https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/fighting-in-a-tunnel-nls2n9grs
OCTOBER 2, 1918
Fighting in a tunnel
The Germans have been beaten from their great defence, the Hindenburg Line, on which their newspapers, their generals, and their public men have assured them they could place trust, and are retiring eastwards. The heavy blow delivered by Americans and Australians on September 29, at its point of greatest strength between Bellicourt and Bony, with the deeper blow magnificently delivered by English troops to the south, staggered the Germans holding this vital point.
The German Staff hastily rushed in every division available in order to stop the gap. The 121st, 54th, and l85th Divisions and the 75th Reserve Division were in the Hindenburg line opposite the American divisions, which made their great assault on Sunday. That day’s fighting shattered and disorganized them to such an extent that they rushed up three divisions into the line at the same point. These were the 2nd Guard Division and the 21st Division, which already smashed by Australian attacks had only been resting a fortnight, and the 119th Division.
But the Germans knew the Hindenburg line was already lost. All yesterday troops and transport were withdrawing along the roads leading east. The Australians and Americans managed yesterday to reach the village of Bony, which for two days held up the advance, and today Australian patrols are well beyond it, and nearing the northern entrance of the great tunnel of which they already hold the southern end.
This morning the Germans still hold the northern end of the great canal tunnel while we hold the south. The barges on which the German troops lived still lie inside the tunnel, and beside the towpath inside the entrance. The entrance to the tunnel is 80ft below the hill surface. Somewhere in that black interior lies the point where the Australian possession of the towpath ends and the German begins, but probably neither Australian nor German knows where that point is. Possibly by now our troops are through, but the fighting yesterday was always stiff in the labyrinth of surface trenches.
The country reached by our troops is now green and less broken by shell fire. The shell-shattered band where British and German Armies faced one another along the Hindenburg line last winter is now passed.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/capitulation-of-bulgaria-8vsz97gcs
OCTOBER 1, 1918
Capitulation of Bulgaria
At noon yesterday Bulgaria ceased to be an enemy of the Allies. The Bulgarian envoy sent to Salonika for the purpose of negotiating peace with General Franchet d’Espèrey, the French Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Orient, signed with him at that hour an armistice which will last until the final peace settlement. Although the exact terms of the military agreement are not yet known in this country, it is clear from its general features that it places Bulgaria completely under Allied control. It therefore involves a breach between Bulgaria and Turkey on the one hand, and between her and the Central Powers on the other.
The main terms laid down by General Franchet d’Espèrey, and accepted by the Bulgarian representatives, are that the Bulgarian Army be immediately demobilized, its arms, munitions, and equipment being stored at given centres and placed in Allied custody; that all Greek and Serbian territory still occupied by Bulgarian forces be at once evacuated; that all Bulgarian means of transport, including the railways and Bulgarian ships and other craft on the Danube be placed at the disposal of the Allies; that Bulgarian territory be available for Allied operations against the enemy, and that, in particular, strategic points be occupied by the Allied Armies, and that Bulgaria cease henceforth to be a belligerent, save with complete consent of the Allies.
Broadly speaking, the most important effects of the armistice are that the direct German route to Constantinople is cut and placed under Allied control. The Lower Danube ceases to be available for enemy traffic, and it becomes impossible for Germany or Austria-Hungary to reinforce or supply Turkey except through Rumanian or Russian Black Sea ports. The effect of this upon Turkey is expected to be profound and immediate.
The evacuation of Serbian and Greek territory by Bulgarian forces is one of the most satisfactory features of the arrangement. Austria Hungary will now be compelled to divert to the defence of whatever positions she may try to hold a considerable proportion of the troops stationed on the Italian front.
In a word, the armistice with Bulgaria is regarded as shifting the whole centre of military gravity in South-Eastern Europe.
SEPTEMBER 29, 1918
The victories in the west
As Horace Walpole once said of 1757, these are days when one has to be careful o’ mornings lest one miss a British victory. A greater need for care today is lest so much good news should lead us to underestimate the formidable task that still lies ahead. Today’s new victory — the old ones are still going on — falls to the Second British Army and to their Belgian comrades on their left, both under the supreme command of King Albert of Belgium. The attack extended from the floods near Dixmude in front of Ypres to the Lys, and at every point a signal advance was made. Dixmude fell late in the day, and nearly all the classic place-names on this wide front are now in our keeping. Messines is ours again, Houthem, and Gheluvelt, the scene of the greatest passage in the first battle of Ypres; Broodseinde, too, and Passchendaele, with their story of tragic heroism, victories over the Germans balked by the rain and the mud. We have gone farther. Westroosebeke, the extreme eastern spur of the Passchendaele ridge, has passed into our hands, and Houthulst Wood, of which some famous general once said that who held it had Flanders.
There are many reasons for joy over this news from Belgium. It is particularly gratifying to think of this Second Army moving once more over ground sacred to the ashes of our great dead, and with Belgians, most stanch of Allies, on their left. Moreover, it is not for nothing that the German resistance, obstinate everywhere, has up to now been exceptionally obstinate here.
The last week has been easily the most successful week that we have had since the war began, and if we weigh as well as measure our victories, the wonder increases. For the first time in the war we seem within sight of victory. Yet — let there be no mistake — it is as yet only a distant view, and before we reach the summit we shall have to traverse many dips in the ground in which our vision is far more obscure. Our correspondent at The Hague, a close student of conditions across the frontier, warns us this morning that the Germans do not even yet admit the possibility of defeat. We cannot afford to relax our efforts or to suppose that our troubles are over. It is a time for rejoicing. It is also a time for sober estimates and determined preparation.
SEPTEMBER 28, 1918
The battle’s opening stages
The great American offensive launched at daybreak by the First American Army under General Pershing is developing satisfactorily. French troops operated on the right and left of the Americans. The line ran from the Meuse, just above Regneville, south-west to Cumieres, up again to a point south of Bethincourt, through the Bois de Malancourt to the north of Avocourt, and west to Auberive.
The attack, which was commanded by General Pershing in person, was preceded by a very thorough artillery preparation. At half-past 11 on Wednesday night a heavy fire was opened across the Meuse to the right of the American Army. This, apparently deceived the enemy as to the real direction of the attack. American and French long-range artillery kept up a harassing fire on the rear of the German lines, and at 2.30 this morning thousands of guns opened up all along the 20-mile front, maintaining drum fire for three hours.
At 5.30 the infantry attacked with great dash. The men all felt that this was the biggest fight they had ever been in, and went into it like wild cats. Aeroplanes flew overhead in dense formations of 60 to 100 and, as a heavy ground mist prevented effective observation, the machines kept very close to the ground, using machine-guns. On the roads Staff officers and dispatch riders dashed to and fro at breakneck speed.
The attack was characterized by force without stint or limit and great speed. Vauquois was carried by assault almost before the sun had risen, and the Bois de Montfaucon was pinched out instead of attacked direct. By noon American troops were in Septsarges, and very soon afterwards Montfaucon itself was carried. The manner in which the field guns were moved up behind the attacking infantry was most gratifying, and all around were indications that this operation had been most carefully planned.
The whole countryside is alive with Americans. Although it is too early to predict the possible results of this attack, it has already entirely changed the strategic aspect of this sector, and has made Verdun a great offensive centre instead of a defensive position. The splendid capture of Montfaucon wrests from the Germans one of the key positions of his battle line.
SEPTEMBER 26, 1918
London street women
To the Editor of The Times
Sir, I have read with interest Mr Edward Bok’s statement in your issue for today. He does not overstate his case. I have been in nearly all the big camps, barracks, and naval and flying stations in the United States, and have seen the steps taken by the United States Government to prevent drunkenness and immorality among their soldiers and sailors. They have made it nearly impossible for any man in uniform in the United States to obtain drink or to consort with a prostitute. As a result, their men come here in the condition of trained athletes. There can be no finer body of men in the world. When they land they find it easy to obtain intoxicants, and almost impossible to avoid solicitation by young women. As a result many, even very many, of their men are infected with contagious diseases before they proceed to France.
The matter has caused the liveliest concern among American officers. When known in America there will be, as Mr Bok says, “an outcry . . . in volume and quality . . . extremely unpleasant to the people of Great Britain”. It frequently happens in war that the standards of life deteriorate under the strain. In this war the strain has been intense for more than four years. Very large numbers of young women, all subject, as we all are, to the strain of the war, have been removed by the events of war from the influences of home; their fathers, brothers, and husbands have gone to the front, and they themselves have been left in easy circumstances with every temptation to take what pleasure they can. This condition of things exists in other belligerent countries in Europe, perhaps in all: for in all there are many young people saying, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die”.
In this country it is more open and more easy to see than in others. As it will most surely harm our prospects (to put the matter on its lowest side first) in this war, by making countless casualties, and make it difficult, after this war to cooperate, as we all hope, in deep and lasting friendship with the United States for the maintenance of the peace of the world, I hope, with Mr Bok, that the evil “may be stamped out”.
Yours sincerely
john masefield Oxford, Sept 24.
Yours sincerely
john masefield Oxford, Sept 24.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/past-six-days/2018-09-25/register/60-germans-captured-by-airmen-0rkxb5v9w
SEPTEMBER 25, 2018
60 Germans captured by airmen
Two flying officers, whilst on patrol, had an adventure rare even for the Royal Air Force. Flying fairly low, these officers became aware that they were being fired upon from a trench and a sunken road nearby. The pilot dived and saw a party of Germans — afterwards ascertained to number no fewer than 65 — sheltering there. He at once replied to their fire with his fixed gun, killing one and wounding three others.
Apparently panic-stricken, the Germans ceased firing and hoisted a white handkerchief in token of surrender. As there were no British infantry in the immediate vicinity, the pilot descended to 50ft, and ordered the Germans out of the trench. They obeyed, and, rounding up the party, the British pilot headed them off in the direction of his own lines. Flying low and circling round them to ensure that none escaped, the pilot and observer carefully shepherded the party across No Man’s Land and handed them over to the nearest British troops. This done, they resumed their patrol.
During the recent German withdrawals the retreating troops have been constantly harassed by low-flying machines. A British patrol, having completed a bombing raid behind the German lines, on its way home perceived a line of enemy balloons. The patrol leader saw a useful opportunity for adding to his squadron’s toll of German “sausage”, and communicated his intentions to the other three pilots. The formation sorted out and rearranged itself in line and, each pilot selecting his “sausage”, they bore down on the balloons in a headlong dive. So swiftly was the manoeuvre carried out that the Germans had no time to haul down their balloons, which fell to earth in flames.
An English pilot had just succeeded in bringing down a Fokker biplane when he was attacked simultaneously by several other machines, which poured in a concentrated fire. In order to escape he put his machine into a spin, and, having shaken off his assailants, flew home. When he had safely landed it was discovered that the main spars of all four planes had been shot through, as well as both longerons, and in addition a bullet had lodged in one of the magnetos. How the machine, in such conditions, stood the strain of the downward spin and the homeward flight is a marvel.
SEPTEMBER 22
The rout of the Turks
General Allenby’s victory is complete. The Turkish Army in Palestine has ceased to exist, and our cavalry are busy in collecting the fugitives. There are still some enemy beyond the Jordan, but the Arabs of the King of the Hedjaz have cut the railways, and a bridge has been blown up, so that their prospect of escape is far from good. To the main Turkish force between the right bank and the sea there is no path open, except by the fords across the river and none of these is practicable for wheeled carriage. By Saturday our infantry were “shepherding” the enemy from the south and west into the arms of the cavalry, who had got behind them to the north. The encirclement, save on the side of the Jordan, was complete. The Turkish columns which sought refuge by way of the Jordan valley fared no better. They made for Jisr-ed-Damieh, but they found it still held by us, and they suffered heavy losses from our aircraft, which followed them at low altitudes with bombs and machine-guns. By Saturday night we had counted 18,000 prisoners and taken 120 guns, besides four aeroplanes and great quantities of materiel. Our cavalry are now as far north as Nazareth and the neighbourhood of Lake Tiberias, and we have occupied Jisr Mejamieh, on the Jordan. The point is of importance, as it is here that the railway and the road to Damascus cross the river.
The rapid advance of our cavalry along the coast, and then, swinging to the east through the famous plain of Esdraelon, past Armageddon and Gilboa to Beisan (Beth-shean), was a fine performance. A ride of fifty miles in the dust and heat of Palestine is a hard test for men and horses. It is interesting to note that our Navy, which harassed Napoleon’s adventurous march upon Acre, and finally played a chief part in the defeat of that enterprise, gave our men useful help so long as their advance lay by the same sea road.
It is too soon to speculate on the more remote consequences of General Allenby’s achievement, but they may be considerable, both from the military and from the political standpoint. The liberation of the Holy Land must exert far-reaching moral influence in the Christian, the Jewish, and the Moslem world. We heartily congratulate General Allenby and his gallant soldiers, British, Colonial, Indian, and French.
SEPTEMBER 21, 1918
The victory in Palestine
General Allenby has won a victory which may lead to the destruction of the Turkish Army in Palestine. On Thursday morning he attacked on the maritime plain and broke right through the Turkish defences. It was a decisive victory, for by the afternoon our infantry was twelve miles from its starting point — good going even if it had been an unopposed walk — and our cavalry, advancing ahead, had crossed the pass into the plain of Esdraelon, making for Beisan, where the plain drops down into the Jordan valley. This was not all. On the day before, General Allenby attacked and occupied El Mugheir, an important crossroad in the Jordan valley. In addition the Arabs have cut the railway east of the Sea of Galilee, and to the south the King of the Hedjaz has inflicted a severe defeat on the Turks south of the Dead Sea. If our cavalry reach their objectives the whole Turkish Army in Palestine may find its retreat cut off.
The key to understanding the achievement of General Allenby lies in this. The northern half of Palestine is cut off from the south by the plain of Esdraelon, which runs right across the country from the sea to the Jordan. General Allenby’s plan of campaign has been very ambitious. It has followed in its general outlines Napoleon’s plan of invading Syria — namely, along the maritime plain, through Sharon, and into Esdraelon, so cutting off the “strong places” of Samaria from their northern communications. General Allenby, in addition to the old lines of invasion, has, thanks to our alliance with the Arabs, developed a new line of attack across the Jordan.
We wait for the developments of his bold plan with confidence. It is interesting to see this campaign in Palestine in its right perspective to the rest of the war. Of course the West is the decisive theatre, but what we are fighting now is not the original ambitions of the German General Staff which led them to invade Belgium and attack France, but the German hopes of an Eastern Empire.
We are not only an island in the North Sea, and a member of a great European confederation against tyranny, but a great Imperial Power, and in Asia a great continental Power, with land frontiers to defend and with a great trust to discharge to the Indian people.
SEPTEMBER 20, 1918
Fierce fighting on French front
The fierce and exhausting fighting going on day after day and night after night on the plateaux and in the ravines between the Aisne and St Gobain massif is neither the open warfare of the French advances since July 18 nor the old close warfare of the trenches. Local and detached attacks and counter-attacks, giving great scope to individual initiative and action, follow each other with bewildering rapidity, for the most part centring round the farms and quarry caves which are the natural strong points of the district. Between them the battle rages back and forth without any pause. The one thing certain is that little by little it creeps forwards and slowly, but surely, the Laffaux angle is being flattened out. To the value of that angle the enemy are quite as alive as the French. During the past week General Mangin’s Army has continued the flattening-out process, and Allemant, Moulin de Laffaux, Sancy, and Vailly have fallen into our hands.
The fighting has been tremendously hard. I saw yesterday some of the officers of two of the divisions which have been for more than a fortnight in the thick of it. The officers are full of praise for the wonderful grit shown by men and the way in which, though they were tired to death by the strain of the continuous struggle, they rose to the occasion when ordered to make a fresh attack. Bayonet and hand grenades versus machine-guns has been the order of the fighting throughout. No matter how exhausted they might be, even when they were almost asleep on their feet, the call to charge or to repel an attack always found them ready. Sometimes they have had to advance on hands and knees to escape the murderous machine-gun fire sweeping the plain. More often, using the knowledge gained in their long training in this kind of warfare, they manage somehow to get round the machine-gun posts, and take them from the rear or in the flank. Once three battalions of the same regiment arrived in this way at three different entrances to one huge quarry cave, and each thought that it alone had rounded up the Germans taking shelter in its recesses. Very often they have had to do without the support of their artillery, because their positions were so close to the enemy’s lines that the French gunners were unable to fire.
SEPTEMBER 19, 1918
Increasing enemy resistance
The enemy has used high explosive and gas shells very heavily within the last 36 hours, particularly in the American back areas, and German aeroplanes made frequent attempts to cross American lines. They succeeded in dropping three bombs on Pont-a-Mousson, but later their air activity showed a marked decrease, as British bombers had placed a number of his aerodromes out of commission. French airmen carried out 61 patrols, and the Americans 30 yesterday, and more than 350 photographs were taken.
All the prisoners are astonished at the enormous number of American soldiers and the quantity of material behind the lines. What, perhaps, impressed them most was the fact that American officers and men are getting white bread in their rations.
The strength of resistance to American patrols suggests that the enemy has decided to make a stand on the Hindenburg line. In recent operations, one of the most conspicuous acts of bravery was that of a young Frenchwoman, “the daughter of the Souleuvre Farm”, who at night escaped from the German lines and walked two or three miles through the heavy German artillery barrage into the American lines. Souleuvre Farm was a strong point in the German defence, and the information which this heroic young woman brought was of the greatest value.
The latest German propaganda is a weekly newspaper, styled America in Europe, which is “published in the interest of good fellowship among all nations”. All communications, it says, should be addressed to the America in Europe Company, Frankfurt. It is printed in English, including an advertisement of amusements in Frankfurt, although how American soldiers can arrive in time for these performances, which change weekly, is a problem. The newspaper is produced in good English. I have seen two issues, one with a cartoon representing John Bull pouring out money to anti-German newspapers all over the world. Throughout its pages are quotations from Allied newspapers used in such a way as to try to cause trouble between the United States and Great Britain, which appears to be the object of the publication. Copies are sent over the American lines in tiny balloons. The Germans, however, underrate the intelligence of the American soldier.
SEPTEMBER 18, 1918
Nibbling at the German lines
The quiet continues on the British front, though with the improved weather both guns and aeroplanes have been busy. Prisoners recently taken have had vague news of the American success. They say that efforts were made to keep it from the men in the field, but a general outline has leaked out and has not tended to increase the moral of the men. Among the documents taken there is an order rebuking men for carelessness in writing letters telling of plans and dispositions of troops by which the British are given valuable information, and one impressing caution in the use of telephones or in conversation in trenches as, by the use of our listening posts, we are represented to get great advantage from these sources.
One hears of curious incidents connected with our advance. In one case a German officer surrendered to a British officer and, after looking at him for a while, said “Excuse me, but isn’t your name -- ?” It was. “Yes,” said the German, “we were shooting big game together in British Columbia in such and such a year.”
A troop of cavalrymen were charging a body of the enemy with lances when the Germans held up their hands and howled surrender. At the command of the officer, up went our men’s lances, they reined in and swung to the right, and swept on to where more Germans were ahead. As soon as they had passed, the men who had surrendered dropped their hands and turned their rifles and a machine-gun on to the backs of the men who had spared their lives. Only three men of our troop of 30 came back.
I have spoken of the elaborate German dugouts and headquarters buildings; in all officers’ quarters are found great stores of wines, liquors, and soda water, cigars and cigarettes. Some of our Scottish troops recently had a party of Germans in a dugout who refused to come out and surrender. It would have been easy to bomb them, but it was such a nice dug-out, with such beautiful steps and entrance, not to mention what it might contain, that the Scotsmen’s national instinct rebelled against the damage that bombs must do. So they carefully blocked the front entrance and dug down from the back and tapped the cellar from that side. The enemy then surrendered quietly enough, and the dugout, with all its exhilarating contents, was intact.
SEPTEMBER 17, 1918
Allies and the note
The text of the Austro-Hungarian “peace” Note is understood to have been conveyed to the Foreign Office yesterday afternoon through the Swedish Legation.
Though it has not yet been discussed by the Cabinet, Mr Balfour’s speech to the Imperial Press delegates clearly foreshadows the view which will be taken by the Foreign Office and, undoubtedly, by the Government as a whole. In Allied diplomatic quarters opinion is unanimous. The Note is regarded as not being intrinsically worth a moment’s consideration.
Interest in the motives which, prompted it is, however, keen. It is thought to be rather in the nature of a war move than of a peace move — that is to say, the Central Empires, and also Bulgaria and Turkey, have begun to realize the inferiority of their military and economic positions and to be anxious to create a diversion that will flurry and embarrass the Allied peoples and Governments.
The enemy is not yet reconciled to the idea of defeat, but apprehends defeat unless the Allies can be persuaded to stay their hands. The spirit of the German Army is known to have suffered severely from the recent reverses and from a dawning consciousness of the military importance of the American war effort. The plight of Austria-Hungary is becoming daily more distracted. Bulgaria is restless and filled with misgiving, while the rulers of Turkey would gladly make some peace that would enable them to enjoy the large fortunes they have accumulated during the war.
It is, therefore, thought probable that the rejection of the present overtures will not by any means mark the end of the enemy peace offensive. Other overtures, carefully modulated to suit the mood of “moderate” elements in Allied countries, are likely to be progressively made. To this end every expression of opinion among the Allies will be carefully scanned.
No official indication of the views of Allied Governments upon the Austro-Hungarian Note has yet been received. It is assumed, however, by Allied diplomatists that all the Allies and the United States will treat the Austro-German overture as a device intended to serve the military and political ends of the enemy.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1918
Another ‘peace’ note
The significance of the Austrian “peace” Note is perfectly clear. Germany is hard pressed, and she desires to gain time to reorganize the armies which Foch is driving back in France and to construct fresh lines of defence. She accordingly employs Austria-Hungary to renew sham proposals for peace negotiations, offers a separate peace to Belgium, and coolly proposes that we and our Allies should withdraw from Eastern Karelia and the Murman coast on condition that she shall not attack in this region. Austria obediently prepares and issues the Note, and thinks that the assent of her allies is a warranted “assumption”.
A special Note is addressed to the Pope, whom the Central Powers hope to involve in their intrigues. Neutrals are notified, but probably without much hope, as past attempts have been made to induce them to “conversations” with the Allies, and it is the complete failure of these which has forced the Central Powers to resort to the present manoeuvre. It is one of the oldest and stalest tricks of diplomacy. Neither Germany nor her “brilliant second” has the least expectation that the Allies will accept their offers. What they do hope is that the rejection of their proposals may be represented to their disheartened peoples and Armies as a conclusive reason for continuing the contest.
The “dodge”, for that is the only word to describe it, was tried again and again by Napoleon for the same purposes. It did not deceive peoples with any political instinct, but from Germany he received many servile tributes to his humane love of peace. It will not deceive the Allies today, but it may still have some effect upon those classes of the Central Empires whom the ruling castes regard as “cannon-fodder”.
It would be waste of time to discuss the Note in detail. Its “basic idea”, to use its own jargon, stands in direct contradiction with the German Emperor’s recognition that this world-war is a war to the death between irreconcilable “world-ideas”. The suggestion of the Note that the “conceptions” of the two sides have drawn nearer since the last “peace” Note is false, so far as the Allied Governments and peoples are concerned. Their “conceptions” are today what they were when Germany ravished Belgium and Serbia was crushed.
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