America's War for Humanity

by Thomas Herbert Russell

CHAPTER II.

UNITED STATES ENTERS THE WAR

The President Proclaims War—Interned Ships Are Seized—Congress Votes $7,000,000,000 for War—Raising an American Army—War to Victory Wilson Pledge—British and French Commission Reaches America.

On April 2, 1917, Congress having been called in special session, President Wilson appeared before a joint session of both houses and in an address worthy of its historical importance asked for a formal declaration that a state of war existed with Germany, owing to the ruthless and unrestricted submarine campaign. He recommended the utmost practical co-operation with the Entente Allies in counsel and action; the extension of liberal financial credit to them, the mobilization of all the material resources of the United States for the purpose of providing adequate munitions of war, the full equipment of the Navy, especially in supplying it with means for dealing with submarines, and the immediate enrollment of an army of 500,000 men, preferably by a system of universal service, to be increased later by an additional army of equal size. The President took pains to point out that in taking these measures against the German government, the United States had no quarrel with the German people, who were innocent, because kept in ignorance of the lawless acts of their autocratic government, which had become a menace not only to the peace of the world, but to the cause of fundamental human liberty. The object of the United States, said the President, was to vindicate the principles of peace and justice as against selfish and autocratic power, and to insure the future observance of these principles.

After due debate the following joint resolution, declaring war with Germany was adopted by the Senate and House of Representatives and signed by the President on April 6, 1917:

"Whereas, the imperial German government has committed repeated acts of war against the government and the people of the United States of America; therefore, be it

"Resolved, 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 thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and that the President be, and he is, hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the government to carry on war against the imperial German government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States."

THE PRESIDENT PROCLAIMS WAR.

Immediately after signing the resolution of Congress, President Wilson issued a formal proclamation of war, embodying in it an earnest appeal to all American citizens "that they, in loyal devotion to their country, dedicated from its foundation to the principles of liberty and justice, uphold the laws of the land and give undivided and willing support to those measures which may be adopted by the constitutional authorities in prosecuting the war to a successful issue and in obtaining a secure and just peace."

The President further enjoined all alien enemies within the United States to preserve the peace and refrain from crime against the public safety, and from giving information, aid, or comfort to the enemy, assuring them of protection so long as they conducted themselves in accordance with law and with regulations which might be promulgated from time to time for their guidance. The great mass of German-American citizens promptly avowed the utmost loyalty to the United States, but numerous arrests of suspected spies followed all over the country.

INTERNED SHIPS ARE SEIZED.

Following the declaration of war all the German merchant vessels interned in ports of the United States were seized by representatives of the Federal authority, their crews removed and interned, and guardians placed aboard. These ships in American waters numbered 99, of an aggregate value of about $100,000,000, and included some of the finest vessels of the German merchant marine; for instance, the Vaterland, of 54,283 tons, valued at $8,000,000, and numerous other Atlantic liners. The disposition to be made of the German ships was left to the future for decision, with great probability, however, that they would be used to transport munitions and supplies to the Allies in Europe through the German submarine blockade.

CONGRESS VOTES $7,000,000,000 FOR WAR.

Prompt action was taken by Congress to furnish the sinews of war. By April 14 a bond and certificate issue of $7,000,000,000 had been unanimously voted by both houses, and preparations were made to float a popular subscription for the bonds. Three billions of the amount was intended for loans to the Allies, and the remainder for active prosecution of the war by the United States. The debates in Congress indicated that the country stood solidly behind the President in a determination to bring the military autocracy of Germany to a realizing sense of its responsibility to civilization. RAISING AN AMERICAN ARMY.

Legislation was immediately presented by the War Department to the military committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, to provide for raising an army for active participation in the war. This legislation was described by President Wilson as follows:

"It proposes to raise the forces necessary to meet the present emergency by bringing the regular army and the National Guard to war strength and by adding the additional forces which will now be needed, so that the national army will comprise three elements—the regular army, the National Guard and the so-called additional forces, of which at first 500,000 are to be authorized immediately and later increments of the same size as they may be needed.

"In order that all these forces may comprise a single army, the term of enlistment in the three is equalized and will be for the period of the emergency.

"The necessary men will be secured for the regular army and the National Guard by volunteering, as at present, until, in the judgment of the President, a resort to a selective draft is desirable. The additional forces, however, are to be raised by selective draft from men ranging in age from 19 to 25 years. The quotas of the several states in all of these forces will be in proportion to their population."

Recruiting for the army and navy became active as soon as war was declared. On April 15 President Wilson issued an address to the nation, calling on all citizens to enroll themselves in a vast "army of service," military or industrial, and stating that the hour of supreme test for the nation had come. The United States prepared to rise to its full measure of duty, confident in the patent justice of its cause, and echoing the sentiment of its President when he said:

"The hope of the world is that when the European war is over arrangements will have been made composing many of the questions which have hitherto seemed to require the arming of the nations, and that in some ordered and just way the peace of the world may be maintained by such co-operations of force among the great nations as may be necessary to maintain peace and freedom throughout the world."

ENGLAND WELCOMES U.S. AS AN ALLY.

The news of the President's proclamation of war, following the action of Congress, was received in England and France, Russia and Italy, with enthusiasm. A great service of thanksgiving was held in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, attended by the King and Queen, ministers of state, and an enormous congregation that joined in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the national anthem, while the Stars and Stripes by official order was flown for the first time in history from the tower of the Parliament buildings at Westminster and on public buildings throughout the British empire. A high commission was appointed to visit the United States for a series of war conferences, and Premier Lloyd George expressed the national satisfaction in glowing terms of welcome to the United States as an ally against Germany, paying at the same time an eloquent tribute to the masterly address of President Wilson to Congress, which stated the case for humanity against military autocracy in such an unanswerable manner, the British premier said, that it placed the seal of humanity's approval on the Allied cause and furnished final justification of the British attitude toward Germany in the war.

POPULAR DEMONSTRATION IN PARIS.

In France, the Stars and Stripes were flung to the breeze from the Eiffel Tower on April 22, and saluted by twenty-one guns. This marked the opening of the ceremonies of "United States day" in Paris.

The French tricolor and the star-spangled banner were at the same hour unfurled together from the residence of William G. Sharp, the American ambassador, in the Avenue d'Eylau, from the American Embassy, from the city hall, and from other municipal government buildings.

It was a great day for the red, white and blue, 40,000 American flags being handed out gratis by the committee and waved by the people who thronged the vicinity of the manifestations, which included the decoration of the statues of Washington and Lafayette.

Members of the American Lafayette flying corps, a delegation from the American Ambulance at Neuilly and the American Field Ambulances were the guard of honor before the Lafayette statue.

Ambassador Sharp and his escort were received at the city hall by the members of the municipal council and other distinguished persons. Adrien Mithouard, president of the municipal council, welcomed Ambassador Sharp, who was greeted with great applause when addressing the people of Paris. He said:

"Citizens of Paris: May I say to you, on this day you have with such fine sentiment set apart to honor my country, that America remains no longer content to express to France merely her sympathy. In a cause which she believes as verily as you believe to be a sacred one, she will consecrate all her power and the blood of her patriotic sons, if necessary, to achieve a victory that shall for all time to come insure the domination of right over wrong, freedom over oppression, and the blessings of peace over the brutality of war."

The French Government also appointed a war commission to visit the United States forthwith for conference.

Resolutions expressing the great satisfaction of the Allied nations at the action of the United States were adopted by the British House of Commons, the French Chamber of Deputies, the Russian Duma, and the Italian Parliament. ENTHUSIASM IN THE UNITED STATES.

War being declared, the people of the United States were not slow in letting the President know that they stood solidly behind him. From all parts of the country came assurances that the action of the Government was approved. Organizations of every conceivable kind passed resolutions pledging their support to all war measures decided to be necessary to carry the war to a successful issue. Recruiting was at once started for both the Army and the Navy. The recruiting depots were thronged daily and thousands were enrolled for active service while Congress was debating the respective merits of the volunteer system and the "selective draft" advocated by the general staff of the Army and approved by the President and his cabinet.

The full quota of men desired for the Navy, to place the ships already in commission in a high state of efficiency, was soon secured. More men offered themselves for naval service, indeed, than could be accepted pending the action of Congress. Volunteers for the aviation corps, the marines, the field artillery, the engineer corps, and all the various branches of the military establishments came forward freely, and a general desire was expressed to send an American force to the trenches in Europe at the earliest possible moment consistent with proper training for the field.

As the reports of American diplomats from the war zone, freed from German censorship, were given to the public, the martial spirit of America grew apace. Ambassador Gerard's corroboration of German atrocities in the occupied territory of France, and Minister Brand Whitlock's report on the situation in Belgium and the illegal and atrocious deportation of Belgian citizens for hard labor, ill treatment, and starvation in Germany, added fuel to the flame of national indignation, already running high as the result of continued destruction of American merchant vessels and the loss of American lives by submarine piracy and murder, continued almost without cessation since the infamous sinking of the Lusitania, one of the never-to-be-forgotten crimes of German ruthlessness.

One hundred million free-born people were at length aroused to action. The Navy was ready for immediate service where it could do most good, and promptly took over patrol duty in the western Atlantic, relieving British and French men-of-war for service elsewhere. The raising of an army of a million or more men for active participation in the war waited only on the action of Congress.

American women responded nobly to the President's call for universal service, flocking to the Red Cross headquarters in every city and setting to work immediately in the preparation of comforts for the great army gathering on the horizon. They were promptly organized, so that their efforts might count to the best advantage. In August, 1916, the United States Navy included 356 war craft of all kinds, as against credited to Great Britain, 404 to France, and 309 to Germany, The latter figure does not include an unknown number of submarines of recent construction.

THE BRITISH COMMISSION ARRIVES.

On Sunday, April 22, the British war commission reached Washington, headed by the Right Hon. Arthur James Balfour, secretary of state for foreign affairs and former premier. The commission included Rear Admiral Sir Dudley R.S. De Chair, naval adviser to the foreign office; Major-General G.T.M. Bridges, representing the British army; Lord Cunliffe of Headley, governor of the Bank of England; and a number of other distinguished officials and naval and military officers, with clerical assistants. The party met with an enthusiastic welcome in Washington. Mr. Balfour was received by the President in private conference next day, and after a round of receptions and social functions of various kinds, arrangements were made for the business meetings affecting war policies, which were the object of the visit.

Mr. Balfour informed the President that the British commission had come to Washington not to ask favors, concessions, or agreements from the United States, but to offer their services for the organization of the stupendous undertaking of fighting Germany. He said that if the United States was confronted by the same problems that confronted England at the outset of the war, the British commission could be of service in pointing out many grievous mistakes of policy and organization that proved costly to the British cause. He was, in turn, assured by the President that the United States would fight in conjunction with the Allied until the Prussian autocracy was crushed and Americans at home and abroad were safe from the ruthlessness of the Berlin government.

MARSHAL JOFFRE IN WASHINGTON

The French war commission soon followed the British envoys, arriving in Washington on Wednesday, April 25, on board the presidential yacht Mayflower from Hampton Roads. Headed by M. Rene Viviani, minister of justice and former premier of France, the commission included the famous hero of the Marne and idol of the French army and people, Marshal Joffre; also Admiral Chocheprat, representing the French navy; the Marquis de Chambrun (Lafayette's grandson), and other distinguished Frenchmen. The fame of Marshal Joffre and the traditional friendship for France secured for the party an enthusiastic popular greeting. Its members were accorded similar official receptions to those of the British commissioners, and they similarly expressed their desire to be of service to the American people by giving the Washington government the benefit of their costly experience in three years of war. ALLIES

CONTINUE THEIR WESTERN DRIVE

Following the spring drive of the Allies on the western front and the retirement of the Germans to the so-called Hindenburg line, the British and French continued their offensive during the months of May, June and July, 1917, which concluded the third year of the great struggle. Great battles in the Champagne and along the Aisne were fought by the French, who in April had captured Auberive, and they advanced their forces from one to five miles along a fifty-mile front, inflicting great and continual losses on the enemy. At the end of the third year, the French line ran from northwest of Soissons, through Rheims, to Auberive. French troops also appeared in Flanders during this period and co-operated with the British on the left of Field Marshal Haig's forces. The chief command of the French armies was in the hands of General Petain, the gallant defender of Verdun, who was appointed chief of staff after the battle of Craonne.

The continuation of the British offensive northeast of Arras, following the bloody battle of Vimy Ridge, which was firmly held by the Canadians against desperate counter-attacks, placed the British astride the Hindenburg line, and the Germans retired to positions a mile or two west of the Drocourt-Queant line. These they held as the third year closed at the end of July.

In June, 1917, the British began an attack on Messines and Wytschaete, in an effort to straighten out the Ypres salient. By this time their flyers dominated the air, and they had gained the immense advantage of artillery superiority. By way of preparation, the British sappers and miners had spent an entire year in mining the earth beneath the German positions, and the offensive was begun with an explosion so terrific, when the mines were sprung, that it was heard in London. Following immediately with the attack, the British won and consolidated the objective ground, capturing more than 7,500 German prisoners and great stores of artillery. This victory placed them astride the Ypres-Commines canal, having advanced three miles on an eight-mile front. Portuguese and Belgian troops assisted in this offensive, which resulted in the greatest gain the Allies had made in Belgium since the German invasion. Fighting in this terrain had been confined for many months to trench-raiding operations.

GERMAN LOSSES TO JULY

It is estimated that during April, May, and June the Germans suffered 350,000 casualties on the western front. The totals of the German official lists of losses for the entire war to July 19, 1917, were as follows: Killed or died of wounds, 1,032,800; died of sickness, 72,960; prisoners and missing, 591,966; wounded, 2,825,581; making a grand total of casualties of 4,523,307. The German naval and colonial casualties were not included in this total.

FURTHER GAINS IN FLANDERS

Fighting continued almost steadily in Flanders during the month of August, although the Allies were greatly hampered in their operations by heavy rains and mud. On a nine-mile front east and north of Ypres, a long drawn-out battle carried the advancing French and British troops more than a mile into the intricate hostile trench system on August 16, after successive advances on previous days. From Dreigrachten southward the French surged across the River Steenbeke, capturing all objectives, while at the same time the British occupied considerable territory in the region of St. Julien and Langemarck, captured the latter town, and carried the fighting beyond Langemarck. The main difficulty encountered was the mud in the approaches to the town, the infantry plunging deep into the bog at every step. Not infrequently the soldiers had to rescue a comrade who had sunk to the waist in the morass, but they continued to push forward steadily, facing machine-gun fire from hidden redoubts and battling their way past with bombs and rifle fire. There were concrete gunpits about the positions in front of the town, which was flooded from the Steenbeke River, but the infantry divided and bombed their way about on either side until they had encircled the town and passed beyond, where the Germans could be seen running away. Little resistance was offered in the town itself, but the Germans suffered severely from the preliminary bombardment, which worked havoc in their ranks, according to the prisoners taken in the Langemarck region. The contact between the French and British forces was excellent throughout the fight; in fact, the perfect co-operation of the two armies continued to be one of the minor wonders of the war.

CANADIAN VICTORIES AT LENS

Canadian troops added to their laurels by the storming and capture of Hill 70, dominating the important mining center of Lens, in northern France, August 15, following up their victory by the occupation of the fortified suburbs of the city and apparently insuring its redemption from German hands, after a struggle that had lasted for two years.

The men of the Dominion swept the Germans from the famous hill, defeated all counter-attacks, and thus gained command of the entire Loos salient. It was on this hill that the British forces under Sir John French were badly broken in their efforts to reach Lens in the first battle of Loos, in September, 1915. Hill 70 was the last high ground held by the Germans in the region of the Artois, and its fall menaced their whole line south to Queant and north to La Bassee.

The Canadian attack began at 4:25 o'clock, just as the first hint of dawn was appearing. All night the British big guns had been pouring a steady stream of high explosive shells into the German positions, great detonations overlapping one another like the rapid crackling of machine-gun fire and swelling into a mighty volume of thunder that shook the earth and stunned the senses. Then, a short time before the hour set for the attack arrived, the batteries ceased abruptly and a strange, almost oppressive stillness crept over the terrain which until then had been an inferno of crashing noise and death. It had been raining and gray clouds still hung over the trenches where crouched the Canadian infantrymen, waiting eagerly for the arrival of the moment which would summon them to attack.

Suddenly, ten minutes before the time set for the advance, every British gun within range broke out with a hurricane of shelling, and solid lines of crimson lightning belched from the German trenches as the explosives broke about them. To this lurid picture was added the spectacle of burning oil, which the British threw on the enemy lines. Great clouds of pinkish colored smoke rolled across the country from the flaming liquid and the murky sky threw back myriad colors from the conflagration below.

The moment of attack arrived, and as the British guns dropped their protecting barrage fire in front of the Canadian trenches, the clouds parted and the yellow crescent moon appeared. Under the light of this beacon the Canadians leaped over the parapets and began their methodical advance behind their barrage fire.

The British barrage was without a flaw, says an eyewitness. Behind it the Canadians mounted Hill 70 and swept along the rest of the line. On the crest of the hill, where so much blood had been, spilled before, heavy fighting might have been expected, for the position was well manned with machine guns. The resistance here, however, was not strong, and it was not until the dwellings in the outskirts of the suburbs were reached that vigorous fighting occurred. The ground over which the infantry advanced was honeycombed with British shell holes and the barbed wire defenses had been leveled, so that they gave little trouble.

FIGHT IN CELLARS AND DUGOUTS

The first serious resistance from the Germans was met at a point where the enemy was strongly intrenched in connecting cellars and there sanguinary fighting occurred. The place was a sample of many other suburbs about Lens. The city is surrounded by colliery communities which are so close together and so near the city proper that they really form part of the town. Lens, before the war, had a population of 30,000, but had become a mass of ruins.

Following their usual tactics, the Germans had carried out systematic destruction of the houses and had constructed strong underground defenses. The whole city was undermined with tunnels and dugouts, which had been reinforced with concrete, and most of the ruined buildings had been turned into machine-gun emplacements.

The effect of the preliminary British bombardment was most demoralizing to the enemy. The first German prisoners taken were in a completely dazed state as a result of the terrific bombardment they had undergone, and other Germans were seen to flee to the rear, deserting their posts as the attack began.

The result of this preliminary fire was shown in the speed of the Canadian infantry's advance. The extreme depth reached in the first stage was 1,500 yards, and this was achieved in ninety-three minutes. This new front, taken into conjunction with positions secured previously in the southwestern outskirts of Lens, established an angular line like a pair of shears whose points reached out to the north and south of the city.

As the Canadians pushed in on the northwest, a simultaneous advance was started by the troops on the lower blade of the shears, and close fighting began, with the Germans intrenched in their concreted cellars, which were linked up with barbed wire and filled with hundreds of machine guns. The capture of the entire city of Lens was then only a matter of time, as Hill 70 insured the holding of the ground won by the Canadians, German reinforcements being placed under the range of irresistible fire from that dominating height. Among the prisoners taken in the attack were many German lads apparently not more than 17 years of age.

The German commander, Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, made frantic efforts to recapture the lost positions around Lens. The taking of Hill stirred the German high command as nothing else had done on the western front for many months, and a grim battle was waged for several days. On August 16 the enemy came on ten separate times, but they seldom got close enough to the Canadians for fighting with bayonet or bomb. The Prussian Guards participated in the counter-attacks and were subjected to a terrible concentrated fire from the British artillery and Canadian machine guns. Their losses were frightful and all German efforts to retake Hill 70 came to naught, while their hold on the central portion of the mining city became most precarious, as the Canadians consolidated the advantageous positions their valor had finally won.

RUSSIAN VICTORIES AND COLLAPSE

After the Russian revolution in March, 1917, the military affairs of the new nation entered upon a curious phase. At first the Russian army made a feint to advance on Pinsk, to cover the actual operations resumed in the month of July against Lemberg. This latter front extended for eighteen and a half miles and was held by troops known as "Regiments July First." These troops, reinvigorated by the consciousness of political liberty, confounded German military prophets by the magnitude and extent of the offensive which they began. Led by Alexander Kerensky, the revolutionary minister of war, and observed by American army officers, they forced the Teutons to evacuate Brzezany, and then captured many important positions, including terrain west and south of Halicz and strongly-defended positions northwest of Stanislau. On July 11 Halicz was taken, thus smashing the Austro-German front between Brzezany and the Carpathians.

This Russian operation broadened by mid-July, so that it extended from the Gulf of Riga to the Roumanian front, a distance of 800 miles. The Germans were reported to be rushing troops from the Italian and French fronts. Widespread enthusiasm was created throughout Russia, and the moral effect on the other entente powers was tremendous.

Before the third year closed, at the end of July, however, Russia's offensive suffered a collapse. German spies, anarchists, peace fanatics, and other agitators succeeded in destroying the morale of some of the Russian troops in Galicia, where a retreat became necessary when unit after unit refused to obey orders. Brzezany, Halicz, Tarnopol, Stanislau and Kaloma were lost, together with all the remaining ground gained during the offensive. The Russians surrendered many prisoners, heavy guns, and an abundance of supplies and ammunition.

The death penalty was invoked as a check to further insubordinations and the provisional government introduced a policy of "blood and iron" in an effort to avert disaster.

South of the Carpathians and in the Vilna region there was little disaffection among the Russian troops, and Russia had not yet thrown up her hands, although the situation on the eastern front was disappointing to the Allies. Alexander Kerensky, a popular hero, became the strong man of Russia. A counter-revolution was promptly and forcibly crushed in Petrograd and an "extraordinary national council," meeting at Moscow, August 25, took steps to end the crisis. All loyal Russians, conservative and radical, were called to the aid of Kerensky, who ignored factional and party lines and succeeded in bringing something like order out of the political chaos in the new republic. Every effort was made to restore the power as well as the will of Russia to gain ultimate victory, and Elihu Root, head of a United States commission to Russia, assured the American people on his return from Petrograd that the ill effects of the revolution would soon pass away, leaving Russia once more united for action against the Teuton foe.

On August 15, Nicholas Romanoff, the deposed czar of Russia, and his entire family were removed from the palace at Tsarskoe-Selo, near Petrograd, and transported to Tobolsk in Siberia. Fifty servants who were devoted to him accompanied the ex-emperor into exile. Instead of the gorgeous imperial train in which he was wont to travel, an ordinary train composed of three sleeping cars, a dining car, and several third-class coaches was used for the transportation of Nicholas and his party, which included the former Empress Alexandra, whose pro-German attitude was a prime cause of his downfall. On arrival at Tobolsk the ex-czar and his entourage were received as political prisoners.

GERMAN SUBMARINE CAMPAIGN FAILS

The campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare, which was relied upon by Germany to win the war by the extinction of the British mercantile marine and the stoppage of transatlantic supplies, had proved a failure by August, 1917, after six months' duration. While the tonnage destroyed by the undersea instruments of frightfulness was sufficiently serious to cause grave alarm on both sides of the Atlantic, it formed but a small percentage of the ships actively and continually engaged in the transportation of munitions and supplies, while it was practically counterbalanced by the activities of Allied shipbuilders and by the seizure for Allied service of interned German ships in the countries that entered the war subsequent to February 1, 1917, when the campaign of unrestricted destruction began. Determined efforts were made by the British, French and United States navies to cope with the undersea enemy, and these were increasingly successful. Many merchant ships and transports were convoyed to safety by the destroyers of the three great naval Allies, and by August the fear that Britain could be starved out by means of German submarines had practically disappeared. The record of sinkings of British vessels for the first twenty-four weeks after the "unrestricted" warfare began was as follows:

Over Under 1,600 1,600 Smaller Week tons. tons. First............ 14 9 Second........... 13 4 Third............ 16 8 Fourth .......... 19 7 Fifth............ 18 13 Sixth ........... 17 2 Seventh.......... 19 9 Eighth .......... 40 15 Ninth............ 38 13 Tenth............ 24 22 Eleventh ........ 18 5 Twelfth.......... 18 5 Thirteenth ...... 18 1 Fourteenth ...... 15 3 Fifteenth........ 22 10 Sixteenth........ 27 5 Seventeenth ..... 21 7 Eighteenth ...... 15 5 Nineteenth ...... 14 3 Twentieth........ 14 4 Twenty-first..... 21 3 Twenty-second ... 18 3 Twenty-third..... 21 2 Twenty-fourth ... 14 2 Total............ 474 164 Grand total of ships sunk......

KING OF GREECE DEPOSED

King Constantine I of Greece was forced by the Allies to abdicate his throne on June 12, 1917, in favor of his second son, Prince Alexander. The kingdom remained, but not a pro-German one as before. In order to block the designs of the King and court, who were doing their best to deliver Greece to the Germans, the Entente powers were obliged to make a succession of demands upon the Greek government, including the demobilization of most of the army, the surrender of the fleet, and the withdrawal of Greek troops from Thessaly. In an effort to enforce their demands the Entente allies landed marines in Athens—who were fired upon—and finally declared an embargo on imports into Greece. Turmoil and intrigue continued, and pressure was brought to bear upon Constantine which compelled him to abdicate the throne. Venizelos returned as premier and Greece was announced as a belligerent on the side of the Entente.

THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN

In the Trentino the Italians took the offensive in June and after terrible fighting captured the Austrian positions on Monte Ortigara and Agnello Pass. These they were forced to relinquish, however, in the face of Austrian counter-attacks.

The Italian campaign on the Isonzo and in the Trentino, continued throughout the summer, was perhaps the most scientific of all the campaigns, involving tremendous technical difficulties, which were solved with amazing ingenuity and skill. The campaign was largely an engineers' and an artilleryman's war, waged in the mountains, much of it in regions of perpetual snow—highly picturesque and spectacular. Finally, it was as little destructive as war well can be, because the Italians were fighting in territories which they hoped to hold after the conflict, and they spared the towns and villages to the greatest extent possible.

BRITISH CAMPAIGN IN THE EAST

The capture of Bagdad by the British in March, 1917, after a brilliant campaign in Mesopotamia, had a deep moral effect in the Orient, particularly in Arabia, where the natives revolted against Turkish rule and established an independent government in Mecca.

In the Holy Land the British in 1917 opened a new era in the history of the East. Their advance by August 1 had carried them nearly to Gaza. Their objective was Jerusalem, which the Turks partly evacuated at their approach, after doing untold damage in the holy city and inflicting many atrocities upon the inhabitants.

WAR MISSIONS OF THE ALLIES

In cementing America's association with the nations which had become her allies, numerous exchanges of missions were arranged. France, Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Russia, Japan and other entente belligerents sent delegations to the United States as a step toward unification, military, financial and otherwise. The United States sent missions to Russia and other countries.

AERIAL ATTACKS ON LONDON

Cities from Bagdad to London were subject to aerial raids by the Germans during the summer, notable attacks being those by Zeppelins and aeroplanes on London and the eastern coast cities of England. In five attacks on England in May, June and July, 298 persons were killed and 863 injured. Insistent demands were then made by the English people for reprisals in kind.

AN ESTIMATE OP CASUALTIES

An estimate of the total war losses, made near the close of the third year of the war and voiced by Arthur Henderson of the British War Council, placed the number of men killed at 7,000,000 since August, 1914. French general headquarters on August 1 estimated that 1,500, Germans had been killed up to March 1. Mr. Henderson estimated the total casualties of the war at more than 45,000,000.

WHEN THE THIRD YEAR CLOSED

The third year of the world war closed in July, 1917, with the fortunes of conflict favoring the Entente, except for uncertainty as to the outcome of the Russian situation. On the western front in Europe the Teutons found themselves on the defensive at the advent of the fourth year. They were fighting on lines newly established after forced retirement from terrain which they had won in earlier days at a tremendous sacrifice.

Following the declaration of war by the United States, Cuba and Liberia declared themselves on the side of the Allies. Panama pledged the United States her aid in defending the Panama Canal. Costa Rica put her naval bases at its disposal. China, Bolivia, Guatemala and Brazil severed diplomatic relations with Germany. Uruguay expressed her sympathy with the United States. Late in July Siam entered the war against the central powers, and on August 14 China formally declared war against Germany and Austria. This made a total of seventeen nations arrayed against the central powers.

As to the prospects for the fourth year of the war, which opened in August, 1917, American sentiment was expressed by the New York Sun, which said editorially: "We expect today as at first that the end will be catastrophic overthrow for the Kaiser and the military party of Germany, and a dreary expiation by the German people of their sin in allowing themselves to be dragooned into the most immoral enterprise of the ages."

UNITED STATES WAR ACTIVITIES

The Army bill providing for raising a new national army by selective draft duly passed the House of Representatives and the United States Senate and was signed by President Wilson on May 18, 1917. The President forthwith issued a proclamation calling on all male inhabitants of the United States between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for the draft on the following June 5. At the same time he formally declined the offer of Col. Roosevelt to raise a volunteer army for immediate service in France.

On June 5, the day of registration, 9,700,000 young men of all classes registered in their home districts throughout the country. It was then decided to call approximately 650,000 men to the colors as the first national army. The formal drawing of the serial numbers allotted to registrants occurred in Washington late in July. District boards were appointed to examine the men drafted and receive applications for exemption, also appeal boards in every State. The month of August was largely occupied in preparing the quotas from each district and meanwhile cantonments were made ready for the training of the new army, while thousands of prospective officers received intensive training in special camps at various points, east and west, and were commissioned in due course. Orders were then issued for the men selected to report at the cantonments in three divisions of 200,000 men each, at intervals of fifteen days, beginning September 5. The National Guards of the various States were also mobilized August 9, mustered into the Federal service, and ordered to special training camps, mostly situated in the South. The work of assembling equipment and supplies for the new army was rushed and the whole country hummed with the task of preparation.

AMERICAN TROOPS IN FRANCE

France and Great Britain having joined in a request for the dispatch of an American expeditionary force to France at the earliest possible moment, the United States government on May 18 ordered 25,000 troops to France under the command of Major-General John J. Pershing. A large force of marines was subsequently ordered to join them, bringing the strength of the expedition up to approximately 40,000 men. General Pershing and his staff preceded the troops to Europe, reaching London June 8 and Paris June 13, and being enthusiastically welcomed in both the Allied capitals.

Convoyed by American warships, the first and second contingents of American troops crossed the Atlantic in safety, despite two submarine attacks on the transports in which at least one U-boat was sunk. Without the loss of a ship or a man the troops were landed in France on June and 27, to be received with outbursts of joy by the French populace, who saw in their coming the assurance of final delivery from the German invaders. Training camps awaited their coming and there, behind the French lines they spent the months of July and August in active preparation for service under the Stars and Stripes against the German enemy on the western front.

U.S. WARSHIPS BUSY

America's destroyer flotilla arrived in British waters in May and immediately co-operated with the British fleet in the patrol of its home waters and the hunt for German submarines. The flotilla was commanded by Vice-Admiral Sims and did effective work from the very start.

On August 11 it was announced in Washington that Admiral Sims had sent to the Navy Department a series of reports detailing the work of the American ships and men under his command. These were said to present a thrilling story of accomplishment, telling of many encounters with U-boats and also of the rescue of numerous crews of ships which had been destroyed by submarines off the coasts of England and Ireland.

Soon after war was declared by the United States, American warships took over from British and French vessels the patrol of American coasts, while Brazil added her navy to that of the United States for the protection of South American waters against the common enemy.

THE FIRST "LIBERTY LOAN"

On May 2, a few weeks after the United States entered the war, subscriptions were opened for the first block of $2,000,000,000 of the "Liberty loan" of $7,000,000,000 authorized by Congress in April. Great popular interest was evinced and all classes of the American people hastened to subscribe for the 3-1/2 per cent bonds, so that when the books were closed on June 15 it was found that the loan had been oversubscribed by $1,035,226,850 and the list of subscribers contained no fewer than 4,000,000 names. Most of the amount raised was used for loans to the Allies, to be expended in the United States for war munitions and supplies.

A war budget appropriating $3,340,000,000 for current expenses of the war was passed by Congress and signed by the President June 15; also an Espionage bill which among other important provisions gave the President power to place an embargo on all exports. On July 14 the House of Representatives passed an Aviation bill appropriating the sum of $640,000,000 for the construction and maintenance of an aerial fleet for home and foreign service.

FOOD CONTROL BILL PASSED

On August 10 President Wilson signed the Food Control bill adopted by Congress after prolonged debate, and he at once announced the formal appointment of Mr. Herbert C. Hoover as United States food administrator. Mr. Hoover, whose work as chief of the Belgian Relief Commission had made him world famous, stated the threefold objects of the food administration under the bill as follows:

"First, to so guide the trade in the fundamental food commodities as to eliminate vicious speculation, extortion, and wasteful practices, and to stabilize prices in the essential staples. Second, to guard our exports so that against the world's shortage we retain sufficient supplies for our own people, and to coöperate with the Allies to prevent inflation of prices; and, third, that we stimulate in every manner within our power the saving of our food in order that we may increase exports to our Allies to a point which will enable them to properly provision their armies and to feed their peoples during the coming winter."

INTERNAL HANDICAPS IN AMERICA

While the United States was busily engaged in raising its new national army, innumerable difficulties arose to be contended with by the Federal and State governments and local authorities. Not the least of these was caused by enemy propaganda of various kinds, designed to interfere with the success of the selective draft. Active opposition to the draft developed in many districts, especially in the Western states where the organization calling itself the "Industrial Workers of the World," notorious as the "I.W.W.," had a considerable following, including many aliens, and gave the State and municipal authorities much trouble. Attacks on munition plants, strikes, and incipient riots were frequent, until the Federal government declared its determination to meet all such demonstrations with the strong arm of the law. Pacifists and pro-Germans of various stripes did their utmost to retard war preparations, and caused much annoyance, without, however, preventing the steady march of the selected men to the training cantonments, where the first divisions of the national army gradually assembled. The presence in the country of so many aliens of enemy birth constituted a difficulty, but this had been foreseen and partly provided against, and the true American spirit of patriotism steadily prevailed over all obstacles to the successful prosecution of the war for humanity. Uncle Sam prepared to strike—and strike hard.

INTERNAL TROUBLES IN GERMANY

Meanwhile, internal troubles developed in the German empire. Weary of the war, with hopes of final victory dwindling month by month, a strong peace party arose in the Reichstag, committing itself to the policy of a peace without annexations or indemnities, and for a brief time the Reichstag refused to vote a war credit. This brought the Kaiser, Von Hindenburg, and Von Ludendorff in hot haste to Berlin, to exert the utmost possible pressure of the military party on the recalcitrants. For the time being their power prevailed, but the German Chancellor, Von Bethmann Hollweg, was sacrificed, together with the Foreign Minister and other leading officials of the empire. The Chancellor was succeeded by Dr. Georg Michaelis, a statesman of colorless and practically unknown quality, suspected of being a mere mouthpiece of the Kaiser, appointed to register his decrees and continue the policy of the autocracy in the conduct of the war. But many peace proposals came out of Germany during the summer and every possible German effort was made to break the solidarity of the Allies.

THE POPE PROPOSES PEACE

On August 14 Pope Benedict addressed to all the belligerent nations a proposal for a peace agreement, stating the general terms which he believed might be found acceptable as a basis for the cessation of hostilities. These included disarmament of the nations, mutual condonation of damages, the establishment of the principle of arbitration for the future, the evacuation of Belgian and French territory by the Germans, reciprocal restoration of the German colonies, and a peace-table agreement as to Alsace-Lorraine, Poland, the Trentino, Armenia and the Balkan states.

Nothing being said as to the causes of the war and the criminal responsibility attaching to the authors of the great conflict, and all the nations at issue being classed as equally entitled to the benefits of the condonation proposed, the message from the Vatican met with a cool reception from the Allied nations, including the United States, especially as they entertained grave suspicions that it was inspired from Berlin, by way of Vienna. The answers of President Wilson and the British and French governments were therefore awaited with little expectation that the hour for peace had struck.

The British attitude toward peace proposals was expressed July 20 by Sir Edward Carson, member of the war cabinet, who said:

"If the Germans want peace we are prepared tomorrow to treat not with Prussianism, but with the best of the German nation, and as a preliminary to such a treaty and as an earnest of their sincerity that they don't want to acquire any territory or show violence towards others, we tell them to come forward and offer to enter negotiations. We make as the first condition of such a parley that they shall withdraw their troops behind the Rhine.

"When they have shown something like contrition for the wrongs and outrages against humanity which they have committed on poor little Belgium, in northern France, in Serbia, and in those other regions which they needlessly drenched with blood, we will be willing to enter into negotiations to see what can be done for release of the world from the terror of arms."

CANADIANS HOLD THEIR GAINS

On August 21 Canadian troops smashed their way with bombs and cold steel farther into the German defenses of the ruins of Lens, and defeated a desperate simultaneous attack by the enemy, which developed into one of the most sanguinary hand-to-hand conflicts on this battle-scarred front. The attack began at dawn with the capture of 2,000 yards of German positions on the outskirts of the shell-torn mining center, the Canadians driving their lines closer about the heart of the city and gaining possession of many railway embankments and colliery sidings in the northwest and southwest suburbs which had been strongly fortified for defense with a series of shell-hole nests of machine guns. The battle raged fiercely for twenty-four hours.

When the Canadians went "over the top" in the thick haze of early dawn of the 21st, they saw masses of shadowy gray figures advancing toward them. The Germans had planned an attack to be delivered at the same moment, and sent in wave after wave of infantry in desperate efforts to regain their lost positions. In the words of an eyewitness, the Germans fought like cornered rats among the shell holes and wire incumbrances of "No man's Land," where the struggle raged, bomb and bayonet being the principal weapons. As the Canadian bayonet did its deadly work, in some of the bitterest fighting of the war, the German officers tried in vain to rally their men and the enemy infantry gradually fell back to the trenches they had left. The Canadians followed closely and, leaping on the parapets, hurled masses of bombs down among great numbers of troops which had been collected for the attack. The Germans tried to flee through the communication trenches, but the Canadians leaped among them with bayonets and bombs, killing many and sparing few as prisoners. Throughout the day the entire line was a seething caldron, but the new Canadian positions were firmly held as night fell.

Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig after the battle sent a message of congratulation to Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, commanding the Canadian forces, and refuted the German claim that the Canadians had attacked with four instead of two divisions when Hill 70 was captured by the gallant fellows from the Dominion. The commander-in-chief also gave the Canadians credit for having reached all their objectives in the battles of the previous week.

Eight heavy assaults were delivered against the Canadians at Lens by the Germans during the night of the 21st, but in each case the enemy was thrown back at the point of the bayonet and by afternoon of August the Canadians had consolidated all the new positions gained. During the battle of Lens up to this time (from August 15 to 22) the Canadians took 1,378 prisoners, 34 machine guns and 21 trench mortars. The number of prisoners taken bore only a small ratio to the losses inflicted on the Germans, who appeared exhausted when the assaults ceased.

On August 22 the British launched another fierce attack on the enemy in the Langemarck sector of the front and forced their way to a considerable depth in the neighborhood of the ridge known as Hill 35, strongly defended by Irish troops against Prince Rupprecht's Bavarians. At the same time a new battle at Verdun was in progress, but the French held all their gains against reserves massed by the Germans for desperate counter-attacks.

ITALIANS IN A GREAT OFFENSIVE

On the Isonzo front the Italian commander, General Cadorna, launched a great offensive while the British were active in Flanders and by August 23 had broken through the whole Austrian line, capturing the town of Selo, which was the pivot of the Austrian defense, and considered impregnable, and inflicting upon the enemy, in this eleventh battle of the Isonzo, the greatest losses he had sustained since the capture of Goritz. More than 13,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners were captured during the battle, with thirty guns, and all counter-attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. The whole Selo line fell before the heroic onslaught of the Italians, and the loss of this important position was a serious blow to the Austrians. On August 22 Italian warships were showering shells on Trieste, the big Austrian port on the Adriatic which was the objective of the Italian campaign.

HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN!

"In the welter of the conflict an emperor of Austria-Hungary has died, full of years and of sorrow, a czar of Russia has stepped from his throne, and a king of Greece has lost his crown," said a well-known publicist, reviewing the war up to this time.

"Not one of the prime ministers or ministers of foreign affairs who conducted the diplomatic maneuvers preceding of immediately following the beginning of the war in the six most important countries of Europe is still in power. In Russia, Goremykin and Sazonoff are forgotten behind a line of successors, equally unstable. In France, Delcassé left the foreign office and Viviani ceased to head the cabinet, following the collapse of Serbia in the second autumn of the war.

"The tragedy of Roumania a year later contributed to the overthrow of Asquith and his foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, in Great Britain. San Giuliano of the Italian foreign office and Salandra, the prime minister, have passed. Count Berchtold, foreign minister of Austria-Hungary in 1914 (the empire has no prime minister), has passed into oblivion, while Von Jagow gave up the management of Germany's foreign affairs last autumn. Von Bethmann-Hollweg, the last of the group to lose his grip, has just gone down, despite the fact that he was not responsible to any elective body.

"Ministers of war in the belligerent countries have not been more stable. Kerensky follows a long procession in Russia. France has had four war ministers from Millerand to Painlevé, inclusive, while Lord Kitchener, organizer of Great Britain's most marvelous war achievement, a volunteer army of some 4,000,000 men, sleeps below the waters of the North Sea.

"History has as ruthlessly brushed aside most of the army commanders of the early days. Von Kluck, who led the Germans on Paris, is retired. Rennenkampf, with whom the Russians meanwhile swarmed into East Prussia, is a memory only. Sir John French has been recalled to England. That little group of generals who saved France and Europe at the Marne is decimated. Foch and Castelnau, and Manoury are no longer in command, while Galliéni, worn out in the service of his country, was borne on his last journey through the streets of Paris on a sunny spring day in 1916.

"Even Joffre has been superseded in a military sense, though not as an idol of the nation. France still holds him as close to her heart as Germany possibly could hold Von Hindenburg—almost the only one of the war's early commanders to retain his military power."

RUSSIAN CAPITAL IN PERIL

On August 23, Riga, the Russian seaport which is the gateway to Petrograd, was reported in peril from the Germans, who were conducting a determined advance on the north of the eastern front under the immediate direction of Field Marshal Von Hindenburg. With a Japanese mission in Washington, headed by Viscount Ishii, it was expected that steps might be taken to send Japanese troops to the aid of the Russians.

Russia's critical internal situation, aggravated by the new German drive against Riga, was watched by officials in Washington with the gravest concern. While the taking of Riga would not necessarily be a decisive blow, it would make the Baltic more than ever a German lake, leaving the Russian fleet in the position of the mouse in the rathole to the German cat, just as the Kaiser's fleet was the mouse to the English fleet outside.

The outcome of the forthcoming extraordinary national council to be held at Moscow was therefore awaited in Washington with the keenest interest, scarcely less keen than in Russia itself. The immediate fate of Russia, it was felt, depended upon the action of the council in its efforts to throw off the demoralizing socialistic control of the Russian army and workmen. German intrigues in Russia were known to be exerting powerful influence to bring about anarchy within the new democracy.

CLOSING IN ON LENS

An advance by the Canadians in the neighborhood of the Green Grassier on the southern edge of Lens added greatly to the strength of the British line, which continued to tighten steadily about the heart of the city.

The Grassier is a great slag heap, and lies only about 300 yards south of the central railway station of Lens, and overlooks it.

The Canadians made their assault before dawn this time, and the attack was preceded by a protracted and exceedingly intense bombardment of the German positions. The Germans, exhausted by the long strain of constant counter-attacks, found the Canadians in their midst with little warning. But the defenders did not give up without a struggle, and there was fierce bayonet fighting.

The Grassier was an important buffer between the Canadians and the defenses of the city proper, and the Germans reached it through tunnels connected with the network of passages and dugouts beneath Lens.

Part of the ground about the Grassier was inundated, due to the waterway near by having broken its banks, and this, in conjunction with the great number of machine-gun emplacements on the elevation, made it a particularly difficult position for attack.

An advance upon two German colliery positions adjoining the Grassier to the northwest, earlier in the night, also involved stiff hand-to-hand fighting. About the Grassier were numerous shell-shattered buildings, many of which had been strongly fortified by the Germans. The Canadians bombed their way systematically through these defenses, silencing the machine guns and clearing out the defenders.

The fighting on August 23 was on the edge of the city proper, rather than in the suburbs. Notwithstanding the tremendous strain upon the Canadians during the previous week, there was no diminution in the strength of their attacks. They worked steadily and methodically, gradually weaving a net about the Germans, who were living miserably in their underground positions within the great coal center.

MANY GERMANS CAPTURED

In the three days' fighting on the western front from August 21 to 23, the Entente Allies captured 25,000 German prisoners and by September 1 the total for August had reached more than 40,000, according to Major-General Frederick B. Maurice, chief director of the British war intelligence office. This topped the figure of prisoners which the Germans claimed to have taken in a single month on the Russian front, although their total undoubtedly was composed by at least half of mere stragglers from the mutinous and disorganized Russian units.

On September 1, 1917, the positions recaptured by the French around Verdun were safely consolidated in their possession, every German effort being thrown back in disorder. The fighting had developed into a big-gun duel, in which the French continued to maintain undoubted mastery, and they were firmly established once more on the left bank of the Meuse, which the Germans had intended to hold at all costs. Thus ended the last hope of the Crown Prince of Germany, who apparently was obsessed with the desire to conquer Verdun, in the neighborhood of which thousands of the flower of the German army found only a burial place, without any laurels of victory.

ALLIED GAINS IN THE WEST

The early autumn of 1917 witnessed steady gains by the British and French forces co-operating in Flanders and to the South of the Belgian border along the western front. The artillery on both sides was constantly active, but with evident superiority on the part of the Allies. Repeated German attacks were repulsed in the Champagne and along the Meuse, while in the Ypres region the Allied troops made frequent gains in spite of the concrete defenses established by the enemy to strengthen their entrenched positions.

Repeated successes of the Allies along the Chemin des Dames finally forced a German retreat along a fifteen-mile front which the Crown Prince had made strenuous efforts to hold. The Germans were compelled to retire because French victories on October 21-23 enabled French guns to enfilade the Ailette Valley behind the German positions, exposing the enemy to a series of disastrous flanking attacks and hampering the German communications. On October 30-31 the French bombarded the German lines vigorously. The enemy had already moved their artillery across the Ailette to a ridge north of the river. On the night of November 1 they completed their preparations for retreat and withdrew their infantry. French patrols approaching the German lines on the morning of November 2 were fired upon at first, but on renewing their reconnoissance soon after dawn found the German trenches empty.

It was impossible for the Germans to keep their front line supplied with ammunition or food, the carriers of which were obliged to pass through a tornado of shells and machine gun bullets while crossing the Valley of the Ailette, where their every movement could be observed by the French. Eventually the position became untenable and the Germans retired during the night to the Northern side of the Ailette Valley. The best elements of the Crown Prince's army had sustained severe losses and were compelled to go to the rear to reconstitute their diminished ranks. The evacuated territory North of the crest of Chemin des Dames included several towns that had been pulverized by bombardment, and the retreat brought the important city of Laon within range of the French guns.

The captures by the French in this sector from September 23 to November 1 included 12,000 prisoners, 200 heavy field guns, 220 trench mortars, and 720 machine guns. In ten days, from September 21 to 30, twenty-three German airplanes were destroyed and twenty-eight forced to descend badly damaged.

THE FIRST AMERICAN CASUALTIES

The first list of Americans killed and wounded in combat with the enemy reached Washington on October 17, in an official report from Rear Admiral Sims of an encounter between a German submarine and an American destroyer. One American sailor was killed and five sailors were wounded when the submarine torpedoed the destroyer Cassin on patrol duty in European waters. The destroyer was not sunk and after making a gallant fight reached a British port.

Two days later Rear Admiral Sims reported that the American troop transport Antilles, homeward bound from France, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine on October 17. Seventy men of the 237 aboard lost their lives, including four naval enlisted men, sixteen army enlisted men, three ship's officers, and 47 members of the ship's crew. The Antilles was under convoy of American patrol vessels at the time it was sunk.

FRENCH TRIBUTE TO U.S. DEAD

At the burial on November 7 of the first three American soldiers killed in the trenches in France by a raiding party of Germans, a guard of French infantrymen, in their picturesque uniforms of red and horizon blue, stood on one side and a detachment of American soldiers on the other while the flag-wrapped coffins were lowered into the grave, as a bugler blew taps and the batteries nearby fired minute guns. The French officer commanding in the sector paid an eloquent tribute to the fallen Americans, his words being punctuated by the roar of the guns and the whistle of shells. In conclusion he said:

"In the name of the French army and in the name of France, I bid farewell to Private Enright, Private Gresham and Private Hay of the American army.

"Of their own free will they had left a prosperous and happy country to come over here. They knew war was continuing in Europe; they knew that the forces fighting for honor, love of justice and civilization were still checked by the long-prepared forces serving the powers of brutal domination, oppression and barbarity. They knew that efforts were still necessary. They wished to give up their generous hearts and they had not forgotten old historical memories while others forgot more recent ones.

"They ignored nothing of the circumstances and nothing had been concealed from them—neither the length and hardships of war nor the violence of battle, nor the dreadfulness of new weapons, nor the perfidy of the foe. Nothing stopped them. They accepted the hard and strenuous life; they crossed the ocean at great peril; they took their places on the front by our side and they have fallen facing the foe in a hard and desperate hand-to-hand fight. Honor to them! Their families, friends and fellow-citizens will be proud when they learn of their deaths.

"Men! These graves, the first to be dug in our national soil and only a short distance from the enemy, are as a mark of the mighty land we and our Allies firmly cling to in the common task, confirming the will of the people and the army of the United States to fight with us to a finish, ready to sacrifice as long as is necessary until final victory for the most noble of causes, that of the liberty of nations, the weak as well as the mighty. Thus the deaths of these humble soldiers appeal to us with extraordinary grandeur.

"We will therefore ask that the mortal remains of these young men be left here, left with us forever. We inscribe on the tombs, 'Here lie the first soldiers of the republic of the United States to fall on the soil of France for liberty and justice.' The passer-by will stop and uncover his head. Travelers and men of heart will go out of their way to come here to pay their respective tributes.

"Private Enright! Private Gresham! Private Hay! In the name of France, I thank you. God receive your souls! Farewell!"

ITALY INVADED BY TEUTONS

In the first week of October Austrian forces, heavily reinforced by Germans, opened a gigantic drive in an effort to crush Italy. It soon resulted in wiping out all the gains made by the Italians under General Cadorna on the Isonzo and in the Trentino, and in a determined invasion of Northern Italy by the enemy, with the city of Venice as its immediate objective.

The Teuton attack began on the morning of October 24, after an intensive artillery fire in which specially constructed gas shells were thrown at various places. The offensive covered a 23-mile front, from Monte Rombon Southeast through Flitsch and Tolmino and thence Southward to the Bainsizza Plateau, about ten miles Northeast of Goritz, the scene of desperate fighting in the drive by the Italians which wrested important mountain positions from the Austrians.

The greatest shock came from the North, where the Isonzo was first crossed by the enemy. At this point there occurred a weakening of certain troops of the second Italian army, which gave the overwhelming German contingents an opportunity to pass forward between a portion of the army on the North and that on a line farther South. Then began the double exposure of the Southern force to fire in the front and on the flank which required a steady falling back until the entire Italian army was moving towards newly-established positions farther West. The commanding height of Monte Nero, which the Italians had occupied after deeds of great valor, was defended against onslaughts from three sides which gradually resulted in envelopment and the capture of many thousands of Italian troops and hundreds of guns.

A general retreat of the Italian forces was then carried out, with shielding operations by rear guards, and the main body of General Cadorna's army retired to the Tagliamento. The Germans encountered stubborn resistance on the Bainsizza Plateau and heaps of enemy dead marked the lines of their advance. In one of the mountain passes a small village, commanding the pass, was taken and retaken eight times during desperate artillery, infantry and hand-to-hand fighting.

Goritz was shelled heavily and what remained of the city was further reduced to a mass of debris. One of the main bridges from Goritz across the Isonzo was blown up by the Italians and the enemy movement thus was further impeded.

West of Goritz the town of Cormons also was shelled heavily. The great German guns opened enormous craters and literally tore the towns to pieces.

The heaviest pressure began to be felt on the Carso front on Friday, October 26. The Teutons then increased their bombardment to deafening intensity and supplemented this with huge volumes of poison gas and tear-shells. The humid air and light winds permitted great waves of the deadly gases to creep low toward the Italian lines, the rear guards protecting themselves with gas masks and by hiding in caverns.

Amid the onslaught of overwhelming masses of the enemy, the Italians fell back slowly. The retreat, as in other instances of the war, was the most terrible for the civilian inhabitants. There was an enormous movement Westward. All the roads were packed with dense traffic, with four or five lines abreast of teams, automobiles, motor trucks, pack mules, artillery wagons, and ox carts. The soldiers marched or rode, singly, in groups, in regiments, in brigades, or in divisions.

"It was such a time as the world has seldom witnessed," said a Red Cross spectator. "Even fields and by-roads were utilized for the colossal migration. The only wonder was that the great army was able to withdraw at all and establish itself along the new line of defense.

"Many heartrending scenes were witnessed along the route, as the torrential rain and the vast zone of mud increased the misery of the moving multitude. Food was scarce and many went without it for days, while sleep was impossible as the throng trudged westward. The military hospitals were evacuated, with all other establishments, and pale and wounded patients obliged to join in the rearguard march or fall into the hands of the enemy. The roads were strewn with dead horses.

"Families with eight or ten children, the youngest clinging tightly to the grandfather, trudged amid ranks of soldiers of many descriptions." The safe retirement of the Tagliamento was due to the unexampled heroism of large bodies of Italians, of such spirit as the Alpine troops on Monte Nero, who refused to surrender, and the regiments of Bersaglieri at Monte Maggiore, the members of which perished to the last man rather than yield ground. It was by such resistance in the face of overwhelming forces of the enemy that the civil population was able to retire. And it was owing to the valor of Italian aviators, combating the Austro-German army of the air, that the fleeing women, children and old men, who crowded the roads, were not struck down by bursting bombs.

By November 1 General Cadorna's forces had effected their retirement behind the Tagliamento River line, but at the cost of tremendous losses, aggregating 180,000 prisoners and 1,500 guns. It was soon seen, however, that the Tagliamento line could not be successfully held against the enemy and a further retirement was carried out, Southward through the mountainous country to a shorter line along the Piave River East of Venice and Northwesterly to the Trentino boundary. This gave French and British reinforcements the opportunity to arrive in sufficient numbers to aid in checking the invaders.

As one result of the Italian reverses, General Cadorna was relieved of the chief command, though he was credited with a masterly retreat. He was succeeded by General Diaz.

The Austro-German offensive continued steadily for three weeks and on November 21 was being pressed on three main fronts: First, along the Piave River; second, from the Piave to the Brenta; third, from the Brenta across the Asiago Plateau. The Italian troops were holding firm and inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. The spirit of the Italian people was calm and public opinion strongly supported the most stubborn resistance to the invader. Although all the fruits of Italy's two years of strife had been swept away in a single month and a dread enemy was reaching ever forward, seeking her most treasured possessions of art and industry, the internal dissensions which Germany probably hoped to start had not appeared. The population of Venice, however, had been reduced from 160,000 to 20,000.

ANARCHY RAMPANT IN RUSSIA

The Imperial government of Russia, headed by Premier Kerensky, was ousted on November 7, when a period of practical anarchy set in. On the evening of that day a congress of workmen's and soldiers' delegates assembled in Petrograd, with 560 delegates in attendance. Without preliminary discussion the congress elected officers pledged to make "a democratic peace." They included fourteen so-called Maximalists or members of the Bolsheviki (majority), the radical Socialist party suspected of pro-German tendencies, headed by Nikolai Lenine and Leon Trotzky; also seven revolutionary Socialists. These leaders at once sent an ultimatum to the Kerensky government, demanding their surrender within 20 minutes. The government replied indirectly, refusing to recognize the Bolsheviki committee. Rioting then broke out and the Winter Palace, headquarters of the provisional government, was besieged by troops favorable to the rebels. The cruiser Aurora, firing from the Neva River, and the guns of the St. Peter and St. Paul fortress bombarded the palace and early next morning compelled the surrender of the government forces defending it. Women of the "Battalion of Death," armed with machine guns and rifles, were among the defenders, who held out for four hours. Soon the Bolsheviki were in complete control of the city, Kerensky was in flight, several members of his cabinet were arrested by the rebels, and the provisional government was no more.

Several weeks of political and industrial chaos in Russia followed the Lenine coup d' etat, which was a triumph, probably temporary, of extremists. A number of the commissioners appointed by the Lenine-Trotzky faction to carry on the government, gave up their posts within a few days, characterizing the Bolsheviki regime as "impossible" and as inevitably involving "the destruction of the revolution and the country."

On November 23, Leon Trotzky, styling himself "National Commissioner for foreign affairs," addressed to the embassies of the Allies in Petrograd a note proposing "an immediate armistice on all fronts and the immediate opening of peace negotiations." An official announcement was also made that the Bolsheviki government had decided to undertake without delay the reduction of the Russian armies, beginning with the release from their military duties of all citizen soldiers conscripted in 1899.

SECOND "LIBERTY LOAN" OVERSUBSCRIBED

The second "Liberty Loan" of the United States war bond issues was largely oversubscribed by the patriotic citizens of the country. When the books closed on October 27 it was announced that the subscriptions received from approximately 9,000,000 persons amounted to over $5,000,000,000, the amount of the bond issue being $3,000,000,000.

BRITISH SMASH HINDENBURG LINE

By a series of attacks on the morning of November 21 that took the German enemy completely by surprise, the British Third army, under command of Lieut.-Gen. Sir Julian Byng, broke through the Hindenburg line on a front of 32 miles between St Quentin and the Scarpe. The following day, when they consolidated the new positions gained, 10, German prisoners were sent to the rear, with a large number of guns and quantities of material abandoned by the astonished enemy, while at one point the victorious troops were 6-1/2 miles in advance of their former positions and the city of Cambrai was brought within easy range of their guns.

It was the greatest and most successful surprise of the war. There was no preliminary bombardment to warn the enemy, and the advance continued steadily for two days, when the towns of Masnieres, Marcoing, Ribecourt, Havrincourt, Graincourt, and Flesquieres, long occupied by the enemy, all were behind the British lines.

Just before dawn on the 20th there was absolute quiet along the whole line. A few minutes later British tanks were rumbling along over "No Man's Land" flanked and followed by the infantry. The tanks smashed down the barbed wire entanglements and were atop the trenches and, dugouts before their German defenders were aware of their peril.

The German artillery could lay down no barrage, and line after line of trenches had been captured before they got into action. Then the British guns opened, but not for barrage purposes. They were shelling and silencing the enemy artillery.

Following through the gaps made by the tanks, English, Scottish, and Irish regiments swept over the enemy's outposts and stormed the first defensive system of the Hindenburg line on the whole front.

The infantry and tanks then swept on in accordance with the program and captured the German second system of defense, more than a mile beyond. This latter was known as the Hindenburg support line.

English rifle regiments and light infantry captured La Vacquerie and the formidable defense on the spur known as Welsh ridge. Other English county troops stormed the village of Ribecourt and fought their way through Coillet wood.

In severe hand-to-hand fighting at Flesquieres near Cambrai, on the 21st, British troops, preceded by tanks, stormed the town. The Germans fired on the tanks with seven big guns at short range. The British infantry charged the guns, captured them, and killed the crews. Three other big guns were captured in a similar manner at Premy Chapelle. British cavalry captured a battery at Rumilly, sabering the crews.

Highland territorial battalions crossed the Grand ravine and entered Flesquieres, where fighting took place. West Biding terriorials captured Havrincourt and the German trench, systems north of the village, while the Ulster battalions, covering the latter's left flank, moved Northward up the West bank of the Canal du Nord.

Later in the day the advance was continued and rapid progress was made at all points, English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh battalions secured the crossings on the canal at Masnieres and captured Marcoing and Neuf Wood. On the following day, Wednesday, November 21, reinforcements which the enemy hurried up to the battlefield to oppose the British advance were driven out of a further series of villages and other fortified positions.

Thousands of cavalry co-operated with the great army of tanks and infantry in continuing the successful assault begun on November 20. Open fighting went on at many places and the mounted troops, who long had waited for a chance to vindicate their existence in this war, rendered invaluable services in "mopping up".

AMERICAN COMMISSION IN EUROPE

A special American Commission, headed by Colonel Edward M. House, personal friend and trusted adviser of President Wilson, arrived in London on November 8, on its way to attend the Allies' conference which met in Paris November 22, to perfect a system of co-ordination among the nations at war with Germany and secure a better understanding of their respective needs.

BRITISH NEAR JERUSALEM

On November 24 the British forces contending against the Turks in Palestine had advanced to the suburbs of Jerusalem, after inflicting a severe defeat upon the enemy at Askelon, with Turkish casualties of 10,000. More than seventy guns were captured at Askelon, and the British subsequently occupied the ancient port of Jaffa (Poppa). The fall of Jerusalem was then considered imminent and the end of Turkish dominion in the Holy Land was plainly in sight.

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The Heavy Line Shows the Position of the Hostile Armies, When the Austrians Threatened A New Drive in 1918. The Shaded Line Shows the Italian Positions Before the Austro-German Offensive, in the Fall of 1917.

WIN AND LOSE AT CAMBRAI

For the first time since the war began England celebrated on November the victory of Field Marshal Haig and General Byng at Cambrai, in the old-fashioned way, by the ringing of bells in London and other cities. Heavy fighting continued for several days at the apex of the wedge driven into the German line, especially at Bourlon Wood and the village of Fontaine, where attacks and counter-attacks followed in rapid succession.

Up to November 30 the British held their gains near Cambrai and that city lay under their guns. Then the Germans in a determined attack surprised the British in their turn, and forced them, back from their new positions for a distance of about two miles, nearly to the Bapaume-Cambrai road.

Next day, by fierce fighting, the British recaptured Gouzeau-court. The battle then raged over a fifteen-mile front, desperate efforts being made by the Germans to regain all the ground taken by the British west and south of Cambrai. The British had had no chance to dig themselves in and consolidate their positions in the ground won, and on December 1 and 2 the struggle was in the open, a fierce hand-to-hand conflict unlike anything previously seen in the war. The British lost guns, for the first time in more than thirty months. They also lost many men, taken prisoner by the enemy, but soon succeeded in checking the counter-offensive.

In their attempt to deliver a great simultaneous encircling attack, to surround the victorious British in their new Cambrai salient, the Germans sent forward great forces of infantry, supported by a terrific bombardment. The British met the shock brilliantly, finally held their own, and the German drive was declared to have missed its end, at enormous sacrifice of life.

On the night of December 5 the British strengthened their line by abandoning certain untenable positions near Cambrai, falling back deliberately and successfully, unknown to the enemy, upon a well-chosen line which ruled out the dangerous salient made by Bourlon Wood. Here they prepared to maintain their hold upon the captured length of the Hindenburg line against any pressure.

The German casualties in the battle of Cambrai were estimated at 100, men, greatly exceeding those of the British in consequence of the nature of the massed attacks made by infantry in the counteroffensive.

As the year 1917 closed there was a succession of German attacks and counter-attacks by the British in the Cambrai sector, the British lines holding firmly at all points and continuing to hold during the winter.

SOME RESULTS OP THE YEAR

The British War Office issued the following statement of captures and losses during 1917: Captures—prisoners on all fronts, 114,544; guns, 781. Losses—prisoners, 28,379; guns, 166.

The following figures, obtained from reliable sources, tell the real story of Germany's "ruthless" submarine campaign against British shipping. Tonnage of British, ships of more than 1,600 tons in August, 1914—16,841,519; loss by enemy action in 3-1/2 years, less new construction, purchase, and captures, 2,750,000; remaining tonnage January I,1918—14,091,519.

On December 3, 1917, it was announced officially in London that East Africa had been completely cleared of the enemy. Every German-colony was then occupied by Allied forces.

DISASTER AT HALIFAX

As the result of a collision in the harbor of Halifax, Nova Scotia, between the French munition ship "Mont Blanc" and the Belgian relief ship "Imo" on December 6, thousands of tons of high explosives blew up, killing more than 1,260 persons, injuring thousands, and destroying millions of dollars in property in the city.

JERUSALEM CAPTURED BY BRITISH

Advancing steadily upon Jerusalem in the Palestine campaign against the Turks, the British forces under General Allenby finally, on December 10, captured the Holy City and restored it to Christendom. The Turks were driven to the north, with heavy losses, the port of Joppa was occupied, and Palestine was slowly but surely freed from Mussulman dominion. General Allenby formally entered and took possession of Jerusalem on December 11 with a small representative force of British and colonial troops, being received and welcomed with impressive ceremonies by the inhabitants.

WAR DECLARED AGAINST AUSTRIA

The United Stages Congress on December 7, 1917, passed a resolution declaring a state of war to exist with Austria-Hungary. Austrian aliens, however, were permitted free movement in the United States, only Germans being classed as alien enemies and subjected to restrictions as such.

It was announced by the Secretary of War during the winter that 500, American troops would be on the fighting line in France in the spring of 1918 and that a total of 1,500,000 men would be available for the front during the year.

A portion of the French front was taken over by the United States troops under General Pershing early in 1918 and in a number of trench raids and patrol engagements in the last weeks of winter they gave a good account of themselves, receiving their baptism of enemy fire and gas with the utmost gallantry and winning several minor engagements. A small number of Americans were captured in German raids up to March 10, but the losses inflicted upon the enemy more than counterbalanced those sustained.

RUSSIA FORCED INTO "PEACE"

On November 28, a few days after German emissaries had been sent to Petrograd to parley with the peace faction in disorganized Russia, the Bolshevik de facto government under Nicolai Lenine and Leon Trotzky began negotiations for an armistice with Germany; and on December 3 an armistice was arranged. The Cossacks under General Kaledines and General Korniloff began a revolt against the Bolsheviki, who organized their forces as Red Guards, and a virtual reign of terror was inaugurated in Russia while negotiations for a separate peace with Germany proceeded with numerous interruptions. The administration of Lenine and Trotzky became an absolutely despotic regime, all forms of opposition, being summarily dealt with, while crime was rampant and blood flowed freely in Petrograd and Moscow. The Ukrainian provinces formed a separate republic and proceeded to make peace with Germany and Austria.

Formal announcement of the armistice with the Petrograd government was made at Berlin December 16, with the statement that peace negotiations would begin immediately at Brest-Litovsk on the Eastern front. Russia thus violated her pledge to the Allies not to make a separate peace.

The peace delegates of Russia and Germany began their sessions December 23. On Christmas Day Ensign Krylenko, the Bolshevik commander-in-chief, reported that the Germans were transferring large numbers of troops to the Western front against the Allies, contrary to one of the Russian conditions of the armistice. Early in the new year, January 2. 1918, the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk were suspended for several days, owing to the nature of the German terms of peace, which demanded that Russia surrender to Germany the territory including Poland, Courland, Esthonia and Lithuania. Foreign Minister Trotzky declared that the Russian workers would not accept the German terms.

Germany, however, stood pat and on January 10 negotiations were resumed, continuing at intervals for several weeks. In the middle of February the Bolshevik government announced that it had withdrawn Russia from the war with the Central Empires and had ordered the demobilization of the Russian armies, but refused to sign a formal treaty of peace with Germany. Premature rejoicing ensued in Germany, and on February Berlin announced a resumption of war with Russia. Two days later the German armies began an advance into Russia along the whole front from Riga south to Lutsk; occupying the latter city without fighting.

A complete surrender to Germany followed. Lenine and Trotzky stating that they would sign the peace treaty on the German terms, which included all the territory claimed by Germany along the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, comprising the western part of Esthonia, Courland with the Moon Islands in the Gulf of Riga, most of the provinces of Kovno and Grodno, and nearly all of Vilna, with a huge indemnity. Despite the surrender, the Germans continued their invasion of Russia, with an eye to booty, and captured without organized resistance of any kind thousands of guns and vast quantities of rolling stock, motor trucks, automobiles, and munitions of war. The invasion continued well into the month of March in the general direction of Petrograd, while to the south Austria, at first seemingly reluctant to join the German incursion into helpless territory, also invaded the Ukraine on the pretense of "restoring order."

SINKING OF THE "TUSCANIA."

The first serious disaster to American troops on the voyage to France occurred on February 5, when the steamship "Tuscania," a British transport with 2,179 United States troops on board, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off the north coast of Ireland. The close proximity of British convoy and patrol boats enabled most of those on board to be rescued, 1912 survivors being landed within a few hours at Buncrana and Larne in Ireland. The lives lost included 267 American soldiers besides a number of the crew. The attacking submarine is believed to have been destroyed by the British patrol before the "Tuscania" sank.

LONG-DISTANCE PEACE TALK

Early in 1918, while the Russian debacle complicated the war situation in Europe and the United States hummed with war activities, a series of speeches by statesmen of the powers at war resulted in demonstrating the futility of all hopes of a general peace.

In an address to Congress on January 8 President Wilson, following and indorsing a notable speech by the English premier, Mr. Lloyd-George, laid down fourteen definite peace and war aims of the United States, closely agreeing with the expressed aims of the European Allies; "and for these," said Mr. Wilson, "we will fight to the death." Subsequently, in February, Mr. Wilson stated four general principles on which the nations at war should agree in seeking a satisfactory peace. The German chancellor, Von Hertling, addressing the Reichstag, declared that Germany could agree to Mr. Wilson's basic principles of peace, but British and French statesmen promptly pointed out that the German practices in Russia, and elsewhere as opportunity offered, failed to agree with Von Hertling's profession of the Wilson principles. German suggestions of an informal discussion of peace terms were therefore declined by the allied powers, and in March, 1918, all eyes were turned toward the Western front in anticipation of a long-threatened German drive.

THE WORLD'S GREATEST BATTLE

All previous battles of the Great War paled into comparative insignificance when the German offensive of 1918 opened on the Western front, March 21, with a desperate and partially successful attempt of a million men to break through the British line, attacking fiercely from the Ailette to the Scarpe, along a front of sixty miles. For weeks the battle raged over the territory of the Somme, and when a second German drive occurred farther north, from Givenchy to Ypres, fully 3,000, men were engaged on both sides, and all records of human combat were broken.

The loss of life was appalling, but in the absence of official reports while the fighting was in progress, could only be guessed at, though the world knew that the rivers of France and Flanders ran with blood. The Germans attacked in masses and successive waves, and paid the penalty of their desperate strategy. For though the British, and later the French, lines were bent backward for miles, and gaps were occasionally torn in them by the foe's furious attack, the Allied defensive withstood the onslaught and after a month of the most terrific struggle the world has ever seen, both British and French forces presented an unbroken front to the disappointed enemy.

The city of Amiens, one of the keys to Paris, had been a chief objective of the German drive, but all efforts to capture that important railroad center failed. True, Noyon, Peronne, Bapaume, Albert and Montdidier, on the south, and Festubert, Neuve Chappelle, Armentieres, and Paaschendaele, to the north, were successively captured from the Allies, in spite of the most gallant and heroic resistance. But then the lines held firmly, and all the Germans had to show for an awful sacrifice of life and morale was a few miles of advance into territory already devastated by war.

On April 21, when the Hun offensive had lasted a full month, not only were the armies of the Allies intact, and better still, their spirit and morale unbroken, but the utmost confidence prevailed among them. All the Allied forces, British, French, Canadian, and American, on the Western front, had been by this time placed under the supreme command of the eminent French strategist, General Ferdinand Foch, an important step in the co-ordination of effort that met with universal approval among the Allied nations.

GENERAL PERSHING OFFERS AID

A magnanimous offer by General Pershing, approved by President Wilson, to brigade the United States troops in France with the British and French forces, was gratefully accepted by General Foch. While the Americans bore only a minor part in the big battles, or rather the continuous battle of March and April on the Somme, and had no part at all in the fighting in Flanders, they held splendidly to their section of the front-line trenches in the vicinity of Toul, and gave the enemy a taste of their quality in many a trench raid. Several attacks by German storm troops were also beaten off, the most important of these occurring late in April, when the Americans defeated a force of some 1,200 picked Hun troops, driving them back to their own lines with a loss of 400, while the total losses of the Americans was about 200.

GERMANY PREPARES TO STRIKE

The great German drive had been in course of preparation for months before it began. The Russian situation had been settled, and large bodies of troops were thereby released for service on the Western front. The Kaiser and his general staff then determined upon a final effort to win a decisive victory in the west. Their plan was to vanquish the British and French, if possible, before the United States could transport a sufficient number of men to France to turn the tide of numbers in favor of the Allies, and enable them to take the offensive with good prospects of success.

German troops were therefore concentrated near the points chosen for attack, and this was done with the utmost secrecy, the troop trains running unlighted at night, so as to escape the observation of Allied aviators. Two hundred divisions in all were gathered for the German drive, and fully half of them were assembled near the British front on the Somme. March 21 was set as the date for the attack and every precaution was taken to render it a surprise to the British. The German troops were led to believe that they would be irresistible, and that Paris, their long-looked-for goal, would soon be won.

Meanwhile the Allies had not been idle. Expecting the drive, but not knowing where it would strike first, preparations had been made all along the line, not merely for strenuous defense of the positions held, but also for eventualities in case of enforced retreat. New positions back of the lines were prepared, reserves were distributed at strategic points, and full co-operation between the Allied armies was arranged for. The British took over the section of the French front between St. Quentin and Chauny, in addition to their former front, and by so doing relieved the strain on the far-flung French line.

The Germans counted for victory upon their concentration of vast bodies of troops and the element of surprise, hoping to break through between the British and French armies before Allied reserves could be brought up in sufficient numbers to halt them.

OPENING DATS OF THE BATTLE

On the day set, Thursday, March 21, the great battle opened, after a six-hour bombardment, the British 3rd and 5th armies being attacked simultaneously. The German infantry advanced in waves, of which there seemed no end, and these were followed by batteries of trench mortars, until the front line of German trenches had been reached. Then, wave after wave, the advance was continued, in the face of a furious British fire, until the defenders were compelled to draw back through sheer force and weight of numbers. The German waves moved forward at the calculated rate of 200 yards every four minutes, wherever it was found possible to do so. Each wave, on reaching its objective point, dropped to the ground and opened fire with rifles and machine guns, placing a barrage 2,000 yards ahead of them, under cover of which the succeeding wave advanced. Thus each wave passed over the one ahead of it, and fresh troops were constantly coming to the front. With such tactics, against a spirited and determined foe, the losses of the attackers were naturally enormous. In fact, it was estimated that the casualties suffered by the Germans during the first few days of such fighting amounted to 250, men. But, driven on by ruthless commanders, they continued to advance in masses, though mowed down by the British at every successive step.

"All the German storm troops, including the guards, were in brand-new uniforms," said the correspondent of the New York Times. "They advanced in dense masses and never faltered until shattered by the machine-gun fire. The supporting waves advanced over the bodies of the dead and wounded. The German commanders were ruthless in the sacrifice of life, in the hope of overwhelming the defense by the sheer weight of numbers. * * * Still they came on, with most fanatical courage of sacrifice. When the first lines fell, their places were filled by others, and the British guns and machine-guns could not kill them fast enough." Two batteries of field artillery at Epehy, it is said, "fired steadily with open sights (that is, pointblank) at four hundred yards for four hours, into the German masses swarming over No Man's Land."

On the first day, some field batteries aided the Germans, but these were soon left behind in the advance over difficult and shell-torn ground, and the battle became one of rifle and machine-gun fire and hand-to-hand combat.

On the north the British 3rd army made a splendid resistance and held its ground well, but the 5th army farther south, which bore the principal brunt of the attack, under General Gough, was gradually forced to retreat, though in good order, in a northwesterly direction, towards Amiens. French troops were ordered from the southwest to reinforce the British in the vicinity of Noyon. There the French stemmed the tide of Germans, and the drive was soon turned northward, with Amiens as its evident objective.

ALLIED LINES BEGIN TO HOLD FIRM

The battle continued along these lines, with the British still slowly retiring, with their faces to the foe, until the 26th of March, the French stretching their lines farther and farther to the left to keep in touch with the British, and never failing to maintain connection between the two armies. The Germans' fond hope of cutting them apart was doomed to disappointment. French and British cavalry aided in keeping the line intact, and for the second time since the early days of the war the horsemen came into their own, doing valiant service in covering the retreat of the British and impeding the enemy's advance at many points where their aid proved invaluable.

On March 27 and 28, the situation began to improve. British reinforcements arrived at the points of greatest danger, and the defense stiffened, then held the lines firmly before Amiens, and at a distance from that threatened city sufficiently great to prevent its successful bombardment by all but the heaviest artillery of the enemy. The devastated and shell-torn condition of the terrain taken over by the Germans was unfavorable for bringing up the great guns to within striking distance. From that time on, the Allies were supremely confident of their ability to cope with any forces.

While the Allied armies, especially the British, lost heavily in men and guns during the Hun advance, many of the German divisions engaged in the drive were literally cut to pieces. The 88th division was reported by prisoners to be practically annihilated. The same prisoners, taken in counter-attacks, expressed the utmost surprise at the relatively small number of dead whom they had found in the British and French trenches as they advanced. They had been informed by their officers that the offensive would be over in eight days, and that a complete victory over the Allies would be won within three or four weeks.

GERMAN DRIVE IS HALTED

The eighth day of the German offensive, far from finding the Huns victorious, resulted in tremendous attacks by the Germans being stopped by the unbeatable British, while the French won a brilliant victory at the south of the line. Meanwhile the Germans had begun another attack in the Flanders sector, with the object of wresting from the British the control of Messines Ridge, which dominated the lowlands of Flanders and had been so gallantly won by the Canadians in the previous year. They gained a partial footing on the ridge, but the greater part of it was grimly held, and all efforts of the enemy to advance through Ypres towards the Channel ports were frustrated.

Another sector was added to the north end of the battle line on the eighth day, March 28, when the Germans attacked heavily on both sides of the River Scarpe toward Arras. Here some of the fiercest fighting of the offensive soon developed, but the ground gained by the Germans was insignificant. Daily, however, they claimed to have captured thousands of Allied troops and hundreds of guns; while, on the other hand, enormously long ambulance trains were reported passing through Belgium with the German wounded, the hospitals in northern France not having sufficient accommodation for the sufferers. On every battlefield of the 100-mile front—for the fighting now covered that enormous stretch of territory, in two sections, north of La Bassee and south of Arras—the German dead lay literally in heaps.

On March 29, the ninth day of the great battle in France, the German drive was practically halted, and both British and French reports noted a decrease of the fighting, enemy activity being manifested only by local attacks all along the front, which was being strengthened each day by the arrival of Allied reinforcements.

PARIS BOMBARDED AT LONG RANGE

Soon after the great offensive opened, the city of Paris was surprised by being bombarded from a distance of approximately 70 miles by a new German long-range gun, which was discovered by French airmen to be concealed in a concrete tunnel in a wood behind the German lines, A number of persons were killed and wounded by the nine-inch shells from this new weapon, 54 women being killed when a shell struck a church in the suburbs of the city on Good Friday. The Allied commanders refused to regard the long-range gun as of any great military importance except as a means of spreading terror among the civilian population,—and the population of Paris refused to be terrorized by such a method, exhibiting the same spirit as that of the people of England with regard to the futile aerial raids.

French estimates of the German losses for the first eleven days of the offensive placed them at between 275,000 and 300,000 men. The Germans claimed that during the same period they had captured 70,000 prisoners and 1,000 field guns.

ANOTHER ATTACK ON AMIENS

Having been foiled in an attempt on March 31 to break through the valley of the Oise, Paris ceased to be the German objective, and another offensive against Amiens was undertaken on April 4. By this time a French army had repaired the ragged line between the French on the south and the remainder of the British army of General Gough, whose enforced retirement had been conducted in good order. Though outnumbered two to one, the British and French repulsed the attack on Amiens with heavy losses to the Germans, who were effectually stopped at a distance of fifteen kilometers (nine miles) from that city. This ended the first phase of the great battle.

BATTLE RENEWED IN THE NORTH

The second phase of the battle which was expected to prove decisive began April 9 with an attack on the British, aided by Portuguese troops, on a front of fifteen miles, from La Bassee to Ypres. The center, held by three Portuguese divisions, was broken through, and on April 12 the situation seemed critical. Determined counterattacks by the British, however, and reinforcements by the French, stopped the Germans in the next few days, and this offensive, like that farther south in the valley of the Somme, gradually died out, leaving the Germans with gains of only a few square miles of devastated territory to show for their continued heavy losses. And the reserve forces of the Allies were still intact, the strategy of General Foch in this respect being universally applauded as correct under the circumstances.

SHELLS FIRED BY THE MILLION

In the beginning of the offensive which thus failed to accomplish its object, the most desperate means were employed by the Germans to break down resistance; In the first six hours of bombardment on March 21, when three great German armies were massed for the attack, under Generals Von Bulow, Von Marwitz, and Von Hutier, commanding from the north to south in the order named, it is estimated that at least 1,500,000 shells were fired by one single army—that opposed to General Gough's forces on the south, while the British 3rd army, under General Byng, to the north, was similarly assailed. Most of the shells contained gas and were designed to destroy the occupants of the trenches about to be stormed. Only the utmost individual valor and persistency of the thin British line, as it retired still fighting, prevented the desperate and over-confident foe from turning the gradual retreat into a decisive defeat. As it was, the Germans paid dearly for every yard of ground they gained, as their successive waves of troops swept over the zone of trenches and then engaged the groups of Allied forces in the open beyond.

All the German units were under orders to advance as far and as fast as possible, being provided with three days' rations and two days' water. After the first few days, the difficulty of bringing up supplies, with the expected objectives far from being gained, aided in slowing up and then halting their advance. Behind the German storm troops great numbers of reserves were assembled, to fill up the gaps torn in the ranks and restore the divisions to their normal strength as fast as they were depleted by the defense. The German tactics took no account of human life, but expended it in the most reckless manner, with appalling results throughout the drive. The Allies, on the other hand, sought at all times to conserve their forces by intrenching as fast as possible at every point during the period of their retirement. Their artillery was constantly in action, and aided greatly in checking the German. advance.

ALLIES CONTROL IN THE AIR

German aeroplanes played no great part in the advance, although they bombed the British and French rear nightly, and the air service of the Allies proved superior throughout the battle. For the first time in a great battle British and French airmen attacked the enemy infantry from low altitudes with their machine guns and bombs, and rendered invaluable assistance in damming the swelling tide of the Hun hordes. Having gained the mastery of the air, as they did prior to the British drive on the Somme in 1916, they retained it until the foe was halted. To a considerable extent they replaced the heavy guns of the Allies by their constant bombing and gun fire.

Between March 21 and March 31, the French and British pilots shot down more than 100 German planes, losing about one-third of that number in the air battles. After the first few clays there were practically no German machines in the air over the fighting front, as was the case on the Somme in 1916, but at the end of March the Hun planes began to reappear in mass formation patrols, sometimes consisting of as many as fifty planes in a group of patrols. Then followed a period of intense air fighting, of which a single day's record of the French may be cited as an example. On April 12, the Allied aviation report shows that French fighting scouts made 250 flights, fought 120 combats in the sky, shot down eight Germans and damaged 23 others, burned five enemy balloons, damaged five more, and bombarded German troops with 45 tons of explosives.

GERMANS FAIL IN THEIR OBJECT

The last part of the month of April was marked by a succession of minor attacks by the Germans along the entire front of the halted offensive, and by the development of counter-attacks by the Allies at various points where it was deemed necessary or advisable to strengthen their defensive positions, but up to May 1 the Germans were as far as ever from their main objectives in the west. Judged from the standpoint of their confident expectations, and the promises of success held out as an encouragement to their troops, the long-heralded and long-prepared spring offensive of 1918 was a failure. Their much-vaunted strength of numbers and of organization failed as completely to gain a decisive result as their initial drive on Paris in 1914. Though they threw into the fighting in March and April about 125 divisions, they failed to separate the French and British armies, which was a prime object of their strategy, and they sustained losses which, while not irreparable, must have greatly affected the morale of their men. "Remember Verdun!" said a famous French commander, commenting on the drive. "The Boche is making this tremendous effort and sustaining these losses to effect a complete rupture of our front, and if he does not do that he has failed."

BRITISH LOSSES MADE GOOD

On April 25 the British minister of munitions announced in the House of Commons that the losses of guns and ammunition sustained by Field Marshal Haig's forces in France and Flanders during the big German drive had been more than replaced. The losses were placed by Mr. Winston Spencer Churchill at nearly 1,000 guns, between 4,000 and 5,000 machine guns, and a quantity of ammunition "requiring from one to three weeks to manufacture." More than twice the number of guns lost or destroyed had been placed at the disposal of the British air and ground services, said the minister.

GERMANS START ANOTHER ATTACK

Another determined attack in the Somme region was begun by the Germans on April 24, after three weeks' further preparation. The enemy evidently had not abandoned hope of capturing Amiens, and, he again began hammering at the gateway to that city. The first onslaught was repulsed by the British, but on the following day, April 25, the enemy succeeded in gaining about a mile of ground. The combined British and French armies were covering the roads to Amiens, with reserves close at hand, and part of General Pershing's American forces were co-operating with the French. The utmost confidence prevailed that the united forces under General Foch, who was called by Marshal Joffre "the greatest strategist in Europe," would not only meet and defeat this renewed drive by the enemy, but that before long the tide of battle would turn strongly in favor of the Allies, whose reserve armies were held in leash by their supreme commander, awaiting the strategic hour to strike.

BOTTLING UP U-BOAT BASES

One of the most thrilling exploits of the war occurred on the night of April 22, 1918, when British naval forces performed an almost incredible feat, by entering the harbors of Ostend and Zeebrugge, German submarine bases, and practically bottling them up. French destroyers co-operated with the British in the daring undertaking.

At midnight, under cover of a remarkably developed smoke screen, furnished by the raiders themselves, five old British cruisers were run aground in the harbor channels, blown up, and abandoned by their crews. The ships were loaded with concrete. An old submarine, loaded with explosives, was also run under a bridge connecting the mole, or breakwater, at Zeebrugge with the shore, and there blown up, so as to prevent interruption of the raiders while they were doing their work alongside the mole.

Facing dangerous and unknown conditions of navigation, the harbor was rushed by British monitors and destroyers, under heavy fire from the shore batteries. A storming party of volunteers, sailors and marines, was landed under extreme difficulties from the cruiser Vindictive. This party boarded a German destroyer lying alongside the mole, defeated her crew, and sank the ship. The concrete-laden vessels were duly sunk with a view to blocking both harbors, and every gun on the mole at Zeebrugge was destroyed. The effects of the raid were not easily ascertainable. It was soon learned that the submarine base at Zeebrugge at least had been put out of business for a while. The gallantry and daring of the deed were generally recognized as fully in keeping with the best traditions of the British navy. The loss of life was quite heavy, but the British lost only one destroyer and two coastal motor boats, many of the raiders returning safely to the other side of the Channel. Even the men on the exploded submarine succeeded in escaping. The officer who planned the raid, however, was among the killed.

GERMAN ATTACK ON YPRES FAILS

On Monday, April 29, the German 4th army under General von Arnim, having gained possession of Mount Kemmel, a dominating position, began a general assault on the British hill positions on the Kemmel front, southwest of Ypres. The intention was to capture Ypres forthwith, by the overwhelming power of numbers, and the day's fighting was a crucial test of the holding power of the Allies in the Ypres salient. The result of the attack was a stunning defeat for the enemy, who was repulsed all along the line and suffered frightful losses.

In the words of a French general, "It was a great day for the Allies!" The repulse of the German attack was a real defeat, for it upset all the confident calculations of the enemy, who from the height of Mount Kemmel had seen, first Ypres, and then channel ports, within his grasp. It brought disappointment and disillusion to his troops, who had been urged on to their disastrous massed attacks by flamboyant promises of success. The effect was seen in a renewal of German peace propaganda, which all the Allies had learned by this time to disregard as unworthy of the slightest serious attention.

"Extraordinary nervousness and depression prevail in Germany, owing to the losses in the western offensive," said Reuter's correspondent at Amsterdam on April 29, quoting a German military writer, Capt. von Salzmann, who said: "Our losses have been enormous. The offensive in the west has arrived at a deadlock. The enemy is much stronger than our supreme command assumed. The region before Ypres is a great lake, and therefore impassable. The whole country between our Amiens front and Paris is mined and will be blown up should we attempt to pass."

The preliminary bombardment southwest of Ypres April 29 started in the early morning and took in the ten-mile front from Meteren, west of Bailleul, to Voormezeele, two miles south of Ypres. Infantry attacks in this area followed with great fury, and sanguinary fighting continued all day. The Germans at the outset advanced with fixed bayonets, but they came under such an intense machine-gun fire that most of them were never able to employ the steel. The French at Locre and the British at Voormezeele repulsed every attack, thrusting the enemy back whenever he gained a footing in advanced positions, and firmly holding every point around Ypres at the end of the day.

General von Arnim's losses were particularly staggering at Locre, where he used battalion after battalion in a vain attempt to hold the village, a key to Mount Rouge. The previous German capture of Mount Kemmel did the enemy little good, for the Allied artillery kept the crest of the hill so smothered with shell fire that it was impossible for the Huns to occupy it in force.

The attack, which was the fourth great battle of Ypres, was the biggest effort the Germans had made in the Flanders offensive, the enemy employing thirty fresh battalions of reserves, in addition to the large number of divisions in position at the beginning of the battle. The net result was a tremendous setback for the Germans, who paid an awful price. Next morning the battlefield in front of the defenders' positions was covered with the bodies of gray-uniformed men.

AMERICAN TROOPS IN ACTION

American units were in action in Picardy, east of Amiens, on April 28, having reinforced the British and French in that sector, to aid in keeping the foe from Amiens and Paris. Their baptism of fire in the direct line of the German offensive made their previous experiences pale into the insignificance of skirmishes. During the various engagements in which they participated in the last days of April and the first week of May they acquitted themselves with great credit.

After a preliminary bombardment of two hours, a heavy German attack was launched against the Americans in the afternoon of April 30 in the vicinity of Villers-Bretonneux, and was repulsed with heavy losses to the enemy, who left dead and wounded on the field, while the American losses were reported as "rather severe." There was hand-to-hand fighting all along the line, and the violent struggle lasted for a considerable time before the enemy was finally thrust back, leaving prisoners in the American hands. Their French comrades were full of praise for the marked bravery displayed throughout by the American troops, who were fighting at one of the most difficult points on the whole battle front.

U.S. TROOPS BUSHED TO PRANCE

As a result of the great German offensive movements and territorial gains in the spring of 1918, there was a tremendous increase in the military activities of the United States, particularly in rushing troops to Europe. After the selection of General Foch as generalissimo of the Allied forces, the American troops in the war zone were brigaded with the French and British all the way from the North Sea to Switzerland, and their numbers steadily increased.

In the United States the training of the new National Army, national guards, and officers in the numerous cantonments and training camps was intensified and hurried. As fast as the men were brought into condition they were shipped to France. At first much of the space on the transports was devoted to supplies and materials for the camps and depots in France, but as the situation became critical owing to successful enemy offensives, fewer supplies and more men were sent. Great Britain lent her ships and the number of transports was largely increased, so that each month of 1918 showed a greater movement of troops across the Atlantic.

The troop movement record for the spring and summer months of 1918 was a wonderful one, in view of the submarine menace. In April, 117, American troops were successfully transported; in May, 244,345; in June, 276,382, and in July 300,000, The month of August found more than 1,500,000 Americans in France, England and Italy. This immense number of men were carried over without the loss of a single eastbound American transport.

AN ARMY OF 5,000,000 PLANNED

On August 5, 1918, plans were announced for increasing the effective strength of the United States army to 5,000,000 forthwith, by an extension of the draft age limits and rapid intensive training. Official statements showed that the armed forces of the United States already amounted to a total of 3,074,572 men, including 2,570,780 in the army and 503,792 in the navy. The national army at this date contained 1,400,000 men, the regular army 525,741, the national guard 434,511 and the reserve corps 210,528. The regular navy had 219,158 men, the marine corps 58,463, the coast guard 6,605, and the reserve 219,566. On June of this year 744,865 men reaching the age of 21 since June 5, 1917, were registered for selective draft purposes.

DEFEATING THE SUBMARINE DANGER

Meanwhile giant strides were taken in the American program of shipbuilding to offset the ravages of submarine warfare. The U.S. Shipping Board was reorganized and galvanized into a high state of efficiency. Under the leadership of Charles M. Schwab, director-general of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, and Edward M. Hurley, chairman of the board, the work in the shipyards on the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts, and on the Great Lakes, was speeded up until ships were being built at the rate of 5,000,000 tons a year. In the first three weeks of July, 1918, twenty-three ships of 122,721 deadweight tons were completed, making a total of 223 new vessels built under the direction of the board up to that time, the aggregate tonnage being 1,415,022 tons. On July alone eighty-two vessels were launched, their splash being "heard around the world."

With the increased tonnage being put out by the British, French, and Italian shipyards, and the output of neutral countries friendly to the Allies, this practically put an end to the submarine peril. In addition the United States requisitioned seventy-seven Dutch ships with an aggregate tonnage of about 600,000, while arrangements were made with Sweden for about 400,000 tons of shipping and contracts were let for the building of a considerable number of ships in Japanese shipyards.

The knowledge that there were over a million American troops facing the enemy on the battle fronts in Europe came as a decided shock to the German army and people, who were forced to realize the failure of their submarine campaign.

AMERICANS PROVE THEIR METTLE

After the American forces in France had their first serious encounter with the Germans on April 20 at Seicheprey, a village near Renners forest, which they recovered from the enemy in a gallant counter-attack, the fighting was of a more or less local character throughout the rest of the month and in May, with varying fortunes.

On May 27 the Germans began another great offensive, taking the Chemin des Dames from the French and crossing the Aisne. On the following day they crossed the Vesle river at Fismes. But on this day also the Americans won their first notable victory, by capturing the village of Cantigny and taking 200 prisoners. The United States marines added to their laurels in this fight and held the position firmly against many subsequent counter-attacks.

Continuing their drive toward Paris, the Germans occupied Soissons on May 29, Fère-en-Tardenois May 30, and next day reached Chateau Thierry and other points on the Marne, where they were halted by the French.

In the early days of June several towns and villages fell to the Germans, but the French by counter-attacks recaptured Longpont, Corcy, and some other places. On June 6 American marines by a spirited attack gained two miles on a two and a half mile front, taking Hill 142 near Torcy and entering Torcy itself. The following day, with French aid, they completed the capture of Vilny, Belleau, and important heights nearby. In another battle northwest of Chateau Thierry the Americans advanced nearly two and a half miles on a six-mile front, taking about 300 prisoners.

These battles confirmed the impression that the American troops as fighters were equal to their allies.

ANOTHER ENEMY OFFENSIVE

On June 9 the Germans began the fourth phase of their offensive, planned by their high command to enforce peace. They attacked between Montdidier and the Oise, advancing about four miles and taking several villages. On the next day they claimed the capture of 8,000 French. The same day the American marines took the greater part of Belleau Wood. On June 11 they completed the capture of Belleau Wood, taking 300 prisoners, machine guns and mortars. The French at the same time defeated the Germans between Rubescourt and St. Maur, taking 1,000 prisoners. Other battles followed on the 12th and 13th, but on the 14th the latest German offensive was pronounced a costly failure.

From this time to the end of the month the fighting was of a less serious character, though the Americans in the Belleau and Vaux region gave the Germans no rest, attacking them continually and taking prisoners at will.

JULY 4 CELEBRATED ABROAD

America's Independence day, 1918, was officially celebrated in England, France, and Italy, as well as in the United States, making it a truly historic occasion. On that day Americans assisted the Australians in taking Hamel with many prisoners. On the 8th and 9th the French advanced in the region of Longpont and northwest of Compiègne, taking Castel and other strong points near the west bank of the Avre river. July 14, the French national holiday, was generally observed in America and by the American soldiers in France. Then, on July 15, the Germans began the fifth and disastrous last phase of the offensive which they started in the spring, on March 21.

STINGING DEFEAT FOR AUSTRIA

But Italy meanwhile had scored a great success against the Austrians. French and British regiments, with some Americans, were helping to hold the Italian line when, on June 15, the Austrians, driven by their German masters, began an offensive along a 100-mile front, crossing the Piave river in several places. For two days they continued violent attacks, penetrating to within 20 miles of Venice, at Capo Silo. Then the Italians, British, and French counter-attacked with great vigor and soon turned the Austrian offensive into a great rout, killing thousands, taking other thousands prisoner, and capturing a vast amount of war material, including many of the Austrian heavy-caliber guns. The entire Austrian, plan to advance into the rich Italian plains, where they hoped to find great stores of food for their hungry soldiers, resulted in miserable failure.

The defeat increased the discontent in Austria-Hungary and added to the bad feeling entertained towards Germany. Peace feelers were thrown out by Austrian statesmen, but the continued influence of German militarism prevented them from receiving serious attention by the Allies.

A WATERLOO FOR THE CROWN PRINCE

When the German divisions of the Crown Prince of Prussia began their last desperate offensive on July 15, they attacked from Chateau Thierry on the west to Massiges, along a 65-mile front, crossing the Marne at several places.

East and west of Reims the battle raged, with the Allies holding strongly everywhere and the Germans suffering heavy losses. The enemy aimed at Chalons and Epernay and hoped by turning the French flank at Reims to capture the cathedral city without a direct assault upon its formidable defenses. General Gouraud, the hero of Gallipoli, was in command of the French forces on the right, while General Mangin and General de Goutte held the left. Most of the Americans taking part in the battle were under the command of these noted generals, and strong Italian and British forces were with General Gouraud's army. The French constituted about 70 per cent of the Allies engaged.

GENERAL FOCH STRIKES

In a single day the German offensive was effectually blocked at the Marne. Despite the enemy's utmost efforts he could make no further advance.

Then Foch, the great French strategist and Allied generalissimo, struck the blow for which he had patiently bided his time!

Apparently having advance information of the German plans, or perhaps surmising them, General Foch had been preparing a surprise for the Crown Prince. In the forest of Villers-Cotterets on the German right flank, he had quietly massed large forces, including some of the best French regiments, together with the foreign legion, Moroccan and other crack troops, and many Americans. Everything possible had been done to keep these troop movements secret from the enemy.

On Thursday morning, July 18, 1918, a heavy attack was launched in force at the Germans under General von Boehm all along the line from Chateau Thierry on the Marne to the Aisne river northwest of Soissons.

The Germans were taken completely by surprise, and town after town was captured from them with comparatively slight resistance. When the first shock of surprise was over, their resistance stiffened, but the Allies continued to advance. Mounted cavalry were once more used to assist the infantry in the open, while tanks in large numbers were used to clear out enemy machine-gun nests.

The American troops, fighting side by side with the French, did their work in a manner to excite the admiration of their allies, and acquitted themselves like veterans. Thousands of prisoners were taken, with large numbers of heavy guns and great stores of ammunition, besides thousands of machine guns, many of which were turned against the enemy. The strategy of General Foch received world-wide applause. His master stroke met with immediate success.

By the 20th of July Soissons was threatened by the Allies. The Germans, finding themselves caught in a dangerous salient and attacked fiercely on both flanks, hurriedly retreated to the north bank of the Marne and were rapidly pressed back farther. Their condition was critical and the German Crown Prince was obliged to call for assistance from Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, commanding in the north. Taking advantage of this, the British and French in the north made frequent attacks, gaining ground and taking prisoners at numerous points.

For ten days the Allies continued their victorious progress on both sides of the Soissons-Reims salient, the Germans continuing to retire under strong pressure. They were forced back to the Oureq river, then to the Vesle, where they made a determined stand. Fère-en-Tardenois and Fismes fell into the hands of the victorious French and Americans, the latter gaining a notable victory in the occupation of Fismes over the vaunted Prussian guards, who had been brought up to endeavor to stay their progress. The first week of August saw most of the Reims salient wiped out by the German retreat, while rear-guard actions were being fought along the Vesle as the Germans sought defensive positions farther in the rear.

The prisoners captured by the Allies in their drive up to that time numbered more than 35,000 and more than 700 heavy guns also fell into their possession, with immense quantities of ammunition and stores. The Germans, however, succeeded in destroying many of the ammunition dumps and vast supplies which had been stored in the salient for their expected drive on Paris.

As they retired the Germans burned many of the occupied French villages, pursuing their usual policy. As many as forty fires were observed on the horizon at one time as the Allies advanced.

Soissons was retaken on August 2, and the valley of the Crise was crossed by the Allies, who dominated the plains in the German rear with their big guns.

The German losses in the great battle and retreat from the Marne were variously estimated at from 120,000 to 200,000. General von Boehm avoided a first-class disaster, but his defeat was a serious one and had far-reaching moral consequences among the enemy.

It was estimated that from the beginning of their offensive in March, the German armies lost more than 1,000,000 men in killed, wounded and prisoners. The Austrians in their ill-fated offensive of 1918 lost more than 250,000 men.

FOCH A MARSHAL OF FRANCE

On August 6 General Ferdinand Foch, commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, was elevated by the French council of ministers to the rank of a Marshal of France. In presenting his name Premier Clemenceau said:

"At the hour when the enemy, by a formidable offensive, counted on snatching the decision and imposing a German peace upon us, General Foch and his admirable troops vanquished him. Paris is not in danger, Soissons and Chateau Thierry have been reconquered, and more than villages have been delivered. The glorious Allied armies have thrown the enemy from the banks of the Marne to the Aisne."

AMERICANS AT FISMES

The American troops covered themselves with glory at many points in the Allied drive, notably in the hand-to-hand fighting in the streets of Fismes on August 4, when they captured that German base. The fighting was said to have been the bitterest of the whole war, the Prussian guards asking no quarter and being bayoneted or clubbed to death as they stood by their machine guns.

BRITISH VICTORY IN THE NORTH

On the Amiens front, in Picardy, the British Fourth Army, under General Rawlinson, and the French First Army, under General Debentry, stormed the German positions on August 8 on a front of over 20 miles, capturing 14,000 prisoners and 150 guns, and making an advance of over seven miles.

ALLIED GAINS IN PICARDY

Before the Germans had time to recover from the surprise of Marshal Foch's attack on the Marne, and while they were still retreating to the Vesle, the Allies delivered another heavy blow, this time on the Albert-Montdidier front in Picardy. Here the British and French suddenly attacked in force on the morning of August 8, stormed the enemy positions along a thirty-mile front and on the first day of the attack penetrated to a depth of seven miles.

For several days the enemy retreated, closely pursued by allied cavalry and tanks, which for the first time fought in a combination that proved irresistible. The tanks used were of a new small variety, known as "whippets," which rapidly wiped out the machine-gun nests with which the enemy sought to stem the tide of the victorious onrush. Some American troops fought with the British in their advance and gained high praise from the Allied commanders.

By August 15 the total number of prisoners captured by the British Fourth Army, under General Rawlinson, was 21,844. In the same period of one week the prisoners taken by the French First Army amounted to 8,500, making a total of 30,344 Germans captured in the operations of the Allied armies on the Montdidier-Albert front, besides 700 heavy guns, quantities of machine guns, and other important spoils of war.

North of the Somme, between Albert and Arras, the Germans continued to fall back to the old Hindenburg line, where there were strong defensive positions, with the British and French keeping in close touch with their retreat. On August 15 they had definitely given up the towns of Beaumont-Hamel, Serre, Bucquoy, and Puisieux-au-Mont, and at several points had crossed the Ancre river.

Field Marshal Haig announced that the proportion of German losses to those of the Allies in the Picardy offensive were greater than at any other period of the war. The total Allied casualties were not as large as the number of Germans taken prisoner.

JOY IN AMIENS AND PARIS

One important result of the British drive was that Amiens, the "dead city of Picardy," began to come to life again. Its population of 150,000, including 40,000 refugees, had fled before the German offensive in March, 1918, but the former inhabitants began to return when the menace of the invader disappeared, as the invader himself was chased back toward the Somme. A service of thanks to the Allied arms was held in the Great Cathedral of Notre Dame in Amiens, August 15. Despite the damage from German guns and bombs, the cathedral retained the title of the most beautiful in all France.

The city of Paris, at the same time, quietly celebrated the great change in the situation wrought in one short month. Just four weeks before, on July 18, the residents of Paris had been awakened by the sounds of such a cannonade as they never had heard before. It was General Mangin's counter-preparation against the great German attack which the enemy believed was to bring him to the gates of Paris. In the meantime the Germans, who were at the gates of Amiens, Reims, and Compiegne, had been soundly beaten and outgeneraled at every point, and the initiative had been forced from them by the military genius of Marshal Foch. The effect upon the Germans was apparent from the fact that General Hans von Boehm, the German "retreat specialist" had been appointed to the supreme command on the Somme front. The German withdrawal north of Albert was looked upon as the first application of his tactics. It was General von Boehm and his former command, the German Eighth Army, that stood the brunt of the Allied pressure in the Marne salient previous to the retreat of the Huns to the north of the Vesle river, where they were still standing in the middle of August.

BOLSHEVIKI EXECUTE EX-CZAR

Former Czar Nicholas of Russia was executed by the Bolsheviki in July, 1918, having been held as a prisoner since his dethronement.

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Shaded portions of map show territory gained by American and Allied troops during July and August, 1918. Most of the territory gained by the Germans in their 1918 offensive was recaptured by the Allies before September 1, 1918.

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