Show beneral slona of the A E F ill country coun tri by tk north abrica Am rica Nv eilf pir aulric ic world tl i l l lu johnj 1 l 1 1 ri I 1 S continued vojt in arst corpa the aleth dl lon on the ath in spite of the en amys stand captured vaux en and sommauthe Som mauthe the enemy retired during the night and the division took UP the pursuit overcoming vigorous rear guard resistance until reaching h T attest of nt in he of die ath lt ress continued the division being relieved the next morning the seventh division wats ef on the alli north and east of oches but on the uh its line was pushed forward to the north of stonne and la baue iy ay of the cali the bev seventh had readied the mouse and allera being hv its patrols llie heveno eighth division on the ah captured 1 es bellies Ar muises and on the following advanced more than a mile to the north llie 1 orty second division relieved the sev anti eig tilli on oils line and bv the bill itself north of bulson H was the ambition of the first abuy and mine that our troops hulan which the frandi had lost in a decisive battle in 1870 1 suggested to general that the cd bound iry line between our insl and the I 1 rench fourth army maht he ignored in case we outrun the I 1 rench to which he offered no objection but on the con drury warmly approved to reach the objective the left boundary of the first army would have to be ignored as sedan lay to the northwest beyond that limit the afternoon of november 6 the first corps was directed to bend its ener agles to capture sedan assisted on its by the fifth corps A misconception in the fifth corps of taj exact intent of my orders resulted in the first division erroneously going beyond the left boundary of the fifth corps and marching directly across the sector of the first corps during the late afternoon of the ath and throughout the night the troops of the first division carried out this unnecessary forced march in fine spirit despite their tired condition considerable confusion resulted in the forty second and seventy seventh divisions and their advance was delayed as roads became blocked by th columns of the first division tin forty second and the first then bagai a race for the honor of capturing sedan part of these divisions had en the zone of the french fourth army and were waging a fight with the enemy tor the possession of the heights south and west of ahe of november 7 found men of the second and the first divisions on the heights overlooking the city under normal conditions the action of the 0 acer or officers cespon elble for this movement of the first division directly across the sectors of two other divisions would not have been overlooked but the splendid record of that unit and the approach of the end of hostilities suggested leniency the main line of was now within range of the machine guns of the first army which had driven him 24 miles since novem her 1 his position on the western front was no longer tenable and he urged immediate consideration of an armistice late on november 9 marshal foch then in conference with german representatives senta tives regarding the terms of the armistice sent telegraphic instructions to all allied commanders in chief from which it might be inferred that he was uncertain regarding the outcome of negotiations and willied to let the enemy know that there would be no further delay the following was the message received the enemy disorganized by our repealed attacks retreats along the entire front it Is important to ordinate coordinate co and expedite our movements 1 I appeal to the energy and the initiative of the commanders in chief of their armies to make decisive the results obtained no respite for enemy orders in response to this appeal were immediately issued and their execution by the first army hiis un der way november 10 and 11 yet here again no sort of urging was necessary our troops were determined not to give alie enemy any respite al renda the crossing of the gleue had been planned for the whole army and the fifth corpse got over during the night of the alth aart of the flaty ninth division crossed on rafts just west of pouilly Pou llly and others in the rear of the ninetieth division alien the second division was unable to force a crossling crossl ng at mauzon as planned but about 0 mile south f Mlle montry the engineers of the dl vision with exceptional rapidity and skill brew two bridges across over which one regiment passed alie seventy seventh division now on the left of the hath corps only ent avei patrols on ahr and alth the low ground north ft the river opposite its front being flooded bv heavy rains and damming operations by the germans the first cons bruni november 8 to 10 wa its to points on the mouse between dun r meuse and burdun preparatory to a general attack which would hare as ita object the turning of the enemy s strong position in front of the fifth corps east of the meuse the first army advanced in conjunction with the second army which had been earnestly preparing for this moment ever since its under the instructions issued by me jbv ember 5 for the advance of the first and second armies which received approval of foch in a personal note of november 8 the sec ond army made advances along its en tire front tr the direction of the arley iron basin luring the last three days of hostilities attacking on the the thirty third division reached the bols d valle and captured but was forced to retire the twenty eighth division occupied a part of the bols des has as well as farm the seventh slon took and held against counter alback the ineta second division captured the hols I 1 on the front of the first army the ninetieth division on the left of the corps kilnes had crossed the meuse on the ath and attacked on the meeting decided opposition throughout the day if cements of the division entered stenny but were an able to clean up the town while others after hard fighting in the nearby wood reached but could not take baalen the fifth division ely captured dametz and cleared the foret de the thirty second division haan entered reentered re the line on the ath as the right division of the third corps and made substantial progress on the the division moved forward until stopped by heavy alre from east of the river on other fronts meanwhile other of our divisions were engaged on distant fronts in flanders our thirty seventh and amne bringing in a captured aviator ty first divisions which had been sent to the french sixth army at marshal focha request entered the battle october 31 the Cruys hautem ridge wag taken by the thirty seventh division farnsworth on the first lay while the monety first johnsson John slon advancing against intense fire seized the strong ly defended wooded area in its front both divisions moved forward rapidly to the lescaut river on the fot lowing day in pursuit of the enemy despite resistance crossings of the river were effected by the thirty seventh november 2 and 3 the division being relieved the following day Au denarde was occupied by the ninety first dl vision on the and 2nd and the division was relieved on the ard 3rd by the I 1 rench both divisions re entered the line tor the general attack of the prenia sixth array november 10 the thirty sev anth division was directed to relieve two 1 rench divisions east of the Cs the of the but these had been unable to cross aal were relieved on the west bank despite severe losses the thirty seventh succeeded in again crossing the river and moved forward the following day advancing two and a half miles east nard the monety first division met opposition on the lath and none on the morning of the alth reaching a line east of boucle hlapse in the army the hath corps advanced rapidly the morning of the of the eighty ninth dl alth clements Lle ments vision occupied stena and established a line on the hill to the north boull mopped up early in ly sur mouse was the morning and occupied the second division advanced to the while the sev ridge west 0 ns enty seventh division hald its tine of the in the third corps the morning ot the alth the nineteenth division en baalen and the I 1 fifth and ty second divisions were preparing to attack the seventy ninth division of the french second colonial corps at tacked agalos the cote de and advanced ad vinced a short distance alic made slight gains and the eighty first division ngali enok on the front of the second army the attack of the thirty third division on the alth was held ap the twenty eighth carried ita line forward north of Marim bola farm the seventh division made no attack and the ninety second division attacked but dad not hold all its gains the line of the first army novem her 11 extended from fresnel fresnes en to pont maughs the second army line ran from port sur to fresnel fresnes en thus both american armies were now in position to carry out the offensive as directed by my orders november 6 which was what I 1 had planned and advocated when marshal foch insisted that there should be a movement of all the armies west of the mouse with Mez leres sedan as the objective of th american first army CHAPTER aa the conference between mar foch and the german delegates proceeded and in anticipation of ad vices regarding the armistice telephone lines were kept constantly open between my headquarters and those of the first and second armies hen word came to me at 6 a m rio ember 11 that hostilities would cease at 11 a m directions to that effect were sent to our armies immell abely hiir troops had been advancing rapidly during the preceding two days and although every effort was made to reach them promptly a few could not be 0 before the prescribed hour A brief account of the conference with the german delegates was given to me a few days later by general eyland ey gand he said the germans came across the line by automobile the aft ernson of november 7 and boarded a special railway coach sent by the french to meet them during the night this car and the marshals were placed side by side in the forest between and soissons Sols sons the emissaries were ushered into the marshal s presence and after producing their credentials were asked the object of their visit they replied that they had come to discuss the terms of an armistice the marshal then made it clear that be himself was not requesting an armistice and did not care to have one hen asked if they wished an arm istace they replied that they did the marshal said that if that was the case here were the terms a copy of which he handed them the severity of the demands seemed to surprise them and they appeared very much depressed they had no power to sign an armistice they said without the consent of the chancellor and after some little discussion they started an officer to the german capital with the terms they did not sees to object to turn ing over cannon but deplored the condition which required them to surrender machine guns they finally succeeded in having this reduced to machine guns on the ground that they might have some left tor riot duty in speaking of the danger of riots the delegates were asked why they did not send some of their reserve divisions to maintain order in the interior their reply was that they had no divisions in reserve us every division that they had was actually in line then they complained about the short time allowed for evacuation stating that the german army ft as in no con to move either forward or baal ward what america had done between september 28 and Isio viiu her 11 twenty two american and six french divisions with an fighting of TOO men on a front extending from southeast of ver dun to the argonne forest hail en faed and decisively beaten forty three different german divisions with an estimated fighting strength of of the twenty two american rolv ismons four had at different times dur ing this period been in action on fronto M than our own the enemy suffered an estimated loss of over casualties in this battle and our I 1 army lost about the total strength of the first army including french troops reached 1 oil 00 men captured prisoners cannon 1000 machine guns and large quan titles of material the transportation and supply of divisions to and from our front during this battle was a gigantic task were 20 american and seven 1 fenili divisions besides hundreds of thou sands of corps and anav troops moved in and out of the american yone A total of men were evacuated to the rear and more replacements were received it need hardly be restated thai our entry into the war gave the allies the preponderance of force vitally nee f t essary to outweigh the tremendous increase in the strength of the germans on the western front due to the collapse of russia and the consequent release of german divisions employed against her from the military point of view we began to aid the alalea early in 1918 when our divisions with insufficient training to take active part in battle were sent to the inactive front to relieve french divisions that they might be used in the fighting line the assistance we gave the adlle in combat began in may with the successful attack of one of our divisions at this was followed early in june by the entrance into battle of the two divisions that stopped the german advance on paris near chateau thierry Th lerry and by three others that were put in the defensive line in july two american divisions with one moroccan division formed the spearhead of the counterattack against the chateau thierry salient in which nine of our divisions participated there was a total of approximately american trompa engaged in this second battle of the marne which involved very severe fighting and was not completed until the germans were driven beyond the vesle in august in the middle of september an army of americans reduced the st salient the latter part of september our great battle of the meuse argonne was begun lasting through 47 days of intense fighting and ending brilliantly for our first and second armies november 11 after more than american soldiers had participated A time to forget hardships it was a time to forget the hard ships and difficulties except to record them with the glorious history of our achievements in praise and thanks for the decisive victories of our arm les and in guidance for the future the following order was issued G H Q american expeditionary forces general orders no france nov 12 1918 the enemy has capitulated it Is fitting that I 1 address myself in thanks directly to the and soldiers of the american ex forces who by their heroic efforts have made possible this glorious result our armies hurriedly raised and hastily trained met a veteran enemy and by courage discipline and skill al ways defeated him without corn plaint yon have endured incessant toll privation and danger you have seen many of your comrades make the supreme sacrifice that freedom may iliew I 1 thank you for the patience and courage with which you have endured 1 con you upon the splendid fruits of victory which your heroism and the blood of our gallant dead are now presenting to our nation your deeds will live forever on the most glorious pages of america s history these things you have done there remains now a harder task which will test your soldierly qualities to the utmost succeed in this and little note will be taken and few praises will be sung fall and the light of your glorious achievements of the past will sadly be dimmed but you will not tall every natural tendency may urge toward relaxation in discipline in conduct in appearance in everything that marks the soldier yet you will remember that each om and each soldier Is the representative senta tive in europe of his people and that his brilliant deeds of yesterday permit no action of today to pass unnoticed by friend oc by foe you will meet this test as gal bantly as you have met the tests of the battlefield sustained by your high ideals and inspired by the heroic part you have played you will carry back to our people the |