evening, a further bombardment took place in which incendiary shells were used, and they started a most violent fire. On July 5 at 4:30 P. M., the statement continues, the enemy recommenced its bombardment of the city, concentrating its fire upon the environs of the cathedral, more especially upon St. Vaast, the ancient Bishop's palace, which had been transformed into a museum. Incendiary shells set the building on fire, and the use of fuse shells from three-inch and four-inch guns prevented our organizing to combat the fire, which soon assumed great proportions and completely destroyed the palace. During the night there was an intermittent bombardment. On July 6, about 7 A. M., shells fell on the Cathedral, the roof of which took fire, and, despite the efforts of our troops, was entirely consumed, as were the Cathedral organs. The departmental archives, which had been deposited in the Palace of St. Vaast, had been placed in the cellar of the palace before the bombardment and were saved. The sacred ornaments and part of the furnishings in the Cathedral were removed. IN THE FECHT VALLEY The French official "Eyewitness reported on July 15 the French victory in the battle of Metzeral in upper Alsace, as follows: The operations by which our troops captured the towns of Metzeral and Sondernach, which are situated in the Fecht Valley, have been remarkable because of the means employed and the results obtained, and as the Alpine troops have been forced to surmount all possible difficulties. Metzeral, the eyewitness explains, is situated in a valley surrounded by high hills, the sides of which dropped precipitously down to the Fecht region. On these hills was stationed artillery, to the rear of which, within easy access, large reinforcements could be massed and brought to the front when needed. He continued: From prisoners we learned that the Germans considered their position impregnable. It was surrounded by several lines of trenches and barbed wire entanglements. We made long preparations for the attack, concentrating troops and bringing supplies up the Vosges through winding, narrow, and hastily constructed roads, twenty miles in length. New trenches were dug, mines laid, and various other details attended to. On June 15, after prolonged and heavy artillery fire on both sides of the valley, the attack was begun against Hill 830, on which we captured trenches situated on the slopes, taking two companies prisoners. A portion of the trenches on Braunkopf also fell into our hands. At Eichwald we gained less, as here the German fortifications were strongest. At Anlass, also, although many grenades were thrown, the fortifications were of such a character as to make it impossible to break through. On the day following the attack was resumed, with the purpose of gaining us all the positions on Braunkopf and Hill 830. We began at this point to encircle Eichwald, as the road to Metzeral now lay open. The Germans remained at Anlass, where our attack always stopped, and with their fire. across the valley on Braunkopf made it impossible for us to proceed. All our efforts were now concentrated on Anlass. We attacked on June 18 and 19, and on the 20th the German positions fell into our hands. Our troops continued on down the valley, capturing 6 officers, 11 non-commissioned officers, and 140 men. An attack directed at the same time against Winterhagel, situated to the south of Anlass, was marked by a sad incident. A small group of chasseurs who succeeded in breaking through the barbed-wire entanglements found themselves under a crossfire of quick-firers. The men tried to construct a shelter with the tools they carried. The Germans cried "Surrender!" Not one man answered. The quick-fierers accomplished their work, and the men were found lying with faces to the ground, as if they had dropped when drawn up in line for parade. Our attacks were now centred on Metzeral. The factory at Steinbruck was taken on the night of June 17, and a battalion entered Altenkof the day following. On June 21 our men came down from Braunkopf, surrounded the village on the north, and took the railway station. The Germans in Metzeral, threatened with capture, placed quickfirers in several houses to protect their retreat and prepared to set the place on fire. Our artillery quickly demol ished the houses in which German artillery had been placed, and our troops entered the flaming streets from the north and west. The village was burned. On the two following nights, while our troops harassed the retreating enemy, Winterhagel and Sondernach fell into our hands and our line was established along the length of the valley of the Fecht as far as Sondernach. The action resulted in the capture of 20 officers, 53 non-commissioned officers, and 638 men. The Crown Prince in the Argonne An Associated Press dispatch from Paris stated on June 30 that the German attempt to divert the attention of the French from the latter's offensive in the region north of Arras has been productive of gains in the Argonne, where a three-days' bombardment of the French trenches was followed by the capture of French positions near Bagatelle. Elsewhere, particularly on the Yser, to the north of Arras, north of Verdun and near Metzeral in Alsace, there have been artillery exchanges without notable results. The dispatch recorded the following French official communication, issued June 30: In the Argonne, after a bombardment lasting three days, the Germans attacked our positions on the road between Binarville and Le Four de Paris, but were twice repulsed. They succeeded only in their third attack in gaining a foothold in some parts of our lines near Bagatelle, and they were everywhere else thrown back after a violent engagement. There has been a bombardment on the front north of Verdun, in the Bois d'Ailly, as well as in the region of Metzeral. On July 4 Berlin's official report said: tinue their offensive. Our booty has increased considerably, and amounted on July 1 and 2 to 2,556 prisonersamong them 37 officers-25 machine guns, 72 mine throwers, and one revolver gun. It was reported from London on July 14 that the attack of the German Crown Prince's army in the Argonne, having for its objective the investment of the French forts of the Verdun area, had resulted in an advance of two-thirds of a mile and the capture of 2,581 prisoners and several pieces of artillery, according to German official reports. A communiqué issued in Paris, while admitting the German success, asserts that nowhere did the assailants gain more than a quarter of a mile and announces that the Crown Prince's offensive had been definitely checked. Following is the text of the German official statement of July 14: In the Argonne a German attack resulted in complete success northeast of Vienne-le-Château. Our troops took by storm the enemy positions in the hills extending over a width of three kilometers (about a mile and threequarters) and a depth of one kilometer. Hill No. 285, La Fille Morte, is in our possession. Two thousand five hundred and eighty-one uninjured prisoners, including fifty-one officers, fell into our Scene of the German Crown Prince's drive in the Argonne. The official statement issued at Berlin on July 15 says: The French made repeated attempts yesterday, which lasted into the night, to recapture the positions we took from them in the Forest of Argonne. Notwithstanding the employment of large quantities of ammunition and of strong forces recently brought up, all their attacks broke down. In many places there was bitter fighting with hand grenades and encounters at close quarters. The enemy paid for his unsuccessful efforts with extraordinarily heavy losses. The number of French prisoners has been increased to 68 officers and 3,688 men. The success of our troops was all the more remarkable as, according to corresponding statements made by pris oners, the French had prepared for a great attack against our positions on the Argonne front on July 14, their national festival day. The text of the German official statement published July 16 is as follows: French attacks delivered yesterday and the day before to the west of the Argonne Forest failed in the face of the North German Landwehr, who inflicted large and sanguinary losses on the enemy in bitter hand-to-hand fighting. We captured 462 prisoners. Since June 20 our troops have fought continually in the Argonne and to the west of that forest, with the exception of short interruptions. In addition to the gain in territory and booty in materials a total of 116 officers and 7,009 French prisoners has been reached up to the present. On our front which joins the Argonne to the east, lively artillery battles are in progress. Attacks made by the enemy in this region were repulsed without difficulty. In a dispatch from Berlin, dated July 16, by Wireless to Sayville, N. Y., it is reported that in the news items given out by the Overseas News Agency was the following: German military tacticians point out that the German victory in the Forest of Argonne, in France, is of special importance, as it shows that the connections toward Western France are gradually being cut. The large amount of war materials captured by the Germans in the last battle illustrates the importance attributed to the positions by the French commanders. The French, however, were unable to resist the terrific offensive of the Crown Prince's army. Allied Operations Around the Turks' Fortress of Achi Baba The subjoined narratives, official and semi-official, show clearly the formidable nature of the Allies' land undertaking in the attempt to force the passage of the Dardanelles. It will be noted that Compton Mackenzie, the novelist, has temporarily replaced E. Ashmead-Bartlett as the British press "eyewitness" on the peninsula, and that General Sir Ian Hamilton's reports have for the first time begun to appear. A notable sketch of his career appears in the Atlantic Monthly for July by the pen of Alfred G. Gardiner. A poet and a man of romantic ancestry and taste, experienced in commands in India, in Egypt, and in South Africa, General Hamilton was called by the late Lord Roberts the ablest commander in the field. For his qualities of daring and inspiration, as well as for his coolness in directing the complex movements of the battlefield, he was chosen for this most dangerous and bloody of enterprises against the German-officered Turks.* Mr. Mackenzie estimates the losses of the Turks up to June 30 at not less than 70,000. Prime Minister Asquith in the House of Commons, on July 1, announced that the British naval and military losses up to May 31 aggregated 38,635 officers and men. Yet the great fortress of Achi Baba, by that time one of the most powerful in the world, was untaken up to July 20, and the French and British Allies held but a small corner of the area to be conquered. T BATTLE OF THE LONGEST DAY By Compton Mackenzie Authorized Press Representative at the Dardanelles. Dardanelles, via Alexandria, HE battle of the Fourth of June ended with substantial progress on our centre, although on our left and on our right, nothwithstanding the most violent charges and counter-charges, we were unable to consolidate some of our initial gains. The reason of this may be found in the natural strongholds of the Turkish flanks, natural strongholds that are helped by the most elaborate fortifications. The British and French line from the Aegean to the Dardanelles is confronted by rising ground that culminates in the centre with the flat summit of Achi Baba, 800 ft. high. On either side the ground falls away to the sea in ravines and dry watercourses (deres), which the Turks have had time to make impregnable to any except those superb troops that are now fighting to pass over them. His first report, covering the actions from March 13, when he left London. to May 20, is here omitted because other official reports covering the same period were printed in the June and July numbers of CURRENT HISTORY. There is no room upon the Gallipoli Peninsula to find weak points, and we are now in the position of having to storm an immensely strong fortress, the advanced works of which, by an amazing feat of arms, we already hold, and the glacis of which has to be crossed before we move forward to the assault upon the bastion of Achi Baba and beyond to the final assault upon the very walls of that fortress, the Kilid Bahr Plateau. Farther up the coast the Australians and New Zealanders have made a lodgment upon one of the strongest advanced works of the Kilid Bahr Plateau. As seen from the northwest here they threaten the communications of the "fortress" and are drawing against them a large part of the garrison. This is composed of the flower of the Turkish Army, and, notwithstanding casualties that must already amount to 70,000, the troops are fighting with gallantry-with desperation, indeed, because they realize that when the bastion of Achi Baba falls the occupation of the Kilid Bahr Plateau becomes a mere question of time, Map of Gallipoli Peninsula, showing the mountainous nature of the terrain, and Achi and that when Kilid Bahr falls the doom of Constantinople is at hand. In view of the difficulties-were it not for the landing one would be tempted to say the impossibilities-which confront our men, the gain of a score of yards in the Gallipoli Peninsula may fairly represent for the purposes of comparison a gain of 500 yards in the Western theatre of war. Therefore, to find its importance the gain of 500 yards on June 4 must be measured with affairs like Neuve Chapelle; and the few quiet days that succeeded may be accepted as repose. After a violent effort on the night of Baba. June 11 to 12 there was a brilliant little action by the Border Regiment and the South Wales Borderers which resulted in the gain of two trenches. On the 16th the enemy, led by a Turkish and a German officer, made an assault on the trenches of the 88th Brigade, but were driven off with loss. However, that night the trenches gained by the two regiments on the 11th were heavily bombed, so heavily that our men were forced to retire about 30 yards and dig themselves in. At dawn we were able to enfilade with machine-guns the vacated trenches. |