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Show ST. MIII1EL ANNIVERSARY. A year ago at 5 o'clock in the morning morn-ing ono year ago today to bo exact began be-gan the first offensive of the American Ameri-can army in Prance, an offensivo which was to prove the beginning of tho end for the Germans. At that hour eight American divisions with some fifteen thousand French colonials in their center cen-ter went "over the top". in a drizzling rain after four hours' violent battering batter-ing of German positions from Verdun to Pont-a-Mousson by tho allied artillery. artil-lery. Less than twenty-four hours later tho famous St. Mihiol salient had been completely wiped out. More than 15,-000 15,-000 prisoners were bagged and tho American army won tho first complete victory scored by any allied army since the Germans were hurled back from the gates of France in 1914. "Atone swoop," wrote Marshal Foch, "they reduced re-duced the famous salient which during so long we did not know how to approach. ap-proach. ' ' Nearly 250,000 Americans weno engaged en-gaged iu the attack, the greatest number num-ber of Americans in battlo in history up to that time. The greatest number num-ber of aeroplanes-over-concentrated for any offensive were behind tho Yankees when the artillery began its crashing crescendo. French colonials and American Ameri-can doughboys, American, French, British Brit-ish and Italian aviators fouuht under command of General Pershing. When the operation had been completed more than 150 square miles of French territory terri-tory had been freed of tho Germans, including the city of St. Mihiel, the home of the president of France, M. I'oincare. The St. Mihiel offensivo had long been planned us the first attack on a big scale to be undertaken by the American army. Rushing down from the north in the early days of the war the Germans had thrust a deep wedge into tho French line east of Verdun and had strengthened their positionajuntil it held against repeated French attacks. Holding St. Mihiel, the nose of the great salient, the Germans not only rendered ren-dered useless the railway from Verdun through Commercy to Toul and Nancy, Nan-cy, but constantly threatened to take in flank any allied offensive toward the great fortress of Metz. It was originally planned that the first American Ameri-can army should be organized under direct command of General Pershing and should try to squeeze the Germans out of St. Mihiel early in the spring of 191S. The success of the German spring offensive disrupted this plan, sent American units to various threatened threat-ened sectors and prevented tho organization organi-zation of the First army as a compact unit until late in August. But in the meantime plans for tho St. Mihiel drive had been going steadily ahead. Roads loading to the front were being improved, im-proved, new light railways were constructed con-structed and the Germans' positions carefully mapped. The spectacular success of the American Ameri-can operations against the seemingly impregnable German salient revealed not only to the allies but to the Germans Ger-mans tho power of tho new force from across the Atlantic. To tho Americans it revealed the ability of a hnstily rained American staff to plan and carry out a military campaign of the first magnitude. So that the anniversary anniver-sary is one to be remembered by Americans Ameri-cans as the starting point in tho successes suc-cesses leading up to tlie climax of November No-vember 11 last. |