Various - The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 4, January 23, 1915

V >> Various >> The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol 1, Issue 4, January 23, 1915

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To the southeast of Ypres the enemy's snipers were very active. On our
centre and right the enemy's bombardment was maintained, but nothing
worthy of special note occurred.

The fact that on this day the advance against our line in front of Ypres
was not pushed home after such an effort as that of Wednesday tends to
show that for the moment the attacking troops had had enough.

Although the failure of this great attack by the Guard Corps to
accomplish their object cannot be described as a decisive event, it
possibly marks the culmination if not the close of the second stage in
the attempt to capture Ypres, arid it is not without significance. It
has also a dramatic interest of its own. Having once definitely failed
to achieve this object by means of the sheer weight of numbers, and
having done their best to wear us down, the Germans brought in fresh
picked troops to carry the Ypres salient by an assault from the north,
the south and the east. That the Guard Corps should have been selected
to act against the eastern edge of the salient may be taken as proof of
the necessity felt by the Germans to gain this point in the line.

Their dogged perseverance in pursuance of their objective claims
whole-hearted admiration. The failure of one great attack, heralded as
it was by an impassioned appeal to the troops made in the presence of
the Emperor himself, but carried out by partially trained men, has been
only the signal for another desperate effort in which the place of honor
was assigned to the corps d'elite of the German Army.

It must be admitted that the Guard Corps has retained that reputation
for courage and contempt of death which it earned in 1870, when Emperor
William I., after the battle of Gravelotte, wrote: "My Guard has found
its grave in front of St. Privat," and the swarms of men who came up
bravely to the British rifles in the woods around Ypres repeated the
tactics of forty-four years ago when their dense columns, toiling up the
slopes of St. Privat, melted away under the fire of the French.

That the Germans are cunning fighters, and well up in all the tricks of
the trade, has frequently been pointed out. For instance, they often
succeed in ascertaining what regiment or brigade is opposed to them, and
because of their knowledge of English, they are able to employ the
information to some purpose. On a recent occasion, having by some means
discovered the name of the commander of the company holding the trench
they were attacking, they called him by name, asking if Captain ---- was
there. Fortunately the pronunciation of the spokesman was somewhat
defective, and their curiosity was rewarded by discovering that both the
officer in question and his men were very much there.

There have been reports from so many different quarters of the enemy
having been seen wearing British and French uniforms that it is
impossible to doubt their truth. One absolutely authentic case occurred
during the fighting near Ypres. A man dressed in a uniform closely
resembling that of a British staff officer suddenly appeared near our
trenches and walked along the line. He asked if many casualties had been
suffered, stated that the situation was serious, and that a general
retirement had been ordered. A similar visit having been reported by
several men in different trenches, orders were issued that this strange
officer was to be detained if seen again. Unluckily he did not make
another appearance.

The following remarks taken from the diary of a German soldier are
published not because there is reason to believe they are justified with
regard to the conduct of German officers but because of their interest
as a human document. Under date of Nov. 2 this German soldier wrote:

Previous to noon we were sent out in a regular storm of bullets on
the order of the Major. These gentlemen, the officers, send their
men forward in a most ridiculous way. They themselves remain far
behind, safely under cover. Our leadership is really scandalous.
Enormous losses on our side are partly from the fire of our own
people, for our leaders neither know where the enemy lies nor where
our own troops are, so that we often are fired on by our own men.
It is a marvel to me that we have got on as far as we have done.

Our Captain fell, as did also all our section leaders and a large
number of our men. Moreover, no purpose was served by this advance,
for we remained the rest of the day under cover; we could go
neither forward nor back, nor even shoot.

The trench we had taken was not occupied by us. The English
naturally took it back at night. That was the sole result. Then
when the enemy had intrenched themselves another attack was made,
costing us many lives and fifty prisoners. It is simply ridiculous,
this leadership. If only I had known it before! My opinion of
German officers has changed.

An Adjutant shouted to us from a trench far to the rear to cut down
a hedge in front of us. Bullets were whistling round from in front
and from behind. The gentleman himself, of course, remained behind.

The Fourth Company has now no leaders but a couple of non-coms.
When will my turn come! I hope to goodness I shall get home again.

In the trenches shells and shrapnel burst without ceasing. In the
evening we get a cup of rice and one-third of an apple per man. Let
us hope peace will soon come. Such a war is really too awful. The
English shoot like mad. If no reinforcements come up, especially
heavy artillery, we shall have a poor lookout and must retire.

The first day I went quietly into the fight with an indifference
which astonished me. Today, for the first time, in advancing, when
my comrades on the right and left were falling, I felt rather
nervous. But I lost that feeling again soon. One becomes horribly
indifferent.

I picked up a piece of bread by chance. Thank God! At least I have
something to eat.

There are about 70,000 English who must be attacked from all four
sides and destroyed. However, they defend themselves obstinately.

XII.

*Attacked by 750,000 Germans.*

[Official Summary, Dated Dec. 3.]

Col. E.D. Swinton of the Intelligence Department of the General Staff of
the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium, in a narrative
dated Nov. 26, gives a general review of the development of the
situation of the force for six weeks preceding that date.

There has recently been a lull in the active operations, he says. No
progress has been made by either side, and yet there has come about an
important modification comprising a readjustment in the scope of the
part played by the British Army as a whole. He explains the movement
from the River Aisne to the Belgian frontier to prolong the left flank
of the French Army, and says that in attempting this the British force
was compelled to assume responsibility for a very extended section of
the front. He points out, as did Field Marshal Sir John French,
Commander in Chief of the British forces, that the British held only
one-twelfth of the line, so that the greater share of the common task of
opposing the enemy fell and still falls to the French, while the
Belgians played an almost vital part.

With the fall of Antwerp the Germans made every effort to push forward a
besieging force toward the west and hastened to bring up a new army
corps which had been hastily raised and trained, their object being to
drive the Allies out of Belgium and break through to Dunkirk and Calais.
Altogether they had a quarter of a million of fresh men. Eventually the
Germans had north of La Bassee about fourteen corps and eight cavalry
divisions, that is, "a force of three-quarters of a million of men with
which to attempt to drive the Allies into the sea. In addition, there
was immensely powerful armament and heavy siege artillery, which also
had been brought up from around Antwerp."

The official eye-witness tells of the blows delivered by the Germans at
Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres, where "at first the Allies were greatly
outnumbered." For a whole month the British army around Ypres succeeded
in holding its ground against repeated onslaughts made by vastly
superior forces. The writer goes into details of the German attacks and
describes how they were frustrated by the Allies.

The British force, says Col. Swinton, which consisted all along of the
same units, had "to withstand an almost continuous bombardment and to
meet one desperate assault after another, each carried out by fresh
units from the large numbers which the Germans were devoting to the
operation." Finally the French came to their assistance, and "never was
help more welcome; for by then our small local reserves had again and
again been thrown into the fight in the execution of counter-attacks,
and our men were exhausted by the incessant fighting."

The British front now has been considerably shortened and in addition
has been reinforced, while a lull in the activity has enabled the
British to readjust their forces, strengthen their positions, and bring
up reserves. There has, therefore, "been a great general improvement in
the conditions under which we are carrying on the fight". Of the
fighting which preceded this reorganization the writer says it is due
solely to the resource, initiative, and endurance of the regimental
officers and men that success has lain with the British. He continues:

"As the struggle swayed backward and forward through wood and hamlet,
the fighting assumed a most confused and desperate character. The units
became inextricably mixed, and in many cases, in order to strengthen
some threatened point or to fill a gap in the line, the officers had to
collect and throw into the fight what men they could, regardless of the
units to which they belonged. Our casualties have been severe; but we
have been fighting a battle, and a battle implies casualties, and, heavy
as they have been, it must be remembered that they have not been
suffered in vain.

"The duty of the French, Belgians, and British in the western theatre of
operations has been to act as a containing force; in other words, to
hold on to and to keep occupied as many of the enemy as possible while
the Russians were attacking in the east. In this we have succeeded in
playing our part, and by our resistance have contributed materially
toward the success of the campaign. Moreover, our losses have not
impaired our fighting efficiency. The troops have required only a slight
respite in order to be able to continue the action with as much
determination as ever. They are physically fit and well fed and have
suffered merely from the fatigue which is inseparable from a protracted
struggle such as they have been through. The severest handling by the
enemy has never had more than a temporary effect on their spirits,
which they have soon recovered, owing to the years of discipline and
training to which the officers and men have been accustomed.

"The value of such preparation is as noticeable on the side of the enemy
as on our own. The phenomenal losses suffered by the Germans' new
formations have been remarked, and they were in part due to their lack
of training. Moreover, though at the first onset these formations
advanced to the attack as gravely as their active corps, they have not
by any means, shown the same recuperative powers. The Twenty-seventh
Corps, for instance, which is a new formation composed principally of
men with from only seven to twelve weeks' training, has not yet
recovered from its first encounter with the British infantry around
Becelaere, to the northeast of Ypres, a month ago. On the other hand,
the Guards Corps, in spite of having suffered severely in Belgium, of
having been thrown headlong across the Oise River at Guise and of having
lost large numbers on the plains of Compiegne and on the banks of the
Aisne River, advanced against Ypres on the 11th of November as bravely
as they did on the 20th of August."

The Allies, continues Col. Swinton, have made great sacrifices to defend
against tremendous odds a line that could only be maintained by making
these sacrifices; but the fact that the situation has been relieved is
no reason for assuming that the enemy has abandoned his intention of
pressing through to the sea. The writer points out that the Germans
continue to attack with great courage, but little abated by failure,
and, while they have not succeeded in gaining the Straits of Dover, they
have been enabled to consolidate their position on the western front and
retain all but a small portion of Belgium.

"As well as they have fought, however," continues the narrative, "it is
doubtful if their achievements are commensurate with their losses, which
recently have been largely due to a lack of training and a comparative
lack of discipline of the improvised units they put in the field."

Col. Swinton concludes with the statement that, as the war is going to
be one of exhaustion, after the regular armies of the belligerents have
done their work it will be upon the raw material of the countries
concerned that final success will depend.

XIII.

*The Lull in November.*

[Dated Nov. 29.]

General inactivity is recorded along the English front, with the Germans
pressing the attack in one quarter against the Indian troops, who have
been extending their trenches in an endeavor to get in close quarters
with the enemy. There has been some shelling of the rear of our front
line south of the Lys, but this form of annoyance diminishes daily along
the whole front. Sniping, however, is carried on almost incessantly.
There seems to be little doubt that the Germans are employing civilians,
either willingly or unwillingly, to dig trenches; some civilians have
been seen and shot while engaged in this work.

While it is necessary to accept the evidence of all prisoners with
caution, there is a change in the views expressed by some officers
captured recently which appears to be genuine. They admit the failure of
the German strategy and profess to take a gloomy view of the future. At
the same time it must be confessed that as yet there is no sign that
their view is that generally held by the enemy, nor has there been any
definite indication of a lack of morale among the German troops.

The highways of Northern France are crowded with men responding to the
various mobilization orders issued by the French Government.

Thousands of such troops were encountered in the course of a short
automobile trip. The strange procession includes a curious mixture of
types. A considerable proportion of these new drafts are composed of
middle-aged men of good physique and likely young men from the
countryside.

The change within the last few days of what may be termed the atmosphere
of the battlefield has been marked. The noise of the cannonading has now
decreased to such an extent that for hours at a time nothing is heard
but the infrequent boom of one of the heavy guns of the Allies, the
occasional rattle of machine guns, and the intermittent fire of snipers
on either side. So far as the use of explosives is concerned, the
greatest activity is found in local attacks with hand grenades and
short-range howitzers. The enemy has practically ceased his efforts to
break through the line by assaults, and he is now devoting his energies
to the same type of siege operations which have been familiar to the
Allies since the beginning of the battle of the Aisne.

Subterranean life is the general rule in the neighborhood of the firing
line. Even those men not actually engaged in fighting live in
underground quarters. Some of these quarters, called "funk-holes" are
quite elaborate and comfortable and contain many conveniences not found
in the trenches on the firing line. They communicate with the firing
line by zigzag approach trenches which make enfilading impossible.

Attacks are made on the firing line trenches by blind saps, which are
constructed by a special earth borer. When this secret tunnel reaches
the enemy's trench, an assault is delivered amid a shower of hand
grenades. The stormers endeavor to burst their way through the opening
and then try to work along the trench. Machine guns are quickly brought
up to repel a counter attack. Most of this fighting takes place at such
close range that the guns on either side cannot be fired at the enemy's
infantry without great risk of hitting their own men. Bombs have come to
take the place of artillery, and they are being used in enormous
quantities.

The short-range howitzers are of three types, and those used by the
Germans have come to be termed the "Jack Johnson" of close attack. The
smaller bombs and grenades thrown by hand, although local in action, are
very unpleasant, particularly between the inclosed space of a trench.
These grenades are thrown continuously by both sides, and every trench
assault is first preceded and then accompanied by showers of these
murderous missiles. This kind of fighting is very deadly, and owing to
the difficulty of observation it is at times somewhat blind. This
difficulty has in a measure been decreased, however, by the use of the
hyperscope, an instrument which works very much like the periscope on a
submarine. It permits an observer to look out over the top of a parapet
without raising his head above the protection of the trench.

*THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY.*

By EDWARD NEVILLE VOSE.

THE old year dies 'mid gloom and woe--
The saddest year since Christ was born--
And those who battle in the snow
All anxious-eyed look for the morn--
The morn when wars shall be no more,
The morn when Might shall cease to reign,
When hushed shall be the cannons' roar
And Peace shall rule the earth again.

As we from far survey the fray
And strive to succor those who fall,
Let each give thanks that not today
To us the clarion bugles call--
That not today to us 'tis said:
"Bow down the knee, or pay the cost
Till all ye loved are maimed or dead,
Till all ye had is wrecked and lost."

Should that grim summons to us come
God grant we'd all play heroes' parts,
And bravely fight for land and home
While red blood flows in loyal hearts.
But now a duty nobler far
Has come to us in this great day--
We are the nations' guiding star,
They look to us to lead the way.

They look to us to lead the way
To liberty for all the world,
The dawning of that better day
When war's torn banners shall be furled--
The day when men of every race
Their right divine shall clearly see
To rule themselves by their own grace,
Forever and forever free.

*"Human Documents" of Battle*

*By Men Who Saw or Took Part./*

_Written in the hurry and confusion of battle, and without the
opportunity at hand to check up the impressions given, it is of
course likely that these dispatches from special correspondents may
contain many things which history will correct. But as human
documents they have no equal, and history will not be able, however
she may correct matters of detail and partisan feeling, to offer
anything which will give a more vivid impression of the glare and
roar of battle than do these letters, penned by men actually in or
near the firing line at the moment of great events. As such_ THE
TIMES _offers them, not as frozen history, but as history in the
making, and has no apologies to make for an error of fact here and
there, for those very errors are in a way testimony that adds value
to the story--the story of honest and hard-driven human beings
writing what was passing before their eyes._

*The German Entry Into Brussels*

*By John Boon of The London Daily Mail.*

BRUSSELS, via Alost, Aug. 20. (Thursday,) 10 P.M.

The Germans entered Brussels shortly after 2 P.M. today without firing a
shot.

Yielding to the dictates of reason and humanity, the civil Government at
the last moment disbanded the Civic Guard, which the Germans would not
recognize. The soldiers and ordinary police were then entrusted with the
maintenance of order.

After a day of wild panic and slumberless nights the citizens remained
at their windows. Few sought their couches.

The morning broke brilliantly. The city was astir early, and on all lips
were the words: "They are here" or "They are coming!"

The "they" referred to were already outside the boundaries in great
force. The artillery was packed off on the road to Waterloo. Horse,
foot, and sapper were packed deep on the Louvain and Tervervueren roads.

An enterprising motorist came in with the information and the crowds in
the busy centres immediately became calm. At 11 o'clock it was reported
that an officer with half a troop of hussars bearing white flags had
halted outside the Louvain gate.

The Burgomaster and four Sheriffs went in a motor car to meet the
officers. They were conducted to the German military authorities at the
head of the column. The meeting took place outside the barracks of the
carabineers.

The Burgomaster claimed for the citizens their rights under the laws of
war regulating an unfortified capital. When roughly asked if he was
prepared to surrender the city, with the threat that otherwise it would
be bombarded, the Burgomaster said he would do so. He also decided to
remove his scarf of office.

The discussion was brief. When the Burgomaster handed over his scarf it
was handed back to him and he was thus intrusted for the time being with
the civil control of the citizens. The Germans gave him plainly to
understand that he would be held responsible for any overt act on the
part of the populace against the Germans.

From noon until 2 o'clock the crowds waited expectantly. Shortly after 2
o'clock the booming of cannon and later the sound of military music
conveyed to the people of Brussels the intimation that the triumphant
march of the enemy on the ancient city had begun.

On they came, preceded by a scouting party of Uhlans, horse, foot, and
artillery and sappers, with a siege train complete.

A special feature of the procession was 100 motor cars on which
quick-firers were mounted. Every regiment and battery was headed by a
band, horse or foot.

Now came the drums and fifes, now the blare of brass and soldiers
singing "Die Wacht am Rhein" and "Deutschland Ueber Alles."

Along the Chaussee de Louvain, past St. Josse and the Botanical Gardens,
to the great open space in front of the Gare du Nord, the usual lounging
place of the tired twaddlers of the city, swept the legions of the man
who broke the peace of Europe.

Among the cavalry were the famous Brunswick Death's Head Hussars and
their companions on many bloody fields, the Zeiten Hussars. But where
was the glorious garb of the German troops, the cherry-colored uniforms
of the horsemen and the blue of the infantry? All is greenish,
earth-color gray. All the hel- [Transcriber: Text missing in original.]
are painted gray. The gun carriages are gray. Even the pontoon bridges
are gray.

To the quick-step beat of the drums the Kaiser's men march to the great
Square Charles Rogier. Then at the whistling sound of the word of
command--for the sonorous orders of the German officers seemed to have
gone the way of the brilliant uniforms--the gray-clad ranks broke into
the famous goose step, while the good people of Liege and Brussels gazed
at the passing wonder with mouths agape.

At the railroad station the great procession defiled to the boulevards
and thence marched to encamp on the heights of the city called
Kochelberg. It was truly a sight to have gladdened the eyes of the
Kaiser, but on the sidewalks men were muttering beneath their breath:
"They'll not pass here on their return. The Allies will do for them."

Many of the younger men in the great array seemed exhausted after the
long forced march, but as a man staggered his comrades in the ranks
held him up.

It was a great spectacle and an impressive one, but there were minor
incidents that were of a less pleasant character.

Two Belgian officers, manacled and fastened to the leather stirrups of
two Uhlans, made a spectacle that caused a low murmur of resentment from
the citizens. Instantly German horsemen backed their steeds into the
closely packed ranks of the spectators, threatening them with uplifted
swords and stilling the momentary revolt.

At one point of the march a lame hawker offered flowers for sale to the
soldiers. As he held up his posies a Captain of Hussars by a movement of
his steed sent the poor wretch sprawling and bleeding in the dust. Then
from the crowd a Frenchwoman, her heart scorning fear, cried out, "You
brute!" so that all might hear.

There was one gross pleasantry, too, perpetrated by a gunner who led
along a bear, evidently the pet of his battery, which was dressed in the
full regalia of a Belgian General.

The bear was evidently intended to represent the King. He touched his
cocked hat at intervals to his keeper.

This particularly irritated the Belgians, but they wisely abstained from
any overt manifestation or any unpleasant feature of behavior. The
soldiery as they passed tore repeatedly at the national colors which
every Belgian lady now wears on her breast.

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