Show F deai eral M countries copyright by the all north Amerl caa newspaper Newn paper ali All lioce 0 i ifo world arved rights right re the of th alae ae ax ao 0 ailed E 0 scandinavian pr production 0 in whole re ain r part prohibited service g offs bhim A CHAPTER continued As we were leaving the widowed mother of a missing soldier her only son BOD came up in great distress arid and told M clemenceau of tier her sorrow lie ile spoke tenderly of her patriotic sacrifice fice put bis arm gently around her and kissed tier checks mingling his tears with hers the pathos of chiq till touched tou clied every heart As general foch find and the others were not arri arriving ang until later inter M clero clem enchau and 1 I driving together accompanied CoM compa nied by generals ant and neou in a separate automobile went to the headquarters of the eighty third division major general glenn commanding which was billeted nt at Molit igny not far fair from chaumont we fell to discussing the probable situation of the various allied countries and their relative stin standing ding after the war M clemenceau went to some length to in his conjectures thought britain finished great britain Is finished and in my opinion slie site has seen the zenith of her glory he said what makes you think so mr prime minister I 1 asked first of all a lie replied the im mense drain of the war will make it ii impossible for tier her to retain commercial supremacy and second the experience peri ence of tier her colonist colonial troops in ahli war will make their people more in dependent and she will lose her con arol over them I 1 could not agree with ith M Cli ampro ct coons nus view and said mr prime minister I 1 think you are mistaken about the british and I 1 yetieve we shall see her fully recover from tle effects of the war continuing I 1 asked what about abou frances future ah I 1 she will once more be the dominant power to in europe he replied cut but you vou do not mention germany I 1 reminded him ne ile replied the germans are a great people but germany will not re pain gain her prestige and her influence for generations discuss troop shipments shortly after our return to chan molit generals foch and arrived and after lunch we all went into conference the alie of shipments up to one hundred divisions aa already recommended hy by the prime ministers lloyd george Clemenc enn and orlando formed the basis of french argument the whole subject was thoroughly discussed and considering the then shortage of man power by the french and british to say nothing iff of the possible increase of the german armies from russian sources the main question was to get over as many americans as possible it was finally agreed that we should propose art an eighty division program to lie completed by april 1019 1919 and add to it the larger program of one hundred divi alons to be completed by july 1919 CHAPTER hospitalization and completion of three corps headquarters and staff or occupied my attention the last week of june 1018 1918 twelve of our divisions were then either in line or in rest reserve bel ind french live were in training in rear of the british army of those with the french seven were concentrate 0 in the vicinity of vill ers cott brets anti and chateau thierry between the french front and paris the british seemed to think the french unduly nervous about the safe ty of paris and that rob foh was hold ing a greater proportion of american troops behind the french lines than alian necessary they believed there was a strong probability of another attack against their front and felt general foch was not paying enough attention to their situation however the teiei probably did not realize that a court conn ter offensive was contemplated on athla front should the occasion present it bel self f corps headquarters organized the first corps headquarters or in january under maj oen gen hunter liggett with cul col malin orals craig as chief of staff had become a smoothly working machine ready for active service anywhere but events hail had moved so swiftly there had been no opportunity for the assembly of divisions with the increasing size of our army it was evident that a greater number of divisions would be able to take part in operations at earlier dates than we had thought possible consequently the organization of the second third and fourth corps headquarters was at once completed the second corps maj gen george rend read commanding with col george simonds us its chief of stall staff and a limited number of staff officers cers was charged with matters of administration and command pertaining to the divisions behind the british front the third corps temporarily maj gen william 51 wright col alfred bjorn if stud stad chief of staff continued to supervise training of divisions serving to la the area the fourth corps was ai temporarily under the corps chief of stair staff col stuart with headquarters headquarter a at tout toul by the actual constitution of these corps they were I 1 expected expect ec noon to become lei fame efficient enola h to handle units in operations french hospitals deficient As to hospitals when our broo troops ps be came suddenly engaged in the lie cha thierry region we had to res rely largely upon the assistance of the file french to care for our wounded A at though they had gisen elen us every assur noce that hospital arrangements arran geme nis for those operations would be complete and without question did their best it was wag only through the mobile hospitals we had organized that we were able to give our casualties proper attention lon in extenuation of the french fall ure are to take care of our casualties prop erly it must be salt said that when the germans swept over the chemin dois dames to ahn chateau ten uth u th thierry ferry the french lost beds included include in some route ol of their best equipped hospitals we hat had no hospitals on that front and with will limited transportation found it cult to supplement the scant french facilities in fact the situation a as 5 to hospital accommodations for out oui troops was about to reach a critical stage in this connection a cable was actually submitted by mr ir crisper casper whitney from the new york tribune which was scathing in its denunciation of our medical department the censor in immediately informed the medical representatives senta tives at my headquarters and general ireland the chief surgeon re quested an investigation which was nl at once carried out by the chief of the inspector generals corps general I 1 W not afraid of gas brewster mr whitney was asked to be present at all the hearings and aal when the actual facts were brought out showing the efficiency em clency of the medi cal department he was most apologetic and thereafter was an enthusiastic supporter of the wisdom of the censorship fourth of july observance the fourth of july found me in the french people there never missed an opportunity to show their pleasure at having us to in their midst and their appreciation of our ald aid to the cause the principal cerenio ceremony ny ot of the day as a reception to the lie officers of my headquarters by the file hicel french officials both elvie civic arid and military and the prominent citizens at the hotel de ville this was an altogether delightful social gathering include ing a series of suitable speeches spee clies the spirit of fraternity that prevailed made it easy to respond in fact on this as often on similar occasions I 1 found myself almost as bentlin blastic as the french speaker spent mr though perhaps leiis content with my effort the allies elsewhere did not forget that it was our independence day and messages came from clemenceau foch and claig and many others from all over france yanks yanka in hamel attack regardless of the distinct under standing that our troops behind the british front were there for training and were not to be used except in an emergency the british made contina ous effort to get them into their lines they planned no an attack by the australians tr tra lians allans for the fourth of july anti anil requested maj gen george read head commander of the second corps then still in training to permit some of the troops t of the thirty third division to take part parl at first the british suggested four companies but later they wanted th tho number increased to ten As the use of americans at this time was directly contrary to the arrangement naturally it did not meet with my approval habinc learned that such a corn com bened ajack attrick atti ick was planned I 1 bloke to marshal flaig about it ft when I 1 saw him in paris july 3 and lie he entirely agreed with my point of view it seems that general rend afterward in accordance with my instructions told general rowlinson that I 1 did not want partly trained troops to participate however wr our troops had bad by this time become fully committed to it although the british chief of staff had consented to leave our troops out when lie learned from rawlinson that it would compel them to deter defer the 01 operation era tion he informed read that no change could be made without orders from rom field marshal haig who he said could not be reached and so the attack was carried out as I 1 learned the file next day the fact that flint general read and his officers oft leers and men were keen to get gel into the battle went far to excuse him it seems needless to add also that the splendid behavior of the troops in the operation was a decided argument in favor of leniency this division also afterward displayed the same t eagerness to get at the enemy in several hard fought engagements during the trying days of the lie meuse argonne CHAPTER A number of our divisions were quite prepared to engage in any contemplated tem tempia plated ted offensive and their location at the moment lent hope for the early formation of one and probably two entire corps of american liggetts first corps had taken its place in line july 4 with the second division Ilar bord relieved on the by the twenty sixth and a french division under its direction the corps staff had been shaken down to the routine of its work and land had become in every respect an dent clent group performing its functions with the confidence and precision worthy of the more experienced staffs of the allied armies during an inspection trip july 12 to the headquarters of the first corps I 1 had lunch with aith general Ilar bord at nanteuil sur alaene where was resting lie ile told of a marine in his division who had captured seventy five german prisoners single handed germans attack again referring again to my diary chaumont Cli aumont wednesday july 17 1918 another german attack broke 51 monday our Forty second part of the twenty eighth anti and the third became engaged the latter at counterattacked counter attacked find and captured 1100 prisoners advised foch that the alie thirty second and twenty ninth divisions division are available at once five ive other divisions have been placed at his disposal situation yesterday more favorable fur fair alues all ns n s general bullard assigned to third corps and general wright to fifth the intelligence sen ices of all the allied armies hid had been exerting every endeavor to discover er the lie plans knitli ith the result that for some lays days it appeared almost certain that his neat motie would be directed toward the southeast enst on the right and left of on the lie eve ins ing of july 14 a french raiding party from Gen erfil Gouri iuds fourth aminy then holding hint flint part of the line including rhelma luckily captured capture prisoners who con I 1 firmed this belief and who gave the exact hour hed fixed for the attack which they said was to take place the following morning our third still in line south of the marne faced the enemy between jaulgonne Jaul gonne and chateau Th thierry lerry and the twenty sixth which as we have seen had relieved the second held a sector between hot torey and vaux infantry elements of the he twenty eighth were south of the marne serving with the two french divisions on either side of the third the entire forty second occupied a support position behind Coura front the first dil dilston slon was north of meaux and the second and fourth were in reserve near chateau thierry surprise for the enemy the german offensive was laun launched clied on the early morning of july 15 as aa expected hut but it was met with I 1 a surprise barrage put down by general Gourn artillery half an hour before the start the germans attack formations were thrown into confusion and their force seriously weakened to begin with by evening thanks to the strong resistance they encountered the situation in that immediate sector was not unfavorable our forty second division became engaged and sustained relatively heavy losses its conduct on the first and succeeding days brought high praise from the french army commander farther west the enemy crossed the marne penetrating in one place as tar far as five anve miles lie he struck our third division which was posted along the river in a determined attempt to force it crossing between and varennes and the righting fighting became intense some units of the thirtieth and thirty eighth regiments holding this front being forced back the stubbornness of their resistance ho however weser broke up the attack as a whole and the germans retired to the north bank band thirty eighth distinguishes itself on this occasion a single regiment of the third division col U 0 me mc alexanders thirty eighth wrote one of the most brilliant pa pages eq in our military annals it prevented the er crossing at certain points on its front while on either flank the germans who had bad gained a footing pressed forward our men firing in three directions met the Ger german ninn attack with counterattacks counter attacks at critical points find succeeded in throwing two german divisions into complete confusion men from three different enemy divisions were ere captured by the third in the fighting of this day by noon of the sixteenth the attacks against its ita line came to 1 a I halt ball the germans were stopped to the east of rheims by fourth army with hut but slight gains while to to the southwest they got across the marne and made some progress toward Ep ernay the failure of the attack in champagne and the relatively slight gains to which the germans were held to the west of rheims on oil the first day materially heartened the allies although there were some ten divisions of the enemy remaining south of the marne the very evident conclusion judging from the results of the follo lv ing two lays days and the losses he had suffered was tint hat he would be unable to continue the offensive now that the allied armies were weale no iu longer in jeopardy it seemed opportune to push the formation of our own army arm y near Chrit chateau enu thierry for use aga against I 1 ast the marne salient in the coun I 1 had frequently urged the outlook for the allies had changed materially since the crisis of early june the enemy had been held in his most recent attacks and his losses were presumably very great lie he was i losing the advantage of numbers and his superiority was passing TO BE BB CONTINUED ARONT V gnp Z V soissons eims ivay U ta Y 26 chateau thierry ebern paris river chalons 0 1 ground gained by german offensives of may june and july 1918 1 11 emmay HI may 27 june 6 13 IH july 1517 15 17 0 0 25 50 miles |