Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 3

When the news of that battle was flashed up and down the west front, not an Allied force but was thrilled, enthused, given new courage; the message that the Americans had stopped the Germans at Chateau Thierry, electrified Paris. Strong men wept as they realized that the forces of the Great Republic, able and brave, stood between France and the ravening wolf of Germany.

OTHER VICTORIES.

In the limited s.p.a.ce at our command we can only give a general description of the remaining weeks of warfare in which American forces partic.i.p.ated. Before advancing at Chateau Thierry the Germans had fortified their position in Belleau Woods which they had previously occupied. In the black recesses of this woods they established nest after nest of machine guns and in the jungle of matted underbrush, of vines, of heavy foliage they had placed themselves in a position they believed impregnable. The battle of Chateau Thierry was not rendered secure until the Germans were driven from Belleau Woods. And so for the next three weeks the battle of Belleau Woods raged. Fighting day after day without relief, without sleep, often without water, and for days without hot rations, the marines met and defeated the best divisions Germany could throw into the line. According to official decree in France the name of that woods is now "Woods of the American Brigade." In September, came the wonderful work of reducing the St. Mihiel salient to the south and to the east of Verdun, a German wedge that had withstood every effort to drive it back for four years. We can only mention the series of battles that took place in the Forest of the Argonne. When the armistice was declared American forces had fought their way to Sedan.

That was the place that witnessed the deep humiliation of France in the war of 1870 with which the German Empire began. Germany was only saved from a deeper humiliation near Sedan in this war that ended that empire, by the prompt signing of the armistice.

THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY.

We must notice even in a hurried review of the war the downfall of Turkey, the release of ancient Mesopotamia, Palestine, and large parts of Asia Minor, and freeing the ancient Christian nation of Armenia from the dreadful despotism of Turkish misrule. It is impossible to go into the details of the successive movements leading to this happy result.

The forces of Great Britain, under command of General Maud, later General Allenby, must be given the credit. We must not forget that Mesopotamia was the cradle land of early civilization. There are the plains of s.h.i.+nar, there are the ruins of Babylon and Nineveh. Now, that Turkish rule has been overthrown, we may look to see that entire country once more a scene of smiling fertility.

And consider the case of Palestine, the land of Biblical history, the home of Abraham, and the scene of Old Testament activities; finally there is the land forever hallowed by the ministrations of Jesus of Nazareth. It was the goal of the religious wars of the Crusades. For more than six centuries it groaned under Turkish misrule. The tide of British success began in 1917. In December of that year (9th) Jerusalem was taken by the British forces under command of General Allenby. During 1918 all Palestine was freed. September 20, 1918, Nazareth, the boyhood home of Jesus, was taken. The future of Palestine with its wealth of Biblical history is a wonderful theme for contemplation. Given the blessings of a twentieth century government there is no reason why Palestine should not once more become a land "flowing with milk and honey."

THE APPROACHING END.

The ending of the war was almost as dramatically sudden as its beginning. As late as July 15, 1918, according to statements of German leaders, they still believed they were to be successful; less than four months later at Senlis, France, their representatives signed an armistice, the terms of which were the most drastic and humiliating ever inflicted on a prominent nation; while the Kaiser and Crown Prince had fled for safety to Holland, a nation they had a.s.serted existed only by the long sufferance of Germany. Before the fatal day (November 11, 1918) of the armistice--like the falling of a house of cards--had occurred a succession of abject surrenders, as one by one of the nations composing the Teutonic Alliance had fallen before the crus.h.i.+ng blows of the Entente forces.

The middle of July the great German offensive was held. It was expected by the German leaders that, as in the past, there would now ensue a period of comparative quiet along the west front during which Germany could rearrange her forces, perhaps to open an attack elsewhere. Marshal Foch--ably seconded by General Pers.h.i.+ng and General Haig--thought differently. There were one million American soldiers on the fighting line, other millions were coming, Great Britain had thrown into France her reserve army held in England to meet unforeseen emergencies. Then was the time to begin a counter-attack. Accordingly, just as a German official was explaining to the Reichstag that General Foch had no reserves to withstand a fresh onslaught that Germany would soon begin,--the blow fell. A great counter-attack was initiated by the French and Americans along the Marne-Aisne front July 18, 1918.

THE ALLIES TAKE THE INITIATIVE.

From that day to the signing of the armistice the initiative remained with General Foch. Up and down the long line, now here, now there; the British and Belgians on the north, the French and Americans on the south, first one, then the other, then together, the Allies drove forward with hammer blows on the yielding German armies. That subtle force, so hard to define, the morale of the invaders, was broken down.

Their confidence was gone. They knew they were defeated. The one hope of their leaders was to get safely back to Germany, and soon a general retreat was in progress. But to remove armies aggregating several million men, with guns and supplies, from a contracted area, in the face of a victorious and aggressive enemy, without the retreat degenerating into a rout is almost impossible; it requires generals.h.i.+p of highest order. Day by day the remorseless jaws of the Allied military machine, hinged to the north of the Aisne,--British and Belgian forces on the north, French in the center, Americans on the south and east,--were closing, and when the American forces fought their way through the Argonne to Sedan (forty miles northeast of Rheims) the case was hopeless. Only the armistice saved Germany from the humiliation of a surrender, on a scale vastly greater than the surrender of the French armies near that same point in 1870.

THE COLLAPSE OF THE TEUTONIC ALLIES.

With Germany herself falling, it is not strange that the nations leagued with her also went down to defeat. They had been almost forced into the war by Germany; not one of them could carry on a war when deprived of counsel and help from Germany. Only the threat of force kept Austria in the war. As the counter-attack in France gained in force, as the retreat continued, it was recognized on all hands that the end was approaching.

The will to war--the morale--was completely broken down; and so on every side the Allied forces gained great victories with surprising ease.

Bulgaria was the first nation to surrender. This was the conclusion of a succession of great victories beginning September 16, 1918, ending by the surrender ten days later. The case with Turkey was hopeless after Bulgaria fell. No reinforcements or supplies could reach them from Germany. The English forces under General Allenby were carrying everything before them. Turkey surrendered October 31, 1918.

Austria-Hungary was the third power to surrender. This came as the culmination of one of the greatest drives of the war.

GREAT ITALIAN VICTORY.

In 1917--as we have seen,--Italy suffered a great reverse, losing 200,000 soldiers and immense supplies. In August, 1918, Austria renewed the attack. In his proclamation to his soldiers, the Austrian commander bade them remember "the white bread, the fat cattle, the wine" and supplies they had won the year before. Surely as great rewards awaited them this time, and learned professors a.s.sured them and the entire nation that they belonged to a "conquering superior race" and so could be confident of further victory. The drive was a "hunger offensive" on the part of hard-pressed Austria. It was a dismal failure. It is interesting to know that American airplanes, piloted by Americans, rendered great a.s.sistance in repulsing this attack. Then came the counter-attack. In this drive American forces a.s.sisted. The drive began October 27th; it was attended by a series of most astonis.h.i.+ng victories.

The drive culminated in the abject surrender of Austria, November 3, 1918. The victories can only be explained by the fact that the morale of the Austrian troops had completely broken down, more than 500,000 prisoners being taken, together with enormous supplies.

THE GERMAN ARMISTICE.

With their armies perilously near rout on the western front, with a great military disaster confronting them, with everyone of her allies forced to surrender, with revolution threatening at home, there was nothing left for Germany to do but to make the best terms possible.

Their commissioners met General Foch at Senlis and the drastic armistice terms were signed at 5 o'clock, Paris time, the morning of November 11, 1918, and the last shots in the war were fired at 11 o'clock, that forenoon, Paris time. The war had lasted (from the date of the declaration of war on Serbia) four years, three months and thirteen days. On subsequent pages we shall consider more in detail this skeletonized story, study the enormous political, geographic and economic changes it has necessitated, and mentally view the new age in history at hand.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON.

President Wilson's latest photograph.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL JOHN J. PERs.h.i.+NG.

This is the latest and best photograph of General Pers.h.i.+ng.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MARSHAL FERDINAND FOCH.

This is the latest photograph of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, Supreme Commander of the Allied Armies, as he appears since the termination of the war. A comparison of this photograph with earlier ones shows the effect of the war on the famous general.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Showing the actual drafting by the Allied Plenipotentiaries of the armistice terms which ended the great world war. Left side of table from left to right: second man, General di Robilant; Italian Foreign Minister Sonnino; Italian Premier Orlando; Colonel Edward H. House; General Tasker H. Bliss; next man unknown; Greek Premier Venizelos, and Serbian Minister Vesnitch. Right side of the table from left to right: Admiral Wemyss (with back turned); General Sir Henry Wilson; Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig; General Sackville West; Andrew Bonar Law; British Premier Lloyd George; French Premier Georges Clemenceau, and French Foreign Minister, Stephen Pichon.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SENLIS, FRANCE, WHERE THE ARMISTICE WAS SIGNED.

Amid the ruins wrought by the Huns the envoys of Germany signed the truce terms that victoriously ended the struggle for democracy.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FAMOUS FIGHTERS--"THE BLACK WATCH."

Some of the best fighters in the British Army, resting by the roadside after having driven the Germans back in the "Fight of the Woods," near Rheims.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLERKS IN NAVY DEPARTMENT.

Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIRST COLORED BATTALION, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, NATIONAL GUARD.

On Pennsylvania Avenue, Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., Parading the National Capital before going to France.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: SERGT. HENRY JOHNSON, OF ALBANY, N.Y., THE OUTSTANDING HERO.

Single-handed he routed 36 Huns, killing 4 of them and wounding the remainder. When his ammunition ran out he used a bolo knife. Sergt.

Johnson, of the 369th Colored Infantry (old 15th of N.Y.), was the first man in his regiment to win the French War Cross.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GROUP OF 369TH COLORED INFANTRY WITH THEIR WAR CROSSES.

One hundred and sixty-nine men of this regiment (old 15th N.Y.) won valor medals. They were nicknamed "h.e.l.l Fighters." Top--Fred Rogers.

Lower row--George Chapman, Lawrence McVey, Isaac Freeman. Upper row--Wm.

Bunn, Herbert Mills, Hugh Hamilton, Clarence Johnson.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: COL. HAYWARD AND GROUP OF REAL FIGHTERS.

All winners of the Croix de Guerre. When a French general gave orders to retire, Col. Hayward replied: "My men never retire: they go forward or die, and we are going through here or h.e.l.l. We don't go back."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: LIEUTENANT ROBERT S. CAMPBELL, U.S. ARMY.

The first man in the 92nd American Division (Negroes) to receive the distinguished service cross for bravery in the fighting in the Argonne.

He was a member of Co. I, 368th Infantry.]