LATER EVENTS OF THE WAR

Results of the Battle of the Aisne—Fierce Fighting in Northern France—Developments on the Eastern Battle Front—The Campaign in the Pacific—Naval Activities of the Powers.

With a battle front reaching from the Belgian coast on the North Sea to the frontier of Switzerland, or a total distance of 362 miles, the operations in the western theater of war toward the end of October were being conducted on a more gigantic scale than was ever witnessed before. On both sides reinforcements were being rushed to the front. German efforts to break through the Allies' lines were concentrated on the main center at Verdun and on the right flank of the Allies' left wing, above its elbow, between Noyon and Arras, while powerful coincidal movements were in progress on the extreme western end of the line in Belgium and on the southeastern wing in Alsace. At Verdun continuous fighting of the fiercest character had been going on for over sixty days, surpassing in time and severity any individual battle in history. The army of the Crown Prince had been unable to force the French positions in the vicinity of Verdun and the check sustained by the Germans at this point early in the campaign constituted a principal cause of General von Kluck's failure in his dash toward Paris.

All along the tremendous battle front the allies' lines as a rule held firm in the thirteenth week of the war, when the great conflict had entered upon what may well be called its fourth stage. The third stage may be said to have ended with the fall of Antwerp and the subjugation of all Belgium but a small portion of its southwestern territory. On the main front the Allies were maintaining the offensive at some vital points, while repulsing the German assaults at others. One or two of the French forts commanding Verdun had fallen but the main positions remained in the hands of the French, and all along the line it was a case of daily give-and-take.

FIERCE FIGHTING IN FLANDERS

After capturing Antwerp the Germans pushed on to Ostend, an "open" or unfortified town, and occupied it with slight resistance from the Belgian army, which was reforming its broken ranks to the south, between Ostend and the French frontier, and preparing to contest the passage of the Kaiser's forces across the River Yser. Moving northward from Lille, the Allies encountered the Germans at ArmentiÈres, which was occupied by a Franco-British force and there was also fierce fighting at Ypres, where there is a canal to the sea. For more than a week the Belgians gallantly held the banks of the Yser in spite of the utmost endeavors of the Germans to cross, and it was not until October 24 that the latter finally succeeded in getting south of the river, with the French seaport of Dunkirk as their next objective point. Bloody engagements were fought at Nieuport, Dixmude, Deynze and La BassÉe.

At this time the battle line formed almost a perpendicular from Noyon in France north to the Belgian coast, south of Ostend. A battle raged for several days in West Flanders and Northern France and both sides claimed successes. The losses of the Allies and the Germans were estimated in the thousands and the wounded were sent back to the rear by the trainful. In the Flemish territory the flat nature of the terrain, with its numerous canals and almost total absence of natural cover, made the losses especially severe. The passage of the Yser cost the Germans dearly and Dixmude was strewn with their dead. And their advance could get no farther.

The necessity of holding the French ports, Dunkirk and Calais, was fully realized by the Allies, who threw large reinforcements into their northern line. The Germans also drew heavily on their center and left wing to reinforce the right, and for a while the forces opposing one another at the extreme western end of the battle front were greater than at any other point. The Germans were firmly held on a line running from south of Ostend to Thourout, Roulers and Menin, the last mentioned place being on the border north of Lille. Flanking attacks being no longer possible, as the western flanks of both armies rested on the North Sea, the Germans were compelled to make a frontal assault along the line formed by the Belgian frontier. As the Belgian troops, assisted by a British naval brigade, were pushed back from the Yser, they were gradually merged into the army of the allies, by whom they were received with the honors due the men who had made, for twelve long weeks, such a gallant and determined defense of their country against invasion and despoilment.

BRITISH WARSHIPS AID BELGIANS

Soon after the German occupation of Ostend, several British warships shelled the German positions in and around the city and aided in hampering the German advance along the coast. The principal vessels engaged in this work were three monitors which were being completed in England for the Brazilian government when the war started and which were bought by the admiralty.

These monitors, which had been renamed Mersey, Humber and Severn, drew less than nine feet of water and could take up positions not far from shore, from which their 6-inch guns and 4.7-inch howitzers, of which each vessel carried two, were able to throw shells nearly four miles across country, the range being given them by airmen.

French warships of light draft later joined the British monitors and destroyers and assisted in patrolling the coast, shelling German positions wherever the latter could be discovered by the aeroplane scouts. One reported feat of the naval fire was the destruction of the headquarters of a German general, Von Trip, in which the general and his staff lost their lives.

From time to time German aerial attacks were made in the vicinity of Dover, across the Straits, but these without exception proved to be without military importance in their results. Steps were taken to organize anti-aircraft artillery forces on the eastern coast of England and the continued failure of Zeppelin attacks, annoying as they were, soon restored the equanimity of the British public in this respect.

INDIAN TROOPS IN ACTION

The first word of the employment of British Indian troops at the front came on October 27, when it was reported that in the fighting near Lille a reserve force of Sikhs and Ghurkas, the former with bayonets and the latter with the kukri (a short, curved sword) played havoc with an attacking force of Germans. "Never has there been such slaughter," said the dispatches. "Twenty thousand German dead and wounded, nearly half the attacking force, lay upon the field, while the British losses did not exceed 2,000."

THE FRENCH CAMPAIGN IN ALSACE

At the end of October the French right wing in Alsace-Lorraine was reported to be making distinct progress. It was said to be advancing through the passes of the Vosges in the midst of heavy snowstorms. Paris reported that the Germans, who were attempting a movement against the great French frontier fortress of Belfort, had been driven back with heavy losses, while from other sources the Germans were reported to be bringing up heavy mortars for the bombardment of Belfort. There were persistent reports of German defeats in Alsace, but these were repeatedly denied in Berlin. The situation in the territory coveted by the French appeared to resemble that farther west—neither side was making much headway.

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

In the eastern theater of war the conflict during October was waged with fortunes that favored, first one side and then the other. Contradictory claims were put forth from time to time by Petrograd, Vienna and Berlin, but the net result of the operations at the end of the thirteenth week of the war appeared to be that while the intended Russian march on Berlin had been completely checked, the Germans had been repulsed with heavy losses in all their attempts to cross the Vistula and occupy Warsaw, the capital of Russian Poland, which was at one time seriously threatened.

The fighting along the Vistula was fierce and prolonged for several days at a time. The Germans made numerous attempts to cross the river at different points by means of pontoon bridges, but these were destroyed by the Russian artillery as fast as completed. The slaughter on both sides was considerable. On October 28 the Russian battle front reached from Suwalki on the north to Sambor and Stryj on the south, a distance of about 267 miles. The German operations on the Vistula were still in progress and Poland furnished the main arena of battle. East Prussia was practically free from Russian troops, save at a few points near the boundary, but they strongly maintained their positions in Galicia.

THE AUSTRO-SERVIAN CAMPAIGN

After eleven weeks' bombardment by the Austrians, the Servian defenders of Belgrade were still bravely resisting, although half the city had been destroyed. The situation was such as to cause at once astonishment, pity and admiration.

In the open field the Servians continued to hold their own against the Austrian forces opposed to them. Their Montenegrin allies, under General Bukovitch, were reported to have defeated 16,000 Austrians, supported by six batteries of artillery, at a point northeast of Serajevo. The battle terminated in a hand-to-hand bayonet conflict which lasted four hours. The Austrians are said to have lost 2,500 men, killed and wounded, while the Montenegrins claimed that their losses amounted to only 300 men.

THE CAMPAIGN IN THE PACIFIC

Beginning with the loss of its colonies in the China sea, Germany was compelled to witness during the first two years of the war the passing into enemy hands of practically all its colonial possessions, which more than balanced its temporary possession of enemy soil in Europe. One by one its colonies in Asia and Africa were captured, and in these operations not only the Japanese but the Belgians assisted, the latter in Africa.

Late in October, 1914, the Japanese received the surrender of Tsing Tau, the important German city in Kiauchau, China. The place had been battered for weeks by land and sea by the Japanese forces, and the surrender was ordered, it was said, to save the German forces and civilians from certain annihilation if a defense by the garrison to the end were to be carried on. German warships were powerless to assist the beleaguered city, as Japanese and English war vessels had driven them far from the coast of China.

The Japanese cruiser Takachiho was sunk by a mine in Kiauchau Bay on the night of October 17. One officer and nine members of the crew are known to have been saved. The cruiser carried a crew of 284 men. Her main battery consisted of eight 6-inch guns.

MAIN FLEETS STILL INACTIVE

Up to the last week in October the main fleets of the warring powers were still inactive, but rumors of intended German naval activity were frequent. The cat-and-mouse attitude of the British and German fleets in the North Sea was continued, the Germans lying snug in their ports, protected by their mines and submarines, while the British battleships lay in wait at all points of possible egress. The situation tried the patience of the people of both countries and there were frequent demands for action by the great and costly naval armaments. But the Germans apparently were not ready to risk a general engagement, and the British could not force them to come out and fight. The British admirals, therefore had, perforce, to pursue a policy of "watchful waiting," irksome as it was to all concerned, and "the tireless vigil in the North Sea," as it was termed by Mr. Asquith, was maintained day and night. No sea captain becalmed in the doldrums ever whistled for a wind more earnestly than the British Jack tars prayed for a chance at the enemy during those three months of playing the cat to Germany's mouse; and on the other hand, the German sailors were, no doubt, equally desirious of a chance to demonstrate the fighting abilities of their brand-new battleships. All were equally on the qui vive, for any hour might bring to the Germans the order to put to sea, and to the British the welcome cry of "Enemy in sight!"

CARING FOR BELGIAN REFUGEES

The plight of the Belgian people, including the refugees in Holland, England and France, was pitiable in the extreme and by the end of October had roused the sympathy of the entire world. A conservative estimate placed the number of Belgians expatriated at 1,500,000 out of a population of 7,000,000. On October 26 Mr. Brand Whitlock, United States minister to Belgium, reported that the entire country was on the verge of starvation, while Holland and England had their hands full caring for the Belgians who had sought refuge in those countries. In eight cities of Holland there were said to be 500,000 Belgian refugees. Over 70, arrived in London in one week and a central committee in London had twenty-seven subcommittees at work in different cities in England, Scotland and Wales, placing the refugees in homes as rapidly as possible. The humanitarian problem of taking care of the Belgians was one of tremendous responsibility, but the people of the three countries in which most of them sought refuge rose nobly to the occasion and spared no effort to lessen their sufferings.

MORE CANADIANS FOR THE FRONT

It was announced in Ottawa, Canada, on October 19 that the Dominion Government had decided to put 30,000 more men in training in Canada, to be despatched to England when ready. As soon as the first unit of 15, was embarked, probably in December, another 15,000 men would be enlisted to replace them, the plan being to keep 30,000 men continuously in training, to be drawn upon in units of 10,000 or 15,000 as soon as equipped, during the continuance of hostilities in Europe. Thus with the 32,000 Canadian volunteers already landed in England, and 8,000 under arms guarding strategic points in the Dominion, Canada would soon raise 100,000 men as part of her contribution to Imperial defense.

But this was only a beginning. Later in the war Canada stood ready to furnish half a million men to the cause of the Empire, if required. Nearly 360,000 of that number had been enlisted when the war was two years old. The greatest problems were encountered in the first year, or rather in the first six months of the war, after which time efforts were systematized, the military machine worked smoothly, and the Dominion's splendid response to the call to arms was maintained throughout. General prosperity in the face of adverse conditions happily attended this record of patriotic achievement, and the predominant spirit in Canada was one of buoyant optimism as to the inevitable outcome of the great conflict.

THE "EMDEN" DRIVEN ASHORE A WRECK

During the first three months of the war the German cruiser Emden, operating principally in the Indian ocean, played havoc with British merchantmen, sinking over twenty vessels engaged in far Eastern commerce, besides a Russian cruiser and a French torpedo-boat. But she met her match in the second week of November, when she was engaged off the Cocos or Keeling group of islands, southwest of Java, by the fast Australian cruiser Sydney and driven ashore a burning wreck after an hour's fight, with a loss of 280 men.

NAVAL BATTLE OFF CHILEAN COAST

Early in November a fleet of five German cruisers, under Admiral von Spee, encountered a British squadron composed of the cruisers Good Hope, Monmouth and Glasgow, in command of Rear-Admiral Sir Christopher Cradock, off the coast of Chile, in the Southern Pacific. Despite a raging gale, a long-range battle ensued, resulting in the defeat of the British and the loss of the flagship Good Hope, with the admiral and all her crew, and of the cruiser Monmouth. The Glasgow escaped in a damaged condition. The loss of life was about 1,000, officers and men.

Up to November 15, the struggle in the coast region of Belgium continued with terrific intensity and appalling loss of life on both sides. The Germans occupied Dixmude November 11, only to lose it on November 13, after a fierce attack by reinforced British troops.

DAILY COST OF WAR

The daily cost of the present war to the nations engaged in the struggle is estimated at not less than $54,000,000 a day—a sum which fairly staggers the imagination. This enormous cost of the armies in the field gives a decided advantage to the nation best supplied with the "sinews of war" and may contribute to a shortening of hostilities. War is indeed a terrible drain upon the resources of a nation and only a few there are that can stand many months of war expenditures like those of August-October, 1914, amounting in the grand aggregate to nearly five billions of dollars ($5,000,000,000).

TURKEY ENTERS THE WAR

On October 29 an act which was regarded in Russia as equivalent to a declaration of war by Turkey was committed at Theodosia, the Crimean port, when that town was bombarded without notice by the cruiser Breslau, flying the Turkish flag, but commanded by a German officer and manned by a German crew. The Breslau was a former German ship, and was said to have been purchased by the Turkish government, with the German battleship Goeben, when they sought refuge in the Dardanelles at the beginning of the war, from the French and British fleets in the Mediterranean.

FOURTH MONTH OF THE WAR

The month of November, the fourth month of the war, was marked by the heaviest losses to all the nations concerned, but made little change in the general situation.

Along the Aisne the battle begun early in September continued intermittently. Both sides literally dug themselves in and along the battle line in many places, the hostile trenches were separated by only a few yards. At the end of the month the burrowing had been succeeded by tunneling, and both sides prepared for a winter of spasmodic action. It was a military deadlock, but a deadlock full of danger for the side that first developed a weak point in its far-flung front.

With the utmost fairness and impartiality it can be said that at the beginning of December both the allied armies and the German forces facing them from the Belgian coast east and south to the borders of Alsace-Lorraine were exhausted by the strenuous efforts of the campaign. By December 5, the 130th day of the war, after a seven-weeks' struggle by the Germans for the possession of the French and Belgian coast, there was a general cessation of offensive operations by both sides and the indications were that this condition was due to pure physical weariness of leaders and men. The world had never before witnessed such strenuous military operations as those of the preceding three months and the temporary exhaustion of the armies therefore was not surprising.

In the last days of November, the city of Belgrade fell into the hands of the Austrians after a siege that had lasted, with continual bombardments, since the war began. The city was finally taken by storm at the point of the bayonet in a furious charge which fairly overwhelmed the gallant defense of the Servians.

In this month it began to be generally realized that the war was likely to be of prolonged duration. Strenuous preparations for the winter campaign were made on both sides and the recruiting for the new British army surpassed all previous records, the serious menace of the war being at last recognized.

The month of November was also marked by enormous contributions of cash and food stuffs by the people of the United States for the relief of the impoverished and suffering Belgians. The people of Chicago alone contributed over $500,000 and this was but a sample of the manner in which Americans rose to the opportunity to alleviate the distress in Belgium. "The United States has saved us from starvation," said a Belgian official on December 1.

The casualties of all the armies in the field during the month of November exceeded those of any previous period of the war. Basing an estimate of the total casualties upon the same percentage as that employed in the table given on another page, it is therefore safe to say that up to December 5 the total losses of the combatant nations in killed, wounded and missing aggregated not less than 3,500,000 men.

DECEMBER IN THE TRENCHES

The month of December, 1914, the fifth month of the war, registered but little change in the relative positions of the combatant nations. In the west the lines held firm from the North Sea to Switzerland. Daily duels of artillery and daily assaults here and there along the battle fronts proved unavailing, so far as any change in general conditions was concerned. Frequently the assaults were of a desperate character, especially in Flanders, where in the middle of the month the Allies assumed the offensive all along the line and sturdily strove to push back the German front in Belgium. But the utmost valor and persistence in attack were invariably met by resolute resistance. Both sides were strongly entrenched and the gain of a few yards today was usually followed by the loss of a few yards tomorrow.

Never before in the history of warfare had the science of entrenchment been developed to such an extent. The German, French, British and. Belgian armies literally burrowed in the earth along a battle front of 150 miles. In many places the hostile trenches were separated by only a few yards, and mining was frequently resorted to. Tunneling toward each other, both the contending forces occasionally succeeded in blowing up the enemy's trench, and whole companies of unsuspecting troops were sometimes annihilated in this way. In the trenches themselves scenes unparalleled in warfare were witnessed. With the arrival of winter the troops on either side proceeded to secure what comfort they could by all manner of clever and unique devices. Winter clothing was provided as far as possible, but on both sides there was inevitable suffering for lack of suitable supplies for the winter campaign, and individual initiative had frequently to supply the deficiencies of official forethought.

Many unique features of trench life were developed during the first month of winter warfare. Two-story trenches became common on both sides of the firing line. Bombproof underground quarters for staff and commanding officers were constructed, and these were fitted up so as to provide all the comforts of the winter cantonments of old-time warfare. The ever-necessary telephone was installed at frequent points in trenches that stretched for scores of miles in practically unbroken lines. Board roofs were built and provision made for heating the dugouts in which thousands of men passed many days and nights before their reliefs arrived. On the German side miles of trenches were provided with stockade walls, leaving ample room inside for the rapid movement of troops. The British built trenches with lateral individual dugouts at right angles to the main trench, protecting the men against flank fire—and these aroused the admiration even of their enemies. In the French trenches the ingenuity of a French engineer provided a system of hot shower baths on the firing line, and from all points along the deadlocked battle front came stories of the remarkable manner in which the troops of all the armies speedily accommodated themselves to unprecedented conditions and maintained a spirit of cheerfulness truly marvelous under the circumstances, especially as there was no cessation of the constant endeavor to gain ground from the enemy and no end to the daily slaughter.

IN THE GERMAN TRENCHES

A correspondent with the German army who visited the firing line in the Argonne forest late in November, by special permission of the German crown prince, described the conditions in the trenches as follows: "Here in the now famous Argonne forest—the scene of some of the war's most desperate fighting—the Germans are trenching and mining their way forward, literally yard by yard. This afternoon I reached the foremost trench, south of GrandprÉ. About 160 feet ahead of me is the French trench. Picture to yourself a canebrake-like woods of fishpoles ranging in size from half an inch to saplings of two and three inches thick and so dense that you can hardly see forty yards even now when the leaves have fallen. Among these is a scattering of big trees, the trunks of which are veritable mines of bullets.

"Irregular lines of deep yellow clay trenches zigzag for miles. Other trenches run back from these to what looks like a huge Kansas 'prairie-dog town'—human burrows, where thousands of soldiers are literally living underground. From the lines of trenches running parallel to one another comes a constant, spitting, sputtering, popping of rifles, making the woods resound like a Chinese New Year in San Francisco or an old-time Fourth of July. Field guns and hand grenades furnish the 'cannon-cracker' effect. Through the woods the high-noted 'zing zing' of bullets sounds like a swarm of angry bees, while high overhead shrapnel and shell go shrieking on their way. Here and there you may see spades full of earth being thrown up as if by invisible hands, marking the onward work of the German gopher-like pioneers in their subterranean warfare. That is the Argonne forest.

"As the trench I am in was still in the hands of the French three days ago and as the crown prince is advancing steadily, the trenches are temporary and contain little in the way of comforts. In deep niches cut in the side the soldiers rest, play cards or even sleep on damp ledges between fights.

"The trenches also serve as a cemetery. When the enemy's fire is so hot that it is impossible to stick your head out or to take the dead out to bury them, the grave is made in a niche or a ledge cut into the side of the trench."

GERMAN ADVANCE HALTED

The western operations in December made it clear that the German advance to the Channel ports of France had been definitely halted. In the terrible battle of Ypres in Flanders, following the prolonged engagements along the Yser river, the Allies succeeded in repulsing the desperate German onslaught, and the German offensive was brought to a full stop. Towns and villages in Flanders, in Artois and in Champagne, that had been captured in the early German rush, were retaken one by one by the Belgians, French and British, slowly but surely, until the Germans were forced to act upon the defensive along a line of entrenchments prepared to enable them to keep open their communications through Belgium with their great base at Aix-la-Chapelle.

An incident of the desperate fighting at Ypres, in which British and French troops practically annihilated six German regiments, including the crack Second regiment of Prussian Guards, has been graphically described by an eye-witness as follows:

"A long valley stretches out before us and the little rise on which we stand—about fifty feet above the plain—commands it. The British guns are shooting almost horizontally at the German infantry trudging through the mud 2,000 yards away.

"I count easily five regiments together, but further to the right a sixth one evidently wards off a flank attack on the part of the French colonial troops. The lone regiment is the Second Prussian regiment of the guard, the emperor's own, the elite of the Kaiser's army, 2,500 of the brawniest, most disciplined men in the world. It is now 1 o'clock. In one hour only 300 of these men will leave the field.

"A gust of wind brings to our ears the sound of music. The guards' band is encouraging the men. At the foot of the small hill on which we stand are twenty lines of trenches filled with Scotch and English infantry. The men are silently awaiting the attack. Not a rifle is being fired. The trenches are the Germans' goal; these and the British batteries once taken, the road into Ypres is clear.

"In the valley the Germans halt. The range is only 1,500 yards now and every British shot is telling. The effects are appalling. The gray masses move onward once more, seem to hesitate, but sharp bugle blasts launch them forward again and on the run they come for the trenches.

"At 1,000 yards our batteries again stop them. Whole rows are mowed down, vast spaces appearing between the ranks. The companies intermingle, then the regiments themselves seem to amalgamate and melt into one another. Officers are seen galloping along the sides, evidently trying to bring order out of chaos.

"The artillerymen work silently, the perspiration streaming down their cheeks, and continue sending on their messengers of death.

"The Second regiment of the Guard alone, off to the right, seems untouched, and on it comes. Suddenly the sound of a bagpipe is heard. The Scots are awake. From the trenches an avalanche rushes forward toward the disordered Germans.

"At the double-quick Scots and English, a few feet apart, yelling like demons, pounce on the attackers. Rifles are silent. It is cold steel alone. Our battery captains cry 'Stop firing.' There is a risk of shelling our own men now. We become spectators.

"On the right the Guard has suddenly turned toward the hill. A bugle blast and the mass of men half turns and seems to be thrown on the back of the British, outflanked. The situation is desperate. Our artillery is useless.

"Listen! Over the valley, rising louder and still louder, comes a song which the Germans have heard before. A crash of brass, a hoarse roar fills the air, echoing across the valley, drowning the shouts and curses of the human wave fighting below.

"The 'Marseillaise'—the English and Scots have heard it. 'Hold tight, the French are coming,' we scream. They cannot hear us, but we must shout—the strain is too intense.

"Past our batteries a company of Spahis rushes like a cyclone. Two more follow, then the Zouaves. Rifles close to their hips, bayonets low, throwing out over the valley its glorious anthem, the human flood crashes against the Guard.

"The lines waver in an indescribable jumble of gray, yellow, blue, and red uniforms, then seem to bounce back from the very force of the shock. Men appear, raised from their feet, and raised high in the air.

"Caught in a vise between the British and the French, the Guard alone remains. Ten times the shattered remnants of the Kaiser's proud regiment charged, and ten times was thrown back, first against the French, then against the British. Crying, 'Comrades, comrades!' hundreds began throwing their guns aside.

"At 2 o'clock it was over. The Allies had lost 1,200 men. Only prisoners remained of the Second Prussian regiment of the Guard.

PROGRESS OF THE EASTERN CAMPAIGN

The campaign in the eastern theater of war attracted the attention of the whole world in December, when the German operations begun in November under Field Marshal Von Hindenburg, the victor of Tannenberg earlier in the war, were continued with varying successes. Early in the month the Germans captured Lodz, the second city and chief manufacturing center of Russian Poland, with a population of about 500,000, after a bombardment of a week's duration, the city being set on fire in many places. The Russians made a desperate resistance, and the fighting around Lodz constituted the most bitter struggle of the entire war on this front. A general Russian retirement in the direction of Warsaw followed, but the Germans failed in their subsequent efforts to envelop the flanks of the Russian army to the north and south. Russian reinforcements from Warsaw coming up promptly, the Germans were in their turn compelled to retire. Two German army corps were then practically cut off by the Russians, but made a successful retreat, fighting their way back to safety with the bayonet in one of the most brilliant exploits of the war. Thus the net result of the German campaign in Poland in December left the general situation there practically unchanged and the Russian front unbroken, while in East Prussia, too, the Russian invasion continued despite German efforts to roll it back across the frontier.

The losses on both sides in the eastern campaign in December were appalling, the fighting being of the fiercest possible nature. A typical struggle occurred a few miles west of Lodz in the little churchyard of Beschici, where the Russians, in one of the final phases of the struggle for the Polish city, showed that in spite of their defeats and discouragements they knew how to fight and die. This churchyard lies on a small eminence which formed a salient into the German lines. The Germans were able to make an attack from three sides with infantry and artillery. All the Russian trenches were enfiladed by shrapnel from one direction or another, but the Russians clung to their positions obstinately. When the Germans finally captured the trenches 878 Russian corpses were found in a space about eighty yards square.

It was resistance of this nature which the Germans had to overcome in order to capture Lodz. Later in December it became clear that Russia was getting her millions into the field and that the strategy of the commander-in-chief, the Grand Duke Nicholas, would soon be aided by the weight of overwhelming numbers.

BELGIUM THANKS AMERICA

During November and December Madame Vandervelde, wife of a member of the Belgian cabinet, toured the United States soliciting aid for her suffering fellow-countrymen. The response everywhere was extremely generous and in appreciation of the aid given the war victims of her country Madame Vandervelde penned the following poem, entitled "Belgium Thanks America:"

GRIM REALITIES OF THE WAR

A vivid picture of the horrible realities of the war, as seen in a field hospital near the firing line, was given in "The New Republic" of November 28 by Mr. Henry W. Nevinson, who described his experiences at Dixmude in Belgium as follows:

"When I entered Dixmude one night in the middle of October the first bombardment was over, but from both sides the heavy shells flew across the town. From the end of the main street came an incessant noise of rifles and machine guns. Unaimed bullets wailed through the air, and pattered as they struck the walls. Flaming houses shed a light upon the ruined streets, but only one house looked inhabited, and all the others which were not burning stood silent and empty, expecting destruction.

"That one house was used as an outlying hospital or dressing-place nearest the firing line, and the wounded had to be led or carried only two or three hundred yards to reach it. They sat on the dining-room chairs or lay helpless on the floor. A few surgeons were at work upon them, cutting off loose fingers and throwing them into basins, plugging black holes that welled up instantly through the plug, straining bandages, which in a minute ceased to be white, round legs and heads. The smell of fresh, warm blood was thick on the air. One man lay deep in his blood. You could not have supposed that anyone had so much in him. Another's head had lost on one side all human semblance, and was a hideous pulp of eye and ear and jaw. Another, with chest torn open, lay gasping for the few minutes left of life. And as I waited for the ambulance more were brought in, and always more.

"In a complacent and comfortable account of hospital work I lately read that 'deaths from wounds are happily rare; one surgeon put the number as low as 2 per cent.' Happy hospital, far away in Paris or some Isle of the Blest! The further from the front the fewer the deaths, because so many have died already.

"In the nearest hospitals to the front, half the wounded, and on some days more than half, die where they are put. Often they die in the ambulance, and one's care in drawing them out is wasted, for they will never feel again. I found one always took the same care, though the greenish-yellow of the exposed hands or feet showed the truth. Laid on the floor of the main hospital itself, some screamed or moaned, some whimpered like sick children, especially in their sleep, some lay quiet, with glazed eyes out of which sight was passing. Mere fragments of mankind were there extended, limbs pounded into mash, heads split open, intestines hanging out from gashes. Did those bones—did that exquisite network of living tissue and contrivances for life—cost no more in the breeding than to be hewed and smashed and pulped like this? Shrapnel—shrapnel—it was nearly always the same. For this is, above all, an artillery war, and both sides are justly proud of their efficiency in guns."

GOVERNMENT RETURNS TO PARIS

Confidence of safety having been restored in the French capital, the Paris bourse reopened on December 7, after having been closed since September 3. President PoincarÉ transferred his official residence back to Paris from Bordeaux on December 9 and a meeting of the French cabinet was held in Paris on December 11, for the first time since the capital was threatened by the German advance at the end of August.

BRITISH NAVAL VICTORY

In the second week of December the British navy avenged the defeat of Rear Admiral Cradock's squadron off the Chilean coast in November, when a powerful special fleet, under Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Sturdee, encountered the German cruiser fleet, under Admiral von Spee, off the Falkland Islands and practically destroyed it. Only one of the five German cruisers escaped. The flagship Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau, the Leipzig and the Nurnberg were sunk in the action, which lasted for five hours, and the German admiral with three of his sons and most of the officers and men of the German crews perished. The British losses were inconsiderable.

This sea fight in the South Atlantic was the most important engagement in which British men-of-war had participated since the era of Napoleon. The sailing of the British fleet in quest of Admiral von Spee's squadron had been kept secret and the news of the victory was therefore especially welcome to the people of England, who had been considerably worried by a succession of minor naval losses inflicted by German cruisers, submarines and mines. The action was gallantly fought on both sides. The advantage in weight of metal and range of guns lay on the side of the British, and the battle was decided at long range. Admiral von Spee, refusing to surrender, in spite of the odds against him, went down with his ship. The flagship of the victorious admiral, Sir Frederick Sturdee, was the modern battle cruiser Invincible. A number of the German sailors were rescued by the British after the engagement and sent as prisoners of war to England. The total German loss was over 2,000 officers and men.

Fine strategy was shown by the British admiralty in sending Admiral Sturdee to South American waters. He was ordered to sea from his desk as chief of the British naval board, after Von Spee's Chilean victory in November, and was placed in command of some of the fastest and most powerful cruisers of the British fleet. The entire affair, from the time the admiral left London until he succeeded in finding and sinking the German squadron in the South Atlantic, took about a month—a truly remarkable exploit.

RULERS AT THE FRONT

During December all the armies in the field were visited by the rulers of their respective countries. The Czar spent some time with his troops near the firing lines in Poland; King George of England visited the British forces in Belgium and Northern France and conferred the Victoria Cross ("For Valor") on a number of officers and men; and President PoincarÉ made several trips to the front, conferring decorations upon General Joffre, commander-in-chief, and other French officers, for distinguished service. The gallant and devoted soldier-king, Albert of Belgium, remained steadfastly at the front with his troops, sharing all their privations and dangers during the fierce fighting in Flanders. Kaiser Wilhelm was also at the front, both east and west, but was forced to return to Berlin early in the month by an attack of illness. On his recovery after two weeks he again visited the western field headquarters in Belgium, but in the first week of January, 1915, he was again compelled by his ailment to make a hurried return to Berlin for medical treatment and rest. British and German naval losses in the world war to January 1, 1915, are shown in the following, compiled from admiralty reports, and, where these are missing, from other authoritative sources. The figures are approximately correct.

CANADIANS AT THE FRONT

Late in December the first of the Canadian troops to leave their English training camp on Salisbury Plain were sent to the front in Northern France. The Princess Patricia regiment had the military honor of leading the Canadians to the firing line. It was made up largely of men who had seen previous service and promptly proceeded to give a good account of itself. A British guardsman returning wounded from the front on December 28 paid a characteristic tribute to the efficiency and daring of the Canadian troops, when he said: "They are all old soldiers. They knew as much about the game as we did and a blooming sight more than the enemy's infantry."

The Canadians first went into action at one of those ticklish spots where yards count. The trench of the British ended at a village which was vigorously shelled by the Germans, and was practically in ruins. Another trench on the right of a little town held by unmounted French cavalry made it impossible for the Germans to reach the village, but their "snipers" had ensconced themselves in some farm buildings to the northeast, making it extremely hazardous for supplies to reach the advanced British posts.

"About twenty of the Canadians," said the wounded guardsman, "managed to gain the ruins at the extreme end of the village during Christmas night and when daylight came they accounted for practically all the German 'snipers' and dashed back into safety before the German artillery fire was directed to the stronghold."

SERVIANS REOCCUPY BELGRADE

Just when it appeared likely that Servia might share the fate of Belgium, a turn in the fortunes of war changed the entire situation of affairs in the little Slav kingdom. Aided by a fresh advance of Russian troops across the Carpathians, which caused the hurried withdrawal of three Austrian army corps from Servian territory to defend the threatened cities of Hungary, the Serbs again took the offensive and, inspired by the presence in the field of old King Peter, a gallant soldier of France in 1870, they reoccupied Belgrade and drove the Austrians before them in a disorderly rout, so that by December Servia was free of the Austrian enemy. Budapest, capital of Hungary, became panic-stricken at the Russian advance and the Servian victory, and the year 1914 closed with every evidence that the people of Austria, at any rate, were tired of the war, discontented at the prospect, and desirous of peace.

GERMAN ATTACK ON BRITISH COAST

For the first time in history since the days of the American commander, Paul Jones, British coast towns were bombarded on December 16, when a squadron of German cruisers, slipping across the North Sea in a fog, from their Heligoland base, appeared off Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby, on the eastern coast of England, and shelled each of them in turn. The loss of life in the three towns was about 100 men, women and children, and a considerable number of buildings were partially wrecked by the German shells. Comparatively speaking, of course the damage inflicted was trifling and from a military point of view the incident was unimportant, the German ships disappearing in the fog after a half-hour's bombardment But the moral effect upon the British public was tremendous. The event came as a distinct shock to their over-confidence and as a reminder that the German navy was still to be reckoned with. The warships of the Kaiser brought home to the people of the United Kingdom the meaning of the war, as no previous incident had done, and fear of further attacks took possession of them. This fear, however, soon turned to rage, and then to a fierce determination to prosecute the war to a bitter end. The attack stimulated recruiting for Lord Kitchener's new army, and this was its chief result, though Germany had proved that her ships could reach British shores and bombard their defenseless towns, in spite of all the vigilance of the British fleet.

BRITISH RAID GERMAN PORT

By way of answer to the German attack on Scarborough and Hartlepool, a daring raid was made Christmas Day by the British navy on the German naval base at Cuxhaven, at the mouth of the Elbe. The chief participants were seven British naval airmen. They were assisted in the attack by several light cruisers, destroyers and submarines. The airmen piloted seaplanes and succeeded in dropping a number of bombs in the vicinity of Cuxhaven, in an attempt to bring out into the open a portion of the German fleet lying there. The affair resulted in a contest between the most modern of war machines. No surface warships were sent out by the Germans, but the attack was repelled by means of Zeppelins, sea-planes and submarines. No great damage was done on either side and the British airmen all escaped without injury, though four of them lost their machines. One, Flight Commander Hewlett, fell with his plane into the North Sea at a considerable distance from Cuxhaven and was picked up by a Dutch trawler, which landed him in Holland several days afterward. The British vessels remained off Cuxhaven for three hours, engaged in the most novel combat in naval history.

A short time previous to the attack on Cuxhaven, the British submarine B-11 accomplished one of the most remarkable exploits of the war when it penetrated into the Dardanelles and torpedoed the Turkish battleship Messudieh. In doing so the submarine successfully passed and repassed five lines of submerged mines and returned to its base in safety after being under water for many hours at a stretch.

U.S. PROTEST ON MARINE CONDITIONS

On December 31, by mutual agreement between the State Department at Washington and the British Foreign Office, the text of a note sent by the United States to England, requesting an early improvement in the treatment of American shipping by the British fleet, was made public. The note of protest had been presented on December 29. It dealt with the manner in which American ships suspected of carrying contraband of war had been held up on the high seas and sent into British ports for examination. Sir Edward Grey, the British foreign secretary, and Walter Hines Page, United States ambassador, conferred on the subject in London, and it was announced on January 1, 1915, that an answer to the American note would be drawn up as soon as possible and that it would be in the same friendly spirit in which the American note was written.

ON THE WESTERN BATTLE FRONT

The battle lines in the western theater of war held firm and fast during the first two months of 1915. Along the entire front, from Flanders to the Swiss frontier, there were few changes in the relative positions of the German forces and the Allies up to March 1, at which time both sides were occupied with preparations for the spring campaign. British reinforcements, forming part of Lord Kitchener's new army, were being transported to the front, while the far-flung lines of trenches were filled with battle-weary veterans of the winter campaign. In many places the entrenchments of the opposing forces were only a few yards apart and trenches were frequently destroyed by mines, resulting in losses to both sides, but without materially changing the general aspect of the conflict.

NAVAL BATTLE IN THE NORTH SEA

One of the most important naval battles of the war took place on January 24 in the North Sea between a British battle cruiser squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty, comprising the battle cruisers Tiger, Lion, Princess Royal, New Zealand and Indomitable, assisted by a few light cruisers and destroyers, on the one hand, and on the other a German squadron, consisting of the battle cruisers Derflinger, Seydlitz and Moltke, the armored cruiser Bluecher, one of the finest in the Kaiser's navy, and several light cruisers.

It was a running fight, covering over one hundred miles and lasting four hours. At the end of this time the German armored cruiser Bluecher was at the bottom of the sea and two of the German battle cruisers had been damaged. Two of Vice-Admiral Beatty's ships were seriously damaged, namely, the giant battle cruiser Lion, which was Sir David's flagship, and the torpedo boat destroyer Meteor, one of the largest and fastest of this class afloat. However, both of these vessels were safely towed into port. The loss in men on the British side was fourteen killed and twenty-nine wounded, while on the side of the Germans only 125 of the crew of 850 men on the Bluecher were saved; the other 725 went down with the ship. The loss of the Bluecher was the hardest blow the German navy had sustained up to this time, as she was one of the newest and best vessels of her class. She was built at a cost of $6,750,000. Her speed was slower than that of the other vessels in the German squadron, which doubtless accounted for her loss. The battle began about 150 miles from Heligoland and ended within about fifty miles of this German naval base.

Early in the month of February, England threatened to put all foodstuffs destined for German ports on the contraband list. In retaliation, Germany, on February 4, through Admiral von Pohl, chief of the admiralty staff, issued a proclamation designating the waters around Great Britain and Ireland as a war area, to become effective February 18 and to be enforced by a formidable fleet of submarines, the object being to conduct war operations in this area for the purpose of destroying commercial ships of the enemy.

Just at this time the great passenger steamship Lusitania, in her passage from New York to Liverpool, hoisted the American flag while sailing through the Irish Sea, and Germany charged that the British Admiralty had issued confidential orders to captains of all British ships to sail under the stars and stripes or other neutral flags when necessary to use this means of protection against destruction by the warships of the enemy. This situation seriously menaced the commerce of the United States as well as that of all other neutral nations, and the American Government, therefore, promptly issued a note of warning to both belligerents and demanded in strong terms the protection of American neutral rights on the high seas. Germany responded promptly and promised to use every precaution to protect neutral shipping, but pointed out that the use of the American flag by British ships would make it difficult to distinguish neutral vessels from those of the enemy; hence neutral shipping was urged to avoid the indicated war area. Great Britain, on the other hand, claimed the right to use neutral flags when necessary to protect human life and ships, when endangered by the war vessels of the enemy; and under the laws of warfare and customs of the nations this contention was correct.

It can readily be seen that this situation placed the sea commerce of the United States, as well as that of all other neutral countries, in a most dangerous position. Up to March 1, 1915, about twenty merchant vessels of various nationalities were destroyed or damaged in the war zone established by Germany, including Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, American and British ships.

GREAT GERMAN VICTORY IN EAST PRUSSIA

After a difficult campaign against the Russian invaders in East Prussia, the German army, by the masterly strategy of Field Marshal von Hindenburg, practically annihilated the Russian Tenth Army of 150, men, completing the task February 20. It was the most spectacular campaign in the history of modern warfare.

The object of the German commander was not only to free East Prussia from the Russian invasion, but to completely capture the Russian Tenth Army. He sent one column in from the south to drive back the Russians who occupied the Mazurian lake gateway to East Prussia, and another column from the north was swung around in wide circles to the east and south, aiming to join hands with the southern German column, thus cutting off the Russian retreat. This movement would have succeeded absolutely except for delay in passing through the swamps, caused by mild weather which broke up the ice. A commander of one of the German corps said: "Nature has always helped Russia. Two days of hard frost and we should have had every man."

In the south also nature aided the Russians. There the German hosts attacked the enemy in the face of a driving snowstorm from the north, which hindered their operations but did not prevent them from gaining a victory which resulted in freeing Prussian territory from the invader.

ALLIES FORCE THE DARDANELLES

On March 1 a great allied fleet of forty British and French warships, having reduced the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles, was on its way through the straits and the Sea of Marmora to Constantinople, with the object of capturing the city. Panic prevailed in the Turkish capital at the approach of the fleet, while for the first time in history hostile flags flew over the forts at the mouth of the Dardanelles. The naval operations of the Allies in the Dardanelles, which began on February 17, proceeded without any serious check for a month. Mine sweepers were in daily use, to clear the channel of submerged and floating mines, and the forts at the Narrows, several miles inside the entrance of the straits, were subject to bombardment every fine day. High winds and fog hampered the operations to a considerable extent, but the purpose of the Allies under Vice-Admiral Carden was adamant and would not be denied. They were determined to hammer their way through to the Turkish capital. The greatest battle of all history between warships and shore forts was the result. Soon after the bombardment began it became known that the allied fleets were led by the great new British superdreadnaught Queen Elizabeth, launched after the war began and armed with 15-inch guns of immense range which proved most effective in reducing the forts at the mouth of the straits.

THREE WARSHIPS SUNK

On March 18 three of the allied warships were sunk inside the Dardanelles and two crippled by the Turks during a bombardment in which ten vessels of the combined fleet participated. The official report of the battle was as follows:

"Mine-sweeping having been in progress during the last ten days inside the straits, a general attack was delivered by the British and French fleets on Thursday morning upon the fortresses at the Narrows. At 10:45 A.M. the Queen Elizabeth, Inflexible, Agamemnon, and Lord Nelson bombarded forts J, L, T, U and V, while the Triumph and Prince George fired at batteries F, E and H. A heavy fire was opened on the ships from howitzers and field guns.

"At 12:22 o'clock the French squadron, consisting of the Suffren, Gaulois, Charlemagne and Bouvet, advanced up the Dardanelles and engaged the forts at closer range. Forts I, U, F and E replied strongly. Their fire was silenced by the ten battleships inside the straits, all the ships being hit several times during this part of the action.

"By 1:25 P.M. all the forts had ceased firing. The Vengeance, Irresistible, Albion, Ocean, Swiftsure and Majestic then advanced to relieve the six old battleships inside the straits. As the French squadron, which had engaged the forts in a most brilliant fashion, was passing out, the Bouvet was blown up by a drifting mine. She sank in fathoms north of Arenkeuf village in less than three minutes.

"At 2:23 P.M. the relief battleships renewed the attack on the forts, which again opened fire. The attack on the forts was maintained while the operations of the mine-sweepers continued.

"At 4:09 P.M. the Irresistible quitted the line, listing heavily, and at 5:50 o'clock sank, having probably struck a drifting mine. At 6: o'clock the Ocean, also having struck a mine, sank. Both vessels sank in deep water, practically the whole of their crews having been removed safely under a hot fire. The loss of the ships was caused by mines drifting with the current, which were encountered in areas hitherto swept clear.

"The British casualties in personnel were not heavy considering the scale of the operations, but practically the whole of the crew of the Bouvet were lost with the ship, an internal explosion having apparently supervened on the explosion of the mine." [About 500 lives were lost on the Bouvet.]

On March 16 Vice-Admiral Carden, who had been incapacitated by illness, was succeeded in the chief command by Rear-Admiral John Michael De Robeck, with the acting rank of vice-admiral.

ADMIRAL DE ROBECK'S TRIBUTE TO THE FRENCH

After the engagement of March 18 Admiral De Robeck telegraphed to the British Admiralty the following tribute to the gallantry of the French in action:

"I desire to bring to the notice of your Lordships the splendid behavior of the French squadron. Their heavy loss leaves them quite undaunted. They were led into close action by Rear-Admiral Guepratte with the greatest gallantry."

About this time it was noted by the press and generally commented upon, in both England and America, that the Admiralty had not made public a single word of commendation for the work of the British navy since the war began. This unusual fact was interpreted as evidence of the inflexible purpose of the British to ignore minor losses and even defeats until the main battleship fleets of the belligerents should come to grips in the open sea. English newspapers began to taunt the Germans with permitting their navy to "rust in the Kiel Canal."

The sinking of the battle cruisers Irresistible, Ocean and Bouvet was the heaviest loss sustained by the Allies since the war began. The British crews were rescued, almost to a man, and the loss of the French crew was due mainly to the internal explosion following that of the mine. All the ships sunk were of the earlier pre-dreadnought type. On the same day, March 18, the British battle cruiser Inflexible and the French battleship Gaulois were put out of commission temporarily by the fire of the Turkish forts.

The Irresistible, the Ocean and the Bouvet were all sunk in portions of the straits which had been swept clear of anchored mines, and the drifting mines which proved so deadly were undoubtedly set afloat by the Turks, probably under the direction of German officers, on the swift current of the Dardanelles at points near the allied ships after the action began. On March 24 the allied fleets renewed with vigor their attack upon the forts at the Narrows of the Dardanelles. A large body of troops was also landed upon the peninsula of Gallipoli, commanding the approach to Constantinople, and the Russian Black Sea fleet co-operated by a bombardment of the Turkish naval base, which left the Turkish fleet without supplies and practically paralyzed its movements.

BATTLE OF NEUVE CHAPELLE

The presence of part of Earl Kitchener's new British volunteer army at the western front in Belgium and France was signalized between March and March 16, when the British gained a series of successes that drew marked attention to their operations. To the south of Ypres in Flanders the British army, which a German attack had compelled to fall back beyond St. Eloi, recaptured that village and almost all of the neighboring German trenches, in spite of several counterattacks.

On March 11 Field Marshal Sir John French described the fighting which led to the capture of Neuve Chapelle in Northern France as follows:

"Since my last communique the situation on our front, between ArmentiÈres and La BassÉe, has been materially altered by a successful initiative on the part of the troops engaged. Shortly after 8 A.M. on March 10 these troops assaulted and carried German trenches in the neighborhood of Neuve Chapelle.

"Before noon we captured the whole village of Neuve Chapelle. Our infantry at once proceeded to confirm and extend the local advantage gained. By dusk the whole labyrinth of trenches on a front about 4, yards was in our hands. We had established ourselves about 1,200 yards beyond the enemy's advanced trenches.

"During the 11th the enemy made repeated efforts to recover the ground lost. All his counter-attacks were repulsed with heavy loss.

"We continue to make steady progress and hard fighting continues. The local initiative displayed by our troops daily is admirable. It says much for the spirit which animates the army. The success achieved on the 10th and 11th is a striking example." "THE END OF THE WORLD"

An officer who was wounded in the fighting thus vividly describes the battle of Neuve Chapelle:

"Modern warfare is such an infernal business that any man who is not killed ought to be cheerful. It all seems like a wild dream to me. I never heard such a row in all my life. And the bullets and the shells—it was like passing through the most awful hail storm.

"We were in our trenches at dawn when suddenly a most infernal din commenced. You never saw such a sight; you never heard such a noise. I heard one of my men say, 'This is the end of the world,' and I did not blame him for thinking so. We could see in the distance great masses of flame, earth and brick in great clouds of smoke, all ascending together as enormous shells screamed over our heads and burst among the German entrenchments and the houses of the village. At the end of a half-hour's bombardment the fire ceased as suddenly as it had begun.

"All this time we were awaiting the order to advance towards Aubers. At length we jumped out into the open. The air seemed alive with bullets and shells. There was a buzzing noise, such as you hear in a tropical forest on a hot summer day. On we moved, until we came to an open stretch, which was being swept by an infernal shell fire. We crossed this in rushes to gain the shelter of a few houses, losing some 40 or men. There we remained for some little time, reforming the battalion and awaiting further orders. When these came we moved forward over rough, open ground, coming upon lots of our poor fellows lying dead. They were from the only battalion which had preceded us.

"Then we entered the German trenches which had been captured. Again we halted. All this time our shells, German shells and rifle and machine gun bullets were shrieking overhead.

"Thank goodness, in an action like this you seem to lose your senses! A kind of elevation above all ordinary feelings comes over you and you feel as though you were rushing through air. There is so much to frighten you that you cease to be afraid. Then your senses gradually come back. That is why all infantry attacks should be carried through with one overwhelming rush."

GERMAN ADVANCE IN POLAND

On March 12 two German armies were on the move in Poland, seeking to pierce the Russian lines. One of these armies was advancing along the road to Przasnysz with the bank of the River Narew as its objective. This was the main German attack and inaugurated one of the biggest battles of the war.

Farther south, on the Pilica, a German feint was in progress with the object of weakening the Russian defense in the north. But while Petrograd seemed to be resigning itself to the idea of a second withdrawal from before Przasnysz, there was little doubt of the ultimate outcome of this German attempt to gain a firm footing on Russian soil. The German troops were moved forward in close order and only in the daytime, and were entirely dependent on what natural cover they could find between the rushes, as the ground was frozen too hard to permit the use of intrenching tools.

These tactics naturally involved very heavy losses. The German casualties are also understood to have been extremely severe around Simno, especially on their extreme left, where they lost the greater part of their transport. It appeared certain that the Russians had fallen back before an onrush of forces of overwhelming numerical superiority, but it was equally certain that with every yard of the German advance from their railways the shock of their impact weakened while the Russian powers of resistance were enhanced.

BRITISH RELIEVE THE PRESSURE

Just as the French attacked the Germans in the western campaign when Field Marshal von Hindenburg made his rush from East Prussia in February, so the British army operating in Flanders undertook the task of relieving the pressure on its Russian ally when the Russians again were attacked in north Poland. This was part of the general plan of the allied generals. When one was attacked the other attacked, so as to compel the Germans and Austrians to keep strong forces at every point, and endeavor to prevent them from sending new troops where they could do the most good.

In March the Germans were occupied in an attempt to crush the Russians. For this purpose they had an army estimated at nearly half a million men marching along the roads toward Przasnysz. To prevent this army from being further strengthened the British began to thrust at the German line north of La BassÉe, and besides reporting the capture of the village of Neuve Chapelle, they advanced beyond that town.

BRITISH AUXILIARY CRUISER LOST

On March 12 the Admiralty issued a report of the loss of the large British auxiliary cruiser Bayano while on naval patrol duty in the Irish Sea. Evidence pointed to her having been torpedoed by a German submarine. Only 27 of the Bayano's crew of 250 were saved. Fourteen officers, including the commander, went down with the ship. The Bayano was a new twin screw steel steamer of 5,948 tons. The survivors were afloat on a raft when rescued. The loss of the Bayano was the most serious of the submarine blockade of the British coasts up to that time.

GERMAN CRUISER DRESDEN SUNK

For several months British warships in the South Atlantic and South Pacific oceans sought in vain for the German cruiser Dresden, one of the German squadron defeated off the Falkland Islands by Admiral Sturdee in December, when she was the only German vessel to escape. On February she sank the British ship Conway Castle off Corral in the South Pacific, and on March 14 she was caught near Juan Fernandez Island by the British cruisers Glasgow and Kent and the auxiliary cruiser Orama. An action ensued and after five minutes' fighting the Dresden hauled down her flag. She was much damaged and set on fire, and after she had been burning for some time her magazine exploded and she sank. The crew were saved. Fifteen badly wounded Germans were landed at Valparaiso, and the remainder of the crew were taken on board the auxiliary cruiser Orama as prisoners of war.

The Dresden was a sister ship of the famous Emden, and was commissioned in October, 1907. In the spring of 1914 the Dresden was on the Caribbean station, and was lying off Tampico when the American forces captured Vera Cruz. Later on in the summer the Dresden was the vessel on which Victoriano Huerta, upon abandoning Mexico, traveled from Puerta to Jamaica. Upon the outbreak of the war the Dresden was still stationed in Central American waters, and for a time was hunted by the British and French cruisers in the North Atlantic. She steamed south, however, and after sinking the British steamer Hyades and the Holmwood off the coast of Brazil, respectively, on August 16 and 26, went through the Strait of Magellan and joined Admiral Count Von Spee's fleet in the southern Pacific.

The sinking of the Dresden left at large on the high seas, so far as was known, only the German cruiser Karlsruhe, last reported as operating in the West Indies, and the auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm, which was still raiding commerce in the South Atlantic.

THE FALL OF PKZEMYSL

On March 22 the long siege of Przemysl, the formidable Galician fortress that had been called the "key to the Austrian empire," ended with the surrender of the city to the Russians. The siege stands as the fifth longest in 136 years, having lasted 185 days, surpassed in duration only by the sieges of Gibraltar, Sebastopol, Vicksburg, Richmond and Port Arthur. The news of the Austrians' surrender was the most important that had come from the eastern front in weeks. For six months the stronghold had withstood assault, remaining a constant menace in the rear of the Russian advance in Galicia. From 120,000 to 150,000 Russians had been held in the neighborhood by the necessity of masking the fortress. Numerous efforts had been made to reach the beleaguered city by relieving armies, but each in turn proved unavailing, though for a time in December it appeared likely that a combined German and Austrian army would succeed in raising the siege.

The fall of Przemysl was preceded by a sortie of the garrison in a last desperate attempt to hack its way through the enemy's lines. After a seven hours' battle they were compelled to retreat with a loss of nearly 4,000 prisoners. Only three days' rations were left. In the surrender of the city the Russians announced the taking of nearly 120,000 prisoners, including nine generals, 93 officers of the general staff, 2, officers and officials, and 117,000 soldiers.

Twenty-four thousand soldiers of the Przemysl garrison were killed during the long siege, according to dispatches from Petrograd. Twenty thousand more were wounded making the total casualties of the Austrian defenders 44,000 men. Depleted by disease, subsisting on horseflesh, and surrounded by a superior force of Russians, the garrison of Przemysl was forced to surrender, but fell with honor, the gallant character of the defense under General von Kusmanek being conceded on all sides. The Russian commander who received the surrender was General Seliwanoff. In the early days of the siege a Bulgarian, General Radko Dimitrieff, was in command of the investing forces. General Seliwanoff commanded the Russian forces at Vladivostok during the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05.

The duration of the siege compared with the length of time it took the Germans to capture such strongholds as LiÈge, Namur and Antwerp was due to two causes, one being the desire of the Russians to keep the loss of life among the besieging army at a minimum, the other to the lack of great guns which the Germans had in Belgium.

The investment was not a close one, the garrison having had a radius of about twelve miles in which to move about. An aeroplane post was maintained almost up to the last, and it is said that even some scanty food supplies were carried in by aeroplane.

Although the victory was a big one, it cost the Russians dearly. It is estimated that 150,000 Russians were killed and wounded during the months that the siege went on. Not only were many Russians killed by the efficient fire of the Austrian gunners, but the fierce sorties where attackers and defenders fought hand-to-hand resulted in heavy casualties.

Przemysl was the greatest fortress in the Austrian empire. Hill, rock, marsh and river combined to give it strength and the work of nature had been supplemented by the labors of the finest military engineers in central Europe. The gallant defense which the garrison put up for days is recorded as Austria's most noteworthy contribution to the war. For a long time the fortress had faced famine.

With the fall of Przemysl the only important fortified town in Austrian Galicia which was not in the hands of the Russians was Cracow, close to the German border. A large Russian army with artillery was released for action. The Russian left wing stretched from the province of Bukowina on the southeast to Tarnow and the Vistula River near Cracow on the west.

ON THE EASTERN FRONT

On the eastern front of the stupendous battle line in March the most sanguinary fighting of the war occurred. Losses on both sides were appalling, while the gains in territorial acquisition amounted to little or nothing.

Describing the enormous losses on both sides in Poland, a neutral observer, Mr. Stanley Washburn, said in the American Review of Reviews:

"The German program contemplated taking both Warsaw and Ivangorod and the holding for the winter of the line between the two formed by the Vistula. The Russians took the offensive from Ivangorod, crossed the river, and after hideous fighting fairly drove Austrians and Germans from positions of great strength around the quaint little Polish town of Kozienice. From this town for perhaps ten miles west, and I know not how far north and south there is a belt of forest of fir and spruce. Near Kozienice the Russian infantry, attacking in flank and front, fairly wrested the enemy's position and drove him back into this jungle. The Russians simply sent their troops in after them.

"The fight was now over a front of perhaps twenty kilometers; there was no strategy. It was all very simple. In this belt were Germans and Austrians. They were to be driven out if it took a month. Then began the carnage. Day after day the Russians fed troops in on their side of the wood. Companies, battalions, regiments, and even brigades, were absolutely cut off from all communication. None knew what was going on anywhere but a few feet in front. All knew that the only thing required of them was to keep advancing.

"Yard by yard the ranks and lines of the Austrians were driven back, but the nearer their retreat brought them to the open country west of the wood the hotter was the contest waged. The last two kilometers of the woody belt are something incredible to behold; there seems hardly an acre that is not sown like the scene of a paperchase—only here with bloody bandages and bits of uniform. Men fighting hand to hand with clubbed muskets and bayonets contested each tree and ditch. The end was, of course, inevitable. The troops of the dual alliance could not fill their losses, and the Russians could. "At last came the day when the dirty, grimy, bloody soldiers of the Czar pushed their antagonists out of the far side of the woodland—and what a scene occurred in that open bit of country with the quaint little village of Augustowo at the crossroads! Once out in the open the hungry guns of the Russians, so long yapping ineffectively without knowing what their shells were doing, had their chance. Down every road through the forest came the six-horse teams with the guns jumping and jingling behind, with their accompanying caissons heavy with death-charged shrapnel, and the moment the enemy were in the clear these batteries, eight guns to a unit, were unlimbered on the fringe of the wood and pouring out their death and destruction on the wretched enemy now retreating hastily across the open. And the place where the Russians first turned loose on the retreat is a place to remember.

"Dead horses, bits of men, blue uniforms, shattered transport, overturned gun-carriages, bones, broken skulls, and grisly bits of humanity strew every acre of the ground.

ENORMOUS LOSSES ON BOTH SIDES

"A Russian officer who seemed to be in authority on this gruesome spot volunteered the information that already they had buried at Kozienice, in the wood and on this open spot, 16,000 dead. Those that had fallen in the open and along the road had been decently interred, as the forests of crosses for ten miles along that bloody way clearly indicated, but back in the woods themselves were hundreds and hundreds of bodies that lay as they had fallen. Sixteen thousand dead means at least 70, casualties all told, or 35,000 on a side if losses were equally distributed. And this, figured on the basis of the 16,000 dead already buried, without allowing for the numbers of the fallen that still lie about in the woods. And yet here is a battle the name of which is hardly more than known in America, yet the losses on both sides amount to more than the entire army that General Meade commanded at the Battle of Gettysburg.

"He who has the heart to walk about in this ghastly place can read the last sad moments of almost every corpse. Here one sees a blue-coated Austrian with leg shattered by a jagged bit of a shell. The trouser perhaps has been ripped open and clumsy attempts been made to dress the wound, while a great splotch of red shows where the fading strength was exhausted before the flow of life's stream could be checked. Here again is a body with a ghastly rip in the chest, made perhaps by bayonet or shell fragment. Frantic hands now stiffened in death are seen trying to hold together great wounds from which life must have flowed in a few great spurts of blood. And here it is no fiction about the ground being soaked with gore. One can see it,—coagulated like bits of raw liver, while great chunks of sand and earth are in lumps, held together by this human glue. Other bodies lie in absolute peace and serenity. Struck dead with a rifle ball through the heart or some other instantly vital spot. These lie like men asleep, and on their faces is the peace of absolute rest and relaxation, but of these alas! there are few compared to the ones upon whose pallid, blood-stained faces one reads the last frantic agony of death.

"The soldiers themselves go on from battlefield to battlefield, from one scene of carnage to another. They see their regiments dwindle to nothing, their officers decimated, three-fourths of their comrades dead or wounded, and yet each night they gather about their bivouacs apparently undisturbed by it all. One sees them on the road the day after one of these desperate fights marching cheerfully along, singing songs and laughing and joking with one another. This is morale and it is of the stuff that victories are made. And of such is the fiber of the Russian soldier, scattered over these hundreds of miles of front to-day. He exists in millions and has abiding faith in his companions, in his officers, and in his cause."

TERRIFIC FIGHTING IN MIDWINTER

Writing of the desperate fighting in Poland in midwinter when the Germans made a tremendous effort to pierce the Russian lines on the Bzura and Rawka front, with Warsaw as their objective point, an American correspondent, Mr. John F. Bass, said: "The fighting was terrific. The detonations of the cannon came in such rapid succession that they sounded like giant machine guns and the windows of the dressing stations for the wounded shook as if from an earthquake. It was not possible to distinguish individual gun explosions from the Battle of the infantry fire. All were mingled in one inarticulate battle shriek. At night, as in a furious thunderstorm, the darkness was pierced with the unintermittent flashes of the guns, while sickly green rockets shed a ghastly light over the fighting lines. The wounded brought in filled the hospitals to overflowing.

"It was estimated by the Russians that the Germans lost 60,000 men. I was told by an officer that the bodies of German soldiers were piled up before the Russian trenches in many of the assaults so high that German shells bursting among them threw mangled pieces of human beings into the trenches among the Russians.

"At night, under the glare of search-lights, the undulating mass of wounded made efforts to extricate themselves. Then, toward 2 o'clock in the morning, they moved no more." The winter cold had done its deadly work.

FRENCH MAKE GAINS IN MARCH

In the Champagne country of northern France the month of March was marked by almost continuous fighting of the fiercest character. French advices from Chalons-sur-Marne on March 29 were to the effect that 11,000 German dead had been taken from the trenches won by the French in the previous twenty days and that the total German losses during that time in the Champagne district exceeded 50,000 in killed, wounded and prisoners.

STIRRING EVENTS OF THE SPRING

All through the month of April the days were crowded with important occurrences east and west along the battle lines. The Russian movement across the Carpathians was pressed with vigor and some of the fiercest fighting of the war resulted, as the combined German and Austrian troops resisted the Russian advance into Hungary.

Early in the spring the British forces gained a notable victory at Neuve Chapelle in the western theater of war. Then the German forces in Flanders were heavily reinforced until it was estimated that they numbered not less than half a million men, gathered for the purpose of smashing the line of the Allies at the strategic point where the British and the Belgian troops were in touch with one another. Here, for three days, the Germans succeeded in pushing forward, driving a wedge for several miles into the line of the allied armies of England, France and Belgium. And here, too, the Canadian division of the British army covered itself with glory and once more demonstrated the value to the British empire of the "lion's whelps." On one notable occasion, destined to be recorded in history as a red-letter day for Canadian arms, the gallant fellows from the great Dominion "saved the situation," to quote from the report of Field Marshal French, by a splendid charge, during which they recaptured from the Germans four of their field guns that had been lost the day before.

HOW CANADIAN COMMANDER DIED LEADING YPRES CHARGE

From Sir Max Aitken's official account of the battle of Ypres.

"It did not seem that any human being could live in the shower of shot and shell which began to play on the advancing troops. They suffered terrible casualties. For a short time every other man seemed to fall, but the attack was pressed even closer and closer. The 4th Canadian battalion at one moment came under a particularly withering fire. For a moment it wavered.

"Its most gallant commanding officer, Lieut.-Col. Birchall, carrying, after an old fashion, a light cane, coolly and cheerfully rallied his men and at the very moment when his example had infected them, fell dead at the head of his battalion.

"With a cry of anger they sprang forward as if to avenge his death. The astonishing attack which followed, pushed home in the face of direct frontal fire made in broad daylight by battalions whose names should live forever in the memories of soldiers, was carried to the first line of German trenches. After a hand-to-hand struggle the last German who resisted was bayoneted and the trench was won.

"It was clear that several German divisions were attempting to crush or drive back the Third Brigade and to sweep around and overwhelm our left wing. The last attempt partially succeeded. German troops swung past the unsupported left of the brigade and, slipping in between the wood and St. Julien, added to our torturing anxieties by apparently isolating us from the brigade base.

"In the exertions made by the Third Brigade during this supreme crisis, Major Norsworthy, already almost disabled by a bullet wound, was bayoneted and killed. Captain McQuaig of the same battalion was seriously wounded.

"General Curry flung his left flank around and in the crisis of this immense struggle held his trenches from Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. He did not abandon them then. There were none left. They had been obliterated by artillery.

"He withdrew his undefeated troops from the fragments of his field fortifications and the hearts of his men were as completely unbroken as the parapets of his trenches were completely broken.

"The Ninetieth Winnipeg Rifles, which held the extreme left of the brigade position at the most critical moment, was expelled from the trenches early Friday morning by an emission of poisonous gas, but recovering in three-quarters of an hour it counter-attacked, retook the trenches it had abandoned and bayoneted the enemy.

"General Alderson, commanding the reinforcements, directed an advance by a British brigade which had been brought up in support.

"As the troops making it swept through the Canadian left and center, many of them going to certain death, they paused for an instant with deep-throated cheers for Canada, indicating the warm admiration which the Canadians' exertions had excited in the British army.

"On Monday morning General Curry was again called upon to lead his shrunken Second Brigade, reduced to a quarter of its original strength, into action at the apex of the line, which position the brigade held all that day. On Wednesday it was relieved and retired to the rear. 'Not a Canadian gun was lost in the long battle of retreat.'"

Concluding his account, Sir Max wrote: "The empire is engaged in a struggle without quarter and without compromise against an enemy still superbly organized, still immensely powerful, still confident that its strength is the mate of its necessity. To arms then, and still to arms! The graveyard of Canada in Flanders is very large."

GERMAN DRIVE TO THE COAST

Before the beginning of the spring campaign, it was realized by the Allies that the German general staff was preparing for a determined drive to the coast through the British and Belgian lines that protected the approach to Calais. It was for this reason that the British took the offensive at Neuve Chapelle and at the important strategic point known as Hill 60. The purpose of Field Marshal French was to strike the first blow, and the attacks were seemingly successful; but later news from the front showed that "something went wrong" at Neuve Chapelle, which in a large measure upset the British plans.

At Hill No. 60, though the British captured that important position, they were held back from further advance. Then came the long-expected German attack in the direction of Ypres, which was considered as one of the keys to the French seaport of Calais. By this attack the Allies were forced back from the Ypres canal, and the positions gained by the Germans brought them within twenty-five miles of the coast at Dunkirk.

The fighting at Neuve Chapelle, Hill 60 and Ypres was probably the most sanguinary of the entire war up to that time. The losses on both sides were enormous. Germans, British, Belgians and French were killed literally by the thousand, the British losses at Neuve Chapelle alone being estimated at 20,000, while the German casualties in forcing the passage of the Ypres canal a few days later exceeded 9,000 men.

PRAISE FOR THE CANADIANS

It was in the most furious conflict of the western campaign—a battle between Langemarcke and Steenstrate, in Flanders—that the Canadian troops saved the British army from what seemed almost inevitable defeat. The Canadian division was in the front line of the British forces on April 23, when the Germans made their sudden assaults and broke through the line for a distance of five miles. Only the brilliant counter-charges of the Canadians saved the situation. They had many casualties, but their gallantry and determination brought success and, in the language of the official report of the prolonged battle, "their conduct was magnificent throughout."

The correspondent, describing the harrowing scene of the battle on April 23, said: "Long ago Kitchener's army was given its baptism of fire, but yesterday it got its initiation into hell."

In their great effort to smash the Allies on the Yser the Germans also sustained terrible losses. By April 27 it was asserted that the German force that managed to pass the Yser and took possession of the town of Lizerne had been practically annihilated. The fighting was said to have been far more terrible than that of the autumn of 1914, when the Yser canal ran red with blood.

It was charged by the Allies that in the fighting in Flanders late in April the Germans used asphyxiating gases, which placed thousands of the allied troops hors de combat, including many of the Canadian division. Strong protests against the German use of such methods were voiced by the allied generals, and a formal denunciation was made by Lord Kitchener in the British parliament.

ALLIED TROOPS AT THE DARDANELLES

On April 25-27, a strong force of British and French troops under General Sir Dan Hamilton effected a landing on both sides of the Dardanelles, to co-operate with the allied fleets seeking to force a passage through the straits to the Bosporus. The landing was resisted by Turkish troops, but the Allies succeeded in establishing themselves on the Gallipoli peninsula by May 1, and made several thousand Turks prisoners of war. The bombardment of the Turkish forts in the Dardanelles by the allied warships was continued.

The French cruiser Leon Gambetta, with a displacement of 12,351 tons and crew of 714 men, commanded by Rear Admiral Fenet, cruising at the entrance of the Otranto canal in the Ionian sea, was torpedoed the night of April 26th by the Austrian submarine U-5, and went to the bottom in ten minutes; 578 lives were lost; all officers on board, including Rear Admiral Fenet, perished.