The True Story of Class _^ZL523l ■ Book Copyright^?. COPYRIGHT !)EPOSm o o £3 o Copyright by Underwood c(- Underwood, N. Y., 19H William II King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany THE TRUE STORY OF THE Great European War FACTS, EXPLANATIONS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE WORLD-STAGGERING CRASH OF EVENTS, GATHERED IMPARTIALLY FROM EVERY SOURCE OF RELIABLE AUTHORITY ON BOTH SIDES OF THE GREAT CONFLICT What You Want to Know About the War of Wars, as Told by the Military Experts, War Correspondents, Statesmen and Rulers of All Lands BY Prof. C. M. STEVENS, Ph.D. Illustrated from Pliotograplis Taken on the Field of BattU Official War Maps and Diagrams THE HAMMING PUBLISHING CO. CHICAGO > sfv Copyright, 1914, by W, J. HAINSFUETHEE. SEP 17-19J4 ©CI. A 37 OG 3 I ■;i i CONTENTS BOOK I THE WORLD-STAGGERING WAR PAGE The Deluge. Columbia's Vision 10 First Thoughts of the War op Wars The Impossible Has Happened 11 The Greatest Cause of War 12 The Rage for Destruction 12 The Task of America '. 13 Imperial Militarism and Religion 14 Last Message of the Pope 16 Judgment Some Day. Poem 17 Censorship The Armageddon of Silence 19 The Censorship Puts Us Back a Century 19 How It Works in War-Ridden Lands 20 Heroes and Heroic Deeds 21 The Cry of the Women. Poem 21 Death in the Dark 22 First Experiences in a Great War Commonplace Horrors 25 Individual Experiences 26 What a Poor Mother Says. Poem in French 28 Facing Hardships 29 Scenes in Paris 30 Americans Caught in the Cordons of War 34 First Food in Three Days 35 Scenes of Liege Skirmishing 36 iv CONTENTS PAGE Arrival of the Philadelphia 37 National Anthem Heralds Arrival 38 Early Stages op the War Chronology of the First Two "Weeks 40 A General View 43 The Hour. Fagan 's Poem 44 Liege 44 Siezing the Whole Town 45 Wounds Worse Than Death 47 Fresh Troops to Slaughter 48 Dead Buried in Heaps 49 The Conquest of Liege. Phillips' Poem 50 Dickon's Picture of War at Liege 51 A Soldier 's Letter to His Sweetheart 51 Machine Obedience of Men 52 Word-Picture of Battle at Diest 53 Death of Horses From Exhaustion 54 To Europe. Stirling's Poem 55 War in Alsace 56 Adventures on Bicycles 57 Shot as a Spy 58 Search for Dead in Cornfields 58 Signs of War's Disaster 59 Alsatian Peasant 's Story 60 Wounded Left in the Roads 61 Capture of Brussels 62 The Burgomaster's Appeal 62 The War Indemnity 63 Description of Occupation of Brussels 63 Jap 's Move on China 65 Jap Cruisers Scour the Sea ^Q Defenses Reinforced ! GQ Swiss Army Mobilized 67 Americans in Distress 68 War as Seen From Holland 69 Russian Advance Into Germany 70 Aircraft Episodes 72 Watching for Air Messages 74 Victories of Servian Troops 7o Auto Dash for the Frontier 76 The German Advance ' ° The Russian Situation SO CONTENTS v PAGE An Enigma to War Experts 82 The Crush of Numbers 83 Two Million Men in Death-Grapple 85 The Vast Battle Line 86 The Franco-British Armies Beaten Back 87 The Fall of Namur 88 Allies Retirement Explained 89 Scenes of War at Charleroi 89 Wounded Fill the Town 89 French Open the Canonading 90 Smashing an Aeroplane 91 Vast Movement on to Paris 92 German Dispatch : "Joffre's Army Broken Up.'' 92 The Russian Invasion 93 Suffering Throughout Belgium 94 Boy Scouts Mobilized 95 BOOK II CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE GREAT WAR Opinions of the Most Noted Leaders A Graphic Vision 97 Comments of Christian Leaders 98 The Question. Poem 100 View Point of Americans 101 French Views of Causes 104 Views of Socialism 105 Can It Be? Poem 107 German Official Statements Ill Opening the Eyes of the World 112 Reasoning From the Turkish Revolution 112 Austria Against Servia 113 Germany Also Menaced 114 Demands of Austria 115 War Against the Uncultured 116 Russian Statement Considered 117 Die Deutsche Panzerfaust. Poem in German 118 Statement of the Imperial Chancellor 118 vi CONTENTS PAGE Obligations Discovered 119 William II, Prince of Peace. Viereck's Poem 122 An Appeal to Sweden for Germany 123 The Jewish View 121 Imperialism and Democracy. A Definition 126 The Only Peace. Poem. .'. 127 Smashing the Machinery of Civilization The Staggering Blow 129 Has Christianity Failed 130 Opinions of American Scholarship 1 33 The Right to Bloody Violence 135 The Call to the Colors. Poem 136 Living in the Time of a Great War 136 The Vast Sacrifice 137 Neutrality op the United States The President's Appeal for Neutrality 140 Americans of Many Nations 141 Must Be Neutral in Thought and Action 142 Diplomatic Documents Leading Up to War First Events 143 Note to the Servians 144 Austria 's Circular Note 146 Servia's Reply 148 Servia's Reply Denounced by Austria 152 Russian Statement 153 German Emperor's Reply to the Czar 154 Germany 's Sharp Note 154 Russian Proclamation 155 Russian Promise to Holland 156 Japan 's Ultimatum 156 Japan's Promise to America 159 English Statement 159 Kitchener's Instructions to Soldiers 160 England's Praise to Belgium 161 French Pledge to Restore Belgium 161 CONTENTS vii PAGE The Great Test of American Diplomacy America Surrounded by War 163 Stability of American Government 164 Cost of the War 164 What is Costs to Kill a Man 165 The Red Cross Nurse. Poem 167 Switzerland as a War Hospital 167 America 's Part 168 Dogs for the Red Cross 169 That Graves May Not Be Nameless 170 Rank and File. Dobson's Poem 170 . Stupendous Work of Army Surgeons 170 A Belgian Surgeon's Researches 171 Fatal Wounds From Artillery 173 American Gamblers in Food Supplies Those Who Corner the Food Markets 177 President Acts to Restrain Rise in Prices 178 American Construction Contrasted With European De- struction 179 The War and South America Latin American Trade 183 Direct Steamship Lines 184 Aggressive Action Fair in Trade 185 On the Pacific Coast 186 Undoubted Opportunity 187 American Shipping Bill 188 War Measures Military Strategy 190 Fortifications 192 The Concert of Europe 193 How the Great Alliances Were Formed 194 The Triple Alliance 194 The Triple Entente 195 International Arbitration 197 War Songs of the Nations 197 viii " CONTENTS BOOK III MEANS AND SOURCES OF THE GREAT WAR PAGE The Merciless Machinery Contrasts in the Vision cf Heroism 201 Contrasts in Methods and Means 202 Role Played in the Tragedy by Electricity 203 Commands Flashed Across Space 205 Half-Ton Missiles Hurled Seven Miles 207 Cement Forts and Disappearing Guns 209 The Army of Mercy 211 Submarines 212 Mines in the Present' War 218 Wireless in the Present War 221 Wireless in the Balkan War 224 Portable Wireless in the Field 225 Automobiles in War 226 Airships in War 227 American Devices 228 The Poet's Dream. Tennyson 234 Zeppelin 's Airships 235 War Strength of the Triple Alliance 237 War Strength of the Triple Entente 238 The Age-Long Conflict Between France and Germany The Ancient Beginning 240 Conflict of a Thousand Years Ago 241 The Weaker Inheritance 242 Alsace and Lorraine in Every War .' 243 Metz and Strassburg in Sieges 246 Bismarck's Idea 247 The "Zabern Affair.". 248 Declaration of the Rights of Man '. 249 Rival Armaments 251 How Paris Is Defended 253 Hapsbuegs, Romanovs, Hohenzollerns Three Families and Their Cost to Europe 255 The Start of a Bitter Feud 257 CONTENTS ix PAGE Hapsburg Tragedies 258 Hohenzollern Chronicles 261 Reluctant to Rule Over the Rnssias 264 Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia 266 Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria 266 William II, Emperor of Germany 267 King Albert of Belgium at the Front 268 Sentry Refuses the King Admittance to Hospital 269 Side Lights on the Great Issues George V, King of Great Britain 271 English Kinship Among Royalty of Europe 272 Mohammedan or Christian 273 Geographical Description of War-Torn Towns 277 The Kingdom of Servia 290 The Austro-Hungarian Empire 292 Belgium 293 The Belgian People 294 The French Republic 298 The German Empire 303 Resources of Germany in 1913 304 The Hohenzollerns 307 The Russian Empire 307 Holland 309 The Hague 311 Colonies of the Warring Nations 312 American Prosperity and the War 315 The Belgian Protest Against Airship Bombs 316 THE DELUGE As one who dreams a dreadful dream and moans in fitful sleep, Columbia broods in anguish o'er the hell across the deep, And, clear-eyed, save for futile tears, she sees great nations sink With all their brains and manhood under Reason 's level brink. She sees long years of kindness taken from the human race And every line of gospel flung into its writer's face. The war lords snap their fingers and with their insane commands Brave millions offer up their lives and march to hostile lands. Among the stars the great god Mars, white hot to thrust and kill, Is sneering at the tiny ants who crawl to do his will. The teachings of the Nazarene, the dreams great souls have told Are trampled 'neath the charger's hoof and sacrificed for Gold. The peasant in his lowly home sits white-faced and forlorn To wait the marching thousands with their selfishness and scorn. To-day he has his little all — his home, his field, his wife ; To-morrow, when the storm has passed, he will not have his life ; Or if, perchance, his life be spared for later ghastly scenes, Among the ruins he will sit and wonder what God means. Gone all of our illusions and the dreams of peace we wrought, Forgotten all the lessons that the blood-smeared sword has taught, The grim retreat from Moscow when Napoleon's legions died, The awful field of Austerlitz and Jena 's crimson tide ; The gentler, nobler part of man and all that knowledge brings Are banished from the Present to appease the lust of kings. Afar we hear the charger's scream, the slim boy's dying moan, As on the red and ravaged field he sobs to God alone; Afar we see the plodding hosts go blindly to their fate Like dumb and willing cattle driven through a country gate. As one who dreams a dreadful dream and moans in fitful sleep Columbia broods in anguish o'er the hell across the deep — William F. Kirk. 10 BOOK I Survey of the World-Staggering Disaster to Humanity The impossible has happened. The incredible has forced itself into flaming facts. The calamity that has fallen upon the world is utterly beyond description or comprehension. The green fields are stained with blood; houses, factories, and cities are battered down. Human lives are burned up like coals in a furnace. Death and agony inconceivable, and no man can truly say why the killing or why the war. Years of science, civilization, and peace end in the greatest, bloodiest, most brutal war, as unnecessary as any that the world has known. Words are meaningless ; description is futile. The world's higher power for destruction — civilization transformed into a great international cutthroat — that is the picture this earth presents after nineteen centuries of ''Christianity." The world is reminded now of the power with which Carry le described war's horror: " Horrible enough! A whole marchfield. strewed with shell splinters, cannon shot, ruined tumbrils, and dead men and horses, stragglers still remaining 11 12 THE WORLD-STAGGERING WAR not so much as buried. Aud those red mould heaps : Ay, there lie the shells of men, out of which all the life and virtue have been blown; and now are they swept together and crammed down out of sight, like blown egg-shells ! ' ' The greatest single fighting force ever marshaled in history now goes from mobilization to war. The impending collision will be with Europe; the crash will shake the world. Germany, Austria, Russia, England, Belgium, France, Portugal, Servia, and Japan have sprung into the arena, each screaming out that the other fel- low began it, each loaded down with arms and troops, yet claiming a desire only to keep the peace. They all solemnly swear they are on the defensive ; and they are all trying to strike the first offensive blow. THE GREATEST CAUSE OF WAR Dr. Frank Crane has said editorially a great truth, as follows: "The greatest cause for war is military prepared- ness. When a nation spends millions of dollars for fireworks, sooner or later they want to see them fired off. When five hundred thousand young men have been practising with guns for years, by and by they want to shoot somebody." THE RAGE FOR DESTRUCTION Gunpowder has blown the boundaries of European nations into torn and twisted lines many times dur- THE WORLD-STAGGERING WAR 13 ing the last 125 years. Then, through a retaliatory fate, the same mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal has battered to debris the barriers marking the new borders and restored the old. The political topography of Europe bids fair to undergo another violent reconstruction through the same pitiless explosive as an outcome of the present gigantic struggle. No nation has ever had the opportunity now before this country to prove that "Peace hath its victories no less renowned than war." Indeed, years hence, when history finally records the results of the cataclysm into which Europe has plunged the whole world, it will be written, we hope and believe, that the United States, great as it was before the conflict, won the most gigantic and most lasting triumph in the annals of all time by stead- fastly remaining at peace. Our people have a mission to perform for man- kind — an ideal to keep resolutely and fearlessly in mind, so that in the centuries to come, civilization can point to our course as an inspiring and convinc- ing demonstration that a nation's enduring achieve- ments and noblest blessings to its own and to others are in peace, not in war. Slaughtering each other by the hundreds simply because they live on different sides of a geographi- cal boundary line is not the true mission of man on earth, nor will civilization long applaud the prowess of the man or nation that boasts of having swept the greatest number of human beings from earth by the 14 THE WORLD-STAGGERING WAR sword. The world has never seen a conflict of arms on such a gigantic scale as that which has just begun abroad, and where it will end is as far beyond human comprehension as Eternity itself. THE TASK OF AMERICA Firm in this faith, let us hold ourselves happy in this republic. We are, perhaps, to be the saviors of the civilization imperiled by the sudden breaking down of the machinery of civilized society abroad. But we shall not work alone. The aroused and indig- nant energy of other nations will soon unite with us, that social order does not perish from the earth, and that, out of European chaos, a real and substan- tial advance shall come to human welfare. IMPERIAL MILITARISM AND RELIGION" Of the fourteen hundred millions of human beings on this earth, nearly all pray to some god. And the nations at war in Europe all pray to the same god. A hideous, pathetic, pitiful sight that God looks down upon, as he turns his eyes toward the praying murderers that look up to Him, each asking for victory. "Help me, O God, to capture that town, though I kill all the women and children," one ruler prays, and thinks that God will answer and help him. "Help me, O God, to defend this city, to kill the men that besiege it, to attack their city in turn and destroy it, though I kill all their women and chil- THE WORLD-STAGGERING WAR 15 dren," and the praying man believes that God is with him and will help him in his plans of murder. Butchery by day and night on the water, on the land and in the air, prayers asking the Creator of the world to help them in their killing, seventeen millions of armed men ready for the game of murder, indus- try dead, agriculture dead, science, progress, every good power on the earth, paralyzed. And that is war. PRAYER OF THE WAR-LORD God of my Fathers, grant me aid That I may rout my countless foes! By Thee were guns and cannons made, From Thee the joy of battle flows. God, who gave me might and power, Thou knowest that my heart is pure. Be with me in this awful hour, That I and mine may still endure. Thou art the God who loveth war, And famine, rapine, blood and death ; 1 pray Thee stand beside me, for ' Thou knowest what my spirit saith. The soul of me is linked with Thine To bid the blood of heroes flow. The death we grant them is divine, And in Thy name I bid them go. God of my Fathers, still be kind To them who raise Thy banner high, While Thou and I together find The surest wav for them to die. 16 THE WORLD-STAGGERING WAR They do my bidding, God, look down And bless the sword that I have drawn. My blight shall fall on field and town, And thousands shall not see the dawn. To Thee, God, I give all praise That Thou hast made my hand so strong ; That now, as in my father's days, The King and Thee can do no wrong. — Edward 8. Van Zile. To be neutral as a people and to keep ourselves as individuals free from the inflaming touch of war passion, is the clear duty of every American. The President of the United States, from the bed- side of his dying wife, appealed to the nations for some means of reaching peace for Europe. The last thoughts of the dying helpmate was for the great responsibility of her husband in this awful crisis in the life of nations. The Pope was stricken to death by the great calam- ity to civilization. A few minutes before the end came, he said that the Almighty in His infinite mercy was removing him from the world to spare him the anguish of the awful war. The last message sent out to his followers over the world was given in a dispatch as f ollows : At this moment, when nearly the whole of Europe is being dragged into the vortex of a most terrible war, with its present dangers and miseries, and the consequences to follow, the thought of which must strike every one with grief and horror, we, whose care is the life and welfare of so many citizens and THE WORLD-STAGGERING WAR 17 peoples, cannot but be deeply moved and our heart wrung with the bitterest sorrow. And in the midst of this universal confusion and peril, we feel and know that both fatherly love and apostolic ministry demand of us that we should with all earnestness turn the thoughts of Christendom thither, "whence cometh help" — to Christ, the Prince of Peace and the most powerful mediator between God and man. We charge, therefore, the Catholics of the whole world to approach the throne of Grace and Mercy, each and all of them, and more especially the clergy, whose duty furthermore it will be to make in every parish, as their bishops shall direct, public supplication, so that the merciful God may, as it were, be wearied with the prayers of His children and speedily remove the evil causes of war, giving to them who rule to think the thoughts of peace and not of affliction. From the palace of the Vatican, the second day of August, 1914. PIUS X, Pontifex Maximus. JUDGMENT SOME DAY Somewhere, above this war of hate, God broods upon His throne ; He scans the running sands of Pate, And sees the end — alone. Somewhere, above these stricken lands, Almighty God looks down : Perhaps with ruthless, guiding hands, Perhaps with angry frown. Whether He planned this scourge of flame, No man to-day can tell ; These kings all call upon His name To bless their shot and shell. 18 THE WORLD-STAGGERING WAR Whether behind this drama dark, God moves or devils lurk, Swinging his scythe in widening arc, The Reaper is at work. We sicken at the awful cost, Youth slaughtered, genius slain, Mercy forgotten, pity lost, Blood soaking hill and plain., But some day those who rule these lands Shall face God's judgment throne, With naked hearts and reddened hands, Unguarded and alone. With those who died and those who wept, These kings shall answer God For plains and cities cannon swept, For ruin spread abroad. His voice shall give them their reward For all eternal time ; Forgiveness if He desired the sword, Or His curse for a godless crime. — William C. Stevens in Chicago Herald. CENSORSHIP The Armageddon of Modern History Fought In the Black Silence of Midnight, Hidden From the Sight of the World. As if to stand as an example for scripture, which declares that ''everyone that doeth evil hateth the light," the mighty inventions for communication over the earth have been cut into silence as deep as in any period of the dark ages. In order to strike the deadliest blows at unex- pected, and therefore undefended, spots, all knowl- edge of war operations are suppressed. THE CENSORSHIP PUTS US BACK A CENTURY A hundred years ago the United States was at war with England, and the burning of Washington, the battle of Fort Erie and the attack on Baltimore, dur- ing which Key wrote his "Star-Spangled Banner," were events of thrilling interest. But news traveled slowly 100 years ago. It was days before New York knew what had happened, and then only through the use of relays of couriers rushing on horseback over roads that were none of the best. Since then we have developed a vast mechanism for the collection and distribution of news. And now, due to the censorship, the mechanism is almost useless, and we are back not so very far from 19 20 CENSORSHIP where people were a century ago. It is hard to imag- ine that while the battle of Waterloo was being fought on June 18, London was just receiving the news of the reverse of the Prussians at Ligny on the sixteenth. Even on the twentieth, the Times an- nounced only that "a Mr. Sutton had heard the news of a great victory," the official announcement not coming until the next day. The instant dissemination of war news reached its highest point in the Spanish-American War. Ever since then the more rigorous censorships established by combatants have interfered with efficient news gathering until to-day the minds attempting to the limit of their capacity to grasp and understand the events in Europe can secure but the sorriest and most- unstable data from which to extract a true concep- tion of what is going on. It is but another instance of the retroactive effects of war that the great record- ing instrument so carefully built up during the past century now is rendered useless. HOW IT WORKS IX THE WAR-RIDDEN LANDS The soldiers in the field see only the narrow ring about them. War correspondents say that German prisoners expressed surprise on finding that they had been fighting Belgians. Uhlan officers could not understand how English officers could be on the French staff. See already how it has worked out in France : "Families left behind never receive news from their soldiers. Those who have gone have just CENSORSHIP 21 stepped out — been swallowed up. Their families may write to them, in special envelopes addressed to the war office, but they will never know where they are until they come home again. So secretly, so silently, is the war being waged." This is the silence that hangs over every home in France. And here is the way in which any day may see it broken : "If the soldiers do not come home again, a card from the war office will come, saying: ' , belonging to you, has fallen on the field of honor.' " That is all. HEROES AND HEROIC DEEDS What becomes of the heroes ? It would seem that nations are eager to thrill over tidings of brave men and heroic deeds brought all fresh and inspiring from the front. All news is reduced to cold, bare bulletins of geography and net results. Modern warfare, so far as we are permitted to see it at work, appears to be a gigantic, soulless mecha- nism, turning its blood-smeared wheels in darkness, traceable only by the dead and wounded that pile higher and higher behind it. THE CRY OF THE WOMEN They tell us of wars and rumors of wars, Arid the orders of kings to men, And little they heed of the sorrow decreed By the stroke of a ruler's pen. 22 CENSORSHIP And little they care for child and for wife, When the wife and the child make moan, While nations fight for their ruler's greed, And the fighter dies alone. The woman with hair like sunset gold, The woman with hair like coal, Each of them loses the love of her life, The man that is half of her soul. Aye ! you that flatter a ruler 's greed, And you that fawn at his power, And you that fight when there is no need — You, too, shall come to your hour ! When in woe and wretchedness comes that hour, Your guilt shall your souls bewray, And you shall utter your cry for peace As we cry for peace this day. — Clara II. Davidson. DEATH TX THE DARK There never was a time in war when the soldier was so completely swallowed up and hidden. Great Britain, for instance, will not know until official reports of a battle reveal it, where her troops have gone. The soldiers are permitted to write only post cards. These, if they reach England, carry no post mark. The soldier may write that he is well. That is all. His relatives and friends know only that he has disappeared behind the cloud of censorship, and may come out only in a casualty list. Regiments, bri- CENSORSHIP 23 gades, and divisions march behind the curtain and are no longer seen or heard of. War never before so utterly shrouded itself in the terrible mystery of silence. The mood of Americans to-day is one of awe, of sorrow, of helpless wonder, and of profound and reverent gratitude for this, our blessed island of peace, amid the seas of universal war. Prof. Schevill, of the University of Chicago, says behind this war is "the whole civilization of Europe, which, brilliant though it be in some respects, must be suffering from many and wasting cankers to have been brought to this sorry pass. Let the neswpapers and diplomats expatiate as much as they will on this or that incident which caused the war, the real rea- sons lie deep down at the very roots of our culture. They lie in our wild pursuit of wealth, in our ram- pant commercialism, in our race hatreds, in our insufficient love of our fellow men, in our competitive and military psychology, and in a hundred other things constituting in their totality what we boast- ingly refer to as our civilization." Prof. Schevill makes war look like the mad work of a mob. But it has all the characteristics of individuals. The history of nations is full of wasted effort and misguided zeal. Life is strewn with blasted hopes as eternal space is strewn with dead worlds. It is strange that the nations must make the same mis- takes over and over and over again. Struggling for the same shattered ideals, even fighting on the very 24 CENSORSHIP same battlefields which time and again have been drenched with the blood of determined men battling for a futile cause. Prof. Schevill continues: "But these battered and impoverished people will be preserved for no other purpose than for new wars and new disasters if they do not fit themselves out with a new mind. And that means that the individual — for everything depends in the last analysis upon him — must learn the lesson of peace and love, for which in Europe much more than in America he is as yet not greatly receptive. If the European man does not acquire a new set of dominant ideas, the present war, irrespec- tive of who wius or who loses, can only add another mass of terrible rancors to those already existing. Rancor piled on rancor — that way madness lies. Europe has followed a wrong track, and must imper- atively call a halt." The Relative Strength of the Six Great Powers. Triple -alliance and triple entente contrasted. «urt ild Germany ■ > pit-mat sini££le. FIRST EXPERIENCES IN A GREAT WAR Humanity Leveled to a Common Denominator commonplace horrors Who was it made the inane remark, ''History never repeats itself"? Let him hide his head, Listen: We shall never witness such a scene as that which Brussels presented. Crowds rushed to the Namur gate, and many rode along the chaussee to be in advance of any intelli- gence from the army. Each man asked his neighbor the news ; the English lords and ladies condescended to speak to persons they did not know. Merchants closed their shops and came out to swell the general chorus of alarm and clamor. Women prayed on the flags and steps. The dull sound of the cannon went rolling and rolling. The lists of casualties are carried on from day to day. Travelers began to leave town, galloping away by the Ghent barrier. Prophecies began to pass for facts. He is marching straight on Brussels. It sounds like a newspaper "war extra" for Au- gust, 1914, but it is the story of Waterloo as William Makepeace Thackeray wrote it less than a score of years after it occurred. How prophetic it seems for 25 26 FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR 1914. How sinister! Then, as now, the cities were engaged in commerce, festivities, fighting. Then, as now, thousands of innocent noncombatants were ensnared in the toils of war. INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES War Correspondent Eorke, writing from Brussels, says : "A visit to Haelen and other towns almost within a stone's throw of the German lines, shows the frightful devastation which the Germans have perpe- trated in Belgian territory. "For instance, at Haelen itself houses belonging to the townspeople have been completely wrecked. Win- dows were broken, furniture destroyed, and the walls demolished by shell fire. Even the churches have not been respected. The parish church at Haelen has been damaged considerably from shrapnel fire. "When the Germans entered that village, from which they have now been completely driven out, they wrote upon the walls of the church and of houses that 'It is forbidden, under penalty of death, to enter this village.' Then they burned everything in sight." Guy Menzies, an English millionaire, coming from Waremme, near Liege, throws a side light on the scenes. He found that he was being watched on suspicion that he was a spy. "I hid in a cafe near Longdoz for a time, proceed- ing through Chenee to Chaud Fontaine, where I encountered Belgian sentries, who mistook me for a German spy. I convinced them of my identity and FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR 27 went on toward the south. The burgomaster of Vaux-sous Chevremont, who knew me, gave me safe conduct to Verviers. "Soon there began to appear signs of the terrible ravages resulting from the German advance. At Romsee every house had been burned by the Ger- mans. Firing was going on, and I had marvelous escapes. As I passed, women and children were fleeing panic-stricken from their homes. "At Fleron the people were so terrified no one would take me in for the night or give me food. 1 i I went on to Berne, and Monday morning started again, but lost my way and found myself in Soiron. Here there were evidences of the fire of the Liege forts. German field guns lay by the side of the road disabled, with dead horses still in the harness. The ground was littered with hundreds of bodies of Ger- man soldiers. They were lying very close together, indicating that they had moved forward in close order. ' ' I reached my house at Petit Rechain Monday by way of Verviers." A London newspaper correspondent in Brussels, writing, August 21, of the capture of that city, says : "I was stopped to-day by an enormous crowd of refugees flocking along the Brussels road on foot and in vehicles, and by Red Cross carts. The sight was pitiful. Of these persons leaving their homes, by far the greater number were women, many of them with young children whose fathers were at the front. "Fear and ignorance had seized the mob. As I 28 FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR was going out, a peasant fired his double-barreled gun at my motor, mistaking my fishing hat for a Ger- man helmet. The shot blew the tail lamp to pieces. "Brussels is curiously quiet. Big crowds are gath- ered around the stations to watch the wounded pass- ing through. A gendarme told me of one old woman who arrived at the barricade driving six sheep. She did not want the Germans to have them, but she was willing the Belgian soldiers should have them if they would keep her safe. 11 Perhaps," she added, "the Queen and the Princes might need some mutton." WHAT A POOR MOTHER SAYS "Tout le monde est a la guerre Pour rien, pour rien, pour rien, C 'est ce que dit une pauvre mere : "Pour rien, pour rien, pour rien, Tous mes fils sont alk's, Et ne sont pas retournes ; Les patries n'ont rien gagne Et moi, rien rien. , "On m'a dit que la gloire Et l'amour pour la patrie Sont les plus grandes choses du monde Et demandent mes fils, leur vies, Mais une pauvre vielle mere Qui a donne tout ce qu'elle a, Elle exclame qu'une guerre Est indigne d'un grand etat. FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR 29 "Les patries ne gagnent rien Que des fleuves de sang, niisere Les horribles vicieuses guerres, Pour rien, pour rien, pour rien." — William Edward Wolff. Mrs. Ella Fla gg Young, superintendent of the schools of Chicago, was traveling in Sweden at the outbreak of war. She says : . ' I had to go to Christiania, Norway, but found the boat dangerously crowded. Accordingly a party of sixty of us went on a freighter to Wick, Scotland. It had on board a cargo of ice. "The Swedes sympathize with the Germans. They believe if Germany wins, she will take Finland and Lapland, and thus Sweden would have a German buffer between herself and the Great Bear. ' ' On the other hand, Norwegians support England, and if the worst comes to the worst, the Scandina- vian peninsular may be divided into two hostile countries. "Before Sweden announced her neutrality, the army was mobilized. According to ancient custom, the bells were rung every hour. Farmers hurried in from their plows to join the colors. There were plenty of caps, but not enough of the rest of the uniform to go around." FACED MANY HARDSHIPS Tn the leaky and pitching "tramp," the three Chi- cago women had a day and night voyage across the 30 FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR tempestuous North Sea amid hardships and priva- tions almost unimaginable. Mrs. Young managed to find room in a so-called cabin with five other women. Mrs. Britton spent the night on top of a barrel. Twice their steamer was held up and overhauled by vigilant British cruisers. The three women were more dead than alive when they reached the Scottish coast thirty hours later. She said: "One encountered troops of marching territorials here and there, and boy scouts were much in evidence, but our English cousins in no respect whatever gave any indication of losing their balance. "There was a quiet, grim realization that the empire was on .the threshold of a great crisis, but the decision to confront it was taken without any sug- gestion of fuss or feathers. It was a remarkable manifestation of the stolidity and solidity of the Brit- ish character. One heard no more of Ulster or of Nationalists or suffragets. Everybody had become suddenly and simply Englishmen and English- women. ' ' SCENES IX PARIS A graphic description of scenes at Paris during the mobilization of the French troops in the first week of August is contained in a letter written to the North- western Christian Advocate by its editor, Elbert Eobb Zaring. Mr. Zaring was one of the ten mem- bers of the world's peace congress who sailed on the steamship Philadelphia to attend the conference in Constance, Germany, early this month. FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR 31 When the party arrived in Paris, they received the first news of the impending European conflict. Steamship ticket offices were being stormed by crowds of frantic American tourists. Martial law was declared. The streets were alive with soldiers and weeping women. Shops were closed, the clerks having been drafted into the army. The city hummed with militarism. FRENCH STERN", STOICAL Underneath the excitement, Mr. Zaring describes the stern, stoic attitude of the French in preparing to meet their old enemy, their courtesy toward Amer- icans, and their calmness in refraining from out- breaks against German residents of Paris. He praises Ambassador Herrick for his untiring efforts in alleviating the discomforts of American tourists. He alludes to the incongruous position in which the peace delegates found themselves. "Just here it might be interesting to observe the unique and almost humorous situation into which these peace delegates were thrown, ' ' Mr. Zaring says. "Starting out a week before with the largest hope and most enthusiastic anticipation of effecting a closer tie between nations, and swinging the churches of Christendom into a clearer alignment against in- ternational martial attitudes, we were instantly ' disarmed,' bound, and cast into chains of utter help- lessness, not even feeling free to express the feeblest sentiment against the high rising tide of military activity. 32 FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR "We were lost on a tempestuous sea; the dove of peace had been beaten, broken winged, to shore, and the olive branch lost in the general fury." The conditions in Paris on August 12 are described as follows: "We are in a state of tense expectation, so acute that it dulls the senses of the population, and Paris is relapsing into the condition of an audi- ence assisting at a thrilling drama with intolerably long entr'actes during which it tries to think of its own personal affairs. "We know that pages of history are being rapidly engraved in steel, written in blood, illuminated in the margin with glory on a background of heroism and suffering, not more than a few score miles away. Yet it is almost as if we were at the other side of the world. "The shrieking camelots (peddlers) gallop through the streets waving their news sheets, but it is almost always news of twenty-four hours ago. Commu- niques are given out at 11 :30 in the morning, at 5 :30 in the afternoon, and at 11 :30 at night, but each long day gives us little more than the morning papers tell of the events of yesterday. ' ' The iron hand of the censor reduces the press to a monotonous repetition of the same formula. Only headlines give scope for originality. "Of local news, there is none. There is nothing doing in Paris but steady preparation for meeting contingencies by organizing ambulances and relief for the poor." Copyright by Underwood £ Undericood, N. Y., 1911, The new dirigible, "Villa De Milan," which the citizens of Milan pre- sented to the Italian army. It is 234 feet long and 60 feet in diameter FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR 33 The suffering of Russians leaving Germany is thus described: "We left Berlin on the day Germany de- clared war against Russia. Within seventy-five miles of the frontier 1,000 Russians in the train by which they were traveling were turned out of the carriages and compelled to spend eighteen hours without food in an open field surrounded by soldiers with fixed bayonets. "Then they were all placed in dirty cattle wagons, about sixty men, women, and children to a wagon, and for twenty-eight hours were carried about Prus- sia without food, drink, or privacy. In Stettin they were lodged in pig pens, and next morning they were sent off by steamer to Rugen, whence they made their way to Denmark and Sweden without money or lug- gage. Sweden provided them with food and free passage to the Russian frontier. "Five of our fellow-passengers went mad." An American had a touch of the stress of the times in the zone of war that showed the military pressure everywhere. "I had finished my business in Berlin," he says, "and was traveling in Bavaria when war was de- clared. I immediately left Nuremberg for France. When we reached Hassum, a German town on the French frontier, some German officers boarded the train. I happened to be talking French to a fellow- passenger and they overheard me. As I had a cam- era with me and no passports, I had a hard time of it. I was taken before a German general, who asked 34 FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR me if I were a Frenchman. I thought he asked if I spoke French, and therefore answered yes. I was arrested as being a spy. Several passengers pro- tested, and two of my friends were arrested as accomplices. "We were kept in jail for thirty-six hours while the film in my camera was being developed. To make matters worse, I happened to have taken several good pictures of some German fortresses. My papers were all dipped in chemicals to see if there was any secret writing between the lines. Finally, however, the authorities decided that I was a bonafide American tourist, and they released my friends and me. We weren't put across the frontier into France — we were thrown across." AMEEICANS CAUGHT IN THE CORDONS OF WAR American tourists to the number of 150,000 or more found themselves suddenly surrounded by war. The usual methods for obtaining money were close, and the means upon which they depended were unavailable. An appeal was made to the American government for help, and two ships were sent to Europe with sufficient funds for all that needed aid. But many were far in the interior where no help could be given them. The physical and mental suf- ferings thus brought into the presence of the horrors of war are described by those that have been able to escape from their dangerous plight. American tourists of wealth were in many places FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR 35 compelled to exist like tramps, some of tliem actually being compelled to beg for food. Oscar Gordon Erickson, conductor of the Sunday Evening Club Choir, and his wife, on arriving at Chicago, told of having been forced to stand up six- teen hours in the jammed compartment on the train that bore them from Berlin to the coast. In that time their only sustenance was a bottle of water. James A. Patten and wife, of Chicago, after the most distressful experiences, arrived home with a new respect for America. He said : " A man must beware of speaking a word of French or English in Germany, for he is more apt than not to receive a crack over the head with a well-directed blow of a cane. The same holds true in France, too, in regard to a spoken word of German, for the Frenchmen will accord you the same brand of treatment. You will at least be looked upon as a spy and escorted to a police station. "On our way to Cologne, trains were flying by us loaded with soldiers. Pandemonium reigned every- where. In the German barracks along the way the soldiers were singing, and a lusty shout would arise as our train passed them by. "On August 4, we caught a train for Cologne, but were stopped by troops and forced to get out at a small town on the Belgian' border named Herbesthal. FIRST FOOD IN THREE DAYS "It was raining hard, and our only shelter was a small saloon, where I was able to secure a bottle of 36 FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR beer and three slices of bread, the only food we had had in three days. The next morning I secured a wagon and horse and started for Ciers, where I thought I could get a train to Liege. But we did not get far before we had to get out. Then we hired another horse and cart, and we were about to start on when we met thousands of Germans on the road. " Finally we came to a road, and were about to turn into it when some one said, 'Don't go up that road, it's mined," so we had to take a roundabout way. We heard that three thousand Germans were blown up on the road the next day, and that some Americans who had taken the road were forced by the Belgians to get into a ditch while the battle was fought. SAW LIEGE SKIRMISHING 11 When we finally got to Liege, they were skirmish- ing all around it, and we could hear heavy firing on all sides. We were told to get out at once, and we made Brussels the next day. Then we got to Ant- werp, where Minister Whitlock was distinguishing himself by his splendid services to the Americans stranded there. "Unable to secure food at Antwerp, we were forced to eat the food that the boat had carried all the way from New York with them." Virginia Harned, the actress, said: "I lost my baggage, lost my way several times, and lost what money I did have. The only thing I did not lose was my appetite and love for America. But my appetite FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR 37 availed me nothing in Paris. We were compelled to be both gnests and servants in some of the hotels. Several times I rustled my own breakfast in the hotel kitchen. I remember one woman who wore a mag- nificent gown coming into the kitchen and scrambling some eggs for herself and her husband. Ill bet she never did it before. Also I learned that that mag- nificent dress was the only one she owned. Her baggage was gone, too." AREIVAL OF THE PHILADELPHIA The first steamship to reach America after the beginning of the European Avar. A more remarkable crowd never arrived in New York City by steamship or train. There were men of millions and persons of most modest means who had slept side by side on the journey over; voyagers with balances of tens of thou- sands of dollars in banks and not a cent in their pocketbooks; men able and eager to pay any price for the best accommodations to be had, yet satisfied and happy sharing bunks in the steerage. There were women who had lost all their baggage and had come alone, their friends and relatives being unable to get accommodations on board the vessel. There were children who had come on board with their mothers, with neither money nor reservations, who were happy because they had received the very best treatment from all the steamship's officers and crew and because they had enjoyed the most comfort- able quarters to be had, surrendered by men who were content to sleep in most humble surroundings, 38 FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR or, if necessary, as happened in a few cases, to sleep on the decks when the weather permitted. NATIONAL ANTHEM HERALDS ARRIVAL The strains of the American national anthem echoed over the waters of the bay as the big steam- ship, lights gleaming from every porthole, steamed up the waters to Quarantine. There were outbursts of cheering as the handsome craft made her way through a lane of tugs and other craft which had gone down the bay to extend a welcome to the first party of Americans to come from the war stricken countries of Europe. As the Philadelphia glided on toward the vessel from the quarantine station, the soft strains of the American anthem swelled until, as she slowed down to await the coining of the physicians and customs officials, it rose to a great crescendo which fell upon the ears of all within many hundred yards and brought an answering chorus from the hundreds who waited to extend their hands to friends and relatives and to hear from them the first stories direct from the scenes of strife and to leam what had occurred on what every one supposed was in every way an eventful voyage. Wealthy, but without funds, many of the passen- gers gave jewelry to the stewards and other em- ployees of the steamship as the tips which they as- sumed were expected even in times of stress. The crew took them apologetically. Some of them said they were content to take only the thanks of the FIRST EXPERIENCES IN GREAT WAR 39 passengers. One woman of wealth and social posi- tion, without money, and having lost her check book with her other baggage, as had many others of the passengers, gave a pair of valuable bracelets to her steward with the request that he give them to his wife. She gave a hat — the only one she managed to take with her on her flight from Switzerland — to her stewardess. EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR Reliable Descriptions Impossible Because of the Rigorous Censorship June 28 — Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, assassinated by a Serb at Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. July 23 — Austria sends an ultimatum to Servia, sharply denouncing anti- Austrian propaganda. July 25 — Servia gives in to Austria on all points except participation of Austrian officers in investi- gation of conditions in Servia. July 27 — Sir Edward Grey, British foreign minis- ter, proposes an international conference. July 28 — Austria and Germany decline Sir Ed- ward Grey's proposal; Austria declares war on Servia. July 29 — The Austrians bombard Belgrade ; Rus- sia mobilizes ; preparations for war in Germany and France. July 30 — Emperor William demands that Russia suspend her mobilization within twenty-four hours. July 31 — Martial law decreed in Germany; the Copyright by Vndencood & Underwood, N. Y., 1911, Queen Wilhelm and her only daughter, who is three years old, named for her mother EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR 41 Kaiser, the Czar, and King George exchange tele- grams in an attempt to avert war. August 1 — Germany declares war on Russia. August 2 — German forces enter Luxemburg • Bel- gium, fearing invasion, appeals to Great Britain; clashes on the Franco-German and Russo-German frontiers. August 3 — British Ministry submits question of war to Parliament. August 4 — England declares a state of war with Germany; Germans begin attack on the forts at Liege ; President Wilson proclaims neutrality of the United States. August 5 — President Wilson tenders his good of- fices to the warring nations; German mine layer Koenigin Luise sunk by British. August 6 — British light cruiser Amphion sunk by mine in North Sea ; Austria declares war on Russia. August 7 — Germans enter Liege without reducing the forts ; the Kaiser issues an appeal to his people ; German cruisers Goeben and Breslau set out on a dash from San Salvatore, Sicily, to take refuge ulti- mately in the Dardanelles, where the Turkish gov- ernment takes over the ships by purchase. August 8 — British troops reported landing in French and Belgian ports; French invade southern Alsace and occupy Altkirch and Mulhausen; Aus- trian troops advance towards Basel to co-operate with Germans ; Montenegro declares war on Austria ; 42 EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR Portugal announces herself ally of England; Italy reaffirms neutrality; fighting between French and Germans in the Vosges. August 10 — The French retire from Miilhausen; collisions between French and Germans at Longwy, Longuyon, Spincourt, and other places on the French northeastern frontier. August 11 — England declares war on Austria; Germans penetrate into Belgium north and south of Liege, fighting around Tongres and St. Trond ; Ger- mans bombard Pon-a-Mousson, between Metz and Nancy. August 12 — German lines in Belgium extended be- yond the Meuse; Huy occupied by the Germans; sharp engagements between Germans and Belgians at Haelen, Diest, Tirlemont; England and France declare war on Austria; Russians cross Galician frontier. August 13 — Engagement at Enghezce, north of Namur; Dutch troops massed on frontier. August 14 — Junction of Belgian and French armies affirmed; Sir John French, British com- mander-in-chief, in touch with French War Office. August 15 — Austrians enter Servia at Lobnitza on the Drina River and Sabatch on the Save; Japan sends ultimatum to Germany, demanding the with- drawal of German men-of-war and the surrender of Kiao-chau, leased territory in North China. August 16 — Collision between French and Ger- mans at Dinant. EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR 43 A GENERAL VIEW In the great European war Germany took the of- fensive with marvelous promptness. Declaring war on Russia August 1, she hurled her first big armies against Russia's ally, France. Three lines of ad- vance were followed, two of which violated the neu- trality of other nations. The first was through Bel- gium, it being one hundred miles from Germany to France. It was evidently the plan to make a quick march, striking the French frontier at near Givet. The desperate fighting at Liege, where Germany was checked with heavy losses, gave France time to pre- pare for the invasion. The city of Liege was occu- pied by German troops August 7, but the forts sur- rounding it were reported to be continuing a des- perate defense. The Belgians prepared a second line of defense at Namur. Not only was the first army of invasion checked, but the others had to wait for it. Of these, the second advanced through Luxemburg, presumably to strike the French near Verdun. The third marched on Nancy. During the first week of the war skirmishing was reported from the second and third armies, but the only heavy fighting was in Belgium. France and England are rushing reinforcements to the heroic Belgians. France surprised Germany by an attack in force on Alsace, occupying Altkirch and Mulhauseu, with a reported loss of 15,000 men, while Germany lost 30,000. The Kaiser immediately started for the 44 EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR front. Germany, meantime, had thrown a force into Finland, her first attack on Russia. Germany's war fleet made its base the Kiel canal, and Heligoland. The British fleet was within strik- ing distance when war was declared by England, August 4, and some fighting occurred between scout- ing vessels. James Bernard Fagan's poem, "The Hour," ex- presses the satisfaction of England over her fleet : "We have shut the gates of the Dover Straits, And north where the tide runs free, Cheek by jowl, our watchdogs prowl, Gray hulks in a grayer sea. And the prayer that England prays to-night To the lord of our destiny, As the foam of our plunging prow is white, We have stood for peace and we war for right, God give us victory." LIEGE Count Rudolf Ehrenberg, war correspondent for the London Standard and the New York Tribune, sent the following description on August 11, from Ma est rich : Fugitives from the German army operating against Liege have given me details of the advance into Belgium and the attack on Liege from the in- vaders' point of view. They belonged to a detach- ment which was overpowered by Belgian cavalry and fled into Holland to escape capture. They were disarmed by the Dutch soon after they EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR 45 crossed the frontier, and. I understand they intend to emigrate to America. They have had enough of compaigning and a country in which militarism is rampant. Here is the story of the march on Liege as related to me by the most intelligent one : "We went by train to Herbesthal, the last German town, the outskirts of which touch the frontier. We traveled in open goods trucks, and the journey was like a triumphal progress, everywhere acclaimed by the people. Old men came out to bless us, and women and girls passed alongside the train in stations, en- couraging us with kind words and more substantial gifts of food and drink. "At Herbesthal we took to the road and advanced into Belgian territory. On the frontier itself there was absolutely no resistance, though I believe a few stray shots were fired at our cavalry scouts who pre- ceded the main body. "After occupying the first Belgian town of Lim- burg, where locomotives and rolling stock were found, we continued our advance to Verviers, which was cleared of Belgian troops by our cavalry before our arrival. The inhabitants of Verviers watched our march into the town with terror, withdrawing into their houses and peeping from behind closed shutters, evidently fearing we would commit out- rages. SEIZED THE WHOLE TOWN" "Nothing of the kind happened, and we marched to the offices of the municipality and tore down the 46 EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR Belgian flag, which was replaced by a German flag amid the cheers of our men. A proclamation of the annexation of Verviers and the district was read in French outside the town hall and posted in all parts of the place. Martial law was proclaimed and the residents were warned that any resistance to the Ger- man military authorities would be punished by sum- mary execution. "A German officer took over the administration of the town and began by requisitioning food and other supplies and various kinds of subsistence for the German troops. His orders were carried out meekly, even zealously, by the citizens of Verviers, who told some of our men quartered in the houses that they had received instructions from Brussels to offer no opposition. "Among the regulations enforced was one com- pelling the townspeople to be within doors by sunset and not leave their houses before sunrise. They were forced to find quarters for our men and hand over the bread from the bakeries, which were kept work- ing day and night; also to yield stored meats, gro- ceries, and eatables of all kinds to such an extent that the Belgians themselves were left in a sorry plight. Any kind of violence against the civilian inhabitants was strictly prohibited, except when w r e were at- tacked. Then we had orders to shoot without hesi- tation in self-defense. "After a few hours the Belgians got over the first fright and fraternized with the invaders as far as possible with a difference of languages. Then fol- EARLY STAGES OP THE WAR 47 lowed with astonishing rapidity the advance to Liege, the first part of the journey being done by train, but not far. "The retreating Belgians soon began to tear up the permanent way, so we had to take to the road again and march. The use of the railway to and beyond Verviers caused our sudden appearance be- fore Liege. WOUNDS WORSE THAN DEATH "Then we went through days of horror. I took part in the earlier attacks on the Belgians defending Liege, and, though I am not a coward, the sights I saw and the wholesale slaughter of our men filled me with dread. Again and again we advanced, always in close formation, lying and shooting at an elevation given us by officers, running forward and dropping again on our stomachs, continuing to fire and advanc- ing once more, always nearer, nearer to the lines of our enemy. "As we pressed forward, our ranks became thin- ner and thinner. Shells burst among us, killing and wounding, and such wounds were far worse than death itself, while the rifle fire of the Belgians mowed down our men in dozens, scores, hundreds. "Have you ever been under fire, ever pushed for- ward against the invisible enemy, with comrades dropping either dead or mutilated all around you? Ever seen the effect of modern artillery trained on masses of human beings? Ever seen heaps of dead and heaps of wounded all mixed together? Ever 48 EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR heard the cries of fallen soldiers you were obliged to leave to their sufferings in order to continue the battle? If not, you cannot imagine what we went through at Liege. Some of our attacks were by day and others by night. "Our officers, reckless in their bravery, led us, urged us, encouraged us to throw away our lives. I think there was much unnecessary bloodshed. We marched straight at the enemy's lines and towards the mouths of hostile artillery as if on maneuver in a field with sham opponents. It was magnificent, but not war as war should be conducted in this age with more destructive weapons. "If there were moments when we broke and ran, it w T as because a farther advance into the jaws of death was a sheer impossibility. After the first as- saults, with their disastrous endings, the spirit of the attackers was broken. Deep depression followed the buoyant charge with which we marched into the enemy's country. The lack of enthusiasm spread through all the ranks and retarded success, yet with relentless discipline we were required to hurl our- selves repeatedly at lines which seemed unbreakable. FRESH TEOOPS TO SLAUGHTER "Then, when only a fraction of our regiment sur- vived, we moved to a different part of the battlefield, while fresh troops were brought up to go through the same course of action. It was common talk among our men that hundreds of wounded were left for hours without any kind of adequate attention, EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR 49 for the simple reason it was impossible to reach them without almost certain death. " Their sufferings were heartrending beyond the powers of description, and there were sights and sounds that even amid the din of battle shook our nerves and struck terror to our hearts. The bravest of men may well be full of fear on a modern battle- field." The young German who told me this tale of war was well educated and refined, a conscript from a middle class family. His companions had similar things to relate. All agreed the courage of the Ger- man rank and file was superhuman, and they were needlessly exposed to a hostile fire when different tactics would have diminished the sacrifice of life. DEAD BURNED IN HEAPS The wholesale cremation of bodies of German sol- diers killed in the fighting before Liege also was described by the German fugitives who have crossed the frontier into Holland. During two or three suc- cessive nights after the fearful carnage around the forts of Liege the Germans collected their dead and piled them in heaps of twenty or thirty each. Officers explained to the men that it was necessary to burn the bodies in order to prevent them becoming a menace to the living, and that there was nothing disrespectful to those who had died for their country in thus disposing of their remains. A short funeral service was conducted over each heap, and military salutes were given by firing parties. 50 EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR In cases where the dead were lying too close to the Belgian forts for this process, the bodies were dragged under cover of darkness and pitched into the River Meuse, to float seaward. Stephen Phillips has expressed the English senti- ment concerning Liege in the following poem : He said : ' ' Thou petty people, let me pass ! What can 'st thou do but bow to me and kneel ! ' ' But sudden a dry land caught fire like grass And answer hurtled but from shell and steel. He looked for silence, but a thunder came Upon him from Liege a leaden hail. All Belgium flew up at his throat in flame, Till at her gates amazed his legions quail. Take heed, for now on haunted ground they tread ; There bowed a mightier war lord to his fall. Fear . . . lest that very grass again grow red With blood of German now as then with Gaul, If him whom God destroys he maddens first, Then thy destruction slake thy madman's thirst. HOW THEY DIED AT HAELE^" Few can comprehend, even vaguely, all the horror of what is going on. This is from the fight at Haelen, Thursday, August 13: "As one row was mowed down another took its place from behind. * * * The Herck-Haelen road presented the sight of a veritable hecatomb. * * * They met a veritable butchery. Men and horses fell EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR 51 like so many flies, until the force was decimated and orders given them to withdraw." Charles Dickens pictured war thus: ' ' There will be the full complement of backs broken in two, of arms twisted wholly off, of men impaled upon their bayonets, of legs smashed up like bits of firewood, of heads sliced open like apples, of other heads crunched into soft jelly by the iron hoofs of horses, of faces trampled out of all likeness to any- thing human. This is what skulks behind ' a splendid charge.' This is what follows, as a matter of course, when our fellows ride at them in style and cut them up famously." And in this the twentieth century, age of civiliza- tion, ''men and horses fell like so many flies." And all for what? WAR CORRESPONDENT FINDS A LETTER A letter which I picked up on the field and am endeavoring to have identified and sent to her for whom it is intended will speak for all. It is written in ink on half a sheet of thin note paper. There is no date and no place. Probably it was written on the eve of battle, in the hope that it would reach its destination if the writer died. This is the transla- tion : "Sweetheart (Chere Amie) : Fate in this present war has treated us more cruelly than many others. If I have not lived to create for you the happiness of which both our hearts dreamed, remember my sole 52 EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR wish is that now you should be happy. Forget me. Create for yourself some happy home that may re- store to you some of the greater pleasures of life. "For myself, I shall have died happy in the thought of your love. My last thought has been for you and for those I leave at home. Accept this, the last kiss from him Avho loved you. ' ' The signature, I think, is "Detienn," and on the back is a postscript saying that if his photographs should cause her unhappiness she should return them to his parents. In the matter of treatment of war prisoners as well as defense, Belgium is setting a splendid ex- ample. The soldiers feel that they can afford to show humanity toward- even les barhares. Most of the prisoners came from Liege, though some had been taken in outpost skirmishes, and more were expected from Diest. Those who had arrived first had their sleep out when I visited the caserne. They were eager for news, and some were anxious to tell me what they thought of it all. INITIATIVE DRILLED OUT OF THEM Only a few, however, would describe their capture. They were ashamed, but I am certain that every one was a man of courage. Their surrender was no fault of theirs; it was the fault of the German system which was to beat the world. They had all been goose-stepped and drilled for years ; they were trained soldiers, most of them third- EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR 53 year men on the active list ; but their capture in every case was due to the fact that they had been drilled out of all independence. PICTURE OF THE BATTLE AT DIEST The advance of the German cavalry was covered by a heavy artillery fire, to which the Belgian guns, advantageously posted, replied, causing considerable loss to the invaders. A force consisting of dragoons, two field guns and four machine guns made a bold dash upon Diest, hoping no doubt to surprise the town. They would probably have succeeded but for the splendid bravery of the military, assisted by the civil guards. A German column advancing at full gallop reached a small village about a mile and a half from Diest. Here had been erected a barricade of farm wagons, while the road immediately in front had been torn up, making any advance of cavalry impossible. Be- hind this hasty fortification a mixed force of Bel- gians with machine guns was intrenched and a mur- derous fire was opened on the Prussian dragoons, who, being absolutely without cover of any kind, were speedily decimated under the rain of Belgian bullets. The surviving Germans, be it said, fought witli great bravery. They intrenched themselves behind a rampart of dead horses and dead comrades. They fought with desperate courage, as will men who are driven to bay and are selling their lives as dearly as possible. The Belgians, believing the enemy's resistance was 54 EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR at end, impulsively pushed from behind their barri- cades and were immediately subjected to a hot fire, which occasioned some losses. However, a field gun was brought up and trained on the enemy behind their carcasses and corpses, and in a few minutes all the other surviving Germans were killed or wounded or put to flight. EXHAUSTED HOUSES DROr DEAD Eight wounded cavalrymen attempted escape, but their already exhausted horses were unable to take them quickly enough out of the range of the bullets, and they were speedily shot down. This last phase of the fight was a veritable massacre. Some wounded cavalry horses, mad with pain and terror, and with- out riders to guide them, dashed upon the barricade and crashed through the obstacle which had proved so fatal to many of the Kaiser's soldiers. Of the survivors of this sanguinary encounter, four officers and two men were taken prisoners. The other column, unable to force its way into Haelen, subsequently retired in great confusion, leaving be- hind many dead and wounded and prisoners. Several of the enemy, finding themselves sur- rounded and subjected to a merciless fire, threw down their arms and surrendered. The retreat of the escaped from death or capture was a terrible spec- tacle. Spent, half-starved horses had bravely, mutely made their last efforts, and under the pres- sure of renewed exertion dropped dead on the roadway. EAELY STAGES OF THE WAR 55 The German line of retreat was punctuated by carcasses of horses which had succumbed to their exhaustion. Some of their riders who had escaped scatheless from the fight also collapsed by the road- side, and were so incapable of physical resistance that when taken by Belgian patrols as prisoners they were unable to walk to Diest. Many German prisoners declared they had eaten no food for twenty-four hours. Veterinary surgeons with the Belgian forces who made autopsies on some horses declared the poor brutes could not have had any forage for three days. TO EUROPE Beat back thy forfeit plowshares into swords ; It is not yet the far, seraphic Dream Of peace made beautiful and love supreme. For now the strong, unweariable chords Of battle shake to thunder, and the hordes Advance, where now the circling vultures scream. The standards gather and the trumpets gleam ; Down the long hillside stare the mounted lords. Now far beyond the tumult and the hate The white-clad nurses and the surgeons wait The backward currents of tormented life, When on the waiting silences shall come The screams of men, and, ere those lips are dumb, The searching probe, the ligature and knife. Was it for such, the brutehood and the pain, Civilization gave her holy fire Unto thy wardship, and the snowy spire Of her august and most exalted fane? 56 EARLY STAGES OF THE WAR Are these the harvests of her ancient rain Men glean at evening in the scarlet mire, Or where the mountain smokes, a dreadful pyre, Or where the warship drags a bloody stain? Are these thy votive lilies and their dews, That now the outraged stars look down to see? Behold them, where the cold, prophetic damps Congeal on youthful brows so soon to lose Their dream of sacrifice to thee — to thee, Harlot to Murder in a thousand camps! "Was it for this that loving men and true Have labored in the darkness and the light To rear the solemn temple of the Right On Reason's deep foundations, bared anew Long after the Caesarian eagles flew And Rome's last thunder died upon the Night? Cuirassed, the cannon menace from the height ; Armored, the new-born eagles take the blue. Wait not, thy lords, the avenging, certain knell — One with the captains and abhorrent fames The echoes of whose conquests died in Hell? — They that have loosened the ensanguined flood, And whose malign and execrable names The Angel of the Record writes in blood. — George Stirling in The World Magazine. WAR IN ALSACE — A GLIMPSE AFTER THE BATTLE IS ALL THE WORLD KNOWS The London Standard's correspondent at Basel, under date August 19, gives the following descrip- tion of what he has observed in southern Alsace, where the French and Germans have been fighting vigorously for the last ten days : Copyright by Underwood