The Great War in England in 1897 Part 29

By noon many of the shops on Westow Hill and private residences on College Hill and Sydenham Hill had been wantonly ignited by the enemy; but when the firing ceased some hours later, the roads were heaped with the corpses of those whose mission it had been to destroy London.

Of all those batteries which had caused such frightful desolation and loss of life during the night, not one now remained. The two French columns had been swiftly wiped out of existence; and although our forces had suffered very considerably, they nevertheless were able to go south to Croydon later that afternoon, in order to take part in resisting the vigorous and desperate attack which they knew would sooner or later be made by the whole French army ma.s.sed beyond the Surrey Hills. The sun was on the horizon, and the shadows were already deepening.

a.s.sistance had arrived tardily, for the damage to property in London during the night had been enormous; nevertheless at this the eleventh hour we had inflicted upon the French a crus.h.i.+ng defeat, and now England waited, trembling and breathless, wondering what would be the final outcome of this fierce, b.l.o.o.d.y struggle for our national existence.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

FIGHTING ON THE SURREY HILLS.

Our valiant defenders were striking swift, decisive blows for England's honour. The French, demoralised by their severe defeat in the south of London, and suffering considerable loss in every other direction, fought desperately during the two days following the disastrous bombardment.

In darkness and sunlight fierce contests took place along the Surrey Hills, where our Volunteers, under Major-Gen. Lord Methuen, were still entrenched. Every copse bristled with rifles; red coats gleamed among the foliage, and winding highways were, alas! strewn with corpses.

Guildford had again been reoccupied by our Regulars, who were reorganising; and Leatherhead, holding out for another day, was retaken, after a terribly hard-fought battle, by the Highland, South of Scotland, and Glasgow Brigades, with the 1st Ayrs.h.i.+re and Galloway Artillery, under Col. J. G. Sturrock, V.D.; 1st Lanarks.h.i.+re, under Col. R. J.

Bennett, V.D.; 1st Aberdeens.h.i.+re, under Col. J. Ogston, V.D.; and 1st North Riding Yorks.h.i.+re Volunteer Artillery, under Major C. L. Bell. In such a splendid and gallant manner had our comparatively small force manoeuvred, that on the second night following the bombardment the whole of the invaders who had penetrated beyond our line of defence towards the metropolis had been completely wiped out, in addition to which the breach in our line had been filled up by strong reinforcements, and the enemy driven from the high ground between Box Hill and Guildford.

The invaders, finding how vigorously we repelled any attack, made terrific onslaughts on our position at various points they believed were vulnerable, but everywhere they were hurled back with appalling slaughter. Volunteers from Australia and the Cape, in addition to the other contingent of 10,000 Indian native troops, had been landed near Southampton, and had advanced to a.s.sist in this terrific struggle, upon the result of which the future of our Empire depended. Among these Colonials were 500 Victorian Rangers, 900 Victoria Mounted Rifles, and seven companies of Queensland Mounted Infantry, with two ambulance corps.

The Indians landed in splendid form, having brought their full war equipment with them without any contribution whatever from the Home Government, as it will be remembered they did when they landed at Malta during Lord Beaconsfield's administration. Having received intelligence of the movements of the two columns of the enemy that had gone to London after taking Leatherhead and Guildford, they pushed on to Petworth. By the time they arrived there, however, both towns had been recaptured by the British, who were then being severely hara.s.sed by the enemy ma.s.sed along the south side of our defensive line. Although numerically inferior to the enemy occupying that part of the country, the Indians were already well accustomed to actual warfare, the majority having been engaged in operations against the hill tribes; therefore the commander decided to push on at once, and endeavour to outflank the large French force who with some Russian infantry had again attacked Guildford, and the manner in which this was accomplished was a single ill.u.s.tration of the valuable a.s.sistance the Indians rendered us in these days of bloodshed and despair.

One of the native officers of a Sikh regiment, the Subadar Banerji Singh, having served with Sir Peter Lumsden's expeditionary force some years before, had frequently come into contact with the Russians, and could speak Russian better than some of the soldiers of the Tsar's Asiatic corps. The commander of the Indian force, determined that his men should strike their blow and sustain their reputation, advanced with great caution from Petworth, and late in the afternoon of the second evening after the bombardment of London, two Sikhs scouting in front of the advance guard sighted a Russian bivouac on the road on the other side of the Wye Ca.n.a.l beyond Loxwood Bridge, which latter had been demolished. The Indians were thereupon halted on the road which runs through the wood near Plaistow, and the officers held council. Their information was unfortunately very meagre and their knowledge of the country necessarily vague; but the Subadar Banerji Singh, who was of unusually fair complexion, volunteered to don a Russian uniform, which had been taken with other property from a dead officer found upon the road, and endeavour in that disguise to penetrate the enemy's lines.

Towards dusk he set out on his perilous journey, and, on arriving at the wrecked bridge, shouted over to two Russian sentries, explaining that he had been wounded and left behind after the fight at Haslemere, and requesting their a.s.sistance to enable him to cross. Believing him to be one of their infantry officers, they told him there were no means of crossing unless he could swim, as their engineers had sounded the ca.n.a.l before blowing up the bridge, and had found it twenty feet deep.

Banerji Singh questioned them artfully as to the position of their column, which they said intended, in co-operation with a great force of French cavalry and infantry, to again attack Guildford at dawn; and further, they told him in confidence that the rearguard to which they belonged only numbered about two thousand men, who had halted for the night with the transport waggons on the Guildford road, about two miles north of Alfold.

Then, after further confidences, they suggested that he should continue along the ca.n.a.l bank for about a mile and a half, where there was a bridge still intact, and near which he would find the rearguard.

Thanking them, he withdrew into the falling gloom, and a quarter of an hour later entered the presence of his commanding officer, who, of course, was delighted with the information thus elicited. The Subadar had carefully noted all the features of the ca.n.a.l bank and broken bridge, and the valuable knowledge he had obtained was at once put to account, and the General at once formed his force into two divisions.

Then, after issuing instructions for the following day, he gave orders for a bivouac for the night.

The pioneers, however, were far from idle. During the night they worked with unflagging energy, quietly preparing a position for the guns to cover the contemplated pa.s.sage at Loxwood Bridge, and before day broke the guns were mounted, and the Engineers were ready for action. As soon as there was sufficient light the laying of the pontoon commenced, but was at once noticed by the Russians, who opened fire, and very soon it was evident that information had been conveyed to the enemy's rearguard, and that they were returning to contest the pa.s.sage.

In the meantime one division of the Indians, setting out before daybreak, had been cautiously working round to the main road crossing the ca.n.a.l north of Alfold, and succeeded in getting over soon after the majority of the Russian rearguard had left for the a.s.sistance of the detachment at Loxwood Bridge, and, after a sharp, decisive fight, succeeded in capturing the whole of the transport waggons. The Engineers, with the Indians, had in the meantime succeeded in completing their pontoon under cover of the guns, and the second division of the Indians, dark-faced, daring fellows, rushed across to the opposite bank, and descended upon the enemy with frightful effect. In the hot engagement that followed, the Russians, now attacked in both front and rear, were totally annihilated, and thus the whole of the reserve ammunition of the force a.s.saulting Guildford fell into our hands.

This victory on the enemy's left flank caused the tide of events to turn in our favour, for the huge Russian and French columns that intended to again carry the hills from Dorking to Guildford were hampered by want of ammunition, and so vigorously did our Volunteers along the hills defend the repeated attacks, that the invaders were again driven back.

Then, as they drew south to recover themselves, they were attacked on their left by a large body of our Regulars, and in the rear by the Indians and Australians. Over the country stretching across from Cranley through Ewhurst, Ockley, Capel, and Newdigate to Horley, the fighting spread, as each side struggled desperately for the mastery.

The fate of England, nay, of our vast British Empire, was in the hands of those of her stalwart sons of many races who were now wielding valiantly the rifle and the sword. Through that blazing September day, while the people of London wailed among the ruins of their homes, and, breathlessly anxious, awaited news of their victory or their doom, the whole of East Kent, the southern portion of Surrey and northern Suss.e.x, became one huge battlefield. Of the vast bodies of troops ma.s.sed over hill and dale every regiment became engaged.

The butchery was awful.

CHAPTER x.x.xVIII.

NAVAL BATTLE OFF DUNGENESS.

On sea England was now showing the world how she still could fight.

Following the desperate struggle off Sardinia, in which Italy had rendered us such valuable help, our Mediterranean Squadron attacked the French Fleet off Cape Tresforcas, on the coast of Morocco, and after a terrific battle, extending over two days, defeated them with heavy loss, several of the enemy's vessels being torpedoed and sunk, two of them rammed, and one so badly damaged that her captain ran her ash.o.r.e on Alboran Island.

After this hard-earned victory, our Squadron pa.s.sed out of the Mediterranean, and, returning home, had joined hands with the battered remnant of our Channel Fleet, now reinforced by several vessels recalled from foreign stations. Therefore, while the enemy marched upon London, we had collected our naval strength on the south coast, and at length made a final descent upon the enemy in British waters. The British vessels that pa.s.sed Beachy Head coming up Channel on the night of the bombardment of London included the _Empress of India_, _Inflexible_, _Nile_, _Trafalgar_, _Magnificent_, _Hood_, _Warspite_, _Dreadnought_, _Camperdown_, _Blenheim_, _Barham_, _Benbow_, _Monarch_, _Anson_, _Immortalite_, and _Royal Sovereign_, with four of the new cruisers built under the Spencer programme, viz. the _Terrible_, _Powerful_, _Doris_, and _Isis_, and a number of smaller vessels, torpedo boats, and "destroyers."

At the same hour that our vessels were pa.s.sing Beachy Head, the Coastguard at Sandwich Battery were suddenly alarmed by electric signals being flashed from a number of wars.h.i.+ps that were slowly pa.s.sing the Gull Stream revolving light towards the Downs. The sensation these lights caused among the Coastguard and Artillery was immediately dispelled when it was discovered that the wars.h.i.+ps were not hostile, but friendly; that the Kaiser had sent a German Squadron, in two divisions, to a.s.sist us, and that these vessels were on their way to unite with our own Fleet. The first division, it was ascertained, consisted of the _Baden_, flying the flag of Vice-Admiral Koester; the _Sachen_, commanded by Prince Henry of Prussia; the _Wurtemberg_, and the _Bayern_--all of 7400 tons, and each carrying 18 guns and nearly 400 men; while the despatch boat _Pfeil_, the new dynamite cruiser _Trier_, and a number of torpedo boats, accompanied them. The second division, under Rear-Admiral von Diederichs on board the _Konig Wilhelm_, consisted of the _Brandenburg_, _Kurfurst Friedrich Wilhelm_, and _Woerth_, each of 10,300 tons, and carrying 32 guns; the _Deutschland_ and the _Friedrich der Grosse_, with the despatch vessel _Wacht_, and several torpedo gunboats and other craft.

Before dawn, the British and German Fleets united near South Sand Head light, off the South Foreland, and it was decided to commence the attack without delay. Turning west again, the British s.h.i.+ps, accompanied by those of the Emperor William, proceeded slowly down Channel in search of the enemy, which they were informed by signal had been sighted by the Coastguard at East Wear, near Folkestone, earlier in the night. Just as day broke, however, when the defenders were opposite Dymchurch, about eight miles from land, the enemy were discovered in force. Apparently the French and Russian Fleets had combined, and were preparing for a final descent upon Dover, or an a.s.sault upon the Thames defences; and it could be seen that, with both forces so strong, the fight would inevitably be one to the death.

Little time was occupied in preliminaries. Soon our s.h.i.+ps were within range in fighting formation in single column in line abreast, while the French, under Admiral le Bourgeois, advanced in single column in line ahead. The French flags.h.i.+p, leading, was within 2000 yards of the British line, and had not disclosed the nature of her attack. The enemy's Admiral had signalled to the s.h.i.+ps astern of him to follow his motions together, as nearly as possible to concentrate their guns at point blank, right ahead, and to pour their shot on the instant of pa.s.sing our s.h.i.+ps. He had but three minutes to decide upon the attack, and as he apparently elected to pierce the centre of our line, the British had no time to counteract him. The French Admiral therefore continued his course, and as he pa.s.sed between the _Camperdown_ and _Blenheim_, he discharged his guns, receiving the British broadsides and bow fire at the same time. In a few minutes, however, it was seen that the French attack had been frustrated, and as dawn spread the fighting increased, and the lines became broken. The ponderous guns of the battles.h.i.+ps thundered, and ere long the whole of the great naval force was engaged in this final struggle for England's freedom. The three powerful French battles.h.i.+ps, _Jaureguiberry_, _Jemappes_, and _Devastation_, and the submarine torpedo boat _Gustave Zede_, fiercely attacked the _Brandenburg_ and the _Konig Wilhelm_; while the _Camperdown_, _Anson_, _Dreadnought_, and _Warspite_ fought desperately with half a dozen of the enemy's battles.h.i.+ps, all of which suffered considerably. Our torpedo boats, darting swiftly hither and thither, performed much effective service, and many smart manoeuvres were carried out by astute officers in command of those wasps of the sea. In one instance a torpedo boat, which had designs upon a Russian ironclad, obtained cover by sending in front of her a gunboat which emitted an immense quant.i.ty of dense smoke. This of course obscured from view the torpedo boat under the gunboat's stern, and those on board the Tsar's battles.h.i.+p pounded away at the gunboat, unconscious of the presence of the dangerous little craft. Just as the gunboat got level with the battles.h.i.+p, however, the torpedo boat emerged from the cloud of smoke, and, darting along, ejected its Whitehead with such precision that five minutes later the Russian leviathan sank beneath the dark green waters.

Almost at the same moment, the new German dynamite cruiser destroyed a French cruiser, and a fierce and sanguinary encounter took place between the _Immortalite_ and the _Trehouart_. The former's pair of 22-tonners, in combination with her ten 6-inch guns, wrought awful havoc on board the French vessel; nevertheless, from the turret of her opponent there came a deadly fire which spread death and destruction through the s.h.i.+p.

Suddenly the Frenchman swung round, and with her quick-firing guns shedding a deadly storm of projectiles, came full upon the British vessel. The impact and the angle at which she was struck was not, however, sufficient to ram her, consequently the two vessels became entangled, and amid the rain of bullets the Frenchmen made a desperate attempt to board our s.h.i.+p. A few who managed to spring upon the _Immortalite's_ deck were cut down instantly, but a couple of hundred fully armed men were preparing to make a rush to overpower our bluejackets. On board the British cruiser, however, the enemy's intentions had been divined, and certain precautions taken. The _Fusiliers Marins_, armed with Lebels and cutla.s.ses, suddenly made a desperate, headlong rush upon the British cruiser's deck, but just as fifty of them gained their goal, a great hose attached to one of the boilers was brought into play, and scalding water poured upon the enemy.

This, in addition to some hand charges at that moment thrown, proved successful in repelling the attack; but just as the survivors retreated in disorder there was a dull explosion, and then it was evident, from the confusion on board the French s.h.i.+p, that she had been torpedoed by a German boat, and was sinking.

Humanely, our vessel, the _Immortalite_ rescued the whole of her opponent's men ere she sank; but it was found that in the engagement her captain and half her crew had been killed. On every hand the fight continued with unabated fierceness; every gun was worked to its utmost capacity, and amid the smoke and din every vessel was swept from stem to stern. As morning wore on, the enemy met with one or two successes.

Our two new cruisers _Terrible_ and _Powerful_ had been sunk by French torpedoes; the _Hood_ had been rammed by the _Amiral Baudin_, and gone to the bottom with nearly every soul on board; while the German despatch boat _Wacht_ had been captured, and seven of our torpedo boats had been destroyed. During the progress of the fight, the vessels came gradually nearer Dungeness, and at eleven o'clock they were still firing at each other, with appalling results on either side. At such close quarters did this great battle occur, that the loss of life was awful, and throughout the s.h.i.+ps the destruction was widespread and frightful. About noon the enemy experienced two reverses. The French battles.h.i.+p _Formidable_ blew up with a terrific report, filling the air with debris, her magazine having exploded; while just at that moment the _Courbet_, whose 48-tonners had caused serious damage to the _Warspite_, was suddenly rammed and sunk by the _Empress of India_.

This, the decisive battle, was the most vigorously contested naval fight during the whole of the hostilities. The scene was terrible. The steel leviathans of the sea were being rent asunder and pulverised by the terribly destructive modern arms, and amid the roar and cras.h.i.+ng of the guns, sh.e.l.ls were bursting everywhere, carrying away funnels, fighting tops, and superstructures, and wrecking the crowded s.p.a.ces between the decks. Turrets and barbettes were torn away, guns dismounted by the enormous sh.e.l.ls from heavy guns; steel armour was torn up and thrown aside like paper, and many shots entering broadsides, pa.s.sed clean through and out at the other side. Whitehead torpedoes, carrying heavy charges of gun-cotton, exploded now and then under the enemy's s.h.i.+ps; while both British and French torpedo boat "destroyers," running at the speed of an ordinary train, were sinking or capturing where they could.

Through the dull, gloomy afternoon the battle continued. Time after time our s.h.i.+ps met with serious reverses, for the _Anson_ was sunk by the Russian flags.h.i.+p _Alexander II._, a.s.sisted by two French cruisers, and this catastrophe was followed almost immediately by the torpedoing of the new British cruiser _Doris_, and the capture of the new German dynamite cruiser _Trier_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _H.M.S. Royal Sovereign._ _H.M.S. Camperdown._ _Amiral Baudin._ _Russian flags.h.i.+p blown up._ _H.M.S. Warspite._ _Cecille._ FINAL BATTLE OFF DUNGENESS: "THE SCENE OF DESTRUCTION WAS APPALLING."]

By this time, however, the vessels had approached within three miles of Dungeness, and the _Camperdown_, _Empress of India_, _Royal Sovereign_, _Inflexible_, and _Warspite_, lying near one another, fought nine of the enemy's vessels, inflicting upon them terrible punishment. Shots from the 67-tonners of the _Empress of India_, _Royal Sovereign_, and _Camperdown_, combined with those from the 22-tonners of the _Warspite_, swept the enemy's vessels with devastating effect, and during the three-quarters of an hour that the fight between these vessels lasted, the scene of destruction was appalling. Suddenly, with a brilliant flash and deafening detonation, the Russian flags.h.i.+p _Alexander II._, one of the vessels now engaging the five British s.h.i.+ps, blew up and sank, and ere the enemy could recover from the surprise this disaster caused them, the _Camperdown_ rammed the _Amiral Baudin_, while the _Warspite_ sank the French cruiser _Cecille_, the submarine boat _Gustave Zede_, and afterwards captured the torpedo gunboat _Bombe_.

This rapid series of terrible disasters apparently demoralised the enemy. They fought recklessly, and amid the din and confusion two Russian vessels collided, and were so seriously damaged that both settled down, their crews being rescued by British torpedo boats.

Immediately afterwards, however, a frightful explosion rent the air with a deafening sound that dwarfed into insignificance the roar of the heavy guns, and the French battles.h.i.+p _Jaureguiberry_ was completely broken into fragments, scarcely any of her hull remaining. The enemy were amazed. A few moments later another explosion occurred, even louder than the first. For a second the French battles.h.i.+p _Devastation_, which had been engaging the _Royal Sovereign_, was obscured by a brilliant flash, then, as fragments of steel and human limbs were precipitated on every side, it was seen that that vessel also had been completely blown out of the water!

The enemy stood appalled. The defenders themselves were at first dumfounded. A few moments later, however, it became known throughout the British s.h.i.+ps that the battery at Dungeness, two miles and a half distant, were rendering a.s.sistance with the new pneumatic gun, the secret of which the Government had guarded so long and so well. Five years before, this frightfully deadly weapon had been tested, and proved so successful that the one gun made was broken up and the plans preserved with the utmost secrecy in a safe at the War Office. Now, however, several of the weapons had been constructed, and one of them had been placed in the battery at Dungeness. The British vessels drew off to watch the awful effect of the fire from these marvellous and terribly destructive engines of modern warfare. The enemy would not surrender, so time after time the deafening explosions sounded, and time after time the hostile s.h.i.+ps were shattered into fragments.

Each shot fired by this new pneumatic gun contained 900 lbs. of dynamite, which could strike effectively at four miles! The result of such a charge exploding on a s.h.i.+p was appalling; the force was terrific, and could not be withstood by the strongest vessel ever constructed.

Indeed, the great armoured vessels were being pulverised as easily as gla.s.s b.a.l.l.s struck by bullets, and every moment hundreds of poor fellows were being hurled into eternity. At last the enemy discovered the distant source of the fire, and prepared to escape beyond range; but in this they were unsuccessful, for, after a renewed and terrific fight, in which three French ironclads were sunk and two of our cruisers were torpedoed, our force and our allies the Germans succeeded in capturing the remainder of the hostile s.h.i.+ps and torpedo boats.

The struggle had been frightful, but the victory was magnificent.

That same night the British s.h.i.+ps steamed along the Suss.e.x coast and captured the whole of the French and Russian transports, the majority of which were British vessels that had been seized while lying in French and Russian ports at the time war was declared. The vessels were lying between Beachy Head and Selsey Bill, and by their capture the enemy's means of retreat were at once totally cut off.

Thus, at the eleventh hour, the British Navy had shown itself worthy of its reputation, and England regained the supremacy of the seas.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

THE DAY OF RECKONING.