their artillery deluged the British trenches with high-explosive shells. Our own guns replied and the 31st Heavy Battery put a German piece out of action and the North Midland Heavy Battery damaged several howitzers. The enemy's fire was particularly devastating on the portion of the line astride the YpresSt. Julien road. South of the Menin road three separate attacks were delivered and repulsed. The Germans temporarily gained a footing in part of the trenches held by the 2nd Cameron Highlanders and the 1st Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, only, however, to be ejected by a supporting company of the 9th Royal Scots. Yet, despite the ghastly toll paid by them, the rank and file of the Germans had not lost heart. An extract from a letter written the next day from St. Julien by a soldier of the 22nd Reserve Jäger Battalion illustrates the spirit which animated many of them:

Now that we have had three days' rest, we are going back to the trenches this evening. To-day or tomorrow will decide the fate of Ypres, and we riflemen wi!! all do our best to carry it through. From our trenches one sees the whole country as far as Ypres, and we had to-day a magnificent spectacle. Our artillery, which is located here in tremendous numbers, was going strong. Wherever we looked, one saw smoke and striking shells from the small 7.6 cm. to the 21 cm.

Wednesday, May 12, was spent by the enemy in bombarding the British trenches, especially

A BRITISH SNIPER With his telescopic sight rifle.

A FRENCH INTERPRETER WITH THE BRITISH.

Watching at a loophole.

those north and south of the Menin road. Sir Herbert Plumer, expecting that this was a preparation for a final attack, withdrew his depleted centre division during the night and substituted for it two cavalry divisions, which henceforth with the artillery and engineers of the retired division were known as the "Cavalry Force." The division which had been brought back into reserve had been fighting continuously since April 22. It had lost very heavily and most of its battalions were now being led by captains. The Cavalry Force under General de Lisle had to defend the line from the north-east of Velorenhoek to the Bellewaarde Lake.

"To-day or to-morrow," had said the Jäger just quoted, "will decide the fate of Ypres." On Thursday, May 13, at 4.30 a.m. a bombardment which is described by Sir Herbert Plumer as "the heaviest bombardment yet experienced " opened. It was raining in torrents and a bitter wind blew from the north. At about 7.45 a.m. the Cavalry Brigade astride the Ypres-Roulers railway, where its trenches had been blown in, fell back about 800 yards. Many men of the 3rd Dragoon Guards had been buried alive. To the right of the brigade the North Somerset Yeomanry under Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Glyn proved that the Yeomanry of England had not deteriorated. Not only did they hold their trenches, but they advanced and charged the enemy with the bayonet. The Royals, 10th Hussars, and the Blues were brought up, and at 2.30 p.m. a counter-attack, assisted by the Duke of Westminster's armoured cars, was delivered

by the two brigades. In the face of very heavy shrapnel and rifle fire, the dismounted cavalry crept forward. Suddenly a party of Germans bolted to the rear. The cry of "They're off! was raised, and the whole British force darted forward. The enemy, including those in the support and reserve trenches, broke and ran ; they were terribly punished by shrapnel and machine-guns. In this charge the 10th Hussars under Major Crichton and the Essex Yeomanry, were conspicuous for their gallantry.

The original position was regained. On it the Germans once more turned their heavy artillery. As the trenches had disappeared, it was considered advisable to withdraw the men to an irregular line behind. There in the craters formed by shells they opposed to the Germans an unbreakable resistance.

On the left, north of Wieltje, there were, also, savage encounters between the opposing forces. "Shell-trap" Farm was momentarily lost, but it was soon afterwards recovered by the 1/ Rifle Brigade. The 1/ East Lancashire Regiment were shelled out of their trenches, which were retaken by their support company and by the 2/ Essex Regiment acting on its own initiative.

The 1/ Hamp

shire Regiment killed or wounded every German who approached them, and the 5/ London Regiment maintained its position. By nightfall the enemy, apart from pressing back the cavalry a few hundred yards, had completely failed. The plain was covered and

the woods choked up with German dead and dying.

Two days later on May 15-General Putz attacked Steenstraate and Het Sast. The Zouaves and Algerian sharpshooters captured a trench before Steenstraate, entered the village, and by the end of the day reached the canal. More than 600 German corpses were counted. Simultaneously the Zouaves occupied Het Sast. The artillery bombardment had paralysed its defenders. "We entered the village with our hands in our pockets," said a Zouave recounting the scene.

During the night the Germans counterattacked, bombarding Het Sast with asphyxiating shells. The Zouaves donned their masks and met them with rifle fire and hand-grenades. Both at Steenstraate and Het Sast the assaults were repulsed with awful carnage. By May 17 not a German who was not killed, wounded, or a prisoner remained on the left bank of the Yperlee Canal. Three villages, four fortified lines, and three redoubts had been captured, and at least three regiments had been destroyed by the French. They had amply avenged the gassing of their comrades on April 22.

Such was the inglorious termination of the Germans' first effort to win a battle by using asphyxiants. They had not taken Ypres ; they had lost very many thousands of men ; they had infuriated the usually tolerant British soldiers and public; and they had rendered indignant every civilized neutral by their

O

N April 30 official communiqués brought the news of the German raid in the direction of Libau and Shavle. By May 2 the Germanic offensive in the district of Gorlice in Western Galicia had developed into an action of almost unprecedented magnitude.

It was evident from the very beginning that the advance against Libau and Shavle was devoid of independent strategic importance. Even after having penetrated for about a hundred miles into Russian territory, the German forces were still further away from any point of immediate strategic importance than they were in any other part of the entire Eastern front. Naturally, therefore, much speculation arose concerning the real aim of that new enterprise.

Very few human actions in ordinary everyday life can be traced back to one single exclusive motive; both life and the human mind are too complex to admit of singleness of purpose. The same is true about strategics; different possibilities, some of them belonging to a distant future, are usually present in the thoughts of the directing mind. Such a multiplicity and variety of purposes is of positive advantage; should the wider hopes and expectations never be realized, it is desirable Vol. V.-Part 55.

that immediate advantages should be reaped, such as would justify the undertaking.

The explanation which seemed most natural was at first given for Hindenburg's new undertaking. It was said that he had chosen the line of least resistance, and had found in addition employment for his cavalry, which could not be used along the other parts of the front, where fighting had assumed the character of trench-warfare. Raids are naturally directed against unguarded points, and there is no reason to colour with a touch of reproach and contempt the statement that the enemy was moving along the line of least resistance. If the Germans found that the district between Libau, Shavle, and the Prussian frontier was left practically unguarded, it was sound generalship on their part to take advantage of that fact. The Russians had done the same in the case of Memel, towards the end of March. The lesson learned from that raid of our Allies constituted probably one of the motives for the German advance against Shavle. By pushing the front line away from their own territory the Germans secured its safety against hostile inroads; and it must be admitted that when economic attrition had come to play a prominent part in warfare, the German policy of attaching supreme 81

importance to the security of their own territory found justification.

There are, however, two limitations to the usefulness of raids or advances such as are devoid of immediate strategic importance. First, care must be taken that the raiding force should not be exposed to dangers out of proportion to the results which may be obtained by means of the raid. In this respect the Germans were fairly well guarded. In view of their naval strength in the Baltic they could always retire to the shore, should a Russian advance from Kovno seriously threaten their right flank. The second restriction on the usefulness of raids is this, that they should not withdraw forces which might be of greater use in the decisive theatre of war. It would be difficult to estimate the effects which Hindenburg's advance on Shavle had on the general situation, and particularly on the offensive in West Galicia. Cavalry was, during April, of small use in other parts of the front, and most of the raiding force, as is shown by the very speed of its advance, consisted of cavalry. But the first week in May saw the Russians in full retreat in West Galicia. It is an open question whether the Germanic armies disposed anyhow of sufficient cavalry in Western Galicia, and could spare the divisions which the Baltic raid had withdrawn to the front in Lithuania and Courland, or whether the speed of the advance which followed on the breakdown

of the Russian line on the Dunajec and Biala came as a surprise to the German commanders themselves. On the other hand, the view has been put forward that the advance along the Baltic shore aimed at diverting the attention of our Allies from the Dunajec-Biala front. On careful consideration it seems, however, very doubtful whether the Baltic raid could, did, or was ever meant to affect the operations which a week later were opened in Western Galicia.

Another aim ascribed to the Baltic raid was that of foraging. Riga and Libau have been for centuries two of the great granaries of Eastern Europe; moreover a rich potato crop, preserved from the autumn, and plenty of cattle, were to be found in Lithuania and Courland. The German raid, says the Russian official communiqué of May 1, "may be explained as an attempt to include for foraging purposes, within the sphere of operations, a section of frontier territory which had not yet been ruined by the war."

When the great French Revolution was losing its cosmopolitan ideals, and substituting for them, in so far as international affairs were concerned, that doubtful worldly wisdom which is now generally known by the name of Realpolitik, Danton, the incarnation of much that was best and of some that was worst in the Revolution, made the remark that Vaincre l'ennemi, et vivre à ses dépens, c'est le vaincre deux fois." During the Great War the Germans