R

EGARDING the offensive on the Rheims-Soissons front, which began on April 16, 1917, I am permitted to state that it was the biggest concentrated effort yet made by the French Army, although at first glance it seemed to have accomplished less material result than any other offensive, except the long-ago offensive in the Champagne, which can be classified as a failure. I think all the army experts will admit that the result needs explanation. Yet, as the explanation was made to me while going over the ground, it was both logical and good, and in summing it up I believe that the offensive will in later histories be considered as a

success.

In the first place, the ground chosen was the toughest proposition anywhere on the front, yet it was essential to take the offensive there, for the very reason that it was necessary to keep on bending back the line on which the Germans had already taken the initiative by their retreat.

I visited Soissons for the first time in September, 1914, just after the battle of the Marne and just at the beginning of the battle of the Aisne. * * * We talked confidently about when the Germans were once disengaged from their “quarries" and another retreat from the Aisne would begin, just as had happened from the Marne. But the Germans remained in those same quarries for two years and seven months. Day by day from September, 1914, more guns, bigger guns, concentrated their fire upon them; but they held out. Week by week, month by month, year by year, more guns and bigger guns and still bigger guns were added, until there was an unbroken line of guns that in April of this year opened the heaviest fire the world has ever known, pouring 18,000 tons of high explosives upon the quarries day after day; and still they held out-almost intact

until they finally were taken by storm by the French infantry going up on the hillsides wave after wave, driving out the Germans with bayonets and gas bombs.

I have often heard remarks in the last few weeks that the chief trouble with the recent offensive was that the artillery fire was ineffective. Yes, it was ineffective, but now that I have seen those quarries, I know why. Until the orders arrived for the infantry to advance and take those quarry heights "at all costs" the Germans were quite as safe there as in a submarine far below the surface of the sea.

Vast Underground Fortresses

I went down into one of the quarries. The opening was a tiny hole in solid granite. I went down and down in pitch blackness. The officer and I stumbled down, fumbling at solid rock walls. A soldier came up to meet us with an electric lamp, and below we could see a line of wooden steps, at least a hundred of them. Then we came into a great arched cavern that led into another similar one, and then to another, and then into long galleries and through dark, narrow passages, where we had to stoop low, only to come into other caverns with exits leading in various directions, and so on until, at least half a mile toward the German rear, from where we entered, we walked out again into daylight. That quarry alone was big enough to secrete 5,000 German soldiers, who poured from a dozen similar exits when the French infantry advanced.

Every gallery of these underground fortresses the Germans raked with machine guns when stormed. The artillery positions were so constructed that the guns could be whirled behind granite walls whenever necessary to avoid destruction by the concentrated French fire.

They were the strongest defenses I have ever seen. They made every other fortress, every trench line, every concrete

abri I have visited seem weak. And now they belong to the French-all of them. True, they were only a little way from the old front line, and now the front French line is just a little further beyond. The French paid dearly for them. Their orders were to capture them "at all costs." They simply had to have them, and now that they have them, it does not seem to me the offensive can in any respect be called a failure.

The positions on that front are now entirely reversed. Before the French had all the bad positions and the Germans the good ones in the quarries and on the hill crests. Besides, the French had the River Aisne at their backs, which was always an uncomfortable thought. Now the Germans have all the bad positions. They are down in the hollows and have another river-a branch of the Oise -behind them.

Also, in the offensive between Soissons and Rheims the French alone took 30,000 prisoners, while the entire offensive bagged 55,000 and a total of 600 cannon and 1,200 mitrailleuse.

In the light of the dwindling man power on both sides, 55,000 prisoners means nearly five divisions, and is considerable.

All along the line the French have undoubtedly got the upper hand. So far as I am able to learn their air service is once more supreme, and as for the artillery, both field and heavy guns are now positively dominant over the enemy, as has been the case, in fact, ever since the Somme.

Indeed so perfect is the munition organization that now every army corps has a supply station directly behind it, where there is a platform 350 yards long, just for discharging heavy shells, another platform the same length for light shells, another for engineers' supplies, another for macadam for roads, and another for food.

I was permitted to witness one of the engagements, beginning with the tuning up of the heavy guns until after the infantry had advanced-in this case up a steep hillside-and captured the positions. As drama it was the most superb I ever witnessed. On the opposite hill

side, probably two miles distant, I stood with the General commanding the army corps who was conducting the operations. It was about 3 o'clock on a cloudy afternoon. I took a position sprawling on a grass patch at the top, with my back against a bush blending in color tone with my clothing, and got my glasses carefully adjusted for the performance about to begin. Although it was cloudy there was no haze, and the absence of sunshine made everything stand out more clearly.

An Impressive Stage Setting

Near

The hillside dropped straight before us, and then, stretching away, was a great panorama of wooded valleys, meadows, a winding river, and a steep rise of a bare, shell-marked slope opposed. In the centre of the slope was the remnant of a town, but only a remnant. All we could make out was a few piles of stones against the red earth. the top of the hill ran a darkish line that marked the French trenches, and beyond, over the crest, were the Germans. In the valley at our feet, in the woods and meadows, were French cannon-but we could see none of them, all were so carefully concealed. Immediately overhead were a couple of large observation balloons, one attached by ropes to an automobile that guided it from a road on the side of our hill, the second guided from a boat in the river. All about circled airplanes, both observation machines and avions de chasse. There were at least a dozen, some keeping near the balloons and others swooping high and low over the German lines on the hill opposite.

There was a constant boom of cannon that, in connection with the cloudiness of the day, seemed more like the rolling of thunder than artillery-especially as the wind was away from us. We could not hear the sound of the shells leaving the guns until the reports first detonated across the valley. But we could constantly see the bursts of smoke where the shells were exploding beyond the crest.

But this thunder of guns was only a minor overture. The General explained that the real performance was scheduled to begin at exactly 3:30 P. M. I

asked how long it would last, and his laconic reply was: "Until we take their positions."

It is estimated that in that comparatively small sector of the contemplated attack-it was not more than a couple of miles in breadth-there were seven to eight hundred guns, but for this preliminary attack probably not more than 300 were in action. The remainder, reserved for the signal of infantry advance, would then turn on a barrage fire, so hot that the Germans could not bring up reinforcements.

The artillery had been pouring explosives into those German positions for several days, it was explained to me. Already they were all pretty badly demolished. It was not considered that the infantry would have much trouble-except from concealed machine guns. That was what the guns were hunting then. The Germans evidently knew what was coming, but I wondered, nevertheless, at the lightness of their artillery reply.

The day became darker, so dark, in fact, that down at our feet we could see bright flashes from the nearest guns. The General commanding the brigade leaned carelessly against a tree near me, holding a watch in his hand. ** * *

I was fascinated by my watch as it ticked around to that fatal 3:30. At the very tick of the second a blast of fire went up that shook the hill we were sitting on. Those 500 remaining guns must all have been fired simultaneously, and then on until the end of the performance there was one continual, awful roar of explosive. The hillside opposite, which we could see so clearly a whole minute before, was now completely blotted out in a vast roll of heavy smoke. Even with the glasses we could distinguish absolutely nothing.

I looked down into the valley and the sparks of guns were so bright and fast I could not count them. The meadows and woods seemed alive with guns, distinguished only by rapid, short flashes of flame. I fixed my glasses on just one little portion of the open field and tried to count the flashes, but gave it up as quite impossible. There were too many

flashes from different portions of the field at the same second. It looked as though the field were suddenly alive with a swarm of fireflies-that fire was the winking of the guns as they sent out their shells.

All in Motion at the Signal

I glanced overhead. Simultaneously with the signal of attack both balloons sailed majestically forward until they now hung out before us over the valley, guided by the ropes that attached them to the automobile and the river boat. The fleet of airplanes, doubled in number, still circled about them and now swooped low over the German positions to report back how the infantry was getting on.

I looked across at the hillside. Just at the crest I could see three rockets going up. The officer explained that it was the infantry's signal to the artillerymen, asking them to place shells just in advance of that spot. At another point on the crest three more rockets appeared, then three more still further on.

Through that impenetrable bank of heavy smoke I tried to visualize the companies of infantry going up to the crest, meeting the enemy, hurling hand grenades, and using bayonets, finding fierce resistance where the machine guns were hidden, and then sending up their rockets to show their gunners behind just where to send them aid. And I noted that wherever the signal rockets went up almost immediately after there would come a great spurt of black smoke.

I went forward late the following afternoon, not to lines which even then were too unsafe, but behind them through the forest from which the Germans had been driven. It was a strange, unforgettable sight. The entire forest bed was of long, slender green leaves and tiny white flowers, lilies of the valley. Resting on a bed of green leaves, as far as one could see, were the bodies of German soldiers. A strange, compelling, and arresting odor filled the air, an odor indescribably sweet and unspeakably horrible. It was a combination of the lilies of the valley and the dead.

Emperor Charles began with an affectionate tribute to the memory of Emperor Francis Joseph, and continued:

S

UMMONED in a fateful time to direct the State, I, from the beginning, have been conscious of the immense seriousness of the task Providence has laid on my shoulders. I feel, however, within me, the will and power loyally to discharge my duties as ruler, following the example of my illustrious predecessor, and to do justice, with God's help, to my sublime office.

The interests of the State shall no longer be deprived of that effective furtherance which zealous co-operation of a popular assembly rightly comprehending its power, judicious and conscientious, can provide. I have summoned you, honorable gentlemen, to exercise your constitutional activity, and I heartily welcome you today on the inauguration of your work.

In full consciousness of the constitutional duties taken over from my illustrious predecessor, and from my own deepest conviction, I desire solemnly to declare to you my unalterable will to exercise my right as ruler at all times in a truly constitutional spirit and to respect inviolably liberties according to the fundamental law and to preserve unabridged to the people that share in the formation of the State's will which the prevailing Constitution provides for.

In the loyal co-operation by my people and its representatives, I see support for the success of my activity, and I think that the welfare of the State, whose glorious existence has been maintained in the storms of a world war by the grim cohesion of its citizens, cannot in times of peace be more securely

rooted than in the unassailable rights of a mature, patriotic, and free people.

Mindful of my obligation to the Constitution and adhering to my intention expressed immediately on my accession to fulfill this obligation freely, I must at the same time keep in mind the provisions of the fundamental law which places in my hands alone the decisions to be taken at the great moment of the conclusion of peace. I am, however, convinced that a happy development of our constitutional life after the unfruitfulness of the past years and after the exceptional political conditions of war time -apart from the solution of the Galician question, for which my illustrious predecessor has already indicated the way is not possible without expanding the Constitution and the administrative foundations of the whole of our public life, both in the State and in the separate kingdoms and countries, especially in Bohemia.

I trust that recognition of your serious responsibility for the formation of political conditions and your belief in the happy future of the empire, splendidly strengthened in this terrible war, will give you, honorable gentlemen, strength, in union with me, speedily to create conditions giving scope to free national and cultural development of equally privileged people. From these considerations I decided to postpone taking the constitutional oath until the time, which I hope is not far distant, when the foundation of a new, strong, and happy Austria will again for generations to come be firmly consolidated internally and externally.

Today, however, I declare I shall always be the just, affectionate, and conscientious ruler of my dear peoples in

the sense of the constitutional idea which we have taken over as a heritage from our forefathers and in the spirit of that true democracy which, during the storms of a world war, has wonderfully stood the ordeal of fire in the achievements of the entire people at home and at the front.

We are still in the midst of the mightiest war of all times. Let me, from your midst, with thankful heart offer my imperial greeting to all the heroes who for nearly three years on our far-flung fronts have loyally discharged the heavy duty, and on whose iron resistance between the Alps and the Adriatic the renewed desperate enemy attack even now is breaking to pieces.

Our group of powers did not seek the sanguinary trial of strength of this world war. Aye, more than that, it has, from the moment when, thanks to the imperishable achievements of the allied armies and fleets, the honor and existence of our States no longer appear seriously threatened, openly and without ambiguity made known its readiness for peace, guided by the firm conviction that the true formula of peace can only be found in the mutual recognition that the positions have been gloriously defended.

The future life of the peoples should, in our view, remain free from animosity and thirst for revenge, and for generations there should be no need to employ what may be called the last resource of the State. But this high aim of humanity can only be attainable by such a conclusion to the war as will correspond to that peace formula.

The great neighboring people to the east, to whom old friendship united us, is gradually becoming conscious of its true aims and tasks, and it lately appears to approach this point of view and seek from an obscure impulse a direction of policy which will save the treasures of the future before they have been devoured by a senseless war policy. We hope that, in the interest of humanity, this process of internal reformation will manifest itself externally in a strong development of will, and that such enlightenment of the public mind will also extend to the other enemy countries.

While our group of powers is fighting

with irresistible force for honor and existence, it is and remains toward every one who honestly abandons the intention to threaten us readily prepared to cease hostilities, and whoever wishes to reopen better and more human relations will certainly find our side ready in a conciliatory spirit. In the meantime, however, our fighting spirit will not relax; our sword will not become blunt.

In true co-operation with our old ally, the German Empire, and the allies whom our just cause won during the war, we shall remain ready to force, if necessary by arms, a good end to the war, which we should like to be able to attribute to a victory of reason.

I deplore the increasing sacrifices which the long duration of the war imposes on our population. I deplore the blood of my brave soldiers, the privations of brave citizens, and all the distress and hardships which are heroically endured for the sake of the beloved Fatherland. The efforts of my Government, supported by well-trained officials, are incessantly directed toward facilitating the maintenance of the population-whose loyalty to the State and public spirit find my thankful recognition-and toward guaranteeing that the stock of food will be made to go around by suitable organization. * * *

Always remember, however, that the strength of the monarchy is rooted not the least in its historic associations, and that only affectionate regard for it can maintain and develop its living strength. Therefore, I hope you will zealously cultivate a loyal sense of unity with the countries of my Hungarian holy crownland, which has recently proved itself one of the principal supports of the monarchy.

Honorable gentlemen of both houses, once again accept my cordial greetings. It is a great moment which brings a new ruler for the first time face to face with the people's respresentatives. May it be the beginning of a time of flourishing progress, a time of power and prestige for venerable Austria, and of happiness and blessings for my beloved peoples. God grant it!