The New York Times/1916/11/22/Page 3
BLUEJACKETS WON BEAUCOURT VILLAGE
British Naval Troops Surrounded Redoubt and Ordered Germans Up “on Deck.”
STORMED RUINS AT NIGHT
Units Keep Watches by Bells in the Towers Where They Take Their Rest.
WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN FRANCE, Nov. 21, (via London, Nov. 22.)—British naval troops are fighting for the first time on the western front. A naval division took part in the breaching of the original German main line north of the Ancre Nov. 13 and the capturing of Beaucourt the following morning after twenty-four hours of continuous fighting.
“The advance of a portion of the naval troops was temporarily held up by a strong German redoubt joining the first and second rows of trenches and containing many concreted machine guns, the fire from which prevented the battalions on the left immediately south of the quarries of Beaumont-Hamel from securing the entire entry position.
But the bluejackets nearer the bank of the Ancre pushed through to the outskirts of Beaucourt within an hour, where they remained all day under a heavy machine gun and snipers’ fire. At nightfall the position of the division was somewhat confused, but a battalion officer with a contingent, although wounded fourteen hours before, determined to storm the village at dawn with what composite naval troops could be assembled in the darkness and among the craters and temporary shelters of the ground newly won.
This officer has had an adventurous career, being a successful gun runner in Mexico and having also fought on Gallipoli with great distinction, gaining the Distinguished Service Order. He managed to concentrate a striking force during the night with which he dashed into Beaucourt at dawn, bombing and bayonetting the Germans. For ten minutes the Germans fought and then surrendered en masse to the officer, who had received three additional wounds during the capture of the village.
The redoubt which held up the left of the naval troops resisted throughout the day of the 13th, and until dawn of the 14th, although it was unable to drive back the bluejackets holding the line around it. Then many of the men advancing in No Man’s Land at dawn halted 200 yards distant.
The machine gunners in the redoubt saw some of a tank’s crew emerging through the hatchways with a gun, which they were mounting in a crater beside the tank. The Germans hoisted a dirty handkerchief on a long pole as a signal of surrender.
The naval troops surrounded the redoubt and ordered the occupants of the dugouts to “come on deck and step lively.” Over 400 men came tumbling up the ladder stairways from a network of underground positions. The bluejackets took a total of nearly 2,000 prisoners in two days fighting north of the Ancre.
The Germans were the first to utilize naval troops on the western front, putting a division south of the Ancre in a vain endeavor to retake the Schwaben redoubt in October.
The British naval units bear the names of famous sailors and wear khaki with naval caps and badges. They have Quartermasters instead of Sergeants, and otherwise follow naval routine, keeping watches by bells in villages where they are billetted and referring to technical operations in the field in the language of the sea.
Copyright, 1916, by The Associated Press.
Szechenyi Succeeds von Tarnow.
AMSTERDAM, Nov. 21, (via London.)—Advices received here today from Vienna say that Count Ludwig Szechenyi, who before the war was Austro-Hungarian Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Cairo, Egypt, has been appointed Minister of the Dual Monarchy at Sofia, Bulgaria. Count Szechenyi succeeds Count Tarnowski von Tarnow, who has been appointed Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to the United States.
BRITISH SECURING GRIP ON GRANDCOURT
Bombers Cling to Outlying Ruins of the Ancre Village—Line Being Strengthened.
TROOPS PASS A QUIET DAY
Artillerymen of Both Sides Are Busy, but Infantry Are Inactive.
By PERCEVAL GIBBON.
Special Cable to The New York Times.WITH THE BRITISH ARMY ON THE SOMME, Monday, Nov. 20, (Dispatch to The London Daily Chronicle.)—Slowly, by little adjustments and the enterprise of patrols, our new line to the north and south of the Ancre becomes definite.
The bombers who held the outlying ruins of Grandcourt, lying out there among the brick heaps waiting for counterattacks to come rolling down on them, are now the foremost point of the troops who yesterday and last night made good their footing upon the ground which extends up and into the village.
The men in the south end of Puisieux trench upon the ridge of that name that runs down to the channel of the Ancre are now linked with the forces beyond the Bois d’Hollande. At a score of points lonely little groups of British soldiers, hanging to strings of shell-holes out in the open, have seen the line crawl up toward them and make them one with itself again.
It is not a battle, it is not even fighting on the scale of attention in the official communiqué. It is rather a process of isolated obscure heroisms working like strenuous yeast in the mud and fire. Out of it grows to sight a new firm front, a springboard for fresh victories.
There are reported to be no great dugouts in Grandcourt. The German engineers found the ground there too wet for subterranean barracks, but as many as 900 men have been billeted in the village. Miraumont, further back and bigger, held 2,700.
Prisoners in ones—very wet and humble and stiff about the arms through the exercise of holding them up while walking—and twos still come trickling in from their hiding places among the reeds of the river side. Those from the neighborhood of Grandcourt are nearly all Hessians, fine physical types enough when they have been cleaned and fed and have lost the droop of their fear and weariness.
The average age of the prisoners whom I have seen is about 26. The poorest physically and in point of general quality are the Saxons. As regards their youth and strength they say that being in the line insures them at least good food and plenty of it so long as the British shellfire allows them to bring it up.
If evidence is needed to prove the fierceness of the fighting upon the Ancre it is furnished by the ground toward Beaucourt, where every step was forced by the bayonet. Here are yet the bodies of many who fell in that superb advance, Germans as well as British, waiting till the overworked burial parties can put them out of sight.
There had been an alarm of gas, for most of the men have gas helmets out, either in their hands or on their heads, and where hand to hand struggles took place many of them are still lying as they died, the Germans as they were when a shell or bullet killed them.
The weather continues to improve. Today broke sunny and clear, and the newly drenched ground is drying. All along the line spades are at work and trenches are sinking to their level. Opposite the German in his prepared positions is shoveling back to its place what the British shells overthrow. The better he works the better for the British, for they will be needing those trenches of his before long.
FIGHTING ON SOMME LIMITED TO BIG GUNS
Both Allied Capitals and Berlin Report Heavy Shelling—Activity by Aircraft.
LONDON, Nov. 21—Today was another quiet day on the Somme front, with only slight artillery activity and patrol work to relieve the monotony.
The air squadrons of both sides have been busy along the entitre front.
The London War Office issued the following statement this afternoon:
During the night our line was heavily shelled southwest of Grandcourt. To the right of our new front a hostile patrol fell into our hands.
Enemy trenches were successfully raided at Gommecourt and in the neighborhood of Roclincourt and Ypres.
The British night report says:
During the day there was considerable hostile shelling against our front on both sides of the Ancre. Elsewhere there is nothing to report.
Yesterday our airplanes co-operated successfully with our artillery. Two of our machines are missing.
The official communication given out by the War Office this afternoon follows:
Artillery activity was maintained last night to a notable degree in the region of Saillisel and Douaumont. The night passed in relative calm everywhere else on the front.
The French night communication adds:
The day was calm on the whole front. The usual cannonade occurred, but no infantry action.
Aviation—In the night of Nov. 20–21 our bombing aeroplanes dropped about 100 shells on the enemy bivouacs in the rear of the Somme front.
The Belgian communication says:
In the course of the past week our air squadrons were very active. The aviation field at Ghistelles and enemy cantonments were efficaciously bombarded at night. Our pursuit aeroplanes fought twenty-five engagements, in the course of which several enemy machines were seen to fall vertically. One of our pilots, attacked by four Fokkers, took to flight, and, though his machine was seriously damaged, succeeded in returning safely to our lines.
Berlin Reports Little Activity
BERLIN, Nov. 21, (by Wireless to Sayville.).—The German positions on both sides of the Ancre and in the St. Pierre Vaast Wood were shelled heavily by the Allies yesterday, the War Office announces. There was a revival of artillery activity in the Champagne. The text of the statement follows:
Army group of Crown Prince Ruprecht: Our artillery was in action against hostile batteries and points of support. The effects of the bombardment were visible.
A lively hostile fire was directed against our positions on both sides of the Ancre and on St. Pierre Vaast Wood. There were no infantry engagements.
Army group of the German Crown Prince: In the Champagne and in the Meuse sector (Verdun) artillery activity was revived for a few hours yesterday.
A statement issued this evening reported a thick fog in the Somme district, with a lessening of activities along this front.
WOMAN’S DISCOVERY STERILIZES UNIFORMS
Miss Mary Davies’s Preparation Prevents Infection From Cloth Shot Into the Body.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
PARIS. Nov. 21.—Miss Mary Davies, bacteriologist for the Robert Walton Goelet Research Fund, has just completed experiments at Ris-Orangeis Hospital, where Dr. Joseph A. Blake is head, which marks another advance in minimizing wound infections contracted on the battlefield.
One of the greatest causes of infection found in all military hospitals has been pieces of uniforms shot into the body.
Miss Davies’s experiments consist in treatment of cloth by antiseptic substances so that after months of subjection to all forms of dirt and germs it remains absolutely sterile. Results of the experiments are now in the hands of the French and British authorities with a view of having all uniforms at the front treated with the Davies preparation. In England the preparation has had the approval of David Lloyd George; so, for the next consignment of clothes sent to the “Tommies” such sterilization has been ordered.
Aside from preventing infection of wounds the preparation has another great advantage. In the words of Miss Davies:
“Body lice, which are the greatest discomfort of trench life, will henceforth find these antiseptic substances entirely inimical to their well being.”
Operations proving the utility of the preparation were made at Ris-Orangeis laboratories by Dr. Kenneth Taylor. The subjects were guinea pigs, and both non-treated and sterilized cloths were used. In the latter cases the cloth was subjected to the most severe exposure, such as being smeared with garden soil known to contain tetanus and other deadly germs. Also the cloth was left lying about on the earth and later on a roof for weeks before being injected into the pigs. In all cases the pigs remained well, while in cases where pieces cut from uniforms of French soldiers were injected the pigs invariably died.
The basis for the treatment is a combination of cresol and soft soap. Miss Davies, summarizing her report to the Government, says: “The practice of periodically impregnating the clothing of armies upon active service will fully repay the cost in reducing the proportion of highly septic wounds.”
Miss Davies is the woman who inoculated herself with gangrene bacilli a year ago to prove the efficacy of Taylor’s preparation.
SERBIANS CAPTURE 8 MORE VILLAGES
Follow Up Retreating Germans and Bulgars in Mountains Northeast of Monastir.
ALLIES ADVANCE ON WEST
Krani, on Lake Presba, Occupied by the French, While Italians Engage Foe in Muzn Region.
LONDON, Nov. 21.—Serbian troops, pressing to the utmost their advance which caused the hurried evacuation of Monastir by the Germans and Bulgarians, have captured the villages of Makovo, Crahovo, Vranovtsi, Ribartsi, Bilyanik, Novak, Suhodol, and Rapesh, all in the sector east and northeast of Monsastir.
In addition to many prisoners, the Serbians are said to have taken three field guns, a considerable number of machine guns, and a great quantity of other war materials. To the west of Monastir Italian forces have repulsed a counterattack, while French troops have occupied the villages of Krani, on Lake Presba.
The Paris War Office today issued the following report of the operations:
Army of the Orient, Nov. 20.—To the north of Monastir rearguards of the enemy, supported by strong detachments of artillery, are being strongly pressed by the allied troops.
To the west of Monastir Italian forces have repulsed a violent counterattack delivered by detachments of the enemy from the mountainous region of Muzn, seven miles southwest of Monastir.
We have occupied the village of Krani, on the eastern bank of Lake Presba.
The official communication from Serbian Headquarters, as received here from Saloniki, reads:
Despite the stubborn resistance of the enemy, the Serbians advanced northward and occupied the village of Rapesh. North of Suhodol the Serbians defeated the Germans, forcing them to beat a hasty retreat. A great number of prisoners, Germans and Bulgarians, and considerable booty were captured. In this retreat the enemy abandoned a quantity of stores, engineering materials, and other material.
The Paris Petit Journal’s correspondent on the Serbian front, telegraphing Sunday, says the Bulgars and Germans will attempt to form upon a line, seventeen miles to the north, which was prepared two months ago and which passes approximately along the Topolchani heights by the villages of Klepat, Kahartlachi, and Hill 1,506 of the Vlocho range. He adds:
“During the last two days the enemy has been obliged to abandon an enormous quantity of material. We found, among other things at Monastir, a number of locomotives, which will be precious to us.”
PARIS, Nov. 21.—General Joffre has sent a telegram to General Sarrail, commanding in Macedonia, cordially congratulating him and his men for having taken Monastir. The message includes a special general army order addressed to the officers and men of the Army of the East, praising them for having driven the Germans and Bulgars from Western Macedonia. In conclusion the message says:
“You have deprived the enemy of Monastir. Tomorrow you will end it by beating him.”
BERLIN, Nov. 21, (by Wireless to Sayville.)—Attempts of Serbian troops to advance in the Moglenica region of the Macedonian front yesterday were defeated, it is announced officially. In the Monastir district the Entente troops are still advancing. The official statement reads:
Between Presba Lake and the Cerna the enemy is feeling his way with his advance guard toward the German and Bulgarian positions.
Serbian advances at some points along the Moglenica front, prepared for by heavy fire, failed.
On the inundated Struma plain there have been engagements between reconnoitring detachments.
MERCIER DISDAINS A FAVOR.
To Miss Rome Consistory Rather Than Ask Foe’s Permission to Go.
ROME, Nov. 21, (via Paris.)—Cardinal Mercier, Primate of Belgium, will not be present at the Consistory on Dec. 4 for the investment of Cardinals, as he does not desire to ask the permission of the German authorities to make the journey or to risk the chance of another demonstration such as occurred on the occasion of his visit to Rome last January.
No foreign Cardinals will attend the Consistory except Cardinal Amette, Archbishop of Paris.
thence in an easterly direction would be most difficult as Rumania is intersected by hundreds of mountain streams.”
Following is the text of the Russian War Office report issued yesterday:
Rumanian front: In Transylvania, in the Alt Valley, the enemy continued under his attacks with the usual force. Under pressure of the enemy the Rumanian troops are retiring slowly southward.
In the Jiul Valley the Rumanians, under the pressure of superior enemy forces, retired to the region of Filliash.
Danube front, (Dobrudja:) The situation is unchanged.
BERLIN, Nov. 21, (by Wireless to Sayville.)—The capture of Craiova, in Western Wallachia, by German troops was announced by the War Office in an official statement this evening.
The following official communication was issued earlier in the day:
Eastern Transylvania: Only minor fighting took place.
German and Austro-Hungarian troops north of Campulung repulsed several Russian night attacks.
On the Alt River some important towns and intrenched heights were captured by us from the Rumanians in severe struggles.
Our infantry stands before Craiova, which until now has been the seat of the chief command of the first Rumanian army.
Front of Field Marshal von Mackensen: Nothing important occurred with the exception of artillery engagements. Constanza and Cernavoda were shelled.
Our air squadrons bombarded a transportation establishment near Bucharest.
GERMANS IN GRAIN COUNTRY.
Wallachian Plains a Rich Source of Food Supply.
From a Staff Correspondent,By Wireless to The New York Times.
BERLIN, Nov. 21, (via Sayville.)—While not minimizing the grim death grapple on the Somme and the tactical successes scored by the English there, all German military eyes are today more than ever turned toward the Rumanian theatre, where Germany is forcing the fighting to bring about a decision, and whence comes the news that General von Falkenhayn has at last broken the long deadlock in the Transylvanian Alps and that his right, operating in two columns through the Vulcan and Szurduk passes, has at last broken through the mountain barrier into the fruitful Wallachian plain where cavalry can operate to advantage, and that he is still pursuing the beaten Rumanians at the important Orsova–Craiova railway, which is cut on a broad front.
The Rumanian forces at Orsova are threatened with being cut off, as they have no other railways of retreat, or, as a high staff officer remarked today, “They won’t play much of a rôle in the future.”
The importance of Falkenhayn’s break into the Wallachian plain is not only tactical, but strategic. The effect should make itself quickly felt all along Falkenhayn’s front, in the first line by General Krafft von Dellmensingen, whose Alpine troops have already won an exit through Rothenthurm Pass out of the mountains and are now hitting up a faster pace through the lower southern foothills of the Transylvanian Alps. Falkenhayn’s drive into the Wallachian plain and resultant faster motion of the warfare is also expected shortly to make itself felt on other points, where the Rumanians are throwing in their reserves in desperate attacks to check the German flanking operations.
Economically, too, Falkenhayn has got a grip on an important direct railway line running through Orsova to Temesvar, which will prove most useful in relieving Rumania of surplus grain when further progress is made in conquering the Wallachian granary.
Of Rumania's three great strategic centres—Dobrudja, Bucharest, and Craiova—Craiova, 110 miles west of Bucharest, 70 miles south of the Vulcan Pass, and 75 miles southeast of Orsova, forms the western defense of the military camp at Bucharest, the political capital of the country.
Three passes converge on Craiova—the Verciorova, or the Iron Gates; the Vulcan, and the Rothenthurm, or Red Tower. Both the Verciosova and the Rothenshurm, by which von Falkenhayn has made his furtherest advance, carry railways. The Verciorova is still held by the Rumanians, who on Aug. 30 established themselves at Orsova. This force is now in a position to be cut off by the invaders, or, if strong enough and supported from Bucharest, to cut von Falkenhayn’s lines of communication through the Rothenthurm Pass.
VICTORY HEARTENS SERBS.
Col. Vassitch, Ill at Front, Wanted to Go to Monastir if Only to Die.
Special Cable to The New York Times.ATHENS, Nov. 20, (Dispatch to The London Daily Chronicle.)—The great victory at Monastir already has had far-reaching results. The enemy is in disorderly retreat along the whole left front, abandoning dead and wounded and enormous quantities of material, and the still advancing Serbs are emphasizing the thorough nature of their triumph.
Beyond the Cerna on its right bank the veteran Voivode Stephanovitch has, during recent days, achieved the capture of Dobropolje, Vet, Kukurus, and Sbornik heights and is now driving the semi-demoralized army of the enemy without halt or rest towards the river. His forces ought, in the matter of hours, to be threatening the exit from the famous Babuna defiles. His left wing has carried Groudissta and is advancing along the hills on the right bank of the Cerna. Statarovina has also fallen, while his centre is advancing along the Germaine road from Veterinik and should now be before Vebsko near the Cerna.
Inside the Cerna loop Voivode Mishitchis’s First Army is sweeping successfully onward, having taken Bernik, north of Iven, and Jarotak. But the finest triumph, just reported as I write this dispatch, is the capture of Hill 1,378 in the upper Morichovo Mountains. Thus a grip on Mount Seletchka was secured and as a result the Serb forces dominate the route to Prilep, which will greatly hasten the enemy’s retreat.
On the left the Third Serb Army under General Vassitch—the name is not to be confounded with that of the gallant Colonel Vassitch, defender of Babuna and Monastir last year—is quickly clearing the foe out of the mountainous regions east of Monastir with the aid of the French and Russians. The enemy, then, are retreating hastily along the whole line and at midnight comes news that the Serb advanced forces are within a few hours of Prilep.
All reports agree that the enemy’s losses must be enormous. For example, two regiments sent to reinforce the troops defending Hill 1,212 were in two hours slaughtered to a man.
The great triumph has been received by the Serb Army with pathetic joy. “Now,” said an officer who has just come here from the front, “we have a home again.”
He told me a story of Colonel Vassitch. The invalid Colonel took Monastir from the Turks just over four years ago. He, as all the world knows, held on to Babuna with 4,000 men last November against vastly superior enemy forces. He had a reputation with his men of always being first into the enemy’s position. Though ill, he is with the forces at the front, and a day or two ago, when it was suggested that he should go to the hospital, he replied: “No; only let me enter Monastir, if it be but to die there.”
HINDENBURG FOR COERCION.
Tells Chancellor It Is Necessary to Develop German Working Power.
AMSTERDAM, Nov. 21, (via London.)—The German papers print a second letter addressed by Field Marshal von Hindenburg to Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg, emphasizing his belief that a certain amount of coercion is necessary for the solution of the food, war material, and working power problem.
As a result of the Field Marshal's first letter dealing with these questions, the German Economic Council has issued an appeal to the farmers to use their utmost efforts in the production of foodstuffs.
Chinese Minister Dismissed.
PEKING, Nov. 21.—Sung Hung-Yi, the Minister of the Interior, has been dismissed because of a controversy with Tuan Chi-Jui, the Premier.