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-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 60155 ***
-
-Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
- file which includes the original illustrations.
- See 60155-h.htm or 60155-h.zip:
- (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60155/60155-h/60155-h.htm)
- or
- (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/60155/60155-h.zip)
-
-
- Images of the original pages are available through
- Internet Archive. See
- https://archive.org/details/penpicturesofbri00londiala
-
-
-
-
-
-PEN PICTURES OF BRITISH BATTLES
-
-Painted by Author
-and Artist.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, Ltd.
-1917.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
- PAGE
- I.--THE VICTORY OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS 5
- _By Dr. Richard Wilson._
-
- II.--THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE 11
- _By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle._
-
- III.--A GLIMPSE OF CANADA IN FLANDERS 17
- _By Lord Beaverbrook._
-
- IV.--THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES 23
- _By John Buchan._
-
- V.--THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND BANK 29
- _By H. W. Wilson._
-
- VI.--THE CHARGE AT LOOS OF THE LONDON IRISH 39
-
- VII.--THE LANDING AT V BEACH, NEAR SEDD-EL-BAHR 43
- _By John Masefield._
-
- VIII.--THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS AT THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME 49
- _By Philip Gibbs._
-
- IX.--THE MOONLIGHT BATTLE FOR BAGHDAD 53
- _By Edmund Candler._
-
- X.--THE BATTLE OF ARRAS 59
- _By Philip Gibbs._
-
- XI.--WARFARE UNDER WATER 67
- _By Rudyard Kipling._
-
-
-
-
-EDITOR’S NOTE.
-
-
-_Though Sir Walter Besant called War correspondents “the scene painters
-of history,” it may be questioned whether any pen or brush, trained on
-the land, sea and air battles of the present War, can depict more than
-a corner of the great devastating drama._
-
-_This little book, embracing extracts from famous books, may help the
-reader to visualise some of the outstanding battles in which Britain
-has played a not inconspicuous part; and if they inspire those still
-fighting, and those behind them in support, with a firmer confidence
-and a greater endurance--if, too, these records of undaunted heroism,
-often against odds, enlighten readers in other lands as to the
-character of British fighting men--their publication in this informal
-style will be justified._
-
-_Full acknowledgment is here made to the authors and publishers who
-have kindly permitted quotation; and to the proprietors of two great
-illustrated weekly papers who have lent for reproduction original
-sketches appearing in their pages._
-
-_April, 1917._
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE BRITISH VICTORY OFF THE FALKLANDS: FIRST STAGE OF
-THE ACTION BETWEEN BRITISH BATTLE-CRUISERS AND THE GERMAN ARMOURED
-CRUISERS.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Illustrated London News.”_]
-
-
-I.
-
-THE VICTORY OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS.[A]
-
-By RICHARD WILSON, Litt.D.
-
- [A] _From “The First Year of the Great War.” By Richard Wilson,
- Litt.D. (W. & R. Chambers.)_
-
-
-The affair off Coronel put the heads of the British navy upon their
-mettle, and within forty days it was followed by a counter-stroke,
-complete and effective. Silently and with steady determination,
-preparations were made to deal with the _Scharnhorst_ and her
-companions; and the man who was entrusted with the work was
-Vice-Admiral Sir F. C. Doveton Sturdee.
-
-To the east of the southern portion of South America lies the British
-group known as the Falkland Islands. Due east of the large island
-called East Falkland, Sturdee’s squadron came within sight of Von
-Spee’s cruisers, the British admiral having been helped in finding the
-“quarry” by the clever wireless signalling of a lady and her servants
-who lived on the islands, and who were afterwards presented with
-valuable gifts by the British Admiralty as some slight acknowledgment
-of their timely help.
-
-After the battle off Coronel, the _Glasgow_, along with the battleship
-_Canopus_, had put into the harbour of Port Stanley, in East Falkland.
-The former vessel had been damaged, but she was quickly repaired; and
-when Admiral Sturdee arrived from home, she took her place in his
-squadron, her officers and men being eager to set things right with the
-Germans. It was reported that Von Spee’s squadron was going to make
-a raid on the Falklands; but when he came round Cape Horn he found
-awaiting him eight British ships of war, and, so far as we know, this
-was a complete surprise to him.
-
-At about half-past nine in the morning the _Gneisenau_ and the
-_Nürnberg_ drew near to Port Stanley Harbour with their guns trained
-on the wireless station. Between them and the harbour was a long low
-stretch of land running eastward, behind which lay the _Canopus_. The
-surprise of the Germans must have been great when they were met by a
-smart fire across this low-lying land at a range of about six miles!
-The two ships stopped, considered, and turned away, hoisting their
-colours, however, as they did so. About the same time the _Invincible_
-sighted other hostile ships between nine and ten miles distant; and in
-a short time the British squadron was moving from the harbour towards
-the enemy’s five ships, which could be plainly seen to the south-east.
-The day was fine, with a calm sea, a bright sun, a clear sky, and a
-light breeze from the north-west.
-
-The British vessels at once began a chase in extended order, and the
-hearts of our men must have been deeply stirred by the admiral’s
-simple signal, “God save the King!” One of the signallers afterwards
-wrote: “It was taken up and flung far and wide through space by each
-of the fleet in turn, until it seemed as though it would never cease.
-I consider it a privilege to have been one of the few to bear the
-signal.” A little after noon Admiral Sturdee came within suitable range
-of the five enemy ships, and decided to attack with the _Invincible_,
-the _Inflexible_, and the _Glasgow_. How the officers and crew of the
-last-named vessel had longed for this happy moment!
-
-The signal was given, “Open fire and engage the enemy,” and the
-_Inflexible_ began the battle, followed a few minutes later by the
-_Invincible_. This firing was at a range of about nine miles--no
-opportunities for boarding here, cutlass in teeth, and pistols in both
-hands!--but the British gunnery was so good that three of the German
-ships turned away. Then the _Glasgow_, with the _Cornwall_ and the
-_Kent_, gave chase. We shall follow their work when we have considered
-that of the heavier craft.
-
-The _Invincible_ engaged the enemy’s flagship, the _Scharnhorst_, and
-the _Inflexible_ the _Gneisenau_, the fight being a running one, and
-the range varying from about eight to nine miles. Before long the
-German flagship took fire, lost one of her funnels, and slackened her
-firing. “The effect of our fire,” writes Admiral Sturdee, “became more
-and more apparent in consequence of smoke from fires, and also escaping
-steam. At times a shell would cause a large hole to appear in her side,
-through which could be seen a dull red glow of flame.” Yet the German
-kept grimly on with her work.
-
-The _Gneisenau_ now gamely faced the _Invincible_ and the _Inflexible_,
-but about 5 o’clock she lost one funnel and was on fire in several
-places. She continued, however, to reply to the British gunners with a
-single gun, until, an hour later, she suddenly heeled over and sank.
-Here is an entry in the diary of one of her officers: “5.10, Hit, hit!
-5.12, Hit! 5.14, Hit, hit, hit again! 5.20, After turret gone. 5.40,
-Hit, hit! On fire everywhere. 5.41, Hit, hit! Burning everywhere and
-sinking. 5.45, Hit! Men dying everywhere. 5.46, Hit, hit!”
-
-After this the officers had something else to do than make entries
-in a diary. Boats had been lowered from the _Invincible_ and the
-_Inflexible_, life-buoys and ropes were thrown into the water, and
-about 300 men were saved, “including their captain--a tall man with a
-black beard.”
-
-Meanwhile the _Glasgow_ and the _Cornwall_ had fought and sunk the
-_Leipzig_. Like the other German ships, she took fire fore and aft,
-and as the shades of night were closing in she turned over on her port
-side and disappeared. The _Cornwall_ began to lower boats when the
-_Leipzig_ was settling down, but the British Captain leant over the
-rail of the bridge and said, “It’s no good; she’s going.”
-
-While this was going on the _Kent_ was dealing with the _Nürnberg_,
-after a desperate chase with only a small amount of fuel to rely upon.
-When the engineers had done their best and worked up the speed well
-above the rate which the _Kent_ could do “officially,” they reported
-that their coal was almost used up. Then the captain suggested that the
-boats might prove useful in such a case! No sooner said than done! The
-boats were promptly broken up, the pieces smeared with oil, and packed
-by the stokers into the furnaces.
-
-This use of the boats had suggested other means of providing fuel, and
-soon the men were hurrying to the furnaces with officers’ armchairs,
-chests, ladders, and anything which would burn. So the speed limit was
-much further exceeded, the _Nürnberg_ was caught and sunk, but not
-before she had put up a stiff fight. Fire was stopped on the _Kent_
-when the German hauled down her colours, and every preparation was made
-to save life. As the ship sank the British sailors saw a group of men
-waving a German ensign fastened to a staff. Only five Germans were
-rescued alive from the doomed ship.
-
-Only one of the German ships, the fast cruiser _Dresden_, escaped from
-the battle, the clouds which overcast the sky in the evening assisting
-her in getting clear away. The darkness closed in, but near midnight
-Admiral Sturdee received a message from H.M.S. _Bristol_ to the effect
-that during the action two enemy transports had been destroyed near the
-Falklands, their crews being removed before the ships were sunk. So
-ended a memorable day in British naval history.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: DESPERATE STRUGGLE FOR THE CHÂTEAU DE MONDEMENT DURING
-THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Illustrated London News.”_]
-
-
-II.
-
-THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.[B]
-
-By SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.
-
- [B] _From “The British Campaign in France and Flanders.” By Sir
- Arthur Conan Doyle. (Hodder & Stoughton.)_
-
-
-On September 11 the British were still advancing upon a somewhat
-narrowed front. There was no opposition, and again the day bore a
-considerable crop of prisoners and other trophies. The weather had
-become so foggy that the aircraft were useless, and it is only when
-these wonderful scouters are precluded from rising that a general
-realises how indispensable they have become to him. As a wit expressed
-it, they have turned war from a game of cards into a game of chess. It
-was still very wet, and the Army was exposed to considerable privation,
-most of the officers and men having neither change of clothing,
-overcoats, nor waterproof sheets, while the blowing up of bridges on
-the lines of communication had made it impossible to supply the wants.
-The undefeatable commissariat, however, was still working well, which
-means that the Army was doing the same. On the 12th the pursuit was
-continued as far as the River Aisne. Allenby’s cavalry occupied Braine
-in the early morning, the Queen’s Bays being particularly active, but
-there was so much resistance that the Third Division was needed to make
-the ground good. Gough’s Cavalry Division also ran into the enemy near
-Chassemy, killing or capturing several hundred of the German infantry.
-In these operations Captain Stewart, whose experience as an alleged
-spy has been mentioned, met with a soldier’s death. On this day the
-Sixth French Army was fighting a considerable action upon the British
-left in the vicinity of Soissons, the Germans making a stand in order
-to give time for their impedimenta to get over the river. In this they
-succeeded, so that when the Allied Forces reached the Aisne, which is
-an unfordable stream some sixty yards from bank to bank, the retiring
-army had got across it, had destroyed most of the bridges, and showed
-every sign of being prepared to dispute the crossing.
-
-Missy Bridge, facing the Fifth Division, appeared at first to be
-intact, but a daring reconnaissance by Lieutenant Pennecuick, of the
-Engineers, showed that it was really badly damaged. Condé Bridge was
-intact, but was so covered by a high horse-shoe formation of hills upon
-the farther side that it could not be used, and remained throughout
-under control of the enemy. Bourg Bridge, however, in front of the
-First Army Corps, had for some unexplained reason been left undamaged,
-and this was seized in the early morning of September 13 by De Lisle’s
-cavalry, followed rapidly by Bulfin’s 2nd Brigade. It was on the face
-of it a somewhat desperate enterprise which lay immediately in front of
-the British general. If the enemy were still retreating he could not
-afford to slacken his pursuit, while, on the other hand, if the enemy
-were merely making a feint of resistance, then, at all hazards, the
-stream must be forced and the rearguard driven in. The German infantry
-could be seen streaming up the roads on the farther bank of the river,
-but there were no signs of what their next disposition might be. Air
-reconnaissance was still precluded, and it was impossible to say for
-certain which alternative might prove to be correct, but Sir John
-French’s cavalry training must incline him always to the braver course.
-The officer who rode through the Boers to Kimberley and threw himself
-with his weary men across the path of the formidable Kronje was not
-likely to stand hesitating upon the banks of the Aisne. His personal
-opinion was that the enemy meant to stand and fight, but none the less
-the order was given to cross.
-
-September 13 was spent in arranging this dashing and dangerous
-movement. The British got across eventually in several places and by
-various devices. Bulfin’s men, followed by the rest of the First
-Division of Haig’s Army Corps, passed the canal bridge of Bourg with
-no loss or difficulty. The 11th Brigade of Pulteney’s Third Corps got
-across by a partially demolished bridge and ferry at Venizel. They
-were followed by the 12th Brigade, who established themselves near
-Bucy. The 13th Brigade was held up at Missy, but the 14th got across
-and lined up with the men of the Third Corps in the neighbourhood
-of Ste. Marguerite, meeting with a considerable resistance from the
-Germans. Later, Count Gleichen’s 15th Brigade also got across. On the
-right Hamilton got over with two brigades of the Third Division, the
-8th Brigade crossing on a single plank at Vailly and the 9th using
-the railway bridge, while the whole of Haig’s First Corps had before
-evening got a footing upon the farther bank. So eager was the advance
-and so inadequate the means that Haking’s 5th Brigade, led by the
-Connaught Rangers, was obliged to get over the broad and dangerous
-river, walking in single file along the sloping girder of a ruined
-bridge, under a heavy, though distant, shell-fire. The night of
-September 13 saw the main body of the Army across the river, already
-conscious of a strong rear-guard action, but not yet aware that the
-whole German Army had halted and was turning at bay. On the right
-De Lisle’s cavalrymen had pushed up the slope from Bourg Bridge and
-reached as far as Vendresse, where they were pulled up by the German
-lines.
-
-It has been mentioned above that the 11th and 12th Brigades of the
-Fourth Division had passed the river at Venizel. These troops were
-across in the early afternoon, and they at once advanced, and proved
-that in that portion of the field the enemy were undoubtedly standing
-fast. The 11th Brigade, which was more to the north, had only a
-constant shell-fire to endure, but the 12th, pushing forward through
-Bucy-le-long, found itself in front of a line of woods from which there
-swept a heavy machine-gun and rifle-fire. The advance was headed by the
-2nd Lancashire Fusiliers, supported by the 2nd Inniskilling Fusiliers.
-It was across open ground and under heavy fire, but it was admirably
-carried out. In places where the machine-guns had got the exact range
-the stricken Fusiliers lay dead or wounded with accurate intervals,
-like a firing-line on a field-day. The losses were heavy, especially in
-the Lancashire Fusiliers. Colonel Griffin was wounded, and five of his
-officers with 250 men were among the casualties. It should be recorded
-that fresh supplies of ammunition were brought up at personal risk by
-Colonel Seely, late Minister of War, in his motor-car. The contest
-continued until dusk, when the troops waited for the battle of next day
-under such cover as they could find.
-
-The crossing of the stream may be said, upon the one side, to mark
-the end of the battle and pursuit of the Marne, while, on the other,
-it commenced that interminable Battle of the Aisne which was destined
-to fulfil Bloch’s prophecies and to set the type of all great modern
-engagements. The prolonged struggles of the Manchurian War had prepared
-men’s minds for such a development, but only here did it first assume
-its full proportions and warn us that the battle of the future was
-to be the siege of the past. Men remembered with a smile Bernhardi’s
-confident assertion that a German battle would be decided in one
-day, and that his countrymen would never be constrained to fight in
-defensive trenches.
-
-The moral effect of the Battle of the Marne was greater than its
-material gains. The latter, so far as the British were concerned, did
-not exceed 5,000 prisoners, 20 guns, and a quantity of transport. The
-total losses, however, were very heavy.
-
-Apart from the losses, the mere fact that a great German army had
-been hustled across 30 miles of country, had been driven from river
-to river, and had finally to take refuge in trenches in order to hold
-their ground, was a great encouragement to the Allies. From that time
-they felt assured that with anything like equal numbers they had an
-ascendancy over their opponents.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: WAR IN THE AIR: A DUEL OVER THE FIRING LINE.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Illustrated London News.”_]
-
-
-III.
-
-A GLIMPSE OF CANADA IN FLANDERS.[C]
-
-By LORD BEAVERBROOK.
-
- [C] _From “Canada in Flanders” (Vol. I.). By Sir Max Aitken.
- (Hodder & Stoughton.)_
-
-
-The end of the month was marked by one or two very daring
-reconnaissances by Lieutenant Owen, of the 7th (British Columbia)
-Battalion, up the bed of the Douve River, and by a great aeroplane
-battle.
-
-The aeroplane battle occurred upon a morning warm and bright with
-sunshine. The conditions were admirable for flying and observing, and,
-as usual, a German Albatross took advantage of them. Soaring high
-against the warm blue of the sky, over Bailleul, over the headquarters
-of a division, over our brigades and trenches and back again, it
-glinted like silver in the morning sun. The snow-white blobs of
-bursting shrapnel from our anti-aircraft guns followed its graceful
-sweeps and curves--followed and followed, but never caught it up; and
-thousands of our men stared after it. But a more dramatic spectacle was
-in store for the watchers on the brown roads and in the brown trenches.
-
-A British machine appeared suddenly low against the blue, mounting
-and flying out of the west. The men in the Albatross were evidently
-so intent on their task of observing the landscape beneath them and
-keeping well ahead of our blossoming shrapnel that they failed to
-observe the approach of the British ’plane as soon as they should have
-for their own good. They were heading west when they saw their danger,
-and instantly the Albatross swerved round and sped towards home. But
-the British flier had the heels of the German and the advantage of the
-position. It circled and dipped, and down through the clear air aloft
-came the rippling “tap-tap-tap” of the aërial machine-guns. Again and
-again the enemy’s frantic efforts to escape were frustrated by the
-skill and daring of the British pilot and the hedging fire of the
-British guns. Suddenly the gun of the German ’plane jammed and ceased;
-the pilot was hit and wounded; the Albatross commenced a rapid descent,
-in which it was followed by the British ’plane to within 1,000 feet
-of the ground. Then, under heavy shell-fire from German batteries the
-victorious machine rose and flew away undamaged, and the unfortunate
-Albatross struck the earth between the front and support trenches of
-the 14th (Montreal) Battalion and turned turtle. The German pilot was
-dead; the observer, slightly wounded, crawled to our support trenches
-and surrendered. The German batteries kept up a hot fire of high
-explosives and shrapnel on the machine with the object of smashing it
-beyond hope of repair before the Canadians could salvage it. They made
-several direct hits, but our men sapped out to the wreck and managed
-to bring most of it in, piece by piece. Among the articles brought in
-was the machine-gun that had jammed in the heat of the fight. This was
-found to be a Colt gun. Closer examination proved it to be one of the
-original guns of our 14th Battalion--to whose lines it had just made
-such a dramatic return! The gun had been abandoned during one of the
-desperate and confused fights of the Second Battle of Ypres half a year
-before.
-
-In these months of September and October great efforts were expended
-on improving the line. Work in the front positions was done by the
-occupying battalions, and the troops in reserve came up night after
-night to assist their labours and to create new secondary positions
-and drive through fresh communication trenches. Even the training of
-new units was occasionally and rightly sacrificed to the performance
-of this essential task. The weather was, on the whole, favourable for
-these operations, with the exception of three days of rain early in
-September and a wet week late in October. The 1st Division, long on
-the ground and fortified by the experience of what good trenches mean
-for comfort and safety, was pre-eminent in these exertions, as would
-be proved by the trench-map with its continuous increase, month after
-month, in the black and zigzag lines of new work. Each tiny scrawl on
-the surface of such a map represents the labours of hundreds of men,
-extended over many nights. Second and third lines grew apace, so that
-a sudden attack of the enemy would still leave trenches to be held and
-would reduce the German bite to mere nibbles at the forward trench.
-The communication trenches are driven true and straight from well in
-the rear, and up these the ration parties toil in safety night after
-night under their burdens of food, water, ammunition, and R.E. material
-to feed the front line. These parties know well enough the difference
-between well-made lines and bad ones. Stooping under the heavy weights
-as they struggle on through the dark, they will bless in army fashion
-a smooth and dry surface underfoot and a sound high parapet which
-protects them from the casual German shells which are searching for
-them, or the intermittent whistle of the long-range bullet humming on
-its errand in the dusk. Messengers or stretcher-bearers with their
-burdens can move backwards or forwards even by day along the well-built
-hollow, and all those who pass are protected both from the arrow that
-flieth by night and the terror which walketh in the noonday. Very
-different is the story of a badly-kept line. It finds carrying parties
-struggling in, hours late, exhausted by wading through mud and water,
-and delayed by continually climbing out and walking outside the trench
-to avoid impassable sections. Here an unlucky shell or a casual bullet
-may take its toll. The men struggle back with difficulty, arriving
-hardly before the dawn, and with their period of supposed rest and
-recuperation turned into the most arduous of labours. It is not too
-much to say that the efficiency of a regiment or division can be tested
-by a comparison between the state in which it takes over and that in
-which it leaves its trenches.
-
-The creation of secondary positions is as important as that of
-communication trenches, and on this task the Canadian Corps worked
-unsparingly throughout the autumn.
-
-The disposition of a brigade is two, or on occasion three, battalions
-in the front line and one or two in support or reserve trenches. But
-in most cases even the leading regiments will not have their whole
-strength in the firing trench. One or two companies lie close up in
-support or reserve to reinforce any threatened point. The nearness of
-these supports is a very present help in time of trouble, and gives
-confidence to officers and men, who would be nervous if they knew that
-no assistance was nearer than a mile away in distance and an hour in
-time. But these lines must be dug under cover of dark, so the men
-toiled with the spade through the nights of autumn and blessed the
-dawn which put a term to their labours. Their record is written on
-the scarred earth from St. Eloi down to Ploegsteert. Let us hope that
-the corps which took their place in March was duly grateful for the
-blessing of a well-constructed line.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: YPRES AFTER BOMBARDMENT.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Sphere.”_]
-
-
-IV.
-
-THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES.[D]
-
-By JOHN BUCHAN.
-
- [D] _From “The History of the War.” By John Buchan. (Thos.
- Nelson & Sons.)_
-
-
-The present writer first saw Ypres from a little hill during the later
-stages of the battle. It was a brilliant spring day, and, when there
-was a lull in the bombardment and the sun lit up its white towers,
-Ypres looked a gracious and delicate little city in its cincture of
-green. It was with a sharp shock of surprise that one realised that it
-was an illusion, that Ypres had become a shadow. A few days later, in
-a pause of the bombardment, he entered the town. The main street lay
-white and empty in the sun, and over all reigned a deathly stillness.
-There was not a human being to be seen in all its length, and the
-houses on each side were skeletons. There the whole front had gone, and
-bedrooms with wrecked furniture were open to the light. There a 42-cm.
-shell had made a breach in the line, with raw edges of masonry on both
-sides, and a yawning pit below. In one room the carpet was spattered
-with plaster from the ceiling, but the furniture was unbroken. There
-was a Buhl cabinet with china, red plush chairs, a piano, and a
-gramaphone--the plenishing of the best parlour of a middle-class home.
-In another room was a sewing-machine, from which the owner had fled in
-the middle of a piece of work. Here was a novel with the reader’s place
-marked. It was like a city visited by an earthquake which had caught
-the inhabitants unawares, and driven them shivering to a place of
-refuge.
-
-Through the gaps in the houses there were glimpses of greenery. A
-broken door admitted to a garden--a carefully-tended garden, for the
-grass had once been trimly kept, and the owner must have had a pretty
-taste in spring flowers. A little fountain still plashed in a stone
-basin. But in one corner an incendiary shell had fallen on the house,
-and in the heap of charred débris there were human remains. Most of the
-dead had been removed, but there were still bodies in out-of-the-way
-comers. Over all hung a sickening smell of decay, against which the
-lilacs and hawthorns were powerless. That garden was no place to tarry
-in.
-
-The street led into the Place, where once stood the great Church of
-St. Martin and the Cloth Hall. Those who knew Ypres before the war
-will remember the pleasant _façade_ of shops on the south side, and
-the cluster of old Flemish buildings at the north-eastern corner.
-Words are powerless to describe the devastation of these houses. Of
-the southern side nothing remained but a file of gaunt gables. At the
-northeast corner, if you crawled across the rubble, you could see the
-remnants of some beautiful old mantelpieces. Standing in the middle
-of the Place, one was oppressed by the utter silence, a silence which
-seemed to hush and blanket the eternal shelling in the Salient beyond.
-Some jackdaws were cawing from the ruins, and a painstaking starling
-was rebuilding its nest in a broken pinnacle. An old cow, a miserable
-object, was poking her head in the rubbish and sniffing curiously at a
-dead horse. Sound was a profanation in that tomb which had once been a
-city.
-
-The Cloth Hall had lost all its arcades, most of its front, and there
-were great rents everywhere. Its spire looked like a badly-whittled
-stick, and the big gilt clock, with its hands irrevocably fixed,
-hung loose on a jet of stone. St. Martin’s Church was a ruin, and
-its stately square tower was so nicked and dinted that it seemed as
-if a strong wind would topple it over. Inside the church was a weird
-sight. Most of the windows had gone, and the famous rose window in the
-southern transept lacked a segment. The side chapels were in ruins,
-the floor was deep in fallen stones, but the pillars still stood. A
-mass for the dead must have been in progress, for the altar was draped
-in black, but the altar stone was cracked across. The sacristy was
-full of vestments and candlesticks tumbled together in haste, and all
-were covered with yellow picric dust from the high explosives. In the
-graveyard behind there was a huge shell crater, 50 feet across and 20
-feet deep, with human bones exposed in the sides. Before the main door
-stood a curious piece of irony. An empty pedestal proclaimed from its
-four sides the many virtues of a certain Belgian statesman who had been
-also mayor of Ypres. The worthy mayor was lying in the dust beside it,
-a fat man in a frock coat, with side-whiskers and a face like Bismarck.
-
-Out in the sunlight there was the first sign of human life. A
-detachment of French Colonial _tirailleurs_ entered from the
-north--brown, shadowy men in fantastic weather-stained uniforms. A
-vehicle stood at the cathedral door, and a lean and sad-faced priest
-was loading it with some of the church treasures--chalices, plate,
-embroidery. A Carmelite friar was prowling among the side alleys
-looking for the dead. It was like some _macabre_ imagining of Victor
-Hugo.
-
-The ruins of old buildings are so familiar that they do not at first
-dominate the mind. Far more arresting are the remnants of the pitiful
-little homes, where there is no dignity, but a pathos which cries
-aloud. Ypres was like a city destroyed by an earthquake; that is
-the simplest and truest description. But the skeletons of her great
-buildings, famous in Europe for 500 years, left another impression.
-One felt, as at Pompeii, that things had always been so; one felt that
-they were verily indestructible, they were so great in their fall.
-The cloak of St. Martin was not needed to cover the nakedness of his
-church. There was a terrible splendour about these gaunt and broken
-structures, these noble, shattered _façades_, which defied their
-destroyers. Ypres might be empty and a ruin, but to the end of time she
-would be no mean city.
-
-One of the truest of our younger poets, Rupert Brooke, who died while
-serving in the Dardanelles, wrote in his last months a sonnet on the
-consolation of death in war:--
-
- “If I should die, think only this of me:
- That there’s some corner of a foreign field
- That is for ever England. There shall be
- In that rich earth a richer dust concealed.”
-
-In the salient of Ypres there are not less than a hundred thousand
-graves of Allied soldiers, sometimes marked by plain wooden crosses,
-sometimes obliterated by the _débris_ of ruined trenches, sometimes
-hidden in corners of fields and beneath clumps of chestnuts. That
-ground is for ever England; and it is also for ever France, for there
-the men of Dubois died around Bixschoote and on the Klein Zillebeke
-ridge. When the war is over this triangle of meadowland, with a ruined
-city for its base, will be an enclave of Belgian soil consecrated as
-the holy land of two great peoples. It may be that it will be specially
-set apart as a memorial place; it may be that it will be unmarked, and
-that the country folk will till and reap as before over the vanishing
-trench lines. But it will never be common ground. It will be for us
-the most hallowed spot on earth, for it holds our bravest dust, and
-it is the proof and record of a new spirit. In the past when we have
-thought of Ypres we have thought of the British flag preserved there,
-which Clare’s Regiment, fighting for France, captured at the Battle
-of Ramillies. The name of the little Flemish town has recalled the
-divisions in our own race and the centuries-old conflict between France
-and Britain. But from now and henceforth it will have other memories.
-It will stand as a symbol of unity and alliance--unity within our
-Empire, unity within our Western civilization--that true alliance and
-that lasting unity which are won and sealed by a common sacrifice.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: BATTLE OF JUTLAND: FIRST SIGHT OF THE ENEMY’S HIGH SEAS
-FLEET.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Illustrated London News.”_]
-
-
-V.
-
-THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND BANK.
-
-By H. W. WILSON.
-
-
-The chase and destruction of an enemy takes many hours. Nelson began
-his battle at Trafalgar at noon, or soon after; the Germans took good
-care not to engage before the afternoon was well advanced. There was
-enough time to destroy a detachment, but not enough to complete the
-destruction of a large fleet. The mist further diminished the advantage
-which the British possessed in their heavy guns, and enabled the
-Germans to count on using their numerous 6-in. weapons with success.
-
-Contact with the enemy was obtained. At 2.20 p.m. Admiral Beatty
-received reports from his light cruisers indicating the proximity of
-the enemy, and at 2.35 the smoke of a considerable fleet was seen
-to the E. A seaplane was sent up from a seaplane-carrying ship to
-reconnoitre the enemy, and transmitted back the first reports about
-3.30.
-
-Admiral Beatty at once formed line of battle, steering E.S.E. at 25
-knots, with the Fifth Battle Squadron 10,000 yards off to the N.N.W.
-The enemy (five battle-cruisers under Vice-Admiral Hipper, with light
-cruisers and destroyers) was now 23,000 yards distant. Admiral Beatty
-seems to have decided that it would be unwise to wait till the Fifth
-Battle Squadron could join up with him and form into line with his six
-ships.
-
-The enemy, on seeing him, had turned S. toward the German Battle Fleet,
-which was steaming up from the S. some 50 miles off, and he followed.
-At 3.48 Beatty opened fire at a range of 18,500 yards (or rather more
-than 10½ land miles), and the enemy did the same. Six British ships
-with broadsides of 32 13·5-in. and 16 12-in. guns were now shooting
-at five German ships, whose broadsides were 16 12-in. and 28 11-in.
-guns. Beatty slowly closed on the enemy till a distance of 14,000 yards
-parted the squadrons; meanwhile the light cruisers were engaged with
-craft of their kind.
-
-It was in this preliminary action with the odds in our favour that two
-of Admiral Beatty’s splendid battle-cruisers--the _Queen Mary_ and
-_Indefatigable_--were destroyed.
-
-The loss of these two ships reduced Admiral Beatty’s armoured ships to
-four and his weight of metal to an approximate equality with the German
-battle-cruiser squadron, which was still five ships strong, no single
-vessel in it having as yet been put out of action. At 4.8, Beatty was
-in some degree supported by the fire of the 15-in. guns in the Fifth
-Battle Squadron, which opened at 20,000 yards--a long range in misty
-weather--and the enemy’s fire seemed to slacken. A submarine attack was
-beaten off by the vigilance and skill of the British destroyers, which
-soon after 4 were flung in on the enemy in a great attack, meeting in
-their impetuous charge a German light cruiser and 15 destroyers.
-
-All through this encounter the battle-cruisers were still pounding
-one another and rapidly nearing the German Battle Fleet. From 4.15 to
-4.43 he reports that the fighting was “of a very fierce and resolute
-character,” but at 4.18 the third enemy ship was seen to be on fire.
-The haze had now thickened, and the enemy could only be dimly made out.
-At 4.38 the German Battle Fleet emerged from the mist to the S.E., and
-was seen and reported by the Second Light Cruiser Squadron, scouting in
-advance, to Admiral Beatty, who at 4.42 turned in his course, steaming
-N.W. instead of S.E., towards Admiral Jellicoe and the British Battle
-Fleet.
-
-The Germans turned in the same way, their battle-cruisers taking
-station at the head of the enemy’s line and pursuing Beatty. As they
-executed this turn, the Fifth Battle Squadron closed them, steaming
-in the opposite direction, engaged them with all its guns, and then
-turned and fell in astern of Beatty, who now had eight ships in line,
-proceeding at a speed of something over 21 knots. The enemy’s battle
-fleet was in action, and the Germans had concentrated in superior
-force on a part of the British Fleet.
-
-The range was 14,000 yards and the enemy was getting heavily hit, while
-he was apparently not making many hits on the British ships. After
-5, one of the German battle-cruisers--perhaps the _Lutzow_, which,
-according to the enemy, received 15 or 16 heavy shells--left the line
-damaged. At 5.10 the sixth ship in the German line--a Dreadnought--was
-reported to have been hit by a torpedo, and it is just possible that
-she sank, as a huge cloud of smoke and steam was seen just after where
-she had been. The Germans were now edging off to the E., learning
-either from Zeppelins or their light cruisers that the British Battle
-Fleet was coming up to the N.W. Admiral Beatty reports that “probably
-Zeppelins were present,” though they appear to have been seen only by
-neutrals in the first stage of the battle.
-
-The head of the German line at this part of the battle was getting
-severely punished, and a second of the German battle-cruisers had
-vanished, leaving only three enemy battle-cruisers in line. The first
-stage of the battle was over. Beatty had led the Germans to the British
-Battle Fleet, which was sighted at 5.56 10,000 yards away to the N.
-
-The position of the Fleet was as follows:--Beatty, with four
-battle-cruisers, and astern of him the four fast battleships of the
-Fifth Battle Squadron, was now turning sharply eastwards to pass
-across the head of the German Fleet and prevent it from edging E. and
-getting away in that direction. This movement of his would have enabled
-him to “cross the T” of the enemy’s line--_i.e._, to pass at right
-angles across it, raking the ships as he passed, which is regarded as
-the most advantageous position that can be obtained in battle--if the
-enemy had not turned. N. of Admiral Beatty’s ships was the British
-Battle Fleet, with three battle-cruisers under Hood on one wing, and
-three or four armoured cruisers under Arbuthnot on the other. On a
-line generally parallel to Beatty’s was the whole force of German
-battle-cruisers (3) and battleships (22), slightly astern of him, so
-that the German ships at the southern end of the line were out of the
-battle--too distant to fire. The head of the enemy line was some 12,000
-yards from him, and about 22,000 yards from the British Battle Fleet.
-
-Beatty’s eastward turn compelled the enemy to turn, and enabled the
-British Battle Fleet, if it desired, to move in behind the High Sea
-Fleet and cut it off from its bases. To reinforce Beatty in these
-critical moments, Hood steamed in fast with his three battle-cruisers,
-and swung magnificently into position at the head of Beatty’s line.
-There he received a terrific fire from the enemy, 8,000 yards away,
-and a few minutes later the _Invincible_, his flagship, was struck
-by the combined salvoes of the German Fleet and she sank. Three
-battle-cruisers were gone, and of their combined crews of 2,500
-men a mere handful were saved. Beatty at 6.35, about the time when
-the _Invincible_ sank, turned S.E. A little earlier, Rear-Admiral
-Arbuthnot, with three weak armoured cruisers, struck the German
-Battle Fleet, which was apparently almost hidden in smoke. His
-intervention prevented a dangerous German torpedo attack on the British
-battle-cruisers, but in rendering this last service he perished.
-
-The _Black Prince_ was very badly hit. The _Warrior_ was disabled,
-and in extreme danger. Probably the German ships were attacking these
-vessels with concentrated salvoes--battleships of the super-Dreadnought
-class firing at pre-Dreadnought armoured cruisers. The German shooting
-must have begun to deteriorate, as the _Warspite_ was quickly got under
-control, and with but slight damage rejoined the Fifth Battle Squadron,
-which was now taking station astern of Admiral Jellicoe’s Fleet.
-
-At 6.17 this Fleet entered the battle. The First Battle Squadron was
-the first to engage at 11,000 yards, closing the enemy slowly to 9,000
-(which is very short range indeed, and would allow the Germans to use
-their 6-in. guns). The light was very bad. The Germans were shrouded
-in haze; their destroyers sent up thick clouds of coal smoke, which
-obscured an atmosphere already choked with the fumes of bursting
-shells, and the smoke from the numerous fires in the ships engaged.
-From the van of the Battle Fleet never more than five German ships
-could be seen, and from the rear never more than twelve. The British
-constantly strove to close, but were eluded by the enemy, who utilised
-destroyer attacks to cover his retreat. But, difficult though it was to
-shoot with accuracy, Sir J. Jellicoe reports that in this phase of the
-battle the enemy ships were repeatedly hit, and one at least was seen
-to sink.
-
-The _Marlborough_, in the First Battle Squadron, specially
-distinguished herself, firing seven salvoes (if with all her guns
-about 70 13·5-in. shell) at a battleship of the _Kaiser_ class; at
-6.54 she was so unlucky as to be hit by a torpedo fired from a German
-light cruiser, which she sank. She was the only British ship to suffer
-in this way. A great cloud of smoke rose from her and she listed
-violently, then recovered, and nine minutes later re-opened fire. At
-7.12 she poured 14 salvoes with great speed upon a battleship of the
-_König_ class, and drove her from the line.
-
-The flagship, _Iron Duke_, at 6.30 engaged a Dreadnought of the
-_König_ class in the German Fleet, hitting her at the second salvo,
-which was a remarkable gunnery performance at a range of 12,000 yards
-and in the clouds of smoke. The enemy turned away and escaped. The
-other ships of the Fourth Battle Squadron were mainly engaged with
-the German battle-cruisers. The Second Battle Squadron attacked the
-German battleships, and also fired at a damaged German battle-cruiser,
-from 6.30 to 7.20; at 7 p.m. the British Fleet turned S., and shortly
-afterwards S.W. The battleship engagement closed about 8.20, when the
-enemy disappeared in the smoke and mist. He lay to the W. of Admiral
-Jellicoe’s Fleet, and orders were issued to the British torpedo craft
-to attack him. About 8.20 Beatty pushed W. in support of the light
-cruisers which had been ordered to locate the enemy’s position, and
-came upon two battle-cruisers and two battleships, which he attacked at
-a range of 10,000 yards. The leading German ship was struck repeatedly,
-and turned away sharply with a very heavy list, emitting flames;
-the _Princess Royal_ set a three-funnelled battleship (possibly the
-_Helgoland_) on fire. A third ship was battered by the _Indomitable_
-and _New Zealand_, and was seen heeling over, on fire, drawing out of
-the line. Then about 8.38 the mist came down so thickly that the battle
-was broken off, the enemy fleet being last seen by the larger British
-ships about 8.38, steaming W.
-
-At 8.40 a violent explosion was felt by the British Fleet. This was
-probably caused by the destruction of a big ship.
-
-Beatty steamed S.W. till 9.24, when having seen nothing more of the
-enemy, he assumed that the Germans were to the N.W., and proceeded
-N.N.E. to the British Battle Fleet. He says: “In view of the gathering
-darkness, and the fact that our strategical position was such as to
-make it appear certain that we should locate the enemy at daylight
-under most favourable circumstances, I did not consider it proper or
-desirable to close the enemy battle fleet during the dark hours.”
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: STORMING THE VILLAGE OF LOOS: HAND-TO-HAND FIGHTING IN
-THE STREETS.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Sphere.”_]
-
-
-VI.
-
-THE CHARGE AT LOOS OF THE LONDON IRISH
-
-(18th London).
-
-
-A vivid account of an incident at Loos, which has become historic, was
-given by one of the London Irish Regiment who was wounded during the
-charge:--
-
-“One set of our men--keen footballers--made a strange resolution; it
-was to take a football along with them. The platoon officer discovered
-this, and ordered the football to be sent back--which, of course, was
-carried out. But the old members of the London Irish Football Club were
-not to be done out of the greatest game of their lives-the last to some
-of them, poor fellows--and just before Major Beresford gave the signal
-the leather turned up again mysteriously.
-
-“Suddenly the officer in command gave the signal, ‘Over you go, lads!’
-With that the whole line sprang up as one man, some with a prayer, not
-a few making the sign of the Cross. But the footballers, they chucked
-the ball over and went after it just as cool as if on the field,
-passing it from one to the other, though the bullets were flying thick
-as hail, crying, ‘On the ball, London Irish!’ just as they might have
-done at Forest Hill. I believe that they actually kicked it right into
-the enemy’s trench with the cry, ‘Goal!’ though not before some of them
-had been picked off on the way.
-
-“There wasn’t 400 yards between the trenches, and we had to get across
-the open--a manœuvre we started just as on parade. All lined up,
-bayonets fixed, rifles at the slope. Once our fellows got going it was
-hard to get them to stop, with the result that some rushed clean into
-one of our own gas waves and dropped in it just before it had time to
-get over the enemy’s trench.
-
-“The barbed wire had been broken into smithereens by our shells so
-that we could get right through; but we could see it had been terrible
-stuff, and we all felt we should not have had a ghost of a chance of
-getting through had it not been for an unlimited supply of shells
-expended on it.
-
-“When we reached the German trench, which we did under a cloud of
-smoke, we found nothing but a pack of beings dazed with terror. In
-a jiffy we were over their parapet and the real work began; a kind
-of madness comes over you as you stab with your bayonet and hear the
-shriek of the poor devil suddenly cease as the steel goes through him
-and you know he’s ‘gone west.’ The beggars did not show much fight,
-most having retired into their second line of trenches when we began
-to occupy their first to make it our new line of attack. That meant
-clearing out even the smallest nook or corner that was large enough to
-hold a man.
-
-“This fell to the bombers. Every bomber is a hero, I think, for he
-has to rush on, fully exposed, laden with enough stuff to send him to
-‘kingdom come’ if a chance shot or stumble sets him off.
-
-“Some of the sights were awful in the hand-to-hand struggle, for,
-of course, that is the worst part. Our own second in command, Major
-Beresford, was badly wounded. Captain and Adjutant Hamilton, though
-shot through the knee just after leaving our trench, was discovered
-still limping on at the second German trench, and had to be placed
-under arrest to prevent his going on till he bled to death.
-
-“They got the worst of it, though, when it came to cold steel, which
-they can’t stand, and they ran like hares. So having left a number
-of men in the first trench, we went on to the second and then the
-third, after which other regiments came up to our relief, and together
-we took Loos. It wasn’t really our job at all to take Loos, but we
-were swept on by the enthusiasm, I suppose, and all day long we were
-at it, clearing house after house, or rather what was left of the
-houses--stabbing and shooting and bombing till one felt ready to drop
-dead oneself. We wiped the 22nd Silesian Regiment right out, but it was
-horrible to work on with the cries of the wounded all round.”
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: BRITISH TROOPS IN ACTION ON THE GALLIPOLI PENINSULA.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Illustrated London News.”_]
-
-
-VII.
-
-THE LANDING AT V BEACH, NEAR SEDD-EL-BAHR.[E]
-
-By JOHN MASEFIELD.
-
- [E] _From “Gallipoli.” By John Masefield. (Heinemann.)_
-
-
-The men told off for this landing were: the Dublin Fusiliers, the
-Munster Fusiliers, half a battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, and the
-West Riding Field Company.
-
-Three companies of the Dublin Fusiliers were to land from towed
-lighters, the rest of the party from a tramp steamer, the collier
-_River Clyde_. This ship, a conspicuous seamark at Cape Helles
-throughout the rest of the campaign, had been altered to carry and land
-troops. Great gangways or entry ports had been cut in her sides on the
-level of her between decks, and platforms had been built out upon her
-sides below these, so that men might run from her in a hurry. The plan
-was to beach her as near the shore as possible, and then drag or sweep
-the lighters, which she towed, into position between her and the shore,
-so as to make a kind of boat bridge from her to the beach. When the
-lighters were so moored as to make this bridge, the entry ports were
-to be opened, the waiting troops were to rush out on to the external
-platforms, run from them on to the lighters, and so to the shore. The
-ship’s upper deck and bridge were protected with boiler plate and
-sandbags, and a casemate for machine guns was built upon her fo’c’sle,
-so that she might reply to the enemy’s fire.
-
-Five picket-boats, each towing five boats or launches full of men,
-steamed alongside the _River Clyde_ and went ahead when she grounded.
-She took the ground rather to the right of the little beach, some 400
-yards from the ruins of Sedd-el-Bahr Castle, before the Turks had
-opened fire; but almost as she grounded, when the picket-boats with
-their tows were ahead of her, only 20 or 30 yards from the beach, every
-rifle and machine gun in the castle, the town above it, and in the
-curved, low, strongly trenched hill along the bay, began a murderous
-fire upon ship and boats. There was no question of their missing. They
-had their target on the front and both flanks at ranges between 100
-and 300 yards in clear daylight, 30 boats bunched together and crammed
-with men and a good big ship. The first outbreak of fire made the bay
-as white as a rapid, for the Turks fired not less then 10,000 shots
-a minute for the first few minutes of that attack. Those not killed
-in the boats at the first discharge jumped overboard to wade or swim
-ashore. Many were killed in the water, many, who were wounded, were
-swept away and drowned; others, trying to swim in the fierce current,
-were drowned by the weight of their equipment. But some reached the
-shore, and these instantly doubled out to cut the wire entanglements
-and were killed, or dashed for the cover of a bank of sand or raised
-beach which runs along the curve of the bay. Those very few who reached
-this cover were out of immediate danger, but they were only a handful.
-The boats were destroyed where they grounded.
-
-Meanwhile the men of the _River Clyde_ tried to make their bridge of
-boats by sweeping the lighters into position and mooring them between
-the ship and the shore. They were killed as they worked, but others
-took their places; the bridge was made, and some of the Munsters dashed
-along it from the ship and fell in heaps as they ran. As a second
-company followed, the moorings of the lighters broke or were shot;
-the men leaped into the water, and were drowned or killed, or reached
-the beach and were killed, or fell wounded there, and lay under fire,
-getting wound after wound till they died; very, very few reached the
-sandbank. More brave men jumped aboard the lighters to remake the
-bridge; they were swept away or shot to pieces. The average life on
-those boats was some three minutes long, but they remade the bridge,
-and the third company of the Munsters doubled down to death along it
-under a storm of shrapnel which scarcely a man survived. The big guns
-in Asia were now shelling the _River Clyde_, and the hell of rapid
-fire never paused. More men tried to land, headed by Brigadier-General
-Napier, who was instantly killed, with nearly all his followers.
-Then for long hours the remainder stayed on board, down below in the
-grounded steamer, while the shots beat on her plates with a rattling
-clang which never stopped. Her twelve machine guns fired back, killing
-any Turk who showed; but nothing could be done to support the few
-survivors of the landing, who now lay under cover of the sandbank on
-the other side of the beach. It was almost certain death to try to
-leave the ship, but all through the day men leaped from her (with leave
-or without it) to bring water or succour to the wounded on the boats
-or beach. A hundred brave men gave their lives thus; every man there
-earned the Cross that day. A boy earned it by one of the bravest deeds
-of the war, leaping into the sea with a rope in his teeth to try to
-secure a drifting lighter.
-
-The day passed thus, but at nightfall the Turks’ fire paused, and the
-men came ashore from the _River Clyde_, almost unharmed. They joined
-the survivors on the beach, and at once attacked the old fort and the
-village above it. These works were strongly held by the enemy. All had
-been ruined by the fire from the Fleet, but in the rubble and ruin of
-old masonry there were thousands of hidden riflemen backed by machine
-guns. Again and again they beat off our attacks, for there was a bright
-moon and they knew the ground, and our men had to attack uphill over
-wire and broken earth and heaped stones in all the wreck and confusion
-and strangeness of war at night in a new place. Some of the Dublins
-and Munsters went astray in the ruins, and were wounded far from their
-fellows, and so lost. The Turks became more daring after dark; while
-the light lasted they were checked by the _River Clyde’s_ machine guns,
-but at midnight they gathered unobserved and charged. They came right
-down on to the beach, and in the darkness and moonlight much terrible
-and confused fighting followed. Many were bayoneted, many shot, there
-was wild firing and crying, and then the Turk attack melted away, and
-their machine guns began again. When day dawned, the survivors of the
-landing party were crouched under the shelter of the sandbank; they
-had had no rest; most of them had been fighting all night; all had
-landed across the corpses of their friends. No retreat was possible,
-nor was it dreamed of, but to stay there was hopeless. Lieut.-Colonel
-Doughty-Wylie gathered them together for an attack; the Fleet opened a
-terrific fire upon the ruins of the fort and village, and the landing
-party went forward again, fighting from bush to bush and from stone to
-stone, till the ruins were in their hands. Shells still fell among
-them, single Turks, lurking under cover, sniped them and shot them; but
-the landing had been made good, and V beach was secured to us.
-
-This was the worst and the bloodiest of all the landings.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME: THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS’ SPLENDID
-CHARGE.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Illustrated London News.”_]
-
-
-VIII.
-
-THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS AT THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME.[F]
-
-By PHILIP GIBBS.
-
- [F] _From “The Battles of the Somme.” (Heinemann.)_
-
-
-And now I must tell a little more in detail the story of the Guards in
-this battle. It is hard to tell it, and not all can be told yet because
-of the enemy. The Guards had their full share of the fighting, and of
-the difficult ground, with strong forces against them. They knew that
-would be so before they went into battle, and yet they did not ask
-for better things but awaited the hour of attack with strong, gallant
-hearts, quite sure of their courage, proud of their name, full of trust
-in their officers, eager to give a smashing blow at the enemy.
-
-These splendid men, so tall and proper, so hard and fine, went away as
-one might imagine the old knights and yeomen of England at Agincourt.
-For the first time in the history of the Coldstreamers, three
-battalions of them charged in line, great solid waves of men, as fine
-a sight as the world could show. Behind them were the Grenadiers, and
-again behind these men the Irish.
-
-They had not gone more than 200 yards before they came under the
-enfilade fire of massed machine guns in trenches not previously
-observed. The noise of this fire was so loud and savage that, although
-hundreds of guns were firing, not a shot could be heard. It was just
-the stabbing staccato hammering of the German Maxims. Men fell, but the
-lines were not broken. Gaps were made in the ranks, but they closed up.
-The wounded did not call for help, but cheered on those who swept past
-and on, shouting “Go on, Lily-whites!”--which is the old name for the
-Coldstreamers--“Get at ’em, Lily-whites!”
-
-They went on at a hot pace with their bayonets lowered. Out of the
-crumpled earth--all pits and holes and hillocks, torn up by great
-gun-fire--grey figures rose and fled. They were German soldiers
-terror-stricken by this rushing tide of men.
-
-The Guards went on. Then they were checked by two lines of trenches,
-wired and defended by machine guns and bombers. They came upon them
-quicker than they expected. Some of the officers were puzzled. Could
-these be the trenches marked out for attack--or other unknown trenches?
-Anyhow, they must be taken--and the Guards took them by frontal assault
-full in the face of continual blasts of machine-gun bullets.
-
-There was hard and desperate fighting. The Germans defended themselves
-to the death. They bombed our men, who attacked them with the bayonet,
-served their machine guns until they were killed, and would only
-surrender when our men were on top of them. It was a very bloody hour
-or more. By that time the Irish Guards had joined the others. All the
-Guards were together, and together they passed the trenches, swinging
-left inevitably under the machine-gun fire which poured upon them from
-their right, but going steadily deeper into the enemy country until
-they were 2,000 yards from their starting place.
-
-Then it was necessary to call a halt. Many officers and men had fallen.
-To go farther would be absolute death. The troops on the right had been
-utterly held up. The Guards were “up in the air” with an exposed flank,
-open to all the fire that was flung upon them from the enemy’s lines.
-The temptation to go farther was great. The German infantry was on the
-run. They were dragging their guns away. There was a great panic among
-the men who had been hiding in trenches. But the German machine gunners
-kept to their posts to safeguard a rout, and the Guards had gone far
-enough through their scourging bullets.
-
-They decided very wisely to hold the line they had gained, and to dig
-in where they stood, and to make forward posts with strong points.
-They had killed a great number of Germans and taken 200 prisoners and
-fought grandly. So now they halted and dug and took cover as best they
-could in shell-craters and broken ground, under fierce fire from the
-enemy’s guns.
-
-The night was a dreadful one for the wounded, and for men who did their
-best for the wounded, trying to be deaf to agonizing sounds. Many of
-them had hairbreadth escapes from death. One young officer in the Irish
-Guards lay in a shell-hole with two comrades, and then left it for a
-while to cheer up other men lying in surrounding craters. When he came
-back he found his two friends lying dead, blown to bits by a shell.
-
-But in spite of all these bad hours the Guards kept cool, kept their
-discipline, their courage, and their spirit. The Germans launched
-counter-attacks against them, but were annihilated. The Guards held
-their ground, and gained the greatest honour for self-sacrificing
-courage which has ever given a special meaning to their name. They took
-the share which all of us knew they would take in the greatest of all
-our battles since the first day of July, and, with other regiments,
-struck a vital blow at the enemy’s line of defence.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE ADVANCE ON BAGHDAD: BATTLE ON THE DIALA RIVER.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Sphere.”_]
-
-
-IX.
-
-THE MOONLIGHT BATTLE FOR BAGHDAD.
-
-By EDMUND CANDLER.
-
-
-The last fighting before Baghdad is likely to become historic on
-account of the splendid gallantry of our troops in the crossing of
-the Diala River. After the action at Lajj the Turkish rearguard fell
-back on Diala, destroying the bridge which crosses the stream at its
-junction with the Tigris. We pushed on in pursuit on the left bank,
-sending cavalry and two columns of infantry to work round on the
-right bank, and to enter Baghdad from the west. Speed in following up
-was essential, and the column attacking Diala was faced with another
-crossing in which the element of surprise was eliminated. The village
-lies on both banks of the stream, which is 120 yards wide. The houses,
-trees, nullah, and walled gardens made it impossible to build a road
-and ramps quickly and to bring up pontoons without betraying the point
-of embarkation. Hence the old bridgehead site was chosen. The attack on
-the night of the 7th was checked, but the quality of courage shown by
-our men has never been surpassed in war. Immediately the first pontoon
-was lowered over the ramp the whole launching party was shot down in a
-few seconds. It was a bright moonlight, and the Turks had concentrated
-their machine guns and rifles in the houses on the opposite bank.
-
-The second pontoon had got into the middle of the stream, when a
-terrific fusillade was opened on it. The crew of five rowers and ten
-riflemen were killed and the boat floated down the stream. A third got
-nearly across, but was bombed and sank. All the crew were killed. But
-there was no holding back. The orders still held to secure the passage.
-Crew after crew pushed off to an obvious and certain death. The fourth
-crossing party was exterminated in the same way, and the pontoons
-drifted out to the Tigris to float past our camp in the daylight
-with their freight of dead. The drafts who went over were raised by
-volunteers from other battalions in the brigade. These and the sappers
-on the bank share the honour of the night with the attacking battalion.
-Nothing stopped them, save the loss of the pontoons. A Lancashire man
-remarked: “It is a bit hot here, but let’s try higher up,” but the
-gallant fellows were reduced to their last boat. Another regiment,
-which was to cross higher up, were delayed, as the boats had to be
-carried nearly a mile across country to the stream. After the failure
-of the bridgehead passage the second crossing was cancelled, but the
-men were still game.
-
-On the second night the attempt was pursued with equal gallantry. This
-time the attack was preceded by a bombardment. Registering by artillery
-had been impossible on the first day in the speed of the pursuit. It
-was the barrage that secured us the footing--not the shells, but the
-dust raised by them. This was so thick that you could not see your hand
-in front of your face. It formed a curtain behind which ten boats were
-able to cross. Afterwards, in clear moonlight, when the curtain of dust
-had lifted, the conditions of the night before were re-established.
-Succeeding crossing parties were exterminated, and pontoons drifted
-away, but a footing was secured. The dust served us well. The crew of
-one boat which lost its way during the barrage were untouched, but they
-did not make the bank in time. Directly the air cleared a machine-gun
-was opened on them, and the rowers were shot down, and the pontoon
-drifted back ashore. A sergeant called to volunteers to get the wounded
-out of the boat, and a party of twelve men went over the river bank.
-Every man of them, as well as the crew of the pontoons, were killed.
-
-Some 60 men had got over, and these joined up and started bombing
-along the bank. They were soon heavily pressed by the Turks on both
-flanks, and found themselves between two woods. Here they discovered
-a providential natural position. A break in the river bund had been
-repaired by a new bund built in a half-moon on the landward side. This
-formed a perfect lunette. The Lancashire men, surrounded on all sides
-but the river, held it through the night, all the next day, and the
-next night against repeated and determined attacks. Those attacks were
-delivered in the dark or at dawn. The Turks only attacked once in the
-daylight, as our machine guns on the other bank swept the ground in
-front of the position. Twenty yards west of the lunette there was a
-thin grove of mulberries and palms. The pontoon was most vulnerable
-on this side, and it was here that the Turkish counter-attacks were
-most frequent. Our intense intermittent artillery fire day and night
-on the wood afforded some protection. The whole affair was visible to
-our troops on the south side, who were able to make themselves heard by
-shouting. Attempts to get a cable across with a rocket for the passage
-of ammunition failed.
-
-At midnight on the 9th and 10th the Turks were on top of the parapet,
-but were driven back. One more determined rush would have carried
-the lunette, but the little garrison, now reduced to 40, kept their
-heads and maintained cool control of their fire. A corporal was seen
-searching for loose rounds and emptying the bandoliers of the dead.
-In the end they were reduced almost to their last clip and one bomb,
-but we found over 100 Turkish dead outside the redoubts when they
-were relieved at daylight. The crossing on the night of the 9th and
-10th was entirely successful. With our cavalry and two columns of
-infantry working round on the right bank the Turks were in danger of
-being cut off, as at Sanna-i-Yat. Before midnight they had withdrawn
-their machine guns, leaving only riflemen to dispute the passage. The
-crossing upstream was a surprise. We slipped through the Turkish guard.
-He had pickets at both ends of the river salient where we dropped
-our pontoons. But he overlooked essential points in it which offered
-us dead ground uncovered by posts up and down stream. Consequently
-our passage here lost us no lives. The other ferry near the bridge
-was also crossed with slight loss, owing to a diversion up-stream.
-The Turks, perceiving that their flank was being turned, effected a
-general retirement of the greater part of their garrison between the
-two ferries. Some 250 in all, finding us bombing down on both flanks,
-surrendered. The upper crossing was so unexpected that one Turk was
-actually bayonetted as he lay covering the opposite bank with his rifle.
-
-By 9.30 on the morning of the 10th the whole brigade had crossed.
-Soon after 11 the brigade was complete and the pursuit continued.
-The Turks continued their rearguard action, and in the afternoon
-there was fighting in the palm groves of Saida, and the Turks were
-cleared with the bayonet, after artillery had combed the wood. The
-main body was holding the El Mahomed position, one and a half miles
-further north--a trench line running nearly four miles inland from the
-Tigris. We attacked this in front, while another column made a wide
-turning movement on the flank, and the enemy evacuated it at night.
-On the morning of the 12th we entered Baghdad. Our force on the right
-bank, after defeating the Turkish rearguard in two actions, reached
-the suburb on the opposite side of the Bridge of Boats. A brigade was
-ferried across in coracles, and at noon they hoisted the Union Jack on
-the citadel. Meanwhile the cavalry continued the pursuit and occupied
-Kazimain after slight resistance. Four damaged aeroplanes and 100
-prisoners were taken, in addition to the 300 captured on the left bank.
-The gunboats are still in pursuit of the enemy, who are reported to
-be entrenching 16 miles north of Baghdad, covering the entrainment of
-troops.
-
-
-
-
-X.
-
-THE BATTLE OF ARRAS.[G]
-
-BY PHILIP GIBBS.
-
- [G] _From the “Daily Chronicle” and “Daily Telegraph.”_
-
-
-To-day, at dawn, our armies began a great battle, which, if Fate has
-any kindness for the world, may be the beginning of the last great
-battles of the war. Our troops attacked on a wide front between Lens
-and St. Quentin, including the Vimy Ridge, that great, grim hill
-which dominates the plain of Douai and the coalfields of Lens and the
-German positions around Arras. In spite of bad fortune in weather at
-the beginning of the day, so bad that there was no visibility for the
-airmen, and our men had to struggle forward in a heavy rainstorm, the
-first attacks have been successful, and the enemy has lost much ground,
-falling back in retreat to strong rearguard lines, where he is now
-fighting desperately. The line of our attack covers a front of some 12
-miles southwards from Givenchy-en-Gohelle, and is a sledge-hammer blow,
-threatening to break the northern end of the Hindenburg line, already
-menaced round St. Quentin. As soon as the enemy was forced to retreat
-from the country east of Bapaume and Péronne, in order to escape a
-decisive blow on that line, he hurried up divisions and guns northwards
-to counter our attack there, while he prepared a new line of defence,
-known as the Wotan line, as the southern part of the Hindenburg line,
-which joins it, is known as the Siegfried position, after two great
-heroes of old German mythology. He hoped to escape there before our new
-attack was ready, but we have been too quick for him, and his own plans
-were frustrated.
-
-So to-day began another titanic conflict which the world will hold its
-breath to watch because of all that hangs upon it. I have seen the fury
-of this beginning, and all the sky on fire with it, the most tragic and
-frightful sight that men have ever seen, with an infernal splendour
-beyond words to tell. The bombardment which went before the infantry
-assault lasted for several days, and reached a great height yesterday,
-when, coming from the south, I saw it for the first time. Those of us
-who knew what would happen to-day, the beginning of another series
-of battles greater, perhaps, than the struggle of the Somme, found
-ourselves yesterday filled with a tense, restless emotion, and some of
-us smiled with a kind of tragic irony because it was Easter Sunday. In
-the little villages behind the battle lines the bells of the French
-churches were ringing gladly because the Lord had risen, and on the
-altar steps the priests were reciting the splendid old words of faith.
-“Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum. Alleluia” (“I have arisen and I am with
-thee always. Alleluia”). The earth was glad yesterday. For the first
-time this year the sun had a touch of warmth in it, though patches of
-snow still stayed white under the shelter of the banks, and the sky was
-blue and the light glinted on wet tree-trunks and in the furrows of the
-new-ploughed earth. As I went up the road to the battle lines I passed
-a battalion of our men, the men who are fighting to-day, standing in
-hollow square with bowed heads while the chaplain conducted the Easter
-service. Easter Sunday, but no truce of God. I went to a field outside
-Arras and looked into the ruins of the cathedral city. The cathedral
-itself stood clear in the sunlight, with a deep black shadow where its
-roof and aisles had been. Beyond was a ragged pinnacle of stone, once
-the glorious Town Hall, and the French barracks and all the broken
-streets going out to the Cambrai road. It was hell in Arras, though
-Easter Sunday.
-
-The bombardment was now in full blast. It was a beautiful and devilish
-thing, and the beauty of it, and not the evil of it, put a spell upon
-one’s senses. All our batteries, too many to count, were firing, and
-thousands of gun flashes were winking and blinking from hollows and
-hiding-places, and all their shells were rushing through the sky as
-though flocks of great birds were in flight, and all were bursting over
-the German positions with long flames which rent the darkness and waved
-sword-blades of quivering light along the ridges. The earth opened, and
-great pools of red fire gushed out. Star shells burst magnificently,
-pouring down golden rain. Mines exploded east and west of Arras and in
-the wide sweep from Vimy Ridge to Blangy southwards, and voluminous
-clouds, all bright with a glory of infernal fire, rolled up to the sky.
-The wind blew strongly across, beating back the noise of the guns, but
-the air was all filled with the deep roar and slamming knocks of the
-single heavies and the drum fire of the field guns.
-
-The hour for attack was 5.30. Officers were looking at their wrist
-watches as on a day in July last year. The earth lightened. A few
-minutes before 5.30 the guns almost ceased fire, so that there was a
-strange and solemn hush. We waited, and pulses beat faster than the
-second-hands. “They’re away,” said a voice by my side. The bombardment
-broke out again with new and enormous effects of fire and sound. The
-enemy was shelling Arras heavily, and black shrapnel and high explosive
-came over from his lines, but our gunfire was twenty times as great.
-Around the whole sweep of his lines green lights rose. They were
-signals of distress, and his men were calling for help.
-
-It was dawn now, but clouded and storm-swept. A few airmen came out
-with the wind tearing at their wings, but could see nothing in the
-mist and driving rain. I went down to the outer ramparts of Arras. The
-suburb of Blangy seemed already in our hands. On the higher ground
-beyond our men were fighting forward. I saw two waves of infantry
-advancing against the enemy’s trenches, preceded by our barrage of
-field guns. They went in a slow, leisurely way, not hurried, though
-the enemy’s shrapnel was searching for them. “Grand fellows,” said
-an officer lying next to me on the wet slope. “Oh, topping!” Fifteen
-minutes afterwards groups of men came back. They were British wounded
-and German prisoners. I met the first of these walking wounded
-afterwards. They were met on the roadside by medical officers,
-who patched them up there and then before they were taken to the
-field hospitals in ambulances. From these men, hit by shrapnel and
-machine-gun bullets, I heard the first news of progress. They were
-bloody and exhausted, but claimed success. “We did fine,” said one of
-them. “We were through the fourth lines before I was knocked out.”
-“Not many Germans in the first trenches,” said another, “and no real
-trenches either after shelling. We had knocked their dug-outs out, and
-their dead were lying thick, and the living ones put their hands up.”
-All the men agreed that their own casualties were not high, and mostly
-wounded.
-
- _The Next Day._
-
-By three in the afternoon yesterday the Canadians had gained the whole
-of the ridge except a high strong post on the left, Hill 145, which
-was captured during the night. Our gunfire had helped them by breaking
-down all the wire, even round Heroes’ Wood and Count’s Wood, where it
-was very thick and strong. Thélus was wiped utterly off the map. This
-morning Canadian patrols pushed in a snowstorm through the Farbus Wood,
-and established outposts on the railway embankment. Some of the bravest
-work was done by the forward observing officers, who climbed to the top
-of Vimy Ridge as soon as it was captured, and through a sea of heavy
-barrage reported back to the artillery all the movements seen by them
-on the country below.
-
-In spite of the wild day, our flying men were riding the storm and
-signalling to the gunners who were rushing up their field guns. “Our
-60-pounders,” said a Canadian officer, “had the day of their lives.”
-They found many targets. There were trains moving in Vimy village, and
-they hit them. There were troops massing on the sloping ground, and
-they were shattered. There were guns and limbers on the move, and men
-and horses were killed. Beyond all the prisoners taken yesterday by the
-English, Scottish and Canadian troops, the enemy losses were frightful,
-and the scenes behind his lines must have been and still be hideous in
-slaughter and terror.
-
-The Battle of Arras is the greatest victory we have yet gained in this
-war and a staggering blow to the enemy. He has lost already nearly
-10,000 prisoners and more than half a hundred guns,[H] and in dead and
-wounded his losses are great. He is in retreat south of the Vimy Ridge
-to defensive lines further back, and as he goes our guns are smashing
-him along the roads. It is a black day for the German armies and for
-the German women who do not know yet what it means to them. During last
-night the Canadians gained the last point, called Hill 145, on the Vimy
-Ridge, where the Germans held out in a pocket with machine guns, and
-this morning the whole of that high ridge, which dominates the plains
-to Douai, is in our hands, so that there is removed from our path the
-great barrier for which the French and ourselves have fought through
-bloody years. Yesterday, before daylight and afterwards, I saw this
-ridge of Vimy all on fire with the light of great gunfire. The enemy
-was there in strength, and his guns were answering ours with a heavy
-barrage of high explosives.
-
- [H] Increased to 19,343 prisoners and 257 guns on 2nd May.
-
-This morning the scene was changed as by a miracle. Snow was falling,
-blown gustily across the battlefields and powdering the capes and
-helmets of our men as they rode or marched forward to the front.
-But presently sunlight broke through the storm-clouds and flooded
-all the countryside by Neuville-St. Vaast and Thélus and La Folie
-Farm up to the crest of the ridge where the Canadians had just fought
-their way with such high valour. Our batteries were firing from many
-hiding-places, revealed by the short, sharp flashes of light, but
-few answering shells came back, and the ridge itself, patched with
-snowdrifts, was as quiet as any hill of peace. It was astounding to
-think that not a single German stayed up there out of all the thousands
-who had held it yesterday, unless some poor wounded devils still
-cower in the great tunnels which pierce the hillside. It was almost
-unbelievable to me, who have known the evil of this high ridge month
-after month and year after year and the deadly menace which lurked
-about its lower slopes. Yet I saw proof below, where all the Germans
-who had been there at dawn yesterday, thousands of them, were down in
-our lines, drawn up in battalions, marshalling themselves, grinning at
-the fate which had come to them and spared their lives.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: THE GREAT EXPLOIT OF E. 11: TORPEDOING AN ENEMY VESSEL
-OFF CONSTANTINOPLE.
-
-_Reproduced by permission of “The Illustrated London News.”_]
-
-
-XI.
-
-WARFARE UNDER WATER.[I]
-
-BY RUDYARD KIPLING.
-
- They bear, in place of classic names,
- Letters and numbers on their skin.
- They play their grisly blindfold games
- In little boxes made of tin.
- Sometimes they stalk the Zeppelin,
- Sometimes they learn where mines are laid
- Or where the Baltic ice is thin.
- That is the custom of “The Trade.”
-
- [I] _“Sea Warfare.” By Rudyard Kipling. (Macmillan.)_
-
-
-No one knows how the title of “The Trade” came to be applied to the
-Submarine Service. Some say the cruisers invented it because they
-pretend that submarine officers look like unwashed chauffeurs. Others
-think it sprang forth by itself, which means that it was coined by
-the Lower Deck, where they always have the proper names for things.
-Whatever the truth, the Submarine Service is now “the Trade”; and if
-you ask them why, they will answer: “What else could you call it? The
-Trade’s ‘the trade,’ of course.”
-
-It is a close corporation; yet it recruits its men and officers from
-every class that uses the sea and engines, as well as from many classes
-that never expected to deal with either. It takes them; they disappear
-for a while and return changed to their very souls, for the Trade
-lives in a world without precedents, of which no generation has had
-any previous experience--a world still being made and enlarged daily.
-It creates and settles its own problems as it goes along, and if it
-cannot help itself no one else can. So the Trade lives in the dark and
-thinks out inconceivable and impossible things, which it afterwards
-puts into practice.
-
-
-_Four Nightmares._
-
-Who, a few months ago, could have invented, or, having invented, would
-have dared to print such a nightmare as this: There was a boat in the
-North Sea who ran into a net and was caught by the nose. She rose,
-still entangled, meaning to cut the thing away on the surface. But a
-Zeppelin in waiting saw and bombed her, and she had to go down again at
-once, but not too wildly or she would get herself more wrapped up than
-ever. She went down, and by slow working and weaving and wriggling,
-guided only by guesses at the meaning of each scrape and grind of the
-net on her blind forehead, at last she drew clear. Then she sat on
-the bottom and thought. The question was whether she should go back
-at once and warn her confederates against the trap, or wait till the
-destroyers, which she knew the Zeppelin would have signalled for,
-should come out to finish her still entangled, as they would suppose,
-in the net. It was a simple calculation of comparative speeds and
-positions, and when it was worked out she decided to try for the double
-event. Within a few minutes of the time she had allowed for them, she
-heard the twitter of four destroyers’ screws quartering above her;
-rose; got her shot in; saw one destroyer crumple; hung round till
-another took the wreck in tow; said good-bye to the spare brace (she
-was at the end of her supplies), and reached the rendezvous in time to
-turn her friends.
-
-And since we are dealing in nightmares, here are two more--one genuine,
-the other, mercifully, false. There was a boat not only at, but _in_
-the mouth of a river--well home in German territory. She was spotted,
-and went under, her commander perfectly aware that there was not
-more than five feet of water over her conning-tower, so that even a
-torpedo-boat, let alone a destroyer, would hit it if she came over. But
-nothing hit anything. The search was conducted on scientific principles
-while they sat on the silt and suffered. Then the commander heard the
-rasp of a wire trawl sweeping over his hull. It was not a nice sound,
-but there happened to be a couple of gramophones aboard, and he turned
-them both on to drown it. And in due time that boat got home with
-everybody’s hair of just the same colour as when they had started!
-
-The other nightmare arose out of silence and imagination. A boat had
-gone to bed on the bottom in a spot where she might reasonably expect
-to be looked for, but it was a convenient jumping-off, or up, place for
-the work in hand. About the bad hour of 2.30. a.m. the commander was
-waked by one of his men, who whispered to him: “They’ve got the chains
-on us, sir!” Whether it was pure nightmare, an hallucination of long
-wakefulness, something relaxing and releasing in that packed box of
-machinery, or the disgustful reality, the commander could not tell, but
-it had all the makings of panic in it. So the Lord and long training
-put it into his head to reply: “Have they? Well, we shan’t be coming
-up till nine o’clock this morning. We’ll see about it then. Turn out
-that light, please.”
-
-_He_ did not sleep, but the dreamer and the others did, and when
-morning came and he gave the order to rise, and she rose unhampered,
-and he saw the grey, smeared seas from above once again, he said it was
-a very refreshing sight.
-
-Lastly, which is on all fours with the gamble of the chase, a man was
-coming home rather bored after an uneventful trip. It was necessary for
-him to sit on the bottom for awhile, and there he played patience. Of a
-sudden it struck him, as a vow and an omen, that if he worked out the
-next game correctly he would go up and strafe something. The cards fell
-all in order. He went up at once and found himself alongside a German,
-whom, as he had promised and prophesied to himself, he destroyed. She
-was a mine-layer, and needed only a jar to dissipate like a cracked
-electric-light bulb. He was somewhat impressed by the contrast between
-the single-handed game 50 feet below, the ascent, the attack, the
-amazing result, and when he descended again, his cards just as he had
-left them.
-
-
-_The Exploit of E 11._
-
-E 11 “proceeded” in the usual way, to the usual accompaniments of
-hostile destroyers, up the Straits, and meets the usual difficulties
-about charging-up when she gets through. Her wireless naturally takes
-this opportunity to give trouble, and E 11 is left, deaf and dumb,
-somewhere in the middle of the Sea of Marmara, diving to avoid hostile
-destroyers in the intervals of trying to come at the fault in her
-aerial. (Yet it is noteworthy that the language of the Trade, though
-technical, is no more emphatic or incandescent than that of top-side
-ships.)
-
-Then she goes towards Constantinople, finds a Turkish torpedo-gunboat
-off the port, sinks her, has her periscope smashed by a six-pounder,
-retires, fits a new top on the periscope, and at 10.30 a.m.--they must
-have needed it--pipes “All hands to bathe.” Much refreshed, she gets
-her wireless linked up at last, and is able to tell the authorities
-where she is and what she is after.
-
- * * * * *
-
-In due time E 11 went back to her base. She had discovered a way of
-using unspent torpedoes twice over, which surprised the enemy, and she
-had as nearly as possible been cut down by a ship which she thought
-was running away from her. Instead of which (she made the discovery at
-3,000 yards, both craft all out) the stranger steamed straight at her.
-“The enemy then witnessed a somewhat spectacular dive at full speed
-from the surface to 20 feet in as many seconds. He then really did turn
-tail and was seen no more.” Going through the Straits she observed
-an empty troopship at anchor, but reserved her torpedoes in the hope
-of picking up some battleships lower down. Not finding these in the
-Narrows, she nosed her way back and sank the trooper, “afterwards
-continuing journey down the Straits.” Off Kilid Bahr something
-happened; she got out of trim and had to be fully flooded before she
-could be brought to her required depth. It might have been whirlpools
-under water, or--other things. (They tell a story of a boat which once
-went mad in these very waters, and, for no reason ascertainable from
-within, plunged to depths that contractors do not allow for; rocketed
-up again like a swordfish, and would doubtless have so continued till
-she died, had not something she had fouled dropped off and let her
-recover her composure.)
-
-An hour later: “Heard a noise similar to grounding. Knowing this to be
-impossible in the water in which the boat then was, I came up to 20
-feet to investigate, and observed a large mine preceding the periscope
-at a distance of about 20 feet, which was apparently hung up by its
-moorings to the port hydroplane.” Hydroplanes are the fins at bow and
-stern which regulate a submarine’s diving. A mine weighs anything from
-hundredweights to half-tons. Sometimes it explodes if you merely think
-about it; at others you can batter it like an empty sardine tin and it
-submits meekly; but at no time is it meant to wear on a hydroplane.
-They dared not come up to unhitch it, “owing to the batteries ashore,”
-so they pushed the dim shape ahead of them till they got outside Kum
-Kale. They then went full astern, and emptied the after-tanks, which
-brought the bows down, and in this posture rose to the surface, when
-“the rush of water from the screws together with the sternway gathered
-allowed the mine to fall clear of the vessel.”
-
-Now a tool, said Dr. Johnson, would have tried to describe that.
-
-
- _Printed in Great Britain by Eyre & Spottiswoode, Ltd.,
- East Harding Street, London, E.C.4_
-
-
-
-
- * * * * * *
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s note:
-
-Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
-predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
-were not changed.
-
-Simple typographical errors were corrected.
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 60155 ***