Then again there was a month of inactivity, ominous by its very quietness. And, indeed, before long the storm broke. Soon after the middle of September, 1918, a carefully planned offensive was started by General Allenby, an offensive which was destined to free the Holy Land from Turkish domination.
During the night of September 18, 1918, British troops commenced a general attack on the front between the Jordan and the sea. To the east of the Jerusalem-Shechem road British and Indian troops advanced and successfully intercepted the Turkish road communications leading southeast from Shechem.
Early in the morning of September 19, 1918, the main attack, in which French troops participated, was launched, after a short bombardment, between Rafat and the coast.
The Allied infantry made rapid progress, overrunning the entire hostile defensive system on this frontage by 8 a. m., and penetrating to a maximum depth of five miles before swinging eastward. Tul Keram railway junction was occupied in the course of the afternoon, while a brigade of Australian Light Horse had reached the main Tul Keram-Messudieh railway and road in the vicinity of Anebta, cutting off large bodies of the retreating enemy, with guns and transport. Meantime a strong cavalry force of British, Indian, and Australian troops, moving northward in the coastal plain, seized the road junction of Hudeira, nineteen miles from the point of departure, and twenty-eight miles north of Joppe, by midday.
East of the Jordan, a strong detachment of the Arab troops of the king of the Hedjaz, descending on the Turkish railway junction of Deraa, severed the rail communications leading north, south, and west from that center. Naval units cooperated with the advance of the land troops, clearing the coastal roads with gunfire.
By 8 p. m. on September 19, 1918, over 3,000 prisoners had passed through corps cages, many more being reported, but not yet counted. Large quantities of material had also been taken.
By 8 p. m. on September 20, 1918, the enemy resistance had collapsed everywhere, save on the Turkish left in the Jordan Valley. The British left wing, having swung round to the east, had reached the line Bidieh-Baka-Messudieh Junction, astride the rail and roads converging on Shechem from the west. The right wing, advancing through difficult country against considerable resistance, had reached the line Khan Jibeit-Es Sawieh, facing north astride the Jerusalem-Shechem road. On the north, cavalry, traversing the Field of Armageddon, had occupied Nazareth, Afuleh, and Beisan, and were collecting the disorganized masses of enemy troops and transport as they arrived from the south.
All avenues of escape open to the enemy, except the fords across the Jordan between Beisan and Jisr-ed-Damieh, a distance of twenty-seven miles, were thus closed. East of the Jordan, the Arab forces of the king of the Hedjaz had effected numerous demolitions on the railways radiating from Deraa, several important bridges, including one in the Yarmuk Valley, having been destroyed.
By 9 p. m. on September 21, 1918, the infantry of the British left wing, pivoting on their left about Bir Asur, five miles east by north from Tul Keram, had reached the line Beit Dejan-Semaria-Bir Asur, shepherding the enemy on and west of the Jerusalem-Shechem road into the arms of the cavalry operating southward from Jenin and Beisan.
Other enemy columns vainly attempted to escape into the Jordan Valley, in the direction of Jisr-ed Damieh, southeast of Shechem, which was still held by enemy troops. These columns suffered severely from British aircraft, which constantly harassed them with bombs and machine-gun fire from low altitudes.
In the vicinity of Lake Galilee British cavalry detachments held Nazareth and the rail and road passages over the Jordan at Jisr el Mujamia.
Having seized the passages off the Jordan at Jisr-ed Damieh, twenty-three miles north of the Dead Sea, on the morning of September 22, 1918, the last avenue of escape open to the enemy west of the river was closed. The Seventh and Eighth Turkish Armies virtually ceased to exist. Their entire transport was in British hands.
By September 22, 1918, 25,000 prisoners and 260 guns had been counted, but many prisoners and much material remained to be enumerated.
East of the Jordan the enemy was reported on September 24, 1918, withdrawing toward Amman, on the Hedjaz Railway, twenty-four miles east of the Jordan, pursued by Australian, New Zealand, East Indian, and Jewish troops, which had reached Es Salt, eleven miles east of the Jordan, capturing guns and prisoners. In the north cavalry had occupied Jaifa and Acre, after slight opposition.
The Arab forces of King Hussein had occupied Maan, about seventy miles south of the Dead Sea and were harassing the bodies of the enemy retreating northward toward Amman along the Hedjaz Railway.
Operations against Amman were begun at dawn of September 26, 1918, by the Anzacs. By 2 o'clock that afternoon this ancient stronghold of the Turks, in the defense of which they were assisted by German forces, had been rushed by New Zealand troops.
On the north affairs were progressing equally favorable to the British forces. During the night of September 27, 1918, the cavalry of General Allenby's Army swam and forded the Jordan north of Lake Tiberias, and on the day following captured the high ground to the east. Early that morning they were astride the Damascus road at Dar Ezaras and later that day they had advanced to El Kuneitrah, forty miles southwest of Damascus.
On the same day other cavalry detachments of General Allenby's Army joined hands with the Arab Army at Deraa, in Gilead. From then on, both from the Jordan crossing and from Deraa, British cavalry and armored cars pushed forward to Damascus, either route being about fifty miles in length. The Arabs were cooperating on the Deraa-Damascus line, which is that of the Hedjaz Railway. In their pursuit the advancing columns crossed both the Pharpar and the Albana, "the rivers of Damascus." By the evening of September 30, 1918, British cavalry had established themselves on the north, west, and south of Damascus. From the enemy rear guards, which disputed the advance throughout the day, 1,000 prisoners and five guns were taken. Finally, troops of the Australian Mounted Division entered Damascus during the night of September 30, 1918. At 6 a. m. on October 1, 1918, the city was occupied by a British force and and by a portion of the Arab Army of King Hussein. Over 7,000 prisoners were taken. After the surrender, with the exception of necessary guards, all the Allied troops were withdrawn from the city, and for the time being the local authorities remained responsible for its administration.
Damascus has a population of from 230,000 to 300,000. It is the starting point of the Hedjaz Railway, built by Abdul Hamid, nominally for the benefit of pilgrims to Mecca and Medina, but in reality to increase the Ottoman hold on western Arabia. This line connects southward with the railways to Palestine, while westward a railway runs to the important seaport of Beirut. Northward a railway runs to Homs and Aleppo, fifty miles distant, where it connects with the Bagdad Railway.
During the next few days there was no change in the general situation. To the north and west of Damascus, on the Aleppo and Beirut roads respectively, British cavalry were clearing the country, and took over 15,000 prisoners in that area.
Since the commencement of operations on the night of September 18, 1918, over 71,000 prisoners and 350 guns had been captured, besides some 8,000 prisoners claimed by the Arab Army of King Hussein. Included in these figures are the Turkish commanders of the Sixteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-fourth, Fifty-third, and composite divisions, the commander of the Maan garrison, and German and Austrian troops numbering over 200 officers and 3,000 of other ranks.
In the afternoon of October 6, 1918, Zahleh, at the foot of Mount Lebanon, and Raysk, respectively thirty-three and thirty miles northwest of Damascus, were occupied by British cavalry. Raysk is the point at which the enemy broad-gauge railway from the north joins the 1.05-meter gauge system of Palestine. The latter system was now, therefore, entirely in British hands. A considerable quantity of rolling stock, ammunition, and engineer stores were captured. The railway station and aerodrome had been burned by the retreating enemy prior to evacuation.
In the coastal area the enemy evacuated Beirut and retired northward. Saida (Sidon) was occupied by British troops on October 7, 1918, without opposition. French and British warships entered the port of Beirut on October 6, 1918, finding the town evacuated by the enemy.
On October 7, 1918, British armored cars, preceding cavalry and infantry columns, arrived, and on October 8, 1918, advanced detachments of British and Indian infantry occupied the place, being received enthusiastically by the inhabitants.
The number of prisoners taken by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, exclusive of those taken by the Arab Armies, had risen to over 75,000, and it was estimated that of the entire strength of the Turkish Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth Armies not more than 17,000 in all had escaped, this figure including about 4,000 effective rifles. Many of the prisoners captured were in a lamentable state of exhaustion. The prisoners taken by the Arab forces numbered 8,000, so that the total captures by the Allies in Palestine and Syria since September 18, 1918, amounted to over 83,000. Of these over 3,200 were Germans or Austrians.
In occupying Beirut the British captured sixty Turkish officers and 600 men. Baalbek was entered by armored car batteries on October 9, 1918, after a force of some 500 Turks had surrendered to the inhabitants. Advanced British cavalry and armored cars occupied Tripoli thirty-five miles north of Beirut, on October 13, 1918, and Homs, on the Damascus-Aleppo Railroad, about eighty miles distant from either of these two cities, on October 15, 1918.
In Mesopotamia British troops continued to pursue the Turks on both banks of the Tigris. On October 25, 1918, British columns moving up the eastern bank forced the passage of the Lesser Zab near its mouth in conjunction with cavalry, which had crossed this river on the previous evening seven miles farther upstream. The latter movement turned the left flank of a Turkish force holding the angle formed by the junction of the Lesser Zab with the Tigris, and assisted the main body to drive the enemy across the Tigris to the western bank.
Meanwhile other British troops advancing up the right on western bank of the Tigris over a difficult country, much cut up by ravines, forced the Turks from a hill position which they were holding in prolongation of their forces on the left bank. The enemy, after burning their stores, retired about four miles farther up the river.
On the Kirkuk road, the main Bagdad-Mosul highway, lying east of the Tigris, British patrols entered the southern outskirts of Kirkuk. The Turks appear to be occupying in strength the high ground to the north of the town, which is about 100 miles southeast of Mosul.
On October 26, 1918, the Turks still held a strong position on the Jebel Hamrin, west of the mouth of the Lesser Zab. But on the previous day British armored cars, moving by the desert track farther to the west, had struck in on the Turkish line of communications in the neighborhood of Kalet Shergat, where they attacked the enemy's convoys.
At the same time British cavalry, moving up the left bank of the Tigris, threatened the enemy's line of communication from the east. The pressure of British troops in front, combined with attacks on their communications, compelled the Turks to retreat twelve miles to the north during the night of October 26, 1918, to a position three miles south of Kalet Shergat.
By October 27, 1918, the British main body was in touch with Turkish troops covering the crossing of the Lesser Zab.
All that day Turkish reserves tried to break through the Eleventh Indian Cavalry Brigade, who barred the road to Mosul, but without success, though the arrival of Turkish reenforcements from Mosul forced that brigade to draw back its right in order to cover its rear.
On the night of October 27-28, 1918, the Seventh Indian Cavalry Brigade joined the Eleventh, and the Fifty-third Indian Infantry Brigade, moving up the east bank after a march of thirty-three miles, was able to support the cavalry in preventing any Turks from breaking through northward. On October 28, 1918, the Seventeenth Indian Division successfully assaulted the Turkish Shergat position, and on the 29th, though exhausted by their continuous fighting and marching through the rugged hills, pushed forward and attacked till nightfall the Turks who were now hemmed in.
On the morning of October 30, 1918, the Turkish commander surrendered his entire force, consisting of the whole of the Fourteenth Division, the bulk of the Second Division, and portions of two regiments of the Fifth Division, with all their artillery trains and administrative services, amounting to some 8,000 men.
In the meantime, British advanced cavalry and armored cars had occupied Aleppo on the morning of October 26, 1918, after overcoming slight opposition.
British cavalry immediately renewed their advance and by October 28, 1918, they were fifteen miles north of Aleppo, having occupied Muslimie station, the junction of the Bagdad and Damascus-Aleppo Railways.
That evening British cavalry, moving up the east bank of the Tigris, forded the river north of Kalat Shergat, joined the armored cars which approached from the west, and established themselves astride the Turkish communications with Mosul.
There they were heavily attacked by the Turks on October 29, 1918, and, though the right flank had to withdraw, they succeeded in defeating all attempts to drive them off the road. In the evening they were reenforced by troops from the eastern bank, which enabled them to restore the situation completely.
The same day other British troops advanced up the western bank of the Tigris after a long and difficult march, attacked and drove the Turks from their positions three miles south of Kalat Shergat, and captured the village.
On October 30, 1918, the pursuit continued. The Turks were heavily engaged five miles north of Kalat Shergat, where they put up a stubborn defense in broken ground and ravines. By nightfall the British had penetrated deeply into the enemy positions, and a portion of his force, which attempted to escape to the northwest, was cut off by cavalry from the north, who captured 1,000 prisoners and much material.
COLLAPSE OF AUSTRIA
On October 24, 1918, indications that a new Allied offensive was about to be started on the Italian front were officially confirmed. An intense artillery fire broke out that morning at dawn along the Italian line. The fire was especially violent in the region of Monte Grappa. Brisk infantry actions occurred on the highlands of the Seven Communes, the Italian troops obtaining considerable success.
At the same time French sections attacked the enemy positions at Monte Sisomel, forcing the defenders to give way and capturing three officers and about 800 men. British troops attacked the Austrian positions south of Asiago and captured six officers and about 300 men.
Violent actions were being carried on by the Italian troops south of Assa and north of Monte Val Bella. A considerable number of enemy troops were captured during this operation.
It soon became evident that this was to be an offensive, carefully prepared and planned on a large scale, but no one then dreamed of the final results it was destined to have, though military officials in Washington apparently had high hopes from the very beginning. They were quoted in newspapers as early as the second day of the offensive as stating that the place selected for the attack indicated that the present operations might be preliminary steps to a major offensive. If the high ground between the Brenta and Piave Rivers were carried in sufficient force, it was believed that it might be possible for the Italian army, supported by French and British units and artillery, and possibly by American troops, to reach the valley of the upper Piave and outflank the whole Austrian position on the lower stretches of the river, running from the Monte Grappa Plateau to the sea. Immediate withdrawal of the Austrian forces on this line would appear to be the certain result of any striking Italian success on the lines under assault.
The Piave forms a great loop, flowing down toward the plateau from the northeast, then swinging sharply southeast to reach the sea. West of the Monte Grappa Heights, that deflect the river's course, the Brenta flows down from the northwest and bends sharply south about the eastern face of the rugged plateau. It was in the territory between the two rivers that the new attack had been launched.
Aside from its military significance, the operation in Italy was being watched closely by officials as a test of the spirit of the Austrian army. Reports of disorders and disaffections in the Dual Monarchy had been persistent for months, and it was regarded as quite within the range of possibility that the war weariness at home would show itself decisively at the front. In that case, it was felt, the early capitulation of Germany's chief ally might be expected.
The second day's news, indeed, supported these high hopes.
Bitter fighting occurred during the morning of October 25, 1918, in the Monte Grappa region. Parties of Italian troops resolutely attacked some portions of the formidable enemy positions and succeeded in wresting from him and maintaining possession of the important supporting points in the western and southern area of the massif. They established themselves on the northern bank of the Ornic Torrent in the Alano Basin. The enemy, who offered stubborn resistance, suffered considerable losses.
A few small islands were occupied at Grave di Papodopoli, in the Piave River. The hostile garrisons were captured. In the Posina-Altico sector and in the Assa Valley enemy advanced posts were destroyed. On the Asiago Plateau, Italian and Allied patrols carried out a small surprise attack with success. The total number of prisoners captured from midnight of October 23 to midnight of October 24, 1918, was four officers and 2,791 men of other ranks.
Again on October 26, 1918, in the region northwest of the Monte Grappa massif, fighting began at dawn and continued the whole day on the terrain carried by the Italians on the preceding day. The struggle was fierce and with varying fortune, but finally the stubbornness of the Fourth Italian Army overcame the desperate attacks of the enemy and the Italian positions were maintained and extended at some points. The Aosta Brigade, with remarkable élan, took Monte Valderoa, to the northwest of Monte Spinoncia.
Aeroplanes bombed and dispersed columns of troops and transports in the Augana Valley, the Cismon Valley, and the Arten Basin. During that day forty-seven officers and 2,002 of other ranks were captured.
The Pesaro Brigade and the Eighteenth and Twenty-third Assault Detachments carried out the difficult conquest of Monte Pertica, which had been formidably fortified by the enemy.
The attack of the Tenth Italian Army across the Piave in the area of the island of Grave di Papodopoli commenced at 6.40 a. m., October 7, 1918. The Italian troops on the right met with strong resistance. After heavy fighting, this resistance was overcome and the advance successfully commenced. On the right of the Eleventh Italian Corps, commanded by General Paolino, British troops advanced east of the river and reached the line from the neighborhood of Roncadelle to a point halfway to Cimadolino and St. Pelo di Piave, where they came in touch with the Fourteenth British Corps, under Lieutenant General Sir U. Babington, who had captured Tezze and Borgo Malamotte. Later in the day the Italians, in conjunction with Allied contingents, crossed the Piave River by force of arms, engaging in bitter battles the enemy, who strove desperately to bar the way.
Between the slopes and heights of Valdobbiadene and the mouth of the Soligo Torrent Italian infantry assault troops had passed, during the night, under violent fire to the left bank of the river, broken into the enemy's front lines, and carried them. Supported by the fire of the artillery on the right bank, they gained ground and repulsed enemy counterattacks throughout the day.
To the south the Tenth Army, taking advantage of the successes of the British at Grave di Papodopoli, compelled the enemy to retire, and repulsed two counterattacks in the direction of Borgo Malanotte and Roncadelle. The prisoners taken during the day aggregated more than 9,000. Fifty-one guns were captured. Allied aircraft, with extreme daring, again attacked the enemy troops from low altitudes.
In local fighting on Monte Grappa 150 prisoners were taken. The enemy heavily attacked on Monte Pertica and obtained a foothold in the Italian positions, although at great sacrifices. Later the Italian infantry, in severe fighting, drove out the enemy and regained the lost positions. By the end of the day the line of the Tenth Army was reported to run south of Stabinzzos, Polo di Piaveborgo, Zanettiborgo, Malanotte, Lasegac, and Tonon.
The next day the battle was continued with equal success by the Italians and their allies. The Twelfth Army took the heights of Valdobbiadene. French infantry captured in assault Mont Pionar. The plain of Sernaglia was occupied. Italian troops carried the heights of Colfosco and had entered Susegana. Advance guards pushed to the left of the Monticono. On the left bank of the Ornic River the Italians had occupied the village of Alano di Piave, taking several hundred prisoners. Aeroplanes daringly carried supplies to advanced troops on the left bank of the Piave.
On the same day it also became officially known that Americans were standing on reserve behind the British and Italian forces now driving across the Piave.
The news, according to a Washington dispatch to the New York "Times," was considered significant not because of the size of the American contingent in Italy or the direct effect it might have on the battle, but because it indicated that the Italian drive was a definite part of the great offensive that was rapidly bringing complete defeat to the Central Powers.
So far as official announcements showed there were but two regiments of infantry and necessary auxiliary troops in the American force in Italy. These units and any others that may have been sent probably were expected to operate as a part of one of the Italian or British organizations when the time had come to throw them into the line. The same practice was followed in France, where two Italian divisions had been employed at various times on the front as units of a French army corps.
The sending of American troops to Italy was not with the idea of adding military strength but to demonstrate the unity of command and purpose on all fronts. For that reason the force detached by General Pershing for this purpose was believed not to have exceeded a brigade of infantry at most. The artillery support contributed by the Allies to the Italian front was largely British. Some American air units were in Italy and had participated in the work at the front.
It became known on October 28, 1918, that American troops were fighting in Italy. On that day the offensive extended southward from the middle Piave. A third army had entered the struggle. On the front from the Brenta to the sea three-quarters of the Italian army were fighting in union with a French division and the 332d American Infantry Regiment.
Between the Brenta and Piave Rivers the bitterness of the resistance and the aggressiveness of the enemy, supported by fresh reserves had, for six days, given the struggle particular fierceness. East of the Piave the enemy was yielding to Italian troops' pressure and the Italian troops were overcoming successive lines.
In the Grappa region the Italian Fourth Army gained advantages. In the region of Pertice and Col del Orso, the Twelfth Army had reached the outskirts of the village of Quero, taken Sequisine, and earned Monte Cesen.
The Eighth Army occupied the defile of Follina and reached Vittorio. There was fighting north of Conegliano. The Italian Tenth Army was beyond the Conegliano-Oderzo road. The Third Army had crossed the Piave to San Dona Piave and east of Zenson. The prisoners captured so far numbered 802 officers and 32,198 men. Of guns several hundred had been taken.
On October 30, 1918, the Italian and Allied armies were continuing to rapidly advance after the retreating enemy, who attempted in vain to retard them. Heads of columns had reached Serravalle, Orsago, Gajarine, and Oderzo. Cavalry divisions were advancing in the plains and some squadrons entered Sacile.
In overcoming strong resistance between the Piave and the Monticano, the Third Army fought brilliantly. The river crossing at Ponti di Piave was carried in a fierce action. The enemy was obliged to evacuate Asiago, which was promptly occupied.
During the rush of the advance it had been impossible to keep count of the thousands of prisoners and many guns. Besides the populations of towns and villages, there had been liberated numbers of Italian prisoners who had been in Austrian hands.
The success of the Italian forces was rapidly assuming great proportions. The routed enemy was retreating east of the Piave, unable to withstand the close pressure of Allied troops on the mountain front. In the Venetian plains and the Alpine foothills the Italian armies were irresistibly directed on the objectives assigned to them. Hostile masses were thronging into the mountain valleys or attempting to reach the crossings on the Tagliamento. Prisoners, guns, material, stores, and depots almost intact, were being left in Italian hands.
The Twelfth Army had completed its possession of the massif of Cison and was now fighting to carry the gorge of Quero. The Eighth Army had captured the spur between the Follina Basin and the Piave Valley. Other forces had occupied the defile of Serravalle and were advancing toward the high plain of Cansiglio and toward Pordenone. Czecho-Slovaks had been in the action throughout the entire week.
In the Grappa region the attack was renewed in the morning. Col Caprile, Col Bonatto, Asolone, Monte Prassaolan, the Solarolo salient, and Monte Spinocia had been carried. On the Asiago Plateau the harassed enemy maintained an aggressive fire.
By then it had been ascertained that the prisoners taken exceeded 50,000. More than 300 guns had been counted.
The advance of the Tenth Army, with which British and American troops were fighting, continued without check throughout the day. British cavalry detachments, in close touch with Italian cavalry, had reached the western outskirts of Sacile. Troops of the Fourteenth British Corps had reached the Livenza River at Francenigo. Farther south the Eleventh Italian Corps had occupied Oderzo. This advance had been gained throughout practically the entire length of the objective assigned to the Earl of Cavan, British Commander on the Piave, by General Diaz when plans were first formed early in October, 1918. The energy and determination of the infantry had been beyond all praise.
The difficulties of bridging the Piave led at first to an inevitable shortness of supplies. In spite of lack of food and sleep and in the face of constant fighting the Thirty-seventh Italian Division and the Seventh and Twenty-third British Divisions had advanced without relief to their final objective. British and Italian troops operating on the Asiago Plateau entered Camporovere (northeast of Asiago) and captured the heights of Mocatz. The number of prisoners taken by the Tenth Army alone had increased to more than 12,000.
The battle continued to expand. The enemy maintained intact his resistance from Stelvio to the Astico, but he was vacillating on the Asiago Plateau and in full retreat along the remainder of the front. He was protected more by interruptions in the roads than by his rear guards, who were irresistibly overwhelmed. Italian batteries, brought forward quickly with captured enemy artillery, were intensely shelling the adversary, firing to the extreme extent of their range. Cavalry divisions, having destroyed the enemy resistance on the Livenza and reestablished crossings, were marching toward the Tagliamento.
The Sixth Army, on October 31, 1918, entered into action with a brilliant advance by the Ancona Brigade at the end of the Brenta Valley, and in the morning it attacked the adversary along the whole front.
On the Grappa, under the impetus of the Fourth Army's thrust, the enemy front had collapsed. It was impossible to estimate the prisoners coming down the mountain in flocks. All the hostile artillery here was captured. The Italians forced the gorge of Quero, passed beyond the spur east of Monteresen, and were advancing in the Piave Valley. Overcoming the enemy rear guards at the Passo di St. Buldo, Italian troops were descending into the Piave Valley toward Belluno. Other parties were engaged in fighting in the hollow of Fadalto, which was still occupied by the enemy. Cavalry and cyclists, following the road to the foothills, were opening the way to Aviano.
By the end of the day the Fourth Army was master of the Fonzaso Valley. The Bologna Brigade entered Feltre that night.
The Twelfth Army, having gone through the Quero defile from the mountains, was joining up on the Piave course with the Eighth Army. The latter had descended the valley of the Piave to the south of Belluno, and had detachments engaged in the Fadalto Valley, which light columns were encircling by way of Farra d'Alpago.
The right wing of the front of the Third Army had been prolonged toward the coast by a marine regiment, which had occupied all the intricate coastal zone, which the enemy in part flooded. A patrol of sailors had reached Caorile. The Third Army by nightfall had reached the Livenza. Advanced guards entered Motta di Livenza and Torre di Mosto. British infantry and mounted troops occupied Sacile. The troops of the Tenth Army reached the line of the Livenza from that place as far south as Brugnera. The number of prisoners was continually increasing, and the various armies captured more than 700 guns. The booty taken was immense, its value being estimated in billions of lire.
As the Italian army prosecuted its victorious advance, most deplorable evidence was coming to light of atrocities by the enemy during the period of invasion. In Italy, as in France, the fury of the barbarians was intense against things and persons. Such fury was witnessed not only by Italian soldiers, but by representatives of the Italian and Allied press accompanying advancing columns. Everywhere there were tokens of willful, useless destruction and brutal robberies. Terrified eyewitnesses narrated horrible scenes. The Italian Government, the military authorities, and the Allies stated that they would not fail to carry out rigorous inquiry regarding abominations committed, of which the enemy must give an account. Italians found in freed zones were in a terrible state. They lacked everything because the enemy during a year of occupation had destroyed, burned, sacked, and carried off everything.
The utter collapse of the Austrian forces and the fierceness of the fighting are well illustrated by a special dispatch sent under date of October 31, 1918, from Italian headquarters east of the Piave and published in the New York "Times" the following day. It said:
"At many points east of the Piave there are so many Austrian prisoners that they block the roads over which they are being marched to the rear. The Venetian plain immediately east of the Piave is a scene of desolation. Houses and villages have been ruined by shell fire. When the advancing Italians reached Sacile they were received as saviors, and the women and children of the town fell on their knees before them. During a recent influenza epidemic in the town the Austrians are said to have brutally rejected appeals from mothers for food for their sick children.
"Every bridge in the path of the advancing Allies has been the scene of fighting. One railroad bridge near Conegliano was lost and retaken thirty times. In the storming of Monte Cismon, which gives to the Allies command of the valleys of the Brenta and Cismon—and the domination of the Brenta virtually means possession of the Trentino—an Austrian battery of six guns which had been shelling the city of Bassano was captured. The morning before it was taken fifty persons were killed in Bassano."
By November 1, 1918, more than 1,000 square miles of Italy's invaded provinces had been reconquered, but the greatest importance of the daring movement conceived by General Diaz was his success in separating the Austrian army occupying the Monte Grappa and Trentino regions from that on the Venetian plains. At the same time he was threatening the Austrian contingents holding the section southeast of the Piave, which, it was expected, would be enveloped or cut off by the Italians advancing toward Pordenone.
Allied troops had reached the Gringo, five miles north of Monte Lisser. They had cut off the retreat of the Austrians in Trentino, except over mule paths in the mountains. On the Asiago Plateau the Sixth Army and two Allied divisions carried formidable positions which the Austrians had held for many months. Monte Mosciavi, Monte Baldo, Monte Longara, La Meletia di Gallio, Sasso Rosso, Monte Spitz, and Lambara were taken. Three thousand prisoners and 232 guns were captured on the Asiago Plateau alone.
Enemy resistance at Fidalto defile was overcome by Italian troops who entered Belluno. The Third Cavalry Division reached the plains north of Pordenone. The Second Cavalry was fighting hostile rear guards in Meduna. The infantry of the Tenth and Third Armies passed the Livenza River between Sacile and San Stino.
East of the Brenta the pursuit continued. On the Asiago Plateau the enemy was resisting to gain time for the masses in the rear to retire, but the troops of the Sixth Army crossed by force of arms the pass between Rotzo and Roana, carrying in a bitter struggle Monte Cimone and Monte Lisser, and were advancing in the valley of the Nos.
The Fourth Army occupied the heights north of the hollow of Fonzaso, and pushed forward columns into the Sugana Valley. The old frontier was passed in the evening. Alpine groups, having crossed the Piave with improvised means in the neighborhood of Busche, spread out in the area between Feltre and San Giustina. Italian troops who the day before won in heavy fighting at the Passo di Boldo the hollow of Fadalto were going up the Cordevole Valley. They had passed beyond Ponte nelle Alpi and were marching toward Longarone.
On the plains an Italian cavalry division under the Count of Turin, having overcome the resistance of the enemy at Castello d'Aviano, Roveredo-in-Piano, San Martino, and San Quirino, occupied Pordenone and passed the Cellima-Meduna. Italian and Allied aviators were complete masters of the air and continued without pause their daring activities. An Italian airship bombarded the railway stations in the Sugana Valley at night.
It was not possible to calculate the number of guns abandoned on the lines of battle, now distant from the fighting fronts, and on the roads. More than 1,600 had been counted so far. More than 80,000 prisoners had been counted. Italian soldiers had liberated also several thousand prisoners from captivity.
British troops of the Tenth Army crossed the Livenza River between Motta and Sacile and established a bridgehead east of that stream. The Northamptonshire Yeomanry Regiment captured twelve mountain guns and fifteen machine guns. The Forty-eighth Division, operating on the Asiago Plateau, was reported to have advanced its line two kilometers northward, but was meeting with machine-gun resistance in the neighborhood of Monte Interrotto.
The First Army on November 2, 1918, captured Monte Majo and attacked Passo della Borcola. In the Posina sector Italian troops took Monte Cimone, on the Tonezzo Plateau, and, after ascending the Assa Valley, occupied Lastebasse.
On the Asiago Plateau the Allies captured a great number of prisoners and guns. Still the advance continued. There were lively rear-guard combats west of Castelnuovo, in the Sugana Valley, and at Ponte della Serra, in the Cismon Valley. In the Cordevole Valley Italian advance guards reached Mis. Italian cavalry occupied Spilimbergo and Pordenone, and the fighting reached the east bank of the Tagliamento, across which patrols had been thrown.
In the plains the heads of the Italian columns reached the line of Azzanodecimo, Portogruaro, Concordia, and Sagittaria.
On the same day Allied troops broke through the enemy's fortifications at Celadel. The Tonale Pass was forced and the Val Arsa taken from Col Santa to the north of Pasubio.
The advance was continuing irresistibly on the Tonezza, the Asiago Plateau, in the Sugana Valley, the valleys of Cismon and Cordevole, and along the Piave and on the plains.
On the Tagliamento, cavalry, supported by mounted batteries, Bersaglieri, and cyclists, was winning bitter combats against the adversary, who, surprised on his side of the river, was fighting with great stubbornness. The Second Brigade, with the regiments from Genoa and Italian and Allied airmen, brilliantly maintained exceptional activity. The total of prisoners had reached 100,000 and the guns captured more than 2,000.
The bridging of the Livenza River was being rapidly carried out by British troops, some of whom were well east of that river. The number of prisoners captured by the Tenth Army alone could not at that time be accurately given, but it was known to be considerably over 15,000, with 150 guns. Of these more than 10,000 prisoners and more than 100 guns had been captured by the Fourteenth British Corps. The booty taken at Sacile included among the vast amount of other material an ordnance workshop complete and a pontoon park. In their operations on the Asiago Plateau the Forty-eighth British Division captured nearly 200 prisoners. The British air force continued throughout the day to bomb the dense masses of retiring Austrians with visibly good results.
In the meantime Austria-Hungary had appealed for an armistice on October 29, 1918. After careful deliberations on the part of the Allies, during the process of which the Italian forces had continued their victorious advance without abatement, the terms on which the Allies had agreed were submitted to the Austrians, who accepted them on November 3, 1918, and hostilities were suspended on November 4, 1918, at 3 p. m. Germany had now lost her route to the East, and if she continued the war must fight single-handed on the western front.
Before the armistice became operative the Italian columns, having passed every obstacle and overcome every resistance, had advanced with great impetus and had firmly established themselves behind the enemy in the Adige Valley, closing the openings of all the roads convergent to it. The Seventh Army, by rapidly taking the region to the west of the Adige, became master of the Passo della Mendola, and had pushed patrols on the river in the direction of Bolzani, The First Army, which, with the advance made on November 3, 1918, by its Twenty-ninth Corps, had crowned its brilliant maneuver for the taking of Trento, occupied Monticelli, dominating the confluence of the Adige Noce. Early in the afternoon of November 4, 1918, the headquarters of this army were established at Trento.
The landing at Trieste began at 11 o'clock a. m., November 3, 1918. The first to land was a battalion of the Royal Italian Marines, which was received by the population assembled on the embankments with great jubilation. The city was bedecked with Italian flags, and in a short time Bersaglieri were marching through its streets, enthusiastically acclaimed by the population.
From then on the Italians extended their successes toward the south along the Dalmatian coast. Within a few days Austria-Hungary lost all her ports and her end as a maritime power seemed assured.
Lissa was occupied by naval forces on the same day. On November 4, 1918, Italian vessels occupied Abbazia, Rovigno, and Parenzo on the Istrian coast, the neighboring island of Lussin, and, in the middle Adriatic, Lagosta, Meleda, and Curzola. Other ships entered the port of Fiume. Small parties of sailors landed at Riva.
Thus the liberation of "Italia Irredenta" was practically completed.
THE SURRENDER OF TURKEY
After the overwhelming defeats which the Turkish armies had suffered—as described in other chapters of this volume—in Mesopotamia and Palestine in the fall of 1918, it became clear that the hour for surrender had struck for Turkey.
As soon as the Turkish authorities had decided that their cause was lost, they sent General Townshend, the hero of Kut-el-Amara, who since the British debacle on the Tigris in 1916 had been their prisoner, to inform the British Admiral in command in the Ægean Sea that they desired to open immediately negotiations for an armistice. Vice Admiral Calthorp, the British commander, replied that, if Turkey sent fully accredited plenipotentiaries, they would be informed of the conditions which the Allies had decided to impose upon Turkey before hostilities could cease.
The Turkish plenipotentiaries arrived at Mudros, on the island of Lemnos, in the Ægean Sea, on October 27, 1918. Three days were consumed in parleys, at the end of which the armistice was signed in the evening of October 30, 1918. It was to take effect at noon of the next day, and involved, among others, the following terms: The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus, with Allied occupation of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus forts; immediate demobilization of the Turkish army; surrender of war vessels in Turkish waters; right of the Allies to occupy strategic points; withdrawal of Turkish troops from Persia; surrender of garrisons in Hedjaz, Syria, Mesopotamia, etc., to the nearest Allied commander; Turkey to cease all relations with the Central Powers.
Hard on the heels of the surrender of Germany's second ally came the total collapse of its principal supporter, Austria-Hungary.
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY AND GERMANY SURRENDER—"THE WAR THUS COMES TO AN END," PRESIDENT WILSON TO CONGRESS—PRESIDENT SAILS FOR FRANCE
The sustained success of the Allied armies in France and Belgium in August and September of 1918 strengthened the determination of the Allies not to relax any efforts to prosecute the war to a victorious conclusion. The Central Powers were no less impressed with the trend of events, and throughout September and October repeated efforts were made by Austria-Hungary and by Germany to induce President Wilson to take the first steps toward an armistice and peace. The President made it clear that the United States would urge no course upon the Allies that might in any way sacrifice the military advantage their armies had gained. It became more and more evident that the terms of armistice and peace would be dictated by the Allies.
That Germany was quite as anxious to bring about a speedy armistice as Austria-Hungary was expressed in a note which the Washington Government received on October 30, 1918, and which the State Department declined to make public because it was evident that the document had been prepared mainly for propaganda purposes. The note described the various steps that had been taken to democratize the German Government with the view to impressing the United States that they had complied with President Wilson's stand not to discuss an armistice with a nation that was still dominated by an autocracy. The note endeavored to prove that the German people were now in complete control of the Government, but it failed to impress the Administration, since it did not show any change in the situation created by other German proposals to suspend hostilities. The evident purpose of the appeal was to influence sentiment in foreign countries and gain sympathy in the United States. It was well understood at Washington and in the capitals of the Allies that the Central Powers realized that they faced complete disaster and that their only hope of saving anything from the wreck was to bring about a speedy cessation of hostilities.
On October 31, 1918, the representatives of the Entente Powers assembled at Versailles to consider the terms of the armistice after an informal meeting at the home of Colonel E. M. House, President Wilson's personal representative. On this date Turkey capitulated. The United States had no part in arranging the Turkish armistice, which was chiefly the work of the British and French representatives. The principal terms of the armistice granted by the Allies to Turkey were: The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and access to the Black Sea, and occupation of all forts along these waters by the Allies. All Allied prisoners of war and Armenian interned persons and prisoners to be collected in Constantinople and handed over unconditionally to the Allies. Immediate demobilization of the Turkish army except such as were required to guard frontiers and maintain internal order. The surrender of all war vessels in Turkish waters, or waters occupied by Turkey. Free use by Allied ships of all ports and anchorages now in Turkish occupation and denial of their use by the enemy. Wireless, cable, and telegraph stations to be controlled by the Allies. The surrender of all garrisons in Hedjaz, Yemen, Mesopotamia, etc. All Germans and Austrians—naval, military, or civilians—to be evacuated within one month from Turkish dominions.
The capitulation of Turkey, though anticipated for some days by the Entente and the United States, was important inasmuch as it was expected to hasten the collapse of the Central Powers. Austria, aflame with anarchy, and with revolutionary mobs parading the capital, had no choice but to submit to the Allies' terms. In Washington the complete collapse and unconditional surrender of Germany was hourly expected.
All interest was now centered in the Supreme War Council in session at Versailles, where the terms to be offered to the Central Powers were under discussion. There were present during the deliberations General Tasker H. Bliss, representing the United States, Premier Clemenceau, Marshal Foch, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Colonel E. M. House, President Wilson's personal representative, and David Lloyd-George, the British prime minister. It was decided that the terms to be submitted to Germany should be confined strictly to military requirements conditioned generally upon President Wilson's principles. During the discussion of Austrian questions Serbian and Greek representatives were present because of their special interest in Austrian affairs.
At Washington President Wilson kept in touch with the United States representatives at the Versailles Council. Colonel House advised the President of the progress of the deliberations, and there were frequent exchanges of communications. It was known in Washington that political and economic conditions in the Central Powers had reached such a pass that Austria could not, and Germany would not, refuse to sign any terms which the Entente was prepared to offer.
The complete destruction of the Austrian armies by the Italians, which resulted in the capture of over 300,000 prisoners and 5,000 guns, left the dual monarchy no alternative but complete surrender. On November 3, 1918, an armistice with Austria was signed by General Diaz, the Italian commander in chief, which went into operation at 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the following day. The principal terms in the armistice may be briefly outlined:
Demobilization of the Austro-Hungarian army and withdrawal of all forces operating on the front from the North Sea to Switzerland. Half the divisional corps and army artillery and equipment to be collected at points indicated by the Allies and the United States for delivery to them. Evacuation of all territories invaded by Austria-Hungary since the beginning of the war. The Allies to have the right of free movement over all roads, railroads, and waterways in Austro-Hungarian territory. The armies of the Allies to occupy such strategic points as they deemed necessary to conduct military operations, or to maintain order. Complete evacuation of all German troops within fifteen days from Italian and Balkan fronts and all Austro-Hungarian territory.
Evacuated territories to be governed by local authorities under control of the Allied armies of occupation. Immediate repatriation without reciprocity of all Allied prisoners of war and civil populations evacuated from their homes.
The naval conditions included surrender to the Allies and the United States of fifteen submarines and all German submarines in Austrian waters, three battleships, three light cruisers, nine destroyers, six Danube monitors, etc. Freedom of navigation for the Allies in the Adriatic and all waterways, with occupation of forts and defenses on the Danube. The existing blockade conditions to remain unchanged, and all naval aircraft to be concentrated and impactionized in Austro-Hungarian bases to be designated by the Allies and the United States of America.
The drastic character of the armistice terms were calculated to please even the "Bitter Enders" in America and Europe. President Wilson's diplomacy was now triumphantly vindicated, and those members of Congress who had found fault with his note writing were ready to concede that to him belonged a great deal of the credit of bringing about a situation that must lead to the ending of the war on the Allies' own terms.
On November 6, 1918, the German Government sent a wireless message to Marshal Foch asking him to receive German plenipotentiaries who would arrive at the French outposts on the following day (November 7) to arrange for the armistice. The mission was headed by Mathias Erzberger, secretary of state, and included General von Winterfeld, Count Alfred von Oberndorf, General von Grunnel, and Naval Captain von Sallow.
As previously noted in the last chapter devoted to military operations, the armistice was signed by the German representatives and all hostilities ceased on November 11, 1918, at 11 a. m. On the same date President Wilson announced the terms of the armistice in his address to Congress. Briefly summarized, Germany agreed to the immediate evacuation of all invaded countries, including Alsace-Lorraine, and yielded over to Allied occupation "the countries on the left bank of the Rhine," including control of the crossings of that river at Mayence, Coblenz, and Cologne; bridgeheads of thirty kilometer radius on the eastern bank and the establishment of a neutral zone from thirty to forty kilometers in breadth and running from the frontier of Holland to the Swiss frontier. Germany surrendered about half her navy, including 160 submarines, which passed at once under control of the Allies to be disarmed and interned in Allied or neutral ports. All other German warships were to be disarmed and concentrated in German naval bases and held under control of the Allies and the United States. All the railways of Belgium, Luxemburg, and of Alsace-Lorraine with their equipment were to be given up.
In the east Germany abandoned the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk. All German troops in Russia, Rumania, or Turkey were to be withdrawn and the agents of German propaganda recalled. The Baltic was opened to the warships of the Allies, and provision was made that through Danzig or the Vistula supplies might be sent to the starving peoples of Poland and Russia.
The Black Sea ports were also to be evacuated by Germany and she must give up the Russian fleet. While the blockade was to be maintained as respected Germany, all German restriction upon the trade of neutrals was removed. Germany must give up all the prisoners she had taken, all the ships she had seized, but this was not reciprocal. German prisoners of war and German ships remained in the custody of the Allies.
While President Wilson was reading to the assembled Congress the drastic terms which Germany had been forced to accept in order to obtain peace there was a tense silence on the part of the great audience. It was only when they realized, as paragraph after paragraph was read, how complete the victory of the Allies was that faint handclapping was heard, then cheers and presently everyone in the gallery and on the floor was on his feet cheering madly. After reading the terms of the armistice President Wilson continued:
"The war thus comes to an end; for, having accepted these terms of armistice, it will be impossible for the German command to renew it."
NAVAL EXPLOITS OF THE ALLIES—SUBMARINES
The fleets of the Allies, and the American fleet, had comparatively few opportunities for direct action after August 1, 1918, yet they had a great share in winning the war.
A British destroyer which had been seriously damaged by collision was torpedoed and sunk by an enemy submarine in the Mediterranean on August 6, 1918. Two officers and five men lost their lives as a result of the collision.
On the next day, August 7, 1918, the old French cruiser Dupetit Thouars, which was cooperating with the American navy in the protection of shipping in the Atlantic, was torpedoed by a submarine. American destroyers rescued the crew, of which, however, thirteen were reported missing. The Dupetit Thouars, 9,367 tons, was launched in 1901. She carried two 6-inch and eight 6.4-inch guns.
Two British destroyers struck mines and sank on August 15, 1918. Twenty-six men were reported missing—presumed killed by explosion or drowned. One man died of wounds.
In the latter part of August, 1918, a notable feat was performed by an Italian submarine. On August 20, 1918, it was officially reported that, a few days before in the upper Adriatic, the Italian submarine F7, after crossing certain mined areas, boldly entered the Gulf of Quarnerolo, and seeing near the island of Pago a large Austrian steamer going south, the F7 succeeded in hitting the vessel amidships with a torpedo, which sank her. The submarine returned unharmed to her base.
Although the Germans gave no opportunity to the British and Allied fleets to enter into a real naval battle, the British were active in the Helgoland Bight, and were carrying out operations with various kinds of light forces in the North Sea, the average number of such operations being no less than five daily. The number of German surface crafts destroyed in the Bight during the year ran into three figures.
A British torpedo-boat destroyer was sunk on September 8, 1918, as the result of a collision during a fog. There were no casualties.
Eight days later, on September 16, 1918, a British monitor was sunk as she was lying in a harbor. One officer and nineteen men were killed and fifty-seven men were missing and were presumed to have been killed.
In the latter part of September, 1918, a part of the British fleet again, as it had done many times before, bombarded successfully the German defenses and points of communication on the Belgian coast. This operation was carried out in cooperation with extensive military operations on the part of the Allied forces on the Flanders front.
Still another British torpedo gunboat was sunk on September 30, 1918, as the result of a collision with a merchant vessel. One officer and fifty-two men were reported missing, presumed to have been drowned.
That the Swedish navy suffered the loss of one of its boats during the month of September, 1918, became known when it was announced on September 25, 1918, that the Swedish gunboat Gunhild had been sunk by striking a German mine in the Skagerrak, with the loss of the chief officer and eighteen men.
On October 17, 1918, the British navy at last came into its own. It will be recalled that by that time the Germans had been forced by the unceasing attacks along the western front, described in another part of this volume, to withdraw from the Belgian coast. Shortly after noon of the 17th, Vice Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, commanding the British Dover Patrol Force, landed at Ostend after Royal Air Force contingents working with the navy had landed at Ostend and had reported it clear of the enemy.
However, it was soon ascertained that the enemy at the time was not clear of the town and a light battery at Le Coq opened fire on the ships. Two shells, falling on the beach close to a crowd, excited the inhabitants. A heavy battery of four guns in the direction of Zeebrugge opened fire on the destroyers, and, as it seemed possible the presence of the naval force might lead to the bombardment of Ostend or to more shells falling in the town, where they would endanger the lives of civilians, the British decided to withdraw the naval force, and thus give the enemy no excuse for firing toward the town. They, therefore, reembarked and the destroyers withdrew, being heavily shelled, to just east of Middelkerke. Four motor launches were left at Ostend as an inshore patrol, the inhabitants being nervous of the Germans returning. The King and Queen of the Belgians expressed the wish to visit Ostend, either from the sea or the air. In view of the difficulty of landing and the uncertainty of the situation, they proceeded in the destroyer Termagant, flying the Belgian flag at the main, to the vicinity of Ostend. The senior officer of the British motor-launch patrol off Ostend, which had been reenforced by French motor launches, reported that all had been quiet for some hours. Their majesties therefore landed and proceeded to the Hôtel de Ville. They were received everywhere with indescribable enthusiasm. They returned to Dunkirk about 10 o'clock at night. The British naval forces suffered no damage and no casualties.
In the morning of November 1, 1918, after the Austrian fleet had been surrendered to the Jugoslav National Committee, Commander Rossetti and Lieutenant Paolucci of the Italian navy succeeded in entering the inner harbor of Pola and sank the large battleship Viribus Unitis, flagship of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. This daring enterprise was accomplished by the use of a so-called "navy tank" which succeeded in penetrating the mine field at the entrance to the harbor. This was described by naval officials as a small vessel, similar to the "Eagle boats" being built for the United States navy.
During this period the Italian navy also was active in the occupation of Austro-Hungarian ports on the Adriatic. Thus Italian battleships entered the ports of Zara and Lussinpiccolo and raised the Italian flag there. Zara is a seaport of Austria-Hungary and is the capital of Dalmatia. It is situated on a promontory on the eastern coast of the Adriatic, 170 miles southeast of Venice. Lussinpiccolo is a town on an island belonging to the Crownland of Istria. It is the principal seaport of the Quarnero Islands, between Istria and the Croatian Coast.
A few days before the cessation of hostilities the British battleship Britannia was torpedoed near the west entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar on November 9, 1918, and sank three and a half hours later. Thirty-nine officers and 673 men were saved. The Britannia, which had a displacement of 16,350 tons, was launched at Portsmouth December 10, 1904. She was 453.7 feet in length, had a speed of approximately nineteen knots, and carried a peace-time complement of 777 men. Her main armament consisted of four 12-inch guns.
The end was rapidly approaching now, and on November 12, 1918, the Allied fleets passed through the Dardanelles in fine weather. British and Indian troops occupying the forts were paraded as the ships passed. The fleet arrived off Constantinople at 8 a. m. on November 13, 1918. This was the fourth time in a century that British battleships passed through the Dardanelles and arrived before Constantinople on a mission of war.
It was 7.30 in the morning, according to the special correspondent of the London "Times," that the flagship Superb was sighted in the Sea of Marmora, steaming slowly toward the entrance of the Bosporus, Behind her came the Temeraire, bearing General Sir Henry Wilson, who was to command the garrisons of Allied troops in the forts of the Dardanelles and Bosporus. The Lord Nelson and the Agamemnon were next, and then followed, in an imposing procession of line ahead, the cruisers, destroyers, and other craft making up the British squadron. Half an hour's steaming behind them, a distance that was diminished toward the end, came the French squadron in similar formation. Then followed the Italian and Greek warships.
At the entrance to the Bosporus the fleet divided into two parts. The Superb and Temeraire, followed by two French battleships, came on as a silent line of great gray ships and anchored close to the European shore of the Straits, within near view of the Sultan's palace and the Turkish Chamber of Deputies. The two French battleships dropped anchor astern of them, and then followed the battleships of Italy and Greece. The rest of the Allied fleet was placed round the corner of the Bosporus in the Sea of Marmora, and at noon the whole fleet was to weigh anchor again and go to its prepared base in the Gulf of Ismid.
General Sir Henry Wilson soon afterward landed on the quay. He was received by Djevad Pasha, Turkish Chief of Staff, and on the quay were drawn up a guard of honor of several hundred British and Indian prisoners of war in their light-colored clothes of blanket cloth. Massed everywhere, as near as the Turkish police would let them come, were dense crowds of the population of Constantinople.
We now come to one of the most dramatic incidents of the war, as far as it affected the naval forces. Early in November, 1918, the mighty German fleet at Kiel had revolted. Soon after that came the cessation of hostilities, following on the signing of the armistice. Included in the terms of the latter were, it will be recalled, certain severe provisions concerning the surrender of a large part of the German naval forces. The time for carrying out these provisions had now been reached.
At sunrise of November 20, 1918, twenty German submarines were surrendered to Rear Admiral Reginald W. Tyrwhitt of the British navy thirty miles off Harwich. These were the first U-boats to be turned over to the Allies by Germany. Admiral Tyrwhitt received the surrender of the German craft on board his flagship, the Curaçao. The submarines proceeded to Harwich in charge of their own crews. They were then boarded by British crews and interpreters, and proceeded to Parkston Quay, near by. Twenty additional submarines were to be surrendered on the following day. Other U-boats were handed over later in accordance with the armistice terms.