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Show s feiy f ttli Ao W I JJ (Copyright, 1931, In all countrir hy the North Ameri- MMS f f XX. W can Newipupnr Allisnnv. Wurld rifbtf reierred, W ' J4 liicliifliiJK tli Scandinavian. Iteiroduction In whole 77 r ? B fT 1. or in part prohibited.) -W.VU Service t Hiltl 2 m k (TSElintj ml! L n Flr.t anny should completely expel ex-pel lie enemy from the region between be-tween the Meuse nnd the Bar within the next few days. The re-sulis re-sulis obtained by this army have been felt on the entire front from the Moselle to Holland. . . . "It is desired that, in carrying out the directions that are outlined out-lined herein, corps and division commanders push troops forward wherever resistance Is broken, without regard for fixed objectives Hnd without fear for their flanks. Special attention will he given to impress upon all officers and soldiers sol-diers that enerjry, boldness and open warfare methods are demanded de-manded hy the present situation. The First and Second armies will at once prepare to undertake operations with the ultimate purpose pur-pose of destroying the enemy's organization and driving him beyond be-yond the existing frontier In the region of Briey and Longwy. . . ." Between the Meuse and Chlers rivers, riv-ers, north and northeast of Stenay, there was a very strong position which commanded the crossings In that vicinity. I believed that If we should cross the river south of Stenay and move In the direction of Montmedy we could turn this position and have an excellent opportunity to capture large numbers of German Iroops driven driv-en back on the line Sedan-Montmedy. By this maneuver we would also be In an advantageous position to advance ad-vance on the important supply areas of Longwy and Brley. An attack by the Third corps to the east across the Meuse, south of Dun-sur Dun-sur Meuse, in conjunction with the northward movement by the French Seventeenth corps, was prepared as a preliminary to a new line of advance to the east. November 3, 4 and 5, the Fifth division di-vision of the Third corps In a brilliant maneuver on a wide front effected crossings of the Meuse and established precision, gaining momentum with every ev-ery mile. , Enemy Badly Beaten Everywhere. For the first time the enemy's lines were completely broken through. Although Al-though he had been budly beaten on all parts of the front he had hitherto been able to avoid this disaster. By the magnificent dash of our First army, however, the enemy now found himself in the same situation that had confronted the allies earlier In the war. The Fifth corps In the center drove a wedge into the German defenses, swept through the zone of their artillery, artil-lery, and by night had reached the heights of Barricourt, five miles from the front of departure. The enemy's Hues had been decisively crushed, thanks to the splendid performances of the Eighty-ninth and Second divisions. divi-sions. The Third corps had strongly supported sup-ported the Fifth corps, the Ninetieth division carrying all Its objectives without a reverse, and the Fifth division divi-sion on Its right reaching the Meuse, north of Brieulles, and capturing (Jlery-le-Grand. On the left of the army In the First corps the Eightieth division co-operated with the Second division In the capture of Imecourt and reached the corps objective north of Sivry. The remainder of the corps was unable, in in the face of heavy machine-gun tire, and the following day seized Barricourt Barri-court and drove the enemy backward to Beaucluir. The Second division made a slight advance on this date, resuming the attack the 3rd. That night the Third brigade (Col. James C. Rhea), by a perilous night march through the extensive Foret de DIeulet passed completely beyond the enemy's lines and captured German troops In their billets. By midnight the head of the column was in firm possession of la Tullerie farm, Just south of Beaumont. The success of the attack in the center, November 1, compelled the retirement re-tirement of the enemy on the entire front of the First corps. The Eightieth Eighti-eth division on the 2nd reached the new German defensive position, broke through it and took Buzancy. The following fol-lowing day, against heavy fire, the Eightieth established its line along the road running southeast from St. F'ierremont. The Seventy-seventh division now succeeded in passing Champlgneulles, and by the night of the 2nd had reached Harrlcourt. The following morning it drove the enemy to the hill north of St. Pierremont, where It was held up by heavy machine-gun fire, Pershing Spends Day at Front. The Seventy-eighth division captured the Bois des Loges the 2nd, and es- CHAPTER LXII Continued. Marshal Koch expressed tlis thanks for what I had said, and added tlin' while It was true the American army was still young. Its spirit was splendid splen-did and It was tremendously Increasing Increas-ing every day In elliciency and In numbers. lie then asked Marshal Malg whether, In view of what General I'e-taln I'e-taln and I had said, he cared to modify mod-ify his views on the terms of an armistice, ar-mistice, to which llalg replied In the negative. The conference ended here with Marshal Koch's request that each of us submit In writing what we had proposed. CHAPTER LXIII Returning to I'arls from the conference con-ference of allied commanders-in-chief at Senlls, October 2f, 1918, 1 cabled a report of the proceedings to Washington, Wash-ington, Including my proposals In detail de-tail as enumerated In the previous chapter. Marshal Foch did not definitely express ex-press his views at the conference, as may be recalled, but the following day he submitted his report to Prime Minister Clomenceau. Marshal Foch's recommendations embraced the main points proposed by the commander-in-chief, and were accepted by the supreme su-preme war council with practically no change. In the light of later events we know Germany was more nearly beaten than the allied leaders realized at that time, and was. In fact, In no position to resume the fighting even had her government gov-ernment remained intact. Her last division di-vision was In line, her supply system was demoralized, and the congestion behind her lines made It practically Impossible for her to move her armies In the face of the aggressive allies. Instead of requiring the German forces to retire at once, leaving material, mate-rial, arms and equipment behind, the armistice terms permitted - them to march back to their homeland with colors flying and bands playing, posing pos-ing as the victims of political conditions. condi-tions. If unconditional surrender had been demanded, the Germans would, without doubt, have been compelled to yield, ' and their troops would have returned to Germany without arms, vlrtunlly as paroled prisoners of war. The surrender sur-render of the German armies would have been an advantage to the allies In the discussion of peace terms and would '"ive greatly facilitated their execution. In conversation with M. Polncare some time after the war, he told me that, as president of the republic, he was In favor of demanding the surrender sur-render of the German armies, but that M. Clemenceau, his prime minister, Insisted In-sisted upon granting them an armistice. armi-stice. The last phase of the Meuse-Argonne operations was to begin November 1. The American army was now able for the first time to prepare for an offensive of-fensive with some deliberation, under reasonably normal conditions and more nearly on an equal footing with the other armies. We had learned from reports and from photographs taken by our aviators avi-ators that the enemy had greatly strengthened the most prominent points back of his lines, while captured cap-tured documents Indicated bis Inten tlon of organizing a position along the west slopes of the Barricourt ridge. The eastern spurs of this ridge commanded com-manded all the crossings of the Meuse and formed a connecting link with the high ground east of the river about Cote Saint Germain. The Infantry advanced to the assault as-sault at 5 :30 the morning of November Novem-ber 1, following an accural e barrage of artillery aud machine-gun fire, which beat down German resistance over a zone of 1,200 yards in depth. Squadrons Squad-rons of swift-flying combat planes drove the enemy planes from the air and fired on the hostile Infantry, while the bombing squadrons harassed important im-portant points behind the enemy's lines. The attack went forward with s----eC SEDAN " kWVX MEUSE-ARGONNE OFFENSIVE ? s5&sr nov.. i- ii MTy '""'11 . "'tV Corp, Ion, Boundary Xi - MA oBukon jKE&iifSsr o Terror, i,,, I K T. liSenvicj MfruB90?liX L .. 2 V 3 S 4 J" I n oVocr . --3. RemoiviM C'.V TalMylJfvilfefranc&X J'ph". V,(',' Y( B0RNt Dt-l '.V' V'T ViVMlc-drvf- t ir-, J CORNOUILLER W lWlJ.Chaumont A ,-FORE5T V VS. ,1 spite of great efforts, to make much headway against the Bois des Loges, although the Seventy-eighth division did gain a foothold in that wood. By the evening of November 1 the situation of the enemy was so serious that he had either to deliver a strong counter-attack or to withdraw from all territory south of Buzancy-Boult-aux-Kois. The blow struck by the First army had. however, given him such a shock that he was unable to take strong offensive action, although he still offered serious' resistance. Germans Hurled Beyond Meuse. The attack continued with vigor No vember '1 and 3, the Third corps Hurl ing the enemy beyond the Meuse neai Dun-sur-Meuse and Stenay. The Fifth division on the 2nd captured Doulcou and the Ninetieth took Villers devant Dun. The following day the Ninetieth pushed through the woods on its from and established Its line along the heights overlooking the river In the neighborhood of Villef runche. In the Fifth corps the Eighty-ninth division November 2 captured Tailly 1 tablished its line along the eastern edge of the Bois de Bourgogne north to Briquenay, and continuing on the 3rd, captured Germont and Verrieres. My diary notes: "Souilly, Thursday, November 7, 1918. Had long talk with Stet-tlnius Stet-tlnius about ordnance on Monday. Visited Second army headquarters and found indications of withdrawal with-drawal on that front. "Spent the day at front. Went through Grandpre, overtaking Dickman s First corps headquarters headquar-ters at Harricourt ; he was pushing push-ing troops toward Sedan. Returned through St. Juvin and found traffic traf-fic In dilticulties, many trucks having hav-ing run off the road in the darkness. dark-ness. Gave directions to use lights on all motor transport. "Received letter from Marshal Foch today asking for six American Ameri-can divisions for new offensive south of Metz. Our advance has been continuous. Recommended Harbord and McAndrews for promotion pro-motion to grade of lieutenant general." gen-eral." By November 4. the enemy, greatly disorganized, was retiring before the vigorous pursuit of our troops on the entire front of the First army. His withdrawal was strongly protected by cleverly placed machine guns and well organized delaying operations. The following telegram came to me on the afternoon of the 5th : -"The operations begun November Novem-ber 1 by the First American army, due to the valor of the command and to the energy and bravery of the troops, have already assured results of great importance. I am happy to send you my congratulations. congratula-tions. "FOCH." CHAPTER LXIV Our success had been so striking since the beginning of the November I attack that 1 felt full advantage should he taken of the possibility of destroying the armies on our front and seizing the region upon which Germany largely depended for her supply of iron and coal. In accordance accord-ance with these views the following order was Issued to the First aud Second Sec-ond armies: "The energetic action of the bridgeheads south of Dun-sur-Meuse. The' heights of the Meuse were gradually grad-ually cleared hy the Third corps and the French Second Colonial corpa, which had relieved the French Seventeenth Sev-enteenth corps. Nov for the first time since 1014, the French positions around Verdun were completely free from the menace of these heights. In these operations the Fifth division, divi-sion, assisted by a regiment of the Thirty-second, on November 5 had captured Milly and established its line from there south to the Bois de Chat-M Chat-M Ion. By night of the 9th it had advanced ad-vanced to Remoivllle and north of Mouzay. Our front was also extended to the south, and by November 10 an excellent excel-lent line of departure was secured for an offensive in the direction of Montmedy. Mont-medy. The Seventy-ninth division (Kuhn), in the French Second Colonial Co-lonial corps, met decided opposition opposi-tion in its attacks of the 4th, 5th and 6th against the Borne de Cornoulller. and this strong point was finally taken tak-en on the 7th. On the following day the Seventy-ninth, with units of the Twenty-sixth division (Bamford) attached, at-tached, advanced on Its entire front, and on the 9th took Wavrlile. Between November 3 and 7 the Twenty-sixth division, on the right of the Seventy-ninth, made no attack. On the Sth it took up the pursuit of the retiring enemy, and by night of the 9th occupied a line which Included Ville-devant-Chaumont. The Eighty-first division (Bailey) entered the line as the right division of the French Second Colonial corps, November 7, relieving the Thirty-fifth, division (Traub). Attacking on the 9th against stiff defense, It captured Manheulles and Moranville. Reaching the Meuse. The Eighty-ninth division, Fifth corps, overcoming stubborn opposition, captured Beaufort on the 4th anil reached the Meuse. The Foret de Jaulny was cleaned up the following day, and Cesse was occupied. The Second division In its attack of the 4th suffered heavy losses and made slight headway, but during the next two days It continued rapidly, and by night of the Gth reached the Meime south of Villemotitry. (TO BK CONTINUED.) V. i . r i Plan of Attack of Firsi Army Mov 1. 198 -" - Jump off lint Sept mtmrmmmm Jump off lin Nov 1st Y (No attack enin o M?USe or Nov tJ 1 Lin reacted Nov 5'h I Lirt cached Nov Nth ylvfc, xxx First Army Boundary XsSg(ej r Corps Boundary s. Arabic Numerals de&rcnate Divtsioo Roman Numerals d-aijnate Coi'ps jp Arrows indicate oVection an weigw of anack 2 A ft Stenay KWuX """" FIRSTARMV |