HONOR TO THE VICTORS
November 16, 1918, the American Distinguished Service Medal was
conferred upon General Pershing at his headquarters in the field by
General Tasker H. Bliss, representing President Wilson. The ceremony
was witnessed by the members of the allied missions, and was most
impressive, Admiral Benson, representing the United States Navy, and
William G. Sharp, American Ambassador to France, were also present.
SERVICE MEDAL TO GENERAL PERSHING
General Bliss, in presenting the decoration, read this order issued by
Newton T. Baker, Secretary of War:
"The President directs you to say to Gen. Pershing that he awards the
medal to the commander of our armies in the field as a token of the
gratitude of the American people for his distinguished services and in
appreciation of the successes which oar armies have achieved under his
leadership."
After reading the order General Bliss called to mind that when the first
division went away many doubted if it would be followed by another for
at least a year.
"But," he added, "you have created and organized and trained here on
the soil of France an American army of between two and two and a half
million men. You have created the agencies for its reception, its
transportation and supply. To the delight of all of us you have
consistently adhered to your ideal of an American army under American
officers and American leadership.
"And I know that I speak for our president, when I say that, as to those
who have died, the good God has given eternal rest, so may He give to us
eternal peace."
At a previous date, and while hostilities were still in course, Marshal
Foch had conferred upon General Pershing the grand cordon of the Legion
of Honor. The names of these two great commanders, reflecting supreme
honor upon their respective countries, have become imperishable in the
records of civilization. Their careers present unusual analogy. They
were bred to the art of war, and stand among the foremost in the roll of
great soldiers who have fought for and established Peace, in many lands
and many ages.
PERSHING'S SPLENDID RECORD
John Joseph Pershing was born September 30, 1860, in Linn county,
Missouri, to John F. and Ann E. (Thompson) Pershing. He was given the
degree of Bachelor of Arts by the Kirksville (Missouri) normal school in
1880; graduated at West Point in 1886; was made Bachelor of Laws by the
University of Nebraska in 1893; married Francis H. Warren, daughter of
Senator Warren of Wyoming, at Washington, January 28, 1905. (His
wife and two daughters perished in the fire at the Presidio, San
Francisco, August 15,1915.) He was commissioned a second lieutenant
in the 6th cavalry July 1, 1886; became a captain in the 10th cavalry
October 20, 1892. Passed through the other grades up to that of
Brigadier General in 1913, after the battle of Bagsag, P.I., in June of
that year. Had seen service in several Indian campaigns, in Cuba and the
Phillipines, and was United States military attaché with the army of
General Kuroko in the war between Japan and Russia. Later was officer
commanding at the Presidio, going thence to the Mexican border in 1913.
Was in command of the troops that went into Mexico in pursuit of Pancho
Villa in 1916. When the United States entered the European war he was
placed in command. Here was displayed in full not only his genius as a
soldier, but as an organizer of the very highest skill. His home is in
Cheyenne, Wyoming.
HONORS TO MARSHAL FOCH
At Senlis in France on Tuesday, November 12th, the day after the
armistice was signed, General Pershing conferred upon Marshal Foch the
American Distinguished Service Medal. The presentation was made in
the name of President Wilson, at the villa where Marshal Foch had his
headquarters, and was an impressive ceremony.
A guard of honor was drawn up and trumpeters blew a fanfare as Marshal
Foch, with General Pershing on his right, took position a few paces in
front of the guard. General Pershing said:
"The Congress of the United States has created this medal to be
conferred upon those who have rendered distinguished service to our
country. President Wilson has directed me to present to you the first
of these medals in the name of the United States Government and
the American army, as an expression of their admiration and their
confidence. It is a token of the gratitude of the American people for
your great achievements. I am very happy to have been given the honor of
presenting this medal to you."
In accepting the decoration, Marshal Foch said:
"I will wear this medal with pleasure and pride. In days of triumph, as
well as in dark and critical hours, I will never forget the tragical
day last March when General Pershing put at my disposal, without
restriction, all the resources of the American army. The success won
in the hard fighting by the American army is the consequence of the
excellent conception, command and organization of the American General
Staff, and the irreducible will to win of the American troops. The name
'Meuse' may be inscribed proudly upon the American flag."
MARSHAL FOCH'S RECORD
Ferdinand Foch, Marshal of France, was born at Tarbes in the French
Pyrenees, August 4th of 1851--a year during which all Europe was
agitated by the approach of war. His earlier education, largely
religious, was had at the schools of Saint Etienne, Rodez and Metz. In
his twentieth year he entered the Ecole Polytechnique at Paris for
a course of instruction in military science, after which he was
commissioned a lieutenant in the artillery branch of the French army,
rising to a captaincy in 1878.
In 1892, with the rank of major, he became an instructor in the war
school, specializing in military history and theory. He returned to army
service as a lieutenant colonel in 1901, and in 1907 was made a general
of brigade. Shortly thereafter, at the close of a term in command of
artillery in the Fifth Army Corps, he was put at the head of the war
school.
When war broke out in August, 1914, General Foch was in charge of the
military post at Nancy, a point commanding the way between the Vosges
mountains and the Duchy of Luxemburg. When the Germans came down toward
the Marne and the situation in the field became very critical, his
controlling doctrine of attack was brought into brilliant play.
The part of the French line under his command being endangered, he
reported to Marshal Joffre: "My right wing is suffering severe pressure.
My left is suffering from heavy assaults. I am about to attack with my
centre."
He did. That attack stopped the German advance, turned their forces from
the road to Paris, and sent them suddenly southward.
Looking back over those days, it is seen now that this action marked
the shock-point of the war. It disjointed the whole German plan, saved
France, and gave France and England time to raise and equip their
armies, and mobilize their industrial resources. The German high command
had promised the German people to finish the war in six weeks. General
Foch inaugurated their finish in less than four.
His operations since that time are well remembered. Down to the day when
at President Wilson's earnest urging he was placed in supreme command of
the allied armies on all fronts, March 29, 1918, he had been steadily
victorious. The week before, the Germans had begun their last and most
powerful "drive." The manner in which General Foch sold terrain to them
for the highest price they could be made to pay in German lives is
understood now, and admired. When he had teased them along and worn them
down, he sharply altered his strategy and attacked with a force and
continuity so terrific that it practically destroyed the German armies,
and compelled Germany to beg for the armistice that ended the war. From
July 18, 1918, down to November 11, he pounded and powdered the enemy
without cessation.
It is a matter of which Americans may well be proud that Marshal Foch,
with keen judgment and knowledge of military values, selected the first
and second divisions of the United States regular army to strike
the first blow in that tremendous assault. The only other troops
participating were those of a French colonial division, from Morocco.
GENERAL PERSHING'S THANKSGIVING ADDRESS
Thanksgiving Day, 1918, was celebrated in the most befitting manner
at the American Army headquarters in France. After Bishop Brent's
benediction, a band concert was given. General Pershing then addressed
his victorious army as follows:
"Fellow soldiers: Never in the history of our country have we as a
people, come together with such full hearts as on this greatest of all
Thanksgiving days. The moment throbs with emotion, seeking to find
full expression. Representing the high ideals of our countrymen and
cherishing the spirit of our forefathers who first celebrated this
festival of Thanksgiving, we are proud to have repaid a debt of
gratitude to the land of Lafayette and to have lent our aid in saving
civilization from destruction.
"The unscrupulous invader has been driven from the devastated scenes of
his unholy conquest. The tide of conflict which during the dark days of
midsummer threatened to overwhelm the allied forces has been turned into
glorious victory. As the sounds of battle die away and the beaten foe
hurries from the field it is fitting that the conquering armies should
pause to give thanks to the God of Battles, who has guided our cause
aright.
"VICTORY OUR GOAL"
"Victory was our goal. It is a hard won gift of the soldier to his
country.
"In this hour of thanksgiving our eternal gratitude goes out to those
heroes who loved liberty better than life, who sleep yonder, where they
fell; to the maimed, whose honorable scars testify stronger than
words to their splendid valor, and to the brave fellows whose strong,
relentless blows finally crushed the enemy's power.
"Nor in our prayer shall we forget the widow who freely gave the husband
more precious than her life, nor those who, in hidden heroism, have
impoverished themselves to enrich the cause, nor our comrades who in
more obscure posts here and at home have furnished their toll to the
soldiers at the front.
"Great cause, indeed, have we to thank God for trials successfully met
and victories won. Still more should we thank Him for the golden future,
with its wealth of opportunity and its hope of a permanent, universal
peace."
THE HOMECOMING OF KING ALBERT
The world rejoiced with Belgium when King Albert and the Queen returned
in triumph to Brussels, November 21, 1918, just a little over four years
after the bodeful day when they left it, in 1914. Belgium, the first
martyr to German ferocity, had come back to its own--had justified
the historic words of its King to the insolent Germans, "Belgium is a
country, not a road," and stood firm, a David of the Nations, against
the onslaught of the most awful and bloody hordes the world has seen
since Attila, the other Hun, drove with his swarming savages over
Europe, centuries ago, roaring that grass would never grow again where
their horses trod.
Civilization had been justified. The "scrap of paper" had come to life.
It was a great day, an hour of right and might, a soul-stirring climax
to a most stupendous drama. The hero rode in triumph; and the villain,
after ignominious flight, was hiding behind the skirts of a Dutchwoman,
over the border.
No finer troops marched through Brussels on this gala day than the
Yanks, who were given a conspicuous place in the celebration. A
battalion of infantry from the Ninety-First American Division and a
battery from the Fifty-Third Brigade, fresh from the beating they had
given the Huns at Oudenark a few days before, were prominent in the
lines, and shared in the plaudits a liberated people showered upon their
own heroic troops. Troops that had held the last strip of Belgian soil
through all those bitter years with a tenacity the Huns could never
shake. These Belgian soldiers, had, of course, the place of honor.
French and British troops, with bands playing and colors flying, shared
in the glorious triumph.
The King and the royal family rode at the head of two Belgian
divisions--a column of veterans stretching out fifteen miles. The day
was like midsummer--bright and fair. All the roads leading to the Rue
Royale and the Boulevard Anspach were packed hours before the King's
arrival. At the Port de Flandre the throngs were so dense they were
impassable. The whole city was gorgeously decorated. Aircraft were
overhead, dropping confetti. The balconies all along the route were
draped with flags and colored banners, and filled with people who, when
the King and his family rode by, showered them with flowers and little
flags. At one place a company of five hundred young women sang the
Brabanconne, the Belgian national song, and the American, French and
British national anthems.
The royal progress ended at the Palais de la Nation, where the King
dismounted and entered, to address the parliament in its first assembly
after the war--an historic session. Then he reviewed the troops in the
great square, and thence went to the Hotel de Ville to receive the
address of the Burgomaster Max, that sturdy figure, which the Germans at
the height of their tyranny had not been able to budge.
AMERICA'S TREMENDOUS ACHIEVEMENT BEHIND THE LINES
When the armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, the United States
land forces in Europe numbered some 2,200,000 fighting men. Of these
about 750,000 were in the Argonne section, on the French front. The
others were in various units on the French, Belgian, Italian and other
fronts. Additions were arriving from the States at the rate of 8,000 men
each day.
Behind these combat forces was an immense support in men and supplies
of every kind from home, and a transport system surpassing that of
any other belligerent, perfectly equipped; and a great army of relief
workers, in addition to one of the finest hospital systems the world has
ever seen.
The American army had taken to France and had in operation 967 standard
gauge locomotives and 13,174 standard gauge freight cars of American
manufacture. In addition it had in service 350 locomotives and 973 cars
of foreign origin. To meet demands which the existing French railways
were unable to meet, 843 miles of standard gauge railway were
constructed. Five hundred miles of this had been built since June, 1918.
The department of light railways had constructed 115 miles of road, and
140 miles of German light railways were repaired and put in operation.
Two hundred and twenty-five miles of French railway were operated by the
Americans.
But railways represent only a fraction of the transport effort Modern
warfare is motor warfare and it is virtually impossible to present in
figures this phase of the work of the American army.
In building new roads as the exigencies of battle operations required,
in keeping French roads repaired under the ceaseless tide of war
transport and in constructing bridges in devastated battle regions,
American engineers worked day and night. The whole region behind the
American lines was full of typical American road machinery, much of it
of a character never seen before in Europe.
To do this work the American expeditionary forces had in operation
November 11, 1918, more than 53,000 motor vehicles of all descriptions.
The American forces were in no danger of being placed on short rations,
had the war continued.
One ration represents the quantity of each article each man is entitled
to daily. It is interesting to note the supply of some of the principal
ration components on hand.
The Americans had 390,000,000 rations of beans alone, 183,000,
rations of flour and flour substitutes, 267,000,000 rations of milk;
161,000,000 rations of butter or substitutes; 143,000,000 rations of
sugar; 89,000,000 rations of meat; 57,000,000 rations of coffee and
113,000,000 rations of rice, hominy and other foods, with requisites
such as flavorings, fruits, candy and potatoes in proportion, while for
smokers, there were 761,000,000 rations of cigarettes and tobacco in
other forms.
It is difficult to describe in exact figures what the American
expeditionary forces have done in the construction and improvement of
dockage and warehouses since the first troops landed. This work has
been proportionate to the whole effort in other directions. Ten steamer
berths have been built at Bordeaux, having a total length of 4,100 feet.
At Montoir, near St. Nazaire, eight berths were under construction with
a total length of over 3,200 feet.
Great labor had been expended in dredging operations, repairing French
docks and increasing railway terminal facilities. Warehouses having
an aggregate floor area of almost 23,000,000 square feet had been
constructed. This development of French ports increased facilities to
such an extent that even if the Germans had captured Calais and other
channel ports, as they had planned, the allies' loss would have been
strategically unimportant.
So largely were facilities increased that the English armies could have
had their bases at the lower French ports, if necessary. In other words,
American work in port construction lessened to a material degree the
value to the Germans of their proposed capture of the channel ports.
These figures serve in a measure to show the magnitude of American
accomplishments, and the great machine is in operation today as the
American Third army moves forward into German territory.
During the second stage of the Argonne operation a captured German
major, while in casual conversation with an American officer said: "We
know defeat is inevitable. We know your First and Second armies are
operating and that your Third army is nearly ready to function. We know
there are more and more armies to follow. We can measure your effort.
The end must come soon."
AMERICAN FORCES AND CASUALTIES
At the opening of November, 1918, the United States armies on all fronts
numbered about 2,200,000 men, and was being increased at an average rate
of 250,000 a month. In transit from home ports to ports in Europe and
Siberia, only one transport ship was lost, and of its complement of
troops 126 men were drowned. The sinking was caused by collision with
another ship in the same convoy, not by an enemy submarine. The United
States has not lost one man in transport, by an act of a hostile ship or
submarine.
Army and marine casualties reported by the commanders of overseas forces
to the government at Washington up to November 27th, 1918 (after the
seventeenth month of our participation in the war), were as follows:
Killed in action, 28,363; died of wounds, 12,101; died of disease,
16,034; died of other causes, 1,980; wounded, 189,995 (of this number
92,036 only slightly wounded); missing in action and prisoners, 14,250;
making a total numbering 262,723.
War Department reports show that over-seas Air Service Casualties
to October 24th, 1918, were 128 battle fatalities and 224 killed in
accidents.
TOTAL OF CIVIL WAR CASUALTIES COMPARED ARE AS FOLLOWS
Federal troops killed in action, 67,058; died of wounds, 43,012; died of
disease, 224,586; making total Federal fatalities 334,656.
Confederates killed and died of wounds, 95,000; died of disease,
164,000; making the total Confederate fatalities 259,000.
According to the War Department records, total dead of the Civil War is
618,524.
BRITISH, FRENCH AND ITALIAN LOSSES
British losses are estimated at 1,000,000 killed and 2,049,991 wounded,
missing and prisoners.
The French losses are over 1,500,000 in killed and over 3,000,000 in
wounded and prisoners.
The Italian losses, including casualties and prisoners, are estimated at
a total of 2,000,000, including 500,000 dead.
7,589 CASUALTIES IN ROYAL AIR FORCES
Casualties in the royal air forces from April, 1918, when the air forces
were amalgamated, to Nov. 11, were: Killed, 2,680; wounded, missing
and prisoners, 4,909, according to an official statement by the air
ministry.
CANADA'S CASUALTIES
Canada's casualty list up to November 1, 1918 (eleven days before the
armistice), totaled 211,358, classified as follows: Killed in action,
34,877; died of wounds or disease, 15,457; wounded, 152,779; presumed
dead, missing in action and known prisoners of war, 8,245. Canada's
total land forces numbered nearly a half million men; that is, over
eighty per cent of the men of the Dominion of military age, who were
physically fit. They constituted over forty per cent of the male
population. It is a strange coincidence of figures that the losses above
enumerated constitute just about the same per cent (forty) of the armed
forces, that those forces bore to the young nation's total manhood.
Canada's efforts and sacrifices in the war have not been fully
understood. When they are, they will evoke the admiration of the world,
and of history.
GERMAN LOSSES
Exact figures covering, German losses since August 1st, 1914, when
the war began with the German invasion of Belgium, cannot be had. The
records are kept at Berlin and their figures have been withheld from
even the people of Germany.
The only estimates available are those made by commanders opposing the
German forces, and these were confessedly cautious, the allied policy
being to minimize estimates of enemy reverses, so that no false
encouragement might reach the public in any of the allied countries. On
this basis, the estimates approximate a German loss of over 1,580,
killed and 4,490,000 disabled, prisoners, and missing, a total of
6,070,000.
The Austrian losses in killed are estimated at 800,000 and 3,200,
prisoners, wounded and missing.
TOTAL LOSSES
The world's actual loss of men in the war is estimated at not less than
10,000,000, counting those killed in action, died of wounds, or dead
from other causes in prison camps or in the field.
These estimates do not include 800,000 Armenian Christians massacred by
the Turks at the order of the German general staff, nor the Belgian and
French civilians starved to death, infected with typhus and tuberculosis
by hypodermic injection, or murdered outright by German soldiery under
orders, nor the German wholesale slaughter of Serbians, of Greeks in
Asia Minor, nor similar victims in Poland, Lithuania and southwest
Russia, outnumbering no doubt the total loss of fighting men in all the
armies. It is not likely these murders of noncombatants can ever be
counted up.
GERMANY'S NAVAL SURRENDER
Surrender of the German navy and delivery of its ships to the Grand
Fleet (consisting of the British and United States navies), began
November 21, 1918, just ten days after the armistice was signed Ninety
German ships of all grades constituted the first delivery. Admiral Sims,
of the American Navy, King George and the Prince of Wales, were aboard
the Queen Elizabeth, the flagship of Admiral Beatty, commanding the
Grand Fleet. Five hundred British and American war vessels were in the
receiving lines, and convoyed the surrendered German ships to the Firth
of Forth, just below Edinburgh, Scotland, where they will lie until
their disposal is determined. Among the German vessels surrendered that
day were sixty submarines.
Other deliveries of German war vessels were continued. On November 29th
it was discovered that of the 360 submarines of all types built by the
Germans, the Grand Fleet had destroyed or captured 200. Of the remaining
160 nearly all had been surrendered by that date. This being the exact
number called to surrender by the terms of the armistice, it would
appear the allied conference was fully informed to that effect, and
thereby was enabled to strip Germany of the last of these vessels, whose
record of murder and piracy at sea is without any precedent whatever in
history.
FORMER KAISERIN WEEPS
The meeting of former Emperor William and the former empress at
Amerongen is described by a Dutch correspondent as follows:
"The gates were thrown open, the drawbridge was lowered with a noise of
chains and iron bars that sounded very medieval, and in the courtyard
before the castle an elderly man in a gray military cloak was seen at a
distance, walking slowly and leaning on his stick. It was the ex-kaiser.
The ex-kaiserin's car was driven into the courtyard, the ex-kaiser threw
down his stick and, before the valet was able, opened the door and
handed out his wife.
"They shook hands and then threw themselves into each other's arms,
the ex-kaiserin falling upon her husband's shoulder and crying like a
child."
FORMER KAISER'S ACT OF RENUNCIATION
The text of the former German emperor's act of renunciation, which was
issued by the New German government, "in order to reply to certain
misunderstandings which have arisen with regard to the abdication,"
follows:
_By the present document I renounce forever my rights to the crown of
Prussia and the rights to the German imperial crown. I release, at the
same time, all the officials of the German empire and Prussia, and also
all officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers of the Prussian
navy and army and of contingents from confederate states from the oath
of fidelity they have taken to me._
_As their emperor, king and supreme chief, I expect from them, until a
new organization of the German empire exists, that they will aid those
who effectively hold the power in Germany to protect the German people
against the menacing dangers of anarchy, famine and foreign domination._
_Made and executed and signed by our own hand with the imperial seal at
Amerongen Nov. 28._
_WILLIAM_.
PERSHING PAYS TRIBUTE TO HIS MEN
In closing his preliminary report to the Secretary of War, made public
on December 4, 1918, General Pershing expresses his feeling for the men
who served with him, as follows:
"I pay the supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the line.
When I think of their heroism, their patience under hardships, their
unflinching spirit of offensive action, I am filled with emotion which I
am unable to express. Their deeds are immortal, and they have earned the
eternal gratitude of our country."