On September 4 the German forces under General von Beseler stormed and captured the bridgehead at Friedrichstradt, the most important defense of Riga.  The furiousness of the attacks in this region led military critics to believe that the fall of the city of Riga was imminent.

Everywhere as Russians retreated they left a trail of utter devastation, causing the Teutons to march around burning cities, finding the country devoid of food or shelter.  This destructive policy, however, resulted in saving the Czar’s army and rendering futile the hope of the Kaiser that the military forces of Russia could be crushed.

With the Russian armies in full retreat and their double line of fortresses all fallen to the invader, the apparent calm on the Western front continued to be the marvel of the European campaign, as up to September 7 no development on the Western front indicated that any effort was being made to distract the Kaiser’s attention from his victorious expedition into the territory of the Czar.

THE DARDANELLES CAMPAIGN.

The struggle of combined land and sea forces of the Allies to gain control of the Dardanelles, and thus open the way for the British and French fleets to Constantinople and the Black Sea, continued through the autumn of 1915 and furnished some of the most sanguinary battles of the war.  From the day of the landing of British troops on the Grallipoli peninsula up to the end of November the fighting was continuous and bloody.  The British losses were tremendous, while the Turkish defenders of the supposedly impregnable straits also suffered heavily, but with Mohammedan stoicism.

A terrible picture of the slaughter at Seddul-Bahr, where the British troops landed from transports under the guns of their fleet, in the face of an awful Turkish bombardment, was painted on his return to England in November by Lieutenant-Commander Josiah Wedgwood, a Liberal member of Parliament, who had received special mention for bravery at the front, and the coveted stripes of the Distinguished Service order.

“Our school books told us,” said Commander Wedgwood, “that the bloodiest battle in history was that between the confederates and federals at Sharpsburg during the American civil war, when one-third of all the men engaged were left on the field.  But Sharpsburg was a joy ride compared with Seddul-Bahr.”

Paying a tribute to the enemy, he said:  “The Turks are the finest fighters in the world, save only the Canadians and Australians.  And they proved to be humane.  They could easily have killed all those who went to succor the wounded, but I found them extraordinarily merciful as compared with the enemy in Flanders.”

Commander Wedgwood’s first view of fighting at the Dardanelles was at the so-called V beach, where a steamship, the “River Clyde,” was run aground to furnish cover for the landing of the British troops.