Show II 11 AM copyright 1931 in all 11 II x vr ang countries count north rlee american by the newspaper alliance POOP story of othlie all A a 9 iolj de 0 served scandinavian production world including rights I 1 in whole re re the orin or in part prohibited by gem john I 1 pershing service cl CHAPTER continued lines of infantry ac companied compan led by numerous tanks sue ceedee without difficulty in reaching the limited object objectives iNes I 1 ort kalmal son the key point was reduced to a I 1 leap eap of rubbish by tie very heavy artillery fire concentrated upon ulon it the capture of this don anant position by bv the I 1 rench caused tl e in i te w with ith draft draw al of tie gen geri ans on tl tie e rigl rigi t and left and during the sic s weeding peling fortnight they retired beh nd the allette victory Is offset this acl ien ement of the I 1 rench in capturing positions against which the april offensive ve by nivelle dished dashed it self relf to pieces had a very til fit g effect upon their morale but it I 1 an ave e been more lasting I 1 id ad it not been followed so soon by tl ti e serious de feat of tl 0 e italians nt at cavoretto Ca poretto oc tober 24 after extend ng tl tt inks to our host we left for con plagne I 1 co con ered m with ith mud stopp ng tl ere to cou con general I 1 eta n on the sue cess of the day IN chile I 1 ile at L mp agne we re dropped in at tl e d spen sary nl ere some an women under miss else elre de who afterward be came lady mendl maln main tali ed a clinic for badly burned gas cases IN e als made a brief call at the I 1 near by to see colonel bunau abla anla of panama canal fame who had lost a leg at the recent french off offensive ensie near N deidun el dun from h hs s cheerful mood he seemed to be rather proud of his wound in 1927 1 I took part in the dedica tion of the ossuary near verdun at which colonel bunau varila w was as pres ent elit on the he rounds to inspect th s fine monument we passed the many bais bags which contain the bones of men who lost their lives in the great bat I 1 tie when we cime came to tl tie e bay cor responding to the sector in wl wi ich he dougl t I 1 e jovially remarked thit that he t I 1 Is leg must be in tl ere dock construction delayed toward tie end of october accod palled by gens richard N Blate BI atchford liford and mason U I 1 atrick and cols charles it krauthoff and david S stanley I 1 vis US ted bordeaux one of the bolts chosen tor for the use of amer ican sloops As facilities were sufficient to accommodate a limited amount of add t onal tonal med um draft shipping we re had bad started the con construe struL tion of new docks at bassens bossens 12 in les 1 below where deep water would per mit vessels es sels to come alongside al though considerable quantities of mi ma terdal had been sent over this new construction was delayed because of the lack of piling which the engineers had planned to have brouil t from the pacific coast an incident happened in connection with the sl of p ling from home that would have been amus amusing liag it if it had bad not been so serious one ship that reached bordeaux was sup posed to be loaded with especially long piling but upon inspection the engi found it much sl orter thin than pre scribed upon inquiry it was learned that to get alm piles in between bulk leads the supercargo had sawed tie ends off intile hile speaking of forest products another example of clency lency that occurred a little later might be mentioned one of the vessels from home was loaded bi h the quartermasters depart amoel u alem tl em I 1 spoke to two colonels and criticized tie tl e lack of sanitation but it was evident that they were un able to compel the men to work even to tl e extent of cleaning out stables latrines or dra ns and the conditions may be better imag ned tied than de tie schied I 1 ed the men were a heay stu I 1 id fool ing lot w who ho in tl ti air new es tate apparently did not care how bad tl inas 1 were mere so long as the french h continued to feed and clothe them progress Is noted C en evies I 1 es n I 1 ich lies miles direct ly fouth of I 1 aris became the site of our prin clial supply depot in france sundet col L C J bamond able and net getic d re tion coi cot st ruction to OY ov er an at abea aiea ea of 12 sq square tare miles was go fig ii g i rard ath w th ill all poss ble speed col nel si monds aids as gradually put th g oi older der and system into the place 1 eai dIeRs of the adverse cond eions n ler u alich I 1 ich ti tie e line of com munica ti is was ras lab labona oiin tl ere was every emery v w I 1 ere a fine and enthus astle sp nt rit ai i u the officers and men who with out ex exception eption were ere cheerful and copti m after all cons debing del ing the lack of men and material me e were ere making progress on tl ti e pi pl side of the organization tl V at would feed clothe and furn turn sh munitions for the great arny irn we re hoped to have hane one obstacle I 1 however ewener was to be found in tl ti e number of independent bureaus represented at the ports and tl e larger centers of aati activity aty not only in our own system but especially in that of tl e I 1 rench and the conse quent d faculty of securing teamwork an ong tl em As a remedy I 1 sent to eich each base section a competent gener 1 with an organized staff to co ord nate and systematize the man aremel t of affairs and in a brief time cons I 1 il qi ie impton ement was noticeable in in methods of handling troop ar rivals and cargo and in the increased progress of construction CHAPTER breakfasting with me in n paris no vember 4 1917 the british prime nun min ister mr lloid george referred to the italian defeat at cavoretto Ca poretto as be ing a most serious disaster and point ed out that sending british and frenel divisions to italy had materially mater lilly weak ened the lines in france mr air lloyd george also spoke at some length on the lick lack of concerted action among the allied armies I 1 agreed with him and added that in my opinion there never had been real operation cooperation 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 concen their reserves against tl e tl 11 reat ened point vie IN e R were ere facing a grave crisis next year if not sooner said mr lloyd geoage and no one knew how it was to be met the enemy might attack each one separately with the same results as in the case cage of italy he ile then asked what I 1 thought of creat ing a supreme war council having in mind councils called to decide upon military operations in the field I 1 told him that the advice 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 vested somei somewhere here to en co erdl 4 graves of corporal J B gresham ment with shavings for the cold stor age plant instead of steel billets for the bhe manufacture of guns when tons of sawdust and sl akings could I 1 ave been obtained from the logging districts in france jf trouble with russ ans continuing tl tt e inspection we wen went sunday fc to bornau about forty iles iles from bordeaux tl ti inking it knight possibly be aNal available lable for our use later on it was then occupied by a of disaffected russ ins ans who like most of gieir fellows had ceped tl air officers and refund t further in the war after being withdrawn from the I 1 ne tie they had gh ghen en the I 1 rench so much trouble even to committing depredations on the people that tl ti ey had to be sent out of tl e zone of the armies to this rather remote camp wl ere they were held practically as prisoners tl TI ere was no transportation to car ry them back to russia and as they I 1 ad been allowed to kep their arms lt it waa was d to enforce d pline ind and privates enright and hay nate the operations on the western front and suggested the poss ability of having a supreme commander there lloyd george favors coonc I 1 mr air lloyd george replied in effect that it was unlikely that the allies would mould agree upon any one as the french would object to any but a frenchman and tl e british might not I 1 be ke that he ile thought the counci would be useful for tl tie e purpose marily madly of bring ng the heads of the allied governments together at inter als to determine general policies I 1 admitted that such an tion t serve sern e to unite the allies in common purpose but that the conduct of operations by the comb ned tied artmen u should be under military direction I 1 got the distinct impression that while he was ras seeking to secure greater unity of action he also sought rome means of controlling it tie e activities of the british army during pre previous ilous months that army hid had been engaged in almost continuous off offensive ensle operations single singla handed banded with very heavy losses and few compensating adian mr air lloyd ceorge went on to say that there was ras to be a meeting of the pinne punie ministers at rapallo italy and tl ti it at he hoped they in abt reach son e agree ment tl ti at would result in a council such as he had in mind lie ile thought that the united states ought to be rep resented at this meeting and suggest ed tl it at I 1 sl attend As tl ti e pur pose of a council seemed to be more for political ordination coordination co than tor for I 1 arely military control I 1 told him that it seemed best for me not to pate without some intimation aiom my rement rn ment to do so in the afternoon at ai rain leves s request I 1 called on him and he also told me of the proposal to form a su preme 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 nir lloyd george shortly thereafter the rapallo meet ing was held resulting in an agreement among the prime m aisters of the governments participating great britain france and italy approved by wilson the creation of the council did not meet with un universal hersal approval the commanders of the british and french armies and high officials in civil circles being opposed to it at gitary commanders were afraid it would re suit in undue interference with the conduct of operations and in derision it was often refe ried to as its the soviet the action of the three govern ments at rapallo was approved by president ilson november 17 and that fact appeared in the press a day or so later the presidents action strengthened ti tie e hands bands of those who fa favored ored ta tie e council and probably became the influx ence that saved saied it the fact is that if it the french and british army commanders in a friend ly spirit of operation cooperation had made a joint study of the military problem of the western front as a whole and then had bad seriously undertaken to pull t tr gether as though under one control the supreme war council would never have been beert born the supreme war council made a favorable start and gave the imbres sion slon that a wie and conser conservative Native ex enelse of its really unlimited powers would characterize its acrons act ons it re trained from interfering directly with military commanders coin minders and operations and confined itself largely to questions of policy such as tl ti e co ord nation of allied resources and the conservation and d strib ution of allied strength however lIo meNer as time went on the su preme war council assumed greater and greater reater authority over military questions conal ct et with wilson ideals As to tl ti e political situation the undercurrent der current at the moment as nearly as could be learned showed a con tinned lick lack of accord among the differ ent nations which were not at all in agreement with pres dent wilson h b ideals each hid had its own aspirations and each sought to gain some addan tage ov on er tie tl e oti ers some of the d di war aims alms had to do with ter atory distant from france and troops were sent that might have been more usefully employed on the tle western front in a letter to secretary of war baker I 1 a memorandum which was a report of a con conversation ers atlon I 1 eld by a man in my confidence with a british official h gh up in the counsel of gre greit it britain ahe date of this conversa tion was ras october 24 1917 I 1 perhaps it sl not be taken to i seriously I 1 wrote but t is an indi cation of the british attitude sees D fforence in A ms in th tb s con conversation the british official declared the european allies and america are not fighting for the same thing mr wilson thinks a great deal more of his ideas of people governing them selves ot of a friendly working arrange ment among all the great powers after the war than he does of rials or specific tt ings going to this or that country N VV hat bat I 1 e wants is to smash the german gerian military power and have a society of democratic nations after wards nards but to england france and italy these things are phrases useful perhaps but of secondary interest bridgland bri gland wants manta to maintain her colonial poR possessions sessions to beep keep her poel tion on the sea and her commercial place in the world we know what P A ac 4 4 I 1 f a american troops moving to the front france wants alsace lorraine Lorr alne as in and security for the future italy has definite territorial claims thus the governments of these coun tries think a great deal about what they want for themselves and less about ideals unless these ideals are incidental to success so there Is no clear unity among the allies in europe and america CHAPTER soon after the first division en a quiet sector of the the peaceful aspect of the situation was d stubbed by a german raid on an isolated post of the sixteenth infantry Ao november vember 3 1917 A group was caught in a box barrage and although the men made a courageous resistance three killed five wounded and twelve captured these were the first casualties blat tl at had occurred in our army to units serving in the trend es the dead were corporal james B gresham and privates ates thomas F enright and merle D hay flay all of company F the french took charge of the tu fu gerals and turned out a formal guar buarl I 1 in addition to our own the services v were ere conducted conducted by the french general bordeaux who came with his full staff and delivered a beautiful oration over the graves A large number of t rench troops also came informally to pay their final tribute this joint homage to our dead tl ere under the fire of the guns seemed to symbolize the common sacrifices w u e were to make in the same great cause ammunition question acute the ammunition question again be came acute at oat flat time deplae our agreements with the french and their positive assurances that they would make prompt deliveries but their ex I 1 llan la atlon nation was that we re had not fur nisi ed the full amount of raw mate rial red in my early reference to the pros pacts of procuring artillery of and calibers and tor for its use it had been el I 1 that noti ing should diminish our efforts at home in their manufacture but when the probability of delay and possibly failure of the french to furnish an art for these guns was re portel to was wasl ington my cable met the corn com reply much to my surprise that the french government must furnish it for tl ti ere Is no other wiy way of getting it at the present time there Is not in this country any actual out put of ammunition of the types men cloned none has been expected home ports overcrowded tl TI e d of providing the french with raw material was largely traceable to the lack of shipping and of chui coui couise se the unscientific use of wl wt at we had the fact Is that the ports at t boiss I 1 ome were oNer overcrowded crowded with all boits of material and supplies awaiting ves sels tl TI e french had over COO tons of supplies at seaboard which thy were unable to move and were clan |