Raemaekers' Cartoon History of the War Volume II Part 15

It is one of the greatest sources of pride for the Verdun Army to have earned the testimony of the great a.s.sembly which incarnates and immortalizes the genius of the French tongue and the French race. The Army of Verdun has had the good fortune to answer to the appeal addressed to it by the country. Thanks to its heroic tenacity the offensive of the Allies has already made brilliant progress ... and the Germans are not at Verdun.

GENERAL NIVELLE _to the French Army at Verdun, June, 1916._

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"_WE HAVE FINISHED OFF THE RUSSIANS._"

"_Wait a moment_"

RUSSIAN OFFENSIVE, JUNE, 1916

The blow which the Russians have delivered to the Teutons has been one of the hardest given to any belligerent during the entire war. Not even the great German drive of last year has had the effect of the Russian offense of the past six weeks. In this case it is much more than a loss of territory; it is almost the destruction of an army. Russia had vast reserves on which to fall back.

Austria apparently has none. Austria alone of all the belligerents is practically exhausted. Only a week ago the Austrian Department of War endeavored to get the consent of the Government to call into the military service all men between the ages of 56 and 60. Nothing could show more eloquently the very dire straits into which the Austrian Army has fallen.

J. B. W. GARDINER.

_Current History._

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_THE COSSACKS' SONG OF VICTORY_

The Petrograd official _communique_ of June 27, 1916, stated that the prisoners and trophies captured by the armies of General Brusiloff between June 4-23 amounted to 4,031 officers, 194,041 men, 219 guns, besides 644 machine-guns, 196 bomb mortars, 146 artillery ammunition wagons and 38 searchlights.

The enormous importance of the Russian victories of June, 1916, as a step in the attrition of the enemy forces was patent; the losses suffered by the enemy on the Eastern front during those three weeks were about equal to those he had suffered at Verdun in 130 days of fighting.

_Times History of the War._

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_CAPTAIN FRYATT_

Captain Charles Fryatt, master of the Great Eastern Railway's steamer _Brussels_, which was captured by German wars.h.i.+ps on June 23, 1916, and taken to Zeebrugge, was tried by German courtmartial at Bruges, July 27, condemned to death by shooting, and executed immediately. The charge against him was that of attempting to ram the German submarine U-33.

His Majesty's Government find it difficult to believe that a master of a merchant vessel who, after German submarines adopted the practice of sinking merchant vessels without warning and without regard for the lives of pa.s.sengers or crew, took a step which appeared to afford the only chance of saving not only his vessel, but the lives of all on board, can have been deliberately shot in cold blood for this action.

_British Foreign Office._

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_BEFORE THE SOMME_

_William_: "_Why are you so heavily bombarding the remains of that 'contemptible little British army?_"

_Prince of Bavaria_: "_I am afraid the remains are bombarding us._"

The German view of the situation at the end of June was well shown in a typical article by the military correspondent of the "Berliner Tageblatt," Major Moraht, actually published on July 1.

The writer began by declaring that "all the belligerent armies were now at a critical stage." The Allies had undoubtedly increased the energy and the uniformity of their conduct of war, and their great resources in money and men and their command of the sea would enable them to do everything possible "to hamper Germany's final victory."

The British offensive was about to begin, and "without a serious settlement of accounts with England on the battlefields in the west the Germans would not come a step nearer to peace." Major Moraht and the other German writers betrayed no sense of the immensity of the coming events, and it was clear that the Germans had not begun to dream of the defeats that were about to be inflicted upon them.

_The Times History of the War._

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_THE GERMAN TANGO_

"_From East to West, and West to East, I dance with thee_"

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_The Wolf_: "_Is it not time to stop all further bloodshed?_"