Show X 0 X X general al pershia 0 lain x X story a hf f the ao A ee E fe F e 0 general 0 JEW copyright y 0 can including newspaper the th alliance world reproduction rights in whole who john J W f pershing M 1 I 1 raf 0 or r la in put part prohibited service CHAPTER continued the front occupied by the one hundred sixty eighth regiment near ba don villers had been under a severe artillery attack on the fourth and a trench mortar platoon had been almost completely destroyed the french army commander coin mander congratulated general zenober Me nolier on the way in filch our troops repulsed this raid after an inspection spec tion of the different regiments of the division and a visit to the scene of f this action I 1 went to the hospital to see cee the wounded they were all very cheerful especially a young officer A W terrel fifty first artillery regiment who mho bad lost a leg lie he said that he wanted to stay through to the end of the war and hoped he could find something to do as a clerk all these first contacts with the enemy were rel actively small affairs of course but they furnished many examples of what we could expect of the american soldier uy my diary notes this parts paris sunday march 10 1918 spent thursday morning with kernan langfitt and atterbury and made adjustments in port and railway construction and management visited camp de mailly where seacoast artillery Is having splendid training under general coe on friday visited edwards twenty sixth division serving on chemin des dames under general blau beaudhuy dhuy the french corps commander arrived in paris late at night during airplane attack branch of judge advocate generals office established itt at my headquarters upon colonel erad Br adleys leys report of thirty day medical supplies on hand sent urgent cable requesting immediate shipments cabled disapproval of suggest suggestion lon by mr rader faderewski ewski tor for organization of division of 0 men with polish antecedents ce secretary of war baker landed at brest today french train U S cooks major general Mau dhuy with considerable enthusiasm of the men find and of the officers of the twenty sixth division below regimental commanders and especially praised their conduct of trench raids ile he complimented general traub one of the brigade commanders but was of the opinion that the higher officers generally needed more experience to make them efficient american troops that served with general Mau dhuy held him in high esteem he was scrupulous regarding their instruction to which he gave special attention ile he was very solicitous of the welfare of our troops even going so far as to interest himself in the preparation of their food by detailing french cooks to teach ours the art when I 1 expressed my appreciation of his action he said we tire are a cooks and we delight in preparing good things to eat A after after fter their instruction the cooks coo ks in these units did better thanks to the initiative of this fine old french general many of the cooks of the old arm became experts and the clie men in earl days in the west fared faced better as a rule than our men inen in france where shere th ahr cooks lacked experience personal persona supervision by officers and the estah li of cooking schools brought improvement in due course however there to la little doubt that much of ohp intestinal trouble in our visions divisions di dur lag ing the early part of their service abroad was caused by poorly cooked food secretary baker arrives secretary baker arrived at brest march 10 as my diary showed and I 1 met him and his party in the next morning the secre party consisted of maj gen W st black chief of engineers col al L brett commander R D while of the navy and ralph hayes his bis secretary it was essential that the secretary receive every opportunity to inspect our whole layout from the front areas to the services of supply that he might become familiar sith plans observe the he progress made toward their com ion iou and obtain firsthand first hand blind informs tion oon of vur requirements all of which he was especially anxious to do leaving paris march 12 we inspected our most important ports depots hos hog vitals regulating gu lating stations motor parks and schools and returned march 17 to toy my at the main air service school at Is goudi in which filch we visited was a hive alve of activity being one of the fifteen schools where here early carly instruction in flying was given general foulois and colonel kilder went with us through cli the school the shops and the red led cross and 1 I buildings I 1 think the secretary was surprised to see here the really expert alving considered necessary to prepare avla aviators tors for their hazardous life at the front moving supplies to troops at clevres Gl evres about miles directly south of paris on a our main niata line of supply running to the front nere ere 20 I 1 men employed under col charles J lanng managing ing our largest interior a gerior depot depol to illustrate the celerity with which the system operated operate 4 we need take but one example which occurred when in the depot was in full swing at one morning in august a telegram was received ordering exactly tons of supplies including L cans cang of tomatoes lOO OOOO pounds of sugar cans of corned beef aa 7 pounds of tinned hash and pounds of dry beans at C 15 in the evening or just ten len hours later this colossal tion which required c cars ars tor for transport wits was loaded and oo on its way to the advance depot no other place gave such an impression of the tremendous task of supply log fog our armies and the perfection of organization necessary to do it efficiently ilent ly the secretary got a birds eye view of the general plan which would provide the supplies for an army ot of 2 and which with additional construction st would be able to meet the demands of an army twice that size back at chaumont I 1 received word that arrangements had been made tor for the shipment of six divisions for training with trie tae british the seventy sev anth eighty second twenty eighth seventy eighth eightieth and thirtieth CHAPTER march 21 the great german offensive began against the british armies between the olse oise and the searce near the junction of the french and british lines on a front about fifty miles in ili length extending from near la fere to 0 o arras near the center of the attack was general boughs fifth army with the third army under general byng on its left the artillery bombardment pieced ing the infantry advance was of short duration but of great intensity with excessive use of gas shells follow ing ng a heavy barrage the german in fantry antry using ohp alamp tactical meth that had been so successful at figa and Car poretto delivered its blow the weather favored the enemy as a heavy fog continued intermittently for three days much to the disadvantage of the defense the overwhelming wh wb force of sixty four especially trained german divisions out of their one hundred bundred ninety two then on the western front compelled the british lines to yield although at the enil eni of nf the first day the fifth army had not entirely given away its losses had reached several thousand and there was no question that the germans were making a serious attempt to sep sell grate arate the british and french armies british pushed back 37 miles the last one of Gou coughs gils reserves was put in on the second day yet hr he received no support to stop the widen ing gap in the british front until the following day when one french infantry division and one french dismount ed cavalry division arrived on the four others got into position these there divisions and others that camp came in the next two or three days were put into battle by general fafole without regard to the integrity of units or the order of their entry some of them be ing very short of ammunition the british fifth army was evidently overwhelmed from the start yet no british reinforcements were sent to gough unta the and then only one division no others arriving during the first week by the fifth day the german forces had driven a salient into the british front some thirty sev our american comrades are arriving all together you will th throw row yourselves upon the invader the battle la Is on soldiers of the marne of the nod and of verdun I 1 call upon you the fate ate of france hangs in the balance the reports from the front gave an extremely dark picture of disaster and I 1 felt elt we should do everything possible to render assistance it was to offer general petain such of ou our r tron troops Ps as could be used that I 1 went to com plagne march 25 the generals customary confident and nonchalant attitude was entirely gone and he be wore a very worried expression I 1 told him that for the moment I 1 should waive the idea of forming the I 1 cora corps and that any of 0 our di visions that could be of service were at his disposal but with the qua n Y ing remark that of course we should look forward eventually to their assembly under their own commander march 24 it developed that the french divisions had received orders that it if the enemy continued its his drive in the direction of allens amiens they were to fall back so as to cover paris marshal halg fearing that this would result in separating the two armies at once communicated the situation to his government this brought about an important conference at Doul doullens lens march 20 26 between members of the british and french governments in which it was decided that some au dhority should be designated to coor co or binate the action of the two armies and general foch was selected I 1 was not present at the doullens Doul lens conference but upon learning of its action it seemed essential that general foch himself should know our desler to do what we could to strengthen abi allies the british loss was then estl mated at not less than 1 I re call meeting lord northcliffe march 24 and found him almost unable to speak of it so many of his friends had lost re lathes the depression arr nang ng their people was probably worse than at any other period of the war among the french there was much W L 04 vir salvation army lassies classies handing out doughnuts en ell miles deep anti and were threatening the important railway center of allens amiens the capture ot of which woultz have made a complete breach be between teen the french and british armies in the moment of greatest stress when it seemed very doubtful whether the german advance could bo be stopped general petain sent gent the following or der to his armies the enemy has hurled himself upon us la ili a supreme effort lie ile bauts to separate us from the english so as to open the way to paris cost u list hat it may he must be stopped hold your stand firm anxiety as to the safety of paris and there was talk of the government go eminent having to move to bordeaux again as a it had done in 1914 the allied lines had not been stabilized and although I 1 had offered our troops to petain it seemed to me that it might he be well to funke it emphatic that I 1 was ready to put into tattle everything we could muster I 1 had often thought of the possibility of having to do this and I 1 went nent to lilt find out the situation and let lei general foch know our attitude gives word to foch As we entered general fochs farm house headquarters near clermont sur olse oise clemenceau foch petain and Loue beur were intently studying a mail spread out on the table the sit sil nation wits was pointed out to me showing that already the british had used thirty and the french i seven teen agoust the germans seventy eight it seemed to be the opinion that the british fifth army ia was as getting back on its feet and that the lines would hold for the time being I 1 intimated that I 1 had bad come to see genethal 1 och and the others withdrew into the yard leaving us alone I 1 told him that the americans were ready and anxious to do their part to in this crisis cri As that I 1 vas mas willing to send him any troops we had bad and asked for suggestions as to how we might help he was evidently ery much touched and in his enthusiasm took me by the arm and without hesitation rushed me out across the lawn to whore where the others stood and me to repent repeat what I 1 had sald said to win him they of course showed keen inter est especially M clemence clemenceau an as I 1 told then them what I 1 had said to general gener at F foch och ings offer of troops it appeared in the french papers the next morning alt although bough I 1 feel tain maln that it wits was written up in much better french than I 1 actually used the english translation follows 1 I have come to tell you that the american amerian people would consider it great honor tor for out oui troops to be engaged in the present battle I 1 ask you tor for this in their name and my aly own at this moment there are no oth other er questions but of fighting infantry artillery aviation all that we have are yours fours use nse them as you wish more will come la in numbers equal to requirements 1 I have come especially to tell you yon that at the american people will be proud to take part in the greatest battle of history if the responsibility had been mine 1 I should not have hesitated a moment to put into the battle any or all ot of our live five divisions then in france tiie the first was wag the only one used tor for the time being the others being placed in qu quiet et sectors each to relieve two french divisions As our divisions were more than twice as large as theirs tt it amounted to almost immediate reinforcement of ten divisions at the time of the german attack a battalion of the american sixth regiment of engineers was on duty behind the british fifth army engaged in railway construction and repairs these troops were given arms and participated with the british forces in the defensive operations until after the lines were stabilized CHAPTER secretary of war baker went to london to discuss with the british authorities ties the prospects tor for additional shipping and also the general subject of munitions while there lie he sent me the following telegram march 25 1918 embodying suggestions from the prime in minister inister which showed the deep anxiety of the british 1 I have just had bad a long talk with the prime minister he urges three proposals tor for your consideration first that our divisions in france he be placed immediately in line to relieve french divisions for service elsewhere quiet sectors being chosen for troops with least training second that all available engineer troops be taken from lines of communication work and sent to aid of british engineers preparing positions back of present lines it Is urged that suspension of our work would be but temporary and that the work suggested Is imperative third that infantry be sent farst arst of the entire six divisions to be transported by british in view of present acute needs of that army no answer to the foregoing Is necessary until I 1 see you tomorrow when we can dig cuss the suggestions fully first division ordered into line sly diary notes the following chaumont friday march 29 1918 field conference with the S secretary ecret ary of war and general bliss yesterday on joint recommendation men dation dadon of military representatives of the war council lett left paris this morning for chaumont at petals Petal ns request the first division ordered to battle line which mr baker said at home would enthusiastically approve mr paul cravath dined with us this evening and speaking of unity favored placing control in the hands of a committee composed of marshal haig balg general petain and myself council asks change in plans the situation had become so serious that the military representatives seemed to think it necessary to recommend that all previous plans for the shipment of american troops be disregarded and that nothing but bot infantry |