https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/grave-plight-of-petrograd-pqltmnttd
may 17, 1918
Grave plight of Petrograd
The famine in Petrograd is becoming alarming. There is practically no food on the markets or in the shops. There is no flour, no sugar, potatoes, cheese, or milk, no grains and very little meat. The necessaries of life have to be got through friends at enormous cost, if you have the money, as the meagre rations doled out by the authorities are absolutely inadequate. The ration of indigestible black bread, half-baked, with water in it to increase the weight, is only one-eighth of a pound per day, and often that is not forthcoming on account of the hopeless disorder and universal thieving. Relatives and dependents rob one another of food without compunction. Hunger has no conscience. In spite of stringent measures against hoarding and speculation, profiteering goes on among all classes. In fact, food is a far more valuable commodity than paper money. Half the working day is wasted in pursuit of sufficient to eat. No fewer than 15 cartloads of rotten hares were recently brought into the town and several attempts were made to foist them onto the municipal executive, but they were finally rejected. Good hares are being sold at £2 10s apiece.
The prices of other articles are fabulous. Hams are £40 and £60 each. Butter costs 42s a lb. The British community of Petrograd, which is now reduced to about 500 persons who were unable, for various reasons, to leave Russia, have felt obliged to induce the British Consul and the incumbent of the English church to wire to London for a few supplies to tide us over this crisis. I am told that a telegram has been sent to the Foreign Office, but so far no assistance is forthcoming. We do not want luxuries, but a few cases of oats, some sugar, margarine and flour, would be a godsend.
The only change for the better has been in the weather. The ice and frozen filth covering the roads two or three feet deep was broken up by gangs of men and women with whom the bourgeois were requisitioned to cooperate, and at some places they were to be seen plying pick and shovel under the supervision of armed soldiers of the Red Guard. Resisting or, as the revolutionary jargon now goes, “sabotaging” persons who objected to take part were threatened with heavy fines and imprisonment.
may 16, 1918
Scandal of the British prisoners
The agreement for mutual exchange of prisoners between France and Germany has broken down the resistance of the British Government. The War Cabinet will now reconsider the whole question. The Government, it seems, have been so anxious to prevent the enemy getting their prisoners back that they were ready to steel their hearts indefinitely against the bitter suffering of British prisoners in Germany. Lord Newton admitted on Tuesday that the agreement took the British Government altogether by surprise, and that it has “completely altered the situation”. In other words, there has been another and a most lamentable case of failure in cooperation between the Allies.
We are not suggesting that Lord Newton is personally responsible for the inertia which the action of France has revealed. He has been solicitous of the welfare of prisoners, and unsparing in his efforts to do the best for them. The agreement with Germany for the exchange of officer and NCO prisoners who had been in Germany 18 months or more was his. Its effects have been good within their limitations, though the exclusion of prisoners below the rank of NCO has caused bitter feeling. We are disposed to think that the fault lies mainly with the War Office, where the question of prisoners seems to have been met from the outset with obstruction and indifference.
We are not suggesting that Lord Newton is personally responsible for the inertia which the action of France has revealed. He has been solicitous of the welfare of prisoners, and unsparing in his efforts to do the best for them. The agreement with Germany for the exchange of officer and NCO prisoners who had been in Germany 18 months or more was his. Its effects have been good within their limitations, though the exclusion of prisoners below the rank of NCO has caused bitter feeling. We are disposed to think that the fault lies mainly with the War Office, where the question of prisoners seems to have been met from the outset with obstruction and indifference.
Meanwhile British prisoners in Germany, and especially the “other ranks” have had to suffer. Wrung by the thought of the men they have left behind in Germany, British officers in Holland are sparing no effort to break the barrier of official reserve and to stir the country to demand action. The truth is that British prisoners in Germany are being made the victims of a deliberate policy of vindictiveness. Food, of course, is always bad and insufficient, but that is the least. The accounts are terrible, with proofs of sick men driven to work, of sanitary conditions foully deficient, of medical attention denied, of men bullied and beaten, in many cases of deliberate murder. The country, which has long suspected that all was not so well as official assurances suggested, has shown patience with this and preceding Governments about prisoners. Plainly the time for patience has now gone by.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-05-15/register/on-the-ypres-front-825fhddgq
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-05-15/register/on-the-ypres-front-825fhddgq
may 15, 1918
On the Ypres front
There is no doubt that the enemy would like very much to take Ypres, or the remains of Ypres, not so much on account of the strategical value of the ground as because it is Ypres. The name would look well in German communiqués. It is likely, therefore, that before long another attack will be made on the Allies’ front north of Mount Kemmel, a part of the line which has the additional attraction for the enemy that it includes the point of contact between the British and French Armies. Judging from the results of the fighting which has been going on there since the 7th, I should say that any hopes the Germans may have of finding a weak spot at the junction of the Armies will be disappointed.
Today a very brisk bombardment was going on from the battery positions north of the line of hills, chiefly directed on Mount Kemmel, the possession of which, except for observation purposes, has not greatly benefited the enemy. The slaughter there has been very severe. One sunk road that strikes across it they call the “Slaughterhouse”, because of the number of dead bodies with which it is littered, and all the German provision and ammunition convoys have now to go round the hill instead of over it, besides which, by day and by night, the crossroads and other points of concentration are pelted with a storm of shells. In fact, the junction between the French and British, instead of being a weak point, is peculiarly unpleasant for the German troops, because a double set of batteries constantly bring their fire to bear on the enemy’s positions. Working in this spirit of close comradeship, the two Allied Armies, on the initiative of one or the other, can, and do, in the space of a few minutes bring a converging fire to bear on any specified point on or behind the enemy’s lines with a combined effect which is not only deadly but demoralizing.
If the Germans really have got Ypres in view, they are almost bound to repeat their effort of the 8th and see if they have any better luck this time. In any case, the Allies are prepared for them, and both the French generals I saw today — one of whom has already fought more than once alongside the British — are confident that the Franco-British combination is too hard a nut for the German to crack.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-05-14/register/battle-services-of-the-gunners-wxh9kbtl9
If the Germans really have got Ypres in view, they are almost bound to repeat their effort of the 8th and see if they have any better luck this time. In any case, the Allies are prepared for them, and both the French generals I saw today — one of whom has already fought more than once alongside the British — are confident that the Franco-British combination is too hard a nut for the German to crack.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-05-14/register/battle-services-of-the-gunners-wxh9kbtl9
May 14, 1918
Battle services of the gunners
The whole Army will be glad of the Commander-in-Chief’s generous message of congratulation to the Royal Regiment of Artillery. No men were ever better deserving of praise. Again and again I have recorded the testimony of infantry officers to the splendid behaviour of the guns, whether field guns or heavies, and the magnificent services rendered during those first testing days of the German offensive in March continue as I write, as the shuddering of the air testifies. The physical strain upon officers and men has been enormous, and few things have moved me more than the fine pride of bearing with which I have seen gunners, though grimed from head to foot and so tired that they could hardly walk, sit their horses when coming back from action, with wide eyes and drawn faces that told what they had been through.
In the German Army, on the other hand, we continually get evidence of the ill-feeling between infantry and artillery. I have reported complaints by the German infantry of their artillery firing short on their own lines. Prisoners taken in the futile attack on May 8 ascribe its failure largely to the fact that gas from their own gas-shells blew back into their lines and demoralized them. Also we have captured the diary of an officer of a German infantry regiment which tells how, on April 23, the 22nd Artillery Regiment subjected the positions of the 55th Regiment (adjoining that of the writer) to “an annihilating fire” with gas shells, “in spite of repeated warnings”. The feeling at times between the two arms of the German Service runs very high. The diary also tells how the German Naval Division behaved very riotously in Albert, and were charged with disorder and pillage. The officer tells how he went with his comrades to look after a brother-officer who was wounded, and when they came back they found the men of the 55th had “stolen our belongings out of our packs”.
It may be interesting to note that it is three years today since a camp of properly accredited war correspondents was established with the British Armies in France. Previous to that it was the era of official eye-witnesses, and war correspondents sent out individually by newspapers were arrested when found within the zone of the Armies and expelled from France.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-05-12/register/alleged-plot-to-aid-ex-tsar-escape-x3fbwc09m
It may be interesting to note that it is three years today since a camp of properly accredited war correspondents was established with the British Armies in France. Previous to that it was the era of official eye-witnesses, and war correspondents sent out individually by newspapers were arrested when found within the zone of the Armies and expelled from France.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-05-12/register/alleged-plot-to-aid-ex-tsar-escape-x3fbwc09m
may 12, 1918
Alleged plot to aid ex-Tsar escape
The Soviet authorities confirm the fact that Nicholas Romanoff, the ex-Emperor, and his wife and one daughter, have been transferred from Tobolsk to Ekaterinburg, in the centre of the Urals, in consequence of the discovery of a conspiracy among the peasantry to assist him to escape. His son Alexis remains at Tobolsk for the present on account of ill-health. The ex-Tsar is now lodged in a small private house at Ekaterinburg with one or two attendants only. No strangers are allowed to approach him. He complains that lately the people in charge of his safety have been rude and meddlesome. Sverdloff, one of the People’s Commissioners, declares that Nicholas Romanoff will have to reconcile himself to the fact that he is a prisoner of the Soviet, and the question of his ultimate fate will soon be brought up for decision. A search has been made among his belongings, and 80,000 roubles (£8,000) was found and confiscated. It is supposed that this money was for securing the good will and assistance of the local peasantry.
● Lenin’s moderate mood
The Finnish Minister, M Enckell, has arrived at Helsingfors from Petrograd after an adventurous journey. He states that Petrograd is calm, but filled with Finnish “Red” fugitives, stuffed with money, which they are squandering. He confirms that Lenin is trying to adopt a more moderate course, and in establishing a Regular Army is appointing the former officers. He is also trying to build up finances on a broader basis, and intends to liberate the joint-stock banks from the control of the State. Lenin’s position, according to the Minister, is strong, though there is a decided uneasiness among various ranks of society.
● Moscow alarms
We live in an atmosphere of lies and alarms unequalled for audacity by the worst persons under the old regime of the Tsars. Yesterday’s panic originated in Moscow, where a flat denial is given today to the allegations which started it. The Petrograd Labour Commune states that no ultimatum as to the German occupation of Petrograd and Moscow has been presented and that Kursk has not yet been taken by the Germans. Several “bourgeois” and “provocative” journals are to be called to account for spreading false news.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-05-11/register/new-blow-at-ostend-lx0b9fllc
Vindictive has passed out of the British Navy. A new Vindictive will doubtless take her place in the list of British ships of war; but for all time the name will be remembered as that of the ship which, in the premature old age that overtakes warships so rapidly, withstood the German guns at Zeebrugge on St George’s Day. The story of the blocking of Ostend lacks some of the thrilling episodes of the epic of Zeebrugge. It was, as the official statement suggests, only an attempt to complete the work of April 23 and involved no perilous landing from a rolling ship on a shot-swept sea wall. Photographs from the air show that Vindictive is lying inside the harbour mouth, with her hull extending half-way across the channel. I am informed that her position is such as to prevent the use of the harbour for cruisers, and to restrict its use for destroyers and submarines, though it is not claimed that these smaller craft cannot pass in or out.
The Finnish Minister, M Enckell, has arrived at Helsingfors from Petrograd after an adventurous journey. He states that Petrograd is calm, but filled with Finnish “Red” fugitives, stuffed with money, which they are squandering. He confirms that Lenin is trying to adopt a more moderate course, and in establishing a Regular Army is appointing the former officers. He is also trying to build up finances on a broader basis, and intends to liberate the joint-stock banks from the control of the State. Lenin’s position, according to the Minister, is strong, though there is a decided uneasiness among various ranks of society.
● Moscow alarms
We live in an atmosphere of lies and alarms unequalled for audacity by the worst persons under the old regime of the Tsars. Yesterday’s panic originated in Moscow, where a flat denial is given today to the allegations which started it. The Petrograd Labour Commune states that no ultimatum as to the German occupation of Petrograd and Moscow has been presented and that Kursk has not yet been taken by the Germans. Several “bourgeois” and “provocative” journals are to be called to account for spreading false news.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-05-11/register/new-blow-at-ostend-lx0b9fllc
may 11, 1918
New blow at Ostend
The Secretary of the Admiralty has issued the following announcement: “The operation designed to close the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge was successfully completed last night, when the obsolete cruiser HMS Vindictive was sunk across the entrance of Ostend harbour. Since the attack on Zeebrugge on April 23 Vindictive had been filled with concrete and fitted as a block ship for this purpose. Our forces have returned to base with the loss of one motor-launch, which had been damaged and was sunk by the orders of the Vice-Admiral to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy. Our casualties were light.”Vindictive has passed out of the British Navy. A new Vindictive will doubtless take her place in the list of British ships of war; but for all time the name will be remembered as that of the ship which, in the premature old age that overtakes warships so rapidly, withstood the German guns at Zeebrugge on St George’s Day. The story of the blocking of Ostend lacks some of the thrilling episodes of the epic of Zeebrugge. It was, as the official statement suggests, only an attempt to complete the work of April 23 and involved no perilous landing from a rolling ship on a shot-swept sea wall. Photographs from the air show that Vindictive is lying inside the harbour mouth, with her hull extending half-way across the channel. I am informed that her position is such as to prevent the use of the harbour for cruisers, and to restrict its use for destroyers and submarines, though it is not claimed that these smaller craft cannot pass in or out.
The crews were volunteers from the Dover Patrol. Those who were in the Vindictive on April 23 were not accepted. “They had done enough,” was the answer they received. But Lieutenant-Commander – insisted it was his right to stay in the ship, and the four artificers argued that they knew her engines better than anyone, and pleaded so strongly that the Admiral agreed to their request. Four of the five have come back.
The Vindictive’s crew were rescued under conditions which called for the highest courage by two small craft. While entering the harbour, taking off the survivors, and making their way out to sea, they were subjected to heavy machine-gun fire, and it was during this work of rescue that most of the casualties occurred.
The Vindictive’s crew were rescued under conditions which called for the highest courage by two small craft. While entering the harbour, taking off the survivors, and making their way out to sea, they were subjected to heavy machine-gun fire, and it was during this work of rescue that most of the casualties occurred.
No comments:
Post a Comment