In Galicia 100 cities and market places and 6,000 villages had been more or less damaged, while 250 villages had been destroyed. Horses to the number of 800,000 and 500,000 head of cattle, with all grain and other provisions in Galicia had been taken away by the Russians.
CHAPTER XXII
LATER EVENTS OF THE WAR
Results of the Battle of the Aisne—Fierce Fighting in Northern France—Developments on the Eastern Battle Front—The Campaign in the Pacific—Naval Activities of the Powers.
With a battle front reaching from the Belgian coast on the North Sea to the frontier of Switzerland, or a total distance of 362 miles, the operations in the western theater of war toward the end of October were being conducted on a more gigantic scale than was ever witnessed before. On both sides reinforcements were being rushed to the front. German efforts to break through the Allies' lines were concentrated on the main center at Verdun and on the right flank of the Allies' left wing, above its elbow, between Noyon and Arras, while powerful coincidal movements were in progress on the extreme western end of the line in Belgium and on the southeastern wing in Alsace. At Verdun continuous fighting of the fiercest character had been going on for over sixty days, surpassing in time and severity any individual battle in history. The army of the Crown Prince had been unable to force the French positions in the vicinity of Verdun and the check sustained by the Germans at this point early in the campaign constituted a principal cause of General von Kluck's failure in his dash toward Paris.
All along the tremendous battle front the allies' lines as a rule held firm in the thirteenth week of the war, when the great conflict had entered upon what may well be called its fourth stage. The third stage may be said to have ended with the fall of Antwerp and the subjugation of all Belgium but a small portion of its southwestern territory. On the main front the Allies were maintaining the offensive at some vital points, while repulsing the German assaults at others. One or two of the French forts commanding Verdun had fallen but the main positions remained in the hands of the French, and all along the line it was a case of daily give-and-take.
FIERCE FIGHTING IN FLANDERS
After capturing Antwerp the Germans pushed on to Ostend, an "open" or unfortified town, and occupied it with slight resistance from the Belgian army, which was reforming its broken ranks to the south, between Ostend and the French frontier, and preparing to contest the passage of the Kaiser's forces across the River Yser. Moving northward from Lille, the Allies encountered the Germans at Armentières, which was occupied by a Franco-British force and there was also fierce fighting at Ypres, where there is a canal to the sea. For more than a week the Belgians gallantly held the banks of the Yser in spite of the utmost endeavors of the Germans to cross, and it was not until October 24 that the latter finally succeeded in getting south of the river, with the French seaport of Dunkirk as their next objective point. Bloody engagements were fought at Nieuport, Dixmude, Deynze and La Bassée.
At this time the battle line formed almost a perpendicular from Noyon in France north to the Belgian coast, south of Ostend. A battle raged for several days in West Flanders and Northern France and both sides claimed successes. The losses of the Allies and the Germans were estimated in the thousands and the wounded were sent back to the rear by the trainful. In the Flemish territory the flat nature of the terrain, with its numerous canals and almost total absence of natural cover, made the losses especially severe. The passage of the Yser cost the Germans dearly and Dixmude was strewn with their dead. And their advance could get no farther.