Days to Remember: The British Empire in the Great War I

:	John Buchan Sir Henry John Newbolt
:	Days to Remember: The British Empire in the Great War I
:	anboco
:	9783736408920
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:	CHF 0.90
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:	Erzählende Literatur
:	English

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THE CAUSES OF THE WAR A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE WAR THE TURN AT THE MARNE THE WORCESTERS AT THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES THE CANADIANS AT THE SECOND BATTLE OF YPRES THE TAKING OF LOOS DELVILLE WOOD THE THIRD BATTLE OF YPRES THE TANKS AT CAMBRAI THE SOUTH AFRICANS AT MARRIÈRES WOOD THE BATTLE OF THE LYS THE SECOND BATTLE OF THE MARNE THE BEGINNING OF THE END THE AUSTRALIANS AT MONT ST. QUENTIN THE LAST BATTLE THE LANDING AT GALLIPOLI THE DEPARTURE FROM GALLIPOLI THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM ALLENBY'S GREAT DRIVE THE SILENT SERVICE CORONEL THE FALKLANDS MYSTERY SHIPS JUTLAND THE BRITISH SUBMARINE SERVICE THE BRITISH SUBMARINE SERVICE (continued) THE MERCANTILE MARINE AND FISHING FLEETS ZEEBRUGGE BEHIND THE LINES AND AT HOME THE LAST DAY LOOKING BACKWARD Field-Marshal Sir John French (Earl of Ypres) Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig (Earl Haig of Bemersyde) Marshal Foch Field-Marshal Sir Edmund Allenby (Viscount Allenby of Megiddo) Admiral Sir John Jellicoe (Viscount Jellicoe of Scapa) Admiral Sir David Beatty (Earl Beatty of the North Sea) Field-Marshal Earl Kitchener The Critical Day in the First Battle of Ypres The Second Battle of Ypres Battle of Loos: Advance to Loos and Hill 70 Battle of the Somme: Longueval and Delville Wood Cambrai: the Advance of the Infantry Divisions The Second Battle of the Marne. First Stages of the last Allied Offensive The Landing Beaches at Gallipoli Evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula Palestine: the Decisive Battle Battle of Coronel Battle of the Falkland Islands Battle of Jutland: Track Chart Zeebrugge. The Front on the Eve of the Allied Offensive, and on the Day of the Armistice

PART II.

THE WESTERN FRONT.

CHAPTER IV.

THE WORCESTERS AT THE FIRST BATTLE OF YPRES.

The Battle of the Marne defeated the great plan of the Germans, and their next object was to hold what they had won. The line to which they had retired was open to attack on the west, as was also that of the French, and hence there came a period of rapid movement on both sides, each attempting to outflank the other. It became a"race for the sea," and ended only when the entrenched lines on either side reached the Belgian coast. The enemy then attempted to break through the left of the Allied front, and to seize the Channel ports, so as to threaten the British lines of communication. He transferred large numbers of his best troops to the north; between Armentiéres and the sea he had a total of 402 battalions of infantry and an immense superiority of guns. Two hundred and sixty-seven battalions were all that the Allies could fling into the gap, and their cavalry were outnumbered by two to one.

Germany struck at various points; but being checked at Arras and on the sea-coast, she made her main effort in the last week of October against the British Army, which held the salient east of the city of Ypres. The battle, which is known as the First Battle of Ypres, began on the 21st of the month, and the crisis came on the 29th, when General von Fabeck attacked with a"storm group" of specially selected regiments.

On Saturday, the 31st October, after a furious bombardment, it seemed that the end had come. For eleven days our little army had been holding its own against impossible odds. At the point of the Salient, north of the Menin road, lay the 2nd and 1st British Divisions, and south of them the 7th Division and Byng's cavalry. The men were very weary and their ranks terribly thinned. The 7th Division had fought for nearly two days on a front of 8 miles against forces of four times their number. The desperate character of the fighting was only fully known when the losses came to be reckoned up. That division had 44 officers left out of 400, and 2,336 men out of 12,000. The 1st Brigade of the 1st Division had 8 officers left out of 153, and 500 men out of 5,000. The 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, to take one battalion, was reduced to 70 men commanded by a junior subaltern. That is the price which must be paid for fighting one against four. Major Bellenden inOld Mortalityconsidered one to three the utmost possible odds, and"never knew any one who cared to take that except old Corporal Raddlebanes." At the First Battle of Ypres the British Army would have welcomed the Major's odds as a relief.

On that Saturday morning things had grown very desperate. The 1st and 3rd Brigades of the 1st Division were driven out of Gheluvelt, our line gave way, and soon after midday we were back among the woods towards Veldhoek. This retirement uncovered the left of the 7th Division, which was then slowly bent back towards the Klein Zillebeke ridge. The enemy was beginning to pour through the Gheluvelt gap, and at the same time pressed hard on the whole arc of the Salient. We had no reserves except an odd battalion or two and some regiments of cavalry, all of which had already been sorely tried during the past days. Sir John French sent an urgent message to General Foch for reinforcements and was refused. At the end of the battle he learned the reason. Foch had none to send, and his own losses had been greater than ours.

The Critical Day in the First Battle of Ypres.

Between 2 and 2.30 p.m. Sir Douglas Haig, commanding the 1st Corps, was on the Menin road watching the situation. It seemed impossible to stop the gap, though on its northern side some South Wales Borderers were gallantly holding a sunken road and galling the flank of the German advance. He gave orders to retire to a line a little west of Hooge and stand there, though he well knew that no stand, ho