Chapter IX: Part 9

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When he visited England, one of the leading papers declared that he was a genius, probably the only genius produced by the war; and that long after the most exciting and interesting articles in newspapers and magazines were forgotten, and the great number of books on the war had been lost or stowed away in dusty garrets, his cartoons would live and stir the indignation of men yet unborn; and that Louis Raemaekers had nailed the Kaiser to a cross of immortal infamy.

France has honored him as one of the great heroes of the war, and has given him the Legion of Honor.

George Creel says, "He is a voice, a sword, a flame. His cartoons are the tears of women, the battle shout of indomitable defenders, the indignation of humanity, the sob of civilization. They will go down in history."

One of the wonderful painters of old Japan put so much of himself, of his soul and heart, into every stroke of his brush that it was said, "If a swift and keen sword should cut through his brush at work, it would bleed."

Through the pen and brush of Louis Raemaekers has pulsed the heart blood of suffering Belgium and horrified humanity; and for this reason, his cartoons are inspired and move the hearts and minds of all men to despise and condemn those who could commit such inhuman deeds.

THE GOD IN MAN

A soldier on the firing step, aiming at the enemy, is suddenly struck; and he drops down to the bottom of the trench. His nearest comrade must keep on firing, but two stretcher-bearers are ready at their posts. They rush forward, take the first-aid packet from the soldier's pocket, cut his clothes away from the wound, and quickly dress it. They carry him to the trench doctor, who treats the wound again. Then they take the soldier from the trenches to the nearest field ambulance, where his wound is again cared for.

He is so badly hurt that he needs to recover far from the sound of the thundering cannon. But he is not so seriously injured that he cannot stand a short journey. So he is placed, as comfortably as possible, in an ambulance train, with skilled Red Cross nurses to attend to him. The train arrives just in time to meet the hospital ship at the port. The soldier is carried on board, and soon finds himself in a quiet hospital in London--all in little more than twenty-four hours, a day and a night.

So thousands of men have been cared for each week, by a never-ending line of devoted Red Cross stretcher-bearers, doctors, and nurses, on the battlefield, on the trains, on hospital ships, and in the home hospitals, in London, and in every fighting country in the world.

Somewhat back from the lines are the stationary hospitals, where many soldiers are left who cannot be carried farther, but must be treated there. "Mushroom hospitals" they are called; for, although they have the appearance of having been there before, they really have sprung up only since the war started. The wards are spotlessly clean, filled with rows and rows of beds, also spotlessly clean. Beyond are the operating rooms, baths, kitchens, and gardens filled with flowers, where the wounded men may breathe fresh air and get back the strength which they have so willingly lost in service. All the time, hundreds of new patients are arriving, hundreds are leaving, either to go to more distant hospitals, or to go back to the lines to fight.

In comes one soldier who does not see or know where he is, nor who it was that brought him. But when at last he opens his eyes, he finds himself in a spotlessly clean white bed for the first time in months. He looks about, and yes, there is Bobby, his own pet collie, sitting beside him. He had lost him when he went over the top in the fight; but somehow Bobby had followed him here, and somebody had been kind enough to let him stay beside his master in this clean and pleasant room.

By and by the wounded soldier grows well enough to be carried out into the garden. There he and Bobby sit and watch the men caring for the flowers. These men are not hired; they are wounded soldiers helping about the hospital. The garden itself was made by a soldier who was a gardener before the war. Every man helps with his knowledge of some trade. The napkin rings and salt cellars used in the hospital were made by a soldier tinsmith out of old biscuit boxes.

One day our wounded soldier becomes so well that he may walk away with Bobby, and a nurse brings him his suit, his rifle, and all his equipment, nicely cleansed and put in order.

So everybody does his bit in the hospitals. Dentists and eye-specialists, surgeons and nurses, wearing the Red Cross, work tirelessly from morning till night and sometimes both day and night, to save the brave wounded men. They do their work as best they can, sweetly and cheerfully, caring for the German soldiers as well as for their own Allied soldiers. To know of them, to watch them in their work of mercy, is to realize that there is something different from the beast in man--there is the God in man, the spirit of love and tender, skillful care, which they dare to give in the face of awful danger.

One of the brave nurses wrote home to America something of all she was doing. Among many things, she said: "The Huns were pouring down in streams to attack our men. I immediately began to get the hospital ready to receive the wounded.

"Our surgeon was away on leave, but another equally good arrived. On Tuesday, the wounded men began to come in. Wednesday and Thursday I served from early morning until midnight. Bombs were bursting in the distance, and news came that the Huns were within a few miles of us.

"A Red Cross unit came, and one English nurse arrived to help us. She had lost the others in her party, and had walked miles to get here. It seemed as if God had sent them all from heaven!

"All the surgical supplies that I could save from those you sent me from the Red Cross, I had put away for emergency. I don't know what we would have done without them!

"I had to see that the surgeons had whatever they needed, and from all sides every one was calling for help. Through it all, I was up every morning at four and never went to bed till midnight. The cannon were roaring, star shells exploding, bombs dropping around us,--but nothing touching us!

"For eight days our men fought gloriously. They were a wonder and such a surprise to the Huns. Now perhaps they know what they have to face!

"The little hospital was able to save many, many lives. We have sent away most of our wounded to-day, and are now waiting in suspense for what may come next--but we are ready to do our best, whatever comes.

"We do not dare keep the seriously wounded now for any length of time, for no one knows when the Huns may fight their way through. We know what the 'front line' really means. No one goes in or out except by military or Red Cross camion. No private telegrams can be sent, and to our joy, we do not have to bother with food-ration cards, for a while at least. _Boches_ are over our heads all day, and cannons booming. I am so used to it now that I don't mind it.

"I am so homesick to see you all, but I will not leave my work until the end of this horrible war, if God will give me health and strength. Don't worry. I intend to stick to my post to the end, and if the Huns come down upon us, the Red Cross will get us out."

Nor are these all of the ways in which the Red Cross shows the God in man. From the beginning of the war until March, 1918, over $36,000,000 of American money alone was spent in the following ways:

FRANCE, $30,936,103.

Established rest stations along all routes followed by the
American troops in France.

Built canteens for use of French and American soldiers at the
front, also at railroad junctions and in Paris.

Supplied American troops with comfort kits and sent them
Christmas gifts.

Established a hospital-distributing service that supplies 3423
French military hospitals, and a surgical dressing service that
supplies 2000.

Provided an artificial-limb factory and special plants for the
manufacture of splints and nitrous oxide gas.

Established a casualty service for gathering information in
regard to wounded and missing, this information to be sent to
relatives.

Opened a children's refuge hospital in the war zone and
established a medical and traveling center to accommodate 1200
children in the reconquered sections of France. Fifty thousand
children throughout France are being cared for in some measure
by the Red Cross.

Planned extensive reclamation work in the invaded sections of
France from which the enemy has been driven; this work is now
being carried out with the coöperation of the Society of Friends
and alumnæ units from Smith College and other colleges.

Established a large central warehouse in Paris and numerous
warehouses at important points from the sea to the Swiss border,
for storing of hospital supplies, food, soldiers' comforts,
tobacco, blankets, clothing, beds, and other articles of relief.

Secured and operated 400 motor cars for the distribution of
supplies.

Opened a hospital and convalescent home for children; also
established an ambulance service for the adult refugees, who are
now returning from points within the German lines at the rate of
1000 a day.

Improved health conditions in the American war zone before the
coming of American troops.

BELGIUM, .,086,131.

Started reconstruction work in reconquered territory, supplying
returned refugees with temporary dwellings, tools, furniture,
farm animals, and supplies essential to giving them a fresh
start in life.

Appropriated $600,000 for the relief of Belgian children,
covering their removal from territories under bombardment and
the establishment and maintenance of them in colonies.

Provided funds for the operation of a hospital for wounded
Belgian soldiers and for part of the equipment of a typhoid
hospital.

ITALY, $3,588,826.

Provided the Italian army with 60 ambulances, 40 trucks, and 100
American drivers.

Contracted for 10 field hospitals complete for use by the Sanita
Militaire and the Italian Red Cross.

Supplied 1,000,000 surgical dressings. Opened relief
headquarters in 9 districts of Italy.

Established a hospital for refugees at Rimini.

Planned and made appropriations for extensive work among the
refugees in all parts of Italy.

ROUMANIA, .,676,368.

Rushed more than $100,000 worth of medical supplies and
foodstuffs into Roumania immediately after the retreat to Jassy.

Carried general relief work into every part of the stricken
country not invaded by the Teuton and Bulgarian forces.

UNITED STATES, $8,589,899.

Organized and trained 45 ambulance companies, totaling 5580 men,
for service with American soldiers and sailors.

Built and maintained four laboratory cars for emergency use in
stamping out epidemics at cantonments and training camps.

Started work of bettering sanitary conditions in the zones
immediately surrounding the cantonments.

Established camp service bureaus to look out for comfort and
welfare of soldiers in training.

Supplied 2,000,000 sweaters to soldiers and sailors.

Mobilized 14,000 trained nurses for care of our men.

Established a department of Home Service and opened training
schools for workers.

Planned convalescent houses at all cantonments and training
camps. Increased membership from scant half million to
approximately 22,000,000.

For War Relief in other countries, including
Great Britain, Russia, and Serbia $7,581,075
To supply food to American prisoners in
Germany $343,304
For supplies purchased for shipment abroad $15,000,000

The Jewish Relief Societies of this country have also forwarded large sums of money to relieve the terrible suffering among their people in Russia, Poland, Turkey, Palestine, and others of the war-stricken countries. Approximately $24,000,000 was sent abroad for this purpose during the first four years of the war.

One evening the train drew into the station of a little town in France. It stopped long enough for half a hundred tired, dusty soldiers to gain the platform, then puffed away out of sight. They were not the fighting soldiers--they were engineers. The men looked about in a bewildered way for the train with which they were supposed to connect. But it was nowhere in sight; it had gone. They were sorry not to meet the rest of their company, but there was nothing for them to do but remain in the town overnight. They walked the streets, and found that every hotel, boarding house, and private home was filled to the last cot. Thousands of American troops were in the town, on their way to the front. The engineers had ridden for many hours and were very hungry, but their pockets were nearly empty.

Suddenly they stopped before a large building painted a deep blue, and bearing the sign,

Knights of Columbus
Everybody Welcome.

The half a hundred men walked in, passed group after group of soldiers and sailors, and found the secretary. Soon they were dining on Knights of Columbus ham and eggs, without money and without price! The secretary himself served them.

They entered the large lounging room, found tables covered with good reading books, easy chairs and writing benches set about the room, and a stage at the back with piano, victrola, and a moving picture screen.

So when they least expected it, but most wanted it, they found a place that seemed like home. Knights of Comfort, the Knights of Columbus have been called, and comfort they have given to thousands of soldiers and sailors. About $50,000,000 has been raised by the society for one year of such good work.

Almost on the very battleground is another source of comfort to the fighting men,--the little huts with the sign of the Red Triangle,--the Y.M.C.A. There is hardly one American home which has not received from some soldier a letter on paper marked with the little red triangle. Thousands have been written at the benches inside the huts, and thousands of books and magazines found in the huts have been read in spare time by the soldier lads.

Usually only the paper for letter writing is furnished at the huts, and the men buy their postage stamps. Often fifty to a hundred men are in line to purchase stamps, so that at times the secretary heaves a sigh of relief when at last he has to hang up the sign "Stamps All Out." In one hut as many as three thousand letters have been handled in one day, besides parcel-post packages, registered letters, and money-orders.

The United States government has realized the valuable services of the society and recognized it officially, permitting its men to wear the uniform, and to accompany the soldiers right into the trenches.

Often before and always after the men go into battle, the "Y" workers bring up great kettles of hot chocolate and a store of biscuit. This is a godsend to the men who have been fighting for hours with little, if anything, to eat.

Passing over the battlefield, the workers write down messages from wounded and dying men, to be sent to their relatives. They learn all they can about those who have been taken prisoners, and so bring comfort to the people at home.

The secretaries send to the United States free of charge money from the soldiers to their home folks. In one month, a million dollars was brought to the Y.M.C.A. with the simple instructions that it be delivered to addresses given by the soldiers. The controller of the New York Life Insurance Company in France has had charge of this.

The association has nearly 400 motor trucks engaged in various kinds of transport work. It aids greatly in caring for and entertaining the soldiers, as many as 4000 of them at a time. It has opened many hotels in France, four of them in Paris, and owns several factories for the making of chocolate. It holds religious services for the men, providing preachers of all the different faiths. So it, too, shares in the godlike services of the Red Cross and Knights of Columbus.

Near the trenches and at training camps, other work has been done similar to that of the Y.M.C.A. and Knights of Columbus, by the Salvation Army. The soldier boys have especially enjoyed the doughnuts and pies furnished them by this society.

It has, it is said, placed 153 comfort and refreshment huts at the front in Europe, and is building many more. It maintains about 80 military homes, caring for about 100,000 men each week. It operates nearly 50 ambulances. Over 700 of its members are devoting their lives to war work in the trenches and at the camps. It was the first, it is said, of the societies of mercy at the front, and spent for the work mentioned $1,000,000, all made up of nickels and dimes of small givers, before the society made any "drive" for funds.

Letters from officials, friends, and soldier boys tell what glorious work these and other similar societies have done and are doing. They bring a little touch of heaven into the very worst places and conditions, and show the God in man.

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL JOHN MCCRAE.

THE WORLD WAR

The story of the World War is the story of the control of the sea by the Allies, of land fighting on two fronts, the western and the eastern, and of separate scattered campaigns in Africa and Asia.

THE WESTERN FRONT

Here the war really began and here it seems likely to be decided and ended. The Germans who planned the war were ready and, using their railroads built for that purpose, rushed their armies to the Belgian border before France had hardly begun to mobilize. Luxemburg was overrun at once and Belgium invaded. The brave Belgians under General Leman held up the advance for several days at Liége and saved France and western civilization. The Huns soon occupied nearly all of Belgium, taking Brussels on August 20 and Antwerp on October 9.

They pushed on directly toward Paris, driving the British who had been landed, the Belgians, and the French, before them. They advanced to within twenty miles of Paris, near Meaux on the Marne, and were there defeated September 5-10, 1914, and forced to retreat to the Aisne, where they entrenched themselves.

The Germans had driven the British south by constantly threatening to outflank them, and there had been a race to the gates of Paris. Now the British turned the tables and, in attempting to outflank the Germans, there was a race away from Paris to the North Sea, with the final result that the enemies were lined up opposite each other, from Switzerland near the German border to the coast between Dunkirk and Ostend.

Until 1918 trench warfare continued. The Germans sought to drive the English out of Ypres, but did not succeed. In one of these attacks on April 22, 1915, gas was used for the first time.

The British and French won a great victory on the Somme, July, 1916, taking nearly 75,000 prisoners. This battle is recognized as one of the turning points of the war, for it caused the extensive retreat of the Germans the following spring. The Huns devastated the territory from which they retreated more completely and mercilessly than any army, even barbarians, had ever done before in the history of the world. The British attempted to capture Lille and the bases of the German submarines on the Belgian coast at Ostend and Zeebrugge, but were unsuccessful.

In November, 1917, General Byng, in a surprise attack in which for the first time a large number of tanks were used, broke the famous Hindenburg line of trenches and captured 8000 Germans. He soon lost all the territory he had gained and many men, through being surprised himself by attacks on both sides of the pocket or salient which he had pushed into the German lines.

The Battle of the Somme referred to above was intended to relieve the terrible pressure of the Germans on the French forts at Verdun. The German Crown Prince had attacked these in July, 1916, determined to break through at whatever cost. But the soul of France rose to the occasion and declared, "They shall not pass!" The Battle of Verdun lasted from July until December, 1916. The Germans lost half a million men, _but they did not pass_. Before many months every vantage point which the Germans had won was back in French hands.

In 1917, the French pushed the Germans back between Rheims and Soissons to the Ailette River, where they remained until the Second Battle of the Marne, July, 1918.

Little of importance happened during the winter of 1917 and 1918, and Germany, with Russia out of the way, prepared to deliver a final blow and win the war, before American troops should arrive in force. The Germans, with large numbers of troops from the eastern front, were so confident, that great fear was felt among the Allies that America would be too late.

The German plan as it unfolded itself was to attack, wave after wave, with tremendous numbers of men; to use great quantities of a new and more terrible gas; to pay no attention to losses, but to break through where the French and English lines joined; then to push the French south towards Paris and the English north towards the sea. They expected to take Amiens, forty miles from the mouth of the Somme, and to push down the river to the sea. With the broad river between them and the French, a small force could keep the French from crossing, while the great German army captured or destroyed the British, who would be hemmed in by the sea.

The attack was launched on March 21 over a front of fifty miles and it nearly succeeded. It brought the Germans to within six miles of Amiens, which would have been captured if the English on Vimy Ridge had not prevented them by holding the German line from advancing. The Germans waited a month, planning an attack which should capture Vimy Ridge and prepare the way for the capture of Amiens. In this they were unsuccessful.

Not being able to divide the armies of the French and English or to take the Channel ports, they turned in May toward Paris. They attacked in tremendous force between Rheims and Soissons and pushed forward thirty-two miles to the Marne. On July 15 they launched another great offensive over a front of fifty miles from east of Rheims to west of Château-Thierry. They crossed the Marne and were making some progress when, on July 18, the French and Americans struck them on the flank between Soissons and Château-Thierry. The Germans were forced to retreat, having lost 220,000 men, hundreds of guns, and vast stores.

At this time over 1,000,000 American soldiers were in France. They arrived in time and showed themselves "the bravest of the brave." One of the American units was granted, for its bravery in the Second Battle of the Marne, the only regimental decoration ever awarded by France to a foreign regiment; and the French commander bestowed upon one division the most thrilling praise. "They showed," he said, "discipline that filled the Germans with surprise. They marched with officers at the sides and with closed ranks exactly like veteran French troops."

Italy began operations against Austria in May, 1915. For more than two years, she advanced over almost impassable mountain ranges to the reconquest of the territory Austria had stolen from her. Then, in October, 1917, Italy met with a terrible disaster; she lost 180,000 men and was driven back to the river Piave and to within fifteen miles of Venice. This costly defeat was due partly to lack of supplies which her allies should have furnished her; partly to printed lies dropped from Austrian airplanes among the Italian soldiers telling of the wonderful peace and liberty that had come to Russia, where Germans and Russians were like brothers; and partly to the mistake of Italy and her commanders. It resulted in making all the Allies realize that they could not succeed separately but must work together as one, if they were going to win; and in the appointment of General Ferdinand Foch as commander in chief of all the allied forces in the West, including European Russia.

In the spring of 1918, the Austrians, at Germany's command, renewed their attack and succeeded in crossing the Piave, which in its upper reaches towards the mountains was almost a dry river bed. They waited until, as they supposed, the mountain snows had melted. After many of them were across and after they had been checked on the western bank by the Italians, they attempted to recross the river. In the meantime floods had poured down from the mountains changing the dry bed into a rushing river, deep and broad, in which thousands of the Austrians were lost. Austria was able to make no further effort.

THE EASTERN FRONT

Russia was the first of the Great Powers among the Allies to enter the war, but Germany did not count upon her remaining in it long. German influence, especially that of the German Socialists with the uneducated Russians, was so strong that the Kaiser expected a revolution long before it happened. The Russian leaders were self-seeking, and the Tsar and his advisers were lacking in ability and force. The Germans thought Russia would collapse very soon, and thus leave Germany free to turn and conquer France; after which they could settle with England, and then with the United States.

Until the close of 1916, the Russian armies gave the Germans fierce opposition except when, through treachery of the officers of the government, supplies and ammunition were withheld and the soldiers had to fight cannon, machine guns, and rifles with the butts of their muskets. Of course the Russians were driven back, but not until they had come within one hundred and eighty-five miles of Berlin, which was the nearest approach of an enemy army during the first four years of the war.

In the fall of 1914, the Russian armies suffered through treachery a terrible defeat near Tannenberg in the Masurian Lake region of East Prussia, but the great leader of their armies farther south, Grand Duke Nicholas, invaded Austria, capturing stronghold after stronghold until treachery of Russian officials forced him to retreat. The retreat of his armies was conducted in so masterly a manner that it has ranked him as one of the great generals of the World War.

As soon as German money and German lies had undermined the directing forces at the Russian capital, it was an easy matter for German armies to overrun Russian Poland, to capture Warsaw and the great Russian fortresses, and to advance as far north as Riga.

Then in the spring of 1917 came the revolution, when the Duma refused to obey the order of the Tsar. The soldiers sided with the people; the Tsar was thrown into prison, to be shot more than a year later. Germany made a "peace drive," and soon had the entire Russian army ready to quit. Leaders in the service of Germany, like Lenine, used dreamers like Trotsky to help on the breaking up of Russia. Kerensky, who had been chosen to lead the government after the first revolution, was deposed and obliged to flee the country as the result of a second revolution by soldiers, sailors, and workmen. Lenine became Prime Minister and Trotsky, Foreign Minister. Then the way was clear for Germany to work her will. Agreeing to all proposals, she led the _Bolsheviki_, which means "the majority," into such a situation that they were powerless. Then throwing aside all her agreements, she forced them to sign the disgraceful treaty of peace at Brest-Litovsk. It broke up a portion of the old Russia into several nations or independent provinces, which separated the Russia that remained entirely from the rest of Europe. The provinces, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Esthonia, Livonia, Courland, and Lithuania were really dependencies of Germany. Turkey was also rewarded by receiving a part of Transcaucasia, which Germany later attempted to take from her.

The Germans promised not to use soldiers from the eastern front against Russia's former allies in the West; but this promise was only another "scrap of paper," and she transferred vast numbers to the front in Italy and in France and, by their help, nearly won her great drives of 1918.

When Russia collapsed and made peace with the Central Powers, Roumania, who entered the war on the side of the Allies, August 27, 1916, was left entirely surrounded by enemies and, to save herself from the fate of Belgium and Serbia, was obliged to consent to peace terms offered by Germany. She ceded a large part of her territory south of the Danube to Bulgaria, who had joined the Central Powers "for what she could get out of it," on October 4, 1915. Bulgaria's king is called "The Fox of the Balkans" and looks upon agreements, treaties, and honesty in the German manner. Like the Germans, all his acts show that he believes "might is right" and that any act is justified if necessary to his success.

THE DARDANELLES AND FARTHER EAST

In the spring of 1915, English and French fleets attempted to force the Dardanelles, but failed. Had the straits been opened and Constantinople taken, Russia would probably have been saved and the war shortened. Many believe now that a mistake was made in not sacrificing the ships necessary to force the straits and to capture Constantinople, but at the time the French and British leaders were unwilling to make the sacrifice. Troops had been landed at Gallipoli to assist the fleets, but they were withdrawn in January, 1916.

England sent an expedition from the Persian Gulf to capture Bagdad in the fall of 1914. It was small in numbers and suffered some reverses, but succeeded in capturing the city on March 11, 1917.

When Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Powers, the Germans hoped to stir up a religious war, uniting all the Mohammedans in the East under the lead of Turkey, against the Christian nations. All Mohammedans, however, do not recognize the Sultan of Turkey as their leader, and the King of Hedjaz revolted against Turkey in June, 1916. Hedjaz includes all the Arab tribes between the Tigris on the east and Syria on the west. Arabia forms the largest part of the territory of this kingdom.

With the assistance of the King of Hedjaz, the English have been able, by advancing across the Sinai Desert, to capture Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the Holy City of the Christians, has been in Mohammedan hands, except for two short periods, for seven hundred and thirty years. The Crusades were fought to take it from them, and ever since, Christians have mourned that it had to be left in the hands of the Moslems. It probably will never again pass from the control of Christian nations.

Japan entered the war early, August 23, 1914, as an ally of Great Britain and, on November 7, had taken the only German colony in China, Tsingtau. Germany had forced this from China, as punishment for the murder of two German missionaries. Japan and Australia soon captured all the German possessions in the Pacific, and Great Britain all the German colonies in Africa, leaving Germany without a single colonial possession.

THE SEA

The Kaiser is reported to have said, "Germany's future lies on the sea"; and it seems as if the control of the sea by the Allies has really determined her future, for had the Central Powers controlled the sea, they would have won the war.

By the wise foresight of those directing the movements of the British navy, the Grand Fleet, numbering about four hundred vessels, had been assembled for inspection just before the war broke out, and they were ready, when England entered the war, to move to ports from which they could attack the Germans, if the latter should decide to send out their fleet. The Grand Fleet has all through the war remained hidden, and, like some invisible power, is protecting the freedom of the world. Hundreds of swift scout ships keep watch ready to report every move of the enemy. Only once has Germany come out in force, to be driven back to shelter, defeated, in the Battle of Jutland, May 31, and June 1, 1916.

Germany placed her hopes in the submarine, but she has had little chance to use it against English war vessels. She also scattered mines upon the high seas in violation of the laws of war and of nations. One of these mines on June 5, 1916, sank the British cruiser _Hampshire_, which was carrying Lord Kitchener to Russia. Lord Kitchener and his staff were lost.

Germany used every power in her hands to win, never hesitating to set aside the laws of nations or the opinions of civilized men. So she turned her submarines against merchant ships in violation of international law. The sinking of the _Lusitania_ was the first great shock to the United States. President Wilson protested on behalf of the American people, and after other merchant vessels had been sunk and more American lives lost, Germany was given her choice of a break with America or of promising that she would give up her submarine attacks without warning upon merchant ships. Germany promised to do so, but made this promise, as the United States learned later, only to give her time to build enough submarines to starve out England in a year or less by using them against merchant ships in violation of her agreement with the United States. It was only another "scrap of paper."

So America entered the war April 6, 1917, and at once the danger from submarines began to grow less, for American destroyers, combined with those of the other Allies, soon were sinking submarines faster than Germany could build them, and American shipyards began to turn out merchant ships in such unheard-of numbers that the sinking of a few ships each month became a minor matter. At the close of the fourth year of the war, an English writer said of what America had done in one year:

It would be idle to recount here what America has done. But for
what she has done the heart of every Briton beats with
gratitude. There is physical evidence of it over here. American
soldiers throng the streets. American sailors gather in our
ports. American naval vessels are scouring our home waters in
fullest coöperation with the British and French and have reduced
the destruction by submarine pirates by more than half what it
was one year ago. On land they are fighting with the Allies the
battles of civilization and dying for its ideals, and the
fondest wish of every patriot both here and in France is that
the community of feeling thus cemented in blood will never pass
away.

In October, 1918, there were about two million American soldiers in France. They had made possible the great victories, beginning with the Second Battle of the Marne, by which all the German gains of 1918 were wiped out and the St. Mihiel salient recovered. The Huns had held this salient since 1914. Its capture was a brilliant victory for the American army under General Pershing. It was accomplished in twenty-seven hours.

King George of England wired President Wilson as follows:

London, Sept. 14, 1918.

On behalf of the British Empire, I heartily congratulate you on
the brilliant achievement of the American and Allied troops
under the leadership of General Pershing in the St. Mihiel
salient.

The far-reaching results secured by these successful operations,
which have marked the active intervention of the American army
on a great scale under its own administration, are the happiest
augury for the complete, and, I hope, not far-distant triumph of
the Allied cause.

President Wilson cabled to General Pershing:

Please accept my warmest congratulations on the brilliant
achievements of the army under your command. The boys have done
what we expected of them and done it in the way we most admire.

We are deeply proud of them and of their chief. Please convey to
all concerned my grateful and affectionate thanks.

Frank H. Simonds, the famous military critic, says:

In our own national history, therefore, as in world history, the
Battle of St. Mihiel will have an enduring place. To the world
it announced the arrival of America in her appointed place in
the battle line of civilization.... The road from Concord Bridge
to the heights above the Meuse is long, but it runs straight,
and along it men are still led by the same love of liberty and
service of democracy which was revealed in our first battle
morning nearly a century and a half ago.

At the beginning of October, 1918, the Allies were everywhere successful, in Palestine, in the Balkans, in northern Russia, in Siberia, and on the western front. The world was proving again that deceit and violence always lose in the long run.

THE FINAL CHAPTER OF THE WAR

In July, 1918, the western battle line, running from the North Sea to Switzerland, was, in general, a huge curve bending into France. Germany had been working on interior lines on this western front--that is, as her forces were needed to defend or to attack, she moved them from place to place on the inside of the circle. The Allies were obliged to work on the outside of the circle and were therefore at a considerable disadvantage.

Then, too, the Germans had the initiative, that is, they could determine when and where to attack, while the Allies in 1918, up to July 18, were having all they could attend to in defending themselves and preventing a serious break in their lines.

With July 18, 1918, all this was changed. The Allied forces were now under the direction of a single commander, Marshal Foch, one of the great military geniuses of all time. His plan was to strike at a weakened point; then, when the Germans had rushed reinforcements to ward off the danger, to strike at some other point in the line and thus use up the German reserves; and to give the German commanders no time to prepare an offensive on a large scale. The German by nature seems to think that size determines victory. The big things seem to him the things that are effective and that win. So his offensives were planned on a great scale and required months of preparation; and after one offensive had been stopped, he required more months of comparative rest to plan and prepare another. The French nature is different; it is subtle, deft, and skillful, and by repeated strokes of less force, often accomplishes what the German fails to do with one mighty blow. In riveting the plates on a ship, or in joining the framework of a steel skyscraper, a riveting machine is used which, by very rapidly repeated blows, does the work quickly and well. Somewhat in this way did Marshal Foch strike the German line, now in this spot, now in that, capturing or putting out of action large numbers of German troops, outflanking first one strategic point and then another. As a consequence, the German line was obliged to draw back and back to prevent the Allies from breaking through and attacking the German supply trains coming up in the rear with food and munitions.

West of Verdun the Germans had come into Belgium and France along the line of the Meuse through Liége and Namur, and across Luxemburg by the main railway through Sedan. Could either of these great lines of communication be captured, the Germans would be unable to withdraw to their own territory without terrible losses, if at all; for between their armies and Germany lay the great forest region of Ardennes with but few roads. Two millions of men could not retreat through this region without leaving guns and munitions behind and their retreat becoming a rout.

From Verdun the Meuse River runs north and west to Sedan and to the railroad which extended from the German lines through Luxemburg to Germany. Marshal Foch honored General Pershing and the American troops by assigning to them the difficult task of advancing from Verdun through the valley of the Meuse to Sedan. The story of the fighting of the Americans in this advance is a story glowing with deeds of heroism and of reckless daring, a story of the overcoming of almost impossible difficulties and of final victory. At Sedan in 1870, the Germans humbled the French and decided the Franco-Prussian War. It is a strange turn of history that, with the capture of Sedan from the Germans in 1918, the World War was practically decided and ended.

The Allied army from Salonica, with the help of the Serbians, had conquered Bulgaria late in September, and she had surrendered unconditionally, thus cutting off Germany and Austria from communication with their ally, Turkey. General Allenby's conquest of Palestine and occupation of Aleppo brought Turkey to realize that she was helpless. She surrendered the last of October. Then the strengthened and refreshed Italian army attacked the Austrians on the Piave in Italy and won perhaps the most complete victory of the war on the western front, capturing over five hundred thousand prisoners and completely breaking Austria's power for further resistance. Austria surrendered on November 4.

Thus Germany was left alone, open to attack on her southern and eastern fronts, while being hopelessly beaten in the west. She asked President Wilson to secure an armistice from the Allied nations. The President had declared earlier in the war that we would never deal with the Kaiser and the autocratic rulers of Germany who had repeatedly broken their word to us and to other nations. The German people, aware of this fact, were taking things into their own hands, and the German Revolution had really begun.

The German Chancellor informed President Wilson that Germany had changed its form of government and was now being ruled by those responsible to the German people, and that the German government was willing to make peace on the basis of President Wilson's Fourteen Points, as stated on January 8, 1918, and of his later declarations, particularly that of September 27, 1918.

After some correspondence, the President referred the German government to Marshal Foch. Envoys were sent from Spa, the German headquarters, under flag of truce to the headquarters of Marshal Foch in a railroad car near Senlis. The terms of the armistice made it absolutely impossible for Germany to renew the war after the cessation of hostilities, for she was obliged to evacuate all invaded territory, to remove all her troops twenty miles back from the Rhine, and to give the control of the river and its crossings to the Allies. She was also forced to surrender vast quantities of large and small guns, two thousand air-planes, all her submarines, and the greater part of her navy. She was practically to give over the control of her railways and shipping to the Allies and to renounce the unfair treaties with Russia and Roumania. Alsace-Lorraine was to be returned to France, and Belgium and northern France restored. The armistice was signed by the Germans on November 11, 1918. It has been called the most complete surrender ever known, but Germany had no choice, for her armies were defeated and her navy had no hope in a battle against the overwhelming odds of the Allies.

_Der Tag_ or "The Day" for which haughty Germans had hoped, had come, but how different from the day they had imagined! When the white flag of truce was raised on the German battle line, the red flag of revolution was unfurled in Berlin and other German cities. The Kaiser had abdicated, the Crown Prince had renounced his right to the throne, and both had taken refuge in Holland. Other German kings were abdicating and royal princes were fleeing for safety.

Great celebrations were held in the Allied countries. It seemed as if the people in the great cities of America had gone wild with joy. President Wilson appeared in the hall of the national House of Representatives at one o'clock on the afternoon of Monday, November 11, and announced the signing of the armistice and its terms and the conclusion of the war. He asked America to show a spirit of helpfulness rather than one of revenge toward the conquered Germans, concluding his message as follows:

The present and all that it holds belongs to the nations and the
peoples who preserve their self-control and the orderly
processes of their governments; the future to those who prove
themselves the true friends of mankind. To conquer with arms is
to make only a temporary conquest. I am confident that the
nations that have learned the discipline of freedom and that
have settled with self-possession to its ordered practice are
now about to make conquest of the world by the sheer power of
example and of friendly helpfulness.

The peoples who have but just come out from under the yoke of
arbitrary government and who are now coming at last into their
freedom, will never find the treasures of liberty they are in
search of if they look for them by the light of the torch. They
will find that every pathway that is stained with blood of their
own brothers leads to the wilderness, not to the seat of their
hope. They are now face to face with their initial test. We must
hold the light steady until they find themselves. And in the
meantime, if it be possible, we must establish a peace that will
justly define their place among the nations, remove all fear of
their neighbors and of their former masters, and enable them to
live in security and contentment when they have set their own
affairs in order. I, for one, do not doubt their purpose or
their capacity. There are some happy signs that they know and
will choose the way of self-control and peaceful accommodation.
If they do, we shall put our aid at their disposal in every way
that we can. If they do not, we must await with patience and
sympathy the awakening and recovery that will assuredly come at
last.

To the people of the United States he sent the following message:

My Fellow Countrymen: The armistice was signed this morning.
Everything for which America fought has been accomplished. It
will now be our fortunate duty to assist, by example, by sober,
friendly council, and by material aid, in the establishment of
just democracy throughout the world.

WOODROW WILSON.

No one can foretell all that this victory, won through the most terrible suffering and sacrifice the world has ever been called upon to bear, means to mankind; but we know it means a new day and a new opportunity for millions of down-trodden men and women in all parts of the world. It means giving a new world of democracy and equality of opportunity to those who never dreamed this possible, except by leaving their native lands and coming to America. It means bringing all that America means to us to races that for centuries have lived without hope. It means the downfall and the punishment of those who would selfishly rise by the persecution and suffering of others. It means that in the end right must always conquer might.

NATIONS AND THE MORAL LAW

I believe there is no permanent greatness to a nation except it be based upon morality. I do not care for military greatness or military renown. I care for the condition of the people among whom I live. Crowns, coronets, mitres, military display, the pomp of war, wide colonies, and a huge empire are in my view all trifles, light as air and not worth considering, unless with them you can have a fair share of comfort, contentment, and happiness among the great body of the people. Palaces, baronial castles, great halls, stately mansions, do not make a nation. The nation in every country dwells in the cottage.

I ask you then to believe, as I do most devoutly believe, that the moral law was not written for men alone in their individual character, but that it was written as well for nations.

If nations reject and deride that moral law, there is a penalty which will inevitably follow. It may not come at once, it may not come in our life-time; but rely upon it, the great Italian is not a poet only, but a prophet, when he says:

The sword of heaven is not in haste to smite,
Nor yet doth linger.

JOHN BRIGHT.

PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY

Foreign sounds which cannot be exactly reproduced in English are represented by their nearest English equivalents.

+Aerschot+ (är´sk[)o]t)
+Ailette+ (ail [)e]t´)
+Aisne+ (ain)
+Aix-la-Chapelle+ (aiks´-l[.a]-sh[.a] pel´)
+Alsace+ ([.a]l säss´)
+Amiens+ ([.a] mee [)a]ng´)
+Ancre+ (äng´kr)
+Andenne+ (äng d[)e]n´)
+Aonzo+ (ä [=o]n´z[=o])
+Arras+ ([.a] räss´)
+Ausweiss+ (ows´v[=i]z)
+Auteuil+ ([=o] ter´y[~e])

+Battice+ (bat tees´)
+Belfort+ (b[)e]l f[=o]r´)
+Belloy-en-Santerre+ (bel wä´-äng-säng tair´)
+Bernstorff+ (berns´torf)
+Bethmann-Hollweg+ (bait´man-holl´vaik)
+Boche+ (b[)o]sh)
+Boelke+ (b[=a]l´k[~e])
+Boers+ (b[=oo]rs)
+Bolsheviki+ (bol shay´vee kee´)
+Bonnier+ (bon ee ay´)
+Bordeaux+ (bor d[=o]´)
+Bouée+ (b[=oo] ay´)
+Boulogne+ (b[=oo] l[=o]n´)
+Brest-Litovsk+ (br[)e]st´-ly[)e] t[)o]fsk´)
+Bruges+ (breezh)
+Brussels+ (br[)u]s´elz)
+Buccari+ (b[)oo]k kä´ree)
+Bueken+ (bee´k[)e]n)
+Bülow+ (bee´l[=o])

+Calais+ (k[.a] lay´)
+Cambrai+ (kam bray´)
+Carnegie+ (kär n[)e]g´[)i])
+Castelnau+ (k[.a]s tel n[=o]´)
+Celle+ (tsel´[~e])
+Châlons+ (shä long´)
+Champagne+ (sham pain´)
+Chandos+ (chan´d[)o]s)
+Charleroi+ (shär l[~e] rwä´)
+Château-Thierry+ (shä t[=o]´-tee [~e] ree´)
+Chaudfontaine+ (sh[=o]d fong tain´)
+Chillon+ (shee y[)o]ng´)
+Cologne+ (k[=o] l[=o]n´)
+Courtrai+ (k[=oo]r tray´)

+D'Annunzio+ (d[.a] n[)oo]n´tsi[=o])
+De Bussy+ (d[~e] bee´see)
+Deutschland über Alles+ (doich´lant ee´ber äl´[~e]s)
+Devon+ (d[)e]v´[)u]n)
+Dinant+ (dee näng´)
+Dixmude+ (diks meed´)
+Dniester+ (nees´ter)
+Douaumont+ (d[=oo] [.a] mong´)
+Du Guesclin+ (dee gay kl[)a]ng´)
+Dunajec+ (d[=oo]n´[.a] yeck)
+Dürer+ (dee´rer)
+Duruy+ (dee ree ee´)

+École+ (ay kol´)
+Embourg+ (em b[)oo]rk´)
+Épinal+ (ay pee näl´)
+Evegnée+ ([)e] vain yay´)

+Foch+ (f[)o]sh)
+franc-tireur+ (fräng-tee rer´)

+Gallipoli+ (gal lip´o lee)
+Gemmenich+ ([=g][)e]m men´ik)
+Genet+ (zh[)e] nay´)
+Gheluvelt+ (hay lee´velt)
+Ghent+ ([=g][)e]nt)
+Grietchen+ (greet´sh[)e]n)
+Guynemer+ (gwee nay may´)

+Hague+ (haig)
+Havre+ (äv´r')
+Hedjaz+ (hej äz´)
+Herve+ (herv)
+Hotel de Ville+ (o tel´d[~e] veel´)
+Huerta+ (wair´tä)

+Jagow+ (yä´gow)
+Jaroslav+ (yä r[=o] släv´)
+Jassy+ (yäs´sy)
+Jeanne d'Arc+ (zhän dark´)
+Jeanniot+ (zhän nee [=o]´)
+Joffre+ (zh[=o]ff)
+Junkers+ (y[=oo]ng´kers)

+Kharkov+ (kär´k[)o]f)
+Kiaochau+ (kee ow´chow)
+Krupp+ (kr[)oo]p)
+Kultur+ (k[)oo]l t[=oo]r´)

+Leman+ (lee´man)
+Lens+ (läng)
+Lichnowsky+ (lish nov´skee)
+Liége+ (lee aizh´)
+Lille+ (leel)
+Loire+ (lwär)
+Loncin+ (long s[)a]ng´)
+Lorraine+ (l[=o] rain´)
+Loti, Pierre+ (l[=o] tee´, pee air´)
+Louvain+ (l[=oo] v[)a]ng´)
+Lycée+ (lee say´)

+Maas+ (mäs)
+Madero+ (mä day´r[=o])
+Magdeburg+ (mäg´d[)e] b[)oo]rk)
+Malines+ (m[.a] leen´)
+Manoury+ (m[.a] n[=oo]´ry)
+Marne+ (märn)
+Marseillaise+ (mär s[)e] l[=a]z´)
+Meaux+ (m[=o])
+Mercier+ (mer seeay´)
+Meuse+ (merz)
+Mignon+ (meen yong´)
+Millerand+ (meel räng´)
+Mindanao+ (meen dä nä´[=o])
+Mons+ (mongs)
+mooshiki+ (m[=oo] shee kee´)
+Moselle+ (m[=o] z[)e]l´)
+Munsterlagen+ (mun ster lä´gen)

+Namur+ (n[.a] meer´)
+noblesse oblige+ (no bl[)e]s´ [=o] bleezh´)
+Notre Dame+ (n[=o] tr' d[.a]m´)

+Ostend+ ([)o]s tend´)
+Ourcq+ ([=oo]rk)

+Pau+ (p[=o])
+Piave+ (pee ä´vay)
+poilu+ (pwä lee´)
+Poincaré+ (pwäng´k[.a] ray´)
+Poiret+ (pw[.a] ray´)
+Provençe+ (pr[=o] vängs´)

+Raemaekers+ (rä mä´kers)
+Rasputin+ (r[.a]s p[=u]´tin)
+Reichstag+ (r[=i]chs´täk)
+retournment+ (r[)e] t[)oo]rn mäng´)
+Rheims+ (reemz)
+Richthofen+ (rikt´h[=o] fen)
+Rivesaltes+ (reev s[.a]lt´)
+Rizzo, Luigi+ (reet´so, l[=oo] ee´jee)

+St. Mihiel+ (s[)a]ng´mee y[)e]l´)
+Saint Pierre+ (s[)a]ng pee air´)
+Saint Quentin+ (s[)a]ng käng t[)a]ng´)
+Sarrail+ (s[.a]r r[.a]´y[~e])
+Scyros+ (s[=i]´r[)o]s)
+Seine+ (sain)
+Seraing+ (ser r[)a]ng´)
+Soissons+ (swä s[)o]ng´)
+Somme+ (s[)o]m)

+Tamines+ (t[.a] meen´)
+Toul+ (t[=oo]l)
+Tours+ (t[=oo]r)
+Tsingchau+ (tsing´chow)

+Uhlan+ ([=oo]´län)

+Vaux+ (v[=o])
+Verdun+ (v[)e]r d[)u]ng´)
+Vesle+ (vail)
+Villa+ (veel´yä)
+Vimy+ (vee´mee)
+Vise+ (vees)
+Viva l'Italia+ (vee´v[.a] lee t[.a]´lee [.a])
+Vive la France+ (veev´l[.a] fränts´)
+Vladivostok+ (vlä dee väs t[)o]k´)
+Von Diederichs+ (f[=o]n dee´der iks)
+Von Kluck+ (f[=o]n kl[=oo]k)
+vrille+ (vree´y[~e])

+Wackerzeel+ (v[.a]k´er tsail´)
+Werchter+ (verk´ter)

+Ypres+ (ee´pr')
+Yser+ (ee say´)

+Zeebrugge+ (tsay br[)oo]g´[~e])

THE RECKONING

What do they reck who sit aloof on thrones,
Or in the chambered chancelleries apart,
Playing the game of state with subtle art,
If so be they may win, what wretched groans
Rise from red fields, what unrecorded bones
Bleach within shallow graves, what bitter smart
Pierces the widowed or the orphaned heart--
The unhooded horror for which naught atones!

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Lest We Forget: World War StoriesChapter IX: Part 9

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