Show J chiera iera ci A aversh im as cop by I 1 the he nor north h american me tic apy W of ao AS eo r F gervea worl wora 1 I 1 ahl h ln 9 IL re t AIL JKR A S din V aln n re prodoc production to lu ju whole 0 or in part prohibited iffy gr ceic joam J pershing service CHAPT CHAPTER ER LI Continued the e enemy Y made a determined determine stand ao 10 along the river and some of the hardest fighting of the period occurred at tills this flute time august 8 3 the fourth division relieved the forty second the th third ird corps bullard with the american twenty eighth and thirty second divisions relieved the french thirty eighth corps on the right of our first corps once established beyond the our two corps advanced rapidly toward the vesle river meeting with little opposition we had bad in ili alt all nine cine american mons equal a to eighteen french alons sl ono engaged in tills second battle of the marne tills this force together with the file staff supply medical troops and dilation aviation amounted to a total force of nearly actively employed during that period we suffered casualties CHAPTER lit I 1 attended a conference of commanders in chief at genial fochs head carters wednesday july 24 1118 1918 to discuss plans for offensive operations present were generals foch find and huat buat field marshall marshal halg haig and general lawrence and general conner chief of operations boyd and hughes and myself there was pronounced good feeling and confidence general foch gave a resume of the general situation he proposed no definite plan hut but submitted his remarks its as the basis of discussion ion the hie main point was BBS that the fifth german offensive offen she of the year had been checked and the allied counteroffensive beginning july 18 had transformed it into defeat it was the general opinion that flint every advantage should be taken of tills this tart fact and that the allies should continue their attacks with as much vigor as possible on par with enemy general foch said bold with satisfaction that we he had now reached an all equality in numbers of combatants find and an actual superiority in ili reserves As the enemy would soon be required to re bileve a considerable number of tired dred divisions from the active front the illbeg billits would rapidly gain further fuit lier uve through the constantly ing number of americans all information went to show that thai the he enemy had two ar armies niles so to speak roch continued one an exha exhaust tIsE ed holding army and the other ler 11 ih 1161 n 9 array army already weakened giue V atlon behind this fealk berfal lal advantage in ili ably weata tanks and to a smaller al ar ree ee in artillery and tills would be augmented by the arrival and arnia ment fluent of american Aine rican artillery personnel As to the reserve strength behind the lilies allies it would soon be powerful indeed if the rate of per mouth month fit it which the americans were pouring in ili could be maintained one could sense an approaching crisis on the en side possibly not so very re mote because of the difficulty lie was having in keeping up the effective strength of ills his units allies now hold initiative beyond these advantages of material force in our favor there was also the moral ascendancy we had bad gained by our recent victories and ills his fall ures foch felt its as we all did that the allies now held the initiative and that thai from this time thue on they should abart aban don the defensive attitude that had been so long imposed upon teem and continue the offensive without cessa cioll he fie then pointed out the following offensives which it was evident would be indispensable to later operations the release of the railroad paris in ili the marne region by the french the paris allens railroad by a concerted action of the british find and french Fren cli the paris railroad rall rond in the region of commerce commercy Com Coni mercy by the reduction of the alie st malile salient by the american army anny which by reducing the tha front would bring us within reach of the brley region and permit action on a larger scale between the ithe meuse and moselle further offensives were foreseen having in view the release of the mining sections elections to the north by definitely driving the anem enemy from the region of dunkirk and calias no idea of ending war in 1918 no ko one suggested that the plans of the moment or those to follow might be carried so far as to terminate the war in 1018 1918 concerning the part each should play foch asked expressions of opinion of the respective commanders in chief as to how these or any other operations we might propose pi omose should be conducted marshal haig gave his views and plans which agreed with the general outline suggested us lid did general ile tain who wanted further to consider the possibilities As far as thes the pre Il operations applied to the americans they were simply it a restate ment ine nt of the plans we had been lead ing up to ever since our entry into the war I 1 therefore that dial details of organization und anti supply were receiving every consideration lu in the preparation of the american army co do its part while at general fochs I 1 arranged with general petain tor for the expansion of the first corps then operating lin in the marne sector by which four american divisions were ere to be placed in the line with two in ili reserve it was my hope that this would be the basis for the preliminary formation of an american army on oil tills this front en route to lo chaumont I 1 stopped to call on liggett I and apprise him of the possibility of additional american divisions for his corps expedition to russia the supreme war council was prone to listen to suggestions for the use of allied troops at various places other than the western front one of I 1 these he fie on which the british seemed to be especially insistent was to send troops to help the su so called white army in russia Ilus sla to keep open the communications through Mur mansk in the archangel I 1 was opposed to tiny any such idea as it would simply menn mean scattering our resources all of which were needed on the western front but president ire wilson was prevailed upon to help and I 1 wits directed to send hend a regiment provided general foch had no object dons As apparently lie had already considered the question lie he gave ia til approval find and a regiment was acord accord angly sent the three hundred thirty ninth infantry col george E stewart commanding together with one battalion 0 of engineers and one field hospital were designated for tills this service first field army in view lew of the prospect for the early assembly of corps and divisions to form our army it became urgent that tha the organization organisation be hastened with all possible speed the outlines had been determined and members of the F first arst army staff were at work on the details my formal order creating the first field army was issued july 24 to take effect august 10 with headquarters at lit la ferte sous jouarre immediate consideration was ft us ga given yen the improvement implement of the general supply system although the recent reorganization had helped it had been my purpose for some time to in ninke like changes dian irps jn J w T particularly in the position of ch cliplef ic f w which demanded great administrative ability after much thought the choice tell fell to Ilar bord ills knowl know edli edi X r ills his personality ins ills energy find ills his loyally made him the outstanding choice cli olce reluctance to lose ills his services in co command minand of troops where lie he had shown himself a brilliant lender leader caused me to delay until ills division could be relieved front from the active front CHAPTER till I ill early in august 1018 1918 1 I made no nn inspection tour of the sen service ice of supply to note the progress find acquaint myself the chief of and general harbord by actual observations with conditions the hie tour was made also with a view to such changes in personnel and im in methods its as would in sure suie complete fulfillment of the in creased obligations imposed upon the service of supply by the tremendous tusk task of receiving storing and trans trang porting the enlarged troop and supply shipments our first stop was tours which be ing the location of the headquarters of the SOS S 0 S with a huge american military garrison of 2400 off leers and men had become a beehive of activity we visited every activity at tours beginning with the central records office a branch of the adjutant gen eral s of large proportions propof alons w where here the personal records of every man in ili the A E r F were kept we e found that the railway operators numbering thousands comfortably situated in portable barracks at camp tie de grasse were putting every energy into the service certain engineer troops were kept at tills this central point for railway work ready to respond to calls front houi any direction the well camp of german prisoners under col onel gronne of the military police contala contil tied d ti eril hundred men usei as laborers A number of british women known as the Wonie ns auxiliary aid corps were lent to us by their government agn eminent t to assist in clerical work the wom nom en located at tours occupied neat heat anti temporary barracks find presented a very military appearance on parade some fifty of them were III in quarters teis at the time and I 1 gme gave in that they should be trans berred to our hospital besides ofil dally these fine women under the ali proper restrictions that pr prevailed became a valued addition to the social side of life where they were stationed tills force with us ua eventually num cum bared about speaks tc men in hospital the base hospital at tours was then title filled with men wounded in the recent engagements they were receiving the best of care under col A M smith and ills efficient group of medical officers and nurses passing through the various wards of tills this hospital I 1 spoke to a tine fine look ing young loung soldier who ans sitting up in n bed find and asked him where he was wounded menning meaning to inquire the na M J I 1 serving a field aun ture of ills his wound in reply tie fie said do you iou remember sir just where the rond road skirts a small grove and turns to the left across a wheatfield and the then leads up over the file brow ot of the hill well right there sir he wits clearly describing the ad vance south of soissons Sols sons which pierced the chateau thierry salient of course I 1 was not there at the time but it touched me that he should feel that I 1 must have been very close to him at the base hospital in bordeaux then under the efficient effi clent supervision of col 11 II A shaw chief surgeon of the base section we found about COO of our wounded most of them soon to be sent kome home no mutter matter how severely wounded they were I 1 never heard a word ol of complaint front from any of our men there could not have been found in the hospitals of any army a more cheerful lot it was a lesson in fortitude an insel inspiration to see their fine alne co urage courage some would never again see others would never be able to walk again but they all seemed proud of their sacrifice which many of their coun countrymen brynien are often prone to forget all too soon we arrived at brest august 2 and round found the commanding general 0 11 II harries anti and start staff at the station to meet us base section no 6 was built around brest our lending leading port of debarkation bar kation the section included four french territorial departments another landing port for troops was cherbourg Cher bourg A large locomotive terminal and repair shop were located at rennes find and a coal port at granville Granv major ON ells eils secret after an inspection of the storehouses find and the construction for additional storage on the piers I 1 asked for the chief st ste medore edore major oneil who clime came up apparently quite embarrassed to koput put jilin him at euse ease I 1 took him by the arm find and we walked together to where some aiters were being unloaded As the port had the record of ban adling arriving troops and their baggage in aine tie tiny day may 24 entirely with lighters I 1 asked him to tell me about it by BV tills time lie had overcome his fright and pointing to two officers oin cers each down in ili the bottwin of a lighter directing the work lie he sald said sir do you see those two captains down there in their shirt sleeves well the secret I 1 nay may to them dont stand off somewhere find and puff yourselves up it your uniforms but take off san sam brownes find your coats and get doun don close to your ineil of course those thoe captains ha have 7 e n now ow become eN experts I 1 did it the lie sanie same tiling thing when I 1 started but since tai ahry ey are trained I 1 Ina linge things generally find they carry out my iny orders I 1 can wear my uni uniform forin now that I 1 have won the right to wear it well I 1 said onell oneil youre just the ninn man I 1 have been looking for all and iam I 1 am going to send you to every port we use to show them your secret CHAPTER LIV the french government had expressed a desire to bestow their decorations on american officers and men and asked it if I 1 would accept an appointment in the legion of honor with the grade of grand oi licer As congress had recently g giantel bantel permission for men members ibers of our forces to receive foreign decorations the french government was advised accordingly and it was to confer this honor upon me that president coln care paid his brief isit to chaumont august 0 6 1918 I 1 met jilin him at the station with a military escort and conducted him to my headquarters where the senior ollie era of the stall staff were presented after that formality we repaired t to 0 the small area of barracks where the headquarters troop and hand were drawn up in line for the ceremony I 1 was not insensible to the hig high gh personal 16 1 ii 6 r but regarded it mainly as i appreciation on tile purr atif the r french government of the assistance america had already given to the cause pershing takes command As the american army was now an fact it seemed advisable to begin preparations immediately to carry out the plan of campaign adopted july 24 providing for a distinctive american operation against the st mihiel salient I 1 motored to sarcus august 9 and after discussing with marshal foch the changed situation in the marne sector and the practical stabilization of the lie front on the vesle I 1 suggested the transfer tian of the first army head quarters qu niters to the st region where it could begin immediate preparations for the proposed offensive we u considered the 0 outline milne of my plans and without hesitation t lon marshal roch foch acquiesced in tile the transfer returning to paris the same afternoon I 1 went to provins to talk the matter over further with general retain we took stock of available adall ihle divisions for the st operation and lie said I 1 could count on him deft bitely to do everything in ills his power to furnish whatever we might require having thus reached a general understanding der standing regarding the preliminary details of the move I 1 drove the following morning to la ferte sous janane jouarre to take formal command of the first army and to give instructions to my staff regarding the movement of headquarters to Neuf Neut chateau TO DB CONTINUED confederate constitution the confederacy had a written constitution ution it was adopted by the con gress cress of the confederate states of south carolina georgia florida alabama mississippi louisiana and texal Texa on march 11 AMERICAN DIVISIONS IN THE REDUCTION OF THE MARNE SALIENT sow z I 1 11 1 1 1 11 Is A ai vp vc S T 1110 u 7 q fl t cut CU t ad ef 15 tit 4 1 1 1 i I 1 I 1 I 1 d s wv 0 t D 1 T 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