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Show . . " ic - ( i i' I Lieutenant s j Chance to Win ;j Honors Comes in P Terrific Fighting I a t r ecked ' i Bridge, i': r 'S1' INGE Rumania entered the ! J European wnr she has been , vkV'N tnc ccntor of eyes, except 1 NVyX during those comparatively j' VSTM few hours when the British j ma0 large gains on the yNy Sommc, or the French drove r back the German crown prlnco t from some of his strongholds at Verdun, or tho Italians conducted a new assault on the Aus-i Aus-i , s trian fortifications outside Gorizla. ,', She has been assailed from all quarters ex-j ex-j cept tho Russian boundary, and the ablest generals gen-erals at tnc service of the German general staff J have been employed to direct the armies en- dcfivorlng to enter her territory and wrest from ( allied hands control of the extensive oil fields which arc one of the chief sources of Rumanian riches. I This campaign has centered chiefly in two districts that of Dobrudja and that of the Transylvanlan frontier. It is with the former that this story deals, because developments in . the latter have not yet reached that stage i which permits the sending through the lines of intimate, enlightening stories of individual happenings hap-penings of the fighting. While Gen. von Falken-, Falken-, hayn has penetrated to Prcdcal and some dls-I dls-I tance beyond in the west, he has not achieved any notable conquest and has not acquired any Ii j oojective nor gained sway over any vaiuame f country is yet. "But In the east, where Gen, I von Mackensen is leading Germans, Bulgars ' i j and Turks to tho attack, victories have been j won, important "positions taken from the Rus- i slans and Rumanians, and, at this writing, even i the safety of Bucharest threatened, a direct ; advance on that capital city having been pre vented only by a happening with which this j j story is to deal. ' I Dobrudja has been for centuries considered j the most strategically located section of terri tory in its part of the- jvorld. The Romans j recognized this fact, for they erected a strong j stono wall, some thirty-five miles in length, , running from Constanza, the Black Sea port, to ! ; Chernavoda on the Danube, on a line now nl- ' most paralleled by the modern railway that i connects the seaport with Bucharest. In tha j ! course of time, this country was acquired by 1 Turkey, and during the various Balkan wars j has had a checkered career as part of Turkey. ! 1 Russia, Bulgaria and Rumania. The last- named country acquired it in 1S7S by the treaty of Berlin, In which Russia rewarded her Rumanian Ru-manian allies with this province, at tho same Jlme taking from them the rich prorlnce of 1 Bessarabia, which they have promised to re- i turn as one of the rewards for a successful out- f ome of the present war, j Dobrudja, when first acquired by the Ru- I rnanlans, was almost barren on Its steppes and j ?roductivo of nothing valuable la its swamps. The population was almost anything but Rumanian. Ru-manian. Later, however, the alien clement , gradually disappeared and the Black Sea ports ' proved of inestimable value to the little coun- ' , try, and were a source of much prosperity. This district is separated from Rumania proper by the Danube, which Hows north, seeking an outlet to the Black Sea, which It eventually finds not far from tho borders of Bessarabia. Across the Danube at Chernavoda Is a great railroad bridge or was which was considered (Vi. flnoaf anr? lofiroot c t mi ff II pa nt thA snrY In . Europe. It was towards this that the army of 8n. von Mackensen gradually fought Its way, with the aim of crouins there and sweeping nlong the railroad line into Bucharest, and, at the same time, taking possession of the lmport-tint lmport-tint eastern oil field. i The uninitiated often have expressed wonder H as to why Gen. von Mackensen at tho time he was gaining successes about the fortified places of SlUstrla. and Turtukal did not then follow Hj them up by crossing the Danubo at those points 'and pursuing his way to the capital city, not far distant. There were several reasons, among which trj moist Important were poor transportation and H ?ood fortresses. Ho found that by going through Dobrudja he could probably move more quickly because of the transportation facilities the treat modern railway between Constanza and Bucharest would afford him, and that, likely, bo would meet with less prepared opposition; also, he would be able to overrun one of the 1 richest parts of .Rumania, and cut her off from j ber important seaports. So Von Mackeneen swept up through, that Hjj country from the friendly land of Bulgaria, be- ing in command of an army composed of Turks, Hj Bulgarians and Germans. Opposed to him was an army composed of part of the Rumanian Hl forces, which total only GOO.000 In' all, aided by a few RusBlans, who had come down through Bessarabia.. But tho combined defenders wer not strong enough or stanch enough to resist successfully the onslaughts of the invader, and he proceeded slowly, but suroly, until he, took coaaUnza and, .with It, control of the railroad I. from the sea to the river. At that time, his left wing was only a few miles from the bridgehead bridge-head at Chernavoda. Part of the Rumanian army at the time of tho capture of the Bucharcst-Constanza railroad line retreated into old Rumania, going across the big bridge. But there was another part left there at Chernavoda, whose duty It was to defend the place to the last ditch, to prevent the spread of the Teutonic Invaders Into tho heart of the country and to maintain as Ions ao possible the warfare on the eastern side of the Danube. This little party waa left In a desperate position, posi-tion, for tho huge bridge wus destroyed as tho defenders retreated, cutting off the remaining Rumanians from communication with their home country, preventing their retreat to safety, safe-ty, except through the Bcssarablan country and making It almost impossible for them to get supplies or re-enforcemonts. But it also would prevent the Germanic armies from entering Old Rumania, for it Is the only practlcablo bridge over the Danube. Still the Germans pressed forward, unrelentingly, unrelent-ingly, determined to tako. possession of this important im-portant post; for, with Chernavoda in their hands and transportation facilities uninterrupted, uninter-rupted, thoy easily could bring requislto material mate-rial from Constantinople, or from nearer Bulgaria, Bul-garia, and jnake repairs to the bridge, thus giving them access to the center of the little nation. And the Russo-Rumanians continually fell back along the railroad line or north toward to-ward the Russian frontier, until they wcro divided into two groups, ono fighting desperately desper-ately in tho open to the north, and tho other tied up in Chernavoda, fighting just as desperately desper-ately to retain possession of the town and tho bridgehead. - IEUT. HEINRICH VON ' RICHTSHOFEN was an ofllcer of tho engineering corps attached at-tached to the left wing of Gen. von Macken-sen'a Macken-sen'a army. He had como into the war at the beginning and had served in all its phases on tho various fronts; but, because of the nature of the work performed by his branch of tho .service, lie had but litllo opportunity to get into actual engagements, and none at all to distinguish dis-tinguish himself. Lieut, von Rlchtshofen, be it known, was ambitious to attain promotion and continually had beon on the lookout for a chance that would enable him to do something of exceptional value to the army, that ho might attain higher rank, and, too, tho Iron Cross. "When he entered the Dobrudja campaign ho was more than over determined that he should have at least a paragraph in tho history of this great war, in which all tho print that the av-erago av-erago soldier gets Ib his namo on the rcgi-montal rcgi-montal rolls. He mado up hismtnd that beforo the armies entered Bucharest he should havo accomplished something which would force tho superior officers to acknowlcdgo him as tho city's captor. ' All through the Dobrudja campaign he had been watching for this chance even had lain .awake nights scheming ways to overcomo imaginary imagi-nary difficulties. And when the news reached the araiy of the destruction of tho great Danube bridge h welcomed it aa a possible source of tho opportunity, for the engineer who quickly could rebuild this structure, or make it passable pas-sable for tho armies, undoubtedly would bo a hero. So he had figured out in advanco Just how thl3 would bo carried on under his command com-mand if ever ho got a chance at it and it seemed, highly. possible, that ho would havo v some part to play In the rebuilding work, for he was with that section of the army that undoubtedly would be tho first to enter Chernavoda Cher-navoda and begin preparations for tho Teutons to enter Old Rumania, Soon afterwards tho left wing resumed its advnnce and the City of Chernavoda was beleaguered. be-leaguered. And there tho Teutons were met with more determined opposition than they had faced slnco they first entered the province of Dobrudja, for tho little army of defendors was desperate arid was well supplied with ammunition, ammu-nition, though big guns were lacking, just as they had been all through the campaign. Step by step, however, tho Germans forged on, until the resistance almost was crushed. Not entirely was the Rumanian army beaten, though; and, by locating In a huge building of stone near tho river front, tho Rumanian survivors, sur-vivors, aided by some machino guns they had mounted, wore able to command tho approaches ap-proaches to the big bridge and even the rlVor Itself This worried the German commander and especially waa a cause of much inweqtlvc on the part of the engineering corps, for they wero unablo o begin the work of repairing tho big structure until thia menace should be removed. Tho "blockhouse," as the placo where the Rumanians Ru-manians had entrenched themselves, came to be Icnown, was unapproachable, because it was clear from all sides, and columns of troops moving forward to attack wero mowed down .by the machine gun hail and the rifles of tho defendors, wjio wero in largo numbers, Tho Germans, too, because of tho rapidity of their advance, were not supplied with big guns of capacity sufficient for reducing this blockhouse block-house to ruins, and they did not wljrfh to delay smarting work on tho bridgo until such time as would bo necessary for them to bring up siego guns from tho rear, a matter of several daya or a week, during which it would be possible for a rc-cnforcemont of Cossacks to sweep down through Bessarabia and drive them from the prized position. t On the other hand, could tho Rumanians but bo dislodged, the Germans might start nt onco the repairs on their end of the fourtecn-mllo bridge, and at tho pame time would find it possible pos-sible to entrench themselves so strongly in tho town that nothing' hut a heavy and long-sustained attack would suffice to drive thorn out. The German commander, after ho found that assaults in force would not sufllco to take tho blockhouse, pondered several other means of attnek, then he departed for a conference at headquarters. In tho meantime, Lieut. Hcinrich von Rlchtshofen, Rlchts-hofen, who had been left in command, was considering the situation and was acting. While ll)o colonel commanding the engineering detachment de-tachment was at tho council of war, tho lieu tenant ordered his men to begin tunneling, and soon ho hnd a shaft started under tho street, driving it forward to a point whore It could connect with a big drainage tunnel that, he learned from old Inhabitants, passed almost directly under tho blockhouse. Ho found that there waa but 50 yards to dig beforo tho mouth of tho tunnel was encountered. encoun-tered. This, he learned by making a trip of exploration while his men wore shoring up tho sides of tho new excavation, carried but little water, and made a practicable pathway for a largo number of men, carrying them to a point which, ho Judged, was directly beneath Vho blockhouse. There lie paused to consider. Would It bo best to lead a band of men through there and attack the defenders from tho inside, whilo a detachment moved up tho street against tho blockhouse, or would it bo more advisable to dig up a distanco from the tunnel and plant a mine in such a position that It would destroy the building . when Jt. was exploded? rnnrn- ' p. and in a position rendered all the more dan- Ll gerous because of the liability of further cavo- L .1 Ins. ' . , Tho explosion truly had done its work well, Ifo for it had blown a big section of the undcr-" undcr-" jSi '' pinning from under tho blockhouse, with lha ' -,v result that one of tho walls had fallen and the ' . entire placo was exposed to tho troops ad- vancing along tho street. They met with no resistance at first, because the Rumanians were so surprised and demoralized by tho unexpected f happening that thoy could not gather to make headway against their attackers. Later, they forme'l in groups and attempted to withstand the attack, but soon discovered that resistance resist-ance was futile; and It was scarcely twenty minutes from tho time of tho explosion that the last man had been killed or taken and Chernavoda was undisputcdly In the hand3 of the Germans. Immediately the fighting ceased, the corn mander sent a call for Lieut, von Richtshofen and it was found that ho and the men under him had mysteriously disappeared. Then a searching party discovered the cave-in In th B tunnel and a big part of the army was set to mj work to dig them out. . . With so many men working, it did not take long to uncover the imprisoned men. But they R "... woro found in tho last stages of life becauso of g the falluro of tho air in tho narrow excavation to support that much life. Somo were dead E . frdm tho pressure on their lungs; others had K " boen hit by falling stones and killed. Tha BR lieutenant himself no longer was ablo to mova KS one of his arms. gS It wna not long, however, urJft the lieu m ,.' . tenant recovered. His firat news was that tha FJ ;,! commander was to mention him In official dl3- R . j -' '; patches. On tho following day he took up tha ', . work of aiding in tho repairing of the great j ,f: , bridge for the crossing; of tho German hosts. 3 i- Finally, he decided on a compromise, a combining com-bining of the Iwq plans, resolving to explodo a heavy chargo there and to follow up Immediately Immedi-ately with an attack through tho holo thus made, taking ndvantago of the confusion thAt undoubtedly would reign in the little fort to overpower tho defenders and remove tho obstacle ob-stacle In tho path of tho Gorman advance. Then he hastened back to communicate his discovery antf Ideas with headquarters, whero the plan was approved and ho was assigned the task of setting and exploding- tho mine and glvon the honor of leading tho invading party through the hole, whiio largo forces of tho Teutons should advanco from nil sides against the blockhouse the Instant tho explosion gave the signal. Bo JJio jnino was sot by von Rlchtshofen and the men under his command, and the forco wlthdrow a distanco while It was exploded successfully. Then, with him nt their head. til O llttlft tCirm f( C.nr-Tn I 1L. . . "! in mo tunnei rusned forward to invado tho blockhouse, while at tho samo time tho large masses of troops In tho street began their assaulL But, when they reached tho spot where tho ?y. J",?. SCt 0fr- th Gcrnns bolow found that fallmg debris had so choked the tunnel that tlioro was no outlet ahovo and no possibility possi-bility of attacking from that quarter. So tho lieutenant ordered them to return to tho mouth o tho tunnel, there to follow up the troops that the could hear marching over their heads to attack via the street. The explosion, however, had not finished its ork yet. . The Jar, tcrrlffic in force, had loosened many of the stones of which the old drainage was built, and the thudding tramp of thousands of feet over it completed tho Job of swaying those stones from their positions, with he rcault that a large section of tho walls fell. Just as on Richtshofon's mon wore about to tCp Into that section. So they wore cut oft on both sides, imprisoned in a subterranean excavation, .without tools to dig their way out |
