USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > Atlas and plat book of Lenawee County Michigan and history of the World War > Part 10
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Beyond question German money rather than German arms, was the basic cause of the Russian failure to push their drive. There seems no doubt that the extensive bribery of many Russian officials lies at the base of the strange pause in their victorious advance in May, 1915.
THE FIGHTING IN FLANDERS. The long period of petty and desultory war- fare-trench raiding and the like-in France-came to an end with the advent of spring. The French had attempted to break through the German entrenched lines in the Champagne district of eastern France (between Rheims and Verdun) late in January, but were unsuccessful. Slight progress east of Rheims was offset by ground lost in other sections. German lines still held, the German artillery still bombarded Rheims at will.
BATTLE OF NEUVE CHAPELLE .- The first real blow of the Allies, on March 10, was directed against the village of Neuve Chappelle, near the western end of the far-flung battle line, in Flanders. This village had already changed hands several times the fall before, eventually remaining with the Germans. The obstacle in front of the allied army was a most serious one. The barbed wire entangle- ments were on an immense scale, the trenches were bristling with machine guns and the village in the rear contained several large houses surrounded with orchards, both houses and orchards being converted into fortresses. It took a
GERMAN GOTHAS BROUGHT DOWN BY WIDE RANGE GUNS OF LONDON.
high grade of courage to attack in the face of such obstacles, but the British and French set about it.
The allied attack was made over a front of a little more than four miles. It was preceded by the heaviest artillery bombardment known up to that time. More than 300 British cannon suddenly opened up on the narrow front. The village of Neuve Chappelle disappeared as if by an earthquake. The German trenches were leveled by the terrific blast. Thousands of allied troops pressed forward, carry- ing the German trenches and pressing on for more than a mile from their starting point. For the first time the superiority of the allied artillery was definitely estab- lished. For the first time in many months, too, a real gain had been made by the Allies. On the other hand, the casualty list of the victors was heavy. It cost Britain alone 13,000 men to make this small gain. The conclusion was being forced home that the Germans, in their trenches and strongly-fortified positions, could not be rushed by any frontal attack, except at such a loss of life as no nation or group of nations could well stand. This conclusion was strengthened by the fighting around Hill 60, a low ridge about fifty feet high and 750 feet long, which faced the allied trenches southwest of Ypres. This fighting began April 17 and lasted for several weeks. Gains could be made, but only at a terrific price in human life.
There followed shortly a battle, or rather a series of battles, which stand out prominently in the history of the war because of the introduction of new and brutal methods by the Germans. For the first time in civilized warfare, poisonous gas was used, with terrible effectiveness. This occurred at Langemarck, in what is generally called the second battle of Ypres, on April 22, 1915. A. Conan Doyle describes the scene thus: "From the base of the German trenches over a consid- erable length, there appeared jets of whitish vapor, which gathered and swirled until they settled into a definite, low cloud-bank, greenish-brown below, and yellow above, where it reflected the rays of the sinking sun. This ominous bank of vapor, impelled by a northern breeze, drifted swiftly across the space which separated the two lines. The French troops, staring over the top of the parapet at this curious screen which ensured them a temporary relief from fire. were observed suddenly to throw up their hands, to clutch at their throats and to fall to the
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ground in the agonies of asphyxiation. Many lay where they had fallen, while their comrades, absolutely helpless against this diabolical agency, rushed madly out of the mist and made for the rear, overrunning the line of trenches behind them. The Germans meanwhile advanced and took possession of the successive lines of trenches, tenanted only by the dead garrisons, whose blackened faces, contorted figures and lips fringed with the blood and foam from their bursting lungs, showed the agonies in which they had died."
Thousands of stupefied prisoners, eight batteries of French field guns and four British batteries of heavies, were the trophies won by the Germans in this introduction of barbaric and unwarranted war methods. After four days of fight- ing they had advanced some two miles nearer to Ypres on a five-mile front. The Allies' loss was heavy, perhaps 30,000 to 35,000 men by the end of the month. Continuation of the operations, late in April and throughout much of May, resulted in a wedge being driven into the allied lines which might have had serious results had the Germans been quick to follow up their advantage. The opportunity passed, however, and the allied line held. Thereafter came a prolonged lull, during which the Germans were content to remain upon the defensive upon the west, while they successfully attacked the Russians in the east.
BATTLE OF THE DUNAJEC-The Germans and Austrians concentrated with surprising swiftness and secrecy upon the Dunajec river, a short distance east of Cracow. General Von Mackensen, in charge of the German forces, opened battle along the Dunajec river in Hungary. On May 1, 1915, he struck the Rus- sian army with cyclonic force. The Germans here used for the first time the noted "pincer method"-of driving two irresistible "wedges" among the opposing force and "pinching it off" from its support. His plan was most successful. Most of the Russians in his front were simply obliterated. Those who were left could only fall back, fighting desperately. Mackensen had dealt Russia a terrible blow on the Dunajec. Despite desperate bravery, the Russians could not withstand him. Przemysl was recaptured by the Central Powers; Lemberg soon shared its fate. Then Mackensen, acting in co-ordination with Hindenburg, swept northward, fort- ress after fortress falling before the German armies. Soon Warsaw, capital of Poland, was in German hands. The Russians, under Grand Duke Nicholas, were forced eastward. Brest-Litovsk fell. Vilna opened her gates to the invaders, who claimed over 300,000 prisoners, thousands of guns and fabulous quantities of stores. Winter alone put an end to the Russian rout.
THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN-Entrance to the Black Sea is secured from the Aegean Sea through the Dardanelles, which widens into the Sea of Marmora and then narrows into the Bosphorus straits, about twenty miles long, separating European and Asiatic Turkey. The Allies attempted to force this water-way in order to destroy the Turkish and German fleets in the Black Sea and gain entrance to Austria-Hungary through either Bulgaria or Roumania. The attempt forms one of the most disastrous chapters of the entire war.
In the middle of February, 1915, the British and French fleets bombarded the Dardanelles forts. In the early days of the operation easy and rapid progress was made. Headed by the Queen Elizabeth, one of the newest British battleships, the allied fleets forced the entrance to the straits and leveled the forts at the mouth. Preceded by mine sweepers they penetrated some ten miles inside the straits. In the meantime other ships bombarded the narrow Gallipoli peninsula, to the west of the straits, reaching the Turkish forts by indirect fire. This was only the first and easiest step in forcing a road to Constantinople. After a month of heavy bombardment the allied fleet attempted to force the channel, relying upon the apparent success of their guns in silencing the Turkish forts. The result was an immediate disaster. The French battleship Bouvet, with more than 600 officers and men, was sunk by a mine. Two British battleships, the Irresistible and the Ocean, shared a similar fate, though most of their crews were saved. Other ships were put out of commission. By April 1st the bombardment had stopped and all hope of forcing the straits without the aid of land forces had dis- appeared.
The operation of the land forces-composed mainly of colonials from New Zealand and Australia, called Anzacs-called for the utmost courage and sacri- fice. It is doubtful if military annals contain a more heroic chapter. The Anzacs were landed upon the peninsula on April 25 in the face of the most withering fire from concealed Turkish guns, with hardly one chance of a thousand of living and digging in. Capt. R. Hugh Knyvett, of the Australian army, writes thus of the landing: "Think of those beaches and sea mines, densely strewn with barbed wire (even into deep water), with machine guns arranged so that every yard of sand and water would be swept by direct, indirect and cross fire, with a hose-like stream of bullets; think of the thousands of field pieces and howitzers ready, ranged and set, so that they would spray the sand and whip the sea, merely by the pulling of triggers. Think of a force larger than the intended landing party, entrenched, with their rifles loaded and their range known, behind all manner of overhead cover and wire entanglements, and then remember you are one of a party that has to step ashore from an open boat and kill or drive far enough inland those enemy soldiers to enable your stores to be landed so that when you have defeated him you may not perish of starvation. Far more than at Balaklava did those young men 'down under' walk 'right into the jaws of death, into the mouth of hell.' And the Turks waited until they were well within the jaws before they opened fire. No one in the landing force knew where the Turks were, and the Turks did not fire on us until we got to the zone which they had so prepared that all might perish there. Was there ever a more favorable setting for a massacre?"
Notwithstanding this setting, however, a handful of Anzacs grabbed a foot- hold and the little force hung on, fighting for their lives, throughout the entire sum- mer and fall. By the end of May the British casualties amounted to 38,636. It was impossible to make any progress toward Constantinople; all the British could hope for was to hang on like grim death to what little footing they had. Only when winter settled down and supplies were not to be had was Gallipoli aban- doned, the last position being given up on January 9, 1916. With the abandon- ment of the Gallipoli peninsula went all hopes of the Allies forcing the Dardanelles and reaching the Central Empires through the back door.
In France and Flanders while the French and British armies had lain in apparent idleness during the summer of 1915-an idleness which was only broken by occasional trench raiding and a few minor engagements-great preparations for a considerable attack had been going forward. These culminated in the big drive of the French in the Champagne district and the engagements of the British at Loos. The latter battle started September 25 and ended October 13. The net result was a gain to the British of nearly 7,000 yards of front and 4,000 yards of depth. Had the gain gone to that farther distance, which was hoped for, and aimed at, the battle might, as in the case of the French in Champagne, have been a con- siderable victory. It proved, however, that the German lines could be pierced and that the German troops were not invincible. The French accomplished more. They attacked in the Champagne district with at least three times as many men as the British, upon a threefold broader front. Their best results were gained in the first jump. They were able to continue their gains for several days, until, like the British, they found that the consolidating defense was too strong for their attack. Their victory was none the less a great one, yielding 25,000 prison- ers, and 125 captured cannon.
FORMATION OF ALLIED WAR COUNCIL-The Allied Supreme War Council was organized in November, 1917, and consisted of the commander-in-chief and the chief-of-staff of the armies of Great Britain, France and Italy, together with the Prime Ministers and the Foreign Ministers of these three nations. The United States approved of the idea and has worked in conjunction with the Council. The idea of an allied central source of power was first suggested by Lord Kitchener, commander-in-chief of the British armies, in 1915. Two years later it was realized that if the Allies were to be victorious over the Central Powers all the armies and all the branches of the war work must be co-ordinated. The Central Powers were working under a supreme command, the Allies were diffusing their efforts. Hence the necessity of a central body, the decrees of which should be final. Thus the Supreme War Council came into being, its sessions being held at Ver- sailles, France, a few miles of Paris. From that time on there was unity of action among the Allies and the tide of victory was turned.
SUMMARY OF 1915-"So, for a second time, wet, foggy winter settles down upon the water-logged, clay-bottom trenches," says a British historian. "Little did those who manned them at Christmas of 1914 imagine that Christmas of 1915 would find them in the same position. Even their brave hearts would have sunk at the thought. And yet a move back of a couple of miles at Ypres and a move forward of the same extent in the south, were all that either side could show for a year's hard work and the loss of so many thousand lives. Far off, where armies could move, the year had seen great fluctuations. The Russians had been pushed out of Poland and far over their own borders. Serbia had been overrun. Monte- negro was on the verge of utter destruction. The great attempt upon the Darda- nelles had been made and had failed, after an epic of heroism which will surely live forever in our history and in that of our brave Australian and New Zealand brothers. The one gleam of light in the whole year had been the adhesion of Italy to the cause of freedom. Here, on the long western line, motionless, but not passive, locked in a vast strain, which grew ever more tense, was the real war. All others were subsidiary. The close of 1915 found the Empires somewhat dis- appointed at the past, but full of grim resolution for the future."
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1916-In a year marked by the fiercest fighting the world had ever known, two names stand out pre-eminent: Verdun and Somme. The campaign of 1916 revolved around these two extended battles. There was activity on every front, but Verdun and Somme are the names to remember.
Chief town in the French department of the Meuse, Verdun before the war was a fortress with a circumference of thirty miles, connected with Toul, France, by a line of forts along the heights of the Meuse river. It dominated the crossing of the river and the great historic highway from Rheims, France, to Metz, the principal fortress of German Lorraine. It formed the eastern pivot of the en- trenched line of the allied troops after the battle of the Marne river had estab- lished the position of opposing forces. It was against Verdun that the German Crown Prince launched his army at the beginning of the 1916 campaign. His choice at first produced universal astonishment. There were ample reasons for it, however. Verdun was regarded by the German military heads as an open gate to the province of Lorraine and a permanent menace to Metz-the strongest fortress of Lorraine. It was coveted by Germany in order to safeguard the mining region of Briey, France, indispensable to the Kaiser if he were to have the coal and iron necessary to carry on the war. If the coal production of Germany, Belgium, northern France and Lorraine were at Germany's disposal she would be able to hold her own in the economic conflict, even against America. The importance of the Briey Basin, France's richest mineral field, and Verdun, its key, may be regarded as the outstanding motive of the Crown Prince's attack. Furthermore, the fall of Verdun, by uncovering the Argonne forest, would have opened the way for a direct drive on Paris. Both sides realized full well the importance of the struggle.
From the beginning of the war, the Verdun forts had protruded as a salient far into the German lines. Against these forts the German Crown Prince hurled a force of between 300,000 and 400,000 men with a fierceness and perseverence matched only by the courage and deadly gun work of the French defenders under Field Marshal Joffre and General Petain. As an artillery combat Verdun stands absolutely without a precedent. More than 4,000,000 high explosive shells were fired in the first four days, uprooting forests, shattering trenches and plowing up every foot of earth over large areas.
THE BATTLE OF VERDUN-The battle began eight miles northeast of Ver- dun on the morning of February 21, 1916, with a German artillery "drumfire" of an intensity never known before. The noise was so deafening as to stun the men who heard it. The roar of the guns is said to have been heard more than a hun- dred miles away. Aeroplanes added to the terror of the combat, and even in underground caverns men fought by the light of liquid fire used in the German attack. The first phase of the battle reached its climax around Fort Douaumont, on February 25-27, when the ground changed hands three times and was finally held by the Germans. The German barrage fire prevented many French regi- ments from retreating and caused the capture in one night of 10,000 prisoners.
The second phase of the battle consisted of a record German drive in the flat Woevre region, southeast of Verdun, resulting in the capture of the village of Fresnes and reaching another terrific climax in the struggle for Fort Vaux, two miles east of Fort Douaumont. The second fort was stormed by the Germans on March 9 at great cost, but the French forces holding the village of Vaux resisted stubbornly.
The third phase of the great battle came in the drive on the north side of the Verdun salient, and on the west bank of the River Meuse, eight or nine miles northwest of Verdun, Here the village of Forges was taken on March 7 after stubborn resistance, and four days later the blood-stained remnants of Corbeaux Woods were largely in German hands.
After two whole months' desperate fighting the result was that the Germans had reached the French main line east of the Meuse River and gained possession of a small part of Douaumont; but they had not been able to get to the main French position west of the Meuse nor secure a permanent footing on Dead Man Hill, or Hill 304, the vital points in the advance line held by the French west of the Meuse.
The Germans renewed the bombardment of Fort Vaux on May 31, finally cut- ting off the garrison and forcing the surrender of the fort, on June 10. Shortly thereafter they opened an attack along a front of three miles, threw 100,000 men against Ridge 221, Thiaumont works and Fleury, and on June 23 captured the Thiaumont position. Two days later they were also successful at Fleury, but a vigorous French counter offensive held them in check. On June 30 the French recovered Fleury and the Thiaumont works. At this stage the offensive battle of Verdun ended for a time, as the British had already begun their terrific bombard- ment on the Somme river and the Germans needed all the men and guns they could spare to resist the "big push" in that region. From then on, German activi- ties at Verdun were mainly designed to conceal the fact that the initiative had passed from them. Throughout July they made a brave show, but in August it was plain that they desired nothing so much as to be left alone. This the French refused to do. On October 25 occurred one of the most dramatic episodes of the war. The French attacked and at one swoop recovered the Haudromont quarries, the village and fort of Douaumont and Caillette Woods, all being forts of the Verdun battlefield. They made 6,000 prisoners and their own losses were con- siderable less than that figure. The German campaign of over six months, the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of German lives, had been in vain. Ten days later the Germans evacuated Fort Vaux. The end of the year found the two armies exactly as they had been at the end of February, except that the French had suf- fered incomparably less than their opponents. On December 15, the French regained the Louvemont ridge on a front of over six miles. They penetrated two miles into the enemy positions and pushed the Germans back to where they had been earlier in the year. Ten thousand prisoners and a large number of guns were captured.
"They shall not pass," was the historic declaration of the French commander when he saw the hordes of the Kaiser bearing down upon Verdun, and he kept his word. The world never saw fiercer or more heroic fighting than at Verdun. Its name and fame will last as long as France. Here is a description of a bit of the battle, written by an eyewitness: "At the top of the ravine, on the edge of the plateau, was a great heap of Germans. They looked like a swarm of bees crawl- ing over one another; not one was standing. Every minute shells threw bodies and debris into the air. The whole ravine slope was gray with corpses; one could not see the ground, they were so numerous, and the snow was no longer white. We calculated that there were fully 10,000 dead at that point alone, and the river ran past dappled with patches and streaks of blood." At such a cost was Verdun stormed-and saved.
THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME-The battle of the Somme actually began on June 27, when the Allies opened artillery fire along the French front from the Somme river to the Yser river. By this date the English had a vast army in France. Through voluntary enlistment their forces had grown from only 100.000
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In 1914, to 4,000,000 in 1916. The battle was fought by both British and French armies, the largest ever assembled.
On July 1 the movement forward began, the British aiming at the town of Bapaume and the French at Peronne, fifteen miles distant. The British suc- ceeded, on the opening day of the drive, in breaking through on a twenty-mile front and capturing a number of positions on both banks of the Ancre river, to the north of the Somme. The French also had a force on the north side of the Somme, where they rapidly forged ahead three miles on a six-mile front. From July 1 to July 10 the fighting was almost continuous, day and night. The Allies had great advantages in superior artillery, an enormous supply of ammunition, and greater number of troops. The British captured a considerable number of guns and 7,500 prisoners. The French also captured several thousand prisoners.
The second phase of the battle began on July 14, with an attack by the Allies on the German second-line trenches. Both the British and French made head- way, taking many guns and several thousand more prisoners. On July 22 occurred the great fight for Pozieres. The British attacked from that village to Guillemont, taking Pozieres on July 26. German second-line trenches along a five-mile front were now in the possession of the British. The German lines were badly bent back by the Allies, who kept extending the line of attack. The fighting was fre- quently as deadly as the terrible struggle at Verdun. Both sides lost men by the thousands from day to day. The beginning of August saw the British gaining possession of more of the German second-line trenches north of Pozieres and the French advancing north of the Somme. The Germans were in very strong posi- tions at Thiepval, Guillemont and Maurepas, and furious battles were fought by the Allies for the possession of all of these. On August 11 and 12 Maurepas was attacked by the British and French, but it was not until August 24 that the Ger- mans were finally forced. Meanwhile, on August 12, the French had attacked the German third-line trenches on a four-mile front east of Hardecourt to the Somme,
MACHINE GUNNERS IN A GUN PIT ON THE FRONT
and had reached positions nearly three-fourths of a mile beyond. The British also moved forward past the German third lines on a six-mile front. At the end of August the British had taken nearly 16,000 prisoners, nearly 100 field guns and over 150 machine guns. During this month alone the British losses in killed, wounded and missing were 4,711 officers and 123,234 men-a fearful payment for so small a gain.
On August 3 occurred an eventful battle which wrested Guillemont from the Germans on the British sector and gave the French near Clery the most important victory since the opening of the Somme drive. It is estimated that the Germans threw 100,000 gas shells at the British in the one day at Guillemont. The machine- gun fire directed at the British was frightful. Twice it stopped them, but the third time they went ahead. Day after day the Allies pushed ahead, sometimes making a gain of a few hundred yards, again of a few thousand. The battle of Sep- tember 15, when the British broke the third German line, was memorable for the first appearance of the "tanks," the huge armored motor cars, traveling on cater- pillar feet, crushing all obstacles beneath them. On September 25 the Allies cap- lured Combles and on September 26 and 27 they took Thiepval. With the excep- tion of Peronne, Combles was the largest town in this section of the front and the most important point that remained in the German hands between the Allies' lines and Bapaume. The Allies had been endeavoring to take Combles and Thiep- val ever since the opening of the Somme offensive in July. The British made an- other push on October 7, thereby gaining a mile on the way to Bapaume, while the French straightened their line by wiping out the German salient between the Chaulnes Wood and Hill 91. The Allies now attempted to push on and capture Peronne and Bapaume. The advance was impeded by bad weather, however, so that about the middle of November it came to a close. Throughout December there were artillery duels and trench raids, but the lines remained virtually where they were until the end of the year.
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