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 THE UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
•LAFAYETTE, WE ARE HERE" 
 
 Marshal JofFre applauding the words of General Pershing at Lafayette's Tomb on the Fourth of July, 1917. 
 These simple words travelled instantly around the world and became imperishably famous 
 
THE UNITED STATES 
 IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIS J. ABBOT 
 
 author of 
 "the nations at war" 
 
 "PANAMA AND THE CANAl" 
 
 "the story of our navy" 
 
 "the story of our army" 
 
 "aircraft and submarines" 
 
 WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS, IN 
 COLOR AND BLACK AND WHITE, AND PHOTOGRAPHS 
 TAKEN BY EXPERTS, MANY OF THEM UNDER FIRE 
 
 LESLIE-JUDGE CO. 
 
 PUBLISHERS NEW YORK 
 
 I9I9 
 

 
 Copyright, igig 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & CoMPANY 
 
 Ail rights reserved, including that of 
 
 translation into foreign languages, 
 
 including the Scandinavian 
 
 ^R 24 1919 
 
 5CLA5I27S7 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 .itroduction . . vii 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Situation in Europe When tiie United States Entered the War — List of the Warring 
 Nations — Our People's Aversion to War — Sympathy for France — Effect of German Atroc- 
 ities — The German Submarine Campaign — The Sinking of the Lusitania — The Diplo- 
 matic Discussion — The Presidential Election — Germany's Arrogant Defiance — The Declar- 
 ation of War I 
 
 CHAPTER H 
 
 Our National Unpreparedness — The Struggle Over Conscription — Forces Opposed 
 to the Draft — Scene at the First Drawing of Numbers — Mobilization of the National 
 Army — Lack of Supplies — Work of the War Welfare Societies — Life in the Cantonments — 
 The Soldiers' Food — Sports and Games — Military Training — Life in the Foreign Camps 21 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 The Lack of Ships — The Interned German Fleet — Efforts to Disable It — The Voyage 
 of the Transports — Losses by Attack — Our Naval Ports in France — A Training Camp in 
 England — Instruction in Real War — First Days in the Trenches — The First American 
 Dead 
 
 45 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The First Americans to Go — Work of our Ambulance Corps — The Commission for the 
 Relief of Belgium — Our Men in the French Foreign Legion — The Lafayette Escadrille — 
 Our Fighters in the Air — The Martyrs 67 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Military Operations During the First Year of the Participation of the United States 
 in the War — The Fighting on the Western Front — The Tanks — German Atrocities in 
 France — The Italian Front — The Disaster on the Isonzo — Venice Imperiled — ^The Meso- 
 potamian Campaign — Taking of Jerusalem — Had the Allies Lost the War? 85 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 General Pershing Arrives in Europe — ^A Torpedo Attack — Training Soldiers in 
 France — Early Fighting — Battle of Seicheprey — Hovy an Attack is Planned — Capture of 
 Cantigny — Bouresches, Vaux, and Chateau-Thierry — The Marines at Belleau Wood . . log 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 The Allies Take the OfFensive^Clearing the Soissons-Rheims Salient — Americans 
 at Chateau-Thierry — Beginning of the Great German Retreat — Who Won the War? — 
 Services of Each Nation — British Victories in Picardy — The Fallacy (?) of Devastation 133 
 
 ■ifci 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The Russian Revolution — Cause of the Revolt — German Intrigue Involved — The 
 Shifting Control of Russian Affairs — Kerensky, Lenine, and Trotzky — Social Conditions 
 in Russia — Rise of the Czecho-Slovaks — The Allies' Siberian Expedition — The Murman 
 Peninsula — Position of the United States Government — The Outlook 155 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Where Teutonic Dissolution Began — The War in the South East — Bulgaria Sur- 
 renders — The Downfall of Turkey — British Victories in Palestine — Italy Regains Her 
 War Strength — Fighting on the Piave — The Smash-up of Austria-Hungary — Aspirations 
 of Subject Peoples — Remaking the Map of Europe — Some of the More Perplexing Problems 179 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The St. Mihiel Salient — The First Independent American Operation on a Large Scale 
 — Character of the Fighting — The Great Pincers — In the Forest of the Argonne — The Lost 
 Battalion — Pressing on the Border Line of Germany — Distress of the Enemy — The Arm- 
 istice — Flight of the Kaiser — Revolution in Germany 209 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Navy in the War — Its Rapid Growth — The Great Training Camps — The De- 
 stroyers—Losses of Fighting Ships— The Aviation Corps— The Fleet in the North Sea — 
 The Fighting Marines — Surrender of the German Fleet 239 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The Armistice — The Extent of the German Defeat — Terms of Surrender — Were the 
 Allies Too Lenient? — The Advance Into Germany — Our Troops at Coblenz and Treves — 
 Temper of the German People— The Measure of the Kaiser's Crime — The Peace Confer- 
 ence — President Wilson and the League of Nations — Losses of the World in Men and 
 Money— Chronology 209 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 THIS account of the participation of the United States in the Great World War 
 is given to the pubhc at the moment when representatives of all the nations are 
 gathered in the historic halls of Versailles to formulate a treaty of peace which 
 shall, so far as human foresight will permit, prevent in future any recurrence of the 
 calamity which overwhelmed Christendom in the last four years. 
 
 The monumental palace built by kings for their own glory, and to house their 
 obsequious courts, is to serve as the manger wherein to lay the babe of a worldwide 
 democracy. 
 
 The great hall, which less than half a century ago resounded with the acclaims of 
 those who, on the ruins of France, established the German Empire and committed its 
 fortunes to the Imperial house of Hohenzollern, will now witness the disintegration 
 of that empire, while the head of the fallen house lies in exile in a foreign country — a 
 suppliant for the protection of a nation which only a few months ago he planned to 
 rob. 
 
 In 1871 the halls of Versailles witnessed the apotheosis of the sword. To-day 
 they behold the endeavors of those who have won by the sword to establish for the 
 future a wiser, more humane, more Christian method of settling disputes among 
 nations. 
 
 The United States was late in its entrance upon the war, but first of all the nations 
 outside of France, to send its delegates to the peace conference. In these correlated 
 facts there is a significance readily discernible by those who will stop to give them due 
 consideration. 
 
 Ours has never been a military nation. We have had our wars — five of them in 
 our 130 years of national existence. But they have been unsought wars, forced upon 
 us by conditions which we patiently strove to correct before taking up the sword. The 
 measure of our aversion to war may fitly be judged by the complete unpreparedness 
 for war which has attended our every entrance upon hostilities — and this last one 
 more than any. 
 
 The United States gave formal notice of its entrance upon the prodigious struggle 
 just ended after it had raged for two years and six months. Yet with the conflagra- 
 tion thus furiously roaring in our full view, and its sparks falling fast upon our territory 
 to our own hurt, we made no preparation to join those who were doing their best to 
 put it out. When belatedly convinced that, unless subdued, the flames of war would 
 carry us down with the rest in one universal disaster, we had to begin preparations 
 to take part in the fight from the very bottom. If the period of our participation in 
 actual conflict was but brief, and indeed it scarcely exceeded six months, it was the 
 fierce rush to fit ourselves to fight which showed most the temper, of which the nation 
 was made, and most impressed the enemy with the irresistible character of this last 
 new and terrible force that he had aroused. 
 
 In the body of this book I have discussed briefly the futile question as to what 
 nation won the war, and have shown that to each of the several belligerents on the 
 side of the Entente is due so much of the credit that exclusive glory can be the meed of 
 none. 
 
 As these words are being written the question before the world has less to do with 
 the history of the fighting that is past, than with the question of the form of peace 
 which is very present. If the United States was late upon the battlefield her envoys 
 were early at the peace conference. By the persgnal presence there of the President 
 of the United States ours was made a delegation that need yield nothing in point of 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 dignity to that of any other nation. The position they held of complete detachment 
 from any selfish national interest or amhition justified the anticipation that they 
 would stand foremost as the representatives of peace with justice, a peace which 
 should be permanent and mark the end of war. To this the President of the United 
 States, alike as chief executive of the nation and in his capacity as a member of the 
 Peace Conference, is committed. Back of him, so far as may be judged from the 
 expressions of the newspapers of the country, the people stand as a unit in the convic- 
 tion that such a peace can only be successfully established and permanently maintained 
 by means of a League of Nations. The suggestion of such a league I think may fairly 
 be said to have originated in the United States. If its actual creation shall be due 
 to our influence in the Versailles Conference whatever there may be of regret for the 
 tardiness of our appearance in the war may well be assuaged by the reflection that 
 this great boon to humanity was due to American endeavors. 
 
 It is as yet too early to determine the extent to which the war waged for the pro- 
 tection of democracy may extend the system of democracy throughout the world. 
 At this moment Russia is in complete anarchy, and Germany apparently on the verge 
 of civil war. The duties of the Peace Conference are made mexpressibly more difiicult 
 by the fact that a great part of the territory, and of the people with whom it has to 
 deal, is now without responsible government, a prey to disorder and to revolution. 
 No great war ever ended without a prolonged period of precisely such unrest and 
 turmoil. But we may well believe that out of this present chaos will be evolved a 
 wider measure of democracy, a more just reorganization of society in the countries 
 aff^ected, and a peace that shall be enduring because it will be guaranteed by a League 
 of Nations systematically organized, and directed by a code which shall have been 
 formulated by the best representatives of democratic principles to-day. 
 
 The author desires to express his obligation to the corps of brilliant and devoted 
 journalists who served as war correspondents during the progress of the struggle now 
 ended. While the fighters made history, these writers recorded it. In many instances 
 their letters from the front, written under the most trying circumstances, in water- 
 logged trenches, dark and dismal dugouts, on the seat of a speeding lorry, or in some 
 shell-torn hut with the guns roaring about them, had all the vivacity and spirit of 
 well wrought literary productions. The work of such men as Philip Gibbs, Percival 
 Gibbons, Frederick Palmer and Edwin L. James gave to readers of English throughout 
 the world so vivid, picturesque and graphic an idea of the world conflict day by day 
 that there is left to the historian little except the task of harmonizing conflicting reports 
 and describing the broader strategy of the war of which the correspondent cannot be 
 informed. At the beginning of the war it was the policy of the military authorities 
 of ail nations to bar the correspondents from the front and to circumscribe rigidly 
 their freedom of expression. As the war progressed this policy was gradually aban- 
 doned. It is perhaps the best testimonial to the position which the capable and 
 earnest correspondent bears in relation to the operations of the army to which he is 
 accredited that these restrictions should have been relaxed, and the end of the 
 war should have found the correspondents given every facility for observing and 
 recording its progress. 
 
 Willis J. Abbot. 
 Jan. lo, 1919. 
 
THE UNITED STATES 
 IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 SITUATION IN EUROPE WHEN THE UNITED STATES ENTERED THE WAR — LIST 
 
 OF THE WARRING NATIONS OUR PEOPLe's AVERSION TO WAR SYMPATHY 
 
 FOR FRANCE— EFFECT OF GERMAN ATROCITIES THE GERMAN SUBMARINE 
 
 CAMPAIGN THE SINKING OF THE "lUSITANIa" THE DIPLOMATIC DISCUSSION 
 
 THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION GERMANY'S ARROGANT DEFIANCE THE 
 
 DECLARATION OF WAR 
 
 THE United States entered upon 
 the Great War in Europe when, 
 on the 6th of April, 1917, President 
 Woodrow Wilson signed the war 
 resolutions which had been adopted by the 
 House of Representatives that morning, and 
 by the Senate two days earlier. 
 
 All Europe, and part of Asia and Africa 
 as well, was at that moment in the grip of 
 war. The German armies seemed to be 
 securely established in France and Belgium. 
 Russia was in the throes of revolution, and 
 had ceased to be a factor in the war activities 
 of the Allies. What might come of the over- 
 throw of her government, and the attempt 
 to erect upon its ruins a new edifice of democ- 
 racy it was too early to tell. It was not, 
 however, too early to recognize the fact that 
 as an aid to the Allies Russia could no longer 
 be counted upon. At various points along 
 her battle line in the east her soldiers were 
 fraternizing with the Germans and Austrians 
 in their front. The revolutionary powers, 
 sedulously encouraged by Germany, were 
 breaking down military discipline in the 
 army so that soldiers no longer obeyed or 
 even saluted their officers. The great divi- 
 sions at the front were melting away, as the 
 
 soldiers were told by foreign intriguers that 
 those who hastened home would be given 
 tracts of land in the distribution of the prop- 
 erty of the privileged classes which the 
 revolutionary government had begun. Even 
 at the moment it was clear that Russia could 
 no longer be relied upon to keep the Central 
 Powers busy along the eastern battle-front, 
 and, as the months rolled by, the extent of the 
 Russian defection, and the degree to which 
 the intrigue of Germany with the revolution- 
 ary leaders had fomented it, convinced mili- 
 tary men that the Allies must fight out their 
 fight without hope of further assistance from 
 that enormous state now fallen for the time 
 into the grip of anarchy. 
 
 As a result of the Russian withdrawal 
 the armies of both Germany and Austria 
 along the eastern front were freed from any 
 apprehension of the armies of the Czar, 
 and were able to concentrate their assaults, 
 upon those more western forces still actively 
 in the field. The effect of this was shown 
 most disastrously in the check which the 
 Austrians were able to put to the triumphant 
 progress of the Italian forces which had 
 fought their way gallantly into Austrian 
 territory, through the difficult passes of the 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © Harris ^.- Ewing 
 
 Count Johann H von BernstorfF, the former German Ambas- 
 
 Dolomite and Julian Alps, had taken Goiitzia 
 and menaced the interior of Austria, and 
 even Germany, through the Austrian back 
 door. Freed from further apprehension of 
 Russia Germany was able to send troops to 
 Austria's aid, and held the Italians in check, 
 until by the devious devices of intrigue and 
 trickery their defensive power was under- 
 mined and a serious defeat threw their armies 
 back into their own territory for a prolonged 
 defensive. 
 
 In the region of the Balkans the moment 
 of the entrance of the United States showed 
 nothing encouraging to the Allied cause. 
 Greece had not yet finally thrown off the 
 domination of her pro-German King Con- 
 stantine and his army, lurking in the rear, 
 had made impotent the joint French and 
 British army at Saloniki, so that the Germans 
 and Austrians had been able to sweep down 
 upon Serbia and overwhelm that people in 
 an invasion which for ferocity and barbarity 
 has perhaps never been paralleled in the 
 history of war. Turkey, meantime, had every 
 reason to be exultant. She had beaten 
 back the British from the Dardanelles, 
 
 though later revelations show that had the 
 invaders made but one more effort they 
 must have succeeded. Farther to the south, 
 in Mesopotamia, the forces of General Maude 
 had just taken Bagdad thus wiping out to 
 some extent the memory of the loss of the 
 British force under General Townshend at 
 Kut-el-Amara. But for the moment the 
 British operations in this part of Asia Minor 
 seemed none too promising, for the revolution 
 in Russia had put an abrupt end to the prog- 
 ress of the Russian armies about Lake Van, 
 which prior to that outbreak had been press- 
 ing gallantly forward and giving every indi- 
 cation of ability to beat back the Turks and 
 effect a juncture with the British forces. 
 
 Returning to the western front we find that 
 the German grip upon France and Belgium 
 appeared unshaken, though for the moment 
 the German armies under Hindenburg were 
 engaged in a retreat, undertaken for strategic 
 purposes. Yet this retreat was not wholly 
 voluntary, for almost at the moment when 
 the American congress was debating war 
 the British had struck the foe savagely near 
 Arras and had driven hini back with heavy 
 
 © Harris & Ewing 
 
 Captain Von Papen, Germany's Military Attache in this 
 country who characterized us in a letter as "Idiotic Yankees" 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 losses. Verdun was successfully continuing 
 the gallant defense by which for more than 
 two years it had upheld the French watch- 
 word, "They shall not pass," while Paris 
 in a new security, destined to be rudely 
 shocked nearly a year later, had settled down 
 to the conviction that the advance of the foe 
 had been permanently checked far from her 
 city gates.* 
 
 Such, then, roughly outlined, was the 
 situation of the principal belligerents in the 
 main theatre of war when the United States, 
 after prolonged hesitation, determined to 
 enter the conflict on the side of the Entente 
 Allies. 
 
 There were at the moment, after the United 
 States declared war upon the Central Powers, 
 engaged in the war upon Germany and her 
 Allies twelve nations, namely: Great Britain, 
 France, Russia, Belgmm, Serbia, Japan, 
 Italy, Montenegro, San Marino, Portugal, 
 Rumania, and the United States. Their 
 population exceeded 977,260,000 people. 
 
 Against these were marshalled the Central 
 Powers, namely: Austria, Germany, Tur- 
 key, and Bulgaria. The forces opposed to 
 the Entente Allies numbered at the moment 
 of the entrance of the United States 
 156,572,000. But the disparity in numbers 
 was more apparent than real. It has already 
 been explained that the Russian revolution 
 eliminated that nation from the list of effec- 
 tive belligerents. Serbia and Rumania had 
 been put out of action by overwhelming 
 defeat. Japan had never taken the slightest 
 part in the fighting in western Europe where 
 the war was to be decided, and even her naval 
 services in the Pacific were of little value 
 in view of the dominant strength of the 
 British navy. Portugal contributed little 
 to the course of the fighting and naturally 
 such pigmy nations as Montenegro and 
 San Marino were without military signifi- 
 cance. And the predominance of British 
 population is due to the incorporation in it of 
 the teeming millions of India, and of British 
 colonies in Asia and Africa whose part in the 
 war bore no just proportion to the numbers of 
 their inhabitants. It is fair to say that prior 
 to the entrance of the United States the 
 Entente Powers were outnumbered in actual 
 fighting population, as they were almost in- 
 
 *A full description and history of the progress of the war 
 which had reached this stage at the time of the entrance upon 
 it of the United States will be found in the author's earlier 
 volume "The Nations at War." 
 
 en, 
 
 Captain Karl Boy-Ed, the former German Naval Attache 
 
 variably outnumbered on every field of battle. 
 The latter condition, however, was due more to 
 the fact that the Germans had the advantage 
 of a central position, and short interior lines, 
 than to the disparity in total man-power 
 between the two groups of belligerents. 
 
 After the entrance of the United States 
 upon the war many other nations followed 
 her into the conflict. Among them were 
 Cuba, Panama, Greece, Siam, China, Brazil, 
 and Peru. None of these contributed es- 
 pecially to the strength of the Allies unless 
 it were Greece. Brazil, through the activity 
 of her navy, was of some assistance in pa- 
 trolling the seas. 
 
 Immediately upon the first outbreak in 
 Europe President Wilson issued his proclama- 
 tion of neutrality, and called upon the people 
 of the United States to observe neutrality 
 "in thought and deed." That was a task 
 difficult of fulfilment. Indeed as the months 
 wore on it became impossible. While it was 
 quite true that among our people was a great 
 body of German-Americans, as those either 
 of German birth or immediate German line- 
 age were called, the dominant intellectual 
 forces in the nation were almost from the 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 "Barred Zones" and "Safety Lanes" Outlined in Germany's Note. 
 
 very outset favorably inclined to the Allies. 
 They openly declared their sj^mpathy, and, 
 to a very great degree, advocated the entrance 
 upon the war on the Allied side. 
 
 Beyond doubt it was the large admixture 
 of English lineage and blood among our 
 people which caused this attitude on the 
 part of a section of the populace, numerically 
 small but exerting an influence beyond its 
 numbers. In the roster of those who urged 
 incessantly the taking up of arms by the 
 United States English names not only pre- 
 dominate — they almost monopolize the list. 
 But in addition to the distinctly pro-British 
 sentiment thus manifested there was a very 
 
 wide-spread feeling of earnest sympath; 
 for France. Republics may, as the maxir 
 has it, be ungrateful, but the sentiment o 
 affection and gratitude to France springin. 
 from the aid she extended to us in our Revo 
 lutionary War is wide-spread among th 
 American people, despite the large admixtur 
 among them in these latter days of foreigi 
 elements ignorant of our earlier history 
 Two incidents of the war fitly indicated th 
 extent of this policy among our people. 
 
 One of the many gallant and culture( 
 American boys who, even before their owi 
 nation entered the war, joined the FrencJ 
 army as aviators and laid down their live 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 German destrojerb and submarine chasers lymg m a foreign harbor 
 
 in that service, was Kiffen Rockwell. "I 
 pay my part for Lafayette and Rocham- 
 beau" he answered proudly when someone 
 asked him on the flying field in France what 
 he was doing in a French uniform when his 
 country clung to cold neutrality: 
 
 And later when the flood of American 
 soldiers began pouring into France General 
 John J. Pershing, Commander of the Amer- 
 ican Expeditionary Force, was taken to 
 visit the tomb of Lafayette. Advancing 
 he laid a wreath upon the sarcophagus with 
 the brief and simple words which the whole 
 world found eloquent, 
 
 "Lafayette, zve are here .'" 
 
 The heart of France, sorely burdened, 
 though not crushed, under the heavy hand 
 of the foe, revived at these words of promise, 
 and Christendom rejoiced that opportunity 
 had been given to a soldier of the United 
 States to speak them. 
 
 This feeling of loyalty to the England 
 whence our forefathers had come, and to 
 the France which had helped us to win our 
 independence, were dominant forces in bring- 
 ing the United States into the war. That 
 
 France had helped us against England did 
 not in the least embarrass those who fell 
 that now was the time when we should fight 
 shoulder to shoulder against a common foe 
 For that common foe was Germany, and 
 history showed that it was a German kin§ 
 on England's throne, an alien monarcf 
 scarce able to speak the English tongue, whc 
 forced our forefathers into revolt and strovt 
 to crush English liberty in the Englisli 
 colonies. The English people, and theii 
 most representative figures in parliament, 
 were with the American colonists in theii 
 struggle for liberty — and the wisest and 
 most philosophic of Englishmen to-day admit 
 that the fight which won American hbertj 
 saved English liberty as well. 
 
 The effect of such considerations upon 
 American public sentiment favoring wai 
 upon Germany was enormously enhanced 
 by the news of the frightful atrocities com- 
 mitted by the Germans in their march through 
 Belgium. These atrocities, unparalleled ir 
 the records of modern warfare — unless it 
 be by the barbarities perpetrated by the 
 Germans themselves in the march to Pekin, 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 t the time of the Boxer rebelHon in China — 
 
 ocked the civihzed world. The callous 
 
 pvernment of the Kaiser, seemingly in- 
 
 apable of comprehending the fact that the 
 
 ayoneting of babes, the ravishing and mu- 
 
 ilation of women, and the wholesale slaugh- 
 
 er of inoffensive civiHans could arouse an 
 
 ntagonism throughout the world that might 
 
 e fatal to Germany, at first did not take 
 
 he trouble to deny commission of the 
 
 rimes. Later it strove to excuse them as the 
 
 ecessary accompaniments of a state of war.* 
 
 To the indignation which the atrocities 
 
 ommitted by 
 
 jhe German 
 
 I r m y had 
 
 iroused in the 
 
 [iVmerican mind 
 
 |yas added the 
 
 wrath awaken- 
 
 Sd by the course 
 f the German 
 u b m a r i n e 
 ampaign. In 
 he end this 
 ssault upon 
 lur rights on 
 he high seas 
 7as made by 
 the President 
 lie reason for 
 declaring war 
 ikpon Germany. 
 iFechnically, it 
 ivas perhaps 
 Ihe determin- 
 
 Eig cause, but 
 o observer 
 f the slow 
 Awakening of 
 thewar spirit in 
 the United 
 States can 
 lioubt that re- 
 sentment f o r 
 ':he unspeak- 
 able barbarities 
 of Germany in 
 the war, and 
 determination 
 that German 
 
 military autocracy should not overwhelm the 
 democracies of England and France had quite 
 as much to do with it as had the German 
 assault upon our commerce. 
 
 Indeed it was rather the manner of the 
 German submarine campaign than the fact 
 that it was prosecuted that stung the Amer- 
 ican people into war. It is perfectly con- 
 ceivable that the Germans might have so 
 used their U-boats as to have accomplished 
 nearly as much as they did toward destroying 
 British commerce, shutting off supplies of 
 munitions, and bringing England to the verge 
 
 : *For a more com- 
 prehensive account 
 pf German atrocities 
 see "The Nations at 
 War," p. ig. 
 
 A typical American-built submarine chaser. These small craft were turned out by the thousands 
 and were ever ready to make it hot for any enemy submarine which visited our waters. Several such 
 visitors never returned to their bases. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 of starvation, without spurring America to 
 the fightmg point. 
 
 But the same criminal fatuity which pre- 
 vented their resting content with having 
 stolen Belgium without inflicting unspeakable 
 tortures upon its people, made it impossible 
 for the Germans to prosecute their submarine 
 warfare \n accordance with the humane dic- 
 tates of the law of nations. 
 
 was destined to become one of our chielJ 
 causes of complaint against the Kaiser's 
 government. Had Germany, on her part, 
 carefully observed the dictates of the law 
 of the nations on the sea, while calmly and 
 steadily pointing out the infractions of it, 
 by Great Britain, 1917 might have told ^< 
 different story. I 
 
 Instead of this, maddened by the spectaclet 
 
 © Underwood & Underwood 
 
 Life savers at Whitby hauling in the litehoat which made several \ain attempts to reach the hospital ship Rohilla. sunk off the 
 
 east coast of England 
 
 There was beyond doubt a certain sym- 
 pathy for Germany at sea among the Amer- 
 ican people. To their sporting spirit the 
 hopeless inferiority of the German navy to 
 that of Great Britain gave to the effort 
 to accomplish something by means of the 
 pigmy undersea boats an element of peculiar 
 gallantry. Moreover, the desire of the British 
 to suppress trade with Germany at every 
 point led that nation, with its great naval 
 supremacy, to establish rules of blockade 
 that were not in precise compliance with the 
 hitherto accepted laws of nations, and which 
 at times caused loss to American citizens 
 using the high seas in thorough accord with 
 international law. 
 
 Such resentment against Great Britain 
 as was aroused by these methods in the 
 United States was artfully stimulated and 
 extended by that German propaganda which 
 
 of enormous neutral fleets bringing to her 
 enemies cannon, shells, high-explosives, arms, 
 uniforms, and all imaginable munitions of 
 war, she cast off all restraint and sent out 
 her submarines to prey on the ships not of 
 her foes alone, but of the neutral nations, 
 among which the United States was the 
 greatest. 
 
 And more than this. While Great Britain 
 had invaded the property rights of our 
 people, causing them some loss and great 
 inconvenience, the submarine campaigns of 
 Germany were directed against life as well 
 as property, and before the United States 
 sprang to war more than 220 of her people 
 had been sacrificed to the mad savagery of 
 the submarines. 
 
 The proclamation by the German Govern- 
 ment of its creation of a "war zone," com- 
 prehending all the waters immediately sur- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 rounding the British Isles and her announced 
 intention of destroying all enemy vessels 
 found within that zone, "without its always 
 being possible to warn the crew or passengers 
 of their danger," first forced upon our Govern- 
 ment recognition of the gravity of the Ger- 
 man menace to the rights of neutrals on the 
 high seas. 
 
 The United States instantly protested. 
 
 submarine, the Germans urged, were forced 
 to come to the surface, and dispatch a boat to 
 examine the papers of a suspected craft be- 
 fore destroying her, it was always possible 
 that naval aid summoned by wireless by the 
 victim would destroy the submarine itself. 
 As for putting the passengers and crew in 
 safety that, according to the humane view 
 of the Boches, was amply accomplished by 
 
 German submarines lying at their docks at Wilhelmshaven 
 
 It denounced the whole theory of a "war 
 zone." It restated the principle of inter- 
 national law that a suspected vessel shall 
 not be destroyed until she has been visited 
 and her belligerent character, or the contra- 
 band quality of her cargo established by due 
 examination. Even then she may not be 
 sunk until her passengers and crew have 
 been placed in safety. 
 
 The response of the German Government, 
 adhered to until the collapse of that govern- 
 ment as the result of its utter defeat in the 
 war, was that all established principles of 
 international law should yield to the peculiar 
 qualities and needs of the submarine boat. 
 These boats, it pointed out, were small, 
 weak both structurally and defensively, 
 able to perform their functions only when 
 unseen, or at least when exposed to view 
 for only the briefest possible time. If a 
 
 crowding them into open boats, hundreds of 
 miles from shore in the bleakest and stormiest 
 gales of midwinter. 
 
 While diplomatic discussion of these sharply 
 divergent views was in progress, Germany 
 gave effect to her programme by sinking 
 vessels, both belligerent and neutral, on 
 which American citizens lost their lives. 
 But the crowning and most atrocious act of 
 aggression was the destruction by submarine 
 torpedo, and without warning of the British 
 passenger liner Lusitania, with the loss of 
 1,198 lives of whom 114 were Americans. 
 
 The storm of wrath aroused in the United 
 States by this crime was so great that only 
 the seemingly indomitable determination of 
 the Administration to keep the peace averted 
 the immediate entrance of the nation upon 
 the war. The people had not yet settled 
 down to the recognition of the fact that war 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 cliant:;es all conditions. Those who had 
 business in Europe, and manj' of those who 
 sought pleasure there, had no idea of relin- 
 quishing their right to travel thither, on 
 unarmed vessels, in safety- over the sea which 
 belonged quite as much to the mdividual 
 American as to the Kaiser himself. 
 
 Perhaps the German Government was 
 itself appalled by the storm its crime aroused. 
 Although it was announced that the subma- 
 rine commander who had sunk the Lvsitania 
 had been decorated, his identity was sedu- 
 lously concealed and was not known to the 
 world when the war ended. Bronze medals — 
 which were struck off in Germany to com- 
 memorate the exploit and prepared as was 
 afterward learned several days before the 
 actual smkmg — were hurriedly suppressed. 
 Though the school children of several German 
 cities were given a holiday when the news of 
 the great victory over unarmed men, women, 
 and children was received, this fact was 
 afterward stoutly and falsely denied by 
 German authorities. The German ambassa- 
 dor at Washington, Count Von Bernstoi-ff, 
 tried to palliate the offense by pointing out 
 that before the sailing of the ship he had 
 caused advertisements to be published warn- 
 ing Americans who had taken passage that 
 they would sail at their own peril. 
 
 But this rather heightened than allayed 
 the popular wrath. The people declared 
 that a murder was made none the less crim- 
 inal by the announcement in advance that 
 it was to be committed in cold blood. More- 
 over, public opinion bitterly criticised the 
 President for not having made the appearance 
 of these advertisements the occasion for 
 sending a battleship to convoy the Lusitania, 
 and warning Germany that an attack upon 
 
 her would be an act of war against the 
 United States. 
 
 While a large part of the people was de- 
 manding war the President turned to diplo- 
 macy for redress. It may be noted here 
 that never did his diplomatic endeavors 
 succeed, nor ever was there coaxed out of 
 Germany so much as an official repudiation 
 of the act of the man who sank the ship. 
 After the lapse of years, and the abundant 
 revenge which our forces have taken for this 
 atrocity, it seems curious to reflect that in 
 his note of protest President Wilson ascribed 
 the crime to a misapprehension of orders on 
 the part of the captain of the submarine. 
 But the concluding paragraph of the note 
 put strength and encouragement into the 
 hearts of those Americans who, even at that 
 early day, recognized the duty resting upon 
 our nation to cleanse the blot of Hohen- 
 zollernism from the face of Europe. The 
 President's note concluded: 
 
 The Imperial German Government will not expect 
 the Government of the United States to omit any word 
 or act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty 
 of maintaining the rights of the United States and its 
 citizens and of safe-guarding their free exercise and 
 enjoyment. 
 
 That was written May 13, 1915. Though 
 the Imperial German Government increased, 
 rather than lessened, the frequency of its 
 attacks upon the rights of American citizens, 
 it lacked but one month of being two years 
 before the United States acted upon "its 
 sacred duty" of maintaining those rights. 
 
 Germany was less lethargic. Her work 
 of piratical assaults upon neutrals on the 
 high seas proceeded apace, as though she 
 
 The cargo submarine Deulsclilcuid, the first undrrsea boat to. cross the ocean, saihng up the Weser River on her return to 
 
 Bremen, her home port 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © LnJerwood t. L n.l 
 
 The American steamer Gulfliglil settling by the head after she had been torpedoed 
 
 ;lt assured that no response more vigorous 
 han a diplomatic note would proceed from 
 he United States. On the 9th of August 
 he British liner, Arabic, was torpedoed 
 without warning. No lives were lost, but 
 6 Americans were exposed to the hardships 
 f a night in open boats. A note of protest 
 rought from the Huns the grudging assur- 
 nce that "liners will not be sunk by sub- 
 larines without warning, and without assur- 
 ig the safety of non-combatants, provided 
 hat the liners do not try to escape or to offer 
 isistance." This was unsatisfactory, as it 
 ffered no protection to American sailors 
 n freight vessels, and assumed that placing 
 assengers in open boats on a tempestuous 
 sa was assuring their safety. Even at 
 hat, it expressed too great a measure of 
 umanity for the Germans to maintain, and 
 1 less than two weeks the liner Hesperimi 
 rzs torpedoed without warning. 
 
 The people of this nation were getting very 
 ^eary of the German policy of promising 
 form while continuing its offensive course, 
 ind about this time there began to appear 
 series of revelations concerning plots against 
 ur good order and interests by German 
 missaries — not unconnected with the diplo- 
 latic service — that added to the popular 
 
 discontent. It was discovered that incen- 
 diary fires in ammunition plants and strikes 
 in works of the same character were being 
 fomented by German agents. Our State 
 Department was being deceived with forged 
 passports — a work in which attaches of the 
 German Embassy, Captain Boy-Ed and 
 Captain Von Papen, took an active part. 
 The existence of a subsidized German propa- 
 ganda was demonstrated. Papers emanating 
 from Dr. Dumba, the Austrian Ambassador, 
 fell into the hands of the State Department, 
 showing that functionary to be busily en- 
 gaged in encouraging strikes in such great 
 steel works as those at Bethlehem. As a 
 result he was. summarily sent home. An 
 intercepted letter from Captain Von Papen 
 disclosed that warrior of intrigue as advising 
 "these idiotic Yankees to hold their tongues." 
 It was daily made more clear that the em- 
 bassy which Germany maintained here in a 
 nominal spirit of friendliness was in fact 
 a nest of conspiracy against our industries 
 and our internal peace, and that the spirit 
 which animated its officials, from Ambassador 
 Von BernstorfF down, was one of cynical con- 
 tempt for the United States and resentment 
 for the part she was playing in the war. 
 After relations were broken off" it was dis- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The otScers of the Dutch steamer Ai 
 
 (1 bringing, under threat of destruction, their ship's papers to the commander 
 of this German submarine 
 
 covered that German diplomacy was actually 
 trying to embroil us in war with Mexico 
 and Japan. 
 
 Much of the German intrigue was directed 
 against the enormous business in munitions 
 of war for the Allies which had sprung up 
 in the United States. Although German 
 public men privately admitted the entire 
 legality of this trade they bitterly denounced 
 it in public as a gross violation of neutrality. 
 It is a fact, unpleasant to consider in the 
 light of later events, that at this period the 
 manufacturers of the United States would 
 quite as readily have made munitions for 
 Germany as for England and France. The 
 only difficulty was that Germany had no 
 means of getting the finished product to her 
 armies. So being unable to profit herself 
 by the trade she denounced it bitterly as 
 unneutral and barbarous. American busi- 
 ness men were depicted as turning the wounds 
 and blood of German soldiers into tainted 
 money, and every effort was made to stir up 
 German-Americans to open and to stealthy 
 attacks on the business. Congress was be- 
 
 seeched to lay an embargo on the export of 
 arms, and when that expedient failed, the 
 coarser devices of blowing up the plants and 
 fomenting strikes were applied. 
 
 In its resentment over German atrocities 
 committed upon the people in conquered 
 nations of Europe, and in wrath because of 
 German aggressions upon our own rights 
 and liberties, the American people were far 
 in advance of the American Government. 
 Yet even among them the war spirit lagged. 
 It is one of the most curious records of politics 
 that the presidential campaign of 1916 was 
 won by the democrats with the slogan "He 
 kept us out of war." 
 
 The reasonable implication was that "he," 
 President Wilson, would continue to keep 
 us out of war. Yet it must have been appar- 
 ent to the members of the administration, 
 fighting the political battle for their own 
 retention in office, that the continued absten- 
 tion of the United States from sharing in the 
 conflict would be impossible. That fact 
 was apparent to careful unofficial observers. 
 How much more so must it have been evi- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 13 
 
 dent to those in the government possessing 
 precise knowledge of all the diplomatic 
 correspondence between the countries, and 
 all the reports of the officials stationed in 
 belligerent lands? 
 
 Everywhere throughout the United States 
 pacifist societies sprung up, usually sus- 
 piciously well supplied v/ith funds from 
 unascertainable sources, and not infrequently 
 provided with executive officers with sug- 
 gestively German names. The German lan- 
 guage press, which was moribund at the 
 beginning of the war, took on a new pros- 
 perity, and in the majority of instances 
 was strenuously pro-German in all issues 
 which involved a clash between the United 
 
 States and the government of the Kaiser. 
 The undoubted evidences of overwhelming 
 pacifist sentiment in the United States, and 
 the apparent indications — illusory as it later 
 proved — of widespread disloyalty among 
 German-Americans seemingly encouraged the 
 German Government to renewed aggressions. 
 Long afterward, when relations between the 
 two governments had almost reached the 
 snapping point, the Kaiser's Minister of 
 Foreign Affairs truculently reminded Am- 
 bassador Gerard that there were 500,000 
 German Reservists in the United States. 
 
 "And we have 500,001 lamp-posts for 
 their accommodation, Your Excellency," 
 was the ambassador's apt and instant retort. 
 
 A German U-boat being sent where she will Uu 
 
 no more harm, liy the lime thi: 
 in the German navy 
 
 ccurred submarining was becoming unpopular 
 
14 
 
 UNITED STATES TN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 1 I 
 
 \ \ 
 
 
 An American vessel at the moment she was hit by a torpedo fired by an enemy submarine. She did not sink, however, and 
 
 she subsequently had her revenge 
 
 Meanwhile, Germany proceeded steadily 
 with her submarine campaign of "ruthless- 
 ness." The sinking of the Lusitania had 
 never been disavowed. No adequate promise 
 to adhere to the principles upheld by all 
 civilized nations had yet been made by Ger- 
 many, and even the grudging agreement 
 not to sink without warning regular liners 
 was frequently violated — notably by the 
 sinking of the Dutch liners Tubantia and 
 Palembang. In March, 1916, the Channel 
 steamer Siissexvi2iS torpedoed and sunk with 
 great loss of life, many American citizens 
 being among the victims. Germany v/as 
 still evasive, sometimes arrogant. But the 
 Siissex incident served to bring matters 
 sharply to an issue, for on April 19th, in a 
 message to Congress, President V/ilson de- 
 clared that 
 
 Unless the Imperial German Government should 
 now immediately declare and effect an abandonment 
 of its present methods of warfare against passenger 
 and freight vessels, the Government can have no choice 
 but to sever diplomatic relations with the Government 
 of the German Empire altogether. 
 
 This was verjr much in the nature of an 
 ultimatum. True, to sever diplomatic re- 
 lations is not tantamount to a declaration of 
 war, but in troublesome times it is almost 
 invariably followed by such a declaration. 
 
 The German Government evidently recog- 
 nized the gravity of the situation for it 
 responded with the declaration that the 
 German navy would at once 
 
 receive the following orders for submarine warfare 
 in accordance with the general principle of visit, search 
 and destruction of merchant vessels recognized by 
 international law: Such vessels, both within and 
 without the area declared as a naval war-zone, shall 
 not be sunk without warning, and without saving 
 human life, unless the ship attempt to escape and offer 
 resistance. 
 
 But in connection with this belated agree- 
 ment to recognize the rules of civilized na- 
 tions the Germans advanced the proposition 
 that in return for it the President should 
 endeavor to lead the British to mitigate in 
 some way the strictness of her blockade. 
 The point was clearly foreign to the matter 
 at issue. Because Germany was at last 
 willing to obey international law was no 
 reason why the United States should attempt 
 to coerce Great Britain on any point. This 
 the President pointed out in his response 
 to Germany, but it was made evident nearly 
 a year later, when Germany utterly and 
 flagrantly repudiated her promise, why the 
 conditional clause had been so shrewdly 
 attached to it. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 IS 
 
 Looking back on the months immediately of British race alone, had been done to death 
 
 preceding the declaration of war, with the by the German submarines, 
 
 mind full of the recent evidence of what So persistent was the violation of German 
 
 American participation in the struggle has promises to the United States, so flagrant 
 
 meant to Germany, one cannot but feel that the defiance of those principles of inter- 
 
 the character of the democratic presidential national law upon which the President had 
 
 campaign, and its 
 result, must have 
 completely de- 
 ceived the Ger- 
 manGovernment. 
 Foritwitnessed 
 the triumphant 
 election of a can- 
 didate whose own 
 utterances had 
 always been paci- 
 fist in tone, who 
 had refused to 
 take seriously the 
 appeals of a great 
 part of the nation 
 for at least 
 adequate prepara- 
 tion for possible 
 war, and who 
 had been urged 
 for reelection by 
 his closest sup- 
 porters on the 
 
 a LINE 
 
 ■Screw eteamsWpB 
 
 to GLASGOW 
 
 May 1, Noon 
 
 \,May7,Sp.m. 
 
 .Iverpool. 
 
 , All-the-Way 
 r. by-Watef 
 
 ADVURTIBEMENT. 
 
 ; UNE 
 
 ES A MARSEILLES 
 
 LlHboD & Mai-BellleB 
 
 Roma Auk. 3 
 
 A... 17 Slate Bt-. N. T. 
 
 VLIANO 
 
 11 DAYS. 
 
 * N ^' 
 
 ilea, jse 
 
 ulse $a< 
 
 NOTICE! 
 
 TRAVELLERS intending to 
 embark on the Atlantic voyage 
 are renainded that a state of 
 war exists between Germany 
 
 id her allies and Great Britain 
 and her allies; that the zone of 
 war includes the waters adja- 
 cent to the British Isles; that, 
 in accordance with formal no- 
 tice given by the Imperial Ger- 
 man Government, vessels fly- 
 ing the flag of Great Britain, or 
 of any of her allies, are liable to 
 destruction in those waters and 
 that travellers sailing in the war 
 zone on ships of Great Britain 
 or her allies do so at their own 
 risk. 
 
 IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY 
 
 WABHINOirON. D. C. APRIL, 22. 1915. 
 
 KSW ENOLANU-Ui»u< 
 
 heaton'h; 
 
 Stockbridge, Massai 
 
 in the Bcrkshira H 
 
 WILL OPEN JUNE 
 
 / Marblehead, Ma 
 
 THE ROCK-M' 
 
 Hotel de Luxe Opens 
 
 \ Faces all the Yacl 
 BOOKLKTB G. H. BRA 
 
 BAMKBTJPTOY NOTICES. 
 
 EARLY G0» 
 
 AT 
 
 STOCKBRIDGE, f 
 
 RED LION I 
 
 NOW OPEN. 
 
 Mil G e, 
 
 OPENNMJLJ^ggli 
 
 The warning published as an advertisement in the press of America 
 by the German Embassy just before the Lusitania sailed 
 
 insisted that men 
 began to think 
 that Germany 
 actually wished to 
 draw us into the 
 conflict. Her 
 public men ex- 
 pressed entire 
 contempt for our 
 military and 
 naval strength, 
 and even some of 
 our own people, 
 regarding the 
 3 ,ooo miles of 
 ocean that sepa- 
 rated us from 
 Europe, thought 
 the conflict would 
 be not unlike the 
 duel which Abra- 
 ham Lincoln sug- 
 gested should 
 be fought with 
 
 pacifist theory expressed by the ceaseless axes at a distance of sixty paces. 
 
 repetition of the phrase: "He kept us out of 
 war." 
 
 Could any foreign government, viewing 
 these conditions, and ignorant of the Re- 
 publican factional fight which did in fact 
 accomplish Mr. Wilson's election, construe 
 the result other than as a positive declaration 
 of the American people against entrance upon 
 the war.? 
 
 Germany unquestionably so construed it. 
 The year 1917 opened with a vigorous re- 
 newal of the submarine warfare upon- vessels 
 of every class and nationality. In a month 
 96 vessels, many of them neutral, had been 
 sunk in the war zone. Not only passenger 
 ships but even hospital ships, marked clearly 
 with the red cross, fell victims to German 
 piracy. The Britannic and the Braemar 
 Castle, hospital ships both, were sunk in the 
 iEgean Sea, and the attitude of the Huns 
 toward helpless non-combatants generally 
 was indicated by the statement made by 
 Mr. Bonar Law, in the House of Commons 
 in February, 1918, that up to that date 14,120 
 non-combatant men, women, and children. 
 
 Whatever the German purpose, the prac- 
 tical result of their policy was to force us 
 into the conflict. For while many of our 
 people desired war as a protest against 
 German aggression, the Administration at 
 Washington had made the submarine cam- 
 paign the specific ground of its complaint. 
 This campaign was prosecuted with in- 
 creased vigor. Admiral Von Tirpitz suc- 
 ceeded in convincing the German Government 
 that, if freed from all consideration for neu- 
 tral rights or opinions, he could, with the 
 ruthless employment of his submarine boats, 
 starve England into subjection in three 
 months. 
 
 In compliance with this policy the German 
 Government directed Ambassador Von Bern- 
 storff to notify Washington that after Feb- 
 ruary 1st — the very next day — neutral ships, 
 equally with those of belligerents, would 
 be sunk in the war zone without warning 
 and without mercy. 
 
 This was a flat repudiation of all promises 
 made to the United States. The notice was 
 accompanied by the insulting proposition 
 
i6 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The medal which was designed in Germany and distributed to commemorate the sinking of the Lusitania. With it \va 
 •distributed information giving the size and tonnage of the great liner all set forth in the most approved style of German brag 
 It is said, and generally believed, that these medals were struck off before the crime was committed. 
 
 •S. Lusitania, the largest and most celebrated victim of Germany's ruthless submarine campaign. She was sunk May 7, 191S, 
 with 1,951 persons on board of whom 1,198 perished 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 17 
 
 President Wilson reading to Congress his famous war message on April 2, 1917. When he left the Capitol after read- 
 ig this message he had built himself a monument which will stand while this nation lives. The entire country, as ex-Secretary 
 < State Root expressed it, stood unitedly behind President Wilson in the gravest emergency that the nation had ever been 
 impelled to meet. When President Wilson asked for war his words were not directed against a people but against an arti- 
 iial evil. When he had finished speaking, the final day for imperialism and its abuses had begun. Everywhere throughout 
 le world, save in those unfortunate lands where the iron hand of despotism was clinched for one last blow, this lofty message 
 •IS received with limitless rejoicing. From that time forth President Wilson became and remained the foremost spokesman of 
 ie Allied cause. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
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 Fac-simile of our Declaration of War 
 
 that the United States might send one ship 
 a week to England, Germany picking the 
 port and prescribing the way in which the 
 ship should be painted and what sort of a 
 nondescript flag it should fly. London Punch 
 picturesquely and accurately depicted Amer- 
 ican sentiment concerning this arrogant 
 proposition. 
 
 The Kaiser was shown saying haughtily 
 to Uncle Sam: "You may sail once a week to 
 Falmouth." To v/hich the latter, hands in 
 pockets and hat and cigar at a defiant angle 
 retorts: "And you may go, all the time, to 
 hell." 
 
 The situation had become intolerable. 
 Within 24 hours Von Bernstorff had re- 
 ceived his passports and was dismissed. 
 
 "The President could have done no less," 
 he remarked philosophically. He knew, as 
 the people of the United States did not, what 
 he had been plotting in secret. With the 
 
 utmost courtesy he was sent to h'. 
 home, while the United States An 
 bassador to Berlin was being bulliti 
 by the German Government, and uii 
 suited by the German people. '| 
 
 In eighteen days after the beginningi 
 ruthless submarine warfare 177 vesse 
 were sunk, one being an American shi|; 
 Up to April 3d, just preceding 01; 
 declaration of war, 19 American shijj 
 had been sunk, and 8 others unsucces:^ 
 fully attacked. The temper of tH 
 American people was not improvei 
 by the fact that three of the vessei 
 sunk were Belgian relief ships carryini 
 from the United States food free! 
 contributed for the aid of the Belgia; 
 victims of German barbaritj'. 
 
 March 14th, the American sh'ipj4lgoi 
 qiiin was sunk and her people exposei 
 in open boats for twenty-nine houri 
 March 19th broughtnews of thedestruu 
 tion of the City of Memph is, Illinois, ani 
 the Vigilancia. Fifteen American sailon 
 were drowned. The President ha. 
 already called Congress in Special Sei 
 sion, but these occurrences caused hii 
 to set the date two weeks earlier — t 
 April 2d. Before the Congress couli 
 meet, news came of another sinkini 
 in the North Sea and the loss ( 
 the crew. , 
 
 The nation by this time was fairr 
 roused to the occasion. Patriotic mee> 
 ings were held in all the cities, and mei 
 without regard to party pledged their suppon 
 to the Administration in the impending crisi 
 But the pacifists were correspondingly activ'. 
 At Madison Square Garden, New York, 
 gathering of citizens that packed the hugi 
 hall and called upon the President in ri 
 uncertain tones to declare war upon Germam 
 was followed within the week by a meetin 
 of pacifists, of no smaller proportions, whici 
 stoutly opposed war and vehemently callei 
 upon the President to submit the issue to 
 referendum of all the voters of the Unites 
 States before making the final declar; 
 tion. 
 
 In the vigor and noise of their agitatioi; 
 the pacifists seemed superficially to be tl 
 dominant faction. Indeed, comparatively fe 
 wanted war — the nation was about to acce{ 
 it as a most abhorrent necessity violent! 
 thrust upon the United States by Germa 
 aggressions. If the referendum had bee 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 19 
 
 ileied and the question asked had been 
 )o we want war?" it would probably 
 
 we been answered by an overwhelming vote 
 
 ["No!" But the question was, in fact, 
 lust we fight to protect our national 
 lor, our national integrity, our national 
 ety?" and to this the one answer, though 
 en in sorrow, was "Yes!" 
 The Congress met at noon on April 2d. 
 :er organization and a few polite tributes 
 
 [jthe first woman ever seated in the House 
 Representatives as a member, the House 
 ourned until night. When it reassembled 
 )resented a dignified and historic spectacle, 
 -ectly before the Speaker's stand sat the 
 mbers of the Supreme Court. The dip- 
 latic gallery to one side was crowded 
 h diplomats in uniform or evening dress — 
 ' representatives of Germany and Austria 
 tig conspicuous by their absence. The 
 leries were crowded with privileged spec- 
 Drs each one of whom displayed an 
 lerican flag or the white badge of pacifism, 
 half-past eight the doors opened and the 
 late marched in, headed by the vice- 
 isident. Again the American flag was 
 ch in evidence, though one or two irre- 
 
 concilable pacifists among the senators failed 
 to display it. 
 
 When the President entered and mounting 
 the rostrum with quick, nervous steps was 
 presented to the joint session, the tumult 
 was unbounded. All were instantly on 
 their feet — pacifists with the rest — cheering 
 and waving their national emblems. Grave 
 justices of the Supreme Court shouted like 
 boys at a baseball game, as the President 
 stood impassively waiting for quiet that 
 he might begin his address. 
 
 The President's address was both grave 
 and eloquent. The hesitation and incertitude 
 'which had characterized some of his earlier 
 utterances were gone, but the deep regret 
 he felt at the engulfing of the nation in war 
 was clearly apparent. He strove to dis- 
 criminate between the German Government 
 and its people, saying that for the latter 
 "We have no feeling but one of sympathy and 
 friendship." But he denounced the German 
 autocracy and concluded his appeal for war 
 in these solemn phrases: 
 
 The world must be made safe for democracy. Its 
 peace must be planted upon the tested foundations 
 
 
 -■0'^^^£ 
 
 Photograph by Kodel & Herbert, N Y. 
 
 'est Street, New York, congested with freight which cannot be shipped to foreign ports owing to Germany's ruthless sub- 
 marine campaign 
 
20 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. 
 We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no 
 indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation 
 for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but 
 one of the champions of the rights of mankind. We 
 shall be satisfied when those rights have been made 
 as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can 
 make them. . . . 
 
 To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our 
 fortunes, everything that we are and everything that 
 we have, with the pride of those who know that the 
 day has come when America is privileged to spend her 
 blood and her might for the principles that gave her 
 birth and happiness and the peace which she has 
 treasured. 
 
 God helping her, she can do no other. 
 
 indeed break out with a severe rasli of p-, 
 triotic bunting, but from this Western towi 
 were largely exempt. There were no stret 
 mass meetings. The seeker for excitemei 
 and dramatic detail was in the position ( 
 Captain Robley D. Evans, when he looke 
 up in the midst of the Battle of Santiaj 
 to find his ship destitute of a battle fla] 
 "What the devil's the use of a battle withoi 
 a battle flag.'"' cried "Fighting Bob" di 
 gustedly and soon had two flying. Tl 
 Onited States had not yet come to its e;t 
 citement. It only slowly roused to the poiii 
 of noisy enthusiasm. But determinatio 
 and the will to win were growing every day. 
 
 © Underwou.l Sc Urulir 
 
 This liner was steaming across a placid sea when she was sighted by a German U-boat which instantly opened fire. As the 
 torpedo hit its mark the engine room was wrecked by a terrific explosion. The crew was rescued by a British patrol boat. 
 
 Amid renewed cheering the President 
 left the Hall and was swiftly driven back to 
 the White House. To all intents and pur- 
 poses the nation was from that moment at 
 war. At war for the first time since 1812 
 with a formidable foreign foe. Yet to ob- 
 servers, not alone in Washington but in 
 other great cities of the land, the amazing 
 feature of the crisis was the total lack of 
 excitement, indeed of enthusiasm. There 
 were no cheering mobs flaunting flags and 
 parading the streets. There were no mob 
 assaults upon the most outspoken of Ger- 
 mans. New York and eastern cities did 
 
 Congress was not slow in granting all th 
 President had asked. The Joint Resolution 
 declaring a state of war to exist were passe 
 by the Senate April 4th and by the Hous 
 April 5th. There was debate, of course, an 
 an acrimonious one. Six senators vote 
 against war. In the House the vote for i 
 was unanimous save for the single balk 
 of a socialist representative who felt force 
 to vote according to the internationi 
 tenets of his party. The same day th 
 President issued his proclamation to a 
 the world and the United States was a 
 war. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 OUR NATIONAL UNPREPAREDNESS — THE STRUGGLE OVER CONSCRIPTION — 
 
 FORCES OPPOSED TO THE DRAFT SCENE AT THE FIRST DRAWING OF NUMBERS 
 
 MOBILIZATION OF THE NATIONAL ARMY LACK OF SUPPLIES WORK OF THE 
 
 WAR WELFARE SOCIETIES LIFE IN THE CANTONMENTS THE SOLDIERs' 
 
 FOOD SPORTS AND GAMES MILITARY TRAINING LIFE IN THE FOREIGN 
 
 CAMPS 
 
 T 
 
 HE nation 
 was thus at 
 war. In the 
 face of an 
 emergency that few 
 had expected would 
 so soon confront the 
 American people, the 
 question was asked 
 and not for the first 
 time, "What is our 
 preparation for war; 
 how are we equipped 
 to give battle to the 
 nations of central 
 Europe that for fifty 
 3'-ears have been pre- 
 paring for precisely 
 this emergency, and 
 for four years have 
 [been turning their already well-drilled soldiers 
 [into battle-tried veterans?" 
 
 The United States indeed was sadly de- 
 ficient in all that goes toward national 
 defense. There had been in progress for some 
 years an active agitation, conducted by far- 
 ' seeing citizens, for the expansion of the mili- 
 tary and naval forces of the United States. 
 The propaganda received but little encourage- 
 ment from men in active political life. Even 
 the President frowned on it and dismissed 
 lit contemptuously within but a few months 
 of the time when we were called upon to 
 give battle to the greatest of all military 
 powers. But the pertinacity of the friends 
 of preparedness compelled a certain amount 
 of provision for the needs of national de- 
 fense, and June 3, 1916, an act of Congress 
 fixed the total strength of the regular army 
 at 293,000 men, the national guard at 409,000, 
 while by a later act the personnel of the navy 
 was fixed at 87,000 men. The men needed 
 
 were to be obtained by volunteer enlistment 
 only. 
 
 This was a notable step forward for this 
 nation in the matter of provision for national 
 defense, but how trifling it was in the face 
 of a world in arms may be judged by the 
 fact that at that very moment the losses 
 in the French, German, or British armies 
 were exceeding each week the total number 
 of men we provided for our defense. Even 
 as it was the small number asked was not 
 obtained through the methods of volunteer- 
 ing. When war was declared in April of 
 1917 the regular army lacked more than 
 100,000 of the number authorized. The 
 navy had done somewhat better propor- 
 tionately, but it, too, was short of its requisite 
 quota when the nation made that entrance 
 upon the war which all its leading men should 
 have foreseen was inevitable. 
 
 The slowness of volunteer enlistments 
 was by no means due to any hesitation on 
 the part of the American people to enlist 
 for the defense of the nation when they were 
 needed. But they had been assured, were 
 almost daily being assured, by the leading 
 men in the national government that there 
 was not the slightest chance of our being 
 involved in the European tempest. At the 
 moment a spluttering struggle with one or 
 the other of the claimants to power in Mexico 
 was keeping our army on the southwestern 
 border, engaged in peculiarly harassing police 
 duty. Men who would have leaped at the 
 chance to fight for their country and for 
 humanity in France refused to take up 
 arms in a petty quarrel for no conceivable 
 ends in Mexico. The fact that it was not 
 unwillingness to serve, but hesitation be- 
 cause of the character of the service asked 
 was clearly shown by the tremendous jump 
 in enlistments when war upon Germany was 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Chicago's elevated fleet landing recruits for the Navy 
 
 the enlistments in the 
 regular army totalled 
 204,754, or more than 
 three times as many 
 as during the preced- 
 ing twelve-month. 
 
 Over the enactment 
 of a law for the con- 
 scription of the youth 
 of the land into the 
 armies there raged for 
 some time a fierce de- 
 bate in Congress, the 
 press, and amongst the 
 people. It had been 
 more than half a cen- 
 tury since the United 
 States had asked any- 
 thing other than 
 voluntary military ser- 
 vice of her sons. The 
 Civil War had been 
 fought for years before 
 
 actually declared. Between April i, a few the method of the draft was applied and 
 days before the declaration of war, and Sep- to the end of the struggle the men who 
 tember 5, when the draft became operative, had volunteered held themselves of finer 
 
 The U. S. cruiser Recruit at anchor in Union Square, New York, winning volunteers for Uncle Sam's fleet through the seas of 
 
 oratory which surge over her decks 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREUT WAR 
 
 23 
 
 © Committee on Public Information 
 Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker, drawing the first number from the bowl in the draft which began June 27, 1918 
 
24 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 25 
 
 I'hotograpli by KaJcl i: Herbe 
 
 Philadelphia's 25,000 drafted men receiving their farewell tribute 
 
 lity and higher pa- 
 
 j)tism than the con- 
 
 pts. 
 
 "o those who urged 
 
 he very outset that 
 volunteer system 
 
 [lid not bring for- 
 in season the 
 
 rmous numbers of 
 
 n that would be 
 
 ded in the colossal 
 
 flict upon which we 
 
 e entering, the op- 
 
 ents of the draft 
 
 lared that there was 
 
 vay to judge of the 
 
 ;nt of the volun- 
 
 ingwhen it became 
 
 wn that the volun- 
 
 s would see service 
 
 sreign parts. They 
 
 sted, and with reason, that the sluggish- better than police duty on the Mexican 
 
 j of enlistments when men had nothing border to look forward to was no criterion 
 
 by which to judge the 
 numbers who would 
 come forward for fight- 
 ing in France. 
 
 To a very great ex- 
 tent the struggle be- 
 tween the opposing 
 schools of thought set- 
 tled down to a debate 
 over a matter of senti- 
 ment. The direct 
 question whether 
 enough men would 
 volunteer to fight the 
 battles of their country 
 in so huge a struggle 
 was one that could not 
 have been decided in 
 advance of a test, and 
 to make the test and 
 fail would have been 
 disastrous. Most 
 observers agree that 
 the event showed that 
 it would have been 
 suicidal to have relied 
 altogether on volun- 
 tary enlistments, al- 
 though the promise of 
 its advocates that it 
 would bring out the 
 very flower of the land 
 and create an army 
 
 Vives and sweethuai 
 
 mg last farewells to the men of the "Fighting Sixty-Ninth" 
 
26 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
The American plane on the left has made a hit. His shots have perforated the enemy's gasoline tank and set hi' 
 plane ahre. One wing has broken away and the German aviator is about to jump 
 
28 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 made up wholly of self-sacrificing patriots 
 was most enticing. 
 
 Indeed it began very early during the dis- 
 cussion to be apparent to observers with 
 good opportunities for studymg what was 
 going on that the continuance of volunteer 
 enlistments would in fact be most disastrous 
 to the country, and that the more successful 
 it proved in raising large numbers of men 
 the more hurt it would do in the end to the 
 nation. For, precisely as its advocates had 
 urged, the volunteer system brought at 
 once to the army in a patriotic burst of en- 
 thusiasm the very flower of American youth. 
 Offices, stores, and workshops were stripped 
 of their best men. The ranks were being 
 filled up with men who were naturally fit 
 to be officers. Foreseeing a long war with 
 the inevitable exhaustion of this class of 
 soldiers, public men began to ask themselves 
 whence would come the officers to lead the 
 later armies that must be formed. 
 
 It seemed, too, obviously unjust that to 
 the less patriotic should come the busmess 
 
 opportunities that would be opened at homi 
 with a great part of the manhood of thi 
 nation gone off to the war. There wa 
 danger that political power might pass int( 
 the hands of the class that was too selfish 
 or too cowardly to fight. This would havi 
 been equally a menace to the country anc 
 an injustice to the men at the front. All 
 told, the arguments for universal militarj, 
 service, the selection of the active partici^ 
 pants to be by draft, seemed unanswerable 
 Nevertheless, when the Administration oril 
 April 6th introduced a bill of that character iii 
 encountered immediate and vigorous opposii 
 tion. Southern members of Congress pro) 
 fessed to fear that it might lead to a race wai 
 by accustoming negroes to the use of arms^ 
 Others thought conscription an affront tci 
 the patriotism of the people. The Speakei 
 of the House of Representatives distinguished 
 himself by remarking that out his way 
 "people saw mighty little difference between 
 a conscript and a convict." The democrai 
 who happened to be the chairman of th( 
 
 The drafted men of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, being given a rousing send off by their fellow townsmen. If the Kaiser counted upoi' 
 disloyalty among the thousands of Milwaukee citizens of German extraction scenes such as this must have disillusioned him 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 iHouse Committee on Military Affairs so 
 'strenuously opposed conscription that he 
 "refused to advocate the bill, fathered by a 
 democratic president, and it was necessary 
 'to call upon the ranking republican member 
 to press it. In Representative Julius Kahn 
 the measure found a friend, and a wise cham- 
 jOion whose earnest and non-partisan efforts 
 n behalf of our proper mihtary organization 
 will not soon be forgotten by the people. 
 
 With the nation at war, and our allies 
 trying loudly for aid in the field the contro- 
 .^Versy raged for weeks. House and Senate, 
 ''each adhering to its own point of view, passed 
 divergent bills and a long-drawn-out con- 
 ference between committees of the two houses 
 Followed. It was not until May i6th that 
 the army bill passed the House. The day 
 ;after it ran the gauntlet of the Senate. In 
 e House certain timid souls were willing 
 to dodge responsibility by having it passed 
 thout a roll-call. In the Senate eight 
 votes were cast against it. Immediately 
 upon signing the bill the President issued 
 a proclamation calling for a first draft of 
 ;oo,ooo men and fixing June 5, 1917, as regis- 
 ration day. 
 
 There was a certain amount of apprehen- 
 sion lest there should be widespread and even 
 violent opposition to the draft. The United 
 states had long prided itself upon having 
 cept its people free from the heavy demand 
 'or mihtary service which the European 
 ations made upon their citizens, and many 
 saw in this emergency legislation the be- 
 inning of a permanent system of militarism 
 lere. Such people were outspoken in their 
 
 © Committee on Publii. Intormation 
 
 A doughboy consuming the famous Salvation Army doughnuts 
 
 opposition to the draft. To them were 
 added those who were conscientiously op- 
 posed to war and who, despite the endeavors 
 made by Congress to respect their convictions, 
 had not been assured exemption from service. 
 Lastly, there was a very considerable body of 
 American citizens who were either openly or. 
 covertly in sympathy with Germany and 
 who could hardly be expected to give hearty 
 
 ^ great gathering of new recruits listening tc patriotic addresses of distinguished 
 
 Lewis, Washington 
 
 :ivillan and military- authorities at Camp 
 
3° 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 A company of the now famous Rainbow Division having their equipment inspected at Camp Mills on 
 Long Island just before "going over" 
 
 support to a war upon what was in many 
 instances the country of their birth. 
 
 At the outset 
 it appearec 
 that all thesti 
 forces of di 
 content witF 
 the draft might 
 combine and 
 offer an opposi- 
 tion that might 
 be serious. But' 
 nothing of thei 
 sort occurred] 
 It will ever be 
 to the credit oti 
 the patriotism 
 and the good 
 sense of the 
 people of thet] 
 United States;] 
 that howeveri' 
 general mayv 
 have been that 
 feeling of bitten 
 disappoint- 
 ment that att 
 last we hadi 
 been forced to: 
 the adoption of I 
 the military 
 measure s^ 
 which, as prac-- 
 ticed by foreign) 
 nations we had always condemned, there 
 arose in this moment, so critical to our 
 
 A company street at Camp Devens, Mass., showing members of Company E ready for an inspection. 
 
 ment must be in its exact place 
 
 nal Film Serv: 
 
 Every article of equip- 
 
 I 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 llation, no opposition 
 p the Government's 
 f/ar measures that was 
 lufficiently extended 
 10 warrant general at- 
 lention. Throughout 
 he nation the registra- 
 lion passed oflF without 
 ncident and at the 
 ind of the day the 
 lames of nearly 
 (1,000,000 Americans, 
 jf the ages between 
 Iwenty-one and thirty- 
 jne, had been inscribed 
 Ipon the rolls of pos- 
 Jible defenders of their 
 jlountry upon the 
 [eld of battle. 
 I July 20th saw the first 
 rawing of numbers 
 )r the selection from 
 
 Photograph by Ccntial .\t«s I'l 
 
 Some New Jersey drafted men digging trenches at Camp Dix, N. J. 
 
 le registration lists of those who should 
 i'st enter the service. The occasion was an 
 Istoric one and a contemporary description 
 f the scene will be interesting. The draw- 
 ig was held in one of the rooms of the 
 enate Office Building and was conducted 
 
 by Secretary of War Baker. An eye witness 
 writes of the scene: 
 
 A handkerchief was tied about the eyes of Secretary- 
 Baker, the camera squad focused their instruments, 
 the calcium light of the movie operators played upon 
 
 Cornell cadets having a tent-pitching drill on the beautiful campus of Cornell University at Ithaca. N. Y 
 
A rollicking modern version of Valley Forge 
 
 the big blackboards in the rear, and the lottery 
 began. 
 
 Secretary Baker plunged his hand into the large 
 glass jar containing the 10,500 numbers inclosed in 
 capsules and drew one, announcing to the spectators, 
 "I have drawn the first number." A clerk assigned 
 by the War Department opened the capsule and an- 
 nounced "258." An officer seated at the long table 
 upon which were spread the tally sheets repeated the 
 number, and another clerk walked to a large black- 
 board at the rear and wrote upon it the figures. Sen- 
 ator Chamberlain of Oregon, likewise blindfolded, drew 
 the second number. He was plainly nervous. His 
 hand was guided to the top of the jar, which was four- 
 teen inches in diameter. "The second number is 
 2,522," said the announcer, and again there came the 
 click of the cameras, the rustle of copy paper, and the 
 murmur of excited riien and women who thronged the 
 committee room. 
 
 Members of Congress and high officials of the army 
 attended the start of the drawing. Eight numbers were 
 drawn by officials before the ceremony became routine, 
 with students from various universities acting as the 
 blindfolded withdrawers of the fateful capsules. 
 
 A round of applause greeted the appearance of Gen- 
 eral Crowder, who had worked tirelessly for days per- 
 fecting the details of the nation-wide lottery. Adjt. 
 Gen. McCam, too, was applauded by the throng which 
 crowded the committee rooms. Members of the Senate 
 and House Committees on Military Affairs and other 
 
 members of Congress occupied seats of honor at the 
 drawing. 
 
 The unprecedented ceremony seemed particularly 
 to impress Representative Julius Kahn, who had led 
 the fight in the House on the Army Draft bill. "It ii 
 an inspiring sight," he commented as he left the room 
 soon after the proceedings settled down to a routine 
 basis. Mr. Kahn was born in Germany and came to 
 the United States when a child. 
 
 As the eighth number was drawn by an official, 
 Secretary Baker said: "We will wait a moment while 
 the photographers remove their apparatus. Meanwhile, 
 I want to ask that perfect quiet prevail. This is a most 
 important occasion and absolute quiet is necessary." 
 
 John Phillips, a student of Princeton University, was 
 the first "regular teller" who took his place at the glass 
 jar and began to draw out the capsules — black-looking 
 affairs, because the paper upon which the numbers were 
 written was coated black on the outer surface. It was 
 impossible for any one to examine the exterior of a cap- 
 sule and ascertain the number within. The blindfold- 
 ing lent an additional touch of the dramatic to th( 
 event, but it wrs unnecessary. Every few minute; 
 Major Gen. C. A. Devol, delegated by Secretary Bakei 
 to guard the glass container, walked over to stir the cap- 
 sules with a long wooden spoon. On the handle of the 
 spoon was a piece of bunting, red, white, and blue 
 General Devol stirred deeply, bringing the capsules a1 
 the bottom to the top and a few moments later sending 
 the capsules at the top to the bottom. While this 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 stirring process was on there 
 was a momentary pause in 
 the recordmg of the num- 
 bers. The only interrup- 
 tions were the frequent 
 changes of tired announcers 
 and tabulators and the 
 removal of the blackboards. 
 jWhen a group of five hun- 
 Idred had been written the 
 jfirst section of the board 
 Iwas taken out to be photo- 
 igraphed to establish an 
 ■absolute record, while a 
 second section was substi- 
 tuted. The lottery ended 
 at 2:15 o'clock on the 
 morning of July 21st, and 
 ilater the same day the fig- 
 ures were officially checked 
 and rechecked in the office 
 of General Crowder. There 
 were a number of tally 
 ;sheets kept simultaneously, 
 in addition to the recording 
 of the drawn numbers on 
 'two blackboards, and every 
 humber was gone over 
 and checked by a force of 
 pxperts under the supervi- 
 sion of army officers. The 
 result of the drawing was 
 iset into type at the Gov- 
 ernment Printing Office. 
 /'Master sheets" containing 
 the numbers in the order 
 
 n which they were drawn were then sent by General 
 Crowder to each Governor and distributed to each 
 lOcal registration board. 
 
 In August of 1917 the War Department 
 rdered the mobihzation, in four instalments, 
 bf this first draft of 687,000 men. Five 
 
 A favorite amusement of the candidate officers at the Negro officers, training camp at Fort 
 Des Moines, Iowa 
 
 per cent, were to proceed directly to the 
 camps; the remainder were to be called 
 later. The men were classified in various 
 ways according to their social and industrial 
 condition. The efl^ort was made to defer 
 the actual calling of married men with de- 
 pendent families, and of men whose trades 
 
 A tug ul wdi at Camp Mills, L. 1. In spite ui the hard, intensive training the boys tciund time for games 
 
34 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 California national guardsmen, inducted into the National Army, arf 
 havinii tliLir first mess at Camp Kearn\', San Diei^o, California 
 
 The scientifically balanced ration which keeps up the health rate 
 
 At the absorbing 
 task of eating the 
 " chow " 
 
 ©Intornational Film Service, Inc. 
 
 Amateur soldier cooks amid their pots and pans 
 learning their job 
 
 Lined up for mess at the N. Y. Stati 
 Cadet Training Camp at Peekskill, N. Yi 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 A traveling kitchen at rest while the kitchen squad is at work preparing 
 mess 
 
 Uncle Sam's army loaves being handled like cord wood 
 
 © Underwood 8i Underwood 
 
 Underwood & Underwood. 
 
 Making wholesome bread by the wholesale for 
 thousands of hungry boys 
 
36 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Rookies going over the top for the first time. Some regulars 
 ing the part of the hated I 
 
 or callings were such as to make them neces- 
 sary in keeping up the industrial activity 
 of the nation. 
 
 In September this first instalment began 
 to appear at the camps and cantonments 
 scattered over the country. In many of the 
 greater cities, notably New York and Wash- 
 ington, the departure of the first detachments 
 of conscripts were signalized by great public 
 manifestations. But this war curiously 
 enough was destitute very largely of the 
 pageants and spectacles which have ordinarily 
 accompanied the departure of a nation's 
 troops. The writer was in Paris at the 
 outbreak of war, and saw tens of thousands 
 
 of Frenchmefii 
 go to the from 
 without a mili 
 tary band a; 
 they marchec 
 through th( 
 boulevards, 
 and scarcely 
 with the tap ol 
 a drum to mark 
 the step. Sc 
 we shall find 
 that in the^ 
 United States, 
 when the time^ 
 came to send 
 our boys 
 abroad, they 
 were marched 
 forth secretly at 
 night, being 
 taken to their 
 ships under 
 cover of dark- 
 ness and drop- 
 ping down the 
 harbors with- 
 out any cere- 
 mony atten- 
 dant upon their 
 departure. 
 This was of 
 course due to 
 the necessity of 
 keeping the 
 movements of 
 our troops sec- 
 ret lest lurking 
 submarines 
 might waylay 
 and sink the 
 heavy-laden transports on their way across. 
 
 The cantonments to which the drafted 
 men were sent immediately upon being 
 mustered into the army were great vil- 
 lages of frame houses; in fact, actual 
 towns. Each one was designed to house an 
 infantry division of approximately 40,000. 
 In this division would be comprehended 
 two brigades of infantry and one of field 
 artillery; one regiment of engineers, one field 
 signal battalion, three machine gun battahons, 
 and the necessary motor and horse trains 
 for the transport of supplies, ammunition, 
 and sanitary appurtenances. The men 
 reached these camps in four instalments, 
 
 are holding the enemy trenches and 
 ioche 
 
UNITED 
 
 Charging from behind a bomb shelter — the second man from the right is about to throw a hand bomb. 
 
 ing causes it to explode in six seconds 
 
 The motion of thruw- 
 
 the mobilization being completed by Octo- 
 ber. 
 
 The method of distributing the troops 
 once they had arrived at the cantonments 
 in which they were to receive military in- 
 struction before departing for France was 
 somewhat complicated. It was the effort of 
 |the mditary authorities to keep men coming 
 from the same neighborhood together. But 
 this purpose was qualified somewhat by the 
 necessity of keeping those who followed the 
 same technical trade in a coherent body 
 as much as possible. The National Army of 
 the United States, being drawn from all 
 sections and strata of our people, compre- 
 hended among its soldiers men trained in 
 every industry and in every art. They could 
 take a locomotive to pieces and rebuild it; 
 they could lay the track of a railroad or 
 they could construct an automobile truck. 
 Though the endeavor had been to leave in 
 civil life workmen necessary to the industrial 
 life of the nation, the army was itself a great 
 hive of trained workmen who could go into 
 almost any land, however much devastated, 
 rebuild it, and maintain themselves there 
 without outside assistance. 
 
 To supply these men with the necessaries 
 of life was in itself a collosal task. Readers 
 will recall how wide-spread and vociferous 
 
 equipment at the beginning of the creation 
 of the army. The country did not thor- 
 oughly understand that this nation was not 
 like Germany in having devoted its best 
 energies for fifty years to the creation and 
 storing of military supplies against a war 
 which its rulers knew must come. In the 
 nations of continental Europe, even in France 
 the moment war was declared the uniforms, 
 guns, and equipment for the entire army were 
 ready at fixed places and every man of mili- 
 tary age in the nation knew at what spot 
 he could report. To the American mind 
 that system has always been repugnant. 
 In time of peace we have persistently thought 
 of peace and refused to prepare for war. 
 Accordingly, when confronted with the prob- 
 lem of equipping more than a million men 
 for service which it was desired should begin 
 within six months we found many perplexities 
 in the situation and the men themselves 
 suffered not a little from the lack of suitable 
 clothing in winter camps. Fortunately 
 enough, there was in this war, unlike the 
 situation during our Spanish war, no com- 
 plaint whatsoever regarding the quality or 
 the quantity of food furnished the armies. 
 We had no "embalmed beef" scandal. 
 Unquestionably the success of this branch 
 of the commissary department was due to 
 
 was the complaint of lack of uniforms and ^ the fact that the great food producers of the 
 
38 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IX THE GREAT WAR 
 
 39 
 
 United States had for three years, prior to 
 our entrance into the war, been feeding 
 the armies of the AUies. Their methods 
 were properly systematized, and to feed our 
 armies simply necessitated an extension and 
 amplification of them. 
 
 telling in full, and the liberality of the Ameri- 
 can people in meeting the cost of this helpful 
 service passed all earlier achievements. The 
 "drives" for charity were as widely extended 
 and as earnestly pressed as those involved 
 in placing a national loan, and the amounts 
 
 We had hardly entered into the war when expended cannot have fallen far short of a 
 patriotic and humane people throughout the billion dollars during the period of the war. 
 
 Some description of incidents of life at the 
 various camps will be of interest to those 
 who did not serve in the army, and may 
 perhaps arouse recollections, at once pleasant 
 and painful, among those who did. ^^ hat 
 happened in one camp was as a rule that which 
 happened in all, for everything was done by 
 routine and on a schedule which was followed 
 universally. The American genius for stan- 
 dardization was applied to the organization of 
 camps as to the building of motors. Let us 
 quote at this point the day's schedule at a 
 typical camp: 
 
 countr\' recognized the necessitv of furnishing 
 to our soldiers something more than mere 
 food and raiment and as a result such or- 
 ganizations as the ^ oung Men's Christian 
 Association, the Red Cross, The Knights of 
 Columbus and others took up the task of 
 ameliorating the condition of the soldiers 
 and sailors. Here again our men profited 
 b}' the fact that the war was old to the world 
 if new to the United States, for all of these 
 organizations had been doing much to help 
 cheer and comfort the soldiers of our Allies 
 abroad. What was done by them, not in 
 our camps 
 alone and not 
 in the United 
 States alone, 
 merits a history 
 of its own and 
 in due time no 
 doubt that 
 volume will be 
 supplied. Their 
 huts establish- 
 ed in every 
 camp, their 
 uniformed sec- 
 retaries work- 
 ing amid the 
 men and trying 
 in ever\' possi- 
 ble waytobring 
 cheer into hard 
 lives; the en- 
 tertainments 
 they organized 
 with theatrical 
 talent from 
 B r o ad wa y , 
 often volun- 
 teered with the 
 characteristic 
 liberaHty of the 
 dramatic pro- 
 fess i o n — a 1 1 
 these things 
 make up a rec- 
 ord well worth 
 
 }■■ 
 
 0^ ^ ^9^Jm^ 
 
 m 
 
 
 m^^^^Km* 
 
 ^^K^^-JWm .... MaB 
 
 
 
 General Pershing and General Sibert talking with President Poincare and General Petain. General 
 Petain, the saviour of Verdun, has since been made a Marshal of France 
 
+0 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 -^. 
 
 '^'f^^-f^ •; -^ 
 
 An American artillery regiment on its way to the fighting zone mt ranee. I he marksmanship of our gunners amazed the lleiiiuins 
 
 Back and forth, back and forth, we marched on the 
 black strip of drill ground between barracks. I had 
 never walked so much in my life, and sweat rolled from 
 every pore. My back ached dully; my feet burned. 
 But the Second Lieutenant (a youth with a pale, thin 
 fringe above his lip) continued to command sharply 
 "One, Two, Three, Four; One, Two, Three, Four!" 
 
 Suddenly he wheeled about and came up to me 
 briskly. 
 
 "Get in step!" he shouted, glaring at me. "\'ou are 
 not dead yet." 
 
 The muscles of my jaws twitched, and I breathed 
 an oath of vengeance. But I fell in step and I kept up 
 with the count. 
 
 In the construction of the camps the chief 
 features were the barracks. These were 
 rough frame buildings, of two stories, with a 
 low-pitched roof covered with fire-proof 
 roofing. The building contained bunks for 
 150 to 200 men, or about one company. 
 The main floor housed the mess room and 
 kitchen, and in some instances a company 
 hall used for purposes of recreation. Re- 
 markable speed was shown in the erection 
 of these edifices, the record time being 
 said to have been made by a contractor at 
 Camp Pike, near Little Rock, Ark. It is 
 claimed that on a bare piece of ground at 
 nine one morning he set a gang of carpenters 
 to work and at 11.55 had a company barracks 
 all complete, cleaned up, and the workmen 
 awa}' busy on another job. 
 
 But to return to the vital question food: 
 
 S-4S 
 
 Reveille 
 
 6 - 6.1S 
 
 Calisthenics 
 
 6-30- 7 
 
 Breakfast 
 
 7 - 7-30 
 
 Police of Quarters 
 
 7.30- 8.4s 
 
 School of the Soldier 
 
 8.4s- 9.45 
 
 School of the Squad 
 
 9.45-10.15 
 
 Inspection of Quarters 
 
 10.15-10.45 
 
 Semaphore Signalling Drill 
 
 10.45-11.45 
 
 Reading and Explanation of Articles of 
 
 
 War 
 
 13 - I 
 
 Dinner 
 
 I - 1.30 
 
 Issue and Exchange of Equipment 
 
 1.30- 2.15 
 
 School of the Soldier 
 
 2.30- 3.15 
 
 School of the Squad 
 
 3-iS- 4 
 
 Instruction and Guard Duty 
 
 4-15- 5 
 
 Calisthenics 
 
 S - S4S 
 
 Rest Period 
 
 S4S 
 
 Retreat 
 
 6 
 
 Supper 
 
 10.30 
 
 Tattoo 
 
 10.4s 
 
 Taps 
 
 The men were hardly landed in their 
 camps before they began work on the rudi- 
 ments of drill. The hand salute which is 
 given so airily by men passing on the street 
 IS not so readily learned. Several hours 
 are spent in drilling in this simple perfor- 
 mance. After that, divided up into squads 
 of eight men, they were taught to march 
 in step. This seems like a simple task 
 but recruits have left on record the fact 
 that they did not find it so easy. One 
 writes : 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 41 
 
 At mealtimes, to the call of the bugle the 
 men were marched to each mess hall, and 
 there in single file carrymg m their hands 
 the metal plate and mug from which each 
 must eat, whatever his home training in the 
 matter of porcelam, they marched past 
 the service table where the dishes of each 
 were piled high with food, and his cup filled 
 with steaming coflPee. Quantity seemed to 
 be the first consideration, though from none 
 of the camps did there ever arise any com- 
 plaint of the quality of the food served. 
 But certainly the assortment and amount 
 piled on each plate were not designed for 
 weaklings, and in the case of most of the men, 
 who took it greedily, would have revolted 
 the more delicate appetites they cherished 
 in civilian life. 
 
 Sample menus may not be uninteresting. 
 Here are typical meals : 
 
 BREAKFAST 
 Steak, potatoes, rice, and coffee. 
 
 DINNER 
 Meat stew, mashed potatoes, boiled onions, peas, 
 bread and butter, pudding or pie, and tea, coffee or 
 lemonade for a beverage. 
 
 SUPPER 
 Fried bacon, canned salmon, potato salad, a vegeta- 
 ble, bread and butter, and peaches or some other canned 
 fruit. 
 
 I . . . 
 
 ' This is a typical menu for an ordinary 
 
 day, and though in the National Army there 
 
 were gathered youths who in civil life had 
 
 led pampered lives there was no complaint 
 
 about this provender. Hunger, stimulated 
 
 by plenty of work in the open air and regular 
 hours, furnished the best sauce. 
 
 And there was indeed plenty of both work 
 and play in the open air. As the schedule 
 shows, drilling occupied most of the time, 
 but even with drills, trench digging, long 
 hikes and bayonet practice, the whole routine 
 of the soldier's physical exercise was not 
 completed. After hours of this sort of work 
 the boys would turn to athletics for recrea- 
 tion, and baseball, football, and all varieties 
 of athletic sports engaged most of their 
 leisure time. The athletic field of one 
 cantonment was equipped with not less 
 than sixteen separate baseball diamonds 
 and many a half holiday saw sixteen separate 
 games going on, each with its enthusiastic 
 crowd of "fans" rooting for their favorite 
 team. Another camp had twenty-six foot- 
 ball gridirons and it was not extraordinary 
 for all twenty-six to be occupied at the same 
 time. Then the twenty-six crowds of specta- 
 tors was something to more than match the 
 biggest November game in the Yale bowl or 
 the Harvard stadium. Boxing, too, was a 
 favorite sport and the wide-spread draft 
 had caught in its net several hundred prac- 
 ticed pugilists who were assigned to in- 
 structor's duty. At times as many as a 
 thousand men would be engaged in taking a 
 fistic lesson, directed by an instructor perched 
 on a lofty platform with assistants circulating 
 among the crowd and helping the boys in 
 the rudimentary art of handling their fists. 
 All physical work of this character, and even 
 boyish games like leap frog and prisoners' 
 base, were encouraged by the instructors at 
 the camps. The good effect they had on the 
 
 A column of American artillery passing through a village of Picardy on their way to the first-line trenches 
 
42 
 
 UNITED STATES I 
 
 physical training of" the men to Ht them for 
 war suggests the reflection that it might not 
 be unwise to encourage men to play a little 
 more in fitting themselves for peace. 
 
 There were in all sixteen cantonments 
 for the National Army and sixteen for the 
 National Guard. Besides these there were 
 officers' training camps and special camps 
 for the marine corps, the aviation force, and 
 for the reception of men whose training was 
 completed and who were being concentrated 
 immediately prior to being put on transports 
 and sent to the foreign battlefields. A full 
 list of the National Army and National Guard 
 cantonments with their locations and the 
 geographical distribution of the troops which 
 were assigned to each will be of general 
 interest: 
 
 NATIONAL ARMY CANTONMENTS 
 
 The names borne by the various camps are those of distinguished 
 soldiers oj the United States 
 
 
 ORGANIZ- 
 
 
 
 1 SITE 
 
 ATION 
 
 TROOPS FROM — 
 
 CAMP 
 
 Ayer,Mass. 
 
 76th Di- 
 
 Maine, New Hampshire. 
 
 Devens 
 
 
 vision. 
 
 Vermont, Massachu- 
 setts, Rhode Island, 
 and Connecticut. 
 
 
 Yaphank, 
 
 77th Di- 
 
 Metropolitan portion of 
 
 Upton 
 
 Long Isl- 
 
 vision. 
 
 New York. 
 
 
 and, N.Y. 
 
 
 
 
 Wrights- 
 
 78th Di- 
 
 Remainder of New York 
 
 Dix 
 
 town, N.J. 
 
 vision. 
 
 and Northern Pennsyl- 
 vania. 
 
 
 Annapolis 
 
 79th Di- 
 
 Southern Pennsylvania, 
 
 Meade 
 
 Junction, 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Md. 
 
 
 
 
 Petersburg, 
 
 Soth Di- 
 
 New Jersey, Virginia, 
 
 Lee 
 
 Va. 
 
 vision. 
 
 Maryland, Delaware, 
 and District of Colum- 
 bia. 
 
 
 Columbia, 
 
 Sist Di- 
 
 Tennessee, North Caro- 
 
 Jackson 
 
 S. C. 
 
 vision. 
 
 lina, South Carolina, 
 and Florida. 
 
 
 Atlanta, 
 
 82d Di- 
 
 Georgia and Alabama. 
 
 Gordon 
 
 Ga. 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Chlllicotbe, 
 
 83d Di- 
 
 Ohio and West Virginia. 
 
 Sherman 
 
 Ohio. 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Louisville, 
 
 84th Di- 
 
 Indiana and Kentucky. 
 
 Taylor 
 
 Ky. 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Battle 
 
 85th Di- 
 
 Michigan and Wiscon- 
 
 Custer 
 
 Creek, 
 
 vision. 
 
 sin. 
 
 
 Mich. 
 
 
 
 
 Rockford, 
 
 86th Di- 
 
 Illinois. 
 
 Grant 
 
 111. 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Little 
 
 87th Di- 
 
 Arkansas, Louisiana, 
 
 Pike 
 
 Rock,Ark. 
 
 vision. 
 
 and Mississippi. 
 
 
 Des 
 
 88th Di- 
 
 Minnesota, Iowa, Ne- 
 
 Dodge 
 
 Moines, 
 
 vision. 
 
 braska, North Dakota, 
 
 
 Iowa. 
 
 
 and South Dakota. 
 
 
 Fort Riley, 
 
 89th Di- 
 
 Kansas, Missouri, and 
 
 Funston 
 
 Kan. 
 
 vision. 
 
 Colorado. 
 
 
 Fort Sam 
 
 90th Di- 
 
 Texas, Arizona, New 
 
 Travis 
 
 Houston, 
 
 vision. 
 
 Mexico, and Oklahoma. 
 
 
 Tex. 
 
 
 
 
 N THE 
 
 GREAT WAR 
 
 
 
 ORGANIZ- 
 
 
 
 SITK 
 
 .\TION 
 
 TROOPS FROM — 
 
 CAMP 
 
 .American 
 
 91st Di- 
 
 Washington, Oregon, 
 
 Lewis 
 
 Lake, 
 
 vision. 
 
 California, Nevada, 
 
 
 Wash. 
 
 
 Utah, Idaho, Montana, 
 and Wyoming. 
 
 
 Charlotte, 
 
 26th (oid 
 
 Maine, New Hampshire, 
 
 Greene 
 
 N. C. 
 
 S) Di- 
 vision. 
 
 Vermont, Massachu- 
 
 
 
 setts, Rhode Island, 
 
 
 
 
 and Connecticut. 
 
 
 Spartan- 
 
 27th (old 
 
 New York. 
 
 Wads- 
 
 burg,S.C. 
 
 6) p i - 
 vision. 
 
 
 worth 
 
 Augusta, 
 
 2Sth (old 
 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Hancock 
 
 Ga. 
 
 7). pi- 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Anniston, 
 
 29th (old 
 
 New Jersey, Virginia, 
 
 McClel- 
 
 Ala. 
 
 8) Di- 
 
 Marj'land, Delaware, 
 
 lan 
 
 
 vision. 
 
 and District of Colum- 
 bia. 
 Tennessee, North Caro- 
 
 
 Greenville, 
 
 30th (old 
 
 Sevier 
 
 S. C. 
 
 9) P i - 
 
 lina, and South Caro- 
 
 
 
 vision. 
 
 lina. 
 
 
 Macon, Ga. 
 
 31st (old 
 
 Georgia, Alabama, and 
 
 Wheeler 
 
 
 10) Di- 
 
 Florida. 
 
 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Waco, Tex. 
 
 3 2d (old 
 
 Michigan and Wiscon- 
 
 MacAr- 
 
 
 11) Di- 
 
 sin. 
 
 thur 
 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Houston, 
 
 3 2d (old 
 
 Illinois. 
 
 Logan 
 
 Tex. 
 
 12) Di- 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 De mi n g. 
 
 34th (old 
 
 Minnesota, Iowa, Ne- 
 
 Cody 
 
 N. Mex. 
 
 13) Di- 
 
 braska, North Dakota, 
 
 
 
 vision. 
 
 and South Dakota. 
 
 
 Fort Sill, 
 
 35th (old 
 
 Missouri and Kansas. 
 
 D n 1 • 
 
 Okla. 
 
 14). Di- 
 vision. 
 
 
 phan 
 
 Fort 
 
 36th (old 
 
 Texas and Oklahoma. 
 
 Bowie 
 
 Worth, 
 
 l^) Di- 
 
 
 
 Tex. 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Mont- 
 
 37th (old 
 
 Ohio and West Virginia. 
 
 S h e r i " 
 
 gomery, 
 
 16) Di- 
 
 
 dan. 
 
 Ala. 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Hatties- 
 
 38th (old 
 
 Indiana and Kentucky 
 
 Shelby 
 
 \'^-^' 
 
 17). Di- 
 
 
 
 Miss. 
 
 vision. 
 
 
 
 Alex a n - 
 
 39th (old 
 
 Louisiana, Mississippi, 
 
 Beaure- 
 
 dria, La. 
 
 18) Di- 
 vision 
 
 and Arkansas. 
 
 gard 
 
 Linda 
 
 40th (old 
 
 California, Nevada, 
 
 Kearny 
 
 Vista, Cal. 
 
 I9)_ Di- 
 
 Utah, Colorado, Ari- 
 
 
 
 vision. 
 
 zona, and New Mexico. 
 
 
 Palo Alto, 
 
 41st (old 
 
 Washington, Oregon, 
 
 Fremont 
 
 Cal. 
 
 20). Di- 
 
 Montana, Idaho, and 
 
 
 
 vision. 
 
 Wyoming. 
 
 
 Garden 
 
 42d Di- 
 
 Most of the Middle and 
 
 Mills 
 
 Citv, L. I., 
 
 vision. 
 
 far Western States. 
 
 
 N.Y. 
 
 
 
 
 After the men had finished their course 
 of training in the respective cantonments 
 they were taken to various ports on the 
 Atlantic seaboard and shipped to Europe. 
 In both England and France there were 
 other instruction camps in which the men 
 were taught more precisely the rudiments 
 of war under the tuition of foreign officers 
 fresh from the front and with years of ex- 
 perience in actual battle. Of the methods 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 43 
 
 »f transportation across the 
 hree thousand miles of water 
 vhich separated us from the 
 eat of war I shall have more 
 
 say in the succeeding chap- 
 er. The instruction in the 
 European camps was from the 
 Aery first briefer than had 
 >een planned. For our men 
 lad hardly begun to arrive in 
 ontinental Europe before it 
 )ecame apparent that the need 
 or their presence on the battle 
 ine was already pressmg. As 
 
 1 result just as rapidly as they 
 :ould be given even a rudi- 
 Tientary idea of their duties, 
 :hey were pushed forward and 
 heir education was completed 
 
 American soldiers on a practice hike, marching through a typical French village 
 
 n the harsh and bloody post-graduate school 
 )f the trenches. 
 
 In both England and France our troops 
 vere greeted as though they were the saviors 
 )f the nation. Particularly was this true 
 n the latter country for there the situation 
 lad been the more desperate and the ravages 
 jf the Hun more frightful. One little French 
 ieaport, St. Nazaire, which had for centuries 
 Iragged out a humdrum existence as a port 
 )f the third or fourth class, entered by no 
 rreat ocean liners and far from the track of 
 :ourist travel, was suddenly galvanized into 
 imazing life and development. Great docks 
 md breakwaters were constructed for the 
 ■eception of the ships bringing the Yankee 
 "orces. Railroads were laid out and con- 
 structed for direct connection with Paris 
 md the battlefront. Camps capable of 
 lolding 100,000 men were established. The 
 j/illagers tried to learn English and the sleepy 
 ittle sailors' town was quick to see the 
 Dossibility of profit in the inundation of 
 strangers and suddenly transformed itself 
 nto a sort of Coney Island with amusement 
 ind refreshment places on every hand. 
 
 How the Americans adapted themselves 
 :o the situation and to their new manner of 
 ife was told most graphically by a friendly 
 oreign observer in September of 1917 who 
 vrote thus in an English magazine: 
 
 The American troops in their billets, their camps, 
 :heir training grounds, their rifle and gun practice 
 grounds near the front, are already absolutely at home. 
 The French villagers have adopted now a Franco- 
 American language — sister tongue, though different, 
 fo the now classic Anglo-French spoken for three years 
 
 from Calais downward. The American troops have 
 made themselves at home, have settled all their ar- 
 rangements with businesslike finality, and are out to 
 do their job thoroughly. Their bases near the front 
 seemed to me already definitely organized. They are 
 settled in villages, where they disturb the villagers by 
 aggressive sanitation. They have abolished all dung- 
 hills, to the old farmers' amazement and alarm. They 
 have purified the water, cleaned up the streets, cottages, 
 and farmyards. The villagers, at first terrified by these 
 wild measures, are now reconciled, and every little 
 village grocery sells American matches, American 
 tobacco, American groceries, sterilized milk, "canned 
 goods," American mustard, and everything American 
 except American whisky. For at the messes, where I 
 was received with open arms as an ally of to-day and 
 forever — no American officer makes any doubt about 
 that — cold American purified water and French coffee 
 with American sterilized milk are the only drinks. 
 Villages of France have become American, and Ameri- 
 can cafe au lait colored cars and motor bikes with 
 side-cars tear all over the country driven by university 
 boys turned chauffeurs. 
 
 Our new allies are learning from us both — from us 
 old allies, English and French. I first saw a French 
 division in horizon blue teach the new American Army, 
 in khaki and wearing British trench helmets what a 
 modern battle is like. It was a moving sight. It was 
 poignant, really, when one heard that the French divi- 
 sion had just come back from Verdun and was enactmg 
 over again in play what it had just done in terrible and 
 glorious earnest. The American Staff stood on a knoll 
 watching, with the French Staff explaining. On the 
 edge of the hill to the left of the staff the new American 
 Army watched. Further to the left the French troops 
 came on. Every "poilu" among them had just come 
 from the real thing. He grinned as he played at war 
 this time, and one felt how he must enjoy playing at it. 
 
 The lines advanced in open formation, then stopped 
 for the barrage fire to be pushed forward. Flares were 
 sent up to signal to the artillery. There was another 
 
44 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 stop forward under barrage fire, another (sham) 
 barrage tire, more flares and rockets, the liorizon-blue 
 bne crept cautiously around to take the first trenches, 
 the macliine-gun parties came up. One more barrage 
 fire and more signals, then the boche trenches below 
 us were taken. 
 
 It was all exactly as it would have been in real war. 
 The American troops understood and appreciated 
 keenly. Who would not.' These play-actors in the hol- 
 low at our feet had just come from the real tragedy, and 
 had fought and won, but had paid the price of victory. 
 
 The American soldier (officers told me) understands 
 the manoeuvre well. The officers find that their men 
 are quick at grasping individual field work, i. e., make 
 admirable noncommissioned officers with initiative, 
 enterprise, and intelligence. French officers, many of 
 whom speak English perfectly, while several American 
 officers I met speak very good French, give enthusi- 
 astic and intelligent assistance. French and Americans 
 are not much alike in method or by temperament. 
 I heard a French officer describing a battle with 
 perfect technical accuracy, but also with dramatic 
 expressiveness and with the literary sense. An Ameri- 
 can officer immediately translated the French into 
 American, and it was American — short, sharp, almost 
 crackling with crisp Americanisms. It was the same 
 battle described, but the difference in the descriptions 
 was delightful to note. Differences are nothing. The 
 French are keen to teach, the Americans, if possible, 
 keener still to learn. 
 
 British instructors and American pupils understand 
 each other equally well. I never was more amused, 
 pleased, cheered, and bucked up than by watching 
 
 British Sergeant instructors training American officer 
 cadets. Imagine a typical British Sergeant, with 
 three years of war behind him and with seven or more 
 years of British military training before that, spending 
 every ounce of his energy, every particle of his keen- 
 ness, and every word of his vocabulary teaching young 
 Americans what they will have to do in a few months' 
 time, and the young Americans using every muscle of 
 their bodies, all their alertness, and all their keenness, 
 too, to make themselves ready for the fight that all 
 are yearning to be in. 
 
 Parties of American officer cadets dug line upon line 
 of sham trenches, killed dummy boches on the way, 
 dashed through four lines of trenches, dug themselves 
 in at the last, and began instant rapid fire at more boche 
 targets. "Advance!" said the Sergeant. A second 
 later "Go!" and the young chaps leaped out. "Kill 
 'em sweet and clean! Clean killing is what we want!" 
 shouted the Sergeant. The young Americans were 
 at the dummies and each dug his dummy with a wild 
 "Yah!" or college yell or scream. "Go on!" roared 
 the Sergeant; "there are more boches beyond. Clean 
 killing is what we want." And the Americans charged 
 at several more lines of dummies before they leaped 
 into the front trench and began firing. 
 
 Before the war ended more than 1,500,000 
 young Americans shared in this Hfe of the 
 foreign training camps. Let us consider 
 the way in which the Government performed 
 the herculean task of taking them across the 
 3,oOQ mile barrier of the tossmg Atlantic. 
 
 American troops in Chateau-Thierry which has since become one of the worlil-tamous sites ot the war 
 
C H A P T ER III 
 
 THE LACK OF SHIPS THE INTERNED GERMAN FLEET EFFORTS TO DISABLE 
 
 IT THE VOYAGE OF THE TRANSPORTS— LOSSES BY ATTACK OUR NAVAL 
 
 PORTS IN FRANCE A TRAINING CAMP IN ENGLAND INSTRUCTION IN REAL 
 
 WAR FIRST DAYS IN THE TRENCHES THE FIRST AMERICAN DEAD 
 
 G 
 
 lIVEN an 
 army of not 
 less than 
 3 ,500,000 
 men, which it was the 
 mtent of the United 
 States to raise and 
 equip, and recog- 
 nizing the fact that 
 the fighting of this 
 army would have to 
 be done beyond seas, 
 how was it to be car- 
 ried to the field of 
 battle? 
 
 That was the prob- 
 lem that confronted 
 the authorities of the 
 United States while 
 the men were doing 
 their bit with hard drill and preparatory 
 work in the cantonments. For long years 
 of neglect had reduced our merchant marine 
 to proportions that were utterly ridiculous 
 in the face of the existing emergency. 
 Of our own resources we could not have 
 taken 50,000 men a month across the 
 Atlantic — and the least number that would 
 comply with the need would be 250,000. 
 England naturally was willing to help with 
 her prodigious fleet, but her own troops 
 from the colonies had to be ferried across 
 and meantime the Germans were sinking 
 ships at the rate of not less than half a 
 million tons a month. Of course the remedy 
 was to build new ships, but that took time 
 and the enemy was beginning to exult over 
 what he believed would be the permanent 
 incapacity of our nation to get its soldiers to 
 the front in season to be a factor in the war. 
 He estimated the amount of tonnage afloat 
 that would be needed for the transportation 
 of each soldier to France and his maintenance 
 fhere at six tons, and asked with some degree 
 
 of reason where in the world the United 
 States could secure this twelve or fourteen 
 millions of tons before Germany had brought 
 the war to a victorious end. 
 
 What was done by this nation in this crisis 
 was one of the finest examples of organized 
 and efficient effort the world has ever seen. 
 Ships were needed. "Very well, we will 
 build them," was the response of the nation. 
 The Emergency Fleet Corporation was cre- 
 ated by Congress with a capital of $50,000,000 
 and the work begun. Ship yards were es- 
 tablished all over the United States. Con- 
 tracts were let to private bidders. Public 
 yards were speeded up. There was a long 
 controversy over the question of whether 
 only steel ships should be built, or some 
 part of the construction should be of wood. 
 A compromise was effected, but in the end 
 the greater part of the tonnage was of steel. 
 Ships were built on the Great Lakes, of pro- 
 portions that would permit their passage 
 through the docks of the Welland Canal, or 
 were of such size that it was necessary to 
 cut them in two and tow the sections through 
 the canal and to a point below the rapids of 
 the St. Lawrence, there to be put together 
 again and steam bravely out to sea. After 
 half a century in which the need for internal 
 development had diverted the attention 
 of the people of the United States from the 
 ocean-carrying trade, in which they had 
 once ranked first, the stern demands of war 
 once again lured them upon the ocean and 
 they determined to reassert their old su- 
 premacy there. 
 
 We had ready to hand a very considerable 
 nucleus of a fleet of transports in the ships 
 belonging to German companies which had 
 been interned in our ports at the outbreak of 
 the war. There were eighty-seven of these, 
 representing a total of more than 500,000 tons. 
 Greatest of all was the liner Vaterland, 
 which, when taken over by the United States, 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The FiiU-rlaiid, rechristcned the Lti-ialhai:, carrrL-d ahiKist lo.coo soldiLis t-ach 
 
 to h"ht Gemianv 
 
 was rechristened the Leviathan. This, the 
 largest merchant vessel in the world, of 
 54,cx»o tons was, like many other of the 
 
 German ships, treacherously crippled by her 
 crew by the destruction of vital parts of the 
 machinery. But although in the case of this 
 great ship alone the repairs cost 
 no less than $1,000,000 they 
 were swiftly made by American 
 mechanics — though the Ger- 
 mans had boasted that she 
 could be repaired nowhere but 
 in her home port — and she was 
 set afloat to carry more than 
 10,000 American soldiers abroad 
 on each trip to give battle to 
 her former owners. Her con- 
 tribution in all was 94,195 fight- 
 ing men landed in France. By 
 charter, purchase, and con=- 
 struction the American Govern- 
 ment ultimately acquired so 
 great a fleet that when the 
 armistice was signed we had 
 transported morethan 2,500,000 
 men across the ocean. 
 
 It was no slight task to begin 
 with to get the men from the 
 cantonments which were scat- 
 tered the length and breadth 
 of the land to the waiting ships. 
 Boston, New York, Philadel- 
 r,,j^«*rf phia, and Newport News were 
 „ ^,. , f — : — ' the chief ports whence troops 
 
 Committee on Public Information 1 • j 11 1 1 
 
 Interior of boiler of S. S. Pommm,, now U. S. S, Rappahannock, showing how were shipped, although Other 
 the German crew melted the boiler by dry firing seaports were occasionally used. 
 
UNITED-STATES 
 
 Near the principal sailing ports 
 were great concentration 
 camps, such as Camp Merritt, 
 in New Jersey, near the port 
 of Hoboken. To these camps 
 the men about to sail were 
 brought from all over the coun- 
 try. There was very little 
 ceremony about it all. For 
 pomp and martial display this 
 was the least picturesque of 
 all wars. Mustered in their 
 home camps at early dawn, 
 marched without music to 
 waiting troop trains, trans- 
 ported in crowded day coaches 
 across half the contment m 
 many instances, without 
 crowds to speed them on their 
 way the boys despatched about 
 the business of fighting the 
 Hun must have felt a lamen- 
 table lack of romance about 
 the circumstances attendant 
 upon their departure. 
 
 While every possible effort was made to 
 conserve the health and comfort of the troops 
 
 A latecomer being sworn in at the pier just before the trans- 
 port sailed 
 
 I Public Information 
 
 The wrecked engine room of the German ship which became the U. S. S. George 
 
 IVashin'ton 
 
 en route the troop trains at best were but a 
 dismal form of travehng. Each had its 
 kitchen car in which the company cooks 
 practised their art, and food was plentiful 
 at regular hours. At fixed periods along the 
 line, if the journey was a long one, the train 
 was stopped and the men mustered outside 
 for exercise. In the main, however, the 
 journeys were uneventful and uninteresting, 
 and the thousands of our people who rnay 
 have wondered at the loud shouts with which 
 a loaded troop train greeted every station 
 at which there was sign of life may have 
 conjectured that the only variety that 
 attended the soldiers' journey was an occa- 
 sional chance to yell. 
 
 Meantime at Hoboken, or some other 
 port, the ships destined to carry the troops 
 speeding thither from across country were 
 being prepared. The transports were manned 
 in the main by members of the Naval Re- 
 serves, patriotic boys, often college students 
 who volunteered for that service early in the 
 war. The thousands of young men in this 
 service were the very pick of our youth, and 
 it is hoped that the experience of seafaring life 
 they enjoyed during the war may encourage 
 many of them to take up as a life profession the 
 American merchant marine which it is beheved 
 will be established on a prodigious scale as a 
 result of the fleets built for war purposes. 
 
48 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Wives and sweethearts, friends and relatives at the pier saying those final words, so commonplace and yet so moving, to their 
 boys setting forth for the great adventure on one of the first transports to leave our shores 
 
 © International Film Service 
 
 This illustrates the spirit in which our boys set out to "lick the Huns." They came back with the same spirit even though 
 
 wounded 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR' 
 
 49 
 
 Some of the first of our soldiers marching up the gangway mi to the ocean terry which was to land almost two and a half million 
 of them on foreign soil before the victory was won 
 
 
 Photograph from London Daily Mirror 
 A German submarine commander showed the customary German respect for the property and lives of unoft'ending neutrals by 
 
 .setting afire in .raid ocean this neutral ship 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 SI 
 
 
 ^^"^^ T^^«lg|2^---: 
 
 Photograph from London Daily Mirror 
 
 British destroyers are hurrying to the rescue .of the surviving victims of this submarine atrocity where the Germans did not 
 succeed in hving up to their ideal of "sinking without a trace" 
 
 The transports were steamships of every 
 sort. Only a very fev^^ had been built es- 
 pecially for this purpose because the United 
 States had had httle need for moving 
 troops about the world except to her colonies 
 in the Phihppines. Most of the transports, 
 therefore, were liners that had been adapted 
 to this use. Some were among the most gor- 
 geous of the ocean palaces which were 
 stripped of their tapestries, paintings, and 
 decorative features, fitted with bunks and 
 set to the stern duties of war. Many had 
 been owned by our foes. Besides the Ger- 
 nan ships already mentioned 14 Austrian 
 ships aggregating about 70,000 tons were 
 :aken by the federal government. The skill 
 with which the German sailors had secretly 
 ATecked the machinery of their ships, acting 
 ipon instructions from their government, 
 nade their immediate use impossible. As a 
 result of the first survey made after the 
 seizure the American engineers declared 
 that it would take at least 18 months to 
 complete the necessary repairs. Germans 
 ^xultingly insisted they could not be re- 
 paired at all outside of Germany. They 
 
 failed to take into account American in- 
 genuity and efficiency. In fact, all the ships 
 were made ready for service within nine 
 months. But at first the machinery and 
 vitals of these vessels presented a sorry 
 spectacle. Valves had been thrown over- 
 board, pipes cut and the sections removed, 
 bolts, nuts, and other articles had been dropped 
 into the machinery where they would do 
 the most hurt, and bearings had been filled 
 with emery to cut them as soon the engines 
 might be started. In certain ships explosives 
 had been secreted in the engines with the 
 idea that on starting them up they would 
 blow everything, including the new engineers, 
 to pieces. It was all a piece of Hun fright- 
 fulness and destruction very carefully worked 
 out. The way in which the engineers of the 
 United States navy grappled with this me- 
 chanical chaos and reduced it to order, in 
 many cases so improving the engines of the 
 ships that they made several knots an hour 
 in our service more than they had before, 
 was a triumph of professional skill. Of 
 course when put into our service the names 
 of the German vessels were changed with 
 
UN 
 
 ITED STAIES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 S. S. Antilles of the U. S. Army transport service arriving at a French port laden with American troops. She vpas later sunk 
 
 on a return voyage by a German submarine 
 
 :he exception of three that, by a delicate 
 ittention, the Huns, before they went war- 
 mad, had named George Washington, Presi- 
 dent Lincoln, and President Grant. The 
 Prinz Eitel Freidrich, a raider which had 
 escaped from its British pursuers only by 
 (running into Hampton Roads, was renamed 
 Baron DeKalh and took the very first de- 
 tachment of American troops to France. 
 The Kronprinzessin Cecelie, which at the 
 opening of the war was on her way to Europe 
 with a large shipment of gold for Germany 
 and which turned and fled into Bar Harbor, 
 was renamed the Mount Vernon and was 
 badly damaged, though not sunk, as the 
 result of a torpedo wound inflicted by her 
 former owners. 
 
 As each transport filled up with its quota 
 of precious human cargo, it was moved 
 from its pier to a previously assigned anchor- 
 age in the bay, safe behind the submarine 
 net stretched across the harbor's entrance. 
 A ring of ever-watchful cruisers and de- 
 stroyers surrounded the gradually mcreasing 
 number of transports. In a way, perhaps, 
 these few days of anchorage were the most 
 difficult of the whole trip. With land in 
 sight on all sides, with the high towers and 
 
 at night the bright fights of Manhattan, 
 suggesting all the joys of the country's 
 metropolis, with nothing of any real impor- 
 tance to do, and with what seemed unending 
 delays to the start for France, it was at times 
 hard for this crowd, eager to get nearer to 
 the enemy, to reconcile itself to the utter 
 impossibility of either getting shore leave 
 or of being off" on the road to war and glory. 
 
 However, the day of days at last arrived. 
 The embarkation was completed. The squad- 
 ron, divided into several groups, each with 
 Its own escort of destroyers and cruisers, 
 passed through the Narrows and before 
 many hours had gone was on the high ocean. 
 The various groups separated, each travelling 
 a diff"erent route, and though they might come 
 in sight of each other on the way over more 
 than once they were not to meet again until 
 they all had safely reached that port "some- 
 where in France." 
 
 Life aboard the transports soon settled 
 down to more or less of a routine. For the 
 first few days many of the men, most of whom 
 had never been on salt water before, had 
 neither strength nor desire enough to do any- 
 thing. They were experiencing their first 
 taste of the great joy killer of the briny deep; 
 
54 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 seasickness. But being in tip-top condition 
 and leading the most regular of lives they 
 quickly recovered and again began to take 
 interest in life and in "chow," especially in 
 "chow." It was a good thing that a paternal 
 government had provided tons and tons of 
 food. For, once over the seasickness, every 
 soldier boy seemed to make it his chief object 
 in life to make up as quickly and completely 
 as possible for whatever meals he had 
 missed. 
 
 Besides eating there were plenty of other 
 
 © Western Newspaper Un 
 
 The internal mechanism of that dreaded modern instrument of destruction, a floating mine 
 
 things to do. All the "passengers" suddenly 
 became one great strident body devoted tor 
 many hours ever^' day to the difficult task' 
 of acquiring a speaking knowledge of French. 
 Not all France ever held as many varied 
 "patois" of its musical tongue as could be 
 heard any day on any of the transports. 
 Then there were boxing bouts every night i 
 during which the participants got their fair 
 share of exercising their muscles, while the; 
 spectators would make valiant efforts to 
 regain for their tongues that stability which' 
 they must havcL 
 lost during thein 
 French linguistic 
 studies. 
 
 Of course 
 there was more* 
 serious work to< 
 be done, too,' 
 now. Setting-upi 
 drillmorning, 
 afternoon, and 
 evening kept the 
 soldiers from 
 goingstale, while 
 the naval crews 
 never once let up 
 preparing for 
 possible sub- 
 marines by fre- 
 quent gun prac- 
 tice. All hands, 
 officers and men,i 
 both military 
 and naval, tookl 
 part in frequent 
 fire and life boat 
 drills. A certain 
 number of men, 
 too, were as- 
 signed each day 
 to stand their 
 share of watch- 
 ing for subma- 
 rines. Many a 
 keen and eager 
 military eye; 
 would report a 
 periscope which 
 upon closer in- 
 spection by 
 someone more ac- 
 customed to the 
 sea and its flot- 
 sam would prove 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 to be nothing 
 more danger- 
 ous than a log 
 or a barrel. The 
 manoeuvres of 
 the group units 
 and of the naval 
 escort fur- 
 nished another 
 source of con- 
 
 iderable in- 
 terest. 
 
 The twelfth 
 day usually the 
 convoy entered 
 it he danger 
 jzone. Interest 
 iwherever it had 
 ibegan to lag 
 immediately 
 became renew- 
 ed. One of the 
 escorting ships 
 wigwagged 
 jthat in a few 
 hours the trans- 
 port was to 
 make rendez- 
 vous with some 
 additional de- 
 stroyers that 
 had come from 
 oneofournaval 
 
 ases in France to meet us 
 
 U. S. transport Neptune and utiier American troop ships arriving at Bou 
 
 And almost at 
 the exact time appointed there hove into 
 sight three United States destroyers. Added 
 ito the escort which had come all the way 
 across, they made such a formidable pro- 
 tection, that even a small squadron of sub- 
 marines would not have had much of a 
 hance. 
 
 Soon after their arrival came that day's 
 boat drill. The life boats now were swung 
 to the level of the promenade deck rail and 
 were lashed there. Portable steps were 
 placed before each boat all along the deck. 
 The destroyers were continually cutting in 
 and out amongst the transports. Lookout 
 ^as kept even more carefully and by larger 
 numbers of men. Reports of suspicious 
 lookmg objects increased in proportion. 
 But nothing happened. 
 
 The convoy was now within a day and a 
 half's journey from port. Long before that 
 time was up the French pilot had come 
 aboard and brought the ship into port. 
 
 There, stretched out in the quaintness and 
 beauty of western France, lay the country 
 whose men, women, and children had for four 
 weary years fought the battle of liberty. 
 And how those of them who were compara- 
 tively fortunate, inhabiting that small corner 
 of valiant France far from the "battle front," 
 greeted this latest force from their mighty 
 sister republic across the wide ocean! Cheer 
 upon cheer rang out as each transport came 
 in sight. The Stars and Stripes were to be 
 seen everywhere, on houses and in the hands 
 of the people who somehow never missed the 
 arrival of a single transport, no matter how 
 little official news there was to be had about 
 its arrival. 
 
 As the boats proceeded to their anchorage 
 the bands struck up the "Star-Spangled 
 Banner." The boys in olive-drab stood at 
 attention and so did all the French, man, 
 woman, and child. Renewed cheering broke 
 out as soon as the music had stopped. A 
 few moments later that other tune of liberty 
 
S6 
 
 rench marines in company with two 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 death toll was 
 large, amount- 
 ing to 204. The 
 boat almost im- 
 mediately after 
 h a \' i n g been 
 struck keeled 
 over at a dan- 
 gerous angle 
 which preven- 
 ted the launch- 
 ing of most of 
 the life boats 
 on the port 
 side. Of the 
 few that were 
 launched some 
 capsized. In 
 spite of the 
 quite apparent 
 danger the 
 American 
 troops aboard 
 conducted 
 themselves 
 with great 
 calmness and 
 discipline. In 
 all, 2,179 officers and soldiers, consisting of 
 National Guardsmen from Michigan and 
 Wisconsin, with part of the first Forestry 
 Engineers and three Aero Squadrons chielly 
 from New York, were aboard the ill-fated 
 ship. 
 
 The Oronsa, with only 250 men aboard, 
 was sunk on April 29, 1918. Three of the 
 crew were lost. Two transports were sent 
 to the bottom in May, 1918. On the 24th 
 the British S. S. Moravia was sunk in the 
 English Channel and 55 out of the 500 men 
 aboard laid down their lives. On the 31st 
 the former Hamburg-American liner. Presi- 
 dent Lincoln, of 18,168 tons, one of the largest 
 of the German ships taken over by the 
 United States Government, was attacked 
 some 600 miles out of a French port on her 
 return to the United States. Though she 
 was sunk, assistance arrived so quickly that 
 only 27 lives were lost. 
 
 Another large former Hamburg-American 
 liner, the Covington (formerly Cincinnati^, 
 of 16,399 l^ons met the same fate on July i, 
 191 8, off the French coast. Fortunately she 
 carried neither troops nor passengers. But 
 6 members of her crew made the supreme 
 sacrifice for their countrv's libertv. 
 
 General Pershing on his arrival at Boulogne reviewing the 
 
 French generals 
 
 dear to every loyal French heart and to every 
 freedom-loving heart the wide world over, 
 the "Marseillaise" sent forth its thrilling 
 notes, accompanied by the stirring voices of 
 the natives. 
 
 Not all the transports had as uneventful 
 a passage as the group whose journey from 
 the United States to France has been de- 
 scribed. The first loss suffered by the trans- 
 port service was the sinking of the former 
 liner Jntilles. Though under convoy she was 
 attacked by a German submarine on October 
 I, 1917, while returning to the United States 
 from France. Sixty-seven men, most of them 
 wounded soldiers, went down with her. 
 
 The second, and unfortunately much more 
 serious loss, was the sinking of the former 
 Anchor liner Tuscania. This boat, then 
 under charter to the Cunard line, formed 
 part of the British fleet employed in assisting 
 in the transportation of the United States 
 forces. W ithin sight of the Irish coast, and, 
 though guarded by convoy, she was attacked 
 by a submarine in the early evening of 
 February' 5, 1918. The torpedo struck the 
 finer amidship. Though British destroyers 
 came to her rescue immediately and only a 
 short time later British trawlers arrived, the 
 
 I 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 57 
 
 September 6, 191 8, the British S. S. Persic, 
 with 2,800 U. S. troops aboard, was at- 
 tacked 200 miles off the Enghsh coast. 
 Badly damaged she managed to keep afloat 
 and was finally beached without any loss 
 of life. The attack was one of the most 
 venturesome in the history of submarine 
 warfare. Not only was the Persic one of a 
 large group of transports, but she was also 
 heavily guarded by destroyers and war- 
 ships. One of the former, it was reported 
 unofficially, sent the submarine to the bottom 
 of the sea. 
 
 The last and the most costly loss on the 
 open sea was suffered when the transport 
 Otranto, one of a group of transports under 
 strong convoy, collided during the night of 
 October 6, 1918, with the British P. & O 
 liner Kashmir in the North Channel between 
 Ireland and Scotland, off the bleak Island of 
 [slay. A very high sea was running and a 
 dense fog added its share to the difficulties 
 reared by the collision. Though destroyers 
 lid their best to assist the unfortunate vessel 
 m^'' its unhappy load of soldiers and sailors, 
 the weather doomed many a brave man to 
 ieath who, under more favorable conditions, 
 night have been saved. The Otranto was 
 ashed to pieces on the sharp rocks of Islay 
 nd so were many of the life boats. Of 
 
 699 men aboard 372 were drowned or missing. 
 Many of these succumbed to the exposure 
 they had suff^ered before they were rescued. 
 Though the place and conditions in which 
 the collision happened were horrible enough 
 to break the courage of the stoutest heart, 
 once more American valor and discipline as- 
 serted themselves. From all sides it has 
 been testified that both those who lived and 
 those who died acted with the utmost courage 
 and self-control. 
 
 One other boat, the former Hamburg- 
 American liner America, was lost to the 
 transport service, at least temporarily. On 
 October 15, 191 8, while lying at her dock in 
 Hoboken, N. J., almost ready to sail and 
 already having some 300 soldiers aboard, 
 she suddenly began to sink and before long 
 was resting on the bottom with only her 
 superstructure visible above the water. Three 
 of her crew were lost, but the rest as well 
 as all the soldiers were saved. The "acci- 
 dent" was due to the treachery of German 
 sympathizers. 
 
 The transportation of United States forces 
 to Europe was a task remarkable not only 
 for the surprisingly small percentage of 
 losses suff^ered at sea, but also for its magni- 
 tude. The first ship carrying military per- 
 sonnel sailed on May 8, 1917, having on 
 
 OiBcial visit of Mr. Sharp, Aiui-ni-aa Auibasbadi 
 
 01 tu r rancL, tu . 
 
 I 1 11, h Official-Pictorial Press 
 
 uau m luadquaitLib at the front 
 
58 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © l-,.mniittcc on Public Information 
 A typical scene in a French port where American transports are docking. Sleepy and picturesque little ports like St. Nazaire 
 
 became among the busiest in the world 
 
 board Base Hospital 4 and members of the 
 Reserve Nurses Corps. The Commander- 
 in-Chief of the U. S. Expeditionary Force, 
 General Pershing, and his staff, sailed on 
 May 28, 1917, landed in London June 8th 
 and arrived in Paris June 13, 1917. 
 
 From then on an ever-increasing flow of 
 troops, regulars, National Guards, and Na- 
 tional Army men, with their various different 
 special service detachments, soon began to 
 indicate that the United States would before 
 long surpass the most optimistic expectations 
 in respect to the number of troops which 
 could be sent every month. Official em- 
 barkation figures announced by the Depart- 
 ment of War are: 
 
 July . , 
 August 
 September 
 Oct. I -2 1. 
 
 306,185 
 290,818 
 261,415 
 131,398; 
 
 Total 1,994,287 • 
 
 Marines 14,644 1 
 
 2,008,93 1 
 
 1917 May . 
 June . 
 
 July . 
 
 August 
 Sept. . 
 Oct. . 
 Nov. . 
 Dec. . 
 
 1918 Jan. 
 Feb. . 
 March 
 April . 
 May . 
 June . 
 
 ,718 
 
 ;,26i 
 
 12,988 
 
 323 
 523 
 259 
 016 
 
 18, 
 32, 
 38, 
 
 23: 
 
 48, 
 46, 
 48: 
 83. 
 117. 
 244, 
 
 276, 
 
 776 
 
 ,027 
 
 811 
 
 212 
 
 34S 
 372 
 
 The greater part of our forces which went 
 direct to France were landed at either Brest 
 or St. Nazaire. The latter which was ex- 
 clusively an American port of landing had 
 been prior to the war a little, sleepy French 
 hamlet at the mouth of the Loire, with a 
 good harbor, but off the lines of trade so ' 
 that it had never more than a fishing fleet 
 and a few tramp steamers to accommodate. 
 The Americans descended upon it and made 
 it one of the great harbors of the world. 
 Enormous concrete breakwaters and docks 
 were built. Warehouses to accommodate 
 food and raiment for a city of half a million 
 people were there. Railroads were built 
 into the interior, and railroad sidings covered 
 broad acres of what had been rural country. 
 Millions upon millions of dollars were spent 
 in construction work, while the money spent 
 by our soldiers who began coming in by 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 THE GREAT 
 
 The arsenal at Brest where the Fourth Division of the U. S. Fleet twice visited during the war 
 
 le scores of thousands soon began to make 
 le thrifty French peasants feel as though 
 ley had encountered the days of an El 
 )orado. 
 
 They were quick enough to grasp the 
 jpportunity. The little shops in the narrow 
 j:reets were suddenly multiplied an hundred 
 )ld and began the sale of goods of a sort 
 ever dreamed of in that village. They 
 3 say that some of the souvenirs and articles 
 ith that unmistakable Parisian air which 
 ir soldier and sailor boys eagerly snapped 
 p were manufactured in our own New 
 5rsey and sent over to gratify our demand. 
 jut that may be mere slander. At any rate, 
 le United States made of St. Nazaire a 
 isy mart of trade, a great shipping and 
 j.ilroad centre, and multiplied its population 
 ^)out i,ooo per cent, in a few months. One 
 ■'jOnders what will be its destiny now that 
 ■iie war is over. 
 
 1 We established also training camps in 
 ]ngland where a portion of our men received 
 tieir final instruction before going to the 
 lont. An American writer has set down a 
 {easing account of one of these which may 
 lip worth quoting: 
 
 As the visitor strolls through the sinuous streets 
 c an ancient city of England he at once notices that a 
 cange has come over this quiet place, for it is full of 
 
 bustle and animation, and the English that is spoken 
 is not uttered w'th the local intonation. Strange to 
 say the voices are ihose of Southerners and the ear soon 
 becomes accustomed to the drawl of the Marylander, 
 of the Alabaman, of the Tennesseean and of the 
 Virginian. Here and there one can detect the burr 
 of the lowan and the Ohioan. 
 
 If you address them they answer briefly and to the 
 point. A few regulars there are — very few, they belong 
 to that corps d'elite, the United States Marines. . . . 
 The camp is merely a passing one, men come there 
 after landing on British soil, and undergo a sort of 
 quarantme for about a week, when they depart to be 
 trained on French territory. 
 
 "We don't mind staying here for the winter, but 
 next Spring must see us off. We -lon't want to miss 
 the big drive, and a big drive it is going to be next 
 Spring. Cuba, the Philippines won't be in it with that 
 drive," says a fine Marylander, a sergeant in the afore- 
 said marines. The American officers are emphatic . 
 and sincere in their praise of their British confreres who 
 have helped, and are still helping them with zeal and 
 chivalry. Our ofiicers are known as liaison officers, 
 to the British Tommies they are "Elizas" — their best 
 attempt to pronounce that French word. It is one 
 more word to be added to what may be called the 
 "Napoo" language or rather dialect. 
 
 A stroll through the lanes of the cantonments com- 
 pels the visitor to admire the way in which the British 
 authorities have paved the way for our latest allies. 
 A "pharmacy" where every day the boys can get a 
 pill if they want one — "for in wartime a man can have 
 a pill for a sore throat, a broken leg, or any other thing 
 he thinks he has got," remarks the guide. An isolation 
 
6o 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 ward, two or three hospitals, "dry 
 canteens, messrooms, bathroom: 
 banks, and express company, club: 
 chapels, everything has been pre 
 vided. 1 he principal medical officf 
 m charge relates an mterestmg b 
 of statistics: "I saw long ago that w 
 were going to come in fast and . 
 went to work at once — 2,000 of u. 
 that was the number then; 20,0c 
 now." In a way the camp lool 
 somewhat akin to a mining camp i 
 Colorado with its huts as "banks. 
 The only bank not to be found 
 one wherein poker chips or dice at 
 rattled. 
 
 The first American troopi 
 were landed in France i 
 June, 1917. They came to 
 land in which little had bee 
 prepared for them. Though 
 they came as strangers the 
 were met with an enthusiast; 
 
 Five thousand of the vanguard of America's army crossing Westminster Bridge after a memorable march through the cheerir 
 
 throngs of London 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 6i 
 
 Austrian and German prisoners digging sewers in an American camp under the direction of our soldiers 
 
 terican mechanical and organizing enterprise soon made itself felt in France. This is an American built powder mill with 
 If docks in the foreground. It was the largest in France 
 
62 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 
 i-=-fe^fe 
 
 The American Expeditionary Porce was aided in every possible way by the soldiers of trance. Here some poilus are helpi 
 
 American Marines put up winter quarters 
 
 Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker, and General Pershing inspecting American 
 warehouses in France 
 
 welcome by the French peop 
 who hailed them as savio: 
 and as the implacable enemi( 
 of the Boche. Within thn 
 months a new complexion ha 
 come upon the little towr 
 which were made subject 1 
 American occupation. Tob 
 gin with the villagers we; 
 amazed, and to some extei 
 aggrieved, by findmg the' 
 homes made the subject ( 
 aggressive sanitation regul 
 tions. The French village, fd 
 all its picturesqueness, do 
 not conform to those rules 
 sanitation which have becom 
 compulsory in the Americ. 
 Army, and of which Surgec- 
 General Gorgas has been tl 
 great author and executor, 
 was not long after the arrive 
 of the "Sammies," as tb 
 French for a time called oi, 
 men, despite their protest 
 before the dunghills whin 
 from time immemorial h; 
 been a decorative feature 
 the front yards of Fren 
 cottages had disappeared. T 
 water supply was purified, ti 
 streets and farmyards clean 
 up. After the villagers h' 
 become reconciled to the 
 revolutionary reforms, tht 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 took up most cheerfully the business of ex- 
 tracting from the pocket of the American 
 soldier the American dollar. If northern 
 France had suffered cruelly from the in- 
 vasion of the Boche and the devastation he 
 had accomplished, southwestern France dur- 
 ing the American occupation profited as 
 never before m its existence. Everything 
 that could appeal to an American soldier or 
 sailor was for sale with the smgle exception 
 of American drinks. That particular source 
 of cheer was effectively denied our men at 
 the front. 
 
 Just outside of each village or cantonment 
 was the field on which the newcomers were 
 drilled in the art of war. Here they had in 
 'the early days what at first was denied to 
 those in training camps at home, instruction 
 at the hands of men who had actually done 
 what they were teaching the greenhorns to do. 
 
 It was late in October, 1917, that the Amer- 
 ican forces first came into conflict with the 
 enemy. This does not mean that at that 
 early date our troops were ready to take and 
 hold a sector of the battle line, or to join 
 in an assault of the enemy's positions. But 
 ^t that period began the practice of sending 
 
 J T C t /i ■ -1 © Committee on h-ublic Information 
 
 detachments of the American army into the These American soldiers in the training area in France are be- 
 jtrenches and merging them with French or ing instructed in trench building by a veteran Scotch sergeant 
 
 © Committi_(_ on Public Information 
 
 ecause of their universal training in baseball, our national game, our "boys" easily learned and speedily excelled in the art of 
 
 throwing hand grenades 
 
64 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 A British ArmyCiptain uistiucting inembei; 
 
 uf an Aincncan machine gun cumpany in the 
 Gun in a training camp in France 
 
 © CommitteL- on I'.ihlir Information 
 
 ;e of the Vickers Lietit Machine 
 
 British commands in order that they might 
 see something of actual warfare. Naturally 
 the points chosen were not those at which 
 the firing was fiercest. And in this particular 
 instance our soldiers were sent into the 
 trenches in the neighborhood of the Vosges 
 mountains not far from the line of Lorraine. 
 
 ("inmittL-L on Public Information 
 
 A French soldier instructor showing an American how to protect himself with a single 
 bag of sand 
 
 They entered the trenches under cover ol 
 the night, and being the first Americans tc 
 reach the actual front were greeted by the 
 French with a welcome that was no less heart} 
 because owing to the proximity of the 
 enemy it had necessarily to be silent. The> 
 were gripped by the hands, hugged, and ever 
 kissed on both cheek) 
 after the French fasb 
 ion, but somewhat tc 
 American disgust. 
 
 October 27th th( 
 first shot was fired b] 
 an American artilleris 
 at the enemy. Then 
 is a long stor\' of un 
 preparedness behin( 
 the fact that this mis: 
 sile, discharged witlr, 
 a certain degree o^ 
 ceremony, though firei 
 by an American artil 
 lerv-man, had to bedij 
 charged from a Frenc 
 75, we having no gun 
 of our own on the fielc 
 History relates tha 
 the gunner was rec 
 headed, the shot wa 
 loudly cheered, and th 
 
 (I 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 6S 
 
 shell case was sent as a trophy 
 to President Wilson. History 
 does not relate what damage 
 the missile did in the enemy's 
 lines. 
 
 A night or two later the 
 Americans on that sector had 
 their first experience of the 
 perilous invasion of No Man's 
 Land. A dozen or more 
 accompanied by French 
 veterans who knew the ropes, 
 equipped with hand grenades, 
 rifles, revolvers, and trench 
 knives, with their steel helmets 
 firmly strapped on clambered 
 over the top and set forth on 
 their midnight excursion. 
 After finding the gap in their 
 own barbed wire, they wriggled 
 along in the dark on their 
 stomachs, stopping their prog- 
 ress as now and then a flare 
 from the enemy's lines lighted 
 up the blackness, and patrolled 
 thus the disputed territory 
 ibetween the two lines of trenches. 
 
 American soldiers resting beside the road on their way to the assault upon the 
 Hindenburg Line 
 
 There were 
 
 no casualties in this first expedition. But a 
 ifew days later, on the 5th of November, the 
 Americans were destined to lose their first com- 
 rades as prisoners to the enemy, while three 
 were shot dead, being the first to fall under the 
 jStars and Stripes on a European battlefield. 
 
 The occasion was a raid made by a German 
 force against a sector of the line held mainly 
 by Americans. The latter occupied a salient 
 which must have been carefully spied out 
 by the enemy for they put down a barrage 
 immediately behind it, preventing any re- 
 treat by the occupying force, while with a 
 
 n this beautiful spot in France well back of the de->aitjtid an i these American soldiers 
 throwing hand grenades — m which they soon excelled 
 
 beint instructed in the art of 
 
66 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 heavy artillery fire they cut away the wire 
 in front. Then in overwhehning numbers 
 they attacked. Many made their way into 
 the American trenches and for a time there 
 was hand-to-hand fighting in these deep and 
 narrow gullies. Fragmentary reports by 
 eye witnesses show how little the new soldier 
 understands the art of such fighting. One 
 of the wounded Americans said, "I was 
 standing in a communicating trench waiting 
 for orders. I heard a noise back of me and 
 looked around in time to see a German fire 
 in my direction. I felt a bullet hit my 
 arm." It was not long, however, before 
 Americans learned not to wait for orders 
 when they heard the enemy descending upon 
 their trenches. 
 
 In this raid three Americans were killed, 
 the first actually to fall in battle in this war. 
 They were: 
 
 Gresham, James B. (Corporal) of Evansville, Ind. 
 Enright, Thomas F. (private) of Pittsburg, Penn. 
 Hay, Merle D. (private) of Glidden, Iowa. 
 
 Near a little village in Lorraine, and in its 
 
 torn and rent churchyard, are three graves" 
 each surrounded by a neat white fence with 
 a wooden cross at the head. Here lie the first 
 three Americans to fall in the war for democ- 
 racy. With a guard of French infantrymen 
 clad in their horizon blue, on one side, and a 
 detachment of American soldiers on the other, 
 with both the Tri-color and the Stars and 
 Stripes [floating over the scene as a bugler 
 played taps and minute guns were fired, the 
 bodies of these first of our heroes were laid 
 away. A French major-general spoke fitting 
 words over the graves and ended his tribute . 
 with this appeal and prophecy: 
 
 "We will therefore ask that the mortal remains of 
 these young men be left here, left with us forever. We 
 inscribe on the tombs 'Here lie the first soldiers of the 
 Republic of the United States to fall on the soil of 
 France for liberty and justice.' The passerby will stop 
 and uncover his head. Travellers and men of heart 
 will go out of their way to come here and pay their 
 respective tributes. 
 
 "Private Enright, Corporal Gresham, Private Hay! 
 In the name of France I thank you. God receive your 
 souls. Farewell." 
 
 I 
 
 
 IE.' iL> ^^^^^'^^^^^.^tS^^^H 
 
 jj^ii 
 
 
 4"^ t^S 
 
 ^^M 
 
 
 -^•■^ 
 
 
 '-^IkSBI 
 
 ^^^^^^^t^^m^B^M 
 
 f- ~^. 
 
 .3^^^ 
 
 
 wm^ji 
 
 The first American infantry units to reach Picardy halted by the roadside on their march to the front 
 
 J 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FIRST AMERICANS TO GO WORK OF OUR AMBULANCE CORPS THE 
 
 COMMISSION FOR THE RELIEF OF BELGIUM OUR MEN IN THE FRENCH FOREIGN 
 
 LEGION THE LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE OUR FIGHTERS IN THE AIR THE 
 
 MARTYRS 
 
 NO H I S- 
 TORY of 
 the United 
 States in the 
 Great War could be 
 complete which failed 
 to recount some of 
 the deeds of those 
 ardent young Ameri- 
 cans who, while the 
 President himself 
 questioned and de- 
 layed, offered their 
 lives to the cause of 
 democracy and of 
 humanity. There is 
 no nobler roster of 
 war's heroes than 
 that upon which are 
 inscribed the names 
 [of the young men who sacrificed their lives 
 in France, whether as ambulance workers, 
 aviators, or fighters on the battlefield, before 
 their hesitant country had recognized its 
 duty and come to their aid and to that of 
 imperilled civilization. 
 
 Earliest in the field were the volunteers 
 for ambulance work, and of these easily 
 first was Richard Norton, organizer of the 
 American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps. 
 Two months after the declaration of war 
 in 1914 he had ten ambulances in the field, 
 all manned of course by volunteers Hke 
 himself. By the time the United States 
 entered the conflict he had charge of more 
 than one hundred cars. Doing somewhat 
 similar work was the Field Service of the 
 American Ambulance of which A. Piatt 
 Andrew, a Princeton man, was organizer and 
 director. Before the United States came in 
 this organization had more than two hundred 
 cars in service. 
 
 Men died in the ambulance service even 
 las they did serving the great guns, or leading 
 
 the charge. To attempt the roster of all the 
 devoted young Americans who thus gave up 
 their lives for others would be indeed im- 
 possible, but the stories of a few may stimu- 
 late emulation in future wars — if future wars 
 there have to be. 
 
 Of Richard Hall, a young graduate of the 
 University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, a 
 friend tells in the memorial volume "Friends 
 of France": 
 
 All this time as in all the past months Richard Neville 
 Hall calmly drove his car up the winding, shell-swept 
 artery of the mountain of war — past crazed mules, 
 broken-down artillery carts, sweanng drivers, stricken 
 horses, wounded stragglers still able to hobble — past 
 long convoys of Boche prisoners, silent, descending in 
 twos, guarded by a handful of men — past all the person- 
 nel of war, great and small (for there is but one road, 
 one road on which to travel, one road for the enemy to 
 shell) — past abris, bomb-proofs, subterranean huts to 
 arrive at the posies de secoiirs, where silent men moved 
 mysteriously in the mist under the great trees where 
 the cars were loaded with an ever-ready supply of 
 still more quiet figures (though some made sounds), 
 mere bundles in blankets. 
 
 Hall saw to it that those quiet bundles were carefully 
 and rapidly installed — right side up, for instance — for 
 it is dark and the brancardiers are dull folk, deadened 
 by the dead they carry; then rolled down into the 
 valley below where little towns bear stolidly their 
 daily burden of shells thrown from somewhere in 
 Bocheland over the mountain to somewhere in France 
 — the bleeding bodies in the car a mere corpuscle in the 
 full crimson stream, the ever-rolling tide from the 
 trenches to the hospital, of the blood of life, and the 
 blood of death. 
 
 At midnight Christmas Eve he left the valley to get 
 his load of wounded for the last time. Alone, ahead of 
 him two hours of lonely driving up the mountain. 
 Perhaps he was thinking of other Christmas Eves, per- 
 haps of his distant home, and of those who were thinking 
 of him. . . . 
 
 Matter, the next American to pass, found him by the 
 roadside half way up the mountain. His face was 
 calm and his hands still in position to grasp the wheel. 
 . . . A shell had struck the car and killed him in- 
 
 67 
 
68 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The private residence of Mr. Paris Singer in Devonshire, England, which he gave to the authorities to be used as the American 
 
 Women's Hospital 
 
 stantly, painlessly. A chance shell in a thousand had dressing room. Worst wound was on his back but a 
 struck him at his post, in the morning of his youth. glancing one. He will pull through. 
 
 The whole world will long remember the 
 heroic defense of Verdun by the French who 
 swore a mighty oath "They shall not pass" 
 and kept it in the face of the whole army of 
 the Crown Prince. There were Americans 
 there, too, and although not among the fight- 
 ing corps their gallantry compares well with 
 that of any poilu. Consider this story of 
 the rescue of William Barber, an American 
 ambulance driver, by a colleague identified 
 long after as Walter H. Wheeler of Yonkers, 
 N. Y. 
 
 Fifth night. — Got to post O.K. Heavy traffic; 
 firing; road stinking of dead flesh. On way back heard 
 forlorn cry of Barber. Stopped and found him in 
 arms of Frenchman by side of road. Nerves gone, 
 so he couldn't talk straight. Car had been hit; he was 
 wounded; pumping hell out of road ahead where his 
 car was. He had crawled back; was afraid to let 
 him wait. Dragged him into front alongside of me and 
 made a dash; never drove so fast in all my life. Passed 
 his car; whole back shot off and wheels gone. Got 
 to last bridge and found artillery coming across in 
 opposite direction. Crawled across one side on remains 
 of a railroad track. Grabbed leading horses of a battery 
 by bridle and jammed them over on one side of road; 
 commanding riders to wait; must have thought I was 
 an officer; because they did; hurried back and drove 
 across. Got to headquarters O.K. and got Barber into 
 
 And then there were the young Americans 
 who, under the leadership of Herbert Hoover, 
 fed for years the starving victims of German 
 rapacity in Belgium. This is no place to 
 describe the work of the Commission for 
 Relief in Belgium. Whole volumes will 
 yet be written on that topic and the tale still 
 be left half untold. But a picturesque 
 description of the nature of the work, from 
 the pen of Professor Vernon Kellogg, one of 
 Hoover's right-hand men, will not be out of 
 place: 
 
 Rice from Rangoon, corn from Argentina, beans 
 from Manchuria, wheat and meat and fats from Amer- 
 ica; and all, with other things of the regular programme, 
 such as sugar, condensed milk, coffee and cocoa, salt, 
 salad oil, dried fish, etc., in great quantities to be 
 brought across wide oceans, through the dangerous 
 mine-strewn Channel, and landed safely and regularly in 
 Rotterdam, to be there speedily transferred from ocean 
 vessels into canal boats, and urged on into Belgium and 
 northern France, and from these taken again by rail- 
 road cars and horse-drawn carts to the communal 
 warehouses and soup kitchens; and always and ever, 
 through all the months, to get there in time — these 
 were the buying and transporting problems of the 
 Commission. One hundred thousand tons a month 
 of food-stuffs from the world over, in great shiploads 
 to Rotterdam; one hundred thousand tons a month 
 
JO 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 \mencnn nurses in one 
 
 : f the wards of the mihtary hospital, established by the French in the magnificent winter palace at Pau 
 
 thence in ever more and more divided quantities to the 
 province and district storehouses, to the regional store- 
 houses and mills, to the communal centres and finally 
 to the mouths of the people. And all to be done 
 economically, speedily, and regularly; to be done, that 
 is, with "engineering efficiency." 
 
 It would be interesting to go more into 
 detail concerning the work of the hundreds of 
 
 I Ed. Jaqucs 
 
 The Hadfield Ward of the Singer palace after its transformation into a hospital, 
 with American nurses in charge 
 
 young Americans who volunteered for service 
 with Hoover. In most cases they were col- 
 lege men — many of them Rhodes students 
 at Oxford. The work was arduous, com- 
 pelling great personal devotion and a high 
 degree of tact and self-restraint. It is not 
 at all surprising to learn that after what they 
 saw in Belgium and France during their 
 period of enforced neutrality 
 most of these gallant lads 
 gladly took up arms with the 
 American army when the 
 chance to fight was given them. 
 It is appropriate here to tell 
 the stories of some of the 
 gallant young Americans who, 
 long before their country 
 recognized its moral obligation 
 to come to the aid of the 
 nations that were fighting for 
 civilization against the Hun, 
 had offered themselves for 
 the cause of democracy. We 
 have spoken already of Kiffen 
 Rockwell and of Victor Chap- 
 man, both of whom gave up 
 their lives in thecourse of duty. 
 Another was William Thaw, 
 class of 191 5 at Yale, who 
 enlisted in the famous Legion 
 Etr anger e of France — the 
 foreign legion that Ouida made 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 71 
 
 The New York Ward in a Paris hospital with some New York girls as nurses and some New York hoys as patients 
 
 famous in "Under Two Flags." He 
 served in the Legion only about six 
 months when he was transferred to 
 the French aviation service. There 
 he remained until the end, the only 
 original member of the Escadrille in 
 service at the time of peace. His 
 description of Hfe in the Legion is 
 illuminating as to the sort and condi- 
 tions of society there encountered. 
 A brief excerpt will be mterestmg: 
 
 Talk about your college education, it 
 isn't in it with what a fellow can learn being 
 thrown in with a bunch of men like this. 
 There are about 1,200 here (we sleep on straw 
 on the floor of the Ecole Projessionel four 
 Jeunes Filles) and in our section (we sleep 
 and drill by sections) there is some mixture 
 including a Columbia Professor, called 
 Shorty, an old tutor who has numerous 
 Ph. D.'s, M.A.s, etc., a preacher from 
 Georgia, a pro. gambler from Missouri, a 
 former light weight second rater, two dusky 
 gentlemen, one from Louisiana and the other 
 from Ceylon, a couple of hard guys from 
 the Gopher gang of lower N.Y., a Swede, a 
 Norwegian, a number of Poles, Brazilians, 
 Belgians, etc. So you see it's some bunch. 
 I sleep between the prize-fighter and a chap 
 who used to work for the Curtiss Co. As 
 for the daily routine it reminds me of the 
 Hill School and then some; only instead of 
 getting demerits for being naughty you get 
 short rations and prison. 
 
 Dr. Alexis Carrell of the Rockefeller Institute, who discovered, among 
 other things, a drainage method which permits healing chemicals to be 
 introduced into deep wounds. The method saved many lives during the 
 war. Marvelous instances of his work in facial surgery were shown in 
 motion pictures sent from France for use in our medical colleges 
 
72 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Mr. Piatt An<lrcw (centre) in charge of the American Ambulance Service in France, and some of the members of his staff 
 
 Chapman too, gave a picture of life in the 
 Legion. His story of one Christmas day 
 is worth reading: 
 
 Xmas in the trenches was interesting but not too 
 exciting. Beginning the evening before "conversations" 
 in the form of calls. "Boches," "Ca va," etc. In re- 
 sponse "5o?( camarade" "cigarettes," ^'noiis boirons 
 champagne a Paris." etc. Christmas morning a Russian 
 up the Hne who spoke good German wished them the 
 greetings of the season, to which the Boches responded 
 
 An American hospital ambulance being loaded with woun 
 
 that instead of nice wishes they would be very grateful 
 to the French if the latter buried their compatriot who 
 had lain before their trenches for the last two months. 
 The Russian walked out to see if it were so, returned 
 to the line, got a French officer and a truce was estab- 
 lished. The burial ceremony performed, a German 
 Colonel distributed cigars and cigarettes, and another 
 German officer took a picture of the group. We of 
 course were one half mile down the line so did not see 
 the ceremony, though our Lieutenant attended. No 
 shooting was interchanged all day ,...j last night abso- 
 , lute stillness, though we were warned 
 to be on the alert. This morning 
 Nedim, a picturesque, childish Turk, 
 began again standmg on the trenches 
 and yelling at the opposite side. 
 Besconsoledose, a cautious Portu- 
 guese, warned him not to expose 
 himself so, and since he spoke Ger- 
 man made a few remarks, showmg 
 his head. He turned to get down 
 and — fell; a bullet having entered the 
 back of his skull; groans, a puddle 
 of blood. 
 
 Another American in the 
 Legion, though of French 
 parentage, was E. Morlae, who 
 wrote of its American mem- 
 bers in the Atlantic Monthly 
 thus: 
 
 Even the Americans were not all 
 of one stripe. J. J. Carey had been 
 a newspaper artist, and Bob Scanlon, 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 American Ambulance Field Service, Section No lo, the cars and equipment tor which were given bv the New York Stock Ex- 
 change. This picture was taken just before the Section's departure tor the Near East 
 
 a burly negro, an artist with his fists in the squared ring. though no longer an undergraduate, was 
 
 Alan Seeger had something of the poet in him. Dennis just out of Harvard when he enlisted. He 
 
 Dowd was lawyer; Edwin Boligny a lovable adven- i -n j • \^ i. i c -c • j ivT 
 
 turer. There was D. W. King, the sprig of a well- ^as killed in the battle of Fortin de Navarin, 
 
 known family. William Thaw of Pittsburg, started in September, 1915. No better description 
 
 with us, though he joined the flying 
 
 corps later on. Then there were James 
 
 Bach, of New York, B. S. Hall who hailed 
 
 from Kentucky, Professor Ohlinger, of 
 
 Columbia, Phelizot who had shot enough 
 
 big game in Africa to feed a regiment. 
 
 There were Delpenche and Capdevielle, 
 
 and little Trinkard from New York. 
 
 Bob Subiron came, I imagine, from the 
 
 states in general for he had been a 
 
 professional automobile racer. The Rock- 
 
 ville brothers, journalists, signed on from 
 
 Georgia; and last though not least was 
 
 Friedrich Wilhelm Zinn, from Battle 
 
 Creek, Mich. 
 
 It will ever be to the glory of 
 our American colleges that in the 
 early days of the war so many of 
 their young undergraduates went 
 to the war under foreign flags, 
 despairing of the entry of their 
 own country upon a conflict which 
 so enlisted the sympathies of gen- 
 erous youth. One of these in the 
 Legion, though not listed by 
 Morlae, was Henry W. Farns- 
 worth, of Dedham, Mass., who, 
 
 William P. Fay of New York (left) as an ambulance diiver visiting a first- 
 line trench 
 
74 
 
 UNITED S'l'ATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 of a night patrol in No Man's 
 Land has ever been written 
 than this of his: 
 
 The patrol is selected in the 
 afternoon. At sunset we meet to 
 make the plans and tell every man 
 his duty; then at dark, our pockets 
 are filled with cartridges, a drawn 
 bayonet in the belt, and our maga- 
 zines loaded to the brim. We go 
 along the boyau to the petite paste 
 from which it is decided to leave. 
 All along the line the sentinels 
 wish us good luck and a safe 
 return, \nxht petite paste Vftc\-imp 
 on the bayonets, blow noses, clear 
 throats, and prepare for three hours 
 of utter silence. At a word from 
 the chief we form in line in the 
 prescribed order. The sentries 
 
 U. S. S. Jason which carried to France the eighty 
 carloads of Christmas presents 
 
 Christmas presents being hoisted aboard the U. S. S; Jaso7i for 
 the boys "over there" 
 
 wish us luck for the last time, and the chief jumps up 
 on the edge of the trenches, and begins to work his way 
 quickly through the barbed wire. Once outside he dis- 
 appears in the beet weeds and one after another we 
 follow. 
 
 Then begins the crawl to the appointed spot. We go 
 slowly with frequent halts. Every sound must be analyzed. 
 On the occasion of the would-be ambush I admit I went 
 to sleep after awhile in the warm, fresh clover where 
 we lay. It was the adjutant himself who woke me 
 up with a slight hiss, but as he chose me again the 
 next night he does not seem to have thought it a serious 
 matter. 
 
 Then, too, once home, we do not mount guard all the 
 rest of the night, and are allowed to sleep in the morn- 
 ing; also there are small but pleasing discussions of the affair, 
 and above all the hope of some night leaping out of the dark- 
 ness hand to hand with the Germans. 
 
 "Alan Seeger," wrote Legionnaire Morlae, "had 
 something of the poet about him." The world 
 outside the trenches came to learn how true 
 was the poetic sentiment that animated this 
 young graduate of Harvard who gave his life 
 for France. His lines: "I have a rendezvous with 
 Death," became perhaps the best known of all 
 the real poetry that the war inspired. His 
 prose too, was of the best. The accompanying 
 quotation gives a clear idea of the dismal life of 
 the trenches: 
 
 This style of warfare is extremely modern and for the 
 artilleryman is doubtless very interesting, but for the poor 
 common soldier it is anything but romantic. His role 
 is simply to dig himself a hole in the ground and to 
 
76 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 keep hidden in it as tightly as possible. Con- 
 tinually under the fire of opposing batteries, he is 
 yet never allowed to get a glimpse of the enemy. 
 Exposed to all the dangers of war, but with none 
 of Its enthusiasms or splendid tian he is condemned 
 to sit like an animal in its burrow and hear the shells 
 whistle over his head and take their little toll from his 
 comrades. 
 
 The winter morning dawns with gray skies and the 
 hoar frost on the fields. His feet are numb, his canteen 
 frozen, but he is not allowed to make a fire. The 
 winter night falls with its prospect of sentry duty, 
 and the continual apprehension of the hurried call to 
 arms; he is not permitted to light a candle, but must 
 fold himself in his blanket and lie down cramped in 
 the dirty straw as best he may. How different from 
 the popular notion of the evening camp-fire, the songs 
 and good cheer! 
 
 And of those other gallant and .sacrificial 
 }oung Americans for whom this soldier and 
 poet of the Legion fitly sung the last sad lay: 
 
 There was Edmond Genet, great great 
 grandson of the Citizen Genet whom the 
 Revolutionary government of France sent 
 to this country in 1792 as its minister. In 
 the third generation the French blood still 
 told and young Genet, nineteen years old 
 and already having seen service in the 
 United States navy, enlisted first in the 
 Legion Etrangere and afterwards in the 
 American Escadrille where he met his death. 
 He had foreseen his fate. "I expect to have 
 to give up my life on the battlefield," he 
 wrote, "I care nothing about that. Death 
 
 Refugees being moved from Flushing, Holland, to Middlesbrough, England, in order to relieve the congestion at Flushing 
 
 Seeger was indeed a true poet — the poet 
 of the trenches. He wrote for himself, as 
 for Chapman, for Farnsworth, for McCon- 
 nell, for Prince, for Genet, for Poe of the 
 Black Watch and for Starr of the Coldstream 
 Guards the best of all epitaphs in his "Ode 
 in Memory of the American Volunteers Fallen 
 for France": 
 
 And on those furthest rims of hallowed ground 
 Where the forlorn, the gallant charge expires. 
 When the slain bugler long has ceased to sound, 
 And on the tangled wires 
 The last wild rally staggers, crumbles, stops. 
 Withered beneath the shrapnel's iron showers — 
 Now heaven be thanked we gave a few brave drops. 
 Now heaven be thanked, a few brave drops were ours. 
 
 to me is but the beginning of another life — 
 sweeter and better. I do not fear it." In 
 a letter written just after the reelection of 
 President Wilson, an eVent which because of 
 the nature of the campaign that had been 
 waged was thought by those abroad to 
 presage the continuance of American neu- 
 trality, Genet expressed the bitterness felt 
 at our national attitude by the brave youths 
 who had rushed forth at the first call of 
 France for aid: 
 
 It couldn't be possible for Americans in America to 
 feel the same bitter way as Americans over here among 
 the very scenes of this war's horrors. It's incompre- 
 hensible over there where peace reigns supreme. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 American beans arriving to save the lives of the 
 
 Come over here and you'll be engulfed like the rest of us 
 in the realization of the whole civilized world arming 
 itself against this intrusion of utter brutality and mili- 
 taristic arrogance. Peace — God forbid such happiness 
 iuntil the invaders have been victoriously driven back, 
 jbehind their own borders, knowing the lesson of their 
 folly in treading ruthlessly upon unoffending neutral 
 territory and all the rest of their deeds of piracy, and 
 Jail the blood of France and Belgium has dried up. 
 
 '! Neither the Legion Etrangere nor the 
 French Army engaged the allegiance of all 
 jthe young Americans whose 
 [spirit impelled them to take 
 ipart in the fight upon Prus- 
 jiianism long before their 
 'nation was willing to take 
 i:hat step. French aviation 
 ittracted many, and out of 
 :he Escadrille Lafayette, 
 khich first engaged the en- 
 deavors of young American 
 ■iviators, grew the Escadrille 
 l\mericaine. The British 
 \rmy, too, found favor with 
 nany of our youth. Most 
 )f these were mute if not 
 nglorious — gallant young fel- 
 lows who made their way 
 i)ver the Canadian border 
 jind enlisted in the Canada 
 iToops that did such mag- 
 lificent service on every bat- 
 lefield from the North Sea 
 
 le Ljeiiiians 
 
 to the Dardanelles. History will in time 
 perhaps do justice to these gall'ant volunteers 
 who, on being asked by recruiting sergeants 
 from what province of Canada they came, 
 smilingly replied "Texas" or "Missouri" or 
 "Kentucky." Of some of those who were 
 able to go direct to the front and enlist in 
 English regiments some historical record 
 already exists. 
 
 Among these latter was John P. Poe, 
 class of '95 at Princeton, known first to 
 
 ans interned in Holland arriving at Flushing 
 
7S 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © London Daily Mirror 
 
 Nine of the ninety little Belgian refugees from Louvain who were guests of Mr. Walter 
 Chamberlain on his estate, Harborne Hall, in England 
 
 the college football world as "Johnny" Poe, 
 and afterward extending that fame and carry- 
 ing his endearing diminutive to Cuba, the 
 Philippines, and about every Latin-American 
 republic which offered him a chance to serve 
 either for or against a revolution. The 
 European explosion of 1914 gave Poe his 
 great chance, and before the end of that 
 year he was enrolled in the Coldstream Guards 
 — an historic regiment of Highlanders with a 
 record of a century and more of fighting 
 inscribed upon its rolls. "I am trv'ing to 
 feel more at home in a kilt," wrote Poe to a 
 friend at this stage in his career, "and while 
 they are cool the legs get dirty for quite a 
 way above the knees." Poe was a fighter 
 rather than a writer, and of his all too brief 
 service in the Black Watch, or the "Ladies 
 from Hell" as the Germans called the kilted 
 troops, little record is left. He was killed 
 in a charge near Bethune in the latter part 
 of September and lies buried on the battle- 
 field. 
 
 In the same command with Poe and like 
 
 him fated to meef! 
 death fighting under a!| 
 foreign flag was 
 Dillwyn Parrish Starr, J 
 of Philadelphia, a Har- 
 vard man and like Poe 
 a football player of 
 note. His foreign ser-- 
 vice began in the. 
 American Red Cross ^ 
 ambulance service, buti 
 like hosts of the young; 
 men who began with 1 
 that purely humane 
 part in the war he 
 found his blood raised I 
 to fighting heat by 
 what he saw and he: 
 soon entered the; 
 British armored cart 
 service. He served in 1 
 Flanders and later ini 
 Gallipoli and has leftr 
 a graphic account ofi 
 the battle of Achi Baba i 
 in which he partici- ■ 
 pated: 
 
 Well, the attack has been 1 
 made and was a complete ; 
 failure here. Almost four r 
 thousand men went out ' 
 and very few came back. 
 Some monitors and ships bombarded Achi Baba ; 
 for two hours. The Turks during this moved down 1 
 into a gully and came back after it to their second 1 
 line and massed four deep to meet our men. 
 I was on higher ground with four guns and could ' 
 clearly see our charges of the 6th and the morning of ' 
 the 7th. The men went out in a hail of bullets and 
 it was a wonderful sight to see them. Many of them < 
 fell close to our parapets, though a good number 
 reached the Turkish trenches there to be killed. On 1 
 the morning of the 7th, the Turks made a counter 
 attack and drove our men out of the lightly held 
 trenches they had taken. Our guns fortunately took 
 a lot of them; my two guns fired a thousand rounds 
 into their closely formed mass. 
 
 In a long record of gallantry and self- 
 sacrifice all comparisons are futile and 
 offensive, but I think that in days to come 
 the people of America will learn to look 
 upon the brilliant and daring youths who 
 in the first days of the war formed the 
 Lafayette Escadrille that young Americans 
 might fight together for France in the air 
 formed the very best of our contribution in 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 79 
 
 payment of our debt for Lafayette and 
 Rochambeau. 
 
 The story of the foundation of that his- 
 toric flying battle corps is told by one of its 
 two surviving members, Elliott C. Cowdm, 
 who ascribes all credit for its creation to 
 Norman Prince, a Harvard graduate of the 
 class of 1908. Cowdin thus describes its 
 begmnings: 
 
 Norman Prince had spent many years, and made 
 many friends in France, and felt it his privilege and 
 duty to serve her in the hour of her need. . . . 
 ; Knowing there were many Americans in the Foreign 
 : Legion and the various ambulance units, and being one 
 ' of the pioneer aviators of the United States, he con- 
 I ceived the idea of forming an aero squadron, composed 
 ! exclusively of Americans, to join the French Army. 
 
 It was a difficult task. Most Americans 
 resident in Paris refused to have anything 
 ito do with the project lest they violate the 
 1 neutrality rulings of their own country. 
 The French Government was indifferent. 
 Its officials declared they had more would-be 
 1 aviators among their own people than they 
 
 could provide planes for. But with perti- 
 nacity Prince overcame all obstacles, and, as 
 Cowdin writes: 
 
 Early in May (1916) we were all mobilized at the 
 Alsatian front as the "Lafayette Squadron" with 
 French officers, Captain Thenault and Lieutenant de 
 Laage in command. The original members, besides 
 those officers, were: Norman Prince, William Thaw, 
 Victor Chapman, and Kiffen Rockwell of the Foreign 
 Legion; James McConnell, who had already done good 
 work in the American Ambulance before joining the 
 French Aviation; Bert Hall and myself. Five of the 
 original nine have been killed at the front. 
 
 The American loss was in fact five out of 
 the original seven for the two commanding 
 officers were French. First to go was Chap- 
 man of whom mention has been made more 
 than once in this narrative. James McCon- 
 nell who witnessed one of his later battles 
 tells the story of it thus: 
 
 I remember one curious incident that occurred while 
 I was in the Verdun sector. Victor Chapman, who was 
 domg combat work with the American Escadrille, 
 
 
 Underwood & Underwood 
 
 The Germans driving 314 men and women between the ages 15 and 60 out of the village of Guiscard, France, to place them 
 g{ at forced labor in Germany. They include practically all the skilled workmen of the village 
 
8o 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 after a brush with four German aerophines was forced 
 to descend to our field. Not only had he received a 
 bad scalp wound from a bullet, but his machine had 
 been riddled and nearly wrecked. One bullet had even 
 severed a metal stability control. By all the rules of 
 aviation he should have lost control of his aeroplane 
 and met with a fatal accident. But Chapman was an 
 expert pilot. He simply held on to the broken rod 
 with one hand, while with the other he steered the 
 machine. This needed all the strength at his com- 
 mand, but he had the power and the skill necessary to 
 bring him safely to earth. A surgeon immediately 
 dressed his wound, our mechanics repaired his machine. 
 The repairs completed he was off and up again in pur- 
 suit of some more Boches. I must say that everyone 
 considered hmi a remarkable pdot. He was absolutely 
 fearless and always willing and able to fly more than 
 was ever required of him. His machine was a sieve of 
 patched-up holes. 
 
 Chapman's head was bound up with ban- 
 dages covering the wounds received in that 
 very conflict when a few days later he was 
 killed. He was not on duty, but high in 
 air was returning from a visit to a distant 
 hospital whither he had been to carry some 
 oranges to a wounded colleague. In the 
 distance he saw three planes holding his 
 friends Captain Thenault, Prince, and Luf bery 
 sore beset by six Germans. Without hesita- 
 tion he dived to the attack. His friends 
 at the moment did not know he was there. 
 All they knew was that two of their assailants 
 hastily disappeared, and beating off the others 
 
 they returned to their field. When Chapman, 
 too, taded to return inquiry was made and 
 another pdot who had seen the fray from a 
 distance reported that while the three Nieu- 
 ports were attacking si.x Germans he saw a 
 fourth Nieuport come up with all possible 
 speed, dive into the thick of the Hght, and 
 then suddenly fall to the ground as though 
 out of control. In that machme flying fast 
 to the aid of his friends was Victor Chapman. 
 A chance shot brought him down. What bet- 
 ter word could have been spoken of his supreme 
 sacrifice than that uttered by the Prime 
 Minister of France, M. Briand, who said he 
 was "the living symbol of American idealism." 
 Norman Prince, who had created the squad- 
 ron, died in an accident — not the death that 
 he would have chosen for he was eminently a 
 fighting aviator. In his last expedition he 
 downed his fifth Boche, thus qualifying as 
 an ace. It was on the return from this 
 exploit that his machine, landing in the dark, 
 struck a wire and he sustained fatal injuries. 
 Before this he had figured in IZ2 engagements, 
 was officially credited with having brought 
 down five of the enemy, and had four others 
 to his credit but not officially recorded. 
 He had won the Croix de la Guerre, the 
 Medaille Militaire, and the Croix de la 
 Legion d 'Honneur. But his greatest glory 
 in history will be that he created the Lafay- 
 ette Escadrille. 
 
 Liifhery, the famous American ace, from Wallingford, Conn., in his Nieuport, not long before he fought his last battle 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Lawrence Scanlon, of Long Island, fell 500 feet and crashed through tiic luuf of the bakuiy of the 
 Avord and emerged from the debris entirely unhurt 
 
 ch aviation school 
 
 James McConnell, of North Carolina, 
 served first in the American Field Ambulance, 
 and, being stirred like so many young Ameri- 
 cans by the atrocities of which the enemy was 
 gudty, went into active service against the 
 foe in the Escadrille. He was to a great 
 degree the historian of the flying corps, his 
 book "Flying for France" being the best of 
 all contemporary contributions to the litera- 
 ture of the air. As an example of his literary 
 style this extract from a letter written while 
 he was still in the ambulance service may 
 well interest: 
 
 Ogilvie got his car and we got our stretchers out to 
 take away the blesses. There were a few of us grouped 
 about, some seven or eight — and near — with the 
 wounded just put on stretchers, when — Bang! Bang! 
 Bang! — three more shells. 
 
 We had already thrown ourselves on the ground, and 
 then findmg we were still alive, feverishly loaded the car. 
 "Good God! I've stalled it!" said the driver — then 
 the cranking — would it never start — try again — thank 
 Heaven it was off. Hardly thirty seconds after, whish- 
 sh-bang! bang! Two more came. We retired to a 
 cellar for a few minutes as the three dead could stay 
 there while it was so terribly dangerous. At last we 
 emerged and were about to lift Mignot's body when 
 both arms moved. Was he alive, after all.'' No, it 
 was only the electric wires he was lying on that had 
 istimulated his muscles. The car turned the corner 
 with the three dead, and we ran back to the caserne. 
 :\ There we found the rest of our Section very shaken 
 
 indeed. A shell had burst just outside of the house 
 where the nine were making merry and the violence 
 of the impact had hurled all of them to the ground. 
 Two feet nearer and the whole lot would have been 
 killed. 
 
 At the time of McConnell's death Edmond 
 Genet, to whom reference has been made, 
 was flying with him. He tells the story of 
 how the body of the lost air-fighter was 
 found : 
 
 Jim M'Connell has just gallantly earned a lonely 
 grave out beyond the present fightmg-lines. I wrote 
 to you last Tuesday — the day he and I were out to- 
 gether, when we had to return, wounded, without 
 him, and with no definite news of him. Since then the 
 Germans were forced back further and finally French 
 troops came across a badly smashed Nieuport with 
 the body of a sergeant pilot beside the ruins. All 
 
 identification papers were gone, and the d d Boches 
 
 had even taken off the flying clothes, and even the boots, 
 and left the body where it had fallen. The number of 
 the machine was sent in and so we knew it was Mac's. 
 
 The following morning, after a flight over the lines, I 
 spiralled down over the location given and found the 
 wreck — almost unrecognizable as an aeroplane, crushed 
 into the ground at the edge of a shell-torn and wrecked 
 little village. I circled over it for a few minutes and 
 then back to camp to report. Our captain flew over 
 that way the same morning to see about the body. 
 When he returned he told us about the clothes and shoes 
 having been stolen, and said that Mac had been buried 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 James R. McConnell, the American ace who lost 
 his life flying for the French and who was the author 
 of a book entitled "Flying for France" 
 
 beside the road next to which he had fallen. There 
 is no doubt but that he was killed during the combat 
 in the air, and the machine crashed down full speed to 
 the earth. Since that day I've chased two Boche 
 machines but could get up to neither, but I'll get one 
 yet and more than one, or be dropped myself to avenge 
 poor Mac. 
 
 Poor Genet himself fell a little more than 
 a month later, and was the first aviator to die 
 after the United States entered the war. 
 
 King of the American aces was Raoul 
 Lufbery, of Wallingford, Conn., an American 
 by birth and a Frenchman on his mother's 
 side. He had been something of a soldier 
 of fortune for years and had enjoyed some 
 flying experience before joining the Lafayette 
 Escadrille. He developed extraordinary skill 
 as a fighting pilot, and at the time of his 
 death was credited with having brought 
 down eighteen enemy planes. The Croix 
 de Guerre, the Medaille Militaire, the Croix 
 de la Legion d'Honneur, and the Military 
 Cross for Distinguished Services, a British 
 decoration, were all his. Though not, like 
 so many of his associates, a college man, 
 
 Lufbery had, like most of the flyers, a knack 
 of writing well about the service that he 
 loved. In Everybody' s Magazine he gave a 
 description of a raid in which he took part 
 as pilot of a huge Voisin plane. The objec- 
 tive was the Metz-Sablon railway station: 
 
 A few minutes later I found myself over the spacious 
 station of Metz. This was our objective. The ma- 
 chine in front of me executed a semi-circle in order to 
 give the slower aeroplanes a chance to come up. Handi- 
 capped by my 140 h.p. I took no part in this manoeuvre, 
 but flew straight to the pomt where I was first to arrive. 
 
 Our coming must have been announced as several 
 enemy machines came from every direction to meet us. 
 One of them turned toward me. Quickly I turned my 
 head to see if my observer was on guard. His machine 
 gun was pointed at the enemy, his finger on the trigger. 
 At a distance of one hundred and fifty metres, the enemy 
 machine made a brisk movement to get beyond our 
 range, turning to enable its gunner to fire at us. But 
 this manoeuvre was useless for the greater number of 
 the bi-plane machines have two guns, one stationary, 
 which fires from the front, the other mounted on a 
 turret in the rear. 
 
 I kept my eye on my adversary. I could clearly see 
 the black painted cross on his fusilage and helm. The 
 fight began. We exchanged a shower of bullets. The 
 
 Piatt Andrew, Director of the American Ambulance 
 Field Service in France 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 Boche piqued, apparently having 
 had enough. I did not think it 
 worth my while to follow him, as 
 there was nothing now to obstruct 
 our way, and I had an important 
 mission to fulfil. 
 
 Through the wind shield I could 
 distinguish railroad tracks, trains, 
 stationary and on the move, stores 
 of goods, hangars, etc. 
 
 My observer tapped me on the 
 shoulder and signed for me to go 
 ahead. Another tap informed me 
 that all the bombs had been drop- 
 ped. Our mission was accomplished. 
 All that remained for us to do now 
 was to get back to camp as soon 
 as possible. The Boches were 
 hurrying up in numbers. We had 
 to keep a watch on all sides. We 
 were surprised by a monoplane 
 Fokker which hurled at us a shower 
 of bullets and departed before we 
 had time to respond. Two or three 
 short, sharp familiar sounds told 
 me my machine was hit. But my motor continued 
 its regular throb, and my observer reported that 
 the gasoline tank was untouched. 
 
 James Norman Hall, another great American avi- 
 ator, who helped to make America's famous air 
 record in France 
 
 Norman Prince, who also gave his life flying for France 
 
 The wind blowing from the north facilitated our 
 return. In a short time we were over our lines. Then 
 I laughed without knowing why. I looked at my ob- 
 server and he, too, laughed. We were both feeling 
 good. 
 
 Lufbery attained the rank of Major in the 
 American Squadron but was not destined 
 to survive the war. In May, 1918, in a battle 
 over the city of Toul with a huge German 
 machine, his machine was seen to burst into 
 flames and his body was thrown out. He 
 was of course killed instantly. A comrade, 
 Kenneth P. Copeland, in a letter home told 
 of the funeral services and I quote his closing 
 words: 
 
 He was given a full military burial; with the salutes 
 of the firing squad and the two repetitions of taps, one 
 answering the other from the west. General E. made 
 a brief address, one of the finest talks I have ever 
 heard any man give — while throughout all the cere- 
 mony French and American planes circled the field. 
 In all my life I have never heard taps blown so beauti- 
 fully as on that afternoon — even some of the officers 
 there joined the women in quietly dabbing at their 
 eyes with white handkerchiefs. France and the 
 United States had truly assembled to pay a last tribute 
 to one of their soldiers. My only prayer is that some- 
 how, through some means, I can do something as much 
 for my country before I too wander west — if in that 
 direction I am to travel. 
 
 The next day the writer of these touching 
 lines himself fell in combat with the Boche. 
 
UN 
 
 ITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 WiUian, Hohenzollern, the deposed Kaiser of Germany, and the most notorious criminal in the world 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 MILITARY OPERATIONS DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF THE PARTICIPATION OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES IN THE WAR THE FIGHTING ON THE WESTERN FRONT 
 
 THE TANKS GERMAN ATROCITIES IN FRANCE THE ITALIAN FRONT — THE 
 
 DISASTER ON THE ISONZO VENICE IMPERILED THE MESOPOTAMIAN CAM- 
 PAIGN TAKING OF JERUSALEM HAD THE ALLIES LOST THE WAR? 
 
 WHILE the 
 United 
 States was 
 thus gath- 
 ering itself together 
 in preparation for the 
 plunge into the Euro- 
 pean maelstrom there 
 was no cessation in 
 the fighting abroad. 
 Rather was it pressed 
 with greater vigor 
 and desperation, for 
 the Germans, 
 although they scof- 
 fed at the idea of the 
 United States exert- 
 ing a really com- 
 manding influence 
 over the war, never- 
 theless exerted every 
 endeavor to win a 
 decisive victory be- 
 fore our troops could 
 be brought into 
 action. The nations 
 of the Entente Al- 
 hance, on the other hand, seeing in the com- 
 ing of the American troops the aid which 
 would end in victory, set themselves to resist 
 stubbornly all attacks, and to hold their own 
 until that aid could be made effective. 
 
 The cheering with which the people of the 
 United States greeted their entrance upon 
 the war had scarcely died away when the 
 British began at Arras a tremendous offensive 
 upon a wide front between Lens and St. 
 Quentin. The battle line included the fa- 
 mous Vimy Ridge, which dominates the 
 plain of Douai and the coal fields of Lens — 
 coveted objectives which the Allies were not 
 destined to win for many long months. The 
 battle then opened was one of the greatest 
 
 of the war. The battle line was forty-five 
 miles long. More than in any earlier action 
 the airplanes, both those of the AlHes and 
 enemy planes, were in evidence, scouting, 
 bombing, and fighting among themselves in 
 the midst of cold, snowy, and sleety weather 
 most unseasonable for April. 
 
 The first British attack, opened on April 9th, 
 was made against positions which the enemy 
 had held for two years, and which they had 
 made, in their own estimation, impregnable. 
 The belt of wire entanglements before their 
 trenches was hundreds of yards deep, and 
 indescribably tangled. It was against this 
 form of obstacle that the newly invented 
 "tanks" or land cruisers were most effective. 
 These were automobiles, oftentimes the 
 "flivvers" beloved of the American farmer, 
 on which had been built a structure of steel, 
 mounting usually three machine guns, or 
 sometimes hght rapid firers. The tanks 
 were propelled on "caterpillar wheels," or 
 endless belts of jointed, flat platforms which 
 revolved slowly, and carried the whole 
 structure forward, on a road thus laid for it 
 as it advanced. The car with its super- 
 structure is about 23 feet long, by 9 feet 
 over all, weighs about 20,000 pounds without 
 armor, is propelled by 120-horsepower and 
 makes from 2| to 5 miles an hour according 
 to the ground it. must traverse. Because 
 of the breadth of the steel plates upon which 
 it moved the pressure on the ground is said 
 to be less than that of the hoof of a horse 
 or the foot of a man; accordingly soft ground 
 or even mud interferes but little with its 
 progress. The machine cannot tip over, 
 it can descend one side of a trench and climb 
 up the other at most incredible angles. It 
 can break down trees, go through houses, and 
 nothing short of a direct hit by a shell will 
 put it out of action. Because of its power 
 to plow through all obstacles the tank has 
 
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UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
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UNlTiED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 These French artillerymen during the great German offensive in March, 1918, have just received from an aeroplane the signal 
 of the enemy's approach and are rushing to man their gun 
 
 been especially serviceable in breaking down 
 entanglements of barbed wire. 
 
 When they were first employed, these 
 ungainly and powerful machines aroused the 
 merriment of the men who marched by their 
 side quite as much as the terror of those 
 against whom their lumbering charges were 
 directed. 
 
 Philip Gibbs tells two stories of the opera- 
 tions of tanks in the battle 
 of the Somme: 
 
 A "tank" had been coming along 
 slowly in a lumbering way, crawling 
 over the interminable succession of 
 shell craters, lurching over and 
 down, and into and out of old Ger- 
 man trenches, nosing heavily into 
 soft earth,- and grunting up again, 
 and sitting poised on broken para- 
 pets as though quite winded by this 
 exercise, and then waddling forward 
 in the wake of the infantry. 
 
 Then it faced the ruins of the 
 chateau, and stared at them very 
 steadily for quite a long time, as 
 though wondering whether it should 
 eat them or crush them. Our men 
 were hiding behind ridges of shell 
 craters, keeping low from the swish 
 of machine-gun bullets, and implor- 
 ing the "tank" to "get on with it." 
 Then it moved forward in a mon- 
 
 strous way, not swerving much to the left or right, but 
 heaving itself on jerkily, like a dragon with indigestion, 
 but very fierce. Fire leaped from its nostrils. The 
 German machine guns splashed its sides with bullets, 
 which ricochetted off. Not all those bullets kept it 
 back. It got on top of the enemy's trench, trudged 
 down the length of it, laying its sandbags flat and 
 sweeping it with fire. 
 
 The German machine guns were silent, and when 
 our men followed, the "tank," shouting and cheering, 
 
 French iss's in action on the Oise River in France 
 
 k 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 British and French troops awaiting the enemy in hastily constructed intrenchments during the last German offensive of 1918. 
 This was just before the Americans came in numbers to the aid of their hard-pressed allies 
 
 they found a few German gunners standing with their 
 hands up as a sign of surrender to the monster who had 
 come upon them. 
 
 One of the most remarkable "tank" adventures was 
 in the direction of Gueudecourt, where our troops were 
 held up yesterday in the usual way — that is to say, by 
 
 French and American officers during the Battle of Picardy making arrangements 
 for American troops to take over a sector 
 
 the raking fire of machine guns. They made two 
 attacks, but could not get beyond that screen of 
 bullets. 
 
 Then a "tank" strolled along, rolled over the trench, 
 with fire flashing from its flanks, and delivered it into 
 the hands of the infantry with nearly 400 prisoners, 
 who waved white flags above the 
 parapet. That was not all. The 
 "tank" exhilarated bjr this success, 
 w-ent lolloping along the way in 
 search of new adventures. It 
 w-ent quite alone and only stopped 
 for minor repairs when it was sur- 
 rounded by a horde of German 
 soldiers. These men closed upon 
 it with great pluck, for it was firing 
 in a most deadly way, -and tried 
 to kill it. They flung bombs at it, 
 clambered on its back, and tried 
 to smash it with the butt-ends of 
 rifles, jabbed it with bayonets, fired 
 revolvers and rifles at it, and made 
 a wild pandemonium about it. 
 
 Then our infantry arrived, at- 
 tracted by the tumult of the scene, 
 and drove the enemy back. But 
 the "tank" had done deadli' work, 
 and between 200 and 300 killed 
 and wounded Germans lay about 
 its ungainly carcase. For a little 
 while it seemed that the "tank" 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 ritish troops in the act of assaulting at La Boiselle in tranc 
 
 also was out of action, but after a little attention, and a 
 good deal of grinding and grunting, it heaved itself 
 up and waddled away. 
 
 In seven days' fighting before Arras the 
 British gained five miles, took 22,000 prisoners, 
 and 200 guns. It was in the course of this 
 fighting that troops from our neighbor to 
 the north, Canada, greatly distinguished 
 themselves. Vimy Ridge, a vital strategic 
 point, taken before by the French, and later 
 by the British, only to be lost again', was 
 gallantly carried by the Canadian troops. 
 In their ranks were many 
 men of United States citizen- 
 ship who had wearied of 
 waiting for this country to 
 enter the war and had crossed 
 our northern border to enlist 
 with the men of the Domin- 
 ion. One of these, a young 
 Texan, who was wounded in 
 the battle of Vimy Ridge, 
 learning that the United 
 States had at last entered 
 the conflict, went up to the 
 assault with the Stars and 
 Stripes on his bayonet, and 
 fell thus. It was the first 
 appearance of our flag on a 
 European battlefield. 
 • The British fighting in this 
 section was the more deter- 
 mined because the soldiers 
 had passed through the coun- 
 : try devastated in Hinden- 
 
 burg's retreat which began on March 1 6th, 
 and had been able to see for themselves 
 what German ruthlessness meant. The re- 
 gion which the enemy ravaged was about 
 40 miles long, and 25 deep. It had contained 
 before the war between 350 and 400 towns 
 and villages, and some 200,000 people. The 
 Germans burned, blew up, or otherwise 
 obliterated the towns and villages, and of 
 the 200,000 human beings took nearly half — 
 including thousands of women and young 
 girls — into slavery. Banks and private safes 
 were robbed of their money. Private homes 
 
 A British raiding party getting clear of a sap and rushing toward the German 
 trenches 
 
90 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 French artillerymen installing one of the 
 
 were pillaged and burned from sheer lust of 
 destruction. Even the little farmhouses 
 and gardens of the peasants were ruthlessly 
 destroyed. The savagery of the retreating 
 Huns was shown by the fiendish zeal they 
 manifested m destroying property that could 
 have been of no use to a farmer. Portraits 
 were hacked to pieces. Mirrors smashed 
 with revolver shot. Filth defiled everything. 
 Wells were poisoned. The trees of orchards 
 W"ere girdled or chopped down. Men versed 
 
 This : 
 
 rush jub 
 
 A French anti-air craft gun in action on the Oise in France 
 
 ISS's on the Somme. 
 
 in the Scriptures recalled that in Dueteronomy 
 XX it is written: "When thou shalt be- 
 siege a city a long time in making war 
 against it then shalt thou not destroy the 
 trees thereof by forcing an ax against them; 
 for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt 
 not cut them down (for the tree of the field 
 is man's life) to employ them in the siege. 
 Only the trees which thou knowest that they 
 be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy 
 and cut them down." But the Germans, 
 though talking much of 
 "Gott," gave little heed to 
 sacred things. Churches were 
 stripped of every valuable 
 thing before being burned or 
 blown to pieces. In some of 
 the demolished towns the 
 retreating Germans left notes 
 to this eflPect : 
 
 " You see zvhat we have done 
 here. Well, this iswhat is going 
 to happen all the way back to 
 the French frontier." 
 
 And in other places they 
 were malignantly ironical. 
 " Nicht argern; niir wundern" 
 was the German legend that 
 met the British in several 
 places that seemed no longer 
 to bear any sign of having 
 been spots of human 
 habitation. "Do not be an- 
 
 I 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 A sample of some of the difficulties the Allied and American troops had tu overcome before they broke the Hindenburg hne 
 
 noyed; only be astonished" was the mean- 
 ing. 
 
 A British war correspondent summed up 
 the hellish destruction in a paragraph when 
 he wrote: 
 
 Even if we grant that the destruction of houses in 
 the wake of retreat is the recognized cruelty of war there 
 are other things I have seen which are not pardonable, 
 even under that damnable code of morality. In 
 Bapaume and Peronne, in Roye and Nesle and Liane- 
 court, and all these places over a 
 wide area the German soldiers not 
 only blew out the fronts of houses, 
 but with picks and axes smashed 
 mirrors and furniture and picture 
 frames. As a friend of mine said, 
 a cheap] ack would not give four- 
 pence for anything left in Peronne, 
 and that is strictly true also of 
 Bapaume. There is nothing but 
 filth in those two towns. Family 
 portraits have been kicked into the 
 gutters. Black bonnets of old 
 wornen who once lived in those 
 houses lie about the rubbish heaps 
 and by some strange, fitful freak 
 these are almost the only signs 
 left of the inhabitants who lived 
 here before the Germans wrecked 
 their houses. 
 
 offensive on the Aisne. General Nivelle, the 
 French Commander-in-Chief in April, 1917, 
 pushed forward an attack on a 25-mile front 
 between Soissons and Rheims. This was the 
 southern pivot of the famous "Hindenburg 
 Hne," the position of the impregnability of 
 which the Germans long boasted, but which 
 was broken more than once by the British and 
 French before the final attacks under the 
 dominant generalship of Foch m 191 8 smashed 
 the whole hne out of any coherent shape. In 
 
 While the British were 
 pressing the fighting in the 
 vicinity of Arras, the French 
 were pushing forward their 
 
 This is the kind of gun which made its appearance on the western front when the 
 Allies caught up with the Germans in heavy artillery 
 
W A R 
 
 French tanks awaiting repairs after having wrought great havoc among the enemy. Ihey were wounded in action 
 
 this second battle of the Aisne the Crown 
 Prince had nominal command of the German 
 armies, and received from his Imperial parent 
 a telegram of congratulations upon his"death- 
 def\"ing perseverance and irresistible attack," 
 and conveying to the soldiers assurance that 
 "all who fight and bleed there shall know that 
 the whole of Germany will remember their 
 deeds, and is at one with them to carr\" 
 through the fight for existence to a victorious 
 end." 
 
 The victorious end did not come then, nor 
 indeed did it ever come, though in the early 
 spring of 191 8 the Germans drove back across 
 this same devastated territorv' for gains 
 which brought them nearer to Pans than 
 they had been since the opening weeks of 
 the war, and set the whole Alhed world 
 aghast with dread until a handful of American 
 
 The tanks used by the British in the East made a new type of ship of the desert 
 
 marines at Belleau Wood checked the onrush 
 and turned back the Huns in a retreat 
 that ended in ultimate defeat. 
 
 But for the remainder of the 3-ear 1917, 
 while America was striking her gait and the 
 Atlantic fern,' was slowly carr\-ing our fighting 
 men across to the fields of France, the British 
 and the French pushed on the fighting in 
 Flanders, along the Aisne and Ailette rivers, 
 and at Verdun. Hard fighting it was, brave 
 and bloody, but although the record week 
 by week showed notable successes on the 
 part of the Allies it was all in the end ineffec- 
 tive, and without bearing upon the outcome 
 of the war, except in so far as it wore down 
 the German man-power to a point from which 
 it was impossible for Germany to recover. 
 
 In Italy the moment of the entrance of 
 the United States upon the war found the 
 Italians seemingly in secure 
 possession of the Austrian 
 stronghold of Goritzia, hold- 
 ing the line of the Isonzo 
 River, andthreateningTrieste 
 on the one hand and the 
 back door of Austria on the 
 other. Yet this advance 
 lagged during the summer 
 months of 1917 to an extent 
 which seemed scarcely ex- 
 plainable even b}' the difficult 
 character of the plain of the 
 Carso over which they had 
 to fight their way. That 
 volcanic plateau was a deso- 
 late waste of rocks and caves, 
 destitute of water, and forti- 
 fied at even,- point by the 
 Austrian enemy who had in- 
 stalled machine guns innu- 
 merable, and batteries of 
 
The Italians in their mountain lines fought under appalling difficulties. The wounded men had to be lowered dovvn 
 precipices, often more than a thousand feet high, to emergency hospitals or waiting ambulances below. The American 
 Red Cross played a large part in Italy. 
 
WAR 
 
 These tanks are awaiting orders. The 
 
 lo-inchers by which the whole plain was 
 swept. A long aqueduct, advancing with the 
 troops, had to bej built to supply the Italian 
 forces with water. 
 
 Difficult though the terrain was it did not 
 wholly explain the sluggishness of the Italian 
 advance which early in June came to a 
 complete standstill. The world did not 
 know, though the headquarters of the Allies 
 must have known, that the Italians were 
 stopped, not by the valor of their enemies, 
 but by the lethargy of their friends. Ca- 
 dorna's army, which had advanced thus 
 gloriously over almost unimaginable obstacles 
 to the very doors of supreme victory, was 
 suddenly experiencmg a severe shortage in 
 all the supplies necessary to a vigorous cam- 
 
 nunimuni tl" 
 
 danger of observation 
 
 This small Joh is a tank mascot. He has often been under fire 
 
 paign. Cannon and the needed ammunition, 
 rails for the extension of railroads and rolling 
 stock to equip them, food, clothing, small 
 arms, and the countless munitions necessary 
 to keep an army in the field were running- 
 low. Appeals were made to the Allies for aid, 
 but the response came but slowly. Meantime, 
 the Russian debacle had occurred and the 
 Austrians, freed from apprehension from that 
 quarter, were able to give their entire at- 
 tention to Italy. Germany was freed from 
 the Russian menace_ likewise and was able 
 to add her aid. Yet it is a striking tribute 
 to the Italian valor that neither the gallantry 
 of one side nor the discouragement of the 
 other caused the disaster which, in the 
 autumn, overwhelmed Cadorna's forces. The 
 reverse was due toGerman m- 
 trigue, socialist propaganda, 
 and the treachen,' of a com- 
 paratively few Italians. 
 
 The first news came to the 
 world in the shape of reports 
 that on October 24th the , 
 Austro-German armies had 
 burst through the Italian 
 front in the Julian Alps and 
 had crossed the Isonzo and 
 were pouring down into the 
 Venetian plain. As the news 
 was amplified it appeared 
 that the Second Italian Army, 
 under General Capello, had 
 for some inexplicable reason 
 yielded to the enemy practi- 
 cally without resistance and 
 that the foe pouring through 
 the gap thus caused had 
 compelled the retirement of 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 95 
 
 the whole Italian Army from the Cranio 
 Alps to the sea. The fruit of three years of 
 the most gallant fighting known during the 
 whole war was thrown away in a day or two. 
 Goritzia was sacrificed, the line of the Isonzo 
 abandoned, the menace to Trieste was with- 
 drawn, and suddenly Italy from being mag- 
 nificently on the off'ensive found itself driven 
 back to its own territory with the cities of 
 her northern plain and magnificent Venice 
 herself in danger of capture by the Huns. 
 In one week the enemy had taken 250,000 
 
 pacified front great bodies of troops and 
 sent them into the JuHan Alps to aid her 
 ally. That alone would not have accom- 
 plished the sinister results that followed, 
 for the Italian troops under any fair condi- 
 tions were capable of coping with all comers. 
 But at this moment they were sorely reduced 
 in munitions of war and in no condition to 
 resist an attack in force. To this fact was 
 added the more sinister influences of dis- 
 affection and intrigue. 
 
 The spot chosen for the attack was on the 
 
 Germans attacking a British tank This was typical of the dtsp( 
 
 in spite of long- 
 prisoners and 2,300 guns and there seemed 
 no likelihood of stopping his progress. 
 
 What was the reason for this colossal defeat 
 suddenly inflicted upon an army which had 
 been resting upon its arms seemingly secure 
 in well-earned positions? 
 
 Once more credit must be given to Ger- 
 many for having turned the reverses of. her 
 allies into victory. Her military leaders 
 had no doubt contemplated with alarm the 
 steady advance of the Italians and the con- 
 tinued reverses of the Austrians, but while 
 Russia remained in the field were unable to 
 intervene. But with the withdrawal of the 
 Russians the Germans withdrew from that 
 
 ;rate hand-to-hand fighting which wab so common in the war 
 ■range guns 
 
 lines at Tolmino, Monte San Gabriele, and 
 Monte San Daniele. General Von Biilow 
 was in command of the German forces, with 
 Germans commanding Austrian divisions. 
 Austrian names had disappeared entirely 
 from the list of those in high command. 
 Before opening fire with their artillery the 
 Germans put into effect the more subtile 
 method of intrigue for breaking down their 
 enemy's defense. An Italian authority ex- 
 plains it thus: 
 
 "Opposite the Second Italian Army the 
 Austrians had placed regiments composed 
 largely of Socialists, and these utilized the 
 war-weariness of opponents, similarly in- 
 
96 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 These Italian troops having just reached the summit of a mountain are starting to attack the Austrians in an effort to dis- 
 lodge them 
 
 fected, to convince the latter that an end of 
 the fighting would come if the soldiers on 
 both sides should refuse to kill each other 
 any longer. Fraternization followed, and an 
 exchange of promises to do no more shooting. 
 Then the demoralized — and demoralizing — 
 Austrian division was withdrawn, and in its 
 place were put German shock troops. These 
 
 Vinceremo (we shall \vm)! After capturing this mountain top 
 this sign with letters two yards high and illuminated 
 
 it was that, almost unopposed, smashed 
 through the Italian line and began the flank- 
 ing movement of which the results have been 
 so disastrous to Italy." ' 
 
 It was not all German intrigue that caused 
 this disaffection. There was only too much 
 evidence that Italian Socialists, the followers 
 of the discredited ex-Premier Giohtti, paci- 
 fists, and even some agencies 
 of the Vatican had worked to 
 attain this discreditable end. 
 Immediately after the disaster 
 General Cadorna bitterly de- 
 nounced the "treachery" — - 
 using that word — of certain 
 divisions, while the War Office 
 in its bulletin made the dis- 
 tinct charge of cowardice. 
 But the harsh words were 
 quickly suppressed by the 
 censors, and the defeat allowed 
 to pass as though caused by 
 the enemy's superior force. 
 The fact remains, however, 
 that certain regiments in aban- 
 doning certain strategic posi- 
 tions did so apparently not 
 because overcome by superior 
 force, but cheering, singing, 
 the Italians put up and giving every indication 
 at night that they were deluded into 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 the belief that by their act 
 the war would be ended. 
 
 The gap opened by treachery 
 on the 24th of October, 1917, 
 was big enough to disorganize 
 the whole Italian line and 
 within three days the whole 
 Italian Army was in retreat. 
 It must have been a bitter 
 moment for the gallant Italian 
 soldiers. From the mountain 
 peaks which they had carried 
 by such engineering skill, in- 
 dustry, persistence, and loss 
 of life, through the narrow 
 passes which they had pene- 
 trated against the fire of the 
 enemy's batteries on every 
 peak and crest, they had now 
 to retire with the exultant 
 Austrians snapping at their 
 heels. It was a mournful re- 
 treat but an orderly one. 
 
 By November ist the Italians had been 
 driven from the Hne of the TagHamento, which 
 they had fortified heavily and hoped to hold. 
 They were short of artillery and of ammuni- 
 tion. The enemy at this time reported the 
 capture of 180,000 men and 15,000 guns. 
 After another brief halt at the Livenza River, 
 where, according to German reports, 17,000 
 more prisoners and 800 guns were lost, the 
 1 ItaHans fell back to the hne of the Piave. 
 
 When the Taghamento had been passed 
 by the Teutons the world 
 suddenly awoke to what was 
 happening. The Allied 
 governments, that had looked 
 complacently upon Italy fight- 
 ing her own battles so long as 
 she could fight them victori- 
 ously, perceived that her defeat 
 now was a menace to their 
 whole cause. Not only would 
 the Germans sweep down over 
 the northern plains, taking 
 Vicenza, Verona, and even 
 glorious Venice for added 
 counters in the game of brag 
 and barter that would attend 
 the final peace conference, but 
 they might move to the west- 
 ward and strike at France by 
 the back door of the Riviera. 
 With one accord France, Great 
 
 Britain, and the United States Austrians in the Italian Alps, They went back quicktr than they came 
 
 The Italians underwent herculean labors in getting great guns such as this on to 
 the mountain tops 
 
 rushed to the rescue. At last Italy's appeals 
 were heeded. 
 
 A triune command representing the Allies 
 was created, and on this General Cadorna 
 was given place, General Foch and Sir Harry 
 Wilson being the other two. As supreme 
 commander of the Italian forces in the field 
 General Armando Diaz succeeded Cadorna. 
 
 It appeared now for a time that the line 
 of the Piave was to be to Italy what Verdun 
 had been to France — a symbol of national 
 
Italian soldiers knee deep in snow rushing toward tlie enemy, ''"hey wear w'hite uniforms to render them inconspicuous 
 
 determination to conquer. As in the case 
 of Verdun the strategists said that the Piave 
 was a Hne without true strategical impor- 
 tance or strength. Occupation of it left the 
 left 'flank resting on the mountains, a very 
 perilous and insuflScient defense. Further 
 south, pointed out the strategists, was the 
 Adige River, a line along which would extend 
 from Lake Garda to the sea, and be therefore 
 impregnable on either flank. True, this 
 would uncover Venice and probably lead to 
 her capture, but Venice, while artistically 
 and historically important, was without mili- 
 tar\' significance. 
 
 At this all Italy sprang to arms. Sacrihce 
 Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic! Permit 
 the Austrians to come back, to swagger again 
 in the Plaza of St. Mark's after havmg turned 
 them out? Never! All Italy decreed the 
 
 m2f^ 
 
 Transporting an Itahan gun across a chasm at a dizzy height by aerial ropeway 
 
 Piave line, and adopted for its rallying cry 
 "Da q^ti non se passe !", the equivalent of the 
 French motto at Verdun, "They shall not 
 pass!" Up too surged the hot blood of the 
 Garibaldians of 1866 with their battle cry 
 " Italia fara da se .'" 
 
 Venice was in a panic, and indeed the whole 
 world — to which the Adriatic city throned 
 in state upon her hundred isles seemed a 
 shrine sacred to all humanity — held its 
 breath as it viewed the closer approach 
 of the Huns to that treasure house of art and 
 beauty. Curiously enough, it was the his- 
 toric Huns under the ruthless Attila who, 
 raiding northern Italy, caused its people to 
 take refuge in the lagoons and islands whence 
 in due time Venice uprose. Now after the 
 lapse of centuries new barbarians were at the 
 door of the city that had grown great, rich, 
 and beautiful. No 
 people reverence and 
 appreciate more their 
 art treasures than the 
 Venetians. Perhaps it 
 may be admitted that 
 they have a lively sense 
 of the material advan- 
 tages these treasures 
 bringtothem innormal 
 times in the throngs of 
 visitors from every 
 land. From the ear- 
 liest days of the war 
 every imaginable pre- 
 caution had been taken 
 to preserve these trea- 
 sures from possible 
 injury. The horses of 
 St. Mark's descended 
 from their elevated 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 99 
 
 Italian soldiers carrying building materials up a snow-clad mountain to build sheds above the clouds ; 
 
 Station above the cathedral's portico and were 
 taken to Rome, where they were comfortably 
 stabled in the ruined baths of Diocletian. St. 
 Mark's itself was banked about with sand bags 
 within and without; though meticulous as 
 were the precautions, they would have 
 availed little against a single shell from a 
 giant Austrian howitzer. To protect the 
 neighboring Doges' Palace it was at first 
 planned to build an entirely distinct struc- 
 ture of brick around and over it. But en- 
 gineers reported that the piles on which the 
 Palace, like all the rest of Venice, stands 
 would not support the additional load, so 
 that project was abandoned, and the more 
 exposed portions of the edifice banked up 
 with sand bags. The statue of Colleone, 
 esteemed by artists the greatest in the world, 
 was covered by sand bags until the near 
 
 approach of the Germans suggested that 
 not merely destruction but theft needed to 
 be guarded against, and it was lowered from 
 its pedestal and shipped to Rome. 
 
 So the Italians clung to the line of the 
 Piave with a persistence that denoted real 
 soldierly devotion. Though the enemy had 
 broken over at Zenson, the gap he made there 
 in the Italian lines was too narrow to be 
 serviceable. On the lower river the Italian re- 
 sistance could not be shaken. Floating de- 
 fenses were employed with great skill. Not 
 only were flat-bottomed English monitors of 
 light draft and with the heaviest guns brought 
 into service, but the Italians built floats on 
 which they mounted powerful naval guns 
 which drove the invaders away from the 
 river banks. Early in November the Teutons 
 began crossing the low delta of the Piave 
 
roo 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Courtesy Miss A. A. 
 An Italian sentry at his outlook post in tbe mountains 
 
 near its mouth. The movement was 
 most menacing to Venice as it brought the 
 enemy troops within twenty miles of that 
 beautiful city — almost close enough for 
 the Kaiser's guns to do what they had 
 done to the cathedral at Rheims and the 
 Cloth Hall at Ypres. 
 
 But the line of the Piave was not the 
 only danger spot for Italy. In the north 
 the foe was coming down the passes of the 
 Dolomites and the Venetian Alps with 
 the intent of taking the Italian Piave line 
 in the flank and rear. The movement 
 which culminated in the later davs of 
 November, 1917, was most menacing. 
 The Teutons outnumbered the Italians 
 by two to one — both in men and in guns. 
 They suffered from but one weakness. 
 For supplies and communications they 
 were dependent on a single railroad to 
 Trent and various highways through the 
 mountain passes. A single snowstorm 
 would interrupt supplies; a long period 
 of stormy weather might be disastrous. 
 Winter was upon them and the invaders 
 pushed the fighting. During the week 
 December 4th to December loth, he at- 
 
 tacked fierceh' all along the mountain 
 front, captured, according to Berlin, 
 1 5,000 prisoners and seized some positions 
 not without strategic value. 
 
 But as the roar of the great guns and 
 the rattle of the lesser arms died away 
 came noiselessly through the air the deli- 
 cate and feathery missiles that were to 
 end, for the time at least, Austro-German 
 exploits on that front. The srow, light, 
 feathery, but insistent, came silently 
 down, filling the mountain passes, block- 
 ing the railroad, shutting oflF the invaders 
 from their base. It was no time for fight- 
 ing. The work of the army thus entrap- 
 ped was to keep open its communications. 
 During this interruption the relief forces 
 sent by France and England to Italy's 
 aid came up and on the last day of 1917 
 delivered a crushing blow on the invaders' 
 front. The Allies were everywhere suc- 
 cessful, and the offensive passed from the 
 Teutons to them. During the weeks 
 immediately following there was spirited 
 fighting in the air, fleets of as man}^ as 
 twenty-five planes to a side being not 
 infrequently engaged. But in the air, in 
 
 
 I^H 
 
 ^^^Bf' 
 
 ^^^^^^1 
 
 ^^Hii 
 
 ' ^y^^^^^^H 
 
 ^^^Bi'^' 
 
 
 ^^^^^^^H' .^ 
 
 ^ 'Vt^^^^^l 
 
 
 -"W^^M 
 
 
 
 
 m^^^K^^i 
 
 
 ^H^^^^^H 
 
 
 ^■tafl 
 
 Courtesy Miss A. A. Bernardy 
 
 Italian guards protecting the entrance to a mountain tunnel 
 
 I 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 An Italian convoy halted at a particularly beautiful spot on one of the famous mountain roads 
 
 the flooded districts at the mouth of the course or driven out of Mesopotamia alto- 
 Piave, and on land the advantage had now gether. They were sadly misled in their 
 turned to the Allies and on the 8th of January, hopes. For without Russian or other aid 
 191 8, headquarters reported that all danger the British, under the generalship of Sir 
 to Venice was now averted. Stanley Maude and Sir Edmund Allenby, 
 
 The year 1917 was notable, also, for the pushed on brilliantly to as complete a vic- 
 successful operations 
 of the British in Asia 
 Minor, particularly in 
 the Holy Land and 
 Mesopotamia. During 
 the summer the British 
 advance in those 
 regions had been stayed 
 by the entire collapse 
 of Russian endeavors 
 in the Caucasus and 
 about Lake Van be- 
 cause of the Russian 
 revolution. For a time 
 the Turks and the Ger- 
 mans thought that, be- 
 cause of this abrupt 
 termination of the 
 Russian activities, the 
 British would be either © London Daily MaU 
 
 checked in their Italian Alpine troops known as the Alpini entrenched in an ice fort at Cadore, Italy 
 
UNITED STATFS IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Jerusalem from the Mount of Oli- 
 
 Marching troops now tread the quiet roads once trod by Jesus 
 
 tory as was won on any front. It was the British marched on to Bagdad, the an- 
 the only extended campaign of the war con- cient city of the CaHphs and the scene of the 
 ducted by the troops of a single nation, and Arabian Nights Entertainments. This pic- 
 it was absolutely conclusive in its results. turesque oriental town, brimming over with 
 In February, 1917, General Maude recap- legends and history, was taken in March, 
 tured Kut-el-Amara, that had been taken Thereupon the season for campaigning closed, 
 by the Turks from General Townshend for in that latitude the scorching summer 
 almost a year earlier. After this victory months put an end to military operations 
 
 as did the winter months in 
 Flanders and the north. It 
 was, moreover, just at this time 
 that Russia, which had been 
 a helpful ally in the north- 
 eastern provmces of Asia 
 Minor, was suddenly stricken 
 with impotence and it be- 
 hooved the British com- 
 manders to await develop- 
 ments before undertaking a 
 new campaign. 
 
 Early in the fall, however, 
 active operations were 
 resumed and this time the 
 advance of Sir Edmund 
 AUenby from the Mediter- 
 ranean coast engaged the 
 attention of all observers. 
 For while Maude had been 
 fighting his way up the Tigris 
 River and through regions 
 
 The Church of the Holy Sepulcher where, according to tradition, the body of famed in Oriental tradition 
 Jesus Christ was buried and in the books of the Old 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 103 
 
 Testament, Allenby's field included many 
 of the most important cities known to 
 Holy Writ, and comprehended much of the 
 territory called by Christians the Holy Land. 
 November i8th he captured Jerusalem for 
 which Christians and Moslems had striven for 
 twelve centuries, with the result of its having 
 been left until now in the possession of the 
 Mohammedans. It was matter of general 
 comment at the time that had the Germans 
 instead of the Turks been in possession of 
 Jerusalem, and had been driven out, they 
 would have destroyed all the sacred vestiges 
 of scriptural times in their malignancy, as 
 
 637 and the Christian efforts for its recovery, 
 known as the crusades, began in 1099 and 
 were continued with intervals during the 
 succeeding century. Poetry and romance 
 have concerned themselves with its long 
 history and the names of Godfrey de Boillon, 
 Tancred, Saladin, and Richard Coeur de 
 Lion are amongst those which have been 
 immortalized with it. Now a British Army, 
 aided by Arabs and East Indians, has re- 
 deemed the Holy City from the grasp of the 
 infidel and it is unlikely that it will ever again 
 pass into Moslem hands. In the course of 
 General Allenby's campaign we read of his 
 
 i Illustrating Sei 
 
 A market in the Holy Land to-day is exactly the same as was a market in the time of Christ 
 
 in France and Belgium they took special 
 pleasure in wrecking churches and cathedrals. 
 The Turks, however, respected these relics, 
 and indeed throughout this war the Enghsh 
 officers, who were brought into collision with 
 the soldiers of the Sultan, were unanimous 
 in their declaration that the Turk was no 
 foul fighter but a gallant and honorable ad- 
 versary. 
 
 For four thousand years Jerusalem has 
 been a stake of war. No existing city has 
 had so long or so turbulent a history. All 
 the tribes and peoples recorded in the Old 
 Testament fought for it, and as the power of 
 Israel waned Persians and Tyrians, Babylon- 
 ians and Macedonians, Greeks and Romans 
 fought for it. The Moslems won it in A. D. 
 
 taking the Philistine city of Gaza, of which 
 Samson carried off the gates in the scriptural 
 story dear to every schoolboy, and m later 
 operations Bethlehem and Nazareth fell 
 for the first time in centuries into Christian 
 hands. 
 
 The actual physical share in the war taken 
 by the United States during the year 1917 
 was inconsiderable. It may be said that 
 the moral effect upon the Germans of the 
 knowledge that they had now to deal with 
 a new, fresh, and powerful adversary must 
 have been most discouraging. But if that 
 were so no sign of the discouragement was 
 then apparent. The leaders of German opin- 
 ion insisted that the United States could 
 never be a serious factor in the outcome. 
 
I04 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 They ridiculed our army, decried our plans 
 for its development, insisted that there 
 were not ships enough in existence to carry 
 our troops across the Atlantic in season to 
 save the Allies, and declared that even if the 
 ships were built their submarines would sink 
 them faster than they could be put into 
 service. 
 
 To what extent the German people believed 
 this, or indeed to what extent it was believed 
 by the men who put these arguments out, 
 is hard to tell. Certainly at the moment 
 there were no signs of discouragement appar- 
 ent among the German soldiers or the 
 
 United States, and the comparative condition 
 of the belligerents at its close are likely to 
 be studied with great care by historians. 
 For nations are quite as vain as individuals^ 
 perhaps indeed rather vainer — and there is 
 already a tendency among certain elements 
 here in the United States to claim that but 
 for the timely entrance of this nation upon 
 the conflict the Entente Allies would have 
 been defeated and Germany would have been 
 left master of Europe, and m a position to 
 make itself master of the world. This view 
 is naturally hotly controverted by the 
 spokesmen of the Allies. 
 
 British officers passing the municipal offices of Bagdad. The Gernian "Berhn to Bagdad" ambition ended when the British 
 
 took Bagdad in July, 1918 
 
 German people. The army was well fed, 
 and while the fighting of 1917 had gone 
 slightly in the German favor, yet the final 
 accounting showed the year's operations 
 to have been about a set-ofF between the 
 belligerents. Any person of intelligence must 
 have recognized, however, the fact that any 
 fighting at all was to German disadvantage 
 since they had not the means of replacing 
 their losses that were still left to the Allies. 
 And the incoming flood of American troops 
 more than made up any Allied loss without 
 any further call upon the 3-outh of France 
 or Great Britain. 
 
 In time the records of this last year of the 
 war before the active participation of the 
 
 It is a pity that any such controversv 
 should have arisen, and it is more than 
 doubtful if facts, to become known later, 
 will support the contention of the American 
 extremists. It is more probable that as the 
 history of the war shall be fully revealed 
 military students will come to agree with 
 those German authorities, including the 
 Crown Prince, who confessed belatedly that 
 Germany lost the war when she lost the first 
 battle of the Marne, five weeks after her 
 invasion of Belgium. For that disaster 
 instantly demolished the entire strategical 
 plan with which she had begun hostilities. 
 With it disappeared her last chance to crush 
 France before Russia could act, and then to 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 105 
 
 The British under General Allenby enter Jerusalem, and the Holy Land, through the deeds of these modern crusaders, comes 
 
 again under Christian control 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 1 06 
 
 crush Russia before Great Britain could 
 create an army. 
 
 There were other periods, later in the war, 
 when the German chances of reaching Paris 
 seemed as good as in that first fierce rush. 
 But it was not taking Paris that in 1914 was 
 expected to win the war. With the occupa- 
 tion of Paris at that time would have come 
 the serious crippling of the French Army thus 
 
 In 1917, at any rate, there was no reason 
 to despair of the allied cause even had the 
 United States troops not been pouring into 
 France. In the west the Germans had been 
 beaten back to the Hindenburg line and were 
 giving no indications of mtendmg another 
 drive. Italy had, it is true, encountered a 
 grave disaster, but had at last stayed the 
 enemy's advance and seemed able to recoup 
 
 General AUenby and his staff in front of one of the most ancient buildings in Jerusalem. The General's proclamation to the 
 citizens of the Holy City is being read to them in Arabic 
 
 deprived of what was then its chief base, her fortunes, as in fact she did. In Mesopo- 
 
 The transport of British troops to the tamia the British were wholly successful, 
 
 continent would have been greatly inter- The Russian debacle was menacing but at 
 
 rupted, if not indeed absolutely shut off, for the time no one knew, or even suspected, 
 
 with Paris in German hands the channel how thoroughly the revolutionary elements 
 
 ports could never have been retained by the in that country were to come under German 
 
 French. But the first battle of the Marne control. The situation in the Balkans was 
 
 averted all that and in the fullest sense pre- bad, but well-informed observers knew that 
 
 vented German victory, not only then but the Teutonic strength in that region was 
 
 for all time. There were many dark days wholly dependent upon German money and 
 
 for the Allies thereafter, but not until the German manpower and both were rapidly 
 
 close of the war brought revelation of its being exhausted. 
 
 secrets did we know how much darker they The moment indeed was such that the 
 
 were for the foe. entrance of the United States should have 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 107 
 
 This was once the beautiful and prosperous tov\n of Bapaume, trance 
 
 been more instantaneously conclusive than 
 it was. It would have been the part of 
 wisdom for the Central Powers to take even 
 more immediate and vigorous steps for endmg 
 the war than they in fact did. For even 
 without this new adversary they were beaten 
 to a standstill. While they might hope to 
 avoid an ignominious surrender they could 
 
 not hope for victory. But with the United 
 States arrayed against them their cause was 
 hopeless. All the men and money they 
 sacrificed thereafter were wantonly thrown 
 awav; all the" hurt they inflicted on their 
 adversaries was as truly criminal as the mur- 
 der done by a burglar attempting to escape 
 after his crime has been detected. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 President Wilson enjoying one of his brief respites from pressing national and international cares and responsibilities 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 GENERAL PERSHING ARRIVES IN EUROPE A TORPEDO ATTACK TRAINING 
 
 SOLDIERS IN FRANCE EARLY FIGHTING BATTLE OF SEICHEPREY HOW 
 
 AN ATTACK IS PLANNED CAPTURE OF CANTIGNY BOURESCHES, VAUX, AND 
 
 CHATEAU-THIERRY THE MARINES AT BELLEAU WOOD 
 
 T 
 
 HE dock 
 front of 
 Li verpool 
 was gay with 
 the entwined bunting 
 of the United States 
 and England, and a 
 British general with 
 a guard of honor stood 
 awaiting, on June i8, 
 1917, the Baltic bear- 
 ing General John J. 
 Pershing and his staff 
 — the Commander-in- 
 Chief, fore-runners of 
 the American Expedi- 
 tionary Force to 
 France. The occa- 
 sion was one the his- 
 toric significance of 
 which could scarcely 
 be exaggerated. For 
 
 An American wrestling the first time in its 
 
 match in France. The fact national history the 
 that our boys were such good United States had be- 
 
 athletes helped them greatly ^^^^ ^^^ ^f ^J^g _ 
 
 as fighters. ■ ■ ^ ■ 1 
 
 ticipants m a general 
 
 European war. For the first time her soldiers 
 were to fight on European soil, and she had 
 chosen for chief associates in the war — political 
 considerations forbade the word " aUies " — the 
 nation which had been her first enemy. Great 
 Britain, and that which had been her first 
 friend, France. 
 
 But the ancient enmity had long since been 
 forgotten. When a day or two after landing 
 General Pershing was received by King 
 George, lineal descendant _of that George 
 who pushed the American colonies into 
 revolt, the monarch said, "It has been the 
 dream of my life to see the two great English- 
 speaking nations more closely united. My 
 dreams have been realized. It is with the 
 utmost pleasure that I welcome you at the 
 
 head of the American contingent to our 
 shores." 
 
 And a httle later in Boulogne the American 
 general, as he stepped for the first time on 
 French soil, heard the veteran French soldier 
 deputed to greet him say, "I salute the 
 United States of America, which has now 
 become united to the United States of Eur- 
 ope." All Pans was mad with joy as the 
 little handful of American soldiers giving 
 earnest of the millions yet to come, drove 
 through its streets. Everywhere the tri- 
 color and the stars and stripes were inter- 
 twined, and the Parisians did not fail to 
 comment on the happy augury that the 
 colors of the two repubhcs were the same. 
 "Vive Joffre who saved us from defeat!" 
 cried an excited girl from a window on the 
 Avenue de I'Opera, "Vive Pershing who 
 brings us victory!" The American general 
 was taken to the tomb of NapoleQHv'-and 
 handed the great Emperor's sword to rever- 
 ence — an honor prior to that moment never 
 granted to any save a Frenchman. He was 
 conducted to the House of Deputies where 
 Ribot said, in the course of a speech of wel- 
 come, "The people of France fully understand 
 the deep significance of the arrival of General 
 Pershing in France. It is one of the greatest 
 events in history that the people of the 
 United States should come here, not to strug- 
 gle, not in the spirit of ambition or conquest, 
 but for the noble ideals of justice and liberty." 
 
 Shortly after this ceremony the general 
 was conducted to the tomb of Lafayette in 
 the Picpus cemetery, accompanied by the 
 Marquis de Chambrun, a lineal descendant 
 of the dead patriot. The ceremony was 
 brief but stimulating. Holding an immense 
 wreath in his hands the General stepped to- 
 ward the tomb while all about him stood at 
 attention. Visibly affected with generous 
 emotion he laid the flowers on the bier with 
 the fitting words "Lafayette, we have come, 
 
UXI^ED STA-^ES IX THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 III 
 
 General Pershing inspecting a detachment of his troops newlj' landed in France 
 
 we are here!" and retired. The whole world 
 the next day knew that the American leader 
 had spoken precisely the right thought, when 
 he made it appear that the American forces 
 had come to the aid of France as France had 
 a right to expect; that they were there to 
 pay a long standing debt to Lafayette and 
 to his country. 
 
 Much might be written about the inter- 
 national courtesies that attended the arrival 
 of the American general. But he was there 
 for a sterner purpose than the interchange 
 of civilities, and it was only a day before 
 he was plunged deep in the details of arrang- 
 ing for the arrival of the colossal armies that 
 were being made ready on the other side of 
 the Atlantic. 
 
 Before this war the civilian hardly grasped 
 .the idea of the enormous amount of work in- 
 volved in the moving of the great masses 
 of men that modern warfare calls into action. 
 It was thought that we might need an army 
 in France of 4,500,000 men, and we did in 
 fact at the close of hostilities have there, 
 or en route thither, no less than 2,053,347. 
 Ships were lacking to carry this army. They 
 must be built, or begged from England. 
 This was no concern of the General, but it 
 may be noted at this juncture that so rapidly 
 did ship building proceed in the United 
 States that, though destitute of a merchant 
 
 marine at the outset, we were able to trans- 
 port more than 45 per cent, of our soldiers 
 in our own bottoms. But not only ships 
 were lacking, but ports for their entry. The 
 ports of France along the channel, familiar 
 to every American tourist, Boulogne, Havre, 
 Calais, Dieppe, were crowded with English 
 shipping, bringing over troops and munitions 
 of war. Accordingly ports, not so well 
 known nor so well equipped, were set aside 
 for American use. These were four — Brest, 
 already a great French naval station — St. 
 Nazaire, Bordeaux, and LaPallice. Of these 
 the first two were most used. 
 
 A considerable body of American special 
 service troops had preceded the General- 
 in-Chief to France, and on June 26th the 
 first convoy of troop ships arrived at St. 
 Nazaire. The voyage over had not been 
 uneventful. The Germans were not to be 
 caught napping, and Rear Admiral Gleaves, 
 in command of the naval escort, reported 
 that two submarine attacks had been made 
 but that both had been beaten off. In 
 each case the track of the torpedo was de- 
 tected but the submarine itself could not 
 be descried. An eye witness described the 
 first attack as follows: 
 
 Hell broke loose. Our (the big ship's) helm was 
 jammed over. Firing every gun available we swung 
 in a wide circle out of hne to the left. A smaller ship 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © Paul Thompson 
 American troops in Paris on the Fourth of July, 1918, passing the "I'Hotel des Invalides" where they were reviewed by 
 General Pershing and the descendants of the French officers who fought for the independence of the United States in 1776 
 
 slipped inte our place and from what the lookout told 
 me, I think one of her shells must have landed almost 
 right above the submarine. But they are almost 
 impossible to hit when submerged and the periscope 
 is no target anyhow. 
 
 They fired three, if not four, torpedoes. It was 
 God's mercy that they all went astray among so many 
 of our ships. As you see our helm iamming was ab- 
 solutely Providential. 
 
 Naturally the old — — acted quite differently from 
 
 American troops leaving Paris for the front on July 5th, 1918 
 
 what the Boches expected; otherwise they might 
 have got us. It was simply extraordinary. We 
 drove right at them (really, I suppose the safest thing 
 to do as the bow gives the smallest mark to shoot at) 
 and it seems to have rattled Brother Boche considerably. 
 After all, we draw enough water to smash a submarine 
 at a level of the periscope, awash, and no doubt he did 
 not care to wait for us. Or perhaps a lucky shot dis- 
 posed of him. Anyhow, he disappeared and we saw 
 no more of him. 
 
 The whole business lasted only 
 about a minute and a half. But be- 
 lieve me it added more than that to 
 my life. While the thing was hap- 
 pening I had no time for anything 
 but to attend to my job. After^vard 
 I found myself sweating and my 
 breast heaving as if I had run five 
 miles. The other boys told me the 
 same thing, but we got a compliment 
 on the rapidity with which the guns 
 were served, so I guess it did not in- 
 terfere with our actions. 
 
 Dawn had not broken when 
 the American fleet steamed 
 into the harbor of St. Nazaire. 
 Leading the column was the 
 ship De Kalb, which in more 
 peaceful days had been the 
 German liner PrinzEitel Fried- 
 rich, and after a brief period 
 as an armed commerce de- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 stroyer under the German flag had eluded the 
 vigilance of the British fleet and slipped for 
 sanctuary into the then neutral port of 
 Hampton Roads. When the United States 
 declared war she was seized, with other 
 German ships, and by a fine stroke of fate 
 was chosen to take the first body of armed 
 men to France. They were a detachment 
 of United States marines and what they did 
 on the battlefield will be told elsewhere. 
 
 News of the arrival of "les Americaines" 
 spread rapidly through the little town, and 
 the wharves and waterfront streets were 
 quickly filled with excited and enthusiastic 
 French people. Where American flags had 
 been found in that hamlet seemed inexplica- 
 ble, but there they were by the scores and 
 the people who had not the flag itself waved 
 red, white, and blue streamers. Early as 
 was the hour thousands were 
 thronging the docks and shout- 
 ing from every place of vant- 
 age, -"Vive Les Etats Unis! 
 Vive la France!" Steam 
 whistles were blowing from 
 the craft in the harbor, and 
 the bands on the ships blew 
 themselves hoarse with the 
 Marseillaise and the Star 
 Spangled Banner in alterna- 
 tion. There were formal dele- 
 gations from the French Army 
 and Navy there to greet the 
 new allies, but the true greet- 
 ing came from the populace 
 who crowded the narrow 
 streets as the men marched 
 through to the great camp 
 that had been prepared for 
 their reception. 
 
 Frederick Palmer, veteran 
 of American war correspond- 
 
 ents, says of this initial body of American 
 troops in France: 
 
 The character of the ships which we had gathered as 
 transports was significant enough of our lack of a mer- 
 chant marine; a former German auxiliary cruiser, and 
 sea-going and coast-going vessels of a plodding speed. 
 Above the gunwales of their gray sides was a crowded 
 mass of khaki spotted with white faces, and all the 
 parts of the superstructure were blotted and festooned 
 by khaki, freed of the long nights in the close quarters 
 of the hold when no lights might be shown on deck, 
 now out in the sunlight of a June day having their 
 first glimpse of France, which was having its first 
 glimpse of an American army. Nothing that these 
 soldiers saw was like what they had left — boats, piers, 
 houses, streets, people — and they were like no soldiers 
 who had ever come to France before. Their talk had 
 the rattling twang of the bleachers before the ball game 
 begins, unmistakable wherever you hear it. Well, 
 here they were. The "subs" had not got them. They 
 
 
 Men of the 42nd Division of the American Expeditionary Forces in a front-line 
 trench in France 
 
114 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 These American engineers were laying a road across tlu /u 
 tor three days in a drenching r.nn 
 
 wouldn't have to knock about deck in the dark, or be 
 packed in the hold any longer. The sea was all right; 
 
 W-rdun. 
 constant 
 
 They had been working steadily 
 hell fire 
 
 General Madolon of the French Army escorting General Wood of the 
 American Army through a dugout 
 
 let the navy have it. But give them the land; they were 
 soldiers. When did they get ashore? And what next? 
 
 What was ne.xt was drill and more 
 drill. Straight from the transports 
 the men were sent to the camps in 
 which they were to learn the art of 
 war. General Pershing himself in his 
 final report after peace had been at- 
 tained tells briefly of this part of the 
 trainmg of a soldier: 
 
 Very early a system of schools was outlined 
 and started, which should have the advantage 
 of instruction by officers direct from the front. 
 At the great school centre at Langres, one of 
 the first to be organized, was the stafF school, 
 where the principles of general staff work, as 
 laid down in our own organization, were 
 taught to carefully selected officers. Men in 
 the ranks, who had shown qualities of leader- 
 ship, were sent to the school of candidates 
 for commissions. A school of the line taught 
 younger officers the principles of leadership, 
 tactics, and the use of the different weapons. 
 In the artillery school, at Saumur, 3'oung 
 officers were taught the fundamental prin- 
 ciples of modern artillery-; while at Issoudun 
 an immense plant was built for training caders 
 in aviation. These and other schools, with 
 their well-considered curriculums for training 
 in every branch of our organization, were 
 coordinated in a manner best to develop an 
 efficient army out of willing and industrious 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 115 
 
 An American infantry company advancing and mopping up trenches which have just been captured in the Forest of 
 
 Argonne, France 
 
 young men, many of whom had not before known even 
 the rudiments of military technique. Both Marshal 
 Haig and General Petain placed officers and men at our 
 disposal for instructional purposes, and we are deeply 
 indebted for the opportunities given to profit by their 
 veteran experience. 
 
 It is a curious fact that the precise points 
 of American participation in the war were 
 fixed by the location of the ports at which 
 our men were landed, and the direction taken 
 by the railroads leading inland from those 
 ports. Except for a few sHght skirmishes 
 participated in by small bodies of our men 
 who had been sent into the French trenches 
 nearest at hand for training purposes, our 
 fighting was all on the far east of the French 
 line, in Lorraine, the Argonne, and the plains 
 of Champagne. 
 
 Looking back upon the singularly precipi- 
 tate end of the war, and the positions that 
 the American armies had attained when 
 Germany cried aloud for peace, a student of 
 military strategy would see that this field 
 of action which General Pershing in his report 
 says was forced upon him by conditions of 
 transport was in fact the most effective one 
 for botthng-up the German armies in France 
 and Belgium. Indeed our men had hardly 
 got into action before their position so threat- 
 ened the Germans' communication with 
 their home country that the safety of their 
 armies was seriously menaced. But of this 
 more later. 
 
 In an earlier chapter I have told of the 
 
 first American deaths at the front. The 
 men who then died were m trenches for 
 training purposes, and not long after a group 
 of engineers were unexpectedly caught in a 
 British turning movement and dropped pick 
 and shovel for rifle and bayonet, acquitting 
 themselves so gallantly that even a German 
 newspaper paid tribute to their gallantry 
 though it questioned their comprehension 
 of the issues which brought them to the 
 battlefield thus: 
 
 There they stood before us, these young men from 
 the land of liberty. They were sturdy and sports- 
 manlike in build. Good-natured smiles radiated from 
 their blue eyes, and they were quite surprised that we 
 did not propose to shoot them down as they had been 
 led in their French training camp to believe we would 
 do. 
 
 They know no reply to our query "Why does the 
 United States carry on war against Germany?" The 
 sinking of the American ships by U-boats, which was the 
 favorite pretext, sounds a trifle stale. One prisoner 
 expressed the opinion that we had treated Belgium 
 rather badly. Another asserted that it was Lafayette 
 who brought America French aid during the war of 
 independence and because of this the United States 
 would now stand by France. 
 
 But whether willing or not to tell the Boche 
 why they fought, fight they did and so gal- 
 lantly that the same German journaUst 
 credited them with making a "most desperate 
 defense." 
 
 Skirmishes like these, however, while they 
 helped to estabUsh the American morale, 
 
ii6 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 are not to be considered as marking the true 
 entrance of our forces upon the European 
 conflict. General Pershing himself tixes the 
 fight at Seicheprey, on the 26th of April, , 
 1 91 8, as the first serious participation of the 
 American forces in actual battle. And even 
 there our men were not actmg as a unit. 
 For late in March of that year, being spurred 
 on by contemplation of the seemingly irre- 
 sistible progress made by the Germans in the 
 drive they began on the 21st, General Persh- 
 ing had put the whole American Army at 
 the disposal of General Foch, to be used 
 either as a unit, or to be broken up among 
 French commands that might need strength- 
 ening. It was an act of notable renunciation 
 for the Lnited States, and one which for 
 the moment seemed to portend that we should . 
 never have our army operating as a coherent 
 whole and winning distinctive laurels. But 
 it was perhaps the culminating act of the 
 war. For it made of the position to which 
 General Foch had been chosen, after ven,' 
 senous hesitation on the part of the British, 
 that of Commander-in-Chief in fact as well 
 as in name, and the result proved not merely 
 the wisdom of the choice but the fact that 
 this unity of command had not been estab- 
 lished one day too soon. 
 
 The Germans were then in the ver\' midst 
 of the drive. Nothing, it appeared, would 
 stop them. They swept forward day after 
 
 day, sometimes gaining as much as twelve 
 miles in a single day, and sweeping before 
 them all English and French opposition. 
 The whole world held its breath as this fierce 
 thrust at the Allied lines went on with appar- 
 ently no possibility of check. April 20th 
 they came for the first time into direct con- 
 tact with the Americans at Seicheprey, in a 
 sharp combat which may well be taken as 
 our troops' first baptism of fire. At first 
 our men were driven from their positions, 
 a result which was naturally to be expected 
 in the first clash of inexperienced troops with 
 veterans. But almost instanth" the Ameri- 
 can fighting blood was stirred. Sharp re- 
 action came m the moment of seeming defeat 
 and the troops, rallying, fought their way back 
 to their original positions, inflicting upon 
 the enemy a loss of several hundred men. 
 Our own losses were for the first time heavy. 
 Berlin reported the capture of 185 American 
 soldiers and 25 machine guns. 
 
 Our men were now fairly launched upon 
 the full tide of war. Day by day new divi- 
 sions were sent into the French trenches, 
 day by day more transports nosed their way 
 into the French harbors and landed columns 
 of khaki-clad men shouting for chances to 
 get at the Boches. May came. Not the 
 usual flowen,- French May, but a month of 
 unseasonably cold and sno\\y weather. Or- 
 dered to the trenches in front of Montmedy, 
 
 A field gun on the edge ot Belleau \\ ood effectively concealed from aerial observation 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 the men of our First Division 
 under command of General 
 BuUard came to know all that 
 desperate chill, discomfort, and 
 hardship of trench life which 
 affects the soldier more than 
 the sharper and deadlierclutch 
 of battle. They stood athwart 
 the Boches' path to Paris about 
 50 miles north of the city, and 
 occupied a sector of the line 
 with a French division on 
 either side. Hardly had they 
 arrived when preparations be- 
 gan making for an offensive. 
 Before them in plain view was 
 the town of Cantigny, perched 
 on a hill and in possession of 
 the foe. It was to be the job 
 of the Americans to take it, 
 and for long days they looked 
 wistfully upon it over the 
 parapet awaiting the moment 
 
 An American sharp shooter reducing the number of our enemies in Picardj' 
 
 to go over. 
 Assaults of this character in modern war 
 are not made on the spur of the moment. 
 All sorts of preparation are needed. Bar- 
 rages are to be planned, the terrain carefully 
 studied that the officers may know whither 
 they are leading their men, runners must 
 be drilled, and a complicated system of 
 signals worked out. If all the details of 
 such an offensive were set down in print it 
 would make a very considerable volume. 
 Manual labor was not stinted. Jumping-off" 
 
 trenches had to be dug through the territory 
 pitted with deep shell craters. Ammunition 
 and food had to be gathered for the men 
 who were to participate in the assault. In 
 this instance the men of the 28th Infantry 
 who were selected for the perilous honor 
 had each to carry 220 rounds of ammunition, 
 two hand grenades, and one rifle grenade, 
 two canteens filled with water, one shelter 
 half (the technical name for part of a tent), 
 four sand bags, one flare, and one shovel 
 or pick. It was still cold but they were or- 
 dered to leave their blankets 
 behind, although otherwise 
 they were equipped for spend- 
 ing two days in the new posi- 
 tions, the winning of which 
 none was permitted to doubt. 
 
 There had been quiet on the 
 sector and in the Cantigny 
 front for days. Nobody wanted 
 to draw the Boches' attention 
 to that neighborhood just then. 
 But just about dawn on May 
 28th the big guns all along the 
 Allies' hne opened on Cantigny 
 and on the Boche positions 
 protecting it. No one could 
 see the coming of the day, for 
 the red light of the cannon 
 flashes far outdid the glow that 
 heralded the rising of the sun. 
 The great guns crashed, the 
 
 A wounded "doughboy" being carried to the rear on a stretcher shells shrieked thoUgh the air 
 
Ii8 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 1 
 
 American troops between Chateau-Thierry and Verdun dunnj; a buii , ,.> li in i:_ :i,i_ 
 
 and exploded with deep roars or with sudden was so deafening, so all-compeUing upon ever^' 
 
 sharp cracks according to their caHbre. Ot sense, that when it suddenly ended on the 
 
 such another opening bombardment and bar- minute set and dead silence fell all along the 
 
 rage a soldier once said to the writer, "It lines the relaxation of strained senses was 
 
 This bridge across the Mosi 
 
 is perhaps the best known war bridge in France 
 American offensive 
 
 arks the extreme eastern flank .it the 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 119 
 
 The interior of an American hospital train filled with wounded soldiers 
 
 such that every nerve end on our bodies sprang 
 into angry protest, and our skins were covered 
 with a sort of gooseflesh." 
 
 The first American offensive was wholly 
 successful. Major Frederick Palmer, a vet- 
 eran observer, writes of it in his excellent 
 book "America in France": 
 
 At 6:45 in the early dawn of May 28th, as has hap- 
 pened many times before, the line of figures started up 
 from the earth and began their advance. The forma- 
 tions were the same as those of the practice maneuvres 
 and the movement was equally precise as it kept to 
 the time table of the barrage. Each unit was doing its 
 part, the tanks as they nosed their way forward doing 
 theirs. Our shelling of the lower end of the town sud- 
 
 This was a village of France. The Germans destroyed three hundred and sixty thousand pri\ ate homes in France alone 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 denly ceased, and then our men were seen entering the 
 town exactly on time. Headquarters waited on re- 
 ports, and they came, of prisoners taken, of the further 
 progress of units — all according to the charts. We had 
 passed through the town; we were mopping it up; and 
 we had reached our objective in front of the town. 
 Our losses to that point were less than a hundred men, 
 with three hundred and fifty prisoners. A small offen- 
 sive, as offensives go, but our own and our first. 
 
 Going over the top in a frontal attack had been al- 
 most tame, it was so like practice exercises. The fact 
 that our practice exercises had been so systematically 
 applied, that indeed we had done ever3'thing in the 
 book, accounted for the perfect success of Cantigny. 
 1 here was a glad proud light in the eyes of our wounded. 
 They had been hit in a "real party." Nobody could 
 deny that they were graduate soldiers now. But there 
 was to be the reaction which always comes with limited 
 objectives when j'ou do not advance far enough to draw 
 the enemy's fangs — his guns. Upon the road along 
 which men must pass to brmg up supplies, upon every 
 
 Here are some ot the AmencTii boys who advanced across a wheat field in the face ol a line of 
 machine guns and heavv field pieces. They cleaned up the machine-gun nests and captured the field 
 pieces. It was near the Marne. The Germans insisted it was impossible even after they had done it 
 
 point where men must work, or men or wagons pass, 
 upon the command posts, he turns the wrath of his 
 resentment over the loss of men and ground and in his 
 rage concentrates most wickedly, most persistently, 
 and powerfully upon the infantrj' which is trj-ing to 
 organize the new frontal positions. 
 
 The German artillen,- would show this upstart Amer- 
 ican division its mistake in thinking that it could hold 
 what it. had gained. Eight-inch shells were the favorite 
 in the bombardment of our men who now had Cantigny 
 at their backs as they dug in, while showers of shrapnel 
 and gas added to the variet}^ of that merciless pounding 
 that kept up for three da^s. We suffered serious casual- 
 ties now; but we did not go back, and we took revenge 
 for our casualties in grim use of rifle and machine gun 
 which, with the aid of prompt barrages, repulsed all 
 counter attacks until the Germans were convinced of 
 the futility of further efforts. 
 
 Of this initial endeavor of the United 
 States troops General Pershing said in his 
 final report, 
 "Although 
 local, this bril- 
 liant action had 
 an electrical 
 effect, as it 
 demonstrated 
 our fighting 
 qualities under 
 extreme battle 
 conditions, and 
 also that the 
 enemy's troops 
 were not alto- 
 gether invinci- 
 ble." 
 
 While the 
 guns were still 
 roaring at Can- 
 tigny the Ger- 
 mans launched 
 that drive upon 
 the Marne and 
 Paris which for 
 a time seemed 
 likely to regain 
 for them all the 
 territory that 
 General JofFre 
 had driven them 
 from in 1914. 
 In less than a 
 week the}- drove 
 fonvard against 
 the best en- 
 deavors of the 
 Allied forces for 
 
 I 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 nm ttee on Public Information 
 American troops halted b> the roadside in a picturesque French village on the Marne 
 
 a penetration of thirty miles. The rivers 
 Aisne and Vesle were crossed. Noyon and 
 Soissons were taken, and Rheims, with its 
 sorely battered cathedral, was closely be- 
 leaguered. A great salient extended into 
 Picardy toward Paris and once again German 
 officers were gaily making dates to dine in 
 the Cafe de la Paix. To the Allies the situa- 
 tion was a menacing one. Already their 
 reserves were sorely depleted, so much so 
 that for months they had been compelled 
 to maintain the defensive, even when German 
 dispositions invited offense. To some extent 
 this was, of course, due to the fact that the 
 Americans were coming up fast, and patience 
 on the part of the AUies was certain to be 
 rewarded in the end. Precisely the same 
 reason impelled the Germans to keep ever 
 and desperately on the attack. For however 
 much they might belittle and ridicule the 
 slowly swelling power of the United States 
 at the seat of war, they knew well enough that 
 the increase of that power meant their final 
 defeat, and if they were to stave off disaster 
 they must win their war before the full force 
 of the American republic could have passed 
 the seas. 
 
 That was the reason for the desperation 
 and the gallantry of the German drive which 
 brought their heavy artillery within range 
 of Paris, and looking back upon it after the 
 final Teutonic collapse it seems amazing that 
 
 a scant six months before their final abject 
 surrender they could have nerved themselves 
 to such a gigantic eff'ort and have put into 
 It such seemingly inexhaustible power. 
 
 It was due to American troops more than 
 to any other single factor, or for that matter 
 group of factors, that this fifth and last phase 
 of the great German drive was blocked and 
 rolled back. Not that there had been the 
 slightest sign of weakening on the part of 
 any of our Allies. But they had borne the 
 heat and the brunt of conflict for more than 
 four years, and the spectacle of the enemy 
 at a moment when he should have been even 
 more exhausted than they, coming up again 
 to the attack in seemingly undiminished 
 numbers and with certainly unaffected spirit 
 was naturally to them discouraging. The 
 Germans were indeed staking everything 
 upon the issue of this conflict. It was shown 
 later that in the Marne saHent the Crown 
 Prince had used 47 divisions, and between 
 Rheims and the Argonne forest more than 
 40 more. In all, Germany brought into action 
 on the western front from the beginning of 
 the drive in May to its disastrous end in 
 July 2,339,000 men. All Picardy was stripped 
 of men, and from every point controlled by 
 Germany whence new divisions could be 
 called the stream of troops to the front was 
 like the flowing of a mighty river. 
 
 Outnumbered at first, and still handicapped 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Flench solJiLis tilling in a German "tank trap" — a huh 
 ing and camouflaged to look like the surrounding ground, 
 did not fall in as planned by the enemy 
 
 by operating on exterior hnes, Foch stood 
 long on the defensive finding profit in such 
 small attacks as those at Cantigny and 
 Bouresches, but while he took here and there 
 a single village the enemy were taking them 
 by the score. It was no part of the Foch 
 
 pLirpose to let this continue 
 indefinitely. And as by act of 
 the President of the L'nited 
 States and of General Persh- 
 ing, he had the use of some 
 tens of thousands of fresh and 
 eager American troops ready 
 to hand, with some hundreds 
 of thousands too far away for 
 immediate action, but speed- 
 ing on their way as fast as ships 
 could carry them, he deter- 
 mined to interpose a barrier m 
 the Hun's path. 
 
 Accordingly, on the night of 
 the 29th of May, the Third 
 American Division, General 
 Joseph Dickman command- 
 ing, which was getting ready 
 to go into a quiet sector over 
 toward Lorraine, received sud- 
 den orders to get under way 
 for a station on the Marne 
 in the thick of the fighting. 
 Off they went in a mad rush. The motorized 
 machine-gun battalion led the way, having its 
 own transport, and not being compelled to 
 wait for trains. Swiftly thereafter army trucks 
 brought up the main body. \\ hile they were 
 beins concentrated the French High Corn- 
 
 covered with plank- 
 The Allied tractors 
 
 Public Infon 
 This scene is typical of every road back of the St. Mihiel salient during the American advance 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 123 
 
 The 26th Division, made up of New Englanders, who were said to have been the first Americans to enter front-hne trenches 
 
 mand called on the Second Division as well — 
 a body still further advanced in war training 
 than the Third. All were rushed along at 
 topmost speed in crowded army. trucks to 
 their Hnes at Meaux, Conde, and Martigny. 
 At dead of night the flying commands 
 would be halted on the road by French offi- 
 cers with orders to turn off here or there, and 
 go into the trenches which would be mdi- 
 cated to them. The roads were crowded 
 with fugitive peasants from the front. The 
 sky blazed with the fitful flashes of the great 
 guns and the earth shook with their shocks. 
 The air reverberated with the thunders of 
 the cannon, while from the passing crowds 
 of refugees rose ever the thankful cry '' Les 
 Americaines! Les Aviericaines sont ici." 
 
 It was clear enough to the men of the 
 Second and Third divisions that their pros- 
 pect of a respite in a quiet sector had gone 
 glimmering. But their ardor was all the 
 greater as these signs told them that they 
 were on their way to a hotly contested 
 spot on the battle line. It was the Marne 
 for which they were headed — most famous 
 of rivers which the French nation should 
 certainly make holy for the part it played 
 in their national defense if there is any way 
 of canonizing a stream. The Germans 
 were now in force all along the northern side 
 of the river, but only at the village of Dor- 
 mans had they crossed. At Chateau-Thierry 
 the stream runs through the town, and the 
 
 7th Motorized United States Machine Gun 
 Corps had dashed into that hamlet in time 
 to keep the enemy from getting across, while 
 the French retired across the bridge and 
 blew it up. First of all Americans to shed 
 
1-4 
 
 UNITED STATES IX THE GREAT WAR 
 
 A part 01 rhe so-called impregnable line which the Germans had held for four 
 years and which the Americans took 
 
 their blood upon the banks of Mame were 
 they. 
 
 Chateau-ThierT\- bulks large in our na- 
 tional traditions for it was there that our 
 militan." forces first participated in a really 
 great battle. It was there that the forces 
 of the United States saved Paris and re- 
 ceived credit for it from a world in arms. 
 The machine gunners, first to arrive because 
 of their motorized equipment, were holding 
 the enemy at the bridges over the ^lame, 
 when with a rush up came the Second Division 
 made up of regulars and a brigade of United 
 States marines. Hard, disciplined, deter- 
 mined fighters were they. ^lostly under 
 the age of thirty, they had the physical fitness 
 of youth, while long discipline had given 
 them the cool determination of veterans. 
 -Along a line of twelve miles they dug in, 
 and hour by hour more troops and ammuni- 
 tion came rolUng up to fill the ranks and 
 make ready for the demolition of the Hun. 
 
 The country' which the -\mericans were 
 facmg had been fair to look upon before it 
 had been distorted and lacerated by war. 
 Broad open fields were interspersed by little 
 clumps of woods and red-roofed villages. 
 Both of these latter, however pleasing to the 
 eye. were danger spots. In the villages, 
 notably that of Bouresches, which the marines 
 faced, the cellars were filled with machine 
 guns and the stone houses common to that 
 part of France were fortresses in a small 
 
 way. The woods, though cool 
 and green in the June sun, 
 were not less dangerous. 
 Boche machine guns nestled 
 in even.- thicket and back of 
 even.- outcropping of rock, of 
 which the woods were full. 
 Artillery fire, however hea\"\, 
 was ineffectual against guns 
 so protected. It only cut down 
 the larger trees making of 
 them, intertwined with the 
 underbrush, a barrier im- 
 penetrable to troops, but 
 through which the bullets of 
 the unseen machine guns sped 
 with murderous certitude. 
 
 Bouresches was first to suc- 
 cumb to the cleaning up proc- 
 ess. Our artiller\" pounded 
 away at it until mere heaps of 
 formless masonr\- covered the 
 cellars in which the Boche 
 machine gunners were ensconced. Then 
 came the troops, infantn.' and marines both, 
 through the desolated streets. Thev had 
 to meet shrapnel and gas from German 
 
 A German cemerer.- '..;t - .:r5:-e rhe rc'.vn ■:■■: it. Mihiel which 
 indicates that the Germans thought thev had come to stav 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 125 
 
 , ^n^-^ 
 
 nmitteeon PuI.Ik Inf.u 
 Headquarters troops of the 26th Division making a passageway for trucks through the wreckage of a French town 
 
 shells, and a rain of bullets from machine 
 guns hidden in the ruins. But with heads 
 bowed to the blast they went on, drove the 
 enemy out of their cellars, with hand grenades 
 and the bayonet, and established themselves 
 there as a sort of forlorn hope. Their 
 runners, speeding across a terrain swept by 
 German fire, bore to headquarters the cheer- 
 ing news that the Americans were estabhshed 
 in Bouresches and did not propose to be 
 driven out. Twice the Boches essayed that 
 task, but were blocked. Then for a time 
 they put up a barrage of shell fire behind 
 the Americans with the apparent idea of 
 stopping all communication until they were 
 . starved into surrender. But the Yanks knew 
 a trick worth two of that. They stripped 
 both their own dead and those of the Germans 
 of food and water, found some chickens, a 
 cow and a pig or two which they slaughtered, 
 and with this sustenance beat the enemy 
 back in several fierce counter-attacks. 
 
 Meantime at Vaux, at Chateau-Thierry^ 
 and at Hamel the Americans had been fight- 
 ing fiercely and victoriously. Vaux, a little 
 
 town on the Chateau-Thierry road down 
 which the Germans passed on their way 
 toward Pans, was completely obliterated 
 in the fighting. Not a building was left 
 standing. That was the result of twelve 
 hours' pounding by our artillery, for while 
 the town was that of a friendly nation it 
 sheltered our joint enemies and had to go. 
 Germans who had endured that fire described 
 it as terribly efficient. A wounded German 
 brought into our lines after the firing had 
 proceeded for some hours said that the only 
 places which were tenable in the town were 
 the caves of which there were several score, 
 and even into these the poisonous fumes 
 from American gas shells had penetrated. 
 But artillery alone could not clear up the 
 town and our men charged through a wheat 
 field and through a neighboring wood, pre- 
 ceded by a heavy barrage, in gallant style. 
 The ruins of the town were quickly taken and 
 their defenders slain with grenades or the 
 bayonet, or made prisoners. 
 
 Most notable, however, of this series of 
 actions was that fought for four desperate 
 
126 
 
 IGNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 \n An 
 
 en-inch gun being fired. An airplane observer reported where the shell burst among the enemy in the 
 Argonne Forest twenty miles away 
 
 days, mainly by men of the United States 
 Marine Corps, in Belleau Wood. The spot 
 was a dense thicket of trees and underbrush 
 to the northwest of Chateau-Thierr}', and 
 directly on the road which the Germans 
 were endeavoring to follow to Paris. It was 
 
 A German gun captur 
 
 on the 6th of June that the Marines began 
 this attack to the northwest of Chateau- 
 Thierry, and after their success at Bouresches 
 made their way into the recesses of the wood 
 that has become world famous. What 
 they accomplished in that thicket so impressed 
 the people of the neigh- 
 borhood that they de- 
 clared that the mannes 
 alone had saved Pans, 
 and insisted on renam- 
 ing the forest "the 
 Wood of the Brigade 
 of Marines." The 
 battle was just a hard- 
 fought, grubbing, 
 gruelling advance 
 through tangled thick- 
 ets, and over rugged, 
 cut-up ground heavily 
 held by machine guns. 
 There was no enemy; 
 hne visible. His gun- 
 ners, in clumps of from 1 
 two to six, each with a j 
 spiteful machme gun, 
 were hidden away be- 
 hind impenetrable for- 
 est growths, in caves, 
 or behind the out- 
 
 d by our trooi :s in Belleau Wood CrOppingS of limeStOnC 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 127 
 
 since there were no trenches to speak of and the fighting 
 was all in the open or in the woods. 
 
 There wasn't a bit of hesitation from any man. 
 All went forward in an even line. You had no heart for 
 fear at all. Fight — fight and get the Germans was 
 your only thought. Personal danger didn't concern 
 you in the least and you didn't care. 
 
 The 75th Battery, which was part of the enormous artillery concentration which was the dominant feature of the St. Mihiel drive 
 
 that are a characteristic of the section. It 
 was, making allowance for the vastly more 
 deadly quahty of the weapons, something of 
 the sort of fighting that our ancestors had 
 employed against the Indians in our primeval 
 forests and a knowledge of which enabled 
 George Washington to save the remnants of 
 Braddock's British Army at Fort Duquesne. 
 The story is dear>to every American school- 
 boy. Here in France, as almost 150 years 
 before in Pennsylvania, it was individual 
 fighting, every man for himself and the 
 officers in the thick of it with their men. 
 There was no chance for other commands or 
 tactics than "Up and at them." In a fight 
 of this sort the American soldier, schooled to 
 self-reliance and mdividual initiative, is at 
 his best. So he showed at Belleau Wood, 
 for with a determination and a pertinacity 
 that would not be denied he forced his way 
 through the thickets, climbed the rocky 
 ledges, flung himself headlong into the caves, 
 and beat down the Bodies in a battle in 
 which there were singularly few prisoners 
 taken. The men v/ho fought there had 
 among them many who were themselves 
 able to tell the story of such parts of the 
 battle as they saw vividly. Here, for exam- 
 ple, is the story of the part of the fighting 
 in Belleau Wood which he saw as Private 
 W. H. Smith tells it: 
 
 At four a. m. we went over or rather charged fonvard, 
 
 Some of the dynamite which our troops discovered near St. 
 Mihiel which was to have been placed under the road for the 
 purpose of blowing them into eternity as they advanced 
 
A \viuri.r's ni'irnini; iit ;i tirst aiil dressing starinn just bi;liuvl rhc hyhting line. Hi-rr tilt- hrst nccessar 
 
 made before the men are sent by ambulance to the evacuation hospital and on to the Red Cross hospital train. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 There were about sixty of us who 
 got ahead of the rest of the company. 
 We just couldn't stop despite the 
 orders of our leaders. We reached 
 the edge of the small wooded area 
 and there encountered ;ome of the 
 Hun infantry. 
 
 Then it became a matter of shoot- 
 ing at mere human targets. We 
 fixed our rifle sights at 300 yards and 
 aiming through the peep kept pick- 
 ing off the Germans. And a man 
 went down at nearly every shot. 
 
 But the Germans soon detected 
 us and we became the objects of 
 their heavy fire. We received em- 
 phatic orders at this time to come 
 back and made the half mile through 
 the woods without hardly losing a 
 man on the way. 
 
 German machine guns were every- 
 where. In the trees and in small 
 ground holes. And camouflaged at An American list 
 other places so that they couldn't 
 be spotted 
 
 We stayed for the most part in one-man pits that 
 had been dug and which gave us just a little protection. 
 
 We saw one German a short distance before us, who 
 had two dead ones lying across him. He was in a 
 sitting posture and was shouting "Kamerad, Kamerad." 
 We soon learned the reason. He was serving as a lure 
 and wanted a group of Marines to come to his rescue 
 so that the kind-hearted Americans would be in direct 
 line of fire from machine guns that were in readiness. 
 
 Now isn't that a dirty trick? Say, it made me sore. 
 Before I knew what I was doing and before I realized 
 
 129 
 
 Negro troops garrisoning Apremont which had been one of the strongest German 
 positions 
 
 L-ning pi)St in No Man's Land only twenty yards from the 
 German trenches 
 
 that everyone was shouting at me to stay back I bobbed 
 up out of my hole and with bayonet ready beat it out 
 and got that Kamerad bird. It seemed but a minute 
 or so before I was back. But, believe me, there were 
 some bullets whizzing around. They came so close 
 at times I could almost feel their touch. My pack 
 was shot up pretty much but they didn't get me. 
 
 After that I thought I was bullet proof, and didn't 
 care a damn for all the Germans and their machine 
 guns. 
 
 Soon we charged forward again. I saw one Dutch- 
 man stick his head out of a hole and 
 then duck. I ran to the hole. The 
 next time his head came up it was 
 good-night Fritz. 
 
 Every blamed tree must have had 
 a machine gunner. As soon as we 
 spied him we'd drop down and pick 
 them oflF with our rifles. Potting the 
 Germans became great sport. Even 
 the officers would seize rifles from 
 wounded Marines and go to it. 
 
 The great battles of history, 
 the decisive battles, are not 
 necessarily those in which are 
 engaged the greatest numbers 
 of men. Belleau Wood was 
 both a great battle and a de- 
 cisive battle. It barred the 
 Hun's path to Paris. Never 
 again did the embattled forces 
 of the Kaiser essay that road. 
 As the French had stopped 
 them finally, and for all time 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The German concentration our Army broke through. Up to September 26, 1918, the German defence Hnes were as 
 indicated by the heavy black lines. In Belgium, Artois, and Champagne, the first, second, third, and fourth trench lines were 
 considerable distances apart. In the Argonne sector, however, all four of them were practically together . 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 131 
 
 American troops in the Argoiinc- Forest. Tin.- ht-ld kitchen brought forward with great difficulty and danger has made this 
 
 spot very popular 
 
 An actual gas attack in the Argonne Forest in 1918. The man in the foreground is choking with the deadly fumes and in his 
 
 desperation has torn off his mask 
 
132 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 one, not because it was hotly contested and 
 afforded uncounted instances of individual 
 valor, but because it for the first time brought 
 into close and harmonious association the 
 soldiers of the world's two greatest republics. 
 Never will the Americans forget the .French 
 who fought by their side, and never will the 
 poilus forget the cheery spirit of comradery 
 and helpfulness shown by these men who 
 came from far beyond seas to fight for 
 France. A story is told of this battle, and 
 on good authority, that illustrates this point: 
 A French officer was commanding a body 
 of French troops in the wood, and had been 
 fighting desperately for three days knowing 
 that there, if ever, the Boche descent upon 
 Paris must be blocked. To him appeared 
 suddenly a body of Americans, rushing up, 
 out of breath, and ignoring the storm of 
 missiles hurtling through the trees. Their 
 officer strove to explain their presence, 
 though his French was not as good as his 
 intentions: " Fous Fatigues," he panted, 
 "Fous parti — notre job,'' "You tired — 
 you get away — our job," was the import of 
 his broken French. But it was understood 
 and gratefully. The Americans did indeed 
 make it their job and the enemy never saw 
 the way through Belleau Wood. 
 
 A German general's headquarteis captured b-v some dough- 
 bo_\s pushmg their pistols through the wmdows while the 
 general was entertaining visiting dignitaries 
 
 at Verdun, so the Americans put a rude 
 stopper upon their ambition to tread the road 
 to the French capital by way of Belleau Wood 
 and Chateau-Thierry. 
 
 It was a great battle as well as a decisive 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE ALLIES TAKE THE OFFENSIVE CLEARING THE SOISSONS-RHEIMS SALIENT 
 
 AMERICANS AT CHATEAU-THIERRY BEGINNING OF THE GREAT GERMAN 
 
 RETREAT WHO WON THE WAR? SERVICES OF EACH NATION BRITISH 
 
 VICTORIES IN PICARDY THE POLICY OF DEVASTATION 
 
 T 
 
 HE time 
 had now 
 come for the 
 AlHes to as- 
 sume the offensive 
 in what was des- 
 tined to be the final 
 great battle of the 
 war. The Huns had 
 been blocked at 
 C h a t e a u-T h i e r ry 
 and Belleau 
 Wood. No longer 
 was France in terror 
 of their seemingly 
 irresistible advance. 
 Instead, under the 
 generalship of the 
 untiring Foch, the 
 French and their al- 
 lies were preparing 
 themselves to take the active part and begin 
 the work of driving the foe from France. 
 LudendorfFand Hindenburg, though doubtless 
 by this time aware of the desperation of the 
 German cause, were still indomitable. They 
 expected that the French would start a drive 
 on the national holiday, July 14th, but when 
 that day had passed without action on the part 
 of their adversaries they rashly jumped to the 
 conclusion that the French were demoralized 
 and started a drive of their own. It was a 
 fatal error, and the beginning of the end for 
 the Huns. The French were more than 
 ready. So, too, were the British and the 
 Americans, and all along the wide front, from 
 Fontenoy to Chateau-Thierry, the forces of 
 the Allies not merely repulsed the Germans, 
 but drove them, and followed them in what 
 was destined to be a pursuit that should not 
 end until the war ended. 
 
 It began July i8th, without the preliminary 
 bombardment that had come to be looked 
 for as the usual heralding of an assault. 
 
 Just at dawn, with a heavy barrage preceding 
 them, the Americans and French in the 
 territory bounded by Soissons and Chateau- 
 Thierry were out of their trenches, and rush- 
 ing upon the foe. North of the Belleau 
 Wood where our marines had already won 
 enduring fame, the troops swept on and 
 entered the httle town of Corey as thoroughly 
 on time as if they had been guided by pace- 
 makers. Belleau, Givry, Courchamps all 
 fell in swift succession to the American arms. 
 The fighting was of the fiercest. The Kaiser's 
 famous Imperial Guards were in the division 
 that came across the Marne to attack the 
 Americans and fled back again before the foe 
 that was so ready to be found. In the woods 
 where the battle was hottest the bodies in 
 spots lay three and four deep, and it was 
 learned later that not less than 5,000 of the 
 enemy had been slain there. In the defensive 
 battle which preceded their charge the 
 Americans held large numbers of machine- 
 gun nests in the woods which the enemy had 
 to destroy. The nests, or scattered coverts, 
 each holding from two to ten men with one 
 or more machine guns, are able to inflict 
 enormous loss upon an advancing enemy, 
 and as they are carefully hidden in the under- 
 growth or in gullies the charging foe not in- 
 frequently passes them in his rush, and is 
 taken by their deadly fire in the rear. The 
 fighting here was not unlike the Indian fight- 
 ing of our pioneer days. So thick was the 
 wood that men evaded the enemy and then 
 turning behind him stole up on his rear 
 throwing his ranks into confusion. In more 
 than one instance American parties driven 
 out of their own nests managed to steal 
 around and capture guns from the foe for his 
 undoing. 
 
 Prominent among the American divisions 
 taking part in this battle was the Forty- 
 second — the "Rainbow Division" as it came 
 to be called. It was stationed in the neigh- 
 
134 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 135 
 
 King George on a visit to the Western Front with Marshal Foch, General Petain, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, and General 
 
 Sir Henry Rawlinson and their staffs 
 
 borhood of Perthes, supporting the French 
 line with orders that if the Germans should 
 break through it should take up the conflict. 
 Every man in that body of troops drawn from 
 New York, Illinois, Ohio, California, and 
 other populous states of the Union hoped in 
 his heart that the break would come. Come 
 It did. To their own bad 
 fortune the Germans 
 picked out that particular 
 sector for their fiercest as- 
 sault. Their guns rained 
 gas shells until roads and 
 woods and fields were satu- 
 rated with the poisonous 
 mists. From the sky their 
 airplanes dropped death 
 and destruction. The rat- 
 tle of their machine guns 
 was as the clamor of a 
 ship-building yard in full 
 operation. Their legions 
 swept forward gallantly to 
 the assault seemingly un- 
 wearied by four years of 
 just such bloody service. 
 Our men were ready to 
 respond in kind. With 
 roar of the 75 's, borrowed 
 from the French, for it is 
 
 a melancholy fact that for lack of early prep- 
 aration we were forced to fight this war with 
 artillery furnished by our Allies, we mowed 
 down their advancing infantry. The French 
 fought and fell back, after their elastic sys- 
 tem which had for its purpose the saving of 
 their own men, and the mfliction of the great- 
 
 Americans helping a wounded German soldier on the Soissons-Rheims sector 
 
136 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 British troops and transport passing through a French village during the last German offensive 
 
 est possible hurt upon the enemy Our men 
 rushed m to the positions thus surrendered. 
 As the Germans came on in successive waves, 
 after their accustomed tactics, they were cut 
 down by our machine guns and rifle fire. Now 
 and then in their impetuosity our men would 
 not wait for the oncoming horde but rushing 
 over the top would meet and overwhelm 
 them on their way. At every point the 
 assailants were repulsed, except in a patch of 
 woods where they were able to drag up some 
 machine guns into our lines, but even this 
 triumph was short-lived, and, when the 
 work quieted down on other parts of the line, 
 our artillery took up this particular spot 
 and drove him forth. It was a stiff day's 
 fight but when it ended the enemy had been 
 effectively stopped and our men of the 
 "Rainbow Division" shared the glory of the 
 victory equally with the French. 
 
 Elsewhere on the Marne other Americans 
 had been in the battle. Part of the 28th 
 Division, which as yet had not met the shock 
 of battle, was near Dormans, where the Ger- 
 mans had some days before made their only 
 crossing of the river. They were too few 
 to stop the foe, but the fight they put up 
 
 won them the admiration of the whole army. 
 The 3rd Division, too, which now after 
 its success at Chateau-Thierry had begun 
 to take on the airs of true veterans, was in 
 the thick of the fight. Its artillery blocked 
 the enemy in determined efforts to cross the 
 river, which at that point is but about 150 
 feet wide, and demolished the boats and the 
 pontoon bridges with which he tried to effect 
 the crossing. 
 
 With the German line thus effectively 
 stopped the French and Americans in their 
 turn attacked on July i8th on a 28-mile 
 front reaching from the Aisne to the Marne. 
 The tactical situation m that neighborhood 
 showed a deep salient held by the German 
 troops on which Chateau-Thierry was the 
 southern apex with Soissons and Rheims 
 as the other two points in the triangle. Each 
 arm in the triangle was, roughl}' speaking, 
 about 25 miles long. The determined Ger- 
 man offensive which had ended a few days 
 before, nominally directed by the Crown 
 Prince but in fact under the command of 
 General Ludendorff, had gained this territory, 
 but, being checked, had left the Germans in a 
 perilous position. A salient of this character. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 137 
 
 having a narrow opening, exposes the troops at 
 its lower end to being cut off by a superior ad- 
 versary attacking on either side. This adver- 
 sary can, if his strength is equal to the task, push 
 together the ends of the sahent as one draws 
 up the strings at the mouth of a bag, thereby 
 enclosing all the troops which have been un- 
 able to sHp out before the orifice is closed. 
 This was precisely what General Foch at- 
 tempted and with a great measure of success. 
 
 While the French and American troops 
 were engaged at what has come to be known 
 as the Rheims salient, other attacks were 
 made by the British and French troops at 
 two other points on the line. We may, for the 
 present, defer discussion of these movements, 
 although they were ultimately of the greatest 
 value in effecting the defeat of the German 
 Army, and confine our attention to those 
 strokes which were delivered either by the 
 French and Americans acting together, or 
 by the Americans alone. 
 
 When the great Allied offensive of July i8th 
 opened — the offensive which was destined not 
 to be checked until it had forced the abject 
 surrender of the entire German Army — the 
 first blow was delivered by the army of 
 General Mangin with French and American 
 detachments against the right, wing of the 
 Crown Prince, under command of General 
 Von Hutier in front of Soissons. The fightmg 
 had been hard there for days with the Ger- 
 
 mans on the offensive. But when at the 
 shrill call of the whistle along the lines the 
 Allied forces went over the top at daybreak 
 on the day set, the struggle that followed 
 dwarfed all previous battles. That was a 
 Thursday. Not until Saturday was there 
 the slightest let-up m the advance and in the 
 fighting. Relief parties with food followed 
 up the fighting line, and stretcher bearers, 
 gathering the wounded, reported that they 
 found hundreds of men whose injuries, how- 
 ever serious, did not pain them enough to 
 keep them awake in the face of the complete 
 exhaustion of the prolonged struggle. They 
 slept soundly where they fell. The ground 
 over which the Americans advanced was 
 partly wooded and partly open fields of 
 grain. The woods were cut to pieces by the 
 tornado of shell fire, and the growing grain, 
 just ripening at this season and so necessary 
 to the starving world of Europe, was trodden 
 down beneath the feet of the tramping and 
 fighting thousands. Everywhere, through 
 the fields and in the woods, were bodies 
 alike of the assailants and of the defenders 
 of the position. A correspondent who fol- 
 lowed the troops tells of coming to a German 
 machine-gun nest, sheltered by wicker work 
 filled in with earth. In front lay three dead 
 Americans, evidently part of the platoon 
 that had charged the position. The gun 
 was silent now and about it were piled the 
 
 The bridge across the Marne at Chateau-Thierry 
 
138 
 
 UNITED S 1\A 1^ E S IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 ng to meet the advancing Germans in the Battle ut ric.iul; 
 
 bodies of the German soldiers who had 
 manned it. All through the woods and in the 
 fields were scattered nests of this character. 
 Snugly sheltered in a pit behind a rampart 
 two or three German gunners could mow down 
 scores of the attacking forces before the men 
 still left in line could sweep over the parapet 
 and destroy them. In cases of this sort 
 there was no quarter for the machine gunners. 
 American soldiers reported that too often 
 the enemy would operate his. gun unflinch- 
 ingly, shooting down scores of our men as 
 they approached and then at the last moment, 
 when capture was inevitable, appear smil- 
 ingly on the parapet with hands up and the 
 cry of "Kamerad!" 
 
 In such case, and it was the normal case, 
 no mercy was shown. 
 
 A typical scene along a road leading to the front in France 
 
 In three days' fighting on this sector the 
 French and Americans had penetrated the 
 enemy's hne to a distance of six miles, were 
 established in front of Soissons, and had cut the 
 enemy's hne of communication to Chateau- 
 Thierry. In the meantime, they had pressed 
 the attack at the latter town, driving the 
 Germans out of the northern section of it 
 which they had held and penetrating the 
 salient to the northward. On the American 
 right flank English and Italian troops were 
 cooperating to the southwest of Rheims. 
 They were pressing into the salient and it 
 was becoming only too apparent to the enemy 
 that unless he desired to lose all of his army 
 that was then in the lower end of that pocket 
 he must not stop to fight but must get out, 
 and stand not on the order of his going. To 
 this polic}^ indeed he 
 had recourse. The 
 Germans throughout 
 the war demonstrated 
 themselves to be train- 
 ed strategists and sel- 
 dom hesitated to re- 
 treat when they saw 
 the safety of their army 
 imperiled by continu- 
 ing in a position that 
 was seriously menaced. 
 The salient, therefore, 
 became the scene of a 
 steady withdrawal of 
 the Germans, who pro- 
 tected their troops by 
 rearguard fighting and 
 who never at any time 
 permitted their retreat 
 to be turned into a 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 139 
 
 
 *<^ - 
 
 *ii^' 
 
 
 
 [M|l 
 
 HN^^-~ ' 
 
 |iyJB^^^ 
 
 M^^^'^ 
 
 " 
 
 '^^m 
 
 lAgH 
 
 
 
 -. 
 
 ^^^^if^^i^^m 
 
 A glimpse of the orderly British retreat before the advancing Girmans during the Battle of Picardy 
 
 rout. It was not territory which lent itself 
 readily to the needs of a retreating army, for 
 it was interspersed with small streams which 
 had to be crossed, and there was but one 
 railroad that could be utihzed for the trans- 
 port of troops and that was cut early by the 
 advancing Americans. 
 
 The action had hardly been in progress 
 more than four days when it became evident 
 to the soldiers fighting it and to the world 
 that was watching them, that the Germans 
 were beaten so far as that territory was 
 concerned. They had indeed a great and 
 powerful military machine. But General 
 Foch and Pershing had forged a bigger one. 
 It was a wonderful week in the world's 
 history. At its beginning the 
 Germans had hoped, and with 
 apparent reason, that before 
 its end they would be well on 
 the road to Paris. Instead of 
 that, baffled and beaten, they 
 were retreating all along the 
 line. 
 
 It was the good fortune of 
 our American troops to take a 
 most prominent and effective 
 part in winning this victory. 
 Their fighting at Chateau- 
 Thierry was among the most 
 gallant records of the war, 
 and for years to come Ameri- 
 can tourists will go to see the 
 remnants of that once beauti- 
 ful river town, and study the 
 streets through which our boys 
 trod and the river banks on 
 which they left their bodies. A forest full of dead 
 Edwin L. James, an American Command 
 
 correspondent on the spot, tells of the way 
 in which a httle village adjacent to this town 
 was taken by the American troops: 
 
 Nothing more typically American could be imagined 
 than the way in which we took a position yesterday af- 
 ternoon north of Epieds. The Germans had intrenched 
 along a roadway with a large number of machine guns. 
 The terrain on both sides of the road was most difficult 
 and seemed to mean certain death to infantrymen 
 advancing up the road. Soon up that road came ten 
 automobiles of a well-known American minor make. 
 On each were one or two machine guns. Half a mile 
 from the begmnmg of the German nests they got into 
 action and went up the road at top speed, spurting 
 streams of bullets on either side. The Germans stood 
 until the cars were almost upon them, and seeing little 
 
 Germans lay thus along the Oise — the price the German High 
 paid for their brief triumph in the Battle of Picardy 
 
I40 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 licnch and British soldiers brigaded together, resting after a hard-fought battle 
 
 chance of "kamerading" to the cavalcade beat a re- 
 treat. The cars, returning, met the infantrymen going 
 up to occupy the position they had cleared and to 
 move on. The operation was completely successful, 
 only two of the cars failing to come back. The Amer- 
 ican General at once christened the outfit "Ford's 
 Cavalry." Stories of this exploit gave rise to an 
 erroneous report that American cavalry had been used, 
 in action. 
 
 By the first of August the Germans had 
 been pushed across the Ourcq with the Amer- 
 icans hard upon their heels, and the enemy 
 was making as fast as possible for the banks 
 of the River Vesle behind which he hoped 
 to find a safer refuge. The fighting at the 
 crossing of the first stream has been described 
 by veterans as possibly unexcelled for bitter- 
 ness by any during this savage campaign. 
 On the German side were involved the veteran 
 Imperial Prussian Guard who had been held 
 to be the most formidable of all the Kaiser's 
 fighters, and they did fight. We used to 
 read, during the progress of the war, of Ger- 
 man gunners chained to their guns lest they 
 might run away, but our men who swept 
 over the positions held by the Imperial Guard 
 reported that these gallant soldiers of the 
 Kaiser had to be killed at their guns for they 
 would neither cease firing nor surrender. 
 Just outside of Chateau-Thierry, on a hill 
 known as Hill 200, stood a big heliograph 
 tower — dating back to the time of Napoleon's 
 
 campaign and built by order of that great 
 soldier. Here the Germans were guilty of a 
 characteristic act of treachery. From the: 
 top of the tower waved a big Red Cross flag, 
 but notwithstanding this appeal for immunity 
 which was heeded for some time by the 
 Americans, they mounted there two machine 
 guns with which they opened fire on the 
 American troops when they came within 
 range. Having no artillery at hand the 
 Americans detailed snipers to pick off" the 
 men who were serving the guns. This in 
 due time was accomplished and when an 
 American detachment charged the tower 
 and mounted its stairs, the German gunners 
 were found dead at the side of their weapons. 
 The character of the German defeat and 
 the losses sustained by the enemy are well 
 indicated in this story from the pen of an eye 
 witness: 
 
 Saturday's withdrawal of the Germans before our 
 never-lessening pressure took them at midnight across 
 the river and mto strong hilled positions on the north- 
 ern bank. There they placed many hundreds of ma- 
 chine guns ranging on the river, and trained their 
 artillery to lay down barrages on the stream. Two 
 fresh Guard divisions were placed in front of the Amer- 
 icans, and the bridges were destroyed behind the fleeing 
 foe. At midnight the enemy thought he had a new 
 line. He had for a few hours. At 4 o'clock a part of 
 the famed fighting unit stepped from the woods on the 
 southern bank, leaped into the stream which is about 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 two feet deep, and got to the other 
 bank before the Germans were aware 
 of it. But by the time all were over, 
 the machine guns cut loose and the 
 barrage swept them mercilessly. 
 
 They held twenty minutes and had 
 to come back. But the Germans 
 were all wrong if they thought the 
 Americans were through. At 5:15 
 another dash was made, and after 
 bloody fighting this, too, was driven 
 back across the stream. 
 
 In the meanwhile our engineers 
 brought up two bridges, with every 
 piece of wood cut and fitted before- 
 hand, and threw them across the 
 stream. At 7 o'clock four companies 
 made the dash. To say they stayed 
 across makes a short story of valiant 
 resistance. The Germans put down 
 a barrage behind them along the 
 stream and mowed them down with 
 machine guns from their trees, from 
 behind rocks, and from bushes. 
 
 While the situation was becoming 
 precarious for these men big plans 
 were executed behind them, and at 8 o'clock the 
 grand rush started. It put thousands of Americans 
 across the river by 10 o'clock. By this time our 
 artillery was locating the Germans, and field guns 
 on the south bank were shooting point blank into 
 the Hun machine-gun nests. Our men got set on the 
 northern bank and started for the hills lining the stream. 
 After half an hour of the bitterest sort of fighting we 
 got deep into these positions, and the enemy broke 
 and ran down the northern side of the hills and over a 
 valley to another series of hills near. 
 
 By this time Americans were across the river in a 
 dozen places. By noon they 
 had captured Sergy, and two 
 hours later had Seringes. The 
 Germans then began a with- 
 drawal all along the line they 
 had expected to hold. It was 
 the first charge of the Ameri- 
 cans which had broken them. 
 The German machine gunners 
 in the trees were killed and the 
 others fled. We brought back 
 a few prisoners. That the Ger- 
 mans intended to stand here is 
 shown by pile after pile of am- 
 munition we found where the 
 guns had been hurriedly pulled 
 out. 
 
 Never have the AmericaYis 
 done hotter fighting. Never did 
 they show to better advantage. 
 NeverdidtheHun fight nastier. 
 It was not the deadly work of 
 the machine guns in the trees 
 and houses, and even in the German guns captured by the British and being used against the Germans 
 
 141 
 
 British hiavy artillery being liiirrieil forward td In Ip cluck the German advance in 
 the Battle of Picardy 
 
 churches, that awoke the wrath of our men. It 
 was not the terrific barrage that angered them. 
 But when they saw Hun snipers kill their wounded 
 comrades then they saw red and made the enemy 
 pay. 
 
 Time after time the Germans played machine guns 
 on the stretcher bearers. I saw their wounded, and 
 they told me. One overloaded truck came in with 
 wounded and reported that a German airplane had 
 swept low and dropped a bomb which destroyed an 
 open truck carrying wounded. The driver and two 
 wounded men were killed. Stretcher bearers wading 
 
142 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Carriages, cars, lorries, and light railways all rushing ammunition to the front for the big guns 
 
 the river with helpless wounded were fired on bv 
 German snipers in the hills beyond. 
 
 The Hun left nothing undone to make the Americans 
 regret their audacious and gallant charge. He did 
 not succeed. 
 
 Fere-en-Tardenois, Fismes, Chateau de 
 Fere and all the territory between the Marne 
 and the Vesle was taken by the French, 
 Americans, Italians, and British by the end 
 of the first week in August. The Germans 
 by that time had been driven back of the 
 Vesle, and obviously were going to be forced 
 to continue their retreat beyond the Aisne. 
 Their losses had been prodigious. They 
 were able to move most of their men who were 
 not disabled out of the salient, but thej^ had 
 neither time nor facilities for the removal of 
 the enormous accumulations of military 
 stores, which had been sent in to accompany 
 what they had expected would be a triumph- 
 ant march upon Paris. Mile after mile of 
 ashes and debris of burned stores was passed 
 by the advancing American troops. Food 
 the Germans clung to with desperation, and 
 had been able, for the greater part, to remove, 
 but ammunition, guns, clothing, parts of 
 wagons, trucks, and airplanes were all found 
 heaped up and destroyed as far as time would 
 perrnit. _ After the fashion of advancing 
 armies in this day they had built a narrow- 
 
 gauge railway behind their front lines for the 
 transportation of stores, and along this were 
 distributed enough rails to extend the line 
 as far as Bordeaux, and ties and other con- 
 stituent parts of a railroad which showed 
 that it was their purpose to widen it to 
 standard gauge. Evidently the Germans 
 had never expected to be driven out of this 
 part of France once they had gained their 
 foothold. 
 
 In this retreat the Germans showed great 
 fertility of resource in concocting those 
 cowardly and deadly devices for the murder 
 of pursuing enemies, for which they became 
 noted. It was nothing less than murder, 
 for the men who laid the traps were out of 
 reach of any attack from those who suffered. 
 Ammunition was left piled and so arranged 
 that it would explode two days after the 
 retreating enemy had vanished. Infernal 
 machines which would be touched off by the 
 step of a man were in dugouts and buried 
 under the highwaj's. Wires over which 
 an advancing soldier would trip were con- 
 nected with explosives which would blow 
 him into atoms. It was necessaiy for the 
 pursuing troops to be always on their guard 
 against deadly devices of this nature. 
 
 Thereafter the fighting of the Americans 
 in what had been the Chateau-Thierry salient. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 A huge French cannon on the Somme camouflaged from airplane observation by the structure of branches erected over it and by 
 
 the ingenious painting of the muzzle 
 
 A French cannon on the Somme partially Inuied and comeaUd fidni enemy observation 
 
144 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 but which had lost all the characteristics of 
 a salient being thoroughly flattened out, was 
 one steady series of victories. The enemy 
 was driven successively beyond the Ourcq, 
 the Vesle, and the Aisne. Our men took in 
 rapid succession Morlaincourt, Juvigny, the 
 highway from Soissons to St. Quentin, and 
 forced a German retirement along a front of 
 more than ninety miles. In a multiplicity 
 of minor engagements which need no enu- 
 meration here the American forces were 
 uniformly successful, as were the British 
 and French on their flanks, for now had begun 
 that great German retreat which the people 
 of the Fatherland were assured was m accor- 
 dance with plans and intended for strategic 
 purposes only, but which in fact was the 
 certain precursor of the collapse that followed. 
 
 For everywhere the Allies were winning. 
 Though this volume is designed mainly to 
 tell of the part played by the American armies 
 in the war, a passing reference to the simul- 
 taneous operations of the other allies is 
 necessary to make the story of the swift rush 
 of the war to its end understandable. 
 
 To the west, then, of the Soissons-Rheims 
 salient in which the Americans were doing 
 most of their fighting, was at the beginning 
 of August another, but more shallow, pro- 
 jection of the German Hnes into the Allied 
 territory. Into this the British had been 
 
 edging their way in a series of small engage- 
 ments that had attracted little attention 
 until Sir Douglas Haig made a decided ad- 
 vance, driving the enemy back on a line ex- 
 tending from Montdidier to Compeigne, 
 and beginning a forward movement which 
 like that of the French more to the eastward 
 was destined to proceed without serious check 
 until the end. On beyond Arras the "Tom' 
 mies" pressed, smashing into the Hindenburg 
 line, capturing Bapaume, Albert, and the 
 famous Queant switch, a notable German 
 defensive work. The French, meantime, were 
 keeping pace with them, and by the middle 
 of September the battle line across France 
 which had so long shown a menacing sag 
 down to the south, toward Paris was straight- 
 ening out, and began to parallel the Belgian 
 border and at no great distance. True, still 
 back of that line and in the hands of the 
 Huns were cities and towns of strategic im- 
 portance which the French earnestly desired 
 to liberate. Lille was there, the martyr of 
 French cities whose people were forced to 
 endure such sufferings as no enemy short ot 
 an Apache Indian ever inflicted upon a help- 
 less population. There too was Douai, a 
 railroad centre of vital military importance; 
 Cambrai, centre of the great French iron 
 industry which it was the intention of the 
 Germans now to steal as in 1871 they had 
 
 ScvLii luinJiLiJ .ukI tifty German prisoners captured by the French at Plessis le Roye when they came to the aid of the British 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 145 
 
 A Canadian battalion led by Scottish musicians returning to camp after practice 
 march 
 
 and shell craters, and other 
 cross-fire from machine guns 
 the other elements fought des- 
 perately against odds. In this 
 and later objectives, from Oc- 
 tober 6th to October i8th, our 
 2nd Corps captured more than 
 6,000 prisoners and advanced 
 over thirteen miles. The spirit 
 and aggressiveness of these di- 
 visions have been highly prais- 
 ed by the British commander 
 under whom they served." 
 
 While referring to this mat- 
 ter of praise from the veteran 
 commanders of the European 
 armies with whom our boys 
 — all unused to war — were serv- 
 mg, it seems well worth while 
 to reproduce the official trib- 
 ute paid to them by General 
 Mangin for their service in 
 France duringjuly and August: 
 
 stolen the iron fields of Briey; St. Quentin 
 and Laon, the former a beautiful mediaeval 
 town which the Roches destroyed, the latter 
 a railroad centre to which they clung with 
 desperation. 
 
 But step by step the British and Frencn 
 lines moved forward until all these points 
 and the territory back of them passed into 
 AUied hands. In this progress the American 
 army was not wholly unrepresented. The 
 27th and 30th divisions held the place of 
 honor alongside the 
 Australians of Haig's 
 Army in a fierce as- 
 sault at St. Quentin 
 at a spot where the 
 canal passes under a 
 ridge through a tun- 
 nel. General Pershing 
 says of these opera- 
 tions in his, report: 
 "The 30th "Division 
 speedily broke 
 through the main line 
 of defense for all its 
 objectives, while the 
 27th pushed on im- 
 petuously through the 
 main line until some 
 of its elements reached 
 Gouy. In the midst 
 of the mass of trenches 
 
 Officers, Noncommissioned Officers, and Soldiers of the 
 American Army: 
 
 Shoulder to shoulder with your French comrades, 
 you threw yourselves into the counter-ofFensive begun 
 on July 18. You ran to it as if going to a feast. Your 
 magnificent dash upset and surprised the enemy, and 
 your indomitable tenacity stopped counter-attacks by 
 his fresh divisions. You have shown yourselves to be 
 worthy sons of your great country and have gained the 
 admiration of your brothers in arms. 
 
 Ninety-one cannon, 7,200 prisoners, immense booty, 
 and ten kilometers of reconquered territory are your 
 
 British reinforcements being 1 
 
 I tried to the front on one of the light railways built by the 
 soldiers themselves 
 
146 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 British field guns hastily swung into position to hold up the German advance in the Battle of Bicardy 
 
 share of the trophies of this victory. Besides this, you 
 have acquired a feeling of your superiority over the 
 barbarian enemy against whom the children of liberty 
 are fighting. To attack him is to vanquish him. 
 
 American comrades, I am grateful to you for the 
 blood you generously spilled on the soil of my country. 
 I am proud of having commanded you during such 
 splendid days and to have fought with you for the 
 deliverance of the world. 
 
 At this time the Grand Cross of the Legion 
 of Honor was conferred on General Pershing 
 and personal congratulations were extended 
 
 British troops waiting in a support trench to repel the Germans in case they break 
 through the front-line trenches 
 
 to him and his troops by King George, King 
 Victor Emanuel of Italy, the Premiers of 
 France, Great Britain, and Italj^ and the 
 Chief of Staff of Japan. 
 
 It is greatly to be hoped, despite all this 
 well-earned compliment, that as the careful 
 study of the progress of this war proceeds 
 among our people they will refrain from exag- 
 geration of the American part in it, and give 
 due credit to the gallantry and devotion of 
 the people of the nations that sustained its 
 burden for four long years before we entered 
 upon the conflict. Discussion 
 of "Who won the war.'"' will 
 always be profitless so long as 
 there is an effort to make the 
 answer confer especial credit 
 upon any one nation. For if 
 we look fairly at the record we 
 shall discern the following facts 
 that do not admit of contra- 
 vention : 
 
 Upon France, of course, fell 
 the heaviest burden and to 
 France, beyond doubt, is due 
 the greatest meed of glory. 
 The blood of her devoted sol- 
 diers was shed without stint. 
 Their courage inspired the 
 fighting men of every nation, 
 and their heroism fills a page 
 of history that will long be 
 glorious. The River Marne, 
 the scene of two decisive bat- 
 tles, will bulk large in history 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 147 
 
 through all time to come, and though but a 
 slender stream unvexed by commerce will hold 
 its place with the greatest rivers of the world 
 in the knowledge of men. But not even to 
 France can sole credit for the overthrow of the 
 Teutonic conspiracy against the world begiven. 
 
 Had Belgium not re- 
 sisted, at the certain cost 
 of national martyrdom, 
 the German invasion in 
 August, 1 914, France 
 would certainly have 
 been overrun by the ene- 
 my and the war won in 
 the first three months ac- 
 cordmg to the prear- 
 ranged German plan. 
 
 Had not Russia — poor, 
 betrayed, anarchy-ridden 
 Russia — mobilized with 
 unexpected speed and 
 rushed her enormous 
 armies into East Prussia 
 and Gahcia in the same 
 month it would not have 
 been necessary for Gen- 
 eral Von Moltke to detach 
 several divisions from the 
 army invading France, 
 and the first battle of the 
 Marne might not have 
 been won by the French. 
 
 Had Italy stood by her alleged obligations 
 under the Triple Alliance, had she even failed 
 to give France early assurances that she 
 would at least be neutral, huge French armies 
 would have been tied up from the first guard- 
 ing the Italian frontier, and France would 
 
 A row of French iss's being placed along a roadside to hold up the German advance in 
 the Battle of Picardy 
 
148 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 nsli troops in a c.i| 
 
 have been unable to hold back the Boches 
 until Great Britain could organize armies 
 and get into action. 
 
 Had Great Britain failed to revolutionize 
 the precedents of centuries and become a 
 great military power, and above all had she 
 not thrown her indomitable and invincible 
 navy into the struggle, keeping the seas 
 closed to German commerce and open to all 
 
 ships bearing food, 
 munitions, and reen- 
 forcements to the 
 Allies the war would 
 have unquestionably 
 been lost. 
 
 And finally, had not 
 the United States 
 aided enormously 
 with such money sup- 
 port as never before 
 has been forthcoming 
 from a single nation, 
 with food, with explo- 
 sives, with cannon, 
 with deadly gas and 
 all the other para- 
 phernalia of war, and 
 finally and above all 
 with an army of such 
 proportions as the 
 ■world never believed 
 we could raise, despatched to the scene of 
 action with a celerity that amazed our foes 
 and our friends alike, and rushing into battle 
 with an impetuous daring that swept all 
 before them — had the United States failed 
 of all these things then indeed German au- 
 tocracy would have overwhelmed the world 
 and democracy would have perished from 
 the face of the earth. 
 
 rust toward Cambrai 
 
 
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 ^-^..^m^,, 
 
 ■tui^iikitiLu ..yM.-it^ 
 
 
 Cage 
 
 nil (_li I iiKin jirisoners taken bj- tbe British in the offensive of August, 1918. These men were all captured in one day 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 149 
 
 
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 British cavalry entering a recently captured village near Arras 
 
 After the naval battle off Santiago de Cuba 
 in which the Spanish fleet was obliterated 
 from the face of the ocean, and Spanish rule 
 forever abolished in the islands of the West 
 Indies,there arose an unfortunate controversy 
 over the awarding of credit for the victory. 
 Admiral Schley, who had been in actual com- 
 mand of the fleet in action, settled all this 
 with the sensible remark, "There is glory 
 enough for all." So in time we think history 
 will determine that to no one nation, but to 
 all working and fighting together for the 
 triumph of the right and the defense of democ- 
 racy, is due the final victory. 
 
 And so this volume, though in the main 
 devoted to the story of American endeavors 
 in the war, would be incomplete and fail to 
 give an intelligent idea of the progress of the 
 struggle if it did not atthe same 
 time briefly outline what was 
 being done by our associated 
 nations on the long battle line. 
 
 It became apparent very 
 shortly after the forward move- 
 ment that began at Chateau- 
 Thierry had time to develop 
 that the Germans were dis- 
 heartened and pressed beyond 
 their powers of resistance. 
 Their retreat begun then was 
 uninterrupted, though with no 
 sign of demoralization. The 
 grand strategy of General Foch, 
 whose power as generalissimo 
 was largely due to American 
 suggestion and undoubtedly 
 hastened the end of the war, 
 was easily understandable to 
 contemporary students of the 
 war. In a general way, he 
 
 took the plan of campaign of the Germans 
 on invading France, reversed it, and ap- 
 plied it to the task of driving them out. 
 They had rushed through Belgium and 
 into France in a grand left wheel, the pivot 
 of their line being near Verdun and their 
 right flank swinging around close to the 
 western coast. It was as if a monstrous door 
 was being swung open with its hinge at 
 Verdun and its outer edge in Flanders. 
 What Foch did was to swing this door back 
 again though he set his hinge a little further 
 to the east, in the Argonne region, and put in 
 charge at that vital point the chief American 
 army of whose deeds we shall tell in a later 
 chapter. The door from the hinge to what 
 we might call its centre panel was built up 
 of American, Italian, and French soldierr, 
 
 ring party passing a big gun just outside Arras 
 
15° 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Of the scenes at Ba- 
 paume on the occasion 
 oftheir second entrance 
 Philip Gibbs writes: 
 
 So far as I could see, the 
 only difference since the 
 enemy sprawled back here 
 and stayed a little while 
 and then was flung back 
 again is that many bodies 
 of gray-clad men lie among 
 the shell craters, and that 
 the roads and tracks are 
 httered with dead horses, 
 so that the air is pestilential 
 with foul odors, and every- 
 where among the old trenches and new, with their white, 
 upturned chalk and the litter of barbed wire, are fresh 
 German notice boards pointing the way to firing lines 
 and observation posts and giving the directions of 
 tracks — nach Mametz, nach Longueval, nach Ginchy. 
 They had tried to camouflage some of their tracks by 
 screens made of rushes, and had dug deep shelters under 
 banks and in old trenches in order to escape from the 
 harassing British fire. 
 
 In shell craters and ditches lie their helmets, gas 
 masks, rifles, and equipment, and here and there is the 
 wreckage of a field gun or limber, untouched but aban- 
 doned by the enemy in their flight, and strewn over all 
 the ground are vast numbers of unexploded shells. 
 
 All this tumult of the tortured earth, all these pits 
 dug by shells, all this \v'\\d destruction of places ruined 
 in the first year of the war and mangled ever since were 
 strewn with relics of German life and German death, 
 
 British troops hastily digging trenches on the Somme 
 
 then began the joint Hnes of the French and 
 British, then the British alone, and finally 
 on the sandy dunes bordering the cold North 
 Sea, in the little corner of their own country 
 still left to them, the gallant Belgians. 
 
 As this line swung to the north and east 
 the enemy were pressed closer and closer to 
 the Belgian border, and in the far west 
 King Albert and his men extended their 
 conquest oftheir own territory until suddenly 
 came the German appeal for peace. 
 
 Few of the British exploits were attended 
 with more rejoicing than the recapture of 
 Bapaume and Peronne. Both had been 
 held by the British before and from both had 
 they been driven out after desperate fighting. 
 
 © Underwood & Underwood 
 
 A mammoth British gun appropriately named, from the German point of view, " Kill Joy" 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 iSi 
 
 newly littered here. Their great 
 steel helmets punctured by bullets 
 or torn like paper by shell splinters 
 lay in thousands, with gas masks 
 and rifles and cartridge belts and 
 gray coats. 
 
 Along every mile of the way lay 
 rows of stick bombs, never used 
 against the British, and dumps of 
 unexploded shells, hideous in their 
 potentiality. A few dead horses 
 lay on each side of the tracks, as 
 they had gone trudging up with the 
 British transport before being shot. 
 Beside one horse lay a dead white 
 dog, the pet of the transport 
 column. 
 
 It was a moment of high and 
 justifiable exultation when 
 theBritish marched again into 
 these desolated places which 
 they had twice taken at the 
 highest cost of life and blood 
 but which this time they knew could not be 
 taken away from them. Mr. Gibbs, most 
 graphic of correspondents on the spot, de- 
 scribes the scene thus: 
 
 It is utterly true to say that our men are going for- 
 ward with gladness and exultation. They know the 
 risks ahead. There is nothing one can tell them about 
 the horrors of war. They know its fearful fatigues, the 
 beastliness of things, the stench and dust of the battle- 
 field, the wicked snap of machine-gun bullets and the 
 howl of the high velocities. 
 But in spite of all that 
 they are marching forward 
 with a light in their eyes 
 and eager looks, and whole 
 armies are on the move 
 with a grim kind of joy. 
 
 It is an astounding pag- 
 eant, these hundreds of 
 thousands of men — Eng- 
 lish, Welsh, Canadians, 
 Scottish, and Australians 
 — all moving in a lorrg, 
 reaching tide with horses 
 and guns and transport 
 along tracks over old bat- 
 tlefields, going forward 
 mile by mile very slowly 
 because of the surge of 
 traffic over narrow ways, 
 but never stopping. 
 
 Dust rises from these 
 moving legions in brownish 
 clouds which the wind 
 tosses above their steel 
 helmets, and through this 
 dust, in which the sun is 
 
 Germans retreating in the fall of 1918 before the triumphantly advancing French, 
 British, and American troops 
 
 shining hotly, there is a vision of brown masses of men 
 with the glint of steel on rifles and helmets and twink- 
 ling colors, red and blue and green, of staff badges and 
 pennons. 
 
 Every man marches in a white mask of dust through 
 which his eyes shine. Dispatch riders are threading 
 their way through long lines of transport. The endless 
 columns of lorries, field batteries, and gun horses are 
 grotesque, like millers all floured from head to feet. 
 The horses are superb and in splendid form, as though 
 from an exhibition, and it goes to the heart to see 
 
 A field diessing station on newly captuied giound The wounded are being brought in by 
 German prisoners captured near Cambiai 
 
IS2 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
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 lIlBHii 
 
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 These men, among the last of Germany's reserves, were on their way to Ham to 
 reentorce the German hnes 
 
 so many lying dead on the fields after the recent 
 battles. 
 
 There is a great music of war over all this scene. 
 Scottish battalions go forward to the fighting line led 
 part of the way by their pipers, and across the battle- 
 fields come the wild cry of the' pibroch and the drone of 
 many pipes. The English battalions are marchmg with 
 brass bands playing old English marching tunes, and, 
 between whiles, merry bursts of ragtime. The crunch- 
 ing of gun wheels over rough ground, officers shouting 
 orders to their men, the hooting of lorry horns and 
 motor horns, and an incessant hum of airplanes over- 
 head all make up a symphony which has a song of 
 Tiumph in its theme. 
 
 On the Erench front, where 
 the advancewas equally rapid 
 and the succession of victories 
 no less encouraging, the out- 
 standing fact that impressed 
 the observers with the armies 
 wasthebarbarousand uncivil- 
 ized determination of the flee- 
 ingGermans to work upon the 
 countr}- from which they were 
 driven the utmost possible 
 damage, and wherever possi- 
 ble damage that itwould take 
 years to repair, if indeed it 
 could ever be repaired.' Loot- 
 ing was to some extent the 
 crimeof the individual soldier, 
 though there is not lackingevi- 
 dence that it was encouraged 
 by officers in authority. But 
 the desolation of the country was ordered by 
 high command. There was found an official 
 message from the front declaring that the pur- 
 suing Allieswould "find forwinteronly ground 
 completely bare and devastated," and further 
 that "the abandonment of this sector has 
 been conducted with our customary care, 
 and we have been able, without being inter- 
 rupted, to take away from this region every- 
 thing that would be of use to the adversary." 
 And in an article written by a Colonel 
 Gaedke was found this explanation of the 
 German purpose: "A decisive struggle will 
 
 Germany's last reserves being gathered together in St. Quentin in April, 1918, for Germany's last supreme effort 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 155 
 
 be made more difficult for the 
 enemy by the devastation of 
 the regions that now form a 
 buckler before the German 
 armies and will contribute 
 to their successful defense." 
 
 Devastated they certainly 
 were. From Ham the Ger- 
 mans took as loot everything 
 of the slightest value, even 
 loading army lorries with 
 furniture for the "folks at 
 home." When they fled they 
 had filled the town with com- 
 bustibles which they ignited 
 over electric wires provided 
 for the purpose, and the town 
 was utterly destroyed, al- 
 though it had survived the 
 shellfire of actual war. 
 Noyon, too, was destroyed, 
 not in the course of its de- 
 fense, but out of pure ma- 
 lignancy as the Huns fled. 
 It had a town hall dating back to the Mid- 
 dle Ages, which they mined and demol- 
 ished. In every town from Rheims to Ypres 
 churches and cathedrals, especially those 
 possessing antique beauty and therefore 
 irreplacable, were the objects of German van- 
 dalism. 
 
 In the end, of course, all the cost of this 
 systematic vandalism will be assessed against 
 
 The ruins of a French Red Cross warehouse which the Germans captured and 
 looted of 50,000 francs worth of bandages and other supphes many of which had 
 come from America 
 
 the German people. But those who ordered 
 it, and those who Committed the infamous 
 outrages, will not be those who will pay. 
 The charge will be borne by generations to 
 come, but if the burden shall have the effect 
 of teaching them the criminality and folly 
 of provoking such a war as that from which 
 the world has now slowly to recuperate it 
 will not be wholly fruitless. 
 
 Some British Tommies dodging a big shell in No Man's Land 
 
154 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Drauri h> .\l;,ii.ux Kiirulill, irum material supplied by the Coxswain of the SAari— courtesy British Bureau of Information 
 
 Commander Loftus Jones of the British ship Shark taking charge of the only weapon left in commission, the deck torpedo 
 tube, after his leg had been shot away and after enemy torpedoes had hit his ship fonvard and smashed in her bows at the 
 same time a shell blew up the forecastle 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION — CAUSES FOR THE REVOLT — GERMAN INTRIGUE 
 
 INVOLVED THE SHIFTING CONTROL OF RUSSIAN AFFAIRS KERENSKY, 
 
 LENINE, AND TROTZKY SOCIAL CONDITIONS IN RUSSIA RISE OF THE CZECHO- 
 SLOVAKS THE allies' SIBERIAN EXPEDITION THE MURMAN PENINSULA 
 
 POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT THE OUTLOOK 
 
 T; 
 
 ^HE story of 
 the distinc- 
 tively mili- 
 tary events 
 of the vi'ar may pro- 
 fitably be inter- 
 rupted here to give 
 some consideration 
 to the amazing social 
 upheaval in Russia 
 which overthrew the 
 throne of the Roma- 
 noff family, broke 
 down the bureauc- 
 racy which had long 
 ruled the land, swept 
 away the corrupt 
 and treacherous 
 army officers who betrayed the stoHd, brave, 
 and cruelly deceived peasants to their defeat 
 and destruction and brought down the whole 
 Russian fabric in a debacle from which it, at 
 the moment of writing, shows no signs of 
 recovery. 
 
 Volumes will be written in explanation of 
 the reasons for the Russian revolt and still 
 fall far short of giving the whole indictment 
 against the men who governed and plundered 
 in the name of the feeble and impotent Czar. 
 Volumes will be written on the agonies of 
 Russia in revolution, and still fail for many 
 years to come in making clear the rights and 
 wrongs of the situation in that hapless land, 
 which is to-day without representation at the 
 Versailles conference at which its fate will be 
 settled, because there is no recognized 
 government in Russia qualified to appoint 
 delegates. 
 
 And yet the Russian people did their part 
 for the Allies in the early days of the war. 
 It was not the fault of the common soldier 
 that the plans of his superiors opened con- 
 venient gaps in his lines of defense at the 
 
 very points most convenient for the foe to 
 attack. It was not the fault of Ivan that 
 the ammunition for his cannon, when it 
 reached the battlefield at all which was un- 
 usual, proved to be just a fraction of an inch 
 out of the way to fit his guns, but by a queer 
 coincidence fitted exactly the artillery of the 
 pursuing Germans. Nor were the soldiers 
 drawn from the farms responsible for the 
 curious accidents by which sorely needed 
 reenforcements seemed always to be sent 
 to points where they were not useful. 
 
 The United States, which had been first 
 to recognize the revolutionary government 
 in Russia after the overthrow of the Czar, 
 was destined to encounter in its friendliness 
 to what had been hoped to be a popular 
 government an endless amount of perplexity 
 and peril.* For as has been already made 
 clear, the Russian revolutionary administra- 
 tion passed by a series of military and political 
 revolts into the hands of the most extreme 
 of the revolutionary forces. It was greatly 
 to the credit of our nation that it was early 
 to recognize the endeavor of the people of 
 Russia to establish for themselves a popular 
 government. We could hardly have done 
 otherwise, for it must be remembered that 
 the United States itself is founded upon 
 revolution, and revolt against constituted 
 authorities cannot in itself constitute an 
 offense in our eyes. 
 
 It is for that reason that, even after the 
 Russian government had passed from the 
 stage of an orderly endeavor to enforce 
 democratic principles upon a turbulent people 
 and had become a government founded 
 wholly on force and maintained entirely by 
 terror, the United States still held aloof from 
 any efforts to interfere with the Russian 
 
 *For an account of the early stages of the Russian revolution 
 see "Nations at War," p. 241 et seq. 
 
 iSS 
 
156 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 s for tlif (ifL-at Adventure 
 
 to cut away the fabric of deceit and disguise 
 with which the Germans have endeavored 
 to envelop the question of responsibiHty for 
 the original outbreak of war. Day by day 
 facts have been brought out which have fixed 
 
 people in their eflForts to work out their own 
 pohtical regeneration. 
 
 Perhaps nothing connected with the great 
 war is so thoroughly enshrouded in mystery 
 as has been the progress of the Russian revo- 
 lution. The world has been fairly well able that responsibility clearly where it belongs 
 
 upon the German Kaiser and 
 the militarists by whom he 
 was surrounded. But over 
 suffering and bleeding Russia 
 hangs an impenetrable pall of 
 secrecy. That this is so is as 
 much due to the nature of the 
 Russian people as it is to the 
 rigid censorship with which 
 those responsible for the anar- 
 chistic conditions now pre- 
 vailing have surrounded and 
 concealed the facts. The 
 enormous proportions of Rus- 
 sia, the prodigious distances 
 between its towns, its wide 
 steppes thinly populated by 
 people not used to self-expres- 
 sion, the comparative lack of 
 organs of public opinion, and 
 the rigid rule which has long 
 
 wd, none the worse fur their voyage, about to land on Frciicli soil since blotted OUt any SCm- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Russian soldiers during the original revolution going to the Duma for a patriotic demonstration carrying banners bearing the 
 inscription "Down with monarchy! Long live the democratic republic!" 
 
 blance of independence among those existing 
 made any clear understanding of the Russian 
 situation almost impossible to an outsider. 
 Even such matters as the continued existence 
 
 straightway set themselves to plunder the 
 country which they had deprived of any 
 organized defensive force. In their dumb 
 and inarticulate fashion the masses of the 
 Russian people manifested their resentment 
 
 or the assassination of the Czar and his family, 
 
 which it might have been 
 
 thought would have been duly 
 
 recorded, are left at this writing 
 
 in some doubt. All that the 
 
 world knows of Russia is that 
 
 after the treaty of Brest- 
 
 Litovsk, the circumstances at- 
 
 t en ding which have been 
 
 already described, the internal 
 
 condition of the country went 
 
 from bad to worse, while it 
 
 ceased to be for foreign 
 
 nations a government to which 
 
 any attention could be paid. 
 
 Germany thereafter looked 
 upon Russia merely as a fat 
 goose ready for the picking. 
 Her authorities discarded the 
 creed upon which they had 
 entered upon negotiations with 
 Russia — "No annexations and 
 
 no indemnities and Czecho-Slovak soldiers going up a river in Siberia on a naval launch 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 of this German plan of spoliation. But the 
 Bolsheviki were thoroughly intrenched in 
 power, and their principal leaders, Lenine 
 and Trotzky — real names, Ulyanov and 
 Braunstein — were either the paid tools of 
 Germany, or were ready to concede all to 
 Germany in order to secure German aid in 
 mamtammg their own power and securing the 
 complete destruction of all that had con- 
 stituted the Russian state or the orderly 
 Russian society. 
 
 they at once found that as they had opposed 
 others while they were out of power, now 
 they were in turn opposed, being in power. 
 And their answer to this situation was a 
 repudiation of all of the more ethical ideas 
 which they had been preaching. The broth- 
 erhood of man disappeared in a series of the 
 most cold-blooded massacres. Socialism, 
 which is an ideal state of strictly ordered 
 relations between its people, vanished in true 
 anarchy. A fundamental complaint of those 
 
 Some Russian soldiers who have joined the Czecho-Slovak army engaged in the peaceful occupation of peeling potatoes 
 
 What the Bolsheviki stood for can be 
 summed up in a few words. For many 
 years the essence of their preaching has been 
 "a dictatorship of the proletariat and the 
 peasantry." They are utterly opposed to 
 any compromise between the working classes, 
 industrial as well as agricultural, and that 
 great middle class which the French call the 
 bourgeoisie. They are communists and syn- 
 dicalists of the purest water. Along these 
 lines they had worked out in theory the 
 remedy for every social and economic ill, 
 and now being established in power they 
 purposed putting these theories to a practical 
 test, no matter what the difficulty. But 
 
 who first overturned the Russian government 
 was the prevalence of the death penalty for 
 political offenses. The Bolsheviki, while still 
 protesting against the death penalty, revived 
 it in the form of assassination or wholesale 
 massacres ordered in star-chamber council. 
 
 Theoretically, they proposed the most 
 absolute democracy. The army was to be 
 controlled not by its officers, but by com- 
 mittees of its soldiers. Industries and finan- 
 cial institutions were to be managed by the 
 employees. All government was to be vested 
 in a central body called the Council of 
 Workmen's and Soldier's Delegates, or more 
 briefly the Soviet. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 159 
 
 What happened was that as Lenine and 
 Trotzky controlled the Soviet they controlled 
 the whole government, and no czar, nor any 
 despot of history, ever inflicted upon a 
 suffering people a more tyrannous personal 
 rule than theirs. 
 
 There was left to Russia no semblance of a 
 responsible government. Neither for the 
 remnants of the old regime nor for the revo- 
 lutionists themselves was there protection 
 for life or for property. Assassination had 
 been the weapon of the despots. It now 
 became the defense of the down-trodden. 
 Repeated efforts were made upon the life of 
 Lenine and other members of the adminis- 
 tration. To defend themselves the rulers 
 made the possession of a weapon by an in- 
 dividual ground for his immediate execution 
 without trial, while to criticize the govern- 
 ment was reason for immediate imprison- 
 ment. Gross oppression, of course, sprung 
 from the existence of such a law. The agents 
 of the government, and they were innumer- 
 able, who desired to plunder a man, had but 
 to accuse him falsely of having a weapon 
 in his possession, in order to kill him with 
 impunity; or, in rarely merciful moments, 
 by alleging that he had criticized those in 
 
 authority to send him to a distant concentra- 
 tion camp, and work their will with his 
 property and his family. The trials of 
 those accused of sedition were farcical. 
 Seldom was there an acquittal. Permission 
 to put in a defense was frequently denied. 
 Though in theory the accused were entitled 
 to a jury trial, in fact on many occasions the 
 judge would take the verdict out of the 
 hands of the jury and himself condemn the 
 accused to death. 
 
 Largely because of the absence in Russia 
 of any such sohd middle class as in France 
 finally put an end to the Terror, the worst 
 forms of Bolshevism increased and spread 
 throughout the country until the whole land 
 became a mere seething sea of anarchy. 
 Meantime, the Germans were doing as they 
 chose with the sections in their immediate 
 front. On one pretext or another they 
 ignored the provisions ofthe treaty which they 
 had forced at Brest-Litovsk. They imposed 
 upon subject provinces enormous penalties 
 which were exacted in gold and which went 
 far toward paying the German war expenses. 
 Russia was deprived of at least one fourth 
 of its area in Europe, and territory containing 
 one third of its population was erected into 
 
 A barge armed with machine guns, captured by the Czecho-S 
 
 n tilt river north ot \ ladivostok, Russia 
 
i6o 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 I Publishers Photo Service 
 An exact reproduction of a Bohemian village built in this country in connection with the Czecho-Slovak recruiting campaign ' 
 
 normally independent states which were in 
 fact under German control, and in which 
 Germany at once began to enforce con- 
 scription for its armies. The details of this 
 
 © Pubi: 
 
 The officers ol this Czecho-Slovak recruiting camp and their guests 
 
 treaty ceased to be of anything except merely 
 historical interest when the forces of Ger- 
 many were defeated and compelled to sue for 
 peace in November of 1918. For the first 
 act of the Allies in granting 
 the armistice at that time was 
 to declare that this treaty 
 would not be recognized. Un- 
 doubtedly many features, such 
 as the recognition of Ukrainia 
 as an independent state, will 
 remain in effect but not be- 
 cause of their existence in the 
 Brest-Litovsk convention. 
 That died when German 
 power was crushed. But from 
 the moment it was signed the 
 relations existing between the 
 de facto Russian government 
 and the belligerent nations, 
 notably the United States, 
 became so strained as to be 
 hardly existent. The Germans 
 pressing into Russian territory 
 so menaced Petrograd that the 
 capital was removed to Mos- 
 cow. This seemed to be a 
 
Fifth Avenue, New \uik, du 
 
 tul wirh the Hass nf tlir Allies during the 
 known as the Avenue of the Allies 
 
 luiirth Liberty Loan campaign and 
 
1 62 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © Publishers Photo Servic 
 A iLction of Camp Borglum, the headquarters of the Czecho-Slovak recruiting station 
 
 sufficient precaution against foreign inter- 
 ference, but soon domestic violence and 
 outlawry proceeded to such an extent that 
 the ambassadors of foreign nations refused 
 
 longer to remain at the capital where their 
 persons could not be protected. The British 
 Embassy was sacked, in the absence of the 
 ambassador, and the officer of the army in 
 charge of it was killed. Am- 
 bassador Francis of the United 
 States, who clung to his post 
 last of all of the foreign repre- 
 sentatives, finally withdrew 
 after expressing some caustic 
 opinions as to the charac- 
 ter of the government which 
 failed to govern Russia. The 
 town of Volgoda, to the east 
 of Petrograd, was for a long 
 period the seat of the ambas- 
 sadorial activities. 
 
 History knows of no such 
 collapse of all forces of organ- 
 ized society as that which 
 befell Russia. The French 
 revolution was readily under- 
 standable, in comparison with 
 the inextricably interwoven 
 abuses and remedies, ambi- 
 A section of the American Army in Siberia with their beef accompanying them tions and Catastrophes which 
 
 on the hoof have attended what the whole 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 163 
 
 world hopes may be in the end the birth of a 
 Russian democracy. The world, of course, 
 knows that for more than half a century the 
 fires of revolt against the Czar, and the autoc- 
 racy which he typified, had been smouldering 
 in Russia and every now and then breaking 
 out in flame. In all probability had this final 
 outbreak come at a time when peace pre- 
 vailed in Europe it would have been sup- 
 pressed by outside aid, probably German 
 aid, to the established monarchy. But it 
 came at a time when Russia was absolutely 
 
 they embarked upon an ambitious socialistic 
 programme. All forests, mines, waters, and 
 landed estates with their livestock, buildings, 
 and machinery were declared the common 
 property of the people. The prmcipal of 
 sociahzation of all factories, and state control 
 over all production and distribution was re- 
 affirmed. All national loans issued under 
 the Imperial, or the succeeding Kerensky 
 government, were repudiated — this aff^ected 
 the outer world very materially as the Russian 
 national debt aggregated several bilhons 
 
 Czecho-Slovak troops under General Simionov drawn up in front of the railroad station in Vladivostok, Russia 
 
 isolated. The entrance of Turkey upon the 
 war on the Teutonic side had closed the Dar- 
 danelles to AlHed ships and to Russian ships. 
 The latter could not go out to sell the enor- 
 mous quantities of wheat and other food- 
 stuffs which Russia produced, and which all 
 Europe needed; the former could not enter 
 the Black Sea to carryto Russia the munitions 
 of war and the leadership which she craved. 
 The only neighbor accessible to her was 
 Germany — her enemy. The men desiring 
 to seize upon Russian government saw their 
 profit in making peace with Germany and 
 thereby securing their elevation to power. 
 In their eff"ort to administer internal aff'airs 
 
 mostly held abroad and much of it in the 
 United States. All the banks were national- 
 ized, the final result of which was that their 
 assets were seized by Lenine and Trotzky. 
 The old army was demobilized and a new 
 "red" army organized. The immediate re- 
 sult of this was that a "white" army, en- 
 listed by the opponents of the Bolshevist 
 regime, made its appearance and civil war 
 raged. All church property was sequestered; 
 all private property rights in city real estate 
 exceeding a certain maximum value were 
 abrogated. The existing judicial system 
 was overthrown and revolutionary courts 
 established. A universal eight-hour day was 
 
i64 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 ^l^^"**'*"'^--^ 
 
 -m 
 
 HBKta_ / jfi_^J^B ■ • • / 
 
 
 
 
 ¥~^ 
 
 ..] 
 
 ^^P 
 
 • 
 
 f 
 
 ■^ 
 
 
 Landing an American officer's horse at Vladivostok, Russia 
 
 instituted with a minimum wage. Every 
 conceivable relation of man to man and to 
 the state was regulated and the Bolshevist 
 council capped the climax by making mar- 
 riage obligatory, and providmg conditions 
 
 under which partners for life could be forcibly 
 selected without the acquiescence of both 
 parties, and the arrangement ratified by 
 state authorities. 
 
 All these and a host of other forms of , 
 regulation invasive of what \ 
 had been always considered 
 the rights of individuals were y 
 seriously enacted by the 
 Bolshevist government in the 
 name of liberty. What pro- 
 portion of them can ever be 
 enforced the world has yet to 
 learn. 
 
 Meanwhile, the world looked 
 on at the situation in Russia 
 perplexed, amazed, and not a 
 little horrified. To the great 
 masses of the people it ap- 
 peared that the whole nation 
 was going down in blood-red 
 chaos. This apprehension was 
 due to the conflicting charac- 
 ter of reports from the scene 
 of this great social and eco- 
 nomic struggle, and from the 
 Colonel Marrows superintending the unloading of the above transport 1 fact that the forceS m pOWer 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 i6s 
 
 Admiral Knight with marine and foreign officers reviewing American troops in Vladivostok 
 
 there by their rigid exercise of the censorship 
 had caused the rest of the world to utterly dis- 
 trust as prejudiced and untrue all informa- 
 tion coming out of Russia. Even the State 
 Department of the United States had to 
 admit a lack of precise information, and 
 to report that for weeks at 
 a time no word came through 
 from Ambassador Francis 
 while even such messages as 
 came from him were deprived 
 of great importance by the 
 fact that he was not in touch 
 with the government of the 
 country to which he was ac- 
 credited. 
 
 Some outline of the social 
 condition in Russia is given 
 in the '.following extracts from 
 a letter by a Russian woman 
 long prominent in diplomatic 
 society in Washington: 
 
 It was bad enough before the 
 March revolution, when our un- 
 happy, half-witted Emperor, under 
 the influence of his German wife, 
 seemed to do everything possible to 
 
 make people lose patience. But now we have a 
 thousand anonymous potentates, the top ones paid 
 by Germany, and the lower ones lured into supporting 
 them by money, money, and money. 
 
 The present Government has abolished all laws, all 
 courts, the police, land ownership, all private real estate 
 
 American Marines guarding the American Consulate in Vladivostok 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Major General William S. Graves, the commander of the American forces sent to Siberia to help to protect that country for 
 Russia against the Germans from without and the Bolsheviki from within 
 
1 68 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The cun^LstLil \Mter front of \ I i 'i\ t k with 35,000 bales of cotton set on fire by the Bolshevik! burning on the hillside in 
 
 the background 
 
 A Y. M. C. A. club car used by the Czecho-Slovaks at the front in Siberia 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 169 
 
 in towns, all distinction of castes and grades in the army 
 and navy. They have seized all the banks, are opening 
 all the private safes, and confiscating all gold and silver 
 found therein, though it had never been said before 
 that it was criminal to have it. Of course, everything 
 they "decree" is so mad that it is quite sure not to 
 last forever, but the chaos they make 
 will take centuries to forget. The 
 country is going back to a savage 
 state. And we will not live to wait 
 for better times. . . •. 
 
 On the pretense of equality they 
 abolish all grades in the army and 
 navy and make all posts elective by 
 the simple soldiers. In most places 
 it is understood as complete ex- 
 termination, lynching of the officers, 
 who, for being better educated; are 
 under suspicion of being "counter- 
 revolutionary." The highest . posts 
 are occupied by elected soldiers who 
 very often can hardly sign their 
 names, and the former officers are 
 made simple soldiers, with a soldier's 
 pay of ^3.50 a month, and ordered 
 to the lowest tasks, cleaning of the 
 barracks, cooking food, taking care 
 of the horses. 
 
 Our great country could only 
 exist when all the wheels of the 
 Government were working in har- 
 mony. Now everything is a perfect 
 chaos. Everybody was willing to 
 throw over the Czaristic Govern- 
 ment, but not in order to change it 
 for this one of loot, anarchy, and 
 treason toward our allies! Ah, the 
 shame, the disgrace, and the folly 
 of it! 
 
 The army, which now consists of 
 young boys (the regular one is long 
 ago killed), without any sense of 
 duty, morals, and discipline, see 
 their acquired "freedom" in the 
 freedom to go home when they want 
 to. And so all the trains, all the 
 stations, are attacked and destroyed 
 by this horde of savages, who kill 
 engineers, if it seems to them the 
 train goes too slowly, who martyrize 
 the railway agents who tell them of 
 the impossibility of starting their 
 train, for there is another one com- 
 mg toward them on the same track. 
 
 who would like to help have had their firearms confis- 
 cated, even the officers, even the highest generals. 
 All the soldiers, etc., are armed and have become high- 
 waymen. At any moment you can expect a number 
 of them to come into your private lodging and, under 
 the pretense of "perquisition," take away all your 
 
 @ 1918 by the World's Work 
 The Murman Coast and Archangel. An Allied expedition of British, French, and 
 American troops is holding the Murman Coast and part of the railroad line south 
 of it, chiefly to prevent its use as a naval and commercial outlet by Germany. 
 Alexandrovsk is an open port the year round, due to the influence of the Gulf 
 Stream. Archangel is accessible only in the summer 
 
 As this human 
 flood goes home without any organization, everything 
 is looted and destroyed. 
 
 Life in Petrograd is horrible — all the criminals, all 
 the workmen, and demoralized soldiers rob the few 
 cars that still bring some kind of products. In the 
 very heart of the city, in daytime, you have your 
 
 money and valuables. 
 
 Maxim Gorky who is perhaps the most 
 distinguished Russian to join the Bolshe- 
 vists in the Russian daily paper Novaia 
 Zhizn (New Life) which he edits, he, the 
 novelist who above all Russian writers of 
 
 clothes taken off your back literally. Just think that this period was able to speak with precise 
 there is no police, nobody to call for help, for those knowledge of the peasant class and their 
 
170 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Prof. Thomas Masaryk, President of the Republic dl (.'/cclio-Slovakia, of 
 which the temporary capitol was Washington, D. C, and whose permanent 
 Capitol is Prague in Bohemia 
 
 aspirations, appeared an article in which the 
 following paragraphs gave a graphic idea 
 of the situation prevailing among the peas- 
 ants, and the rank and file in the army: 
 
 All those who have studied the Russian villages of our 
 days clearly perceive that the process of demoralization 
 and decay is going on there with remarkable speed. 
 The peasants have taken away the land from its owners, 
 divided it among themselves, and destroyed the agri- 
 cultural implements. And they are getting ready to 
 engage in a bloody internecine struggle for the division 
 of the booty. In certain districts the population has 
 
 consumed the entire grain supply, 
 including the seed. In other districts 
 the peasants are hiding their grain un- 
 derground for fear of being forced to 
 share it with starving neighbors. This 
 situation cannot fail to lead to chaos, 
 destruction, and murder. 
 
 There are numerous reports to the 
 effect that the soldiers are dividing 
 among themselves the military property 
 of the country and committing unspeak- 
 able acts of violence. Wild rumors 
 are current about the troops returning 
 from Asia Minor. It is said that they 
 have brought with them into the Crimea 
 a large number of "white slaves" and 
 that there is in Theodosia a veritable 
 slave market. The supply is so great 
 that the price has fallen from loo or 
 150 rubles to 15 or 30 rubles apiece. 
 
 The Bolshevists, however, were 
 not able to maintain their dicta- 
 tion without very determined 
 opposition both political and 
 military. Always there was a 
 party in the Soviet opposed to 
 them and at times it narrowly 
 approached control. Indeed, 
 despite the veil of secrecy that 
 was thrown about Russia, the 
 evidence was complete that the 
 dominant power was not able to 
 maintain its authority by the 
 normal methods of political agi- 
 tation and the exercise of mili- 
 tary force, but was obliged to 
 resort to massacre and assas- 
 sination. Switzerland and Fin- 
 land became centres of conspir- 
 acy. Every now and then some 
 new aspirant for power would 
 set up a government of his own 
 in some distant section of the 
 country, and indeed Russia was 
 far extended enough to permit 
 the establishment of very considerable mde- 
 pendent states within its borders and out of 
 easy reach of the government established 
 at Petrograd. The Germans were not averse 
 to encouraging these movements of secession 
 from the general Russian state. Nothing 
 would suit German purposes better than the 
 destruction of the great power which in more 
 orderly times had menaced her Eastern fron- 
 tier, and the substitution therefor of a num- 
 ber of small and weak independent states, 
 many of which she could control through 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 171 
 
 diplomatic astuteness. Accordingly, the 
 creation of Ukrainia was followed by the 
 erection of Esthonia, Lithuania, Livonia, 
 Courland, Finland, and states which were 
 to be formed out of Russian territory and 
 under the dominion of either the Czecho- 
 Slavs or the Jugo-Slavs. 
 
 The story of the former nation — for it has 
 been recognized as a nation by the Govern- 
 ment of the United States — is an interesting 
 one. The Czecho-Slavic people are to be 
 found, in the main, in Hungary and Western 
 
 plies, forced to live upon the country through 
 which it marched, confronted by a journey 
 of nearly 3,000 miles across Siberia, may 
 well be doubted. 
 
 But the Czecho-Slovaks were not destined 
 to pursue their initial plan very long. They 
 were making progress in the campaign they 
 had mapped out for themselves, finding here 
 general sympathy from the Russian people 
 and securing many recruits; or encountering 
 there the hostility of Bolshevist forces to 
 which they had to give battle. But as the 
 
 The Bolsheviki rule Russia with machine guns and every form of brutality and terrorism 
 
 Russia. At the time of the downfall of the 
 established Russian Government a very 
 considerable army, composed almost entirely 
 of these people, was serving under the 
 Russian flag. When its officers discovered 
 that the revolution was going to play into the 
 hands of the Germans they promptly re- 
 volted against Russian rule, and started on 
 a march to the East, intending ultimately to 
 reach the Pacific Coast at Vladivostok, and 
 thence be transported in the ships of the 
 Allies to the fighting fields of France. It was 
 an amazing conception. Whether it could 
 have been carried out by an army without 
 any home government, with no base of sup- 
 
 time wore on, their leaders saw more and 
 more clearly that German influence was be- 
 coming dominant in the Bolshevik camp and 
 that if they were to fight for their own na- 
 tionality they must fight the forces that were 
 then dominating Russia. Their leaders were 
 possessed not merely of military genius but 
 of a clear political vision. It is not probable 
 that at the moment this wandering army 
 broke from Russian control and started 
 eastward it had any preconceived idea of 
 establishing a nation of its own. But as 
 the break up of Russia became more and 
 more apparent this idea did occur to the 
 leaders of the army, and to poHtical leaders 
 
172 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 in the territory whence its members had been 
 drawn, and in Switzerland, Holland, and in 
 the United States. At our national capital 
 Professor Thomas G. Masaryk proved an 
 able diplomat and a wise counsellor. The 
 conception of a great Czecho-Slovak state 
 which should be carved out of the portions 
 of Russia, and of Austria-Hungary peopled 
 by these people was enforced upon the world's 
 consciousness. It fitted in admirably with 
 that doctrine that the organization of 
 nations and their boundaries should be a 
 matter of the self-determination of their 
 people, and that a nation should be racially 
 a coherent whole. President Wilson enun- 
 ciated this theory to Congress. Professor 
 Masaryk pointed out that his people afforded 
 the best possible opportunity for giving it a 
 practical test. Never had they been con- 
 tented under the dominion of Russia or of 
 Austria-Hungary. Their men had served 
 in the armies of these countries under protest 
 and were now serving as an independent 
 force against these two governments. The 
 exploits of their army in the field had aroused 
 general public admiration, and greatly reen- 
 forced the arguments of their diplomats in 
 the world's capitals. They were recognized 
 
 as a militant force even before they attained 
 political recognition as a state. The Alliec 
 governments, seeing in them the only force 
 combatting German influence in Bolshevil, 
 Russia, sent to their aid an expeditionatA 
 force made up of Americans, Japanese, Brit- 
 ish, French, and Chinese troops which was 
 landed at Vladivostok early in August, 1918. 
 Our own detachment consisted of two regi- 
 ments under General William S. Graves 
 which had been serving in the Philippines. 
 It was to be the task of this expedition to 
 fight its way westward along the Siberian 
 Railroad, open communication with the scat- 
 tered bands of Czecho-Slovaks furnishing 
 them with arms and munitions, and proceed 
 onward toward the heart of Russia. By the 
 end of the year these forces had attained a 
 position in the neighborhood of Tomsk, the 
 railroad behind them was clear to the coast, 
 and the country in which they had been oper- 
 ating virtually pacified. 
 
 In September of the same year the United 
 States Government formally recognized the 
 Czecho-Slovak National Council as a de 
 facto belligerent government. Its reason 
 for granting this recognition was that the 
 forces of this Council were waging a war 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 This a unit of the one-time splendid Russian army which through Bolshevik fanaticism and treachery « ,is 
 Germans — Russia's implacable foes now as always 
 
 against the common enemy, the Empires of 
 Germany and Austria-Hungary. Great Brit- 
 ain and France soon thereafter followed suit. 
 The event promises to be one of great impor- 
 tance in the history of the world, for it as 
 truly marks the birth of a nation as did our 
 own Declaration of Independence. The area 
 of the countries represented by the Council 
 that was thus legitimatized approximates 
 48,000 square miles, and in it reside rather 
 more than 10,000,000 people. Territory and 
 
 people are both drawn chiefl}- from Austria- 
 Hungary, although at points the boundaries 
 trench upon German and Austrian soil. 
 Before the year had ended, a tentative con- 
 stitution had been prepared and formal notice 
 given to the world of the fact that the new 
 state would be a republic. 
 
 Northern Russia saw another invasion, 
 not wholly unfriendly, by a joint AlHed ex- 
 pedition in the last year of the war. It will 
 be remembered that Russia is largely desti- 
 
 Czecho-Sluvak soldiers drawn up along one of the principal streets of Vladivosrok, Russia 
 
174 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 tute of ports on her western coast that are 
 not subject to ice blockades in winter. 
 Petrograd and Riga are icebound fully six 
 months in the year. Archangel, on the White 
 Sea, although far north of either of these 
 ports, has a longer open season but for certain 
 periods during the winter can only maintain 
 navigation by the use of ice-crushers whose 
 most powerful endeavors are not infrequently 
 futile. Curiously enough, far to the north 
 of Archangel, and on the Arctic Ocean, is a 
 port which is practically free from ice the 
 year round. Presumably some warm ocean 
 current sets in toward this port of Kola and 
 keeps it open when the more southerly harbor 
 of Archangel is frozen. While Russia was 
 still an active belligerent, Kola was made into 
 a base for the supply of the Russian armies, 
 a railroad running south from it to Petrograd. 
 This road runs either through, or immediately 
 adjacent to, Finland, and Finland in its eager- 
 
 ness to break away from Russia fell under 
 German influence and in the latter months 
 of the war was necessarily regarded as a 
 pro-German force. Enormous quantities of 
 food, clothing, and munitions of war were 
 stacked up on the walls and in the ware- 
 houses in Kola and held there for a long time 
 by the Allies because the Russian Govern- 
 ment to which they were consigned had been 
 overthrown and the new government was 
 not recognized as friendly. It became ap- 
 parent that the Germans, who were sorely 
 in need of precisely this sort of material, were 
 planning a descent upon this base and the 
 seizure of the stores. Finland, though nomi- 
 nally neutral, would put no obstacle in the 
 way of the passage of German troops through 
 her territories. Accordingly an Allied force 
 was landed and proceeded down what is 
 known as the Murmansk Peninsula with a 
 view to protecting the railroad to Petrograd. 
 
 
 lagovieachenelor^ 
 
 ^^_ ^^ ^" M A N C H uVl I A Vw-^4^^^^^,<v^ J ^ y ^...'•f ■ 
 
 TpUukden.Pt.Artliur .. 
 and Peking if 
 
 © igiS by the n^orld's ll'ork 
 
 The Trans-Siberian Railroad from Lake Baikal to Vladivostok. This section, e.xcept for Vladivostok and Kharbin 
 (Harbin), is largely controlled by the Bolsheviki and will have to be taken from them by the Allied expedition and the Czecho- 
 slovaks. The direct line from Kumaiskii Raz to Vladivostok is the Chinese Eastern Railway, and is used by the expedition 
 with the consent of the Chinese Government. The line along the Amur River, by way of Khabarovsk, was only recently 
 completed 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 175 
 
 At the beginning a detachment of American 
 Marines constituted our contribution to this 
 force, but it was presently followed by two 
 regiments of infantry made up of men from 
 the United States who were able to speak 
 Russian or, in some instances, French, and 
 who, prior to coming to our country, had 
 resided in arctic climates. They made their 
 way to Archangel where they were reviewed 
 by Ambassador Francis, and greeted with the 
 utmost enthusiasm by the populace. 
 
 every point. Russians and inhabitants of 
 Finland, who were opposed to the extension 
 of German authority in that country, formed 
 organizations which came to be known as 
 "The White Guard" and cooperated with the 
 expeditionary forces. At the end of the year 
 191 8, the Murmansk Peninsula was wholly 
 in their control and it seemed altogether 
 probable that they would piesently extend 
 their march to Petrograd when peace was 
 declared. 
 
 Czecho-Slovak soldiers and American bluejackets going on guard duty together in Siberia 
 
 Although this expedition had been under- 
 taken in a spirit of the utmost friendliness 
 to Russia, and wholly with the purpose of 
 preventing German acquisition of the stores, 
 which had been intended for the Russian 
 Government, the Bolshevists who had seized 
 control of that government made of it an 
 occasion for once again showing their com- 
 plete subservience to Germany. They de- 
 clared this relief expedition to be in fact an 
 invasion of Russian territory, and demanded 
 that the troops be withdrawn. As the Allies 
 refused to give any heed to the demand, 
 Bolshevist forces, or as they came to be 
 known "The Red Guard," attacked the ex- 
 peditionary troops, but were defeated at 
 
 Naturally, however, Russia as a factor 
 in the determination of the war had ceased 
 to exist. If her influence had any bearing 
 upon the outcome of the conflict it must be 
 regarded as favorable to Germany, because 
 conditions in the new states, carved out of her 
 territory and recognized by Germany, were 
 such as to enable the Germans to secure from 
 them enormous enforced contributions of 
 money and a number of men for the German 
 armies running far up into hundreds of 
 thousands. 
 
 In considering the Russian situation it is 
 fair to keep in mind the long years of tyranny 
 to which the people of that country had been 
 subjected. For centuries their resentment 
 
176 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Annanefe soldiers, orientals from the French protectorate in southeastern Asia. These men were among the best of the 
 
 Allied troops 
 
 had smouldered and when it broke out into 
 successful revolt the natural result was a 
 reign of violence. It may be doubted, how- 
 ever, whether all the worst atrocities accre- 
 dited to the Bolsheviki exceeded in inhuman- 
 ity the deeds committed throughout past 
 years by the governments of successive 
 Czars. To talk of a "reign of terror" in 
 Russia under the revolutionary rule is but 
 to resort to the commonplace. All govern- 
 ment in Russia for three hundred years has 
 been a reign of terror. The difference to-day 
 is that a different class of society is suffering. 
 The utter unreasonableness, the seeming 
 barbarity of political persecutions under 
 
 lishment of the armistice. Always in Ger- 
 many the socialistic element had been strong, 
 and as the overthrow of the Imperial Govern- 
 ment followed almost instantly upon the 
 restoration of peace it was apprehended that 
 the socialists would seize the government 
 and establish even a more radical form of 
 socialism than they had theretofore been 
 preaching. Those who dreaded such an 
 event placed their chief reliance upon the 
 existence in Germany of a large and powerful 
 middle class, such as was entirely lacking 
 in Russia, and which wherever it is found is a 
 check upon extreme radicalism. 
 
 But the world was nervous. Of that there 
 
 Lenine and Trotzky is no greater than it was could be no doubt. Supporters of the Bol- 
 
 in earlier daAs under officials devoted to the shevist regime in Russia declared that as 
 
 maintenance of the empire. a result of this nervousness the reports of 
 
 It is therefore too early to pass upon the turbulence and chaos existing there were 
 
 ultimate worth of the Russian revolution, grossly exaggerated. This is not improbable. 
 
 But the temporary conditions bred of it 
 aroused in all other civilized nations a very 
 serious dread lest the Bolshevism that had 
 captured Russia should spread to other lands. 
 jParticularly was this the case with Germany 
 in the days immediately succeeding the estab- 
 
 and yet the evidence is irresistible that life, 
 liberty, and property were deprived of all 
 protection under the Bolshevist regime, that 
 industry was struck down, commerce de- 
 stroyed, and ruin and starvation forced upon 
 the people. The United States Governmentj 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 177 
 
 which had been first to extend a hand of 
 friendship to revolutionary Russia, was forced 
 into an attitude of protest, and said in a 
 formal communication to the AUies: 
 
 This Government is in receipt of information from 
 reliable sources revealing that the peaceable Russian 
 citizens of Moscow, Petrograd, and other cities are 
 suffering from an openly avowed campaign of mass 
 terrorism and are subject to wholesale executions. 
 Thousands of persons have been shot without even a 
 form of trial; ill-adminis^ered prisons are filled beyond 
 capacity, and every night scores of Russian citizens 
 are recklessly put to death; and irresponsible bands are 
 venting their brutal passions in the daily massacres of 
 untold innocents. 
 
 In view of the earnest desire of the people of the 
 United States to befriend the Russian people and lend 
 them all that is possible of assistance in their struggle 
 to reconstruct their nation upon principles of democracy 
 and self-government, and acting therefore solely in the 
 interest of the Russian people themselves, this Govern- 
 ment feels that it cannot be silent or refrain from ex- 
 
 pressing its horror at this state of terrorism. Further- 
 more, it believes that in order to check the further in- 
 crease of the indiscriminate slaughter of Russian citizens 
 all civilized nations should register their abhorrence 
 of such barbarism. 
 
 As a result of this situation it was felt at 
 the time of the Peace Conference that it 
 might be necessary to keep American forces 
 in Europe for some time, in order to combat 
 the powers of anarchy which seemed to have 
 grown to menacing proportions in Russia. 
 What the outcome of the situation may be 
 none may tell, but there is reason to hope 
 that just as the Terror brought the violent 
 period of the French revolution to a close 
 and left the ground prepared for the erection 
 of a stable government, so the red fury of 
 Bolshevism is preparing the way for a popular 
 government which shall give a people long 
 oppressed by tyrants a government of their 
 own for their own good. 
 
 German, Austrian, and Bolsheviki prisoners being brought into Vladivostok by the Czecho-Slovaks 
 
178 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Jugo-Slav horsemen going into battle during the irresistible Allied offensive of September, 1918, in the Balkans 
 
 Recruits for the Russian Women's Battalion of Death being reviewed by their commander Maria Botchkareva and Mrs. Pankhurst 
 
 of Great Britain 
 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 WHERE TEUTONIC DISSOLUTION BEGAN THE WAR IN THE SOUTHEAST^ 
 
 BULGARIA SURRENDERS THE DOWNFALL OF TURKEY BRITISH VICTORIES 
 
 IN PALESTINE ITALY REGAINS HER WAR STRENGTH FIGHTING ON THE 
 
 PIAVE THE SMASH-UP OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY ASPIRATIONS OF SUBJECT 
 
 PEOPLES REMAKING THE MAP OF EUROPE SOME OF THE MORE PERPLEXING 
 
 PROBLEMS 
 
 TO THE ordi- 
 nary observer 
 it appeared 
 that the great 
 war was won in 
 France. There from 
 its earhest days the 
 fighting was most con- 
 stant, and it was there 
 that the great French 
 general was in com- 
 mand to whom, at the 
 last, the German ap- 
 peal for an armistice 
 was referred. It was 
 France that the Teu- 
 tonic hordes sought 
 to overwhelm, and 
 France, with aid of 
 course from her Allies, 
 that beat them back. 
 It was in the main 
 the ruined cities of 
 France, the desolated 
 homes, and the cruelly 
 torn and lacerated families of France that 
 most stirred the compassion of the world, and 
 roused that wrath against the Hun that 
 nought but complete victory could appease. 
 And so it was fitting that the last act in the 
 tragic drama should be staged as it was in 
 France. 
 
 Nevertheless, an important part of the 
 work of beating the Hun was done at a great 
 distance from France, and the story of the 
 sudden German collapse, which we have yet 
 to tell, will not be comprehensible unless pre- 
 ceded by some account of the military ac- 
 tions in Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, and 
 along the Italian-Austrian border that made 
 the surrender of Germany on French battle- 
 fields inevitable. 
 
 The successes won by the AlHes in the eas- 
 tern theatre of war at the beginning of its 
 fifth year came as a surprise to the world, 
 which had heard little from that section ex- 
 cept continued reports of the victories of the 
 Germans, or of their Balkan allies. Indeed 
 there had grown up a certain belief that even 
 if Germany was to be beaten in France she 
 would prove invincible in the Near East, and 
 would build up for herself an empire there 
 that would atone for the failure to win any 
 territory on the western front. It was rec- 
 ognized that the dream of a Pan-Germanic 
 empire that should extend from the Baltic 
 or the North Sea to the Persian Gulf was to a 
 great extent the animating purpose of the 
 German declaration of war, and the success 
 of German diplomacy and the German arms 
 in the Near East seemed for a long time to 
 justify the fear that this ambition would be 
 attained. When the United States entered 
 the war the situation looked hopeless for the 
 Allies in the whole theatre of war east of the 
 French border. Italy was slowly recovering 
 from a monumental defeat. Rumania and 
 Serbia had been overwhelmed and forced to 
 make treaties of peace that amounted to ab- 
 ject surrender. So far as the world could see 
 Turkey was in a condition that promised con- 
 tinued service to the German cause. For while 
 her armies in Mesopotamia and Palestine had 
 sustained a succession of defeats at the hands 
 of the British under General Stanley Maude 
 and Sir Edwin Allenby, the collapse of Russia 
 had relieved them from all pressure on the 
 Caucasus side, and the steady massacre of the 
 unhappy Armenians was progressing under 
 the approving eye of Christian Germany. 
 The world, outside of the war councils of the 
 Allies, could see nothing in the Balkans to 
 encourage hope. 
 
 Yet the element of weakness was operating 
 
 179 
 
i8o 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © Wfsttrn Newspaper Union 
 
 A narrow escape for some British fighters in Mesopotamia. With characteristic British scorn of danger one of these men 
 commented, "A close one that held us up a bit" 
 
 very effectively in the enemy's ranks although 
 scarcely suspected. South of the Dardanelles 
 the British progress was very like a triumph- 
 ant parade, and the repeated Turkish defeats 
 aroused political revolt in the capital in the 
 course of which Enver Pasha and Talaat Bey, 
 adventurers who had seized control of the 
 government and had effected the diplomatic 
 agreement with Germany, were overthrown. 
 Revolts broke out among the Arabs in various 
 provinces of Asia Minor, and the British 
 forces operating in that section soon found 
 that their activities were largely reduced to 
 accepting the surrender of enemy armies who 
 had no longer any desire to fight. The 
 enemy's resistance collapsed completely. An 
 official correspondent with the British troops 
 in Palestine describes one scene of rout 
 thus: 
 
 More than 260 guns have been located in our lines, 
 and possibly more will be found. Artillery ammunition 
 in vast quantities has been found everywhere. Some 
 of the depots are acres in extent. As the Turks only 
 manufacture small arms ammunition, if they try to 
 raise new armies to take the place of these destroyed, 
 they must call on Germany for every gun, transport, 
 and instrument of war required. 
 
 To-day saw one of the most remarkable sights which 
 a soldier ever gazed upon. From Balata, where the 
 road from Nabulus falls through craggy hills and narrow 
 passes to Wadi Farah, there is a stretch more than six 
 miles long covered with debris of the retreating army. 
 In no section of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow could 
 there have been a m'ore terrible picture of hopeless, 
 irretrievable defeat. 
 
 In this area alone were eighty-seven guns of various 
 calibres, fully 1,000 horse and oxen drawn vehicles, 
 nearly 100 motor lorries, cars filled with kitchens, 
 watercarts, and a mass of other impedimenta. The 
 road was black with the carcases of thousands of 
 animals and bodies of dead Turks and Germans. 
 
 This was the work of the Irish, Welsh, and Indian 
 infantry. The artillery pressure behind the indomi- 
 table British and Australian airmen m front of the 
 infantry had forced the enemy over the hills into the 
 road, and just as the guns began to shell the retiring 
 transport airmen swooped down to 200 feet and bombed 
 the head of the column. Once that was accomplished, 
 time only was required to finish the job, and this was 
 done with surprising thoroughness. One flight after 
 another took up the work, until the whole column was 
 one vast, broken mass. 
 
 The enemy troops, seeing escape with the vehicles 
 was impossible, fled to the hills. Some who had 
 endeavored to find an outlet up the Beisan road fell 
 into the hands of cavalry waiting for them. Others, 
 accepting the inevitable, sought refuge in our lines. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE dREAT WAR 
 
 British troops outside the Jaffa Gate guarding the end of the hne of communication to Jerusalem, forty-one miles i 
 
l82 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 A camel transport near the Suez Canal during the British campaign In Egypt 
 
 However dire the state of the Turkish arm- 
 ies in the field, and however great the pohtical 
 
 An arrested Arab sheik volubly protesting his innocence to 
 his impassive captor, a British Tommy, who doesn't under- 
 stand a word of his language 
 
 unrest in Constantinople, the government 
 was not precipitate in giving up the struggle. 
 This was mainly because whoever was m 
 nominal power the real power in Turkey was 
 at that moment Germany. The German 
 ambassador was virtually in control, and his 
 word was backed by the German battleships, 
 Goehen and Breslau, which had been nomi- 
 nally sold to Turkey but were still commanded 
 by German officers. The Turkish armies, 
 too, were largely under German control. 
 Accordingly in the face of dire disasters in the 
 field the Turkish Government made no over- 
 tures for surrender. 
 
 But the successes of Allied troops north of 
 Turkish territory and the reverses that befell 
 the Bulgarians in the fall of 191 8, ultimately 
 put the Turk out of action. In September 
 of that year General Franchet d'Esperey, in 
 command of an allied force approximating 
 400,000 men, British, French, Serbian, Mon- 
 tenegrin, Italian, Russian, Jugo-Slav, and 
 Greek, a truly cosmopolitan force, began an 
 attack on the enemy's forces in Serbia. It 
 was a movement that had been expected by 
 the Allied world for months, perhaps for 
 years. It had long been delayed by distrust 
 of Greece under her pro-German monarch. 
 King Constantine. But with the intriguer 
 driven from the throne, and the Greek Gov- 
 ernment practically in the control of the Allies 
 the danger of a fire in the rear was done away 
 
UNITED 
 
 The First Christian Nation. Six Turkish vilayets in the northeastern part of Asia Minor constitute Armenia. The 
 Armenian nation is one of the oldest in the world; the Armenian church is the oldest state Christian church in the world. 
 There are about 2,000,000 Armenians in these provinces — a little island of Christians surrounded by people of hostile race and 
 hostile religion. For five centuries their lives have been one continuous martyrdom, their agony reaching its most terrible stage 
 in the spring and summer months of 1915 
 
 leaving great bodies of prisoners in the hands 
 of the pursuers. As usual a cry went up from 
 the failing nation for German aid, but this time 
 there came no response. Germany was hav- 
 ing troubles of her own. King Ferdinand, 
 of Bulgaria, "the Fox of the Balkans," who 
 had forced his people into the war on the side 
 which most of them hated, saw his kingdom 
 in revolt and seizing all the treasure he could 
 lay his hands on abdicated and fled. With 
 his abdication came the unconditional sur- 
 
 with. Moreover, the enemy troops in front 
 of d'Esperey were weakened just at this time, 
 for Austria and Bulgaria had responded to 
 German demands for more troops on the 
 west front, and had sent some divisions thither. 
 Accordingly, September i6th, the Allied offen- 
 sive was opened on a ten-mile front in the 
 region between the River Vardar and Lake 
 Doiran. It was expected to be the precursor 
 of an extended operation but it is not prob- 
 able that the commanding general himself 
 knew how suddenly it would 
 develop into a triumphant pur- 
 suit of a retreating and de- 
 moralized army. For within 
 two days French and Serbian 
 troops had advanced five miles 
 and had taken such strategic 
 points as made the interrup- 
 tion of the enemy's retreat 
 most improbable. 
 
 While heavy blows were 
 being dealt on this sector 
 Italian troops in Albania were 
 pounding that part of the 
 enemy's line that extended 
 into Albania while French and 
 Serbians were attacking his 
 centre. Within ten days from 
 the commencement of the 
 offensive the Bulgarians were 
 in retreat all along the line, 
 
 burning their stores and A pressure pump in the Desert of -Arabia tor obtammg water by friction 
 
 .-***' 
 
 ^y-^rji 
 
l84 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 
 i<<r'i? 
 
 Indian lancers, who substantially contributed to the British and Allied triumph in the Holy Land, entering Haifa 
 
 render of Bulgaria — the first of the Kaiser's 
 accompHces to leave him in the lurch. It 
 lacked but nine days of three years since Bul- 
 garia had cast in her lot with the Teutonic 
 alliance, and was a tragic ending to a story 
 of royal intrigue and indifference to the 
 wishes of a people. 
 
 Wounded 
 
 nets being carried on camels in the Desert of Arabia 
 
 The surrender of Bulgaria was recognized 
 everywhere as assuring the early retirement 
 of Turkey from the war. For the Moslem 
 nation was now cut off from the source of all 
 its strength, and isolated from the power 
 which had coaxed it into war and supported 
 it in the moments of greatest trial. Bulgaria 
 and Serbia being lost to the 
 Germans, there could be no 
 longer an uninterrupted com- 
 merce between Berlin and 
 Constantinople. The Ham- 
 burg-Constantinople express 
 that had been inaugurated 
 with such pomp and had been 
 expected to be one of the per- 
 manent features of German 
 imperial expansion was rudely 
 switched off. No more Ger- 
 man officers, German muni- 
 tions, nor German money 
 could be sent to the city on the 
 GoldenHorn. TheAllied 
 troops busied themselves for 
 a while clearing out of Serbia, 
 Albania, and Montenegro the 
 remaining enemy forces, serene 
 in the certainty that Turkey 
 would be forced to quit with- 
 
 _l 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 i8S 
 
 out any further fighting on their part. If 
 more force should be needed the British 
 armies pressmg north through Palestine 
 might be trusted to apply it. Meanwhile, 
 they cleared all Germans, Austro-Hungarians, 
 and Turks out of Bulgaria. They were given 
 a month to leave, and their going was greatly 
 expedited by the process of bundling them 
 all, officers and soldiers together, into freight 
 cars and shipping them to Vienna while the 
 roads were crowded with motor trains carry- 
 ing such material of war as the defeated 
 foe was permitted to take. As fast as the 
 enemy retired from Serbia the allied forces 
 pressed on his heels and by November, 
 Belgrade, on the boundary line of Austria- 
 Hungary, was reached. Serbia, the hapless 
 country that had been made the pretext for 
 this most barbarous war, was purged of the 
 barbarians that had forced it 
 upon her. The final reply to 
 the Austrian ultimatum, dic- 
 tated from Berlin, which pre- 
 cipitated the war, had at last 
 been made. 
 
 But before this time Turkey 
 had laid down her arms. 
 October 31st the armistice 
 was signed which in the hope 
 of all civilized people means 
 the final expulsion of the un- 
 speakable Turk from any part 
 or place in European civiliza- 
 tion. The surrender was un- 
 qualified and included Turkish 
 domains in Asia Minor as well 
 as all to the north of the 
 Bosphorous. It will be for 
 the Peace Conference at 
 Versailles to determine the 
 future of the Turkish domain, 
 but it is certain that the 
 Dardanelles will never 
 again be the property either 
 of Turkey or of any other 
 power with authority to close 
 them to the commerce of any 
 nation. It is assured that 
 Constantinople will not con- 
 tinue under Turkish rule, and 
 that Jerusalem, and indeed all 
 of the Holy Land, will be re- 
 deemed from Moslem domi- 
 nation. What is left of the 
 Armenian people after whole- 
 sale massacres and persecution 
 
 baffling description — and for which Christian 
 Germany was more responsible than the 
 Moslem Turks — will be assured freedom from 
 the damnable tyranny under which they have 
 suffered, and an opportunity in the coming 
 ages to build up that prosperous and civilized 
 Christian nation which they are eminently 
 able to develop and maintain. Enormous as 
 has been the cost of the Great War, and 
 terrible as have been the sufferings that it 
 has entailed, it is possible that in the age-long 
 balance sheet it may be shown that all has 
 been more than paid for by this final expulsion 
 of the Turk from power at the eastern end 
 of the Mediterranean. 
 
 So Turkey and Bulgaria dropped out of the 
 war. It was then the moment for the world 
 to foresee the immediate fall of the two Teu- 
 ton empires. The southeastern empire that 
 
 Kaiser Wilhelm visiting in Sophia, Bulgaria, his fellow conspirator. King Ferdi- 
 nand of Bulgaria. The Kaiser is wearing a Bulgarian uniform while the King is 
 wearing that of a Prussian Field Marshal 
 
i86 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 187 
 
 time was needed to restore it. Time was 
 needed, too, for the Allies to make amends for 
 their earher neglect, and furnish those sup- 
 plies the lack of w:hich had been one of the 
 causes contributing to Italian disaster. 
 
 When the passes were opening it was Aus- 
 tria that struck first, and the blow recoiled 
 on her to her utter destruction and final undo- 
 ing. On the 15th of June, in response it is 
 said to an order from the Kaiser to Emperor 
 Charles that he "put the Itahan armies hors 
 du combat" the Austrians struck both in the 
 mountain regions of the Veneto and on the 
 Piave. On the former front the Italians 
 were helped by both British and French 
 forces, and a small number of British were 
 also on the line of the river. At both points 
 the Austrians were first held, then beaten 
 back disastrously. The Italians were but 
 briefly on the defensive, then rallying their 
 forces rushed into an offense that never was 
 checked until the Austrians themselves suf- 
 fered the fate the Kaiser wished them to in- 
 flict upon their foes. In a month's time the 
 Austrian casualties were estimated at be- 
 tween 270,000 and 300,000 of whom about 
 
 Prince Alexander of Serbia, who has been 
 Prince Regent since the retirement of his father, 
 King Peter 
 
 Germany had sought to establish was gone. 
 The supplies of wheat, of oil, of foodstuff^s 
 that she had thought to draw from Mesopo- 
 tamia, from Russia via Odessa, from Rou- 
 mania and Bulgaria were suddenly shut off, 
 and most menacing of all the great ally Aus- 
 tria-Hungary sore beset on every side, racked 
 by internal pohtical dissension, beggared, 
 starving, and freezing, was on the pomt of 
 collapse and did in fact give up the struggle 
 on November 3d, three days after Turkey 
 had laid down her arms. But the downfall 
 of Austria was compelled by events that oc- 
 curred outside the Balkans, and on the Italian 
 frontier. They constitute a most glorious 
 chapter of Italian history, and indeed one of 
 the most stirring records of all wars. 
 
 In an earlier chapter we left the Italian 
 armies, at the beginning of 191 8, standing on 
 guard on the line of the Piave and at the 
 mouths of the mountain passes leading down 
 into the Venetian plain. Here they stood 
 thoughout that winter, and until the snows 
 were well out of the passes in summer. Their 
 morale had sustained a severe shock, and 
 
 A typical headquarters of a 
 Balkan 
 
 commander on the 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 In the Balkan Mountains there were no motor ambulances for the wounded. This is the kind of comfortless transport they 
 
 had to endure 
 
 A group of Serbian soldiers, known as rifle bombers, ready to attack the cruel German-Austrian invaders of their country 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 191 
 
 60,000 were killed, and 20,000 taken prisoners. 
 Along the Piave the fighting was truly am- 
 phibious. Torrential rains that began to 
 fall during the first days of the Austrian at- 
 tack put that low-lying country wholly under 
 water. All the bridges across the river save 
 two were swept away, and these were speedily 
 demohshed by shells dropped from airplanes 
 by British aviators. The upper part of the 
 river flows through a narrow gorge with steep 
 walls, and here it was a rushing mountain 
 torrent which nothing could pass, and after 
 the destruction of the bridges the German 
 General Boroevic was only able to feed those 
 of his troops that had crossed before the 
 bridges went down by resorting to the use 
 of airplanes. 
 
 Lower down the river spreads out over 
 broad and shallow flats, and here the scene 
 was a frightful one. The outlet into the Gulf 
 of Venice was obstructed by 
 great masses of floating tim- 
 ber, the debris of structures 
 destroyed by Italian artillery 
 higher up, splintered boats, 
 and the corpses of animals and 
 men that came floating down 
 in increasing numbers to bear 
 ghastly testimony to the sav- 
 agery of the battle on the 
 upper waters. In this fighting 
 a small American pioneer 
 corps took an active part. 
 They were in the assault at 
 Montello where the Allied 
 artillery was turned on dense 
 masses of Austrian troops, 
 caught on the danger side of 
 the Piave with all bridges 
 down behind them. Artillery 
 and the ceaseless fire from 
 aircraft which hovered above 
 making deadly play with 
 machine guns and bombs, 
 spread death and panic in their 
 ranks. American aviators, 
 though flying foreign ma- 
 chines, were in the flocks of 
 aerial fighters and did mag- 
 nificent service. From the 
 uplands of Montello down both 
 banks of the river to San Dona 
 the country was one great 
 cemetery in which, however, 
 the dead lay unburied. Below 
 the latter point the river 
 
 widens out, and here the fighting continued 
 long after the Austrians had been put out of 
 action farther up the stream. 
 
 It was diflRcult country for modern military 
 methods. The soil was too moist for trenches 
 to be dug, and the fighting men of either side, 
 hungry for some form of protection, turned 
 every farmhouse, wall, or mill into a small 
 fort. The banks of the innumerable canals 
 were the only pieces of solid ground to be 
 found and these were thickly lined with ma- 
 chine guns, while the muzzles of the same 
 deadly weapons peeped from every tree strong 
 enough to support them. Floundering in 
 the bogs, swimming canals and breasting tor- 
 rents, the fighting foes gave many instances 
 of picturesque tactics. The Italian arditi 
 equipped themselves with long leaping poles 
 such as boys use at play and descended upon 
 the enemy behind his ditches as from the air. 
 
 Enver Pasha, the Turkish Minister of War and tool of the Kaiser's; who accumu- 
 lated a vast fortune made out of the sufferings of the people during the war 
 
192 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 193 
 
 King Victor Immanuel of Italy and his staff inspecting the American regiment which fought on the Itahan front 
 
 American and ItaHan aviators jointly occupying one of Italy's beautiful aviation fields 
 
194 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 195 
 
 Austrian prisoners in an Italian detention camp behind the Itahan front 
 
 American soldiers in Italy being taught by Italians how to cross a river in Italian boats 
 
Closely in the wake of the Allied armies as they advanced into Russia came the Red Cross with food "and clothingr'^ 
 condensed mdk (or the babies, medical supplies, and all the things desperately needed by the Russian people 
 
UNITED STATES 
 
 A group of American officers who saw service on the Italian front. They are left to right: Lieutenant Colonel Boyers, Captain 
 Scandland, General Treat, Major McCraw, Major McKinney, and Captain Hiller 
 
 One Austrian command that fought well and 
 was practically wiped out was the famous 
 Viennese "Company of Death," composed 
 of volunteers, uniformed in black sweaters 
 embroidered on the breast with a white skull. 
 There were but few of these rather melodram- 
 atic costumes known in this war. But among 
 them was the uniform of the command fa- 
 vored by the German Crown Prince, with 
 skull and cross-bones embroidered on the 
 front of its headgear. It is not recorded that 
 this terrifying insignia added particularly 
 to their efficiency in battle, and the Crown 
 Prince, by running away immediately upon 
 the German smashup, saved exposing himself 
 to the death which the decoration seemed to 
 typify. 
 
 The most savage fighting in this renewal 
 of activity along .the ItaHan front was that 
 on the Piave. But to the west on the Italian 
 line, where it ran along the mountains that 
 separate Italy from Austria and guarded the 
 passes through which the enemy had once 
 swarmed down upon the Venetian plain, the 
 Italians had pressed forward for heavy gains, 
 and had secured several strategic points 
 against the moment when they should launch 
 their great objective. This came October 
 
 9th. In France the Allied advance was at 
 its fullest tide of success. The Americans 
 had just broken the Kriemhilde Hne, the Ger- 
 mans had evacuated Lille, Ostende, Ghent, 
 and Bruges; at every point the signs of Ger- 
 man disintegration were apparent, and in 
 the Argonne and along the lines of the Meuse 
 the Americans were relentlessly pressing on 
 toward Sedan and Mezieres with the purpose 
 of cutting off the retreat of the German armies 
 that were facing defeat. 
 
 The moment was propitious for final ItaHan 
 victory. From Foch, the all-seeing General- 
 issimo on the western front, came speeding 
 the order to attack. The men under Diaz 
 were speedily under way. They smote the 
 Austrian invaders in the mountain passes 
 about Asiago and on the marshy reaches of 
 the Piave. Just a year earlier, at Caporetto, 
 the Austrians, with the aid. of treachery, had 
 overwhelmed the sons of Italy, but now ven- 
 geance was taken to the fullest. 
 
 Fifty-one Italian divisions, three British, 
 two French, and one Czecho-Slovak division 
 and one American regiment participated in 
 the movement, begun October 24th, which fi- 
 nally put Austria-Hunga'ry out of the war, and 
 to present appearances put that double- 
 
198 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 American soldiers constructing defenses along the Piave in Italy 
 
 headed monarchy out of the hst of nations. 
 Within twenty-four hours after the battle 
 begun the Itahans had captured 3,000 prison- 
 ers, and had taken the enemy's strongest 
 positions in that quarter. On the Piave the 
 overthrow of the Austrians was not less com- 
 plete. In what seemed to be but a few hours 
 of fighting the arrogant enemy which but a 
 few days before had felt certain of capturing 
 Venice, and was talking of sweeping down 
 from the mountains on to the plains of north- 
 ern Italy and opening a back-door for the in- 
 vasion of France from the southeast, was in 
 full retreat. Up again through the mountain 
 passes which they had won with such infinite 
 pains two years earlier, only to be expelled 
 again, the Italians made their way. The 
 mountain peaks were passed again. The 
 head waters of the Isonzo again witnessed the 
 triumphant flaunting of the Italian colors. 
 Back through that rocky and desperate coun- 
 try though which once before they had dug 
 and blasted and fought their way the Alpini, 
 the Bersaglieri, and the other picturesque units 
 of Italy's fighting force ascended irresistibly, 
 for it was all uphill fighting. At last they 
 stood once more in the outskirts of Goritzia. 
 In a month Austria had lost all the territory 
 upon which the armies came into contact, 
 
 400,000 prisoners, 7,000 cannon, and a body of 
 dead and wounded which could hardly be 
 computed. There was nothing left for the 
 Austrians except surrender and on the ist of 
 November they asked and received terms of 
 an armistice. While her acceptance was still 
 under consideration the Italians pushed the 
 fighting with such good effect that before 
 the final surrender of Austria three days later 
 their armies were in both Trent and Trieste 
 and Italia Irredenta was redeemed. 
 
 During the period of the final smash-up 
 of the Austrian armies ill fortune attended 
 the ships of that nation as well. Italian 
 bluejackets showed a dash and gallantry 
 worthy of the nation that gave to the world 
 Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and a host of 
 less famous but still adventurous seamen. 
 November 1st, the very day of the surrender, 
 the great Austrian superdreadnaught, Viri- 
 bus Unitis, was torpedoed and sunk by an 
 Italian naval tank steamer — a most ignoble 
 end for a deep-sea fighter. 
 
 While the final acceptance of the armistice 
 was still in doubt the Italians were unrelent- 
 ing in their ferocious attacks, and the Aus- 
 trians seemed quite incapable of recovering 
 their morale or the ability to make any sort 
 of a stand against their pursuers. The re- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 199 
 
 Ff- 
 
 
 
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 / 
 
 
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 ^CA 
 
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 H^^ 
 
 ^^^HpP^^-^'^' ^ JB^P 
 
 General Eben Swift of the American forces in Italy detects 
 James H. Hare, photographer for Leslie's Weekly, in the act 
 of taking his picture 
 
 treat of the defeated armies through the 
 steep and narrow defiles of the Alps could for 
 its scenes of horror be compared only with 
 the famous retreat of Napoleon's grand army 
 from Moscow. A correspondent who wit- 
 nessed it writes: 
 
 Great masses of men wait for long hours to move 
 a few feet or a few hundred yards, to halt anew on a 
 road littered with the carcases of horses, pieces of 
 shells, pistols, rifles, broken-down auto trucks, and 
 machine guns. Many Austrians are dying from sheer 
 fatigue and starvation and not wounds. The Italians 
 are doing all they can to hurry up food suppHes. This 
 is difficult, and in the meantime dead horses are eaten, 
 the flesh being cooked by the roadside by fires kindled 
 by the soldiers. 
 
 Large bodies of Austrians are helpless. The cor- 
 respondents passed between Overto and Trent, a 
 distance of sixteen miles, an unending column of men 
 marching none knew whither. They asked orders 
 
 from an officer who was with the correspondents. 
 When asked if they knew about the armistice, they 
 said: "We want food. Food is the only thing we are 
 interested in. We are indiff"erent to war and peace 
 and death — everything but food." 
 
 It is estimated that nine Austrian divisions were 
 taken with their staff's. Thirty-nine divisions were 
 partially disorganized and fifteen, although in bad 
 condition, are retreating from the advancing Italians. 
 These troops, while equipped for their retreat, are 
 without orders, and go travelling here and there like 
 droves of sheep. 
 
 While the Austrian armies were being thus 
 cut to pieces on the battlefield the Austro- 
 Hungarian empire itself was being broken 
 to bits at home. Revolution menaced in the 
 stieets of Prague, of Buda-Pesth, and of 
 Vienna itself. Late in October, while his 
 aimies in the field were still recoiling before 
 the irresistible onslaught of the Italians in 
 mountain passes and on the turbulent reaches 
 
 American reserves in Italy going to the assistanc 
 
 pressed comrades in response to signal rockets 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 American soldiers on the Piave witii tlicir rapid-fire guns loaded and ready tor the enemy 
 
 Signer Fogazzaro's home in the foothills near the Italian mountains which was ruined together with many other beautiful 
 
 homes as well as many humble ones 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Marshal Foch, Commander-in-Clu 
 
 • of the Armies of the Allies, as he looked after he had defeated the greatest military power 
 in the world and saved civilization 
 
202 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The work of the Austrians at Roveretto, near Trent in Italia Irredentia which was taken by the Itahans just before hos- 
 
 tiHties ceased 
 
 C>> J'--- "Vi ^'"^ 
 
 c^. ,■■ -*. 
 
 *::T>v 
 
 American soldiers operating one of the famous Lewis guns on the Piave in Italy 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 203 
 
 
 
 
 :mv::' ,,?>« '^'^ 
 
 
 
 
 ■"'■ill - -■ . ■■ 
 
 
 A powerful Italian submarine chaser operating on the beautiful Gulf of Venice 
 
 of the Piave, Emperor Charles appointed a 
 "Hquidation ministry" — to business men the 
 term is most suggestive of bankruptcy. 
 The duty of this body was to arrange terms 
 of surrender and to take over the reins of 
 government until it should appear what form 
 of state the people would erect to take the 
 place of the one that had brought upon them 
 this unbearable burden of calamity and woe. 
 Word was swiftly sent to the trenches, and 
 toward evening of October 29th the Italian 
 lookouts near Seravalle, in the Adige Valley, 
 saw an Austrian officer bearing a white flag 
 advancing across No Man's Land. Several of- 
 ficers who went out to meet him found that 
 he was a captain who claimed to be author- 
 ized to discuss terms of an armistice. At 
 that moment there was nothing about which 
 Italy was less concerned than an armistice. 
 Her troops were everywhere driving the Aus- 
 trians back, capturing their positions, taking 
 guns by the hundreds and prisoners by the 
 thousands, and inflicting on the ancient enemy 
 losses from which he could not hope to re- 
 cover in decades. As the messenger of 
 peace was found but imperfectly provided 
 with papers to show his authority, he was 
 sent back with instructions to have an officer 
 of higher rank and more thoroughly accred- 
 ited come in his stead. Meanwhile, the word 
 went to every Italian battle line to press the 
 assault with renewed vigor. The next day 
 
 came a more formal peace embassy, headed 
 by General Von Weber, and composed of 
 army and navy officers, diplomatic and 
 
 The type of gas masks worn by the soldiers of Italy 
 
204 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 205 
 
 This was the first Itah'an cruiser to read 
 
 h Trieste after its occupation by the Italians. J. H. Hare, LrsUr's photographer, was 
 board 
 
 i n ' % ^ 
 
 *P^'~<"^" fmrnW-"^ »•«'-««— f' ' •-»-»■"# 
 
 King Victor Immanuel of Italy being ofiicially welcomed in Trieste on November lo, 1918 
 
2o6 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Capodistria, a beautiful spot in the reclaimed territory of Italia Irredentia 
 
 Other civilofficials, and afuU staff of secretaries 
 and stenographers. With suitable ceremony 
 the party was taken in automobiles to a 
 chateau near General Diaz's headquarters. 
 Here, after due deliberation and telegraphic 
 communication with the Allied War Council 
 then in session at Versailles, the terms of an 
 armistice were agreed upon and signed. 
 
 This armistice marked the end of the Aus- 
 tro-Hungarian empire as the world has known 
 it. It marked the final downfall of the House 
 of Hapsburg, which all the world had long 
 predicted could not stand the test of another 
 European war. It restored to Italy all the 
 territory which under the name of Italia 
 /rr^^f'M^ifl she had mourned as France mourned 
 for Alsace-Lorraine. It demobilized the Aus- 
 trian armies and surrendered the Austrian 
 navy but this was of the least importance for 
 there was left no longer an Austrian Imperial 
 Government to direct the operations of either. 
 Most important of all to the coming develop- 
 ment and history of the world is the fact that 
 this armistice set free several great peoples 
 that had long been aspiring to independence 
 and national self-determination. Czecho- 
 Slavs, Poles, German-Austrians, Rumanians, 
 Jugo-Slavs, and Hungarians had all been tied 
 together in the bonds of the dual Empire, and 
 
 practically all had found those bonds burden- 
 some. Now all were put at liberty to order 
 their future national lives as they might see 
 fit — or as the Peace Conference of the tri- 
 umphant Allies might direct, which may pos- 
 sibly prove a very different matter. Of all 
 these nationalities only one, the Czecho- 
 Slavs, had taken such a part in the war as to 
 draw from the established nations any official 
 recognition of its national existence. Yet 
 each of the others possesses enough of racial 
 coherence persisting throughout past ages to 
 justify it in insisting upon its right to form 
 its own government and state. The Jugo- 
 Slavs form perhaps the most numerous peo- 
 ple, and the one whose claims are likely to 
 arouse the greatest menace to the future peace 
 of Europe. For their territorial aims clash 
 inevitably with those of Italy, which the 
 latter set up prior to her entrance upon the 
 war, and acquiescence in which is believed 
 to be part of the price the Allies promised to 
 pay for her support. The Jugo-Slavs racially 
 dominate Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, and 
 the southern provinces of Hungary. Nearly 
 12,000,000 people are numbered in this race, 
 all inhabiting regions so contiguous that they 
 can well be erected into an independent state 
 with borders that comply with natural physi- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Sonic Italian torpedo-boat destroyers lying in their docks. In this vital department 
 
 by none 
 
 war the Italians are excelled 
 
 cal boundaries. But the aspirations of the 
 Jugo-SIavs include the incorporation into 
 their territory of the city of Trieste, and the 
 long line of small islands along the eastern 
 shore of the Adriatic known as Istria. 
 
 Trieste, as part of Italia Irredentia, has 
 been marked by Italy for her own, and has 
 doubtless been conceded to her by some 
 agreement among the Allies that had not been 
 made public at the close of the war. The 
 Adriatic Islands, or at least a greater part of 
 them, are claimed by Italy as necessary to her 
 national protection. For they abound in 
 harbors and in spots fitted for fortified naval 
 bases while the Italian shore is low lying and 
 with few of these necessary adjuncts to na- 
 tional development. It is the insistence of 
 Italy that with the east shore of the Adriatic 
 in the hands of a foreign power, her own 
 shores are at the mercy of that power. A 
 certain portion of the seacoast she is willing 
 to leave to the proposed Jugo-Slav state that 
 it may not be wholly cut off from the sea, but 
 the greater part of the islands, even though 
 their population is but to a slight degree 
 Italian she proposes to hold for her own. 
 
 What may be the determination of the 
 Versailles Peace Conference on this question 
 
 cannot at this moment be determined. It 
 is apparently the most difficult question af- 
 fecting any of the new nationalities that is 
 likely to arise. But there are other mooted 
 points, arising from the Austrian debacle, that 
 may give trouble. Among these is the ques- 
 tion of the future of the German sections of 
 Austria. These provinces are almost as Ger- 
 man as Germany itself and it has been due 
 to the influence they exerted in the dual Mon- 
 archy, an influence very disproportionate to 
 their population, that Germany was so long 
 able to dominate that nation. Immediately 
 upon the dissolution of the empire of the 
 Hapsburgs it was suggested that these prov- 
 inces should be incorporated with the new 
 Germany. That would indeed be the logical 
 disposition to make of them in a remaking 
 of the map of Europe in a fashion designed 
 to keep peoples of the same race under the 
 same government. But the circumstances 
 of the inception of this war no less than 
 the manner of its prosecution and certain 
 things attendant upon its conclusion made 
 the world very suspicious of Germany. 
 Amazing as it may seem after so bitter and 
 costly an experience and so conclusive a de- 
 feat there were not lacking signs in the Ger- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 man attitude of a willingness to begin at once 
 organizing for another attack upon civiliza- 
 tion. All the work of the Peace Conference 
 will be directed toward the end of making 
 this impossible. But to enable Germany to 
 annex from the ruins of Austria provinces 
 that in wealth, population, material resources 
 and military potentialities would more than 
 make up for the loss of Alsace-Lorraine would 
 be to strengthen rather than weaken the 
 nation which is regarded with such grave 
 suspicion. For this reason the German- 
 speaking people of the late Austrian empire 
 entered upon that conference with grave 
 doubt as to what was to be their future in the 
 family of nations. 
 
 It was accepted as a matter of certainty 
 that in some fashion a new Polish nation 
 would emerge from the ruins of present-day 
 
 Kaiser Karl of Austria-Hungary with liis Chief-of-StafF. This picture of the 
 last ruler of the ancient, cunning, cruel, and once mighty House of Hapsburg was 
 taken shortly before his downfall 
 
 Europe. But how it should be created was 
 a problem to puzzle the wisest. The Poles 
 were a homogeneous, coherent race who at 
 various periods in the world's history had pos- 
 sessed their own government and independent 
 nationality. They constituted when the war 
 began a considerable part of the population of 
 Russia, Austria, and Germany, and any Polish 
 state to be created would necessarily be taken 
 from all three of these nations. But in creat- 
 ing a new Poland the proposed new Czecho- 
 slovak state, the only new nationality to 
 which all the Allies were definitely committed, 
 would have to be drawn upon heavily, and the 
 lines of demarkation between the two peoples 
 would be difficult to draw. 
 
 The break up of Austria-Hungary more 
 than any immediate outcome of the war pre- 
 cipitated upon Europe the decision of all 
 these delicate and perplexing 
 reorganizations of races, state 
 boundaries and governments. 
 For Austria-Hungary had been 
 but a loosely bound bundle 
 of rival peoples nearly all of 
 which had fervently believed 
 that they would be better off 
 under some other rule. The 
 long life, and the astute policy 
 of Emperor Francis Joseph 
 had been the tie that bound 
 the whole together so long, 
 and his death, in the fourth 
 year of the great war, was 
 looked upon everywhere as 
 the certain precursor of 
 national decomposition. His 
 successor, the Emperor Karl, 
 succeeded to a totteringthrone 
 and a hopeless war. Like the 
 other absolute sovereigns of 
 Europe he went down in de- 
 feat, and his abdication fol- 
 lowed fast upon the armistice. 
 Even before that the people 
 in the principal cities were in 
 open revolt against the further 
 domination of the house of 
 Hapsburg. Students and 
 workmen in front of the Parlia- 
 ment building in Vienna de- 
 nounced the Hapsburgs, and 
 officers in uniform went about 
 urging their fellows to remove 
 their cockades and other 
 badges of authority. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT THE FIRST INDEPENDENT AMERICAN OPERATION 
 
 ON A LARGE SCALE CHARACTER OF THE FIGHTING THE GREAT PINCERS 
 
 IN THE FOREST OF THE ARGONNE THE LOST BATTALION PRESSING ON THE 
 
 BORDER LINE OF GERMANY DISTRESS OF THE ENEMY — THE ARMISTICE 
 
 FLIGHT OF THE KAISER REVOLUTION IN GERMANY 
 
 
 " '- Z^f^^JJ 
 
 ^^K 
 
 Wi 
 
 'HILE the 
 war was 
 thus being 
 lost irrevo- 
 cably to the Teutonic 
 alhance in the south- 
 eastern fields fighting 
 was proceeding with 
 its accustomed des- 
 peration in the theatre 
 of France and Flan- 
 ders. But it was to 
 some degree a new 
 sort of fighting. The 
 old deadlock of the 
 trenches was past and 
 gone. Anewandmore 
 mobile style of action 
 had taken its place. 
 To a great extent this 
 was due to the per- 
 fection of the system 
 of artillery prepara- 
 tion and the barrage which first cut down 
 the barbed wire, then levelled the parapet 
 of the trench, and finally made the remain- 
 ing ditch untenable for those who would de- 
 fend it. Even more instrumental in effecting 
 this change in the character of the fighting 
 were the so-called tanks which like land bat- 
 tleships could carry an advancing force un- 
 hurt up to the very fine of a trench and, in 
 cases, perch astride of it and rake its length 
 in both directions with machine-gun fire. It 
 took six or eight months of the war to bring 
 trench warfare to perfection, and nearly 
 three years more to devise a way of beating 
 it. But the latter was accomplished before 
 the American forces reached France in any 
 great numbers. We like to think that it was 
 the gallant impetuosity of our men that did 
 away with the deadly monotony of the long 
 deadlock between opposing trenches, but it 
 
 was in fact the British tank, and our men 
 reached the scene of war just in time for the 
 new style of warfare — to which indeed they 
 showed themselves peculiarly adapted. 
 
 Examination of a map of the western 
 theatre of war during any period after the 
 initial rush of the Huns into France will show 
 at the eastern end of the battle fine a sharp 
 triangle reaching into French territory with 
 its eastern end at a little town called Pont- 
 a-Mousson, on the German border just south 
 of Metz, its apex at St. Mihiel; and the other 
 leg of the triangle reaching off to the north- 
 west behind Verdun. This salient had been 
 created at the time of the initial invasion of 
 France. It had persisted throughout the 
 long and savage battles for Verdun. The 
 French had repeatedly sought to iron it out 
 but without avail. Now, as the railroads 
 from the American bases on the channel ran 
 directly toward that spot and as the largest 
 American concentration camp was at Toul 
 just south of the salient, it seemed to offer it- 
 self very prominently for American attention 
 — and presently it received that attention. 
 
 In his official report General Pershing says 
 that the reduction of the St. Mihiel salient 
 had early been planned as the first indepen- 
 dent American offensive action on a large 
 scale. The disposition of troops in prepara- 
 tion for it began as early as August 30th, and 
 before its completion entailed preparations 
 which the General describes thus: 
 
 The preparation for a complicated operation against 
 the formidable defenses in front of us included the 
 assembling of divisions and of corps and army artillery, 
 transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the location 
 of hospitals, and the molding together of all of the 
 elements of a great modern army with its own rail- 
 heads, supplied directly by our own Service of Supply. 
 The concentration for this operation, which was to 
 be a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at 
 night, of approximately 600,000 troops, and required 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 for its success the most careful attention to every 
 detail. 
 
 A correspondent of the Chicago Tribune 
 who was present during the preparation and 
 the assault itself goes a little more into detail 
 and some quotation from his description of 
 the infinity of detailed preparation which 
 precedes a modern battle will be of interest. 
 
 In order to take 152 square miles of territory and 
 seventy-two villages, captured in the crushing of the 
 St. Mihiel salient, the American Army first issued 
 100,000 detail maps covering in minutest detail the 
 character of the terrain of the St. Mihiel salient, includ- 
 
 An elaborately camouflaged tank ready to bi 
 
 ing natural defenses, and telling how each was manned 
 and by what enemy units. These maps were corrected 
 in some instances as late as the day before the battle 
 opened, and were supplemented by 40,000 photographs. 
 These were for the guidance of the artillery and infantry, 
 and were scattered among the officers of the whole 
 army a few hours before the zero hour. 
 
 Five thousand miles of wire was laid in the St. Mihiel 
 salient and on its borders before the attack, and im- 
 mediately after the Americans advanced 6,000 tele- 
 phone instruments were connected with these wires 
 throughout the battle zone. 
 
 When the battle opened on the morning of September 
 
 12, 1918, trucks started northward at a speed of seven 
 
 miles an hour, unreeling wires across No Man's Land 
 
 until they reached points where the 
 
 reels had to be carried by Signal 
 
 Corps men afoot. 
 
 Such work made it possible for ah 
 American officer whose troops had 
 flanked the foe's trenches to telephone 
 back, informing the artillery of the 
 exact location of the enemy trenches 
 and in a few minutes bringing a 
 deluge of metal on the Boche. 
 
 Telephone squads carried these 
 lines up to the fighting front on 
 Thursday morning and soon in the 
 triangular battleground there was a 
 telephone system in operation that 
 would have been adequate to handle 
 the telephone business of a city of 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 211 
 
 British Tommies on the Fampoux Road in France attracted by a stranded monster which tried to negotiate too big a ditch for 
 
 even a tank 
 
212 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 SciniL- \ jiikns arc sciAiiin with the British as members of the crew of this land battleship 
 
 100,000, and it was going at top efficiency. The 
 branch lines were connected with the main axis, which 
 was established through the middle of the salient. 
 Ten thousand men were busily engaged in operating the 
 system. Many of the phone exchanges were on wheels. 
 Several thousand carrier pigeons supplemented the 
 Signal Corps. 
 
 The kind of a tank which can wander over a shell crater as large as the e.xcavation 
 for a good-sized house without inconvenience 
 
 In the midst of the battle other Signal Corps men 
 took more than 10,000 feet of movie film depicting 
 war scenes and many thousands of photographs. 
 
 Extensive hospital facilities were arranged, including 
 thirty-five hospital trains, 16,000 beds in the advanced 
 areas, and 55,000 others farther back. Happily, less 
 than 10 per cent, of the hospital facilities were needed, 
 and therefore our surgeons and 
 nurses were enabled to give the 
 finest care to our wounded and 
 sick, and every attention to the 
 German wounded. 
 
 In the course of the operation 
 ^ our guns fired approximately 
 ji/^t'^ Y^ '^- 1,500,000 shells. Forty-eight hun- 
 •^'^•, fc-'.j dred trucks carried men and sup- 
 plies into the lines. They were 
 assisted by miles of American rail- 
 roads of standard and narrow 
 gauge, and the cars were pulled by 
 engines marked "U. S. A." 
 
 Formidable as all this prep- 
 aration sounds it was more 
 than justified by the facilities 
 for defense possessed by the 
 enemy. After the victory was 
 won Thomas Johnson, a well- 
 known American correspon- 
 dent, went over the ground 
 our boys had taken and de- 
 scribes its nature thus: 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 213 
 
 The French cemetery at Pont-a-Mousson which the Germans shelled during a memorial service, thereby killing and maiming 
 
 many women and children 
 
 The further one goes the stronger becomes the im- 
 pression of how strongly fortified was this whole place. 
 It abounded in dugouts deep and strong and well built, 
 while in all villages and many other places were the 
 famous steel and concrete German pill boxes. Amer- 
 ican officers and soldiers were eating German food and 
 drinking German beer in the captured dugouts. 
 
 To get the full flavor of the victory the best way is to 
 go over the battlefield from our old front line starting 
 at Seicheprey, where the Americans had their first 
 real fight with the enemy last April. Passing Remieres 
 Wood on the right one rides through our old trenches, 
 then goes into No Man's Land and across to Lahay- 
 ville, Sainteaussant, and Richecourt — villages that 
 thousands of Americans have looked at longingly since 
 Jan. 18, when the first American force took over the 
 sector facing them. One trip over the ground is enough 
 to show that the defenses the Americans went up 
 against here were as strong as those on the Somme, 
 Chemin des Dames or any other famous battle sectors 
 of the west front. 
 
 The greatest fortress of all was Montsec itself, and 
 nothing that has ever been said about that solitary 
 peak can convey an idea of how it dominated and looked 
 down upon our old trenches around Seicheprey, Xivray, 
 Beaumont, Rambucourt, Bouconville, and all those 
 other towns that one is able now for the first time to 
 name as having held the Americans ever since January. 
 The only way to get an idea of it is to climb to the top 
 of the Woolworth tower. It dominates New York 
 no more than Montsec dominates its surroundings. 
 From there the Boche could see every single American 
 who walked in the road or in a trench for ten miles on a 
 clear day. That's not the only reason why Montsec 
 
 Major Hyatt of the American Army standing in the mine 
 crater which the Germans exploded just too soon to kill 
 several thousand Americans 
 
214 
 
 UNITED S r A T E S IN THE GREAT W A R 
 
 A comparatively concealed battery position from which an American barrage fire suddenly burst upon the enemy 
 
 seemed a great goal. It was a symbol of the future, 
 for they knew that when they could take it it would 
 mean the time of the fulfillment of their promise had 
 come. Seeing Montsec, one realizes what a veritable 
 fortress it was, not only because of its steep wooded 
 sides, but because of its dugouts, which were not really 
 dugouts but subterranean chambers capable of holding 
 thousands of men. They were made of steel, concrete, 
 stone, mortar, brick, forty or fifty feet within the moun- 
 tainside. Some built in 191 5 are ornamented with the 
 German coat of arms. They are littered with maps, 
 papers, clothing, knicknacks, showing they were fur- 
 nished in great comfort with beds, chairs, and pictures. 
 
 A heavy gun " planted " and held in silence until the German defenses had been 
 destroyed by an American barrage which the prisoners later described as the most 
 terrifying and deadly they had ever known 
 
 The Germans had four years to do it in. These 
 dugouts, facing north and so difficult of observation 
 by the Allies, had fine porches, pretty tables with a 
 splendid view across to the Meuse heights, and it was 
 there the German officers used to drink their beer. 
 One of them had a hammock slung under the trees and 
 another had an open air bath tub, but great gaps 
 showed where our shells had crashed in upon them and 
 one big dugout, by name "Villa Minna," had completely 
 caved in. The occupants lay on their faces on the 
 floor. In another dugout lay a dead German Officer, 
 while beside him lay a dog silently watching his dead 
 master. He wouldn't make a responsive sign to coax- 
 ing or whistling. 
 
 It took but thirty-six lines 
 in General Pershing's final 
 report to tell the story of the 
 victory at St. Mihiel as its 
 important phases appeared to 
 the Commander-in-Chief. 
 But the general reader will 
 ask something more than this 
 succinct summary that ema- 
 nated from the mind of a 
 soldier unused to writing, and 
 who seemed to think that 
 gallant fighting was all in the 
 day's work: 
 
 After four hours' artillery prepar- 
 ation, the seven American divisions 
 in the front line advanced at 5 a. m. 
 on Sept. 12, assisted by a limited 
 number of tanks manned partly by 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 215 
 
 These American soldiers and tlieir horses are snatching a brief respite from the thrilling but exhausting occupation of chasing 
 
 the fleeing Germans 
 
 Americans and partly by French. These divisions, 
 accompanied by groups of wire cutters and others 
 armed with bangalore torpedoes, went through the 
 successive bands of barbed wire that protected the 
 enemy's front line and support trenches, in irresisti- 
 ble waves on schedule time, breaking down all defense 
 of an enemy demoralized by the great volume of our 
 artillery fire and our sudden approach out of the fog. 
 
 Our 1st Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our 4th 
 Corps curved back to the southwest through Nonsard. 
 The 2d Colonial French Corps made the slight advance 
 required of it on very difficult ground, and the 5th 
 Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counter- 
 attack. A rapid march brought reserve regiments of a 
 division of the 5th Corps into Vigneulles in the early 
 morning, where it linked up with patrols of our 4th 
 Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west 
 of Thiaucourt to Vigneulles and beyond Fresnes-en- 
 Woevre. At the cost of only 7,000 casualties, mostly 
 light, we had taken 16,000 prisoners and 443 guns, a 
 great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of 
 many villages from enemy domination, and established 
 our lines in a position to threaten Metz. This signal 
 success of the American First Army in its first offensive 
 was of prime importance. The Alhes found they had a 
 formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned 
 finally that he had one to reckon with. 
 
 The American Army was disposed some- 
 what Hke a pair of pincers and right sharply 
 did the enemy get pinched. One tip of the 
 pincers was near Pont-a-Mousson, the other 
 just south of Verdun on the Meuse. The 
 pivot between the two was at St. Mihiel and 
 
 The famous church of Jeanne d'Arc standing on the com- 
 manding eminence of the solitary hill of Pont-a-Mousson, 
 with a statue of Jeanne d'Arc on top of its steeple, which was 
 shelled by the Germans all through the war, but never hit 
 
2l6 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The French fortress of Pont-a-Mousson on the Moselle River. The peaceful and beautiful scene of desperate and hideous fighting 
 
 American military police guarding a German gas \\ a 
 station after the capture of Thiaucourt in France 
 
 each arm of the pincers was about ten miles 
 long. After the artillery had made play for 
 some four hours these two arms began coming 
 together, not at all slowly but irresistibly. 
 From one claw-tip to the other was about 
 thirty miles. 
 
 It took two days to bring the two together, 
 but It was accomplished and thereby about 
 two hundred square miles of French territory 
 was wrested from the Huns. When the clos- 
 ing movement began this bit of land had held 
 about 100,000 of the enemy but he slipped 
 away with all the speed he might. The hard- 
 est fighting took place on the southern leg of 
 the salient, running northward toward Thiau- 
 court. The terrain there was low and marshy 
 and the field before the advancing Americans 
 was swept by fire from the French forts. The 
 \ery hardest fighting occurred on the west 
 side of the salient on a hillside called Les 
 Esparges. This had been assaulted by the 
 French repeatedly in the past but to no avail. 
 Now after vigorous artillery' preparation 
 French and Americans together swept up the 
 slope in a rush that never stopped until they 
 had reached the top of a series of elevations 
 that extended almost to St. Mihiel and that, 
 because of its commanding height had been 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 217 
 
 of the utmost strategic advantage to the Ger- bells, statues, water pipes, kitchen utensils 
 
 mans. Barbed wire, dense thickets of under- were seized and sent back to Germany. And 
 
 brush, and innumerable nests of machine guns when they were finally whipped, and every 
 
 had to be met and overcome, but the assail- responsible officer must have known that the 
 
 ants were equal to all. The American artillery war was ended, they fled destroying practic- 
 
 practicewascredited with playing a great part ally everything that they could not carry 
 
 in the victory. The hail of shells cut the away. This was one of the reasons why 
 
 barbed wire and mow"ed down the trees and American soldiers listened with cynical in- 
 bushes that impeded the path 
 
 It is not altogether gratifying 
 to out national pride, how- 
 ever, to learn from General 
 Pershing's report that while 
 the gunners were ours the 
 guns belonged to the French 
 —we were not yet able to 
 equip our troops with this 
 most essential arm. 
 
 It may be doubted whether 
 any victory of equal propor- 
 tions during the great war 
 was so speedily won. Withm 
 two days the Germans were 
 driven out of the salient, 
 while those who were slow to 
 go had been captured. At 
 one point a whole Hun regi- 
 ment was surrendered in a 
 body with all its officers, and 
 to expedite matters, after the 
 men had been relieved of 
 their arms, the regiment was 
 marched to the rear under 
 command of its own chiefs, 
 and with a few American 
 cavalrymen ridmg alongside 
 like stockmen riding herd. 
 Everywhere were stacks of 
 abandoned munitions and 
 supplies. At one point a big 
 American shell had exploded 
 on a railway just m time to 
 stop the progress of a retiring 
 train with twenty-two cars 
 loaded with machine guns, 
 big guns, and ammunition, 
 such fortunate shot stopped the thievish en 
 emy carrying away loot. It is said that at 
 few places along the battle-lines did the Ger- 
 mans give fuller play to their destructive and 
 thievish proclivities than at Thiaucourt which 
 they had occupied for four years. The banks 
 had been plundered first by "requisitions" 
 and at the last moment by the simpler process 
 of breaking open their vaults and taking all 
 that was there. Metal of every sort, church 
 
 The bust of Jeanne d'Arc on the front of this house was carved by a French soldier 
 in a quarry at Thiaucourt within one thousand feet of the German lines 
 
 Unhappily no 
 
 difference to the cry for aid which the Ger- 
 mans set up twenty-four hours after the arm- 
 istice was signed. The welcome of the liber- 
 ated population of St. Mihiel to the incoming 
 Americans, among whom was Newton D. 
 Baker, Secretary of War, was one of the most 
 pathetic spectacles of the whole long conflict. 
 With the St. Mihiel salient thus obliter- 
 ated the work of the American armies did not 
 slow up in the shghtest degree. Before them 
 to the north lay three objectives, each of 
 
2l8 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 great importance. Within range of our great 
 guns lay Metz, the rich and populous capital 
 of Lorraine, and a German fortress of the 
 highest rank. Beyond Metz, only a few 
 miles, were the coal fields of Briey, the real 
 reason for the seizure of Lorraine by Prussia 
 in 1 871 and without the possession of which 
 the great Krupp works and the German Army 
 
 
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 A glimpse of what the Germans did to the noble cathedral of Arras 
 
 could not have been kept going throughout 
 the war. And straight up the valley of 
 the Meuse lay Sedan, a mere village the 
 fields about which had been the scene of the 
 fatal defeat sustained by the French armies 
 in 1870. Its importance now lay in the fact 
 that through it ran one of the chief railways 
 connecting France with Germany. With 
 this railway cut one of the two great avenues 
 for the supply of the German armies at the 
 front would be closed, and one of the hnes of 
 retreat, should those armies meet with disas- 
 
 ter, would be shut upon them. And off to 
 the west the forces of our Allies, and our owr 
 men too, were pressing the Huns with such 
 vigor that already they were in full retreai 
 and their need for all the available routes baclil 
 to the Fatherland was becoming very evident 
 to them. The importance of the American 
 operations north of Verdun was sufficiently 
 clear to the enemy, and oui 
 commanders were prepared 
 to see the strongest German 
 commands hurried to that 
 point of danger, as indeed 
 happened. Of our initial ad- 
 vance General Pershing has! 
 this to report: 
 
 On the night of Sept. 25 oun 
 troops quietly took the place of the: 
 French who thinly held the line ini 
 this sector, which had long beeni^' 
 inactive. In the attack which be-- 
 gan on the 26th we drove through 1 
 the barbed wire entanglements and I 
 the sea of shell craters across Noi 
 Man's Land, mastering all the first- ■ 
 line defenses. Continuing on the ■ 
 27th and 28th, against machine 
 guns and artillery of an increasing 
 number of enemy reserve divisions, 
 we penetrated to a depth of from 
 three to seven miles and took the 
 village of Montfaucon and its com- 
 manding hill, and Exermont, Ger- 
 court, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malan- 
 court, Ivoiry, Epinonville, Char- 
 pentry. Very, and other villages. 
 East of the Meuse one of our divi- 
 sions, which was with the 2d 
 Colonial French Corps, captured 
 Marcheville and Rieville, giving 
 further protection to the flank of 
 our main body. We had taken 
 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our 
 point of forcing the battle into 
 the open, and were prepared for 
 the enemy's reaction, which was 
 bound to come, as he had good roads and ample railroad 
 facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves. 
 
 In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to 
 build new roads across spongy, shell-torn areas, repair 
 broken roads beyond No Man's Land, and build bridges. 
 Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put their 
 shoulders to wheels and drag-ropes to bring their guns 
 through the mire in support of the infantry, now under 
 the increasing fire of the enemy's artillery. Our 
 attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but, quickly 
 recovering himself, he began to fire counterattacks in 
 strong force, supported by heavy bombardments, with 
 large quantities of gas. From Sept. 28 until Oct. 4 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 219 
 
 American cavalry advancing to the capture of Thiaucourt 
 
 All that is left of a large and flourishing French railroad station in the war zone 
 
220 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Germans used to bring in the wounded at an adva 
 
 ritish cavalry on the French front waiting in j 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 221 
 
 :'f ' ■ 
 
 -8s^■;•«Mi- 
 
 tSaiTr .1 
 
 France resting after a long and hard ride 
 
 I Underwood ix Underwood 
 
 racking idleness for the order to go forward to the attack 
 
 © Underwood & Underwood 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 
 These loaves of bread were brought one morning by army truck to thi desolate spot in the Argonne Forest. In a drenchii 
 rain they were thrown off in this pile for our doughboys 
 
 we maintained the oflFensive against patches of woods 
 defended by snipers and continuous lines of machine 
 guns, and pushed forward our guns and transport, 
 
 This is what happened to 360,000 of the homes of France 
 
 seizing strategical points in preparation for further 
 attacks. 
 
 The Forest of the Argonne, in which the 
 fiercest fighting of this period occurred was 
 itself admirably fitted for defensive purposes. 
 It was dense with underbrush, cut up by gul- 
 lies and outcroppings of limestone ridges, 
 with but few roads, dark and almost impene- 
 trable. It is such a region as the Wilderness 
 in which the armies of Grant and Lee grap- 
 pled in our Civil War. Through it extended 
 in sinuous and sinister course the western end 
 of the famous Hindenburg line — the Kriem- 
 hilde Stellung, the Germans called this part 
 of it, with an allusion to the Wagnerian opera. 
 No ordinary defensive work was this, but a 
 network of trenches, big and little, guarded 
 in front by wire enough to fence in a whole 
 nation, concreted, and provided with bomb- 
 proof dugouts, some of which attained a de- 
 gree of comfort amounting to luxury, thanks 
 to the neighboring homes which the Germans 
 had despoiled of the furniture and even pic- 
 tures. Some had electric lighted tunnels 
 reaching far back into the streets of a neigh- 
 boring town whereby the defenders might go 
 out to seek rest and amusement in safety. 
 Much of the line was constructed of soHd 
 masonry, reenforced with bars of steel. The 
 defenders had foreseen that their assailants 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 223 
 
 The four fighting sons of a fighting father-l.ft to right: Archie Roosevelt talking to Theodore, Jr at Plattsburg; Quentin 
 Rooseveh, who was killed in France (upper right) and Kermit Roosevelt marching at Plattsburg 
 
224 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 would rely largely upon tanks in the attack 
 and had made preparations for them. Walls 
 were built across all roads of masonry suf- 
 ficiently heavy to withstand even the forceful 
 push of a tank. Traps dug deep in the earth 
 were cunningly concealed by a surface layer 
 that would give way immediately upon feeling 
 the weight of a tank. Barbed wire was 
 everywhere and back of this wire were ma- 
 chine guns innumerable that started up with 
 their murderous crackle the instant the wire 
 
 gun from :i tree on the other side of the wire. Then 
 another and another, and twenty machine nuns are 
 going. 
 
 Their aim i.s poor, and their flashes give our rifles a 
 chance. Our doughboys pile through that wire fence 
 and through the underbrush and stack up against 
 another fence ten feet farther on. The range has been 
 telephoned back to the boche batteries and shells begin 
 to fall all around. 
 
 They cut that barbed wire and then stumble on to 
 concealed wire entanglements covered with brush. They 
 climb these. All the time, from the dark, German snipers 
 
 The wreckage which was the French tuun uf \'aii\ 
 
 was touched. And back of it all were not 
 less than 350,000 of the best German troops 
 whose numbers were steadily increased as the 
 battle progressed. 
 
 The accounts of some eye-witnesses of this 
 struggle may be fitly quoted to round out 
 General Pershing's official account: 
 
 Turn your attention to the all-night fighting in the 
 Argonne Forest, writes Edwin L. James, in the New 
 York Times, znd realize what our men are going through. 
 It is raining and there is inky darkness. The boche 
 is shelling heavily and pouring gas into all the valleys. 
 Our men must travel on the hills. Those hills are being 
 raked by thousands of German 77s. 
 
 The Americans in the advance hit the barbed wire. 
 Rifles are slung across shoulders and pliers are pulled 
 out. Busily our men cut wire after wire. The noise 
 they make brings the nasty rat-a-tat of a Hun machine 
 
 and machine gun men, always with time enough to fall 
 back, are taking their toll. Now our line comes upon 
 a broad trench with more wire. In the dark our boys 
 leap across it; some fall into it. Others get over at the 
 first attempt and pull out their pliers to cut more wires. 
 
 All this time it is raining and cold, very cold. The 
 inky blackness there in the forest is broken by streams 
 of fire from machine guns and the intermittent flash 
 of some German sniper, seeming to taunt the youthful 
 Americans struggling against such devilish odds. 
 
 It takes stout hearts, it takes real men to stand this. 
 But it was over two and a half miles of this sort of 
 terrain that one American division tore its way through 
 the Argonne Forest. This was the worst part. 
 Farther on the wire was less frequent, and our men in 
 the Argonne, having crashed through the Bois d'Apre- 
 mont, are now reaching a zone where the roads are 
 good, and the advance is easier. 
 
 Since the French tried vainly to take it in 1915 the 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 225 
 
 1 he spinning room of a weaving and spinning factory on the River Oise in France vphich was systematically ruined by the 
 Germans because it was not convenient to steal it and take it to Germany 
 
 A sugar factory on the River Aisne in France deliberately destroyed by the Germans without the slightest military excuse 
 
226 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Germans had used the Argonne Forest as a rest area — a 
 sort of recreation ground for their war-worn troops, 
 and had built such defenses as they thought would defy 
 all attempts frontally. For three j-ears the Argonne 
 has been a kind of pleasure resort for boche fighters. 
 It is worth years of any one's life to see what they had 
 built there on the pretty wooded slopes and through 
 tangles of verdant beauty. 
 
 There were underground palaces with electric illumi- 
 nation and with hotel ranges to cook for the officers. 
 On a slope just a mile back of the front line there is nn 
 
 fight. Differing little in character from the 
 earlier fighting it continued until October 
 loth when the wood was wholly cleared of the 
 enemy. 
 
 It was during this period of the battle that 
 occurred the incident of the "lost battalion" 
 that stirred American emotions as did few 
 occurrences of the war. A party of Ameri- 
 cans, — largely "Yiddishers" from the east 
 side of New York — led hv Major Whittlesey, 
 
 American soldiers in the ruins of the town of \'aux in Franc 
 
 enormous cave fronting north. Its front was built 
 of brownstone, on which had been chased pillars and 
 other carvings. Above its big portals was the word 
 "Offizierhaus," and above that an enormous iron cross. 
 In this club there were a large dining hall and perhaps 
 ten rooms. The inside was lined with concrete and 
 wooden floors had been laid. At the dining table were 
 mahogany chairs, filched from some nearby French 
 chateau. Over the General's place hung an electric 
 call bell, and electric lights were strung down the middle 
 of the table. It represented the luxury of war. This 
 was just one of hundreds and hundreds of these dug-in 
 and scientifically made dwelling places. 
 
 The progress of the Argonne-Meuse offen- 
 sive is divided by General Pershing in his re- 
 port into three parts, and betw^een his ac- 
 counts of these he diverges to tell the story 
 of the work of the Americans on the more 
 western battle fronts. We may, however, 
 proceed with the Argonne story to its com- 
 pletion. October 4th began w'hat the gen- 
 eral calls the second phase of the Argonne 
 
 had pressed onward into the depths of the for- 
 est until suddenly they found themselves out 
 of sight or hearing of any of their fellows. This 
 in itself was not extraordinary for the thickets 
 were such as to make it difficult for support- 
 ing bodies to keep in touch with each other, 
 but presently it was discovered that they 
 were surrounded by Boches. A runner was 
 sent back to tell of their plight, and curiously 
 enough the commander to whom he reported 
 proceeded to send him on to New York so 
 that the first news that he had of the really 
 desperate condition of his former comrades 
 was when he reached home and the reporters 
 came thronging about him with the story of 
 the lost battalion. 
 
 Meantime efforts were being made to re- 
 lieve the beleaguered battalion. Their posi- 
 tion was well enough known to their friends, 
 but so large a body of Germans had got in be- 
 hind them, in a deserted trench that it seemed 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 227 
 
 General Pershing in a typical pose which suggests the force and poise of the man 
 
228 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Some doughboys and transport drivers in the Argonne Forest comparing notes on German trophies 
 
 Stragglers from many units organized into reserves which were sent forward in time to help counter-attack 
 
/ir American Red Croib Worker at the Well of the Virgin in Nazareth. Practically all the Red Cross work in the 
 Near East is being conducted by the American Red Cross 
 
230 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 for a time impossible to get help to them. 
 In all nearly 500 men were thus cut off, and 
 the question of food soon became serious. 
 Attempts to relieve them by attacks upon 
 the enemy failed, but had value because they 
 prevented the foe from annihilating the little 
 band. Relief by air was tried. Fourteen 
 airplane missions were sent out dropping 
 
 The bridge on the Marne at Chateau-Thierry. It was twice blown up and the 
 river was choked with German dead 
 
 two tons of food and considerable ammuni- 
 tion at points where it was hoped they could 
 be reached. Homing pigeons were also drop- 
 ped by parachute in their lines so they could 
 communicate with the main body. To a 
 great degree all these efforts at relief had to 
 be made by guess as the forest was so thick 
 our aviators could see nothing of the missing 
 men. A final and desperate attack on the 
 enemy at last broke through and the men 
 were saved on the brink of starvation. While 
 
 their fortunes seemed at the lowest ebb a 
 blindfolded man appeared among them com- 
 ing from the enemy's lines. He proved to be 
 an American who had been taken prisoner and 
 he bore a note reading: 
 
 "Americans, you are surrounded on all 
 sides. Surrender in the name of humanity. 
 You will be well treated." 
 
 Major Whittlesey hesitated 
 not a moment. 
 
 "Go to hell," he cried in a 
 voice so loud that the Germans 
 hidden in the thickets must 
 have heard him, while the 
 men around cheered loudly 
 even in their weakness. It 
 
 Bl 1 might have been their death 
 I warrant they cheered, but 
 it was not, for relief came in 
 a few hours. 
 
 The third phase of the 
 Argonne-Meuse struggle im- 
 mediately preceded the Ger- 
 man surrender and is thus de- 
 scribed by General Pershing: 
 
 With comparatively well-rested 
 divisions, the final advance in the 
 Meuse-Argonne front was begun on 
 November i. Our increased artillery 
 force acquitted itself magnificently 
 in support of the advance, and the 
 enemy broke before the determmed 
 infantry, which, by its persistent 
 fighting of the past weeks and the 
 dash of this attack, had overcome 
 his will to resist. The 3d Corps 
 took Ancreville, Doulcon, and An- 
 devanne, and the 5th Corps took 
 Landres et St. Georges and pressed 
 through successive linesof resistance 
 to Bayonville and Chennery. On 
 the 2d the ist Corps joined in the 
 movement, which now became an 
 impetuous onslaught that could not 
 be stayed. 
 
 On the 3d advance troops surged 
 pursuit, some by motor trucks, while 
 
 forward 
 
 the artillery pressed along the country roads close 
 behind. The 1st Corps reached Authe and Chatillon- 
 Sur-Bar, the 5th Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and 
 the 3d Corps, Halles, penetrating the enemy's line 
 to a depth of twelve miles. Our large-calibre guns 
 had advanced and were skillfully brought into posi- 
 tion to fire upon the important lines at Montmedy, 
 Longuyon, and Conflans. Our 3d Corps crossed the 
 Meuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full 
 confidence that the day was theirs, eagerly cleared the 
 way of machine guns as they swept northward, main- 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 .231 
 
 © Underwood & Underwood 
 
 General Edwards bestowing the Congressional medal of honor upon Lieutenant Colonel Whittlesey who commanded the 
 
 "Lost Battalion" in the Forest of Argonne 
 
232 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 A bag of German prisoners taken by the Americans during the fighting of September, 1918. They would not look so contented 
 if they were treated as our men were treated when captured by the Germans 
 
 This is the road and the place where the American Marines first came into action against the onrushing German hordes 
 m their great drive toward Paris in the summer of 19 18. The Marines held, and here started the great Allied offensive which 
 ended in victory. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 233 
 
 taining complete co-ordination throughout. On the 
 6th, a division of the 1st Corps reached a point on the 
 Meuse opposite Sedan, twenty-five miles from our line 
 of departure. The strategical goal which was our 
 highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's 
 main line of communications, and nothing but sur- 
 render or an armistice could save his army from com- 
 plete disaster. 
 
 Such is the comparatively cold and color- 
 less account of what was in fact the most 
 savagely fought battle of the war. Whether 
 the enemy knew that his surrender was near 
 •at hand or not, he fought as though nothing 
 were further from his mind. The menace 
 that lay in the advance of the American Army 
 
 upon his best line of retreat was very evident 
 to him and he hurried to the threatened spot 
 troops from every part of his battle line. 
 From Flanders, from Cambrai, from St. 
 Quentin they were brought, even while those 
 places themselves were menaced by other Ally 
 forces. General Pershing did not m anyway 
 underestimate the strength of the force thus 
 being aligned against him. His best troops 
 were put into the advance and fresh divisions 
 hurried up from the great camp at Toul as 
 fast as motor lorries could carry them. Be- 
 fore the troops could get near the Mezieres- 
 Sedan railroad, their first objective, the big 
 guns began work upon it with a view to mak- 
 
 Brigadier General Douglas McArthur talking to a group of his boys of the famous Rainbow Division. The Division gained its 
 name from the fact that the men came from a large number of different States 
 
234 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 235 
 
 A breakfast of iron rations in the Forest of Malancourt, one of the fields which saw the hardest fighting between Dead Man's 
 
 Hill and Montfaucon in France 
 
 ing it useless to the Germans. Great naval 
 14-inch guns had been brought by rail to the 
 battlefield, and mounted on flat cars were 
 pushed forward as fast as the lines were ad- 
 vanced. Blue-jackets from the American 
 navy manned them and if those who stayed 
 on the sailors' proper element failed to get a 
 shot at the Boche afloat these land going gun- 
 ners had plenty of opportunity to show their 
 skill. 
 
 The rest of the story of the American push 
 for Sedan is simply a record of steady prog- 
 ress, which in time developed into a com- 
 plete piercing of the German lines and the 
 pursuit of the enemy as he fled frantically 
 for any sanctuary. It reached the point at 
 last at which the Yankees mounted on huge 
 trucks, shoutmg scores of them, dashed 
 madly up roads and byways chasing down 
 the retreatmg Huns. Sedan was in sight. 
 On another part of our line Metz was so 
 near that our great naval guns might have 
 done for it what the German cannon had done 
 for scores of picturesque Flemish towns, save 
 that Americans had no desire to shine as 
 vandals. One after another the foe's most 
 cherished positions were taken. The vol- 
 ume of prisoners became so great as to be 
 embarrassing. In six days from the begin- 
 ning of General Pershing's third phase they 
 had smashed the German Freya line, liber- 
 
 Colonel Edward M. House, President Wilson's 
 one of America's five Commissioners to the Peace 
 
 idviser and 
 Conference 
 
236 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 1 Ik- h.iirage fire has just been lifted and these men a 
 
 ated hundreds of French villages and thou- 
 sands of the French people on the bank of 
 the Meuse, taken Sedan, cut the railroad 
 and were fired with such confidence bred of 
 these successes that nothing could have been 
 asked of them which they would not have 
 cheerfully undertaken. 
 
 Meanwhile in the battle sectors farther to 
 the west Americans were playing their part, 
 though not as single detached armies, with a 
 definite task to be performed alone. They 
 were with the British in the victorious attack 
 upon Cambrai. They fought shoulder to 
 shoulder with the French at Laon and at 
 Conflans. They marched into Belgium with 
 a portion of the Belgian Army, and thus 
 gained the inestimable boon of being able to 
 participate in person in the redemption of 
 that martyred nation from the bondage she 
 had mcurred in the service of civilization. 
 Ostende and Zeebrugge, badly smashed by 
 the persistent work of the British Navy, 
 had been occupied by the Belgian Army on 
 October 20th, and the Germans began their 
 retreat from the remainder of the country 
 they had so barbarously misused. The 
 Belgians and French followed fast upon their 
 heels, whipping them on the Lys River, and 
 
 Ji 11^1 .u .iCI.^s^ N, >1..:. - l.iiul to Strike the enemy 
 
 driving them out of Ghent. The British 
 pushed over the border between Valenciennes 
 and Tournai, and shortly thereafter captured 
 the former town in an assault led by Canadian 
 troops with notable gallantry. To the east 
 of Valenciennes the field was left to the 
 French under General Mangin who drove 
 the fleeing Germans bej^ond the Belgian 
 border, taking Mauberge, which before this 
 war unsettled all military values had been 
 esteemed one of the world's greatest for- 
 tresses. Still farther to the east the French 
 and American lines were in liaison on the 
 front between the Aisne and the Meuse. 
 Here both of these allies were pushing for- 
 ward indomitably with the foe recoiling 
 before them, not in disorder but in hopeless 
 retreat when suddenh' from the General 
 Headquarters came the message, not whoUj" 
 welcome, to suspend all attacks as an armis- 
 tice had been signed.* 
 
 At the moment the Germans were thor- 
 oughlv beaten on ever\' front. The morale 
 of their armies had been shattered and al- 
 though demoralization had not j'et set in, 
 
 *A more detailed account of the operations of the Allied 
 armies, as distinct from that of the United States will be found 
 in "The Nations at War." 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 237 
 
 veteran military observers agree that had 
 the campaign continued for another ten days 
 the orderly retreat would have degenerated 
 into a frantic rout and that the armies of 
 the Kaiser would have been utterly de- 
 stroyed. 
 
 The world hardly expected German sur- 
 render at that moment. The masses of the 
 men fighting in the Allied armies certainly 
 did not apprehend it, and if the general 
 commanders knew they had held their peace. 
 Everywhere it was expected that the Ger- 
 mans would hold out until winter might 
 bring them a respite from the savage attacks 
 of their enemies and a chance to recuperate 
 and fight for better terms in the spring. But 
 nothing that had been done by the German 
 high command from the day of its precipitate 
 entrance upon the war to this moment of 
 sudden and ignominious surrender showed 
 more cool, if ignoble, intelligence than this 
 action. For the German fight 
 was irrevocably lost. She was 
 left without alHes, the surren- 
 der of Austria-Hungary having 
 opened a back door into her do- 
 main that she had no adequate 
 means of closing. It was all 
 very well to say that in earlier 
 years campaigning had been 
 stopped with the first sign of 
 winter. But who could tell what 
 these Americans would do ? And 
 they were coming over in such 
 prodigious numbers despite all 
 the figures of the German pro- 
 fessors showing that they could 
 never get enough ships to serve 
 for their transport, and the prom- 
 ises of Von Tirpitz that his 
 submarines would speedily dis- 
 pose of them. Even if winter 
 was to quiet things down there 
 was still remaining at least six 
 weeks before winter's arrival. 
 Sorely pressed the German armies 
 could feel no certainty of living 
 out that six weeks. If they tried 
 it the Americans in the Argonne 
 were certain to prevent them from 
 any possible escape in the hour 
 of disaster. So the High Com- 
 mand that had so bravely or- 
 dained the crushing of little Bel- 
 gium, and attempted the destruc- 
 tion of France, less by military 
 
 prowess than by treacherously violating a 
 treaty, turned abject suppliants and begged 
 like whipped children for the stoppage of 
 hostilities. 
 
 The armistice which brought this greatest 
 war of all ages to its end was not completed 
 without prolonged diplomatic negotiation. 
 Austria and Germany both turned to the 
 United States in the moment of their extrem- 
 ity, thinking probably that they had less to 
 fear from this nation than from any of the 
 other belligerents toward whom they had 
 been guilty of the most indescribable bar- 
 barity and savagery. It was a distmction 
 accorded us by the world's greatest criminal 
 which most Americans would have been glaa 
 to have escaped. However, the position of 
 first recipient of the Huns' plea for mercy 
 was ours whether desired or not. In the 
 course of a world-wide discussion of the pur- 
 poses of the war President Wilson had enun- 
 
 General Tasker H. Bliss, one of the five American Peace Commissioners 
 
238 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 ciated Fourteen Points on which he said 
 the United States would insist. Austria 
 opened the peace negotiations by proclaim- 
 ing her willingness to accept these conditions 
 and asking for an armistice that peace in 
 accordance with them might be discussed. 
 Germany speedily followed suit, and, upon 
 the suggestion of the President that the 
 German government had shown itself to be 
 one with which no nation could treat with 
 any confidence, declared that the form of 
 that government had been amended in a way 
 to make it more nearly 
 coincide with the 
 democratic principles 
 which the President 
 sought to establish, 
 and that the men 
 guilty of the long 
 record of perfidy 
 which had sullied Ger- 
 many's annals had 
 been deprived of 
 power. How far this 
 plea was in accord 
 with fact is yet to be 
 established. But after 
 due submission of the 
 German propositions 
 to an Allied War 
 Council sitting at 
 Versailles, terms of an 
 armistice were pre- 
 pared and submitted 
 to the German Gov- 
 ernment. In this coun- 
 cil Col. Edward M. 
 House and General 
 Tasker H. Bliss rep- 
 resented the United 
 States. 
 
 Meantime the work 
 of the armies contin- 
 ued with unremitting 
 vigor. All the time 
 the council was hold- 
 ing its sessions our soldiers in the Argonne 
 Forest, on the bank of the Meuse, around 
 Conflans and Laon and on the Freya Line 
 were pushing their attacks and meeting with 
 uninterrupted success. Our allies were gain- 
 ing at every point and the demoralization 
 within the German lines was spreading daily. 
 There are not lacking those that hold that 
 the granting of the armistice was premature 
 and unfortunate, and that a fortnight more 
 
 General Liggett and General 
 Chateau-Thierry. Evidently 
 
 of war would have done more for future peace, 
 by utterly crushing present German strength, 
 than can any provisions to be made by the 
 final peace conference, however drastic the 
 latter may be. 
 
 But there was no desire for delay in the 
 German ranks. Promptly on learning that 
 they would be received the German dele- 
 gates, two Generals and an Admiral in uni- 
 form, and two civilians representing the 
 government crossed the lines under protection 
 of a white flag and sought General Foch's 
 headquarters. They 
 were received with 
 chill courtesy, and the 
 conditions of a truce 
 were read to them by 
 the Marshal himself. 
 Neither amendment, 
 nor even debate was 
 permitted. The Ger- 
 mans might take what 
 was offered, or go back 
 to continue the fight- 
 ing. For the latter 
 they had no stomach, 
 and, facing the pres- 
 ence of defeat and 
 knowing that delay 
 would add only to the 
 severity of the terms, 
 while perhaps result- 
 ing in the devastation 
 of their own countr\' 
 as they had devas- 
 tated France and Bel- 
 gium they surren- 
 dered. At eleven o'- 
 clock on the morning 
 of November nth — 
 the eleventh hour, of 
 the eleventh day of 
 the eleventh month — 
 the signatures of the 
 German Delegates 
 were attached to the 
 terms of the armistice and the four years of 
 piracy, murder, theft, and rape which the Teu- 
 tonic nations had prosecuted and called war 
 ended in ignominious surrender. Within a few 
 hours the Kaiser was a fugitive seeking refuge 
 in Holland, to be followed by his eldest son, 
 the degenerate Crown Prince and the gov- 
 ernment of Germany had gone down before a 
 revolutionary movement the end of which it. 
 is impossible now to foresee. 
 
 Edwards on the battlefield of 
 this was not a serious moment 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE NAVY IN THE WAR ITS RAPID GROWTH THE GREAT TRAINING CAMPS— 
 
 THE DESTROYERS LOSSES OF FIGHTING SHIPS THE AVIATION CORPS — ■ 
 
 THE FLEET IN THE NORTH SEA THE FIGHTING MARINES SURRENDER OF 
 
 THE GERMAN FLEET 
 
 IN ONE great 
 respect the 
 Great European 
 War was a sur- 
 prise to all observers. 
 Though in it from 
 the first were engaged 
 as antagonists the two 
 greatest naval powers 
 of the world, no de- 
 cisive sea battle was 
 fought and the naval 
 activities of the hos- 
 tile battle fleets were 
 confined in the main 
 to keeping careful 
 watch upon each 
 other. The world can 
 hardly tell yet what 
 estimate the German 
 people are putting 
 upon the quahty of 
 their navy which, 
 after long years of 
 boasting of what it intended to do did in 
 fact surrender ultimately without a fight. 
 It is probable that nothing contributed more 
 to getting the German Empire and Great 
 Britain into a position that compelled war 
 than the mad desire of the Kaiser for sea- 
 power. When he first declared to his people 
 "Our future is upon the sea," and began 
 the construction of a mighty navy he 
 challenged Great Britain as she had never 
 been challenged before. And when he curtly 
 rejected the diplomatic suggestion of a 
 British ministry for a limitation of naval 
 armaments, and instead began a race of 
 naval construction he virtually served notice 
 upon the British, long before any specific 
 cause for a clash arose, that at some time 
 he intended to contest Britannia's rule of the 
 V/aves. 
 All the world knew for years before the 
 
 outbreak of war of the regular function in the 
 ward rooms of German men-of-war at which 
 a toast was riotously drunk to "Der Tag," 
 meaning thereby the day on which a German 
 fleet should give battle to one under the white 
 ensign of St. George. All the world found 
 it hard to believe, until a certain misty 
 morning off the Firth of Forth m December, 
 1918, that all this after-dinner lust for combat 
 would end in abject surrender. But so it 
 was. The war tested to the fullest the value 
 of the British Navy. It showed the worth 
 of our own in many ways. But it did not in 
 its entire course put the actual fighting power 
 of the ships of either to the supreme test 
 because they confronted a foe who was quite 
 willing to take the opinion of naval statis- 
 ticians that he was hopelessly outclassed 
 and let it go at that, without an eff"ort to try 
 the matter out by gage of battle. For him 
 the sneaking submarine and finally the supine 
 surrender.* 
 
 When the war storm broke upon a terrified 
 world the United States and Germany were 
 regarded as about equal in naval strength. 
 Some of the harsher critics of our state of 
 naval unpreparedness insisted that we lagged 
 far behind the nation, in which only a few 
 at that time thought we were likely to find a 
 foe. Instantly upon her embroilment Ger- 
 many, of course, began building new ships, 
 how many or of what character it was impos- 
 sible to learn during the progress of the con- 
 flict. And as the United States hardly woke 
 up to the imminence of her own entrance 
 upon the conflict before she was fairly in, it 
 happened that we rushed into armed conflict 
 with a nation which was superior to us afloat, 
 and immeasurably so ashore. But we had 
 the British Navy as ally and it alone was 
 
 * The story of the naval operations of the war prior to the 
 entrance of the United States is told in the "Nations at 
 War" 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 241 
 
 sufficient to keep the capital 
 ships of the Kaiser in their 
 sanctuaries. 
 
 This was a situation not at 
 all to the liking of our naval 
 officers. A war without a 
 battle was not a pleasing pros- 
 pect to men of the service that 
 produced Paul Jones, Far- 
 ragut, and Dewey. For them 
 were eighteen months of the 
 most wearying, nerve-racking 
 service imaginable without 
 the stimulating excitement of 
 battle, and in nearly all cases 
 with the foe unseen, but 
 doubly dangerous for that rea- 
 son. For the fight upon the 
 undersea boats the men of the 
 United States Navy had been 
 
 © KmK-1 i Herbert 
 
 The forecastle of the U. S. S. Missouri showing shells ready for the 12-inch guns 
 
 >= Int iriit.onal F.ltt 
 
 American destroyer patrolling the North Sea 
 
 eager ever since that day in 
 October, 1916, when American 
 destroyers tied from truck to 
 keelson in the bonds of a pale 
 neutrality were forced to ride 
 idly on the surges of the 
 Atlantic off Newport and 
 watch the German submarine 
 U-^J destroy one after the 
 other six ships, two of them 
 neutral and one having Ameri- 
 cans on board. All that our 
 bluejackets could do at that 
 moment was to rescue the 
 survivors. But the wrath and 
 indignation which our men 
 were then forced to suppress 
 found ample expression later, 
 for every officer on the watch- 
 ing squadron of destroyers 
 then became active in the 
 warfare upon the under-sea 
 vipers of the German Navy. 
 For, indeed, the first squadron 
 to be sent abroad by our Navy 
 Department was one made up 
 entirely of destroyers. It 
 reached Queenstown on May 
 13th and upon reporting to 
 Admiral Bayley of the British 
 Navy the commander was 
 asked "how soon can you be 
 ready for business?" 
 
unitf:d s'iates in the great war 
 
 Xtll ^'■ft'*-^^^ 1 •« ^1%l% -^.^.-SMJI 
 
 ^^•fc^'- ^-* * ■■ «^*^>.-'^i^v --> « N •>..*. w; 
 
 Supplies being taken aboard an American battleship just before her sa 
 war zone in Europe 
 
 "We can start at once, sir," was the answer. 
 
 There was some surprise on the part of the 
 British officer, to whom explanations were 
 made that all preparations for active service 
 had been made in the course of the voyage 
 across. As a matter of fact, however, it was 
 found that one quite essential preparation 
 had been overlooked. The American Navy 
 had always been a warm weather navy, the 
 ships going south for fleet practice as soon 
 as winter set in. When assigned to duty in 
 the chill waters of the North Sea our men 
 were found to be entirely destitute of suitable 
 clothing, and were obliged to solicit the 
 friendly aid of the British in procuring it 
 for them. Hereafter our navy will be fit to 
 serve anywhere as its vessels have been on 
 duty all the way from Pola, on the Arctic 
 Sea, to the southern extremity of the South 
 American continent. 
 
 First among the duties that 
 the navy had to perform was 
 the furnishing of trained gun- 
 ners for American merchant 
 ships. This work was begun 
 even before the declaration of 
 war, and put a heavy strain 
 on a small navy none too well 
 provided with marksmen. The 
 larger merchant ships were 
 furnished with two guns, 
 usually 4-inch calibre, mounted 
 fore and aft. Many instances 
 of successful resistance to sub- 
 marines were reported, but 
 the nature of the submarine 
 boat made it difficult to tell 
 just how successful the armed 
 merchantmen had been in 
 actually destroying these 
 pests. Oneof the first of these 
 combats was between the 
 freighter Mongolia and an 
 unknown submarine in thewar 
 zone. The freighter was un- 
 usually well armed, carr\ang 
 three guns, two of them 4-inch 
 and one 6-inch, and a naval 
 crew of nineteen men. The 
 "sub " was sighted dead ahead 
 lying in such a position that 
 she could not effectively 
 launch her torpedo. Before 
 the Mongolia's guns could 
 be brought into action the 
 enemy sunk gently from sight, 
 and thereupon all hands turned to scanning 
 the waters for a sign of her reappearance. 
 Soon the periscope broke water, and almost 
 instantaneously the 6-inch gun spoke. There 
 was a great up-rush of splinters amid the 
 geyser of water where the shell struck, and 
 as the Mongolia, at full speed ran over 
 the point at which the periscope had been, in 
 hope of ramming the boat, a great patch of 
 oil, and debris on the surface told of disaster 
 to the unseen enemy. It was never easy to 
 tell with certainty whether or not a sub- 
 marine had received its fatal stroke, but in 
 this mstance the record was thought to be 
 unquestionable. 
 
 It is worth noting that the navy men who 
 served as gunners on our ships prior to the 
 declaration of war took an added risk because 
 of the German contention that they were in 
 irregular service and not entitled to the 
 
 fur the 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 H3 
 
 ) Underwood & Underwood 
 
 Stocking the American fleet with every kind of provisions and supplies before its departure for the war zone in Europe 
 
 The American submarine squadron, the advance guard o( the Atlantic fleet, lying at anchor in the Hudson River at the tunc of 
 its review by the President, just before starting for the war. They sailed for Europe a month after we declared war 
 
244 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 iL- U. S. merchant ship, Philaddphia, with her stern gun and her gun crew ready for self-defense during the brief period of our 
 armed neutrality before we entered the war 
 
 treatment accorded to prisoners of war if 
 captured. Already a British merchant sailor, 
 Captain Fryatt, who had gallantly defended 
 his ship against torpedo attack had been put 
 to death by the Huns when captured, and 
 
 Loading a torpedo on to the American submarine A'-j 
 
 our own men had this possibility to considei 
 every time they went into action. But th« 
 thought never deterred them nor as a mattei 
 of fact did the enemy ever repeat in the casei 
 of one of our men the inhuman act of which 
 they had been guilty in the; 
 case of Captain Fryatt. 
 
 As the greater part of the 
 service of the American Navy 
 throughout the war was m the 
 campaign against the sub- 
 marines it will be worth while 
 to give some account of the 
 methods and results of this 
 service before takmg up the 
 work of the .larger units. 
 
 All the vessels on foreigni 
 station, and not a few scat- 
 tered up and down our own' 
 coast, were detailed on this 
 service. The torpedo patrols 
 were made up in the main,, 
 of two types of craft — the 
 regular destroyers, and con- 
 verted yachts, or swift power 
 boats built especially for the 
 purpose. The latter were 
 significantly enough called the 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Hi 
 
 The converted yacht, Druid, the first armed merchantman to leave this country in conformity with President Wilson's policy of 
 armed neutrality. She sailed for Cuba with a rapid fire gun forward 
 
 "Suicide Fleet," although in the end no dire 
 disaster attended their record to give aptness 
 to the phrase. Nevertheless the yacht Alcedo 
 while escorting a convoy off the French coast 
 was torpedoed and twenty of her crew were 
 killed or wounded. The submarine that 
 launched the torpedo came to the surface to 
 inquire the name of the ship she had des- 
 troyed, but submerged again 
 without manifesting any in- 
 terest in the fate of the sur- 
 vivors who floated in an icy 
 sea for fifteen hours before 
 being rescued. 
 
 In December, 1917, the Ats- 
 troyer Jacob Jones encountered 
 a submarine which let fly a 
 missile striking the American 
 directly amidships, and abreast 
 of a fuel oil tank. In eight 
 minutes the ship went to the 
 bottom. All the boats and 
 rafts were launched that time 
 would permit, but the ship 
 went down so speedily that 
 the commanding oflRcer ran 
 along the decks ordering the 
 men to leap overboard and 
 trust to being picked up by the 
 boats already in the water. 
 Two men were picked up by 
 the submarine which came to 
 
 the surface long enough to gaze on the de- 
 struction it had wrought, then disappeared 
 with its captives. 
 
 Considering, however, the dependence the 
 Germans placed upon submarine warfare 
 and the extent to which they had developed 
 this branch of their navy the United States 
 suffered but little from submarine attack. Not 
 
 © Underwood & Underwood 
 
 The fire room of a battleship where some of the hardest and most patriotic work 
 was done during the war 
 
246 
 
 UNITED ST A T E S IN THE GREAT W A R 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 247 
 
 © American Press Association 
 
 Lieut. Bruce Richardson Ware, Jr., in charge of the gun crew on the Mongolia which sank a German submarine on April 19, 1917 
 
 one American troopship on the way to France 
 was torpedoed, and but three in all were 
 lost from this cause — the Antilles, President 
 Lincoln, and Covington, all of which were sunk 
 on the return voyage. Besides the Alcedo 
 and Jacob Jones the only fighting ships lost 
 were the cruiser San Diego, sunk by a mine 
 off Fire Island, and the coast 
 guard cutter Tampa which 
 was lost with all on board, in 
 officers and men, in Bristol 
 Channel. The collier Cyclops 
 vanished utterly from the face 
 of the waters and nothing 
 has ever been learned of its 
 fate. 
 
 The actual losses to our 
 navy were most gratifyingly 
 small when the number of our 
 men engaged in naval service 
 is considered. We had in 
 commission not less than 2,ochd 
 craft of every sort, while naval 
 aircraft plied the skies, and 
 marines and shore parties of 
 blue-jackets were engaged in 
 the most hotly fought battles 
 of the European fronts. The 
 navy's i4-inch guns were 
 
 dragged from the coast to the Argonne, and 
 with their seamen crews took part in the 
 victorious battles there. As for what the 
 Marines did that has already been told in the 
 story of the battles of Belleau Wood, Chateau- 
 Thierry, and the Argonne. 
 
 When the declaration of war upon Germany 
 
 A torpedo just starting on its deadly errand 
 
248 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 249 
 
 Vincent Astor's yacht, the Norma, armed and used to guard transports while crossing the Atlantic 
 
 almost every college was a school for naval 
 instruction, and at countless places were 
 schools for certain specialized features of 
 naval service. Just north of Chicago the 
 Great Lakes Training Station that had been 
 estabhshed for some years with a capacity 
 
 was signed the total personnel of the navy 
 amounted to 65,777 men; the day the 
 armistice was signed it had increased to 
 497,000 men and women, for in the clerical 
 work ashore women were enlisted with the 
 grade of yeowomen and served efficiently 
 thoughout the war. A patri- 
 otic feature of the navy's rapid 
 growth was the rapid increase 
 in the number of Naval 
 Volunteers, the organization 
 which in war time supplanted 
 the old Naval Militia. At the 
 time the war ended more than 
 290,000 young men had volun- 
 tarily offered themselves for 
 this service. 
 
 To train this enormous body 
 of men, to supply properly 
 equipped officers, and to furnish 
 seamen as they were needed 
 notonlyfor the navy but for the 
 great merchant marine which 
 we were determined to estab- 
 lish, was a task of no small 
 proportions. The educational 
 section of the Navy Depart- 
 ment became one of the great 
 
 features of American life. In The Henky, torpedo boat destroyer, just before she made her hnc war record 
 
:50 
 
 I'NMTED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 ) Committee on Public Information 
 
 View from the mast-head of an American transport unloading her cargo at American built docks in France 
 
 for training 6,000 seamen was swiftly en- panics, their athletic teams and their social 
 larged so as to take care of 40,000 — and the organizations. To many boys it furnished the 
 whole 40,000 were there with considerable joy in youth which college life gives to those 
 pressure for 
 places for more. 
 Another sta- 
 tion of like 
 capacity was 
 at Pelham Bay 
 on the northern 
 border of 
 GreaterNew 
 York. In all 
 these schools 
 the utmost care 
 was given to 
 the enrolled 
 men. Their 
 health, their 
 comfort and 
 their morals 
 were all watch- 
 ed over with 
 the utmost 
 solicitude, and 
 their pleasures 
 were not neg- 
 lected. They 
 had their own 
 bands and 
 
 tneatncal com- This shell fired by the Germans at this British torpedo boat didn't hit anything except the ocean 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 251 
 
 Lookout in crow's nest of the skeleton mast of a 
 U. S. cruiser anxiously scanning the waters during 
 the war 
 
 who are fortunate enough to enjoy 
 it. Not all, perhaps only a small 
 fraction of those who had this training, 
 saw actual service in the navy. How 
 many will make their way into the 
 merchant marine it is yet too early 
 to say. But it is certain that no youth 
 who was fortunate enough to put 
 in the prescribed time at one of the 
 training camps failed to gain there 
 something of value in the formation 
 of character and a serviceable train- 
 ing for whatever walk in life he might 
 later elect. 
 
 The navy also had its aviation 
 service. According to the report of 
 the Secretary for 191 8 there were 
 incorporated in this branch of the 
 service 828 naval aviators, while 
 about 2,052 student officers, and 400 
 ground officers with about 12,000 
 enlisted mechanics were under train- 
 ing at the various aviation camps. 
 Neither in the flying service attached 
 to the navy nor in that department 
 of the army did the United States 
 win much glory for itself. The delay 
 in the construction of machines neces- 
 sarily led to delay in the training of 
 aviators. In the hotly contested bat- 
 tles of St. Mihiel and the Argonne our 
 troops were obliged to rely upon 
 
 foreign aviators, or at best 
 upon Americans flying foreign 
 machmes for this vital service 
 to a modern army. It may, 
 perhaps be as well to dismiss 
 here the whole matter of 
 American aviation during the 
 war. Although the airplane 
 is distinctly an American in- 
 vention, owing its inception to 
 the vision of Professor Langley, 
 of the Smithsonian Institution 
 and its perfection to the 
 Wright Brothers, our nation 
 lagged far behind in the 
 construction of successful war 
 flyers. Our appropriations for 
 this purpose were prodigious, 
 our preUminary boasting of 
 what we intended to do was 
 
 The Z-^, one of the iK-ucM .uul hiom iKiwrifnl subiii.iniK- 
 Navy, going at full speed 
 
 n rlR- U. S. 
 
252 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 2i;3 
 
 An American cruiser helping the British Navy in its tireless patrol of the North Sea during the war 
 
 An American battleship in the act of firing an enormous torpedo 
 
254 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 2SS 
 
 © Brown 8i Dawson 
 
 Firing a tinirteen-inch disappearing gun at one of our coast fortifications. You will note the gunners are protecting their ear 
 
 drums against the fearful concussion 
 
 lauseating, our actual accomplishment was 
 :ontemptible. Earlier in the war the very 
 lower of our youth had formed the Lafayette 
 i^scadrille to fight in the air for France. 
 A^hen the United States came into the war 
 ;very possible obstacle was put in the way of 
 uch of these gallant youths as still lived 
 ind desired to enter the service of their 
 iwn country. In the greater work of sup- 
 )lying the necessary machines the country 
 
 failed abjectly. To some extent this was 
 probably due to the failure to create a single 
 responsible head for the aviation service. . It 
 was divided between the army and navy de- 
 partments and neither Secretary was willing 
 to sacrifice his share of the power to the crea- 
 tion of an absolutely new department. As 
 a result the war ended with the achievements 
 of the United States in the air trivial, while 
 about the expenditure of hundreds of millions 
 
 19^ 
 
 Nets protecting an important harbor ijn the New England coast during the war 
 
2s6 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The fourteen-inch guns un the Jn:Mna. Some naval guns such as the 
 
 the Argonne 
 
 were landed in France and used with great effect in 
 
 of dollars for no perceptible results there huno; 
 an atmosphere of scandal which had not been 
 cleared away when the Germans had been 
 cleared out of France. 
 
 But to recur to the navy: 
 
 The greatest fact of the war was the marvel- 
 ous increase in the size of the fleet. When 
 war was declared the United States had 197 
 ships in commission; in December, 1918, there 
 were 2,003. Many of these were of course 
 converted merchantmen, for modern men-of- 
 war are not built in a few weeks — a fact which 
 it is hoped Congress will remember hereafter. 
 But 3'ards all over the United States were 
 busy building destroyers, the type of ship 
 which it was evident would be most service- 
 able in this war. Ninety-three ships of this 
 class and 29 submarines were launched in 
 1918. The destroyers were used not only on 
 patrol work but in convoying troopships and 
 other craft necessary to the maintenance of 
 our armies in Europe. Not onl\' did we carry 
 2,000,000 men across the ocean to fight for 
 democrac}' but we had to maintain a steady 
 procession of ships over and back carrying 
 the huge quantities of provisions and am- 
 munition needed to maintain them in the fieJd 
 of action. Not all of this work was done by 
 United States ships of course. A little more 
 than half of our army was transported under 
 the British flag. But the convoying ships 
 
 were almost all American cruisers and des- 
 troyers. 
 
 In supreme command of our American 
 naval forces in European waters was Ad- 
 miral Sims, while Rear Admiral Rodman 
 commanded the battleships serving with the 
 British Fleet, Vice Admiral Wilson the naval 
 forces in France and other rear admirals were 
 in command of minor operations. 
 
 Commanding a battleship squadron with 
 an enemy who persistently avoids battle is 
 a task which may well grate on the nerves of 
 a nav}^ sailor. But Admiral Rodman's report 
 of the operations of his fleet makes it clear 
 that if there was a lack of the perils of battle 
 there was a plethora of hardships and of ner- 
 vous strain. 
 
 "There was no liberty or leave worth men- 
 tioning; no one allowed away from the ships 
 after dark, nor for a period longer than four 
 hours and then only in the immediate vicinity 
 of the ship, in signal or telephonic communica- 
 tion subject to recall." 
 
 If there was no great battle there was ever 
 present danger. 
 
 In our operations in the North Sea we were frequently 
 attacked by submarines and our battleships had numer- 
 ous escapes often only by prompt and skilful handling. 
 On one occasion a submarine rammed the flagship 
 Ne'M York, dented the bottom and demolished the 
 starboard propeller. But there is every reason to 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 257 
 
 The great collier Cyclops which was lost at sea during the war 
 
 A mine layer tied up to the dock waiting to take on a load of the mines lying on the deck 
 
258 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 Recruits who have just arrived at the Navai Training Station at Newport, R. I. 
 
 The same recruits one hour after their arrival 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 259 
 
 3;^ 
 
 \^^w 
 
 Recruits standing at attL-ntmn in squad torrnatKin on their second day at tile Xewpurt Naval irainrm St 
 
 Recruits formed in a company square. "This formation is used particularly in quelling riots or civil disturbances of any kind 
 
26o 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 believe that the blows from the propeller sank the 
 submarine. En route to dry dock, and to make repairs 
 and instal a new propeller three torpedoes in rapid 
 succession were fired at her by hostile submarines, but 
 again she avoided them by rapid clever manaeuvrmg; 
 and escaped. Once when guarding or supporting a 
 convoy of thirty or forty vessels on the coast of Norway 
 in midwinter a bunch of hostile "subs" fired si,\ tor- 
 pedoes at us. Again only our vigilance and instantane- 
 ous mancEUvring saved us, but by a very close margin. 
 
 Some idea of the hardships to which the 
 men of the fleet were exposed may be derived 
 from this paragraph from Admiral Rodman's 
 statement: 
 
 It would be superfluous to go into the details of our 
 
 lance of the whole fleet to put to sea on all but instant 
 notice. 
 
 One branch of the United States Navy, 
 however, saw plenty of fighting ashore while 
 the bluejackets afloat were eating out their 
 hearts in vam waitmg for the enemy to offer 
 battle. This force was the United States 
 Marine Corps, an ancient branch of the ser- 
 vice, members of which like to recall that 
 historically it existed even before the Navy 
 Department was organized. In an earlier 
 chapter the work of the Marines in France has 
 been described. Some facts drawn from the 
 report of the Secretary of the Navy will be 
 
 IN. G. Mo 
 he crew ot d hvt-iiich gun on tlic Flagship Pinnsyhania rehearsing for their hoped-for shot at the German fleet 
 
 operations in the North Sea, or to mention the rigorous 
 climate, when the latitude is north of Sitka, in Alaska, 
 or about equal to that of Petrograd, in Russia; or the 
 terrific weather, the cold, sleet, snow, ice and heavy 
 seas; the arduous and dangerous navigation, the con- 
 tinuous cruising in close formation at high speed, with- 
 out lights, where the winter nights lasted eighteen 
 hours, or the dangers of mine fields — our own, some- 
 times, as well as those of the enemy — or the repeated 
 attacks of hostile submarines on our battleships, before 
 mentioned, and the never ending readiness and vigi- 
 
 of interest as showing further how great a part 
 this corps d'elite played in the brief participa- 
 tion of the United States in the World War. 
 The Marines were not a large body. Only 
 8,000 of them took part in the battles in 
 France and of that 8,000 there were killed 69 
 officers and 1,531 enlisted men, while 78 of- 
 ficers and 2,435 "^^^ were wounded badly 
 enough to have their hurts reported by cable. 
 A casualty list aggregating nearly fifty per 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 261 
 
 cent, of the men engaged is something seldom 
 seen in war and speaks volumes for the fight- 
 ing character of the Marines, whom their 
 enemies came to call "devildogs" in recogni- 
 tion of their daring. 
 
 It is not usual for the head of a great execu- 
 tive department of the government to set 
 forth in his annual report anything except 
 the most matter-of-fact account of the work 
 done by those under his authority, but Secre- 
 tary of the Navy Josephus Daniels honored 
 the Marine Corps by a graphic and stirring 
 
 Sergeant in command; but the attack did not falter. 
 At 9:45 o'clock that night Bouresches was taken by- 
 Lieutenant James F. Robertson and twenty-odd men 
 of his platoon; these soon were joined by two reinforcing 
 platoons. Then came the enemy counterattacks, but 
 the Marines held. 
 
 In Belleau Wood the fighting had been literally 
 from tree to tree, stronghold to stronghold; and it was 
 a fight which must last for weeks before its accomplish- 
 ment in victory. Belleau Wood was a jungle, its 
 every rocky formation containing a German machine- 
 gun nest, almost impossible to reach by artillery ot 
 grenade fire. There was only one way to wipe out 
 
 J liti 
 
 ^iiiiiiiTfe.feii»*ai&- 
 
 American naval aviators learning their dangerous trade on Lake Michigan 
 
 account of its service, and we think, honored 
 himself by abandoning in such a cause the 
 traditional official restraint to give proper 
 expression to the admiration the work that 
 these soldiers of the sea aroused. A short 
 quotation must suffice here: 
 
 The Marines fought strictly according to American 
 methods — a rush, a halt, a rush again, in four-wave 
 formation, the rear waves taking over the work of those 
 who had fallen before them, passing over the bodies 
 of their dead comrades and plunging ahead, until they, 
 too, should be torn to bits. But behind those waves 
 were more waves, and the attack went on. 
 
 "Men fell like flies," the expression is that of an oiEcer 
 writing from the field. Companies that had entered 
 the battle 250 strong dwindled to 50 and 60, with a 
 
 these nests — by the bayonet. And by this method 
 were they wiped out, for United States Marines, bare 
 chested, shouting their battle cry of "E-e-e-e-e 
 y-a-a-h-h-h yip!" charged straight into the murderous 
 fire from those guns, and won! 
 
 Out of the number that charged, in more than one 
 instance, only one would reach the stronghold. There, 
 with his bayonet as his only weapon, he would either 
 kill or capture the defenders of the nest, and then 
 swinging the gun about in its position, turn it against 
 the remaining German positions in the forest. Such 
 was the character of the fighting in Belleau Wood; 
 fighting which continued until July 6, when after a 
 short relief the invincible Americans finally were taken 
 back to the rest billet for recuperation. 
 
 The time came when the great gray ships 
 that had lurked so long behind the stronghold 
 
262 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 263 
 
 Admiral Meurer of the German Na 
 
 ) Underwood & Unde 
 
 is here stepping on board Admiral Sir David Beatty's flagship to arrange the terms of 
 the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet 
 
 of Heligoland, or in the ramparted fastnesses 
 of Kiel or Wilhelmshaven were to come out, 
 without flags, stripped of ammunition and 
 with their great guns turned inward to make 
 abject surrender to the navies of the trium- 
 phant allies. They were given up without a 
 fight, and to more than one of the officers who 
 received the surrender that seemed worse 
 than defeat itself. Defeat on land had forced 
 upon the Germans this surrender by sea. 
 But if to the tars of our navy it seemed that 
 they were reaping the glory won by soldiers 
 ashore let it be remembered that among those 
 soldiers,'the most timely in their victories were 
 the amphibious men of the Marine Corps. 
 
 The surrender of the German fleet was pro- 
 vided for in the terms of the armistice dic- 
 tated by General Foch. Much has been 
 written of it, for this abject surrender of a 
 powerful fleet unscarred by battle was both 
 pathetic and picturesque. But perhaps best 
 of all men to judge its significance was 
 Admiral Hugh Rodman, who was present as 
 commander of the American battleship fleet. 
 With the quotation of a part of his descrip- 
 tion of the scene this brief study of the part 
 of the United States navy in the World War 
 may well be ended: 
 
 And so, after four years of war for the Grand Fleet, 
 and after we had been a part of it for the last year, 
 
 there came the debacle, the last scene of the great 
 drama. Not as we had all expected, as the successful 
 termination of a great sea battle, but as an ignominious 
 surrender without firing a gun. 
 
 Surely no more complete victory was ever won, nor 
 a more disgraceful and humiliating end could have come 
 to a powerful and much-vaunted fleet as that which 
 came to the German High Seas Fleet. Let me try 
 to describe it to you. 
 
 The Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet de- 
 manded and received what actually amounted to an 
 unconditional surrender of the whole German navy. 
 Under his orders, the enemy's ships were disarmed, 
 ammunition landed, torpedo war heads sent ashore, 
 breech blocks and fire-control instruments removed 
 and every offensive utility rendered innocuous. 
 
 Then with reduced crews, under the command of a 
 German Admiral, in one long column, the heavy battle- 
 ships leading, the Hun fleet sailed for a designated 
 rendezvous, to arrive at a specified time just outside 
 of the Firth of Forth in Scotland, where the Grand 
 Fleet lay at anchor. 
 
 Before daylight the Grand Fleet was under way and 
 proceeded to sea, heading east, in two long columns, 
 six miles apart, our American battleship force being in 
 the middle of the northern line. A light British cruiser 
 was directed to meet the Germans who were heading 
 west, and conduct them in between our two columns. 
 
 Here let me diverge for a moment and recall to the 
 minds of any of you who have been in China or the 
 Philippines the viciousness and antipathy which the 
 domesticated carabao has for a white man. How 
 ready they are to attack, while any native child can, 
 with perfect safety and impunity, go up to the most 
 
-Js^ 
 
 "''-iiHiii 
 
 Distinguished Service Cross 
 Authorized in 1918 
 
 The Philippine Congressional Medal 
 
 Courtesy oj the- .hnerican Numismalic Society ■ 
 
 The Distinguished Service Medal 
 
 Authorized in 1918 
 
 The Naval Medal of Honor (centre) The West Indian Naval Campaign Medal 
 Authorized in i86t 
 
 The Congessional Medal of Honor 
 Authorized in 1862 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 265 
 
 ©UiiH.niooil t. Under. 
 
 On board the battleship New York at the time of the surrender ot the German High Seas Fleet. King George does not seem 
 depressed by the event, Left to right: Admiral Sir David Beatty, Admiral Rodman, King George, the Prince of Wales-, and 
 Admiral Sims 
 
266 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
268 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The Kaiser reviewing his fleet at Kiel. This was when he still thought that "Germany's future lies upon the sea" 
 
 savage of them, take them by the nose and lead them 
 where he pleases. 
 
 And so I was reminded of this when a little British 
 cruiser rounded-to ahead of the much vaunted German 
 High Seas Fleet and hoisted the signal, 'Follow me,' 
 and led them down between our columns, where our 
 battle flags were mastheaded, turrets trained toward 
 the enemy, crews at battle stations, and all in readiness 
 for any act of treachery that might be attempted. 
 
 At a prearranged signal our forces swung symmet- 
 rically through i8o degrees, and still paralleling the 
 enveloped Germans, conducted them into a designated 
 anchorage in the entrance of the Firth of Forth. Then 
 came a signal from the Commander-in-Chief to the 
 surrendered fleet: "At sundown lower your colors and 
 do not hoist them again without permission. Surely 
 no greater humiliation could have befallen them after 
 their frequent and taunting boasts and threats. 
 
 There is little else to be told. After an inspection 
 
 by British and American officers to gain assurance that 
 the ships were disarmed, they were sent in groups, 
 under guard, to Scapa Flow, in the cold, dreary, bleak, 
 God-forsaken harbor in the Orkneys, where the Grand 
 Fleet had spent many a dreary month and year, waiting 
 like ferocious dogs in leash, watching and waiting, to 
 pounce on the German Fleet should the opportunity 
 ever occur. 
 
 Here the Germans now lie at anchor, in long .mes, 
 helpless, innocuous, harmless; their sting and bite 
 removed, their national colors lowered for good and 
 all as a token of submission to their masters. Corralled 
 like wild and cruel beasts that have been hobbled 
 and emasculated, guarded by a single division of 
 battleships. 
 
 Our mission has been successfully accomp.ished; 
 the German Fleet is a thing of the past; the seas are 
 safe and free to our own and our Allies' ships. The 
 value of sea power could have no better demonstration. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE ARMISTICE EXTENT OF THE GERMAN DEFEAT TERMS OF SURRENDER 
 
 WERE THE ALLIES TOO LENIENT? THE ADVANCE INTO GERMANY OUR 
 
 TROOPS AT COBLENZ AND TREVES TEMPER OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE THE 
 
 MEASURE OF THE KAISER's CRIME THE PEACE CONFERENCE PRESIDENT 
 
 WILSON AND THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS LOSSES OF THE WORLD IN MEN AND 
 
 MONEY CHRONOLOGY 
 
 IMMEDIATELY 
 after the conclu- 
 sionof the armis- 
 tice began the 
 work of carrying out 
 its provisions. First 
 of these was the evacu- 
 ation by the enemy 
 of those parts of 
 France and Belgium 
 in which his forces 
 had been estabhshed. 
 This was in fact the 
 mere continuation of 
 the general retreat 
 which was in progress 
 when the armistice 
 silenced the thunders 
 of our pursuing guns. 
 But while the Huns 
 would have been 
 driven out, even had 
 they not sued for 
 peace, it is certain 
 that their retirement in the face of a pursu- 
 ing enemy would have been accompanied by 
 those methods of devastation of territory, 
 and barbarous oppression of the people which 
 the Germans had shown themselves so well 
 able to practice. 
 
 From this the armistice saved the portions 
 of aUied territory still in enemy hands. To 
 many Americans, and to even more French 
 and British, that capitulation seemed pre- 
 mature and its terms too mild to be applied 
 to a piratical and savage foe. But as yet 
 the world does not know to what extent it 
 was hastened by apprehension lest the 
 Germans, retreating under fire, should inflict 
 upon the great Belgian cities held by them — 
 Ghent, Bruges and Brussels — the same sort 
 of devastation which had obliterated St. 
 
 Quentin and Ypres from the face of the 
 earth, and reduced Rheims and other French 
 towns to masses of rums. As it was, while 
 the terms of the armistice prohibited further 
 destruction, the retreating Huns robbed 
 without restra,int the people of every com- 
 munity that had been cursed by their pres- 
 ence. Never in the history of warfare in the 
 last three hundred years at least, has the 
 spoliation of conquered peoples been so re- 
 duced to an exact science as by the German 
 exponents of Kultur. We have to go back 
 centuries for any adequate parallel. 
 
 When Alaric, first of the Huns whose deeds 
 have been outdone by the HohenzoUerns, 
 stood at the gates of Rome haughtily dic- 
 tating to its terrified envoys the terms on 
 which he would spare the Imperial City from 
 complete destruction, they cried out in futile 
 protest: 
 
 "If such. Oh King, are your demands 
 what do you purpose to leave us ? " 
 
 "Your lives," responded the Fifth Century 
 prototype of Hindenburg. 
 
 Bismarck was a true descendant of the 
 Huns and Vandals that almost destroyed 
 European civilization fifteen centuries ago. 
 Asked what he intended to concede to the 
 French who were held at German mercy in 
 1 87 1 he responded: 
 
 "We will leave the French people only 
 their eyes to weep with." 
 
 Doubtless it was apprehension of the fur- 
 ther barbarities that the Germans might 
 perpetrate upon the people of the districts 
 they still occupied that impelled the Allies 
 to grant the enemy some respite from the 
 annihilation which it was within their power 
 to inflict. If a necessary concession it was 
 still an unfortunate one. For it permitted 
 the Germans to withdraw within their own 
 territory armies aggregating at least 3,000,000 
 
 269 
 
270 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 men winch hatl not sustained any crushing 
 defeat, and were not even effectively dis- 
 armed. The terms of the armistice, indeed, 
 provided that there should be surrendered to 
 the Allies 5,000 guns (2,500 heavy, and 2,500 
 field), 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 minen- 
 werfer, and 1,700 airplanes. But while 
 this would cripple the enemy it by no means 
 wholly disarmed him. Possibly in the hope 
 that the returning army would be a force for 
 the maintenance of law and order against 
 threatened revolutionary terror in Germany, 
 the soldiers were not deprived of their per- 
 sonal arms — rifles, swords or pistols. The 
 defeated armies were thus spared the igno- 
 
 The then Chancellor of State, Franz 
 Ebert, addressing them, said in part: 
 
 "^'our deeds and sacrifices are unexampled. No 
 enemy overcame you. Only when the preponderance 
 of our opponents in men and material grew ever heavier 
 did we abandon the struggle. 
 
 You endured indescribable sufferings, accomplished 
 incomparable deeds, and gave, year after year, proofs 
 ot your unshakable courage. You protected the home- 
 land from invasion, sheltered your wives, children, 
 and parents from flames and slaughter and preserved 
 the nation's workshops and fields from devastation. 
 
 With deepest emotion the homeland thanks you. 
 ^'ou can return with heads erect. Never have men 
 done or suffered more than vou. 
 
 ng \ ictor Immaniiel ot Italy and some of Italy's victorious soldiers celebrating victory around the statue of Dante 
 
 miny of returning home stripped of all insignia 
 of the soldier, without arms and reduced to 
 the quahty of a mere mob. 
 
 The wisdom of this clemency is made 
 doubtful by the deliberate misconstruction 
 of the situation in Germany by the press and 
 by official spokesmen of the government. 
 The home coming soldiers entered Berlin 
 like conquerors. Through the Brandenburg 
 Gate and down Unter den Linden they 
 marched, arms at shoulder and field guns in 
 train, to the Palace whence the Kaiser had 
 been ousted but from the galleries of which 
 representatives of the government of the 
 moment addressed to them words of compli- 
 ment and praise. 
 
 The correspondent of a neutral paper com- 
 menting upon the scene wrote, "Berlin was 
 once more a military town, full of enthusiasm 
 for the soldiers and their deeds. There was 
 nothing in the entry to call to mind the na- 
 tional defeat." 
 
 These words are written just as the Peace 
 Conference is about to begin its sessions at 
 Versailles. More than two months have 
 passed since in the meeting at Senlis the rep- 
 resentatives of Germany admitted defeat, 
 and begged for a cessation of the war. French, 
 American, British, and Belgian armies are 
 in occupation of German cities and the 
 German frontier has been moved back to the 
 Rhine. But not one voice in Germany — if 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 ) International Film Service, Inc. " 
 
 The spontaneous victory celebration after signing of the armistice on Fifth Avenue, New York — known as the Avenue of the 
 Allies. Tons of paper were thrown from the windows by the excited celebrators 
 
 
 
 
 
 * ., ■<■ 
 
 
 «J**»--v' 
 
 *,-W 
 
 © International Filn 
 
 The victory celebration in Chicago where the crowds were even denser than in New York 
 
272 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 273 
 
 we except that of a single rather sensational 
 journalist — has been raised to express regret 
 for even the most frightful atrocities com- 
 mitted by the German troops or in any plea 
 for forgiveness for the perpetration of the 
 greatest crime known to history. The atti- 
 tude of the German nation toward those 
 upon whom it so long worked 
 its criminal will is haughty 
 and unsubdued. It is only 
 to be expected that some new 
 Treitschke will presently arise 
 to preach anew the gospel of 
 war and devastation, and point 
 out that by their excesses in 
 France and Belgium the Ger- 
 man armies instilled in the 
 minds of their enemies such 
 dread of what they might yet 
 do as to snatch honorable 
 terms of surrender from the 
 jaws of ignoble defeat. Only 
 by the exactions which the 
 Peace Conference may lay up- 
 on the Teuton nations can 
 they be made to feel their re- 
 sponsibility and to do penance 
 for it. 
 
 Under the terms of the ar- 
 mistice the armies of the Allies 
 followed the Germans as they 
 retreated from France, and in- 
 to the German territory that 
 was set aside for Allied occu- 
 pation. This territory in- 
 cluded all of Germany west of 
 the Rhine, and for a distance 
 of ten kilometers east of it, 
 together with the cities of 
 Cologne, Mayence, and Cob- 
 lenz, with a semi-circular ex- 
 panse of territory, thirty kilo- 
 meters wide, back of each. All 
 of Belgium and France was of 
 course to be] evacuated, and 
 the Belgian troops, long barred 
 from their country, pressed close upon the 
 heels of the retreating host so that on the 
 22nd of November King Albert rode in tri- 
 umph into Brussels whence he had been 
 driven into exile four years before. 
 
 Our American troops first entered Germany 
 along the Sauer and Moselle rivers, occupying 
 first the city of Treves. Coblenz, one of the 
 chief bridgeheads along the line was occupied 
 by. them on the 9th of December, A corres- 
 
 pondent, Mr. Edwin L. James accompanied 
 the army of occupation and from his account 
 of the reception of our troops in these two 
 German cities some quotations may well be 
 made: 
 
 It was just five-thirty o'clock this morning, exactly 
 one month after they broke through the German line, 
 
 Looking east on Locust Street from 8th Street, St Louis, Mo. A scene in the 
 spontaneous victory celebration after the signing of the armistice. Not only in 
 St. Louis but all over the country the people expressed their joy by throwing enor- 
 mous quantities of paper out of the windows 
 
 north of Verdun and made the now famous dash toward 
 Sedan, that the Americans quit hospitable Luxembourg 
 for their trek into what the late and unlamented ex- 
 Kaiser used to call the sacred soil of the Fatherland. 
 
 To one watching those business-like lads cross the 
 international bridge of Wasserbillig in the sickly light 
 of a cloudy dawn they seemed to march just as they 
 did not so long ago, when the same lads were going 
 into the hell which lasted five weeks over in the Meuse 
 sector. Who could have told them a month ago that 
 to-day they would be marching footfree into the land 
 
274 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 275 
 
 A night scene in the Far East in celebration of the signing of the armistice 
 
 of the enemy? But into Germany they marched, 
 their eyes straight ahead, their rifles held tight, and 
 their cartridge clips filled. There was nothing of the 
 popular conception of a conquering army about them. 
 They were solemn-faced lads, business-like and quiet, 
 and, above all, ready for whatever was to come. 
 
 One was impressed by the general prosperous and 
 sleek appearance of the whole city. The shop windows 
 were well filled with all sorts of merchandise; the meat 
 shops were far from empty. There was that air that 
 one used to see about captured Ger- 
 riian officers — thesame sullen apathy, 
 the same insolent and disdainful 
 manner. To one who smiled, many 
 frowned; but most simply stood there 
 and stared. We went out on the 
 bridge over the beautiful Moselle to 
 await the coming of the Americans. 
 
 It was just at I o'clock, German 
 time, that Colonel Hunt appeared, 
 leading the 6th Infantry of the 5th 
 Division, which is to be the perma- 
 nent garrison of the city during our 
 occupation. Behind him came ft 
 brass band, formed by doughboys, 
 who were a full regiment strong, 
 and a company of machine guns. 
 They were neat and nifty, these 
 victorious young Americans, as they 
 marched so solemnly into this Hun 
 city. 
 
 It was so different from the entry 
 into French and Belgian towns, 
 where the smiles of little children 
 and blessings and joyful tears of 
 grown folks had greeted us. Here 
 
 was hostility lurking beneath the smirking surface 
 hospitality of the Hun. I turned and marched with 
 the head of the column into the ancient city, the Ger- 
 man name of which is Trier. 
 
 No American was there but loved that bandmaster. 
 He must have come from south of the Mason and Dixon 
 Line, for as Colonel Hunt set foot into the city the 
 strains of "Dixie" broke out. The tune quickened the 
 heartbeats and footsteps of the Americans, but of all 
 those thousands of Germans who lined our path none 
 
 An American shell stopped the flight of this German gun and crew, killing botli 
 the members of the crew and the horses 
 
276 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 German soldiers in the town of Hunigen during tlieir evacuation of Alsace and retreat nito Germany 
 
 showed the least feeHng except the little children, who 
 smiled at the soldiers, as all children will. 
 
 The crowd grew denser and denser as we reached 
 the square. Here a band broke into "Suwanee River," 
 and just then the standard bearer gave the Stars and 
 Stripes an extra whirl, and the column passed on by the 
 ancient Porta Nigra to their barracks. 
 
 After the triumphal and glorious march through 
 France and Belgium and evenLuxembourgtheappalling 
 silence almost frightened one. There was gloom 
 everywhere. Even the German flags 
 and arches which had welcomed the 
 returning boche .soldiers had been put 
 away, and nothing remained undone 
 to make the ceremony more sombre. 
 
 One was deeply impressed by the 
 quiet dignity of the American soldiers 
 to-day. These lads whistled and 
 joked and played mouth-organs while 
 going into battle, but marching 
 through Germany to-day there 
 wasn't a smile on their faces or a 
 joke on their lips. They were dead 
 serious. 
 
 At Coblenz the reception 
 was very different, and the 
 description given by Mr. 
 James of the gayety and seem- 
 ing prosperity of the city con- 
 trasts curiously with the pleas 
 that even then were being 
 made by German spokesmen 
 that the Allies should feed 
 their people lest they starve: 
 
 The reception of the Americans here was very differ- 
 ent from that at Treves. There sullen silence greeted 
 us everywhere. Here smiling delegations met us; 
 pretty girls waved hands and handkerchiefs. 
 
 The river promenade was crowded with the curious, 
 who were in remarkably good humor. Every one 
 seems anxious to do what can be done for the Americans. 
 One walks along the boardwalk here, which, if one did 
 not look across the picturesque Rhine, one might 
 imagine the Atlantic City promenade, and one rubs 
 
 The triumphal entrance of Marshal Petain and his victorious troops into Metz 
 on the Rhine from whose great fortress the Germans had threatened the French 
 for forty-eight years 
 
278 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © Committee on Public Information 
 The 28th Infantry, ist Division of the American Army of Occupation, marching down the valley of the Moselle to the Rhine. 
 Whatever their motives, the people along the way are far from hostile 
 
 one's eyes to make one's self believe that this is a vah- 
 quished nation. 
 
 A German officer took me for a walk late in the after- 
 noon. Thousands of well-dressed men and handsomely 
 gowned women thronged the boulevard along the Rhine, 
 the crowd in front of the magnificent Coblenzerhof 
 reminding one of a Fifth Avenue holiday parade. The 
 shop windows were filled with luxuries of every descrip- 
 
 tion. I bought excellent cigars and Waldorf-Astoria 
 cigarettes. 
 
 My German guide took me into the city's finest 
 tearoom. Here was matched the tearoom in Sherry's 
 any December afternoon. Silks and satins and furs 
 vs'ere on all sides. The tearoom itself was ornate and 
 luxurious in its appointments. 
 
 Last night the cafes were filled with merrymakers 
 up to II o'clock, and the theatres 
 were running full blast. The gayety 
 was as if Germany had won and 
 not lost the war. The world knovrs 
 Coblenz as one of the beautiful cities 
 of Europe, and certainly the German 
 defeat has dimmed none of its glory. 
 Blooming prosperity is every^vhere 
 apparent, and if there is any scarcity 
 of food I have not been able to find 
 it. The famous old Monopol Hotel 
 and the Coblenzerhof and numerous 
 restaurants serve meals that would 
 tickle the palate of an epicure. 
 
 At almost any other time one 
 would have felt happy to be here; 
 but now, seeing Coblenz, one at 
 once remembers Rheims. Seeing 
 Coblenz sleek and prosperous, one 
 feels that Germany is not yet re- 
 pentant. 
 
 Col. Milo C. Corey, the first member of the Second American Division to arrive 
 in Luxembourg, inquiring his way to Mersch — one of the stopping points of the 
 Division on its way to the Rhine 
 
 Repentance, indeed, may 
 come later. Germany suffered 
 cruelly in men and loss of 
 wealth in the war which she 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The iSth Infantry of the First Division American Army marching across the border hne between France and Lorraine near Metz 
 
 SO causelessly and wickedly provoked. But 
 her loss thus far has not exceeded, in the 
 case of France indeed has hardly equalled, 
 that of her victims though the responsibility 
 is all hers. To-day the Peace Congress of 
 the AUied nations sits at Versailles to fix 
 the measure of that responsibility and to 
 determine the method by which the Germans 
 shall be forced to pay. 
 
 The former Kaiser, dethroned and fearing 
 for his life should he enter 
 again his former dominions is 
 in exile in Holland, where he 
 finds none so poor as to do 
 him reverence. The nation he 
 wrecked faces ruin. When 
 the criminal folly of his mili- 
 taristic advisers led him to 
 give acquiescence to this war 
 Germany was first of the na- 
 tions of Continental Europe 
 and in a fair way to outdo the 
 world. Her military and na- 
 val strength, great as they 
 were, were the least of her 
 glories. To her universities 
 flocked stiSldehts from all over 
 the world. Her methods of 
 municipal government were 
 widely applauded and coming 
 in for general imitation. Her 
 position in apphed science 
 was foremost, and her 
 
 manufactures were rapidly eclipsing those 
 of Great Britain, that had long been the 
 workshop of the world. Her merchant ma- 
 rine, under wise government support, had 
 become second on the seas, and an army of 
 state-aided and state-instructed salesmen 
 were invading all markets with German 
 made goods. The policy of peaceful pene- 
 tration was winning everything for Germany, 
 and it was a sorry day for her people when 
 
 An advance guard of the American Aim\ ni ()iiupation 
 between France and Germany 
 
 the boundary 
 
28o 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 281 
 
 An American transport train in Germany, passing throug 
 
 © International Film Service 
 
 Coblenz on the Rhine, on their way to take over the Fort of Coblenz 
 
 their rulers thought they could hasten this 
 method of assured conquest by adopting 
 the course of international pirates. The 
 world arose as a unit against this programme 
 and beat Germany to the dust. 
 
 All civilized peoples hope that this war, 
 however full it may have been of glory for 
 the victors, will be the last. At the Peace 
 Conference at Versailles the President of the 
 United States appears as the foremost cham- 
 pion of a League of Nations that shall hence- 
 forward make war impossible. The first 
 President ever to leave our shores for Europe 
 during his term of office, Mr. Wilson sits as 
 the first American ever to take part in a 
 European conference for adjudicating the 
 results of a war. His position is unique in 
 
 history, as it is in the conference. He is 
 there representing a nation which seeks no 
 territory or advantage for itself as the fruit 
 of the conflict in which it played a tardy but 
 determinative part. He represents the great- 
 est force for future peace and is looked upon 
 by the representatives of all the world as the 
 foremost proponent of that form of interna- 
 tional organization which alone can avert the 
 recurrence of the calamity which has so dark- 
 ened the early days of the Twentieth Century. 
 How great will be his measure of success it is 
 too early yet to tell but surely civilization will 
 have missed its greatest opportunity if this 
 conference shall adjourn without the formu- 
 lation of some agreement among the nations 
 that shall make future wars impossible. 
 
282 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © International Film Se 
 
 An ;irtillery unit of the American Army of Occupation marching along the Rhine, approaching Coblenz 
 
 © International Film Service 
 The First Division of the American Expeditionary Forces crossing the laniutis ulJ pontoon bridge leading into Coblenz, Germany 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 283 
 
 THE COST OF THE WAR IN MEN AND MONEY 
 
 Up to and including February 14, 1919, General 
 Pershing had reported the following casualties suffered 
 by the United States Expeditionary Force: 
 
 Killed in action .... 30,868 
 
 Died of wounds .... 13,020 
 
 Died of disease .... 19,202 
 
 Died of other causes . . 3,521 
 
 Dead from all causes. . . 66,611 
 
 Missing in action . . . . 11,200 
 
 Wounded 166,607 
 
 M.IRINE CORPS 
 
 Killed 1,562 
 
 Wounded ....... 9,260 
 
 Missing 697 
 
 Very few details are available regarding the distri- 
 bution of our casualties amongst the various branches 
 of the service or regarding the proportions of officers 
 and men. It is known, however, that the U. S. Air 
 Service had total casualties of 442 members of its 
 commissioned personnel of whom 109 were killed, 103 
 wounded, 200 missing, 27 prisoners, and 3 interned 
 in neutral countries. To these must be added 159 
 who lost their lives while in training. 
 
 Included in the above grand total of losses suffered 
 by the United States forces in Europe are also those of 
 the various regiments of Marines. These amounted 
 in all up to December 23, 1918, to 5,280, of which 192 
 [ were officers — 90 killed, loi wounded, i missing — and 
 S,o88 non-commissioned officers and privates — 1,908 
 killed, 2,792 wounded, 75 prisoners, and 313 missing. 
 
 BRITISH LOSSES TO NOVEMBER 19, 1918 
 
 
 KILLED 
 
 WOUNDED 
 
 MISSING 
 
 TOTAL 
 
 France 
 Dardanelles . 
 Mesopotamia 
 Egypt ^ . . 
 Saloniki . 
 East Africa . 
 Italy ... . 
 Other fronts . 
 
 
 559,612 
 33.522 
 31,109 
 15.892 
 7.615 
 9,104 
 1,027 
 823 
 
 1.833.345 
 ■78,518 
 51. "5 
 38,073 
 16,876 
 
 7,754 
 4.946 
 1.515 
 
 326,69s 
 
 7.689 
 
 15.355 
 
 3,888 
 
 2,827 
 
 967 
 
 765 
 
 959 
 
 2,719,652 
 119,729 
 
 97,579 
 
 • 57,853 
 
 27,318 
 
 17,825 
 
 6,738 
 
 3,297 
 
 Total . . 
 
 658,704 
 
 2,032,142 
 
 359,14s 
 
 3,049,991 
 
 LOSSES OF THE BRITISH NAVY AND MERCANTILE 
 MARINE 
 
 
 KILLED 
 
 WOUNDED 
 
 MISSING 
 
 TOTAL 
 
 Navy: Officers . 
 Men . . 
 Mercantile Ma- 
 rine (all ranks) 
 
 2,466 
 30.895 
 
 14,661 
 
 S05- 
 4,378 
 
 237 
 985 
 
 3,29s 
 
 3,508 
 36,258 
 
 17,956 
 
 Total . . 
 
 48,022 
 
 5,183 
 
 4,517 
 
 57.722 
 
 It will thus be seen that the total losses of all British 
 forces on sea and land were: 
 
 Killed 706,726 
 
 Wounded 2,037,325 
 
 Missing ........ 363,662 
 
 Total 3. 107.713 
 
 These men, the M. P.'s of the 42nd or Rainbow Division, are lined up for guard duty alo 
 
 the new Wacht am Rhine 
 
 .lime ncai 
 
 Coblenz. This is 
 
jS4 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The former Kaiser and Count Bentinck walking in the garden of Castle Amerongen, where the former has been interned 
 
 by the Government of Holland 
 
 In interpreting these figures it must be understood 
 that the term "missing" includes men taken prisoners 
 as well as those of whom no trace could be found. On 
 the other hand "killed" does not include any except 
 those actually fallen in action or who died from wounds. 
 It will, therefore, be seen that the total of deaths will 
 be considerably larger than 706,726 after those have 
 been included who were listed as "missing," but are 
 actually dead as well as those who died from sickness, 
 and it has been stated on good authority that the total 
 of British dead was very close to 1,000,000. 
 
 Regarding the losses suffered by our French allies, 
 details are as yet more or less lacking. Official an- 
 nouncements give the total of dead up to November 
 I, 1918, as 1,071,300, of whom 31,300 were officers 
 and 1,040,000 men. There were also 3 14,000 missing — 
 3,000 officers and 3 1 1,000 men — and 446,300 prisoners — 
 8,300 officers and 438,000 men. Those who died from 
 wounds or disease numbered about 330,000, while 
 some 800,000 more were wounded, but recovered. The 
 grand total for France, therefore, may be reckoned at: 
 
 No figures, not even approximate estimates, are 
 available covering the casualties suffered by the civil 
 population in those parts of France in which the war 
 was fought. The total, however, must have been very 
 heavy, considering the brutality with which the Central 
 Powers carried on warfare. The same lack of figures 
 exists respecting the losses suffered by the civil popula- 
 tions of Belgium, Italy, Serbia, Rumania, Austria- 
 Hungary, Russia, and of other parts of the world in 
 which actual fighting occurred. 
 
 Casualty totals for the Italian forces vary — as 
 estimated by various agencies — from 1,500,000 to 
 2,800,000. The latter figure is that of an estimate 
 made by a Colonel of the Italian Army who distributes 
 it as follows: 
 
 Killed in action 
 
 Died of wounds or disease 
 Wounded, missing and prisoners 
 
 Total . 
 
 500,000 
 
 300,000 
 
 2,000,000 
 
 2,800,000 
 
 I 
 
 Killed ...... 
 
 Died of wounds or disease 
 Missing and prisoners 
 Wounded 
 
 1,071,300 
 330,000 
 760,300 
 Soo,ooo 
 
 Total 2,961,600 
 
 Russian war casualties, too, have been estimated 
 at widely differing numbers. The latest estimate 
 amounted to 9,150,000, of which 1,700,000 were said 
 to have been killed, 1,450,000 to have been totally 
 disabled, 3,500,000 to have been wounded, and 2,500,000 
 to have been taken prisoners. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 28s 
 
 Other nations, fighting on the side of the Alhes — 
 Belgium, Serbia, Rumania, Greece, and Portugal — 
 according to estimates lost by death altogether 530,000. 
 While the grand total of their dead, wounded, and 
 captured is placed at 1,310,000. 
 
 The German casualties up to October 25, 1918, 
 are said to have been distributed as follows: 
 
 
 DEAD 
 
 WOUNDED 
 
 MISSING 
 
 TOTAL 
 
 Prussia and 
 
 
 
 
 
 small German 
 
 
 
 
 
 states. 
 
 1,262,060 
 
 2,882,671 
 
 616,139 
 
 4,760,870 
 
 Bavaria. 
 
 150,658 
 
 363,823 
 
 72,115 
 
 586,596 
 
 Saxony . . 
 
 108,017 
 
 252,027 
 
 51.787 
 
 411,831 
 
 Wiirttemberg . 
 
 64,507 
 
 155.654 
 
 16,802 
 
 236,963 
 
 German Navy . 
 
 25,862 
 
 28,968 
 
 15.679 
 
 70,509 
 
 Total . 
 
 1,611,104 
 
 3,683,143 
 
 772,522 
 
 6,066,769 
 
 Of the grand total of 6,066,769 of all casualties 
 140,760 were officers — 44,700 dead, 82,460 wounded 
 and 13,600 missing — and 5,926,009 non-commissioned 
 officers and men. 
 
 Austria-Hungary's losses have been estimated at 
 4,000,000 of which 800,000 — including 17,000 officers — 
 are said to have been killed. Bulgaria and Turkey 
 are believed to have suffered losses amounting to 
 1,000,000 each, of which the former lost some 250,000 
 and the latter about 300,000 in dead. 
 
 Summarizing all these figures we get the following 
 stupendous totals for the cost of the war expressed in 
 human lives, as shown in the table below: 
 
 The cost of the war expressed in dollars and cents, 
 though, of course, not as tragic in its results as that in 
 human lives, is hardly less staggering. 
 
 When the United States went to war in April, 1917, 
 
 KILLED IN ACTION 
 
 — DEAD FROM ALL 
 
 OTHER CAUSES 
 
 Belgium 
 
 France 
 
 Great Britain 
 
 Greece 
 
 Italy .... 
 
 Portugal . 
 
 Roumania . 
 
 Russia 
 
 Serbia 
 
 United States 
 
 All Allies . . 
 
 Austria-Hungary 
 Bulgaria . 
 Germany 
 Turkey . 
 
 Central Powers 
 
 All Belligerents 
 
 150,000 
 
 1,330,000 
 
 706,726 
 
 25,000 
 
 800,000 
 
 4,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 1,700,000 
 
 150,000 
 
 58,478 
 
 800,000 
 
 250,000 
 
 1,611,104 
 
 300,000 
 
 2,961,104 
 
 TOTAL DEAD, 
 WOUNDED, CAPTURED 
 
 400,000 
 2,961,600 
 
 3. 107.7 1 3 
 100,000 
 
 2,800,000 
 
 10,000 
 
 400,000 
 
 9,150,000 
 400,000 
 264,856 
 
 4,000,000 
 1,000,000 
 6,066,769 
 1,000,000 
 
 GRAND 
 TOTAL 
 
 12,066,769 
 
 31,660,938 
 
 Ihe former Crown Prince of Germany in exile on the Island of \\ lurgingen in the Zuyder Zee, Holland. These carriages are 
 taking the former Prince and his party to the humble cottage in the village of Osterland where they are interned 
 
286 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 287 
 
 Being mustered out of the National Army after the signing of the armistice. Every man is tested as to his knowledge of a 
 trade or vocation and his physical fitness before he is released 
 
288 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 The President getting his first glimpse of France from the little despatch boat that took the Presidential party from the 
 George Washington to Brest, France, on December 31, 1918 
 
 our public debt was somewhat under $2,500,000,000. plished by the flotation of four Liberty Loans and the 
 
 By November, 1918, when definite figures for the sale of War Savings Stamps. The following figures 
 
 subscriptions to the 4th Liberty Loan became available give some idea of the gradual increase in our public 
 
 it had risen to over $20,000,000,000. This was accom- debt: 
 
 1st Liberty Loan 
 2nd Liberty Loan . 
 3rd Liberty Loan . 
 4th Liberty Loan . 
 War Savings Stamps 
 
 Total 
 
 AMOUNT ASKED 
 
 SUBSCRIPTIONS 
 RECEIVED 
 
 i52,00O,0OO,0OO 
 3,000,000,000 
 3,000,000,000 
 6,000,000,000 
 
 $3,035,226,850 
 4,617,532,300 
 4,176,516,850 
 6,989,047,300 
 
 $14,000,000,000 $18,695,692,300 $17,730,699,300 54,100,000 
 
 SUBSCRIPTIONS 
 ACCEPTED 
 
 $2,000,000,000 
 
 3,808,766,150 
 
 4,176,516,850 
 
 6,989,047,000 
 
 879,000,000 
 
 NUMBER OF 
 SUBSCRIBERS 
 
 4,500,000 
 9,500,000 
 18,300,000 
 21,800,000 
 
 President Wilson being welcomed in Paris which beautiful city has been called the capitol of the world 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 289 
 
 The returns from these loans, of course, only formed about ^10,327,000,000 and obligations had been in- 
 
 part of our war chest. To them were added part of curred forthe additionaldisbursementof ^4,426,000,000. 
 
 our regular revenues from customs and taxes and other Out of this, it was expected that as a result of the cessa- 
 
 vast sums procured from special war taxes of many tion of hostilities $2,600,000,000 could be saved; to 
 
 kinds. On the other hand not all of the moneys thus this sum must be added the unexpended and un- 
 
 become available for war expenditures, can be con- obligated balance of $9,528,000,000, making the actual 
 
 sidered pure expenditures. Much of it was invested cost of the army during the war about $12,153,000,000. 
 
 rather than expended. Under this head come large Similar retrenchments in other departments, it was 
 
 amounts used in building ships, in building camps and hoped, would amount to about $4,000,000,000. It 
 
 barracks and guns, in advancing rnoney to our Allies, may, therefore, be said that the total net war expendi- 
 
 railroads, and otherwise helping along temporarily cer- ture of the United States between April 6, 1917, and 
 
 tain undertakings of importance to our war activities. November 1 1,1918, amounted to about $31,000,000,000. 
 
 Total appropriations and authorizations voted by The British Government between August i, 1914, 
 
 Congress during the war amounted to $57,000,000,000. and November 16, 1918, spent $42,097,320,000. Of 
 
 Of this vast sum $10,000,000,000 was set aside for war this $10,789,200,000 was provided by revenue and 
 
 time loans to foreign governments. Up to the end of $31,308,120,000 from loans. 
 
 December, 1918, about 85 per cent, of this amount had Again, as in the case of the United States, allowances 
 
 been used, distributed as follows: must be made for sums loaned by Great Britain to its 
 
 Great Britain ^4,195,000,000 allies and dominions amounting for the same period to 
 
 France 2,445,000,000 some $8,180,000,000. This would make the net war 
 
 ^taly 1,210,000,000 expenditure of Great Britain, not allowing for some 
 
 d"i*^'^ 325,000,000 $5,000,000,000 represented by "recoverable" expendi- 
 
 Delgium 213,320,000 ^-" 1 rf 
 
 Greece 39.554>036 tures, about $34,000,000,000. 
 
 Cuba 15,000,000 The public debt of Great Britain on August I, 1914, 
 
 Serbia 12,000,000 ^vas $3,450,600,000. By November 16, 1918, it had 
 
 Rumama. ...... ^'^'^^6 reached $34,763,580,000. Included in this last figure, 
 
 Liberia 5,000,000 ^jt^i j'j > ^ . ' 
 
 Czecho-Slovaks 7,000,000 however, are some temporary engagements amounting 
 
 ■ to almost $10,000,000,000 so that for comparison with 
 
 Totsl $8,473,540,702 thg pre-war public debt a present total of about 
 
 Up to October 31, 1918, the army had been voted $25,000,000,000 is more nearly correct. 
 
 $24,281,000,000. Of this there had been disbursed Only estimates are available in regard to the war 
 
 Public Information 
 President Wilson with President Poincare leaving the railway station of Boulogne Woods, at the western portals of Paris, 
 for a triumphal tour through the French capital to the home of Prince Murat, which is to be during the Peace Conference the 
 "White House Overseas" 
 
290 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE CJREAT WAR 
 
 &~ 
 
UNITED 
 
 America's fleet returning from the war and entering tiie mouth of the North River, followed by river craft and dirigibles overhead 
 
 costs incurred by the other belligerents. In the case 
 of France these vary from ^28,ooo,occ,ooo to 
 $50,000,000,000. One put at $31,600,000,000 and 
 announced late in Dec, 1918, by M. de Billy, Deputy 
 High Commissioner of the French Republic to the 
 United States, therefore, seems the most reliable. Of 
 this sum almost $21,000,000,000 was raised by loans, 
 over two thirds by internal loans, and the balance by 
 loans from Allies and Neutrals. 
 
 Belgium's war expenditure is estimated at 
 $4,000,000,000; Italy's (up to June, 1918,) at 
 $11,500,000,000. 
 
 In the following compilation ofHcial or semi-official 
 figures have been used, though in some cases these did 
 
 not cover expenditures after August i, 1918. However, 
 the result, it is believed, will come very near to actual 
 figures which will, of course, not become available 
 until long after the end of the war. 
 
 These figures, include the expenditures 'for war 
 purposes as well as the damages caused by hostile 
 occupation, devastation, confiscation, air raids, sub- 
 marine sinkings, etc. The latter, of course, are more 
 or less hypothetical and in the case of Russia it is 
 impossible under the conditions existing at the time 
 general hostilities ceased to arrive even at an estimate 
 of the damages caused by German-Austrian occupa- 
 tion, revolutions, etc. 
 
 WAR EXPENDITURES OF ALL BELLIGERENTS 
 
 Belgium 
 France . . 
 Great Britain 
 Italy 
 Japan 
 Portugal. 
 Rumania 
 Russia . 
 Serbia 
 
 U. S 
 
 Misc. . . . 
 
 All Allies . . 
 
 Austria-Hungary 
 Bulgaria. 
 Germany 
 Turkey . 
 
 Central Powers 
 
 All Belligerents 
 
 ACTUAL WAR COST 
 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 
 $163,736,000,000 
 
 15,000,000,000 
 260,000,000 
 
 33,000,000,000 
 170,000,000 
 
 1,430,000,000 
 
 $212,166,000,000 
 
 (for devastation; etc.) 
 sinkings 
 
 damages CLAIMED 
 
 $1,400,000,000 
 
 20,000,000,000 
 
 2,750,000,000 
 
 150,000,000 
 
 1 50,000,000 
 
 ? 
 
 50,000,000 
 
 500,000,000 
 
 $25,000,000,000 
 
 150,000,000 
 10,000,000 
 50,000,000 
 50,000,000 
 
 $260,000,000 
 
 $25,260,000,000 
 
 $5400, 
 51,600, 
 36,750, 
 12,650, 
 16, 
 280, 
 
 335: 
 
 50,000. 
 
 105: 
 
 31,000, 
 
 600, 
 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 
 ,ooo,opo 
 ,oco,ooo 
 
 ,000,000 
 ,000,000 
 
 ,000,000 
 
 $188,736,000,000 
 
 $48,690,000,000 
 
 $237,426,000,000 
 
202 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 
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 © Linderwood l^: L ndt-rwood 
 
 The Lord Mayor presenting President Wilson with the freedom of the City of London. This is an honor seldom conferred 
 
 upon the chief executives of other nations 
 
 CHRONOLOGY OF THE PART TAKEN BY THE UNITED STATES IN THE WAR 
 
 1917 
 
 February 3. Count von BernstorfF, German Ambassador 
 to the United States, given his passports. United States 
 Ambassador Gerard recalled from Berlin. 
 
 March 9. President calls extra session of Congress. Orders 
 
 arming of American merchant ships. 
 ■ March 24. Minister Whitlock ordered by President to leave 
 Belgium. 
 
 April 2. President asks Congress to declare state of war 
 existing between L'nited States and Germany. 
 
 Jpril 5. State of war declared. 
 
 May 16. Admiral Simms reports his torpedo squadron in 
 European waters. 
 
 May 18. Selective draft law enacted. 
 
 June 5. Registration day under draft law; over 10,000,000 
 enrolled. 
 
 June 8. General Pershing reaches London. 
 
 June 15. First Liberty Loan subscription closed, subscrip- 
 tions exceed ? 1,000,000,000. 
 
 June 19. Landing of first instalment of the American Ex- 
 peditionary Force reported from France. 
 
 Jutie 26. United States Marines landed at St. Nazaire. 
 
 July 18. Censorship of letters and telegrams established. 
 
 July 20. First drawing under the draft law. 
 
 July 24. Law enacted appropriating $640,000,000 for avia- 
 tion. 
 
 July 27. Second contingent of American troops reaches 
 France. 
 
 August 5. National Guard, approximately 300,000 men, 
 
 drafted into service of the United States. 
 August 13. Mobilization of new National Army ordered. 
 August 28. President Wilson announces rejection of the 
 
 Pope's peace plea. 
 October 6. War appropriation of $21,000,000,000 made by 
 
 Congress. 
 October 17. Transport Antilles sunk; loss 67 lives. 
 October 28. Second Liberty Loan closed; subscriptions, 
 
 $4,617,532,000. 
 November 3. First Americans killed in the trenches. 
 November 5. Patrol boat Alcedo sunk with loss of 21 men. 
 November 22. Third Liberty Loan completed; total 
 
 $4,176,516,850. Number of subscribers 12,000,000. 
 December 6. Destroyer Jacob Jones sunk by torpedo; 65 lost. 
 December 7. Declaration of war upon Austria-Hungr>ry. 
 December 28. United States Government takes over the 
 
 railroads. 
 
 1918 
 
 January 8. President Wilson enumerates his famous "Four- 
 teen Points." 
 
 January 26. Wheatless and meatless days prescribed by 
 the President. 
 
 February 21. American forces penetrate German lines near 
 the Chemin des Dames. 
 
 March I. Americans repulse enemy near Toul. Hand to 
 hand fighting with Germans near Chavigny. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 293 
 
 March 10. Washington reports American troops on four 
 sectors; Northwest of Toul; in Champagne; in Alsace near 
 Luneville; on the Chemin des Dames in Aisne. 
 
 March 18. Germany announces seizure of all property owned 
 by Americans within German boundaries. 
 
 March 22. American artillery in action east of Luneville. 
 
 April 5. Allies, including two regiments of American troops 
 land at Vladivostok. 
 
 April 20. Americans in action at Seicheprey. 
 
 April 28. First division Americans take over sector near 
 Breteuil. 
 
 May I. Americans repulse attack at Villiers-Bretonneaux. 
 
 May 6. Americans sustain first gas attack in Picardy. 
 
 May 17. Presence of American troops in British war zone 
 officially announced. 
 
 May 28. First division captures Cantigny. 
 
 May 31. Successful American raid near Woevre region. 
 
 June 3-6. Americans fighting hard in neighborhood of 
 Chateau-Thierry, the Marne and Vieully-la-Potterie. 
 
 June 7. United States Marines drive two-and-one-half miles 
 near Chateau-Thierry, storm Torcy and Bouresches, and 
 with French take Vieully-la-Potterie. 
 
 Jmie 10. Second Division attacked in Bois de Belleau, ad- 
 vancing the line 900 yards on a front of l\ miles, capturing 
 300 prisoners, 30 machine guns, 4 trench mortars, and stores 
 of small arms, ammunition, and equipment. 
 
 June II. Second Division continued its advance in the Bois 
 de Belleau, capturing more prisoners and machine guns and 
 two 77 mm. fieldpieces. 
 
 Our aviators e.xecuted their first bombing raid, dropping 
 numerous bombs on the railway station at Dommary- 
 Baroncourt, northwest of Metz. 
 
 The artillery of the Second Division shelled the enemy 
 in their areas. It discovered and dispersed a group of 210 
 machine guns in the wood south of Etrepilly. The Second 
 Division captured the last of the German positions in the 
 
 Bois de Belleau, taking 50 prisoners, machine guns, and 
 
 trench mortars. 
 June 12-17. Americans hold their positions at Chateau- 
 Thierry and Thiaucourt, repulsing persistent gas attacks. 
 June 20. Americans take German trenches in front of Can- 
 tigny and begin an advance on north side of Belleau Wood. 
 June 24. Belleau Wood reported clear of all Germans. 
 July 2. Americans capture village of Vaux and the Bois de 
 
 la Roche. 
 
 One million Americans reported in France. 
 July 4. Australians and Americans capture Hamel. 
 July 6. Americans successful at Xivray and in the Vosges. 
 July 14. Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt killed in aerial 
 
 battle in the Chateau-Thierry sector. 
 July 15. Great German offensive launched. Americans 
 
 repulse whole division on the Marne. 
 July 18. French and Americans in counter attack on the 
 
 Marne. 
 July 19. U. S. armored cruiser San Diego sunk off Fire Island 
 
 by a mine. 
 July 21. Germans driven from Chateau-Thierry. Allies 
 
 steadily advancing. 
 July 28. Forty-second Division forces the crossing of the 
 
 Ourcq. 
 August 4. Americans take Fismes by assault. The 32nd 
 
 Division, after 8 days of fighting in which it decimated a 
 
 crack division of the Bavarian Guard, entered the town 
 
 in triumph. 
 August 10. British and Americans capture Morlancourt and 
 
 Chipilly and drive forward on Bray. 
 August 12. Americans, cooperating with the British, reach 
 
 the outsJ;irts of Bray. 
 August 18. Americans gain more ground at Frapelle. 
 August 19. Americans and French push forward on the north 
 
 bank of the Vesle. 
 August 23. Americans repulse violent attacks west of Fismes. 
 
 President and Mrs. Wilson visiting the Coliseum in Rome under the guidance of a famous archaeologist 
 
294 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 August 24. Americans win a half-mile front on the Soissons- 
 
 Rheims front west of Fismes. 
 August 25. Americans attack Bazoches and resist assault 
 
 on Fismette. 
 August 28. Americans advance their lines at Chavigny and 
 
 repulse German attacks at Bazoches. 
 August 30. French and American troops north of Soissons 
 
 capture Chavigny and Cuffies and advance their line to the 
 
 west of Crouy. Germans evacuate Bailleul; Americans 
 
 take Juvigny. 
 August -^i. Americans make gains eastward in the vicinity 
 
 of Juvigny and the Bois de Beaumont. 
 Septc-mbt-r i. Americans forge ahead two miles beyond 
 
 Juvigny; .Americans fight for the first time on Belgian soil 
 
 and take Voormezeeie and nearby strongholds. 
 SeptembtT 2. .Americans north of Soissons reach Terny- 
 
 Somy and the Soissons-St. Quentin highway. 
 SeptembtT 3. Secretary Lansing announces the recognition 
 
 of the Czecho-Slovafcs as a belligerent nation. 
 Septc-mbeT 4. French and American trocps force a passage of 
 
 the ^'esle and occupy Chassemy, Bucy-lc-Long, Branelle, 
 
 Vauxcere, and Blanzy. 
 September 6. Germans retreat on a ninety-mile front from 
 
 the posts of the .Americans on the Aisne to the breaches in 
 
 the Hindenburg line before Cambrai. Americans south of 
 
 the .Aisne make progress in the region of Villers-en-Praj eres 
 
 and Revillon. 
 September 8. Americans advance northward on the Aisne in 
 
 the vicinity of Vieil .■\rcy. Villers-en-Prayeres, and Revillon. 
 September g. Germans throw in new divisions to check Amer- 
 ican advance on the St. Gobain massif. 
 September 12. First American Army attacks the St. Mihiel 
 
 salient from all sides and advances on a thirty-mile front to a 
 
 depth of five miles, aided by the French; St. Mihiel and 
 
 several towns captured. 
 September 13. .Americans wipe out St. Mihiel salient, re- 
 
 ducing the front from forty to twenty miles, capturi 
 i^.ooo prisoners, and extending the battleline past Norn 
 Jaulny, Xammes, St. Henoit, Hattonville, Hannonville, a 
 Herbeuville. 
 
 September 14. .Americans repulse counterattacks in the .. 
 Mihiel sector and push on. 
 
 September 15. Americans in St. Mihiel sector advance frci 
 two to three miles on a thirty-three-mile front; guns frti 
 fortress of Metz in action against them; villages of Norr' 
 and Vilcey captured. 
 
 September ij. Americans in Lorraine advance on extrei 
 right of the line. Germans burn towns along the Mose 
 as .American infantry- advances. 
 
 September 18. Americans build strong front line in Lorrair 
 and threaten Metz and the Briey coal fields. 
 
 September 20. American guns fire on Metz. 
 
 September 26. American .Armj- advances on 20-mile fro 
 between the Meuse and Aisne rivers; advances 7 miles fii 
 day, takes 12 towns and reaches the Kriemhilde line on t) 
 28th — U. S. S. Tampa sunk by torpedo; loss 118 men. 
 
 September 29. Americans capture Breulles-sur-Meuse ai 
 Romagne. 
 
 September 30. Americans advance slightly in the Argonn 
 Bulgaria signs armistice amounting to unconditional su 
 render. 
 
 October I. Americans push ahead in the Aisne-Meuse sect 
 and repulse German counterattacks in the region of Cierg 
 and at Apremont; Germans prepare to evacuate Belgiur 
 
 October 2. Germans begin evacuation of Lille and begin 1 
 retreat on a wide front en both sides of La Basste Canal : 
 Allies continue enveloping movement north and south ■ 
 Lille, Roubai.x, and Turcoing. 
 
 October 5. Americans break the Kriemhilde line and drii 
 Germans back to a line two kilometers north of Binarvil 
 and Fleville; Americans join French in the Champagne ar 
 take part in operations north of Somme-Py. 
 
 Surgeon-General Gorgas and Col. Frank Billings, head of the Division of Physical Reconstruction, inspecting the Walter Reed 
 
 General Hospital, Washington, D. C. 
 
UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 t of the organized troops to return cheering from the deck of the Mauretania on lirst seeing the Statue of Liberty 
 
296 
 
 UNITED STATES IN THE GREAT WAR 
 
 © Undenvood & Underwood 
 
 The Palace of Versailles where the Supreme War Council met and where the armistice terms were agreed upon. Here is where 
 King William of Prussia was crowned Emperor of Germany and where his grandson lost his heritage 
 
 Austria-Hungary appeals to President Wilson to effect 
 an armistice. 
 
 October 6. German Chancellor proposes peace parley on 
 " 14 principles" laid down by Wilson. 
 
 October 7. Americans gain in the Argonne region, taliing 
 Chatel-Chehery and commanding positions on the Aire. 
 
 October 8. British, American, and French forces shatter 
 twenty miles of Hindenburg defense system from Cambrai 
 southward, advancing to an average depth of three miles. 
 
 October g. American aviators active in the Argonne. One 
 expedition of great number of planes bombarded many 
 towns. 
 
 October 10. Americans clear the Argonne forest. 
 
 October 13. President Wilson notifies Germany that there 
 will be no negotiations with an autocratic German govern- 
 ment and no armistice while Germany continues its bar- 
 barous methods of warfare. 
 
 October 14. Americans advance west of the Meuse. 
 
 October 15. American troops land at Vladivostok. 
 
 October 16. Americans capture Grand Pre. 
 
 October 17. British and American attack on a 9-mile front 
 northeast of Bohain and advance two miles. 
 
 October 18. Americans advance north of Romagne and take 
 Bantheville. 
 
 October .19. President Wilson refuses Austria-Hungar3''s 
 request for armistice on the ground that the Czecho-Slavs 
 and Jugoslavs had been recognized as nations and must 
 be consulted. Kriemhilde line pierced. Fourth Liberty 
 Loan closed. Subscriptions, $6,989,047,000. 
 
 October 21. Germany renews suggestion of armistice. De- 
 clares her government has been popularized. 
 
 October 23. Americans on the Verdun front occupy ErieuUes, 
 the Bois de Foret, and Bantheville. 
 
 October 24. Americans advance on both sides of the Meuse. 
 
 October 25 Americans clear Belleau Wood of Germans and 
 hold Hill 360 in fierce fighting 
 
 Octdber 26. Turkey offers to surrender. 
 
 October 29. Americans shell Conflans region. Austria-Hun- 
 gary again appeals for peace. 
 
 October 30. Turkey surrenders. 
 
 November I. First American Army aided by the French 
 attacks on a front of over fifteen miles north of Verdun> . 
 advancing nearly four miles at some points and freeing a 
 dozen towns. 
 
 November 2. Americans break through Freya line on a wide 
 front, taking Champigneulle, Buzancy, Fosse, Barricourt, 
 Villers-devant-Dun, and Doolcon. 
 
 November 3. Americans continue advance north of Verdun, 
 taking several towns, and joining with the French near 
 Noirval. Austria-Hungary armiotice signed. 
 
 November 5. Germans retreat on a 75-mile front from the 
 Scheldt to the Aisne; Americans cross the Meuse at three 
 points below Stenay. Lansing directs Germans to seek 
 terms of armistice from Marshal Foch. 
 
 November 6. Germans order retreat across the Meuse on the 
 front of the American Army; Mouzon in flames; Vervins, 
 Rethel, and other towns won; Sedan fired upon. ■', 
 
 November 7. Americans take Sedan. 
 
 Noveviber 8. French reach the outskirts of Mezieres, advance ; 
 beyond the La Capelle-Avesnes Road, and take Thon 
 bridgeheads; Americans drive Germans out of last domin-'' 
 ating position east of the Meuse. 
 
 November 10. Americans attack on extended front. Take 
 Stenaj'. 
 
 November 11. Armistice signed by Foch and German dele- 
 gates. Fighting ends at 11 a. m. 
 
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