The Invasion of 1910.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13202, 13 June 1906, Page 1 (Supplement)

The Invasion of 1910.

Cofanijhi by William U g-jeux. ISOI PMishei by Special Armaytmett,

With a Full Account of the Siege of London, By WILLIAM LE QUEUX.

With Naval Chapters by H. W. Wilson.

SUMMARY OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. After a very brief period of tension. during which the British Government. lias 111 ado 110 • preparations' for tear o£ provoking? war, Germany attacks England,, without formally declaring : war. ■ The onslaught begins on (he Saturday night, when Ministers and heads of Departments arc out of London. The German'torpedo craft attach the British North Sea fleet at Jlosytn and damage three of its shins. A series ot naval battles follows 011 Sunday. In the first rtt these the British armoured cruisers are defeated am driven 'back by overwhelming: numbers, and finally the British battleships are detested and , the admiral killed. v Meantime, large Gin-man force* are" landing down the East Coast. Chatham, the entrance to the Thames, and the Channel arc mined by th» Carman*. and the wars dip* at Chatham bottled no. BRITISH DRIVEN RACK. Alk. He.vrt Alexander.. the flavor of M.*idon. continues '.lis- initiative ceseriptivi' of the operations of the Xllt.'n. Gi'tman Army Corps in Essex as follows : — "Wednesday. September 5.

-It must have been about three in the morning whey I. awoke. My head was much better, ami for a minute or two [ lay comfortably 'it the darkness without any recollection of the events of the preceding day. Then I saw a bright; reflection, pass rapidly over the. ceiling. 1 wondered vaguely what it was. Presently it came buck again, paused a moment, and disappeared. By this time 1 was vide awake. I went to the window and looked out. It was quite dark, but from somewhere over beyond Heybridge a long white ray was sweeping all along this side of Maldon. Now the foliage of a. tree in the garden below would stand out in pale green radiance against the blackness; now the wall of a house half a mile away would reflect back the moving beam shining white as a sheet of notcpaper. "Presently another rav shone out, and the two of' them moving backwards and forwards made the whole of our hillside caper in a dizzy dance. From somewhere far away to my right another stronger beam now streamed through, the "obscurity,, directed apparently at the sources of the other two, and almost simultaneously came the crack of a rifle from the direction of Hey bridge, sharp and ominous in the quietdarkness of the night. Half-a-dozen scattered shots followed, then a faint cheerMore and more rifles joined in, and presently the burring tap-tap-tap^of a Maxim, L hurried on my clothes. The firing increased in volume and vapidity, bugles rang oil!, here, there, and everywhere through the sleeping town, and above the rolling, rattling clamour of the drums I could distinguisn the hurried tramp of hundreds of feet. "I cast one glance from the window as i. quitted t-ne room. The electric searchlights had increased to at least half-a-dozen, Home reached out long, steady lingers into t'cje vague spaces of the night, while others wandered restlessly up and down, hither and thither. Low down over the trees of the garden a dull red glare slowly increased in extent and intensity. The rattle of musketry was now absolutely continuous. As 1 ran out of the house into the street 1 was nearly carried oil my feet •by the rush of a. battalion that was pouring down Cromwell Hill at the ( double.. Hardly; knowing what I did I followed in their wake. The glare in front got brighter and: brighter. A few steps, and I could see the cause of it. The whole of Heybridge appeared, to bo"; 011 lire, the flames roaring skywards from a dozen different conflagrations." "Of the events of the early hours of the morning I have no very clear recollection. I was bewildered,. staggered, dumbfounded by the sights and sounds which beset me. (if what modern war meant I had till then truly but a very faint idea. To witness its horrid realities enacted in this quiet, out-of-the-way spot where I" had pitched my tent for so'many years brought them home to me 'literally, * as well as • metaphorically. And to think that all this wanton' destruction of property and loss of. life was directly due to our apathy as a- nation ! The Germans had been the aggressors without a doubt, but as for us we had gone out of our way to invite attack We had piled up riches and made no provision to prevent a stronger nation from gathering them. We had seen every other European nation, and even ' far-distant Japan, arm their whole populations and perfect their preparedness for the eventualities of war, but wo had been content to scrape along with an apology for a military system— which was really no system at ailcomforti ing ourselves with the excuse that nothing could possibly evade or compete our magnificent navy. Much things as fogs, false intelligence, and the interruption ■of telegraphic and telephonic communication were not taken into account, and were pooh-poohed if any person, not content with living in a fool's paradise, ventured to draw attention to the possibility of such contingencies. " But to return to my personal experiences on this never-to-be-forgotten day. I had run dowu Cromwell Hill, and," seeing the flames, of Heybridge, was impelled to get nearer, if possible, to discover more particularly the state of affairs in that direction. But I was reckoning without the Germans. When I got to the bridge over the river at the foot of the lull tho officer iii charge there absolutely prevented my crossing. "Beyond the soldiers standing or kneeling behind whatever coyer was offered by the .walls and buildings abutting on the riverside, and a, couple of machine guns placed so as to command the bridge, and the road beyond, there was nothing much to see. A number of Germans were, however, very busy in the big mill just across the river, but what they were doing I could not make out. As I turned to retrace my steps the glare of the conflagration grew suddenly more and more intense. A mass of dark figures came running down the brightl'v-illuminated road towards the bridge, while the rifle fire became louder, nearer, and heavier than ever. Every now and again the air became alive with, as it were, the j hiss and buzz of ■firing insects. The English- must hare fought their way through Heybridge. and these must be the bullets from their rifles. It, was dangerous to stay down there any longer, and I look to my heels. As J ran I heard a thundering explosion behind me, the shock of which nearly threw me to the ground. Looking over my showier--I saw that the Germans had blown up the mill at the further end of the bridge, and were now pushing carts from either side in order to barricade ii. The two Maxims, too. began 'to pump lead with their hammering "reports, and the men near them commenced to fall in twos and threes. I made off to the left and passed into the High- | street or the end of St. Peter's Church, j now disused. At the corner I ran against a gentleman who looks after the library which now occupies the old building. He pointed to the tower which stood darkly up against the blood-red sky. '"Look at those infernal Germans!" lie said. 'They can't even keep out of that old place. 1 wish we could have got the books out before they came.' •'.[ could not sec any of our invaders where he was pointing, bat presently I became aware of a little winking, blinking light at the verv summit of the lower. '•"That's thev,' said he. "They're makiug signals, I think! My boy says lie saw the same tiling on 1-urleigli Church tower last night. 1 wish it would come down wit!) them, that I do. It's pretty shaky, any vjttv. " The street was fairly lull of people. The Germans, ,it is true,'had ordered that no one should be out of 'doors between eight in the evening and six in the morning;

nil just mow they appeared to have their . namis pretty full elsewhere, »nd if any of ] lite few yoldiors that were about knew of .; J* .ir thought anything: of tin- interdiction, . ..key aid nothing. Wat Miller, the post- ; nail. came up and touched his cap. _ "'Terrible tinier, sir,' he said, ';unt> .hev'.' There was a. liuu'i of people killed .his afternoon by them shells. 'J. here was , " poor old Missis iteece in the London Road. ■, iidden. she were, this dozen years.. c, Ih.'ii there was Jones the carpenter's three dds. as was left behind when their mother ■ l * took the baby in Mundoti with the rest- ' if the women. The house was struck and .■utile ihtwu atop of 'em. They got two out. • V, hut they, were dead, poor souls! an.l they m- still* looking for the other one.' . • -The crash of a • alvo of heavy guns from the direction of my own house, inter- >■' rupted the tale of horrors. V "'That'll lie the guns in my garden,' I said. - , " * Yes, tir: and they've got. three monstrous great ones: in the opening between the houses just behind the church there." , said the librarian. .i::- • " As ho spoke the guns in question bel- Yy lowed out, one after the other. "'Look—look at the tower 1' cried the - postman. .-v ;■ "The light at. the top had disappeared, ' and the lofty edifice was swaying slowly, slowly over to the left. "'She'.-, gone at las'. !' exclaimed the li- ; | brarian. ' ■ •' it was true. Down came the old steeple "" 'J! (hat had pointed heavenward for so many generations with a mighty crash and eon- ' ' etission that, swallowed up even the noise 1 of the battle, though cannon of all sorts and sizes were now joining in the hellish conceit and shell from the English batteries began to roar over , the low h. The vibration and shock of 'the heavy gun« had been too much for the old tower, which, ' for years in a tottery condition, had been i patched up again and again. " Dawn was now breaking. Ido not '| exactly remember where I wandered to X?|gS after the. fall of St. Peter's lower, but it must have been between half-past live and six when I found myself on the high 'I ground at. the north-western corner of the town, overlooking the golf links, where-1 ;J had spent so many pleasant hours in that -JS recent pa si that now seemed so far away. |1 All ; around me were batteries, trenched, and gunpits. But though the firing was |J still going on somewhere away to the right where Hevbridge poured black smoke sky- ||| ward like a- volcano, gun and howitzer were • 0 silent, and their attendant artillerymen, instead of being in cover behind their earthen parallels. were clustered on the top gjjpj, watching intently something that was passing in the valley below them. So absorbed (ii|i were they that" I was able to creep up be-. ill hind them, and also get a flight of what . | ( was taking place. And this is what I saw :'^B| " Over the railway bridge which spanned the river a, little to the left were hurrying battalion after battalion of green and blueclad German infantry. - They moved down ?|l the embankment after crossing, and continued their, march behind it. Where the railway curved to the right and left about half a "mile beyond the bridge the top of the embankment was lined with dark figures ■ Jj lying down and apparently firing, while rglg liver the golf course from : the direction of Bceleigh trotted squadron after squadron of sky-blue riders, their green, and white lance pennons fluttering in the breeze. They crossed the Blackwater and Chelmer Canal and cantered oft' in the direction of Lang- i ; ;j; ford Rectory. ; ;, : s ■ "At the same time I saw line after. line "Jfcak of the Germans massed behind the embankment spring over it and advance rapidly towards the lower portion of the town, just . M across the liver. Hundreds fell under the fire from the houses, which must have been full of Englishmen, but one line after an- ||i other reached the buildings. 'Iho firing now was heavier than ever —absolutely incessant and continuous—though, except for an occasional discharge from beyond Heybridge, the artillery wag silent. " I have but little knowledge of military matters, but. it was abundantly evident, * even to me, that what I had just seen was . a, very formidable counter-attack oil the ■ part of the Germans?, - who' had brought up fresh troops either from the rear of the |s own or from further inland, and launched < them against the English under cover of ' the railway embankment. I was not able , to see the end of the encounter, but bad . news flies apace, and it soon became com- , mon knowledge in the town that our troops ' . ;. from Colchester had not only tailed to cross the river at any point, but had been driven , helter-skelter out of the lower town; near .*| the station and from the smoking ruins of Heybridge with gteat loss, and were now ■ in full retreat. " ladeed, some hundreds of our khakiclad fellow-countrymen were marched ;,|M through the town an hour or two later,, as •* prisoners, to say nothing of the numbers - of wounded who, together with those belonging to the Germans, soon began to ' ' crowd every available building suitable ; for use as a hospital. The wounded prisoners • with their escort went off towards Mundon, and are reported to have gone in the direction of\ Steeple. It • was , altogether * disastrous day, and our hopes, -which had, begun to rise when the British had ponetrated into the northern part of the. town, wow fell below zero. ■ :, : , "It was a black day for us and for Jbng- y land. During the morning the same officer , 'y : who had captured me on the golf course came whirling into Maldon on a big 24-h.p. Mercedes car. He drove straight up to mv house and informed me that he had' orders to conduct me to Prince Henry, who • was to bo -A Purleigh.' early in the afternoon. . •• • Was it in connection with the akir.unsa with the volunteers? I asked. •• '"I don't no <■•',' was the reply. 'But :* I don't fancy so. Iu the meantime could I write here isr an hour or two? he asked politely. 'I have much to write to my friends in Germany, and hare net had a. ■: minute up to now.' '• I -was very glad to be able to oblige the voting man in such a. small way, and lefthim in my study till midtiay very busy with ■ pons. ink, and paper. . " After a makeshift of a lunch the car came round, and we got into the back seat. In front sat his. orderly and the chauffeur, a fierce-looking personage in a semi-mili- ■" tary uniform. We raj* swiftly clown the. High-street and in a few minutes were ' spinning along the Purleigh Road, . where • 1 saw much that amazed me. » then for rise first, time realised how absolutely com- .V pleLe were the Gentian plans." (To be continued daily.) . /: 7