Show ca beneral L baral ae stona of t the I 1 06 L e A E F copyright 1931 in all 11 II countries by the th north awe tea ican newspaper Newt paper alliance world 1 Cie u right rights reserved including the th scandinavian reproduce Re product on in whole or m part prohibited 4 1 4 1 1 john J b service CHAPTER A large party including col cot E at house the american delegates to tin the conference ami anil asbador william G sharp and lord northcliffe went by special tra n from I 1 ar s de comber cember 4 1917 to our training are i r stopping topping at ray my cl aumont I 1 en route on the train I 1 hal an interesting conversation w m tl lord I 1 ord N tl cliffe of the british air board re regarding arding tl tf e formation of an american aina ain v ai aid d its transportation overseas sets I 1 id northcliffe thought his govera eit ei I 1 should do more to help w th ng but like most ingi ahmen he be it best for us to send ur mei for service m with ith ti tie e brit sh ch he ile ar dr gued in favor of a proposal tl at LI I 1 george had recently made to mr house that we sl should incorporate in their units an ana it ii fantry tl if at we R e maht not be able to organise org anise Immel lately into complete divisions of our own oun it is all very ni ell I 1 said to make male such an appeal to us but it Is in pos bible sible to ignore 0 ir nat onal v eap nt the people themselves would not ap prove even enen clough tie tle pres lent and his advisers should lean that R ly N vc cannot permit our men to erve under agoti another er flag except in an atren e emergency and then only tc te I 1 also insisted that we would con eon tribute more largely to allied by the use of the american army ai a unit hits fault finders about this time mr house told me that retain petain had cr tl tie e ameri amerl can ideas of train ng and also that louis Lou cheur minister of munitions had bad spoken about the rise in prices caused by Ameil can purchases mr air house wisely suggested to tl 0 ese gen tiemen flemen he said that matters of this kind were tor for me to settle I 1 called without delay on AI al clem enchau and told him of the reports and explained ny I 1 ay iy understanding about at out training agreements iree ments with ith petain and ind also the steps tl at had previously been take tale by the pure burcl asing hoard board in 0 o operation with his dmn ow n bureaus burea is to prevent the rise in prices I 1 also to d him that I 1 rench dealers were largely to blame if prices had risen as we me had eliminated competition among ourselves and that our pur chases were and had been for some time actually handled through frencl officials I 1 objected to these back door meth eds of hodg ng complaints an I 1 empei sized the necessity of frankee s and find directness in all our dealings I 1 asked him to give instructions that if alere was wai any fault to find with our meth it should be brought to my per bonal 1 attention he ile entirely agreed with me and expressed chagrin and surprise that any otter oti er course had bad been followed on the face of it there was mas no other conclusion however than that both complaints were made for the purpose of find ng out just the ex tent of my independent auti onty bets gets apology from petain I 1 took occasion a few days later to let petain know very politely v mt 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 be had done about the plan to attack the st michtel salient as the first off offensive enslie by the american army I 1 was pleased w th tb I 1 etain s apology and his big statement that here would be no further action of this kind on his part As a matter of fact I 1 think the french erroneously regarded house lionize as a sort of special lor for an I 1 thought that tl ti ey could lay the foun dation for an approach ahr ugh him to the question of amalgamation before his return to the states house said to me that he entirely agreed with me we and that he be felt sure the president and secie tary of war in tended to leave the whole question regard ng the it d ion tion of our troops to my judgment judg dent nent assurance on this point polut was in no sense i ec essar essary as I 1 had full confidence ta atiat at this was ras tie case during his stay in france I 1 formed a high opinion f houses house s ab lity IN e formed a friendship arlend bip in the beginning begin nin which enabled us to discuss all mat most freely and frankly before he left for home he and I 1 arranged tor for confidential cora atlon tv t v cable should it become necess necessity try iry to reach mr baker or mr wilson I 1 the missing turkeys immediately upon my return to headquarters at chaumont december 7 1917 general harbord reported I V el e had h ait been a shortage of turkeys if 11 1 other essentials of a truly ameri amerl T thanksgiving d mier and in a aal et ous manner deplored the heart ji aness ness of a staff at washington that auld so neglect our troops he ile stated that the shortage was due to these supplies which had been or dered in september for delivery dellery no vember I 1 being abeln burled buried under a large cargo tl ti at CO could U id not be unloaded in time the following cable was sert as written by harbord on september 18 supplies for thanksgiving were ordered your cablegram stated in shipped on montanan there was no mincemeat on montanan ir lonce meat ar rived november Noem NoN ember bet 20 on ion powhatan un berneath der neath heany cargo which it was necessary to d before mince meat could be unloaded result mincemeat aboard ship day sweet potatoes arrived on da kotan and could not be unloaded un til november NoN ember 22 result sone troops d d not I 1 ave sweet p batees it was wab necessary to buy geese to fill siti is on account of I 1 art of turkeys turkey not arrivoli g notwithstanding the fact that thanksgiving su cupl pilles lies were or dered to arrhe e in I 1 Alt although Althou houg gl we had treated tl s i utter I 1 el il tl 11 1 I really felt regret that some of ur troops bal hal been deprived iNed of a I 1 on elike g d and at tl ti e san e tin e I 1 R is i t at all pleaded pleased to laie further evidence of careless load loading jig of ships need two regular divis ons in cons alering the compos tion of our foicey it was a que tion whether we me ought to organ he h el I 1 er units by using regular regi n ei e ts Is w m th a proportionate number of ne v cheers or util ze the perma dent commiss boned personnel of the I 1 lie I 1 e for table able ass amment to the eltien cont agents and leave our reg ular organizations to be completed hom the re lithely raw mater al at at our d u ind and thus build up all category es of the army simul taneo sly I 1 recommended that regular regi ments at honolulu and elew lere ere be rel geleed acied for this purpose by national guard cuard reg ments these regular troops would mould more nearly approximate tie dards of our allies at the start and more important still their use I 1 if d dish the chances of reverses during our first encounters with the enemy a if lie e acting chief of staff sta if at home maj gan john biddle agreed with my suggestion but the widely separated locations of these segments reg ments made their replacement at d f ficula and only the third fourth and fifth d visions came in time for ice fee early in 1918 the sixth and sev enta arriving to take part in the fall can palan CHAPTER the progress of our preparation i home at this time december 1917 was mas far from being satisfactory as tests of newly arrived troops showed t 0 air instruct on was not up to our in france it m was as evident that my recommend rec ommen la t ons were mere being d th s fa alty tri tra ning ding at home threw an extra burden upon us of train ng boffl cers and men after tl e r arr ia al I 1 had urged that we me should follow our own oun conception of training em pi is as z ng the r and bayonet as the supreme weapons of tie tl e infantry sol dier and insisted upon training for open warfare the training of for tie tl e gen oral eral staff which also necessarily had to be undertaken lr IP ranee rance was well welli under way at the generi general staff school at lengres forty miles south of chau chan mont under the able d of ma ala jor general mcandrew the three months course of instruction was based upon our staff organization and visite I 1 king ling and queen of bel bet S 9 urn um and their army at on bati satt aday As we me have haie seen alere tt ere had been some talk of the british ng shit still ping to brina over american troops for training behind their lines dur ing the evenia g I 1 spent with sir doug las halg haig as noted in the d ary he be presented his plans for train tr alting ng air ir troops his idea was to place the bat as they arrived oi 01 e to the bri gade in selected british division preferably those serving on the south ern part of their front and tl ti en gradually to increase tl e number of atal rons until the division should be come wholly american hoping to commit the british dell bitely on tl e question of tonnage wl ich up to that time we had not succeeded in to do i g I 1 did not offer seri serl ous objection to the plan and even enen approved some of the features especially those ii tig g to the earlier part of the proposed training and for the men ent the question was ras lett left open for further conference causes king to wait I 1 left british headquarters tl if e next morning en route to the belgian afroz t to pay my respects to the king and queen As sir douglas was off to london my car was attall ed to his tran tra n and we traveled together to boulogne 1 I ere he boarded ta tie e chan nel del boit beat and I 1 took a special cons st ing of my car and one oti er and pro ceedee on my way may we ive were due at Alen kIrIe my des ti nation at a fixed hour but to my surprise the train pulled in ten min utes ahead of ahme I 1 was ras changing li 11 to my best uniform in fact was mas just putting on the right bo be t when rhen my aid colonel boyd stuck h s head bead in at the door of my compartment and said breathlessly general we have arrived I 1 knew it only too well mell as the train had stopped and the rodal band out s de was ras playing the star spangle 1 banner in to the mournful cadence corn com mon men to foreign bands it was an em barr barrasSI assing Dg thought that I 1 should be late in another minute when the orderly and myself were struggling gling this time with the left boot bod again appeared and said in a stale whisper that was mas no do abt heard bv by tl if e entire escort outside sir the king is out there standing at the sa lute that was too much the humor of the situation ove overcame reame me and for an instant all of us include ng the r ly who rarely smiled were convulsed with laughter that d d not help mat of course and meanwhile the band outside which had already played the national air through agh three times was dolefully beg nning lining on tie fourth when I 1 hurriedly descended tl if e steps of my car opposite his majesty button ng dg my overcoat with one hand and saluting with the other at my appearance the band started afresh and as though they had bad just begun ran through our national an them rather more vigorously cheece I 1 up no doubt at last to see me in evi dence A few months later I 1 had the courage to relate the incident in all its details to their majesties majest les and they both seemed to enjoy it immensely king decorates pershing after inspecting the escort in corn com pany with the king ling he and I 1 drove to their residence reside nM where the queen in her most gracious manner received us at the entrance IN V e hid had a very enjoyable enjo able lanci luncheon lun cleon eon which boyd tl ti ought was quite gy gay g y especially when I 1 became bold enoah enough to air mv my dreadful I 1 rench after lunch RID al bert to my surprise said he wished to bestow upon me the order of the ir lak 4 doughboys boys in the trenches in winter time was conducted by our own instructors with two or tl ree french and an equal number of british off officers to as ss Ls lecturers the if d m vis is the scarcity of officers available for or detail as students we were mere confronted with the task of building up an army of mill ons that would require as many trained staff officers as we bi ba I 1 officers in the whole regular army at the beginning of the war mar to meet this urgent demand wast inton was asked to send over in advance a small percentage of cers from each division for instruct tion but only a few ever came my d ary notes the foll follomon omin chaumont wednesday jan 2 1918 both french and brit sh pressing us for amalgamation na eat ent to marshal haig s heid bead he id quarters friday by rail accorn palled by colonel lastaff Wa staff and spent the night motored through heavy snowdrifts out from lt Bit aples gangs of conscientious objectors opening up roads D w th tb sir douglas ps sible slIp shipment ment bi and training of american arm broes s with british grand cordon of I 1 copold and as I 1 hesitated saving saying tint that we me were not per bitted to receive foreign decorations decoration s he insisted tint that I 1 should accept it conditionally which of coarse course was the only thing to do bod boyd was ras deco rated also in the afternoon the bing king with mith his ch ef of staff took me to his a G 11 Q and then to the frontline treni es explaining the disposition of the jim cited foi foice ce with which their pos toi floi s were mere held it consisted of only the his 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 gen geri in an lines at tl e risk of their lives ili es amused by U S congressmen vh lilb ie e we me were driving king iving albert related with much amu semi t some incidents of a recent visit bv a party of our congressmen and in inquired q alred whether it was customary in our coun try for tl ti cm em to be on fam liar ilar tern 4 with the president he said th thit it at some of them had called hiu him albert and one had slapped him on the back bayli g king youre yon re the right sort of fellow and eve in america admires vou you I 1 explained to him that our con eon gressmen were more or less privileged character sat home and that they onla meant to be friendly As a matter of fact I 1 think their familiarity did not offend I 1 im tin at all during my brief visit I 1 was ras barly lm biml hy by the extreme sim of the horae home life of the chril and queen CHAPTER returning k to my headquarters at chaumont cl aumont december 81 31 1917 I 1 was wag not surprised to receive the following cable from secretary of war baker in view of the numerous suggestions that had come to me regard ng varl vari ous plans for training our tr cps with the kiench and british both and I 1 rench are press ing upon tl e president their desires to have bour forces amalgamated with theirs by regiments and companies and both express the belief in impending heavy drive by germans somewhere som embere along the lines of the western fiort na e do not desire loss of identity of bashop shop charles E brent our troops but regard that as second ary to the meeting of any critical situ atlon by the most helpful use possible of the troops at your command the d 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 hane full authority to use the forces at your command as you deem wise in connection with mith the fience 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 1 rench trench lines which would mould |