ly over the whole campaign. But the
French and British soldiers and sailors, after fighting gloriously
against long odds, managed their retirement in a way which might serve
as the perfect model of what such retirements should be. The Turks and
Germans, though eager to crown their victorious defence by smashing the
fleet and army which had so long attacked them, were completely
hoodwinked. The French and British kept up the cleverest show of force
till the last streak of daylight had died away. Then, over the worst
of broken ground, down terrific slopes, and across the puzzling
beaches, the gallant armies marched, silent as the grave and regular as
clock-work. The boats were loaded and taken off to their appointed
places as skilfully as Wolfe's were brought down the St. Lawrence the
night before the Battle of the Plains. Next morning the astounded
enemy found an empty land in front of them; while the sea was swarming
with crowded transports, safe beyond the retiring men-of-war.

CHAPTER XXV

JUTLAND

(1916)

At four o'clock in the morning of the 4th of August, 1914, Lord
Jellicoe opened the secret orders appointing him Commander-in-chief of
the Grand Fleet, which was then ready waiting in Scapa Flow, the great
war harbour in the Orkney Islands off the far north coast of Scotland.
Twenty-two months later, off the Jutland Bank of Denmark, he fought
that battle of the giant navies for which the Germans had so long
prepared. Of course the Germans did not want Jutland at the time it
came. For, as we have seen already, they wished to have two quite
separate wars, the first against the French and Russians, the second
against the British; and, if the British had only kept out for as many
months as the Americans did years, the Germans and their allies would
certainly have won this first war, besides gaining an immensely better
chance of winning the second war as well. Even as it was, they were
not only very strong on land but also very strong at sea. They were
easily the second sea-power in the world, in regard to both their navy
and their merchant shipping. Moreover, they had many advantages, even
over the British. This is so little known, and it is so important for
a proper understanding of what took place at Jutland, that we must
begin by looking a little more closely into the strong and weak points
of the two great rival navies.

[Illustration: JELLICOE.]

So far as fitness for battle depended on th