war material of every description went on apace, in order that the enemy might be outstripped in this regard. The new offensive was planned for June. Although the drilling of the Englishmen had not been quite completed, the condition brought about at the beginning of the year by the attacks of the Germans on the positions at Verdun made it imperative for Sir Douglas Haig and General Joffre to choose the above period as the latest feasible one. The attack launched on July I was regarded by the German high command as one fraught with great significance as determining the outcome on the Western front. They believed, indeed, that it was designed to bring about a decisive change, not only on the Western front, but also on every other scene of action, by which the Central Powers would be irrevocably forced to assume the defensive. This end was to be achieved by piercing the Western front, which thereupon would crumble throughout its entire length and breadth. The intention of the enemy was correctly deduced from the magnitude of the preparations made. Above all, however, it is necessary to point to the fact that both Frenchmen and Englishmen had stationed tremendous masses of cavalry behind the battlefront, designed, after a successful penetration of the German lines, to fall into the rear of the enemy, annihilating such bodies as had not been directly affected in the first onset. The British command, deviating from the statement, but only after the conflict had terminated, gave out the following as the reasons for the battle: (1) Relieving the pressure on Verdun; (2) preventing further levies of troops from the Western to the Eastern front; (3) attrition of the German forces. The front which the enemy had selected as his point of attack, extended in an airline over about 40 km. It lay in Picardy, between the villages of Sommecourt and Vermandovillers. This territory easily resolves itself into three divisions, the northern of these being SommecourtHamel, the central Thiepval-Curlu, and the southern FriseVermandovillers. The position of our army had been admirably strengthened since its occupation a year and a half before. Many villages lay along the first line and these vil lages, generally built of stone and containing cellars, served as valuable points d'appui. Though the second line also passed through as many as ten villages, the first line was the stronger of the two, and here the greatest resistance was to be made. For this reason the second position had from one to two lines only protected by extensive wire defenses. It was so situated that it could not be affected by the fire directed against the first position. Although the enemy spared no effort to conceal his purpose, his in every respect well considered preparations did not escape the observation of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, who was here in command. On June 22nd the enemy prepared his attack by especially vigorous artillery fire. By June 30th all the German positions had already suffered greatly by reason of the increasingly vigorous and effective drumfire. The battle, which began on July 1st with infantry charges, lasted in all four and a half months; that is, until November 18th. It may chronologically be divided into several parts. The first comprised the period July 1st-5th. The attack was begun by one and a half French corps under General Michelet, advancing south of the Somme; by one corps north of the river commanded by General Fayolle; at Maricourt and in touch with the French stood the right wing of the English, the fourth army (consisting of five corps) here moving forward to the attack under General Rawlinson. While on July 1st the first German line was taken south of the Somme by the French, who also advanced north of that river as far as Hardecourt-Curlu, the attack of the English on both sides of the Ancre did not go forward very well. Already by July 2nd the combined attack of the enemy forces resolved itself into single engagements, which resulted more favorably for the French south of the Somme. After uninterrupted attacks lasting five days, a pause ensued. According to the enemy's own reports, new grouping and relief troops had become necessary, and the heavy artillery had to be brought up. The second period, July 7th-19th, presented a varying picture, but resulted in important advantages to the attacker. The third period, July 20th-31st, was a fierce struggle intensified by the entry into the fight of German reserves, especially of the artillery division. The great united forward movement of the English-French army, consisting of seventeen divisions with 200,000 men, continued to the 30th, the day of the hottest fighting. The only result of these conflicts was the seizure of the ruins of the village of Pozières by the English. The further development of the battle; that is, during the fourth period, which included the month of August, was characterized by varying attacks along the entire front and by efforts to gain important points of vantage and points d'appui, such as villages or strips of forest, the initiative being with the enemy. Here and there a slight advance was made. On September 3rd began the fifth period of this battle, characterized by an attack north of the Somme, to be followed on the next day by one south of it. Yet, although conceived as a unity, this general attack, owing to the conditions of the ground and the direction of the advances, resulted in two distinct operations. First, as to the movement north of the Somme. Whereas the right wing, that is, the French, made a considerable advance; the left wing, that is, the English, made no headway. On the 23rd the artillery ushered in another combined attack, the infantry charges of the French resulting in their advance northwardly to the stretch Bouchavesnes-Combles, the latter city being evacuated. The English advanced to Thiepval, and at the end of the month stood before Le Sars and Eaucourtl'Abbaye. To the south of the Somme the attack, made in a southeasterly direction on a front of 20 km., also resulted in the capture of strategical points. In spite of all the efforts of the Germans it appeared as if the enemy in those days would succeed in his object. The measures taken for defense could not keep pace with the force of the attacks launched by the enemy. Only on September 25th had it become possible to so strengthen and increase the artillery support of the German positions that a systematic and effectual opposition to the enemy's forces W., VOL. IV.-17. might be organized-as the General German Headquarters put it, “A harmonious coöperation of the artillery of all divisions toward the suppression of any desire for attack on the part of the enemy." Consequently the conflicts of October, which constituted the sixth period in the series of battles, presented an essentially different picture from those of the preceding months. True, the enemy attacks did not immediately diminish in vigor. On the 1st and 2nd of October, as on the 7th, the attacker succeeded in advancing, Eaucourt-l'Abbaye and Le Sars falling into his hands. Nevertheless, the result of the English-French attacks from October 9th to the 15th, which were directed under unified command against the whole German front from Courcelette southeasterly to Bouchavesnes and which belonged to the most important combats fought here, demonstrated that their goal would not be attained. The German Tenth Army successfully repelled the attack made on the 12th, the day of the hottest fighting. The day of the last great battle, October 18th, resulted in gaining for the Allies a little ground near Sailly and north of Eaucourt-l'Abbaye. After another great combined attack on the 21st had been shattered with sanguinary results, the struggle gradually diminished in vigor. The great Battle of the Somme was ended without bringing about a decision. The result was limited to a "bulging in" of the German position, so to speak, a result achieved at a cost of approximately three quarters of a million lives. The losses of the defender were well below half a million, which is the more remarkable in view of the fact that, according to official reports, about 76 per cent. of all the wounded were able within a relatively short time to return to the front in fighting condition. A utilization of the successful defense made was impossible for the German command owing to the relative strength of the two armies. There was no decision reached on this theater of war. The failure of the attempt to break through resulted in a change in the French high command, General Joffre being replaced by General Nivelle, the commander of the Army of Verdun. THE FIRST AMERICANS TO "PAY THE DEBT" THE THRONGING OF U. S. VOLUNTEERS TO AID IN DEFENDING CIVILIZATION PAUL HERVIER JULY 4TH E. A. MCKENZIE Many United States citizens did not wait for their country's formal entry into the Great War. Recognizing it at some earlier period as a war upon the whole human race, they felt the call of duty urging them to join the Allies. What the total number was of these knights of humanity can never be known. Many went secretly; many called themselves Britons or Frenchmen; for at first the Allies were not expecting such aid and had made no arrangement for receiving them. Except for the well-known French "foreign legion," there was no corps they could regularly enter as Americans. Forty thousand might be stated as a rough estimate of the sum of these young war heroes who were too eager to wait. Among those who sealed such service with their death was the poet Alan Seeger. The universal acclaim of his home land and of France and Britain has declared him a genius. To many a comrade soldier and to many a woman's heart at home his poems have seemed the highest and the most inspiring of the War. To many a critic also the poem, "I Have a Rendezvous with Death," has seemed a climax in war poetry. Its sincerity was proven in the poet's death. Its closing lines, after repeating the young man's joy of living, cry in courageous repetition: "But I've a rendezvous with Death At midnight in some flaming town, I shall not fail that rendezvous." Read Mr. McKenzie's account of his death, which follows, and you will see how close was his poetic fore-vision and how splendidly he kept his word in the French advance near the Somme. Hence the date of his death-and by a generous coincidence it was on July 4th that he fell—has here been taken as the typical commemoration date for all the United States volunteers. Which of them all was the first to be slain in battle no man can know, but no death upon the field was more costly to the world than that of Alan Seeger, the New York youth who at the age of twenty-eight was shot down in a French uniform in the French village of Belloy while charging on the German machine guns. C. F. H. |