THE INVASION OF 1910.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13227, 12 July 1906, Page 3

THE INVASION OF 1910.

| PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

... ■ "»—r ■ I WITH A FULL ACCOUNT OF THE SIEGE j ■";■;. OF LONDON. _ v ' ':' : s j : * •■ By ' ■ i < WILLIAM LE QUEUX, With,' Naval Chapters by H. W. Wilson. [Copyright by William Le Queux, 1905.] THE LINES OF LONDON. MORE FROM A GERMAN OFFICER'S ' : -<;■■ ;/:■;■■'■' .DIARY.. '-. DEFENCE OF LONDON BROKEN. Ma.top. SplitTbergee's diary continued as follows:— "September 18.—Fighting went on all last night, the English holding desperately on to the'edge of the forest; bur ' people pressing them close,, and working round their right, flank. When day broke the general (situation was pretty much like this. On our left the 9th Corps were in possession of the foil '..Toothill, and a redoubt that lay between it and Skips Fort. Two batteries were bombarding s redoubt, lower down in the directum of Stanford. Rivers, which was also subjected to a cross fire from their howitzers-near Ongar.. " As for tlir. English their position was an unenviable one. From Copped Hal!— as spoil as we have;cleared the edge of the ; forest of .the enemy's sharpshooters—we ■ shall L:- able to take theh ( entrenchments in reverse all the way to Waltham Abbey. Iliej- have, on the other hand, an outlying fort about a mile or two north of the latter place, which "gave its some trouble with its heavy guns yesterday, and which It is most important that we should gain possession of before we-advance further; The Garde Corps on the Western side of the River Lea is now, I hear, in sight of the enemy's lines, and is keeping them busily employed, though without pushing its attack lit.me* for the present. "'At daybreak this morning I was in. Epping and saw the beginning of the attack on the forest. It is rumoured that large reinforcements have reached, the enemy from London, but as these must be merely scratch soldiers they will do them more harm than good in * theii cramped position. The'loth Corps had got a dozen batteries in position a little to the east- . ward of the village, and. at . six, o'clock these guns opened a tremendous fire upon the north-east corner of the forest, under cover of which their infantry deployed down.in the low ground about*Coopersale, and advanced to the attack. Petrol shells were net used against the forest, as Von Kronhelm had given orders that it was not to be burnt if it: could possibly bo avoided. The shrapnel was very successful in keeping down the. fire from the edge of the .trees, but our troops received a good deal of, damage from infantry and guns that were posted to the east of the forest on a hill between Theydon Bois and Theydon Garnon. But about- seven o'clock these troops were driven from their-position -by a sudden flank attack made by the 9th Corps from Theydon Mount. Von Kleppen followed this up by putting some.of his own guns up there, which were able to fire on - the- edge of the forest after those of the 10th Corps had been masked -.by the close advance of their infantry. . To make a long story short, by ten the whole of the forest east of the London road,' as far south as the cross roads near Jack's' Hill, was in. our hands. /In the meantime the 4th Corps had made itself master of Fort Obelisk, and our gunners were ', hard at work "mounting, guns in it with which to fire' on the : outlying fort at Monkham's Hall. Von "Kleppen was at Copped "Hall about this time, and with him I found General Von Wilberg, commanding the 10fch Corps, in ' close consultation. The once fine mansion had been almost completely shot away down to its lower storey. A large portion of this, however, was still fairly intact, having been protected . to acertain. extent by the masses of masonry that had fallen all around it, and also by the thick ramparts of earth that the English had built-up against its exposed eide. "Our men were still firing from its loopholes at the edge of the woods, which were only about: 1200 yards distant, and from which bullets ..we're continually whistling in by every window. Two of our battalions had dug themselves in in the wooded park surrounding the house, and were also exchanging- fire.;,with-; the English at comparatively close ranges. They had, I was told, made more than on© attempt to rush the edge of: the forest, but had been rei pulsed by rifle fire on each occasion. Away to the west I could see for miles, and even . distinguish our shells bursting all over theenemy's fort at Monkham's Hall, which was being subjected to a heavy bombardment by our guns on. the high ground to the north of it. About eleven Frolich's Cavalry Brigade, whose presence was no longer required in front of the Garde Corps, passed through Epping, going south- ■ east. It is generally supposed that it is either to attack the British at Brentwood in the rear, or, which I think is more probable, to intimidate the raw levies by its presence between them and London, and to attack them in flank should they attempt to retreat. "Just after eleven another battalion arrived at Copped Hall from lipping, and orders were given that the English positian along the; edge' of the forest, was to ' be takeii at all costs. Just before the attack began there was a great deal of firing somewhere in the interior of the forest, presumably between the British and the \ advanced troops of tyhe 10th Corps. '.However this may have been, it. was evident that the enemy were. holding our,part of the forest much less strongly, and our assault •was entirely successful, with but'small loss of men. Once in the woods the superior training and, discipline of our men told heavily in their favour. While the mingled mass; of volunteers and f raw free-shooters, of which the bulk of their garrison was composed, got utterly disorganised and out of hand under the' severe strain on them that, was imposed by.the difficulties of wood fighting, and hindered and broke up the regular units, our. people were easily kept well in hand,'and drove the enemy steadily before them without a single check. The rattle of rifle and machine gun was continuous through all the leafy d*)ls and glades of the wood, but by two*o'clock practically the whole forest was in the hands of the 10th Corps. It was then the turn of the 4th Corps, who in the meantime, far from being idle, nad massed a large number of their guns at Copped Hall, from which, aided by the fire from Fort Obelisk, the 'enemy's lines were subjected to a bombardment that rendered them absolutely untenable, and we could see company after company making their way to Waltham Abbey. '■' . ■ ■ 'At , three the. order for a general advance on Waltham Abbey was issued. As the enemy seemed to have few. if any, guns at this place it was determined , to ■ make use of - some of the new. armoured motors that accompanied the army. ". Voir Kronhelm, who was personally" directing the operations from Copped Hall, had caused each corps to send its motors to Epping. so that we had something like thirty at our disposal. These quaint, grey monsters came down through the forest and advanced on Epping by two parallel roads, one passing by the south of Warlies Park, the other being the main road from Epping. It was a weird sight to see these shore-going armourclads living down upon the enemy. They got within 800 yards of the houses, but the enemy contrived to block their further advance by various obstacles which they placed on the roads. . " Moreover they got a gun to bear on ' them, from the outlying fort that I have so often mentioned before, and utterly smashed a couple; of them. One of these must have, had its petrol-tank exploded,, as it all but vanished in a tremendous .blaze, of fire, /he motors that got near the houses opened a fire frnni the pom-boms and Maxims that :. they carried in their little copula-like tur- . rets, and fully engaged the attention of the defenders, > who. being in :.: all. probability volunteers, or members of rifle clubs, fired

pretty much as they liked, I imagine, mv lie. j wasted their ammunition on our mail-cwa. automobiles instead of firing at the advancing lines of our: infantry, who, thanks -to ■ this , got to, really,close quarters yriiv;.;fr minimum of losses. / ""There was about an. hours desperate' fighting in the village. : The old 'Abbey Church was set on fire.by a stray shell, and. the conflagration spread to the neighbouring houses, and both British and Germans; being too busy killing each other Jo put it out the whole Tillage, was/shoray. in flames. The British-were finally:driven out of it and across, the river .by. five o'clock, •:•. In the meantime every heavy gun that could be got to bear was directed on the: fort at Monkham's Hail, which, during the afternoon, was also .'made the tar-., get for the guns of the Garde Corps, which .co-operated with us by attacking; the lines at Cbeshunt, and 'assisting*-us; with -its, artillery fire from the opposite side .gi the river." : By nightfall the fort was a ; mass of smoking earth, over which fluttered" our black cross flag, and the front of the 4th Corps stretched from this to Gill well Park, four miles nearer London. A : _ ', "The 10th Corps was in support in the forest behind us, and forming also a front to cover our flank reaching from Glii.ng.ford to Buckhurst Sill. The;enemy was.finite demoralised -in : this direction, and; showed do indication of resuming the engagement. As for the-jJth.Corps, its advanced^ troops were at Lambourne; End, in close communication with General Frolicli, who had established ; his headquarters at . Havering-atte-Bower. ':, We; had driven , a formidable wedge right into the middle of the,carefully elaborated system of defence, arranged" by the/English generals, and it. Would now be a miracle-if" they could prevent" our entry into the capital. - .; if*; '■■■■■ '"•We had not, of course, effected. ; - this without great loss in killed and wounded", but' : you can't make puddings without breaking eggs, and'' in the end a bold and forward policy is more economical of life and .limb than attempting to avoid necessary, losses, 'as pur present opponents did in .'South Africa, thereby -prolonging the war to an almost indefinite period, and losing many more men by sickness and in driblets than v would have been the case if they had followed a more determined line in their strategy and tactics. Just before the sun sank behind the masses of bouses which the monster city spreads out to the northward .1 got orders to cany a despatch to General Von Wilberg, wlio was stated to be at Chingford, on our extreme left. I went by the Forest Road, as the parallel one near the river was in most parts under fire from the opposite bank. "He had established his headquarters at the Foresters' Inn, which stands high up on-a wooded mound, and from which he could see : ft' considerable distance and keep in touch with his various signal stations. He took my despatch, telling me that I should have a reply to take back later on. 'In the meanwhile,' he said, 'if you will fall in with my staff you will have an opportunity of seeing the first shots fired into the biggest city in the world.'- So saying, he went out to his horse, which was waiting, outside, and we started off down the hill with a great' clatter. After winding about through a somewhat intricate system of roads and by-lanes we arrived' at Old Chingford Church, . which stands upon a species of headland, rising boldly up above the flat and,' in some places, marshy land to the westward. "Close to the church was a battery of four big howitzers, the gunners grouped around them silhouetted darkly against the blood-red sky. From up here the vast city, spread out to the south.and west, lay like a grey, sprawling octopus with .its" antennas' spreading out raylike .to the northward, every,, and ridge'being topped with a bristle of spires and chimneypots. An ominous ; silence seemed . to brood over the teeming landscape, only broken at intervals by the dull booming of guns from the northward. Long swathes of cloud and smoke. lay athwart" the dull, fur-nace-like glow of the sunset, and lights were beginning to sparkle out all over the, vast expanse "which lay before us mirrored here and there in the canals and rivers that ran almost at our feet. ' Now,' said Von Wilberg at length, ' commence fire.' One of ■ the big guns gave tongue with a roar that, seemed to make the* church tower quiver above us." Another and another followed in succession, their big projectiles -hurt-ling and .humming through the quiet evening air on their errands of death and destruction.,in I know not what quarter of the crowded city. It seemed to me a cruel and needless thing to do, but I. am told that it was done with the set purpose of arousing such . a feeling of alarm and insecurity in the East End that the mob might try to interfere with any further measures for defence that the British military authorities .might undertake, '.I got mv despatch soon afterwards, and returned tilth it to the general, who was- spending the night at Copped Hall. There, too, I got myself a ■■ shakedown and slumbered soundly till the morning. "September 19.—T0-day we have,; I think, finally broken down all organised military opposition in: the field, though we may expect a considerable fimonnt of street fight-., ing before reaping the whole fruits of our victories. At daybreak we began by turning a heavy fire from every possible, quarter on the wooded "island formed by the river and various back-waters just north of Walt-bam' Abbey. The poplar-clad islet, which was-full of the enemy's troops, became absolutely untenable under this concentrated fire, and they were compelled to fall back over the river." Our engineers soon began their bridging operations behind the wood, and our infantry, crossing over, got close up to. a redoubt on the further side and took it by storm. Again we were able to take a considerable section of the enemy's lines in reverse, and as they were/driven out by our fire, against which -they had no protection, the Garde Corps advanced, and by ten were in possession of Cheshunt. "In the meanwhile, covered by the fire of the guns belonging to the 4-th and 10th Corps, "other bridges had been thrown across the Lea at various points between Waltham and Chingford, and in another hour the crossing began. The enemy had no good positions for bis guns, and seemed to have very few. of them. He had pinned his faith upon the big weapons he had placed in his entrenchments, and these were now of no further use to him. He had lost a number of his field guns, either from damage or capture, > and/with our more numerous artillery firing from the high ground on the eastern bank'of the river we were always able to beat down any attempt he made to reply to their fire. ■ ~ - . "We had a .day. of fierce fighting before us. There was no manoeuvring. We were in a wilderness of scattered houses and occasional streets, in which the enemy contested our progress foot by foot. But he was" fighting after an almost unvarying series of defeats, while our.;, soldiers were full of the confidence and elan which is imparted by an unbroken succession of victories. Edmonton, Enfield Wash, and Waltham Cross were quickly captured; our artillery commanded them too well to allow the British to make a successful defence ; but Enfield itself, lying along a steepish ridge, on which the British had assembled what artillery thev could scrape together, cost us dearly. The streets of this not too lovely suburban town literally ran With blood when at last we made our way into it. A large part of it was burnt to ashes, including unfortunately the ancient palace of Queen Elizabeth .and the venerable and enormous cedar tree that overhung it. "The British tell bade to a second position they had apparently prepared along a parallel ■> ridge further to the westward, their left being between us and New Barnet and their right. at Southgate. " I "We did not attempt to advance further to-day. but contented ourselves in reorganising- our forces and preparing against a possible counter-attack .by barricading and entrenching the further edge of Enfield Ridge. Towards evening the general reconnoitred the enemy's position from our advanced posts. It seems to lie along the top of the opposite ridge, and is hidden to a great extent bv trees and coppices. Long gradual slopes lead from it ip our direction, which give the enemv a splendid field of fire, and it will .cost us pretty dear to storm it. I exnect, however, that the frarde Corps will be able to attack it" in flank. .; "September 20.We are falling- in immediately, as it has been decided to attack the British : position at once. Already the artillery duel, is in. progress. ~; I must continue to-night, as my horse is at the door " The writer, however, never lived to complete bis diary, having been shot half-way up the green slope he had observed the day previous. (To be continued daily.)