America's War for Humanity Part 23

"At daybreak it became apparent that the enemy was throwing the bulk of his strength against the left of the position occupied by the Second Corps and the fourth division. At this time the guns of four German army corps were in position against them, and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien reported to me that he judged it impossible to continue his retirement at daybreak.

"I sent him orders to use his utmost endeavors to break off the action and retire at the earliest possible moment, as it was impossible for me to send him support.

"The French cavalry corps under General Sordet was coming up on our left rear early in the morning, and I sent him an urgent message to do his utmost to come up and support the retirement of my left flank, but owing to the fatigue of his horses he found himself unable to intervene in any way.

"There had been no time to intrench the position properly, but the troops showed a magnificent front to the terrible fire which confronted them.

ARMY FACED ANNIHILATION

"At length it became apparent that if complete annihilation was to be avoided retirement must be attempted, and the order was given to commence it about 3:30 in the afternoon. The movement was covered with most devoted intrepidity and determination by the artillery, which had itself suffered heavily, and the fine work done by the cavalry in the further retreat from the position a.s.sisted materially the final completion of this most difficult and dangerous operation.

"I cannot close the brief account of this glorious stand of the British troops without putting on record my deep appreciation of the valuable services rendered by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien. I say without hesitation that the saving of the left wing of the army under my command on the morning of the 26th could never have been accomplished unless a commander of rare and unusual coolness, intrepidity and determination bad been present to personally conduct the operations.

"The retreat was continued far into the night of the 26th and through the 27th and the 28th, on which date the troops halted on the line from Noyon, Chauny and LeFere.

PRAISES SORDET'S HELP

"On the 27th and 28th I was much indebted to General Sordet and the French cavalry division which he commands for materially a.s.sisting my retirement and successfully driving back some of the enemy on Cambrai.

General d'Amade also, with the Sixty-first and Sixty-second Reserve divisions, moved down from the neighborhood of Arras on the enemy's right flank and took much pressure off the rear of the British forces.

"This closed the period covering the heavy fighting which commenced at Mons on Sunday afternoon, August 23, and which really const.i.tuted a four days' battle.

"I deeply deplore the very serious losses which the British forces suffered in this great battle, but they were inevitable, in view of the fact that the British army--only a few days after concentration by rail--was called upon to withstand the vigorous attack of five German army corps.

"It is impossible for me to speak too highly of the skill evinced by the two general officers commanding army corps, the self-sacrificing and devoted exertions of their staffs, the direction of troops by the divisional, brigade and regimental leaders, the command of small units by their officers and the magnificent fighting spirit displayed by the noncommissioned officers and men.

[Signed] "J. D. P. FRENCH, "Field Marshal."

TOLD BY A WOUNDED SOLDIER

A British soldier, who was wounded in the fight during the retreat from Mons, told the following story of the battle there:

"It was Sunday, August 23, and the British regiments at Mons were merry-making and enjoying themselves in leisure along the streets.

Belgian ladies, returning from church, handed the soldiers their prayer books as souvenirs, while the Belgian men gave the men cigarettes and tobacco.

"About noon, when the men were beginning to think about dinner, a German aeroplane appeared overhead and began throwing out a cloud of black powder, which is one of their favorite methods of a.s.sisting batteries to get the range.

"No sooner had the powder cloud appeared than shrapnel began to burst overhead and in a moment all was confusion and uproar. But it didn't take the regiments long to get into fighting trim and race through the city to the scene of operations, which was on the other side of the small ca.n.a.l, in the suburbs. "Here our outposts were engaging the enemy fiercely. The outposts lost very heavily, most of the damage being done by sh.e.l.ls. The rifle fire was ineffective, although at times the lines of contenders were not more than 300 yards apart.

"The first reinforcements to arrive were posted in a gla.s.s factory, the walls of which were loop-holed, and we doggedly held that position until nightfall, when we fixed bayonets and lay in wait in case the enemy made an attempt to rush the position in the darkness.

DESTROY BRIDGES BEHIND THEM

"About midnight orders came to retire over the ca.n.a.l and two companies were left behind to keep the enemy in check temporarily. After the main body had crossed the bridge was blown up, leaving the two outpost companies to get across as best they could by boats or swimming. Most of them managed to reach the main body again.

"The main body retired from the town and fell back through open country, being kept moving all night. When daylight arrived it was apparent from higher ground that Mons had been practically blown away by the German artillery.

"Throughout the morning we continued to fight a rearguard action, but the steady march in retreat did not stop until 6 o'clock in the evening, when the British found themselves well out of range of the German artillery in a quiet valley.

"Here all the troops were ordered to rest and eat. As they had been without food since the previous morning's breakfast it was rather amusing to see the soldiers going into the turnip fields and eating turnips as though they were apples.

"At 8 o'clock all lights were extinguished, the soldiers were ordered to make no noise and the pickets pushed a long distance backward. Long before dawn the troops were hastily started again and continued the retirement.

"By noon the enemy was again heard from and a large detachment was a.s.signed the task of fighting to protect our rear.

WATCH DUEL IN AIR

"During the afternoon both the German and British armies watched a duel in the air between French and German aeroplanes. The Frenchman was wonderfully clever, and succeeded in maneuvering himself to the upper position, which he gained after fifteen minutes of reckless effort. Then the Frenchman began blazing away at the German with a revolver.

"Finally he hit him, and the wounded German attempted to glide down into his own lines. The glide, however, ended in the British lines near my detachment, the West Kent Infantry. We found the aviator dead when we reached the machine. We buried him and burned the aeroplane.

"At dusk a halt was made for food, and as the Germans had fallen behind the English spent a quiet night. At dawn, however, we found the Germans close to our heels, and several regiments were ordered to prepare intrenchments. This is tedious and tiresome work, especially in the heat and without proper food, but we quickly put up fortifications which were sufficient to protect us somewhat from the artillery fire.

"It was not long before the German gunners found the range and began tearing up those rough fortifications, concentrating their fire on the British batteries, one of which was completely demolished. Another found itself with only six men. Both these disasters bore testimony to the excellent markmanship of the German gunners.

OFFICER, SPIKES THE GUNS

"As it became evident that we must leave these guns behind and continue the retreat, an officer was seen going around putting the guns out of action, so that they would be of no use to the Germans. His action required cool bravery, because the Germans, having found the range, continued firing directly at these batteries.

"Things rapidly got hotter, and the commanding officer ordered a double-quick retreat. We were not long in doing the retiring movement to save our own skins.

"I was wounded at this time by a Maxim bullet. For a moment I thought my head had been blown off, but I recovered and kept on running until I reached a trench, where I had an opportunity to bandage the wound. I rushed off to the ambulances, but found the doctors so busy with men worse off than I that I went back to my place in the line."

THE BATTLE AT CHABLEROI

The loss of life in the Franco-German battle near Charleroi was admittedly the greatest of any engagement up to that time. It was at Charleroi that the Germans struck their most terrific blow at the allies' lines in their determination to gain the French frontier. Though the tide of battle ebbed and flowed for awhile the French were finally forced to give way and to retreat behind their own frontier, while the British were being forced back from their position at Mons. The fighting along the line was of the fiercest kind. It was a t.i.tanic clash of armies in which the allies were compelled to yield ground before the superior numbers of the German host.

One of the wounded, who was taken to hospital at Dieppe, said of the fighting at Charleroi:

"Our army was engaging what we believed to be a section of the German forces commanded by the crown prince when I was wounded. The Germans at one stage of the battle seemed lost. They had been defending themselves almost entirely with howitzers from strongly intrenched positions. The Germans were seemingly surrounded and cut off and were summoned to surrender. The reply came back that so long as they had ammunition they would continue to fight.

"The howitzer sh.e.l.ls of the Germans seemed enormous things and only exploded when they struck the earth. When one would descend it would dig a hole a yard deep and split into hundreds of pieces. Peculiarly enough the howitzer sh.e.l.ls did much more wounding than killing. The other sh.e.l.ls of the Germans, like cartridges, the supply of which they seemed to be short of, did only little damage.

AEROS CONSTANTLY ABOVE

"The German aeroplane service was perfect. An aircraft was always hovering over us out of range. We were certain within an hour after we sighted an aeroplane to get the howitzers among us. Whenever we fired, however, we did terrific execution with our seventy-five pieces of artillery. I counted in one trench 185 dead. Many of them were killed as they were in the act of firing or loading.

"The ground occupied by the Germans was so thick with dead that I believe I saw one soldier to every two yards. You might have walked for a mile on bodies without ever putting foot to the ground. They buried their dead when they had time, piling fifteen or twenty in a shallow pit."

THE FRENCH IN ALSACE-LORRAINE

On August 9 the advance guard brigade of the French right wing, under General Pau, a veteran of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, invaded Alsace, fought a victorious action with an intrenched German force of equal numbers and occupied Muelhausen and Kolmar. The news of the French entry into the province lost in 1871 was received all over France with wild enthusiasm. The mourning emblems on the Strasburg monument in Paris were removed by the excited populace and replaced by the tricolor flag and flowers in token of their joy. Muelhausen was soon after retaken by the German forces, only to be recaptured later by the French and then evacuated once more.

On the day of the first French occupation of Muelhausen France declared war against Austria in consequence of the arrival of two Austrian army corps on the Rhine to a.s.sist the main German army.

After the French occupation of Muelhausen a large German army was sent to the front in Alsace-Lorraine and succeeded in dislodging the French from that city, but not without severe fighting.

Two weeks after the war began the French defeated a Bavarian corps in Alsace and for awhile General Pau more than held his own in that former province of France. On August 21 the Germans drove back the French who had invaded Lorraine, and occupied Luneville, ten miles inside the French border.