AMERICAN WAR NEWS

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 167, 14 July 1916, Page 3

AMERICAN WAR NEWS

gg THE SPY MENACE. ■ GBAVE PROBLEM FOR U.S. ' ~~ BELATED PREPAREDNESS. (Special to ''Star.") SAN 7 FRANCISCO, June 13. Whipping the enemy in the field of battle and sinking his ships on the sea .' comprises, of course, the main problem of the war, but there is another part about going to war that is almost as intricate and vexatious, and as hard, in its own way, to deal with. The Government of the United States, in an American colloquialism, will be "up against it" ' should war in L'nele Sam's territory be declared, and American officials will find it even more difficult than has the Government in Great Britain. As a hit of belated preparedness Washington has ju=t issued instructions to officials on the London side of the '•"herring pond" to make a report on howEngland dealt with Germans and Austrians resident in England at the outbreak of the war, as well as on a number of other subjects concomitant with the conditions arising from the great war. The numbers of alien enemies, or enemy aliens, to be more technical about it, in Great Britain at the beginning numbered thousands, where in America they will number teas of thousands. According to a preliminary report received in Washington, the British Government at first appeared loath to put these enemies into internment camps, but finally made a pretty clean sweep, largely because of the insistence of public opinion. The message adds:—"Now great internment camps are established ia various parts of the country, and virtually all Germans, Turks, and Bnlgars are under military control. For a considerable period thousands had full liberty, except reporting now and then at police stations. The British Government now interns, unless some very good reason is shown, all enemy aliens ol military age, and some others. In America there are over a million Germans alone of military age, and the task of handling them will be prodigious. "Every German in Groat Britain was considered a possible spy, -until proved otherwise. And probably every German ■was a spy, in the sense that had he the oTJDortunity of obtaining and then transmitting information to his Government le would do so. Those who were spies were arrested and tried; a dozen or so lave been shot in the Tower of London. Those who have been suspected but not proved to have been spies have usually been sent into internment camps, out of harm's way, where their spying propensities have no outlet. The task of combing out the "Tsad 'uns" has been enormous. There is no telling how many investigations the police have had to make—it runs into the hundreds of thousands. Not a rumour goes unheeded by Scotland Yard. Every report against any person, whether it comes from a news boy, maid servant, or householder is investigated. It is astounding low many people have been accused of espionage in this way. Conversations in the privacy of homes have heen repeated by patriotic servants. Foreigners have learned to be very careful of what they say and where they say it. Every other .Britisher enjoys the privilege of roasting Ms own Government, but let a foreigner -do it and anyone overhears, and there likely follows activity at Scotland Yard disagreeable to the offender. Of the large number of people placed under ■ arrest on suspicion, probably l per cent., according to information of an expert, are found guilty. A very small number, compared to the total "arrests, have been found guilty after trial. Thi» does not mean, however, that the spy menace is not a real one. The spy problem will not be as great in America as it is in Great Britain, perhaps, for the reason that if America should war vith Germany, for instance, the spy will liave little chance of getting information home he gathers it. It will have to come through England, and England controls the cables, the steamship lines, while America would control the wireless. But the alien euemy problem would ba bigger in America. ""We have not heard for some time of a.=py being shot in England. That probably indicates that the marvellous efficiency oi Scotland Yard has brought results. A spy has little chance these (lays. Every port is guarded with the utmost care. When boats arrive in English ports from America or elsewhere passengers undergo close scrutiny. Their papers must be in perfect order. They must explain their business. If they cannot do that to the satisfaction of the authorities they are either detained or sent hack where they came from. ENGLAND HAD GREAT TASK. "There were many spies, potential and otherwise, roaming around England at the beginning of the war. The task of gathering them in was not so great in 'other countries as in England. In France, Russia. Germany, Austria, and Italy the normal police system provided machinery for looking after aliens. Here there was none of that. People came and people went without the slightest police supervision, while in other countries, even in peace times, strangers were under systems of reporting and checking of movements. Now there has come into being a new system, whereby every alien in the country is brought under police supervision, or at least he comes under it if he visits any of the 'restricted areas, , which consist of all places where there are defences, munition works, or camps, and that now comprises nearly all of England. "Now every alien must have what is called an 'identity book.' This book establishes his identity as an alien of a foreign country—and that a friendly country, for enemy aliens cannot have hooks, and his bona-fides is established by two native-born householders, who sign the book. To get one of these books is no easy task. "The story of spies in the great war will be a fascinating one when the war is over. . It cannot be told in any detail whatsoever until then. At the of the war, and for some months followtog, a majority of the German spies operating in Great Britain used American passports." FBENCE WIVES FOR BRITISH SOLDIERS. Letters received in San Francisco and Aew York from Australian and New Zealand soldiers on the French campaign ■hne confirm the statement that one of tie results of the presence of the British £ r ?jy m France is that a good many soldiers will take French wives Aome with them. The difference in laaSuzge, far from being a barrier, is an accessory. Tommy Atkins teaches Miss S? slhh ' and iliss Fran <* teaches "emu: Atkins _ French. One writer in.

* an American print says, .relative to the subject:-" There is plenty of leisure for tile courtship to develop. Frequently ■British battalions remain in the same section for months at a time. When the men have done their shift in the trenches they return 'in rest,' as the saying goes, to the same villages where they were before. .Usually they have quarters in the French houses. In a sense they become members of the community. With the French men folk away, the British soldier lends a hand any heavy work which requires a , man's strength. In ' one instance a British soldier was seen drawing a har- . row. A feminine hand did some sewl ing or cooking in return. The romantic i atmosphere is not lacking. When the i Briton says 'Au revoir' to his sweetheart, and starts for the trenches, he may never come back: and he is going to fight for France. On Sunday afternoons the girls are out in their best ■ frocks, as they are anywhere else in the world, and. walking with them along the roads and lanes are men in khaki. Their. conversations are a mixture of French j and English. It is not romance alone ; that leads the Briton to marry in France. He has learned to admire the thrift and cleverness of the French woman and her industry in taking the place of her father and brothers who are at the front."

ENGLAND'S TAX DBXBTNG YANKEES HOME.

Americans who have adopted England as their home are now contemplating :i hurried return to the land of the Stars and Stripes, as a result of war taxation m Great Britain. It appears that Americans domiciled in England who are subject to the income tax must now sell or deposit with the British Government their American securities, under penalty of an extra two shillings tax. The ruling holds good whether the securities are held in England or America. The tax of two slullings will apply to Americans who have resided under the Union Jack long enough to become subject to the Tegular income tax. the incidence of which will be followed, except that no abatement will be. granted on American securities which appear on ths Government's lists. If American secuJlties arc deposited with the Government, only the usual income tax, with the ordinary abatements, will be charged, but the Government prefers to purchase the securities outright. In the event that American residents in England deposit their American securities held in the United States, the Government will collect the interest and pay it to the owners in sterling. American residents holding such securities in America may either deposit them or sell them to the Government through the agency of •!. P. Morgan and Company in New York. Already the ruling has caused sonic alarm among the Yankees in England, and loving, as they do, the Almighty Dollar to its full value, an esodus of several of the wealthy Americans living in England has commenced. American residents who are now liable to a tax on unearned income will be compelled to pay five shillings in the pound, while those to whom the supertax applies will pay still more unless they meet the Government's demand.

HANDFUL BATTLES ITO HOURS IN EPIC FIGHT.

The unexampled heroism of 600 French soldiers in the defence of Fort Vaux has caused a thrill throughout the American continent, for without food and sleep, during ITO hours, the gallant little handful fought desperately against tremendous odds, but were at last the victims of the onru3hin£ Bcsches. It "was left to Charles F. Bertelli. the American war correspondent with the French army around Verdun, to pen a. thrilling version of the Fort Yaus defence, and in a special cablegram from Paris to Xew York he said: "To-day I was able to obtain from an oflicer the first eye-ivrit-nees account of the tattle for Fort Vaus. The savage fury ■with which the French fought to hold Fort Douaumont after its recapture was said not to have been exceeded in any previous engagement, but I am assured by this officer, who witnessed both struggles, that tne superhuman bravery with which Major Raynal and his handful of men battled | for 170 hoars without a single wink of sleep to teat off the Prussians swarming up the slope like flies, has no parallel cit'jer in this war or any other. Troops who have withstood the worst phases of the ehell tornado on the banks of the Meuse speak with awe and wonder of the lone stand of those 600 amid the glowing brazier for a whole week without a moment's respite from close quarters fighting of stupendous ferocity. The wonder is that the terrific preliminary shelling alone did not blast to atoms every man in Major Earnal's battalion. The heavy shells simply uprooted the fort's concrete foundations and blew its surface to smithereens, with the result that the underground casements and corridors ivere exposed to heaven. Never in history has, artillery fire before accomplished this result. Seven days before the Germans seized the ruins the bomba.rjrrient suddenly ceased. An impressive pall of silence descended on the shell-furrowed hill. It lasted for less than an hour. Then the French field guns began to speak, the machine guns crackled. Coarse, guttural cries. followed by screams, rose up to the fort, all indicating that the Prussians were again attempting to storm it. Some detachments already having gained a foothold on the northern moat, the German guns could no longer fire without imperilling their lives. Xow began the eeven day fight with machine guns, rifles, bayonets, hand grenades, poison gas, and liquid flames. Two German regiments, renewed daily., endeavoured to rush the breach in the northern ramparts' where the Xorman gate formerly stood. The assailants had to pass between two concrete posts twelve feet apart. The defence of this narrow waj was enormously strengthened by wel]-pla-ced machine guns, wnich with bombera placed behind cover afforded by the fort's debris, inflicted the ghastliest kind of slaughter on the two regiments, which, herdeJ like maddened bulls into the narrow approach, vainly tried to bear down the resistance, the attackers beating in ceaseless waves against the entrance. So many times had the regiments to be withdrawn owing to the frightful casualties that fully 50,000 Teutons attempted to progress at this point. Black visaged, splashed with blood, his moustache singed to the roots, Major Eaynal, tireless and undaunted, led his slowly dwindling 600 to the defence of the gate. Every man wore a gas mask of asbestos. Helmets and breastplates protected them from the ■flaming liquid which the Germane used profusely. 'Sow and then a defender would fall to the rear, draw off his mask, 6natch a. few mouthfuls of food and immediately return to tie fighting line. "So completely efficient was this marvellous defence in the face of an unimaginable storm of grenades, air torpedoes, licgid fixe, and gee foomhe, that,

c it would probably have sufficed to hold r . the entrance inviolate. But throughout Fjthe weak the Germans employed two c I army corpe in worjdng around to the a,eastern and western slopes, and on the a I sixth day the ring was complete. Com--3 J munications were cut off, food and am- - munition, which hitherto had been | 2 brought up by communicating trenches 1 in canvas grips beneath the deadly' ■ screen fire, could now no longer be taken. c for from that moment the rate of the 1 fort was sealed. At the foot of the 1 southern slope, hoarse shouting in fitful 1 spells indicated to the Frenchmen watch- " ing this now isolated battle that the " Germans had attacked. Then a quiet ; interval was broken by the shrill crow • of a cock, which was the signal from the ■ defenders that the attack had been '• beaten off. These cock crows were many, ' telling of desperate onslaughts, oftrepeated, every one of them provoking ■ storms of cheering from the trenches of ! the south. Finally, at 3.50 on the Wed--1 nesday morning came the last piercing crow. The fort must have fallen soon ! after, because no further sign came from ; Eaynal's heroes. Although there is no ; positive information on this point, it is • certain that the six hundred never sur- ' rendered, but -when the last cartridge had been fired, the last bomb hurled on ' the Teutons now triumphantly swarming through the Norman gateway, they must have, thrown themselves upon the Germans with the bayonet till the last man either was disarmed or killed."