| Show finneral beneral fie P airs n illo by the all ia N north tt amold Amr lD story of the A E world N V including pr rights alliance to re th jud 0 6 din di N it awod ti ihlo in aholt crip ry gen SM six johnf john J pershing I 1 CHAPTER continued the twenty eighth infantry under col hanson E E ely ly designated for or the assault vins was reinforced by machine pins guns engineers and other special units additional french artillery was waa sent to assist the artillery brigade of the division and particularly to suppress the hostile batteries attempting to interfere with the consolidation of the new position after it should be captured yanks yanka splendid under fire on the morning of may hay 28 after a brief artillery preparation the infantry tr y advanced on a front of a mile and a quarter the village of Cant cantieny cantigny igny and the adjacent n elgita were quickly taken relatively heavy casualties were inflicted on the enemy and about prisoners were captured our troops behaved splendidly and suffered but slight blight toss loss in the actual attack events developing farther east however were seriously to complicate the till success cess the german assault in force against the french along the chemin des dames between soissons Sols sons ong anti and rheims began on the morning of the twenty seventh and was making dangerous headway by the morning of the twenty eighth the gains of tile he enemy were such that the french high command was compelled to relieve much of the reinforcing artillery behind the first division and transfer it to that front the artillery within range of Cant cantieny cantigny igny thus became superior to ours and was able to concentrate a terrific fire on the unsheltered troops in the captured position ills his reaction against our troops was extremely alo lent and apparently he was wall determined at all cost to counteract the excellent effect the american success had pro deuced upon the allies under cover of heavy bombardment a series of counterattacks counter attacks were made by the enemy but our young infantrymen stood their ground and broke up every attempt to dislodge them the regiment sustained severe casualties from the large caliber shells poured down upon it and had bad to be reinforced by a battalion each from the eighteenth and twenty sixth regiments it was a matter of pride to the ft whole hole A E F that the troops of tills this division in their first battle and in the unusually trying situation that followed displayed the fortitude and courage of veterans held their gains and dented denied the enemy the slightest advantage U 8 troops at chateau thierry Th Tb lerry the alarming situation had caused general retain petain to call on me on the soth for american troops to be sent to the region of chateau thierry Th lerry the third division dickman then lu in training near chaumont being the only division within reach besides the second was ordered to move north ini im mediately dickman climan Dl started tits his nio i toiled machine gun battalion over the road on the afternoon of may 30 the infantry and engineers entrained the same night rind and the divisions supply trains marched overland the first element to reach chateau thierry was nas tile the machine gurt gun battalion which arrived the afternoon of may 31 and immediately went into action against the enemy who then held the half of the town north of the marne by daylight on june 1 all available aMii avni lable guns had been provided with cover and were in their positions one company with eight guns and another with nine guns guna about yards to the enst east guarding tile the approaches to the railroad bridge prom from these positions they repulsed all attempts by the germans to cross the marne meanwhile as the infantry of the division come came up on june I 1 its bat were put into line to reinforce the az fience ench from chateau Chatel lu thierry east to dormans bormans Dor mans the conduct of tile the ma chine gun eun battalion in this operation was ft as highly praised by general petain in a citation issued later stopped german drive on paris the second division rundy bundy may hay 30 was near chaumont en vixen and was preparing to move northward the next day for or concentration near Beauva lb to relieve the first division at can migny tigny but its orders were charged changed late that night and the division moving by motor trucks was rushed toward nans manx twenty miles northeast of parts paris reaching there the tending leading elements were hurried forward in the di of chateau thierry Th lerry the roads were crowded wit with french troops and refugees there was great confusion among the rapidly retreating french troops many of them saying saiying to our men that nil all was lost the initial deployment of the second division wit was a mado made by the ninth infantry and the sixth regiment of marines rl nes june 1 across the paris highway at lucy le bocage in front of mont blont reull aux allons supposedly in support of two french divisions but the french had orders to fall back through the american lines in the early rooming of offline lune 2 the twenty third infantry then on an the left was replaced by he IP french one Il hundred undred sixty seventh rind when reinforced reinforce by one wt tallon of the fifth marines tile the fifth awit hine gun battalion and some it wits deployed to the right ilmi tin fill sixth and tile the kiili to nil fill a gup gap in the french line and by june 5 the entire division b became eca me eng engaged a ged conaldy considering r 1 ng that tills this was wag its first experience t in battle this division made al a splendid defense repulsed all german attacks and by its timely arrival effectively stopped the german advance on paris bring relief to french gollu agthe the sudden appearance and dramatic entrance of the second and third divisions into the shattered and broken fighting lines nod their dash and courage in battle produced a favorable effect upon the french gollu it must have been with a decided feeling of relief that the worn and tired french array army retreating before vastly superior numbers caught sight of americans arriving in trucks at meaux and marching thence on foot hats off hurrying eagerly forward to battle and the germans who had been filled with propaganda deprecating the american effort and the quality of their training must have been surprised rind and doubtless rather disconcerted by meeting strong resistance by americans on different portions of this flits active battle front especially when our troops advanced at once to meet tile the attack in open combat tills this defeat of the french furnished the second striking confirmation of the wisdom of training troops for open ft warfare airfare replies to french criticism after the success of our troops we were in no mood to listen to self appointed critics SI 11 andre mardlen called on me upon my return to paris and undertook to point out that our staff wits was inefficient and offered criticisms of our organization As this wits as something he could rt possibly know about I 1 replied that lie had got nn an entirely erroneous impression and that our staff was second to none in either ability or effle efficiency lency I 1 advised him film that we had quite enough of tills this sort of thing front from the french either military or civilian and suggested thit that it if his people would cease troubling themselves so BO much about our affairs and attend more strictly to their own we should all get along much better I 1 did not fall to appreciate M tar dialls ability and tits ills helpfulness on ninny occasions but tills this constant inclination cli on the part of a certain ere ment among the french to assume a superiority that did not exist elst then or at any later period added to the attempts of some of them to dictate had reached the limit CHAPTER the sixth session of the supreme war council was convened june 1 IBIS 1018 the important matter of further farther shipment of american troops was taken up As already indicated it was my opinion that neither the character of the troops to be sent over nor their disposition was wag within the province nce of the council to decide but that these questions should be he determined according to circumstances and after discussion with the allies so I 1 objected to their consideration by the council as such and suggested EL a meeting outside the council which was approved accordingly in the late afternoon general foch lord milner british war minister general and 1 I with colonels conner and boyd met in the premiers room general foch begun began by stating the serious condition or of tile the allies and proposed the continued ship ment from america of nothing but in and machine gun units to in june and july in effect in each month Di every one realized the gril gravity vity of 0 the allied situation as strongly as he did but as previously and per contended by me there were ft ere two sides to the question foch become Becomes excited I 1 was prepared to make some concessions ceis ces lons and stated my views but neither facts nor arguments seemed to make any impression general FOCI fochi especially was very pos positive itlie and earnest and in fact became quite ex cited waving his hands and repeating tile the battle the battle nothing else counts with equal emphasis I 1 urged that we va must build on our organization tiou us its fast as possible to carry on tile the battle to the end and that our program had been seriously interrupted by concessions already made I 1 called attention to the fact that the railways rail ways all over france were an n the point of breaking down for lack of efficient operators and of skilled workmen to repair rolling stink that our ports would be hopelessly blocked unless we could improve the rall railways ways this his plan olen would leave us men short to complete combat units and ill fill up that were absolutely necessary in the S 0 S rind and finally that the restriction of our shipments to infantry and ma chine gun units would be a very dangerous and shortsighted short sighted policy to much of this flits lie he paid little or no attention and replied that all these things could he be postponed wanted wilson informed graeme thompson british expert on transportation and supply came into the room at tills flits point with mr lloyd george and general sir henry wilson and took part in the discussion mr lloyd george said he thought prest president wilson would ile he deeply interested to get general fochs of the situation and added that as america had no prime minister present hp he thought it would be inconvenient for us ns to make a decision but that this subject should be brought before the whole council I 1 then called attention to a cable from secretary of war briller anker already quoted showing that the president had been much embarrassed by representations made to him personally by the french and british ambassadors and had suggested that the matter might be settled by a conference between general foci foch and myself I 1 pointed out that the cable did not mention the supreme war ar council and I 1 again stated my opposition to making the subject one of general discussion by all allied representatives and their staffs I 1 did not fall to point out further that the president was trusting my judgment in this matter As nothing was being accomplished and hoping the number ot of participants in the discussion might be limited I 1 proposed we adjourn until the following follow ins inq day pershing again answers foch the next nett afternoon when we as sern bled M clemenceau CIemence au was waiting fo fc the rest of us ua and instead of there being fewer conferees the number had increased not unlike the situation at Ab Abb eUlle beville a month before everybody ever bod was keyed up and as we had expected the question had to be fought all over again general foch supported by 51 clem enchau and lloyd george wanted nothing but infantry and machine gun ners in june and july to which I 1 was strongly opposed again insisting that sufficient importance hat had not been at TP J xv A doughboys Dough boys bringing in german prisoners prisoner rached to my reasons for the necessity necessia essIt y of the auxiliary troops omitted in 10 june foch resorted to ills hl often repented repeated question whether I 1 was willing to talce take the risk to which I 1 replied very positively that I 1 was ready to assume any n ny responsibility my proposal might en tail but that I 1 must have a greater proportion of other troops to keep the american organization from golrig to smash men called in may untrained other objections which the allies apparently overlooked vere nere tint that the untrained men called out in fit shy may could not possibly be ba ready for service until a considerable time after arrival and that neither the french fiend nor the could provide all tile the equipment and land transportation they would need in accordance with my program I 1 wai w willing filing to agree to the shipment of fully trained infantry not needed for the instruction of new drafts but felt fell that this point should be left to ohp judgment of the secretary of war mr air lloyd george then concluded that as a consequence july would hi bi a blank and in a rattler rather dejected tont tom he said the fillies allies were in a sense in tile the hands of the united states ui lb spoke of the generous and attitude of president wilson and said nil all they could do was to acquaint it bin n with their needs and call upon him to come to their aid more particular ly to the aid of france fiance nt at the derli per lii I 1 of nc tile the most terrible extremity that slie she had yet encountered CHAPTER further conversation et the session of the supreme war counell showed the uncertainty in the minds odthe allies prime crime minister lloyd georga reverting to losses said that before tile the great german attack in may he had been informed positively the germans had only replacements left and that now lifter after the most violent in which it was reported the germans had suffered very heavy losses they still had find more than replacements tile allies also had but it wits wag now contended he said that the british army was on tile the decline while MAIL that of the enemy was not mr air lloyd george asked if that could he be cleared up to which general foch replied that it was because tile the enemy managed better and he went on to say that germany with a population of could maintain divisions while great britain with inhabitants could keep up only 43 it had been stated chilt the british counted on keeping up 53 divisions but that ten of 0 them would be practically american then in response to it a farther furt lier question by mr lloyd llod george general roch foch said he could not pretend to lo say ft where here germany procured her re placements possibly it might be frow from prisoners pilson ers returned from russia three map Pro program graj after further argument on discrepancies of various figures and insistence by bv general rodi foch that tile the number ot of divisions be aeration of the transportation of american troops in june rind july was r re guined tile the discussion having reached an al impasse it was suggested that lord 1111 milner ner british war minister general roch foch anil and I 1 should undertake to draw up a program in the consideration of the question by us as the point of my contention was won when general Wey cand who was ns fochs principal adviser remarked that it would be as well to leave leae the new drafts to he trained at home a month or so longer although my arguments had bad failed to make any impression on general foch lie nt once approved Wey ganda suggestion agreement on U S troops with tills this out of the way we soon drew up the agreement embodied in the following cablegram sent to washington tune june 2 a for june first |
