[[ Mirrored from archive.org, with more info at http://www.314th.org/times-history-of-the-war/times-history-of-the-war.html ]] The Times HISTORY OF THE WAR Vol. XIII PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY "THE TIMES" PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE, LONDON. 1917 CONTENTS OF VOL. XIII CHAPTER CXCIV. The United States at War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 CHAPTER CXCV. The Blockades, 1915-1917 : British and German Methods . . . . . . 37 CHAPTER CXCVI. The Abdication of the Tsar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 CHAPTER CXCVII. The Use of Aircraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 CHAPTER CXCVIII. New Zealand and the War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 CHAPTER CXCIX. Dutch Neutrality: 1914-1917.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 181 CHAPTER CC. Swiss Neutrality : 1914-1917 ..217 CHAPTER CCI. The Capture of Baghdad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 CHAPTER CC1I. Greece and the War, 1914-1916 289 CHAPTER CCIII. The Abdication of King Constantine . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 CHAPTER CC1V. Care of Disabled British Soldiers.. .. .. .. .. .. .. 343 CHAPTER CCV. Victoria Crosses of the War (111.).. .. .. .. .. .. - .. 3<>1 CHAPTER CCVI. The Campaign in German East Africa (III.) . . . . . . . . . . 397 CHAPTER CCVII. The Disorganization of Russia: March-July, 1917 .. 433 CHAPTER CXCIV. THE UNITED STATES AT WAR. The Rupture of Relations with Germany — Two Critical Months — President Wilson's Policy — Last Hopes of Peace — German Ships in American Ports — Attempts to Bully Mr. Gerard — German Attempt to Reopen Negotiations — Arming of American Ships — More Submarine Crimes — Meeting of Congress on April 2 — Text of the President's Message — The United States at War — The Outlook — Military Unpreparedness — German Plots — Public Opinion — Conferences with the Allies — The Joffre and Balfour Missions — Adoption of Conscription — The Army Draft Law — American Troops for France — General Pershing — The Liberty Loan — Economic Organization — Situation in the Spring of 1917. THE story of the long process by which Germany slowly leavened the great body of American opinion with growing apprehension that the main- tenance of peace with her might prove treason to the Republic and to the high ideals of democracy has been told in earlier chapters. It has been shown how the Note of January 31, 1917, by which Germany notified the United States that she would sink at sight* all ships within the " barred zones " from February 1, provoked President Wilson to dismiss her Ambassador two days after this date and to justify his action the same day in his Address to Congress. The President, it will be remembered, did not even then accept war as inevitable. He refused to believe that Germany would do what she threatened to do. "Only actual overt acts," he declared, would convince him that his " in- veterate confidence " was unfounded. Should it prove unfounded, he continued, he would have to appear again before Congress and " ask that authority be given to me to use any means that may be necessary for the protection of our seamen and our people in the prosecution of their peaceful legitimate errands on the high seas." The events which shattered his confidence Vol. XIII.— Part 157 and forced the American people into war and their first preparations for the struggle are the subject of the present chapter. The President's action was followed by two most interesting and critical months. It has already been explained why the United States, in spite of outrages against her citizens like the sinking of the Lusitania and the Sussex, in spite of the campaign of crime on American soil, organized, conducted and paid for by the Buenzs, the Boy-Eds and the Papens, and in spite of the cumulative evidence that a Teutonic victory would destroy everything in the world that to Americans as to other free peoples makes life worth living, had hitherto maintained a policy of aloof, albeit unofficially indignant, neutrality. Nurtured in a fixed .belief that their destiny was one of comfortable and prosperous isolation, encouraged in • the belief by the leadership of a President of orthodox, almost mid-Victorian, Liberal tendencies, it was impossible that the American people should see at once that the success of the Prussian menace would compromise their future as surely as, though less immediately than, the future of France or England. The war tended to appear to them as a kind of spectacle upon a stage. Germany's behaviour aroused disgust : THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. her ambitions were realized to be wrong ; but the idea of helping to punish and restrain her seemed hardly to occur to them. They were the audience ; the tragedy harrowed them, but it was not for them to interfere in the action. Lest this may seem an extreme judgment, in view of the stalwart sympathy of so many leaders of informed American opinion, two quotations from speeches by the President delivered less than six months before the rupture may be given. Speaking at Omaha on October 5, 1916, Mr. Wilson said: "The singularity of the present war is that its roots and origins and object never have been dis- closed. They have obscure European roots which we do not know how to trace. ... It will take the long inquiry of history to explain this war." And on October 26 at Cincinnati : " Have you ever heard what started the present war ? If you have I wish you would publish it, because nobody else has, so far as I can gather. Nothing in particular started it, but everything in general." A few weeks later the President was re-elected after a canvass and by a vote which showed that the popular sanction for his continuance in office was based upon agreement with his electioneering speeches. They were to the effect that the proper policy for the United States was to avoid at almost any cost participation in a contest in which her interest was deemed to be mainly platonio. It may seem ungenerous to recall the Presi- dent's attitude as a neutral, in view of the splendid energy with which he soon afterwards started to plan the mobilization of the resources of his country in active alliance with the Liberal Powers of Europe. Those, indeed, among his supporters who are best qualified to speak for him affirmed that the almost careless patience of his neutrality was, in fact, simulated. He always, they said, at any rate since the Lusitania, realized that the United States, sooner or later, would have to fight ; but he did not dare to act precipitately and outstrip public opinion, lest, when the test came, he should have a divided country behind him. He took, they continued, the only means open to him of gaining the confidence of his people, so that in the end he might be able to lead them effectually whither his instincts had always tended. To this Americans who chafed under the President's patience replied that, positive leadership was what was needed to mould public opinion to face the war and the unaccustomed problems that it involved, and ARRIVAL OF THE U.S. STEAMER " ORLEANS " AT BORDEAUX : THE CAPTAIN SALUTES THE WAITING CROWD. The "Orleans" and the "Rochester" (next page) left New York Feb. 10. 1917, for Bordeaux in defiance of Germany's threat to sink neutral shipping. Both ships were enthusiastically welcomed in France. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. THE U.S. STEAMER " ROCHESTER " BEING TOWED UP THE GIRONDE. that, had the President been moving towards an active part in the vindication of Democracy, he would at any rate not have neglected military and naval preparedness to the extent to which it was neglected in Washington up to the very eve of war. Even after February 3 it was not certain that the United States would go to war. Popular opinion, it is true, applauded the President's Note. The Press prophesied hostilities sooner or later. Stalwart thinkers and leaders proclaimed that the sooner they came the better. The President was con- gratulated for having taken the bull by the horns. " The blood of a citizen who is first of all things an American pulses more firmly, more proudly, this morning," cried the Republican and Conservative New York Sun on the day after the rupture. " His Government has at last spoken with the voice of the nation. He can now hold his head upright, and thank God and the President for the old-fashioned American perpendicularity of it." Those who approved of the President's patience and sympathized with his efforts to preserve for his country the peace which he rightly believed it ardently desired were equally satisfied. The Democratic and Liberal New York World wrote : The United States is now on the verge of a war with Germany, but the American people can face the crisis without fear and without reproach. The national conscience is clear. In all the records of history there will be found no other example of a great and powerful nation exerting such effort and making such sacrifices to keep the peace as the United States has done. . . . Mr. Wilson has been patient indeed, but it is a patience that has been shared with the majority of the American people, and it is not to be regretted. The President's desire to keep the country out of the war, if honourable means could be found, has been their desire, and it is nothing that requires apology or extenuation. If he has failed, it is a noble, enlightened failure which does honour to the President and the nation. The German-American propagandists deemed discretion the better part of Pan-Germanism. Their newspapers proclaimed that, un- pleasant as was the path that the President had indicated, it must be followed. Dr. Hexamer, President of the National German- American Alliance, wrote to members of his notorious organization urging them to be loyal Americans. As will be shown later, the intrinsic sincerity of many such professions may be doubted, but that they should have been made at all showed how strongly the President's defiance of Germany had set running the tide of patriotism. Nevertheless, it soon became i evident that, as the careful phraseology of the President's Note indicated, hopes were .< still cherished in Washington that war might be avoided, or at any rate i limited to protection for American shipping and the systematization and expansion under- Government auspices of the,- aid in the way of supplies and of loans to finance them which, thanks to the British Navy, the Allies had been able to get from the United States as a neutral. The first sign of these hopes was the announcement on the day after the rupture 157—2 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. DESTROYER GUARDING GERMAN LINERS AT HOBOKEN. that the State Department had sent to the heads of American missions in neutral countries the following instructions : You will immediately notify the Government to which you are accredited that the United States, bacause of the German Government's recent announcement of its intention to renew unrestricted submarine warfare, has no choice but to follow the course laid down in its Note of April 18, 191fi (the Sussex Note). It has, therefore, recalled the American Ambassador to Berlin and has delivered passports to the German Ambassador to the United States. Say also that the President is reluctant to believe Germany actually will carry out her threat against neutral commerce, but if it be done the President will ask Congress to authorize the use of national power to protect American citizens engaged in their peaceful and lawful errands on the seas. The course taken is, in the President's view, entirely in conformity with the principles he enunciated in his address to the Senate January 12. (The address pro- posing a world league for peace.) He believes it will make for the peace of the world if other neutral Powers can find it possible to take similar action. Report fully and immediately on the reception of this announcement and upon the suggestion as to similar action. The appeal failed in Europe, and succeeded only to a small extent in the American hemi- sphere, where Cuba and Panama indicated their willingness to back up the United States, and Brazil made it apparent that, for reasons of her own, her patience with Prussian maritime practices was nearly exhausted. In Europe, the actualities of a situation which for most of the remaining neutrals required the most delicate handling counted for more than the lead of the United States. The motive behind the President's move was, however, important. The step taken made it clear that he had not given up the hope that Germany might be brought to see reason by moral suasion. His idea was that she might recoil before the prospect of becoming the Ishmael of the nations. For the next six weeks he seemed to hope against hope for peace. Despite much hysterical advertisement by the newspapers, nothing really effective was undertaken to put the country upon a war basis. There was. a ten- dency to overlook German insults and crimes. Germany, from the moment when she heard that Count Bernstorff had been given his pass- ports, acted with characteristic clumsiness and brutality. The first sign that she did not mean to draw back came upon the night of the rupture. One of the reasons that had been adduced by the more moderate people in Berlin against war with the United States was the fact that, since August, 1914, over 500,000 tons of German shipping, including the giant Vaterland and many other valuable liners, had been laid up in American ports. These ships, some 70 in all, it was realized, might easily be lost to Germany in case of war. When it was decided that war had to be risked in the interests of the submarine campaign, elaborate instructions were sent to the captains of the detained vessels to see to it that, if they were taken over by the United States, they should at any rate be useless to help to increase the tonnage of the Allies for some time to come. Some of the captains were apparently told to try first to scuttle their vessels in the fairways of the harbours they were in, and if that failed to " scrap " their machinery. In New York the fleet of the North German Lloyd and Ham- burg-Amerika Lines was prevented from carry- ing out the first part of the instructions. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Indeed, only one vessel in Savannah was actually scuttled. But in virtually all the vessels in all the ports of the United States and her overseas possessions the machinery was methodically smashed. This came out in the course of subsequent court proceedings at Boston, when the captain of the Kronprin- zessin Cecile admitted that even before the rupture of relations had been announced he had been instructed by the German Embassy in Washington to disable his vessel. The Ger- mans had, of course, the right to do what they liked with their own property, but to thoughtful people the incident showed that Germany did mean to stake everything on her submarines, and to accept war with the United States as part of the price of the aid it was hoped they would bring. The second sign that Berlin meant to do nothing to smooth things over was the treat- ment of the American Ambassador, Mr. Gerard, at Berlin. Not only were his telephone lines cut, his post interfered with, his passports held back, and his privileges as a diplomatist otherwise abridged, just as happened to the Ambassadors of the Allies at the beginning of the war, but an effort was made to intimidate him into the signature, or rather the reaffirma- tion of a treaty which in the case of war would have : given the Germans various advantages- The treaty was the commercial treaty with Prussia of 1799. It had been denounced some years before the war in consequence of American legislation. which ran counter to it. Its reaffir- mation would have given German subjects the right to remain unmolested in the United States for nine months after the declaration of war. It would also, in the form that was proposed for its renewal, have preserved for Germany her ships. For some days Mr. Gerard was detained in the hope that he might be bullied into signing the document. The affair was, of course, incredibly stupid from the German point of view, as the treaty would not have become effective until ratified by the United States Senate, and in any case Mr. Gerard had shown the Wilhelmstrasse time and again that he was not the sort of person to be bullied. The excuse that the Germans gave for the retention of the Ambassador was also incredibly stupid. They were, they said, holding him as a hostage for the proper treatment of Count Bernstorff and the crews of the German ships in 'the United States. Their only justi- fication was that apparently Press dispatches to Germany did speak of the ships and their crews being " seized," but the Wilhelmstrasse had adequate facilities for communication with its Washington Embassy, and must have known that the President was behaving, and making his Government behave, with the most scrupulous and, indeed, patient correctness. Not only was everything possible done to» ensure the comfort of the departing members of the staff of the German Embassy and con- sulates and their security from thBir own submarines — Washington prevailed upoi Lon- THE GERMAN LINERS " PRINZ EITEL FRIEDRIGH " AND " KONIG WILHELM II" UNDER GUARD IN NEW YORK HARBOUR. 6 THE TIMEb HISTORY OF THE WAR. don to allow the ship with Count Bernstorff on board to put into Halifax for search, and thus to avoid a voyage to Kirkwall or some other British port in the danger zone — but the President spared no pains to show that Germany was to have the benefit of every doubt until the case for war was as clear as daylight. It was carefully explained in Washington that there was to be no immediate break with Austria-Hungary, because, it was intimated, it was wished to maintain through Vienna a channel for possible communications with Berlin. Everything was done to make things easy for Germans in the United States. Their property, it was officially stated, would be immune trom seizure and their persons from molestation so long as they behaved themselves. Nor was there any effort to construe the deliberate torpedoing of the California with 200 passengers on board, and at least one American, on February 7, or the torpedoing without warning of a succession of other vessels during the ensuing weeks, as the " overt act " which the President stated would be necessary to convince him that the Germans really meant to outlaw themselves. Indeed, on February 10 Mr. Lansing, the Secretary of State, said in a speech : Ominous though the situation may seem, there is always hope that our country may be spared the terrible calamity of being forced into a conflict. It is now, as it has been from the beginning, the wish and the endeavour of the Government to remain at peace with all the world, if it can do so with honour. Encouraged by this official patience, and convinced that it reflected a general desire of the country to keeo out of the war, the Germans, or at any rate those responsible for their diplomacy, tried a change of tactics. Mr. Gerard was finally allowed to depart from Berlin and, through the medium of Herr Ritter, the Swiss Minister and a native of Bale, who had taken charge of German interests in Washington, a half-hearted attempt was made to reopen negotiations. The story of the attempt was told in the following communique from the State Department published in the Press of February 13 : A suggestion was made orally to the Department of State late Saturday afternoon by the Minister of Switzer- land that the German Government is willing to negotiate with the United States, provided that the commercial blockade against England would not be interfered with. At the request of the Secretary of State, this suggestion was made in writing and presented to him by the Swiss Minister Sunday night. The communication is as follows : MEMORANDUM. The Swiss Government has been requested by the German Government to say that the latter is now, as before, willing to negotiate, formally or informally, with the United States, provided that the commercial blockade against England will not be broken thereby. (Signed) P. Ritter. The memorandum received immediate consideration, and the following reply was dispatched to-day : My dear Mr. Minister,— I am requested by the Presi- CITIZEN SOLDIERS DRILLING ON GOVERNOR'S ISLAND IN MARCH, 1917, in preparation for possible war. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS PRACTISING GRENADE THROWING AT VALCARTIER CAMP IN CANADA. dent to say to you, in acknowledging the memorandum which you were kind enough to send me on the 1 1th instant, that the Government of the United States would gladly discuss with the German Government any ques. tions it might propose for discussion were it to withdraw its proclamation of tho 31st of January, in which, suddenly and without previous intimation of any kind, it cancelled the assurances which it had given this Government on the 4th of May last, but that it does not feel that it can enter into any discussion with the German Government concerning the policy of submarine warfaro against neutrals which it is now pursuing unless and until the German Government renews its assurances of the 4th of May and acts upon the assurance. — I am, my dear Mr. Minister, etc., Robert Lansing. His Excellency Dr. Paul Ritter, Minister of Switzerland. No other interchange on this subject has taken place between this Government and any other Government or person. In view of Germany's determination to continue her submarine campaign at all costs, including war with the United States, it may, as said above, be doubted whether this official peace move (afterwards repudiated by Berlin) and various unofficial peace intrigues simultane- ously set on foot were meant to do more than make it difficult for the President to make up his own mind and that of his countrymen that war was inevitable, and to have Congress behind his ultimatum of February 3. For it was soon apparent that the transition from neutrality to belligerency would be slow and difficult. The patriotic enthusiasm caused by Count Bernstorff's dismissal quickly waned. There seemed to be scant public appreciation of the gravity of the crisis and the immensity of the stakes upon the table. Serious railway strikes were only just averted, despite the obvious fact that, especially in a country like the United States, transport is an integral part of military preparations. Washington, instead of stirring things up, rather encouraged • the idea of a war of " limited liability," of a " dollar war " in contradistinction to a war of " blood and iron," and seemed to be studiously avoiding any preparation or precautions that savoured of hostilities. The chief positive result of the German submarine decree and the consequent rupture was to paralyze American and neutral trans- Atlantic shipping. Between February 3 and February 10 no American vessels left New York for the war zone. The American liner St. Louis was held up with mails for Europe. Everybody waited to see what step the President would take for the protection of the Stars and Stripes. On February 10 it was announced that American vessels might carry arms and take any steps to meet attack. But that did not help things much. The necessary guns could not be got overnight without Govern- ment assistance. The co-operation of the Navy was needed to provide adequate gun crews. Washington refused to take the respon- sibility. According to the New York Times, the President and his advisers, while recognizing the right of American vessels to arm themselves, deemed the situation too delicate to justify tho Navy's taking the matter over. So for some weeks nothing was done. American shipping THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. accumulated and cowered in home ports, while its owners either awaited Government help or tried in vain to rake up guns and gunners. It may be questioned whether, in view of the small number of American bottoms in the trans- Atlantic trade, this interference with the Atlantic trade did much harm. But it hap- pened to synchronize with a rather serious freight congestion on the railways. Trucks and tr.tins of munitions and supplies for the of the Administration to send out American vessels under the protection of naval guns served by naval gunners and to prepare for the almost certain consequences of such action. As early as February 8 the New York Times, perhaps the leading Democratic newspaper of the country, threw its weight on the same side, and wrote : The St. Louis, an American ship, of American registry, and flying the American flag, is barred from the seas by Germany. All other American ships of the transatlantic trade now lying in our por^s are in the same po^itio'-. BRITISH SUBJECTS ENLISTING AT THE BRITISH RECRUITING OFFICE IN NEW YORK after the American Declaration of War. Allies began to block the sidings. There was consequently a shortage of transport for food from the West for the cities of the East. Prices soared. There were food ricts in Xew York, Philadelphia, and other cities. There was every reason to believe that the riots were largely instigated by walking dele- gates of the German propaganda, with the idea of doing everything possible to keep the eyes of the United States turned inward. But they helped to make imaginative people indignant at such a surrender to the German blockade, and the stalwarts, led by people like Mr. Roose- velt and by the Conservative Press, chafed openly at what they deemed the unwillingness Their owners dare not take the risk of venturing within the barred zone, whero they have a lawful and absolute right to go, and up to the present time the Government has given no sign of an intention to protect them in the exercise of that right. In effect, therefore, Germany has blockaded our ports, although we are a neutral na f ion. .... The German naval commanders have thus far, in the main, refrained from destroying "Air3rican ships and American lives," but it is evident that " our seamen and our people " do not as yet enjoy the necessary pro- tection of the Government in " the prosecution of their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas." .... She [Germany] has forbidden us to send our ships to ports with which wo have an unquestionable right to trade, and our present position is one of entire obedience to her behest. The American people cannot for a moment believe that their Government has decided upon submission as a permanent policy, that it has abandoned the position taken by the President in his address to the Senate, that it will continue indefinitely to respect thi< German order- THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. NEWPORT NAVAL TRAINING STATION : RECRUITS. What overt act could inflict greater damage upon our trade or constitute a more serious affront to the national dignity than this ban, at present entirely effective, upon our right to send out our ships ? The hope is cherished that the Government is making its preparations to protect " our seamen and our people in the prosecution of their peaceful and legitimate errands on the high seas." " I can do nothing less," said President Wilson. The justification adduced by the Govern- ment for the delay in arming the ships and taking a strong line with Germany, which the Republican and Conservative Press openly ascribed to the President's continued refusal to face the possibility of war, was that this object-lesson to the American people of the intimate way in which the blockade touched them would assure support for the President when it came to the next step towards war. So soon as they saw that war was not yet a foregone conclusion, the pacifists, prodded by the agents of Berlin, began to pluck up courage again. The first effort of their leaders was to persuade Germany, through the medium of a German newspaper correspondent in Washing ton, that a large majority of Americans were still for peace. Their next effort was to create demonstrations to justify this asser- tion. All their machinery, so familiar in the days of the neutrality of the United States, was put into motion. An agitation was started, under the auspices of Mr. Bryan among others, for a referendum upon peace or war. Meetings were arranged. Patriotic speakers, like the Mayor of New York, were heckled, and even in the House of Representa- tives members were found to protest against hostilities. So serious had the situation be- come that by February 20 the New York Times, in an urgent leader entitled " Seeking Peace, Inviting War," urged the President to act, on the ground that any appearance of weakness would encourage Germany to force the issue and make war absolutely inevitable. On February 26 the President took the advice of the weighty section represented by the New York Times and backed by the majority of his Cabinet. In an address to Congress he asked for power to institute a NEWPORT NAVAL TRAINING STATION : THE SAME RECRUITS AFTER TEN DAYS' TRAINING. 10 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. policy of " armed neutrality." After pointing out that two American ships had been sunk in the barred zone and that there were other signs that Berlin was resolved on " ruthless- ness " — that, in a word, the " situation was fraught with the gravest possibilities and dan- gers " — he said : I believe that the people will be willing to tjtist me to net with restraint, and in the true spirit of amity and pood faith that they have themselves displayed through- out these trying months ; and it is in that belief that I request that you will authorize me to supply our merchant ships with defensive arms should that become neoessary, and with the means of using them, and to employ any other instrumentalities or methods that may be necessary and adequate to protect our ships and our people in their legitimate and peaceful pursuits on the seas. I request also that you will grant me at the same time, along with the powers I ask, a sufficient credit to enable me to provide adequate means of pro- tection where they are lacking, including adequate insurance against the present war risks. I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate errands of our people on th3 seas, but you will not be misled as to my main thought — the thought that lies beneath theso phrases and gives them dignity and weight. It is not of material interest meroly that we are thinking. It is, rather, of fundamental human rights, chief of all the right of life itself. I am thinking not only of the rights of Americans to come and go about their proper business by way of the sea, but also of something deeper, much more funda- mental than that. I am thinking of those rights of humanity without which there is no civilization. My theme is of those great principles of compassion and of protection which mankind has sought to throw about human lives, the lives of non-combatants, the lives of men who are peacefully at work keeping the industrial processes of the world quick and vital, the lives of women and children and of those who supply the labour which ministers to their sustenance. We are speaking of no selfish material rights, but of rights which our hearts support and whose foundation is that righteous passion for justice upon which all law, all structures alike of family, of State, and of mankind must rest, as upon the ultimate base of our existence and our liberty. I cannot imagine any man with American principles at his heart hesitating to defend these things. After the address a Bill was introduced into both Houses authorizing the President to arm the ships, and appropriating the sum necessary for " armed neutrality." The step was well received. It was regarded in stalwart quarters as a compromise that was not likely to endure, but the view of the majority was that the President was right to proceed with caution. His policy was not destined to get the sanction of law. The current session of Congress expired automatically on March 4, and, though the House passed the necessary Bill by a huge majority, the Senate, which had then no rules of closure, was prevented from doing so by a band of a dozen pacifists, pro-Germans, and faddists, including Senator Stone, of Missouri, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Com. SAILORS FROM THE NAVAL TRAINING STATION AT NEWPORT, R.I. They had just completed their course of training and were photographed lined up on a pier in New York waiting to go aboard for active service, April 21, 1917. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. H ~ THE WASHINGTON POLICE DEAL WITH A PACIFIST DEMONSTRATION. mittoe. From the practical point of view the failure of the Bill made little difference. The whole Ssnate, with the exception of the " dis- loyal twelve," signed a. round robin to the effect that it was heart and soul with the President ; the country applauded their action and that of the House of Representatives, and denounced the obstructionists ; and, after some days of doubt as to his power to adopt such a measure without Parliamentary autho- rity, the President decided to arm merchant ships. In order, however, that the world might see that he had Congress behind him, he sum- moned an extra session for April 15 to ratify his action. Once more Prussian savagery forced the President's hands. Congress rose on March 4. On the same day the President signalized the beginning of his second term of office by an inaugural address which left no doubt in the minds of his hearers that he realized that at any moment the United States might be confronted with the greatest crisis of her history. The crisis came a fortnight later. On March 18 it was announced from London that three American steamships, the City of Memphis, the Illinois and the Vigilancia, had been sunk by submarine without warning and with lo->s of American lives. Two days later came the news of murderous attacks upon two Belgian relief ships which the Germans had promised should be spared. The country was thrown into a ferment. War, it was thought, could not be avoided. The stalwarts demanded it. The Government, they proclaimed, could not afford to procrastinate further. The President must expedite the meeting of Con- gress and ask it to declare war. The agitation, as might have been expected, was led by Mr. Roosevelt. In a statement to the newspapers he said : Seven weeks ego we broke relations with Cermany. This was eminently proper. But it amounted to nothing. It was an empty gesture unless it was followed by vigorous and efficient action. Yet during the seven weeks (a time as long as the entire duration of the war between Prussia and Austria in I860) we have done nothing. We have not even prepared. . . . 157—3 12 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Under existing conditions armed neutrality is only another name for timid war; and Germany despises timidity as she despises all other forms of feebleness. She does not wage timid war herself, and she neither respects nor understands it in others. Seemingly her submarine warfare has failed, and is less menacing now than it was seven weeks ago. We are profiting, and shall profit, by this failure. But we have done nothing to bring it about. It has been due solely to the efficiency of the British Navy. We have done nothing to help ourselves. We have done nothing to secure our own safety or to vindicate our own honour. We have been content to shelter ourselves behind the fleet of a foreign Power. Such a position is intolerable to all self-respecting , Americans who are proud of the great heritage handed down to them by thoir fathers and their fathers' fathers. Let us dare to look the truth in the face. Let us dare to use our own strength in our own defence and strike hard for our national interest and honour. There is no question about "going to war." Germany is already at war with us. The only question for us to decide is whether we shall make war nobly or ignobly. Let us face the accomplished fact, admit that Germany is at war with us, and, in our turn, wage war on Germany with all our energy and courage, and regain the right to look the whole world in the eyes without flinching. The leaders of the Republican party, Mr. Hughes, Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Root, Mr. Choate and others, met and urged the President not to take Germany's attack " lying down," but to declare war, send men to Europe, and back them with all the resources of the country. Democrats joined in the outburst. On March 20 the newspapers announced that at a Cabinet meeting opinion had been solid and urgent that the President should adopt a strenuous policy. Apologetic preparedness, said the New York Times, must cease. Facts must be faced ; the German menace must be met and crushed. There was consequently scant surprise but' much jubilation when, on March 21, the Presi- dent summoned Congress to meet on April 2, instead of April 15, to consider matters of grave public interest. The President's action increased the tension. Everybody remembered that in the past he had been prone to fit his decisions to what he be- lieved to be the demands of public opinion. Public opinion, everybody recognized, was still not fully awake to the significance of the situation. The pacifists and the Teutonic manipulators hoped that it might yet be possible to persuade the President to steer a middle course. The stalwarts clamoured for a real war. Probably Mr. Wilson had already made up his mind, but he kept his counsel and let the storm rage. And rage it did, cul- minating, after much speech-making, in rival pacifist and stalwart demonstrations in Wash- ington on the eve of the opening of Congress. The pacifists started the business. Their activity during all the critical weeks since the beginning of February had been immense, pricked, as they were, by the goad of their German masters. German propagandists flooded the mails with anonymous articles attacking the United States Government as a partisan of the Allies' cause ; denouncing the Allies, particularly England ; and urging patience with Germany and allegiance to the American tradition of non-interference in European affairs. Thousands of letters and telegrams, often, it was evident, prepared according to circularized forms, were launched upon Congress. Meetings were arranged every- where. The newspapers were bombarded with letters to their editors. Finally, thousands of peace delegates, ranging all the way from honest Quakers to obvious Germans, were rounded up in special trains, many with free tickets, for an eleventh-hour demonstration in Washington. The opposing forces of the stal- warts also arrived in their special trains and their thousands. Both demonstrations were unnecessary. Mr. Wilson's message was already written, and had been gone over by his intimate advisers some days before. It was delivered late in the evening of April 2, before the two Chambers assembled in joint session. In terms that will live for ever, the President denounced the German Government, and threw in his coun- try's lot unreservedly with the Allies. Gentlemen of the Congress : I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility of making. On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessrj that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that passengsr boats should not be sunk and that due warning would lie given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that thoir crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken were meagre and haphazard enough, as was proved in dis- tressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed. The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. PRESIDENT WILSON DELIVERING HIS INAUGURAL ADDRESS ON ASSUMING OFFICE FOR A SECOND TERM, March 4, 1917. their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by the German Government itself and were distinguished by unmis- takable marks of identity, have been sunk with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would in fact be done by any Government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meagre enough results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and con- science of mankind demanded. This minimum of right the German Government has swept aside under the plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it could use at sea except those which it is im- possible to employ as it is employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to 14 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. PARADE OF PRINCETON STUDENTS. underlie the intercourse of th*> world. I am rot now thinking of tho loss of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of non-combatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for ; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. Tho present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind. It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ship.-* and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a temporate- ness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as a nation. We must put excited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but only tho vindica- tion of right, of human right, of which we are only a single champion. When I addressed the Congress on the twenty-sixth of February last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep our people saH against unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend ships against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed that merchant- men would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open sea. It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim necessity indeed, to endeavour to destroy them before they have shown their own intention. Thsy must be dealt with upon sight, if dealt with at all. The German Government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defence of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questioned thnr right to defend. The intimation is conveyed that the armed guard? which we have placed on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed neutrality is ineffectual enough at best ; in such circumstances and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual ; it is likely only to produce what it was meant to prevent ; it is practically certain to draw us into the war without either the rights or the effectiveness of belligerents. There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making : we will not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no common wrongs ; they cut to the very roots of human life. With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of tho step I am taking and of tho grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the Government and people of the United States ; that it formally accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it ; and that it take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough state of defence but also to exert all its power and employ all its resoxirces to bring the Government of the German Empire to terms and end the war. What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable cooperation in counsel and action with the Governments now at war with Germany, and as incident to that, the extension to those Govern- ments of the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment of the Navy in all respects, but parti- cularly in supplying it with the best means of dealing with the enemy's submarines. It will involve the THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 15 Immediate addition to the armed forces of the United Stales already provided for by law in case of war of at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principle of universal liability to service, and also tho authorization of subsequent additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and can be handled in training. It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to the Government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation. I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respectfully urge, to protect our people so far as we may against the very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of tho inflation which would be pro- duced bv vast loans. months, and I do not believe that the thought of tho nation has been altered or clouded by them. 1 have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when 1 addressed tho Senate on the twenty- second of January last ; the same that I had in mil d when I addressod tho Congress on the third of Februaiy and on the twenty-sixth of February. Our object now, as then, is to vindicate tho principles of peaco and jn in the life of the world as against selfish and autocratic power and to sot up amongst the really free and self- governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose and of action as will henceforth ensure the observance of those principles. Neutrality is no longer feasible or do irable where the peace of the world is involved, and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic Governments backed by organized force which is con- trolled wholly by their will, not by the will of their people. We have seen the last »of, neutrality in such FIELD ARTILLERY GETTING A GUN ON BOARD A RAILWAY TRUCK. In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of our own military forces with the duty — for it will be a very practical duty — -of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the materials which they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They are in the field and we should help thom in every way to be effective there. I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through tho several executive departments of the Government, for the consideration of your committees- measures for tho accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned. I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having been framed after very careful thought by the branch of the Government upon which tli. responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the nation will met directly fall. While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the world what our motives and our objects are. My own thought has not been driven from 'its habitual and normal course by the unhappy events of the last two circumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed among nations and their Governments that are observed among the individual citizens of civilized states. We have no quarrel with tho German people. We have no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not. upon their impulse that their Government actsd in entering this war. It was not with their previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were pro- voked and waged in the interest of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were accustonved to use their follow men as pawns and tools. Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbour states with spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some critical posture of affairs which will give them an opportunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be successfully worked out only under cover and where no one has tho right to ask "questions. Cunningly contrived plans of deception or aggression, carried, it 16 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. may be, from generation to generation, can be worked out and kept from the light only within the privacy ot courts or behind the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privileged class. They are happily impos- sible where public opinion commands and insists upon full information concerning all the nation's affairs. A steadfast concert for peace can never be maintained except by a partnership of democratic nations. No autocratic Government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honour, a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals away ; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what they would and render account to no one would be a corruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can hold their purpose and their honour steady to a common end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow interest of their own. Does not every American feel that assurance has been added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the wonderful and heartening things that have been happening within the last few weeks in Russia ? Russia was known by those who knew it best to have been always in fact democratic at heart, in all the vital habits of her thought, in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke their natural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the reality of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, character, or purpose ; and now it has been shaken off and the great, generous Russian people have been added in all their naive majesty and might to the forces that are fighting for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. Here is a- .fit partner for a League of Honour. One of the thing? that have served to convince us that the Prussian autocracy was not and could never bo our friend is that from the very outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities and even our offices of government with spies and set criminal intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began ; and it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture but a fact proved in our courts of justice that the intrigues which have more than once come perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of the Imperial Government accredited to the Govern- ment of the United States. Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate them we have sought to put the most generous interpretation possible upon them because we knew that their source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the German people towards us (who were, no doubt, as ignorant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish designs of a Government that did what it pleased and told its people nothing. But they have played their part in serving to convince us at last that that Government ent jrtains no real friendship for us and means to act against our peace and security at its convenience. That it means to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the intercepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is eloquent evidence. We are accepting this challenge of hostile purpose because we know that in such a Government, following such methods, we can never have a friend ; and that in the presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to accomplish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured security for the democratic Govern- THE BEGINNING OF A GREAT TRAINING GAMP The Camp it intended to accommodate about 35,000 men. unloading of a trainload of railway "ties" IN THE UNITED STATES. The photograph shows the or sleepers. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. n THE U.S. COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENCE. [Clinedinsi. Seated, left to right : D. F. Houston (Agriculture), Josephus Daniels (Navy), Newton D. Baker (War), Franklin K. Lane (Interior), and W. B. Wilson (Labour). Standing, left to right: Grosvenor B. Clarke (Secretary of the Council), Julius Rosenwald (Chairmin, Supplies), Bernard K. Baruch (Raw Materials) D. Willard (Transportation), Dr. F. H. Martin (Medcine and Sanitation), Dr. H. Godfrey (Research), Howard Coffin (Munitions), W. S. Gifford (Director of the Comcil). ments of the world. We are now about to accept gage of battle with this natural foe to liberty, and shall, if necessary, spend the whole force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with no veil of false pretence about them, to fight thus for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included ; for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peac^ must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can make them. Just because we fight without rancour and without selfish object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confident, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. I have said nothing of the Governments allied with the Imperial Governmant of Germany because they have not made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right and our honour. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, indeed, avowed its unqualified endorse- ment and acceptance of the reckless and lawless sub- marine warfare adopted now without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and it has, therefore, not been possible for this Government to receive Count Tarnowsky, the Ambassador recently accredited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal Government of Austria-Hungary ; but that Government has not actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we are clearly forced into it because there are no other means of defending our rights. It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus, not in enmity towards a people or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irre- sponsible Government which has thrown aside all con- siderations of humanity and of right and is running amuck. We are, let mo say again, the sincere friends of the German people and shall desire nothing so much as the early re-establishment of intimate relations of mutual advantage between us — however hard it may be for them, for the time being, to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. We have borne with their present Government through all these bitter months because of that friendship, — exercising a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have been impossible. We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards the millions of men and women of German birth and native sympathy who live amongst us and share our life, and wo shall be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to their neighbours and to the Govern- ment in the hour of test. They are, most of them, as true and loyal Americans as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and restraining the few who may be of a different mind and purpose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with with a firm hand of stern repression ; but if it lifts its head at all, it will lift it only here and there and without countenance except from a lawless and malignant few. It is a distressing and oppressive duty, Gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But" the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for tho things which we have always carried nearest our hearts — for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace 18 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and everything that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come wru*n America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birt h and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other. After the address, the more pointed passages in which were vigorously applauded, the follow- f $iitc-5i:& (fMprss if fy Sold Skits if gUurin; >1 thf riral Jttfun, *+m u4 bm •> o. Or ' WmMi«ih — (toad**. O* ■ad *.t °< A«rt. JOINT RESOLUTION that a etata «f ww mWi b*t*a»o Um Imperial Oeraan OoT*ram*ni aad It* <Wumi ua Um paapl* of tba Viitad fcatea and nakiag pwTaaaa to t rw li tba kjm. war acalMt Jw CvttraaeMt aoa tbe Ajaeriaa | Tam/ora h* il aw-lt af Um Coital St.i, •/ J— ^n w Om^w «*aUirf, Tbal Um Mala «f war b-twaaa Um rriwd Rtetaa aad lav l«parial Ckmaa OaVantMBt »kkh lua tain b««B tbwi ujwa lb* failed fttalaa fa Ufabj furnwliy dedared; andtful the IVewknl br. m-1 he m fcrrfW. wtWurd and directad lo eaaploy Um aaltr* naval ami milling fate*, af Um United ftl.M. and Iba r w -n i <i tbe QanraaeoL lo carry an war againa! the Iiapmal Oman C.ovwwoent; and la bring th« canflirl to ■ wtWtl Iwrniaatla* all af the reeaarcaa o( the country an. hereby ptnJ^-rd l.j the C«vm «* Um UniM Btttua. Sfnktr tj tim Jlmm of RrprtaeaMU.t*. Prtmdnt of tkt CadW SM'i a»<t >/ r<M S*mtt, THE RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS DECLARING A STATE OF WAR. ing resolution was introduced into the House of Representatives : Joint Resolution, Declaring that a State of War Exists Between the Imperial German Government and the Government and People of the United States. and Making Provision to Prosecute the Same. Whereas, The recent acts of the Imperial German Government are acts of war against the Government and People of the United States : Resolve', By the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that the state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government which has been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared, and That the President be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to take immediate steps not only to put the country into a thorough state of defence but also to exert all of its power and employ all of its resources to carry on war against the Imperial German Government and to bring the conflict to a successful termination. A few days later the resolution was adopted by overwhelming majorities of both Chambers, after no opposition more serious than a few perfunctory speeches by pacifists and pro- vincially-minded politicians. On April 6 the United States was officially at war with the German Empire. A momentous event was consummated in the history of mankind. After a century and more of aloofness from European affairs, after two years and more of what to some had been at times rather heart-breaking official neutrality towards ■ the crimes and illegalities of Prussia-Germany, the American people had been lined up with the Liberal nations of Europe; to help punish her for her transgressions and to prevent her fasten- ing on the world her " militarist " tyranny. • It remained to be seen what sort of war would be waged. There had been, as is said above, a good deal of talk, after Count Bern- storff had been given' his passports, of a " limited liability " war. Would it be per- sisted in, or would the men for whom the President asked become the nucleus of great armies to fight in Europe ? Would tho United States be content to patrol her own waters and perhaps part of the Atlantic against submarines, or would she join her fleet with ours in an effort to catch the pirates as they left their bases and counteract their most dangerous activities ? Would the whole national resources be mobilized on the econo- mic side of the war, or would the existing output of munitions and supplies be merely speeded up and their financing assisted by Government loans ? It was obvious from the President's Address that he meant business. But what of the country ? The declaration of war produced another tremendous effervescence of patriotism. The usual desire to uphold the President through thick and thin was respected from one end of the country to the other. Once more the German-American Press accepted the inevitable with a wry face. Indeed, the organs of the extreme Fenian Irishmen were for a time the only newspapers that dared criticize the President for becoming our ally. The outburst of patriotic feeling was as inevit- able as it was sincere. But it soon became apparent that it had about as much to do with realities as the " business as usual " atmosphere that prevailed in England in the first weeks of the war. Not to put too fine a point upon it, public opinion, for all its patriotism, was still almost as unprepared for hostilities as ten months earlier. The best proof of that was to be found in the early recruiting figures. When THE. TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 19 the Republic declared war the strength of the Regular Army was on paper just over 100,000 ; that of the Navy, 64,000 ; that of the Marines, about 14,000. The population of the United States lacks little of 100,000,000. Yet in the first three months after April 6, despite the fact that conscription was imminent for men between 21 and 30. of whom there were some 10,000,000 available, only 130,000 men had joined the Army, 40,000 the Navy, and about 12,000 the Marines. the United States ? Had not the President said only a few months previously that the war was of no concern to the United States, and that if Americans wished to serve civilization they had best remain neutral T Why had the President suddenly demolished the comfortable tradition of American aloofness in which he had always seemed to be so firm a believer ? He had promised before his re-election to keep the United States at peace and prosperous ; he had said that war might mean hardship of all sorts ; REGULARS GUARDING THE POTOMAC BRIDGE. The masses were, as a writer in The New Republic of April 21 put it, "curiously placid and unenthusiastic about the war." The country had, as it were, slipped into the war in the dark Usually war implies a dislocation of the national outlook. It brings obvious dangers and problems. An enemy has to be defeated, or at best kept at bay, or all sorts of unpleasant things are bound to happen at once. The United States was confronted with no such urgent necessities. The average American found Germany no more dangerous on April 7 than she nad been at any time during the past two years. Ho had. indeed, begun to take her crimes as part of the routine of the contest. She had assassinated the Lusitania, the Arabic, and other vessels, and with them some 200 American citizens, and yet the President had only shaken his finger ai her Why should a resumption of her piratical practices suddenly stamp her as a menace to civilization and to he had warned the electors against voting for the Republicans lest they should commit America to war ; and yet hardly had he been elected than he had plunged the country into Armageddon as decisively as Mr. Roosevelt could have done. The result of these questionings was a curious atmosphere of unreality, which the Germans, for once reading the psychology of a foreign nation aright, were clever enough to make the most of. Having recovered from their first spasm of blustering surprise at finding that the President was 'not after all " too proud to fight," Berlin had carefully eschewed anything that might arouse the United States. True there were, during March and April of 1917, various revelations regarding Prussian plots. A revolt in Cuba, which at one moment seemed likely to demand the military inter- vention of the United States in accordance with her responsibility under treaty for the peace of the island, and thus to interfere with her 20 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. preparations against Germany, was found to have been, at any rate, abetted by Germans. Revolutionaries were arrested with proclama- tions on their persons that Germany was the friend of the rebels and " has promised to AN ENLISTMENT POSTER. help us." There were about the same time convincing revelations that Germany had been conspiring with disloyal Hindus, first to make trouble in India and then, when it was found that the Government there had things well in hand, to make trouble in the United States. An agitator called Chakra- berty, arrested on these charges, admitted that since the beginning of the war he had been to Berlin and seen high German officials. Finally came the interception and publication of Herr Zimmerman's letter to the German Minister in Mexico suggesting an alliance with Mexico, and, if possible, with Japan, in case of war. The letter and the considerable effect that it had in temporarily hardening public opinion against Germany were described in Chapter CLXXVII. For the purposes of this chapter it is enough to notice that, like German participation in certain other plots in the American hemisphere directly concerned with the United States, it was conceived before the rupture. After the rupture, the Germans in the United States were as active as ever. They strove hard to increase the confusion of the public mind in regard to its causes. England, they and their Irish friends proclaimed, among other things, had manoeuvred the United States into the contest to save her own selfish skin. But provocative policies were avoided in Berlin and criminal activities of a spectacular kind were discontinued by its agents in the United States. There was no declaration of war on the part of Germany. Americans, with the exception of a few prisoners, were decently treated. No U boats came to American waters. No German- fomented uprisings were started in Mexico — still less on American soil. Austria was not forced to follow her masterful Ally into the war. When, some time after April 6, the President decided that he could not receive Count Tamowsky, who had been waiting since just before Count Bernstorff's dismissal to present his credentials as the successor of the unfortunate Dr. Dumba, and sent him back to Europe with his charge d'affaires and the rest of his staff, Berlin did not even require Turkey and Bulgaria to sever diplomatic rela- tions with the Republic. It was taken for granted in Washington that Count Bernstorff s return to Berlin was responsible for this policy, for it must be admitted that, master spy and arch- intriguer as he was known to be, the German ex-Ambassador left the country with tfas unwilling respect of those who can admire ability even when employed in the worst of causes. Count Bernstorff had, it was generally fait, proved himself to be one of the small number of Prussians who can really get to know something about a foreign country and the ways of managing its opinions. The rather perfunctory fashion in which the public, outside educated circles, took the outbreak of war was, as it was bound to be, a great handicap to the President. A statesman with all the orthodox Liberal dislike of militarism would never have come out for conscription, even though, as he was compelled to explain, it should only be conscription for the time of the war, had he not been thoroughly in earnest. But in the United States, of all democracies, it is difficult for a Government to go ahead of public opinion. Even Mr. Roosevelt had always tried to create support for his reforms before he officially promulgated them, and President Wilson, for nearly three years of war, had been chiefly concerned in, at any rate, not fostering the warlike situation to which he had been converted with, to the average man, mysterious suddenness. The THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 21 effects of the resultant lack of intimate contact between the Executive and large classes of the population were the more marked, insomuch as there had never been a time when a President had greater need of an aggressive public senti- ment to help him with his Government and with Congress. The Government was as unpre- pared for war as the people. It must always be one of the minor paradoxes of history that, even after February 3, when most thoughtful observers deemed hostilities inevitable and everybody feared war, virtually nothing was done in Washington to anticipate the shock. On the surface there seemed to be changes. Fundamentally everything, or nearly every- thing, went on as before. There was no real effort to place either the Army or the Navy upon a war footing. The machinery of the fighting departments, though notoriously in- adequate, was left as it was. Congress was not even seriously asked to sanction precautionary measures. Neither in the economic nor in the military sense was any policy evolved. All that happened was that a body called the Council of National Defence, created by the President during the previous winter and consisting of six members of the Cabinet, six business men, a Labour leader, and a scientist, was convoked. Its business members proceeded to sketch a tentative organization of the industries of the country, but as their powers were purely advisory they could not do much. After April 7 the President tried to make up for lost time with great energy and wideness of vision. He saw at once that, if his country was to do anything, it had to be organized from the ground up. He took advantage of the patriotism of the leading men of business throughout the Union to flood Washington with willing helpers for the Departments of his Government and especially for the Council of National Defence. He told the Council to go ahead and organize on the most compre- hensive basis possible. With the advice of Mr. McAdoo he sent to Congress a Bill author- izing the raising of 7,000,000,000 of dollars, N 3,000,000,000 of which might be lent to the Allies at 3 J per cent., the price at which the LANDING OF M. VIVIANI AND THE FRENCH MISSION AT NEW YORK. M. Vivian! is on the gangway, and the Reception Committee have turned to greet the other Members of the Mission. >1 THE . TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. c a m u E = o U T3 e • a a £f w >- « H ° =3 t: u o "^ ** a 5 - o S3 I t C I CD — . »oe (/) i. so o J3 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 28 money was to be raised. He sent another Bill authorizing conscription, and still others giving him that control over food production and distribution, land and sea transport, and other great national activities without which modern warfare cannot be successfully waged. What was even more important, he gave the Allies to understand that he wished to fight shoulder to shoulder with them for the common cause. Before the United States had been at war a couple of weeks the Admirals commanding the British and French squadrons in American waters visited Washington for a conference with the Navy Department. When they arrived they were doubtful whether the Ameri- cans would do much more than help them with their patrol w r ork ; when they left they realized that far more was contemplated, and that before long American war vessels would have joined the fleets of the Allies in European waters. The first Naval Conference was but a meagre preface of what was to come. Towards the end of April the country was electrified by the news that Marshal Joffre and Monsieur Viviani for the French, and Mr. Balfour for the British, accompanied by large missions of military, naval and economic experts, were on the way to a War Council in Washington. The British mission, after an uneventful voyage to Halifax, arrived first, on Sunday, April 22. Marshal Joffre and Monsieur Viviani arrived a few days later, and, like the British mission, settled into a palatial residence in Washington which had been placed at their disposal by the American Government. From their first enthusiastic reception the visits of the missions were, in the political and popular points of view, undiluted successes. If a comparison may be allowed, Mr. Balfour perhaps scored more heavily than his French colleagues. The bluff and sympathetic serenity of Marshal Joffre, the fire and brilliance of Monsieur Viviani's eloquence, captured every- body ; but they could not make France more popular than traditional ties and admiration of her gallantry in the war had already made her. England's popularity was, on the contrary, greatly enhanced by Mr. Balfour. All through the war there had been a certain misunder- standing of her position. The necessary pre- dominance of the British Navy in the blockade had aroused somewhat mistrustful memories of British policy during the Napoleonic wars. There was a tendency to believe that England was using her sea power in a rather arbitrary and brutal manner to secure not only victory, but, after victory, an unfair grip upon the trade of the whole world. These suspicions had been consistently and ingeniously fanned by German and Irish agitators, and, owing perhaps to the cleanness of the British conscience, had never been efficaciously counteracted. Mr. Balfour dealt with them most effectively. In private conversation and public Utterances he demolished misconceptions and accentuated truths. He smashed, it may be hoped once unci for all, the idea that intimate relations between England and a State which contains large elements of races hostile to her can depend upon community of blood. In future, he proclaimed in effect, the chief tie between the British Empire and the American democracy should be kindred ideals rather than kindred by descent. Nor was it only through statesmanship that Mr. Balfour succeeded. His " personality " cheered everybody. Many a politician rand journalist left the informal gatherings which he frequently attended while in Washington to tell their constituents and readers that there must be something wrong with the common American theory that British statesmen are aloof and unsympathetic. The British Foreign Minister, that much advertised " aristocrat of brains and blood," the ex-dictator of Ireland, they had found, was as genial and charming a " mixer " and as whole-hearted a believer in democracy in general and American democracy in particular as any republican could be. There is no doubt, either, that in their more serious conversations with high officials from the President downwards Mr. Balfour and his subordinates dispelled various misapprehensions about British policy regarding the war and its settlement, svich, for instance, as had been set afloat by the Paris Economic Conference in 1916, and laid the bask for closer cooperation with the new Ally than would have seemed possible a few months earlier. As a semi-official statement to the Press said at the time, the British Foreign Minister left Washington with the relationship between the United States and Great Britain upon a better footing than it had ever been since the secession of the American Colonies. No treaties or conventions were concluded The United States did not formally signify her adherence to the pact of the Allies to stand or fall together : but unofficially it was made clear that she was in the war until the common cause for which they were fighting was vindicated, while the 24 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. conversations which Mr. Balfour had with th» President and others dissipated any fears that might have existed lest the ■terms upon wliich she might be prepared to consider peace should differ in principle from those of the Allies. Nor was it only the relations of the United States with her new Allies that the visit of the French and British missions benefited. It helped the President in his task of preparing the country for war. Mr. Balfour's journey westward to Chicago was cancelled at the instigation of the State Department, owing, there is reason to believe, to nervousness^-as to the attitude of the extreme Irish and German factions there : but the French mission, like the subsequent Italian mission under Prince Udine, went on an extended tour in the Middle States, and received everywhere rousing receptions. As to the East, the celebrations in New York, never surpassed even in that city of magnificent pageants and royal hospitality, which were held in the joint honour of Marshal Joffre, Mr. Balfour and M. Viviani demon- strated, in a fashion that none who took part in them will ever forget, the depth of its sympathy with the cause of the Allies. Not that the appeal of the missions was by any means solely political and sentimental. If they helped to make people realize the nobility of the venture upon which the country had embarked, they also taught them something of its dangers. So soon as he touched American soil Marshal Joffre urged the United States to send an expeditionary force to France without delay. France, he frankly admitted, was not as strong in reserve man-power "as "she had been, and even a small expeditionary force would fill her with enthusiasm and Germany with dismay at the thought of the limitless reserves behind that force. Military members of the British mission backed up -the Marshal of France. They pointed out among other things how much Great Britain had suffered through her tardiness in adopting conscription. Simul- taneously their civilian colleagues exploded the idea that the United States was coming in at the end of the war by accentuating the gravity of the tonnage and food situation and the abso- lute necessity of preparing for a struggle which must be long and arduous before victory could grace the standards of the Allies. The effect of Marshal Joffre's plea and of the British revelations was great. Since the Pre- sident's war address it had been taken for ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST AMERICAN CONTINGENT IN FRANCE. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. M. VIVIANI AND MARSHAL JOFFRE IN NEW YORK. M. Viviani is in front, leaning on the arm of Mr. Jos. H. Choate, formerly U.S. Ambassador in London ; Marshal Joffre follows immediately behind. overnight. Before the missions departed Con- granted that eventually American troops would bo sent to France if needed. But it was widely doubted whether they ever would be needed, and the views of the American General Staff were that, in any event, no men should be sent vintil the United States had a vast army equipped and trained. So far as Washington was concerned such opinions lost vogue almost gress had enacted a conscription law and arrangements had been made for the despatch of an expeditionary force to France ; plans were on foot for the eventual training of really large armies, for the control of American food production and distribution in the in- terests of all the Allies, for the systematic 26 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING. In command of the American Forces in France. I Vnderwnod. building of vessels to transport men, munitions, and food to Europe ; the methodical raising of huge loans to the Allies had been arranged ; American participation in our blockade had been secured in principle ; and, last but not least, it had been announced that a considerable flotilla of destroyers, and perhaps some other boats, were cooperating in British waters closely and effectively with the British fleet against the German submarines. The President had in fact attained his first object. He had committed his country as deeply as possible to the war. He had re-established confidence in American policy abroad, and he had got through Congress the two measures he most immediately needed — laws allowing him THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 27 to draft men for the Army and to raise loans for his own Government and for those of the Allies. So far as the common cause was concerned, the War Finance Act was the more immediately important ; so far as the domestic situation was concerned, the Conscription Act involved the greater triumph of patriotism. To persuade Congress to vote money for the war was one thing, to persuade it to adopt in six weeks the principle of compulsory service was another tiling ; for the principle was at least as exotic in America as it had been in England ; and England, with the war just beyond the narrow seas, with her armies in France and else- where crying for reinforcements, took two years to overcome prejudices which the Republic threw aside in six weeks. As finally passed on May 17, the chief pro- visions of the Army Draft Law provided for the following things : Raising of forces by the selective draft system, imposed upon all males between the ages of 21 and 30 years, both inclusive, subject to registration and certain exemptions from service. Increasing the regular Army to maximum war strength. Drafting into the Federal service of National Guard units. Raising an additional force by conscription of 500,000 men, with addition of 500,000 it deemed necessary. Raising, if the President sees fit, four divisions of volunteer infantry. The clause about the four divisions of volun- teers was the result of Mr. Roosevelt's efforts to persuade the Government to let him go to France at the head of a volunteer expedition, but there can be little doubt that Mr. Wilson was right in his decision to use regulars for the first expedition. The news a few days later that General Pershing had been ordered to pro- ceed to Europe and prepare to take command of the American troops, together with aviators, a generous quota of surgeons and nurses, and other auxiliaries, obliterated any popular dis- appointment that his refusal to accept Mr. Roosevelt's project might have caused. Mr. Roosevelt himself acclaimed General Pershing's appointment as about the best that could have MARSHAL JOFFRE AND M. JULES JUSSERAND, FRENCH AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES. 28 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAS. u.2 o ~ (A B .,•53 I** a E 2 «.rr >• » o k .5 « ™ |.«s g c . - «-o ; ** a a ad *■* ' « B ._/ C <r °<~ Sl-B k"J La — t2 « i 03 C l. -a u b C « o « ^."S r> 5.2 i. O (73 U •. '".Si? H£ » o C V -u -or C c*o « •-we c ©J; ,7m u. 7. < Q - < r- 1 ■ ^X .til u <. c O _ B SB'S* ■ > e'Z .« 9 ^ S u „-OJ3 a w c < o 1 ""I B e 1 S2 I en p THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 29 been made. Indeed, except perhaps General Leonard Wood, General Pershing, by career and character, was obviously the fittest man for the post. Trained at West Point, a cavalryman who had served in one of the last wars against the Indians of the South-west, the General, though only 56 years old, had seen virtually all the service that is open to any American soldier. He fought in Cuba against the Spaniards. In the Philippines he helped conquer the insurgent Aguinaldo and afterwards dealt with one of the most turbulent of the annexed provinces so successfully that Mr. Roosevelt promoted him Brigadier-General over hundreds of heads. After 10 years of service in the United States he was sent to the Mexican border as second in command to the late General Funston in 1916. He was there en- trusted with the pursuit of Villa into northern Mexico, after the bandit had fired upon various American communities on the border. Thanks to the vacillation of Washington, the expedition proved abortive ; but General Pershing re- mained for nearly six months at the head of over 10,000 troops isolated in the Mexican deserts, and acquitted himself brilliantly of a task that must have taxed equally his temper and his qualities as a military administrator. Like Admiral Sims, the chief American naval officer in Europe, he repre- sented the best type of modern American officer, experienced, adaptable, and resourceful. Like •Admiral Sims also, who, as he himself reminded his hearers in a speech soon after his arrival in London, had been reprimanded some years before by President Taft for showing in public his belief that in any war with Germany the United States would be on the side of Great Britain, General Pershing had never been inclined to share the rather blind worship paid by some of their colleagues to the fetish of German efficiency. As London found out, so soon as he arrived on June 6, General Pershing was admirably adapted by character no less than training to the great part for which the President chose him. The law authorizing the draft also authorized the President and his General Staff to press on with other military preparations. The first thing that they did was to announce that the National Guard were to be mobilized and to be enrolled in the Federal Service during the summer. The object of this measure was to create the second contingent of the expe- ditionary force. When the Republic declared war, the regular Army was constituted as follows : — Officers Enlisted Total Men In the United States . . 3,622 67,416 71,038 In Alaska 23 769 792 In the Philippine Islands : Regular Army .. 480 11,404 11,884 Philippine Scouts . . 182 5,603 5,783 In China 41 1,233 1,274 In Porto Rico .. 35 679 714 In Hawaii 333 8,112 8,445 In the Canal Zone . . 253 6,846 7,099 Troops en route and officers at foreign stations .. 56 554 610 Total .. .. 5,025 102,616 107,041 For the purpose of fighting in Europe only the troops in the North American continent need be considered, as it is obvious that the United States as a belligerent could not deplete her already slender overseas garrisons. Nor were all the home forces available, inasmuch as the new troops had to be trained and stiffened without anything approaching an effective re- serve system to fall back upon. The National Guard, or that part of it at all fitted for early service, numbered about 150,000 when America joined the Allies. Its standards, especially in view of the fact that it was fresh from active training on the Mexican border, resembled those of our Territorials in 1914. Roughly speaking, its officers were probably rather worse and its men rather better. At the beginning of the war, indeed from after the rupture of relations, the militia had been used to guard bridges and for other home defence work. By mustering this force into the Federal service it was, how- ever, hoped to be able to produce a considerable number of men who could be sent to France during the autumn, together, perhaps, with some more regulars, whose numbers were being slowly augmented by volunteers. Registration for the 10,000,000 odd men who were estimated to be liable for military service under the Draft Law took place on June 5 and went off splendidly, despite a spectacular anti- conscription agitation got up by pacifists, anarchists, and other weak-minded faddists among whom German agents worked insidiously and tirelessly. Owing to shortage of supplies and equipment of officers and instructors and to the necessity of building adequate canton- ments, it was not, however, planned to call up the first 500,000 before the autumn. The Government seemed, in fact, to be recon- ciled to the necessity of waiting a year or more before the United States would be ready to 30 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. intervene effectively on the European battle- fields. The prospect, while regretted, did not depress people. Nor did the fact that the Navy j with its 14 first line Dreadnoughts, its 34 second line battleships, its 51 dostroyers, and its fleets of cruisers and other vessels, could not be fully commissioned offhand on account of a shortage in A LIBERTY LOAN POSTER. personnel. The number of officers and men had sunk in March to only just over 60,000 instead of 87,000 as authorized by law, but in June it had risen to over 100,000. The British Grand Fleet, it was realized, did not urgently need assistance, and, as for submarine chasing, were not many American destroyers already in European waters and doing yeoman work ? Regarding the military situation, comfort was taken from the fact that if the Allies were going to win in 1917 they would have had to do so, in any case, off their own bats, unless the United States had been prepared on Prussian lines impossible to any democracy ; while the prompt adoption of conscription proved that, if it came to a long war, the United States would even- tually be able to swing the balance decisively with the vast man power of her 100,000,000 population. Also it had been pointed out by the French and British missions that men were not the greatest assistance that Americans could give — - at first, at any rate. It was explained that in order of urgency what was most needed was : first, money ; secondly, food and bottoms to convey the 'food ; 'thirdly, help against the submarines ; and only, fourthly, save for political and future reasons, men. In re- gard to money the United States had in the first months done more than anybody had expected of her. It was on April 24 that Congress passed a War Finance Act authorizing, as mentioned above, the Secretary of the Treasury to raise by tax-free bonds $5,000,000,000 to meet the cost of war and also $2,000,000,000 by certificates of indebtedness, and from those sums or any other sums avail- able m the Treasury, .to lend to the Allies $3,000,000,000. It was under this law that the famous Liberty Loan of $2,000,000,000 was launched in June, but the Government did not wait' for the loan to be subscribed before beginning to lend to the Allies. By the end of June something over $1,000,000,000 had gono to them, mainly for the financing of supplies bought in the United States. The first instal- ment of $200,000,000 was given to Great Britain in the form of a Treasury warrant signed by Mr. McAdoo, the Secretary of the Treasury, and handed to the British Ambassador as early as April 25. Shortly afterwards a war revenue Bill providing for over $1,800,000,000 taxation, or nearly three times the normal amount, was introduced into the House. Loosely and carelessly drawn, the measure was still under discussion at the close of the period with which this chapter deals ;• but it is signifi- cant of the spirit in which America's financial obligations in regard to the war were being taken that the principle of comparatively heavy special taxes was rather generally upheld. It has to be admitted that during the spring of 1917 Washington was not so successful in details as it was with its great conscription and finance measures. To depict a war machine running smoothly, oiled by an alert and enthusiastic public opinion, would be to give a false picture of affairs during that period. The very fact that the President had been so quick to recognize tho necessity of putting the whole strength of the nation into the contest caused confusion. He was ahead both of public opinion and of the organization of his Govomment, and in democracies war cannot be levied by the Executives alone. Through- out the country the perplexity that attended THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 81 the paWior stages of the war erisis was very hard to uproot. It remained difficult to per- suade people that the contest affected them vitally It would have been curious had this not been so. It took even England, with the enemy thundering at her gates, with her future obviously at stake, nearly two years to pull herself together. The dwellers in the self-centred cities, the remote prairies, and isolated valleys of the interior, bred in tradi- tions of aloofness, had been told from the first that the war concerned Europe alone. How should they be brought to understand overnight that their future as well as ours was at stake on the battlefields of the Old World ? The situation was made worse by the kind of news that was spread abroad. The outcome of the contest, the country was told, hung, as much as upon anything, on the submarine campaign and on the Russian unrest. One day they read that the tonnage situation was desperate and that Russia might be counted out. On the next, talk about an impending Russian offensive or the discovery of some panacea against sub- marines, coupled, perhaps, with news of some dashing French or British blow on the Western front, spread the idea that the war was as good as over. One day everything was described as running splendidly at Washington. On the next day there would be reports that every- thing was at sixes and sevens ; chat no ade- quats army was being prepared except on paper ; that the building of ships and furnish- ing of supplies, instead of going splendidly, were hanging fire, and so on. This situation was the fault partly of the newspapers and partly of the Government, which muddled at first the censorship and news questions almost as effectively as our Government had done, only in different ways. Its effect was most v sible when the first efforts were made to render the Liberty Loan a popular and not a bankers' investment. The President was constantly hampered in his enormous task of turning an Administration, confirmed in the habits and ways and thoughts of peace, into a war machine and getting a Government, wedded in pract'ce, prejudice, and tradition to the checks and balances of the Constitution, to realize that in war the Executive must be given great and unaccustomed powers. So absorbed was Mr. Wilson in trying to do in a few weeks with unpromising material what it took London years to do, that he could not altogether be acquitted of making things worse by failing at first to see that the time for gener- alities and idealism had passed, and that the way to get the American people alive to the war was to show them that they would suffer if the Allies were beaten. Hence it was that Senator Borah, one of the most thoughtful of Western politicians, felt constrained to write on June 3 in a newspaper article : For nearly three years tho American people have been EN ROUTE FOR EUROPEAN WATERS U.S. Marines marching to join their ship. Bi, THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. MR. BERNARD M. BARUGH, U.S. official Purchaser of Raw Materials. led to look upon this war as a European war — a war with which they had little to do either in thought or act. This was thoroughly and persistently drilled into the minds of our people. The mere declaration of war did not wholly, it eeems, revolutionize the public mind in this respect. A great many of our people, even those whose interests in the war are keen, and whose patriotism is undoubted, look upon this war as a European war and continue to treat it as such. So long as that condition continues we shall make progress slowly in the mobilization of our military and industrial forces for the conflict. And, if it should continue indefinitely, we would not in any true sense mobilize our forces at all. Legislation alone cannot save us ; food dictators cannot save us ; bureaus cannot save us ; only the aroused and sustained interest, the concentration and devotion of a hundred million people can save us. This cannot be had, until the people as a whole come to believe and understand beyond peradventure that this is now our war and involves the immediate and vital interests, the institutions and welfare of our own country and the security of our own people. No people should be called upon, or should be expected, to make the supreme sacrifice which the people of this country are now called upon to make, other than for their own institutions and for the future safety and liberty of their children. We may have our deep sympathy for other people engaged in this war and justly so, but when it comes to the proposition of committing our country to«war with all ths suffering and sacrifice which is to follow, it should not be done other than when the immediate and vital interests of our own people are involved. Can we not Americanize this war T We have just and abundant reasons for doing so. The result of this state of affairs was seen for awhile during, and after, the stay of the French and British missions in Washington. Experts from London and Paris, especially in economic matters, were sometimes hard put to it to discover their " opposite numbers." They found immense enthusiasm and activity but little co-ordination. After the Declaration of War the Council of National Defence acted with commendable promptitude. They cooperated with the President in calling to Washington a host of assistants from the business world. Their offices grew by leaps and bounds as their func- tions increased. Originally numbering about a dozen, the personnel of the Council was nearly 1,000 strong by the end of June. Roughly speaking, they tried to take in hand the indus- trial organization of the country. Two of their number — Mr. Bernard M. Baruch and Mr. Julius Rosenwald — undertook the organization of sup- plies of raw materials. Mr. Baruch was well known, before his appointment, as a daring Wall Street speculator, and the President was criticized for having nominated an irre- sponsible financier to an important position. This criticism, as even the most suspicious soon admitted, was quite beside the point. Mr. Baruch, who was of Iberian Jewish stock, proved himself to be a man of great foresight, judgment, and executive ability. One of his first achieve- ments was to get for the Government prices for copper far lower than that which the Allies had been paying. Afterwards he began to nego- tiate with the producers of other commodities, [Clinedinst. MR. JULIUS ROSENWALD. Associated with Mr. Baruch in the organization of supplies, especially for the Army and Navy. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 33 hampered though he was by the limitations of his powers. Mr. Rosenwald was also a Jew. Chief proprietor of one of the biggest " mail order " houses in the country, he came from Chicago, where he was well known for wealth, ability, and philanthropy. He dealt more especially ' with supplies for the Army and Navy. Another very important member of the Commission was Mr. Howard Coffin, a motor manufacturer. Mr. Coffin's task was to organize munitions. But he quickly magnified his office. Having appointed Mr. Frank Scott, another Middle Western business man, as head of a general Muni- tions Board, he hastened to make a speciality of aeroplane production. His plans, together with those of the War Department, for training aviators, were perhaps rather over-advertized in England at the time, so far as their speedy consummation was concerned. The American Aviation Corps hardly existed before the Union was at war, American aeroplane construction was virtually confined to slow training machines, and both organization and manufacture take MR. FRANK SCOTT. Chairman of Munitions Board. time to improvise ; but that does not detract from the credit due to Mr. Coffin who set to work with admirable promptitude. The food question did not fall to a member of the Council. The President, to the satis- faction of everybody, invited Mr. Hoover, whose exploits in Belgium are signalized in many chap- ters of this history, to be Food Controller. Land transport, which in the United States is a very integral part of the food problem, was assigned to Mr. Daniel Willard, the railway expert of the Council. Mr. Willard, as Presi- dent of the Baltimore and Ohio system, stood in the forefront of transatlantic railway men. Hardly had he reached his desk when he called in a committee of his colleagues and got the railways of the country on a potentially national basis, so far as traffic was concerned. The Director of the Council, Mr. Clifford, a MR. HOWARD E. COFFIN, Organizer of Munitions and Aeroplane Production. leading official of the great Telephone and Telegraph Company, brought up the tale of business men upon whose expert advice the President relied for the co-ordination of his industrial war machine. There remained the question of Labour, and not the least important member of the Council was Mr. Gompers, the President of the American Federation of Labour. Mr. Gompers, who during the period of American neutrality had done magnificent work in thwarting German intrigues among Labour, made his influence felt almost immediately. Not only did he bring Labour into line over conscription with remarkable success, but he persuaded it to pledge its support to the President in his conduct of the war. By so doing he minimized the very real danger of labour troubles obA viously entailed by the readjustment to war conditions of a labour market largely composed of a floating alien proletariat, and somewhat demoralized by the unparalleled prosperity that America's war trade as a neutral had brought to many classes of business. To deal with medicine and sanitation and scientific 84 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. research the President appointed to the Council appropriate experts, but during the process of organization the limelight did not fall upon them. It might have been imagined that under saich management industrial organization would have been comparatively simple. It might have been so had the powers of t he Council and MR. DANIEL WILLARD, Organizer of Railway Transport. of people like Mr. Hoover been absolute. But they were not absolute for two reasons. It was necessary for the Council of National Defence to be investea by Congress with administrative authority, and for the functions of the heads of extemporized departments like that of Mr. Hoover to be defined and autho- rized by Congress. Also there was much overlapping between all: the extemporized parts of the Government and its normal branches. The most important case of friction unfortunately concerned shipbuilding. To super- vise this all-important activity a body called the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation was created. To manage it the President appointed General Goethals, the buil- der of the Panama Canal. But General Goethals soon fell out with Mr. Denman, the chairman of the Shipping Board, over the question of wooden versus steel ships. General Goethals backed the latter, Mr. Denman the former. Public opinion and the bulk of expert opinion sided with the General ; but valuable time was wasted over the controversy, and, though something like 2,000,000 tons of shipping were on the stocks in private yards, the Govern- ment's plan for 3,000,000 dead weight tons or more in 1 8 months was delayed. But there is no space to go into details of this sort. It requires little imagination to realize how difficult it was to get things going with Washington full of uncorrelated but impetuously enthusiastic committees, with Congress always jealous of Executive usurpation and in this case somewhat justifiably puzzled by the mass of hastily drafted Bills that it was asked to swallow, hesitating to clear things up by prompt legislation, and with a public opinion too puzzled to see the immediate need for " speeding up." It was indeed wonderful that so much was done. Despite the fact that Englishmen were the last people in the world to be free to throw the first stone, there was in the early days of June some criticism in Parliament and a sec- tion of the British Press over the slowness of the United States in making preparations to send over adequate food supplies. It is true that the great Bills that were destined to give MR. W. S. GIFFORD. Director of the Council of National Defence. Mr. Hoover his powers were held up along with many other important laws, such as those giving the Executive power to participate in the British blockade and those giving sanction to the trading with the enemy regulations, and that the administrative machinery was working with many groans and jars ; but, viewed in the proper perspective, in the light of our own experience, in the light of THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 85 MR. SAMUEL GOMPERS, President of the American Federation of Labour. the American policy of neutrality, what did such delays amount to ? The thing that mattered was that, if its organization was still rather weak, the spirit of the Government could not have been better. Conscription, the way in which the financial problem had been grappled, the cordiality with which every possible opportunity of real cooperation with the Allies offered by the French and British missions was taken, the readiness of the Presi- dent to abandon on better information his former attitude towards the blockade, the keenness with which he appreciated and took advantage of his first diplomatic opportunity to serve the common cause when he sent the Root mission to Russia, all compared most favourably with the " wait and see " attitude which London so long adopted. Never did a Government show itself more ready to learn and to help. One excellent proof of that was the retention in Washington, after the Allied missions had left, of a number of French and English experts in all branches of the science of modern military and economic warfare. It was the business of some of them to put at the disposal of the Government the experiences of their countries. Tt was the business of others to help arrange for the close and intimate cooperation which the United States desired. To facilitate this work the French and British Governments appointed in the late spring special commissioners in the persons of M. Andre Tardieu and Lord North- cliffe. They soon realized that, if information and advice which the Allies were able to give were of great value to the United States, the eager spirit of her cooperation meant even more to the Allies. During June, for instance, it became evident that the President proposed, after he had got their distribution under our control, to give us raw material and foodstuffs at the same prices as those charged to Americans- What was still more important, ho issued, under the authority of a law which Congress had just passed, an order providing for the Government supervision of important exports, so as to assure cooperation with the British effort to stop the smuggling of supplies into Germany through neutral countries. Great Britain had, during the earlier stages of the war, floated three big loans in the United States through the house of J. P. Morgan & Co. There was the 5 per cent. $582,630,000 loan of October, 1915, a $50,820,000 5 per cent. loan in September, 1916, and a $60,000,000 5J per cent, loan the following month. Both the latter loans were secured by collateral. The contrast in expense between such tran- GENERAL GOETHALS, President of the Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation, THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. sactions and the 3 J per cent. American Government loans of April, May, and June, 1917, can easily be calculated. Also, during the winter of 1916, and even earlier, it had become evident that even Great Britain might have considerable difficulty in floating moro loans through private agencies. One proof of this was our recourse to short term Government paper — a measure against which at one period Washington was inclined to protest, on the ground that it hampered domestic banking. Considering the importance of many American supplies, such as food, cotton, and metals, to our conduct of the war, and the necessity of financing our purchases through money raised in the United States, it is not too much to say that America's entry into the war saved the Allies very grave financial difficulties during the spring of 1917, besides promising her a cheaper and easier flow of supplies in the future. Indeed, the most obscure factor in the situation was how, and how soon, Washing- ton would complete the organization necessary to give full scope to its good intentions. But delay, as this chapter has tried to explain, was inevitable. What really mattered was that the United States had been officially and practically committed to a wholesale participa- tion in the war If in regard to details there was still confusion and uncertainty, if the country was still less impressed by the urgency of the crisis than the Government, confidence was growing that in the end order and under- standing would arise. There was justifiable satisfaction that the idea of a " limited liability " war had been so quickly exploded, that, in a word, the President was able to speak as he did speak of German and of American war aims in his message to Russia published on June 9 :— Of course the Imperial German Government and those whom it is using for their own undoing are seeking to obtain pledges that the war will end in the restoration of the Hiatus quo ante. It was the status quo ante out of which this iniquitous war issued forth, the power of the Imperial German Government within the Empire and its widespread domination and influence outside of that Empire. That status must be altered in such fashion as to prevent any such hideous thing, from ever happening again. We are fighting for the liberty, the self-government, and the undictated development of all peoples, and every feature of the settlement that concludes this wui must be conceived and executed for that purpose. Wrongs roust first be righted and then adequate safe- guards must be created to prevent their being committed again. We ought not to consider romedies merely because they have a pleasing and sonorous sound. Practical questions can be settled only by practical means. Phrases will not accomplish the results. Effective readjustments will ; and whatevor readjust- ments are necessary must be made. But they must follow a principle and that principle is plain. No people mast be forced under sovereignty under which it does not wish to live. No territory must change hands except for the purpose of securing those who inhabit it a fair chance of life and liberty. No indemnities must be insisted on except those that constitute payment for manifest wrongs done. No re- adjustments of power must be made except such as will tend to secure the future peace of the world and the future welfare and happiness of its peoples. And then the free people of the world must draw together in some common covenant, some genuine and practical cooperation that will in effect combine their force to secure peace and justice in the dealings of nations with one another. The brotherhood of mankind must no longer be a fair but empty phrase ; it must be given a structure of force and reality. The nations must realize their common life and effect a workable partner- ship to secure that life against the aggressions of auto- cratic and self -pleasing power. For these things wc can afford to pour out blood and treasure. For these are the thing-) we have always professed to desire, and, unless we pour out blood and treasure nov. and succeed, we may never be able to unite or show conquering force again in the great cause of human liberty. The day has com.i to conquer or submit* If th? forces of autocracy can divide us, they will over- come us ; if we stand together victory is certain and the liberty which victory will secure. We can afford then to be generous, but we cannot afford then or now to be weak or omit any single guarantee of justice and security A few months before, the President had spoken with seeming approbation of a " peace without victory " and of a " drawn war." This full profession of the moral and political faith of the Alliance and this clear exposition of the practical measures which it demands measure the subsequent development of American policy. Henceforth the great Republic was pledged to vindicate her faith with all her mind and with all her strength. The mists which had obscured and chilled her counsels were broken, and through them there pierced, radiant and undimmed, the first level beams of the quicken- ing vision which Mr. Wilson had made his own — ■ the vision of a covenanted world, seeking and executing for the peoples the "judgment of truth and peace." CHAPTER CXCV. THE BLOCKADES, 1915-17 : BRITISH AND GERMAN METHODS. The British Blockade of Germany — The German Submarine War on Enemies and Neutrals — German Crimes Against " The Fellowship of the Sea " — Scope and Limitations of the British Blockade — The " Muckle Flugga Hussars " — The Peel Committee's Report — Bringing Neutral Ships into Harbour — Discussions with the United States — German Evasions of the Blockade — Work of the British Censorship — A Study of German Crimes — The Rappahannock — The North Wales and Artist — The Alnwick Castle — The Kildale — The Caithness — Sufferings of Scandinavian Seamen — The Belgian Prince — German Motives and Methods — Universal Demand for Reparation by Germany. OF the many contrasts presented by the Great War, none was more striking and significant than the difference between the manner in which the British seamen carried out their blockade of Germany and the methods which disgraced the Germans in the conduct of their so-called blockade of the British Isles. The term " blockade " is not used here in its tech- nical sense, but as indicating the kind of sea pressure brought to bear upon the hostile nations for the purpose of exerting influence upon the economic situation in their respective countries. The British blockade was marked by a regard for — even a subservience to — the privileges and susceptibilities of neutrals which by many people was thought to have been carried to the verge of timidity ; while all through the operations the utmost precautions were taken to respect legal rights and the sanctity of human life. The German measures were executed on directly contrary lines ; neutrals suffered equally with the Allies, and neither the mandates of international law nor the dictates of humanity were recognized. Some description of the means adopted by the British seamen to prevent supplies from going Vol. XIII —Part 158 into Germany, and several instances of German callousness and inhumanity in their dealings with the mercantile marine of the world, have been given in previous chapters. The purpose of this chapter is to throw more light on this glaring contrast, and by well -authenticated examples to exhibit the true character of Germany's infamous behaviour in conducting her warfare at sea During three years of war the blockades were enforced with ever-increasing stringency. That of Great Britain and her Allies was continuous from the very outbreak of hostilities, whereas the German effort exhibited three marked phases, each phase being characterized by an increase in degeneracy and callousness. The constrictive measures taken by Great Britain were originally drawn lightly in order to mini- mize the hardship to those nations which, although not our allies, were friends whose assistance was essential to the efficiency of the blockade. Even in December, 1916, Lord Robert Cecil told the House of Commons that our procedure was purposely made as little burdensome to neutrals as possible. Indeed, with this object, we spontaneously tlirew away many of the advantages which flow from 88 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. A BRITISH PATROI Sea Power. The treatment of the mercantile fleets of the neutral countries by British seamen was never unnecessarily harsh, our officers and men never displayed the truculence of the submarine commanders in their dealings with arrested ships, and the merchant seamen never suffered at our hands the cruel losses which wera imposed upon them by the Germans. It should be recalled that the geographical conditions of the area within which the British blockade was carried out conferred certain advantages both on this country and. on Ger- many. A strict control upon the two passages out of the North Sea, that between Norway and the Shetlands and alternately the Dover Straits, made it possible to exert an interference with all traffic to and from the enemy's coast. But on the other hand the position of the Scandinavian countries and Holland enabled Germany to receive supplies through the neutral ports almost as if they had been her own. Thus the commercial interests of these smaller Powers were involved, and although they might hwe little sympathy with Germany. they naturally raised objections when in danger of being deprived of one of their best customers. Then, too, the United States had not abandoned her neutrality, and to tighten further the grip was to run the risk of antagonizing a most useful and valuable friend. Tt was not sur- BOAT. prising, in these circumstances, that, while acknowledging our right to prevent the export of the enemy's commodities, and to deprive her of the import of supplies, the neutrals complained bitterly of the disservice done them by interference with their trade by our cruisers. Not a word of complaint, however, was raised in connection with the behaviour of, and the manner of executing their duties by, our seamen, and it was admitted that we did our utmost not to inflict hardships upon non- belligerents, and even went out of our way to deal as lightly as possible with those we were forced to hinder. The moderation of our efforts in enforcing the blockade, which permitted the enemy to obtain supplies from oversea through neigh- bouring countries, prevented us from exerting to the utmost that exhausting pressure upon Germany which Admiral Mahan called " the most striking ami awful mark of the workinL' of Sea Power." Moreover, so long as Germany had her heel on Belgium and France, and held Serbia and Rumania, with other fruitful territories, in her grasp, she could, by means of her internal communications, exploit and draw upon their resources to defeat the purpose of the blockade. Thus, although it might be that the constriction exercised upon her mercantile traffic by the fleets of Great Britain THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 89 and her Allies was the paramount factor of the war, and had affected enormously the military and commercial condition of the principal enemy, yet after its exercise for three years she showed no sign of economic ex- haustion. Our blockade had attained a measure of success unprecedented in the annals of war, and that of Germany had three times failed to effect its purpose. It was not, however, until the United States joined the ranks of the Allies that the blockade became practically complete. This did not involve any change in tho British methods of con- ducting it. An explanation of the difference in the behaviour of the British seamen to neutrals and enemies alike, and that of the crews of the German submarine to other seamen who fell into their hands, is not far to seek. The former possessed all the qualities which have been traditionally associated with the men who followed the sea calling, whereas the latter were not really seamen, but wero only ad- ventitiously at sea, ard were lacking in the true instinct and spirit of its comradoship. Fielding recognized the essent'al difference between tho mariner and the man to whom sea life was merely an incident, that " all human flesh is not tho same flesh, but that there is one kind of flesh of landsmen and another of seamen." Seamen, whatever their nationality, by very reason of their being engaged in a tireless conflict with the elements and subject to the same perils and dangers, become bound in a fellowship and a brotherhood of their own. Even the corsairs of Barbary and the pirates whose hand was agamst every man showed special consideration for those GUN ON THE DECK OF A U-BOAT. ilium a German phoiJgraph. 158—2 40 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. who, like themselves, followed the profession of the sea ; and those sea wolves, living on the pillage of the world, felt in duty bound to succour a shipwrecked sailor. But the Gerniar sea wolves reserved their most heartless treat- ment for the unfortunate mariners, and not content with sinking their ships and putting them afloat in open boats, short of provisions and far from land, the Germans over and over again did them to death by callous, brutal, and inhuman methods. Therefore at the end of the third year of war there was manifest among the seamen of the Allies and neutrals alike a bond of detestation of the sea-pests LORD ROBERT CECIL, Minister of Blockade. who made it a danger and a risk to life and limb to follow the peaceful avocation of mercantile seafaring. And if the conduct of British sea- men is here contrasted with the ruthless behaviour of the crews of the U-boats, it is not in order to extol the humanity and uprightness of the former so much as to present an accurate picture of the actions of the latter, and thus to show why it was that the Germans, by what thoy did at sea, incurred the anger and con- tempt of the civilized world. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to enter into the many legal and diplomatic questions connected with the two blockades, as, for instance, the discussion with the United States as to what was or was "not contraband and as to the constitution and working of the prize courts, the application of the doctrine of continuous voyage, and so on. The aim is to deal with the work of the seamen on both sides with whom rested the carrying into operation of the policy of their respective countries. In many discussions in the Press and elsewhere, when a tightening of the Allied blockade pressure upon Germany was urged, it was often forgotten that the policy did not originate with the Navy. It was the policy of the Government, and was adopted after consideration of the respective views of the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, the Board of Trade, and any other departments of State directly concerned. It was the Foreign Office which formulated the instructions, and after a time it was found desirable to organize a separate department for such matters, under a Minister of Blockade, to assist whom an Admiral was appointed as Naval Adviser.* There was also set up a Contra- band Committee, on which the Admiralty had a large representation. This Committee investi- gated the case of each ship detained and sent into port for examination, and if it was found that thsre was not sufficient presumption of a good case against the vessel, or if she came under one of the rules of exemption formulated in agreements with neutral trading associations, she was released. The work of the Navy ended with the bringing of the ships into port for examination and adjudication, or, in the case of those which it was possible to examine at sea, and which were found to be carrying nothing to or from our enemies, in establishing their satisfactory character. • See Vol. VIT.. p. 428. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 41 It may be briefly recalled that no blockade of Germany was 'declared until the Order in Council of March 11, 1915. When the war began, the action of the Navy in interfering with German seaborne commerce was limited to the right to capture contraband goods. There were [Swaine. REAR-ADMIRAL SIR DUDLEY DE CHAIR, Commanded the Blockade Squadron in the North Sea, 1914-16. three means by which a belligerent possessing a fleet had in past times operated against an adversary's commerce : (a) by the capture of contraband of war on neutral ships ; (6) by the capture of enemy property at sea ; and (c) by a blockade through which all access to the coast of the enemy was cut off. The second of these powers, as was pointed out in a Parliamentary Paper issued in January, 1916,* had been cut down since the Napoleonic wars by the Declara- tion of Paris of 1856, under which enemy goods ■on a neutral ship, with the exception of contra- band of war, were exempted from capture. Enemy goods which had been loaded on British or Allied ships before the war were seized in large quantities immediately after its outbreak : •Cd. 8145. but, for obvious reasons, such shipments ceased , for all practical purposes, after August 4, 1914, and this particular method of injuring the enemy became inoperative within a short time. The change inaugurated in March, 1915, was forced on the Allies by the German violation of the usages of war in connection with submarine attacks on trading vessels. It was in December, 1914, that Grand Admiral von Tirpitz first announced such attacks to be intended, and, after a few isolated cases, the original so-called " submarine blockade " by the U-boats began on February IS, 1915. Only after this unlawful and inhuman procedure had been in operation for some weeks did the British Government, by way of reprisal, take steps to prevent commodi- ties of any sort or kind from reaching or leaving Germany. Previously, food end German goods REAR-ADMIRAL REGINALD TUPPER, C.B., Succeeded Sir Dudley de Chair in command of the Blockade Squadron. in neutral ships had been allowed to pass. Even enemy reservists in neutral ships had been permitted to return to the Fatherland. But, in reply to the German campaign of piracy, resorted to as an alternative to a regular and legal blockade which the enemy had no surface ships to maintain, the Allied Fleets were ordered by their respective Governments to utilize their latent powers, although it was several months THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. AWAITING SEARCH ORDERS. after March, 1915, before these came to be exercised to anything lik? their full extent. In announcing the new policy of constriction, Mr. Asquith, then Prime Minister, said that there was no proposal " to assassinate neutral steamers or destroy their goods." A very telling comparison of the procedure on the two sides was made by Mr. A. J. Balfour in an article published on March 29, 1915. Mr. Balfour said : — Put shortly, the case is this. The Germans declare that they will sink every merchant ship which thev believe to be British, without regard to life, without regard to the ownership of the cargo, without any assurance that the vessel is not neutral, and without even the pretence of legal investigation. The British reply that if these are to be the methods of warfare employed by the enemy the Allies will retaliate by enforcing a blockade designed to prevent all foreign goods from entering Germany and all German goods from going abroad. Whether such a policy be, or be not, in harmony with the accepted rules of international law is a point to which I shall refer in a moment. But this at least may be said in its favour. It cannot causo the- death of a single innocent civilian ; it cannot destroy neutral lives and neutral property without legal process ; it cannot inflict injury upon neutral commerce comparable in character or extent to that which would be produced by a blockade whose legality wan oeyond question. Of the type of ships selected to .enforce the blockade nothing was revealed officially until Rear-Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair, who commanded the Tenth Cruiser (Blockade) Squadron in the North Sea from August 4, 1914, to March 6, 1916, made some passing references to the matter in an interview granted to Mr. Henry Suydam, the London correspondent of the Brooklyn Daily Eaijle. The Admiral said that to maintain the blockade the British Admiralty had chosen a type of warship known as an auxiliary armed cruiser, usually a converted passenger ship or merchant trader, covered with war paint and mounting several guns of various calibres sufficient for their duties. Such ships were not properly warships at all, for the superior fighting craft of the British Navy — superior in armament, ordnance and speed — were kept inviolate for the long-anticipated engagement which the British seamen hoped to fill with the German Navy. Sir Dudloy also informed his corre- spondent that although there was an adequate sprinkling of Royal Navy men in command, by far the majority of the blockade officers were drawn from the Royal Naval Reserve. These men, many of whom had had splendid careers in the British Mercantile Marine, were peculiarly fitted for blockade work ; they were accustomed to manifests and ships' papers ; they knew how to make a quick, comprehensive and judicial inspection of cargoes. As to the distribution of the blockading ships, Sir Dudley de Chair dispelled a popular fallacy when he stated that a modern blockade was not a ring of ships, steaming within sight of each other, forming a sort of fence across sea tracks to enemy countries. The Allied North Soa THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 43 blockade consisted of the strategic placing of units of patrolling squadrons, all out of sight of each other, but within easy steaming distance. Usually the cruisers were about 20 miles apart, and as each cruiser was afforded a clear view of 15 miles to the horizon no blockade runner could pass between them without being seen by one or both. With their insatiable love of nicknames, the British sailors christened these blockading cruisers " the Muckle Flugga Hussars," Muckle Flugga being the remote headland on the north of the island of Uist, the most northern of ths Shetland group, and thorefore the most northerly inhabited point in the British Isles. luxurious furnishings had given place to mess decks and ammunition stores and the like, " while the promenade docks resounded to the tramp of men being initiated into the mysteries of the squad and rifle drill and the work of thoir guns." In a previous chapter* Roar-Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair's description of a blockade ship at work was quoted. On the same occasion the Admiral drew attention to the following contrast between British and German practice : Regarding German submarines in the North Sea, my experience is that they invariably sink at sight, or give the crew only three minutes to cloar out before the ship is torpedoed. German submarine commanders within A GUN ON THE DECK OF AN AUXILIARY ARMED CRUISER. It was an apt nickname, in view of the area where so much of the work of intercepting German trade was carried on. In one of his series of naval sketches, the writer known as " Taffrail " described a typical ship of this " sea regiment," whose favourite habitat, was " anywhere in the wild waste of waters lying between Greenland, the North Cape, the Naze, and the Orkneys." Ho also described the transformation wrought by the war in the interior of these vessels, how their palatial and tho North Sea areas have respected no fla J, have adopted the same merciless attitude toward neutral and belligerent alike. British Admiralty orders were issued at the very commencement of hostilities to the effect that all officers and men of tho British Navy engaged in blockade work were to treat the captains and crews of suspected neutral ships with the greatest possible courtesy and consideration and to place the neutral in as little danger or incon- venience as was consistent with the proper maintenanco of our blockade Whenever a ship is discovered to be carrying contra- band, an officer and an armed guard of five men are put aboard to conduct the blockade runner into our * CLIIL, Vol. X., pige S9- 44 TAtf TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. a z < < os H Z o u as o o o as <: u M S H z z X a s en as Q 3 < O7 52 H W Z E^S << w go u Q s H b Cxi Ba en 3 en THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 45 nearest port, where examination usually takes from two to five days, according to tho disposition of the cargo and the consequent difficulty of removing it. The weekly average of ships passing eastward through our patrols is 50 ; in summer time about 8 per cent, of these are sailing vessels. On four distinct occasions which have come under my direct personal observation (continued the Admiral ) our by threefold dangers, for there were the perils of the sea in the shape of the ordinary marine hazards ; then the risks of enemy attack ; and above both of these the liability to treacherous assaults by the unscrupulous methods of the German. TOWING A TORPEDOED blockading patrols have rescued neutral ships from imminent destruction by German torpedoes in the North Sea. The merchantmen were lowering their boats, with the submarine standing off waiting to fire. A few well- directed shots from our guns soon disposed of the menace, and the neutrals were able to re -hoist their boats and proceed safely about their business. On another occasion we came upon a Scandinavian with masts broken off at the deck and the crew lashed to the bulwarks, while heavy seas swept her from bow to stern. Our men saved the crew at some risk to their own lives, and stood by until the gale abated, and then towed the wreck to a British port for assistance and repair. We towed one American ship, which had been drifting about helplessly for twelve days without coal or food, into a British port through the worst sort of a sea. Blockade work is unspectacular, uninspiring, but exceedingly dangorous. The work of officers and men under my command has been consistently faithful and effective under conditions which have always held the possibility, for twenty-four hours a day, of destruction by German mines and German torpedoes. The basis of that blockade rests upon the ability and courage of reserve officers and men drawn from Great Britain's Mercantile Marine. Our effort has been purely to prevent goods from reaching the enemy, never to embarrass or inconvenienco neutrals of whatever nationality, who are endeavouring, under conditions of extreme difficulty, to maintain legitimate trade relations necessary to their welfare and prosperity. These, words of Admiral de Chair, spoken at a moment when he was fresh from 20 months' service in command of the British blockading forces in the North Sea, carried conviction to all who looked at the facts of the matter. They showed that, in spit«of the intense provocation by the enemy, the British conduct of the blockade was consistently legal and humane. Such work demanded qualities of endurance and patience in the seamen responsible for it, and the British officers and men were not found wanting in these respects. They were faced NEUTRAL INTO PORT. Interesting light upon the manner in which the machinery of the Allied blockade was worked in this war was thrown by the report of a Committee appointed in 1916 to inquire into the administration of the Order in Council of March 11, 1915. The report of this Committee, presided over by Lord Peel, was issued in February, 1917.* A description given therein of the methods employed in dealing with ships and cargoes after March, 1915, showed that all ships intercepted by the patrolling squadrons were visited, the time occupied in so doing being about three hours, except in heavy weather, when delay occurred till the weather moderated sufficiently to permit of boarding. On a decision being taken to send the ship in, she was des- patched under an armed guard to the most convenient port, called a port of detention ; in the case of ships going " north-about," for the most part to Kirkwall or Lerwick, but some- times, if westward bound, to Stornoway, or occasionally to Ardrossan. Ships going " south- about " were detained in the Downs or sent into Falmouth or Dartmouth. On arrival at a port of detention the ship was visited by tho customs officers, who examined the manifest, bills of lading, and any other relevant documents which she might be carrying, and prepared a detailed analysis of her whole cargo. Ships detained in the Downs were visited and reported upon in the same way by the naval authorities. The question whether tho cargo was to be discharged or released had to be determined by different *Cd. 8469. 4S THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. BRITISH STEAMERS TO THE RESCUE OF A SINKING NEUTRAL. authorities in the case of westward-bound and eastward-bound ships, and the procedure by which information as to their cargoes was transmitted also differed slightly. In the case of westward-bound ships, the analysis of the cargo was sent to the Admiralty, the Foreign Office, and the Board of Customs. If the ship was proceeding south-about and the cargo comprised less than 25 items, the analysis was sent by telegram, and if more than 25 items, by train. If the ship was proceeding north-about, the analysis, whatever the number of items, was sent by telegram. In the case of eastward- bound ships, the analysis was sent to the Admiralty, the Foreign Office, the Board of Customs, and the War Trade Intelligence Department, invariably by telegram. An impression of the magnitude of the duties involved was given by Admiral Sir Jolin Jellicoe in a speech at the Fishmongers' Hall on January 11, 1917. " Ships are intercepted and boarded," he said, " in great numbers under every condition of weather, and some idea of the work may be gathered from the fact that an average of some SO ships of all kinds are inter- cepted and examined weekly on the high seas by the vessels of this squadron " (the blockading cruisers). An illustration of some of the perilous tasks which fell to tho officers and men of the British Navy in tho course of their conduct of the blockade of Germany is afforded by the case of a midshipman from one of the blockading CREW DROPPING FROM THE WRECK. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 47 cruisers who was placed in charge of a Swedish topsail schooner detained on the high seas. It often happened that duties of this nature, catling for an unusual amount of courage and initiative, nerve and skill, were entrusted to the junior officers of the Fleet. The report of the midship- man above mentioned will show how they were discharged. With an armed guard of three men, he had received orders to take the schooner, ininid the Valand and bound from Iceland to Leith with a cargo of herrings, into Lerwick on September 16, 1915. Reporting to his com- mander, he said : "As the wind appeared to be increasing, I deemed it best to run north and sail down the eastern side of the Faroe Islands. . . . On the 25th our provisions were practic- ally exhausted, and we had for the greater part to subsist on salt herrings from the ce,rgo. At noon on that day the wind rose, and by 6 p.m. a strong gale had set in. We sighted Muckle Flugga, but owing to the force of the gale wo steered a course further seawards rather than attempt to makt port. On the 26th, the fore rigging «vas carried away and the foremast nearly went overboard, but, by knocking away the bulwarks on the port side, passing wire strops round the ribs of the ship, and rigging up temporary stays, the damage was repaired. On the evening of the 27th I determined to make an attempt to get to Lerwick. Next day the starboard anchor was carried overboard, but was eventually recovered without doing any damage beyond me.king a dent in the ship. Land was sighted, and we discovered the ship was between Fair Island and Sunburgh Head. As it was then impossible to get to Lerwick, and dangerous to attempt to reach Kirkwall, added to which the ship's gear was in a rotten con- dition, sails and ropes carrying away inces- santly until the lower topsail was the only sound sail on board, I decided to run before the gale for Leith. On the 29th we passed close to a town, which the master thought was Aberdeen. There were two flashing lights in sight, but as these were only sighted once and not seen again, we considerad that they were fishing vessels. Owing to the similarity of these lights to shore lights, I decided to keep the watch, and at 10 p.m. the light appsarod again. I called the master, but the light was not visible again. The mistake had been caused by the absence of proper charts and instruments. The town which was sighted was Montrose, not Aberdeen. . . . On October 1 we arrived in Leith Roads." Comment upon this simple yet thrilling narra- tive is not needed to enforce the significance of the splendid achievement of this young naval officer. Another narrow escape was related by a sub- lieutenant, R.N.R., who was ordered to take charge of a Norwegian brigantine, the Hangar, and bring her to Lerwick. " It was dark," he wrote, " and no lights were visible. We were so near the rocks that it seemed almost possible to touch them, and we drifted, almost scraping them. To leeward there was a ledge of rocks, HOISTING THE BRITISH FLAG ON A PRIZE. and as it seemed impossible to clear them I decided that the ship must be abandoned. The lifeboat was hoisted out, and we pulled off and watched the ship drift towards the rocks, but, much to everyone's surprise, she drifted through without touching them. On regaining the ship I found that the compass had been broken to pieces. . . . The provisions which we brought with us were finished, and the ship had not much in the way of stores We subsisted On hard bread and salt fish." The brigantine 158-3 48 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. eventually made Kirkwall harbour, six days after being boarded, with four feet of water in her hold. Such experiences as these came as a reminder to the British public that the work of their seamen employed in stopping supplies to the Germans was by no means without its hardships and dangers, apart altogether from those caused by the action of the enemy. The reasons why it was necessary to bring neutral vessels into harbour to examine them were ably set forth by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe in the early part of 1910. The United States Government on November 5, 1915, had ad- dressed a communication on this subject to the United States Government is not so much tliat the shipments intercepted by the naval forces were really intended for use in the neutral countries to which they were dispatched, as that the dispatch of goods to the enemy coun- tries had been frustrated by methods which had not been employed by belligerent nations in the • past. It would seem to be a fair reply to such ft contention that new devices for dispatching goods to the enemy must be met by new methods of applying the fundamental and acknowledged principle of the right to intercept such trade." The British reply went on to point out that the size of modern steamships and their capacity SHIP'S BOAT ON THE WAY TO SEARCH A SUSPECTED VESSEL. British Government, directing attention to certain aspects of the interruption caused by the Allied blockade to American trade with nsutrals. The first section (paragraphs 3-15) of the United States Note related to cargoes detained by the British authoiities in order to prevent them from reaching an enemy destina- tion, and the complaint of the United States Government was summarized in paragraph 33 to the effect that the methods sought to be employed by Great Britain to obtain and use evidence of enemy destination of cargoes bound for neutral ports, and to impose a contraband character upon such cargoes, were without justification. In their reply, the British Foreign Office stated that the wording of this summary " suggests that the basis of the complaint of the to navigate the waters where the Allied patrols had to operate, whatever the conditions of the weather, frequently rendered it a matter of extreme danger, if not of impossibility, even to board the vessels unless they were taken into calm water for the purpose. The British Note continued : When visit and search at sea are possible, and when a search can be made there which is sufficient to secure belligerent rights, it may be admitted that it would be an unreasonable hardship on merchant vessels to compel them to come into port, and it may well be believed that maritime nations have hesitated to modify the instructions to their naval officers that it is at sea that these operations should be carried out, and that undue deviation of the vessel from her course must be avoided. That, however, does not affect the fact that it would be impossible under the conditions of modern warfare to confine the rights of visit and search to an examination of the ship at the place where she is en- •THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 49 A TORPEDOED DUTCH STEAMER TOWED INTO PORT BY BRITISH TUGS. countered without surrendering a fundamental belligerent right. Paragraph 7 of the American Note had quoted the opinion of certain United States naval officers on this subject. It said : The British contention that " modern conditions " justify bringing vessels into port for search is based upon the size and seaworthiness of modern carriers of commerce and the difficulty of uncovering the real transaction in the intiicate trade operations of the present day. It is believed that commercial transactions of the present time, hampered as they are by censorship of telegraph and postal communication on the part of belligerents, are essentially . no more complex and disguised than in the wars of recent years during which the practice of obtaining evidence in port to determine whether a vessel should be held for prize proceedings was not adopted. The effect of the size and seaworthiness of merchant vessels upon their search at sea has been submitted to a board of naval experts, which reports that : '* At no period in history has it been considered necessary to remove every package of a ship's cargo to establish the character and nature of her trade or the service on which she is bound, nor is such removal necessary. . . . " The facilities for boarding and inspection of modern ships are, in fact, greater than in former times, and no difference, so far as the necessities of the case are con- cerned, can be seen between the search of a ship of 1,000 tons and one of 20,000 tons, except possibly a difference in time, for the purpose of establishing fully the character of her cargo and the nature of her service and destina- tion. . . . This method would bo a direct aid to the belligerents concerned, in that it would release a belliger- ent vessel overhauling the neutral from its duty of search and set it free for further belligerent operations.** It was in dealing with this aspect of the question that the British Government sought the advice of the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, and as a result their reply to the United States contained the following passage : " The effect of the size and seaworthiness of merchant vessels upon their search at sea is essentially a technical question, and accordingly his Majesty's Government have thought it well to submit the report of the board of naval experts, quoted by the United States Ambas- sador in paragraph 7 of this Note, to Admiral Sir John Jellicoe for his observations. The unique experience which this officer has gained as the result of more than 18 months 'in com- mand of the Grand Fleet rtnders his opinion of peculiar value. His report is as follows : It is undoubtedly the case that the size of modern A TORPEDOED RUSSIAN SAILING SHIP SALVED BY BRITISH PATROL BOATS. 50 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. vessels is one of the factors which renders search at sea far more difficult then in the days of smaller vessels. So far as I know, ifc has never been contended that it is necessary to remove every package of a ship's cargo to establish the character and nature of her trade, &c, but it must bo obvious that the larger the vessel and the {greater the amount 01 cargo, the mora, difficult does examination at sea become, because more packages must bo removed. This difficulty is much enhanced by the practice of concealing contraband in bales of hay and passengers* luggage, casks, &c, and this procedure, which has undoubtedly been carried out, necessitates the actual removal of a good deal of cargo for examination in suspected eases. This removal cannot be carried out at sea, except in the very finest weather. Further, in a large ship, the greater bulk of the cargo renders it easier to conceal contraband, especially such valuable metals as nickel, quantities of which can easily be stowed in places other than the holds of a large ship. 1 entirely dispute the contention, therefore, advanced in the American Note, that there is no difference between the search of a ship of 1,000 tons and one of 20,000 ton; . I am sure that the fallacy of the statement must be apparent to anyone who has ever carried out such a search at sea. There are other facts, however, which render it necessary to bring vessels into port for search. The most important is the manner in which those in command of German submarines, in entire disregard of international law and of their own prize regulations, attack and sink merchant vessels on the high seas, neutral as well as British, without visiting the ship and therefore without any examination of the cargo. This procedure renders it unsafe for a neutral vessel which is being examined by officers from a British ship to remain stopped on the high seas, and it is therefore in the interests of the neutrals themselves that the examination should be conducted in port. The German practice of misusing United States passports in order to procure a safe conduct for military persons and agents of enemy nationality makes it necessary to examine closely all suspect persons, and to do this effectively necessitates bringing the ship into harbour. The difference between the British and the German procedure is that we have acted in the way which causes the least discomfort to neutrals. Instead of sinking neutral ships engaged in trade with the enemy, as the Germans have done in so many cases in direct contravention of Article 113 of their own Naval Prize Regulations, 1909, in which it is laid down that tht commander is only justified in destroying a neutral ship which has been captured if : (a) She is liable to condemnation, and {b) The bringing in might expose the warship to dancer or imperil the success of the operations in which she is engaged at the time — ■ we examino them, giving as little inconvenience as modern naval conditions will allow, sending them into port only where this becomes necessary. It must be remembered, however, that it is not the Allies alone who send a percentage of neutral vessels into port for examination, for it is common knowledge that German naval vessels, as stated in paragraph 19 of the American Note, "seize and bring into German ports neutral vessels bound for Scandinavian and Danish ports.'* As cases in point, the interception by the Germans of the American oil-tankers Llama and Platuria in August last may be mentioned. Both were bound to America from Sweden, and were taken into Swinemunde for examination. Th ; s, then, was the British method. It being impossible to exercise the belligerent right of search in a satisfactory manner on the high seas, it was necessary to send into a British port for examination all, or nearly all, ships proceeding to ports in neutral countries adjacent to Germany which did not call voluntarily at such ports. In many cases, however, neutral shipowners arranged for their vessels to make THE CEASELESS VIGIL. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 51 such a voluntary call. As was pointed out in the Parliamentary Paper on the subject issued in January.- 1916, delays caused by the elaborate exercise of the right of visit end search were very irksome to shipping, and many shipping lines carrying on regular services with Scandi- navia and Holland found it well worth their while to make agreements with the British Government to lessen such delays. The ship- owners engaged to meet British requirements with regard to goods carried by them, in retina for an undertaking that their ships would be delayed for as short a time as possible for examination purposes. Several agreements of this kind were made. The general principle of them was that the Government obtained the right to require any goods carried by the neutral shipping lines, if not discharged in the British port of examina- tion, to be either returned to England for Prize Court proceedings, or stored in the country of destination until the end of the war, or only handed to the consignees under stringent guarantees that they or their products would not reach the enemy. It was officially ex- plained that, the companies obtained the necessary power to comply with these con- ditions by means of a special clause inserted in all their bills of lading, and the course selected by the British authorities was deter- mined by the nature of the goods and the circumstances of the case. In addition to this, some of the companies made a practice, before accepting consignments of certain goods, of inquiring whether their carriage was likely to lead to difficulties, and of refusing to carry them in cases where it was intimated that such would be the case. The control which the British Government was in a position to exercise under these agreements over goods carried by the shipping lines in question wes officially stated to be of very great value. In regard to the need for submitting the cases of individual ships to the Contraband Committee sitting daily in London, Lord Robert Cecil on July 5, 1916, made the following statement in reply to a question in Parlia- ment. After describing the detention of vessels and their being sent into a British port, he said : " There the search takes place, and it is only after such search that any judgment can be formed as to the probable ultimate destina- tion of the cargo carried by the vessel. The data for such a judgment include the nature of the cargo, the character of the consignors and consignees, the amount of similar articles recently imported into the neutral country for which the ship is bound, and, it may bo, other information of a secret 'Character which has come into the hands of his Majesty's Govern- ment. All information bearing on these and other relevant points is collected in London, VICE-ADMIRAL SIR REGINALD BACON, K.C.V.O., In command of the Dover Patrol Squadron. and it is therefore in London that the question is necessarily determined whether there are any grounds for putting into the Prize Court the ship, the cargo, or any part of it. To put into the Prize Court all vessels and their cargoes which are sent into port . . . would be neither just nor wis?." The above nply is typical of the manner in which the Allies exhibited every possible consideration for the interests of neutrals, so far as the working of the blockade had a bear- ing upon them. Replying to a question in the House of Commons on December 14, 1916, Lord Robert Cecil said : " It is unfortunately 52 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR SALVAGE WORK IN THE NORTH SEA: PUMPING OUT A DERELICT. inevitable that our blockade measures should cause inconvenience and consequent irritation to citizens of neutral countries, much as we regret it. I can only say that consistently with the paramount duty of using to the utmost our legitimate belligerent rights we have done, and shall do, all we can to make their exercise as little burdensome to neutrals as we can." What did the German merchants really think and feel in regard to the stranglehold maintained by the Navy upon their trade ? Light on this phase of the question was shed by a correspondent of The Times, who, on December 12, 1916, was permitted to describe a visit to what he called the British Censor's Museum, where he examined some of the inter- cepted correspondence from enemy Arms and agents. He wrote : " In many respects the censorship may be not unfairly said to be the eyes of the blockade. Its principal work lies in detecting and frustrating the innumerable and ever-changing subterfuges contrived by the enemy with the connivance of neutral intermediaries for evading the blockade and carrying the sinews of war into Central Europe in the form either of goods or of credit. The contrivance of such schemes by cable or by wireless is obviously impossible, and the ex- amination of the mails has in countless cases proved an insuperable obstacle to their success. The enemy frequently expresses himself with frank exasperation, and the following extracts from letters of important enemy firms indicate their views of the censorship : As you see, the English are making so many dis- agreeables and seizing the post that our business is quite ruined. People do not dare to send money any more because they do not receive receipts from home. . . As I see from your telegram sent a few days ago our lists have not arrived for three weeks now. ... I think that if vou sent the receipts in 15 private envelopes I should perhaps receive them. It is incredible how you have helped the English Censor to establish the names of our aaents and also the fact that G. and G. looked after our letters. . . . you appear to have received no post from us since the beginning of March. Worse still is the fact that because of the censorship vou have not got our in- voices or bills of lading. From this miserable con- dition in which the English sea-robbery has placed us there is no way out. In conjunction with this we should like to say that according to our experience it seems now to be utterly impossible to ship any goods to foreign countries. Since the middle of April we received one single letter from one of our friends in the States in which he advises us that he instructed a banker in Berlin to remit as a certain amount. This remittance, however, we do not receive up to the present. • Whatever the English want they get, for the whole postal communication with Germany is completely THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 53 upsot. and we never know whether one can draw money or send money to the other side. It is very unpleasant for me also that I send 25,000 marks to Z., and, if this remittance has not arrived, then all tho interest will bo lost and many many months will go by before I get over all the difficulties. ... At this moment I have a consignment lying at L., but I have received no invoices and no bills of lading. Everything has again been stolen. These are the difliculties we have to fight against. I hope it will not be long before peace is signed. In consequence of the condition of the postal service with your side, business is on a dead standstill. i The monetary value of the cheques, drafts, and other documents of transfer in course of t i.uismission for enemy benefit which had already been intercepted in the mails amounted to considerably over £50,000,000, a portion of which was destined for investment in enemy war loans. In case there still should be a doubt as to the value of this work, think of the dislocation which the stoppage of German trade correspondence meant to German trade and finance. A good illustration is afforded by a passage in an intercepted letter from a German firm in South America to its head house in Hamburg : We last wrote to you on May 1 and have not had the pleasure of hearing from you since then, from which we conclude that tho Postal Service between here and Germany is becoming more hopeless every day. We see from the papers that tho English blockade of Germany is getting stricter, and we almost fear that soon no more mail will be able to get through at all. It would produce tfte greatest consequence for us both if our monthly Ixilatwe-sheet and bookkeeping details were lost. That would not only mean an unheard-of laltour for us but also an endless postponement of all means of settling up with our head house. Some enemy agents endeavoured to make use of wireless telegraphy to conduct their business, but, as one of them wrote : " It is up to the present very unsatisfactory as a result of atmosphoric disturbances. Long de- lays are unavoidable, and unfortunately mes- sages are often distorted." Not even Marconi, however, had invented an apparatus to trans- mit solid cash, and it wib a som trial to the German traders to be unable to dispatch securities to their oversea correspondents. It was inevitable that a.j the British measures began to make themselves felt all sorts of disguises and ruses should be resorted to by the traders anxious to get their wares into Germany. A writer in the Windsor Magazine, recording some facts about the methods of searching ships at sea, said : " As many as 200 vessals pass eastward every month through these police cordons, and the trickery of some is very daring indeed. From a cargo of onions on a small ship an inquisitive petty officer took a fine specimen and threw it sharply on tho SALVAGE WORK IN THE NORTH SEA : THE PUMPING ENGINF. u u v> 03 X OS o i, < U a- Oh Z THE- TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 55 deck. To th3 amazement of all, the lively ' vegetable ' — of pure Para rubber, artfully painted outside- — bounced six feet in the air ! Ploughshares and agricultural implements made entirely of copper were another discovery. Cotton was dug out of barrels of flour, and nickel from hollow boards in neutral decks." Rear-Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair also described as follows some of the chief ruses adopted by the blockade runners to elude the vigilance of the examination of the British boarding officers or inspectors in harbour : Double bottoms, decks, and bulkheads, concealing guns, rifles, and other firearms or ammunition. Copper keels and copper plates on sailing ships. Hollow masts. Rubber onions. These were discovered when one of our officers dropped one on the deck. Rubber concealed in coffee sacks. Cotton concealed in barrels of flour. Rubber honey, made in the form of honeycomb filled with a curious liquid mixture. False manifests. This is the most frequent form of faking. In several cases where the captain of the neutral realized that the " game was up " he produced both the genuine and the fake manifests for our boarding officers to compare, a form of frankness quite amusing. Although, as was natural, the procedure of the blockade weighed heavily upon neutrals, and their grievances were set forth at great length in diplomatic correspondence, there is not to be found in any of the official letters or documents connected with the matter any complaint whatever against the conduct of the British officers and men who were engaged in the execution of the blockade. On the con- trary, there are to be found statements made both by some of those persons who were tem- porarily arrested for examination and by the seamen of the neutral States in the press of their respective countries testifying to the universal recognition of the fact that the officers and men charged with the carrying out of the blockade performed their duty with courtesy and every possible consideration for the convenience of those with whom they had of necessity to interfere. The testimony in this direction was unanimous, and not a single case of harsh treatment or bullying, much less of any kind of injustice, came to light. This in itself was a high tribute to the spirit in which the British seamen executed an oft-times unpleasant and disagreeable task. Attention must now be directed to the record of the German " blockade." This cannot better be shown than by setting forth the authenticated facts pf some of the principal attacks on the shipping of tho world from November, 1916, to July, 1917 ; earlier cases having already been doalt with in these pages. The case of the steamship Rappahannock was revealed to the world in an Admiralty com- muniqui on November 24, 1916. This Furneas- Withy liner left England for Halifax on Octo- ber 17, and nothing more was heard from her. In the Berlin official wireless on November 8 it was stated that the ship had been sunk. For a time there was a hope that the 37 members of the crew had been taken on board the sub- marine, or transferred to some other vessel, but neither of these courses was apparently carried out. As the Admiralty said : " If the crew were forced to take to their boats in the ordinary way it is clear that this must have occurred so far from land, or in such weather conditions, that there was no probability of their reaching the shore," and the communiqui added : " The German pledge not to sink vessels ' without saving human lives ' has thus once more been disregarded, and another of their submarines has been guilty of constructive murder on the high seas." In the case of a British steamer sunk a few weeks after the Rappahannock there was no doubt about the manner in which members of her crew who were lost met their deaths. On December 29, 1916, the Admiralty issued the following to the Press : The degree of savagery which the Germans have attained in their submarine policy of sinking merchant ships at sight would appear to have reached its climax in the sinking of the British s.s. Westminster, pro- ceeding in ballast from Torre Annunziata (Italy) to Port Said. On December 14 this vessel was attacked by a German submarine without warning when 180 miles from the nearest land and struck by two torpedoes in quick succession, which killed four men. She sank in four minutes. This ruthless disregard of the rules . of international law was followed by a deliberate attempt to murder the survivors. The officers and crow, while effecting their escape from the sinking ship in boats, were shelled bv the submarine at a range of 3,000 yards. The master and chief engineer were killed outright and their boat sunk. The second and third engineers and three of the crew wore not picked up and are presumed to have been drowned. Great Britain, in common with all other civilized nations, regards the sinking without warning of merchant ships with detestation, but in view of the avowed policy of the German Government and their refusal to consider the protests of neutrals, it is recognized that mere protests are unavailing. The captain of the German submarine must, however, have satisfied himself as to the effectiveness of his two torpedoes and yet proceeded to carry out in cold blood an act of murder which could not possibly be justified by any urgency of war and can only be regarded in the eyes of the world as a further proof of the degradation of German honour. 56 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Following on this vindictive shelling of the helpless survivors of ft strickeni-ship, further cases came to light in January, 1917, of the callous disregard of the Germans for the lives of non-combatant seamen. The loss of the steam- ships North Wales and Artist both formed the subject of Admiralty communications to the Press. The former vessel, proceeding in ballast from Hull to Canada, was reported by the German wireless on November 9 as having been torpedoed. Beyond one piece of varnished wood marked " North Wales," found in Sennen Cove, and bodies washed ashore on the Cornish coast, nothing further was heard of her, and it was presumed that the crew took to their boats in the heavy gales raging at that time and were drowned. The British steamsliip Artist, when 48 miles from land, in a heavy easterly gale, was torpedoed by a German submarine on Saturday morning, January 27. In response to her appeal sent by wireless : " S.O.S. ; sinking quickly," auxiliary patrol craft proceeded to the spot and searched the vicinity, but found no trace of the vessel or, her survivors. Three days later the steamship Luchana picked up a boat containing 16 of the survivors. The boat had originally contained 23, but seven had died of wounds and exposure and were buried at sea. The surviving 16 were landed, and of these five were suffering from severe frostbite and one from a broken arm. The crew had been forced to abandon their ship LIFEBOAT OF THE "ALNWICK CASTLE" BEACHED AT. CORUNNA. in open boats, in a midwinter gale, and utterly without means of reaching land or succour. Those of them who perished during those three days of bitter exposure were murdered, and, as the Admiralty said, to pretend that anything was done to ensure their safety would be sheer hypocrisy. The pledge given by Germany to the United States not to sink merchant ships without ensuring the safety of the passengers and crows had been broken before, but never in circumstances of more cold-blooded bru- tality. Among the grim records of such an inhuman campaign there were, at any rate, some bright and glorious features, and none more so than the conduct of those on board ships during the attacks of submarines. It was not only the British seamen, moreover, who upheld the high 1 1 • . ■ * if X~- S^^^ **0 CAST ADRIFT IN OPEN BOATS. traditions of their service. Stories of the heroism of passengers, including women, were numerous. On February 5, 1917, the Admiralty published the facts connected with the destruc- tion of the Ellerman liner City of Birmingham, a fine 7,498-ton vessel built in 1911. The official report said : The British steamship City of Birmingham was torpedoed without warning on November 27 last by an enemy submarine, when 126 miles from the nearest land. She carried a crew of 145 and 170 passengers, of whom 90 were women and children. The torpedo struck the ship abreast the after hold, and so heavy was the explosion that the ship at once began to settle by the stern, and one of the lifeboats was blown to pieces. The engines were stopped, and the steam allowed to escape from the boilers, while everybody assembled at their stations for abandoning the ship. A heavy swell was running, but within ten minutes of the explosion all the boats had been lowered and all the passengers and crew were clear of the ship. In accordance with the British sea tradition the master (Captain W. J. Haughton) remained on board until the ship sank under him. He was picked up half an hour later by one of the boats. The conduct of the crew and passengers was admirable throughout. The master reports that the women took their place in the boats " as calmly as if they were going down to their meals," and when in the boats they began singing. Three hours later the boats were picked up by a hospital ship, and the passengers and crew mustered. It was then found that the ship's doctor, the barman, and two lascars were not among the sur- vivors, and had presumably been drowned. With the inauguration of the intensified German campaign of what they called " un- limited submarine warfare " as from January 31, 1917 — the onslaught which was the culminating factor in influencing the United States to enter the war — instances of German brutality un- happily increased. Seamen from the ships THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 57 attacked were turned adrift in very bad weather many miles from the nearest land, and it often happened that they were tossed about with little or no food for days> on end, enduring terrible privations. From the steamer Veda- more, which was torpedoed and sunk on February 7, 1917, 25 lives were lost. Of this number two, the boatswain and a seaman, died from injuries and exposure in tho open boats after the vessel had foundered. There was no warning of any kind, and 38 of the crew of 60 were in their boats for ten hours. In the intensely cold morning all hands suffered, more especially as many of them jumped out of their beds and ran on deck as they stood. Another case of this kind was recorded in The Times on March 2, 1917, and had reference to the destruc-' tion of the Belfast four-masted barque G algorm Castle, of 1,500 tons, which was homeward bound. She was shelled on February 27, at 4.45 p.m., the shelling continuing until night set in, when the crew, numbering 25 men, with Captain Frampton and his wife, were obliged to leave the vessel in two boats. Among the crew were four Americans. The boat containing the captain, his wife, and ten men, was adrift on the ocean for 13J hours before being sighted. What was apparently one of the worst cases, in so far as the distance from land at which it took place was concerned, was that of the Union Castle mail steamer Alnwick Castle, which was torpedoed without warning on March 19 in tho Atlantic, 320 miles from the nearest land (the Scilly Isles). On tho previous day the vessel had rescued the crew of another British ship which had also been torpedoed, and the passengers and crews of both vessels abandoned the Alnwick Castle in six boats, one of which landed on the Spanish coast. This boat contained 29 people, including a stewardess and a child. Of this number, eight had died, and the survivors were all suffering from frostbite. One of the most remarkable. accounts of the sufferings endured by the people on board this liner was given in the report of the chief officer, Mr. A. H. Blackman, to the Union Castle Mail Steamship Company, from which extracts were published in The Times on June 18, 1917. Of his boat's company, consisting of 31 people, Mr. Blackman tells of the deaths, among others, of " the storekeeper, who the night before went raving mad and had to be lashed down for the safety of all concerned " ; the cattle-man, who " jumped overboard after three frustrated attempts, and was drowned, the wind and the sea, and the enfeebled state of us all making it impossible to save him " ; and the deck-boy, who " had been quietly dying all day " before he finally passed away in the evening. As showing to what straits the survivors were reduced by thirst, Mr. Blackman writes : " Although we had occasional showers of rair> everything was so saturated with salt that the little we did catch was undrinkable. We even THE UNION CASTLE LINER "ALNWICK CASTLE." 58 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. tried by licking the woodwork (oars, tillers, seats, etc.) to gather up the rain spots, and so moisten our mouths, but the continual spray coming over rendered this of little uso. In fact, we actually broke tip the water ' breaker ' in order to lick the inside of the staves, which we found quite saturated with moisture, and to us delicious." . When they were towed into port, two of the crew, who wsre demented, utterly refused to leave the boat, and had to be forcibly dragged out, while the linen-keeper expired as he was being lifted out. Although, so far as published reports showed, a ship had never before been sunk so far from l.-i'L'l as was the Alnwick Castle, ths record of the crimes of the Germans in this respect may be illustrated by the following table : — Ships Sunk. Miles from land. Caithness (38 lives lost ) . . . , . 240 Kariba 230 Rona 212 Franconia (12 lives lost) ... 195 Silverash ... 180 Galgate 170 Iolo 155 Bemadette (26 lives lost) 150 Cymric (4 lives lost) 140 Rowanmore 128 City of Birmingham 126 Industry ... 120 Italiana 112 Lady Xinian (I life lost) ... 106 A cadet on board the Alnwick Castle, writing to his relatives at Leicester after arriving at New York, said that what made those on board the vessel most angry was the attitude of the German sailors. The whole crew of the sub- marine came on dock and stood with their emu folded laughing at the plight of tho people from the steamer — a repstition of the scene over two years before when the Falaba was torpedoed.* Of evidence such as this of the manner in which the German seamen missed no chance of increasing the horrible effect of their work there was unfortunately no lack. Witness, for instance, the following extract from the deposi- tion of Mr. Douglas V. Duff, acting fourth officer, taken after the sinking of the steamship Thracia on April 27, 1917, not far from the French coast : — I was on a capsized boat with the stern blown off about two and a-half to three hours after the ship was sunk. The submarine came near me — at the time (11 p.m.) it was very dark — and asked what ship it was that it had sunk, where was she from, where was she for, what was her cargo, and was I an Englishman ? I answered all the questions. He then said, " I am going to shoot you." I told him to shoot away. He then said, " I don't waste powder on any pig of an Englishman," and left me in the boat. In the morning, at 10.30, I was picked up by a French fishing * Chapter CXI, Vol. VII, p. 140. THE MISSION OF THE SUBMARINE From a German Painting. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. m boat, then put by them on the French torpedo-boat Ardent, where I remained for three days, and was then transferred to the Naval Barracks at L'Orient. Another typical story of German sea war methods was told by the survivors of the British steamer Kildale. But for the good fortune that rescuing vessels were near at hand the facts of this crime might never have become known to the world. While on passage to Malta, the Kildale was torpedoed by a German submarine in the Mediterranean on April 12. Two torpedoes were fired. Both struck the ship. The crew abandoned her as she was sinking, and the submarine then came to the surface and opened fire upon the boats with her gun and rifles. A seaman was killed, and the chief officer, the second engineer, and six others were wounded Two British patrol boats then approached and opened fire vipon the submarine at extreme range, whereupon the submarine dived and was not seen again. From the deliberate shelling of the helpless crew whilst in their boats it would appear that it was the intention of the officer in command of the submarine to murder the Kildalo's crow and thus obliterate all traces of his own presence in these waters. Such fiendish work — exterminating by a process of wholesale massacre a shipload of people in hope of gaining a slight military advantage — was but one of the species of outrage which continued to mark the German submarine campaign at the period in RAIDER AND VICTIM. From a German Painting. question. Numerous cases occurred in which it was attempted, th<» merchant vessels first being dastroyed by torpedoes, gunfire, or bombs, and the boats with the crew or passengers then being deliberately shelled. In this way it frequently happened that any fresh water or provisions in the boats were spoiled or destroyed, and con- sequently the shipwrecked people had the possibility of starvation added to their already grave perils. A gruesome story was told by the few survivors of the British steamship Caithness, which was torpedoed without warning 240 miles from the nearest land on April 19, 1917. The vessel sank very quickly, the master and 20 men being drowned. The remainder, having managed to right a capsized boat, clambered into her, and for no less than 14 days did these poor souls drift on the ocean without any food. At the end of that time only two out of about 20 were left alive. They wen picked up in a terrible condition, one survivor, the chief officar, having lost a foot in addition to his other serious injuries. Of the finding of these men an account was given by Captain George Heatley, master of a West Hartlepool steamer, in a letter to his homo, at Blyth. On May 3 ho sighted a steamer's lifeboat, flying a white rag and an oilskin coat, and subsequently went alongside. He found three mon living and one dead on board the boat. The living were too weak to lift J < as H 3 H z u X H 60 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 61 the dead body overboard. Thoy said, in the course of a recital of their sufferings, that some of their comrades went mad and jumped over- board, and that, after the fifth day adrift, a steamer was sighted, but, instead of picking them up, she steered off and fired several shots, thinking the lifeboat was an enemy submarine. One of the three survivors died on the day of rescue. That the merchant captains had to exercise the greatest caution in answering calls for help on the high seas, and were ofton placed in an embarrassing position as to their best course of action, was evident from the snares and dis- guises tried by the Germans to inveigle them into traps. On January 5, 1917, for example, the Amsterdam Teleqraaf quoted the statement of an officer of a vessel in an important Dutch line that on a journey from the East Indies he received, while in the Bay of Biscay, an " S.O.S." message, but on rushing to the place indicated he found a German submarine, which was not in distress. The U boat captain ex- pressed his regret that it was a Dutch and not a British vessel which had arrived, adding : " We don't want you to save our souls. We want the British to save our souls." A vary sordid and repugnant anthology might be compiled of the remarks addressed at various times to the merchant seamen by their German assailants. A typical specimen was the speech of one of the crew of the submarine which destroyed the steamer Jupiter on May 21, 1917, with the loss of 19 lives. To the six survivors this man shouted, " You've no home now, but there's room for you below ! " Frequently, too, the alleged reasons given by the Germans for sinking particular ships were ludicrous, in spite of the seriousness of the occasion, as witness the following : " You have brought condensed milk to France instead of to Germany You shall sink for that — even if you were in neutral waters. We missed you last trip." This was the explanation given by a German submarine commander * to the captain of a Dutch ship sunk off the North Hinder Light- ship in July, 1917. Some attontion was aroused in America in June, 1917, by the definite statement of Captain Charles E. Pennewell, of Richmond Street, Philadelphia, that German submarine commanders had added kidnapping to their other crimes. Captain Pennewell declared that he had been informed by an American Consul on the African coast that a British steamship had been sunk off the Straits of Gibraltar by a submarine after tho wife and daughter of her captain had been planed on board the submersible. Then, he said, in their presence, the commander of the sub- marine ordered his men to fire upon the captain and crew of the steamship in their boats. Another instance in which females in a tor- pedoed vessel were forced by the Germans to go on board the attacking submarine occurred in February, 1917. On or about the 4th of that month the Norwegian ship Thor II., a four-masted vessel of 2,144 tons, was sunk by a U boat off the Irish coast. Captain Isak Jacobsen stated on his return to Scandi- navia that after his ship was torpedoed his wife and six-year-old daughter were forced to go into the submarine along with himself, and tho three of them remained for eight days in the submarine, which during that time sank two British steamers and a British trawler. One of the steamers was loaded with munitions, and as it was sunk without warning the ex- plosion was so sudden and violent that tho submarine was severely damaged, and was compelled to return at once for repairs. She passed north of Ireland and Scotland, and on February 12 reached Heligoland, where the Norwegian captain and his family were re- leased and sent to Hamburg. Another vessel sunk by the Germans in spite of tho presence on board of the wife of the captain was the Norwegian steamship Dalmata, which was destroyed at 6.45 a.m. on February 11, 1917. Aflenposten, of Christiania, published an account of the sinking, from the wife of the captain, who had recently been married, and who for the first time was taking a voyage with her husband. She wrote : A lieutenant on board the submarine politely expressed regret that he was obliged to sink the ship. Tho crew rowed two lifeboats and towed two other boats con- taining baggage. Fortunately we had sails, a small cask of water, biscuits, and some other victim's, but no lights. We rowed for the whole of the day and sailed during the night, when it was pitc'i dark. We were in the middle oi the Atlantic, and our signals of distress were not observed and no lights or ships were seen. The sea was extremely heavy, it was piercingly cold, and my two coats and blanket were soaked as the result of the sea washing over the boats. On Tuesday (February 14) our food and water failed, one man in my boat died from the frost on Tuesday morning, and most of the others were ill. On Wednes- day morning there was still no prospect of rescue, and we knew not where we were drifting. Sometimes wo were obliged to drop anchor in order to slacken speed. Finally the anchor broke and the two boats in tow containing our property were lost. ... I lay down in the bottom of our boat prepared to die. My arms and legs were like sticks, and my eyes bloodshot from 62 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. U-BOAT COMPELLED BY GUN-FIRE FROM AN ARMED AUXILIARY TO SUBMERGE. staring. At nine o'clock next morning we came within view of the schooner Ellen Benzon, which rescued us. The rough sea prevonted her coming alongside, and I was hoisted up by a rope. . . . On arrival at Queens - town I could not get my boots on ray swollen feet. Whin the, Swedish schooner Dag was sunk on March 13, 1917, 200 miles west of the Scillies, the captain and his wife, with the crew of eight men, wore adrift in the boat for four days and three nights. This was the second case within a week in which a German submarine deliberately abandonod a boat in mid-ocean with a woman alone in the crowded company of men. Even more astounding was the barbarous conduct of the Germans towards a steward and his wife on board the Norwegian steamer Fjeldi, the loss of which was reported on May 25, 1917, from Bergen. According to a description in Tidens Tetjn, the steward and his wife took to a boat with others from the steamer, when the Germans ordered them to approach the submarine, as the boat was wanted to bring bombs to the Norwegian steamer Rondano, which was in the vicinity. The steward and his wife were ordered to go on board the submarine. The entrance was too narrow for them to do so with their life- belts on ; accordingly the latter were taken from them and not given back. The German submarine commander then cross-examined the steward as to the whereabouts of a certain vessel which left Bergen on the same day as the Fjeldi. He knew the name, cargo, and destination of three other steamers leaving at the same time, but required details of a fourth. Although pressed, the steward declared that he knew nothing, whereupon he and his wife were A GERMAN SUBMARINE ON THE HIGH SEAS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 63 ordered to go outside on the deck of the sub- marine. The hatches wero closed down, and the two left helpless in that perilous position. Soon afterwards a destroyer was observed from the periscope of the submarine, and to the horror of the unfortunate steward and his wife the U boat suddenly dived. Both of them were drawn down a considerable distance by the suction, but on coming to the surface they happily found themselves close to one of the lifeboats of the Fjeldi, and so wero picked up. This callous and cruel act of submerging their boat and thereby deliberately throwing people into the sea had been practised before of them were drowned, when the delay of a very few seconds would have mado it possible to save them all, for the trawlers at the moment were many miles away, black dots on the horizon. As Mr. Noyes wrote in regard to this episode : "It seems to be one of many examples of a curious whimsicality that breaks (by way of reaction perhaps) through the systematic soul of the German. He has carried his logic to the point of madness, and perhaps some law of compensation demands that it should be offset by an equally insane capriciousness." The foregoing, it will be noted, wore out- SAILING SHIP SET ON FIRE IN MID-OCEAN. by the Germans, as Mr. Alfred Noyes records in his book, " Open Boats," published in the spring of 1917. He refers to the case of the steamer La Belle France, sunk on February 1, 1916. When the crew took to the boats one of the latter capsized and some of its occupants were swimming and others clinging to the bottom. The submarine rose to the surface, came alongside, and picked up these men, at the same time calling to another of the boats to come alongside the submarine. But the ^.ate occupants of the capsized boat were not permitted to be rescued either by their friends or by the submarine. Four trawlers were seen far away on the horizon, and the submarine, supremely oblivious of the shivering men who had been hauled on to its deck, dived with them all still standing there. Nineteen rages on neutral subjects. Such were unfor- tunately of frequent occurrence. A few in- stances will best show the utter callousness of the German methods in dealing with neutral traders. On December 22, 191(5, off Ushant, the Danish steamer Hroptotz was torpedoed and sunk by a submarine reported as U 18. A heavy sea was running at the time, but the Germans neither hesitated to cast the Danish sailors adrift in such weather nor did they even allow sufficient time for the boats to got clear. The latter had just been lowered with difficulty when the submarine came rushing up from the opposite side of the steamer, striking the lifeboat as she passed, with the result that the boat was hurled against the steamer's side. The captain was crushed to death against the hull, his head being severed from his body, and 64 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. a sailor was so badly injured that he died. Another Danish steamer sunk about this time was the Naesborg, the crew of which were turned adrift some distance from land in stormy weather, with darkness coming on. They asked the submarine to give their life- boats a tow. This was refused, and the men, and nights in an open boat. They stated that the Germans stole all the provisions on board, broke open the boxes and cupboards, and looted all valuables. The hardy Norwegian sailors had many and terrible examples of the Germans' brutality about this time, as at other periods of the blockade. The German attitude of utter THE NORWEGIAN STEAMER " STORSTAD," Sunk by a U-boat while carrying relief to the Belgians. wet tlirough, with nothing to eat, drifted about all through the winter night, being picked up next day by French fishermen. In the case of another Danish vessol, the Daisy, tho plundering proclivity of the Germans was exemplified. The captain of this vessel, giving evidence on April 2, 1917, before the Shipping Court at Copenhagen, in regard to tho sinking of the Daisy in the Atlantic three months earlier, said that the Germans packed up provisions, instruments, and other articles before destroying the ship, conveying their booty in eight large sacks to the submarine, and forcing the Danes to assist in the removal. The captain's map of the Bay of Biscay, which was essential for navigating tho lifeboat, was seized, as well as nearly all the bread in the lifeboat's lockers. Another neutral vessel robbed before being sunk about the same time as the Daisy was tho Norwegian sailing ship Fremad, from which Captain Hansen ana eight men were picked up on April II, 1917, after spending five days indifference to the fate of the men in the vessel which might be sunk was typified in the remark of a submarine captain to the skipper of a Dutch trawler which had picked up the crew of the Norwegian barque Telefon, which was sunk by incendiary bombs on April 26, 1917. When stopped the skipper of this trawler, replying to the U boat captain, said he had shipwrecked men aboard. The reply was that if the trawler met any more such men she should let them drift : " It is quite unnecessary to save them," added the German officer. By a happy thought, the Norwegian colony in London entertained in April, 1917, some 500 seamen from Norwegian ships which had been sunk by mine, torpedo, or shell fire, and Commodore Lionel Halsey, Fourth Sea Lord, addressed the men on behalf of the British Admiralty, referring to the bond of brotherhood which had from time immemorial existed among the seamen of all nations until it had been broken by Germany. The destruction of the Norwegian steamer THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 65 Storstad, on March 8, 1917, not only formed a cruel illustration of Germany's contempt for the lives of neutral seamen, but also for the work of the Belgian Relief Commission, and tliirdly for their own pledged word. The Storstad, with a cargo of maize, was flying Norwegian colours and the distinguishing marks of a relief ship. She was fired upon at 10 a.m., but unsuccessfully, and the captain ordered the big signboard bearing the words " Belgian Relief Commission " to be shown. Although the Germans could have had no doubt on this point, they torpedoed the Storstad at 10.30, and refused to give a tow to her boats. The crew were thirty-six hours adrift, and some deaths occurred before they were rescued. It was stated that all were neutral subjects. Captain Anderson declared emphatically, on landing at Ban try, that he had in his possession a declaration stamped by the German Consul at Buenos Ayres that the Storstad would be given a " safe conduct " through all waters, that she would not be interfered with in any way by German submarines, and that she complied with the requirements of a Belgian relief ship. The facts of this outrage were so palpable as to be remarkable, even in the records of the U boat war. The Storstad was engaged on a mission of charity. She was a neutral ship with a neutral crew. A special and definite promise of safety had been given to her. The submarine's position allowed no possibility of a mistake as to the ship's character. Afterwards, when any last lingering doubt as to the vessel's innocence had been removed by questioning the crew, the sinking was com- pleted by gunfire. The Germans declined to tow the crew. In the weather prevailing at the time, to turn men adrift in open boats was calculated murder. It was the murder of men, moreover, whose errand if accomplished would have relieved the pressure upon German food supplies. As the Westminster Gazette remarked, " the whole act was not only vindictive, but the work of men who carry hate to the point of madness. We have to deal with the German submarine as we would treat a mad dog." In the case of the Belgian relief ship Trevier, sunk on April 4, 1917, off Scheveningen, a shell was fired as the lifeboat was being lowered, eight men being wounded. This vessel, too, was manned almost entirely by neutrals. In the same week, the Norwegian steamer Camilla, with a cargo of corn for the Belgian Relief Commission, was sunk without warning, and nine survivors were landed in Norway after being five days adrift, during which they were exposed to snowstorms and heavy weather. The Camilla had been given a " safe conduct " by the Germans in view of the nature of her mission, but it proved worthless. Yet another relief ship sunk in April was the Norwegian Carnetta. Despite the fact that this vessel carried papers signed by the German Ambas- sador at Washington, she was not allowed to proceed when stopped by a U' boat in the A DUTCH STEAMER STRIPED RED AND WHITE IN THE MANNER DICTATED BY GERMANY. X o z C/3 C/l < Q w (7) 5 o en as _ Z z D Q < U o J 03 z <t s a: w O 66 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 67 North Sea. The signed papers were shown to the submarine commander, but he refused to acknowledge them, and orderad the crew to leave the ship, which was sunk. The two boats into which the 23 sailors were crowded were not allowed to take any supplies with them. After six days of terrible suffering one of Unfortunately, such remorse and contrition were extremely exceptional, as the foregoing pages show. Much more usual was the state of mind of the submarine commander who wantonly sunk some ten Dutch fishing luggers at the end of July, 1917. All the fishing craft were within the so-called German "safety HOW THE BELGIAN RELIEF SHIPS WERE MARKED. them reached Norway, but not before fivs of the crew had died of gangrene or starvation. Two more died later. Another neutral steamer whoso " safe conduct " was dishonoured was the Norwegian vessel Vibran, sunk on May 18, which was likewise in the service of the Belgian Relief Commission. Similarly, the Norwegian- owned steamer Kongsli, chartered by the Bel- gian Relief Commission, was torpedoed while in a locality declared by the Germans to be a safe zone. That the inhumanity of their proceedings was borne in upon even the German sailors at times was indicated by the following letter, found upon a member of the crew of U 39. x This boat, on the morning of February 8, 1917, sank the Norwegian steamer Ida, and was her- self afterwards sunk in the North Sea. The letter reads : My Dear Good Parents, — Go to church the first Sunday after you receive these lines from me and thank the good God for having so mercifully watched over and preserved me. I have fallen into the hands of the English, unwounded and whole in body and mind, and have been woll treated, quite particularly so by the English naval officers. It was an extremely sad day for me. First of all in the morning I saw dead on the deck, two poor Norwegians who had unhappily fallen victims to our gunfire. The day will be engraved on my memory in letters of blood, but as for you, dear parents, do not be distressed. The good God who has protected me hitherto will continue to be my aid, and if it should be His will that I should quit this world, I shall know how to die. — With loving greeting, etc. zone." but they were destroyed without com- punction. The skippers of the sunken craft agreed that the commander of the submarine was a lad of about eighteen years of age, utterly irresponsible, and entirely indtfforent to the question whether the vessels were inside or outside the 20-mile limit. So little was the latter acknowledged, in fact, that one sub- marine was found to be without a chart show- ing the safety zone. Similarly, testimony to the reckless manner in which the German Admiralty conducted the blockade was given by an officer of one of the large Dutch steam- ship lines, who, in March, 1917, described a conversation he had with a U boat officer. His ship was homeward bound when a German submarine ordered her to stop, and an under- officer came on board to examine the ship's papers. This under -officer was a middle-aged man, formerly mate in a merchant vessel, and therefore familiar with mercantile shipping He found the papers all in order, and when about to leave in his boat for the submarine he turned to the Dutch officer already mentioned and remarked, " You may think yourselves lucky indeed I was sent to examine your papers." On being asked why, he replied, " Well, we have a wild young commander, only 22 years of age, who usually sinks without any inquiry. Whatever the kind of ship he meets, down she goes." 68 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. The last outrage by the U boats which shall be recorded here was one the horror of which must ever leave an indelible stain on thj character of German seamen. On July 31, 1917, the British steamer Belgian Prince was torpedoed by a German submarine. An official announcement by the Admiralty showed that the crew abandoned the ship in two boats, and were ordered on to the upper dock of the They were picked up after having been in the water 11 hours. The Admiralty affirmed that the details of this atrocious outrage were supported by the separate affidavits of the three survivors, and, as the official communique added, " The cold-blooded murder of these men equals, if it does not transcend, the worst crimes which our enemies have committed against humanity." submarine by the German commander. Under his directions the boats were then smashed with axes and the crew of the Belgian Prince deprived of their lifebelts. The master was taken below and the hatch closed ; the sub- marine submerged without warning with 43 men standing on her deck. This was the entire crew of the Belgian Prince. With the excep- tion of three, all these men were drowned. The three survivors had contrived to retain their lifebelts without the knowledge of the enemy. A NORWEGIAN SHIP FIRED AFTER EXAMINATION. The German Submarine's boat is seen returning after examining the neutral ship, which was then fired and sunk. The evident intention of the Germans in this cold-blooded murder of helpless seamen was that none should survive to tell the story to the world. As it was, they succeeded in killing no less than 40 men of the Belgian Prince. Of the survivors, Thomas Bowman, the chief engineer, a native of Tyneside, who was reported to have been ten times nearly drowned, gave a narrativo of his experiences to a correspondent. He THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. said : — " About eight on Tuesday evening, while 200 miles off land the vessel was torpe- doed and we all took to the boats. The sub- marine approached and destroyed the wireless by shell fire. The submarine ordered the boats to come alongside and called for the skipper. Captain Hassan went aboard and was taken down into the submarine. The rest of us — 41 — were mustered on the submarine deck. The Germans took the lifebelts from all of us except eight, and outside clothing from all of us. The submarine crew then entered the submarine and closed the hatches, leaving us on deck. Before this the German sailors had taken the oars, balers and gratings from our lifeboats and smashed the boats with an axe. The sub- marine went about two miles. Suddenly I heard the rush of water, and shouting, ' Look out ! She is sinking,' I jumped into the water. Many men went down with the submarine : others swam about. I had a lifebelt. Next morning a boat picked me up after being 1 1 hours in the water." The deep impression created when this story became known was indicated by a reference to ,it at the great gathering at the Central Hall, Westminster, of Labour representatives from all parts of the kingdom to consider the question of repre-. sentation at an International Conference at Stockholm Speaking in opposition to such representation, Mr. J. Sexton, on behalf of the Liverpool Dockers, said : " To go to Stockholm was to meet men who had not repudiated the brutality of their masters, mer> whose hands were red with the blood of Captain Fryatt, Nurse Cavell. and the crew of the Belgian Prince. When they had repudiated these crimes, and not before, his objection to meeting them would be gone." It is easy to imagine the universal feeling of loathing, mixed with anger, engendered by such practices, for which there was no justifi- cation. The British submarines in the Baltic and the Sea of Marmora demonstrated con- clusively how a blockade of hostile coasts and shipping could be carried on in a clee.n and humane manner, without risk to the lives of non-combatants. On March 30, 1917, there was published an interesting report, received from the commanding officer of one ,of the British submarines, which provided testimony to the humanitarian methods of the British Navy, in striking contrast with the inhuman practices of the German Navy. On the morning of March 14 H.M.'s submarine E , when proceeding on the surface in the North Sea, sighted two suspicious craft ahead. On approaching them, however, she found them to be ships' boats sailing south, and containing some 30 members of the crew of the Dutch steamship L. M. Casteig, which had been torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine, some distance to the northward, over 24 hours previously. After ascertaining DUTCH FISHING BOAT. that there were both food and water in the boats, E took them in tow at once, and proceeded towards the Dutch coast at the greatest possible speed consistent with safety in view of the state of the weather. Some four hours later the Norwegian steamship Norden was sighted, and as she showed some natural reluctance about approaching the submarine, not knowing that it was British, the boats containing the Dutch crow cast off the tow and pulled towards her. E kept the boats in sight until they were seen to have been picked up by the Norden, and then proceeded on the course which had been inter- rupted for her act of mercy. In the light of all that has been recorded in this chapter, it is instructive to summarise the progress of the policy of unlimited and un- mitigated ruthlessness on the part of those responsible for the German submarine war. Needless to say it was entirely a downward progress. The campaign did not attain to its full violence all at once. In the first outbreak, during 1915, there were a great many U boat commanders of the type of Otto Weddigen, who sought to combine with the due execution of the orders of their superiors a consideration 70 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. [From a German photograph. LOADING A TORPEDO ON A GERMAN SUBMARINE FROM A GUNBOAT. for human life, which was thought to be charac- teristic of all seamen. There wore also otlrsr commanders entirely lacking in any such spirit of cliivalry and honour, such as Com- mander Schmidt, who torpedoed the Falaba, and the assailant of the Lusitania, who was reported to be Commander Max Valentiner, son of the Dean of Sonderburg Cathedral. But at first the school of the ruthless men did not hold sway. The Lusitania outrage was an exception — the method of attack and its at- tendant circumstances were not usual at the time. As the American Government said in the Note of June 9, 1915, to the German Government, " Whatever be the other facts regarding the Lusitania, the principal fact is that a great steamer, primarily and chiefly a conveyance for passengers, and carrying more than a thousand souls who had no part or lot in the conduct of the war, was torpedoed and sunk without as much as a challenge or a warning, and that men, women, and children were sent to their death in circumstances unparalleled in modern warfare." In the second great onslaught of the U boats, that which began about the late autumn of 1915. and which was largely operative in the Mediterranean, the ruthless conduct of the Germans was more marked. A higher pro- portion of vessels were sunk without warning or without any adequate time for those on board to take to the boats, while the latter were turned adrift at ever-increasing distance from land. An official list published on May 12, 1916, by the Admiralty, showed that 37 un- armed British vessels were torpedoed without warning between May 7, 1915, and May 10, 1916, of which six and nine respectively were torpedoed in March and April, 1916, as com- pared with one each in the previous September, November, and February. The last vessel included in this list was the Cymric, which was torpedoed on May 8, 1916. On May 12, 1916, also, the Admiralty issued a second list of 22 neutral merchant vessels which had been torpedoed without warning during the pre- ceding year. This list showed the manner in which, during the campaign in question, the efforts of the U boats had been extended to neutral shipping. Whereas from May 7 to December 31, 1915, only seven neutral vessels were torpedoed without being warned, in March, 1916, eight were so attacked, and in April seven. These figures show the increasing virulence of the blockade at the time. The Germans clearly hoped, by greator violence towards Allied vessels and by extending their efforts to the trade of neutrals, to frighten the sea traders and so set up a state of paralys's among all classes of shipping throughout the world. It was not until January 31, 1917, that the THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 71 German Government declared itself iinro- servedly on the side of an unrestricted sub- marine war. Before that date it had always been a question as to which class of submarine commander and which method of attack had the nominal approval cf the German Navy Office. For example, the promise made through Count Bernstorff, after the destruction of the Arabic, that " liners will not be sunk by our submarines without warning and without ensuring the safety of the lives of non-com- batants, provided that the liners do not try to escape or offer resistance," was continually broken, us has been pointed out, yet the G-rinan Admiralty did not make a practice of disclaiming responsibility in such cases, but by their silence gave a tacit approval to the con- duct of the U boat commanders. Further- more, by such acts as the shooting of Captain Fryatt, of the City of Brussels, they encouraged the advocates of ruthlessness. ft was not surprising, therefore, that eventually what was called " unlimited submarine warfare " came to be accepted as the one and only policy. CAPTAIN TUPPER, OF THE NATIONAL SAILORS' AND FIREMEN'S UNION, SPEAKING ON TOWER HILL. The Union, under the energetic leadership of Captain Tupper, refused to carr> Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, M.P., and Mr. Jowett, M.P., to Stockholm and Pettograd. 72 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Krowing the risk of bringing America into the war against them by such a course, the Germans deliberately adopted it, because they hoped to . carry the blockade to a successful issue within a limited number of weeks, during which the I'nited States could not effectively participate in the operations. After enumerating the difficulties which already faced the Allies owing to the submarine campaign, Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg told the Reichstag that " We firmly hope to bring these difficulties, by means of an unrestricted U boat war, to the point of unbearableness." Having thus gone " all out " to win in their desperate enterprise, the Berlin authorities at last hoped that their policy of terrorising the world's shipping would be successful. It was a mighty effort, but it failed. The chief rock upon which it split was the indomitable determina- tion of the merchant seamen. They carried on their work as before and met the deadly assaults upon them with coolness, skill and heroic courage. The weekly tables of losses issued by the British Admiralty from February, 1917, onwards showed what a great volume of trade continued to flow to and from the ports of the United Kingdom. Similar tables for the French and Italian merchant navies showed how the Allied seamen had refused to l>e scared by the brutal character of the attacks upon them. So, too, with the sailors of the neutral countries. Ths devotion to duty shown by all enabled the trade of the civilized world to be kept going u-til such a time as the fighting navies could perfect their equipment for dealing with this new menace. Remembering what these gallant officers and men of the Merchant Service had to face, the nature of the perils by which they had been beset since first Germany began to attack peaceful com- merce, it is not surprising that their spirit and resolution should bo such as were displayed on the occesion of the arrested departure of the delegates to an international peace conference in the summer of 1917. The seamen of the vessel concerned refused to sail with those who were ready at such a time to discuss the quest ion of peace, for they had learnt in the bitterest of all schools that there could bo no peace in the world so long as any power remained in the hands of the pan-Germans to inflict such horrors upon the world as had been enacted during the various stages of the submarine war. It would be outside the scope of the present chapter to enter into the methods adopted and efforts made to defend ships from attack and suppress the submarine menace. What, how- ever, must never be forgotten is the wonderful pluck and skill exhibited by the merchant sea- men when attacked so ruthlessly. Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, at the meeting at the Mansion House on July 5, 1917, to inaugurate Kiuy George's Fund for Sailors, told two inspiring stories in this connexion, one of which related to the U boat war. The first was about the un- armed steamer Palm Branch, which, on Novem- ber 21, 1916, was attacked by a submarine and hit in several places. A young apprentice, named Harry C. Forest, remained at his post although badly wounded. The ship escaped. Some time later she was given a gun and put to sea again, and in March, 1917, she was once more attacked by two submarines. She put up a fine fight, and not only got away safely but also sank one of the submarines. Naturally, many more cases in which the merchant seamen displayed their courage end skill in beating off their assailants might be included had it been intended to deal with this phase of the submarine war, but it is sufficient to indicate here, by the case cited by the First Sea Lord, the endvirance and dauntless courage which characterized the conduct of the British Mercantile Marine throughout the one-sided struggle. Similarly, it is worth mentioning that the governing bodies of every shipping enterprise in the country, and many private individuals, aware of the facts, testified to the splendid manner in which, time after time, the men who were subjected to attack by the IT boats, and had their ships sunk under them, at once signed on again for further service. CHAPTER CXCVI. THE ABDICATION OF THE TSAR. Russia in 1916 — The Stuermer Premiership — Growth of Discontent — M. Protopopoff as Minister of the Interior — Meaning and History of the Autocracy — Character of the Tsar — Why the Revolution Failed in 1905-7 — The Empress Alexandra — For«'i;s Behind the Throne — Rasputin — His Murder — Economic Chaos in Russia — Responsibility of M. Protopopoff — The Revolution, March, 1917 — Police Provocation — Diary of Events in Petrograd — The Abdication of the Tsar — Disappearance of the Dynasty and the Old Regime — Provisional Government under Prince Lvoff — The Duma — Recognition of the New Government by the Allies. RUSSIA took the field on a strong note of union between Tsar and people.* During the first stages of the war and until the disastrous retreat of the Russian armies in 1915 had aroused mis- givings as to the efficiency of the administration, all parties and classes loyally refrained from political agitation. Failure to support the Army when it was victorious and to compensate for military disasters by internal reforms revived the latent discontent. The super- session of the War Minister, General Sukhom- linoff, in June, 1915, and even the assumption of the supreme command by the Tsar in the following September were regarded as measures that dealt merely with one aspect of the country's need. The demand, as formulated by the constitutional parties both in the Duma and in the Council of Empire, was for a Ministry enjoying the confidence of the people. The Prime Minister, M. Goremykin, who had hitherto opposed an attitude of passive resist- ance to this demand, prorogued Parliament as soon as the Legislature adopted it. M. Goremykin's coup put fresh heart into the bureaucracy and other reactionary elements that had become alarmed by the remarkable * Cf. Vol. VIII. cap. exxix., in which are presented events in Russia during the first two years of the cam- paign. Vol. XIII.— Part 159 capacity for affairs exhibited by urban and rural authorities in the organisation of the rear- ward services. The Tsar's resolve that the war should come first was actually construed as an injunction against reform in every sphere. M. Krivoshein, the capable Minister of Agri- culture, who at one time had been regarded as the likeliest candidate for the Premiership, resigned, and, after successive Ministerial experiments on the part of M. Goremykin, he was followed into retirement by the Prime Minister himself. This was in January, 1916. By this time political discontent had been reinforced by economic stringency. The rapid rise in the price of commodities and the scarcity of food and fuel in the great cities, added to the wholesale influx of millions of refugees from the invaded provinces, increased the tension. The new Premier, M. Stuermer, who is said to have been designated by M. Goremykin, notwithstanding antecedents that were any- thing but reassuring, succeeded at first in conciliating public sentiment by reassembling the Duma. The Tsar attended the opening ceremony, and the communion between Sove- reign and people bade fair to be restored. Under the Tsar's auspices, moreover, and with the very effective co-operation of General Sukhom- linoff's two immediate successors, General Polivanoff and General Shuvaieff, the Russian 74 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Armies in the summer of 1916 were destined to carry everything before them on the Austrian front in an advance which was arrested in August only by the exigencies of Rumania's intervention and of her subsequent defeat. The turn of events in the field, which had availed for a time to distract attention from internal problems, served merely to focus criticism more sharply on the administration PRINCE LVOFF, Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, 1917. The approach of autumn and the menace of a hard whiter found the problems of transport and supply still unsolved. Discontent became acute and found passionate expression in memorable speeches by politicians so divergent as the Cadet leader. M. Miliukoff, and the Conservative, M. Purishkevitch, in the Duma when Parliament reassembled in November. The demand for responsible government, which had formed the main plank in the plat- form of the Progressive Bloc, was re-echoed not only by every party but by every class. The baneful influence of " dork forces " discerned behind the Throne lent fierce insistence to the cry. The name even of the Empress Alex- andra was drawn into the debate, and her German origin, allied with the imputed sym- pathies of the Court, was made the basis for an indictment of the Government as the conscious or unconscious instrument of a pro-German policy. In vain the Ministers of War and of Marine endeavoured to placate the Duma by protesting their full sense of the nation's share in the effective conduct of the campaign. Relations between Parliament and M. Stuermer, who since the retirement of M. Sazonoff in July, 1916, had acted also as Foreign Minister, were broken off. A threatened deadlock was averted by the Prime Minister's resignation at the end of November. M. Trepoff, an honest but weak official, who, as Minister of Railways, had presided over the completion of the Murman lire, succeeded him. After trying for six weeks to conciliate both Crown and Parliament, he, too, resigned. His successor, Prince Golitzin, who was destined to be the last Prime Minister of the pre-Revolutionary era, was instructed by the Tsar to seek an urgent solution of the economic problem ; to rely upon the tried patriotism of the local authorities ; and to treat Parliament with the respect and forbearance to which the Government itself was entitled. The new Prime Minister proclaimed at the outset as his programme : "a united Cabinet and everything for the war." This intention was frustrated by the independent, if not alto- gether irresponsible, activity of an ambitious politician, M. Protopopoff, who had been appointed Minister of the Interior in October. As a prominent Liberal and a Vice-President of the Duma he had headed the Russian Par- liamentary deputation to London, Pan's and Rome during the previous spring. In England in particular his public utterances were alto- gether unexceptionable. On the return journey, however, at Stockholm, he allowed himself to be inveigled into an interview with a German named Warburg, who has been variously described as a diplomatist masquerading as a financial agent and as a financial agent mas- querading as a diplomatist. Contradictory accounts of this conversation excited a bitter controversy in the Press, and subsequently found a graver echo in Parliament. The appointment of M. Protopopoff as Minister of the Interior under M. Stuermer was regarded as confirming the worst suspicions as to the tendencies of the administration. These misgivings were aggravated by an uneasy apprehension that the Stuermors and THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 75 Protopopoffs of the day were merely puppet? in the unseen hands oi mysterious forces at and about the Court. What these forces were M. Miliukoff disclosed in his speech in the Duma in November — shady creatures for the most part, secretaries and hangers-on of Ministers, scheming and servile prelates, and impecunious adventurers of all sorts. The most sinister figure in the group was Gregory Rasputin, the dissolute "holy man," miracle- worker and prayer-monger, who, although neither monk nor friar, had wormed his way from the purlieus of Siberia into the drawing- rooms of Moscow, and thence into the Palace itself, where with varying ups and downs of fortune he had succeeded in maintaining him- self for over ten years as the accredited successor of the monk Heliodore. Warning after warning reached Rasputin, but he refused to heed them ; at the close of the year he fell the victim of a Palace plot, in the house and, as it is said, by the hand of the Tsar's nephew by marriage, the younger Prince GENERAL POL1VANOFF, War Minister in 1915. Yussupoff. But the death of this charlatan brought no relief to the sorely-vexed nation; M. Protopopoff enforced with unexampled rigour the censorship exercised by the Ministry of the Interior, and began to exhibit every intention of inaugurating a policy of his own Outlawed by Parliament and by his own party as a renegade, he seems to have determined to rely upon his executive power and to impose a purely departmental solution of the transport and supply problem. The Duma, kept in suspense from week to week, became restive under the strain • even Ministers, including the new Foreign Minister. M. Pokrovsky, re- belled against a system which threatened to make their own work impossible, and they successively resigned or took indefinite leave. The process of dissolution spread, and by the time the Duma was at last convened at the ond of February bread riots were breaking out in Petrograd and the workmen engaged in war GENERAL SHUVAIEPF, War Minister in 1916. industries struck in sympathy. That, with vast supplies available all over the country, the people should find themselves on the verge of starvation seemed to warrant the masses in raising the cry of treason. The roar of the multitude penetrated into the inmost recesses of tho Duma Palace, and the House, which had listened with impatience to the non-committal platitudes of a new Minister of Agriculture, promptly adopted a resolution transferring the control of supplies from the Government to the municipalities and other local authorities. The Government replied by dissolving Parliament, which, however, continued to sit, in view of events in the capital, where Protopopoffs police was vainly attempting to provoke the mob with machine gun fire. When the military were called upon to assist them the troops went over to the people and turned on the police. The Tsar, who was at the Imperial Head- quarters at the front, refused, on the informa- tion before him, to parley with an impenitent 159—2 76 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. CROWD IN FRONT OF Parliament, a mutinous soldiery, and a mob of strikers. The President of the Duma, M. Rodzianko, telegraphed to the Tsar a last appeal which remained unanswered. On March 13 General Ivanoff was appointed military dictator to deal with the rising, but he was unable to reach the capital with his escort of Knights of St. George. All over Russia there was revolution. On March 1 5 M. Gutchkoff and M. Shulgin, as commissaries of Parliament, received from the Tsar in the Imperial train at PskofT, halfway between Petrograd and Riga, the Act by which he abdicated his own rights and those of his son Alexis to the Throne. The Revolution seemed complete, and Prince Lvoff, the President of the All-Russian Zemstvo Union, which had rendered most important services in connexion with supplies for the Army, inaugurated the new era as the first Prime Minister of Revolutionary Russia. Russia, it has been said, is never more to be feared than when she has just been defeated. She possesses in a marked degree the litt'e- understood Asiatic quality of resilience. The Crimean war threw Russia back from Europe on to Asia; the Japanese war threw her back 1 again on to Europe ; and the Groat War threw her back on to herself. That is the outward manifestation of these outstanding events in THE DUMA BUILDING. modern Russian history. Their interna! re- action has been less clearly discerned. The Crimean war was followed by the emancipation of the serfs ; the Japanese war was followed by the general strike, mutinies, and counter- movements of 1905-1906 ; and the end of the Great War, so long drawn-out, was anticipated by the overthrow of the autocracy. The Great War and its attendant circum- stances for Russia unquestionably hastened this consummation, but the end was in itself inevitable. Moreover, as one of the profoundest students of Russian conditions has observed, at no period of its history could the autocracy have been displaced without violence.* If it be true that the autocracy owed its existence primarily to the multiplicity of the races by which its seat of power was surrounded, and secondarily to the multiplicity of the races over which it ruled, it is not surprising tint in the process of welding these disparate elements the highest importance should have been attached to the principle of unity. Cohesion was necessary in order to enable the Russians to resist the pressure of Tartar, Pole and Swede ; and unity was necessary in order to overcome internal divisions after the external menace had passed. " This conception of * James Mavor, "Economic History of Russia," Vol. II. pp. 6, /, THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 77 the cardinal importance of unanimity with its implications may be regarded as the principal feature which distinguishes Russian political ideas from those of Western Europe." It was in conformity with this central idea that M. Pobiedonostzeff, scholar, theologian and tutor of Tsars, developed his conception of political power as the " manifestation of a unique will, without which no government is possible. " To him " the Parliamentary comedy " was " the supreme political lie that dominates our age." The institution of Par- liament he condemned as one of the greatest of human delusions. " It is terrible," he wrote, " to think of our condition if destiny had sent us that fatal gift — an All-Russian Parliament ! But that will never be."* In other words, as Prince Gortchakoff admitted a year or two before his death, the dominant apprehension was that the grant of a constitution and the creation of a legislature would inevitably provoke centrifugal tendencies. So long as every manifestation of the " general will " could be suppressed, the " unique will," pleading the necessity for unification, could * M. Pobiedonostzeff was Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod from 1880 until 1905, and exercised a commanding influence on Russian internal policy during that period. He died in 1907, at the age of 80. remain supreme In one of- its aspects, as Professor Mavor points out, the history of Russia is the history of the growth of autocracy under these conditions. The " inflexible will " of the Tsar is the " unique will." He is at once head of the State and of the Church. He is ordained of God to be the arbiter of the doHtinies of his people. While absolutism is not a peculiarly-Russian phenomenon, and while its characteristics in Russia were gradually developed, not without imitation of the models of Byzantium and of Western Europe prior to the eighteenth century, the fundamental idea of it was not out of harmony with the principle of unity which was deeply rooted in the Russian mind as a social necessity of the first order. The difficulty which the Slavs and their allies experienced in making IImiiimwIihi masters of the vast region which thoy were colonising thus led perhaps inevitably under the conditions of the time, internal and external, to absolutism. Deficient as they were in knowledge of the social and political development of contemporary France and England, and of the impossibility of the permanent re- establishment of arbitrary power in the West, successive Russian Tsars, from Aloxander I. (1801-1825) onwards, and most conspicuously Nicholas I. (1825-1855), seem to have looked upon themselves as instruments of Heaven entrusted with the high task of stemming the revolution- ary tide. They have conceived the idea that popular government would be fatal to Russia, and they have rightly foreseen that if it were granted to the rest of the world, its advent in Russia could not for long be delayed. While Belf-interest thus impelled them to observe and even to share in the affairs of countries other than their own, they no doubt honestly conceived that popular government would be as fatal to these countries as they supposed it would be to Russia. Consumed with a desire to play a great rdk in the history of humanity, they threw themselves in 1814, in 1849, and again in M. RODZIANKO, PRESIDENT OF THE DUMA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 79 1854, into the struggle Against what they conceived to bo the spirit of revolution— in 1814 against Napoleon I., in 1849 against Hungary, and in 1854 against Napoleon HI. . . . The Tsars Alexander II., Alexander III., and Nicholas II. have also played a Quixotic part in tilting against windmills. All have been inspired by the desire to exercise and to bequeath unimpaired to their successors sole autocratic power within their own dominions, as well as by ambition to confer the benefits of autocracy upon other nations. There is reason to believe that some of them, in moments of religious exaltation, have regarded themselves as being in very direct relations with the Divine Power and as sharing in its attributes. The touch of fanaticism which this suggests accounts for the vacillation of the "inflexible will," for the general benevolence of intention, for frequent lapses into barbaric cruelty, for the lack of judgment with which successive Tsars have chosen their advisers, and for the ardour with which many of them, notably Alexander III., endeavoured to control every department of Government down to the smallest detail. The practice just mentioned has been followed by the present Tsar (Nicholas II.), and this circumstance accounts in a large measure for the confusion in which the administration was plunged in tre revolutionary years of 1905-1906. When the T?ar held himself responsible for everything, there is little wonder that the people also held him responsible. . . . Autocracy upon a small scale may conceivably be successful in maintaining " good government " ; but the demands of a numerous nation of manifold racial origins, upon an autocrat who is at once priest, soldier, judge, official, and " first policeman," tend to become cumulative and to reach beyond the endurance of the human mind or body on their present, plane. An ideal Tsar must not merely be divinely anointed, he must himself be indeed a goa. . . . Up till the recent revolutionary epoch popular recognition of the impossibility of the adequate perfor- mance of the traditional rdle of Tsarship, as well as remnants of Caesar -worship which lingered among the simple rural folk, combined to render the public attitude towards the Tsar one of large tolerance. "The Dear Father does not know our situation, or he would change it," was the popular formula. One sign of the great change which has passed over Russia during recent years is that this formula is recognized to be no longer applicable. The Tsar must know what everyone els© knows. He had the power to effect radical changes In the condition of the peasantry ; although he has retained this power, he has not exercised it, therefore he is re- sponsible. Although from the peasant point of view the present Tsar (Nicholas II.) is not worse than any, perhaps even better than most, of his predecessors, his failure only proves that autocracy is worn out and must be abolished. Thus stage by stage the revolutionary state of mind develops. . . . To the desire for drastic political change must be added the fatalistic habit of thought which is characteristic of the Russian mind ; once the necessity of change is realized, it must take place somehow immediately. The practical means of carrying out any change are not really considered, nor is the character of the change itself at all deeply regarded. The means might have to be violent : who might know ? The character of it would have to be left to the people to determine: who might know the result? A "Con- stituent Assembly " might be convened, and this would reveal "the will of the people." Such waa the state of mind of Russia in 1905. This analysis, which was published shortly before the outbreak of the Great War, shows the lines upon which the mutual attitude of ruler and ruled was advancing until the military reverses of 1915 and 1916 combined with intolerable economic pressure to precipitate the catastrophe. It is imperative to k« ■< • | > in steady view the changes in the . popular conception of the autocracy before the war, in order to avoid the error of supposing that even a more uncompromising " Russiflcator " than Nicholas II. could indefinitely have postponed a catastrophe which was almost predestined. Nicholas II., when he ascended the Throne in 1894, at the age of twenty-six, prayed like his fathers before him that " in his high service as Tsar and Judge of the Russian Empire ; ' he might be helped so to order all to the good of his people and the glory of God, that at the Day of Judgment he might answer without sham* 1 . In 191 3, on the occasion of the Romanoff Tercentenary, an authorized Russian biography of Nicholas II. described tho painstaking thoroughness with which he made himself acquainted with all the details of each day's affairs. M The Tsar's working day," it was added, ** ends, as it begins, with prayer.'* A constant remark to his officials was : " I like to hear the truth." Papers which require especial attention the Tsar keeps with him. They are invariably read, and remarks are made on their margin. For example, all reports from governors of provinces are read through, and frequently the more important passages in them are read aloud to the Empress at evening tea. . . . The Tsar's speeches are always remarkable for their conciseness and clearness, and for the vivid form in which his ideas are expressed. ** I never prepare wnat I say. But I pray to God and then speak what comes into my mind,'* the Tsar ha 4 * often said.* In his first speech in the very first months of his reign Nicholas II. designated a** " senseless dreams " the aspirations of the Zemstvos. The day after this rebuff the Tsar was answered by the " Liberals " in the following open letter : — You have told your mind, and your words will be known to all Russia, to all the civilized world. Until now nobody knew you ; since yesterday you became a M definite quantity," and " senseless dreams " are no longer possible on your account. We do not know whether you clearly understand the situation created by your " firm " utterance. But people who do not stand so high above and so far off from actuality can easily comprehend what is their own and your position con- cerning what is now the state of things in Russia First of all you are imperfectly informed. No Zemstvoist has put the question as you put it, and no voice was raised in any Zemstvo assembly against autocracy. . . . The question wa* only to remove tho wall of bureaucracy and court influences which separates the Tsar from Russia; and these were tho tendencies which you in your inexperience and lack of knowledge ventured to stamp as " senseless dreams." . . . Unhappily, your un- * Tsar Nicholas //., by Major-General A. Elchaninov. 80 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. fortunate expression is not a mere slip of language ; it reflects a deliberate system. Russian society realizes very well that not an ideal autocrat has spoken to them, but a bureaucracy jealous of its omnipotence. Janu- ary 29 has dispelled that halo which surrounded your young, uncertain appearance in the eyes of many Russians. You. yourself raised your hand against your own popularity. But not your popularity alone is now at stake. If autocracy in word and deed proclaims itself identical with the omnipotence of bureaucracy, if it can exist only so long as society is voiceless, its cause is lost. It digs its own grave, and soon or late — at any rate, in a future not very remote — it will fall beneath the pressure of living social forces. . . . The alternative you put before society is such that the mere fact of its being clearly formulated and openly proclaimed implies a terrible threat to autocracy. You challenged the Zemstvos, and with them Russian society, and nothing reipains for them now but to choose between progress and faithfulness to autocracy. Your speech has pro- Duma, a calm and fruitful session such as will please me and be for the good of our dear Russia." In the words of the Tsar in March, 1906, " ray autocracy remains as it ever was "-—neither diminished nor limited by the convocation of national representatives. Among some 500 Bills that were annually submitted to the Tsar for sanction few appear to have given him more genuine satisfaction than tho Land Acts of 1906, which introduced the conception of individual ownership of property and brought Russian law into conformity with the iaw of Western Europe. Repeatedly he expressed anxious solicitude for the welfare of THE WINTER PALACE, PETROGRAD. voked a feeling of offence and depression ; but the living social forces will soon recover from that feeling. Some of them will pass to a peaceful but systematic and conscious struggle for such scope of action as is necessary for them. Others will be made more deter- mined to fight the detestable regime by any means. You first began the struggle ; and the struggle will come.* It was the Tsar's "inflexible will" as Seif- Ruler that 20 years later proclaimed the advent of a representative legislature. " It is by the will of God that we hold sway over our people. Before His throne we shall answer for our rule " — so ran the Manifesto of Juno, 1907. Five years later Nicholas II. closed the Third Duma with the words : — ' I wish you a safe journey to your homes, and to thoee of you who return to the Fourth •Paul Miliukoff, Russia and its Crisis, pp. 327, 328. the peasants. He particularly interested him- self in the drink question, although his interest remained fruitless until the outbreak of war gave him the opportunity to abolish the vodka monopoly and to free the peasants from the curse of drink. The failure of the revolutionary movement in 1905-1907 is attributed by Professor Mavor to the irreconcilable attitude of the extremists, who demanded a democracy organized in accordance with their sectarian doctrines. The autocracy rallied its demoralized forces, stamped on the divided remnants of rebellion, and granted a sort of constitution. While men of the Pobiedonostzeff school professed to fear that Russia would in consequence " fall into sin and relapse into barbarism," Count Witte advocated a form of " democratic autocracy," THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 81 ON THE NEVA: LOADING which, by concessions to the peasants and the working classes, should save Russia from the demards of middle-class Liberalism. There is a theory that M. Protopopoff, who was regarded as a renegade by his fellow Liberals, was intent upon reviving some such scheme when the storm broke and swept him away. It was during the first revolutionary period that Count Witte submitted a secret memoran- dum to the Emperor, in which he drew an elaborate comparison between bureaucracy and self-government, and sought to prove that the further progress of the latter would inevitably ICE FOR STORAGE. load to the downfall of autocratic monarchy. According to Sir Paul Vinogradoff,* Count Witte argued that self-government, even local or provincial, is in its essence a political arrange- ment, and as such opposed to- absolute mon- archy. If self-government was 'to live and to act rationally, it would have to develop into a constitution. If it could not be allowed to do so, it would have to be superseded by a centralized bureaucracy. He impl'ed that Russian bureau- cracy would produce a new political type, * Self-Government in Russia, by Paul Vinogradoff, pp. 68-70. THE IMPERIAL APARTMENTS IN THE PALACE OF TSARSKOE SELO. 82 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. unknown to liistory, and that it would develop into an aristocracy of work and enlightenment. As Count Witte himself said to a deputation of railwaymen during the first general strike in October, 1905 : " Remember, under such conditions the Government can fall ; but you will destroy all the best forces of the nation. In tliis way you will play into the hands of THE GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS MIKHAILOVITCH. the very bourgeoisie against whom you are struggling." * M. Protopopoff's special application of Count Witte's theory appears to have consisted in demagogic proposals amounting to the confisca- tion of large landed estates, presumably in order to conciliate the peasantry. This at a moment when the nobility, as much as any class, needed conciliation. However this may be, there appears to be no doubt that he was on the look-out for an opportunity of dis- solving the Fourth Duma, in order that he might secure the return of a more flexible assembly. As a preliminary, every effort was made to assure a " packed " House in the Council of Empire. In Court circles, at any rate as late as Decem- ber, 1916, the comfortable expectation seems to have been entertained that the Tsar would be able, at an appropriate moment, to concede the * Quoted by Khrustaloff, The Council o/ Labour Dr.l*qaten, p. .">!i ; cited by J. Mavor, op. oil., p. 487. demand for responsible government. This stage, it was believed, would be reached automatically, and the desired concession, unlike that of 1905, would be made without pressure. This view was put forward by the Gr.uid Duke Nicholas Mikhailovitch, the well-known Presi- dent of the Russian Imperial Historical and Geographical Societies, and a first cousin of the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievitch, in a memorandum which he handed to the Tsar at an interview on November 14. This letter gives the following intimate vision of Nicholas II. as a ruler : You have frequently proclaimed your will to continue the war to a victorious end. Are you sure that the present condition of the country permits this ? Are you well enough acquainted with affairs within the Empire, particularly in Siberia, Turkestan, and the Caucasus ? Do you hear the whole truth, or is much concealed ? Where is the root of the evil ? Let me explain it in a few words. So long as your manner of choosing Ministers was known to narrow circles, things could muddle along ; but when it became a matter of public knowledge and all classes in Russia talked about it, it was senseless to M. PROTOPOPOFF, Minister of the Interior, October, 1916- 1917. ■March, attempt to continue to govern Russia in this fashion. Often did you tell me you could put faith in no one, and that you were being deceived. If this is so, then it applies particularly to your wife, who lovos you and yet led you into error, being surrounded by evil-minded intimates. You believe in Alexandra Feodorovna. This is natural. But the words she utters are the product of skilful machinations, not of truth. If you are powerless to liberate her from these influences, then, at all events, be on your guard against the constant and systematic influence of intriguers, who are using your wife as their instrument. If your per- suasions are unavailing, and I am sure you have re- peatedly tried to combat these influences, try other methods to rid yourself of them once for all. Your first impulse and decision are always remarkably true and to the point. But as soon as other influences THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. THE TAURIS PALACE, THE supervene you begin to waver, and your ultimate decisions are not the same. If you could remove the persistent interference of dark forces in all matters, the regeneration of Russia would instantly be advanced and you would regain the confidence of the enormous majority of your subjects, which you have forfeited. Everything will go smoothly. You will find people who, under changed conditions, will agree to work under . your personal direction. During the course of this conversation with the Tsar the Grand Duke spoke of Protopopoff, and asked Nicholas II. whether he was aware that this politician had been palmed off on him by the agency of Rasputin, whom Proto- popoff had met at the house of Badmaieff, a charlatan who represented himself as an expert in " Thibetan " medicine and who had a largo clientele in Petrograd society. The Tsar, with disarming courtesy, replied that he was aware of these matters. The Emperor took the Grand Duke's memorandum and subsequently read it out to the Empress. When he reached the passage dealing with her influence on her husband, " she seized the letter in a rage and toro it up." On January 13, a fortnight after the murder of Rasputin, the Tsar wrote to the Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovitch : "I order you to leave for your estate for the space of two months. ... I beg you to do it. I order and I beg — can you make it out ? " Other observers, foreign as well as Russian, who had opportunities of forming a first-hand judgment of Nicholas II., ascribed his hesitancy and apparent irresolution to a constitutional unwillingness to inflict pain and to an early upbringing which has been described as having SEAT OF THE DUMA. been calculated to fit him for almost any other walk of life but that of Tsar of All the Russias. Not even his bitterest onemies ever denied that ho possessed in the highest sense the instincts of a gentleman. But the proverbial loneliness of kings fell heavily upon him, and undoubtedly marred his finer qualities. " The trade " of autocracy, as Professor Mavor has justly remarked, is an exhausting and dangerous business, imposing a severe strain upon the physical constitution and tending to the disturbance of mental equi- librium. Alexander I. and Nicholas I. died, the first at forty-eight and the second at fifty -nine, for want of the will to live. Alex- ander III., father of Nicholas II., died at forty- nine, a nervous wreck, in close retirement. Yet all these, especially the last, were physically strong men. The following typical sketch of the Tsar was published in M. Miliukoffs organ Reich a few days after the abdication : A weak and characterless roan, easily susceptible to outside influences, Nicholas II. was never able to take a firm and definite decision. After having taken one the Tsar would often have a talk with some person and then take a directly opposite decision. It did not require a great effort to convince Nicholas II. of anything in the world. He listened with particular respect to the opinions of specialists, which latter term, however, he interpreted very narrowly. In his opinion a specialist, was always the person who by the will of fate, or of the Tsaritsa, or of Rasputin, stood at the moment at the head of this or that department. The Tsaritsa had an irresistible influence over him. In her presence he never had an opinion of his own. The Tsaritsa usually spoke for him, and he practically agreed with everything she said. No one could understand the secret of that 159—3 84 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. influence, even the Dowager-Empress being at a loss to account (or it. The Tsarit«a would frequently visit Headquarters, and on those occasions her apartments would show light until late into the night. That meant that she was busy with affairs of State, drawing up decrees, making appointments, dismissing Ministers, etc. His weakness of character left its mark on th« last days of his reign. Though he took the grave decision to abdicate, he, at the same time, continued to sleep and eat regularly without feeling in the least disturbed in his THE EMPRESS ALEXANDRA. mode of life. Only a weak person can easily go back to his old routine after a catastrophe. His wife, on the other hand, was an energetic, independent and imperious character, with great strength of will and void of all scruples. No single Minister could ever be appointed without her approval. The Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovitch, whose intervention appears to have been prompted by the Dowager Empress, was not the only member of the Imperial Family who remonstrated with the Tsar. The former's brother, the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailo- vitch, likewise told the Emperor " many bitter truths," as also did the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievitch. Even the Grand Duchess Vic- toria, wife of the Grand Duke Cyril, approached the Tsar. " What has the Empress to do with politics ? She is an army nurse and nothing more," the'Tsar is reported to have said to her . Individually and collectively the members of the Imperial Family sought to impress upon the Tsar the growing discontent among the people. So urgent and repeated, indeed, had their supplications and protests towards the end of 1916 become that their attitude was known to many who, if they had any criticism to offer, regretted that the Grand Dukes had kept silent so long. Nor were the Tsar's kinsmen alone in their warnings. Similar representations were made by one of the Court Chaplains, by the enlightened Minister of Public Instruction, Count Ignatieff ; by the Finance Minister, M. Bark ; by the Conservative Deputy, M. Purishkevitch ; and last, but not least, by the British Ambassador, Sir George Buchanan, who on several occasions, and as late as December, drew the Tsar's attention to the political aspects of the situation. THE DOWAGER EMPRESS MARIE. The Empress Alexandra, sister of the Grand Duke of Hesse, was married to the Tsar at the age of 22. The circumstances of her arrival in Russia in 1894 and of her betrothal at the death-bed of Alexander III., and the invidious position brought upon her by the contrast between her reserve and the public activity of the Dowager Empress Marie, appear to have created in her a frame of mind which the repeated disappointment of her hopes of an THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 85 heir ultimately combined to render morbidly hypersensitive. Some years before the war her medical advisers at Nauheim had diagnosed heart disease. The birth of the Cesarevitch Alexis, nearly 10 years after her marriage, merely relieved one set of anxieties in order to create new reactions and alarms. The assurance of a direct succession appears to have been not altogether welcome to those who since the death of the Tsar's younger brother George in 1899 had urged in vain the formal designation of Alexander III. 's youngest son, Michael, as Cesarevitch.* Although it is universally admitted thit the young Empress was at great pains to acquaint herself with the life and language of her husband's country, the cumulative effect of family and personal anxieties, together with the terror of the first revolutionary era, was to turn her into a recluse. For 10 years before the war the Winter Palace was practically closed. Both society and trade deplored this almost total disappearance of representative functions in the capital, which, as the Romanoff Ter- centenary in 1913 showed, were appreciated also by the general public. The Empress's aloofness even from her own world, for reasons which were in themselves intelligible, did not fail to create a growing impression in certain circles that she disliked Russia and the Russians, and later that she was actively plotting with the Tsar's enemies. When criticism had reached this stage, it was hardly likely to stop and reflect that a mother who had shown herself so fiercely solicitous for her son's security and rights was not likely wittingly to indulge in treasonable practices calculated to endanger his succession. But there were many patriotic Russians like M. . Miliukoff, as he showed in h : s speech in the Duma in November, 1916, who apprehended that in transferring the conduct of foreign affairs from the hands of a Sazonoff to those of a Stuermer the autocracy might have been prompted by excessive solicitude for its own existence and that it might ultimately be tempted to forsake the hard but straight road to victory. Indeed, it has often been asserted that, while the Emperor was thoroughly anti- German and pro-Ally, the Empress was anti- Ally and pro -German ; not so much out of love for the Germans, as because she believed it her mission to maintain absolute monarchy * v. Russian Court Memoirs, 1914-16, by A Russian. in Russia for her husband and her son, and thought Germany much loss dangerous in this respect than England. She would say that the Germans must be " chastised " ; but she was ready, according to this account, to cede a certain amount of territory to them, if she could thereby secure an early peace and save absolutism. In her intense mysticism she M. MILIUKOFF, The Cadet Leader and first Foreign after the Revolution. Minister believed that God had chosen Russia to be the instrument of great miracles. Hence, in part, the sway which Rasputin exercised over her. In the eyes of patriotic Russians, who looked to the Throne for a lead, the remote personality of the Empress assumed more and more an alien form. A stranger she was to them, and no particular ill-will was needed for them to identify her with the land of her birth. Niemka they called her — V Allemande. Germans, on the other hand, spoke of her, the grand- daughter of Queen Victoria as die Engldnderin. English indeed was spoken familiarly at the Russian Court ; the Tsar had had an English tutor and the Empress gave her son his first lessons in English ; while English nurses had been an institution in the Russian Imperial Family since the days of the Emperor Paul.* There were Germans at Court, by name if * Cf. Theodor Schiemann, " Geschirhte Russlffnds unter Kaiser Nikolaus I.,'' vol. I., p. 181. 86 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. not in sympathy — Fredericks, Meyendorf, Griinwald, and the rest ; Hofmeister, Jager- meister, Vorsehneider, Kammerherr, and a host of others. But so there always had been. As M. Miliukoff himself wrote * ten years before he delivered his indictment in the Duma, any Russian national tradition that had grown up around the autocracy RASPUTIN. was broken by no less a person than Peter the Great. Even so, as he added, the autocracy, although based on the principle of unity, was not itself a political principle, but merely a material fact. During all the four centuries of its existence, autocracy had been changing from an institution inherited from the " forefathers " into a theocratic institution ; even further, from a theocratic power on Byzantine lines into a bureaucratic monarchy on European lines ; again, from a bureaucratic monarchy into a manifestation of the absolute "general will " of the people ; still again, from that absolutism of Hobbes into a mediaeval mon- archy of Montesquieu, limited by the " intermediate powers " of the nobility and. the bourgeoisie ; and finally, from this monarchy of mediaeval orders — the Slandesmonarchie — into a national institution sanctioned by the more fact of its long existence and by the supposed quality of its being immutable. The mere externals, therefore, of the Court were not the chief barrier between Throne and people. There were forces behind the Throne ; not presentable " grey Eminences " but para- sites and plunderers, dissolute livers and sordid souls — Manuiloff, Rasputin, Prince An- » Paul Miliukoff, op. cit., pp. 552-553. dronikoff, and the Metropolitan Pitirim- So " mysterious " were these forces that it has never been made clear whether all of these belonged to the " Court Party " which, in the language of the Vienna Neve Freie Presse, " grouped itself about the young Empress." According to Russian gossip and belief, the occult sciences had for many years found a devotee in the Empress Alexandra, and the vein of mysticism in her nature made her responsive not only to a genuine spiritual appeal, but even to the medieval imposture with which a good deal of Russian life and thought is tinged. Her elder sister Elizabeth, widow of the Grand Duke Serge, had become a lay abbess at Moscow, and through her the Empress was brought into contact with clerical seers, visionaries, fakirs, and quacks of all sorts. Among these was Gregory Rasputin, who, about ten years before the war, was fashionable in Moscow as a " holy man. ' There was nothing holy about this illiterate and reprobate peasant beyond the fact that he claimed to have visited the Holy Land. The secret of the fellow's influence, is said to have lain in a certain hypnotic power which made him especially dangerous among women. There was nothing particularly novel about his craft. Half a century before the Cologne Gazette related how one of these "holy men," Ivan Iakovlovitch, attracted to himself in the province of Smolensk a crowd of elegant women, " whose ample crinolines rivalled any- thing to be seen in a German watering-place " : and even after his internment in a madhouse he continued to merit his title as " The Idol of the Ladies." Rasputin claimed to possess miraculous powers of healing, and it is said that he even induced the Empress to believe that to him was due the recovery of her son from an organic malady. He pretended to " watch over " the Cesareviteh, and it was widely assumed in Russia that the anxiety of the Emprees was calmed by the presence of this plausible ruffian. Rasputin's hold upon the Palace made him appear a desirable tool in the" hands of those who had axes of their own to grind. His own boastful vanity confirmed the belief that through him a " Court Camarilla " made and unmade Ministers and ruled All Russia both at home and in the field. The " Cama- rilla " itself has never been more closely defined than as comprising or representing THE TIMES HIS10BY OF THE WAR. 87 the bureaucratic clique whose existenco was bound up with the maintenance of the auto- cracy. That it included the German and pro German elements who during two cen- turies had been the pillars of the " Petersburg regime " goes without saying. The appoint- ment of M. Stuermer, not only as Prime Minis- ter but as Minister for Foreign Affairs, was interpreted by anxious patriots as a signal to Herlin. At the end cf October, 191.6, the Zemstvo Presidents assembled at Moscow declared : The painful and terrible suspicions, the sinister rumours of treason and of occult forces working for Germany, in order to pave the way for a shameful peace, as the price of the destruction of our national unity — all these apprehensions are transformed into the certainty that an enemy hand is secretly directing the affairs of the nation. It was noted that in the German Press M. Stuermer's appointment to succeed M. Sazonoff was welcomed on the ground that the new Foreign Minister had exhibited no par- ticular enthusiasm either for the war or for the acquisition of Constantinople. These im- pressions, M. Miiiukoff explained in the Duma, had been gathered from a memorandum submitted in the summer of 1916 to the Tsar by the iiartie* of the Extreme Right, who urged that, while victory was desirable, it was necessary to bring the war to an end in good time, since otherwise the fruits of victory would be annihilated by revolution. M. Miiiukoff added : This is an idie fire — that a revolution in coming from the Left and that every new member of the Cabinet in bound to prevent it. Everything is sacrificed to this idea — the lofty national enthusiasm for helping in the war, the beginnings of Russian freedom, and also the stability of our relations with our Allies. . . . When the authorities try to cause disturbances, such as might later serve as grounds for ending the war, and when tho Court party, in the midst of a raging war, attacks the only man who has gained our Allies 1 respect for honourable conduct, arid places in his stead a person of whom one can say everything that I have said — then it is almost impossible to believe that this is folly, and people cannot be blamed for reaching another conclusion. We have many grounds for being dissatisfied with the Government, but they are all to be traced to its in- capacity and ill-will. There lies our most deadly enemy. Victory over this evil thing would signify victory in tho whole war. In the name therefore of the millions whom the war has claimed, in the name of the rivers of blood that have flowed, in the name of our struggle to realize our national aims, in the name of our sense of responsibility towards the nation which has sent us here, we promise to fight on until we have attained our aim — a Cabinet that deserves the complete trust of the people. But neither public warnings nor private entreaties by members of the Imperial family availed to bring about a change. The economic? A RASPUTIN SEANCE. 88 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAB. situation went from bad to worse and the echoes of it in the Duma were visited by the suspension of the session on December 29. The advice upon which this course was taken was attri- buted, like every evil of the age, to the sinister influence of Rasputin. The rights of Parlia- ment found champions in a quite unexpected M. PURISHKEV1TCH, The Conservative Deputy, concerned in the murder of Rasputin. quarter. Certain younger members of the Imperial family, including the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch and Prince Yussupoff, who joined their elders in disapproving of Rasputin's presonce at the Palace mado up their minds to murder him. In this design they received the active support of M. Purish- kevitch, the fiery Bessarabian Deputy, whom the circumstances of the time had converted from a reactionary into a patriot of more Liberal tendencies. In November in the Duma he had denounced with an eloquence equal to that of M. Miliukofi' himself the shortcomings of the administration. The conspirators, who were in the habit of meeting at the Petrograd residence of Prince Yussupoff, frequently invited Rasputin to join the party, and over a bottle of wine, to which the " holy man " was partial, ho would describe his share in the conduct of State affairs. On the night of December 29 his conversation, which appears to have beon particularly complacent, was cut short by an intimation on the part of his hosts that they had decided that he must die. He was offered the choice between suicide and execution. A revolver PLAN OF THE CITY OF PETROGRAD. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 89 '!'.!!!!!! !l!!!»!i !»|»»»' m»mw „„,„<„■ •*"•'•< •••"' "!!"" !!!!!!!!! " ,n " '.'!!.'!.'.'.' - THE LAST SITTING OF THE DUMA UNDER THE OLD REGIME. was put into his hand, he turned it against one of the conspirators, missed him, and was shot down like a dog. His body was cast into an ice-hole in the Neva, from which it was recovered the following day and convoyed to Tsarskoe Selo, where it was interred in a mortuary chape! in the palace grounds. The conspirators were placed first under domiciliary arrest and then relegated either to the country or to a distant part of the front. Rasputin and Stuermer had quitted the scene ; but their spirit, so the public believed, survived in M. Protopopoff, who had become Minister of the Interior in October and who retained his post under the last two Prime Ministers of the autocracy, M. Trepoff and Prince Golitzin, both of them weak officials of an old school. With egregious self-con- fidence this ex-Liberal politician, puffed up by his contact with the Court, where he appears to have been regarded as a coming man, imagined that he would lie able to override the Duma as easily as he overshadowed the three Prime Ministers under whom he served. M. Protopopoff had a " plan " ; for the Court this was recommendation enough. As for the economic problems of the day, of which, as Minister of the Interior, he sought to assume control, the Kmperor might well have said to him what Alexander II. once said to a Finance Minister of his own : " I always thought that I knew less than any man in Pvussia about finance ; but now I see you are the man ! " At the New Year it was estimated that there was probably sufficient food iri Russia to feed the population for two years.* The question was how to distribute it. While in Petrograd even the soldier's ration of rye bread had to be reduced by one-half, thousands of tons of corn were lying stored in elevators at numbers of stations along the main railway lines to the capital. The price of bread had more than doubled, and even so, bread was to be obtained only at irregular intervals and after intermin- able waiting. Kosloff, to take a Russian provincial town at random, on one occasion in November was without fioup for ten days, although quite half a dozen of the largest flour mills in Russia lie within a 250 miles radius of it. With a railway system originally organized with regard almost exclusively to the export of grain to Germany, it became daily more difficult to supply Petrograd and Moscow under war conditions. But this difficulty of * The Times, January 29, 1917. 90 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. making an inadequate railway system stand the double strain of ordinary distribution and of military requirements could hardly be pleaded as an excuse for a scarcity so universal as that which actually prevailed throughout Russia during the winter. The scheme such as it was of dealing with the food problem went back to the first weeks of the war, when the Ministry of Agriculture was given the necessary powers and credits for feeding the armies in the field. A" special designed also to assume control of the Military Department of Provisions. Already during 1915 the Ministry of the Interior had ordered the provincial Governors to devote themselves to the food question and to delegate all adminis- trative routine to their assistants. From this time onwards each province had had its own regulations, mostly at variance with its neigh- bours. Only on^ rule was universal — that no food might be exported from one province to another without the licence of the Governor FLOUR SEIZED AT POLICE STATIONS DURING THE REVOLUTION, and deposited at the Duma building for distribution. Department of Provisions was created for the purpose. This was divided into two sub- departments, one dealing with meat, fats, and hay ; the other with flour, corn, vegetables, and other products. Until July, 1915, its opera- tions were confined to the region e ast of a line roughly drawn from Petrograd, to Nicolaieff on th? Black Sea. After that date its opera- tions were extended to the area west of this line, and thenceforward the Department of Provisions bore the whole burden of supplying the annie ; in the field. In order to deal with the increasing defi- ciencies in the supplies for the civilian popula- tion, various departmental experiments were tried, and ultimately the Ministry of the In- terior attempted to take the matter in hand. Indeed, M. Protopopoff is credited with having of the province of origin. In each province there were two competing sets of authorities — the delegates of the Ministry of Agriculture, representing the military, and the officials of the Ministry of the Interior, representing civilian interests. Friction arose all along the line ; but the former set of officials held an advantage, since they could plead that their claims on behalf of the Army in the field were the more urgent. With each succeeding month the scarcity became more manifest, not only as regards food, but also in the supply of every other commodity. As Professor J. Y. Simpson, an acute and sympathetic student of contemporary Russian affairs, pointed out,* just because the problem was by no means insoluble, an impression got * The Times, December 29, 1916. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 91 abroad that it was not being handled with all requisite energy. This impression was strengthened when the Minister of the Interior prohibited the holding of a conference sum- moned by representatives of the Union of Towns to deal with the question. Again the same Minister's refusal to transfer the control of the leather industry to the very efficient Zemstvo Union was interpreted as further proof that he had abjured his earlier Liberal principles- These incidents, together with what was re- garded as a suspiciously regular recrudescence of the strike movement, were cor.strurd, rightly or wrongly, as evidence of a deliberate attempt on the part of unseen Germanophil forces to produce internal disorganization and dis- content, and thus to create an opportunity of raising the question of a separate peace — all this in good time to save the regime. Dis- satisfaction was accentuated by the Rumanian debdcle, which Russians were unable to under- stand, as well as by the German proclamation with regard to Poland. In unmistakable terms the Duma, the Coun- cil of Empire, and the Nobles in Congress recorded their conviction that irresponsible influences in the administration must be eliminated and that a Government which would cooperate with Parliament must be established. On December 29 the Duma was prorogued, and the turn of the year brought no comfort beyond an Imperial Rescript to the new Prime Minister, Prince Golitzin, enjoining relations of mutual respect between Govern- ment and Legislature. **] W • »B ■■*■ •• ► A W * T Mi 1 % * 1 ife* ■»jf»K -' •» ^■P BROKEN CHAINS FROM A PETROGRAD PRISON. The text of this document, which was destined to be the last public manifestation of the autocratic will until the abdication, was tu-t follows : Having entrusted to yon the responsible post of President of the Council of Ministers, I deem it opportune to point out to you the pressing problems the solution of which should f>e the main object of the Government's attention. At the present moment, when the tide of the Great War has turned, all the thoughts of all Russians, without distinction of nationality or class, are directed towards the valiant and glorious defenders of our country, who THE STATE PRISON FIRED 92 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. SHOTS FROM A WINDOW AND A STAMPEDE. with keen expectation are awaiting the decisive encounter with the enemy. In complete solidarity with our faithful Allies, not entertaining any thought of a conclusion of peace until final victory has been secured, I firmly believe that the Russian people, supporting the burden of war with self-denial, will accomplish their duty to the end, not stopping at any sacrifice. The natural resources of our country are unending, and there is no danger of their becoming exhausted, as is apparently the case with our enemies. All the greater is the significance attached to the settlement of the question of supplies, which, under present conditions, is so important and so complicated. Accordingly T call upon tho Governmont, unified in your person, to devote its attention first and foremost to provisioning my valiant Armies, and behind the firing line to lessening those difficulties connected with supplies which are inevitable in a world war. I count upon it that the joint labours of the whole Government be concentrated on the realization on a large scale and the development of the measures recently taken towards this end. The question of provisioning the Armies and the civil population demands combined action not only by all the authorities at the front and in the rear but also by all the different Departments united under the control of the Council of Ministers. Another problem to which [ attach supreme importance is the further improvement of transport by railway and waterway. The Council of Ministers should in this connexion work out decisive measures which wilt' assxire the full utilization of the means of transport, in order to be able, by the cooperation of all Departments, to furnish our troops in the firing line and behind it with all that they require. In pointing out theso pressing problems for your attention, I express the hope that the activity of tho Council of Ministers under your Presidency will meet with the support of the Council of the Empire and of the Duma, united in a unanimous and ardent desire to carry on the war to a victorious finish. It is furthermore the duty of all persons called upon to servo the State to act with goodwill, uprightness and dignity towards the Legislative Institutions. In its coming activity in organizing the economic life of the country the Government will find invaluable support in the Zemstvos, which, by their work in time of peace and war, have proved that they piously maintain the shining traditions of my Grandfather of imperishable memory, the Tsar Alexander II. What value tho reactionaries attached to tliis injunction may be inferred from the following extracts from a memorandum sub- mitted (apparently without protest) to M. Protopopoff in February by the ultra-Con- servative " Committee of the Russian Patriotic Union " : With the opening of the Duma the attacks on Ministers are bound to increase in force, since the Duma neglects its legitimate work and is engaged merely in a revolution- ary agitation. The sooner it is dismissed the better. The Patriotic Union assures the Government that nobody in the country, except a few politicians and party newspapers, will rise in defence of the dismissed Duma. Any fears that the dismissal of the Duma and the in- stitution of new elections, on the basis of a new law, might lead to popular disaffection are unfounded. The experience of the First Duma proved that the threats of a revolution are empty. There can be no revolution on account of the Duma, since it has no roots in tho nation. The Government need not fear the dismissed Deputies, since, with the loss of their privileges as members, most of them will find their way into the Army, and the military authorities will see to it that they are prevented from doing any mischief. No doubt future elections will yield a certain percen- tage of Liberals and even a few Extremists, but, with THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 98 a little organization, a moderate majority can easily be socurcd. At any rate, a Fifth Duma could not be worse than the Fourth. The Union further offers to the Govornmont all tho facilities of its widespread organiza- tion. These were tho sources from which M. Protopopoff derived his political inspiration. Although he was well aware that in the absence of any measures to relieve the food scarcity, trouble could not be averted, he misrepresented the situation to the Tsar and declared that the police and military measures taken by him, including the arrest of the Labour delegates on M. Gutchkoft's War Industries Committee, had saved the position. The Tsar left for the front under the firm conviction that all cause for anxiety had been removed. After awaiting for successive periods of postponement the pleasure of the Government, the Duma was convened at the end of February. At the very first sitting M. Miliukoff warned the Government in the most solemn terms against attempting, in the v.ain hope of securing a fresh lease of life, to challenge the nation to war at home when the external foe was still at the gates. He added : When tho nation finds that, in spite of all its sacrifices, its dcsli-iies are being endangered by a clique of incom petent and corrupt rulers, then the people become a nation of citizens ; they becomo determined to take their case into their own hands. Gentlemon, we are approaching that point. Tt is by no means certain what would have been the reply of the people and of the Army had it been possible to ask them even 10 days before it occurred whether there would be a revolution. But M. Mi'iukoff was perfectly accurate when he spoke of the whole nation as being in opposition. The situation had seriously deteriorated since the Paris Conference of December, 1904, when the Russian con- stitutionalists and Socialists met and pledged themselves to co-ordinate their action until the autocracy had been overthrown. This con- ference had marked the climax of the political movement before the first revolution and had isolated the Government. The accumulated evils and grievances of the last decade cemented afresh a union which in the meantime had spread until it embraced the whole nation. The Revolution was the work of a week (March 8 to March 15, 1917). Peaceful demon- strations by workmen on February 27 were succeeded by collisions between police and the mob on March 8. By March 12 the people's THE CROWD IN THE NEVSKY PROSPECT: DISTRIBUTION OF NEWS SHEETS. 91 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. HUNTING THE POLICE. Students and Sailors firing across the Moika Canal. <!ause had been espoused by all the troops in the Capital and by March 15 the Tsar had abdicated. Not till March 18 did any con- nected narrative of events appear in the Russian Press, and, owing to the censorship restrictions, it wa3 not till March 21 that the world learned something of the early events leading up to the Revolution. Events from Monday, March 12, were very graphically described by the Petrograd Correspondent of The Times in a series of dispatches published on March 16 and following days. On Wednesday, March 7, there were signs of incipient unrest in Petrograd. Cossack patrols appeared in the streets, but they were not called upon to intervene. On the following day large crowds appeared in the main thorough ■ fares. How far these crowds were " genuine " it is difficult to affirm ; but certain it is that very early in the proceedings the police ordered workmen to leave work and organized demon- strations of their own. Cavalry patrol* were everywhere to be seen : bread shops were wrecked : and there was some desultory tiring. The Government, in so far as it was not a party to these ominous developments, became alarmed and announced in the Duma on the 8th that urgent measures would be taken, in conjunction with the Zemstvos, to bring supplies to the city. On the 9th the Duma discussed the food crisis and declared the situation to be dangerous. ARRESTED POLICE OFFICERS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE I! I/,'. i)5 Meanwhile the crowds in the Nevsky and other principal thoroughfares of the Capital were as numerous as ever but quiet, and they even sang patriotic songs. But as time went on, especially on the following day, when there was more looting, the police began to use rifles and the machine guns which Protopopoff had posted in readiness on the housetops. The military, on the' other hand, seemed dis- inclined to use force. From the very first on March 7 and 8 soldiers had been heard to say in lively conversation with civilians : *' Begin ; It was on this day (March 11) that events reached their climax. During the morning it became known that the Duma had been prorogued, that three (iuard and several Line Regiments had joined the Parliamentary cause, that machine guns and rifles had been distributed among the people, and that desperate fusillades were proceeding on the Viborg side between insurgents and some of the troops who had remained loyal. These developments found a counterpart in other parts of the citv. Earlv in the day the prisons THE AMERICAN MISSION TO RUSSIA TRAVELLING IN THE CAR IN WHICH THE TSAR ABDICATED. The officer on the left is sitting on the table at which the Tsar signed his abdication. The Mission, headed by Senator hoot, visited Petrograd, Moscow, and the Grand Headquarters. we won't meddle with you." Although some of the troops fired a few rounds, the majority were plainly with the people. On March 10 the troops were confined to barracks with tie exception of some Cossacks, who already on the evening of that day went over to the people. On Sunday, March 11, while the Commandant, General Khabaloff, was threaten- ing extreme military rigours against the work- men if they did not return to work, regiment after regiment, Preobrajensky, Litovsky, Volin- sky, and the pick of the garrison, joined the crowd. were captured and those who were detained in them were set free. The Law Courts were occupied, and the Ministry of the Interior from which M. Protopopoff had fled, and the head- quarters of the Commandant were sacked. The fine weather brought everybody out of doors, and by the afternoon the Nevsky Prospect, one of the finest and longest thorough- fares in Europe, w as black with a surging crowd . that filled it from the Admiralty at one end to the Moscow station at the other. All warnings not to assemble were disregarded. No Cossacks were visible and only a few detachments of 96 THE TIMES HISTOBY OF THE WAR. troops picketed the side streets. The crowd, notwithstanding the events of the week before, was fairly good-humoured, cheering the soldiers and showing resentment only towards the scattered groups of police. Curiosity rather than any definite purpose appeared at the moment to be the chief impulse. And yet before the very eyes of the crowd, THE GRAND DUKE MICHAEL, Nominated by the Tsar as his successor. quite apart from the troops which were kept in ambush, field telephones were being installed, machine guns were being mounted, and every kind of other warlike preparation was in progress. Even guns, it is said, had been secretly placed on the roofs of houses in readiness for a rising of the population before the Duma reassembled on February 27. In his first speech at the re-opening of Parliament M. Milinkoff complained that gendarmes were being sent back from the front and that the number of police was being increased. " Yester- day," ho significantly added, " near the Duma itself you could observe the form of the military disposition of the struggle in the rear. Gentlemen, this is war with the people." This, then, was the use to which the Minister of the Interior, M. Protopopoff, had put the " emergency " vote of over £5,000,000 for the police for which he asked Parliament in January. According to a competent observer who witnessed the Revolution :* The one thing certain is that tho Reactionaries, led by the Kmpross and M. Protopopoff, the Minister of the Interior, were bent upon promoting disturbances in Petrograd and elsewhere. Of this fact there is irrefutable evidence. Not only had a state of famine been deliberately *' engineered " in Petrograd and other cities, with the object of provoking disturbances which the Reactionaries were propared to turn to account as a pretext for the conclusion of a peace favourable to Germany, but M. Protopopoff had appointed a Prefect at Petrograd with instructions to organize disturbances. So generally was the organization of these disturbances known to the police that, when an influential personage reached Petrogj*ad by train on the morning of the day when they were to occur, and finding no conveyance at the station, called upon a policeman to get him a carriage, the policeman replied : " Certainly ; it is not yet midday, and it does not begin until 2 o'clock." What " it " meant was appai*ent when, at the hour appointed, thousands of police agents drossed as workmen appeared in the streets and began to " demonstrate." At first the poople looked on at these demonstrations wonderingly, and took no part in them. It was only when police agents stationed in attics and other points of vantage began to fire upon the genuine crowds that the masses began to react. It should be said that Secret Police agents had previously visited the munition factories and had ordered the men to cease work. In one factory, whero the roply was made that the work was being done for the war and could not be stopped, the agents answered that the factory would be dynamited. The workmen then threatened to complain to the Government, and the agents withdrew, laughing significantly. . . . The people rapidly perceived the nature of the Government plot, and became exasperated when 200 machine guns were discovered in one single deposit. The idea that these machine guns should be kept for use against themselves when regiments at the front were short of such weapons caused the utmost indignation. The police became the objects of popular fury, the police headquarters were stormed and the archives burnt, and the movement became irresistible. Shortly after three o'clock on this memorable afternoon of March 1 1 orders were given to the military to clear the Nevsky thoroughfare. A company of a Guard regiment, the Pavlovsky, took up a position near the Sadovaya street, about halfway down the Prospect, and fired several volleys in the direction of the Anitchkoff Palace, the residence of the Empress -Dowager. About 100 persons fell victims to this fire. The snow-covered ground, littered with empty cartridge cases, was reddened all around with blood. Even so no animosity was shown towards the troops ; the people merely shouted : " We are sorry for you ; you had to do your duty." Similar scenes were enacted in the equally crowded Champ de Mars, as well as near the • The Times, April 21, 1917. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAE. 97 Moscow station and in the adjacent popular thoroughfares. Here the police had machine guns, and from the roofs and garrets of the surrounding buildings they poured in a mur- derous fire on the crowd. As evening fell the temper of the people rapidly changed. Soldiers and Cossacks, too, felt that foul play was being resorted to in order to provoke the crowd and the military against each other. All night powerful searchlights mounted in the Admiralty steeple illuminated the Nevsky Prospect from end to end, while machine guns from the same point of vantage swept the approaches to this stronghold, which was garrisoned by line battalions from Novgorod and covered the Prefecture, where the Ministers for a time took refuge. All day on Monday, long after the old Government had resigned, the struggle continued and it was not until Tuesday afternoon that the Admiralty sur- rendered. The Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, containing the tombs of the Romanoffs, the Imperial Mint, and the notorious dungeons for political offenders, had already fallen the previous day into the hands of the insurgents, whose ranks were hourly swelled by fresh defections from the armed forces of the old THE GATES OF THE PALACE AT TSARSKOE SELO. The Imperial emblems covered with red flat's. regime. The Fortress, which commands all the bridges and crossings over the Neva, became the headquarters of the revolutionaries. During the eourse of Tuesday the whole of A STREET DEMONSTRATION. 98 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAB. THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. Left to right (front row): MM. A. Konovaloff (Commerce and Industry), A. GutchkofT (War and Maiine), N. Nekrasoff (Communications), A. Shingareff (Agriculture), Prince Lvoff (Prime Minister), U. Godneff (Controller of State), M. TerestshenVa (Finance), P. Miliukoff (Foreign), Prof. A. Manuiloff (Public Instruction). the city passed into the hands of the insurgents, and by the end. of the day the fires which had been started in various quarters were being got under and efforts were being made to restore the railway services. The postal, telegraph and telephone services were transferred with but little interruption. The Winter Palace, which for a brief interval had been desperately defended by the Guards, and all other public buildings were placed under trustworthy protection. The City Militia, special constables enrolled by the Municipality, united with the students' organizations and the troops in maintaining order, under the control of district commanders. For several days they continued to hunt down isolated police agents who in the vain hope of succour held out in garrets and on roof-tops and indulged in spasmodic sniping. Civilians, too, hooligans for the most part, added to the confusion by eng iging in wild and indiscriminate shooting These also had to be disarmed. The restoration of normal conditions was carried out with commendable promptitude. Deplorable incidents were few and far be- tween. One of these was the sacking of the residence of Count Fredericks, Minister of the Imperial Court, which was stormed by an angry mob. It was thought at first that the adjoining telegraph office was in danger. A detachment of the Preobrajensky arrived in time to save this building, but too late to protect Count Frederick's family. His aged wife was carried out in a fainting condition from the house which had been set on fire, accompanied by her invalid daughter carrying a favourite dog. The dog was killed and the crippled girl was ill- treated by the drunken mob, which had pre- viously broken into several large bonded liquor warehouses. Both ladies were eventually rescued. In the fashionable residential Milionay 1 . Street General Knorring, who refused to obey a summons to report himself at the Diuna, armed himself and his hall-porter with revolvers and opened fire on the soldiers sent to apprehend him. Two Guardsmen were killed before the general and his servant were shot down. The general's body was dragged round the nearest corner to the quay-side and thrown into the river. A Baron Stackelberg, who is said to have fired at soldiers from his window, was similarly executed. Countess Kleinmichel, a septuagenarian THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. % grande dame, whose political salon was for many years reckoned among the first in Petrograd, was hunted for several days by a mob of soldiers and civilians, who ultimately ran her to earth in the Chinese Legation, where she had sought sanctuary. She was arrested on suspicion of being a German spy. Her intimate social rela- tions with Count Pourtales, German Ambassa- dor to Russia until the war, and wi th successive military plenipotentiaries of the Kaiser at the Russian Court, were remembered against her. She was even said to have taken tea at Potsdam ivith the Emperor William and the Empress Augusta. With the fall of the Admiralty and the surrender of the Ismailovsky regiment on Tuesday afternoon disappeared the last mili- tary resources of the old administration. Without the prompt and almost automatic support of the troops the triumph of the revolution could never have been bought at its moderate price of a few thousand casualties. In Moscow, too, where a brief upheaval claimed only about half a dozen victims, the soldiers played a conspicuous part. Events here waited upon developments in Petrograd. It was only on March 14 that the troops definitely declared themselves ; the arsenal TAKING DOWN AND BURNING IMPERIAL INSIGNIA. 100 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. capitulated that afternoon. The crowning event of the day was the appearance over the city of an aeroplane flying the red flag. By March 16 Moscow was herself again. At Odessa, in the great Volga towns, in the garri- sons beyond the Urals, and in remotest Siberia, everywhere the soldiers joined the people. Only from Kronstadt and Helsingfors came news of any real trouble. The political death-blow to the autocracy was administered by the Duma when, on March 12, in the face of the Imperial Ukase dissolving Parliament, it declared itself in per- manent session. On March 1 1 the President of the House, M. Rodzianko, had addressed to the Tsar at Field Headquarters the following urgent message : Conditions serious. Anarchy in the capital. Govern- ment paralysed. Transport of fuel and provisions has entirely broken down. General discontent. is growing. Disorderly firing is proceeding in the streets. Sections of troops are firing on one another. It is necessary to summon quickly persons enjoying the confidence of the country to form a new Government. Delay is impossible. Every delay is fatal. I pray God that a share of the responsibility may not fall on the crowned Head. This message M. Rodzianko communicated to General Ruzsky and General Brusiloff, the Commanders-in-Chief respectively on the Nor- thern and South -Western Fronts. The latter replied that he would " do his duty to the country and the Tsar," and the former laconi- cally pledged himself to " fulfil the order." On Monday morning M. Rodzianko sent another message to Nicholas II., in which he said : The situation is getting worse. Measures must be taken quickly. The last hour has sounded, when the fate of the country and of the dynasty will be decided. These appeals were reinforced by an equally impressive telegram addressed to the Tsar by a score of the most influential among the elected members of the Council of Empire, in the course of which they declared : The maintenance of this old Government in office is tantamount to the complete overthrow of law and order, involving defeat on the battlefield, the end of the dynasty, and the greatest misfortunes for Russia. We consider that the only way of salvation lies in a complete and final rupture with the past, the immediate convocation of Parliament, and the summoning of a parson enjoying the confidence of the nation, who.-shall form a new Cabinet capable of governing the country in full accord with the representatives of the nation. The moment on the night of March 12 was serious indeed. Not only was the Revolution at its height, but already there were signs among the revolutionaries themselves of a fateful divergence between the bourgeois Parli&- M. RODZIANKO ADDRESSING SOLDIERS IN THE DUMA BUILDING. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. rOl BHHHBHHI BARRICADE IN THE LITEINY PROSPECT. mentarians and the more advanced Socialist elements. In the Tauris Palace the latter con- stituted, or rather resuscitated, the historic Council of Workmen's Delegates, to whom were joined representatives of the troops. To this move the Duma at midnight replied by con- stituting an Executive Committee composed of MM. Rodzianko, Kerensky, Tchkheidze, Shulgin, Miliukoff, Karauloff, Konovaloff, Dmi- triukoff, Rzhevsky, Shidlovsky, Nekrasoff, Vladimir Lvoff and Colonel Engelhardt, who was appointed Commander of the garrison. Its mission the Duma Committee explained in the following proclamation, issued at 2 a.m. on March 13, under the signature of M. Rodzianko : The Provisional Committee of the members of the Duma, in view of the serious internal conditions brought about by the measures of the old Government, is obliged to take into its hands the re-establishment of public order. Conscious of the full import of this decision, the Committee expresses its confidence that the people and the Army will aid it in the heavy task of founding a new Government that will correspond with the desires of the nation and will justify its confidence. The only reply vouchsafed to his Parliament by the Tsar was the appointment on March 13 of General Ivanoff to be dictator. But as all the railways were held by the revolutionaries, he was unable to reach the capital. The Tsar, upon learning that General Ivanoff would in all probability be unable to fulfil his mission, appears for a moment to have enter- tained the idea of proceeding to Moscow and of appealing to the heart of Russia. An attempt was indeed made to reach the main lines leading to Moscow, but all of these were found to be blocked, and at Bologoe, halfway between Petrograd and Moscow, the Imperial train turned west across country to Pskoff, halfway between Petrograd and Riga, where General Ruzsky, Commander-in-Chief on the Northern Front, had established his headquarters. Nicholas II., who remained in almost hourly telegraphic communication with the Empress throughout these critical days, had no illusions as to what would be the outcome when he learned that the troops were mutinying. " The revo- lutionary wave," he said to members of his suite, " will probably sweep away the Monarchy." Already on March 14 the Tsar seems to have thought of abdication, and his conversations with General Ruzsky, who like the other principal Russian commanders had already been sounded by M. Rodzianko as to his views on the situation, were not calculated to dissuade him from his purpose. By the following 102 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. BEFORE THE WINTER PALACE: GRAVE DUG FOR REVOLUTION " VICTIMS OF THE day his mind was resolved, and until three o'clock in the afternoon he was prepared to abdicate in favour of his son, the Grand Duke Alexis, and to appoint his own brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch, as Regent. Upon reflection later in the day, however, he came to the conclusion that he could not bear to part from his son, and he decided to abdicate in his son's name as well as in his own, and in favour of his brother. It was in this frame of mind that the two delegates, MM. Gutchkoff and Shulgin, who had been commissioned by Parliament to ascertain the Tsar's intentions, found him when they arrived at Pskoff at ten o'clock that night. Dirty, unkempt, and worn out by their ceaseless vigil for four or five days in the capital, the two commissaries were immediately ushered into the presence of the Emperor, who received them in the Imperial train. In the brightly lighted saloon carriage were Count Fredericks, Minister of the Imperial Court, and an aide-de-camp. The Tsar, who wore the uniform of a Colonel of Caucasian Cossacks, greeted his visitors courteously and shook hands with them. M. Gutchkoff seated him- self at a small table beside the Emperor, and General Ruzsky, who entered the carriage at this point, sat down opposite Nicholas II. M. (iutchkoff opened the conversation ; with his eyes bent on the table, he described the pass at which affairs had arrived, and declared that the only way out was for the Tsar to abdicate in favour of his son. General Ruzsky whispered to M. Shulgin that this course had already been decided. The Tsar confirmed this statement, and then explained how he felt impelled to renounce his son's rights as well. " I am unable to part from him," he added ; "I hope you will understand this." The Tsar's proposal, which was made in a quiet businesslike tone, seems to have taken the commissaries by surprise and they de- murred, as they were not authorized to treat on the basis of a variation of the succession. M. Gutchkoff, however, waived the more or less technical objection, in view of the Tsar's manifest feelings on the subject, and M. Shulgin concurred. As the latter pointed out, the inevitable separation between father and son would be liable to create a delicate situation, since the young Tsar would always think of his absent parents, and there might grow up in him a feeling of hostility against the persons who had separated him from them. In addition, it was questionable whether the Grand Duke Michael, as Regent, could take an oath of allegi- ance to the Constitution on behalf of the young Tsar. Yet such an oath would be absolutely indispensable in the circumstances of the moment. This objection would lapse if the THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 103 Grand Duke Michael wore to ascend the Throne himself as a constitutional monarch. In reply to a question by the Tsar as to whether they could assume the responsibility of assuring him that his abdication would restore tranquillity to the country, the com- missaries replied that, as far as they could see, there would be no complications. The conversation had continued for about an hour when the Tsar rose and went into the adjoining carriage in order 'to sign the Act of Abdication, with which he shortly afterwards returned. Nicholas II. then handed to the commissaries two or three small typewritten sheets bearing the address-mark of the Imperial Headquarters and signed in pencil. The tenor of this historic document, which was in the form of a Manifesto to the Russian people, was as follows : " We, Nicholas II., by the Grace of God, Emperor of All the Russias, Tsar of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, etc., to all our faithful subjects be it known : " In the days of a great struggle against a foreign enemy, who has been endeavouring for three years to enslave our country, it pleased God to send Russia a further painful trial. " Internal troubles threatened to have a fatal effect on the further progress of this obstinate war. The destinies of Russia, the honour of her heroic Army, the happiness of the people, and the whole future of our beloved country demand that the war should be conducted at all costs to a victorious end. " The cruel enemy is making his last efforts and the moment is near when our valiant Army, in concert with our glorious Allies, will finally overthrow the enemy. " In these decisive days in the life of Russia we have thought that we owed to our people the close union and organization of all its forces for the realization of rapid victory : for which reason, in agreement with the Imperial Duma, we have recognized that it is for the good of the country that we should abdicate the Crown of the Russian State and lav down the Supreme Power. " Not wishing to separate ourself from our beloved son, we bequeath our heritage to our brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandro- vitch. with our blessing for the future of the Throne of the Russian State. " We bequeath it to our brother to govern in full union with the national representatives sitting in the Legislative Institutions, and to take his inviolable oath to them in the name of our well-beloved country. " We call upon all faithful sons of our native land to fulfil their sacred and patriotic duty in obeying the Tsar at the painful moment of national trials, and to aid him, together with the representatives of the natipn, to conduct the Russian State in the way of prosperity and glory. " May God Help Russia." BUKIAL OF THE VICTIMS: THE PROCESSION IN THE NEVSKY PROSPECT. 104 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. M Shulgin, in his published account* of the Pskoft' interview, says of this document that it was " written in noble and beautiful terms. 1 felt ashamed of the text which we ourselves had once drafted." It was at M. Shulgin's request that the Tsar added the words " and to take his inviolable oath " after the. phrase " we bequeath it to our brother to govern " in the penultimate para- graph of the Act. After the document had been perused and approved all present shook hands. The original Act was deposited with Genera! Ruzsky, while the commissaries took with them to Petrograd a typed copy of the docu- ment on large sheets. This was likewise signed by the Tsar again in pencil and counter- signed by Count Fredericks with a pen. MM. Gutchkoff and Shulgin gave a formal receipt for their copy of the Act. M. Shulgin sums up his concluding impres- sions as follows : I think that at tho time the feelings on either side were not unfriendly. I felt almost pity for the man who, at that moment, had redeemed his mistakes by the nobility of ideas which accompanied his abdication from power. To outward seeming the Tsar was perfectly calm and rather friendly than cold. • v. The New Europe, Vol. III., No. 28, p. 59. On the following day, March 16, in Petrograd, the following " Declaration from the Throne " was made by the Grand Duke Michael : " A heavy task has been entrusted to me by the will of my brother, who has given me the Imperial Throne at a time of unprecedented war and of domestic strife. " Animated by the same feelings as the entire nation — namely, that the welfare of the country overshadows all other interests — I am firmly resolved to 'accept the Supreme Power only if this should be the desire of our great people, who must, by means of a plebiscite, through their representatives in the Con- stituent, Assembly, establish the form of Government and the new fundamental laws of the Russian State. " Invoking God's blessing, I therefore request all citizens of Russia to obey the Provisional Government, set up on the initiative of the Duma and invested with plenary powers, until, within as short a time as possible, the Con- stituent Assembly, elected on a basis of univer- sal, equal, and secret suffrage, shall express the will of the nation regarding the form of govern- ment to be adopted." It was after a consultation lasting several hours at his residence with the members of the RESTORING ORDER IN THE STREETS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WATl. 105 BURIAL OF PERSONS KILLED DURING THE REVOLUTION AT TSARSKOE SELO. Provisional Revolutionary Government which had been formed on March 15, that the Grand Duke Michael announced his inten- tion of awaiting the decision of a National Constituent Assembly as to the future form of government in Russia. M. Kerensky, the new Minister of Justice, warmly commended the Grand Duke. On March 18 M. Kerensky, as Minister of Justice, lodged the two State Acts, of abdica- tion by the Tsar and of renunciation by the Grand Duke Michael, with the Senate for safe custody and publication. The Senate thanked the Provisional Government for the promptitude with which order had been restored, and M. Kerensky expressed his gratification at having been privileged to entrust these two Acts to the exalted institution established by Peter the Great for the maintenance of law and right. On March 22 the ex-Tsar, who had left Pskoff on the 16th for Army Headquarters at Mohileff, arrived under arrest, as plain "Nicho- las Alexandrovitch Romanoff," at the Palace of Tsarskoe Selo, where the ex-Empress and her family were already detained as prisoners by order of the Provisional Government. There they were destined to remain until the middle of August, when they were removed to Tobolsk.the inhospitable birthplace of Rasputin. Having thus disposed of the succession question, the Provisional Government was able to take stock of the situation. The Army leaders had notified the adhesion of the troops at the front to the new regime, so that there was nothing to fear from that quarter. In the capital relations between the Duma and the garrison, as well as with the Labour organizations, were secured by the agency of the Council of Delegates, who already during the Revolution had done good service in restraining the more fanatical elements. The provisional authorities held under arrest at the Tauris Palace and in the Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul an imprecedented collec- tion of representative statesmen, including half a dozen Prime Ministers, lesser Ministerial fry like M. Protopopoff, officials of all degrees, and a multitude of officers of high rank, among whom was General Sukhomlinoff. Each day brought fresh arrivals at the Duma to make submission to the new order- — Grand Dukes by the dozen, politicians in their hundreds, soldiers and marines by battalions. The part played by the garrison of Petrograd, numbering about 30,000 men, mostly young recruits, had, of course, to be amply recognized. Among the chief points of the new Government's programme, which proclaimed a general amnesty, freedom of speech, association, and opinion, and the substitution of a national 106 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. a z 3 - 5 < a u x H to O J -i < X 01 X H o z Ok u u o en H - 3 o Q Z <( z w s o >«r, THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 107 militia for the police, was a pledge that the troops of the garrison should not be disarmed and should be allowed to remain in the capital It was at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of March 15, at the very hour when the Tsar at Pskoff was deciding to abdicate in favour of his brother, that the Provisional Government under Prince Lvoff was formed. After negotia- tions between the Executive Committee of the Duma and the Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates, the following Cabinet was proclaim* d : — Prince G. E. Lvoff M. Miliukoff . . M. Gutchkoff . . M. Nekrasoff . . M. Konovaloff. . M. Manuiloff . . M. Terestchenko M. VI. Lvoff . . M. Shingareff . . M. Kerensky . . Premier and Interior. . Foreign Affairs. . War and Marine. . Communications. Commerce. Education. . . Finance. Holy Synod. Agriculture. Justice. Prince Lvoff, as President of the Zemstvo Union, symbolized the organized forces of Russia that had been so implacably persecuted under the old administration. M. Miliukoff, the well-known Cadet leader, a secularist Radical of a French type, and a brilliant historian and constitutional lawyer, represented the broader and more sceptical intelligence of New Russia. He was noted as vigorously anti- German and as a convinced upholder of Russia's claim to Constantinople. M. Gutchkoff, business man, traveller, soldier and politician, had in the Duma, of which he was President 10 years ago, undertaken the reconstruction of the Russian Army after the disasters in Manchuria. He stood for the best type of Moscow citizen, as M. Terestchenko, the young Finance Minister, stood for Kieff, where his family owned large sugar interests and where he him- self had organized the Labour element on the local industrial committee. MM. Konovaloff, Shingareff, and Nekrasoff were prominent Liberals, and M. Kerensky, although only little over thirty years of age, had already made his mark as leader of the Socialist Toil Party in the Duma. Among the most important military ap- pointments under the new regime was that of General Alexeieff to succeed as Commander-in- Chief the Grand Duke Nicholas, who had been designated by the Tsar to resume his old post, which in the altered circumstances he was unable to retain. General Korniloff was entrusted with the Petrograd command. Eye-witnesses of the revolution were above all impressed with the extraordinary weakness of the Tsar's hold not only on the army, but also on the people, peasants and workmen alike. He seemed nothing to them, hardly even a name. Nowhere, either in Petrograd or in the Pro- vinces, was regret at his abdication expressed. Where religious scruples were raised by limple folk who did not understand how they should say their prayers when there was no more Tsar, it was explained that the name of the Duma was to be substituted for that of the Tsar. In almost all the Moscow churches a form of prayer for the Russian State was substituted for the prayers for the Tsar. In a few churches the old ritual was at first preserved, much to the dissatisfaction of the worshippers. An appeal to Makarios, Metropolitan of Moscow, who was in Petrograd at the time, to settle the question elicited the reply : " Pray as you like." Makarios shortly afterwards accom- panied Pitirim, Metropolitan of Petrograd and patron of Rasputin, " into quietude," as rele- gation to a monastery is termed in Russia. Bishop Isidore, who had buried Rasputin, shared their fate. M. Vladimir Lvoff, the new Procurator of the Holy Synod, went in person to the Bishop's house and requested him to apply for leave to retire. When M. Lvoff on March. 19 announced to the Holy Synod that the Csesaro-Papacy was at in end, the Imperial throne-chair was removed from its plice in the Council Chamber. The Metropolitan Vladimir then greeted the Procu- rator and declared that th<s Synod acquiesced in the new regime in Church and State. " It is the will of God. ' There are some who call in question the sincerity of this acquiescence. The Church, they suggest, as Gortchakoff laid ot Russia herself, '* ne boude pas : elle se recueille." Time will show. As Nietzsche in one of his flashes of intuition observed : " Russia and the Church can wait." Orthodoxy, according to M Miliukoff's theory of the Russian Church and its tradition,* has been rather a product than a factor of Russian national life. It was the national type of religion, formed in the intermediate period of Russian religious history, when religious thought was somewhere between its ebb and flood. When this national type of religion was found by the Government not to be on the same * P. MiliukoH, op. tit., pp. 548-9. 108 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. level with the Greek tradition, it was repudiated as being too national. The living thread of tradition was cut, and the Church was trans- formed into an institution of the State. Peter the Great described his Procurator as " the eye of the Ts?r." Th : s formal tradition was forcibly upheld and new traditions were forcibly suppressed. The passing of the autocracy may well be destined profoundly to undermine the Russian ecclesiastical tradition. Before retiring into the background the Executive Committee of the Duma, under M. Rodzianko, issued on March 20 the following noteworthy appeal to the nation : — A great event has happened. By one mighty effort the Russian people have overthrown the old order of things. A new free Russia has been born. The great transformation crowns long years of struggle. The Act of October 30, 1905, promised to Russia, under pressure of the awakened popular forces, constitutional liberties, but these promises were not fulfilled. The First Duma, which expressed the people's hopes, was dissolved. The Second Duma met with a similar fate, and the Government, unable to overcome the people's will, decided, by the Act of June 16, 1907 f to deprive a portion of the population of its rights to take part in the work of legislation. In the course of nine long years all the rights won by the people were taken away from it one by one. The country was once again thrown into the abyss of arbitrariness and auto- cracy. All attempts to bring the Government to reason proved fruitless, and the great world-war into which our country was drawn by the enemy found it in a state of moral disorganization, with a Government separated from the people, indifferent to the fate of the country,, and sunk in the disgrace of vices of every kind. . . . The people were obliged to take over the power in the State into their own hands. The unanimous revolutionary impulse of the people, animated by the sense of the importance of the hour, and the resoluteness of the Duma, have created a Provisional Government which deems it to be its sacred and responsible duty to realize the people's aspirations and to lead the country on to the bright road of free civic organization. The Government is convinced that th 3 spirit of high patriotism which has manifested itself in the fight of the people against the old regime will also inspire our gallant soldiers on the battlefield. On its own part, the Government will exert every effort to provide our Army with all that is required for bringing the war to a victorious end. The Government will cherish loyally the alliance- which unite Ui with other Powers, and will fulfil to the letter the agreements concluded with the Allies. While taking measures for the protection of the country' from the foreign enemy the Government will, at the same time, consider its first duty to be to open the way tp the expression of the people's will as to the form of government, and will call togethor at the earliest possible moment a Constituent Assembly on the basis of univerral, direct, equal, and secret suffrage, granting also participation in the elections to the gallant defenders of the country who are now shedding their blood on the battlefields. The Constituent Assembly will issue the fundamental laws which will secure for the country the unshakable foundations of right, equality, and liberty. On March 19 M. Miliukoff, the new Foreign Minister, officially informed the British Am- bassador, Sir George Buchanan, and the other Allied representatives in Petrogradof the abdi- cation of the Tsar, of the attitude of the Grand Duke Michael, and of the assumption of office by the Provisional Government. He expressed the hope that he would receive the personal support of the representatives of the Allied Powers in strengthening the ties uniting them with Russia. Sir George Buchanan replied and expressed pleasure at opening personal relations with M. Miliukoff for the strengthening of the Alliance. Immediately after the exchange of these friendly assurances, the Prime Minister, Mr. Lloyd George, addressed the following telegram to the head of the Russian Provisional Govern- ment, Prince I.voff : — " It is with sentiments of the most profound satisfaction that the peoples of Great Britain and of the British Dominions across the seas have learned that their great Ally Russia now stands with the nations which base their in- stitutions upon responsible government. " Much as we appreciate the loyal and sted- fast co-operation which we have received from the lato Emperor and the armies of Russia during the past two and a half years, yet I believe that the revolution whereby the Russian people have based their destinies on the sure foundation of freedom is the greatest service which they have yet made to the cause for which the Allied peoples have been fighting since August, 1914. " Tt reveals the fundamental truth that this war is at bottom a struggle for popular govern- ment as well as for liberty. It shows that, through the war, the principle of liberty, which is the only sure safeguard of peace in the world, has already won one resounding victory. It is the sure promise that the Prussian military autocracy which began the war, and which is sti'l the orny barrier to peace, will itself before long be overthrown. " Freedom is the condition of peace, and I do not doubt that as a result of the establishment of a stable constitutional Government within their borders the Russian people will be strengthened in their resolve to prosecute this war until the last stronghold of tyranny on the Continent of Europe is destroyed and the free peoples of all lands can unite to secure for themselves and their children the blessings of fraternity and peace." CHAPTER CXCVII. THE USE OF AIRCRAFT. Pre-war Expectations of the Royal Flying Corps — The Royal Naval Air Service — Machines and Engines in possession of the R.F.C. in August, 1914 — How Output was In- creased — The Aerial Preparedness of Belgium, of France, and of Germany — The Albatros — The Fqkker — The Aviatik and other German Machines — German Engines — French and Italian Aeroplanes and Engines — Work of the R.F.C. — Reconnaissance — Artillery " Spotting " — Anti-aircraft Guns — -Low Flying — -Long-range Scouting — Air Fighting — The Value of " Stunts " — Long-distance Raids — Darts — Bomb Dropping — Photography — " Camouflage " — Work of the R.N.A.S. — Seaplanes — •" Blimps ""-^-Coast Patrol Airships — Bombing of Submarines — Attacks on Enemy Ships — Food Carrying for Kut — The Jutland Battle — Seaplane Carriers — •" Contact " Aeroplanes — Typical Experiences — Casualties — Formation Flying. o N June, 6, 1913, the Royal Flying Corps, together with its Naval Wing, having been officially in existence for a full year, celebrated the occasion by a dinner in a London restaurant, when the majority of the personnel were gathered together in a room of quite moderate size ! At that time not even its own most enthusiastic officers, without actual experience of war, could foresee the enormous influence the new arm would exert in the Field. Lieut. -Colonel F. H. Sykes, then Commandant, Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing), in the course of a paper read before the Aeronautical Society on February 4, 1914, remarked: "The past year has been one of great interest. Safety, speed, strength, weight -carrying powers, climb- ing, and all-round efficiency have progressed. The burden of our poor General Brown-Jones has indirectly been lightened. But directly, though the height record now stands at over 20,000 feet, the strategic problem of broken roads, railways and bridges remains unaffected. Though an endurance record of over 13,000 miles in 39 consecutive days was carried out last year (by aeroplanes belonging to the Vol. XIIL— Part 160 109 British Army), weary, hungry, pack-carrying infantry are not materially assisted in their efforts to footslog an inch farther through heavy mud or dust. . . . The strain on generals and staff is as much as it was. Even the most brilliant gyrations of ' loopers ' leave General Brown -Jones cold when grappling with how to beat the enemy." It is always interesting to look backwards — in this instance to review the expectations of the military authorities in regard to aero- planes and their performances. In an official memorandum of February, 1914, the War Office authorities expected, amongst other things, the following from privately designed aeroplanes before they could be accepted for service with the Royal Flying Corps. The light scout aeroplane was to have a fuel capacity of 300 miles and to be a single-seater with a speed-range of between 50 and 85 miles per hour. Five minutes were allowed the machine to reach an altitude of 3,500 feet, and the engine was to be so constructed that it could be started by the pilot unaided. A heavy-type reconnaissance machine had to carry fuel for a flight of 200 miles, have a speed-range of 110 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. between 35 and 60 miles per hour, carry pilot and observer, climb 3,500 feet in 10 minutes, be equipped with a wireless telegraphy set, land over a 30-foot vertical obstacle and come to rest within a distance of 100 yards from that obstacle, the wind not being more than 15 m.p.h. The design, also, was to be such that the observer was given a clear and uninterrupted view all round. A heavy-type fighting aeroplane was required to carry fuel for 300 miles, to accommodate pilot and gunner, from the better-known private factories, and both water- and air-cooled engines, varying between 100 and 160 horse-power, were used. There was no attempt at standardization, for flying was believed to be in its infancy, with many years for experiment and improvement before the new arm would be called on to play its part under actual active service conditions. Not a single one of the seaplanes had a British- built engine, and before there had been time to carry out the repairs necessitated at that ONE OF THE EARLY B.E. AEROPLANES WHICH WENT OVER TO FRANCE WITH THE ORIGINAL BR ITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE. machine-gun and ammunition, to fly at any speed between 45 and 75 m.p.h.. to climb 3,500 feet in eight minutes, and to give a clear field of fire in every direction up to 30° from the line of flight. On July 1, 1914, the Royal Naval Air Service, formerly the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps, came into being as a separate unit of the Imperial Forces. Very soon the new arm had an opportunity of showing its worth, for the Fleet, asseinbled for a great Test Mobili- zation in July, was to be inspected by the King, and the seaplanes,* about twenty in number, of the R.N.A.S. intended to fly round the ships. Affairs of State prevented the inspection by the King, but the seaplane programme was carried out in full. The machines used included representative examples * See page 134. epoch by a very few hours of flying the country was at war. Meanwhile on Salisbury Plain had been formed the Netheravon concentration camp, where it was proposed that the flying squadrons ordinarily stationed throughout the country should assemble for the annual command manoeuvres. The machines were to be housed in portable canvas hangars, for the authorities intended the pilots and observers, in the course of the manoeuvres, to acquire experience in working with the troops in the field. The infantry and artillery officers also were to improve the occasion by a careful study of the use of aeroplanes in war. The squadrons came from aerodromes in various parts of the country. Some flew over, covering many hundreds of miles in their flight ; others arrived more modestly by road in the seclusion THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Ill ROYAL FLYING CORPS CONCENTRATION CAMP ON SALISBURY PLAIN. Showing the portable canvas hangars. of army trucks. There were Farman, Sopwith, " B.E.,"* and Avro machines, some of them * A word of explanation may be given with regard to the initial letters and numbers used for describing aeroplanes designed by the official Royal Aircraft Factory. " B.E." originally stood for " Bleriot Experi- mental," and later for " British Experimental." Pro- gress in design led to the types known as "B.E. 2,'' " B.E. 2b," " B.E. 2c," and so on. Further develop- ment along diff srent lines led to the " B.E. 3 " " B.E. 4," etc., to " B.E. 12 " — the latest machine of this series to be used in the air fighting in 1917. The " F.E.," originally 11 Farman Experimental," came to mean " Fighting Experimental." Later constructions tracing back their parentage to this first machine did excellently in the fourth year of war, being known as the series " F.E. 2b and 2d." The " F.E. 8," was an extremely fast, single- seater fighting scout. " R.E." and " S.E." were " Reconnaissance Experimental " and " Scouting Experi- mental " aeroplanes respectively. much the worse for wear. A War Office rommuniqiii of the day gives an idea of the " Day's Work " at that time. " During the week," it ran, " No. 2 Squadron with aircraft, mechanical transport and personnel, proceeded to Northampton from Lincoln, thence to Oxford. They all arrived at Netheravon on the 30th . . . No. 3 Squadron : reconnais- sance flights were made daily. . . . No. 4 Squadron : the pilots were out practising observation every day. . . . H.Q- Flight : during the week this unit was engaged in experi- mental work ... a co-ordinated programme of progressive training has been drawn up by the Officer Commanding the Military Wing. ERECTING PORTABLE CANVAS HANGARS IN THE DESERT. 160 '2 112 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ONE OF THE FIRST AEROPLANES TO FLY FROM GERMANY TO ENGLAND. The programme includes combined aircraft exercises and reconnaissances, mechanical trans- port convoy work, mobilization practice, and lectures and conferences on military and technical subjects. . ." What was an average performance for army aeroplanes at the outbreak of war — for machines that is, having seen some amount of service and not in special trim to pass official tests ? About 45 miles an hour was a slow speed, 60 was good, and 8) was very fast. A height of 3,000 feet was enough for almost any purpose other than an attempt at the altitude record ; the first German aeroplane to bomb Paris was considered perfectly safe from gun-fire at 3,500 feet, and 10,000 feet was an enormous and quite abnormal height. Anything over 100 miles on a cross-country flight was classed as long-distance flying, and the generality of flights averaged from 30 to 50 miles. The aeroplane that could reach 3,000 feet in 10 minutes was thought a very satisfactory climber. ■ The Royal Flying Corps went to war with about 82 machines in passably good condition, although, according to the number shown on paper, it had considerably more aeroplanes than this. Mr. W. Joynson -Hicks, M.P., had raised, shortly before, in the House of Commons, some pertinent questions with regard to the machines available for the Corps ; many of the accusations levelled by him against the War Office were undoubtedly justified. In the course of his speech Mr. Joynson-Hicks stated that No. 2 Squadron, at Montrose, had two machines which were in the course of recon- struction and five in good flying order. B.E. 273 was condemned as unfit for further flying, and B.E. 229 was in flying order. B.E. 217 was wrecked completely. There was one Maurice Farman being reconstructed, and another Maurice Farman, which was old, had been smashed very often and was unfit to go to war. The B.E.'s could do only three hours' non-stop flight, as their petrol and oil capacity did net allow for more. B.E. 228 could do only 3£ minutes, B.E. 218 could do oight hours, but had double petrol tanks and therefore could not take a passenger. The two Maurice Farmans could do only 48 mile? an hour in dead calm. The average B.E. machine did 71 miles an hour when" new, but only 63 miles an hour when over two months old. All the machines at Montrose were fitted with 70 h.p. Renault eight-cylinder engines — a foreign make — and at prosent there were only three spare engines, which meant that very often a machine was laid up for want of an engine. Broken-down engines were frequently held up because spare parts could not be obtained. At the moment there were five machines ready and fit for flying. Others had temporary engine trouble which could be put right in 48 hours. That made seven machines out of 25 for Squadron 2. The machines owned by the Royal Flying Corps when it went to war consisted of Henri Farman biplanes (80-h.p. Gnome enginos), and Maurice Farman biplanes (70-h.p. Renault engines), B.E. biplanes, some with 80-h.p. Gnomes and others with 70-h.p. Renaults, Caudron biplanes, Short bip'anes, fitted, some with 50-h.p., others with 80-h.p., Gnome engines, Bleriot monoplanes having 50 or 80 h.p. Gnome engines, 80-h.p. Nieuport monoplanes, Deper- THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 113 dussin. monoplanes, 70-h.p. Flanders mono- planes' having Renault engines, and one 60-h.p. Antoinette motor fitted in a Martinsyde monoplane. As in the R.;N.A.S.. not a single machine used a British-built engine. The British Government had strangely failed to realize the importance of encouraging the experimental work in the production of engines suitable for aircraft which was carried out in this country entirely at private cost in the works of individual manufacturers. Before the war broke out, however, the importance of having a supply of suitable British-built engines had been recognized, the War Office had held an engine competition, and a prize of £5,000 was awarded for the engine which best fulfilled requirements. The German' War Office i was even slower to appreciate the value of aeroplanes, for most of its hopes and efforts had, until so late as 1912, been concentrated on the Zeppelin and other airships. When, however, it was at last seen that the aeroplane demanded serious consideration, it was a com- paratively simple matter for those German firms whicl\ had for many years been concentrating on thp production of powerful light-weight motors for use in airships to produce suitable engines for aeroplanes. The German War Office was thus able to secure a supply of German - built engines almost from the beginning. Fortunately for Great Britain and the Allies p. number of aeroplane constructors had sur- vived the lean years before 1914, and these firms, with their own designs for aeroplanes and their manufacturing plants, were of immenso value in making up the leeway when war broke out. The majority wok building tractor biplanes of 70 to 80 h.p., luiving seating accommodation for pilot and observer. Where the authorities approved of the private designs offered, orders were placed for deliveflM in quantities, and when the manufacturing facili- ties were such as to allow rapid extension additional contracts were placed for build- ing to official designs. The firms who liad been experimentally building engines soon found that the small departments in their factories set aside for the work were inade- quate, and the aircraft sections began to absorb the whole. Some of the motor-car firms, especially those having body-building depart- ments, were of exceeding value, for they could undertake the construction of aeroplanes throughout. Coachbuildejs became propeller makers, upholsterers found a dozen different jobs on the new work, and in 1917 there were concerns, possessed of world-wide reputation for their cars, which had not built a vehicle for over two years, but were turning out numbers of completed aeroplanes weekly. Soon there were dozens of firms engaged in the making of air- craft parts ; in 1915 there were hundreds ; in ' 1917 there were well over a thousand ; the parts were assembled in central factories. All sorts of people were engaged in aeroplane supply. A sculptor, employing a score of man in pottery work in 1,914, had over. 1,000 workers engaged A HIGH-SPEED SCOUT OF AMERICAN DESIGN. 114 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. r W Cz3 z s- o < z o *t o z M I o THE TIMES H1ST0BY OF THE WAR. 115 in aeroplane-making in the third year of war. A carpenter, without any great financial re- Sources in 1914, obtained War Office contracts for small parts because of his knowledge of timber and its working, and, securing machinery and raw material for his contracts, was soon building a score of very successful fast fighting scouts weekly ; it was estimated that by the end of 1917 the number would be doubled, and a capital of well in excess of one million pounds was employed. Aeroplane Work found con- genial and well-paid employment for tens of thousands of women and girls, who proved particularly suited to the work. They shaped and finished the hundreds of struts and spars needed ; they built up the sections — gluing, riveting, screwing and pinning ; they sewed the fabric to the wings and tail, and applied the dope which drew it taut and rendered it proof against wind and weather. They painted and polished and, indeed, did practically everything but design the machine and carry out the final air tests. Even acetylene welding operations, which male operators had for long insisted was work to be undertaken only by men, were suc- cessfully accomplished, and in the shops where the engines were built women were employed in great numbers. Excellent working condi- tions, semi-automatic machine tools, precision machinery and gauging instruments, all made possible the increased employment of women on small parts, and, with a minimum of skilled supervision, their output and standard quite equalled those set up by male labour. In this way, by these means, a country unprepared for war and not possessed of more than 100 really efficient aeroplanes built hundreds in the first year of war, thousands in the second, many thousands in the third, and had in view plans for the production of tens of thousands in the fourth. As for our Allies, the Belgian army in 1914 had about 30 efficient aeroplanes. In the previous year a sum of £20,000 had been voted for the construction of aerodromes and the provision of machines. Of those actually possessed by the army when the Germans in- vaded the country, it is doubtful if 50 per cent, were fit to take the air on active service. These were mostly of the Farman " pusher " biplane type, fitted with 80 h.p. Gnome engines, and providing accommodation for pilot and observer. The machines soon came to an end under service conditions, although, before this state of affairs was reached, Belgian pilots had supplied the Allied commanders with valuable information about the disposition and strength of the German forces. The later Belgian aeroplanes were of French design and con- struction, and were employed in reconnaissance and bombing work on the Western Front. Their pilots successfully cooperated in many of the Allied raids, especially those in the Ostend district. France, on the other hand, took the field with between 500 and 600 effective aeroplanes, a good auxiliary equipment, and a trained personnel. She had a number of airships, serviceable enough in their way but hopelessly outclassed by the German ships. Her naval air service was hardly worth serious con- sideration, although the few machines in use were the best of their types. The bulk of the French aeroplanes on the outbreak of war were Farmans, the others representing specimen pro- ducts from most of the successful French fac- tories. Unfortunately, many of these were experimental and no facilities existed for their construction in quantity, while trouble arose through the lack of interchangeability, so that many machines were soon out of service while they waited for the provision of some simple spare part. The history of the growth and development of the French air service during the first three years of war was akin to our own. The Government took over the work of supply, and many hundreds of big and small concerns were set to work to fill up the gaps. The bulk of the French aeroplanes were first engaged on the Eastern Frontier, and their doings received little publicity, either in France or elsewhere. Soon the French frankly admitted that they had underestimated the German pilots, whom they had regarded as of the purely mechanical type, devoid of dash or brilliancy. In this they were not alto- gether wrong, but the Germans knew exactly what their aeroplanes could do, and their airmen had received very definite instruc- tions regarding their handling of the machines. Also, types had been standardized to avoid delay in making losses good ; they had big reserves of pilots and observers trained and in training, together with a sufficient mechanical equipment and personnel ; probable losses had been estimated and allowed for ; and, more, important than anything else, the Germans had a clearly defined plan of cam- paign. In consequence, German pilots refused to be driven from the air bv the audacity of 116 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. FIGHTING SCOUTS. the French airmen, and their stolid mentality sent them steadily on with the arranged plan, until the French grasped the fact that, if the enemy was to be beaten in the air, it could only be by aeroplanes superior in design and number. Had the original German scheme for a short, smashing campaign gone through, their air equipment was ample for the purpose. It was simply the prolongation of the war that gave both the Western Allies time to create strong air fleets. German military opinion went astray in thinking that aircraft would make the strategy of previous wars impossible, for it argued that, by exposing the plans and dis- positions of the enemy commanders, over- whelming numbers could be thrust through the weakest places, leading to quick and crushing defeat before the defending forces could rally for the attack. The vital factor in a plan conceived along these lines is absolute mastery of the air, which alone can give the attacking force a knowledge of the defences to be overcome, while keeping the enemy in com- plete ignorance of how and when and where the thrust is to be made. The German armies invading France had not mastery in the air, but merely superiority, and hera the plan failed, for, warned by their own aircraft of the German dispositions, the French were able to concentrate on the threatened areas, holding the invaders up until the defence was organized. Germany took the field with more than 600 two-seated aeroplanes designed throughout for war service. These were of standard types, and manufacturing facilities existed along both her important frontiers for the provision of spare parts and the building of new machines to make good the wastage of war. Every biplane excepting a few special fast scouts was fitted with bomb-dropping apparatus and camera. Most important of all, the aero- planes throughout were of German construction, so differing from the British aircraft, -which depended on France for their engines and on Germany for their magnetos. There were, in addition to the aeroplanes mentioned, some hundreds of slower units at the aerodromes which were being used for training new pilots and observer?. The flying grounds themselves, strategically placed close to the frontiers so that the whole available striking force could be employed against the enemy, were equipped with elaborate lighting systems which enabled the German aeroplanes to indulge in night flying in comparative safety. At upwards of twenty- one stations these illuminated grounds were actually in existence on the outbreak of war, both electric and acetylene lighting systems being used. Careful experimental work had supplied many valuable data about the pene- trating power of various lighting systems, colours and lenses, and, while some of the beacons gave a flash of several hundreds of thousand candle-power, that at Weimar — a revolving electric flash — gave 27,000,000. A year later, British pilots, going up to attack invading Zeppelins, met death and injury owing to the primitive and unsatisfactory arrangements for lighting the landing places ; petrol flares in buckets were the best we could achieve. In addition to the flashlights on the German aerodromes, thick glass sheets marked with arrows and concentric rings, let into the ground and illuminated from beneath, enabled the German aviator to make safe direct landings at night ; and tested appliances to indicate the direction of the wind, the presence of obstacles and other information of value to THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 117 the pilots, were installed and in full working order. It need hardly be said that the German Government, immediately took over all aircraft manufacturing plant and facilities when war was declared. It had more than the interest of a sleeping partner both in engine manu- facturing and aircraft firms for a long period before that memorable day. In 1912-1914 Germany had bought specimens of overy successful aeroplanr produced, mid her pilots had been afforded much hospitality both in England and France. A number of German and Austrian officers had visited the concentration camp at Netheravon in the month preceding the outbreak of war and had carefully noted our strength in aircraft. Thus the Genoral ■■ BELGIAN "PUSHER" MACHINE FITTED WITH LEWIS GUN. The illustration shows two noted B:lgian pilots, Capt. Jacquet and Lieut. Robins. 113 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ALBATROS BIPLANE. Staff was well informed of the actual strength of both countries. The Albatros biplanes, which had been carefully and systematically standardized, were much employed by the German authorities, chiefly as reconnaissance but occasionally as fighting machines. These, in point of fact, were the much discussed " Taube " aeroplanes, the name standing for a type of aeroplane with swept-back wings rather than for any par- ticular make. The army tractor* Albatros was fitted with a 100 h.p. Mercedes engine, its tanks carried petrol for a four hours' con- tinuous flight, it had a speed of 65 to 70 m.p.h., and it could climb at the rate of about 3,000 feet in 10 minutes. Many other types were pro- duced after this first machine had been relegated to the training schools, some of the most important being the 128 h.p. Mercedes-engined " general purpose " biplane, the 1.70 h.p. bombing machine, and a 200 h.p light scout with an estimated speed of 125 m.p.h.f The Germans attached greater importance to the trustworthiness of their engines during the early part of the war than the French and the British, and so late as the middle of 1915 the motors on captured aeroplanes, except in matters of minor detail, were substantially the same as the motors of 1913-1914. Particularly was this so with the Mercedes and the Austro- * For the information of the non-technical reader it should be explained that, broadly speaking, aeroplanes may be divided into two main types consisting of "pushers'* and ''tractors.'* The former have the propeller behind the wings and the machine is pushed through the air, while the screw of the latter is placed before the wings and draws the craft forward. f These were the theoretical powers of the motors. fin actual performance they fell far short of their ratings. Daimler engines. In the 128-h.p. " general purpose " aeroplanes a Bosch hand-operated starting magneto was fitted, which, after the propeller was swung to draw a charge of gas into the cylinders, enabled the pilot to start the engine unaided. In front of the observer was a wireless transmitter, current for this being furnished by an independent generator driven by a small windmill The radiator was of a sectional type which had obvious advantages for aeroplanes in the field tieeding repairs to the cooling system. On the dash- board in front of the pilot a number of instru- ments were mounted. They included the mag- neto engine-starter, two-way switch for changing over to the ordinary magneto when a start had been made, throttle and spark levers, petrol gauge, revolution indicator, manometer, pressure pump, clock and air- speed indicator. The compass was built into the top plane, facing downwards, in a position where 51 could be seen by both pilot and ob- server. Contrast this equipment, to which must be added camera and bomb-dropping gear, with that on many English aeroplanes, which were practically devoid of detail equipment, and whose pilots, adding accessories essential to war flying to aeroplanes already under- engined, achieved the so-called " Christmas Tree " machines, and sacrificed speed and climbing power in so doing. The first of the Fokker aeroplanes illustrated the German idea of providing a fast-climbing light fighting machine of a highly specialized type, able to drive down Allied aeroplanes which interfered with the slower German observation machines. The Fokker plan was THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 119 to climb to a great height and there await the lower-flying aeroplanes of the Allies — a quick dive, a burst of machine-gun fire and, unless the attacked pilot was lucky, his machine went spinning down to the ground. The 'engine wai an 80-h.p. improvement on the Gnome, known in Germany as the Oberursel. Metal plates on the propeller blade*, which deflected towards the ground the small pro- portion of bullets which were intercepted by the blades, enabled the pilots, even of the early Fokkers, to fire through the propeller. Later armament, so that it became a constant battle of wit, skill in design, and engineering know- ledge. The Aviatik was another aeroplane to do good work for Germany ; these had a great speed, ample fuel capacity, were comparatively heavily armed, as things went then, and were fitted with 170 or 220 h.p. Mercedes engines, according to type. Other well-known German aeroplanes were the Halberstadt, a composite copy of Allied aircraft, having engines of 120 and 220 h.p. : the Hansa, 1 60 h.p. righting MAKING PARTS FOR AEROPLANE ENGINES. designs by this maker, fitted with a 150-h.p. motor, gave a speed of HOm.p.h. and a "climb " of 7,500 feet in 10 minutes ; the wings folded back for convenience in transport, and steel was largely used in the construction. The engine was extravagant in both petrol and oil, and the idea of the speed machine itself was copied from the French " Moranes." When the Allies saw what was needed to defeat the Fokker it was a matter of a few weeks before the type was doomed, and afterwards temporary supremacy in the air belonged to the owners of the machines having advantages in speed or biplanes ; the Luft Verkehrs Gesellschaft (L.V.G.), heavy, armoured craft ; the Otto, with 200 h.p. engines ; the Rumpler tractor biplanes, which were used by some of the crack German pilots ; and the big Gotha twin- engined biplanes which were used in 1916-1917 in the daylight bombing raids on England, accompanied by fast, single-seater fighters, whose work lay in driving down defending aeroplanes. The most successful of the German and Austrian engines were the Argus, the Austro- Daimler, the Benz, the Maybaeh — exclusively 160—3 120 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. FOKKER. Showing arrangement of propeller and machine- gun. employed in airships, the Mercedes, and the Oberursel. In passing it may be noted that the latest type of Zeppelin airships in 1917 were reported to be fitted with eight 240 h.p. Maybach motors, to mount 10 machine guns, to be 680 feet in length, and, with a capacity of 2,400,000 cubic feet of gas, to have a useful lift of 28 tons. For all practical pu^oses Austrian aircraft were ranked with the German, though the Austrian factories could not be ignored in discussing the total aircraft output of the Central Power3. France, throughout the war, was called upon to supply aeroplanes to Belgium, Rumania, Russia, Italy, and Serbia, and also, for some period, to Great Britain. She used Bleriots as reconnaissance, scouting, fighting, bombing, and training craft, ease of control and mechani- cal trustworthiness being the outstanding features. The Caudron works sent out some excellent heavy craft, notably of the twin- engined type, which were of great service in 1915 ; these machines were partially armoured and, for the period, heavily armed. French designs, some months after the outbreak of war, were superior to German so far as fighting craft went, for, owing to the tractor screws and the wing disposition, the German machines could fire only to the rear. The synchronization of engine-timing and machine-gun which later made firing through the propeller satisfactory had not then been perfected. Farman aero- planes of all types were consistently improved during the war, and the French vised them in large numbers. The Morane Saulnier Compa ny specialized in fast craft with the wings arranged high over the pilot's head, giving a clear outlook below and gaining for the design the generic title of " parasols." A series of very fast scouts and fighting monoplanes from this maker gave excellent service. The single- seater Nieuport biplanes, having a 110 h.p. SYNCHRONIZING MECHANISM, ENABLING THE MACHINE-GUN TO FIRE THROUGH THE PROPELLER WITHOUT STRIKING IT. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 121 [French official photograph. MORANE-SAULNIER MONOPLANE, With wings arranged overhead; known as the "parasol" type. Clerget engine and a speed well in excess of 100 m.p.h., were very popular with French pilots. The 135 h.p. Voisin biplane, built of steel and fitted with a big Salmson engine, was used as a reconnaissance machine, as a fighter, scout, and bomber. The French produced some very fine engines of both the air-cooled and the water-cooled types, including, among others, the Anzani, Chenu, Clement-Bayard, Clerget, Gnome, Hispano-Suiza, Renault, Le Rhone, and Salmson. Italian aeroplanes were for the most part copied from French models, but very successful Italian engines were built in the Isotta-Fras- chini, Fiat, and other Italian workshops. In the later 1917 offensives against the Austrians some hundreds of machines were used. The censorship restrictions in regard to the publication of particulars dealing with British aircraft were exceedingly drastic, but, broadly speaking, it would be accurate to assume that by 1917 the output was approximately equal to that of Germany, and, while that country had then speeded up output to very near the pos- sible limit, the British production could still be doubled and trebled, so far as factory pro- ducing capacity was concerned. The difficulty lay in the supply of components, such as ball bearings and magnetos, of suitable woods, and of special raw materials. England was at first entirely dependent on France for the supply of aeroplane engines, but within two months of August, 1914, motore of an approved type were being sent out from our factories. We had no designs, but a Gnome engine was dismantled, and its parts carefully measured ; in a week full working drawings had been prepared, and in seven weeks the first engine was on test. The British engines in 1917 were, power for power, quite equal to those of Germany. On the outbteak of war the lightest units per horse- power were the air-cooled rotary engines, which averaged approximately 2 lb. per brake horse power. The various types of water-cooled engines weighed between 3 and 6 lb. per b.h.p., and the 100 b.h.p. Renault weighed 6f lb. per b.h.p. By 1917 there had been a general reduction in the weight of the water-cooled vertical or V-type engine of from 4 - 3 lb. per h.p. to 26 lb. per h.p. By the end of 1916 a designer had succeeded in producing the most powerful aeroplane engine in the world, a unit having 18 cylinders and developing 475 h.p. In the two years of progressive engine construction and design lighter, stronger and more suitable metals and alloys had beer produced, while engine life had been greatly increased, chiefly by improvements in general design and material and in tho lubrication systems. Marked economy in fuel and oil con- sumption had also been effected, and the general trustworthiness increased. The lead in such 122 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAB. matters as these was difficult to maintain, for it was impossible to prevent the very latest productions in aircraft from falling sometimes into the enemy's hands. This happened to al! the belligerent Powers, and closely guarded secrets were soon common to all. Thoughtless critics suggested that new and successful machines should be held back until a sufficient number were in hand to exert an appreciable influence on the fighting, but in 1917 the call for more and more machines from every fighting front was so insistent that every new aeroplane which he had been led to think were opposing' him — news that lod to a rapid change in the deployment and disposition of our forces. It seems beyond dispute that the historic retreat from Mons which saved the British Expe- ditionary Force, and the Allied cause itself, was only begun in time as the result of this early news, given by the Royal Flying Corps. In those first anxious months the Allied armies were at a great disadvantage owing to the really efficient scouting and artillery " spotting " work of the enemy aeroplanes. AEROPLANE ENGINES READY FOR DISPATCH. was hurried out to the armies in the field as soon as final tests had been passed. It has already been mentioned that about 80 machines went over to France with the original British Expeditionary Foqge. The work done by these and the machines which followed, together with later developments of aircraft and their uses in war, may now be considered. The work first demanded by Sir John French and his Divisional Commanders was scouting and reconnaissance, and it is to the everlasting credit of the Royal Flying Corps that one of its officers first brought news to Sir H. Smith-Dorrien that his advancedDivisionwas faced by three German Army Corps supported by strong reserves in place of the three Divisions which, greatly outnumbering their opponents, sent back hour by hour news of vita! importance to the German commanders. In comparison with the methods adopted later the first "spotting" was primitive. Ranges were worked out by the artillery officers in the usual manner, and the .aircraft, hovering above the bursting shells, signalled by smoke bombs and coloured lights the fire results. The enemy had also worked out a plan of signalling and sending information by means of aeroplane evolutions ; a sharp bank to right or left, a sudden dive, a short tail-slide, all sent news to" the batteries in the rear, and, crude as the system was, it was effective for a time. As numbers of faster machines having better wireless sets — a British development — came THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 12.1 from the factories, the first primitive signalling devices became obsolete. With more efficient aeroplanes came improve- ments in anti-aircraft guns, shells and range finding. The gunners worked out a new rang- TESTING AN AEROPLANE ENGINE WITH PROPELLER. ing system which registered the speed of the "spotting" aeroplane, its flying height and, when its leading dimensions were known — hence the anxiety of all sides to keep every particular of their latest machines from the enemy, and the care of the pilots not. to present for any length of time a full head, side or tail view of their machines to the enemy range- finders — its exact range. They were thus enabled to place a shell, at the fourth shot, in very close proximity to the target. The battle between gun and aeroplane continued from the very beginning of the war. Pre-war theory was to the effect that a fast-flying aero- plane was comparatively safe at 3,500 feet, and even very early in 1915, when many improve- ments in guns and range-finding had been made, 9,000 feet was considered a safe altitude for anything smaller than a Zeppelin airship : 7,000 feet marked the top of the trajectory for rifle and machine-gun bullets, while the heavier weapons were not so mounted as to give the mobility in action needed by the effective anti-aircraft gun. And at 9,000 feet, it was argued, the aeroplane lost much of its value for bomb-dropping, scouting or photo- graphing. The French, for example, when they had succeeded in taking, by means of telephotography, a series of trench pictures, from a height of 6,000 feet, thought that .something very like finality had been reached. Sir John French, reporting a raid against St. Omer, said : "Bombs wero dropped from a height of 9,000 feet. This, of course, pre- vented the airmen from taking deliberate aim at any military objective." Little more than a year later aeroplanes were being hit at between 12,000 and 14,000 feet, bursts at 15,000 feet had been observed, and the fuse of a German anti-aircraft shell marked 7,500 metres (24,000 feet) had been picked up by a British officer. The British public had also been given a number of startling demonstrations showing that effective bombing practice could be made from considerably greater heights than had been anticipated. In the battle between gun and aeroplane it was left to the Allied pilots to demonstrate that safety from enemy fire is to be had by flying at a height hardly sufficient to clear ground FINISHING AN AEROPLANE PROPELLER. obstacles. In ordinary flying the airman st-eks safety in height just as the seaman prefers the security of open water in dirty weather, apart, of course, from structural mishap, for in both cases manoeuvring power is retained. In mid-ocean the seaman has no fear of rocks or a lee-shore, while the pilot in mid-air has no fear of crashing to the ground before he can get the nose of the mifchine down to convert forward flight into a gradual downward glide in case of sudden engine failure. On the other hand, if the airman cares to run the risk of mechanical failure when flying low, he at once 124 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. A BOMBING MACHINE COMES TO GRIEF: GETTING RID OF THE BOMBS. becomes comparatively safe from close enemy fire, for he is below the effective range of anti- aircraft guns, and in broken country has flashed across and above the troops he is attacking, reserving the advantage in visibility to himself, before rifle fire can be loosed at him. Nor has a rifle bullet power to bring down an aeroplane unless pilot, petrol tank, or some other v;tal part be struck — a somewhat remote possibility when the attacker comes into view and is gone almost before a rifle can be lifted to the shoulder, when his approach is heralded by a stream of machine-gun bullets, and when confusion of the enemy is increased by the roar of a powerful engine and the bursting of bombs. Aeroplanes, in fact, have returned safely to their sheds bearing the marks of hundreds of shrapnel and rifle bullets. But this low flying was a development of the third year of war. A return must be made to the period when the German aeroplanes held for a while superiority in the air. After a time, when the Allied aeroplanes became more numerous, the German plan of " spotting " for the artillery was copied, but soon the enemy received better aircraft armed with quick-firing machine-guns, and as our casualty list grew pilots were forced to take up rifles, pistols, small bombs, and any other suitable weapon which came to hand, as some slight defence against the superior German machines. Under- powered as aeroplanes were to begin with, this additional equipment had its effect on their already poor powers of climb and speed, and they became still easier prey to enemy aircraft. It was a crucial period, and for a space we could maintain our machines in the air to any useful extent only by sending them up in pairs — the slower unit for scouting, and the faster to patrol overhead and beat off threatened attack. The experience was not without its value, for it demonstrated the nee 1 for specialized aeroplanes, each being designed and built with some particular purpose in vi^w. The development of the large aeroplane, heavily armed, armoured, and with an extended cruising capacity, was retarded as a direct consequence, although in 1916 British constructors were producing multi-engined machines, armed with heavy calibre quick-firing guns and having a great flight range and load capacity, which were not surpassed in performance >by any enemy production. In the House of Commons, in July, 1915, Mr. Tennant, speaking for the War Office, admitted that his information was to the effect that the Germans were building powerful twin-engined biplanes, but doubted if this type was more efficient than the single- engined unit. By an unfortunate accident, the second of the British machines of this, kind to fly to France — a biplane fitted with two 250 h.p. engines and armed with tliree machine- guns — was landed in a German aerodrome by mistake on the part of an inexperienced pilot. As long-range, heavy calibre guns came into THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 125 use, the employment of aircraft made it pro- fitable for the artillery to shell " blind " posi- tions far to the rear of the enemy lines, anil both sides took to " searching " for railheads, ammunition dumps, food convoys, bivouacs, headquarters, and other places of importance. Meanwhile other aeroplanes, having a greater radius of action and a higher speed, devoted themselves to strategic scouting, and sent back valuable information to headquarters about the disposition of the enemy behind the front lines, his strength, railway activities, supply columns and battery positions. Beyond the dropping of an occasional bomb when such an occurrence was calculated to be particularly annoying to the enemy, these aeroplanes were instructed to indulge in air fighting only in the event of actual attack by enemy aircraft, for, obviously, accurate information was of greater value to headquarters than the destruction of an occasional enemy unit. The need for this strategic information led to the use of " general purpose " machines, in which, to provide a clear view for the observer and an all-round field of fire for the machine- gun, wing surface was cut away, with a cor- responding loss of speed, climbing power and general performance. At be it this " adapted " aeroplane was in the nature of compromise, and, as it was soon seen that a second gun was needed and the machines proved their par- ticular value, it became obvious that specially designed units would be more satisfac- tory. Both sides realized also that other specialized aeroplanes would be required to drive the scouts from the air, and a battle of design began, with most of the advantage on one side. Improvements such as more power- ful engines incorporated in the observation machines could always be adopted by the designer of the fighting craft, which, carrying less weight, continued to hold the lead in climb and speed. And at this stage, so far as general opinion went, the possibilities of the aeroplane in warfare ended. A few far-sighted students of aerial matters had already pointed out that the specialized type of fighting aeroplane, operating in big numbers, would need consideration as a combatant unit pure and simple, but the idea was too fantastic for the ordinary mind. The Germans in particular laughed at the idea of hundreds of aeroplanes fighting with pistol, bomb and machine-gun thousands of feet in the air, and their pilots for many months restricted themselves to obtaining information ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUNS ON BOARD A DRIFTER. [Oflictal photograph. 126 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. and preserving their machines. The German, indeed, had his own fixed ideas about how the gamo of war should be played, and was much disturbed whon he found by exporience that the French and British pilots preferred to fight according to rules of their own. The Allied airmen tackled their opponents when- ever and however they got an opportunity, and there is a well -authenticated story of an Aviatik biplane falling behind the British GERMAN MACHINE-GUN. lines because a well-aimed pair of heavy field glasses, hurled from a British machine, took the German pilot squarely between the eyes as the aeroplanes flashed past, wings almost scraping. So frequent did the attacks become, when all that the German airman asked was to be left alone, that the only course left for their designers was to produce specialized fight- ing machines, each an improvement on its predecessor so far as engine-power, speed, climb and armament went. The preliminaries to the battle of the Somme witnessed the introduction of the fighting aeroplane, operat- ing to a well-considered plan, in considerable numbers. As the Allied- concentration neared finality the fighters went up and swept the German machines and observation balloons from the sky, clearing the way for their observa- tion aircraft, which held their position day by day, reporting the results of the bombard- ment, and protected by the fighting machines maintaining station thousands of feet above. Yet the fighting machines did not confine their work to hovering over the observation aero- planes, and often enough they flew over the enemy lines in readiness to dive and bring down a hostile aircraft almost as it " left the nest." In reply, the Germans developed the " Flying Circus," consisting of a number of fast fighting machines, manned by the best and most experienced pilots, which went about from place to place along the lines, bringing their concentrated strength to bear wherever the Allies had achieved local supremacy. After some weeks of undisputed Allied aerial supremacy on the Somme, the enemy, fortified by new machines of his own, plucked up courage and again took the air, until battles between fighters became of almost daily occurrence, and the general public grew ac- customed to reading such reports as : " Fifteen enemy and four British machines down. A number of combats took place in which large formations were engaged on each side. In the course of the fighting eight German aeroplanes were brought down, and six others were driven down out of control. One enemy machine was shot down by fire from the ground. Four of our machines are missing." By this time the gun, as the greatest enemy of the aeroplane, had definitely been super- seded. The battles of 1917 indicated how the intensity of the fighting between individual aeroplanes had increased. The following is extracted from a General Headquarters Re- port of July, 1917 : Yesterday morning aerial activity was slight, but from 1 p.m. until dark it became very great. The fighting was intense and the day proved a remarkably successful one for our airmen. The vigorous defensive tactics employed enabled our artillery machines to carry on their work successfully during the day. and made it possible for us to take an unusually large number of photographs. Our bombing machines, moreover, carried out many raids and bombed four of the enemy aerodromes. Som? of our machines came down to very low altitudes at a distance of over 40 miles behind the enemy's lines. Fifteen German machines were crashed to the ground, and 16 others driven down out of control. Three of our machines are missing. On the following day the official report road : Importont railway stations and two hostile aero- dromes were bombxl by our aeroplanes, and during the day a number of other bombing raids as well as much photographic and artillery work were carried out by us with success. In air fighting 16 German machines were brought down, and H others were driven down out of control. In addition two hostile observation balloons were brought down in flames. Speaking of the airwork during this battle, The Times said : " There have been no two suc- cessive days of air fighting on such a great scale on the British Front since Sir Douglas Haig launched his attack on both sides of the River Scarpe on April 23. On the day before the attack 22 German aeroplanes and seven kite balloons were brought down, and on the THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. * 127 day of tho infantry assault 40 enemy machines shared the same fate. The British loss reported on those two days was six aeroplanes missing." In war what had become known in tho days before 1914 an trick flying resolved itself into the most ordinary everyday proceeding. When a French aviator first went up in a specially strengthened monoplane, and, taking his cou- rage in both hands, demonstrated the correct- ness of the theories of the experts by looping risk of fracture. The inherently stable machino, which tended automatically to return to its normal flying attitude, was also further de- veloped, and every aeroplane later than 1915 was stable to tho extent that for long period* the pilot could leave' the machine to fly itself and devote his attention to machine-gun, bomb-dropping apparatus, or camera. Flying at 10,000 feet a pilot could put the machine into a tail-slide, or stand it on its wing tip, and [French oftcial photograph. A LIGHT MACHINE-GUN OF A KIND MUCH USED BY THE FRENCH AGAINST HOSTILE AIRCRAFT. the loop, the first feeling on the part of the public and of flying men in general was that the manoeuvre was somewhat foolish. Later, because the feat had been proved possible, it was said that no further need existed to repeat it, and lives should not be unnecessarily risked. But in the second, third and fourth years of war no pilot was considered a quali- fied Armv flier unless he had every trick and " stunt " at his fingers' ends. Designers found that, whereas the heavy biplanes with their enormous wingspreads needed to be specially strengthened for trick work, the fast fighting machines, with their greatly restricted wingspread and powerful engines, could perform all manner of evolutions in the air, when handled by a skilled pilot, without safely leave it to recover. Falling a matter of 1-2,000 feet through the air the machine would come again to an even keel and resume its forward flight. Evolutions which at first were regarded as inevitably involving death to the pilot were deliberately brought about by a few fearless experimenters who had worked out theories of how aeroplanes could be extricated from the dangerous positions. The spinning nose dive, for example, caused the death of many pilots until a British officf r deliberately put his machine into this fall and pulled himself out. Soon the feat formed part of the flying education of every Army pilot, and it became of the greatest value in air fighting. The report of the average British pilot is a 128 THE TIMES HISTORY Of THE WAR. GERMAN SEAPLANE STRANDED ON A DANISH ISLAND. terse document, and the following well illus- trates the extraordinary manoeuvres between ooroplanes which took place in the course of everyday fighting in the battles of 1917, and the importance of trick flying: Lieutenant L. dived on H.A. (hostile aircraft) nearest to him and got in 50 rounds from Lewis gun at 40 yard? range. H.A. went down in a spin for i,000 feet and then flattened out [travelled on a horizontal course., when Lieutenant L. again dived on H.A.'s tail, getting good hurst-- into H.A. at 50 yards range, when H.A. went down. Another H.A. got on to the tail of Lieutenant L.'s machine while the latter was changing drums, and Lieutenant L. spun for 1,000 feet followed by H.A. On flattening out Lieutenant L. found H.A. directly above him and used Lewis gun with such effect that H.A. went down out of control and was seen to go down thus for 3,000 feet by Lieutenant L. and Captain B. Incidentally, it may here be noted that during the battles of the Somme frequent aerial combats took place at between 15,000 and 20,000 feet, while fights at a greater altitude were not uncommon in 1917. For purpose of comparison, and as showing the steady growth in the use of aircraft, reference may profitably be made to some of the raids undertaken in the first days of the war. A raid was organized Against the Zeppelin airship factory at Friedrichshafen by three officers of the R.N.A.S., who, after a two hours' .flight during which they were under continuous fire, dived to within a few hundred feet of the sheds and dropped eleven bombs. One airship was destroyed, damage was done to a second shed, and the hydrogen producing plant was demolished. Two of the machines returned safely. A raid against the airship shed at Diisseldorf was carried out by three pilots w T ho, flying at 6,000 feet, descended to 400 feet before loosing their bombs. The shed escaped injury, how- ever, and a fortnight later the raid was re- peated, this time with success, as the Germans themselves admitted, the ship being destroyed together with the shed. A pilot flew from Dunkirk to Cologne, a four hours' flight, and returned safely after dropping a number of bombs on the military railway station there. A big attack on the German warships lying in the neighbourhood of Cuxhaven, Wilhelmshaven, and the mouth of the Elbe was undertaken by seven officers of the R.N.A.S. Escorted by a light cruiser and destroyer force, together with a number of submarines, the machines started from the vicinity of Heligoland and, while the cruisers engaged two Zeppelin airships which had come out, the British machines avoided the enemy aircraft and submitted the German fleet to a heavy and direct bombardment from the air. A French official report issued on January 7, 1915, remarked : " Twenty bombs were dropped on the railway station at Metz on Cliristmas Day, and six on the following day. This was our reply to the raid on Nancy. On Christmas THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 129 Day 12 bombs were dropped on a company at Gercourt, four on a bivouac at Dondrien, and 2,000 darts on wagons and infantry at Nam- poel." Later reports spoke of the dropping of many thousands of these darts at different times and places, and although their use was soon "discontinued, a short account of their construction will not be misplaced here. They were of hard steel, in shape and size similar to an ordinary graphite pencil, pointed at one end and feathered by milling on the tail to give a cruciform section. In weight they were about one ounce, and, dropped from a height of a few thousand feet, their striking velocity was about four hundred feet per second — sufficient to pierce any steel helmet and to traverse a man's body from head to foot. Important as these early raids were, their effectiveness was greatly minimized by the fact that formation flying had been little prac- tised and each flier was very largely left to act on his own initiative. In consequence the individual pilot often failed to see the result of his companions' bombs, and, having nothing to guide his aim, after dropping his bombs he would turn and make for his base at top speed. That so many of those daring airmen lived to return was simply due to tin- fear they inspired in the Germans, who were so nervous and flustered that they could rarely bring effective fire to bear until, when their courage had returned, the British machines were out of range. The question of formation flying is discussed later. A pilot who had taken part in many of the early raids, since killed, thus described in a private letter bis . feelings and experiences : At the mouth of the Scheldt I got clear of some of the clouds and saw Courtney behind and 2,000 ft. abov. my machine being then about 5,000 feet only. . . . Over Antwerp there were no clouds. Courtney was about five or six minutes in front and I saw him volplane out of sight. ... I next saw him very low down, flying away to the coast with shrapnel bursting around him. He came down to under 500 ft. and, being first there, dropped his bombs before he was fired on. I decided to come round in a semi-circle to cross the yards with the wind (the writer was referring to the submarine base at Hoboken, near Antwerp), so as to attain a greater speed. I was 5,500 ft. up and they opened fire on me with shrapnel. I came down to 2,500 ft. and continued my descent at a ra*e of well over 100 miles an hour. At about 1 000 ft. I loosed my bombs all over the place. The whole way down I was under fire — two anti- aircraft in the yard, guns from the fort on either side, rifle fire, machine-guns and, most weird of all, great bunches of what looked like green rockets, but I think they were flaming bullets. My chief impressions were AEROPLANE WITH SUPPLIES FOR KUT FLYING OVER SHEIKH SAAD, MESOPOTAMIA. ISO THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. AEROPLANES PROTECTED WITH MATTING AGAINST THE HEAT OF THE MESOPOTAMIAN SUN. •the great speed ; the flaming bullets streaking by, the incessant rattle of the machine-gun and rifle fire, ai d one or two shells bursting close by. knocking my machine all sideways and pretty nearly deafening me. . . . My eyes must have been sticking out of my head like a shrimp. I banked first on one wing tip and then on the other, now slipping outwards, and now up and now .down. ... I covered, I suppose, getting on for 250 miles. Have not yet heard what damage was done. The CO. was awfully braced. Any slight mental exhilaration experienced by the commanding officer was surely, in the circumstances, excusable. It was soon realized by the officers responsible for the early raids that the most effective results could be obtained only by the use of bombing machines in large numbers, so, in the first twelve months of the war, the fleets grew from one and two units until 30, 40, 50 and more than 60 aeroplanes and seaplanes co- operated. Mostly the raids were organized by the R.N.A.S., and both Belgian and French machines took part. A certain amount of criticism was levelled against the Admiralty because, for a period of nearly two years after the first effective operations, no raids of any great consequence were undertaken and the Germans were allowed to strengthen their Channel bases practically unmolested. The criticism has no bearing on this history unless advantage of the opportunity be taken to point out that the first raids were undertaken by the machines of the R.N.A.S. simply because the full strength of the R.F.C. was being used elsewhere. Later when the full factory output, in both aero- planes and seaplanes, was needed for more urgent purposes, no other machines were available for raiding, especially when the R.N.A.S. was instructed to cooperate with the combined Forces in Mesopotamia, where naval aeroplanes carried food into beleaguered Kut, at the Dardanelles, off the coast of Egypt, and in other parts of the world where the British Empire had work in hand. Nor SEAPLANE RETURNING TO SLIPWAY AT BASRA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 181 had the machines of the R.N.A.S. any spare time on their hands when, as time went on, they undertook many other specialized tasks, some of which will be mentioned in due course. Bomb-dropping from aeroplanes had not, before the outbreak of war, received any great amount of attention, although civilian aviators were in the habit of dropping oranges on target^ when giving exhibition flights, and officers of the Flying Services were occasionally allowed to indulge semi-privately in the sport. The first bombs were taken up in wooden boxes, packed in sawdust and corkdust to prevent premature explosion. Later they were given handles and slung on hooks screwed into the fuselage. Afterwards they were carried in different positions about the undercarriage, and a primitive release gear was provided which was not an unqualified success because occa- sionally the bombs failed to clear the structure, and it fell to the observer, at the risk of his neck, to climb out and perform marvellous gymnastic feats in mid-air before a landing could be made without blowing machine and crew to bits. The wise pilot, indeed, saw to it that his full load of bombs was dropped from the machine — whether a suitable target presented itself or not— before landing, but accidents happened none the less. In the third year bomb- release gear had been simplified and made trustworthy, and the pilots made landings with a full load without a thought of premature explosion, while on an expedition it was pos- sible to see at a glance just how many missiles were in hand, how many had been released, and which should be dropped next. A development of the Bowden-wire control system was favoured by designers when working out details of bomb- releasing gear. Curiously enough, the first bombs to be used were very inefficient because makers treated the problem as a development of shell-making, altogether forgetful of the obvious fact that the bomb was not called on to withstand the shock of any bursting charge in a gun barrel, its speed being obtained by gravity in the fall through the air. Investigation showed that, weight for weight, the bomb can be given greater destructive powers than any gun-fired shell, and the knowledge was fully taken advantage of later. Germany demon- strated that not every bomb need be of the high- explosive variety, and treated the world to an exhibition of the powers of the incendiary, the poison -gas, and other types of aircraft missile. The problem of bomb -dropping from an aeroplane is not so simple as would at first sight appear. Many things, such as height, speed of machine, velocity and direction of wind, size, weight and shape of the bomb used, and othor technical details must be considered by the airman. Unlike that of the gun -fired shell, the path of the bomb cannot be controlled to any extent by sighting. The missile leaves the retaining hook at a speed equal to the USTAKtT AHMD OF TARGET AT WHICH BOM BIS DROPPED {From "Flight." GRAPH SHOWING TRAJECTORIES (neglect- ing air resistance) OF BODIES DROPPED FROM AN AEROPLANE TRAVELLING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS. horizontal speed of the aeroplane. At best the margin of error is great, and the best bomb- droppers proved to be those who had a ' ' sense ' ' for the job, despite the fact that in the third year of war very accurate tables had been pre- pared which gave a bearing from the aeroplane of the spot where the bomb should fall given that the conditions as to wind velocity, spe3d of machine, height and so forth had been accu- rately gauged. To the untrained eye an explosion some thousands of feet below gives the impression of having done great damage, for the smoke and J 32 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 133 dust obscure the view and make accurate observation impossible until some time after- wards when the disturbance has settled down. It was the lack of trained obser- vation powers on the part of the aeroplane pilots that led, in the first period of the war, to reports about destroyed bridges, roads, rail- heads, and airship sheds which proved to be quite unfounded in fact. According to the German reports, London was destroyed in the second year of war, while quite a number of people who lived in the city had not noticed anything unusual. The Allied statements sug- gested that few of the German airship sheds had been left standing and the town of Essen had been badly knocked about, though the truth was that the enemy still had many Zeppelin ships and sheds in the fourth year of war, and guns and shells, together with other munitions of war, daily left Essen in a continu- ous stream. Therefore it was recognized that promiscuous bombing had its sole value in harassing and annoying an enemy whose moral was already strained — the Allied raids on Ger- man tactical positions, on roads^ railheads, supply columns and munition dumps during the battles of 1916-7, were good examples of this " free-lance " work — and preliminary staff work before any of the big raids began to be carefully organized. In each some definite tactical or strategic purpose was the ruling factor and, because great strides had been made in military and aerial photography, claims of damage done which could not be substantiated by photo- graph were not readily admitted by head- quarters. The trench pictures published by the Ger- mans showed that the Allies had early secured a decided lead in the use of the camera from the air — reference has been made to the French employment of telephotography from a height of 6,000 feet — and the authorities very wisely forbade publication of any detailed particulars relating to aerial photography, the methods used, the cameras and other apparatus employed, or other information of a similar nature likely to be of assistance to the enemy. At first great things were expected from cameras having semi-automatic plate-changing appliances, but although some measure of success was gained by the use of such attachments their general reliability was not such as to justify extended use. Other methods came into play ; amongst these time, mechanical simplicity, and absolute trustworthiness were the leading features, and the German had, in 1917, still much to learn about military photography. Very broadly speaking, the Allied pictures were obtained by means of long-focus, iron-framed cameras, specially built into the aeroplane. Occasionally, where special need arose, telephotographic lenses were used. The scouting aeroplanes, out on a photographic reconnaissance, flew over the selected area at a given speed and height, while the operator, working to chrono- meter, made the exposures at predetermined intervals. Plates, owing to the sharper nega- tives obtained, were used in preference to films. A pull on a lever removed the exposed plate and snapped a new one into position. The nega- tives allowed of a small overlap which, when the prints were enlarged and pasted together in strip form, gave a complete and continuous picture of the photographed section. Later pictures of the same area showed by comparison any work done by the enemy in the periods between the taking of the photographs, threw up the results of bombardment, and, curiously enough, showed very clearly some things not visible to the human eye. Before a big offen- sive it became necessary for the attacking side to take many thousands of photographs of the selected area. Profiting by experience, armies in the field became adept in covering up their tracks, for the observer flying overhead soon became skilled in deducing from such things as trodden -down grass leading to a small spinney or to a partially-concealed hole that a new battery or dug-out was in course of con- struction, and, acting on such information, the guns in the rear were quickly reaching out to destroy the work. Concealment in warfare has always been something of an art, for against a cunning and observant enemy the ability to cover up the tracks of an army is of supreme value. En- campments, guns and fixed positions generally belonging to troops in the field were, in previous wars, daubed in vivid contrasting primary colours, which had the effect, viewed from a distance, of merging the painted objects in the surrounding landscape. Before aircraft came into use, such things could be examined only through long-range glasses some distance away, and concealment had not been reduced almost to an exact science. Aircraft led to a great development in thus art of camouflage, as the French called it, and the uninstructed visitor to any of the battle fronts in the year 1917 could have been excused some little 184 THE TIMES HISTOBY OF THE WAR. natural astonishment when he found that what at a distance of a few dozen yards seemed to be a small group of shell-splintered poplar trees was in reality a battery of six-ineh guns ; and, again, he could hardly be blamed for any slight nervousness when an apparently inno- cuous haystack began to move, accompanied by a dull rumbling noise, directly towards him. Closer inspection would have shown the haystack to be a " tank." To such a pitch was this art of camouflage brought that not even the army officers were fully instructed purposes, the machines owned by this branch- were, if not absolutely, then very nearly, use- less. Indeed, until well on into 1915, the pilots of the R.N.A.S. were attacking the docks and harbours of the Germans on the Belgian coast by means of land-going aero- planes. And simply because this naval arm was eqtiipped with machines quite unsuited to any naval requirement it was found possible to give an amount of aid many miles inland where the enemy could hardly have expected to find R.N.A.S. machines. CAMOUFLAGE: A CLEVERLY CONCEALED FRENCH 90mm. BATTERY. as to its devious ways outside their own par- ticular areas. With the usual British in- souciance, our ammunition dumps were placed openly in exposed Belgian fields in the years 1914-1915, and acres of rolling-stock were collected in the stations and sidings. German bomb-dropping aeroplanes took advantage of this carelessness to teach us several rather drastic lessons, and convinced our commanders of the value of camoxiflage. At this stage, in order to preserve perspective, it is advisable to return for a space to the Royal Naval Air Service and its doings. It would be no exaggeration to say that, for war No very great progress had been made in the development of the seaplane by August, 1914, and any improvements effected were made under the stress of war. Eventually seaplanes were resolved into two main types : the flying boat, which had a boat-shape cabin centrally placed below the wings to contain engine, crew, bombs, machine-guns, and other impedimenta ; and a second type, known as the twin-float, wherein two small hydroplane- shaped floats were attached to the undercarriage to take the place of the landing wheels usual on the land-flying aeroplane. In this second machine, pilot and observer were housed in a fuselage which followed in its main outline that THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAB- 135 [Italian official photograph. AEROPLANE PHOTOGRAPH OF A FARM AND TRENCHES BEFORE BOMBARDMENT BY ARTILLERY. of the land aeroplane ; and attempts were also made to construct an undercarriage which could be fitted with either landing wheels or floats. Both types of seaplane had certain distinct advantages. As the namo implies, the machine could alight on and rise from the water just as an aeroplane leaves and returns to the land. The early raids undertaken by our Flying Services were mostly carried out by the pilots of the R.N.A.S., for the reasons already given. As with the Royal Flying Corps, the machines used during the first period of war were, to paraphrase slightly, " under-engined, over-manned," and the wonder of the whole thing is that the first units survived and carried out their day's work. Their engines were old, and in need of scrapping more than of repair ; their fabric was soggy, its weatherproofnoss had gone, and it was impossible to climb to a height giving even a reasonable degree of safety. At the Dardanelles operations the seaplanes reported day by day the location of [Italian official photograph. AEROPLANE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE SAME DISTRICT SHOWING EFFECTS OF BOMBARDMENT. 136 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. new gun positions and gave valuable informa- tion to the mine sweepers about surface mines. The tractor biplanes, fitted with machine-gun and wireless, did excellent " spotting " for the big guns, and one pilot, co-operating with a British ship, enabled four consecutive direct hits from a 14-in. gun to be made on a flour mill at a range of 19,800 yards. Thousands of bombs, weighing anything between 20 and 1 12 lb., together with a number of exceptionally heavy projectiles, 500 lb. in weight, were dropped on enemy positions. The Allies, in point of fact, during the first three years of war, developed to a very great extent the employ- ment of the aeroplane as a long-range big-gun. Machines surveyed the enemy's position at Suvla, Anzac, and Capo Helles to a distance of 12 miles, over 9,000 yards in depth, and many thousands of photographs were taken. While this work was going on the development of the R.N.A.S. as a real striking force was not being neglected. Seaplane stations, fully equipped with all facilities, were constructed at many places along the coast line, and in course of time numbers of satisfactory machines were being delivered. Machines belonging to the R.N.A.S. " spotted " for the monitors which were a constant menace to the German positions on the Belgian Coast, and often enough they raided inland. In the third year the German submarine bases on the Belgian Coast were raided daily and nightly. The seaplanes convoyed merchant ships and naval craft, they hunted the U-boat, and flew in the vicinity of the German naval bases. No job was too great and none too small — when machines began to be produced in quantity. Not only in seaplanes was improvement effected, for as the value of an air service to the Royal Navy was more fully grasped by the Admiralty, striking departures were made in other directions. The " Blimp," for example — a creature consisting of a curious hybrid combination of airship and aeroplane — came into being. Detailed particulars of its con- struction were kept from the public knowledge, but broadly it may be said that the envelope was about 150 feet in length. To it was attached a fuselage — including engine and geared-down propeller, with seating capacity for pilot and observer — of one of the later B.E.-type aeroplanes ; the fuel tanks gave a cruising capacity of about 10 hours at a speed of between 35 and 40 m.p.h. The ,..i,ii .u, plWRIi "/><■ A COAST-PATROL AIRSHIP. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 187 1 BLIMP." "Blimps" were fitted with wireless set, machine-gun, bombs, and camera, and by reason of their low cost, reliability, and simple con- struction, were built in large number. They proved of the greatest service in near-coast patrol work, and, in conjunction with the armed patrol, developed an unerring eye for the enemy submarine lurking in shallow waters. Once detected, the U-boat commander, if wise, surrendered without delay. From the air the submarine boat and the mine can be quite easily seen, at comparatively great depth, although invisible from the level of the water, much as fish, invisible _ from the bank, are clearly seen by an observer looking from a bridge spanning the stream. This particular optical fact was fully exploited by the various units of the R.N.A.S. The " Blimp," by reason of its small size and engine power, was, of necessity, a fair-weather vessel, and for sterner work farther out to sea a number of airships, known as the Coast Patrol type — shortly, the " C.P.'s " — were built and put in commission. For perfectly sound reasons the Admiralty resented mention of any detailed constructional particulars of these vessels during the war, but it may be said that their work largely consisted in scouting for submarines in more open water beyond the reach of " Blimps," in locating newly laid mine- fields, in assisting the armed patrol in its work of containing the German fleet and preventing the escape of armed enemy i-hip«, and, when need arose, in convoying merchant ships. Seaplanes of an ocean-going type, heavily armed, and with a big cruising capacity, were similarly employed. The construction of bigger airships, comparable with the best and most powerful productions of the Germans, was also carried on during the years 1915-1917. As the war progressed the uses of the seaplane increased, and it became the ambition of every R.N.A.S. pilot to sink a submarine " off his own bat." In August, 1915, Squadron -Com- mander A. W. Bigsworth, who by an irony of fate was flying a land-going aeroplane, succeeded in destroying a German submarine off Ostend with a well-directed bomb, and, before the end of the third year of war, a number of other U-boats had, as the German com- muniques put it, " failed to return " for very similar reasons. In pursuance of the definite policy of withholding information likely to be of value to the enemy, no details of these feats were published. The work of the seaplanes was not confined to the bombing of submarines, for a corres- pondent of The Times, writing from Mitylene in August, 1916, gave particulars of the bombing of a Turkish transport by a British seaplane 188 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. LAUNCHING A SEAPLANE FROM THE MOTHER SHIP. which succeeded in sinking the ship with the whole of the troops aboard it. Both German and British seaplanes were successful in sinking enemy ships by torpedo attack. The machines of the R.N.A.S. regularly took foodstuffs to the weight of some thousands of pounds into beleaguered Kut. A further success of the R.N.A.S. was the discovery of the hidden German cruiser Konigsberg, whose crew, by hiding the ship amongst the palms well inland along the course of a river and covering the whole superstructure with foliage, hoped to conceal her trom the British forces. Searching the coast and the rivers for their prey the aeroplanes located the ship, indicated her position by smoke bombs, and " spotted " for the guns so effectually that the cruiser, battered almost out of recognition, finally sank. Although statements about the use of Zeppelins at the battle of Jutland differ, there is no doubt that naval aircraft conveyed to Admiral Hipper knowledge of the strength and disposition of Admiral Beatty's squadron and encouraged that enterprising German sailor to close action in the hope of destroying an inferior section — as compared with his own strength — of the British Navy. The German official communique, stated that : " Airships and aeroplanes materially contributed to the success of the Naval Forces " without specifically men- tioning that the success was a retreat ! Un- doubtedly Zeppelins also conveyed the news of the approach of Admiral Jellicoe's battle fleet, and led to the hasty rush to its gun- and mine- protected home port which saved for Germany some part of her navy. Information about the use of British aircraft in the battle was held back by the Admiralty, but a seaplane conveyed to Admiral Jellicoe knowledge of the progress of the fight and the disposition of the German fleet, while a seaplane-carrying ship was also mentioned for her services in other direc- tions. In some of the official dispatches during the years 1915-1917 references were made to seaplane-carrying ships, notably the Ark Royal, which was employed at the Dardanelles, and which was, in common with other aircraft- carrying ships, a converted vessel, specially fitted to act as a mother ship to seaplanes and aeroplanes. In the House of Commons, in July, 1917, it was stated, in answer to a ques- tion, that a specially designed seaplane mother ship, fully equipped with repairing and other THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 189 facilities, had been added to the Navy, and that others were in the course of construction and would shortly be commissioned. A return may now be made to later develop- ments in the use of aircraft against the enemy on land. As trench warfare developed until at last a continuous line of opposing trenches and positions ran practically from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier, and as with the passing of time the positions on both sides were strengthened to such an extent that breaking through the line became admittedly impossible without the development of new tactics and weapons, it was recognized, first by the French, that this war was unlike all other wars, and that much previous knowledge had become obsolete. The great German attacks on Ver- dun marked the last employment of the old- fashioned methods which depended on smash- ing artillery fire followed up by massed infantry attacks. The scheme failed, as the whole world knows, and, once assured that the German bolt had been shot, the French developed their counter-offensive along new lines. Breaking through when the enemy line was of excep- tional depth was judged to be an operation of which the cost was not compensated by its gains, and the limited offensive was tried in its place with a satisfactory amount of success. Theoretically the scheme was sound, but difficulties arose when the telephone wires were cut by enemy fire, when the signalling units were put out of action either by casual- ties or because their signals could not be seen through the smoke and dust of the bursting shells, and when the enemy's strength was unexpectedly great and the attacking infantry was held up locally. The hew limited offensive demoralized the Germans for a period, but the plan of attack was soon seen through by the enemy com- manders, who took steps to render it ineffec- tive. Taking advantage of their exceed- ingly strong defensive positions and dug- outs, they allowed the French barrage to lift to the second and third lines and then, worm- ing out from the deep dug-outs, impervious to the heaviest shell fire, the German infantry, armed with portable machine-guns, poured a devastating fire into the attacking infantry. It was then recognized by the Allied com- manders that the cost of this new limited offensive would prove excessive unless constant THE SEAPLANE'S RETURN. The pilot superintending the hoisting operations. 140 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. [Official photograph. OBSERVATION BALLOON SEEN FROM BELOW. .touch were kept between the advancing troops and the guns in the rear. The aero- planes, as in so many other cases, pointed the way out, and the daring and skill of the Allied pilots made the scheme a success. When the great offensives of 1917 were undertaken the Allied aeroplanes had beforehand obtained undisputed local supremacy, and the " con- tact " aeroplanes, as they came to bo called, swept along the bombarded trenches at a perilously low height above the line of bursting shells, signalling to the guns the effect of the bombardment. As the infantry went " over the top " and crossed " No Man's Land " to the first line of the enemy treaclies, the " contact " aeroplanes, swooping above the battle line, signalled information of the progress made. Where the attack was held up by machine-guns which had •survived the preliminary bombardment, a \wireloss message, giving range and position — already carefully noted on the maps plotted from the pictures taken from the reconnais- sance and photographing aeroplanes, whereon every small detail in the enemy defences had been numbered and registered — brought concen- trated heavy shell-fire on the stubborn point, while the. attacking infantry temporarily took whatever cover was available. , A special dispatch to The Times, dated August 2, 1917, gave an excellent account of this work. In a paragraph headed " Our Swallow Airmen," the correspondent wrote : In my dispatch yesterday I told how the bad weather and the thickness of the air had robbed us on the day of battle of the advantages of aeroplane observation, though in spite of everything our men had flown out and, descending below the clouds, fired on the enemy infantry in the trenches. Later information shows that, notwithstanding the bad conditions, they did splendid work. The lowness of the clouds compelled most of the flying to be done at heights below 500 ft. Much of it was bolow 200 ft., and in many cases individual machines went much lower. By thus working close to the ground, almost like swallows on a wet day, they were ablo to keep contact with our advancing infantry and did an immense amount of valuable work, though constantly under machine-gun and rifle fire. In all their fighting against hostile machines and men and guns on the ground, our flying men used on the one day over 11,000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition, besides some revolver ammunition. The German prisoners captured in the Allied offensives of 1917 were especially bitter about the work of their artillery and airmen. A letter to his parents, taken from a prisoner captured in the Arras battle, is particularly illuminating. He had written : These British airmen are the very devil, for they come down to our trenches and almost enter our dug-outs, bombing and machine-gunning and ?eeming to take the greatest pleasure in doing so, and quite regardless of our rifle fire. We should not be at all surprised at any time to know that they had found a way of flying right through our dug-outs, and we have no peace from them night or day. Very different from our German airmen, who spend their time pinning Iron Crosses to their tunics and sitting in cafes smoking and telling stories of their own bravery. We would much rather see examples of their bravery than listen to their stories of it. Before the great battles in 1917, when the German aeroplanes had been beaten from the air and enemy nerves were strung to breaking- point in anticipation of the offensive, the Allied pilots found the greatest delight in flying across country behind the German lines peeking for adventure and often enough finding it. Enemy staff cars were attacked by machine-gun from low-flying aeroplanes, troops on the march were scattered, rest camps and billets were bombed, ammunition dumps were set on fire, until the destructive ingenuity of our pilots seemed unending. The following are THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 141 typical experiences in the day of the British pilots about the time of the Messines offensive. They are taken from the report of a Times correspondent': Individual narratives are told of the most thrilling description. One man who went off met a German machine below the clouds, and a fight followed which ranged down to within 50 ft. of tho ground, when the enemy machine sideslipped and crashed. Another visited an aerodromo and fired into tho sheds from a level below their roofs and dived on and silenced a machine-gun which fired on him from the ground. Another, who went out shortly before five in tho morning, began a happy day by first, patrolling roads and canals and firing on and scattering any troops he saw. He then visited an aerodrome, which he found asleep, and waked it by dropping a bomb on the shed. The place began to buzz like a hive while he flow round at a height of 30 ft., dropping a bomb now and again on tho sheds and firing into them through the doors with his machine-gun. He went off occasionally to change his drums or fix his bomb lever, and each time ho came back and flew round again, silencing tho machine-guns which opened on him, and once actually bumping the ground while firing into the sheds. Then he went off and chased some officers on horseback and scattered a body of 200 troops. He met two hostile aeroplanes and shot down one, and the other bolted. He went to see the machine which he had crashod, and finding that a crowd had gathered round it, find into thorn and sont thern flying. Then he paid another visit to the aerodrome, and afterward* w'nnt off and chased a passenger train on the railway with his machine-gun till he ran out of ammunition. Then he turned and jogged home. Nor were our airmen, scouting behind the enemy lines, content to signal back the positions of the German batteries, for many install were recorded of the gun crews being shot down by the machine-guns on the aeroplanes, while authenticated cases of heavy guns themselves being placed out of action by direct bomb hit from a height of leas than 150 feet were not infrequent. Gunning the enemy in the trenches and on the march had, in 1917, become part of the ordinary flight, and many different ways of harassment and annoyance were thought out. Reference to another Times dispatch best illustrate the work done by British pilots in spotting for the artillery in the course of the big FRENCH OBSERVATION BALLOON AND ITS PORTABLE HAULAGE APPARATUS. 142 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. AN EARLY ASTRA-TORRES AIRSHIP LEAVING HER SHED. offensive in the Ypres sector of August, 1917. Here it is said : During the last few days' fighting I have heard several tiroes the statement that in the course of the battle the fire of the German batteries actually grew perceptibly and contimiously less as they were put out of action by our guns. This is quite credible. In the course of a single day our guns, guided by our aeroplanes, silenced 73 hostile batteries. Observation showed 21 gun-pits entirely destroyed and 35 others badly damaged. Eighteen explosions of ammunition stores were caused and 15 other fires. These are only the items of air work in a single day of battle, but their influence on the course of victory is obviously enormous. As the enemy lost his superiority in the air — a fact which the Germans in the trenches did not fail to communicate to the public at home — -it became necessary for the German Government to take steps for the purpose of soothing shattered civilian nerves. A state- ment was published in the Press which, with a warning that exact details up to the end of February, 1915, and for July, 1917, were not then available, so that' the figures for " these periods " were not " absolutely trustworthy," gave the following figures of enemy and German aeroplanes shot down during the first three years of war : — German. Enemv. 1914 1915 1916 1917 (to end of July) . From August 1, 1914, to July 31, 1915, 72 enemy aeroplanes were shot down, of which 39 fell into German hands; from August 1, 1915, to July 31, 1916, 455 enemy aeroplanes were shot down, of which 267 fell — 9 91 131 221 784 370 1,374 into German hands; from August I, 1916, to July 31, 1917, " about " 1,771 enemy aeroplanes were shot down, of which 776 fell into German hands. In 1915 two enemy captive balloons, so far as is known, were shot down ; in 1916, 42 ; in 1917 to August 1, 142. Three enemy airships were also shot down. Total aircraft shot down from August 1, 1914, to August 1, 1917, about 2,298 enemy and 682 German aeroplanes, 186 enemy captive balloons, and three airships. The Times commented on this as follows : Official figures are not accessible for the purpose of checking the claims made by the Berlin journal in respect of Allied aeroplanes, but it is possible to test, both from official and unofficial sources, the accuracy of the figures given of German losses for at least some portion of the three years. For instance, the Matin, whose authority is at loast as high on the one side as that of the Berliner Tageblatt is on the other, stated on January 1, 1917, that the French brought down 450 German machines in 1916 and the British 250. This figure of 700 compares with the German admission of 221. There is confirma- tion of this unofficial estimate in the table compiled from the statements in the official communique's of British and French Headquarters which appeared in The Times of December 5, 1916, and which showed that, for the six months June to November in that year, 666 German machines were brought, shot, or driven down by the Allies. If we tako the year 1917 as it is calculated by the Tageblatt — August 1, 1916, to July 31, 1917 — the official British and French figures show that 2,076 German machines were sent down — 1,325 by the British, 751 by the French. It is not pretended that all these were destroyed, but if we take, merely for May, June, and July, those which were officially stated to have crashed, to have been destroyed, brought down in flames, shot down by gunfire, or captured, we get, instead of the Taijeblatt's figure of 370 for the whole year, 623 for three months. In support of The Times the following account of what authorities demand before THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 148 accepting the claim of a pilot to have " crashed " an enemy machine, is instructive. When a pilot claim* to have crashed an enemy aero- plane he must be able to produce evidence to prove it. Ho must have seen the machine hit the ground and observed the wreckage. But how is a man fighting at 10,000 feet to follow an enemy machine to ground and investigate, when he is probably being attacked by other enemies in the skies ? All claims are carefully scrutinized at some three stages before they are finally admitted and pub- lished by the Higher Command, and probably in one- third of the cases where the pilots get credit for having crashed enemy machines the claim is allowed only through the accident of some other airman, flving low at the time, having seen the descent from the clouds above and the actual collision with the earth, or some similar accidental corroborating evidence. I have also spoken before of the influence of the westerly winds, which are so prevalent here. Fighting nearly always drifts over the enemy's territory, and while he knows all about the machines, whether his or ours, that come down we have only ocular evidence from the skies above and only know that our machines are "missing." During the last few days the influence of these westerly winds has been very great, and yesterday the German flying men were habitually endeavouring to decline combat when near the front lines, and, by slowly retiring, trying to draw our men farther over their own ground, where even a small mishap may prevent our men, against the adverse wind, from regain- ing our lines. It is well known that Captain Ball knew he had destroyed over 50 enemy machines, but he had official credit for only 41. He was an extremely modest man, whose claims undoubtedly were under the truth. The same is true in proportion of Captain Bishop, the new air V.C., and of all the other British fliers who have a long list of enemy victims to their credit. It is charac- teristic of our British way of doing things that we minimize our achievements before the public, and it has this compensation, that the world can count with absolute confidence on any claim whatsoever which our Royal Flying Corps puts forward. As aeropl anes were i ncreasi ngl y used on bombing expeditions it was soon apparent to the officers of both arms of the service that indiscriminate flying, in which the individual pilot was left largely to his own devices, was as unprofitable as an attack on a fortified position by unled troops, and formation flying was practised in the years 1916-1917 by all the belligerent countries. A study of bird life and various technical con- siderations showed that the V-shaped forma- tion had definite advantages, especially as the number of machines used in the bombing expeditions increased. The extent of the increase is well shown in the official French communique which reported that during the week-end of August 18-19, 1917, 111 French aeroplanes had dropped 26,000 lb. of high explosives upon German railheads in the Meuse district. The enemy aeroplane raids against England in the summer of 1917 demon- strated this theory of formation flying to the satisfaction of the German War Office at all events, and, as a curious commentary on SEAPLANE BEING DELIVERED BY ROAD. 144 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ****« °"«tr^- **»*'•£«, . of *»TTl* WAHJJ V-FORMATION OF A RAIDING SQUADRON. British mentality, it may be remarked that the perfect station maintained by the aeroplanes during the raids received almost as much notice as the damage done by the bombs. The leader took the position of honour at the point of the V, the following aeroplanes being strung out on either side and at different heights. This formation was adopted partly to avoid the air currents set up by the other machines, partly that the respective pilots might have a clear view of the leader's bombs and the localities in which they burst, correcting their own aim when necessary, and partly to increase the. difficulty of the anti-aircraft gunners below and to give a measure of additional security to the squadron. Further, this formation held advantages for the defensive against attacking aeroplanes ; a clear field of fire in every direction for mimbers of guns on the different machines was given, and any attacking aeroplane relying upon one or two machine-guns was met by a storm of lire from behind, ahead, above and below, from every machine-gun of the invading squadron which could be brought to bear. While the machines forming the outer lines of the V were thus defending the squadron, those flying in the body of the V were freed from attack and could concentrate on their bomb-dropping. A number of single-seater fighting machines, armed with a machine-gun of a comparatively heavy calibre, and possessed of a speed esti- mated by competent observers at well in excess of 130 m.p.h., accompanied the bombing squadrons. These machines flew well above the bombers and their special duty consisted in driving off aeroplanes sent up for the purpose of engaging the bomb-dropping machines, a duty for which their high speed, their handiness in the air, and their heavy weapons particu- larly suited them. CHAPTER CXCVIII. NEW ZEALAND AND THE WAR. Military Training before the War — Origin of the Expeditionary Force — The Training System Explained— Camps and Permanent Bases — Featherston — The Importance of Dentists — Canvas Camp — The Man-Power Problem — The Maoris — The Military Service Act of 1916 — The Capture of Samoa — Departure of the Expedftionary Force — Arrival in Egypt — Zeitoun Camp — Fighting on the Canal — Gallipoli — The Work of the New Zealanders — The Evacuation — Return to Egypt — The New Zealanders in France — Battle of the Somme — Messines — The Battleship New Zealand — New Zealand Charity — Dis- charged Soldiers. A TRAVELLER who leaves England with the intention of making the longest possible sea voyage without doubling on his tracks cannot go farther afield than New Zealand. It is the most distant British Dominion, if one excepts the newly discovered tracts in the Antarctic. Its very remoteness greatly increased the diffi- culties of supply and transport for the New Zealand forces in the Great War. But, although the Dominion was so remote, it nevertheless was one of the most actively patriotic of all the oversea dependencies. Nowhere was the " war fever " higher than in New Zealand ; nowhere was a force raised more quickly. This fact was largely owing to the excellent system of com- pulsory military service, introduced some years before, under the aegis of Lord Kitchener. Also, when Colonel Allen, Minister for Defence, visited England some time before the war, he discussed the question of an Expeditionary Force with the Imperial authorities. The scheme, although only tentative, met with a good deal of opposition in some quarters in New Zealand. The wisdom of it was after- wards proved. Kitchener had been struck at once by the vast possibilities of making New Zealand an Vol. XIIL— Part 161 145 object lesson for the rest of the Empire in the matter of independent defence. The physique of the men of the Dominion, their conditions of life, the material for mounting irregular cavalry, the vast training grounds available, and, above all, the enthusiasm of the employees and em- ployers, all made it evident that a working scheme could easily be put into operation. So it was that when war broke out the Dominion had at its command a force ready for intensive training. True, the men had not been long either under discipline or in camp, but they had been given all the kinderqarlen work of war, and were ready for the more advanced stages. The foot soldiers were all in good training, induced partly by the healthy life of the average man in those parts, and partly by the fact that they had all done their military duties with regularity for some years. The mounted men wore all from the country, where boys learn to ride soon after they can walk. They were all provided with horses, and all of them knew how to care for their mounts. In a sense every New Zealand mounted rifleman is his own veterinary surgeon, and subsequent events proved that there were no troops who were better able to care for their horses under the most trying conditions. 146 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. The artillerymen had all attended long training camps, and had done their compulsory drills for periods varying from three to four years, and they, too, were aH horsemasters Therefore, it follftwed that when the first announcement was made as to the probability [Haines photo. MR. W. F. D. MASSEY, Prime Minister of New Zealand. of a force being sent from New Zealand to the seat of war, there were thousands of men who were not only willing, but fit and able to be sent to camp and finished off in such a manner that they could be sent to the front within two months at the outside. The war enthusiasm was tremendous. Since the passing of the compulsory training measure there had always been an anti-conscription body in th.> Dominion, and the members of this small but noisy fraternity resisted the attempt to put through the measure providing for an Expeditionary Force. Even when this was done, they held a few abortive meetings which were systematically broken up in such a manner that the anti-conscriptionists faded into oblivion. All over the Dominion, in the big seaport towns and in the " back blocks," war meetings were held, and there was a rush to enlist. Employers of big city businesses gave every facility to their staffs, and in the country run-holders, cattlemen and sheep owners came to the front with offers of horses to mount individual men, troops and even squadrons of mounted rifles. They also gave generous gifts of provisions for the men and fodder for the horses. Volunteer workers amongst the farmers collected hay and oats, and saw it from the stations to the railroads, often many miles distant. The reception in New Zealand of the news of the British declaration of war on Germany has already been described, and some account has been given of the rapid preparation of the Expeditionary Force.* The chief character- istics of the training system of New Zealand were the early age at which it began, the number of years for which it was in force, and the limit of time devoted to any continuous training in the year. At the age of 12 the scheme embraced junior cadets who served until they were 14. In each year they received 90 hours' physical training and ele- mentary drill. The Education Authorities were responsible for this, but the work was con- stantly supervised and arranged by the Defence Department. From the age of 14 the boys served as senior cadets directly under the Defence Department. They had a thorough grounding in musketry, small arms drill, physical drill, and such things as elementary military law and camp hygiene. Four whole days were set apart in each year on which they went into the field for manoeuvres, often varied by practical musketry work. There were 24 night drills in the year. Although this arrangement did not permit of any period of continued training, it is evident that it formed more than a ground work for what followed afterwards. At the age of 18 the cadet was absorbed in the Territorial Force, and for seven years he did 16 whole -day drills a year, or their equivalent in half-day or night drills. At the same time not less than eight continuous days were spent in camp ; special branches, such as the naval service, artillery, and engineers served for 25 days, and of the 25, not less than 17 must be given up to con- tinuous training on board ship or in camp. The total length of service when the final discharge was attained was 6J months for infantry and mounted corps, and 8 \ for technical corps and special branches. The cost of New Zealand's scheme was estimated at only £500,000. Lord Kitchener, when in New Zealand, was inclined to favour the • See Vol. I., pp. U5-H7, and Vol. II., pp. 262 foil. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THh WAR. 147 methods followed by the West Point Military College, the training ground for officers of the American land forces. He did this advisedly and after much thought, for the democratic conditions in New Zealand made it essential that candidates should be drawn from every station. There was no counterpart in New Zealand to the English public school system, although there were many colleges and boarding schools originally founded on it. Again, there was nothing analogous to Sandhurst or to Woolwich, and it was evident that any officers' training college started in either Australia or New Zealand would have ,to include in its curriculum more than mere military training. It was left to Australia to start this officers' training college. Unfortunately New Zealand did not participate, and was content to send her candidates across to Duntroon instead of forming a school of her own. Colonel W. T. Bridges, who afterwards became a general and was killed with the Australian forces at Galli- poli, was an officer who did a great deal to build up Duntroon. It was soon evident when war broke out thai New Zealand would have been well advised to have had her own officers' training school. Everywhere men who were fully competent to serve as officers enlisted as privates. Gradu- ates and students from the Universities, tech- nical men such as engineers, marine, electrical, and mining, whose services would have been tremendously valuable in the commissioned ranks, enlisted in the first rush and rarely passed the status of non-commissioned officers. When the force was first formed, it so hap- pened that it was the time for the annual camp of the Dominion Territorials and conse- quently not only were the men still under military charge, but units were in military formation and concentrated in such a manner that they could be much more readily handled. The date of the outbreak of war, as far as the New Zealand force was concerned, was a parti- cularly convenient one. Needless to say, the Territorial Force already had its own officer?, but many of these, indeed the greater proportion of senior officers, were men who were not able to leave the Dominion at a moment's notice, and others were too old. Therefore it followed that the officering of the force was a somewhat difficult matter. The New Zealand Expe- ditionary Force was always a particularly self- contained unit, but undoubtedly much of the backbone of the training system was supplied by permanent officers and non-commissioned officers from the Imperial Forces. Many of the former were forced to stay on in the Dominion when the main body left, for in their hands had been placed all the organization and business of equipment. The non-commissioned officers, many of whom had come out as ser- geants from the Imperial Forces, and had been promoted to the rank of sergeant-majors and warrant officers, were in some cases required to IN TRAINING IN EGYPT: CHARGING TO THE MAORI WAR-CRY. 161—2 148 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAH. stay behind also. Others of them came away as company-sergeant-majors, regimental-ser- geant-majors, and even platoon sergeants, and undoubtedly the success of the enterprise, the excellent training of the men in the field, and the thoroughness of matters of routine and detail were due to these men, many of whom reverted to the rank of platoon sergeant from warrant station. With the need for the training of regular reinforcements in New Zealand it became manifest that some new system of camps and were got out for the formation ot a big training camp at Featherston, a small town on the northern side of the Rimutaka Range, the picturesque hills which separate the Hutt Valley from the Wairarapa Plain. The idea of placing the men there was at first viewed with some disfavour by the residents of the district. The need was urgent, however, and no serious protests were made. The land on which the permanent hutments were erected looks level to the casual observer, but there is a steady fall which makes for adequate drainage. The Public Works Department [N.Z. official photograph. NEW ZEALANDERS AT FORESTRY WORK: SHANTIES BUILT BY THE MEN FOR THEIR OWN OCCUPATION. permanent bases must be arranged. The decentralized scheme served very well at the beginning of the war when the first force was kept under canvas at the four big centres, two in the North Island and two in the South, but it was evident that it would be much easier if the training staffs were centralized and the local area officers were left to the work of obtaining recruits, and, when the selective draft scheme came into operation of calling up the men who were chosen. Although New Zealand has on the whole an equable climate, and troops can be kept under canvas in the North Island all the year round, the hut system was considered the best and safest, and plans must take the credit for the expedition with which the project was carried out. In August 1915 the work was commenced, and over 1,000 workmen were sent to the district. Huge orders for durable timber, bricks, water-pipes and roofing had to be placed. Luckily the timber was ready to hand, for there is no better timber grown in the world than in the North Island of New Zealand. The workmen them- selves lived in tents for a while, but as the hutments rose they inhabited them by degrees until their work was finished. There were nearly three hundred buildings in the camp, and it had some miles of streets with every kind of shop that it is possible to THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 149 imagine fronting them. There were three billiard rooms with 28 tables, a large picture theatre, an officers' club, five institutes, a canteen 320 feet by 50 feet, 31 buildings set aside for the camp hospital and the offices and surgeries of the Dental Corps, and over 50 administrative and equipment buildings. There were 92 double huts for the men, 16 officers' cubicle huts, 16 dining halls, 6 large and roomy cookhouses, and 20 stables for the accommoda- tion of over 500 horses. Over 3J million feet of timber was used, and for the building of the hutments and offices 30 tons of nails were re- quired. Nearly 5,000 rolls of patent roofing were needed and the painted surface of the huts was over 50 acres. There were three and a half miles of streets, and all of them were flanked on both sides with footpaths and concrete channeling. Nothing was left to make the camp unpleasant in winter time, and the steam roller and graders were used on all the roads. The main road through the camp, roughly dividing the men's quarters into two, was over a quarter of a mile long and as broad as The Mall. Each big dormitory had its own drying-room where the men's clothes could be put after a day's training in the wet. This in itself was a great saving in time, for the men were then able to go out in all weathers with the certainty of having dry clothes again the next morning. Also the risk of illness from wearing the wet clothes of the day before was obviated. The 16 dining-halls accommodated 600 men at a sitting. The men were paraded in front of their sleeping quarters and marched to the messes, where they were served with their rations by mess orderlies. This plan was infinitely better than the old one, which necessi- tated their eating their food in the same rooms in which they slept. Each cookhouse could cook for 1,600 men, so there was a margin left over in case of any extra influx of recruits. Ordinarily there were always about 8,000 men there, and the strength was maintained very carefully by means of the selective draft system. This system is a territorial one, and any district that has not kept up its quota of reinforcements according to population has a ballot, when men eligible are chosen for that purpose. The same system was used in the United States for the formation of the original force. There were two bath-houses containing 100 showers and there were no restrictions as to their use. The men might bathe at any time they were off duty, and there was always a constant supply [Official photograph. NEW ZEALANDERS AT FORESTRY WORK. Setting an Axe. of hot water. In addition to this the Ruam- ahanga River runs near by and the men were taken to it for bathing parades. As it is the exception to find a New Zealander who cannot swim or who does not spend hours a week in the water, these were very popular, and at times the bush echoed to the shouts of thousands of sunburned men splashing in the long deep reaches of the shingle-bottomed stream. There were over 30 miles of copper cable in the camp for the conveyance of electric energy and at night there were never less than 3,000 lamps alight. The Post Office was a wonderful institution, even for a large camp, and it ranked fifth in point of business done in the Dominion. For the year 1916 there were 1,012,380 letters posted and very nearly the same number received. The New Zealand soldier is a great letter-writer and the mail service at the camp had consequently to be a good one. 150 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. There was even a motor mail van which •lid nothing but take matter to and from the Featherston station, where the fast trains tools it to Wellington. The value of the money orders issued shows the magnitude of the work done there as well as anything else. In the one year there were ordei-s issued to the value of over £50,000. Four hundred seats were available at the COL. SIR JAS. ALLEN, K.C.B., New Zealand Defence Minister. picture thoatre and a new programme was screened every evening, including Sundays. One of the billiard rooms had 20 tables and there were very seldom many of them not in use in the off hours. New Zealanders are as a rule very good with the cue, and the game of " snooker " is always a popular one with the men. In Egypt many of -them went miles into Cairo and spent their whole afternoons playing either this game or billiards. There was one set of buildings where the I )ental Corps was quartered. The New Zealand Defence authorities long ago saw the necessity for the proper care of soldiers' teeth, and before the Main Expeditionary Force left the Dominion there were dentists in camp with all the units, juft as there were doctors. For some reason the proportion of bad teeth among the New Zealand people is high, and it was found that a great ' deal of the sickness that occurred in camp could be directly attributed to this fact. The dentists who joined up with the force were given the rank of captains, and for a time were attached to the New Zealand Medical Corps. Latterly, however, they were formed into a unit of their own, and their ranks were con- stantly growing. On most of the transports which left the Dominion in 1914 there were dentists. In Egypt, too, the dentists were kept very busy, and afterwards their work was much more than justified when the men went to Gallipoli and their teeth suffered from the hard biscuit and sometimes bad food. At Gallipoli more than one dentist made artificial dentures immediately behind the line, and under shell fire the whole time. A man would often come down the steep paths from -the front trencher towards the beach and search out the dentist's dug-out where he would have a filling put in or a tooth taken out. There is an amusing story told of one ■ dentist's mechanic whose immediate superior had gone away to get more stores from Egypt. In the absence of the real dentist a colonel, whose men worshipped and adored him, was seized with toothache, and sought out the non-commissioned officer who was left in charge. The man explained that he was not really a dentist but a mechanic. The colonel impatiently brushed aside the objection and pleaded with the man to take out the troublesome tooth. The non-com- missioned officer thereupon took the colonel to his own dug-out and made ready to operate with fear and trembling. In the meantime the men of the patient's battalion had got wind of the business, and gathered quietly but ominously outside the dug-out. Before the dentist's mechanic began the operation a spokesman called liim outside and addressed a few words to him. When he returned to the colonel he was visibly unhappy and shaky. " What on earth's the matter with you ? " the latter asked, " it's me that should be tremb- ling and not you ! " " Well, sir," said the embarrassed mechanic, " there's a bunch of the boys out there, and they say that if I hurt you and you let out as much as a groan they'll settle me." The colonel sat tight during the operation, a most unpleasant one where thero was no anesthetic, and all parties were satisfied. The Featherston Camp Dental Corps was formed at the end of 1915, and it grew in about two years to a strength of thirteen officers and 39 non-commissioned officers and men. In one THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAE. 151 month this department carried out a total of nearly 7,000 operations, including nearly 3,000 fillings, 500 root dressings, 2.000 attendances for dentures, and 559 extractions. It can easily be seen that if any New Zealand soldier SIR THOMAS MACKENZIE, K.C.M.G., High Commissioner for New Zealand. went to the front with his teeth uaseen to it was his own fault. In the neighbourhood of the camp there were all sorts of trenches and field works copied from the latest models as approved by the Imperial authorities and the men who had seen actual work in Oallipoli, Egypt, or France. There were many of these latter at the camp in the capacity of instructors, and their ser- vices were very valuable in a little Dominion where the number of men who had seen actual war before 1914 was exceedingly small. Across the road from the big hutment area there was an auxiliary camp known as Canvas Camp, where men were sent when there was not sufficient accommodation for them in the other quarters. In this camp, too, the men were given a final training before leaving Featherston for Trentham, the last place at which they stayed before their embarcation. There was also an old camp at Tauherenikau, and this was used mainly for infantry. Specialists such as Artillery, A.S.C., Signallers, Mounted Rifles and Machine Gunners went to Papawai Canvas Camp where they were given training in their separate branches. There were two rifle ranges there with machine-gun emplacements, and bomb trenches and in- struction grounds. There were also mortars of various calibres, such as were being used at the front. Drafts of 2,000 men were sent away every little while from the Featherston camp, and they marched across the Rimutaka range over The Summit to Trentham, about 15 miles from the capital, Wellington. As a rule when reveille sounded at some time between midnight and one o'-clock in the morning, its strains, usually unpopular, were greeted with loud cheers, for there is nothing that heartens men more than the knowledge that they are about to move at last. After a good breakfast at one o'clock the men were given some time to themselves, whilst the final arrangements were being made. Then at three o'clock they [Official photograph. SIR JOSEPH WARD, SIR DOUGLAS HAIG, AND MR. MASSEY. Photographed in France. "humped their swags," to use a colonialism, and stepped out to the music of the camp band. It was rather an impressive march, starting, as it did, in the dark, and it meant a lot to the men who were to go 15,000 miles overseas to fight. Away towards the foot- hills, swinging along briskly in the cool morning air, the men sang as they went, sometimes for miles at a stretch. Indeed, it seemed a point 152 THE TIMES H1ST0HY OF THE WAR. of honour to try to sing all the way to The Summit ; at least one draft of the reinforce- ments accomplished this amazing feat. One says amazing feat advisedly, for the road has a grade of sometimes a steady ono-in-eight, and the full kit with rifle, entrenching-tool, and rations, does not make the marching any MAORI BUTCHERS IN CAMP. easier. The good people of Featherston were always afoot when a draft " went over the Hill," and motor-cars and wagons awaited the troops on The Summit, whore every man was given tea and as many sandwiches as he wanted. The Summit was usually reached after four hours and a half of steady uphill marching, so it will be seen that the first part of the trek, at any rate, was not an easy walk. The down- hill journey was always easier, and the. men stepped out until Trentham Camp, eight miles away, was in sight. It is a good march this, from Featherston to Trentham, and it takes a full 14 hours. It had one good effect, too, and that was in showing which were the men who were now fit for such a task. There were drafts of 2,000 that got to The Summit with a loss of but four men fallen out on the way, and even these joined up afterwards on the way down to the valley. Few people in England can rightly realise the magnitude of the task that New Zealand set out to accomplish. In the whole of the Dominion- there were not many more than - a million inhabitants, and from this total a force of over 80,000 men was recruited The percentage is an even better one than appears at first glance, for in recruiting » from a small colony one is faced with many new difficulties. For instance, there are only a certain number of men in each trade in the Dominion, and there are never too many for requirements. Now, if all the plumbers in the Dominion enlist, or all the coopers, or all the shearers, it is evident that an awkward situation arises. As a matter of fact, though perhaps not in these trades just specified, this is exactly what, happened, and certain callings were depleted to a dangerous extent. The shearers, for instance, are all, or nearly all. young men, and all of them have to be fit for their back-straining work. They are also lovers of adventure, and many of thnm are of a roving disposition. Some ot them shear in Australia, and later in the season go to New Zealand, fitting in some months in the Argentine in the same year. They are hardy and used to open-air work and plain food, and make ideal soldiers. In addition, the calling of soldiering attracted them, and many of them joined up in the Mounted Rifles, making some of the best material in that force. In tbe meantime, the Maoris had to fill their places. In New Zealand, luckily, there are few large sheds where there are not shearing machine plants installed, and it is nofcso difficult to teach a beginner to use the machine as it is to instruct him how to clip with the blades. Consequently, the shortage of shearers was remedied to some extent. The Maoris themselves were always willing to fight, and when war broke out they peti- tioned the Government to let them form a contingent of their own. There was then some doubt as to whether it would be allowed, but when the news of the landing of the Indian troops in France was received in New Zealand, the Maoris took fresh heart, and again put their request to the Defence Department and the Government. The chiofs of the tribes came to the capital to offer the services of the men of their septs, and the latter backed them up with tremendous enthusiasm. The Maori comes of one of the finest fighting stocks in the world, and it is not much more than half a century ago since he was actually keeping at bay British troops of superior force and armament, during long months of terrible bush fighting. In the Maori War the natives showed a wonderful THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 153 aptitude for the building of scientific fortifica- tions and stockades, and there are many ruined " pahs " throughout the length and breadth of both islands that show their in- genuity. They built fire trenches identical with those now used in France. They had no barbed wire, but they made palisades of sharpened tree trunks lashed cunningly to- gether. Their trenches had traverses and covered ways of communication. They fought stolidly and well for a long time. A strange thing happened in the early days of 1914, when the chief of the tribe which had been last under arms against the British was the first to convey the wish of his men to serve against the Germans in any part of the world. Ultimately a Maori contingent was formed, and it went to Egypt and subsequently to Gallipoli. It was thought better that they should be withdrawn, from the attacking ranks and, with some of the Mounted Rifles, be formed into a Pioneer unit. One of the chief arguments in favour of such a scheme was the fact that they can dig as can no other troops in the British army. An admiring British general recounted his experiences when he watched the Maoris digging communi- cation trenches on the Somme front under shell fire. " I could almost see the trench going forward across the open," he said, and it was very little of an exaggeration. They are always cheerful, and their humour is of the best. They were lent for a time to the French Army as pioneers, and when they returned they had collected many words of French to add to an always elastic vocabulary. They are naturally fine linguists, and few, if any, of their young men in the New Zealand contin- gent were unable to understand English and, speak it fluently and well. Many of the men in their ranks had college education, and some of them were barristers, doctors of medicine, and masters and bachelors of arts as well. When the first Maori contingent was being formed, a deputation of Maori women came to the capital, and asked in all sincerity that they should be allowed to accompany their hvisbands and brothers and fight with them. They stated, and rightly so, that in the good old days the Maori " wahine " had always fought side by side with her man, and that they would be just as useful with the modern rifle as had been their grandmothers and great grandmothers with the Tower musket and the carbine. Whilst admiring the great spirit of the deputation and the women it represented, the Government was forced to refuse its request. With the introduction of the Derby scheme in England, the demand for conscription in New Zealand was allowed to hang fire for a while, until the results in England could be seen. The movement in favour of compulsion was always latent, however, and the attitude of the men who would be called up was inter- esting. There was one instance where a body MAORIS ON PARADE. 154 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. of railwayman asked the Defence Minister for conscription, and plainly told him that they did not think it fair that they should be asked to volunteer as long as there were men equally eligible waiting and only too ready to fill their positions as soon as they got into khaki. They said they would go willingly if the measure was introduced, but they wanted their rights protected in the way stated The movement in favour of conscription was entirely spontaneous, and there was no lead from the Government in the way of either propaganda or " poster " campaigns. The New Zealand reinforcements had hitherto been sent to the front at the rate of 1,800 every two months, but the War Council requested at the end of 1915 that this total should be increased to 2,500 a month. This was a substantial increase, and combined with the uneasy feeling with regard to the Dardanelles campaign, it had the effect of giving a fillip to the movement. At that time the War Council had stated that Britain needed ,30,000 men every week, and, worked out in the same proportion for the respective populations of Britain and New Zealand, the percentages of reinforcements needed by the Dominion and the mother country were almost the same. There were .several objections from Labour, and the conference called by the Federation said that there should be no conscription until there was a " conscription of wealth." This was a small and unimportant protest, however, and Mr. Massey, the Premier, said that he could not recognize the Federation's condemnation as truly representative of the feeling of Labour in the Dominion. Labour opposition in Parliament was not groat, and one of the most prominent members of that section stated in the House that Labour had less to fear from conscription than anybody, a statement which followed closely on the lines of the demand made by the railwaymen to the Minister of Defence. On May 25, 1916, the Military Service Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives. It provided for general compulsion, and gave the Government power to select the required quotas either by district or general ballots. Unmarried men, and widowers without children, were to be called up first. This was New Zealand's way of celebrating Empire Day, and a far better way than had ever been thought of before. On May 31 Colonel Allen moved the second reading of the Bill, and the occasion was taken by a Maori member to rebuke the Labour Federation leaders. He said that conscription of wealth was not a right idea, and that the Maori soldier was fully satisfied with his pay. He hoped to hear less talk about it, or else he was.' afraid that people would think that white men fought for money, and not for their King. The short speech was greeted with tremendous applause. On June 10 the Bill was passed and an amendment exempting religious objectors was thrown out. The third reading LANDING AT SAMOA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 155 was carried by 34 votes to 4 and all the members joined in singing the National Anthem, as they had done when the announcement that war was declared reached them. A week later the Finance Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, announced t haf New Zealand's share in the war would soon mean an expenditure of £1,000,000 a month. The immediate effect of the new Act was to stimulate recruiting, and men who were not unwilling, but who were holding back because they knew that others were waiting for them to go so that they could slip into their jobs, joined up in hundreds. The first adventuie for New Zealand troops was the capture of German Samoa. Three weeks after the declaration of war, this little expedition was mobilized and it embarked, with mountain guns and a wireless installation on board two of the Union Company's passenger ships in Wellington harbour. Two powerful German men-of-war, the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau, were still at large in the South Pacific Ocean, and as far as New Caledonia the only escort available was that of three small British cruisers which were then in New Zealand waters. One well -placed shot from either of the German ships would have sent any of these to the bottom. At the French colony of New Caledonia, amidst ever-memorable scenes, the Expedition was met by the battleship Australia and the French cruiser Montcalm. It continued its voyage to Fiji, and thence on to the port of Apia in Upolu. This town has great his- torical and literary interest, for it was the island home for many years of Robert Louis Stevenson. On that soil, German, American, and British blood had been shed in the various rebellions of past years. Out of that port the British warship Calliope steamed in the face of a hurricane, while other vessels in the harbour went to the bottom or were thrown bodily up on the reef. The New Zealanders now landed and hauled down the German flag, and on behalf of H.M. King George V. took possession of the island, and also the adjacent island of Sawaii. The German governor and the leading German officials, merchants, and planters were taken prisoner and conveyed to New Zealand to be interned on islands in Wellington and Auckland harbours. German Samoa was the first enemy colony to fall in the war. The governor's place was filled by Colonel Logan, the original commander of the Expeditionary Force. Needless to say, the places of the German officials, the Customs officers, judges, magis- trates, and even the gaolers had to be filled, COL. LOGAN READING THE PROCLA- MATION AT THE OCCUPATION OF SAMOA. and men were chosen from the ranks of the New Zealand force to take, them over. A private became chief justice, another governor of the gaol, and a corporal was made collector of customs. Some of them afterwards volun- tarily relinquished these comfortable and well- paid positions to return to the ranks, so that they might proceed to the scone of real fighting in Gallipoli. Great secrecy was maintained as to the date of departure of the Expeditionary Force. It was concentrated at the four chief towns, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dune- din. From these centres the men were sent to the capital at Wellington to be embarked on troopships. These troopships were steamers of various lines of the mercantile marine which had been taken over by the Government and converted into transports. Many of them were passenger ships whose usual run was between 161—3 156 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. TROOPS EMBARKING AT NELSON, NEW ZEALAND. DISEMBARKING AT ALEXANDRIA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 157 British ports and New Zealand or between America, Australia, and the Dominion. Their elaborate fittings were taken down and stowed ashore. In some ships the tables and revolving chairs were removed from the saloon, marble or expensive wood panelling was covered up with rough pine boards, and long lines of wooden tables and benches were put in for the use of the men's mess. The partitions between many of the cabins were broken down, but the bunks were retained, and many others added. In some troopships the men and non-commissioned officers occupied the first-class accommodation of the vessel, and the only sign of the ship's former origin was often to be found in the elaborate bath-rooms, which were left unaltered. In addition the holds were fitted out with hundreds of bunks, three and four tiers high. The refrigerating holds were in many cases the roomiest places on board, and in some of these a whole company of infantry could be accommodated. Horse boxes were built in all sorts of unexpected places. On one ship they were in the holds, in the well-decks, and on the boat deck. The preparations for the departure of the troops could not, of course, be kept secret, for there was an army of workmen engaged on the 12 transports. So expeditiously was the work carried out that the whole fleet was ready some few weeks after war broke out. The men were then dispatched from the various ports to Wellington, the concentration centre. The wildest rumours were afloat and great uneasiness prevailed at times owing to the known proximity of the German Pacific Squadron. It was thought that the German cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were in the vicinity of Samoa, a surmise which after- wards proved correct. At length, after many delays, the New Zealand force was ready to sail. The Auckland contingent started first in two troopships, and was to meet the main body out at sea. The main body, however, remained in Wellington, and the Auckland transports, after suffering a certain amount of hardship owing to rough weather at sea, returned hurriedly to harbour. The Govern- ment had reason to suspect that the German warships were within striking distance of the Dominion, and, as it was evident that the small escort provided would be no match for their guns, the departure was again post- poned. When the troops finally left they were escorted not only by British warships, but by a Japanese battleship, the Ibuki. Early one morning towards the end of October, 1914, the long line of transports, all painted a uniform grey, swung out from Wellington harbour. There had been no intimation given to the public that they were leaving, and the majority of the inhabitants of the capital were asleep when the force finally left. The only formal ceremony was the salute given by the forts near Penearrow Head. There the flag was dipped as each ship passed. The convoy with its 8,000 men crossed the Tasman Sea to Hobart and afterwards made a rendezvous with the Australian fleet at Albany. When the joint fleets continued their journey there were two long lines with 16 ships in each. The voyage to Colombo was not an uneventful one, for when the transports reached a point some 50 miles from the Cocos Keeling Islands the Sydney, one of the escorting cruisers, left them. A few days afterwards, on Novem- ber 10, every ship in the fleet heard the news that the Australian cruiser had inn down the Emden, the German commerce destroyer, which had had such a long career of immunity. The Japanese battleship Ibuki heard the news of the chase from the Sydney by wireless, and immediately unfurled a huge silk battle flag. Her commander asked, perhaps almost begged, to be allowed to assist in chasing the raider, but by this time Captain Glossop's ship had finally accounted for the Emden, and the German cruiser was run aground, a battered wreck, on the Cocos Island. Undoubtedly this victory, the first serious naval operation in which a ship of the Aus- tralian Navy had taken part, lifted a great load from the minds of those responsible for the safety of the convoy. Had the luck been with the Emden, her brave and chivalrous com- mander might easily have run into the middle of the long fines of transports at night time and accounted for many of them before being sunk himself. The precautions taken hitherto, the burning of all refuse that otherwise would have been thrown overboard, the strict injunc- tions as to the lighting of the ships, and other safeguards, were now somewhat relaxed, and the whole flotilla arrived at Aden without mishap. From Aden they passed up the Red Sea to Suez and so on through the canal. It was here that the Australasian troops saw the first signs of actual warfare, for at that 158 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. time the initial preparations for the defenos of the canal against Djemal Pasha's threatened invasion were in progress. The banks were lined by Indian troops and men from Great Britain. As the ships went through in the night time voices irom the bank enquired curiously who were the men on board, and the reply that they were Australians and New Zealanders was greeted all the way along with great enthusiasm. At Port Said, at the other end of the canal, the transports anchored to [Elliott & Frv photo. MAJOR-GEN. SIR A. J. GODLEY, K.C.B., Commanding an Army Corps. coal, and it was there that the first actual and official intimation reached the men as to their destination, for they were told that they were to disembark and proceed to Cairo. There was one particularly impressive cere- mony as the ships left Port- Said, The crew of a French warship was gathered on the fore- castle, and as the New Zealand and Australian convoy passed they sang the " Marseillaise." The salutation was returned and the 30,000 Australasian soldiers responded with the British National Anthem. The troops arrived at Alexandria on December 4, and the work of disembarcation commenced immediately. Many of the ships carried some hundreds of horses, but so thorough had been 'the arrangements for their welfare, and so untiring were the efforts of the men themselves, that during the whole long voyage of seven weeks very few of them died. Indeed, on some of the transports where it was possible, coconut matting had been laid on the decks and when weather conditions permitted the horses were exercised every day. The overseas soldiers' knowledge of veterinary work helped a great deal in reduc- ing the death rate, and the men were untiring in their attention towards their mounts. The effect of a seven weeks' voyage on a horse, kept for the whole time on its feet, is a very [Flliott £■ Frv photo. MAJOR-GEN. SIR A. H. RUSSELL, Commanding New Zealanders in France. trying one. Their legs invariably swell, and it is only by continuous grooming and massage that it is possible to keep them fit at all. At Alexandria the men disembarked and kits and stores were got off within two days of arrival. The horses were walked down the inclined gangways almost as soon as the vessels tied up to the quay. The same afternoon the first, troop trains left the seaport for Cairo, and late that evening, in the dark, the New Zealanders marched into Zeitoun Camp, about a mile from Heliopolis. The next day the work of setting up camp commenced, and before the week was ended the serious training of all arms had commenced. In New Zealand the men of the force had been subjected to a training which they thought was severe enough, but the time THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 159 there nad been too short to allow of many long route marches or attack practices. The work had mostly been confined to physical drill, bayonet exercise, and small arms exercises. Now, in Egypt, they got the first taste of the really strenuous side of soldiering in war-time. The packs of their Webb equipment were arranged methodically, and ammunition was served out. When fully dressed for a route march, each man's impedimenta weighed well over 50 lb., and it was no easy load to carry on the long desert marches over the soft sand. Most of these marches were made along the Suez road through the new town of Heliopolis. Sometimes the divisions started in the early morning, just as the sun was coming up over the desert hills. At that hour it was cool, and the start, with the subsequent march, was pleasant enough for at least an hour. After that, however, the Egyptian sun blazed down on the open road, the sand became so hot that one's feet were burnt through thick boots, rifle barrels were hot to the touch, and it was a sheer impossibility to march with a buttoned tunic. Often these long treks culminated in an attack practice which took place sometimes twelve miles from camp. On such occasions the order was sometimes given out that water bottles must not be touched until the word was given from the head of the column. Those who have never experienced an Egyptian summer find it difficult to realise the extra- IBassano photo. BRIGADIER-GENERAL F. E. JOHNSTON, C.B. Killed in action. ordinary thirst one acquires on these long treks over the desert. There were only four men who marched in comfort, and those were tho four at the very head of the column. Every succeeding four trudged along in a cloud of fine white dust, which settled on hair, eyebrows and faces. The tongue and mouth became NEW ZEALAND ARTILLERY AT ZEITOUN. 160 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. parched, and as the usual field ration consisted of bread and cheese, one's thirst by the end of the day was phenomenal. Ambulances accom- panied the columns, and although many of these marches were undertaken in a temperature of well over a hundred in the shade, wherever the shade was to be found, it is safe to say that less than one half per cent, from each company ever fell out on the march. The camp at Zeitoun grew amazingly Enterprising Greeks, Egyptians, and Levantines contracted for the running of various canteens and restaurants. All of these were accom- modated in big marquees, and it is little wonder that the wet canteen did probably the best business. English beer was sold there, but as the hot weather came and the temperature rose the price of drink rose accordingly, until obvious discontent was manifested with the manage- ment. Forcible protests had their effect, and the price dropped again. The wet canteen was an entirely new idea for the New Zealand soldier. In the Dominion no liquor of any kind is allowed to be sold in the camps or in any of the military cantonments. Indeed, protests were made by some well meaning but mis- guided people at home when it was heard that liquor was being sold to the troops in Egypt. The experiment was entirely justified, for in a few weeks it became evident that it was much better to supply good beer to the men in the precincts of the camp than to allow them to go farther afield and drink the extraordinary concoctions that are to be found in most bars in Cairo. The Zeitoun camp was erected on an ancient burial ground. Indeed, the whole of the surrounding country had great historic interest. From Heliopolis to Matarieh there were obvious evidences of the old civilization. This tract was once the site of the ancient city of On, and the graves and sepulchral chambers were many of them interesting fields for exploration. In their off time many of the New Zealanders spent their hours with an entrenching tool, digging in the sand or excavating at the bottom of the masonry shafts which were dotted all over the desert. Scarabs, blue pottery beads, and other relics were frequently found. Astute Egyptians " salted " these deposits, and for a few piastres they were willing to lead you to a grave where most excellent scarabs were to be found. If you paid the money and accompanied the guide, half-an-hour's not very strenuous digging would probably bring to light a dozen or more scarabs, which if taken to a dealer would cause amusement to one party and discomfiture to the other. These objects were made by the bushel in Austria and Germany before the war, and were palmed off on the unwary in this and other equally well- considered ways. While in Egypt the New Zealanders were given enough leave to enable them to see a great deal of Cairo and the surrounding country. Trips were even arranged up the Nile, to Luxor, and many of the men availed themselves of the facilities offered by the Egyptian State Railway. With the advent of this huge Colonial force NEW ZEALAND MOTOR AMBULANCES AT HELIOPOLIS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 161 NEW ZEALANDERS LEAVING CAIRO FOR THE CANAL. came a number of surprises for various people in Egypt. For a little while after their arrival it was distinctly stated that such hotels as Shepheard's and the Continental would be out of bounds except for commissioned officers. The men of both the Australian and New- Zealand forces greatly resented this prohibition. Such rules had never been imposed on them in their own country. Also they knew that they had the money to spend at such places. The pay of the New Zealand soldier, as a private, was os. a day, and as many of them were men with private means they took no notice of the attempted restriction. Crowds of privates and non-commissioned officers invaded the bigger hotels, and in a matter of a few weeks the authorities responsible for the mandate realized their mistake, and the proprietors of the hostelries saw new and large avenues of profit opened up for them. Most of the training of the New Zealand troops was carried out in the desert some miles from Heliopolis, and the native inhabitants of Cairo, amongst whom there had been a certain unrest, seldom saw the forces working in mass. It was arranged that they should be given an opportunity of seeing the overseas troops, and a march through Cairo was arranged. Hitherto the natives had only seen the men of the British regiments, and they could easily account for their coming to Egypt. They were at a loss, however, to understand from whence came these Southerners. Nor could they account for their physique. The march took place on December 23, 1914, and for the better, part of a day without cessation the troops streamed through the main streets of Cairo, on through the Mouski and the old quarter, to the music of their own bands. The sight was a most imposing one, but its effect on the Egyptians was extraordinary. Any military display usually attracts them, but this exhibi- tion of armed force did not please them so much. That it had a good effect was evident to the authorities, and the lesson received was the means of curing many of the more active malcontents and propagandists. In the old quarter of Cairo the troops marched four abreast through streets so narrow that even a donkey in the roadway held up the column. The Egyptians sitting in their shops, the coppersmiths, the saddlers, the carpet -sellers, indeed all the tradespeople and craftsmen, betrayed little interest in the spectacle. March- ing near the head of the column one could see that some of them did not even raise their eyes from their work, and that those who did look up betrayed a sulky anger rather than any interest. It was at Zeitoun that the word " Anzac " was invented. Whilst the New Zealand troops were in training there they were joined by other units of the Australian force from Mena camp near the Pyramids. This additional force encamped at the Aerodrome at Heliopolis and were placed under the command of General 162 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 163 Godley. Their addition brought the strength of both bodies up to that of an army corps, and it was necessary to have some convenient title which could be adopted for signalling and general purposes. The full title of the corps, Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, was much too cumbersome, and a clerk in one of the headquarters offices hit upon the word " Anzac," formed from the initial letters of the full title, as the most convenient designation. At the beginning of February, 1915, rumours of a move of some sort began to spread round the camp. The infantry of the New Zealand division were the first to leave Zeitoun. All spare kit was packed and stored in the quarter- masters' marquees and every man saw to his actual field equipment. The infantry entrained at Pont de Koubbeh station for Ismailia, where they again detrained. Ismalia is the town on Lake Timsah about half way between Suez and Port Said. The canal here broadens out into a great salt-water lake. Rumours in Ismailia were even more rife than in Cairo, and it was evident that Djemal Pasha's long threatened attack on the great and important waterway was in train. At Kantara and out from El Ferdan there had been patrol encounters with the advance forces of the Turkish army. Our aeroplanes had discovered large units of the invading force coming from the direction of El Arish, and it was more or less evident that a conjoint attack would be made at several points at once. The New Zealand infantry brigade went into camp below Ismailia station and for some time they were kept hard at work doing the same training to' which they had become accustomed in Cairo. Every little while news came to hand as to the movements of the Turkish forces. Espionage was undoubtedly common, and desert Arabs more than once crossed the canal westward bringing with them news of Djemal's force. Early one morning definite news arrived, and the New Zealanders proceeded to El Ferdan Gare, a point some six miles north of Ismailia. At this station there was a Gurkha post manned by two double companies under Colonel Boisragon, V.C. They were dug in securely on the eastern or Turkish side of the canal, and some of the New Zealanders were gent across to bivouac there for the night. A Gurkha patrol had that morning surprised a Turkish cavalry vedette and had succeeded in scattering it and bringing in one prisoner. From the high ground on the western bank of the canal the movements of the enemy could now be plainly seen. A camel train loaded with engineering impedimenta appeared over the crest of a distant hill, only to be lost sight of again in one of the numerous nullahs which abound in that district. Nevertheless, artillery fire was opened on the spot and it was subse- quently found that it was successful, to some extent at least. These isolated posts along the canal were strongly and ingeniously fortified with barbed wire entanglements and trip wires to which were attached flares and Verey lights. The Gurkhas themselves, and indeed all the other Indian troops along the canal, were tremendously keen for action. On the evening of February 1, 1915, as the two platoons of the Canterbury (N.Z.) Infantry were making arrangements to cross the canal to strengthen the post of the 2/10th Gurkhas on the eastern bank, the first shot of the attack was fired. H.M. sloop Clio, moored to the bank some miles up the canal, steamed down to a point about 800 yards below the Canal Gare of El Ferdan. Aeroplane reconnaissance had revealed the Turkish forces on the high hills about a mile and a half out from the post, and the Clio registered with a few preliminary shots. A few minutes later she settled down to steady firing, and the shells could be seen bursting on the desert near the Turkish emplacements, which had been " spotted " earlier in the day. The New Zealanders were gathered below a bank at the back of the Gare when the first retaliatory shot came from the Turks. At first it sounded as if the driving band of one of the Clio's shells had come loose and was ricochetting over the desert. This impression did not last more than a few seconds, however, for the first shell landed within a few yards of the railway station. A second came nearer the waiting infantry, and a third and a fourth lobbed straight into the big Canal Station building. It was evident that the Turks were ranging on this building, and it must be said that their shooting was remarkably good for the extreme range at which they were firing. This shelling did little more harm than to interrupt several games of cards and scare a Levantine telegraph operator into a state of tremendous excitability. He immediately approached the headquarters staff, requisition- ing for sheet iron, sand bags, and a shovel. 164 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ANZAC DAY IN LONDON. Left to risiht : General Sir Newton Moore, General Sir William Birdword, and Major-General Richardson (Officer Commanding New Zealand Forces in England) on their way to Westminster Abbey. These were supplied to him, and when daylight came in the morning he was nowhere to be seen. He had dug himself deep into the earth, and had taken all his instruments with him. Any messages to be sent had to be taken underground, for he would not emerge as long as there was a Turk within miles of the canal. The New Zealanders were ferried across the canal by the men of the Gurkha regiment. It was their first baptism of fire, and it could not have been a better or milder one. It was the first time since the South African war that a New Zealand force had been under fire of any description, and it is safe to say that that svening will not be forgotten for a long time by those who were fortunate enough to be present at El Ferdan. The New Zealanders slept that night at the Gurkha post behind the entrench- ments, but the attack did not develop until the next night, when Turkish infantry advanced to the canal bank about a hundred yards south of the post. They fired volley after volley into the Canal Gare building and pep- pered the railway station. When the first volley came a number of New Zealanders were standing on top of the bank, and as the bullets whistled over their heads they ducked in the way that every man does when he is first under rifle fire. Afterwards for many months they were to get so used to the Turkish rifle fire at Gallipoli that they were often made to take cover with difficulty. It was evident that the attacking force thought that the Canal Building was fortified. As a matter of fact it was not. * The Turks missed the Gurkha post entirely, and it was difficult for the men there to fire without a certainty of hitting the New Zealanders, who were by this time back again on the west bank. The firing went on for about an hour, and during that time coloured flares and lights could be seen out in the desert along the invaders' front. These lights seemed to denote the position of different units, and when the battlefield was searched afterwards flags of corresponding colours were found. In the morning there was nothing to be seen of the small force which had come right up to the canal bank. There were numerous paper cartridge boxes, clips, and remains of food, and farther out in the desert the Gurkha patrols found many rounds of ammunition and some THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 165 officers' equipment in a position which had been shelled severely by the Clio and the 19th Territorial Lancashire battery. This attack was little more than a feint, but it might have been a dangerous one if the High Turkish Command had chosen to make it in force. There was the railway to be cut, and the water pipes which supplied the troops all along the bank. When the shelling started the Indian troops were set to dig in this pipe line, and in a remarkably short time it was covered with some feet of sand, and proof against anything but a direct hit. In the morning of the next day two platoons of the Auckland Infantry relieved the Canter- bury men, and the latter marched back to Ismailia in a howling Hamsin wind. The sand was blowing in clouds across the desert from the Turkish side of the canal, and it was im- possible, marching along the railway line, to see more than a few sleepers ahead. The march seemed an interminable one to the men, but camp was reached at last. All the time there came down on the sand -laden wind the sound of heavy gun-fire, and it was evident that the battle was still in progress somewhere to the south. This was the case, for the Turks had chosen to advance that morning with the Hamsin blowing at their backs. Aeroplane reconnaissance was impossible for a while, for the desert was covered with a swirling cloud of stinging sand, under cover of which the troops could move unseen. It transpired that the actual attack had taken place that morning on the Toussoum-Deversoir line at the northern end of the Great Bitter Lake. Two other platoons of the Canterbury Infantry had been there to take an active part in the attack, and it was at Toussoum that the New Zealand force suffered its first casualties in the war. One private died of wounds, and a company sergeant-major was hit in the shoulder by the nosecap of a Turkish shell fired from a long range. The actual attack dates from the night of February 2, when the 25th Turkish Division began its advance towards the Ferry Post at Ismailia and Toussoum. They actually reached the canal at about 3 a.m., preceded by the bridging companies and engineers. The New Zealanders entrenched on the opposite side of the canal saw indistinct forms moving about on the eastern bank. Far out in the desert coloured lights and signal rockets were being GALLIPOLI DAY -AT THE NEW ZEALAND HEADQUARTERS IN ENGLAND. General Sir William Birdwood decorating Sergeant lavender with the Distinguished Conduct Medal, Sir Thomas Mackenzie, High Commissioner for New Zealand, i* on the left. 106 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. fired at intervals, and it was obvious that the movement against the canal was this time a serious one. A little farther south, at Sera- l>eum, more pontoons and rafts made from oil cans were carried to the edge of the canal. The formation of the canal bank and the terrain for some miles back was utterly unfavourable for the Turkish advance. At Toussoum, where the actual attack took place, the bank was high and in places rather precipitous. Loose, soft sand had first to be traversed before the pontoons on their heavy wagons could be brought to the water's edge. Undoubtedly the operation of launching of pontoons had not been fully considered by the invaders. The boats themselves were about 30 feet long and 6 feet wide, with a draft when fully loaded with men of perhaps two feet. They were made of galvanized iron, and fitted with thwarts and rowlosks, the latter being padded with slips of cloth so that they might be rowed noiselessly. There was no provision made to keep them afloat in the event of their being per- forated by rifle or shell fire, and consequently when they were first launched in the water the New Zealanders and the Indian troops on the bank >pened up machine-gun and rifle fire which had the effect of swamping nearly all of the pontoons. None of them got across. In the early light of dawn the Turks could be seen entrenched, if the word is permis- sible, behind small head-cover mounds hastily scraped up with their German entrenching tools. They were in several parallel lines beginning at the canal bank and reaching back for perhaps a mile. These lines of in- fantry made excellent targets for the warships in Lake Timsah, and even for the torpedo boat No. 043, This craft, small as she was, was too long to be able to turn in the canal, consequently she dashed between the two big lakes, and each time she passed the Turkish positions raked them with fire from her three-pounder gun and her 45 maxims. The New Zealanders witnessed one interest- ing incident which took place in front of their position. The officer in charge of the torpedo-boat saw some Turkish pontoons lying neglected on the bank. He decided that it would be a good idea to go ashore and blow them up, and to this end manned a dinghy and rowed to the bank. Assisted by a pf tty officer, he laid a charge in each pontoon, but before igniting the fuse he went to the top of the bank to survey the desert beyond. All I0£~.cial photograph. SORTING OUT TURKISH PRISONERS AT EL ARISH. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 167 FETCHING WATER. this was in plain view of the New Zealanders who, although they wez - e unable to warn him, could see that he was marching straight towards an occupied Turkish trench. Whether it was that the Turks were too astonished to fire, or that they suspected some stratagem, will probably never be known, but the fact remains that the naval party was down off the high bank and running along the flat beach before the enemy riflemen could collect themselves sufficiently to fire. The officer and his men rowed back to their craft under a perfect hail of machine-gun and rifle fire. In the meantime, the New Zealanders had found that their position was not a particularly good one, and they decided to shift towards a belt of pines farther south. They moved across the open within 100 yards of the nearest Turkish riflemen, and took up their new station without a single casualty. This incident, and others during the day, went to show that the Turks invariably fired high. Turkish batteries on the hill Katayib el Kheil put in very good shooting, but never once found the artillery which was concentrated on them. In Lake Timsah the Requin, a French battleship with 10-8-in. guns, enfiladed the lines of Turkish infantrymen, and sought out the con- centrated forces farther back in the desert. The Swiftsure was engaged in the same work. A desultory rifle fire was kept up for some time, but by early afternoon it had died down entirely. The warships in Timsah were still firing spasmodically, and patrols were sent out from the Ferry Post and from Toussoum. These reported that the Turkish forces had broken off action definitely, and were going north again after having abandoned much of their impedimenta. New Zealanders going over the battlefield that afternoon found some hundreds of Turkish dead. Lying amongst these was one German officer, and documents on his person showed that he was a Major von dem Hagen, attached to Djemal's staff. He had certainly been a very gallant man, and more than once he was in evidence on the canal bank. Indeed, it was within a hundred yards of the canal that he was killed and buried. A small wooden cross made from the pole of a battered Turkish waggon was set up over his grave. Indian fatigue parties scoured the battlefield and buried the many dead. Shallow graves were made into which the bodies were put, but the Hamsin that was still blowing made the work useless, and it had to be done again later in the week. The whole of the desert from Sera- 168 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. m en mm lit; 1 m 4 ^ 1 c , ,*-,'^; — ' i -• ' ^^^^L**l - r,V.-?. official photograph. A NURSES' GARDEN-PART\ AT A NEW ZEALAND OFFICERS' HOSPITAL IN FRANCE. peum up to Timsah was littered with rifles, bayonets, cartridge boxes, and all the debris of a routed force. Hundreds of boots were strewn all over the desert. Apparently the Turkish infantry when they attacked had removed their boots. Why they did so was not known at the time, but it was said afterwards that one of the reasons was that they were unused to them, and after the long march, with their goal in view, had decided that they were unnecessary. Informa- tion from prisoners at the time went to show that orders had actually been given that the storming troops who were to cross in the pontoons were in any case to go barefooted, so that their boots would not make a noise on the iron bottoms of the boats. There wore many pontoons which never reached the water. Others got part way across, and were sunk by concentrated machine-gun fire. The torpedo- boat mentioned above blew great holes in others lying on the bank, and the only Turks who crossed were two men who swam over, and for a few days hid themselves near Istnailia. The whole of this operation was carried out with only two casualties to the New Zealand force. Beside the body of the dead German officer, von dem Hagen, were found a white flag and staff. The flag was about 2 feet square, and had rings en one side of it, so that it could be threaded on the stick. There have been many conjectures as to the use of this flag, and in fairness to the dead enemy officer it might be said that similar flags of different colours were found at various parts of the line, and, as has been stated, these colours corre- sponded with the colours of the signal rockets used at night on the same sectors. On the night of the attack at Toussoum white rockets were fired. The German officer had a white flag and this seems to indicate that there was no idea of using it for purposes of surrender, as was more than once stated. The Punjabis and pioneer troops of the General Reserve took part in this attack, and the Indian troops on the eastern bank of the canal received the surrender of 6 officers and 251 men. The New Zealanders were the only white infantry engaged in any of these actions, although Australian engineers did splendid work in throwing bridges across the canal. The next morning a reconnaissance was sent out along the line of the Turkish retreat. Yeomanry and Imperial Service Cavalry guarded the flanks, and the infantry of the New Zealand force marched steadily in the direction of Katia and Gebel Habita. When about 6 miles out from the Ferry Post, the cavalry scouts dis- covered large bodies of the enemy bivouacked in a nullah. This force evinced an inclination to fight again, and, as it largely out-numbered the troops of the reconnaissance party,- the latter did one of the quickest marches on record back to the canal. It could hardly be believed that this was Djemal Pasha's great attack. The whole affair THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 169 from the point of view of the defenders had seemed so tame, but without question it was the long threatened invasion that was intended. Captured orders found on Gorman and Turkish officers were illuminating and droll in their construction. One of these orders started by detailing men, the sick and unfit, to look after spare kit, such') as overcoats and bedding, .before the attack started. It gave the order of the attacking troops, mentioning regiments by name and number, and it stated with delightful optimism that no shot was to be fired on tho eastern or Turkish bank of tho canal. Officers of companies were to examine tho rifles of their men 'to see that they were unloaded. It then continued : " On reaching the western or enemy bank of the canal, rifles will be charged, and any parties of the enemy met with will be dispersed." Unfortunately, parties of the enemy were met with on the eastern bank, and the brushing aside programme was thus upset. The same order actually stated that there would be German warships to assist the invading force in Lake Timsah. Undoubtedly this had deceived the men of the attacking troops — who were for the most part a rabble of tired, ill-equipped, thirsty, and half-starved soldiers. That evening, as they huddled together under guard in the New Zealand camp near Ismailia station, their condition was so obviously miserable that they were given food, cigarettes, and warm drink by their captors, attentions which they were at first inclined to doubt. After this attack all question of a serious invasion of Egypt vanished for a time. The defences of the canal which had hitherto been built on the very banks were pushed out into the desert and entirely reorganized. The New Zealand infantry and the Australians who had arrived too late for the actual fighting entrained again and were sent back to Cairo. Arrived there, they took up their old quarters and continued thoir training. The next episode in the history of the New Zealanders was their departure for Gallipoli, and in the first days of April they again struck camp and proceeded to Alexandria, where they went on board the transports waiting at tho quay. Some of these ships were captared German liners, such as the Liitzow and the Derrflinger. Unescorted, they steamed from Alexandria up through the eastern Mediter- ranean to Lemnos, where delay in the equip- ment of some of the transports necessitated a halt of about a fortnight. [iV.Z. official photograph. NEW ZEALAND HOWITZER BATTERY ON THE MARCH. 170 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. y OS F z D O u H w X P A Mudros harbour in those days presented a wonderful spectacle. There were hundreds of ships of every class, laden with troops of all nationalities and stores of every kind. There were battleships, cruisers, submarines, and torpedo-boat destroyers, British, French, and Russian, anchored in the wonderful harbour. During the fortnight's waiting the men of the New Zealand division were exercised ashore U < N z H D O O Q en OS a H OS <t O a < u X and given rehearsals of the landing operations from open boats. On April 24 the whole force of transports steamed out of harbour to the music of cheers from the anchored French and British battleships that remained behind. All that night on a glass calm sea they steamed northward, until, just before dawn, they reached the waters lying off the bay that was afterwards to be known as Anzac. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 171 On April 25, in the early morning, while the mist still hung about the slopes of the Peninsula, the actual landing was begun. It has been described in detail many times. Most of the incidents have been thoroughly chronicled, but to those who went ashore afterwards a wonderful spectacle was presented. The still laden troopships anchored close in shore, and from their decks, with the aid of glasses, men could see the advancing waves of khaki-clad infantry rushing from the beach towards the foot hills, or winding slowly up the steep paths towards the positions * afterwards known as Quinn's Post, Courtenay's Post, and Walker's Ridge. All the time the bombarding fleet was firing steadily. Every now and again Turkish shells from concealed guns high up above Anzac lobbed uncomfortably near the transport. So close were some of them that the ships had to move farther out. The New Zealanders on that day almost invariably became merged with the Australian battalions. For a while all regimental order was lost, and men from both colonies fought side by side under any officers who happened to be in the vicinity. During the whole of the long eight months at (Jallipoli the New Zealand troops fought steadily and well. The men of the Maori contingent, which had been left behind in Cairo, joined them and distinguished themselves in a desperate night attack during August of 1915. The Maoris had been given a difficult objective, and they had been told that their attack was to be carried out as quietly as possible. So thoroughly did they take their instructions to heart that long after there was any necessity for it, they still fought with the bayonet and the butt of the rifle. Possibly there was some reversion to the manner of warfare of their ancestors, for certain it is that many a Maori that night went into the thick of a melee with his rifle clubbed like the tiaha of his ancestors. The work of the force on Gallipoli is well known and has already been dealt with. The part undertaken by the New Zealanders in the landing, in the fighting at Helles, and in the subsequent trench warfare that developed at Anzac, established their reputation. It was a period of trench warfare in which primitive bombs manufactured by the men themselves from jam tins, filled with various explosives, fuses and scraps of metal, and a very limited number of trench mortars, played a very important part. The mining operations, especially at Quinn's Post, were an interesting feature of the succeeding weeks. The nature of the country on the New Zealanders' front lent itself to digging, and miles of communication trenclfe and ordinary trenches were dug. These were all dry and clean, and such as would have delighted the inhabitants of the firing lino in the wet and muddy wastes of Flanders. Their only drawback was the smell from the decaying bodies buried in their vicinity or lying out in No Man's Land, and the consequent plague of flies that made life a burden and spread disease throughout all ranks. Dysentery and jaundice became epidemic and claimed probably more victims than the Turkish bullets. The heat was intense, and the water bad and THE DAY AFTER THE STORM: IMBROS. 172 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. the food poor. There was one brief spell for the New Zealand troops when they were taken to Lemnos and it had the effect of sending them back fitter men in every way. There was one smaU and subsidiary expedition from Anzac in the first week after the landing, but it was one which had far-reaching results. The Turkish shell fire had been very accurate, STORES TABLE ON THE BEACH AT TOP, GALLIPOLI. and the hidden field guns lobbed numbers of shells along a zone of sea reaching out perhaps a mile and running the full length of Anzac. It was thought at first that this fire was controlled by guesswork and that the gunners could not see any of their targets. Soon, however, it became evident that there was an observation post somewhere which could command a good view of the tows of boats coming in from the transports or the warships. Search was made, and at Nibrunesi Point earthworks were. dis- covered and figures once or twice seen moving about. A warship attended to the trenches and dugouts, but the figures were seen again, and a further discovery was made when it was found that a telegraph wire led away from the place towards the Turkish main position. As bom- bardment from the sea did not seem to make any difference to the observers, it was decided to send some of the Canterbury Infantry to clean up the danger-spot. They were taken up early in the morning in a destroyer and landed from open boats at the beach below the point. The surprise was perfect, for the Turk was asleep and hat! not yet been called on by his headquarters to " spot " for the morning hate. The men tumbled into the dugouts and the trenches and killed and captured the whole detachment. The telephones and other means of communication were destroyed and the station dugouts demolished by the naval men. For some time after this the Turkish fire was not as accurate as it had been when their observers sat at the point and sent word back to the batteries as to the fall of every shot along the beach. This little party to go to the point was the first to land to the north of Anzac. The next landing there was made when the Suvla force attempted to cut the Turkish communications and failed. The Suvla landing followed, with the attacks by the Anzacs and offher British troops on Sari Bair and points farther south along the old line. To the New Zealanders fell the honour of gaining the heights of Chunuk Bair — ground that was subsequently lost by another unit. Depleted by their previous losses in battle and weakened by disease, the little force was not altogether in a fit condition for storming such tremendously difficult positions, but it acquitted itself as usual with great credit, and succeeded in gaining and holding the highest point taken by British troops in the whole of the Gallipoli campaign. In the preliminaries of this fighting the Maoris and the mounted men acquitted themselves well, and the latter in particular afterwards did magnificent work in the region of Hill 60 on the left of the Anzac position. As everyone knows, the Suvla attack failed, and after a good deal of hesitation the abandon- ment of the whole campaign was decided upon. In the evacuation the New Zealanders had a difficult part to play. They had to retire from the steep heights in the face of an enemy dominating the position and everywhere in close touch on to an open beach that was within range of the enemy field pieces, and even of his machine-gun and rifle fire. To withdraw under these circumstances was a military manoeuvre of the greatest difficulty and daring. Sir Ian Hamilton had by this time left the Peninsula, and the entire opera- tions were in the hands of General Birdwood. General Sir A. J. Godley, who had Colonel (now General) White as his chief of staff, was in command of the Anzac Corps. General Sir A. H. Russell had taken over General Godley's command of the New Zealanders. Gradually, under cover of the darkness, the force was withdrawn from the trenches till only a few men remained, and by cunning subterfuges a semblance of the usual activity was maintained, the Turks being entirely deceived. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 178 "DUGOUTS" CONSTRUCTED BY WELLINGTON MOUNTED RIFLES. 174 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. It was not till the whole Anzac force got clean away that the enemy realized what had happened. Next morning, when the force was well on its way across the ^Egean, his guns were still busy shelling the abandoned beaches. At the evacuation the New Zealanders played no small part, and the last troops to leave, nicknamed the Die-hards, exercised all their ingenuity in the manufacture of devices TABLE TOP, GALLIPOLI. calculated to deceive the enemy. The actual evacuation was gradual, and men were with- drawn from the line a few at a time, until there were only perhaps 100 holding a front which had hitherto been defended by some thousands. Even when the last man had come down to the beach and had embarked, desultory firing was still being carried on from the abandoned position. For days before the actual evacuation the New Zealanders had been testing rough and ready devices which made this possible. In some cases rifles were em- bedded in the parapet, a string was tied to the trigger, and from this string hung an empty tin can. Above this can was another filled with water, and with a hole in the bottom. The water dripped slowly out, filling the lower tin until the weight of it pulled the trigger of the rifle. These were known as "the Heath- Robinson stunts," but they proved particularly effective. Other devices for delaying the Turkish advance to the beach once the evacua- tion had been discovered were also thought out. Trip wires attached to mines, tins of provisions with bomb effects, mined paths and trenches, occupied the attention of the engineers for days, and undoubtedly discomfited the Turks when the latter discovered that the birds had flown. In common with all the wounded of the first few days the New Zealanders had unen- viable experiences in getting back to Egypt. Hospital ships were crowded, and auxiliary accommodation had to be arranged for in the same ships that had brought the troops to the Peninsula. One of the captured German liners had over a thousand wounded on board, and she was in no way -fitted to be used as a hospital ship. There was a dearth of doctors, anaes- thetics and disinfectants, and bandages and other medical stores ran out. The wounded were placed in long lines on the open decks, and the more severely injured men were attended to and fed by the walking cases. Luckily the journey back to Alexandria was not a long one, and few ships took more than 50 hours to CARRYING SHELLS. get to the Egyptian port. Once there the men were landed in remarkably quick time, carried by stretcher bearers of the Indian Medical Corps to the waiting Red Crescent trains and rushed to Cairo. In the Egyptian capital news of the heavy casualties had caused some alarm and misgiving. But the European population, and the majority of the natives who were able, did all in their power to make the lot of the wounded men more easy. The number THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 175 ANZAC, SHOWING LONG SAP. of wounded actually received in the first few weeks was many times in excess of the total arranged for. The people of Cairo sent food, bedding and clothing, made bandages, swabs, and dressings, and banded themselves together as an emergency aid detachment for work in the hospitals. It was largely owing to their wonderful work that the death rate in the hospitals was not much greater. A New Zealand hospital was in full working order a few miles from Cairo at Pont de Kubbeh, and the Australians took over the Heliopolis Hotel, one of the biggest hotels in the world. Not- withstanding these arrangements, men of all units had to be sent to the first hospital at which beds were available. The extra- ordiiarily hot weather of the following May, June, and July made hospital work very difficult for doctors and nurses, and life almost insupportable for the patients themselves. Wounds healed very slowly, operations were dangerous and difficult, and often doubtful of success. The ubiquitous flies made things more objectionable, and it was soon found that the more wounded that could be taken to Malta, or even home to England, the better. The seaport of Alexandria was much more favourable as a hospital base, and the men who were sent there had a better time than those who had to stay in Cairo. Until the evacuation, however, wounded were sent back to Egypt, and before the Peninsula was finally abandoned weather conditions in Cairo had become much more pleasant. After the evacuation the New Zealand Dlv'sio-i again went into camp in Egypt, and A DUMMY BATTLESHIP AT 1MBROS. 176 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. TELEGRAPH OFFICE AT ANZAC the next operation of any magnitude in which they were engaged was the campaign against the Senussi in the Libyan plateau. A unit of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, newly arrived in Egypt, took part in this, and were merged in the Eastern Frontier force, a truly Imperial army, composed of English Yeomanry, South Africans, Australians, New Zealanders, and Indians. This was the first warfare in which the Rifle Brigade had engaged, but they acquitted themselves' splendidly. They had been trained to a very high pitch, and were, many of them, men who had even longer training than the original force which went to Oallipoli. Their first serious action came on Christmas Day 1916, when they met the forces of the Grand Senussi at Gebel Medwa, just a few miles south of the little coast town of Mersa Matruh. The enemy fought extra- ordinarily well, and the day finally ended with a hand-to-hand encounter between the men of the "New Zealand Brigade and the Sikhs and the Arabs. The latter were finally driven from the crest of the hill into a rocky valley lined with natural caves. Here the Senussi's men took refuge. Many of them stood at bay in the caves, and the New Zea landers fought a strenuous and difficult action before they were bested. Often the riflemen had to penetrate the caves at great dis- advantage, for they were fired at from 'he darkness, themselves olain targets up against the light. A great number of camels were captured, many of them laden with mer- chandise, many head of cattle fell into the hands of the British troops, and more than one New Zealander rode a captured camel on the way home after the action. The New Zealanders arrived once more in Egypt minus most of their equipment, and encamped in the desert in the canal zone near Lake Timsah. They at once began to refit and train preparatory to taking part in the impending operations against the Turks who were still menacing the Canal Defences. The mounted men got their horses again, and were soon engaged in patrol work in the desert. Amongst the quaint exploits of the New Zealand mounted troops there is one that surely has few parallels in military history. The incident occurred in the early stages of the campaign against the Turks in the Sinai Peninsula, when the first successful attack was' made in the direction of El Arish. The forces engaged were very large, and com- prised many mounted New Zealanders. The mounted troops had an important part to play, and together with the Camel Corps and THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 177 British and Indian Cavalry and Yeomanry, they scoured the desert for miles in front of the advance. When the actual contact with the enemy took place they formed again in regi- ments, and the wonderful line they made, miles from end to end and many squadrons deep, will never be forgotten by those who saw it. This phalanx of mounted men marched against the Turkish positions, and the action which took place has been already recorded. In one sector of the battle front a Turkish machine- gun detachment was giving trouble and there was also constant and troublesome fire from infantry lining a ridge in the same portion of the line. The Mounted Rifles are not cavalry, and their chief asset is their quick mobility. They travel on horseback and fight afoot, and usually when they are required to go into GENERAL GODLEY AND LT.-COL. HEATON RHODES (NEW ZEALAND COMMISSIONER) IN SHRAPNEL GULLY, GALLIPOLI. 178 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. action the horses are held by the number three of each four some distance in the rear. On this occasion, however, an officer of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles conceived a great idea. The Turks were lining the ridge above his men and the ground leading up to their position was at an easy slope. He gave the order to fix bayonets on horseback, and the whole yelling squadron charged the Turks with their rifles held lance-wise. The man- oeuvre was an emphatic success, and those of the enemy that were not bayoneted gave them- selves up only too willingly. Instances of this sort are rare, but it seems to bear out what Sir Ian Hamilton once said in New Zealand about these mounted men. " There is nothing that I should like better," he said, " than to lead them against European infantry over reasonably broken ground." In Egypt there was a complete reorganiza- tion of the First Anzac Force, and towards its completion the news that the Australians and New Zealanders were about to proceed to France was jointly acclaimed. Both officers and men were delighted with the prospects of fighting against the real enemy on the Western Front. The transport of the expedition across the sea for the fourth time was accomplished without the slightest hitch. Troopship after troopship poured out men, guns and horses at Marseilles, and the men marched through the streets of the French town and entrained amidst scenes of great enthusiasm. They found themselves in Flanders, and General Birdwood and his staff came with the first Anzacs. General Godley remained and followed close on his heels with what afterwards became the second Anzac Corps. After a short spell in the back area the New Zealanders went into the trenches at Armen- tieres, and quickly transformed that sector of the long battle line in France into a scone of turmoil such as it had not known for many a long day. The artillery became busy, the infantry improved the trenches and dugouts and proved themselves adepts in the art of modern raiding then in process of development. They quickly got the German snipers down, and in all the arts of war practised on the Western Front in those days proved them- selves more than a match for the German foe. The first big operation in France in which New Zealand troops took an important part BRIGADIER-GENERAL BROWN INSPECTING NEW ZEALANDERS IN FRANCE. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 179 was the Somme offensive of 1916. The capture of the German lines from near Delville Wood to beyond Flers in September 1916 was an operation which earned these troops much praise from Sir Douglas Haig. The taking of Messines, in June, 1917, under the higher com- mand of General Plumer, was perhaps the most methodical offensive of the war up to that time ; it was the New Zealanders who took Messines village. The New Zealand Forces lost two generals in the fighting in France, Brigadier-General C. H. J. Brown, D.S.O., and Brigadier-General Francis Earl Johnston, C.B. The former was killed at the battle of Messines by a shell which burst low overhead and killed him instantly. His loss was greatly felt, for he was thought very highly of by the higher commands and by his men. His funeral was a simple and a touching ceremony. The General's two sons, both in the New Zealand force, stood bare- headed at his grave in the Flanders cemetery where he was buried within sound of the guns. When the notes of the Last Post had died away the officers and men present went back to their work again in and behind the front line. General Johnston was killed on August 8. He also met his death instantaneously, as the result of a shot from a concealed German sniper. He was the eldest son of the Hon. Charles Johnston, Speaker of the Legislative Council. He was born in 1871 and belonged to the North Staffordshire Regiment. He saw service with the Dongola Expedition in 1896, receiving the medal with clasp, and in the South African War, when he was given both King's and Queen's medals with five clasps, and mentioned in dispatches twice. He was appointed to the command of the first New Zaaland Infantry Brigade when it left New Zealand, and at Gallipoli and afterwards in Egypt and England did valuable work. In 1915 he was made a Commander of the Bath. By the middle of 1917 the organization, strength and moral of the New Zealand force after three years of war were higher than ever before. General Richardson, C.M.G., who was appointed to control the administration of the large camps and hospitals in England, organized them on lines of his own, which proved extra- ordinarily successful. Major-General Sir A. H. Russell, K.C.M.G., took over the command of the force in France, General Chaytor that of the troops still in Egypt. The administra- tion of the whole Expeditionary Force was handed over to Lieut. -General Sir Alexander Godley, K.C.B., who sailed with it from New Zealand, and was given command of an army corps Everything that could possibly be done to keep up the efficiency and moral of the men on the Western front was done. The artillery of the Dominion troops acquired great efficiency, and the medical service received much com- mendation. The training undergone behind the lines in keeping the men fit, and the special work undertaken in preparation for operations' played no small part in subsequent successes in the field. The force had scarcely got into the trenches in France, before divisional canteens, a cinema, and a divisional theatre were in full swing. The New Zealand Pierrots, almost all amateurs, with an excellent orchestra, earned a reputation amongst other units than their own. They played to crowded houses on week-days and Sundays, and the admission fee of half a franc for men and one franc for officers, helped materi- ally to swell the canteen funds. On the eve of the battle of Messines, this concert party played in a theatre in a battered town, into which the German 5 - 9 shells were landing, and over which our own shells were speeding to far beyond the German front line. The bath^ through which thousands of men passed every week were in the same village, and not many days later they were completely destroyed by enemy shell fire. Fortunately, not many men were using them at the time, and the casualties were lighter than they might have been. Two of the regimental bands had their instru- ments destroyed by shellfire. Horse shows wera held under the very eyes of the enemy, and officers' chargers were ridden past the judges and limbered wagons rumbled round the ring to the music not only of the brass bands, but of British and German guns. An amusing communication was received from the Flying Corps after the first of these horse shows. It appears that a German 'plane had sighted the crowds and had thought that some concentration of troops was taking place. Following his report, the enemy artillery put in some very heavy work and generally upset the men in the front line. The Flying Corps sent a laconic message which said, " For God's sake stop holding horse shows." A large number of French women were engaged in a big washing and mending estab- 180 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. lishment and there were bootmaking and even watch-repairing shops in the unit. Sports meetings attracted hundreds of com- petitors and thousands of spectators, the swim- ming sports especially proving popular. The Rugby football . team had an unbeaten record. The Maori fifteen took a day off while they were digging in the guns for the French army, and inflicted a crushing defeat on a team from a Welsh division which had some famous players in its ranks. The hospital ships from the Dominion ran regularly on their 12,000 mile journeys, and a stationary hospital that originally lost all its equipment and several of its nurses and other per- sonnel as the result of the launching of an enemy torpedo subsequently did most valuable work, first at Salonika, and later at Amiens. Its quar- ters in France were daily pounded by German heavy shells and bombarded by enemy airmen. Although she cannot be called a New Zealand vessel, the battleship New Zealand, which was bought by the Dominion Government and pre- sented to the Imperial service, was always looked upon by New Zealanders as in part their property. When, in 1913, she paid a visit to New Zealand, Captain Halsey, afterwards Fourth Sea Lord, was in command. He was presented with several gifts by representative Maori chiefs, including a green-stone tiki and a feather mat and piupiu, or flax kilt. The New Zealand was very actively engaged in the Dogger Bank battle, and it was a quaint thought which impelled the Captain to wear these gifts in the conning-tower during the action. At the best of times, the conning tower is hot and stuffy, but Captain Halsey kept on the feather mat and kilt throughout the whole action. His ship inflicted great damage on the enemy, and the men of the crew as well as the officers were tremendously impressed with the luck which the Maori gifts had brought them. Captain Halsey Jeft the New Zealand to join Admiral Jellicoe's staff, and another captain was appointed in his stead. Then came the battle of Jutland, and the new commander was informed what was expected of him. Officers and crew insisted that he also should wear these mats and the tiki, and the captain, nothing loth, and perhaps with something of the superstition of most sailors, climbed into the conning tower with the ceremonial garments of a Maori chieftan over his blue serge uniform. Again the New Zealand had phenomenal luck. She received no serious hits, but gave many hard knocks. It was the rule that these gifts should be handed on from Captain to Captain, and the chances of any new commander's going into action without this rustling kilt and gorgeous feather cloak were small. The story of the use to which they were put was told to the chiefs in New Zealand, and by them to the men of their tribes. At least, in their minds, there was not the slightest doubt that what they call " mana " and whar the Navy man calls " joss " was attached to them in an extraordinary degree. There was another small cruiser which the New Zealand Government acquired as a training ship, but she had her guns removed from her in 1916, but before that time did valuable work in the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. The training ship Arahura, in Wellington harbour, supplied many boys for the Navy and the armed Mercantile Marine, and her acquisition and fitting out as a Naval school were more than justified. There was still a great deal of money in New Zealand during the war, and the donations to charity were perhaps on a larger scale per head of population than in any part of the Empire. New Zealand contributed £15,000 per month to the relief of Belgium, this from a population of just over 1,000,000. The people of the Dominion contributed spontaneously £2,000,000 (or an average of £2 per head) up to the end of 1916, for the relief of sick and wounded soldiers. Early in the war the New Zealand Govern- ment saw the necessity for finding employment for the discharged soldiers by means of land settlement. Arrangements were made for placing at least 5,000 of them on their own holdings. Land was set aside, the men were given financial assistance, agricultural imple- ments, seeds and stock. Before the end of 1916, there were men in the Dominion, returned unfit for further active service, who were already showing a profit on their farming of the Government grant. CHAPTER CXCIX. DUTCH NEUTRALITY: 1914-1917. The Fear of War in 1914 — The Dutch Frontier — Military Precautions and Mobilization —A " State of War " — Contraband and Dutch Supplies — The Rhine Acts — The Nether- lands Oversea Trust — Smuggling — The German Submarine War — Outrages on Dutch Shipping — The Maria — The Medea — The Bandoeng— The Tubantia — The Bfrkelstroom — The Blommersdijk — Attitude of the Dutch Government towards German Lawlessness — Dutch Internment Camps — German Aircraft over Dutch Territory — The Belgian Deportees — German Propaganda — Economic Problems — Trade and the Blockade — Food Difficulties — Industry and Finance — Conditional Prosperity. THE position of the Netherlands at the outbreak of the war was one of extreme difficulty, the geo- graphical situation of the country rendering it peculiarly liable to entanglement in the conflict. A glance at the map will show that the whole of the Netherlands eastern frontier, from Groningen in the north to the southern extremity of Limburg in the south, lies open to invasion from Germany. Moreover, as soon as Belgium was occupied by the Gsrmans, the Belgian frontiers of the D;itch provinces of Zeeland, North Brabant, and Limburg were exposed to the same danger. Up to the time of the war the Dutch thought little of such a contingency. The assassination of Francis Ferdinand, however, compelled attention to the possibility of international complications, and when matters moved rapidly to a crisis the situation was viewed with con- sternation. Holland is a country with proud naval and military traditions. Her attach- ment to freedom is proverbial. She could not therefore look on unconcerned when the terri- tory and liberties of her southern neighbour were violated. Moreover, the possibility of Holland herself being drawn into the war, a development which it was desired above all things to avoid, created the greatest alarm among the population. Vol. XIII. -Part 162. Queen Wilhelmina, whose devotion to duty and personal interest in affairs of State were those of a model sovereign, was at her country residence, Het Loo, when the crisis occurred. Her Majesty, evidently desiring to be in close touch with her advisers, travelled on July 27 to The Hague. On the same day the first conference of Ministers took place. The Ministry consisted of nine members, of whom M. P. W. A. Cort van der Linden, Minister of the Interior, was President of the Council, Jhr. Dr. John Loudon was Foreign Minister,. Major-General Bosboom Minister for War, and M. J. J. Rambonnet Minister of Marine. The Ministers immediately took measures in view of the danger of war. The discharge of time-expired men from the landweer was postponed as well as the drafting of men from the militia into the landweer. Lieutenant- Colonel C. J. Snijders was appointed com- mander of land and sea forces, the rank of general being conferred on him about the same time. On July 30 the landweer frontier and coast guards were called up. On the same day a Royal resolution was passed suspending a Royal resolution of October 30, 1909, which regulated the admis- sion of warships of foreign Powers to Dutch territorial waters. The resolution of July 30, the object of which was to safeguard Dutch 181 182 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. neutrality, provided that during the time that the earlier resolution should be inoperative warships or sliips assimilated to them of foreign Powers should not be admitted to Dutch territorial waters. Such territorial waters were stated to comprise coastal waters for a distance of three nautical miles, and in the case of inlets a distance of three miles from a line drawn across the river at the point nearest the entrance where the mouth of the inlet is not wider than 10 miles. According to this provision, the Dutch territorial waters QUEEN WILHELMINA. include the mouths of the Scheldt, Meuse, Lek, Waal, and Rhine. Two and a half years later, when the German submarine war in all it* ruthlessness had been proclaimed, the resolution of July 30 was seen to have un- expected importance, for it was in virtue of its provisions that armed merchantmen of the United States, at that time not one of the belligerents, were refused access to Dutch waters. These preliminary measures were followed on July 31 by a general mobilization. In the early afternoon of that day a Royal command was issued calling on " all men belonging to the militia and landweer to come up speedily " owing to danger of war. ' It produced a panic which for the time being paralysed the peaceful activities of the nation. Many people, acting as if the country were already besieged, laid in large stocks of provi- sions. The mobilization was successfully effected in three to four days, and, reflected credit on the military authorities and all con- cerned. The consequences of the withdrawal from civil life, however, of large numbers of the most useful men in the community at once made themselves felt. Railway traffic was almost suspended, and work in many industries ceased altogether. Anxiety lest prices of provisions, which, indeed, in the first days rose to an alarming height, should produce famine was general, and was accompanied by fear of unemployment with consequent loss of wages. For a few weeks there was great interruption in transport. Such perish- able goods as eggs, tomatoes, grapes, and peaches could be bought for a fifth of their normal prices, while many kinds of vegetables were given away or left by the farmers to rot, as it would not pay to take them to market. The Second Chamber met on August 3. The politicians of the Netherlands in general are animated by sentiments as diverse as those of corresponding parties elsewhere. Not less impressed, however, than the masses of the population by the gravity of the situation, they rallied round the Government, showing themselves able to sink party differences and to unite in asserting the nation's preparedness to defend its independence to the utmost. Holland declared her intention to remain neutral, and the population recovered its customary calmness when it saw the prompt measures taken by the Government and the support which the latter received from Par- liament. The President of the Council was fortunate in having at his side M. Treub, the Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Trade, by general admission one of the ablest statesmen in Holland. Thanks largely to the exertions of M. Treub, who subsequently became Minister of Finance, confidence was soon restored and the dislocation of the nation's economic life in great measure overcome or prevented. By August 5 some parts of Holland had already been placed in a " state of war," and on August 10, when the Germans had made THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 183 M, P. W. A. GORT VAN DER LINDEN, Minister of the Interior. progress in Belgium, a " state of war " was proclaimed in the southern provinces of Limburg, North Brabant, and Zeeland, as well -as in a part of Gelderland. On August 29 various frontier communities near Belgium were placed in a "state of siege"* and on Ssptember 8 the mouths of rivers were declared to be in a " state of siege," while a " state of siege " was also proclaimed in all the frontier communities as well as in those lying on the sea coast. This placed the postal service, ine telegraph, and telephone in the hands of the military authorities. Various naval measures were also adopted. The channels between the Wadden Islands, north of the Zuiderzee, were barred by mines. Mines were also placed in the Scheldt, but a channel * In the caso of a *' state of war " authority passes largely from civil into military hands, though the' military must still discuss matters wit h the civil authority. The *' state of siege " goes considerably farther. was left open for merchant vessels in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of 1839. The ships taken through this channel were piloted by Dutch pilots. In September, 1914, the treaty of 1839 had an important bearing in relation to Antwerp, when the British authorities desired to remove 50 German and Austrian vessels. Permission to do this was refused, a similar refusal being subsequently given to the request of the Germans that they might take vessels out. In spite of this refusal, the Germans attempted to get some vessels through the Scheldt, but these were interned. One immediate effect of the war was the paralysis of the shipping activities of Rotter- dam, where the docks were soon in a state of stagnation. Thousands of ships with forests of masts made this usually busy port present DR. JOHN LOUDON, Foreign Minister. an appearance of idleness never seen before in its history. No sooner had the war broken out than the question of contraband arose Among the most important contraband articles are breadstuffs. As Holland herself can only produce supplies for a very limited time she was threatened with starvation if all breadstuffs were prevented from reaching her ports. On the other hand, if they were not so prevented there was the 162-2 184 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. HOLLAND AND HER FRONTIERS. danger that they might be sent to Germany and Austria. Several neutrals, to show their good faith, promised that their subjects should not forward contraband commodities. A peculiar difficulty arose, however, so far as Holland was concerned, since, while her Government under- took that breadstuffs should not be sent to belligerents, and ensured this by purchasing such supplies as reached the country, it was faced by the Rhine Acts. In vi rtue of these Acts Holland was obliged to allow passage through to Germany by the Rhine of such consignments as arrived on a through bill of lading or on the order of a merchant declaring that they were in transit, or on proof by document of the transit. The Rhine Acts bound Holland. Had she not observed them she might have been regarded as unfaithful to her declaration of neutrality, with the consequent danger that Germany would regard her action as justifying war. The Allies were therefore compelled to inter- cept suspected cargoes before they entered Dutch territorial waters. Otherwise the Dutch Government would not be able to prevent goods arriving under the Rhine Acts from being sent to Germany. It was feared in Holland that the whole oversea trade of the country would be brought to a standstill. A number THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 185 GRAIN ON THE WAY TO WAREHOUSES AT SLOTEN, NEAR AMSTERDAM. of Dutch ships were held up by the British and French authorities. Demands for advice and assistance were received from all quarters by the Committee for- Netherlands Trade, which had established itself on September 21, 1914, under the presi- dency of M. C. J. K. van Aalst. The com- mittee conceived the idea of establishing a com- pany to which Dutch traders could consign their imports and which would give a trust- worthy guarantee to foreign Governments that the imports should not benefit the enemy. It was hoped, therefore, that these Govern- ments would have no difficulty in allowing the goods thus consigned to pass through to Holland. This plan matured and the Netherlands Over- sea Trust Company, generally known as the N.O.T., assumed very important proportions. It cannot be said that it was entirely successful. Loud complaints were made early in its history of violations of the undertakings entered into. The system of guarantees and fines was not proof against the high prices offered for certain commodities by the Germans, who as a part of the consideration for the purchase were quite ready to pay the fines imposed by the Trust. Large quantities of goods were smuggled over the Dutch frontier by land and by water, but the methods of smugglers being essentially devious and secret it was difficult to trace their supplies to their source. Heavy fines were inflicted by the N.O.T. from time to time, and that body itself admitted, in speaking of the system of checking practised by it, that "the initiated have to their sorrow assured us with great emphasis that this checking is not super- fluous." The sentence speaks volumes. Smuggling was no new thing in Holland. It was extensively practised in Napoleon's days. In answer to a complaint of the smuggling practices of the Dutch made by Napoleon to his brother Louis, the latter replied, " Sire, com- ment voulez-vous empecher la peau de trans- spirer ? " The saying was often recalled dining the war. At the outset, when imports began to fall off, smuggling was carried on openly, in broad daylight, but later, repeated complaints having been made, greater control was exer- LOADING GRAIN FROM THE BARGES ON WAGGONS AT SLOTEN. 186 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. DR. M. W. F. TREUB, Minister of Agriculture and afterwards of Finance. cised, and this illicit traffic was then carried on under cover of darkness in woods and along unfrequented paths. In the last quarter of 1916 11,000 persons were punished for smuggling offences. This was at a time when, as the punishments themselves show, measures had been taken to combat the abuse. What its proportions must have been during the earlier stages of the war, when the supervision of the frontiers was extremely lax, can only be con- jectured. As a conviction for smuggling was not locally regarded as carrying with it a moral stigma, the regulations of the authorities were without the support of public opinion. The smuggling proclivities of the people increased with the prices, which rose to many times the former value of the commodities in demand. These were principally rubber, wool, worsted, silk, oil, soap, butter, coffee, flour and bread. At one time cows and horses' were also smuggled across the frontier. One of the first to expose the traffic in contra- band was the Amsterdam newspaper, De Telegraaf, which forced the matter on public attention and by constant agitation was largely instrumental in moving the authorities to action. Notwithstanding all measures, however, smug- gling continued throughout the war, though it was somewhat reduced in extent by two factors in addition to the action of the Dutch Govern- ment. One of these was the intensification of German submarine warfare, which, by hamper- ing oversea traffic, prevented imports into Holland, and thereby necessarily diminished the quantity of commodities available for sur- reptitious export to Germany ; the other was the more stringent application of the Entente blockade. By degrees it was found necessary to limit the supplies allowed to reach Holland from overseas to the quantities needed for her domestic consumption. Even these, in many cases, were destroyed by German submarines. The Dutch, being a maritime nation, naturally watched with great anxiety the developments of the war as they affected their shipping interests. Although, as will be shown later, Dutch shipping prospered greatly in conse- quence of the war, as soon as hostilities broke out Dutch navigation encountered all the M. C. J. K. VAN AALST, Chairman of the Netherlands Oversea Trust Committee. dangers due to the presence of mines and other risks incidental to naval warfare. The long list of Dutch ships lost and damaged until the end of January, 1917, tells its own tale. Some of these ran on mines, but in many cases the vessels were destroyed by the Germans. It is necessary, in order to convey a fair idea of German naval methods as they affected Holland, to give some notable examples of the action of the Germans taken from official Dutch records, the more so as nothing during the war aroused public opinion in Holland more strongly. When THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 187 these incidents occurred they almost mono- polised the attention of the nation, while the deep feeling created by them was reflected in Parliament and the Press. The Dutch steamer Maria, with a cargo of wheat from the United States to Belfast and Dublin, was sunk on September 21, 1914, by the German cruiser Karlsruhe, after the crew had increased when, on February 4, 1915, the waters round England, Scotland and Ireland, including the Channel, were proclaimed a " war area " by Germany. This was the beginning of the ruthless submarine war. Germany announced her intention of destroying, on and after February 18, 1915, every enemy merchant ship found in the region indicated "without it* ________ ■ 1____________H : HH ■BHBbIBBB^BHB^BHBBBBHBJ) ■ ' ^2i_B_. hdl t5 Iff %^B> I t *rs> s&F J-Ji - :_k •Iff ■ ~ w-c^smt ^Pm^^B' - ^BJ m _B _■__ __PsS_A ^_i _i L t^H ■ jbbbV?** _Ur , ' il bbbbbW f x rW 1 V _5*V I ■ __ w , — BJBB*^ THE CREW OF THE MEDEA AT DOVER. been placed on board the German transport ship Crefeld. Although the Dutch Government protested against the sinking as contrary to international law, the protest was not produc- tive of any satisfaction from the Germans. Foodstuffs, being conditional contraband, are liable to seizure if there is evidence to show that they are destined for the use of the armed forces or of a Government Department of the enemy State. In the case of the Maria the vessel was sunk without the Germans having ascertained whether the grain was destined for the British Government or armed forces. The British Government therefore felt that they would be justified in adopting measures of reprisal, if necessary, by declaring foodstuffs to be absolute contraband. The dangers to Dutch shipping were greatly being always possible- to divert from the crews and passengers the dangers thereby threatening them." The Germans alleged that the British Government had abused neutral flags aud that neutral ships would therefore be exposed to danger if they entered the region in question, since they might be mistaken for enemy ships. The Dutch Government, in its reply, made a strong protest against the proclamation. It- pointed out that when, on November 3, 1914, a proclamation was made by the British Ad- miralty declaring the whole North Sea to be a military zone wTiere navigation would be exposed to grave dangers, the Netherlands Government had protested against this as contrary to international law. It added, however, that up to that date, February 12, 188 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. GERMAN SUBMARINE BOUGHT BY 1915, the British decree had in no way affected Dutch navigation. Now that the German Government came forward with its new pro- clamation, the Netherlands Government once more claimed its right to free navigation in the free sea. It maintained that abuse of a neutral flag, against which the Dutch Government had protested, could not diminish the responsibility of the German Government, since the examina- tion of the vessel before seizure and destruction was a duty which no belligerent could evade. " If it happened that a Dutch vessel became the A CAPTURED GERMAN MINE THE NETHERLANDS GOVERNMENT. victim of a mistake on the part of the German forces, the responsibility for it would fall on the Imperial [German] Government." In the following month a case occurred which attracted much attention, as illustrating the arbitrary action of German submarine commanders. On March 25, 1915, the Dutch vessel Medea, on the way from Valencia to London, was sunk by a German submarine, U 28, near Beachy Head, after the crew had had time to save themselves in the boats. The vessel was exclusively laden with oranges and tangerines. The submarine towed the two boats for a quarter of an hour and then left the occupants to their fate. The case was brought before the Prize Court at Hamburg, which justified the action of the submarine commander, but declared that ship and cargo were not seizable, and that the owners were entitled to compensation. This decision was reversed on appeal. The German Government considered that the Declaration of London gave it the right to sink neutral prizes laden with contraband. The Dutch Govern- ment held firmly to its standpoint that the destruction of a neutral prize was in all circum- . stances an illegal act and that the prescription of the Declaration of London allowing, by way of exception, destruction of neutral prizes, could not be regarded as established international law. It also maintained its opinion that even according to the prescriptions of the Declaration of London invoked by the German Government to justify the action of its Navy, the destruction of the Medea was illegitimate. Its offer to submit the case to international arbitration was rejected by the German Government. In this, as in other cases, there was a conflict of testimony between the submarine captain THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 189 and the Dutch captain. The Netherlands Government preferred to accept the sworn testimony ot the latter. Another incident which gave rise to diplo- matic correspondence was the bombardment of the Dutch steamer Bandoeng, on Juno 29, 1916. This vessel was on its way from Sabang to Rotterdam when it was fired on by a German submarine. According to a German Wolff Bureau communique, the Bandoeng was sig- nalled to stop by flags, the signal being given at a great distance. The Dutch Government affirmed that, if that signal was made, it was not observed, the submarine being at the time at the distance of from five to six sea miles. An officer on board the Bandoeng, who reported the presence of a submarine to the captain as soon as it appeared on the horizon, was unable to discover any signal or flag. The first shot was fired while he had gone to tell the captain that a submarine was in sight, and was quickly followed by a second and third. After this five more shots followed, eight in all being discharged in 10 minutes. The Bandoeng with great difficulty made out a signal to leave the vessel as quickly as possible. This would have justified the submarine commander in supposing the vessel to be an enemy ship. The captain there- fore displayed two Dutch flags and proceeding slowly tacked two points in order to approach the submarine without steering straight for her, so as to enable the commander more easily to recognize the neutral character of the ship. While this was being done the five projectiles referred to were discharged, the last bursting very near the ship and causing damage. The Dutch Government, on April 3, expressed its conviction that the precipitate conduct of the captain of the submarine in question was not conformable to his instruc- tions and its confidence that the German Government would disapprove of that conduct and be disposed to reimburse the cost of the damage done. The German Minister had mean- time, on April 1, sent a letter to the Netherlands Foreign Minister declaring that the submarine had given an order to the Bandoeng from a great distance to stop and that, instead of doing so, the ship had come at full speed at the submarine, which caused the captain to suppose it was an English vessel under a neutral flag, and that he fired on it for these reasons. With a view to preventing such unfortunate mis- understandings in future, the German Govern- ment suggested that Dutch captains should be instructed immediately to conform to signals given to them by the German Navy, and that the danger they ran in steering directly at a submarine should be pointed out to them. Replying on June 2S to the Dutch report submitted on April 3, the German Government threw the blame for the occurrence, which it regretted, on the Bandoeng, for which reason it was sorry it could not comply with the Dutch Government's request for compensation for the damage done. On March 16, 1916, consternation was caused by the news of the torpedoing of the Tubantia, the finest vessel of the Royal Holland Lloyd's fleet, and the pride of all Dutchmen, because of i her size and her luxurious appointments. She was sunk off the North Hinder lightship while outward bound from Amsterdam to Buenos Aires. Although a denial that the ship was sunk by German instrumentality was im- mediately made from the German side, the Dvitch were convinced that the Tubantia had been destroyed by a German submarine. The DUTCH DESTROYERS BRINGING IN THE BOATS CONTAINING WOUNDED FROM A TORPEDOED DUTCH VESSEL. 190 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAB. THE DUTCH STEAMER COLUMBIA, Mined or Torpedoed. Dutch Government itself shared the view that she had been sunk by a torpedo, basing this conviction on the testimony of two witnesses who saw the bubble-track of the projectile before the explosion. The Dutch Government there- upon instructed its representative at Berlin to ask the German Government to inquire as .speedily as possible whether a German warship was responsible for the destruction of the ship. The German Government had meantime denied that the disaster was caused by a German torpedo boat, submarine or mine. A sim lar disclaimer was forthcoming from the Austro- Hungarian Government. The British Govern- ment also repudiated responsibility for the disaster. The Dutch Government placed the German Government in possession of the evidence of the officers and crew of the Tubantia, which . showed that the ship had been struck by a torpedo. When in two of the boats of the ^Tubantia taken up by a Dutch vessel pieces of metal were found, and these, of which one was discovered to bear an impressed mark, were recognized by the Dutch rjaval authorities as presumably having belonged to a Schwarz- kopf torpedo, the German Government was informed of this and an appeal was made to it to assist in establishing the identity of the torpedo. A Dutch specialist was sent to Berlin to submit the pieces of metal to the German authorities, and while he • was there the result of an investigation by divers was forwarded to him to assist in the inquiry. The result was that the German naval authori- ties recognized that one of the pieces of metal came from German torpedo No. 2,033, which was discharged without effect on March 6 at a British warship. They denied that it had been fished up again, adding that on the night of March 15-10 no German submarine or other German warship had been within 10 sea miles of the place where the Tubantia was sunk. A report was simultaneously made tending to show that the explosion might have been caused by a drifting torpedo. This explana- tion, however, did not account for the presence of the bubble-track of the torpedo, which two witnesses testified to having seen, for a drifting torpedo would have caused no bubble -track. Moreover, the original documents on which was based the statement that the torpedo was discharged on March 6 were never submitted to the inspection of the Dutch authorities. In the end, as the matter was not satisfactorily cleared up by the inquiry, the German Govern- ment, at the suggestion of the Dutch Govern- ment, assented to an international commission of inquiry into the manner by which the Tubantia came by her end, but stipulated that the commission should not meet until after the conclusion of peace. • Another fine Dutch vessel, the Palembang, was lost on March 18, 1916. No proof of her having been torpedoed was found, but in hardly any case was it established with greater certainty that the torpedoes which sank that ship were fired by a German warship. The Germans did not show any disposition to meet the Dutch Government in regard to an inquiry into this case. On April 6, 1916, an explosion occurred on board the Dutch steamer Eemdijk while on the way from Baltimore to Rotterdam, when the vessel was some five miles south-west of St. Catherine's Point. The Eemdijk was towed to Southampton. The crew could not state the cause of the explosion, "but fragments of steel and yellow copper were found on board the vessel by the British authorities and examined by the Dutch naval authorities, who came to the conclusion that they were pieces of a torpedo. The facts were laid before the German Govern- ment with a request that it would institute an inquiry as to whether the Eemdijk had been torpedoed by a German submarine. The German Government later replied that it had caused a minute inquiry to be made into the matter, but that it had not led to tho conclusion that the damage was caused by a German torpedo. It declined to subject the pieces of metal found to an investigation, holding that it could not attach any value from the point of view of proof to their presence on the ship when it came into the power of the British authorities, even if they were admitted to THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 191 ■have belonged to a German torpedo. The German Government was approached with a view to the submission of the Eemdijk case to an international commission of inquiry, as wass agreed on with regard to the Tubantia. It appeared, however, that nothing was to be expected from the German Government in this respect. On April 7, 1916, the day following the ex- plosion on the Eemdijk, an explosion occurred on the Rijndijk near St. Mary, Scilly Islands, 20 miles from Bishop Rock. The Rijndijk was on the way to Rotterdam with a cargo of to sink the vessel. When the crew had left the Berkelstroom one of the submarines pro- ceeded to destroy her, while the other towed the three boats towards the North Hinder lightship. On the approach of a British aeroplane the submarine dived, after having attempted to undo the towing cable, which, however, remained attached to her. By cutting the cable immediately, the crew of the Berkel- stroom prevented the boats from being dragged under water. The Dutch Government, in protesting, said that the greater part of the cargo of the Berkelstroom was cardboard, AMSTERDAM HARBOUR. wheat from the United States. In the vessel, which was not sunk, pieces of a Whitehead torpedo were found. In this case the German Government, after an inquiry, admitted that the vessel had been struck by a torpedo from a German submarine from a distance of 2,000 metres, adding that the submarine commander had been reprimanded, and that it was pre- pared to make compensation for the damage done. On April 24, 1916, the Dutch ship Berkel- stroom proceeding from Amsterdam to London was stopped by the German submarine UB 18, the commander of which, after examining the popers, said he would take the vessel to Zee- brugge. After consultation, however, with the commander of another German submarine, which had arrived in the meantime, he decided which was not contraband, while the rest neither in weight, value, volume nor freight constituted more than half of the cargo. The destruction was therefore undoubtedly illegitimate, both from the standpoint of theDeelaration of London and from that of the German rules relating to prizes. It was without any excuse or extenu- ating circumstances. When the captain of the Berkelstroom protested against the sinking of the ship, pointing out the foregoing facts and offering to throw overboard everything suscep- tible of being considered contraband, the commander of the UB 18 replied, as the captain and second officer of the Berkelstroom swore, that all merchandise conveyed towards England was contraband and that every vessel proceeding towards that country would be sunk. In reply the German Government refused to admit 162—3 192 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. the justice of the Netherlands protest, referred to the case of the sinking of the Medea, and declared that the sinking of neutral vessels in the conditions foreseen by the Declaration of London was parfectly justified. It denied on the testimony of its two submarine captains the statement attributed to one of them by the captain of the Berkelstroom above quoted, and declared that " it was improbable, as it would have been perfectly contrary to the explicit instructions given by the German maritime authorities and to the manner in which German naval forces make war." The Dutch Govern- ment maintained its attitude and declared its HON. SIR ALAN JOHNSTONE, G.C.V.O., British Minister at The Hague, 1910-16. belief in the sworn testimony of the captain and second officer of the Berkelstroom. The German Government replied to the Dutch Government that in its opinion the legality or illegality of the sinking of the Berkelstroom depended solely on whether the contraband by its value formed more than half the cargo. It added that the decision of this question belonged in the first place to the jurisdiction of the German prize court which was seized of the matter. The German Government would therefore await the judg- ment of that court, and reserve to itself the right to return to the matter. It added, however, "If, with regard to the pretended remark of the commandant of the submarine, the Dutch Government believes it ought to base its opinion exclusively on the depositions of the captain and the second officer of the Berkelstroom, that is a view which the German Government could not adopt. It believes, quite contrary to this, that it must hold above all to the reports made by the commandant of the submarine in the exercise of his functions, which he is bound by oath to fulfil." The repeated German denials of the accuracy of the statements of Dutch captains did not create a good impression in Holland, where it [Elliott & Fry. SIR WALTER TOWNLEY, K.C.M.G. succeeded Sir Alan Johnstone as British Minister at The Hague. was not forgotten that in March, 1916, very persistent reports were rife that two members of the directorate of the Holland-Amerika line, when visiting Hamburg shortly before on ship- ping business, were informed by Herr Ballin that Germany's policy was to prevent all traffic between the United Kingdom and European countries, whether neutral or not. These reports were denied by Herr Ballin at the time, but subsequent events proved their accuracy. Moreover, when the Dutch steamer Blom mersdijk, with wheat for the Dutch Govern ment, and other cargo consigned to the Nether- lands Oversea Trust, was sunk on October 8, THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 193 1916, while on her way from America to Rotter- dam via Kirkwall, the captain of the German submarine committing this act declared, according to the statement of the captain of the Blommersdijk, that he would sink every vessel proceeding to England. This was communi- cated to the German Government, which once more replied that there must be a mistake, and that the commander of the submarine declared he had not said anything of the kind. Public opinion in Holland was greatly incensed by the sinking of the Blommersdijk, and the German Government, .apparently recognizing the injury done to the German cause by this occurrence, promptly agreed to make good the damage. It did not, however, censure or dis- avow the action of its submarine commander. At this time there was an agitation in Germany in favour of more ruthless submarine warfare. The first campaign of recklessness in 1915 had been more or less effectively coun- tered by British measures, but in February, 1916, the Germans made renewed threats, based on their growing belief in the increasing efficacy of the submarine. The recrudescence of violence by German submarine commanders in the months immediately following these renewed threats is illustrated by the attacks on, Dutch shipping mentioned above. There was, however, again a subsidence in submarine activity due to the intervention in April, 1916, of President Wilson in the Sussex case. By July, however, German confidence in sub- DR. R. DE MAREES VAN SWINDEREN, Dutch Minister in London. marine warfare began to grow stronger and the agitation for its ruthless prosecution more vehement, while the risks of a rupture with the United States were regarded in some quarters as. less serious than those attending the non- employment of all the means of warfare available to bring the Entente Powers to sub- GERMAN SUBMARINE INTERNED IN HOLLAND. 194 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. DUTCH VESSEL PAINTED AS REQUIRED BY THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT. mission. It was while this agitation was in full progress that the Blommersdijk was sunk. Two months later, on December 12, 1916, the German " peace offer " was made. It did not meet with acceptance, and it was followed by the third phase of submarine activity. This was prefaced on January 31, 1917, by a Note from the German Minister at The Hague, Herr Rosen, to the Dutch Foreign Minister, stating that for 2J years England had made an illicit use of her naval power, with the criminal aim of subjecting Germany by starvation.* She had also by her desire for domination ac2umulated evils on the world with contempt for the most sacred laws of humanity, for the protests of the neutrals, which were gravely affected, and even for the tacit desire for peace of her own peoples and of those of her Allies. The German Government could not assume the responsibility of not employing all means to hasten the end of the war. The German Government, in order to serve humanity in an exalted sense and not itself to commit a great fault in the eyes of its own people, must take advantage of all weapons to prosecute the * Herr von Kiihlmann, before tho war Counsellor of the Oerman Embassy in London, became German Minister at The Hague in March. J915 : he was succeeded in November, 1916, by Herr Kosen. struggle forced upon it for the defence of its existence. It therefore saw itself obliged to remove the restrictions thus far imposed on the conduct of warfare at sea. It announced the new prohibited area, and the exceptional de- cision made in the interest of passengers and postal traffic from Holland to England between Flushing and Southwold, with an indication as to how the ships maintaining this service should be distinguished. M. Loudon replied on February 7, 1917, pointing out that while, by the German measures announced, a free way remained in the North Sea for Dutch shipping, in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, on the other hand, passage was completely barred between Port Said and tho • course from Gibraltar to Greece, so that the way to the Indies, so important in the interests of Holland as" a colonial Power, was cut off. He recalled the Note of November 16, 1914, addressed to the British Minister against the designation of the North Sea as a military zone : and the memorandum of February 12, 1915, against the declaration by the German Government of a great part of the North Sea and the Channel as a war area. Where both the above-mentioned cases gave occasion for a protest from tho Dutch Government it felt itself obliged with the more THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 195 reason to protest with the utmost energy against a system not only extended to much wider regions, but also comprising the intentional attack on neutral ships whatever their cargo or destination, and without distinguishing whether their presence in the region indicated was voluntary or due to circumstances inde- pendent of their will. Even if the German Government stamped the measures it had just taken with the name of blockade, the destruc- tion without mercy of neutral ships proceeding to or leaving a neutral port was contrary to the law of nations, which only recognized confisca- tion and not destruction of vessels which tried to force the blockade. Moreover, the term blockade, which the German Government had. rightly avoided employing, clearly could not apply to the immense extent of sea comprised in each of the two zones of military operations indicated in the memorandum. It could do so all the less that, from the point of view of international law, the blockade was directed solely against traffic to ports of the adversary, and in no way against direct navigation between two neutral countries. The German Navy had received orders to destroy in the zones mentioned all ships which it might meet, without making the slightest distinction between those going to or leaving an enemy port and those travelling between two neutral ports without touching an enemy port. The Nether- lands Government, faithful to the principle which it had constantly upheld during the war, could only see in the destruction of neutral ships by belligerents a violation of the estab- lished law of nations, to say nothing of the violation of the laws of humanity if it took place regardless of the safety of those on board. The responsibility for the eventual destruction of Dutch ships in the regions in question and for the loss of life thereby occasioned would fall on the German Government. Its responsibility would be particularly heavy in the cases to be foreseen, wherein these ships would be obliged to enter the zone of danger by compulsion on the part of warships of the enemy which exercised the right of search. Similar correspondence passed between the Netherlands and the Austro-Hungarian Govern- ment. The protest, however, did not prevent the extreme measures decided on by the Central Powers, and the ruthless submarine warfare with all its attendant horrors became a constant feature of German naval operations. Another matter which gave rise to diplomatic correspondence was the question of a ship's flag. This was raised in October, 1915. By Article 57 of the Declaration of London the CLOTHING THE MEN OF THE CRESSY, ABOUKIR AND HOGUE. 196 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. neutral or hostile character of a ship is deter- mined by the flag which it is entitled to carry. The British Government issued on October 20, 1915, an Order in Council, the effect of which was to render this article inoperative, and a French Decree having, as the Dutch Govern- ment gathered, the same intention was pro- mulgated a few days later. The Netherlands Government protested against this action of the Allied Governments. The matter had a very practical bearing, as on October 30, 1915, the Hamborn, flying the Dutch flag, out by the British Foreign Office that tungsten, vanadium, rubber, and other articles of extreme value both intrinsically and in virtue of their military use might be and actually had been sent in this way, and it was known that Dutch firms were in the habit, before the Allied Govern- ments adopted the line of action which gave rise to the protest, of exporting by these mails to the United States large and valuable con- signments of goods of enemy origin, such as furs. The British Government explained that its action was based on the distinct presence of DUTCH CHILDREN SINGING TO INTERNED BRITISH SAILORS ACROSS X CANAL. was requisitioned by the British and taken to Halitax (N.S.). The Dutch Government pro- tssted that this was: contrary to international law as the flag covered the ship. The shares of the Hamborn company, however, were the property of two other Dutch companies, of which the shares were in German hands. The Netherlands Government protested, among other things, against the treatment of Dutch parcels and letter mails by the British authorities. This was a sore point with the Dutch, whose newspapers contained indignant articles denouncing the British seizure of Dutch mails as arbitrary and illegal. It was pointed enemy destination or origin, and said that the Prize Court must decide how far the action of the British authorities was justified. It considered the action justified, and there- fore could not return the confiscated packets without the judgment of the Prize Court. Much inconvenience was caused to the Dutch fishing industry by mines, and by the taking of trawlers to Germany or Great Britain, as the case might be. but the wilful destruction of fishing vessels by German submarines caused greater indignation than any of the other, hardships. While the Dutch did not follow the example THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 197 GERMAN AIRMEN LAND HOLLAND NEAR THE FRONTIER. of President Wilson in regard to the unre- stricted submarine war, which adversely affected Holland more than almost any other Power, the great majority of Dutchmen approved of his action. There can be no doubt, indeed, that the sympathies of many of the Dutch who were not strongly in favour of either group of Powers was forced on to the side of the Entente by the misguided ruthlessness of German submarine commanders. Dutch experience of submarine warfare began early in the war. On September 22, 1914, three British cruisers, the Cressy, the Hogue, and the Aboukir, were sunk in the North Sea.* Great assistance was rendered by the Dutch in the saving of life on this occasion and much tenderness was shown to the rescued men taken to Dutch ports. A nice question arose out of this incident as to the legal position of the survivors taken to Holland. It was at first assumed that they must be interned, and it would seem that had they been rescued by a Dutch warship this would have been their fate according to the Tenth Geneva Convention (1907). They were, however, rescued not by Dutch warships but by Dutch non-naval vessels — the Flora and the Titan — the legal position of which was different from that of a Dutch warship. A neutral warship is in a position analogous to that of neutral territory, and shipwrecked, wounded, or sick persons of belligerent nations taken on board » See Vol. II.. p. 15. such a warship must not be given up. This, however, does not apply to a neutral merchant- man or other vessel. This consideration caused the Dutch Government to release the survivors of the three British cruisers who were landed in Holland by Dutch vessels. The same good fortune did not attend the men of the Naval Brigade who at the time of the fall of Antwerp were forced to make their way to Holland. These men, about 1,560 in number, were interned at Groningen. Thou- sands of Belgian troops were similarly com- pelled to cross the Dutch frontier at this time, BRITISH, FRENCH, AND GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR WAITING TO BE EXCHANGED AT FLUSHING. 198 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. THE GERMAN DESTROYER V 69 AT YMUIDEN. and were also interned. Camps for their accommodation were established at Zeist, Gaasterland, Amersfoort, and Oldebroek. In various places, including Amsterdam, interned men were subsequently usefully employed in various industries. A certain number of Germans who also crossed the frontier were interned at Bergen. As the war proceeded instances occurred of airmen being compelled to alight on Dutch territory. Some of these were British officers, who were also interned for the term of the war. Although the Belgian frontier was closed, the Dutch residing upon it often had peeps of what went on beyond. At Flushing, for example, the constant attacks by Entente airmen on Z3ebrugge were seen in the distance, while firing on the Flanders front could be heard with great distinctness. Large numbers of Belgians crossed the frontiers from time to time, and as the war proceeded prisoners escaped from Germany or Belgium almost daily. The number of German deserters also became so large as to occasion the estab- lishment of an institution at Alkmaar for their benefit. In the beginning of December, 1915, and in February, 1916, wounded British and German prisoners were exchanged via the Netherlands. On both occasions the oversea transport took place by means of a Dutch ship at the expense of the Dutch Government. In March, 1916, however, in view of the increased dangers to shipping in the North Sea, the Dutch Govern- ment suspended this service. Subsequently the exchange took place on board of a British hospital ship, and in May, 1916, a new exchange took place across Netherlands terri- tory with the assistance of the Dutch Red Cross. The German wounded on their arrival at Flushing were immediately transferred to a G 3rman hospital train which had brought the British wounded from Germany. The British were cared for at Flushing in railway sheds fitted up as temporary hospitals by the Dutch Red Cross. The expenses, including the feeding of the British wounded, were borne by tho Dutch Red Cross. The Dutch Government bore the expenses of the transit across Dutch territory of the wounded of both countries in a German hospital train. Sometimes the Dutch were called upon to give larger hospitality to wounded men. This happened after the battle of Jutland on May 31, 1916, when wounded of both fleets were brought to Holland ; while in January, 1917, a German destroyer, the V 69, was taken to Ymuiden after being badly damaged in a fight with British warships in the North Sea. After repairs she was allowed to leave. German aerial activity was early noticeable in Holland, as the majority of the Zeppelins which visited England passed the Frisian islands and were observed on their outward journey. Many, on their return, violated Dutch territory, thus giving occasion for pro- tests from the Dutch Government which were met with apologies from the Germans. The attitude adopted towards aircraft by the Dutch Government was that on account of the special character of these engines of war it was its duty to take specially strong action towards them. Foreign airships or aircraft which moved above Dutch territory were to THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 199 be fired on, while if they were found on Dutch territory or territorial waters they and their crews were to be interned, as soldiers belonging to belligerents would be interned if they came into Dutch territory. If, however, military airmen were rescued from peril to life by trading vessels in the open sea, the Dutch Government did not see itself justified in interning them. Iti August, 1914, a German waterplane came down owing to injury north of the island of Schiermonnikoog. The Germans declared it came down in the sea outside the territorial waters, that it landed in consequence of being driven to the coast of the island, and that marine flying craft were warships and must be so regarded, especially when they moved for- ward in the water. It therefore considered that this vessel should have been allowed to repair its damage and subsequently leave Netherlands territory. This view was not accepted by the Dutch Government ; nor was the attempt of the Germans to secure the release of an airman who had landed on July 10, 1915, with his aeroplane on Dutch territory and been interned. In the latter case the Gsrmans represented that the airman had lost his way and came across the frontier by mistake, as a soldier might do without being interned. The Dutch pointed out the great freedom of action of aeroplanes, and the impossibility of ascertaining, as might be done in the case of a soldier, whether the crossing of the fron- tier was due to mistake. They therefore maintained their point of view, one conse- quence of which was that foreign aircraft above Netherlands territory exposed them- selves immediatsly to being fired at by military forces without the obligation being placed on the military authorities of warn- ing them in advance that they were above CAPTAIN OF THE GERMAN CRUISER " ELBING," RESCUED FROM THE BATTLE OF JUTLAND, AT YMUIDEN. neutral territory and giving them an oppor- tunity to withdraw. The Dutch Government drew the attention of the German Government to this fact in the case of the airship L 19, which on February 1, 1916, after having passed GERMAN WOUNDED FROM V 69 IN THE DUTCH MILITARY HOSPITAL AT AMSTERDAM. 200 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. over Dutch territory and been fired on by the Dutch coastguard, appears with its whole crew to have met with mishap in the North Sea. The German Government accused the Dutch of having acted in contravention of international law and of the laws of humanity in firing on the L 19 without warning, when it appeared that that airship had come above Dutch territory in consequence of circumstances beyond its control. The Dutch Government replied that the L 19 did not give any signs of damage or desire to land, that it had been repeatedly warned that it was above neutral rence, and in those of the 's-Gravenhage and Cornells expressed regret, while exonerating the airmen. While Holland was thus by these incidents directly involved in the war and naturally felt her interests very deeply affected by the losses suffered by her shipowners, her attention was- constantly attracted by the course of hostilities on land. At the very beginning of the war the advance of the Germans into Belgium was watched with painful interest by the Dutch, who stood in crowds in front of the CROWD READING THE BULLETINS. territory, and that the military authorities had observed the laws of humanity so far as this was cons'stent with their duty to preserve the inviolability of their country. German airmen repeatedly threw bombs at Dutch vessels flying the Dutch flag. Thus the Zeyenbergen, Hibernia, 's-Gravenhage and Cornells were attacked in this way on March 21, 1915, March 29, 1915, May 12, 1915, July 29, 1915, respectively. Protests were made by the Dutch Government to the Gorman Government, which in the cases of the Zeven- bergen and Hibernia disputed the facts, while expressing in the latter case regret for the occur- places where bulletins were issued, to read the latest news From the Dutch frontier the people of South Limburg had been able to watch the Germans entering Vise, the tittle Belgian town through which they marched on Liege. They were therefore near enough to see something of the war in all its horror. It was said, indeed, that German troops, during their march to Belgium, had crossed Dutch territory near Vaals. This rumour be- came so persistent as to call for an official denial, which was furnished by the Dutch Government on sworn evidence. Reports rapidly spread through the country of the merciless conduct THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 201 I IHMHKA A GERMAN AEROPLANE WHICH LANDED of the Germans to an unoffending people, and these were supported and amplified by the thousands of fugitives from Belgium who crossed into Holland as soon as the Germans advanced. The story of the refugee Belgians in Holland has already been told* and need not be repeated here. The words of Queen Wilhelmina, there quoted, in her Speech from the Throne on Sept. 15, 1914, bear the best possible testimony to the feelings aroused in the Dutch by the fate of their unfortunate neigh- bours. The Dutch were also later to see something of the effects of the war on the Ger- mans themselves, for when the blockade of Ger- many had become severe enough to produce privation in that country large numbers of German children were sent to enjoy the hospi- tality of Holland. Many Belgian fugitives went back after the German occupation of Antwerp, being assured that fugitives of military age who returned to Belgium would not be incorporated in the German Army or compelled to work in Ger- many. This promise was given them after negotiations between the German authorities and the Dutch Government. When at a later date the Germans deported Belgians to Ger- many under circumstances which provoked universal indignation, they were reminded in November, 1916, of these negotiations by the Dutch Government. The German Government maintained that by this agreement it was meant that only those residents in Antwerp and its » See Vol. IV. p. 474. BY MISTAKE AT AARDENBURG, JULY 1917. suburbs who had a fixed salary would be ad- mitted to the radius of the fortress. However, the German Government agreed to repatriate from Germany to Belgium those Belgian fugitives who in consequence of the assurance indicated returned from Holland to the Ant- werp radius, on condition that the Dutch Government again accepted those of them for whom there was no work in Belgium. This condition was accepted by the Dutch Govern- ment.* Dutch opinion about the war was divided, but there was no division in the sympathy accorded to the Belgians in their distress and heartrending sufferings. Indeed, for some weeks after the war began practically the whole Dutch people was anti -German. The Dutch felt that a great wrong which might have been done to Holland had been done to Belgium, and they resented it as a generous nation necessarily must resent a brutal infraction of the sovereign rights of a sister State. Moreover, the conduct of the Germans throughout the war, the cruel savagery of their methods towards their enemies and their total disregard of every consideration of humanity, added to their system of spies and lies, of both of which Holland had a rich experience, produced a feeling of aversion. The Germans left no stone unturned to influence the Dutch in their favour. They deluged the newspaper offices with free propa- ganda, telegraphed at great expense from Berlin, and supplied free copies of the Berlin • See Vol. XII., Chapter CXCIII. 202 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. journals. Everything possible was done to spread distrust of the English, who were con- stantly accused of having designs on the integrity of Holland and of desiring to take possession of the Scheldt. Th ; s was carried so far that a panic was created on March 31, 1916, by the reported landing of Entente forces in GUARDING A FRONTIER FERRY. Zeeland. The report, which was without any foundation, was circulated by the Germans and spread like wildfire throughout the country. At the beginning of the war the Germans issued a daily paper called De Toestand (The Situation). This was published in Dutch. It had little or no success, and in the spring cf SENTRIES ON THE FRONTIER. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 1915, when Herr von Kuhlmann, formerly Councillor of the German Embassy in London, was appointed Minister to The Hague, the Toestand was succeeded by a weekly paper, De Toekomst (The Future), which had the support of a number of pro-German Dutch professors, and carried on an open propaganda on behalf of the Central Powers. The Dutch, however, are accustomed to think questions out for themselves in their own way, and when the first burning indignation at the invasion of Belgium had passed away their views con- cerning the causes of the war grew critical. Many came to the conclusion that all the Great Powers had pursued a policy of expansion which could not result otherwise than in a catastrophe. Moreover, the question of Hol- land's own interest asserted itself. The Dutch asked themselves how the victory of one or other set of Powers would affect their country, and came to the conclusion that an indecisive issue of the war would serve the interests of Holland more than the triumph of either side. A victory for Germany, it was clearly seen, meant the eventual economic absorption of Holland, with her ports ; while increased Ger- man influence in Antwerp and on the Scheldt could not fail to be immediately prejudicial to Dutch interests. On the other hand, if England gained an unqualified victory, she would, it was represented in some quarters, demand new rights on the Scheldt, and possibly also a part of the Dutch colonies. Moreover, by degrees, the inconvenience and privations experienced by many of the people in consequence of the war caused them to feel and assert that both sides disregarded the requirements of international law, and from asking who was to blame for the war people came to ask which group com- mitted least inhumanity. During the period here reviewed, which ended before the third outburst of German submarine fury, with its indiscriminate sinking of Dutch merchant and fishing vessels without regard for the fate of their crews, this reproach of inhumanity was in large part levelled mainly at acts injurious to the material interests of the Dutch, which are inseparable from their trading and commercial activities. The necessity to use bread cards and the shortage of coal and certain kinds of food made the poorer people feel the war as a personal inconvenience. Demonstrations in favour of more coal and cheaper food were held in Amsterdam and elsewhere. Business was so variously affected in the Netherlands by the war as to make the war years an epoch in the country's history. This is apparent from the course of events in all branches of manufacture, trade, commerce and finance. While the war prejudiced the interests of some large sections of the population, this was by no means universally the case. Reference has been made above to the fall in prices caused at the beginning of the war by the stoppage ol transport. As soon, however, as traffic to England and Germany was reopened, thus admitting of export, prices rose steadily, until after two and a half years of war agricultural produce could not be purchased in the country itself at less than double or treble its ordinary cost. This stimulated industries connected with luxuries. Indeed, the large profits made by many farmers, occasional traders, and others caused the revival of several industries. The goldsmiths and silversmiths, in particular, flourished exceedingly, while the revenue from standard marks duty on gold and silver ware reached in December, 1915, a sum never before attained. The Dutch colonies produce enormous quan- tities of tobacco, rubber, cinchona, sugar, tea, petroleum and other commodities requiring for their transport a merchant fleet far exceeding the requirements of the small home population of under 7 millions. At the same time, Holland is largely dependent for metal wares and textiles on manufacturing countries with rich mineral resources. She is also partly or entirely dependent on other countries for cereals, fertilizers, coal, iron and timber. In exchange for these and other necessaries she exports agricultural and dairy produce, such as potatoes, vegetables of all kinds, butter, cheese, con- densed milk, and the fish caught by its hundreds of deep sea trawlers. She also does a profitable trade in exporting horses and cattle, of which sho breeds far more than she can use. Owing to her unfortunate position within the blockaded area Holland was ground between the upper and the nether millstone of the belligerents, as far as supplies from foreign countries were concerned. The Entente group of Powers commanded the supply of cereals and oilseeds, without which the country could not subsist, while the Central Powers practically controlled its coal and iron supplies. In the first year of the war the Germans, who looked upon victory with a very large indemnity as merely a question of months, made urgent demands on the home-grown foodstuffs of the 204 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Netherlands. Prices consequently rose enor- mously. At the same time the blockade was causing supplies from overseas, even those from the Dutch colonies, to arrive slowly. Later on, indeed, these supplies were practically restricted to the needs of the country. This was necessary because, although, after two years of war, few or none of the imports actually reached the Central Powers, Dutch farmers were doing an enormous trade with the enemy in crops raised by means of fertilizers, and in cattle and dairy produce, poultry and eggs, which would never have come into existence at all but for the permitting no more food and forage to reach Holland than was actually required for the due support of her population. The result was an apparent shortage in the first place of bread. The word apparent is used advisedly, for the distribution and rationing measures taken by the Government were all induced by a fear of eventual shortage. The same applies to materials other than foodstuffs imported from overseas, and many industries suffered from shortage of raw materials such as cotton, wool, hides, and metals. Though several of these are chiefly produced in the Dutch colonies FOOD DEMONSTRATION IN AMSTERDAM. grain waste, cattle cake and similar foods upon which the live stock were fed and which could not reach Holland except by sea. The Dutch Government soon realized the dangers of the position, but were at first satis- fied with preventing the direct export of food- stuffs or the raw produce for making them, such as oil-bearing seeds, copra for margarine, and so forth, that had been imported through the blockade. Gradually, however, the blockade policy, in view of the undiminished quantities of foodstuffs sent across the frontier, openly or clandestinely, was so altered that the indirect supply to the enemy was prevented as far as possible. This could only be done by the quantity permitted to reach the home country through the blockade was carefully rationed, and, in the case of rubber, even stopped altogether, as the stock was con- sidered ample for the normal requirements of the Netherlands. A number of industries were brought to a standstill by lack of materials. The famous earthenware factory, " The Sphinx," at Maastricht, for instance, was forced to shut down for some time because it could not obtain the necessary clay from Fowey, in Cornwall. A number of manu- facturers of jute-sacking discharged their hands because they could not get sufficient raw jute to keep them fully employed, and THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 205 similarly, rope manufacturers were forced to stop work for lack of hemp. It must not be forgotten, of course, that these industries manufactured in normal times far more than the Netherlands could consume. In the ship- building and engineering industries activity- was reduced by supplies being partially stopped by Germany, practically no steel having been exported to Holland from that country since the autumn of 1916. On the other hand, however, Netherlands industries were given a start which would serve them in good stead after the war. A strong people and even to the actual manufacturers if the keen wind of competition had not been tempered by the effects of the British blockade during the experimental periods. Various industries consequently were able to steal a march on Germany and Austria. Holland was able to supply foreign markets with goods manufactured in the Netherlands, which, before the war, had been in many cases the monopoly of Germany and Austria. Thus the manufacture was begun, or extended, of aniline oil and dyes, incandescent mantles, push buttons, glass tiles, glass bulbs for electric FOOD SEIZED BY THE POLICE, wall of protection was thrown up for them by the British regulations which prohibited the export through Holland of articles of Ger- man or Austrian manufacture or even goods manufactured in Holland containing a certain percentage of their value of enemy origin. In the first months of the war this was fixed at 50 per cent., and then reduced to 25 per cent., and on April 2, 1917, it was to be diminished to 5 per cent. These regulations threw the various Dutch industries with a foreign market very much on their own resources. They would, indeed, never have surmounted the difficulties of making things entirely strange to the work- lamps, nitric acid, argon, charcoal, rubber articles and a number of other things of minor importance. In the case of biscuits, Holland learned during the war to compete with British manufacturers whose products had previously been preferred. Another unexpected result of the trade measures applied by the Entente Powers was that the trade commission agents were largely turned into dealers on their own account — in the first place because the agent soon realized that, with the enormous demand for all kinds of goods at rising prices, not only was there no risk, but there was a splendid opportunity of making handsome profits on anything 'he •206 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. could have in stock for immediate delivery ; and, secondly, because the British and Allied manufacturers were not allowed to sell to agents without knowing the ultimate desti- nation ol the goods. The import trade — and later on even the export trade to the Colonies — of the Nether- lands was entirely dominated after Janua'v 1, 1915, by the Netherlands Oversea Trust Company, to which reference has already been made. The prosperity of many traders was such that the Dutch Government was able to recover a portion of the expenditure neces- sitated by the war from the so-called war profits. It imposed a tax of 10 per cent, on the first Fl. 2,500 (the first Fl. 1,000 being exempted), and 30 per cent, on any sum more thin Fl. 2,500 earned in excess of the tax- payer's pre-war income, the first Fl. 2,000 being in this case exempted. This was only one of the many national, provincial and municipal forms of new taxation by which the public bodies tried to cover their enormous expenditure due to the crisis. Agriculture, cattle breeding and fisheries are the traditional pursuits of the people of Holland. Dutch cheese has long been famous, while Dutch butter before the war became a. serious competitor of Danish butter. The war caused an enormous increase in the production and a corresponding increase in the exports of these articles. Germany accounted for most of the increased export, while there was a large falling off in the quantity supplied to Great Britain. Fre,sh fruit was sent in large quantities to the London and Hull markets before the war, but there was a great falling off owing to the long delays and uncertain shipping across the North Sea. Besides, the elimination of risks, the better prices and, above all, the ready cash of the Germans and Austrians were too attrac- tive, and the majority of dealers did not hesitate to sell their goods to the Germans, who were also large purchasers of vegetables, both fresh and in brine, and specially of fish. Deep-sea fish had been caught, since the phenomenal development of Ymuiden as a fishing port during the last 25 years, in too large quantities to be consumed locally. The pros- perity of this North Sea fishing port, some 12 hours and less by rail from Berlin, Hanover, Munich and other large German centres, was naturally augmented by the scarcity of all kinds of food in the Central Empires, and the preserving of fish in ice, and SENDING OUT BREAD CARDS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 207 ' 1 mm EHIiC'fffl TiT iiif "* 1 ' -i Mr** — &* a? V ■ 3^ - 9 WAITING TO PURCHASE COAL. by salting and curing, made it possible to dis- tribute it evenly over immense distances. Whole trainloads were even dispatched as far as the occupied parts of Russian Poland and the southern districts of Austria. This enormous demand naturally increased the value of the fish brought to market at Ymuiden. In 1913 the value of fish sold at Government Fish Market there was Fl. 6,995,785, in 1915 it had increased to Fl. 17,887,709, and in 1916 to Fl. 36,602,555, or about six times the value of the catch in normal -years. The bulk of the fish went to Germany. The flower bulb trade and the plant forcing industry — the latter is almost as much an industry as iron and steel, judging by the numerous chimney stacks which rise from the towns and districts entirely devoted to it — were among the interests most affected by the war. In the first few months of war the growers, and especially the flower shops, suffered heavy losses because the Dutch public bought less, and the lengthy and uncertain traffic across the North Sea did not permit of exports to any large extent. This state of things, as far as Holland herself was concerned, soon passed, and ip the spring of 1915 the Dutch growers threw themselves with great energy into the export of bulbs and plants to Kngland, America, and even to Russia, in spite of the difficulties of shipment. Gradually, however, the restrictions on the importation of foreign bulbs into Great Britain and the greatly reduced shipping to oversea countries TAKING HOME THEIR PURCHASE. prevented the bulb growers from disposing of their products at favourable prices. The growers, who had in their hands hxindreds of tons of bulbs, chiefly hyacinths and tulips, tried many ways of" turning them to profit. More or less successful. experiments were made to manufacture bread, cattle food, alcohol, and fertilizers from bulbs, but the growers only secured a fraction of their - value as flower bulbs, and they ultimately turned their atten- tion largely to other and more profitable produce. Holland always exported a considerable portion of her potatoes or potato products, such as potato-flour (dextrine), glucose, and alcohol. The export increased enormously THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. during the war owing to the scarcity of sup- plies* in Germany and Austria. A man who had had no particular business before the war was asked what quantity of potatoes he had exported in 1916. He replied that to one firm in Vienna he had forwarded G,500 tons. In other words, fifteen long trains of 50 ten-ton GENERAL C. J. SNIJDERS, Dutch Commander-in-Chief, and REAR-ADMIRAL SMIT, in command oft the mouths of the Meuse and Scheldt. wagons had been dispatched by a man who did not know anything about the business, but simply bought on the market with prac- tically no limit. This was possible for Austria, but Germany soon saw the advantage of establishing a central organization for the purchase of food- stuffs from neutral countries, and opened a branch office in Holland to regulate the quan- tities and prices of all kinds of foodstuffs purchased in Holland. Without going into details, it may be said that, what with their inquisitorial methods and making terms by withholding indispensable accessory articles such as salt, tin plates, etc., the Germans succeeded in obtaining all they could afford to buy and pay for at, for war time, reasonable prices. The credit for this policy was generally given to the astute Herr von Kiihlmann, then German Minister at The Hague. In the autumn of 1916 the Dutch suddenly learned that, owing to the continuous export, they would have a shortage of potatoes. In the spring of 1917 the Minister of Agriculture, M. Posthuma, was called upon to explain how his Department could have permitted such quan- tities of potatoes or their products to be sent ovit of the country as to leave the nation comparatively unprovided with 'potatoes, which, with bread, form the main food of the working classes. He showed in some detail how difficult it had been to take stock of what the country could grow, and that exports had to be permitted for economic reasons up to a certain amount, based on the production of former years, and how, finally, the summer had been wet and cold and the crop had -con- sequently been far smaller than it had been for many years before. He hoped that with some care and the substitution of rice the country would carry on until the early potatoes arrived. The fear of a potato famine caused the people to strain every effort to prevent it, and everyone able to do so set about planting potatoes and other vegetables. Municipal corporations, landowners, and large employers placed small plots of land at the disposal of their 'townfolk or workpeople, in some cases giving them seed potatoes for cultivation. The newspapers published a daily or weekly article with some such heading as " Sow and Plant," " Garden- ing for the General," " How to Grow Vege- tables." It might almost be said, indeed, that gardening suddenly became the national hobby. With a few unimportant exceptions the various Dutch industries profited greatly by the war. It is obvious that where an army of nearly 500,000 men had to be fed, clothed and equipped, while the contiguous countries were too much occupied with fitting out their own armies to be able to supply warlike material, the £80,000 a day spent by the Government on the Army and Navy mostly went to support, and in some cases to create, home industries. The cotton and woollen textile mills of Enschede, Helmond and Tilburg (the Dutch Manchester, Leeds and Bradford) received heavy orders during the first year and a t.alf of the war, in spite of the large imports of textiles from England and America. Nor was, it only the Army that required cloth ; THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 209 dealers foresaw that if the supply of raw cotton were in any way obstructed there would be a serious shortage, and those who could collected large stocks. This proved to be a most profit- able speculation, for until August, 1916, when the export of cotton textiles from Holland was prohibited, German buyers overran the country and bought up cotton goods at almost any price. A large milliner at Amsterdam who had just received 200 pieces of white cotton from the manufacturers, intended to sell them, at an ample profit, at 50 cents (lOd.) a metre, when an individual with a pronounced German accent entered his shop and inquired if the shopkeeper had any white cotton for sale. The dealer, realising the kind of man he had to deal with, after some discussion, agreed to sell him the lot at 80' cents (Is. 4d.) per metre. The bargain being struck, the buy%r was asked to sign a guarantee that the stuff would not leave the country, and deposit a banker's security. As the dealer expected, the pro- spective buyer (and obviously exporter) left the premises using strong language in the German tongue. He was not seen again ! These methods naturally met with a consider- able amount of success, and after'the goods had passed through five, six, and even more hands it was impossible to distinguish so-called " free " goods, which could be exported, from N.O.T. goods, export of which was forbidden. It is a remarkable fact, however, that within a few months after the prohibition to export cotton had been promulgated the textile mills ran short of work, and a number of them were forced to shut down or work half-time. Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is the world's principal centre of diamond cutting and polishing. Its many diamond workers suffered a good deal for a time, for the diamond trade and industry were completely paralysed during the first six months of the war. The war profits in the United States, however, soon caused an increasing demand for diamonds, the result being that the trade and industry quickly revived and even enjoyed more prosperity than usual ; although the rose diamond branch of the industry suffered during the whole of the war. Diamonds are so small and of such great value, and can, more- over, be so easily secreted about the per- son, that it was found necessary, in order to prevent what are called industrial diamonds from reaching the enemy, to organize and regulate the supply of rough diamonds, which are mainly of South African origin and reached Amsterdam by way of London. For this purpose committees of experts were appointed in Lon- DUTCH INFANTRY. 210 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. don and Amsterdam. The London committee was to some extent advisory to the Govern- ment with regard to policy and kept in constant touch with the various departments ; while that at Amsterdam controlled the distribution and verified the disposal of the rough diamonds among the manufacturers-, and their sale when polished. It performed these duties under the immediate supervision of the British Consul at Amsterdam. The fact that the Germans still possessed large quantities of German South-West African diamonds which they caused to he polished by the diamonds workers who had remained at Antwerp required the minute examination of every parcel of stones that left Holland in order, if possible, to prevent the Germans from obtaining credit in America by means of these diamonds. Although certain quantities of diamonds were shipped to the United States in German submarines, the clandestine transmission of diamonds from unapproved firms or to unapproved destina- tions was, for all practical purposes, stopped by the labours of these committees. The Dutch sugar plantation companies of the Dutch East Indies benefited enormously by the stoppage of supplies of beet sugar to Grea't, Britain from the Continent owing to the war. Large stocks of cane sugar in the East Indies were purchased with accompanying increase in price, which was reflected in the shares of some of the companies being more than doubled. Before the war Holland ex- ported comparatively large quantities of beet- root sugar to Great Britain, but the Dutch Government restricted the exports, in the country's own interest, to about 40 per cent. Cocoa, owing to its value as a food and its relatively small volume, was one of the first things which the German commissariat seized upon as food for troops in the field. The demand in Holland for cocoa powder was at first so great that from eight to ten times the usual prices were offered for immediate delivery. Not satisfied'with such profits, the middlemen (mostly persons of no commercial standing, without capital, frequently working men un- employed owing to the war) even bought up cocoa-waste and ground cocoa-shell powder which they sold as cocoa powder. This was made possible by the avidity and reckless purchasing of the German buyers during the first year of the war. They paid cash against ROUTE MARCH OF INTERNED BRITISH MARINES UNDER STRONG GUARD. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 211 INTERNED MEN GARDENING AT HARDERWIJK. documents and asked no questions. Under theso circumstances cocoa-waste, used at other times only as cattle food and costing about (is. 6d. per cwt., fotched at one period as much as £4 per cwt. The stocks of cocoa powder in Holland were soon exhausted, whereupon Germany and Austria, especially Austria, bought raw cocoa heavily. They were unfor- tunately able to buy considerable quantities, because it was the practice of most manufac- turers to keep a year's stock of raw material on hand and contract for delivery at even longer periods. The peculiar position was thereby created that two kinds of cocoa were avail- able on the market, namely, " N.O.T. Cocoa " and "N.O.T. free cocoa," the latter kind being 10 to 20 per cent, higher in price than the former, because it coxild be sold to Ger- many, that country being prepared to pay more for goods which could be freely exported from Holland. This distinction was even observed through the process of manufacture to cocoa powder and chocolate, and the finished- pro- duct was similarly differentiated. The same occurred with all possible kinds of commodities and only ceased when the export of the goods was entirely prohibited. It thus came about that before the blockade, or at least before the restriction of imports into Holland could properly take effect, several thousand tons of raw cocoa had been exported to the Central Powers. About a year to 18 months after the outbreak of war the stocks of raw cocoa in Holland had entirely dis- appeared , the result being that much unemploy- ment was caused in certain factories. There was no actual shortage for home consumption, because Holland only requires about 8 per cent, to 10 per cent, of her production, and after two and a half years of war the blockade suc- ceeded in reducing the quantities of cocoa im- ported into Holland to limits which enabled this highly developed industry to supply the country itself, and, to a certain extent, the Allies, with cocoa powder without permitting any to be exported to our enemies. Tobacco, of which the Dutch East Indies supply enormous quantities to the world market, proved during the war that it was no' longer, as was still generally thought, a luxury, but a necessity. Although the better class of leaf tobacco, used almost exclusively for the outer cover of cigars, fetched much lower prices than was expected, the commoner kinds of tobacco were readily sold at unprecedented figures, owing to the enormous demand for cheap cigars •J I -J THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. SEARCHING A CAR ON THE DUTCH FRONTIER. for troops in the field in both belligerent camps. This enabled old stocks, some of which had lain in warehouses for 10 years and more, to be sold out at very acceptable prices. No amount of description, however, could show the profits of the tobacco planters and traders so well as the figures representing the total value of the tobaccos imported direct into Holland from the Dutch East Indies. In 1913 crop imports were Fl. 74, 505,000, those of 1914 Fl. 65, 140,000, and those of 1915 Fl. 145,125,000. In spite of the mountains of tobacco which these figures represent, the stocks were so exhausted by export that in 1916 the Dutch cigar factories could not purchase enough tobacco to keep their hands employed, and the Government was obliged to take measures to prevent raw tobacco being exported before the home industries were provided with ade- quate stocks to prevent unemployment until the next crop arrived. Tobacco was not always consigned to the N.O.T., probably because our blockade authorities did not consider to- bacco to be a help to the military resources of our enemies. In fact, towards the end of 1916 Germany prohibited the importation of tobacco without licence. The history of the other and somewhat less important branches of import trade, such as coffee, copra, hides and leather, cinchona bark, tin, timber and so forth, more or less runs parallel to that broadly outlined of the com- modities mentioned above. A slump occurred during the first few months of the war owing to the crisis and the general belief that the war would shortly be over. This was succeeded by an enormous demand and consequent large export due to the realization that the war would last longer than was at first expected. This second period lasted from January, 1915, until the early part of 1916, and was charac- terized by record prices on all hands. It was followed by the gradual closing of the frontiers by the Dutch Government for the direct or in- direct export of all kinds of imported goods, this step being chiefly rendered necessary by the more stringent application of our blockade. The consequence was that after 2J years of war the country, as far as foodstuffs from overseas were concerned, had just sufficient supplies to prevent the population from feeling the effects of war beyond having to pay extraordinarily high prices for the products owing to the comparatively small stocks in the country, which, however, enabled the dealers to THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 213 make war profits in spite of the reduced imports. The Netherlands Oversea Trust Company really originated in the desire of the great Dutch shipping companies to keep their lines working in spite of the blockade. They reaped a golden harvest by their foresight, and all of them made war profits. This was due to the dependence of Holland on oversea products, and to her fortunate position in possessing a fleet able to keep the country provided with foodstuffs and other necessaries. She was thereby saved from much suffering, for had she been dependent on foreign shipping she would certainly have had to pay far higher freights and possibly would not have been able to buy shipping space at any price. The great demand for tonnage stimulated tho employ- ment of sailing vessels, while steamers built 15 years before the war and almost written off were sold for several times as much as they cost. In the first year of the war Holland sold several ships to foreipi owners, and the sale of shipping was beginning to* assume alarming proportions when the Government intervened and pre- vented it altogether. The profits of shipping companies increased something like threefold during the war, while a great stimulus was given to shipbuilding both to home and foreign orders As was shown in dealing with the destruction of Dutch ships by the Germans, shipowners also had their troubles : the constant danger which their ships and crews ran owing to Ger- many's submarine activity and mines ; the consequent exorbitant rates of insurance against war and other risks, which in certain cases was even a quarter of the value of the ship for a single voyage across the North Sea ; the increasing wages demanded by the crews ; the great cost of coal, not to speak of the diffi- culty in obtaining it ; and the long delays in various ports — probably the most costly matter of all. Early in 1915 the lines of steamships to the East Indies were informed that they would no longer be allowed to use the Suez Canal, owing to military operations in those regions. This announcement proved to be premature, and the steamers continued to pass through the Canal until the uncertainty of obtaining coal at Suez or Aden and the dangers of the Mediterranean induced the companies. STORAGE OF ARMS OF THE BELLIGERENTS: BELGIAN INTERNED SOLDIERS KEEPING THEM CLEAN AND IN ORDER. 214 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. towards the end of 1915, to send their ships to the Indies via the Cape of Good Hope. Though this did not actually cost the companies any more (the extra cost of coal being about the same as the Canal dues), the ships took three or four weeks longer to reach their destination, so that fewer voyages could be made with the same number of vessels. The control of the Dutch railways was immediately after the outbreak of war taken over by the Government. As this had already been provided for by law many years before, the only difference was that no trains were allowed to run without the permission of the much to the fore. The foreign trade in time of peace financed from Amsterdam is important owing to the enormous value of the East Indian produce, though naturally a large proportion of this was formerly financed through London because of the more stable rates of exchange of the pound sterling. Owing, however, to the gigantic expenditure of all belligerer.t States in neutral countries, the rates of ex- change of the currencies of all belligerents were upset. Shortly after the outbreak of war, when the whole world was still indebted to England, the Dutch rate rose as high as Fl. 12.85 for a pound sterling. After a few months BA* $$--'.. "'■' .;ii. H^HBttHHflAKr-^rak^tJ ftf'i. L-'-r-W r^^Hmj^K^P^^B^Lv ' p^-* t t~ •' M*****^ Ur .-g *-M - ^^!ffr f^W ^4^jCS^ " '. ■ J- •1> -" .-.-'•' 'J U INSIDE THE CAMP OF THE INTERNED BRITISH , MARINES. Minister of War, and a certain amount of rolling stock was held constantly at the disposal of the military authorities. Otherwise the staffs and methods of the railway systems remained unchanged. The railways also profited by the war, chiefly owing to the large transport of troops for the Government and the constant travelling of the soldiers to and from their homes and their stations. In spite of there being almost no transit traffic, the companies made large profits on their goods traffic, probably owing to the increased exports from Holland and the higher freight which the companies charged. The railways suffered from the shortage of coal ; the number of passenger trains and their speed were reduced and the passenger fares were raised. The war brought Amsterdam, and hence Holland, as a secondary financial centre, very England's expenditure in foreign countries began to tell on her exchange, and the rate gradually fell until in 1915 it reached about Fl. 10.40 per pound, representing a loss to England of more than 13 per cent. This great decline was chiefly caused by the heavy pur- chases of East Indian sugar to which reference has already been made ; it "ran into many millions of pounds sterling. All this money could not, of course, at once be remitted to Holland in gold, and various means were devised of postponing the actual payment of the bills of exchange. This was not the case with England alone ; the rate of exchange of practically all countries gradually showed a disagio via-d-vis of Holland, the inevitable result of a country's exports having a greater value than its imports ; in other words, of the balance of trade being in THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 215 its favour. This was abnormally increased by the sale of the stocks of all kinds which are always available in a country in normal times. As explained above, these stocks were gradually exhausted, having been sold at excellent prices. The dealers and manufacturers, instead of having several months' stocks of raw materials on hand, were later in possession of an excessive amount of liquid funds which they feared to invest since they might require them at any moment. This state of affairs produced an apparent excess of money in Holland.. All of this was not, of course, newly-acquired wealth. Indeed, the difficulty of investing money in easily realizable securities led part of the public to hoard its money in the form of bank notes, thereby vising them as an investment, although they bore no interest — a fact which illustrates the effect of the war on Holland's financial relations with foreign countries. That the mercantile wealth of the country was largely turned to gold is clearly seen from the enormous stocks of gold in the vaults of the Netherlands Bank, the Dutch Bank of Issue, which keeps the gold as counter-value to its note circulation. The average stock of gold and the metallic surplus (balance after 20 per cent, of the nominal value of the bank's obli- gations, including bank notes, has been re- served against them, which before the war was 40 per cent.), was as follows : Gold stock in millions. F. 170 „ 293 „ 525 By the end of 1916 the gold stock had still further increased. If the population . of the Netherlands is taken at 7,000,000, which is an overestimate, the gold in the Netherlands Bank would represent considerably over 6,000,000 sterling per million of the population. This is merely to show the enormous amount of gold concentrated at the bank. In the opening w°eks of the war there was a panic and a general run on the banks, due to the sudden fear of war. The people held back their ready cash, or withdrew it from the bank and prepared for immediate flight in case Holland should be drawn into the war. So great a shortage of small' change, particularly among the working classes, was thereby occasioned that both the Government and local authorities were obliged to take prompt measures to relieve the resulting distress by making a paper currency for small amounts. April, 1914 „ 1915 1916 Metallic surplus in millions. F. 40 „ 187 ,, 377 DR. ROSEN, German Minister at The Hague, 1916. Within a week of the outbreak of war the Government had printed and distributed paper notes of a nominal value of Fl.1.00, Fl.2.50. and Fl.5.00, which, as they were payable with silver, were called silver bonds. The larger cities, the Provincial Governments, and even large industrial concerns, issued all kinds of provisional paper currency for sums even as small as 10 cents (2d.) to enable them to pay their employees in coin small enough to buy the necessaries of life, for the banks could not meet the extraordinary demand for sub- sidiary coin. After two and a half years of war only the Government silver bonds remained. Between April 1, 1914, and April 1, 1917, some Fl. 37,000,000 of silver coin passed into circula- tion, and the temporary issue of silver bonds had to be increased from Fl. 25,000,000 to Fl. 40,000,000, all of which was above the normal circulation. From this it will be realized that the Dutch even after two and a half years of war had not quite got over their fear of a crisis and were hoarding up small cash. Part of this greater circulation was also due to the higher degree of prosperity prevailing in almost all classes of the population. A rise in the wage standard naturally required more silver coin to meet the circulation demands. 216 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. The crisis n the money market at the begin- ning of the war was also felt in another way. It is the general custom of tradespeople in Holla id, not to deposit their liquid funds in a bank,' but to invest them in monthly loans through 'their stockbroker, who lends again on change against sound security. This enables the investor to withdraw his money or to ieave it for a further period of one month, as he may choose, at the end of each month. The system would be excellent if the security had a constant and immediately realizable value, but in times of crisis it is exceedingly dangerous because the middlemen, who simply act as brokers in placing the loan, are entirely powerless to enforce repayment if the security has fallen in value. This was, indeed, the most serious phase of the financial crisis in Holland ; the borrowers could not realize their securities because no one wanted to invest, the brokers or middlemen could not enforce payment, and the lenders, with many other people besides, deemed themselves utterly ruined, as they would certainly have been if the tide of war had crossed the frontier at the moment. Desperate ills require desperate remedies. Harsh measures were necessary, and were immediately forthcoming. The Stock Ex- change was closed, so that no one could sell out in a panic and thereby ruin himself and perhaps his clients. The Netherlands Bank, together with a number of leading bankers, formed a syndicate to advance to brokers a certain proportion of the value of the securi- ties, enabling the middlemen to some extent to meet their engagements. Further advances ■ were gradually made until more or less normal values had returned and enabled the borrowers to realize, or at any rate to consolidate, their positions. These critical moments were almost for- gotten later. War profits and their accom- panying high dividends followed, pouring in their turn an abundance of ready money on the market. Bankers made unprecedented profits, partly due to the increased turnovers and the enhanced value of all their holdings, and also in no small degree to the enormous volume of guarantees given to the N.O.T. on behalf of their clients, for which they charged 1 per cent, per annum, without necessarily advancing the money. In fact, it was generally- given on the banker's knowledge of his client rather than against any security the latter might give. These huge profits naturally produced an exceptional activity in the banking world. Tliere was scarcely a bank of any size which did not issue fresh capital during 1916, the total fresh issues amounting to more than 54,000,000 florins (£4,500,000). The extra- ordinarily flourishing state of banking in Holland also led to what one might call an epidemic of amalgamation. A race for the absorption of the smaller provincial bankers into the larger banking corporations took place ; the most venerable of banks joined in the race, but few of the soundest and oldest of independent private banks in the provinces withstood the generous offers made by the absorbing banks. From this sketch of conditions in Holland during the first two and a half years of the war it will be seen that, while the country had many difficulties to encounter, it adapted itself in a remarkable way to new and strange conditions, and that if some sections, mainly the poorer classes, of the population in certain trades and callings suffered from the effects of high prices and lack of employment, the country as a whole enjoyed unexampled prosperity. The menace of war, however, was ever present to it during this period, and robbed the country of some of the sweetness of its unexpected good fortune. CHAPTER CC. SWISS NEUTRALITY, 19 14-19 17. ■Switzerland's Position among the Nations — The Army — Mobilization and Its Effects — Declarations of Neutrality — Frontier Incidents — German-Swiss and French-Swiss Opinion — Herr Spitteler's Speech — Gradual Change in Public Opinion — Swiss Dislike of Militarism — Methods of the General Staff : the Arrest of " Times " Correspondents ; the Affair of the Two Colonels — British Ministers in Switzerland — Federal Counctl and President Wilson — Swiss Protest against Intensified Blockade — M. Ritter's Action in Washington — The Hoffmann-Grimm Affair — Herr Stegemann — The Economic Situation : Establishment of the " S.S.S." ; The " Fiduciary Bureau " ; Coal and Cotton ; Swiss-German Agreement ; Smuggling — The Financial Situation : Various Loans — Swiss Good Works : Refugees, " Rapatries " ; " Evacues " ; the " Missing " ; Visits to Prison Camps; Medical Aid to Belligerents ; " Grands Blesses " ; "Internes" — Protests by the Federal Council and International Committee of the Red Cross against German Inhumanity. OF all the small countries of Europe which were not immediately in- volved, Switzerland, owing to her geographical position, had most reason to be alarmed by the outbreak of the war. On the one hand, she was the next-door ' neighbour of three belligerents, to whom a fourth, Italy, was to be added in May, 1915. It was true that her perpetual neutrality and the inviolability of her territory had been guaranteed by the Treaty of 1815. But, then, so also had those of Belgium by the Treaty of 1839. In presence of a guaranteeing Power for whom treaties were but as scraps of paper, what reason was there to hope that Switzerland would be spared the fate of Belgium, if a passage through her territory should suit the military convenience of the German Great General Staff ? On the other hand, Switzerland, alone of all European States except Serbia, had no access to the sea. For a great part of her food, all her coal and many of her raw materials she was dependent on the friendship and transport facilities of her neighbours. What would Vol. XIII.— Part 163 217 become of her people and her industries if, through the exigencies of the war, the supply of these manifold necessaries should be cut off ? Against these fears was set the hope that Switzerland's traditional position as the Good Samaritan of the nations, a centre of recreation, an asylum of the oppressed, might continue to protect her from being involved in the struggle raging without. She offered no menace to her neighbours. She had no ambition but to live, like Belgium, in peaceful industry, welcoming to her lakes and mountains an ever-increasing flow of visitors of all nations in search of lovely scenery and health -giving air. But Switzerland, unlike Belgium until very shortly before the war, had for centuries realized that, in order to maintain a country's independence, something more was needed than reliance either on the plighted word of States or on the natural feelings of human sympathy. It is the " strong man armed " who " keepeth the house," and when the strong men in a country are few in comparison with neighbour- ing hosts it behoves every able-bodied male to 218 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. fit himself to defend her. The Swiss hated war on principle. They were as anti-militarist as any democracy in the world. But necessity made them the first people in Europe to adopt universal compulsory military service. Every able-bodied man in Switzerland is liable to military service from his 20th to the end of his 48th year. The only exemptions are those of the members of the Federal Council, HERR EDMOND SCHULTHESS, President of the Swiss Confederation, 1917. certain members of the High Court, medical men, and officials connected with hospitals, prisons and the postal and telegraph services. There is no escape ffom service on the ground of being the only son of a widowed mother, still less on that of being a " conscientious objector." Those excused or rejected pay in lieu of service a tax of five shillings, with an additional income-tax of about fourpence in the pound, which goes into the army budget. The first 12 years' service (11 for the cavalry) are performed in what is known as the Auszug or Elite, the next 8 years (12 for the cavalry) in the Landwehr, and the remainder in the Land- sturm. Service in the army is preceded by compulsory gymnastic training in all the schools and by a large amount of voluntary gymnastics, drill and shooting. Every man keeps his rifle and equipment at home — which tends, among other things, greatly to quicken mobilization. The composition and organiza- tion of the army are thoroughly modern and complete. The country is divided into six divisional districts, each under the command of a colonel. There is only one general in the Swiss army, the commander-in-chief. The force available at the outbreak of the war was nearly 300,000 men, including some 60,000 of the organized Landsturm. On August 3, 1914, the Federal Assembly, consisting of the two Parliamentary Chambers (the State Council of 44 members, and the National Council of 189), sitting together, having declared the firm resolution of the Con- federation "to maintain its neutrality in the imminent war," conferred unlimited plenary powers on the Federal Council, or Cabinet of seven, " to take all measures necessary for the safety, integrity and neutrality of Switzer- land, for safeguarding the country's credit and economic interests, and, in particular, for assuring the supply of food for the people."* Acting with exemplary promptitude, the Federal Council had already, on the previous day, ordered the mobilization of the army. By the middle of May, 1917, the mobilization, together with the increase in fortifications, guns and munitions soon found desirable, had cost the country about £24,000,000. When it is considered that the cost of defence in peace* time had been only about £1,800,000 a year (although even that sum was a remarkably large proportion of the annual total expendi- ture of about £4,000,000), it will be seen how seriously Switzerland was affected by the mere preparations for the military defence of her neutrality. As time went on, three of the six divisions were demobilized in turn, but even so the withdrawal of many thousands of active men from the labouring population proved a considerable interference with the normal life of the country. A good deal of dissatisfaction began, after a while, to prevail in certain parts of the army with what the men considered the unduly long periods during which they were summoned to the frontier, as also wit"h regard to the alleged undue severity and improper conduct of certain officers. In June, 1917, General Wille, the commander-in-chief, ad- dressed a letter to the members of the Federal Assembly in which he recalled the fact that the Swiss never had approved of long periods of * At irregular intervals the Federal Council issued so-called "neutrality reports " to the Federal Assembly, describing how it had used these plenary powers. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 21"9 service, and explained that it was not sur- prising that, the country no longer appearing to be in danger of invasion, the patriotic impulse of August, 1914, should have been succeeded by a sense of weariness. He ad- mitted that some officers and non-com- missioned officers were not up to the mark, but reminded the Assembly that the Swiss army was, after all, only a militia. He added the suggestion that the dissatisfaction with supe- riors was largely due to external political influences, which he strongly deprecated. The fact is that the management of a purely civilian army, uninspired, as were those of the belli- gerents, with a desire to conquer, required the exercise of an amount of tact which is not always displayed even by professional officers. On August 4, the Federal Council, issued the following declaration of neutrality : — In view of the war which has just broken out between several European Powers, the Swiss Confederation, inspired by its secular traditions, is firmly resolved to depart in no respect from the principles of neutrality so dear to the Swiss people, which correspond so well wi h its aspirations, with its internal organization, and with its position with regard to other States, which has been formally recognized by the Powers signatory of the treaties of 1815. In virtue of the soec.ial mandate just issued to it by the Foderal Assembly, the Federal Council formally declares that in the course of the coming war the Swiss Confedoration will maintain and defond by all the means at its disposal its neutrality and the inviolability of its territory, as recognizod by the treaties of 1815 ; it will itself observe the strictest neutrality with regard to the belligerent States. A paragraph was devoted to maintaining the right of Switzerland to occupy, in case of necessity, certain parts of Savoy, of which the neutrality had been contemplated by the Treaty of Paris (November 20, 1815) and the Treaty of Turin (March 24, 1860) ; tho Federal Council added that it would endeavour to come to an understanding on this point with the French Government, and concluded by announc- ing its firm conviction that this declaration would be favourably received by the belligerent Powers as well as by the remaining Powers signatory of the treaties of 1815 " as the expres- sion of the traditional attachment of the Swiss people to the idea of neutrality and as the loyal affirmation of the consequences resulting for the Swiss Confederation from the treaties of 1815." The German and French Governments had already spontaneously declared their inten- tion of scrupulously respecting Swiss neu- ON THE GERMAN-SWISS FRONTIER NEAR BASEL (BALE). 163— 2 320 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 221 trality (hiring the coming war. In reply to the declaration of the Federal Council, the German Minister declared, on behalf of his Government : — The Imperial Government has taken note of this declaration with sincere satisfaction and relies on the Confederation's repelling, thanks to its strong army and the steadfast will of the Swiss people, any violation of its neutrality. The Imperial Government renews on this occasion the solemn assurance already given to the Federal Council before the opening of hostilities that the German Empire will scrupulously respect the neutrality of Switzerland. The relations of sincere confidence which have always existed between the two neighbouring countries are a guarantee thai during the war also they will continue to be what they have always been. The French Government, for its part, replied {August 8) that, so far as it was concerned, it would not fail scrupulously to observe the treaty provisions regarding the neutrality of the Swiss Confederation. As for the Savoy question, the French Government took the view that, under the Act of Acceptation of the Treaty of Vienna, dated August 12, 1815, a preliminary agreement with France as to the conditions of any intervention on the part of Switzerland was necessary. The Federal Coun- cil replied (August 26) that, while it still main- tained that, under the very Act of August 12, 1815, invoked by the French Government, the Swiss right to occupy Savoy, if necessary, did not depend on " the perfect conclusion of preliminary agreements " between the two Governments, it did not think it worth while to go more deeply into the matter at that moment. With this the French Government, while maintaining its own point of view, agreed. Although neither a belligerent (at that time) nor a Power signatory of the Treaty of Paris, Italy replied to the declaration of the Federal Council that the King's Government was ever inspired by the principles consecrated by that treaty and was firmly resolved to continue to observe that attitude. On coming into the war, Italy confirmed her confidence in Switzerland's /teutral intentions. Notwithstanding these divers professions of neutrality on the part of foreign Powers, the iise of aircraft, with all its uncertainties, sub- jected Switzerland, as was only to be expected from the cartographical position of the country and the close proximity of the belligerents, to a large number of aerial " frontier incidents," all presumably accidental, during the course of the war. Early in August, 1914, the Swiss (Government announced that it adopted the principle of territoriality usque ad coelum. In pursuance of this principle the Swiss troops fired at all aircraft passing overhead and the Swiss Government protested on each occasion. Apologies, before or after enquiry, habitually followed. In the case of British airmen who flew over Swiss territory on the way to Friedrichshafen and back in November, 1914, the British Government, while expressing its keen regrets and declaring that the airmen had A GERMAN TRENCH CUT RIGHT UP TO THE SWISS FRONTIER. been formally instructed to respect the Swiss frontier, made at the same time the reservation that these expressions of regret must not be considered as recognition of the existence of a sovereignty of the air ; to which the Federal Council replied by maintaining its claim to this sovereignty. Up to May 15, 1916, 24 cases of violation of the frontier had been reported ; of these, the Germans were certainly guilty of 14, the French of six, and the English and Italians of one each. Numerous other cases occurred later — so numerous, in fact, that, though they came at length almost to be accepted by the general public as part of the ordinary routine of war, they raised once more the highly interesting speculation as to how, with the development of aerial navigation, the police and customs control of the air would have to be organized in time of peace. On October 17, 1915, a German pilot, instructed to destroy the French railway lines near the Swiss frontier, apparently mistook the line and dropped eight bombs near the station of Chaux-de-Fonds, wounding four persons and doing considerable damage. On March 31, 1916, two German aeroplanes dropped four 2'2-2 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. bombs on Porrentruy, but caused no great harm. Again, on April 24, 1917, two bombs wen- dropped on Porrentruy by a French machine, of which one fell on the house of a watchmaker, slightly injuring three persons, and the other fell in an open space. In various cases, airmen landed in Switzerland, owing either to their having lost their way or to M. GIUSEPPE MOTTA, President of the Swiss Confederation in 1915. " engine trouble," and were duly interned. All these incidents were provisionally adjusted, where the offence could be brought home, by apologies and offers to pay compensation for damages, if any. The Federal Council followed up its declara- tion by an appeal to the Swiss people, in which it set forth the duties of neutrals. In order to understand the difficulty which confronted the people in the performance of these duties, the following considerations must be borne in mind. In addition to the ordinary internal political differences of opinion which in the smaller Eurojiean countries tend to acquire an excep- tional importance in the affairs of everyday life, the Swiss population had numerous other reasons for a division of sympathies. There are in Switzerland two main distinct political and social atmospheres, corresponding to the two chief racial divisions of the country. (The attitude of the Italian Swiss, some 300,000 in number, was similar, at first, to that of the French cantons, and, of course, when Italy came into the war, was pro-Italian.) The language of more than two-thirds of the popula- tion is German, and four years before the war there were 220,000 foreign German residents as well The inhabitants of German Switzerland were closely connected with Germany, not only by the common language, of which, indeed, they speak their own dialect, but by business and family ties. ■ Above all, they had German coal in their stoves, German cloth on their backs, German proprietors in their shops, German professors in their Universities, German Kultur in their minds, and German brains and Gorman money in their newspapers. Since Germany became a nation, the German Swiss had watched its rise with growing admiration, looking upon it rather as an industrial and scientific than as a military progress. They were intimate with their relations and proud of what they had done. Reading the German newspapers, and being flooded with German propaganda, they were naturally at first inclined to accept the German point of view. They thought of Germany as being attacked on all sides and fighting for her existence against a ring of enemies whom she not only held at bay but drove triumphantly before her. The early German successes were, indeed, extremely impressive, and, as in other neutral countries, the Allies of the Entente were many months late in the Swiss field with their own propa- ganda. Even when attempts were made to counteract the German campaign of lies and to place German " triumphs " in their proper perspective, the slowness and inadequacy of the methods adopted greatly detracted from their value. The French, however, did work in this connexion which, to judge by the indignation of the German Press, was more than usually effective. The violation of Belgian neutrality was similarly seen by the German Swiss through German spectacles. The fellow-feeling that they might have been expected to have for Serbia was swallowed up by the belief that Germany and Austria were waging war in order to kill Russian " Tsarism." Their historic sympathy for France was outweighed by their modern relations with Germany. Against England they had no particular feeling, except, perhaps, faint traces of the dislike resulting THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 22H from the misunderstanding of the Boer War. The attitude of the German-Swiss Press, with one or two notable exceptions, such as the Neue Zilrcher Zeitung, which was elaborately neutral throughout, was at first definitely pro-German. Some of the newspapers had undoubtedly been " bought," partly in order that their views might be reproduced in Germany as " neutral opinion " ; others em- ployed writers with strong pro-German sym- pathies ; others, again, honestly believed that Germany was going to win and wanted to be on the winning side. The French-Swiss, on the othSr hand, num- bering some 795,000 out of the total population of 4,000,000, were naturally anti-German, though they, too, suffered at first from a lack of truthful information. Their Press was always strenuously pro-Entente. From French- Swiss writers came some of the most effective denunciations of German enormities, and it was among the French-Swiss especially that Switzer- land's failure to protest officially against the violation of Belgium and other deeds of iniquity left the deepest sense of shame. These acute divergencies of opinion, in the midst of the early tension of the war, led naturally in many cases to an outspoken expression of sympathies which, however legitimate in the individual among his friends, tended not only to divide the country within but to menace its good relations without By October, 1914, matters had reached such a pitch that the Federal Council thought it necessary to address a second appeal to the Swiss people, reminding them of their neutrality, exhort- ing them to greater reserve, and inviting the Press to moderate its language ; two news- papers were suspended and five others were warned. A very salutary impression, from the point of view of the unity of the country, resulted from a lecture delivered on December 14, at Zurich, by Carl Spitteler, the septuagenarian poet of Lucerne. He bade his audience remember that, while the peoples lying outside the frontiers were neighbours, those living inside the country were brothers. The difference between them was that, " while even the best neighbour may in certain circumstances shoot at us with cannon, a brother fights on our side." We must be conscious [he said] that the political brother stands nearer to us than the best neighbour and racial relative. . . . We should feel harmonious although not undivided. . . . Without doubt, the one right thing for us neutrals would be to keep at a proper distance from all sides alike. That is, indeed, the opinion of every Swiss. But it is easier said than done. . . . Still more closely than the Western Swiss with France is the German Swiss connected with Germany in the whole realm of Kultur, among other things in art and literature. . . . Countless ties of business relation- ships, of spiritual agreement, of friendship, have been formed — a beautiful condition of harmony which made us quite forget, during the long p ?riod of peace, that there is anything like a frontier between Germany and German Switzerland. BERNE, With the Eiger, Mbnch and Jungfrau in the distance. 224 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. M. BEAU, French Ambassador in Switzerland. For his part, continued Herr Spitteler, Germany was his spiritual home. He had thousands of friends there ; in France he travelled as " a solitary nobody, surrounded by cold, suspicious strangers." But, he added, Swiss troops lined all the frontiers. Why ? Because, as a matter of fact, the whole experience of the history of the world may be condensed into one single sentence: " Every State robs as much as it can — with pauses for digestion and fits of weakness which are called peac9." . . . For all the hearty friendship which connects us in private life with thousands of German subjects, for all the solidarity which we piously feel with the German spiritual life, for all the familiarity which, from our common language, charms us at home we must take up no othor position towards political Germany, the German Empire, than towards any other States — the position of neutral restraint at a friendly and neighbourly distance on this side of the frontier. Speaking of German propaganda, Herr Spitteler unkindly remarked : — In order to save our neutral souls, propaganda docu- ments -pour into our homes — most of them pitched too high, frequently written in a tone of command, some- times quite frenzied. The more learned they are, the more rabid. Things of this kind miss their mark There is little attraction about an invitation if one gets the impression, in reading it, that the gentleman who wrote it would like to eat one up. . . . The thou- sands and thousands of spiritual influences which day by day from Germany, like a " good " Nile, cover our country with a fertilizing flood ought in war time only to be ( njoyed filtered. A belligerent Press is not at all elevating literature. . . . Is it absolutely necessary to poison with ink the bloody wounds of war ? As for France, added Herr Spitteler, her Republic, democracy, freedom, tolerance, used to mean everything in Europe. Why should they be accounted almost nothing to-day ? And as for England : Against the English, as you know, the Germans cherish at present a quite special hate. For this quite special hate they have quite special grounds, which we have not. Gn the contrary, we owe quite special thanks to* England. For more than once England has -.tood by to protect us when we were in great danger. England is not, indeed, the only friend of Switzerland, but she is the most trustworthy. In an eloquent peroration, Herr Spitteler said : — When a funeral procession goes by, what do you do r You take your hat off. As spectators of a tragedy in the theatre, what do you feel ? Emotion and devoutness. And how do you behave ? You keep still, in moved, humble, serious silence. Isn't that the first thing to learn ? Well, a favourable exception on the part of Fate has permitted us, at the frightful tragedy now unrolling itself in Europe, to sit among the spectators. On (he stage is sorrow, behind the scenes is murder. Wherever you listen with your hearts, to left or right, you hear sobbing, and the sobs and lamentations sound alike in all nations, for there is no difference of speech. Well, then, in presence of this mass of international suffering, let us fill our hearts with silent emotion and our souls with devoutness, and offer to all our tribute of respect. This speech, remarkable alike for its matter and for the moment chosen for its delivery, represented, in fact, the true feelings of the Swiss people, as they came to assert them- selves. It need hardly be said that it made the Pan-Germans extremely angry, and the professorial propaganda-writers condemned it BARON VON ROMBERG, German Minister in Switzerland. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 225 bitterly. But as the war became an institution, and especially as the best instincts of the Swiss found vent in the multitudinous works of philanthropy which are described in later pages, the divergency of opinion between the two great sections of the people became less marked. Unity, as will be seen later, was in due course to be restored by some painful incidents of an international character. Mean- while, Swiss public opinion may be said to have settled down more or less on the following lines : — The war was universally hated on various grounds. First, there was the anxiety lest Switzerland should be " starved," which took spend money abroad. As for the result of the war, as has already been indicated, most at first expected, and many feared, although few hoped, that Germany and her Allies would win. But even by the middle of 1915, the private opinions of the German-Swiss people revealed themselves in many striking ways. When, for instance, Sir Henry Angst, the British Consul - General at Zurich, distributed to all who wished to have them the British White Book, the manifesto of the Oxford professors, Mr. Lloyd George's Queen's Hall speech, and other literature presenting the English case, he received hundreds of letters, mostly written in German, thanking him for the step which he ITALIANS RETURNING FROM BELLIGERENT COUNTRIES ON THE DECLARATION OF WAR ARRIVE HUNGRY AND TIRED AT BASEL (BALE). the place of the earlier fear of being directly involved in the war. Then, there was a genuine sympathy with the sufferings of the belligerents, both military and civilian, which were brought home in an impressive form by the passage of trainloads of severely wounded soldiers and of homeless old men, women, and children, as also by the presence of crippled internes of divers nations. Then, like the com- paratively unimportant restrictions on peace habits, the prolonged mobilization of the Swiss army was unpopular. Lastly, in the very important hotel-keeping industry, there was undoubtedly a feeling that, if the war continued, the industry would suffer afterwards by the inability of citizens of belligerent States to had taken. They came from schoolmasters, artisans, labourers, peasants, and all classes of German Swiss society ; almost without excep- tion they protested against the flood of lies with which Germany had tried to poison Swiss public opinion and maintained that demo- cratic England was, and always had been, industrially and politically Switzerland's best friend. Towards the end of the third year of war, the conviction came to prevail, even among the German-Swiss, that Germany could not win. Then there remained to them chiefly the hope that neither side would be too badly beaten, while the French-Swiss, for their part, grew daily more confident of the ultimate decisive victory of the Entente. 226 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. The Germans before the war were no more personally popular in Switzerland than else- where, and their methods of " peaceful penetra- tion " had aroused the dislike of various classes. The German workman and German commercial traveller undersold their Swiss competitors. The well-to-do German tripper, GENERAL U. WILLE, Commander-in-Chief of the Swiss Army. who had taken the place of the English visitor in some Swiss hotels, was a larger, as well as a grosser, feeder, and a more niggardly spender. The German financier had a fondness for getting hold of Swiss money and investing it in German concerns such as the Baghdad Railway. The young German professor had a way of employ- ing the Swiss University career, not only as a convenient stepping-stone to academic succes s in Germany, but as an opportunity for dis- seminating in Switzerland the ideals of the Fatherland. Again, whether the country were ultimately invaded or not, it was well known that Switzerland was a hot-bed of spies. Prince Biilow had his headquarters at Lucerne, and the activities of German agents, both officia. and clandestine, were notorious. Propaganda of the spectacular kind lost its power to charm, and ended by doing the Germans more harm than good. The exhibition of the cinematograph film recording the exploits of the raider Mowe merely made the Bernese sad and angry at the thought of the loss of so much valuable property, and disgusted at the characteristic bad taste which interpolated scenes of hilarity, speech- making and gymnastics between each harrow- ing sinking of a beautiful ship. For these and other reasons to be mentioned later," Germany steadily lost prestige in Switzerland. Switzerland, indeed, hated the war, but then she hates all wars. This does not mean that she would not strain every nerve to fight for her independence ; the measures which she took to defend her neutrality are sufficient evidence to the contrary. It means that she dislikes militarism in all its forms. She was to be confirmed in this traditional dislike by some of the proceedings of her own General Staff. At the outbreak of war, the Federal Assembly duly elected a General out of the list of colonels who in peace time are the senior officers of the Army. For some reason, the first choice of the Chambers, Colonel Sprecher, was set aside, and Colonel Wille was appointed General and Commander-in-Chief for the duration of the war, with power to select his General Staff, who were ordinarily chosen by the Federal Council. The virtual effect of these measures was to create a military oligarchy, and the General Staff proceeded to enjoy this unaccus- tomed opportunity of magnifying their office. Whether or not it be true, as was alleged, that Germany brought pressure to bear in the direction of the appointment of General Wille, it was natural enough that, being inspired with German military ideas, some of the German - Swiss Staff should be inclined to display favour towards German methods and be influenced by pro-German tendencies. In January, 1916, two correspondents of The Times, Mr. Gerald Campbell and M. Lamure, were in Delemont, a small town about half-way between Basel and Delle, and six miles from the Alsace-Swiss frontier. Eleven months previously they had been forbidden by the General Staff to reside there, though they were left at liberty to visit the place in daytime. In view of the fact that since August, 1915, a Prussian engineer had taken up his abode in the town, and had been appointed official photo- THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 227 grapher to the 4th Division of the Swiss Army, with facilities denied even to Swiss officers under the rank of lieutenant-colonel, except when on duty. Mr. Campbell concluded that the objection to the presence of foreigners at Delemont no longer existed. Early in the morning of January 7, the correspondents were arrested, examined on a charge of espionage, taken to Berne, and released on parole. M. Lamure was accused of nothing. Thereupon the military police, acting under the instruc- tions of the General Staff, who afterwards explained that it was another Mr. Campbell who had been behaving suspiciously, deter- mined to discover some inculpating evidence. While Mr. Campbell himself, in spite of his parole, was cast into prison for over 48 hours, and M. Lamure was confined to hospital, their rooms were industriously searched. Even after they had been released — thanks to the decided action of the Federal Council, the British Minister and the French Ambassador — the power of the General Staff was great enough to detain them a further two days in Berne under parole, and Mr. Campbell was finally examined nearly 48 hours after the General Staff had finally decided that they had not a particle of evidence against him. In December, 1915, Colonel de Wattenwyl, Chief of the Intelligence Department, was in charge of the service of the Western Front, while Colonel Egli, sub-chief of the Staff of the Army, was in charge of the Eastern Front. The two worked independently, and on their own responsibility. In the course of their duty they drew up daily a report for the use of the General Staff and certain of the Federal authorities. On February 28 and 29, 1916, they were tried for having, " since the spring of 1915," communicated these reports to the German and Austrian Military Attach6s, Major von Bismarck and Lieut. -Colonel von Einem, and further for having communicated to a Military Attach^ of the same group of belli- gerent Powers foreign documents exchanged between official persons abroad and between foreign official persons in Switzerland and their home Government. Code messages exchanged between " the military authorities of Petro- grad, London, Copenhagen, and Stockholm " were intercepted at Benie, and deciphered in the Intelligence Department by a Dr. Langie, son of a Polish refugee of 1860, who, in an anonymous letter, revealed his discovery of the cipher to an Attache interested. The Colonels contended that they had been obliged, for the good of their country, to obtain information from foreign Attaches by giving something in GENEVA, FROM THE BRUNSWICK MONUMENT. 163—3 228 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. exchange, but that these reports, which th» Attaches received for their communications, were not secret, and contained nothing of im- portance, and that the General Staff had received more information than it had given. Colonel Egli, in reply to a question by the judge as to whether he would have supplied the same information to the Attaches of the Entente if they had asked for it, replied, " Yes, if they gave us something in return." It was further urged that only one of the intercepted tele- LADY GRANT DUFF. grams had been deciphered , and that it had not been communicated to anybody. The Court acquitted the colonels on the ground that theii communication of the General Staff bulletin to the German and Austrian Attaches, although improper, was not criminal, as the officers had acted in good faith. The other charge broke down. The next day, the General, this time in agreement with, and in the presence of, the Federal Council, sentenced them each to 20 days' close arrest, and to be placed on the unemployed list. This " affair of two colonels," as it was called, had begun in December, 1915, when, as the result of an investigation by the Com- mander-in-Chief, they were removed from the General Staff. One of them, however, was simultaneously advanced to the command of a very important fortress The second inquiry produced a profound commotion, not to say dissatisfaction and alarm, throughout Switzerland. On the occasion of the Emperor William's birthday (January 27, 1916), a large crowd at Lausanne tore down the German flag hoisted over the German consulate. It was not that the people questioned the patriotism of Colonel Sprecher, Chief of the Staff, who had defended his colleague on grounds of very unequal validity, of the two colonels them- selves, who had both in the past done valuable [F.ltiott and Fry, photo. SIR EVELYN GRANT DUFF, K.G.M.G., British Minister in Switzerland, 1913-1916. service for the Swiss Army, or of the tribunal which acquitted them on somewhat technical grounds. But they were shocked at the dis- play in their midst of a militarism for which the end justified the means — a thing utterly abhorrent to the ideals of justice and freedom on which the constitutional government of Switzerland had been based through all its proud history. In September, 1916, Mr. (now Sir) Evelyn Grant Duff, who had been British Minister in Berne since May, 1913, returned to England. A banquet was given in his honour by the Federal Council, a compliment especially well deserved in view of the slanders circulated about him earlier in the war in quarters inspired by Germany. It was largely due to his untiring ■ ft'orts that the spirit of friendli- ness and understanding between Switzerland THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 229 and England increased as time went on in spite of unceasing attempts on the part of Germany to sow dissension. Mrs. Grant Duff had done admirable work in founding the British Section of the Bureau de Secours aux Prisonniers de Guerre, to the parcels of bread and other comforts sent by which many British prisoners of war may be said to have owed their lives. The new Minister was Sir Horace Rumbold, Bart., who at the outbreak of the war had been Counsellor of Embassy in Berlin. SIR HORACE RUMBOLD, Birt., K.C.M.G., British Minister in Switzerland, 1916. It will be remembered that President Wilson's remarkable Peace Note of December 20, 1916, was followed on December 23 by a Note to the belligerents in which the Swiss Federal Council declared* that it had got into touch with the President " as long as five weeks " previously, and that Switzerland seized with joy the opportunity to support his efforts, being " ready to aid with all her feeble strength in putting an end to the sufferings of war which she sees going on every day — the interned, the seriously wounded, and the repatriated. . . . She would consider it a happy duty to work even in the most modest measure towards the rapprochement of the nations at war and the establishment of a lasting peace." This Note took the Swiss people by surprise. They ~ * See VolTxi, Chaptet^OLXXX, page 482. regarded it as a serious thing that " the oldest democracy in the world " should have been kept in the dark as to negotiations of this kind and secretly committed to what appeared to be an attempt to intervene between the bel- ligerents. They were later to become more familiar with the methods of Herr Hoffmann, their Minister for Foreign Affairs. Meanwhile the Allies, while very justly praising Switzer- land's philanthropic efforts in other directions, — replied that they had already explained their LADY RUMBOLD. attitude— or, in other words, saw no advantage in discussing the matter. A few weeks later (February, 1917) President Wilson invited neutrals to follow the example of the United States and break off diplomatic relations with Germany. This was a very different matter from what the Swiss Note had contemplated for Switzerland, and the Federal Council had little difficulty in deciding that it would be incompatible with the Swiss declaration of neutrality of August 4, 1914. The Federal Council took occasion to draw President Wilson's attention to the peculiar geographical position of Switzerland, who would, it held, certainly become a theatre of war if she abandoned her neutrality. Pain- ful, therefore, as the blockade announced by Germany would render the Swiss economic 280 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. PATROL IN THE MOUNTAINS. position, and "however much the effective application of the blockade might injure the principles of international law," the Federal Council could not see its way to accept Presi- dent Wilson's suggestion. In a simultaneous Note to Germany the Federal Government described the intensified blockade as "a grave infringement of the right of peaceful trade which, in conformity with the principles of international law, appertains to Switzerland as a neutral State," and added : The Federal Government is therefore obliged to pro- test strongly against and to make every reservation as regards the blockade announced by the Imperial Government, inasmuch as its application would injure the recognized rights of neutrals under the general principles of international law. In particular, should the effective application of the blockado appear to be incomplete, the Federal Council makes beforehand ;til reservations as to its rights if it should happen that the means adopted by Germany and her Allies result in the destruction of Swiss citizens or property. In 1917, two events filled Switzerland once more with a sense that she was being led by her representatives into a position perilously resembling interference with matters belonging to a sphere into which she had no desire what- ever to enter. When Count Bernstorff, on February 3, was handed his passports in Washington (see Vol. 13, chapter CXCI V, page 6) M. Ritter, the Swiss Minister, took charge of German interests. (As time went on the frequent recurrence of the entry into the war against Germany of fresh belligerents threw upon the Swiss diplomatic representatives abroad, who in i%any cases assumed the burden of their interests, a groat and unaccus- tomed responsibility.) On February 12, the State Department announced that M. Ritter had orally suggested that Germany was willing to negotiate with the United States, formally or informally, " provided that the commercial blockade against England was not interfered with." At the State Department's request M. Ritter put the statement in writing. The memorandum was worded as follows : The Swiss Government has been requested by the Gorman Government to say that the latter is now, as before, willing to negotiate, formally or informally, with the United States, provided that the commercial blockade against England be not broken thereby. The United States replied suitably. Ger- many must first withdraw her submarine decree and live up to the assurances given after the Sussex outrage. What part had M. Ritter played in the affair ? The German Government announced, A SWISS OUTPOST ON SKIS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 231 in its official version, that " a telegram from the Swiss Minister in Washington was trans- mitted to Germany by Switzerland. In this the Minister offered, if Germany agreed, to enter into negotiations with the United States Government regarding the declaration of a barred area, as the danger of war between Germany and the United States might thus be diminished. The Swiss Government was then requested to inform its Minister in Washington that Germany, as before, was ready to nego- tiate, . . . etc." Suspicion was natu- rally aroused that M. Ritter had been " got at " by American pacifists and pro-German agents, and it was believed in the United States that his memorandum was inspired less by the expectation of initiating fruitful negotiations than by the hope of confronting the President with a divided public opinion and of com- mitting him, in some way or other, to a " Ger- man peace." When the plot failed, Germany, with characteristic dishonesty, attempted to throw upon M. Ritter's shoulders the respon. -eibility for having inaugurated the overtures which had resulted so humiliatingly for her. There seems no doubt that M. Ritter was prompted to take the step he did by pro- Germans in Washington. Count Bernstorff being debarred from communication, the Swiss Minister, as the person charged with German interests in the United States, conceived it to •be his duty to act as a telephone. His action may be said to have implied, in itself, no personal interest, still less any meddling on the part of the Swiss Government. M. Ritter may have been more sinned against than sinning. But, in the circumstances, it . was, at all events, a very unfortunate occurrence, and provoked much unfavourable comment among all sections of Swiss opinion. M. Ritter was subsequently appointed to fill the newly created post of Swiss Minister at The Hague. The other regrettable incident of 1917 was that known as the Hoffmann-Grimm affair. Herr Hoffmann was Swiss Minister for Foreign Affairs. Grimm was a German -Swiss Socialist Deputy and the promoter of a pacifist conference at Zimmerwald (September 1915). Having obtained the consent of the German authorities to traverse Germany, in company with some 40 Russian exiles on their way home after the Revolution, he had arrived in Petrograd, where he was doing his best to promote the peace so ardently desired .by Gennany. On June 18 a Reuter message from Petrograd announced that the Provisional Government had learnt " from an unimpeach- able source " that Grimm had received from Herr Hoffmann a communication which, to all intents and purposes, was identical with HERR ARTHUR HOFFMANN, President of the Swiss Confederation in 1914. that admittedly sent by Herr Hoffmann, which is given below. The Provisional Govern- ment added that, learning of this document, it had charged the Socialist Ministers Tseretelli and Skobeleff to invite Grimm to explain. Grimm had thereupon handed to the Ministers a document in which he sought to prove that he had had no communication, . direct or indirect, on the subject of peace negotiations, and that the above-mentioned telegram was an endeavour on the part of Germany to profit by his stay in Russia to re-establish the inter- national Socialist bonds and a general peace in the interest of the German Government ; further, that when in Berne, while waiting for his passport to be vise, he had avoided all political conversations and all contact with the German Majority Socialists ; and, finally, that, as a Socialist, he could not be the intermediary for Imperialistic peace projects between Gov- ernments. MM. Tseretelli and Skobeleff found these explanations unsatisfactory, and the Provisional Government requested Grimm to leave Russia, which he had done. What apparently had really happened was 232 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAT!. MURREN. this. Grimm had desired, in the course of his activities, to know authoritatively the sort of peace terms which were in Germany's' mind. He therefore persuaded M. OdieL the Swiss Minister in Petrograd, to send Herr Hoffmann the following telegram. Its wording should be carefully noted, for no accurate English trans- lation has hitherto been published : — National Councillor Grimm, who is at present in Petrograd, begs us to communicate to Federal Councillor Hoffmann the following telegram : — " Need of peace is universally prevalent. A conclusion of peace is urgent necessity from political, economic, and military point of view. Recognition of this fact prevails in authoritative circles. France is making hindrances and England impediments. The negotiations are pro- ceeding (uchweben rjerfenwartig ) and t he prospects are favourable. In, the next few days new and stronger pressure is to be expected. The only possible and most dangerous disturbance of all negotiations would be that which would result from a German offensive in the East. If this disturbance does not take place, a solution will be possible in a comparatively Hhort time. *' Part of the peace policy of the new Government is . an international conference summoned by the Council of Workmen. The realization of this conference may be taken as assured, if the Governments make no difficulties about passports. AH countries have agreed to take part. Inform me, if possible, as to the war aims, known to you, of the Governments, for the negotiations would be thereby facilitated. I am remaining about 10 days longer in Petrograd." Herr Hoffmann, evidently thinking that Crimm was referring solely to the question of a separate peace with Russia, replied, on June 3, in cipher to the Swiss Minister in Petrograd as follows ; — Federal Councillor Hoffmann authorizes you to make to Grimm the following verbal communications : — " Germany will undertake no offensive so long as friendly understanding with Russia appears possible. From repeated conversations with prominent personages, have conviction that Germany aims at honourable peace for both sides with Russia, wicn luturw eiose trade and economic relations and financial support for recon- struction of Russia. No interference in Russia's internal affairs ; friendly understanding with regard to Poland, Lithuania, Courland, their national character being taken into consideration. Restitution of occupied territory in exchange for restitution by Russia of occupied territory to Austria. Am convinced that Germany and her Allies would immediately enter into peace negotiations at the desire of Russia's Allies. With regard to the war aims on this side I refer to statement in North-German Gazette, in which [inl fundamental agreement with Asquith as to the question of annexations, it is asserted that Germany desires no extensions of territory with view to aggrandisement or of political and economical extension of power." This telegram, by some means which were obscure, was deciphered, and was published at Stockholm in Socialdemokraten, the organ of Mr. Branting, the Swedish Socialist leader. Although Grimm, as has been seen, never received it, he was expelled from Petrograd as a German agent, and The Tim eft described Herr Hoffmann's share in the transaction as i( scarcely distinguishable from an unneutral step taken by a member of the Swiss Govern- THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 233 CHATEAU D'OEX. merit," and as "an international incident that requires the promptest investigation." The publication of Herr Hoffmann's telegram and the comment of the Entente Press filled Switzerland with an intense feeling of alarm, which, as the facts became more fully known, gave place to an equally intense feeling of indignation and shame. The alarm was due to the fear lest Switzerland's position in regard to supplies, already a matter of painful negotia- tion, should be imperilled ; the indignation and shame were due to the discovery that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of an essentially democratic country, who had always professed his determination to maintain Swiss neutrality at all costs, had been proved guilty of com- mitting, of his own initiative and unknown to his colleagues, an act of " secret diplomacy," and of ltighly questionable neutrality. Tn the existing state of war tension, it is not sur- prising that thi3 event, one of the most re- markable and deplorable in Swiss political history, should have produced widespread consternation. Fortunately, Switzerland again rose to the occasion. With one or two unim- portant exceptions the entire press of the country unsparingly condemned Herr Hoff- mann's conduct. The Bund, the organ most closely connected with the Swiss Government, while denying emphatically that Herr Hoffmann had acted as " a German agent," admitted that his action had been all wrong, and declared that Switzerland must do nothing that could present the slightest appearance of an attempt to detach Russia from the Pact of London, that the case of M. Ritter should have been a warning to Herr Hoffmann, and that Herr Hoff- mann's only course was immediate resignation. It added : The Swiss people do not wish their leaders to meddle with outside affairs, whether militarily or diplomatically, and especially when this meddling tends in practice to the favouring of one of the belligerents. It is contrary to our democratic sentiment that secret missions should intervene in our relations with foreign countries. The Socialist group of the National Council entirely repudiated Grimm's action. The Russian Government forbade the use of cipher between the Swiss Legation and Berne, and M. Odier was recalled to give a personal explanation of the part which he had played in the affair. Without waiting for the public outcry, Herr Hoffmann tendered his resignation as a member of the Federal Council in the following letter : The unauthorized publication of a ciphered dispatch which I sent to th- Swiss Minister in Petrograd to National Councillor Grimm at that place, and in which I set forth my conception of the peace conditions of the Central Powers with regard to Russia and in reference to the other Allies, has created a situation which may become disastrous for the internal political and external 284 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ZURICH. relations of the country. No one will doubt that, in taking this step of my own motion and my responsibility. I sought, solely the promotion of peace, and with it the interests of the country. But I cannot bear the thought that, at this time of extreme political tension and agita- tion, my further activity on the Federal Council should become a source of distrust, disunion and instability and should thereby cause harm to my beloved Fatherland. I beg yoti therefore to accept my resignation as a member of the Federal Council. After the reading of Hen- Hoffmann's letter to the National Council, Herr Schulthess, President of the Confederation, hastened to declare that the Federal Council had had no knowledge of his step and that, if it had been consulted by Herr Hoffmann, it would have begged him to give up his intention. The President added a tribute to the energy and devotion of the retiring Councillor, as to the purity of whose sentiments, he said, there was no doubt — he had only wished to act in the interests of the country. The National Council approved both Herr Hoffmann's resigna- tion and the declaration of the Federal Council. Perhaps the most probable explanation of the whole matter was that of the Basler Nachrichten, which suggested that Herr Hoff- mann had been " bounced " (uberrumpelt) into his rash act by Grimm's request for information, BASEL 4ND THE NEW BRIDGE. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 285 and, being sincerely desirous of doing what, he could towards peace, had merely suffered from an excess of zeal. Herr Hoffmann himself strenuously denied that he had had any previous arrangement with Grimm. While Grimm, for his part, had " bounced " the Swiss Legation by representing himself as having been authorized by Herr Hoffmann to use the cipher for sending him news about the situation in Russia, Herr Hoffmann maintained that he had merely told Grimm to apply to the Legation if he got into difficulties. Opinions . differed as to how far Herr Hoffmann was under direct Ger- and self-will. His colleagues being over- whelmed with the work of their own depart- ments, and being unwilling or unable to inter- fere with, this dictatorial Minister, the conduct of the Department of Foreign Affaire had soon become his sole personal concern. He had grown accustomed to think that he could do everything himself without consulting his colleagues. In this instance — as it seemed, entirely " oft his own bat " — ho did what even his friends admitted to be an amazingly foolish thing. In any case there can be no doubt that ON THE GERMAN-SWISS FRONTIER. man influence. It was notorious that he was visited daily by Herr von Romberg, the German Minister. On the other hand, he was believed to have latterly found these visits extremely oppressive. His father was a naturalized German, so that in any case the possibility of a favour- able leaning towards German views was not excluded. But, although many traced the influence of Germany in the " affair of the two colonels," the proceedings of the Swiss Minister in Washington, and the sending of Grimm himself to Petrograd, dispassionate observers found it unnecessary to attach any sinister explanation to this particular incident. There was nothing in his version of the German terms that he could not have been expected to know merely from being Minister for Foreign Affairs. The fact was that Herr Hoffmann, who had been President of the Swiss Con- federation in 1914, was a man of great energy German influence in Switzerland received from the Hoffmann affair a serious setback. At Geneva, after a popular meeting of several thousand persons, a crowd of youths attacked the German Consulate, smashed the windows, and tore down the coat of arms. If we can imagine the discovery of a secret correspon- dence between a British Foreign Secretary and some insignificant Socialist pacifist of notorious German sympathies, we can realize how great was the shock to the feelings of the non-Socialist Swiss. But with Herr Hoffmann's resignation, and with the general public repudiation of hfe action, the affair was settled by the country itself without any suggestion of external pressure. Meanwhile M. Gustave Ador, the univer- sally respected President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, took Herr Hoff- mann's place on the Federal Council. 236 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. An event of minor importance in 1917 though not without significance, was the rejection of the proposal of the Faculty of Philosophy of Berne University to nominate Herr Stegemann, military critic of the Bund, as professor of military history at the University. The reasons given were that Herr Stegemann had never served in a com- batant army, and that he was too recently naturalized to be given this important post. Whether these were the true reasons or not, the action of the Council was thoroughly in accordance with the best Swiss opinion, for Herr Stegemann (familiarly known as '" Strategemann," and a typical "military correspondent ") had never concealed his sympathies with the Power of which he had so recently been a subject, and his appoint- ment to the professorship would inevitably have increased just that German tendency in Swiss military thought of which true Swiss patriots had long realized the danger for their country. Fully alive to the difficulties in which, owing to Switzerland's geographical position and her large dependence on the outer world for food and raw materials, the country would be placed in time of war, the Swiss Government had, with remarkable foresight, taken steps many months before the war came to meet them. In the spring of 1914 an arrangement was come to with France for securing, in the event of war, a regular supply of foodstuffs through the Mediterranean ports of Marseilles and Cette. At the same time it was agreed with Germany that, in the event of war, stocks of corn destined to Switzerland which might happen to be lying in Germany should not be seized, and that there should be no interference with the delivery to Switzerland either of this corn or of coal. These agreements proved invaluable, for when the war came there was a large quantity of corn for Switzerland in Germany. The Federal Government bought it all, and more than 3,200 truck loads were brought up the Rhine into Switzerland ; the rest was stopped by Great Britain on its way by sea to Rotter- dam. But while the route via Rotterdam and the Rhine was thus closed, the Italian Government agreed to keep open the route through Genoa. As the agreements with France and Germany only gave facilities for corn destined for the Swiss Government — in other words, the Swiss army and population — ■ VOLUNTARY WORKERS OF THE PRISONERS OF WAR AGENCY AT GENEVA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 237 anil as corn destined for the Government was less likely to be sequestrated by the maritime Powers than that destined for private im- porters, the Government automatically acquired a kind of monopoly. In order to secure the advantage of any private imports of corn, it guaranteed that all corn, by whomsoever im- ported, should be consumed in Switzerland. In other words, it absolutely forbade the export of corn from the country. By a regulation of August 24, 1914, millers were only allowed to produce wholemeal. No one was allowed to lay in more than a month's pro- vision of flour. The cantons were given the right to fix, if necessary, maximum prices. In spite of these and many other measures, the question of the supply not only of food but of all other commodities from abroad soon became very serious. Generally speaking, the export of everything was prohibited, with exceptions which might be authorized for special reasons by the State. The principle of the supply of munitions by a neutral to bel- ligerents being recognized by the Hague Con- vention, a portion of the Swiss manufacturing industry was devoted to this purpose with marked success. It was commonly said, for example, that the Swiss watchmakers made the best shell -fuses in the world. But with the development of the theory of conditional contraband and of stricter measures of search and sequestration, it soon became clear that, if Switzerland's industrial life were not to be strangled, it would be necessary to establish a commercial trust, with similar functions to those discharged in Holland by the Netherlands Oversea Trust.* Being as dependent on the Central Powers for coal and iron as she was on the Entente for necessary foodstuffs, Switzer- land found herself between hammer and anvil. Early in the war Germany invented the system of " economic exchanges " as a means of putting pressure on neutral countries. Germany for- bade the export of certain goods, not because they were needed at home but because they were wanted by neutrals. This prohibition was waived in individual cases, provided the neutral country in question sanctioned the export of articles required by Germany. Whereas Hol- land refused to recognize this system, the Swiss Government sought to adapt it with its dealings with Germany, but unfortunately the Swiss commodities used by Germany were compara- tively few, whereas Switzerland had hitherto * See Vol. 13, Chapter CXCIX, page 185. been dependent on Germany and Austria for coal, sugar, potash, hematite and other very important articles. Germany, moreover, held up even postal parcels for Switzerland until the "compensations," as they were called, which, she needed were granted. In exchange for Austro-German supplies, Switzerland bar- M. GUSTAVE ADOR, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross ; Herr Hoffmann's successor on the Federal Council. tered, among other things, cheese and con- densed milk, tar, calcium carbide and ferro- silicon. But not content with receiving the home products of Switzerland, Germany and Austria proceeded to demand in exchange commodities such as rice, sulphur, and cotton, which Switzer- land could only obtain from the Allies, and threatened to cut off Swiss supplies unless Switzerland obtained for her these very articles. Switzerland was thus placed in a very awkward position. It was at first hoped to find a solution of the difficulty by the negotia- tions which led to the establishment, at the suggestion of Great Britain, of the " Swiss Society of Economic Surveillance " (commonly known as the S.S.S.), together with the institu- tion of a system of rationing. The object of the rationing system, which at first applied only to the more important commodities and was gradually extended, was to ensure that Switzerland should receive from the Allies -238 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. GENEVA: REPATRIATED CIVILIANS TAKEN TO A SCHOOLHOUSE FOR REFRESHMENTS. only that amount of her staple imports, such as cotton and wheat, which she required for her own consumption, while the S.S.S. at the same time provided a responsible body to which practically all Swiss imports, and not merely rationed goods, had to be consigned. A large proportion of the German-Swiss public strongly objected to any such scheme, which, in their opinion, would interfere with the sovereign rights of Switzerland. These attacks indeed often, and naturally, proceeded from purely German sources. On June 18, 1915, Herr Hoffmann thus explained the Swiss point of view : — ■ Our industry, extensive and varied as it is, is entirely dependent on the world's markets. It is therefore impossible to close our doors completely to one or other group of belligerents. If our industry is to live, it must be able to re-export into all countries the articles which it has manufactured with the raw materials supplied by one or other of the belligerents. And when by the force of circumstances we have only been able to obtain these raw materials by means of compensations we ought to be allowed to import all that we lack in exchange for all the articles that we can dispose of, whether these articles are of native production or whether, owing to the scantiness of our territories, they are the result of raw materials imported from elsewhere and worked up by our industries. These views naturally did not altogether suit the Allied intentions to blockade the Central Powers and for some months negotiations were at a standstill. On August 9, however, the Tagwacht, the Berne Socialist organ, revealed the fact that Germany was exercising all the while, under an agreement with the Federal Council, a direct control over goods imported into Switzerland from Germany. Swiss public opinion was, as usual, much excited by the revelation of this " secret diplomacy." It may have been a mere coincidence that a few days later the circulation of the Tagwacht was for- bidden in Germany, but in any case the nego- tiations with the Allied Powers were resumed. They were stimulated, so far as the Swiss Government was concerned, by the foundation at Geneva, Zurich and elsewhere, of private import trusts which were prepared to give the Allies the required guarantees that none of the goods which they were permitted to receive would reach the Central Powers. On Sep- tember 22, 1915, the Federal Council bowed to the necessity of the case and approved the creation of the S.S.S. In a long report the Federal Council thus explained the situation to the public : — Internal trade between neutrals and belligerents is subject to no restrictions. The neutral is not even THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 239 obliged to prevent the export or transit of arms, munitions and any other thing of uso to a belligerent. As for the import of goods by sea, tho more fact that a neutral vessel is carrying conditional contraband originating in a neutral country and destined to another neutral country does not justify the sequestration of these goods. This is the ground on which the Federal Council took its stand from the beginning. But the events of the war made it clear that Switzerland must accommodate herself to the altered circumstances. From this situation arose a compromise between the interests which Switzer- land has in the freest possible exercise of her own industry, the free employment of her own products, and t be right to dispose against compensations of a limited quantity of imported goods and the interest of the Allied Governments to prevent so tar as possible thy supplying of the Central Powers. The only possible solution lay m the sphere of neutral concessions. The duties of the S.S.S. were, roughly speak- ing, to see that goods imported from the Allies or through the Allied blockade were consumed in Switzerland, to keep an eye on the frontier, and to procure for and distribute to Swiss Arms the various commodities needed for their consumption or manufacture. An elaborate system of guarantees was devised as a check upon the infringement of the rules. The membership was not to exceed 15 persons, who had all to be of Swiss nationality and approved by the Federal Council After a period of friction and fault-finding on the part of Swiss importers, who complained that the methods of the S.S.S. hampered them in the legitimate pursuit of their business, the organization worked well and was regarded with confidence by the Powers which had to do business with it. Tho S.S.S. quickly became an essential, and very effective organ of the Allied blockade, by loyally carrying out the duties imposed upon it by international treaty. At the same time it is impossible to exaggerate the benefits which it conferred on Switzerland by enabling her industrial life to continue in the centre of a ring of belligerents — a result due in no small degree to the upright and sympathetic person- ality of its director, M. Grobet-Roussy. Simultaneously with the creation of the S.S.S., negotiations between the Swiss Govern- ment and the Central Powers led to the formation of the " Fiduciary Bureau " (Treuhandslelle) for the exchange of goods between Germany and Austria-Hungary and Switzerland. This institution acted as intermediary between the German exporters and the Swiss importers. The object was to secure that German and Austrian goods, of which the general export was prohibited but which were allowed to be INTERNED FRENCH SOLDIERS EMPLOYED IN AGRICULTURAL WORK AT BRIENZ. 240 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. imported into Switzerland, should be employed or consumed exclusively in that country. But it soon appeared that the original and fundamental difficulty of Switzerland's position had by no means been removed. It is im- portant to bear in mind that this difficulty was created solely and entirely by Germany's continued insistence, under threats of cutting off the supplies of coal and iron essential to Switzerland, that she should perform the un- neutral service of acting as a forwarding agent to Germany of goods received through the Allied blockade. This was the kind-bf pressure which, in April, 1916, led the Federal Govern- ment to request the Allied Governments to allow it to use, if necessary, as " compensa- tions " the goods, consisting mainly of food- stuffs, forage, lubricating oil, raw cotton and cotton fabrics, deposited in Switzerland on account of Germany and Austria-Hungary, of which the export was prohibited. It also drew the attention of the Allied Governments to Switzerland's lack of cotton, linen and woollen goods, which were normally obtained for the most part from Germany. Germany had issued more than 4,000 licences to export these goods into Switzerland on condition that she received in return a corresponding amount of the raw materials employed in their manufacture. The Federal Council therefore asked the Allied Governments to allow these raw materials to be sent into Germany in order to get out of Germany the manufactured articles. In a reply of June 19, the Allied Governments, while strongly objecting to the idea, declared themselves prepared to negotiate in the matter of compensations. Meanwhile the German Government on June 8 had declared that the quantity of goods which it allowed to be ex- ported into Switzerland must depend upon Switzerland's enabling Germany to keep up these exports by sending her the products necessary for the maintenance of the population engaged in their manufacture, as well as those required for their manufacture itself. The German Government would only continue to send goods into Switzerland on condition that Switzerland sent into Germany the goods which she held on deposit for Germany. The Note added that Germany had already supplied Switzerland in this compensation business with goods to the value of 16,500,000 francs and suggested that this debt might be liquidated by the export into Germany of the German goods in Switzerland. The Swiss Government received this Note with pained surprise, and explained that it could not adopt the German proposal without seriously failing in' its engage- ments to the Entente Powers. Its surprise was all the more keen from the fact that the LUCERNE: THE KAPELL-BRUCKE AND WASSERTURM. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 241 BADLY WOUNDED MEN LEAVING THE STATION AT LYONS. German Government declared that, if the export of goods were not granted, it would have, after the expiry of a fortnight, to hold the goods intended for Switzerland and send them elsewhere. On July 3 Germany replied with characteristic brutality that Switzerland had not kept her promises, and repeated that Switzerland would not receive the goods from her unless she supplied without delay sufficient " compensations." In other words Switzer- land was presented by her powerful neighbour with the alternative of either being industrially ruined or tearing vip her treaty obligations as a " scrap of paper." Future historians will determine the exact proportions in which bluff and blackmail were compounded in this typical threat. Negotiations took place in Paris with the Allies, who maintained their objections to " compensations." The position was painful for both parties. Hitherto the Allies had provided Switzerland (besides other commodi- ties) with various foodstuffs and Germany had provided her with coal, in each case on the understanding that they should not be re- exported to enemy countries. The Allies were willing to continue the arrangement. The Germans were not. By their Note to the Federal Government Switzerland was driven to go to the Allies hat in hand in order to ask their permission to send Germany cotton^ which would naturally be used for the manu- facture of explosives, at the risk of having her corn supply cut off if she delivered the cotton without permission. The Allies, on the other hand, were in the position of having to choose between letting Germany have the cotton, thus impairing the blockade, and depriving the people of a neutral State with whom they were on the friendliest terms of their coal, or even of their daily bread. Ultimately Switzerland found herself forced to make an arrangement with Germany whereby Germany was to supply her with 253,000 tons of coal a month and with all the iron and steel that she needed. Each of the contracting parties agreed to authorize the export, to an amount settled in advance, of its own products and manufactured articles in so far as it had no absolute need of them itself and in so far as they were not subject to previous engagements. With regard to the goods stored in Switzerland on German account, for which a licence for export could not be granted, the Swiss Govern- ment agreed to abstain from laying hands on them and to restore them to Germany at the end of the war. This agreement lasted until April 30, 1917, when it was renewed until July 31, 1917, and was then prolonged until April 30, 1918, with a reduction of the monthly 242 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. amount to 200,000 tons of coal and 19,000 tons of iron and steel. For tliis amount of coal S\vitz?rland agreed to grant Germany a monthly credit of £800,000. Owing to such reasons as lack of rolling stock, of train-oil and of labour, Germany's monthly supply of coal seldom failed to fall short of the proper amount, sometimes by as much as 54,000 tons. REPATRIATED LEAVING ZURICH. Complaints were also rife both as to the quality of the iron and the quantity of the potatoes supplied under the agreements. The shortaga of coal led to various reductions both in railway services and street lighting. On the other hand, the congestion on French railways and at French ports compelled the Federal Government to put the popula- tion on allowances of rice and sugar, to enact two meatless days a week and take other steps to enforce economy in consumption. One by one all important commodities, from petrol to milk, came under Government control. Early in 1917 Switzerland was further hit by the intensification of German submarine war- fare ; and the prospect of a further limitation of supplies due to the entry of the United States into the war gave rise to some anxiety. But on June 1 the President of the Con- federation was able to declare that Switzer- land had concluded with both groups of belligerents agreements which, although they did not guarantee supplies for Switzerland, would nevertheless influence her position favourably at least for some time to come, and that all questions under discussion between Switzerland and the Allies had been amicably settled. He added : I do not believe- the news published in certain news- papers that the United States will limit or prohibit exports to Switzerland, and it seems quite inconceivable that our great sister Republic would do anything to render difficult or impossible the existence of Switzer- land. There is no reason for America to adopt such a policy, because all our imports from America are im- ported by way of countries allied to America and are subject to a special agreement concluded with that group of belligerents concerning our food supplies. " Switzerland loyally maintains her pledges, and I protest solemnly against the reproach unjustly addressed to Switzerland that, contrary to her promises, she uses food imported from Franco or Italy or Amorica in order' to sell it to Germany or Austria. I can still state with satisfaction that the Governments of England, France and Italy recognize without reserve the complete loyalty of Switzerland and the absolute rectitude of Swiss policy in this respect. Herr Schulthess was certainly justified in protesting against the idea, common enough at one period among the Allies, that Switzerland was " feeding Germany." It is true that she sent Germany, as she had a perfect right to do, in return for Germany's coal some 30,000 head of cattle a year and such other of her own products as she could spare. But when all was said and done, the quantities were small in comparison with Germany's needs, and the S.S.S., working in harmony with the Swiss Government and customs officials, kept a sharp look-out, in the national interest, for infringements of the rules. There was at the same time a considerable amount of well- organized smuggling, which tended rapidly to increase as Germany's needs became greater. In 1914 the number of cases detected in the Schaffhausen district alone had been only 42 ; in 1915 it rose to 977 ; in 1916 to 4,509 ; and in the first half of 1917 to 8,049. In Switzerland, as in other countries, the alarm of war led to a hasty buying up if provisions and a run on the banks. In some places there was a general panic. The Budget for 1914 showed a deficit of £901,324,* not including the cost of mobilization, which at the end of the year amounted to £4,355,644. On August 12 a first loan of £1,200,000 (5- per cent, at 99) was issued, repayable on February 26, 1917, and was over-subscribed by nearly £480,000. This was followed, on October 22, by a long-term 5 per cent, loan of £2,000,000 at par, which was over-subscribed by upwards of £5,000,000. On March 1, 1915, a loan of £5,000,000, repayable in thirds after one, three and five years, was contracted in the United States in order to pay for corn already bought there and to buy more. A third " mobilization " loan was issued on * For simplicity in calculation, £1 is taken throughout as equal to 25 francs. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 243 July 7, 1915, this time of £4,000,000 at 96£, the rate of interest being 4£ per cent., and repay- ment being divided into 30 equal annuities from 1926 to 1955 ; it was over-subscribed by £3,623,212. On January 26, 1916, a further 4£ per cent. £4,000,000 loan was issued at 97 J, repayable on February 15, 1921, and was over- subscribed by £996,358. A fifth " mobilization " loan on June 10 (£4,000,000 4J per cent, at 97), repayable in 10 years, produced subscrip- tions amounting to £6,065,644. On Janu- ary 9, 1917, a sixth internal loan (£4,000,000 at 96, with interest 4 J per cent.) was issued, subscribers to the first loan (August 12, 1914) being entitled to convert into this loan, which was repayable at par in 1932. The conver- sions amounted to £885,764 and the subscrip- tions to the new loan to £5,566,184. With the one or two notable exceptions which have already been described, and which revived in Switzerland an acute sense of the danger surrounding her, the history of the country during the first three years of war was, for the outer world, devoid of spectacular interest. Switzerland might almost, from the international point of view, be described as " happy " in having " no history." But in another sense she was happy in having a history surpassing that of any other neutral country — a> record of noble and disinterested work for the sick, the wounded and the distressed whom the fortune of war brought within her reach. Blessed beyond words by having been spared the violence of the enemy, and touched to the heart by the sufferings of the immediate victims of the war, she devoted herself from the first, while mobilizing her army against any possiblo invader, to offering her thanks to Heaven by developing to the utmost the work of the Good Samaritan. It is needless here to enlarge upon the various works of philanthropy set on foot for the benefit of Swiss troops and their families, and for the relief of necessitous Swiss in ■ belligerent countries. These found their parallel elsewhere and present no especial features of interest. The claim to gratitude which Switzerland will always possess in the eyes of the world is that based upon the work done, under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross at Geneva, by the Swiss Red Cross and innumerable private Swiss organizations, for the civilian refugees, the " missing," the exchanged prisoners, the sick and wounded internes. So vast was the scope of the activities called into play that it is im- possible to attempt to describe them all in LUGANO. 244 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. s UN PRANG ' ONNAIt .,. M^oti pir ies Vines ik«»utja'» «S ^VfrJirco: OUEKRE OE I3I4-C5 woum ix Poor dftDi*e» t prendre chM 1st ?!uam arrant! L --> ■■■■■--■■ -r~ n.__si PAPER MONEY ISSUED BY FRENCH COMMUNES into which the Germans forced the people to exchange their French currency. detail.* But the instances given are typical of the spirit of true goodness of heart which suffused the whole Swiss people, without distinction of races, and which shone brightly in the midst of all the gloom and horrors of the war. ^fe~@ w :;'iii,j.) The opening days of the war saw Switzerland invaded by a cosmopolitan crowd of a very dif- ferent kind from that which had frequented her pleasant places in time of peace. First came * Much invaluable information on the subject will be found in the pages of La Suisse pendant la Querre, by Professor Max Turmann (Paris : Pen-in et Cie), and of hes Oeuvres suisaes de Charitt pendant la Querre, by Pastor B. Nagel (Neuchatel : Bassin-Clottu), to which we acknowledge our indebtedness. the men of various nations recalled to the colours, immediately followed by an excited mass of tourists caught holiday-making abroad. After these came the unfortunate civilians expelled from enemy countries. Over the frontier they poured into Switzerland, carrying or wheeling in hand carts their hastily gathered effects. On August 2 and 3 about 2,500 persons came in from France. Among them were babies only a few hours old, some of them born on the road. Some of the people had not eaten for 48 hours. The inhabitants of Bon- court, filled with compassion, gave them all the food they could. The Italians came mostly through Bale, some 12,000 in number. Owing to the mobilization of the Swiss Army there was a lack of rolling stock, and many of them had to wait for some days before they could continue their journey. Bale was almost over- whelmed by them, but with its traditional hospitality rose generously to the occasion The refugees were lodged in halls about the town, the inhabitants fed them, the boy scouts carried their baggage, the troops escorted them in parties of a thousand to the train. Both in the hot weather and in the wet which followed the sufferings of the poorly clad people were intense. More than 20,000 refugees crossed the StRIE 3 6 / VILLI t>. >.) — {- (MiMra'iM *» cam', i iin^ifiMXji^hii mi UN FRANC C« MM < I >■' Ml A. </b ■ ■ HX>^ m"j ! ;i«j.i.uj«w s!Hi» «g : yVr ■■ THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 24fr Lake of Constancy. The people of Romanshorn supplied them with food, but several babies died. At Zurich extraordinary scenes were witnessed — for the Italians became excited and clamoured for bread. During the month of August more than 100,000 Italians passed through Chiasso into Italy. The plight of the Belgian refugees, not un- naturally, aroused especial pity. This is how M. Benjamin Vallotton describes the scene at a Swiss railway station in the book* which expresses better than any other the feeling in and orphans, and the movement spread over the whole country. The poorest classes of the Swiss saved their mites, children gave up their Christmas presents, men even went with- out their tobacco. But the plan of " boarding- out " the Belgians proved not only very expen- sive but, owing to the idiosyncrasies of the refugees, extremely unsatisfactory to both parties. The Belgians were therefore grouped together and were much happier in consequence. Belgian orphans, mainly from Ypres, Furnes and Poperinghe, were given education, and 1 L °j Btti ^m m^CM Br t>i V Ir^feUKk T ^^jH Ik HHHHHHbHhbHHHHIBHHBHIHHBHI LADIES OF THE GENEVA RED CROSS AND SOME EVACUATED CIVILIANS. French Switzerland at the outbreak of the At the first moment, you are seized with a stupor which glues you to the spot, arms dangling, mouth open, eyes staring, as giddy as if you had fallen on your head. And suddenly the blood flows back from the heart, inflames your cheeks, runs down your arms into your hands and makes them active. . . . Then the crowd, as one man, rushed forward. All the hampers, all the baskets, all the bags, all the nets, all the parcels were opened, and there took place on the platform, in the train, a bombardment of shirts, trousers, waistcoats rolls, oranges, sausages, dolls, plush bears, chocolate, sweets, flannels, hats, shoes, buttons, cigars, papers, pipes. One laughed, nervously. One said things which stuck in one's throat. A committee was formed at Lausanne to provide accommodation for Belgian widows * " Ce qu'en pense Rouge & Cie.) Potterat." (Lausanne : for the most part responded to the care lavished upon them. Even in 1917 convoys of children were received at Lausanne from the ruined villages of Belgium. Meanwhile an organization was get on foot for dealing with the civilians interned in France, Germany and Austria. On September 22, 1914, the President of the Confederation was able to announce that France and Germany had con- sented to the exchange, through Switzerland, of men under 18 and over 50 (these ages were subsequently altered to 17 and 60 respectively), women and children. A " Bureau Suisse de rapatriement des internes civils " was opened at Berne, with local committees elsewhere. The work performed by this organization in 240 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR, AT THE INTERNATIONAL FEMINIST "BUREAU D'INFORMATIONS " AT LAUSANNE. providing comforts and in answering inquiries as to the missing was magnificent. Not only were the rapatries duly restored to their own countries but the sick among them were kept for a while in the hope of improving their health. Between October 24, 1914, and March 5, 1915, 10,845 French, 7,650 Germans and 1,980 Austrians and Hungarians had passed through Switzerland on their way home. Their railway transport had cost £8,500, which was repaid by their respective States. Upwards of £2,160, mainly derived from voluntary Swiss contributions, had been spent on caring for them, not including the innumerable gifts of clothes, etc., offered by private individuals' No words can describe the devotion and self- sacrifice displayed by the local bands of ladies who wore" themselves out by their indefatigable exertions in this noble work. The only • laughter of the mayor of Sahaffhausen died as the result of illness contracted from weeks of labour for the rapatries. It need hardly be said that, as time went on, the distribution of comforts, at first almost overwhelming to the recipients from its spontaneous abundance, became perfectly organized. Another great field of activity upon which the Swiss entered was the search for " missing " civilians and soldiers. Various committees, among them the Red Cross at Geneva, the " Bureau pour la recherche des disparus " at Zurich, the " Bureau international feministe d'informations " at Lausanne, the " Comit6 pour otages de guerre " at Bale, the " Union interna- tionale des amis de la jeune fille " at Neuchatel, and others, devoted themselves with astonish- ing success to this laborious undertaking. By the end of December, 1915, for example, the Lausanne committee had discovered 34,000 missing persons, and enabled their families to communicate with them. Between October, 15, 1914, and June 30, 1916, the " Agence inter- national de secours et de renseignements en faveur des prisonniers de guerre," founded by the International Committee of the Red Cross at Geneva, had given information to 470.399 families, had interviewed 78,713 callers, had on its index 2,000,000 cards relating to the Allies and 1,000,000 relating to Germans, and had transmitted £79,760 and 30,441,836 par- eels, including 776,505 from Geneva. Some idea of the labour involved in this work may be gathered from the fact that by September, 1916, there were already no fewer than 6,000 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 247 prisoners of war of the name of Martin. The Swiss Post Office during the month of March, 1917, forwarded daily to prisoners an average of more than 420,000 letters and postcards and 80,000 registered parcels, besides thousands of unregistered parcels and postal orders. In the spring of 1915 there set in another flood — the evacues, or French civilians, from the occupied districts of France. Having been torn from their homes, which had in many cases ceased to exist, they had been interned in Belgium, and were now to be restored to their native land. They consisted, naturally, of old men and women and children, and their plight was in some ways more deplorable than that of any of their predecessors. Sometimes the women had with them children, not their own, who had been thrust into their arms by inadvertence in their flight. A correspondent of The Times who witnessed the arrival of the 476th train at Zurich in July, 1917, when upwards of 230,000 of rapatries and evacues had passed through, described the incident as one of the most pathetic which he had met during the war. The train that day contained 77 old men, 280 women, 75 children, 40 babies under four, and four dogs. Their homes had been in the neighbourhood of Reims, but since their removal from them they had been living at Namur. They had brought with them all they possessed in the world bundled up in a rug. Escorted by young women in snowy white, those who could walk — and many walked stiffly enough after their two days and nights in the train — were taken to the large refreshment halls and fed. Then, while the babies were washed and clad by half a dozen young Zurich ladies, their elders were led across the street to the precincts of the Museum, and there supplied with all kinds of clothes. The correspondent added : While the people sat waiting their turn they showed me the bons communaux which, with the exception, I think, of 50 francs, aro the only form in which they were allowed to possess money. Their original French money — in some cases a considerable sum, being thg savings of a lifotime — they had been obliged to change, first, into German marks, and then from marks into these pitiable tickets, mostly of one franc denomination, " repayable two years after the signature of peace " by the communes which issued them and in which alone they had any value at all. . . . After the people had been clothed they returned to the platform, where they washed in basins, and then took their seats. . . . Girls distributed chocolate, post- cards, and little presents, and a party of the Landsturm who had been on duty for the three hours during which the visit lasted sang a hymn. The train steamed out amid a chorus of " Merci. Merci I " and we waved and turned away, taking care not to look into each other's face. At all the stations where the trains stopped food was distributed, school children sang ONE OF THE OFFICES OF THE PR1SONERS-OF-WAR AGENCY IN GENEVA. ^248 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. COLONEL CHARLES BOHNY, Doctor-in-Chief of the Swiss Red Cross. 'hymns of patriotism and hope, and a band of spectators welcomed the passengers with sym- pathetic gheers. It is marvellous to think that this went on day after day and week after week for years. Swiss delegates formed part of the commissions appointed to visit prison camps in the various belligerent countries and did invaluable work in improving conditions in many cases. Nor must mention be omitted of the Swiss doctors -who, in the face of appalling difficulties, worked among the wounded in Montenegro and Serbia or of the Swiss nurses who joined the staffs of hospitals in France, Germany and Austria- Hungary. Further, the universities played their part in promoting the intellectual in- terests of student prisoners of war. In the autumn of 1914 the Federal Council, at the instance of the International Committee of the Red Cross, suggested to the French and German Governments that prisoners in the hands of either Power who were so severely wounded as to be incapable of further service in the war should be exchanged through Switzerland. The proposal was well received, but considerable difficulties arose as to the details of its execution. At the beginning of 1915 the Pope intervened with a similar proposal to various Powers, thereby doubtless helping forward the acceptance of the original scheme. On January 11, 1915, Switzerland placed at the disposal of the belligerents the services of the Swiss Red Cross and the use of Swiss hospital trains, and at the end of February an agreement between France and Germany was reached. The first grands blesses, as they were called, were exchanged at the beginning of the following month, and by the end of August 8,668 French and 2,343 German wounded prisoners had been exchanged through Switzer- land. Swiss doctors formed part of the medical commissions which examined the wounded before their release, and the transport and attendance was admirably carried out under the direction of Colonel Bohny, doctor- in-chief of the Swiss Red Cross. The manner MME. BOHNY, Who collaborates with her husband in Red Cross work. in which the Swiss received these unhappy victims of the war may be gathered from the following extract from a letter written by a French soldier on March 13, 1915 r I reached Paris at last, pretty tired as you may imagine — two days and two nights of travelling, almost without sleep. We have been very well received every- where, but no country can equal Switzerland in that respect. It was not a reception nor a triumph ; it was a madness which the people showed towards us. I will give you a short account of this journey. We passed the frontier about 9 o'clock ; at last we are in free Switzerland ! At Zurich wo were well received, as also at Berne, but the police did not let the people come up THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 249 ARRIVAL AT GENEVA OF A TRAINLOAD OF REPATRIATED CIVILIANS. close to our carriages. At Fribourg, Lausanne and Geneva, although it was 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock or 4 o'clock i n the morning, thousands of people joyfully greeted us and gave us all sorts of things through the carriage windows (cigars, cigarettes, tobacco, chocolate, all sorts of fruit, flowers, postcards, etc.). In ray carriage alone, after we had drunk, eaten and taken everything we liked, there remained four great sacks a yard high ; we could hardly walk or lie down in our compartment ; you cannot form an idea of this reception of the mutilated of the campaign 1914-1915. The warmth of this reception, although in time its manifestations became better organized, continued unabated even when sad familiarity had taken off the edge of the early excitement. The passage of these trains, sometimes — as the principle of the exchange of grands blesses was accepted by other Powers — each containing parties of soldiers of different nationalities, formed an in- teresting study from the point of view of the mentalities and manners of the various bel- ligerents. Thus, for example, it was possible to note, in the course of an evening or two, the nimble wit of the French, the rough jocu- larity of the English, the mocking humour of the Belgians, the dignified charm of the Serbs. All were as happy as their condition permitted them to be ; all, even the poor " lying-down cases " who could hardly move a finger, showed their gratitude ; to all alike, to which- ever side they belonged, the Swiss were compassionate and full of loving kind- ness. By February 2, 1916, 140 French officers and 8,024 men and 41 German officers and 2,155 men had passed through Switzerland. Hundreds of Italian, Austrian and Hun- garian invalid prisoners also passed through on their way home, as did upwards of 8,000 members of the French and German army medical services. No sooner was the system of the exchange of grands blesses set to work than the Swiss Government embarked upon the question of internment. The prisoners now to be con- sidered were those who, though incapable of further active service, were still capable of garrison or clerical duties. It was proposed in the first instance to intern only prisoners suf- fering from tuberculosis, for whom the moun- tain air of Switzerland offered the best possible chance of recovery. There was to be no question of parole, but the Governments were to bind themselves to return to Switzerland any prisoners who escaped, and in any case not to employ them for military purposes. The French Government accepted the proposal in April, but Germany raised difficulties, de- manding that the interned should be mili- tarily guarded — a condition which, for obvious reasons, it was impossible for Switzerland to fulfil — and objecting to the returning of those who escaped. At this point the Pope again intervened (May 1, 1915) with the suggestion that, not only the tuberculous and invalid, in the strict sense of the word, but all categories 250 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. WOUNDED MEN ON THEIR JOURNEY THROUGH SWITZERLAND LADEN WITH FLOWERS AND GIFTS. of sick and wounded, both officers and men, except those suffering from contagious diseases, should be interned in Switzerland. The sug- gestion was supported by the Federal Govern- ment, and after much discussion of categories and other details an agreement was reached, the Emperor William announcing that he accep- ted the principle of internment " to please the Pope." All ppisoners included in the estab- lished categories (at first 12 in number, but afterwards increased to 20) were susceptible of internment, without regard to the numerical proportion of interned of each State — although Germany long stood out for a head for head and rank for rank arrangement. A preliminary . selection was to be made in the prison camps by Swiss commissions, each consisting of two doctors, in collaboration with the local doctors. The prisoners thus chosen were to be sent to a place of assembly and there re-examined by fresh commissions, each composed of two Swiss military doctor*, three military doctors and a delegate of the Minister of War of the captor country. A memorandum by Colonel Hauser, Surgeon-General of the Swiss army, laid it down that prisoners rejected at this second examination were not to be sent back to their ordinary camps, but to special camps for further observation. Swiss religious socie- ties undertook to look after the spiritual welfare of the interned, and numerous private relief societies were formed to care for their material needs. On January 26, 1916, a first instalment of 100 French tuberculous prisoners and one officer from Germany arrived at the sana- torium of Leysin, while 100 similar German prisbners from France proceeded to Davos. During the next month 983 French (106 officers) and also 364 Germans (5 officers) arrived in Switzerland and were distributed, the French to Montana and Leysin, Montreux and its neighbourhood, and the Bernese Ober- land, and the Germans to Davos and the Lake of Lucerne. By May, 1917, there were in- terned in Switzerland 418 German officers and 7,335 non-commissioned officers and men and 695 French officers and 12,953 non-com- missioned officers and men. There were also interned 819 German and 2,087 French invalid civilians — for a similar agreement to that affecting the military prisoners was come to in their case. SucVi of these civilians as were prepared to pay for their board and lodging were merely obliged to live within a certain area and - to report themselves at intervals ; the rest were kept at the charge of their respective countries, wore an armlet, and came under the same regulations as the military interned. The Franco-German agreement having been THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 251 successfully achieved, the Swiss Government made a similar offer to the British, Belgian, Austro-Hungariaii and Italian Governments. The British Government on March 25, 191(5, invited the German Government to adopt the principle of internment already sanctioned in the agreement with France, but it was not until the beginning of May that the German Government consented.* There still remained transport and other difficulties to be overcome, but on May 30 a first detachment of 304 British prisoners (32 officers) reached Chateau d'Oex, to be followed 24 hours later by 150 Fribourg, Lausanne, Montreux, and Chateau d'Oex thousands upon thousands of people crowded the platforms, pelting the soldiers with flowers and pressing into their hands every conceivable present, useful and useless. The prisoners were astounded that, from end to end of the country, multitudes should sit up half the night, or leave their beds in the small hours, in order to extend the right hand of brotherly fellow-feeling to a few hundred war- worn fighting men with whom they had no sort of connexion either of blood or alliance. It is difficult to express in moderate terms what ARRIVAL OF GERMAN INTERNED PRISONERS AT BUOCHS. more. On August 12, a fresh contingent of 394 men and 37 officers arrived, of whom 347 men and 29 officers took up their abode at Miirren. By May, 1917, there were interned in Switzerland 122 British officers, 1,749 non-com- missioned officers and men and four civilians. As in the case of the French interned, the arrival of the British in Switzerland aroused enormous enthusiasm among the people. No Englishman can read of their reception without emotion. From the moment they crossed the frontier their welcome was almost overwhelming. The cheering began within sight of the German sentries. At Kreuzlingen, Zurich, Olten, Berne, * See Vol. XII., chapter CLXXXVII, p. 256. those days of sympathy meant to the men who experienced them. The Belgians also profited by the internment system, and by May, 1917, there were in Switzerland 86 officers, 1,439 non-commissioned officers and men and 406 civilians. The total number of interned French, Germans, British and Belgians at that date was 28,367. All these officers and men, being at the same time prisoners of war and invalids, were under the authority of the Swiss army medical In November, 1916, the Federal Council, observing that " neutrality is not indifference," AV2 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. instructed the Swiss Minister in Berlin to call the attention of the Imperial Chancellor to the unfavourable impression which had been made on Swiss public opinion by the whole- sale deportation of Belgians. On April 14, 1917, the International Com- mittee of the Red Cross, which on July 12, 1916, had issued to all the world an eloquent protest against the practice of reprisals on prisoners of war, addressed the German Government pro- testing against the declaration of January 29 in which Germany announced her intention of treating hospital ships, bearing the marks of the Red Cross, as vessels of war and attack- ing and sinking them as such, both in the North Sea and in a defined area of the Channel. The International Committee recalled the cases of the hospital ships Britannic, sunk on November 21, 1916, anH Asturia, sunk on March 20, 1917, and added : In attacking hospital ships, one is attacking, not combatants, but defenceless people — wounded, mutilated or incapacitated by bullets, women devoting themselves to a work of help and charity, and men whose equipment is intended not to take the lives of their adversaries, but, on the contrary, is capable of saving those lives and relieving to some extent their sufferings. Every hospital ship which is furnished with the exterior marks laid down by the international conventions and the employment of which has been regularly notified to the belligerents, has the benefit of a legal presumption and ought to bo respected by the belligerents. The Committee further drew the attention of the German Government to the rights of control and visit conferred by Article 4 of the Hague Convention, and boldly declared that in no case had a belligerent the right to expose to death the whole of the wounded and their attendants on board even a ship which he might believe to be partly devoted to military objects. The A-ituria seems to have been torpedoed without anyone troubling about either its charaoter or its destination. Even admitting the correctness of the facts on which Germany bases the justification of her declaration, the International Committee holds that nothing cau excuse the torpedoing of a hospital ship. Hence, considering the declaration ot January 29 as beingin disagreement with the international conventions, it expresses the desire that this declaration be not enforced in future. It need hardly be said that this protest had no effect on the German Government, nor is it probable that the International Committee expected that it would. The fact, however, that it did protest remains for ever to its credit. The protest led to a typical outburst from an ultra-German Swiss newspaper, which repeated the German arguments in favour of sinking hospital ships in prohibited areas, and protested, for its part, against this unnecessary provocative Protestiererei from French Swit- zerland, expressing the hops that the Federal Council would forbid in future " these private notes to foreign belligerents." It is unnecessary to inquire how far its fears lest action of this kind should embroil Switzerland with foreign Powers were sincere, or how far the result of inter-racial jealousy. In any case, they were obviously either ridiculous, or, more probably, merely German propaganda. CHAPTER CCI. THE CAPTURE OF BAGHDAD. Situation in Mesopotamia in Summer of 1916 — Reorganization and Equipment after Loss of Kut — River Transport — Hospital Ships — Railways — Sufficiency of Troops — Strategy of General Maude's Advance — Plan of Campaign — The Operations on the Tigris — Assault of Sanna-i-Yat — Recapture of Kut^Further Advance — The Navy's Part — Fall of Baghdad, March, 1917— Maude's Proclamation — A Quiet Summer— Results of Third Phase of the War in Mesopotamia. BEFORE describing the campaign which ended in the occupation of Baghdad by the British it seems desirable to examine briefly the general military position in Asia at the beginning of this cam- paign, for the operations in Mesopotamia were more or less closely connected with operations in other parts of the continent. When the campaign opened, in the early summer of 1916, the Allies had no enemy in the Far East. From the Pacific Ocean to India the whole of Eastern Asia was held without dispute by them or by neutral nations. In Western Asia they had one great opponent, Turkey. The Turks were aided by the advice of the German Government, by the professional skill of some German officers attached to their forces in the field, and by supplies of German money and munitions of war. They were also strengthened by the support of various Asiatic tribes and populations over whom they had a measure of influence, such as the Arabs of Mesopotamia. But, speaking broadly, the Turks stood alone in Asia, where no German or Austrian troops were acting with them. They had been fighting on four fronts : against the Russians in Armenia, against both Russians and British in Persia, against the British in Mesopotamia and on the borders of Egypt. The Persian and Mesopotamian fronts were closely connected. They formed, so to speak, Vol. XIII.— Part 164 253 the centre of the great Turkish line of bat! le in Asia, which stretched in a semi-circle from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean ; and the columns fighting upon these two fronts were both immediately based on Baghdad. The Persian front was also connected with the Armenian front, the Turkish left. The Mesopo- tamian front was separated by a vast desert from the Egyptian front, the Turkish right ; but the forces on both of them had a common ultimate base in Asia Minor. Indeed, Asia Minor was the real base for all four fronts. The Turks therefore, though hampered to some extent by great distances and imperfect com- munications, could throw their weight from one central point upon any of the four fronts, as might seem desirable. The Allies on the contrary were acting from the outside of the great semi-circle inwards. Former chapters traced the course of their operations on all four fronts. As to the Armenian front it may be said in a few words that the Russians had begun with striking successes, but that in the early summer of 1916 their advance seemed for the time to have come to an end. On the Egyptian front too the Turks had been roughly handled and driven back, but the prospect of a decisive advance on the part of the British forces seemed doubtful. With regard to the two central fronts, Chapter CLXXVL showed that after the outbreak of U54 THE TIMES HISTORY , OF THE WAR. a < a s o < THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 255 war Persia, already in great confusion from internal troubles, had been made the field for Oerman intrigues, and Turkish military action, against the interests of Russia and England ; but that by the early part of 1916 the enemy forces had mostly been driven out, and that the condition of the country was improving. Chapter CLVIII. described how during the same period of the war British troops had landed in Mesopotamia, and gradually pushed inland along the three river routes of the Karun, Tigris and Euphrates until they were in posses- sion of a large Turkish province, from which a force under General Townshend had then advanced to capture Baghdad, but had been checked and pressed back to Kut. Chapter CXCI. showed how General Townshend's force had been besieged in Kut for five months and eventually compelled to surrender, after three desperate attempts had been made to relieve it by the rest of the British troops in Mesopotamia. The same chapter gave an account of the great losses and sufferings inflicted upon these troops owing to their defective equipment in transport, artillery, medical establishment, and other necessaries. The proceedings of a Royal Commission ap- pointed to enquire into this matter were explained, and a summary was given of the grave report submitted by the Commission. The narrative closed with a few words showing that during the year which had elapsed between the surrender of General Townshend and the Commission report the British advance in Mesopotamia had been resumed and Baghdad had been captured. The present chapter will describe the measures taken to reorganize the British forces in Mesopotamia during the year 1916, and will give a narrative of the successful advance on Baghdad. It will be remembered that while the first phase of the war in Mesopotamia, November, 1914, to December, 1915, was a phase of widely extended operations on three lines, the military operations during the second phase, January 1, 1916, to April 30, 1916, were practically con- fined to one line, that of the Tigris ; and to a very short stretch of the river, the 70 miles or so of its course immediately below Kut. It may be observed here that during the third phase of the war, now to be described, almost the whole of the fighting was again on the Tigris line. A much longer stretch of the river was involved : some 25 miles of its course below Kut and about 250 above Kut*; but the campaign was practically limited to the Tigris valley. This phase of the war lasted from May, 1916, to the autumn of 1917. It opened auspiciously. A Russian force which was driving the Turks out of Northern Persia had now reached a point only 200 miles from the Tigris ; and on May 20 a patrol of about 100 Russian cavalry, detached from this BAGHDAD: TOMB OF SIT-I-ZOBE1DA, Wife of Haroun-al-Raschid. force, suddenly rode into the British camp at Ali el Gherbi. They had made a most adven- turous march over difficult mountain country, and their arrival was very welcome, for it seemed to show that there was a prospect of the Russian and British forces from the two fronts being before long in close cooperation on Turkish territory. It was also historically interesting, for Englishmen and Russians had not served together in the field since the days of Napoleon, though they had served together at sea. ' The advance of the Russians from Persia was naturally as unwelcome to the Turks as it was welcome to the British ; and perhaps in oonsequence of it the enemy now decided to evacuate his positions on the south of the Tigris at Es Sinn, which the British had twice unsuc- cessfully attacked during their efforts to relieve Kut. On May 20, the day on which the Russian detachment rode in, and within a month of the fall of Kut, General Gorringo was able to report that the south bank of the river was now practically clear of Turks as far as the Hai stream, of which mention was made in Chapter CXCI. The result of this retirement * The distance by road was about half the distance along the windings of the river. 164-2 256 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. was that for the future the Turks, though still holding strong entrenched lines on the north bank down to Sanna-i-Yat, 15 miles or so below Kut, were flanked almost throughout this length by the British force on the south bank — a dangerous position for the Turks if the British had been strong enough not only to contain them in front but to strike across the A TURKISH MACHINE GUN POSITION IN A DATE-PALM OUTSIDE KUT. river at their line of communications. As a matter of fact the British were not -strong enough at the moment to make any serious attack of the kind, or even to occupy all the positions evacuated ; but it was obvious that whenever they might become so ' the full possession of the south bank would be of great advantage to them. The British Commander determined therefore to secure all he could on this side consistently with his difficulties in feeding his troops by land carriage, the navi- gation of the river being denied to him by the Turks on the north bank, and meanwhile to increase his fighting strength as much as possible with a view to an attack in the future. As shown in the chapter describing the un- successful operations for the relief of Kut, the British force on the Tigris required strengthen- ing not only in numbers but in organization and equipment of various kinds — in heavy guns, in aeroplanes, and above all in transport, especially river transport, without which a larger numeri- cal force could not be moved up, or supplied with food, ammunition, and all that is required for modern war. To the thorough reorganiza- tion and equipment of the force, therefore, the military authorities settled down, and the summer and autumn of 1916 were spent in unceasing effort for this end. As is always the case in Mesopotamia, the heat during the summer months was intense, the thermo- meter often rising to 120° in the shade, so that both the troops and the various services at work on their behalf suffered severely ; but the General commanding in Mesopotamia, Sir Percy Lake, elaborated a careful scheme for re-shaping the whole military position, and in spite of all disadvantages of climate the work went on at high pressure without intermission. He was fully supported by the War Office in •England, and by the Government of India. It has been said that the special need of the force was river transport. To quote the Report of the Royal Commission, the shortage of river transport was " the foundation of all the troubles in Mesopotamia." It seems necessary, for a clear understanding of the campaign which followed, to dwell upon this point, and to explain in some detail the very creditable thoroughness and success with which the problem was worked out. As every reader of this History will have understood, the war in Mesopotamia was from the outset a river war, and no part of it was more essentially a river war than the operations in the Tigris valley which, beginning with General Towns- hend's advance to Amara in June, 1915, ended in the capture of Baghdad nearly two years later. These operations were throughout dependent upon the Tigris. To successive .British forces advancing inland on this line the ever-lengthening stream in their rear was the main artery through which flowed the life blood of the army. Troops, equipment, food and supplies of all kinds, including medical stores, had all to be conveyed by the river craft, which had also to bring down sick and wounded and prisoners of war to the base. Lack of river transport was largely responsible for the initial check at Ctesiphon, and for the subsequent breakdown of the medical service which inflicted such sufferings upon the troops. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 257 TROOPS TRANSPORTED BY RIVER. Lack of river transport, again, was the main cause of the failure to relieve Kut and of the consequent surrender of 9,000 British troops. It was urgently necessary, if such calamities were to be avoided for the future, that the deficiency should be made good. This was clearly recognized by General Lake. He had written in his dispatch of August 12, 1916:- " The difficulty experienced in pushing up reinforcements, supplies, and munitions of war to the front seriously affected the operations. " The number of steamers available in Jan- uary, 1916, for river transport purposes was practically the same as when in June, 1915, the first advance up the Tigris took place. Addi- tional river craft had from time to time been demanded, as augmentations to the force in Mesopotamia were decided upon, but owing to the peculiar conditions which vessels intended for the intricate navigation of the Tigris have to satisfy the provision of these vessels was a difficult problem, necessarily entailing long delays, and the supply was never able SUPPLIES FOR THE GUNBOATS. 258 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. to keep pace with the requirements of the force. " In consequence of this it was never possible dining the period now under report either to concentrate at the Tigris front the whole of the forces available in the country or to equip such forces as could be concentrated there with heat of the Mosopotamian summer. Sir George Buchanan '8 staff suffered also, but much good work was done. General Lake wr.)te : — *' Owing to the difficulty experienced in obtain- ing certain stores and equipment from India and Burma, and to sickness among the super- vising staff, the work of developing the port of MAKING A NEW PIER AT BASRA : PILE-DRIVING BY MAN-POWER sufficient transport to make them mobile and enable them to operate freely at any distance from the river." Feeling so strongly the importance of this question, General Lake, immediately after the fall of Kut, set on foot such measures as were locally possible to improve the state of affairs. The river transport, then under the Royal Indian Marine, was developed, the strength of the Department being rapidly increased by something like 700 per cent., and a great number of native labourers being engaged. Moreover, a distinguished engineer, Sir George Buchanan, C.I.E., was appointed Director-General of Port Administration and River Conservancy, and was able to afford valuable aid to the overdriven officers of the Indian Marine, who suffered severely from sickness brought on by the great Basra, and of dredging and improving water communications generally, was at first delayed. It is now, however, well in hand, and the results already achieved are sufficient to show that the projected measures will have far-reaching effect on the business of the port and our all-important river communications." But in July, 1916, the War Office formally assumed the direction of the Mesopotamian transport service, which up to that time had been under the control of the India Office. This step marks the real beginning of the revo- lution which was effected in the transport service — a revolution to which the subsequent success of the Baghdad campaign was largely if not mainly due. To quote a dispatch by General Maude : — " The newly formed Inland Water Transport THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 259 Directorate had first to fill its ranks and then develop its organization and provide for its many indispensable requirements ; but the personnel, making light of these very real obstacles to rapid progress, worked unceasingly, with the result that night and day an endless chain of river craft passed up and down the river, thereby securing the maintenance of the troops at the front." How great the number of river craft speedily became may be judged from the words used by Mr. Bonar Law during the Debate on the Address in February, 1917. After describing the military operations in Mesopotamia up to that time he said : — " But there is another side to this picture which is equally pleasing. It shows, I think, that if mistakes are made — and in a war like this', going into it as we went into it, many mistakes can hardly bo called mistakes, though the results are bad — -if mistakes are made, we as a nation know how to repair them. That has been done here. There are now no complaints about supplies of any kind, and some indication of what has been done during the last six months will be found in the fact that the traffic up the Tigris during January was almost ten times as great as it was during July, when the House was finding how unsatisfactory the position was." A few days later Mr. Forster, Financial Secre- tary to the War Office, spoke as follows : — " Great expansion has also taken place in inland water transport, ships, barges, tugs, wharves, quays, warehouses, everything that is required for increasing the operation of the inland water transport service on all our fronts. The Chan- cellor of the Exchequer, when moving the vote of credit, referred to the enormous increase in the up-river traffic in Mesopotamia. He re- minded us then that the up-river traffic of January, as compared with last July, has increased by 1,000 per cent." And Mr. MeKenna, touching upon the same subject, said : — " In relation to one of these campaigns, that in Mesopotamia, I am sure the Committee would wish to express their appreciation of the work recently done by the War Office. The cam- paign caused so much anxiety in this House that a Commission was appointed to enquire into its origin and progress. There were undoubtedly grave troubles, both in respect to the supply service and the hospital service. I am told to-day that since the administration of these services was handed over to the Quartermaster- General here, so far from there being any complaint, the transport, supply, and hospital services are as well done as in any campaign in the whole history of the world. That is a great record, of which the War Office may justly be proud. As this question has been again and again raised in this House, and caused adverse criticism of the War Office at the time, surely this House now would wish to thank the War Office for the admirable work they have done." It will be easily understood that when the time came for military operations on the Tigris to be resumed the condition of the river trans - HOSPITAL SHIP ON THE TIGRIS. 260 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. MAILBOAT NEAR KURNA. / photograph. port, both in number and suitability of craft and in facilities for their efficient working, had been completely transformed. Before passing on from the subject it may be well to cite one example of the changes effected. Readers of this History will remember the appalling description given by an Indian medical officer, Major Carter, of the steamer Medjidieh as she arrived in Basra, with the sick and wounded lying upon her decks in almost inconceivable conditions of overcrowding and filth and misery. As a contrast to that picture may be presented the following account* of a visit paid by H.M. the King to the headquarters of the Inland Water Transport : — " The King inspected craft, stores, and personnel, visited the occupants of the wards of a new hospital, saw something of • The Timet, June 6, 1917. the everyday life of the camp, chatted with officials and workmen, made a tour of a hospital ship destined for a distant war theatre, and replete with all the latest improvements in ventilation and general equipment, inspected water purifying appliances, ice making, barges, and a host of other details, and expressed the utmost satisfaction and pleasure. Before re- turning to London the King launched three recently completed craft which had been con- structed for the more efficient prosecution of the work of the Department. . . . The general plan of the water transport arrange- ments was explained to him and the inspection in detail followed. As an example His Majesty was informed of the important part this service played in establishing and maintaining the long line of communication on tho advance to TRANSPORT ON THE TIGRIS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 261 Baghdad. Ho displayed especial interest in the appliances for ice making and for ensuring the purity of the water supply. Shallow built boats for liver transport and a variety of other craft were inspected." The substitution of specially built and specially fitted hospital ships for the hastily converted or unconverted transport steamers and cattle boats of 1915 must have been an unspeakable boon not only to the sick and wounded, but to the crews of the ves- sels, and to the medical officers who toiled with such devotion under the heartbreaking ample for its requirements, and in full working order. The main cause of all previous diffi- culties and failures had been effectually re- moved. This fine achievement reflected much credit upon the War Office and the Department of Inland Water Transport. It afforded also a striking reminder, if any were needed, of the power secured to Great Britain by her command of the sea. The question of river transport has been treated in some detail because in Mesopotamia it was, as General Lake said, an all-important question ; bvit an account of the measures BUILDING AN ICE FACTORY AT AMARA. conditions of the earlier campaigns. The contrast between the hospital ships used in the first two phases of the war and those made ready for the third is only an illustration of the changes which took place in all the aspects of the river transport service. In number, as already shown, the strength of the fleet was immensely increased, and the provision of wharves, quays, warehouses, and other require- ments of the kind greatly facilitated the working of the more numerous and better vessels. What proportion of these vessels was available when military operations were resumed it is not possible to say ; but it is cer- tain that in December, 1916, when the British force moved forward, the river transport was taken in 1916 to reorganize and equip the British army in Mesopotamia would not be complete if it did not take notice also of the question of land transport. With regard to this point it will suffice to write briefly. By the end of that year there were three lines of railway running in Mesopotamia. One line ran from Basra to Nasrieh on the Euphrates, another up the Tigris valley from Kurna to Amara, and the third, a light field line, from Sheikh Saad to the foremost position held by the British on the south bank of the river. It has been already pointed out that the advanced position held by the Turks on the north bank, at Sanna-i-Yat, blocked the navigation of the river beyond that point by British steamers. The British troops, •26'2 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 15 miles or so farther up stream, on the south bank, were therefore dependent for their supplies upon land transport, and the light field line from Sheikh Saad, when not interrupted by floods, was doubtless very useful to them. The personnel and material of all these railway lines in Mesopotamia were mainly derived from India. It should be added that besides the railways the force had now a considerable body of live transport. Large numbers of animals had been collected and equipped for land carriage, so that the troops should for the future be free to move in all directions, if the country allowed, with rapidity and comfort. Marshes and sheets of shallow wat-er still presented obstacles to military movements in some of the districts to be crossed ; but all that could be done had been done ; and it was confidently expected that some means would be found of turning these obstacles. Thus, as regards transport of all kinds, the force on the Tigris was now very differently situated from those which had previously advanced on this line. It was also very differently situated in regard to the other deficiencies, of numbers and equip- ment, which had frustrated, or helped to frus- trate, the efforts of Generals Aylmer and Gor- ringe to relieve Kut. Those commanders had been under great disadvantages from the im- possibility of bringing up and supplying a larger number of troops, and from the warit of heavy guns, aeroplanes, and other necessaries of modern war. These deficiencies were also made good during the summer and autumn of 191C ; and before the close of the year General Maude, who had succeeded Sir Percy Lake in command of the Mesopotamian forces, found himself at the head of an army sufficient in numbers, thoroughly equipped in all respects, and eager to wipe out the memory of former reverses. He summed up (Dispatch of April 10, 1917) in the following words the work carried out from the end of August up to that time, and the position at the end of it : Steady progress was made on the lines so carefully designed and developed by my predecessor, Lieut.- General Sir Percy Lake, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., to whom my warm thanks are dtie for the firm foundations which had been laid for the ensuing winter campaign. The growth of Basra as a military port and base continued, and the laying of railways was completed. The subsi- dence of the floods and the organization of local and imported labour removed obstacles which had hitherto hindered development, although, conversely, the lack of water in the rivers and consequent groundings of river craft gave rise to anxiety from time to time. The Directorate of Inland Water Transport was created, and accessions of m?n and material arrived from overseas, as well as additional river craft ; while the influence of adequate and experienced personnel for the Directorates of Port Administration and Conservancy Works, Rail- ways, Supply and Transport, and Ordnance enabled these services to cope more adequately with their respon- sibilities in maintaining the field Army. Hospital accommodation was reviewed and still furtherexpanded, whilst tho Remount and Veterinary Services were over- hauled and reconstituted. Changes were also made in the organization of the Army, the grouping of formations and units was readjusted, and alterations were made in the system of command. TI13 line of communication de- fences were recast and additional lines of communication units for administrative purposes were provided. Estab- lishments for all units, whether on the various fronts or on the lines of communication, were fixed, whilst the pro- I -r- - DISEMBARKING CAMELS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 268 THE RURNA-AMARA RAILWAY. [Official photograph. vision of mechanical transport and an increase in animals and vehicles enabled the land transport with the Force to be reconstituted. . . By the end of November preliminary preparations were well advanced. A steady stream of reinforcements had been moving up the Tigris for some weeks, and drafts were joining their units, making good the wastage of the summer. The troops had shaken off theill effects of the hot weather, and their war training had improved. Stores, ammu- nition, and supplies were accumulating rapidly at the front, our communications were assured, and it seemed clear that it was only a matter of days before offensive operations could be justifiably undertaken. Training camps which had been formed at Amara were broken up, and the general concentration upstream of Sheikh Saad was completed. It may be noticed that during the latter part of October the new Commander-in-Chief in India, General Sir Charles Monro, who had succeeded Sir Beauchamp Duff, paid a visit to Mesopotamia and made himself personally acquainted with the needs and difficulties of the force operating in that part of the world. Although the War Office had now taken over from the Government of India the control of the Mesopotamia!! campaign, General Monro's visit was nevertheless of value in various ways, for the connexion between Mesopotamia and India was still close and intricate. Before going on to the advance of General Maude's army it is desirable to understand clearly the main object of the campaign, and the grounds upon which this object was se- [ected by the British commander. The general military position of the Turks in Western Asia has already been explained. It has been shown that they were acting on four fronts, that on each of these fronts they had had, on the whole, the worst of the fighting, but not to a decisive extent, and that on the Mesopotarnian front they had recently gained a signal success in the capture of Kut and its garrison. This success, naturally enough, bad much encouraged them ; and it now seemed that they were resolved, so far at least as their two central fronts were concerned, to resume the offensive. What they meant to do on the Armenian and Egyptian fronts it was impossible to say ; but such information a-s was obtainable appeared to show that their plan for the centre was to hold the British troops on the Tigris, and once more to throw their weight upon Persia, driving back the small Russian and British forces in that country, and threatening not only to raise Persia against the Allies, but to disturb Afghanistan and India. Indeed, soon after the capture of Kut, they had actually crossed the Persian frontier, compelled the advancing Russians to retreat, and taken the important town of Hamadan, 200 miles beyond. There were also indications that while holding on the Tigris the entrenched positions from which the British had failed to dislodge them j they intended to work down the line of the Euphrates against the British left and base in Mesopotamia. Their strength at or in advance of their own immediate base, Baghdad, was not accurately known, but it seemed that they had not an overwhelming number of regular troops, and that their tribal contingents were of no great fighting value. Such were the circumstances which the British commander in Mesopotamia, and the War Office, had to face. Their decision with regard to the two central fronts was that they would not dis- seminate their Mesopotarnian troops in order to meet the enemy's projected offensive in Persia and on the Euphrates, but 'would instead assume the offensive themselves, and strike a resolute blow with concentrated forces on the line of the Tigris, thus threatening Baghdad, the centre from which the Turkish columns were operating. It was Expected that such a 164—3 264 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. stroke would automatically relieve the pressure on Persia and the Euphrates, and preserve quiet in all the districts for which the British were responsible. This, according to General Maude, was the principle which guided the subsequent operations of the army in Meso- potamia. It remains to show what these operations were. The precise situation on the Tigris was as follows. General Maude had now on this line a large and thoroughly well-equipped force. On the northern bank of the river this force was facing the Turkish entrenched position, at Sanna-i-Yat, from which the British had been three times repulsed. On the southern bank the British were established about 11 miles farther up stream, facing a new entrenched position, to which the Turks had fallen back when they retired from the Es Sinn line in May, 1916. This new position, as will be seen from the accompanying map, consisted of a line which, starting from the Tigris about three miles north-east of Kut, extended to the Hai stream about two miles south of Kut, and crossing the stream there, swept round to the Tigris again at a point about two or three miles behind or west of Kut. The enemy had pontoon bridges over the Tigris and Hai within this position. Further, he occupied with posts and mounted Arabs the line of the Hai for several miles south of the entrenched position, o that the only part of the position immediately in touch with the British was the eastern part, botween the Tigris and Hai. " Strategically," General Maude observed, " we were better situated than the enemy," for on both flanks, to the north and south of the Tigris, tho British were secured by difficult country from any attempt to work round them and strike at their communications ; while, if they were strong enough for offensive action, they were weli placed for striking from the couth at the Turkish line of communications behind Sanna-i-Yat. That line, it should be remembered, was the route along the north bank of the Tigris from Sanna-i-Yat to Kut, and thence to Baghdad, a distance of about 115 miles. In these circumstances the course of action upon which General Maude decided was in principle the same as that adopted by Generals Aylmer and Gorringe before Kut fell — namely, while containing the Turks at Sanna-i-Yat, to seize and secure a point on the Hai stream, then to clear the Turkish trench systems remaining on the south bank of the Tigris, and, finally, having worked round Kut by the south, to cross the Tigris at a point as far west as possible and sever the Turkish communications, when MAP ILLUSTRATING THE OPERATIONS AGAINST BAGHDAD. THE TIMES HISTOBY OF THE WAR. 265 any force remaining in Sanna-i-Yat would find its retreat endangered. It was a bold scheme, for during these operations the British force on the south bank of the Tigris would be at a considerable and increasing distance from the force on the north bank facing Sanna-i-Yat. But with plenty of land transport, and a preponderance in numbers, artillery, and air service, the British Commander felt himself strong enough to risk the separation of forces, which indeed his predecessors had risked before without such advantages, and on December 12 the necessary orders were given. A sufficient force, under Lieut. -General A. S. Cobbe, V.C., K.C.B., D.S.O., was to hold the enemy on the north bank of the Tigris and to picket and watch the part of the south bank in British possession while the rest of the Army, consisting of the Cavalry and the Infantry Divisions under Lieut.-General W. R. Marshall, K.C.B., were to seize by a surprise march, and entrench, a point on the Hai stream below the Turkish position already described. On the night of December 12-13 General Marshall's force completed its concentration on the south bank as far forward as possible, near the old Turkish line at Es Sinn. Here, on the 13th, General Maude joined him with the Headquarters of the Army, while General Cobbe bombarded the Turkish trenches on the north bank, so as to make the enemy believe that the British contemplated another attack upon Sanna-i-Yat. On the following night the advance began. From the first everything went as well as possible. The night was cold but fine, and the troops in high spirits at the prospect of meeting the enemy again after long months of bad weather and inaction. The march, thoroughly well managed, was carried out without con- fusion or delay. Early on the morning of the 14th, just before dawn, Cavalry and Infantry struck the Hai stream at the points selected, six or eight miles south of Kut. The enemy, expecting an attack on the north of the Tigris, was completely surprised, and the stream forming at this season no serious obstacle, the force was soon across it. There was not a foot of water in the bed, and the Turkish outposts made practically no resistance. The seizure of a point on the Hai having thus easily been effected, the force then changed direction to the northward, towards the enemy's entrenched position round Kut, the Infantry marching up the nearer or eastern bank of the stream, and the Cavalry clearing the further bank. The enemy still gave ground without much fighting, and the British horsemen, passing round Kut by the south, reached, or almost reached, the bank of the Tigris several miles further up the river at the " Shumran Bend.'' In the meantime two pontoon bridges were thrown across the Hai at Atab, in rear of the British troops, and the TURKISH TRENCHES AT SANNA-I-YAT. Photographed after their capture by the British. passage of the stream was made secure. The surprise march, therefore, had been entirely successful, and General Maude's first object had been attained. The weather remaining fair, the air service was now able to do useful work. The Turks had a bridge aoross the Tigris at Shumran, where the Cavalry had approached the river ; and on the night of the 14th, disliking the near presence of the British, they proceeded to remove the bridge farther up stream. This was the airmen's opportunity. Flying by moon- light, they caught the Turks in the act of towing away the sections, and dropped a shower of bombs, under which the pontoons broke adrift and were scattered. The enemy wan able to re-establish the bridge in a few days, but the 266 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. lesson given him was a wholesome one. It was not the first, for, according to the report of a Press correspondent,* " One of our pilots made a great sensation in the Turkish camp the other day when he looped the loop and cartwheeled over Kut in contempt of their 'Arclii balds. ' " Such a performance naturally impressed the Turk and the Arab. Nor had the pilots confined [Elliott & Fry, photo. LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR A. S. COBBE, V.C., K.C.B., One of the commanders of the forces which took Baghdad. themselves to " sky -larking." To quote from the same writer : Effective machine gun fire near the ground in coopera- tion with our cavalry has been the most remarkable development in the air. Our aeroplanes have become the terror of thieves, raiders, and irregular horse. It is impossible for them to get off with their loot in the morning. No nullahs are deep enough to hide them. Our machines, flying a few feet above ground, scour the whole desert, rake their hiding places with machine gun fire, scatter and pursue their cavalry, spreading panic among their horses, and round up retiring convoys while our cavalry follow up and bring back the spoil. Such was the result of an attempt to raid our came transport at Sheikh Saad. Of course an action of the kind would be impossible over the enemy's position, but onthelineof communicationsitismosteffeetive. Our flying men have discovered a short way with raiders. Then, on December 21, the aeroplanes dropped nearly a ton of bombs on the ship- ping and ammunition dumps at a Turkish advanced base 25 miles west of Kut. They * Mr. Elmund Candler. were extremely useful in Mesopotamia for another reason, that they were not affected by the mirage. From the upper air everything was seen clearly in its real form ; and correct information as to the movements of the enemy could be given to troops on the march or in the field. Western science had overcome the Jinn of the Desert, who for countless centuries had mocked the generations of men with his fantastic illusions. The British army waging war in these " faery lands forlorn " might well rejoice that its mastery of the air had been definitely established before the advance began, and that its airmen were no longer running the gauntlet, hunted by the more powerful machines of the enemy, as they had been during the siege of Kut. In this respect as in all others General Maude had been more fortunate than his predecessors. The work of the aeroplanes was supplemented by a " sausage " or kite balloon belonging to the Navy. Owing to its small power of elevation this balloon was not wholly superior to the effects of the mirage. "The only difference," Mr. Candler wrote, "is that the elusive shapes shimmer on a more distant horizon. On a hazy day Kut rises and falls like the folds of a concertina." Nevertheless the sausage did useful work, especially in clear weather, and it seems to have afforded at times wholesome diversion for the troops. To quote Mr. Candler again : One day the unoomely machine was caught in a sudden pust , broke her cable, and was seen to head for the open desert and the south. The event is referred to in the Force as the Balloon Stakes. A horse battery, a squad- ron of cavalry, a Pioneer regiment, and an aeroplane competed, and the official handicapper could not have arranged the start better. The battery were out for a drill order, the Hussars were cutting grass at a distance, the Pioneers had a forward place on the permanent way, the aeroplane was well away back in the hangars. All claim to have been the first past the post save the Pioneers, who were held up as an escort for the gun section, which halted to cover the " sausage " when she wobbled to earth. However, no escort was needed. The " Buddoos," who had been well " strafed " the day before by an aeroplane, made off at the first approach of this portentous air demon and fled across the Hai. The balloon was rolled up into a surprisingly small bundle by the gunners, and the return was safely accomplished in the teeth of a dust storm, an exceedingly uncomfortable end to what had proved an amusing and novel morning's parade. During the next few weeks, while General Cobbe continued his demonstrations against Sanna-i-Yat, on the north bank of the Tigris, General Marshall pushed on his attacks upon the enemy's positions on the south bank, pressing the Turks back into their trenches close to the river, and even driving in a wedge THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 267 to the river itself opposite Kut, so that the enemy's communications along this bank were severed. At the same time the British hold on the Hai was thoroughly consolidated by the building of additional bridges, the construction of roads, and the extension up to the stream of a light railway from the rear. Meanwhile the cavalry were raiding far to the westward, collecting supplies, harassing the Turkish communications, shelling the Turkish bridges over the Tigris, and even attempting, though without success, to bridge the river themselves. All this activity was somewhat hampered by heavy rain during the last week of the year and the first week of Januarv, 1917 ; for the along that bank were now interrupted, they could get across by boat from the north bank ; and it was soon found that they had been able to maintain, or to prepare secretly, some strong positions. One such position they held even below Kut, on the Khadairi Bend, where the river made a great loop to the northward ; and at the beginning of the year it was decided that this position must be taken, for it enabled the enemy to flood the land south of the river, and thus harass the land communications of the force on the Hai. The reduction of the position was entrusted to the troops under General Cobbe. It was not an easy task, for the Turks were in strength, and had three AN AEROPLANE UNDER REPAIR IN MESOPOTAMIA. Tigris rose after his manner, and large tracts of country were flooded. This made it difficult to maintain the running of the new railway, and imposed great exertions on the land transport. Nevertheless the seizure of the Hai stream had been of great value in facilita- ting the British advance, and it had done much to prevent the Turks from carrying out their projected offensive down the Euphrates. The troops on the Hai felt therefore that they had done useful work, and they spent their Christmas merrily, " singing late into the night." But, satisfactory as all this was, the Turks had by no means given up the intention of opposing the British on the south bank of the Tigris. Although their lateral communications lines of defence across the loop, connected by trenches, ravines, and sandhills, while their front, a mile and a half in length, had before it a stretch of flat bare ground swept from both sides by guns on the north bank. " The garrison," said General Maude, " had communication with the left bank by means of ferries, which, owing to the conformation of the river bend, were protected from direct rifle and machine gun fire," so long as the third line of defence was held. The operations began on January 5 and lasted for a fortnight, during which there was much digging of trenches under fire in heavy rain, and much hand-to-hand fighting, for the Turks as usual resisted stubbornly and made many strong counter-attacks. But they 268 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. AN AEROPLANE STATION ON THE TIGRIS. were steadily pushed back, the heavy artillery fire wrecking their trenches, and the British troops proving fully their match at close quarters. Englishmen of the Manchesters and other regiments, Sikhs, Mahrattas, Gurkhas, Jats, vied with one another in dash and tenacity ; and at last, finding themselves unable to hold their ground any longer, the Turks on the night of January 18-19 retired across the river under cover of rifle and machine gun fire from the north bank. They had fought really well. The corre- spondent before quoted, Mr. Candler, gave the following description of this affair : « The Turk in his defence has shown the old Plevna spirit. At Mahomed Abdul Hassan, with his back to the swollen Tigris, no bridge, and only a few coracles and pontoons to depend on for communications, he held his ground stubbornly. Gradually forced back into a narrower area, in which our barrage became more and more cor^entrated, his trenches pounded into a con- fused shambles by our guns, he emerged and counter- attacked with the utmost gallantry. And he did not quit until we had driven him into his last ditch. On our left, an attack on January 9 cleared Kut East mounds and 600 yards of the river front. Here there was some desperate hand-to-hand fighting with bayonet and bombs. A certain regiment of the Indian Army saw red, and translated their vision into fact. Two hundred Turkish dead were found within a radius of 300 yards the next morning. In the same engagement parties of a British regiment worked up to points In brushwood nullahs between the first and second Turkish lines. Down these nullahs the enemy counter-attacked in overwhelming force and enveloped a British bombing party. There was a thick fog, and the Turks, who had been lying up in the scrub, suddenly loomed out of the mist like a football crowd. Our men were pinned into a trench from which it was difficult to use their rifles, and their Lewis gun jammed with dirt ; but the small party hung on, cut off from all supports, and fought to a finish with bomb and bayonet until they were practically exterminated ; the Turkish doad found on the spot the next morning outnumbered ours. A small working party of Pioneers, a mere platoon under a young subaltern, found themselves with a handful of British troops in the crisis of the action. ANTI-AIRCRAFT GUN ON AN AMMUNITION BARGE. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 269 UEUT.-GENERAL SIR STANLEY MAUDE, K.C.B., In command of the British Forces in Mesopotamia. They held the breach, built up a block, and bombed the Turk lustily for boon* In the evening we still held this ground, and drove the Turks out of the section of the trench they had captured. But the Turk was far from beaten. The gallant remnants of the battalions who fought on. the 9th had been withdrawn, and fresh troops had been ferried over at night to take their place. At 2 p.m. on the 11th we were preparing for the final scene, when the Turks counter-attacked on both flanks and penetrated our line. They were held up by our rifle and machine-gun fire, and as they broke back, became a target for our guns. They lost heavily, but it was one of the most gallant sorties ever seen. The remnants of the Turkish force slipped away in their boats and coracles on the night of the 18th-19th. We thought they were digging themselves in deeper. As a matter of fact they were burying their dead. And in doing so they filled up their trenches, preparing their cemetery and a strategical line of retreat at the same time, so that our infantry had to advance in the morning without cover. We can afford to bear witness to our enemy's grit ; it would be a poor compliment to our fighting men if we did not. As a certain private expressed it : " Until he's got a crump on his cokernut the old Turk doesn't know when he is beat." The Turkish Commander congratu- lated the troops for their steadfastness in holding their ground. "The Corps Commander kisses' the eyes of all ranks and thanks them," was the expressive Eastern phrase, " I, too, kiss all their eyes and thank them." The Turkish losses had been very heavy, several hundred dead being found in their trenches, and many prisoners captured. The 270 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. loss of the British, though considerable, was less, for they advanced deliberately, under protection of a heavy gun fire. The result of this obstinate struggle was that the whole south bank of the Tigris was now definitely cleared of Turks up to their entrenched position round Kut. GURKHAS IN TRENCH NEAR KUT. This was a serious blow to the enemy, and a warning of worse things to come ; but another warning was now given him which, though less bloody in its form, impressed him perhaps even more deeply. On January 20, the day after the Khadairi Bend was taken, some British aeroplanes succeeded in reaching Baghdad itself, and dropped bombs upon the munition factory in the citadel. It was not known what damage resulted ; but the flash of the bombs in the heart of the ancient capital must have been to the Turks like the writing on the wall in Babylon of old, for behind the aeroplanes was the ad vane, ing British army. The Turkish entrenched position round the south of Kut, known as the Hai salient, was now to be reduced Operations to this end had been begun by General Marshall while General Cobbe was dealing with the Khadairi Bend, and on January 24 the British trenches were within striking distance of the enemy's first line. On January 25 the assault was delivered, and fighting went on until February 5. It was of [tfficiat photograph. GUFA (CORACLE), ON THE TIGRIS. the same obstinate character as in the last affair. The British pressed steadily forward, supported by a heavy artillery bombardment, but the enemy held an elaborate trench system, strengthened by artillery and machine guns in skilfully concealed places, and he fought with fierce resolution. General Maude's dispatch speaks of " violent hand-to-hand encounters," of bombing and bayonet attacks and repeated counter-attacks, of a gallant charge by the Royal Warwicks across the open, of assaults by the Cheshires, by two S,ikh battalions, by the Devons and a Gurkha battalion, of ceaseless work on the part of the Flying Corps, of heavy losses by the enemy in killed and prisoners, and of the capture of arms, ammunition, equipment, and stores. By the morning of February 5 almost the whole position was in British hands, and the Turks on the south bank of the Tigris had fallen back beyond Kut., The town itself, lying on the north bank, was still untaken. Though it could easily have been knocked to pieces by shell fire across the river, this would have done little good, as it would not have enabled the British to get over to the north bank. On that side they were still 15 miles or more distant, facing Sanna-i-Yat, as they had been throughout the year 1916. But the Turkish grip on the south bank was being torn away, mile after mile, and the defenders of Sanna-i-Yat now knew that their line of retreat, for a full day's march, v/as flanked by a superior British force, and protected only by the river, three or four hundred yards in breadth. Such a protection, though strong, was not so strong as to make them sure of the THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 271 safety of the line. It must have been an anxious situation, trying to the stoutest nerves. To their credit be it said, the Turks remained in their forward trenches without a sign of uneasiness, trusting their comrades behind them to hold the long river reaches and pre- vent their untiring assailants from breaking over in their rear. Immediately beyond Kut, to the westward, the Tigris forms two irregular horseshoes, the first pointing to the north, the second to the south, so that the whole stretch of river, perhaps eight or nine miles from east to west, is some- thing like a capital S laid on its side — m The horseshoe nearest Kut, known as the Dahra Bend, was described by General Maude as " bristling with trenches and commanded from across the river on three sides by hostile batteries and machine guns. ' ' The Turks held in strength the open end of the horseshoe, 5,500 yards broad, and some ground in front of it, their left resting on the liquorice factory, which, though to the south of the Tigris, had been formerly held by General Townshend as part of the Kut defences. The first thing to be done in the process of tearing away the Turkish grip from the south bank of the Tigris above Kut was evidently to expel the enemy from the Dahra Bend ; and the British troops were now brought into position for this object. They were thus facing north, with the liquorice factory and Kut on their right front, and the point of the second horseshoe, known as the Shumran Bend, on their left front. The operations began on February 6, and lasted until the 16th, a period of 10 days, during which there was, as usual, very severe fighting. No assault was made on the liquorice factory, as this would have entailed heavy loss, but the building was bombarded until " it was no longer a landmark " ; and meanwhile the Turkish advanced lines were attacked at a point farther west. During the assaults which followed, the King's Own, the Worcesters, the Buffs, a Gurkha Battalion, and an Indian Grenadier Battalion distinguished themselves ; the Turks were gradually pressed back ; and by February 13 they were finally enclosed in the Bend. Then their successive lines were one by one pierced and taken, the advance giving oppor- tunities for dashing attacks by other British and Indian corps, notably the Loyal North Lanca- INDIANS IN MESOPOTAMIA : SCENE AT A STORE. 272 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. PRISONERS. shires, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the South Wales Borderers, the Buffs, the Dogras, and the Gurkhas. The efforts of the infantry were not more creditable than "the close and ever- present support rendered by the artillery, whose accurate fire was assisted by efficient aeroplane observation." The Turks fought bravely, as always, but they were overmatched, and on February 15 all was practically at an end. The day's work was described in the following words* : Our vigorous offensive to-day has cleared the Dahra Loop of the enemy. The Turks driven hack on the Tigris have surrendered en masse, some 2,000 prisoners have been taken. At 7 a.m. a small body of infantry rushed the ruins an important point on our left flank, whence the Turks could enfilade our advance. The enemy suffered severely from machine-gun fire in their retirement. * Mr. Edmund Candler, The Times, February 21. CHESHIRES IN A TRENCH NEAR RUT. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 278 After a bombardment, our infantry swept across the open in irresistible waves, and with few casualties, con- sidering the extent of the ground covered. As we approached the enemy's trench, a group of Turks issued from the centre of the position and gave themselves up This first surrender was infectious, and was repeated all along the line. Prisoners cams forward in a stream, waving white rags. For nearly an hour the procession was continuous. The Turin turned their guns on them, but with little effect. "We do not wish to counter- attack,*' one of them explained, " You have too many guns," and during the day no serious counter-attack materialized. The limits of endurance of the enemy had been reached, and we pushed home our advantage. In tho afternoon we drove in another attack on the right flank of the position wo had taken. The garrison here had witnessed and the remainder of the garrison left in the loop sur- rendered. Points of crossing where the troops were being ferried across the Tigris were shelled by our guns day and night. With the close of this successful day the clear weather broke. Rain fell in torrents. The Turkish prisoners said, " We have been praying for this rain to hinder your advance. Now, at last, it has come too late." At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, our cavalry and infantry cobperating captured a point two miles south-west of our extreme left, securing us a line close to the Massag Nullah. During the last few days the Turks seemed to recog- nize that the battle for the right bank of the Tigris west of Kut was lost, and there were indications of a general retirement. On the 12th instant they withdrew their bridge at Shumran. PRISONERS RESTING ON THE ROAD TO BASRA. [Official photograph. the morning's surrender, and the issue was the same. As our infantry advanced, the Turks threw down their rifles and broke out of the trenches, an unarmed horde. The stream, of prisoners who came out to meet the regiment attacking almost outnumbered them. Our troops walked through them as they doubled past, running the gauntlet of their own guns. As they passed our trenches they were a most pacific-looking crowd, and kept up their white rag flapping until they were out of sight. Once free of the British zone they showed relief at being captured, by signs and cheerful gestures. One or two broke into a kind of tripping step not- far removed from a dance. Having carried these trenches, the infantry passed forward to the Tigris bank, thus isolating the Turkish extreme left, which also surrendered. The troops had made the two main attacks in the morning and after- noon, and then proceeded to clear a portion of the bend into which remnants of the enemy had retreated. At 6 p.m. the Turks were holding the rearmost trench on the river bank, and after dark this last foothold was rushed All through, the cooperation between our gunners and infantry has been splendid, the artillery barrage lifting like a switch as our troops advanced. Our guns have been equally effective as a screen to frontal attacks, in countering hostile batteries, and in covering our bombing parties working up communication trenches. It was a pleasant picture, very different from those which had to be drawn during the un- availing attempts by insufficient and ill- equipped columns to relieve Kut. The Turkish grip on the south bank of the Tigris had now been torn away for several miles beyond that point, perhaps for an indefinite distance. The exposed line of communications of the Turks still entrenched at Sanna-i-Yat on the north bank had thus been greatly lengthened, •274 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR ARRIVAL OF A HOSPITAL BARGE AT AMARA. and the strain on the enemy troops strung out along that line to defend the river was becom- ing more and more severe. Nevertheless the advanced position was still doggedly held, and on that bank the Turks had not gone back a foot since the unsuccessful assaults upon them nearly a year before. Their confidence in the impregnability of the position seemed as strong as ever. But in truth it was for them a danger- ous confidence, and the British Commander was in no way concerned to lessen it. On the contrary, the more tenaciously they clung to the advanced trenches the better his chance of finding some weak spot in the long line of the river behind them where he could strike the final blow. He had throughout directed Genera] Cobbe to maintain constant activity on the Sanna-i-Yat front, and now, feeling that the time had come for an attempt to cross tho river, he did all he could to draw the attention of the enemy to this quarter, while he prepared for a crossing as far to the west as possible. General Cobbe was therefore ordered to assault Sanna-i-Yat. The assault, which was delivered on February 17, was not successful, the Turks counter-attacking vigorously, and driving back a body of troops who had effected a lodgment in their trenches ; but the enemy's eyes had been effectually attracted to his advanced position, and for the next few days he was kept, by repeated bombardments, in expectation of another assault. Meanwhile General Maude, 25 miles away to the westward, was selecting his crossing place and making all possible preparations for the rapid bridging of the river. The point selected was the southern point of the Shumran Bend, close to the old site of the Turkish bridge ; and here troops, guns, and material were collected under cover of darkness. By February 22 all was ready. On that day Sanna-i-Yat was again assaulted, the Seaforths and a battalion of Punjabis, afterwards reinforced by an Indian rifle battalion and two frontier regiments, surprising the Turks and capturing their first two lines of trenches. There was hard fighting, and General Maude speaks in his dispatch of " the brilliant tenacity of the Seaforths throughout this day." The same night the crossing of the Tigris was effected. To deceive the enemy, and draw off his troops from the Shumran Bend, feints were made at other points. The Turks were allowed to become aware of elaborate preparations for bridging the river opposite Kut, with the result that they moved infantry and guns into the Kut peninsula, and could not retransfer them to Shumran in time to be of any use. A few miles farther down the river, at Magasis, a detachment of Punjabis, assisted by parties of sappers and miners and of the Sikh Pioneers, made a bold raid across the river, and returned with a captured trench mortar. The real crossing was dsscribed by General Maude in the following words : The site selected for the passage of the Tigris was at THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 275 the south end of the Shumran Bond, where the bridgo was to be thrown, and three ferrying places were located immediately downstream of this point. Just before daybreak on the 23rd the three ferries began to work. The first trip at the ferry immediately below the bridge site, where the Norfolks crossed, was a complete surprise, and five machine guns and some 300 prisoners were captured. Two battalions of Gurkhas, who were using the two lower ferries, were met by a staggering fire before they reached the left bank, but in spite of losses in men and pontoons they pressed on gallantly and effected a landing. The two downstream ferries were soon under such heavy machine gun fire that they had to be closed, and all ferrying was subsequently carried on by means of the upstroam ferry. By 7.30 a.m. about three com- panies of the Norfolks and some 150 of the Gurkhas were on the left bank. The enemy's artillery became increasingly active, but was vigorously engaged by ours, and the construction of the bridge commenced. The Norfolks pushed rapidly upstream on the left bank, taking many prisoners,whilst our machine gums on the right bank west of the Shumran Bend, inflicted casualties on tho^o Turks who tried to escape. The Gurkha battalions on. the right and centre were meeting with more opposition and their progress was slower. By 3 p.m. all three battalions were established on an east and west line one mile north of the bridge site, and a fourth battalion was being ferried over. The enemy attempted to counter- attack down the centre of the peninsula, and to reinforce along its western edge, but both attempts were foiled by the quickness and accuracy of our artillery. At 4.30 p.m. the bridge was ready for traffic. Hy nightfall, as a result of the day's operations, our troops had by their unconquerable valour and deter* mination forced a passage across a river in flood, 340 yards wide, in face of strong opposition, and had secured a position 2,000 yards in depth, covering the bridge head, while ahead of this line our patrols wera acting vigorously against the -'Demy's advanced detachments, who hari suffered heavy losses, including about 700 'prisoners' taken in all. The infantry of one division were across and another division was ready to follow. General Maude's dispatch went on : While the crossing at Shumran was proceeding, Lieut. -General Cobbe had secured the third and fourth lines at Sanna-i-Yat. Bombing parties occupied the fifth later, and work was carried on ail night making roads across the maze of trenches for the passage of the artillery and transport. On the following day the whole of the Sanna-i-Yat position was taken. The Turks had suffered severely in the assault. "Many trenches," says General Maude, " were choked with corpses, and the open ground where counter* attacks had taken place was strewed with them." Tt had no doubt, to use his words, been a fierce struggle in which the British infantry displayed great gallantry and endurance ; but on the last day the Turks doubtless knew that the river defence had fallen behind them, and in this knowledge their own defence apparently collapsed, for General Cobbe seems to have swept over their lines and cleared the whole north bank as far as Kut without much opposition. Thus fell the stronghold which had defied all the efforts of the British for more than a year, and with it fell Kut, which had been in the hands of the Turks ever since the surrender of General Townsliend's force. A HUT FOR DRESSING MINOR CASRS AT AMARA. 276 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Directly the Sanna-i-Yat lines had been taken the Naval gunboats, which for so many months had been unable to pass this point, were once more steaming up the river, and the same night a Naval detachment had run up the Union Jack in its old place over the town. The news of the recapture of Kut had a striking effect. The Times said : " British prestige in the Middle East has been brilliantly restored." None but men unacquainted with practical affairs sneer at the word prestige ; and undoubtedly the news went far to make up for the loss of reputation involved in the surrender of 9,000 British troops the year before. Nor was the effect confined to the Middle East. The commander of the French armies tele- graphed his warm and sincere congratulations on " this splendid feat of arms " ; and the defeat of the Turks made a great impression everywhere. Of its immediate practical result upon the course of the war in Asia there could be no question. Within a week the Turkish forces which had invaded Northern Persia were in full retreat for their own border, and the projected Turkish movements on the Euphrates were given up. In fact, the ambitious offensive of the enemy upon this central front in Asia had collapsed like a pricked bladder. The principle of a concentrated advance on the Tigris had already been justified. But the recapture of Kut, and even the foiling of the Turkish offensive, was by no means all that the advance contemplated, and the account of General Maude's operations to the westward must now be resumed. On February 24, while General Cobbe's force was marching into Kut, General Maude was striking from Shumran at the Turkish communications. The result may best be told in his own words : The successful passage of the stream at Shumran on February 23 was rapidly and effectively exploited during the following night, our patrols pushing forward boldly and maintaining close contact with the enemy. Early on the morning of the 24th the ridge across the neck of the Shumran peninsula was in our hands, and it became evident that the enemy was in full retreat in the direotion of Baghela, 24 miles west of Kut-el-Amara. The Turkish depots and stores at many points were in flames, and strong rearguards supported by artillery had been disposed to oppose our advance. By 8 a.m. a strong force of cavalry had crossed the Tigris, and at once manoeuvred to gain the flank of the Turkish lino of- retreat. Throughout the day both our oavalry and infantry were heavily engaged, inflicting severe, but as yet unknown, casualties on the enemy. Throughout the fighting our aeroplane squadrons have cooperated with invaluable results, freely using bombs and machine guns from minimum altitudes. In the two days* fighting we have captured, 1,730 prisoners, including at least one Turkish regimental SHIPPING TURKISH PRISONERS TO INDIA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 277 BREAKFAST ON A RIVER TRANSPORT. commander and four Germans, four field guns, 10 machine guns, three mine throwers, and a large quantity of rifles and ammunition. As the fighting has now become of an open character, and our forces are disposed on a wide front, it has not yet been possible to ascertain fully the Turkish losses in men and mat&riel. Thus not only had Kut been retaken but the main Turkish army in Mesopotamia was in rapid retreat, after being expelled with heavy loss from a strong position ; and the question was whether that retreat could be converted into a rout, with possible consequences of great importance, including another advance upon Baghdad itself. On February 25 the answer to this question began to be given. That morning, as the British infantry which had taken the Shumran Bend were preparing to move out of their bivouacs, the Naval gunboats came steaming up the river from Kut, with decks cleared for action. They were pushing forward to join in the pursuit of the retreating enemy, and as they went the infantry lined the bank and cheered. The airmen and the cavalry were already out on the same errand, and before long the Turks began to suffer severely from the combined attacks of these arms, supported or followed by the British guns and foot soldiers. They fought hard at points, under the cover of trenches and ravines, but they lost prisoners and guns, and found it more and more difficult to get away in respectable order'. On the 26th the gunboats, going full speed ahead, " came under very heavy fire at the closest range from guns, machine guns, and rifles," but they pressed on through it past the Turkish rearguard, doing considerable execution among the retreating columns, and capturing several vessels, among them the Sumana and H.M.S. Firefly, which, as related in a former chapter, had been taken by the Turks during General Townshend's retreat from Ctesiphon. Nevertheless the bulk of the enemy's troops did succeed in getting away with some semblance of cohesion. While they were being pressed from the rear and flanks on this day, a column of all arms tried by a forced march of 18 miles across an arid plain to cut them off farther up the river, but their retreat proved to be too rapid. " Stripping themselves of guns and other encumbrances the Turks just evaded our troops."* On the 27th again the Navy pressed its fiery pursuit, and the cavalry harassed the Turks until after dark, by which time they were " streaming through Azizieh in great confusion." They had been hunted half- way to Baghdad ; and the road over which they had come down triumphantly 15 months before, driving tefore them Townshend's over- matched division, was now strewn with the wreckage of their beaten army. li Since crossing the Tigris," wrote General Maude, " we had captured some 4,000 prisoners, of whom 188 were officers, 39 guns, 22 trench mortars, 11 machine guns, H.M.S. Firefly, Sumana (recaptured), Pioneer, Basra and several smaller vessels, besides 10 barges, pontoons, and * General Maude's dispatch of April 10. 278 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. A BRITISH MONITOR ON THE TIGRIS. other bridging material, quantities of rifles, bayonets, equipment, ammunition, and ex- plosives, vehicles and miscellaneous stores of all kinds. In addition, the enemy threw into the river or otherwise destroyed several guns and much war material." To supplement the reserved official story, the following extracts from an account* of the pursuit by an eye-witness, written at Azizieh, are valuable : Our gunboats and cavalry have turned the Turkish retreat into a rout. The Tigris fleet has been waiting fifteen months for this chanco. . . . After playing the role of heavy garrison artillery they had become cavalry, and their immediate work was to round up and capture the enemy's ships. Soon after passing Baghela, 46 miles upstream of Kut by river, they came in contact with the Turkish infantry, who lined the river and poured in a heavy fire ; but it was at the Nahr Kellah bend that the Turks made the most desperate efforts to hold up our fleet. The river here turns back on itself in a complete hairpin bend, so that passing vessels are under fire from three sides. Turkish artillery and machine-gun teams dug them- selves in at the apex of the bend, raked the gunboats as they were coming and going, and fired point blank at them as they passed. Our 12-pounder, pompoms, and machine-guns enfiladed the position as the vessels went by, pounding the Turkish trenches at 300 yards. It was a hot oornor for us. Both the quartermaster and pilot in the conning tower of one of the monitors were shot dead, and the captain entered just in time to prevent the vessel running full steam ashore. The plating was pitted with bullet holes, shells struck masts, ladders, and rigging, but not a gunboat was sunk. Swinging round the bend at 16 knots the fleet reached a point where the road comes in towards the river, and their machine-guns played havoc with the Turkish transport and gun teams. More enemy guns were abandoned. Our horse artillery got on to them at the same time, and afterwards we found the Turkish dead on the. road. There was every sign of panic and rout— bullocks still alive and unyoked entangled in traces of trench mortar carriages, broken wheels, cast equipment, over- turned limbers, hundreds of live shells of various calibres scattered over the country for miles. Either the gunners • Edmund Candler in The Time*. had cast off freight to lighten the limbers or they had been too rushed to close up the limber boxes. Every bend of the road told its tale of confusion and flight. Here there was a field post-office with Turkish money-orders circling round in the wind. There a brand-new M6reedes motor-car held up for want of petrol, cartloads of small-arm ammunition, hats, boots, oil drums ; things destroyed or half-destroyed. De- capitated carcases of stock which could not keep up with the rout and white columns of smoke ahead told of further destruction. There was enough litter by the road to keep the army in fuel for weeks. Then one saw a whole battery of 12-centimetre field guns with their breech blocks removed but buried too hastily near by and betrayed by an entrenchment tool. . . . When passing Baghela our fleet had not been fired at from the town, but a returning gunboat, with a crew of 15 all told, captured 150 prisoners. The place yielded a great quantity of bridging material, ordnance stores, ammunition carts, tents, telephone wire, trench mortars, and a number of abandoned guns, lying half in the water on the left bank. Other prisoners came in here at different pbints — many of them naked, having been stripped by marauders, who looted or killed the retreating army, and the Turks were afraid to be left without guards. One column of cavalry was occupied in rounding up prisoners, marking down guns, and finding and collecting enemy wounded. Several wounded British and Indian prisoners, who had been abandoned on the way, were also brought in. By this time the enemy was moving on a broad front , and as a disorganized rabble, no longer in organized columns of fours. At night the 1 vst remnants of an organized rearguard made one more ttand at Azizieh, and our cavalry dismounted and attacked them after dark. On September 21, 1917, was published a report by Captain Wilfrid Nunn, C.M.G., D.S.O., R.N., commanding the Tigris Flotilla, which gave further details regarding the part taken by H.M. ships in the pursuit of the Turkish Army. The following were passages from this report : On the forenoon of February 24, 1 moved up river with Tarantula, Moth, Mantis, Butterfly, Gadfly, and arrived at Kut-el-Amara at 9.30 p.m., where I landed and hoisted the Union Jack. The town was deserted and in ruins. Early on the THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. •279 morning of the 25th I moved, on up river and com- municated with our troop* near Shumran. Floating mines had been seen in the river, but were easily avoided. During the morning I received a message from the Army Commander asking me to cooperate in pursuing the retreating Turkish Army, and I pressed on up river. We were abreast of our leading infantry at about 9.30 a.m and in sight of the Turkish rearguard, on which we at once opened with rapid fire, inflicting heavy casualties. This the enemy soon returned, opening an accurate fire on us with field batteries and several 5-9 howitzers from a prepared position among the sand hills in the neigh- bourhood of Imam Mahdi. Our troops were advancing, and some of our field artillery considerably relieved the situation by the rapidity with which they came into action. . . . The enemy evacuated their position during the night, and we pushed on with the Army in pursuit on the morning of February 26. It soon became evident that the Turkish Army was much demoralized, and I received a message by W T from General Sir F. S. Maude during the forenoon to push on and inflict as much damage as possible. We proceeded at full speed in Tarantula, leading Mantis and Moth, H.M. ships Gadfly and Butterfly following at their utmost speed. . . . The Turks retreating on the left bank were becoming more numerous ; they now had our cavalry division in pursuit of them on their right flank and the gunboats on their left. The enemy were firing at us from three directions, and on approaching Nahr Kollah bend I observed a large body of enemy on the left bank at the head of the loop in tho river, and gave orders for all guns to be fired o» them. They proved to be a strong rearguard, and opened on us with field and machine-guns and heavy rifle fire. At this close range there were casualties in all ships, who were all hit many times, but our guns roust have caused immense damage to tho enemy, as we were at one time firing six-inch guns into them at about 400 to 500 yards. Besides the Turkish artillery there were a large rumber of enemy with rifles and machine-guns behind the bend at a range of about 100 yards from tho ships. In the act of turning round the bend shots came from all directions, and casualties of Moth, which came last in the line, were particularly severe. There were casualties in all three ships. Moth, which was magnificently handled by Lieutenant Commander Charles H. A. Cartwright, who was himself wounded, had three officers wounded — all severely — out of four, and two men killed and 18 wounded, which is about 50 per cent, of her complement. She was hit eight times by shell — one from ahead hit the fore side of stokehold casing, burst and pierced the port boiler, both front and back, but luckily missed the boiler tubes. The after compartment was holed below the water line, and the upper deck and funnels of all ships riddled with bullet*. The quartermaster and pilot in the conning tower of H.M.S. Mantis were killed, but the prompt action of her captain* saved her from running ashore. I consider that the excellent spirit of the men and skilful handling of the ships by their captains in a difficult and unknown shallow river were most praiseworthy. We thus passed the enemy rearguard, and large numbers of the retreating Turkish Army were on our starboard beam. I opened rapid fire from all guns * Commander Bernard Buxton. GUNS CAPTURED FROM THE TURKS BY GENERAL TOWNSHEND'S FORGE AT KUT IN SEPTEMBER, 1915. Lost in the surrender in 1916 and re-taken under General Sir Stanley Maude in 1917. 2S0 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. CAPT. WILFRID NUNN, C.M.G., la command of the British Flotilla on the Tigris, 1917. that would bear (this included heavy and light guns, pompoms, Maxims, and rifles), and at this short range we did enormous execution, the enemy being too de- moralized to reply, except in a very few cases. We were also able to shoot down some of their gun- teams, which they deserted, and several guns thus fell into the hands of our forces when going over this ground. The vessels ahead were now in easy range, and several small craft stopped and surrendered, including the armed tug Sumana, which we had left at Kut during the siege, and had been captured at the fall of that place. . . . Darkness now came on, and I considered it inadvisable to go on farther, as we were far ahead of our troops. . . . We remained in the vicinity the following day, and I sent the Moth back to Basra for repairs, and the prizes down river. The advance of our Army continued, and we reached Aziziyah on March 1. Here the Turks had abandoned more guns and again retreated. It may be observed that the Turks were not more exact in their military bulletins than the Germans — or Napoleon — for the Turkish official report of February 28 was : " No event of im portance has occurred on the various fronts. 7 ' At Azizieh the pursuit was broken off for the time, ''to reorganize our extended line of communications preparatory to a further advance." Much as they had suffered in their retreat, the Turks had not been destroyed as a military body, or so completely routed that it would have been possible to keep them in flight with cavalry and gunboats alone ; while for an advance in strength with the whole of the infantry and all the necessaries of modern war some delay was inevitable. General Maude could not afford to risk another Ctesi- phon by pushing on with anything less. For a full week, therefore, the advanced troops remained at Azizieh. Then General Cobbe's force had closed up, supplies and ammunition had been collected, and all was ready for a methodical advance. On March 5 it began. General Marshall's THE STEAMSHIP BASRA, WITH BARGES ON EITHER SIDE, FULL OF TURKISH WOUNDED CAPTURED BY THE NAVY BETWEEN KUT AND BAGHDAD. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 281 corps was in front, General Cobbe's in support. The leading column made a long day's march, and the cavalry reached Lajj, 25 miles up- stream, half-way between Azizieh and Bagh- dad. Here, says General Maude, " the Turkish rearguard was found in an entrenched position very difficult to locate by reason of a dense dust storm that was blowing, and of a network of nalas (ravines) with which the country is intersected, The cavalry was hotly engaged with the enemy in this locality throughout the day, and took some prisoners. A noticeable feature of the day's work was a brilliant charge, mounted, by the Hussars straight into the Turkish trenches. The enemy retreated during was unoccupied. But on the following day the British advanced guard came into contact with the enemy, and it was found that they were holding the line of the Diala river, which rims into the Tigris from the north at a point about eight miles below Baghdad. The Turks had destroyed the bridge over the Diala, and the ground in front of their position being absolutely flat, with no cover, it was thought better not to attack at once. The force was therefore halted until sunset. Then followed some severe fighting. The line of the Diala was not held by the Turks in great strength, the bulk of their retreating troops bnving apparently been posted in TRANSPORTING RAILWAY ENGINES UP THE TIGRIS. the night." It was a fine performance. One Hussar regiment, after taking 100 prisoners in a first charge, galloped on, it is said, into a mass of Turks firing from concealed trenches, and tried to ride over them too, some of the men leaping their horses into the trenches and riding along them. Having lost many officers and men killed or "wounded, the Hussars retired a short distance ; then, leaving their horses, they advanced again, on foot, to save their wounded, who were being stripped and murdered. Many of these were brought off under a heavy fire. On March 6 the cavalry pushed on through another dust storm, and passed Ctesiphon, the scene of General Townshend's battle. The Turkish position, though strongly entrenched, entrenched positions on the right bank of the Tigris, to resist an attack upon Baghdad from the south and south-west ; but the Diala was nevertheless a formidable obstacle. Its breadth was 120 yards, and the farther bank was " defended by numerous guns and machine guns skilfully sited."* To force a passage in boats was therefore no easy matter, even after nightfall, especially as a bright moon was shining. Two attempts were made, but with- out success. The first pontoon launched was " riddled by rifle and machine-gun fire." Then five pontoons were launched, under cover of artillery and machine guns, but they were all stopped by a withering fire and floated down stream into the Tigris, where they were after- •Genoral Maude's dispatch. 282 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. wards recovered with a few w^ounded survivors on board. An unofficial description* of the incident was as follows : The attack on the night of the 7th was checked, but the quality of courage shown by our men has never been surpassed in war. Immediately the first pontoon was lowered over the ramp, the whole launching party was shot down in a few seconds. It was bright moonlight, and the Turks had concentrated their machine-guns and rifles in the houses on the opposite bank. The second pontoon had got into the middle of the stream when a terrific fusillade was opened on it. The crew of five rowers and ten riflemen were killed, and the boat floated down the stream. A third got nearly across, but was bombed and sank. All the crew were killed, but there was no holding back. The account of the Diala fight goes on as follows : On the second night the attempt was pursued with equal gallantry. This time the attack was preceded by a bombardment. Registering by artillery had been impossible on the first day in the speed of the pursuit. It was the barrage that secured us the footing, not the shells, but the dust raised by them. This was so thick that you could not see your hand in front of your face. It formed a curtain behind which ten boats were able to cross. Afterwards, in clear moonlight, when tho curtain of dust had lifted, the conditions of the night before were re-established. Succeeding crossing parties were exterminated, and pontoons drifted away, but a footing was secured. The dust served us well. The crew of one boat which lost its way, during the barrage, were untouched, but they did not make the bank in time. [Official pholoer />* PONTOON BRIDGE ACROSS THE TIGRIS NEAR BAGHDAD. The orders still held to secure the passage. Crew after crew pushed off to an obvious and certain death. The third crossing party was exterminated in the same way. and the pontoons drifted out to the Tigris to float past our camp in the daylight with their freight of dead. The drafts who went over were raised by volunteers from other battalions in the brigade. These and the sappers on the bank share the honour of the night with the attacking battalion. Nothing stopped them save the loefl of . the pontoons. A Lancashire man remarked: *' It is a bit hot here, let's try higher up," but the gallant fellows were reduced to their last boat. Another regiment, which was to cross higher up, was delayed, as the boats had to be carried nearly a mile across country to the stream. After the failure of the bridge- head passage the second crossing was cancelled, but the men were still game. The attempt had been made near the site of the broken Turkish bridge. • R Imund Candler, The Time*, March 26, 1917. Directly the air cleared a machine-gun was opened on them, and the rowers were shot down, and the pontoon drifted back to the shore. A sergeant called to volunteers to get the wounded out of the boat, and a party of 12 men went over the river bank. Every man of them, as well as the crew of the pontoon, was killed. Some 60 men had got over and these joined up and started bombing along the bank. They were soon heavily pressed by the Turks on both flanks, and found themselves between two woods. Here they discovered a providential natural position. A break in the river bund had been repaired by a new bund built in a half- moon on the landward side. This formed a perfect lunette. The Lancashire men, surrounded on all sides but the river, held it through the night all the next day, and the next night, against repeated and determined attacks. These attacks were delivered in the dark, or at dawn. The Turks only attacked once in the daylight, as our machino-guns on the other bank swept the ground in front of the position. Twenty yards west of the lunette there was a thin grove of mulberries and palms. Tho pontoon was most vulnerable on this side, and it was here THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. •2b8 that the Turkish counter-attacks were most frequent. Our Intense intermittent artillery fire, day and night, on the wood afforded sonic protection. The whole affair was visible to our troops on the south side, who wero able to make themselves heard by shouting. Attempts to get a cable across with a rocket for the passage of ammunition failed. At midnight of the 9th and 10th the Turks were on top of the parapet, but were driven back. One more determined rush would hav3 carried the lunette, but the little garrison, now reduced to 40, kept their hoads and maintained cool control of their fire. A corporal was seen searching for loose rounds and emptying th« bandoliers of the dead. In the end they were reduced almost to their last clip and one bomb, but we found 100 Turkish dead outside the redoubts when they were relievod at daylight. The crossing on the night of the 9th-I0th was entirely successful. With our cavalry and two columns of in- fantry working round on the right bank (of the Tigris ? ) the Turks were in danger of being cut off, as at Sanna- i-Yat. Before midnight they had withdrawn their machine-guns, leaving only riflemen to dispute the passage. The crossing upstream was a surprise. We slipped through the Turkish guard. He had pickets at both ends of the river salient, where wo dropped our pontoons. But he overlooked essential points in it, which offered, us dead ground uncovered by posts up and down stream. Consequently our passage here cost us no lives. The other ferry near the bridge was also crossed with slight loss, owing to a diversion upstream. The Turks, perceiving that thrir rlank was b;*ing turned, offected a general retirement of the greater part of their garrison between the two ferries. Some 250 in all, finding us bombing down on both flanks, surrendered. The upper crossing was so unexpected that one Turk was actually bayonated as he lay covering the opposit ■ bank with his rifle. By 0.30 on the morning of the 10th the whole brigade had crossed. This account seems to differ in one or two details from the official story, but it gave a graphic description of a fine feat of arms, and showed incidentally what a formidable obstacle a comparatively small river can be to a pur- suing force. General Maude's dispatch showed that the East Lancashires and Wiltshires were the first across the Diala on the 10th, and that they l * linked up with the detachment of the Loyal North Lancashires which had so heroically held its ground there." General Marshall's force had more fighting after crossing the river, and some hundreds of the enemy were killed: but the Turks now seem to have lost heart. On the night of March 10 they abandoned their last position covering Baghdad on this bank of the Tigris, and it was at once occupied by the British troops. While this three days' fight was proceeding on the north bank of* the Tigris, the cavalry and General Cobbe's force had crossed to the south bank, and moved against the enemy THE BRIDGE OF BOATS AT BAGHDAD. The picture shows Turkish artillery crossing. 284 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. BAGHDAD : THE JUMA OR MOSQUE OF ABD-EL-KADIR. troops covering Baghdad on that side. Then- advance was much impeded by ravines and water cuts ; and the Turks, aided by a gale and .blinding dust storm, offered some resist- ance. But it was not very obstinate, and on March 10 they gave up the attempt to defend Baghdad, retiring past the city t awards the north-west. It may be observed here that the left and right banks of the Tigris could no longer be correctly described as the north and south banks, for near Baghdad the river bends upward to the north and the city lies to east and west of it. General Cobbe's force was in touch with the western part of the town. The British troops had now fought their way to the walls of Baghdad on both banks, and before dawn on March 11a general advance was ordered. General Cobbe's force at once occupied the Baghdad railway station and adjoining parts of the city on the right bank, while General Marshall pushed on rapidly and entered the part lying on the left bank. There was no display, nothing of the nature of a triumphal entry, but as the victorious troops, dirty and unshaven, tramped in along the unmetalled road, between palm groves and orange gardens, " crowds of Baghdadis came out to meet us — Persians, Arabs, Jews, Armenians, Chaldeans, and Christians of divers sects and races. They lined the streets, balconies, and roofs, hurrahing and clapping their hands. Groups of school children danced in front of us, shouting and cheering, and the women of the city turned out in their holiday dresses." While the troops were occupying the city the gunboat flotilla, with minesweepers ahead, proceeded up the river, General Maude and his Staff going with the flotilla and arriving at the citadel soon after the troops. So fell Baghdad, the immediate base of Turkish warfare in Persia and Mesopotamia, and one of the most famous cities in all the East. If the recapture of Kut had produced a great effect, it need hardly be said that the fall of Baghdad made an impression vastly greater. In Germany it was described with unusual frankness as " a deplorable event," and on the Bosphorus the news of it was received with something like consternation, while among the Allies and all who sympathized with them it was hailed as a striking victory and an auspicious opening to the campaigns of 1917. Indeed, considering that the Asiatic theatre of war was after all a secondary one, and that the capture of an Asiatic city could hardly have any material bearing on the issue of the European conflict, the weight attached to the British success seemed almost disproportionate. But it must be remembered that the conception of a great advance eastward by way of Turkey in Asia was a fundamental part of the German scheme of world-politics, and that the seizure by Great Britain of the eastern end of the Constantinople-Baghdad railway meant a heavy blow to this scheme. Of course, neither the Turks nor the Germans regarded the disaster as irretrievable. It would have been surprising if they had done so. They doubtless resolved that the British should yet be ejected from Mesopotamia. However this might be, the British, having taken Baghdad, at once proceeded to con- THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 285 solidate their position as far as possible. Their first act on the morning of March 11 was to destroy the German wireless installation, which it was reported " had just been completed at snormous cost. It was one of the most powerful installations of their system, and was in direct communication with Berlin." Possibly the earliest definite information that Baghdad was in British hands arrived at Berlin in this rather startling way. Various measures, political and military, were taken to establish order in the town, to reassure the population of the country, and to guard against any mischief on the part of the beaten Turkish forces. For a fortnight or more before the fall of Baghdad the Turks had systematically plundered its inhabitants. Large sums of money had been extorted from them, and everything of value that was portable had been carried off. "The Turks have taken everything," a Jewish Rabbi said, " even the pigeons on the Mosques are getting thin." And when the last train for Constantinople steamed out of the Baghdad railway station at two o'clock on the morning of March 1 1 , bearing a rush of Turkish passen- gers, the Kurds and other rabble of the city slums swarmed out to loot the wealthier quarters. For seven hours shops and houses were gutted in all directions, and even the Turkish hospital was not' spared. The robbers seized upon " stores, bedding, medicine and drugs. The personnel let in their friends and shared the spoil." Happily the British troops arrived in time to save the patients from being turned out of their beds, and summary steps were taken to put an end to the general orgy of looting. Very soon the city was in perfect order, and the shops began to open again, the trading classes here as elsewhere showing complete confidence in British justice. Jews, Arabs, Armenians — such of the Armenians as had escaped from recent massacres — all alike seemed unfeignedly glad to be rid of the Turks, who had never been for them anything more than a horde of foreign oppressors. Meanwhile General Maude in his capacity as the " political" chief, issued to the people of the Baghdad Province a proclamation assuring them of the goodwill of the British Government and its Allies, and of their desire for the prosperity of the country. As an example of the varied work which falls to a British commander in the East, and as an indication of the attitude of the British Government, the proclamation was interesting. It ran as follows : "To the People of Baghdad Vilayet. " In the name of my King, and in the name of the peoples over whom he rules, I address you as follows : " Our military operations have as their object the defeat of the enemy and the driving of him from these territories. In order to com . plete this task, I am charged with absolute and supreme control of all regions in which British troops operate, but our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. " Since the days of Halaka your city and your BAGHDAD : KHALIL PASHA STREET. Built by the Turks to commemorate the Capture of Km. •286 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. < Q X o < 35 o H Z X ■-* z a X as 33 a SB THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. '287 lands have been subject to the tyranny of strangers, your palaces have fallen into ruins, your gardens have sunk in desolation, and your forefathers and yourselves have groaned in bondage. Your sons have been carried off to wars not of your seeking, your wealth has been stripped from you by unjust men and squandered in distant places. " Since the days of Midhat the Turks have talked of reforms, yet do not the ruins and wastes of to-day testify the vanity of those promises ? " It is the wish not only of my King and his peoples, but it is also the wish of the great nations with whom he is in alliance, that you should prosper even as in the past, when your lands were fertile, when your ancestors gave to the world literature, science, and art, and when Baghdad city was one of the wonders of the world. " Between your people and the dominions of my King there has been a close bond of interest. For 200 years have the merchants of Baghdad and Great Britain traded together in mutual profit and friendship. On the other hand, the Germans and Turks, who have despoiled you and yours, have for twenty years made Bagh- dad a centre of power from which to assail the power of the British and the Allies of the British in Persia and Arabia. Therefore the British Government cannot remain indifferent as to what takes place in your country now or in the future, for in duty to the interests of the British people and their Allies the British Government cannot risk that being done in Baghdad again which has been done by the Turks and Germans during the war. " But you people of Baghdad, whose com- mercial prosperity and whose safety from oppression and invasion must ever be a matter of the closest concern to the British Govern- ment, are not to understand that it is the wish of the British Government to impose upon you alien institutions. It is the hope of the British Government that the aspirations of your philosophers and writers shall be realized, and that once again the people of Baghdad shall flourish, enjoying their wealth and sub- stance under institutions which are in con- sonance with their sacred laws and their racial ideals. In Hedjaz the Arabs have expelled the Turks and Germans, who oppressed them, and proclaimed the Sherif Hussain as their King, and his lordship rules in independence and freedom, and is the ally of the nations who are fighting against the power of Turkey and Germany ; so, indeed, are the noble Arabs, the Lords of Koweit, Nejd, and Asir. " Many noble Arabs have perished in the cause of Arab freedom, at the hands of those alien rulers, the Turks, who oppressed them. It is the determination of the Government of Great Britain and the great Powers allied to Great Britain, that these noble Arabs shall not have suffered in vain It is the hope and desire TURKISH OFFICER PRISONERS. of the British people and the nations in alliance with them, that the Arab race may rise once more to greatness and renown among the peoples of the earth, and that it shall bind itself together to this end in unity and concord. " O people of Baghdad ! Remember that for twenty-six generations you have suffered under strange tyrants who have ever endeavoured to set one Amb house against another in order that they might profit by your dissensions. This policy is abhorrent to Great Britain and her Allies, for there can be neither peace nor prosperity where there is enmity and mis- government. Therefore, I am commanded to invite you, through your nobles and elders and representatives, to participate in the manage- ment of your civil affairs in collaboration with the political representatives of Great Britain who accompany the British Army, so that you may be united with your kinsmen in north, east, south, and west in realizing the aspirations of your race. "March 19, 1917." ^s THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. The British subaltern who had for months been hunting the light-fingered " Buddoo " on the line of communications, and had seen what sometimes happened to wounded men, probably had his own views about the noble Arab, and expressed them in picturesque language. But the proclamation no doubt served a useful purpose. While these arrangements were being made to restore order in Baghdad and to enlist the sympathies of the population, the British troops were pushing on beyond Baghdad in order to drive away the remains of the Turkish forces and make all secure. To the north, up the right bank of the Tigris, the Turks were pursued without delay by a force under General Cobbe, so that their troops might be further disorganized, and that control might be obtained over the river " bunds " or em- bankments, here as elsewhere an important object. This operation involved " continuous marching and stiff fighting, almost without a break, for two nights and a day," but at a point about 20 miles up the line the Turks made their last stand. They were decisively beaten, the Black Watch and Gurkhas dis- tinguishing themselves by a brilliant charge, and the fugitives straggled away far to the northward. On the other side of the Tigris, up the line of the Diala, another column was sent out to meet the Russian forces coming from Persia, and to cooperate with them in disposing of the Turkish troops which were retiring before them. In this direction there was some severe fighting, the Turks from Persia and those on the left bank of the Tigris combining for an attack on our troops ; but they were driven off with heavy loss, and on April 2 the British and Russians joined hands. To the west of Baghdad a third column was sent out to occupy a point on the Euplujates, which here bends in towards the Tigris, and prevent any further trouble on that side. Thus in all directions, for a considerable though uncertain distance, the country round Baghdad was now free of the enemy. General Maude's cam- paign on the Tigris had come to a close, and a thoroughly successful close. During the period of that campaign there was practically no fighting upon the two flanks of the Me8opotamian position. At Nasrieh on the Euphrates the local tribes gave some trouble in the autumn of 1916, but this was promptly and effectually suppressed, 1,200 of the tribes- men being killed or wounded on the only occasion when they made a stand. To the eastward, on the Karun river, nothing important occurred. It may be added that after the actions above mentioned to the north of Baghdad the Turkish forces in that quarter gave no further trouble of a serious nature. The summer of 1917 passed quietly, and with the summer ended the third phase of the war in Mesopotamia. It was very creditable to British arms. The second phase, dominated by the necessity for relieving Kut, without delay, at any cost, and by the lack of river transport, had been one record of failure — of gallant but practically hopeless attacks by an insufficient and badly equipped force upon strong entrenched positions ; of great and unnecessary suffering inflicted upon British troops by departmental mismanagement ; of a long and tenacious, but in the end unsuccessful, defence by a gradually starving garrison ; of a surrender which though inevitable sent a whole British Division into captivity, and was deeply humiliating to the pride of the nation. The third phase, on the contrary, had been one of careful and complete preparation ; of a confident and almost un- checked advance by an army ample in numbers and thoroughly well found in all respects ; of a victory which shattered the enemy's plan for a great offensive': and, at the end, of an undisputed entry into his Asiatic capital. It is true that the British Com- mander in the later phase, more fortunate than his predecessors, was only called upon to per- forin a task in which success might fairly be expected ; but this in no way lessens the credit due to him and the War Office for a thoroughly good piece of work. It is true, also, that the success obtained had no great influ- ence on the main issue of the war, no decisive influence even on the Asiatic issue. The possibility of a renewed offensive by the Asiatic army of the Turks was still to be appre- hended — possibly on the same lines as before. Mesopotamia and Persia had by no means been made permanently secure from Turkish attacks. Still, the campaign was one which gave the nation much cause for satisfaction, and some cause for pride. CHAPTER CCII. GREECE AND THE WAR, 19 14-16. History of Modern Greece — The Crown and the Protecting Powers — The Balkan Wars and the Alliance with Serbia — Policy of M. Venizelos — King Constantine's Opposition — Politics and Diplomacy in 191o — The Refusal to apply the Treaty with Serbia — Pro- German Manoeuvres — Surrender of Fort Rupel — Crisis of June, 1916 — Entente Negotia- tions with Constantine's Ministers — The National Defence Movement — M. Venizet.os's Salonika Government — The Entente still Hesitates — Allied Troops Attacked — The " Battle of Athens." ON the outbreak of war in August, 1914, the position of few countries seemed clearer than that of Greece. Historical, sentimental, economic, and political reasons alike ranged her on the side of the Entente Powers as definitely as they estranged her from that of the Germanic Alliance. During the dark days of Turkish rule it was from Russia, France, and England that the first hope of deliverance came to the oppressed Greek nation. It was the Government of the Empress Catherine II. that instigated the first attempts at revolution in Greece. When finally, in 1821, the Greek people as a whole rose in rebellion to fight for their independence, it was French and British officers who volunteered to help them in the struggle. Colonel Fabvier led the Greek insurgents in the defence of Athens and the ineffectual invasion of Chios. It was the troops of General Maison which cleared Ibrahim's hordes out of the Peloponnesus. Lord Byron and Lord Cochrane, Sir Richard Church and Captain Hastings are some of the Englishmen who have always been remembered in Greece as champions of the Greek cause in its darkest hour. The Governments of the three Powers, though slow to act owing to their mutual jealousies, can at least claim the credit of con- cluding the struggle by the destruction of the Vol. XIII.— Part 165 Turkish fleet at Navarino. The Protocols of 1827 and 1829 were finally clinched by that of February 3, 1830, which declared that Greece should be an independent Stiite governed by a hereditary monarch. The candidate for the throne finally selected by the three protecting Powers was Prince Otto of Bavaria, a State whose minor importance at the time could satisfy the three Powers that its influence would be no danger to the young monarchy. A treaty was concluded in 1832 by Bavaria with the three Powers, by which Otto became " King of Greece " under their guarantee. The new King brought to Greece an entourage of Bavarian officers and civil servants. They did much to organize and strengthen the young kingdom, but the autocratic and bureaucratic character of King Otto's government soon pro- voked the democratic instincts of his subjects, and led to the bloodless revolution of 1813 and the granting of a constitution to the Greek nation. For 20 years more Otto ruled over Greece without winning the approval, though in many cases he gained the love, of his subjects. A second revolution, in 1 862, deposed him, and the protecting Powers were again called on to find a sovereign. Their final choice was Prince William of Denmark, who assumed the Crown under the guarantee of the three Powers that Greece should henceforth be governed " constitutionally." George I., " King of the 289 290 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Hellenes," as he significantly styled himself, ruled for 50 years over his adopted country, without.indeed.avoiding either internal troubles or military defeats, but his tact and real affec- tion for his people on more than one occasion saved his throne, and enabled him to leave it greatly strengthened to his son Constantuie. On more than one occasion during his reign the three Powers showed their interest in the country whose independence they had estab- lished. In 1881 they secured the incorpora- tion of Thessaly in the Greek kingdom. In 1897 they intervened to prevent Turkey ex- ploiting to the full her military victories in the field. In 1898 they granted a loan to the almost bankrupt country. In fact, there was hardly a doubt to any thinking Greek that the future of his country was intimately bound up with friendship with the three protecting Powers. To them also he was bound by sentimental reasons. With Russia he was linked by the tie of the common Orthodox faith. If Russian designs on Constantinople occasionally came athwart the dream of once more recovering Santa Sofia for the Greek world, yet no Greek could forget that Russia had in the past repeatedly championed his Church and his nation against their Turkish oppressors. For England Greek sympathies were still warmer. In spite of occasional disagreements, such as the famous Don Pacifico incident of 1850, and the fear in. later years that British sympathies were unreasonably pro-Turk and pro-Bulgar, there was no Greek but felt that British policy towards Greece was animated by the friendliest feelings and the wish to be just. The cession of the Ionian Islands in 1863 was a convincing proof of British Phil-Hellenism. Moreover, the British traditions of Liberalism and demo- GREECE AND HER NEIGHBOURS. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. •291 ELECTION SCENE IN ATHENS. cratic institutions were widely spread in Greece, largely owing to the considerable Greek colonies in the United Kingdom and the British Empire. Above all, Greece felt with Britain the common bond that both Powers were predominantly interested in overseas trade and the maintenance of the " Open Door " in the Mediterranean. But Greek enthusiasms were still more centred on France. The tradition of the French Revolution, which had largely inspired the Greek War of Independence, lay at the foundation of Greek constitutional movements in the nineteenth century. French culture was both the most widely spread and the most sympathetic to educated Greeks, and the ready help, alike intellectual and financial, which France was always willing to offer was an earnest of the interest which she felt in upholding a strong Greece. These historical and sentimental reasons were reinforced by strictly practical ones. Greek merchants whose share in the trade of the Turkish Empire was preponderant had no fear of English and French rivals, whereas they had the greatest reason to dread the influx of German-Jewish agents into the Turkish Empire which German political predominance in the Near East would certainly entail. It had long been clear that it was the design of the Austro-Hungarian Government to force its way through the Balkans to Salonika. The rapprochement between Vienna and Sofia, which after 1908 could no longer be denied, meant that the Germanic Empires must ipso facto be suspicious of, and suspected by, the Greek nation. Germany as the ally of Turkey, Bulgaria, and Austria- Hungary, could not look for, and indeed did not look for, the friendship of Greece. The Entente Powers had not only built up the financial foundations of modern Greece ; they had also organized her fighting resources. British naval commissions trained Greek sailors and organized the Greek Navy. French military officers turned the Greek Army into the fine fighting machine it proved itself in 1912 to be. Connexions with the Entente Powers every year became closer and more friendly. After the Treaty of Bukarest Greece's political orientation became still more definite. In the interest of the equilibrium of the Balkan Peninsula Greece, Serbia, and Rumania had united to check the Imperialist ambitions of Bulgaria, goaded as these were by the diplo- matic agents of the Ballplatz. The Peace of Bukarest left Greece in close alliance with Serbia and in almost open alliance with Rumania. The conditions of the alliance with 165—2 292 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Serbia must be dealt with in another place, but it was a European axiom that Greek and Serbian policy were closely inter-related. The Treaty of Bukarest had not indeed absolutely cleared up the Balkan question, for, though Bulgarian ambitions had for the moment met with a severe reverse, Greek territorial claims, while recognized by the great Powers, had not been fully admitted by the Porte. The Austrian ultimatum to Serbia found M Yenizelos, the Greek Prime Minister, whose meteoric career during the past three year.s had astonished Europe and filled his own countrymen with enthusiasm, at Munich on the way to Brussels, where he was to meet the Grand Vizier and negotiate the solution of the question of the northern JEgean Islands which were in Greek occupation, but to the definite cession of which the Porte hesitated to agree. M. Venizelos had not the faintest hesitation in deciding what the attitude of Greece must be. He telegraphed at once (July EVZONES OF THE ROYAL BODYGUARD. QUEEN SOPHIE. 25) to Athens declaring that Greece's honour and interests alike were bound up with the maintenance of the Balkan equilibrium as established by the Treaty of Bukarest, and that his " determination was not to remain with hands folded in face of a Bulgarian attack on Serbia." To M. Pashitch, the Serbian Prime Minister, he replied, in answer to a question, that Greece intended to fulfil her alliance to Serbia by holding her forces ready to ward off any attack on Serbian territory by Bulgaria. This was the most effectual way of helping Serbia in her hour of peril. M. Venizelos went still farther. He hastened to assure the Entente Governments that he was on their side and that Greece would hold her forces ready to put at their disposal if action in the Balkans were contemplated. For the moment the Entente Cabinets neither contemplated nor desired the extension of operations to the Balkan Peninsula, but they took note of M. Venizelos's offer, and provisional arrangements were made for advantage being taken of it should occasion arise. The attitude of the Greek Government was no secret to the Greek nation, and was almost universally approved. The number of Ger- manophils in Greece was so small as to be almost negligible. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, indeed, Dr. Streit, the grandson of one of King Otto's followers, whom M. Veni- zelos had taken into his Cabinet in order to avail himself of his abilities as an international THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 298 lawyer, was discontented with the attitude taken up by his chief. He hardly attempted to disguise his pro-German sympathies. He dis- cussed unashamedly with M. Theotokis, the Greek Minister in Berlin, the advisability of Greece throwing in her lot with the Central Powers and joining in an attack on Serbia.* Finally he took it on himself to submit to King Constantino on September 6 a memorandum opposing war with Turkey (in case the latter joined the Central Powers), without first informing the Prime Minister. For this action On the outbreak of war the Emperor William implored his brother-in-law not to throw in his lot with the Serbian " assassins " and even to bring Greece into line with the policy of the Central Powers. Constantino was unwilling, or unable, openly to do this. The terms in which his refusal were couched, however, showed the King's standpoint clearly. "The Emperor knows," he replied to the invitation, " that my personal sympathies and my political opinions draw me towards him. I can never forget that we owe to him Kavaln. GREEK TROOPS AND FRENCH INSTRUCTORS: AN INSPECTION OF KIT. he had to pay by resignation. A more de- batable case was that of his Royal master. King Constantine, though the son of a Danish father and a Russian mother and connected closely by personal sympathies with the Courts of London and Petrograd, had always somewhat identified himself with the policy of the Central Empires. His consort was the German Emperor's sister, and though her influence over the King has almost certainly been exaggerated, she acted as a medium for intercourse between Athens and Potsdam. * M. Nicholas Theotokis, Greek Minister in Berlin, was the son of the former Greek Prime Minister, who is frequently mentioned in this chapter . But after mature reflection I cannot see how I can be of service to him by the immediate mobilization of my army while the Mediter- ranean is at the mercy of the Anglo-French fleets, which would be able to destroy the Greek fleet and mercantile marine, occupy the islands, and prevent the concentration of my army, which, -through the lack of railway communication, can only be made by sea. It is for this reason that I believe neutrality is necessary, a neutrality which would, moreover, be useful to Germany." Three years passed before this reply was published, and Constantine in the meantime was able to lay claim to the gratitude of the uy4 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Entente Powers for having refused the German offer. He was diplomatic enough to pretend to strongly Ententophil feeling and watch the course of events. It is certain that in the first few weeks of the war he was not only acquainted REAR-ADMIRAL MARK KERR, C.B., Head of the British Naval Mission to Greece. with, but gave his approval to, the policy of his Prime Minister, and he presided over the Cabinet Council which decided that, while Greece should declare her neutrality, it should be a neutrality " benevolent to the Entente," and that the Greco-Serbian treaty should be kept. Whether this were whole-hearted ad- hesion to the Entente cause or merely ac- quiescence in the inevitable, fortified by the hope that Greece's intervention would never be required, could then only be guessed. From Brussels M. Venizelos returned to Bukarest, and there a last attempt was made to settle the question pending between the Turkish and Greek Governments. But the bad faith of the Turkish plenipotentiary, Talaat Bey, who was already involved in intrigues for the formation of a coalition against Serbia in the interests of Germany (a coalition suggested to King Constantine through M. Theotokis by the German Foreign Secretary, Herr von Jagow), disgusted the Greek Prime Minister, who broke off the conference with the words : " Greece is too small a country to commit so great an infamy." For the first six months Greece confined her part in the war to maintaining 120,000 men mobilized on the Bulgarian frontier as a warning to Sofia, and allowing the free transit of munitions by way of Salonika to the hard- pressed Serbians. It, was this threat which deterred Bulgaria from taking advantage of the advance of General Potiorek's expedi- tionary force into Serbia and invading Serbian Macedonia. The heroic efforts made by the Serbian army, culminating in their crushing defeat of the invaders in November, 1914, ended the first phase of the Great War in the Balkans. A new phase opened with the beginning of the year 1915. Turkey's intervention in October (which, unknown to Entente diplo- matists, had been decided on in August, 1914), and the unsuccessful Austrian invasion of Serbia had shown that the Balkan Peninsula could not be excluded from the operations of the European war. In November, 1914, the Powers had approached M. Venizelos with a view to Greece's intervention in support of Serbia. Already in August provisional ar- rangements for intervention had been made with Admiral Kerr, the head of the British Naval Mission to Greece. Telegrams were exchanged between King George and King Constantine. The latter's shifty attitude, however, provoked a disagreement with his Prime Minister, and M. Venizelos was forced to threaten his resignation in order to bring his sovereign to reason. On January 24, 1915, the suggestion of Greek intervention was repeated, this time coupled with promises of " very important territorial concessions " on the Anatolian coast. Though these were not specified, Sir E. Grey assured the Greelc Govern- ment that " any proposal it made would be favourably received." Entente diplomacy at the moment entertained great hopes of recon- structing the shattered Balkan Alliance of 1912, conciliating Bulgaria by a modification of the territorial arrangements made by the Peace of Bukarest, and further indemnifying both Bulgaria and Greece at the expense of the Ottoman Empire. M. Venizelos was asked on his part to raise no obstacle to the cession of part of Macedonia to Bulgaria, which it wa hoped to obtain from the Serbian Government. No direct territorial concessions were asked from Greece. In the way of reconstructing this Balkan alliance there were, however, serious obstacles. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 295 Serbia resented the attempt to persuade her to pay territorial blackmail to Bulgaria, who had treacherously attacked her in June, 1913, and was on the point of attacking her again in December, 1914, when the Serbian victory suddenly made that impossible. Serbians felt, too, that to cede Macedonia before they were assured of their legitimate territorial aspirations in Austria-Hungary was both unjust and dan- gerous. Moreover, Bulgarian demands were by no means confined to Serbian territory. Not only Turkish Thrace (which the Entente was free to offer as bait), but part at least of the Rumanian Dobrudja and Greek Macedonia were coveted by Bulgarian politicians. Yet Bulgarian cooperation with the Entente was a sine qua non of Greek intervention. Not only would this put the Entente's military preponderance in the Balkans on a sure basis ; it would in itself assure, as no mere declaration of neutrality could, the definite detachment of Bulgaria from the Central Empires and lay the first foundations of a future Balkan federation. M. Venizelos was far-seeing enough to be willing to consent to great sacrifices with this end in view. He immediately urged King Constantine to make up his mind to the sacrifice of the three Kazas of Drama, Kavala and Sari- shaban, which Greece had won in 1913, and to withdraw all opposition to the Serbian cession of a part of Macedonia. In return Greece must insist on the realization of the Entente's offer of Anatolian territories — the area sug- gested by M. Venizelos stretched from the Troad to Cape Phineka and was 60 times in extent the amount of Macedonian territory to be ceded — and on adequate financial support. The Greek populations of the Macedonian districts in question should be transferred to Greece in return for the transference to Bul- garia of Bulgar populations in Greece. Further, adequate strategic protection should be assured Greece by the cession of the Doiran-Ghevgeli district. But, above all, the sine qua non of the arrangement was Bulgaria's intervention on the side of the Allies. This last proved impossible to secure. The Allies were slow to realize the painful fact that the Bulgarian Government was primarily influ- enced neither by democratic nor by idealistic motives, but by more practical considerations. The belief in German efficiency and German military prowess had firmer roots in the minds of Bulgarian politicians than the idealists of London and Paris and the Slavophils of Petro- grad understood. On July 25, 1914, M. KING CONSTANTINE AND HIS STAFF. 296 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. Theotokis had already " gathered the im- pression from speaking with von Jagow that Austria must have concluded an agreement with Bulgaria with regard to common action." Bulgarians. already appreciated the advantage of military and economic cooperation with " Central Europe " in which they would form an essential link. Macedonia, the Morava valley (linking them territorially with Austria- Hungary) and the Dobrudja they desired not only in themselves but as a means to reviving their tenth-century hegemony of the of the Dardanelles. The importance of Greek cooperation — naval, military and economic — became increasingly evident. The British and French Governments once more beganvtheir overtures to M. Venizelos, again assuring him that Greek claims to Anatolian territory would be recognized in return for Greece's military cooperation. The extent of this co- operation was to be limited to the employment of the Greek fleet > and one division (at first Venizelos had suggested one army corps). At that stage of operations even this relatively TORPEDO BOATS AT PIR/EUS. Balkan peninsula. It was little use, in their . eyes, to receive parts of Macedonia, Thrace and Dobrudja, if by the same settlement of Europe Jugoslav and Rumanian unity should be realized and Bulgaria thereby be con- fronted with neighbours of greatly superior area and population. Accordingly, while the Bul- garian Government and its willing or un- conscious tools, the so-called Russophil parties, encouraged the Entente Powers in their negoti- ations, that same Government pushed on the conclusion of a considerable loan in Berlin and Vienna. In spite of this startling fact the Russian Government and its Allies continued their blind trust in Bulgarian protestations of friendship. M. Venizelos did not share their <1 elusion. He abandoned his proposals and envisaged a new situation. A new opportunity for action soon presented itself. In February the Franco -British naval forces began their attempt to force the passage small assistance would have been valuable. Its moral importance would have been still greater. Venizelos's proposed action resembled that of Cavour during the Crimean War. It would have assured Greece henceforth of a worthy place in the councils of the Allies. At two Crown Councils on March 3 and 5 — at which not only Cabinet Ministers but ex-Prime Ministers were present — M. Venizelos strongly advocated intervention on these terms. He reinforced his arguments there by two memo- randa he laid before the King, showing in a masterly fashion that an occasion never to be repeated offered itself to Greece. The King seemed to waver. It is doubtful if Russia's veto on the advance of Greek troops on Con- stantinople in any way affected his decision. What weighed more with him was the strong dissent of the Greek General Staff — at the head of which were General Dousmanis and Colonel Metaxas— from M. Venizelos's plan. They THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 297 denied the possibility of forcing the Dardanelles on the plan attempted by the Allies, and declared that only if three Greek divisions were landed at the Gulf of Saros was the opera- tion feasible. But these three divisions they refused to spare from the Bulgarian frontier. Whether or not their advice was given in good M. RALLIS, Prime Minister in 1897, 1901-3, and 1909. faith it is hard to say. King Constantine sup- ported their point of view, and the King and Prime Minister found themselves at a deadlock. On March 6 M. Venizelos resigned. As he afterwards explained, strongly as he disagreed with the King he felt that the latter was in a sense within his rights in deciding on an appeal to the people. The Chamber had been elected in 1912 and its support of Venizelos might per- haps not reflect the real mind of the people either in Old or in New Greece which was hitherto unrepresented. For the moment M. Venizelos retired from public life. He left the Liberal Party in the hands of the ex-Prime Minister Rallis and departed on a tour through Egypt and the yEgean islands. The veteran Germanophil ex-Premier Theo- tokis having refused office, the King called to power M. Gounaris, who had some years before been a Minister, and colleague then of M. Theotokis himself, and was an astute and ambitious party politician (from Patras). Gounaris was primarily neither Ententophil nor Germanophil : he had an intense envy of Venizelos and was frankly "' on the make." He was careful to include in his Government as Minister of Foreign Affairs M. Zoghraphos, who, during the Albanian crisis, had inspired and presided over the provisional Greek Government of Northern Epirus. M. Zoghraphos on March 13 telegraphed to Nish that " Greece was always firmly attached to the treaty of alliance with Serbia." Further, the new Cabinet hastened to assure the Entente Powers of its intention to continue the policy adopted by Greece since the outbreak of war, and on April 14 (probably on M. Zoghraphos's initiative) actually proposed intervention. In return for a definite assurance that the Powers would respect and guarantee Greek territorial integrity during and for some years after the war and would define and guarantee Greece's territorial compensations in Asia Minor, M. Gounaris and his colleagues expressed their M. GOUNARIS, Prime Minister in 1915. readiness to embark on military operations in cooperation with the Entente. Their plan, however, drawn up by the Greek General Staff, envisaged an attack on Turkey by land through Thrace. Bulgaria was to be confronted with the choice — either cooperation or benevolent neu- trality, or else to be treated as an enemy. It is impossible to say if M Gounaris made this offer in good faith. It is true that his demands were largely justified by the true state of the situation. Only summary measures could snatch Bulgaria from the embrace of the Central THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION Powers. The promise to maintain Greece's territorial integrity was a necessary guarantee for Greece against her abandonment in the future and exposure to the resentment of tho Centra] Powers. It might have been well if Entente diplomacy had not given as brusque a refusal as it did to M. Gounaris's overtures. London, Paris, and especially Petrograd, how- ever, were still living in the dreamland of reviving the Balkan League by persuasion, and the conciliation of Bulgaria was a necessary part of their plan. With this object in view they BAKON SCHENCK, Head of the German Propaganda in Greece. OF M. VENIZELOS IN CAIRO. felt bound to refrain from tying their hands by any such promise to Greece, as they thought it possible that in the future Greece might be induced to cede part of Eastern Macedonia to Bulgaria. Moreover, the thoughts of the Entente diplomatists were now turning more towards Italy, and the hope of securing Italian inter- vention minimized in their minds the value they had attached to Greek assistance. This being the case, they repulsed M. Gounaris's overtures. On the other hand, it is by no means certain that these overtures were made in good faith. The Greek King and Government were perfectly aware of the views of the Entente Powers and had, therefore, no reason to suppose that their offer would be accepted or that the Entente would take the risk of forcing Bulgaria, whom it believed it could gain, into the hands of the enemy by serving an ultimatum on her such as M. Gounaris favoured. The Greek Government may well have wished to secure themselves from future criticisms on the part of the Protecting Powers by pointing to the fact that they had once offered to intervene, even though their hope of securing the terms they proposed must have been a very frail one. M. Gounaris was politician enough to be either Entontist or anti-Ententist as served his purpose. Failing, however, to secure the favour of the Entente, which continued to believe in M. Venizelos, he necessarily transferred his affec- tions to the enemy camp. He did not venture to do so openly, for Greek opinion was still overwhelmingly on the side of the Entente, and, THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 5499 with one or two trifling exceptions, the news- papers continued to support the Entente cause. It was necessary to find some other election cry than the issue of " Germany or the Entente." M. Gounaris hit on the happy idea of declaring that he was as much an interventionist as M. Venizelos, but that he wanted intervention " on fixed terms " such as would secure the future position of Greece, whereas M. Venizelos had " blindly " put Greece at the disposal of •the Entente Powers. It was on this basis that the anti-Venizelist politicians went to work in their electioneering campaign to build up a strong rival party to the Liberal. The agents of the German propaganda, headed by the astute Baron Schenck, took advantage of the atmosphere thus created to turn the popular current against intervention. Karl Freiherr Schenck zu Schweinsberg, who had formerly been Krupp's agent in the Balkan Peninsula, had since the beginning of the war turned his attention to the distribution of propaganda news to the Greek Press. He now found a better re- ception than he had enjoyed hitherto. Forparty purposes, Greek journalists put themselves at his disposal and lent the columns of their papers to articles which insidiously sought to discredit the good faith and material strength of the Entente Powers. A strong anti-Ententist atmosphere was thereby created, and this was further helped by two events which occurred about the same time. King Constantine fell ill, and it was feared that his life was in danger. The anti-Venizelist politicians took advantage of this to awake the sympathies of the people for their " martyr- King," who had been seditiously opposed, and indeed " betrayed," by Venizelos. They put the issue before the electors that he who voted for Venizelos was voting against the King, and thereby drew to support of their cause a large number of simple-minded persons who strongly believod in the Divine Right of their Sovereign. The announcement that King Constantine had recovered largely owing to the bringing of the miraculous ikon of the Madonna of Tinos further enhanced his reputation with the people, for it was felt that this Sovereign, who bore the sacred name of the founder and of the last monarch of Constantinople, was indeed under the special favour and protection of Heaven. On May 23 Italy intervened in the war. Though this to all impartial students of inter- national politics enormously strengthened the Entente's prospects, it was exploited in quite another sense by th9 anti-Venizelist press. THE PROCESSION OF THE MIRACULOUS IKON. 165—3 300 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. During the last three years Italy had lost in Greece the popularity she had once enjoyed. For a long time Italians and Greeks had regarded themselves as sister peoples ; Italian volunteers had fought by the side of Greeks in the Greek War of Independence and the Turkish War of 1897. So late as 1908 an Italian scholar could dedicate a book on Greece THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE, ATHENS. to " Greeia irredenta." But the occupation of the Dodekanese in 1911 and Italy's hardly disguised intention of remaining there had estranged Greek feeling. Further, Italy had shown herself a most determined opponent of the occupation by Greece of Northern Epirus, the population of which, though largely Albanian by race, is orthodox by religion and, in the main, Greek by education and sympathy. Italian designs on the Ionian Islands were feared, and Greeks were afraid that the Entente Powers, whose victory was not yet in doubt, might now be inclined to favour Italian claims at the expense of Greek. M. Venizelos's solution for this was Greek intervention. The conclusion drawn by the anti-Venizelist press was " distrust of the Protecting Powers who are now allies of Italy." Partisan feeling also played a considerable part in the electoral campaign. Till the advent of M. Venizelos to power in 1910 politics in Groece had been largely a question of local influence. The old clan feeling still survived strongly in the Peloponnesus ; in Athens all politicians, though mutually jealous of one another, united to oppose the newcomer who had displaced them and thrown them into the shade. While they had no national programme to oppose to his, they could rely on the support of all the place-hunters and party-politicians of the country. As we have seen, they ex- ploited the King's popularity and his illness. Further, they went out of their way to gain important sections of the population by local promises. For instance, in Macedonia, where the population was still largely Turkish in the country and Jewish in Salonika, M. Gounaris and his supporters succeeded in winning the whole non-Greek vote by promising to Turkish landholders that their properties, which had been temporarily confiscated as a reprisal against the expropriation of Greeks in Turkey, would be returned to them. Even the Greeks of Macedonia were largely won to the anti- Venizelist cause by the gross misrepresentation of Venizelos's original proposal that under certain conditions Kavala should be handed over to Bulgaria. A lively electoral campaign was therefore waged, and the result was not as satisfactory to Venizelos as it might have been had the issue between the two parties been a olear one. The elections took place on June 13, 1915 ; the result was a Venizelist victory, but not by the majority Venizelos had hoped for. Out of the 316 deputies elected, 180 were returned as Liberals, 4 as Zaimists, and 4 as Independent Venizelists. As against these 188 there was a strong anti-Venizelist minority of 128, of whom 89 declared themselves Gounarists. The ex-Premiers, Theotokis and Rallis, could only muster small parties of 13 and 6 deputies respectively. The ordinary conventions of Parliamentary procedure, of course, required that M. Gounaris should at once resign, as he did not command a majority in the Chamber. This, however, he did not do. It was pretended that the King's illness made it impossible for him to tako any part in politics for the moment, and it was therefore necessary to let things go on as they were till he had recovered suffi- ciently to call a now Government to power. It was during the next two months that the fatal change took place in Greece's foreign policy, which was responsible for the troubles and humiliations of the ensuing two years. Constantino, whatever were his previous views — and this, as has been seen, seemed very doubtful — had now made up his mind that he THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 801 could not possibly throw in his lot with the Entente Powers. Though he did not yet hate Venizelos, he had begun to fear him, and he shrewdly saw that his return to power and Greece's intervention in the war on the side of the Entente would reduce the King once again to a second place in the country. Venizelos's rivals, on the other hand, were always careful to play on the King's vanity and autocratic instincts to win his favour, and in any case, owing to their lack of root in the country, were bound in the future to look for support to the Crown. Moreover, tho international situation had changed. The Russians were in full retreat ; little had been accomplished on the Western Front ; the Dardanelles expedi- tine directly, or through the medium of M. Gounaris's Government, came to a clear understanding both with Germany and Bul- garia. (This naturally did not deter M. Gounaris from telegraphing on August 2 to the Greek Legations abroad that " a Bulgarian attack on Serbia could not leave us indifferent.") M. Radoslayoff did not take the fatal plunge of concluding a treaty with Turkey and a military convention with the Central Powers without being well assured that in attacking Serbia he need not fear the hostility of Greece. This was known in Bukarest before the end of July. Unfortunately the Entente Governments continued their policy of amiable negotiation with Bulgaria. In spite of the ELECTION SCENE IN ATHENS: MOUNTED GENDARME REGULATING THE CROWD AT A POLLING PLACE. tion had shown itself to be a failure ; and Italian intervention had not accomplished what had been expected. Germany wa3 al- ready preparing for her attack on Serbia, and to so well-informed a person as King Constan- tino Bulgaria's intentions had never been in doubt. There can no longer be any question that during the month of July King Constan- fact that Bulgaria had made a territorial arrangement with Turkey (published by The Times, July 26), in spite of the fact that German officers were continually arriving in Sofia and co-operating with the Bulgarian General Staff, the Entente Powers continued to regard her as a friend whose assistance might yet be won if only Greece and Serbia could be induced to 302 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. GREEK INFANTRY IN ATHENS. cede some of the territory they had won by the Peace of Bukarest. On August 3 the Entente Governments called on Greece to agree to the cession of Eastern Macedonia to Bulgaria, while they renewed their demands to Serbia to agree to the cession of at least a considerable part of Serbian Macedonia. Coming at such a time such an offer was certain to be rejected and would have been rejected as certainly by a Venizelist as it was by the Gounarist Government. Veni- zelos, as we have seen, had indeed once contem- plated the cession of Eastern Macedonia to Bulgaria, but he had done so in return for the promise' of very great concessions in Asia Minor, concessions which Italy's intervention made no longer practical politics. He had done so again on the express condition that Bulgaria should actively cooperate on the Entente's side in the war, and it was clear now to every Greek that Bulgaria not only would not join the Entente Powers, but would very soon throw in her lot with the enemy. The cession of Kavala could no longer be contemplated by any Greek. Consequently the only result of the Entente Powers' d-marche was to distress their sympathisers in Greece and play into the hands of the German propaganda and anti- Venizelist politicians. The anti-Venizelist regime of the last six months had done its work. Distrust of the Entente Powers had been engendered in the minds of many Greeks. Secret assurances had been given to Bulgaria and her Allies that they could rely on Greek neutrality in all eventuali- ties. There was no longer any danger in Venizelos's return to power, and on August 18 the King summoned him to form a Government. M. Venizelos returned with a Parliamentary majority behind him, resolute to carry on his former policy of friendly cooperation with the Entente Powers, but he returned to find an impossible international situation. To his mind the Serbo-Greek treaty was as binding as it ever had been, but from this view his oppo- nents were now beginning openly to dissent. Up to the month of July they had not dared to give expression to their views on the subject, and indeed had indignantly denied that they were prepared to desert Serbia. But early in September they began to hint, and afterwards clearly to state, in their newspapers that the Serbo-Greek treaty could not bind Greece to action against Bulgaria if the latter were THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 303 supported by the Central Powers, since its scope was purely a " Balkan " one. Absurd tales that the Germans were concentrating 800,000 men against Serbia were spread to reinforce this view. At the same time anti' Venizelist politicians and journalists dissemi- nated the story that in return for neutrality the Central Powers promised Greece not only a guarantee of her territorial integrity but even concessions in Albania and Macedonia. On his side M. Venizelos had little encouragement from his natural friends the Entente Powers. The only action of the latter was to continue their pressure upon Serbia and Greece to make concessions of territory to Bulgaria, in spite of the fact that the latter' s intentions could no longer be in serious doubt. Under extreme pressure Serbia consented to the sacrifice of a considerable part of Macedonia, but, unaffected by this, on September 23 Bulgaria announced a general mobilization. M. Venizelos made a prompt reply, for the same evening he induced King Constantine to decree a general mobilization of the Greek army. It appeared that the hour of action had come. The Venizelist papers went wild with joy and the majority of the population showed an enthusiasm for war such as only unique moments call forth. Unfortunately the situa- tion was very different from what it appeared to be. The King and his military advisers had totally different views as to the scope of the mobilization from those of M. Venizelos. When the Chamber met on September 29 the Prime Minister laid before it a masterly survey of the military situation and declared in the strongest terms that the mobilization had been decided on because Greece was bound by her alliance with Serbia to support her in the event of Bulgaria's attack. The Opposition, led by Gounaris, ventured for the first time to declare in the Chamber that the Serbian treaty was no longer binding, and that while mobiliza- tion might be approved it could only be applied in defence of the vital interests of the nation and not with a view to assistance to Serbia. By the terms of the treaty Serbia or Greece, as the case might be, was bound to place a certain number of troops (Serbia, 150,000 ; Greece, 90,000) on the Bulgarian frontier to help its partner. It was obvious that Serbia, attacked as she was by overwhelming Austrian and German forces, could not completely meet this obligation, but M. Venizelos had already taken steps to approach the French and British Ministers in Athens with a question as to whether they would themselves supply the necessary number of men. Having received assurance that this would be done, he could definitely state that the terms of the interven- tion would be fulfilled, if not by Serbia herself at least by Serbia's Allies. GREEK INFANTRYMAN IN FIELD KIT. On October 3 the Entente Governments, at last awaking to the fact that the Bulgarians were about to fall on Serbia, disembarked small contingents at Salonika. M. Venizelos protested, as he was bound to do under Article 99 of the Greek Constitution, for Bulgaria was not at war with Serbia and consequently Greece had as yet not abandoned her neutrality. At 304 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. the same time, as he explained to the Chamber on October 4, he could not but regard with favour the help offered by the Entente Powers to Greece's Ally, Serbia. He reiterated his intention of standing by the Serbian treaty, [EUiott and Fry, Photo. SIR FRANCIS ELLIOT, G.C.M.G., British Minister in Athens. and, while he expressed the hope that this would not lead to war between Greece and the Central Powers, he announced his intention of not being deterred by any threat on their part from fulfilling his duty to Serbia. Though lively attacks were made on him by all the Opposition leaders, the Chamber by 147 to 101 votes approved of his policy. But he had not reckoned with his King. Constantino, as has been seen, had made up his mind that it was neither in Greece's nor his own interest to provoke the enmity of Germany. He sum- moned his Prime Minister and informed him that he could not approve of the character he had given to the general mobilization and to his readiness to enter on hostilities, if neces- sary, with the Central Powers ; consequently, he must demand his resignation. M. Veni- zelos gave way. Constitutionally he would have had a perfect right to hold out against the King's decision, for the majority of the Chamber, only recently elected, had endorsed his policy ; but, as he afterwards explained, it was impossible for him to persist in his intentions in face of the hostility of the King and of the General Staff. He could not reckon on the army leaders obeying his orders. He had to face the possibility of civil war if he per- sisted. As a patriot there was no course open to him but to resign and to hope for better days. Unfortunately, the Entente Powers had not strengthened his position by supplying the troops which might have saved Serbia and changed the whole aspect of the military situa- tion in the Balkans. They had relied on Greece's intervention, whereas, in fact, Greece'? intervention was dependent on their own atti- tude. At this point we may consider the character of the much quoted Greco-Serbian Treaty and the value of the interpretations given it by opposing parties. In a telegram sent to the Serbian Government by M. Zaimis on October 12, 1915, a week after his assumption of office, Greece's refusal to intervene in the war in reply to Bulgaria's intervention is justified on various grounds. The two chief points are : (1) That the Treaty of Alliance of June 1, 1913, and the Military Convention concluded between the two General Staffs on the same day had a " purely Balkan character in no way demanding the application of the Treaty in the event of a general outbreak of war," and that from Clause I. of the Treaty and the Military Convention it is clear that " the Contracting Powers had only in view the hypothesis of an isolated attack of Bulgaria against one of them." (2) M. Zaimis urged, as his second reason for non-intervention, that Serbia had herself recognized by her action that there was no casus foederis ; that Bulgaria's intervention in connection with the Central Powers' offensive against Serbia was merely " an episode of the European War " ; and that Serbia, by breaking off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria and appealing to the Entente Powers, her European Allies, without a preliminary understanding with her Balkan Ally Greece, had under Clause V. of the Military Convention released Greece from the obligation of intervention. To these arguments of M. Zaimis other anti- Venizelist speakers and writers added as reasons for their attitude that Serbia was unable to supply 150,000 men on the Serbo- Bulgarian frontier, as she was bound to do under Clause II. of the Military Convention, THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 805 and further that she had in May, 1914, refused to assist Greece at the moment when the latter was threatened with war with Turkey. The last argument was, in fact, not con- vincing, for an actual state of war did not arise in May, 1914, and in any case it was untrue that Serbia had refused to assist Greece. On the contrary, she had informed Turkey that she could not remain indifferent to war between Turkey and Greece. Nor was the point made by M. Gounaris that Serbia could not fulfil her obligation to supply 150,000 men of any real value. She was prepared to supply 120,000, and, as M. Venizelos pointed out, the remaining 30,000 were being landed by France and Britain at Salonika. M. Zaimis's two arguments referred to above are, however, more im- portant and demand more detailed con- sideration. (1) This argument is disposed of by the text of the two Military Conventions and the ac- companying telegrams exchanged between M. Koromilas (then Minister of Foreign Affairs) and M. Alexandropoulos (Greek Minister at Belgrade) during May, 1913. Clause I. of the original Convention, signed on May 14, ran : — In case of war between Greece and Bulgaria, or between Serbia and Bulgaria, or in case of sudden attack of the Bulgarian Army on the Greek or the Serbian Army, the two Powers Greece and Serbia promise to one another mutual military support — Greece with all her land and sea forces, Serbia with all her land forces. In the final Military Convention, signed on June 1, there is a significant change : — In case of war between one of the Allied Powers and a third Power breaking out in the circumstances envisaged by the Treaty of Alliance between Greece and Serbia, or in case of sudden attack of considerable forces — two divisions at least — of the Bulgarian Army on the Greek or tho Serbian Army, the two Powers, etc. The meaning of the change is given in a- telegram of May 23 from M. Alexandropoulos. to M. Koromilas : — From a military point of view we (Greece) have no" interest — this is only in the Serbians* interest — to extend the Treaty of Alliance not only against Bulgaria, but also against a third Power, for the Serbians have land frontiers and more Powers with whom they can clash, when we shall be obliged to support them, while we can only clash by land with Bulgaria, in which case only tho co-operation of Serbia would be of use to us. The second Convention obviously committed Greece to greater obligations than she had at first accepted or was now eager to accept. But the Bulgarian attack on Greek forces at Mt. Pangheon showed that it was " very risky " (M. Koromilas's phrase) to procrastinate. He writes on May 30 to M. Alexandropoulos that M. Venizelos " in agreement with His Majesty " is sending him a telegram to " come to an agree- ment and sign, if possible, to-day." The Treaty and Convention were, in fact, signed on June 1. Clause IV. of the final Convention reinforces the obligations incurred under Clause I. : — If Serbia is placed in the necessity of defending herself against an attack by another Power than Bul- A GREEK GUARD ON THE BULGARIAN FRONTIER. :;o; THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. u.irl.i. she will bo obliged to hasten to the help of Greece, attacked by Bulgaria, with a number of troops defined by common agreement at the proper moment between the two General Staffs in a manner corresponding to the general situation and taking into consideration the security of the territory of the Kingdom of Serbia. Similarly : — if Greece in the ease envisaged by Clause 1 is placed simultaneously in the necessity of defending herself against an attack by another Power than Bulgaria, she will be obliged to hasten to the help of Serbia, attacked by Bulgaria, with a number of troops, etc. Clearly then, as M. Pashitch's Government points out on November 15, 1915, in its reply to M. Zaimis's telegram : — ■ Both tho spirit of the Treaty of Alliance, which guarantees tho territorial integrity of each of the Con- tracting Powers in case of attack, and its contents, in which there is no mention of th.i Treaty ceasing to have its binding force if Bulgaria remains in alliance with some other Power, show in clear and logical fashion that Greece is obliged to come to the help of Serbia, if she without provocation on her part is attacked by Bulgaria or any other Power. (2) This specious plea of the Zaimis Govern- ment is well answered in the Serbian Govern- ment's reply of November 15. This points out that the Bulgarian mobilization was so clearly directed against Serbia and constituted such a danger for her existence that Serbia was forced to break off relations in self-defence. " Serbia did not consult Greece with regard to breaking off diplomatic relations with Bulgaria for the very simple roason that she had no choice and that the breaking off or maintaining of these relations did not depend on her. The breaking off of relations was unavoidable on account of tho aggressive attitude of Bulgaria. More- over, we (the Serbian Government) think that Greece, proclaiming without preliminary understanding with Serbia the general mobili- zation of her army immediately following on the Bulgarian general mobilization, acted in the same way as Serbia." Tho reply is a con- vincing one. But, in fact, the refusal of the anti-Venizelist, Governments to come to Serbia's assistance could not be justified by such quibblings, and subsequent revelations showed that the Ger- manophil party in Greece had from July, 1914, decided to ignore the Serbian Treaty and to join the Central Powers when a suitable occasion offered. The correspondence ex- changed during the first few days of the war between Dr. Streit and the Greek Minister in Berlin, M. Theotokis, never touches the Greco- Serbian Treaty and Greece's obligations under it. Theotokis repeatedly sent messages urging the Greek Government to consider Germany's proposal that Greece should join Bulgaria and Turkey in an attack on Serbia. Streit, it is true, did not consider the plan altogether practicable, but he never urged against it the outrageous immorality of it, but looked on it merely as presenting grave dangers to Greece. The famous telegram of King Constantino to the German Emperor takes the same point of view. It was the Allies' Fleet, not the Treaty of Alliance with Serbia, that prevented the Germanophils of Athens from throwing in their lot with the Central Powers. THE GREEK MOBILIZATION: TROOPS IN SALONIKA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 307 A GREEK MOUNTAIN BATTERY. On October 5 the King summoned to power M. Zaimis, Governor of the National Bank of Athens, and a public man of no partisan leanings, who had on several occasions at critical moments assumed the reins of power to save his country. In M. Zaimis's Cabinet were included four other ex-Prime Ministers : Theotokis, Stephanos Draghoumis, Rallis and Gounaris, all of them violent anti-Venizelists. At the same time M. Venizelos felt that at such a critical moment there was no place for mere party politics, so he promised the new Prime Minister that the Venizelist majority in Par- liament would provisionally support him so long as he remained true to his declaration that he would maintain a policy of " benevolent neutrality " towards the Entente, and that he did not regard the Serbo-Greek Treaty as an- nulled, though in his opinion the casus foederis for intervention had not arisen. Of his benevo- lent intentions M. Zaimis at first gave every sign, for he allowed the Entente Powers to continue to use Salonika and the Vardar railway for the dispatch of troops to the help of Serbia. The Entente Powers still entertained some hopes that Greek intervention might be purchased, and Sir Edward Grey went so far as to offer to Greece in return for her military assistance the Island of Cyprus. But he was too late : the fate of Serbia was already evident. A large section of opinion in Greece had been estranged from the support of the Entente, and the reservists mobilized were learning from their officers to believe in the invincibility of the German army and the friendliness of German intentions towards Greece. Matters did not rest there. M. Zaimis had lost the confidence of the Venizelist majority in the Chamber, and, at the same time, he was hardly the man to carry out the systematic Germanization of Greek opinion. A crisis in the Chamber provoked on November 3 by the offensive attitude of M. Yannakitsas (Minister of War) terminated in a vote of want of con- fidence in the Government, which was carried by the Venizelist majority. M. Venizelos took advantage of thi3 opportunity to denounce the way in which Ministers sheltered them- selves behind the Crown. In a masterly speech he laid before the Chamber his own views as to the character and valuo of the Serbian Treaty, the necessity in the interests of Greece's future of friendly relations with the Entente Powers, and the only obvious course for Greece at the present moment, alike from interest and duty. M. Zaimis felt that such a heated atmosphere was no place for him. He at once resigned, and the King called to power a more apt tool for the policy he was now contemplating. He summoned M. Skouloudis, a rich banker, who had played little part in politics, but had represented Greece at the London Conference. M. Skou- loudis's Cabinet was practically identical with that of his predecessor. His advent to power merely meant that all pretence at aecom- 80b THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ATHENS : THE ACROPOLIS AND (on the left) THE MODERN TOWN. modation with the Venizelist majority or with Greece's clear duty to Serbia was at an end. The new Ministers looked to the Crown for moral and material protection. They recog- nized that it was impossible to work with a Liberal majority in the Chamber against them, and on their advice or with their approval the King proceeded to decree the dissolution of the Chamber, to be followed by new elections. Meanwhile, on November 8, M. Skouloudis had the effrontery to assure the Entente Powers of his firm resolution to maintain Greek foreign policy " on the same fundamental basis on which it has rested since the beginning of the European War." On the same day he assured the Serbian Government of his Govern- ment's " sincere friendship " for them, and readiness " to furnish every facility and assis- tance consonant with our vital interests." This . " sincere friendship " was shown in peculiar ways. Though the new Prime Minister had announced his intention of taking up the same attitude as M. Zaimis over the presence of the Allied troops in Salonika, he hastened to raise difficulties as to the prolonged presence of these troops on Greek soil, and hinted that if driven back over the frontier by the Bulgarians they would be disarmed. This threat he subsequently limited to the Serbian forces, and eventually, with a bad grace, he gave way to the demands of the Entente Powers that free liberty of movement should be allowed to all the Allied troops. The dissolution of the Chamber was at once decreed, and the new elections were fixed for December 19. The Liberal party for some days hesitated as to whether or not they should take part in them, but on November 21 M. Venizelos, at a meeting of the party, laid before them his views on the subject. He showed them that they could not possibly approve of the legality of the proposed elections, which were in defiance of all Constitutional usage, as the Chamber had only been elected six months before, and there was no reason whatsoever to suppose that it was out of touch with the country. The King had no right to proceed to these new elections merely to suit his own personal whim. Moreover, the elections could be no fair test of the feeling in the country, as between a third and a half of the electors were mobilized and with the colours, and their vote would be unduly in- fluenced or hampered by their military superiors for the advantage of the latter's personal policy. M. Venizelos's advice was complete abstention. His party accepted his decision, and appealed to the electors not to go to the polls. His policy at the time was criticized as a mistake, for it deprived him of any voice in the new Chamber. Subsequent events, however, showed that he was perfectly right, and that, by thinking not of temporary advan- tages but of unchanged principles, he, in the long run, made his position stronger and unexceptionable. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 809 The result of the election was, in a negative sense, entirely satisfactory to the Liberal leader. Instead of the 720,000 voters who had gone to the poll on June 13, not much over 230,000 on this occasion recorded their votes. In Athens, for instance, only 7,000 voted out of 30,000, in Salonika only 4,00f out of 38,000, and in the ^Egean Islands ev«n a smaller proportion. In the Peloponnese anti-Venizelist currents were stronger. As- we have seen, the more countrified parts ot Greece had preserved the tradition of strong local feeling ; their prominent local politicians were moved by intense jealousy of Venizelos and jumped at the chance of reviving their old political influence. A glance through the names of the candidates returned THE GREEK ELECTIONS OF DECEMBER 1915: A JEWISH VOTER AT THE MOSQUE OF ST. SOPHIA, IN SALONIKA. 310 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. to power shows those of such historic families as Mavromikalis, Koumoundouros, Miaoulis, Trikoupis and many more. All the members of the Government were returned to power. M. Skouloudis himself was not a deputy, but he remained in office. The strongest force in the Government was now M. Gounaris, though he was wise enough not to assume the Premier- ship and thereby incur the enmity of all his rivals with whom he was united only by the common bond of anti-Venizelism. He remained the most active and most dangerous element in the Cabinet, especially as M. Theotokis, whose to Greece became as common as they had pre- viously been rare. The Bulgarian occupation of Monastir indeed had aroused some indigna- tion even in anti-Venizelist circles, but the Government soon came to a working arrange- ment with the Bulgarian authorities by which a neutral zone between the two armies elimi- nated any danger of " incidents." To the Allied armies of occupation they were increas- ingly disagreeable.* Subsequent events show that already in March the Greek Government was negotiating with those of Germany and Bulgaria with a view to the occupation of Fort s ss'j n m m 'J w» Iff jlljf * " ML 1 «-T'^ H^^_fl ' y^^^H rSfrOw v ^ ■ ~ mm 1fm"' — ' 1 Mgft mET' '"- ""** ' -7/ If 1 ■ %▼ ^. - 1 ■ HHHnSB^HnSpS MEN OF THE REORGANIZED SERBIAN ARMY AT CORFU. prestige alone could have jeoparded Gounaris's position, died on January 5. The new Chamber, therefore, which met on January 24, 1916, was practically a Gounarist Chamber. The only other party which could make any pretence to a programme was that formed by M. Ioannis Draghoumis (son of tho Minister) and M. Karapanos. Their declared policy was to prepare for intervention, but only when purely Greek interests advised this, and they were as intensely anti-Venizelist as the rest of the deputies. The " most sincore friendliness " promised by the Skouloudis Government to the Entente began at once to assume strange forms. The King remained in close telegraphic touch with the enemy Courts, and German propaganda was soon in full swing among the troops, the newspaper offices and the country as a whole. Eulogies of German prowess and friendliness Rupel, the impregnable stronghold that held the entrance of the Struma Valley. In evident connection with these negotiations the Govern- ment contracted two loans, each of 40,000,000 marks, with the German Government in January and April respectively. Ostensibly, however, their anti-Entente policy was confined to objections to the military actions of the Allies and to an unwillingness to help them in any way. In April the Greek Government dis- played the greatest unwillingness to agree to the passage of Serbian troops from Corfu, where they had been brought by the Allied Powers, through Greece to Salonika, although, as M. Venizelos showed, no possible harm could be caused to the country by this passage. Finally these troops were brought through the Corinth Canal, but it was clear that the Govern- * Some account of the friction canoed by their actions at Salonika has been given in Chapter CLXXXI THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 311 ment, which had shown such hostility to the Entente and to Serbia on this point, could no longer be considered to be in any sense of the word whatsoever an Ally of Serbia, nor could much meaning any longer be attached to the phrase " benevolent neutrality." Moreover, anti-Entente feeling in anti-Venizelist circles was perfectly undeniable. The language of Deputies and even Ministers in the Chamber was most unfriendly. The tone of the press became gradually more extreme and the pro-German intrigues carried on in the army and by promi- nent civilian officials soon showed that the Government of Athens was practically, if not in name, the enemy of the Entente Powers. Venizelos did not remain inactive in face of this difficult situation. As he was unrepre- sented in the Chamber he and his party had to make their voice heard through other means. On March 18 they began the publication of a new weekly paper, the Kirix ("Herald"), in which, during the next six months, M. Venizelos expounded the principles of his policy and showed in a most lucid fashion the dangers in which the present Government was involving Greece, A month later the Venizelist party began its campaign in the country by holding two public meetings in Athens and Piraeus. The enthusiasm called forth on these occasions made the Government anxious and subsequent Venizelist meetings were broken up. Soon, however, Venizelos put the issue between himself and his opponents to the test by putting up a candidate at the by-election in Chios. The Government did not dare to oppose him, and he was elected practically unanimously. Six days later, on May 7, Venizelos himself stood for election in Mytilene and secured 14,768 out of 15,253 votes recorded. A day or so later he won a still more significant success at Drama. In spite of the fact that the popula- tion of this district was largely non-Greek and that the Government had excellent means for rousing anti-Venizelist feeling by bribing the Turkish population and reminding the Greeks of Venizelos's readiness to cede Kavala, the Venizelist candidate was elected in a three- cornered fight, Kavala town voting almost solidly Venizelist. The Venizelist Press concentrated its attacks on the useless continuation of the mobilization, showing that tho Government was not keeping the soldiers with the colours for the object of defending the country, but in order to keep them under their control and to affect their political opinions. Venizelos therefore de- manded that 12 classes should be demobilized and their places taken by new contingents. Not only was the moral of the army suffering from inactivity and political intrigue, but the CORINTH CANAL. country was being subjected to useless expen- diture. The Government, however, hod not the least intention of abandoning their best party weapon — the control of the army. The party intrigues among officers, gathered in strength and in scope. At the end of April anti-Venizelist papers were already hinting at the formation of a military league in defence of the Crown. Though the Government osten- sibly frowned on this, the first seeds of the famous Reservists' Leagues were being sown. It is obvious that such an army was little use in defence of the country. On May 26 a force of Bulgarians, with a sprinkling of Germans, suddenly presented themselves before Fort Rupel, which Venizelos in 1913 had secured for Greece as a necessary defence of the Struma Valley. A few shots were fired, and then the Greek Commandant asked for an annistice in order to telegraph to Athens. In consequence of the instructions he received the fortress was surrendered and the Greek troops retired. In the Chamber M. Skou- loudis represented the incident as an entirely unforeseen one, and declared that the sur- render was inevitable in order that Greek neutrality should be maintained. Documents published, however, some months later by the Patris showed beyond a doubt that the sur- render had, in fact, been considered two months before, and that the intentions of the enemy armies were known to and approved 812 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. by the Government of Athens. On May 23 the German and Bulgarian Ministers in Athens had definitely informed M. Skouloudis of the intended invasion. It was obvious that such an action could not but rouse Greek feeling of all parties, and even many of the anti- Venizelists, especially the Macedonians of the group led by I. Draghoumis, protested vehemently in the Chamber against what had happened. General Sarrail, in command of the Allied forces, whose flank was now seriously threatened, found it necessary to proclaim martial law in the zone of occupation, and the Greek Prime Minister sought to deflect attention from the affair of Bupel by insisting on Sar- rail's infrirgement of Greek neutrality. The relations between Athens and the Entente Powers, however, were now becoming impossible. The latter felt that they could not rely on being safe from attack by the Greek armies in Macedonia when the com- manders of the latter were on friendly relations with the Germans and Bulgarians. Similar anti-Entente feeling was expressed by demon- strations in Athens on June 12 when the French and British Legations were assailed by the mob. Prompt action was necessary. A Franco-British naval squadron moved up to Salamis, and it was rumoured that troops were to be disembarked. On June 21 the Pro- tecting Powers served an ultimatum on the Greek Government. They pointed out in it the Government's connivance at the occupation of Bupel, and its suspicious attitude towards the Entente Powers. Moreover, the Greek Constitution had been trodden underfoot, and thereby the engagements of 1863 had been broken. The Powers, therefore, demanded : (1) Complete demobilization of the Greek army, and its reduction to a peace footing as soon as possible. (2) The Ministry's replacement by a Service Cabinet with no political character, and guaranteeing the loyal application of the friendly neutrality Greece had promised to the Entente Powers. (3) The immediate dissolution of the Chamber, to be followed by new elections as soon as the Constitution allowed and as soon as the general demobilization had restored normal conditions. (4) The dismissal of various police officials (especially the ultra-Boyalist Prefect of Police, Krisopathis) who had encouraged outrages on peaceable citizens and insulting attacks on the Allied Legations. WITHDRAWAL OF THE GREEK TROOPS FROM SALONIKA, DECEMBER 1915. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 813 8PSft£3g^ EMBARCATION OF THE GREEK TROOPS AT SALONIKA. M. Gounaris is alleged to have counselled resistance, but the King, whether or not on the advice of Berlin, decided to bow before the storm. The Government at once resigned, and M. Zaimis was recalled to power — the King's invariable resource when relations with the Entente Powers became too difficult. On June 23 he accepted the ultimatum in its entirety, and six days later a decree of general demobilization was issued. Some of the worst police officials were retired, and there was a lot of talk about the dissolution of the Chamber and the holding of new elections. Unfor- tunately, however, the inevitable delay required for the demobilization of the army was taken advantage of as an excuse to postpone the dissolution of the Chamber, which, according to the Greek Constitution, must be followed by a general election within six weeks. M. Zaimis may honestly have tried to carry out the engagements he had taken towards the Entente Powers, but the situation was beyond his power to control. Reservists re- turning from Macedonia came back more Royalist than the King : they had learnt from their officers that the Germans were invincible, and that the only policy for Greece was friendship with the Central Powers. Moreover, their wearisome inactivity for nine months on the frontier had demoralized them, and they were told that the mobilization had been due to Venizelos. They dispersed to their homes to create Reservists' Leagues there, the avowed object of which was the defence of the King, and their main aim to prevent the triumph of Venizelos's policy. There was worse to come. On August 17 the enemy armies, anxious to anticipate Rumania's intervention, suddenly invaded Greece in three groups. On the west they forced back the French and Serbians and occupied Fiorina, from which, however, they were soon ejected. To the east of the Struma they had against them only Greek troops, and those troops had been demoralized by anti- Venizelos propaganda. Seres was handed over by the orders of General Bairas, and almost everywhere the Greek armies withdrew without fighting. To this ignoble attitude there were, however, two exceptions. The commander of Fort Phea Petra, Major Kondilis, lost his life in defence of his post. At Seres Colonel Kristodhoulou and a considerable portion of the 6th Division put up a stout fight before retiring. The Bulgarian armies advanced through Eastern Macedonia and were soon in front of Kavala. On September 12, 1916, this seaport, which had been the symbol to Greece of her victory in the second Balkan War and of the Peace of Buka- 314 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. KAVALA. rest, was handed over to the invaders by Colonel Katzopoulos, who capitulated together with a large part of the division under his command. Colonel Kristodhoulou and some 2,000 men with him preferred to make their escape and join the Allied forces at Salonika. By this means the Athens Government had hoped to render the elections impossible and thereby to keep in existence the Party Chamber elected in the previous December. They also hoped to embarrass the operations of the Entente Powers and force them to withdraw their troops from Salonika. The indignation in Greece was intense. To conciliate the Powers the Government temporarily replaced the Chief of the General Staff, General Dous- manis, who was known as the most pro-German of the pro-German military clique which was really governing the country. His unscrupu- lous assistant, Metaxas, was also retired. On August 27 there was a great demonstra- tion in Athens of protest against the Govern- ment's surrender of Macedonia. M. Venizelos made a last appeal to the King to dismiss his evil counsellors and put himself at the head of the nation in defence of the national territory. Constantino refused even to receive the deputation which wished to lay this appeal before him. It was the last chance to preserve the unity of the nation. Three days later Lieutenant Tsakonas, at the- head of a body of Cretan genxlarmerie, marched to the barracks of the 11th Division in Salonika and called on them to join a movement for national defence. The majority agreed and Colonel P. Zimvrakakis put himself at the head of the movement. A " Committee of National Defence " was elected and an appeal issued for volunteers. Meanwhile in Athens the situation became still more tense. On September 1 a strong Franco -British squadron under Admiral Dartige du Fournet anchored off Salamis. On the following day the Powers demanded from the Greek Government the control of posts and telegraphs and the expulsion of enemy agents. Both demands were accepted and a number of the most dangerous German agents were ex- pelled. The Reservists' Leagues, however, organized demonstrations of protest and once again the French Legation in Athens was attacked by the mob. M. Zaimis found it impossible to cope with these Reservists' Leagues, whose activities were encouraged by the military party and the King himself. On September 12 he resigned. The King was puzzled a3 to a successor : M. Gounaris and his other colleagues of the Skouloudis Government were definitely barred by the Entente Govern- ments. It was necessary, therefore, to find some more colourless person and the King approached M. Dimitrakopoulos, an anti- Venizelist and leader of a small Independent party of Arcadian deputies. M. Dimitrako- poulos coveted power, but found himself unable THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 815 to form any Government which could establish relations with the Entente Powers. On September 16 the King called on M. Kaloyeropoulos, a follower of the late M. JTheotokis, to form a Government. The new Ministry, in which the most important person was M. Karapanos (Minister of Foreign Affairs), consisted mainly of more or less independent anti-Venizelist deputies. It assumed an atti- tude of apparent friendliness to the Entente Powers and even proposed, under impossible conditions, eventual intervention, which Rumania's recent declaration of war had again made an urgent question.* There was, how- ever, considerable doubt as to whether these relied on their blind devotion to his person. The die was cast, and it was impossible for Venizelos any longer to consider reconciliation with his King. On September 25 he left by night for Crete, accompanied by Admiral Koundouriotis, Greece's most brilliant sailor and a striking public figure, who had indeed been a member of the Skouloudis Government, but whose sympathies were entirely with the movement of National Defence. On September 27 they published a proclamation to the Greek people declaring that their action was the only way of saving the country and that they had been driven to it by the refusal of the Greek Government to protect the national territories. EXPULSION OF "UNDESIRABLES" FROM ATHENS. overtures were made in good faith, and the Entente Governments could not acknowledge the new Ministry, since it was of a political character, and so formed in contravention of the terms of the ultimatum of June 21. The King's reply to the last appeal of M. Venizelos on August 27 was made on September 20. He harangued 5,000 soldiers of the A'-my Corps stationed in Athens, congratulated th9m on their " loyalty," and told them that he * Only the Minister of the Interior (Loukas Roup! o ) —formerly a Venizelist but latterly a violent Entento- phobe — way said to have declared himself categorically against any intervention whatever. M. Venizelos once again offered the King a last chance of putting himself at the head of the movement, but he warned him if he failed to do so that they would act henceforth without him. From Crete Venizelos and Koundouriotis passed to the other JEgea.ii Islands, and every- where they set up representatives of the new Provisional Government. Finally they took up their headquarters at Salonika, where they were joined by General Danglis. On October 18 a Cabinet of National Defence was formed by M. Repoulis, responsible to the new triumvirate, Venizelos, Koundouriotis and Danglis. 316 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. It was practically a declaration of revolt, a pronunciamiento issued by the leaders who really represented the best aspirations of the nation, against the autocratic and self-seeking regime imposed on it by the course of events. M. Venizelos and his companions were, however, forced to go slowly. They had to be careful to give no ground for the unjustifiable accusation brought against them by the lackey press of Athens that they were " traitors " who had " divided the nation." They avoided any declaration of an anti-dynastic character and frankly and truthfully declared that they had On October 4 M. Kaloyeropoulos, stating this as his reason for abandoning power, gave in his resignation to the King. The latter called to office Professor Spiridhon Lambros, of the University of Athens, a distinguished savant who had won a reputation as a writer on Byzan- tine and other historical questions, but had not hitherto played any part whatever in politics nor was, for example, a deputy. On October 8 Professor Lambros announced the formation of his Cabinet : two of his new colleagues were, like himself, professors ; the rest were civil servants, and the only man of any note among A VENIZELIST DEMONSTRATION IN CRETE. gone to Salonika in order to put themselves at the head of the movement of National Defence, and that, as the Athens Government refused to protect Greek territories and Greek interests, patriotic Greeks had to take upon themselves the protection of those interests and organize a fighting force in order, with the aid of Greece's age-long friends the Entente Powers, to expel from Greek soil the hereditary foe. The die was cast. King Constantine, for his part, no longer felt the need for any half- measures or pretence of a wish to intervene on the side of the Entente Powers. There was nothing to be gained by keeping M. Kaloyero- poulos in power, for there was no longer any question of Greek intervention. Moreover, the Kaloyeropoulos Government did not answer the Powers' requirement of a " Service Cabinet " and failed to secure any recognition from them. them was the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Zalokostas, formerly Greek Minister at Belgrade. The Greek press of both parties united for a moment to ridicule this " Ministry of Professors " and its chief. Professor Lambros was, however, to prove himself a very dangerous enemy of the Entente. Seven months later, immediately after his resignation, he unblushingly informed the Germanophil paper Akropolis that he took pride in having bluffed and outwitted the Powers. For the moment, however, he and his Government were looked on by Entente diplomatists as so colourless as not to be dangerous. They fulfilled the requirement of a strictly Service Cabinet which had been made, and accordingly on October 10 the Powers accorded their recognition to the new Govern- ment and resumed normal relations. This THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 817 recognition was accompanied, however, by very exacting demands. Admiral Dartige du Fournet's Note of September 2 had failed to obtain for the Powers the necessary securities they demanded. On October 3, just before the resignation of the Kaloyeropoulos Government, the Admiral, on the authorization of the Entente Ministers at Athens, sent the Greek Government another Note granting them a certain amount of time to hand over to the Allies and expel from Greece certain agents of the German propaganda who were still active in Athens. To this the Kaloyeropoulos Govern- ment had replied in a semi-official Note that of these German agents in question some had already been arrested and others, being Greek subjects, could not be arrested or expelled. It was perfectly willing to expel any Germans who wore still in Greece In reply the Admiral sent a complementary note demanding : (1) The execution of the Government's promises with regard to the replacement of certain gendarmerie officers. (2) The adoption of immediate and effective measures against the Reservists' Leagues. (3) The withdrawal of certain officers from the Athens garrison. (4) The retirement of certain police and gendarmerie officials belonging - to the notorious anti-Venizelist Corp3 of Public Safety. (5) The punishment of police officials who had condoned the attacks on the French Legation. Five days' grace was allowed the Government to give satisfaction on these points, but before they had expired M. Kaloyeropoulos had been succeeded by Professor Lambros. Before leaving office, however, M. Kaloyeropoulos ordered the arrest of a few of the most notorious German agents ; but it was left to the new Government to attempt to satisfy the Entente Powers. The latter were especially disquieted by the suspicious behaviour of the Greek naval and military authorities. The former, at the head of which was Admiral Uousmanis (brother of the notorious Chief of the General Staff), had been carrying out in the Navy a purge of the M. VENIZELOS (in centre) ADMIRAL KOUNDOURIOTIS and GENERAL DANGLIS. 818 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. LANDING OF M. VEN1ZELOS AND ADMIRAL KOUNDOURIOTIS AT SALONIKA. Venizelist elements likely to remain faithful to Admiral Koundouriotis. The behaviour of the military authorities seemed still more un- friendly. In spite of the promises that had been made, Greek troops and guns were being sent into Thessaly, and instead of proceeding effectively with the demobilization which had been promised the Athens Government was calling to the colours another 40,000 recruits. The language of the anti- Venizelist press towards the Entente Powers became daily more insulting. In a further Xote which he presented on the evening of October 10 Admiral Dartige du Fournet informed the Greek Government that for the security of the Allied forces he had determined to take over the control of the railway to Larissa, to disarm the Greek war- ships Averov, Kilkis and Limnos, to take possession of the smaller ships of the Greek Navy, and to occupy and disarm the batteries round Piraeus and Salami's. Before this cate- gorical demand the new Government gave way, explaining that it yielded to force majeure, and <rhe Admiral carried out his intentions step by step. The anti-Venizelist press was not slow to greet, as champions of the nation the Greek sailors from the requisitioned warships who retired to Athens. To make assurance doubly sure the French Admiral on October 13 further demanded that no Greek citizens should be allowed to carry arms, and that the requisition of all the Thessalian corn for the army should stop. Though the Lambros Government hastened to agree to every demand that was made on it, it sought by underhand means to prevent their execution. Troops and material of war still passed secretly into Thessaly. On October 18 King Constantine reviewed the sailors from the requisitioned warships and con- gratulated them on their fervent loyalty, and yet at the same time he maintained a pose of friendliness towards the Entente and sought to continue good personal relations with its diplomatic representatives. To some extent he succeeded, for in Entente countries there was a strong wish to remain on friendly rela- tions, if possible, with the Government of Athens, and this wish was father to the thought that in course of time it would be possible to reconcile M. Venizelos with his King. A striking example of this point of view was given by the decision of the Conference of Boulogne held on October 20 by representa- tives of the British and French Governments. The two Powers, indeed, gratefully recognized the assistance that the movement of National Defence could afford them in their Macedonian campaign. They promised to finance the Venizelist army and to advance it the sum of 10 million francs, but they promptly damped the hopes of M. Venizelos's supporters that the Salonika Government would be acknow- ledged as a Government de jure on an equal or superior footing to the Government of Athens ; instead they recognized it merely as a de facto Government in such parts of Macedonia and the Islands as had already acknowledged THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 319 its authority. In spite of the Venizelists' hopes there would seem to be little to quibble at in this policy, for obviously the Allied Governments would feel scruples as to im- posing on Greece a Government for which it had not declared. But unfortunately the recognition of the Provisional Government's de facto authority in Macedonia was supple- mented by the insistence that its rule, should not be extended to other parts of Greece This was the prime cause of the dissatisfaction of the Venizelists with the arrangement which had been made. It was, in fact, a compromise, for the Allies insisted that King Constantino should withdraw from Thessaly the Greek troops which were still there, leaving only a small minimum necessary for the policing of the province. But, even had the Athens Government loyally carried out this condition, the Venizelists would have continued to feel aggrieved. Thessaly stood on a different footing from most provinces of continental Greece. It was still a country of large landed proprietors'and peasant tenants ; M. Venizelos had promised to undertake agrarian reforms, and for that reason the bulk of the population in Thessaly was strongly on his side. While the Government could rely on the support of the landholders, Venizelists had no doubt that, if the Thessalians were allowed to choose for themselves, they would by an overwhelming majority, as the election of June 13, 1915, had shown, declare in favour of the movement of National Defence. They therefore resented the restriction imposed on them not to extend their rule to Thessaly. The Athens Govern- ment, on the other hand, gave as its reason for • delaying the withdrawal of all its troops from Thessaly that there were agrarian disturbances there and that, in the interests of public order, • it was necessary to keep troops in the province. On November 4 matters reached a head. At the frontier town of Ekaterini there was a fight between the Royalist and Venizelist troops which resulted in some loss of life and still more embittered feeling between the two factions. The Protecting Powers thereupon took it upon themselves to insist on the estab- lishment of a neutral zone between the two administrations, and Thessaly was thereby permanently debarred from showing its sym- pathy with the Venizelist movement. The Powers continued, indeed, to be hope- ful that the re-establishment of friendly rela- RECEPTION OF M. VENIZELOS IN SALONIKA; GENERAL ZIMVRAKAKIS' SPEECH OF WELCOME. 390 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. ( ions with the Athens Government was still possible. In spite of the ultimatum of June 21, they allowed the illegal Chamber elected in December, 1915, to meet on November 13. Although after one meeting it was promptly adjourned, the Athens Government could feel triumphant that its point of view had been recognized and that the original demand of the Entente Powers might now be regarded as so much bluff. The Powers unfortunately con- tinued their policy of making repeated small ■ demands on Athens, while failing to grapple with the salient fact of the essentially un- friendly character of the Government. On • November 17 Admiral Dartige du Fournet served a new Note on the Lambros Government in which he demanded the handing over of 18 field and 16 mountain batteries, 140 machine- guns and a large quantity of rifles and am- munition Two days later, before an answer had been given, he informed the Legations of the enemy Powers and Athens that all their staffs were to be expelled from Greece within 48 hours. On November 22 the enemy diplo- matists left without disturbance. On the same day Professor Lambros replied to the French Admiral, offering to hand over a certain number of guns, but refusing the other demands in ■ the Admiral's Note. The latter replied on November 24, demanding that 10 mountain batteries should be handed over on December 1 and the res I a fortnight later, and declared that these guns were required on the Monastir front. Relations between the Powers and the Athens Government became daily more difficult. The Reservists' Leagues, so far from being dis- solved,, were increasingly active. Anti-Veni- zelist disturbances were the order of the day and public officials no longer disguised their hostility for and contempt of the Protecting Powers A strikingly different picture was presented by the Provisional Government at Salonika. From the first the Central Powers had regarded this as an open enemy. The ship Angheliki, transporting Venizelist volunteers to Salonika, was sunk, almost certainly by -a German sub- marine, on October 29. A similar fate befell the Kiki Isaia, employed on the same mission. The Athens Government refused to take up the case, and, indeed, from its point of view with good reason, for as regards foreign policy Salonika was now in fact, if not in name, a distinct State. On November 24 the Provisional Government declared war on Bulgaria and her Allies. VENIZELIST VOLUNTEERS FROM CRETE ARRIVE AT SALONIKA. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 821 ENEMY DIPLOMATISTS LEAVE ATHENS. Volunteers came from all parts of Greece to join the Army of National Defence. Before long there were many thousands under arms, and their numbers would have been still greater had the Royalist authorities not prevented their journey there. They went so far, indeed, as to declare as dismissed from the Greek Army any officers who joined the Venizelist forces. As a result of the irresoluteness of the Allies' policy, the Athens Government and its sup- porters were becoming more recalcitrant in their attitude. In the last days of November the activities of the Reservists' Leagues reached their highest point. Open preparations were being made for attacks on the Venizelists of Athens. Fearing a disturbance of public order, Admiral Dartige du Fournet landed 200 French marines to reinforce a small body of troops who had since the events of September garrisoned the Zappeion. Undeterred by this warning the Greek authorities instigated their partisans to continue their anti-Entente policy. Instead of replying to the ultimatum of November 24, the Greek Government on November 27 addressed a protest to the neutral diplomatists at Athens against the Allies' occupation of the Salamis Straits, their control over certain public services, the expul- sion of the enemy Legations from Athens, and their further demands for the surrender of guns and material of war. Troops were being brought up to Athens and trenches dug on the surrounding hills. Be- tween November 25 and 30 detachments of the 1st, 7th and 34th regiments of the 2nd Division took up position on the Hill of Philopappos, the Pnyx and other points commanding the road from Phalerum to Athens. Other detachments were stationed at points commanding the Athens-Piraeus road — some 4,000 men armed with machine-guns. Mountain batteries were placed in strategic positions ; the streets of Athens were full of troops ; some 8,000 or 9,000 men were at the disposal of the Government. In the vicinity also was the 11th Division, and the 13th Division was brought from Chalcis and placed on the line Levadia-Thebes. All these troops were .under the command of Lieut. -General Kallaris, whose assistant was Major-General Papoulas — both fanatical anti- Venizelists. Moreover, the Government on November 29 suddenly issued a decree allowing volunteers to enrol themselves, and thereby added 10,000 men to the forces under their control. In defence of this action they declared that it eliminated any possibility of disturbances on the part of irresponsible persons. In spite of these significant facts the French Admiral persisted in the blind hope that all would be well. He hoped by a display of force to make the Government agree to his demands. He was under the impression that the King himself was not averse from doing this but preferred to appear to yield to force majeure rather than to give willing adhesion to an act which might appear a departure from neu- trality. On November 29 the Admiral had a long conversation with the King. He left 322 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. under the impression that he could rely on the King's promise that order would be maintained at any cost in Athens and that in no case would the Greek troops fire on any Allied contingents that might be landed. The Allied representatives had declared through the press that they intended to enforce the acceptance of their demands by measures of a political and economic character, but that they would not employ military force, though they might find it necessary to land troops in guns. The Allied troops were quite unprepared for any such attack. They at once sought cover and replied as well as they could to the firing, which was promptly taken up by Greek troops and artillery from their different positions. By 11.30 a.m. the battle was in full swing, especially round the Hill of Philopappos. The heavy artillery, however, did not join in till 4 o'clock in the afternoon, when it began a bombardment of a French detachment in the Zappeion. PLAN OF ATHENS. order to maintain order in the capital. Early on December lsome 2,000 men, three-quarters of whom were French marines, were disem- barked. They marched on Athens in close order along three main roads. In support of the demonstration at 10 o'clock three French destroyers moved up and anchored off I'haliron. It was just about this hour that the Allied forces, marching on Athens, suddenly found themselves in contact with the Greek troops which had been posted on the surrounding height**. Quite unexpectedly to the French the Greek forces suddenly opened fire with machine- No preparations had been made for any such contingency. Admiral Dartige du Fournet was in the Zappeion and unable to get in touch either with the Greek authorities or his own troops. At a quarter to five the French destroyers off Phaliron opened fire as a demonstration against the Greek artillery positions, but did little damage. The Ministers of the Entente made an attempt to get to the Palace and see the King. They were unsuccessful, and it was necessary for the bombardment to begin again. About 7 o'clock the French warships fired a few shells in the direction of the Palace and this brought the King to reason. He offered as a THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 323 MACHINE GUNS ON THE ACROPOLIS. compromise to hand over six of the ten batteries that had been demanded. In their perplexity the Allied representatives agreed, and at 2 a.m. on December 2 signed an agree- ment accepting the proposal. Admiral Dartige du Fournet left the Zappeion at 7 a.m. and re- turned to his flagship. The contingents under his command had suffered considerable losses. ^The French had some five officers and 117 men killed, seven officers and about 200 men wounded ; one British officer and eight men were killed, three officers and about 40 men wounded ; the Italian contingent had also lost some men. The Greek troops on their side had four officers and 50 men killed and about 150 wounded. The climax of humiliation was reached by the return of the Allied contingents. They were marched down to Phaliron escorted by the Greek troops that had treacherously attacked them and handed back practically as prisoners of war to the misled Admiral. This " defeat " of the Allied armies, as the anti-Venizelist press jubilantly styled it, was the signal for the outbreak of a regular Sicilian Vespers. Early on the morning of December 2 the Greek troops and anti-Venizelist partisans invaded the Venizelist newspaper offices and wrecked them, killing or arresting the staffs of the various papers and looting their property. Nor did they confine themselves to well- known public men and journalists ; they shot and arrested, on the most frivolous pretexts, many hundreds of private citizens, overwhelm- ing their prisoners with insults. The Venize- lists' calculation puts the number of men, women and children killed at about 200, while over 1,500 were seized and crammed into improvised prisons. The whole proceeding was characterized by such cold-blooded de- liberation that it was obvious that it had been prepared beforehand. In defence of their action the anti-Venizelists subsequently pleaded that they had but taken precautionary mea- sures against the outbreak of a Venizelist rebellion. They declared that the Venizelists had large stores of arms in Athens, and that they had planned to rise and, with the help of the Allied contingents landed, to overthrow the Government and dethrone the King. Not only did investigations show that the Venizelists had no such stores of arms as were alleged ; the fact that the massacre of Veni- zelists began only after the retirement of the Allied troops disposes of the allegation that danger was to be apprehended from a Veni- zelist rising in connection with the landing. It was proved some months later that the bodies of the Venizelists had been mutilated 824 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. and robbed and afterwards hurriedly buried in the hope that the crime would not be discovered. French and British public opinion was acutely conscious of the humiliation of the Athens reverse. As a leading French publicist — M. Auguste Gauvain — wrote : "In the history of France there is no example of such a humiliation so patiently submitted to." Punch expressed the similar feeling in England. In a cartoon called " What England did not ' expect ' " it represented Nelson appearing to a wounded bluejacket. He learns he was wounded in " a demonstration at Athens." and asks : " Did our fleet give 'em hell ? " " Oh, no ! sir," replies the sailor, " I'm told they're neutrals." The " Battle of Athens " was a striking commentary on King Constan- tino's assurances of " benevolent neutrality." The Royalist newspapers openly exulted in the thought of " those two greatest, holiest, most glorious days in the whole of the Greek history." " The rocks of the Acropolis," proclaimed the Reservists' Leagues, " have won back their olden glory. The Greeks of to-day have culled laurels worthy of the past." It was hard for real Greek patriots to have to listen to these boasts without means of replying. The Athens cliques exploited their victory to the full. Venizelism was under the ban. On Christmas Day the ecclesiastical authorities of Athens, forgetful of their sacred calling, lent themselves to a ridiculous ceremony. Led by the Metro- politan of Athens, they pronounced " anathema" on the head of the " traitor " Venizelos. Crowds of hooligans and anti-Venizelist parti- sans attended and applauded the ceremony. It was a mournful, if ridiculous, illustration of the depths of degradation into which Constan- tine and his minions had plunged Greece. CHAPTER CCIII. THE ABDICATION OF KING CONSTANTINE. Effect of the " Battle of Athens," December, 1916— Exposure of Constantine's Hostility to the Entente— The History of Modern Greece— Entente Doubts and Difficulties- Position of Italy— Exchange of Notes— Effect of Russian Revolution and American Intervention— The Thessalian Crops— Entente Decisions— M. Jonnart appointed High Commissioner— Abdication of King Constantine— The New King, Alexander— Constan- tine's Departure from Greece — M. Venizelos becomes Prime Minister — Persecution and Massacres of Greeks in Turkey and Macedonia. THE events of December 1, 1916, in Athens marked the end of a definite stage in the relations of Greece with the Entente Powers. During the next six months the Powers were obviously dealing with an unfriendly and un- faithful Government which needed careful watching. Though formally " friendly rela- tions " were maintained, both sides were con- scious that this was mere temporizing. Anti- Venizelism and anti-Ententism had become practically synonymous terms. Athens and Salonika were spiritually at war. That the Entente Powers, while Allies of the one, still kept up the show of good relations with the other was due to political circumstances which must be discussed. Modern Greece in an almost equal degree embodies the two " Greeces " of history — Classical Greece and Byzantine Greece. The mixed population of ancient Greece — in part of local " Mediterranean " origin, in part the descendants of Indo-European speaking peoples from Danubian lands — together evolved the unique civilization, art, philosophy, and politi- cal idea which lie at the roots of modern pro- gress. For a thousand years or so — at least from the Persian Wars, and at latest stretching Vol. XIII.— Part 166. 325 down to the sixth century, when the Emperor Justinian, by closing the Schools of Athens, picturesquely indicated the end of the Hellenic epoch — Greek thought was the basis of all intellectual progress. Greek, too, became the medium for the transmission of Christianity to the peoples of Western Asia and South-Eastern Europe. The Roman Empire by Justinian's time had become Greek in all but name. The building of the great Cathedral of St. Sophia in this Emperor's reign may be taken as the symbol of the inauguration of the second "Greek" millennium, which lasted till the capture of Constantinople by the Turks. If " Hellenism " for a thousand years had connoted democracy, intellectual progress and fearless rationalism, it was for another thousand to stand for conservatism, organized bureaucracy and religious devotion. After nearly 400 years of slavery a new Hellas emerged from the morass of Turkish misrule : and it was alike the product of the Classical and the Christian Greece that had preceded it. The War of Greek Independence was inspired by the two principles — love of freedom and faith in Christianity. In practice the two were never disconnected. Patriarchs and bishops of the Greek Church share equally 326 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. with Green and phil-Hellene republicans the credit for the success of Greece's gallant struggle. The great Zante poet, Dionysios Solomos, has finely written in his " Hymn to Liberty " : I know thee by the terrible Slush of thy Hword ; I know thee by thy glance That mightily measures the earth Issuing from the holy Bones of tho Greeks, Ah in thy pristine valour, Hail, oh ! hail, Liberty. KING CONSTANTINE AND PRINCE (AFTERWARDS KING) ALEXANDER. It was indeed " Liberty " which was the battle-cry. But bitter experience proved Greece was yet unripe for a Republic. Instead, she yielded herself to a Bavarian autocrat, yielded gratefully, yet not without protest. Though Otto failed to found a dynasty and even to keep his Crown, he at least once more introduced into the Greek mind the remem- brance of the Byzantine Emperors, the first, in their own estimation, among the princes of the earth. King George, who succeeded him, was indeed made of smoother stuff. In his reign there was little attempt on the part of the Crown to tamper with the rights the people had won by the revolutions of 1843, 18G2, and more recently in 1909. It may, indeed, be said that the first century of Greek independence was a century of struggle between two different conceptions of Monarchy — the Constitutional and the Auto- cratic. The democratic character of the Greek people, whose natural inspiration was drawn from their classical ancestors and from modern revolutionary France, had, however, on the whole, been in the ascendancy, and their Orthodoxy had been more national than political in tone. The accession of King Con- stantino, however, reopened the question. The first Orthodox King the Greeks had possessed — Otto was a Roman Catholic and George a Lutheran — he was hailed as by birth, educa- tion, and especially name, the " child of the Greek Sun." A contemporary Greek poet, Yeoryios Paraskhos, in an ode in honour of the then young Diadoch's christening hailed him in these terms : King's son, I strew flowers for thy festival And with a tear of mine I too Bless thy christening. Perfume thy path. A stout old fellow am I ; Death I fear not. For forty years I've fought And die I cannot Before we reach the City. Constantino was indeed looked on as true successor of the Byzantine Emperors — " Con- stantino XII." as his people fondly called him. It was the first Constantino who founded the " City " ; it was the eleventh Constantino who had given his life in vain to defend it against the Turks ; it was the twelfth Constantine who would recover it, and win St. Sophia once more for Christendom and Greeco. " To the City, thou Twelfth Constantine ! " was the shout with which the Royalist mob acclaimed him when he drove through the streets of Athens. Among the militarist cliques he was fondly known as " the Eagle's son " — -another Byzantine memory. Blinded by party feeling, Constantino's partisans failed to see the absurdity of hailing as a worthy successor to the great Emperors Basil the Bulgar-Slayer and Constantine " Turned-to-Marble," the man who was chiefly responsible for the betrayal of Greek populations to these same Bulgnrs and Turks. But, indeed, enthusiasm for Con- stantine, though it was genuine among the THE TIMES HISTORY OP THE WAR. 827 provincial population of the Peloponnesus and other remote parts of continental Greece, was on the whole an artificial product of anti- Venizelist agitation. By December, 1916, it had, however, become a phenomenon to be reckoned with, and the Entente Powers in dealing with Greece had to face the fact that, largely owing to the mistakes they themselves had made, the enemies of Venizelos had suc- ceeded in representing him to the Greek people as an adventurer who thought merely of his own interests, had divided tho country, and had tried to bring it completely under the sway of foreign Powers. In December, 1916, it was doubtful what percentage of the population was actually Venizelist,* and what percentage regarded * There was never any doubt about the feeling of Greeks abroad. The great Hellenic communities in the British Empire, France and America did not hesitate to declare thsmselves in favour of the Venizelist move- ment and against Constantino and his autocratic claims. True patriots like M. Oennadius, the Greek Minister in London, resigned rather than continue to serve a government of which they thoroughly disapproved. (M. Gennadius was re-appointed on M. Venizelos's return to office at tho end of June, 1917.) Greeks in England and their British fellow-members of the Anglo-Hellenic Iieague — led by such distinguished phil-Hellenes as Mr. Peniber Reeves and Dr. R. M. Burrows — did not hesitate to give their frank support from now on to a cause which they saw was no party but a national one. itself as first and foremost Royalist. The Entente Powers were not willing to face the prospect of civil war in Greece, a civil war which would have seriously inconvenienced the Macedonian campaign, and would have entailed the dispatch of further troops to Greece. Besides, they still felt perhaps un- justified scruples as to their right to interfere in the internal affairs of the country to the extent of imposing on it a Prime Minister whom it was not certain the Greeks as a whole were ready to accept. But the hesitations of the next seven months were due to other causes as well as these. There was, unfortunately, a considerable dif- ference of opinion among the Entente Powers on the question of the support which should bo accorded to Vonizelos. From the moment he left for Crete and raised the standard of revolt it was clear that Venizelos had declared war to the death on Constantino as the represen- tative of absolutism in Greece. Consequently there was little prospect of winning the approval of the Romanoff Court for the leader of such a democratic movement. The Russian Govern- ment, therefore, obstructed any policy which would obviously mean the triumph of the principles asserted by Venizelos. The Russian FRENCH TROOPS OUTSIDE ATHENS, DECEMBER 1916. 166—2 328 THE TIMES HISTORY Of THE WAR. Court was bound to Constantine not only by family ties, but by the far closer bond of a common political point of view. For very different reasons considerable opposition came from Italy to any radical solution of the Greek question, such as the deposition of Constantino or the reinstallation of Venizelos by the help of the Entente's forces. The Italian Government and Press showed an open distrust for the great national ideas upheld by Venizelos. There were important territorial issues at stake between the two countries. Italy still occupied the Dodekanese — islands which she had seized in 1911, and refused to return to Turkey till the Turks had withdrawn all their troops from Tripoli. The population of the islands was almost wholly Greek, and Italy's obvious in- tention of keeping them could not but arouse feelings of resentment throughout the Greek world. Further, there was the question of Northern simultaneously with Italy's seizure of Avlona, but he had made it clear that the one occupa- tion like the other was conditional on the final decision of the Powers at the Peace Conference. He had, therefore, refused to admit deputies from the province to the Greek Chamber, an act of discretion which his successor Skouloudis did not imitate. It is characteristic of the various anti- Venizelist Cabinets that they should have antagonized Italian opinion without any good reason. The Italian Government and people could plead with some show of justification that the Entente Powers ought not to leave in the possession of a State like Greece, which was on friendly terms with the Germans and Austrians, important strategic points. This was the justification offered by the Italian Government for its occupation of Northern Epirus in October, 1916, the occupation of which it declared was necessary in order to maintain communications with the Adriatic ONE ASPECT OF THE BLOCKADE OF GREECE: AT ST. NAZAIRE. INTERNED GREEK STEAMFRS Epirus. Since 1912 a Greek Provisional Go- vernment had been administering this largely Greek-speaking province, but the Conference of London had decided that it should be in- corporated in the nvfr principality of Albania. Soon after the outbreak of the European war M. Venizelos had, with the approval of the Entente Powers, re-occupied the province and the army advancing on Monastir. The occupation nevertheless aroused great indig- nation in Greece. It is characteristic of the unprincipled character of anti-Venizelist policy that the very Governments which had abused and irritated the Italians most should in December, 1916, openly seek a rapprochement with them on the basis of anti-Venizelism. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 829 It was perhaps only ordinary diplomacy that the Italians should jump at the chance of support from a side from which they need fear no threat to Italy's aims. Constantine was nothing to them, and their dislike and distrust towards him was as great as that of their French and British Allies, but they knew that in his hands Greece could never bo a formidable rival to Italian claims in the Adriatic and in the vEgean. It was unfortunate that there was this diver- gence of view between the Italians and their French and British Allies. It was, of course, easier for the latter to take an altruistic view of Greek politics ; the French especially were persistently and whole-heartedly Venizelist in their outlook. British public opinion sup- ported him perhaps not less strongly : but the British Government, both because it felt the need of avoiding friction with Italy and because it feared the danger of provoking civil war in Greece, preferred to temporize with a monarch whom it no longer trusted. Possibly this policy was justified by results, for at least it meant that no further demands were made on the Allies' military resources for use in Greece. But it was at best only a half- solution of what appeared to many a very urgent question. It is in the light of these facts that the course of events in Greece from December 1, 1916, to June 11, 1917, must be read. The massacre at Athens had aroused Allied opinion more strongly than any event which had yet occurred in Greece. Admiral Dartige du Fournet was recalled, and measures were taken to secure satisfaction for the treacherous attack that had been made. The Allied Govern- ments at once resorted to one of their periodic blockades of Greek shipping. On December 3 the French Government made proposals to its Allies as to the course to be adopted in dealing with the Athens Government. It was, as we have seen, difficult to secure agreement be- tween the four Entente Powers, but at least they were united on the necessity of securing some apology for the insult which had been committed. On December 14 they served another Note on the Athens Government. They demanded full reparation for the outrage, and as a guarantee against future attacks they called on the Greek Government to transfer all its regular troops to the Pelo- ponnesus. As usual, the Athens Government replied in a conciliatory tone and promised to give every satisfaction. . It took no urgent steps, however, to do so, for it relied con- siderably on the disunion among the Entente Powers and on the fact that they had before now relaxed demands which they had at first declared to be imperative. The attacks upon Venizelos in the Italian Press further en- couraged it in its intransigeant tone. It M. JOANNES GENNADIUS, Greek Minister in London. still hoped to keep the Entente Governments from taking decisive steps, and the anti- Venizelist Press noted with pleasure that no official recognition had been accorded to the Salonika Government. It is true that in the last days of December the British and French Governments nominated Earl Granville and M. de Billy as their representative diplomatic agents at Salonika, but both Governments declared officially that there was no intention of recognizing the Salonika Government as a Power with a separate status. The one demand that was pressed home on the Athens Government was that for an official apology. This the Athens Government was perfectly willing to give, for it regarded it as a minor point, but it made considerable difficulties about giving the guarantees demanded by the Powers in the form of the withdrawal of all tho Greek troops to the Peloponnesus and their isolation from those in Central Greece. In order to clear up the situation, representa- 830 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. THE GREEK AMENDE: THE FLAGS OF THE ALLIES. The saluting of the Allies' flags took place on January 29, 1917, at the Zappeion, in the presence of the Allied Ministers, members of the Cabinet, and the Commander of the First Army Corps. tives of Italy, France and Britain met in con- ference at Rome in the beginning of January. On January 8 they finally reached an agreement on the somewhat colourless line of policy that their primary aim in Greece was to protect the flank if the Salonika army. The Athens Government was to be pressed to execute the demands that had been made on it, but at the same time it was to be given renewed assurances that the Venizelist troops would not be allowed to take advantage of the withdrawal of the Royalists from Thessaly and to extend their sphere of action to that province. On January 10 the Athens Government replied to the Powers' Note. As usual, it promised acceptance of all the demands in principle, but raised objections on minor points, hoping thus to prolong the discussion. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 331 In return for its conciliatory tone it asked for the prompt raising of the blockade and the release of all the Royalist prisoners detained by the Venizelist authorities. On January 13 the Powers reiterated their demands, the execution of which they declared must be unconditional. King Constantino's Govern- ment saw that again the moment had come to yield and on January 16 it accepted in full the Powers' Note. On January 29, in the presence of the official representatives of Greece and the Entente Powers, Greek troops formally marched past and saluted the flags of the Allies. The Government further promised the prompt execution of the other demands of the Powers, including the complete dissolution of the Reservists' Leagues, the removal of the regular troops to the Peloponnesus and the release of the Venizelist prisoners. The Powers had won a paper victory, but the Lambros Government had no intention of loyally executing its promises. A large number of the regular troops either were not sent to the Peloponnesus or were allowed to return from it as civilians. As Professor Lambros himself afterwards admitted, large quantities of rifles and ammunition were buried in order that the Entente Powers should not get them. At the same time most solemn assurances were given that the Government's promises were being faithfully carried out, and the newspapers were most self-righteously indignant that the Entente on its part was slow to relax the blockade, which was the only weapon it was willing to use against Greece. The tone of the Press, indeed, had become more unrestrainedly violent than ever before on the subject of the Allies, and the Ministers of the four Powers at Athens were compelled to make repeated representations to the Lam- bros Government on the subject. In spite of the various instructions of the Government to anti -Venizelist journalists little improvement was at first to be seen. Between December 1 and the beginning of March the anti- Venizelist Press held the field indisputably in Athens ; the Venizelist newspaper offices had been wrecked and Venizelist journalists were in Salonika or in prison. In March, however, a slight im- provement took place and one or two Veni- zelist papers resumed publication, though in their leading articles they were careful to abstain from any decided political comment such as would have provoked a repetition of the December outrages. The Entente Powers were so well satisfied with this symptom of the slightly improved atti- tude of the Greek Government and its supporters that the French and British Ministers, who, since the events of December, had been living on board cruisers in the Salamis Straits, now re- turned to the Legations at Athens. Condition's however, were in fact no better at all, for the EX-CROWN PRINCE OF GREECE, In uniform of Prussian Guards. Greek Government was instigating its supporters to avoid the loyal execution of the Entente's demands. In spite of the Greek Government's assurance that the Reservists' Leagues had been dissolved, they continued to flourish in the provinces and to terrorize the population of the more remote districts. At their head was a nephew of Gounaris, a certain Sayas, who showed considerable cunning and resource in helping the Greek Government to evade the execution of its* pledges to the Powers. Venizelists themselves had to admit that the Reservists' " organization was perfect," and that they were prepared for any sacrifice to attain their end of strengthening Constantino's throne and hampering the Entente's action. In Central Greece and especially in Thessaly their activities continued uninterruptedly. In the wild districts of the Pindus Mountains bands of brigands were organized and a successful guerilla campaign opened against THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. General Sarrail's armies. Small detachments of French troops were cut off and massacred. General Sarrail was compelled to add to his many anxieties the protection of his army from these treacherous flank attacks. All the time the Court and Government of Athens were professing the most irreproachable sentiments of benevolent neutrality. They sought to transfer to the injured Powers the responsibility for various " incidents " which occurred. General Sarrail, the French, the Serbians, the Italians, were always, according to the anti-Venizelis: Press, committing some new outrage on Greek rights and feelings. The conduct of the French armies on the Thessalian border was the theme of many newspaper philippics. Above all, the con- tinuance of the blockade was a fruitful subject of complaint. Every day the Athenian Press professed its indignation that though the Athens Government had loyally executed its engagements the Powers did not relax their blockade, which was reducing the civilian population to starvation. There was no reason to suppose that any such " starvation " took place. Owing to Government requisitions food was short and people felt the additional pinch of the blockade, but the Powers showed themselves willing to admit the necessary minimum of supplies while refusing to forgo their one efficacious method of keeping a treacherous Government to the fulfilment of its pledges. The first sign of better things was the appearance in February of a new Venizelist paper, the Pro-odos. This was followed at the end of March by the re-appearance of other leading Venizelist organs — first of all the Estia and Ethnos on March 28, the Patris on April 22, the Messager d'Athenes on May 5. To begin with they avoided controversial leading articles, but at least they supplied the Athenian public with other than German propagandist news which had for four months formed their only reading. Greece was beginning to awaken from the mental isolation from Western Europe in which the policy of her King and Government had involved her. Abroad mighty changes were taking place. On March 17 M. Briand resigned, and on March 20 M. Ribot's Government came into power, backed by a popular demand for a more reso- lute foreign policy. On March 12 open revolu- tion broke out in Petrograd ; three days later EARL GRANVILLE, G.C.V.O., BRITISH DIPLOMATIC AGENT AT SALONIKA (s ated) AND MR. WRATISLAW, BRITISH CONSUL-GENERAL. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 333 STUDENTS' DEMONSTRATION, IN HONOUR OF M. VENIZELOS, JUNE 1917. Nicholas II. had abdicated and a Provisional Government had put itself at the head of the Russian people. Finally, on April 5, the United States of America responded almost unanimously to President Wilson's appeal to declare that a state of war existed with Ger- many. On every side the factors to which the Athens autocracy had looked for support or toleration were being eliminated. It was natural that the hardly-tried patriots of Salonika should once more pluck up their hopes and renew their efforts to win the country to the only right and reasonable policy. By the Entente Powers' agreement the Venizelist authorities were prevented from extending their government to parts of Greece which had not acknowledged them before October, 1916. So at least the Athens Govern- ment pretended to interpret the arrangement. The Entente Powers seem to have hesitated as to their obligations with regard to islands which declared of their own accord for the revolution. In Cerigo, for instance, they at first forbade, but afterwards tolerated, the formation of an autonomous republican administration. In March the Ionian island of Zante declared its adhesion to the National cause and the French were accused by Athens of having fostered this movement. On April 15 Skopelos and others of the Northern Sporades were occupied by Veni- zelist troops. Other Ionian and ^-Egean islands hastened to follow their'example. Without and within, the anti-Venizelist regime was being severely shaken. It was clear that the time had come for clearing up an anomalous situation. Italy's special interests and prejudices had, of course, to be consulted ; otherwise there was little difference of opinion between the Allies as to the general course to be pursued. On April 19 the French, British and Italian Premiere met at Saint Jean de Maurienne in iSavoy. Nothing was published as to their deliberations except that complete harmony prevailed. In the general interest the Italian Government was clearly willing to modify its anti- Venizelist attitude. Venizelos, indeed, had always been willing to meet them more than half way. So long ago as December he had given an interview to the Secolo of Milan in which he temperately defended Greek racial claims to the Dodekanese and Northern Epirus, but offered Italy his full acquiescence in her retention of Avlona and an JEgean island, such as Stampalia, did her strategic interests demand it. This interview the Italian censorship did not allow to be published till June. But St. Jean de Maurienne marked at least an agreement on a negative 384 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. basis of a stiffer attitude towards the Athens Government. So it was interpreted in Greece. King Constantino saw himself again obliged to resort to conciliation. On April 22 he dismissed Professor Lambros, and on May 3 M. Za'imis took office for the fifth time in the hope that a final breach might be thereby averted. The hope was, indeed, a forlorn one. M. Zai'mis had formerly been a friend of Venizelos, but the latter's decisive action in the previous September had driven a wedge between them. Zai'mis remained a supporter, if a restive and anxious one, of the Constantinian regime. He would, indeed, have been willing to reach an agreement with the Venizelists, but only on the basis of their acceptance of Constantino and abandonment of their constitutional pro- gramme. But to establish " unity " — as the Powers perhaps hoped — on these lines was Utopian. The idea of uniting Greece on a basis of compromise was equally unacceptable to the Venizelists and to the King's supporters : both alike conceived that they were struggling for the recognition of a definite principle. The Venizelists held that the King's whole course of action since the dissolution of the Chamber elected on June 13, 1915, was a violation of the Constitution, and that no settlement was possible in the future interests of Greece which did not admit this fact. The Royalists, on the other hand, held that since September, 1916, Venizelos had been in revolt against the King's Government, and that it was impossible to attempt any reconciliation without a confession on the part of the Venizelists that the Athens Government was the constitutional representa- tive of Greece. Apart from this the difference of political theory between the two sides had grown so acute that neither would be willing to forgo the satisfaction of triumphing over its adversaries. The hope, therefore, that M. Za'imis, even though he had the best intentions in that respect, would be able to accommodate such radically different points of view was one which found no favour in any but a few British and French circles. From his entrance on office M. Zaimis was received without enthusiasm and, indeed, with distrust by both political parties in Greece. He had behind him no real backing. By nature a Moderate, he was doubtless anxious to conciliate the Powers, and even the Venizelists, but he had no force at his disposal such as would have enabled him to take severe measures against the militarist cliques which were tyrannizing over the country. The measures of repression of the Reservists' bands which he promulgated it was impossible to carry out. He was unable to grapple with the power behind the Throne represented by Germanophils like Dousmanis, Streit and Merkouris, and he took no effectual steps to execute the guarantees demanded by the Powers with regard to handing over all the material of war in Northern Greece and releasing and indemnifying Veni- zelist prisoners. The activities of the various Royalist Leagues controlled by extremists such as Sayas and Livieratos proved far too vigorous for the Government to cope with, even had it had the will to do so. These Leagues and their followers indulged in a regular Byzantine adulation of Constantino. They filled the columns of the Press with fervid assertions of unreserved loyalty to him and celebrated him as almost a Divine Protector of the country. The Powers were forced for definite reasons to break off their policy of procrastination. The Thessalian harvest began at the end of May, and it was clear that if the crops were to pass into the possession of the Athens Government, the Allies' blockade would lose the greater part of its effect. It was, therefore, necessary to take summary measures to pre- vent this. The anti-Venizelists, on their part, looked forward with great confidence to securing the Thessalian crops. They were willing to go any length in order to pacify the restiveness of the Powers, provided they could make sure of these valuable supplies. M. Za'imis, for his part, in reply to the first repre- sentations of the Allied Governments about the necessity of their securing a considerable portion of the grain for the use of their own and the Venizelist armies in Macedonia, made diffi- culties about handing over any of the grain unless an equivalent amount were allowed to be imported from abroad. During the later part of May negotiations continued, but it was by no means certain that the Za'imist Govern- ment was acting in good faith. Whether it was or not, the situation brooked of no further delays. The harvest was already ripe, and unless the Powers took summary measures, the bulk of it would soon pass out of their control. The French and British Governments saw the necessity of acting together. Since the Revolution the Russian Government had been inclined to wash its hands of any inter- ference in the affairs of Greece. While it had THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 835 M. VENIZELOS. no sympathy with, or interest in, the Royalist regime, it discovered serious scruples as to its rights to interfere in the internal affairs of another country. Italy, on the other hand, was still dominated by a deep-rooted distrust of Venizelos's nationalistic aims, and viewed without enthusiasm any course which might, by restoring Venizelos to power, give Greece a strong Government, and a Government which, by allying itself with the Entente, would securo a stronger claim to preferential treat- ment after the war. Faced, however, by the necessity of immediate action in order to pre- vent complete bankruptcy of Allied policy in Greece, the Italian Government somewhat reluctantly abandoned its active opposition, while the Russian Government, though formally protesting (a protest, however, which they did not publish till a month later), agreed not to interfere with the execution of the Western Powers' demands. Conferences were held in Paris and London. Their decisions were naturally not published, but on June 5 the arrival of a High Commissioner ui Greek waters, 106—3 ...ill THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. in the person of M. Jonnart, showed the Greek public that this time the Powers were in earnest in their determination to settle the Greek question. M. Jonnart had some years before been for a short time Minister of Foreign Affairs in the French Government, and had also held the responsible post of Governor-General of Algeria. He was known in Greece as a very able and determined man, and it was clear that he was not one to be trifled with. Moreover, [Henri Manuel, phcto. M. JONNART, High Commissioner of the Allies in Greece. the concentration in his hands of the mandates of the British and French Ministers was a symbol of the Powers', united resolve to settle the question promptly and effectually. It was not known how far M. Jonnart proposed to go, and on what lines he proposed to bring Greece to reason. It was clear, however, that the settlement of the question of the Thessalian harvest must be the first, if not the most important, of his tasks. M. Jonnart made but a passing visit to Athenian waters, and went on almost at once to Salonika to establish personal contact alike with General Sarrail and with the Venizelist Government. But on June 9 he was back at Salamis. For the moment he possessed complete authority to re- establish the union of Greece in any such way as he judged most suitable. The action of the Powers at Athens was preceded by a military movement in the north. On June 4 the Italian Government, as a set-off to a policy towards Greece about which it was not enthusiastic, proclaimed the independence of Albania under an Italian protectorate. A day or so later the Italian troops crossed the Greek frontier, and on June 8 occupied Yannina. On June 11 General Sarrail's forces entered Thes- saly. They occupied Larissa on June 12, after a skirmish with small Greek forces there, which resulted in a few casualties. On June 13 they seized Elassona, and on June 14 occupied Volo without resistance. By June 17 practically the entire province of Thessaly was in the hands of French and British forces, and the majority of the inhabitants welcomed them with an en- thusiasm which showed how well-founded had been Venizelos's contention that Thessaly was on his side. Meanwhile, at Athens, M. jonnart had carried out his mission even more promptly and successfully than had been hoped for. On the morning of June 11 French troops landed at the Isthmus of Corinth. The High Commissioner had an interview with M. Zaimis, and informed him of the decision of the Powers. They had resolved that King Constantino must abdicate, and that as they considered the Crown Prince an inacceptable successor the new King must be Constantino's second son, Alexander. In reply M. Zaimis acknowledged the friendly intentions of the Powers towards Greece, but postponed a definite answer till after a meeting of the Council of the Crown. At the meeting that afternoon the King recog- nized that he must submit. Once the Powers were united as to a policy and determined to carry it through, it was obvious that no Greek Government could hold its own against them.. Failure to comply with their demands might mean both the end of the dynasty and such vigorous measures against Greece as would seriously injure the country. Consequently, on June 12, M. Zaimis com- municated to M. Jonnart the following reply : " The High Commissioner of France, Great Britain, and Russia, having demanded by your Note of yesterday the abdication of King Constantino and the appointment of his suc- cessor, the undersigned Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs has the honour to bring to your Excellency's knowledge that the King, solicitous as always solely for the in- terests of Greece, has decided to leave the THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 3*7 country with the Crown Prince, and to designate as his successor Prince Alexander. " Zaimis " At the same time Constantino published a farewell proclamation to his people : " Yielding to necessity, accomplishing my duty towards Greece, and having in view only the interests of the country, I am quitting my dear country with the Crown Prince, leaving my son Alexander on the Throne. Still, when far from Greece, the Queen and I will always preserve the same love for the Hellenic people. I beg all to accept my decision calmly and quietly, trusting in God, whose protection I invoke for the nation. " In order that my bitter sacrifice for .my country may not be in vain I exhort you, for love of God, for love of our country, and if you love me, to maintain perfect order and quiet discipline, the slightest lapse from which, even though well intentioned, might be enough to cause a great catastrophe. The love and devotion which you have always manifested for the Queen and myself in days of happiness and sorrow alike are a great consolation to us at the present time. May God protect Greece. " CONSTANTINE." The proclamation aroused considerable indignation, for it was far from the nature of the case that the deposed King was a martyr to the national cause, as the anti-Venizelist Press naturally endeavoured to make him appear. Their language on this occasion transcended any previous efforts. They assured him that he would reign for ever in the hearts of the Greeks just as surely as the Greek Emperors, his predecessors ; together with him Greece was " mounting the hill of Calvary bearing her cruel cross." The proclamation issued by the new King immediately on his accession represented the same point of view. It ran : ' " At the moment when my august father, after making a supreme sacrifice to our dear country, entrusts me with the heavy duties of the Greek Throne, I express the one wish that God, hearing his prayers, will protect Greece, and that He will permit us to see her again iinited and powerful. " In my grief at being separated in circum- stances so critical from my beloved father, I have a single consolation : to carry out his sacred mandate, which I will endeavour to realize with all my power, following the lines of his brilliant reign, with the help of the people, upon whose love the Greek dynasty rests. " I am convinced that in obeying the wishes of my father, the people, by their submission, will do their part in enabling us together to rescue our dear country from the terrible situation in which it finds itself." M. Zaimis was severely criticized for having tolerated a proclamation which struck such a note of recalcitrance, yet on the whole it was perhaps well that the bitter pill of the victory PRINCE ALEXANDER, Who became King on the abdication of King Constantine, June 12, 1917. of the Entente Powers and Venizelos was gilded with the show of Constantine' s self- sacrifice. It was important that at any cost the disturbances likely to arise at such a critical moment should be avoided ; the con- stitutional aspect of the matter could be settled later. Facts were more important than theories, and the main object of M. Jonnart was to expel Constantine from Greece. On the afternoon of June 12 Constantine and his family, with the exception of the new king, left Athens for their country house at Tatoi. The following day they sailed from Oropos for Messina on the Greek transport Sphakteria. The few Greeks who witnessed his departure consoled themselves with the «s;!S THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. KING ALEXANDER READING HIS SPEECH FROM THE THRONE AFTER TAKING THE OATH. thought that he might return, but such a contingency was hardly contemplated by the High Commissioner. On June 16 M. Jonnart published the following justification and ex- planation of his action : France, Great Britain, -and Russia desired the inde- pendence, greatness and prosperity of Greece, and decided to defend the noble country which they freed against the combined efforts of the Turks, Bulgarians, and Germans. They are here to counter the machina- tions of your hereditary enemies and desire to put an end to the repeated violations of the Constitution and of treaties, and to the deplorable intrigues which resulted in the massacre of soldiers belonging to friendly countries. Yesterday Berlin was in command at Athens, and was gradually leading the people under the yoke of the Bul- garians and Germans. We resolved to restore Con- stitutional law and the unity of Greece. The guarantee- ing Powers therefore requested King Constantino to abdicate. They do not desire to interfere with the Constitutional Monarchy, and have no desire except to assure the regular working of the Constitution to which THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 839 King George, of glorious memory, was always scrupu- lously faithful, and which King Constantino ceased Co observe, Greeks, the hour of reconciliation has come. Your destiny is closely associated with that of the guaranteeing Powers. Your ideals pud hopes aro the same. We appeal to your rea on and patriotism. To-day the blockade is raised, and all reprisals against Greeks, to whatever party they belong, will bo remorselessly re- pressed. No breach of public order will be allowed. The property and liberty of everybody will be safe- guarded. An era of peace and labour has opened for you. Remember that the protecting Powers, respectful of the sovereignty of the people, have no intention what- ever to impose a general mobilization on the Greek people. Long live united, great, and free Greece ! The worst difficulty — the question of dis- posing of Constantino — was over ; he and his family passed from Messina through Italy to Lugano, and prepared to settle down in Switzerland for the remainder of the war. The constitutional question, of course, had not been settled. It was very doubtful on what legal basis Constantino's successor had been chosen, for the Crown Prince had not abdicated and Alexander had in no sense been elected by the nation. But for the time being these were minor points, the main thing being that the Greek people as a whole approved of the change. The re-establishment of the unity of Greece had yet to be achieved. In his farewell message to M. Zaimis King Constantino, in expressing his gratitude, added the hope that " you may be able to continue to grant your assistance to our country and to my son Alexander." The anti-Venizelists certainly cherished the idea that Zaimis would remain in power and that the complete humiliation of Venizelos's return to Athens would be spared them. Some attempt was, indeed, made to effect a com- promise between the Athens and Salonika Governments. Conferences took place between representatives of the two Cabinets and M. Zaimis offered to admit two Venizelists into his Ministry, but it was found impossible to reach any agreement. The constitutional question of the re-summoning of the Chamber of June, 1915, and the practical question of the compensation of injured Venizelists led to an impasse between the two negotiating parties. M. Jonnart's intervention was again necessary. On J.une 24 he saw M. Zaimis and the King and demanded that the Chamber of June, 1915, should be assembled. This demand M. Zaimis, who had worked with, and therefore recognized, the Chamber of December, 1916, found himself unable to accept. He handed in his resignation to the King, and, on M. Jonnart's advice, the latter addressed an invitation to M. Venizelos to form a Government. M. Venizelos was already at the Piraeus. On June 25 he arrived in Athens and after being recoived by the King announced that he was forming a Government. On June 27 he addressed the people of Athens from the balcony of the Hotel Grande Bretagne. Triumphantly he proclaimed the bankruptcy of the unconsti- tutional and unpatriotic regime which had nearly ruined Greece, and announced the victory of the National Movement. The future constitutional character of the Greek Monarchy and the cooperation of Greece heart and soul with the Allies in the war were to form the chief objects of the new policy. The new Cabi- net, the composition of which was announced on June 27, included Admiral Koundouriotis (Marine), M. Repoulis (Interior), M. Politis (Foreign Affairs), and other members of the Salonika Provisional Government, who now won the recognition to which their sacrifices for the national cause entitled them. But above all it was a triumph for Venizelos personally. Not only had he fought against a treacherous King and unscrupulous and self- seeking rivals ; he had fought against them without the 'open support from his natural friends to which he had considered himself entitled. He had found himself at critical moments denied the material assistance and open encouragement on which he had relied. He had been debarred from taking advantage of opportunities which he had little hope would ever recur. He had gone to every extreme of conciliation and accommodation which did not infringe the obligations he felt to the Constitution and to the National Cause. He had been content to be styled a traitor and an adventurer by ungrateful fellow-countrymen, and to carry on without recognition what must have seemed a forlorn struggle for constitutional freedom and for national defence. Through it all he had kept his political equanimity. He had realized the difficulties of the Allied Powers as well as his own. -He had never made exaggerated claims or indulged in a false optimism, and now at last he could enjoy the triumph he had deserved. More than any personal feelings of satisfaction was the satis- faction of seeing Greece once more united ; once more freed from the autocracy which had oppressed and corrupted her ; once more the faithful and trusted Ally of her traditional friends. 340 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. MEMBERS QF THE VENIZELIST GOVERNMENT TAKING THE OATH OF FIDELITY. No history of Greek affairs during the first three years of the war would be complete without some account of the fate of the large Hellenic population of the Turkish Empire. The Greeks, like the Armenians, constituted the most able and successful element of the whole population with regard to commerce and industry. They had till the Revolution, which brought the Young Turks to power, been safe- guarded by privileges dating from the time of the Sultan Mohammad II., which secured unfettered freedom to their Church and schools. The advent of the Young Turks, with their mania for Turkifying all the subjects of the Ottoman Empire, soon introduced restrictions. Behind the Young Turks were the Germans, anxious to snap up the trade of Asia Minor, and for that purpose to eliminate their most serious rivals, the Armenians and the Greeks. The annihilation of the Armenian element is one of the best known crimes and tragedies of recent history.* Less was published as to the sufferings of the Greeks. At first the Turks and their German masters were careful not to proceed to extremes, for there was the foreign policy of Greece to consider and the wish to • A full account of the extermination of the Armenians is contained in Vol. VIII, Chapter CXXXIII. avoid unpleasant international complications. But a far-seeing statesman like M. Venizelos could not fail to understand, and, indeed, repeatedly prophesy, that the victory of the Central Powers would mean the destruction of Hellenism in the Turkish Empire. To this his adversaries replied : " Our intervention in the war will be followed by the persecution of the Greeks of Turkey and in their interest as well as our own we must remain neutral." The course of events completely disproved this plea. At the time of the Dardanelles expedition the Turks began removing whole Greek commu- nities from the neighbourhood of the Troad, the Peninsula of Gallipoli, and the Coast of the Sea of Marmara. The flourishing town of Aivali, with a population of nearly 20,000 Greeks, was one of the first to be attacked by persecution on the pretext that it was dangerous to leave a population of uncertain loyalty in a place where it might communicate with the enemy fleets. The Turkish authorities, egged on (as official reports have since proved) by "General Liman von Sanders, insisted on the evacuation of the Greek population of the town. Their property was seized and they were driven off into the interior of Turkey without any provision of any kind being made THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 341 for their support. The fate of many of them was unknown ; others were reduced to beggary. There is no doubt that a very great number of lives were lost, wheiher by actual massacre or by starvation. Similar things occurred along the whole Anatolian Coast. Places like Smyrna, where nothing could be done without being reported to the civilized world, were, indeed, better treated, but it was not from good-will. Later on, the Greek population of Turkisli Thrace and of the Sputhern Coast of the Black Sea met with a similar fate. Hun- dreds of thousands of these unfortunates were killed, robbed of their possessions, or forcibly converted to Islam. What happened to Greek communities in the interior of Asia Minor can only be surmised, but altogether it would seem no exaggeration to say that considerably more than a quarter of the Greek population of the Turkish Empire, estimated at about 2,000,000, was wiped out. As in the case of the Armenians, the massacres were not mere outbursts of oriental savagery, but were part of a definite scheme to rid the Young Turks of an element they could not assimilate, and the Germans of commercial rivals with whom they would have a difficulty in coping. The fate of the Greeks of Eastern Macedonia — a province King Constantino's Government allowed the Bulgarians to seize — was the same in kind, if not in degree. In the memorandum handed to M. Skouloudis by the German and Bulgarian Ministers on May 23, 1916, just before the occupation of Fort Rupel, solemn promises were made that "not only will the territorial integrity of the Kingdom be absolutely re- spected, but individuals' liberty, rights of property, .and the prevailing ecclesiastical regime will also be respected," and " the Allies will behave in an absolutely friendly way to the population of the country." It was only to be expected that neither Germans nor Bulgarians paid much attention to their promise to respect Greek sovereignty in the province they had managed to seize, and before long they had installed Bulgarian officials there, forced the Bulgarian language on Churches and schools, and introduced Bulgarian law and Bulgarian administration. But at least the code of ordi- nary decency might have led them not to violate too flagrantly their promise to " behave in a friendly way " to the Greek population. At first, indeed, beyond allowing a free hand to Komitadjis and Turkish bands, they seem to have taken no definite repressive measures against the Greeks, but by December, 1916, GREEK TROOPS TAKING THE OATH. 842 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. official documents, afterwards published by the Greek Government, show that the Greek population of Kavala and the countryside were dying of starvation, and that while the Bul- garian-speaking and Turkish-speaking popula- tion were afforded relief, nothing adequate was done, except on Greek private initiative, to help the wretched Greeks. The Greek Minister in Sofia informed his Government on April 9 that " during the last 40 days alone 1,800 individuals have died in Kavala of starvation, and in Drama on a moderate estimate 30 die daily according to the official and indisputable information I have received from there." Protests to the Bulgarian Government and to the German Government were made, but without success. On June 14 the Greek Minister in Sofia sent a last wire to M. Zai'mis : The Bulgarian authorities in Eastern Macedonia have recently instructed the inhabitants who wish to migrate to the interior of Bulgaria, in order to settle there or find work, to register themselves on special lists. A great part of the population, suffering from lack of food and dying of starvation, has accepted the proposal and whole families have begun to move into the interior of Bul- garia. The refugees arrive in a hopeless state from their privations. Their number is great. The Greek Minister shrewdly conjectures : Possibly by this measure the systematic elimination from Macedonia of the Greek population is aimed at. According to an official expoai, 6,000 persons had up till April 28 died of starvation in Kavala, and in Drama and Seres the situation is similar. The object of the Bulgars was indeed akin to that of the Turks. They wished to rid them- selves of an element with whom they would find it very hard to cope ; they wished to be able to appeal to the democracies of the West for the annexation of Eastern Macedonia to Bulgaria on the ground that there were no Greeks there. As in the Morava Valley and in the Dobrudja they killed, starved or deported the Serbian and Roumanian inhabitants, so in Eastern Macedonia they dealt with the Greeks. Egged on by their German Allies, the Turks and Bulgars set to work with a will on a cam- paign which not only appealed to their instincts, but promised excellent prospects of loot, and would purge their dominions of an element which they feared and envied. CHAPTER CCIV. CARE OF DISABLED BRITISH SOLDIERS. The Problem — Pioneer Work in France — Science of Orthopaedics — Sir Robert Jones's Work at Liverpool — Restoration of Function — Nerve Sutures — Muscles, Tendons and Bones — Sliding Splints — Shepherd's Bush — Curative Workshops — Training for Trades and Professions — Limbless Soldiers — Roehampton — Erskine House, Glasgow — Surgery and Disfigurements — The Blind — St. Dunstan's — Nervous Diseases — The Star and Garter, Richmond — A Catechism for the Disabled. ONE of the most serious of all the domestic problems which arose during the war was that of the treatment of disabled soldiers. This problem was not merely of military importance ; it was of national importance also, because the disabled soldier, if unrelieved, promised to remain an unproductive member of the community during periods of great stress, while the personal out- look was bad in the extreme. The awakening in this matter, as in most others, was slow, but long before the general public interested itself in the disabled soldier a few men and women had recognized that preparations must be made forthwith to deal with him. Among the early workers and thinkers in the countries of the Allies was Professor Guermonprez, of Lille, who acted as Surgeon at the Military Hospital at Calais. Professor Guermonprez was himself a pupil of Lucas Champonnier, and had learned from that great man that it is easier to prevent the stiffening of a joint than to cure it once it has become established. Champonnier had fought a determined opposition when he showed that the practice of putting broken arms and legs in rigid splints, and keeping them in these splints week after week, while it might secure a mending of the fracture, resulted in almost every case in some deformity of joints. Often the joint deformity was as crippling as any broken bone, and the latter state of the patient was worse than the first. He had shown also that the necessity for using rigid splints was by no means so great as was generally supposed. With fine courage he dispensed with splints in many cases and substituted sandbags for them, and he adopted early massage as a routine measure, so that during their period of inactivity muscles might be kept in condition and made ready for the work ahead of them. By these means he was able to avoid the bane of " after- stiffness " and to cure his patients more quickly and more easily than most of his contemporaries. These principles Prof. Guermonprez brought to the Military Hospital. His wards in Calais, even so early as the winter of 1914-15, were an inspiration. The element of " routine " was conspicuously absent. Every fresh injury which was admitted to his care was, for the surgeon, a fresh and separate problem to be solved upon its own merits and in terms of certain clearly defined objects. It was not simply a question whether a broken bone could be united or a bad wound healed up or a leg saved. It was also a question whether the broken bone and the wound could be healed so as to restore the full function of the limb in the 343 844 THE TIMES HISTOHY OF THE WAB. quickest possible time, and whether the leg, once sav.ed, could be rendered a useful member of the body. Visitors to many of the military hospitals of those early days were struck with the sad plight STEERING WHEEL FOR EXERCISING THE MUSCLES OF THE ARMS AND HANDS. of many of the convalescents. They hobbled about with stiff joints and deformed limbs — fit, healed men, who were, nevertheless, useless to themselves and to everybody else. Now that the battle for life had been fought and won, there seemed to be no more to be done. It was " hoped " that in time the stiffness would pass away or that massage might gradually relieve it. But active, disciplined measures to turn hope into reality were not taken. In Prof. Guermonprez's wards, the trans- lation of hope into effect went on almost from the hour a man was admitted. The wards abounded in all manner of useful and surprising contrivances, swing-ropes, treadles, movable bars and so on, the object of which was to prevent stiffness and to improve muscular strength. Down below stairs a clever carpenter