| Show general A aa ap 9 1 wnm hint S all T 0 coun countree countr atle le br the north nort h A it risen V 1167 41 world right alliance rech re s tory wr amry erf alae Q eba scandinavian served including ding reproduction the product iori in whole mortn or in part prohibited J bu gesa gene sasami hat f pers in g I 1 service I 1 CHAPTER continued assaulting lines of infantry ac the by numerous tanks tine euc ceedee sed without difficulty in reaching kalmal objectives fort limited till reduced to point was the key on of rubbish by the he very ery heavy it teal heap it the concentrated upon fire artillery of tills dominant position by are capture the h french caused tile the immediate with of the Ger germanas ninas on the right drwal the succeeding during find and alid nd left behind the fortnight they retired aliette victory Is 1 offset this ahli achievement of the french in capturing positions against which the april offensive by nivelle dashed it kelt elf to pieces had a very stimulating morale but it would elyett upon it their beir chaie have been ma more re lasting had it not been followed so 8 soon oon by the serious defeat of the italians at Ca cavoretto poretto october 24 after exten extending ding thanks to our host we left for literally covered red with mud mu 1 stopping there to congratulate general on the success of the day while fit at we dropped in n at the dispensary where ere tone come american women under miss elsie elle ve de wolfe who afterward became lady mendl maintained a clinic for badly burned gas cases we also made a brief call at the hospital nearby to see C colonel bunau Varita of panama canal fame who had lost a leg at the recent F rench french off offensive near verdun from ills his cheerful mood he hc seemed to be rather proud of ills his wound in 1927 1 I took part in the dedication of the ossuary near verdun at which colonel bunau varila was pre pros S ent ut on the rounds to inspect this fine monument we passed the many bays which contain the bones of men who lost their lives in the great battle when we cattle came to the bay corresponding to the sector in which lie he fought he jovially remarked that he thought bought his leg must be in there abere dock construction delayed toward the end of october accompanied by gens richard N blatchford ind and mason alason M patrick and cots cols charles it 11 krauthoff and david S stanley I 1 visited bordeaux one of the he ports chosen for the use of american can troops As facilities were only sufficient to accommodate a limited amount of additional medium draft shipping we had started tile the construe tion ion of new docks at ai bossens bassens Bas sena sens 12 miles elow below where deep water would per nit mit vessels to come alongside although considerable quantities of ma ellal aerial had bad been sent over this new construction was delayed principally because because of the lack of piling which the engineers had planned to have brought from rom the pa clue coast an incident happened in connection with ath tile the shipments of piling from hdale ome that would have been amusing if it had bad not been so BO serious one ship hip that reached bordeaux Boi deaux was sup posed ased to be loaded with especially long piling but upon inspection the engl engi aers found it much shorter than proscribed prescribed bed upon inquiry it was learned that aliat liat to get the piles in between bulk heads eads the supercargo had sawed tile the ends ads off while speaking of forest products another example of inefficiency ency that occurred a little later might be mentioned one of the vessels from home was loaded abed hv br the denart among them I 1 spoke to two colonels colonel and criticized the lack of sanitation but it was evident that they were unable to compel the men to work even to the extent of cleaning out stables latrines or drains and the conditions may be better imagined than described bed the men were a heavy stu pid looking lot who in their new estate apparently did not care how bad things were so long as the french continued to feed and clothe them Is I 1 noted Gl clevres evres which lies miles directly eolith of paris became the tite of our principal supply depot in france under col U C J able and energetic direction construction to cov er an ail urea area of 12 square miles was going forward with ull till possible speed petti colonel was gradually put ting order and system into the place regardless of the adverse conditions under which the line of communion ions dons was laboring there was everywhere a i tine and enthus enthusiastic lastic spirit among the alip officers and men who without exception were cheerful clie erful and optimistic after nil all considering the lack of men and material we wore were making progress on tile physical side of the organization that would feed clothe cloth and furnish munitions for the great army we hoped to have one obstacle however was to be found in the number of independent bureaus represented at the ports porta and the larger centers of activity not on only tit in our own system but especially in that of the french and the consequent difficulty of securing teamwork among them As a remedy I 1 sent to each base section a competent general officer with an organized staff to coordinate nod and systematize the man argement of affairs and in a brief time conold able improvement was noticeable in methods of handling troop arrivals and cargo and in the increased progress of construction CHAPTER breakfasting with me in parts no vember 4 1017 the british prime minister mr air lloyd george referred to the italian defeat at cavoretto Ca poretto as be ing a most serious disaster and point bedout that sending british and french divisions to italy had ened the lines in france mr air lloyd george also spoke at some length on the lack of concerted action among the allied armies I 1 agreed with him and added that in n my opinion there never had been real operation cooperation co on the western front between the british and french that when one was attacking the other was usually standing still and that the germans were thus left free to concentrate their reserves rese ryes against the threatened point we were facing a grave crisis next year if not sooner said mr air lloyd george and no one knew how it was to be met the he enemy might attack each one separately with the same results as in the ca case se of italy ile HP then asked what I 1 thought of creating a supreme war council having in mind councils called to decide upon military operations in the field I 1 told him film that the ad advice vicie of war councils was not usually of any great value and that the proposition did not appeal to me I 1 said that authority should be bd vested somewhere to co ardi e P Q 04 tf f graves of corporal J D gresham and privates enright and hay merit ent with shavings for the cold storage plant dinst nd of steel billets for r the manufacture of guns when tons of sawdust it and shavings could have been obtained from the logging districts in france I 1 trouble with russians continuing the inspection we went n sunday to bornau about forty nilles lies from bordeaux thinking it t light possibly be available for our use ilse later on it was then occupied by it a brigade of disaffected russians who like niest niost most of their fellows had defied their officers and refused to participate further in the war after being withdrawn from the line they had bid given tile the french r so 0 o mu much c h tro trouble tible el e en to committing depredations on the people that they had to be sent ut it of the zone of the armies to ahls this rather remote camp where they were held practically as prisoners there was no transportation to cart carry them back bach to russia and as they bad ad been allowed to keep keel their arm i it was difficult to enforce nate the operations on the western front and suggested the possibility of f having a supreme commander there lloyd george favors favora council mr lloyd george deorie replied in effect that it was unlikely that the allies would agree upon any one as tile the french would object to any but a frenchman and the britt british 6 h ml j ht not like that he thought the counell council would be useful for the purpose primarily of bringing the heads of the allied governments together at intervals to determine general policies I 1 admitted Ahat such an organization might serve to unite the allies it in common purpose but that the conduct of operations by the combined armies should be under military 01 direction I 1 got the distinct impression that while bebas he was seeking to secure greater unity of action he also sought some borne menns means of controlling the activities of the british army during previous months that army bad been engaged in almost continuous offensive operations practically single handed banded with very heavy losses and few advin mr lloyd george went on to say hint there wits was to be a meeting electing of the lie prime ministers at rapallo It Pallo italy and vint lie he hoped they relight reach sonic agreement that would result in a council such as lie had in mind lie ile thought that tile the united states ought to be represented at tills meeting tind and suggested I 1 should attend As the purpose of a council seemed tobe more for political ordination coordination co linn ahrin fur for purely military control I 1 told him eliat it seemed best tor for me not to parti participate ct without some intimation from my government to do so in the afternoon at M V PaIn leves request I 1 called on him and he also told nie me of the proposal to form a war council and wanted me to go to the conference in italy I 1 gave him the same reply that I 1 had given mr air lloyd george shortly thereafter the rapallo meeting was held resulting in an agreement among the prime ministers of the governments participating great britain france and italy approved by wilson athe the creation of the council did not me meet e t w with I 1 th anly universal ersal approval the commanders of the british and french armies and high officials in civil circles being opposed to it military commanders were afraid it would result in undue interference with the conduct of operations and in derision it was often referred to as the soviet the action of the three gove governments rn at rapallo was approved by president wilson november 17 and that fact appeared in the press a day or so later the presidents action strengthened the hands of those who favored the council and probably became the influence that saved it the fact Is that if the french and british army commanders in a friendly spirit of operation cooperation co had made a bolat study of the military problem of the western front as a whole and then bad seriously undertaken to pull together as though under one control the supreme e war council would never have been born the supreme war council made it 11 favorable start and gave the impression that a wlee wl se and conservative exercise of its really unlimited powers would characterize its actions it refrained from interfering directly with military commanders and operations and confined itself largely to questions of policy such as the co allied resources es and the conservation and distribution of allied strength however a as s time went on the supreme war council assumed greater and greater authority over military questions conflict with riison ideals ideall As to the political situation the un der current at the mome moment nt as aa nearly as could be learned showed a continued lack of accord among the different nations which were not at all in agreement with president wilsons Wll Wil sons ideals each had its own aspirations and each sought to gain some advantage over the others some of the divergent war a alms ims had to do with territory distant from france and troops were sent that night ight have been more usefully employed on the western front in a letter to secretary of war baker I 1 a memorandum which was a deport of it a conversation hold held by confidence flotence with a british a m man an in my c on official high up in the co counsel of great Bri britain bretall tall the date of tills conversa converse tion jas was october 24 1917 perhaps it should not be taken t too 00 seriously I 1 wrote but bia it Is an indication of the british attitude sees difference in alms in tills this conversation the british official declared the european allies and america are not fighting for the same thing mr air wilson thinks a great deal more of his ideas of people governing themselves of a friendly working arrangement among all the great powers after the war than lie he does docs of territorial a or specific things going to this or that country what lie he wants Is to smash the german military power and have a society of democratic nations afterwards but to england france and italy are phrases useful perhaps but of secondary interest england engllind wants to maintain her colonial colonl nl possessions to keep her position po 81 on the sea find and tier her commercial place in the world we know what A no 0 N AN W k 1 t fl iak I 1 I 1 f W 4 0 4 T A american troops moving to the front france wants alsace lorraine as indemnity denin ity and security for the future italy has definite territorial claims thus the governments of these countries think a great deal about what they want for themselves and less about ideals unless these ideals are incidental to success so there la Is no clear unity among the allies in europe and america CHAPTER soon after the first division entered a quiet sector of the the peaceful aspect of the situation was disturbed by a german raid on an isolated post of the sixteenth infantry november 3 1917 A group was caught in a box barrage and although the men made a courageous resistance three were killed ive five wounded and twelve captured these were the first casualties that hint had bad occurred in our army to units serving in the trenches the dead were corporal james B gresham and privates thomas F enright and merle D hay flay all of company F the french took charge of the funerals and turned out a formal guard in addition to our own the services were conducted by the french general bordeaux who came with his bis full staff and delivered a beautiful oration over the graves A large number of french troops also came informally to pay their final tribute this joint homage to our dead there under the fire of the guns seemed to symbolize the common sacrifices we were to make in the same great cause ammunition question acute the ammunition question agal again n became acute at that time despite our agreements with the french and their positive assurances that they would make prompt deliveries but their explanation was that we bad not furnished the full amount of raw material required W ilmy my early reference to the prospects of procuring artillery of and calibers and ammunition for its use it had been expected that nothing should diminish our efforts at home in their but when the probability of 0 delay and po possibly sIbly failure of cf the french to furnish ammunition mun filon for these guns was reported to washing ton my cable met the complacent reply much to my surprise that the french must furnish it for there Is no other way of getting it at the present time there Is not in this country any actual output of 0 ammunition mm of the types mentioned none has been expected H home me ports porta overcrowded the difficulty of providing the french with raw material was wa largely traceable to the lack of shipping and of course the unscientific use of what gehad we had the fact is that the ports at home were 0 overcrowded v with all sorts eort of and supplies awaiting ves sets sels the french had over tons of supplies ht at seaboard which they were unable to move and were clamoring for tons additional of stew rills rails TO DE BE 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