Craven's Part in the Great War. John T. Clayton
Apart from the operations on the Western Front British troops figured in many historic battles in other theatres of war. In the ill-fated expedition to Gallipoli the soldiers of the Empire showed an undaunted spirit and came near achieving what was regarded by many as an impossible task. Much the same spirit under even more trying circumstances was displayed in Mesopotamia and other parts of the Far East, as is evidenced by the recapture of Kut and the taking of Baghdad. German influence in far waters was destroyed by the seizure of German New Guinea and Samoa; while a great blow to German colonization schemes was dealt by the conquest of East Africa and the Cameroons.
THE FALL OF RUSSIA.
The record of Russia during the war and since provides one of the most tragic episodes of the great struggle. One of the first Powers to accept the challenge, Russia accomplished much in the early days of the war on the Eastern Front, and was of invaluable assistance to the British and French armies by engaging the attention of large numbers of German forces. Insidious treachery, however, brought about the downfall of what had hitherto been regarded as a mighty empire. During the winter of 1916–1917 the effect of this treachery began to be felt. The civilian population had for long suffered many privations, and the troops had been sent into battle badly armed and insufficiently fed. Demands for representative government were ignored by the Emperor, swayed by the pro-German Empress, who was under the influence of the notorious monk Rasputin. In December, 1916, the monk was murdered; on March 15th, 1917, the Emperor abdicated and was subsequently murdered; and the Empress and her children are said to have shared a similar fate. A new and democratic government with Kerensky at the head had a short reign, and ultimately, in November, 1917, Russia, under Trotsky and Lenin, who were, it is believed, in the pay of Germany, was given over to the horrors of Bolshevism.
THE CAMPAIGN IN ITALY.
Serbia was invaded by the Austrians and Germans in October, 1915, and the campaign was conducted by the Central Powers with characteristic ruthlessness. Rumania fought gamely, but eventually had to yield under the Treaty of Bucharest, and Montenegro was also quickly disposed of. The Austrians were thus established in Northern Albania and were led to take up an offensive in Trentino. This was begun in May, 1916, and honours were first with one side and then with the other until in October, 1917, with the help of the Germans, Austria forced the Italians to retreat to the line of the Piave. British and French troops were sent to the assistance of Italy, and the invaders were disastrously defeated, being swept back across the Piave.
The morale of the Austrian troops, except when aided by the Germans, was never satisfactory, and the condition of her home affairs became worse as the war progressed. The Emperor Francis Joseph died in November, 1916, and he was succeeded by the Emperor Karl, who was suspected of having strong leanings in the direction of peace. The food problem in Austria also became a very difficult one, and this, combined with industrial and political unrest, tended to undermine the Empire’s military efficiency until eventually the operations against Italy came to be regarded as of secondary importance, and overtures were made for peace.
The Allies recognised the Czeko-Slovaks as a separate nation; the Croatians recognised themselves; and a promise was made that Bohemia should be divided into national districts. Following unsuccessful attempts to obtain peace through President Wilson, the Austrians acknowledged the inevitable and asked for peace on October 27th, 1918. Bulgaria had surrendered on September 29th.
TURKISH POWER BROKEN.
When war broke out the position of Turkey was an uncertain one, but she eventually fell a victim to German machinations and threw in her lot with the Kaiser. In the early days she gave shelter to the runaway German cruisers, the Goeben and the Breslau—and later both these vessels were used to bombard Sebastopol and Theodosia. The campaign against Turkey was in three sections—the attack on the Dardanelles, the expedition to Mesopotamia, and the preservation of Egypt and the advance through Palestine. Although the Dardanelles attack was not successful and we had a set-back at Kut, the British forces eventually broke the Turkish power in Mesopotamia and Palestine, and on October 30th, 1918, the Turks were granted an armistice.
THE BARBARITY OF THE HUN.
One of the outstanding features of the war was the ruthlessness which marked German methods throughout. In the invasion of Belgium and Northern France no measure was too base to adopt in order that the spirit of the invaded countries might be broken. Looting on the part of officers and men was officially recognised, as also was the wholesale destruction of property, machinery and valuable works of art.
Later, the barbarity of the Hun method was demonstrated by the submarine campaign, in the course of which defenceless merchant and passenger vessels, and even hospital ships were “sunk at sight” and the survivors either shot or left to drown. German warships also bombarded such “fortified” places as Scarborough, Whitby, Lowestoft and Margate; while their Zeppelins, and subsequently their aeroplanes, visited England again and again, causing many casualties—a large proportion of them women and children—in a vain endeavour to create panic in this country.
Other methods by which the Germans revealed their inhumanity in warfare included the abominable treatment of prisoners of war; the deportation of thousands of the civilian population of France and Belgium to serve as slaves behind the German lines; and the execution of Nurse Cavell and Capt. Fryatt.
THE BRITISH NAVY’S GREAT WORK.
The operations of the British Navy were undoubtedly one of the dominating factors in the war. For more than four years the silent service watched unceasingly and offered an effectual bar to such naval enterprise as the Germans appeared capable of. The first naval engagement was off the coast of Chili in November, 1914, in which the Good Hope and Monmouth were sunk and Admiral Craddock lost his life.
This early disaster was retrieved on December 8th, when Admiral Sturdee annihilated a German squadron under Admiral von Spee off the Falkland Islands. For some time there was a good deal of activity on the part of commerce raiders, principally by the Emden and the Appam. On January 24th, 1915, there was a naval battle off Dogger Bank in which the Blucher was sunk, and six months later the Konigsberg, a German raider, which had taken refuge in the Rufigi River, was destroyed by British monitors.
The most serious naval engagement of the war took place off Jutland on May 31st, 1916. This proved to be the last attempt of the Germans to defy British sea-power. The enemy lost eighteen ships, and the British losses were by no means light, but the flight of the enemy fleet to the shelter of their mine fields left no doubt as to the issue. Probably the country will never know the extent of the navy’s work in maintaining the blockade, safeguarding our food supply from all parts of the world, and securing safe passage, not only for our own troops, but also for thousands of American soldiers.
Perhaps the most daring enterprise of the war from a naval standpoint was the raid on Ostend on April 22nd, 1918, which resulted in the destruction of the enemy’s submarine depots. The last act in the naval drama was the handing over of the German Fleet to Admiral Beatty, as part of the Armistice conditions, and the subsequent scuttling of it by the German crews while it was riding at anchor in Scapa Flow.
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