America's War for Humanity online

[Illustration: 1. French
Cuirassier being fed by Belgian woman. 2. Major Richardson of the
British Army and two of his bloodhounds used to find wounded soldiers on
Belgian battlefields. (_International News Service_.)] [Illustration:
Canada's Premier on a visit to the Western front in Europe, with a
notable group of Canadian officers. Sir Robert Borden is the central
figure of the seated row, and the other civilian in the picture is Mr.
Calder. Between them is seen General Currie, in command of the Canadian
forces in Europe, who have earned undying fame for the great
Dominion during the war. (_Canadian Official Photo, from W.N.U._).]


[Illustration: French Cavalrymen Bivouacked in the Streets of Paris,
Sleeping on the Fodder of Their Mounts, Standing in the Background.]


[Illustration: FOUNDERING OF THE BRITISH CRUISER ABOUKIR

A few minutes after the Aboukir was struck by a torpedo from the German
submarine U-9 early on September 22, 1914, she listed to port at an
angle of 45 degrees and the captain sang out from the bridge: "Every man
for himself!" The drawing depicts the scene that followed, as described
by a survivor. Two-thirds of the crew of 650 were drowned or killed by
the explosion. The boats of the cruisers Hogue and Cressy, which were
soon after also torpedoed and sunk, are seen coming to the rescue. The
total loss was over 1,400 lives. - _Drawn by Charles Dixon, R.I., for The
Graphic_.]


"_LaFayette, we are here_" - _General Pershing_


THE OFFICIAL STORY OF AMERICAN OPERATIONS IN FRANCE

_By_ GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING _Commander-in-Chief_


WILLIAM DUNSEATH EATON CONTRIBUTING EDITOR _Author "The War in Verse and
Prose" "A Soldier of Navarre" etc._


SPECIAL CHAPTERS BY HON. JAMES MARTIN MILLER _Former United States
Consul to France Author "Spanish-American War" "Prussian-Japanese War"
etc._


DEDICATION

To the soldiers and sailors of the United States and Canada; to the men
of the armies and navies of nations allied with us; to the splendid
courage and devotion of American, French, British and Belgian women, who
have endured in silence the pain of losses worse than death, and never
faltered in works of mercy for which no thanks can ever pay; to all the
agencies of good that have helped save civilization and the world from
the most dreadful menace of all time, this volume is dedicated.

To the honor of those nations upon whom the laurel of victory has
descended. To those who have vouchsafed for us the permanence of the
higher ideals of humanity and civilization.

To those who have sheltered posterity from the dominance of barbarity,
brutality, serfdom, bigotry and degradation.

To those who have striven against the Teuton and the Turk that God-given
and God-ordained freedom may triumph.

To those noble stoics of Belgium, of France, of Serbia, of Roumania,
of Poland and all other peoples who have felt the mailed fist of the
ruthless oppressor; who have looked upon their devastated fields, their
dismantled cathedrals, their violated hearth-stones and the desecrated
graves of their kindred, and that peace, tranquillity, contentment and
prosperity may again be restored to them in bounteous meed.

To those heroes who by their valor, their vigor and their inspired
devotion to right and patriotism have so nobly fought and conquered.

To those martyrs whom God in his immutable manifestations has chosen
for the ultimate sacrifice of their lives upon the altar of freedom and
humanity's cause.

In honor to these who have attained this glorious victory. In honor to
the commingling flags of the allied nations reflecting in their rainbow
hues a covenant of everlasting peace in this their hour of triumph,
may we all consecrate our purposes and our lives to a brotherhood of
mankind, a spirit of broadest humanity and universal peace on earth.

- _L.J. Robinson_.


PREFACE


With the signing of an armistice November 11, 1918, by the
plenipotentiaries of the nations at war, active hostilities were halted
while the sweeping terms of the truce were being complied with by
Germany. The collapse of the Teutonic forces came with a suddenness that
was surprising, and the collapse was complete. The German army and navy
ceased to be a menace to the civilized world - and all civilization
rejoiced with an exceeding great joy.

Remarkable events in the world's history followed with amazing rapidity,
and are duly recorded in all their interesting details in these pages.
The flight and abdication of the Kaiser; the abject surrender of the
German high seas fleet and submarines to the British Grand Fleet and its
American associates; the withdrawal of the defeated German armies
from Belgium and France; the return of the French flag to Alsace and
Lorraine; the occupation of Metz, Strassburg, Cologne, and Coblentz by
Allied and American forces, and the memorable entry of Belgian troops as
conquerors into Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen); the sailing of the President
of the United States to take part in the Peace Conference - all these
events and many others form part of the marvelous record of the recent
past, furnishing material that has never been equaled for the use of the
historian.

Now the eyes of all America are turned to the eastern horizon, and
would fain scan the wide waters of the Atlantic, on the watch for the
home-coming heroes of the great conflict. A million young Americans are
coming home - but a million more will stay abroad awhile, to safeguard
the fruits of victory and insure the safety of the world. Truly the
story of their achievements, in permanent form, should find a place in
every American home, for in the words of General Pershing, their great
commander:

"Their deeds are immortal and they have earned the eternal gratitude of
their country."

T.H.R.


CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

PRESIDENT WILSON'S WAR MESSAGE

I WHY WE WENT TO WAR

Review of America's Good Reasons for Fighting - Memories of Beautiful
France - Why I Was Not Accepted as Consul to Germany - Why We Went to
War - Work or Fight - Rationing the Nations, by Hon James Martin Miller,
Former US Consul to France - What the Yankee Dude'll Do

II UNITED STATES ENTERS THE WAR

The President Proclaims War - Interned Ships Are Siezed - Congress Votes
$7,000,000,000 for War - Enthusiasm in the United States - Raising an
American Army - War to Victory, Wilson Pledge - British and French
Commission Reaches America - American Troops in France

III AMERICANS AT CHATEAU THIERRY

Personal Accounts of Battle - Gas and Shell Shock - Marines Under
Fire - Americans Can Fight and Yell - Getting to the Front Under
Difficulties - The Big Day Dawns - The Shells Come Fast - A Funeral at the
Front - Impression of a French Lieutenant - Keeping the Germans on the
Run

IV AMERICAN VICTORY AT ST MIHIEL

First Major Action by All American Army - Stories to Folks Back
Home - Huns Carry Off Captive Women - Hell Has Cut Loose - Major Tells
His Story - Enormous Numbers of Guns and Tanks - Over the Top at 5:
AM - Texas and Oklahoma Troops Fight in True Ranger Style - Our Colored
Boys Win Credit

V THE WAR IN THE AIR

Air Craft - Liberty Motors and Air Service - The Danger of Aviation - Air
Plane's Tail Shot Off - Champions of the Air - Lieut. Lehr's Personal
Stories of Air Fighting at the Front - American Aviator Grabs Iron Cross
as Souvenir - Eyes of the Army Always Open

VI CAUSES OF THE WORLD WAR AND HOW WAR WAS DECLARED

VII INVASION OF BELGIUM

Belgians Rush to Defense of Their Frontier - Towns Bombarded and Burned
- The Defense of Liège - Destruction of Louvain - Fall of Namur - German
Proclamation to Inhabitants - Belgian Capital Occupied by the Germans
Without Bloodshed - Important Part Played by American Minister Brand
Whitlock - March of the Kaiser's Troops Through the City - Belgian Forces
Retreat to Antwerp - Dinant and Termonde Fall

VIII BRITAIN RAISES AN ARMY

Earl Kitchener Appointed Secretary for War - A New Volunteer
Army - Expeditionary Force Landed in France - Field Marshal Sir John
French in Command - Colonies Rally to Britain's Aid - The Canadian
Contingent - Indian Troops Called For - Native Princes Offer Aid

IX EARLY BATTLES OF THE WAR

Belgian Resistance to the German Advance - The Fighting at Vise, Haelen,
Diest, Aerschot and Tirlemont - Mons and Charleroi the First Great
Battles of the War - Allies Make a Gallant Stand, but Forced to Retire
Across the French Border

X GERMAN ADVANCE ON PARIS

Allies Withdraw for Ten Days, Disputing Every Inch of Ground with the
Kaiser's Troops - Germans Push Their Way Through France in Three Main
Columns - Official Reports of the Withdrawing Engagements - Paris Almost
in Sight

XII BATTLE OF THE MARNE

German Plans Suddenly Changed - Direction of Advance Swings to the
Southeast When Close to the French Capital - Successful Resistance by
the Allies - The Prolonged Encounter at the Marne - Germans Retreat, with
Allies in Hot Pursuit for Many Miles

XII THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN

Slow Mobilization of Troops - Invasion of German and Austrian
Territory - Cossacks Lead the Van - Early Successes in East Prussia - "On
to Berlin" - Heavy Losses Inflicted on Austrians - German Troops Rushed to
the Defense of the Eastern Territory

XIII THE AUSTRO-SERVIAN CAMPAIGN

Declaration of War by Austria - Bombardment of Belgrade - -Servian
Capital Removed - Seasoned Soldiers of Servia Give a Good Account of
Themselves - Many Indecisive Engagements - Servians in Austrian Territory

XIV STORIES FROM THE BATTLEFIELD

Thrilling Incidents of the Great War Told by Actual Combatants - Personal
Experiences from the Lips of Survivors of the World's Bloodiest
Battles - Tales of Prisoners of War, Wounded Soldiers, and Refugees
Rendered Homeless in the Blighted Arena of Conflict - Hand-to-Hand
Fighting - Frightful Mortality Among Officers - How It Feels to Be
Wounded - In the "Valley of Death" - A Belgian Boy Hero - A British Cavalry
Charge - Spirit of French Women - In the Paris Military Hospital - German
Uhlans as Scouts - How a German Prince Died - Fearful State of
Battlefields

XV THE MYSTERY OF THE FLEETS

Movements of British Battleships Veiled in Secrecy - German Dreadnoughts
in North Sea and Baltic Ports - Activity of Smaller Craft - English Keep
Trade Routes Open - Several Minor Battles at Sea

XVI SUBMARINES AND MINES

Battleships in Constant Danger from Submerged Craft - Opinions of Admiral
Sir Percy Scott - Construction of Modern Torpedoes - How Mines Are Laid
and Exploded on Contact

XVII AERO-MILITARY OPERATIONS

Aerial Attacks on Cities - Some of the Achievements of the Airmen in the
Great War - Deeds of Heroism and Daring - Zeppelins in Action - Their
Construction and Operation

XVIII BATTLE OF THE AISNE

Most Prolonged Encounter in History Between Gigantic Forces - A Far-Flung
Battle Line - Germans Face French and British in the Aisne Valley
and Fight for Weeks - Armies Deadlocked After a Desperate and Bloody
Struggle

XIX FALL OF ANTWERP

Great Seaport of Belgium Besieged by a Large German Force - Forts
Battered by Heavy Siege Guns - Final Surrender of the City - Belgian and
British Defenders Escape - Exodus of Inhabitants - Germans Reach the Sea

XX THE WOUNDED AND PRISONERS

Typical Precautions Used by the German Army - The Soldier's First-Aid
Outfit - System in Hospital Arrangements - How Prisoners of War Are
Treated - Regulations Are Humane and Fair to All Concerned CHAPTER PAGE

XXI HORRORS OF THE WAR

Plan to Send Santa Claus Gifts From America to War-Stricken Children of
Europe - A Widespread Response - -Movement Endorsed by Press, Pulpit and
Leading Citizens - Approved by Governments of Contending Nations

XXII LATER EVENTS OF THE WAR

Results of the Battle of the Rivers - Fierce Fighting in Northern
France - Developments on the Eastern Battle Front - The Campaign in the
Pacific - Naval Activities of the Powers

XXIII SINKING OF THE LUSITANIA

Torpedoed by a Submarine - Crisis in German-American Relations - The
Diplomatic Exchanges

XXIV A SUMMER OF SLAUGHTER

Submarine Activities - Horrors in Serbia - Bloody Battles East and
West - Italy Declares War and Invades Austria - Russians Pushed Back in
Galicia

XXV SECOND WINTER OF THE WAR

XXVI CLIMAX OF THE WAR

XXVII WORLD'S GREATEST SEA FIGHT

XXVIII BATTLES EAST AND WEST

XXIX CONTINUATION OF WAR IN 1917

XXX GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STOBY

XXXI WHEN THE DAYS OF RECKONING DAWNED

XXXII HOME FOLLOWS THE FLAG

XXXIII TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE

XXXIV HONOR TO THE VICTORS

XXXV CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD WAR
INTRODUCTION


PRESIDENT WILSON'S EPOCHAL ADDRESS

CALLING FOR ACTION AGAINST GERMANY, DELIVERED BY HIM TO THE CONGRESS IN
EXTRAORDINARY SESSION, APRIL 3,

"Gentlemen of the Congress: I have called the congress into
extraordinary session because there are serious, very serious, choices
of policy to be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right
nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the responsibility
of making.

"On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the
extraordinary announcement of the imperial German government that on
and after the first day of February it was its purpose to put aside all
restraints of law or of humanity and use its submarines to sink every
vessel that sought to approach either the ports of Great Britain and
Ireland or the western coast of Europe or any of the ports controlled by
the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean.

HOPED FOR MODIFIED WARFARE

"That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine warfare
earlier in the war, but since April of last year the imperial government
had somewhat restrained the commanders of its undersea craft in
conformity with its promise then given to us that passenger boats should
not be sunk and that due warning would be given to all other vessels
which its submarines might seek to destroy, when no resistance was
offered or escape attempted, and care taken that their crews were given
at least a fair chance to save their lives in their open boats.

"The precautions taken were meager and haphazard enough, as was proved
in distressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel and
unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was observed.

"The new policy has swept every restriction aside. Vessels of every
kind, whatever their flag, their character, their cargo, their
destination, their errand, have been ruthlessly sent to the bottom
without warning and without thought of help or mercy for those on board,
the vessels of friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents.

"Even hospital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved
and stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were provided with
safe conduct through the proscribed area by the German government itself
and were distinguished by unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk
with the same reckless lack of compassion or of principle.

RELIED ON LAW OF NATIONS

"I was for a little while unable to believe that such things would be in
fact done by any government that had hitherto subscribed to the humane
practices of civilized nations.

"International law had its origin in the attempt to set up some law
which would be respected and observed upon the seas, where no nation
had right of dominion and where lay the free highways of the world. By
painful stage after stage has that law been built up, with meager enough
results, indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accomplished,
but always with a clear view, at least, of what the heart and conscience
of mankind demanded.

"This minimum of right the German government has swept aside under the
plea of retaliation and necessity and because it had no weapons which it
could use at sea except these which it is impossible to employ as it is
employing them without throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity
or of respect for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the
intercourse of the world.


_PRESIDENT WILSON'S WAR ADDRESS_

CHALLENGE TO ALL MANKIND

"I am not now thinking of the loss of property involved, immense and
serious as that is, but only of the wanton and wholesale destruction of
the lives of noncombatants, men, women and children, engaged in pursuits
which have always, even in the darkest periods of modern history, been
deemed innocent and legitimate. Property can be paid for; the lives of
peaceful and innocent people cannot be. The present German submarine
warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.

"It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk,
American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to
learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations
have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way.

"There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each
nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The choice we
make for ourselves must be made with a moderation of counsel and a
temperateness of judgment befitting our character and our motives as
a nation. We must put excited feelings away. Our motive will not be
revenge or the victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation,
but only the vindication of right - of human right - of which we are only
a single champion.

"When I addressed the congress on the 26th of February last I thought
that it would suffice to assert our neutral rights with arms, our right
to use the seas against unlawful interference, our right to keep our
people safe against unlawful violence.

"But armed neutrality, it now appears, is impracticable. Because
submarines are in effect outlaws when used as the German submarines have
been used against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend
ships against their attacks, as the law of nations has assumed that
merchantmen would defend themselves against privateers or cruisers,
visible craft giving chase upon the open sea.

"It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim necessity, indeed, to
endeavor to destroy them before they have shown their own intentions.
They must be dealt with upon sight if dealt with at all.

"The German government denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all
within the areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the defense
of rights which no modern publicist has ever before questioned their
right to defend.

"The intimation is conveyed that the armed guards which we have placed
on our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of law and
subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed neutrality is
ineffectual enough at best. In such circumstances and in the face of
such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual; it is likely only to
produce what it was meant to prevent; it is practically certain to
draw us into the war without either the rights or the effectiveness of
belligerents.

"There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making: We will
not choose the path of submission and suffer the most sacred rights of
our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. The wrongs against
which we now array ourselves are no common wrongs. They cut to the very
roots of human life.

MUST ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY

"With a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical character of the
step I am taking and of the grave responsibilities which it involves,
but in unhesitating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty,
I advise that the congress declare the recent course of the imperial
German government to be in fact nothing less than war against the
government and people of the United States; that it formally accept the
status of belligerent which has thus been thrust upon it; and that it
take immediate steps not only to put the country in a more thorough
state of defense but also to exert all its power and employ all its
resources to bring the government of the German empire to terms and end
the war.

COURSE WE MUST PURSUE

"What this will involve is clear. It will involve the utmost practicable
co-operation in counsel and action with the governments now at war with
Germany and, as incident to that, the extension to those governments of
the most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources may so
far as possible be added to theirs.

"It will involve the organization and mobilization of all the material
resources of the country to supply the materials of war and serve the
incidental needs of the nation in the most abundant and yet the most
economical and efficient way possible.

"It will involve the immediate full equipment of the navy in all
respects, but particularly in supplying it with the best means of
dealing with the enemy's submarines.

ARMY OF 500,000 MEN

"It will involve the immediate addition to the armed force of the United
States already provided for by law in case of war at least 500,000 men,
who should, in my opinion, be chosen upon the principal of universal
liability to service, and also the authorization of subsequent
additional increments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and
can be handled in training.

"It will involve also, of course, the granting of adequate credits to
the government, sustained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be
sustained by the present generation, by well conceived taxation.

"I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation because it seems
to me that it would be most unwise to base the credits which will now
be necessary entirely on money borrowed. It is our duty, I most
respectfully urge, to protect our people, so far as we may, against the
very serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise out of
the inflation which would be produced by vast loans.

MUST SUPPLY THE ALLIES

"In carrying out the measures by which these things are to be
accomplished we should keep constantly in mind the wisdom of interfering
as little as possible in our own preparation and in the equipment of
our own military forces with the duty - for it will be a very practical
duty - of supplying the nations already at war with Germany with the
materials which they can obtain only from us or by our assistance. They
are in the field, and we should help them in every way to be effective
there.

"I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several executive
departments of the government, for the consideration of your committees,
measures for the accomplishment of the several objects I have mentioned.
I hope that it will be your pleasure to deal with them, as having been
framed after very careful thought by the branch of the government upon
which the responsibility of conducting the war and safeguarding the
nation will most directly fall.

SEEKS FREEDOM OF WORLD

"While we do these things, these deeply momentous things, let us be very
clear, and make very clear to all the world, what our motives and our
objects are. My own thought has not been driven from its habitual and
normal course by the unhappy events of the last months, and I do not
believe that the thought of the nation has been altered or clouded by
them.

"I have exactly the same things in mind now that I had in mind when I
addressed the senate on the twenty-second of January last; the same that
I had in mind when I addressed the congress on the third of February
and on the twenty-sixth of February. "Our object now, as then, is to
vindicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the world
as against selfish and autocratic power and to set up amongst the really
free and self-governed peoples of the world such a concert of purpose
and of action as will henceforth insure the observance of those
principles.

"Neutrality is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the
world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the menace to that
peace and freedom lies in the existence of autocratic governments backed
by organized force which is controlled wholly by their will - not by the
will of their people.

"We have seen the last of neutrality in such circumstances. We are at
the beginning of an age in which it will be insisted that the same
standards of conduct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be
observed among nations and their governments that are observed among the
individual citizens of civilized states.

NO QUARREL WITH GERMANS

"We have no quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling towards
them but one of sympathy and friendship. It was not upon their impulse
that their government acted in entering this war. It was not with their
previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined upon as wars
used to be determined upon in the old, unhappy days when peoples were
nowhere consulted by their rulers and wars were provoked and waged in