Along the Aisne the battle begun early in September continued intermittently. Both sides literally dug themselves in and along the battle line in many places, the hostile trenches were separated by only a few yards. At the end of the month the burrowing had been succeeded by tunneling, and both sides prepared for a winter of spasmodic action. It was a military deadlock, but a deadlock full of danger for the side that first developed a weak point in its far-flung front.
With the utmost fairness and impartiality it can be said that at the beginning of December both the allied armies and the German forces facing them from the Belgian coast east and south to the borders of Alsace-Lorraine were exhausted by the strenuous efforts of the campaign.
By December 5, the 130th day of the war, after a seven-weeks" struggle by the Germans for the possession of the French and Belgian coast, there was a general cessation of offensive operations by both sides and the indications were that this condition was due to pure physical weariness of leaders and men. The world had never before witnessed such strenuous military operations as those of the preceding three months and the temporary exhaustion of the armies therefore was not surprising.
In the last days of November, the city of Belgrade fell into the hands of the Austrians after a siege that had lasted, with continual bombardments, since the war began. The city was finally taken by storm at the point of the bayonet in a furious charge which fairly overwhelmed the gallant defense of the Servians.
In this month it began to be generally realized that the war was likely to be of prolonged duration. Strenuous preparations for the winter campaign were made on both sides and the recruiting for the new British army surpa.s.sed all previous records, the serious menace of the war being at last recognized.
The month of November was also marked by enormous contributions of cash and food stuffs by the people of the United States for the relief of the impoverished and suffering Belgians. The people of Chicago alone contributed over $500,000 and this was but a sample of the manner in which Americans rose to the opportunity to alleviate the distress in Belgium. "The United States has saved us from starvation," said a Belgian official on December 1.
The casualties of all the armies in the field during the month of November exceeded those of any previous period of the war. Basing an estimate of the total casualties upon the same percentage as that employed in the table given on another page, it is therefore safe to say that up to December 5 the total losses of the combatant nations in killed, wounded and missing aggregated not less than 3,500,000 men.
DECEMBER IN THE TRENCHES
The month of December, 1914, the fifth month of the war, registered but little change in the relative positions of the combatant nations. In the west the lines held firm from the North Sea to Switzerland. Daily duels of artillery and daily a.s.saults here and there along the battle fronts proved unavailing, so far as any change in general conditions was concerned. Frequently the a.s.saults were of a desperate character, especially in Flanders, where in the middle of the month the Allies a.s.sumed the offensive all along the line and st.u.r.dily strove to push back the German front in Belgium. But the utmost valor and persistence in attack were invariably met by resolute resistance. Both sides were strongly entrenched and the gain of a few yards today was usually followed by the loss of a few yards tomorrow.
Never before in the history of warfare had the science of entrenchment been developed to such an extent. The German, French, British and.
Belgian armies literally burrowed in the earth along a battle front of 150 miles. In many places the hostile trenches were separated by only a few yards, and mining was frequently resorted to. Tunneling toward each other, both the contending forces occasionally succeeded in blowing up the enemy"s trench, and whole companies of unsuspecting troops were sometimes annihilated in this way. In the trenches themselves scenes unparalleled in warfare were witnessed. With the arrival of winter the troops on either side proceeded to secure what comfort they could by all manner of clever and unique devices. Winter clothing was provided as far as possible, but on both sides there was inevitable suffering for lack of suitable supplies for the winter campaign, and individual initiative had frequently to supply the deficiencies of official forethought.
Many unique features of trench life were developed during the first month of winter warfare. Two-story trenches became common on both sides of the firing line. Bombproof underground quarters for staff and commanding officers were constructed, and these were fitted up so as to provide all the comforts of the winter cantonments of old-time warfare.
The ever-necessary telephone was installed at frequent points in trenches that stretched for scores of miles in practically unbroken lines. Board roofs were built and provision made for heating the dugouts in which thousands of men pa.s.sed many days and nights before their reliefs arrived. On the German side miles of trenches were provided with stockade walls, leaving ample room inside for the rapid movement of troops. The British built trenches with lateral individual dugouts at right angles to the main trench, protecting the men against flank fire--and these aroused the admiration even of their enemies. In the French trenches the ingenuity of a French engineer provided a system of hot shower baths on the firing line, and from all points along the deadlocked battle front came stories of the remarkable manner in which the troops of all the armies speedily accommodated themselves to unprecedented conditions and maintained a spirit of cheerfulness truly marvelous under the circ.u.mstances, especially as there was no cessation of the constant endeavor to gain ground from the enemy and no end to the daily slaughter.
IN THE GERMAN TRENCHES
A correspondent with the German army who visited the firing line in the Argonne forest late in November, by special permission of the German crown prince, described the conditions in the trenches as follows: "Here in the now famous Argonne forest--the scene of some of the war"s most desperate fighting--the Germans are trenching and mining their way forward, literally yard by yard. This afternoon I reached the foremost trench, south of Grandpre. About 160 feet ahead of me is the French trench. Picture to yourself a canebrake-like woods of fishpoles ranging in size from half an inch to saplings of two and three inches thick and so dense that you can hardly see forty yards even now when the leaves have fallen. Among these is a scattering of big trees, the trunks of which are veritable mines of bullets.
"Irregular lines of deep yellow clay trenches zigzag for miles.
Other trenches run back from these to what looks like a huge Kansas "prairie-dog town"--human burrows, where thousands of soldiers are literally living underground. From the lines of trenches running parallel to one another comes a constant, spitting, sputtering, popping of rifles, making the woods resound like a Chinese New Year in San Francisco or an old-time Fourth of July. Field guns and hand grenades furnish the "cannon-cracker" effect. Through the woods the high-noted "zing zing" of bullets sounds like a swarm of angry bees, while high overhead shrapnel and sh.e.l.l go shrieking on their way. Here and there you may see spades full of earth being thrown up as if by invisible hands, marking the onward work of the German gopher-like pioneers in their subterranean warfare. That is the Argonne forest.
"As the trench I am in was still in the hands of the French three days ago and as the crown prince is advancing steadily, the trenches are temporary and contain little in the way of comforts. In deep niches cut in the side the soldiers rest, play cards or even sleep on damp ledges between fights.
"The trenches also serve as a cemetery. When the enemy"s fire is so hot that it is impossible to stick your head out or to take the dead out to bury them, the grave is made in a niche or a ledge cut into the side of the trench."
GERMAN ADVANCE HALTED
The western operations in December made it clear that the German advance to the Channel ports of France had been definitely halted. In the terrible battle of Ypres in Flanders, following the prolonged engagements along the Yser river, the Allies succeeded in repulsing the desperate German onslaught, and the German offensive was brought to a full stop. Towns and villages in Flanders, in Artois and in Champagne, that had been captured in the early German rush, were retaken one by one by the Belgians, French and British, slowly but surely, until the Germans were forced to act upon the defensive along a line of entrenchments prepared to enable them to keep open their communications through Belgium with their great base at Aix-la-Chapelle.
An incident of the desperate fighting at Ypres, in which British and French troops practically annihilated six German regiments, including the crack Second regiment of Prussian Guards, has been graphically described by an eye-witness as follows:
"A long valley stretches out before us and the little rise on which we stand--about fifty feet above the plain--commands it. The British guns are shooting almost horizontally at the German infantry trudging through the mud 2,000 yards away.
"I count easily five regiments together, but further to the right a sixth one evidently wards off a flank attack on the part of the French colonial troops. The lone regiment is the Second Prussian regiment of the guard, the emperor"s own, the elite of the Kaiser"s army, 2,500 of the brawniest, most disciplined men in the world. It is now 1 o"clock.
In one hour only 300 of these men will leave the field.
"A gust of wind brings to our ears the sound of music. The guards" band is encouraging the men. At the foot of the small hill on which we stand are twenty lines of trenches filled with Scotch and English infantry.
The men are silently awaiting the attack. Not a rifle is being fired.
The trenches are the Germans" goal; these and the British batteries once taken, the road into Ypres is clear.
"In the valley the Germans halt. The range is only 1,500 yards now and every British shot is telling. The effects are appalling. The gray ma.s.ses move onward once more, seem to hesitate, but sharp bugle blasts launch them forward again and on the run they come for the trenches.
"At 1,000 yards our batteries again stop them. Whole rows are mowed down, vast s.p.a.ces appearing between the ranks. The companies intermingle, then the regiments themselves seem to amalgamate and melt into one another. Officers are seen galloping along the sides, evidently trying to bring order out of chaos.
"The artillerymen work silently, the perspiration streaming down their cheeks, and continue sending on their messengers of death.
"The Second regiment of the Guard alone, off to the right, seems untouched, and on it comes. Suddenly the sound of a bagpipe is heard.
The Scots are awake. From the trenches an avalanche rushes forward toward the disordered Germans.
"At the double-quick Scots and English, a few feet apart, yelling like demons, pounce on the attackers. Rifles are silent. It is cold steel alone. Our battery captains cry "Stop firing." There is a risk of sh.e.l.ling our own men now. We become spectators.
"On the right the Guard has suddenly turned toward the hill. A bugle blast and the ma.s.s of men half turns and seems to be thrown on the back of the British, outflanked. The situation is desperate. Our artillery is useless.
"Listen! Over the valley, rising louder and still louder, comes a song which the Germans have heard before. A crash of bra.s.s, a hoa.r.s.e roar fills the air, echoing across the valley, drowning the shouts and curses of the human wave fighting below.
"The "Ma.r.s.eillaise"--the English and Scots have heard it. "Hold tight, the French are coming," we scream. They cannot hear us, but we must shout--the strain is too intense.
"Past our batteries a company of Spahis rushes like a cyclone. Two more follow, then the Zouaves. Rifles close to their hips, bayonets low, throwing out over the valley its glorious anthem, the human flood crashes against the Guard.
"The lines waver in an indescribable jumble of gray, yellow, blue, and red uniforms, then seem to bounce back from the very force of the shock.
Men appear, raised from their feet, and raised high in the air.
"Caught in a vise between the British and the French, the Guard alone remains. Ten times the shattered remnants of the Kaiser"s proud regiment charged, and ten times was thrown back, first against the French, then against the British. Crying, "Comrades, comrades!" hundreds began throwing their guns aside.
"At 2 o"clock it was over. The Allies had lost 1,200 men. Only prisoners remained of the Second Prussian regiment of the Guard.
PROGRESS OF THE EASTERN CAMPAIGN
The campaign in the eastern theater of war attracted the attention of the whole world in December, when the German operations begun in November under Field Marshal Von Hindenburg, the victor of Tannenberg earlier in the war, were continued with varying successes. Early in the month the Germans captured Lodz, the second city and chief manufacturing center of Russian Poland, with a population of about 500,000, after a bombardment of a week"s duration, the city being set on fire in many places. The Russians made a desperate resistance, and the fighting around Lodz const.i.tuted the most bitter struggle of the entire war on this front. A general Russian retirement in the direction of Warsaw followed, but the Germans failed in their subsequent efforts to envelop the flanks of the Russian army to the north and south. Russian reinforcements from Warsaw coming up promptly, the Germans were in their turn compelled to retire. Two German army corps were then practically cut off by the Russians, but made a successful retreat, fighting their way back to safety with the bayonet in one of the most brilliant exploits of the war. Thus the net result of the German campaign in Poland in December left the general situation there practically unchanged and the Russian front unbroken, while in East Prussia, too, the Russian invasion continued despite German efforts to roll it back across the frontier.
The losses on both sides in the eastern campaign in December were appalling, the fighting being of the fiercest possible nature. A typical struggle occurred a few miles west of Lodz in the little churchyard of Beschici, where the Russians, in one of the final phases of the struggle for the Polish city, showed that in spite of their defeats and discouragements they knew how to fight and die. This churchyard lies on a small eminence which formed a salient into the German lines. The Germans were able to make an attack from three sides with infantry and artillery. All the Russian trenches were enfiladed by shrapnel from one direction or another, but the Russians clung to their positions obstinately. When the Germans finally captured the trenches 878 Russian corpses were found in a s.p.a.ce about eighty yards square.
It was resistance of this nature which the Germans had to overcome in order to capture Lodz. Later in December it became clear that Russia was getting her millions into the field and that the strategy of the commander-in-chief, the Grand Duke Nicholas, would soon be aided by the weight of overwhelming numbers.
BELGIUM THANKS AMERICA
During November and December Madame Vandervelde, wife of a member of the Belgian cabinet, toured the United States soliciting aid for her suffering fellow-countrymen. The response everywhere was extremely generous and in appreciation of the aid given the war victims of her country Madame Vandervelde penned the following poem, ent.i.tled "Belgium Thanks America:"
But still we tell the story which once we loved to tell.
"Good will! Good will!" we read it, and "Peace!"--we hear the name, And crouch among the ruins, and watch the cruel flame, And hear the children crying, and turn our eyes away-- For them there"s neither bread nor home this happy Christmas day.
But look! there comes a message from far across the deep, From hearts that still can pity and eyes that still can weep-- O little lips a-hunger! O faces pale and wan!
There"s somewhere--somewhere--peace on earth, somewhere good will to man, Across the waste of waters, a thousand leagues away, There"s some one still remembers that here it"s Christmas day.
0 G.o.d of Peace, remember, and in thy mercy keep The hearts that still can pity, the eyes that still can weep, Amid the shame and torment, the ruins and the graves, To theirs, the land of freedom, from ours, the land of slaves, What answer can we send them? We can but kneel and pray: G.o.d grant--G.o.d grant to them, at least, a happy Christmas day.
GRIM REALITIES OF THE WAR
A vivid picture of the horrible realities of the war, as seen in a field hospital near the firing line, was given in "The New Republic" of November 28 by Mr. Henry W. Nevinson, who described his experiences at Dixmude in Belgium as follows:
"When I entered Dixmude one night in the middle of October the first bombardment was over, but from both sides the heavy sh.e.l.ls flew across the town. From the end of the main street came an incessant noise of rifles and machine guns. Unaimed bullets wailed through the air, and pattered as they struck the walls. Flaming houses shed a light upon the ruined streets, but only one house looked inhabited, and all the others which were not burning stood silent and empty, expecting destruction.