GIURGEVO 



3540 



G1VET 



Dickens, 1898 ; in By the Ionian 

 Sea, 1901 ; in The Private Papers 

 of Henry Ryecroft, 1903, a semi- 

 autobiographical volume ; and the 

 posthumous Veranilda, 1904. He 

 died Dec. 28, 1903. See George 

 Gissing: A Critical Study, F. A. 

 Swinnerton, 1912. 



Giurgeyo OR GITTRGIU. A town of 

 Rumania, in Wallachia. It stands 

 on the Danube, facing Rustchuk, 

 38 m. S.S.W. of Bukarest. It is the 

 port for the capital, with an exten- 

 sive shipping trade. The exports 

 consist of grain, petroleum, and 

 salt. Formerly fortified, it was 

 founded by Genoese colonists in 

 early medieval times. It has figured 

 prominently during the wars of the 

 Russians and Turks, and was cap- 

 tured by the Germans, Nov. 27, 

 1916. See Rumania, Conquest of. 

 Pop. 15,200. 



Giuseppe Garibaldi. Italian 

 armoured cruiser. She was torpe- 

 doed by an Austrian submarine in 

 the Adriatic, July 18, 1915. She 

 was 346 ft. long, 59 ft. in beam, 

 displaced 7,400 tons, and had en- 

 gines of 13,500 horse power, giving 

 a speed of 20 knots. Her armour 

 was 6 ins. thick ; she carried one 

 10-inch, 14 6-inch, and 20 smaller 

 guns, and four submerged torpedo 

 tubes. See Adriatic Sea, Operations 

 in the. 



Giusti, GIUSEPPE (1809-50). 

 Italian poet. Born at Monsum- 

 mano, near Florence, May 12, 1809, 

 he early won recognition for his 

 brilliant work in political satire, 

 which previously had been little 

 cultivated in Italian literature. 

 Owing to their revolutionary senti- 

 ments his poems were not printed 

 until after 1848, but they were 

 freely circulated in manuscript. He 

 displayed his power as lyric satirist 

 successively in La Ghigliottina a 

 vapore, 1833 ; II Dies Irae, 1835 

 (on the death of the emperor 

 Francis II) ; Lo Stivale, 1836 ; II 

 Brindisi di Girella, 1840 ; II Papato 

 del Prete (Pero), 1845 ; II Gingil- 

 lino, 1845 (describing the corrup- 

 tion of Florentine society) ; and 

 Una Messa in Sant' Ambrogio,1847. 



The use he made of idiomatic 

 Tuscan heightens the effect of his 

 work to his countrymen, but ren- 

 ders it more difficult to foreign 

 readers. In 1848 Giusti became a 

 member of the Tuscan chamber of 

 deputies, and died at Florence two 

 years later, May 31, 1850. Several 

 of his poems are brilliantly ren- 

 dered into English in Modern 

 Italian Poets, W. D. Howells,1887. 

 See Giusti and His Times, Susan 

 Homer, 1864. 



Givenchy. Village of France, in 

 the dept. of Pas -de -Calais. Some- 

 times known as Givenchy-lez-la- 

 Bassee, it is 2 m. W. of La Bassee 



and 1 m. S.E. of Festubert. 

 Prominent in the Great War, it was 

 the scene of a considerable battle, 

 Dec., 1914. Although the objective 

 of the Germans throughout the 

 war, it was firmly held by the 

 British. Fierce fighting took place 

 here in 1915. In April, 1918, the 

 Germans made determined but un - 

 successful attacks on it in their 

 great drive to the Channel ports, 

 which were defeated by the efforts 

 of the 55th (West Lancashire) 

 division, April 9-14, and later by 

 the British 1st division. (See Ypres, 

 Battles of). 



There is a village known as 

 Givenchy-en-Gohelle also in the 

 dept. of Pas-de-Calais, 5 m. S.W. 

 of l^ens. The French were engaged 

 here with the Germans, Sept., 1915, 

 and Jan.-Feb., 1916. It was cap- 

 tured by the British on April 13, 

 1917, in the third battle of Arras. 



Givenchy, BATTLE OF. Fought 

 between the British and Germans, 

 Dec. 16-22, 1914. In early Dec., 

 1914, the eastern outskirts of the 

 village of Givenchy were held by 

 German troops of Prince Rupert's 

 6th army. The Allied forces en- 

 gaged in this section were troops of 

 the Indian corps under Lt.-Gen. Sir 

 James Willcocks, with, to the S. of 

 them, French troops under Gen. 

 Foch. On Dec. 16 an unsuccessful 

 attempt was made to carry a part 

 of the German trenches near Gi- 

 venchy. On the following day, to 

 assist the French, then heavily en- 

 gaged at Arras, orders were issued 

 to demonstrate and occupy the 

 Germans. 



Early in the morning of Dec. 19, 

 two battalions of the Lahore divi- 

 sion attacked and captured two 

 lines of German trenches, but were 

 driven back with serious loss by 

 counter-attacks. An attack further 

 to the N., in the neighbourhood of 

 Festubert, was not more successful. 

 On Dec. 20, the Germans, who had 

 brought up reserves, violently 

 bombarded the Indian front, and 

 delivered a counter-attack. Heavy 

 rain had washed 

 away the fire-step 

 in many places 

 and left the 

 trenches knee or 

 waist-deep in 

 mud and water, 

 which clogged the 

 rifles. 



The main Ger- 

 man attack was 

 delivered against 

 the Indian tren- 

 ches near Festu- 

 bert and the 

 village of Given- 

 chy. Most of 

 Givenchy was 

 lost, but in the 



evening it was recovered by two 

 English battalions. At other- 

 points the Germans drove salients 

 into the British line, and at moments 

 it looked as though a break-through 

 were possible. They were greatly 

 aided in their assaults by the 

 superiority of their bombs. On 

 Dec. 21 the position was still criti- 

 cal when Sir D. Haig, command- 

 ing the 1st corps, moved with 

 the 1st division to relieve the In- 

 dian corps and beat back the Ger- 

 mans ; by nightfall after very fierce 

 fighting he held Givenchy firmly, 

 and had recovered the trenches lost 

 at Festubert. 



The battle died out on Dec. 22, 

 with little change in the position. 

 The Indian troops fought with 

 gallantry and steadiness which re- 

 ceived the praise of Sir John 

 French, but they were ill equipped, 

 had an inferior artillery, were worn 

 out, and had suffered heavy casual- 

 ties. In all, to the end of Dec., 1914, 

 they sustained a loss of 1,397 killed, 

 5,860 wounded, and 2,322 missing 

 (most of whom were killed), and 

 their units were exceedingly weak. 

 Before the battle they had had 

 seven weeks of almost incessant 

 trench war. The British casualties 

 in the battle were 4,000, the Ger- 

 mans probably lost 2,000. 



Givet. Town of France, in the 

 dept. of Ardennes. It stands on both 

 sides of the Meuse, just before Bel- 

 gium is reached. It has a number of 

 small industries, including tanning, 

 and is a river port ; but its interest 

 is mainly historical, as it was once a 

 famous fortress. Of its fortifications 

 the only remaining building is the 

 citadel, the others having been 

 pulled down in 1892. This stands 

 on a rock, and as it was founded by 

 the emperor Charles V, is known as 

 Charlemont. There is a town hall, 

 several churches, and a stone 

 bridge across the river. Givet 

 was in the Spanish Netherlands 

 until it became French about 

 1680. Pop. 7,000. 



Givet, France. Looking down upon the Meuse from 

 the ramparts of the old citadel 



