The Washington herald., 1919-09-28

That day of the twenty-five ships,
1t happened. was the very worst
Month by month the dread curve of
destruction had been climbing on the
secret charts in the little room ad-
joining the First Lords Offices on the
second floor of the Admiralty, looking
out over the Horseguards. The food |
supply was in danger. The end SEEM
ed in sight; the Germans thought they
had won. Then, little by little. the
new nets and mines. the new listen
ing devices, above all the depth-bombs
fired in all directions from the mys-
terious Y-gun, and the convoy sys-
tenn. began to have their effect. Not
only were more U-boats sunk. but
their favorite hunting grounds were
made too dangerous for them, to ven
ture near.
sinkings Decrease.
Within four months from the day
when twenty-five big ships went
dswn, sinkings decreased three-quar-
ters. Even so. there was a food short
Gge next winter and conditions were
far from comfortable. But it was pos
sible to hold on, and from that time
until the end the submarine became
less and less a predominating factor.
III lHdI DidOh Aphll "hCA TIC OAiJ
cheering event was the entry of
America into the war what struck me
most in London was the quiet dogged
cheerfulness Of the nsval authorities.
They did not so greatly share in the
rejoicing over the entry Of America
All it meant to them, though that was
a good deal, was the accession Of a
group of destroyers that could take
over the patrol lanes in the south of
the Irish Sea and between Queens
town and Brest. They knew that un-
less the submarine could be conquer
ed they We're lost, that not the whole
world IN arms could now save the
allied cause unless the rate of nearly
a million tors 4 month sunk could be
materially reduced.
The public rejoiced at Americas
entry. great popular enthusiasm
was created on the other side as
here by our great shipbuilding pro-
gram. But the insiders knew that
these things might be too late: vic
tory was lost unless more subma-
rines could be sunk, and at once.
The navy got busy and sank the
submarines, and never during these
agonizing months did the British.
by word of mouth or gesture! let
the public know the truth. A mis-
taken way of doing things, perhaps.
but it was magnificent to watch the
bearing and courage of those naval
men, who preferred to struggle
alone in the dark with their ter
rible problem. and keep smiling
when they met the civilian out
slider.
Faced Defeat In Silence.
If April, 1917, when Englakd faced
defeat in silence, was a worse
crisis than that of year later
when everybody saw her armies
reeling back, there was a time Just
before the submarine peril. IN the
winter of 1916, when the war was
regarded in London as already won.
The Somme-had broken the Ger
man army: Hindenburg was re-
treating and laying waste the coun-
try and the impregnable Western
front had been ruptured at last. The
Russians were to deliver a great
attack: by May at the latest the
Iallies would be through to Lille and
Brussels and the Germans on their
knees.
1t was not the public who was sure
of these cheerful prospects. but the
men at the top. generals and min
listers. About this time the following
remark was uttered by Sir Douglas
Haig in haste and repented at leisure:
Keep your cinematographs for our
march into Brussels in the spring"
Other high officers and officials were
more fortunate in that their similar
utterances were not quoted. During
this winter 1 spent sometime on the
British front and everywhere I went
1 found supreme confidence that the
next push would go through the enemy
as though he were butter. The at
triton or effect of the Sonme often
sive, the future showed, had been dis
astrously overrated. Nor were the
Russian difficulties which followed the
revolution about to break forth, or
the great French defeat in the
spring. regarded as possible.
Never in war have high hopes been
dashed more completely than were
those of the allies between March 1
and May ]. 1917. On land and sea
there were cruel disappointments, and
America was far away and unpre-
pared.
How BuIIard Took Bad News.
"A year later it was my good for
tune to witness how a group 'of
American soldiers, soon to distin-
= NAoh NiiCihoCINCo OH DdIIleQeI0S
of 1918. took the blow of the
twenty-first Of March. had been
in Paris when the offensive opened,
and later got caught in4the move
ment of the Third army from the
Champagne to plug up the hole left
open on the Oise by the destruction
of the British Fifth army. At
length. after four days of being
il WA ~
Chaumont and Neufchateau.
We had a part of the Second Di-
vision then in line on the heights
south Of Verdun, under French con-
troll, but our only real american
sector was tiny bit of the south
ern flank Of the st. Mihfel salient
on both sides of Seicheprey. held by
the First Division. With an Aus
up in the French area, forbidden
like myself to stay in the region
where another German break
ed. had come to the Americans.
All was quiet, for the moment. But
nobody knew where the enemy
would strike next.
1t did not take US long to make
ourselves known at press headquar-
tiers, and the next day, Monday, March
%. we found ourselves guests of Gen.
Robert L. Bullard and his staff at the
headquarters of the First Division. 1t
was in a tiny town on the road that
ran from Toul to Beaumont where the
trenches began-Gen. Bullard and his
stan occupied one small villa, the
other dozen houses were taken up by
the Headquarters troops. We happened