defense of their country against invasion and
despoilment.

BRITISH WARSHIPS AID BELGIANS

Soon after the German occupation of Ostend, several British warships
shelled the German positions in and around the city and aided in
hampering the German advance along the coast. The principal vessels
engaged in this work were three monitors which were being completed in
England for the Brazilian government when the war started and which were
bought by the admiralty.

These monitors, which had been renamed Mersey, Humber and Severn, drew
less than nine feet of water and could take up positions not far from
shore, from which their 6-inch guns and 4.7-inch howitzers, of which
each vessel carried two, were able to throw shells nearly four miles
across country, the range being given them by airmen.

French warships of light draft later joined the British monitors and
destroyers and assisted in patrolling the coast, shelling German
positions wherever the latter could be discovered by the aeroplane
scouts. One reported feat of the naval fire was the destruction of the
headquarters of a German general, Von Trip, in which the general and his
staff lost their lives.

From time to time German aerial attacks were made in the vicinity of
Dover, across the Straits, but these without exception proved to be
without military importance in their results. Steps were taken to
organize anti-aircraft artillery forces on the eastern coast of England
and the continued failure of Zeppelin attacks, annoying as they were,
soon restored the equanimity of the British public in this respect.

INDIAN TROOPS IN ACTION

The first word of the employment of British Indian troops at the front
came on October 27, when it was reported that in the fighting near Lille
a reserve force of Sikhs and Ghurkas, the former with bayonets and the
latter with the kukri (a short, curved sword) played havoc with an
attacking force of Germans. "Never has there been such slaughter," said
the dispatches. "Twenty thousand German dead and wounded, nearly half
the attacking force, lay upon the field, while the British losses did
not exceed 2,000."

THE FRENCH CAMPAIGN IN ALSACE

At the end of October the French right wing in Alsace-Lorraine was
reported to be making distinct progress. It was said to be advancing
through the passes of the Vosges in the midst of heavy snowstorms. Paris
reported that the Germans, who were attempting a movement against the
great French frontie