The Invasion of 1910, with a full account of the siege of LondonLe Queux, William
Science
The Invasion of 1910, with a full account of the siege of London
Le Queux, William
Great Britain -- Defenses; Imaginary wars and battles
The magnificent troops of the Duke of Mannheim in their service
uniforms, who had landed at King’s Lynn, had come across the wide, level
roads, some by way of Downham Market, Littleport, and Ely, and arrived
at Cambridge. The 2nd Division, under Lieutenant-General von Kasten,
protecting the exposed flanks, had marched _viâ_ Wisbech, March,
Chatteris, and St. Ives, while the masses of the cavalry of the Guard,
including the famous White Cuirassiers, had been acting independently
around the flat fen country, Spalding and Peterborough, and away to
quaint old Huntingdon, striking terror into the inhabitants, and
effectively checking any possible offensive movement of the British that
might have been directed upon the great German Army during its ruthless
advance.
Beyond this, worse remained. It was known that the VIIth Corps, under
Von Bristram, had landed at Goole, and that General Graf Haeseler had
landed at Hull, New Holland, and Grimsby. This revealed what the real
strategy of the Generalissimo had been. Their function seemed twofold.
First and foremost their presence, as a glance at the map will show,
effectually prevented any attack from the British troops gathered from
the north and elsewhere, and who were, as shown, concentrated near
Sheffield and Birmingham, until these two corps had themselves been
attacked and repulsed, which we were, alas! utterly unable to
accomplish.
These were two fine German army corps, complete to the proverbial last
button, splendidly equipped, well fed, and led by officers who had had
lifelong training, and were perfectly well acquainted with every mile of
the country they occupied, by reason of years of careful study given to
maps of England. It was now entirely plain that the function of these
two corps was to paralyse our trade in Yorkshire and Lancashire, to
commit havoc in the big cities, to terrify the people, and to strike a
crushing blow at our industrial centres, leaving the siege of London to
the four other corps now so rapidly advancing upon the metropolis.
Events meanwhile were marching quickly in the North.
The town of Sheffield throughout Tuesday and Wednesday was the scene of
the greatest activity. Day and night the streets were filled with an
excited populace, and hour by hour the terror increased.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account