Show beneral qs stora of the A E F V ewla til counti lf at th noni aulne mil general richa in cludia th la abol or la rt r i rt 1 john J CHAPTER continued I 1 pointed out that regardless of the depressing conditions and the very urgent need ot men by the allies their plan was not practicable and that even if bound in principle there ana not time enough to prepare our men as individuals tor efficient ice under a new system with the strange surroundings to be found in a foreign army here foch said you are willing to risk our being driven back to the loire I 1 said yes I 1 am willing to take tami risk moreover the time may come hen the american army will have to eland the brunt of this war and it Is not wise to fritter away our resources in this manner the morale of the british french and italian armies Is low while as you know that of the american army Is very high and it would be a grave mistake to give up the idea of building an american army in all its details as rapidly as possible cant budge him an inch at about this juncture I 1 loyd george M clemenceau cau and premier orlando of atily evidently becoming impatient walked into the room mil ner met lloyd george at the door and eald in a stage whisper behind his hand you can t budge him an inch 7 lloyd george then said vell how f la the committee getting alciie aloi ie whereupon we all sat down and f I 1 loyd george said to me cant you bee that the war will be lost unless ine i ne get this support statement was echoed in turn by clemen acan and orlando in fact all five of the party attacked me with all the force and prestige of their high alons but I 1 had already yielded to their demands as far as possible without disrupting the plans toward which we had been striving for over a year and a continuance of may shipments into june without any provision tor transporting artillery and auxiliary and service of supply troops could not be granted without making it practically impossible in the future to have an american army after I 1 bad gone over the whole situation again and stated my post alon they stilt insisted whereupon I 1 struck the table with my fist and A E F phone garla bald with the greatest possible cm gentlemen I 1 have thought this program over very deliberately and will not be coerced this ended the discussion tn corn and when the council recon M clemenceau au stated that the question of troops would be taken up again the following day when the council met for the after noon session of the second day the discussion of shipments of american personnel was at ance resumed gen era roch spoke at length repeating t previous arguments and giving a rather grandiose dissertation of the allied and the dire things would happen unless the amerl cans agreed to the proposal of the council lloyd george mr I 1 lo 10 d george in turn bloke at borne length he asserted that the germans hoped to use up the british and french reserves before their oun were and that the british arrendy ailed up nearly men for hicar army and navy and had extended their age limits to all men between eighteen and fifty sears f age if the united states does not come to our aid he said then perhaps the enemy s calculations will be correct if prance and great britain should have to yield this defeat would be honorable for they would have to last man nalle he suites would have to stop without having put into line more than little belgium possibly re the unfairness of the comp arlbon he q ily went on to say hint he was sure I 1 was doing my best to meet alie emergency and that j general desires tha the id ali its by amerlyn should biot be with the creation H the army aa rapidly as on na exist siaw and I 1 aal A on it this very year to deal the enemy the final blow but to do that th allies will bare to bold out until aau gust CHAPTER speaking in the name of the amer leap army and in the name of the american people I 1 told the supreme war council during the second day of its session at may 2 1918 1 want you to realize that we are ready to bear as large a part aa possible of the burden of the war we all want the same thing hut our means of attaining it Is different from yours america declared war In depend antly of the allies and she must face it as soon as possible with a power ful army there Is one capital point to which I 1 wish to call your attention that Is the importance to the morale of our soldiers of under our own flag america Is already anxious to ehnow where her army Is the ger mans hare once more started a strong campaign of propaganda in the united states the purpose of which Is to insinuate that the allies have so little confidence in the amer lean troops that they are obliged to distribute them among their own alons tells of american pride the american soldier Is as proud as any other and the time will soon come when our troops as well as our will ask to fight as an autonomous army under the amerl can high command 1 I understand that in prime aln ister georges proposal we shall have to examine the situation again in june before deciding for july that Is all that I 1 can agree to at present to show my desire for solidarity with the cause of the allies I 1 loyd george had previously taken up a revised program submitted by myself and after some discussion he proposed that america give us infantry men end machine gunners in may th same number in junec with a sup clement of TO infantrymen and machine gunners it we scrape er tie tonnage to transport them lie further proposed that the situa alon be examined again in june before deciding whet lier there was rea son to extend to july alie program decided upon for may and june he then called on the council to accept bis plan inasmuch as the proposal submitted by lloyd george contemplated the shipment of the numbers mentioned in british tonnage leaving american shipping entirely tree for us to use as we should decide an agreement was soon reached substantially as set forth in the following cablegram to the secretary of war following agreement adopted by supreme artar council may 2 at abbe valle will cable more in detail later it Is the opinion of the supreme war council that to carry the war to a successful conclusion an american army should be formed as early as possible under its own commander and under its own flag then it nas thought the war would run to in order to meet the present emergency it Is agreed that american troops should be brought to trance as rapidly as allied transportation fa will permit and that as far as consistent with the necessity of building up an american army pret arence be given to infantry and ma chine gun units for training and ice with french and british armies with the understanding that such in jt and machine gun units are to be withdrawn and united with their own artillery and auxiliary troops into divisions and corps at the discretion of the american commander in chief after consultation with the commander in chief of the allied armies in france it Is also agreed that during may preference should be given to the transportation of infantry and ma chine gun units of six divisions and that any tonnage shall be devoted to bringing over such troops as may be determined by the amer lean in chief june shipment up to pershing it Is furt lier agreed that this pro ram shall be continued during june upon condition that the british gov eminent shall furnish for a minimum of men in may and men in june with the understanding that the farst six slona of infantry shall go to the brit ish for training and service and that troops sent over in june be fl located for training and service as the american commander in chief may determine it Is alaf further agreed that if the british government shall transport an excess of men in june such excess shall be infantry and machine gun units and that early in june there shall be a new review of the situation to determine further action As stated in a cable from the sec detary of war received may 12 this agreement provided less priority for infantry and machine dun units than by the supreme war council it was certainly much gioi wa favorable to the ultimate formation ol 01 an american army than we had rea son to expect in view of the becom lons contained in note no 18 of the military representatives which as we have seen bad been practically approved by the president in the excitement over nur agreement with the british the fall purport of this commitment aaa not emphasized by the allies during the discussion pooling of supplies another matter taken up informal ly with the prime ministers after the conference was that of pooling allied supplies I 1 explained its advantages and emphasized the saving in tonnage that would result mr I 1 loyd george and mr arlando did not commit them selves entirely but accepted it in pran caple as M clemenceau Clemen reau had done and each agreed to designate an officer with business experience to meet with us at an early date to study the question with this beginning at least a step had been talen toward our objective even though hie principle might not be extended as far as we thought desirable A few days later M clemen beau called a meeting in his office of the representatives gen sir travers clarke acting for the british and col charles G dawes for the Amerl cacs CHAPTER on the heels of all the clamor for nothing but infantry and machine gun ners I 1 received a request from marshal ilaug british commander asking artilleryman artillerymen artillery men this fully bore out a prediction I 1 had cabled washington that the ailles would be asking arall before long it will be readily understood however that once the allies had made a demand for infantry and machine gun ners they all joined in concerted effort to bring it about regardless of what their real needs might be in reply I 1 reminded marshal balg that the agreement giving priority to infantry and machine gun shipments would prevent the arrival of our artilleryman artillerymen artillery men for some time in fulfilling our part in military cooperation we had already gone far beyond the mere recognition of the prin caple of unity of command and had begun touring over hundreds of thou sands of men almost regardless of the organizations to which they belonged that they might be available in the event of extreme necessity it was my custom throughout the war as both a duty and a pleasure to visit the troops as frequently as possible to keep in touch with the state of efficiency and the morale of officers and men As bundy s second division with Har boril and E M lewis as bri gade commanders was leaving the quiet sector south of verdun en route to the billeting and training area to finish preparation tor battle the moment was opportune to make a brief inspection I 1 bad an opportunity to talk with a number of the officers in command of smaller units I 1 especially discussed the question of supply with officers charged with that duty I 1 visited harbord s brigade of ma alnes and found those I 1 inspected in good shape and their billets well kept ahe troops of the division that were seen on the march especially alie trains did not look so well in an army like ours the care of animals Is difficult to teach crunkshanks arall lery looked well ahe entraining at arcemont ancemont Anc emont was carried out in an or derla and systematic manner general Blond lat in whose corps the second bad been serving spoke very highly of the troops the favorable impression obtained of this unit was very soon to be confirmed on the bat where its distinguished service was to make its name immortal frequently had guests during the first few months at chau mont I 1 occupied quarters in the town but later M de jouvre rouvre placed at my disposal bis beautiful chateau some three kilometers away my head miss was limited to the few boffl cers with whom I 1 was most intimately associated and consisted of my per bonal aids the chief of staff and one or two others always there were a few guests at meals invited from among the visitors both french and american who came to heid officers from french general headquarters were frequent guests and we were always glad to have them As a rule there was a ban on every thing in the way of shop talk and the rule was rarely broken and then only when we had special guests seeking en or information regarding our policies and activities there was one subject that would always start a discussion and that was the relative value of the different arms each being represented by at least one officer harbord and I 1 were both from the cavalry and the caa airy member of the staff felt that he biad at least a sympathetic audience the infantry aid however always held his own in any discussion as no mat ter how specious the arguments or per haps the gibes at bis expense we all know that without the infantry the other arms would accomplish little the associations of such a group are never forgotten and even a short period was enough to establish a perma cent anal affectionate relationship rotation in office was early adopted as a principle to be applied to the staff in general and although it was never possible fully to carry it out most of the officers of my staff got their chance at a tour with combat troops major colllns and major Sha llenberger two of the aids who went with me to france were the first to go to other duty being replaced by major lueke meyer and major bowditch colonel boyd who joined me as aid shortly after my arrival in france rema bied throughout the war when general turn came his place as chief of staff was taken by general mcandrew several of tha higher officers of the general staff had a tour with troops not only that they might have the opportunity to serve at the front which Is every soldiers am botlon but because they would return to staff duty with a broader and more sympathetic understanding of the line officers point of view and appreciate more fully the consideration that he deserves at the hands of the staff according to the plan for the rotation of officers between line and staff several others were relieved and sent to serve with troops among them were col frank R mccoy secretary of the general staff relieved by maj james II 11 colllns and col W D connor assistant chief of staff G I 1 relieved by col G V II 11 moseley morrow on maritime council our members of the mart time council were wide awake at this time in their search for additional tonnage dwight morrow reported prospects of some increase besides calling attention to tonnage that was idle or not being used to the best advantage the immense shipment of american troops contemplated the use of all available passenger cargo carrying ships british american and neutral As very little if any space would be left in such ships for cargo the latter class of ships was in greater demand than ever meanwhile the amount of world cargo tonnage built during the preceding five months was scarcely equal to the losses and the ships we were manufacturing fac turing had only just begun to be turned out for service it was at once evident that the immense program of troop shipments would call for extra or concessions on the part of all concerned CHAPTER A strong german offensive opened may 27 the french with the famous big bertha firing on paris the position of the first division was near where it had been in line nearly a month opposite the town and near the point of farthest advance of the enemy in the amlene salient although some weeks had passed since my offer of troops in the emergency up to now none had been called upon to take part in active operations the reason appeared to be that the allies were skeptical of the ability of any of our units to conduct an offen alve the opportunity now came how ever to remove misgivings on that score the french corps in which the first was serving had prepared a counterattack to be launched in the akiens amiens sector about the middle of may in case of another offensive by the enemy in flanders |