By your discipline, pluck, and endurance, inspired by the indomitable regimental spirit, you have not only upheld the tradition of the British Army, but added fresh lustre to its history.
I was particularly impressed by your soldierly, healthy, cheerful appearance.
I cannot share in your trials, dangers, and successes, but I can assure you of the proud confidence and gratitude of myself and of your fellow-countrymen.
We follow you in our daily thoughts on your certain road to victory.
George, R.I.
General Headquarters, December 5, 1914.
The Prince of Wales, it must here be noted, had gone to the front at his own earnest desire six weeks earlier, and had proved himself, according to The Times military correspondent, "one of the keenest and hardest soldiers of the army." He was aide-de-camp to Sir John French; but he had had a varied experience, had visited the trenches, including those occupied by the Indian troops, and had been several times under fire.
Though few details as to the military operations were published, it seemed clear that the Germans would be dislodged only by much larger numbers; and enlistment was supposed to be hampered by the continuance of professional (Association) football. The matches attracted thousands, many of them, doubtless, needed by home industries, but these, it was contended, might have been better employed drilling than looking on; and the players were excellent military material, but were bound by contract to their clubs. Attempts to induce enlistment from among the crowds of spectators in London (Nov. 21) brought only one recruit. An International Football Conference (representing the nations of the United Kingdom) decided at the end of November to drop the "international" matches, but not the cup ties, i.e. the matches determining the competitors for the Association Challenge Cup, decided at the Crystal Palace in the spring. The Scottish delegates, after consulting the War Office, decided to abandon both sets of contests till after the war; but the Council of the Football Association confirmed the decision of the Conference (Dec. 7). Its course was defended, partly because the matches provided recreation for workers who could not be spared, partly in view of the financial needs of the clubs and the players. The Association, it was urged, had done something for recruiting, and had contributed to the various war funds. The formation of a Footballers' Battalion was authorised by the War Office; but the episode provided another argument for the advocates of compulsory service.
The naval element in the war, however, seemed at least as important as the military; and here the signs were promising. It was true that extensive preparations against a raid had been made in the last week of November, though little was said of them in the Press; and also that the Admiralty had notified (Dec. 4) that lighthouses and buoys in the Channel on the east of a line drawn from Selsey Bill to Cape Barfleur, might be altered or withdrawn, and signals in this area changed or discontinued, without notice, and had specified stations where pilots could be obtained for the ports or areas affected—arrangements probably motived by the activity of German submarines off Havre (p. [245]); and that the German merchant cruiser Berlin, which had run into Trondhjem short of coal and had been interned there, was believed to have been laying oceanic mines. But these were only temporary inconveniences; and the country was inspirited (Dec. 10) by the news of a great German naval defeat off Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, on December 8. Vice-Admiral Sir F. Sturdee, who had recently been Chief of Staff at the Admiralty, and had been in London at the time of the action off Chile (p. [226]), had left Devonport (as afterwards transpired) about November 15, and with a squadron of six cruisers, the Kent, Carnarvon, Cornwall, Glasgow, Bristol and Macedonia, the latter a converted P. and O. liner, and the battle cruisers Inflexible and Invincible, had arrived at Port Stanley (where they met the Canopus) on December 7 to coal, before searching for the German squadron. Next day this squadron approached Port Stanley, intending, it was said, to occupy it as a coaling station. It consisted of the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and three small cruisers, the Leipzig, Dresden, and Nürnberg, with a merchant cruiser, the Prinz Eitel Fritz, and two transports. On their approach the Canopus opened fire; the other British ships at once came out, chased the Germans for nearly six hours, and then engaged them. The battle cruisers, assisted by the Carnarvon, concentrated their fire, first on Admiral von Spee's ship, the Scharnhorst, which sank, refusing to cease firing, about 4 P.M.; next on the Gneisenau, which sank two hours afterwards. The German cruisers had meanwhile diverged southwards; but the Glasgow overtook the Leipzig, and, with the Cornwall, sank her, after some hours' fighting, at 9.15 P.M.; the Kent, meanwhile, came up with the Nürnberg, and sank her about 7.30 P.M.; while her crew were being picked up, the Dresden and Prinz Eitel Fritz got away. The Bristol and the Macedonia sank the two transports or supply ships, the Baden and Santa Ysabel, which had gone off to the west. The Dresden was reported shortly afterwards at Punta Arenas, Straits of Magellan, but had not been heard of again by the end of the year. Some 2,000 Germans were lost, and less than a dozen British.
Two days after this news was published, a daring feat was achieved at the mouth of the Dardanelles. The British submarine B 11, Lieut.-Commander Norman Holbrook, dived under five rows of mines, sank the Turkish battleship Messudiyeh, which was guarding a minefield, and returned in safety—a feat which seemed to indicate that the entrance was not quite impregnable. For this feat Lieut.-Commander Holbrook received the V.C.