Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 48

During almost two years of this time several companies of Australian, New Zealand and British sappers were busily but silently engaged in mining the hills of the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge, on which were the guns of the Germans which had been raking the troops of the Allies all this time. Nineteen great mines which contained a total of 1,000,000 pounds of ammonite upon their completion, had been dug into the vitals of these hills. Great charges of this new and powerful explosive had been placed in the mines nearly one year before their completion, yet no one except those actually engaged in the work knew of it. The secret was kept and the troops of Australia and New Zealand worked directly beneath the great German fortifications.

Then came the crucial moment. At exactly 3.10 o'clock in the morning of June 7, the whole series of mines were discharged by electrical contact, and the hilltops were blown high in the air in one terrific burst of flame, which poured forth as from craters of volcanoes. The ground for miles around was rocked as in an earthquake, and the roar emitted was distinctly heard in England by Lloyd George, the Prime Minister, listening for it at his country home 140 miles away.

A PRE-ARRANGED SIGNAL.

The explosion of the mines was a pre-arranged signal for the beginning of a heavy sh.e.l.l fire by the artillery. The whole section affected by the mines was subjected to a most intense sh.e.l.lfire, and following up this death-dealing storm came the troops of General Haig, under Sir Herbert Plumer, who finished the work of the great mines and big guns with a brilliant charge of men, who used rifle and bayonet most effectively. Within a few hours the whole of the Messines Ridge was securely in the hands of the British, and they had captured 7000 prisoners and many guns. The German casualties were estimated at 30,000, those of the British being about 10,000.

Rus.h.i.+ng the whole sector south of Ypres, from Observation Ridge to Ploegsteert Wood, north of Armentieres, the British forces succeeded in capturing that position with little loss. Then came the a.s.sault of the rear defenses, which were formed by the ridge itself. The natural formation of the land greatly helped the Germans in arranging their defenses, and the fighting was very fierce. The work of British troops, in which were many Australians and New Zealanders, together with English and Irish, all under the command of General Sir Herbert C.O. Plumer, was given great credit in the reports of the commander to the War Office.

The British War Office summarized the attack as follows in its report of June 8:

"The position captured by us yesterday was one of the enemy's most important strongholds on the western front. Dominating as it did the Ypres salient and giving the enemy complete observation over it, he neglected no precautions to render the position impregnable. These conditions enabled the enemy to overlook all our preparations for attack, and he had moved up reinforcements to meet us. The battle, therefore, became a gauge of the ability of the German troops to stop our advance under conditions as favorable to them as an army can ever hope for, with every advantage of ground and preparation and with the knowledge that an attack was impending.

GERMAN FORWARD DEFENSE.

"The German forward defenses consisted of an elaborate and intricate system of well-wired trenches and strong points forming a defensive belt over a mile in depth. Numerous farms and woods were thoroughly prepared for the defense, and there were large numbers of machine guns in the German garrisons. Guns of all calibers, recently increased in numbers, were placed to bear not only on the front but on the flanks of an attack. Numerous communicating trenches and switch lines, radiating in all directions, were amply provided with strongly constructed concrete dugouts and machine-gun emplacements designed to protect the enemy garrison and machine gunners from the effect of our bombardment. In short, no precaution was omitted that could be provided by the incessant labor of years, guided by the experience gained by the enemy in his previous defeats on the Somme, at Arras, and on Vimy Ridge.

"Despite the difficulties and disadvantages which our troops had to overcome, further details of yesterday's fighting show that our first a.s.sault and the subsequent attacks were carried out in almost exact accordance with the timetable previously arranged. * * *

"Following on the great care and thoroughness in preparations made under the orders of General Sir Herbert Plumer, the complete success gained may be ascribed chiefly to the destruction caused by our mines, to the violence and accuracy of our bombardment, to the very fine work of the Royal Flying Corps, and to the incomparable dash and courage of the infantry. The whole force acted in perfect combination. Excellent work was done by the tanks, and every means of offense at our disposal was made use of, so that every arm of the service had a share in the victory."

A good description of the Australian soldier, as he follows up his victory, was given in a story of an American war correspondent, who wrote concerning Flanders:

NEW LAND OF WARFARE.

"After these many months of trench warfare there is keen delight for the Australian soldier in this new land of warfare which the German retirement has opened up. The fighting is in open country now, over gently rolling downs of what looks like gra.s.s land. It is really most of it wheat or turnip land which has not been cultivated for a year or two.

The country is as open as the Australian central plains.

"It is quite a new sort of battlefield for the Australians. They march down to it through valleys almost exactly like the valleys in the peaceful parts of France. There are whole acres in which one cannot see a single sh.e.l.l hole. Back across the green country or down the open roads come men in twos or threes occasionally, sauntering as one might find them on a country road. They are the wounded helping one another back to the dressing station. The walking wounded have to help each other back in these modern battles. It is no longer looked upon as meritorious for an unwounded combatant to leave the field and help a wounded comrade to the rear.

"Nearest the front the country becomes more feverish. Angry bursts of tawny color are seen in a haphazard sort of way dotting the horizon and the countryside. Here and there are Australians standing behind mounds of earth with their rifles pointed over the top, bayonets always fixed.

Frequently, when there is no other shelter there are hastily scooped trenches. A quarter of a mile away another party is lining a roadside, flat on their stomachs in the ditch, bayonets peeping over the top.

Sh.e.l.ls are whizzing by at the rate of two or three a minute, high explosives bursting on contact behind their backs about as far away as the other side of a cottage parlor.

PRISONER AND ESCORT.

"Frequently one meets a prisoner being escorted to the rear. There is something very impressive about these little processions of two men, prisoner and escort. The prisoner, usually a young German private in neat gray uniform and steel helmet, walks in front. After him, grasping his rifle with both hands across his chest, his weatherbeaten brows puckered as he picks his way over the tumbled stones, comes the living embodiment of the Australian back country. Nine cases out of ten, somehow, the soldier who escorts a prisoner seems to be that bit of pure Australian, either Western Australia or South Australia, the Warrego or the Burdskin.

"He is an earnest man, intent on executing his errand with dispatch and exact.i.tude. 'Can you tell me the way to headquarters?' he asks as he pa.s.ses. Then he disappears slowly up the street on the heels of his silent companion.

"These Australians are just as good fighters in this new warfare as they were at Gallipoli or in the trenches, perhaps even better. They had their first encounter with German cavalry the other day, but it was only a feint at a flank and lasted but a few minutes."

Australia is ambitious, some might even say self-centered, and Germany undoubtedly made the mistake of considering that Australia was awaiting a chance to become unfriendly to Great Britain when she started to fight. But no nation ever made a greater mistake. As soon as the House of Hohenzollern placed the mother country in a perilous position Australia was at the command of Great Britain. Notwithstanding the fact that the Australians are primarily peace-loving, most intent on attending to their own affairs, the response to the call was immediate and whole-hearted.

AUSTRALIA'S COMMENDABLE PROMPTNESS.

The Australian centers buzzed with activity, and within two months after war was declared the Australian fleet, which consisted of five unarmored cruisers, three torpedo-boat destroyers, and three light gunboats, which had been built and manned at the expense of the Australians, were in possession of the German Pacific Islands--Samoa, Marshall, Carolines, Pelew, Ladrones, New Guinea, New Britain--had broken the wireless system of the Germans, and had captured eleven of the vessels of Germany. She also forced twenty-five other s.h.i.+ps to intern, and prevented the destruction of a British s.h.i.+p in Australian waters.

Then came the scouring of the seas by the German s.h.i.+p Emden, and her trip to Australian waters, with the object of carrying on the work of destruction which had marked her career in South American waters. She lay in wait for Australian transports, with the result that the Australian wars.h.i.+p Sydney sent her to the bottom but three months after war had been declared. Shortly after this the Australian fleet drove von Spree's squadron from the Pacific directly into the trap set by Admiral St.u.r.dee at the Falkland Islands.

The fact that all the troops of Australia must be transported to London--a distance via the Suez route of approximately 11,000 miles, and through the Panama Ca.n.a.l of 12,734 miles--did not keep back these brave men from quickly enlisting. The great distance made fighting extremely expensive, but the task was loyally a.s.sumed by the military of the far continent. Universal military service was inaugurated for the first time by an English-speaking community, and war loans were offered and quickly accepted. Transports were immediately constructed out of seventy steamers which were requisitioned.

At the declaration of war in November, 1914, the entire Australian army, which consisted of 20,000 men, left Australia for Egypt, and at the end of the first year of the conflict there were 76,000 men in the field. By July, 1916, nearly 300,000 volunteers had been recruited and had crossed the seas. The creation, equipment, and supplying of this army by the people of Australia, a task involving enormous cost and personal sacrifice, const.i.tutes a thrilling chapter in the history of loyalty.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ALIKE.

To those who think that Australia is a little island situated in the Pacific ocean it might be interesting to know that this continent, in size and shape, is almost the exact duplicate of the United States.

There are also outlying provinces, that of Papua, a tropical land, offsetting Alaska. Then there is the rich little Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. The surface of Australia is the most level in surface and regular in outline of all the continents, and is the lowest continent, with an average elevation of Ohio.

There are 2,974,581 square miles in Australia, while the land area of the United States is 2,973,890 square miles, a difference of 691 square miles. This, of course, is only the continental United States. Only about one-twentieth of the total area of Australia lies in a lat.i.tude farther removed from the Equator than Chattanooga, Tennessee; Clarendon, Texas; and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and there is less than one-third of the area of this unique continent which lies in a cooler lat.i.tude than the sugar-cane lands of Louisiana.

The streams of Australia are fewer and carry less water than those of any other continent. The heart of this great island is dry and barren and thinly populated. Most of the inhabitants are found within easy reach of the coastline. The population of this great land, at the census of 1911, was 4,568,707 persons.

New Zealand is situated a little more than 1200 miles to the east of Sydney, which is in the southeastern section of Australia. It consists of three fairly large islands, together with a number of small adjacent islands. The area is 105,340 square miles, the population being, in 1911, 815,862. The surface of the princ.i.p.al islands is diversified, being mountainous in some parts, and undulating in others. The best harbors are in the northern district.

CHAPTER XXIII.

AMERICA STEPS IN.

PRESIDENT WILSON'S FAMOUS MESSAGE TO CONGRESS--THE WAR RESOLUTION--APRIL 6, 1917 SEES THE UNITED STATES AT WAR--REVIEW OF THE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN GERMANY AND AMERICA--THE U-BOAT RESTRICTED ZONE ANNOUNCEMENT OF GERMANY--PREMIER LLOYD GEORGE ON AMERICA IN THE CONFLICT.

The hoisting of the American flag to the top of the staff as the emblem of world-wide Liberty followed the action of Congress in authorizing President Wilson to declare a state of war existed between Germany and the United States. What the conditions were which developed during the months in which Germany to all intents and purposes "laughed up her sleeve" at the United States, ignored our protests against her wanton disregard of human rights on land and sea, can no better be told than in the words of President Wilson himself in his message stating the position which the Government took.

His message to Congress will go down in history, not only as an instrument of world-wide importance, but as a cla.s.sic in literature. Its effect on the Nations was greater than that of any other message issued by any one country, probably in the history of the world, and while there were critics who regarded some of President Wilson's utterances as too idealistic, time proved that his vision was greater than that of those who criticised him, and within a short time the eyes of the entire world were turned toward Was.h.i.+ngton, which became the active centre from which the campaign for world-wide democracy was waged.

The hands of Liberty stretched out to Russia, Serbia, Italy, France, Belgium, England, little Montenegro, and they were given help in the most critical periods of their careers. The President's message was presented to Congress on April 3, 1917, as follows:

"I have called the Congress into extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right nor const.i.tutionally permissible that I should a.s.sume the responsibility of making.

"On the third of February last I officially laid before you the extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Government that on and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean.

COMMANDERS UNDER RESTRAINT.

"That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year the Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in conformity with its promise then given to us that pa.s.senger boats should not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy when no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats.

"The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and unmanly business; but a certain degree of restraint was observed.

"The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents.