*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74727 ***
[Illustration: TORPEDOING OF THE BRITISH BATTLESHIP “ABOUKIR”
In the first few weeks of the war, when the navies of the world were
still at open warfare, during a sharp engagement off the Hook of
Holland in the North Sea the British warships “Aboukir”, “Cressy” and
“Hogue” fell victims to the enemy. This sketch shows the “Aboukir”
after a German torpedo had found its mark in her hull.]
COMPLETE EDITION
HISTORY OF THE
WORLD WAR
An Authentic Narrative of
The World’s Greatest War
BY FRANCIS A. MARCH, Ph.D.
In Collaboration with
RICHARD J. BEAMISH
Special War Correspondent
and Military Analyst
With an Introduction
BY GENERAL PEYTON C. MARCH
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
With Exclusive Photographs by
JAMES H. HARE and DONALD THOMPSON
World-Famed War Photographers
and with Reproductions from the Official Photographs
of the United States, Canadian, British,
French and Italian Governments
MCMXIX
LESLIE-JUDGE COMPANY
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1918
FRANCIS A. MARCH
This history is an original work and is fully protected by the
copyright laws, including the right of translation. All persons are
warned against reproducing the text in whole or in part without the
permission of the publishers.
CONTENTS
VOLUME II
PAGE
CHAPTER I. STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY ON THE SEA
The British Blockade--German Raiders and Their Fate--Appearance
of the Submarine--British Naval Victory off Helgoland--U-9
Sinks Three British Cruisers 1
CHAPTER II. THE SUBLIME PORTE
Turkish Intrigues--The Holy War--Mesopotamia and
Transcaucasia--The Suez Canal--Turkey the Catspaw of Germany 40
CHAPTER III. RESCUE OF THE STARVING
Famine in Belgium--Belgium Relief Commission Organized in
London--Herbert C. Hoover--American Aid--The Great Cardinal’s
Famous Challenge--The Soul of Belgium 74
CHAPTER IV. BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES
German and British Squadrons Grapple off the Chilean
Coast--Germany Wins the First Round--England Comes Back with
Terrific Force--Graphic Picture of the Destruction of the
German Squadron off Falkland Islands--English Coast Towns
Bombarded for the First Time in Many Years 114
CHAPTER V. GERMAN PLOTS AND PROPAGANDA IN AMERICA
Trailing the German Plotters--Destruction of Ships--Pressure
on Congress--Attacks in Canada--Zimmerman’s Foolish Effort
to Embroil America with Mexico and Japan--Lies of the
Propagandists After America Entered the War--Dumba, von
Bernstorff, von Papen and Boy-Ed, a Quartet of Unscrupulous
Destructionists 146
CHAPTER VI. SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
The Submarine Murderers at Work--Germany’s Blackhand
Warning--No Chance for Life--The Ship Unarmed and Without
Munitions--The President’s Note--Germany’s Lying
Denials--Coroner’s Inquest Charges Kaiser with Wilful
Murder--“Remember the Lusitania” One of America’s Big Reasons
for Declaring War 177
CHAPTER VII. STEADFAST SOUTH AFRICA
Botha and Smuts, Rocks of Loyalty Amid a Sea of Treachery--Civil
War that Ended with the Drowning of General Beyers and the
Arrest of General De Wet--Conquest of the German African
Colonies--The Trail of the Hun in the Jungle 210
ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME II
PAGE
TORPEDOING OF THE BRITISH BATTLESHIP, “ABOUKIR” _Frontispiece_
A BATTLE OF FOUR ELEMENTS 6
ESCAPING A TORPEDO BY RAPID MANEUVERING 10
HIDE AND SEEK IN THE BALTIC 22
DRIVING THE GERMAN COMMERCE RAIDERS FROM THE SEAS 26
AN AIRPLANE CONVOY 94
UNITED STATES DESTROYERS THROWING OUT A SMOKE SCREEN 130
GERMANY CARRIES THE WAR TO EAST COAST TOWNS OF ENGLAND 134
THE EYE OF THE SUBMARINE 138
THE SINKING OF THE GERMAN CRUISER “BLÜCHER” 142
WOMEN AT WORK THAT MEN MAY FIGHT 148
THE GERMAN CHANCELLORS 164
KAISER WILLIAM II OF GERMANY 172
GERMAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS 180
THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA 188
THE WORLD WAR
CHAPTER I
THE STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY ON THE SEA
Captain Mahan’s thesis that in any great war the nation possessing the
greater sea power is likely to win, has been splendidly illustrated
during the World War. The great English fleets have been the
insuperable obstacle to the ambitious German plans of world dominion.
The millions of soldiers landed in France from Great Britain, and its
provinces, the millions of Americans transported in safety across the
water, and the enormous quantities of supplies put at the disposal of
the Allies depended, absolutely, upon the Allied control of the sea
routes of the world. With a superior navy a German blockade of England
would have brought her to terms in a short period, and France, left to
fight alone, would have been an easy victim. The British navy has saved
the world.
Germany had for many years well understood the necessity of power upon
the sea. When the war broke out it was the second greatest of the sea
powers. Its ships were mostly modern, for its navy was a creation of
the past fifteen years, and its development was obviously for the
purpose of attacking the British supremacy. The father of this new
navy was a naval officer by the name of von Tirpitz, who, in 1897, had
become the German Naval Minister. With the aid of the Emperor he had
aroused among the Germans a great enthusiasm for maritime power, and
had built up a navy in fifteen years, which was second only to the
English navy.
Von Tirpitz was an interesting character. In appearance he looked like
an old sea-wolf who had passed his life on the wave, but such a thought
would be a mistake. The great admiral has done his work on land; he
is an organizer, a diplomatist, a politician. He has created nothing
new; in all its details he has copied the English fleet. He is tall,
heavily built, with a great white beard, forked in the middle. He is a
man of much dignity, with a smile which has won him renown. He might
have been Chancellor of the Empire, but he preferred to devote himself
to the navy, to prove that the future of Germany is on the seas. His
glories are the Lusitania, the fleet safely anchored at Kiel, and the
long rows of innocent victims of the submarine.
He was born in 1850 at Kustrion on the Ildor, when the German navy
was only a little group of worthless boats. In 1865 he entered the
School of Cadets, in 1869 he was gazetted lieutenant, in 1875 he was
lieutenant-commander with a reputation as an able organizer. In 1891
he was appointed Chief of Staff at Kiel. This was his opportunity, and
he set himself at the task of creating and protecting the submarine
division of the navy. As time went on he grew in importance. In 1898
he became Assistant Secretary of State at the Admiralty in Berlin.
Two years later he became vice-admiral. His admirers recognized his
powers, and he was called the master. In 1899 a patent of nobility was
conferred upon him. In 1902 he gained permission to build 13,000-ton
warships, and the following year he was made admiral. In 1907 enormous
appropriations were made at his desire for the enlargement of the
fleet. In 1908 Emperor William conferred on him the Order of the Black
Eagle. In 1904 the Kiel Canal was completed under his direction, and
he informed the Emperor that the fleet was ready. It is only fair to
add that in all his plans he had the active support of his Imperial
Master. The Kaiser, too, had dreamed a dream. Von Tirpitz admired the
English. His children had been brought up in England, as was also his
wife. He imitated the English, but on the day of the declaration of war
he absolutely forbade his family to talk English, and he made a bonfire
of his fine scientific library of English books. The Kaiser treated Von
Tirpitz as his friend, asked his advice, and followed his counsel. His
son, Sub-Lieutenant Wolf Von Tirpitz, studied at Oxford, and is on the
most friendly terms with many English gentlemen of importance. He was
on board the Mainz, which was sunk off Helgoland in August, 1916. In
full uniform he swam for twenty minutes, before being picked up by one
of the boats of the cruiser Liverpool. He was a lucky prisoner of war.
The German battleships and cruisers which represent the toil of Von
Tirpitz for more than half a century, lay hidden away in the shelter
of the Kiel Canal during the war to be ingloriously surrendered at its
end. His name will remain linked with that of the Lusitania.
The German High Sea Fleet, at the beginning of the war, consisted of
forty-one battleships, seven battle cruisers, nine armored cruisers,
forty-nine light cruisers, one hundred and forty-five destroyers,
eighty torpedo boats, and thirty-eight submarines. Under the direction
of Von Tirpitz the navy had become democratic and had drawn to it many
able men of the middle class. Its training was highly specialized
and the officers were enthusiasts in their profession. The navy
of Austria-Hungary had also expanded in recent years under the
inspiration of Admiral Montecuculi. At the outbreak of the war the
fleet comprised sixteen battleships, two armored and twelve light
cruisers, eighteen destroyers, eighty-five torpedo boats and eleven
submarines. The Allies were much more powerful. The French navy had
in the matter of invention given the lead to the world, but its size
had not kept pace with its quality. At the beginning of the war France
had thirty-one battleships, twenty-four armored cruisers, eight
light cruisers, eighty-seven destroyers, one hundred and fifty-three
torpedo boats and seventy-six submarines. Russia, after the war with
Japan, had begun the creation of a powerful battle fleet, which had
not been completed when war was declared. At that time she had on the
Baltic four dreadnoughts, ten armored cruisers, eighty destroyers and
twenty-four submarines, and a fleet of about half the strength in the
Black Sea.
[Illustration: A BATTLE OF FOUR ELEMENTS
British monitors shelling the German land batteries near Nieuport.
German submarines were actively engaged in trying to torpedo these
monitors and the British monoplane was useful for giving the range to
the ships and reporting the accuracy of the shells.]
The English fleet had reached a point of efficiency which was
unprecedented in its history. The progress of the German sea power
had stimulated the spirit of the fleet, and led to a steady advance in
training and equipment. The development of armament, and of battleship
designing, the improvement in gunnery practice, the revision of the
rate of pay, the opening up of careers from the lower deck, and the
provision of a naval air service are landmarks in the advance. In the
navy estimates of March, 1914, Parliament sanctioned over £51,000,000
for a naval defense, the largest appropriation for the purpose ever
made. The home fleet was arranged in three units, the first fleet
was divided into four battle squadrons, together with the flagship
of the commander-in-chief. The first squadron was made up of eight
battleships, the second squadron contained eight, the third eight and
the fourth four. Attached to each fleet was a battle cruiser squadron,
consisting of four ships in the first fleet, four in the second, four
in the third and five in the fourth. The fourth also contained a light
cruiser squadron, a squadron of six gunboats for mine sweeping, and
four flotillas of destroyers, each with a flotilla cruiser attached.
The second fleet was composed of two battle squadrons, the first
containing eight pre-dreadnoughts, and the second six. Attached to
this fleet were also two cruiser squadrons, a mine layer squadron
of seven vessels, four patrol flotillas, consisting of destroyers
and torpedo boats, and seven flotillas of submarines. A third fleet
contained two battle squadrons, mainly composed of old ships, with six
cruiser squadrons. The English strength, outside home waters, consisted
of the Mediterranean fleet, containing three battle cruisers, four
armored cruisers, four ordinary cruisers and a flotilla of seventeen
destroyers, together with submarines and torpedo boats. In eastern
waters there were a battleship, two cruisers, and four sloops. In the
China squadron there were one battleship, two armored cruisers, two
ordinary cruisers, and a number of gunboats, destroyers, submarines,
and torpedo boats. In New Zealand there were four cruisers. The
Australian fleet contained a battle cruiser, three ordinary cruisers,
three destroyers and two submarines. Other cruisers and gunboats were
stationed at the Cape, the west coast of Africa, and along the western
Atlantic. At the outbreak of the war two destroyers were purchased
from Chile, and two Turkish battleships, building in England, were
commandeered by the government.
It is evident that the union of France and Britain made the Allies
easily superior in the Mediterranean Sea, so that France was able to
transport her African troops in safety, and the British commerce with
India and the East could safely continue. The main field of the naval
war, therefore, was the North Sea and the Baltic, where Germany had
all her fleet, except a few naval raiders. The entrance to the Baltic
was closed to the enemy by Denmark, which, as a neutral, was bound to
prevent an enemy fleet from passing. Germany, however, by means of
the Kiel Canal, could permit the largest battle fleet to pass from
the Baltic to the North Sea. The German High Sea Fleet was weaker
than the British home fleet by more than forty per cent, and the
German policy, therefore, was to avoid a battle, until, through mine
layers and submarines, the British power should have been sufficiently
weakened. The form of the German coast made this plan easily possible.
The various bays and river mouths provided safe retreat for the German
ships, and the German fleet were made secure by the fortifications
along the coast. On July the 29th, 1914, at the conclusion of the
annual maneuvers, instead of being demobilized as would have been
usual, the Grand Fleet of Great Britain sailed from Portland along the
coast into the mists, and from that moment dominated the whole course
of the war.
From the 4th of August, the date of the declaration of war, the oceans
of the world were practically rid of enemy warships, and were closed
to enemy mercantile marine. Although diplomacy had not yet failed,
the masters of the English navy were not caught napping. The credit
for this readiness has been given to Mr. Winston Churchill, one of
the first Lords of the Admiralty, who had divined the coming
danger. When the grand fleet sailed it seemed to disappear from
English view. Occasionally some dweller along the coast might see an
occasional cruiser or destroyer sweeping by in the distance, but the
great battleships had gone. Somewhere, in some hidden harbor, lay the
vigilant fleets of England.
[Illustration: © _The Sun News Service._
ESCAPING A TORPEDO BY RAPID MANEUVERING
This destroyer escaped a torpedo from a hunted submarine by quickly
turning. Generally the torpedo travels at about fifteen feet under
water.]
Sea fighting had changed since the days of Admiral Nelson. The old
wooden ship belonged to a past generation. The guns of a battleship
would have sunk the Spanish Armada with one broadside. In this modern
day the battleship was protected by aircraft, which dropped bombs from
the clouds. Unseen submarines circled about her. Beneath her might be
mines, which could destroy her at the slightest touch. Everything had
changed but the daring of the English sailor.
In command of the Home fleet was Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. He had
had a distinguished career. Beginning as a lieutenant in the Egyptian
War of 1882, he had become a commander in 1891. In 1897 he became a
captain, and served in China, commanding the Naval Brigade in the
Pekin Expedition of 1900, where he was severely wounded. Later he
became naval assistant to the Controller of the Navy, Director of
Naval Ordnance and Torpedoes, Rear-Admiral in the United fleet, Lord
Commissioner of the Admiralty and Controller of the Navy, Vice-Admiral
commanding the Atlantic fleet, Vice-Admiral commanding the second
division of the Home fleet, and second Sea Lord of the Admiralty. He
had distinguished himself in the naval maneuvers of 1913, and was one
of the officers mainly responsible for the development of the modern
English navy. He had the confidence of his colleagues, and a peculiar
popularity among the British seamen.
On the day after the declaration of war, the first shots were fired.
German mine layers, it is now believed, in disguise, had been dropping
mines during the preceding week over a wide area of the North Sea.
On the 5th of August the mine layer, Koenigen Luise, was sunk by the
destroyer Lance, and on August 6th the British light cruiser Amphion
struck one of the mines laid by the Koenigen Luise and was sunk with
great loss of life. On August 9th, German submarines attacked a cruiser
squadron without causing any damage, and one submarine was sunk.
It was in the Mediterranean, however, that the greatest interest was
felt during the first week of the war. Two German warships, the Goeben
and the Breslau, were off the Algerian coast when war broke out. It is
probable that when these ships received their sailing orders, Germany
depended on the assistance of Italy, and had sent these ships to its
assistance. They were admirably suited for commerce destroyers. They
began by bombarding the Algerian coast towns of Bona and Phillipe,
doing little damage. They then turned toward the coast of Gibraltar,
but found before them the British fleet. Eluding the British they
next appeared at Messina. There the captains and officers made their
wills and deposited their valuables, including signed portraits of the
Kaiser, with the German consul. The decks were cleared for action, and
with the bands playing they sailed out under a blood-red sunset.
However, they seem to have been intent only on escape, and they went at
full speed eastward toward the Dardanelles, meeting in their way only
with the British cruiser Gloucester, which, though much inferior in
size, attacked them boldly but was unable to prevent their escape. On
entering Constantinople they were reported as being sold to the Turkish
Government, the Turks thus beginning the line of conduct which was
ultimately to bring them into the war.
Picturesque as this incident was it was of no importance as compared
with the great British blockade of Germany which began on the 4th of
August. German merchantmen in every country of the empire were seized,
and hundreds of ships were captured on the high seas. Those who escaped
to neutral ports were at once interned. In a week German commerce had
ceased to exist. A few German cruisers were still at large but it
was not long before they had been captured, or driven into neutral
ports. Among the most picturesque of these raiders were the Emden
and the Koenigsburg. The Emden, in particular, interested the world
with her romantic adventures. Her story is best told in the words of
Lieutenant-Captain von Mücke, and Lieutenant Gyssing, whose return to
Germany with forty-four men, four officers and one surgeon, after the
destruction of the ship, was a veritable Odyssey.
“We on the Emden had no idea where we were going, as, on August 11,
1914, we separated from the cruiser squadron, escorted only by the
coaler Markomannia. Under way the Emden picked up three officers from
German steamers. That was a piece of luck, for afterward we needed many
officers for the capturing and sinking of steamers, or manning them
when we took them with us. On September 10th, the first boat came in
sight. We stopped her; she proved to be a Greek tramp returning from
England. On the next day we met the Indus, bound for Bombay, all fitted
up as a troop transport, but still without troops. That was the first
one we sunk. The crew we took aboard the Markomannia. Then we sank the
Lovat, a troop transport ship, and took the Kambinga along with us. One
gets used quickly to new forms of activity. After a few days, capturing
ships became a habit. Of the twenty-three which we captured most of
them stopped after our first signal; when they didn’t we fired a blank
shot. Then they all stopped. Only one, the Clan Matteson, waited for
a real shot across the bow before giving up its many automobiles and
locomotives to the seas.
“The officers were mostly very polite, and let down rope ladders for
us. After a few hours they would be on board with us. We ourselves
never set foot in their cabins, nor took charge of them. The officers
often acted on their own initiative, and signaled to us the nature of
their cargo. Then the commandant decided as to whether to sink the ship
or take it with us. Of the cargo we always took everything we could
use, particularly provisions. Many of the English officers and sailors
made good use of the hours of transfer to drink up the supply of
whisky instead of sacrificing it to the waves. I heard that one captain
was lying in tears at the enforced separation from his beloved ship,
but on investigation found that he was merely dead drunk. The captain
on one ship once called out cheerily ‘Thank God, I’ve been captured.’
He had received expense money for the trip to Australia, and was now
saved half the journey.”
Parenthetically it may be remarked, that the Emden’s captain, Karl
von Mueller, conducted himself at all times with chivalrous bravery,
according to the accounts of the English themselves, who in their
reports say of him, admiringly, “He played the game.” Captain von
Mücke’s account continues:
“We had mostly quiet weather, so that communication with captured ships
was easy. They were mostly dynamited, or else shot close to the water
line. At Calcutta we made one of our richest hauls, the Diplomat, chock
full of tea, we sunk $2,500,000 worth. On the same day the Trabbotch,
too, which steered right straight towards us, was captured. By now we
wanted to beat it out of the Bay of Bengal, because we had learned from
the papers that the Emden was being keenly searched for. By Rangoon we
encountered a Norwegian tramp, which, for a cash consideration, took
over all the rest of our prisoners of war.
“On September 23d we reached Madras, and steered straight for the
harbor. We stopped still 3,000 yards before the city. Then we shot
up the oil tanks; three or four of them burned up and illuminated
the city. Two days later we navigated around Ceylon, and could see
the lights of Colombo. On the same evening we gathered in two more
steamers, the King Lund, and Tywerse. The next evening we got the
Burresk, a nice steamer with 500 tons of nice Cardiff coal. Then
followed in order, the Ryberia, Foyle, Grand Ponrabbel, Benmore,
Troiens, Exfort, Graycefale, Sankt Eckbert, Chilkana. Most of them were
sunk. The coal ships were kept. All this happened before October 20th.
Then we sailed southward to Deogazia, southwest of Colombo.”
The captain then tells with much gusto a story of a visit paid to
the Emden by some English farmers, at Deogazia, who were entertained
royally by the Emden officers. They knew nothing about the war, and the
Emden officers told them nothing. His narrative continues:
“Now we went toward Miniko, where we sank two ships more. On the next
day we found three steamers to the north, one of them with much desired
Cardiff coal. From English papers on the captured ships we learned
that we were being hotly pursued. One night we started for Penang.
On October 28th we raised a very practical fourth smokestack (for
disguise). The harbor of Penang lies in a channel difficult of access.
There was nothing doing by night. We had to do it at daybreak. At high
speed, without smoke, with lights out, we steered into the mouth of
the channel. A torpedo boat on guard slept well. We steamed past its
small light. Inside lay a dark silhouette. That must be a warship.
We recognized the silhouette dead sure. That was the Russian cruiser
Jemtchud. There it lay, there it slept like a rat, no watch to be
seen. They made it easy for us. Because of the narrowness of the harbor
we had to keep close; we fired the first torpedo at four hundred yards.
“Then, to be sure, things livened up a bit on the sleeping warship.
At the same time we took the crew quarters under fire five shells at
a time. There was a flash of flame on board, then a kind of burning
aureole. After the fourth shell the flame burned high. The first
torpedo had struck the ship too deep, because we were too close to it.
A second torpedo which we fired off from the other side didn’t make the
same mistake. After twenty seconds there was absolutely not a trace of
the ship to be seen.
“But now another ship which we couldn’t see was firing. That was the
French D’Ivrebreville, toward which we now turned at once. A few
minutes later an incoming torpedo destroyer was reported. It proved to
be the French torpedo boat Mousquet. It came straight toward us. That’s
always remained a mystery to me, for it must have heard the shooting.
An officer whom we fished up afterward explained to me that they had
only recognized we were a German warship when they were quite close to
us. The Frenchman behaved well, accepted battle and fought on, but was
polished off by us with three broadsides. The whole fight with those
ships lasted half an hour. The commander of the torpedo boat lost both
legs by the first broadside. When he saw that part of his crew were
leaping overboard he cried out ‘Tie me fast. I will not survive after
seeing Frenchmen desert their ship.’ As a matter of fact he went down
with his ship, as a brave captain, lashed fast to the mast. That was my
only sea-fight.
“On November 9th I left the Emden in order to destroy the wireless
plant on the Cocos Island. I had fifty men, four machine guns and
about thirty rifles. Just as we were about to destroy the apparatus
it reported ‘Careful. Emden near.’ The work of destruction went
smoothly. Presently the Emden signaled to us ‘Hurry up.’ I pack up,
but simultaneously wails the Emden’s siren. I hurry up to the bridge,
see the flag ‘Anna’ go up. That means weigh anchor. We ran like mad
into our boat, but already the Emden’s pennant goes up, the battle flag
is raised, they fire from starboard. The enemy is concealed by the
island, and therefore not to be seen, but I see the shell strike the
water. To follow and catch the Emden is out of question. She is going
twenty knots, I only four with my steam pinnace. Therefore I turn back
to land, raise the flag, declare German laws of war in force, seize
all arms, set out my machine guns on shore in order to guard against a
hostile landing. Then I run again in order to observe the fight.”
The cable operator at Cocos Island gives the following account of what
happened from this point. After describing the sudden flight of the
Emden, he goes on:
[Illustration: HIDE AND SEEK IN THE BALTIC
A Zeppelin flying over a British submarine in the stormy sea.]
“Looking to the eastward we could see the reason for this sudden
departure, for a warship, which we afterwards learned was the
Australian cruiser Sydney, was coming up at full speed in pursuit.
The Emden did not wait to discuss matters, but, firing her first shot
at a range of about 3,700 yards, steamed north as hard as she could
go. At first the firing of the Emden seemed excellent, while that of
the Sydney was somewhat erratic. This, as I afterward learned, was due
to the fact that the Australian cruiser’s range finder was put out of
action by one of the only two shots the Germans got home. However,
the British gunners soon overcame any difficulties that this may have
caused, and settled down to their work, so that before long two of the
Emden’s funnels had been shot away. She also lost one of her masts
quite early in the fight. Both blazing away with their big guns the two
cruisers disappeared below the horizon, the Emden being on fire.
“Early the next morning, Tuesday, November 10th, we saw the Sydney
returning, and at 8.45 A. M. she anchored off the island. From various
members of the crew I gathered some details of the running fight with
the Emden. The Sydney, having an advantage in speed, was able to keep
out of range of the Emden’s guns, and to bombard with her own heavier
metal. The engagement lasted eighty minutes, the Emden finally running
ashore on North Keeling Island, and becoming an utter wreck. Only two
German shots proved effective, one of these failed to explode, but
smashed the main range finder and killed one man, the other killed
three men and wounded fourteen.
“Each of the cruisers attempted to torpedo the other, but both were
unsuccessful, and the duel proved a contest in hard pounding at long
range. The Sydney’s speed during the fighting was twenty-six knots,
and the Emden’s twenty-four knots. The British ship’s superiority of
two knots enabled her to choose the range at which the battle should
be fought and to make the most of her superior guns. Finally, with a
number of wounded prisoners on board, the Sydney left here yesterday,
and our few hours of war excitement were over.”
Captain Mücke’s return home from the Cocos Island was filled with the
most extraordinary adventures, and when he finally arrived in country
controlled by his Allies he was greeted as a hero.
While the story of the Emden especially interested the world, the
Koenigsburg also caused much trouble to English commerce. Her chief
exploit occurred on the 20th of September, when she caught the British
cruiser Pegasus in Zanzibar harbor undergoing repairs. The Pegasus had
no chance, and was destroyed by the Koenigsburg’s long-range fire.
Nothing much was heard later of the Koenigsburg, which was finally
destroyed by an English cruiser, July 11, 1915.
The exploits of these two German commerce raiders attracted general
attention, because they were the exceptions to the rule. The British,
on the other hand, were able to capture such German merchantmen as
ventured on the sea without great difficulty, and as they did not
destroy their capture, but brought them before prize courts, the
incidents attracted no great attention. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse,
which had been fitted up as a commerce-destroyer by the Germans at
the beginning of the war, as was the Spreewald of the Hamburg-American
Line, and the Cap Trafalgar, were caught and sunk during the month of
September. On the whole, English foreign trade was unimpaired.
But though the German fleet had been bottled up in her harbors, Germany
was not yet impotent. There remained the submarine.
Up to 1905 Germany had not a single submarine. The first German
submarine was launched on August 30, 1905. Even then it was considered
merely an experiment. In February, 1907, it was added to the register
of the fleet. On January 1, 1901, there were only four nations that
possessed submarines, France, with fourteen; the United States, with
eight; England, with six, of which not one was completed, and finally
Italy, with two. In 1910, Germany appropriated 18,750,000 marks for
submarines, and in 1913, 25,000,000 marks. On January 1, 1914, the
total number of submarines of all nations was approximately four
hundred.
[Illustration: DRIVING THE GERMAN COMMERCE RAIDERS FROM THE SEAS
The British light cruiser, “Highflyer,” sinking the “Kaiser Wilhelm
der Grosse” off the West Coast of Africa early in the war. The
commerce-destroyer was attacking a British steamer when the cruiser
came up and sent her to the bottom. Inserts show both ships.]
Early in the war the submarine became a grave menace to the English
navy and to English commerce. On the 5th of September the Pathfinder,
a light cruiser, was torpedoed and sunk with great loss of life. On
September 22d, three cruisers, the Cressy, Hogue, and Aboukir were
engaged in patrolling the coast of Holland. A great storm had been
raging and the cruisers were not protected by the usual screen of
destroyers. At half-past six in the morning the seas had fallen and the
cruisers proceeded to their posts. The report of Commander Nicholson,
of the Cressy, of what followed gives a good idea of the effectiveness
of the submarine.
“The Aboukir,” says the report, “was struck at about 6.25 A. M. on the
starboard beam. The Hogue and Cressy closed, and took up a position,
the Hogue ahead of the Aboukir, and the Cressy about four hundred
yards on her port beam. As soon as it was seen that Aboukir was in
danger of sinking, all the boats were sent away from the Cressy, and
a picket boat was hoisted out without steam up. When cutters full of
the Aboukir’s men were returning to the Cressy, the Hogue was struck,
apparently under the aft 9.2 magazine, as a very heavy explosion took
place immediately. Almost directly after the Hogue was hit we observed
a periscope on our port bow about three hundred yards off. Fire was
immediately opened, and the engines were put full speed ahead with the
intention of running her down.
“Captain Johnson then maneuvered the ship so as to render assistance to
the crews of the Hogue and Aboukir. About five minutes later another
periscope was seen on our starboard quarter, and fire was opened. The
track of the torpedo she fired at a range of from 500 to 600 yards was
plainly visible, and it struck us on the starboard side just before the
after bridge. The ship listed about ten degrees to the starboard and
remained steady. The time was 7.15 A. M. All the watertight doors, dead
lights and scuttles had been securely closed before the torpedoes left
the ship. All mess stools and table shores and all available timber
below and on deck had been previously got up and thrown overside for
the saving of life. A second torpedo fired by the same submarine missed
and passed about ten feet astern.
“About a quarter of an hour after the first torpedo had hit, a third
torpedo fired from the submarine just before the starboard beam, hit
us under the No. 5 boiler room. The time was 7.30 A. M. The ship then
began to heel rapidly, and finally turned keel up remaining so for
about twenty minutes before she finally sank. It is possible that the
same submarine fired all three torpedoes at the Cressy.”
Of the total crews of 1,459 officers and men only 779 were saved.
The survivors believed that they had seen at least three submarines,
but the German official account mentions only one, the U-9, under
Captain-Lieutenant Otto Weddigen whose account of this battle confirms
the report of Commander Nicholson. Referring to the reports that a
flotilla of German submarines had attacked the cruisers, he says:
“These reports were absolutely untrue. U-9 was the only submarine on
deck.” He adds: “I reached the home port on the afternoon of the 23d
and on the 24th went to Wilhelmshaven to find that news of my effort
had become public. My wife, dry-eyed when I went away, met me with
tears. Then I learned that my little vessel and her brave crew had won
the plaudit of the Kaiser, who conferred upon each of my co-workers
the Iron Cross of the second class and upon me the Iron Crosses of the
first and second classes.”
Weddigen was the hero of the hour in Germany. He had with him
twenty-five men. He seems to have acted with courage and skill, but it
is also evident that the English staff work was to blame. Three such
vessels should never have been sent out without a screen of destroyers,
nor should the Hogue and the Cressy have gone to the rescue of the
Aboukir. A few days after the disaster the English admiralty issued the
following statement:
The sinking of the Aboukir was of course an ordinary hazard of
patrolling duty. The Hogue and Cressy, however, were sunk because
they proceeded to the assistance of their consort, and remained
with engines stopped, endeavoring to save life, thus presenting an
easy target to further submarine attacks. The natural promptings of
humanity have in this case led to heavy losses, which would have been
avoided by a strict adhesion to military consideration. Modern naval
war is presenting us with so many new and strange situations that an
error of judgment of this character is pardonable. But it has become
necessary to point out for the future guidance of His Majesty’s ships
that the conditions which prevail when one vessel of a squadron
is injured in the mine field, or is exposed to submarine attack,
are analogous to those which occur in action, and that the rule of
leaving ships to their own resources is applicable, so far, at any
rate, as large vessels are concerned.
On the 28th of August occurred the first important naval action of the
war, the battle of Helgoland. From the 9th of August German cruisers
had shown activity in the seas around Helgoland and had sunk a number
of British trawlers. The English submarines, E-6 and E-8, and the light
cruiser Fearless, had patrolled the seas, and on the 21st of August
the Fearless had come under the enemy’s shell fire. On August 26th the
submarine flotilla, under Commodore Keyes, sailed from Harwich for the
Bight of Helgoland, and all the next day the Lurcher and the Firedrake,
destroyers, scouted for submarines. On that same day sailed the first
and third destroyer flotillas, the battle cruiser squadron, first light
cruiser squadron, and the seventh cruiser squadron, having a rendezvous
at this point on the morning of the 28th.
The morning was beautiful and clear, so that the submarines could be
easily seen. Close to Helgoland were Commodore Keyes’ eight submarines,
and his two small destroyers. Approaching rapidly from the northwest
were Commodore Tyrwhitt’s two destroyer flotillas, a little to the east
was Commodore Goodenough’s first light cruiser squadron. Behind this
squadron were Sir David Beatty’s battle cruisers with four destroyers.
To the south and west of Helgoland lay Admiral Christian’s seventh
cruiser squadron.
Presently from behind Helgoland came a number of German destroyers,
followed by two cruisers; and the English submarines, with the two
small destroyers, fled westwards, acting as a decoy. As the Germans
followed, the British destroyer flotillas on the northwest came rapidly
down. At the sight of these destroyers the German destroyers fled, and
the British attempted to head them off.
According to the official report the principle of the movement was to
cut the German light craft from home, and engage it at leisure on the
open sea.
But between the two German cruisers and English cruisers a fierce
battle took place. The Arethusa was engaged with the German Ariadne,
and the Fearless with the Strasburg. A shot from the Arethusa shattered
the fore bridge of the Ariadne and killed the captain, and both German
cruisers drew off to Helgoland.
Meanwhile the destroyers were engaged in a hot fight. They sunk the
leading boat of the German flotilla and damaged a dozen more. Between
nine and ten o’clock there was a lull in the fight; the submarines,
with some of the destroyers, remained in the neighborhood of Helgoland,
and the Germans, believing that these boats were the only hostile
vessels in the neighborhood, determined to attack them.
The Mainz, the Koln, and the Strasburg came again on the scene, and
opened a heavy fire on some of the boats of the first flotilla which
were busy saving life. The small destroyers were driven away, but the
seamen in the boats were rescued by an English submarine. The Arethusa
and the Fearless, with the destroyers in their company, engaged with
three enemy cruisers. The Strasburg, seriously injured, was compelled
to flee. The boilers of the Mainz blew up, and she became a wreck. The
Koln only remaining and carrying on the fight.
The English destroyers were much crippled, and as the battle had now
lasted for five hours any moment the German great battleships might
come on the scene. A wireless signal had been sent to Sir David
Beatty, asking for help, and about twelve o’clock the Falmouth and
the Nottingham arrived on the scene of action. By this time the first
destroyer flotilla was out of action and the third flotilla and the
Arethusa had their hands full with the Koln. The light cruisers were
followed at 12.15 by the English battle cruisers, the Lion came first,
and she alone among the battle cruisers seems to have used her guns.
Her gun power beat down all opposition. The Koln made for home, but
the Lion’s guns set her on fire. The luckless Ariadne hove in sight,
but the terrible 13.5-inch guns sufficed for her. The battle Cruisers
circled around, and in ten minutes the Koln went to the bottom.
At twenty minutes to two, Admiral Beatty turned homeward. The German
cruisers Mainz, Koln, and the Ariadne had been sunk; the Strasburg was
seriously damaged. One destroyer was sunk, and at least seven seriously
injured. About seven hundred of the German crew perished and there
were three hundred prisoners. The British force returned without the
loss of a single ship. The Arethusa had been badly damaged, but was
easily repaired. The casualty list was thirty-two killed and fifty-two
wounded. The battle was fought on both sides with great gallantry, the
chief glory belonging to the Arethusa and the Fearless who bore the
brunt of the battle. The strategy and tactical skill employed were
admirable, and the German admiral, Von Ingenohl, from that time on,
with one exception, kept his battleships in harbor, and confined his
activities to mine laying and the use of submarines.
In the first days of the war the German mine layers had been busy. By
means of trawlers disguised as neutrals, mines were dropped off the
north coast of Ireland, and a large mine field was laid off the eastern
coast of England. One of the most important duties of the Royal Naval
Reserve was the task of mine sweeping. Over seven hundred mine-sweeping
vessels were constantly employed in keeping an area of 7,200 square
miles clear for shipping. These ships swept 15,000 square miles
monthly, and steamed over 1,100,000 miles in carrying out their duties.
In spite of all these precautions many English ships were destroyed by
the mines.
It would be hard to overestimate the effect of the British blockade of
the German ports upon the fortunes of the war. The Germans for a long
time attempted, by the use of neutral ships, to obtain the necessary
supplies through Holland, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland. Millions of
dollars’ worth of food and munitions ultimately reached German hands.
The imports of all these nations were multiplied many times, but as the
time went on the blockade grew stricter and stricter until the Germans
felt the pinch. To conduct efficiently this blockade meant the use of
over 3,600 vessels which were added to the auxiliary patrol service.
Over 13,000 vessels were intercepted and examined by units of the
British navy employed on blockade channels.
The Germans protested with great vigor against this blockade, and
ultimately endeavored to counteract it by declaring unrestricted
submarine warfare. In fact, Great Britain had gone too far, and
vigorous protests from America followed her attempt to seize contraband
goods in American vessels.
The code of maritime law, adopted in the Declaration at Paris of 1856,
as well as the Declaration in London of 1909, had been framed in
the interests of unmaritime nations. The British plenipotentiaries
had agreed to these laws on the theory that in any war of the future
Britain would be neutral. The rights of neutrals had been greatly
increased. A blockade was difficult to enforce, for the right of a
blockading power to capture a blockade runner did not cover the whole
period of her voyage, and was confined to ships of the blockading
force. A ship carrying contraband could only be condemned if the
contraband formed more than half its cargo. A belligerent warship could
destroy a neutral vessel without taking it into a port for a judgment.
The transfer of an enemy vessel to a neutral flag was presumed to be
valid, if effected more than thirty days before the outbreak of war.
Belligerents in neutral vessels on the high seas were exempt from
capture. The Emden could justify its sinking of British ships, but the
English were handicapped in their endeavor to prevent neutral ships
from carrying supplies to Germany.
But Germany had become a law unto itself. And England found it
necessary in retaliation to issue orders in council which made nugatory
many of the provisions of the maritime code. The protests of the
American Government and those of other neutrals were treated with
the greatest consideration, and every endeavor was made that no real
injustice should be done. When America itself later entered the war
these differences of opinion disappeared from public view.
CHAPTER II
THE SUBLIME PORTE
As soon as the diplomatic relations between Austria and Serbia had
been broken, the Turkish Grand Vizier informed the diplomatic corps
in Constantinople that Turkey would remain neutral in the conflict.
The declaration was not formal, for war had not yet been declared.
The policy of Turkey, as represented in the ministerial paper,
_Tasfiri-Efkiar_, was as follows:
“Turkey has never asked for war, as she always has worked toward
avoiding it, but neutrality does not mean indifference. The present
Austro-Serbian conflict is to a supreme degree interesting to us. In
the first place, one of our erstwhile opponents is fighting against
a much stronger enemy. In the natural course of things Serbia, which
till lately was expressing, in a rather open way, her solidarity as a
nation, still provoking us, and Greece, will be materially weakened.
In the second place, the results of this war may surpass the limits
of the conflict between two countries, and in that case our interests
will be just as materially affected. We must, therefore, keep our eyes
open, as the circumstances are momentarily changing, and do not permit
us to let escape certain advantages which we can secure by active, and
rightly acting, diplomacy. The policy of neutrality will impose on us
the obligation of avoiding to side with either of the belligerents. But
the same policy will force us to take all the necessary measures for
safeguarding our interests and our frontiers.”
Whereupon a Turkish mobilization was at once ordered. The war had
hardly begun when Turkey received the news that her two battleships,
building in British yards, had been taken over by England. A bitter
feeling against England was at once aroused, Turkish mobs proceeded to
attack the British stores and British subjects, and attempts were even
made against the British embassy in Constantinople, and the British
consulate at Smyrna.
[Illustration: STRETCH OR TERRITORY CONTROLLED BY TURKEY IN 1914]
At this time Turkey was in a peculiar position. For a century she had
been on the best of terms with France and Great Britain. On the other
hand Russia had been her hereditary enemy. She was still suffering
from her defeat by the Balkan powers, and her statesmen saw in this
war great possibilities. She desired to recover her lost provinces in
Europe, and saw at once that she could hope for little from the Allies
in this direction.
For some years, too, German intrigues, and, according to report, German
money had enabled the German Government to control the leading Turkish
statesmen. German generals, under General Liman von Sanders, were
practically in control of the Turkish army. The commander-in-chief was
Enver Bey, who had been educated in Germany and was more German than
the Germans. A new system of organization for the Turkish army had
been established by the Germans, which had substituted the mechanical
German system for the rough and inefficient Turkish methods. Universal
conscription provided men, and the Turkish soldier has always been
known as a good soldier. Yet as it turned out the German training
did little for him. Under his own officers he could fight well, but
under German officers, fighting for a cause which he neither liked nor
understood, he was bound to fail.
At first the Turkish mobilization was conducted in such a way as to be
ready to act in common with Bulgaria in an attack against Greek and
Serbian Macedonia, as soon as the Austrians had obtained a decisive
victory over the Serbians. The entry of Great Britain into the war
interfered with this scheme. Meantime, though not at war, the Turks
were suffering almost as much as if war had been declared. Greedy
speculators took advantage of the situation, and the government itself
requisitioned everything it could lay its hands on.
A Constantinople correspondent, writing on the 6th of August, says as
follows:
“Policemen and sheriffs followed by military officers are taking by
force everything in the way of foodstuffs, entering the bakeries and
other shops selling victuals, boarding ships with cargoes of flour,
potatoes, wheat and rice, and taking over virtually everything, giving
in lieu of payment a receipt which is not worth even the paper on
which it is written. In this way many shops are forced to close, bread
has entirely disappeared from the bakeries, and Constantinople, the
capital of a neutral country, is already feeling all the troubles and
privations of a besieged city. Prices for foodstuffs have soared
to inaccessible heights, as provisions are becoming scarce. Actual
hand-to-hand combats are taking place in the streets outside the
bakeries for the possession of a loaf of bread, and hungry women with
children in their arms are seen crying and weeping with despair. Many
merchants, afraid lest the government requisition their goods, hasten
to have their orders canceled, the result being that no merchandise
of any kind is coming to Constantinople either from Europe or from
Anatolia. Both on account of the recruiting of their employees, and of
shortage of coal, the companies operating electric tramways of the city
have reduced their service to the minimum, as no power is available for
the running of the cars. Heartrending scenes are witnessed in front of
the closed doors of the various banking establishments, where large
posters are to be seen bearing the inscription ‘Closed temporarily by
order of the government.’”
Immediately after war was declared between Germany and Russia the
Porte ordered the Bosporus and Dardanelles closed to every kind of
shipping, at the same time barring the entrances of these channels
with rows of mines. The first boat to suffer from this measure was a
British merchantman which was sunk outside the Bosporus, while another
had a narrow escape in the Dardanelles. A large number of steamers of
every nationality waited outside the straits for the special pilot
boats of the Turkish Government, in order to pass in safety through the
dangerous mine field. This measure of closing the straits was suggested
to Turkey by Austria and Germany, and was primarily intended against
Russia, as it was feared that her Black Sea fleet might force its way
into the sea of Marmora and the Ægean.
On August 2d the Turkish Parliament was prorogued, so that all
political power might center around the Imperial throne. A vigorous
endeavor was made to strengthen the Turkish navy. Djemal Pasha was
placed at its head with Arif Bey as chief of the naval staff. Talaat
Bey and Halil Bey were sent to Bucharest to exchange views with
Roumanian statesmen, and representatives of the Greek Government, in
regard to the outstanding Greco-Turkish difficulties.
On September 10th an official announcement from the Sublime Porte was
issued defining in the first place many constitutional reforms, and in
particular abolishing the capitulation, that is, the concessions made
by law to foreigners, allowing them participation in the administration
of justice, exemption from taxation, and special protection in their
business transactions. In abolishing these capitulations the Ottoman
Government declared that it would treat foreign countries in accordance
with the rules of international law, and that it was acting without any
hostile feeling against any of the foreign states.
The Allied governments formally protested against this action of the
Turkish Government. Meantime Constantinople was the center of most
elaborate intrigues. The Turkish Government grew more and more warlike,
and began to threaten, not only Greece, but Russia and the Triple
Entente as well. During this period the Turkish press maintained an
active campaign against England and the Allies. Every endeavor was made
by the Sublime Porte to secure Roumanian or Bulgarian co-operation in a
militant policy. The Allies, seeing the situation, made many promises
to Bulgaria, Greece and Roumania. Bulgaria was offered Adrianople and
Thrace; Greece was to have Smyrna, and Roumania the Roumanian provinces
in Austria. The jealousy of these powers of each other prevented an
agreement. The influence of Germany became more and more preponderant
with the Ottoman Empire; indeed, it is probable that an understanding
had existed between the two powers from the beginning. The action of
the Turkish Government in regard to the Goeben and Breslau could hardly
have been possible unless with a previous understanding. At last the
rupture came. The following was the official Turkish version of the
events which led to the Turkish declaration of war:
“While on the 27th of October a small part of the Turkish fleet
was maneuvering on the Black Sea, the Russian fleet, which at first
confined its activities to following and hindering every one of our
movements, finally, on the 29th, unexpectedly began hostilities by
attacking the Ottoman fleet. During the naval battle which ensued the
Turkish fleet, with the help of the Almighty, sank the mine layer
Pruth, inflicted severe damage on one of the Russian torpedo boats,
and captured a collier. A torpedo from the Turkish torpedo boat
Gairet-i-Millet sank the Russian destroyer Koubanietz, and another from
the Turkish torpedo boat Mouavenet-i-Millet inflicted serious damage
on a Russian coast guard ship. Three officers and seventy-two sailors
rescued by our men and belonging to the crews of the damaged and sunken
vessels of the Russian fleet have been made prisoners. The Ottoman
Imperial Fleet, glory be given to the Almighty, escaped injury, and the
battle is progressing favorably for us. Information received from our
fleet, now in the Black Sea, is as follows:
“From accounts of Russian sailors taken prisoners, and from the
presence of a mine layer among the Russian fleet, evidence is gathered
that the Russian fleet intended closing the entrance to the Bosporus
with mines, and destroying entirely the Imperial Ottoman fleet,
after having split it in two. Our fleet, believing that it had to
face an unexpected attack, and supposing that the Russians had begun
hostilities without a formal declaration of war, pursued the scattered
Russian fleet, bombarded the port of Sebastopol, destroyed in the city
of Novorossisk fifty petroleum depots, fourteen military transports,
some granaries, and the wireless telegraph station. In addition to
the above our fleet has sunk in Odessa a Russian cruiser, and damaged
severely another. It is believed that this second boat was likewise
sunk. Five other steamers full of cargoes lying in the same port were
seriously damaged. A steamship belonging to the Russian volunteer fleet
was also sunk, and five petroleum depots were destroyed. In Odessa and
Sebastopol the Russians from the shore opened fire against our fleet.”
The Sultan at once declared war against Russia, England and France, and
issued a proclamation to his troops, declaring that he had called them
to arms to resist aggression and that “the very existence of our Empire
and of three hundred million Moslems whom I have summoned by sacred
Fetwa to a supreme struggle, depend on your victory. Do not forget that
you are brothers in arms of the strongest and bravest armies of the
world, with whom we are now fighting shoulder to shoulder.”
The Fetwa, or proclamation announcing a holy war, called upon all
Mussulmans capable of carrying arms, and even upon Mussulman women
to fight against the powers with whom the Sultan was at war. In this
manner the holy war became a duty, not only for all Ottoman subjects,
but for the three hundred million Moslems of the earth. On November
5th Great Britain declared war against Turkey, ordered the seizure in
British ports of Turkish vessels, and, by an order in Council, annexed
the Island of Cyprus. On the 17th of December, the Khedive Abbas II,
having thrown in his lot with Turkey and fled to Constantinople, Egypt
was formally proclaimed a British Protectorate. The title of Khedive
was abolished, and the throne of Egypt, with the title of Sultan, was
offered to Prince Hussein Kamel Pasha, the eldest living prince of the
house of Mahomet Ali, an able and enlightened man. This meant that
Britain was now wholly responsible for the defense of Egypt. The new
Sultan of Egypt made his state entry on December 20th into the Abdin
Palace in Cairo. The progress of the new ruler was received with great
enthusiasm by thousands of spectators.
The King of England sent a telegram of congratulation with his promise
of support:
On the occasion when your Highness enters upon your high office I
desire to convey to your Highness the expression of my most sincere
friendship, and the assurance of my unfailing support in safeguarding
the integrity of Egypt, and in securing her future well being and
prosperity. Your Highness has been called upon to undertake the
responsibilities of your high office at a grave crisis in the
national life of Egypt, and I feel convinced that you will be able,
with the co-operation of your Ministers, and the Protectorate of
Great Britain, successfully to overcome all the influences which are
seeking to destroy the independence of Egypt and the wealth, liberty
and happiness of its people.
This was Britain’s answer to the Turkish proclamation of war. The
Turks had not taken this warlike course with entire unanimity. The
Sultan, the Grand Vizier, and Djavid Bey were in favor of peace, but
Enver Pasha and his colleagues overruled them. The Odessa incident was
unjustified aggression, deliberately planned to provoke hostilities.
The tricky and corrupt German diplomacy had won its point.
It is interesting to observe that the proclamation of the holy war,
a favorite German scheme, fell flat. The Kaiser, and his advisers,
had counted much upon this raising of the sacred flag. The Kaiser
had visited Constantinople and permitted himself to be exploited as
a sympathizer with Mohammedanism. Photographs of him had been taken
representing him in Mohammedan garb, accompanied by Moslem priests, and
a report had been deliberately circulated throughout Turkey that he
had become a Moslem. The object of this camouflage was to stir up the
Mohammedans in the countries controlled by England, risings were hoped
for in Egypt and India, and German spies had been distributed through
those countries to encourage religious revolts. But there was almost no
response. The Sultan, it is true, was the head of the Church, but who
was the Sultan? The old Sultan, now dethroned, and imprisoned, or this
new and insignificant creature placed on the throne by the young Turk
party? The Mohammedan did not feel himself greatly moved.
At the beginning of the war Turkey found herself unable to make any
move to recover her provinces in Thrace. Greece and Bulgaria were
neutral, and could not be attacked. Placing herself, therefore, in
the hands of her German advisers, she moved her new army to those
frontiers where it could meet the powers with whom she was at war. In
particular Germany and Austria desired her aid in Transcaucasia against
the Russian armies. An attack upon Russia from that quarter would
mean that many troops which otherwise would have been used against the
Central Powers must be sent to the Caucasus. The Suez Canal, too, must
be attacked. An expedition there would compel Great Britain to send out
troops, and perhaps would encourage the hoped-for rebellion in Egypt
and give an opportunity for religious insurrection in India, where the
Djehad was being preached among the Mohammedan tribes in the northwest.
The Dardanelles, to be sure, might be threatened, but the Germans had
sent there many heavy guns and fortifications had been built which, in
expert opinion, made Constantinople safe.
The Turkish offensive along her eastern frontier in Transcaucasia
and in Persia was first undertaken. The Persian Gulf had long been
controlled by Great Britain; even in the days of Elizabeth the East
India Company had fought with Dutch and Portuguese rivals for control
of its commerce. The English had protected Persia, suppressed piracy
and slavery, and introduced sanitary measures in the marshes along
the coast. They regarded a control of the Persian Gulf as necessary
for the prosperity of India and the Empire. The Turkish Government had
never had great power along the Persian Gulf. Bagdad, indeed, had been
captured by Suleiman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century, but in
eastern Arabia lived many independent Arabian chieftains who had no
idea of subjecting themselves to Turkish rule.
For years Germany had been looking with jealous eyes in this direction.
Her elaborate intrigues with Turkey were mainly designed to open up
the way to the Persian Gulf. She had planned a great railway to open
up trade, and her endeavor to build the Bagdad Railway is a story in
itself. Her efforts had lasted for many years, but she found herself
constantly blocked by the agents of Great Britain.
Before the Ottoman troops were ready, the British in the Gulf had
made a start. On November 7th a British force under Brigadier-General
Delamain bombarded the Turkish fort at Falon, landed troops and
occupied the village. Sailing north from this point they disembarked
at Sanijah, where they entrenched themselves and waited for
reinforcements. On November 13th reinforcements arrived, and on
November 17th the British army advanced toward Sahain. From there they
moved on Sahil, where they encountered a Turkish force. Some lively
fighting ensued and the Turks broke and fled. Turkish casualties were
about one thousand five hundred men, the English killed numbered
thirty-eight.
The British then moved on Basra, moving by steamer along the
Shat-el-Arab River. On November 22d Basra was reached and it was found
that the Turks had evacuated the place. A base camp was then prepared,
for it was certain that there would be further fighting. Bagdad was
only about three hundred miles distant; and fifty miles above Basra, at
the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates, lies the town of Kurna
where the Turks were gathering an army. On December 4th an attack was
made on Kurna but without success. The British obtained reinforcements,
but on December 9th the Turkish garrison surrendered unconditionally.
The British troops then entrenched themselves, having established a
barricade against a hostile advance upon India.
Farther north the war was between Turkey and Russia. Since Persia had
no military power, each combatant was able to occupy that country
whenever they desired. The Turks advanced into Persia south of Lake
Urmia, and, meeting with no resistance from Persia, moved northward
toward the Russian frontier. On the 30th of January, 1915, Russian
troops heavily defeated the invaders and followed them south as far
as Tabriz, which they occupied and held. The Russian armies had also
undertaken movements in this section. In the extreme northwest of
Persia a Russian column had crossed the frontier, and occupied, on the
3d of November, the town of Bayazid close to Mt. Ararat. Other columns
entered Kurdestan, and an expedition against Van was begun. Further
north another Russian column crossed the frontier and captured the
town of Karakilissa, but was held there by the Turks.
These were minor expeditions. The real struggle was in Transcaucasia,
where the main body of the Turkish army under Enver Pasha himself
was in action. At this point the boundaries of Turkey touch upon the
Russian Empire. To the north is the Great Russian fortress of Kars,
to the south and west the Turkish stronghold of Erzerum. The whole
district is a great mountain tangle, the towns standing at an altitude
of 5,000 and 6,000 feet, surrounded by lofty hills. None of the roads
are good, and in winter the passes are almost impassable. In all the
wars between Russia and Turkey, these mountain regions have been the
scenes of desperate battles.
The Turkish plan of battle was to entice the Russians from Sarakamish
across the frontier, leading them on to some distance from their base,
then, while holding their front, a second force was to swing around and
attack them on the left flank. The plan was simple, the difficulty
was the swing of the left flank, which had to be made through mountain
paths, deeply covered with snow. The Turkish army was composed of about
150,000 men under the command of Hassan Izzet Pasha, but Enver, with
a large German staff, was the true commander. The Russian army, under
General Woronzov was about 100,000 men.
Early in November the Russians crossed the frontier and reached
Koprikeui, which they occupied on the 20th of November. The Turkish
Eleventh corps was entrusted with the duty of holding the Russian
forces; the remainder of the army was to advance over the passes and
take their stations behind the Russian right. On December 25th the
Turkish attack began. The Eleventh corps forced back the Russians from
Koprikeui to Khorasan, while the extreme Turkish left was endeavoring
to outflank them. But the weather was desperate. A blizzard was
sweeping down the steeps. The Turkish forces were indeed able to carry
out the plan, for they obtained the position desired. But by this
time they were worn out, and half starved, and their attack on New
Year’s Day resulted in their defeat and retreat. The Ninth corps was
utterly wiped out, and the remainder of the Turkish forces driven off
in confusion. Only the strenuous efforts of the Turkish Eleventh corps
prevented a debacle. After a three days’ battle it, too, was broken,
and with heavy losses it retreated toward Erzerum. The snowdrifts and
blizzards must have accounted for not less than 50,000 of the Turkish
troops. The result of the battle made Russia safe in the Caucasus.
But the Germans had another use for the Turkish forces. England was
in control of Egypt and the Suez Canal. The German view of England’s
position has been well stated by Dr. Paul Rohrbach:
“As soon as England acquired Egypt it was incumbent upon her to
guard against any menace from Asia. Such a danger apparently arose
when Turkey, weakened by her last war with Russia and by difficult
conditions at home, began to turn to Germany for support. And now war
has come, and England is reaping the crops which she has sown. England,
not we, desired this war. She knows this, despite all her hypocritical
talk, and she fears that, as soon as connection is established along
the Berlin-Vienna-Budapest-Sofia-Constantinople Line, the fate of
Egypt may be decided. Through the Suez Canal goes the route to all the
lands surrounding the Indian Ocean, and by way of Singapore to the
western shores of the Pacific. These two worlds together have about
nine hundred million inhabitants, more than half the population of the
universe, and India lies in a controlling position in their midst.
Should England lose the Suez Canal she will be obliged, unlike the
powers in control of that waterway, to use the long route around the
Cape of Good Hope, and depend on the good will of the South African
Boers. The majority among the latter have not the same views as Botha.
However, it is too early to prophesy, and it is not according to German
ideas to imitate our opponents by singing premature paeons of victory.
But anyhow we are well aware why anxious England already sees us on
the road to India.”
Following out this view a Turkish force was directed toward the Suez
Canal, while the German intriguers did their best to stir up revolt
in Egypt itself. The story of Egypt is one of the most interesting
parts of the world’s history. In the early days of the world it led
mankind. Its peculiar geographical position at first gave it strength,
and afterward made it the prize for which all nations were ready to
contend. In 1517 the Sultan Selim conquered Egypt and made it part of
the Turkish realm, and in spite of many changes the sovereignty of
Constantinople had continued. In recent years the misgovernment of the
Khedive Ismael had brought into its control France and Britain; then
came the deposition of Ismael, the revolt under Arabi, the bombardment
of Alexandria and the battle of Tel-el-Kebir. Since then Egypt has been
occupied by Great Britain, who restored order, defeated the armies
of the Mahdi, and turned Egyptian bankruptcy into prosperity. Lord
Kitchener was the English hero of the wars with the Mahdi, and the
Lord Cromer the administrator who gave the Egyptian peasant a comfort
unknown since the days of the Pharaohs. With prosperity came political
agitation, and Germany, as has been seen, looked upon Egypt as fertile
territory for German propaganda.
Intrigue having failed in Egypt, a Turkish force was directed against
the Suez Canal. If that could be captured Great Britain could be cut
off from India. An expeditionary army of about 65,000 men was gathered
under the command of Djemal Pasha, the former Turkish Minister of
Marine. He had been bitterly indignant at the seizure of the two
Turkish dreadnoughts building in England, and was burning for revenge.
But he found great difficulties before him. To reach the Canal it was
necessary to cross a trackless desert, varying from 120 to 150 miles
in width. Over this desert there were three routes. The first touched
the Mediterranean coast at El-Arish and then went across the desert
to El-Kantara on the Canal, twenty-five miles south of Port Said. On
this route there were only a few wells, quite insufficient for an army.
A second route ran from Akaba, on the Red Sea, across the Peninsula
of Sinai to a point a little north of Suez. This was also badly
supplied with wells. Between the two was the central route. Leaving the
Mediterranean at El-Arish it ran up the valley called the Wady El-Arish
to where that valley touched the second road. There was no railway,
nor were these roads suitable for motor transports; for an army to
move it would be necessary either to build a railway or to improve
the roads. The best route for railway was the Wady El-Arish. The Suez
Canal, moreover, can be easily defended. It is over two hundred feet
wide, with banks rising to a height of forty feet. A railway runs along
the whole Canal, and most of the ground to the east is flat, offering
a good field of fire either to troops on the banks or to ships on the
Canal.
A considerable force of British troops, under the command of
Major-General Sir John Maxwell, were assigned for the protection of
the Canal. About the end of October it was reported that 2,000 Bedouins
were marching on the Canal, and on November 21st a skirmish took place
between this force and some of the English troops in which the Bedouins
were repelled. Nothing more was heard for more than two months, but
on January 28, 1915, a small advance party from the Turkish army was
beaten back east of El-Kantara. British airmen watched the desert well,
and kept the British army well informed of the Turkish movements. The
Turks had found it impossible to convey their full force across the
desert, and the forces which finally arrived seemed to have numbered
only about twelve thousand men. The main attack was not developed until
February 2d.
According to an account in the London _Times_, on that date, the enemy
began to move toward the Ismailia Ferry. They met a reconnoitering
party of Indian troops of all arms, and a desultory engagement ensued
to which a violent sandstorm put a sudden end about three o’clock
in the afternoon. The main attacking force pushed forward toward its
destination after nightfall. From twenty-five to thirty galvanized
iron pontoon boats, seven and a half meters in length, which had
been dragged in carts across the desert, were hauled by hand toward
the water. With one or two rafts made of kerosene tins in a wooden
frame, all was ready for the attack. The first warning of the enemy’s
approach was given by a sentry of a mountain battery who heard, to
him, an unknown tongue across the water. The noise soon increased.
It would seem that Mudjah Ideem--“Holy Warriors”--said to be mostly
old Tripoli fighters, accompanied the pontoon section, and regulars
of the Seventy-fifth regiment, for loud exultations, often in Arabic,
of “Brothers, die for the faith; we can die but once,” betrayed the
enthusiastic irregular.
The Egyptians waited until the Turks were pushing their boats into the
water, then the Maxims attached to the battery suddenly spoke, and the
guns opened at point-blank range at the men and boats crowded under
the steep bank opposite them. Immediately a violent fire broke out on
both sides of the Canal.
A little torpedo boat with a crew of thirteen, patrolling the Canal,
dashed up and landed a party of four officers and men to the south
of Tussum, who climbed up the eastern bank and found themselves in a
Turkish trench, and escaped by a miracle with the news. Promptly the
midget dashed in between the fires and enfiladed the eastern bank amid
a hail of bullets, and destroyed several pontoon boats lying unlaunched
on the bank. It continued to harass the enemy, though two officers and
two men were wounded.
As the dark, cloudy night lightened toward dawn fresh forces went
into action. The Turks, who occupied the outer, or day, line of the
Tussum post, advanced, covered by artillery, against the Indian troops,
holding the inner or night position, while an Arab regiment advanced
against the Indian troop at the Serapeum post. The warships on the
Canal and lake joined in the fray. The enemy brought some six batteries
of field guns into action from the slopes west of Kataiba-el-kaeli.
Shells admirably fused made fine practice at all the visible targets,
but failed to find the battery above mentioned, which, with some help
from a detachment of infantry, beat down the fire of the riflemen on
the opposite bank and inflicted heavy losses on the hostile supports
advancing toward the Canal.
Supported by land and naval artillery the Indian troops took the
offensive, the Serapeum garrison, which had stopped the enemy
three-quarters of a mile from the position, cleared its front, and the
Tussum garrison, by a brilliant counter-attack, drove the enemy back.
Two battalions of Anatolians of the Twenty-eighth regiment were thrown
into the fight, but the artillery gave them no chance, and by 3.30 in
the afternoon a third of the enemy, with the exception of a force that
lay hid in bushy hollows on the east bank between the two posts, were
in full retreat, leaving many dead, a large proportion of whom had been
killed by shrapnel. Meanwhile the warships on the lake had been in
action, a salvo from a battleship woke up Ismailia early, and crowds
of soldiers and some civilians climbed every available sand hill to see
what was doing, till the Turkish guns sent shells sufficiently near to
convince them that it was safer to watch from cover.
At about eleven in the morning two six-inch shells hit the Hardinge
near the southern entrance of the lake. They first damaged the funnel,
and the second burst inboard. Pilot Carew, a gallant old merchant
seaman, refused to go below when the firing opened and lost a leg. Nine
others were wounded, one or two merchantmen were hit but no lives were
lost. A British gunboat was struck. Then came a dramatic duel between
the Turkish big gun, or guns, and a warship. The Turks fired just over,
and then just short, at 9,000 yards. The warship sent in a salvo of
more six-inch shells than had been fired that day.
Late in the afternoon of the 3d there was sniping from the east bank
between Tussum and Serapeum, and a man was killed on the tops of a
British battleship. Next morning the sniping was renewed and the Indian
troops, moving out to search the ground, found several hundred of
the enemy in the hollow previously mentioned. During the fight some
of the enemy, either by accident or design, held up their hands,
while others fired on the Punjabis, who were advancing to take the
surrender, and killed a British officer. A sharp fight with the cold
steel followed, and a British officer killed a Turkish officer with a
sword thrust in single combat. A body of a German officer with a white
flag was afterward found here, but there is no proof that the white
flag was used. Finally all the enemy were killed, captured or put to
flight. With this the fighting ended, and the subsequent operations
were confined to the rounding up of prisoners, and the capture of a
considerable amount of military material left behind. The Turks, who
departed with their guns and baggage during the night of the 3d, still
seemed to be moving eastward.
So ended the battle of the Suez Canal.
Two more incidents in the Turkish campaign remain to be noticed. Report
having come that the town of Akaba on the Red Sea was being used as a
mine-laying station, H. M. S. Minerva visited the place, and found it
occupied by soldiers under a German officer. The Minerva destroyed the
fort and the barracks and the government buildings. Another British
cruiser, with a detachment of Indian troops, captured the Turkish fort
at Sheik Said, at the southern end of the Red Sea. And so for the time
ended all Turkish movements against Great Britain. That such movements
should have been possible seems hard to believe. For a century the
British had been the friends and allies of the Turkish Government. In
the Crimean War their armies had fought side by side with the Turkish
troops against Russia. In the Russo-Turkish War Lord Beaconsfield, in
the negotiations which preceded the treaty of Berlin, had saved for
Turkey much of its territory. It was only the British influence and
the fear of the British power which had prevented Russia from taking
possession of Constantinople a half a century before. The English
had always been popular in Turkey and there was every reason at the
beginning of the war to believe that their popularity had not waned.
There is reason to believe that the average Turk had little sympathy
with the course of his government, and if a free expression of the
popular will had been possible the Turkish army would never have been
sent against either the Englishmen or the Frenchmen. But long years of
German propaganda had done their work. The power of Enver Pasha was
greater than that of the weakling Sultan and the war was forced upon
the Turkish people by German tools and German bribes.
CHAPTER III
RESCUE OF THE STARVING
The sufferings of Belgium during the German occupation were terrible,
and attracted the attention and the sympathy of the whole world. To
understand conditions it is necessary to know something of the economic
situation. Since it had come under the protection of the Great Powers,
Belgium had developed into one of the greatest manufacturing countries
in the world. Nearly two million of her citizens were employed in the
great industries, and one million two hundred thousand on the farms.
She was peaceful, industrious and happy. But on account of the fact
that more than one-half of her citizenship earned their living by daily
labor she found it impossible to produce foodstuff enough for her own
needs. Seventy-eight per cent of her breadstuffs had to be imported.
From her own fields she could hardly supply her population for more
than four months.
The war, and the German occupation, almost destroyed business. Mines,
workshops, factories and mills were closed. Labor found itself without
employment and consequently without wages. The banks would extend no
credit. But even if there had been money enough it soon became apparent
that the food supply was rapidly going. The German invasion had come
when the crops were standing ripe upon the field. Those crops had not
been reaped, but had been trampled under foot by the hated German.
One feature of Belgian industrial life should be understood. Hundreds
of thousands of her workmen were employed each day in workshops at
considerable distances from their own homes. In times of peace the
morning and evening trains were always crowded with laborers going to
and returning from their daily toil. One of the first things seized
upon by the German officials was the railroads, and it was with great
difficulty that anyone, not belonging to the German army, could
obtain an opportunity to travel at all, and it was with still greater
difficulty that supplies of food of any kind could be transported from
place to place. Every village was cut off from its neighbor, every town
from the next town. People were unable even to obtain news of the great
political events which were occurring from day to day, and the food
supply was automatically cut off.
But this was not the worst. One of the first moves of the German
occupation was to quarter hundreds of thousands of troops upon their
Belgian victims, and these troops must be fed even though the Belgian
and his family were near starvation. Then followed the German seizure
of what they called materials for war. General von Beseler in a
despatch to the Kaiser, after the fall of Antwerp, speaks very plainly:
The war booty taken at Antwerp is enormous--at least five hundred
cannon and huge quantities of ammunition, sanitation materials,
high-power motor cars, locomotives, wagons, four million kilograms of
wheat, large quantities of flour, coal and flax wool, the value of
which is estimated at ten million marks, copper, silver, one armored
train, several hospital trains, and quantities of fish.
The Germans proceeded to commandeer foodstuffs and raw materials of
industry. Linseed oil, oil cakes, nitrates, animal and vegetable oils,
petroleum and mineral oils, wool, copper, rubber, ivory, cocoa, rice,
wine, beer, all were seized and sent home to the Fatherland. Moreover,
cities and provinces were burdened with formidable war contributions.
Brussels was obliged to pay ten million dollars, Antwerp ten million
dollars, the province of Brabant, ninety millions of dollars, Namur
and seventeen surrounding communes six million four hundred thousand
dollars. Finally Governor von Bissing, on the 10th of December, 1914,
issued the following decree:
A war contribution of the amount of eight million dollars to be paid
monthly for one year is imposed upon the population of Belgium. The
payment of these amounts is imposed upon the nine provinces which
are regarded as joint debtors. The two first monthly payments are to
be made by the 15th of January, 1915, at latest, and the following
monthly payments by the tenth of each following month to the military
chest of the Field Army of the General Imperial Government in
Brussels. If the provinces are obliged to resort to the issue of
stock with a view to procuring the necessary funds, the form and
terms of these shares will be determined by the Commissary General
for the banks in Belgium.
At a meeting of the Provincial Councils the vice-president declared:
“The Germans demand these $96,000,000 of the country without right
and without reason. Are we to sanction this enormous war tax? If we
listened only to our hearts, we should reply ‘No! ninety-six million
times no!’ because our hearts would tell us we were a small, honest
nation living happily by its free labor; we were a small, honest
nation having faith in treaties and believing in honor; we were a
nation unarmed, but full of confidence, when Germany suddenly hurled
two million men upon our frontiers, the most brutal army that the
world has ever seen, and said to us, ‘Betray the promise you have
given. Let my armies go by, that I may crush France, and I will give
you gold.’ Belgium replied, ‘Keep your gold. I prefer to die, rather
than live without honor.’ The German army has, therefore, crushed our
country in contempt of solemn treaties. ‘It is an injustice,’ said the
Chancellor of the German Empire. ‘The position of Germany has forced
us to commit it, but we will repair the wrong we have done to Belgium
by the passage of our armies.’ They want to repair the injustice as
follows: Belgium will pay Germany $96,000,000! Give this proposal your
vote. When Galileo had discovered the fact that the earth moved around
the sun, he was forced at the foot of the stake to abjure his error,
but he murmured, ‘Nevertheless it moves.’ Well, gentlemen, as I fear a
still greater misfortune for my country I consent to the payment of the
$96,000,000 and I cry ‘Nevertheless it moves.’ Long live our country in
spite of all.”
At the end of a year von Bissing renewed this assessment, inserting
in his decree the statement that the decree was based upon article
forty-nine of The Hague Convention, relating to the laws and usages
of war on land. This article reads as follows: “If in addition to the
taxes mentioned in the above article the occupant levies other moneyed
contributions in the occupied territory, they shall only be applied
to the needs of the army, or of the administration, of the territory
in question.” In the preceding article it says: “If in the territory
occupied the occupant collects the taxes, dues and tolls payable to the
state, he shall do so as far as possible in accordance with the legal
basis and assessment in force at the time, and shall in consequence
be bound to defray the expenses of the administration of the occupied
territories to the same extent as the National Government had been so
bound.”
The $96,000,000 per annum was more than six times the amount of the
direct taxes formerly collected by the Belgian state, taxes which the
German administration, moreover, collected in addition to the war
assessment. It was five times as great as the ordinary expenditure of
the Belgian War Department.
[Illustration: SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN AND ALSACE-LORRAINE ACQUISITIONS]
But this was not all. In addition to the more or less legitimate German
methods of plunder the whole country had been pillaged. In many towns
systematic pillage began as soon as the Germans took possession. At
Louvain the pillage began on the 27th of August, 1914, and lasted a
week. In small bands the soldiers went from house to house, ransacked
drawers and cupboards, broke open safes, and stole money, pictures,
curios, silver, linen, clothing, wines, and food. Great loads of such
plunder were packed on military baggage wagons and sent to Germany. The
same conditions were reported from town after town. In many cases the
houses were burnt to destroy the proof of extensive thefts.
Nor were these offenses committed only by the common soldiers. In many
cases the officers themselves sent home great collections of plunder.
Even the Royal Family were concerned in this disgraceful performance.
After staying for a week in a château in the Liége District, His
Imperial Highness, Prince Eitel Fritz, and the Duke of Brunswick, had
all the dresses which were found in a wardrobe sent back to Germany.
This is said to be susceptible of absolute proof.
In addition to this form of plunder special pretexts were made use of
to obtain money. At Arlon a telephone wire was broken, whereupon the
town was given four hours to pay a fine of $20,000 in gold, in default
of which one hundred houses would be sacked. When the payment was made
forty-seven houses had already been plundered. Instance after instance
could be given of similar unjustifiable and exorbitant fines.
Under treatment like this Belgium was brought in a short time into
immediate sight of starvation. They made frantic appeals for help.
First they appealed to the Germans, but the German authorities did
nothing, though in individual cases German soldiers shared their army
rations with the people. Then an appeal was made to Holland, but
Holland was a nation much like Belgium. It did not raise food enough
for itself, and was not sure that it could import enough for its own
needs.
From all over Belgium appeals were sent from the various towns and
villages to Brussels. But Brussels, too, was face to face with famine.
To cope with famine there were many relief organizations in Belgium.
Every little town had its relief committee, and in the larger cities
strong branches of the Red Cross did what they could. Besides such
secular organizations, there were many religious organizations,
generally under the direction of the Roman Catholic Church.
In Brussels a strong volunteer relief organization was formed on
September 5th under the patronage of the American and Spanish
Ministers, Mr. Brand Whitlock and the Marquis of Villalobar. This
committee, known as the Central Relief Committee, or more exactly
La Comité Central de Secours et d’Alimentation pour l’Agglomération
bruxelloise, did wonderful work until the end of the war. But though
there was plenty of organization there were great difficulties ahead.
In order to import food, credit had to be established abroad,
permission had to be obtained to transport foodstuffs into Belgium
through the British blockade. Permission to use the railroads and
canals of Belgium had to be obtained from Germany, and, most important
of all, it had to be made certain that no food thus imported should be
seized by the German troops.
Through the American and Spanish ministers permission was obtained
from Governor-General Kolmar von der Goltz to import food, and the
Governor-General also gave assurance that, “Foodstuffs of all sorts
imported by the committee to assist the civil population shall be
reserved exclusively for the nourishment of the civil population of
Belgium, and that consequently these foodstuffs shall be exempt from
requisition on the part of the military authorities, and shall rest
exclusively at the disposition of the committee.”
With this assurance the Central Relief Committee sent Emil Francqui
and Baron Lambert, members of their committee, together with Mr. Hugh
Gibson, secretary of the American Legation, whose activities in behalf
of Belgium attracted much favorable notice, to the city of London,
to explain to the British Government the suffering that existed in
Belgium, and to obtain permission to transport food through the British
blockade. In the course of this work they appealed to the American
Ambassador in England, Mr. Walter Hines Page, and were introduced by
him to an American mining engineer named Herbert Clark Hoover, who
had just become prominent as the chairman of a committee to assist
Americans who had found themselves in Europe when the war broke out,
and had been unable to secure funds.
Mr. Hoover took up the matter with great vigor, and organized an
American committee under the patronage of the ministers of the United
States and of Spain in London, Berlin, The Hague and Brussels, which
committee obtained permission from the British Government to purchase
and transport through the British blockade, to Rotterdam, Holland,
cargoes of foodstuffs, to be ultimately transferred into Belgium and
distributed by the Belgian Central Relief Committee under the direction
of American citizens headed by Mr. Brand Whitlock.
The following brief notices, in connection with this committee appeared
in the London _Times_:
October 24, 1914.--A commission has been set up in London, under the
title of The American Commission for Relief in Belgium. The Brussels
committee reports feeding 300,000 daily.
November 4.--The Commission for Relief in Belgium yesterday issued
their first weekly report, 3 London Wall Buildings. A cargo was
received yesterday at Brussels just in time. Estimated monthly
requirements, 60,000 tons grain, 15,000 tons maize, 3,000 tons rice
and peas. Approved by the Spanish and American ministers, Brussels.
The personality of the various gentlemen who devoted themselves to
Belgian relief is interesting, not only because of what they did,
but because they are unusual men. The Spanish Minister, who bore the
peculiar name of Marquis of Villalobar y O’Neill, had the appearance
of an Irishman, as he was on the maternal side, and was a trained
diplomat, with delightful manners and extraordinary strength of
character. Another important aid in the Belgian relief work was
the Mexican Chargé d’Affaires Señor don German Bullé. Hugh Gibson,
secretary of the American Legation, wittily described this gentleman as
the “representative of a country without a government to a government
without a country.” The businessman in the American Legation was this
secretary. Mr. Gibson had the appearance of a typical Yankee, though he
came from Indiana. He was about thirty years old, with dark eyes, crisp
hair, and a keen face. He was noted for his wit as well as his courage.
Many interesting stories are told of him. He had been often under fire,
and he was full of stories of his exploits told in a witty and modest
way.
The following incident shows something of his humor. Like most of the
Americans in Belgium he was followed by spies. With one of these Gibson
became on the most familiar terms, much to the spy’s disgust. One very
rainy day, when Gibson was at the Legation, he discovered his pet spy
standing under the dripping eaves of a neighboring house. Gibson picked
up a raincoat and hurried over to the man.
“Look here, old fellow,” said he, “I’m going to be in the Legation for
three hours. You put on this coat and go home. Come back in three hours
and I’ll let you watch me for the rest of the day.”
Mr. Brand Whitlock, the American Minister, was a remarkable man.
Before coming to Belgium he had become a distinguished man of letters.
Beginning as a newspaper reporter in Chicago, he had studied law and
been admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1894, and to the Bar of the State
of Ohio in 1897. He had entered into politics, and been elected mayor
of Toledo, Ohio, in 1905, again in 1907, 1909 and 1911. Meanwhile he
had been writing novels, “The Thirteenth District,” “The Turn of the
Balance,” “The Fall Guy,” and “Forty Years of It.” He had accepted
the appointment of American Minister to Belgium with the idea that he
would find leisure for other literary work, but the outbreak of the war
affected him deeply. A man of a sympathetic character who had lived
all his life in an amiable atmosphere, had been a member of prison
reform associations and charitable societies, he now found himself
surrounded by a storm of horrors. Day by day he had to see the distress
and suffering of thousands of people. He threw himself at once into the
work of relief. His health was not strong and he always looked tired
and worn. He was the scholarly type of man, the kind who would be happy
in a library, or in the atmosphere of a college, but he rose to the
emergency.
The American Legation became the one staple point around which the
starving and suffering population could rally. Belgians will never
forget what he did in those days. On Washington’s Birthday they filed
before the door of the American Legation at Number 74 Rue de Trèves,
men, women and children of all classes; some in furs, some in the
garments of the poor; noblemen, scholars, workmen, artists, shopkeepers
and peasants to leave their visiting cards, some engraved, some printed
and some written on pieces of paper, in tribute to Mr. Whitlock and the
nation which he represented.
But the man whose name stands out above all others as one of the
biggest figures in connection with the work of relief was Mr. Herbert
C. Hoover. Mr. Hoover came of Quaker stock. He was born at West Branch,
Iowa, in 1874, graduated from Leland Stanford University in 1895,
specialized in mining engineering, and spent several years in mining
in the United States and in Australia. He married Miss Lou Henry, of
Monterey, California, in 1899, and with his bride went to China as
chief engineer of the Chinese Imperial Bureau of Mines. He aided in the
defense of Tientsin during the Boxer Rebellion. After that he continued
engineering work in China until 1902, when he became a partner of the
firm of Bewick, Moreing & Co., mine operators, of London, and was
consulting engineer for more than fifty mining companies. He looked
extremely youthful; smooth shaven, with a straight nose, and a strong
mouth and chin. To him, more than anyone else, was due the creation
and the success of the Commission for Relief in Belgium. The splendid
organization which saved from so much suffering more than seven million
non-combatants in Belgium and two million in Northern France, was his
achievement.
A good story is told in the _Outlook_ of September 8, 1915, which
illustrates his methods. It seems that before the commission was
fairly on its feet, there came a day when it was a case of snarling
things in red tape and letting Belgium starve, or getting food shipped
and letting governments howl. Hoover naturally chose the latter.
When the last bag had been stowed and the hatches were battened down
(writes Mr. Lewis R. Freeman, who tells the story), Hoover went in
person to the one Cabinet Minister able to arrange for the only things
he could not provide for himself--clearance papers.
“If I do not get four cargoes of food to Belgium by the end of the
week,” he said bluntly, “thousands are going to die from starvation,
and many more may be shot in food riots.”
“Out of the question,” said the distinguished Minister; “there is no
time, in the first place, and if there was, there are no good wagons to
be spared by the railways, no dock hands, and no steamers. Moreover,
the Channel is closed for a week to merchant vessels, while troops are
being transferred to the Continent.”
“I have managed to get all these things,” Hoover replied quietly, “and
am now through with them all, except the steamers. This wire tells me
that these are now loaded and ready to sail, and I have come to have
you arrange for their clearance.”
The great man gasped. “There have been--there are even now--men in
the Tower for less than you have done!” he ejaculated. “If it was for
anything but Belgian Relief--if it was anybody but you, young man--I
should hate to think of what might happen. As it is--er--I suppose
there is nothing to do but congratulate you on a jolly clever coup.
I’ll see about the clearance at once.”
Mr. Lloyd George tells the following story: It seems that the
Commission on Belgian Relief was attempting to simplify its work by
arranging for an extension of exchange facilities on Brussels. Mr.
Lloyd George, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, sent for Hoover. What
happened is told in Mr. George’s words.
“‘Mr. Hoover,’ I said, ‘I find I am quite unable to grant your request
in the matter of Belgian exchange, and I have asked you to come here
that I might explain why.’
“Without waiting for me to go on, my boyish-looking caller began
speaking. For fifteen minutes he spoke without a break--just about
the clearest expository utterance I have ever heard on any subject.
He used not a word too much, nor yet a word too few. By the time he
had finished I had come to realize, not only the importance of his
contentions, but, what was more to the point, the practicability of
granting his request. So I did the only thing possible under the
circumstance, told him I had never understood the question before,
thanked him for helping me to understand, and saw to it that things
were arranged as he wanted them.”
On April 10, 1915, a submarine torpedoed one of the food ships
chartered by the commission. A week later a German hydro-airplane tried
to drop bombs on the deck of another commission ship. So Hoover paid a
flying visit to Berlin. He was at once assured that no more incidents
of the sort would occur.
[Illustration: AN AIRPLANE CONVOY
Food ships successfully convoyed by seaplanes in clear weather when
submarines were easier to detect.]
“Thanks,” said Hoover. “Your Excellency, have you heard the story of
the man who was nipped by a bad-tempered dog? He went to the owner to
have the dog muzzled. ‘But the dog won’t bite you,’ insisted the owner.
‘You know he won’t bite me, and I know he won’t bite me,’ said the
injured party doubtfully, ‘but the question is, does the dog know?’”
“Herr Hoover,” said the high official, “pardon me if I leave you for a
moment. I am going at once to ‘let the dog know.’”
This story, which is told by Mr. Edward Eyre Hunt in his delightful
book about Belgium, “War Bread,” may be apocryphal, but it illustrates
well Hoover’s habit of getting exactly what he wants.
When Mr. Hoover accepted the chairmanship of the Commission for Relief
in Belgium he established his headquarters at 3 London Wall Buildings,
London, England, and marshaled a small legion of fellow Americans,
business men, sanitary experts, doctors and social workers, who, as
unpaid volunteers, set about the great task of feeding the people
of Belgium and Northern France. The commission soon became a great
institution, recognized by all governments, receiving contributions
from all parts of the earth, with its own ships in every big port, and
in the eyes of the Belgians and French, who received their daily bread
through its agency, a monument of what Americans could do in social
organization and business efficiency, for Americans furnished the
entire personnel of the commission from the beginning.
The commission was a distinct organization from the Belgian National
Committee, through and with which it worked in Belgium itself. Its
functions were those of direction, and supervision of all matters that
had to be dealt with outside Belgium. In the occupied territories it
had the help of thousands of Belgian and French workers, many of them
women.
The commission did not depend, according to Mr. Hoover, on any one of
its American members for leadership. Any one of them could at any
time take charge and carry on the work. “Honold, Poland, Gregory,
Brown, Kellogg, Lucey, White, Hunsiker, Connet, and many others who,
at various periods, have given of their great ability and experience
in administration could do it.” At the same time it was admitted that
the commission would never have been so successful if Belgium had not
already had in existence a well-developed communal system. The base
of the commission’s organization was a committee in every commune or
municipality.
“You can have no idea what a great blessing it was in Belgium and
Northern France to have the small and intimate divisions which exist
under the communal system,” said Mr. Hoover. “It is the whole unit
of life, and a political entity much more developed than in America.
It has been not only the basis of our relief organization, but the
salvation of the people.”
Altogether there were four thousand communal committees, linked up in
larger groups under district and provincial committees, which in turn
came under the Belgian National Committee. Contributions were received
from all over the world, but the greater part from the British and
French governments.
When Mr. Hoover began his work he appealed to the people of the
United States, but the American response to the appeal was sadly
disappointing. During his stay in America, in the early part of 1917,
Mr. Hoover expressed himself on the subject of his own country’s
niggardliness, pointing out at the same time that the chief profits
made out of providing food for Belgium had gone into American pockets.
Out of the two hundred and fifty millions of dollars spent by the
commission at that time, one hundred and fifty millions had been used
in the United States to purchase supplies and on these orders America
had made a war profit of at least thirty million dollars. Yet in those
two years the American people had contributed only nine million dollars!
Mr. Hoover declared: “Thousands of contributions have come to us from
devoted people all over the United States, but the truth is that,
with the exception of a few large gifts, American contributions have
been little rills of charity of the poor toward the poor. Everywhere
abroad America has been getting the credit for keeping alight the lamp
of humanity, but what are the facts? America’s contributions have been
pitifully inadequate and, do not forget it, other peoples have begun
to take stock of us. We have been getting all the credit. Have we
deserved it? We lay claim to idealism, to devotion to duty and to great
benevolence, but now the acid test is being applied to us. This has
a wider import than mere figures. Time and time again, when the door
to Belgium threatened to close, we have defended its portals by the
assertion that this was an American enterprise; that the sensibilities
of the American people would be wounded beyond measure, would be
outraged, if this work were interfered with. Our moral strength has
been based upon this assertion. I believe it is true, but it is
difficult in the face of the figures to carry conviction. And in the
last six or eight months time and again we have felt our influence slip
from under us.”
The statement that Germans had taken food intended for the Belgians
was disposed of by Mr. Hoover in a speech in New York City. “We are
satisfied,” he said, “that the German army has never eaten one-tenth of
one per cent of the food provided. The Allied governments never would
have supplied us with two hundred million dollars if we were supplying
the German army. If the Germans had absorbed any considerable quantity
of this food the population of Belgium would not be alive today.”
The plan of operation of the Belgian Commission needs some description.
Besides the headquarters in London there was an office in Brussels,
and, as Rotterdam was the port of entry for all Belgian supplies, a
transshipping office for commission goods was opened in that city. The
office building was at 98 Haringvliet, formerly the residence of a
Dutch merchant prince.
Captain J. F. Lucey, the first Rotterdam director, sat in a roomy
office on the second floor overlooking the Meuse. From his windows he
could see the commission barges as they left for Belgium, their huge
canvas flags bearing the inscription “Belgian Relief Committee.” He
was a nervous, big, beardless American, a volunteer who had left his
business to organize and direct a great transshipping office in an
alien land for an alien people.
Out of nothing he created a large staff of clerks, wrung from the Dutch
Government special permits, loaded the immense cargoes received from
England into canal boats, obtained passports for cargoes and crews, and
shipped the foodstuffs consigned personally to Mr. Brand Whitlock.
Something of what was done at this point may be understood from a
reference in the first annual report of the commission published
October 31, 1915:
The chartering and management of an entire fleet of vessels, together
with agency control practically throughout the world, has been
carried out for the commission quite free of the usual charges by
large transportation firms who offered these concessions in the cause
of humanity. Banks generally have given their exchange services and
have paid the full rate of interest on deposits. Insurance has been
facilitated by the British Government Insurance Commissioners, and
the firms who fixed the insurance have subscribed the equivalent of
their fees. Harbor dues and port charges have been remitted at many
points and stevedoring firms have made important concessions in rates
and have afforded other generous services. In Holland, exemption from
harbor dues and telegraph tolls has been granted and rail transport
into Belgium provided free of charge. The total value of these Dutch
concessions is estimated at 147,824 guilders. The German military
authorities in Belgium have abolished custom and canal duties on all
commission imports, have reduced railway rates one-half and on canals
and railways they give right of way to commission foodstuffs wherever
there is need.
By mid-November gift ships from the United States were on their way to
Rotterdam, but the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was first in the
transatlantic race.
One of the most thrilling experiences of the first year’s work was
the coming of the Christmas ship, a steamer full of Christmas gifts
presented by the children of America to the children of war-ridden
Belgium. The children knew all about it long before the ship arrived
in Rotterdam. St. Nicholas’ day had brought them few presents. They
were hungry for friendliness, and the thought of getting gifts from
children across the sea filled them with joy.
Many difficulties arose, which delayed the distribution of these gifts.
The Germans insisted that every package should be opened and every
scrap of writing taken out before the gifts were sent into Belgium.
This was a tremendous task, for notes written by American children were
tucked away into all sorts of places.
Three motor boats made an attempt to carry these gifts into Belgium
by Christmas day. They carried boxes of clothing, outfits for babies,
blankets, caps, bonnets, cloaks, shoes of every description, babies’
boots, candy, fish, striped candy canes, chocolates and mountains of
nuts, nuts such as the Belgians had never seen in their lives before:
pecans, hickory nuts, American walnuts, and peanuts galore. There were
scores of dolls, French bisques, smiling pleasantly, pop-eyed rag
dolls, old darky mammy dolls, and Santa Clauses, picture books, fairy
books and story books.
One child had written on the cover of her book: “Father says I ought to
send you my best picture book, but I think that this one will do.”
These gifts made the American aid to Belgium a thousand times more
intimate and real, and never after that was American help thought of
in other terms than those of burning gratitude. Among these gifts were
hundreds of American flags, which soon became familiar to all Belgium.
The commission automobiles bore the flag, and the children would
recognize the Stars and Stripes and wave and cheer as it went by.
Thousands upon thousands of gifts to the Belgian people followed
the Christmas ship. All, or a great part, of the cargoes of one
hundred and two ships consisted of gift goods from America and indeed
from all parts of the world, and the Belgians sent back a flood of
acknowledgments and thousands of beautiful souvenirs. Some of the most
touching remembrances came from the children. Every child in the town
of Tamise, for example, wrote a letter to America.
One addressed to the President of the United States reads as follows:
Highly Honored Mr. President: Although I am still very young I feel
already that feeling of thankfulness which we, as Belgians, owe to
you, Highly Honored Mr. President, because you have come to our help
in these dreary times. Without your help there would certainly have
been thousands of war victims, and so, Noble Sir, I pray that God
will bless you and all the noble American people. That is the wish of
all the Belgian folk.
On New Year’s day Cardinal Mercier, Archbishop of Malines, issued his
famous pastoral:
Belgium gave her word of honor to defend her independence. She has
kept her word. The other powers had agreed to protect and to respect
Belgium’s neutrality. Germany has broken her word, England has been
faithful to it. These are the facts. I consider it an obligation
of my pastoral charge to define to you your conscientious duties
toward the power which has invaded our soil, and which for the moment
occupies the greater part of it. This power has no authority, and
therefore, in the depth of your heart, you should render it neither
esteem, nor attachment, nor respect. The only legitimate power in
Belgium is that which belongs to our King, to his government, to the
representatives of the nation; that alone is authority for us; that
alone has a right to our heart’s affection and to our submission.
Cardinal Mercier was called the bravest man in Belgium. Six feet
five in height, a thin, scholarly face, with grayish white hair,
and a forehead so white that one feels one looks on the naked bone,
he presented the appearance of some medieval ascetic. But there was
a humorous look about his mouth, and an expression of sympathy and
comprehension which gave the effect of a keenly intelligent, as well as
gentle, leader of the nation.
At the beginning of the war the Roman Catholic party was divided. Some
of its leaders were opposed to resistance to the invaders. Many priests
fled before the German armies. But the pastoral letter of Cardinal
Mercier restored to the Church its old leadership. In him conquered
Belgium had found a voice.
On New Year’s Sunday, 1915, every priest at the Mass read out the
Cardinal’s ringing challenge. There were German soldiers in the
churches, but no word of the letter had been allowed to reach the
ears of the authorities, and the Germans were taken completely by
surprise. Immediately orders came from headquarters prohibiting
further circulation of the letter, and ordering that every copy should
be surrendered to the authorities. Soldiers at the bayonet’s point
extorted the letter from the priests, and those who had read it were
put under arrest. Yet, somehow, copies of the letter were circulated
throughout Belgium, and every Belgian took new heart.
As far as the Cardinal was concerned German action was a very delicate
matter. They could not arrest and imprison so great a dignitary of the
Church for fear of the effect, not only upon the Catholics of the outer
world, but on the Catholics in their own Empire. An officer was sent
to the Cardinal to demand that the letter be recalled. The Cardinal
refused. He was then notified that it was desired that he remain in
his palace for the present. His confinement lasted only for a day.
The Americans who were in Belgium as representatives of the Relief
Commission had two duties. First, to see that the Germans did not seize
any of the food supplies, and second, to see that every Belgian who
was in need should receive his daily bread. The ration assigned to
each Belgian was 250 grams of bread per day. This seems rather small,
but the figure was established by Horace Fletcher, the American food
expert, who was one of the members of the commission.
Mr. Fletcher also prepared a pamphlet on food values, which gave
recipes for American dishes which were up to that time unknown to
the Belgians. He soon got not only the American but the Belgian
committeemen talking of calories with great familiarity.
Some of the foods sent from America were at first almost useless to the
Belgians. They did not know how to cook cornmeal and oatmeal, and some
of the famished peasants used them as feed for chickens. Teachers had
to be sent out through the villages to give instructions.
A great deal of difficulty developed in connection with the bread.
The supply of white flour was limited; wheat had to be imported, and
milled in Belgium. It was milled so as to contain all the bran except
ten per cent, but in some places ten or fifteen per cent of cornmeal
was added to the flour, not only to enable the commission to provide
the necessary ration, but also to keep down the price. As a result the
price of bread was always lower in Belgium than in London, Paris or New
York.
Much less trouble occurred in connection with the distribution of bread
and soup from the soup kitchens. In Antwerp thirty-five thousand men
were fed daily at these places. At first it often occurred that soup
could be had, but no bread. The ration of soup and bread given in the
kitchens cost about ten cents a day. There were four varieties of soup,
pea, bean, vegetable and bouillon, and it was of excellent quality.
Every person carried a card with blank spaces for the date of the
deliveries of soup. There were several milk kitchens maintained for the
children, and several restaurants where persons with money might obtain
their food.
It was necessary not only to fight starvation in Belgium but also
disease. There were epidemics of typhoid and black measles. The
Rockefeller Foundation established a station in Rotterdam called the
Rockefeller Foundation War Relief Commission, and some of the women
among its workers acted as volunteer health officers. People were
inoculated against typhoid, and the sources of infection traced and
destroyed. Another form of relief work was providing labor for the
unemployed. A plan of relief was drawn up and it was arranged that a
large portion of them should be employed by the communal organizations,
in public works, such as draining, ditching, constructing bridges and
embankments and building sewers.
The National Committee paid nine-tenths of the wages, the commune
paying the other tenth. The first enrolment of unemployed amounted to
more than 760,000 names, and nearly as many persons were dependent upon
these workers.
Providing employment for these led to certain complications. The
Germans had been able up to this time to secure a certain amount of
labor from the Belgians. Now the Belgian could refuse to work for the
German, and a great deal of tact was necessary to prevent trouble. As
time went on the relief work of the commission was extended into the
north of France, where a population of more than 2,000,000 was within
the German zone. The work was handled in the same way, with the same
guarantees from Germany.
In conclusion a word may be said of the effect of all this suffering
upon the Belgian people, and let a Belgian speak, who knew his country
well and had traveled it over, going on foot, as he says, or by tram,
from town to town, from village to village:
“I have seen and spoken with hundreds of men of all classes and all
parts of the country, and all these people, taken singly or united in
groups, display a very definite frame of mind. To describe this new
psychology we must record the incontestably closer union which has
been formed between the political sections of the country. There are
no longer any political parties, there are Belgians in Belgium, and
that is all; Belgians better acquainted with their country, feeling
for it an impulse of passionate tenderness such as a child might feel
who saw his mother suffering for the first time, and on his account.
Walloons and Flemings, Catholics and Liberals or Socialists, all are
more and more frankly united in all that concerns the national life and
decisions for the future.
“By uniting the whole nation and its army, by shedding the blood of all
our Belgians in every corner of the country, by forcing all hearts, all
families, to follow with anguish the movement of those soldiers who
fought from Liége to Namur, from Wavre to Antwerp or the Oise, the war
has suddenly imposed wider horizons upon all, has inspired all minds
with noble and ardent passions, has compelled the good will of all to
combine and act in concert in order to defend the common interests.
“Of these profoundly tried minds, of these wonderful energies now
employed for the first time, of these atrocious sufferings which have
brought all hearts into closer contact, a new Belgium is born, a
greater, more generous, more ideal Belgium.”
CHAPTER IV
BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES
The month of October, 1914, contained no important naval contests. On
the 15th, the old British cruiser Hawke was torpedoed in the North Sea
and nearly five hundred men were lost. On the other hand, on the 17th
of October, the light cruiser Undaunted, accompanied by the destroyers,
Lance, Legion and Loyal, sank four German destroyers off the Dutch
coast. But the opening of November turned the interest of the navy to
the Southern Pacific. When the war began Admiral von Spee, with the
German Pacific squadron, was at Kiaochau in command of seven vessels.
Among these was the Emden, whose adventurous career has been already
described. Another, the Karlsruhe, became a privateer in the South
Atlantic.
Early in August Von Spee set sail from Kiaochau with two armored
cruisers, the Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst and three light cruisers,
the Dresden, Leipzig and Nurmberg. These ships were comparatively new,
well armed, and of considerable speed. They set off for the great trade
highways to destroy, as far as possible, British commerce. Their route
led them to the western coast of South America, and arrangements were
made so that they were coaled and provisioned from bases in some of the
South American states which permitted a slack observance of the laws
respecting the duties of neutrals.
A small British squadron had been detailed to protect British commerce
in this part of the world. It was commanded by Rear-Admiral Sir
Christopher Cradock, a distinguished and popular sailor, who had under
his command one twelve-year-old battleship, the Canopus, two armored
cruisers, the Good Hope and the Monmouth, the light cruiser Glasgow,
and an armed liner, the Otranto. None of these vessels had either great
speed or heavy armament. The equipment of the Canopus, indeed, was
obsolete. Admiral Cradock’s squadron arrived at Halifax on August 14th,
thence sailed to Bermuda, then on past Venezuela and Brazil around the
Horn. It visited the Falkland Islands, and by the third week of October
was on the coast of Chile. The Canopus had dropped behind for repairs,
and though reinforcements were expected, they had not yet arrived. They
knew that their force was inferior to that of Admiral von Spee.
One officer wrote, on the 12th of October, “From now till the end of
the month is the critical time, as it will decide whether we shall
have to fight a superior German force from the Pacific before we
can get reinforcements from home or the Mediterranean. We feel that
the admiralty ought to have a better force here, but we shall fight
cheerfully whatever odds we have to face.”
Admiral Cradock knew well that his enemy was superior in force. From
Coronel, where he sent off some cables, he went north on the first of
November, and about four o’clock in the afternoon the Glasgow sighted
the enemy. The two big German armored cruisers were leading the way,
and two light cruisers were following close. The German cruiser Leipzig
does not seem to have been in company. The British squadron was led
by the Good Hope, with the Monmouth, Glasgow and Otranto following
in order. It was a beautiful spectacle. The sun was setting in the
wonderful glory which one sees in the Pacific, and the British ships,
west of the German, must have appeared to them in brilliant colors. On
the east were the snowy peaks of the Andes. Half a gale was blowing and
the two squadrons moved south at great speed. About seven o’clock they
were about seven miles apart and the Scharnhorst, which was leading the
German fleet, opened fire. At this time the Germans were shaded by the
inshore twilight, but the British ships must have showed up plainly in
the afterglow. The enemy fired with great accuracy. Shell after shell
hit the Good Hope and the Monmouth, but the bad light and inferior guns
saved the German ships from much damage. The Good Hope was set on fire
and at seven-fifty exploded and sank. The Monmouth was also on fire,
and turned away to the western sea. The Glasgow had escaped so far,
but the whole German squadron bore down upon her. She turned and fled
and by nine o’clock was out of sight of the enemy. The Otranto, only
an armed liner, had disappeared early in the fight. On the following
day the Glasgow worked around to the south, and joined the Canopus, and
the two proceeded to the Straits of the Magellan. The account of this
battle by the German Admiral von Spee is of especial interest:
“Wind and swell were head on, and the vessels had heavy going,
especially the small cruisers on both sides. Observation and distance
estimation were under a severe handicap because of the seas which
washed over the bridges. The swell was so great that it obscured the
aim of the gunners at the six-inch guns on the middle deck, who could
not see the sterns of the enemy ships at all, and the bow but seldom.
At 6.20 P. M., at a distance of 13,400 yards, I turned one point
toward the enemy, and at 6.34 opened fire at a distance of 11,260
yards. The guns of both our armored cruisers were effective, and at
6.39 already we could note the first hit on the Good Hope. I at once
resumed a parallel course, instead of bearing slightly toward the
enemy. The English opened their fire at this time. I assume that the
heavy sea made more trouble for them than it did for us. Their two
armored cruisers remained covered by our fire, while they, so far as
could be determined, hit the Scharnhorst but twice, and the Gneisenau
only four times. At 6.53, when 6,500 yards apart, I ordered a course
one point away from the enemy. They were firing more slowly at this
time, while we were able to count numerous hits. We could see, among
other things, that the top of the Monmouth’s forward turret had been
shot away, and that a violent fire was burning in the turret. The
Scharnhorst, it is thought, hit the Good Hope about thirty-five times.
In spite of our altered course the English changed theirs sufficiently
so that the distance between us shrunk to 5,300 yards. There was
reason to suspect that the enemy despaired of using his artillery
effectively, and was maneuvering for a torpedo attack.
“The position of the moon which had risen at six o’clock, was favorable
to this move. Accordingly I gradually opened up further distances
between the squadrons by another deflection of the leading ship, at
7.45. In the meantime it had grown dark. The range finders on the
Scharnhorst used the fire on the Monmouth as a guide for a time,
though eventually all range finding, aiming and observations became so
inexact that fire was stopped at 7.26. At 7.23 a column of fire from an
explosion was noticed between the stacks of the Good Hope. The Monmouth
apparently stopped firing at 7.20. The small cruisers, including the
Nuremburg, received by wireless at 7.30 the order to follow the enemy
and to attack his ships with torpedoes. Vision was somewhat obscured
at this time by a rain squall. The light cruisers were not able to
find the Good Hope, but the Nuremburg encountered the Monmouth and at
8.58 was able, by shots at closest range, to capsize her, without a
single shot being fired in return. Rescue work in the heavy sea was not
to be thought of, especially as the Nuremburg immediately afterwards
believed she had sighted the smoke of another ship and had to prepare
for another attack. The small cruisers had neither losses nor damage in
the battle. On the Gneisenau there were two men slightly wounded. The
crews of the ships went into the fight with enthusiasm, everyone did
his duty, and played his part in the victory.”
Little criticism can be made of the tactics used by Vice-Admiral Spee.
He appears to have maneuvered so as to secure the advantage of light,
wind and sea. He also seems to have suited himself as regards the range.
Admiral Cradock was much criticised for joining battle with his little
fleet against such odds, but he followed the glorious traditions of
the English navy. He, and 1,650 officers and men, were lost, and the
news was hailed as a great German victory. But the British admiralty
were thoroughly roused. Rear-Admiral Sir Frederick Doveton Sturdee,
chief of the war staff, proceeded at once with a squadron to the South
Atlantic. With him were two battle cruisers, the Invincible and the
Inflexible, three armored cruisers, the Carnovan, the Kent and the
Cornwall. His fleet was joined by the light cruiser Bristol and the
armed liner Macedonia. The Glasgow, fresh from her rough experience,
was found in the South Atlantic. Admiral Sturdee then laid his plans to
come in touch with the victorious German squadron. A wireless message
was sent to the Canopus, bidding her proceed to Port Stanley in the
Falkland Islands. This message was intercepted by the Germans, as was
intended.
Admiral von Spee, fearing the Japanese fleet, was already headed for
Cape Horn. He thought that the Canopus could be easily captured at
Port Stanley, and he started at once to that port. Admiral Sturdee’s
expedition had been kept profoundly secret. On December 7th the British
squadron arrived at Port Stanley, and spent the day coaling. The
Canopus, the Glasgow and the Bristol were in the inner harbor, while
the remaining vessels lay outside. On December 8th, Admiral von Spee
arrived from the direction of Cape Horn. The battle that followed is
thoroughly described in the report of Vice-Admiral Sturdee from which
the following extracts have been made:
“At 8 A. M., Tuesday, December 8th, a signal was received from the
signal station on shore. ‘A four-funnel and two-funnel man-of-war in
sight from Sapper Hill steering north.’ The Kent was at once ordered
to weigh anchor, and a general signal was made to raise steam for full
speed. At 8.20 the signal service station reported another column
of smoke in sight, and at 8.47 the Canopus reported that the first
two ships were eight miles off, and that the smoke reported at 8.20
appeared to be the smoke of two ships about twenty miles off. At 9.20
A. M. the two leading ships of the enemy, the Gneisenau and Nuremburg,
with guns trained on the wireless station, came within range of the
Canopus, which opened fire at them across the lowland at a range of
11,000 yards. The enemy at once hoisted their colors, and turned away.
A few minutes later the two cruisers altered course to port, as though
to close the Kent at the entrance to the harbor. But at about this time
it seems that the Invincible and Inflexible were seen over the land,
and the enemy at once altered course, and increased speed to join their
consorts. At 9.45 A. M. the squadron weighed anchor and proceeded out
of the harbor, the Carnovan leading. On passing Cape Pembroke light,
the five ships of the enemy appeared clearly in sight to the southeast,
hull down. The visibility was at its maximum, the sea was calm, with
a bright sun, a clear sky, and a light breeze from the northwest. At
10.20 the signal for a general chase was made. At this time the enemy’s
funnels and bridges showed just above the horizon. Information was
received from the Bristol at 11.27 that three enemy ships had appeared
off Port Pleasant, probably colliers or transports. The Bristol was
therefore directed to take the Macedonia under orders, and destroy
transports.
“The enemy were still maintaining their distance, and I decided at
12.20 P. M. to attack, with the two battle cruisers and the Glasgow. At
12.47 P. M. the signal to ‘Open fire and engage the enemy’ was made.
The Inflexible opened fire at 12.55 P. M. at the right-hand ship of the
enemy, and a few minutes later the Invincible opened fire at the same
ship. The deliberate fire became too threatening, and when a shell fell
close alongside her at 1.20 P. M. she, the Leipzig, turned away, with
the Nuremburg and Dresden, to the southwest. These light cruisers were
at once followed by the Kent, Glasgow and Cornwall.
“The action finally developed into three separate encounters. First,
the action with the armored cruisers. The fire of the battle cruisers
was directed on the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The effect of this was
quickly seen, when, with the Scharnhorst leading, they turned about
seven points to port, and opened fire. Shortly afterwards the battle
cruisers were ordered to turn together with the Invincible leading.
The enemy then turned about ten points to starboard, and a second
chase ensued until, at 2.45, the battle cruisers again opened fire.
This caused the enemy to turn into line ahead to port and open fire.
The Scharnhorst caught fire forward, but not seriously, and her fire
slackened perceptibly. The Gneisenau was badly hit by the Inflexible.
“At 3.30 P. M. the Scharnhorst turned about ten points to starboard,
her fire had slackened perceptibly, and one shell had shot away her
third funnel. Some guns were not firing, and it would appear that the
turn was dictated by a desire to bring her starboard guns into action.
The effect of the fire on the Scharnhorst became more and more apparent
in consequence of smoke from fires and also escaping steam. At times
a shell would cause a large hole to appear in her side, through which
could be seen a dull, red glow of flame.
“At 4.04 P. M. the Scharnhorst, whose flag remained flying to the
last, suddenly listed heavily to port, and within a minute it became
clear that she was a doomed ship, for the list increased very rapidly
until she lay on her beam ends. At 4.17 P. M. she disappeared. The
Gneisenau passed on the far side of her late flagship, and continued a
determined, but ineffectual, effort to fight the two battle cruisers.
At 5.08 P. M. the forward funnel was knocked over, and remained resting
against the second funnel. She was evidently in serious straits, and
her fire slackened very much.
“At 5.15 P. M. one of the Gneisenau’s shells struck the Invincible.
This was her last effective effort. At 5.30 P. M. she turned toward
the flagship with a heavy list to starboard, and appeared to stop,
the steam pouring from her escape pipes, and smoke from shell and
fires rising everywhere. About this time I ordered the signal ‘Cease
fire,’ but before it was hoisted, the Gneisenau opened fire again, and
continued to fire from time to time with a single gun. At 5.40 P. M.
the three ships closed in on the Gneisenau, and at this time the flag
flying at her fore truck, was apparently hauled down, but the flag at
the peak continued flying. At 5.50 ‘Cease fire’ was made. At 6 P. M.
the Gneisenau keeled over very suddenly, showing the men gathered on
her decks, and then walking on her side as she lay for a minute on her
beam ends before sinking.
“The prisoners of war from the Gneisenau report that by the time the
ammunition was expended some six hundred men had been killed and
wounded. When the ship capsized and sank there were probably some two
hundred unwounded survivors in the water, but, owing to the shock of
the cold water, many were drowned within sight of the boats and ships.
Every effort was made to save life as quickly as possible, both by
boats and from the ships. Life buoys were thrown and ropes lowered, but
only a portion could be rescued. The Invincible alone rescued a hundred
and eight men, fourteen of whom were found to be dead after being
brought on board. These men were buried at sea the following day, with
full military honors.
“Second, action with the light cruisers. About one P. M. when the
Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau turned to port to engage the Invincible
and the Inflexible, the enemy’s light cruisers turned to starboard to
escape. The Dresden was leading, and the Nuremburg and Leipzig followed
on each quarter. In accordance with my instructions, the Glasgow,
Kent and Cornwall at once went in chase of these ships. The Glasgow
drew well ahead of the Cornwall and Kent, and at 3 P. M. shots were
exchanged with the Leipzig at 12,000 yards. The Glasgow’s object was to
endeavor to outrange the Leipzig, and thus cause her to alter course
and give the Cornwall and Kent a chance of coming into action. At 4.17
P. M. the Cornwall opened fire also on the Leipzig; at 7.17 P. M. the
Leipzig was on fire fore and aft, and the Cornwall and Glasgow ceased
fire. The Leipzig turned over on her port side and disappeared at 9 P.
M. Seven officers and eleven men were saved. At 3.36 P. M. the Cornwall
ordered the Kent to engage the Nuremburg, the nearest cruiser to her.
At 6.35 P. M. the Nuremburg was on fire forward, and ceased firing. The
Kent also ceased firing, then, as the colors were still observed to be
flying on the Nuremburg, the Kent opened fire again. Fire was finally
stopped five minutes later, on the colors being hauled down, and every
preparation was made to save life. The Nuremburg sank at 7.27, and as
she sank a group of men were waving the German ensign attached to a
staff.
“Twelve men were rescued, but only seven survived. The Kent had four
killed and twelve wounded, mostly caused by one shell. During the time
the three cruisers were engaged with the Nuremburg and Leipzig, the
Dresden, which was beyond her consorts, effected her escape, owing to
her superior speed. The Glasgow was the only cruiser with sufficient
speed to have had any chance of success, however she was fully employed
in engaging the Leipzig for over an hour before either the Cornwall or
Kent could come up and get within range. During this time the Dresden
was able to increase her distance and get out of sight. Three, Action
with the enemy’s transports. H.M.S. Macedonia reports that only two
ships, the steamships Baden and Santa Isabel, were present. Both ships
were sunk after removal of the crews.”
[Illustration: UNITED STATES DESTROYERS THROWING OUT A SMOKE SCREEN
By burning smoke pots the light fast vessels are able to create an
artificial cloud which conceals the movements of the battleships from
the enemy.]
Thus was annihilated the last squadron belonging to Germany outside the
North Sea. The defeat of Cradock had been revenged. The British losses
were very small, considering the length of the fight and the desperate
efforts of the German fleet. Only one ship of the German squadron was
able to escape, and this on account of her great speed. The German
sailors went down with colors flying. They died as Cradock’s men had
died.
The naval war now entered upon a new phase. The shores of Great Britain
had for many years been so thoroughly protected by the British navy
that few coast fortifications had been built, except at important naval
stations. Invasion on a grand scale was plainly impossible, so long as
the British fleets held control of the sea. With German guns across
the Channel almost within hearing it was evident that a raiding party
might easily reach the English shore on some foggy night. The English
people were much disturbed. They had read the accounts of the horrible
brutalities of the German troops in Belgium and eastern France, and
they imagined their feelings if a band of such ferocious brutes were to
land in England and pillage their peaceful homes. There was a humorous
side to the way in which the yeomanry and territorials entrenched
themselves along the eastern coast line, but the Germans, angry at the
failure of their fleets, determined to disturb the British peace by
raids, slight as the military advantage of such raids might be.
On November 2d a fleet of German warships sailed from the Elbe. They
were three battle cruisers, the Seydlitz, the Moltke, and the Von Der
Tann; two armored cruisers, the Blücher and the York, and three light
cruisers, the Kolberg, the Graudenz, and the Strasburg. They were
mainly fast vessels and the battle cruisers carried eleven-inch guns.
Early in the morning they ran through the nets of a British fishing
fleet. Later an old coast police boat, the Halcyon, was shot at a few
times. About eight o’clock they were opposite Yarmouth, and proceeded
to bombard that naval station from a distance of about ten miles. Their
range was poor and their shells did no damage. They then turned swiftly
for home, but on the road back the York struck a mine, and was sunk.
[Illustration: English Coast Towns that Were Raided]
On the 16th of December they came again, full of revenge because of the
destruction of von Spee and his squadron. Early in the morning early
risers in Scarborough saw in the north four strange ships. Scarborough
was absolutely without defense. It had once been an artillery depot
but in recent years had been a cavalry station, and some few troops
of this service were quartered there. Otherwise it was an open seaside
resort. The German ships poured shells into the defenseless town,
aiming at every large object they could see, the Grand Hotel, the gas
works, the water works and the wireless station. Churches, public
buildings, and hospitals were hit, as well as private houses. Over five
hundred shells were fired. Then the ships turned around and moved away.
The streets were crowded with puzzled and scared inhabitants, many of
whom, as is customary in watering places, were women, children and
invalids.
[Illustration: GERMANY CARRIES THE WAR TO EAST COAST TOWNS OF ENGLAND
By raids with light cruisers on the coast towns, and Zeppelins and
airplanes further inland, Germany sought to frighten the British
populace. At Hartlepool, where this scene was enacted, several
civilians, some of them women and children, were killed by bursting
shells of the raiders.]
At nine o’clock Whitby, a coast town near Scarborough, saw two great
ships steaming up from the south. Ten minutes later the ships were
firing. The old Abbey of Hilda and Cedman was struck, but on the whole
little damage was done. Another division of the invaders visited
the Hartlepools. There there was a small fort, with a battery of
old-fashioned guns, and off the shore was a small British flotilla,
a gunboat and two destroyers. The three battle cruisers among the
German raiders opened fire. The little British fleet did what they
could but were quickly driven off. The German ships then approached the
shore and fired on the English battery, the first fight with a foreign
foe in England since 1690. The British battery consisted of some
territorials who stood without wavering to their guns and kept up for
half an hour a furious cannonading. A great deal of damage was done;
churches, hospitals, workhouses and schools were all hit. The total
deathroll was 119, and the wounded over 300. Six hundred houses were
damaged or destroyed, but there was a great deal of heroism, not only
among the territorials, but among the inhabitants of the town, and when
the last shots were fired all turned to the work of relief.
Somewhere between nine and ten o’clock the bold German fleet started
for home. The British Grand Fleet had been notified of the raid and
two battle cruiser squadrons were hurrying to intercept them. But the
weather had thickened and the waters of the North Sea were covered
with fog belts stretching for hundreds of miles. And so the raiders
returned safe to receive their Iron Crosses. The German aim in such
raids was probably to create a panic, and so interfere with the English
military plans. If the English had not looked at the matter with common
sense they might easily have been tempted to spend millions of pounds
on seaboard fortifications, and keep millions of men at home who were
more necessary in the armies in France. But the English people kept
their heads.
Germany, perceiving the indignation of the world at these bombardments
of defenseless watering places, endeavored to appease criticism by
describing them as fortified towns. But the well-known excellence of
the German system of espionage makes it plain that they knew the true
condition of affairs. These towns were not selected as fortified towns,
but because they were not, and destruction in unfortified towns it was
thought would have a greater effect than in a fortified town where it
would be regarded as among the natural risks of war.
During the rest of the year of 1914 no further sea-fight took place in
the North Sea nor was there any serious loss to the navy from torpedo
or submarine. But on the first of January, 1915, the British ship
Formidable, 15,000 tons, was struck by two torpedoes and sunk. The
previous day she had left Sheerness with eight vessels of the Channel
fleet and with no protection from destroyers. The night was a bright
moonlight and for such vessels to be moving in line on such a night
without destroyers shows gross carelessness. Out of a crew of 800 men
only 201 were saved, and the rescue of this part of the crew was due to
the seamanship of Captain Pillar of the trawler Providence, who managed
to take most of those rescued on board his vessel.
On January 24th the German battle cruiser squadron under Rear-Admiral
Hipper set sail from Wilhelmshaven. What his object was is not known.
He had enlarged the mine field north of Helgoland and north of the
mine field had stationed a submarine flotilla. It is likely that he was
planning to induce the British fleet to follow him into the mine field,
or within reach of his submarines. That same morning the British battle
cruiser squadron under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty put to sea.
According to the official report of the English Admiral he was in
command of the following vessels: battle cruisers, the Lion, Princess
Royal, the Tiger, the New Zealand, and the Indomitable; light cruisers,
the Southampton, the Nottingham, the Birmingham, the Lowestoft, the
Arethusa, the Aurora and the Undaunted, with destroyer flotillas under
Commodore Tyrwhitt. The German Admiral had with him the Seydlitz,
the Moltke, the Derfflinger, the Blücher, six light cruisers and a
destroyer flotilla. The English Admiral apparently had some hint of the
plans of the German squadron. The night of the 23d had been foggy; in
the morning, however, the wind came from the northeast and cleared off
the mists. An abridgment of the official report gives a good account
of the battle, sometimes called the battle of Dogger Bank:
[Illustration: _Courtesy of Joseph A. Steinmetz, Phila._
THE EYE OF THE SUBMARINE
Diagram of a periscope, showing how, when its tip is lifted out of
water, a picture of the sea’s surface is reflected downward from a
prism, through lenses, and then a lower prism to the officer’s eye. It
turns in any direction.]
“At 7.25 A. M. the flash of guns was observed south-southeast; shortly
afterwards the report reached me from the Aurora that she was engaged
with enemy ships. I immediately altered course to south-southeast,
increased speed, and ordered the light cruisers and flotillas to get
in touch and report movements of enemy. This order was acted upon
with great promptitude, indeed my wishes had already been forestalled
by the respective senior officers, and reports almost immediately
followed from the Southampton, Arethusa, and Aurora as to the position
and composition of the enemy. The enemy had altered their course to
southeast; from now onward the light cruisers maintained touch with
the enemy and kept me fully informed as to their movements. The battle
cruisers worked up to full speed, steering to the southward; the wind
at the time was northeast, light, with extreme visibility.
“At 7.30 A. M. the enemy were sighted on the port bow, steaming fast,
steering approximately southeast, distance fourteen miles. Owing to the
prompt reports received we had attained our position on the quarter of
the enemy, and altered course to run parallel to them. We then settled
down to a long stern chase, gradually increasing our speed until we
reached 28.5 knots.
“Great credit is due to the engineer staffs of the New Zealand and
Indomitable. These ships greatly exceeded their speed. At 8.52 A. M.,
as we had closed within 20,000 yards of the rear ship, the battle
cruisers maneuvered so that guns would bear and the Lion fired a single
shot which fell short. The enemy at this time were in single line
ahead, with light cruisers ahead and a large number of destroyers on
their starboard beam. Single shots were fired at intervals to test
the range and at 9.09 the Lion made her first hit on the Blücher, the
rear ship of the German line. At 9.20 the Tiger opened fire on the
Blücher, and the Lion shifted to the third in the line, this ship
being hit by several salvos. The enemy returned our fire at 9.14
A. M., the Princess Royal, on coming into range, opened fire on the
Blücher. The New Zealand was also within range of the Blücher which had
dropped somewhat astern, and opened fire on her. The Princess Royal
then shifted to the third ship in the line (Derfflinger) inflicting
considerable damage on her. Our flotilla cruisers and destroyers had
gradually dropped from a position, broad on our beam, to our port
quarter, so as not to foul our range with their smoke. But the enemy’s
destroyers threatening attack, the Meteor and M division passed ahead
of us.
“About 9.45 the situation was about as follows: The Blücher, the
fourth in her line, showed signs of having suffered severely from
gun fire, their leading ship and number three were also on fire. The
enemy’s destroyers emitted vast columns of smoke to screen their
battle cruisers, and under cover of this the latter now appeared to
have altered course to the northward to increase their distance. The
battle cruisers therefore were ordered to form a line of bearing
north-northwest, and proceeded at the utmost speed. Their destroyers
then showed evident signs of an attempt to attack. The Lion and the
Tiger opened fire upon them, and caused them to retire and resume their
original course.
“At 10.48 A. M. the Blücher, which had dropped considerably astern
of the enemy’s line, hauled out to port, steering north with a heavy
list, on fire, and apparently in a defeated condition. I consequently
ordered the Indomitable to attack the enemy breaking northward. At
10.54 submarines were reported on the starboard bow, and I personally
observed the wash of a periscope. I immediately turned to port. At
10.03 an injury to the Lion being reported as being incapable of
immediate repair, I directed the Lion to shape course northwest.
[Illustration: © _International News Service_.
THE SINKING OF THE GERMAN CRUISER “BLÜCHER”
This dramatic photograph from the great North Sea Battle in 1915 shows
the stricken ship just as she turned turtle and was about to sink.
Officers and men can be seen swarming like ants on the upper side of
the hull. Others, who either fell or preferred to take their chance in
the sea, are shown swimming away from the wreck.]
“At 11.20 I called the Attack alongside, shifting my flag to her, and
proceeded at utmost speed to rejoin the squadron. I met them at noon,
retiring north-northwest. I boarded and hoisted my flag on the Princess
Royal, when Captain Brock acquainted me with what had occurred since
the Lion fell out of line, namely, that the Blücher had been sunk
and that the enemy battle cruisers had continued their course to the
eastward in a considerably damaged condition. He also informed me that
a Zeppelin and a seaplane had endeavored to drop bombs on the vessels
which went to the rescue of the survivors of the Blücher.”
It appears from this report that as soon as the Germans sighted the
British fleet they promptly turned around and fled to the southeast.
This flight, before they could have known the full British strength,
suggests that the German Admiral was hoping to lure the British
vessels into the Helgoland trap. The British gunnery was remarkably
good, shot after shot taking effect at a distance of ten miles, and
that too when moving at over thirty miles an hour. Over 120 of the
crew of the Blücher were rescued and more would have been rescued if
it had not been for the attack upon the rescue parties by the German
aircraft. The injury to the Lion was very unfortunate. Admiral Beatty
handed over charge of the battle cruisers to Rear-Admiral Moore, and
when he was able to overtake the squadron he found that under Admiral
Moore’s orders the British fleet were retiring. The British squadron
at the moment of turning was seventy miles from Helgoland, and in no
danger from its mine fields. What might have been a crushing victory
became therefore only a partial one: the Germans lost the Blücher; the
Derfflinger and the Seydlitz were badly injured, but it seems that with
a little more persistence the whole German squadron might have been
destroyed.
The result was a serious blow to Germany. This engagement was the first
between modern big-gun ships. Particular interest is also attached to
it because each squadron was accompanied by scouting and screening
light cruisers and destroyers. It was fear of submarines and mines,
moreover, that influenced the British to break off the engagement. A
Zeppelin airship and a seaplane also took part, and perhaps assisted
in the fire control of the Germans. The conditions surrounding this
battle were ideal for illustrating the functions of battle cruisers.
The German warship raid on the British coast of the previous month was
still fresh in mind, and when this situation off the Dogger Bank arose
the timely interposing of Admiral Beatty’s superior force, the fast
chase, the long-range fighting, the loss of the Blücher and the hasty
retreat of the enemy, were all particularly pleasing to the British
people. As a result the battle cruiser type of ship attained great
popularity.
CHAPTER V
GERMAN PLOTS AND PROPAGANDA IN AMERICA
The pages of Germany’s militaristic history are black with many
shameful deeds and plots. Those pages upon which are written the
intrigues against the peace of America and against the lives and
properties of American citizens during the period between the
declaration of war in 1914 and the armistice ending the war, while not
so bloody as those relating to the atrocities in Belgium and Northern
France are still revolting to civilized mankind.
Germany not only paid for the murder of passengers on ships where its
infernal machines were placed, not only conspired for the destruction
of munition plants and factories of many kinds, not only sought to
embroil the United States, then neutral, in a war with Mexico and
Japan, but it committed also the crime of murderous hypocrisy by
conspiring to do these wrongs under the cloak of friendship for this
country.
It was in December of 1915 that the German Government sent to the
United States for general publication in American newspapers this
statement:
The German Government has naturally never knowingly accepted the
support of any person, group of persons, society or organization
seeking to promote the cause of Germany in the United States by
illegal acts, by counsel of violence, by contravention of law, or by
any means whatever that could offend the American people in the pride
of their own authority.
The answer to this imperial lie came from the President of the United
States, when, in his address to Congress, April 2, 1917, urging a
declaration of war on Germany, he characterized the German spy system
and its frightful fruits in the following language:
“One of the things that has served to convince us that the Prussian
autocracy was not and could never be our friend is that from the very
outset of the present war it has filled our unsuspecting communities,
and even our offices of government, with spies, and set criminal
intrigues everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our
peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. Indeed it
is now evident that its spies were here even before the war began; and
it is unhappily not a matter of conjecture, but a fact proved in our
courts of justice, that the intrigues which have more than once come
perilously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the industries
of the country have been carried on at the instigation, with the
support, and even under the personal direction of official agents of
the Imperial Government accredited to the Government of the United
States.”
[Illustration: WOMEN AT WORK THAT MEN MIGHT FIGHT
The women of the world took up quickly almost every masculine task
in industry to release their menfolk for the firing line. They were
especially valuable in the munitions factories of England, as shown
above. The women in the foreground are testing shell cases for size,
while those in the background work the lathes.]
Austria co-operated with Germany in a feeble way in these plots and
propaganda, but the master plotter was Count Johann von Bernstorff,
Germany’s Ambassador. The Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, Constantin
Theodor Dumba, Captain Franz von Papen, Captain Karl Boy-Ed, Dr.
Heinrich F. Albert, and Wolf von Igel, all of whom were attached to the
German embassy, were associates in the intrigues. Franz von Rintelen
operated independently and received his funds and instructions directly
from Berlin.
One of the earliest methods of creating disorder in American munition
plants and other industrial establishments engaged in war work was
through labor disturbances. With that end in view a general German
employment bureau was established in August, 1915, in New York City.
It had branches in Philadelphia, Bridgeport, Pittsburgh, Cleveland,
Chicago and Cincinnati. These cities at that time were the centers of
industries engaged in furnishing munitions and war supplies to the
Entente allies. Concerning this enterprise Ambassador Dumba writing to
Baron Burian, Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary, said:
A private German employment office has been established which
provides employment for persons who have voluntarily given up their
places, and it is already working well. We shall also join in and the
widest support is assured us.
The duties of men sent from the German employment offices into munition
plants may be gathered from the following frank circular issued on
November 2, 1914, by the German General Headquarters and reprinted in
the _Freie Zeitung_, of Berne.
GENERAL HEADQUARTERS TO THE MILITARY REPRESENTATIVE ON THE RUSSIAN
AND FRENCH FRONTS, AS WELL AS IN ITALY AND NORWAY
In all branch establishments of German banking houses in Sweden,
Norway, Switzerland, China and the United States, special military
accounts have been opened for special war necessities. Main
headquarters authorizes you to use these credits to an unlimited
extent for the purpose of destroying factories, workshops, camps, and
the most important centers of military and civil supply belonging to
the enemy. In addition to the incitement of labor troubles, measures
must be taken for the damaging of engines and machinery plants, the
destruction of vessels carrying war material to enemy countries,
the burning of stocks of raw materials and finished goods, and the
depriving of large industrial centers of electric power, fuel and
food. Special agents, who will be placed at your disposal, will
supply you with the necessary means for effecting explosions and
fires, as well as with a list of people in the country under your
supervision who are willing to undertake the task of destruction.
(Signed) DR. E. FISCHER.
Shortly after the establishment of the German employment bureau,
Ambassador Dumba sent the following communication to the Austrian
Foreign Office:
It is my impression that we can disorganize and hold up for months,
if not entirely prevent, the manufacture of munitions in Bethlehem
and the Middle West, which, in the opinion of the German military
attaché, is of importance and amply outweighs the comparatively small
expenditure of money involved.
Concerning the operations of the arson and murder squad organized by
von Bernstorff, Dumba and their associates, it is only necessary to
turn to the records of the criminal courts of the United States and
Canada. Take for example the case against Albert Kaltschmidt, living
in Detroit, Michigan. The United States grand jury sitting in Detroit
indicted Kaltschmidt and his fellow conspirators upon the following
counts:
“To blow up the factory of the Peabody’s Company, Limited, at
Walkerville, Ontario, ... engaged in manufacturing uniforms, clothing
and military supplies....
“To blow up the building known as the Windsor Armories of the City of
Windsor....
“To blow up and destroy other plants and buildings in said Dominion
of Canada, which were used for the manufacture of munitions of war,
clothing and uniforms.
“To blow up and destroy the great railroad bridges of the Canadian
Pacific Railroad at Nipigon....
“To employ and send into said Dominion of Canada spies to obtain
military information.”
Besides the acts enumerated in the indictment it was proved upon trial
that Kaltschmidt and his gang planned to blow up the Detroit Screw
Works where shrapnel was being manufactured, and to destroy the St.
Clair tunnel, connecting Canada with the United States. Both of these
plans failed. Associated with Kaltschmidt in these plots were Captain
von Papen, Baron Kurt von Reiswitz, German consul-general in Chicago;
Charles F. Respa, Richard Herman, and William M. Jarasch, the latter
two German reservists. Testifying in the case Jarasch, a bartender,
said: “Jacobsen (an aide) told me that munition factories in Canada
were to be blown up. Before I left for Detroit, Jacobsen and I went to
the consulate. We saw the consul and he shook hands with me and wished
me success.”
Charles F. Respa in his testimony made the following revelations in
response to questions by the government’s representatives:
_Q._ How long had you been employed before he (Kaltschmidt) told you
that he wanted you to blow up some of these factories? _A._ About three
weeks.
_Q._ Did Kaltschmidt at the time speak of any particular place that he
wanted you to blow up? _A._ The particular place was the Armory.
_Q._ Did he mention the Peabody Building at that time? _A._ Not
particularly--he was more after the bridges and the armories and wanted
those places blown up that made ammunition and military clothing.
_Q._ The explosion at the armories was to be timed so that it would
occur when the soldiers were asleep there? _A._ Yes--he did not mention
that he wanted to kill soldiers.
_Q._ Did he say that if the dynamite in the suitcase exploded it would
kill the soldiers? _A._ I do not remember that he said so, but he must
have known it.
_Q._ Did you take both grips? _A._ Yes.
_Q._ Where did you set the first grip? _A._ By the Peabody plant (blown
up on June 20, 1915).
_Q._ Where did you put the other suitcase? _A._ Then I walked down the
Walkerville road to the Armories at Windsor, and carried the suitcase.
_Q._ When you got to the Armories did you know where to place it? _A._
I had my instructions.
_Q._ From Kaltschmidt? _A._ Yes.
_Q._ Did you place this suitcase containing the dynamite bomb at the
armory in a proper place to explode and do any damage? _A._ Yes.
_Q._ Was it properly connected so that the cap would explode and
strike the dynamite? _A._ I fixed it so that it would not.
_Q._ Did you deliberately fix this bomb that you took to the Armories
so that it would not explode? _A._ Yes.
_Q._ Why did you do that? _A._ I knew that the suitcase contained
thirty sticks of dynamite and if exploded would blow up the Armories
and all the ammunition and kill every man in it.
It is interesting to note in this connection that Kaltschmidt was
sentenced to four years in the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kansas,
and to pay a fine of $20,000. Horn’s sentence was eighteen months in
the Atlanta penitentiary and a fine of $1,000.
Attempts were also made to close by explosions the tunnels through
which the Canadian Pacific Railroad passes under the Selkirk Mountains
in British Columbia. The German General Staff in this instance operated
through Franz Bopp, the German consul-general in San Francisco, and
Lieutenant von Brincken. J. H. van Koolbergen was hired to do this
work. Concerning the negotiations, van Koolbergen made this statement:
“Not knowing what he wanted I went to see him. He was very pleasant
and told me that he was an officer in the German army and at present
working in the secret service of the German Empire under Mr. Franz
Bopp, the Imperial German consul.
“I went to the consulate and met Franz Bopp and then saw von Brincken
in another room. He asked me if I would do something for him in Canada
and I answered him, ‘Sure, I will do something, even blow up bridges,
if there is money in it.’ And he said, ‘You are the man; if that is so,
you can make good money.’
“Von Brincken told me that they were willing to send me up to Canada to
blow up one of the bridges on the Canadian Pacific Railroad or one of
the tunnels. I asked him what was in it and he said he would talk it
over with the German consul, Bopp.
“I had accepted von Brincken’s proposition to go to Canada and he
offered me $500 to defray my expenses. On different occasions, in his
room, von Brincken showed me maps and information about Canada, and
pointed out to me where he wanted the act to be done. This was to be
between Revelstoke and Vancouver on the Canadian Pacific Railroad, and
I was to get $3,000 in case of a successful blowing up of a military
bridge or tunnel.”
Van Koolbergen only made a pretended effort to blow up the tunnel. He
did furnish the evidence, however, which served to send Bopp and his
associates to the penitentiary.
Even more sensational was the plot against the international bridge
upon which the Grand Trunk Railway crosses the border between the
United States and Canada at Vanceboro, Me.
Werner Horn was a German reserve lieutenant. Von Papen delivered to him
a flat order to blow up the bridge and he gave him $700 for the purpose
of perpetrating the outrage. Horn was partially successful. At his
trial in Boston in June, 1917, he made the following confession:
“I admit and state that the facts set forth in the indictments as to
the conveyance of explosives on certain passenger trains from New York
to Boston and from Boston to Vanceboro, in the State of Maine, are
true. I did, as therein alleged, receive an explosive and conveyed the
same from the city of New York to Boston, thence by common carrier from
Boston to Vanceboro, Maine. On or about the night of February 1, 1915,
I took said explosive in a suitcase in which I was conveying it and
carried the same across the bridge at Vanceboro to the Canadian side,
and there, about 1.10 in the morning of February 2, 1915, I caused said
explosive to be exploded near or against the abutments of the bridge on
the Canadian side, with intent to destroy the abutment and cripple the
bridge so that the same could not be used for the passage of trains.”
Bribery of congressmen was intended by Franz von Rintelen, operating
directly in touch with the German Foreign Office in Berlin. Count von
Bernstorff, Germany’s Ambassador at Washington, sent the following
telegram to Berlin in connection with his plan:
I request authority to pay out up to $50,000 in order, as on former
occasions, to influence Congress through the organization you know
of, which can perhaps prevent war. I am beginning in the meantime to
act accordingly. In the above circumstances, a public official German
declaration in favor of Ireland is highly desirable, in order to gain
the support of the Irish influence here.
That it was Rintelen’s purpose to use large sums of money for the
purpose of bribing congressmen was stated positively by George
Plochman, treasurer of the Transatlantic Trust Company, where Rintelen
kept his deposits.
Rintelen was the main figure on this side of the water in the fantastic
plot to have Mexico and Japan declare war upon the United States.
During the trial of Rintelen in New York City in May, 1917, it was
testified “that he came to the United States in order to embroil it
with Mexico and Japan if necessary; that he was doing all he could and
was going to do all he could to embroil this country with Mexico; that
he believed that if the United States had a war with Mexico it would
stop the shipment of ammunition to Europe; that he believed it would
be only a matter of time until we were involved with Japan.”
Rintelen also said that “General Huerta was going to return to Mexico
and start a revolution there which would cause the United States to
intervene and so make it impossible to ship munitions to Europe.
Intervention,” he said, “was one of his trump cards.”
Mexico was the happy hunting-ground for pro-German plotters, and the
German Ambassador in Mexico, Heinrich von Eckhardt, was the leader
in all the intrigues. The culmination of Germany’s effort against
America on this continent came on January 19, 1917, when Dr. Alfred
Zimmerman, head of the German Foreign Office, sent the following cable
to Ambassador von Eckhardt:
On the first of February we intend to begin submarine warfare
unrestricted. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to
keep neutral the United States of America.
If this attempt is not successful, we propose an alliance on the
following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and
together make peace. We shall give general financial support, and
it is understood that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in
New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. The details are left to you for
settlement. You are instructed to inform the President of Mexico
of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain
that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States, and
suggest that the President of Mexico, on his own initiative, should
communicate with Japan suggesting adherence at once to this plan; at
the same time, offer to mediate between Germany and Japan.
Please call to the attention of the President of Mexico that the
employment of ruthless submarine warfare now promises to compel
England to make peace in a few months.
ZIMMERMAN.
This was almost three months before the United States entered the
war. As an example of German blindness and diplomatic folly it stands
unrivaled in the annals of the German Foreign Office.
Plots against shipping were the deadliest in which the German
conspirators engaged. Death and destruction followed in their wake. In
direct connection of von Bernstorff and his tools with these outrages
the following testimony by an American secret service man employed by
Wolf von Igel is interesting. It refers to an appointment with Captain
von Kleist, superintendent of Scheele’s bomb factory in Hoboken, N. J.
“We sat down and we spoke for about three hours. I asked him the
different things that he did, and said if he wanted an interview with
Mr. von Igel, my boss, he would have to tell everything. So he told
me that von Papen gave Dr. Scheele, the partner of von Kleist in this
factory, a check for $10,000 to start this bomb factory. He told me
that he, Mr. von Kleist, and Dr. Scheele and a man by the name of
Becker on the Friedrich der Grosse were making the bombs, and that
Captain Wolpert, Captain Bode and Captain Steinberg, had charge of
putting these bombs on the ships; they put these bombs in cases and
shipped them as merchandise on these steamers, and they would go away
on the trip and the bombs would go off after the ship was out four or
five days, causing a fire and causing the cargo to go up in flames. He
also told me that they have made quite a number of these bombs; that
thirty of them were given to a party by the name of O’Leary, and that
he took them down to New Orleans where he had charge of putting them
on ships down there, this fellow O’Leary.”
About four hundred bombs were made under von Igel’s direction;
explosions and fires were caused by them on thirty-three ships sailing
from New York harbor alone.
Four of the bombs were found at Marseilles on a vessel which sailed
from Brooklyn in May, 1915. The evidence collected in the case led to
the indictment of the following men for feloniously transporting on the
steamship Kirk Oswald a bomb or bombs filled with chemicals designed
to cause incendiary fires: Rintelen, Wolpert, Bode, Schmidt, Becker,
Garbade, Praedel, Paradies, von Kleist, Schimmel, Scheele, Steinberg
and others. The last three named fled from justice, Scheele being
supplied with $1,000 for that purpose by Wolf von Igel. He eluded the
Federal authorities until April, 1918, when he was found hiding in Cuba
under the protection of German secret service agents. All the others
except Schmidt were found guilty and sentenced, on February 5, 1918,
to imprisonment for eighteen months and payment of a fine of $2,000
each. It was proved during the trial that Rintelen had hired Schimmel,
a German lawyer, to see that bombs were placed on ships.
Schmidt, von Kleist, Becker, Garbade, Praedel and Paradies had already
been tried for conspiracy to make bombs for concealment on ocean-going
vessels, with the purpose of setting the same on fire. All were found
guilty, and on April 6, 1917, von Kleist and Schmidt were sentenced to
two years’ imprisonment and a fine of $500 each.
Robert Fay, a former officer in the German army, who came to the United
States in April, 1915, endeavored to prevent the traffic in munitions
by sinking the laden ships at sea. In recounting the circumstances of
his arrival here to the chief of the United States secret service, Fay
said:
[Illustration: _Photos from International Film Service._
THE GERMAN CHANCELLORS
On the right is Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg who is held responsible
in large measure for bringing on the war. On the left is Prince
Maximilian of Baden, the Kaiser’s camouflage chancellor who was
appointed in a vain attempt to fool the American people into thinking
that a democratic government had been set up in Germany.]
“... I had in the neighborhood of $4,000.... This money came from a
man who sent me over ... (named) Jonnersen. The understanding was that
it might be worth while to stop the shipment of artillery munitions
from this country.... I imagined Jonnersen to be in the (German) secret
service.”
After stating that he saw von Papen and Boy-Ed, and that neither would
have anything to do with him, apparently because they were suspicious
of his identity and feared a trap, Fay continued:
“I did not want to return (to Germany) without having carried out
my intention, that is, the destruction of ships carrying munitions.
I proceeded with my experiments and tried to get hold of as much
explosive matter as in any way possible....”
Fay and two confederates were arrested in a lonely spot near Grantwood,
New Jersey, while testing an explosive. During his examination at
police headquarters in Weehawken immediately after the arrest he was
questioned as follows:
_Q._ That large machine you have downstairs, what is that?
_A._ That is a patent of mine. It is a new way of getting a time
fuse....
_Q._ Did you know where Scholz (Fay’s brother-in-law) had this machine
made?
_A._ In different machine shops....
_Q._ What material is it you wanted (from Daeche, an accomplice)?
_A._ Trinitrotoluol (T. N. T.)....
_Q._ How much did the machinery cost?
_A._ Roughly speaking, $150 or $200....
_Q._ What would be the cost of making one and filling it with
explosives?
_A._ About $250 each.... If they had given me money enough I should
simply have been able to block the shipping entirely.
_Q._ Do you mean you could have destroyed every ship that left the
harbor by means of those bombs?
_A._ I would have been able to stop so many that the authorities would
not have dared (to send out any ships).
It was proved during Fay’s trial that his bomb was a practical device,
and that its forty pounds of explosive would sink any ship to which it
was attached.
Fay and his accomplices, Scholz and Daeche, were convicted of
conspiracy to attach explosive bombs to the rudders of vessels, with
the intention of wrecking the same when at sea, and were sentenced, on
May 9, 1916, to terms of eight, four and two years respectively, in the
federal penitentiary at Atlanta. Dr. Herbert Kienzle and Max Breitung,
who assisted Fay in procuring explosives, were indicted on the same
charge. Both were interned.
Another plan for disabling ships was suggested by a man who remained
for some time unknown. He called one day at the German Military
Information Bureau, maintained at 60 Wall Street by Captain von Papen,
of the German embassy, and there gave the following outline of his plan:
“I intend to cause serious damage to vessels of the Allies leaving
ports of the United States by placing bombs, which I am making myself,
on board. These bombs resemble ordinary lumps of coal and I am planning
to have them concealed in the coal to be laden on steamers of the
Allies. I have already discussed this plan with ... at ... and he
thinks favorably of my idea. I have been engaged on similar work in ...
after the outbreak of the war, together with Mr. von ...”
The German secret service report from which the above excerpt is
taken states that the maker of the bomb was paid by check No. 146 for
$150 drawn on the Riggs National Bank of Washington. A photographic
copy of this check shows that it was payable to Paul Koenig, of the
Hamburg-American Line and was signed by Captain von Papen. On the
counterfoil is written this memorandum, “For F. J. Busse.”
Busse confessed later that he had discussed with Captain von Papen at
the German Club in New York City the plan of damaging the boilers of
munition ships with bombs which resembled lumps of coal.
Free access to Allied ships laden with supplies for Vladivostok would
have been invaluable to the conspirators, and in order to obtain it
Charles C. Crowley, a detective employed by Consul-General Bopp,
resorted to the extraordinary scheme revealed in the following letter
to Madam Bakhmeteff, wife of the Russian Ambassador to the United
States:
MME. J. BAKHMETEFF, _care Imperial Russian Embassy, Newport, R. I._:
DEAR MADAM:--By direction of the Imperial Russian Consul-General
of San Francisco, I beg to submit the following on behalf of
several fruit-growers of the State of California. As it is the
wish of certain growers to contribute several tons of dried fruit
to the Russian Red Cross they desire to have arrangements made to
facilitate the transportation of this fruit from Tacoma, Washington,
to Vladivostok, and as we are advised that steamships are regularly
plying between Tacoma and Vladivostok upon which government supplies
are shipped we would like to have arrangements made that these
fruits as they might arrive would be regularly consigned to these
steamers and forwarded. It would be necessary, therefore, that an
understanding be had with the agents of these steamship lines at
Tacoma that immediate shipments be made via whatever steamers might
be sailing.
It is the desire of the donors that there be no delay in the
shipments as delays would lessen the benefits intended to those for
whom the fruit was provided....
Respectfully yours,
C. C. CROWLEY.
The statements of Louis J. Smith and van Koolbergen, combined with a
mass of other evidence consisting in part of letters and telegrams,
caused the grand jury to indict Consul-General Bopp, his staff and
his hired agents, for conspiracy to undertake a military enterprise
against Canada. Among the purposes of this enterprise specified in the
indictment was the following:
“To blow up and destroy with their cargoes and crews any and all
vessels belonging to Great Britain, France, Japan or Russia found
within the limits of Canada, which were laden with horses, munitions of
war, or articles of commerce in course of transportation to the above
countries....”
The following descriptions have been made by the United States
Government of the tools of von Bernstorff in German plots:
Paul Koenig, the head of the Hamburg-American secret service, who was
active in passport frauds, who induced Gustave Stahl to perjure himself
and declare the Lusitania armed, and who plotted the destruction of the
Welland Canal. In his work as a spy he passed under thirteen aliases in
this country and Canada.
Captains Boy-Ed, von Papen, von Rintelen, Tauscher, and von Igel were
all directly connected with the German Government itself. There is now
in the possession of the United States Government a check made out to
Koenig and signed by von Papen, identified by number in a secret report
of the German Bureau of Investigation as being used to procure $150
for the payment of a bomb-maker, who was to plant explosives disguised
as coal in the bunkers of the merchant vessels clearing from the port
of New York. Boy-Ed, Dr. Bunz, the German ex-minister to Mexico, the
German consul at San Francisco, and officials of the Hamburg-American
and North German Lloyd steamship lines evaded customs regulations and
coaled and victualed German raiders at sea. Von Papen and von Igel
supervised the making of the incendiary bombs on the Friedrich der
Grosse, then in New York Harbor, and stowed them away on outgoing
ships. Von Rintelen financed Labor’s National Peace Council, which
tried to corrupt legislators and labor leaders.
Among the other tools of the German plotters were David Lamar and Henry
Martin, who, in the pay of Captain von Rintelen, organized and managed
the so-called Labor’s National Peace Council, which sought to bring
about strikes, an embargo on munitions, and a boycott of the banks
which subscribed to the Anglo-French loan. A check for $5,000 to J. F.
J. Archibald for propaganda work, and a receipt from Edwin Emerson,
the war correspondent, for $1,000 traveling expenses were among the
documents found in Wolf von Igel’s possession.
[Illustration: © _Press Illustrating Service._
KAISER WILLIAM II OF GERMANY
Posterity will regard him as more responsible than any other human
being for the sacrifice of millions of lives in the great war, as
a ruler who might have been beneficent and wise, but attempted to
destroy the liberties of mankind and to raise on their ruins an odious
despotism. To forgive him and to forget his terrible transgressions
would be to condone them.]
Others who bore English names were persuaded to take leading places in
similar organizations which concealed their origin and real purpose.
The American Embargo Conference arose out of the ashes of Labor’s
Peace Council, and its president was American, though the funds were
not. Others tampered with were journalists who lent themselves to the
German propaganda and who went so far as to serve as couriers between
the Teutonic embassies in Washington and the governments in Berlin
and Vienna. A check of $5,000 was discovered which Count von Bernstorff
had sent to Marcus Braun, editor of _Fair Play_. And a letter was
discovered which George Sylvester Vierick, editor of the _Fatherland_,
sent to Privy Councilor Albert, the German agent, arranging for a
monthly subsidy of $1,750, to be delivered to him through the hands
of intermediaries--women whose names he abbreviates “to prevent any
possible inquiry.” There is a record of $3,000 paid through the German
embassy to finance the lecture tour of Miss Ray Beveridge, an American
artist, who was further to be supplied with German war pictures.
The German propagandists also directed their efforts to poisoning
the minds of the people through the circulation of lies concerning
affairs in France and at home. Here are some of the rumors circulated
throughout the country that were nailed as falsehoods:
It was said that the national registration of women by the Food
Administration was to find out how much money each had in the bank,
how much of this was owed, and everything about each registrant’s
personal affairs.
That the millions collected from the public for the Red Cross went into
the pockets of thieves, and that the soldiers and sailors got none of
it, nor any of its benefits.
That base hospital units had been annihilated while en route overseas.
That leading members of other hospital units had been executed as spies
by the American Government.
That canned goods put up by the housewives were to be seized by the
government and appropriated to the use of the army and navy.
That soldiers in training were being instructed to put out the eyes of
every German captured.
That all of the “plums” at the officers’ training camps fell to Roman
Catholics. The plums went to Protestants when the propagandist talked
to a Catholic.
That the registration of women was held so that girls would be enticed
into the cities where white slaves were made of them.
That the battleship Pennsylvania had been destroyed with everyone on
board by a German submarine.
That more than seventy-five per cent of the American soldiers in France
had been infected with venereal diseases.
That intoxicants were given freely to American soldiers in Y. M. C. A.
and Knights of Columbus huts in France.
But the lies and the plots failed to make any impression on the morale
of American citizenry. In fact, America from the moment war was
declared against Germany until the time an armistice was declared,
seemed to care for nothing but results. Charges of graft made with
bitter invective in Congress created scarcely more than a ripple. The
harder the pro-German plotters worked for the destruction of property
and the incitement to labor disturbances, the closer became the
protective network of Americanism against these anti-war influences.
After half a dozen German lies had been casually passed from mouth
to mouth as rumors, the American people came to look upon other
mischievous propaganda in its true light. Patriotic newspapers in
every community exposed the false reports and citizens everywhere were
on their guard against the misstatements. It was noticeable that the
propaganda was intensified just previous to and during the several
Liberty Loan campaigns. Proof that the American spirit rises superior
to anti-American influences is furnished by the glorious records of
these Liberty Loans. Every one was over-subscribed despite the severest
handicaps confronted by any nation.
CHAPTER VI
SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
The United States was brought face to face with the Great War and with
what it meant in ruthless destruction of life when, on May 7, 1915, the
crack Cunard Liner Lusitania, bound from New York to Liverpool, with
1,959 persons aboard, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine off
Old Head of Kinsale, Southwestern Ireland. Two torpedoes reached their
mark. The total number of lives lost when the ship sunk was 1,198. Of
these 755 were passengers and the remainder were members of the crew.
Of the drowned passengers, 124 were Americans and 35 were infants.
“Remember the Lusitania!” later became a battlecry just as “Remember
the Maine!” acted as a spur to Americans during the war with Spain. It
was first used by the famous “Black Watch” and later American troops
shouted it as they went into battle.
The sinking of the Lusitania, with its attendant destruction of life,
sent a thrill of horror through the neutral peoples of the world.
General opposition to the use of submarines in attacking peaceful
shipping, especially passenger vessels, crystallized as the result
of the tragedy, and a critical diplomatic controversy between the
United States and Germany developed. The American Government signified
its determination to break off friendly relations with the German
Empire unless the ruthless practices of the submarine commanders were
terminated. Germany temporarily agreed to discontinue these practices.
Among the victims of the Cunarder’s destruction were some of the best
known personages of the Western Hemisphere. Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt,
multimillionaire; Charles Frohman, noted theatrical manager; Charles
Klein, dramatist, who wrote “The Lion and the Mouse”; Justus Miles
Forman, author, and Elbert Hubbard, known as Fra Elbertus, widely read
iconoclastic writer, were drowned.
The ocean off the pleasant southern coast of Ireland was dotted with
bodies for days after the sinking of the liner. The remains of many of
the victims, however, never were recovered.
When the Lusitania prepared to sail from New York on her last trip,
fifty anonymous telegrams addressed to prominent persons aboard the
vessel warned the recipients not to sail with the liner. In addition
to these warnings was an advertisement inserted in the leading
metropolitan newspapers by the German embassy, advising neutral persons
that British steamships were in danger of destruction in the war zone
about the British Isles. This notice appeared the day the Lusitania
sailed, May 1st, and was placed next the advertisement of the Cunard
Line:
NOTICE!
Travelers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded
that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great
Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters
adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal
notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying
the flag of Great Britain or of any of her allies, are liable to
destruction in those waters and that travelers sailing in the war
zone on ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
Imperial German Embassy,
Washington, D. C., April 22, 1915.
Little or no attention was paid to the warnings, only the usual number
of persons canceling their reservations. The general agent of the
Cunard Line at New York assured the passengers that the Lusitania’s
voyage would be attended by no risk whatever, referring to the liner’s
speed and watertight compartments.
As the great Cunarder drew near the scene of her disaster, traveling at
moderate speed along her accustomed route, there was news of freight
steamers falling victims to Germany’s undersea campaign. It was not
definitely established, however, whether the liner was warned of danger.
[Illustration: GERMAN PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS
After torpedoing their ship the submarine shelled the lifeboats and
jeered at the struggles of the helpless crew.]
At two o’clock on the fine afternoon of May 7th, some ten miles off the
Old Head of Kinsale, the Lusitania was sighted by a submarine 1,000
yards away. A second later the track of a torpedo, soon followed by
another, was seen and each missile crashed into the Lusitania’s hull
with rending detonations.
Many were killed or injured immediately by the explosions. Before
the liner’s headway was lost, some boats were lowered, and capsized
as a result. The immediate listing of the steamship added to the
difficulties of rescue and increased the tragical toll of dead.
Much heroism and calmness were displayed by many in the few minutes the
liner remained afloat. The bearing of Frohman, Vanderbilt, Hubbard and
other Americans was declared to have been particularly inspiring.
Rescue ships and naval vessels rushed to the aid of the survivors from
all nearby ports of Ireland.
It has been said that the sinking of the Lusitania was carefully
planned by the chiefs of the German admiralty. They expected, it was
believed, to demoralize British shipping and strike terror into the
minds of the British people by showing that the largest and swiftest
of liners could easily be destroyed by submarines.
According to the Paris paper, _La Guerre Sociale_, published by Gustave
Hervé, the submarine responsible was the U-21, commanded by Lieutenant
Hersing. Hersing was said to have been decorated for his deed. The U-21
afterwards was destroyed and the story of its participation in the
sinking of the great Cunarder never was confirmed.
Immediately upon the news of the Lusitania disaster, President Wilson
took steps to hold Germany to that “strict accountability” of which he
had notified Berlin when the war-zone operations were begun earlier in
the year. His first communication, protesting against the sinking of
the liner in the name of humanity and demanding disavowal, indemnity
and assurance that the crime would not be repeated, was despatched on
May 13th. On May 30th the German reply argued that the liner carried
munitions of war and probably was armed.
The following official German version of the incident by the German
Admiralty Staff over the signature of Admiral Behncke was given:
“The submarine sighted the steamer, which showed no flag, May 7th, at
2.20 o’clock, Central European time, afternoon, on the southeast coast
of Ireland, in fine, clear weather.
“At 3.10 o’clock one torpedo was fired at the Lusitania, which hit
her starboard side below the captain’s bridge. The detonation of the
torpedo was followed immediately by a further explosion of extremely
strong effect. The ship quickly listed to starboard and began to sink.
“The second explosion must be traced back to the ignition of quantities
of ammunition inside the ship.”
These extenuations were all rejected by the United States, and the
next note prepared by President Wilson was of such character that
Secretary of State Bryan resigned. This second communication was sent
on June 11th, and on June 22d another was cabled. September 1st Germany
accepted the contentions of the United States in regard to submarine
warfare upon peaceful shipping. There were continued negotiations
concerning the specific settlement to be made in the case of the
Lusitania.
On February 4th, 1916, arrived a German proposition which, coupled with
personal parleys carried on between German Ambassador von Bernstorff
and United States Secretary of State Lansing, seemed in a fair way to
conclude the whole controversy. It was announced on February 8th that
the two nations were in substantial accord and Germany was declared to
have admitted the sinking of the liner was wrong and unjustified and
promised that reparation would be made.
However, a week later, when Germany took advantage of tentative
American proposals concerning the disarming of merchant ships, by
announcing that all armed hostile merchantmen would be treated as
warships and attacked without warning, the almost completed agreement
was overthrown. The renewed negotiations were continuing when the
torpedoing of the cross-channel passenger ship Sussex, without
warning, on March 24th, impelled the United States to issue a virtual
ultimatum, demanding that the Germans immediately cease their present
methods of naval warfare on pain of the rupture of diplomatic relations
with the most powerful existing neutral nation.
The Lusitania, previous to her sinking, had figured in the war news,
first at the conflict, when it was feared she had been captured by
a German cruiser while she was dashing across the Atlantic toward
Liverpool, and again in February of 1915, when she flew the American
flag as a ruse to deceive submarines while crossing the Irish Sea. This
latter incident called forth a protest from the United States.
On her fatal trip the cargo of the Lusitania was worth $735,000.
As a great transatlantic liner, the Lusitania was a product of the
race for speed, which was carried on for years among larger steamship
companies, particularly of England and Germany. When the Lusitania was
launched, it was the wonder of the maritime world. Its mastery of the
sea, from the standpoint of speed, was undisputed.
Progress of the Lusitania on its first voyage to New York, September
7, 1907, was watched by the world. The vessel made the voyage in five
days and fifty-four minutes, at that time a record. Its fastest trip,
made on the western voyage, was four days eleven hours forty-two
minutes. This record, however, was wrested from it subsequently by the
Mauretania, a sister ship, which set the mark of four days ten hours
forty-one minutes, that still stands.
Although the Lusitania was surpassed in size by several other liners
built subsequently, it never lost the reputation acquired at the
outset of its career. Its speed and luxurious accommodations made it a
favorite, and its passenger lists bore the names of many of the most
prominent Atlantic wayfarers. The vessel was pronounced by its builders
to be as nearly unsinkable as any ship could be.
Everything about the Lusitania was of colossal dimensions. Her rudder
weighed sixty-five tons. She carried three anchors of ten tons each.
The main frames and beams, placed end to end, would extend thirty
miles. The Lusitania was 785 feet long, 88 feet beam, and 60 feet deep.
Her gross tonnage was 32,500 and her net tonnage, 9,145.
Charges were made that one or more guardian submarines deliberately
drove off ships nearby which might have saved hundreds of lives lost
when the Lusitania went down. Captain W. F. Wood, of the Leyland Line
Steamer Etonian, said his ship was prevented from going to the rescue
of the passengers of the sinking Lusitania by a warning that an attack
might be made upon his own vessel.
The Etonian left Liverpool, May 6th. When Captain Wood was forty-two
miles from Kinsale he received a wireless call from the Lusitania for
immediate assistance.
The call was also picked up by the steamers City of Exeter and
Narragansett. The Narragansett, Captain Wood said, was made a target
for submarine attack, a torpedo missing her by a few feet, and her
commander then warned Captain Wood not to attempt to reach the
Lusitania.
“It was two o’clock in the afternoon, May 7th, that we received the
wireless S O S,” said Captain Wood. “I was then forty-two miles distant
from the position he gave me. The Narragansett and the City of Exeter
were nearer the Lusitania and she answered the S O S.
“At five o’clock I observed the City of Exeter cross our bows and she
signaled, ‘Have you heard anything of the disaster?’
“At that moment I saw a periscope of a submarine between the Tonina and
the City of Exeter, about a quarter of a mile directly ahead of us. She
dived as soon as she saw us.
“I signaled to the engine room for every available inch of speed. Then
we saw the submarine come up astern of us. I now ordered full speed
ahead and we left the submarine behind. The periscope remained in sight
about twenty minutes.
“No sooner had we lost sight of the submarine astern, than another
appeared on the starboard bow. This one was directly ahead and on the
surface, not submerged.
[Illustration: THE SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA
The dastardly destruction of this great passenger ship off the Old
Head of Kinsale, Ireland, on May 7, 1915, and the murder of over 1,200
non-combatants, was German’s greatest exploit in crime.]
“I starboarded hard away from him, he swinging as we did. About eight
minutes later he submerged. I continued at top speed for four hours and
saw no more of the submarines. It was the ship’s speed that saved her,
that’s all.
“The Narragansett, as soon as she heard the S O S call, went to the
assistance of the Lusitania. One of the submarines discharged a torpedo
at her and missed her by not more than eight feet. The Narragansett
then warned us not to attempt to go to the rescue, and I got her
wireless call while I was dodging the two submarines. You can see that
three ships would have gone to the assistance of the Lusitania had they
not been attacked by the two submarines.”
The German Government defended the brutal destruction of non-combatants
by the false assertions that the Lusitania was an armed vessel and that
it was carrying a great store of munitions. Both of these accusations
were proved to be mere fabrications. The Lusitania was absolutely
unarmed and the nearest approach to munitions was a consignment of
1,250 empty shell cases and 4,200 cases of cartridges for small arms.
Intense indignation swept over the neutral world, the tide rising
highest in America. It well may be said that the destruction of the
Lusitania was one of the greatest factors in driving the United States
into the war against Germany.
Concerning the charge that the Lusitania carried munitions, Dudley
Field Malone, Collector of the Port of New York, testified that he
made personal and close inspection of the ship’s cargo and saw that it
carried no guns and that no munitions were included in its cargo.
His statement follows:
“This report is not correct. The Lusitania was inspected before
sailing, as is customary. No guns were found, mounted or unmounted,
and the vessel sailed without any armament. No merchant ship would be
allowed to arm in this port and leave the harbor.”
Captain W. T. Turner, of the Lusitania, testifying before the
coroner’s inquest at Kinsale, Ireland, was interrogated as follows:
“You were aware threats had been made that the ship would be torpedoed?”
“We were,” the Captain replied.
“Was she armed?”
“No, sir.”
“What precautions did you take?”
“We had all the boats swung when we came within the danger zone,
between the passing of Fastnet and the time of the accident.”
The coroner asked him whether he had received a message concerning the
sinking of a ship off Kinsale by a submarine. Captain Turner replied
that he had not received any such message.
“Did you receive any special instructions as to the voyage?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you at liberty to tell us what they were?”
“No, sir.”
“Did you carry them out?”
“Yes, to the best of my ability.”
“Tell us in your own words what happened after passing Fastnet.”
“The weather was clear,” Captain Turner answered. “We were going at
a speed of eighteen knots. I was on the port side and heard Second
Officer Hefford call out:
“‘Here’s a torpedo!’
“I ran to the other side and saw clearly the wake of a torpedo. Smoke
and steam came up between the last two funnels. There was a slight
shock. Immediately after the first explosion there was another report,
but that may possibly have been internal.
“I at once gave the order to lower the boats down to the rails, and I
directed that women and children should get into them. I also had all
the bulkheads closed.
“Between the time of passing Fastnet, about 11 o’clock, and of the
torpedoing I saw no sign whatever of any submarines. There was some
haze along the Irish coast, and when we were near Fastnet I slowed down
to fifteen knots. I was in wireless communication with shore all the
way across.”
Captain Turner was asked whether he had received any message in regard
to the presence of submarines off the Irish coast. He replied in the
affirmative. Questioned regarding the nature of the message, he replied:
“I respectfully refer you to the Admiralty for an answer.”
“I also gave orders to stop the ship,” Captain Turner continued, “but
we could not stop. We found that the engines were out of commission. It
was not safe to lower boats until the speed was off the vessel. As a
matter of fact, there was a perceptible headway on her up to the time
she went down.
“When she was struck she listed to starboard. I stood on the bridge
when she sank, and the Lusitania went down under me. She floated about
eighteen minutes after the torpedo struck her. My watch stopped at
2.36. I was picked up from among the wreckage and afterward was brought
aboard a trawler.
“No warship was convoying us. I saw no warship, and none was reported
to me as having been seen. At the time I was picked up I noticed
bodies floating on the surface, but saw no living persons.”
“Eighteen knots was not the normal speed of the Lusitania, was it?”
“At ordinary times,” answered Captain Turner, “she could make
twenty-five knots, but in war times her speed was reduced to twenty-one
knots. My reason for going eighteen knots was that I wanted to arrive
at Liverpool bar without stopping, and within two or three hours of
high water.”
“Was there a lookout kept for submarines, having regard to previous
warnings?”
“Yes, we had double lookouts.”
“Were you going a zigzag course at the moment the torpedoing took
place?”
“No. It was bright weather, and land was clearly visible.”
“Was it possible for a submarine to approach without being seen?”
“Oh, yes; quite possible.”
“Something has been said regarding the impossibility of launching the
boats on the port side?”
“Yes,” said Captain Turner, “owing to the listing of the ship.”
“How many boats were launched safely?”
“I cannot say.”
“Were any launched safely?”
“Yes, and one or two on the port side.”
“Were your orders promptly carried out?”
“Yes.”
“Was there any panic on board?”
“No, there was no panic at all. It was almost calm.”
“How many persons were on board?”
“There were 1,500 passengers and about 600 crew.”
By the foreman of the jury--“In the face of the warnings at New York
that the Lusitania would be torpedoed, did you make any application to
the Admiralty asking for an escort?”
“No, I left that to them. It is their business, not mine. I simply had
to carry out my orders to go, and I would do it again.”
Captain Turner uttered the last words of this reply with great
emphasis.
By the coroner--“I am glad to hear you say so, Captain.”
By the juryman--“Did you get a wireless to steer your vessel in a
northern direction?”
“No,” replied Captain Turner.
“Was the course of the vessel altered after the torpedoes struck her?”
“I headed straight for land, but it was useless. Previous to this the
watertight bulkheads were closed. I suppose the explosion forced them
open. I don’t know the exact extent to which the Lusitania was damaged.”
“There must have been serious damage done to the watertight bulkheads?”
“There certainly was, without doubt.”
“Were the passengers supplied with lifebelts?”
“Yes.”
“Were any special orders given that morning that lifebelts be put on?”
“No.”
“Was any warning given before you were torpedoed?”
“None whatever. It was suddenly done and finished.”
“If there had been a patrol boat about, might it have been of
assistance?”
“It might, but it is one of those things one never knows.”
With regard to the threats against his ship, Captain Turner said he saw
nothing except what appeared in the New York papers the day before the
Lusitania sailed. He had never heard the passengers talking about the
threats, he said.
“Was a warning given to the lower decks after the ship had been
struck?” Captain Turner was asked.
“All the passengers must have heard the explosion,” Captain Turner
replied.
Captain Turner, in answer to another question, said he received no
report from the lookout before the torpedo struck the Lusitania.
Ship’s Bugler Livermore testified that the watertight compartments were
closed, but that the explosion and the force of the water must have
burst them open. He said that all the officers were at their posts and
that earlier arrivals of the rescue craft would not have saved the
situation.
After physicians had testified that the victims had met death through
prolonged immersion and exhaustion the coroner summed up the case.
He said that the first torpedo fired by the German submarine did
serious damage to the Lusitania, but that, not satisfied with this, the
Germans had discharged another torpedo. The second torpedo, he said,
must have been more deadly, because it went right through the ship,
hastening the work of destruction.
The characteristic courage of the Irish and British people was
manifested at the time of this terrible disaster, the coroner
continued, and there was no panic. He charged that the responsibility
“lay on the German Government and the whole people of Germany, who
collaborated in the terrible crime.”
“I propose to ask the jury,” he continued, “to return the only verdict
possible for a self-respecting jury, that the men in charge of the
German submarine were guilty of wilful murder.”
The jury then retired and after due deliberation prepared this verdict:
We find that the deceased met death from prolonged immersion and
exhaustion in the sea eight miles south-southeast of Old Head of
Kinsale, Friday, May 7, 1915, owing to the sinking of the Lusitania
by torpedoes fired by a German submarine.
We find that the appalling crime was committed contrary to
international law and the conventions of all civilized nations.
We also charge the officers of said submarine and the Emperor and the
Government of Germany, under whose orders they acted, with the crime
of wholesale murder before the tribunal of the civilized world.
We desire to express sincere condolences and sympathy with the
relatives of the deceased, the Cunard Company, and the United States,
many of whose citizens perished in this murderous attack on an
unarmed liner.
President Wilson’s note to Germany, written consequent on the
torpedoing of the Lusitania, was dated six days later, showing
that time for careful deliberation was duly taken. The President’s
Secretary, Joseph P. Tumulty, on May 8th made this statement:
Of course the President feels the distress and the gravity of the
situation to the utmost, and is considering very earnestly but very
calmly, the right course of action to pursue. He knows that the
people of the country wish and expect him to act with deliberation as
well as with firmness.
Although signed by Mr. Bryan, as Secretary of State, the note was
written by the President in shorthand--a favorite method of Mr. Wilson
in making memoranda--and transcribed by him on his own typewriter. The
document was presented to the members of the President’s Cabinet, a
draft of it was sent to Counselor Lansing of the State Department, and
after a few minor changes, it was transmitted by cable to Ambassador
Gerard.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
WASHINGTON, MAY 13, 1915.
_The Secretary of State to the American Ambassador at Berlin_:
Please call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs and after reading to
him this communication leave with him a copy.
In view of the recent acts of the German authorities in violation of
American rights on the high seas, which culminated in the torpedoing
and sinking of the British steamship Lusitania on May 7, 1915, by
which over 100 American citizens lost their lives, it is clearly
wise and desirable that the Government of the United States and
the Imperial German Government should come to a clear and full
understanding as to the grave situation which has resulted.
The sinking of the British passenger steamer Falaba by a German
submarine on March 28th, through which Leon C. Thrasher, an American
citizen, was drowned; the attack on April 28th, on the American
vessel Cushing by a German aeroplane; the torpedoing on May 1st of
the American vessel Gulflight by a German submarine, as a result of
which two or more American citizens met their death; and, finally,
the torpedoing and sinking of the steamship Lusitania, constitute
a series of events which the Government of the United States has
observed with growing concern, distress, and amazement.
Recalling the humane and enlightened attitude hitherto assumed by
the Imperial German Government in matters of international right,
and particularly with regard to the freedom of the seas; having
learned to recognize the German views and the German influence in the
field of international obligation as always engaged upon the side
of justice and humanity; and having understood the instructions of
the Imperial German Government to its naval commanders to be upon
the same plane of human action prescribed by the naval codes of the
other nations, the Government of the United States was loath to
believe--it cannot now bring itself to believe--that these acts, so
absolutely contrary to the rules, the practices, and the spirit of
modern warfare, could have the countenance, or sanction of that great
government. It feels it to be its duty, therefore, to address the
Imperial German Government concerning them with the utmost frankness
and in the earnest hope that it is not mistaken in expecting action
on the part of the Imperial German Government, which will correct
the unfortunate impressions which have been created, and vindicate
once more the position of that government with regard to the sacred
freedom of the seas.
The Government of the United States has been apprised that the
Imperial German Government considered themselves to be obliged by
the extraordinary circumstances of the present war and the measure
adopted by their adversaries in seeking to cut Germany off from all
commerce, to adopt methods of retaliation which go much beyond the
ordinary methods of warfare at sea, in the proclamation of a war
zone from which they have warned neutral ships to keep away. This
government has already taken occasion to inform the Imperial German
Government that it cannot admit the adoption of such measures or
such a warning of danger to operate as in any degree an abbreviation
of the rights of American shipmasters or of American citizens bound
on lawful errands as passengers on merchant ships of belligerent
nationality, and that it must hold the Imperial German Government
to a strict accountability for any infringement of those rights,
intentional or incidental. It does not understand the Imperial
German Government to question these rights. It assumes, on the
contrary, that the Imperial Government accept, as of course, the
rule that the lives of non-combatants, whether they be of neutral
citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at war, cannot lawfully
or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an
unarmed merchantman, and recognize also, as all other nations do,
the obligation to take the usual precaution of visit and search to
ascertain whether a suspected merchantman is in fact of belligerent
nationality or is in fact carrying contraband of war under a neutral
flag.
The Government of the United States, therefore, desires to call
the attention of the Imperial German Government with the utmost
earnestness to the fact that the objection to their present method
of attack against the trade of their enemies lies in the practical
impossibility of employing submarines in the destruction of commerce
without disregarding those rules of fairness, reason, justice, and
humanity which all modern opinion regards as imperative. It is
practically impossible for the officers of a submarine to visit
a merchantman at sea and examine her papers and cargo. It is
practically impossible for them to make a prize of her; and, if they
cannot put a prize crew on board of her, they cannot sink her without
leaving her crew and all on board of her to the mercy of the sea in
her small boats. These facts, it is understood, the Imperial German
Government frankly admit. We are informed that in the instances of
which we have spoken time enough for even that poor measure of safety
was not given, and in at least two of the cases cited not so much as
a warning was received. Manifestly, submarines cannot be used against
merchantmen, as the last few weeks have shown, without an inevitable
violation of many sacred principles of justice and humanity.
American citizens act within their indisputable rights in taking
their ships and in traveling wherever their legitimate business calls
them upon the high seas, and exercise those rights in what should be
the well-justified confidence that their lives will not be endangered
by acts done in clear violation of universally acknowledged
international obligations, and certainly in the confidence that their
own government will sustain them in the exercise of their rights.
There was recently published in the newspapers of the United States,
I regret to inform the Imperial German Government, a formal warning,
purporting to come from the Imperial German Embassy at Washington,
addressed to the people of the United States, and stating, in effect,
that any citizen of the United States who exercised his right of free
travel upon the seas would do so at his peril if his journey should
take him within the zone of waters within which the Imperial German
Navy was using submarines against the commerce of Great Britain and
France, notwithstanding the respectful but very earnest protest of
the Government of the United States. I do not refer to this for the
purpose of calling the attention of the Imperial German Government
at this time to the surprising irregularity of a communication from
the Imperial German Embassy at Washington addressed to the people of
the United States through the newspapers, but only for the purpose of
pointing out that no warning that an unlawful and inhumane act will
be committed can possibly be accepted as an excuse or palliation for
that act or as an abatement of the responsibility for its commission.
Long acquainted as this government has been with the character of
the Imperial Government, and with the high principles of equity by
which they have in the past been actuated and guided, the Government
of the United States cannot believe that the commanders of the
vessels which committed these acts of lawlessness did so except
under a misapprehension of the orders issued by the Imperial German
naval authorities. It takes for granted that, at least within the
practical possibilities of every such case, the commanders even of
submarines were expected to do nothing that would involve the lives
of non-combatants or the safety of neutral ships, even at the cost of
failing of their object of capture or destruction.
It confidently expects, therefore, that the Imperial German
Government will disavow the acts of which the Government of the
United States complains; that they will make reparation so far as
reparation is possible for injuries which are without measure, and
that they will take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence of
anything so obviously subversive of the principles of warfare for
which the Imperial German Government have in the past so wisely and
so firmly contended.
The government and people of the United States look to the Imperial
German Government for just, prompt, and enlightened action in this
vital matter with the greater confidence, because the United States
and Germany are bound together not only by ties of friendship, but
also by the explicit stipulations of the Treaty of 1828, between the
United States and the Kingdom of Prussia.
Expressions of regret and offers of reparation in case of the
destruction of neutral ships sunk by mistake, while they may satisfy
international obligations, if no loss of life results, cannot justify
or excuse a practice the natural and necessary effect of which is to
subject neutral nations and neutral persons to new and immeasurable
risks.
The Imperial German Government will not expect the Government of
the United States to omit any word or any act necessary to the
performance of its sacred duty of maintaining the rights of the
United States and its citizens and of safeguarding their free
exercise and enjoyment.
BRYAN.
Ex-President Roosevelt, after learning details of the sinking of the
Lusitania, made these statements:
“This represents not merely piracy, but piracy on a vaster scale of
murder than old-time pirate ever practiced. This is the warfare which
destroyed Louvain and Dinant and hundreds of men, women, and children
in Belgium. It is a warfare against innocent men, women, and children
traveling on the ocean, and our own fellowcountrymen and countrywomen,
who were among the sufferers.
“It seems inconceivable that we can refrain from taking action in this
matter, for we owe it not only to humanity, but to our own national
self-respect.”
Former President Taft made this statement:
“I do not wish to embarrass the President of the Administration by a
discussion of the subject at this stage of the information, except to
express confidence that the President will follow a wise and patriotic
course. We must bear in mind that if we have a war it is the people,
the men and women, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, who must
pay with lives and money the cost of it, and therefore they should not
be hurried into the sacrifices until it is made clear that they wish it
and know what they are doing when they wish it.
“I agree that the inhumanity of the circumstances in the case now
presses us on, but in the heat of even just indignation is this the
best time to act, when action involves such momentous consequences and
means untold loss of life and treasure? There are things worse than
war, but delay, due to calm deliberation, cannot change the situation
or minimize the effect of what we finally conclude to do.
“With the present condition of the war in Europe, our action, if it is
to be extreme, will not lose efficiency by giving time to the people,
whose war it will be, to know what they are facing.
“A demand for war that cannot survive the passion of the first days
of public indignation and will not endure the test of delay and
deliberation by all the people is not one that should be yielded to.”
President Wilson was criticized later by many persons for not
insisting upon a declaration of war immediately after the sinking of
the Lusitania. Undoubtedly the advice of former President Taft and of
others high in statesmanship, prevailed with the President. This in
substance was that America should prepare resolutely and thoroughly,
giving Germany in the meantime no excuse for charges that America’s
entrance into the conflict was for aggression or for selfish purposes.
It was seen even as early as the sinking of the Lusitania that
Germany’s only hope for final success lay in the submarine. It was
reasoned that unrestricted submarine warfare against the shipping of
the world, so far as tended toward the provisioning and munitioning
of the Allies, would be the inevitable outcome. It was further seen
that when that declaration would be made by Germany, America’s decision
for war must be made. The President and his Cabinet thereupon made all
their plans looking toward that eventuality.
The resignation of Mr. Bryan from the Cabinet was followed by the
appointment of Robert Lansing as Secretary of State. It was recognized
on both sides of the Atlantic that President Wilson in all essential
matters affecting the war was active in the preparation of all state
papers and in the direction of that department. Another Cabinet vacancy
was created when Lindley M. Garrison, of New Jersey, resigned the
portfolio of Secretary of War because of a clash upon his militant
views for preparedness. Newton D. Baker, of Cleveland, Ohio, a close
friend and supporter of President Wilson, was appointed in his stead.
CHAPTER VII
STEADFAST SOUTH AFRICA
When Germany struck at the heart of France through Belgium simultaneous
action was undertaken by the German Command in Southwest Africa through
propaganda and mobilization of the available German troops. Insidiously
and by the use of money systematic propaganda was instituted to corrupt
the Boers against their allegiance to the Union of South Africa. One
great character stood like a rock against all their efforts. It was the
character of General Louis Botha, formerly arrayed in battle against
the British during the Boer uprising.
With characteristic determination he formulated plans for the invasion
of German Southwest Africa without asking permission of the citizens
of the South African Union or of the British Foreign Office. His
vision comprehended an invasion that would have as its culmination a
British-Boer colony where the German colony had been, and that from
Cable Bay to the source of the Nile there would be one mighty union,
with a great trunk railway feeding Egypt, the Soudan, Rhodesia, Uganda,
and the Union of South Africa. An able lieutenant to Botha was General
Smuts. He co-operated with his chief in a campaign of education. They
pointed out the absolute necessity for deafness to the German tempters,
and succeeded in obtaining full co-operation for the Botha plan of
invasion from the British Imperial Government and the South African
Union. Concerning this agreement General Botha said:
“To forget their loyalty to the empire in this hour of trial would
be scandalous and shameful, and would blacken South Africa in the
eyes of the whole world. Of this South Africans were incapable. They
had endured some of the greatest sacrifices that could be demanded
of a people, but they had always kept before them ideals, founded on
Christianity, and never in their darkest days had they sought to gain
their ends by treasonable means. The path of treason was an unknown
path to Dutch and English alike.
“Their duty and their conscience alike bade them be faithful and true
to the Imperial Government in all respects in this hour of darkness and
trouble. That was the attitude of the Union Government; that was the
attitude of the people of South Africa. The government had cabled to
the Imperial Government at the outbreak of war, offering to undertake
the defense of South Africa, thereby releasing the Imperial troops for
service elsewhere. This was accepted, and the Union Defense Force was
mobilized.”
Preliminary to the invasion of German Southwest Africa, General
Botha proclaimed martial law throughout the Union. The first act
in consequence of this proclamation was the arrest of a number of
conspirators who were planning sedition throughout the Union. The head
of this conspiracy was Lieutenant-Colonel S. G. Maritz. General Beyers
and General De Wet, both Boer officers of high standing, co-operated
with Maritz in an abortive rebellion. The situation was most trying
for the native Boers and, to their credit be it recorded, the great
majority of them stood out strongly against the Germans. Vigorous
action by Botha and Smuts smashed the rebellion in the fall of 1914. A
force acting under General Botha in person attacked the troops under
General Beyers at Rustemburg on October 27th, and on the next day
General Beyers sought refuge in flight. A smaller force acting under
General Kemp was also routed on November 5th.
General De Wet opened his campaign of rebellion on November 7th in
an action at Wimburg, where he defeated a smaller force of Loyalists
under General Cronje. The decisive battle at Marquard occurred on
November 12th, Botha commanding the Loyalist forces in person and De
Wet the rebels. The victory of Botha in this fierce engagement was
complete. De Wet was routed and was captured on December 1st with a
rear-guard of fifty-two men. General Beyers was drowned on December
9th while attempting to escape from the Vall into the Transvaal. This
virtually ended all opposition to General Botha. The invasion of German
Southwest Africa began on January 5, 1915, and was one uninterrupted
chapter of successes. Through jungle and swamp, swept by torrential
rains and encountering obstacles that would have disheartened any but
the stoutest heart, the little force of invasion swept forward. Most
of the engagements by the enemy were in the nature of guerrilla and
rear-guard actions. The backbone of the German command was broken and
the remaining forces capitulated in July, 1915.
With the capitulation came the story of the German mismanagement in
Southwest Africa, and particularly their horrible treatment of the
Hereros and Hottentots in the country misgoverned by them. An official
report fully authenticated was made and none of its essential details
were refuted.
The report told the story of how the German authorities exterminated
the native Hereros. When Germany annexed the country in 1890 they
were believed to possess well over 150,000 head of cattle. After the
rinderpest scourge of 1897 they still owned something like 90,000
head. By 1902, less than ten years after the arrival of the first
German settlers, the Hereros had only 45,898 head of cattle, while the
1,051 German traders and farmers then in the country owned 44,487. The
policy of robbing and killing the natives had by that time received the
sanction of Berlin. By the end of 1905 the surviving Hereros had been
reduced to pauperism and possessed nothing at all. In 1907 the Imperial
German Government by ordinance prohibited the natives of Southwest
Africa from possessing live stock.
The wholesale theft of the natives’ cattle, their only wealth, with
the direct connivance and approval of the Berlin Government, was one
of the primary causes of the Herero rebellion of 1904. The revolt was
suppressed with characteristic German ruthlessness. But the Germans
were not content with a mere suppression of the rising; they had
decided upon the practical extinction of the whole tribe. For this
purpose Leutwein, who was apparently regarded as too lenient, was
superseded by von Trotha, noted for his merciless severity. He had
played a notorious part in the Chinese Boxer rebellion, and had just
suppressed the Arab rising in German East Africa by the wholesale
massacre of men, women, and children. As a preliminary von Trotha
invited the Herero chiefs to come in and make peace, “as the war was
now over,” and promptly shot them in cold blood. Then he issued his
notorious “extermination order,” in terms of which no Herero--man,
woman, child, or babe--was to receive mercy or quarter. “Kill every one
of them,” he said, “and take no prisoners.”
The hanging of natives was a common occurrence. A German officer
had the right to order a native to be hanged. No trial or court was
necessary. Many were hanged merely on suspicion.
The Hereros were far more humane in the field than the Germans. They
were once a fine race. Now there is only a miserable remnant left.
This is amply proved by official German statistics. Out of between
80,000 and 90,000 souls, only about 15,000 starving and fugitive
Hereros were alive at the end of 1905, when von Trotha relinquished
his task. In 1911, after all rebellions had been suppressed and
tranquillity restored, the government had a census taken. The figures,
reproduced below, speak for themselves:
Hereros 80,000 15,130 64,870
Hottentots 20,000 9,781 10,219
Berg-Damaras 30,000 12,831 17,169
-------- ------ ------
130,000 37,742 92,258
In other words, eighty per cent of the Herero people disappeared, and
more than half of the Hottentot and Berg-Damara races shared the same
fate. Dr. Paul Rohrbach’s dictum, “It is applicable to a nation in the
same way as to the individual that the right of existence is primarily
justified in the degree that such existence is useful for progress
and general development,” comes forcibly to mind. These natives of
Southwest Africa had been weighed in the German balance and had been
found wanting.
Germany lost more than a million square miles of territory in Africa as
a direct consequence of General Botha’s bold action. These are divided
in four great regions, Southwest Africa, Kamerun, Togo and East Africa.
Togoland as this region is popularly known extends from the north
shore of the Gulf of Guinea into the interior and is bounded by French
and British colonies. By a joint attack of French and British forces,
beginning the second week in August, 1914, the German power in this
rich domain was completely broken, and the conquest of Togoland was
complete on August 26, 1914. The military operation was of a desultory
nature, and the losses negligible in view of the area of 33,000 square
miles of highly productive land passed from German control.
The fighting in the great region of Kamerun was somewhat more stubborn
than that in Togoland. The villages of Bonaberi and Duala were
particularly well defended. The British and French fought through
swamps and jungle under the handicap of terrific heat, and always with
victory at the end of the engagement. The conquest of the Kamerun was
complete by the end of June, 1915. In addition to the operations by the
British and French a combined Belgian and French force captured Molundu
and Ngaundera in the German Congo.
The raids by General Botha on German Southwest Africa commenced on
September 27, 1914. A series of brilliant strategic actions resulted in
the conquest of a region once and a half the size of the German Empire
at the time the Great War began. A British description of the operation
states:
The occupation of Windhoek was effected by General Botha’s North
Damaraland forces working along the railway from Swakopmund. At the
former place General Vanderventer joined up with General Botha’s
forces. The force from Swakopmund met with considerable opposition,
first at Tretskopje, a small township in the great Namib Desert fifty
miles to the northeast of Swakopmund, and secondly at Otjimbingwe,
on the Swakop River, sixty miles northwest of Windhoek. Apart from
these two determined stands, however, little other opposition was
encountered, and Karibib was occupied on May 5th and Okahandja and
Windhoek on May 12th. With the fall of the latter place, 3,000
Europeans and 12,000 natives became prisoners.
The wireless station--one of Germany’s most valuable high-power
stations, which was able to communicate with one relay only, with
Berlin--was captured almost intact, and much rolling stock also fell
into the hands of the Union forces.
The advance from the south along the Luderitzbucht-Seeheim-Keetmanshoop
Railway, approximately 500 miles in length, was made by two forces
which joined hands at Keetmanshoop. The advance from Aus (captured on
April 10th) was made by General Smuts’s forces. Colonel (afterward
General) Vanderventer, moving up from the direction of Warmbad
and Kalkfontein, around the flanks of Karas Mountain, pushed on
after reaching Keetmanshoop in the direction of Gibeon. Bethany had
previously been occupied during the advance to Seeheim. At Kabus,
twenty miles to the north of Keetmanshoop, and at Gibeon pitched
battles were fought between General Vanderventer’s forces and the
enemy. No other opposition of importance was encountered, and the
operations were brought to a successful conclusion.
The stiffest fighting in all Africa came in German East Africa. It
began in late September, 1914, and continued until mid-June, 1915.
The Germans, curiously enough, commenced the offensive here with an
attack upon Monbasa, the terminus of the Uganda railway and the capital
of British East Africa. The attack was planned as a joint naval and
military operation, the German cruiser Koenigsburg being assigned to
move into the harbor and bombard the town simultaneously with the
assault by land. The plan went awry when the presence of British
warships frightened off the Koenigsburg. The land attack was easily
checked by a detachment of the King’s African Rifles and native Arabian
troops until the detachments of Indian Regulars arrived upon the scene.
The enemy thereupon retreated to his original plans.
British reprisals came early in November, when the towns of Tanga
and Gassin were attacked by British troops. The troops selected for
this adventure numbered 6,000 and carried only food, water, guns and
munitions. No protection of any kind nor any other equipment was taken
by the soldiers. Reinforcements to the German forces delayed the
capture of Gassin until January. A garrison of three hundred men was
left there and this in turn was besieged by three thousand Germans.
After a stubborn defense the Germans recaptured the town. A union of
two British forces was accomplished early in June, 1915. One of these
cut through German East Africa along the Kagera River and the other
advanced on steamers from Kisumu. They met the enemy on June 22d and
defeated it with heavy casualties. Later General Tighe, commanding the
combined British forces, was congratulated on the completeness of his
victory on June 28th, by General Kitchener.
The territory acquired by the British as a consequence of the invasion
of Germany’s African possessions, possesses formidable natural
barriers, but once these are past the traveller finds lands of
wonderful fertility and great natural resources. Approaching German
Southwest Africa from the east, access is across the Kalahari Desert.
This in its trackless desolation, its frequent sand-storms and torrid
heat through which only the hardiest and best provisioned caravans
may penetrate is worse than the worst that Sahara can show. There is
not a sign of life. Approached from the sea the principal port is
Walfish Bay, a fair harbor that was improved by the British when they
occupied it. Near Walfish some of the largest diamonds in the history
of the world have been found and gold fields of considerable richness
have been worked. The climate of German Southwest Africa, after the
torrential storms of the seacoast and the terrific heat of the desert
have been passed, is one of the most salubrious in the world. It is
unique among African regions in the opportunities it affords for
colonization by white men. Great Britain possessed large holdings of
this land before Germany came into possession, but abandoned them under
the belief that the region was comparatively worthless. There was no
misapprehension on this score when all of the lands came into the
possession of England as the result of the war.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
public domain.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 74727 ***