America's War for Humanity Part 55

ALLIES FORCE THE DARDANELLES

On March 1 a great allied fleet of forty British and French warships, having reduced the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles, was on its way through the straits and the Sea of Marmora to Constantinople, with the object of capturing the city. Panic prevailed in the Turkish capital at the approach of the fleet, while for the first time in history hostile flags flew over the forts at the mouth of the Dardanelles.

The naval operations of the Allies in the Dardanelles, which began on February 17, proceeded without any serious check for a month. Mine sweepers were in daily use, to clear the channel of submerged and floating mines, and the forts at the Narrows, several miles inside the entrance of the straits, were subject to bombardment every fine day.

High winds and fog hampered the operations to a considerable extent, but the purpose of the Allies under Vice-Admiral Carden was adamant and would not be denied. They were determined to hammer their way through to the Turkish capital. The greatest battle of all history between warships and sh.o.r.e forts was the result. Soon after the bombardment began it became known that the allied fleets were led by the great new British superdreadnaught Queen Elizabeth, launched after the war began and armed with 15-inch guns of immense range which proved most effective in reducing the forts at the mouth of the straits.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FROM THE DARDANELLES TO THE BLACK SEA

This Map Shows the Route of the Allied Fleets on the Way to Constantinople, The Princ.i.p.al Fortified Places Are Clearly Indicated.]

THREE WARSHIPS SUNK

On March 18 three of the allied warships were sunk inside the Dardanelles and two crippled by the Turks during a bombardment in which ten vessels of the combined fleet partic.i.p.ated. The official report of the battle was as follows:

"Mine-sweeping having been in progress during the last ten days inside the straits, a general attack was delivered by the British and French fleets on Thursday morning upon the fortresses at the Narrows. At 10:45 A.M. the Queen Elizabeth, Inflexible, Agamemnon, and Lord Nelson bombarded forts J, L, T, U and V, while the Triumph and Prince George fired at batteries F, E and H. A heavy fire was opened on the ships from howitzers and field guns.

"At 12:22 o'clock the French squadron, consisting of the Suffren, Gaulois, Charlemagne and Bouvet, advanced up the Dardanelles and engaged the forts at closer range. Forts I, U, F and E replied strongly. Their fire was silenced by the ten battleships inside the straits, all the ships being hit several times during this part of the action.

"By 1:25 P.M. all the forts had ceased firing. The Vengeance, Irresistible, Albion, Ocean, Swiftsure and Majestic then advanced to relieve the six old battleships inside the straits. As the French squadron, which had engaged the forts in a most brilliant fashion, was pa.s.sing out, the Bouvet was blown up by a drifting mine. She sank in fathoms north of Arenkeuf village in less than three minutes.

"At 2:23 P.M. the relief battleships renewed the attack on the forts, which again opened fire. The attack on the forts was maintained while the operations of the mine-sweepers continued.

"At 4:09 P.M. the Irresistible quitted the line, listing heavily, and at 5:50 o'clock sank, having probably struck a drifting mine. At 6: o'clock the Ocean, also having struck a mine, sank. Both vessels sank in deep water, practically the whole of their crews having been removed safely under a hot fire. The loss of the ships was caused by mines drifting with the current, which were encountered in areas. .h.i.therto swept clear.

"The British casualties in personnel were not heavy considering the scale of the operations, but practically the whole of the crew of the Bouvet were lost with the ship, an internal explosion having apparently supervened on the explosion of the mine." [About 500 lives were lost on the Bouvet.]

On March 16 Vice-Admiral Carden, who had been incapacitated by illness, was succeeded in the chief command by Rear-Admiral John Michael De Robeck, with the acting rank of vice-admiral.

ADMIRAL DE ROBECK'S TRIBUTE TO THE FRENCH

After the engagement of March 18 Admiral De Robeck telegraphed to the British Admiralty the following tribute to the gallantry of the French in action:

"I desire to bring to the notice of your Lordships the splendid behavior of the French squadron. Their heavy loss leaves them quite undaunted.

They were led into close action by Rear-Admiral Guepratte with the greatest gallantry."

About this time it was noted by the press and generally commented upon, in both England and America, that the Admiralty had not made public a single word of commendation for the work of the British navy since the war began. This unusual fact was interpreted as evidence of the inflexible purpose of the British to ignore minor losses and even defeats until the main battleship fleets of the belligerents should come to grips in the open sea. English newspapers began to taunt the Germans with permitting their navy to "rust in the Kiel Ca.n.a.l."

The sinking of the battle cruisers Irresistible, Ocean and Bouvet was the heaviest loss sustained by the Allies since the war began. The British crews were rescued, almost to a man, and the loss of the French crew was due mainly to the internal explosion following that of the mine. All the ships sunk were of the earlier pre-dreadnought type. On the same day, March 18, the British battle cruiser Inflexible and the French battleship Gaulois were put out of commission temporarily by the fire of the Turkish forts.

The Irresistible, the Ocean and the Bouvet were all sunk in portions of the straits which had been swept clear of anch.o.r.ed mines, and the drifting mines which proved so deadly were undoubtedly set afloat by the Turks, probably under the direction of German officers, on the swift current of the Dardanelles at points near the allied ships after the action began. On March 24 the allied fleets renewed with vigor their attack upon the forts at the Narrows of the Dardanelles. A large body of troops was also landed upon the peninsula of Gallipoli, commanding the approach to Constantinople, and the Russian Black Sea fleet co-operated by a bombardment of the Turkish naval base, which left the Turkish fleet without supplies and practically paralyzed its movements.

BATTLE OF NEUVE CHAPELLE

The presence of part of Earl Kitchener's new British volunteer army at the western front in Belgium and France was signalized between March and March 16, when the British gained a series of successes that drew marked attention to their operations. To the south of Ypres in Flanders the British army, which a German attack had compelled to fall back beyond St. Eloi, recaptured that village and almost all of the neighboring German trenches, in spite of several counterattacks.

On March 11 Field Marshal Sir John French described the fighting which led to the capture of Neuve Chapelle in Northern France as follows:

"Since my last communique the situation on our front, between Armentieres and La Ba.s.see, has been materially altered by a successful initiative on the part of the troops engaged. Shortly after 8 A.M. on March 10 these troops a.s.saulted and carried German trenches in the neighborhood of Neuve Chapelle.

"Before noon we captured the whole village of Neuve Chapelle. Our infantry at once proceeded to confirm and extend the local advantage gained. By dusk the whole labyrinth of trenches on a front about 4, yards was in our hands. We had established ourselves about 1,200 yards beyond the enemy's advanced trenches.

"During the 11th the enemy made repeated efforts to recover the ground lost. All his counter-attacks were repulsed with heavy loss.

"We continue to make steady progress and hard fighting continues. The local initiative displayed by our troops daily is admirable. It says much for the spirit which animates the army. The success achieved on the 10th and 11th is a striking example." "THE END OF THE WORLD"

An officer who was wounded in the fighting thus vividly describes the battle of Neuve Chapelle:

"Modern warfare is such an infernal business that any man who is not killed ought to be cheerful. It all seems like a wild dream to me.

I never heard such a row in all my life. And the bullets and the sh.e.l.ls--it was like pa.s.sing through the most awful hail storm.

"We were in our trenches at dawn when suddenly a most infernal din commenced. You never saw such a sight; you never heard such a noise. I heard one of my men say, 'This is the end of the world,' and I did not blame him for thinking so. We could see in the distance great ma.s.ses of flame, earth and brick in great clouds of smoke, all ascending together as enormous sh.e.l.ls screamed over our heads and burst among the German entrenchments and the houses of the village. At the end of a half-hour's bombardment the fire ceased as suddenly as it had begun.

"All this time we were awaiting the order to advance towards Aubers. At length we jumped out into the open. The air seemed alive with bullets and sh.e.l.ls. There was a buzzing noise, such as you hear in a tropical forest on a hot summer day. On we moved, until we came to an open stretch, which was being swept by an infernal sh.e.l.l fire. We crossed this in rushes to gain the shelter of a few houses, losing some 40 or men. There we remained for some little time, reforming the battalion and awaiting further orders. When these came we moved forward over rough, open ground, coming upon lots of our poor fellows lying dead. They were from the only battalion which had preceded us.

"Then we entered the German trenches which had been captured. Again we halted. All this time our sh.e.l.ls, German sh.e.l.ls and rifle and machine gun bullets were shrieking overhead.

"Thank goodness, in an action like this you seem to lose your senses!

A kind of elevation above all ordinary feelings comes over you and you feel as though you were rushing through air. There is so much to frighten you that you cease to be afraid. Then your senses gradually come back. That is why all infantry attacks should be carried through with one overwhelming rush."

GERMAN ADVANCE IN POLAND

On March 12 two German armies were on the move in Poland, seeking to pierce the Russian lines. One of these armies was advancing along the road to Przasnysz with the bank of the River Narew as its objective.

This was the main German attack and inaugurated one of the biggest battles of the war.

Farther south, on the Pilica, a German feint was in progress with the object of weakening the Russian defense in the north. But while Petrograd seemed to be resigning itself to the idea of a second withdrawal from before Przasnysz, there was little doubt of the ultimate outcome of this German attempt to gain a firm footing on Russian soil.

The German troops were moved forward in close order and only in the daytime, and were entirely dependent on what natural cover they could find between the rushes, as the ground was frozen too hard to permit the use of intrenching tools.

These tactics naturally involved very heavy losses. The German casualties are also understood to have been extremely severe around Simno, especially on their extreme left, where they lost the greater part of their transport. It appeared certain that the Russians had fallen back before an onrush of forces of overwhelming numerical superiority, but it was equally certain that with every yard of the German advance from their railways the shock of their impact weakened while the Russian powers of resistance were enhanced.

BRITISH RELIEVE THE PRESSURE

Just as the French attacked the Germans in the western campaign when Field Marshal von Hindenburg made his rush from East Prussia in February, so the British army operating in Flanders undertook the task of relieving the pressure on its Russian ally when the Russians again were attacked in north Poland. This was part of the general plan of the allied generals. When one was attacked the other attacked, so as to compel the Germans and Austrians to keep strong forces at every point, and endeavor to prevent them from sending new troops where they could do the most good.

In March the Germans were occupied in an attempt to crush the Russians.

For this purpose they had an army estimated at nearly half a million men marching along the roads toward Przasnysz. To prevent this army from being further strengthened the British began to thrust at the German line north of La Ba.s.see, and besides reporting the capture of the village of Neuve Chapelle, they advanced beyond that town.

BRITISH AUXILIARY CRUISER LOST

On March 12 the Admiralty issued a report of the loss of the large British auxiliary cruiser Bayano while on naval patrol duty in the Irish Sea. Evidence pointed to her having been torpedoed by a German submarine. Only 27 of the Bayano's crew of 250 were saved. Fourteen officers, including the commander, went down with the ship. The Bayano was a new twin screw steel steamer of 5,948 tons. The survivors were afloat on a raft when rescued. The loss of the Bayano was the most serious of the submarine blockade of the British coasts up to that time.

GERMAN CRUISER DRESDEN SUNK

For several months British warships in the South Atlantic and South Pacific oceans sought in vain for the German cruiser Dresden, one of the German squadron defeated off the Falkland Islands by Admiral St.u.r.dee in December, when she was the only German vessel to escape. On February she sank the British ship Conway Castle off Corral in the South Pacific, and on March 14 she was caught near Juan Fernandez Island by the British cruisers Glasgow and Kent and the auxiliary cruiser Orama. An action ensued and after five minutes' fighting the Dresden hauled down her flag. She was much damaged and set on fire, and after she had been burning for some time her magazine exploded and she sank. The crew were saved. Fifteen badly wounded Germans were landed at Valparaiso, and the remainder of the crew were taken on board the auxiliary cruiser Orama as prisoners of war.

The Dresden was a sister ship of the famous Emden, and was commissioned in October, 1907. In the spring of 1914 the Dresden was on the Caribbean station, and was lying off Tampico when the American forces captured Vera Cruz. Later on in the summer the Dresden was the vessel on which Victoriano Huerta, upon abandoning Mexico, traveled from Puerta to Jamaica. Upon the outbreak of the war the Dresden was still stationed in Central American waters, and for a time was hunted by the British and French cruisers in the North Atlantic. She steamed south, however, and after sinking the British steamer Hyades and the Holmwood off the coast of Brazil, respectively, on August 16 and 26, went through the Strait of Magellan and joined Admiral Count Von Spee's fleet in the southern Pacific.

The sinking of the Dresden left at large on the high seas, so far as was known, only the German cruiser Karlsruhe, last reported as operating in the West Indies, and the auxiliary cruiser Kronprinz Wilhelm, which was still raiding commerce in the South Atlantic.

THE FALL OF PKZEMYSL

On March 22 the long siege of Przemysl, the formidable Galician fortress that had been called the "key to the Austrian empire," ended with the surrender of the city to the Russians. The siege stands as the fifth longest in 136 years, having lasted 185 days, surpa.s.sed in duration only by the sieges of Gibraltar, Sebastopol, Vicksburg, Richmond and Port Arthur. The news of the Austrians' surrender was the most important that had come from the eastern front in weeks. For six months the stronghold had withstood a.s.sault, remaining a constant menace in the rear of the Russian advance in Galicia. From 120,000 to 150,000 Russians had been held in the neighborhood by the necessity of masking the fortress.