My Year of the War

My Year of the War

The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Year of the War, by Frederick
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Title: My Year of the War Including an Account of Experiences with
the Troops in France and the Record of a Visit to the Grand Fleet
Which is Here Given for the First Time in its Complete Form
Author: Frederick Palmer
Release Date: April 13, 2004 [EBook #12013]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY YEAR
OF THE WAR ***

Produced by A. Langley

My Year Of The War
Including An Account Of Experiences With The Troops In France, And
The Record Of A Visit To The Grand Fleet, Which Is Here Given For
The First Time In Its Complete Form

By Frederick Palmer (Accredited American Correspondent at the
British Front)

Contents
To The Reader I. "Le Brave Belge!" II. Mons And Paris III. Paris Waits
IV. On The Heels Of Von Kluck V. And Calais Waits VI. In Germany
VII. How The Kaiser Leads VIII. In Belgium Under The Germans IX.
Christmas In Belgium X. The Future Of Belgium XI. Winter In
Lorraine XII. Smiles Among Ruins XIII. A Road Of War I Know XIV.
Trenches In Winter XV. In Neuve Chapelle XVI. Nearer The Germans
XVII. With The Guns XVIII. Archibald The Archer XIX. Trenches In
Summer XX. A School In Bombing XXI. My Best Day At The Front
XXII. More Best Day XXIII. Winning And Losing XXIV. The Maple
Leaf Folk XXV. Many Pictures XXVI. Finding The Grand Fleet
XXVII. On A Destroyer XXVIII. Ships That Have Fought XXIX. On
The Inflexible XXX. On The Fleet Flagship XXXI. Simply Hard Work
XXII. Hunting The Submarine XXXIII. The Fleet Puts To Sea XXIV.
British Problems

To the Reader

In 'The Last Shot', which appeared only a few months before the Great
War began, drawing from my experience in many wars, I attempted to
describe the character of a conflict between two great European
land-powers, such as France and Germany.
"You were wrong in some ways," a friend writes to me, "but in other
ways it is almost as if you had written a play and they were following
your script and stage business."
Wrong as to the duration of the struggle and its bitterness and the
atrocious disregard of treaties and the laws of war by one side; right
about the part which artillery would play; right in suggesting the

stalemate of intrenchments when vast masses of troops occupied the
length of a frontier. Had the Germans not gone through Belgium and
attacked on the shorter line of the Franco-German boundary, the
parallel of fact with that of prediction would have been more complete.
As for the ideal of 'The Last Shot', we must await the outcome to see
how far it shall be fulfilled by a lasting peace.
Then my friend asks, "How does it make you feel?" Not as a prophet;
only as an eager observer, who finds that imagination pales beside
reality. If sometimes an incident seemed a page out of my novel, I was
reminded how much better I might have done that page from life; and
from life I am writing now.
I have seen too much of the war and yet not enough to assume the pose
of a military expert; which is easy when seated in a chair at home
before maps and news dispatches, but becomes fantastic after one has
lived at the front. One waits on more information before he forms
conclusions about campaigns. He is certain only that the Marne was a
decisive battle for civilization; that if England had not gone into the
war the Germanic Powers would have won in three months.
No words can exaggerate the heroism and sacrifice of the French or the
importance of the part which the British have played, which we shall
not realize till the war is over. In England no newspapers were
suppressed; casualty lists were published; she gave publicity to
dissensions and mistakes which others concealed, in keeping with her
ancient birthright of free institutions which work out conclusions
through discussion rather than take them ready-made from any ruler or
leader.
Whatever value this book has is the reflection of personal observation
and the thoughts which have occurred to me when I have walked
around my experiences and measured them and found what was worth
while and what was not. Such as they are, they are real.
Most vital of all in sheer expression of