august 1, 1917
Yser crossed by the Allies
The tension of the past few days snapped at 3 o’clock this morning. The British Army has taken the field in what I believe will prove to be the biggest battle of this war on the Western front. The front from the River Lys to Boesinghe is blazing and booming as I write. Gas masks were worn by our troops, as rumour had it that they might be needed.The enemy troops bearing the brunt of the renewed British offensive are the Fourth Army of the Group of the Crown Prince Rupprecht, several divisions of which are known to have been very much knocked about, so that there is reason to believe that some have recently been withdrawn to reserve.
The weather is humid and misty, and not favourable to the airmen. The work done by the Royal Flying Corps and the Naval Air Service is magnificent, and we have established complete supremacy of the air in the region of the offensive.
Later. We have got on with the war famously within the past 12 hours. We have crossed the Yser in many places. The artillery has been literally pursuing the enemy. I hear that one minute after the appointed moment for the attack our guns were moving forward. For the conduct of our men I hear nothing but praise. They went in, not only with the will to win, but with the conviction that they would win. In many places the infantry had crept up close to the German front line in the wake of the barrage, ready to leap up and rush the trenches the instant the guns lengthened their range. In one case our troops saw a number of Huns beginning to run on the other side of our barrage, and actually dashed through the fire to prevent them escaping, being rewarded with a considerable bag of prisoners. It is small wonder to find the enemy sometimes lacking in stomach for the fight, for our attacks nowadays, when we are putting out the full weight of our resources, are a terrible ordeal to face. The boiling oil drums in themselves are enough to quench the most heroic spirits. Two officers, who were captured, are profoundly pessimistic. In the course of conversation, their interrogator said: “We shall go on fighting until you are beaten,” to which they replied that they were beaten already, that there were no more men left in Germany, and that the present was the last battle of the war.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/useless-official-reticence-k38xzhgql
july 31, 1917
Useless official reticence
The reticence of the British bulletins from the Western front is becoming almost ridiculous.The whole world knows — or at any rate believes — that an unprecedented artillery duel is in progress in Flanders. The reverberations are heard daily and nightly in the south-eastern counties and even on the outskirts of London; yet the British authorities make no reference to this mutual bombardment.
General Headquarters often tell us, with owl-like gravity, that “there is nothing of importance to report”. We might have accepted these official assurances, in spite of the evidence of our ears, had not the veil been drawn aside by no less a person than the Kaiser. From far Galicia comes an Imperial telegram in which the Kaiser says that he thinks of his “brave troops in Flanders”, who have for weeks been the target of the most “violent artillery fire, and who dauntlessly await future assaults”.
We have searched the British bulletins in vain for confirmation. Thrice last week mention was made of the “activity” of the German artillery, and on Saturday night it was even admitted that there had been activity “on both sides”; but that is all.
There is clearly no question here of giving information to the enemy. On the other hand, there is a real risk of shaking confidence at home if soldierly restraint is allowed to degenerate into neglect.
The following exchange of telegrams has just taken place between the Italian and British Ministers of Munitions:
To Mr Winston Churchill: “Please accept my sincerest compliments on your appointment as Minister of Munitions. I am sure you will certainly collaborate with me in helping Italy in her efforts for improving the production of arms and munitions. You may entirely trust in my heartiest collaboration. Generale Dall’Olio.”
To Generale DalI’Olio, Rome: “I am very grateful for your kind message. The most strenuous efforts must now be made, and I shall look forward with pleasure and confidence to your cordial co-operation. Winston Churchill”.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-07-29/register/russian-deserters-executed-57m58c53s
july 29, 1917
Russian deserters executed
From an officer captured near Brzezany we understood that the Germans were preparing a bold stroke in conjunction with their agents in Petrograd. “You will see that your troops will run away when the time comes, and we shall have a walk over,” he declared. Events have fully borne out this prophecy.Lenin and his crew have well earned their pay. The disturbances in Petrograd were obviously directed from Berlin. The thunderbolt fell almost on the day when the high command on this front changed hands. A whole day before the news of the crisis in Petrograd reached us, Lenin’s agents were acquainted with it through traitors in the wireless service. They spread a report among the troops that the Maximalists were in control of the Government, and that the war was at an end. The 6th Grenadier Division deserted wholesale, and fled.
My first thought was to rejoin the British section, whose position was extremely perilous. Abandoning all impedimenta I jumped into the first car in the hope of meeting the British contingent as it fell back. At Podhajce I came across our transport and a colonel of the British Air Service. The officers had safely removed the aeroplanes and stores from the zone of the 11th Army under the full blast of Russian panic.
We were destined to witness some strange scenes on the road eastward, although the enemy was still 50 miles distant. A man on a white horse dashed through the town yelling: “German cavalry are behind, save yourselves.” He was afterwards arrested, and proved to be a German spy. Indescribable confusion ensued. A multitude of deserters, lorries, and ambulances headed east at top speed. The roadway was littered with impedimenta. Through this inferno, under a scorching sun, we literally fought our way, using our sticks and fists, and brandishing revolvers at the deserters who tried to storm our cars. Then placing our lorries across the road we dammed the tide of panic. Meanwhile the British sections at Kozowa fought gallantly to cover the Russian retreat, and held up the German advance for 20 hours. Reforming at Podhajce they saved the British nurses from the horrors that later occurred there. General Korniloff’s measures against indiscipline have been approved. He is executing deserters wholesale.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-07-28/register/nightingales-and-guns-3tbwklq00
july 28, 1917
Nightingales and guns
To the Editor of The Times Sir, The Balkan News today reprints an article of yours on “English Woods and Shakespeare”, which most of us, I am sure, have read and enjoyed. In it the writer says in May-time the poet had so often heard “the nightingale’s complaining note”. And so have we out here heard “the nightingale’s complaining note”, but more often his joyful notes, and under conditions worth recording.You will have a terrific tearing and roaring noise of artillery and shot in “the dead of night”, and there will be a temporary cessation of the duel, with great quietness, when, lo and behold and hearken to his song! Out come the nightingales, right about the guns, perched sometimes only a few yards from them in bushes in a ravine where the guns are hidden. And another kind of love music is introduced into our ears and souls, and beautiful thoughts come along to relieve you from the devilment of war and the men who cause it. You might think that another roar, and another crack in the heavens, caused by big howitzers, would frighten these nightingales away, but no, there they are, night after night, giving our hearts a rest from “iron” and “sending it over” by their notes of beauty and joy. I was down at Salonika on leave with some heavy-gun men from various positions a few days ago, and got from them confirmation of the wonderful doings and songs of the nightingales under the “noses of our guns”.
Your obedient servant,
JAMES C RICHARDSON,
Mem. Faraday Society, MMP,
June 22. HORSE CHESTNUTS
Sir, You state that circulars will be sent out giving the necessary information regarding the collection and dispatch of nuts. For their efficient conservation and collection for national purposes it will be necessary to enlist the good will of a large number of people, not forgetting the boys who in the past have collected them as “conkers”. The season is really upon us now, and if this is to be done at all effectively this year, I hope that you may impress on the government departments concerned the need for an immediate lead, so that they may begin to form their plans at once. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, mark b f major, President, The Smallholders’ Union.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-07-27/register/air-raid-warnings-for-london-hqcgp2v0p
july 27, 1917
Air raid warnings for London
The following “Police Notice” was issued last night: When from information received from the military authorities an air raid upon London is considered probable, the following steps will be taken for giving warning to the public to enable them to take cover: In the County of London, two sound signals (rockets) will be fired from fire brigade stations so selected as to cover the area to be warned. Outside the County of London, but within a ten-mile radius from Charing Cross, two sound signals will be fired from certain police stations which will be notified locally. Simultaneously with the firing of the rockets, regular and special constables on foot and on cycles will circulate throughout the streets exhibiting a “Take Cover” placard (red letters). When the military intimate that the raid is over, constables will be sent out exhibiting an “All Clear” placard (black letters) and calling attention to their presence by sounding the bells of their cycles or their whistles — two blasts in quick succession. The public are warned that the cover taken should be effective; a doorway or open archway is not effective, as protection would not be afforded from a bomb exploding in the street close by. Persons in buildings are advised to keep away from windows, and to vacate the top floors.The Home Secretary has appointed a committee to draw up a scheme for the co-ordination of the measures to be taken by the London Fire Brigade and the fire brigades under the control of local authorities in the Metropolitan Police District.
Lambeth Borough Council last night considered a communication from the Commissioner of Police with reference to action to be taken in the case of air raids for securing dangerous structures and other necessary work. The deputy borough engineer had prepared a scheme by which two gangs of men would be organised and held in readiness. For some time past vans containing sand, trestles, poles, &c, have been kept at several of the council’s depots with carmen and horses in attendance at any time in the event of their being required. The Lord Mayor has affixed outside the Mansion House the following notice: “During an air raid persons may take shelter in this building at their own risk.” He is asking the leading citizens to take the same course.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-07-26/register/a-shock-for-the-stosstruppen-nw5q8chgd
july 26, 1917
A shock for the Stosstruppen
During the German attack west of the Mort Homme, on the left bank of the Meuse, a particularly gallant action was fought by a squadron of 40 dismounted dragoons — stout and stubborn fighters from Brittany — against about half a battalion of the most highly trained shock-troops in the German Army. At half-past 4 in the afternoon, to the tune of 120 batteries all firing at once, the storm burst, and though the front trench, in which the handful of Bretons held a kind of outpost, was fairly intact, the communication trenches behind were all blotted out, so that their position was exposed and isolated. To make the situation still more cheerful, the lieutenant in command was cut off by a wave of the battle, and 36 troopers with three or four NCOs were left by themselves, under a war-worn veteran of 24 who had been fighting since August 1914.The attack began with three squads of pioneers, in line, at intervals of 20 paces, armed with lance-flammes, then behind them three squads of grenadiers in the alternate intervals, followed by a line of men carrying spades and rifles, and finally a fourth line bringing up grenades and sandbags. When they got within 50 yards the leading squads discharged from their lance-flammes a dense cloud of dirty smoke, which hid them from view as a cuttlefish is concealed by its ink, and all the dragoons could do was to fire blindly with carbine and fusil-mitrailleur into the smoke, till, when at last it had melted away, they could make out corpses mixed up with the wire entanglements, one a petroleur with his oil-tank strapped on his back, and some uninjured men hurriedly carrying off the wounded.
As the frontal attack had failed the enemy’s next move was to rush the trench from the flank. As the defenders of one traverse after another fell the fight was taken up by the next in order, and was kept up for three hours. At 11 o’clock, when the survivors had fallen back to a communication trench, the veteran’s instinct told him that the thrust of the attack was slackening. He at once got his men together, turned the defence into an assault, and in the next half-hour they won back every foot of ground that had been lost. Half of them were killed or wounded, but they had put out of action two companies of the flower of Germany’s shock troops.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-07-25/register/irish-convention-today-xdc37j2v8
july 25, 1917
Irish Convention today
The Irish Convention meets this morning with full determination, we are sure, to justify its existence in the eyes of the world. It would be the merest commonplace to emphasize the magnitude of the opportunity. It would be worse than commonplace to suggest, as too many newspapers are suggesting, the adoption in advance of this or that solution.That the Convention’s delegates are not completely representative is, no doubt, a misfortune for which lrishmen alone are responsible. In the case of Sinn Fein, the Prime Minister seems to have gone to the limits of unqualified invitation. In its present mood Sinn Fein is frankly out of sympathy with all democratic methods. Their abstention only means that the Convention cannot speak for the whole of Ireland. There is no reason whatever why it should not still produce a practical scheme of self-government which would have the merit, hitherto unknown, of being the unfettered work of Irishmen, and would to that incalculable extent supersede the various hopeless schemes of the past.
Our Dublin correspondent tells us that the omens are more favourable than they were a month ago. The fait accompli, as he suggests, is always a powerful factor in Irish affairs, and it is all to the good that the great attempt to wreck the Convention in advance should have failed, that the stage should be set, and that Dublin should already be full of the assembling delegates. It is still better that every delegate should have come with the intention of doing his utmost to reach agreement. Best of all, perhaps, is the firm determination of the Government to maintain the laws of the land, and of civilized society.
Half the troubles of Ireland have come from a bewildering alternation of repression and weakness, which has lapsed in recent years into a cynical neglect of the first business of all Governments. It is clear enough that Mr Duke cannot well become permanent Chairman of the Convention if he is to remain an effective Chief Secretary. But we should greatly prefer to see the Convention elect a Chairman from its own number, and we continue to doubt whether the choice need be so acrimonious as the croakers predict. A friendly agreement on this initial point would go far to give the Convention a fair start.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2017-07-24/register/the-russian-breakdown-cdkxmg2bk
July 24, 1917
The Russian breakdown
The Executive Committee of the South-Western front, that of the Second Army, and the Commissary of the Provisional Government with this Army, have sent to M Kerensky, to the Provisional Government, and to the Council of Workmen’s and Soldiers’ Delegates the following telegram:The German offensive which began on July 19 on the front of the Second Army is assuming the character of a disaster, which threatens a catastrophe to Revolutionary Russia. A fatal crisis has occurred in the moral of the troops recently sent forward against the enemy by the heroic efforts of the conscientious minority. Most of the military units are in a state of complete disorganization, their spirit for an offensive has utterly disappeared, and they no longer listen to the orders of their leaders, and neglect all the exhortations of their comrades, even replying to them by threats and shots. Some elements voluntarily evacuate their positions without even waiting for the approach of the enemy.
Cases are on record in which an order given to proceed with all haste to such-and-such a spot to assist comrades in distress has been discussed for several hours at meetings, and the reinforcements consequently delayed. These elements, at the first shots fired by the enemy, abandon their positions. Long files of deserters, men who are in good health and robust, who have lost all shame and feel that they can act altogether with impunity, are proceeding to the rear of the Army. Frequently entire units desert in this manner.
The members of the aforesaid committees and the Commissary of the Government unanimously recognize that the situation demands extreme measures and extreme efforts, for everything must be risked to save the Revolution from a catastrophe. The Commander-in-Chief on the Western front and the Commander of the Second Army have today given orders to fire on deserters and runaways. Let the country know the truth, let it act without mercy, and let it find enough courage to strike those who, by their cowardice, are destroying and selling Russia and the Revolution.
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