deal with the much less efficient Austro-Hungarian forces. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the victory of Gorizia was one of the most important successes won in Western Europe during the whole of the year under consideration. In the pursuit of the retreating enemy cavalry were used on an extensive scale, and between August 4 and August 10 nearly 13,000 prisoners were taken by the Italians; and a dozen guns, over a hundred machine guns and much other booty fell into their hands. The victory, which was so largely won through superior generalship, was a personal triumph for General Cadorna, and gave an effective answer to such criticism as had been directed against him on account of the defeats in Tyrol in May.

CHAPTER III.

FROM THE CAPTURE OF GORIZIA TO THE END OF THE YEAR.

THE WESTERN FRONT.

EXTREMELY heavy fighting continued in the Western Theatre of operations throughout August, September, October, and November, and the number of casualties was very high, especially on the side of the French and British, who were almost invariably the attacking parties, but the territorial changes were negligibly small. The two sections of the line where the severe fighting occurred were those already described in the previous chapters, namely, Verdun and the Somme. In the offensive in September the British employed a new and formidable type of armoured motor-car, the new cars being nicknamed "tanks." These tanks were so heavily built that they were invulnerable to anything except a direct hit from a big gun. On the Somme the most notable advance was the capture of Combles on September 26. The Germans maintained their hold on Peronne. In November the British made small advances at several points. North of the Ancre, where the failure. had been complete in July, the villages of Beaumont Hamel and Beaucourt-sur-Ancre were taken on November 14, over 5,000 prisoners being captured. On the road to Bapaume some progress was made, and at the end of the year the British line. ran eastward of the village of Le Sars. Near Verdun, east of the Meuse, the French recaptured much of the ground which they had lost in the spring. The village and fort of Douaumont were retaken on October 24, and were subsequently held. At the beginning of November, Fort Vaux was also taken. On both these occasions the Germans lost several thousand men in prisoners alone. Another sudden assault by the French in the middle of December extended their gains beyond Douaumont, and gave them nearly 12,000 more prisoners and over 100 guns.

In December, when the French Cabinet was reconstructed,

General Joffre was appointed Consultative Technical Adviser to the War Committee of the Cabinet, and General Nivelle was made "Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the North and the East." A few days later it was announced that Joffre had been made a Marshal of France, an extremely high honour, since there had hitherto been no Marshal in the French Army since the establishment of the Third Republic. At the end of the year the preliminary measures were taken for calling up the French 1918 class.

THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN.

Throughout the year the French commander, General Sarrail, had a large and very mixed army under him in Greece, the port of Salonika being his base. This army included French, British, Russians, Italians, Serbians, various British and French colonial contingents, and ultimately also Portuguese. The Bulgarians had occupied a portion of northern and eastern Greece, including Kavala, but for many months there was singularly little fighting between them and General Sarrail's force. In the autumn, however, General Sarrail took the offensive, and French troops took the town of Florina by storm on September 18. The French and Serbian troops on the left of the Allied line then crossed the frontier into Serbian territory, and the British, who were on the right in the valley of the Struma, also engaged in heavy fighting with the Bulgarians. For another two months the Allied line was slowly but steadily advanced, and on November 19 the French troops occupied Monastir, a victory which caused much chagrin in Bulgaria. After this serious defeat, the Germans appear to have sent reinforcements to the Bulgarian front, and consequently the Allies were unable to advance more than a very short distance north of Monastir.

THE ITALIAN THEATRE.

After the capture of Gorizia further violent fighting occurred, and on more than one occasion during the autumn the Italians attempted to renew their advance towards Trieste, but they were unable to make any serious breaches in the new Austrian lines. In the Italian offensives, however, several thousands of Austrian prisoners were captured, the most notable instance of this kind being an assault on the Carso on October 11, when over 5,000 Austrians fell into the hands of the invaders.

THE MAIN RUSSIAN THEATRE.

After the great events of June, the results achieved by the subsequent operations in Russia were of much less importance. During July, August, September, and October the Russian offensive gradually but unmistakably wore itself out, until at

last when the critical weeks arrived for Rumania, that country's great ally was unable to lend any effective aid. The intervention of Rumania was ill-timed to an extent which is almost unintelligible; for had the Rumanian move coincided with the zenith of General Brussiloff's offensive, the total results could hardly have failed to be very different from what they actually were. During the later part of the summer the fighting was very violent south of the Pripet Swamps, and the Russians, who were invariably the attacking party, gained further advantages. Immediately to the south of the Pripet, Brussiloff's men advanced as far as the lower reaches of the Stokhod. In Galicia the railway junction of the Delatyn was taken on July 8, and before the end of the month even the stubborn von Bothmer was compelled to retreat behind Brody. The town of Stanislau was taken early in August, and the Russian advance was not stayed until it had reached Halicz. At the end of the year the Russian line passed within 25 miles of Kovel and within 50 miles of Lemberg.

THE TURCO-RUSSIAN THEATRE.

No very dramatic events occurred in this scene of operations during the latter part of the year. On July 25 the Russians captured the town of Erzingan, thus completing the conquest of Armenia. (See also Persia.)

THE WAR IN THE AIR.

Although the year was remarkable for the great growth and extension of aerial warfare, it is not possible at the time of writing to give anything approaching a complete chronicle of the war in the air, for there was no subject about which the censorships of the different countries were so extraordinarily severe. No complete data were published, for instance, about the number of aeroplanes in use on the British front in France, neither were complete figures of casualties, rate of usage, etc., vouchsafed. A few facts of a general character were, however, known. On the heavier-than-air side, the French, British, and Germans all continued the remarkably rapid development which had been stimulated by the war, but the relative positions of the combatants were not greatly altered, though any superiority in efficiency which existed was undoubtedly possessed by the Franco-British aviators. Indeed, the Germans themselves admitted on more than one occasion that their own airmen were surpassed by the British pilots.

On the other hand, in the construction and navigation of airships the Germans maintained their enormous lead over all other nations. During the year the wonderful rigid airships, known as Zeppelins, exceeded all their previous records, though, as will be seen, the British, who were the chief subject of their

attentions, found means of making their visits to the English coasts unpleasant. The chief Zeppelin raids on England took place in the spring and in the late summer and autumn, the short summer nights not being favourable to these ventures. Of the raids in the earlier part of the year the most remarkable was one that took place on the night of January 31. In this foray several airships took part. Hitherto, the Zeppelins had only been able to reach and raid the eastern side of England, but on this occasion nearly the whole width of England was crossed, and at least one vessel dropped bombs in the immediate vicinity of Birmingham, and the alarm was sounded for the first time in the towns of the West Country, at Gloucester, Worcester, Chester, and elsewhere.

Up to the end of the year this remained the "record" for the western extension of Zeppelin activities, but the raids of the autumn were carried out by larger fleets, and were of a most dramatic character. About ten smaller raids took place during March and April, but during May, June, and July, England was almost wholly free from these unwelcome visitors. On May 4, however, a British light-cruiser squadron destroyed a Zeppelin off the coast of Schleswig, and on the same day a German airship was brought down by naval guns at Salonika. On the night of July 29, and again on the night of July 31, there were abortive raids on the eastern counties of England, which did no damage whatever, and a third raid in the same week, on the night of August 2, only resulted in the slaughter of a few horses. Three weeks later, on the night of August 24, six Zeppelins raided the east and south-east coasts of England, one vessel approaching London, and in all about 100 bombs were dropped. On this occasion eight persons were reported killed, and a larger number were injured.

On the night of September 2, a fleet of no fewer than thirteen Zeppelins made a raid upon the eastern counties of England, the objectives apparently being London and the industrial towns of the eastern-midland counties. It was stated that the measures which had been taken for darkening the country baffled the enemy, who evidently had much greater difficulty in steering a correct course than the air-captains experienced in the spring. Three of the ships approached London. One of these was caught by a number of searchlights, and was hotly bombarded by anti-aircraft guns and also engaged by aeroplanes, Lieut. Robinson, R. F.C., succeeding in dropping a bomb upon it. The vessel burst into flames within a few minutes, and fell to earth at Cuffley, near Enfield. This incident was witnessed by hundreds of thousands of persons, although it occurred at 2.15 A.M. The other two vessels which approached London, retired on discovering the efficiency of the defences. The thirteen airships dropped a large number of bombs quite promiscuously over the country, but very few people were killed and injured, and no very great damage was done. The ship destroyed was the "L 21.'

On the night of September 23, another big raid was carried out, twelve Zeppelins taking part in the operations on this occasion. Two of these were destroyed, but this time the damage done was more serious and the number of persons killed and injured was larger. The attack on London, made by two of the airships, was repulsed without difficulty. Both the airships destroyed came down in Essex. One of them fell in flames, and all the crew were killed, but the other had merely been disabled, and being forced to descend, the crew surrendered to a special constable. About forty persons were killed by bombs and about 130 were injured. The two airships destroyed were the "L 32" and the "L 33," these being naval Zeppelins of very recent con

struction.

On the night of September 25, yet another raid on England was carried out by seven airships, some damage being done to the industrial towns of the Midlands. On this occasion none of the aerial vessels was destroyed. According to the official report thirty-six persons were killed by bombs and twenty-seven were injured.

The later raids were much more serious for the Zeppelins than for England. A number of airships visited the Eastern counties on the night of October 1, and one of the Zeppelins was brought down in the London district, at Potters Bar. Again on the night of November 25, a fleet of Zeppelins approached and crossed the coast of Durham and Yorkshire. One vessel was brought down into the sea by an aeroplane of the Royal Flying Corps at 11.45 P.M. A second Zeppelin was also destroyed, and in this case a most exciting chase took place. The vessel in question dropped a large number of bombs over the North-Midland countries, but on the way back to the coast she was attacked by aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps and was bombarded by the anti-aircraft guns. She was damaged but was able to proceed slowly. On approaching the coast of Norfolk the German aeronauts succeeded in repairing the damage which had been done, and sailing at a height of over 8,000 feet, the vessel proceeded out to sea at a high speed. At sea, however, she was greeted by four warplanes of the Royal Naval Air Service, and also by gunfire from an armed trawler. Thus encircled the hapless Zeppelin was doomed, and at 6.45 A.M. she fell into the sea in flames.

On November 28, a few hours after this Zeppelin was destroyed, a German aeroplane visited London and there dropped six bombs. This attack took place at about noon, but the weather was misty at the time, and the aviator flew at a great height. Nine persons were injured by the bombs. The aeroplane made good its escape.

THE WAR AT SEA.

Apart from the continuous pressure of the British blockade to which reference was made in Chapter II., the maritime war