthy to rank with that
+of Rorke's Drift.[59] The British soldier is never so great as when
+facing "fearful odds."
+
+[Illustration: The City of Tournai.
+
+_Photo, Central News._
+
+The scene of the heroic stand described on page 107.]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+I have already told you how the Belgian and French townsfolk and
+villagers looked upon the British as their deliverers, and how readily
+they gave them food and lodging. I am sure you can understand the
+anguish of these poor people when they saw the British retreating, and
+leaving them to the mercy of the dreaded Uhlans. In many places they
+made little bundles of their most precious belongings, and, locking up
+their houses, fled southwards. Here is an amusing story of a British
+officer's experience with a family that remained:--
+
+"After the Battle of Mons we were billeted at a large farmhouse, the
+inhabitants of which did not seem very pleased to see us. We had not
+touched any eatables for several hours, and I made the housewife
+understand that we wanted some food. She looked at us in a way which was
+not altogether an expression of friendliness, and pointing to the table,
+round which a number of men were gathered, to whom she was serving their
+meals, she said, 'After my workpeople.'
+
+"We waited patiently till the men had finished their meal, and then
+asked once more for food. But the woman merely remarked, 'After us,' and
+she and her husband prepared to eat their supper. It is rather trying to
+see somebody making an attack on a hearty meal while one has not tasted
+any food for a long time. So I demanded, in the name of the King, that
+we should be supplied with foodstuffs immediately, the more so that the
+woman seemed so unwilling to grant our wishes. The only answer she made
+was that if we were in want of food we should have to look for it
+ourselves, and try to prepare it.
+
+"The situation was rather awkward, and I was wondering why these French
+peasants were so extremely unkind towards British soldiers.
+
+"Suddenly it entered my mind that perhaps she thought we were Germans!
+At the same time I had something like a happy thought in order to prove
+that we were not. One of our men, a tall, heavy chap, who was still
+outside the house, was ordered to substitute a German helmet for his own
+cap, and to knock at the door. He did: the door was opened, we dashed
+forward, and made 'the German' a prisoner.
+
+"The whole scene changed all of a sudden. The whole family embraced us,
+almost choked us. Food and wine and dainties were supplied at once, and
+we had a most glorious time."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The following story of the retreat is told by Private Stewart of the
+Royal Scots. "After Mons," he says, "the hardships of fighting on the
+retreat began. We had little time for sleep; both day and night we
+retreated, and as they marched the men slept. If a man in front of you
+happened to stop, you found yourself bumping into him. At one place
+where we halted for the day the lady of the farmhouse was washing, so
+some of us took off our shirts to have them washed. While they were
+hanging up to dry the order came that the troops had to move on, and the
+wet garments had to be put on just as they were. Mine was dry next
+morning."
+
+A party of Royal Scots which was cut off from its main body joined up
+with the Grenadier Guards, and fought in the streets of Landrecies. The
+Germans called on them to surrender; but a Royal Scots officer replied,
+"British never surrender! Fix bayonets! Charge!" So well did they charge
+that the Germans went down before them in large numbers.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is a fine story of a young soldier of the King's Own Scottish
+Borderers. While trying to cross two planks over a canal that was being
+peppered with machine-gun fire, the youngster received a flesh wound,
+and was about to fall. Colonel Stephenson gripped him to save him from
+falling into the canal, and said, "You had better go back to the
+hospital, sonny." So he did; but scarcely had he reached the hospital
+when the Germans began shelling it, and he and the other patients had to
+beat a quick retreat. Some time later he was on sentry go by a wayside
+shrine, and was waiting for the reliefs to come round, when he saw
+Germans in the distance. He fired at them once or twice--"for luck," as
+he said--but almost immediately received another wound in the body. This
+time it was so serious that he had to be sent home.
+
+Colonel Stephenson, who is mentioned in this story, was the hero of
+another life-saving episode. During the fighting at Le Cateau one of the
+captains of his regiment fell in front of the British trenches. Without
+a moment's hesitation the colonel rushed out to carry in the captain,
+and in doing so exposed himself to a fierce fire. As he entered the
+lines with his unconscious burden the men gave him a rousing cheer.
+Later in the day he was hit, and was assisted into an ambulance wagon;
+but shortly afterwards he came out of it, in order, as he said, to make
+room for men who were worse wounded than himself. Almost immediately
+afterwards the retreat was continued, and the colonel was picked up and
+made prisoner by the Germans.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+There was scarcely an hour during the whole retreat which was not marked
+by some noble deed of self-sacrifice. A private of the 1st Cheshires
+tells us admiringly of the great pluck of a wounded lieutenant of the A
+Company. "I only know his nickname, which was 'Winkepop.' He had been
+shot through his right leg and left foot, and we cut off his boots and
+attempted roughly to bandage his wounds. As he rose to his feet, he saw
+one of our privates in distress about fifteen yards away, and seizing
+his gun, he rushed or hobbled forward to bring him in, which he managed
+to do on his back, under a murderous fire from the enemy. Having dropped
+his rifle and sword in this courageous act, he made his way back for
+them, and we missed him after that, and indeed he has not been seen
+since."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+In an earlier chapter we read of the splendid spirit of comradeship
+shown by officers to men and men to officers in the British army. A good
+instance is afforded by the letter of a private of the Yorkshire Light
+Infantry, who thus writes to General Wynn telling him of the death of
+his son, Lieutenant Wynn: "I have been asked by friends of ours to let
+you know fuller particulars of your son's death. He was my platoon
+officer, and he met his death at Landrecies. Sir, these are a few of the
+instances which made your son liked by all his men. He was a gentleman
+and a soldier. The last day he was alive we had got a cup of tea in the
+trenches, and we asked him if he would have a drink. He said, 'No; drink
+it yourselves.' And then, with a smile, he added, 'We have to hold the
+trenches to-day.' Again, at Mons we had been fighting all day, and some
+one had brought us a sack of pears and two loaves of bread. Lieutenant
+Wynn accepted only one pear and a very little bread. We noticed this. I
+had a small bottle of pickles in my haversack, and asked him to have
+some. But it was the usual answer, 'You require them yourselves.' Our
+regiment was holding the first line of trenches, and Lieutenant Wynn was
+told to hold the right of the company. Word was passed down to see if
+Lieutenant Wynn was all right, and I was just putting up my head when
+they hit me, and I heard from a neighbour that Lieutenant Wynn was hit
+through the eye and died instantly. He died doing his duty, and like the
+officer and gentleman he was."
+
+[Illustration: Ready, aye ready!
+
+_Photo, Daily Mirror._]
+
+[Footnote 57: _Toor-nay´._]
+
+[Footnote 58: Reigned from 463 to 481; the father of Clovis, who founded
+the kingdom of the Franks. His capital was at Tournai.]
+
+[Footnote 59: On the Buffalo River, Natal; scene of heroic stand by a
+handful of the 24th Regiment after the Zulus had cut up our troops
+(January 22, 1879).]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XV.
+
+  VALOROUS DEEDS AND VICTORIA CROSSES.
+
+
+A story of heroism which ought not to be forgotten is told by a drummer
+of the 1st Battalion Royal Berks Regiment. The British were attacking a
+canal bridge held by the Germans near Cambrai, and during the attack
+several men slipped down the steep river embankment and fell into the
+water, where they were in danger of drowning. Corporal Brindall of the
+Royal Berks, who was an expert swimmer, immediately plunged in and
+rescued four of them who could not swim. He left the water, and was
+climbing the embankment, when a German shell exploded close to him and
+killed him instantly. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man
+lay down his life for his friends."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is the story of a 1st East Lancashire private, who was considered
+by his comrades the luckiest man in the war. "I got hit," he writes, "by
+three bullets in about a minute. One went through my cap, one smashed
+the magazine of my rifle, and one flattened five rounds of ammunition in
+my belt. Nearly all my company wanted to shake hands with me, telling me
+that I am the luckiest man in the war. I think it was a record myself.
+They wanted to keep the cap, ammunition, and magazine; but I am keeping
+them myself to show you when I come home. So you see I have not to be
+shot with rifle bullets--at least, that is what they say here, and I
+think so myself."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+We have to piece together from various sources the story of a modest
+hero, named Jack W. Pape, of the Signal Company, Royal Engineers. In a
+letter to his relatives in Leeds he wrote: "You can say to ---- that on
+26th August, in the big fight on that day, I kept my end up, and have
+since been personally congratulated by General Smith-Dorrien, commander
+of the Second Army Corps." That is all we hear of the business from Pape
+himself. A sapper thus tells us why he received the congratulations of
+his general: "Men were dropping all round, whether shot or for cover I
+know not. I remember seeing one poor fellow shot through the eye. He was
+gallantly carried off the field under fire by Pape of Leeds, but has
+since died." Another comrade describes the parade at which our hero was
+honoured by his general: "This morning a general parade was ordered at
+nine o'clock ('as clean as possible'). This was a tall order, owing to
+the very wet weather we have been having lately--up to the eyes in mud.
+Anyhow, we were marched up to headquarters, and paraded before the whole
+of the staff. When formed up, General Smith-Dorrien read from a paper
+some particulars. Then he congratulated the Signal Company on the
+splendid work they had done for his command. After this he said that for
+gallantry in the field J. W. Pape was promoted. He then brought him out
+in front of all the troops, shook hands with him, and congratulated him.
+Then followed congratulations from the sergeant-major down to the boys,
+who were proud that the Signal Company should be so honoured." Writing
+home a little later, Pape said that General Smith-Dorrien had promoted
+him "King's Corporal."[60]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A London doctor who was with the R.A.M.C.[61] tells us how gloriously
+brave and splendidly uncomplaining our men are. "If," he says, "the
+people of the United Kingdom could see the conditions under which our
+fellows fight, how they fight, and how they die, I swear every head
+would uncover to the colours[62] of any regiment bearing the name of a
+battle, because the name has been won through the blood of real heroes.
+Believe me, the Victoria Cross is won over and over again in a single
+day. They _are_ brave!
+
+"What if you were to see how the wounded act after the excitement of
+battle! They suffer their wounds, great and small, without a murmur;
+they get their wounds dressed, take chloroform, give consent to have
+their limbs amputated, just as if they were going to have their hair
+cut. They are gloriously brave.
+
+"Men who have been in the thick of the fight all day, seen their chums
+wounded and killed, their own lives not worth a second's
+insurance--still, these men cook their food and go off to sleep, and,
+most wonderful of all, go back to the thick of it next day."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+We must not imagine that all German soldiers are brutal and treacherous.
+Let us always remember that they are very brave, and that many of them
+are worthy foes. There is a little story which illustrates the chivalry
+of a German lancer and the gratitude of the man whom he spared. "At Le
+Cateau," said a wounded corporal of the Coldstream Guards, "I made a
+bayonet thrust at a German lancer, and fell. He scorned to take
+advantage of my accident, and we parted. I made up my mind to repay the
+debt if ever I met the man again. Some time later I came upon him. He
+had been wounded by a splinter of shell, and was in urgent need of
+assistance. I managed to get him to the hospital, and he told me he was
+well repaid for sparing my life on the first day we met."
+
+[Illustration: The Welsh Guards and their Regimental Colour.
+
+In the British army, when war broke out, there were four regiments of
+foot guards--the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, the Scots
+Guards, and the Irish Guards. You will notice that England, Scotland,
+and Ireland had their special regiments of Guards, but not Wales. This
+slur on the Principality has now been removed: a new regiment of Welsh
+Guards has been formed, and on St. David's Day (March 1, 1915) it was
+specially appointed to do sentry-go at Buckingham Palace, and was
+afterwards marched to mount guard at St. James's Palace.
+
+_Photo, London News Association_.]
+
+Now let me tell you how a British soldier returned good for evil. During
+the retreat a British artilleryman, slightly wounded, asked a German for
+water and was refused. Some weeks later the artilleryman recognized the
+same German amongst a party of wounded who were crying for water. He
+went up to the man, who knew him at once, took off his water-bottle and
+handed it to him without a word. The corporal of the Highland Light
+Infantry who told the story adds, "You never saw anybody look so
+shamefaced as that German."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+It was during the retreat from Landrecies that the Munster Fusiliers
+added to their fame by making a most gallant stand against an
+overwhelming German attack, but at a great loss of killed, wounded, and
+missing. Some weeks afterwards the War Office published a list of 688
+Munsters whose whereabouts were unknown. Later on it was learned that
+many of them were prisoners in Germany. The Munsters formed part of the
+1st Army Corps, which retreated southwards along the left bank of the
+Oise. They reached Guise without being much molested by the Germans.
+
+Guise is a very old town, with an ancient castle, which figures in
+British history. In 1338 Edward III. laid claim to the French crown in
+right of his mother, and the Hundred Years' War began. In the next year
+John of Hainault, with a body of English troops, assaulted the castle.
+Strange to say, the wife of the lord of this castle was John of
+Hainault's daughter. As the husband was away from home, the defence of
+the castle was entrusted to the wife, and John expected that she would
+readily give it up to him. Imagine his surprise when his daughter
+refused to surrender it. She made such a stubborn defence that her
+father, though he burned the town, was unable to capture the castle, and
+was forced to depart. Guise gives its name to the noble French family
+from which the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots was descended.
+
+The Munsters halted at Guise on the night of the 26th, and formed the
+extreme right rear of their corps. A dispatch rider had been sent by the
+general with the order that they were to march early the next day. This
+dispatch rider, unfortunately, lost his way, and was taken prisoner, so
+the order to retire never reached the Munsters. They remained at Guise
+while their comrades were miles away on their southward journey. They
+had been left behind, without supports or the hope of reinforcement.
+
+The advancing Germans rolled down upon them, and they soon discovered
+that they were surrounded. "They came at us," says one of the gallant
+fellows, "from all points--horse, foot, and artillery and all--and the
+air was filled with screaming, shouting men, waving swords, and blazing
+away at us like blue murder." The brave Irish lads fixed bayonets, and
+prepared to sell their lives dearly. "We were," wrote an officer, "about
+three-quarters of a battalion fighting six German battalions, and
+without any chance of relief. I think we really did our best. We had one
+section of artillery and two machine guns with us, which helped a lot;
+but they were very soon knocked out. Our colonel was a wonder to see--he
+had absolutely no fear; and I followed him, and helped him all I could
+in every charge, but he was killed in the end by a shell. We had, I
+think, ten officers killed, five wounded, and the remainder prisoners. I
+was wounded in two places. . . . Well, although we were well beaten, I
+believe we gave as good as we got. We killed and wounded a great many
+Germans, and they say themselves that we made a gallant fight of it."
+The Munsters did not surrender until they had lost most of their
+officers and a large number of the rank and file, and had shot away all
+their cartridges. They only yielded when they no longer possessed the
+means of defending themselves. Let us honour the brave but unfortunate
+Irishmen who strove so nobly at Guise.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The valour of the British troops during the retreat extended to every
+arm of the service. You have already heard of the Army Service Corps,
+whose duty it is to supply food, stores, and ammunition to the troops.
+During the present war the Army Service Corps has done its work
+splendidly. Except during the retirement, not a single day passed upon
+which food did not reach our men. Even during the retirement food was
+brought to the line of retreat, and left on the ground to be picked up.
+
+For the purpose of bringing up supplies, large numbers of motor lorries
+and horsed wagons are used. When the Germans were following hard on the
+heels of the retiring British, they were very anxious to capture our
+food and ammunition train, for by so doing they would be able to hamper
+us very much. Near a village close to St. Quentin the colonel in charge
+of the British lorries and wagons learned that Uhlans were only a mile
+away. His horses were almost dead beat, and he could only proceed at a
+snail's pace. Night was drawing on, and there were no fighting troops to
+assist him. He had to depend upon his own men to beat off the threatened
+attack.
+
+[Illustration: British Motor Transport.
+
+_Photo, Topical Press._]
+
+The wagons and lorries were drawn up in the village street in the form
+of a laager, and the wearied men took cover behind them, and prepared to
+make a stubborn resistance. The people of the village were in a great
+state of terror, and the colonel advised them to go to church. They did
+so, and the curé[63] held a service. While our men were strengthening
+their defences and looking to their rifles and cartridges, they were
+greatly cheered by the hymns which the villagers sang.
+
+[Illustration: With the Army Service Corps--horsed wagons which carry
+supplies to the men in the firing lines.
+
+_Photo, Photopress._]
+
+Dark night set in, and the sound of guns was heard. The horses grew
+restless, and it was feared that they would stampede. Had they done so,
+all would have been lost. The drivers, however, quietened them down,
+and held their heads till the break of day. In the morning they
+discovered that the Uhlans had missed them. The Germans imagined that
+the convoy was far ahead, and had advanced to the right and left of the
+village, quite unaware that it was drawn up in the streets.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+On several other occasions British convoys managed to escape capture.
+Frequently horsed supply wagons on their way to the troops have to pass
+along roads under artillery fire. Often shells burst among them and
+destroy the wagons, while the drivers fall with bullet wounds. There is
+an old story of an Army Service Corps man who raised a howl of derision
+amongst a group of "Tommies" by declaring that he was always to be found
+where the bullets were thickest. The laugh was on his side when it was
+discovered that he drove an ammunition wagon. During the present war men
+of the Army Service Corps driving their wagons towards the firing line
+have actually been where the bullets fell thickest.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Very early one morning during the retreat a convoy drove up to a brigade
+of artillery with rations. In a few moments the officer in command
+learned that he was being quietly surrounded by German cavalry. Rather
+than let the enemy capture his wagons, the officer was prepared to burn
+them, but before doing so he determined to try to make a dash for
+safety.
+
+Off went lorries and wagons at top speed until they reached a bridge
+over a railway. There was some delay in getting them across; but all
+passed over except thirty motor lorries, and these the officer thought
+he would be obliged to abandon, as the enemy was hard on his rear. A
+determined effort, however, was made, and twenty-eight of the thirty
+were got across. Then the bridge was blown up, and almost before the
+roar of the explosion had ended the two remaining lorries were in the
+hands of the Germans. It was a very near thing. The German pursuit was
+checked by the wrecked bridge, and the convoy, almost intact, drove on
+into safety.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+I will close this chapter by giving you some account of the heroes who
+won the Victoria Cross during the retreat from Mons to St. Quentin. You
+will notice that four of them belong to the Royal Field Artillery. This
+alone is sufficient to show you how splendidly the artillery fought
+during that critical time. It is not too much to say that the retreat
+would have become a rout had not every gunner played a hero's part.
+
+Captain Francis Octavius Grenfell, 9th Lancers, was the hero of the
+stirring episode of which you read on page 88.
+
+Private Sidney Frank Godley, 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, City of
+London, won the highest award of valour for his coolness and gallantry
+in continuing to fight his machine gun, though hotly assailed for two
+hours, and suffering from a wound received at Mons.
+
+Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Wright Alexander, 119th Battery, Royal Field
+Artillery, greatly distinguished himself on August 24, 1914. When the
+5th Division was retiring to the Bavay-Maubeuge position, Major
+Alexander, as he was then, handled his guns so skilfully that they did
+great execution on the Germans; and when they were threatened with
+capture by overwhelming numbers of the enemy, he and three men moved
+them into safety by hand. The splendid stand which he made enabled the
+5th Division to retire without serious loss. On a later date he rescued
+a wounded man under heavy fire, and on every occasion when he was
+engaged showed the greatest gallantry and devotion to duty. For these
+noble services he was awarded the Victoria Cross and received promotion.
+
+Captain Douglas Reynolds, Driver Job Henry Charles Drain, and Driver
+Frederick Luke, all of the 37th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, showed
+magnificent courage during "the most critical day of all," 26th August.
+When it became clear that the corps holding the Le Cateau position would
+be utterly wiped out if a retirement were not attempted, the Royal Field
+Artillery covered the retreat with almost superhuman courage and
+devotion. At one stage in the retirement all the men working some of our
+guns were shot down, and the pieces were on the point of being captured
+by German infantry, then only a hundred yards away. Captain Reynolds
+called for volunteers to save the guns, and drivers Drain and Luke were
+amongst those who answered the call. Two teams dashed forward amidst a
+terrible rifle and shrapnel fire, and limbered up two of the guns.
+Thanks to the devoted courage of Captain Reynolds and the two drivers,
+one gun was got safely away. In a later engagement a German battery was
+holding up a British advance. Captain Reynolds crept forward under a
+heavy fire, and got so near the German guns that he was able to discover
+their position, and bring his own guns to bear on them until the battery
+was silenced. Eight days later he was severely wounded.
+
+Major Charles Allix Lavington Yate, 2nd Battalion the King's Own
+(Yorkshire Light Infantry), did superb deeds of heroism at Le Cateau.
+His battalion formed part of the 5th Division, which was the last to
+retire. Major Yate commanded one of two companies that remained to the
+end. All the other officers had been killed or wounded, and there was no
+more ammunition left. Rather than surrender, Major Yate called upon the
+nineteen survivors of his company--every man of whom deserved the
+Victoria Cross--to fix bayonets and charge. They did so with furious
+gallantry; but, unhappily, Major Yate was shot down. As he lay on the
+ground, severely wounded, he was picked up by the Germans and made a
+prisoner of war. He did not live to receive the coveted honour awarded
+him, but died in the hands of the enemy.
+
+Lance-Corporal Frederick William Holmes, of the same regiment and
+battalion, also proved himself supremely brave at Le Cateau. He carried
+a wounded man out of the trenches under fire, and later on, when he saw
+a gun in danger of capture, sprang into the saddle of a driver who had
+been wounded and helped to drive the gun out of action into a place of
+safety.
+
+                             "Men
+  May bear the blazon wrought of centuries, hold
+  Their armouries higher than arms imperial; yet
+  Know that the least their countryman, whose hand
+  Hath done his country service, lives their peer,
+  And peer of all their fathers."
+
+[Illustration: French Infantry retreating.
+
+_Photo, Record Press._]
+
+[Footnote 60: Privates are only promoted to this rank for gallantry on
+the field.]
+
+[Footnote 61: Royal Army Medical Corps.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Every regiment of every army has a flag which we call the
+"regimental colours." British colours are usually of silk, with tassels
+of mixed crimson and gold, and are carried on a staff eight feet seven
+inches long, surmounted by a golden crown on which stands a lion. The
+colours are carried on parade by two junior lieutenants, and are guarded
+by two sergeants and two privates. The flag itself is of the colour of
+the facings of the regiment, except when these are white, in which case
+the body of the flag is not plain white all over, but bears upon it the
+Cross of St. George. Whatever the colour, the flag carries in its upper
+corner the Union Jack, and in the centre the crown and title of the
+regiment, around which are the devices or badges or distinctions of the
+regiment, and the names of the battles in which it has played a gallant
+part. The flag of a regiment is the outward and visible sign of its
+honour and renown, and to lose it in battle is considered a great
+disgrace. It is always held in great reverence, and when too old for
+further service it is set up on the walls of a cathedral or church.
+Probably in your own town there are one or more of these tattered and
+perhaps bullet-torn colours, along with flags captured from an enemy. In
+the old days every regiment marched into battle with its colours proudly
+flying, and there were many stirring fights for the flag. Nowadays our
+soldiers do not take their colours into battle. The Russians and
+Germans, however, do so.]
+
+[Footnote 63: _Kū-ray´_, French parish priest.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XVI.
+
+  ARRAS AND AMIENS.
+
+
+While our sorely-tried army is halting for a brief rest at St. Quentin,
+let us follow the fortunes of the French on the west and the east of the
+British line of retirement. We have not much information to go upon. A
+French official account of the retreat was published in our newspapers
+on March 22, 1915; but it was a mere outline of the course of events,
+with many gaps which can only be filled up when the war is over and many
+facts now hidden are brought to light.
+
+First, let us look at the German movements on the west of the British
+line of retreat. You already know that von Kluck was pushing forward his
+extreme right through Belgium and North France with the utmost speed.
+The force which he used for this purpose consisted of cavalry, horse
+artillery, and machine and quick-firing guns mounted on motor cars. His
+infantry were carried on motor lorries, and the whole force was thus
+able to cover great distances in a day. He had two objects in view. In
+the first place, he wished to cut the railway communications between the
+British army and its bases at Boulogne and Havre, and by doing so make
+the task of supplying it with reinforcements, food, and ammunition from
+these places impossible; and, in the second place, he wished to outflank
+the British, and drive them eastwards into the arms of von Buelow.
+
+I have already told you of the gallant stand made by a small British
+detachment and a French Territorial force at Tournai. When these were
+overcome, von Kluck had no difficulty in advancing; for, with the
+exception of a corps of French Territorials at Arras, there were no
+soldiers to oppose him but groups of British guarding the lines of
+communication. Many of these detached parties were driven off or
+captured, and the story of their misfortunes gave rise to rumours of
+terrible British defeats. As a matter of fact, the operations in the
+west were all on the fringe of the real fighting which was going on in
+the centre and in the east.
+
+[Illustration: The British Retreat from Mons to the Oise (Aug. 23-28).]
+
+Daring Uhlans rode towards the Channel, and in Belgium it was thought
+that they would seize Ostend, and thus cut off England from Antwerp,
+where the Belgian army was preparing to make a stand. To prevent Ostend
+from falling into the hands of the Germans, a body of British marines
+was hastily carried across the Channel to hold the town.
+
+Von Kluck's swift-moving forces occupied Lille.[64] It is a handsome
+and attractive town, with important linen and woollen manufactures, and
+its fortress was supposed to be very strong. Nevertheless the Allies did
+not attempt to defend it. The Germans occupied the town without firing a
+shot. Then they marched south towards Arras, where, as you know, a
+French Territorial corps was stationed. Arras is a very old town, which
+has played an important part in French history. After the battle of
+Agincourt (1415) peace was signed in Arras by the English and French. In
+the Middle Ages the town was so famous for the tapestry with which the
+rough interior walls of castle rooms were then covered, that such
+hangings were known by its name. You will remember that in Shakespeare's
+play _King John_ Hubert was sent to tell poor Prince Arthur that his
+eyes were to be put out. At the opening of the scene he said to the
+executioners who accompanied him: "Look thou stand within the
+_arras_"--that is, behind the curtain of needlework hanging on the wall.
+
+Arras stands on the main railway which runs from the ports of Calais and
+Boulogne to Amiens. If the Germans could cut this line, the British
+would not be able to use either of these ports as a basis of supplies.
+If they could seize the important junction of Amiens,[65] they would cut
+the British off from Havre, and would force them to seek fresh bases
+somewhere on the west coast of France. This, of course, would entail a
+longer voyage for the transports and supply ships, and men and stores
+would have to make a long journey across country before they could reach
+the place where they were needed. Now you understand how important Arras
+and Amiens were to the Allies. As soon as Arras was threatened, the
+railway officials hurried away southwards every supply and ammunition
+train which was either on the line or on the sidings at Boulogne.
+
+The French Territorials took up a position to the south of the town, and
+there prepared to oppose the German advance. For a time they held their
+own; but they were hopelessly outnumbered, and were soon in peril of
+being cut off. Two of their batteries had been captured, and they were
+nearly surrounded when a British detachment came to their rescue. Where
+it came from we have never been told, but probably it had been guarding
+the lines of communication at Amiens. It arrived in the very nick of
+time, and was able to hold the enemy, while all that was left of the
+French Territorials got safely away.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Without delay the Germans pushed on towards Amiens. Meanwhile the
+railway officials of that city were sending all the engines and
+carriages in the station southwards, so that the enemy might not seize
+them. I have already told you that the capture of the railway at Arras
+had made Boulogne and Calais useless as bases of supply for our army,
+and that the seizure of the line at Amiens would cut it off from all the
+Channel ports. A new British base had to be chosen, and St. Nazaire,[66]
+at the mouth of the river Loire, was selected, an advanced base being
+established at Le Mans, on the Sarthe, about fifty miles to the
+north-east of the port.
+
+Outside Amiens there was a fierce artillery duel; but when the Allies
+had fired their last shell they were forced to retreat, and the city
+surrendered. Between nine and ten on the morning of 31st August the
+war-stained German soldiers poured into the place, but by evening they
+were all out again, following up the pursuit. The retreating French blew
+up the bridges across the Somme, and endeavoured in this and other ways
+to delay the German advance.
+
+Amiens is a busy town of cotton and woollen mills, and contains one of
+the most glorious Gothic cathedrals in all Christendom. The western
+front is wonderfully adorned with reliefs and statues, and double rows
+of medallions representing scenes from Holy Scripture. John Ruskin, the
+great writer of art, calls these carvings "the Bible of Amiens." Happily
+the Germans were advancing so hurriedly that they had no time to do any
+mischief to this miracle of architecture.
+
+[Footnote 64: _Leel_, 26 miles north-north-east of Arras, and 155 miles
+by rail north by east of Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 65: _Am´e-enz_, 84 miles north of Paris, on the Somme.]
+
+[Footnote 66: _San Nah-zair´_, 40 miles west of Nantes.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XVII.
+
+  THE FRENCH RETREAT.
+
+
+Now we must learn what happened on the east side of the British line of
+retreat. Look carefully at the map on page 130. On 22nd August von
+Buelow crossed the Sambre, and defeated the French army No. 2. About the
+same time the Saxon army under von Hausen crossed the Meuse above Namur,
+and fell upon its right flank. Taken in front and in flank it was forced
+to retreat to the south-west. Meanwhile von Hausen had also been engaged
+with the left wing of No. 3. While he was driving in the left of this
+army some of his other divisions had crossed the Meuse at Dinant, and
+were attacking No. 3 in front. Thus No. 3 was forced to retreat. Von
+Hausen now fought his way along the western bank of the Meuse, and at
+the same time No. 4 Army was attacked in front by the Duke of
+Würtemberg's forces and by those of the Crown Prince. No. 4 was also
+forced to retreat; but by the 28th of August the three defeated French
+armies had regained touch on a line roughly extending from near
+Rethel[67] to the Meuse north of Verdun.
+
+[Illustration: Map illustrating the Retreat of the French Armies from
+the Sambre and the Meuse
+
+(Aug. 22-28).]
+
+Hard fighting followed, and on the 29th the French were driven out of
+Rethel, and were forced to retreat once more. The town was set on fire
+by bursting shells, and more than half of it was burned. A Saxon
+officer, whose diary afterwards fell into the hands of the French,
+blamed them for the destruction of the place. He said that the French
+burned the town in order to prevent the Germans from pushing their
+ammunition wagons across the river Aisne, on both sides of which Rethel
+is built. We need not pause to apportion the blame. The inhabitants
+fled, and then the Germans looted and destroyed to their hearts'
+content. "The place is a disgrace to our army," wrote the Saxon
+officer.
+
+The Germans now crossed the Aisne, and the French fell back rapidly.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now let us leave this main line of retreat for a few moments and follow
+the fortunes of a French army which had been pushed into Lorraine as far
+back as 14th August, in order to hold the Bavarians, who were operating
+south of Metz. Up to the 20th of August this French army did very well,
+but on that day it was badly beaten by the Bavarians at Château
+Salins,[68] a place about twenty-five miles south-east of Metz. In this
+battle the Bavarians claimed to have captured thousands of prisoners and
+150 guns. No doubt they won an important victory.
+
+The French now fell back to the Vosges mountains, not far from Nancy,
+and on the 23rd and 24th the Germans, largely reinforced, advanced into
+the region of Luneville. This forced the French to retire south. On the
+25th, however, they made two successful counter-attacks, one from the
+south to the north and the other from the west to the east, and forced
+the enemy to fall back. For fifteen days they held up the Bavarians, and
+by the end of that time the turn of the tide had come, and the French
+were advancing all along the line.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+All these operations involved much fierce fighting, and the Germans were
+not always victors. Some of the French counter-attacks during the
+retreat were very successful, and the Germans were checked again and
+again. For example, on 24th August, near Spincourt, north-east of
+Verdun, the French had a real success. They drove back the Germans,
+pursued them with great effect, and captured a number of guns.
+Nevertheless, by the evening of the 27th, all the strongholds in North
+France, except Maubeuge, were in the hands of the enemy. Montmédy and
+Mezières surrendered, almost without firing a shot; but Longwy,[69]
+though it was an out-of-date fortress, and had but a small garrison,
+made a heroic resistance, and held out for twenty-four days.
+
+A tragic story connected with the capture of Longwy appeared in one of
+the leading French newspapers at the end of March 1915. It may not be
+true, but I think you would like to hear it.
+
+The German Emperor, surrounded by his Staff, was dining at an hotel in
+Luxembourg, and was awaiting the arrival of the general who had just
+captured Longwy (27th August). As soon as he arrived the Emperor,
+frantic with rage, addressed him as follows: "How is it that to capture
+this fortress, defended only by a few battalions, you have uselessly
+sacrificed thousands of our best soldiers?"
+
+The general went livid, and knowing that a superior officer visited by
+the wrath of the Emperor in the presence of his equals is condemned for
+ever, drew himself up and made this daring reply: "Your Majesty, if my
+soldiers advanced in close formation against Longwy, and were thus
+uselessly massacred, it was by the command of your scamp of a son, who,
+at a safe distance of twelve and a half miles behind the front, kept on
+sending me telephone orders, 'To the assault,' always to the assault."
+
+Having thus spoken, the general left the imperial presence amidst the
+dumb amazement of the assembly, and on the pavement outside the hotel
+shot himself. A week later a postcard was on sale throughout Germany,
+bearing the portrait of the Crown Prince, with the words, "The victor of
+Longwy."
+
+[Illustration: The German Crown Prince.]
+
+When Longwy fell the tricolour alone flew from the fortress of Maubeuge,
+which was better able to stand a bombardment than almost any other
+stronghold of France. Its outlying defences had been strengthened with
+concrete and armour plates, and heavy guns had been mounted in steel
+turrets. The Germans were very anxious to capture it, because it gave
+them command of a good railway line from Aix right through the Meuse
+valley.
+
+The siege began soon after the British retreat from Mons. The French
+commandant had thrown up lines of earthworks between the forts, and had
+garrisoned them with soldiers. Just before the German guns began to
+thunder at the forts, detachments of French from the No. 2 Army that had
+been beaten at the Sambre came to reinforce the defenders, and further
+assistance was rendered by a British field battery that had been cut off
+when our line retired. The commandant had about 30,000 men to defend the
+place, and right nobly was it held. Not until the 7th of September did
+it yield. The outlying forts had then been battered down by 11-inch
+guns, throwing a 760-pound shell.
+
+[Illustration: A View in Krupp's Works, Essen, where the Big Guns are
+made.
+
+_Photo, L.N.A._]
+
+A story went the round of the papers that, long before the war, a
+Belgian had bought land near Maubeuge, and on it had begun to build a
+factory for making railway engines. It was said that the real owner of
+the land was Krupp, the great manufacturer of guns and armaments for the
+German Government; and that while the factory was being built, concrete
+gun platforms had been constructed, on which the Germans mounted their
+siege guns as soon as they arrived. The story, however, had no
+foundation. The guns which the Germans used in the siege of Maubeuge
+were smaller than those which battered down Namur. They did not need
+concrete foundations, but could be fired from an ordinary road or from a
+platform of sleepers. The story, however, was widely believed, and
+alleged gun platforms were actually discovered in innocent British
+factories!
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The French official account of the retreat tells us that, when the
+defence of the Meuse collapsed, General Joffre decided on a general
+retreat, but determined to make a series of counter-attacks whenever
+opportunity offered, so that the enemy might be kept busy. He had to
+choose a position where the retreat was to end, and this position had to
+be so chosen that the different armies could reach it at the same time
+and be ready without delay to advance. If, however, he found that he
+could begin his forward movement before this point was reached, he was
+prepared to alter his plans.
+
+After the war of 1870-71, when the French began building fortresses to
+guard their eastern frontier, they arranged that if the enemy should
+capture Montmédy, Mezières, Hirson, Maubeuge, and Lille, as they had now
+done, a stand was to be made for the defence of Paris along an
+undulating plateau of chalk which rises gently from the valley of the
+Marne, but falls steeply on the north-east to the plains of Northern
+France. These uplands, as seen from the north, resemble the Surrey and
+Sussex Downs, and are known as the Heights of Champagne. On them grow
+the grapes which make the sparkling wine known as champagne. Several
+streams, the largest of which is the Aisne,[70] cut their way through
+the plateau; stumps of trees and belts of woodland are common, and on
+the western side towards the Oise there are wide stretches of forest.
+
+[Illustration: The French Army in the Champagne Country.
+
+_Photo, Farringdon Photo Co._]
+
+The little map on the opposite page will help you to understand the
+defensive character of the Heights of Champagne. Notice the two towns
+which were fortified to defend the scarp of the heights against attack
+from the north and north-east--La Fère,[71] on the Oise, an entrenched
+camp, with a circle of forts on both sides of the river; and Laon,[72]
+an old city built on a long spur which encloses a remarkable V-shaped
+valley, partly wooded and partly covered with gardens and vineyards. The
+carriage road to the upper town of Laon ascends in curves from near the
+station, but foot passengers may climb to it by means of a stairway of
+260 steps and a series of inclined planes. On the highest part of the
+hill stands the ancient citadel, and towering above its ramparts are the
+bold and graceful towers of a beautiful cathedral. The forts erected
+round this city were so placed that their fire crossed that of the forts
+at La Fère. Lines of defence extended along the steep north-eastern face
+of the plateau, and also along its eastern side to the valley of the
+Aisne. Beyond the Aisne valley the eastern system of defences was
+continued to the valley of the Marne. About midway between the two
+rivers, but to the east of the plateau, is the fortress of Rheims,[73]
+one of the most interesting cities of France, and the chief centre of
+the trade in champagne. Rheims stands on the plain, and behind it rise
+the vine-clad uplands. In front of it is the bold wooded hill known as
+the Mountain of Rheims. This hill, at the time of which we are speaking,
+was strongly fortified.
+
+[Illustration: Sketch of Defensive Line of the Heights of Champagne.]
+
+Such was the position chosen in 1874 as the great line of defence
+against an army advancing on Paris. While the French retreat was in
+progress, many persons in this country thought that a great stand would
+be sure to be made in this region; but, to their surprise, the French
+continued their southward march.
+
+Now, why was not a stand made at the Heights of Champagne? The fact was,
+that the German armies were advancing so rapidly that the French had no
+time to pause and reorganize their line so that it could meet the enemy
+with any chance of success. The French had reached the plateau by the
+29th August; but they dared not halt their columns, because the enemy
+was hard at their heels.
+
+By this time von Kluck had passed the confluence of the Oise and the
+Aisne, and a cavalry corps on his left had actually reached the Marne.
+This movement threatened the left flank of the French, and they were
+bound to continue their retreat to prevent themselves from being turned
+in this direction. At the same time von Buelow was at Laon, on the edge
+of the plateau, and farther east von Hausen had crossed the Aisne, while
+other German armies were in contact with the French between Vouziers[74]
+and Verdun.
+
+Had the French accepted battle at the Heights of Champagne they would
+have done so very recklessly. If they had suffered defeat, they would
+have been cut off from the British on their left, and from a new army
+which was being formed near Paris. General Joffre therefore decided to
+continue his retreat until he could engage the enemy in a better
+position. He did so, and on 5th September lay along the Seine and the
+Aube, with the British gathered between the Seine and the Marne, and on
+their flank the newly-created army. All the units of the Allied forces
+were now linked up, and the moment had arrived when General Joffre could
+order an attack. On the evening of the 5th he addressed the following
+message to the commanders of his armies: "The hour has come to advance
+at all costs, and to die where you stand rather than give way."
+
+[Footnote 67: _Reh-tel´_, 23 miles south-west of Mezières.]
+
+[Footnote 68: _Shah-tō´ Sa-lăn´_ (_n_ nasal).]
+
+[Footnote 69: _Lon-vee´_ (_n_ nasal), 40 miles north-north-west of
+Metz.]
+
+[Footnote 70: _Ain_, joins the Oise (_Waz_) near Compiègne
+(_Kom-pe-ain´_).]
+
+[Footnote 71: _La Fair_.]
+
+[Footnote 72: _Lon_ (_n_ nasal).]
+
+[Footnote 73: _Reemz._]
+
+[Footnote 74: _Voo-ze-ay´._]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+  "THOSE TERRIBLE GREY HORSES."
+
+
+Late in March 1915 General Joffre told an interviewer that his army was
+not crushed in Belgium by overwhelming numbers. "That," he said, "is
+quite wrong; our army was numerous. We ought to have won the Battle of
+Charleroi.[75] We ought to have won it ten times out of eleven. We lost
+it through our own faults of command.
+
+"Before the war broke out I had already noted that among our generals
+many were worn out. Some had appeared to be incapable--not good enough
+for their work. Others inspired me with doubt, and I made up my mind to
+replace them with younger men. I should have done so, but the war came
+too soon. Besides, there were others in whom I had faith who have not
+responded to my hopes. . . . Their merit turned out to be below the
+mark. I had to remedy these defects. Some of these generals were my best
+comrades. But if I love my friends much, I love France more. I relieved
+them of their posts."
+
+I have already told you how the French were crushed in Belgium; how they
+retreated, remedied their defects, re-formed their line along the Seine
+and the Aube,[76] turned their faces to the foe, and prepared to
+advance. All this happened between 21st August and 5th September. The
+account is not, however, complete, for you have yet to learn how the
+British army continued and ended its southern march. When I broke off my
+story to relate the misfortunes of the French, our gallant lads, you
+will remember, were making a brief halt in the neighbourhood of St.
+Quentin. We must now rejoin them, and see how they fared during the
+latter part of their retreat.
+
+If you turn to the map on page 16, you will notice a French army marked
+6, lying to the south of the fortress of Maubeuge. This army was a
+cavalry corps of three divisions, held in reserve. It had taken no part
+in the battle on the Sambre, but now it came into action on our left
+rear, and brought relief to Allenby's hard-worked horsemen, who had been
+struggling almost night and day to beat back the German advance. Some of
+the Territorial divisions of the 5th Army, which had retreated to the
+Oise, also came to the assistance of the British. They closed in to the
+west of Smith-Dorrien's corps, and von Kluck, seeing his right flank
+threatened by them, was obliged to detach a strong column to hold them
+in check. Further, some divisions of the 2nd French Army, which had been
+beaten at Charleroi and had retreated south-west, now appeared, and
+struck severe blows on the enemy at Guise[77] and St. Quentin. This
+removed some of the pressure from Haig's corps. The British were thus
+able to retreat without much molestation, and by the evening of Friday,
+the 28th, they were assembled along the Oise from La Fère to Noyon.
+
+It was a very weary army which reached this position. It had fought and
+marched incessantly for six days, but it was still undaunted, and was
+eager for the moment when it should receive the order, "Right about
+turn! quick march!" You can form some idea of the great feat which it
+had performed when I tell you that besides fighting many rearguard
+actions it had marched more than eighty miles--that is, on an average,
+at least fourteen miles a day. After such an experience most armies
+would have been a complete wreck. Not so the British. The rank and file
+were now fully aware that, man for man, they were more than a match for
+the Germans, and they were heartened by the knowledge that they had
+foiled the frenzied efforts of an army that vastly outnumbered them, and
+had striven with all its might to overwhelm them.
+
+Though the general pursuit had slackened, von Kluck's cavalry were still
+on the heels of the British rear. On the Friday afternoon on which our
+men reached the La Fère-Noyon position two columns of the enemy's horse
+moved south-east from St. Quentin in the attempt to attack our flank at
+La Fère. Allenby, with two of his cavalry brigades, rode out to meet
+them. The German column on the left consisted of Uhlans and of the
+cavalry of the famous Prussian Guard. General Gough, with the 4th
+Hussars and the 5th Lancers, charged down upon these much-vaunted
+horsemen, and drove them back in headlong flight. Against the other
+column, which was advancing further to the right, Sir Philip Chetwode
+led the Scots Greys, the 12th Lancers, and the 20th Hussars.
+
+[Illustration: Scots Greys on the March.
+
+_Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd._
+
+The Colonel-in-chief of the Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) is the Tsar of
+Russia, who wrote to the regiment as follows: "I am happy to think that
+my gallant regiment, the Royal Scots Greys, are fighting with Russia
+against the common enemy. I am convinced that they will uphold the
+glorious traditions of the past."]
+
+If you are a Scottish boy or girl, you will be certain to maintain that
+the Scots Greys are the finest cavalrymen in the world. Your English
+friends may not, perhaps, agree with you; but even though they may
+prefer the 9th Lancers or some other English regiment, they will be
+quite willing to give very high praise indeed to the Scots Greys. They
+have a glorious record, and every one remembers how famously they bore
+themselves at the Battle of Waterloo, where they charged down upon the
+French with the Gordons clinging to their stirrup-leathers, horsemen and
+footmen shouting, "Scotland for ever!" Napoleon knew them well, and
+always feared "those terrible grey horses."
+
+A friend of mine has talked with wounded officers and men who took part
+in the engagement at St. Quentin, and has given me the following account
+of the part played by the Scots Greys in the fight:--
+
+The column of German cavalry opposed to Sir Philip Chetwode's brigade
+must have numbered about 10,000. The main body was stationed behind a
+wood, between which and the British brigade there was a slight valley.
+When the attack began our men dismounted and opened a brisk rifle fire
+on the advance guard of the Germans, who were hidden amongst the corn
+stooks at the top of the opposite slope and amongst the turnips in a
+field that lay behind. They had a machine gun with them, and their
+horses were picketed at the rear of the wood.
+
+For a time our horse artillery shelled the wood, and our men continued
+their rifle fire. Our shells burst over and beyond the wood, and
+stampeded the picketed horses. Then came the order to mount and charge.
+The 12th Lancers went first, bearing to the right of the wood, and the
+Scots Greys followed, bearing to the left. With a wild hurrah they
+topped the slight rise, and crashed into the Germans, some of whom were
+on the knee trying to defend themselves with their long lances. Others
+held up their hands in token of surrender, and the first line of the
+gallant Greys dropped the points of their sword and spared their lives.
+In many cases, after the first line had passed, the Germans who had
+pretended to surrender fired with revolvers, and shot the chivalrous
+Scots in the back. The second line of Greys, however, made them pay
+dearly for this treachery. They cut down all within reach without mercy,
+and, making their horses rear and plunge and lash out with their fore
+feet, knocked down and trampled many others. Before the wood was
+reached, the German machine gun had been captured, and five hundred of
+the enemy had been killed or taken prisoners. They were big men, and
+evidently belonged to one of the Kaiser's "crack" regiments.
+
+One of the Greys now reconnoitred the wood, and at the sight of him the
+men left in charge of the picketed horses bolted. The Grey followed
+them, and to his amazement saw the main body of the German cavalry in
+full and disorderly flight. You may be sure that the Greys and the
+Lancers were much disappointed that they had no chance of coming to
+grips with the fleeing horsemen. By this time they had nothing but
+contempt for the German cavalry. You will remember that at the beginning
+of the retreat a German cavalry division had declined "to take on" a
+British brigade. Sir John French tells us that already our cavalry had
+established "a decided superiority over that of the enemy."
+
+[Illustration: The Uhlan's Last Ride.
+
+Armoured motor cars containing sharpshooters play an important part in
+the war. This picture shows a car giving chase to a Uhlan patrol. One
+man has already been laid low.]
+
+This exploit won some respite for our men, and the pursuit was shaken
+off for a time. The Germans were weary with much marching and fighting,
+and our engineers had checked their advance by blowing up all the river
+and canal bridges as soon as they were crossed. That evening our
+much-tried men enjoyed comfortable meals, the refreshment of a bath, and
+a good eight hours' sleep.
+
+The German pursuit, however, was soon continued with great vigour. At
+one o'clock on Saturday Sir John French knew that at least two corps of
+the enemy were advancing towards his front. At this time he received a
+visit from General Joffre, who brought him good news. He had ordered the
+5th French Army on the Oise to move forward and attack the Germans on
+the Somme, and this meant less pressure on the British. But the best
+news of all was that, quite unknown to the enemy, a new 6th French Army
+had been formed on the British left flank, and was ready to be launched
+against von Kluck as soon as the whole Allied line should be in the
+required position. There was still a good deal of retreating to be done
+before the word to advance could be given, and that morning the British
+forces retired to a position a few miles north of the line
+Compiègne[78]-Soissons,[79] along the river Aisne.
+
+Compiègne is an interesting country town near the junction of the Oise,
+and in the midst of heavily forested country. It was a favourite
+residence of French kings, and is perhaps known to you as the place
+where Joan of Arc was taken prisoner by the Burgundians in 1430. A
+monument to her memory stands in front of the fine Hôtel de Ville. At
+the end of the town near the forest there is a royal palace, which was
+built in the reign of Louis XV. The forest itself is fifty-nine miles in
+circumference, and has many beautiful walks. In the summer it is a
+favourite resort of Parisians.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+[Footnote 75: See page 25.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Tributary of the Seine (right bank), rising in the Langres
+plateau.]
+
+[Footnote 77: _Gweez._]
+
+[Footnote 78: _Kom-pe-ain´._]
+
+[Footnote 79: _Swa-son´_ (_n_ nasal).]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XIX.
+
+  THE STORY OF BATTERY L OF THE R.H.A.
+
+
+The retiral of the British army from the La Fère-Noyon line was the
+signal for the Germans to advance. Small rearguard actions were
+continually fought, and on 1st September there was an engagement of a
+very fierce character, during which Battery L of the Royal Horse
+Artillery covered itself with glory. I must tell you the story in
+detail.
+
+Gunner J. C. Eyles, one of the survivors of L Battery, says: "After
+bivouacking at Compiègne some of us had a fine river swim, and, what is
+more, we washed our underclothing for the first time since we left
+England in August. And it wanted it, too! I was a bit unlucky, for my
+clothes were still wet when I was ordered to take outpost duty at night.
+Therefore I had to pack my wet things on the front of my saddle, and do
+duty in only my tunic and riding pants. It was just a bit cold.
+
+"On the following day we had a long, weary march until dusk, when I had
+the misfortune, while giving my horse water from a stream, to lose trace
+of my battery. Making the best of a bad job, I tracked towards what I
+thought would be our lines. While trudging along with my horse, my
+revolver in my hand, I heard the sound of galloping hoofs. I pulled into
+the grassy slope on the side of the road, thinking that my time had
+come, and that that would be a good place to face it. Dismounting, I
+awaited events, and after a minute or so I was relieved to see two of
+the 2nd Dragoon Guards, to whom I shouted in good old English. It was
+lucky I did, too: I had been unconsciously walking straight towards the
+German lines, and the two British soldiers were, as a matter of fact,
+being chased by a large patrol of Uhlans. In a second I was riding off
+with the dragoons, and, like them, escaped."
+
+[Illustration: Battery L of the R.H.A.
+
+"One lone gun in the dawn."]
+
+The gunner rejoined his battery, and found the men exhausted but looking
+forward to advancing against the foe. Early on the morning of 1st
+September Battery L was at Néry,[80] a little village about two and a
+half miles south of the southern edge of the forest. It was a chilly
+morning, and the surrounding country was heavily veiled in fog. About 4
+a.m. the battery received the order to unsaddle and rest the horses.
+Overnight a ridge about 600 or 800 yards away had been occupied by
+French troops, but during the darkness they had retreated. No order to
+retire had reached L Battery, probably because the Germans had cut the
+telegraph wires.
+
+About 4.30 many of the gunners and drivers were lying on the ground with
+their tunics off, and others were shaving and washing. The horses were
+unsaddled, and had their nosebags on. Suddenly ten or a dozen German
+guns galloped up to the ridge, unlimbered, and opened a heavy fire on
+the battery; while Maxims, which had been brought up on motor cars,
+enfiladed them with a murderous rain of bullets. The first volley killed
+most of the horses, and strewed the ground with dead and dying men. The
+survivors attempted to reach their guns and make a reply; but three of
+the guns were so battered by the enemy's shells that they were useless.
+The other three, however, were brought into action; but before long two
+of them were silenced, and the gunners shot down.
+
+"Captain Bradbury, who had been walking behind the guns giving orders
+and encouraging the men to fight to the last like true R.H.A. soldiers,
+was killed. Lieutenant Giffard, although seriously wounded, continued at
+his post of duty, telling the gunners to 'stick it,' and refusing to
+leave until he was practically forced by some of our men to seek cover
+behind a haystack. All the other officers were killed, and all our
+sergeants were dead with the exception of one. But a fine last stand was
+made at that last gun by Gunner Derbyshire and Driver Osborne, under the
+orders of Battery Sergeant-Major Dorrell. Quite unconcernedly they
+continued their duty--Driver Osborne, although wounded in the back,
+supplying the ammunition; and Gunner Derbyshire firing the gun,
+apparently unaffected by being hurled from his feet two or three times,
+owing to the great force of impact as shells struck the ground near at
+hand.
+
+"Other survivors had been ordered to take cover, and it was no pleasant
+experience to crawl like snakes, as we did, through a very muddy
+mangold-wurzel field, especially when you have only shirt and trousers
+on. However, that didn't hurt us. Meanwhile I Battery of the R.H.A.,
+stationed about two miles to our rear, evidently realizing the true
+state of affairs, gave the Germans a hot taste of British gunnery--so
+hot, in fact, that everyone of the Kaiser's guns was silenced. Then
+cavalry (of the 1st Brigade) and a force of the Middlesex attacked; the
+German guns were captured, and over six hundred prisoners were taken. To
+the end Gunner Derbyshire and Driver Osborne held out, and although the
+only comment of each is, 'I only did my duty,' the battery is naturally
+proud that they have been recommended for the Victoria Cross."
+
+I cannot leave this incident without quoting the fine verses which
+appeared in the _Times_ shortly after the glorious valour of Battery L
+was reported in England. They are worth learning by heart.
+
+  BATTERY L.
+
+  Battery L of the R.H.A.--
+  Oh, the cold gray light o' the dawn--
+  Woke as the mists were wreathing pale,
+  Woke to the moan of the shrapnel hail;
+  Battery L of the R.H.A.
+  Sprang to their guns in the dawn.
+
+  Six guns all at the break o' day--
+  Oh, the crash of the shells at dawn--
+  And out of the six guns only one,
+  Left for the fight ere the fight's begun,
+  Battery L of the R.H.A.
+  Swung her round in the dawn.
+
+  They swung her clear, and they blazed away--
+  Oh, the blood-red light o' the dawn--
+  Osborne, Derbyshire, brave Dorrell,
+  These are the heroes of Battery L,
+  These are the men of the R.H.A.
+  Who fought that gun in the dawn.
+
+  Ay, that was a fight that was fought that day,
+  As the gray mists fled from the dawn,
+  Till they broke up the enemy one by one,
+  Silenced him steadily gun by gun--
+  Battery L of the R.H.A.,
+  One lone gun in the dawn.
+
+    James L. Harvey.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+On the same day, at a place about fifteen miles east of Néry, another
+fierce rearguard action was fought. The Germans surprised the 4th Guards
+Brigade--Grenadiers, Coldstreams, and Irish--amidst the woods. They were
+in a field by a stream, preparing for a long-delayed "tub," when the
+first shell crashed into them. At once the bugles rang out, and the
+Guards, angry at being balked of their bath, scrambled into their
+trenches and loaded their rifles, eager for the enemy's onset.
+
+The German cavalry dashed out of the woods in great strength, and drove
+forward the British left, thinking that they had only to walk over a
+broken and defeated army. They were soon undeceived. The Guards held
+their fire until the enemy was well within effective range, and then the
+rifles rang out and the Maxims got to work. Many German saddles were
+emptied; the horsemen broke and fled.
+
+Meanwhile the German guns were worming their way nearer and nearer to
+the British line, and behind them the infantry were coming on in
+close-knit ranks. Our artillery now opened fire, and rifles and guns
+swept lanes of death through the ranks of the enemy. They wavered and
+retired.
+
+Again the enemy, reinforced by machine guns and artillery, with cavalry
+on the flanks, bore down upon the British. At this moment our cavalry
+appeared, and the Guards, leaping to their feet, doubled towards the top
+of a neighbouring hill which the Germans were bent on seizing. The enemy
+reached it first, dug himself in, and brought up his guns, which
+immediately began a furious cannonade. Our men went to earth at once in
+hastily-made trenches. Three German cavalry regiments now flung
+themselves at the thin khaki line of the Irish Guards; but these gallant
+fellows were quite undismayed. With wonderful coolness they fired
+continuously on the advancing foe, and at the word "Charge!" swept
+forward with gleaming bayonets, singing "God save Ireland." For a few
+minutes there was a mad confusion of plunging horses, whirling sabres,
+and stabbing bayonets, and then all was over. The German horsemen turned
+tail, and the Irishmen, dropping to earth, picked them off as they
+retired. The German infantry behind the retreating cavalry hesitated to
+advance; but their artillery moved up to new positions, and fired upon
+our men with deadly effect. The British horsemen were loosed at them:
+some of the guns limbered up and dashed off into safety; those that
+remained were captured and their gunners were sabred. This done, the
+British cavalry charged into the German masses again and again.
+
+The enemy had been soundly thrashed, and the British continued their
+retreat unmolested. For five days they marched southwards without
+attack. On 3rd September they crossed the Marne, blowing up the bridges
+on their line of retirement. That day our left was almost within gunshot
+of the eastern forts of Paris. Two days later the British army lay south
+of the Grand Morin,[81] a tributary of the Marne. The long retreat was
+over.
+
+It is impossible to overpraise the indomitable spirit of the British
+army during its retirement from the Belgian frontier. Our men bore the
+heavy fighting, the weary marches through chilly and often wet nights,
+the awful strain on nerves and temper, with wonderful fortitude. All
+that they asked was to be allowed to stand and "go for" the enemy. An
+officer thus describes the talk of the men during the last days of the
+retreat:--
+
+"'Hang it all, sir,' one man said to me, 'if we can do thirty miles a
+day without food and sleep in a retreat, we could do fifty in an
+advance.' Constantly the question I was asked was, 'When are they going
+to let us halt and have another go at them?' or, 'How soon do you think
+it will be before they let us turn and get a bit of our own back?' or,
+'I suppose it's a trap we're leading them Germans into. We're the bait,
+so to speak, and the French all this time are getting in behind them.'
+It was fine to listen to and watch them--ragged, footsore, bearded,
+dirty, and unkempt, gaunt-eyed from lack of sleep, but upheld by that
+invincible spirit which is the glory of the race."
+
+From Mons to the Grand Morin our men had tramped 135 miles, as the crow
+flies, in fourteen days. For the British troops the long days of the
+retreat "had been like a moving picture seen through a haze of weariness
+and confusion. Blazing days among the coal heaps and grimy villages of
+Hainault, which reminded our north countrymen of Lancashire and Durham;
+nights of aching travel on upland roads through fields of beet and
+grain; dawns that broke over slow streams and grassy valleys upon eyes
+blind with lack of sleep; the cool beech woods of Compiègne; the
+orchards of Ourcq[82] and Marne now heavy with plum and cherry. And hour
+after hour the rattle of musketry and the roaring swell of the great
+shells; the hurried entrenchments and the long, deadly vigils; or the
+sudden happy chance of a blow back, when the bayonet took revenge for
+dusty miles and crippled bodies and lost comrades. On the evening of the
+4th the van of the retreat saw from the slopes above the Grand Morin a
+land of coppice and pasture rolling southwards to a broad valley, and
+far off the dusk of many trees. It was the forest of Fontainebleau[83]
+and the vale of the Seine. The Allies had fallen back behind all but one
+of the four rivers which from north and east open the way to Paris."[84]
+
+[Footnote 80: _Nair-ee´._]
+
+[Footnote 81: _Mo-ran´_ (_n_ nasal).]
+
+[Footnote 82: _Oork_, tributary of the Marne. From this stream flows the
+canal of Ourcq to Paris (67 miles).]
+
+[Footnote 83: _Fon-ten-blō´_ (fountain of beautiful water), town 37
+miles south-south-east of Paris. It contains a famous palace beloved of
+French kings, and its forest, the most beautiful in France, covers 66
+square miles.]
+
+[Footnote 84: Quoted from _Nelson's History of the War_, by John
+Buchan.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XX.
+
+  MORE STORIES OF THE RETREAT.
+
+The stories which you have read in these pages have been told by British
+soldiers. I am sure you would now like to read some French stories of
+various incidents which occurred during the retreat. The following story
+relates how a French cavalryman received the surrender of three hundred
+Germans.
+
+One fine morning in August, during a sharp engagement in a small village
+of Alsace, a French hussar was captured by the enemy. The Germans, who
+numbered three hundred, were then holding the village. Shortly
+afterwards French artillery began to shell the place, and it was evident
+that an infantry attack would soon follow.
+
+When the French infantry were seen advancing, the German officer sought
+advice from the captured hussar. "If you resist," said the Frenchman,
+"your whole command will be shot down." To this the German replied, "We
+are willing to surrender, but we are afraid that your people will put us
+to death." The hussar gave his word of honour that no such fate would
+overtake them, and assured them that in France the rules of civilized
+warfare were always observed. "You need fear nothing," concluded the
+hussar; "you will be well treated by my countrymen."
+
+A sigh of relief escaped from the lips of the officer, and he said,
+"Such being the case, we will surrender." At once the hussar placed
+himself at the head of the column, gave the order to march, and with
+three hundred Germans at his heels led the way to the French lines,
+where he handed over his prisoners.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is a story in praise of German courage. It is told by a British
+artilleryman. "The grandest thing I saw out there," he says, "was the
+fight of a handful of Germans. These chaps were the last of a regiment
+to cross a stream under a fiendish rifle and artillery fire.
+
+"They were hotly pursued by French cavalry and infantry, and when they
+saw that it was all up with them, the remnant made for a little hill and
+gathered round the regimental flag, to fight to the last. The French
+closed round them, and called on them to surrender; but not they! They
+stood there, back to back, until the last man went down with the flag in
+his grasp and a dozen bullet wounds in his body.
+
+"Then the flag was captured by the French; but there was no shouting
+over the victory, and every soldier who passed that way, and knew the
+story of those chaps, bared his head to the memory of brave men."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+In your history books you read of the Battle of Fontenoy, which was
+fought five miles south-east of Tournai in the year 1745. In that
+battle, so the story goes, an English general shouted to the enemy,
+"Gentlemen of the French Guards, fire first." To which they replied,
+"The French Guard never fires first; fire yourselves." Strange to say,
+an incident which recalls this exchange of courtesies took place on
+August 28, 1914, when a French infantry battalion entered Mezières in
+order to defend the bridges over the Meuse. On reaching the railway
+bridge, the French lieutenant commanding the detachment learnt that a
+German patrol was hiding in the station. Taking some men with him, he
+hurried off to the station and dispersed the patrol. The German officer
+took refuge in an engine shed, and was discovered by the lieutenant
+hiding behind a tender. The German prepared to sell his life dearly. The
+opponents, revolver in hand, stood facing each other. "Pray shoot," said
+the Frenchman; whereupon the German did so, and missed. The Frenchman
+then fired, and shot his adversary dead.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+How a young French bull played a soldier's part is told in the following
+story. Early in September, when the Germans were approaching a village
+between the Marne and the Seine, the inhabitants opened their cowsheds
+and set the animals free, so that they might not easily be captured by
+the enemy. Among the cattle was a steer, which was so terrified by the
+sound of guns that it charged directly at a German infantry company
+which had taken up a position on a mound. Mad with rage, the animal
+dashed into the midst of the Germans, knocking them over like ninepins.
+Several men fired at him; but the bullets only maddened him the more. He
+did not fall until he had laid eighteen Germans low.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+[Illustration: Hard Pressed.
+
+_By permission of The Sphere._
+
+This picture illustrates an incident at La Fère during the retreat. The
+French, after snatching a few hours' sleep, were shelled in the gray of
+the dawning, and were obliged to rush hastily from their billets to
+resist the German onset. After taking a heavy toll of the enemy they
+continued their retreat.]
+
+A very interesting story is told of a young Frenchwoman who was a
+servant in a girls' boarding-school situated in a village on the line of
+German advance. When war broke out the pupils were sent away to their
+homes, and she was left alone in the school, with an old deaf lady who
+had lost the full use of her limbs. When the Germans entered the village
+they went through the girls' school from cellar to attic, collecting all
+the linen and bedding for the use of their wounded, whom, for some
+reason best known to themselves, they installed, not in the main school
+building but in the adjoining chapel.
+
+The servant girl tended the German wounded with great devotion, for two
+reasons: first, because she was very tender-hearted; and secondly,
+because she had a special reason for wishing to stand well with the
+invaders. She had a secret, and it was this. Down in the grotto at the
+foot of the school garden she had concealed ten British "Tommies," who
+had lost their way, and had arrived hungry, weary, and footsore just an
+hour before the Germans entered the village. "They will be here in a
+moment," said the British officer, not wishing that the girl should run
+into danger on their behalf. "Never mind," she said; "I'll hide you
+somewhere, and look after you." Then she led them to the grotto.
+
+The soldiers found their quarters narrow, damp, and very uncomfortable.
+The girl was anxious to give them better accommodation, so in the night
+she managed to get them into the house and instal them in the unoccupied
+rooms on the top floor of the school.
+
+The ten "Tommies" were now in comfortable quarters; but how to feed them
+was a difficult question. She gave them her own food, but that was not
+enough. Then she went to and fro amongst her friends and relations,
+begging a piece of bread here and some vegetables there. When the
+Germans saw her with a heavily-loaded basket they were suspicious, and
+asked her what she was going to do with the food. "It is for your
+wounded in the chapel," she said, and their suspicions were allayed. She
+appointed herself cook for the Germans, and was thus able to pick up all
+sorts of broken victuals for her friends on the top floor. British
+soldiers, as you know, are very fond of tobacco, and the girl was
+anxious to provide them with something to smoke. The Germans had made a
+rule that no one was to buy more than two sous' worth of tobacco at a
+time. This made her task very hard, but it did not daunt her. She got
+together some boy friends, and sent them to buy small quantities of
+tobacco at various shops each day. In this way the "Tommies" on the top
+floor were able to enjoy their pipes while they remained in hiding.
+
+A hundred times a day they were in danger of being discovered by the
+Germans. The clever girl knew this, so she provided them with a rope,
+which they hung down through trap doors to the ground floor. She advised
+them to practise escape drill, so that they might get away if the
+Germans discovered them. This they did, and were soon quite expert.
+"Just imagine!" said the girl when she told the story: "my Englishmen
+after a few days were able to strap their haversacks and all slip down
+the rope noiselessly in less than five minutes."
+
+Happily the "Tommies" were never discovered, and there was no need for
+them to use their rope as a means of escape. Some time afterwards the
+Germans were obliged to leave the town, and the British soldiers were
+able to reach their own lines in safety. Before they departed they gave
+the girl their names and addresses, and begged her to come to England
+when the war was over, so that they might repay her for all her
+kindness. The French paper which reports the story says that one of the
+ten was a nobleman, a relative of King George, and that his name
+was--Lord Smith! Can't you imagine the merry face of the rogue who gave
+the girl this astounding piece of information?
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+I have already told you that every French boy must be a soldier when he
+is twenty years of age. Many of the French boys who were in their teens
+when the war broke out were very keen to shoulder a rifle and march
+against the enemy. When the Germans drew near to Paris, a boy named
+André, who was only twelve years of age, felt that he must do something
+to defend his country. One day he disappeared, leaving behind him the
+following letter:--
+
+    "My dear Father and Mother,--I am starting for the war. Don't
+    worry about me. I have my savings-bank money.--Your loving son,
+
+      "André."
+
+A fortnight passed, and the anxious parents heard nothing of their boy.
+Then one morning he reappeared, very hardy and sunburnt but very
+sorrowful, and gave this account of his adventures. He had travelled
+many long miles before he reached a regiment of the army. He told the
+men he had come to help them. They laughed at him, but they had not the
+heart to send him away. So he had marched with them, shared their
+rations, and slept in their bivouacs or billets at night. At last the
+colonel noticed him, and made him give an account of himself. The upshot
+was, that he was sent home to wait until he was some years older and
+could join the army in the proper way.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now I must tell you some British stories. Lance-Corporal Nolan of the
+Scots Greys, who formed one of a reconnoitring party, was preparing to
+engage a German patrol when a scout came up to say that a whole division
+of the enemy was at hand. The Greys attacked the patrol; but our hero
+had his horse shot under him, and he received a bullet in the right arm.
+A sergeant gave him a lift on his horse, and together they tried to
+gallop into safety. As they dashed on through the streets of a village,
+the Germans fired at them from the windows, killing the horse and
+wounding the sergeant. Both men were captured, and the Germans stripped
+them of everything but their trousers and shirts. One man snatched from
+Nolan the revolver which he had taken from a German officer, and was
+about to rob him of his shirt, when the very German officer from whom he
+had taken the revolver appeared, and said, "You are the man who took my
+revolver. Let me have it back instantly." Nolan replied, "I haven't got
+it. One of your own men has taken it." "Then come with me," said the
+officer, "and find the man who took it, and I will have him shot." "I
+went round with him," said Nolan, "as a matter of form; but I was not
+having any. Even if I had found the chap who had taken the revolver, I
+should not have peached on him, as I knew what his fate would have
+been." Nolan was afterwards taken to hospital, and was left behind when
+the Germans were driven off by a British cavalry brigade. Finally his
+comrades took him back to his own lines.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Many stories are told of brave fellows who have gallantly dashed through
+a storm of bullets to carry important messages to their comrades in
+other trenches. A wounded corporal of the Gloucester Regiment gives us
+an instance which occurred during the retreat. "Orders had been given to
+a battalion holding an advanced position to fall back. The only way to
+get the order through was for a man to run the gauntlet of a murderous
+fire. Volunteers were called for from the Royal Irish Fusiliers. All
+wanted to go, but by tossing for it a choice was made. The man on whom
+the lot fell was a shock-headed fellow, who didn't look as if there was
+much in him; but he had grit. Ducking his head in a way that made us
+laugh, he rushed into the hail of shot and shell. He cleared the first
+hundred yards without being hit, but in the second hundred they brought
+him down. He rose again and struggled on for a few minutes, but was hit
+once more, and then collapsed.
+
+"Two men now dashed into the fire and rushed across, while the Germans
+were doing their best to pot them. One picked up the wounded man and
+started back to the trenches with him, while the other took the dispatch
+and ran ahead with it. Just as the wounded man and his mate were within
+a few yards of our trenches, and we were cheering them, there came
+another hail of bullets, and both went down dead. Meanwhile the man with
+the dispatch was racing for all that he was worth. He got through all
+right, until in the last lap he was brought down like a felled ox. He
+was seen from the other trenches, and half a dozen men rushed out to his
+aid. They were all shot down, but he was now crawling towards the
+trenches with his message. With assistance he reached them, and, d,
+thanks to him, the battalion was safely withdrawn to a new position."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+In the dispatch describing the first part of the retreat from Mons, Sir
+John French said: "I wish particularly to bring to your lordship's
+notice the admirable work done by the Royal Flying Corps, under Sir
+David Henderson. Their skill, energy, and perseverance have been beyond
+all praise."
+
+[Illustration: A British Aviation Camp.
+
+_Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd._]
+
+Here is a story which shows you the resource and coolness of a British
+flying man in a very tight place. During the retreat to the Marne a
+squadron commander, with a passenger, made a long scouting flight over a
+part of the country from which the British had withdrawn while he was in
+the air. On his return he descended in a field which seemed to afford
+him a good landing-place, and was, as he thought, within the British
+lines. As his machine was running along the grass and about to come to
+rest, he saw to his amazement two mounted German officers galloping
+towards him, and behind them large numbers of infantry, who had been
+hidden behind the trees.
+
+Fortunately, the propeller of his aeroplane was still revolving, so he
+opened the throttle and set the engine going again at top speed. Instead
+of rising rapidly from the ground, he flew along quite close to the
+German officers, waving his hand in friendly greeting. His passenger at
+once grasped the situation, and followed the pilot's example. The
+Germans thought that they were two of their own air scouts, and cheered
+them heartily.
+
+The pilot turned and flew back across the German front again, waving his
+hand and showing other signs of friendliness. Slowly he rose, higher and
+higher, and circled round and round, until he was high in the air, when
+he headed for the safety of the Royal Flying Corps camp. He had
+completely deceived the enemy, and had obtained valuable information as
+to their numbers and the positions which they held. You will be able to
+appreciate fully the cleverness of this flying man when I tell you that
+there was a Union Jack painted on the wings of his aeroplane. He very
+skilfully turned and "banked" his machine so that the near wing-tips
+pointed down to the Germans, and the underside of the wings which showed
+the Union Jack were thus hidden from view, until he was so far up in the
+air as to be out of range of their guns.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+According to custom, I will conclude this chapter by giving you the
+names of the heroes who were awarded the Victoria Cross during the
+latter part of the British retreat. All of them belong to Battery L of
+the Royal Horse Artillery. They are:--
+
+Battery Sergeant-Major George Thomas Dorrell (now Second Lieutenant). I
+have already told you (see pages 147-8) how he continued to serve a gun
+at Néry on 1st September until all the ammunition was expended. You will
+remember that all the officers of his battery were killed or wounded,
+and that he and his mates were subjected to a terrible fire from guns
+and Maxims at a range of only six hundred yards.
+
+Sergeant David Nelson (now Second Lieutenant). While under heavy fire at
+Néry, and severely wounded, he helped to bring the guns into action, and
+remained with them until all the ammunition was used up, although he had
+been ordered to retire to cover.
+
+Captain Edward Kinder Bradbury. You read on page 147 how gallantly he
+rallied the men of his battery, and directed their fire until he was
+shot down. Unhappily, the Victoria Cross was not awarded to him until
+after his lamented death.
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXI.
+
+  THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR AT SEA.
+
+
+While our gallant soldiers are resting after their long retreat, we will
+make for
+
+  "The sea! the sea! the open sea!
+   The blue, the fresh, the ever-free!"
+
+and follow the fortunes of our sailors during the first two months of
+the war. In Chapter II., Volume I., you learnt that our first line of
+defence was fully prepared for active service the moment that war broke
+out. From the first we had the command of the seas. Our British Home
+Fleet was fully forty per cent. stronger than any fleet that the Germans
+could bring against it in the North Sea, and besides this we had many
+other squadrons scouring the oceans of the world, and the assistance of
+the French and Japanese navies. On the sea the Germans and Austrians
+were hopelessly inferior to the Allies.
+
+Such being the case, the Germans, though they had long toasted "The Day"
+on which they were going to destroy our naval supremacy for ever, dared
+not leave their harbours and show fight. They were very wise in this
+respect. They knew that pitched battles could only end in one way--the
+entire destruction of their navy.
+
+You read in Chapter XVII. of Volume I. that their plan was to strew the
+North Sea with mines, in the hope that our ships would bump upon them
+and be blown up. In this way they hoped that our strength would be
+slowly reduced to their own level. The Germans meant to keep their fleet
+in safety until they could fight us upon even terms. They believed that
+our sailors ploughing the sea day after day in search of an enemy that
+could not be found, and going in constant terror of floating mines and
+submarines, would grow stale and dispirited. Then when many of our ships
+had gone down, and our men were worn out in body and in mind, they meant
+to sally forth and crush British sea-power once and for all. It was an
+excellent plan--on paper.
+
+Before I pass on to describe the first sea fight of the war, let us look
+for a moment at the coast line of Germany. It is, as you know, entirely
+confined to a strip on the North Sea, and to a long stretch on the
+Baltic Sea. On both these sea fronts Germany had to meet a naval
+power--the British in the North Sea, and the Russians in the Baltic. You
+were told on page 141 of Volume I. that, in order to enable German
+warships to pass rapidly from one front to the other, the Kiel Canal has
+been constructed. The work of widening and deepening this canal was
+completed some six weeks before the outbreak of war.
+
+The German coast on the North Sea is only about a hundred miles from
+west to east, not counting indentations; and it is washed by very
+shallow waters, which are much impeded by sandbanks. The sea is gaining
+on the shore, as you may notice from the long line of fringing islands
+which were formerly part of the mainland. Close to the Dutch frontier,
+on the estuary of the Ems, is the port and manufacturing town of Emden.
+The Germans have spent much money in constructing at Emden a harbour big
+enough and deep enough to accommodate the largest liners and warships.
+Between the mouth of the Ems and the Jade there is a long, sandy stretch
+of coast, backed by dunes and broken by tidal creeks. On the west side
+of the Jade estuary stands Wilhelmshaven, the great North Sea naval base
+of Germany. It was established by the present Kaiser's grandfather in
+1869, and is very strongly fortified. It boasts two harbours, several
+wet and dry docks, coaling basins, and a large naval barracks. In time
+of peace the First Squadron of the German High Sea Fleet is stationed at
+Wilhelmshaven.
+
+On the east side of the estuary of the Weser is Bremerhaven, with three
+large harbour basins and several docks, including the dry dock of the
+North German Lloyd steamers. About twenty miles north of Bremerhaven, at
+the mouth of the Elbe, is Cuxhaven, which between 1892 and 1895 was
+turned into a port capable of berthing the largest ocean-going
+steamers. It is the outport of Hamburg, the greatest seaport on the
+Continent of Europe, and the Hamburg-America steamers make it their
+headquarters. Nature has already fortified the ports along this coast,
+for the estuaries on which they stand consist of a network of mazy
+channels winding amidst deadly sandbanks, which can only be threaded
+safely by pilots who spend their lives in the work. The Germans have,
+however, not trusted solely to this natural protection, but have set up
+very strong forts at all points where there is danger of attack.
+
+The whole coast is followed by a double line of railways, built not for
+trade but for purposes of war--probably for an invasion of England. The
+Germans watch the coast most jealously, and will not allow visitors to
+approach the chief forts. In the year 1911 they imprisoned a British
+Territorial officer, Captain Bertrand Stewart--the first to give his
+life in the war--on the false charge of spying out the defences of the
+towns and islands along this precious seaboard.
+
+[Illustration: The Island of Heligoland. Part of the harbour is shown on
+the right.
+
+_Photo, Exclusive News Agency._]
+
+About the centre of the North Sea line of coast, thirty-five miles to
+the northward of Cuxhaven, is the island of Heligoland, which is the
+fortified outer guard of the Kiel Canal and the key to the German coast
+defences. For eighty-three years the Union Jack waved over it, but in
+1890 it was ceded to Germany. It is a sandstone islet, one mile in
+length and 650 yards in breadth, with almost vertical cliffs on all
+sides. So soft is the sandstone that the sea makes great inroads on it.
+In the year 800 A.D. the circumference of Heligoland was 120 miles, but
+by 1300 A.D. it had been reduced by the everlasting gnawing of the sea
+to forty-five miles. Now it is but three or four miles round. The
+Germans have surrounded it with a concrete wall, so that the sea can no
+longer eat it away.
+
+In the heart of the rock, underground passages, chambers, and galleries
+have been excavated, and the whole island has been turned into an
+impregnable fortress. The many batteries are invisible from the sea, and
+the plateau on top of the island has been made bomb-proof. Only on the
+north side of the island can the cliffs be scaled by an invader, and the
+possible landing-places are all commanded by guns. On the highest point
+of the island--245 feet above the sea--are a lighthouse and a wireless
+station. Hangars for Zeppelins have been built on the plateau. These
+sheds are very cleverly constructed. They can be revolved so that the
+air-ships in them can be brought to the entrance, head to the wind, and,
+if necessary, they can be sunk into a valley out of sight of the sea.
+There is a large harbour for destroyers and submarines at the eastern
+end of the island, and also a small dockyard for repairing light craft.
+
+When Heligoland passed into German hands a Russian soldier said that
+thenceforth a blockade of the North Sea German coast would be extremely
+difficult. A British blockading fleet would not only have to expect
+attack from the front, but both its flanks would be constantly
+threatened. Thus the German vessels would be able to slip out, make
+raids on the estuaries and ports of the east coast of Britain, and
+attack British ships in their own waters. We shall see later that this
+prophecy came true. Meanwhile the Germans strewed their own coast with
+mine-fields, and thus made it almost impossible of attack.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Immediately war broke out our Grand Fleet disappeared. It melted into
+space, as it were, and nothing was seen of it but the ships patrolling
+the coast. But though a thick veil was drawn over its movements, it made
+itself felt at once. It forced the Germans to keep their most powerful
+ships in harbour, and it put an end to all talk of invasion. In the year
+1910 Sir Arthur Wilson, who was then First Sea Lord of the Admiralty,
+said that the really serious danger that we had to guard against in war
+was not an invasion of our shores, but the stoppage of our trade and the
+destruction of our merchant shipping. Our overseas trade is extremely
+important, and the destruction of our merchant shipping would, as you
+know, rob us of our food and compel us to starve or surrender. The
+Germans know this very well, and just before the war they sent out
+cruisers and armed liners to fall upon our peaceful merchant ships and
+sink them.
+
+[Illustration: Sir John Jellicoe on board his flagship, the Iron Duke.
+
+_Photo, Alfieri._]
+
+We had, of course, prepared against such attacks on our shipping. Our
+cruisers were in every quarter of the globe, and we immediately began to
+sweep the German commerce raiders from the seas. Our Government believed
+that we should lose 10 per cent. of our vessels, but by the beginning of
+October we had only lost 1¼ per cent., while Germany and Austria had
+lost 10 per cent. of their total shipping. This was a remarkable state
+of things, and quite contrary to our experience in former wars. During
+the year 1813, when the British navy was at the height of its power, and
+we were at war with the United States, the ships of the enemy captured
+650 British vessels. From 4th August 1914 to 10th March 1915 the Germans
+only captured or sank 90 of our ships. By the end of October the trade
+routes were practically as free as they had ever been. British trade
+passed to and fro almost as freely as in time of peace. Our food supply
+was hardly molested, and though prices rose there was no shortage. It
+was said very truly that every British child ought to repeat this grace
+before meat: "Thank God for my good dinner and for the British Navy."
+
+Before I tell you how the German commerce raiders came to grief, you
+shall hear the story of two German cruisers, the _Goeben_[85] and the
+_Breslau_. They were in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Algeria,
+when war broke out. Probably they had been ordered to the Mediterranean
+to assist the Austrians, and also the Italians if they should elect to
+take a hand in the war. As you know, the Italians refused to fight along
+with their allies, because they believed that Germany and Austria had
+provoked the war. The _Goeben_ was the fastest ship in the German fleet,
+and the _Breslau_ was only slightly inferior in speed. The two ships
+began operations by shelling some of the unprotected coast towns of
+Algeria, and then turned northwards, with the object, it is believed, of
+making for the Strait of Gibraltar. They were headed off by a British
+fleet; but they outdistanced their pursuers, and early on the mornings
+of 5th August appeared off Messina. Here the captains and the officers
+made their wills, and handed them over, along with their valuables and
+signed portraits of the Kaiser, to the care of the German consul. Then
+the decks were cleared, and the bands struck up, and out they steamed,
+as everybody thought, to give battle to the British fleet.
+
+Unfortunately for us, they evaded our ships. When, however, they were
+going full steam to the eastward, and were off Cape Matapan, the British
+cruiser _Gloucester_ sighted them. Though she was only one ship against
+two, she gallantly engaged them, and did some damage to both. They took
+to their heels, and were next heard of in the Dardanelles, where,
+contrary to all the rules of war, they were sold to the Turkish
+Government. Such was the inglorious exploit of Germany's crack cruisers.
+It was a bad beginning for the German navy, but there was worse to
+follow.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The first of the German commerce raiders to go under was the _Kaiser
+Wilhelm der Grosse_[86]--far too big a mouthful for the British sailor,
+who promptly christened her "Billy the Grocer." She was a fine fast
+liner of 14,000 tons, and had been armed with 4-inch guns. Her business
+was to hold up sea traffic between Great Britain and the Cape of Good
+Hope. She captured and sank a few ships, amongst them the _Kaipara_,
+belonging to the New Zealand Shipping Company. Shortly after sinking the
+_Kaipara_ she was attacked by H.M.S. _Highflyer_ (August 27). The fight
+was fast and furious, but the guns of the _Kaiser Wilhelm_ were easily
+outranged. The first shot from the _Highflyer_ disabled the German's
+port gun and tore away part of her bridge. Shortly afterwards she sank
+riddled with shot. Our losses were one man killed and five slightly
+wounded. The German captain had placed his prisoners of war on board a
+collier before the duel began, and this and previous acts of humanity
+won him the approval of our Admiralty. When the news was flashed by
+wireless to Whitehall the Admiralty sent the following message to the
+_Highflyer_:--
+
+"Bravo! you have rendered a service not only to Britain, but to the
+peaceful commerce of the world. The German officers and crew appear to
+have carried out their duties with humanity and restraint, and are
+therefore worthy of all seamanlike consideration."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+On September 4 came news of disaster. The _Speedy_, a British torpedo
+gunboat of an old type, bumped against a mine and foundered. Next day
+H.M.S. _Pathfinder_ was steaming northward on a calm sea, and was about
+twenty miles from St. Abb's Head, when suddenly a terrific explosion
+blew her almost to fragments. She had been torpedoed by a German
+submarine, the periscope of which was seen shortly before the explosion.
+The skipper of a trawler who witnessed the disaster said that he saw the
+ship surrounded by a cloud of smoke, and that when it cleared there was
+not a trace of her to be seen. He hurried to the rescue, and so did
+other fishing vessels in the neighbourhood, and by their exertions some
+of the crew were saved, but 250 men and 9 officers perished. For a few
+days the Admiralty kept back the news from the public, in the hope that
+one or more of the submarines in the neighbourhood might be trapped.
+Later on, it was reported that these venturesome craft had been scouting
+as far north as the Orkneys. German wireless news informed us that the
+_Pathfinder_ had been sunk by the U22.[87]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The British navy had its revenge twelve days later. Submarine E9,[88]
+commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Max K. Horton, an officer of the
+greatest daring and skill, of whom we shall hear more later, pushed into
+the Bight of Heligoland, and, six miles south of the island, fell in
+with the German cruiser _Hela_. He discharged two torpedoes at her, one
+striking her at the bow and the other amidships. She burst into flames
+and sank in an hour, most of the crew being saved. When E9 returned to
+Harwich, flying a little yellow flag, and beneath it a white flag with
+the skull and cross bones, all seafaring men knew that she had been
+victorious. She had a great reception; the crews of the warships in the
+harbour cheered her again and again, and Lieutenant-Commander Horton was
+playfully dubbed by his comrades "The Double-toothed Pirate."
+
+[Illustration: The Exploit of E9: the Sinking of the Hela.]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+On 20th September came the news of a serious misfortune. Since the
+outbreak of war H.M.S. _Pegasus_ had been working from Zanzibar along
+the coast of German East Africa. She had destroyed the port of
+Dar-es-Salaam,[89] and had sunk a German gunboat and a floating dock. At
+5 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, 20th September, she was lying at anchor
+in Zanzibar harbour, cleaning her boilers and repairing her machinery.
+Suddenly the German cruiser _Königsberg_ appeared, and caught her
+unawares. The German ship was armed with guns which outranged those of
+the _Pegasus_, and she immediately began a fierce bombardment. The
+_Pegasus_ discharged her broadside; but the Germans disabled her guns
+with three shots, and then for a quarter of an hour rained shells upon
+her, while she was helpless to reply. After a lull the _Königsberg_
+opened fire again, and the _Pegasus_ by this time was able to return
+shot for shot. When the German steamed off to the southward the British
+ship was found to be badly holed, and was towed away and grounded on a
+sand spit. She had lost 25 killed and 80 wounded out of a crew of 234.
+
+During the fight the British flag was twice shot away. It could not be
+nailed to the mast as in the days of Nelson, for masts are now made of
+iron; yet it had to fly in sight of the enemy, for without it the ship
+would seem to have surrendered. Rather than let this dishonour attach to
+them, two marines seized the flag and held it up while a new flagstaff
+was being rigged. It was still fluttering its defiance when the
+_Königsberg_ steamed away.
+
+I have told you in these pages of scores of heroic deeds; in the
+multitude of them let us not forget the brave and devoted men who kept
+the flag flying in Zanzibar harbour, and thus showed the enemy that the
+British navy of to-day is still inspired by the old unconquerable spirit
+of Blake and Nelson.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Early in September we first heard of the famous German raider the
+_Emden_. She had been on the China station when war broke out, and now
+she appeared in the Bay of Bengal and began her career of destruction.
+I will tell you her full story later on, when I come to the day when she
+was sunk.
+
+Now we will learn how the German commerce raider _Cap Trafalgar_ was
+sent to her doom. She was a fast liner, armed with eight 4-inch guns and
+machine guns. Strange to say, her victorious opponent was a British
+armed liner, the _Carmania_, of the White Star line. Liverpool boys and
+girls are sure to have seen the _Carmania_ lying in the Mersey, or at
+the Prince's landing-stage, for she has regularly crossed the Atlantic
+since 1905.
+
+On 14th September the crew of the _Carmania_ were just sitting down to
+their midday meal when the lookout men sighted a strange vessel. She was
+a liner as big as the _Carmania_. She was not at first recognized as an
+enemy, because she had rigged up a dummy funnel, and made herself look
+something like a Union Castle liner. The British captain, however, was
+suspicious, so he ordered a shot to be fired across the stranger's bows
+as a signal to heave-to. No sooner had the shot plumped into the water
+than the stranger opened fire, and the German flag fluttered to her
+masthead.
+
+The _Carmania_ let fly her port guns, and soon both vessels were
+fighting hammer and tongs. Both were big ships, and very good targets:
+the _Carmania_, for example, is 675 feet long and 60 feet out of the
+water, and aiming at her is like shooting at the side of a street. The
+_Cap Trafalgar_ hit the _Carmania_ more than three hundred times, but
+only two of the shots were serious. For the most part the shells flew
+high, and only damaged the _Carmania's_ rigging and upper works. The
+British gunners aimed low, and her captain so manoeuvred the ship that
+she was end on to her enemy most of the time.
+
+[Illustration: How they kept the Flag flying.]
+
+Shot after shot hit the _Cap Trafalgar_ on the water line, and soon she
+caught fire. After the duel had lasted one hour and forty-five minutes
+she heeled over at such an angle that the men on the _Carmania_ could
+actually look down her funnels. Then there was an explosion, and her
+bows went under; another explosion followed, and she slowly disappeared.
+Many of the men struggling in the water were rescued by the empty
+collier that accompanied her. The _Carmania_ was prevented from sending
+her boats to the rescue because she was on fire forward. Our loss was
+nine men killed, five seriously wounded, and twenty-one slightly
+wounded. The following message was received from the Admiralty soon
+after the news reached London:--
+
+"Well done. You have fought a fine action to a successful finish."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+On the night before the Battle of Trafalgar Nelson knelt in his cabin on
+the _Victory_ and wrote a beautiful prayer, in which he besought, "May
+humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British fleet."
+It has always been so, and it will always be so. I must now tell you of
+an action in which humanity _before_ victory led to a great disaster. On
+22nd September three British cruisers, the _Aboukir_, _Hogue_, and
+_Cressy_, were cruising off the coast of Holland. They were old ships,
+and they were at sea for the last time; the Admiralty had already
+decided to sell them for breaking up.
+
+The weather was bad, and the usual escort of destroyers had been
+delayed. Suddenly there was a terrible explosion on board the _Aboukir_.
+She had been hit by a torpedo from a submarine right under one of her
+magazines. The submarine, the famous U9, commanded by
+Lieutenant-Commander Weddingen, had got within range under cover of a
+trawler flying the Dutch flag. The _Aboukir_ sank rapidly, and at once
+the _Hogue_ and the _Cressy_ slowed down, and began to lower their boats
+in order to save the survivors who were struggling in the water.
+
+This was a splendid chance for the German submarine; for, as I have
+already told you, it is very difficult for under-water craft to torpedo
+a ship travelling zigzag at a high speed. She has to aim herself at her
+target, and only by chance can she do this when her quarry is rapidly
+changing its course. When, however, it comes to rest, the submarine has
+an easy task.
+
+Two torpedoes in quick succession now sped towards the _Hogue_, and five
+minutes later she had gone under, and the sea was dotted with men
+swimming for dear life or clinging desperately to bits of wreckage. Soon
+afterwards there was another explosion, and the _Cressy_ suffered the
+same fate. Three torpedoes had been fired at her, and two of them had
+hit her. Two Dutch trawlers now came to the rescue, and their crews
+worked like Trojans to save the lives of our men. British destroyers
+also arrived, and took part in the work of rescue; but the loss of life
+was very great. About 60 officers and 1,400 men were killed or drowned.
+The ships themselves were no great loss, but the 1,460 brave and
+highly-trained men who went down on that fateful day can never be
+replaced. "The conduct of the crew," says the commander of the _Cressy_,
+"was excellent throughout." "There was no panic of any sort," wrote the
+commander of the _Hogue_, "the men taking off their clothes as ordered,
+and falling in with hammock or wood. . . . All the men behaved
+extraordinarily well, obeying orders even when in the water and swimming
+for their lives. I witnessed many cases of great self-sacrifice and
+gallantry. Farmstone, able seaman, of the _Hogue_, jumped overboard from
+the launch to make room for others, and would not avail himself of
+assistance until all men near by were picked up; he was in the water
+about half an hour."
+
+[Illustration: The sinking of the Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy.
+
+This illustration shows the Cressy making a gallant attempt to ram the
+submarine.]
+
+The Admiralty afterwards sent a message to the Fleet, pointing out that
+though this heavy loss of life was due to the natural desire of our
+sailors to save their fellows in distress, it ought to have been
+avoided, and would probably not have taken place if the _Hogue_ and the
+_Cressy_ had kept on their courses, and left the work of succour to
+small craft. The stoppage of these vessels was no doubt a mistake, but I
+think that we shall all be ready to forgive those who made it when we
+remember that they laid down their lives while trying to save their
+comrades from a watery grave.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A sailor who was saved tells the following story:--
+
+"The best thing I saw was the coolness of a little cadet. Not more than
+fourteen he looked. He drifted near me; he and a seaman clinging with
+their hands and elbows to the same bit of wood. I never saw anything as
+calm as that lad. He was talking to the seaman with him. 'Well,' he
+says, 'we've got to carry on like this, and if we die we shall die
+game.' And with that he begins to talk about everyday things on the
+sunken ship. 'What's the new engineer like?' he says, and chats about
+the little incidents in the mess. Only fourteen--a little light-haired
+boy. I hope he was saved."
+
+So do we all. If he was rescued, we all hope that in days to come he
+will command one of the King's ships, and play his part as nobly as he
+did when floating on the sea, face to face with death.
+
+There were about sixteen midshipmen on board the three ships. Some of
+them were cadets at Osborne or Devonport when the war began. All the
+older boys were hurried off to the sea, and were proud and happy to go.
+Some of them have kept the "Watch on the Brine" all through the long and
+bitter winter; others have helped to patrol distant seas and capture
+enemy ships; some have fought a good fight in the naval battles; all
+have done their duty, and many have died for their country.
+
+There was a very lucky middy on board the _Aboukir_ when she went down.
+One of the survivors asks: "What do you think of this regarding one of
+our brave midshipmen? He was on board the first ship which was struck,
+and as she was settling down he jumped overboard and swam clear of the
+swirling water caused by the sinking vessel. He was picked up by another
+of the cruisers; but she also was struck, and in her turn began to sink.
+The midshipman was uninjured by the explosion, and again he jumped and
+cleared the downward suction. He was picked up and put on board the
+third cruiser; but before long she, too, received her death wound. Again
+he got clear, and clung to a piece of wreckage, from which he was
+finally rescued."
+
+A ship's carpenter on board the _Aboukir_ had a similar experience. He
+was on board all the three cruisers when they were torpedoed. When the
+_Cressy_ went down he swam to a raft, which towed him along for some
+distance, until a ship's boat picked him up.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A middy of the _Cressy_, a lad of sixteen, named Cazalet, commanded a
+whaler which was engaged in the work of rescue. He was actually the
+means of saving some eighty-eight lives. Altogether he picked up three
+boatloads of men, and not until there were no more survivors in sight
+did he seek refuge on board a Dutch trawler.
+
+A fifteen-year-old drummer boy of the Marines managed to keep his head
+above water for about four hours. An empty rum cask floated by him, and
+he seized it and clung on to it until he was rescued. Strange to say, he
+suffered no harm from his long bath in the stormy sea.
+
+[Footnote 85: Named after the Prussian general August von Goeben
+(1816-80). He commanded the 8th Army Corps in the Franco-German War, and
+distinguished himself at Gravelotte and elsewhere.]
+
+[Footnote 86: Emperor William the Great.]
+
+[Footnote 87: U stands for _Unterwasserboot_--under-water boat.]
+
+[Footnote 88: The various classes of British submarines are indicated by
+a letter of the alphabet. Boats of the oldest class constructed are
+lettered A.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Seaport, military station, and capital of German East
+Africa, fifty miles south of Zanzibar.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXII.
+
+  THE BATTLE OF HELIGOLAND BIGHT.
+
+
+In the first few days of the war there were rumours that a big naval
+battle had been fought in the North Sea, and that the bulk of the German
+fleet had been sent to the bottom. The wish was father to the thought.
+Most British people expected that there would be big sea fights, and
+they had no doubt of the result. We already know that the Germans had no
+intention of coming out in force to meet Sir John Jellicoe's ships.
+Their policy was to stick close to their own coasts, and try to wear us
+down by mines and torpedo attacks. As day after day went by and there
+was no startling news, impatient people began to ask, "What is the Navy
+doing?"
+
+The Navy, though it had vanished into the unknown, was very busy, and
+was doing its work wonderfully well. Our light cruisers, destroyers, and
+submarines were continually watching the movements of the enemy. They
+are, as you know, the "eyes and ears" of the Fleet, and it was their
+business to inform Sir John Jellicoe the moment that enemy ships
+attempted to leave their harbours, so that he might bring them to
+action. Further, our warships had to prevent commerce raiders from
+slipping out and creeping into the ocean between Norway and the Orkneys
+in order to prey on the trade routes. Many of our warships were busy
+night and day examining neutral ships, to see that they did not smuggle
+what we call contraband of war[90] into Germany, while others acted as
+convoys to troopships and supply ships, or as pilots to friendly traders
+passing through the mine-fields. Fleets of trawlers, as you know, were
+engaged in sweeping up mines. The Navy, you observe, was fully occupied
+in the North Sea, "bottling up" the German fleet, and preventing war
+supplies from reaching the German ports; while, out on the ocean, our
+cruisers were policing the trade routes, capturing the enemy's merchant
+ships, and chasing his commerce destroyers. The best proof that the Navy
+was doing its work in the best possible way was the absolute
+helplessness of the Germans to impede our overseas trade, or to
+interfere with the movements of our troops in all parts of the world.
+
+[Illustration: A British Destroyer in action.]
+
+Though there was no chance of a Trafalgar in the North Sea, there was an
+engagement in the month of August 1914 worthy of the name of a battle. I
+have kept the story of this sea fight for the present chapter. Three
+hours after we declared war two British submarines, E6 and E8, were on
+their way to the Bight of Heligoland on a scouting mission, and from
+that time onward a constant watch was maintained on the doings of the
+enemy's fleet in his own waters. Our submarines pushed right into the
+mouth of the Elbe, discovered the numbers and movements of the enemy's
+patrols, examined his anchorages, and picked up much useful information.
+Of course the Germans did not allow them to do this work in peace. They
+were constantly attacked by gun fire and torpedoes, and hunted by
+destroyers.
+
+The submarines discovered that every night a flotilla of German light
+warships and destroyers was in the habit of coming out from Heligoland,
+or from one of the ports behind it, and cruising for some hours in the
+North Sea. As soon as Sir John Jellicoe heard the news, he made plans
+for a great "round up" of this night-cruising flotilla. His object was
+"to cut off the German light craft from home, and engage them at leisure
+in the open sea."
+
+The command of this expedition was given to Rear-Admiral Sir David
+Beatty, one of the youngest admirals in our Navy. He was born in County
+Wexford in 1871, and is thus an Irishman, like Lord Kitchener. He
+entered the Navy in his thirteenth year. His mettle was first proved in
+an expedition that was sent to reconquer the Sudan in 1898. In command
+of the gunboat flotilla on the Upper Nile, he did such brilliant work
+that he was at once marked out for promotion. Two years later, at the
+early age of twenty-nine, he became a captain. In the same year he took
+part in the fighting against the Chinese Boxers, and at thirty-nine was
+promoted rear-admiral. For two years he was naval secretary to the First
+Lord of the Admiralty, and on the outbreak of war was placed in command
+of the First Battle Cruiser Squadron. Never before in the history of our
+Navy has so young a man held so high a rank.
+
+[Illustration: Rear-Admiral Sir David Beatty.
+
+_Photo, Central News._]
+
+"Look well at this man as he paces backward and forward across the airy
+platform out among the smoke and rigging and sea wind." He is a little
+man, but very well proportioned and remarkably full of vigour. "You feel
+that energy has been poured into him at enormous pressure, that it is
+working and boiling within him, and that some one is sitting on the
+safety-valve." His face is heavily lined, but his features are clear
+cut, and his gray eyes are quick and searching, like those of a bird.
+"There is, indeed, something birdlike about the whole man--in his
+quickness, his neatness, his smooth plumage, his effortless exercise of
+strength, and appearance of happiness and light-heartedness. His voice
+is deep and resonant--strangely deep to issue from so small and slim a
+body; and as he snaps out an order to his flag-lieutenant--'G16'--and
+as, on the word, the signal flags run up to the yardarm, and the white
+bone[91] that each ship carries in her teeth spreads wider and bigger as
+the speed of the squadron is increased to sixteen knots, you realize a
+little what an admiral's word stands for, and what powers are entrusted
+to him."
+
+[Illustration: The Battle Cruiser Lion.
+
+_Photo, Symonds and Co._]
+
+Sir David Beatty's flagship was the battle cruiser _Lion_. You will hear
+much about battle cruisers in the following pages, so let me now tell
+you how a battle cruiser differs from a battleship. There are two
+distinct types of modern warships of the largest size--namely, the
+battleship and the battle cruiser. The battleship, sometimes called a
+Dreadnought or super-Dreadnought, after the name of the first of the
+type, has thicker armour and less speed than the battle cruiser; that is
+practically all the difference between them. You may call the battle
+cruiser a cross between the battleship and the cruiser; she has the big
+guns of the former and the speed of the latter. She gains this speed by
+having a less weight of armour, and, as a rule, a smaller number of
+guns.
+
+The most powerful weapon used in our Navy is the 15-inch gun, with which
+the latest of our battleships, the _Queen Elizabeth_ (launched 1915), is
+armed. This gun, which weighs ninety tons, throws a shot weighing
+five-sixths of a ton at a velocity of more than a mile a second for a
+range of 10,000 yards, or roughly six miles. Of course the full range of
+the gun is much more than this. It can make good practice at 20,000
+yards, or roughly 11 miles; at six miles the gun can be laid so as to
+hit the target practically every time. The 13.5-inch gun, with which the
+battle cruisers are mainly armed, is only a little less powerful than
+the 15-inch gun. It throws a projectile of 1,400 lbs. weight, and can be
+discharged twice a minute.
+
+You will see in what ways a modern super-Dreadnought battleship differs
+from a battle cruiser if you examine the following figures
+
+_Queen Elizabeth_ (super-Dreadnought).--Length, 620 feet; tonnage,
+27,500; horse-power, 28,000; speed per hour, 25 knots;[92] armour, belt
+of 13½ inch thickness; armament, eight 15-inch guns and sixteen 6-inch
+guns.
+
+_Lion_ (battle cruiser).--Length, 660 feet; tonnage, 26,350;
+horse-power, 70,000; speed per hour, 31 knots; armour, belt of 9¾ inch
+thickness; armament, eight 13.5-inch guns and sixteen 4-inch guns.
+
+The _Lion_, _Tiger_, _Queen Mary_, and _Princess Royal_ are the four
+most powerful battle cruisers in existence.
+
+Cruisers, of which we possessed 121 when war broke out, are the fighting
+scouts of the Fleet. What are called armoured cruisers, such as the
+unfortunate _Cressy_, _Aboukir_, and _Hogue_, are protected by belts of
+armour plate, varying from 6 inches to 8 inches in thickness. Protected
+cruisers have decks of armour plate instead of belts. The most modern
+cruisers, which are known as light armoured cruisers, have been
+described as "destroyers of destroyers." The light cruiser _Arethusa_,
+for example, has a belt of armour plating from 3 to 3½ inches thick. She
+is 410 feet long, displaces 3,600 tons, and has turbine engines that
+give her a speed of thirty knots. Like all the most modern warships, she
+consumes oil in place of coal. She mounts two 6-inch, six 4-inch, and
+four machine guns, with four torpedo tubes.
+
+Next in importance to the cruisers come the destroyers, of which we
+possessed 227 at the beginning of the war. These vessels may be said to
+correspond with the armoured motor car used by the Army. They are all
+built for speed, and most of them can steam over thirty miles an hour.
+The _Swift_, the largest destroyer in our Navy, has actually done over
+forty-four miles an hour; the _Tartar_, however, carries off the record,
+with a speed of nearly forty-six miles an hour. The _Swift_ displaces
+2,170 tons, and is almost as big as the smallest of the light cruisers.
+Destroyers of the "L" class displace 965 tons, have a speed of about
+thirty-three miles an hour, and carry three 4-inch guns.
+
+Life on board a destroyer is very strenuous. Destroyers act as policemen
+of the seas, and they must go on their beat whatever the weather may be.
+If you have not seen one of these small craft riding through a gale, you
+can have no idea of the way in which wind and waves play pitch-and-toss
+with them in foul weather. Officers and men alike must wear heavy
+sea-boots and oilskins, for they are often up to their knees in water,
+and drenched with the spray that breaks freely over the decks. As a
+destroyer usually goes through the waves rather than over them, she is
+built with a raised fore part, from which in rough weather the water
+streams away like a little Niagara. In bad weather everything must be
+tightly battened down, and this means that while the deck hands are
+swept by cold, wind-driven sheets of water, the men in the engine rooms
+have to work in a very hot and stifling atmosphere. A destroyer always
+travels at high speed on patrol work, and she dances about on a zigzag
+course in order to avoid the deadly foe lurking beneath the surface.
+Trying though the life on a destroyer is, many men prefer it to service
+on a big ship. There is extra pay, which Jack calls "hard-lying money,"
+and there is more freedom in various ways.
+
+The remaining class of warships consists of submarines. I described
+these vessels in Chapter XVII. of Volume I.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+I must now return to the story of how the enemy was rounded up in
+Heligoland Bight.[93] At midnight on 26th August a squadron of
+submarines left Harwich accompanied by two destroyers, which escorted
+them to positions near the enemy's coast, and began scouting diligently
+for the under-water craft of the enemy. At five o'clock next evening
+(27th August) the First and Third Destroyer Flotillas steamed out of the
+harbour. Earlier in the day the Battle Cruiser Squadron, the First Light
+Cruiser Squadron, and the Seventh Cruiser Squadron had put to sea. All
+were under orders to meet at a certain position early on the morning of
+28th August. I think you can imagine the feelings of our men as the
+ships crept forward, with no lights showing, through the night. They
+were about to penetrate the enemy's waters and fall upon him unawares.
+
+[Illustration: Position at 7 a.m.
+
+Battle of the Bight of Heligoland (Aug. 28).]
+
+The morning of the 28th broke calm and windless. There was a thick haze
+over the waters, and the keenest eyes in the fleet could not pierce the
+mist for more than three miles around. Just before 7 a.m. the gaunt
+island of Heligoland, with its forts, painted lodging-houses, and
+crumbling sea cliffs, loomed out of the fog. This diagram will show you
+the position of our various squadrons at this time. The submarines, you
+will observe, were close to Heligoland; but they made no attempt to
+conceal themselves, as the sea was like a mill-pond, and their
+periscopes were plainly visible. Approaching rapidly from the north-west
+were Commodore Tyrwhitt's two destroyer flotillas, led by the _Arethusa_
+and the _Fearless_. The _Arethusa_, which I have already described, was
+a new ship with an old and honoured name. She had just left the
+builder's yard, and was now about to undergo her baptism of fire.
+Perhaps you have heard or read the famous old song "The Arethusa;" it
+tells how a British man-of-war in June 1778 was attacked by four French
+ships, and how she gallantly drove them off after a fight which lasted
+two hours.
+
+  "The fight was off the Frenchman's land;
+   We forced them back upon the strand,
+   For we fought till not a stick would stand
+        Of the gallant _Arethusa_."
+
+The new _Arethusa_ was now about to prove herself worthy of her ancient
+renown.
+
+Behind the destroyers, and a little to the south-west of them, was the
+Seventh Cruiser Squadron. To the north-east of the destroyers lay the
+First Light Cruiser Squadron, and Sir David Beatty's Battle Cruiser
+Squadron, consisting of the _Lion_, _Queen Mary_, _New Zealand_, and
+_Invincible_.
+
+The submarines near Heligoland were the decoy ducks. They were probably
+first sighted by a German seaplane, and shortly afterwards a number of
+German destroyers, two cruisers, and some submarines came out from
+behind the island to attack them. When our submarines saw them they and
+their attendant destroyers fled westward, and the German destroyers
+followed them, and thus were drawn away from the island into the open
+sea. Soon, however, they sighted the British flotillas bearing down on
+them from the north-east. Then they turned tail and tried to make for
+home; but our destroyers and the two cruisers altered their course to
+port, so as to cut them off. For about half an hour the _Arethusa_ and
+the destroyers were engaged with the German destroyers; but at 7.57 a.m.
+two enemy cruisers, one with four funnels and the other with two,
+appeared, and the nearest of them, the one with two funnels, was
+engaged. She was the _Ariadne_, and the other was probably the
+_Strassburg_. Both of them attacked the _Arethusa_, and for about a
+quarter of an hour she received the heavy fire of both ships. Then the
+_Strassburg_ turned her attention to the _Fearless_, and left the
+_Ariadne_ to cope with the _Arethusa_.
+
+During the action the _Arethusa_ was hit many times, and was much
+damaged. All her guns were out of action except one 6-inch gun, with
+which she replied to the enemy's fire. About 8.15 one of her shells
+wrecked the forebridge of the _Ariadne_, whereupon she turned tail and
+made for Heligoland. Meanwhile the _Fearless_ had driven off the
+_Strassburg_, and the destroyers had sunk the German commodore's
+destroyer, and had damaged some of the others. With that humanity which
+has always distinguished British seamen, the destroyers lowered their
+boats and attempted to save the lives of the German sailors struggling
+in the water. While engaged in this work of mercy a German cruiser fired
+on them, and two of the boats could not be picked up. Later on, when
+these open boats were twenty-five miles from the nearest land, and that
+land the enemy's fortress, with nothing but fog and foes around them,
+they were wondrously saved. "Suddenly," writes an officer, "a swirl
+alongside, and up, if you please, pops His Britannic Majesty's submarine
+E4, opens his conning tower, takes them all on board, shuts up again,
+dives, and brings them home 250 miles! Is that not magnificent? No novel
+would dare to face the critics with an episode like that in it, except,
+perhaps, Jules Verne; and all true."
+
+All the British ships were now ordered to turn to the westward and
+reduce speed to twenty knots. The _Arethusa_ was badly in need of
+repair. A water tank had been hit; all the guns but one were for the
+time being out of action, and a fierce fire broke out which was only got
+under with difficulty. She soon repaired herself, however; got nearly
+all of her guns into working order; and brought ammunition on deck,
+ready for the next bout.
+
+The bulk of our fleet had kept out of sight, and the Germans believed
+that they had only submarines, destroyers, and two cruisers to fight.
+Here was a glorious chance to wipe out the two British cruisers. About
+ten o'clock two of our destroyers reported that they were being chased
+by three cruisers of the enemy--the _Mainz_, the _Köln_, and a heavier
+vessel, probably the _Strassburg_. The _Arethusa_, with the _Fearless_
+and the First Flotilla, at once made for the three German cruisers, and
+about eleven o'clock sighted the _Strassburg_, if that was her name. She
+opened a heavy fire at once, and the poor, battered _Arethusa_ was again
+in peril. Thanks to a vigorous attack by the _Fearless_ and the
+destroyers, the _Strassburg_ drew off and disappeared in the haze. Ten
+minutes later she appeared on the starboard quarter, and again attacked
+the _Arethusa_; but her shots fell short. No such mistake was made by
+the British gunners; both the _Arethusa_ and the _Fearless_ hit the
+German ship repeatedly, and so badly damaged her that she finally drew
+out of the fight and ran for home.
+
+Four minutes later the _Mainz_ appeared, and was at once set upon by our
+cruisers and destroyers. So severely was she handled that in less than
+twenty-five minutes her engines had stopped, flames were leaping up from
+her decks, and she was sinking.
+
+[Illustration: The Sinking of the Mainz.]
+
+When the news that several enemy ships had joined battle reached Sir
+David Beatty, he saw at once that the situation was critical. He had
+already sent off the Light Cruiser Squadron to help the destroyers; now
+he decided to take the Battle Cruiser Squadron into action. At 11.30 his
+ships turned their heads east-south-east, and rapidly worked up to full
+speed. It was a risky business to take his cruisers through a
+mine-strewn sea infested by submarines, but in warfare risks must be
+taken if battles are to be won. He had no fear of submarines, however,
+as he was travelling very quickly, and the sea was so calm that
+periscopes could be easily seen. He considered that his force was quite
+powerful enough to deal with any enemy ships that might come out to meet
+him, except a battle squadron. If he made a dash into the fight, the
+whole business would probably be over before a battle squadron of the
+enemy had time to arrive on the scene.
+
+Just as the _Mainz_ was seen to be sinking, the Light Cruiser Squadron
+arrived, and their shells rained down upon the devoted ship. She was
+completely riddled by shot, and her end had come. An officer who saw her
+sinking wrote:--
+
+"The _Mainz_ was absolutely gallant. The last I saw of her, absolutely
+wrecked alow and aloft, her whole midships blazing and fuming. She had
+one gun forward and one aft, still spitting forth fury and defiance,
+like a wild cat mad with wounds."
+
+While the _Mainz_ was sinking, the _Köln_ appeared on the starboard,
+and broadsides were discharged at long range. At this moment the British
+battle cruisers, with the white ensign streaming from their bows, were
+seen looming through the mist. They had arrived just at the right
+moment, and the worn and wearied men of the _Arethusa_, black with the
+grime of gun-fire, knew that victory was at hand. Commodore Tyrwhitt, of
+the _Arethusa_, pointed out the _Köln_ to Sir David Beatty, and his
+13.5-inch guns got to work. At 10,000 yards he hit her again and again,
+and she turned to flee, with the flames streaming out from her like
+blood-red pennons.
+
+The _Ariadne_ now hove in sight, coming from the southward. Two salvos
+from the terrible 13.5-inch guns were enough for her; she disappeared in
+the mist, burning furiously and in a sinking condition. Then the battle
+cruisers circled north again to finish off the _Köln_. Two salvos were
+fired, and she sank like a stone with all on board.
+
+At 1.40 the battle was over. The battle cruisers turned to the
+northward, and the _Queen Mary_ for the second time that day was
+attacked by a submarine. Again she avoided a deadly torpedo by a quick
+turn of the helm. The great gray monsters covered the retirement of the
+destroyers, and by 6 p.m. all were making for port. Before midnight the
+whole British force was safely back in its own waters.
+
+The enemy had lost two new cruisers--the _Mainz_ and the _Köln_--and an
+older vessel, the _Ariadne_. The vessel which I have called the
+_Strassburg_ was seriously damaged; one destroyer was sunk, and at least
+seven others suffered greatly. Some seven hundred Germans perished, and
+about three hundred were taken prisoners, amongst them the son of
+Admiral von Tirpitz, the chief of the German navy.
+
+Our casualties were thirty-two killed and fifty-two wounded, and we did
+not lose a single ship. The _Arethusa_ was badly damaged, it is true,
+but she was ready for sea a week later. Every British ship that took
+part in the battle was entitled to paint upon her honour-board in
+letters of gold the words, "Heligoland, August 28, 1914." As a tribute
+to the gallant part which the _Arethusa_ had played in the fight, the
+Admiralty ordered the famous old song to be engraved on a brass plate
+and set up on the ship. The first verse runs as follows:--
+
+  "Come, all ye sailors bold,
+   Whose hearts are cast in honour's mould,
+   While English glory I unfold.
+     Huzza for the _Arethusa_!
+     Her men are staunch
+     To their favourite launch.
+   And when the foe shall meet our fire,
+   Sooner than strike we'll all expire
+     On board of the _Arethusa_."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Before we leave the story of the Battle of Heligoland Bight let me try
+to describe the experiences of the men behind the big guns. "Gun crews,
+stand to your stations!" comes the terse order. Instantly every man
+drops his job, whatever it may be, and the various squads fall in and
+march off to their barbettes or casemates, straining their eyes as they
+go to catch a sight of the enemy. All the wooden fittings which are
+likely to catch fire, or form what sailors call "shell traps," have been
+thrown overboard, the stanchions and the davits and the chains around
+the decks have been unshipped, and the vessel is now a mere skeleton of
+its former self. Everything that might get loose and "take charge" has
+been securely lashed. The guns and torpedoes have been made ready; the
+ammunition has been carefully examined and arranged, so that it can be
+quickly hoisted to the guns; and the engines have been overhauled. Hose
+pipes have been run along the decks, and everything likely to take fire
+has been plentifully soused with sea-water.
+
+Probably you know that each pair of big guns is mounted on a revolving
+platform within what is called a turret--that is, a chamber of thick
+armour-plate which revolves with the guns. Beneath this turret is a
+working chamber, some nine or ten feet in height, and from it a thick
+steel tube descends through the decks to the magazines below. Inside
+this tube, which revolves with the gun platform, are "lifts," which
+hoist the shells up to the barbette.
+
+The crews enter the barbettes by means of massive steel doors, which are
+firmly closed behind them. When the doors are closed, it is impossible
+for them to know what is going on in other parts of the ship, except for
+the little that they can observe through the sighting-hood of the guns.
+The steel chamber in which they are stationed is lighted by electricity,
+and the guns, the platform, and the hoists are worked by water power.
+The crew set the machinery working, and bring up a supply of shells,
+one of which is placed in the yawning breech of each great gun.
+
+Presently a telephone bell rings, and a voice is heard asking "if it
+takes a week for the barbette to get ready for action." It is the
+gunnery lieutenant, who is talking "sarcastic." He is in what is called
+the "fire-control station," which is a steel chamber high on the top of
+a tripod mast. In this chamber are the range-finders and all the other
+apparatus necessary for directing the fire of every big gun on the ship.
+Around the steel walls are telephones, speaking-tubes, and electric
+buttons. By means of very wonderful devices the officer in the
+"fire-control station" ranges and sights every gun in the ship. The men
+in the turrets have merely to obey his instructions, and fire the guns
+when he gives the word.
+
+"Prepare to open fire at twenty thousand yards," snaps the voice at the
+telephone. The machinery clangs, and the guns raise their noses high in
+the air. "Revolve to ten degrees on your port bow," comes the next
+order; and, as though by magic, the whole turret swings itself round to
+the required position. Then comes a pause, which the men declare is more
+trying to the nerves than anything that happens during the actual
+fighting. Little or nothing can be seen from the barbette; from the
+"fire-control station" the target is a mere speck on the horizon about
+eleven miles away.
+
+Presently the telephone rings again. "Let go with No. 1 gun" is the
+welcome order. The men cheer and fling themselves face down on the
+floor, and push home the cotton wool with which they have previously
+plugged their ears, to prevent the risk of deafness. The captain of the
+gun pulls a lanyard; there is a "kick" that makes the barbette reel,
+then a deafening report, as a shell weighing nearly a thousand pounds
+speeds over the waters on its deadly mission.
+
+Instantly the men spring up, the breech is thrown open, a jet of water
+is sent along the barrel, and another shell is thrown in. Meanwhile the
+officer in command of the barbette calls out, "Stand by for No. 2 gun."
+When No. 2 gun has been fired the telephone bell rings, and the voice
+from above is heard to say, "Both miles wide; try to hit something next
+time." "We are here to fire the gun, not to range it," mutters the
+captain of the turret as he makes a few hasty calculations and some
+adjustments. "Both guns at once, dead line ahead," comes the next
+order. Round spins the barbette again on its axis, and then a terrific
+jerk and an awful roar as the two weapons go off together. At once every
+eye is turned to the indicator which shows the result of the shots. "One
+well home, the other a trifle short." The gunners caper about in huge
+delight.
+
+By this time the whole of the big guns of the ships are barking away,
+all under the careful eye of the little group of officers perched up
+aloft. "Salvo firing[94] on signal" is now the order, and the range,
+elevation, and direction of the guns are given. Once more the silence is
+tense. Suddenly the indicating needle of every big gun on the ship
+begins to move in unison. FIRE! Then there is a mighty roar, and the
+ship shudders and pauses on its onward course. "Nasty one for somebody,"
+says a bluejacket as he wipes the perspiration from his face and bare
+chest. "Hope they liked it," chimes in another as the guns are loaded
+again.
+
+Now there is a loud report, followed by a crash of bent and battered
+metal not far off. "Pretty near one that," says a gunner. "Wonder if it
+has done any damage." There is no time for further inquiry; damage has
+been done. A large shell from the enemy has hit another barbette, and
+has exploded. The lieutenant in charge has been glancing through the
+sighting-hood; he drops like a log, and two other men have fallen beside
+him. A few bolt-heads have been crisply shorn off by the immense jerk of
+the impact, and they have fled across the steel chamber like rifle
+bullets; one poor fellow is killed, and a second has a leg broken. It is
+the price of Admiralty, and without pause a midshipman takes the
+lieutenant's place and "carries on."
+
+Still the firing continues, and the air in the turret by this time is
+almost stifling. The electric fans have failed owing to some damage
+below. Presently, however, comes the welcome order, "Enemy's ship out of
+action. Out of the barbette, and muster on deck." A loud roar of
+cheering goes up; the great doors are pushed back, and the men take up
+their stations and watch the last throes of the enemy's ship as it
+lurches and sinks beneath the waves. Nothing but the work of rescue now
+remains. All undamaged boats are manned and hoisted out, and away they
+go on their errand of mercy. The battle is over and won.
+
+[Footnote 90: Goods such as arms, ammunition, explosives, and other
+articles for use in war. If a neutral tries to send such goods to a
+state which is at war, they may be seized by the enemy of that state.
+Nations at war give notice of what kinds of goods they will not allow
+their enemy to receive. These goods are known as contraband of war.]
+
+[Footnote 91: The foam at the cutwater of the ship.]
+
+[Footnote 92: One knot = 1-1/7 miles.]
+
+[Footnote 93: Channel about 18 miles wide, some 7 miles north-east of
+Heligoland.]
+
+[Footnote 94: All the big guns that can be brought to bear are fired
+together.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+  THE TURN OF THE TIDE.
+
+
+When the army of von Kluck was sweeping through Northern France like a
+roaring flood, most people thought that he was aiming at Paris, the
+heart and centre of the country. In Chapter X. of our first volume I
+told you that after the great surrender at Sedan the Germans swooped
+down upon the beautiful capital, and began to besiege it. I also told
+you how, after four months of hunger and misery, it yielded, and the
+hosts of Germany marched through its streets in triumph.
+
+Was Paris again to be besieged?--that was the question. The Parisians
+were quite sure that they would soon be ringed round by the Germans.
+They knew that von Kluck was rapidly approaching, and on the afternoon
+of 30th August they saw the first of his war hawks come swooping over
+the city. It dropped five bombs; but only one person was killed, and the
+damage done to property was slight. Attached to a sandbag which was
+dropped from the aeroplane was the following message: "The German army
+is at the gates of Paris; there is nothing left to you but to
+surrender." This was not quite true, but a few days later German cavalry
+actually were within cannon shot of the northern forts; they were as
+near to the towers of Notre Dame[95] as the battlements of Windsor are
+to the dome of St. Paul's. Scouts in motor cars were reported only nine
+miles from Paris itself, and it is said that German officers who had
+American lady friends in the city sent them notes arranging to come to
+tea with them!
+
+[Illustration: Trenches in the Streets of Paris.
+
+_Photo, Sport and General._]
+
+Four days before the first German aeroplane was seen a new government
+came into power, and included in it were the leading members of all the
+parties in the country. The same day a new governor, General
+Gallieni,[96] was appointed to take over the defence of Paris. The
+French capital, as you know, is one of the most strongly fortified
+places in Europe. It is protected by an outer ring of forts, which are
+built at distances varying from six to ten miles from the centre of the
+city. This ring is eighty miles round, and within it are three
+entrenched camps--one on the north, another on the east, and a third on
+the south-east. A railway, more than sixty miles in length, connects all
+the works and supplies them with ammunition and stores. All this sounds
+very formidable; but we know that the strongest forts cannot stand
+against modern siege guns and high explosives. Further, the guns of the
+Paris forts were by no means up to date, and the trenches between them
+were not properly protected. General Gallieni worked night and day to
+remedy these defects; but the time at his disposal was all too short.
+
+One of the leading citizens proposed that Paris should be given up to
+the Germans, in order that its monuments and treasures of art might be
+saved from destruction. General Gallieni would not listen for a moment
+to any such craven proposal. He said that Paris would defend itself,
+even though it should suffer the fate of Louvain. The Parisians were
+with him almost to a man.
+
+Gallieni diligently prepared for a siege. He had trenches dug in the
+streets on the outskirts of the city, and he collected vast quantities
+of provisions within the fortified area. Thousands of cattle and sheep
+were coralled on almost every green space within the ring of
+fortifications, and the Bois de Boulogne[97] became one vast stockyard.
+Meanwhile long strings of people waited before the doors of the shops to
+buy stocks of provisions. Over a million Parisians deserted the city for
+the towns and villages of the south; and though large numbers of
+refugees flocked in from the north, Paris lost its busy appearance, and
+took on an "early morning" air.
+
+In ordinary times Paris is the most brilliantly lighted city in Europe,
+and at night the glare illuminates the sky for scores of square miles.
+Had its myriads of electric lamps gleamed out while the Germans were so
+near at hand, the safety of the city would have been endangered by bombs
+from Zeppelins and aeroplanes. Consequently, Paris by night became a
+city of gloom. All the cafés and shops were closed by eight in the
+evening, and the lamps were veiled and only lighted on one side of the
+street. On the roofs of most of the chief public buildings searchlights
+were installed, and all through the night they flung their dazzling rays
+across the darkness. On 3rd September 1914 the Government was removed to
+Bordeaux. "It only leaves Paris," said a proclamation, "after having
+taken all precautions in its power for the defence of the town and of
+the entrenched camps. It knows that it need not recommend calm and
+resolution to the admirable Parisian population, which shows every day
+that it is equal to its greatest duties."
+
+Hardly had the Government left the city when tidings arrived which
+showed clearly that there was to be no siege of Paris just yet. Some of
+the Parisians professed to be disappointed: they had filled their houses
+with tinned sardines, preserved fruits, bags of coffee, and bundles of
+vegetables, and had prepared themselves to stand the longest siege known
+to history--and now the Germans would not play the game! But, really,
+they were overjoyed when they knew that they and their city were free
+from attack for some time to come.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+What was the news which had thus relieved the minds of the Parisians? On
+3rd September von Kluck was at Chantilly,[98] the great racing centre of
+France, twenty-five miles from the gates of Paris. Two days later,
+aviators reported that he was twenty miles to the east of Paris. Instead
+of bearing down on the city he had marched south-east--that is, away
+from it. Why?
+
+[Illustration: Parisians watching German Aeroplanes.
+
+_Photo, Central News._]
+
+In 1870, you will remember, the Germans did not attempt to besiege Paris
+until Bazaine's army had been shut up in Metz and MacMahon's army had
+surrendered at Sedan. Before Paris was besieged the armies of France had
+been hopelessly defeated. To encircle Paris needs half a million men,
+and no sane general would dare to detach such a large number of troops
+for this purpose while his enemy was capable of taking the field against
+him. It is true that the Allies had been forced to retreat from the
+Belgian border, and that von Kluck believed the British to be a broken,
+panic-stricken mob; nevertheless he could not think of investing Paris
+until he had destroyed them. As his enemy was then moving south-east of
+Paris, he had to move south-east too, in order to keep in contact with
+him. Paris could wait until the Allies were thoroughly beaten. So von
+Kluck turned away from Paris and marched south-east.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+[Illustration: The position of the Allied Armies immediately before
+their advance.]
+
+On 5th September 1914 the Allied armies were in the position in which
+General Joffre wished them to be. Let us look at the line which they
+then held. The 3rd Army (A) stretched from the Upper Meuse, south of
+Verdun, westwards to Bar-le-Duc, and facing it was the army of the Crown
+Prince. The 4th Army (B) was on its left, astride of the Upper Marne,
+looking north across the plain towards Châlons. Westwards to Sézanne[99]
+was the 9th Army (C), and facing it was von Buelow's army. Still farther
+to the west were the 5th French Army (D) and the British (E); while
+north of the Marne, moving towards the Ourcq, was the 6th French Army
+(F), which, all unknown to the Germans, had been organized in Paris,
+where it was safe from the prying eyes of their airmen. Later on we
+shall study the position of the Allied armies on the left wing (D, E, F)
+more closely.
+
+Before we do so, however, I will try to give you some idea of the kind
+of country in front of the French line. Let us imagine that you are
+travelling westwards from Verdun in early September. Leaving behind you
+the narrow vale of the Upper Meuse, you traverse an upland country of
+many ravines and much undergrowth, with here and there small woods and
+pastures. Then you cross a small stream, and, looking southwards, see
+the deep woods that stretch towards Bar-le-Duc. The road now rises, and
+to the northward is the plateau of the Argonne,[100] a long, low ridge
+of clay, which forms the natural bulwark of north-east France; west of
+it runs the Aisne and east of it the Aire, a tributary of the Aisne. A
+small river cuts its way through it in a deep furrow. A French writer
+says that if we leave out of account the lengthwise furrow through which
+the river runs, the plateau may be compared with a wave just when it
+curls and is about to break on the shore. The summits of the plateau
+range in height from about 450 feet to 1,000 feet.
+
+An extensive forest is always a bar to an invader. In the days when the
+English were conquering Britain, a very dense and trackless forest, 130
+miles long by 30 miles broad, covered that part of South England between
+the North Downs and the South Downs which we call the Weald. For many
+years this forest prevented the South Saxons, who had occupied the
+coast, from pushing their conquests northwards to the Thames. In the
+same way the Forest of the Argonne checked early invaders of France from
+the east. No other part of France is so thickly wooded, and in its deep
+recesses wolves are still found. Two roads and one railway cross it from
+west to east; but otherwise there are only a few forest paths, which
+lead nowhere. This difficult region was the scene of desperate fighting
+during many months of the war.
+
+For a hundred miles to the west of the Argonne stretches a region of
+chalky moorlands, crossed by many ridges, and broken by heaths,
+coppices, and fir plantations. This is the Salisbury Plain of France,
+and men have long foretold that on its dreary levels the Armageddon of
+Europe would be fought. Still travelling west, we come to the Heights of
+Champagne, which I have already described. South of the deep-cut valley
+of the Marne, which, you will remember, marks the southern limit of
+this chalk plateau, is a region crossed by the Petit Morin and the Grand
+Morin, both tributaries of the Marne. These tributaries, though not
+rapid, are so deep that they cannot be forded, but they are well
+provided with stone bridges. Much of the district through which they
+flow is well wooded, and dotted with country houses. Round about Sézanne
+we find rolling downs, and to the north of it the extensive marsh of St.
+Gond.
+
+The whole region between Paris and the Upper Meuse is very famous in
+French history. From Domremy, on the Meuse, came Joan of Arc to revive
+the broken spirits of her countrymen, and inspire them to drive the
+English out of France. It was in Rheims Cathedral, you will remember,
+that the Maid had her great hour of triumph, when she knelt at the feet
+of the Dauphin and greeted him as King of France. At Valmy, twenty miles
+north-east of Châlons, there is a pyramid which commemorates a great
+French victory over the Prussians in the fateful year 1792; and on the
+old Roman road north of Châlons is a huge oval mound, known as the Camp
+of Attila. It is said to mark the spot where his merciless hordes were
+overcome in the middle of the fifth century. On the wide flats in the
+neighbourhood of Châlons the Romans and Goths were hurled back in
+ancient times, and there, too, "furious Frank and fiery Hun" strove for
+the mastery. Once more the fate of France was to be decided on these
+historic fields.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now we must return to von Kluck, and pay particular attention to his
+movements, for on them depended the fortunes of the whole German army.
+Study the diagram on the next page closely, and you will see how he
+thrust his head into the lion's jaws. When we left him at Chantilly,
+twenty-five miles from Paris, he was to all intents and purposes
+marching directly on the city. Suddenly, as you know, he swerved to the
+south-east. Why he did so nobody exactly knows, though many reasons have
+been suggested. I have already mentioned the most probable one--namely,
+that a siege of Paris before the enemy was thoroughly routed would have
+been the height of folly. Some say that as certain army corps had been
+sent to East Prussia, it was necessary for the Germans to close in on
+the left. Whatever the reason was, von Kluck suddenly began marching
+south-east. He crossed the river Marne, and continued in this direction,
+with the object, it is supposed, of cutting off the French centre from
+Paris.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+A glance at this diagram shows you that when he was marching in this
+oblique direction his right was exposed to attack from the armies on the
+Allied left--the French 5th Army, the British Army, and the new 6th Army
+issuing from Paris. If the British attacked him during this march, his
+columns could offer no effective resistance until they deployed and
+faced the British line, and while doing so they would be sure to suffer
+greatly. If they did not deploy, the 5th French Army could attack them
+in front; and if they did deploy, they would then have that army on
+their left flank. Meanwhile the new 6th French Army, by crossing the
+Ourcq, could cut off the German line of retreat. It was a most dangerous
+move, as you can easily see, and even now we wonder why von Kluck made
+it. There is little doubt that he believed the British and the 5th
+French Army to be so weary and dispirited that they were of no account.
+
+Von Kluck seems to have had some inkling that there was a new French
+force on his flank, for on 4th September he placed a flank guard along
+the Ourcq; but he does not seem to have known how strong this French
+force was. Next day (5th September), when he was across the Marne, he
+learnt the truth: the surprise army lay west of Meaux, and was marching
+on the Ourcq. On the 8th he realized his danger, and sent back two of
+his army corps to meet it. This, of course, weakened his advancing
+columns. Soon he found himself in an almost hopeless position: he was in
+hourly peril of being enveloped. This is what I meant when I said that
+he had thrust his head into the lion's jaws.
+
+[Illustration: Von Kluck's Artillery passing through a French village on
+its march towards Paris.
+
+_Photo, Topical Press._]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The fighting began at dawn on Sunday, 6th September, when the whole
+Allied line from Paris to Verdun was set in motion. We will first give
+our attention to the surprise army, which on that tropically hot day was
+slowly moving towards the western bank of the Ourcq, across the low
+plateau which rises to the north of the little town of Meaux. It was a
+smiling country through which the soldiers passed--the roads lined with
+tall poplars, the fields golden with ripe wheat, and the orchards heavy
+with fruit. The many villages on the tableland were in the hands of
+German outposts, and the main body lay on the eastern bank of the river,
+which here flows in a deep channel. The surprise army consisted of at
+least eight divisions. To meet it the Germans had five divisions. All
+day the French were engaged in hand-to-hand struggles with the German
+outposts in the villages, and were assailed by "Black Marias"[101] from
+the heavy German batteries beyond the river.
+
+Meanwhile the British, to their great joy, were ordered to march
+north-eastwards towards the Grand Morin, along a gently-rolling country
+of orchards and cornfields and scattered woodlands, crossed here and
+there by small rivers and streams. For the first time our men were
+advancing, and they were in the highest spirits, thoroughly rested, and
+eager to get back "a bit of their own." By noon they were within touch
+of the enemy's advance guard, which was well supported by batteries. An
+engagement took place, and late in the afternoon the German trenches
+were carried at the point of the bayonet. By evening the British army
+occupied a line extending across and south of the Grand Morin. Thus you
+see that on the west the enveloping movement was making excellent
+headway.
+
+Now let us see what the 5th French Army was doing. It was moving
+northwards towards the upper reaches of the Grand Morin, and was heavily
+engaged with the bulk of von Kluck's army. Again and again it made
+frontal attacks, but little ground was gained. Farther to the east the
+9th French Army was struggling with that of von Buelow near Sézanne, its
+right being opposed to the right wing of the Saxon army. The 4th French
+Army, still farther to the east, was being violently attacked by the
+Duke of Würtemberg, who was trying hard but in vain to pierce the Allied
+centre. On the Allied right the Crown Prince was more successful: he was
+able to push back the 3rd French Army for a little distance.
+
+On the whole the fortune of the day seemed to rest with the Germans. But
+von Kluck now knew that he was in deadly peril. The surprise army had
+turned his right wing; the British were attacking him on the right
+flank, and the 5th French Army was holding him in front. He knew that he
+was in the tightest possible place, and that he would need all his skill
+and resolution if he was to escape from the trap laid for him. The Crown
+Prince might be rejoicing, but von Kluck was in "doleful dumps."
+
+[Illustration: General van Kluck.
+
+(_Photo, Central News._)]
+
+[Footnote 95: "Our Lady;" the great historical cathedral of Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 96: _Gal-le-ay´ne._ Born 1849; commander-in-chief in
+Madagascar (1896-1905).]
+
+[Footnote 97: _Bwā d'Boo-lon´_ (_n_ nasal), the great public park (2,158
+acres) of Paris.]
+
+[Footnote 98: _Shŏn-te-ye´._]
+
+[Footnote 99: _Say-zân´._]
+
+[Footnote 100: _Ar-gon´._]
+
+[Footnote 101: Huge explosive shells which send up a dense mass of black
+smoke. Our soldiers also call them "coal boxes" or "Jack Johnsons."]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+  THE CROSSING OF THE MARNE.
+
+
+Early on Monday morning, 7th September 1914, the guns of friend and foe
+began to thunder in the river valleys of the Ourcq, Marne, and Petit and
+Grand Morin. As the sun rose higher and higher in the sky the cannonade
+grew fiercer and fiercer. Over the peaceful hills, the shining water,
+the stubbles, the pastures and wheat fields, delicate white balloons of
+bursting shrapnel were constantly seen. At a hundred different places
+along the far-flung battle line Allied infantry were worming their way
+towards the enemy, anon rising from their cover at the sound of a shrill
+whistle, rushing ahead, and dropping again into concealment amidst the
+rattle of rifles and machine guns. A desperate conflict was in progress
+from the Ourcq to Verdun, a distance of wellnigh one hundred and fifty
+miles.
+
+Let us confine our attention for the present to the Allied left, where
+alone an advance was made on that day. The 6th French Army was working
+its way towards the Ourcq, driving in the enemy outposts on the western
+bank. The Germans had occupied most of the villages on the plateau, and
+the French were thrusting them out with the bayonet, amid the smoke of
+burning haystacks and farm buildings. It was a day of hand-to-hand
+combats. When night fell, the whole plateau was strewn with dead and
+dying, and the ghastly scene was illuminated by the glare of flaming
+villages.
+
+Long before daylight on this day the British were astir, and by five in
+the morning the little town of Coulommiers,[102] on the Grand Morin,
+had been captured. Our infantry drove back the four German divisions
+opposed to them, and pushed them across the river beneath an accurate
+and galling artillery fire. All the bridges were down, and the Germans
+strove feverishly to fling pontoons across the stream. Time after time
+floating bridges were erected, only to be blown to splinters by our
+guns. It is said that one British battery came into action within easy
+range of a bridge fast approaching completion. As the gun-layer was
+sighting his piece, he asked his officer, "Which pontoon, sir?" "Number
+one," replied the officer, and in a few moments it was smashed to
+pieces. "Number two," said the officer, and that pontoon shared the same
+fate. Then, in turn, numbers three and four were blown to smithereens.
+Another bridge was built; but at the moment when it was thronged with
+crossing infantry British shells burst upon it, and the stream was
+choked with dead and drowning men and heaps of wreckage.
+
+The British crossed the river, and their cavalry was let loose on the
+retreating Germans. By this time the northward road was a mass of moving
+men, wagons, and guns. General De Lisle's brigade, consisting of the 9th
+Lancers and the 18th Hussars, spurred in amongst the dense throngs, and
+in the lanes, the clearings, and the villages made havoc of the foe.
+While this cavalry pursuit was in progress, thirty Hussars came upon a
+strong force of Uhlans. The British had no time to take cover; they
+seized their rifles, flung themselves off their horses, and, lying prone
+on the ground, opened a brisk fire. Before long the Uhlans were in full
+flight, with British bullets whistling about their rear. This same
+section also carried a farm strongly held by Germans with artillery.
+Despite a hailstorm of lead, the Hussars dashed forward, killed or drove
+off the Germans, and seized their guns.
+
+In another part of the field the Royal Irish Lancers captured a supply
+train, which was escorted by cavalry outnumbering them by five to one.
+The Irishmen managed to get into ambush along the road by which the
+convoy must pass. As it came up they opened fire. The Germans believed
+themselves to be attacked by an army, and fell into hopeless confusion.
+Then the lancers mounted, and crashed into the disordered throng of men,
+horses, and wagons. The supply column was captured, and the remnants of
+its escort surrendered.
+
+Meanwhile the British right was rapidly moving towards the river some
+ten miles to the east, and the 5th French Army was fighting a fierce
+frontal battle higher up the stream. Taken in flank and in front, von
+Kluck could no longer hold the line of the river. On the 7th the Allied
+advance was continued, and on the 8th the Germans strove hard to make a
+stand against the British on the high ground to the north of the Grand
+Morin. Heavy guns had been posted on this high ground, and during the
+morning an artillery duel raged between the German rearguard and the
+advancing British. A stubborn resistance was made, but the Germans were
+dislodged, though not without considerable loss.
+
+About midday the last of our infantry were across the Grand Morin, and
+were pushing on rapidly through a beautiful country of orchards and
+cornfields towards the Petit Morin. Late in the afternoon the enemy made
+another and even more desperate stand. Savage attacks were made on
+Haig's 1st Corps, which suffered severely. Again and again the Germans
+bore down on the British in close-packed ranks; but though they flung
+away life like water, they could make no headway. British rifle fire and
+British bayonets were too much for them. Before sunset the British had a
+firm hold of the north bank of the river.
+
+On the 9th they crossed the Marne below Meaux,[103] and took in flank
+the German forces which were defending the line of the Ourcq. You know
+that the 6th French Army had been for the last few days attacking these
+forces in front. On the 8th von Kluck had hastily reinforced his army on
+the Ourcq by two corps drawn from the south. These corps made attacks of
+such violence that the French had hard work to resist them. Nevertheless
+they held their ground well, and in one action took three of the enemy's
+standards. They were now reinforced, and on the 10th they advanced with
+great spirit, while the British, now across the Marne, attacked the
+German left flank. Fearful of being enveloped, the Germans retreated
+from the line of the Ourcq, and immediately the British army went in
+pursuit. For the first time the Germans were on the run.
+
+The crossing of the Marne by the British had been no easy task. If you
+look at a map of the Marne,[104] you will see that between Meaux and La
+Ferté[105] the river winds about a great deal, and makes a big bend
+very much like that of the Thames between Windsor and Henley. At La
+Ferté our 3rd Corps found the town held by the Germans, who had posted
+their guns on the hills behind, and were thus able to sweep the stream
+with shell fire, while a strong force of infantry on the south bank
+resisted the passage at closer quarters. All day long the British
+attacked; slowly, and with great loss, they forced back the Germans to
+the brink of the stream. The bridges had all been blown up, and the
+enemy had to cross on their frail pontoons. Some got across safely, but
+many were drowned or killed by the fire of British guns. "We harried
+them before the crossing," said one of our soldiers, "and drowned them
+during it."
+
+The Rifle Brigade was one of the regiments thrust at the rear of the
+retiring Germans. It advanced from a belt of trees about half a mile
+from the river banks, and doubled towards the enemy. As it did so, it
+discovered a French infantry regiment bent on the same errand. French
+and British made a race of it, and the Rifle Brigade won by a head. Both
+parties now fell upon the Prussian infantry with the bayonet; but, as
+Private Duffy of the Rifle Brigade tells us, "they didn't seem to have
+the least heart for fighting. Some flung themselves into the stream, and
+tried to swim for safety; but they were heavily weighted by their
+equipment, and worn out, so they didn't go far. Of the three hundred men
+who tried to escape, not more than half a dozen succeeded in reaching
+the other bank, and the cries of the drowning were pitiful in the
+extreme." Elsewhere on the river similar fighting was taking place.
+
+The enemy had now been cleared from the southern bank of the Marne, but
+the battle was far from over. The British had yet to cross the
+fire-swept stream. Our Engineers began to build bridges, but the German
+guns smashed them again and again. All through the afternoon the
+Engineers laboured on, only to see their work blown away. Nevertheless
+they persevered, and by evening a bridge spanned the stream. In the
+darkness the British began to cross. The passage of the Marne had been
+won.
+
+[Footnote 102: _Koo-lom´mee-ay._ This was the most southerly point
+reached by the main body of von Kluck's army. His cavalry patrols
+reached the banks of the Seine.]
+
+[Footnote 103: _Mo._]
+
+[Footnote 104: Page 198.]
+
+[Footnote 105: _La Fer-tā´._]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXV.
+
+  THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.
+
+
+Now that the British were across the Marne and on the flank of the
+Germans defending the Ourcq, von Kluck's forces were bound to retreat
+without a moment's loss of time. The Allies followed them up with the
+utmost speed, and drove them onwards towards the Aisne in confusion,
+though the retreat cannot be called a rout. Before they reached the
+river the British had captured thirteen guns, seven machine guns, and
+two thousand prisoners, besides much transport. The 6th French Army was
+by this time across the Ourcq, and was striving to get to the north of
+the Germans and cut them off. By night the Zouaves were hurried to
+Senlis in taxi-cabs, and almost before the brakes had been applied these
+swarthy, baggy-trousered warriors were falling furiously on the
+surprised Germans. They literally flung them out of the town, in which
+they had behaved in the most disgraceful fashion. When the Zouaves
+attacked them they were sleeping off the effects of eighteen thousand
+bottles of champagne which they had looted.
+
+Still farther to the north there was fierce fighting in the woods of
+Compiègne, where it is said, though with what truth I do not know, that
+the Allies repeated the trick practised on Macbeth[106] in the battle
+which laid him low. You will remember that Macbeth in Shakespeare's play
+had been warned by a spirit that he would never be vanquished until
+Birnam[107] wood should come to Dunsinane Hill.[108] When Macbeth's
+enemies marched against him they made the saying of the spirit come
+true. They cut down branches from the trees of Birnam wood, and bore
+them aloft. Macbeth's soldiers were dismayed at the sight, and in the
+battle which followed the murderer king was slain. In the open country
+on the edge of Compiègne woods it is said that the Allies provided
+themselves with bushes and branches, and used them as screens behind
+which they advanced on the trenches of the foe. When they were fifty or
+sixty yards away, down went the branches, and forward dashed the
+soldiers who had been hidden behind them. The Germans were driven from
+their trenches and fled.
+
+[Illustration: German Infantry advancing to a new position.
+
+_Photo, Sport and General._]
+
+So the great drive continued, and every hour of the day furious
+rearguard actions were fought. The Germans had taken to heart the lesson
+of the Allies' retreat, and on every possible occasion their rearguards
+stood and fought in order to delay the pursuit. They lost heavily in
+killed, wounded, guns, and prisoners; but they were prepared to pay this
+price rather than suffer their main bodies to be overwhelmed. The line
+of German retreat was strewn with the wreckage of men, horses, weapons,
+and equipment.
+
+A British artillery officer gives us a good idea of what this rearguard
+fighting was like. He is describing the crossing of a little river.
+
+    "The Germans were holding the opposite bank, a very steep bluff,
+    with a battalion of riflemen and eight machine guns. These guns
+    were trained on the road where it was fully exposed for about
+    one hundred yards, and nothing could cross. One section of my
+    battery was trying to locate them and knock them out. So I took
+    my section up a hill behind these, and waited for any targets to
+    appear. Our advance guard had been working well. By taking cover
+    in the woods they had managed to get down into the river-bed and
+    round the flanks. From there they opened a hot fire on the
+    German machine guns. From my position I could see a portion of
+    the road on the opposite bank. I had just got the range for this
+    when a German machine gun came galloping up. I fired two rounds
+    at it. The first was over and just behind; the second short.
+    However, I had never seen anything move quicker than that gun.
+    By now our infantry had forced the German riflemen back, and we
+    had orders for a general advance. As we crossed the bridge I
+    heard that seven of their machine guns had been captured. We
+    wound up and up, and on all sides saw evidence of our fire. In
+    one place an ammunition wagon had been hit. Both horses were
+    blown over into the ditch. A bit higher up was a young boy, hit
+    in the back. All that we could do was to give him water. He told
+    me that his orders had been to stay till shot or captured. These
+    German infantry are a brave lot."
+
+Now we must hark back and see how the French armies to the right of the
+British were faring. The 5th French Army, which was next to the British
+on their right, had a threefold part to play. It had to support the
+British on its left and the 9th French Army on its right. Further, it
+had to throw back the Germans facing it. On the 7th it made a leap
+forward, and during the following days, after desperate fighting,
+reached and crossed the Marne. In its advance it captured many guns,
+howitzers, machine guns, and more than a million cartridges.
+
+You know enough about strategy to be aware that when von Kluck retreated
+he left the right wing of von Buelow's army exposed. You may be certain
+that General Joffre ordered this wing to be attacked without delay. When
+the enemy perceived that his right was in danger he made a desperate
+effort, which lasted from 7th September to 10th September, to pierce the
+French centre, to the west and east of a place known as La Fère
+Champenoise,[109] on one of the upper streams of the Grand Morin. We
+must pay particular attention to the fighting in this region, for the
+result of it was to set the whole German line retreating.
+
+[Illustration: General Foch.]
+
+Look at the little map on the next page and find the town of Sézanne.
+From this place the 9th French Army extended for about twenty miles to
+the east. It was a newly-created army, which had not yet been engaged;
+and it was under the command of General Foch,[110] a brilliant writer
+on the art of war. It was now to be seen whether he was as good in the
+field as he had proved himself to be in the study. On the 8th of
+September Foch's army was violently attacked by the famous German Guard,
+and his right was forced back a few miles. Early next morning he made a
+further retreat, and at the same time drew back his left, so as to
+maintain his line. Although he had retreated he was full of fight, and
+he ordered an attack to be made the same day.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+To the north of Sézanne you will see a region known as the Marshes of
+St. Gond. This stretch of swampy ground was the scene of a great fight
+which forced the retreat of the German centre; we must, therefore, look
+at it more closely. In the plateau to the north of Sézanne is a basin of
+clay, ten miles long from east to west, and varying in breadth from one
+to two miles. The streamlets which give rise to the Petit Morin run
+across it, and the whole ground was formerly a bog. It has long been
+reclaimed; the streamlets run in deep ditches, and some of them have
+been turned into canals. In ordinary dry weather most of the district is
+open country, with a good deal of pasture for cattle, though here and
+there traces of its marsh character are still to be seen in the
+rush-covered levels. After a few hours of heavy rain the streams
+overflow, and flood the roads and tracks; the ground becomes a swamp,
+and the highways are deep in mire.
+
+The early part of the night between the 8th and 9th of September was
+clear and starry, but later the weather broke; the rain came down in
+torrents, and soon the marshes of the Gond were wellnigh impassable for
+wagons and guns. Nothing could have been more fortunate for General
+Foch. He knew that, as the German right was in retreat, he might safely
+strike at the right of the army which was facing him, and thus drive in
+a wedge between von Kluck and von Buelow. He advanced towards the Petit
+Morin with the Morocco Division, and, deploying in the direction of the
+Marshes, met a furious assault of the Germans, who now perceived the
+perilous position in which they were placed. The Moroccans fought like
+heroes, and drove the Germans into the Marshes, where they found that
+they could not move their guns or wagons, which were up to the
+axle-trees in mire. Foch captured many prisoners and at least forty
+guns--the largest number which had so far been taken at one time by the
+Allies.
+
+History had repeated itself. In the campaign of 1814 German troops had
+been driven into the self-same swamp; a hundred years later a similar
+disaster had overtaken them. This success greatly elated Foch's army,
+and it was eager for the next move.
+
+A wedge had been driven between von Kluck and von Buelow; it now
+remained to drive a similar wedge between von Buelow and von Hausen,
+whose forces continued the German line to their left. Foch's airmen had
+told him that there was a considerable gap between the left of von
+Buelow and the right of von Hausen. He now moved the division which had
+driven von Buelow's right into the Marshes to the right of his line, and
+having thus reinforced it, made a flanking movement on the left of von
+Buelow and on the right of von Hausen. It was one of the boldest moves
+ever made, and it took the enemy completely by surprise. The German
+Guard made but little resistance. Von Buelow knew that he was outflanked
+on both sides, and that there was no safety except in retreat. Foch
+followed him up, and on the 11th drove him across the Marne in disorder.
+The losses of the Germans in this part of the retreat were enormous; it
+was said that the 9th Army buried ten thousand German dead.
+
+To the right of Foch was the 4th French Army, facing the Duke of
+Würtemberg's forces. This French army had a hard struggle; and it was
+not till the 10th, when it was reinforced by an army corps from the
+west, that it gained ground. Next day it forced the Würtemberg army to
+give way; but the rearguard kept up a tremendous artillery fire, and
+moved back very slowly. On the 12th, however, the Germans retired more
+hurriedly.
+
+[Illustration: The Germans in Retreat. So hurried was their march
+towards the Aisne that at certain times it "had the appearance of a
+rout."
+
+_From the drawing by Dudley Tennant._]
+
+To the right of the 4th French Army were the 3rd and 2nd French Armies,
+opposing those of the Crown Prince and the Bavarians. The left of the
+Crown Prince's army was in touch with the outer forts of Verdun, and was
+attacking Fort Troyon, the first of the forts along the heights of the
+Meuse between Verdun and Toul. The little garrison was in dire straits,
+and was about to surrender when the French movement which I am about to
+describe began.
+
+General Joffre sent orders that the French 3rd and 2nd Armies were to
+move to the west against the Germans operating between the Upper Meuse
+and the Upper Aisne. The orders were carried out, and the French
+artillery won a great success. No less than eleven batteries of the
+Germans were destroyed. There was fiercer fighting on the 10th; but the
+French made progress, and on the 11th advanced still farther. A wedge
+had been thrust in between the Crown Prince and the Bavarians, and the
+Crown Prince was bound to retreat. This meant the salvation of Fort
+Troyon. It had been bombarded for five days. Most of its guns were out
+of action, and the forty-four survivors of the garrison were huddled in
+the bomb-proof shelters of the central works, when suddenly the German
+guns ceased firing and French cheering was heard. The fort was saved at
+the very moment when all hope seemed to have vanished.
+
+Before I conclude the story of the battle of the Marne I must say
+something about the 2nd French Army, which was facing the Bavarian army
+in Lorraine. The French army was drawn up across a gap in the Vosges
+Mountains known as the Gap of Nancy,[111] and its object was to hold
+back the Bavarians, so that they could not attack the right flank of the
+Allies. A second French force was now moved into Lorraine, and it took
+up a position to the south-east of the army holding the Gap. The
+commander of the 2nd Army erected very strong field works on the
+heights in front of Nancy, and from the 23rd of August onwards gallantly
+held his own. On the 6th September the fiercest of fighting began. The
+Kaiser himself came into the field, and by his presence and his speeches
+urged on the Bavarians to a desperate assault. For three days the battle
+raged without ceasing. The Bavarian troops were thought to be second to
+none in the German army, and their White Cuirassiers were amongst the
+flower of German cavalry. On the 7th the Kaiser took up a position on a
+neighbouring hill, and watched the attack which was to overwhelm the
+French. He had made ready to enter Nancy in triumph that evening.
+
+Picture him on the hill, in his long gray cloak and silver helmet,
+peering through his field-glasses into the valley, and confidently
+expecting to see his Bavarians drive the French before them. He sees the
+White Cuirassiers charge, and, as the brave men cheer and gallant horses
+thunder towards the enemy, he feels that nothing can resist them. To his
+dismay, they are hurled back with great slaughter, and a miserable
+remnant alone remains. Then the pitiless French guns begin to speak, and
+he sees his infantry mowed down like wheat before the reaper's sickle.
+He looks for victory; he sees defeat. Now the French begin to attack,
+and his Bavarians give way before their fierce onset. The time has come
+for him to seek safety in flight. A strange fatality seems to accompany
+him. Wherever he appears and commands in person, there you may look for
+disaster--whether in France or in Poland. He is a melancholy figure,
+flitting from East to West, feverishly inciting his armies to die for
+the Fatherland; dreaming great dreams of world conquest which can never
+be realized.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+"Such," says the French official account, "was the seven days' battle in
+which more than two millions of men were engaged. Each army gained
+ground step by step--opening the road to its neighbour, supported at
+once by it, taking in flank the adversary which the day before it had
+attacked in front--the efforts of the one fitting in closely with those
+of the other.
+
+"To give this victory all its meaning, it is necessary to add that it
+was gained by troops who for two weeks had been retreating, and who,
+when the order to attack was given, were found to be as ardent as on the
+first day. These troops had to meet the whole German army, and from the
+time they marched forward they never fell back again. In spite of the
+fatigue of our men, in spite of the power of the German heavy artillery,
+we took colours, guns, Maxims, shells, more than a million of
+cartridges, and thousands of prisoners. A German corps lost almost the
+whole of its artillery, which, from information brought by our airmen,
+was destroyed by our guns."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The battles of the Marne marked the turning-point in the campaign; the
+torrent of German advance had not only been stayed, but driven back.
+"The day of Sedan," 1st September, saw the German armies flushed with
+success, and confident of victory as rapid and complete as that of 1870.
+Nine days later their hopes were shattered: they were retreating
+northwards at full speed. Von Kluck's error of judgment, the fiery zeal
+of the British and French, General Foch's brilliant victory in the
+centre, and the wonderful working together of the Allied armies had
+wrought the miracle.
+
+The retreat of the Germans was very skilfully conducted, and though they
+lost many men, guns, and wagons, they were neither broken nor defeated,
+and their losses, when all was said and done, were small. Von Kluck fell
+back thirty-five miles during the last two days of the battle, and the
+German centre cannot have retired less than fifty miles. In its way the
+retreat was as famous as that of the British from Mons.
+
+The successes of the Allies filled them with a newborn confidence. They
+had taken the measure of the enemy; they knew their own strength, and
+were now sure that they were more than a match for the enemy. Given
+anything like equal numbers, they had no fear of the future.
+
+Undoubtedly the Germans had by this time come to respect the British
+army. Ever since the days of Bismarck it had been the custom in Germany
+to regard our brave little army with scorn and contempt. When some one
+suggested to Bismarck that it might be landed in Germany, he remarked,
+"If it does, I shall ring for the police and have it locked up." Von
+Kluck believed that he had pierced the feeble British lion to the heart,
+and then vaingloriously thrust his head between its jaws. To his dismay,
+they met with a deadly snap, and only a quick withdrawal saved him from
+destruction.
+
+[Footnote 106: Scottish noble who murdered King Duncan (1040) and became
+king in his stead. He reigned seventeen years, but was slain in battle
+(1057) by Malcolm, Duncan's son.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Near Dunkeld, in Perthshire.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Hill of the Sidlaws, Perthshire, eight miles north-east
+of Perth.]
+
+[Footnote 109: _La fair shom-peh-nwaz´._]
+
+[Footnote 110: _Fock._ Born 1851; was professor of strategy and tactics
+at the French School of War.]
+
+[Footnote 111: _Non-see´_ (_n_ nasal).]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+  STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.
+
+
+While the British and French were retreating from Belgium to the Seine,
+they were passing through country which had been untrodden by the foot
+of the enemy. Now that they were pushing him back on his tracks they saw
+at every stage the awful destruction which he had wrought. They found
+country houses burned and looted, smiling gardens and orchards trampled
+into mud, farms and villages laid waste, humble cottages in ruin. They
+saw towns riddled with shot and shell, churches and public buildings
+with broken, tottering walls, and houses stripped of all their valuable
+contents. From townsfolk and villagers alike, the Allies heard tales of
+shame and horror, and as they heard them a fierce anger was kindled in
+their hearts against the cruel and ruthless foe who had done such wicked
+and senseless deeds.
+
+An officer of the Salvation Army tells us how the pretty town of Senlis
+fared at the hands of the Huns. When the Germans had been driven out of
+the town the Salvation Army officers entered it. They found the railway
+station gone, and scarcely a house along the whole line of march fit for
+habitation. Yet, in the middle of wrecked and ruined homes, they
+sometimes came across a house which had been untouched. On such houses
+was written in chalk, "Spare these people; they are good."
+
+Here is the story of Jean Bauer, keeper of the prison at Senlis. He was
+an Alsatian, and had been forced to serve in the hated German army.
+After his time was up he left Alsace for France, and chanced to visit
+Senlis. The town pleased him, and he remained in it. After a time he was
+placed in charge of the prison. It was a small lock-up, just a square
+brick building, with a large garden all round, in which he grew
+cabbages. He was a kindly man, and the few prisoners who came into his
+hands did not find their lot very hard.
+
+Then suddenly came the war. One morning Senlis was filled with the
+blue-coated, red-trousered soldiers of France. An hour or two later they
+had gone, marching northwards. Some days passed, and they returned,
+hurrying southwards, weary and worn, with ragged, soiled uniforms, some
+bleeding and bruised, but none dismayed. Then there was a lull, and
+breathless townsmen came hurrying to the mayor with the terrible news
+that the Germans were coming! The mayor and the curé bade the people be
+calm, and do nothing to resist or hamper the enemy. They listened to his
+words, and gave up their hidden guns. Soon afterwards sixty thousand
+Germans marched in, seized the mayor as a hostage, and for two days
+remained in the town, mingling with the people, playing with the
+children, and behaving themselves well.
+
+All this time there lay hidden in the attic of a house overlooking the
+main street six dusky sons of Algeria, soldiers of France, who had been
+trapped by the coming of the Germans. Their rifles were in their hands,
+and there was revenge in their hearts. There they lay, waiting for a
+chance to strike a blow against the enemy.
+
+The chance soon came. The Germans paraded one morning, ready for their
+southward march. The mayor was released; the word was given, and the
+blue-gray legions tramped through the streets. As the rear of the long
+columns passed the Algerians in the garret aimed their rifles and fired.
+Six loud reports were heard, followed by two shrieks of pain and two
+heavy thuds on the cobbled road below.
+
+"Halt!" The Germans turn and re-enter the town. The mayor is led out and
+shot; parties are told off to fire the place; petrol bombs are thrown
+into the houses; the railway station is destroyed; fierce flames spring
+up, and the smoke of burning homes rises to heaven. In a mile and a half
+of streets only three small cottages are spared.
+
+Jean Bauer at the prison sees the flames approaching. He shuts himself
+in and waits. Nearer and nearer come the roar of the fire and the hoarse
+shouts of those who are destroying the place. Suddenly, as he begins to
+think that the prison will be spared, crash!--a bomb bursts through the
+roof. Bricks and beams fall about him, and a cloud of dust arises. He
+is pinned beneath the débris, and cannot move. He shouts; no one hears.
+For a day and a night he lies amidst the ruins. At last his feeble voice
+is heard, and kindly hands tear away the bricks and beams, and rescue
+him. A few days' care, and he is well again. But Senlis is a wilderness
+of desolation. It can never be the same again.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The town of Meaux, on the Marne, was also in German hands for a time.
+Meaux is a very interesting city, with a cathedral dating from the
+twelfth century. In 1681 a very celebrated man, named Bossuet,[112]
+became bishop of Meaux. He was one of the most eloquent men who ever
+lived, and fully deserved to be called "the golden-mouthed." Not only
+was he the first of French orators and one of the greatest masters of
+French prose, but he was brave and fearless as well, and strove
+earnestly to make men appreciate the littleness of earthly greatness and
+the greatness of heavenly joy.
+
+When the Germans entered Meaux they found that the bishop was a man
+after Bossuet's likeness. The mayor and the chief officials had left the
+city, but the bishop remained. He was entreated to fly, but he replied,
+"My duty is here. I do not think the enemy will hurt me; but if they do,
+God's will be done. I cannot leave my cathedral or those of my flock who
+remain." The brave bishop met the German general, and obtained a promise
+from him that the invaders would behave well. They did so. Meaux owes
+its preservation to the good bishop.
+
+[Illustration: The City of Meaux after the German Retreat.
+
+_Photo, Sport and General._]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Another little town which the Germans held until they were driven
+northward towards the Aisne was Château-Thierry,[113] round which there
+was much fierce fighting during the Allied advance. Château-Thierry
+stands on the right bank of the Marne, and, prior to the war, was a
+bright, cheerful place. Near the bridge is a statue to La Fontaine,[114]
+the great writer of fables which must be familiar to many of you. Close
+by the ruined castle, which is reached by a flight of 102 steps, is the
+house in which he lived. It now contains a library and small museum.
+
+In his book of Fables La Fontaine says:--
+
+  "These fables are much more than they appear--
+   The simplest animals are teachers here.
+   The bare dull moral weariness soon brings;
+   The story serves to give it life and wings."
+
+As La Fontaine made animals teachers of wisdom to men, it is very
+appropriate that the three chief hotels in his native town should be
+"The Elephant," "The Giraffe," and "The Swan." The latter hotel was
+battered to pieces by French shells when the Allies crossed the river;
+but the owner was so proud of his countrymen's prowess in gunnery that
+he quite forgot to bemoan his loss. When he was showing his house to a
+stranger after the battle, he said, "See how splendidly true our
+gunners' aim was!"
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+During the retreat a body of weary Germans halted for rest in a little
+town, and noticed that the church clock had stopped. Perhaps you know
+that signals can be made by moving the hands of a clock in various ways.
+When the Germans saw that the clock had stopped, they felt sure that
+somebody was signalling to the French that they were in the town. They
+therefore sent for the curé, and ordered him to set the clock going
+again. Along with two choir boys, he ascended the tower and wound up the
+clock, which immediately began to strike. The suspicious Germans
+believed that this was another trick, so they arrested the curé and the
+boys, and told them that they would be shot next morning. The old priest
+was overwhelmed with grief, for he felt that he would be the means of
+cutting short two young lives. He suffered agonies of remorse during the
+night. Early next morning the Allies rushed into the town, and the
+Germans fled. The curé and the boys waited long for the coming of their
+gaolers. At last the old priest opened the door of the prison, and
+stepped out into the sunshine for the purpose of making a last appeal to
+the Germans to spare the lives of the boys. Imagine his surprise and
+relief when he saw the familiar blue and red uniforms of French
+soldiers, and learnt that the Germans had departed for good and all.
+
+[Footnote 112: _Boss´ū-ā._ Born 1627, died 1704.]
+
+[Footnote 113: _Shā-tō´ Te-er-ree´._]
+
+[Footnote 114: Born 1621, died 1695. His _Fables_ were published in
+1668. They have been translated into almost every European language.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+  MORE STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.
+
+
+Here is the story of a plucky boy who did his country good service in
+Lorraine. Look at the map on page 130, and find Metz. At this town the
+river Seille,[115] which forms part of the boundary between France and
+Germany, joins the Moselle. In August 1914 French troops arrived at a
+village on the French side of the Seille, and the captain asked the
+people if they had seen any Germans. "Yes," was the reply; "they have
+been here, but our soldiers from Nancy have driven them back across the
+river." "Are the Germans there now?" inquired the captain; but no one
+knew. All that he could learn was that no German had been seen for
+several days. "I must be quite sure as to their whereabouts," said the
+captain, "before I cross the river. How can I manage it?" A boy of
+twelve who stood amongst the villagers came forward, and, saluting the
+captain, said, "I can find out for you, sir, if you will let me." "You!"
+said the captain, greatly astonished. "Yes, sir," replied the boy. "I
+know all the country round here very well. My grandmother lives on the
+other side of the river, and I know a roundabout way to get to her
+house." "If the 'Boches'[116] catch you, they will kill you," said the
+captain. "I know that," returned the boy, "but I am not afraid."
+
+The lad seemed very anxious to undertake the mission, so the captain
+asked the villagers what they knew of him. One and all assured him that
+the boy was very plucky, and could be depended upon. "Off with you,
+then," said the captain, and away went the boy on his perilous errand.
+He crawled on all fours across a wooden bridge that spanned the stream,
+and was soon lost to sight. Hours went by, and the villagers began to
+think that he would never return. At last, however, they saw him
+crossing the bridge once more.
+
+[Illustration: French Detachment retaking a Village.
+
+_Photo, Illustrated London News._]
+
+He went up to the captain, saluted him, and made his report. While
+passing through a wood on the other side of the river he had been
+captured by a couple of Uhlans, who shut him up in a hayloft, and said
+they would shoot him if any French appeared. The coming of the French
+would be a proof that he had been scouting for them. After lying quietly
+in the hayloft for some time, he managed to get out of a little window,
+and crawl through the enemy lines without being seen. Once clear of the
+Germans, he took to his heels and ran towards home. He was able to give
+the captain a rough idea of how many Germans there were on the other
+side of the river, and how they were placed. The captain thanked him
+warmly, and said, "You are an honour to France." "Perhaps," said the
+youngster, shaking his head; "but all the same I didn't manage to call
+on granny!"
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+As the Germans retreated northward after the Battle of the Marne, they
+looted the villages through which they passed, and shot down many
+unarmed peasants. In a cottage lay a bedridden woman, who was tended by
+her ten-year-old daughter, Henriette. Most of the neighbours had fled,
+but it was impossible to move Henriette's mother. "When they see how ill
+she is," said the little girl, "they will pity her, and do us no harm."
+The child little knew the temper of the Huns. A Bavarian sergeant broke
+open the door and demanded money. He threw the poor woman off the bed,
+and searched her mattress in vain. "Well," said he, "if you have no
+money, there is wine in your cellar, and we will have that." Forthwith
+he and seven of his men descended to the cellar, where they drank from a
+cask of wine till they were hopelessly drunk. When Henriette saw this,
+she quietly closed the trap-door leading into the cellar, and piled all
+the heavy things in the room on top of it. Before long French soldiers
+appeared in the village. Henriette beckoned to them, and, pointing to
+the trap-door, said, "The cellar is full of Germans, all drunk." The
+furniture was removed, and the drunken Bavarians were hauled out.
+
+Now I must explain that Henriette's father had been seized by the
+Germans a few days before, and had been carried off to a neighbouring
+town as a hostage. As the French officer was marching off with the
+prisoners whom he had captured in the cellar, Henriette said to him,
+"Tell the Germans that if they will bring my father back I will ask you
+not to shoot them." The officer told the Germans what Henriette had
+said, and the least drunken of them offered to go to the neighbouring
+town and bring the father back safely. In a few hours he returned,
+bringing Henriette's father with him. Great was the child's joy at
+seeing her father free once more, and great was his pride in his clever
+little daughter.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+I have already told you the story of the gallant defence which Fort
+Troyon made. When the Crown Prince's army was marching towards the fort,
+an advance party seized a village close to the outer works, and forbade
+the villagers to leave their houses under pain of death. The advance
+guard hoped to be able to reach the fort without being seen, and to
+capture it by surprise. A little girl of twelve years of age, named
+Louise Haumont, overheard her parents say that if the commander of the
+fort could be warned that the Germans were coming, he might be able to
+save it from capture. Watching her opportunity, she slipped out of the
+house, crept through the cornfields, and, after a weary journey, reached
+the fort unnoticed by the enemy. A sentry saw her, and challenged her,
+and was much surprised when he learnt that she had a message for the
+commander. She was taken to him, and you may be sure that he was very
+grateful for her timely warning. Without delay he mustered his men,
+attacked the village, and drove off the advance guard. Louise was
+greeted by soldiers and friends alike as a heroine, and I am sure you
+will agree that she deserved the highest praise that could be given to
+her.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Let me tell you a story of a French boy's splendid courage during the
+time when the 6th Army was fighting its way through the villages to the
+west of the Ourcq, in order to attack von Kluck's rearguard. As a French
+regiment was passing through one of these villages, a boy named André
+went up to the colonel, and begged hard to be allowed to join the
+soldiers. He was refused; but being a lad of very determined character,
+he waited until the soldiers were some distance on their way, and then
+stealthily followed them. When he reached them they told him to go back;
+but he took no notice, and remained with them, making himself useful in
+all sorts of ways. Two or three days later the colonel saw him, and said
+to a sergeant, "Who is this boy marching along with us?" "He is a fine,
+soldierly lad," replied the sergeant; "he does odd jobs for the men, and
+we find him very obliging and useful. We _must_ keep him. We cannot send
+him back now; the distance is too great." So André, to his joy, was
+allowed to remain.
+
+A few days later the regiment attacked the Germans. Shot and shell fell
+thickly, but the boy did not flinch. Suddenly he saw his friend the
+sergeant fall wounded. Off dashed André. He reached the wounded man,
+helped him to his feet, and supported him as he struggled to the rear.
+Soon an ambulance came by, and the sergeant was carried off to hospital.
+André was a happy boy that night; he had paid his debt of gratitude to
+the man who had befriended him.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+When the Germans reached Soissons, on the Aisne, in the course of their
+retreat, they found that the mayor had left the place, and that there
+was no person of authority with whom they could make arrangements. A
+certain Madame Macherez,[117] the widow of a former senator of
+France,[118] presented herself, and declared herself ready to take over
+the government of the town. The German commander agreed, and Madame
+Macherez managed everything admirably for twelve days, though she had
+hard work to satisfy the invaders. They demanded 200,000 lbs. of food
+and flour and 40,000 lbs. of tobacco, and informed her that if she did
+not supply them with these goods at once they would burn the town to the
+ground. Madame told them quite plainly that they might just as well ask
+for the sun and the moon, but she promised to give them all the
+provisions that she could collect. The Germans accepted her offer, and,
+thanks to her courage and energy, Soissons was not then destroyed. A
+few days later she had the joy of seeing the arrogant Germans leave the
+town in haste, with the British hard on their heels. She continued to
+act as mayor, and during the bombardment of the place, which the Germans
+began almost immediately, devoted herself to Red Cross work. Three times
+her house was hit by German shells. One shell fell while she was at
+lunch, and destroyed a wing of her house. Madame laid down her napkin
+and went to see what had happened. "There is not much damage done," she
+said, and then she calmly sat down and finished her meal. Soissons, you
+may be sure, was very proud of its cool, courageous lady mayoress.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A French boy, Gustave by name, went through several battles with the
+French troops, and was wounded. He wrote an account of his adventures,
+from which the following extract is taken:--"I had been at the advanced
+posts for two days when it occurred to me to climb into the loft of a
+house in order to observe the enemy's positions. Inside the house I
+discovered the kits and rifles of German soldiers. I had to get out of
+the house, but I was unable to reopen the door. I therefore broke the
+window, and thus escaped. Then I loaded my rifle, fixed my bayonet, and
+got in again. Nobody downstairs. Went upstairs, and discovered--guess
+what? Seven 'Boches' sound asleep.
+
+"I fired my rifle. The German soldiers woke up and looked at each other,
+wondering what had happened. Hidden behind some straw, I observed them.
+Then I rushed at them. They did not resist, but threw up their hands.
+
+"'Get down,' says I to them; and they went downstairs, quite happy to
+surrender. I handed them over to my comrades."
+
+When the boy's officers heard of the exploit they praised him warmly,
+and the general invited him to his table.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A young French cyclist named Berger took part in the Battle of the
+Marne. He saw his colonel lying wounded, and started to carry him to the
+rear. A British officer who lay near by called out that he was thirsty.
+Berger shouted encouraging words to him, and promised to return in a few
+minutes. He carried his colonel into safety, and then came back to the
+wounded Briton with food and a flask of wine. Bullets from rifles and
+machine guns were whistling about him, but he heeded them not. He was
+just raising the British officer's head when a bullet struck him in the
+hand. Though he was suffering great pain, he put the flask to the
+wounded man's lips; but at that moment he was struck by a second bullet,
+which entered his back. The two men lay on the sodden field until dawn,
+when the battle began again. Soon they saw the Germans advancing, and a
+body of Uhlans rode by. Berger hailed the officer, and begged him for
+something to drink. The officer dismounted, gave them drink from his own
+water-bottle, saluted them, and went on his way. For almost the whole
+day the two wounded men lay on the wet, miry ground, while the battle
+raged around them. The Briton by this time was almost unconscious. In
+spite of his own wounds, Berger partly dragged, partly pushed his
+fellow-sufferer along until they reached the Allied lines, where by
+good luck they fell in with stretcher-bearers, who conveyed them both to
+hospital. As the British officer was being placed on the stretcher he
+grasped the young Frenchman's hand, and said, "If I live through this I
+will do my best to get you the V.C. If ever a man deserved it, you do."
+
+[Illustration: At Méry-sur-Marne a French Red Cross train was blown up
+by the Germans just as it was crossing the river with its load of
+wounded. This picture shows the scene after the explosion.
+
+_Photo, Sport and General_.]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A French newspaper says that after the Battle of the Marne, when the
+Germans were in full retreat, one of the imperial princes was severely
+wounded. He was at once conveyed to Epernay,[119] which was still held
+by a few German troops. No German surgeon could be found, so a staff
+officer went to a French surgeon who resided in the town and offered him
+a large fee if he would attend the prince. "My fee," said the doctor,
+"is exactly the war levy which you have demanded from my native
+city--175,000 francs."[120] The case was urgent, and the Germans had to
+agree to pay the doctor's fee. The money was handed over the same
+evening.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now I must tell you a few stories relating the adventures of our own
+countrymen during the advance to the Marne. Here is an account of
+fighting on the river, from the pen of Sapper Gilhooly of the Royal
+Engineers: "Last week on the Marne we spent two days on a long mine[121]
+out towards the German lines, and just as we were getting to the close
+of our job we heard pickaxes going as fast and hard as you like, and
+then the wall of clay before us gave way, showing a party of Germans at
+the same game! You never saw men more astonished in your life. 'Fancy
+meeting you!' was written all over their faces, and they hadn't
+recovered from their shock when we pounced upon them. One German was
+just caught in time with a fuse, which he was going to apply, with the
+mad idea of blowing us all up! One of his mates was the first to rush on
+him. They weren't having any 'death or glory,' and I don't blame them.
+There's a Highlander beside me who is rigged out in the boots of a
+Belgian infantryman killed at Mons, the red trousers of a Frenchman,
+the khaki tunic of a Guardsman, and the glengarry cap of his own corps.
+When he wants to look particularly smart he wears a German cavalryman's
+cloak. The other day we came on a party of the enemy washing their
+shirts in a river, and we were on them so fast that they had to fly,
+leaving shirts and everything else behind. One chap, however, managed to
+collar his braces!"
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The splendid devotion to duty of our doctors on the battlefield is well
+illustrated in the following letter, which was written by a fellow
+officer to the brother of Dr. J. O'Connell, of the Highland Light
+Infantry:--"I am only too pleased to tell you anything I can about your
+brother, as he was one of us, and in all your life you can never have a
+prouder boast than that you were his brother. Our first show was near
+Mons, where he at once came into notice. He personally went into the
+trench, and helped to carry out the wounded, though the German guns had
+the range to a T, and were raining shells on it. Then they turned on to
+his cottage, which was fixed up as a dressing-station, and knocked it to
+bits. He carried every one out, not losing a single man. During the
+retreat your brother had the worst of it, because he had to do with the
+footsore and the sick, who could not keep up, so he was usually behind
+the rearguard; but he always kept cheery when cheerfulness was worth far
+more than pluck.
+
+"Then on the advance up to the Marne, when it was pitch dark and pelting
+rain, and three thousand Germans lay dead or wounded on the field, your
+brother insisted on staying out there to do what he could for the enemy.
+It was almost certain death, but he remained there among them for six
+hours. Next day I lost forty-one men before noon. Your brother, without
+waiting for food or sleep, came up to look after them, and stayed there
+for two days while we hung on. When I myself was being tied up I
+mentioned to your brother that a young subaltern was dying on the field.
+He at once insisted on going to see if he could do anything for him,
+although it was within close range of a well-constructed German trench,
+and while doing this he was killed by a rifle bullet through the head."
+
+What a glorious death to die! Dr. O'Connell had no thought for himself;
+he freely gave his life to bring succour and comfort to the wounded and
+dying. There is no higher and nobler heroism than this. "O selfless man
+and stainless gentleman!"
+
+[Illustration: "Baby Rose" such is the nickname bestowed on the smallest
+of French soldiers, who appears above. He is a great favourite with the
+Zouaves, one of whom is seen accompanying him.
+
+_Photo, Daily Mirror_]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A bold adventure during the advance to the Marne is thus described by a
+major of the Royal Field Artillery:--
+
+"At last we came to the edge of the wood, and in front of us, about two
+hundred yards away, was a little cup-shaped copse, and the enemy's
+trenches with machine guns a little farther on. I felt sure this wood
+was full of Germans, as I had seen them go in earlier. I started to
+gallop for it, and the others followed. Suddenly about fifty Germans
+bolted out firing at us. I loosed off my revolver as fast as I could,
+and ---- loosed off his rifle from the saddle. They must have thought we
+were a regiment of cavalry, for, except a few, they suddenly yelled and
+bolted. I stopped and dismounted my lot to fire at them to make sure
+they didn't change their minds. I held the horses. I then suddenly saw
+there were more men in the copse, so I mounted the party and galloped at
+it, yelling, with my revolver held out.
+
+"As we came to it I saw it was full of Germans, so I yelled 'Hands up,'
+and pointed the revolver at them. They all chucked down their rifles and
+put their hands up. Three officers and over forty men to ten of us with
+six rifles and a revolver. I herded them away from their rifles and
+handed them over to the Welsh Regiment behind us. I tore on with the
+trumpeter and the sergeant-major to the machine guns. At that moment the
+enemy's shrapnel and our own howitzers, thinking we were hostile
+cavalry, opened fire on us. We couldn't move the beastly things, and it
+was too hot altogether, so we galloped back to the cup-shaped wood, and
+they hailed shrapnel on us there. I waited for a lull, and mounted all
+my lot behind the bushes and made them sprint to the woods where the
+Welsh company was. There I got two fellows to help. We ran up to the
+Maxims, and took out the breech mechanism of both and one of the belts,
+and carried away one whole Maxim. We couldn't manage the other. The
+Welsh asked what cavalry we were. I told them we were the staff of the
+---- Battery and they cheered us, but said we were mad. The funniest
+thing was the little trumpeter, who swept a German's helmet off his head
+and waved it in the air, shouting, 'I've got it,' wild with excitement.
+He is an extraordinarily brave boy."
+
+[Footnote 115: _Say._]
+
+[Footnote 116: _Bosh_, term of contempt used by the French for the
+Germans, and meaning fools or blockheads.]
+
+[Footnote 117: _Ma´sh-e-ray._]
+
+[Footnote 118: The French Senate is the upper chamber of the French
+Parliament, and roughly corresponds with our House of Lords. The
+members, however, are not peers, for republican France does not possess
+a peerage.]
+
+[Footnote 119: _Ay-per´nay_, near the left bank of the Marne. It is a
+great centre of the champagne trade. The wine is stored in vaults hewn
+out of the chalk on which the town is built.]
+
+[Footnote 120: £7,000 (£1 = 25 francs).]
+
+[Footnote 121: Gallery dug by engineers, in which an explosive is placed
+and fired.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+  THE AISNE VALLEY.
+
+
+In Chapter XVII, I described the undulating chalk plateau known as the
+Heights of Champagne. You will remember that this ground was chosen by
+the French in 1874 as the best place for making a stand against an
+invader marching on Paris. The rapid advance of the Germans prevented
+the French from rallying on these heights, and forced them to withdraw
+much farther south before they were able to form their line and advance.
+During the Battles of the Marne, you will remember, they drove the enemy
+northwards from 6th to 11th September 1914. Bad weather caused them to
+slacken the pursuit on the 12th, and the Germans were enabled to cross
+the Aisne unmolested. While their rearguards were fighting stubbornly,
+the main bodies were strongly entrenching themselves on the heights
+north of the river.
+
+It was not the first time that a German army had held this position.
+When Marshal Blücher was fighting in France at the end of February 1814,
+he was driven on to this plateau by Napoleon. So greatly was the ground
+in his favour that Napoleon was unable to dislodge him. German generals
+are great students of geography, and they were fully aware that the
+heights beyond the Aisne afforded them a very strong defensive position
+against an enemy moving from the south. When, therefore, they were
+obliged to retreat, they made for this high ground, where they dug deep
+trenches and gun-pits, and created a great fortified zone according to a
+plan long previously prepared. Many people said that the trenches had
+been dug before the Germans crossed the Marne, but the French Government
+tells us that there is no foundation for this statement.
+
+Before I describe the fierce fighting on the banks of the Aisne I must
+try to give you some idea of the surrounding country. The Aisne runs
+from east to west across North France through a wide grassy valley. It
+is a sluggish stream, 170 feet broad, 15 feet deep in the middle, and
+not unlike the English river Trent in character. All along its valley
+are villages, farmhouses, unfenced fields, and poplar-lined roads, with
+here and there a little town.
+
+The most important place in the valley is Soissons, which has already
+been mentioned in these pages. It is a very ancient town, with a history
+that goes back to the days before Cæsar conquered Gaul. When, in later
+times, the Franks set up a kingdom to the west of the Rhine, Soissons
+became its capital. Few places have had so martial a history and have
+been so often besieged. In 1870 the Germans bombarded the town for three
+days before they were able to capture it. Prior to the war it was a
+quiet country place, with a considerable trade in grain and haricot
+beans. It boasted a beautiful cathedral, three fine old abbeys, and a
+town hall containing a large library. One of the abbeys sheltered Thomas
+à Becket for some time in the year 1170.
+
+Looking across the valley from Soissons, we see the hills rising up from
+the river like a wall. They vary in height, from 200 feet in the west
+near Compiègne to 450 feet in the east near Craonne.[122] A nearer view
+of these hills shows us many spurs dipping down sharply into the vale,
+and between them steep-sided ravines and deep, narrow water-courses
+carved out by the short and rapid brooks. All the way from Compiègne to
+Craonne the wall of heights continues, with sometimes a bolder spur and
+sometimes a deeper ravine. In many of the valleys there are quarries
+which have been worked for centuries. The hollows from which the stone
+has been taken, the underground passages, and the heaps of refuse afford
+abundance of ready-made cover. The top of the plateau cannot be seen
+from the valley, nor from the high ground on the southern bank of the
+river, owing to the woods, which dip over the edges of the slopes and
+descend towards the stream. The lower slopes are, for the most part,
+steep and grassy, with enclosed coppices here and there. As you know,
+the plateau stretches northwards to La Fère and Laon, where it drops
+steeply to the plains of north-eastern France. The villages on the
+plateau are strongly built of stone.
+
+On the high ground, at an average distance of two miles from the stream,
+the Germans had dug their trenches. The position was perfect. It could
+not be seen from the high ground on the south side of the river, and it
+commanded the bridges crossing the stream and most of the roads leading
+to them. Along the crest runs a good highway, known as the "Route des
+Dames"--that is, the Ladies' Road; by means of this road the Germans
+were able to supply their line readily with food and ammunition. At the
+eastern end of the heights the ground falls away behind the road, and
+forms a deep hollow running parallel with it, thus providing excellent
+cover for the supports of the troops holding the crest.
+
+Von Kluck occupied the western section of the position, from the forest
+of Compiègne to the large village of Craonne. Beyond that place, at the
+old ferry of Berry-au-Bac, the German line crossed the river and
+continued along a flat ridge parallel with the right bank of the
+Suippe,[123] a tributary of the Aisne. This ridge, which was held by von
+Buelow's command, curves to the south-east, and runs about fifteen miles
+east of the city of Rheims. No better position for artillery could be
+desired than the crest of the ridge, for the slope in front of it is
+quite open and bare, and it can be swept by the guns in all its breadth.
+In some respects this position was stronger than the line of heights,
+for there was little or no cover for troops advancing upon it. Still
+farther to the east the German line rested on the Argonne, where the
+army of the Crown Prince was operating. Along this front, which was more
+than a hundred miles in length, two million men were now to engage.
+
+Von Kluck was opposed by the 5th and 6th French Armies and the British
+army. The 6th French Army lay between Soissons and the Oise. Its left
+wing was extended along the Oise, in case von Kluck should attempt, as
+of old, to envelop the Allies' left. The British army lay east of
+Soissons, with a front of about fifteen miles. On the right of the
+British army was the 5th French Army. Von Buelow, who at this time also
+commanded the Saxon army, held the ground to the east of von Kluck, and
+opposed to him was the 9th French Army, under General Foch. The Duke of
+Würtemberg and the Crown Prince continued the German line to the
+Argonne, and against them were arrayed the 4th and 3rd French Armies.
+The French who were opposed to the Crown Prince at once set to work
+entrenching themselves in a semicircle about the fortress of Verdun.
+They dug their trenches sufficiently far away from the forts to prevent
+the German howitzers from dropping shells on them. The first of two
+other French armies lay between the Meuse and the Moselle, while the 2nd
+Army held the Bavarians in Lorraine.
+
+Now let us look more closely at the section of the Aisne which the
+British were to attack. A study of the map on page 240 will show you
+what a heavy task was assigned to our army. Along some parts of the
+front our soldiers could not approach the river at all, because there
+were broad stretches of open ground which could be swept by the enemy's
+long-range artillery. Clumps of wood, farmhouses, and sunken roads
+afforded the only cover there was.
+
+It was on Saturday, 12th September 1914, that the enemy was discovered
+holding the strong position which I have described. At Soissons they
+were in possession of both sides of the river, and they also held an
+entrenched line on the hills to the north. There were eight road bridges
+and two railway bridges crossing the river within the British section,
+but all had been completely destroyed except one road bridge at Venizel
+which our engineers repaired. The first business of the British was to
+get a footing on the south bank, and then to construct bridges by which
+they could cross the river and attack the Germans on the heights. The
+longest battle of history was about to begin.
+
+[Illustration: British Position on September 12, on the Eve of the
+Battle of the Aisne.]
+
+[Footnote 122: _Kray-on´._]
+
+[Footnote 123: _Sweep._]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+  THE CROSSING OF THE AISNE.
+
+
+On Saturday, September 12, 1914, the 6th French Army managed to secure
+several good artillery positions on the south bank of the river, and all
+day long there was a long-range duel with the German guns on the other
+side. Our Third Army Corps, working from west to east, gained some high
+ground east of Soissons, and their guns now took part in the duel. Until
+near midnight the rival guns hurled shot and shell at each other, while
+German searchlights flashed their broad beams to and fro searching the
+Allied positions. During the night our Third Army Corps and the right of
+the 6th French Army managed to capture half of the town of Soissons.
+
+If you look at the picture-diagram on pages 248-9, you will notice that
+a little tributary, the Vesle, joins the main stream near Condé. While
+the Third Corps was attacking Soissons our cavalry was busy driving the
+enemy out of the valley of the lower Vesle.[124] Throughout the previous
+day (11th September) Allenby's men had been working through the woods
+and along the roads, clearing the ground, and preparing for the advance
+of the infantry. At Braisne,[125] which stands on the Vesle, they found
+the Germans in force, holding the little town, the bridge, and the
+surrounding heights with infantry and machine guns. In the brisk fight
+which followed the Queen's Bays greatly distinguished themselves. About
+midday our cavalry won the town, and began driving the enemy to the
+north. Some hundreds of prisoners were captured, and the Germans
+retreated so hastily that they were obliged to throw a large amount of
+gun ammunition into the river. It could clearly be seen under two feet
+of water. By the evening of the 12th the valley of the Vesle was clear,
+and both the Second and First Corps were approaching the main stream.
+The Second Corps lay across the Vesle, with the First Corps to the east
+of it. The Allies were now ready to undertake the tremendous task of
+crossing the river Aisne.
+
+Sunday morning, 13th September, saw the great task begun, and the
+evening saw it successfully ended. As the Allies moved out towards the
+river the whole line of heights fronting them seemed to flash fire. From
+hundreds of German howitzers and field guns a storm of shot and shell
+raged along the south bank of the river, and from line after line of
+trenches hidden in the trees on the steep slopes sped a hurricane of
+bullets from machine guns and rifles. The bombardment was terrific; the
+whole valley appeared to throb as the shrapnel burst and the huge shells
+flew into fragments with a deafening roar. It seemed as though nothing
+could live in that zone of death. Nevertheless the Allies, crouching
+amid the bushes, doubling from one spot of shelter to another, moved
+swiftly forward in long, thin, skirmishing lines. Meanwhile British and
+French guns played upon the German trenches, and to some extent kept
+down the rifle and machine-gun fire.
+
+Already the Allied engineers were engaged on the most dangerous and
+difficult work known to war. The river was swollen with the recent heavy
+rains, and its muddy torrent roared along, bearing on its surface the
+wreckage of many broken bridges. Near Soissons the engineers tried to
+push pontoons across the stream. Calmly and coolly they constructed
+their bridges under a deadly fire, only to see them splintered to
+matchwood by the guns of the enemy. As they worked, German rifles and
+machine guns blazed at them from short range across the river, and the
+enemy, encouraged by his success, attempted to build bridges of his own.
+As, however, the first bridge section approached the stream, a British
+shell burst above it, and immediately the section and its bearers were
+no more. So fierce, however, was the fire of the enemy that our
+engineers had to give up trying to bridge the stream at this point. All
+attempts to silence the German batteries which were doing the mischief
+proved vain.
+
+[Illustration: German Sharpshooters on the Heights of the Aisne.
+
+_Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd._]
+
+Farther west, however, the French, in the gray of the morning, threw two
+bridges across the river, and immediately infantry and guns of the 6th
+Army swarmed across them. By the afternoon the French were fighting
+their way up the ravines on the other side. A little distance to the
+east of Soissons you will notice that the river forks, and in two
+channels flows round an island. At this point British engineers were
+also successful in throwing pontoons across the river, and the 11th
+British Brigade dashed across them, and began to dig themselves in on
+the other side.
+
+Smith-Dorrien's men, the Second Corps, were lying astride of the lower
+Vesle. As they advanced against the line of the Aisne they suffered
+heavy loss, especially on the left, where there was much open ground.
+Stubborn attempts were made to bridge the river opposite to the village
+of Missy, but they failed again and again. Nevertheless, by the
+afternoon rafts had been constructed, and these, laden with troops, were
+hauled to and fro across the stream. By this means two brigades gained
+the other side, and immediately lined out in the woods, where they
+fought for the rest of the day. Meanwhile Smith-Dorrien's 3rd Division
+was struggling hard to cross at Condé.[126] On the other side the
+Germans were lying in tiers of trenches on the steep slope, and some of
+them were sheltered behind the ramparts of an old French fort at Condé.
+So fierce and continuous was their fire that our men failed to cross the
+river at this point. The Germans held Condé all that day, and for many
+weeks after.
+
+Haig's division, on Smith-Dorrien's right, attacked the enemy along a
+front of about six miles. You will notice that they had to cross, first
+a canal, and then the river. The canal was easily bridged, but the flat
+ground between the canal and river was terribly swept by German fire,
+and here again it was found impossible at most points to construct
+pontoon bridges. The men, however, were got across by means of boats and
+rafts.
+
+Still farther east an iron road bridge had been blown up by the Germans;
+but they had not made a complete job of it, and one of the broken
+girders which remained above the water formed a kind of switchback
+across the stream. In the middle it was under water, and the muddy river
+swirled fiercely around it. The upstanding girder was discovered by one
+of our men, and immediately an attempt was made to get troops across it.
+Ropes were stretched from bank to bank, to give the men something to
+hold on by, and across this quivering plank of steel they made their
+way in single file. At one point they were nearly up to their waists in
+water. Despite rifle and machine-gun fire, a small force crossed the
+river by this perilous path, and as it pushed forward the engineers were
+able to strengthen and enlarge the frail bridge for the passage of the
+remainder. The crossing of the river by means of this broken girder was
+one of the most stirring incidents yet recorded. (See Frontispiece.)
+
+It was on the right of the British line that the greatest success was
+achieved. At a place called Bourg (see map on page 240) a branch canal
+is carried across the river by means of a low aqueduct with a broad
+towing-path. By some happy chance the Germans had not destroyed this
+aqueduct, and were holding it with only a small force. When, however,
+the British cavalry prepared to cross by means of the towing-path,
+shrapnel and bullets were rained upon them. The horsemen, however,
+dashed across, and infantry followed hard behind them. Meanwhile the
+engineers were busy building a pontoon bridge by the side of the
+aqueduct, where they were sheltered from the enemy's fire. The rest of
+the 1st Division was got across by means of the pontoon bridge, and in
+the evening was partly entrenched two miles north of the river. The 5th
+French Army was by this time across the river too, and the Moroccans
+were covering the British flank.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A thousand deeds of cool and daring courage were done on that September
+morning. If you are to form an idea of what our men had to face, you
+must try to imagine them creeping nearer and nearer to the river through
+a deadly hail of shot and shell--the engineers working calmly on the
+bridges while marksmen hidden in the woods were picking them off, and
+the machine guns and artillery of the enemy were making havoc amongst
+them; the frail rafts, crowded with men, being hauled to and fro, and
+death taking its toll every passage; the infantry crawling forward yard
+by yard up the steep slopes, in spite of the fire from above, and all
+the while huge shells from the German howitzers hurling up fountains of
+water from the river or tearing vast holes in the ground. Sudden and
+hideous death faced our men every minute; yet they "stuck it" with
+bull-dog courage, and the river was crossed.
+
+[Illustration: "He sat down in full view of the enemy, and poured a hail
+of bullets on the advancing Germans."
+
+_From the picture by F. Gardiner._]
+
+One splendid deed of heroism must not be forgotten. Near Soissons, where
+the howitzer fire of the Germans was fierce and continuous, 150 men of
+the West Kents, Black Watch, and Scottish Borderers were told off to
+guard a bridgehead. Suddenly the Germans in great force opened fire from
+the surrounding woods, and a dense column advanced at a run towards the
+bridge. The little British detachment checked them for a time, but at a
+heavy loss. A ring of dead lay around the machine gun which was holding
+back the German advance, and the crew being laid low it ceased to fire.
+At this fateful moment a big Highlander jumped up from cover, ran
+forward, seized the Maxim, swung it, tripod and all, across his
+shoulder, and ran with it to the bridgehead, where, all alone, he sat
+down in full view of the enemy, and poured a hail of bullets on the
+advancing Germans. Under this withering fire the column wavered and fled
+for cover to the fields on either side of the road. As the last of the
+enemy retired the brave Highlander fell forward on to his gun, riddled
+with thirty bullets. He had, however, like Horatius of old, saved the
+bridge, for just as he fell British reinforcements doubled up and put
+the final touches to the rout of the enemy.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+By the end of that Sunday evening only the 19th Brigade of the Third
+Corps, which was operating near Soissons, and some brigades of the
+Second Corps, lying more to the right, had failed to cross the stream.
+The bulk of the British had made the passage, and were now entrenched
+well up the slopes on the farther side. Never before in the history of
+the British army had so broad a river been so quickly crossed in the
+face of such a great and strongly-posted enemy. It was a remarkable feat
+of arms, and the credit was mainly due to the artillery and to the
+engineers. In the face of almost certain death, our sappers worked as
+calmly and coolly at their bridges as though engaged in peaceful
+manoeuvres at home.
+
+[Illustration: Sermoise Spur R. Vesle
+
+_By permission of the Illustrated London News._
+
+Diagram of the Aisne Valley showing the part of the River attacked by
+the British.
+
+In his dispatch of October 8, 1914, Sir John French thus describes the
+Aisne valley:--"The Aisne Valley runs generally east and west, and
+consists of a flat-bottomed depression of width varying from half a mile
+to two miles, down which the river follows a winding course to the west,
+at some points near the southern slopes of the valley, and at others
+near the northern.
+
+"The high ground both on the north and south of the river is about 400
+feet above the bottom of the valley, and is very similar in character,
+as are both slopes of the valley itself, which are broken into numerous
+rounded spurs cut into by ravines. The most prominent of the former are
+the Chivres Spur on the right bank, and Sermoise Spur on the left. Near
+the latter place the general plateau on the south is divided by a
+subsidiary valley of much the same character down which the small river
+Vesle flows to the main stream near Sermoise. The slopes of the plateau
+overlooking the Aisne on the north and south are of varying steepness,
+and are covered with numerous patches of wood, which also stretch
+upwards and backwards over the edge on to the top of the high ground.
+The Aisne is a sluggish stream of some 170 feet in breadth, but being 15
+feet deep in the centre, it is unfordable. Between Soissons on the west
+and Villers on the east (some 3 miles south-east of Soupir) there are
+eleven road bridges across it. On the north bank a narrow-gauge railway
+runs from Soissons to Vailly where it crosses the river, and continues
+eastward along the south bank. From Soissons to Sermoise a double line
+of railway runs along the south bank, turning at the latter place up the
+Vesle Valley.
+
+"The position held by the enemy is a very strong one, either for
+delaying action or for a defensive battle. One of its chief military
+characteristics is that from the high ground on neither side can the top
+of the plateau on the other side be seen, except for small stretches.
+This is chiefly due to the woods on the edges of the slopes. Another
+important point is that all the bridges are under direct or high-angle
+artillery fire.
+
+"The tract of country above described, which lies north of the Aisne, is
+well adapted to concealment, and was so skilfully turned to account by
+the enemy as to render it impossible to judge the real nature of his
+opposition to our passage of the river or accurately to gauge his
+strength. But I have every reason to conclude that strong rearguards of
+at least three army corps were holding the passages on the early morning
+of the 13th. On that morning I ordered the British forces to advance and
+make good the Aisne."]
+
+[Footnote 124: _Vail._]
+
+[Footnote 125: _Brain._]
+
+[Footnote 126: _Kon-day´_ (_n_ nasal).]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXX.
+
+  THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE.
+
+
+When Sir John French came to think over the operations of the day, he
+was uncertain in his own mind as to the intention of the enemy. Did they
+mean to make a great stand on the Aisne heights, or were they merely
+fighting a rearguard action in order to gain time in which to prepare
+for some new movement? It was most important that the Germans should be
+made to reveal their plans; so Sir John decided to put the matter to the
+test on the morrow by making a general advance.
+
+All night long the engineers were hard at work strengthening the new
+crossings and repairing the old bridges, so that they would bear the
+weight of heavy guns and lorries. The infantry were no less busy,
+digging themselves in on the ground which they had won the previous day.
+The real attack was to be made by the First Army Corps, under Sir
+Douglas Haig, and we will now follow the fortunes of his command. On
+September 13 he had fought his way northward for about two miles, and
+was now holding the hillsides and the woods around the village of
+Troyon, directly to the north of Bourg. You must not confuse this Troyon
+with Fort Troyon, which was mentioned in Chapter XXVII. Fort Troyon is
+an outlying fort of Verdun, on the right bank of the Meuse; the Troyon
+of which I am now speaking is a tiny village about three miles north of
+Bourg, on the Aisne. To the north of Troyon are steep wooded slopes, and
+to the west is an undulating and densely-wooded country, rising towards
+high hills. Dense woodlands lay between Troyon and the position which
+the First Corps now held.
+
+Shortly after midnight on 14th September Haig mustered his 2nd Infantry
+Brigade, which was billeted in the village of Moulins,[127] about a
+mile to the south of Troyon. Rain fell at intervals, and heavy mist made
+the dark night still darker. Silently the battalions of the King's Royal
+Rifles, the Royal Sussex, the Northamptonshire, and the Loyal North
+Lancashire regiments, with the 25th Artillery Brigade, took their
+places, and waited for the word of command. The German position which
+they were about to assault was the strongest along the whole line. The
+enemy had dug deep trenches and gun pits, and the ranges were well
+known, so that a fierce struggle might be expected. Both sides were on
+the watch, and every now and then the crack of rifles and the screech of
+shells broke the silence, while searchlights from the heights swept the
+scene. Brigadier-General Bulfin, who was in command, had sent out a
+patrol of officers to discover the position and strength of the enemy.
+Shortly before 3 a.m. it returned, and reported that the enemy was
+strongly posted near a sugar factory to the north of Troyon.
+
+Then the word was given, and the King's Royal Rifles and the Royal
+Sussex Regiment moved forward in silence. There was no talking in the
+ranks; the orders were given in whispers, and were quickly passed along
+the line. Everything depended on taking the enemy by surprise. As the
+British moved on in dead silence there was a sudden sharp cry of pain. A
+stray shot had hit a man in the arm, and he could not repress a cry. But
+the brave fellow silenced his moans immediately by thrusting a piece of
+turf between his teeth. He held it there until he was sufficiently
+recovered to crawl back to his own lines.
+
+The German outposts were now reached. The British moved rapidly forward,
+and soon drew near to the factory near which the Germans were posted.
+They were met by a fierce fire from the factory and from the guns in the
+entrenchments near at hand. Our men flung themselves to the ground, and
+began creeping forward, taking cover with great skill. It was a scene
+worthy of the brush of Rembrandt.[128] Away on the left rose the dusky
+heights; in front the factory loomed darkly against the sky; from
+windows and loopholes came thin sparks of flame; all around were wooded
+slopes wrapped in gloom. Along the British front the darkness was
+relieved by flashes of light from the rifles of the widely-extended
+infantry. From the distant trenches came the thunder of guns. All the
+time a light rain was falling, and a soaking mist made the darkness more
+obscure.
+
+The German fire was so hot that the British were brought to a
+standstill. Shortly afterwards the Northamptons appeared on the east,
+and began moving towards the hills. Very slowly they gained ground, but
+all attempts to oust the Germans from the factory failed. The darkness,
+the mist, and the sodden ground prevented our artillery from lending
+effective aid.
+
+The eastern sky began to pale; the shadows slowly fled from the woods,
+and dawn was at hand. The thin British line could not be expected to
+hold its own when the full light of day revealed them to the German
+marksmen and gunners, so reinforcements were hurried up, and a desperate
+attempt was made to advance. But little headway was made until the
+Guards' Brigade arrived. The Grenadier, Coldstream, and Scots Guards, as
+you probably know, rejoice in a long and proud record of military glory.
+For two hundred and fifty years they have played a leading part in our
+wars, and on their colours are blazoned some of the most glorious
+victories in British annals. Every man of the Guards' Brigade who
+advanced in the gray of that September morning was eager to prove
+himself worthy of the name and fame of his regiment. "Fix bayonets!" was
+now the order, and away swept the British, unsupported by artillery,
+towards the enemy's trenches. There was fierce hand-to-hand fighting for
+a few minutes. Then the Germans, unable to stand the fierce onset and
+the thrust of cold steel, broke and fled, leaving five guns and more
+than three hundred prisoners in the hands of the victors.
+
+The factory, however, still held out. It was a solid stone building,
+with every door bolted and barred, and every window lined with rifles.
+The Loyal North Lancashires, who lay before it, heard the shouts of
+their victorious comrades to the right and left, and now strained every
+effort to win a like success. Towards midday some of them rushed a door
+of the factory, battered it down, and forced their way in over
+barricades and the piled corpses of the slain. In a few minutes the
+factory was in British hands. The Loyal North Lancashires poured into
+it, and held it throughout the day.
+
+In the full light of that cold and windy morning, the British saw
+clearly that the task before them was enough to make the stoutest heart
+quail. The Germans had retreated to a line of trenches on a stretch of
+rising open ground. To carry these trenches meant an advance through a
+tornado of lead from rifles and machine guns. Behind the trenches was
+concealed German artillery, which was dropping shells on them so fast
+and furiously that advance was impossible. There was a great sigh of
+relief when, about nine o'clock, British shells began to whistle over
+the heads of the infantry. At last the artillery had come to their aid.
+
+Now we must leave these gallant men for a moment and see what was
+happening to the Allies on either flank. To the right of the 1st
+Division the Moroccans, who had already taught the Germans to fear them,
+were holding their trenches valiantly. To the left of the 1st Division
+was the 2nd Division, advancing towards Braye, which you will see on the
+extreme right of the picture-diagram (page 249). Its right wing had been
+checked by German artillery and rifle fire, and was now held up. Between
+the firing lines of the 1st and 2nd Divisions there was a stretch of
+ground left open, and Sir Douglas Haig saw at once that the enemy would
+probably try to thrust in a wedge at this point. He therefore hurried
+the 3rd Infantry Brigade into the gap, but only just in time. Almost
+immediately it was fiercely shelled, and a strong force of Germans was
+seen advancing. Two battalions of the 3rd Brigade at once dashed towards
+them; a battery of field guns galloped up, and opened fire at short
+range, and the enemy hastily withdrew.
+
+Later in the day the enemy actually gained a footing between the First
+and Second Corps, and threatened to cut the communications of the
+latter. Sir Douglas Haig at this time was very hard pressed, and he had
+no reserves. The only reinforcements which Sir John French possessed
+consisted of three brigades of Allenby's cavalry. They now galloped up,
+dismounted, and took their places in the firing line. By their timely
+help the enemy was driven back, and the danger was averted.
+
+Desperate fighting continued the whole of the morning and far into the
+afternoon. Attack and counter-attack continued almost without a pause.
+The Germans rolled forward in waves, only to be beaten back; the British
+advanced in their turn, only to suffer a like fate. In each case it was
+as though lines of breakers were dashing against the cliffs of a rocky
+seashore. Big guns thundered; Maxims and rifles cracked unceasingly.
+Huge siege guns, with a range of 10,000 yards, also hurled their
+enormous shells upon the British. These were the guns which had battered
+down the forts of Maubeuge a few days before.
+
+About four in the afternoon the German counter-attacks grew so weak and
+infrequent that Sir Douglas Haig thought the time had come for a general
+advance. Our men pushed forward gallantly, but every inch of ground had
+to be won at a heavy price of dead and wounded. The officers suffered
+very severely; one brigade lost three of its four colonels. By this time
+the long day's struggle was beginning to tell upon our gallant fellows.
+Nevertheless before night fell a long stretch of difficult and dangerous
+ground had been won; six hundred prisoners and twelve guns had been
+captured. For the first time our men occupied an entrenched position on
+the plateau itself. In his dispatch Sir John French pays a high and
+well-deserved tribute to Sir Douglas Haig and the First Army Corps. He
+says: "The action of the First Army Corps, under the direction and
+command of Sir Douglas Haig, was of so skilful, bold, and decisive a
+character that he gained positions which alone have enabled me to
+maintain my position for more than three weeks of very severe fighting
+on the north bank of the river."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Very briefly I must sum up the work of the French on 14th September and
+the following days. The 6th French Army, to the left of the British, had
+made good progress on the 14th; but by the evening of the 15th had been
+driven back to within only a few hundred yards of its crossing places.
+Soissons had been heavily shelled, and part of it had been burned down.
+The French left, however, was still moving up the Oise towards Noyon.
+
+The 5th French Army, to the right of the British, had crossed the river
+on the 14th, and had begun its assaults on the plateau above Craonne. If
+it could seize the long, steep-sided spur of Craonne, it would be able
+to turn the German positions on the whole line of heights. The Germans,
+however, stubbornly held their own, and the French could make no
+progress.
+
+The 9th French Army, which had played such a leading part in the Battle
+of the Marne, had driven the Germans into Rheims, from which they fell
+back almost without firing a shot. The French were elated at the capture
+of this historic city. But von Buelow had not been defeated; he had
+moved back for the purpose of protecting the left of von Kluck's
+position on the heights of the Aisne. He halted, as we know, on the
+ridge along the northern bank of the Suippe, and Foch's attempts to
+force him from this position not only failed, but he himself was driven
+back by the Germans towards Rheims. The enemy captured the hill of
+Brimont, north of the city, and brought up heavy siege guns to bombard
+it at long range. More important still, the Germans had worked round on
+the east, and had won another hill to the east of the city. They could
+not, however, capture an adjoining hill, which was part of the defences
+of Rheims.
+
+Eastwards of Rheims the 3rd and 4th Armies were fighting hard with some
+of the Saxon and Würtemberg troops, and also with the army of the Crown
+Prince. South of the Argonne the German retreat on this part of the line
+had also come to an end, and here, too, the invaders were holding an
+entrenched position of such strength that it resembled a fortress.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The next day, 15th September, was not so favourable to the Allies as the
+preceding day. On the British left two of our divisions were severely
+handled, and one of them was forced back at evening almost to the line
+of the stream. The 3rd Division, however, retook some high ground from
+which it had been thrust back on the previous day. On the British right
+there were constant attacks and counter-attacks, and the Guards' Brigade
+did yeoman service. It was during this part of the fighting that
+Bombardier Ernest Harlook, of the 113th Battery, R.F.A., won the V.C.,
+as we shall read later.
+
+Next day there was not much fighting on the British front. News arrived
+that the French 5th Army had been obliged to fall back, and that the
+Moroccans, on the British right, had retired, and thus left open the
+flank of our First Corps. Next morning (17th September), however, there
+was good news from the left. The French 6th Army had won back all the
+ground which it had lost, and was now in a strong position on the edge
+of the plateau. The British divisions which had been driven back to the
+stream were not molested; but the 1st Division, perched high up on the
+plateau at Troyon, came in for a bad time.
+
+The Northamptons, on the extreme right, had clung to their positions, in
+spite of every effort to dislodge them. On the morning of the 17th the
+Germans in the opposite trenches showed a white flag as a token of
+surrender. They were called upon to come forward, and they did so, right
+to the edge of our trenches, and then most treacherously poured in a hot
+rifle fire. Many of our men were shot down; but happily there was a
+British machine gun, manned by a detachment of the Queen's, on the flank
+of the trench, and only 400 yards away. It opened fire at once, cutting
+a lane through the mass of the Germans, and killing three hundred of
+them. About one hundred of the survivors held up their hands and were
+made prisoners, while the rest fell back to their own trench. The trap
+had failed. Shortly afterwards a battalion of the Guards arrived, and
+drove them still farther back, with more loss.
+
+On the next day (18th September) there was a lull in the fighting,
+though the 1st and 2nd British Divisions made a general attack, during
+which the Gloucesters, charging through the darkness, carried a line of
+the enemy's trenches. The whole French line to the east was making no
+progress, and it was now clear that the German positions could not be
+carried by a frontal attack. In five days' furious and deadly struggle
+but little ground had been gained. The forces opposed to each other were
+too evenly matched, and the trenches of the enemy were too strongly
+defended to be captured without a terrible loss of life. All that the
+Allies could do was to dig themselves in deeply, and slowly and
+painfully creep forward to the German lines by sap and mine.
+
+It was clear that the Germans had recovered from their retreat, and were
+now in such a position that they could defy our attacks. A deadlock had
+set in all along the line. All dreams of rapidly driving the enemy out
+of France had been rudely dispelled. General Joffre, however, was equal
+to the occasion. He was ready with a new plan. What it was, and how it
+succeeded, we shall learn in a later chapter.
+
+[Footnote 127: _Moo-lan´_ (_n_ nasal).]
+
+[Footnote 128: Born 1606, died 1669; one of the greatest of painters,
+and the glory of the Dutch school. Many of his pictures are in deep
+shade, and suggest the mystery that lies under the surface of things
+seen.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+  SOLDIERS' STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE.
+
+
+The Battle of the Aisne was a "soldiers' battle." It was, you will
+remember, a series of attempts to drive the enemy out of strong
+positions by attacks along his front. In this kind of fighting there is
+but little scope for what we call "generalship." Everything depends upon
+the courage and resolution of the rank and file and their company
+officers. The following stories will show you how nobly our men bore
+themselves during the perilous crossing of the river, and in the many
+fierce fights that afterwards took place on the slopes of the plateau.
+
+As the engineers played such a gallant part in the battle, our first
+story must be the experiences of a sapper. In a letter to his friends at
+home, Sapper S. Johnson, of the Royal Engineers, wrote as follows:--
+
+"I have got through so far, but I have had a great deal of luck. There
+was one time, at the Battle of the Aisne, when the shells were dropping
+all round us. We had just finished a pontoon bridge. There were seven of
+us standing at one end, and the lieutenant told us to spread out. I had
+not taken ten paces when a shell killed four and wounded one. I and the
+other sapper were blown off our feet with the concussion. It was a
+marvellous escape.
+
+"Then we got into the shelter of a small bridge across a canal. Nine of
+us sat behind a wall, and the Germans shelled that bridge for all they
+were worth, and hardly missed it. But we were safe behind the buttress.
+It would have been certain death if any of us had moved.
+
+"Our major wanted us to retire along the bank; but we told him we would
+rather chance crossing the bridge, for we should not have got fifty
+yards without being shelled. Well, we had to dash across, one after the
+other, and every time a man dashed out there was a hail of shells. We
+left one man on the bridge. He was shot, and I was the last to leave
+him. We could not do anything for him. When we returned at night he was
+dead."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Private J. Green of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment writes as
+follows:--
+
+"We came to the river Aisne in the early hours of the 14th, and found
+that, with a single exception, all the bridges had been blown up. The
+engineers immediately set to work with their pontoons; but the Germans
+from a sheltered position had the range perfectly. As quickly as one
+raft was got into position the poor fellows were knocked over like
+ninepins by the most murderous fire. When one man fell into the water
+another took his place, and the river was full of wounded struggling in
+the water. We fished out all we could. Six times our bridge was
+destroyed before they were able to get across. The bravery of the chaps
+was magnificent."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The "Eye-Witness" with the British forces tells us a remarkable story.
+After our troops had advanced to the Aisne, many small parties of
+Germans were discovered hiding in the woods behind the British line. One
+of our officers, who was in charge of a number of riderless horses which
+were being led along a road, learnt that Germans were in the
+neighbourhood. He at once gave the order to charge, and the enemy,
+seeing horses galloping towards them, imagined them to be cavalry. At
+once they threw down their arms and held up their hands. Three officers
+and 106 men surrendered as a result of this extraordinary charge.
+
+[Illustration: A Riderless Charge.
+
+_From the drawing by Lionel Edwards._]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is the letter of a German officer:--
+
+"My dear Parents,--Our corps has the task of holding the heights south
+of Cerny[129] in all circumstances till the 15th Corps on our left flank
+can grip the enemy's flank. We are fighting with English Guards,
+Highlanders, and Zouaves. The losses on both sides have been enormous.
+For the most part this is due to the too brilliant French artillery. The
+English are marvellously trained in making use of the ground. One never
+sees them, and yet one is constantly under fire. The French airmen
+perform wonderful feats. We cannot get rid of them. As soon as an airman
+has flown over us, ten minutes later we get their shrapnel fire on our
+position. We have little artillery in our corps. Without it we cannot
+get forward. Three days ago (14th September) our division took
+possession of these heights, dug itself in, etc. Two days ago, early in
+the morning, we were attacked by immensely superior English forces, and
+were turned out of our positions. The fellows took five guns from us. It
+was a tremendous hand-to-hand fight. How I escaped myself I am not
+clear. I then had to bring up supports on foot. My horse was wounded,
+and the others were too far in rear. Then came up the supports, and,
+with help of the artillery, drove back the fellows out of the position
+again. Our machine guns did excellent work. The English fell in heaps.
+In our battalion three Iron Crosses[130] have been awarded--one to the
+commanding officer, one to the captain, one to the surgeon. Let us hope
+that we shall be the lucky ones next time. During the first two days of
+the battle I had only one piece of bread and no water; spent the night
+in the rain, without my greatcoat. The rest of my kit was on the horses,
+which have been left miles behind with the baggage; which cannot come up
+into the battle, because as soon as you put your nose out from behind,
+the bullets whistle. The war is terrible. We are all hoping that the
+decisive battle will end the war, as our troops have already got round
+Paris.[131] If we first beat the English, the French resistance will
+soon be broken. Russia will be very quickly dealt with. Of this there is
+no doubt. We received splendid help from the Austrian heavy artillery at
+Maubeuge. They bombarded one of the forts in such a way that there was
+not thirty feet of parapet which did not show enormous craters made by
+shells. The armoured turrets were found upside down."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+It was during the fighting of 14th September that Captain Mark Haggard,
+while leading the Welsh Regiment in the 3rd Brigade, met his death.
+Private Derry of his company thus tells the story:--"The Welsh were
+ordered to advance. When about twenty yards from the crest of a hill
+Captain Haggard ran forward to the top, saw the Germans, and shouted,
+'Fix bayonets, boys; here they are!' We fixed, and were prepared to
+follow him anywhere; but we were checked by a storm of Maxim fire. We
+knew by the sound that we were up against a tremendous force. There was
+only one game to play now--bluff them into the belief that we were as
+strong as they were. So we were ordered rapid firing, which gives an
+enemy the impression that the firing force is strong. We popped away
+like this for three hours, never moving an inch from our position. Just
+near the men was lying our brave captain, mortally wounded. He had
+charged on to the enemy's Maxims, and had been hit as he was laying out
+the enemy with the butt of an empty rifle, laughing as he did it. As the
+shells burst over us he would occasionally open his eyes, so full of
+pain, and call out, but in a very weak voice, 'Stick it, Welsh! stick
+it, Welsh!' So our brave lads stuck it until our artillery got in
+action, and put 'paid' to the score. Captain Haggard died that evening,
+his last words being, 'Stick it, Welsh!' He died as he had lived--an
+officer and a gentleman."
+
+When his men were forced to retire to a new position, they had to leave
+him behind; but his soldier-servant, Lance-Corporal Fuller, ran out from
+the new trenches and, under a heavy fire, carried him into his own
+lines. For this deed, as you will hear later, the gallant soldier
+received the Victoria Cross.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Gunner Thomas Joy, of the Royal Field Artillery, thus describes a night
+attack on the Aisne:--
+
+"'It's a fine night for the Germans' is what we say out there when it's
+so dark that you can hardly see your finger before you; and it was just
+on such a night that I got nicked while serving my gun. The enemy had
+been quiet all day, for a wonder, and we were just taking a well-earned
+rest after the hot time we had been having. Just about two in the
+morning, when the faintest traces of light were to be seen creeping
+across the sky, there was a heavy rattle of rifle fire on the hill where
+our advanced men were posted, and soon the whole camp was alive with
+noise and bustle as the men sprang to arms.
+
+"We always sleep beside our guns, so as to be ready for anything, and in
+five minutes we were at our posts waiting for information about the
+range. That came later, and then we began plugging away for all we were
+worth. We caught sight of a mass of Germans swarming up a slope on the
+right, to take cover in a wood there; but they didn't know what we knew.
+We dropped a few shells into them, just to liven things up a bit and
+keep them from thinking too much about the Fatherland; but we had to be
+careful, because some of our own chaps were posted in that wood.
+
+"The Germans kept rushing along gaily, and there was not the slightest
+sound from the wood where our men were securely posted behind the felled
+trees. Now the German searchlights began to play all around, and the air
+was lit up with bursting shells. We could see the Germans get nearer and
+nearer to the wood.
+
+"Suddenly the whole side of the wood was one big sheet of flame, as our
+hidden men sent volley after volley ripping through the ranks of the
+advancing Germans. They were fairly staggered by the suddenness of the
+fire, and before they had time to collect their wits a big body of our
+chaps were into them with the bayonet, thrusting right and left, and
+sweeping the Germans away as a scavenger sends the mud before his brush
+on a dirty day.
+
+"Just when this little show was in full blast, the Germans obliged us
+with more limelight, and we saw it clearly. We spoiled the German
+appetite for breakfast in that part of the field; though, from what we
+learned later, there was no doubt that this was the point where they
+expected to break through. They cleared off quickly.
+
+"Then they began to press their attack in another part of the field, and
+there was some dandy bayonet work within the trenches as the Germans
+tried to rush them. Our boys were on the lookout, and gave it them hot.
+Our artillery found the German infantry advancing to the attack--a fine
+target--and we tore holes in their tightly-packed ranks that it would
+take some tinkering to make right again, I can tell you. Their artillery
+did all their gunners knew to silence ours and help their attacking
+parties; but it was no good, and by six o'clock they drew off, leaving
+us nice time to get breakfast."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A private of the 12th Lancers gives the following account of a ride for
+life. He does not tell us where the incident took place, but it may have
+been at Bourg.
+
+"We had," he says, "to cross a river and canal by means of pontoon
+bridges, as the permanent iron ones were blown away by the enemy. Half
+of the brigade got safely across, when the enemy started shelling the
+bridges with six big guns. The half that had not yet come over returned
+to safety; not so we. We were trapped in the town, and had to take
+shelter as best we could along the street. It was about the worst
+experience one could have gone through. To see those sixty-pound shells
+hit houses twenty and thirty yards away, and explode in the centre of
+troops, was awful.
+
+"One shell burst in a garden ten yards from where I was standing, but
+luckily there was a heavy wall between. I was knocked flat by the shock
+of the explosion; and soon the place became too hot to hold us, as it
+was in flames. Then the ride through death took place. One by one we had
+to retire at full gallop across a pontoon with six big guns trained on
+it, and two or three explosions taking place every half-minute. I was
+next man after the colonel to cross, so I set my horse to it, murmured a
+prayer, and won through. What a cheer from the chaps when we got back to
+safety! They had given us up for lost; but, thank God! we came across
+with but few casualties, although it seemed impossible."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Let me now tell you how the youngest soldier of the 127th French
+regiment of infantry won the military medal, which is the French
+equivalent to our Victoria Cross. His name was Léon Lemaire, and he was
+twenty years of age. During the Battle of the Aisne it was necessary to
+send a message to the captain of one of the companies in an advanced
+trench. Lemaire was chosen for the purpose. He had no sooner shown
+himself on the level ground, ready to run forward on his errand, than
+the Germans, whose trenches were at short range, fired volleys at him.
+First, a bullet passed through his greatcoat; then his cap was struck;
+his haversack and water-bottle were riddled with shots; and a hole was
+bored through the scabbard of his bayonet. Through this hurricane of
+fire Lemaire advanced with great coolness, and actually reached the
+trench without a wound! Some days later his regiment was paraded in his
+honour at a place behind the firing line. His general pinned the little
+silver medal for valour on his breast, embraced him, and placed him by
+his side, where he remained while the whole regiment, with colours
+flying, and the band playing the "Marseillaise," marched past him and
+saluted. Thus does the French army honour its heroes.
+
+[Illustration: A French Aeroplane discovering the Position of German
+Guns.
+
+One of the main duties of the Royal Flying Corps is to discover the
+position of the German batteries. An aeroplane is sent over the
+suspected area as a decoy, and is almost sure to draw the fire of the
+enemy's guns, thus giving the range to the Allies' artillery. Our
+picture shows French artillery moving out of a village to bombard a
+German position thus discovered. The drawing was prepared under the
+direction of an officer who was in the village and witnessed the
+incident.
+
+_Drawn by Lionel Edwards._]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A young soldier of the 24th South Wales Borderers, who was wounded near
+Soissons and carried into safety by a lance-corporal of his regiment,
+thus describes the incident:--
+
+"My company officer was standing up with an orderly near a tree, and
+twelve of us were lying resting in a field under a roaring cannonade.
+Suddenly I saw a shell coming, and shouted to him to look out, just as
+it burst over and a little behind the tree. Neither of the two standing
+was touched, but eight of us got it. I felt as if something had come up
+through the ground and jolted my leg, and when I tried to get up I could
+only use one foot. I asked if I could be moved, and my lance-corporal
+took me on his back and walked straight across one hundred and fifty
+yards of ground on which shells and bullets were falling fast. How he
+got across I don't know. When we were safe on the other side he cut off
+my trouser leg, gave me a first dressing, and put a waterproof sheet
+under me; and there I lay for about fifteen hours, under the rain most
+of the time. If ever I find that man again I shall know how to thank
+him."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is a pathetic story of a wounded man who gave his life to save his
+comrades. The story is told by a Northumberland Fusilier.
+
+"We occupied an exposed position on the left at the Aisne, and one night
+only escaped being wiped out by mere chance, combined with as fine a
+deed of heroism as I have ever heard of. There was a man of the
+Manchester Regiment who was lying close to the German lines, badly
+wounded. He happened to overhear some conversation between German
+soldiers, and being familiar with the language, gathered that they
+intended to attack the position which we held that night. In spite of
+his wounds he decided to set out and warn us of the danger, so he
+started on a weary tramp of over five miles. He was under fire from the
+moment he got to his feet, but he stumbled along and got out of range.
+Later he ran into a patrol of Uhlans; but before they saw him, he
+dropped to earth and shammed death. They passed without a sign, and then
+he resumed his weary journey. By this time the strain had told on him,
+and his wound began to bleed, marking his path towards our lines with
+thin red streaks. In the early morning, just half an hour before the
+time fixed for the German attack, he staggered into one of our advanced
+posts, and managed to tell his story to the officer in charge before
+collapsing in a heap. Thanks to the information he gave us, we were
+ready for the Germans when they came, and beat them off. But his anxiety
+to warn us had cost him his life. The doctors said that the strain had
+been too much for him; and next day he died."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The coolness of our men under fire is, well illustrated in the following
+story.
+
+"Out on the Aisne," says Trooper G. Hill of the 17th Lancers, "I watched
+a man of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who lay in the trenches, quietly
+firing away at the advancing enemy as coolly as if he were in a shooting
+gallery at home. After each shot he turned for a pull at a cigarette
+lying by his side on a stone. When the enemy got so close that it was
+necessary to use bayonets, he simply laid his cigarette down and walked
+out of the trench to engage them with the steel. When the attack was
+beaten off, he walked back for his cigarette. 'Oh, it's smoked away, and
+it was my last!' was all that he said."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Probably the youngest sergeant in the world is Prudent Marius, a French
+boy of fourteen, scarcely four feet in height. On the outbreak of war he
+attached himself as cyclist scout to a certain regiment passing through
+Alsace-Lorraine. So useful did he prove to be that the regiment adopted
+him, and he acted as ammunition bearer, dispatch carrier, and generally
+as Jack-of-all-trades. By the time the Germans were drawing near to
+Paris he had been made a corporal, and had been wounded in the leg. Near
+Soissons, during the Battle of the Aisne, he was attached to the
+artillery, and while handing shells to a gunner was again wounded, this
+time in the face. Soon afterwards he was made a full-blown sergeant. A
+correspondent who saw him describes him as a curious little figure in
+his dark-blue coat and red trousers, with two gold stripes on his arm.
+In spite of his youth, he was quite indifferent to shell and rifle fire.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+So many stories of treachery, bad faith, and cruelty are told of the
+Germans that it is good to know that all of them are not cast in the
+same mould. It is said that in one of the towns held by the Germans near
+the Aisne a certain French gentleman lay sick unto death. A German army
+doctor, who, of course, was not required to attend on civilians, heard
+of the case, and knowing that there were no French doctors in the town,
+offered his services to the sick man. This in itself was an act of great
+kindness, but the manner in which it was done raised it to the level of
+a deed of chivalry. The German doctor knew that the sick man hated the
+Germans, and that the visit of a German doctor would excite him and do
+him harm. So he took off his uniform, put on private clothes, and
+pretended to be an English doctor. I am sure that we all honour this
+German doctor for his kind heart and thoughtful good nature.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now let me tell you of the glorious courage and devotion shown by Dr.
+Huggan of the R.A.M.C. He was a native of Jedburgh, and played
+three-quarter back in the England _v._ Scotland Rugby match at Edinburgh
+in March 1914. Colonel Drummond Hay, writing to a friend, says that on
+the 14th of September Dr. Huggan organized and led a party of volunteers
+who removed a number of wounded from a barn which had been set on fire
+by German shells. Dr. Huggan and his party rushed to the barn under a
+very heavy fire, and managed to save all the wounded, who were in danger
+of being burnt alive. For this very gallant deed he was recommended for
+the Victoria Cross. Two days later he was killed.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is an extract from a letter describing the conditions under which
+the Army Service Corps brought up stores to the men fighting on the
+Aisne:--
+
+"The whole road from here to the river Aisne is under very heavy shell
+fire all day, and it is only possible to move out at dusk. Even then we
+often come under shell fire; the guns are laid by angles; the distance
+is, of course, known, and at frequent intervals during the night shells
+are fired on the road or at the villages on the way, or at the
+bridgehead, four and a half miles from here. The enemy in his retirement
+blew up the bridge over the river, and our engineers have built a
+pontoon bridge to replace it. This bridge is under the enemy's guns,
+which shell it with great accuracy. Last night, on starting out--a
+pitch-dark night and raining hard--we could see the frequent flashes of
+the enemy's artillery, and hear and see the bursting shells. The whole
+of the road is lined with dead horses, and the smell is too dreadful for
+words. We had to halt some little time, as a village through which we
+had to pass was being shelled. These high-explosive shells make a most
+terrifying noise, and do dreadful damage when they hit something. When
+the shelling stopped we moved on, and finally reached the river.
+
+"It was impossible to get loaded wagons across a very shaky pontoon
+bridge in pitch darkness, with very steep banks down to it, and no side
+rails on it. The supplies had, therefore, to be dumped on this side.
+This was a matter of great difficulty in the dark and wet--a very narrow
+road, choked in places by dead horses, ambulances, and pontoons waiting
+to go forward, and a perpetual stream of wounded men being carried or
+helped past in the opposite direction. So black was it that I could not
+see my hand before my face; the only things which showed up were the
+white bandages of the wounded.
+
+"To add to the difficulty, we were waiting every second for the enemy to
+resume shelling. One shell among that congested crowd would have had
+dreadful results. We had not left the place more than half an hour when
+we saw the flashes of guns behind us. . . . We got back to this town at
+3.30 a.m. This is what goes on every night--leaving at dusk, getting
+back at 3.30, and hoping the enemy will refrain from shelling until we
+are back."
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+[Illustration: In the German Trenches on the Aisne.
+
+This picture appeared in a Leipzig illustrated paper; it is drawn from a
+sketch by an eye-witness.]
+
+The following officers and men were awarded the Victoria Cross for deeds
+of outstanding gallantry during the fighting on the Aisne in September
+1914:--
+
+Captain Harry Sherwood Ranken, Royal Army Medical Corps, received the
+highest award of valour for tending wounded in the trenches under rifle
+and shrapnel fire on 19th and 20th September. He continued his merciful
+work after his thigh and leg had been shattered. Unhappily, he died of
+his wounds before the Cross was awarded to him.
+
+Captain William Henry Johnston, Royal Engineers. At Missy, on 14th
+September, he worked with his own hands two rafts on the river from
+early morning till late evening under a heavy fire. He ferried
+ammunition across and brought back wounded, and thus enabled a brigade
+to hold its own in an advanced position on the north bank of the stream.
+
+Bombardier Ernest George Harlook (now Sergeant), 113th Battery, R.F.A.
+At a little village south of Troyon, on 15th September, Bombardier
+Harlook's battery was under heavy shell fire. He was twice wounded, and
+was forced to retire to have his wounds dressed; but on each occasion he
+returned, and worked his gun again.
+
+Lance-Corporal William Fuller, 2nd Battalion, Welsh Regiment. On page
+261 I told you how Lance-Corporal Fuller, at the risk of almost certain
+death, carried poor Captain Haggard, who was mortally wounded, into
+cover. Never was the Victoria Cross more worthily won.
+
+Lance-Corporal Frederick William Dobson, 2nd Battalion, Coldstream
+Guards. On the 28th of September, at Chavonne on the Aisne,
+Lance-Corporal Dobson twice went out under heavy fire, and brought into
+cover wounded men who were lying exposed in the open.
+
+Private George Wilson, 2nd Battalion, Highland Light Infantry. Prior to
+the war Private Wilson was a reservist who made a living by selling
+newspapers in the streets of Edinburgh. The extraordinary exploit for
+which he was awarded the coveted Cross took place on 14th September,
+when the 5th Brigade was in action at a village north of Bourg. All
+along the trench where Wilson lay the men were continually falling, and
+he could plainly see that it was a machine gun about 750 yards away, and
+a little in front of the main body of Germans, that was doing most of
+the mischief. He determined to silence the gun, and a private of the
+60th King's Rifles volunteered to go with him. They crawled out of their
+trench and wriggled along; but they had not gone a hundred yards when
+Wilson's companion rolled over, riddled with bullets. Wilson, however,
+continued his journey, and managed to get within a short distance of the
+gun. Then he levelled his rifle, and one by one shot down the officer
+and the six men who were working it.
+
+Crawling up to the gun he had a surprise, for a German officer who had
+only been slightly wounded jumped up and emptied his revolver at him.
+But, as luck would have it, the officer missed, and Wilson promptly
+_bayoneted_ him. Then he crawled back to his trench, where he fainted.
+He soon recovered, however, and asked if the gun had been brought in.
+When he learned that it had not been captured, he ran out again, and
+succeeded in bringing in the gun. Though he had been so long under fire,
+he escaped with only slight wounds.
+
+[Illustration: Private George Wilson, V.C.]
+
+Private R. Tollerton, 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders,
+was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery and devotion to
+duty on 14th September. He carried a disabled officer under heavy fire
+into a place of safety, and although wounded in the head and the hand,
+struggled back to the firing line, where he remained until his battalion
+retired. Then he returned to the wounded officer, and lay beside him for
+three days until both were rescued.
+
+[Footnote 129: Five miles north-west of Laon.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Prussian military order (Maltese cross of iron edged with
+silver). It has been awarded in profusion during the present war. More
+than 30,000 German soldiers are said to have received it during 1914.]
+
+[Footnote 131: He was, of course, misinformed. The nearest German troops
+to Paris on September 14th, 1914, were at Compiègne, about 43 miles
+away.]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+  VERDUN AND RHEIMS.
+
+
+The first and worst part of the Battle of the Aisne may be said to have
+ended on 18th September 1914. By this date it was clear to all that the
+fighting for weeks to come would be a dull and stubborn affair of
+trenches. The Germans boasted that they could hold their positions for
+three months if necessary; and the boast was no idle one, for the hills,
+woods, and quarries which they occupied were natural fortresses, made
+almost impregnable by every art known to the military engineer. In some
+places there were eight or nine lines of trenches, the one behind the
+other, all of them cleverly constructed and carefully concealed. Wire
+entanglements and lines of rabbit fencing, both in the woods and in the
+open, protected the trenches from attack, and every line of approach,
+whether from the front or from the flanks, was covered by the cross-fire
+of rifles, machine guns, and artillery. Behind the woods on the top of
+the plateau were heavy howitzers, which hurled shells at long range into
+the valley and right across it.
+
+You will remember that, as early as 11th September, General Joffre had
+sent the left of the 6th French Army along the Oise in order to prevent
+von Kluck from trying an outflanking movement. The Germans believe
+greatly in this form of strategy, and it was to be expected that they
+would try it again, now that they were held up on the Aisne. On the 18th
+of September Sir John French was informed that General Joffre was about
+to try an enveloping movement himself. He was about to attack the
+enemy's right flank, in the hope of driving him from his trenches. While
+this movement was preparing, it was necessary that the Allied lines
+along the Aisne should be strongly held, so that the Germans could not
+break through.
+
+[Illustration: Fighting in the Argonne.
+
+_Photo, The Sphere._
+
+Some of the fiercest fighting in the war has taken place in this region.
+Our illustration shows the French recapturing a trench and meeting a
+determined counter-attack of the Germans.]
+
+To our men life in the trenches was a dull and dismal experience after
+the stirring days of open fighting in which they had recently been
+engaged. There were many attacks and counter-attacks; but for the most
+part the opposing armies lay in their trenches during the day, watching
+each other while the shells of friend and foe hurtled overhead. Between
+the trenches was a No Man's Land, strewn with wounded and the unburied
+bodies of the dead. The moment any attempt was made to rescue the
+wounded a heavy fire broke out; so the poor fellows lay on the sodden
+ground in torment, within a few yards of their own trenches, for days
+together. In some places the British and the German lines were so near
+that the soldiers could exchange remarks.
+
+As a rule, each side shelled the other by day, and at night the Germans,
+after a fierce bombardment, were in the habit of attacking some part of
+our lines. They crept forward in the early hours of the morning, hoping
+to dig themselves in, so as to be able to reach our trenches at a single
+rush. While they were so engaged, searchlights played upon our
+positions, in order to dazzle the eyes of our marksmen, and from dusk to
+dawn "snipers" were busy picking off all who showed themselves.
+Nevertheless, the attacks were constantly beaten off, and at close
+quarters our men did great execution with the bayonet. Frequently they
+made successful counter-attacks.
+
+During the first fortnight the weather was very wet, and our men were
+drenched to the skin. For days at a time they were knee-deep in a
+mixture of water and a peculiarly sticky, chalky mud which filled their
+eyes, ears, and throats, and could not be kept out of their food.
+Despite these discomforts they were as cheery and high-spirited as ever.
+They welcomed German attacks as a relief from the long, trying hours of
+waiting under a fierce and almost continuous bombardment.
+
+The heavy guns of the enemy fired shells of eight or nine inches in
+diameter, which roared through the air like an express train, and
+exploded with a terrific report, throwing up columns of greasy, black
+smoke, and tearing craters in the ground big enough to hold the bodies
+of five horses. The Germans fully expected that these terrifying shells
+would drive our men crazy with fear. It was soon discovered, however,
+that their bark was worse than their bite, and familiarity with them
+bred something like contempt. Our men christened them "Black Marias,"
+"coal boxes," and, best of all, "Jack Johnsons." They built bomb-proof
+shelters and "dug-outs," in which they took refuge from these monster
+missiles.
+
+During those weeks on the Aisne we were at a great disadvantage because
+we had so few heavy guns capable of coping with those of the Germans,
+and because we were hopelessly outnumbered in machine guns, of which the
+enemy seemed to have an endless supply. On 23rd September some heavy
+batteries arrived from England, and enabled us to make some sort of
+reply; but for every shell fired by our guns the enemy fired twenty. We
+also suffered greatly from German spies. Disguised as peasants, they
+infested our lines, and as they mingled with the villagers and refugees
+it was very difficult for our soldiers to detect them. Frequently women
+were discovered acting as secret agents.
+
+On 25th September a disaster befell the 1st Cameron Highlanders. They
+had suffered heavily during the retreat and in the action on the 18th,
+in which they lost 17 officers and over 500 men. On the 25th they were
+sent to relieve the Black Watch, and took over their battalion
+headquarters in one of the caves which occur in the chalk of the
+plateau. During the morning a German shell blew in the roof of the cave,
+and buried the inmates. A few were rescued, but the fire of the enemy
+was so fierce and continuous that it was not until evening that a party
+of Royal Engineers was able to dig out the remainder. Five officers and
+thirty men were found to be dead. No British regiment suffered so
+severely in the first two months of the war as the Camerons.
+
+The British casualties during the fighting between 12th September and
+8th October were very heavy. Sir John French estimated that in killed,
+wounded, and missing we lost 561 officers and 12,980 men. Most of these
+losses were incurred during the advance of the First Corps on 14th
+September. Great as these losses were, those of the Germans were still
+greater. It is said that not less than 50,000 Germans were put out of
+action in one way or another during the fighting on the Aisne.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Do you remember the famous interview between Sir Edward Goschen and Herr
+von Jagow on the evening of Tuesday, August 4, 1914?[132] In that
+interview the Kaiser's Secretary of State revealed the German plan of
+campaign. He explained that the Germans were forced to advance into
+France by way of Belgium because it was a matter of life and death to
+them to strike a decisive blow at the French as soon as possible. "If
+they had gone by the more southern route, they could not have hoped, in
+view of the fewness of the roads and the strength of the fortresses, to
+have got through without formidable opposition, entailing great loss of
+time." Let us look for a moment at this strong chain of fortresses,
+which the Germans were unwilling to attack because the necessary
+operations meant delay.
+
+[Illustration: The Barrier Fortresses of France.]
+
+The most southerly of them is Belfort,[133] which you will find standing
+on a plain within fifteen miles of the Swiss border. This plain is
+called by soldiers "the Gap of Belfort," and it is the only real break
+in the hill frontier that covers France all the way from the
+Mediterranean to Flanders. You can see at a glance that if the Gap were
+not strongly fortified an army could easily march into France from the
+direction of the Rhine. To block this easy road the French have
+constructed the very strong ring-fortress of Belfort. It was besieged
+during the Franco-German War, and yielded on February 13, 1871; but its
+defenders made such a gallant resistance that they were allowed to march
+out with what are called the honours of war--that is, with their drums
+beating, their flags flying, and their arms in their hands. To
+commemorate the siege, a huge lion has been carved on the face of the
+precipice below the castle by the sculptor of the statue of Liberty in
+New York harbour.[134] One wonders why the Germans did not take over
+Belfort after their conquest. Had they done so, they would have provided
+themselves with an ever-open door into France.
+
+Rising steeply from the Gap, and running north-north-east for 150 miles
+is the highland region known as the Vosges Mountains. Since 1871 the
+frontier between France and Germany has run along the crest of these
+mountains for about fifty miles. The Vosges consist chiefly of granite
+rocks, and everywhere there are signs that they were once covered with
+glaciers. We still see the old moraines, consisting of the heaps of rock
+and soil that were left behind when the glaciers melted, and the lakes
+that were scooped out by the great ice fields that slowly crept over the
+mountains in bygone ages. We also see the rounded summits which the
+French call _ballons_. The highest of these _ballons_ are over 4,000
+feet in elevation, and are to be found about twenty miles north of
+Belfort.
+
+The Vosges fall steeply to the Alsatian plain, but descend gradually to
+the west. No single railway crosses them between the Gap of Belfort and
+the gap which you see to the north of Strassburg, but many carriage
+roads traverse the passes. The whole region is very picturesque; the
+lakes are surrounded by forests of pine, beech, and maple; there are
+many green meadows, which provide pasturage for large herds of cattle;
+numerous ruined castles stand on the spurs, and the lower slopes are
+studded with vineyards.
+
+From what you have read you will readily understand that the Vosges are
+a formidable barrier to invasion from the east. To the west of the main
+chain you see another ridge of heights, and beyond them the valley of
+the Upper Moselle. On this river, not far from its head-waters, is the
+second great barrier fortress of France--Epinal.[135] To the north of
+Epinal, and about ten miles west of Nancy, is the third
+fortress--Toul.[136] The fort of St. Michel, about twenty miles
+north-west of Toul, is the key to the circle of forts that defend the
+entrenched camp, and the strongest fort on the frontier. If you were to
+visit Toul you would see little or nothing of the batteries, for they
+are hidden in brushwood and stunted woods high above the vineyards.
+
+Farther to the north, about thirty-five miles west of Metz, is Verdun,
+which has already been mentioned in these pages. As Verdun is the only
+barrier fortress which was seriously attacked by the Germans during
+1914, let us learn something of its story. Verdun is a great entrenched
+camp, contained within a ring which measures thirty miles round. There
+are sixteen large forts and about twenty smaller forts on this ring, and
+the most distant of them is about nine miles from the centre of the
+city. All these defences have been constructed since the Franco-German
+War, during which the city was bombarded on three different occasions.
+It yielded early in November 1870.
+
+During the Battle of the Marne the Crown Prince made a great effort to
+capture Verdun. I have already told you that he battered down Fort
+Troyon,[137] but was unable to capture it, though it lay in ruins.
+Between the 10th and 12th of September the Crown Prince's army, along
+with the other German armies, was forced to retreat. It fell back two
+days' march to the north, and immediately the French general,
+Sarrail,[138] prepared Verdun to stand a long siege. Seven thousand
+civilians--"useless mouths," as the French soldiers call them--were
+ordered to withdraw, and the food supply for the garrison was
+regulated.
+
+General Sarrail was well aware that if the great howitzers of the
+Germans were once permitted to come within range of the forts they would
+succumb as speedily as those of Liége, Namur, and Maubeuge. He therefore
+pushed out his circle of defences for twenty miles from the city. By
+means of earthworks and trenches he made a great fortified zone, which
+encircled the forts at such a distance that the German howitzers were
+kept out of range. Every height and valley was seamed with defences, and
+some of the hillsides became a maze of barbed wire. The heavy guns of
+the forts were moved out to the advanced trenches, and rails were laid
+down so that as soon as they were "spotted" they could be moved on to
+another position. Thus, instead of fixed forts, each, say, mounted with
+ten heavy guns, these same ten heavy guns were "dotted here and there in
+trenches rapidly established in one place and another, along perhaps
+half a mile of wooded vale, and free to operate when they moved over
+perhaps double that front."
+
+The result was that the army of the Crown Prince found itself held up in
+the form of a semicircle, as shown in this diagram. Against these outer
+lines of defence seven German army corps were launched, but with no
+success.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+In the third week of September the Bavarian army made a determined
+attack on the little town of St. Mihiel,[139] which stands on the Meuse,
+midway between Toul and Verdun. North to Verdun and south to Toul,
+between the Meuse and the Moselle, is the district known as "the Plain
+of the Woëvre."[140] It is crossed by the Heights of the Meuse, which
+form a plateau about three hundred feet above the river, and fall
+steeply towards the east in deep ravines and wooded knolls. On 20th
+September the Bavarians pushed through the Woëvre and drew near to the
+Meuse. Two forts blocked their way, one of them being on the site of an
+old earthwork known as the Camp of the Romans. The Bavarians got their
+heavy guns into position, and by the evening of 22nd September the Camp
+of the Romans was in ruins. The garrison, however, made such a gallant
+resistance in the outer works that the German general permitted it to
+retire with the honours of war. As the French marched out of the fort
+the Germans cheered them, presented arms, and dipped their flags.
+Shortly afterwards the Bavarians seized St. Mihiel and its
+bridgehead,[141] on the western side of the water. A French cavalry
+detachment prevented them from advancing any further, and they were
+forced to entrench themselves on the edge of the river.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+What was the object of the Germans in capturing St. Mihiel? The Crown
+Prince's army was trying to push through the Verdun defences from the
+Argonne, and at the same time the Bavarians were trying to advance by
+way of St. Mihiel. Should these movements succeed, Verdun would be
+completely encircled, and long before this happened, the French army
+holding the semicircle about the fortress would be obliged to fall back.
+"The wedge at St. Mihiel was a sort of buckle to which the Germans
+desired to fit the strap by pushing down from the north-west." Happily
+General Sarrail had enough, but only just enough, men to prevent the
+strap and the buckle from meeting. For a day or two, however, he was in
+grave peril.
+
+As time went on the Germans found their position in the Woëvre more and
+more uncomfortable. They had no railway within fifteen miles of St.
+Mihiel, and the main road to that place was in the hands of the French.
+Nevertheless, they hung on to the little town and the bridgehead for
+months, though the wedge of country which they held was constantly
+attacked both from the south and from the north. Soon, however, there
+was a war of entrenchments in this region, just as there was on the
+Aisne.
+
+On 3rd October the Crown Prince made a desperate attempt to break
+through the French lines round Verdun. He marched his men from
+Varennes,[142] on the eastern edge of the Argonne, along a forest road
+to a place called Vienne,[143] on the Aisne, in the hope of capturing
+his former headquarters of St. Menehould,[144] from which he might
+strike south-eastwards to St. Mihiel. In order to reach Vienne the
+Germans brought their guns through a wood lying to the north of the
+road. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of this wood the French fell upon
+the Germans, and drove them back in rout to Varennes, which they
+afterwards captured. Thus they won the road right across the Argonne,
+and were able to get into touch with the right of their 4th Army.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now we must move westwards to Rheims,[145] and see what was happening in
+and around that ancient city. Rheims, as you know, is perhaps the most
+interesting of all the historical towns of France. It stands, you will
+remember, on the right bank of the Vesle, in a plain bounded by
+vine-clad hills, and is the chief centre of the trade in champagne. Even
+under the Romans it was an important town, and if I were to tell you its
+history since Roman times, I should need many pages which I cannot now
+spare. But I must dwell on one or two incidents in its long story. You
+have already heard of Clovis, who succeeded his father as king of the
+Franks in the year 481 A.D. He was a pagan, and during his wars he
+burned and ruined many of the churches of France. In 493, like our own
+King Ethelbert of Kent, he married a Christian princess. She tried hard
+to convert him to Christianity, but for three years without success. At
+length he was attacked by the Goths, who lived between the Vosges and
+the Rhine, and was very hard pressed. In the thick of the fight he swore
+that he would be converted to his wife's God if He would grant him the
+victory. His foes were overcome, and on Christmas Day, 496, in the
+cathedral at Rheims, Clovis and three thousand of his men were baptized
+by the bishop. "Bow thy head meekly," said the good old man to the king;
+"adore what thou hast burned, and burn what thou hast adored." This
+excellent piece of advice might well be given to that arch-Goth whose
+legions destroyed Louvain, and were now about to ruin the most glorious
+monument of Christendom.
+
+The cathedral at Rheims is the Westminster Abbey of the French nation.
+From the latter half of the 12th century to the year 1825 all the
+sovereigns of France, with the exception of Henry IV., Napoleon, and
+Louis XVIII., were crowned within its time-honoured walls. Here it was
+that Joan the Maid, having inspired the faint-hearted Dauphin to free
+his land from the thrall of the English, stood by the high altar in
+white armour, and when the crown was placed upon his head, kneeled at
+his feet and cried, "Now is the will of God fulfilled." To every
+Frenchman the walls which witnessed this scene must be for ever sacred.
+
+[Illustration: The Cathedral at Rheims before bombardment.
+
+_Photo, Sport and General_.]
+
+The present cathedral stands on the site of that in which Clovis was
+baptized, and was begun early in the thirteenth century. It took
+seventy-five years to complete, and has long been considered the most
+perfect example of the architecture of the Middle Ages. The front of the
+cathedral is wonderfully beautiful, and is referred to in the following
+couplet, which mentions the most striking features of the four noblest
+of French cathedrals:--
+
+  "Bell-towers of Chartres,[146] nave of Amiens,
+   Choir of Beauvais,[147] portal of Rheims."
+
+The front is adorned with a multitude of statues and sculptured scenes
+from the Scriptures. One of the scenes shows the Day of Judgment;
+another illustrates the baptism of Clovis. The most beautiful of the
+statues is that of our Lord, and is known as "Le Beau Dieu." Over the
+portal, before the bombardment, were three large stained-glass windows,
+the central one, a magnificent rose window, nearly forty feet across.
+Within the cathedral were many rich and priceless treasures. For
+centuries lovers of art and students of history from all the corners of
+the world have made pilgrimage to Rheims to rejoice in the beauty of
+this exquisite temple.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+I have already told you that during the German retreat von Buelow had
+withdrawn from Rheims, and had fallen back to the ridge beyond the
+Suippe. From this ridge (AAA) General Foch had been repulsed, and the
+Germans had pushed forward in the hope of recapturing the city. They
+seized the heights marked C to the north of the city, and a part of
+those marked D to the east of it, and occupied the line marked BBB. The
+heights marked C are but 9,000 yards from the city, and from these
+points of vantage the Germans, on 18th September, began a terrific
+bombardment. Many civilians were killed, and large sections of the city
+were destroyed by flames. It was during this bombardment that the
+Germans for ever disgraced themselves by shelling the cathedral. Their
+excuse was that the French had set up signal stations on the roof and
+tower, and were firing guns close to the building. The French had done
+nothing of the kind. When the shelling began the Red Cross flag flew
+over the cathedral, and within it were many wounded, chiefly Germans.
+There can be no excuse for von Buelow; the cathedral was not in the zone
+of fire; he deliberately trained his guns upon it--probably out of sheer
+spite. Neutral nations were shocked when they heard of this senseless
+and barbarous outrage; but a German officer, writing in a German
+newspaper, explained the German state of mind.
+
+    "It is of no consequence if all the monuments ever created, all
+    the pictures ever painted, and all the buildings ever erected by
+    the great architects of the world were destroyed, if by their
+    destruction we promote Germany's victory over her enemies. . . .
+    The commonest, ugliest stone placed to mark the burial-place of
+    a German grenadier is a more glorious and perfect monument than
+    all the cathedrals of Europe put together. . . . Let neutral
+    peoples and our enemies cease their empty chatter, which is no
+    better than the twittering of birds. Let them cease their talk
+    about the cathedral at Rheims, and about all the churches and
+    castles of France which have shared its fate. These things do
+    not interest us."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+How the destruction of a noble work of art could promote Germany's
+victory over her enemies is difficult to understand. It is worthy of
+note that a hotel close to the cathedral remained untouched: it was kept
+by a German.
+
+For some months the north-east tower of the cathedral had been under
+repair, and when the bombardment began it was surrounded by scaffolding.
+On 19th September a shell set fire to the outer roof; the fire quickly
+spread to the scaffolding, and then to the wooden beams of the portal.
+An American correspondent tells us that, when the flames gained on the
+building, the Archbishop of Rheims and a party of volunteers rushed
+inside and carried out the wounded Germans on stretchers. The rescuing
+parties were not a minute too soon. Already from the roofs molten lead
+was falling. The blazing doors had fired the straw on which the wounded
+lay, and the interior was like a prairie fire. Splashed by the molten
+lead, and threatened by falling timbers, the priests, at the risk of
+their lives and limbs, carried out the wounded, numbering sixty in all.
+But after bearing them to safety their charges were confronted with a
+new danger. Inflamed by the sight of their own dead, four hundred
+citizens having been killed by the bombardment, and by the loss of their
+cathedral, the people of Rheims who were gathered about the burning
+building called for the lives of the German prisoners. "They are
+barbarians," they cried. "Kill them!" The archbishop and one of his
+clergy placed themselves in front of the wounded.
+
+"Before you kill them," they cried, "you must first kill us!"
+
+Surely this noble deed will live in history. There can scarcely be a
+finer picture of heroism than that of the venerable archbishop, with his
+cathedral blazing behind him, facing a mob of his own people in defence
+of their enemies.
+
+The same writer gives us some idea of the havoc wrought by the German
+shells: "The windows, that were the glory of the cathedral, were
+wrecked. Statues of saints and crusaders and cherubim lay in mangled
+fragments. The great bells, that for hundreds of years have sounded the
+Angelus[148] for Rheims, were torn from their oak girders and melted
+into black masses of silver and copper, without shape and without sound.
+Never have I looked upon a picture of such wanton and wicked
+destruction."
+
+[Illustration: Portal of Rheims Cathedral after Bombardment.
+
+_Photo, Central News._]
+
+In the square in front of the cathedral stands a fine statue of the Maid
+on horseback. Strange to say, though the square was ploughed up with
+shells, the figure of the Maid was uninjured; only the horse's legs were
+chipped and scarred. A French soldier had placed a tricolour in the
+outstretched hand of the figure. All through those days of terror and
+destruction the French flag was upheld by the arm of France's ancient
+deliverer.
+
+On the morning of 28th September the German attack on Rheims was more
+violent than it had ever been before. From all parts of the Allied line
+came the same story of desperate attempts to break through, of
+hand-to-hand fighting, and terrible losses. That same evening the
+French, pushing forward, drove the Germans from their position. The
+whole French front moved forward, and, for the time being, Rheims was
+safe from capture, though big guns still rained shells upon it.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+On September 29, 1914, the first batch of Indian troops arrived at
+Marseilles. As the transports hove to in sight of the gleaming limestone
+cliffs that flank the port a message from the King was read to them. "I
+know," wrote his Majesty, "with what readiness my brave and loyal Indian
+soldiers are prepared to fulfil their sacred trust on the field of
+battle, shoulder to shoulder with their comrades from all parts of the
+Empire. Rest assured that you will always be in my thoughts and
+prayers."
+
+As the vessels approached the quays they were greeted with loud cheers
+from crowds of townsfolk, most of whom had never seen an Indian soldier
+before. They marvelled at the dark faces, the turbans, the soldierly
+bearing, and the fine equipment of our Indian brothers. Later in the day
+the troops were marched through the city. As our dusky warriors, with
+their bright eyes and gleaming teeth, swung along the streets, the
+people shook them by the hand and cheered them again and again. Young
+girls showered flowers upon them and pinned roses to their tunics and
+turbans. Perhaps it was the little, sturdy, smiling Gurkhas who aroused
+the greatest enthusiasm. As they advanced behind their pipers, men,
+women, and children clambered on to the tables and chairs of the cafés
+to catch a glimpse of them, and the air rang with shouts of "_Vivent les
+Anglais!_"[149] "_Vivent les Hindous!_"
+
+The men were afterwards marched off to a rest camp, where they remained
+for a few weeks, preparing for the fiery ordeal that awaited them.
+
+[Illustration: Sikhs marching through Marseilles.
+
+_Photo, London News Agency._]
+
+[Footnote 132: See Vol. 1., p. 170.]
+
+[Footnote 133: _Bay-for´._]
+
+[Footnote 134: _Bartholdi_, French sculptor (1834-1904). The statue of
+Liberty referred to is 200 feet high, and was presented in 1886 to the
+United States by the French Government to mark the hundredth year of
+American independence. It stands on Bedloe's Island, at the mouth of New
+York harbour.]
+
+[Footnote 135: _Ā-pee-nal´._]
+
+[Footnote 136: _Tool._]
+
+[Footnote 137: See p. 215.]
+
+[Footnote 138: _Sar-eye´._]
+
+[Footnote 139: _San Mee-yel´._]
+
+[Footnote 140: _Vo-āvre._]
+
+[Footnote 141: In French, _tête-de-pont_, a fortified position covering
+that end of a bridge nearest to the enemy.]
+
+[Footnote 142: _Vā-renn´._]
+
+[Footnote 143: _Ve-en´._]
+
+[Footnote 144: _San Men-oo´._]
+
+[Footnote 145: The French spelling is _Reims_.]
+
+[Footnote 146: _Shar-tr´_, town, fifty miles south-west of Paris, on the
+left bank of the Eure.]
+
+[Footnote 147: _Bō-vay´_, fifty-five miles by rail north-north-west of
+Paris, on the route from Paris to Calais.]
+
+[Footnote 148: Bell rung thrice daily in Catholic countries, at the
+sound of which the faithful pray.]
+
+[Footnote 149: _Vee-ve lays Ang-lay_ ("Long live the English").]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+  THE RACE TO THE SEA.
+
+
+There was now a deadlock on the Aisne. The rival armies faced each other
+in trenches that had become almost as strong as fortresses, and both
+sides were powerless to advance. Every day there were attacks and
+counter-attacks, but they were very costly in life, and the ground
+gained was measured in yards. General Joffre had foreseen this as far
+back as the 18th of September, when he had informed Sir John French of
+his plan to bolt the Germans from their burrows.
+
+Now he proposed to send two new armies, numbering in all some 300,000
+men, to extend the line of the 6th Army, and fall fiercely on von
+Kluck's right flank.
+
+From the 11th of September onwards there was continual fighting on the
+right bank of the Oise. While this was going on, Joffre was slipping new
+forces to the north by rail. At first he took every man that could be
+spared from the fighting line along the Aisne. These troops, however,
+were not numerous enough to cope with the Germans, so two new armies
+were formed and pushed northward. One of them was commanded by General
+Castelnau,[150] who, you will remember, had so grievously disappointed
+the Kaiser by beating the Bavarians on the heights near Nancy.[151] His
+army was to lie to the north of the 6th French Army, with its centre
+crossing the river Somme. At the same time another new army was being
+formed at Amiens. It was under the command of General Maud'huy,[152] who
+was a brigadier in the army of Lorraine when war broke out. Joffre had
+seen in him a soldier of the highest promise, and in three weeks had
+promoted him through all the grades to be the commander of an army. Not
+even in Napoleon's time had any soldier been advanced so rapidly.
+Maud'huy's army was to march eastwards on St. Quentin and strike at the
+rear of the enemy.
+
+[Illustration: A Charge of French Light Cavalry at Lassigny.
+
+(_From the picture by F. Matania_. _By permission of The Sphere._)]
+
+You may be sure that the Germans were not asleep while Joffre was making
+his preparations. They saw at once what his object was, and they did not
+lose an hour in making ready to parry his blow. They had plenty of men
+to spare, for their trenches on the Heights of the Aisne were so strong
+that they could be held by a very thin line of troops. The General Staff
+at once began shuffling its armies to and fro, while new forces were
+hurried up from Germany. The interest of the struggle had now passed
+from the front on the Aisne to the right flank of the enemy.
+
+By the 20th of September the 6th French Army, under General Maunoury,
+was lying south of the village of Lassigny, a day's march to the north
+of the confluence of the Oise and the Aisne. Von Kluck had already
+extended his right to meet the French attack. Amidst the wooded hills
+which lie between the village and the Oise there was very heavy
+fighting, which lasted several days. The Germans had occupied Lassigny,
+and were drinking themselves drunk with the red wine and cider which
+they found in the village, when the French burst on them with the
+bayonet and tumbled them pell-mell out of the place. Next morning the
+tables were turned. German guns shelled the village, and German cavalry
+swept the French out of its ruins. The rival forces dug themselves in,
+and soon the conditions on the Aisne were repeated.
+
+Meanwhile de Castelnau had got into position to the north of Lassigny,
+and fierce fighting was raging about Roye, which was lost and won, taken
+and retaken. If either side could break through at Roye or Lassigny, it
+would be able to turn against one or other of the armies to its right or
+left and roll it up. Neither side, however, could gain and keep a yard
+of ground at this "death angle." Again the line was extended; by the
+30th of September Maud'huy's army was advancing eastwards to the north
+of the Somme, only to find itself opposed by von Buelow's command. Every
+new French force brought up to extend the line was met and checked by a
+corresponding German force. Everywhere the enemy showed wonderful
+energy. While they were holding Maud'huy's army their troops were being
+hurried northwards behind their lines, and they were nowhere caught
+napping. Maud'huy dug himself in on the Albert plateau, and von Buelow
+could not drive him back. Here, too, there was deadlock.
+
+[Illustration: Sketch Map to illustrate the Extension of the Allied
+Left.]
+
+Once more the French line was extended farther north, and as it extended
+so did the corresponding German front. Each side was attempting to
+outflank the other, and it was clear that the double movements could
+only be stopped by the sea. So the rival armies went clawing northwards.
+Between the Oise and Arras the French were holding their own with
+difficulty; in the Arras position they were fairly strong, but round
+Lille, which was held by French Territorials, they had but a mere ribbon
+of troops.
+
+In the closing days of September the French learnt that the Germans had
+begun a new and very dangerous move. Masses of German cavalry were
+sweeping across the Belgian flats into France. Uhlans were within sight
+of the sea, and were threatening Maud'huy's left flank round Lille and
+among the colliery villages to the north of Arras. There were rumours of
+many troop trains moving through Liége and Namur and Brussels, and it
+seemed that the cavalry on Maud'huy's flank were but the vanguard of a
+huge army which was about to be flung against the French rear.
+
+Nor was this all. The Germans had begun to besiege Antwerp. No one could
+say how long it could hold out. After the experience of Liége and Namur
+its chances were small, but it was hoped that the Belgian army might
+make an obstinate stand outside the circle of forts. No risks, however,
+could be taken. New armies must be moved without delay to the extreme
+left of the Allied line, in order to check the new German attack, and
+also to hold out a helping hand to the defenders of Antwerp.
+
+To this post of honour Sir John French now laid claim. At Mons his army
+had been on the left of the Allied line; now it was in the centre. This
+meant that it was far from its base, and could only obtain its supplies
+by cross-country routes which ran through the lines of communications of
+the French armies. Sir John now asked to be transferred to his old
+position on the extreme left wing, where he would be near the coast, and
+could be readily supplied with food, ammunition, and reinforcements. His
+fine, seasoned soldiers were wasted on the Aisne, where the fight had
+dwindled to a series of artillery duels, with here and there a sharp
+struggle in the advanced trenches. If, as seemed likely, the Germans
+were about to make a dash for the coast, in order to capture Calais and
+the Channel ports, and thus threaten England, the British army desired
+nothing better than the chance to stop it. In these circumstances,
+General Joffre agreed that the British army should be carried northward
+by train, and should take up a position on the left flank of Maud'huy's
+army, which early in October 1914 had reached the south bank of a canal
+running westwards from Lille through La Bassée to Bethune.[153]
+
+I need not tell you that the transfer of an army from the Aisne to the
+Franco-Belgian border was a very difficult and delicate operation
+indeed. Our trenches on the Aisne were in many places only about 100
+yards from those of the enemy yet, platoon by platoon, battalion by
+battalion, and brigade by brigade, our men were shifted out of their
+trenches at night, and French soldiers were slipped in to take their
+places. The transfer began on 3rd October, when the 2nd Cavalry
+Division, under General Gough, marched to Compiègne, where it took train
+through Amiens to St. Omer, which lies to the west of Bethune. For
+sixteen days the business of withdrawing our men from the Aisne and
+sending them northwards by train continued, and all the time the Germans
+were quite unaware of what was going on. They had one of the greatest
+surprises of their lives when they discovered that the British army was
+opposing them on the Franco-Belgian border. German prisoners could not
+believe their eyes when they saw that their captors wore the familiar
+khaki. They firmly believed that the British army was in the trenches of
+the Aisne valley.
+
+An officer writing home thus describes the transfer of the British
+army:--
+
+    "We left the river Aisne, and now we are a long way north of
+    that position. It was a wonderful move. French troops appeared
+    out of the darkness and took our places. They had marched many
+    miles, but were quite cheerful and calm, their only desire being
+    to get into our 'dug-outs' and go to sleep. Then we marched down
+    the hill into a comparative peace, and, joy of joys! were
+    allowed to smoke and talk. It was a bitterly cold night, and we
+    were dreadfully sleepy. We nodded as we trudged along. And so we
+    entrained, and slept, closely packed indeed, but on beautiful
+    soft cushions instead of the mud of a trench; the men were
+    comfortable, being wedged by forties in covered trucks with
+    clean straw for beds. We awoke in Paris. We passed slowly
+    through, and slept again until we stopped for water at Amiens.
+
+    "Our journey continued as fast as a train holding 1,000 men and
+    their transport wagons can travel, and we were at Calais by
+    evening. But a murrain on the foggy weather, which prevented us
+    from catching a glimpse of the heights of Dover town! However,
+    at another stopping-place there was a charming English girl
+    giving the soldiers cigarettes, and the sight of her and a word
+    or two made us doubly brave."
+
+The Second Corps was timed to arrive on the canal to the west of Bethune
+on 11th October. It was to connect up with Maud'huy's army holding the
+line south of the canal, and Gough's cavalry was to hold back the
+Germans until it was in position. Next day the Third Corps was to arrive
+and detrain at St. Omer. Then the cavalry was to clear its flank, and
+hold back the Germans again until the Third Corps was in position.
+Finally, it had to do similar work until the First Corps could arrive
+and take its place in the long northward line. Such was the plan; and,
+thanks to the splendid manner in which the French and British staffs
+worked together, it succeeded. By 19th October 100,000 British soldiers
+had been silently and secretly withdrawn from their trenches on the
+Aisne, almost within eyeshot of the Germans, and had been carried 150
+miles by rail to their new positions. During the journey some of our men
+passed near enough to the Channel to see British warships far out on the
+gray waters.
+
+We won the race to the sea, but only by a short neck. How the Germans
+poured across Belgium, and how the remnants of the Belgian army, aided
+by a small British force, kept them at bay until the situation was
+saved, will be told in our next volume. The transfer of the British army
+from the Aisne to the Franco-Belgian border marks the close of the third
+great chapter of the war. Thenceforward, for many months, war was to be
+waged along a line of trenches extending from the wind-whipped dunes of
+the narrow seas to within sight of Alpine snows, a distance of more than
+450 miles.
+
+[Illustration: A Meeting of the Generals.
+
+(_Drawn by Paul Thiriat_. _By permission of The Sphere._)
+
+The French artist who painted this picture writes:--"At night, somewhere
+near the front, inside an abandoned farmhouse in the midst of fields,
+two men are together--those on whom we set all our hopes, who give all
+their knowledge, their lives, for the freedom of the world. You never
+know where they are, and, if you do see them, still you must not know
+where you met them. They are nowhere and yet everywhere. Very often only
+a single sentry betrays their temporary shelter. The motor cars wait,
+panting, to carry them as quick as possible to wherever their presence
+is needed."]
+
+[Footnote 150: _Kas-tel-no´._]
+
+[Footnote 151: See p. 218.]
+
+[Footnote 152: _Maud-wee´._]
+
+[Footnote 153: _Bay-toon´._]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+  THE FIRST RUSSIAN ADVANCE TO CRACOW.
+
+
+In Chapter IX. of this volume you learned something of the first clash
+of arms in Eastern Europe. I told you how two Russian armies beat a
+German army in East Prussia, and overran the greater part of the
+province. This success, you will remember, was short-lived. Von
+Hindenburg destroyed Samsonov's army at Tannenberg, and Rennenkampf's
+forces barely managed to escape. In Galicia, however, the Russians
+carried everything before them. They smote the Austrians hard, and for a
+time put them out of action. There were people in this country who
+believed that in a few weeks the Russian right would be across the
+Vistula, marching triumphantly towards Berlin; while the Russians in
+possession of Cracow would be advancing into Silesia and Hungary. Let us
+see what really happened.
+
+When I broke off my story von Hindenburg was following up Rennenkampf,
+who was rapidly falling back from Königsberg towards the Russian
+frontier. On 7th September 1914 the German general made a great advance
+towards the Niemen. His right moved along the railway from Gumbinnen
+towards Kovno, his centre pushed forward by way of Suwalki,[154] while
+his right, which had detached troops to besiege the fortress of
+Ossowietz,[155] on the Bobr, swept towards Grodno. The country through
+which he was now moving is one tangle of bog and lake; it is traversed
+by only three railway lines, but the roads are few. The troops moving
+east from Suwalki had to cross a causeway which threads the marshes to
+the east and south-east of that town. An army traversing such a country
+is at a great disadvantage. Men and guns and transport have to move
+along narrow roads, with bogs and lakes on their flanks. It is almost as
+difficult to cross marsh roads as to cross the passes of a great
+mountain chain. The Russians had already learnt this by their bitter
+experiences in East Prussia.
+
+The country through which von Hindenburg was now advancing is famous in
+history as the theatre of a campaign by one of Napoleon's armies in
+1812. But whereas Napoleon invaded the region in midsummer, the Germans
+were advancing through it on the stormy eve of a Russian winter, and
+were hampered by much more transport than that which accompanied the
+French army.
+
+[Illustration: Map to illustrate von Hindenburg's Advance to the Niemen
+and the Battle of Augustovo.]
+
+Rennenkampf was unable to offer much opposition to von Hindenburg as he
+pushed forward, nor would he have resisted him if he could. His object
+was to lure von Hindenburg on towards the Niemen, where he felt sure he
+could put an end to his advance. If he could force the Germans to
+retreat, he would be able to fall upon their rear as they marched back
+along the narrow roads with the deadly swamps and quagmires around them,
+and revenge Tannenberg. He therefore let the enemy come on, and only
+delayed him from time to time by a little rearguard fighting. The German
+troops which travelled by railway moved fast. On 20th September the
+siege of Ossowietz began, and next day the main bodies of the enemy
+reached the Niemen at three points, marked A, B, and C on the diagram.
+Rennenkampf by this time had got most of his men over the broad stream,
+and they were now lying in deep trenches on the low eastern shore. He
+had received large reinforcements, and he was now confident that he
+could prevent the Germans from crossing.
+
+On the morning of 26th September von Hindenburg's heavy howitzers began
+to throw their shells across the river at B, while his engineers built
+pontoon bridges. As soon as a bridge was completed, concealed Russian
+guns blew it to pieces. All day long the howitzers boomed, but there was
+no reply from the Russian side. At nightfall von Hindenburg felt sure
+that he had driven his enemy out of their trenches, and that next day he
+might safely attempt to cross the river.
+
+On the morning of the 27th bridges were again built and swung across the
+stream. The Russians waited until the Germans were on them, and then
+their guns smashed them to fragments. There was terrible loss on the
+German side, and nowhere could they make headway. At all points along
+the river they were held up in the same way. Meanwhile the siege of
+Ossowietz had hopelessly failed: in the spongy moss surrounding the
+"island" of solid ground on which the fortress is built no firm
+positions could be found for the big guns.
+
+The Russians were too strong for him, and on Sunday, 27th September, von
+Hindenburg gave the order to retreat. He now realized that he could not
+cross the Niemen, and that even if he could, his success would not force
+the Russians to withdraw troops from Galicia. The retreat was a
+difficult matter; but von Hindenburg, as you know, was a master of marsh
+warfare. Only in the centre, where he had to cross the swampy country to
+the east and south-east of Suwalki, was he in difficulties.
+
+Rennenkampf instantly followed him up, and by flinging his left well
+south towards the valley of the Bobr, endeavoured to cut off the German
+forces between Augustovo and the causeway leading to Suwalki. He had to
+push through the Forest of Augustovo, a region much like that in which
+von Hindenburg had destroyed Samsonov's army. Guided by the foresters of
+the district, his men slowly threaded the matted woods, and by 1st
+October had seized Augustovo. For two days there was a fierce rearguard
+action in the woods, and the Germans lost heavily in guns and prisoners.
+Rennenkampf claimed that 60,000 Germans had been killed, wounded, or
+captured; and if his estimate is correct, he had fully revenged
+Tannenberg. Von Hindenburg, however, managed to get the bulk of his
+force away, and by 9th October they were all back again in East Prussia,
+whither Rennenkampf could not follow them without the risk of being
+entrapped in the woods and lakes and marshes where Samsonov had suffered
+disaster in the last days of August.
+
+[Illustration: "Three Emperors' Corner."
+
+_Photo, Central News._
+
+Here three empires meet--the German, Austrian and Russian--three empires
+that between them hold sway in Europe over more than 375 millions of
+people, Teutonic and Slav, and exercise authority over nearly 2½ million
+square miles of territory--about two-thirds of the whole continent. In
+the foreground is seen a portion of German Silesia, on the right is
+Austrian Galicia, and in the background Russian Poland. The broad river
+is the Prgemeza; the smaller river is a tributary which here separates
+Austria from Russia.]
+
+Von Hindenburg's great advance to the Niemen had failed. It had achieved
+nothing; and meanwhile, as we shall soon hear, the Russians were
+advancing towards Cracow, and were drawing nearer and nearer every day
+to Silesia. A great effort had now to be made to check them, and von
+Hindenburg was ordered southward to undertake the task.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Now let us return to the Russians in Galicia. In the third week of
+September 1914, Russian armies appeared before the two chief fortresses
+of Central Galicia--Jaroslav and Przemysl. Both these strongholds are on
+the river San, and a glance at the map on page 303 will show you that
+before the Russians could move either on Cracow or across the
+Carpathians into Hungary both of them must be captured. At one time the
+Austrians had meant to make Jaroslav a first-class fortress; but they
+had not finished the fortifications, and it was now defended by a strong
+circle of entrenchments and a number of redoubts on both banks of the
+river. Jaroslav was expected to offer a stubborn resistance, but it fell
+within three days. Przemysl, however, was a very much harder nut to
+crack. It stands in a strong natural position amidst the foothills of
+the Carpathians, and its forts and lines of defence were very strong
+indeed. For weeks it had been preparing for the impending siege. The
+"useless mouths" had been sent away; gangs of workmen had been busy
+strengthening all the weak points, and a large store of ammunition had
+been collected. The garrison numbered about 30,000 men. On 22nd
+September the Russians closed in on the place, and soon completely
+surrounded it. As the Russian commander was short of big siege guns, he
+determined to starve the place into surrender. It was known that the
+supply of food within the city was not large, and the fortress was
+expected to yield in a few weeks at most. It held out for fully six
+months.
+
+Leaving an army to mask the fortress, the remainder of the Russian
+forces in Galicia pushed on towards Cracow, which I have already
+described in Chapter VIII. of this volume. Cracow stands, as you know,
+on the northern edge of the Carpathians, at a point where the Vistula is
+as broad as the Thames at Windsor. The hills on the north and south were
+strongly fortified, but the real defence of the city was the circle of
+deep entrenchments, pushed so far out from the town that the siege guns
+of the enemy could not get within range of it. While the Russians were
+advancing, the Austrian garrison of at least 100,000 men laboured night
+and day to make the fortified zone impregnable.
+
+They knew--none better--that Cracow was the key-fortress of Eastern
+Europe. If it fell, the Russians would be able to advance both into
+Germany and into Austria. Forty miles west of Cracow they would be in
+Silesia, the largest and most important manufacturing area of Germany,
+and the seat of its chief coal and iron mines. One-quarter of all the
+coal mined in Germany comes from Silesia, and it has some of the richest
+zinc deposits in the world. Its chemical and textile manufactures are
+the most extensive in all the Fatherland, and it has well been called
+the German Lancashire. If the Russians could enter Silesia and begin to
+lay waste its crowded industrial towns, a blow would be struck at the
+very heart of Germany. Berlin, too, would be in peril, for a road to the
+capital would be opened along the river Oder and behind the line of
+frontier fortresses.
+
+The capture of Cracow by the Russians would not only imperil Germany,
+but it would make them complete masters of Galicia. You already know
+what a very important part petrol plays in modern warfare. Motor cars,
+aeroplanes, and submarines must have petrol, or they cannot move. The
+petroleum of the world is chiefly found in America, round about Baku on
+the shores of the Caspian Sea, in Galicia, and in Rumania. The British
+navy had stopped the exports of petroleum from America; the Caspian oil
+fields were in the hands of Russia, and German supplies could only be
+obtained from Galicia and Rumania. The Galician oil fields, which are
+amongst the richest in Europe, lie along the northern slopes of the
+Carpathians. Once the Russians were masters of Galicia these oil fields
+would be in their hands, and the only other possible source of supply
+for the Germans would be in Rumania. Before the war began the Germans
+had provided themselves with huge supplies of petrol, but even in
+September 1914 these stocks were rapidly shrinking.
+
+Once the Russians captured Cracow they could begin the great task of
+pushing across the Carpathians into Hungary. You know that there is no
+love lost between the Hungarians and the Austrians. Should Hungary be
+threatened, and the Austrians be unable to send armies to drive back the
+invader, it seemed more than likely that the Hungarians would break away
+from the Germans and Austrians, and try to make peace on their own
+account. Nor was Hungary alone threatened. One hundred miles to the west
+of Cracow is the "Gap of Moravia," through which the river March flows
+to the Danube. It is the old highway from Germany into Austria, and
+along it runs the great railway which connects Silesia with Vienna. Thus
+the capture of Cracow would open a road not only to Berlin but to the
+capital of Austria as well.
+
+[Illustration: First Russian Advance towards Cracow.]
+
+Now I think you can understand why the defence of Cracow was so
+important. You will see from this map how far the Russians had advanced
+towards the city by the end of September. On the last day of the month
+Russian cavalry were within a hundred miles of Cracow, and high hopes of
+speedy success seemed about to be realized. But just when everything was
+promising well the Russians began to retreat, and by the second week of
+October they were back behind the San. All the ground that had been
+gained to the west of the river was lost. The Russian retirement was
+not caused by defeat, but had been made necessary by the movements of
+the Germans farther north. Von Hindenburg had launched huge armies
+against Russian Poland, and the Grand Duke now needed all his forces to
+stem their advance. The story of the great struggle that followed must
+be left for our next volume.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+A splendid deed of heroism was done by a Russian gunner during the
+fighting in Galicia. Most of the guns in his battery had been smashed by
+the shells of the enemy, and he and his surviving comrades were ordered
+to retire with the remaining guns. As they sullenly retreated, the
+gunner saw a baby girl toddling from the doorway of one of the houses of
+the village right into the road on which the shells were falling fast.
+At once the brave fellow ran to the child's rescue. Just as he reached
+her a shrapnel shell burst overhead. Instantly the man threw himself
+down, and shielded the child's body with his own. One bullet passed
+through his back, injuring him so badly that he could not rise from the
+ground. Two of his comrades went to his assistance, and carried him and
+the little girl into a place of safety. For this fine deed of dauntless
+courage all three men received the Cross of St. George.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Here is the story of a heroine--the daughter of a Russian colonel. She
+cut her hair short, and, donning the uniform, accompanied her father's
+regiment. During the battles in the Augustovo woods she acted as
+orderly, scout, and telegraphist, and was afterwards appointed to
+command a platoon. On one occasion while she was working the telegraph
+she tapped a message from the German Staff giving details of a movement
+about to be begun against the Russian centre. Thanks to her, the German
+plan was foiled. When her regiment passed through Vilna crowds gathered
+at the station to greet her, but they were unable to distinguish the
+girl officer from the rest of her comrades.
+
+[Footnote 154: _Soo-val´kee._]
+
+[Footnote 155: _Oss-o-vets._]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+  ANTWERP AS IT WAS.
+
+
+In the first half of the sixteenth century Antwerp was the commercial
+capital of the world. The great historian of the Dutch Republic[156]
+says, "Venice, Nuremberg,[157] Augsburg,[158] Bruges were sinking; but
+Antwerp, with its deep and convenient river, stretched its arm to the
+ocean, and caught the golden prize as it fell from its sister cities'
+grasp. . . . No city except Paris surpassed it in population; none
+approached it in commercial splendour."
+
+[Illustration]
+
+Close to the great and beautiful cathedral of Antwerp is the Grand'
+Place, in the middle of which there is a monument representing a running
+warrior flinging into the river a huge hand which he has just cut off
+from a prostrate giant's arm. This monument is intended to explain the
+fanciful origin of the city's name. Two centuries before the fall of
+Troy--so runs the story--a savage giant, named Antigonus, held sway over
+the river Scaldis--that is, the Scheldt. He built himself a castle on
+the river bank, and levied tribute on every vessel that passed up and
+down the broad stream. The tribute was very heavy--no less than half the
+merchandise in the passing ships. If the mariners refused to pay the
+tribute he seized them, cut off their hands, and flung them into the
+river.
+
+[Illustration: A Bird's-eye View of Antwerp.
+
+_Photo, Topical Press._
+
+This photograph was taken from one of the towers of Antwerp's
+magnificent cathedral--the largest and most beautiful Gothic church in
+the Netherlands. Its north tower rises to a height of more than four
+hundred feet. On the south side of the cathedral is the Place Verte
+(Green Place), with a statue of Rubens, whose famous picture, "The
+Descent from the Cross," formerly hung in the south transept. In the
+north transept was another of his great paintings, "The Elevation of the
+Cross."]
+
+At length a deliverer arose, one Salvius Brabo, a man of such valorous
+renown that the province of Brabant received its name from him. Brabo
+challenged the giant to single combat, slew him, cut off both his hands,
+and flung them into the Scheldt. Thus _Hand-werpen_--that is,
+"hand-throwing"--became the name of the great city. In the coat-of-arms
+of Antwerp you still see two severed hands flying through the air over a
+castle. Probably the real origin of the city's name is found in the old
+Flemish words _'an t' werf_, which mean "on the wharf."
+
+The city began to decline during the reign of Philip II., who was King
+of Spain and master of the Netherlands. In 1576 Spanish soldiers whose
+pay was in arrears broke into mutiny, and stormed and sacked several of
+the richest towns of Flanders, including Antwerp. Early in November of
+that year they entered the city, burnt more than a thousand houses, slew
+more than eight thousand citizens, plundered right and left, and behaved
+with the utmost cruelty. Such was the "Spanish Fury," which still forms
+a landmark in Flemish history. With the help of William of Orange,[159]
+the Spaniards were driven out of Antwerp.
+
+In 1648 the city received another grievous set-back: it fell into the
+hands of the Dutch, who closed the Scheldt against sea-going vessels.
+Then for a hundred and fifty years it remained only a shadow of its
+former self. In 1706 it surrendered to Marlborough after his victory at
+Ramillies. The real restorer of its prosperity was Napoleon I., who, you
+will remember, regarded Antwerp as "a pistol aimed at the heart of
+England." He constructed a harbour and new quays, and opened the port to
+the ships of the world. Almost at once the trade of the city revived in
+an astonishing fashion. The French remained masters of Antwerp down to
+the year before the Battle of Waterloo, when the British, Prussians, and
+Belgians besieged and captured it.
+
+In 1830 it once more fell into the hands of an enemy. During the civil
+war of 1830-32, when the Belgians were striving to throw off the yoke of
+Holland and make themselves independent, Antwerp was the scene of a very
+curious kind of strife. A Dutch garrison held the citadel, and day by
+day bombarded the city. For two years the Dutchmen defied all the
+efforts of the Belgians to dislodge them. At last a British and French
+force was sent to turn them out. The French bombarded the citadel for
+twenty-four days, while a British fleet blockaded the river. In December
+1832 the citadel surrendered, and when it fell Belgium had won her
+independence.
+
+Such, in brief, is the stormy history of Antwerp down to the autumn of
+the year 1914. A visitor to the old city in the early days of July would
+have imagined that its peace was secured for ever. No one could believe
+that in less than three months this haven of peaceful trade was to be a
+place of slaughter, destruction, and desolation. The "Spanish Fury" was
+soon to be out-Heroded; the "German Fury" was already preparing.
+
+In July 1914 Antwerp, with its population of 400,000 souls and its vast
+trade--which exceeded in value £100,000,000 per year--was not only one
+of the great business cities of the world, but was considered to be one
+of the strongest of all fortified places in Europe. Before an enemy
+could capture the city he would have to break through four distinct
+lines of defence, each of which, prior to this war, was considered
+strong enough to oppose any force which could be brought against it.
+
+The outermost line of forts began at Lierre,[160] and swept round in a
+great circle south through Fort Waelhem to the Scheldt, and north
+through Fort Schooten to near the Dutch frontier. Two to three miles
+within this outer line of forts was a second line of defence formed by
+the rivers Nethe[161] and Rupel, which, along with the Scheldt, make a
+great natural waterway defending three sides of the city. If need be,
+the valleys of these rivers can be flooded, and thus form an additional
+barrier to the approach of an enemy. Some six miles within the line of
+the Nethe and Rupel, and about three miles from the centre of the city,
+was another chain of forts girdling it from the Scheldt on the south to
+the Scheldt on the north. Outside this inner line of defence, towards
+the north and west, were two other areas, which could be flooded in
+order to keep back the enemy. From the moment that the first German
+soldier set foot on the soil of Belgium, the military authorities were
+at work night and day strengthening the defences, and clearing away all
+the trees and buildings that lay in the line of fire of the guns in the
+forts.
+
+[Illustration: The Entrenched Camp of Antwerp.]
+
+Barbed-wire entanglements connected with the electric supply of the city
+covered acres of ground; stakes were driven point upwards to form
+obstacles; man-traps innumerable were constructed, and the fields all
+around were sown with mines. Preparations were made to blow up the
+bridges over the network of canals and rivers to the south of the city;
+machine guns and quick-firers were mounted everywhere; and at night
+searchlights swept over the zone of destruction, and made it bright as
+day.
+
+In this way Antwerp prepared to stand its latest siege.
+
+[Footnote 156: John Lothrop Motley (1814-77), American historian, whose
+most famous work, _The Rise of the Dutch Republic_, was published in
+1856.]
+
+[Footnote 157: Ancient city of Bavaria, 95 miles north-west of Munich,
+the capital.]
+
+[Footnote 158: City of Bavaria, on the Lech, tributary of the Danube. In
+the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was the great centre of trade
+between Northern Europe, Venice, and the Levant.]
+
+[Footnote 159: (1533-84.) Known as "the Silent." He headed the
+opposition in the Netherlands to Philip of Spain, and became the founder
+of the Dutch Republic. He was assassinated.]
+
+[Footnote 160: _Le-air´_, town, 10 miles south-east of Antwerp, at the
+confluence of the Great and Little Nethe.]
+
+[Footnote 161: _Nā´teh._]
+
+
+
+
+  CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+  THE SIEGE AND FALL OF ANTWERP.
+
+
+The main bodies of the Germans swept through Belgium into France in the
+last week of August 1914, and the Belgian army, overwhelmed but
+undismayed, retired on its great national bulwark of defence. Yet not
+until 28th September did the curtain rise on the first act of Antwerp's
+tragedy. Many people in this country thought that Antwerp would be left
+alone until the conquest of France was complete. The Germans, indeed,
+made a proposal to King Albert that, if he would promise to keep his
+army quiet within the fortifications, the city would not be attacked.
+You know enough of King Albert to be quite sure what his answer was.
+
+Why did the Germans besiege Antwerp? Chiefly because they were well
+aware that the Belgian army, now within the shelter of its forts, was in
+a position to fall on the German flank whenever the chance might arise.
+While Antwerp stood it was a source of serious anxiety to the German
+Staff. All the country between Antwerp and the sea still remained in
+Belgian hands, and thus Britain might send reinforcements to Belgium at
+any moment. If she did so, the Germans would have to fight not only in
+France but also in Belgium, where their communications were in danger of
+being cut. While the Belgian army remained in being, a large German army
+had to be kept in the country, and thus forces that were badly needed
+elsewhere were not available. Further, the capture of this great port
+would be a feather in the German cap, and would greatly hearten the
+subjects of the Kaiser. There was need of a new victory to give them
+cheer, for the retreat of their armies, and the deadlock that had now
+set in on the Aisne, had dashed their hopes of that speedy success which
+they had expected.
+
+More than a month before the siege began, Antwerp had a foretaste of her
+fate. "At eleven minutes past one o'clock on the morning of 25th August
+death came to Antwerp out of the air." A Zeppelin suddenly appeared
+overhead, humming like a swarm of angry bees. A few minutes later
+something like a falling star dropped from it. Then there was a rending,
+shattering crash, followed by another and still another. Buildings fell
+as though a giant had hit them with a sledge-hammer. Ten people were
+killed and forty wounded, and nearly a thousand houses were damaged. One
+bomb was dropped within a hundred yards of the royal palace, in which
+the king and queen were sleeping, and another fell within two hundred
+yards of the Staff headquarters. It is said that one of the bombs fell
+on the German club and destroyed a statue of the Kaiser!
+
+On the same day the Belgians moved out of Antwerp and attacked the
+Germans. They drove them out of Malines; but though they fought like
+heroes, they were overpowered by the large numbers of fresh troops that
+were hurried up. The Belgians were forced back once more, and at the
+beginning of the last week in September the Germans in real earnest set
+about the work of reducing the forts. They brought up their howitzers
+south of the river Nethe, and on the 28th, at a range of seven and a
+half miles, began to drop their shells on Forts Waelhem and Wavre Ste.
+Catherine. There was not a gun in these forts that had a range of more
+than six miles. The German fire was directed by observers in captive
+balloons, and was very accurate.
+
+All day the roar of big guns and the crash of bursting shells were
+heard. Meanwhile the Belgians fought hard to the south of the Nethe, and
+had some success. But it was clear to everybody that the forts would
+soon be a heap of ruins. On the 29th Fort Wavre Ste. Catherine was
+smashed beyond repair, and the magazine blew up. Waelhem was badly hit,
+but managed to resist all day.
+
+Next morning the German guns gave their full attention to Fort Waelhem
+and Fort Lierre. The air was filled with shrieking shell and bursting
+shrapnel. When the big shells, which the Belgians called "Antwerp
+expresses," fell in a field, they threw up a geyser of earth 200 feet
+high; when they dropped in a river or canal, a huge waterspout arose;
+and when they fell on a village, it crumpled into complete ruin. A
+shell that flew over Fort Waelhem fell on the waterworks and broke down
+the embankment of the reservoir. The water poured into half a mile of
+the Belgian trenches, and flooded out the defenders, who were thus
+prevented from carrying supplies to the fort. Meanwhile the citizens
+were short of water, and had no means of putting out any fires that
+might arise. On Thursday, 1st October, all the southern forts were
+destroyed, and by nightfall the Belgians had fallen back to the northern
+bank of the Nethe, where trenches had already been prepared. Here, on
+the second line of defence, they made a most stubborn stand. Within the
+city there was still hope. Although the citizens could hear the faint
+thunder of the guns, though they saw the dead and the wounded being
+brought in, and German aeroplanes circling above them, they still hoped
+that the enemy might be held off until the British could arrive and save
+the city.
+
+[Illustration: Belgians intrenched on the Nethe.
+
+_Photopress._]
+
+By the afternoon of 3rd October the prospect was black indeed. Forts
+Waelhem and Lierre had been pounded into silence, and a strong German
+force was striving to cross the Nethe. Already several pontoon bridges
+had been built, but in each case they had been blown to pieces before
+they could be used. Nevertheless every soldier knew that unless help
+came the Germans were bound to be over the river before long. The
+Belgians, who had been fighting desperately for a fortnight, were now
+weary and heavy-eyed from lack of sleep; the hospitals were overflowing
+with wounded; and the citizens began to lose heart. Preparations were
+made to transfer the government to Ostend, and many of the well-to-do
+inhabitants departed for Holland or England. The next day, however,
+brought good news--a British force was coming with heavy guns.
+
+At one o'clock on the afternoon of Sunday, 4th October, Mr. Winston
+Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, reached Antwerp, where he
+remained for three days. He persuaded the authorities to continue their
+resistance, and went out to the trenches, where he had a rather narrow
+escape from a burst of shrapnel. His arrival awakened a new spirit of
+hopefulness in the townsfolk.
+
+Late that evening the vanguard of the British force arrived by train
+from Ostend. It consisted of a brigade of marines, 2,000 strong. Without
+an hour's delay the men were marched off to the trenches on the Nethe,
+where they lay to the left of the weary Belgians, who were inspired to
+fresh efforts at their coming. Next day the whole of the British force,
+6,000 in all, arrived. Four battalions of marines were the only regulars
+in the force; the remainder were volunteers, many of whom had never
+before handled a rifle. Some of them had no pouches or water-bottles or
+overcoats, while others had to stick their bayonets in their putties or
+tie them to their belts with string. Each of the two naval brigades into
+which the force was organized consisted of four battalions named after
+famous admirals. The 1st Brigade consisted of the Drake, Benbow,[162]
+Hawke,[163] and Collingwood[164] battalions; the 2nd Brigade, of the
+Nelson, Howe,[165] Hood,[166] and Anson[167] battalions. There were many
+London naval volunteers in one of the brigades. Though their equipment
+was very imperfect and their training had scarcely begun, they fought in
+the trenches with all the cheerfulness and doggedness of their race.
+
+[Illustration: The Flight into Holland.
+
+_From a picture by Allan Stewart._]
+
+Much was expected from a British armoured train which had been built in
+Antwerp, and was mounted with four 4.7-inch naval guns, worked by
+Belgian gunners under the direction of British bluejackets.
+Unfortunately it had but little opportunity of harassing the enemy.
+
+That night the Germans tried hard to cross the river, but were driven
+back by the British marines. Late on Monday, the 5th, there was a
+terrible bombardment of the Belgian centre, and some thousands of
+Germans either swam or waded across the stream, and dug themselves in on
+the northern bank. Early on Tuesday morning the passage of the Nethe had
+been won, and the defenders had been driven back upon the inner circle
+of forts. The guns of these forts were out of date, and were hopelessly
+outranged and outclassed by the howitzers of the enemy. The end was
+drawing near.
+
+By this time all the country between the inner forts and the Nethe was a
+wilderness of death and desolation, of blackened ruins and smoking
+haystacks, of torn and slashed fields, strewn with the bodies of the
+slain. On Tuesday evening the situation was hopeless, and the government
+left in haste for Ostend. The German general sent a flag of truce with a
+demand for surrender, and threatened to bombard the city should it be
+refused. The Belgians, however, would not yet give in.
+
+That evening the great oil tanks on the western side of the Scheldt were
+fired lest their contents should fall into the hands of the enemy. A
+dense black mass of smoke drifted over the city, and the smell of
+burning filled the air. The machinery of several large ships that might
+prove useful to the enemy was also wrecked, and all munitions of war
+were sent out of the city by rail.
+
+Not until next morning did the citizens learn that the government had
+departed. The newspapers announced that steamers were waiting at the
+quays to carry the inhabitants into safety. In the great Zoological
+Gardens keepers were busy shooting the fiercer wild animals. The Germans
+had given notice that the bombardment of the city would begin at ten
+o'clock that very evening. Then and only then did the courage of the
+townsfolk fail. They saw their own soldiers streaming across the bridge
+of boats towards the western bank of the river, and they knew that all
+was lost. Then began an exodus from the city, the like of which has
+probably never before been seen in all the world's history. Wellnigh
+half a million fugitives, not only from Antwerp but from all the
+countryside for twenty miles round, poured along the roads into Holland,
+or struggled on the quays to escape by water. Every vessel, no matter of
+what description, was pressed into service, and the broad stream was
+choked with tramps, dredgers, ferry-boats, barges, yachts, tugs, and
+even rafts, all packed with terror-stricken men, women, and children,
+and the little belongings that they could carry with them. For hours the
+overloaded craft lay in the stream, while the crowds on board watched
+the flames leaping up from the buildings of the city, which had been
+fired by bombs. As each bomb burst, a great sigh of terror went up from
+the homeless, helpless thousands.
+
+Even more terrible were the scenes along the highways, where soldiers
+and civilians were mixed together in frightful confusion. An American
+correspondent says:--
+
+    "By mid-afternoon on Wednesday the road from Antwerp to Ghent, a
+    distance of forty miles, was a solid mass of refugees, and the
+    same was true of every road, every lane, every footpath leading
+    in a westerly or a northerly direction. The people fled in motor
+    cars and in carriages, in delivery wagons, in furniture vans, in
+    farm carts, in omnibuses, in vehicles drawn by oxen, by donkeys,
+    even by cows; on horseback, on bicycles; and there were
+    thousands upon thousands afoot. I saw men trundling
+    wheel-barrows piled high with bedding, and with their children
+    perched upon the bedding. I saw sturdy young peasants carrying
+    their aged parents in their arms. I saw women of fashion in fur
+    coats and high-heeled shoes staggering along clinging to the
+    ends of wagons. I saw white-haired men and women grasping the
+    harness of the gun teams or the stirrup leathers of the
+    troopers, who, themselves exhausted from many days of fighting,
+    slept in their saddles as they rode. I saw springless farm
+    wagons literally heaped with wounded soldiers with piteous white
+    faces; the bottoms of the wagons leaked, and left a trail of
+    blood behind. . . . The confusion was beyond all imagination,
+    the clamour deafening; the rattle of wheels, the throbbing of
+    motors, the clatter of hoofs, the cracking of whips, the groans
+    of the wounded, the cries of women, the whimpering of children,
+    and always the monotonous shuffle, shuffle, shuffle of countless
+    weary feet."[168]
+
+[Illustration: British Naval Brigade in the Trenches outside Antwerp.
+
+_Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd._]
+
+At least 200,000 of the refugees crossed into Holland, where they were
+kindly received, and were provided with food and shelter. Some sought
+refuge in England; but thousands of others fell by the wayside, where
+they perished of exposure and starvation.
+
+The remainder of the pitiful story is soon told. Once the German guns
+were across the Nethe there was nothing left for the defenders to do but
+to make for the coast with all speed, so as to escape from being cut off
+by the enemy. By the morning of Friday, the 9th, nearly the whole of the
+garrison was across the Scheldt. Three battalions of the British force
+delayed their departure, and arrived on the bank of the river, to find
+that the bridge of boats had been destroyed. They managed to cross on
+rafts and barges; but one party, believing itself to be headed off by
+the Germans, marched north into Holland. Another party was forced to
+surrender, and a third sailed down the river and landed on Dutch
+territory. Of course those who took refuge in Holland were
+interned.[169] The British losses were 37 killed, 193 wounded, nearly
+1,000 missing--that is, prisoners--and 1,560 interned in Holland. About
+18,000 Belgian troops were also driven across the frontier, and many
+were captured by the Germans. Thus in disaster and gloom ended the
+gallant attempt to save Antwerp.
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+Two hours before midnight on the evening of Wednesday, 7th October 1914,
+the great shells began to fall on the doomed city. It was almost as
+deserted as a city of the dead. There were no lights in the streets;
+but, as the shells exploded, lurid flames began to arise. On the Scheldt
+barges were burning, and the waters beneath them glowed blood-red in the
+light of the flames. As the huge projectiles struck the buildings they
+collapsed like houses of cards, and soon there was scarcely a street in
+the southern quarter of the town which was not battered into shapeless
+ruin. The historical buildings of the city, however, were spared.
+
+In the gray dawn of October 9th the bombardment ceased. Between eight
+and nine o'clock the burgomaster went out to surrender the city. About
+one o'clock the Germans marched in and tramped along the deserted
+streets. Sixty thousand men in review order passed the new governor, but
+there was not a living soul to greet them. Not a single spectator stood
+on the pavement; no face was seen at a window; not a flag waved. The
+American correspondent already quoted thus describes the march past:--
+
+    "Each regiment was headed by its field music and colours, and
+    when darkness fell and the street lamps were lighted, the shrill
+    music of fifes, the rattle of drums, and the tramp of marching
+    feet reminded me of a torchlight parade. Hard on the heels of
+    the infantry rumbled artillery, battery after battery, until one
+    wondered where Krupp found time or steel to make them. These
+    were the forces that had been almost in constant action for the
+    last two weeks, and that for thirty-six hours had poured death
+    and destruction into the city; yet the horses were well groomed
+    and the harness well polished. Behind the field batteries
+    rumbled quick-firers, and then, heralded by a blare of trumpets
+    and the crash of kettledrums, came the cavalry, cuirassiers in
+    helmets and breastplates of burnished steel, hussars in
+    befrogged jackets and fur busbies, and finally the Uhlans,
+    riding amid forests of lances under a cloud of fluttering
+    pennons. But this was not all nor nearly all. For after the
+    Uhlans came bluejackets of the naval division, broad-shouldered,
+    bewhiskered fellows, with caps worn rakishly and the roll of the
+    sea in their gait. Then Bavarian infantry in dark blue, Saxon
+    infantry in light blue, and Austrians in uniforms of beautiful
+    silver-gray, and last of all a detachment of gendarmes in silver
+    and bottle-green."
+
+[Illustration: Antwerp under Bombardment.
+
+(_From the picture by Cyrus Cuneo._)]
+
+       *     *     *     *     *
+
+The curtain descends upon the tragedy of Antwerp, and as we rise from
+its contemplation two pictures remain fixed in our memories--the one, a
+march of triumph, with all the pomp and circumstance of war, the fanfare
+of trumpets, the rattle of drums, the gay uniforms, the gallant
+chargers, the nodding plumes, the stir and movement of victorious
+legions; the other, long, long trails of anguished men, distraught
+women, and sobbing children, bereft at one stroke of home, kindred, and
+possessions, driven forth to perish of hunger by the wayside, to begin
+life anew as exiles in a foreign land, or to return to their ruined
+homes as the subjects of a pitiless conqueror. Never were the terrible
+contrasts of war thrown into sharper relief; never was the ruthlessness
+of armed strife so painfully brought home to the onlooking world. A
+mighty nation, drunk with the lust of empire, had trampled to ruin a
+little, toiling people, innocent of offence in the sight of God and man.
+It had dared to defend itself, and for this heinous crime an
+overwhelming foe "slew their young men with the sword in the house of
+their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man
+or him that stooped for age." The blare of trumpets and the roll of
+drums may stop the ears of men to every cry of agony, and deaden their
+hearts to every impulse of mercy; but they can avail nothing before Him
+who has said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay."
+
+[Footnote 162: (1653-1702.) Frequently defeated the French between 1690
+and 1694, and in 1702, almost single-handed, fought a French fleet in
+the West Indies for five days. He died from injuries received in the
+battle.]
+
+[Footnote 163: (1705-81.) His chief battle was a victory over the French
+in Quiberon Bay (1759)--one of the most daring and successful actions on
+record.]
+
+[Footnote 164: (1750-1810.) The great friend of Nelson, to whom he was
+second in command at Trafalgar.]
+
+[Footnote 165: (1726-99.) His greatest exploit was a crushing defeat
+inflicted on the French, from whom he took six ships, on "the glorious
+First of June" 1794, off Ushant.]
+
+[Footnote 166: (1724-1816.) He won many naval victories.]
+
+[Footnote 167: (1697-1762.) Not only a great fighting admiral, but a
+circumnavigator of the globe. The story of his _Voyage Round the World_
+is still worth reading.]
+
+[Footnote 168: Quoted from _Fighting in Flanders_, by E. R. Powell.]
+
+[Footnote 169: A neutral state which receives in its territory troops
+belonging to one or other of the armies engaged in war, keeps such
+troops in its own hands until the end of the war, and must prevent them
+from escaping. It clothes and feeds them, and the expenses so incurred
+are made good at the end of the war by the Power to which the troops
+belong.]
+
+
+  END OF VOLUME II.
+
+
+  PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.
+
+
+  =Transcriber's Notes:=
+  original hyphenation, spelling and grammar have been preserved as in
+    the original
+  Page 172/173, "slightly wounded The" changed to "slightly wounded. The"
+
+
+  Page 267, 'that he said.' changed to 'that he said."'
+  Page 285, "Europe put togethe" changed to "Europe put together"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Childrens' Story of the War,
+Volume 2 (of 10), by James Edward Parrott
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDRENS' STORY OF THE WAR ***
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diff --git a/35314-0.zip b/35314-0.zip
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+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Children's Story Of The War (Volume 2),
+      by Sir Edward Parrott, M.A., LL.D.
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css">
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
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+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
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+
+    .pagenum  { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */
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+  </head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 2
+(of 10), by James Edward Parrott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Childrens' Story of the War, Volume 2 (of 10)
+       From the Battle of Mons to the Fall of Antwerp.
+
+Author: James Edward Parrott
+
+Release Date: February 18, 2011 [EBook #35314]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHILDRENS' STORY OF THE WAR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Marcia Brooks, Ross Cooling and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at
+http://www.pgdpcanada.net (This file was produced from
+images generously made available by The Internet
+Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="321" height="462" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/frontis.jpg" width="272" height="396" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>British Soldiers crossing the Aisne. (<i>See page <a href="#Page_244">244</a>.</i>)</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<h2>THE</h2>
+<h1>CHILDREN'S STORY</h1>
+<h1>OF THE WAR</h1>
+<br />
+<h3>by</h3>
+<h2>SIR EDWARD PARROTT, M.A., LL.D.</h2>
+<h4>AUTHOR OF "BRITAIN OVERSEAS," "THE PAGEANT OF ENGLISH LITERATURE," ETC.</h4>
+<br /><br />
+<h3>From the Battle of Mons to the Fall of Antwerp.</h3>
+<br /><br />
+<h2>THOMAS NELSON AND SONS</h2>
+<h3>LONDON, EDINBURGH, DUBLIN, AND NEW YORK</h3>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><i>Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife!</i></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>To all the sensual world proclaim,</i></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>One crowded hour of glorious life</i></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>Is worth an age without a name.</i></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 50%;">Sir <span class="smcap">Walter Scott</span></p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<table summary="Contents" width="60%">
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">I.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">The French Army</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">1</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">II.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">The First Clash of Arms</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">11</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">III.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">The Fall of Namur</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">17</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IV.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">The Battle of Mons</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">26</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">V.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">Soldiers' Stories of the Battle of Mons</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">33</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">The Russian People</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">44</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">The Russian Army</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">49</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">VIII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">The Eastern Theatre of War</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">54</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">IX.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">Victory and Defeat</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">65</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">X.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">Stories of Russian Soldiers</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">77</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">The Fighting Retreat</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">81</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">A Glorious Stand</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">91</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">"The Most Critical Day of All"</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">97</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIV.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">Stories of the Retreat from Mons to St. Quentin</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">106</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XV.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">Valorous Deeds and Victoria Crosses</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">113</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">Arras and Amiens</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">125</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">The French Retreat</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">129</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XVIII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">"Those Terrible Grey Horses"</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">138</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XIX.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">The Story of Battery L of the R.H.A.</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">145</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XX.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">More Stories of the Retreat</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">152</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">The Beginning of the War at Sea</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">161</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">The Battle of Heligoland Bight</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">177</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXIII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">The Turn of the Tide</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">193</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXIV.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">The Crossing of the Marne</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">205</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXV.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">The Battle of the Marne</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">209</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXVI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">Stories of the Battle of the Marne</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">220</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXVII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">More Stories of the Battle of the Marne</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">225</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXVIII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">The Aisne Valley</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">236</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXIX.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">The Crossing of the Aisne</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">241</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXX.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">The Battle of the Aisne</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">250</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">Soldiers' Stories of the Battle of the Aisne</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">257</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">Verdun and Rheims</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">273</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXIII.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">The Race to the Sea</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">289</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXIV.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">The First Russian Advance to Cracow</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">297</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXV.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">Antwerp as it was</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">305</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="tdr">XXXVI.</td>
+<td class="tdl"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">The Siege and Fall of Antwerp</a></td>
+<td class="tdr">310</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p001.jpg" width="447" height="170" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FRENCH ARMY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n Chapter XXIII. of Volume I. I told you that the French began their
+raid upon Alsace on August 7, 1914. At this time some of the Li&eacute;ge forts
+were still holding out, and the great German advance through Belgium had
+not yet begun. As the French were able to push into the enemy's country
+thus early in the war, you may imagine that they were quite ready for
+action before Belgium was overrun. Not, however, until August 22 were
+their preparations so far advanced that they could begin the business of
+war in real earnest.</p>
+
+<p>Before I tell you the story of the first real battle of the war, let us
+learn something of the French army. In Chapters IV. and V. of Volume I.
+you read an account of the little man, with the pale face and cold blue
+eyes, who made France the greatest fighting nation of the world. He
+became, you will remember, master of continental Europe, and his legions
+marched in triumph through Berlin, Vienna, Naples, Madrid, Lisbon, and
+Moscow. He taught the art of war to all Europe, and France under his
+rule rose to the highest pinnacle of military glory.</p>
+
+<p>When Napoleon fell, Frenchmen turned in loathing from the work of war.
+They remembered the awful waste of life and the terrible misery which
+had resulted from his campaigns, and they longed for peace, during which
+they might build up the nation anew. The French army, therefore, became
+a mere shadow of what it had been formerly. Under Napoleon III.,
+however, there was a revival of military spirit. His army, as you know,
+fought well in the Crimea[1] and in Italy,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> but it suffered hopeless
+defeat in the war of 1870-1 against the Germans.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The French took to
+heart the fearful lessons of this war, and began almost at once to put
+their military house in order.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+<p>In 1872 they passed a law which was supposed to compel every young man
+to serve as a soldier for twenty years&mdash;five years with the colours, and
+then four years in the Reserve; five years in the Territorial Army, and
+six years in the Territorial Reserve. But this law was not fully
+enforced. The men called up each year were divided by lot into two
+groups, and one of these groups, in time of peace, was let off with only
+one year's service in the Regular Army. Whole classes of persons, such
+as breadwinners and teachers, were free from service altogether, and any
+man could escape with one year's training by paying a certain sum of
+money. This plan proved very unsatisfactory, and in 1889 a new law was
+passed by which every young man was forced to serve twenty-five
+years&mdash;three years with the colours, seven years in the Reserve, six
+years in the Territorial Army, and nine years in the Territorial
+Reserve. By this means France hoped to raise her total number of trained
+men to 3,000,000.</p>
+
+<p>Up to the year 1893 France and Germany had about the same number of
+soldiers on a peace footing; but very soon Germany began to forge ahead,
+chiefly because her population grew so rapidly. Soon it was clear that
+France could not hope to raise so large an army as Germany; so in 1897
+she made an alliance with Russia, by which each Power agreed to take
+part in the other's quarrel if either of them should be attacked. In
+1905 France again altered her army law by reducing the time of service
+with the colours to two years, and by increasing the period of service
+with the Reserve to eleven years. But even this arrangement did not give
+her all the soldiers which she needed; so in 1913 she decreed that every
+Frenchman found fit for service must join the colours at the age of
+twenty, spend three years in the Regular Army, eleven years in the
+Regular Reserve, seven years in the Territorial Army, and seven in the
+Territorial Reserve. Thus every strong and able-bodied Frenchman became
+liable for military service from his twentieth to his forty-eighth year.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+Roughly speaking, this new law enabled France to put into the field, a
+month or so after the beginning of war, about 4,000,000 trained men.
+This gave her a first line army of about 1,500,000, a second line of
+about 500,000, and a reserve of about 2,000,000. Germany feared that
+this new law would so strengthen France that she and Russia combined
+would be more than a match for her; and one of the reasons why she
+declared war on August 1, 1914, was to crush the French before the new
+arrangement could come into full working order.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p003.jpg" width="452" height="356" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Recruits in the Streets of Paris.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Sport and General.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Every year in the month of February a Council sits in Paris and in the
+provinces, and before it all youths of twenty must appear to pass the
+doctor. If they are found "bon pour le service," they are told what
+regiment they must join and the place where they are to undergo their
+training, and in the following October they join their depots.
+Frequently the young men so chosen pin big paper favours on their coats
+and hats, and, thus decorated, march about the streets. Outside the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+hall in which the Council is sitting there are almost sure to be a
+number of stalls loaded with these blue, white, and red decorations.</p>
+
+<p>When the young soldier arrives at the barracks he is given three suits
+of clothes, one of which is his drill dress, another his walking-out
+dress, and the third his war dress. These clothes he keeps on a shelf
+above his bed, and he so arranges his garments that the French colours,
+blue, white, and red, are clearly seen. In summer he rises at 4 a.m.,
+and in winter at 6 a.m., and he goes to bed at 9 p.m. all the year
+round, except when he is on sentry-go, or has permission to stay out
+late. Every day the barrack-room is inspected, to see that the beds are
+properly made, that the men's clothes are in good order, and that the
+room is clean and tidy. The "little breakfast," which consists of coffee
+and a roll, is served at 5 a.m.; lunch is eaten at ten o'clock, and
+dinner at five. The meals usually consist of soup, meat, vegetables, and
+fruit. On great occasions wine is supplied, and cigars are handed round.
+The conscript's pay consists of one sou (a halfpenny) a day, and his
+tobacco. Some of the men receive money from their parents and friends;
+others have to make shift on the trifling allowance which the Government
+gives them.</p>
+
+<p>The men who begin their service in a particular year are known as the
+"class" of that year. Thus the men who joined the colours in 1914 belong
+to the class of 1914. Frenchmen fix all their dates by reference to "la
+classe." When two Frenchmen meet almost the first question they put to
+each other is, "Of what class are you?" When two or three men who have
+served their time in the same regiment come together they are like old
+schoolfellows; they love to recall their experiences, and chat about the
+jokes and tricks and scrapes of their soldiering days.</p>
+
+<p>If you were to see a regiment of conscripts on the march<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> you would
+not be much impressed. Compared with the well-set-up, smartly-uniformed
+British soldiers, they would seem to you to be badly drilled and badly
+clothed, and to slouch along in any sort of order. You would perhaps
+smile at their blue overcoats buttoned behind the knees, and their
+ill-fitting red trousers; but you must remember that the French do not
+believe in the pomps and vanities of military show, but in making men
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+fit for the actual work of war. Battles are not won by clothes, but by
+the men who wear them. The French soldier is very brave, a great lover
+of his country, and a splendid fighter, even though he may not look the
+part in your eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The officers are educated for their profession at one or other of the
+great military schools, and they must pass difficult examinations before
+they receive their commissions. Infantry officers are trained at the
+famous school of St. Cyr, which was founded by Napoleon in 1806.
+Foreigners are admitted to this school, but not Germans or Austrians.
+All French officers must learn to speak German, and this knowledge of
+the enemy's language has more than once proved useful in the present
+war. Some time ago a French officer captured one end of a field
+telephone unknown to the Germans at the other end. He replied in German
+to the questions addressed to him, and was told that a train of
+reinforcements would pass a certain station at a certain time. At once
+he made his plans, and before the train reached the station it was blown
+up.</p>
+
+<p>You know that in the German army the officers belong to the higher
+classes of society, and that few if any of them have risen from the
+ranks. In France any man who has the ability may rise to the highest
+posts in the army. There is a great gulf fixed between the private
+soldier and the officer in Germany; but in France there is a strong
+spirit of comradeship between all ranks, and this knits them together
+far better than the iron discipline of the Germans.</p>
+
+<p>The army of France is inferior in numbers to that of Germany, but it
+easily ranks as the second of the armies of the world. Our regular army,
+as you know, is trained in India; France uses her North African colony
+of Algeria for the same purpose. Her infantry have long been renowned
+for their dash and spirit, and they are, next to our own regulars, the
+best marchers in Europe. The Zouaves, with their baggy red trousers and
+short blue jackets, are picked men. They are to the French army what the
+Highlanders are to our army&mdash;men of the most fearless bravery, and
+almost irresistible at the charge. The bayonet, which the Highlander
+calls the "wee bit steel," is their favourite weapon; the Zouave calls
+it by the poetical name of "Rosalie."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p005.jpg" width="337" height="498" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Cuirassiers leaving Paris.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Central News.</i></h4>
+
+<p>French cavalry have always been famous, and it is said that they were
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+never better than in 1914. The riding was good and the horses were
+excellent. What are known as the Chasseurs d'Afrique are perhaps the
+best of all French horse soldiers. At Sedan their furious charges almost
+turned the fortunes of that black day. The Cuirassiers<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> wear a brass
+helmet, from which a tail of horsehair hangs down the back. The helmet
+is covered with gray cloth in time of war.</p>
+
+<p>French artillery is generally thought to be the best in Europe. What is
+known as the 75-millimetre gun<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> is a very rapid quick-firer, and is
+wonderfully accurate; no better piece of artillery has ever been known
+in the history of warfare. French generals show great ability in using
+their artillery to cover the advance of infantry.</p>
+
+<p>What is known as the Foreign Legion is peculiar to the French army; no
+other army in the world has anything like it. The men who serve in the
+twelve battalions of this Legion are not Frenchmen but foreigners, who
+for one reason or another have taken service in the French army.
+Englishmen, Americans, Spaniards, Italians, Germans, and Russians rub
+shoulders in the ranks; and most of them have enlisted under false
+names. No questions are asked of any man who wishes to join the Legion;
+if he is strong, and can ride and shoot, and is willing to "rough it,"
+he is promptly enlisted.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p008.jpg" width="592" height="426" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Infantry of the Line leaving Paris.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, The Sphere.</i></h4>
+
+<p>The men of this Legion have been called the "scallawags of Europe," and
+the story of their past is usually sad and painful. Some have committed
+crimes; some are bad characters who have been driven out of society or
+have been thrown over by their friends; others have held honourable
+positions, which they have lost by wicked or foolish conduct; and many
+of them are desperate men, who hope to find death as quickly as
+possible. Like the "free lances" of the Middle Ages, they are prepared
+to sell their swords to any country that will employ them, and they will
+fight as fiercely against their own land as against any other. They have
+only their lives to sell, and, as a rule, they are prepared to sell them
+as dearly as possible. They are not easy to discipline; but it is said
+that they are always courteous to women. One of the rules of the Legion
+is that its members shall always lead the "forlorn hope;" refusal to do
+so means the punishment of death. For this reason they are always placed
+in the firing line at the most dangerous point, and they ask for
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+nothing better. In peace time two-thirds of them serve in the French
+possessions in the Far East, and the remainder in North Africa.</p>
+
+<p>Before I close this chapter, I must tell you something about the
+colonial troops of France. Just as we form native armies in our overseas
+possessions, so the French make soldiers of the black and brown races in
+their colonies. Their chief colony is Algeria, in North Africa; but they
+also rule over Morocco, and have large possessions in West Africa and in
+Indo-China. The French colonial troops are chiefly Arabs and Berbers
+from Algeria, Moors from Morocco, and Senegambians from Senegal. The
+native troops of Algeria are known as Turcos and Spahis.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> The Turcos
+are chiefly Berbers,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> and they are trained on the same lines as the
+Zouaves.</p>
+
+<p>The most picturesque of all the native troops of France are the Spahis,
+who are mainly Arabs mounted on white Arab steeds. The Arabs are a
+fiercely warlike people, and France conquered them only after a long
+struggle. They are Mohammedans, who believe that death in battle is a
+sure passport to heaven.</p>
+
+<p>The Spahi is as much at home on horseback as the cowboy of the prairies,
+the Cossack of the steppes, or the Hungarian of the plains. As a light
+horseman he has few superiors. Each man wears on his head a white felt
+cap covered by a <i>haick</i>, or long strip of woollen gauze which hangs
+flat at the back of the head, covering the neck and shoulders. The haick
+is attached to the cap by twenty or thirty twisted coils of camel's-hair
+rope, and a fringe of it is allowed to fall on the forehead to shade the
+eyes. The body garment, or <i>gandoura</i>, is a gown of white woollen
+material, bound round the waist with a broad silk sash. Over all is worn
+a hooded cloak, or <i>burnous</i>, which is usually made of white or fine
+blue cloth. Red leather top-boots complete the costume. Many of the men
+are very tall and of a strikingly noble cast of feature. They carry
+themselves with great dignity, and are very grave and sparing of speech.
+Their love for their horses has been the subject of many a song and
+story.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p010.jpg" width="552" height="263" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Arab Cavalry (Spahis) at the Front.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Underwood and Underwood.</i></h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+<p>Never before in the history of warfare have so many men, of such widely
+differing races, creeds, and colours, been gathered together into such
+an army as that which is upholding the cause of the Allies on the fields
+of France and Flanders. When the Romans were masters of Britain they
+garrisoned the Great Wall from the Tyne to the Solway with men from
+nearly all the countries of Europe; but the motley array which then
+struggled to beat back the "slim" Pict cannot compare for a moment with
+the medley of races now under arms in the western theatre of war.</p>
+
+<p>Britain and France hold empires which C&aelig;sar never knew, and they are
+thus enabled to draw troops from every continent on the face of the
+globe. Englishman, Scot, Welshman, Irishman, British and French
+Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, Frenchman, and Belgian, stand
+shoulder to shoulder with Pathan, Gurkha, Sikh, Bengali, Baluchi,
+Senegambian, Arab, Berber, and Moor&mdash;Christian, Mohammedan, Hindu, and
+heathen&mdash;all united in a vast army determined to overthrow the nation
+which aims at nothing less than the mastery of the whole world. Such a
+remarkable gathering of races in one army has never before been seen.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FIRST CLASH OF ARMS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span> wonder whether you have ever met with the word <i>dinanderie</i>. You will
+find it in an English dictionary, though it is an old word which has
+almost gone out of use. <i>Dinanderie</i> means vessels of chased copper or
+brass used for household purposes. In the thirteenth, fourteenth, and
+fifteenth centuries such vessels were largely made in the little Belgian
+town of Dinant; hence the name.</p>
+
+<p>You can scarcely imagine a more picturesque town than Dinant. It stands
+on the right or eastern bank of the broad river Meuse as it sweeps
+northward from France to join the Sambre at Namur. The main part of the
+town lies at the foot of lofty limestone rocks, which are honeycombed
+with grottoes containing stalactites, or limestone "icicles," such as
+you may see in the caves of Cheddar<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> or Derbyshire. In the
+Grand'-Place, quite close to the foot of the limestone rocks, is the
+Cathedral of Notre Dame, a very handsome building with finely carved
+portals. Behind the cathedral there are four hundred and eight steps cut
+in the rock, by means of which you may ascend to the citadel which
+crowns the summit.</p>
+
+<p>From this citadel, or from the top of the hill behind it, there is a
+glorious view of the Meuse valley. If we face the river, we shall see on
+the opposite bank the houses straggling up a wooded hillside, and to our
+right "Roche &agrave; Bayard," a bold pinnacle of rock with an ancient story.
+Bayard<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> was the prince of knights in the sixteenth century, a hero of
+the most noble and unselfish character, "without fear and without
+reproach." We can pay no greater honour to a soldier than to call him a
+"Bayard." Like our own King Arthur, he has become a figure of romance,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+and all sorts of magical deeds have been ascribed to him. It is said
+that on one occasion he defended a bridge single-handed against two
+hundred Spaniards. According to an old legend, he was once pursued by
+Charlemagne, and was only saved from capture by his gallant horse, which
+sprang right across the gorge of the river, and left a hoofmark on the
+rock which now bears his name.</p>
+
+<p>I have described Dinant because it was in and around this town that the
+French first came into contact with the Germans. In Chapter XXX. of our
+first volume I told you that after the entry of the Germans into
+Brussels, von Kluck's army (the First Army), which was to form the
+extreme right of the German line, was rapidly advancing towards the
+Franco-Belgian border, and that von Buelow's army (the Second Army) was
+moving in the direction of the strong fortress of Namur. The first clash
+of arms between the French and Germans took place five days before the
+occupation of Brussels, when von Kluck's army was fighting its way
+towards the capital.</p>
+
+<p>At that time the Duke of W&uuml;rtemberg's army was marching through the
+wooded hills of the Ardennes towards the Central Meuse, and the Saxon
+army was advancing farther north towards Dinant and Namur. While these
+movements were in progress, the French sent a detachment northwards to
+occupy Dinant, which is only ten miles as the crow flies from their
+border. On 15th August, at about six in the morning, German cavalry and
+artillery of the Duke of W&uuml;rtemberg's army made an attack on the town,
+which was only held by part of a French infantry regiment. Though the
+French were greatly outnumbered, they fought gallantly, and held the
+bridge across the Meuse stubbornly. By ten o'clock, however, the Germans
+had driven them off, and had hoisted their flag on the citadel. Some of
+their cavalry then crossed the river into the suburbs on the left or
+western bank.</p>
+
+<p>About two in the afternoon, in the very nick of time, French
+reinforcements arrived. A French infantry regiment appeared on the left
+bank of the river, and drove the cavalry out of the suburbs. Meanwhile
+two French batteries took up position, and began a brisk cannonade of
+the citadel. One of their first shots cut the German flag in two. So hot
+was the fire that the enemy was forced to leave the citadel and retire
+along the cliffs to the south. A vigorous artillery duel was kept up
+across the valley; the French dashed across the river by the bridge,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+retook the town, and flung back the Germans, who retreated east and then
+south. Thus in the first battle of the war the French were victorious.</p>
+
+<p>The fight at Dinant, compared with those which were to follow, was a
+mere baby battle. Only about eight thousand men took part in it, and
+there was not much loss on either side. It has, however, a special
+interest, because it marked the first dash of arms between the French
+and the Germans. Not for a week later did the war begin in real earnest.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 692px;">
+<img src="images/p012.jpg" width="692" height="445" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Battle of Dinant, August 15, 1914. French infantry recapturing the town.</h4>
+
+<p>Now we must visit another town of Belgium&mdash;the famous fortress of Namur,
+which stands on a hill in the sharp angle between the Meuse and the
+Sambre. Southward and eastward of it lies the trench valley of the
+Meuse; to the west extends the vale of the Sambre, which runs through
+the "Black Country" of Belgium. Standing at the meeting-point of these
+rivers, Namur bars the road into France, and it has been fortified from
+very early times. Brialmont, of whom you have already heard, built a
+ring of four large forts and five smaller forts round it, and about
+three hundred and fifty guns were mounted in them. From this little map
+you will see how they were placed. As most of them were on high ground,
+it was hoped that they would hold out for a long time.</p>
+
+<p>The Belgians had ten days' notice of the attack, and while the great
+siege trains of the Germans were slowly lumbering westward over the
+cobbled roads they did much to strengthen the place. About twenty-six
+thousand men were moved into it to hold the forts and trenches, large
+areas were mined, houses and trees in the line of fire were cut down,
+and barbed-wire entanglements, charged with a deadly current of
+electricity, were set up.</p>
+
+<p>General Michel, who was in command, was well aware that the forts could
+not long resist the fierce onslaught of the German siege guns, but he
+hoped that before the first shot was fired the French would come to his
+assistance and would man the trenches for him. He had good reason for
+his hope, for French cavalry were already on Belgian soil, and French
+infantry and artillery were at Dinant, only eighteen miles away. He was
+not, however, well served by his scouts, and he does not seem to have
+learned that the Germans were advancing on both sides of the Meuse. Had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+he been better informed he might have struck a blow at the German siege
+train which was crawling slowly towards him. As it was, he did nothing,
+and the Germans were able to bring up their big guns and fix them on
+concrete platforms without being molested.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p015.jpg" width="378" height="341" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Plan of Namur Forts.</h4>
+
+<p>Now let us see how the Allies proposed to meet the Germans. Here is a
+map which you must study carefully, for it shows the positions occupied
+by the British and French on the evening of Friday, 21st August. The
+British army, which was to form the extreme right of the Allied front,
+lay along the line Cond&eacute;<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>-Mons-Binche.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> In reserve, behind the
+French fortress of Maubeuge,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> about twelve miles south of Mons, was a
+French cavalry corps of three divisions, and away to the west, at Arras,
+was a corps of French Territorials, facing east. In the angle between
+the rivers were two French armies, one holding the line of the Sambre
+and the other the line of the Meuse. Farther south, from the French
+border through M&eacute;zi&egrave;res,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> past Sedan, to Montm&eacute;dy, was another army,
+also holding the line of the Meuse.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p016.jpg" width="324" height="332" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Map showing Position of Armies.</h4>
+
+<p>Before we go any further we must look closely at the position of the
+French armies marked 2 and 3 on the map. You notice that they form a
+sharp angle with each other. Military men call any angle less than two
+right angles a <i>salient</i>. I think you can easily see that the armies
+holding such a salient as that formed by the two rivers were by no means
+in a strong position. They were very much exposed to attacks on their
+flanks, and they depended at their weakest part&mdash;the point of the
+angle&mdash;on the fortress of Namur. As long as Namur held out, well and
+good; but if it should fall the line would be pierced, and the French
+would be in a very dangerous position indeed.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FALL OF NAMUR.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">N</span>ow let us look more closely at the position which the British were to
+hold.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Find the town of Mons, which stands to the west of
+Charleroi,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> on the highroad running northward to Brussels. Mons is
+the old capital of Hainault, and its history goes back to the days of
+C&aelig;sar. Those of our soldiers who came from colliery districts must have
+been strongly reminded of home when they arrived in the neighbourhood of
+Mons, for it is a place of busy factories, surrounded by a coalfield.
+Tall chimneys, the headgear of pits, huge mounds of refuse, railway
+lines running along embankments, and miners' cottages are the chief
+features of the landscape. Many of the rubbish heaps have been planted
+with little forests of dwarf firs, and look like ranges of low wooded
+hills. The country is, however, flat and much cut up with deep dykes
+filled with muddy water.</p>
+
+<p>The British headquarters was at Mons, and the line which our soldiers
+were to hold extended to the west and to the east of that town. On the
+west it stretched along the banks of a canal which runs west for fifteen
+miles, from Mons to the village of Cond&eacute;. Still farther to the west, a
+French Territorial battalion held the town of Tournai. Eastward of Mons
+the line ran for another ten miles to the village of Binche, which lies
+south-east of Mons. The British position, you will observe, was not
+quite straight, but in the form of a very flat triangle, with the apex
+at Mons. By the evening of Friday, 21st August, two army corps and one
+cavalry division of the British were in position awaiting the German
+attack. The 3rd Army Corps had not yet arrived.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 721px;">
+<img src="images/p018.jpg" width="721" height="454" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Town of Mons.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Exclusive News Agency.</i></h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+<p>The Commander-in-Chief was Sir John French, of whom we have already
+heard. The 1st Army Corps, which was posted to the east of Mons, was
+commanded by Sir Douglas Haig, a cavalryman like Sir John French, and
+one of the youngest of British generals. He had seen service in the
+Sudan and in South Africa, and had held high military positions at home
+and in India. The 2nd Army Corps, which was posted along the line of the
+canal west of Mons, was commanded by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien,
+also a brilliant soldier, who did fine work in South Africa. The cavalry
+division was under Major-General Allenby, one of the most famous cavalry
+scouts in the British army, and the 5th Cavalry Brigade was commanded by
+Sir Philip Chetwode.</p>
+
+<p>During the 22nd and 23rd of August the 5th Cavalry Brigade and some
+other cavalry squadrons pushed far to the north, and did some excellent
+scouting work. They also met the advanced patrols of the enemy, and
+there were several small fights, in which our troops showed to great
+advantage. One of these fights took place at the corner of a village
+street, where a party of our hussars rode down a strong detachment of
+German cavalry. The two forces met front to front, and there were wild
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+hurrahs as our men charged the enemy with flashing sabres. It was all
+over in a few minutes, and the Germans were driven back in confusion.
+"Men and horses were heavier than we were," wrote one of the British
+hussars who was wounded in the skirmish, "but our men were smarter and
+handier."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p019.jpg" width="458" height="305" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Map showing British and French Positions at the Battles of Mons and Charleroi.</h4>
+
+<p>You know that von Kluck's army entered Brussels on 20th August. An
+American writer who fell in with an advance division tells us that the
+Germans marched at a very rapid pace towards the Franco-Belgian frontier
+to meet the Allies. To keep up with the column he was forced to move at
+a steady trot. The men did not bend the knees, but keeping the legs
+straight, shot them forward with a quick, sliding movement as though
+they were skating or ski-ing.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Many of them fell by the wayside, but
+they were not permitted to lie there, but were lifted to their feet and
+flung back into the ranks. The halts were frequent, and so exhausted
+were the poor fellows that, instead of standing at ease, they dropped to
+the road as though they had been struck with a club. It was these forced
+marches which brought von Kluck's army so rapidly to the right wing of
+the Allies.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>While our soldiers from Cond&eacute; to Binche were busy digging trenches and
+gun-pits, and clearing their front of cover, they could hear away to the
+right the dull roar of cannon. Fighting was going on not only at Namur
+but along the Sambre. You know that von Buelow's army was marching along
+the north bank of the Meuse towards Namur, and that the Saxon army was
+moving towards the same place along the southern bank. On the evening of
+the day on which the Germans entered Brussels the first shots were fired
+at the fortress. It was a sultry evening, and behind the screen of haze
+the great howitzers were placed in position. They began to fire on the
+Belgian trenches to the north-east of the city, and all night continued
+to bombard them with great accuracy. Any man who lifted his head was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+immediately hit. The guns were three miles away, so the Belgians had no
+chance of rushing on the foe with the bayonet as they had done at Li&eacute;ge.
+They were forced to wait and suffer. After enduring ten hours of
+bursting shrapnel, which killed large numbers of them, they were obliged
+to withdraw, and the Germans pushed within the ring of forts and took up
+a position on the ridge of St. Marc north of the city.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile two of the eastern forts had fallen. Upon the fort just to the
+south of the Meuse the Germans guns rained shells at the rate of twenty
+a minute, and it was only able to fire ten shots in reply. The shells
+wrecked concrete and turrets alike, and nothing could resist them. The
+fort directly to the north of the river held out longer; but when
+seventy-five of its garrison had been slain, it too was forced to yield.
+At the same time the southern line of forts was fiercely bombarded, and
+after an attack of two hours three of them were silenced, and a German
+force was pushed across the Meuse into the southern part of the angle
+between that river and the Sambre. All day long an infantry battle
+raged, and the Belgians hoped against hope that the French would come to
+their assistance.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, 22nd August, five thousand French troops, mostly Turcos,
+arrived from the west, but they were too late and too few to save the
+fortress. It was a black, dread day for the Allies. The skies were
+darkened by an eclipse of the sun, and the people of Namur were in a
+state of panic. German aeroplanes flew over the place and dropped bombs,
+which killed many of the inhabitants and fired their houses. The heavens
+thundered, the great guns roared, and Namur fell.</p>
+
+<p>When the commander, General Michel, saw that he could no longer hold
+out, he tried to call in the troops from the forts and march them
+westward, in the hope that they might join their comrades beneath the
+shelter of the forts at Antwerp. Traitors or spies, however, cut his
+telephone wires, and he was only able to rally a portion of them for the
+retreat. Two Belgian regiments hacked a way through the Germans who
+blocked their road, and managed to join the French and reach Rouen;
+where they took ship to Ostend, and then joined the main Belgian army at
+Antwerp.</p>
+
+<p>On Sunday afternoon, 23rd August, the Germans marched into Namur singing
+their national songs and shouting in triumph. Next day von Buelow
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+entered, and with him was the new Governor of Belgium, Field-Marshal von
+der Goltz, who was described by one of the townsfolk as "an elderly
+gentleman covered with orders, buttoned in an overcoat up to his nose,
+above which gleamed a pair of enormous glasses."</p>
+
+<p>The Belgians made their last stand between the forts to the north-west
+of the city. They held out until the morning of Tuesday, 25th August,
+when they left their trenches and moved into the woods on the north bank
+of the Sambre. Here they were surrounded, and were obliged to surrender.
+Only about 12,000 out of the 26,000 men who attempted to hold the
+fortress escaped. Large quantities of guns and stores had to be
+abandoned, and these fell into the hands of the Germans.</p>
+
+<p>I have already told you that Namur was considered so strong that it
+could defy attack for a long time. It fell, as we have seen, very
+rapidly. The first shot was fired on the evening of 20th August; by the
+next night five or six forts had fallen; on the 23rd the Germans entered
+the city, and two days later every fort was in ruins.</p>
+
+<p>Now we are able to understand the terrible peril of the Allies. The
+French line along the Meuse and Sambre could only be held so long as
+Namur was able to resist. Now that it had fallen the line was broken,
+and a million men were on the verge of disaster.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 691px;">
+<img src="images/p022.jpg" width="691" height="487" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Siege of Namur.</h4>
+
+<p>While the German howitzers were battering down the forts at Namur a
+fierce battle was raging round about Charleroi, on the Sambre, some
+fifteen miles to the east. Those who remember the story of the battle of
+Waterloo will recollect that Napoleon's armies crossed the Sambre at
+Charleroi on their way to the famous battlefield. Like Mons, Charleroi
+is a place of coal mines, iron foundries, and glassworks.</p>
+
+<p>Less than ten miles to the north-east of Charleroi is the village of
+Ligny,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> where Napoleon beat the Germans under Bl&uuml;cher on June 16,
+1815, and forced them to retreat. On the same day Wellington beat
+Marshal Ney at Quatre Bras,<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> which lies a few miles to the north-west
+of Ligny; but because Bl&uuml;cher had retreated he was obliged to fall back
+to the field of Waterloo, where, as you know, he was joined by the
+Prussians, and an end was made of Napoleon. It was over this historic
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+ground that von Buelow's army advanced towards Charleroi.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 715px;">
+<img src="images/p024.jpg" width="715" height="506" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Charge of the Turcos near Charleroi.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>From the picture
+by Dudley Tennant.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Not until late in March 1915 did the French lift the veil and give us a
+glimpse of what happened. We are told that General Joffre's plan was, in
+the first place, to hold and dispose of the enemy's centre, and
+afterwards to throw all his available forces on the left flank of the
+Germans. On Friday, 21st August, the French centre attacked with ten
+army corps. On the next day it failed, and the French suffered a severe
+defeat. They frankly confess that their officers and troops were unequal
+to the task imposed on them, that they were imprudent under fire, that
+the divisions were ill engaged, that they deployed rashly and fled
+hastily, and that the lives of the men were thrown away too early in the
+struggle. During the fighting the Zouaves and Turcos behaved most
+gallantly. Twice they cleared the town of Charleroi at the point of the
+bayonet, but all their efforts were unavailing. Five times the town was
+captured and recaptured, and every time it changed hands it was fiercely
+shelled. By Saturday evening it was in the hands of the Germans, who,
+after suffering great losses, crossed the Sambre.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile another fierce fight was going on farther east along the line
+of the Meuse. On Saturday morning a German army, which had advanced
+through the Northern Ardennes, crossed the Meuse into the angle between
+that river and the Sambre, where, you will remember, the Germans had
+already gained a footing. This new force attacked the right flank of the
+French, and began to work round to their rear, so as to threaten the
+line of retreat. With von Buelow pressing hard on the front, and the
+Saxon army pressing on the right and rear, the French in the angle
+between the rivers were forced to give way, and in order to save
+themselves from destruction were obliged to retire to the south. So
+rapid and confused was this retreat that the French staff neglected to
+send news of the disaster to Sir John French until the afternoon of next
+day. He thought that the French line was still holding out on his right;
+but as a matter of fact he was without any support in that direction,
+and was left, as the soldiers say, "in the air." Further, von Buelow was
+now able to spare some of his right-wing troops and send them to help
+von Kluck, who was about to swoop down on the British line.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF MONS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>t is a peaceful Sunday morning; the sun is shining and the bells are
+ringing. The Belgians in Mons and the surrounding mining villages are
+flocking towards their churches; but in the British lines our soldiers
+are hard at work in their shirt-sleeves deepening the trenches and
+making ready to meet the threatened attack. As the morning wears on a
+German Taube<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> comes gliding high over the trenches like a huge
+vulture seeking its prey. It circles round and round, and more than one
+enterprising "Tommy" discharges his rifle at it. Now a British aeroplane
+ascends to give it battle; but the Taube makes a long curve northward,
+and disappears in rapid flight. Meanwhile our own airmen and cavalry
+scouts are coming in with the news that large numbers of the enemy are
+moving through the green woods towards the centre of the line, and that
+towards Binche and Cond&eacute; other columns are on the march.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Sir John French assembled his commanders at six in the morning on August
+23, and explained to them what he understood to be General Joffre's
+plan. He knew nothing of what had happened on his right, and he believed
+that one, or at most two, of the enemy's army corps, with perhaps one
+cavalry division, were on his front. He had no idea that the enemy
+outnumbered him by at least two to one, and that they were attempting to
+envelop him by attacking his exposed flanks.</p>
+
+<p>A private in the 1st Royal West Kent Regiment tells us how the battle
+began. He says: "It was Sunday, 23rd August, that we were at Mons,
+billeted in a farmyard, and we were having a sing-song, and watching
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+the people coming home from church. At about 12.30 an orderly had gone
+down to draw dinners when an aeroplane appeared overhead, throwing out
+some black powder. After this shrapnel began to burst, acquainting us
+with the fact that the Germans were in the vicinity. All was confusion
+and uproar for the moment, because we were not armed, and our shirts and
+socks were out to wash, that being the only chance we had to get them
+washed. It did not take us long, however, to get in fighting trim and go
+through the town of Mons to the scene of operations, which was on the
+other side of a small canal that adjoined."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p027.jpg" width="576" height="247" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>The British were soon standing to arms in their position along the whole
+twenty-five miles of the battle-line. Hardly had they thrust the
+cartridges into their rifles before the terrible thunder of the German
+guns began. These guns were massed just outside the southern edge of the
+woods, behind railway embankments, roadside trees, hedgerows, and the
+raised towing-paths of the willow-fringed canals. The thunder of the
+cannonade speedily showed that the enemy was in far greater force than
+had been supposed. Not, however, for some hours did Sir John French and
+his staff realize that they were <i>everywhere</i> outnumbered.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+<p>The guns were booming, but there was no sign of the enemy. The front
+seemed empty of men, but an observer would have seen soft, fleecy clouds
+hanging above the British trenches&mdash;a sign that shrapnel was bursting
+over them, and that a deadly flail of iron bullets was beating down upon
+them. Our soldiers, who had learned to take cover in South Africa, lay
+close, and waited, whiling away the time by joking and by playing
+marbles with the shrapnel bullets that fell among them. At first the aim
+of the enemy's artillery was not very good, but speedily their
+aeroplanes came circling over the trenches, and by throwing down smoky
+bombs revealed their whereabouts. Then they made very accurate shooting,
+and many of our men were hit. Meanwhile our artillery began to reply,
+and more than once silenced a battery of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Our officers knew full well that the roar of the guns was the signal for
+the German infantry to advance. For a time nothing could be seen of
+them, for they took cover well, and their bluish gray uniforms seemed to
+melt into the leafy background. Our officers, who were eagerly scanning
+the landscape with field-glasses, only saw them when they began to open
+fire with rifles and machine guns.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans believed that if they kept up a fierce artillery fire on our
+trenches our men would become so terrified that they would scuttle from
+their burrows like rabbits at the approach of a ferret. They did not
+then know of what stuff British soldiers are made. No fighters in the
+world are so cool and dogged; none can take such severe punishment
+without flinching, or wait so patiently for the right moment to advance.</p>
+
+<p>And now the blue-gray masses of the Germans came into full view. They
+made desperate attacks near Binche, where, owing to the retirement of
+the French, the flank was exposed to a turning movement. Some of the
+troops who were to help in holding this part of the line had only just
+arrived, after a long and trying march under a hot sun, and were busy
+"digging themselves in" while the shrapnel was bursting over them.</p>
+
+<p>When the infantry of the enemy began to appear our soldiers had three
+surprises. In the sham battles which they had fought at Aldershot or on
+Salisbury Plain they had learned to fire at men moving forward in a
+thin, extended line, with eight or ten paces between them. To their
+amazement they saw the Germans coming on in dense masses, as though they
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+were parading in the streets of Potsdam. Our men grasped their rifles
+and waited until the enemy came within six or seven hundred yards of
+them. On rolled the Germans, singing their national songs, and believing
+that they could sweep the British out of their trenches by sheer weight
+of numbers. At last the word was given, and a tornado of rifle and
+machine-gun fire crashed down upon the dense masses.</p>
+
+<p>Our men fired as steadily as though they were shooting at targets in
+time of peace. Not a shot was wasted; every bullet found its billet.
+"The Germans were in solid square blocks, standing out sharply against
+the skyline," wrote Sergeant Loftus, "and you couldn't help hitting
+them. It was like butting your head against a stone wall." Before the
+rapid fire and sure aim of the British the hosts of the enemy went down
+in heaps. "It was like cutting hay," said a private. In one place there
+was a breastwork of German dead and wounded five feet high, and our
+soldiers had to leave their trenches in order to see the foe.</p>
+
+<p>The second surprise was the poor shooting of the German infantry. They
+fired as they marched, with their rifles at their hips. Though thousands
+of their bullets whizzed by, very few of them found a mark. "They can't
+shoot for nuts," said one Tommy; "they couldn't hit a haystack." "They
+couldn't hit the gas works at Mons," said another. "If they had, I
+wouldn't be here."</p>
+
+<p>The third surprise was the vast numbers of the enemy that made the
+attack. Our first line did not consist, at any time, of more than 80,000
+men, and against them von Kluck hurled at least 150,000 men, without
+counting the masses of cavalry which were moving towards the space
+between our left at Cond&eacute; and the town of Tournai. Though the Germans
+were shot down in thousands, they continued to roll on like the waves of
+an incoming tide. "It was like the crowd leaving a football ground on a
+cup-tie day," was the description of one of our soldiers. For every five
+men which the French and the British had in the field in the early days
+of the war the Germans had eight.</p>
+
+<p>Against these terrible odds our men fought stubbornly. Again and again
+the dense masses of the Germans pressed towards them, and as they did so
+a sheet of flame flickered along the line of British trenches, and they
+were beaten down like a field of standing wheat before a hailstorm. But
+no sooner were they swept to earth than their supports appeared, only to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+meet the same fate. Our men grew sick with slaughter. In some places the
+crowded ranks of the enemy managed to come close to the British
+trenches. Then our men leaped forward with a cheer and drove with the
+bayonet through and through the ranks, until the survivors turned and
+fled, followed by the pitiless fire of Maxims and field guns.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 710px;">
+<img src="images/p030.jpg" width="710" height="472" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The British in their Trenches at Mons.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>From the picture
+by Dudley Tennant.</i></h4>
+
+<p>One important feature of the attack was the very large number of machine
+guns used by the Germans. They were mounted on low sledges, so that they
+could be rapidly brought into the firing line and worked by men lying
+down. It seemed in these early days of the war as though the enemy was
+going to do the real fighting with artillery and machine guns, and that
+his infantry were only to act as supports.</p>
+
+<p>You already know that von Kluck was throwing his main strength chiefly
+on the British right, but there were also furious fights along the canal
+towards Cond&eacute;, where our men were holding the bridges. Frenzied attacks
+were made on these bridges, but they were stubbornly held. When,
+however, the overwhelming numbers of the enemy appeared, our troops were
+withdrawn to the south bank, and orders were given to blow up the
+bridges and the barges in the canal. The engineers did the work with the
+coolest courage in the face of a deadly fire.</p>
+
+<p>A hundred deeds of gallantry were done that day. One bridge was held by
+a devoted company of the Scottish Borderers. When they saw that it must
+be abandoned, a sergeant and three men dashed on to it to fire the fuse.
+The three men dropped in their tracks, and the sergeant went on alone.
+He hacked the fuse short and fired it; but with the destruction of the
+bridge he too was destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>Foiled at the bridges, the enemy now attempted to cross the canal by
+means of pontoons. Our guns were trained on them, and an awful scene of
+slaughter and destruction began. Ten separate times the Germans managed
+to throw their pontoons over the water, and ten separate times the guns
+of the British smashed them to fragments.</p>
+
+<p>Stubbornly as our men were fighting, the terrible pressure of the
+Germans could not be resisted. About three o'clock Sir Philip Chetwode's
+cavalry brigade, which had been guarding the flank, had to be withdrawn;
+whereupon the enemy occupied Binche. Sir Douglas Haig then drew in his
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+right, and slowly fell back to a long swell of ground south of the
+village of Bray. You know that the British line had been almost
+straight; the retirement of the 1st Army Corps swung the right half of
+the line towards the south, so that there was a sharp angle between it
+and the 2nd Army Corps, holding the line of the Mons-Cond&eacute; canal. The
+British were now in the same sort of dangerous position as the French
+when they held the angle between the Meuse and the Sambre. General
+French saw at once that his men in Mons were exposed to attacks from the
+front and the flanks, and that they were in peril of being cut off; so
+he directed the commander of that part of the line "to be careful not to
+keep the troops on this salient too long, but, if threatened seriously,
+to draw back the centre behind Mons."</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had this message been sent off before a startling telegram from
+General Joffre reached General French. It gave him news which he ought
+to have received hours before, and made his gallant stand quite
+unavailing. It told him that Namur had fallen on the previous day; that
+the 5th French Army and the two reserve divisions on his right were in
+retreat; that the passages of the Sambre between Charleroi and Namur
+were in the hands of the enemy; that at least three German army corps
+were moving on the front of his position, while another was making a
+wide turning movement round his left by way of Tournai. Probably at this
+time some 200,000 Germans were about to attack Sir John French's 80,000.
+All this meant that the little British army, though it had done, and
+could still do, miracles of valour, was in peril of being cut off,
+enveloped, and destroyed. There was nothing for it but to hold on until
+nightfall, and then retreat. You can imagine the bitter disappointment
+of our men, who now knew that they were more than a match for the
+Germans.</p>
+
+<p>A sergeant tells us that all day long the British defied every attempt
+of the enemy to dislodge them from their trenches. "After the last
+attack," he says, "we lay down in our clothes to sleep as best we could;
+but long before sunrise we were called out, to be told that we had got
+to abandon our position. Nobody knew why we had to go; but like good
+soldiers we obeyed without a murmur."</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>SOLDIERS' STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF MONS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he account of the Battle of Mons which you have just read has been
+built up from two main sources of information. First, and most
+important, is the dispatch of Sir John French. It is a plain,
+business-like statement, giving a broad outline of the manner in which
+his troops were disposed, and relating in proper order the chief
+features of the struggle, but not telling us much about the details of
+the fighting. Then come the accounts which the soldiers who took part in
+the battle have given of their experiences. Of course each of these
+soldiers only saw but a very small portion of the battle, and they knew
+very little of the "moves" which their commanders were making; but it is
+from them that we hear those details which give life and colour to the
+story. In this chapter you are going to read some accounts of various
+incidents in the battle as told by those who fought at Mons on the 23rd
+day of August 1914.</p>
+
+<p>Here is the story told by a Gordon Highlander named Smiley. He drew a
+little diagram to illustrate the fighting which he saw, and I reproduce
+it on the next page in order that you may the more easily follow his
+story. You will notice that he and his comrades held a trench to the
+south of Mons.</p>
+
+<p>"We marched out of our billets at 4 a.m. We marched up to No. 1 and
+wheeled to the right, which fetched us on the main Paris road (No.
+4.4.4.4), with Mons itself somewhat half-left on our rear. We
+immediately set about clearing the foreground of willows, beans, wheat,
+and anything which gave head cover. About 10 a.m. we had (except
+buildings) a clear rifle range of quite two thousand yards. We then dug
+our trenches, and much labour and love we put into them.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p034.jpg" width="226" height="300" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+<p>"The ball opened at 11.30 a.m. by a terrible artillery duel by the
+Germans over our trenches to No. 5. This went on for some hours, until a
+movement of infantry was seen at No. 6. This movement was evidently
+intended for the Gordons, as you will see that had they managed to reach
+the wood in front of us (No. 7) our position would have been made
+untenable by hidden infantry and well-served artillery, who could have
+flanked us by sheer weight of numbers.</p>
+
+<p>"However, we opened on them at No. 6 with a terrific Maxim fire. They
+advanced in companies of quite one hundred and fifty men in files five
+deep. Guess the result. We could steady our rifles on the trench and
+take deliberate aim. The first company were simply blasted away by a
+volley at seven hundred yards, and in their insane formation every
+bullet was almost sure to find two billets. The other companies kept
+advancing very slowly, using their dead comrades as cover; but they had
+absolutely no chance, and at about 5 p.m. their infantry retired.</p>
+
+<p>"We were still being subjected to a terrible artillery fire. But we had
+time to see what was happening on our left flank (1, 2, 3). The Royal
+Irish Regiment had been surprised and fearfully cut up, and so, too, had
+the Middlesex, and it was found impossible for our B and C Companies to
+reinforce them. We (D Company) were one and a half miles away, and were
+ordered to proceed to No. 2 and relieve the Royal Irish as much as
+possible. We crept from our trenches and crossed to the other side of
+the road, where we had the benefit of a ditch and the road camber<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> as
+cover. We made most excellent progress until one hundred and fifty yards
+from No. 1. At that distance there was a small white house flush with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+the road standing in a clearance. Our young sub.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> was leading, and
+safely crossed the front of the house. Immediately the Germans opened a
+cyclone of shrapnel at the house. They could not see us, but I guess
+they knew the reason why troops would or might pass that house. However,
+we were to relieve the R.I.'s, and astounding as it may seem, we passed
+that house, and I was the only one to be hit. Even yet I am amazed at
+our luck.</p>
+
+<p>"By this time dusk had set in, four villages were on fire, and the
+Germans had been and were shelling the hospitals. We managed to get into
+the R.I.'s trench, and beat off a very faint-hearted Uhlan attack on us.
+About 9 p.m. came our orders to retire. What a pitiful handful we were
+against that host, and yet we held the flower of the German army at bay
+all day!"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Another soldier who was present in this part of the battlefield says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We were digging trenches, and were totally unaware that the enemy was
+near us, when all of a sudden shells came dropping all around, and the
+Germans bore down on us. One of the Middlesex companies was not at that
+time equipped in any way, with the result that they were terribly cut
+up. Then I witnessed what a real Britisher is made of. One of the
+sergeants of the Middlesex, instead of holding up hands and begging for
+mercy, like the Germans do, fought furiously with his fists, downing two
+Germans with successive blows. Other members of the Middlesex followed
+their sergeant's example. Later on a German sergeant-major who was taken
+prisoner, on viewing our numbers, said, 'Had we been aware that there
+were so few of you, not one of you would have escaped.'"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In scores of soldiers' letters we find references to the overwhelming
+numbers of the enemy. One young private wrote as follows to his father,
+who is a gardener: "You complained last summer, dad, of the swarm of
+wasps that destroyed your fruit. That will give you an idea of how the
+Germans came for us." Another man writes: "It looked as if we were going
+to be snowed under. The mass of men who came on was an avalanche, and
+every one of us must have been trodden to death, if not killed by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+shells or bullets, had not our infantry charged into them on the left
+wing, not five hundred yards from the trench I was in." A
+non-commissioned officer also refers to the odds against which our men
+struggled: "No regiment ever fought harder than we did, and no regiment
+has ever had better officers; they went shoulder to shoulder with their
+men. But you cannot expect impossibilities, no matter how brave the boys
+are, when one is fighting forces twenty to thirty times as strong."
+"They are more like flies," said another man: "the more you kill the
+more there seem to be."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p036.jpg" width="572" height="402" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Holding the Canal at Mons.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>By permission of The Sphere.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Here is the story of Lance-Corporal M'Auslan of the Royal Scots
+Fusiliers, who was fighting on the Mons-Cond&eacute; line. He says: "I was up
+in the engagement before Mons on the Saturday. We marched thirty miles,
+and had an engagement with the enemy, and fought a rearguard action over
+twenty miles for twenty-four hours. The canal at Mons must be full of
+German dead now. We were working two nights to prevent them crossing the
+canal, and we mowed them down like corn. The D Company of our regiment
+was cut up in about ten minutes, and Captain Ross and Captain Young lost
+their lives. I was with Captain Ross when he got bowled over. It was not
+the rifle fire that hurt us&mdash;they could not hit us at fifty yards&mdash;but
+it was the shrapnel fire that caused the damage. The German big gun fire
+was good, but their rifle fire was rotten. The aeroplanes did all the
+piloting. They gave the Germans the range of our guns, and they shelled
+us pretty successfully; but we brought down two Zeppelins and an
+aeroplane in the first two days of the battle."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A <i>Times</i> correspondent tells us that he was much impressed by the
+coolness and dash of our men, and their utter indifference to danger. "I
+shall never forget," he writes, "the admirable reply given by an English
+soldier, wounded in the hand, whom I found sitting by the roadside
+outside Mons, wearing an air of consternation. I began to talk to him,
+and asked him if his wound was hurting him. 'It's not that,' he said,
+with a doleful shake of the head, 'but I'm blessed if I haven't been and
+lost my pipe in that last charge!' I gave him mine, and he was instantly
+comforted."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is a fine story of the fights for the bridges at Cond&eacute; where the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+canal joins the river Scheldt; it is told by Private W. E. Carter of the
+2nd Manchester Regiment:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"To deliver their attacks it was necessary for the enemy to cross two
+bridges. The officer in command of the Royal Engineers ordered a
+non-commissioned officer to swim the canal and the river, and set fuses
+under both bridges. He reached the farther bank in safety, and on
+returning he set a fuse under the river bridge. When making for 'home'
+one of the enemy's big guns fired on him, and blew away one of his arms
+at the shoulder. Another member of the same corps entered the water and
+assisted him to land. When the Germans had marched over the first bridge
+it was blown up, leaving their ammunition carts on the other side. Then
+the second bridge was blown up, and a German force of 25,000 was placed
+at our mercy. A desperate fight followed, the Germans being left with no
+ammunition but what they carried. They struggled heroically to build a
+bridge with the object of getting their ammunition carts across, but
+every time this improvised bridge was destroyed by our artillery fire.
+Though they were thus trapped, the Germans held their ground very
+stubbornly."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The following is an account of how some of our men were trapped. A
+wounded officer says: "We were guarding a railway bridge over a canal.
+My company held a semicircle from the railway to the canal. I was
+nearest the railway. A Scottish regiment completed the semicircle on the
+right of the railway to the canal. The railway was on a high embankment
+running up to the bridge, so that the Scottish regiment was out of sight
+of us.</p>
+
+<p>"We held the Germans all day, killing hundreds, when about 5 p.m. the
+order to retire was given. It never reached us, and we were left all
+alone. The Germans therefore got right up to the canal on our right,
+hidden by the railway embankment, and crossed the railway. Our people
+had blown up the bridge before their departure. We found ourselves
+between two fires, and I realized we had about two thousand Germans and
+a canal between us and our friends. We decided to sell our lives dearly.
+I ordered my men to fix bayonets and charge, which the gallant fellows
+did splendidly; but we got shot down like ninepins. As I was loading my
+revolver after giving the order to fix bayonets I was hit in the right
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+wrist. I dropped my revolver; my hand was too weak to draw my sword. I
+had not got far when I got a bullet through the calf of my right leg and
+another in my right knee, which brought me down.</p>
+
+<p>"The rest of my men got driven round into the trench on our left. The
+officer there charged the Germans and was killed, and nearly all the men
+were either killed or wounded. I did not see this part of the business,
+but from all accounts the gallant men charged with the greatest bravery.
+Those who could walk the Germans took away as prisoners. I have since
+learnt from civilians that around the bridge five thousand Germans were
+found dead, and about sixty English. These sixty must have been nearly
+all my company, who were so unfortunately left behind."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p039.jpg" width="468" height="287" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>In the Trenches&mdash;waiting for an Attack.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photopress.</i></h4>
+
+<p>One of the finest features of our army is the admiration of the rank and
+file for their officers, and the equally sincere admiration of the
+officers for their men. In letters home they are constantly praising
+each other. A cavalry officer writes in his diary: "Can't help feeling
+jolly proud to command such a magnificent body of men. Hope to goodness
+I am capable of doing the lads full justice. Our men <span class="smcap">ARE</span> playing the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+game;" while a private pays the following striking tribute to his
+officer: "You know I have often spoken of Captain &mdash;&mdash;, and what a fine
+fellow he was. There was no braver man on the field. He got knocked over
+early with a piece of shell which smashed his leg. He must have been in
+great pain, but kneeling on one knee, he was cheerful, and kept saying,
+'My bonnie boys, make sure of your man.' When he was taken away on the
+ambulance he shouted, 'Keep cool, and mark your man.'"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>During the hot hours of the fierce fighting our men were frequently very
+thirsty, and longed for a cooling drink. Over and over again peasant
+women came up to the trenches with water and fruit for the parched and
+wearied men. They showed the most wonderful courage in approaching the
+firing line, and our soldiers were most grateful to them. One man wrote
+home to his mother: "I can assure you they are the bravest souls I have
+ever met." All honour to these noble women for their deeds of mercy in
+the day of battle.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The following stories give us a capital idea of the high spirits and
+undaunted gaiety of our men under fire. A party of British infantry were
+defending a caf&eacute; near Mons. As often as the Germans attacked the place
+they were driven back, though big holes were gaping in the walls and the
+place was rapidly becoming a ruin. There was an automatic piano in the
+caf&eacute;, and every time the Germans appeared, one soldier would say to
+another, "Put a penny in the slot, Jock, and give them some music to
+dance to." Each time the enemy attacked this was done, and the "band"
+struck up.</p>
+
+<p>A wounded lancer tells us that when the Germans bore down on his trench
+the men were singing "Hitchy Koo." "Before we were half through with the
+chorus," he says, "the man next to me got a wound in the upper part of
+his arm. But he sang the chorus to the finish, and did not seem to know
+that he was hit until a comrade on the other side said, 'Don't you think
+you'd better have it bound up? It's beginning to make a mess.'"</p>
+
+<p>Captain Buchanan Dunlop, who was wounded at Mons, tells a splendid story
+to illustrate the pluck and undaunted spirit of our men. He says: "I was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+talking to an officer of my own regiment in town yesterday. He was also
+wounded, and he told me about a fight in which one of his men lying just
+in front of him under a heavy shell fire turned to him and said, 'Sir,
+may I retire?' 'Why?' asked the officer. 'Sir,' replied the man, 'I have
+been hit three times.'"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Every boy and every girl who reads these pages has heard of the Victoria
+Cross, the highest award of valour known to the British army. Perhaps
+you have seen a man who has won it. If so, I am sure that your eyes
+shone as you looked at him, for there is no nobler sight in all the
+world than a man who is supremely brave. The Victoria Cross is a simple
+Maltese cross of bronze, worth about fourpence halfpenny, and it is so
+called because it was first instituted by Queen Victoria in the year
+1856.</p>
+
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Her cross of valour to her worthiest;</span>
+<span class="i2">No golden toy with milky pearls besprent,</span>
+<span class="i0">But simple bronze, and for a warrior's breast</span>
+<span class="i2">A fair, fit ornament."</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The special glory of the Victoria Cross is that any soldier can win it,
+be he general or private, son of a peer or son of a scavenger. It is
+given "For Valour," and for valour only. So highly honourable is it
+that, no matter what other distinctions a man may possess, the letters
+"V.C." come first after his name. It is suspended by a red ribbon if
+worn on the breast of a soldier, and by a blue ribbon if worn by a
+sailor. It carries with it a pension of ten pounds a year, which may be
+increased if the possessor cannot earn a livelihood.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p041.jpg" width="85" height="177" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Victoria Cross.</h4>
+
+<p>Let me tell you something of the men who did such glorious deeds of
+valour at Mons that they were afterwards awarded the Victoria Cross.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Captain Theodore Wright</span>, of the Royal Engineers, was engaged in blowing
+up one of the bridges over the Mons-Cond&eacute; canal. While preparing the
+bridge for destruction he was wounded in the head; but he stuck to his
+work, and refused to retire. The fuse failed to explode the charge, and
+then, wounded as he was, he dashed forward under a very heavy fire and
+fixed another fuse, which this time did its work and blew the bridge to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+fragments. On 16th November he was awarded the Victoria Cross; but,
+alas! he had then been dead two months. He was killed while assisting
+wounded men into shelter.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant Maurice James Dease</span>, of the 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers,
+was commander of the machine-gun section at Mons. Though he was badly
+wounded two or three times, he refused to leave his guns, and kept them
+in action until all his men were shot. He, too, died of his wounds, and
+the coveted Victoria Cross was handed to his relatives, who cherish it,
+you may be sure, with mingled pride and sorrow.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Corporal Charles Ernest Garforth</span>, of the 15th Hussars, also won the
+Victoria Cross on that dread day at a place about three miles south of
+Mons. His squadron was trapped, and the only road of escape was barred
+by entanglements of barbed wire. He volunteered to go forward and cut
+the wire, and this he did while hundreds of bullets flew about him.
+Thanks to his dauntless courage, his squadron was able to reach safety.
+Twice later he did equally heroic deeds, and never was the coveted cross
+more splendidly won.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lance-Corporal Charles Alfred Jarvis</span>, 57th Field Company, Royal
+Engineers, showed great gallantry at Jemappes on the canal to the west
+of Mons. He worked on a bridge for one and a half hours in full view of
+the enemy, who kept up a heavy fire upon him. For a time he had the
+assistance of his comrades, but finally he sent them to the rear, and
+then all alone fired the charges which brought down the bridge. For this
+deed he was rightly enrolled in that glorious band of heroes who have
+wrought and fought and died to make us inheritors of deathless fame.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p043.jpg" width="354" height="459" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>Lance-Corporal Jarvis preparing to destroy a Bridge.</h3>
+
+<h4><i>Drawn by Ernest Prater from a rough sketch by Lance-Corporal Jarvis.</i></h4>
+
+<h4>Engineers destroy a bridge such as the above by fixing one or more slabs
+of gun-cotton in close contact with it. Wires are attached to the
+gun-cotton, and by means of electricity the charge is fired. The
+engineers must calculate the amount of gun-cotton required, and choose
+the most suitable position for fixing the charge, so that the explosion
+may have the desired effect.</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hile our hard-pressed troops are retreating from Mons before
+overwhelming numbers of the enemy, we must turn to what is called the
+Eastern theatre of war and see what is happening there. Before, however,
+I describe the actual fighting, I must tell you something about Russia
+and the Russian army.</p>
+
+<p>You probably know that Russia is not only equal in extent to half
+Europe, but stretches right across the northern part of the continent of
+Asia to the waters of the Pacific Ocean. This vast empire actually
+covers one-seventh of all the land on the globe. Unlike the British
+Empire, it is continuous; you may travel from one end of it to the other
+by rail. You will get some idea of the tremendous railway journey
+involved when I tell you that the distance from the old city of Warsaw
+on the river Vistula to Vladivostok on the Sea of Japan is about 6,200
+miles&mdash;that is, about two-fifths of the circumference of the world at
+the latitude of London.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally you will expect this vast empire to be inhabited by vast
+numbers of people. In the year 1912 it was estimated that there were
+more than 171 millions of people under the sway of the Tsar&mdash;that is,
+more than one in ten of all the people on earth. I have already told you
+of the extraordinary variety of races which dwell beneath the Union
+Jack; there is almost as great a variety of peoples in the Russian
+Empire. There are, for example, thirty different races in the Caucasus
+alone. The bulk of the inhabitants, however, are of Slav race, and are
+descended from a people who, ages ago, entered Europe from Asia, and
+gradually conquered the land and settled in it. What are known as the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+Great Russians form the strongest and toughest race in the whole
+empire. They are Slavs who in early times intermingled with the Finns
+and set up the kingdom of Moscow. These Great Russians gradually
+succeeded in enlarging their borders, until their territory stretched to
+the Crimea and Turkestan on the south and south-east, to Manchuria in
+the far east, and to Germany in the west. The Great Russians are now the
+largest and most important of all the Russian peoples, and they occupy
+the bulk of the country.</p>
+
+<p>The descendants of the races and tribes which the Great Russians subdued
+still exist, and they differ as widely from their conquerors as a
+northern Frenchman differs from a southern Frenchman. One of these
+conquered races consists of the White Russians, who represent some of
+the earliest Slav colonists, and live near the sources of the Niemen,
+the Dwina, and the Dnieper in the south-west of the country. Most of the
+people of the south, however, are Little Russians. They speak a dialect
+of their own, love dance and song, and are less fond of work than the
+peoples of Northern Russia.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst other races in Russia are the Poles, a Slav people with quite a
+separate language. In Chapter III. of our first volume I told you that
+in the days of the English King Edward III. Poland was an important and
+flourishing kingdom. I also told you how the sovereigns of Prussia,
+Russia, and Austria conspired to seize portions of this kingdom, and how
+it was gradually gobbled up until the Poles, like the Jews, had no land
+which they could call their own. From that day to this they have yearned
+for the time when their old kingdom might be restored to them. On the
+15th day of August, when the war was in full swing, the Tsar addressed
+the Poles as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Poles! The hour has sounded when the sacred dream of your fathers and
+grandfathers may be realized. A century and a half has passed since the
+living body of Poland was torn in pieces; but the soul of the country is
+not dead. It continues to live, inspired by the hope that there will
+come for the Polish people an hour of resurrection and of brotherly
+friendship with Great Russia. The Russian army brings you the solemn
+pledge of this friendship which wipes out the frontiers dividing the
+Polish peoples, and unites them under the sceptre of the Russian Tsar.
+Under this sceptre Poland will be born again, free in her religion and
+her language. You will be granted Home Rule under the protection of
+Russia.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 711px;">
+<img src="images/p046.jpg" width="711" height="418" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>Polish Soldiers of the old days crossing the River Dneister.</h3>
+
+<h4>(<i>From the picture by the Polish artist Juliusz Kossak.</i>)</h4>
+
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+<p>"With open heart and brotherly hand Great Russia advances to meet you.
+She believes that the sword with which she struck down her enemies at
+Gr&uuml;newald<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> is not yet rusted. From the shores of the Pacific to the
+North Sea the Russian armies are marching. The dawn of a new life is
+beginning for you, and in this glorious dawn is seen the sign of the
+Cross, the symbol of suffering, and of the resurrection of peoples."</p>
+
+<p>Cannot you imagine the joy of the Poles, not only of Russia, but of
+Germany and Austria, when they heard these glad tidings? The Poles of
+Germany have always been badly treated by the Germans, and they were
+immediately won over to the side of Russia by this proclamation. When
+the day of victory arrives Germany will have to give up Prussian Poland,
+and Austria will have to give up Galicia; and these provinces, together
+with Russian Poland, will constitute the new kingdom which will rise
+again after being torn asunder and beaten to the dust for a hundred and
+fifty years.</p>
+
+<p>The Poles are by no means the only subject race of the Great Russians.
+There are the Lithuanians and the Finns in the west and north-west, the
+Tartars and Bashkirs in the east, and the Kalmucks, a Mongol people, who
+live beyond the Volga. In addition to these peoples, there are the races
+of the Caucasus, and the many others who inhabit Asiatic Russia. Some
+five million Jews also live in the Empire, chiefly in the south-west and
+in Poland.</p>
+
+<p>The armies of Russia are mainly recruited from the peasants. In Northern
+Russia the peasant is generally a tall, well-built man, with fair hair
+and blue eyes. In the south, as a rule, he is darker. In civil life the
+men wear loose shirts belted round the waist, cloth putties on the legs,
+and, in summer, shoes of plaited straw on the feet. They also wear
+peaked caps and loose knickerbockers of thin cloth. On Sundays and
+feast-days they dress in shirts of the brightest colours&mdash;red, blue,
+yellow, and salmon-pink. In winter they wear big top-boots, made of gray
+felt, and brown leather greatcoats, lined with sheepskin. The women do
+not wear hats but handkerchiefs over their heads.</p>
+
+<p>The peasant thinks of himself as a member of a family, and addresses
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+his fellows as father, brother, son, or child. He lives in a one-storied
+house, built of logs and thatched with straw. Inside the house there is
+a large high stove, on which the family sleep. On the table you will
+always see the samovar, a large brass urn filled with boiling water for
+making the tea which is so largely drunk. Meat is seldom seen, the usual
+fare being porridge made of buckwheat or millet, cabbage soup, and black
+bread. Formerly a great deal of vodka, a spirit distilled from rye,
+maize, or potatoes, was consumed, and this was manufactured and sold by
+the Government. Since the war broke out the Tsar has shut up the
+Government vodka shops throughout Russia. This is a great step forward,
+and it will certainly do much to benefit the people in body, mind, and
+pocket. The Government is sacrificing much money in thus striving to
+improve the habits of the people, for nearly one-third of its total
+revenue was formerly obtained from the sale of vodka. After eight months
+of war the Russian Minister of Finance was able to say that, owing to
+the shutting down of the Government drink shops, the workmen of the
+country were able to produce from thirty to fifty per cent. more than
+formerly. Our French allies have also taken a similar step by forbidding
+the sale of a very poisonous spirit known as absinthe.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Russian peasant can do little work during the long winter, when the
+land is in the grip of ice and snow, so that he has a long period of
+enforced idleness every year. Perhaps for this reason he does not love
+continuous work. But he can, if he chooses, do a large amount of hard
+labour in a short space of time. When, for instance, he is putting out a
+village fire, or working in the fields, or intent on finishing a job, he
+will work like an inspired giant. At other times he is inclined to be
+lazy and happy-go-lucky. As a rule, you will find the peasants
+independent in their views&mdash;shrewd, full of common sense, and much
+attached to the old ways. They are very stubborn, and nothing can move
+them when they have made up their minds to resist.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RUSSIAN ARMY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>ne very interesting Russian people must now engage our attention. North
+of the Black Sea we find what are called the Steppes. They are fertile
+towards the north, but in the south are dry deserts. In the spring they
+are covered with grass and flowers, but by the month of July all is
+parched and bare, and in winter they are deep in snow. The Steppes are
+the home of the Cossacks, who in early times were robbers, living on
+loot and fighting fiercely against the Tartars, who tried to invade
+their lands. Later on the Cossacks became Christians, joined the
+Russians, and fought against the Poles.</p>
+
+<p>The Cossacks are found in Siberia and in ten governments of Russia in
+Europe, where they hold lands on what is called military tenure&mdash;that
+is, instead of paying rent they give service in the army whenever called
+upon to do so. You will remember that under the feudal system, which was
+formerly in force in England, men who held land of the king were forced
+to provide him with so many soldiers for so many days in the year. The
+Cossacks hold their lands under somewhat the same system. They find
+their own horses, uniforms, and equipment, and they are required to
+serve from their eighteenth to their thirty-eighth year. They are born
+to the saddle, and are indeed lost without a horse. They ride steeds as
+hardy as themselves, and there is no trick of horsemanship with which
+they are not familiar. Cossacks, for example, will charge down on the
+enemy shielding themselves by hanging between the body of the horse and
+the foe. They have a reputation for being brutal and cruel, because they
+have been largely used by the Government in putting down riots and other
+risings of the people. Nevertheless they are good-natured and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+long-suffering. Here are two proverbs about Cossacks which give you a
+clue to their character: "A Cossack will starve, but his horse will have
+eaten his fill;" "The Cossack's brother is Death."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now let me tell you something about the Russian army, for it is,
+perhaps, Germany's most dangerous foe. In peace time its total strength
+is about 1,500,000 of all ranks, and its war strength is 5,500,000; but
+this by no means represents the number of men which Russia can put into
+the field at a pinch. Every Russian is supposed to serve in the army
+from his twentieth to his forty-third year. Generally speaking, he
+serves four years if in the cavalry and three years if in the infantry
+or artillery, and then is drafted into the Reserve for fifteen or
+fourteen years, during which period he undergoes two trainings of six
+weeks each. But Russia, with her vast population of 171 millions, does
+not need all these men in ordinary times, so she lets off large numbers
+of them, and thus has not so large an army as her vast population would
+lead us to suppose. No one can exactly say how many men she could put
+into the field, but probably it is at least about fifteen millions. You
+will remember that Herr von Jagow, the German Secretary of State, spoke
+of Russia's "inexhaustible supplies of men." But we must remember that
+while her man-power is so great, she has many difficulties to overcome
+in providing transport over her enormous country, and in furnishing her
+soldiers with arms and ammunition. Probably about seven million men
+represents the number which she can actually equip, arm, and feed at the
+front.</p>
+
+<p>About ten years ago the Russians fought the Japanese in Manchuria and
+were badly beaten, chiefly because the officers were not well trained,
+and were much given to drink. Since that time the whole army has been
+thoroughly overhauled, re-armed, and reorganized, and it is now the
+equal of any army in the world. Russia has done away with her drunken,
+incapable officers, and has replaced them by smart, sober, intelligent
+men. Her General Staff is very capable, and at the head of the army is
+the Grand Duke Nicholas, a giant of six feet eight inches in height, who
+is one of the most hard-working generals ever known. His soldiers love
+him, and he is untiring in caring for their comfort.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p051.jpg" width="298" height="459" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Cossacks on Active Service.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Daily Mirror.</i></h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+<p>The great strength of the Russian army lies in its discipline and
+endurance. Napoleon used to say that you were never sure when a Russian
+soldier was dead, and it is so to-day. Russian soldiers are dour and
+dogged, and will bear any amount of hardship and punishment without
+losing heart; like Wellington's men in the Peninsular,<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> they will go
+anywhere and do anything. They regard this war as a Holy War; they are
+full of enthusiasm for it, and ask no greater privilege than to fight
+and die for "Holy Russia." The moment the Cossacks of Siberia received
+the order to mobilize, they telegraphed to the Grand Duke Nicholas, "We
+are coming, Father Commander."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p052.jpg" width="534" height="361" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Russian Infantry at a Review.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Topical Press.</i></h4>
+
+<p>I will close this chapter with a noble letter written by a Russian
+mother to her soldier son. You will be impressed by her warm patriotism
+and the high ideal which she sets before her boy. Especially you will
+notice that she urges him not to be led away by "blind vengeance." What
+a contrast between her attitude and that of the Kaiser, who encouraged
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+his men to repeat the burning and butchery of Attila! Here is the
+letter:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Your father was killed very far from us, and I send you upon the sacred
+duty of defending our dear country from the vile and dreadful enemy.
+Remember you are the son of a hero. My heart is oppressed, and I weep
+when I ask you to be worthy of him. I know all the fateful horror of
+these words, what suffering it will be for me and you, but I repeat
+them. We do not live for ever in this world. What is our life? A drop in
+the ocean of beautiful Russia. We shall not exist always, but she must
+flourish for ever. I know that we shall be forgotten, and our happy
+descendants will not remember those who sleep in 'brothers' graves'
+[soldiers' graves]. With kisses and blessings I parted from you. When
+you are sent to perform a great deed, don't remember my tears, but only
+my blessings. God save you, my dear, bright, loved child. Once more: it
+is written everywhere that the enemy is cruel and savage. Don't be led
+by blind vengeance. Don't raise your hand against a fallen foe, but be
+gracious to those whose fate it is to fall into your hands."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p053.jpg" width="533" height="349" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Russian Artillery.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Record Press.</i></h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE EASTERN THEATRE OF WAR.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>n page <a href="#Page_60">59</a> you will see a map of Eastern Germany and Western Prussia. I
+want you to examine this map very carefully, because it shows the region
+in which the bulk of the fighting between the Russians and the Germans
+has so far taken place.</p>
+
+<p>Follow the dotted line which shows the boundary between the two
+countries. You see that it zigzags south, then curves west, and
+straggles southward again to the border of Austria. As a rule, the
+boundary line between two countries follows, partly or wholly, some such
+natural barrier as a range of mountains or the course of a river. The
+Russo-German boundary, however, runs along neither mountains nor rivers.
+There are no mountains until you reach the Carpathians, about three
+hundred and eighty miles south of K&ouml;nigsberg; the whole region is a flat
+plain with scarcely a hill to break its monotony. Innumerable rivers
+wind their way across the country, and in wet weather overflow their
+banks and turn wide districts into one vast slough. The boundary line,
+however, does not follow these rivers, but cuts right across them. The
+dotted line which marks off Russian from German territory is purely
+artificial, and for this reason we may almost leave it out of account.</p>
+
+<p>You will notice that the great river which flows right across this
+region is the Vistula, which we will now follow from its source to the
+German boundary near Thorn. So widespread are the various arms of this
+river, that we might call the region the "Land of the Vistula"&mdash;the name
+by which Poland was known of old. The river rises in Silesia, on the
+northern slopes of the Carpathians. It flows through a mountain valley,
+and then turns east and north-east, and forms part of the frontier
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+between Austria and Germany. Next it runs through the Austrian territory
+of Galicia, and passes by the old Polish capital of Cracow.</p>
+
+<p>Let us pause a moment and see something of this historic city. You
+notice, at once, that it blocks the road along the Vistula valley into
+Silesia, and that an invader must capture it before he can proceed to
+enter that province. Cracow has been a strong fortress for two and a
+half centuries, and now is surrounded by a circle of forts which the
+Austrians have strongly garrisoned. For two and a half centuries it was
+the capital of Poland. The finest of its thirty-nine churches is the
+Cathedral of Stanislaus, which stands on a rocky hill to the south-west
+of the old town. It was the crowning-place of the Polish kings, and
+within its walls are the tombs of several of the great Poles of history.
+Paintings, sculptures, and other objects of art adorn the cathedral,
+which dates from the middle of the fourteenth century. There is also a
+university with a rich library, and a Polish museum of art. About two
+and a half miles to the north-west of the city is a mound of earth a
+hundred feet high, which was thrown up between 1820 and 1823 in honour
+of Kosciuszko,<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> the great Polish hero. Because of its position,
+Cracow is the natural market for the exchange of goods between Silesia,
+Hungary, and Russia. There are coal and zinc mines in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving Cracow the river runs north-east, and for about one hundred
+miles forms the boundary between Austria and Russian Poland. At the town
+of Sandomir the Vistula is joined by the San, which rises on the
+northern slopes of the Carpathians and flows past the fortress and busy
+manufacturing town of Przemysl.<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> About fifty miles to the east of
+Przemysl, on the railway which runs from Odessa on the Black Sea into
+Silesia, we find Lemberg, an old city which is now a busy place of
+trade, because it stands in the broadest part of the Galician plain,
+with excellent communications north, south, east, and west.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 882px;">
+<img src="images/p0567.jpg" width="882" height="538" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>This picture gives you an idea of a typical landscape in
+Poland. Notice the difficulties which the Russians have had to overcome
+in bringing up food and ammunition to their armies.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Daily Mirror.</i></h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+<p>From Sandomir the Vistula runs north and north-west across the high
+plateau of Southern Poland, in a broad valley hemmed in by wooded
+bluffs. Passing the Russian fortress of Ivangorod on its right bank, it
+afterwards receives the river Pilica on its left bank, and crosses the
+plain of Central and Northern Poland. About thirty miles north of the
+confluence with the Pilica is Warsaw,<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> the most important town in the
+whole of Russian Poland. It is a beautifully situated city, and before
+the war was one of the brightest and gayest places in Western Europe. A
+glance at the map will show you why it is so important both to the
+Russians and to the Germans. It is the meeting-place of three great
+Russian railways, by which alone men and ammunition can be carried
+swiftly into Russian Poland. Warsaw also commands the main stream of the
+Vistula, which the Russians largely use for transport. Were it to be
+captured, the communications of the Russians would be cut, and they
+would be powerless to meet the foe in Poland. Were the Germans to seize
+it and hold it, they could keep the Russians so far back from their
+frontier that all fear of invasion through Poland would vanish. Warsaw
+is the chief stronghold of Poland, and is one of the strongest citadels
+in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>North of Warsaw the Vistula swings round to the west, and at the
+fortress of Novo Georgievsk receives the river Bug, which rises not far
+from Lemberg, and sweeps across the plain to the east of, and almost
+parallel with, the Vistula for more than two hundred miles. A right bank
+tributary of the Bug, the river Narew,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> is worth notice, because
+along it we find a chain of Russian forts. About thirty miles west of
+Novo Georgievsk the Vistula receives on its left bank the sluggish river
+Bzura, which rises within a short distance of the Warta<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> or Warthe, a
+northward and westward flowing tributary of the German river Oder. The
+Vistula now sweeps north-west past Plock, and enters Prussia some ten
+miles above Thorn.</p>
+
+<p>If you look carefully at Russian Poland, you will see that it forms a
+salient which projects into Germany and Austria for about two hundred
+miles from north to south, and two hundred and fifty miles from east to
+west. To the north of this salient is East Prussia, and to the south of
+it is the Austrian province of Galicia. Russian Poland can be entered by
+an enemy from the north, from the west, and from the south. If you look
+at the position of the forts (marked by stars on the map) you will see
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+how Russia has prepared to meet invasions from these directions. A chain
+of forts from Novo Georgievsk north-east to Grodno on the Niemen bars
+the way into Russia from East Prussia. Warsaw and Ivangorod hold the
+line of the Vistula against an invasion from the west, and Ivangorod and
+Brest Litovski on the Bug stand in the road of troops advancing from
+Galicia. All these fortresses are linked up by railways.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p059.jpg" width="343" height="385" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Polish Theatre of War.</h4>
+
+<p>When you examine the map you will be sure to notice that in all this
+western part of Russia there are but few railways for so large an area
+of country. There are also few good roads, for the country is so swampy
+that they are difficult to make and to keep passable. Without good roads
+and railways a modern army cannot keep the field; it cannot march, and
+it cannot supply itself with the necessary provision for men and guns.
+The general who has good roads and railways at his command can bring his
+men quickly and without great fatigue to the desired positions; he can
+move them rapidly to the points where he means to make his attacks, and
+he can supply himself promptly and continuously with food and
+ammunition. He can also bring up reinforcements rapidly, and carry his
+wounded and prisoners to the rear. Without good roads and railways he is
+greatly hampered. You can easily see that the Russian commander-in-chief
+has great difficulties to overcome because of the lack of good roads and
+railways in Poland.</p>
+
+<p>When, however, we turn to the German side of the frontier, quite a
+different picture presents itself. The Germans have always paid great
+attention to military railways, and have planned and constructed them
+throughout the empire with great diligence and foresight. It was by
+means of their splendid system of railways that they were able to
+mobilize their troops so quickly, and fling them without an hour's delay
+into Belgium. Behind the eastern frontier of Poland they have two double
+lines of railway, and these are united into a perfect gridiron by
+criss-cross lines. By means of this railway system they can carry their
+troops rapidly to any part of the frontier, and can readily supply
+themselves with food and ammunition. As we shall see later, the German
+generals have been able to transfer their men from the north to the
+south by railway, and have thus been enabled to carry out rapid
+movements which are quite impossible to the Russians.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+<p>Before I close this rather dull but very necessary chapter, I must tell
+you something about the two provinces which form the northern and part
+of the southern boundaries of Russian Poland. Let us look first at the
+country which lies between the Lower Vistula and the Lower Niemen, the
+region in which the Germans and Russians first came to blows. Along the
+coast, which is lined with sand dunes, you see two lagoons almost
+entirely cut off from the Baltic Sea by tongues of land. Into the
+westward of these the Vistula and the Pregel discharge themselves; by
+means of the other lagoon the river Memel finds its way to the sea.</p>
+
+<p>A large map would show you that these rivers form deltas at their
+mouths, and this clearly proves that the country is flat and low-lying.
+The rivers are sluggish, and the slightest obstacle causes them to
+change their beds. The deserted channels remain as stagnant pools and
+marshes, and in course of time have become filled with peat. A
+bird's-eye view of this region shows a maze of water-courses, swamps,
+lakes, peat bogs, dense forests, and green meadows. Farther south the
+country rises to a low plateau, which is literally pitted with lakes,
+amongst which is the Spirding See, forty-six square miles in extent, the
+largest inland lake in Prussia. Some of these lakes are wide and
+shallow, with hard gravel floors, but others are simply a film of water
+above yards of mud. Bogs abound, and it is very hard to tell where the
+meadows end and the swampy ground begins. On the map you will notice
+that the lake district is called the Masurian Lake Region; it receives
+this name from the Masures, a section of Poles who have long inhabited
+the country. Round about the lakes are thick, dark forests, in which
+wolves, lynxes, and elks are still found and hunted.</p>
+
+<p>In the valleys of the Pregel and Memel there is fertile soil, in which
+rye, oats, and potatoes are grown; but for the rest the country is
+largely sterile moor and bog. East Prussia is the headquarters of German
+horse-breeding, and there is a great Government establishment for this
+purpose a few miles to the east of Gumbinnen.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> East Prussia has for
+many years past been a favourite hunting-ground of the Kaiser.</p>
+
+<p>From this brief description you will clearly understand that East
+Prussia is neither a rich nor a very attractive country; yet it is the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+very apple of the Prussian eye. You will remember that it was stolen
+from Poland by Frederick the Great in 1772. When he was only Elector of
+Brandenburg he was King of East Prussia. K&ouml;nigsberg, which you will find
+near the mouth of the Pregel, was the first capital of the kings of
+Prussia, and to them it is almost a sacred city. They still have a
+residence in K&ouml;nigsberg, and are still crowned<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> in its cathedral.
+Every year the victory of Sedan is celebrated in K&ouml;nigsberg with great
+rejoicings. Most of the great Prussian families who have given their
+sons to the Prussian army have estates in East Prussia, where they are
+lords of the soil. Their farm-servants, though supposed to be free, are
+really their serfs, and are kept down with a heavy hand. The Kaiser and
+his nobles regard East Prussia as the very citadel of their power, and
+to lose it would be their ruin.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p062.jpg" width="596" height="403" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Insterburg.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Exclusive News Agency.</i></h4>
+
+<p>From what has been said about East Prussia you would suppose it to be
+the last region in which the Russians would willingly fight battles.
+Why, then, did they invade it? I think for two reasons. First, because
+they could push into it very rapidly; and, secondly, because they knew
+that, immediately it was attacked, the Germans must come to its rescue.
+You know that the German General Staff believed that six weeks at least
+would elapse before the Russian mobilization could be completed. In that
+time they hoped to beat France so thoroughly that a few army corps would
+be sufficient to hold her down. Then they meant to swing their
+victorious troops to the eastern theatre of war, and overwhelm the
+Russians in the same way. Such was their calculation; but, like so many
+of their calculations, it went all wrong.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+<p>The Russians mobilized in sixteen days, and they had sufficient troops
+ready for the field on 3rd August, less than three days after the
+declaration of war. They could not send these troops against the western
+Polish front, because they were not strong enough in numbers, and they
+were then by no means sure that the Poles would not rise against them.
+They could, however, fling them into East Prussia, which was, as it
+were, on their doorstep. This they did, and though the invasion finally
+ended in defeat, it served a good purpose, for the Germans had to
+withdraw a number of their army corps from France and hurry them
+eastward to defend their beloved East Prussia. The Belgians by their
+gallant fight had upset the German programme; the withdrawal of these
+corps from the western front played further havoc with it, and no doubt
+did much to save France.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p063.jpg" width="303" height="332" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Russian Troops entraining for the Frontier.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Record Press.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Now let us look for a moment at the province of Silesia, which, you will
+remember, Frederick the Great wickedly tore from Maria Theresa in the
+year 1741.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> You will see from the map on page 38 of our first volume
+that Silesia forms a wedge between Bohemia and Hungary on the south, and
+Russian Poland on the east. Whoever holds Silesia can turn the line of
+the Oder, and pass behind the barrier fortresses which Germany has built
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+upon her eastern front. He also holds the road northward to Berlin and
+southward to Vienna. At all costs the Germans must defend Silesia, not
+only because it is the key to Germany from the south-east, but because
+it is the German Lancashire, a great industrial province which supplies
+the empire with much of its cotton, linen, woollen, and metal
+manufactures. Should this province be captured, Germany would suffer a
+blow from which she could hardly recover.</p>
+
+<p>There is another but a less important reason why Silesia must be held by
+the Germans. Silesia is, as it were, a wedge between the Slav peoples of
+the east and those of Bohemia. Should Russia conquer Silesia, she would
+be able to join hands with the Slavs of Bohemia, and it is possible that
+they might rise in her favour. These Czechs,<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> as they are called,
+formerly dwelt in the Carpathians, but were driven westward into Bohemia
+about 570 A.D. They number about eight millions, and they speak a
+Slavonic language. About 37 per cent. of the population of Bohemia
+consists of Germans, and between them and the Czechs there is a bitter
+race enmity, which has grown greatly in recent years.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>VICTORY AND DEFEAT.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>e must now learn something of the fighting that took place between the
+Russians and the Germans during the months of August and September.</p>
+
+<p>Believing that the Russians would be unable to attack them for several
+weeks, the Germans had left but three army corps to defend East Prussia.
+Imagine their surprise when, as early as 3rd August, bands of Cossacks
+came spurring across the border, raiding the frontier posts, and driving
+off their garrisons. The inhabitants of the villages were terrified at
+the very name of Cossack, and fled at their approach. These Cossack
+raids heralded the approach of two Russian armies. On 7th August a swarm
+of aeroplanes flew across the border near Suwalki,<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> and soon
+afterwards General Rennenkampf's army set foot on German soil.
+Rennenkampf was a dashing soldier, who had made a reputation in the war
+against Japan, and his army was just as eager and enthusiastic as he
+was. In the ranks were large numbers of young volunteers belonging to
+the best families of Russia, and it is said that it included some women
+who had cut off their hair and had enlisted as men. Rennenkampf marched
+north-east to strike at the railway which you see on the map running
+from Kowno<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> to K&ouml;nigsberg. His first object was to reach Insterburg,
+the junction of all the railways in East Prussia. If this town could be
+captured, K&ouml;nigsberg itself might be besieged.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time another Russian army, under General Samsonov, who had
+won renown as the commander of the Siberian Cossacks in the war with
+Japan, began to push into East Prussia from Mlava,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> which you will
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+find close to the border line, at the south of the Masurian Lake
+Region. He had a large force, probably consisting of five army corps,
+and his object was to march northward along the fringes of the lake
+district towards K&ouml;nigsberg. Now let us see how these two armies carried
+out their mission.</p>
+
+<p>Rennenkampf first met the enemy in force at Gumbinnen, about fifteen
+miles to the east of Insterburg. All round the town there are great pine
+woods, between which are fields of rye, studded with windmills. The
+Germans had entrenched themselves near the town, and had cut down
+thousands of trees, which they had piled up in front of their trenches
+to form obstacles.</p>
+
+<p>The battle began on Sunday morning, 16th August. Again and again the
+Russians charged the trenches, and again and again they were beaten
+back. A fierce artillery duel raged, and it was soon clear that the
+Russian guns and gunners could more than hold their own against the
+Germans. All day the white-tunicked infantry of the Tsar hammered at the
+German trenches in front, while their comrades were working steadily
+round the left flank. Towards sunset the Germans found themselves almost
+enveloped; they were forced to retreat, and began streaming back towards
+the town, with the Cossacks hard on their rear. The retreat soon became
+a rout, and many prisoners and machine guns were captured.</p>
+
+<p>The Cossacks vigorously followed up the flying foe, and swept all before
+them, cutting and thrusting at the little knots who vainly offered
+resistance, fighting their way through blazing villages, and keeping the
+beaten Germans on the run. Try as they might, the Germans could not stay
+the torrent of the Russian advance. They tried to rally at Insterburg,
+their next line of defence, but all in vain, and were obliged to fall
+back for safety on the fortress of K&ouml;nigsberg. As they retreated a new
+peril appeared, and their flight became so rapid that they were obliged
+to abandon food, stores, ammunition, and guns.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p067.jpg" width="397" height="494" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Tsar and his Commander-in-Chief, the Grand Duke Nicholas.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd.</i></h4>
+
+<p>What was this new peril? While Rennenkampf was attacking the enemy,
+Samsonov's army had advanced northward with as much speed as the
+difficult nature of the ground would permit, and on 20th August his
+vanguard came upon the 20th German Corps strongly entrenched on a line
+about forty miles to the south-east of K&ouml;nigsberg. The Russians
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+advanced as furiously and as doggedly as they had done at Gumbinnen,
+and, aided by their artillery, carried the German trenches with hand
+grenades<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> and the bayonet. About eleven next morning the German right
+was turned, and the left fled towards the south-west, while the
+remainder, hotly pursued by Cossacks, hurried towards K&ouml;nigsberg. When
+the news of this defeat reached the Germans who were retreating farther
+north, and they learnt that a new army was on their flank, they hastened
+with all speed towards K&ouml;nigsberg.</p>
+
+<p>These two victories made the Russians masters of East Prussia. They
+occupied Tilsit, on the Niemen&mdash;where, you will remember, Napoleon and
+Alexander of Russia met on a raft in the river to make plans for
+dividing Europe between them<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a>&mdash;and marched on K&ouml;nigsberg. There was
+great joy in Russia when these victories were reported, and on the 27th
+of August a sum of &pound;20,000 was raised by the sale of flags in
+Petrograd,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> to be given to the first Russian soldier who entered
+Berlin.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now for the sequel. The loss of East Prussia was a bitter blow to the
+Kaiser and his nobility. The knowledge that this precious Prussian land
+was in the hands of the enemy could not be hidden from the German
+people, for there were crowds of refugees in the Berlin streets,
+bemoaning the loss of their farms and villages. Immediately the General
+Staff decided that East Prussia must be recovered at all costs. They had
+no need to look far for the general who was to undertake this task.
+There was only one soldier who could do it&mdash;von Hindenburg, a veteran of
+1870, a tough, hardy man, although nearer seventy years of age than
+sixty. He had made a special study of East Prussia; it was his hobby,
+and he knew it like the palm of his hand. He had spent weeks for many
+years past in travelling over this wilderness of lake and marsh,
+sometimes on foot, sometimes in a motor car. He knew every road, every
+quagmire, and every bog-hole. He had tested every path by which an army
+could pass and every position where a gun could be brought to bear.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+There was not a charcoal burner or a forest ranger in the whole of East
+Prussia who knew the country so well as he. When it was proposed to
+drain the region and clear it of forests so that it might become a rich
+agricultural land, he went to the Kaiser and protested strongly. This
+eastern wilderness, he said, was worth many army corps and a dozen
+fortresses to Germany, for it was a great natural bulwark against
+Russia. The Kaiser listened to him, and the scheme was abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>Von Hindenburg had on many occasions played the mimic game of war in
+East Prussia, for he had commanded the German armies during manoeuvres
+in this region. He used to divide his troops into two armies, the one
+wearing a white ribbon, the other a red ribbon. The "Reds" were the
+Russians; the "Whites" were the Germans. When the "Reds" knew that von
+Hindenburg was in command against them, they used to say, "To-day we
+shall have a bath." They knew that everything that they could do would
+be unavailing: whether they attacked from the left or from the right,
+whether they made a frontal attack, or whether they fell upon the
+"Whites" from the rear, whether they were few or many, the end was
+always the same. Von Hindenburg was sure to drive them into a place from
+which they could not extricate themselves. When the signal was given to
+break off the manoeuvres, the "Reds" were sure to be found standing up
+to the neck in water. No wonder the soldiers nicknamed him "Papa
+Coldbaths."</p>
+
+<p>A new army was gathered at Danzig, composed of the troops which had
+retired south-west, of the troops in K&ouml;nigsberg who were carried to
+Danzig by sea, and of reinforcements picked up in various parts of
+Germany. Later on several army corps were withdrawn from the western
+theatre of war. Altogether, von Hindenburg had about 150,000 men with
+which to begin the reconquest of East Prussia. He pushed forward from
+the line of the Vistula by the three railways which you see marked on
+the map. Along these three lines he rushed men, guns, and ammunition
+with great speed.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 708px;">
+<img src="images/p070.jpg" width="708" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Russian Infantry Officers saluting the Tsar.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Record Press.</i></h4>
+
+<p>You know that after the battle of Gumbinnen, Rennenkampf had advanced
+towards K&ouml;nigsberg, which is a very strong fortress with an open channel
+to the sea. He was now waiting for his siege train to arrive before
+beginning to attack it. Meanwhile Samsonov seemed as if he were bent on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+seizing the crossings of the Vistula. In order to do this he marched
+his troops south towards the important railway junction of Osterode,
+which stands on the margin of the lake region. He had five army
+corps&mdash;that is, about 200,000 men&mdash;but they could not deploy owing to
+the lakes and swamps which lay between the roads. His columns could not,
+therefore, come to the assistance of each other in case of attack.</p>
+
+<p>Von Hindenburg chose his ground with all the local knowledge and skill
+which was expected of him. He extended his line from Soldau to the
+north-west of Allenstein, so that his front was barred by lakes and
+swamps, over which his artillery had a great sweep of fire. He made his
+front still stronger by a string of forts built of trees cut down in the
+forests. Then he stood on the defensive, and Samsonov began to attack
+him. Towards the end of August there was a great struggle, which is
+known by the Russians as the battle of Osterode, and by the Germans as
+the battle of Tannenberg, from the name of a little village on a
+fir-clad dune in the neighbourhood.</p>
+
+<p>Von Hindenburg was in no hurry. He let the Russians wear themselves down
+by repeated attacks on his almost impregnable position, and then, when
+the right hour arrived, he counter-attacked. First, he forced back the
+Russian left, and cut it off from the one good road that led southwards
+to Russian Poland. Samsonov made a desperate effort to regain this road,
+and in order to do so was obliged to withdraw troops from his centre. He
+failed, and meanwhile his centre was pushed back into the terrible lake
+country to the east.</p>
+
+<p>Von Hindenburg's attack on the Russian left was a feint to cover a great
+turning movement on the Russian right. All the time the fighting was
+proceeding on the left, the wily old general was busy preparing for
+another Sedan. Motor lorries, omnibuses, and taxi-cabs in large numbers
+had been collected from all parts of Germany, and these were filled with
+men, guns, and Maxims, and hurried north beyond Allenstein, in order to
+curve round the Russian right. The result was that Samsonov's right was
+pushed back into the almost roadless country where von Hindenburg had
+over and over again left the "Reds" of his manoeuvre days up to their
+necks in water.</p>
+
+<p>I need not describe the battle in detail. By 28th and 29th August the
+bulk of the Russians were bundled into the mire of the swamps. As they
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+retired, their guns sank up to the axle trees, and had to be abandoned.
+Horses struggled in the bogs, and whole regiments were driven into the
+lakes and drowned in the water or choked in the quagmires. Meanwhile the
+pitiless German guns were working terrible havoc on those who survived.
+The 31st of August was the final day of the battle. A bursting shell
+slew Samsonov and two of his corps commanders, while elsewhere several
+other Russian leaders were lying dead or wounded. The whole Russian army
+was smashed to ruin. Out of 200,000 men, no less than 140,000 were
+killed, wounded, or captured. The Germans took between 80,000 and 90,000
+prisoners&mdash;about the same number which fell into their hands at Sedan.
+Not a Russian gun was saved, and the miserable remnants of the army
+crossed their own frontier as a mere rabble. Never was there a more
+complete and decisive victory. Von Hindenburg became the idol of the
+German people, and his triumph was well deserved. By his great skill and
+knowledge of the country he had hopelessly beaten a bigger force than
+his own.</p>
+
+<p>Without losing a day, von Hindenburg pushed northwards in the attempt to
+cut off Rennenkampf's army. Rennenkampf, however, fell back steadily
+from K&ouml;nigsberg, and by rapid marching managed to reach the safety of
+the frontier forts.</p>
+
+<p>So ends the tragic story of Russia's invasion of East Prussia. The whole
+campaign was a mistake. Russia was not yet ready for great adventures;
+she had tried to do too big a job with too small a force, and she had
+failed. Nevertheless she had not failed in vain; she had relieved the
+pressure on the Allies in the west, and had learned those lessons of
+bitter experience which were to serve her well in the future.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now we must turn to the province of Galicia, which projects south of
+Russian Poland, just as East Prussia projects to the north. Early in
+August, while the Russians were conquering in East Prussia, the
+Austrians advanced two main armies, said to consist of more than a
+million men, into Russian Poland. The first of these armies pushed
+north-east, and met a smaller Russian army under General Ivanov, who
+gave way before it, and retired slowly eastwards towards the valley of
+the Bug. The 2nd Austrian Army, which was operating to the north and
+south of Lemberg, had, however, to meet two Russian armies&mdash;the more
+northerly one under General Ruzsky, the more southerly one under
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+General Brussilov. These armies, each of which numbered about a quarter
+of a million men, came into touch with each other towards the end of
+August, and assailed the 2nd Austrian Army both from the north and from
+the east. Their object was to capture Lemberg, the key of the road and
+railway system of Eastern Galicia. Lemberg is not a fortress; its sole
+defence was the 2nd Austrian Army. During the last week of August
+Ruzsky's army fought its way across the Upper Bug, while Brussilov's
+army, after a fight which lasted nearly three days, stormed the Austrian
+trenches and entered the town of Tarnapol, where fierce hand-to-hand
+combats took place in the streets. Tarnapol was captured, and Brussilov,
+still fighting fiercely, crossed the Dneister and wheeled northwards to
+Lemberg.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p073.jpg" width="350" height="306" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Map showing the situation towards the end of August.<br />
+
+Solid black oblongs show Austrians; open oblongs, Russians. C, General
+Ivanov's army; D, General Ruzsky's army; E, General Brussilov's army; F,
+2nd Austrian Army; G, 1st Austrian Army.</h4>
+
+<p>The battle of Lemberg began on the 1st of September, and lasted two
+days. Brussilov struck hard on the Austrian right, while Ruzsky's right
+came sweeping round to the north of the city and drove in the Austrian
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+left. So far bent back were the Austrian wings that the general decided
+to abandon the city and fall back through the wooded country that lay
+between him and the Carpathians. The Russians pursued him: the Cossacks
+did great execution on the rearguard, and the big guns played
+remorselessly on the retreating enemy. Soon the retreat became very
+hurried; immense numbers of prisoners and scores of guns were captured.
+Wherever the Austrians made a stand, they cut down tall trees and piled
+them up to form platforms for their machine guns, which were fixed
+between the branches. The Russians swept upon these obstacles with the
+bayonet, and the Austrians fled so quickly that they had no time to get
+the guns out of the trees. Scores of them, with their supplies of
+ammunition, fell into the hands of the Russians, and were immediately
+turned on the flying foe.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p075.jpg" width="462" height="365" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Russian Attack on Lemberg, September 1-2.</h4>
+
+<p>At half-past ten on the morning of the 3rd of September the Russian flag
+was hoisted above the town hall of Lemberg. Most of the inhabitants of
+this city are Slavs, and they greeted the victors with loud shouts of
+joy. In the city the Russians found huge stores of every kind, and I am
+glad to say there was no such looting and destruction as disgraced the
+Germans in Belgium. The Russians behaved admirably, and the Grand Duke
+Nicholas issued a proclamation to the Slavs of Austria-Hungary, telling
+them that the Russians had come as their deliverers, and that
+thenceforward they were to live in peace and union with their brothers
+in blood.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a glorious victory." The Russians had captured over 100,000
+prisoners and more than 2,500 guns. The Austrians said that they had
+been defeated because the Slavs in their army had played them false; but
+the real reason was that the Austrian generals had calculated on the
+slowness of the Russian mobilization, and had advanced too far into
+Russia in separate armies which did not work together. The Russian
+generals showed great skill, especially Ruzsky, when he pushed in
+between the two Austrian armies, and thus divided them and threatened
+the flanks of both. The Russian soldiers showed wonderful spirit and
+endurance during the fighting. They made long and trying marches, and
+held out for days in their trenches with but little food. So eager were
+they that they could hardly be kept back from charging with the bayonet
+at the first sight of the enemy.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+<p>By 14th September Brussilov had sent his left wing into the Carpathian
+passes, and his centre and right advanced along the railway towards
+Przemysl. The Russians were now masters of a large part of Eastern
+Galicia. The Poles of Galicia received the conquerors with open arms,
+and all the Slav races in Austria-Hungary began to take heart of grace.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile what had happened to the 1st Austrian Army, now completely cut
+off from the routed 2nd Army? You will remember that Ivanov's army had
+retired before the 1st Austrian Army to the river Bug. Against the
+centre of this army the 1st Austrian Army, strongly reinforced, made an
+attack about the 4th of September. The attack failed, and then the
+Russians advanced with such effect that the Austrians were taken in
+flank and forced to flee southward in utter confusion. Thus you see that
+while the invasion of Eastern Prussia had ended so disastrously, the
+campaigns in Galicia were crowned with complete success.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+<p>We must not forget that Serbia is also included in the eastern theatre
+of war. Though this chapter is already long, I must find space to tell
+you in a few words how these gallant peasant soldiers were faring. You
+will remember that the great war began with the quarrel between Austria
+and Serbia, and that on 29th July the Austrians began to bombard
+Belgrade.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
+
+<p>The Serbians were not ready for war, and were obliged to withdraw from
+their capital and transfer the seat of government to Nish.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> Their
+troops took up a strong position on the hills to the south of Belgrade,
+and the Austrians massed their armies along the north bank of the Danube
+just below Belgrade, and on the line of the river Save. Other Austrian
+forces were stationed on the Bosnian frontier, along the line of the
+Drina.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
+
+<p>When Russia made Serbia's cause her own the Austrians were faced, like
+the Germans, with war on two frontiers. In order to meet the bigger and
+more powerful enemy, they were obliged to draw off many of their best
+troops and attempt to hold the Serbians with about 100,000 men. When the
+Austrians tried to cross the Danube east of Belgrade they were beaten
+back by the Serbians with great loss, one regiment being almost entirely
+wiped out. There were numerous other small fights, and in all of them
+the Serbians held their own.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of August the Serbians and Montenegrins advanced on
+Bosnia, in the attempt to reach Sarajevo, the capital; but the most
+serious fighting took place along the line of the Lower Save, where, on
+the 17th, the Austrians were badly beaten, and lost many guns and
+prisoners. Shortly afterwards the Austrian army of Bosnia also suffered
+defeat, and was driven over the Drina after a battle which lasted four
+days. By the end of August the Serbians were able to claim that they had
+cleared the Austrians out of their country, and that they were slowly
+advancing into Bosnia.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>STORIES OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">R</span>ussian soldiers have long been famous for the contempt with which they
+regard wounds and death. The few stories which have been told of their
+exploits in the battles described in Chapter VIII. prove clearly that
+they have lost none of their old virtues of daring and devotion.</p>
+
+<p>Our first story is that of a Cossack who attacked twenty-seven Uhlans
+single-handed, and managed to kill eleven of them. In this fight he
+received nine wounds in the chest and the back, and lost a finger.
+"These are not wounds," he said. "The Germans thought I was cornered. I
+gave them no time to attack me. An officer tried to cut me down, but he
+was too slow. I hit him over the head, but his helmet protected him.
+Then I got angry, and killed him. The soldiers were charging me with
+lances, so I seized one of the lances, and drove it into them, one after
+another. I was too angry to feel the blows and thrusts which they gave
+me. Then five friends came up and gave me assistance, and the Germans
+fled."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Let me tell you how Colonel Alexieff fought for the flag in East
+Prussia. When the standard-bearer of his regiment was killed he seized
+the flag and cried, "On, friends, after me!" and though wounded in the
+neck by shrapnel, still pushed ahead of his men. Bullets rained round
+him, but his courage so inspired his comrades that with loud cries of
+"For the Tsar! for our leader!" they rushed forward and routed the
+Germans opposed to them.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I have already mentioned that the Kaiser has an estate in East Prussia,
+which he visits every autumn for shooting elk and other big game. This
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+estate comprises a model stud farm and an enormous garden. After the
+Russians had captured Tilsit and were pushing on to Insterburg, they
+occupied the Kaiser's shooting-box, and the exhausted soldiers lay down
+to sleep, muddy as they were, on the royal carpets. When they left this
+fine billet the next day they said, "Thank you, William; we slept well,
+but nevertheless we shall fight you." A Russian officer wrote home as
+follows: "After a series of terrible battles we are reposing on
+William's magnificent estate. Undreamt-of beauty is all round us. The
+place is splendidly equipped, so that we have at our disposal everything
+we could wish for, and we are riding his celebrated horses, and enjoying
+delicious dinners prepared by his man cook. Especially beautiful is the
+park, with its glorious shady avenues. It swarms with rare animals, and
+birds are flying free everywhere. By the way, our soldiers have caught a
+parrot belonging to William. It speaks excellent German, and our men are
+teaching it to say very uncomplimentary things about its imperial
+master."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Amongst the Russian officers was a well-known opera-singer, who was in
+charge of a battery. To encourage his men, he sang many military songs
+about Peter the Great,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> and the soldiers joined in the choruses. On
+one occasion, when his guns were attacked by a strong German force, the
+guns were ordered to retreat. One battery was unable to do so, because
+the horses had all been killed or wounded. Seeing this, the singing
+officer shouted, "We can't leave any guns behind, boys!" He sprang upon
+a horse, and some of his men followed his example; then they dashed
+towards the stranded guns and moved them into safety.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>You will be interested in the following stories, which give you some
+idea of the Cossack's methods of fighting. An Austrian officer says:
+"Our cavalry advanced to the battle with ardour, but the Cossacks fell
+on us like a whirlwind. Hardly were we in touch before a Cossack gave me
+three rapid blows&mdash;one with his lance, the other with his sabre, and the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+third with his fist. How he did it I do not know, but he did not even
+give me time to fall. He seized me by the collar, lifted me on to his
+horse and carried me off. His comrades acted similarly, and a good
+number of our hussars were thus taken prisoners."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p079.jpg" width="413" height="486" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>A Russian Bayonet Charge in East Prussia.<br />
+
+This picture represents an incident which took place on the evening of
+August 26, 1914, and was witnessed by an Englishman who was managing a
+great German estate in East Prussia when the war broke out. The
+Russians, as shown above, charged the German centre with the bayonet and
+put it to flight. The artist made this drawing under the guidance of the
+Englishman who actually saw the fight.<br />
+
+<i>(From the picture by F. Matania. By permission of The Sphere.)</i></h4>
+
+<p>How a Cossack put a German patrol to flight is told in the following
+story: "The Cossack was on the lookout, when he was surprised by a party
+of Germans. They saw that he was alone, and they swooped on him from a
+neighbouring wood, headed by an officer waving his sword. Instead of
+making a race for his life, the Cossack spurred his horse and dashed off
+right across the path of the Germans. He skilfully calculated the
+distance, and just as the German officer got ready to sabre him at full
+gallop he whispered, '<i>Kshi</i>, <i>kshi</i>,' which every Cossack horse
+understands. The horse stopped dead still. The German could not stop his
+horse at such a speed, and just as he galloped past the Cossack
+'removed' him with a deadly lunge of his lance. Seeing their leader thus
+overthrown, the Germans turned tail and fled." This story will remind
+you of the way in which Robert the Bruce slew De Bohun at the battle of
+Bannockburn.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>There seems to be no end to the ingenuity of the Cossack when he is in a
+tight place. Listen to the following story: "A Cossack was captured near
+Lodz,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> and, with his horse, was taken to the German camp, where man
+and beast were objects of curiosity. A Uhlan officer tried to put the
+Cossack horse through its paces, but it declined to budge. 'Let me get
+on with you,' suggested the Cossack. There were too many German soldiers
+about for escape to be dreamt of, so the officer laughingly agreed. As
+soon as the Cossack was in the saddle he uttered a couple of words, and
+the horse dashed off through the astonished Germans at full gallop. No
+one dared to shoot for fear of killing the officer. That night the
+Cossack joined his company with the Uhlan officer as his prisoner."</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FIGHTING RETREAT.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hile I have been telling you about the course of events in the eastern
+theatre of war, you have, I am sure, been eager to know how our brave
+fellows were faring at Mons. At the end of Chapter IV. you learned that
+Sir John French had decided to retreat. No true soldiers ever like to
+retreat, least of all British soldiers; but retreat could not now be
+avoided unless our little army was to be completely cut off.</p>
+
+<p>You will remember that Sir John received a very belated and most
+unexpected telegram from General Joffre at five o'clock on Sunday
+afternoon, August 23, 1914. This telegram informed him that the French
+on his right were everywhere in retreat, and that the British forces
+were threatened by overwhelming numbers of the enemy, who were not only
+advancing on their front, but were trying to turn their flanks. By this
+time Sir John's air scouts had assured him that General Joffre's
+information was correct. To hold on any longer in his present position
+would have been reckless folly. The only way to retrieve the fortunes of
+the Allies was for the British to fall back to a strong position and
+there make a stand.</p>
+
+<p>Every prudent commander prepares for a retreat, for no general can
+possibly be sure of winning any battle. Napoleon once said that the
+general who went forward without having prepared a line of retreat
+deserved to be shot. Wellington, you will remember, retreated from
+Quatre Bras, and afterwards won one of the greatest battles of history.
+He had previously arranged to meet Bl&uuml;cher and give battle to the French
+at Waterloo, where there was ground favourable to him. In the same way
+General French had chosen and prepared a second position some miles to
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+his rear, and to this line he now prepared to retire. In his first
+dispatch he tells us that the new position extended from the fortress of
+Maubeuge on the east to Jenlain on the west. It was not a good position,
+because there were so many standing crops and buildings that the
+trenches could not be well placed, and the field of fire was impeded.
+There were, however, a few places where the big guns could be posted
+well.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 745px;">
+<img src="images/p082.jpg" width="745" height="519" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Bird's-eye View of the British Line of Retreat from Mons
+to La F&egrave;re&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>By permission of the Sphere</i>.</h4>
+
+<p>A general order was issued that the troops were to move to the rear at
+sunrise on Monday, 24th August; but many of them were roused from their
+sleep and sent on their southward march before midnight on the 23rd.
+Already the heavy transports and the ambulances filled with wounded were
+moving as rapidly as possible towards the new position, so that the
+roads might be free for the infantry next day. You can easily understand
+that, if the British had been suddenly withdrawn, the Germans would have
+swooped down on them while they were marching in columns and unable to
+resist. Before the retirement could begin in real earnest our troops
+must check the Germans, and thus gain sufficient time to reach the new
+position before they were again attacked in force.</p>
+
+<p>You will remember that Binche had been abandoned, and that Sir Douglas
+Haig's force had fallen back to a long swell of ground south of the
+village of Bray. In the gray dawn of Monday morning the British troops,
+who had done a certain amount of fighting during the night, stood to
+arms. The Germans were preparing for a great attack on the British
+right, and in this direction Sir John French determined to check them.
+He ordered the 2nd Division of the First Corps, with a strong support of
+more than 120 guns, to advance and make an attack on Binche, as though
+they were determined to recapture it. Meanwhile Smith-Dorrien's Second
+Corps, which had held the line of the canal, was to fall back some
+distance and there form a new battle line, behind which the 1st
+Division, which had been so hard pressed during the previous day's
+battle, might retire to the new position. When this division was well
+upon its way, the Second Corps was to retreat and form up upon its left.</p>
+
+<p>From this brief account of what Sir John proposed to do, you will
+understand the great difficulty of the task imposed upon his army. There
+is nothing so difficult in warfare as to make a fighting retreat when
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+pressed by superior numbers. Think of what it means. While one division
+is beating back the enemy, another division is marching to the rear; and
+when it reaches a certain point it faces about and takes up the work of
+holding the foe, while the first division marches to <i>its</i> rear and
+prepares to bear the brunt of attack, in order that the second division
+may retire and begin the business all over again. In a fighting retreat
+there is not a moment's rest for anybody. While one part of the army is
+fighting, another part is marching; and no matter how weary the marching
+men may be, they must be ready at any moment to form a firing line,
+while their comrades in front scramble out of their trenches and hurry
+to the rear.</p>
+
+<p>In such a fighting retreat as this the greatest skill and judgment are
+required of the commanders. If they withdraw their men from the firing
+line too soon, the superior numbers of the enemy will drive them back on
+the marching columns and involve both in a common ruin; if they keep
+their men too long in the firing line, the enemy will probably destroy
+them or cut them off. Any error of judgment on the part of the
+commanders during such a retreat is almost sure to be fatal. The men,
+too, must be as steady as a rock. They must hold on to their positions,
+however hopeless the task may seem, and not budge until the word is
+given, even though their comrades are rapidly falling around them.
+Happily, in this retreat our commanders were cool and skilful, and our
+men were seasoned soldiers, capable of holding on with grim
+determination like British bulldogs.</p>
+
+<p>Several times during the retreat small British detachments failed to
+receive the order to retire. Probably the messengers carrying the order
+were shot or captured on the way. Nevertheless, these groups of men
+fought on with never a thought of retreat, until they were reduced to a
+mere handful, and further resistance was useless. Other small bodies of
+British soldiers lost their way, and some of them wandered into the
+German lines and were made prisoners. One man, David M. Kay, of the 5th
+Lancers, strayed from his comrades, and, worn out with fatigue, fell
+exhausted on the road. Later on he found a resting-place in a deserted
+carriage. Thirty-six hours went by, and then the Germans appeared and
+fired on him. Though he was alone against an armed host, he returned the
+fire and shot down six German officers before he fell, riddled with
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+bullets. The French in the village hard by were so impressed by his
+dauntless courage that they buried him where he fell, and above the
+mound that marks his last resting-place set up a wooden cross. For days
+afterwards they strewed his grave with fresh flowers.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>And now the 1st Division of the First Corps began its feigned attack on
+Binche. One hundred and twenty British guns thundered forth, and the
+infantry moved briskly towards the enemy. No doubt this attack came as a
+great surprise to the Germans, who thought that the British had been
+largely reinforced in the night. While the guns were busy belching
+shrapnel on the Germans, the 2nd Division of the same corps was marching
+southwards. The attack continued until this division was well on its
+way, and then came the time for the 1st Division to retire. For the rest
+of the morning it slowly moved to the rear, holding back the enemy by
+powerful artillery fire, and acting as the rearguard to the whole of the
+British right. It reached its new position about seven in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>Now we must see what was happening on the British left, where, as you
+will remember, the Second Corps was stationed under Smith-Dorrien. Early
+in the morning he fell back some five miles from the line of the Cond&eacute;
+Canal, until his right rested on the mining village of Frameries.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>
+Here he picked up a British infantry brigade, which had been brought by
+rail from the lines of communication, and sent it to support his left
+flank. His task was to hold back the enemy until the British right had
+arrived at the Maubeuge position. He was to keep the enemy busily
+engaged all day, so that they could not follow up the British retreat;
+and to break off the battle at the most favourable moment, so that he
+could retire to the part of the new line which he was to hold.</p>
+
+<p>It was by no means an easy task. He had only between 30,000 and 40,000
+men, while the Germans numbered more than 100,000. His position,
+however, was a good one. He found a low railway embankment which gave
+him a ready-made rampart for the right of his line, and a clear field of
+fire all along the front. To his left were many colliery lines, with
+similar embankments and buildings that gave a good deal of cover, and
+beyond them fields of standing corn.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+<p>All the long morning the British held their front against attack after
+attack of the enemy, though an awful storm of shrapnel continually burst
+upon them. The weakest part of the line was the left, where the Germans
+were trying to work round the flank. So fiercely were our troops also
+assailed round about Frameries, that about half-past seven in the
+morning their general sent an urgent message to the Commander-in-chief
+begging for support. Sir John French had no reserves except General
+Allenby's cavalry division, and these he now sent to help the
+hard-pressed division.</p>
+
+<p>The first of the cavalry to go into action were the 4th Dragoon Guards,
+the 9th Lancers, and the 18th Hussars, who were under the command of
+Colonel De Lisle, the hero of many a dashing charge in South Africa. At
+first the troopers fought on foot, but soon Colonel De Lisle thought
+that he saw a good chance of charging the flank of the German infantry.
+The men of the 9th Lancers were ordered to mount and prepare to charge,
+while the other cavalry regiments acted as supports.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 722px;">
+<img src="images/p086.jpg" width="722" height="481" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Charge of the 9th Lancers at Audregnies.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>From the
+picture by Dudley Tennant.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Away galloped the lancers, shouting with joy at the prospect of coming
+to hand-grips with the enemy. Alas! all unknown to them the Germans had
+protected their flank with many lines of barbed wire. When the lancers
+were about five hundred yards from the enemy's flank they found
+themselves held up by this terrible entanglement. They tried hard to
+break through, but in vain, and all the while a death-storm raged about
+them from rifle and battery. "We simply galloped like rabbits in front
+of a line of guns," said a lancer who survived, "men and horses falling
+in all directions." The enemy could not be reached, and nothing could
+live in that zone of death. The lancers were forced to retire, and as
+they did so the guns caught them on the flank and made awful havoc
+amongst them. Only a hundred lancers returned out of eight hundred and
+fifty. It was the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava all over
+again&mdash;just as gallant, just as thrilling, and just as useless!</p>
+
+<p>The remnants of the regiment, including the squadron of Captain Francis
+Grenfell, found shelter under the lee of a light railway embankment.
+Here they found an artillery officer and a dozen gunners of the 119th
+Royal Field Artillery, whose battery had been put out of action by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+German shells. They were the sole survivors. Captain Grenfell had
+already been badly wounded in the hand and the leg, but he was
+determined to prevent the guns from falling into the hands of the enemy.
+He rode out amidst the hailstorm of shot and shell to see if there was a
+way by which they could be withdrawn to the British lines, and having
+discovered a road, walked his horse back so that his men might not think
+the risk too great.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he was back under the shelter of the embankment he called for
+volunteers. He reminded his lancers that the 9th had saved the guns at
+Maiwand,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> and had more than once come to the rescue of artillery in
+South Africa. Every man responded to his call; all were eager to have a
+hand in this glorious exploit. Leaving their horses behind them, they
+rushed out to the stranded guns; and, working with a will, hauled one of
+them over the dead bodies of the drivers, on and on, until it was safe
+from capture. Again and again they returned under a merciless fire,
+until every gun was out of danger. Hardly had the last gun been moved
+into safety when the German infantry appeared. The guns had been saved
+in the very nick of time.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Grenfell was afterwards awarded the Victoria Cross for this
+splendid deed of courage and resolution. Hats off to Captain Grenfell!</p>
+
+<p>By midday the First Corps was so far in the rear that Smith-Dorrien
+could safely begin his retreat. He fell back slowly and steadily, now
+and then halting to beat off an attack, and by nightfall reached his new
+position, after having suffered great losses. The First Corps lay to the
+right of the French village of Bavai, a place of ironworks and marble
+quarries. Its flank was protected by the fortress of Maubeuge. The
+Second Corps lay to the left, holding a line which extended to the
+village of Jenlain. The fortress was a sufficient defence for the right
+flank, and Allenby's cavalry division covered the left flank.</p>
+
+<p>On that Monday evening, when some of our men were beginning to entrench
+themselves, and to hope that a stand would be made against the enemy on
+the morrow, they learned, to their great disappointment, that by five
+the next morning they were to be on the road again, trudging towards
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+another position which lay to the south-west. They were under the
+impression that their retirement was at an end, and that the next day
+would see them making an advance. Little did they know that they had
+only begun their retreat, and that they would have to tramp many a long,
+weary mile before that happy hour arrived. Their disappointment soon
+vanished when they heard that Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien appeared as
+bright and cheerful as ever. "Things can't be bad," they said, "or the
+general would be looking more glum than that."</p>
+
+<p>Why was a further retreat necessary? The Commander-in-chief knew what
+his men did not know&mdash;that the French on his right were still retiring,
+and that von Kluck was bringing up more and more men in the hope of
+turning his left. He knew that unless he continued his march southwards
+he would probably be forced into the fortress of Maubeuge, and his
+knowledge of history assured him that once an army takes shelter behind
+the guns of a fortress, and is there shut in, it runs but little chance
+of ever getting out again. You remember what happened at Metz in 1870.
+Bazaine was forced into that fortress, and was so hemmed in that he had
+to surrender with 170,000 men. Sir John French was not the man to take
+any such risk, so he ordered the retreat to continue.</p>
+
+<p>By sunrise on Tuesday morning our wearied soldiers were tramping along
+the dusty roads towards the south-west. As the sun rose higher and
+higher in the sky the heat became more and more intense, and the men
+felt the strain very much; but they plodded on with that stubbornness
+which they always display when they are in a tight place. The First
+Corps marched by roads to the east of the Forest of Mormal, a woodland
+about one-fifth of the area of our New Forest, and the Second Corps by
+roads to the west of it. Allenby's cavalry, which covered the exposed
+western flank, had a few skirmishes with Uhlans; but the Germans did not
+harass the retreat to any great extent.</p>
+
+<p>An army chaplain gives us a very vivid account of what he saw during the
+retirement. He writes as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Horses and men, transport and guns, an endless procession they
+passed, blackened with grime, bearing evident signs of the past
+few days' fighting. But the men were in good spirits. They were
+retreating, but this was not a defeated army. 'Wait till we get
+to a position we can hold, and then we'll give them socks,' was
+the sort of thing one heard from the ranks as they passed. It
+was simply glorious country through which we marched&mdash;the forest
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+of Mormal, picturesque villages, quaint old farmhouses, and
+village churches dating from the twelfth century; and everywhere
+the roads lined with fine avenues of trees&mdash;sometimes tall
+poplars, and at other times apple and plum trees laden with
+fruit. But the country was deserted, crops standing in the
+fields, the villages empty, the houses locked and barricaded."</p></div>
+
+<p>While the columns were on the march German aeroplanes frequently flew
+over them. A private of the 1st Royal West Kent Regiment thus describes
+a sight which greatly interested him and his comrades:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"I saw a duel in the air between French and German aeroplanes.
+It was wonderful to see the Frenchman manoeuvre to get the upper
+position of the German, and after about ten minutes or a quarter
+of an hour the Frenchman got on top and blazed away with a
+revolver on the German. He injured him so much as to cause him
+to descend, and when found he was dead. The British troops
+buried the airman and burnt the aeroplane. During that day we
+were not troubled by any more German aeroplanes."</p></div>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>A GLORIOUS STAND.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he position to which the British were now slowly retiring was in the
+neighbourhood of Le Cateau,<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> to the south-east of Cambrai.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> Your
+geography book tells you that Cambrai gave its name to the fine linen or
+muslin which was first made in the fifteenth century, and is known as
+cambric. Le Cateau has important woollen and merino spinning-mills, and
+figures in British history as the place where peace was signed between
+England, France, and Spain in the second year of Queen Elizabeth's
+reign. The proposed British lines extended from Cambrai through Le
+Cateau to Landrecies,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> on the Sambre. Landrecies is famous as the
+birthplace of Dupleix,<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> who founded French power in India. There is a
+bronze statue to his memory in the little town.</p>
+
+<p>The ground had been partly prepared and entrenched on the previous day;
+but Sir John French tells us in a dispatch that, owing to the
+ever-increasing numbers of the enemy, he had grave doubts as to the
+wisdom of making a stand before he had shaken off the foe. Early as the
+start had been, it was late in the day before the first of the troops
+from the north reached the new line, and night had fallen when the last
+of them came in. By this time a new British division had reached Le
+Cateau. It had been brought up by train, and was now hurried off to
+protect the left flank of the retreat.</p>
+
+<p>The moment our weary men reached their position they were set to work
+entrenching their front. Then they had supper, and lay down for that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+long sleep which they sorely needed. There was a gap in the British
+line which Sir John French meant to fill up, but "the men were
+exhausted, and could get no farther on without rest." By nine o'clock
+all was peaceful along the front of the Second Corps, and on the right
+the men of the First Corps were settling down for a night's rest. Half
+an hour later there came a sudden alarm. The silence was broken by the
+zip-zip of rifles, the roar of guns, and the whine of shells as they
+flew towards our lines. The Germans were making a night attack in force
+on the British right.</p>
+
+<p>The night was dark; the sky was thick with clouds; a drizzle of rain set
+in, and soon developed into a downpour. Behind their cavalry screen the
+enemy had pushed forward a vanguard of North Germans, who had marched
+rapidly through the leafy shades of the Forest of Mormal, where they
+were hidden from our airmen, and were able to advance with less fatigue
+than along the sun-baked roads amidst clouds of choking dust. The
+Germans were, therefore, fairly fresh when they formed up along the
+margin of forest which lies close upon the outskirts of Landrecies. They
+advanced in heavy column through the pouring rain and the blackness of
+the night, holding their fire and drawing nearer and nearer, confident
+that the harassed and worn-out British could make no long stand against
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The 4th British Brigade, consisting of the 2nd Grenadiers, the 2nd and
+3rd Coldstreams and the 1st Irish Guards, held Landrecies. About 9:30
+the pickets of the Coldstreams, who were guarding the road from the
+forest, heard the dull tramp of armed men. They cried out, "Who goes
+there?" and a voice replied in French, "We are the French. Do not fire."
+The interpreter with the British was not satisfied with the accent of
+the man who replied, and he asked the officer to repeat the challenge.
+This he did, and was at once knocked off his feet by the foremost
+"Frenchman." Then the Germans rushed forward, swept away the pickets,
+and poured into the narrow streets of the town.</p>
+
+<p>For a few minutes there was confusion amongst the Guards, who were
+caught unawares. Then their splendid discipline told. They opened a
+brisk fire, and soon the first line of the Germans was hurled back. On
+they came again in enormous numbers, until the streets were thronged
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+with them. The Guards lay on the ground across the road, and a stream
+of bullets flew from their rifles; while the machine guns, some on the
+road and others on the housetops, tore blood-red lanes through the dense
+masses of the advancing enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans were beaten back, but they rallied and came on again, while
+other columns tried to work round to the rear of the town through side
+streets. Everywhere they found their way blocked by the British, and all
+night long the fight raged. Hand-to-hand combats were frequent, and
+terrible struggles were witnessed in the flickering light of the houses
+that had been fired by the German shells.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p092.jpg" width="574" height="386" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Men of the 9th Lancers saving the Guns. (See p. <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.)<br />
+
+<i>From the drawing by Dudley Tennant.</i></h4>
+
+<p>German batteries pushed up close to the town. Some of the guns began
+firing at the Coldstreams almost at point-blank range. For a moment, in
+the midst of this death hail, our gallant fellows wavered. A major,
+however, rallied them. "Don't retire, boys," he yelled; "come on up."
+And the men advanced again. Well-aimed shots killed the enemy's gunners,
+and the bodies of a thousand German dead cumbered the streets.</p>
+
+<p>Von Kluck's vanguard had been checked; it had hoped to rush the town
+easily, but it had miscalculated the strength of British valour and
+endurance. Shortly after midnight the Germans knew that they had failed,
+and gradually their firing died away. Then the Guards flung themselves
+down amidst the flaming houses and the dead and dying, and snatched what
+slumber they could.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>While the Guards at Landrecies were adding a new and glorious page to
+their proud record, there was heavy fighting at Maroilles,<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> a little
+to the north-east, where Sir Douglas Haig's 1st Division was holding a
+difficult position. A message was sent to Sir John French begging for
+reinforcements. He had got into touch with two French reserve divisions
+on his right, and now he urged them to come up with all speed. To the
+men struggling desperately at Maroilles the French seemed terribly slow
+in arriving. At length, to their great relief, they heard the sound of
+distant firing, and knew that support was at hand. Partly by the help of
+the French, but mainly owing to the skilful generalship of Sir Douglas
+Haig, the First Corps was withdrawn from its perilous position.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+<p>At Cambrai, the newly-joined brigade which was protecting the left flank
+was also in action. A soldier of the Connaught Rangers thus describes
+the fighting in which he was engaged:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It was a grand time we had, and I wouldn't have missed it for
+lashins of money.</p>
+
+<p>"It was near to Cambrai where we had our best time.</p>
+
+<p>"The Germans kept pressing our rearguard all the time, and at
+last our colonel could stand it no longer, so the word was
+passed round that we were to fight. There were at least five to
+one, and we were in danger of being cut off.</p>
+
+<p>"With that up got the colonel. 'Rangers of Connaught,' says he,
+'the eyes of all Ireland are on you to-day, and I know you never
+could disgrace the ould country by allowing Germans to beat you
+while you have arms in your hands and hearts in your breasts.
+Up, then, and at them, and if you don't give them the soundest
+thrashing they ever got, you needn't look me in the face again
+in this world or the next.'</p>
+
+<p>"And we went for them with just what you would know of a prayer
+to the Mother of our Lord to be merciful to the loved ones at
+home if we should fall in the fight. We charged through and
+through them, until they broke and ran like frightened hares in
+terror of hounds.</p>
+
+<p>"After that taste of the fighting quality of the Rangers they
+never troubled us any more that day."</p></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>While our worn and wearied men were sleeping the death-like sleep of
+exhaustion, Sir John French spent some of the most anxious hours of his
+life. He had intended that the retreat should be continued before dawn,
+and that Smith-Dorrien's corps, with Allenby's cavalry, should hold back
+the enemy on the left while Haig's corps on the right pushed southwards.
+Now he knew that this was impossible. Before daybreak he learnt that the
+enemy was preparing to throw the bulk of his strength against
+Smith-Dorrien; some three hundred thousand Germans were moving up to
+encircle his little force, while six or seven hundred guns were being
+brought into position against it. Sir John had no supports to send to
+his left, and he had earnestly besought the commander of a French
+cavalry corps on his right to come to his aid. Alas! the horses of this
+corps were worn out, and the general was unable to move. Smith-Dorrien's
+corps must depend on itself, and stand or fall by its own exertions. If
+it fell, nothing could save the British army from destruction or
+surrender. The left of the Allies would be gone, and the retreating
+French would be at the mercy of hordes of Germans. The prospect was
+enough to make the bravest man tremble.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 709px;">
+<img src="images/p096.jpg" width="709" height="467" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>The Lonely Gunner.</h3>
+
+<h4>This picture illustrates an incident during the retreat. A half-battery
+of the Royal Field Artillery, in a rather exposed position, greatly
+galled the Germans by the accuracy of its aim, and a combined attack was
+made on it by the enemy. One by one the British guns were silenced, and
+the men who had been serving them lay dead around. At last one man alone
+was left, and he went on working the gun steadily and calmly until he
+was called away by an officer. Similar instances of resistance to the
+last man abound in the history of the Royal Field Artillery.</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>"THE MOST CRITICAL DAY OF ALL."</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">N</span>ow dawned the fateful morning of 26th August 1914. The rain had ceased;
+the bright sun shone out; thin mists rose from the wet fields and gave
+promise of a sultry day. At sunrise the German guns began to thunder,
+and a shrapnel fire burst upon the British as though "turned on through
+a hose." The Germans were now determined to make an end of the British
+army. It had thwarted them again and again; it had refused to be beaten,
+and it would not yield. To-day, however, was to see the end of it. By
+nightfall the news of another Sedan would be flashed to all parts of the
+rejoicing Fatherland.</p>
+
+<p>Our men had no time to entrench properly. Most of them lay in
+unprotected fields; nevertheless they showed, as Sir John French tells
+us, "a magnificent front" to the terrific fire that burst upon them.
+Smith-Dorrien had been ordered to break off the battle and retire at the
+earliest possible moment, but he soon saw that he could not obey orders
+without the gravest risk. He must fight on and beat off the Germans
+before he could retire in safety.</p>
+
+<p>All day long the British infantry stood firm, firing steadily, and
+hurling back attack after attack of the enemy. Six times the Germans
+tried to break the British line, and six times they were foiled. German
+cavalry attempted to charge them, and once the horsemen of the famous
+Prussian Guard&mdash;the proudest and finest of all the Kaiser's
+troops&mdash;burst through an opening in the German firing line and dashed
+down on them, only to retire with heavy loss. Another German cavalry
+regiment rode right into the 1st Brigade, and was only driven back after
+a desperate hand-to-hand struggle, in which men and horses were mixed up
+in frightful confusion.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+<p>Allenby's cavalry made several gallant charges, and so did Chetwode's
+5th Cavalry Brigade, consisting of the Scots Greys, the 12th Lancers,
+and the 20th Hussars. An officer tells us that they went through the
+enemy "like blotting paper." Though the German cavalry were big men and
+well mounted, they could not stand before the onset of our horsemen.</p>
+
+<p>Upon our gunners fell the heaviest task of all. They were hopelessly
+outmatched by at least four to one; yet they made a splendid fight, and
+inflicted great losses on the foe, though they suffered terribly both in
+men and horses. German shells frequently smashed gun carriages and
+wheels to matchwood, and strewed the ground with dead and mangled men.
+Some of the most heroic deeds ever known were done by our gunners that
+day. In one battery, towards the end of the fight a single gun remained
+with only one lieutenant and a man to work it. Nevertheless, they stuck
+to their posts, and fought their gun to the last.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The terrible day was wearing on; our men were holding their own, but at
+a great sacrifice of life and limb. While the Germans were making their
+frontal attacks, large bodies of their cavalry, infantry, and artillery
+were sweeping round both flanks, and the new Sedan was hourly expected.
+Unless the whole British force was to be wiped out, it must retreat; so
+about 3.30 in the afternoon Sir John gave the order, and the rearward
+movement was begun. It was full of danger, and while it was in progress
+our losses were very heavy.</p>
+
+<p>The artillery now made a great effort to cover the retreat, and by
+almost superhuman exertions managed to hold off the enemy while the
+infantry drew back. Then came the turn of the guns to retire, and to
+cover them Allenby's cavalry flung itself against the enemy in a series
+of furious charges. Several Victoria Crosses were gloriously won at this
+stage of the battle. Thanks to the artillery and the cavalry, all that
+was left of the Second Corps got away, and without resting dragged
+itself southwards through the August night.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I am sure you will be interested to know what a German officer thought
+of our gallant men during this anxious and perilous time. Here is a
+report of his conversation with a Dane:&mdash;</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"After we had broken through the French positions on the Belgian
+frontier, and had got Joffre's army on the move towards the
+south, the German army's advance appeared to be checked. It was
+General French's army that had stayed the retreat. We ordered
+the English lines to be stormed. Our troops dashed into them
+with fixed bayonets, but our efforts to drive the English back
+were in vain. They are very good at resisting a bayonet attack.
+The English are strong people, athletic and well-developed. So
+we decided to shoot them down; but we found that they aimed
+remarkably well. 'Every bullet found its billet,' as they say.</p>
+
+<p>"We ordered our best shots to tackle them, but the result was
+not in our favour. Then we got all our artillery at work that
+could be spared against them. We swept the English positions
+with a rain of shells&mdash;a regular bombardment. When the firing
+ceased, we expected to find that the English had fled. . . . We
+had not heard from them for an hour.</p>
+
+<p>"How can I describe our astonishment? Beyond the shell-swept
+zone we saw English soldiers' heads moving, and they began to
+use their rifles again as soon as the coast was clear. The
+English <i>are</i> a cool lot! We had to assault them again and
+again, but in vain. We were, in fact, repulsed after having
+actually surrounded them. Their perseverance and pluck had
+gained their just reward. Their retirement could now be carried
+out in an orderly way. There was now no fear of disaster to the
+retreating army.</p>
+
+<p>"Even the sight of the wounded surprised us, and commanded our
+respect; they lay so still, and scarcely ever complained."</p></div>
+
+<p>I think you will agree with me that the German who paid this tribute to
+our men was a generous foe and a true soldier.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is an extract from the diary of a cavalry officer of the 3rd
+Cavalry Brigade. It gives you an excellent idea of the way in which the
+cavalry covered the retreat.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Up and ready to move off at 4.30 a.m. Moved back to Le Cateau.
+Did not enter the actual town, but went round the high ground to
+the south of it, and took up a position on the west of it. Great
+battle going on. Fifth Infantry Division having a bad time of
+it, and retiring. We cover their retirement. My squadron on high
+ground overlooking a railway embankment. See German infantry
+advancing towards it in columns. G.O.C.,<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> on my reporting
+this, sends me a section of guns under 'John' G. Pointed out
+target to him, which he picks up and gets the range at once;
+smartest bit of R.H.A.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> work one could wish to see. . . .
+Every shot seems to have effect. I was carefully watching
+through my glasses; they must have lost at least a couple of
+hundred. I could see their dead and wounded lying all over the
+field. Anyhow, they stopped their advance in that direction, and
+our infantry opposing them were enabled to get away. Awfully
+impressed with the way this section of R.H.A. was handled by
+'John' G. . . .</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+<p>"We retire in a westerly direction, and manoeuvre on the flank
+of the 5th Infantry Division. Late in the afternoon we see in
+the distance a division of Uhlans. The general tells us he has
+decided to take them on; but we shall charge at the trot, as our
+horses are dead beat. We, the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, manoeuvre and
+get the favourable ground; and the Uhlans, after having a look
+at us, refuse the fight we offer and disappear. Cowards! Fancy a
+division refusing to take on a brigade! Great disappointment
+among all ranks, as we are all longing for a cavalry fight. . . .</p>
+
+<p>"We retire to &mdash;&mdash;, where we arrive about 11 p.m., and halt to
+water and feed the horses. Get some food. Every one awfully
+tired&mdash;raining hard. The orders come that we are to march at 1
+a.m. Explain to the men we are in rather a tight place, and that
+in spite of fatigue every one must buck up. Men lie down on the
+pavements and hold their horses. What a sight! Men and horses
+absolutely exhausted, but yet there is that spirit of
+cheerfulness which never fails Tommy Atkins even under such
+conditions as these. It is apparent to every one that we have
+taken the I 'knock;' with most armies one would say beaten, but
+with Tommy Atkins you can't say that, as it would not be true,
+as the only way to defeat him is to kill him; otherwise, he just
+goes on suffering every hardship <i>without</i> a grumble, and then,
+when you think he is absolutely done, he turns round and hits
+you. People at home don't realize and understand what heroes the
+men are&mdash;brave, suffering every hardship without a grumble,
+loyal, and in the highest sense true, typical Britons."</p></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The fateful day had passed; the little British army, though its ranks
+were sorely thinned, was still unbroken and undefeated. Smith-Dorrien's
+corps had made a stand which will go down to history as a triumph of
+valour and endurance. It had resisted an army that outnumbered it by ten
+to one, and it had handled it very roughly indeed. All honour to the men
+who fought and died at Le Cateau that day, and all honour to the cool,
+determined, and unconquerable general who commanded them! Sir Horace
+Smith-Dorrien has written his name high on the scroll of fame, and
+henceforth he stands in our annals side by side with Sir John Moore<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>
+of undying memory. His proud boast is that he saved the left wing of the
+British army, and by doing so made the German conquest of France
+impossible.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p101.jpg" width="326" height="440" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, G.C.B., D.S.O.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Russell.</i><br />
+
+Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien commanded the Second Army Corps during the
+retreat from Mons. Sir John French, in his dispatch of September 7,
+ascribed to him the salvation of the left wing of the British army, and
+described him as "a commander of rare and unusual coolness, intrepidity,
+and determination." Had the left wing been rolled up, the rout of the
+whole Allied army would probably have followed.</h4>
+
+<p>Sir John French tells us that the retreat was continued far into the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+night of the 26th and through the 27th and 28th. The cavalry officer
+quoted above gives us a vivid picture of the weariness of his men and
+horses, and from the stories of others who took part in the retreat we
+learn that it was just as trying as the battle itself. The night was
+black dark, the rain was falling heavily, and the narrow roads were
+choked with guns, transport, and infantry. The men had to be shaken out
+of their sleep, but once on their feet they marched steadily.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"There was never a halt nor a pause, though horses dropped
+between the shafts, and men sat down exhausted by the roadside.
+A heavy gun overturned in a ditch, but it was impossible to stay
+and get it out; so it was rendered useless, and the disconsolate
+gunners trekked on. When the horses could draw their loads no
+longer, the loads were cast by the roadside. . . . I cannot give
+a connected account of that night. The overpowering desire for
+sleep, the weariness and ache of every fibre, and the thirst! I
+had forgotten to be hungry, and had got past food; but I
+thirsted as I have only thirsted once before, and that was in
+the desert near Khartum."</p></div>
+
+<p>On moved the columns, almost at the last gasp, but still undaunted and
+bent on winning through. When the dreadful night was over, and dawn
+broke over the hills, men looked at each other and marvelled at the
+change wrought in their appearance by the terrible experiences which
+they had undergone. They were as worn and gaunt as though they were
+recovering from a serious illness.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Let me tell you a little story, to show the splendid self-restraint of
+our men even when they were suffering agonies of thirst.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Soon after sunrise," says an officer, "we came up with two of
+our ambulance wagons and one of our filter water-carts. The
+wounded were in such a state of exhaustion with the long trek
+and the awful jolting of the wagons that it was decided to make
+some beef-tea for them, and a major rode ahead to find some farm
+where water could be boiled. He had hardly gone when a battalion
+of exhausted infantry came up, and as soon as they saw the
+water-carts made a dash for them. Hastily I rode up to them, and
+told them that there was very little water left in the carts,
+and that it was needed for their wounded comrades. 'I am thirsty
+myself,' I said, 'and I am awfully sorry for you chaps; but you
+see how it is&mdash;the wounded must come first.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Quite right, sir,' was the ready response. 'Didn't know it was
+a hospital water-cart;' and, without a murmur, they went thirsty
+on their way."</p></div>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+<p>All night long the Germans pressed closely on the British rear, and they
+were able to capture stragglers and detachments that had missed their
+way. Amongst these was a battalion of Gordon Highlanders who had taken
+the wrong road. Between one and two o'clock in the morning, when they
+were marching down a narrow lane, they were fired at from the left. They
+were under the impression that they had been fired on accidentally by
+the French, whom they supposed to be near at hand. They were mistaken.
+Dark shadowy masses of the enemy closed around them and attacked them in
+front, rear, and flanks. The Gordons made a gallant resistance, but in
+vain. They were shot down in heaps, and in a few minutes all were
+killed, wounded, or prisoners.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Still the British army dragged its slow length along the belt of low
+upland on which the Scheldt and the Sambre take their rise, and on
+Thursday morning, August 28, arrived a little to the north of St.
+Quentin,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> which stands on rising ground on the right bank of the
+Somme. By this time the weight of the enemy's pursuit had been shaken
+off, and the wearied men could rest for a time in safety. The four days'
+battle, which began at noon on Sunday, 23rd August, had ended. The
+British army had emerged with fresh laurels from a great ordeal.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 843px;">
+<img src="images/p1045.jpg" width="843" height="586" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>How the Guards held Landrecies on the night of August 25, 1914.<br />
+
+A description of this incident is given on pp. <a href="#Page_93">93</a> and <a href="#Page_94">94</a>. As a result of
+this magnificent defence the German vanguard was checked. "It had
+miscalculated the strength of British valour and endurance."</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>STORIES OF THE RETREAT FROM MONS TO ST. QUENTIN.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">F</span>rom what you have read in the two previous chapters you will gather
+that, during the four days' battle which was fought between Mons and St.
+Quentin, incident crowded upon incident. You may be sure that our
+soldiers had much to say of their experiences when they wrote home, or
+when they arrived on this side of the Channel to nurse their honourable
+wounds. Before, however, I tell you some of their stories, let us learn
+what happened at Tournai. You will remember that while our men were
+holding the Cond&eacute;-Mons-Binche line a French Territorial battalion was
+defending Tournai. It was by way of this town that von Kluck was trying
+to turn the British left. In order to help the French in Tournai, the
+British Commander-in-chief sent them twenty-two pieces of field
+artillery, two heavy guns, and a force which only numbered seven hundred
+all told.</p>
+
+<p>Tournai<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> is one of the most ancient cities of Belgium. It is as old
+as C&aelig;sar, and its history is very warlike. Few towns have borne the
+brunt of so many sieges, and have changed hands so often. The Duke of
+Marlborough captured it in 1709. It contains one of the noblest
+cathedrals in Europe; a fine Cloth Hall, which is now a museum and
+picture gallery; a belfry with a set of chimes; and other interesting
+buildings. In 1653, near one of the old churches, a tomb was discovered
+containing the sword and other relics of Childeric I.,<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> one of the
+early kings of the Franks, a group of tribes which settled in the Lower
+Rhine valley about 250 A.D., and afterwards gave its name to France.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+Amongst the relics in the tomb were three hundred small figures in gold,
+resembling bees. When Napoleon ordered the robe in which he was crowned,
+he had it embroidered with gold bees instead of the usual French lilies.
+Tournai is one of the cleanest and pleasantest of Belgian industrial
+towns. The quays on the Scheldt are planted with trees, and the old
+walls have been turned into promenades.</p>
+
+<p>A civilian who witnessed the fighting at Tournai tells us that the
+French Territorials, who were only one thousand strong, had barely
+arrived, after an eleven miles' march, when they were fired on by German
+guns. The firing began at 8 a.m. on Monday, 24th August, and shortly
+afterwards the Germans entered the town. He saw them in the garden of
+the station square taking cover under the bushes and behind the statues,
+and firing along all the streets that radiate from it. Then he heard the
+quick, continuous reports of the machine guns, which, he says, sounded
+like the noise of a very loud motor-cycle engine. The French made their
+last stand before the bridges of the Scheldt. They were mainly men of
+forty, but they held their ground the whole morning against a deadly
+fire, and only gave way when they were surrounded by the Germans.</p>
+
+<p>Our seven hundred British with their guns were posted to the south-west
+of the town. An artillery duel began at 11, and continued fiercely until
+2.30. Shrapnel continually burst over the trenches and batteries; but
+there was no flinching, and the gunners took a fearful toll of the
+advancing foe. Reinforcements had been promised, but they failed to
+arrive. Swarms of German cavalry, not less than five thousand of them,
+now swooped upon the little band of British, who fought desperately, and
+used the bayonet with deadly effect. After an agonizing struggle of an
+hour and a half, during which the Germans rode right up to the muzzles
+of the guns, "all that was left of them," some three hundred men, fought
+their way from the field, and escaped by the Cambrai road. "The last I
+saw of one of our officers," said a survivor, "was that he had a
+revolver in his hand, and was firing away, screened by his gun. He alone
+must have accounted for a dozen Uhlans. They were falling on all sides
+of him." The British guns were captured.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the fine feat of arms performed by a handful of Britons at
+Tournai. They were assailed by a force that outnumbered them ten to one;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+but they stood their ground, and made a defence worthy to rank with that
+of Rorke's Drift.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> The British soldier is never so great as when
+facing "fearful odds."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 723px;">
+<img src="images/p108.jpg" width="723" height="479" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The City of Tournai.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Central News.</i><br />
+
+The scene of the heroic stand described on page <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</h4>
+
+<p>I have already told you how the Belgian and French townsfolk and
+villagers looked upon the British as their deliverers, and how readily
+they gave them food and lodging. I am sure you can understand the
+anguish of these poor people when they saw the British retreating, and
+leaving them to the mercy of the dreaded Uhlans. In many places they
+made little bundles of their most precious belongings, and, locking up
+their houses, fled southwards. Here is an amusing story of a British
+officer's experience with a family that remained:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"After the Battle of Mons we were billeted at a large farmhouse, the
+inhabitants of which did not seem very pleased to see us. We had not
+touched any eatables for several hours, and I made the housewife
+understand that we wanted some food. She looked at us in a way which was
+not altogether an expression of friendliness, and pointing to the table,
+round which a number of men were gathered, to whom she was serving their
+meals, she said, 'After my workpeople.'</p>
+
+<p>"We waited patiently till the men had finished their meal, and then
+asked once more for food. But the woman merely remarked, 'After us,' and
+she and her husband prepared to eat their supper. It is rather trying to
+see somebody making an attack on a hearty meal while one has not tasted
+any food for a long time. So I demanded, in the name of the King, that
+we should be supplied with foodstuffs immediately, the more so that the
+woman seemed so unwilling to grant our wishes. The only answer she made
+was that if we were in want of food we should have to look for it
+ourselves, and try to prepare it.</p>
+
+<p>"The situation was rather awkward, and I was wondering why these French
+peasants were so extremely unkind towards British soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>"Suddenly it entered my mind that perhaps she thought we were Germans!
+At the same time I had something like a happy thought in order to prove
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+that we were not. One of our men, a tall, heavy chap, who was still
+outside the house, was ordered to substitute a German helmet for his own
+cap, and to knock at the door. He did: the door was opened, we dashed
+forward, and made 'the German' a prisoner.</p>
+
+<p>"The whole scene changed all of a sudden. The whole family embraced us,
+almost choked us. Food and wine and dainties were supplied at once, and
+we had a most glorious time."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The following story of the retreat is told by Private Stewart of the
+Royal Scots. "After Mons," he says, "the hardships of fighting on the
+retreat began. We had little time for sleep; both day and night we
+retreated, and as they marched the men slept. If a man in front of you
+happened to stop, you found yourself bumping into him. At one place
+where we halted for the day the lady of the farmhouse was washing, so
+some of us took off our shirts to have them washed. While they were
+hanging up to dry the order came that the troops had to move on, and the
+wet garments had to be put on just as they were. Mine was dry next
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>A party of Royal Scots which was cut off from its main body joined up
+with the Grenadier Guards, and fought in the streets of Landrecies. The
+Germans called on them to surrender; but a Royal Scots officer replied,
+"British never surrender! Fix bayonets! Charge!" So well did they charge
+that the Germans went down before them in large numbers.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is a fine story of a young soldier of the King's Own Scottish
+Borderers. While trying to cross two planks over a canal that was being
+peppered with machine-gun fire, the youngster received a flesh wound,
+and was about to fall. Colonel Stephenson gripped him to save him from
+falling into the canal, and said, "You had better go back to the
+hospital, sonny." So he did; but scarcely had he reached the hospital
+when the Germans began shelling it, and he and the other patients had to
+beat a quick retreat. Some time later he was on sentry go by a wayside
+shrine, and was waiting for the reliefs to come round, when he saw
+Germans in the distance. He fired at them once or twice&mdash;"for luck," as
+he said&mdash;but almost immediately received another wound in the body. This
+time it was so serious that he had to be sent home.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+<p>Colonel Stephenson, who is mentioned in this story, was the hero of
+another life-saving episode. During the fighting at Le Cateau one of the
+captains of his regiment fell in front of the British trenches. Without
+a moment's hesitation the colonel rushed out to carry in the captain,
+and in doing so exposed himself to a fierce fire. As he entered the
+lines with his unconscious burden the men gave him a rousing cheer.
+Later in the day he was hit, and was assisted into an ambulance wagon;
+but shortly afterwards he came out of it, in order, as he said, to make
+room for men who were worse wounded than himself. Almost immediately
+afterwards the retreat was continued, and the colonel was picked up and
+made prisoner by the Germans.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>There was scarcely an hour during the whole retreat which was not marked
+by some noble deed of self-sacrifice. A private of the 1st Cheshires
+tells us admiringly of the great pluck of a wounded lieutenant of the A
+Company. "I only know his nickname, which was 'Winkepop.' He had been
+shot through his right leg and left foot, and we cut off his boots and
+attempted roughly to bandage his wounds. As he rose to his feet, he saw
+one of our privates in distress about fifteen yards away, and seizing
+his gun, he rushed or hobbled forward to bring him in, which he managed
+to do on his back, under a murderous fire from the enemy. Having dropped
+his rifle and sword in this courageous act, he made his way back for
+them, and we missed him after that, and indeed he has not been seen
+since."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In an earlier chapter we read of the splendid spirit of comradeship
+shown by officers to men and men to officers in the British army. A good
+instance is afforded by the letter of a private of the Yorkshire Light
+Infantry, who thus writes to General Wynn telling him of the death of
+his son, Lieutenant Wynn: "I have been asked by friends of ours to let
+you know fuller particulars of your son's death. He was my platoon
+officer, and he met his death at Landrecies. Sir, these are a few of the
+instances which made your son liked by all his men. He was a gentleman
+and a soldier. The last day he was alive we had got a cup of tea in the
+trenches, and we asked him if he would have a drink. He said, 'No; drink
+it yourselves.' And then, with a smile, he added, 'We have to hold the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+trenches to-day.' Again, at Mons we had been fighting all day, and some
+one had brought us a sack of pears and two loaves of bread. Lieutenant
+Wynn accepted only one pear and a very little bread. We noticed this. I
+had a small bottle of pickles in my haversack, and asked him to have
+some. But it was the usual answer, 'You require them yourselves.' Our
+regiment was holding the first line of trenches, and Lieutenant Wynn was
+told to hold the right of the company. Word was passed down to see if
+Lieutenant Wynn was all right, and I was just putting up my head when
+they hit me, and I heard from a neighbour that Lieutenant Wynn was hit
+through the eye and died instantly. He died doing his duty, and like the
+officer and gentleman he was."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p112.jpg" width="449" height="346" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Ready, aye ready!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Daily Mirror.</i></h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3>VALOROUS DEEDS AND VICTORIA CROSSES.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">A</span> story of heroism which ought not to be forgotten is told by a drummer
+of the 1st Battalion Royal Berks Regiment. The British were attacking a
+canal bridge held by the Germans near Cambrai, and during the attack
+several men slipped down the steep river embankment and fell into the
+water, where they were in danger of drowning. Corporal Brindall of the
+Royal Berks, who was an expert swimmer, immediately plunged in and
+rescued four of them who could not swim. He left the water, and was
+climbing the embankment, when a German shell exploded close to him and
+killed him instantly. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man
+lay down his life for his friends."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is the story of a 1st East Lancashire private, who was considered
+by his comrades the luckiest man in the war. "I got hit," he writes, "by
+three bullets in about a minute. One went through my cap, one smashed
+the magazine of my rifle, and one flattened five rounds of ammunition in
+my belt. Nearly all my company wanted to shake hands with me, telling me
+that I am the luckiest man in the war. I think it was a record myself.
+They wanted to keep the cap, ammunition, and magazine; but I am keeping
+them myself to show you when I come home. So you see I have not to be
+shot with rifle bullets&mdash;at least, that is what they say here, and I
+think so myself."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>We have to piece together from various sources the story of a modest
+hero, named Jack W. Pape, of the Signal Company, Royal Engineers. In a
+letter to his relatives in Leeds he wrote: "You can say to &mdash;&mdash; that on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+26th August, in the big fight on that day, I kept my end up, and have
+since been personally congratulated by General Smith-Dorrien, commander
+of the Second Army Corps." That is all we hear of the business from Pape
+himself. A sapper thus tells us why he received the congratulations of
+his general: "Men were dropping all round, whether shot or for cover I
+know not. I remember seeing one poor fellow shot through the eye. He was
+gallantly carried off the field under fire by Pape of Leeds, but has
+since died." Another comrade describes the parade at which our hero was
+honoured by his general: "This morning a general parade was ordered at
+nine o'clock ('as clean as possible'). This was a tall order, owing to
+the very wet weather we have been having lately&mdash;up to the eyes in mud.
+Anyhow, we were marched up to headquarters, and paraded before the whole
+of the staff. When formed up, General Smith-Dorrien read from a paper
+some particulars. Then he congratulated the Signal Company on the
+splendid work they had done for his command. After this he said that for
+gallantry in the field J. W. Pape was promoted. He then brought him out
+in front of all the troops, shook hands with him, and congratulated him.
+Then followed congratulations from the sergeant-major down to the boys,
+who were proud that the Signal Company should be so honoured." Writing
+home a little later, Pape said that General Smith-Dorrien had promoted
+him "King's Corporal."<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A London doctor who was with the R.A.M.C.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> tells us how gloriously
+brave and splendidly uncomplaining our men are. "If," he says, "the
+people of the United Kingdom could see the conditions under which our
+fellows fight, how they fight, and how they die, I swear every head
+would uncover to the colours<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> of any regiment bearing the name of a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+battle, because the name has been won through the blood of real heroes.
+Believe me, the Victoria Cross is won over and over again in a single
+day. They <i>are</i> brave!</p>
+
+<p>"What if you were to see how the wounded act after the excitement of
+battle! They suffer their wounds, great and small, without a murmur;
+they get their wounds dressed, take chloroform, give consent to have
+their limbs amputated, just as if they were going to have their hair
+cut. They are gloriously brave.</p>
+
+<p>"Men who have been in the thick of the fight all day, seen their chums
+wounded and killed, their own lives not worth a second's
+insurance&mdash;still, these men cook their food and go off to sleep, and,
+most wonderful of all, go back to the thick of it next day."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>We must not imagine that all German soldiers are brutal and treacherous.
+Let us always remember that they are very brave, and that many of them
+are worthy foes. There is a little story which illustrates the chivalry
+of a German lancer and the gratitude of the man whom he spared. "At Le
+Cateau," said a wounded corporal of the Coldstream Guards, "I made a
+bayonet thrust at a German lancer, and fell. He scorned to take
+advantage of my accident, and we parted. I made up my mind to repay the
+debt if ever I met the man again. Some time later I came upon him. He
+had been wounded by a splinter of shell, and was in urgent need of
+assistance. I managed to get him to the hospital, and he told me he was
+well repaid for sparing my life on the first day we met."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 712px;">
+<img src="images/p116.jpg" width="712" height="496" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>The Welsh Guards and their Regimental Colour.</h3>
+
+<h4>In the British army, when war broke out, there were four regiments of
+foot guards&mdash;the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, the Scots
+Guards, and the Irish Guards. You will notice that England, Scotland,
+and Ireland had their special regiments of Guards, but not Wales. This
+slur on the Principality has now been removed: a new regiment of Welsh
+Guards has been formed, and on St. David's Day (March 1, 1915) it was
+specially appointed to do sentry-go at Buckingham Palace, and was
+afterwards marched to mount guard at St. James's Palace.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, London
+News Association</i>.</h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+<p>Now let me tell you how a British soldier returned good for evil. During
+the retreat a British artilleryman, slightly wounded, asked a German for
+water and was refused. Some weeks later the artilleryman recognized the
+same German amongst a party of wounded who were crying for water. He
+went up to the man, who knew him at once, took off his water-bottle and
+handed it to him without a word. The corporal of the Highland Light
+Infantry who told the story adds, "You never saw anybody look so
+shamefaced as that German."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It was during the retreat from Landrecies that the Munster Fusiliers
+added to their fame by making a most gallant stand against an
+overwhelming German attack, but at a great loss of killed, wounded, and
+missing. Some weeks afterwards the War Office published a list of 688
+Munsters whose whereabouts were unknown. Later on it was learned that
+many of them were prisoners in Germany. The Munsters formed part of the
+1st Army Corps, which retreated southwards along the left bank of the
+Oise. They reached Guise without being much molested by the Germans.</p>
+
+<p>Guise is a very old town, with an ancient castle, which figures in
+British history. In 1338 Edward III. laid claim to the French crown in
+right of his mother, and the Hundred Years' War began. In the next year
+John of Hainault, with a body of English troops, assaulted the castle.
+Strange to say, the wife of the lord of this castle was John of
+Hainault's daughter. As the husband was away from home, the defence of
+the castle was entrusted to the wife, and John expected that she would
+readily give it up to him. Imagine his surprise when his daughter
+refused to surrender it. She made such a stubborn defence that her
+father, though he burned the town, was unable to capture the castle, and
+was forced to depart. Guise gives its name to the noble French family
+from which the ill-fated Mary Queen of Scots was descended.</p>
+
+<p>The Munsters halted at Guise on the night of the 26th, and formed the
+extreme right rear of their corps. A dispatch rider had been sent by the
+general with the order that they were to march early the next day. This
+dispatch rider, unfortunately, lost his way, and was taken prisoner, so
+the order to retire never reached the Munsters. They remained at Guise
+while their comrades were miles away on their southward journey. They
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+had been left behind, without supports or the hope of reinforcement.</p>
+
+<p>The advancing Germans rolled down upon them, and they soon discovered
+that they were surrounded. "They came at us," says one of the gallant
+fellows, "from all points&mdash;horse, foot, and artillery and all&mdash;and the
+air was filled with screaming, shouting men, waving swords, and blazing
+away at us like blue murder." The brave Irish lads fixed bayonets, and
+prepared to sell their lives dearly. "We were," wrote an officer, "about
+three-quarters of a battalion fighting six German battalions, and
+without any chance of relief. I think we really did our best. We had one
+section of artillery and two machine guns with us, which helped a lot;
+but they were very soon knocked out. Our colonel was a wonder to see&mdash;he
+had absolutely no fear; and I followed him, and helped him all I could
+in every charge, but he was killed in the end by a shell. We had, I
+think, ten officers killed, five wounded, and the remainder prisoners. I
+was wounded in two places. . . . Well, although we were well beaten, I
+believe we gave as good as we got. We killed and wounded a great many
+Germans, and they say themselves that we made a gallant fight of it."
+The Munsters did not surrender until they had lost most of their
+officers and a large number of the rank and file, and had shot away all
+their cartridges. They only yielded when they no longer possessed the
+means of defending themselves. Let us honour the brave but unfortunate
+Irishmen who strove so nobly at Guise.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The valour of the British troops during the retreat extended to every
+arm of the service. You have already heard of the Army Service Corps,
+whose duty it is to supply food, stores, and ammunition to the troops.
+During the present war the Army Service Corps has done its work
+splendidly. Except during the retirement, not a single day passed upon
+which food did not reach our men. Even during the retirement food was
+brought to the line of retreat, and left on the ground to be picked up.</p>
+
+<p>For the purpose of bringing up supplies, large numbers of motor lorries
+and horsed wagons are used. When the Germans were following hard on the
+heels of the retiring British, they were very anxious to capture our
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+food and ammunition train, for by so doing they would be able to hamper
+us very much. Near a village close to St. Quentin the colonel in charge
+of the British lorries and wagons learned that Uhlans were only a mile
+away. His horses were almost dead beat, and he could only proceed at a
+snail's pace. Night was drawing on, and there were no fighting troops to
+assist him. He had to depend upon his own men to beat off the threatened
+attack.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p119.jpg" width="451" height="311" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>British Motor Transport.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Topical Press.</i></h4>
+
+<p>The wagons and lorries were drawn up in the village street in the form
+of a laager, and the wearied men took cover behind them, and prepared to
+make a stubborn resistance. The people of the village were in a great
+state of terror, and the colonel advised them to go to church. They did
+so, and the cur&eacute;<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> held a service. While our men were strengthening
+their defences and looking to their rifles and cartridges, they were
+greatly cheered by the hymns which the villagers sang.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p120.jpg" width="347" height="517" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>With the Army Service Corps&mdash;horsed wagons which carry
+supplies to the men in the firing lines.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Photopress.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Dark night set in, and the sound of guns was heard. The horses grew
+restless, and it was feared that they would stampede. Had they done so,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+all would have been lost. The drivers, however, quietened them down,
+and held their heads till the break of day. In the morning they
+discovered that the Uhlans had missed them. The Germans imagined that
+the convoy was far ahead, and had advanced to the right and left of the
+village, quite unaware that it was drawn up in the streets.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>On several other occasions British convoys managed to escape capture.
+Frequently horsed supply wagons on their way to the troops have to pass
+along roads under artillery fire. Often shells burst among them and
+destroy the wagons, while the drivers fall with bullet wounds. There is
+an old story of an Army Service Corps man who raised a howl of derision
+amongst a group of "Tommies" by declaring that he was always to be found
+where the bullets were thickest. The laugh was on his side when it was
+discovered that he drove an ammunition wagon. During the present war men
+of the Army Service Corps driving their wagons towards the firing line
+have actually been where the bullets fell thickest.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Very early one morning during the retreat a convoy drove up to a brigade
+of artillery with rations. In a few moments the officer in command
+learned that he was being quietly surrounded by German cavalry. Rather
+than let the enemy capture his wagons, the officer was prepared to burn
+them, but before doing so he determined to try to make a dash for
+safety.</p>
+
+<p>Off went lorries and wagons at top speed until they reached a bridge
+over a railway. There was some delay in getting them across; but all
+passed over except thirty motor lorries, and these the officer thought
+he would be obliged to abandon, as the enemy was hard on his rear. A
+determined effort, however, was made, and twenty-eight of the thirty
+were got across. Then the bridge was blown up, and almost before the
+roar of the explosion had ended the two remaining lorries were in the
+hands of the Germans. It was a very near thing. The German pursuit was
+checked by the wrecked bridge, and the convoy, almost intact, drove on
+into safety.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I will close this chapter by giving you some account of the heroes who
+won the Victoria Cross during the retreat from Mons to St. Quentin. You
+will notice that four of them belong to the Royal Field Artillery. This
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+alone is sufficient to show you how splendidly the artillery fought
+during that critical time. It is not too much to say that the retreat
+would have become a rout had not every gunner played a hero's part.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Captain Francis Octavius Grenfell</span>, 9th Lancers, was the hero of the
+stirring episode of which you read on page <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Private Sidney Frank Godley</span>, 4th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, City of
+London, won the highest award of valour for his coolness and gallantry
+in continuing to fight his machine gun, though hotly assailed for two
+hours, and suffering from a wound received at Mons.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Wright Alexander</span>, 119th Battery, Royal Field
+Artillery, greatly distinguished himself on August 24, 1914. When the
+5th Division was retiring to the Bavay-Maubeuge position, Major
+Alexander, as he was then, handled his guns so skilfully that they did
+great execution on the Germans; and when they were threatened with
+capture by overwhelming numbers of the enemy, he and three men moved
+them into safety by hand. The splendid stand which he made enabled the
+5th Division to retire without serious loss. On a later date he rescued
+a wounded man under heavy fire, and on every occasion when he was
+engaged showed the greatest gallantry and devotion to duty. For these
+noble services he was awarded the Victoria Cross and received promotion.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Captain Douglas Reynolds</span>, <span class="smcap">Driver Job Henry Charles Drain</span>, and <span class="smcap">Driver
+Frederick Luke</span>, all of the 37th Battery, Royal Field Artillery, showed
+magnificent courage during "the most critical day of all," 26th August.
+When it became clear that the corps holding the Le Cateau position would
+be utterly wiped out if a retirement were not attempted, the Royal Field
+Artillery covered the retreat with almost superhuman courage and
+devotion. At one stage in the retirement all the men working some of our
+guns were shot down, and the pieces were on the point of being captured
+by German infantry, then only a hundred yards away. Captain Reynolds
+called for volunteers to save the guns, and drivers Drain and Luke were
+amongst those who answered the call. Two teams dashed forward amidst a
+terrible rifle and shrapnel fire, and limbered up two of the guns.
+Thanks to the devoted courage of Captain Reynolds and the two drivers,
+one gun was got safely away. In a later engagement a German battery was
+holding up a British advance. Captain Reynolds crept forward under a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+heavy fire, and got so near the German guns that he was able to discover
+their position, and bring his own guns to bear on them until the battery
+was silenced. Eight days later he was severely wounded.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Major Charles Allix Lavington Yate</span>, 2nd Battalion the King's Own
+(Yorkshire Light Infantry), did superb deeds of heroism at Le Cateau.
+His battalion formed part of the 5th Division, which was the last to
+retire. Major Yate commanded one of two companies that remained to the
+end. All the other officers had been killed or wounded, and there was no
+more ammunition left. Rather than surrender, Major Yate called upon the
+nineteen survivors of his company&mdash;every man of whom deserved the
+Victoria Cross&mdash;to fix bayonets and charge. They did so with furious
+gallantry; but, unhappily, Major Yate was shot down. As he lay on the
+ground, severely wounded, he was picked up by the Germans and made a
+prisoner of war. He did not live to receive the coveted honour awarded
+him, but died in the hands of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lance-Corporal Frederick William Holmes</span>, of the same regiment and
+battalion, also proved himself supremely brave at Le Cateau. He carried
+a wounded man out of the trenches under fire, and later on, when he saw
+a gun in danger of capture, sprang into the saddle of a driver who had
+been wounded and helped to drive the gun out of action into a place of
+safety.</p>
+
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">"Men</span>
+<span class="i0">May bear the blazon wrought of centuries, hold</span>
+<span class="i0">Their armouries higher than arms imperial; yet</span>
+<span class="i0">Know that the least their countryman, whose hand</span>
+<span class="i0">Hath done his country service, lives their peer,</span>
+<span class="i0">And peer of all their fathers."</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 742px;">
+<img src="images/p124.jpg" width="742" height="467" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>French Infantry retreating.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Record Press.</i></h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>ARRAS AND AMIENS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hile our sorely-tried army is halting for a brief rest at St. Quentin,
+let us follow the fortunes of the French on the west and the east of the
+British line of retirement. We have not much information to go upon. A
+French official account of the retreat was published in our newspapers
+on March 22, 1915; but it was a mere outline of the course of events,
+with many gaps which can only be filled up when the war is over and many
+facts now hidden are brought to light.</p>
+
+<p>First, let us look at the German movements on the west of the British
+line of retreat. You already know that von Kluck was pushing forward his
+extreme right through Belgium and North France with the utmost speed.
+The force which he used for this purpose consisted of cavalry, horse
+artillery, and machine and quick-firing guns mounted on motor cars. His
+infantry were carried on motor lorries, and the whole force was thus
+able to cover great distances in a day. He had two objects in view. In
+the first place, he wished to cut the railway communications between the
+British army and its bases at Boulogne and Havre, and by doing so make
+the task of supplying it with reinforcements, food, and ammunition from
+these places impossible; and, in the second place, he wished to outflank
+the British, and drive them eastwards into the arms of von Buelow.</p>
+
+<p>I have already told you of the gallant stand made by a small British
+detachment and a French Territorial force at Tournai. When these were
+overcome, von Kluck had no difficulty in advancing; for, with the
+exception of a corps of French Territorials at Arras, there were no
+soldiers to oppose him but groups of British guarding the lines of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+communication. Many of these detached parties were driven off or
+captured, and the story of their misfortunes gave rise to rumours of
+terrible British defeats. As a matter of fact, the operations in the
+west were all on the fringe of the real fighting which was going on in
+the centre and in the east.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p126.jpg" width="292" height="332" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The British Retreat from Mons to the Oise (Aug. 23-28).</h4>
+
+<p>Daring Uhlans rode towards the Channel, and in Belgium it was thought
+that they would seize Ostend, and thus cut off England from Antwerp,
+where the Belgian army was preparing to make a stand. To prevent Ostend
+from falling into the hands of the Germans, a body of British marines
+was hastily carried across the Channel to hold the town.</p>
+
+<p>Von Kluck's swift-moving forces occupied Lille.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> It is a handsome
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+and attractive town, with important linen and woollen manufactures, and
+its fortress was supposed to be very strong. Nevertheless the Allies did
+not attempt to defend it. The Germans occupied the town without firing a
+shot. Then they marched south towards Arras, where, as you know, a
+French Territorial corps was stationed. Arras is a very old town, which
+has played an important part in French history. After the battle of
+Agincourt (1415) peace was signed in Arras by the English and French. In
+the Middle Ages the town was so famous for the tapestry with which the
+rough interior walls of castle rooms were then covered, that such
+hangings were known by its name. You will remember that in Shakespeare's
+play <i>King John</i> Hubert was sent to tell poor Prince Arthur that his
+eyes were to be put out. At the opening of the scene he said to the
+executioners who accompanied him: "Look thou stand within the
+<i>arras</i>"&mdash;that is, behind the curtain of needlework hanging on the wall.</p>
+
+<p>Arras stands on the main railway which runs from the ports of Calais and
+Boulogne to Amiens. If the Germans could cut this line, the British
+would not be able to use either of these ports as a basis of supplies.
+If they could seize the important junction of Amiens,<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> they would cut
+the British off from Havre, and would force them to seek fresh bases
+somewhere on the west coast of France. This, of course, would entail a
+longer voyage for the transports and supply ships, and men and stores
+would have to make a long journey across country before they could reach
+the place where they were needed. Now you understand how important Arras
+and Amiens were to the Allies. As soon as Arras was threatened, the
+railway officials hurried away southwards every supply and ammunition
+train which was either on the line or on the sidings at Boulogne.</p>
+
+<p>The French Territorials took up a position to the south of the town, and
+there prepared to oppose the German advance. For a time they held their
+own; but they were hopelessly outnumbered, and were soon in peril of
+being cut off. Two of their batteries had been captured, and they were
+nearly surrounded when a British detachment came to their rescue. Where
+it came from we have never been told, but probably it had been guarding
+the lines of communication at Amiens. It arrived in the very nick of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+time, and was able to hold the enemy, while all that was left of the
+French Territorials got safely away.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p128.jpg" width="375" height="248" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Without delay the Germans pushed on towards Amiens. Meanwhile the
+railway officials of that city were sending all the engines and
+carriages in the station southwards, so that the enemy might not seize
+them. I have already told you that the capture of the railway at Arras
+had made Boulogne and Calais useless as bases of supply for our army,
+and that the seizure of the line at Amiens would cut it off from all the
+Channel ports. A new British base had to be chosen, and St. Nazaire,<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a>
+at the mouth of the river Loire, was selected, an advanced base being
+established at Le Mans, on the Sarthe, about fifty miles to the
+north-east of the port.</p>
+
+<p>Outside Amiens there was a fierce artillery duel; but when the Allies
+had fired their last shell they were forced to retreat, and the city
+surrendered. Between nine and ten on the morning of 31st August the
+war-stained German soldiers poured into the place, but by evening they
+were all out again, following up the pursuit. The retreating French blew
+up the bridges across the Somme, and endeavoured in this and other ways
+to delay the German advance.</p>
+
+<p>Amiens is a busy town of cotton and woollen mills, and contains one of
+the most glorious Gothic cathedrals in all Christendom. The western
+front is wonderfully adorned with reliefs and statues, and double rows
+of medallions representing scenes from Holy Scripture. John Ruskin, the
+great writer of art, calls these carvings "the Bible of Amiens." Happily
+the Germans were advancing so hurriedly that they had no time to do any
+mischief to this miracle of architecture.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FRENCH RETREAT.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">N</span>ow we must learn what happened on the east side of the British line of
+retreat. Look carefully at the map on page <a href="#Page_129">130</a>. On 22nd August von
+Buelow crossed the Sambre, and defeated the French army No. 2. About the
+same time the Saxon army under von Hausen crossed the Meuse above Namur,
+and fell upon its right flank. Taken in front and in flank it was forced
+to retreat to the south-west. Meanwhile von Hausen had also been engaged
+with the left wing of No. 3. While he was driving in the left of this
+army some of his other divisions had crossed the Meuse at Dinant, and
+were attacking No. 3 in front. Thus No. 3 was forced to retreat. Von
+Hausen now fought his way along the western bank of the Meuse, and at
+the same time No. 4 Army was attacked in front by the Duke of
+W&uuml;rtemberg's forces and by those of the Crown Prince. No. 4 was also
+forced to retreat; but by the 28th of August the three defeated French
+armies had regained touch on a line roughly extending from near
+Rethel<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> to the Meuse north of Verdun.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p130.jpg" width="347" height="493" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Map illustrating the Retreat of the French Armies from
+the Sambre and the Meuse<br />
+
+(Aug. 22-28).</h4>
+
+<p>Hard fighting followed, and on the 29th the French were driven out of
+Rethel, and were forced to retreat once more. The town was set on fire
+by bursting shells, and more than half of it was burned. A Saxon
+officer, whose diary afterwards fell into the hands of the French,
+blamed them for the destruction of the place. He said that the French
+burned the town in order to prevent the Germans from pushing their
+ammunition wagons across the river Aisne, on both sides of which Rethel
+is built. We need not pause to apportion the blame. The inhabitants
+fled, and then the Germans looted and destroyed to their hearts'
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+content. "The place is a disgrace to our army," wrote the Saxon
+officer.</p>
+
+<p>The Germans now crossed the Aisne, and the French fell back rapidly.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now let us leave this main line of retreat for a few moments and follow
+the fortunes of a French army which had been pushed into Lorraine as far
+back as 14th August, in order to hold the Bavarians, who were operating
+south of Metz. Up to the 20th of August this French army did very well,
+but on that day it was badly beaten by the Bavarians at Ch&acirc;teau
+Salins,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> a place about twenty-five miles south-east of Metz. In this
+battle the Bavarians claimed to have captured thousands of prisoners and
+150 guns. No doubt they won an important victory.</p>
+
+<p>The French now fell back to the Vosges mountains, not far from Nancy,
+and on the 23rd and 24th the Germans, largely reinforced, advanced into
+the region of Luneville. This forced the French to retire south. On the
+25th, however, they made two successful counter-attacks, one from the
+south to the north and the other from the west to the east, and forced
+the enemy to fall back. For fifteen days they held up the Bavarians, and
+by the end of that time the turn of the tide had come, and the French
+were advancing all along the line.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>All these operations involved much fierce fighting, and the Germans were
+not always victors. Some of the French counter-attacks during the
+retreat were very successful, and the Germans were checked again and
+again. For example, on 24th August, near Spincourt, north-east of
+Verdun, the French had a real success. They drove back the Germans,
+pursued them with great effect, and captured a number of guns.
+Nevertheless, by the evening of the 27th, all the strongholds in North
+France, except Maubeuge, were in the hands of the enemy. Montm&eacute;dy and
+Mezi&egrave;res surrendered, almost without firing a shot; but Longwy,<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a>
+though it was an out-of-date fortress, and had but a small garrison,
+made a heroic resistance, and held out for twenty-four days.</p>
+
+<p>A tragic story connected with the capture of Longwy appeared in one of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+the leading French newspapers at the end of March 1915. It may not be
+true, but I think you would like to hear it.</p>
+
+<p>The German Emperor, surrounded by his Staff, was dining at an hotel in
+Luxembourg, and was awaiting the arrival of the general who had just
+captured Longwy (27th August). As soon as he arrived the Emperor,
+frantic with rage, addressed him as follows: "How is it that to capture
+this fortress, defended only by a few battalions, you have uselessly
+sacrificed thousands of our best soldiers?"</p>
+
+<p>The general went livid, and knowing that a superior officer visited by
+the wrath of the Emperor in the presence of his equals is condemned for
+ever, drew himself up and made this daring reply: "Your Majesty, if my
+soldiers advanced in close formation against Longwy, and were thus
+uselessly massacred, it was by the command of your scamp of a son, who,
+at a safe distance of twelve and a half miles behind the front, kept on
+sending me telephone orders, 'To the assault,' always to the assault."</p>
+
+<p>Having thus spoken, the general left the imperial presence amidst the
+dumb amazement of the assembly, and on the pavement outside the hotel
+shot himself. A week later a postcard was on sale throughout Germany,
+bearing the portrait of the Crown Prince, with the words, "The victor of
+Longwy."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p132.jpg" width="147" height="199" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The German Crown Prince.</h4>
+
+<p>When Longwy fell the tricolour alone flew from the fortress of Maubeuge,
+which was better able to stand a bombardment than almost any other
+stronghold of France. Its outlying defences had been strengthened with
+concrete and armour plates, and heavy guns had been mounted in steel
+turrets. The Germans were very anxious to capture it, because it gave
+them command of a good railway line from Aix right through the Meuse
+valley.</p>
+
+<p>The siege began soon after the British retreat from Mons. The French
+commandant had thrown up lines of earthworks between the forts, and had
+garrisoned them with soldiers. Just before the German guns began to
+thunder at the forts, detachments of French from the No. 2 Army that had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+been beaten at the Sambre came to reinforce the defenders, and further
+assistance was rendered by a British field battery that had been cut off
+when our line retired. The commandant had about 30,000 men to defend the
+place, and right nobly was it held. Not until the 7th of September did
+it yield. The outlying forts had then been battered down by 11-inch
+guns, throwing a 760-pound shell.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p133.jpg" width="462" height="375" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>A View in Krupp's Works, Essen, where the Big Guns are
+made.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, L.N.A.</i></h4>
+
+<p>A story went the round of the papers that, long before the war, a
+Belgian had bought land near Maubeuge, and on it had begun to build a
+factory for making railway engines. It was said that the real owner of
+the land was Krupp, the great manufacturer of guns and armaments for the
+German Government; and that while the factory was being built, concrete
+gun platforms had been constructed, on which the Germans mounted their
+siege guns as soon as they arrived. The story, however, had no
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+foundation. The guns which the Germans used in the siege of Maubeuge
+were smaller than those which battered down Namur. They did not need
+concrete foundations, but could be fired from an ordinary road or from a
+platform of sleepers. The story, however, was widely believed, and
+alleged gun platforms were actually discovered in innocent British
+factories!</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The French official account of the retreat tells us that, when the
+defence of the Meuse collapsed, General Joffre decided on a general
+retreat, but determined to make a series of counter-attacks whenever
+opportunity offered, so that the enemy might be kept busy. He had to
+choose a position where the retreat was to end, and this position had to
+be so chosen that the different armies could reach it at the same time
+and be ready without delay to advance. If, however, he found that he
+could begin his forward movement before this point was reached, he was
+prepared to alter his plans.</p>
+
+<p>After the war of 1870-71, when the French began building fortresses to
+guard their eastern frontier, they arranged that if the enemy should
+capture Montm&eacute;dy, Mezi&egrave;res, Hirson, Maubeuge, and Lille, as they had now
+done, a stand was to be made for the defence of Paris along an
+undulating plateau of chalk which rises gently from the valley of the
+Marne, but falls steeply on the north-east to the plains of Northern
+France. These uplands, as seen from the north, resemble the Surrey and
+Sussex Downs, and are known as the Heights of Champagne. On them grow
+the grapes which make the sparkling wine known as champagne. Several
+streams, the largest of which is the Aisne,<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> cut their way through
+the plateau; stumps of trees and belts of woodland are common, and on
+the western side towards the Oise there are wide stretches of forest.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 706px;">
+<img src="images/p136.jpg" width="706" height="480" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The French Army in the Champagne Country.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo,
+Farringdon Photo Co.</i></h4>
+
+<p>The little map on the opposite page will help you to understand the
+defensive character of the Heights of Champagne. Notice the two towns
+which were fortified to defend the scarp of the heights against attack
+from the north and north-east&mdash;La F&egrave;re,<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> on the Oise, an entrenched
+camp, with a circle of forts on both sides of the river; and Laon,<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a>
+an old city built on a long spur which encloses a remarkable V-shaped
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+valley, partly wooded and partly covered with gardens and vineyards. The
+carriage road to the upper town of Laon ascends in curves from near the
+station, but foot passengers may climb to it by means of a stairway of
+260 steps and a series of inclined planes. On the highest part of the
+hill stands the ancient citadel, and towering above its ramparts are the
+bold and graceful towers of a beautiful cathedral. The forts erected
+round this city were so placed that their fire crossed that of the forts
+at La F&egrave;re. Lines of defence extended along the steep north-eastern face
+of the plateau, and also along its eastern side to the valley of the
+Aisne. Beyond the Aisne valley the eastern system of defences was
+continued to the valley of the Marne. About midway between the two
+rivers, but to the east of the plateau, is the fortress of Rheims,<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a>
+one of the most interesting cities of France, and the chief centre of
+the trade in champagne. Rheims stands on the plain, and behind it rise
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+the vine-clad uplands. In front of it is the bold wooded hill known as
+the Mountain of Rheims. This hill, at the time of which we are speaking,
+was strongly fortified.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p135.jpg" width="447" height="361" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Sketch of Defensive Line of the Heights of Champagne.</h4>
+
+<p>Such was the position chosen in 1874 as the great line of defence
+against an army advancing on Paris. While the French retreat was in
+progress, many persons in this country thought that a great stand would
+be sure to be made in this region; but, to their surprise, the French
+continued their southward march.</p>
+
+<p>Now, why was not a stand made at the Heights of Champagne? The fact was,
+that the German armies were advancing so rapidly that the French had no
+time to pause and reorganize their line so that it could meet the enemy
+with any chance of success. The French had reached the plateau by the
+29th August; but they dared not halt their columns, because the enemy
+was hard at their heels.</p>
+
+<p>By this time von Kluck had passed the confluence of the Oise and the
+Aisne, and a cavalry corps on his left had actually reached the Marne.
+This movement threatened the left flank of the French, and they were
+bound to continue their retreat to prevent themselves from being turned
+in this direction. At the same time von Buelow was at Laon, on the edge
+of the plateau, and farther east von Hausen had crossed the Aisne, while
+other German armies were in contact with the French between Vouziers<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>
+and Verdun.</p>
+
+<p>Had the French accepted battle at the Heights of Champagne they would
+have done so very recklessly. If they had suffered defeat, they would
+have been cut off from the British on their left, and from a new army
+which was being formed near Paris. General Joffre therefore decided to
+continue his retreat until he could engage the enemy in a better
+position. He did so, and on 5th September lay along the Seine and the
+Aube, with the British gathered between the Seine and the Marne, and on
+their flank the newly-created army. All the units of the Allied forces
+were now linked up, and the moment had arrived when General Joffre could
+order an attack. On the evening of the 5th he addressed the following
+message to the commanders of his armies: "The hour has come to advance
+at all costs, and to die where you stand rather than give way."</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>"THOSE TERRIBLE GREY HORSES."</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">L</span>ate in March 1915 General Joffre told an interviewer that his army was
+not crushed in Belgium by overwhelming numbers. "That," he said, "is
+quite wrong; our army was numerous. We ought to have won the Battle of
+Charleroi.<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> We ought to have won it ten times out of eleven. We lost
+it through our own faults of command.</p>
+
+<p>"Before the war broke out I had already noted that among our generals
+many were worn out. Some had appeared to be incapable&mdash;not good enough
+for their work. Others inspired me with doubt, and I made up my mind to
+replace them with younger men. I should have done so, but the war came
+too soon. Besides, there were others in whom I had faith who have not
+responded to my hopes. . . . Their merit turned out to be below the
+mark. I had to remedy these defects. Some of these generals were my best
+comrades. But if I love my friends much, I love France more. I relieved
+them of their posts."</p>
+
+<p>I have already told you how the French were crushed in Belgium; how they
+retreated, remedied their defects, re-formed their line along the Seine
+and the Aube,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> turned their faces to the foe, and prepared to
+advance. All this happened between 21st August and 5th September. The
+account is not, however, complete, for you have yet to learn how the
+British army continued and ended its southern march. When I broke off my
+story to relate the misfortunes of the French, our gallant lads, you
+will remember, were making a brief halt in the neighbourhood of St.
+Quentin. We must now rejoin them, and see how they fared during the
+latter part of their retreat.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+<p>If you turn to the map on page <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, you will notice a French army marked
+6, lying to the south of the fortress of Maubeuge. This army was a
+cavalry corps of three divisions, held in reserve. It had taken no part
+in the battle on the Sambre, but now it came into action on our left
+rear, and brought relief to Allenby's hard-worked horsemen, who had been
+struggling almost night and day to beat back the German advance. Some of
+the Territorial divisions of the 5th Army, which had retreated to the
+Oise, also came to the assistance of the British. They closed in to the
+west of Smith-Dorrien's corps, and von Kluck, seeing his right flank
+threatened by them, was obliged to detach a strong column to hold them
+in check. Further, some divisions of the 2nd French Army, which had been
+beaten at Charleroi and had retreated south-west, now appeared, and
+struck severe blows on the enemy at Guise<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> and St. Quentin. This
+removed some of the pressure from Haig's corps. The British were thus
+able to retreat without much molestation, and by the evening of Friday,
+the 28th, they were assembled along the Oise from La F&egrave;re to Noyon.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very weary army which reached this position. It had fought and
+marched incessantly for six days, but it was still undaunted, and was
+eager for the moment when it should receive the order, "Right about
+turn! quick march!" You can form some idea of the great feat which it
+had performed when I tell you that besides fighting many rearguard
+actions it had marched more than eighty miles&mdash;that is, on an average,
+at least fourteen miles a day. After such an experience most armies
+would have been a complete wreck. Not so the British. The rank and file
+were now fully aware that, man for man, they were more than a match for
+the Germans, and they were heartened by the knowledge that they had
+foiled the frenzied efforts of an army that vastly outnumbered them, and
+had striven with all its might to overwhelm them.</p>
+
+<p>Though the general pursuit had slackened, von Kluck's cavalry were still
+on the heels of the British rear. On the Friday afternoon on which our
+men reached the La F&egrave;re-Noyon position two columns of the enemy's horse
+moved south-east from St. Quentin in the attempt to attack our flank at
+La F&egrave;re. Allenby, with two of his cavalry brigades, rode out to meet
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+them. The German column on the left consisted of Uhlans and of the
+cavalry of the famous Prussian Guard. General Gough, with the 4th
+Hussars and the 5th Lancers, charged down upon these much-vaunted
+horsemen, and drove them back in headlong flight. Against the other
+column, which was advancing further to the right, Sir Philip Chetwode
+led the Scots Greys, the 12th Lancers, and the 20th Hussars.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 754px;">
+<img src="images/p140.jpg" width="754" height="465" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Scots Greys on the March.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Newspaper
+Illustrations, Ltd.</i><br />
+
+The Colonel-in-chief of the Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons) is the Tsar of
+Russia, who wrote to the regiment as follows: "I am happy to think that
+my gallant regiment, the Royal Scots Greys, are fighting with Russia
+against the common enemy. I am convinced that they will uphold the
+glorious traditions of the past."</h4>
+
+<p>If you are a Scottish boy or girl, you will be certain to maintain that
+the Scots Greys are the finest cavalrymen in the world. Your English
+friends may not, perhaps, agree with you; but even though they may
+prefer the 9th Lancers or some other English regiment, they will be
+quite willing to give very high praise indeed to the Scots Greys. They
+have a glorious record, and every one remembers how famously they bore
+themselves at the Battle of Waterloo, where they charged down upon the
+French with the Gordons clinging to their stirrup-leathers, horsemen and
+footmen shouting, "Scotland for ever!" Napoleon knew them well, and
+always feared "those terrible grey horses."</p>
+
+<p>A friend of mine has talked with wounded officers and men who took part
+in the engagement at St. Quentin, and has given me the following account
+of the part played by the Scots Greys in the fight:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The column of German cavalry opposed to Sir Philip Chetwode's brigade
+must have numbered about 10,000. The main body was stationed behind a
+wood, between which and the British brigade there was a slight valley.
+When the attack began our men dismounted and opened a brisk rifle fire
+on the advance guard of the Germans, who were hidden amongst the corn
+stooks at the top of the opposite slope and amongst the turnips in a
+field that lay behind. They had a machine gun with them, and their
+horses were picketed at the rear of the wood.</p>
+
+<p>For a time our horse artillery shelled the wood, and our men continued
+their rifle fire. Our shells burst over and beyond the wood, and
+stampeded the picketed horses. Then came the order to mount and charge.
+The 12th Lancers went first, bearing to the right of the wood, and the
+Scots Greys followed, bearing to the left. With a wild hurrah they
+topped the slight rise, and crashed into the Germans, some of whom were
+on the knee trying to defend themselves with their long lances. Others
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+held up their hands in token of surrender, and the first line of the
+gallant Greys dropped the points of their sword and spared their lives.
+In many cases, after the first line had passed, the Germans who had
+pretended to surrender fired with revolvers, and shot the chivalrous
+Scots in the back. The second line of Greys, however, made them pay
+dearly for this treachery. They cut down all within reach without mercy,
+and, making their horses rear and plunge and lash out with their fore
+feet, knocked down and trampled many others. Before the wood was
+reached, the German machine gun had been captured, and five hundred of
+the enemy had been killed or taken prisoners. They were big men, and
+evidently belonged to one of the Kaiser's "crack" regiments.</p>
+
+<p>One of the Greys now reconnoitred the wood, and at the sight of him the
+men left in charge of the picketed horses bolted. The Grey followed
+them, and to his amazement saw the main body of the German cavalry in
+full and disorderly flight. You may be sure that the Greys and the
+Lancers were much disappointed that they had no chance of coming to
+grips with the fleeing horsemen. By this time they had nothing but
+contempt for the German cavalry. You will remember that at the beginning
+of the retreat a German cavalry division had declined "to take on" a
+British brigade. Sir John French tells us that already our cavalry had
+established "a decided superiority over that of the enemy."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p143.jpg" width="391" height="517" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Uhlan's Last Ride.<br />
+
+Armoured motor cars containing sharpshooters play an important part in
+the war. This picture shows a car giving chase to a Uhlan patrol. One
+man has already been laid low.</h4>
+
+<p>This exploit won some respite for our men, and the pursuit was shaken
+off for a time. The Germans were weary with much marching and fighting,
+and our engineers had checked their advance by blowing up all the river
+and canal bridges as soon as they were crossed. That evening our
+much-tried men enjoyed comfortable meals, the refreshment of a bath, and
+a good eight hours' sleep.</p>
+
+<p>The German pursuit, however, was soon continued with great vigour. At
+one o'clock on Saturday Sir John French knew that at least two corps of
+the enemy were advancing towards his front. At this time he received a
+visit from General Joffre, who brought him good news. He had ordered the
+5th French Army on the Oise to move forward and attack the Germans on
+the Somme, and this meant less pressure on the British. But the best
+news of all was that, quite unknown to the enemy, a new 6th French Army
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+had been formed on the British left flank, and was ready to be launched
+against von Kluck as soon as the whole Allied line should be in the
+required position. There was still a good deal of retreating to be done
+before the word to advance could be given, and that morning the British
+forces retired to a position a few miles north of the line
+Compi&egrave;gne<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a>-Soissons,<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> along the river Aisne.</p>
+
+<p>Compi&egrave;gne is an interesting country town near the junction of the Oise,
+and in the midst of heavily forested country. It was a favourite
+residence of French kings, and is perhaps known to you as the place
+where Joan of Arc was taken prisoner by the Burgundians in 1430. A
+monument to her memory stands in front of the fine H&ocirc;tel de Ville. At
+the end of the town near the forest there is a royal palace, which was
+built in the reign of Louis XV. The forest itself is fifty-nine miles in
+circumference, and has many beautiful walks. In the summer it is a
+favourite resort of Parisians.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p144.jpg" width="322" height="319" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE STORY OF BATTERY L OF THE R.H.A.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he retiral of the British army from the La F&egrave;re-Noyon line was the
+signal for the Germans to advance. Small rearguard actions were
+continually fought, and on 1st September there was an engagement of a
+very fierce character, during which Battery L of the Royal Horse
+Artillery covered itself with glory. I must tell you the story in
+detail.</p>
+
+<p>Gunner J. C. Eyles, one of the survivors of L Battery, says: "After
+bivouacking at Compi&egrave;gne some of us had a fine river swim, and, what is
+more, we washed our underclothing for the first time since we left
+England in August. And it wanted it, too! I was a bit unlucky, for my
+clothes were still wet when I was ordered to take outpost duty at night.
+Therefore I had to pack my wet things on the front of my saddle, and do
+duty in only my tunic and riding pants. It was just a bit cold.</p>
+
+<p>"On the following day we had a long, weary march until dusk, when I had
+the misfortune, while giving my horse water from a stream, to lose trace
+of my battery. Making the best of a bad job, I tracked towards what I
+thought would be our lines. While trudging along with my horse, my
+revolver in my hand, I heard the sound of galloping hoofs. I pulled into
+the grassy slope on the side of the road, thinking that my time had
+come, and that that would be a good place to face it. Dismounting, I
+awaited events, and after a minute or so I was relieved to see two of
+the 2nd Dragoon Guards, to whom I shouted in good old English. It was
+lucky I did, too: I had been unconsciously walking straight towards the
+German lines, and the two British soldiers were, as a matter of fact,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+being chased by a large patrol of Uhlans. In a second I was riding off
+with the dragoons, and, like them, escaped."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 720px;">
+<img src="images/p146.jpg" width="720" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Battery L of the R.H.A.<br />
+
+"One lone gun in the dawn."</h4>
+
+<p>The gunner rejoined his battery, and found the men exhausted but looking
+forward to advancing against the foe. Early on the morning of 1st
+September Battery L was at N&eacute;ry,<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> a little village about two and a
+half miles south of the southern edge of the forest. It was a chilly
+morning, and the surrounding country was heavily veiled in fog. About 4
+a.m. the battery received the order to unsaddle and rest the horses.
+Overnight a ridge about 600 or 800 yards away had been occupied by
+French troops, but during the darkness they had retreated. No order to
+retire had reached L Battery, probably because the Germans had cut the
+telegraph wires.</p>
+
+<p>About 4.30 many of the gunners and drivers were lying on the ground with
+their tunics off, and others were shaving and washing. The horses were
+unsaddled, and had their nosebags on. Suddenly ten or a dozen German
+guns galloped up to the ridge, unlimbered, and opened a heavy fire on
+the battery; while Maxims, which had been brought up on motor cars,
+enfiladed them with a murderous rain of bullets. The first volley killed
+most of the horses, and strewed the ground with dead and dying men. The
+survivors attempted to reach their guns and make a reply; but three of
+the guns were so battered by the enemy's shells that they were useless.
+The other three, however, were brought into action; but before long two
+of them were silenced, and the gunners shot down.</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Bradbury, who had been walking behind the guns giving orders
+and encouraging the men to fight to the last like true R.H.A. soldiers,
+was killed. Lieutenant Giffard, although seriously wounded, continued at
+his post of duty, telling the gunners to 'stick it,' and refusing to
+leave until he was practically forced by some of our men to seek cover
+behind a haystack. All the other officers were killed, and all our
+sergeants were dead with the exception of one. But a fine last stand was
+made at that last gun by Gunner Derbyshire and Driver Osborne, under the
+orders of Battery Sergeant-Major Dorrell. Quite unconcernedly they
+continued their duty&mdash;Driver Osborne, although wounded in the back,
+supplying the ammunition; and Gunner Derbyshire firing the gun,
+apparently unaffected by being hurled from his feet two or three times,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+owing to the great force of impact as shells struck the ground near at
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Other survivors had been ordered to take cover, and it was no pleasant
+experience to crawl like snakes, as we did, through a very muddy
+mangold-wurzel field, especially when you have only shirt and trousers
+on. However, that didn't hurt us. Meanwhile I Battery of the R.H.A.,
+stationed about two miles to our rear, evidently realizing the true
+state of affairs, gave the Germans a hot taste of British gunnery&mdash;so
+hot, in fact, that everyone of the Kaiser's guns was silenced. Then
+cavalry (of the 1st Brigade) and a force of the Middlesex attacked; the
+German guns were captured, and over six hundred prisoners were taken. To
+the end Gunner Derbyshire and Driver Osborne held out, and although the
+only comment of each is, 'I only did my duty,' the battery is naturally
+proud that they have been recommended for the Victoria Cross."</p>
+
+<p>I cannot leave this incident without quoting the fine verses which
+appeared in the <i>Times</i> shortly after the glorious valour of Battery L
+was reported in England. They are worth learning by heart.</p>
+
+<h4>BATTERY L.</h4>
+
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Battery L of the R.H.A.&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, the cold gray light o' the dawn&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">Woke as the mists were wreathing pale,</span>
+<span class="i0">Woke to the moan of the shrapnel hail;</span>
+<span class="i0">Battery L of the R.H.A.</span>
+<span class="i0">Sprang to their guns in the dawn.</span>
+&nbsp;
+<span class="i0">Six guns all at the break o' day&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, the crash of the shells at dawn&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">And out of the six guns only one,</span>
+<span class="i0">Left for the fight ere the fight's begun,</span>
+<span class="i0">Battery L of the R.H.A.</span>
+<span class="i0">Swung her round in the dawn.</span>
+&nbsp;
+<span class="i0">They swung her clear, and they blazed away&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">Oh, the blood-red light o' the dawn&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">Osborne, Derbyshire, brave Dorrell,</span>
+<span class="i0">These are the heroes of Battery L,</span>
+<span class="i0">These are the men of the R.H.A.</span>
+<span class="i0">Who fought that gun in the dawn.</span>
+&nbsp;
+<span class="i0">Ay, that was a fight that was fought that day,</span>
+<span class="i0">As the gray mists fled from the dawn,</span>
+<span class="i0">Till they broke up the enemy one by one,</span>
+<span class="i0">Silenced him steadily gun by gun&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">Battery L of the R.H.A.,</span>
+<span class="i0">One lone gun in the dawn.</span>
+</div></div>
+<p style="margin-left: 60%;"><span class="smcap">James L. Harvey.</span></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+<p>On the same day, at a place about fifteen miles east of N&eacute;ry, another
+fierce rearguard action was fought. The Germans surprised the 4th Guards
+Brigade&mdash;Grenadiers, Coldstreams, and Irish&mdash;amidst the woods. They were
+in a field by a stream, preparing for a long-delayed "tub," when the
+first shell crashed into them. At once the bugles rang out, and the
+Guards, angry at being balked of their bath, scrambled into their
+trenches and loaded their rifles, eager for the enemy's onset.</p>
+
+<p>The German cavalry dashed out of the woods in great strength, and drove
+forward the British left, thinking that they had only to walk over a
+broken and defeated army. They were soon undeceived. The Guards held
+their fire until the enemy was well within effective range, and then the
+rifles rang out and the Maxims got to work. Many German saddles were
+emptied; the horsemen broke and fled.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the German guns were worming their way nearer and nearer to
+the British line, and behind them the infantry were coming on in
+close-knit ranks. Our artillery now opened fire, and rifles and guns
+swept lanes of death through the ranks of the enemy. They wavered and
+retired.</p>
+
+<p>Again the enemy, reinforced by machine guns and artillery, with cavalry
+on the flanks, bore down upon the British. At this moment our cavalry
+appeared, and the Guards, leaping to their feet, doubled towards the top
+of a neighbouring hill which the Germans were bent on seizing. The enemy
+reached it first, dug himself in, and brought up his guns, which
+immediately began a furious cannonade. Our men went to earth at once in
+hastily-made trenches. Three German cavalry regiments now flung
+themselves at the thin khaki line of the Irish Guards; but these gallant
+fellows were quite undismayed. With wonderful coolness they fired
+continuously on the advancing foe, and at the word "Charge!" swept
+forward with gleaming bayonets, singing "God save Ireland." For a few
+minutes there was a mad confusion of plunging horses, whirling sabres,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+and stabbing bayonets, and then all was over. The German horsemen turned
+tail, and the Irishmen, dropping to earth, picked them off as they
+retired. The German infantry behind the retreating cavalry hesitated to
+advance; but their artillery moved up to new positions, and fired upon
+our men with deadly effect. The British horsemen were loosed at them:
+some of the guns limbered up and dashed off into safety; those that
+remained were captured and their gunners were sabred. This done, the
+British cavalry charged into the German masses again and again.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy had been soundly thrashed, and the British continued their
+retreat unmolested. For five days they marched southwards without
+attack. On 3rd September they crossed the Marne, blowing up the bridges
+on their line of retirement. That day our left was almost within gunshot
+of the eastern forts of Paris. Two days later the British army lay south
+of the Grand Morin,<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> a tributary of the Marne. The long retreat was
+over.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to overpraise the indomitable spirit of the British
+army during its retirement from the Belgian frontier. Our men bore the
+heavy fighting, the weary marches through chilly and often wet nights,
+the awful strain on nerves and temper, with wonderful fortitude. All
+that they asked was to be allowed to stand and "go for" the enemy. An
+officer thus describes the talk of the men during the last days of the
+retreat:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Hang it all, sir,' one man said to me, 'if we can do thirty miles a
+day without food and sleep in a retreat, we could do fifty in an
+advance.' Constantly the question I was asked was, 'When are they going
+to let us halt and have another go at them?' or, 'How soon do you think
+it will be before they let us turn and get a bit of our own back?' or,
+'I suppose it's a trap we're leading them Germans into. We're the bait,
+so to speak, and the French all this time are getting in behind them.'
+It was fine to listen to and watch them&mdash;ragged, footsore, bearded,
+dirty, and unkempt, gaunt-eyed from lack of sleep, but upheld by that
+invincible spirit which is the glory of the race."</p>
+
+<p>From Mons to the Grand Morin our men had tramped 135 miles, as the crow
+flies, in fourteen days. For the British troops the long days of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+retreat "had been like a moving picture seen through a haze of weariness
+and confusion. Blazing days among the coal heaps and grimy villages of
+Hainault, which reminded our north countrymen of Lancashire and Durham;
+nights of aching travel on upland roads through fields of beet and
+grain; dawns that broke over slow streams and grassy valleys upon eyes
+blind with lack of sleep; the cool beech woods of Compi&egrave;gne; the
+orchards of Ourcq<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> and Marne now heavy with plum and cherry. And hour
+after hour the rattle of musketry and the roaring swell of the great
+shells; the hurried entrenchments and the long, deadly vigils; or the
+sudden happy chance of a blow back, when the bayonet took revenge for
+dusty miles and crippled bodies and lost comrades. On the evening of the
+4th the van of the retreat saw from the slopes above the Grand Morin a
+land of coppice and pasture rolling southwards to a broad valley, and
+far off the dusk of many trees. It was the forest of Fontainebleau<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a>
+and the vale of the Seine. The Allies had fallen back behind all but one
+of the four rivers which from north and east open the way to Paris."<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<h3>MORE STORIES OF THE RETREAT.</h3>
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he stories which you have read in these pages have been told by British
+soldiers. I am sure you would now like to read some French stories of
+various incidents which occurred during the retreat. The following story
+relates how a French cavalryman received the surrender of three hundred
+Germans.</p>
+
+<p>One fine morning in August, during a sharp engagement in a small village
+of Alsace, a French hussar was captured by the enemy. The Germans, who
+numbered three hundred, were then holding the village. Shortly
+afterwards French artillery began to shell the place, and it was evident
+that an infantry attack would soon follow.</p>
+
+<p>When the French infantry were seen advancing, the German officer sought
+advice from the captured hussar. "If you resist," said the Frenchman,
+"your whole command will be shot down." To this the German replied, "We
+are willing to surrender, but we are afraid that your people will put us
+to death." The hussar gave his word of honour that no such fate would
+overtake them, and assured them that in France the rules of civilized
+warfare were always observed. "You need fear nothing," concluded the
+hussar; "you will be well treated by my countrymen."</p>
+
+<p>A sigh of relief escaped from the lips of the officer, and he said,
+"Such being the case, we will surrender." At once the hussar placed
+himself at the head of the column, gave the order to march, and with
+three hundred Germans at his heels led the way to the French lines,
+where he handed over his prisoners.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is a story in praise of German courage. It is told by a British
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+artilleryman. "The grandest thing I saw out there," he says, "was the
+fight of a handful of Germans. These chaps were the last of a regiment
+to cross a stream under a fiendish rifle and artillery fire.</p>
+
+<p>"They were hotly pursued by French cavalry and infantry, and when they
+saw that it was all up with them, the remnant made for a little hill and
+gathered round the regimental flag, to fight to the last. The French
+closed round them, and called on them to surrender; but not they! They
+stood there, back to back, until the last man went down with the flag in
+his grasp and a dozen bullet wounds in his body.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the flag was captured by the French; but there was no shouting
+over the victory, and every soldier who passed that way, and knew the
+story of those chaps, bared his head to the memory of brave men."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In your history books you read of the Battle of Fontenoy, which was
+fought five miles south-east of Tournai in the year 1745. In that
+battle, so the story goes, an English general shouted to the enemy,
+"Gentlemen of the French Guards, fire first." To which they replied,
+"The French Guard never fires first; fire yourselves." Strange to say,
+an incident which recalls this exchange of courtesies took place on
+August 28, 1914, when a French infantry battalion entered Mezi&egrave;res in
+order to defend the bridges over the Meuse. On reaching the railway
+bridge, the French lieutenant commanding the detachment learnt that a
+German patrol was hiding in the station. Taking some men with him, he
+hurried off to the station and dispersed the patrol. The German officer
+took refuge in an engine shed, and was discovered by the lieutenant
+hiding behind a tender. The German prepared to sell his life dearly. The
+opponents, revolver in hand, stood facing each other. "Pray shoot," said
+the Frenchman; whereupon the German did so, and missed. The Frenchman
+then fired, and shot his adversary dead.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>How a young French bull played a soldier's part is told in the following
+story. Early in September, when the Germans were approaching a village
+between the Marne and the Seine, the inhabitants opened their cowsheds
+and set the animals free, so that they might not easily be captured by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+the enemy. Among the cattle was a steer, which was so terrified by the
+sound of guns that it charged directly at a German infantry company
+which had taken up a position on a mound. Mad with rage, the animal
+dashed into the midst of the Germans, knocking them over like ninepins.
+Several men fired at him; but the bullets only maddened him the more. He
+did not fall until he had laid eighteen Germans low.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p155.jpg" width="401" height="526" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Hard Pressed.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>By permission of The Sphere.</i><br />
+
+This picture illustrates an incident at La F&egrave;re during the retreat. The
+French, after snatching a few hours' sleep, were shelled in the gray of
+the dawning, and were obliged to rush hastily from their billets to
+resist the German onset. After taking a heavy toll of the enemy they
+continued their retreat.</h4>
+
+<p>A very interesting story is told of a young Frenchwoman who was a
+servant in a girls' boarding-school situated in a village on the line of
+German advance. When war broke out the pupils were sent away to their
+homes, and she was left alone in the school, with an old deaf lady who
+had lost the full use of her limbs. When the Germans entered the village
+they went through the girls' school from cellar to attic, collecting all
+the linen and bedding for the use of their wounded, whom, for some
+reason best known to themselves, they installed, not in the main school
+building but in the adjoining chapel.</p>
+
+<p>The servant girl tended the German wounded with great devotion, for two
+reasons: first, because she was very tender-hearted; and secondly,
+because she had a special reason for wishing to stand well with the
+invaders. She had a secret, and it was this. Down in the grotto at the
+foot of the school garden she had concealed ten British "Tommies," who
+had lost their way, and had arrived hungry, weary, and footsore just an
+hour before the Germans entered the village. "They will be here in a
+moment," said the British officer, not wishing that the girl should run
+into danger on their behalf. "Never mind," she said; "I'll hide you
+somewhere, and look after you." Then she led them to the grotto.</p>
+
+<p>The soldiers found their quarters narrow, damp, and very uncomfortable.
+The girl was anxious to give them better accommodation, so in the night
+she managed to get them into the house and instal them in the unoccupied
+rooms on the top floor of the school.</p>
+
+<p>The ten "Tommies" were now in comfortable quarters; but how to feed them
+was a difficult question. She gave them her own food, but that was not
+enough. Then she went to and fro amongst her friends and relations,
+begging a piece of bread here and some vegetables there. When the
+Germans saw her with a heavily-loaded basket they were suspicious, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+asked her what she was going to do with the food. "It is for your
+wounded in the chapel," she said, and their suspicions were allayed. She
+appointed herself cook for the Germans, and was thus able to pick up all
+sorts of broken victuals for her friends on the top floor. British
+soldiers, as you know, are very fond of tobacco, and the girl was
+anxious to provide them with something to smoke. The Germans had made a
+rule that no one was to buy more than two sous' worth of tobacco at a
+time. This made her task very hard, but it did not daunt her. She got
+together some boy friends, and sent them to buy small quantities of
+tobacco at various shops each day. In this way the "Tommies" on the top
+floor were able to enjoy their pipes while they remained in hiding.</p>
+
+<p>A hundred times a day they were in danger of being discovered by the
+Germans. The clever girl knew this, so she provided them with a rope,
+which they hung down through trap doors to the ground floor. She advised
+them to practise escape drill, so that they might get away if the
+Germans discovered them. This they did, and were soon quite expert.
+"Just imagine!" said the girl when she told the story: "my Englishmen
+after a few days were able to strap their haversacks and all slip down
+the rope noiselessly in less than five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Happily the "Tommies" were never discovered, and there was no need for
+them to use their rope as a means of escape. Some time afterwards the
+Germans were obliged to leave the town, and the British soldiers were
+able to reach their own lines in safety. Before they departed they gave
+the girl their names and addresses, and begged her to come to England
+when the war was over, so that they might repay her for all her
+kindness. The French paper which reports the story says that one of the
+ten was a nobleman, a relative of King George, and that his name
+was&mdash;Lord Smith! Can't you imagine the merry face of the rogue who gave
+the girl this astounding piece of information?</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I have already told you that every French boy must be a soldier when he
+is twenty years of age. Many of the French boys who were in their teens
+when the war broke out were very keen to shoulder a rifle and march
+against the enemy. When the Germans drew near to Paris, a boy named
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+Andr&eacute;, who was only twelve years of age, felt that he must do something
+to defend his country. One day he disappeared, leaving behind him the
+following letter:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Father and Mother</span>,&mdash;I am starting for the war. Don't
+worry about me. I have my savings-bank money.&mdash;Your loving son,</p></div>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 70%;">"<span class="smcap">Andr&eacute;.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>A fortnight passed, and the anxious parents heard nothing of their boy.
+Then one morning he reappeared, very hardy and sunburnt but very
+sorrowful, and gave this account of his adventures. He had travelled
+many long miles before he reached a regiment of the army. He told the
+men he had come to help them. They laughed at him, but they had not the
+heart to send him away. So he had marched with them, shared their
+rations, and slept in their bivouacs or billets at night. At last the
+colonel noticed him, and made him give an account of himself. The upshot
+was, that he was sent home to wait until he was some years older and
+could join the army in the proper way.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now I must tell you some British stories. Lance-Corporal Nolan of the
+Scots Greys, who formed one of a reconnoitring party, was preparing to
+engage a German patrol when a scout came up to say that a whole division
+of the enemy was at hand. The Greys attacked the patrol; but our hero
+had his horse shot under him, and he received a bullet in the right arm.
+A sergeant gave him a lift on his horse, and together they tried to
+gallop into safety. As they dashed on through the streets of a village,
+the Germans fired at them from the windows, killing the horse and
+wounding the sergeant. Both men were captured, and the Germans stripped
+them of everything but their trousers and shirts. One man snatched from
+Nolan the revolver which he had taken from a German officer, and was
+about to rob him of his shirt, when the very German officer from whom he
+had taken the revolver appeared, and said, "You are the man who took my
+revolver. Let me have it back instantly." Nolan replied, "I haven't got
+it. One of your own men has taken it." "Then come with me," said the
+officer, "and find the man who took it, and I will have him shot." "I
+went round with him," said Nolan, "as a matter of form; but I was not
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+having any. Even if I had found the chap who had taken the revolver, I
+should not have peached on him, as I knew what his fate would have
+been." Nolan was afterwards taken to hospital, and was left behind when
+the Germans were driven off by a British cavalry brigade. Finally his
+comrades took him back to his own lines.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Many stories are told of brave fellows who have gallantly dashed through
+a storm of bullets to carry important messages to their comrades in
+other trenches. A wounded corporal of the Gloucester Regiment gives us
+an instance which occurred during the retreat. "Orders had been given to
+a battalion holding an advanced position to fall back. The only way to
+get the order through was for a man to run the gauntlet of a murderous
+fire. Volunteers were called for from the Royal Irish Fusiliers. All
+wanted to go, but by tossing for it a choice was made. The man on whom
+the lot fell was a shock-headed fellow, who didn't look as if there was
+much in him; but he had grit. Ducking his head in a way that made us
+laugh, he rushed into the hail of shot and shell. He cleared the first
+hundred yards without being hit, but in the second hundred they brought
+him down. He rose again and struggled on for a few minutes, but was hit
+once more, and then collapsed.</p>
+
+<p>"Two men now dashed into the fire and rushed across, while the Germans
+were doing their best to pot them. One picked up the wounded man and
+started back to the trenches with him, while the other took the dispatch
+and ran ahead with it. Just as the wounded man and his mate were within
+a few yards of our trenches, and we were cheering them, there came
+another hail of bullets, and both went down dead. Meanwhile the man with
+the dispatch was racing for all that he was worth. He got through all
+right, until in the last lap he was brought down like a felled ox. He
+was seen from the other trenches, and half a dozen men rushed out to his
+aid. They were all shot down, but he was now crawling towards the
+trenches with his message. With assistance he reached them, and, d,
+thanks to him, the battalion was safely withdrawn to a new position."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>In the dispatch describing the first part of the retreat from Mons, Sir
+John French said: "I wish particularly to bring to your lordship's
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
+notice the admirable work done by the Royal Flying Corps, under Sir
+David Henderson. Their skill, energy, and perseverance have been beyond
+all praise."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p159.jpg" width="536" height="304" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>A British Aviation Camp.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Here is a story which shows you the resource and coolness of a British
+flying man in a very tight place. During the retreat to the Marne a
+squadron commander, with a passenger, made a long scouting flight over a
+part of the country from which the British had withdrawn while he was in
+the air. On his return he descended in a field which seemed to afford
+him a good landing-place, and was, as he thought, within the British
+lines. As his machine was running along the grass and about to come to
+rest, he saw to his amazement two mounted German officers galloping
+towards him, and behind them large numbers of infantry, who had been
+hidden behind the trees.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately, the propeller of his aeroplane was still revolving, so he
+opened the throttle and set the engine going again at top speed. Instead
+of rising rapidly from the ground, he flew along quite close to the
+German officers, waving his hand in friendly greeting. His passenger at
+once grasped the situation, and followed the pilot's example. The
+Germans thought that they were two of their own air scouts, and cheered
+them heartily.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+<p>The pilot turned and flew back across the German front again, waving his
+hand and showing other signs of friendliness. Slowly he rose, higher and
+higher, and circled round and round, until he was high in the air, when
+he headed for the safety of the Royal Flying Corps camp. He had
+completely deceived the enemy, and had obtained valuable information as
+to their numbers and the positions which they held. You will be able to
+appreciate fully the cleverness of this flying man when I tell you that
+there was a Union Jack painted on the wings of his aeroplane. He very
+skilfully turned and "banked" his machine so that the near wing-tips
+pointed down to the Germans, and the underside of the wings which showed
+the Union Jack were thus hidden from view, until he was so far up in the
+air as to be out of range of their guns.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>According to custom, I will conclude this chapter by giving you the
+names of the heroes who were awarded the Victoria Cross during the
+latter part of the British retreat. All of them belong to Battery L of
+the Royal Horse Artillery. They are:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Battery Sergeant-Major George Thomas Dorrell</span> (now Second Lieutenant). I
+have already told you (see pages 147-8) how he continued to serve a gun
+at N&eacute;ry on 1st September until all the ammunition was expended. You will
+remember that all the officers of his battery were killed or wounded,
+and that he and his mates were subjected to a terrible fire from guns
+and Maxims at a range of only six hundred yards.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Sergeant David Nelson</span> (now Second Lieutenant). While under heavy fire at
+N&eacute;ry, and severely wounded, he helped to bring the guns into action, and
+remained with them until all the ammunition was used up, although he had
+been ordered to retire to cover.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Captain Edward Kinder Bradbury.</span> You read on page <a href="#Page_147">147</a> how gallantly he
+rallied the men of his battery, and directed their fire until he was
+shot down. Unhappily, the Victoria Cross was not awarded to him until
+after his lamented death.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR AT SEA.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hile our gallant soldiers are resting after their long retreat, we will
+make for</p>
+
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The sea! the sea! the open sea!</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;The blue, the fresh, the ever-free!"</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>and follow the fortunes of our sailors during the first two months of
+the war. In Chapter II., Volume I., you learnt that our first line of
+defence was fully prepared for active service the moment that war broke
+out. From the first we had the command of the seas. Our British Home
+Fleet was fully forty per cent. stronger than any fleet that the Germans
+could bring against it in the North Sea, and besides this we had many
+other squadrons scouring the oceans of the world, and the assistance of
+the French and Japanese navies. On the sea the Germans and Austrians
+were hopelessly inferior to the Allies.</p>
+
+<p>Such being the case, the Germans, though they had long toasted "The Day"
+on which they were going to destroy our naval supremacy for ever, dared
+not leave their harbours and show fight. They were very wise in this
+respect. They knew that pitched battles could only end in one way&mdash;the
+entire destruction of their navy.</p>
+
+<p>You read in Chapter XVII. of Volume I. that their plan was to strew the
+North Sea with mines, in the hope that our ships would bump upon them
+and be blown up. In this way they hoped that our strength would be
+slowly reduced to their own level. The Germans meant to keep their fleet
+in safety until they could fight us upon even terms. They believed that
+our sailors ploughing the sea day after day in search of an enemy that
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+could not be found, and going in constant terror of floating mines and
+submarines, would grow stale and dispirited. Then when many of our ships
+had gone down, and our men were worn out in body and in mind, they meant
+to sally forth and crush British sea-power once and for all. It was an
+excellent plan&mdash;on paper.</p>
+
+<p>Before I pass on to describe the first sea fight of the war, let us look
+for a moment at the coast line of Germany. It is, as you know, entirely
+confined to a strip on the North Sea, and to a long stretch on the
+Baltic Sea. On both these sea fronts Germany had to meet a naval
+power&mdash;the British in the North Sea, and the Russians in the Baltic. You
+were told on page 141 of Volume I. that, in order to enable German
+warships to pass rapidly from one front to the other, the Kiel Canal has
+been constructed. The work of widening and deepening this canal was
+completed some six weeks before the outbreak of war.</p>
+
+<p>The German coast on the North Sea is only about a hundred miles from
+west to east, not counting indentations; and it is washed by very
+shallow waters, which are much impeded by sandbanks. The sea is gaining
+on the shore, as you may notice from the long line of fringing islands
+which were formerly part of the mainland. Close to the Dutch frontier,
+on the estuary of the Ems, is the port and manufacturing town of Emden.
+The Germans have spent much money in constructing at Emden a harbour big
+enough and deep enough to accommodate the largest liners and warships.
+Between the mouth of the Ems and the Jade there is a long, sandy stretch
+of coast, backed by dunes and broken by tidal creeks. On the west side
+of the Jade estuary stands Wilhelmshaven, the great North Sea naval base
+of Germany. It was established by the present Kaiser's grandfather in
+1869, and is very strongly fortified. It boasts two harbours, several
+wet and dry docks, coaling basins, and a large naval barracks. In time
+of peace the First Squadron of the German High Sea Fleet is stationed at
+Wilhelmshaven.</p>
+
+<p>On the east side of the estuary of the Weser is Bremerhaven, with three
+large harbour basins and several docks, including the dry dock of the
+North German Lloyd steamers. About twenty miles north of Bremerhaven, at
+the mouth of the Elbe, is Cuxhaven, which between 1892 and 1895 was
+turned into a port capable of berthing the largest ocean-going
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
+steamers. It is the outport of Hamburg, the greatest seaport on the
+Continent of Europe, and the Hamburg-America steamers make it their
+headquarters. Nature has already fortified the ports along this coast,
+for the estuaries on which they stand consist of a network of mazy
+channels winding amidst deadly sandbanks, which can only be threaded
+safely by pilots who spend their lives in the work. The Germans have,
+however, not trusted solely to this natural protection, but have set up
+very strong forts at all points where there is danger of attack.</p>
+
+<p>The whole coast is followed by a double line of railways, built not for
+trade but for purposes of war&mdash;probably for an invasion of England. The
+Germans watch the coast most jealously, and will not allow visitors to
+approach the chief forts. In the year 1911 they imprisoned a British
+Territorial officer, Captain Bertrand Stewart&mdash;the first to give his
+life in the war&mdash;on the false charge of spying out the defences of the
+towns and islands along this precious seaboard.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p163.jpg" width="541" height="251" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Island of Heligoland. Part of the harbour is shown on
+the right.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Exclusive News Agency.</i></h4>
+
+<p>About the centre of the North Sea line of coast, thirty-five miles to
+the northward of Cuxhaven, is the island of Heligoland, which is the
+fortified outer guard of the Kiel Canal and the key to the German coast
+defences. For eighty-three years the Union Jack waved over it, but in
+1890 it was ceded to Germany. It is a sandstone islet, one mile in
+length and 650 yards in breadth, with almost vertical cliffs on all
+sides. So soft is the sandstone that the sea makes great inroads on it.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
+In the year 800 <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> the circumference of Heligoland was 120 miles, but
+by 1300 <span class="smcap">A.D.</span> it had been reduced by the everlasting gnawing of the sea
+to forty-five miles. Now it is but three or four miles round. The
+Germans have surrounded it with a concrete wall, so that the sea can no
+longer eat it away.</p>
+
+<p>In the heart of the rock, underground passages, chambers, and galleries
+have been excavated, and the whole island has been turned into an
+impregnable fortress. The many batteries are invisible from the sea, and
+the plateau on top of the island has been made bombproof. Only on the
+north side of the island can the cliffs be scaled by an invader, and the
+possible landing-places are all commanded by guns. On the highest point
+of the island&mdash;245 feet above the sea&mdash;are a lighthouse and a wireless
+station. Hangars for Zeppelins have been built on the plateau. These
+sheds are very cleverly constructed. They can be revolved so that the
+air-ships in them can be brought to the entrance, head to the wind, and,
+if necessary, they can be sunk into a valley out of sight of the sea.
+There is a large harbour for destroyers and submarines at the eastern
+end of the island, and also a small dockyard for repairing light craft.</p>
+
+<p>When Heligoland passed into German hands a Russian soldier said that
+thenceforth a blockade of the North Sea German coast would be extremely
+difficult. A British blockading fleet would not only have to expect
+attack from the front, but both its flanks would be constantly
+threatened. Thus the German vessels would be able to slip out, make
+raids on the estuaries and ports of the east coast of Britain, and
+attack British ships in their own waters. We shall see later that this
+prophecy came true. Meanwhile the Germans strewed their own coast with
+mine-fields, and thus made it almost impossible of attack.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Immediately war broke out our Grand Fleet disappeared. It melted into
+space, as it were, and nothing was seen of it but the ships patrolling
+the coast. But though a thick veil was drawn over its movements, it made
+itself felt at once. It forced the Germans to keep their most powerful
+ships in harbour, and it put an end to all talk of invasion. In the year
+1910 Sir Arthur Wilson, who was then First Sea Lord of the Admiralty,
+said that the really serious danger that we had to guard against in war
+was not an invasion of our shores, but the stoppage of our trade and the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+destruction of our merchant shipping. Our overseas trade is extremely
+important, and the destruction of our merchant shipping would, as you
+know, rob us of our food and compel us to starve or surrender. The
+Germans know this very well, and just before the war they sent out
+cruisers and armed liners to fall upon our peaceful merchant ships and
+sink them.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p165.jpg" width="389" height="560" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Sir John Jellicoe on board his flagship, the Iron Duke.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Alfieri.</i></h4>
+
+<p>We had, of course, prepared against such attacks on our shipping. Our
+cruisers were in every quarter of the globe, and we immediately began to
+sweep the German commerce raiders from the seas. Our Government believed
+that we should lose 10 per cent. of our vessels, but by the beginning of
+October we had only lost 1&frac14; per cent., while Germany and Austria had
+lost 10 per cent. of their total shipping. This was a remarkable state
+of things, and quite contrary to our experience in former wars. During
+the year 1813, when the British navy was at the height of its power, and
+we were at war with the United States, the ships of the enemy captured
+650 British vessels. From 4th August 1914 to 10th March 1915 the Germans
+only captured or sank 90 of our ships. By the end of October the trade
+routes were practically as free as they had ever been. British trade
+passed to and fro almost as freely as in time of peace. Our food supply
+was hardly molested, and though prices rose there was no shortage. It
+was said very truly that every British child ought to repeat this grace
+before meat: "Thank God for my good dinner and for the British Navy."</p>
+
+<p>Before I tell you how the German commerce raiders came to grief, you
+shall hear the story of two German cruisers, the <i>Goeben</i><a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> and the
+<i>Breslau</i>. They were in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Algeria,
+when war broke out. Probably they had been ordered to the Mediterranean
+to assist the Austrians, and also the Italians if they should elect to
+take a hand in the war. As you know, the Italians refused to fight along
+with their allies, because they believed that Germany and Austria had
+provoked the war. The <i>Goeben</i> was the fastest ship in the German fleet,
+and the <i>Breslau</i> was only slightly inferior in speed. The two ships
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+began operations by shelling some of the unprotected coast towns of
+Algeria, and then turned northwards, with the object, it is believed, of
+making for the Strait of Gibraltar. They were headed off by a British
+fleet; but they outdistanced their pursuers, and early on the mornings
+of 5th August appeared off Messina. Here the captains and the officers
+made their wills, and handed them over, along with their valuables and
+signed portraits of the Kaiser, to the care of the German consul. Then
+the decks were cleared, and the bands struck up, and out they steamed,
+as everybody thought, to give battle to the British fleet.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately for us, they evaded our ships. When, however, they were
+going full steam to the eastward, and were off Cape Matapan, the British
+cruiser <i>Gloucester</i> sighted them. Though she was only one ship against
+two, she gallantly engaged them, and did some damage to both. They took
+to their heels, and were next heard of in the Dardanelles, where,
+contrary to all the rules of war, they were sold to the Turkish
+Government. Such was the inglorious exploit of Germany's crack cruisers.
+It was a bad beginning for the German navy, but there was worse to
+follow.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The first of the German commerce raiders to go under was the <i>Kaiser
+Wilhelm der Grosse</i><a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a>&mdash;far too big a mouthful for the British sailor,
+who promptly christened her "Billy the Grocer." She was a fine fast
+liner of 14,000 tons, and had been armed with 4-inch guns. Her business
+was to hold up sea traffic between Great Britain and the Cape of Good
+Hope. She captured and sank a few ships, amongst them the <i>Kaipara</i>,
+belonging to the New Zealand Shipping Company. Shortly after sinking the
+<i>Kaipara</i> she was attacked by H.M.S. <i>Highflyer</i> (August 27). The fight
+was fast and furious, but the guns of the <i>Kaiser Wilhelm</i> were easily
+outranged. The first shot from the <i>Highflyer</i> disabled the German's
+port gun and tore away part of her bridge. Shortly afterwards she sank
+riddled with shot. Our losses were one man killed and five slightly
+wounded. The German captain had placed his prisoners of war on board a
+collier before the duel began, and this and previous acts of humanity
+won him the approval of our Admiralty. When the news was flashed by
+wireless to Whitehall the Admiralty sent the following message to the
+<i>Highflyer</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+<p>"Bravo! you have rendered a service not only to Britain, but to the
+peaceful commerce of the world. The German officers and crew appear to
+have carried out their duties with humanity and restraint, and are
+therefore worthy of all seamanlike consideration."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>On September 4 came news of disaster. The <i>Speedy</i>, a British torpedo
+gunboat of an old type, bumped against a mine and foundered. Next day
+H.M.S. <i>Pathfinder</i> was steaming northward on a calm sea, and was about
+twenty miles from St. Abb's Head, when suddenly a terrific explosion
+blew her almost to fragments. She had been torpedoed by a German
+submarine, the periscope of which was seen shortly before the explosion.
+The skipper of a trawler who witnessed the disaster said that he saw the
+ship surrounded by a cloud of smoke, and that when it cleared there was
+not a trace of her to be seen. He hurried to the rescue, and so did
+other fishing vessels in the neighbourhood, and by their exertions some
+of the crew were saved, but 250 men and 9 officers perished. For a few
+days the Admiralty kept back the news from the public, in the hope that
+one or more of the submarines in the neighbourhood might be trapped.
+Later on, it was reported that these venturesome craft had been scouting
+as far north as the Orkneys. German wireless news informed us that the
+<i>Pathfinder</i> had been sunk by the U22.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a></p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The British navy had its revenge twelve days later. Submarine E9,<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a>
+commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Max K. Horton, an officer of the
+greatest daring and skill, of whom we shall hear more later, pushed into
+the Bight of Heligoland, and, six miles south of the island, fell in
+with the German cruiser <i>Hela</i>. He discharged two torpedoes at her, one
+striking her at the bow and the other amidships. She burst into flames
+and sank in an hour, most of the crew being saved. When E9 returned to
+Harwich, flying a little yellow flag, and beneath it a white flag with
+the skull and cross bones, all seafaring men knew that she had been
+victorious. She had a great reception; the crews of the warships in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
+harbour cheered her again and again, and Lieutenant-Commander Horton was
+playfully dubbed by his comrades "The Double-toothed Pirate."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p169.jpg" width="368" height="532" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Exploit of E9: the Sinking of the Hela.</h4>
+
+<p>On 20th September came the news of a serious misfortune. Since the
+outbreak of war H.M.S. <i>Pegasus</i> had been working from Zanzibar along
+the coast of German East Africa. She had destroyed the port of
+Dar-es-Salaam,<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> and had sunk a German gunboat and a floating dock. At
+5 a.m. on the morning of Sunday, 20th September, she was lying at anchor
+in Zanzibar harbour, cleaning her boilers and repairing her machinery.
+Suddenly the German cruiser <i>K&ouml;nigsberg</i> appeared, and caught her
+unawares. The German ship was armed with guns which outranged those of
+the <i>Pegasus</i>, and she immediately began a fierce bombardment. The
+<i>Pegasus</i> discharged her broadside; but the Germans disabled her guns
+with three shots, and then for a quarter of an hour rained shells upon
+her, while she was helpless to reply. After a lull the <i>K&ouml;nigsberg</i>
+opened fire again, and the <i>Pegasus</i> by this time was able to return
+shot for shot. When the German steamed off to the southward the British
+ship was found to be badly holed, and was towed away and grounded on a
+sand spit. She had lost 25 killed and 80 wounded out of a crew of 234.</p>
+
+<p>During the fight the British flag was twice shot away. It could not be
+nailed to the mast as in the days of Nelson, for masts are now made of
+iron; yet it had to fly in sight of the enemy, for without it the ship
+would seem to have surrendered. Rather than let this dishonour attach to
+them, two marines seized the flag and held it up while a new flagstaff
+was being rigged. It was still fluttering its defiance when the
+<i>K&ouml;nigsberg</i> steamed away.</p>
+
+<p>I have told you in these pages of scores of heroic deeds; in the
+multitude of them let us not forget the brave and devoted men who kept
+the flag flying in Zanzibar harbour, and thus showed the enemy that the
+British navy of to-day is still inspired by the old unconquerable spirit
+of Blake and Nelson.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Early in September we first heard of the famous German raider the
+<i>Emden</i>. She had been on the China station when war broke out, and now
+she appeared in the Bay of Bengal and began her career of destruction.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+I will tell you her full story later on, when I come to the day when she
+was sunk.</p>
+
+<p>Now we will learn how the German commerce raider <i>Cap Trafalgar</i> was
+sent to her doom. She was a fast liner, armed with eight 4-inch guns and
+machine guns. Strange to say, her victorious opponent was a British
+armed liner, the <i>Carmania</i>, of the White Star line. Liverpool boys and
+girls are sure to have seen the <i>Carmania</i> lying in the Mersey, or at
+the Prince's landing-stage, for she has regularly crossed the Atlantic
+since 1905.</p>
+
+<p>On 14th September the crew of the <i>Carmania</i> were just sitting down to
+their midday meal when the lookout men sighted a strange vessel. She was
+a liner as big as the <i>Carmania</i>. She was not at first recognized as an
+enemy, because she had rigged up a dummy funnel, and made herself look
+something like a Union Castle liner. The British captain, however, was
+suspicious, so he ordered a shot to be fired across the stranger's bows
+as a signal to heave-to. No sooner had the shot plumped into the water
+than the stranger opened fire, and the German flag fluttered to her
+masthead.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Carmania</i> let fly her port guns, and soon both vessels were
+fighting hammer and tongs. Both were big ships, and very good targets:
+the <i>Carmania</i>, for example, is 675 feet long and 60 feet out of the
+water, and aiming at her is like shooting at the side of a street. The
+<i>Cap Trafalgar</i> hit the <i>Carmania</i> more than three hundred times, but
+only two of the shots were serious. For the most part the shells flew
+high, and only damaged the <i>Carmania's</i> rigging and upper works. The
+British gunners aimed low, and her captain so manoeuvred the ship that
+she was end on to her enemy most of the time.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p171.jpg" width="309" height="430" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>How they kept the Flag flying.</h4>
+
+<p>Shot after shot hit the <i>Cap Trafalgar</i> on the water line, and soon she
+caught fire. After the duel had lasted one hour and forty-five minutes
+she heeled over at such an angle that the men on the <i>Carmania</i> could
+actually look down her funnels. Then there was an explosion, and her
+bows went under; another explosion followed, and she slowly disappeared.
+Many of the men struggling in the water were rescued by the empty
+collier that accompanied her. The <i>Carmania</i> was prevented from sending
+her boats to the rescue because she was on fire forward. Our loss was
+nine men killed, five seriously wounded, and twenty-one slightly
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+wounded. The following message was received from the Admiralty soon
+after the news reached London:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Well done. You have fought a fine action to a successful finish."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>On the night before the Battle of Trafalgar Nelson knelt in his cabin on
+the <i>Victory</i> and wrote a beautiful prayer, in which he besought, "May
+humanity after victory be the predominant feature in the British fleet."
+It has always been so, and it will always be so. I must now tell you of
+an action in which humanity <i>before</i> victory led to a great disaster. On
+22nd September three British cruisers, the <i>Aboukir</i>, <i>Hogue</i>, and
+<i>Cressy</i>, were cruising off the coast of Holland. They were old ships,
+and they were at sea for the last time; the Admiralty had already
+decided to sell them for breaking up.</p>
+
+<p>The weather was bad, and the usual escort of destroyers had been
+delayed. Suddenly there was a terrible explosion on board the <i>Aboukir</i>.
+She had been hit by a torpedo from a submarine right under one of her
+magazines. The submarine, the famous U9, commanded by
+Lieutenant-Commander Weddingen, had got within range under cover of a
+trawler flying the Dutch flag. The <i>Aboukir</i> sank rapidly, and at once
+the <i>Hogue</i> and the <i>Cressy</i> slowed down, and began to lower their boats
+in order to save the survivors who were struggling in the water.</p>
+
+<p>This was a splendid chance for the German submarine; for, as I have
+already told you, it is very difficult for under-water craft to torpedo
+a ship travelling zigzag at a high speed. She has to aim herself at her
+target, and only by chance can she do this when her quarry is rapidly
+changing its course. When, however, it comes to rest, the submarine has
+an easy task.</p>
+
+<p>Two torpedoes in quick succession now sped towards the <i>Hogue</i>, and five
+minutes later she had gone under, and the sea was dotted with men
+swimming for dear life or clinging desperately to bits of wreckage. Soon
+afterwards there was another explosion, and the <i>Cressy</i> suffered the
+same fate. Three torpedoes had been fired at her, and two of them had
+hit her. Two Dutch trawlers now came to the rescue, and their crews
+worked like Trojans to save the lives of our men. British destroyers
+also arrived, and took part in the work of rescue; but the loss of life
+was very great. About 60 officers and 1,400 men were killed or drowned.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+The ships themselves were no great loss, but the 1,460 brave and
+highly-trained men who went down on that fateful day can never be
+replaced. "The conduct of the crew," says the commander of the <i>Cressy</i>,
+"was excellent throughout." "There was no panic of any sort," wrote the
+commander of the <i>Hogue</i>, "the men taking off their clothes as ordered,
+and falling in with hammock or wood. . . . All the men behaved
+extraordinarily well, obeying orders even when in the water and swimming
+for their lives. I witnessed many cases of great self-sacrifice and
+gallantry. Farmstone, able seaman, of the <i>Hogue</i>, jumped overboard from
+the launch to make room for others, and would not avail himself of
+assistance until all men near by were picked up; he was in the water
+about half an hour."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 724px;">
+<img src="images/p174.jpg" width="724" height="484" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The sinking of the Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy.<br />
+
+This illustration shows the Cressy making a gallant attempt to ram the submarine.</h4>
+
+<p>The Admiralty afterwards sent a message to the Fleet, pointing out that
+though this heavy loss of life was due to the natural desire of our
+sailors to save their fellows in distress, it ought to have been
+avoided, and would probably not have taken place if the <i>Hogue</i> and the
+<i>Cressy</i> had kept on their courses, and left the work of succour to
+small craft. The stoppage of these vessels was no doubt a mistake, but I
+think that we shall all be ready to forgive those who made it when we
+remember that they laid down their lives while trying to save their
+comrades from a watery grave.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A sailor who was saved tells the following story:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The best thing I saw was the coolness of a little cadet. Not more than
+fourteen he looked. He drifted near me; he and a seaman clinging with
+their hands and elbows to the same bit of wood. I never saw anything as
+calm as that lad. He was talking to the seaman with him. 'Well,' he
+says, 'we've got to carry on like this, and if we die we shall die
+game.' And with that he begins to talk about everyday things on the
+sunken ship. 'What's the new engineer like?' he says, and chats about
+the little incidents in the mess. Only fourteen&mdash;a little light-haired
+boy. I hope he was saved."</p>
+
+<p>So do we all. If he was rescued, we all hope that in days to come he
+will command one of the King's ships, and play his part as nobly as he
+did when floating on the sea, face to face with death.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+<p>There were about sixteen midshipmen on board the three ships. Some of
+them were cadets at Osborne or Devonport when the war began. All the
+older boys were hurried off to the sea, and were proud and happy to go.
+Some of them have kept the "Watch on the Brine" all through the long and
+bitter winter; others have helped to patrol distant seas and capture
+enemy ships; some have fought a good fight in the naval battles; all
+have done their duty, and many have died for their country.</p>
+
+<p>There was a very lucky middy on board the <i>Aboukir</i> when she went down.
+One of the survivors asks: "What do you think of this regarding one of
+our brave midshipmen? He was on board the first ship which was struck,
+and as she was settling down he jumped overboard and swam clear of the
+swirling water caused by the sinking vessel. He was picked up by another
+of the cruisers; but she also was struck, and in her turn began to sink.
+The midshipman was uninjured by the explosion, and again he jumped and
+cleared the downward suction. He was picked up and put on board the
+third cruiser; but before long she, too, received her death wound. Again
+he got clear, and clung to a piece of wreckage, from which he was
+finally rescued."</p>
+
+<p>A ship's carpenter on board the <i>Aboukir</i> had a similar experience. He
+was on board all the three cruisers when they were torpedoed. When the
+<i>Cressy</i> went down he swam to a raft, which towed him along for some
+distance, until a ship's boat picked him up.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A middy of the <i>Cressy</i>, a lad of sixteen, named Cazalet, commanded a
+whaler which was engaged in the work of rescue. He was actually the
+means of saving some eighty-eight lives. Altogether he picked up three
+boatloads of men, and not until there were no more survivors in sight
+did he seek refuge on board a Dutch trawler.</p>
+
+<p>A fifteen-year-old drummer boy of the Marines managed to keep his head
+above water for about four hours. An empty rum cask floated by him, and
+he seized it and clung on to it until he was rescued. Strange to say, he
+suffered no harm from his long bath in the stormy sea.</p>
+
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF HELIGOLAND BIGHT.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n the first few days of the war there were rumours that a big naval
+battle had been fought in the North Sea, and that the bulk of the German
+fleet had been sent to the bottom. The wish was father to the thought.
+Most British people expected that there would be big sea fights, and
+they had no doubt of the result. We already know that the Germans had no
+intention of coming out in force to meet Sir John Jellicoe's ships.
+Their policy was to stick close to their own coasts, and try to wear us
+down by mines and torpedo attacks. As day after day went by and there
+was no startling news, impatient people began to ask, "What is the Navy
+doing?"</p>
+
+<p>The Navy, though it had vanished into the unknown, was very busy, and
+was doing its work wonderfully well. Our light cruisers, destroyers, and
+submarines were continually watching the movements of the enemy. They
+are, as you know, the "eyes and ears" of the Fleet, and it was their
+business to inform Sir John Jellicoe the moment that enemy ships
+attempted to leave their harbours, so that he might bring them to
+action. Further, our warships had to prevent commerce raiders from
+slipping out and creeping into the ocean between Norway and the Orkneys
+in order to prey on the trade routes. Many of our warships were busy
+night and day examining neutral ships, to see that they did not smuggle
+what we call contraband of war<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a> into Germany, while others acted as
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
+convoys to troopships and supply ships, or as pilots to friendly traders
+passing through the mine-fields. Fleets of trawlers, as you know, were
+engaged in sweeping up mines. The Navy, you observe, was fully occupied
+in the North Sea, "bottling up" the German fleet, and preventing war
+supplies from reaching the German ports; while, out on the ocean, our
+cruisers were policing the trade routes, capturing the enemy's merchant
+ships, and chasing his commerce destroyers. The best proof that the Navy
+was doing its work in the best possible way was the absolute
+helplessness of the Germans to impede our overseas trade, or to
+interfere with the movements of our troops in all parts of the world.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p178.jpg" width="313" height="428" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>A British Destroyer in action.</h4>
+
+<p>Though there was no chance of a Trafalgar in the North Sea, there was an
+engagement in the month of August 1914 worthy of the name of a battle. I
+have kept the story of this sea fight for the present chapter. Three
+hours after we declared war two British submarines, E6 and E8, were on
+their way to the Bight of Heligoland on a scouting mission, and from
+that time onward a constant watch was maintained on the doings of the
+enemy's fleet in his own waters. Our submarines pushed right into the
+mouth of the Elbe, discovered the numbers and movements of the enemy's
+patrols, examined his anchorages, and picked up much useful information.
+Of course the Germans did not allow them to do this work in peace. They
+were constantly attacked by gun fire and torpedoes, and hunted by
+destroyers.</p>
+
+<p>The submarines discovered that every night a flotilla of German light
+warships and destroyers was in the habit of coming out from Heligoland,
+or from one of the ports behind it, and cruising for some hours in the
+North Sea. As soon as Sir John Jellicoe heard the news, he made plans
+for a great "round up" of this night-cruising flotilla. His object was
+"to cut off the German light craft from home, and engage them at leisure
+in the open sea."</p>
+
+<p>The command of this expedition was given to Rear-Admiral Sir David
+Beatty, one of the youngest admirals in our Navy. He was born in County
+Wexford in 1871, and is thus an Irishman, like Lord Kitchener. He
+entered the Navy in his thirteenth year. His mettle was first proved in
+an expedition that was sent to reconquer the Sudan in 1898. In command
+of the gunboat flotilla on the Upper Nile, he did such brilliant work
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+that he was at once marked out for promotion. Two years later, at the
+early age of twenty-nine, he became a captain. In the same year he took
+part in the fighting against the Chinese Boxers, and at thirty-nine was
+promoted rear-admiral. For two years he was naval secretary to the First
+Lord of the Admiralty, and on the outbreak of war was placed in command
+of the First Battle Cruiser Squadron. Never before in the history of our
+Navy has so young a man held so high a rank.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p180.jpg" width="309" height="364" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Rear-Admiral Sir David Beatty.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Central News.</i></h4>
+
+<p>"Look well at this man as he paces backward and forward across the airy
+platform out among the smoke and rigging and sea wind." He is a little
+man, but very well proportioned and remarkably full of vigour. "You feel
+that energy has been poured into him at enormous pressure, that it is
+working and boiling within him, and that some one is sitting on the
+safety-valve." His face is heavily lined, but his features are clear
+cut, and his gray eyes are quick and searching, like those of a bird.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+"There is, indeed, something birdlike about the whole man&mdash;in his
+quickness, his neatness, his smooth plumage, his effortless exercise of
+strength, and appearance of happiness and light-heartedness. His voice
+is deep and resonant&mdash;strangely deep to issue from so small and slim a
+body; and as he snaps out an order to his flag-lieutenant&mdash;'G16'&mdash;and
+as, on the word, the signal flags run up to the yardarm, and the white
+bone<a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> that each ship carries in her teeth spreads wider and bigger as
+the speed of the squadron is increased to sixteen knots, you realize a
+little what an admiral's word stands for, and what powers are entrusted
+to him."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p181.jpg" width="449" height="352" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Battle Cruiser Lion.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Symonds and Co.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Sir David Beatty's flagship was the battle cruiser <i>Lion</i>. You will hear
+much about battle cruisers in the following pages, so let me now tell
+you how a battle cruiser differs from a battleship. There are two
+distinct types of modern warships of the largest size&mdash;namely, the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
+battleship and the battle cruiser. The battleship, sometimes called a
+Dreadnought or super-Dreadnought, after the name of the first of the
+type, has thicker armour and less speed than the battle cruiser; that is
+practically all the difference between them. You may call the battle
+cruiser a cross between the battleship and the cruiser; she has the big
+guns of the former and the speed of the latter. She gains this speed by
+having a less weight of armour, and, as a rule, a smaller number of
+guns.</p>
+
+<p>The most powerful weapon used in our Navy is the 15-inch gun, with which
+the latest of our battleships, the <i>Queen Elizabeth</i> (launched 1915), is
+armed. This gun, which weighs ninety tons, throws a shot weighing
+five-sixths of a ton at a velocity of more than a mile a second for a
+range of 10,000 yards, or roughly six miles. Of course the full range of
+the gun is much more than this. It can make good practice at 20,000
+yards, or roughly 11 miles; at six miles the gun can be laid so as to
+hit the target practically every time. The 13.5-inch gun, with which the
+battle cruisers are mainly armed, is only a little less powerful than
+the 15-inch gun. It throws a projectile of 1,400 lbs. weight, and can be
+discharged twice a minute.</p>
+
+<p>You will see in what ways a modern super-Dreadnought battleship differs
+from a battle cruiser if you examine the following figures</p>
+
+<p><i>Queen Elizabeth</i> (super-Dreadnought).&mdash;Length, 620 feet; tonnage,
+27,500; horse-power, 28,000; speed per hour, 25 knots;<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> armour, belt
+of 13&frac12; inch thickness; armament, eight 15-inch guns and sixteen 6-inch
+guns.</p>
+
+<p><i>Lion</i> (battle cruiser).&mdash;Length, 660 feet; tonnage, 26,350;
+horse-power, 70,000; speed per hour, 31 knots; armour, belt of 9&frac34; inch
+thickness; armament, eight 13.5-inch guns and sixteen 4-inch guns.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Lion</i>, <i>Tiger</i>, <i>Queen Mary</i>, and <i>Princess Royal</i> are the four
+most powerful battle cruisers in existence.</p>
+
+<p>Cruisers, of which we possessed 121 when war broke out, are the fighting
+scouts of the Fleet. What are called armoured cruisers, such as the
+unfortunate <i>Cressy</i>, <i>Aboukir</i>, and <i>Hogue</i>, are protected by belts of
+armour plate, varying from 6 inches to 8 inches in thickness. Protected
+cruisers have decks of armour plate instead of belts. The most modern
+cruisers, which are known as light armoured cruisers, have been
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+described as "destroyers of destroyers." The light cruiser <i>Arethusa</i>,
+for example, has a belt of armour plating from 3 to 3&frac12; inches thick. She
+is 410 feet long, displaces 3,600 tons, and has turbine engines that
+give her a speed of thirty knots. Like all the most modern warships, she
+consumes oil in place of coal. She mounts two 6-inch, six 4-inch, and
+four machine guns, with four torpedo tubes.</p>
+
+<p>Next in importance to the cruisers come the destroyers, of which we
+possessed 227 at the beginning of the war. These vessels may be said to
+correspond with the armoured motor car used by the Army. They are all
+built for speed, and most of them can steam over thirty miles an hour.
+The <i>Swift</i>, the largest destroyer in our Navy, has actually done over
+forty-four miles an hour; the <i>Tartar</i>, however, carries off the record,
+with a speed of nearly forty-six miles an hour. The <i>Swift</i> displaces
+2,170 tons, and is almost as big as the smallest of the light cruisers.
+Destroyers of the "L" class displace 965 tons, have a speed of about
+thirty-three miles an hour, and carry three 4-inch guns.</p>
+
+<p>Life on board a destroyer is very strenuous. Destroyers act as policemen
+of the seas, and they must go on their beat whatever the weather may be.
+If you have not seen one of these small craft riding through a gale, you
+can have no idea of the way in which wind and waves play pitch-and-toss
+with them in foul weather. Officers and men alike must wear heavy
+sea-boots and oilskins, for they are often up to their knees in water,
+and drenched with the spray that breaks freely over the decks. As a
+destroyer usually goes through the waves rather than over them, she is
+built with a raised fore part, from which in rough weather the water
+streams away like a little Niagara. In bad weather everything must be
+tightly battened down, and this means that while the deck hands are
+swept by cold, wind-driven sheets of water, the men in the engine rooms
+have to work in a very hot and stifling atmosphere. A destroyer always
+travels at high speed on patrol work, and she dances about on a zigzag
+course in order to avoid the deadly foe lurking beneath the surface.
+Trying though the life on a destroyer is, many men prefer it to service
+on a big ship. There is extra pay, which Jack calls "hard-lying money,"
+and there is more freedom in various ways.</p>
+
+<p>The remaining class of warships consists of submarines. I described
+these vessels in Chapter XVII. of Volume I.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
+<p>I must now return to the story of how the enemy was rounded up in
+Heligoland Bight.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a> At midnight on 26th August a squadron of
+submarines left Harwich accompanied by two destroyers, which escorted
+them to positions near the enemy's coast, and began scouting diligently
+for the under-water craft of the enemy. At five o'clock next evening
+(27th August) the First and Third Destroyer Flotillas steamed out of the
+harbour. Earlier in the day the Battle Cruiser Squadron, the First Light
+Cruiser Squadron, and the Seventh Cruiser Squadron had put to sea. All
+were under orders to meet at a certain position early on the morning of
+28th August. I think you can imagine the feelings of our men as the
+ships crept forward, with no lights showing, through the night. They
+were about to penetrate the enemy's waters and fall upon him unawares.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br />
+<h4>Position at 7 a.m.</h4>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p184.jpg" width="422" height="346" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Battle of the Bight of Heligoland (Aug. 28).</h4>
+
+<p>The morning of the 28th broke calm and windless. There was a thick haze
+over the waters, and the keenest eyes in the fleet could not pierce the
+mist for more than three miles around. Just before 7 a.m. the gaunt
+island of Heligoland, with its forts, painted lodging-houses, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+crumbling sea cliffs, loomed out of the fog. This diagram will show you
+the position of our various squadrons at this time. The submarines, you
+will observe, were close to Heligoland; but they made no attempt to
+conceal themselves, as the sea was like a mill-pond, and their
+periscopes were plainly visible. Approaching rapidly from the north-west
+were Commodore Tyrwhitt's two destroyer flotillas, led by the <i>Arethusa</i>
+and the <i>Fearless</i>. The <i>Arethusa</i>, which I have already described, was
+a new ship with an old and honoured name. She had just left the
+builder's yard, and was now about to undergo her baptism of fire.
+Perhaps you have heard or read the famous old song "The Arethusa;" it
+tells how a British man-of-war in June 1778 was attacked by four French
+ships, and how she gallantly drove them off after a fight which lasted
+two hours.</p>
+
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The fight was off the Frenchman's land;</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;We forced them back upon the strand,</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;For we fought till not a stick would stand</span>
+<span class="i4">Of the gallant <i>Arethusa</i>."</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The new <i>Arethusa</i> was now about to prove herself worthy of her ancient
+renown.</p>
+
+<p>Behind the destroyers, and a little to the south-west of them, was the
+Seventh Cruiser Squadron. To the north-east of the destroyers lay the
+First Light Cruiser Squadron, and Sir David Beatty's Battle Cruiser
+Squadron, consisting of the <i>Lion</i>, <i>Queen Mary</i>, <i>New Zealand</i>, and
+<i>Invincible</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The submarines near Heligoland were the decoy ducks. They were probably
+first sighted by a German seaplane, and shortly afterwards a number of
+German destroyers, two cruisers, and some submarines came out from
+behind the island to attack them. When our submarines saw them they and
+their attendant destroyers fled westward, and the German destroyers
+followed them, and thus were drawn away from the island into the open
+sea. Soon, however, they sighted the British flotillas bearing down on
+them from the north-east. Then they turned tail and tried to make for
+home; but our destroyers and the two cruisers altered their course to
+port, so as to cut them off. For about half an hour the <i>Arethusa</i> and
+the destroyers were engaged with the German destroyers; but at 7.57 a.m.
+two enemy cruisers, one with four funnels and the other with two,
+appeared, and the nearest of them, the one with two funnels, was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+engaged. She was the <i>Ariadne</i>, and the other was probably the
+<i>Strassburg</i>. Both of them attacked the <i>Arethusa</i>, and for about a
+quarter of an hour she received the heavy fire of both ships. Then the
+<i>Strassburg</i> turned her attention to the <i>Fearless</i>, and left the
+<i>Ariadne</i> to cope with the <i>Arethusa</i>.</p>
+
+<p>During the action the <i>Arethusa</i> was hit many times, and was much
+damaged. All her guns were out of action except one 6-inch gun, with
+which she replied to the enemy's fire. About 8.15 one of her shells
+wrecked the forebridge of the <i>Ariadne</i>, whereupon she turned tail and
+made for Heligoland. Meanwhile the <i>Fearless</i> had driven off the
+<i>Strassburg</i>, and the destroyers had sunk the German commodore's
+destroyer, and had damaged some of the others. With that humanity which
+has always distinguished British seamen, the destroyers lowered their
+boats and attempted to save the lives of the German sailors struggling
+in the water. While engaged in this work of mercy a German cruiser fired
+on them, and two of the boats could not be picked up. Later on, when
+these open boats were twenty-five miles from the nearest land, and that
+land the enemy's fortress, with nothing but fog and foes around them,
+they were wondrously saved. "Suddenly," writes an officer, "a swirl
+alongside, and up, if you please, pops His Britannic Majesty's submarine
+E4, opens his conning tower, takes them all on board, shuts up again,
+dives, and brings them home 250 miles! Is that not magnificent? No novel
+would dare to face the critics with an episode like that in it, except,
+perhaps, Jules Verne; and all true."</p>
+
+<p>All the British ships were now ordered to turn to the westward and
+reduce speed to twenty knots. The <i>Arethusa</i> was badly in need of
+repair. A water tank had been hit; all the guns but one were for the
+time being out of action, and a fierce fire broke out which was only got
+under with difficulty. She soon repaired herself, however; got nearly
+all of her guns into working order; and brought ammunition on deck,
+ready for the next bout.</p>
+
+<p>The bulk of our fleet had kept out of sight, and the Germans believed
+that they had only submarines, destroyers, and two cruisers to fight.
+Here was a glorious chance to wipe out the two British cruisers. About
+ten o'clock two of our destroyers reported that they were being chased
+by three cruisers of the enemy&mdash;the <i>Mainz</i>, the <i>K&ouml;ln</i>, and a heavier
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+vessel, probably the <i>Strassburg</i>. The <i>Arethusa</i>, with the <i>Fearless</i>
+and the First Flotilla, at once made for the three German cruisers, and
+about eleven o'clock sighted the <i>Strassburg</i>, if that was her name. She
+opened a heavy fire at once, and the poor, battered <i>Arethusa</i> was again
+in peril. Thanks to a vigorous attack by the <i>Fearless</i> and the
+destroyers, the <i>Strassburg</i> drew off and disappeared in the haze. Ten
+minutes later she appeared on the starboard quarter, and again attacked
+the <i>Arethusa</i>; but her shots fell short. No such mistake was made by
+the British gunners; both the <i>Arethusa</i> and the <i>Fearless</i> hit the
+German ship repeatedly, and so badly damaged her that she finally drew
+out of the fight and ran for home.</p>
+
+<p>Four minutes later the <i>Mainz</i> appeared, and was at once set upon by our
+cruisers and destroyers. So severely was she handled that in less than
+twenty-five minutes her engines had stopped, flames were leaping up from
+her decks, and she was sinking.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p187.jpg" width="382" height="521" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Sinking of the Mainz.</h4>
+
+<p>When the news that several enemy ships had joined battle reached Sir
+David Beatty, he saw at once that the situation was critical. He had
+already sent off the Light Cruiser Squadron to help the destroyers; now
+he decided to take the Battle Cruiser Squadron into action. At 11.30 his
+ships turned their heads east-south-east, and rapidly worked up to full
+speed. It was a risky business to take his cruisers through a
+mine-strewn sea infested by submarines, but in warfare risks must be
+taken if battles are to be won. He had no fear of submarines, however,
+as he was travelling very quickly, and the sea was so calm that
+periscopes could be easily seen. He considered that his force was quite
+powerful enough to deal with any enemy ships that might come out to meet
+him, except a battle squadron. If he made a dash into the fight, the
+whole business would probably be over before a battle squadron of the
+enemy had time to arrive on the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the <i>Mainz</i> was seen to be sinking, the Light Cruiser Squadron
+arrived, and their shells rained down upon the devoted ship. She was
+completely riddled by shot, and her end had come. An officer who saw her
+sinking wrote:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The <i>Mainz</i> was absolutely gallant. The last I saw of her, absolutely
+wrecked alow and aloft, her whole midships blazing and fuming. She had
+one gun forward and one aft, still spitting forth fury and defiance,
+like a wild cat mad with wounds."</p>
+
+<p>While the <i>Mainz</i> was sinking, the <i>K&ouml;ln</i> appeared on the starboard,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+and broadsides were discharged at long range. At this moment the British
+battle cruisers, with the white ensign streaming from their bows, were
+seen looming through the mist. They had arrived just at the right
+moment, and the worn and wearied men of the <i>Arethusa</i>, black with the
+grime of gun-fire, knew that victory was at hand. Commodore Tyrwhitt, of
+the <i>Arethusa</i>, pointed out the <i>K&ouml;ln</i> to Sir David Beatty, and his
+13.5-inch guns got to work. At 10,000 yards he hit her again and again,
+and she turned to flee, with the flames streaming out from her like
+blood-red pennons.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Ariadne</i> now hove in sight, coming from the southward. Two salvos
+from the terrible 13.5-inch guns were enough for her; she disappeared in
+the mist, burning furiously and in a sinking condition. Then the battle
+cruisers circled north again to finish off the <i>K&ouml;ln</i>. Two salvos were
+fired, and she sank like a stone with all on board.</p>
+
+<p>At 1.40 the battle was over. The battle cruisers turned to the
+northward, and the <i>Queen Mary</i> for the second time that day was
+attacked by a submarine. Again she avoided a deadly torpedo by a quick
+turn of the helm. The great gray monsters covered the retirement of the
+destroyers, and by 6 p.m. all were making for port. Before midnight the
+whole British force was safely back in its own waters.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy had lost two new cruisers&mdash;the <i>Mainz</i> and the <i>K&ouml;ln</i>&mdash;and an
+older vessel, the <i>Ariadne</i>. The vessel which I have called the
+<i>Strassburg</i> was seriously damaged; one destroyer was sunk, and at least
+seven others suffered greatly. Some seven hundred Germans perished, and
+about three hundred were taken prisoners, amongst them the son of
+Admiral von Tirpitz, the chief of the German navy.</p>
+
+<p>Our casualties were thirty-two killed and fifty-two wounded, and we did
+not lose a single ship. The <i>Arethusa</i> was badly damaged, it is true,
+but she was ready for sea a week later. Every British ship that took
+part in the battle was entitled to paint upon her honour-board in
+letters of gold the words, "Heligoland, August 28, 1914." As a tribute
+to the gallant part which the <i>Arethusa</i> had played in the fight, the
+Admiralty ordered the famous old song to be engraved on a brass plate
+and set up on the ship. The first verse runs as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Come, all ye sailors bold,</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;Whose hearts are cast in honour's mould,</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;While English glory I unfold.</span>
+<span class="i2">Huzza for the <i>Arethusa</i>!</span>
+<span class="i2">Her men are staunch</span>
+<span class="i2">To their favourite launch.</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;And when the foe shall meet our fire,</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;Sooner than strike we'll all expire</span>
+<span class="i2">On board of the <i>Arethusa</i>."</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+<p>Before we leave the story of the Battle of Heligoland Bight let me try
+to describe the experiences of the men behind the big guns. "Gun crews,
+stand to your stations!" comes the terse order. Instantly every man
+drops his job, whatever it may be, and the various squads fall in and
+march off to their barbettes or casemates, straining their eyes as they
+go to catch a sight of the enemy. All the wooden fittings which are
+likely to catch fire, or form what sailors call "shell traps," have been
+thrown overboard, the stanchions and the davits and the chains around
+the decks have been unshipped, and the vessel is now a mere skeleton of
+its former self. Everything that might get loose and "take charge" has
+been securely lashed. The guns and torpedoes have been made ready; the
+ammunition has been carefully examined and arranged, so that it can be
+quickly hoisted to the guns; and the engines have been overhauled. Hose
+pipes have been run along the decks, and everything likely to take fire
+has been plentifully soused with sea-water.</p>
+
+<p>Probably you know that each pair of big guns is mounted on a revolving
+platform within what is called a turret&mdash;that is, a chamber of thick
+armour-plate which revolves with the guns. Beneath this turret is a
+working chamber, some nine or ten feet in height, and from it a thick
+steel tube descends through the decks to the magazines below. Inside
+this tube, which revolves with the gun platform, are "lifts," which
+hoist the shells up to the barbette.</p>
+
+<p>The crews enter the barbettes by means of massive steel doors, which are
+firmly closed behind them. When the doors are closed, it is impossible
+for them to know what is going on in other parts of the ship, except for
+the little that they can observe through the sighting-hood of the guns.
+The steel chamber in which they are stationed is lighted by electricity,
+and the guns, the platform, and the hoists are worked by water power.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
+The crew set the machinery working, and bring up a supply of shells,
+one of which is placed in the yawning breech of each great gun.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a telephone bell rings, and a voice is heard asking "if it
+takes a week for the barbette to get ready for action." It is the
+gunnery lieutenant, who is talking "sarcastic." He is in what is called
+the "fire-control station," which is a steel chamber high on the top of
+a tripod mast. In this chamber are the range-finders and all the other
+apparatus necessary for directing the fire of every big gun on the ship.
+Around the steel walls are telephones, speaking-tubes, and electric
+buttons. By means of very wonderful devices the officer in the
+"fire-control station" ranges and sights every gun in the ship. The men
+in the turrets have merely to obey his instructions, and fire the guns
+when he gives the word.</p>
+
+<p>"Prepare to open fire at twenty thousand yards," snaps the voice at the
+telephone. The machinery clangs, and the guns raise their noses high in
+the air. "Revolve to ten degrees on your port bow," comes the next
+order; and, as though by magic, the whole turret swings itself round to
+the required position. Then comes a pause, which the men declare is more
+trying to the nerves than anything that happens during the actual
+fighting. Little or nothing can be seen from the barbette; from the
+"fire-control station" the target is a mere speck on the horizon about
+eleven miles away.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the telephone rings again. "Let go with No. 1 gun" is the
+welcome order. The men cheer and fling themselves face down on the
+floor, and push home the cotton wool with which they have previously
+plugged their ears, to prevent the risk of deafness. The captain of the
+gun pulls a lanyard; there is a "kick" that makes the barbette reel,
+then a deafening report, as a shell weighing nearly a thousand pounds
+speeds over the waters on its deadly mission.</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the men spring up, the breech is thrown open, a jet of water
+is sent along the barrel, and another shell is thrown in. Meanwhile the
+officer in command of the barbette calls out, "Stand by for No. 2 gun."
+When No. 2 gun has been fired the telephone bell rings, and the voice
+from above is heard to say, "Both miles wide; try to hit something next
+time." "We are here to fire the gun, not to range it," mutters the
+captain of the turret as he makes a few hasty calculations and some
+adjustments. "Both guns at once, dead line ahead," comes the next
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+order. Round spins the barbette again on its axis, and then a terrific
+jerk and an awful roar as the two weapons go off together. At once every
+eye is turned to the indicator which shows the result of the shots. "One
+well home, the other a trifle short." The gunners caper about in huge
+delight.</p>
+
+<p>By this time the whole of the big guns of the ships are barking away,
+all under the careful eye of the little group of officers perched up
+aloft. "Salvo firing<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> on signal" is now the order, and the range,
+elevation, and direction of the guns are given. Once more the silence is
+tense. Suddenly the indicating needle of every big gun on the ship
+begins to move in unison. <span class="smcap">Fire!</span> Then there is a mighty roar, and the
+ship shudders and pauses on its onward course. "Nasty one for somebody,"
+says a bluejacket as he wipes the perspiration from his face and bare
+chest. "Hope they liked it," chimes in another as the guns are loaded
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Now there is a loud report, followed by a crash of bent and battered
+metal not far off. "Pretty near one that," says a gunner. "Wonder if it
+has done any damage." There is no time for further inquiry; damage has
+been done. A large shell from the enemy has hit another barbette, and
+has exploded. The lieutenant in charge has been glancing through the
+sighting-hood; he drops like a log, and two other men have fallen beside
+him. A few bolt-heads have been crisply shorn off by the immense jerk of
+the impact, and they have fled across the steel chamber like rifle
+bullets; one poor fellow is killed, and a second has a leg broken. It is
+the price of Admiralty, and without pause a midshipman takes the
+lieutenant's place and "carries on."</p>
+
+<p>Still the firing continues, and the air in the turret by this time is
+almost stifling. The electric fans have failed owing to some damage
+below. Presently, however, comes the welcome order, "Enemy's ship out of
+action. Out of the barbette, and muster on deck." A loud roar of
+cheering goes up; the great doors are pushed back, and the men take up
+their stations and watch the last throes of the enemy's ship as it
+lurches and sinks beneath the waves. Nothing but the work of rescue now
+remains. All undamaged boats are manned and hoisted out, and away they
+go on their errand of mercy. The battle is over and won.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE TURN OF THE TIDE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hen the army of von Kluck was sweeping through Northern France like a
+roaring flood, most people thought that he was aiming at Paris, the
+heart and centre of the country. In Chapter X. of our first volume I
+told you that after the great surrender at Sedan the Germans swooped
+down upon the beautiful capital, and began to besiege it. I also told
+you how, after four months of hunger and misery, it yielded, and the
+hosts of Germany marched through its streets in triumph.</p>
+
+<p>Was Paris again to be besieged?&mdash;that was the question. The Parisians
+were quite sure that they would soon be ringed round by the Germans.
+They knew that von Kluck was rapidly approaching, and on the afternoon
+of 30th August they saw the first of his war hawks come swooping over
+the city. It dropped five bombs; but only one person was killed, and the
+damage done to property was slight. Attached to a sandbag which was
+dropped from the aeroplane was the following message: "The German army
+is at the gates of Paris; there is nothing left to you but to
+surrender." This was not quite true, but a few days later German cavalry
+actually were within cannon shot of the northern forts; they were as
+near to the towers of Notre Dame<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> as the battlements of Windsor are
+to the dome of St. Paul's. Scouts in motor cars were reported only nine
+miles from Paris itself, and it is said that German officers who had
+American lady friends in the city sent them notes arranging to come to
+tea with them!</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 718px;">
+<img src="images/p194.jpg" width="718" height="491" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Trenches in the Streets of Paris.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Sport and General.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Four days before the first German aeroplane was seen a new government
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+came into power, and included in it were the leading members of all the
+parties in the country. The same day a new governor, General
+Gallieni,<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> was appointed to take over the defence of Paris. The
+French capital, as you know, is one of the most strongly fortified
+places in Europe. It is protected by an outer ring of forts, which are
+built at distances varying from six to ten miles from the centre of the
+city. This ring is eighty miles round, and within it are three
+entrenched camps&mdash;one on the north, another on the east, and a third on
+the south-east. A railway, more than sixty miles in length, connects all
+the works and supplies them with ammunition and stores. All this sounds
+very formidable; but we know that the strongest forts cannot stand
+against modern siege guns and high explosives. Further, the guns of the
+Paris forts were by no means up to date, and the trenches between them
+were not properly protected. General Gallieni worked night and day to
+remedy these defects; but the time at his disposal was all too short.</p>
+
+<p>One of the leading citizens proposed that Paris should be given up to
+the Germans, in order that its monuments and treasures of art might be
+saved from destruction. General Gallieni would not listen for a moment
+to any such craven proposal. He said that Paris would defend itself,
+even though it should suffer the fate of Louvain. The Parisians were
+with him almost to a man.</p>
+
+<p>Gallieni diligently prepared for a siege. He had trenches dug in the
+streets on the outskirts of the city, and he collected vast quantities
+of provisions within the fortified area. Thousands of cattle and sheep
+were coralled on almost every green space within the ring of
+fortifications, and the Bois de Boulogne<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> became one vast stockyard.
+Meanwhile long strings of people waited before the doors of the shops to
+buy stocks of provisions. Over a million Parisians deserted the city for
+the towns and villages of the south; and though large numbers of
+refugees flocked in from the north, Paris lost its busy appearance, and
+took on an "early morning" air.</p>
+
+<p>In ordinary times Paris is the most brilliantly lighted city in Europe,
+and at night the glare illuminates the sky for scores of square miles.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+Had its myriads of electric lamps gleamed out while the Germans were so
+near at hand, the safety of the city would have been endangered by bombs
+from Zeppelins and aeroplanes. Consequently, Paris by night became a
+city of gloom. All the caf&eacute;s and shops were closed by eight in the
+evening, and the lamps were veiled and only lighted on one side of the
+street. On the roofs of most of the chief public buildings search-lights
+were installed, and all through the night they flung their dazzling rays
+across the darkness. On 3rd September 1914 the Government was removed to
+Bordeaux. "It only leaves Paris," said a proclamation, "after having
+taken all precautions in its power for the defence of the town and of
+the entrenched camps. It knows that it need not recommend calm and
+resolution to the admirable Parisian population, which shows every day
+that it is equal to its greatest duties."</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had the Government left the city when tidings arrived which
+showed clearly that there was to be no siege of Paris just yet. Some of
+the Parisians professed to be disappointed: they had filled their houses
+with tinned sardines, preserved fruits, bags of coffee, and bundles of
+vegetables, and had prepared themselves to stand the longest siege known
+to history&mdash;and now the Germans would not play the game! But, really,
+they were overjoyed when they knew that they and their city were free
+from attack for some time to come.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>What was the news which had thus relieved the minds of the Parisians? On
+3rd September von Kluck was at Chantilly,<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> the great racing centre of
+France, twenty-five miles from the gates of Paris. Two days later,
+aviators reported that he was twenty miles to the east of Paris. Instead
+of bearing down on the city he had marched south-east&mdash;that is, away
+from it. Why?</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p197.jpg" width="354" height="506" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Parisians watching German Aeroplanes.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Central News.</i></h4>
+
+<p>In 1870, you will remember, the Germans did not attempt to besiege Paris
+until Bazaine's army had been shut up in Metz and MacMahon's army had
+surrendered at Sedan. Before Paris was besieged the armies of France had
+been hopelessly defeated. To encircle Paris needs half a million men,
+and no sane general would dare to detach such a large number of troops
+for this purpose while his enemy was capable of taking the field against
+him. It is true that the Allies had been forced to retreat from the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+Belgian border, and that von Kluck believed the British to be a broken,
+panic-stricken mob; nevertheless he could not think of investing Paris
+until he had destroyed them. As his enemy was then moving south-east of
+Paris, he had to move south-east too, in order to keep in contact with
+him. Paris could wait until the Allies were thoroughly beaten. So von
+Kluck turned away from Paris and marched south-east.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p198.jpg" width="557" height="309" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The position of the Allied Armies immediately before their advance.</h4>
+
+<p>On 5th September 1914 the Allied armies were in the position in which
+General Joffre wished them to be. Let us look at the line which they
+then held. The 3rd Army (A) stretched from the Upper Meuse, south of
+Verdun, westwards to Bar-le-Duc, and facing it was the army of the Crown
+Prince. The 4th Army (B) was on its left, astride of the Upper Marne,
+looking north across the plain towards Ch&acirc;lons. Westwards to S&eacute;zanne<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a>
+was the 9th Army (C), and facing it was von Buelow's army. Still farther
+to the west were the 5th French Army (D) and the British (E); while
+north of the Marne, moving towards the Ourcq, was the 6th French Army
+(F), which, all unknown to the Germans, had been organized in Paris,
+where it was safe from the prying eyes of their airmen. Later on we
+shall study the position of the Allied armies on the left wing (D, E, F)
+more closely.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+<p>Before we do so, however, I will try to give you some idea of the kind
+of country in front of the French line. Let us imagine that you are
+travelling westwards from Verdun in early September. Leaving behind you
+the narrow vale of the Upper Meuse, you traverse an upland country of
+many ravines and much undergrowth, with here and there small woods and
+pastures. Then you cross a small stream, and, looking southwards, see
+the deep woods that stretch towards Bar-le-Duc. The road now rises, and
+to the northward is the plateau of the Argonne,<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> a long, low ridge
+of clay, which forms the natural bulwark of north-east France; west of
+it runs the Aisne and east of it the Aire, a tributary of the Aisne. A
+small river cuts its way through it in a deep furrow. A French writer
+says that if we leave out of account the lengthwise furrow through which
+the river runs, the plateau may be compared with a wave just when it
+curls and is about to break on the shore. The summits of the plateau
+range in height from about 450 feet to 1,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>An extensive forest is always a bar to an invader. In the days when the
+English were conquering Britain, a very dense and trackless forest, 130
+miles long by 30 miles broad, covered that part of South England between
+the North Downs and the South Downs which we call the Weald. For many
+years this forest prevented the South Saxons, who had occupied the
+coast, from pushing their conquests northwards to the Thames. In the
+same way the Forest of the Argonne checked early invaders of France from
+the east. No other part of France is so thickly wooded, and in its deep
+recesses wolves are still found. Two roads and one railway cross it from
+west to east; but otherwise there are only a few forest paths, which
+lead nowhere. This difficult region was the scene of desperate fighting
+during many months of the war.</p>
+
+<p>For a hundred miles to the west of the Argonne stretches a region of
+chalky moorlands, crossed by many ridges, and broken by heaths,
+coppices, and fir plantations. This is the Salisbury Plain of France,
+and men have long foretold that on its dreary levels the Armageddon of
+Europe would be fought. Still travelling west, we come to the Heights of
+Champagne, which I have already described. South of the deep-cut valley
+of the Marne, which, you will remember, marks the southern limit of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+this chalk plateau, is a region crossed by the Petit Morin and the Grand
+Morin, both tributaries of the Marne. These tributaries, though not
+rapid, are so deep that they cannot be forded, but they are well
+provided with stone bridges. Much of the district through which they
+flow is well wooded, and dotted with country houses. Round about S&eacute;zanne
+we find rolling downs, and to the north of it the extensive marsh of St.
+Gond.</p>
+
+<p>The whole region between Paris and the Upper Meuse is very famous in
+French history. From Domremy, on the Meuse, came Joan of Arc to revive
+the broken spirits of her countrymen, and inspire them to drive the
+English out of France. It was in Rheims Cathedral, you will remember,
+that the Maid had her great hour of triumph, when she knelt at the feet
+of the Dauphin and greeted him as King of France. At Valmy, twenty miles
+north-east of Ch&acirc;lons, there is a pyramid which commemorates a great
+French victory over the Prussians in the fateful year 1792; and on the
+old Roman road north of Ch&acirc;lons is a huge oval mound, known as the Camp
+of Attila. It is said to mark the spot where his merciless hordes were
+overcome in the middle of the fifth century. On the wide flats in the
+neighbourhood of Ch&acirc;lons the Romans and Goths were hurled back in
+ancient times, and there, too, "furious Frank and fiery Hun" strove for
+the mastery. Once more the fate of France was to be decided on these
+historic fields.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now we must return to von Kluck, and pay particular attention to his
+movements, for on them depended the fortunes of the whole German army.
+Study the diagram on the next page closely, and you will see how he
+thrust his head into the lion's jaws. When we left him at Chantilly,
+twenty-five miles from Paris, he was to all intents and purposes
+marching directly on the city. Suddenly, as you know, he swerved to the
+south-east. Why he did so nobody exactly knows, though many reasons have
+been suggested. I have already mentioned the most probable one&mdash;namely,
+that a siege of Paris before the enemy was thoroughly routed would have
+been the height of folly. Some say that as certain army corps had been
+sent to East Prussia, it was necessary for the Germans to close in on
+the left. Whatever the reason was, von Kluck suddenly began marching
+south-east. He crossed the river Marne, and continued in this direction,
+with the object, it is supposed, of cutting off the French centre from
+Paris.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p201.jpg" width="453" height="380" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+<p>A glance at this diagram shows you that when he was marching in this
+oblique direction his right was exposed to attack from the armies on the
+Allied left&mdash;the French 5th Army, the British Army, and the new 6th Army
+issuing from Paris. If the British attacked him during this march, his
+columns could offer no effective resistance until they deployed and
+faced the British line, and while doing so they would be sure to suffer
+greatly. If they did not deploy, the 5th French Army could attack them
+in front; and if they did deploy, they would then have that army on
+their left flank. Meanwhile the new 6th French Army, by crossing the
+Ourcq, could cut off the German line of retreat. It was a most dangerous
+move, as you can easily see, and even now we wonder why von Kluck made
+it. There is little doubt that he believed the British and the 5th
+French Army to be so weary and dispirited that they were of no account.</p>
+
+<p>Von Kluck seems to have had some inkling that there was a new French
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+force on his flank, for on 4th September he placed a flank guard along
+the Ourcq; but he does not seem to have known how strong this French
+force was. Next day (5th September), when he was across the Marne, he
+learnt the truth: the surprise army lay west of Meaux, and was marching
+on the Ourcq. On the 8th he realized his danger, and sent back two of
+his army corps to meet it. This, of course, weakened his advancing
+columns. Soon he found himself in an almost hopeless position: he was in
+hourly peril of being enveloped. This is what I meant when I said that
+he had thrust his head into the lion's jaws.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 715px;">
+<img src="images/p202.jpg" width="715" height="479" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Von Kluck's Artillery passing through a French village on its march towards Paris.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Topical Press.</i></h4>
+
+<p>The fighting began at dawn on Sunday, 6th September, when the whole
+Allied line from Paris to Verdun was set in motion. We will first give
+our attention to the surprise army, which on that tropically hot day was
+slowly moving towards the western bank of the Ourcq, across the low
+plateau which rises to the north of the little town of Meaux. It was a
+smiling country through which the soldiers passed&mdash;the roads lined with
+tall poplars, the fields golden with ripe wheat, and the orchards heavy
+with fruit. The many villages on the tableland were in the hands of
+German outposts, and the main body lay on the eastern bank of the river,
+which here flows in a deep channel. The surprise army consisted of at
+least eight divisions. To meet it the Germans had five divisions. All
+day the French were engaged in hand-to-hand struggles with the German
+outposts in the villages, and were assailed by "Black Marias"<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> from
+the heavy German batteries beyond the river.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the British, to their great joy, were ordered to march
+north-eastwards towards the Grand Morin, along a gently-rolling country
+of orchards and cornfields and scattered woodlands, crossed here and
+there by small rivers and streams. For the first time our men were
+advancing, and they were in the highest spirits, thoroughly rested, and
+eager to get back "a bit of their own." By noon they were within touch
+of the enemy's advance guard, which was well supported by batteries. An
+engagement took place, and late in the afternoon the German trenches
+were carried at the point of the bayonet. By evening the British army
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+occupied a line extending across and south of the Grand Morin. Thus you
+see that on the west the enveloping movement was making excellent
+headway.</p>
+
+<p>Now let us see what the 5th French Army was doing. It was moving
+northwards towards the upper reaches of the Grand Morin, and was heavily
+engaged with the bulk of von Kluck's army. Again and again it made
+frontal attacks, but little ground was gained. Farther to the east the
+9th French Army was struggling with that of von Buelow near S&eacute;zanne, its
+right being opposed to the right wing of the Saxon army. The 4th French
+Army, still farther to the east, was being violently attacked by the
+Duke of W&uuml;rtemberg, who was trying hard but in vain to pierce the Allied
+centre. On the Allied right the Crown Prince was more successful: he was
+able to push back the 3rd French Army for a little distance.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole the fortune of the day seemed to rest with the Germans. But
+von Kluck now knew that he was in deadly peril. The surprise army had
+turned his right wing; the British were attacking him on the right
+flank, and the 5th French Army was holding him in front. He knew that he
+was in the tightest possible place, and that he would need all his skill
+and resolution if he was to escape from the trap laid for him. The Crown
+Prince might be rejoicing, but von Kluck was in "doleful dumps."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p204.jpg" width="214" height="289" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>General van Kluck.<br />
+
+(<i>Photo, Central News.</i>)</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CROSSING OF THE MARNE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">E</span>arly on Monday morning, 7th September 1914, the guns of friend and foe
+began to thunder in the river valleys of the Ourcq, Marne, and Petit and
+Grand Morin. As the sun rose higher and higher in the sky the cannonade
+grew fiercer and fiercer. Over the peaceful hills, the shining water,
+the stubbles, the pastures and wheat fields, delicate white balloons of
+bursting shrapnel were constantly seen. At a hundred different places
+along the far-flung battle line Allied infantry were worming their way
+towards the enemy, anon rising from their cover at the sound of a shrill
+whistle, rushing ahead, and dropping again into concealment amidst the
+rattle of rifles and machine guns. A desperate conflict was in progress
+from the Ourcq to Verdun, a distance of wellnigh one hundred and fifty
+miles.</p>
+
+<p>Let us confine our attention for the present to the Allied left, where
+alone an advance was made on that day. The 6th French Army was working
+its way towards the Ourcq, driving in the enemy outposts on the western
+bank. The Germans had occupied most of the villages on the plateau, and
+the French were thrusting them out with the bayonet, amid the smoke of
+burning haystacks and farm buildings. It was a day of hand-to-hand
+combats. When night fell, the whole plateau was strewn with dead and
+dying, and the ghastly scene was illuminated by the glare of flaming
+villages.</p>
+
+<p>Long before daylight on this day the British were astir, and by five in
+the morning the little town of Coulommiers,<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> on the Grand Morin,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+had been captured. Our infantry drove back the four German divisions
+opposed to them, and pushed them across the river beneath an accurate
+and galling artillery fire. All the bridges were down, and the Germans
+strove feverishly to fling pontoons across the stream. Time after time
+floating bridges were erected, only to be blown to splinters by our
+guns. It is said that one British battery came into action within easy
+range of a bridge fast approaching completion. As the gun-layer was
+sighting his piece, he asked his officer, "Which pontoon, sir?" "Number
+one," replied the officer, and in a few moments it was smashed to
+pieces. "Number two," said the officer, and that pontoon shared the same
+fate. Then, in turn, numbers three and four were blown to smithereens.
+Another bridge was built; but at the moment when it was thronged with
+crossing infantry British shells burst upon it, and the stream was
+choked with dead and drowning men and heaps of wreckage.</p>
+
+<p>The British crossed the river, and their cavalry was let loose on the
+retreating Germans. By this time the northward road was a mass of moving
+men, wagons, and guns. General De Lisle's brigade, consisting of the 9th
+Lancers and the 18th Hussars, spurred in amongst the dense throngs, and
+in the lanes, the clearings, and the villages made havoc of the foe.
+While this cavalry pursuit was in progress, thirty Hussars came upon a
+strong force of Uhlans. The British had no time to take cover; they
+seized their rifles, flung themselves off their horses, and, lying prone
+on the ground, opened a brisk fire. Before long the Uhlans were in full
+flight, with British bullets whistling about their rear. This same
+section also carried a farm strongly held by Germans with artillery.
+Despite a hailstorm of lead, the Hussars dashed forward, killed or drove
+off the Germans, and seized their guns.</p>
+
+<p>In another part of the field the Royal Irish Lancers captured a supply
+train, which was escorted by cavalry outnumbering them by five to one.
+The Irishmen managed to get into ambush along the road by which the
+convoy must pass. As it came up they opened fire. The Germans believed
+themselves to be attacked by an army, and fell into hopeless confusion.
+Then the lancers mounted, and crashed into the disordered throng of men,
+horses, and wagons. The supply column was captured, and the remnants of
+its escort surrendered.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+<p>Meanwhile the British right was rapidly moving towards the river some
+ten miles to the east, and the 5th French Army was fighting a fierce
+frontal battle higher up the stream. Taken in flank and in front, von
+Kluck could no longer hold the line of the river. On the 7th the Allied
+advance was continued, and on the 8th the Germans strove hard to make a
+stand against the British on the high ground to the north of the Grand
+Morin. Heavy guns had been posted on this high ground, and during the
+morning an artillery duel raged between the German rearguard and the
+advancing British. A stubborn resistance was made, but the Germans were
+dislodged, though not without considerable loss.</p>
+
+<p>About midday the last of our infantry were across the Grand Morin, and
+were pushing on rapidly through a beautiful country of orchards and
+cornfields towards the Petit Morin. Late in the afternoon the enemy made
+another and even more desperate stand. Savage attacks were made on
+Haig's 1st Corps, which suffered severely. Again and again the Germans
+bore down on the British in close-packed ranks; but though they flung
+away life like water, they could make no headway. British rifle fire and
+British bayonets were too much for them. Before sunset the British had a
+firm hold of the north bank of the river.</p>
+
+<p>On the 9th they crossed the Marne below Meaux,<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> and took in flank
+the German forces which were defending the line of the Ourcq. You know
+that the 6th French Army had been for the last few days attacking these
+forces in front. On the 8th von Kluck had hastily reinforced his army on
+the Ourcq by two corps drawn from the south. These corps made attacks of
+such violence that the French had hard work to resist them. Nevertheless
+they held their ground well, and in one action took three of the enemy's
+standards. They were now reinforced, and on the 10th they advanced with
+great spirit, while the British, now across the Marne, attacked the
+German left flank. Fearful of being enveloped, the Germans retreated
+from the line of the Ourcq, and immediately the British army went in
+pursuit. For the first time the Germans were on the run.</p>
+
+<p>The crossing of the Marne by the British had been no easy task. If you
+look at a map of the Marne,<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a> you will see that between Meaux and La
+Fert&eacute;<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> the river winds about a great deal, and makes a big bend
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+very much like that of the Thames between Windsor and Henley. At La
+Fert&eacute; our 3rd Corps found the town held by the Germans, who had posted
+their guns on the hills behind, and were thus able to sweep the stream
+with shell fire, while a strong force of infantry on the south bank
+resisted the passage at closer quarters. All day long the British
+attacked; slowly, and with great loss, they forced back the Germans to
+the brink of the stream. The bridges had all been blown up, and the
+enemy had to cross on their frail pontoons. Some got across safely, but
+many were drowned or killed by the fire of British guns. "We harried
+them before the crossing," said one of our soldiers, "and drowned them
+during it."</p>
+
+<p>The Rifle Brigade was one of the regiments thrust at the rear of the
+retiring Germans. It advanced from a belt of trees about half a mile
+from the river banks, and doubled towards the enemy. As it did so, it
+discovered a French infantry regiment bent on the same errand. French
+and British made a race of it, and the Rifle Brigade won by a head. Both
+parties now fell upon the Prussian infantry with the bayonet; but, as
+Private Duffy of the Rifle Brigade tells us, "they didn't seem to have
+the least heart for fighting. Some flung themselves into the stream, and
+tried to swim for safety; but they were heavily weighted by their
+equipment, and worn out, so they didn't go far. Of the three hundred men
+who tried to escape, not more than half a dozen succeeded in reaching
+the other bank, and the cries of the drowning were pitiful in the
+extreme." Elsewhere on the river similar fighting was taking place.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy had now been cleared from the southern bank of the Marne, but
+the battle was far from over. The British had yet to cross the
+fire-swept stream. Our Engineers began to build bridges, but the German
+guns smashed them again and again. All through the afternoon the
+Engineers laboured on, only to see their work blown away. Nevertheless
+they persevered, and by evening a bridge spanned the stream. In the
+darkness the British began to cross. The passage of the Marne had been
+won.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.</h3>
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">N</span>ow that the British were across the Marne and on the flank of the
+Germans defending the Ourcq, von Kluck's forces were bound to retreat
+without a moment's loss of time. The Allies followed them up with the
+utmost speed, and drove them onwards towards the Aisne in confusion,
+though the retreat cannot be called a rout. Before they reached the
+river the British had captured thirteen guns, seven machine guns, and
+two thousand prisoners, besides much transport. The 6th French Army was
+by this time across the Ourcq, and was striving to get to the north of
+the Germans and cut them off. By night the Zouaves were hurried to
+Senlis in taxi-cabs, and almost before the brakes had been applied these
+swarthy, baggy-trousered warriors were falling furiously on the
+surprised Germans. They literally flung them out of the town, in which
+they had behaved in the most disgraceful fashion. When the Zouaves
+attacked them they were sleeping off the effects of eighteen thousand
+bottles of champagne which they had looted.</p>
+
+<p>Still farther to the north there was fierce fighting in the woods of
+Compi&egrave;gne, where it is said, though with what truth I do not know, that
+the Allies repeated the trick practised on Macbeth<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> in the battle
+which laid him low. You will remember that Macbeth in Shakespeare's play
+had been warned by a spirit that he would never be vanquished until
+Birnam<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a> wood should come to Dunsinane Hill.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> When Macbeth's
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+enemies marched against him they made the saying of the spirit come
+true. They cut down branches from the trees of Birnam wood, and bore
+them aloft. Macbeth's soldiers were dismayed at the sight, and in the
+battle which followed the murderer king was slain. In the open country
+on the edge of Compi&egrave;gne woods it is said that the Allies provided
+themselves with bushes and branches, and used them as screens behind
+which they advanced on the trenches of the foe. When they were fifty or
+sixty yards away, down went the branches, and forward dashed the
+soldiers who had been hidden behind them. The Germans were driven from
+their trenches and fled.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 749px;">
+<img src="images/p210.jpg" width="749" height="486" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>German Infantry advancing to a new position.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Sport and General.</i></h4>
+
+<p>So the great drive continued, and every hour of the day furious
+rearguard actions were fought. The Germans had taken to heart the lesson
+of the Allies' retreat, and on every possible occasion their rearguards
+stood and fought in order to delay the pursuit. They lost heavily in
+killed, wounded, guns, and prisoners; but they were prepared to pay this
+price rather than suffer their main bodies to be overwhelmed. The line
+of German retreat was strewn with the wreckage of men, horses, weapons,
+and equipment.</p>
+
+<p>A British artillery officer gives us a good idea of what this rearguard
+fighting was like. He is describing the crossing of a little river.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The Germans were holding the opposite bank, a very steep bluff,
+with a battalion of riflemen and eight machine guns. These guns
+were trained on the road where it was fully exposed for about
+one hundred yards, and nothing could cross. One section of my
+battery was trying to locate them and knock them out. So I took
+my section up a hill behind these, and waited for any targets to
+appear. Our advance guard had been working well. By taking cover
+in the woods they had managed to get down into the river-bed and
+round the flanks. From there they opened a hot fire on the
+German machine guns. From my position I could see a portion of
+the road on the opposite bank. I had just got the range for this
+when a German machine gun came galloping up. I fired two rounds
+at it. The first was over and just behind; the second short.
+However, I had never seen anything move quicker than that gun.
+By now our infantry had forced the German riflemen back, and we
+had orders for a general advance. As we crossed the bridge I
+heard that seven of their machine guns had been captured. We
+wound up and up, and on all sides saw evidence of our fire. In
+one place an ammunition wagon had been hit. Both horses were
+blown over into the ditch. A bit higher up was a young boy, hit
+in the back. All that we could do was to give him water. He told
+me that his orders had been to stay till shot or captured. These
+German infantry are a brave lot."</p></div>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+<p>Now we must hark back and see how the French armies to the right of the
+British were faring. The 5th French Army, which was next to the British
+on their right, had a threefold part to play. It had to support the
+British on its left and the 9th French Army on its right. Further, it
+had to throw back the Germans facing it. On the 7th it made a leap
+forward, and during the following days, after desperate fighting,
+reached and crossed the Marne. In its advance it captured many guns,
+howitzers, machine guns, and more than a million cartridges.</p>
+
+<p>You know enough about strategy to be aware that when von Kluck retreated
+he left the right wing of von Buelow's army exposed. You may be certain
+that General Joffre ordered this wing to be attacked without delay. When
+the enemy perceived that his right was in danger he made a desperate
+effort, which lasted from 7th September to 10th September, to pierce the
+French centre, to the west and east of a place known as La F&egrave;re
+Champenoise,<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> on one of the upper streams of the Grand Morin. We
+must pay particular attention to the fighting in this region, for the
+result of it was to set the whole German line retreating.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p212.jpg" width="312" height="323" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>General Foch.</h4>
+
+<p>Look at the little map on the next page and find the town of S&eacute;zanne.
+From this place the 9th French Army extended for about twenty miles to
+the east. It was a newly-created army, which had not yet been engaged;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
+and it was under the command of General Foch,<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> a brilliant writer
+on the art of war. It was now to be seen whether he was as good in the
+field as he had proved himself to be in the study. On the 8th of
+September Foch's army was violently attacked by the famous German Guard,
+and his right was forced back a few miles. Early next morning he made a
+further retreat, and at the same time drew back his left, so as to
+maintain his line. Although he had retreated he was full of fight, and
+he ordered an attack to be made the same day.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p213.jpg" width="541" height="311" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>To the north of S&eacute;zanne you will see a region known as the Marshes of
+St. Gond. This stretch of swampy ground was the scene of a great fight
+which forced the retreat of the German centre; we must, therefore, look
+at it more closely. In the plateau to the north of S&eacute;zanne is a basin of
+clay, ten miles long from east to west, and varying in breadth from one
+to two miles. The streamlets which give rise to the Petit Morin run
+across it, and the whole ground was formerly a bog. It has long been
+reclaimed; the streamlets run in deep ditches, and some of them have
+been turned into canals. In ordinary dry weather most of the district is
+open country, with a good deal of pasture for cattle, though here and
+there traces of its marsh character are still to be seen in the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+rush-covered levels. After a few hours of heavy rain the streams
+overflow, and flood the roads and tracks; the ground becomes a swamp,
+and the highways are deep in mire.</p>
+
+<p>The early part of the night between the 8th and 9th of September was
+clear and starry, but later the weather broke; the rain came down in
+torrents, and soon the marshes of the Gond were wellnigh impassable for
+wagons and guns. Nothing could have been more fortunate for General
+Foch. He knew that, as the German right was in retreat, he might safely
+strike at the right of the army which was facing him, and thus drive in
+a wedge between von Kluck and von Buelow. He advanced towards the Petit
+Morin with the Morocco Division, and, deploying in the direction of the
+Marshes, met a furious assault of the Germans, who now perceived the
+perilous position in which they were placed. The Moroccans fought like
+heroes, and drove the Germans into the Marshes, where they found that
+they could not move their guns or wagons, which were up to the
+axle-trees in mire. Foch captured many prisoners and at least forty
+guns&mdash;the largest number which had so far been taken at one time by the
+Allies.</p>
+
+<p>History had repeated itself. In the campaign of 1814 German troops had
+been driven into the self-same swamp; a hundred years later a similar
+disaster had overtaken them. This success greatly elated Foch's army,
+and it was eager for the next move.</p>
+
+<p>A wedge had been driven between von Kluck and von Buelow; it now
+remained to drive a similar wedge between von Buelow and von Hausen,
+whose forces continued the German line to their left. Foch's airmen had
+told him that there was a considerable gap between the left of von
+Buelow and the right of von Hausen. He now moved the division which had
+driven von Buelow's right into the Marshes to the right of his line, and
+having thus reinforced it, made a flanking movement on the left of von
+Buelow and on the right of von Hausen. It was one of the boldest moves
+ever made, and it took the enemy completely by surprise. The German
+Guard made but little resistance. Von Buelow knew that he was outflanked
+on both sides, and that there was no safety except in retreat. Foch
+followed him up, and on the 11th drove him across the Marne in disorder.
+The losses of the Germans in this part of the retreat were enormous; it
+was said that the 9th Army buried ten thousand German dead.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
+<p>To the right of Foch was the 4th French Army, facing the Duke of
+W&uuml;rtemberg's forces. This French army had a hard struggle; and it was
+not till the 10th, when it was reinforced by an army corps from the
+west, that it gained ground. Next day it forced the W&uuml;rtemberg army to
+give way; but the rearguard kept up a tremendous artillery fire, and
+moved back very slowly. On the 12th, however, the Germans retired more
+hurriedly.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 846px;">
+<img src="images/p2167.jpg" width="846" height="526" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Germans in Retreat. So hurried was their march
+towards the Aisne that at certain times it "had the appearance of a rout."<br />
+
+<i>From the drawing by Dudley Tennant.</i></h4>
+
+<p>To the right of the 4th French Army were the 3rd and 2nd French Armies,
+opposing those of the Crown Prince and the Bavarians. The left of the
+Crown Prince's army was in touch with the outer forts of Verdun, and was
+attacking Fort Troyon, the first of the forts along the heights of the
+Meuse between Verdun and Toul. The little garrison was in dire straits,
+and was about to surrender when the French movement which I am about to
+describe began.</p>
+
+<p>General Joffre sent orders that the French 3rd and 2nd Armies were to
+move to the west against the Germans operating between the Upper Meuse
+and the Upper Aisne. The orders were carried out, and the French
+artillery won a great success. No less than eleven batteries of the
+Germans were destroyed. There was fiercer fighting on the 10th; but the
+French made progress, and on the 11th advanced still farther. A wedge
+had been thrust in between the Crown Prince and the Bavarians, and the
+Crown Prince was bound to retreat. This meant the salvation of Fort
+Troyon. It had been bombarded for five days. Most of its guns were out
+of action, and the forty-four survivors of the garrison were huddled in
+the bomb-proof shelters of the central works, when suddenly the German
+guns ceased firing and French cheering was heard. The fort was saved at
+the very moment when all hope seemed to have vanished.</p>
+
+<p>Before I conclude the story of the battle of the Marne I must say
+something about the 2nd French Army, which was facing the Bavarian army
+in Lorraine. The French army was drawn up across a gap in the Vosges
+Mountains known as the Gap of Nancy,<a name="FNanchor_111_111" id="FNanchor_111_111"></a><a href="#Footnote_111_111" class="fnanchor">[111]</a> and its object was to hold
+back the Bavarians, so that they could not attack the right flank of the
+Allies. A second French force was now moved into Lorraine, and it took
+up a position to the south-east of the army holding the Gap. The
+commander of the 2nd Army erected very strong field works on the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
+heights in front of Nancy, and from the 23rd of August onwards gallantly
+held his own. On the 6th September the fiercest of fighting began. The
+Kaiser himself came into the field, and by his presence and his speeches
+urged on the Bavarians to a desperate assault. For three days the battle
+raged without ceasing. The Bavarian troops were thought to be second to
+none in the German army, and their White Cuirassiers were amongst the
+flower of German cavalry. On the 7th the Kaiser took up a position on a
+neighbouring hill, and watched the attack which was to overwhelm the
+French. He had made ready to enter Nancy in triumph that evening.</p>
+
+<p>Picture him on the hill, in his long gray cloak and silver helmet,
+peering through his field-glasses into the valley, and confidently
+expecting to see his Bavarians drive the French before them. He sees the
+White Cuirassiers charge, and, as the brave men cheer and gallant horses
+thunder towards the enemy, he feels that nothing can resist them. To his
+dismay, they are hurled back with great slaughter, and a miserable
+remnant alone remains. Then the pitiless French guns begin to speak, and
+he sees his infantry mowed down like wheat before the reaper's sickle.
+He looks for victory; he sees defeat. Now the French begin to attack,
+and his Bavarians give way before their fierce onset. The time has come
+for him to seek safety in flight. A strange fatality seems to accompany
+him. Wherever he appears and commands in person, there you may look for
+disaster&mdash;whether in France or in Poland. He is a melancholy figure,
+flitting from East to West, feverishly inciting his armies to die for
+the Fatherland; dreaming great dreams of world conquest which can never
+be realized.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"Such," says the French official account, "was the seven days' battle in
+which more than two millions of men were engaged. Each army gained
+ground step by step&mdash;opening the road to its neighbour, supported at
+once by it, taking in flank the adversary which the day before it had
+attacked in front&mdash;the efforts of the one fitting in closely with those
+of the other.</p>
+
+<p>"To give this victory all its meaning, it is necessary to add that it
+was gained by troops who for two weeks had been retreating, and who,
+when the order to attack was given, were found to be as ardent as on the
+first day. These troops had to meet the whole German army, and from the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
+time they marched forward they never fell back again. In spite of the
+fatigue of our men, in spite of the power of the German heavy artillery,
+we took colours, guns, Maxims, shells, more than a million of
+cartridges, and thousands of prisoners. A German corps lost almost the
+whole of its artillery, which, from information brought by our airmen,
+was destroyed by our guns."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The battles of the Marne marked the turning-point in the campaign; the
+torrent of German advance had not only been stayed, but driven back.
+"The day of Sedan," 1st September, saw the German armies flushed with
+success, and confident of victory as rapid and complete as that of 1870.
+Nine days later their hopes were shattered: they were retreating
+northwards at full speed. Von Kluck's error of judgment, the fiery zeal
+of the British and French, General Foch's brilliant victory in the
+centre, and the wonderful working together of the Allied armies had
+wrought the miracle.</p>
+
+<p>The retreat of the Germans was very skilfully conducted, and though they
+lost many men, guns, and wagons, they were neither broken nor defeated,
+and their losses, when all was said and done, were small. Von Kluck fell
+back thirty-five miles during the last two days of the battle, and the
+German centre cannot have retired less than fifty miles. In its way the
+retreat was as famous as that of the British from Mons.</p>
+
+<p>The successes of the Allies filled them with a newborn confidence. They
+had taken the measure of the enemy; they knew their own strength, and
+were now sure that they were more than a match for the enemy. Given
+anything like equal numbers, they had no fear of the future.</p>
+
+<p>Undoubtedly the Germans had by this time come to respect the British
+army. Ever since the days of Bismarck it had been the custom in Germany
+to regard our brave little army with scorn and contempt. When some one
+suggested to Bismarck that it might be landed in Germany, he remarked,
+"If it does, I shall ring for the police and have it locked up." Von
+Kluck believed that he had pierced the feeble British lion to the heart,
+and then vaingloriously thrust his head between its jaws. To his dismay,
+they met with a deadly snap, and only a quick withdrawal saved him from
+destruction.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hile the British and French were retreating from Belgium to the Seine,
+they were passing through country which had been untrodden by the foot
+of the enemy. Now that they were pushing him back on his tracks they saw
+at every stage the awful destruction which he had wrought. They found
+country houses burned and looted, smiling gardens and orchards trampled
+into mud, farms and villages laid waste, humble cottages in ruin. They
+saw towns riddled with shot and shell, churches and public buildings
+with broken, tottering walls, and houses stripped of all their valuable
+contents. From townsfolk and villagers alike, the Allies heard tales of
+shame and horror, and as they heard them a fierce anger was kindled in
+their hearts against the cruel and ruthless foe who had done such wicked
+and senseless deeds.</p>
+
+<p>An officer of the Salvation Army tells us how the pretty town of Senlis
+fared at the hands of the Huns. When the Germans had been driven out of
+the town the Salvation Army officers entered it. They found the railway
+station gone, and scarcely a house along the whole line of march fit for
+habitation. Yet, in the middle of wrecked and ruined homes, they
+sometimes came across a house which had been untouched. On such houses
+was written in chalk, "Spare these people; they are good."</p>
+
+<p>Here is the story of Jean Bauer, keeper of the prison at Senlis. He was
+an Alsatian, and had been forced to serve in the hated German army.
+After his time was up he left Alsace for France, and chanced to visit
+Senlis. The town pleased him, and he remained in it. After a time he was
+placed in charge of the prison. It was a small lock-up, just a square
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>
+brick building, with a large garden all round, in which he grew
+cabbages. He was a kindly man, and the few prisoners who came into his
+hands did not find their lot very hard.</p>
+
+<p>Then suddenly came the war. One morning Senlis was filled with the
+blue-coated, red-trousered soldiers of France. An hour or two later they
+had gone, marching northwards. Some days passed, and they returned,
+hurrying southwards, weary and worn, with ragged, soiled uniforms, some
+bleeding and bruised, but none dismayed. Then there was a lull, and
+breathless townsmen came hurrying to the mayor with the terrible news
+that the Germans were coming! The mayor and the cur&eacute; bade the people be
+calm, and do nothing to resist or hamper the enemy. They listened to his
+words, and gave up their hidden guns. Soon afterwards sixty thousand
+Germans marched in, seized the mayor as a hostage, and for two days
+remained in the town, mingling with the people, playing with the
+children, and behaving themselves well.</p>
+
+<p>All this time there lay hidden in the attic of a house overlooking the
+main street six dusky sons of Algeria, soldiers of France, who had been
+trapped by the coming of the Germans. Their rifles were in their hands,
+and there was revenge in their hearts. There they lay, waiting for a
+chance to strike a blow against the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The chance soon came. The Germans paraded one morning, ready for their
+southward march. The mayor was released; the word was given, and the
+blue-gray legions tramped through the streets. As the rear of the long
+columns passed the Algerians in the garret aimed their rifles and fired.
+Six loud reports were heard, followed by two shrieks of pain and two
+heavy thuds on the cobbled road below.</p>
+
+<p>"Halt!" The Germans turn and re-enter the town. The mayor is led out and
+shot; parties are told off to fire the place; petrol bombs are thrown
+into the houses; the railway station is destroyed; fierce flames spring
+up, and the smoke of burning homes rises to heaven. In a mile and a half
+of streets only three small cottages are spared.</p>
+
+<p>Jean Bauer at the prison sees the flames approaching. He shuts himself
+in and waits. Nearer and nearer come the roar of the fire and the hoarse
+shouts of those who are destroying the place. Suddenly, as he begins to
+think that the prison will be spared, crash!&mdash;a bomb bursts through the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
+roof. Bricks and beams fall about him, and a cloud of dust arises. He
+is pinned beneath the d&eacute;bris, and cannot move. He shouts; no one hears.
+For a day and a night he lies amidst the ruins. At last his feeble voice
+is heard, and kindly hands tear away the bricks and beams, and rescue
+him. A few days' care, and he is well again. But Senlis is a wilderness
+of desolation. It can never be the same again.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The town of Meaux, on the Marne, was also in German hands for a time.
+Meaux is a very interesting city, with a cathedral dating from the
+twelfth century. In 1681 a very celebrated man, named Bossuet,<a name="FNanchor_112_112" id="FNanchor_112_112"></a><a href="#Footnote_112_112" class="fnanchor">[112]</a>
+became bishop of Meaux. He was one of the most eloquent men who ever
+lived, and fully deserved to be called "the golden-mouthed." Not only
+was he the first of French orators and one of the greatest masters of
+French prose, but he was brave and fearless as well, and strove
+earnestly to make men appreciate the littleness of earthly greatness and
+the greatness of heavenly joy.</p>
+
+<p>When the Germans entered Meaux they found that the bishop was a man
+after Bossuet's likeness. The mayor and the chief officials had left the
+city, but the bishop remained. He was entreated to fly, but he replied,
+"My duty is here. I do not think the enemy will hurt me; but if they do,
+God's will be done. I cannot leave my cathedral or those of my flock who
+remain." The brave bishop met the German general, and obtained a promise
+from him that the invaders would behave well. They did so. Meaux owes
+its preservation to the good bishop.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 778px;">
+<img src="images/p222.jpg" width="778" height="490" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The City of Meaux after the German Retreat.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Sport and General.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Another little town which the Germans held until they were driven
+northward towards the Aisne was Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry,<a name="FNanchor_113_113" id="FNanchor_113_113"></a><a href="#Footnote_113_113" class="fnanchor">[113]</a> round which there
+was much fierce fighting during the Allied advance. Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
+stands on the right bank of the Marne, and, prior to the war, was a
+bright, cheerful place. Near the bridge is a statue to La Fontaine,<a name="FNanchor_114_114" id="FNanchor_114_114"></a><a href="#Footnote_114_114" class="fnanchor">[114]</a>
+the great writer of fables which must be familiar to many of you. Close
+by the ruined castle, which is reached by a flight of 102 steps, is the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
+house in which he lived. It now contains a library and small museum.</p>
+
+<p>In his book of Fables La Fontaine says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"These fables are much more than they appear&mdash;</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;The simplest animals are teachers here.</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;The bare dull moral weariness soon brings;</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;The story serves to give it life and wings."</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>As La Fontaine made animals teachers of wisdom to men, it is very
+appropriate that the three chief hotels in his native town should be
+"The Elephant," "The Giraffe," and "The Swan." The latter hotel was
+battered to pieces by French shells when the Allies crossed the river;
+but the owner was so proud of his countrymen's prowess in gunnery that
+he quite forgot to bemoan his loss. When he was showing his house to a
+stranger after the battle, he said, "See how splendidly true our
+gunners' aim was!"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>During the retreat a body of weary Germans halted for rest in a little
+town, and noticed that the church clock had stopped. Perhaps you know
+that signals can be made by moving the hands of a clock in various ways.
+When the Germans saw that the clock had stopped, they felt sure that
+somebody was signalling to the French that they were in the town. They
+therefore sent for the cur&eacute;, and ordered him to set the clock going
+again. Along with two choir boys, he ascended the tower and wound up the
+clock, which immediately began to strike. The suspicious Germans
+believed that this was another trick, so they arrested the cur&eacute; and the
+boys, and told them that they would be shot next morning. The old priest
+was overwhelmed with grief, for he felt that he would be the means of
+cutting short two young lives. He suffered agonies of remorse during the
+night. Early next morning the Allies rushed into the town, and the
+Germans fled. The cur&eacute; and the boys waited long for the coming of their
+gaolers. At last the old priest opened the door of the prison, and
+stepped out into the sunshine for the purpose of making a last appeal to
+the Germans to spare the lives of the boys. Imagine his surprise and
+relief when he saw the familiar blue and red uniforms of French
+soldiers, and learnt that the Germans had departed for good and all.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2>
+
+<h3>MORE STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">H</span>ere is the story of a plucky boy who did his country good service in
+Lorraine. Look at the map on page <a href="#Page_129">130</a>, and find Metz. At this town the
+river Seille,<a name="FNanchor_115_115" id="FNanchor_115_115"></a><a href="#Footnote_115_115" class="fnanchor">[115]</a> which forms part of the boundary between France and
+Germany, joins the Moselle. In August 1914 French troops arrived at a
+village on the French side of the Seille, and the captain asked the
+people if they had seen any Germans. "Yes," was the reply; "they have
+been here, but our soldiers from Nancy have driven them back across the
+river." "Are the Germans there now?" inquired the captain; but no one
+knew. All that he could learn was that no German had been seen for
+several days. "I must be quite sure as to their whereabouts," said the
+captain, "before I cross the river. How can I manage it?" A boy of
+twelve who stood amongst the villagers came forward, and, saluting the
+captain, said, "I can find out for you, sir, if you will let me." "You!"
+said the captain, greatly astonished. "Yes, sir," replied the boy. "I
+know all the country round here very well. My grandmother lives on the
+other side of the river, and I know a roundabout way to get to her
+house." "If the 'Boches'<a name="FNanchor_116_116" id="FNanchor_116_116"></a><a href="#Footnote_116_116" class="fnanchor">[116]</a> catch you, they will kill you," said the
+captain. "I know that," returned the boy, "but I am not afraid."</p>
+
+<p>The lad seemed very anxious to undertake the mission, so the captain
+asked the villagers what they knew of him. One and all assured him that
+the boy was very plucky, and could be depended upon. "Off with you,
+then," said the captain, and away went the boy on his perilous errand.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
+He crawled on all fours across a wooden bridge that spanned the stream,
+and was soon lost to sight. Hours went by, and the villagers began to
+think that he would never return. At last, however, they saw him
+crossing the bridge once more.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 700px;">
+<img src="images/p226.jpg" width="700" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>French Detachment retaking a Village.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Illustrated London News.</i></h4>
+
+<p>He went up to the captain, saluted him, and made his report. While
+passing through a wood on the other side of the river he had been
+captured by a couple of Uhlans, who shut him up in a hayloft, and said
+they would shoot him if any French appeared. The coming of the French
+would be a proof that he had been scouting for them. After lying quietly
+in the hayloft for some time, he managed to get out of a little window,
+and crawl through the enemy lines without being seen. Once clear of the
+Germans, he took to his heels and ran towards home. He was able to give
+the captain a rough idea of how many Germans there were on the other
+side of the river, and how they were placed. The captain thanked him
+warmly, and said, "You are an honour to France." "Perhaps," said the
+youngster, shaking his head; "but all the same I didn't manage to call
+on granny!"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>As the Germans retreated northward after the Battle of the Marne, they
+looted the villages through which they passed, and shot down many
+unarmed peasants. In a cottage lay a bedridden woman, who was tended by
+her ten-year-old daughter, Henriette. Most of the neighbours had fled,
+but it was impossible to move Henriette's mother. "When they see how ill
+she is," said the little girl, "they will pity her, and do us no harm."
+The child little knew the temper of the Huns. A Bavarian sergeant broke
+open the door and demanded money. He threw the poor woman off the bed,
+and searched her mattress in vain. "Well," said he, "if you have no
+money, there is wine in your cellar, and we will have that." Forthwith
+he and seven of his men descended to the cellar, where they drank from a
+cask of wine till they were hopelessly drunk. When Henriette saw this,
+she quietly closed the trap-door leading into the cellar, and piled all
+the heavy things in the room on top of it. Before long French soldiers
+appeared in the village. Henriette beckoned to them, and, pointing to
+the trap-door, said, "The cellar is full of Germans, all drunk." The
+furniture was removed, and the drunken Bavarians were hauled out.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+<p>Now I must explain that Henriette's father had been seized by the
+Germans a few days before, and had been carried off to a neighbouring
+town as a hostage. As the French officer was marching off with the
+prisoners whom he had captured in the cellar, Henriette said to him,
+"Tell the Germans that if they will bring my father back I will ask you
+not to shoot them." The officer told the Germans what Henriette had
+said, and the least drunken of them offered to go to the neighbouring
+town and bring the father back safely. In a few hours he returned,
+bringing Henriette's father with him. Great was the child's joy at
+seeing her father free once more, and great was his pride in his clever
+little daughter.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I have already told you the story of the gallant defence which Fort
+Troyon made. When the Crown Prince's army was marching towards the fort,
+an advance party seized a village close to the outer works, and forbade
+the villagers to leave their houses under pain of death. The advance
+guard hoped to be able to reach the fort without being seen, and to
+capture it by surprise. A little girl of twelve years of age, named
+Louise Haumont, overheard her parents say that if the commander of the
+fort could be warned that the Germans were coming, he might be able to
+save it from capture. Watching her opportunity, she slipped out of the
+house, crept through the cornfields, and, after a weary journey, reached
+the fort unnoticed by the enemy. A sentry saw her, and challenged her,
+and was much surprised when he learnt that she had a message for the
+commander. She was taken to him, and you may be sure that he was very
+grateful for her timely warning. Without delay he mustered his men,
+attacked the village, and drove off the advance guard. Louise was
+greeted by soldiers and friends alike as a heroine, and I am sure you
+will agree that she deserved the highest praise that could be given to
+her.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Let me tell you a story of a French boy's splendid courage during the
+time when the 6th Army was fighting its way through the villages to the
+west of the Ourcq, in order to attack von Kluck's rearguard. As a French
+regiment was passing through one of these villages, a boy named Andr&eacute;
+went up to the colonel, and begged hard to be allowed to join the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
+soldiers. He was refused; but being a lad of very determined character,
+he waited until the soldiers were some distance on their way, and then
+stealthily followed them. When he reached them they told him to go back;
+but he took no notice, and remained with them, making himself useful in
+all sorts of ways. Two or three days later the colonel saw him, and said
+to a sergeant, "Who is this boy marching along with us?" "He is a fine,
+soldierly lad," replied the sergeant; "he does odd jobs for the men, and
+we find him very obliging and useful. We <i>must</i> keep him. We cannot send
+him back now; the distance is too great." So Andr&eacute;, to his joy, was
+allowed to remain.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later the regiment attacked the Germans. Shot and shell fell
+thickly, but the boy did not flinch. Suddenly he saw his friend the
+sergeant fall wounded. Off dashed Andr&eacute;. He reached the wounded man,
+helped him to his feet, and supported him as he struggled to the rear.
+Soon an ambulance came by, and the sergeant was carried off to hospital.
+Andr&eacute; was a happy boy that night; he had paid his debt of gratitude to
+the man who had befriended him.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>When the Germans reached Soissons, on the Aisne, in the course of their
+retreat, they found that the mayor had left the place, and that there
+was no person of authority with whom they could make arrangements. A
+certain Madame Macherez,<a name="FNanchor_117_117" id="FNanchor_117_117"></a><a href="#Footnote_117_117" class="fnanchor">[117]</a> the widow of a former senator of
+France,<a name="FNanchor_118_118" id="FNanchor_118_118"></a><a href="#Footnote_118_118" class="fnanchor">[118]</a> presented herself, and declared herself ready to take over
+the government of the town. The German commander agreed, and Madame
+Macherez managed everything admirably for twelve days, though she had
+hard work to satisfy the invaders. They demanded 200,000 lbs. of food
+and flour and 40,000 lbs. of tobacco, and informed her that if she did
+not supply them with these goods at once they would burn the town to the
+ground. Madame told them quite plainly that they might just as well ask
+for the sun and the moon, but she promised to give them all the
+provisions that she could collect. The Germans accepted her offer, and,
+thanks to her courage and energy, Soissons was not then destroyed. A
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+few days later she had the joy of seeing the arrogant Germans leave the
+town in haste, with the British hard on their heels. She continued to
+act as mayor, and during the bombardment of the place, which the Germans
+began almost immediately, devoted herself to Red Cross work. Three times
+her house was hit by German shells. One shell fell while she was at
+lunch, and destroyed a wing of her house. Madame laid down her napkin
+and went to see what had happened. "There is not much damage done," she
+said, and then she calmly sat down and finished her meal. Soissons, you
+may be sure, was very proud of its cool, courageous lady mayoress.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A French boy, Gustave by name, went through several battles with the
+French troops, and was wounded. He wrote an account of his adventures,
+from which the following extract is taken:&mdash;"I had been at the advanced
+posts for two days when it occurred to me to climb into the loft of a
+house in order to observe the enemy's positions. Inside the house I
+discovered the kits and rifles of German soldiers. I had to get out of
+the house, but I was unable to reopen the door. I therefore broke the
+window, and thus escaped. Then I loaded my rifle, fixed my bayonet, and
+got in again. Nobody downstairs. Went upstairs, and discovered&mdash;guess
+what? Seven 'Boches' sound asleep.</p>
+
+<p>"I fired my rifle. The German soldiers woke up and looked at each other,
+wondering what had happened. Hidden behind some straw, I observed them.
+Then I rushed at them. They did not resist, but threw up their hands.</p>
+
+<p>"'Get down,' says I to them; and they went downstairs, quite happy to
+surrender. I handed them over to my comrades."</p>
+
+<p>When the boy's officers heard of the exploit they praised him warmly,
+and the general invited him to his table.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A young French cyclist named Berger took part in the Battle of the
+Marne. He saw his colonel lying wounded, and started to carry him to the
+rear. A British officer who lay near by called out that he was thirsty.
+Berger shouted encouraging words to him, and promised to return in a few
+minutes. He carried his colonel into safety, and then came back to the
+wounded Briton with food and a flask of wine. Bullets from rifles and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
+machine guns were whistling about him, but he heeded them not. He was
+just raising the British officer's head when a bullet struck him in the
+hand. Though he was suffering great pain, he put the flask to the
+wounded man's lips; but at that moment he was struck by a second bullet,
+which entered his back. The two men lay on the sodden field until dawn,
+when the battle began again. Soon they saw the Germans advancing, and a
+body of Uhlans rode by. Berger hailed the officer, and begged him for
+something to drink. The officer dismounted, gave them drink from his own
+water-bottle, saluted them, and went on his way. For almost the whole
+day the two wounded men lay on the wet, miry ground, while the battle
+raged around them. The Briton by this time was almost unconscious. In
+spite of his own wounds, Berger partly dragged, partly pushed his
+fellow-sufferer along until they reached the Allied lines, where by
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+good luck they fell in with stretcher-bearers, who conveyed them both to
+hospital. As the British officer was being placed on the stretcher he
+grasped the young Frenchman's hand, and said, "If I live through this I
+will do my best to get you the V.C. If ever a man deserved it, you do."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p231.jpg" width="536" height="434" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>At M&eacute;ry-sur-Marne a French Red Cross train was blown up
+by the Germans just as it was crossing the river with its load of
+wounded. This picture shows the scene after the explosion.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo,
+Sport and General</i>.</h4>
+
+<p>A French newspaper says that after the Battle of the Marne, when the
+Germans were in full retreat, one of the imperial princes was severely
+wounded. He was at once conveyed to Epernay,<a name="FNanchor_119_119" id="FNanchor_119_119"></a><a href="#Footnote_119_119" class="fnanchor">[119]</a> which was still held
+by a few German troops. No German surgeon could be found, so a staff
+officer went to a French surgeon who resided in the town and offered him
+a large fee if he would attend the prince. "My fee," said the doctor,
+"is exactly the war levy which you have demanded from my native
+city&mdash;175,000 francs."<a name="FNanchor_120_120" id="FNanchor_120_120"></a><a href="#Footnote_120_120" class="fnanchor">[120]</a> The case was urgent, and the Germans had to
+agree to pay the doctor's fee. The money was handed over the same
+evening.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now I must tell you a few stories relating the adventures of our own
+countrymen during the advance to the Marne. Here is an account of
+fighting on the river, from the pen of Sapper Gilhooly of the Royal
+Engineers: "Last week on the Marne we spent two days on a long mine<a name="FNanchor_121_121" id="FNanchor_121_121"></a><a href="#Footnote_121_121" class="fnanchor">[121]</a>
+out towards the German lines, and just as we were getting to the close
+of our job we heard pickaxes going as fast and hard as you like, and
+then the wall of clay before us gave way, showing a party of Germans at
+the same game! You never saw men more astonished in your life. 'Fancy
+meeting you!' was written all over their faces, and they hadn't
+recovered from their shock when we pounced upon them. One German was
+just caught in time with a fuse, which he was going to apply, with the
+mad idea of blowing us all up! One of his mates was the first to rush on
+him. They weren't having any 'death or glory,' and I don't blame them.
+There's a Highlander beside me who is rigged out in the boots of a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>
+Belgian infantryman killed at Mons, the red trousers of a Frenchman,
+the khaki tunic of a Guardsman, and the glengarry cap of his own corps.
+When he wants to look particularly smart he wears a German cavalryman's
+cloak. The other day we came on a party of the enemy washing their
+shirts in a river, and we were on them so fast that they had to fly,
+leaving shirts and everything else behind. One chap, however, managed to
+collar his braces!"</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The splendid devotion to duty of our doctors on the battlefield is well
+illustrated in the following letter, which was written by a fellow
+officer to the brother of Dr. J. O'Connell, of the Highland Light
+Infantry:&mdash;"I am only too pleased to tell you anything I can about your
+brother, as he was one of us, and in all your life you can never have a
+prouder boast than that you were his brother. Our first show was near
+Mons, where he at once came into notice. He personally went into the
+trench, and helped to carry out the wounded, though the German guns had
+the range to a T, and were raining shells on it. Then they turned on to
+his cottage, which was fixed up as a dressing-station, and knocked it to
+bits. He carried every one out, not losing a single man. During the
+retreat your brother had the worst of it, because he had to do with the
+footsore and the sick, who could not keep up, so he was usually behind
+the rearguard; but he always kept cheery when cheerfulness was worth far
+more than pluck.</p>
+
+<p>"Then on the advance up to the Marne, when it was pitch dark and pelting
+rain, and three thousand Germans lay dead or wounded on the field, your
+brother insisted on staying out there to do what he could for the enemy.
+It was almost certain death, but he remained there among them for six
+hours. Next day I lost forty-one men before noon. Your brother, without
+waiting for food or sleep, came up to look after them, and stayed there
+for two days while we hung on. When I myself was being tied up I
+mentioned to your brother that a young subaltern was dying on the field.
+He at once insisted on going to see if he could do anything for him,
+although it was within close range of a well-constructed German trench,
+and while doing this he was killed by a rifle bullet through the head."</p>
+
+<p>What a glorious death to die! Dr. O'Connell had no thought for himself;
+he freely gave his life to bring succour and comfort to the wounded and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
+dying. There is no higher and nobler heroism than this. "O selfless man
+and stainless gentleman!"</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p234.jpg" width="293" height="421" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>"Baby Rose" such is the nickname bestowed on the smallest
+of French soldiers, who appears above. He is a great favourite with the
+Zouaves, one of whom is seen accompanying him.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Daily Mirror</i></h4>
+
+<p>A bold adventure during the advance to the Marne is thus described by a
+major of the Royal Field Artillery:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"At last we came to the edge of the wood, and in front of us, about two
+hundred yards away, was a little cup-shaped copse, and the enemy's
+trenches with machine guns a little farther on. I felt sure this wood
+was full of Germans, as I had seen them go in earlier. I started to
+gallop for it, and the others followed. Suddenly about fifty Germans
+bolted out firing at us. I loosed off my revolver as fast as I could,
+and &mdash;&mdash; loosed off his rifle from the saddle. They must have thought we
+were a regiment of cavalry, for, except a few, they suddenly yelled and
+bolted. I stopped and dismounted my lot to fire at them to make sure
+they didn't change their minds. I held the horses. I then suddenly saw
+there were more men in the copse, so I mounted the party and galloped at
+it, yelling, with my revolver held out.</p>
+
+<p>"As we came to it I saw it was full of Germans, so I yelled 'Hands up,'
+and pointed the revolver at them. They all chucked down their rifles and
+put their hands up. Three officers and over forty men to ten of us with
+six rifles and a revolver. I herded them away from their rifles and
+handed them over to the Welsh Regiment behind us. I tore on with the
+trumpeter and the sergeant-major to the machine guns. At that moment the
+enemy's shrapnel and our own howitzers, thinking we were hostile
+cavalry, opened fire on us. We couldn't move the beastly things, and it
+was too hot altogether, so we galloped back to the cup-shaped wood, and
+they hailed shrapnel on us there. I waited for a lull, and mounted all
+my lot behind the bushes and made them sprint to the woods where the
+Welsh company was. There I got two fellows to help. We ran up to the
+Maxims, and took out the breech mechanism of both and one of the belts,
+and carried away one whole Maxim. We couldn't manage the other. The
+Welsh asked what cavalry we were. I told them we were the staff of the
+---- Battery and they cheered us, but said we were mad. The funniest
+thing was the little trumpeter, who swept a German's helmet off his head
+and waved it in the air, shouting, 'I've got it,' wild with excitement.
+He is an extraordinarily brave boy."</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE AISNE VALLEY.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n Chapter XVII, I described the undulating chalk plateau known as the
+Heights of Champagne. You will remember that this ground was chosen by
+the French in 1874 as the best place for making a stand against an
+invader marching on Paris. The rapid advance of the Germans prevented
+the French from rallying on these heights, and forced them to withdraw
+much farther south before they were able to form their line and advance.
+During the Battles of the Marne, you will remember, they drove the enemy
+northwards from 6th to 11th September 1914. Bad weather caused them to
+slacken the pursuit on the 12th, and the Germans were enabled to cross
+the Aisne unmolested. While their rearguards were fighting stubbornly,
+the main bodies were strongly entrenching themselves on the heights
+north of the river.</p>
+
+<p>It was not the first time that a German army had held this position.
+When Marshal Bl&uuml;cher was fighting in France at the end of February 1814,
+he was driven on to this plateau by Napoleon. So greatly was the ground
+in his favour that Napoleon was unable to dislodge him. German generals
+are great students of geography, and they were fully aware that the
+heights beyond the Aisne afforded them a very strong defensive position
+against an enemy moving from the south. When, therefore, they were
+obliged to retreat, they made for this high ground, where they dug deep
+trenches and gun-pits, and created a great fortified zone according to a
+plan long previously prepared. Many people said that the trenches had
+been dug before the Germans crossed the Marne, but the French Government
+tells us that there is no foundation for this statement.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
+<p>Before I describe the fierce fighting on the banks of the Aisne I must
+try to give you some idea of the surrounding country. The Aisne runs
+from east to west across North France through a wide grassy valley. It
+is a sluggish stream, 170 feet broad, 15 feet deep in the middle, and
+not unlike the English river Trent in character. All along its valley
+are villages, farmhouses, unfenced fields, and poplar-lined roads, with
+here and there a little town.</p>
+
+<p>The most important place in the valley is Soissons, which has already
+been mentioned in these pages. It is a very ancient town, with a history
+that goes back to the days before C&aelig;sar conquered Gaul. When, in later
+times, the Franks set up a kingdom to the west of the Rhine, Soissons
+became its capital. Few places have had so martial a history and have
+been so often besieged. In 1870 the Germans bombarded the town for three
+days before they were able to capture it. Prior to the war it was a
+quiet country place, with a considerable trade in grain and haricot
+beans. It boasted a beautiful cathedral, three fine old abbeys, and a
+town hall containing a large library. One of the abbeys sheltered Thomas
+&agrave; Becket for some time in the year 1170.</p>
+
+<p>Looking across the valley from Soissons, we see the hills rising up from
+the river like a wall. They vary in height, from 200 feet in the west
+near Compi&egrave;gne to 450 feet in the east near Craonne.<a name="FNanchor_122_122" id="FNanchor_122_122"></a><a href="#Footnote_122_122" class="fnanchor">[122]</a> A nearer view
+of these hills shows us many spurs dipping down sharply into the vale,
+and between them steep-sided ravines and deep, narrow water-courses
+carved out by the short and rapid brooks. All the way from Compi&egrave;gne to
+Craonne the wall of heights continues, with sometimes a bolder spur and
+sometimes a deeper ravine. In many of the valleys there are quarries
+which have been worked for centuries. The hollows from which the stone
+has been taken, the underground passages, and the heaps of refuse afford
+abundance of ready-made cover. The top of the plateau cannot be seen
+from the valley, nor from the high ground on the southern bank of the
+river, owing to the woods, which dip over the edges of the slopes and
+descend towards the stream. The lower slopes are, for the most part,
+steep and grassy, with enclosed coppices here and there. As you know,
+the plateau stretches northwards to La F&egrave;re and Laon, where it drops
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
+steeply to the plains of north-eastern France. The villages on the
+plateau are strongly built of stone.</p>
+
+<p>On the high ground, at an average distance of two miles from the stream,
+the Germans had dug their trenches. The position was perfect. It could
+not be seen from the high ground on the south side of the river, and it
+commanded the bridges crossing the stream and most of the roads leading
+to them. Along the crest runs a good highway, known as the "Route des
+Dames"&mdash;that is, the Ladies' Road; by means of this road the Germans
+were able to supply their line readily with food and ammunition. At the
+eastern end of the heights the ground falls away behind the road, and
+forms a deep hollow running parallel with it, thus providing excellent
+cover for the supports of the troops holding the crest.</p>
+
+<p>Von Kluck occupied the western section of the position, from the forest
+of Compi&egrave;gne to the large village of Craonne. Beyond that place, at the
+old ferry of Berry-au-Bac, the German line crossed the river and
+continued along a flat ridge parallel with the right bank of the
+Suippe,<a name="FNanchor_123_123" id="FNanchor_123_123"></a><a href="#Footnote_123_123" class="fnanchor">[123]</a> a tributary of the Aisne. This ridge, which was held by von
+Buelow's command, curves to the south-east, and runs about fifteen miles
+east of the city of Rheims. No better position for artillery could be
+desired than the crest of the ridge, for the slope in front of it is
+quite open and bare, and it can be swept by the guns in all its breadth.
+In some respects this position was stronger than the line of heights,
+for there was little or no cover for troops advancing upon it. Still
+farther to the east the German line rested on the Argonne, where the
+army of the Crown Prince was operating. Along this front, which was more
+than a hundred miles in length, two million men were now to engage.</p>
+
+<p>Von Kluck was opposed by the 5th and 6th French Armies and the British
+army. The 6th French Army lay between Soissons and the Oise. Its left
+wing was extended along the Oise, in case von Kluck should attempt, as
+of old, to envelop the Allies' left. The British army lay east of
+Soissons, with a front of about fifteen miles. On the right of the
+British army was the 5th French Army. Von Buelow, who at this time also
+commanded the Saxon army, held the ground to the east of von Kluck, and
+opposed to him was the 9th French Army, under General Foch. The Duke of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>
+W&uuml;rtemberg and the Crown Prince continued the German line to the
+Argonne, and against them were arrayed the 4th and 3rd French Armies.
+The French who were opposed to the Crown Prince at once set to work
+entrenching themselves in a semicircle about the fortress of Verdun.
+They dug their trenches sufficiently far away from the forts to prevent
+the German howitzers from dropping shells on them. The first of two
+other French armies lay between the Meuse and the Moselle, while the 2nd
+Army held the Bavarians in Lorraine.</p>
+
+<p>Now let us look more closely at the section of the Aisne which the
+British were to attack. A study of the map on page <a href="#Page_239">240</a> will show you
+what a heavy task was assigned to our army. Along some parts of the
+front our soldiers could not approach the river at all, because there
+were broad stretches of open ground which could be swept by the enemy's
+long-range artillery. Clumps of wood, farmhouses, and sunken roads
+afforded the only cover there was.</p>
+
+<p>It was on Saturday, 12th September 1914, that the enemy was discovered
+holding the strong position which I have described. At Soissons they
+were in possession of both sides of the river, and they also held an
+entrenched line on the hills to the north. There were eight road bridges
+and two railway bridges crossing the river within the British section,
+but all had been completely destroyed except one road bridge at Venizel
+which our engineers repaired. The first business of the British was to
+get a footing on the south bank, and then to construct bridges by which
+they could cross the river and attack the Germans on the heights. The
+longest battle of history was about to begin.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 705px;">
+<img src="images/p240.jpg" width="705" height="460" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>British Position on September 12, on the Eve of the Battle of the Aisne.</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CROSSING OF THE AISNE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">O</span>n Saturday, September 12, 1914, the 6th French Army managed to secure
+several good artillery positions on the south bank of the river, and all
+day long there was a long-range duel with the German guns on the other
+side. Our Third Army Corps, working from west to east, gained some high
+ground east of Soissons, and their guns now took part in the duel. Until
+near midnight the rival guns hurled shot and shell at each other, while
+German searchlights flashed their broad beams to and fro searching the
+Allied positions. During the night our Third Army Corps and the right of
+the 6th French Army managed to capture half of the town of Soissons.</p>
+
+<p>If you look at the picture-diagram on pages 248-9, you will notice that
+a little tributary, the Vesle, joins the main stream near Cond&eacute;. While
+the Third Corps was attacking Soissons our cavalry was busy driving the
+enemy out of the valley of the lower Vesle.<a name="FNanchor_124_124" id="FNanchor_124_124"></a><a href="#Footnote_124_124" class="fnanchor">[124]</a> Throughout the previous
+day (11th September) Allenby's men had been working through the woods
+and along the roads, clearing the ground, and preparing for the advance
+of the infantry. At Braisne,<a name="FNanchor_125_125" id="FNanchor_125_125"></a><a href="#Footnote_125_125" class="fnanchor">[125]</a> which stands on the Vesle, they found
+the Germans in force, holding the little town, the bridge, and the
+surrounding heights with infantry and machine guns. In the brisk fight
+which followed the Queen's Bays greatly distinguished themselves. About
+midday our cavalry won the town, and began driving the enemy to the
+north. Some hundreds of prisoners were captured, and the Germans
+retreated so hastily that they were obliged to throw a large amount of
+gun ammunition into the river. It could clearly be seen under two feet
+of water. By the evening of the 12th the valley of the Vesle was clear,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+and both the Second and First Corps were approaching the main stream.
+The Second Corps lay across the Vesle, with the First Corps to the east
+of it. The Allies were now ready to undertake the tremendous task of
+crossing the river Aisne.</p>
+
+<p>Sunday morning, 13th September, saw the great task begun, and the
+evening saw it successfully ended. As the Allies moved out towards the
+river the whole line of heights fronting them seemed to flash fire. From
+hundreds of German howitzers and field guns a storm of shot and shell
+raged along the south bank of the river, and from line after line of
+trenches hidden in the trees on the steep slopes sped a hurricane of
+bullets from machine guns and rifles. The bombardment was terrific; the
+whole valley appeared to throb as the shrapnel burst and the huge shells
+flew into fragments with a deafening roar. It seemed as though nothing
+could live in that zone of death. Nevertheless the Allies, crouching
+amid the bushes, doubling from one spot of shelter to another, moved
+swiftly forward in long, thin, skirmishing lines. Meanwhile British and
+French guns played upon the German trenches, and to some extent kept
+down the rifle and machine-gun fire.</p>
+
+<p>Already the Allied engineers were engaged on the most dangerous and
+difficult work known to war. The river was swollen with the recent heavy
+rains, and its muddy torrent roared along, bearing on its surface the
+wreckage of many broken bridges. Near Soissons the engineers tried to
+push pontoons across the stream. Calmly and coolly they constructed
+their bridges under a deadly fire, only to see them splintered to
+matchwood by the guns of the enemy. As they worked, German rifles and
+machine guns blazed at them from short range across the river, and the
+enemy, encouraged by his success, attempted to build bridges of his own.
+As, however, the first bridge section approached the stream, a British
+shell burst above it, and immediately the section and its bearers were
+no more. So fierce, however, was the fire of the enemy that our
+engineers had to give up trying to bridge the stream at this point. All
+attempts to silence the German batteries which were doing the mischief
+proved vain.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p243.jpg" width="366" height="500" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>German Sharpshooters on the Heights of the Aisne.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Farther west, however, the French, in the gray of the morning, threw two
+bridges across the river, and immediately infantry and guns of the 6th
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+Army swarmed across them. By the afternoon the French were fighting
+their way up the ravines on the other side. A little distance to the
+east of Soissons you will notice that the river forks, and in two
+channels flows round an island. At this point British engineers were
+also successful in throwing pontoons across the river, and the 11th
+British Brigade dashed across them, and began to dig themselves in on
+the other side.</p>
+
+<p>Smith-Dorrien's men, the Second Corps, were lying astride of the lower
+Vesle. As they advanced against the line of the Aisne they suffered
+heavy loss, especially on the left, where there was much open ground.
+Stubborn attempts were made to bridge the river opposite to the village
+of Missy, but they failed again and again. Nevertheless, by the
+afternoon rafts had been constructed, and these, laden with troops, were
+hauled to and fro across the stream. By this means two brigades gained
+the other side, and immediately lined out in the woods, where they
+fought for the rest of the day. Meanwhile Smith-Dorrien's 3rd Division
+was struggling hard to cross at Cond&eacute;.<a name="FNanchor_126_126" id="FNanchor_126_126"></a><a href="#Footnote_126_126" class="fnanchor">[126]</a> On the other side the
+Germans were lying in tiers of trenches on the steep slope, and some of
+them were sheltered behind the ramparts of an old French fort at Cond&eacute;.
+So fierce and continuous was their fire that our men failed to cross the
+river at this point. The Germans held Cond&eacute; all that day, and for many
+weeks after.</p>
+
+<p>Haig's division, on Smith-Dorrien's right, attacked the enemy along a
+front of about six miles. You will notice that they had to cross, first
+a canal, and then the river. The canal was easily bridged, but the flat
+ground between the canal and river was terribly swept by German fire,
+and here again it was found impossible at most points to construct
+pontoon bridges. The men, however, were got across by means of boats and
+rafts.</p>
+
+<p>Still farther east an iron road bridge had been blown up by the Germans;
+but they had not made a complete job of it, and one of the broken
+girders which remained above the water formed a kind of switchback
+across the stream. In the middle it was under water, and the muddy river
+swirled fiercely around it. The upstanding girder was discovered by one
+of our men, and immediately an attempt was made to get troops across it.
+Ropes were stretched from bank to bank, to give the men something to
+hold on by, and across this quivering plank of steel they made their
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+way in single file. At one point they were nearly up to their waists in
+water. Despite rifle and machine-gun fire, a small force crossed the
+river by this perilous path, and as it pushed forward the engineers were
+able to strengthen and enlarge the frail bridge for the passage of the
+remainder. The crossing of the river by means of this broken girder was
+one of the most stirring incidents yet recorded. (See Frontispiece.)</p>
+
+<p>It was on the right of the British line that the greatest success was
+achieved. At a place called Bourg (see map on page <a href="#Page_239">240</a>) a branch canal
+is carried across the river by means of a low aqueduct with a broad
+towing-path. By some happy chance the Germans had not destroyed this
+aqueduct, and were holding it with only a small force. When, however,
+the British cavalry prepared to cross by means of the towing-path,
+shrapnel and bullets were rained upon them. The horsemen, however,
+dashed across, and infantry followed hard behind them. Meanwhile the
+engineers were busy building a pontoon bridge by the side of the
+aqueduct, where they were sheltered from the enemy's fire. The rest of
+the 1st Division was got across by means of the pontoon bridge, and in
+the evening was partly entrenched two miles north of the river. The 5th
+French Army was by this time across the river too, and the Moroccans
+were covering the British flank.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A thousand deeds of cool and daring courage were done on that September
+morning. If you are to form an idea of what our men had to face, you
+must try to imagine them creeping nearer and nearer to the river through
+a deadly hail of shot and shell&mdash;the engineers working calmly on the
+bridges while marksmen hidden in the woods were picking them off, and
+the machine guns and artillery of the enemy were making havoc amongst
+them; the frail rafts, crowded with men, being hauled to and fro, and
+death taking its toll every passage; the infantry crawling forward yard
+by yard up the steep slopes, in spite of the fire from above, and all
+the while huge shells from the German howitzers hurling up fountains of
+water from the river or tearing vast holes in the ground. Sudden and
+hideous death faced our men every minute; yet they "stuck it" with
+bull-dog courage, and the river was crossed.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 730px;">
+<img src="images/p246.jpg" width="730" height="442" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>"He sat down in full view of the enemy, and poured a hail
+of bullets on the advancing Germans."<br />
+
+<i>From the picture by F. Gardiner.</i></h4>
+
+<p>One splendid deed of heroism must not be forgotten. Near Soissons, where
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+the howitzer fire of the Germans was fierce and continuous, 150 men of
+the West Kents, Black Watch, and Scottish Borderers were told off to
+guard a bridgehead. Suddenly the Germans in great force opened fire from
+the surrounding woods, and a dense column advanced at a run towards the
+bridge. The little British detachment checked them for a time, but at a
+heavy loss. A ring of dead lay around the machine gun which was holding
+back the German advance, and the crew being laid low it ceased to fire.
+At this fateful moment a big Highlander jumped up from cover, ran
+forward, seized the Maxim, swung it, tripod and all, across his
+shoulder, and ran with it to the bridgehead, where, all alone, he sat
+down in full view of the enemy, and poured a hail of bullets on the
+advancing Germans. Under this withering fire the column wavered and fled
+for cover to the fields on either side of the road. As the last of the
+enemy retired the brave Highlander fell forward on to his gun, riddled
+with thirty bullets. He had, however, like Horatius of old, saved the
+bridge, for just as he fell British reinforcements doubled up and put
+the final touches to the rout of the enemy.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>By the end of that Sunday evening only the 19th Brigade of the Third
+Corps, which was operating near Soissons, and some brigades of the
+Second Corps, lying more to the right, had failed to cross the stream.
+The bulk of the British had made the passage, and were now entrenched
+well up the slopes on the farther side. Never before in the history of
+the British army had so broad a river been so quickly crossed in the
+face of such a great and strongly-posted enemy. It was a remarkable feat
+of arms, and the credit was mainly due to the artillery and to the
+engineers. In the face of almost certain death, our sappers worked as
+calmly and coolly at their bridges as though engaged in peaceful
+manoeuvres at home.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 1134px;">
+<img src="images/p2489.jpg" width="1134" height="456" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Sermoise Spur&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;R. Vesle&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>By
+permission of the Illustrated London News.</i><br /><br />
+
+Diagram of the Aisne Valley showing the part of the River attacked by
+the British.<br /><br />
+
+In his dispatch of October 8, 1914, Sir John French thus describes the
+Aisne valley:&mdash;"The Aisne Valley runs generally east and west, and
+consists of a flat-bottomed depression of width varying from half a mile
+to two miles, down which the river follows a winding course to the west,
+at some points near the southern slopes of the valley, and at others
+near the northern.<br /><br />
+
+"The high ground both on the north and south of the river is about 400
+feet above the bottom of the valley, and is very similar in character,
+as are both slopes of the valley itself, which are broken into numerous
+rounded spurs cut into by ravines. The most prominent of the former are
+the Chivres Spur on the right bank, and Sermoise Spur on the left. Near
+the latter place the general plateau on the south is divided by a
+subsidiary valley of much the same character down which the small river
+Vesle flows to the main stream near Sermoise. The slopes of the plateau
+overlooking the Aisne on the north and south are of varying steepness,
+and are covered with numerous patches of wood, which also stretch
+upwards and backwards over the edge on to the top of the high ground.
+The Aisne is a sluggish stream of some 170 feet in breadth, but being 15
+feet deep in the centre, it is unfordable. Between Soissons on the west
+and Villers on the east (some 3 miles south-east of Soupir) there are
+eleven road bridges across it. On the north bank a narrow-gauge railway
+runs from Soissons to Vailly where it crosses the river, and continues
+eastward along the south bank. From Soissons to Sermoise a double line
+of railway runs along the south bank, turning at the latter place up the
+Vesle Valley.<br /><br />
+
+"The position held by the enemy is a very strong one, either for
+delaying action or for a defensive battle. One of its chief military
+characteristics is that from the high ground on neither side can the top
+of the plateau on the other side be seen, except for small stretches.
+This is chiefly due to the woods on the edges of the slopes. Another
+important point is that all the bridges are under direct or high-angle
+artillery fire.<br /><br />
+
+"The tract of country above described, which lies north of the Aisne, is
+well adapted to concealment, and was so skilfully turned to account by
+the enemy as to render it impossible to judge the real nature of his
+opposition to our passage of the river or accurately to gauge his
+strength. But I have every reason to conclude that strong rearguards of
+at least three army corps were holding the passages on the early morning
+of the 13th. On that morning I ordered the British forces to advance and
+make good the Aisne."</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">W</span>hen Sir John French came to think over the operations of the day, he
+was uncertain in his own mind as to the intention of the enemy. Did they
+mean to make a great stand on the Aisne heights, or were they merely
+fighting a rearguard action in order to gain time in which to prepare
+for some new movement? It was most important that the Germans should be
+made to reveal their plans; so Sir John decided to put the matter to the
+test on the morrow by making a general advance.</p>
+
+<p>All night long the engineers were hard at work strengthening the new
+crossings and repairing the old bridges, so that they would bear the
+weight of heavy guns and lorries. The infantry were no less busy,
+digging themselves in on the ground which they had won the previous day.
+The real attack was to be made by the First Army Corps, under Sir
+Douglas Haig, and we will now follow the fortunes of his command. On
+September 13 he had fought his way northward for about two miles, and
+was now holding the hillsides and the woods around the village of
+Troyon, directly to the north of Bourg. You must not confuse this Troyon
+with Fort Troyon, which was mentioned in Chapter XXVII. Fort Troyon is
+an outlying fort of Verdun, on the right bank of the Meuse; the Troyon
+of which I am now speaking is a tiny village about three miles north of
+Bourg, on the Aisne. To the north of Troyon are steep wooded slopes, and
+to the west is an undulating and densely-wooded country, rising towards
+high hills. Dense woodlands lay between Troyon and the position which
+the First Corps now held.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after midnight on 14th September Haig mustered his 2nd Infantry
+Brigade, which was billeted in the village of Moulins,<a name="FNanchor_127_127" id="FNanchor_127_127"></a><a href="#Footnote_127_127" class="fnanchor">[127]</a> about a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+mile to the south of Troyon. Rain fell at intervals, and heavy mist made
+the dark night still darker. Silently the battalions of the King's Royal
+Rifles, the Royal Sussex, the Northamptonshire, and the Loyal North
+Lancashire regiments, with the 25th Artillery Brigade, took their
+places, and waited for the word of command. The German position which
+they were about to assault was the strongest along the whole line. The
+enemy had dug deep trenches and gun pits, and the ranges were well
+known, so that a fierce struggle might be expected. Both sides were on
+the watch, and every now and then the crack of rifles and the screech of
+shells broke the silence, while searchlights from the heights swept the
+scene. Brigadier-General Bulfin, who was in command, had sent out a
+patrol of officers to discover the position and strength of the enemy.
+Shortly before 3 a.m. it returned, and reported that the enemy was
+strongly posted near a sugar factory to the north of Troyon.</p>
+
+<p>Then the word was given, and the King's Royal Rifles and the Royal
+Sussex Regiment moved forward in silence. There was no talking in the
+ranks; the orders were given in whispers, and were quickly passed along
+the line. Everything depended on taking the enemy by surprise. As the
+British moved on in dead silence there was a sudden sharp cry of pain. A
+stray shot had hit a man in the arm, and he could not repress a cry. But
+the brave fellow silenced his moans immediately by thrusting a piece of
+turf between his teeth. He held it there until he was sufficiently
+recovered to crawl back to his own lines.</p>
+
+<p>The German outposts were now reached. The British moved rapidly forward,
+and soon drew near to the factory near which the Germans were posted.
+They were met by a fierce fire from the factory and from the guns in the
+entrenchments near at hand. Our men flung themselves to the ground, and
+began creeping forward, taking cover with great skill. It was a scene
+worthy of the brush of Rembrandt.<a name="FNanchor_128_128" id="FNanchor_128_128"></a><a href="#Footnote_128_128" class="fnanchor">[128]</a> Away on the left rose the dusky
+heights; in front the factory loomed darkly against the sky; from
+windows and loopholes came thin sparks of flame; all around were wooded
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+slopes wrapped in gloom. Along the British front the darkness was
+relieved by flashes of light from the rifles of the widely-extended
+infantry. From the distant trenches came the thunder of guns. All the
+time a light rain was falling, and a soaking mist made the darkness more
+obscure.</p>
+
+<p>The German fire was so hot that the British were brought to a
+standstill. Shortly afterwards the Northamptons appeared on the east,
+and began moving towards the hills. Very slowly they gained ground, but
+all attempts to oust the Germans from the factory failed. The darkness,
+the mist, and the sodden ground prevented our artillery from lending
+effective aid.</p>
+
+<p>The eastern sky began to pale; the shadows slowly fled from the woods,
+and dawn was at hand. The thin British line could not be expected to
+hold its own when the full light of day revealed them to the German
+marksmen and gunners, so reinforcements were hurried up, and a desperate
+attempt was made to advance. But little headway was made until the
+Guards' Brigade arrived. The Grenadier, Coldstream, and Scots Guards, as
+you probably know, rejoice in a long and proud record of military glory.
+For two hundred and fifty years they have played a leading part in our
+wars, and on their colours are blazoned some of the most glorious
+victories in British annals. Every man of the Guards' Brigade who
+advanced in the gray of that September morning was eager to prove
+himself worthy of the name and fame of his regiment. "Fix bayonets!" was
+now the order, and away swept the British, unsupported by artillery,
+towards the enemy's trenches. There was fierce hand-to-hand fighting for
+a few minutes. Then the Germans, unable to stand the fierce onset and
+the thrust of cold steel, broke and fled, leaving five guns and more
+than three hundred prisoners in the hands of the victors.</p>
+
+<p>The factory, however, still held out. It was a solid stone building,
+with every door bolted and barred, and every window lined with rifles.
+The Loyal North Lancashires, who lay before it, heard the shouts of
+their victorious comrades to the right and left, and now strained every
+effort to win a like success. Towards midday some of them rushed a door
+of the factory, battered it down, and forced their way in over
+barricades and the piled corpses of the slain. In a few minutes the
+factory was in British hands. The Loyal North Lancashires poured into
+it, and held it throughout the day.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
+<p>In the full light of that cold and windy morning, the British saw
+clearly that the task before them was enough to make the stoutest heart
+quail. The Germans had retreated to a line of trenches on a stretch of
+rising open ground. To carry these trenches meant an advance through a
+tornado of lead from rifles and machine guns. Behind the trenches was
+concealed German artillery, which was dropping shells on them so fast
+and furiously that advance was impossible. There was a great sigh of
+relief when, about nine o'clock, British shells began to whistle over
+the heads of the infantry. At last the artillery had come to their aid.</p>
+
+<p>Now we must leave these gallant men for a moment and see what was
+happening to the Allies on either flank. To the right of the 1st
+Division the Moroccans, who had already taught the Germans to fear them,
+were holding their trenches valiantly. To the left of the 1st Division
+was the 2nd Division, advancing towards Braye, which you will see on the
+extreme right of the picture-diagram (page <a href="#Page_247">249</a>). Its right wing had been
+checked by German artillery and rifle fire, and was now held up. Between
+the firing lines of the 1st and 2nd Divisions there was a stretch of
+ground left open, and Sir Douglas Haig saw at once that the enemy would
+probably try to thrust in a wedge at this point. He therefore hurried
+the 3rd Infantry Brigade into the gap, but only just in time. Almost
+immediately it was fiercely shelled, and a strong force of Germans was
+seen advancing. Two battalions of the 3rd Brigade at once dashed towards
+them; a battery of field guns galloped up, and opened fire at short
+range, and the enemy hastily withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>Later in the day the enemy actually gained a footing between the First
+and Second Corps, and threatened to cut the communications of the
+latter. Sir Douglas Haig at this time was very hard pressed, and he had
+no reserves. The only reinforcements which Sir John French possessed
+consisted of three brigades of Allenby's cavalry. They now galloped up,
+dismounted, and took their places in the firing line. By their timely
+help the enemy was driven back, and the danger was averted.</p>
+
+<p>Desperate fighting continued the whole of the morning and far into the
+afternoon. Attack and counter-attack continued almost without a pause.
+The Germans rolled forward in waves, only to be beaten back; the British
+advanced in their turn, only to suffer a like fate. In each case it was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>
+as though lines of breakers were dashing against the cliffs of a rocky
+seashore. Big guns thundered; Maxims and rifles cracked unceasingly.
+Huge siege guns, with a range of 10,000 yards, also hurled their
+enormous shells upon the British. These were the guns which had battered
+down the forts of Maubeuge a few days before.</p>
+
+<p>About four in the afternoon the German counter-attacks grew so weak and
+infrequent that Sir Douglas Haig thought the time had come for a general
+advance. Our men pushed forward gallantly, but every inch of ground had
+to be won at a heavy price of dead and wounded. The officers suffered
+very severely; one brigade lost three of its four colonels. By this time
+the long day's struggle was beginning to tell upon our gallant fellows.
+Nevertheless before night fell a long stretch of difficult and dangerous
+ground had been won; six hundred prisoners and twelve guns had been
+captured. For the first time our men occupied an entrenched position on
+the plateau itself. In his dispatch Sir John French pays a high and
+well-deserved tribute to Sir Douglas Haig and the First Army Corps. He
+says: "The action of the First Army Corps, under the direction and
+command of Sir Douglas Haig, was of so skilful, bold, and decisive a
+character that he gained positions which alone have enabled me to
+maintain my position for more than three weeks of very severe fighting
+on the north bank of the river."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Very briefly I must sum up the work of the French on 14th September and
+the following days. The 6th French Army, to the left of the British, had
+made good progress on the 14th; but by the evening of the 15th had been
+driven back to within only a few hundred yards of its crossing places.
+Soissons had been heavily shelled, and part of it had been burned down.
+The French left, however, was still moving up the Oise towards Noyon.</p>
+
+<p>The 5th French Army, to the right of the British, had crossed the river
+on the 14th, and had begun its assaults on the plateau above Craonne. If
+it could seize the long, steep-sided spur of Craonne, it would be able
+to turn the German positions on the whole line of heights. The Germans,
+however, stubbornly held their own, and the French could make no
+progress.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
+<p>The 9th French Army, which had played such a leading part in the Battle
+of the Marne, had driven the Germans into Rheims, from which they fell
+back almost without firing a shot. The French were elated at the capture
+of this historic city. But von Buelow had not been defeated; he had
+moved back for the purpose of protecting the left of von Kluck's
+position on the heights of the Aisne. He halted, as we know, on the
+ridge along the northern bank of the Suippe, and Foch's attempts to
+force him from this position not only failed, but he himself was driven
+back by the Germans towards Rheims. The enemy captured the hill of
+Brimont, north of the city, and brought up heavy siege guns to bombard
+it at long range. More important still, the Germans had worked round on
+the east, and had won another hill to the east of the city. They could
+not, however, capture an adjoining hill, which was part of the defences
+of Rheims.</p>
+
+<p>Eastwards of Rheims the 3rd and 4th Armies were fighting hard with some
+of the Saxon and W&uuml;rtemberg troops, and also with the army of the Crown
+Prince. South of the Argonne the German retreat on this part of the line
+had also come to an end, and here, too, the invaders were holding an
+entrenched position of such strength that it resembled a fortress.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The next day, 15th September, was not so favourable to the Allies as the
+preceding day. On the British left two of our divisions were severely
+handled, and one of them was forced back at evening almost to the line
+of the stream. The 3rd Division, however, retook some high ground from
+which it had been thrust back on the previous day. On the British right
+there were constant attacks and counter-attacks, and the Guards' Brigade
+did yeoman service. It was during this part of the fighting that
+Bombardier Ernest Harlook, of the 113th Battery, R.F.A., won the V.C.,
+as we shall read later.</p>
+
+<p>Next day there was not much fighting on the British front. News arrived
+that the French 5th Army had been obliged to fall back, and that the
+Moroccans, on the British right, had retired, and thus left open the
+flank of our First Corps. Next morning (17th September), however, there
+was good news from the left. The French 6th Army had won back all the
+ground which it had lost, and was now in a strong position on the edge
+of the plateau. The British divisions which had been driven back to the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
+stream were not molested; but the 1st Division, perched high up on the
+plateau at Troyon, came in for a bad time.</p>
+
+<p>The Northamptons, on the extreme right, had clung to their positions, in
+spite of every effort to dislodge them. On the morning of the 17th the
+Germans in the opposite trenches showed a white flag as a token of
+surrender. They were called upon to come forward, and they did so, right
+to the edge of our trenches, and then most treacherously poured in a hot
+rifle fire. Many of our men were shot down; but happily there was a
+British machine gun, manned by a detachment of the Queen's, on the flank
+of the trench, and only 400 yards away. It opened fire at once, cutting
+a lane through the mass of the Germans, and killing three hundred of
+them. About one hundred of the survivors held up their hands and were
+made prisoners, while the rest fell back to their own trench. The trap
+had failed. Shortly afterwards a battalion of the Guards arrived, and
+drove them still farther back, with more loss.</p>
+
+<p>On the next day (18th September) there was a lull in the fighting,
+though the 1st and 2nd British Divisions made a general attack, during
+which the Gloucesters, charging through the darkness, carried a line of
+the enemy's trenches. The whole French line to the east was making no
+progress, and it was now clear that the German positions could not be
+carried by a frontal attack. In five days' furious and deadly struggle
+but little ground had been gained. The forces opposed to each other were
+too evenly matched, and the trenches of the enemy were too strongly
+defended to be captured without a terrible loss of life. All that the
+Allies could do was to dig themselves in deeply, and slowly and
+painfully creep forward to the German lines by sap and mine.</p>
+
+<p>It was clear that the Germans had recovered from their retreat, and were
+now in such a position that they could defy our attacks. A deadlock had
+set in all along the line. All dreams of rapidly driving the enemy out
+of France had been rudely dispelled. General Joffre, however, was equal
+to the occasion. He was ready with a new plan. What it was, and how it
+succeeded, we shall learn in a later chapter.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2>
+
+<h3>SOLDIERS' STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF THE AISNE.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he Battle of the Aisne was a "soldiers' battle." It was, you will
+remember, a series of attempts to drive the enemy out of strong
+positions by attacks along his front. In this kind of fighting there is
+but little scope for what we call "generalship." Everything depends upon
+the courage and resolution of the rank and file and their company
+officers. The following stories will show you how nobly our men bore
+themselves during the perilous crossing of the river, and in the many
+fierce fights that afterwards took place on the slopes of the plateau.</p>
+
+<p>As the engineers played such a gallant part in the battle, our first
+story must be the experiences of a sapper. In a letter to his friends at
+home, Sapper S. Johnson, of the Royal Engineers, wrote as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I have got through so far, but I have had a great deal of luck. There
+was one time, at the Battle of the Aisne, when the shells were dropping
+all round us. We had just finished a pontoon bridge. There were seven of
+us standing at one end, and the lieutenant told us to spread out. I had
+not taken ten paces when a shell killed four and wounded one. I and the
+other sapper were blown off our feet with the concussion. It was a
+marvellous escape.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we got into the shelter of a small bridge across a canal. Nine of
+us sat behind a wall, and the Germans shelled that bridge for all they
+were worth, and hardly missed it. But we were safe behind the buttress.
+It would have been certain death if any of us had moved.</p>
+
+<p>"Our major wanted us to retire along the bank; but we told him we would
+rather chance crossing the bridge, for we should not have got fifty
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
+yards without being shelled. Well, we had to dash across, one after the
+other, and every time a man dashed out there was a hail of shells. We
+left one man on the bridge. He was shot, and I was the last to leave
+him. We could not do anything for him. When we returned at night he was
+dead."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Private J. Green of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment writes as
+follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We came to the river Aisne in the early hours of the 14th, and found
+that, with a single exception, all the bridges had been blown up. The
+engineers immediately set to work with their pontoons; but the Germans
+from a sheltered position had the range perfectly. As quickly as one
+raft was got into position the poor fellows were knocked over like
+ninepins by the most murderous fire. When one man fell into the water
+another took his place, and the river was full of wounded struggling in
+the water. We fished out all we could. Six times our bridge was
+destroyed before they were able to get across. The bravery of the chaps
+was magnificent."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The "Eye-Witness" with the British forces tells us a remarkable story.
+After our troops had advanced to the Aisne, many small parties of
+Germans were discovered hiding in the woods behind the British line. One
+of our officers, who was in charge of a number of riderless horses which
+were being led along a road, learnt that Germans were in the
+neighbourhood. He at once gave the order to charge, and the enemy,
+seeing horses galloping towards them, imagined them to be cavalry. At
+once they threw down their arms and held up their hands. Three officers
+and 106 men surrendered as a result of this extraordinary charge.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 728px;">
+<img src="images/p258.jpg" width="728" height="422" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>A Riderless Charge.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>From the drawing by Lionel Edwards.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Here is the letter of a German officer:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Parents</span>,&mdash;Our corps has the task of holding the heights south
+of Cerny<a name="FNanchor_129_129" id="FNanchor_129_129"></a><a href="#Footnote_129_129" class="fnanchor">[129]</a> in all circumstances till the 15th Corps on our left flank
+can grip the enemy's flank. We are fighting with English Guards,
+Highlanders, and Zouaves. The losses on both sides have been enormous.
+For the most part this is due to the too brilliant French artillery. The
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
+English are marvellously trained in making use of the ground. One never
+sees them, and yet one is constantly under fire. The French airmen
+perform wonderful feats. We cannot get rid of them. As soon as an airman
+has flown over us, ten minutes later we get their shrapnel fire on our
+position. We have little artillery in our corps. Without it we cannot
+get forward. Three days ago (14th September) our division took
+possession of these heights, dug itself in, etc. Two days ago, early in
+the morning, we were attacked by immensely superior English forces, and
+were turned out of our positions. The fellows took five guns from us. It
+was a tremendous hand-to-hand fight. How I escaped myself I am not
+clear. I then had to bring up supports on foot. My horse was wounded,
+and the others were too far in rear. Then came up the supports, and,
+with help of the artillery, drove back the fellows out of the position
+again. Our machine guns did excellent work. The English fell in heaps.
+In our battalion three Iron Crosses<a name="FNanchor_130_130" id="FNanchor_130_130"></a><a href="#Footnote_130_130" class="fnanchor">[130]</a> have been awarded&mdash;one to the
+commanding officer, one to the captain, one to the surgeon. Let us hope
+that we shall be the lucky ones next time. During the first two days of
+the battle I had only one piece of bread and no water; spent the night
+in the rain, without my greatcoat. The rest of my kit was on the horses,
+which have been left miles behind with the baggage; which cannot come up
+into the battle, because as soon as you put your nose out from behind,
+the bullets whistle. The war is terrible. We are all hoping that the
+decisive battle will end the war, as our troops have already got round
+Paris.<a name="FNanchor_131_131" id="FNanchor_131_131"></a><a href="#Footnote_131_131" class="fnanchor">[131]</a> If we first beat the English, the French resistance will
+soon be broken. Russia will be very quickly dealt with. Of this there is
+no doubt. We received splendid help from the Austrian heavy artillery at
+Maubeuge. They bombarded one of the forts in such a way that there was
+not thirty feet of parapet which did not show enormous craters made by
+shells. The armoured turrets were found upside down."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>It was during the fighting of 14th September that Captain Mark Haggard,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
+while leading the Welsh Regiment in the 3rd Brigade, met his death.
+Private Derry of his company thus tells the story:&mdash;"The Welsh were
+ordered to advance. When about twenty yards from the crest of a hill
+Captain Haggard ran forward to the top, saw the Germans, and shouted,
+'Fix bayonets, boys; here they are!' We fixed, and were prepared to
+follow him anywhere; but we were checked by a storm of Maxim fire. We
+knew by the sound that we were up against a tremendous force. There was
+only one game to play now&mdash;bluff them into the belief that we were as
+strong as they were. So we were ordered rapid firing, which gives an
+enemy the impression that the firing force is strong. We popped away
+like this for three hours, never moving an inch from our position. Just
+near the men was lying our brave captain, mortally wounded. He had
+charged on to the enemy's Maxims, and had been hit as he was laying out
+the enemy with the butt of an empty rifle, laughing as he did it. As the
+shells burst over us he would occasionally open his eyes, so full of
+pain, and call out, but in a very weak voice, 'Stick it, Welsh! stick
+it, Welsh!' So our brave lads stuck it until our artillery got in
+action, and put 'paid' to the score. Captain Haggard died that evening,
+his last words being, 'Stick it, Welsh!' He died as he had lived&mdash;an
+officer and a gentleman."</p>
+
+<p>When his men were forced to retire to a new position, they had to leave
+him behind; but his soldier-servant, Lance-Corporal Fuller, ran out from
+the new trenches and, under a heavy fire, carried him into his own
+lines. For this deed, as you will hear later, the gallant soldier
+received the Victoria Cross.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Gunner Thomas Joy, of the Royal Field Artillery, thus describes a night
+attack on the Aisne:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'It's a fine night for the Germans' is what we say out there when it's
+so dark that you can hardly see your finger before you; and it was just
+on such a night that I got nicked while serving my gun. The enemy had
+been quiet all day, for a wonder, and we were just taking a well-earned
+rest after the hot time we had been having. Just about two in the
+morning, when the faintest traces of light were to be seen creeping
+across the sky, there was a heavy rattle of rifle fire on the hill where
+our advanced men were posted, and soon the whole camp was alive with
+noise and bustle as the men sprang to arms.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
+<p>"We always sleep beside our guns, so as to be ready for anything, and in
+five minutes we were at our posts waiting for information about the
+range. That came later, and then we began plugging away for all we were
+worth. We caught sight of a mass of Germans swarming up a slope on the
+right, to take cover in a wood there; but they didn't know what we knew.
+We dropped a few shells into them, just to liven things up a bit and
+keep them from thinking too much about the Fatherland; but we had to be
+careful, because some of our own chaps were posted in that wood.</p>
+
+<p>"The Germans kept rushing along gaily, and there was not the slightest
+sound from the wood where our men were securely posted behind the felled
+trees. Now the German searchlights began to play all around, and the air
+was lit up with bursting shells. We could see the Germans get nearer and
+nearer to the wood.</p>
+
+<p>"Suddenly the whole side of the wood was one big sheet of flame, as our
+hidden men sent volley after volley ripping through the ranks of the
+advancing Germans. They were fairly staggered by the suddenness of the
+fire, and before they had time to collect their wits a big body of our
+chaps were into them with the bayonet, thrusting right and left, and
+sweeping the Germans away as a scavenger sends the mud before his brush
+on a dirty day.</p>
+
+<p>"Just when this little show was in full blast, the Germans obliged us
+with more limelight, and we saw it clearly. We spoiled the German
+appetite for breakfast in that part of the field; though, from what we
+learned later, there was no doubt that this was the point where they
+expected to break through. They cleared off quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"Then they began to press their attack in another part of the field, and
+there was some dandy bayonet work within the trenches as the Germans
+tried to rush them. Our boys were on the lookout, and gave it them hot.
+Our artillery found the German infantry advancing to the attack&mdash;a fine
+target&mdash;and we tore holes in their tightly-packed ranks that it would
+take some tinkering to make right again, I can tell you. Their artillery
+did all their gunners knew to silence ours and help their attacking
+parties; but it was no good, and by six o'clock they drew off, leaving
+us nice time to get breakfast."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
+<p>A private of the 12th Lancers gives the following account of a ride for
+life. He does not tell us where the incident took place, but it may have
+been at Bourg.</p>
+
+<p>"We had," he says, "to cross a river and canal by means of pontoon
+bridges, as the permanent iron ones were blown away by the enemy. Half
+of the brigade got safely across, when the enemy started shelling the
+bridges with six big guns. The half that had not yet come over returned
+to safety; not so we. We were trapped in the town, and had to take
+shelter as best we could along the street. It was about the worst
+experience one could have gone through. To see those sixty-pound shells
+hit houses twenty and thirty yards away, and explode in the centre of
+troops, was awful.</p>
+
+<p>"One shell burst in a garden ten yards from where I was standing, but
+luckily there was a heavy wall between. I was knocked flat by the shock
+of the explosion; and soon the place became too hot to hold us, as it
+was in flames. Then the ride through death took place. One by one we had
+to retire at full gallop across a pontoon with six big guns trained on
+it, and two or three explosions taking place every half-minute. I was
+next man after the colonel to cross, so I set my horse to it, murmured a
+prayer, and won through. What a cheer from the chaps when we got back to
+safety! They had given us up for lost; but, thank God! we came across
+with but few casualties, although it seemed impossible."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Let me now tell you how the youngest soldier of the 127th French
+regiment of infantry won the military medal, which is the French
+equivalent to our Victoria Cross. His name was L&eacute;on Lemaire, and he was
+twenty years of age. During the Battle of the Aisne it was necessary to
+send a message to the captain of one of the companies in an advanced
+trench. Lemaire was chosen for the purpose. He had no sooner shown
+himself on the level ground, ready to run forward on his errand, than
+the Germans, whose trenches were at short range, fired volleys at him.
+First, a bullet passed through his greatcoat; then his cap was struck;
+his haversack and water-bottle were riddled with shots; and a hole was
+bored through the scabbard of his bayonet. Through this hurricane of
+fire Lemaire advanced with great coolness, and actually reached the
+trench without a wound! Some days later his regiment was paraded in his
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>
+honour at a place behind the firing line. His general pinned the little
+silver medal for valour on his breast, embraced him, and placed him by
+his side, where he remained while the whole regiment, with colours
+flying, and the band playing the "Marseillaise," marched past him and
+saluted. Thus does the French army honour its heroes.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 731px;">
+<img src="images/p2645.jpg" width="731" height="565" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>A French Aeroplane discovering the Position of German Guns.</h3>
+
+<h4>One of the main duties of the Royal Flying Corps is to discover the
+position of the German batteries. An aeroplane is sent over the
+suspected area as a decoy, and is almost sure to draw the fire of the
+enemy's guns, thus giving the range to the Allies' artillery. Our
+picture shows French artillery moving out of a village to bombard a
+German position thus discovered. The drawing was prepared under the
+direction of an officer who was in the village and witnessed the
+incident.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Drawn by Lionel Edwards.</i></h4>
+
+<p>A young soldier of the 24th South Wales Borderers, who was wounded near
+Soissons and carried into safety by a lance-corporal of his regiment,
+thus describes the incident:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My company officer was standing up with an orderly near a tree, and
+twelve of us were lying resting in a field under a roaring cannonade.
+Suddenly I saw a shell coming, and shouted to him to look out, just as
+it burst over and a little behind the tree. Neither of the two standing
+was touched, but eight of us got it. I felt as if something had come up
+through the ground and jolted my leg, and when I tried to get up I could
+only use one foot. I asked if I could be moved, and my lance-corporal
+took me on his back and walked straight across one hundred and fifty
+yards of ground on which shells and bullets were falling fast. How he
+got across I don't know. When we were safe on the other side he cut off
+my trouser leg, gave me a first dressing, and put a waterproof sheet
+under me; and there I lay for about fifteen hours, under the rain most
+of the time. If ever I find that man again I shall know how to thank
+him."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is a pathetic story of a wounded man who gave his life to save his
+comrades. The story is told by a Northumberland Fusilier.</p>
+
+<p>"We occupied an exposed position on the left at the Aisne, and one night
+only escaped being wiped out by mere chance, combined with as fine a
+deed of heroism as I have ever heard of. There was a man of the
+Manchester Regiment who was lying close to the German lines, badly
+wounded. He happened to overhear some conversation between German
+soldiers, and being familiar with the language, gathered that they
+intended to attack the position which we held that night. In spite of
+his wounds he decided to set out and warn us of the danger, so he
+started on a weary tramp of over five miles. He was under fire from the
+moment he got to his feet, but he stumbled along and got out of range.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>
+Later he ran into a patrol of Uhlans; but before they saw him, he
+dropped to earth and shammed death. They passed without a sign, and then
+he resumed his weary journey. By this time the strain had told on him,
+and his wound began to bleed, marking his path towards our lines with
+thin red streaks. In the early morning, just half an hour before the
+time fixed for the German attack, he staggered into one of our advanced
+posts, and managed to tell his story to the officer in charge before
+collapsing in a heap. Thanks to the information he gave us, we were
+ready for the Germans when they came, and beat them off. But his anxiety
+to warn us had cost him his life. The doctors said that the strain had
+been too much for him; and next day he died."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>The coolness of our men under fire is, well illustrated in the following
+story.</p>
+
+<p>"Out on the Aisne," says Trooper G. Hill of the 17th Lancers, "I watched
+a man of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, who lay in the trenches, quietly
+firing away at the advancing enemy as coolly as if he were in a shooting
+gallery at home. After each shot he turned for a pull at a cigarette
+lying by his side on a stone. When the enemy got so close that it was
+necessary to use bayonets, he simply laid his cigarette down and walked
+out of the trench to engage them with the steel. When the attack was
+beaten off, he walked back for his cigarette. 'Oh, it's smoked away, and
+it was my last!' was all that he said."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Probably the youngest sergeant in the world is Prudent Marius, a French
+boy of fourteen, scarcely four feet in height. On the outbreak of war he
+attached himself as cyclist scout to a certain regiment passing through
+Alsace-Lorraine. So useful did he prove to be that the regiment adopted
+him, and he acted as ammunition bearer, dispatch carrier, and generally
+as Jack-of-all-trades. By the time the Germans were drawing near to
+Paris he had been made a corporal, and had been wounded in the leg. Near
+Soissons, during the Battle of the Aisne, he was attached to the
+artillery, and while handing shells to a gunner was again wounded, this
+time in the face. Soon afterwards he was made a full-blown sergeant. A
+correspondent who saw him describes him as a curious little figure in
+his dark-blue coat and red trousers, with two gold stripes on his arm.
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
+In spite of his youth, he was quite indifferent to shell and rifle fire.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>So many stories of treachery, bad faith, and cruelty are told of the
+Germans that it is good to know that all of them are not cast in the
+same mould. It is said that in one of the towns held by the Germans near
+the Aisne a certain French gentleman lay sick unto death. A German army
+doctor, who, of course, was not required to attend on civilians, heard
+of the case, and knowing that there were no French doctors in the town,
+offered his services to the sick man. This in itself was an act of great
+kindness, but the manner in which it was done raised it to the level of
+a deed of chivalry. The German doctor knew that the sick man hated the
+Germans, and that the visit of a German doctor would excite him and do
+him harm. So he took off his uniform, put on private clothes, and
+pretended to be an English doctor. I am sure that we all honour this
+German doctor for his kind heart and thoughtful good nature.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now let me tell you of the glorious courage and devotion shown by Dr.
+Huggan of the R.A.M.C. He was a native of Jedburgh, and played
+three-quarter back in the England <i>v.</i> Scotland Rugby match at Edinburgh
+in March 1914. Colonel Drummond Hay, writing to a friend, says that on
+the 14th of September Dr. Huggan organized and led a party of volunteers
+who removed a number of wounded from a barn which had been set on fire
+by German shells. Dr. Huggan and his party rushed to the barn under a
+very heavy fire, and managed to save all the wounded, who were in danger
+of being burnt alive. For this very gallant deed he was recommended for
+the Victoria Cross. Two days later he was killed.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is an extract from a letter describing the conditions under which
+the Army Service Corps brought up stores to the men fighting on the
+Aisne:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The whole road from here to the river Aisne is under very heavy shell
+fire all day, and it is only possible to move out at dusk. Even then we
+often come under shell fire; the guns are laid by angles; the distance
+is, of course, known, and at frequent intervals during the night shells
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>
+are fired on the road or at the villages on the way, or at the
+bridgehead, four and a half miles from here. The enemy in his retirement
+blew up the bridge over the river, and our engineers have built a
+pontoon bridge to replace it. This bridge is under the enemy's guns,
+which shell it with great accuracy. Last night, on starting out&mdash;a
+pitch-dark night and raining hard&mdash;we could see the frequent flashes of
+the enemy's artillery, and hear and see the bursting shells. The whole
+of the road is lined with dead horses, and the smell is too dreadful for
+words. We had to halt some little time, as a village through which we
+had to pass was being shelled. These high-explosive shells make a most
+terrifying noise, and do dreadful damage when they hit something. When
+the shelling stopped we moved on, and finally reached the river.</p>
+
+<p>"It was impossible to get loaded wagons across a very shaky pontoon
+bridge in pitch darkness, with very steep banks down to it, and no side
+rails on it. The supplies had, therefore, to be dumped on this side.
+This was a matter of great difficulty in the dark and wet&mdash;a very narrow
+road, choked in places by dead horses, ambulances, and pontoons waiting
+to go forward, and a perpetual stream of wounded men being carried or
+helped past in the opposite direction. So black was it that I could not
+see my hand before my face; the only things which showed up were the
+white bandages of the wounded.</p>
+
+<p>"To add to the difficulty, we were waiting every second for the enemy to
+resume shelling. One shell among that congested crowd would have had
+dreadful results. We had not left the place more than half an hour when
+we saw the flashes of guns behind us. . . . We got back to this town at
+3.30 a.m. This is what goes on every night&mdash;leaving at dusk, getting
+back at 3.30, and hoping the enemy will refrain from shelling until we
+are back."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 724px;">
+<img src="images/p270.jpg" width="724" height="426" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>In the German Trenches on the Aisne.</h3>
+
+<h4>This picture appeared in a Leipzig illustrated paper; it is drawn from a sketch by an eye-witness.</h4>
+
+<p>The following officers and men were awarded the Victoria Cross for deeds
+of outstanding gallantry during the fighting on the Aisne in September
+1914:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Captain Harry Sherwood Ranken</span>, Royal Army Medical Corps, received the
+highest award of valour for tending wounded in the trenches under rifle
+and shrapnel fire on 19th and 20th September. He continued his merciful
+work after his thigh and leg had been shattered. Unhappily, he died of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
+his wounds before the Cross was awarded to him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Captain William Henry Johnston</span>, Royal Engineers. At Missy, on 14th
+September, he worked with his own hands two rafts on the river from
+early morning till late evening under a heavy fire. He ferried
+ammunition across and brought back wounded, and thus enabled a brigade
+to hold its own in an advanced position on the north bank of the stream.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bombardier Ernest George Harlook</span> (now Sergeant), 113th Battery, R.F.A.
+At a little village south of Troyon, on 15th September, Bombardier
+Harlook's battery was under heavy shell fire. He was twice wounded, and
+was forced to retire to have his wounds dressed; but on each occasion he
+returned, and worked his gun again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lance-Corporal William Fuller</span>, 2nd Battalion, Welsh Regiment. On page
+261 I told you how Lance-Corporal Fuller, at the risk of almost certain
+death, carried poor Captain Haggard, who was mortally wounded, into
+cover. Never was the Victoria Cross more worthily won.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Lance-Corporal Frederick William Dobson</span>, 2nd Battalion, Coldstream
+Guards. On the 28th of September, at Chavonne on the Aisne,
+Lance-Corporal Dobson twice went out under heavy fire, and brought into
+cover wounded men who were lying exposed in the open.</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Private George Wilson</span>, 2nd Battalion, Highland Light Infantry. Prior to
+the war Private Wilson was a reservist who made a living by selling
+newspapers in the streets of Edinburgh. The extraordinary exploit for
+which he was awarded the coveted Cross took place on 14th September,
+when the 5th Brigade was in action at a village north of Bourg. All
+along the trench where Wilson lay the men were continually falling, and
+he could plainly see that it was a machine gun about 750 yards away, and
+a little in front of the main body of Germans, that was doing most of
+the mischief. He determined to silence the gun, and a private of the
+60th King's Rifles volunteered to go with him. They crawled out of their
+trench and wriggled along; but they had not gone a hundred yards when
+Wilson's companion rolled over, riddled with bullets. Wilson, however,
+continued his journey, and managed to get within a short distance of the
+gun. Then he levelled his rifle, and one by one shot down the officer
+and the six men who were working it.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>
+<p>Crawling up to the gun he had a surprise, for a German officer who had
+only been slightly wounded jumped up and emptied his revolver at him.
+But, as luck would have it, the officer missed, and Wilson promptly
+<i>bayoneted</i> him. Then he crawled back to his trench, where he fainted.
+He soon recovered, however, and asked if the gun had been brought in.
+When he learned that it had not been captured, he ran out again, and
+succeeded in bringing in the gun. Though he had been so long under fire,
+he escaped with only slight wounds.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p272.jpg" width="301" height="346" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Private George Wilson, V.C.</h4>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Private R. Tollerton</span>, 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders,
+was awarded the Victoria Cross for conspicuous bravery and devotion to
+duty on 14th September. He carried a disabled officer under heavy fire
+into a place of safety, and although wounded in the head and the hand,
+struggled back to the firing line, where he remained until his battalion
+retired. Then he returned to the wounded officer, and lay beside him for
+three days until both were rescued.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2>
+
+<h3>VERDUN AND RHEIMS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he first and worst part of the Battle of the Aisne may be said to have
+ended on 18th September 1914. By this date it was clear to all that the
+fighting for weeks to come would be a dull and stubborn affair of
+trenches. The Germans boasted that they could hold their positions for
+three months if necessary; and the boast was no idle one, for the hills,
+woods, and quarries which they occupied were natural fortresses, made
+almost impregnable by every art known to the military engineer. In some
+places there were eight or nine lines of trenches, the one behind the
+other, all of them cleverly constructed and carefully concealed. Wire
+entanglements and lines of rabbit fencing, both in the woods and in the
+open, protected the trenches from attack, and every line of approach,
+whether from the front or from the flanks, was covered by the cross-fire
+of rifles, machine guns, and artillery. Behind the woods on the top of
+the plateau were heavy howitzers, which hurled shells at long range into
+the valley and right across it.</p>
+
+<p>You will remember that, as early as 11th September, General Joffre had
+sent the left of the 6th French Army along the Oise in order to prevent
+von Kluck from trying an outflanking movement. The Germans believe
+greatly in this form of strategy, and it was to be expected that they
+would try it again, now that they were held up on the Aisne. On the 18th
+of September Sir John French was informed that General Joffre was about
+to try an enveloping movement himself. He was about to attack the
+enemy's right flank, in the hope of driving him from his trenches. While
+this movement was preparing, it was necessary that the Allied lines
+along the Aisne should be strongly held, so that the Germans could not
+break through.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p274.jpg" width="631" height="428" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Fighting in the Argonne.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, The Sphere.</i></h4>
+
+<h4>Some of the fiercest fighting in the war has taken place in this region.
+Our illustration shows the French recapturing a trench and meeting a
+determined counter-attack of the Germans.</h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>
+<p>To our men life in the trenches was a dull and dismal experience after
+the stirring days of open fighting in which they had recently been
+engaged. There were many attacks and counter-attacks; but for the most
+part the opposing armies lay in their trenches during the day, watching
+each other while the shells of friend and foe hurtled overhead. Between
+the trenches was a No Man's Land, strewn with wounded and the unburied
+bodies of the dead. The moment any attempt was made to rescue the
+wounded a heavy fire broke out; so the poor fellows lay on the sodden
+ground in torment, within a few yards of their own trenches, for days
+together. In some places the British and the German lines were so near
+that the soldiers could exchange remarks.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule, each side shelled the other by day, and at night the Germans,
+after a fierce bombardment, were in the habit of attacking some part of
+our lines. They crept forward in the early hours of the morning, hoping
+to dig themselves in, so as to be able to reach our trenches at a single
+rush. While they were so engaged, searchlights played upon our
+positions, in order to dazzle the eyes of our marksmen, and from dusk to
+dawn "snipers" were busy picking off all who showed themselves.
+Nevertheless, the attacks were constantly beaten off, and at close
+quarters our men did great execution with the bayonet. Frequently they
+made successful counter-attacks.</p>
+
+<p>During the first fortnight the weather was very wet, and our men were
+drenched to the skin. For days at a time they were knee-deep in a
+mixture of water and a peculiarly sticky, chalky mud which filled their
+eyes, ears, and throats, and could not be kept out of their food.
+Despite these discomforts they were as cheery and high-spirited as ever.
+They welcomed German attacks as a relief from the long, trying hours of
+waiting under a fierce and almost continuous bombardment.</p>
+
+<p>The heavy guns of the enemy fired shells of eight or nine inches in
+diameter, which roared through the air like an express train, and
+exploded with a terrific report, throwing up columns of greasy, black
+smoke, and tearing craters in the ground big enough to hold the bodies
+of five horses. The Germans fully expected that these terrifying shells
+would drive our men crazy with fear. It was soon discovered, however,
+that their bark was worse than their bite, and familiarity with them
+bred something like contempt. Our men christened them "Black Marias,"
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
+"coal boxes," and, best of all, "Jack Johnsons." They built bomb-proof
+shelters and "dug-outs," in which they took refuge from these monster
+missiles.</p>
+
+<p>During those weeks on the Aisne we were at a great disadvantage because
+we had so few heavy guns capable of coping with those of the Germans,
+and because we were hopelessly outnumbered in machine guns, of which the
+enemy seemed to have an endless supply. On 23rd September some heavy
+batteries arrived from England, and enabled us to make some sort of
+reply; but for every shell fired by our guns the enemy fired twenty. We
+also suffered greatly from German spies. Disguised as peasants, they
+infested our lines, and as they mingled with the villagers and refugees
+it was very difficult for our soldiers to detect them. Frequently women
+were discovered acting as secret agents.</p>
+
+<p>On 25th September a disaster befell the 1st Cameron Highlanders. They
+had suffered heavily during the retreat and in the action on the 18th,
+in which they lost 17 officers and over 500 men. On the 25th they were
+sent to relieve the Black Watch, and took over their battalion
+headquarters in one of the caves which occur in the chalk of the
+plateau. During the morning a German shell blew in the roof of the cave,
+and buried the inmates. A few were rescued, but the fire of the enemy
+was so fierce and continuous that it was not until evening that a party
+of Royal Engineers was able to dig out the remainder. Five officers and
+thirty men were found to be dead. No British regiment suffered so
+severely in the first two months of the war as the Camerons.</p>
+
+<p>The British casualties during the fighting between 12th September and
+8th October were very heavy. Sir John French estimated that in killed,
+wounded, and missing we lost 561 officers and 12,980 men. Most of these
+losses were incurred during the advance of the First Corps on 14th
+September. Great as these losses were, those of the Germans were still
+greater. It is said that not less than 50,000 Germans were put out of
+action in one way or another during the fighting on the Aisne.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Do you remember the famous interview between Sir Edward Goschen and Herr
+von Jagow on the evening of Tuesday, August 4, 1914?<a name="FNanchor_132_132" id="FNanchor_132_132"></a><a href="#Footnote_132_132" class="fnanchor">[132]</a> In that
+interview the Kaiser's Secretary of State revealed the German plan of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
+campaign. He explained that the Germans were forced to advance into
+France by way of Belgium because it was a matter of life and death to
+them to strike a decisive blow at the French as soon as possible. "If
+they had gone by the more southern route, they could not have hoped, in
+view of the fewness of the roads and the strength of the fortresses, to
+have got through without formidable opposition, entailing great loss of
+time." Let us look for a moment at this strong chain of fortresses,
+which the Germans were unwilling to attack because the necessary
+operations meant delay.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p277.jpg" width="370" height="386" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Barrier Fortresses of France.</h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+<p>The most southerly of them is Belfort,<a name="FNanchor_133_133" id="FNanchor_133_133"></a><a href="#Footnote_133_133" class="fnanchor">[133]</a> which you will find standing
+on a plain within fifteen miles of the Swiss border. This plain is
+called by soldiers "the Gap of Belfort," and it is the only real break
+in the hill frontier that covers France all the way from the
+Mediterranean to Flanders. You can see at a glance that if the Gap were
+not strongly fortified an army could easily march into France from the
+direction of the Rhine. To block this easy road the French have
+constructed the very strong ring-fortress of Belfort. It was besieged
+during the Franco-German War, and yielded on February 13, 1871; but its
+defenders made such a gallant resistance that they were allowed to march
+out with what are called the honours of war&mdash;that is, with their drums
+beating, their flags flying, and their arms in their hands. To
+commemorate the siege, a huge lion has been carved on the face of the
+precipice below the castle by the sculptor of the statue of Liberty in
+New York harbour.<a name="FNanchor_134_134" id="FNanchor_134_134"></a><a href="#Footnote_134_134" class="fnanchor">[134]</a> One wonders why the Germans did not take over
+Belfort after their conquest. Had they done so, they would have provided
+themselves with an ever-open door into France.</p>
+
+<p>Rising steeply from the Gap, and running north-north-east for 150 miles
+is the highland region known as the Vosges Mountains. Since 1871 the
+frontier between France and Germany has run along the crest of these
+mountains for about fifty miles. The Vosges consist chiefly of granite
+rocks, and everywhere there are signs that they were once covered with
+glaciers. We still see the old moraines, consisting of the heaps of rock
+and soil that were left behind when the glaciers melted, and the lakes
+that were scooped out by the great ice fields that slowly crept over the
+mountains in bygone ages. We also see the rounded summits which the
+French call <i>ballons</i>. The highest of these <i>ballons</i> are over 4,000
+feet in elevation, and are to be found about twenty miles north of
+Belfort.</p>
+
+<p>The Vosges fall steeply to the Alsatian plain, but descend gradually to
+the west. No single railway crosses them between the Gap of Belfort and
+the gap which you see to the north of Strassburg, but many carriage
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
+roads traverse the passes. The whole region is very picturesque; the
+lakes are surrounded by forests of pine, beech, and maple; there are
+many green meadows, which provide pasturage for large herds of cattle;
+numerous ruined castles stand on the spurs, and the lower slopes are
+studded with vineyards.</p>
+
+<p>From what you have read you will readily understand that the Vosges are
+a formidable barrier to invasion from the east. To the west of the main
+chain you see another ridge of heights, and beyond them the valley of
+the Upper Moselle. On this river, not far from its head-waters, is the
+second great barrier fortress of France&mdash;Epinal.<a name="FNanchor_135_135" id="FNanchor_135_135"></a><a href="#Footnote_135_135" class="fnanchor">[135]</a> To the north of
+Epinal, and about ten miles west of Nancy, is the third
+fortress&mdash;Toul.<a name="FNanchor_136_136" id="FNanchor_136_136"></a><a href="#Footnote_136_136" class="fnanchor">[136]</a> The fort of St. Michel, about twenty miles
+north-west of Toul, is the key to the circle of forts that defend the
+entrenched camp, and the strongest fort on the frontier. If you were to
+visit Toul you would see little or nothing of the batteries, for they
+are hidden in brushwood and stunted woods high above the vineyards.</p>
+
+<p>Farther to the north, about thirty-five miles west of Metz, is Verdun,
+which has already been mentioned in these pages. As Verdun is the only
+barrier fortress which was seriously attacked by the Germans during
+1914, let us learn something of its story. Verdun is a great entrenched
+camp, contained within a ring which measures thirty miles round. There
+are sixteen large forts and about twenty smaller forts on this ring, and
+the most distant of them is about nine miles from the centre of the
+city. All these defences have been constructed since the Franco-German
+War, during which the city was bombarded on three different occasions.
+It yielded early in November 1870.</p>
+
+<p>During the Battle of the Marne the Crown Prince made a great effort to
+capture Verdun. I have already told you that he battered down Fort
+Troyon,<a name="FNanchor_137_137" id="FNanchor_137_137"></a><a href="#Footnote_137_137" class="fnanchor">[137]</a> but was unable to capture it, though it lay in ruins.
+Between the 10th and 12th of September the Crown Prince's army, along
+with the other German armies, was forced to retreat. It fell back two
+days' march to the north, and immediately the French general,
+Sarrail,<a name="FNanchor_138_138" id="FNanchor_138_138"></a><a href="#Footnote_138_138" class="fnanchor">[138]</a> prepared Verdun to stand a long siege. Seven thousand
+civilians&mdash;"useless mouths," as the French soldiers call them&mdash;were
+ordered to withdraw, and the food supply for the garrison was
+regulated.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
+<p>General Sarrail was well aware that if the great howitzers of the
+Germans were once permitted to come within range of the forts they would
+succumb as speedily as those of Li&eacute;ge, Namur, and Maubeuge. He therefore
+pushed out his circle of defences for twenty miles from the city. By
+means of earthworks and trenches he made a great fortified zone, which
+encircled the forts at such a distance that the German howitzers were
+kept out of range. Every height and valley was seamed with defences, and
+some of the hillsides became a maze of barbed wire. The heavy guns of
+the forts were moved out to the advanced trenches, and rails were laid
+down so that as soon as they were "spotted" they could be moved on to
+another position. Thus, instead of fixed forts, each, say, mounted with
+ten heavy guns, these same ten heavy guns were "dotted here and there in
+trenches rapidly established in one place and another, along perhaps
+half a mile of wooded vale, and free to operate when they moved over
+perhaps double that front."</p>
+
+<p>The result was that the army of the Crown Prince found itself held up in
+the form of a semicircle, as shown in this diagram. Against these outer
+lines of defence seven German army corps were launched, but with no
+success.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p280.jpg" width="364" height="234" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>In the third week of September the Bavarian army made a determined
+attack on the little town of St. Mihiel,<a name="FNanchor_139_139" id="FNanchor_139_139"></a><a href="#Footnote_139_139" class="fnanchor">[139]</a> which stands on the Meuse,
+midway between Toul and Verdun. North to Verdun and south to Toul,
+between the Meuse and the Moselle, is the district known as "the Plain
+of the Wo&euml;vre."<a name="FNanchor_140_140" id="FNanchor_140_140"></a><a href="#Footnote_140_140" class="fnanchor">[140]</a> It is crossed by the Heights of the Meuse, which
+form a plateau about three hundred feet above the river, and fall
+steeply towards the east in deep ravines and wooded knolls. On 20th
+September the Bavarians pushed through the Wo&euml;vre and drew near to the
+Meuse. Two forts blocked their way, one of them being on the site of an
+old earthwork known as the Camp of the Romans. The Bavarians got their
+heavy guns into position, and by the evening of 22nd September the Camp
+of the Romans was in ruins. The garrison, however, made such a gallant
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
+resistance in the outer works that the German general permitted it to
+retire with the honours of war. As the French marched out of the fort
+the Germans cheered them, presented arms, and dipped their flags.
+Shortly afterwards the Bavarians seized St. Mihiel and its
+bridgehead,<a name="FNanchor_141_141" id="FNanchor_141_141"></a><a href="#Footnote_141_141" class="fnanchor">[141]</a> on the western side of the water. A French cavalry
+detachment prevented them from advancing any further, and they were
+forced to entrench themselves on the edge of the river.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p281.jpg" width="298" height="234" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>What was the object of the Germans in capturing St. Mihiel? The Crown
+Prince's army was trying to push through the Verdun defences from the
+Argonne, and at the same time the Bavarians were trying to advance by
+way of St. Mihiel. Should these movements succeed, Verdun would be
+completely encircled, and long before this happened, the French army
+holding the semicircle about the fortress would be obliged to fall back.
+"The wedge at St. Mihiel was a sort of buckle to which the Germans
+desired to fit the strap by pushing down from the north-west." Happily
+General Sarrail had enough, but only just enough, men to prevent the
+strap and the buckle from meeting. For a day or two, however, he was in
+grave peril.</p>
+
+<p>As time went on the Germans found their position in the Wo&euml;vre more and
+more uncomfortable. They had no railway within fifteen miles of St.
+Mihiel, and the main road to that place was in the hands of the French.
+Nevertheless, they hung on to the little town and the bridgehead for
+months, though the wedge of country which they held was constantly
+attacked both from the south and from the north. Soon, however, there
+was a war of entrenchments in this region, just as there was on the
+Aisne.</p>
+
+<p>On 3rd October the Crown Prince made a desperate attempt to break
+through the French lines round Verdun. He marched his men from
+Varennes,<a name="FNanchor_142_142" id="FNanchor_142_142"></a><a href="#Footnote_142_142" class="fnanchor">[142]</a> on the eastern edge of the Argonne, along a forest road
+to a place called Vienne,<a name="FNanchor_143_143" id="FNanchor_143_143"></a><a href="#Footnote_143_143" class="fnanchor">[143]</a> on the Aisne, in the hope of capturing
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
+his former headquarters of St. Menehould,<a name="FNanchor_144_144" id="FNanchor_144_144"></a><a href="#Footnote_144_144" class="fnanchor">[144]</a> from which he might
+strike south-eastwards to St. Mihiel. In order to reach Vienne the
+Germans brought their guns through a wood lying to the north of the
+road. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of this wood the French fell upon
+the Germans, and drove them back in rout to Varennes, which they
+afterwards captured. Thus they won the road right across the Argonne,
+and were able to get into touch with the right of their 4th Army.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now we must move westwards to Rheims,<a name="FNanchor_145_145" id="FNanchor_145_145"></a><a href="#Footnote_145_145" class="fnanchor">[145]</a> and see what was happening in
+and around that ancient city. Rheims, as you know, is perhaps the most
+interesting of all the historical towns of France. It stands, you will
+remember, on the right bank of the Vesle, in a plain bounded by
+vine-clad hills, and is the chief centre of the trade in champagne. Even
+under the Romans it was an important town, and if I were to tell you its
+history since Roman times, I should need many pages which I cannot now
+spare. But I must dwell on one or two incidents in its long story. You
+have already heard of Clovis, who succeeded his father as king of the
+Franks in the year 481 A.D. He was a pagan, and during his wars he
+burned and ruined many of the churches of France. In 493, like our own
+King Ethelbert of Kent, he married a Christian princess. She tried hard
+to convert him to Christianity, but for three years without success. At
+length he was attacked by the Goths, who lived between the Vosges and
+the Rhine, and was very hard pressed. In the thick of the fight he swore
+that he would be converted to his wife's God if He would grant him the
+victory. His foes were overcome, and on Christmas Day, 496, in the
+cathedral at Rheims, Clovis and three thousand of his men were baptized
+by the bishop. "Bow thy head meekly," said the good old man to the king;
+"adore what thou hast burned, and burn what thou hast adored." This
+excellent piece of advice might well be given to that arch-Goth whose
+legions destroyed Louvain, and were now about to ruin the most glorious
+monument of Christendom.</p>
+
+<p>The cathedral at Rheims is the Westminster Abbey of the French nation.
+From the latter half of the 12th century to the year 1825 all the
+sovereigns of France, with the exception of Henry IV., Napoleon, and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>
+Louis XVIII., were crowned within its time-honoured walls. Here it was
+that Joan the Maid, having inspired the faint-hearted Dauphin to free
+his land from the thrall of the English, stood by the high altar in
+white armour, and when the crown was placed upon his head, kneeled at
+his feet and cried, "Now is the will of God fulfilled." To every
+Frenchman the walls which witnessed this scene must be for ever sacred.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p283.jpg" width="382" height="508" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Cathedral at Rheims before bombardment.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Sport and General</i>.</h4>
+
+<p>The present cathedral stands on the site of that in which Clovis was
+baptized, and was begun early in the thirteenth century. It took
+seventy-five years to complete, and has long been considered the most
+perfect example of the architecture of the Middle Ages. The front of the
+cathedral is wonderfully beautiful, and is referred to in the following
+couplet, which mentions the most striking features of the four noblest
+of French cathedrals:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem2"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Bell-towers of Chartres,<a name="FNanchor_146_146" id="FNanchor_146_146"></a><a href="#Footnote_146_146" class="fnanchor">[146]</a> nave of Amiens,</span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;Choir of Beauvais,<a name="FNanchor_147_147" id="FNanchor_147_147"></a><a href="#Footnote_147_147" class="fnanchor">[147]</a> portal of Rheims."</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The front is adorned with a multitude of statues and sculptured scenes
+from the Scriptures. One of the scenes shows the Day of Judgment;
+another illustrates the baptism of Clovis. The most beautiful of the
+statues is that of our Lord, and is known as "Le Beau Dieu." Over the
+portal, before the bombardment, were three large stained-glass windows,
+the central one, a magnificent rose window, nearly forty feet across.
+Within the cathedral were many rich and priceless treasures. For
+centuries lovers of art and students of history from all the corners of
+the world have made pilgrimage to Rheims to rejoice in the beauty of
+this exquisite temple.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>I have already told you that during the German retreat von Buelow had
+withdrawn from Rheims, and had fallen back to the ridge beyond the
+Suippe. From this ridge (AAA) General Foch had been repulsed, and the
+Germans had pushed forward in the hope of recapturing the city. They
+seized the heights marked C to the north of the city, and a part of
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
+those marked D to the east of it, and occupied the line marked BBB. The
+heights marked C are but 9,000 yards from the city, and from these
+points of vantage the Germans, on 18th September, began a terrific
+bombardment. Many civilians were killed, and large sections of the city
+were destroyed by flames. It was during this bombardment that the
+Germans for ever disgraced themselves by shelling the cathedral. Their
+excuse was that the French had set up signal stations on the roof and
+tower, and were firing guns close to the building. The French had done
+nothing of the kind. When the shelling began the Red Cross flag flew
+over the cathedral, and within it were many wounded, chiefly Germans.
+There can be no excuse for von Buelow; the cathedral was not in the zone
+of fire; he deliberately trained his guns upon it&mdash;probably out of sheer
+spite. Neutral nations were shocked when they heard of this senseless
+and barbarous outrage; but a German officer, writing in a German
+newspaper, explained the German state of mind.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is of no consequence if all the monuments ever created, all
+the pictures ever painted, and all the buildings ever erected by
+the great architects of the world were destroyed, if by their
+destruction we promote Germany's victory over her enemies. . . .
+The commonest, ugliest stone placed to mark the burial-place of
+a German grenadier is a more glorious and perfect monument than
+all the cathedrals of Europe put together. . . . Let neutral
+peoples and our enemies cease their empty chatter, which is no
+better than the twittering of birds. Let them cease their talk
+about the cathedral at Rheims, and about all the churches and
+castles of France which have shared its fate. These things do
+not interest us."</p></div>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p285.jpg" width="225" height="220" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>How the destruction of a noble work of art could promote Germany's
+victory over her enemies is difficult to understand. It is worthy of
+note that a hotel close to the cathedral remained untouched: it was kept
+by a German.</p>
+
+<p>For some months the north-east tower of the cathedral had been under
+repair, and when the bombardment began it was surrounded by scaffolding.
+On 19th September a shell set fire to the outer roof; the fire quickly
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
+spread to the scaffolding, and then to the wooden beams of the portal.
+An American correspondent tells us that, when the flames gained on the
+building, the Archbishop of Rheims and a party of volunteers rushed
+inside and carried out the wounded Germans on stretchers. The rescuing
+parties were not a minute too soon. Already from the roofs molten lead
+was falling. The blazing doors had fired the straw on which the wounded
+lay, and the interior was like a prairie fire. Splashed by the molten
+lead, and threatened by falling timbers, the priests, at the risk of
+their lives and limbs, carried out the wounded, numbering sixty in all.
+But after bearing them to safety their charges were confronted with a
+new danger. Inflamed by the sight of their own dead, four hundred
+citizens having been killed by the bombardment, and by the loss of their
+cathedral, the people of Rheims who were gathered about the burning
+building called for the lives of the German prisoners. "They are
+barbarians," they cried. "Kill them!" The archbishop and one of his
+clergy placed themselves in front of the wounded.</p>
+
+<p>"Before you kill them," they cried, "you must first kill us!"</p>
+
+<p>Surely this noble deed will live in history. There can scarcely be a
+finer picture of heroism than that of the venerable archbishop, with his
+cathedral blazing behind him, facing a mob of his own people in defence
+of their enemies.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
+<p>The same writer gives us some idea of the havoc wrought by the German
+shells: "The windows, that were the glory of the cathedral, were
+wrecked. Statues of saints and crusaders and cherubim lay in mangled
+fragments. The great bells, that for hundreds of years have sounded the
+Angelus<a name="FNanchor_148_148" id="FNanchor_148_148"></a><a href="#Footnote_148_148" class="fnanchor">[148]</a> for Rheims, were torn from their oak girders and melted
+into black masses of silver and copper, without shape and without sound.
+Never have I looked upon a picture of such wanton and wicked
+destruction."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p286.jpg" width="353" height="427" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Portal of Rheims Cathedral after Bombardment.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Central News.</i></h4>
+
+<p>In the square in front of the cathedral stands a fine statue of the Maid
+on horseback. Strange to say, though the square was ploughed up with
+shells, the figure of the Maid was uninjured; only the horse's legs were
+chipped and scarred. A French soldier had placed a tricolour in the
+outstretched hand of the figure. All through those days of terror and
+destruction the French flag was upheld by the arm of France's ancient
+deliverer.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of 28th September the German attack on Rheims was more
+violent than it had ever been before. From all parts of the Allied line
+came the same story of desperate attempts to break through, of
+hand-to-hand fighting, and terrible losses. That same evening the
+French, pushing forward, drove the Germans from their position. The
+whole French front moved forward, and, for the time being, Rheims was
+safe from capture, though big guns still rained shells upon it.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>On September 29, 1914, the first batch of Indian troops arrived at
+Marseilles. As the transports hove to in sight of the gleaming limestone
+cliffs that flank the port a message from the King was read to them. "I
+know," wrote his Majesty, "with what readiness my brave and loyal Indian
+soldiers are prepared to fulfil their sacred trust on the field of
+battle, shoulder to shoulder with their comrades from all parts of the
+Empire. Rest assured that you will always be in my thoughts and
+prayers."</p>
+
+<p>As the vessels approached the quays they were greeted with loud cheers
+from crowds of townsfolk, most of whom had never seen an Indian soldier
+before. They marvelled at the dark faces, the turbans, the soldierly
+bearing, and the fine equipment of our Indian brothers. Later in the day
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
+the troops were marched through the city. As our dusky warriors, with
+their bright eyes and gleaming teeth, swung along the streets, the
+people shook them by the hand and cheered them again and again. Young
+girls showered flowers upon them and pinned roses to their tunics and
+turbans. Perhaps it was the little, sturdy, smiling Gurkhas who aroused
+the greatest enthusiasm. As they advanced behind their pipers, men,
+women, and children clambered on to the tables and chairs of the caf&eacute;s
+to catch a glimpse of them, and the air rang with shouts of "<i>Vivent les
+Anglais!</i>"<a name="FNanchor_149_149" id="FNanchor_149_149"></a><a href="#Footnote_149_149" class="fnanchor">[149]</a> "<i>Vivent les Hindous!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>The men were afterwards marched off to a rest camp, where they remained
+for a few weeks, preparing for the fiery ordeal that awaited them.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p288.jpg" width="450" height="398" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Sikhs marching through Marseilles.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, London News Agency.</i></h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE RACE TO THE SEA.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>here was now a deadlock on the Aisne. The rival armies faced each other
+in trenches that had become almost as strong as fortresses, and both
+sides were powerless to advance. Every day there were attacks and
+counter-attacks, but they were very costly in life, and the ground
+gained was measured in yards. General Joffre had foreseen this as far
+back as the 18th of September, when he had informed Sir John French of
+his plan to bolt the Germans from their burrows.</p>
+
+<p>Now he proposed to send two new armies, numbering in all some 300,000
+men, to extend the line of the 6th Army, and fall fiercely on von
+Kluck's right flank.</p>
+
+<p>From the 11th of September onwards there was continual fighting on the
+right bank of the Oise. While this was going on, Joffre was slipping new
+forces to the north by rail. At first he took every man that could be
+spared from the fighting line along the Aisne. These troops, however,
+were not numerous enough to cope with the Germans, so two new armies
+were formed and pushed northward. One of them was commanded by General
+Castelnau,<a name="FNanchor_150_150" id="FNanchor_150_150"></a><a href="#Footnote_150_150" class="fnanchor">[150]</a> who, you will remember, had so grievously disappointed
+the Kaiser by beating the Bavarians on the heights near Nancy.<a name="FNanchor_151_151" id="FNanchor_151_151"></a><a href="#Footnote_151_151" class="fnanchor">[151]</a> His
+army was to lie to the north of the 6th French Army, with its centre
+crossing the river Somme. At the same time another new army was being
+formed at Amiens. It was under the command of General Maud'huy,<a name="FNanchor_152_152" id="FNanchor_152_152"></a><a href="#Footnote_152_152" class="fnanchor">[152]</a> who
+was a brigadier in the army of Lorraine when war broke out. Joffre had
+seen in him a soldier of the highest promise, and in three weeks had
+promoted him through all the grades to be the commander of an army. Not
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
+even in Napoleon's time had any soldier been advanced so rapidly.
+Maud'huy's army was to march eastwards on St. Quentin and strike at the
+rear of the enemy.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 714px;">
+<img src="images/p290.jpg" width="714" height="465" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>A Charge of French Light Cavalry at Lassigny.</h3>
+
+<h4>(<i>From the picture by F. Matania</i>. <i>By permission of The Sphere.</i>)</h4>
+
+<p>You may be sure that the Germans were not asleep while Joffre was making
+his preparations. They saw at once what his object was, and they did not
+lose an hour in making ready to parry his blow. They had plenty of men
+to spare, for their trenches on the Heights of the Aisne were so strong
+that they could be held by a very thin line of troops. The General Staff
+at once began shuffling its armies to and fro, while new forces were
+hurried up from Germany. The interest of the struggle had now passed
+from the front on the Aisne to the right flank of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>By the 20th of September the 6th French Army, under General Maunoury,
+was lying south of the village of Lassigny, a day's march to the north
+of the confluence of the Oise and the Aisne. Von Kluck had already
+extended his right to meet the French attack. Amidst the wooded hills
+which lie between the village and the Oise there was very heavy
+fighting, which lasted several days. The Germans had occupied Lassigny,
+and were drinking themselves drunk with the red wine and cider which
+they found in the village, when the French burst on them with the
+bayonet and tumbled them pell-mell out of the place. Next morning the
+tables were turned. German guns shelled the village, and German cavalry
+swept the French out of its ruins. The rival forces dug themselves in,
+and soon the conditions on the Aisne were repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile de Castelnau had got into position to the north of Lassigny,
+and fierce fighting was raging about Roye, which was lost and won, taken
+and retaken. If either side could break through at Roye or Lassigny, it
+would be able to turn against one or other of the armies to its right or
+left and roll it up. Neither side, however, could gain and keep a yard
+of ground at this "death angle." Again the line was extended; by the
+30th of September Maud'huy's army was advancing eastwards to the north
+of the Somme, only to find itself opposed by von Buelow's command. Every
+new French force brought up to extend the line was met and checked by a
+corresponding German force. Everywhere the enemy showed wonderful
+energy. While they were holding Maud'huy's army their troops were being
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
+hurried northwards behind their lines, and they were nowhere caught
+napping. Maud'huy dug himself in on the Albert plateau, and von Buelow
+could not drive him back. Here, too, there was deadlock.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p292.jpg" width="378" height="392" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Sketch Map to illustrate the Extension of the Allied Left.</h4>
+
+<p>Once more the French line was extended farther north, and as it extended
+so did the corresponding German front. Each side was attempting to
+outflank the other, and it was clear that the double movements could
+only be stopped by the sea. So the rival armies went clawing northwards.
+Between the Oise and Arras the French were holding their own with
+difficulty; in the Arras position they were fairly strong, but round
+Lille, which was held by French Territorials, they had but a mere ribbon
+of troops.</p>
+
+<p>In the closing days of September the French learnt that the Germans had
+begun a new and very dangerous move. Masses of German cavalry were
+sweeping across the Belgian flats into France. Uhlans were within sight
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
+of the sea, and were threatening Maud'huy's left flank round Lille and
+among the colliery villages to the north of Arras. There were rumours of
+many troop trains moving through Li&eacute;ge and Namur and Brussels, and it
+seemed that the cavalry on Maud'huy's flank were but the vanguard of a
+huge army which was about to be flung against the French rear.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was this all. The Germans had begun to besiege Antwerp. No one could
+say how long it could hold out. After the experience of Li&eacute;ge and Namur
+its chances were small, but it was hoped that the Belgian army might
+make an obstinate stand outside the circle of forts. No risks, however,
+could be taken. New armies must be moved without delay to the extreme
+left of the Allied line, in order to check the new German attack, and
+also to hold out a helping hand to the defenders of Antwerp.</p>
+
+<p>To this post of honour Sir John French now laid claim. At Mons his army
+had been on the left of the Allied line; now it was in the centre. This
+meant that it was far from its base, and could only obtain its supplies
+by cross-country routes which ran through the lines of communications of
+the French armies. Sir John now asked to be transferred to his old
+position on the extreme left wing, where he would be near the coast, and
+could be readily supplied with food, ammunition, and reinforcements. His
+fine, seasoned soldiers were wasted on the Aisne, where the fight had
+dwindled to a series of artillery duels, with here and there a sharp
+struggle in the advanced trenches. If, as seemed likely, the Germans
+were about to make a dash for the coast, in order to capture Calais and
+the Channel ports, and thus threaten England, the British army desired
+nothing better than the chance to stop it. In these circumstances,
+General Joffre agreed that the British army should be carried northward
+by train, and should take up a position on the left flank of Maud'huy's
+army, which early in October 1914 had reached the south bank of a canal
+running westwards from Lille through La Bass&eacute;e to Bethune.<a name="FNanchor_153_153" id="FNanchor_153_153"></a><a href="#Footnote_153_153" class="fnanchor">[153]</a></p>
+
+<p>I need not tell you that the transfer of an army from the Aisne to the
+Franco-Belgian border was a very difficult and delicate operation
+indeed. Our trenches on the Aisne were in many places only about 100
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
+yards from those of the enemy yet, platoon by platoon, battalion by
+battalion, and brigade by brigade, our men were shifted out of their
+trenches at night, and French soldiers were slipped in to take their
+places. The transfer began on 3rd October, when the 2nd Cavalry
+Division, under General Gough, marched to Compi&egrave;gne, where it took train
+through Amiens to St. Omer, which lies to the west of Bethune. For
+sixteen days the business of withdrawing our men from the Aisne and
+sending them northwards by train continued, and all the time the Germans
+were quite unaware of what was going on. They had one of the greatest
+surprises of their lives when they discovered that the British army was
+opposing them on the Franco-Belgian border. German prisoners could not
+believe their eyes when they saw that their captors wore the familiar
+khaki. They firmly believed that the British army was in the trenches of
+the Aisne valley.</p>
+
+<p>An officer writing home thus describes the transfer of the British
+army:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"We left the river Aisne, and now we are a long way north of
+that position. It was a wonderful move. French troops appeared
+out of the darkness and took our places. They had marched many
+miles, but were quite cheerful and calm, their only desire being
+to get into our 'dug-outs' and go to sleep. Then we marched down
+the hill into a comparative peace, and, joy of joys! were
+allowed to smoke and talk. It was a bitterly cold night, and we
+were dreadfully sleepy. We nodded as we trudged along. And so we
+entrained, and slept, closely packed indeed, but on beautiful
+soft cushions instead of the mud of a trench; the men were
+comfortable, being wedged by forties in covered trucks with
+clean straw for beds. We awoke in Paris. We passed slowly
+through, and slept again until we stopped for water at Amiens.</p>
+
+<p>"Our journey continued as fast as a train holding 1,000 men and
+their transport wagons can travel, and we were at Calais by
+evening. But a murrain on the foggy weather, which prevented us
+from catching a glimpse of the heights of Dover town! However,
+at another stopping-place there was a charming English girl
+giving the soldiers cigarettes, and the sight of her and a word
+or two made us doubly brave."</p></div>
+
+<p>The Second Corps was timed to arrive on the canal to the west of Bethune
+on 11th October. It was to connect up with Maud'huy's army holding the
+line south of the canal, and Gough's cavalry was to hold back the
+Germans until it was in position. Next day the Third Corps was to arrive
+and detrain at St. Omer. Then the cavalry was to clear its flank, and
+hold back the Germans again until the Third Corps was in position.
+Finally, it had to do similar work until the First Corps could arrive
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+and take its place in the long northward line. Such was the plan; and,
+thanks to the splendid manner in which the French and British staffs
+worked together, it succeeded. By 19th October 100,000 British soldiers
+had been silently and secretly withdrawn from their trenches on the
+Aisne, almost within eyeshot of the Germans, and had been carried 150
+miles by rail to their new positions. During the journey some of our men
+passed near enough to the Channel to see British warships far out on the
+gray waters.</p>
+
+<p>We won the race to the sea, but only by a short neck. How the Germans
+poured across Belgium, and how the remnants of the Belgian army, aided
+by a small British force, kept them at bay until the situation was
+saved, will be told in our next volume. The transfer of the British army
+from the Aisne to the Franco-Belgian border marks the close of the third
+great chapter of the war. Thenceforward, for many months, war was to be
+waged along a line of trenches extending from the wind-whipped dunes of
+the narrow seas to within sight of Alpine snows, a distance of more than
+450 miles.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p295.jpg" width="438" height="540" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>A Meeting of the Generals.</h3>
+
+<h4>(<i>Drawn by Paul Thiriat</i>. <i>By permission of The Sphere.</i>)</h4>
+
+<h4>The French artist who painted this picture writes:&mdash;"At night, somewhere
+near the front, inside an abandoned farmhouse in the midst of fields,
+two men are together&mdash;those on whom we set all our hopes, who give all
+their knowledge, their lives, for the freedom of the world. You never
+know where they are, and, if you do see them, still you must not know
+where you met them. They are nowhere and yet everywhere. Very often only
+a single sentry betrays their temporary shelter. The motor cars wait,
+panting, to carry them as quick as possible to wherever their presence
+is needed."</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE FIRST RUSSIAN ADVANCE TO CRACOW.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n Chapter IX. of this volume you learned something of the first clash
+of arms in Eastern Europe. I told you how two Russian armies beat a
+German army in East Prussia, and overran the greater part of the
+province. This success, you will remember, was short-lived. Von
+Hindenburg destroyed Samsonov's army at Tannenberg, and Rennenkampf's
+forces barely managed to escape. In Galicia, however, the Russians
+carried everything before them. They smote the Austrians hard, and for a
+time put them out of action. There were people in this country who
+believed that in a few weeks the Russian right would be across the
+Vistula, marching triumphantly towards Berlin; while the Russians in
+possession of Cracow would be advancing into Silesia and Hungary. Let us
+see what really happened.</p>
+
+<p>When I broke off my story von Hindenburg was following up Rennenkampf,
+who was rapidly falling back from K&ouml;nigsberg towards the Russian
+frontier. On 7th September 1914 the German general made a great advance
+towards the Niemen. His right moved along the railway from Gumbinnen
+towards Kovno, his centre pushed forward by way of Suwalki,<a name="FNanchor_154_154" id="FNanchor_154_154"></a><a href="#Footnote_154_154" class="fnanchor">[154]</a> while
+his right, which had detached troops to besiege the fortress of
+Ossowietz,<a name="FNanchor_155_155" id="FNanchor_155_155"></a><a href="#Footnote_155_155" class="fnanchor">[155]</a> on the Bobr, swept towards Grodno. The country through
+which he was now moving is one tangle of bog and lake; it is traversed
+by only three railway lines, but the roads are few. The troops moving
+east from Suwalki had to cross a causeway which threads the marshes to
+the east and south-east of that town. An army traversing such a country
+is at a great disadvantage. Men and guns and transport have to move
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+along narrow roads, with bogs and lakes on their flanks. It is almost as
+difficult to cross marsh roads as to cross the passes of a great
+mountain chain. The Russians had already learnt this by their bitter
+experiences in East Prussia.</p>
+
+<p>The country through which von Hindenburg was now advancing is famous in
+history as the theatre of a campaign by one of Napoleon's armies in
+1812. But whereas Napoleon invaded the region in midsummer, the Germans
+were advancing through it on the stormy eve of a Russian winter, and
+were hampered by much more transport than that which accompanied the
+French army.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p298.jpg" width="230" height="346" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Map to illustrate von Hindenburg's Advance to the Niemen
+and the Battle of Augustovo.</h4>
+
+<p>Rennenkampf was unable to offer much opposition to von Hindenburg as he
+pushed forward, nor would he have resisted him if he could. His object
+was to lure von Hindenburg on towards the Niemen, where he felt sure he
+could put an end to his advance. If he could force the Germans to
+retreat, he would be able to fall upon their rear as they marched back
+along the narrow roads with the deadly swamps and quagmires around them,
+and revenge Tannenberg. He therefore let the enemy come on, and only
+delayed him from time to time by a little rearguard fighting. The German
+troops which travelled by railway moved fast. On 20th September the
+siege of Ossowietz began, and next day the main bodies of the enemy
+reached the Niemen at three points, marked A, B, and C on the diagram.
+Rennenkampf by this time had got most of his men over the broad stream,
+and they were now lying in deep trenches on the low eastern shore. He
+had received large reinforcements, and he was now confident that he
+could prevent the Germans from crossing.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of 26th September von Hindenburg's heavy howitzers began
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>
+to throw their shells across the river at B, while his engineers built
+pontoon bridges. As soon as a bridge was completed, concealed Russian
+guns blew it to pieces. All day long the howitzers boomed, but there was
+no reply from the Russian side. At nightfall von Hindenburg felt sure
+that he had driven his enemy out of their trenches, and that next day he
+might safely attempt to cross the river.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the 27th bridges were again built and swung across the
+stream. The Russians waited until the Germans were on them, and then
+their guns smashed them to fragments. There was terrible loss on the
+German side, and nowhere could they make headway. At all points along
+the river they were held up in the same way. Meanwhile the siege of
+Ossowietz had hopelessly failed: in the spongy moss surrounding the
+"island" of solid ground on which the fortress is built no firm
+positions could be found for the big guns.</p>
+
+<p>The Russians were too strong for him, and on Sunday, 27th September, von
+Hindenburg gave the order to retreat. He now realized that he could not
+cross the Niemen, and that even if he could, his success would not force
+the Russians to withdraw troops from Galicia. The retreat was a
+difficult matter; but von Hindenburg, as you know, was a master of marsh
+warfare. Only in the centre, where he had to cross the swampy country to
+the east and south-east of Suwalki, was he in difficulties.</p>
+
+<p>Rennenkampf instantly followed him up, and by flinging his left well
+south towards the valley of the Bobr, endeavoured to cut off the German
+forces between Augustovo and the causeway leading to Suwalki. He had to
+push through the Forest of Augustovo, a region much like that in which
+von Hindenburg had destroyed Samsonov's army. Guided by the foresters of
+the district, his men slowly threaded the matted woods, and by 1st
+October had seized Augustovo. For two days there was a fierce rearguard
+action in the woods, and the Germans lost heavily in guns and prisoners.
+Rennenkampf claimed that 60,000 Germans had been killed, wounded, or
+captured; and if his estimate is correct, he had fully revenged
+Tannenberg. Von Hindenburg, however, managed to get the bulk of his
+force away, and by 9th October they were all back again in East Prussia,
+whither Rennenkampf could not follow them without the risk of being
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>
+entrapped in the woods and lakes and marshes where Samsonov had suffered
+disaster in the last days of August.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 704px;">
+<img src="images/p300.jpg" width="704" height="488" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>"Three Emperors' Corner."&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Central News.</i></h3>
+
+<h4>Here three empires meet&mdash;the German, Austrian and Russian&mdash;three empires
+that between them hold sway in Europe over more than 375 millions of
+people, Teutonic and Slav, and exercise authority over nearly 2&frac12; million
+square miles of territory&mdash;about two-thirds of the whole continent. In
+the foreground is seen a portion of German Silesia, on the right is
+Austrian Galicia, and in the background Russian Poland. The broad river
+is the Prgemeza; the smaller river is a tributary which here separates
+Austria from Russia.</h4>
+
+<p>Von Hindenburg's great advance to the Niemen had failed. It had achieved
+nothing; and meanwhile, as we shall soon hear, the Russians were
+advancing towards Cracow, and were drawing nearer and nearer every day
+to Silesia. A great effort had now to be made to check them, and von
+Hindenburg was ordered southward to undertake the task.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Now let us return to the Russians in Galicia. In the third week of
+September 1914, Russian armies appeared before the two chief fortresses
+of Central Galicia&mdash;Jaroslav and Przemysl. Both these strongholds are on
+the river San, and a glance at the map on page <a href="#Page_303">303</a> will show you that
+before the Russians could move either on Cracow or across the
+Carpathians into Hungary both of them must be captured. At one time the
+Austrians had meant to make Jaroslav a first-class fortress; but they
+had not finished the fortifications, and it was now defended by a strong
+circle of entrenchments and a number of redoubts on both banks of the
+river. Jaroslav was expected to offer a stubborn resistance, but it fell
+within three days. Przemysl, however, was a very much harder nut to
+crack. It stands in a strong natural position amidst the foothills of
+the Carpathians, and its forts and lines of defence were very strong
+indeed. For weeks it had been preparing for the impending siege. The
+"useless mouths" had been sent away; gangs of workmen had been busy
+strengthening all the weak points, and a large store of ammunition had
+been collected. The garrison numbered about 30,000 men. On 22nd
+September the Russians closed in on the place, and soon completely
+surrounded it. As the Russian commander was short of big siege guns, he
+determined to starve the place into surrender. It was known that the
+supply of food within the city was not large, and the fortress was
+expected to yield in a few weeks at most. It held out for fully six
+months.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving an army to mask the fortress, the remainder of the Russian
+forces in Galicia pushed on towards Cracow, which I have already
+described in Chapter VIII. of this volume. Cracow stands, as you know,
+on the northern edge of the Carpathians, at a point where the Vistula is
+as broad as the Thames at Windsor. The hills on the north and south were
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
+strongly fortified, but the real defence of the city was the circle of
+deep entrenchments, pushed so far out from the town that the siege guns
+of the enemy could not get within range of it. While the Russians were
+advancing, the Austrian garrison of at least 100,000 men laboured night
+and day to make the fortified zone impregnable.</p>
+
+<p>They knew&mdash;none better&mdash;that Cracow was the key-fortress of Eastern
+Europe. If it fell, the Russians would be able to advance both into
+Germany and into Austria. Forty miles west of Cracow they would be in
+Silesia, the largest and most important manufacturing area of Germany,
+and the seat of its chief coal and iron mines. One-quarter of all the
+coal mined in Germany comes from Silesia, and it has some of the richest
+zinc deposits in the world. Its chemical and textile manufactures are
+the most extensive in all the Fatherland, and it has well been called
+the German Lancashire. If the Russians could enter Silesia and begin to
+lay waste its crowded industrial towns, a blow would be struck at the
+very heart of Germany. Berlin, too, would be in peril, for a road to the
+capital would be opened along the river Oder and behind the line of
+frontier fortresses.</p>
+
+<p>The capture of Cracow by the Russians would not only imperil Germany,
+but it would make them complete masters of Galicia. You already know
+what a very important part petrol plays in modern warfare. Motor cars,
+aeroplanes, and submarines must have petrol, or they cannot move. The
+petroleum of the world is chiefly found in America, round about Baku on
+the shores of the Caspian Sea, in Galicia, and in Rumania. The British
+navy had stopped the exports of petroleum from America; the Caspian oil
+fields were in the hands of Russia, and German supplies could only be
+obtained from Galicia and Rumania. The Galician oil fields, which are
+amongst the richest in Europe, lie along the northern slopes of the
+Carpathians. Once the Russians were masters of Galicia these oil fields
+would be in their hands, and the only other possible source of supply
+for the Germans would be in Rumania. Before the war began the Germans
+had provided themselves with huge supplies of petrol, but even in
+September 1914 these stocks were rapidly shrinking.</p>
+
+<p>Once the Russians captured Cracow they could begin the great task of
+pushing across the Carpathians into Hungary. You know that there is no
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
+love lost between the Hungarians and the Austrians. Should Hungary be
+threatened, and the Austrians be unable to send armies to drive back the
+invader, it seemed more than likely that the Hungarians would break away
+from the Germans and Austrians, and try to make peace on their own
+account. Nor was Hungary alone threatened. One hundred miles to the west
+of Cracow is the "Gap of Moravia," through which the river March flows
+to the Danube. It is the old highway from Germany into Austria, and
+along it runs the great railway which connects Silesia with Vienna. Thus
+the capture of Cracow would open a road not only to Berlin but to the
+capital of Austria as well.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p303.jpg" width="495" height="296" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>First Russian Advance towards Cracow.</h4>
+
+<p>Now I think you can understand why the defence of Cracow was so
+important. You will see from this map how far the Russians had advanced
+towards the city by the end of September. On the last day of the month
+Russian cavalry were within a hundred miles of Cracow, and high hopes of
+speedy success seemed about to be realized. But just when everything was
+promising well the Russians began to retreat, and by the second week of
+October they were back behind the San. All the ground that had been
+gained to the west of the river was lost. The Russian retirement was
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>
+not caused by defeat, but had been made necessary by the movements of
+the Germans farther north. Von Hindenburg had launched huge armies
+against Russian Poland, and the Grand Duke now needed all his forces to
+stem their advance. The story of the great struggle that followed must
+be left for our next volume.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>A splendid deed of heroism was done by a Russian gunner during the
+fighting in Galicia. Most of the guns in his battery had been smashed by
+the shells of the enemy, and he and his surviving comrades were ordered
+to retire with the remaining guns. As they sullenly retreated, the
+gunner saw a baby girl toddling from the doorway of one of the houses of
+the village right into the road on which the shells were falling fast.
+At once the brave fellow ran to the child's rescue. Just as he reached
+her a shrapnel shell burst overhead. Instantly the man threw himself
+down, and shielded the child's body with his own. One bullet passed
+through his back, injuring him so badly that he could not rise from the
+ground. Two of his comrades went to his assistance, and carried him and
+the little girl into a place of safety. For this fine deed of dauntless
+courage all three men received the Cross of St. George.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Here is the story of a heroine&mdash;the daughter of a Russian colonel. She
+cut her hair short, and, donning the uniform, accompanied her father's
+regiment. During the battles in the Augustovo woods she acted as
+orderly, scout, and telegraphist, and was afterwards appointed to
+command a platoon. On one occasion while she was working the telegraph
+she tapped a message from the German Staff giving details of a movement
+about to be begun against the Russian centre. Thanks to her, the German
+plan was foiled. When her regiment passed through Vilna crowds gathered
+at the station to greet her, but they were unable to distinguish the
+girl officer from the rest of her comrades.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2>
+
+<h3>ANTWERP AS IT WAS.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">I</span>n the first half of the sixteenth century Antwerp was the commercial
+capital of the world. The great historian of the Dutch Republic<a name="FNanchor_156_156" id="FNanchor_156_156"></a><a href="#Footnote_156_156" class="fnanchor">[156]</a>
+says, "Venice, Nuremberg,<a name="FNanchor_157_157" id="FNanchor_157_157"></a><a href="#Footnote_157_157" class="fnanchor">[157]</a> Augsburg,<a name="FNanchor_158_158" id="FNanchor_158_158"></a><a href="#Footnote_158_158" class="fnanchor">[158]</a> Bruges were sinking; but
+Antwerp, with its deep and convenient river, stretched its arm to the
+ocean, and caught the golden prize as it fell from its sister cities'
+grasp. . . . No city except Paris surpassed it in population; none
+approached it in commercial splendour."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p305.jpg" width="132" height="161" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>Close to the great and beautiful cathedral of Antwerp is the Grand'
+Place, in the middle of which there is a monument representing a running
+warrior flinging into the river a huge hand which he has just cut off
+from a prostrate giant's arm. This monument is intended to explain the
+fanciful origin of the city's name. Two centuries before the fall of
+Troy&mdash;so runs the story&mdash;a savage giant, named Antigonus, held sway over
+the river Scaldis&mdash;that is, the Scheldt. He built himself a castle on
+the river bank, and levied tribute on every vessel that passed up and
+down the broad stream. The tribute was very heavy&mdash;no less than half the
+merchandise in the passing ships. If the mariners refused to pay the
+tribute he seized them, cut off their hands, and flung them into the
+river.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 702px;">
+<img src="images/p306.jpg" width="702" height="478" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>A Bird's-eye View of Antwerp.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photo, Topical Press.</i></h3>
+
+<h4>This photograph was taken from one of the towers of Antwerp's
+magnificent cathedral&mdash;the largest and most beautiful Gothic church in
+the Netherlands. Its north tower rises to a height of more than four
+hundred feet. On the south side of the cathedral is the Place Verte
+(Green Place), with a statue of Rubens, whose famous picture, "The
+Descent from the Cross," formerly hung in the south transept. In the north
+transept was another of his great paintings, "The Elevation of the Cross."</h4>
+
+<p>At length a deliverer arose, one Salvius Brabo, a man of such valorous
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
+renown that the province of Brabant received its name from him. Brabo
+challenged the giant to single combat, slew him, cut off both his hands,
+and flung them into the Scheldt. Thus <i>Hand-werpen</i>&mdash;that is,
+"hand-throwing"&mdash;became the name of the great city. In the coat-of-arms
+of Antwerp you still see two severed hands flying through the air over a
+castle. Probably the real origin of the city's name is found in the old
+Flemish words <i>'an t' werf</i>, which mean "on the wharf."</p>
+
+<p>The city began to decline during the reign of Philip II., who was King
+of Spain and master of the Netherlands. In 1576 Spanish soldiers whose
+pay was in arrears broke into mutiny, and stormed and sacked several of
+the richest towns of Flanders, including Antwerp. Early in November of
+that year they entered the city, burnt more than a thousand houses, slew
+more than eight thousand citizens, plundered right and left, and behaved
+with the utmost cruelty. Such was the "Spanish Fury," which still forms
+a landmark in Flemish history. With the help of William of Orange,<a name="FNanchor_159_159" id="FNanchor_159_159"></a><a href="#Footnote_159_159" class="fnanchor">[159]</a>
+the Spaniards were driven out of Antwerp.</p>
+
+<p>In 1648 the city received another grievous set-back: it fell into the
+hands of the Dutch, who closed the Scheldt against sea-going vessels.
+Then for a hundred and fifty years it remained only a shadow of its
+former self. In 1706 it surrendered to Marlborough after his victory at
+Ramillies. The real restorer of its prosperity was Napoleon I., who, you
+will remember, regarded Antwerp as "a pistol aimed at the heart of
+England." He constructed a harbour and new quays, and opened the port to
+the ships of the world. Almost at once the trade of the city revived in
+an astonishing fashion. The French remained masters of Antwerp down to
+the year before the Battle of Waterloo, when the British, Prussians, and
+Belgians besieged and captured it.</p>
+
+<p>In 1830 it once more fell into the hands of an enemy. During the civil
+war of 1830-32, when the Belgians were striving to throw off the yoke of
+Holland and make themselves independent, Antwerp was the scene of a very
+curious kind of strife. A Dutch garrison held the citadel, and day by
+day bombarded the city. For two years the Dutchmen defied all the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
+efforts of the Belgians to dislodge them. At last a British and French
+force was sent to turn them out. The French bombarded the citadel for
+twenty-four days, while a British fleet blockaded the river. In December
+1832 the citadel surrendered, and when it fell Belgium had won her
+independence.</p>
+
+<p>Such, in brief, is the stormy history of Antwerp down to the autumn of
+the year 1914. A visitor to the old city in the early days of July would
+have imagined that its peace was secured for ever. No one could believe
+that in less than three months this haven of peaceful trade was to be a
+place of slaughter, destruction, and desolation. The "Spanish Fury" was
+soon to be out-Heroded; the "German Fury" was already preparing.</p>
+
+<p>In July 1914 Antwerp, with its population of 400,000 souls and its vast
+trade&mdash;which exceeded in value &pound;100,000,000 per year&mdash;was not only one
+of the great business cities of the world, but was considered to be one
+of the strongest of all fortified places in Europe. Before an enemy
+could capture the city he would have to break through four distinct
+lines of defence, each of which, prior to this war, was considered
+strong enough to oppose any force which could be brought against it.</p>
+
+<p>The outermost line of forts began at Lierre,<a name="FNanchor_160_160" id="FNanchor_160_160"></a><a href="#Footnote_160_160" class="fnanchor">[160]</a> and swept round in a
+great circle south through Fort Waelhem to the Scheldt, and north
+through Fort Schooten to near the Dutch frontier. Two to three miles
+within this outer line of forts was a second line of defence formed by
+the rivers Nethe<a name="FNanchor_161_161" id="FNanchor_161_161"></a><a href="#Footnote_161_161" class="fnanchor">[161]</a> and Rupel, which, along with the Scheldt, make a
+great natural waterway defending three sides of the city. If need be,
+the valleys of these rivers can be flooded, and thus form an additional
+barrier to the approach of an enemy. Some six miles within the line of
+the Nethe and Rupel, and about three miles from the centre of the city,
+was another chain of forts girdling it from the Scheldt on the south to
+the Scheldt on the north. Outside this inner line of defence, towards
+the north and west, were two other areas, which could be flooded in
+order to keep back the enemy. From the moment that the first German
+soldier set foot on the soil of Belgium, the military authorities were
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
+at work night and day strengthening the defences, and clearing away all
+the trees and buildings that lay in the line of fire of the guns in the
+forts.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p309.jpg" width="286" height="345" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Entrenched Camp of Antwerp.</h4>
+
+<p>Barbed-wire entanglements connected with the electric supply of the city
+covered acres of ground; stakes were driven point upwards to form
+obstacles; man-traps innumerable were constructed, and the fields all
+around were sown with mines. Preparations were made to blow up the
+bridges over the network of canals and rivers to the south of the city;
+machine guns and quick-firers were mounted everywhere; and at night
+searchlights swept over the zone of destruction, and made it bright as
+day.</p>
+
+<p>In this way Antwerp prepared to stand its latest siege.</p>
+
+
+<br /><br /><br /><br />
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SIEGE AND FALL OF ANTWERP.</h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="dropcap">T</span>he main bodies of the Germans swept through Belgium into France in the
+last week of August 1914, and the Belgian army, overwhelmed but
+undismayed, retired on its great national bulwark of defence. Yet not
+until 28th September did the curtain rise on the first act of Antwerp's
+tragedy. Many people in this country thought that Antwerp would be left
+alone until the conquest of France was complete. The Germans, indeed,
+made a proposal to King Albert that, if he would promise to keep his
+army quiet within the fortifications, the city would not be attacked.
+You know enough of King Albert to be quite sure what his answer was.</p>
+
+<p>Why did the Germans besiege Antwerp? Chiefly because they were well
+aware that the Belgian army, now within the shelter of its forts, was in
+a position to fall on the German flank whenever the chance might arise.
+While Antwerp stood it was a source of serious anxiety to the German
+Staff. All the country between Antwerp and the sea still remained in
+Belgian hands, and thus Britain might send reinforcements to Belgium at
+any moment. If she did so, the Germans would have to fight not only in
+France but also in Belgium, where their communications were in danger of
+being cut. While the Belgian army remained in being, a large German army
+had to be kept in the country, and thus forces that were badly needed
+elsewhere were not available. Further, the capture of this great port
+would be a feather in the German cap, and would greatly hearten the
+subjects of the Kaiser. There was need of a new victory to give them
+cheer, for the retreat of their armies, and the deadlock that had now
+set in on the Aisne, had dashed their hopes of that speedy success which
+they had expected.</p>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
+<p>More than a month before the siege began, Antwerp had a foretaste of her
+fate. "At eleven minutes past one o'clock on the morning of 25th August
+death came to Antwerp out of the air." A Zeppelin suddenly appeared
+overhead, humming like a swarm of angry bees. A few minutes later
+something like a falling star dropped from it. Then there was a rending,
+shattering crash, followed by another and still another. Buildings fell
+as though a giant had hit them with a sledge-hammer. Ten people were
+killed and forty wounded, and nearly a thousand houses were damaged. One
+bomb was dropped within a hundred yards of the royal palace, in which
+the king and queen were sleeping, and another fell within two hundred
+yards of the Staff headquarters. It is said that one of the bombs fell
+on the German club and destroyed a statue of the Kaiser!</p>
+
+<p>On the same day the Belgians moved out of Antwerp and attacked the
+Germans. They drove them out of Malines; but though they fought like
+heroes, they were overpowered by the large numbers of fresh troops that
+were hurried up. The Belgians were forced back once more, and at the
+beginning of the last week in September the Germans in real earnest set
+about the work of reducing the forts. They brought up their howitzers
+south of the river Nethe, and on the 28th, at a range of seven and a
+half miles, began to drop their shells on Forts Waelhem and Wavre Ste.
+Catherine. There was not a gun in these forts that had a range of more
+than six miles. The German fire was directed by observers in captive
+balloons, and was very accurate.</p>
+
+<p>All day the roar of big guns and the crash of bursting shells were
+heard. Meanwhile the Belgians fought hard to the south of the Nethe, and
+had some success. But it was clear to everybody that the forts would
+soon be a heap of ruins. On the 29th Fort Wavre Ste. Catherine was
+smashed beyond repair, and the magazine blew up. Waelhem was badly hit,
+but managed to resist all day.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning the German guns gave their full attention to Fort Waelhem
+and Fort Lierre. The air was filled with shrieking shell and bursting
+shrapnel. When the big shells, which the Belgians called "Antwerp
+expresses," fell in a field, they threw up a geyser of earth 200 feet
+high; when they dropped in a river or canal, a huge waterspout arose;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
+and when they fell on a village, it crumpled into complete ruin. A
+shell that flew over Fort Waelhem fell on the waterworks and broke down
+the embankment of the reservoir. The water poured into half a mile of
+the Belgian trenches, and flooded out the defenders, who were thus
+prevented from carrying supplies to the fort. Meanwhile the citizens
+were short of water, and had no means of putting out any fires that
+might arise. On Thursday, 1st October, all the southern forts were
+destroyed, and by nightfall the Belgians had fallen back to the northern
+bank of the Nethe, where trenches had already been prepared. Here, on
+the second line of defence, they made a most stubborn stand. Within the
+city there was still hope. Although the citizens could hear the faint
+thunder of the guns, though they saw the dead and the wounded being
+brought in, and German aeroplanes circling above them, they still hoped
+that the enemy might be held off until the British could arrive and save
+the city.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p312.jpg" width="466" height="305" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>Belgians intrenched on the Nethe.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Photopress.</i></h4>
+
+<p>By the afternoon of 3rd October the prospect was black indeed. Forts
+Waelhem and Lierre had been pounded into silence, and a strong German
+force was striving to cross the Nethe. Already several pontoon bridges
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
+had been built, but in each case they had been blown to pieces before
+they could be used. Nevertheless every soldier knew that unless help
+came the Germans were bound to be over the river before long. The
+Belgians, who had been fighting desperately for a fortnight, were now
+weary and heavy-eyed from lack of sleep; the hospitals were overflowing
+with wounded; and the citizens began to lose heart. Preparations were
+made to transfer the government to Ostend, and many of the well-to-do
+inhabitants departed for Holland or England. The next day, however,
+brought good news&mdash;a British force was coming with heavy guns.</p>
+
+<p>At one o'clock on the afternoon of Sunday, 4th October, Mr. Winston
+Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, reached Antwerp, where he
+remained for three days. He persuaded the authorities to continue their
+resistance, and went out to the trenches, where he had a rather narrow
+escape from a burst of shrapnel. His arrival awakened a new spirit of
+hopefulness in the townsfolk.</p>
+
+<p>Late that evening the vanguard of the British force arrived by train
+from Ostend. It consisted of a brigade of marines, 2,000 strong. Without
+an hour's delay the men were marched off to the trenches on the Nethe,
+where they lay to the left of the weary Belgians, who were inspired to
+fresh efforts at their coming. Next day the whole of the British force,
+6,000 in all, arrived. Four battalions of marines were the only regulars
+in the force; the remainder were volunteers, many of whom had never
+before handled a rifle. Some of them had no pouches or water-bottles or
+overcoats, while others had to stick their bayonets in their putties or
+tie them to their belts with string. Each of the two naval brigades into
+which the force was organized consisted of four battalions named after
+famous admirals. The 1st Brigade consisted of the Drake, Benbow,<a name="FNanchor_162_162" id="FNanchor_162_162"></a><a href="#Footnote_162_162" class="fnanchor">[162]</a>
+Hawke,<a name="FNanchor_163_163" id="FNanchor_163_163"></a><a href="#Footnote_163_163" class="fnanchor">[163]</a> and Collingwood<a name="FNanchor_164_164" id="FNanchor_164_164"></a><a href="#Footnote_164_164" class="fnanchor">[164]</a> battalions; the 2nd Brigade, of the
+Nelson, Howe,<a name="FNanchor_165_165" id="FNanchor_165_165"></a><a href="#Footnote_165_165" class="fnanchor">[165]</a> Hood,<a name="FNanchor_166_166" id="FNanchor_166_166"></a><a href="#Footnote_166_166" class="fnanchor">[166]</a> and Anson<a name="FNanchor_167_167" id="FNanchor_167_167"></a><a href="#Footnote_167_167" class="fnanchor">[167]</a> battalions. There were many
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>
+London naval volunteers in one of the brigades. Though their equipment
+was very imperfect and their training had scarcely begun, they fought in
+the trenches with all the cheerfulness and doggedness of their race.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 705px;">
+<img src="images/p314.jpg" width="705" height="469" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>The Flight into Holland.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>From a picture by Allan Stewart.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Much was expected from a British armoured train which had been built in
+Antwerp, and was mounted with four 4.7-inch naval guns, worked by
+Belgian gunners under the direction of British bluejackets.
+Unfortunately it had but little opportunity of harassing the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>That night the Germans tried hard to cross the river, but were driven
+back by the British marines. Late on Monday, the 5th, there was a
+terrible bombardment of the Belgian centre, and some thousands of
+Germans either swam or waded across the stream, and dug themselves in on
+the northern bank. Early on Tuesday morning the passage of the Nethe had
+been won, and the defenders had been driven back upon the inner circle
+of forts. The guns of these forts were out of date, and were hopelessly
+outranged and outclassed by the howitzers of the enemy. The end was
+drawing near.</p>
+
+<p>By this time all the country between the inner forts and the Nethe was a
+wilderness of death and desolation, of blackened ruins and smoking
+haystacks, of torn and slashed fields, strewn with the bodies of the
+slain. On Tuesday evening the situation was hopeless, and the government
+left in haste for Ostend. The German general sent a flag of truce with a
+demand for surrender, and threatened to bombard the city should it be
+refused. The Belgians, however, would not yet give in.</p>
+
+<p>That evening the great oil tanks on the western side of the Scheldt were
+fired lest their contents should fall into the hands of the enemy. A
+dense black mass of smoke drifted over the city, and the smell of
+burning filled the air. The machinery of several large ships that might
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
+prove useful to the enemy was also wrecked, and all munitions of war
+were sent out of the city by rail.</p>
+
+<p>Not until next morning did the citizens learn that the government had
+departed. The newspapers announced that steamers were waiting at the
+quays to carry the inhabitants into safety. In the great Zoological
+Gardens keepers were busy shooting the fiercer wild animals. The Germans
+had given notice that the bombardment of the city would begin at ten
+o'clock that very evening. Then and only then did the courage of the
+townsfolk fail. They saw their own soldiers streaming across the bridge
+of boats towards the western bank of the river, and they knew that all
+was lost. Then began an exodus from the city, the like of which has
+probably never before been seen in all the world's history. Wellnigh
+half a million fugitives, not only from Antwerp but from all the
+countryside for twenty miles round, poured along the roads into Holland,
+or struggled on the quays to escape by water. Every vessel, no matter of
+what description, was pressed into service, and the broad stream was
+choked with tramps, dredgers, ferry-boats, barges, yachts, tugs, and
+even rafts, all packed with terror-stricken men, women, and children,
+and the little belongings that they could carry with them. For hours the
+overloaded craft lay in the stream, while the crowds on board watched
+the flames leaping up from the buildings of the city, which had been
+fired by bombs. As each bomb burst, a great sigh of terror went up from
+the homeless, helpless thousands.</p>
+
+<p>Even more terrible were the scenes along the highways, where soldiers
+and civilians were mixed together in frightful confusion. An American
+correspondent says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"By mid-afternoon on Wednesday the road from Antwerp to Ghent, a
+distance of forty miles, was a solid mass of refugees, and the
+same was true of every road, every lane, every footpath leading
+in a westerly or a northerly direction. The people fled in motor
+cars and in carriages, in delivery wagons, in furniture vans, in
+farm carts, in omnibuses, in vehicles drawn by oxen, by donkeys,
+even by cows; on horseback, on bicycles; and there were
+thousands upon thousands afoot. I saw men trundling
+wheel-barrows piled high with bedding, and with their children
+perched upon the bedding. I saw sturdy young peasants carrying
+their aged parents in their arms. I saw women of fashion in fur
+coats and high-heeled shoes staggering along clinging to the
+ends of wagons. I saw white-haired men and women grasping the
+harness of the gun teams or the stirrup leathers of the
+troopers, who, themselves exhausted from many days of fighting,
+slept in their saddles as they rode. I saw springless farm
+wagons literally heaped with wounded soldiers with piteous white
+faces; the bottoms of the wagons leaked, and left a trail of
+blood behind. . . . The confusion was beyond all imagination,
+the clamour deafening; the rattle of wheels, the throbbing of
+motors, the clatter of hoofs, the cracking of whips, the groans
+of the wounded, the cries of women, the whimpering of children,
+and always the monotonous shuffle, shuffle, shuffle of countless
+weary feet."<a name="FNanchor_168_168" id="FNanchor_168_168"></a><a href="#Footnote_168_168" class="fnanchor">[168]</a></p></div>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p317.jpg" width="463" height="311" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h4>British Naval Brigade in the Trenches outside Antwerp.<br />
+
+<i>Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd.</i></h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
+<p>At least 200,000 of the refugees crossed into Holland, where they were
+kindly received, and were provided with food and shelter. Some sought
+refuge in England; but thousands of others fell by the wayside, where
+they perished of exposure and starvation.</p>
+
+<p>The remainder of the pitiful story is soon told. Once the German guns
+were across the Nethe there was nothing left for the defenders to do but
+to make for the coast with all speed, so as to escape from being cut off
+by the enemy. By the morning of Friday, the 9th, nearly the whole of the
+garrison was across the Scheldt. Three battalions of the British force
+delayed their departure, and arrived on the bank of the river, to find
+that the bridge of boats had been destroyed. They managed to cross on
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
+rafts and barges; but one party, believing itself to be headed off by
+the Germans, marched north into Holland. Another party was forced to
+surrender, and a third sailed down the river and landed on Dutch
+territory. Of course those who took refuge in Holland were
+interned.<a name="FNanchor_169_169" id="FNanchor_169_169"></a><a href="#Footnote_169_169" class="fnanchor">[169]</a> The British losses were 37 killed, 193 wounded, nearly
+1,000 missing&mdash;that is, prisoners&mdash;and 1,560 interned in Holland. About
+18,000 Belgian troops were also driven across the frontier, and many
+were captured by the Germans. Thus in disaster and gloom ended the
+gallant attempt to save Antwerp.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Two hours before midnight on the evening of Wednesday, 7th October 1914,
+the great shells began to fall on the doomed city. It was almost as
+deserted as a city of the dead. There were no lights in the streets;
+but, as the shells exploded, lurid flames began to arise. On the Scheldt
+barges were burning, and the waters beneath them glowed blood-red in the
+light of the flames. As the huge projectiles struck the buildings they
+collapsed like houses of cards, and soon there was scarcely a street in
+the southern quarter of the town which was not battered into shapeless
+ruin. The historical buildings of the city, however, were spared.</p>
+
+<p>In the gray dawn of October 9th the bombardment ceased. Between eight
+and nine o'clock the burgomaster went out to surrender the city. About
+one o'clock the Germans marched in and tramped along the deserted
+streets. Sixty thousand men in review order passed the new governor, but
+there was not a living soul to greet them. Not a single spectator stood
+on the pavement; no face was seen at a window; not a flag waved. The
+American correspondent already quoted thus describes the march past:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Each regiment was headed by its field music and colours, and
+when darkness fell and the street lamps were lighted, the shrill
+music of fifes, the rattle of drums, and the tramp of marching
+feet reminded me of a torchlight parade. Hard on the heels of
+the infantry rumbled artillery, battery after battery, until one
+wondered where Krupp found time or steel to make them. These
+were the forces that had been almost in constant action for the
+last two weeks, and that for thirty-six hours had poured death
+and destruction into the city; yet the horses were well groomed
+and the harness well polished. Behind the field batteries
+rumbled quick-firers, and then, heralded by a blare of trumpets
+and the crash of kettledrums, came the cavalry, cuirassiers in
+helmets and breastplates of burnished steel, hussars in
+befrogged jackets and fur busbies, and finally the Uhlans,
+riding amid forests of lances under a cloud of fluttering
+pennons. But this was not all nor nearly all. For after the
+Uhlans came bluejackets of the naval division, broad-shouldered,
+bewhiskered fellows, with caps worn rakishly and the roll of the
+sea in their gait. Then Bavarian infantry in dark blue, Saxon
+infantry in light blue, and Austrians in uniforms of beautiful
+silver-gray, and last of all a detachment of gendarmes in silver
+and bottle-green."</p></div>
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 80%;">
+<img src="images/p319.jpg" width="396" height="555" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+<h3>Antwerp under Bombardment.</h3>
+
+<h4>(<i>From the picture by Cyrus Cuneo.</i>)</h4>
+
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>
+<p>The curtain descends upon the tragedy of Antwerp, and as we rise from
+its contemplation two pictures remain fixed in our memories&mdash;the one, a
+march of triumph, with all the pomp and circumstance of war, the fanfare
+of trumpets, the rattle of drums, the gay uniforms, the gallant
+chargers, the nodding plumes, the stir and movement of victorious
+legions; the other, long, long trails of anguished men, distraught
+women, and sobbing children, bereft at one stroke of home, kindred, and
+possessions, driven forth to perish of hunger by the wayside, to begin
+life anew as exiles in a foreign land, or to return to their ruined
+homes as the subjects of a pitiless conqueror. Never were the terrible
+contrasts of war thrown into sharper relief; never was the ruthlessness
+of armed strife so painfully brought home to the onlooking world. A
+mighty nation, drunk with the lust of empire, had trampled to ruin a
+little, toiling people, innocent of offence in the sight of God and man.
+It had dared to defend itself, and for this heinous crime an
+overwhelming foe "slew their young men with the sword in the house of
+their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man
+or him that stooped for age." The blare of trumpets and the roll of
+drums may stop the ears of men to every cry of agony, and deaden their
+hearts to every impulse of mercy; but they can avail nothing before Him
+who has said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<h3>END OF VOLUME II.</h3>
+
+<br /><br />
+<h4>PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.</h4>
+
+
+<br /><br />
+<div class="footnotes">
+<h4>FOOTNOTES:</h4>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> See p. 89, vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> See chaps. x. and xi., vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_7">8</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_6">5</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> See p. 199, vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> This is really the same word as "sepoys," by which the
+native soldiers in India were first known to Europeans.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> Original inhabitants of Algeria and Morocco. Three-fifths
+of the Algerians are Berbers.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Village of Somersetshire, famous for its limestone cliffs
+and caves.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Born 1475, died 1524.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Kon-day.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> B&agrave;nsh.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> M&#333;-b&#363;zh.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> May-ze-air.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> See map, p. <a href="#Page_20">19</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Shar-leh-rwa&acute;.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Ski (<i>sh&#275;</i>) are long, narrow pieces of wood, from 7 to 12
+feet in length and from 2&frac12; to 3 inches wide, which are bound to the feet
+with leather straps, and are used for travelling rapidly over snow. The
+Chasseurs Alpins&mdash;that is, the French soldiers who operate in the
+Alps&mdash;wear ski.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> See diagram p. <a href="#Page_15">15</a></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Leen-ye&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Katr-br&aacute;h.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Dove. A German aeroplane is so called.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> Slight arch or upward bend.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Subaltern, officer below the rank of captain.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Place in East Prussia, also known as Tannenberg. A battle
+was fought there in 1410, when the Teutonic Knights, who were then
+masters of East Prussia, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the
+Russians.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> <i>Ab&acute;sant</i> (give a nasal sound to the <i>n</i>.)</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> The Peninsular War was fought between August 1808 and June
+1814. Wellington, the British general, drove the French out of Spain
+into France, and in March 1814 invaded that country and reached
+Toulouse.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> <i>Kosh-tsy&#363;sh&acute;ko</i>, born 1746, died 1817. In 1794 he raised
+the standard of Polish independence at Cracow, defeated the Russians,
+and defended Warsaw for two months. He was defeated, and, after being
+imprisoned, was released and retired to Switzerland, where he died.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> <i>P&acute;sh&eacute;-mee-sell</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> <i>Var&acute;show</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> <i>N&#257;-ref&acute;</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> <i>Var&acute;tay</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> <i>Goom-bin&acute;-nen</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> See p. 80, vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> See p. 44, vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> <i>Che<u>ch</u>s</i>. Pronounce the <i>ch</i> underlined as in the Scottish
+word "loch."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> <i>Soo-val&acute;kee</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> <i>Kov&acute;no</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> <i>M'l&#257;&acute;var</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> Hollow balls of iron filled with explosives, and burst by
+means of a lighted fuse. They are usually thrown at the enemy by hand.
+The grenadiers were so called because they were specially trained to
+throw grenades.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> See p. 63, vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> The German name of St. Petersburg was changed to the
+Russian form, Petrograd, by order of the Tsar on September 1.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> See p. 32, vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> 130 miles south-east of Belgrade. It was the birthplace of
+Constantine the Great.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> See map on p. 8, vol. i.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> The greatest of all the Russian Tsars; born 1672, died
+1725. He travelled abroad for two years, during which he learned
+shipbuilding in Holland and England. It was he who built St. Petersburg
+in order to have "a window looking out on Europe."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> Great industrial town of Russian Poland, about 75 miles
+south-west of Warsaw.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> <i>Fr&#257;-meh-ree&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Place 35 miles west of Kandahar, Afghanistan; the scene of
+a British defeat by the Afghans, July 27, 1880.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> <i>Leh-k&#257;-to&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> <i>Kam-bray&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Lon-dreh-see&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> <i>D&#363;-play&acute;</i> (b. 1697, d. 1763), governor of the French
+Indies. It was Clive's brilliant defence of Arcot which brought about
+the failure of his plans and led to his recall.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> <i>M&#257;-rw&#257;&eacute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> General Officer Commanding.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Royal Horse Artillery.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> British general (b. 1761, d. 1809), hero of the famous
+retreat from Astorga to Corunna (1809). He was shot at the moment when
+the British, in sight of the sea, faced about and drove off the French,
+and was buried in the citadel at Corunna, in the north-west of Spain.
+See the famous verses, <i>Burial of Sir John Moore</i>, by Wolfe.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>San-kan-tan&acute;</i> (the <i>n</i>'s are sounded nasally).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Toor-nay&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> Reigned from 463 to 481; the father of Clovis, who founded
+the kingdom of the Franks. His capital was at Tournai.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> On the Buffalo River, Natal; scene of heroic stand by a
+handful of the 24th Regiment after the Zulus had cut up our troops
+(January 22, 1879).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Privates are only promoted to this rank for gallantry on
+the field.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Royal Army Medical Corps.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> Every regiment of every army has a flag which we call the
+"regimental colours." British colours are usually of silk, with tassels
+of mixed crimson and gold, and are carried on a staff eight feet seven
+inches long, surmounted by a golden crown on which stands a lion. The
+colours are carried on parade by two junior lieutenants, and are guarded
+by two sergeants and two privates. The flag itself is of the colour of
+the facings of the regiment, except when these are white, in which case
+the body of the flag is not plain white all over, but bears upon it the
+Cross of St. George. Whatever the colour, the flag carries in its upper
+corner the Union Jack, and in the centre the crown and title of the
+regiment, around which are the devices or badges or distinctions of the
+regiment, and the names of the battles in which it has played a gallant
+part. The flag of a regiment is the outward and visible sign of its
+honour and renown, and to lose it in battle is considered a great
+disgrace. It is always held in great reverence, and when too old for
+further service it is set up on the walls of a cathedral or church.
+Probably in your own town there are one or more of these tattered and
+perhaps bullet-torn colours, along with flags captured from an enemy. In
+the old days every regiment marched into battle with its colours proudly
+flying, and there were many stirring fights for the flag. Nowadays our
+soldiers do not take their colours into battle. The Russians and
+Germans, however, do so.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> <i>K&#363;-ray&acute;</i>, French parish priest.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> <i>Leel</i>, 26 miles north-north-east of Arras, and 155 miles
+by rail north by east of Paris.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> <i>Am&acute;e-enz</i>, 84 miles north of Paris, on the Somme.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> <i>San Nah-zair&acute;</i>, 40 miles west of Nantes.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> <i>Reh-tel&acute;</i>, 23 miles south-west of Mezi&egrave;res.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> <i>Shah-t&#333;&acute; Sa-l&#259;n&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> <i>Lon-vee&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal), 40 miles north-north-west of
+Metz.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>Ain</i>, joins the Oise (<i>Waz</i>) near Compi&egrave;gne
+(<i>Kom-pe-ain&acute;</i>).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> <i>La Fair</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> <i>Lon</i> (<i>n</i> nasal).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> <i>Reemz.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> <i>Voo-ze-ay&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> See page <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> Tributary of the Seine (right bank), rising in the Langres
+plateau.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> <i>Gweez.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> <i>Kom-pe-ain&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> <i>Swa-son&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> <i>Nair-ee&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> <i>Mo-ran&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> <i>Oork</i>, tributary of the Marne. From this stream flows the
+canal of Ourcq to Paris (67 miles).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> <i>Fon-ten-bl&#333;&acute;</i> (fountain of beautiful water), town 37
+miles south-south-east of Paris. It contains a famous palace beloved of
+French kings, and its forest, the most beautiful in France, covers 66
+square miles.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> Quoted from <i>Nelson's History of the War</i>, by John
+Buchan.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Named after the Prussian general August von Goeben
+(1816-80). He commanded the 8th Army Corps in the Franco-German War, and
+distinguished himself at Gravelotte and elsewhere.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> Emperor William the Great.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> U stands for <i>Unterwasserboot</i>&mdash;under-water boat.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> The various classes of British submarines are indicated by
+a letter of the alphabet. Boats of the oldest class constructed are
+lettered A.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> Seaport, military station, and capital of German East
+Africa, fifty miles south of Zanzibar.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> Goods such as arms, ammunition, explosives, and other
+articles for use in war. If a neutral tries to send such goods to a
+state which is at war, they may be seized by the enemy of that state.
+Nations at war give notice of what kinds of goods they will not allow
+their enemy to receive. These goods are known as contraband of war.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> The foam at the cutwater of the ship.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> One knot = 1-1/7 miles.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Channel about 18 miles wide, some 7 miles north-east of
+Heligoland.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> All the big guns that can be brought to bear are fired
+together.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> "Our Lady;" the great historical cathedral of Paris.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> <i>Gal-le-ay&acute;ne.</i> Born 1849; commander-in-chief in
+Madagascar (1896-1905).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> <i>Bw&#257; d'Boo-lon&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal), the great public park (2,158
+acres) of Paris.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> <i>Sh&#335;n-te-ye&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> <i>Say-z&acirc;n&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> <i>Ar-gon&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> Huge explosive shells which send up a dense mass of black
+smoke. Our soldiers also call them "coal boxes" or "Jack Johnsons."</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> <i>Koo-lom&acute;mee-ay.</i> This was the most southerly point
+reached by the main body of von Kluck's army. His cavalry patrols
+reached the banks of the Seine.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> <i>Mo.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Page <a href="#Page_198">198</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> <i>La Fer-t&#257;&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Scottish noble who murdered King Duncan (1040) and became
+king in his stead. He reigned seventeen years, but was slain in battle
+(1057) by Malcolm, Duncan's son.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> Near Dunkeld, in Perthshire.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> Hill of the Sidlaws, Perthshire, eight miles north-east
+of Perth.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> <i>La fair shom-peh-nwaz&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> <i>Fock.</i> Born 1851; was professor of strategy and tactics
+at the French School of War.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_111_111" id="Footnote_111_111"></a><a href="#FNanchor_111_111"><span class="label">[111]</span></a> <i>Non-see&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_112_112" id="Footnote_112_112"></a><a href="#FNanchor_112_112"><span class="label">[112]</span></a> <i>Boss&acute;&#363;-&#257;.</i> Born 1627, died 1704.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_113_113" id="Footnote_113_113"></a><a href="#FNanchor_113_113"><span class="label">[113]</span></a> <i>Sh&#257;-t&#333;&acute; Te-er-ree&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_114_114" id="Footnote_114_114"></a><a href="#FNanchor_114_114"><span class="label">[114]</span></a> Born 1621, died 1695. His <i>Fables</i> were published in
+1668. They have been translated into almost every European language.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_115_115" id="Footnote_115_115"></a><a href="#FNanchor_115_115"><span class="label">[115]</span></a> <i>Say.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_116_116" id="Footnote_116_116"></a><a href="#FNanchor_116_116"><span class="label">[116]</span></a> <i>Bosh</i>, term of contempt used by the French for the
+Germans, and meaning fools or blockheads.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_117_117" id="Footnote_117_117"></a><a href="#FNanchor_117_117"><span class="label">[117]</span></a> <i>Ma&acute;sh-e-ray.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_118_118" id="Footnote_118_118"></a><a href="#FNanchor_118_118"><span class="label">[118]</span></a> The French Senate is the upper chamber of the French
+Parliament, and roughly corresponds with our House of Lords. The
+members, however, are not peers, for republican France does not possess
+a peerage.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_119_119" id="Footnote_119_119"></a><a href="#FNanchor_119_119"><span class="label">[119]</span></a> <i>Ay-per&acute;nay</i>, near the left bank of the Marne. It is a
+great centre of the champagne trade. The wine is stored in vaults hewn
+out of the chalk on which the town is built.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_120_120" id="Footnote_120_120"></a><a href="#FNanchor_120_120"><span class="label">[120]</span></a> &pound;7,000 (&pound;1 = 25 francs).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_121_121" id="Footnote_121_121"></a><a href="#FNanchor_121_121"><span class="label">[121]</span></a> Gallery dug by engineers, in which an explosive is placed
+and fired.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_122_122" id="Footnote_122_122"></a><a href="#FNanchor_122_122"><span class="label">[122]</span></a> <i>Kray-on&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_123_123" id="Footnote_123_123"></a><a href="#FNanchor_123_123"><span class="label">[123]</span></a> <i>Sweep.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_124_124" id="Footnote_124_124"></a><a href="#FNanchor_124_124"><span class="label">[124]</span></a> <i>Vail.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_125_125" id="Footnote_125_125"></a><a href="#FNanchor_125_125"><span class="label">[125]</span></a> <i>Brain.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_126_126" id="Footnote_126_126"></a><a href="#FNanchor_126_126"><span class="label">[126]</span></a> <i>Kon-day&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_127_127" id="Footnote_127_127"></a><a href="#FNanchor_127_127"><span class="label">[127]</span></a> <i>Moo-lan&acute;</i> (<i>n</i> nasal).</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_128_128" id="Footnote_128_128"></a><a href="#FNanchor_128_128"><span class="label">[128]</span></a> Born 1606, died 1669; one of the greatest of painters,
+and the glory of the Dutch school. Many of his pictures are in deep
+shade, and suggest the mystery that lies under the surface of things
+seen.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_129_129" id="Footnote_129_129"></a><a href="#FNanchor_129_129"><span class="label">[129]</span></a> Five miles north-west of Laon.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_130_130" id="Footnote_130_130"></a><a href="#FNanchor_130_130"><span class="label">[130]</span></a> Prussian military order (Maltese cross of iron edged with
+silver). It has been awarded in profusion during the present war. More
+than 30,000 German soldiers are said to have received it during 1914.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_131_131" id="Footnote_131_131"></a><a href="#FNanchor_131_131"><span class="label">[131]</span></a> He was, of course, misinformed. The nearest German troops
+to Paris on September 14th, 1914, were at Compi&egrave;gne, about 43 miles
+away.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_132_132" id="Footnote_132_132"></a><a href="#FNanchor_132_132"><span class="label">[132]</span></a> See Vol. 1., p. 170.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_133_133" id="Footnote_133_133"></a><a href="#FNanchor_133_133"><span class="label">[133]</span></a> <i>Bay-for&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_134_134" id="Footnote_134_134"></a><a href="#FNanchor_134_134"><span class="label">[134]</span></a> <i>Bartholdi</i>, French sculptor (1834-1904). The statue of
+Liberty referred to is 200 feet high, and was presented in 1886 to the
+United States by the French Government to mark the hundredth year of
+American independence. It stands on Bedloe's Island, at the mouth of New
+York harbour.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_135_135" id="Footnote_135_135"></a><a href="#FNanchor_135_135"><span class="label">[135]</span></a> <i>&#256;-pee-nal&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_136_136" id="Footnote_136_136"></a><a href="#FNanchor_136_136"><span class="label">[136]</span></a> <i>Tool.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_137_137" id="Footnote_137_137"></a><a href="#FNanchor_137_137"><span class="label">[137]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_215">215</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_138_138" id="Footnote_138_138"></a><a href="#FNanchor_138_138"><span class="label">[138]</span></a> <i>Sar-eye&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_139_139" id="Footnote_139_139"></a><a href="#FNanchor_139_139"><span class="label">[139]</span></a> <i>San Mee-yel&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_140_140" id="Footnote_140_140"></a><a href="#FNanchor_140_140"><span class="label">[140]</span></a> <i>Vo-&#257;vre.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_141_141" id="Footnote_141_141"></a><a href="#FNanchor_141_141"><span class="label">[141]</span></a> In French, <i>t&ecirc;te-de-pont</i>, a fortified position covering
+that end of a bridge nearest to the enemy.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_142_142" id="Footnote_142_142"></a><a href="#FNanchor_142_142"><span class="label">[142]</span></a> <i>V&#257;-renn&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_143_143" id="Footnote_143_143"></a><a href="#FNanchor_143_143"><span class="label">[143]</span></a> <i>Ve-en&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_144_144" id="Footnote_144_144"></a><a href="#FNanchor_144_144"><span class="label">[144]</span></a> <i>San Men-oo&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_145_145" id="Footnote_145_145"></a><a href="#FNanchor_145_145"><span class="label">[145]</span></a> The French spelling is <i>Reims</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_146_146" id="Footnote_146_146"></a><a href="#FNanchor_146_146"><span class="label">[146]</span></a> <i>Shar-tr&acute;</i>, town, fifty miles south-west of Paris, on the
+left bank of the Eure.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_147_147" id="Footnote_147_147"></a><a href="#FNanchor_147_147"><span class="label">[147]</span></a> <i>B&#333;-vay&acute;</i>, fifty-five miles by rail north-north-west of
+Paris, on the route from Paris to Calais.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_148_148" id="Footnote_148_148"></a><a href="#FNanchor_148_148"><span class="label">[148]</span></a> Bell rung thrice daily in Catholic countries, at the
+sound of which the faithful pray.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_149_149" id="Footnote_149_149"></a><a href="#FNanchor_149_149"><span class="label">[149]</span></a> <i>Vee-ve lays Ang-lay</i> ("Long live the English").</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_150_150" id="Footnote_150_150"></a><a href="#FNanchor_150_150"><span class="label">[150]</span></a> <i>Kas-tel-no&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_151_151" id="Footnote_151_151"></a><a href="#FNanchor_151_151"><span class="label">[151]</span></a> See p. <a href="#Page_218">218</a>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_152_152" id="Footnote_152_152"></a><a href="#FNanchor_152_152"><span class="label">[152]</span></a> <i>Maud-wee&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_153_153" id="Footnote_153_153"></a><a href="#FNanchor_153_153"><span class="label">[153]</span></a> <i>Bay-toon&acute;.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_154_154" id="Footnote_154_154"></a><a href="#FNanchor_154_154"><span class="label">[154]</span></a> <i>Soo-val&acute;kee.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_155_155" id="Footnote_155_155"></a><a href="#FNanchor_155_155"><span class="label">[155]</span></a> <i>Oss-o-vets.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_156_156" id="Footnote_156_156"></a><a href="#FNanchor_156_156"><span class="label">[156]</span></a> John Lothrop Motley (1814-77), American historian, whose
+most famous work, <i>The Rise of the Dutch Republic</i>, was published in
+1856.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_157_157" id="Footnote_157_157"></a><a href="#FNanchor_157_157"><span class="label">[157]</span></a> Ancient city of Bavaria, 95 miles north-west of Munich,
+the capital.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_158_158" id="Footnote_158_158"></a><a href="#FNanchor_158_158"><span class="label">[158]</span></a> City of Bavaria, on the Lech, tributary of the Danube. In
+the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was the great centre of trade
+between Northern Europe, Venice, and the Levant.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_159_159" id="Footnote_159_159"></a><a href="#FNanchor_159_159"><span class="label">[159]</span></a> (1533-84.) Known as "the Silent." He headed the
+opposition in the Netherlands to Philip of Spain, and became the founder
+of the Dutch Republic. He was assassinated.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_160_160" id="Footnote_160_160"></a><a href="#FNanchor_160_160"><span class="label">[160]</span></a> <i>Le-air&acute;</i>, town, 10 miles south-east of Antwerp, at the
+confluence of the Great and Little Nethe.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_161_161" id="Footnote_161_161"></a><a href="#FNanchor_161_161"><span class="label">[161]</span></a> <i>N&#257;&acute;teh.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_162_162" id="Footnote_162_162"></a><a href="#FNanchor_162_162"><span class="label">[162]</span></a> (1653-1702.) Frequently defeated the French between 1690
+and 1694, and in 1702, almost single-handed, fought a French fleet in
+the West Indies for five days. He died from injuries received in the
+battle.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_163_163" id="Footnote_163_163"></a><a href="#FNanchor_163_163"><span class="label">[163]</span></a> (1705-81.) His chief battle was a victory over the French
+in Quiberon Bay (1759)&mdash;one of the most daring and successful actions on
+record.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_164_164" id="Footnote_164_164"></a><a href="#FNanchor_164_164"><span class="label">[164]</span></a> (1750-1810.) The great friend of Nelson, to whom he was
+second in command at Trafalgar.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_165_165" id="Footnote_165_165"></a><a href="#FNanchor_165_165"><span class="label">[165]</span></a> (1726-99.) His greatest exploit was a crushing defeat
+inflicted on the French, from whom he took six ships, on "the glorious
+First of June" 1794, off Ushant.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_166_166" id="Footnote_166_166"></a><a href="#FNanchor_166_166"><span class="label">[166]</span></a> (1724-1816.) He won many naval victories.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_167_167" id="Footnote_167_167"></a><a href="#FNanchor_167_167"><span class="label">[167]</span></a> (1697-1762.) Not only a great fighting admiral, but a
+circumnavigator of the globe. The story of his <i>Voyage Round the World</i>
+is still worth reading.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_168_168" id="Footnote_168_168"></a><a href="#FNanchor_168_168"><span class="label">[168]</span></a> Quoted from <i>Fighting in Flanders</i>, by E. R. Powell.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_169_169" id="Footnote_169_169"></a><a href="#FNanchor_169_169"><span class="label">[169]</span></a> A neutral state which receives in its territory troops
+belonging to one or other of the armies engaged in war, keeps such
+troops in its own hands until the end of the war, and must prevent them
+from escaping. It clothes and feeds them, and the expenses so incurred
+are made good at the end of the war by the Power to which the troops
+belong.</p></div>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<br /><br />
+<b>Transcriber's Notes:</b><br />
+original hyphenation, spelling and grammar have been preserved as in the original<br />
+Page 172/173, "slightly wounded The" changed to "slightly wounded. The"<br />
+Page 267, 'that he said.' changed to 'that he said."'<br />
+Page 285, "Europe put togethe" changed to "Europe put together"
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Childrens' Story of the War,
+Volume 2 (of 10), by James Edward Parrott
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+</pre>
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+  </body>
+</html>
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diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
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+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #35314 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35314)