Show beneral stora of the A E P ww in til by til north amrice Amri cn alliance world H r 1 ritha the 4 in or la art prohibited john J pershing inq CHAPTER A large party including col E M house the american delegates to th conference ambassador Ambas william G sharp and lord vent by special train from paris de camber 4 1937 to our training area topping at lay chaumont en route on the I 1 had an conversation with lord northcliffe oi the british air board regarding th formation of an american army and ita transportation overseas lord northcliffe thought his government theold do more to help with shipping but like most englishmen he be llevad it best for us to send our men for service with the british he ar pied in favor of a proposal prop osil that lloyd george had recently made to sir house that we should incorporate in their units any Jn fantry that we might not be able to organize immediately into complete divisions of our own it Is all very well I 1 said to make such an appeal to us but it Is imps elble to ignore our national viewpoint the people themselves would not ap prove even though the president and his advisers should lean that way ve cannot permit our men to serve under another flag except in an extreme emergency and then only temporarily I 1 also insisted that we would con tribute more largely to allied success by the use of the american army a a unit hits fault finders about this time mr house told me that petain had criticized the ameri can ideas of training and also that louis Louch cur minister of munitions had spoken about the rise in price caused by american purchases mr house wisely suggested to thee gen clemen he said that matters of kind were for me to settle I 1 called without delay on AI clem enchau and told him of the reports and explained my understanding about training agreements with petain and also the steps that ind previously been tal CT by the purchasing board in operation cooperation co with his own bureaus to prevent the rie in prices I 1 also tod him that french dealers were lately to blame if prices had risen as we had eliminated competition among ourselves and that our pur chases were and had been for some time actually bandied through french I 1 objected to thee bick door letb ads cds of lodging complaints and ampha sized the necessity of frankness and directness in all our dealings I 1 asked him to give instructions that if there was any fault to find with our meth it should be brought to my per bonal attention he entirely agreed with me and expressed chagrin and that any other course had been followed on the face of it there was no other conclusion however than that both complaints were made for the purpose of finding out just the ex tent of my independent authority gets apology from petain I 1 took occasion a few days later to let petain know very politely what I 1 thought of the impropriety of this sort of thing and also criticized him then and there for telling anybody even mr house as he had done about the plan to attack the st salient as the first offensive by the american army I 1 was pleaded with petals Petal ns apology and his statement that there would be no further action of this kind on his part As a matter of fact I 1 think the french erroneously regarded house a a sort of special ambassador and thought that they could lay the foun batton for an approach through him to the question of amalgamation just before his return to the santes bouse said to me that he entirely agreed with roe and that he felt sure the president and secretary of war in tended to leave the whole question regarding the disposition of our troops to ay judgment assurance on this was in no sense as I 1 d full confidence that this was the case during his stay in france I 1 formed high opinion of houses ability vve formed a friendship in the beginning which enabled us to all mat berg most freely and frankly before he left for home he and I 1 arranged fw confidential communication bv cable should it become necessary to each mr baker or mr allson direct the missing turkeys immediately upon my return to headquarters ead quarters at chaumont december 7 1817 general reported cre had been a shortage of turkeys dd other essentials of a truly ameri c thanksgiving dinner and in a facetious manner deplored the feirt ness of a staff at washington that would go neglect our troops he stated that the shortage was due 10 these supplies which bad been or wed in september for delhery no member 1 being buried under a larga reo that could pot be unloaded in time the following cable was cent 63 written by harbord on september 18 supplies for were ordered your cablegram stated mincemeat shipped 00 montanan Uon there was no mance at on Mon ar ved november on powhatan un dern cath heavy cargo it necessary to discharge before mincemeat could be unloaded result mincemeat aboard ship thanksgiving day sweet potatoes arrived on da kotan and could not be unloaded un til v ember 22 result some troops did not have sweet potatoes it was necessary to buy geese to fill raqul on account of part of turkey not arriving notwithstanding the fact that thanksgiving supplies were or dered to arrive in prance loverher 1 although we had treated this matter lightly I 1 really felt regret that some of our troops had been deprived of a homelike thanksgiving dinner and at the same time I 1 was not at all pleased to leave further evidence of careless cir eless loading of ships need two regular divisions in considering the composition of oter expeditionary forces it was a question whether we ought to organ ize higher units by using regular mants with a proportionate number of new officers or utilize the perma nent personnel of the line for equitable to the citizen contingents and leave our re ular to be completed from the relatively raw material at our disposal and thus build up all categories of the army simultaneously I 1 recommended regular ments at honolulu and elsewhere be relieved for this purpose by guard regiments these regular troops would more nearly approximate the stan dirda of our allies at the start and more important still their use would diminish the chances of reverses during our first encounters with the enemy the acting chief of staff at home maj gen john beddle agreed with my suggestion but the widely separated locations of these regiments made their replacement somewhat aff and only the third fourth and fifth divisions came in time for ice early in 1918 the sixth and sev anth arriving to take part in the fall campaign CHAPTER the progress of our preparation f home at this time december was far from being satisfactory as tests of newly arrived troops showed their instruction was not standards in france it was evident that my recommends a alons were being this faulty training at home threw an extra burden upon ns of training boffl cers and men after their arrival I 1 had urged that we should follow our own conception of training cm the rifle and bayonet aa the supreme weapons of the infantry sol adler and insisted upon training for open warfare the training of officers for the gen eral staff which also necessarily had to be undertaken lc ranee was well under way at the general staff school at landres langres Lan gres forty miles south of chau mont under the able direction of major general mcandrew the three months course of instruction was based upon our staff organization and visited ling and queen of bel glum and their army at on saturday As we have seen there had been some talk of the british providing shipping to bring over american troops for training behind their lines dur ing alie evening I 1 spent with bar doug las as noted in the diary he presented aft plans for training our troops ills idea was to place the bat as they arrived one to the abrl gade in selected british division preferably those serving on the south ern part of their front and then gradually to increase the number of at allens until the division should become wholly american hoping to commit the british on the question of tonnage which up to that time we had not succeeded in doing I 1 did not offer serf ous objection to the plan and even approved some of the features especially those pertaining to the earlier part of the proposed training and for the moment the question was left open tor further conference cadies king to walt I 1 left british headquarters the neit morning en route to the belgian front to pay my respects to the ling and queen As sir douglas was off to london my car was attached to his train and we traveled together to boulogne where he boarded the chan nel boat and I 1 took a special consist ing of my car and one other and proceeded on my way we were due at my des at a fixed hur but to my surprise the train pulled in ten aln utes ahead of time I 1 was changing into my best uniform in fact was just putting on the right boot when my aid colonel boyd stuck his head in at the door of my compartment and said breathlessly general we have arrived I 1 liew it only too well as the train had stopped and the royal band outside was playing the star spangled banner in the mournful cadence corn mon to foreign bands it was an cm thought that I 1 should be lafe in another minute when the orderly and myself were struggling this time with the left boot bod again appeared and said in a stage whisper that was no doubt heard by the entire escort outside sir the king Is out there standing at the sa lute that was too much the humor of the situation overcame me and for an instant all of us including alie order ly who rarely smiled were convulsed with laughter that did not help mat of course and meanwhile the band outside which had already played the national air through three times was dolefully beginning on the fourth when I 1 hurriedly descended the steps of my car opposite his majesty buttoning mi overcoat with one baud and saluting with the other at my appearance the band started afresh and as though they had just begun ran through our national an them rather more vigorously cheered up no doubt at last to see me in evl dence A few months later I 1 bad the courage to relate the incident in all its details to their majesties and they both seemed to enjoy it immensely king decorates pershing after inspecting the escort in corn pany with the king he and I 1 drove to their residence where the queen in her most gracious manner received us at the entrance we had a very enjoyable luncheon which boyd thought was quite gay especially when I 1 became bold enough to air my dreadful french after lunch aln al bert to my surprise said he wished to bestow upon me the order of the doughboys Dough boys in the trenches in winter time was conducted by our own instructors with two or three french and an equal number of british officers to as alst as lecturers the difficulty was the scarcity of officers available tor detail as students we were confronted with the task of building up an army of millions that would require as many trained staff officers as we had officers in the whole regular army at the beginning of the war to meet this urgent demand washington was asked to send over in advance a small percentage of boffl cers from each division for instruct alon but only a few ever came my diary notes the following chaumont wednesday jan 2 1018 both french and british pressing us for amalgamation went to marshal head quarters friday by rail accod palled by colonel wagstaff and spent abe night motored through heavy out from gangs of conscientious objectors opening up roads discussed with sir douglas possible shipment by and training of american troops with british grand cordon of I 1 copold and as I 1 hesitated saying that we were not per to receive foreign decorations he insisted that I 1 should accept it conditionally which of course was the only thing to do bod was decorated also in the afternoon the king alth bis chief of staff took me to his G II 11 Q and then to the front line trenches treni hes explaining the disposition of the allm itce force with which their positions were held it consisted of only the six divisions which had stubbornly retired in 1914 in the face of overwhelming odds it was then being recruited by belgians escaping from within the gernan lines at the risk of their lives amused by U S congressmen while we were driving king albert related with much amusement some incidents of a recent visit by a party of our congressmen and whether it was customary in our coun try for them to be on familiar terms with the president he said that some of them had called him albert and one had slapped him on the back king you re the right sort of fellow and everybody in america you I 1 explained to him that our con gressmen were more or less privileged characters at home and that they only meant to be friendly As a matter of fact I 1 think their familiarity did not offend him at all during my brief visit I 1 was barly impressed by the extreme sm or the home life of the king and queen CHAPTER returning to my headquarters at chaumont december 81 1917 I 1 wag not surprised to receive the following cable from secretary of war baker in view of the numerous suggestions that had come to me regarding varl oua plans for training our troops with the french and british both english and french are pressing apon the president their desires to have your forces amalgamated with theirs by regiments and companies and both express the belief in impending heavy drive by germans somewhere along the lines of the western front we do not desire loss of identity of bishop charles E brent our troops but regard that as second ary to the meeting of any critical aitu atlon by the most helpful use possible of the troops at your command the difficulty of course Is to determine where the drive or drives of the enemy will take place and in advance of some knowledge on that question any redistribution of your forces would be difficult the president however desires you to have full authority to use the forces at your command as you deem wise in connection with the french and british commanders in chief it Is suggested for your consideration that possibly places might be selected for your forces nearer the junction of the british and trench lines which would enable you to throw strength in whichever direction seemed most necessary this suggestion Is not however pressed beyond whatever merit it has in your judgment the presidents sole purpose to acquaint you with the representations made here and to authorize you to act with entire freedom to accomplish the main purposes in mind it la hoped that complete unity and co ordination of action can be secured in this matter by any con ferencek feren ces you may have with french and british commanders and line of action that may be agreed upon french show determination the following cable also was received from washington which showed the determination of the french to carry their point the french ambassador called on the secretary of war today and read him a dispatch from ai clemenceau au to the effect that general pershing and general retain had conferred as to the wisdom of seasoning american troops by attaching their regimental units to the french division before committing a part of the line to an american division made ap of troops not accustomed to actual front con SI clemenceau au s cablegram stated that general pershing had reported himself and general petain in elal agreement after conference on the subject but general retain conveyed to M clemenceau au the opposite opan ion apparently some misunderstand ing has arisen which the of war will be glad to have general pershing endeavor end eivor to clear up by placing himself in communication with M clemenceau au and reporting the result of the interview the french urge action as outlined above as being safer for american troops than it would be to give them at once an independent place in the line and urge very strongly that the secretary of war here accept their view and commend it to you this |