USA > Michigan > Lenawee County > Atlas and plat book of Lenawee County Michigan and history of the World War > Part 9
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR
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held in front by the French and in danger of being cut off by the British to the east. On the 13th the advance guard of the Allies, pursuing the retreating Huns, crossed the Aisne river, which runs parallel to the Marne, some thirty miles dis- tant. Only one bridge remained and it was partly demolished, still 25,000 British troops, under command of General Haig, were across before the evening of that day. Step by step, the Germans were pushed back over the country they had invaded so rapidly, and apparently so successfully. About two million men were engaged on both sides.
The battle of the Marne will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time. Had not the Germans been checked, Paris would shortly have fallen and eventually all France with it. But Maubeuge resisted till September 7, thus keep- ing back the heavy siege guns, without which the forts around Paris could not be laid low. The long retreat turned into an offensive operation, which slowly, but surely, pushed the invaders back. The moral effect of the victory was even greater than the military and material. The mere fact that a great German army (com- manded by the Crown Prince and two of Germany's best generals, Von Kluck and Von Bulow) had been pushed back across thirty miles of country, and finally taken refuge in trenches in order to hold their ground, was a great encouragement to the Allies. It was the first time since the days of Napoleon I that a Prussian army had been turned and driven. From that day on, the Allies felt that with anything like equal numbers they were superior to their opponents.
Both sides dug themselves in and trench warfare ensued throughout the fall and winter months. Gigantic artillery duels and infantry sorties occupied the time until heavier fighting could be resumed in the spring.
BATTLE OF YPRES-After digging in, the Germans had time to prepare reserve formations which might suddenly be thrown against any chosen spot in the allied line. A half million reserves were quickly made ready. The bloody but indecisive battle of Ypres followed, opening October 16. Victory perched first on one banner, then on the other, from October 16 to 31. Looking back at the closing days of the struggle, it is now apparent that Ypres bade fair, for a time. to be the most serious defeat the British army had experienced, since the very first days of the fighting, at Le Cateau. If the Germans had been able to push home their attack once more, it is probable that they would have taken Ypres and that the results would have been serious, wiping out the first British army
GEORGES W. CLÉMENCEAU President of the Peace Conference
and inflicting such a defeat as would have taken Britain long to recover from Sir John French, the British commander, is reported as having said that there was no time in the Marne retreat when he did not see his way through, but that on October 31, just before French reinforcements came up in the battle of Ypres, he seemed to be at the end of his resources. His command suffered heavily At the famous battle of Waterloo, which decided the fate and world ambitions of Napoleon I, the English losses were under 10,000. At Ypres they were little short of 50,000. A German force of 500,000 men had set about to reach the Channel coast, but they did not advance five miles in a month, and that advance was made at a sacrifice of 150,000 men. "The struggle was over," says A. Conan Doyle. "For a fortnight still to come it was close and desperate, but never again would it be quite so perlious as on that immortal last day of October, when over the green Flemish meadows, besides the sluggish water courses, on the fringes of the old- world villages, and in the heart of the autumn-tinted woods, two great empires fought for the mastery."
While the British and French were thus engaged, the Belgians had been doing their bit fully as well, proportionate to their strength. After the evacua- tion of Brussels, in August, they had withdrawn their army to Antwerp, from which they made frequent sallies upon the Germans, who were garrisoning their country. Toward the close of September, the Germans turned their attention seriously to the reduction of Antwerp. They drove the garrison within the lines, and early in October began a bombardment upon the outer forts with such result that it was evidently only a matter of days before they would fall, and the city with them. On the 8th it was clear that the forts could no longer hold. The next day the Belgian and British forces made their way successfully out of the city. Unfortunately, however, a part of the British wandered across the Holland boundary line and were interned for the remainder of the war. The balance of the command joined the main allied forces and continued to fight valiantly "for God and country."
THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN-While this was going on in the western theatre of the war, great events had been occuring on the eastern front. Russia, the great
eastern ally, had succeeded in engaging, and frequently defeating, great masses of Austrian troops, preventing them from going to the relief of the Germans in France. Always an unknown quantity, Russia proved herself of inestimable value to the Allies in the opening engagements of the war. Mobilizing his army with surprising promptness, the Czar succeeded in throwing into East Prussia two large armies, one under General Rennenkampff, the other under General Sam- sonoff. They broke through all opposition on the frontier, and advanced unchecked, straight toward the heart of Prussia.
The Prussian opposition wavered, and for a time it appeared as though Russia was to win a great and decisive victory. Then Germany summoned two commanders, who were destined to lead its great armies throughout the remainder of the war-Von Hindenburg and Ludendorff. The first was appointed to supreme command, the second was made chief of staff. Within a few days after he had been given command, Von Hindenburg lured General Samsonoff and his Russian army into a trap at Tannenberg, East Prussia, on September 1, and cut his army to pieces. Thousands drowned in the lakes of the region. The total of prisoners, it is said, ran almost to one hundred thousand. With Samsonoff done for, Hindenburg turned on Rennenkampff, but that Rus- sian chieftain saw a light just in time and raced for the frontier. Hindenburg caught him at Lyck, routed him, and captured 30,000 of his men, but Rennenkampff escaped with a good part of his forces.
AUSTRIA A POOR ALLY-On the same day that the Russians were defeated at Tannenberg, another Russian army entered Lemberg, capital of the Austrian crown-lands of Galicia, after a week of desperate fighting. The fall of Lemberg, moreover, was simply the prelude to three weeks of uninterrupted Austrian dis- aster, which was to end in the almost complete conquest of Galicia by the Czar. The latter half of September the Russians occupied one important town after another, until they surrounded Przemysl, the last Austrian foothold east of the Dunajec river. At the same time, other Russian forces pushed the broken Aus- trian armies behind the foothills of the Carpathian mountains and began to climb the eastern slopes of the passes into Hungary. By September 30, not less than 25,000 of the 30,000 square miles of the Galician province, with about 8,000,000 inhabitants, were in Russian hands and a Russian army was threatening the Aus- trian province of Bukowina to the south.
"It had been the mission of the Austrian army to hold the Russians in play until Germany should have 'dealt with France,'" comments Frank H. Simonds. "Now, October come, Germany had failed to dispose of France and Austria had broken down under the great burden that had been imposed upon her. If the Russian dash into East Prussia in August, which had proved so disastrous to German plans in France, had been a first indication of the fact that Russian mobilization had gone forward far more rapidly than had been expected, the conquest of Galicia had demonstrated to the satisfaction of Russia's enemies, at the least, that Russia had been fairly well mobilized before the war opened."
Austria turned to Germany for aid. The situation was critical. Whole regi- ments were deserting. High commanders were in disgrace. Nor was the situa- tion made any better by the fact that in the south the Serbians had defeated the Austrians decisively in the battle of the Jedar and were advancing in Bosnia toward Sarajevo, where the Austrian Archduke had been murdered. Such were the circumstances which led to the first German invasion of Russian Poland.
VON HINDENBURG TO THE RESCUE-This German invasion began about October 1. It was led by Von Hindenburg. Relying upon their great mobility, their great number of automobiles and the better training of their troops, the Germans hoped to reach Warsaw, capital of Russian Poland, before the Russians could concentrate against them. For nearly three weeks the great German advance continued. The crack Hun troops actually reached the suburbs of War- saw and German aeroplanes dropped bombs on the city. Its early fall was believed certain. As a result, the Russians were compelled to draw back in Galicia, to give up the siege of Przemysl and to relinquish all hopes of besieging Cracow. Con- centrating their reserves, they were able at the critical moment to rush fresh masses of troops through Warsaw, in whose suburbs German shells were falling, and strike the unprotected German left wing. By October 20 the entire German army was in retreat. As they retired they destroyed railroads and roads, quickly threw off the Russian pursuit, and reached their own frontier of East Prussia in good order.
Far less fortunate were the Austrians, who had endeavored to redeem Galicia. They had relieved Przemysl, but on November 5 one branch of the Austrian army was badly defeated and driven in on Cracow. Its retirement compelled the retreat of the other Austrian forces, which had been pushing ahead. Przemysl was again invested by the Russians, whose armies once more swept to the crests of the Car- pathian mountains and began to sift down into the plains of Hungary. At no time since the war opened were Russian fortunes so high. The first German effort to save Austria had failed. Galicia was in Russian hands. Russian troops had proved themselves superior to Austrian.
Once more Germany turned to Von Hindenburg. He was called upon to relieve the Russian pressure upon German frontiers and to carry the war into Poland. Thanks to the advantage of the railroad facilities, German troops were rushed into Poland again, flanking the Russians on both sides. But once more the enorm- ous resources of Russia saved her from disaster. Gathering up all the garrison and reserve troops in Warsaw and nearby fortresses, the Russians pushed a new army out from Warsaw, which took the Germans in the rear. German military skill met the crisis, the gravest for Germany in the war to that time. New troops were rushed from Belgium and France. Some of the most desperate and costly fighting of the war took place. When it terminated, Russians and Germans faced each other in a double line across Poland, from the Vistula river to Galicia, and the campaign resolved itself into a deadlock.
THE WAR IN THE BALKAN STATES-The fighting had not been confined to Poland, Galicia, France and Belgium. The Balkan states had likewise seen great armies in conflict. In the opening days of the war, Serbia was the first of the Allies to win a great victory. In the third week of August, 1914, 175,000 Aus- trians were routed and driven home across the Drina river. In the weeks that followed, Serbian and Montenegrin troops invaded Bosnia and approached the capi- tal, Sarajevo, where the murder of the Austrian Archduke had occurred in June. The Serbians made steady progress for some weeks, the Bosnian Serbs rallying to their support. By October, however, the Serbian invasion of Bosnia was checked. Little by little, Austria had gathered together a great army, reinforced by Ger- mans, and had beaten down Serbian resistance. Austrian armies crushed their way through the frontier districts on the Serbian side of the Drina river, until they reached the line of the Orient railway, which runs south from Belgrade to Constantinople, Turkey. Once this line was reached the defense of Belgrade, the Serbian capital, was impossible. Its garrison was compelled to retreat to escape capture, and on December 1, Belgrade fell to Austria. The Serbian army was shaken, but still defiant. With the ultimate weakening of the Austrian forces, through need of hurrying troops to Hungary and to Galicia, where the big Rus- sian drive was in full swing. the Serbs swung around and retook Belgrade, after it had been in Austrian hands but a fortnight.
TURKEY ENTERS THE WAR-On November 17 the "Holy War" was pro- claimed by Turkey, thus bringing another country into the fighting. Turkey was doomed to early defeat, however. It had counted on Mohammedan support in India, the Philippines, Egypt, French Africa, wherever Allah was worshipped. But this support was not forthcoming; these provinces remained loyal. On January 4, 1915, three Turkish corps were overwhelmed and well-nigh destroyed by the Russian armies in the Caucasus. German diplomatic intrigue had brought Turkey into the war; Turkey was to rue its decision before many weeks had passed and to be but a por ally.
SUMMARY OF THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1914-The war had begun with the Ger- mans rushing through Belgium, confident of the destruction of France by one quick, powerful blow, as had been done in the Franco-Prussian war. The year ended with Germany pushed back from its point of farthest French advance, dig- ging in for the winter, with Russia holding the Austrian armies and making it necessary for Germany to carry troops back and forth from the western to the eastern fronts as the pressure grew strong or relaxed. Germany had failed in its large and well-laid plans, though at the end of the year it held a quarter of
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR
Russian Poland, practically all of Belgium and 8,000 square miles of northern France, the home of some 2,500,000 Frenchmen. Against this must be reckoned Russian occupation of a corner of East Prussia, and French occupation of a small portion of Alsace. Provinces containing at least 12,000,000 people, having an area of at least 30,000 square miles, towns such as Brussels, Antwerp, Lille, Lodz, St. Quentin and Liege were held by the Germans, who had reached the English Chan- nel at Ostende, and approached Warsaw, Poland, on the east. Only Russia, among the Allies, had made progress in invasion. The armies of the Czar held at least 30,000 square miles of Austrian territory, with a population of 9,000,000, and East their comrades, absolutely helpless against this diabolical agency, rushed madly Prussian lands having an area of 5,000 square miles and a population of perhaps 1,500,000. Germany held more territory than she had annexed in 1871. In China, however, her great port of Kiao-Chau had been taken by the English and Japanese. In the Pacific her island holdings had vanished. In Africa her colonies were being won away from her. Her flag had disappeared from the ocean. So the year came to an end.
CHAPTER III.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1915-The first three years of the war have been aptly characterized as "the year of defense, the year of equilibrium and the year of attack." Following the overrunning of Belgium and northern France, and the surging back and forth of Russians, Austrians and Germans in Poland and Galicia, 1915 found both sides endeavoring to regain their equilibrium, poising themselves for the still greater blows which were to be delivered in 1916. Not that 1915 did not see much terrific and costly fighting. Little of this fighting was decisive, however. The Allies were holding their own, until armies could be raised and the even more serious problems of war munitions be solved. From every part of the world troops were being rushed to the aid of the mother countries-France and England-and the tread of armed millions made Europe shake as it had never shaken before. The year was an active one on every front, but it was not a decisive one. The Allies settled down to a campaign of "nibbling," doing what damage they could at various points in the long battle line from the North Sea to Switzerland.
From the Allies' standpoint, it was becoming a war of attrition. They did not care so much for territorial gains and losses as for a campaign of incessant hammering upon the Germans' lines with a steady attendant loss of life among the enemy. Man power was to be the deciding factor; the more men that could be killed, the sooner would victory result. So the Allies dug themselves in and trench warfare ensued all along the 200-mile fighting front in France and Flan- ders.
The dawn of the year found all eyes turning to the sea. Would the deciding battle be fought there? Would Britain be able to hold its mastery of the seven seas? Would the Germany navy come out of its base and fight the Allied fleets? Would the growing menace of the submarine eventually make it impossible for the Allies to move men and supplies?
THE SUBMARINE BLOCKADE-In September, 1914, (the second month of the war) the loss of three vessels by German submarine attack warned the British pub- lic of what was to come. Thereafter, in a long procession, the Audacious, the Hawke, the Bulwark and the Formidable-all British battleships-were lost through mines, submarines or other attack. These disasters were amply avenged. On December 8, off the Falkland islands, in the South Atlantic ocean, the Gneisenau, the Scharnhorst, the Nurnberg and the Leipzig-all German war ships-were sunk, with their commander, Admiral von Spee, while the Dresden (another German battleship) escaped, only to fall a prey to her pursuers several months later. On December 16 a squadron of German cruisers appeared off Scarborough, Hartle- pol and. Whitby, England, and swept the shore with their guns, destroying many buildings and killing more than 100 men, women and children. For centuries the attack of a hostile fleet had been unknown to England's shores. The war was brought home to Britain as never before. England, however, retained her mastery of the seas. . Into England and France there flowed an ever increasing flood of arms and ammunition made in neutral countries, chiefly the United States. Ger- man ships and products were shut off from the world market. In January the German government adopted a policy which amounted to the seizure by the gov- ernment of all the wheat in the country and the issuance of weekly allowances to the population. This step gave Great Britain the chance for which it had been waiting. Under all existing law, wheat was non-contraband, or, at most, condi- tional contraband, subject to seizure by hostile fleets, only, when intended for the armies or officials of a nation at war. Since Germany had decided to commandeer all wheat, however, the British government interpreted this as a warrant for seiz- ing all grain bound for Germany, even though carried in neutral ships. In brief, England proposed to starve Germany out. In retaliation, Germany declared a blockade about the British islands. Relying upon her submarines, she announced that after February 18, 1915, these craft would sink all ships, not merely belliger- ent vessels, which were found in the waters adjacent to the British islands and included in the zones indicated in her declaration.
In pursuance of their threats the Germans began to carry out ruthlessly theeir policy of submarine blockade. Ship after ship was sent to the bottom. At first the crews were warned and permitted to escape. But as the campaign con- tinued this practice was abandoned. The world was hardly prepared. however. for the sinking of the Falaba, a passenger steamer carrying women and children. who were lost, along with one American citizen. The reign of piracy on the high seas had begun; the future was to disclose that there was no limit to its fright- fulness.
RUSSIA IN 1915-In the second week of February, Russia suffered a defeat comparable only with that of Tannenberg, in the early days of the war. The vic- torious Russian army had pushed ahead steadily in East Prussia from November, 1914, to February, 1915. Along its front were the famous Mazurian Lakes, impene- trable in spring, summer and fall, but, in winter, when the lakes and water courses were frozen, open to attack. Von Hindenburg, gathering up all his available forces from Poland, suddenly descended upon the Russian armies in this lake region and inflicted a defeat which became a massacre. Accepting the German figures, the Russians suffered the loss of 100.000 prisoners and 150,000 killed and wounded. For the time being, by the battle of the Mazurian Lakes, Germany cleared her frontiers; she was able to divert her soldiers to France once more. Three times, aided by the splendid system of strategic railways and in the march- ing power of her soldiers, the Germans had forced back the invaders and term- inated the campaign far in Russian territory. In all, the Germans claimed over 1,000,000 Russian prisoners, thousands of guns and fabulous quantities of military stores as a result of their victorious campaigns. Russia, however, was undis- mayed. No country had greater man resources. She was to remain a vigorous ally for the greater part of another year,
THE FIGHT FOR HUNGARY-On March 22 the Austrian citadel, Przemysl, in Galicia, facing starvation, surrendered to the Russians. 117,000 men, 3,000 officers, including nine generals, and one of the great strongholds of Europe were the Russian booty. In addition, nearly 30,000 Austro-Hungarian troops had per- ished in the long defense. Four army corps were thus accounted for in a sur- render unequalled in Europe since Sedan and Metz deprived France in 1870 of her two field armies. In taking Przemysl the Russians achieved by far the great- est allied triumph on the offensive side of the war up to that time. Only the earlier Russian victories before Lemberg, and the Servian successes at Jedar, could compare with this, and Przemysl surpassed them all. Against 10,000 square miles of conquered Belgium was now to be set more than twice as large an area in Galicia.
In February new German troops appeared in Hungary and the Russian advance through the Carpathian passes was halted and finally thrown back. The Russians gave ground and retreated to well-selected and strongly-fortified positions. Hence- forth, for many weeks, a terrific struggle went on in the Carpathian mountains. When March came the situation changed. Despite German successes at the Mazu- rian Lakes. Russia still sent hosts of fresh troops to the Carpathians. her armies slowly pushed ahead toward the creats of the passes. The surrender of Przemysl
(with 120,000 Austrians) wholly changed the face of the eastern campaign by releasing at least 125,000 Russians, removing all threat of an attack in the rear and freeing the Czar's forces for a new drive at Hungary. The long promised advance through the Carpathians resulted. Immediately new demands were made upon the Germans for help, by the Austrians, and still more German troops were hurried to the threatened Hungarian frontier, to hold the narrow ridge of the Carpathians separating the Hungarians from the triumphant Russians. By the second week of April the Russians had captured 70,000 more Austrians, had passed the summit and had approached Bartfeld, in Hungary, the terminus of an important railroad leading to Budapest, capital of Hungary, 210 miles away. In four columns, following three railroads and one national highway, the Russians were seeking to drive through Hungary. The battle for the Carpathian passes had become one of the most important of the war. Reports were rife that Austria-Hungary would sue for a separate peace with the Allies.
Once more German aid was sought, and given. By the third week of April the Russian advance, after having made notable progress, passed down the slopes and overrun the edge of the Hungarian plains, came to a halt. Germans and Austrians claimed that the Russians had been defeated. Russia attributed the deadlock to the weather; rains and flood having made the roads impassable. A deadlock ensued. Once more Russia had been on the verge of a great and decisive victory; once more it was unable to carry on till that victory was achieved. It had exacted a terrible toll from the enemy, however, and had caused many Ger- man troops to be taken away from the French front at the very time when Eng- lish and French "nibbling" operations, at widely-separated and unexpected points, had made the stability of the whole German line most precarious. Russia was a good ally in the first two years of the fighting, no matter how great a disappoint- ment she was to prove later.
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