THE FIGHTING FRONT
The encouragement given to the Allies by the entrance of the United
States into the war injected a temporary ray of brightness into the
situation abroad, but with the realization that long months must elapse
before American aid could prove effective, came deep disappointment. The
spring of 1917 did not bring the expected success to the French and
British on the western front; and the summer and autumn carried intense
discouragement. Hindenburg, early in the spring, executed a skillful
retreat on the Somme front, which gave to the Allies the territory to
which their previous capture of Peronne and Bapaume entitled them. But
the Germans, losing some square miles, saved their troops and supplies.
British attacks on the north gained little ground at terrible cost. The
French offensive, planned by Nivelle, which was designed to break the
German line, had to be given up after bloody checks. There was mutiny in
the French armies and the morale of the civilian population sank.
The hopes that had been aroused by the Russian revolution were seen to be
deceptive; instead of a national movement directed towards a more active
struggle against Germany, it now appeared in its true colors as a demand
for peace and land above everything. The Brusilov attack, which the
Allies insisted upon, proved to be a flash in the pan and ended with the
complete military demoralization of Russian armies. The collapse of the
Italian forces at Caporetto followed. Italy was not merely unable to
distract the attention of the Central Powers by a determined offensive
against Austria, but she threatened to become a liability; no one knew
how many French divisions might have to be diverted to aid in the defense
of the new Piave front. General Byng's break of the German lines at
Cambrai was more than offset by the equally brilliant German
counter-attack. And every day the submarine was taking its toll of Allied
shipping.
Following the Italian débâcle, the Bolshevik revolution of November
indicated that Russia would wholly withdraw and that that great potential
source of man-power for the Allies could no longer be counted upon.
Allied leaders realized that Germany would be able to transfer large
numbers of troops to the western front, and became seriously alarmed.
"The Allies are very weak," cabled General Pershing, on the 2d of
December, "and we must come to their relief this year, 1918. The year
after may be too late. It is very doubtful if they can hold on until 1919
unless we give them a lot of support this year." Showing that the
schedule of troop shipments would be inadequate and complaining that the
actual shipments were not even being kept up to programme, Pershing
insisted upon the importance of the most strenuous efforts to secure
extra tonnage, which alone would make it possible for the American army
to take a proper share in the military operations of 1918.
The serious representations of General Pershing were reinforced by
Colonel House when he returned from abroad on the 15th of December. For
six weeks he had been in conference, as head of a war mission, with the
Allied political and military leaders, who now realized the necessity of
unity of plan. Because of his personal intimacy with French and British
statesmen and his acknowledged skill in negotiations, House had done
much to bring about Allied harmony and to pave the way for a supreme
military command. Like Pershing, he was convinced of the danger
threatening the Allies, and from the moment of his return began the
speeding-up process, which was to result in the presence of a large
American force on the battle front at the moment of crisis in the early
summer of 1918.
Tonnage was obviously the vital factor upon which effective military
assistance depended. The United States had the men, although they were
not completely trained, but the apparent impossibility of transporting
them formed the great obstacle. The problem could not have been solved
without the assistance of the Allies. With the threat of the German
drive, and especially after the first German victories of 1918, they
began to appreciate the necessity of sacrificing everything to the
tonnage necessary to transport American soldiers to France. After long
hesitation they agreed to a pooling of Allied tonnage for this purpose.
Most of the Allied ships ultimately furnished the United States were
provided by the British, whose transports carried a million American
troops to France. French and Italian boats transported 112,000; our own
transports, 927,000.
Thus by relying largely upon the shipping assistance of our associates in
the war we were able to respond to the demands of General Pershing and,
later, Marshal Foch. And thus came about the extraordinary development of
our military programme from the thirty to the eighty and one hundred
division plans, which resulted in tremendous confusion, but which also
ultimately ensured Allied victory in 1918. Until the end of the year
1917, we had put into France only 195,000 troops, including 7500 marines,
an average of about 28,000 a month. From December to February the average
rose to 48,000; from March to May it was 149,000; and from June to August
it was 290,000 men a month. During the four months from May to August
inclusive, 1,117,000 American troops were transported to France.
Altogether about two million Americans were sent to France, without the
loss of a single man while under the escort of United States vessels. No
navy troop transports were torpedoed on east-bound trips although three
were sunk on the return trip with loss of 138 lives. To the American and
British navies must go the credit for carrying through this stupendous
feat, and in the work of assuring the safety of the troop transports the
navy of the United States may claim recognition for the larger share,
since 82 per cent of the escorts furnished were American cruisers and
destroyers. It was a nerve-racking and tantalizing experience--the troop
ships sailing in echelon formation, preceded, followed, and flanked by
destroyers; at night every glimmer of light eclipsed, the ships speeding
ahead in perfect blackness, each inch of the sea swept by watchful eyes
to discover the telltale ripple of a periscope or the trail of a torpedo,
gun crews on the alert, depth bombs ready. Nor was the crossing anything
like a vacation yachting cruise for the doughboys transported, packed as
they were like sardines two and three decks below the waterline, brought
up in shifts to catch a brief taste of fresh air, assailed at once by
homesickness, seasickness, and fears of drowning like rats in a trap.
The work of the navy was far more extensive, moreover, than the safe
convoying of troop ships, important though that was. The very first
contingent of American overseas fighting forces was made up of two
flotillas of destroyers, which upon the declaration of war had been sent
to Queenstown where they were placed under the command of Admiral William
S. Sims. Their main function was to hunt submarines, which, since the
decree of the 1st of February, had succeeded in committing frightful
ravages upon Allied commerce and seriously threatened to starve the
British Isles. Admiral Sims was two years older than Pershing and as
typical a sailor as the former was soldier. With his bluff and genial,
yet dignified, manner, his rubicund complexion, closely-trimmed white
beard, and piercing eyes, no one could have mistaken his calling. Free of
speech, frank in praise and criticism, abounding in indiscretions, he
possessed the capacity to make the warmest friends and enemies. He was an
ardent admirer of the British, rejoiced in fighting with them, and
ashamed that our Navy Department was unwilling to send more adequate and
immediate assistance to their fleet. Sims's international reputation as
an expert in naval affairs was of long standing. Naval officers in every
country of Europe knew of him as the inventor of a system of fire control
which had been adopted by the great navies of the world, and it was
largely because of his studies and devices that the extraordinary records
of the American fleets at target practice had been secured. The British
naval officers reciprocated Sims's admiration for them, and, according to
popular belief, it was at their special request that he had been sent to
command our overseas naval forces. No one else could have obtained such
effective coöperation between the British and American fleets.
While at first the major portion of the American fleet was retained in
home waters for the protection of American coasts and ports, a policy
which aroused the stinging criticism of Admiral Sims, gradually the fleet
added strength to the Allied navies in their patrol of European coasts
and the bottling-up of the German high seas fleet. Destroyer bases were
maintained at Queenstown, Brest, and Gibraltar, from which were
dispatched constant patrols. Individual destroyers, during the first year
of service overseas, steamed a total of 60,000 miles. Their crews were on
the watch in the dirtiest weather, unable to sleep, tossed and battered
by the incessant rolling, without warm food, facing the constant peril of
being swept overboard and knowing that their boat could not stop to pick
them up. American submarine-chasers and converted yachts, mine-sweepers
on their beneficent and hazardous duty, were equally active. Naval
aviators coöperated with the British to patrol the coasts in search of
submarines. Late in 1917, six battleships were sent to join the British
Grand Fleet, which was watching for the Germans in the North Sea, thus
constituting about twelve per cent of the guarding naval force. More
important, perhaps, was the American plan for laying a mine barrage from
the Scotch coast across to Norwegian waters. The Ordnance Bureau of the
navy, despite the discouragement of British experts, manufactured the
mines, 100,000 of them, and shipped them abroad in parts ready for final
assembling. The American navy was responsible for eighty per cent of the
laying of the barrage, which when finished was 245 miles long and twenty
miles wide. The complete story of the achievements of the navy cannot now
be told in detail. It was not always inspiring, for numerous mistakes
were made. Confusion of counsels in the Naval Board left one important
bombing squadron so bereft of supplies that after an expenditure of four
millions only two bombs were dropped in the entire course of its
operations. But there are also to be remembered the unheralded stories of
heroism and skill, such as the dash of the submarine-chasers and
destroyers through the mine fields at Durazzo, and the work of our naval
guns in the attack on Zeebrugge.
The armies, safely brought to France, were meanwhile undergoing the
essential intensive training, and the task of organizing the service of
supply was being undertaken. The training given in the United States
before sailing had been in the ordinary forms of drill and tactics; now
it was necessary that there should be greater specialization. Numerous
schools for the training of officers were established. For the troops the
plan for training allowed, according to the intent of General Pershing,
"a division one month for acclimatization and instruction in small units
from battalions down, a second month in quiet trench sectors by
battalion, and a third month after it came out of the trenches when it
should be trained as a complete division in war of movement."[10] The
entire process of training was a compromise between speed and efficiency.
During the latter months of the war many of the American troops were put
on the battle-line when they were by no means sufficiently trained.
Certain draft units were transported and thrown up to the front after
experience of a most superficial character; there are instances of men
going into action without knowing how to load their rifles or adjust
their gas masks properly. But on the whole the training given was
surprisingly effective in view of the speed with which it was
accomplished. American skill with the rifle won the envy of foreign
officers, and the value of American troops in open warfare was soon to be
acknowledged by the Germans.
[Footnote 10: This plan could not be fulfilled for troops coming to
France in 1918, because of lack of time.]
The same sort of centralization sought by Wilson in America obviously
became necessary in France with the expanding plans for an enormous army.
In February, 1918, the Service of Supply was organized. With its
headquarters at Tours, the S. O. S. was responsible for securing,
organizing, and distributing all the food, equipment, building materials,
and other necessities demanded by the expeditionary force. In order to
provide for the quantities of essential supplies and to avoid the
congestion of the chief ports of France, certain ports were especially
allotted to our army, of which the most important were St. Nazaire,
Bordeaux, and Brest. The first, a somnolent fishing village, was
transformed by the energy of American engineers into a first-class port
with enormous docks, warehouses, and supply depots; Brest rose in the
space of twelve months from the rank of a second-class port to one that
matched Hamburg in the extent of its shipping. In all, more than a dozen
ports were used by the Americans and in each extensive improvements and
enlargements proved necessary. At Bordeaux not more than two ships a
week, of any size, could conveniently be unloaded prior to June, 1917.
Eight months later, docks a mile long had been constructed, concrete
platforms and electric cranes set up; within a year fourteen ships could
be unloaded simultaneously, the rate of speed being determined only by
the number of stevedores. For unloading purposes regiments of negroes
were stationed at each port.
A few miles back from the coast were the base depots where the materials
were stored as they came from the ships. Thence distribution was made to
the intermediate depots in the cities of supply, and finally to the
depots immediately behind the fighting front. All these depots involved
enormous building operations; at first the lumber was shipped, but later,
American lumber jacks were brought over to cut French forests. At one
supply depot three hundred buildings were put up, covering an area of six
square miles, operated by 20,000 men, and holding in storage a hundred
million dollars' worth of supplies. For distribution purposes it proved
necessary for American engineers to take over the construction and
maintenance of communications. At first American engines and cars were
operated under French supervision; but ultimately many miles of French
railroads were taken over bodily by the American army and many more built
by American engineers. More than 400 miles of inland waterways were also
used by American armies. This transportation system was operated by
American experts of all grades from brakemen to railroad presidents,
numbering altogether more than 70,000.
In order to meet the difficulty of securing tonnage for supplies and to
avoid competition with the Allies, a General Purchasing Board was created
for the coördination of all purchases. Agents of this board were
stationed in the Allied countries, in Switzerland, Holland, and Spain,
who reconnoitered resources, analyzed requirements, issued forecasts of
supplies, supervised the claims of foreign governments on American raw
materials, and procured civilian manual labor. Following the
establishment of the supreme interallied command, the Interallied Board
of Supplies was organized in the summer of 1918, with the American
purchasing agent as a member. Other activities of the S. O. S., too
numerous to recount in detail, included such important tasks as the
reclassification of personnel, the installation and operation of a
general service of telephone and telegraph communication, with 115,500
kilometers of lines, and the renting and requisitioning of the land and
buildings needed by the armies. It was a gigantic business undertaking,
organized at top speed, involving tremendous expenditure. Its success
would have been impossible without the coöperation of hundreds of men of
business, who found in it a sphere of service which enabled the army to
utilize the proverbial American genius for meeting large problems of
economic organization. At the time of the armistice the S. O. S. reached
a numerical strength in personnel of 668,000, including 23,000 civilian
employees.
From the first, Pershing had been determined that the American
Expeditionary Force should ultimately operate as an independent unit,
although in close coöperation with the Allies. During the autumn of 1917
the disasters in Italy and the military demoralization of Russia had led
to the formation of the Supreme Military Council of the Allies, upon
which the United States was represented by General Tasker Bliss, whose
rough visage and gruff manner gave little indication of his wide
interests. Few suspected that this soldierly character took secret
pleasure in the reading of Latin poets. The coördination that resulted
from the creation of the Supreme Council, however, proved insufficient to
meet the crisis of the spring of 1918.
On the 21st of March, the Germans attacked in overwhelming force the
southern extremity of the British lines, near where they joined the
French, and disastrously defeated General Gough's army. The break-through
was clean and the advance made by the endless waves of German
shock-troops appalling. Within eight days the enemy had swept forward to
a depth of fifty-six kilometers, threatening the capture of Amiens and
the separation of the French and British. As the initial momentum of the
onslaught was lost, the Allied line was re-formed with the help of French
reserves under Fayolle. But the Allies had been and still were close to
disaster. Complete unity of command was essential. It was plain also, in
the words of Pershing's report, that because of the inroads made upon
British and French reserves, "defeat stared them in the face unless the
new American troops should prove more immediately available than even the
most optimistic had dared to hope." The first necessity was satisfied
early in April. The extremity of the danger reinforced the demand long
made by the French, and supported by President Wilson through Colonel
House, that a generalissimo be appointed. The British finally sank their
objection, and on the 28th of March it was agreed that General Ferdinand
Foch should be made commander-in-chief of all the Allied armies with the
powers necessary for the strategic direction of all military operations.
The decision was ratified on the 3d and approved by President Wilson on
the 16th of April.
General Foch had long been recognized as an eminent student of strategy,
and he had proved his practical capacity in 1914 and later. It was he who
commanded the French army that broke the German line at the marshes of
St. Gond, in the battle of the Marne, thus assuring victory to Joffre,
and he had later in the year secured fresh laurels in the first battle of
the Yser. At the moment of extreme danger to Italy, after Caporetto, in
1917, he had been chosen to command the assisting force sent down by the
French. Unsentimental and unswayed by political factors, he was
temperamentally and intellectually the ideal man for the post of supreme
Allied commander; he was furthermore supported by the capacity of General
Pétain, the French commander-in-chief, and by a remarkable group of army
commanders, among whom Fayolle, Mangin, and Gouraud were to win
particular fame. But he lacked troops, the Germans disposing of 200
divisions as against 162 Allied divisions.
Hence the hurry call sent to America and hence the heavy sacrifice now
forced upon Pershing. Much against his will and only as a result of
extreme pressure, the American commander-in-chief agreed to a temporary
continuance of the brigading of American troops with the British and the
French. He had felt all along that "there was every reason why we could
not allow them to be scattered among our Allies, even by divisions, much
less as replacements, except by pressure of pure necessity." He disliked
the emphasis placed by the Allies upon training for trench warfare; he
feared the effect of the lack of homogeneity which would render the mixed
divisions "difficult to maneuver and almost certain to break up under the
stress of defeat," and he believed that the creation of independent
American armies "would be a severe blow to German morale." When the pinch
of necessity came, however, Pershing sank his objections to amalgamation
and, to his credit, agreed with a _beau geste_ and fine phrase which
concealed the differences between the Allied chiefs and won the heartiest
sympathy from France and England. The principle of an independent American
force, however, Pershing insisted upon, and he made clear that the
amalgamation of our troops with the French and British was merely a
temporary expedient.
Immediately after the stabilization of the battle-line near Amiens, the
Germans began their second great drive, this time against the British
along the Lys, in Flanders. The initial success of the attack, which began
on the 9th of April, was undeniable, and Sir Douglas Haig himself admitted
the danger of the moment: "Every position must be held to the last man.
There must be no retirement. With our backs to the wall and believing in
the justice of our cause, each one of us must fight to the end. The safety
of our homes and the freedom of mankind depend alike upon the conduct of
each one of us at this critical moment." The value of Allied unity of
command now became apparent, for heavy French reinforcements were brought
up in time to help stave off the German drive on the Channel Ports.
But still the demand went up for more men and ships. "Scrap before
shipping every pound that takes tonnage and is not necessary to the
killing of Germans," wrote a French military authority. "Send the most
infantry by the shortest route to the hottest corner. No matter what flag
they fight under, so long as it is an Allied flag." On the 27th of May
the Germans caught Foch by surprise and launched a violent attack on the
Chemin des Dames, between Soissons and Berry-au-Bac. This formed the
third phase of their great offensive. In four days they pushed before
them the tired French divisions, sent into that sector to recuperate, a
distance of fifty kilometers and reached the Marne. Again, as in 1914,
Paris began to empty, fearful of capture. A statement sent to Wilson on
the 2d of June and signed by Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and Orlando, read
as follows: "There is great danger of the war being lost unless the
numerical inferiority of the Allies can be remedied as rapidly as
possible by the advent of American troops.... We are satisfied that
General Foch ... is not over-estimating the needs of the case." Such was
the peril of the Allies. But in the month of May 245,000 Americans had
been landed, and in the following month there were to be 278,000 more.
Previous to June, 1918, the participation of American troops in military
operations had been of comparative unimportance and less for tactical
purposes than as a part of their training. In October, 1917, the First
Division had been sent into trenches on the quiet Lorraine front and had
engaged in raids and counter-raids. Three other divisions, the Second, the
Forty-second, or "Rainbow," and the Twenty-sixth from New England,
followed, and by March, 1918, they were all described by Pershing as
"equal to any demands of battle action." On the 29th of April, the
last-named division was engaged in something more serious than a mere raid
at Seicheprey, near St. Mihiel; the number of prisoners lost indicated
lack of experience, but the vigor of the American counter-attack proved
definitely the will to fight. That belligerent spirit was equally
displayed by various engineering units which, during the break of General
Gough's army before the German assault of March, near St. Quentin, had
dropped their tools, seized rifles, and, hastily organizing to cover the
retreat, had secured valuable respite for various fleeing units.
More important yet, because of the moral effect achieved, was the
engagement at Cantigny near Montdidier, on the 28th of May. The Americans
launched their attack with skill as well as dash, and stood firm against
the violence of the German reaction; this they met without assistance
from the French, who had been called to oppose the German advance on the
Marne. Pershing spoke of the "desperate efforts" of the enemy at
Cantigny, "determined at all costs to counteract the most excellent
effect the American success had produced." For three days guns of all
calibers were vainly concentrated upon the new positions. Coming at the
moment of extreme discouragement, Cantigny was of an importance entirely
out of proportion to the numbers involved. For months France had been
awaiting American assistance. A year before the French had seen Pershing
and the first few doughboys, but the long delay had caused them to lose
the confidence which that sight had aroused. Now suddenly came the news
that the Americans were arriving in tremendous numbers and from Cantigny,
north and south along the lines, spread the report: "These men will
fight."
Four days later at Château-Thierry,[11] Americans proved not merely the
moral but the practical value of their assistance. The German drive of the
27th of May, beginning on the Chemin des Dames, had pushed south to the
Marne and westward towards Meaux. The French falling back in haste had
maintained their lines intact, but were pessimistic as to the possibility
of stopping the enemy advance. On the 31st of May, German vanguard units
entered Château-Thierry, crossed the river, and planned to secure the
bridges. At this moment American machine gunners of the Third Division
came up with a battalion of French colonials in support, drove the Germans
back to the north bank, covered the retreat of the French forces across
the Marne, on the following day, and gave time to blow up the bridges. On
the same day, the 1st of June, northwest of Château-Thierry, the Second
Division came into line to support the wearied French, and as the latter
came filtering back and through, soon found itself meeting direct German
assaults. Stretching across the road to Paris, with the French too weak to
make a stand, it blocked the German advance. Even so, the danger was not
entirely parried, since the enemy held strong positions from Vaux
northwest to Veuilly, which, when German reinforcements came up, would
enable them to deliver deadly assaults. Those positions had to be taken.
From the 6th to the 11th of June, American troops, among them marine
regiments, struck viciously, concentrating against the railroad
embankment at Bouresches and the hill of Belleau Woods. The stiffness of
the German defense, maintained by their best troops, was overcome by
fearless rushing of machine-gun nests, ruthless mopping-up of isolated
stragglers, and a final clearing of the Woods by heavy artillery fire. On
the 18th of June the Americans took the approaches to Torcy and on the 1st
of July the village of Vaux. If the attack on Belleau Woods proved their
courage, the capture of Vaux vindicated their skill, for losses were
negligible.
[Footnote 11: The reader should distinguish the defensive operations at
Château-Thierry, on the 1st of June, from the attack launched from this
sector in July. Both are known as the battle of Château-Thierry.]
The Allied line was now in a position to contest actively any deepening
of the Marne salient to the west, and American troops had so clearly
proved their quality that Pershing could with justice demand a radical
revision of the Allied opinion that American soldiers were fit only for
the defense. His confidence in their fighting capacity was soon further
put to the test and vindicated. On the 15th of July the Germans opened
the fourth and last of their great drives, with tremendous artillery fire
from Rheims to the Marne. They hoped to capture the former, swing far to
the south and west, and, if they failed to take Paris, at least to draw
sufficient troops from Flanders and Picardy as to assure a successful
drive on Amiens and the Channel Ports. For the first time, however, the
element of surprise in their attack was lacking. At the eastern end of
the battle-line General Gouraud, with whom were fighting the Forty-second
Division and four colored regiments, warned of the moment of attack,
withdrew his front lines and permitted the Germans to shell empty
trenches; all important positions he held firmly. On the Marne, east of
Château-Thierry, the enemy succeeded in crossing the river in the early
morning. At various points the American line was compelled to yield,
although one of the American regiments stood its ground while on either
flank the Germans, who had gained a footing on the south bank, pressed
forward; it was, according to Pershing's report, "one of the most
brilliant pages in our military annals." At noon, heedless of the warning
given by the French commander, American reinforcements launched a strong
counter-attack and drove the enemy back to the river; on the next morning
no Germans were to be found on the south bank in front of the American
troops. During the next two days German efforts to press forward were
unrelaxing but in vain, and on the 18th of July, Foch launched his
counter-offensive.
The inherent weakness of the Marne salient from the German point of view
and the opportunity which it offered the Allied command had not been
forgotten by the generalissimo. Foch waited until the enemy had spent his
strength in the attacks around Rheims and on the Marne, then struck
fiercely between Soissons and Château-Thierry. The spearhead of the main
drive was composed of the First and Second American Divisions,
immediately to the south of Soissons, who were operating under Mangin
with the First French Moroccan Division between them. Straightway,
without the orthodox preliminary artillery fire, a deep thrust was made
against the western side of the salient; near Soissons, despite fierce
resistance, advances of from eight to ten kilometers and large numbers of
prisoners were reported in the first twenty-four hours. "Due to the
magnificent dash and powers displayed on the field of Soissons by our
First and Second Divisions," said Pershing, "the tide of war was
definitely turned in favor of the Allies." Further to the south, the
Fourth and Twenty-sixth Divisions crossed the road running from
Château-Thierry to Soissons, pushing east; while from the southern bank
of the Marne, the Third Division pushed north across the river. It was
obvious to the Germans that retreat from the perilous salient must
proceed at once, especially as Franco-British counter-attacks on the
eastern side threatened to close it at the neck and cut the main line of
German withdrawal. The retreat was executed with great skill and valor.
While holding on the sides, the enemy forces were slowly pulled back from
the apex, striving to win time to save artillery, although they must
perforce lose or destroy great quantities of ammunition. Against the
retreating foe fresh American divisions were hurled. On the 25th of July
the Forty-second division relieved the Twenty-sixth, advancing toward the
Vesle, with elements of the Twenty-eighth, until relieved on August 3d,
by the Fourth Division. Farther east the Thirty-second had relieved the
Third. The Americans had to face withering fire from machine-gun nests
and fight hand to hand in the crumbled streets of the Champagne villages.
Here were carried on some of the fiercest conflicts of American military
history. Finally on the 6th of August the Germans reached the line of the
Vesle, their retreat secured, although their losses had been terrific.
But the pause was only momentary. Before they could bring up
replacements, the British launched their great drive south of the Somme,
the American Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second, and Seventy-seventh divisions
crossed the Vesle pushing the Germans before them, and there began what
Ludendorff in his memoirs calls "the last phase."
Pershing had not lost sight of his original object, which was to assemble
the American divisions into a separate army. After the victories of July,
which wiped out the Marne salient, and those of August, which put the
enemy definitely on the defensive, he felt that "the emergency which had
justified the dispersion of our divisions had passed." Soon after the
successful British attack, south of Amiens, he overcame the objections of
Foch and concluded arrangements for the organization of this army, which
was to operate in the Lorraine sector.[12] It contained 600,000 men,
fourteen American divisions and two French. On the 30th of August the
sector was established and preparations made for the offensive, the first
step in which was to be the wiping out of the St. Mihiel salient. This
salient had existed since 1914, when the Germans, failing to storm the
scarp protecting Verdun on the east, had driven a wedge across the lower
heights to the south. The elimination of this wedge would have great
moral effect; it would free the Paris-Nancy railway from artillery fire;
and would assure Pershing an excellent base for attack against the
Metz-Sedan railway system and the Briey iron basin. The German positions
were naturally strong and had withstood violent French attacks in 1915.
But there was only one effective line of retreat and the enemy, if he
persisted in holding the apex of the salient, risked losing his entire
defending force, should the sides be pressed in from the south and west.
[Footnote 12: Allied opposition to an American army was so strong as to
bring threats of an appeal to Wilson. The President steadfastly supported
Pershing.]
On the 12th of September the attack was launched. It was originally
planned for the 15th, but word was brought that the Germans were about to
retire at a rate which would have left none of them in the salient by
that date. Hence the attack was advanced by three days. The attempted
withdrawal secured the retreat of the German main force, but they were
unable to save their rear guard. After four hours of vigorous artillery
preparation, with the largest assemblage of aviation ever engaged in a
single operation (mainly British and French) and with American heavy guns
throwing into confusion all rail movements behind the German lines, the
advancing Americans immediately overwhelmed all of the enemy that
attempted to hold their ground. By the afternoon of the second day the
salient was extinguished, 16,000 prisoners were taken, 443 guns and large
stores of supplies captured. American casualties totaled less than 7000.
The effects of the victory were incalculable. Apart from the material
results, hope of which had motivated the attack, the moral influence of
the battle of St. Mihiel in the making of American armies and the
discouragement of the German High Command was of the first importance.
"An American army was an accomplished fact," wrote Pershing, "and the
enemy had felt its power. No form of propaganda could overcome the
depressing effect on the morale of the enemy of this demonstration of our
ability to organize a large American force and drive it successfully
through his defense. It gave our troops implicit confidence in their
superiority and raised their morale to the highest pitch. For the first
time wire entanglements ceased to be regarded as impassable barriers and
open-warfare training, which had been so urgently insisted upon, proved
to be the correct doctrine."
The victory of St. Mihiel was merely the necessary prelude to greater
things. During the first week of September the Allied command decided
that the general offensive movement of their armies should be pressed as
rapidly as possible, converging upon the main line of German retreat
through Mezières and Sedan. The British were to pursue the attack in the
direction of Cambrai, the center of the French armies, west of Rheims,
was to drive the enemy beyond the Aisne, while the Americans were to
attack through the Argonne and on both sides of the Meuse, aiming for
Sedan. Pershing was given his choice of the Champagne or Argonne sectors,
and chose the latter, which was the more difficult, insisting that no
other Allied troops possessed the offensive spirit which would be
necessary for success. In the meantime a new American army was to be
organized, to operate south of Verdun and against Metz, in the spring of
1919; in fact this was designed to be the chief American effort. As
matters turned out this second American army was ready to make its
offensive early in November, but in September none of the Allied chiefs
expressed the opinion that the final victory could be achieved in 1918.
Such were the difficulties of terrain in the Argonne advance that the
French did not believe that the attack could be pushed much beyond
Montfaucon, between the forest and the Meuse, before winter forced a
cessation of active operations.
The defensive importance of the Argonne for the Germans could hardly be
overestimated, for if the railway line running through Sedan and Mezières
were severed, they would be cut in two by the Ardennes and would be
unable to withdraw from France the bulk of their forces, which, left
without supplies, would suffer inevitable disaster. As a consequence the
Argonne had been strengthened by elaborate fortifications which, taken in
conjunction with the natural terrain, densely wooded, covered with rugged
heights, and marked by ridges running east and west, made it apparently
impregnable. The dense undergrowth, the bowlders, and the ravines offered
ideal spots for machine-gun nests. The Germans had the exact range of
each important position.
But Pershing's confidence in the offensive valor of the Americans was
amply justified. On the morning of the 26th of September the initial
attack was delivered, the main force of the blow falling east of the
forest, where the natural strength of the enemy positions was less
formidable. By noon of the second day Montfaucon was captured, and by the
29th all the immediate objectives of the attack were secured. Losses were
heavy, staff work was frequently open to severe criticism, communications
were broken at times, the infantry had not always received adequate
artillery support, but the success of the drive was undeniable. Before the
American troops, however, still lay two more lines of defense, the Freya
and Kriemhilde, and the Germans were bringing up their best divisions. On
the 4th of October the attack was renewed, in coöperation with the French
under Gouraud to the west of the forest who pressed forward actively; a
week's more bitter fighting saw the Argonne itself cleared of the enemy.
Hard struggles ensued, particularly around Grandpré, which was taken and
retaken, while on the east of the Meuse the enemy was pushed back. By the
end of the month the Kriemhilde line had been broken and the great railway
artery was threatened. On the 1st of November the third phase of the great
advance began. The desperate efforts of the Germans to hold were never
relaxed, but by the evening of that day the American troops broke through
their last defense and forced rapid retreat. Motor trucks were hurriedly
brought up for the pursuit, and by the fifth the enemy's withdrawal became
general. Two days later Americans held the heights which dominated Sedan,
the strategic goal, and the German line of communications was as good as
severed.
The converging offensive planned by Foch had succeeded. At Cambrai, Le
Câtelet, and St. Quentin, the British, with whom were operating four
American divisions (the Twenty-seventh, Thirtieth, Thirty-seventh, and
Ninety-first), had broken the Hindenburg line; the French had pushed the
Germans back from Laon, north of the Aisne, and with the British were
driving them into the narrow neck of the bottle; and now the French and
Americans, by their Argonne-Meuse advance had closed the neck. The enemy
faced an appalling disaster. A few weeks, if not days, of continued
fighting meant the most striking military débâcle of history. Germany's
allies had fallen from her. Turkey, Bulgaria, and Austria-Hungary had
sued for peace and agreed to cease fighting on what amounted to terms of
unconditional surrender. At home, the German Government faced revolution;
the Kaiser was about to abdicate and flee. On the 6th of November, the
Berlin Government begged for an immediate armistice and five days later
agreed to the stringent terms which the Allies presented. On the 11th of
November, at eleven in the morning, firing ceased. Until the last second
the battle raged with a useless intensity dictated by stern military
tradition: then perfect quiet on the battle front.
At the present moment we lack the perspective, perhaps, to evaluate
exactly the share of credit which the American Expeditionary Force
deserves for the Allied military victory of 1918. Previous to June the
military contribution of the United States had no material effects. The
defense of Château-Thierry at the beginning of the month and the
operations there and at Belleau Woods had, however, important practical
as well as moral effects. The fighting was of a purely local character,
but it came at a critical moment and at a critical spot. It was a crisis
when the importance of standing firm could not be overestimated, and the
defensive capacity of the French had been seriously weakened. The advance
of American divisions with the French in the clearing of the Marne sector
was of the first military importance. The Americans were better qualified
than any European troops, at that stage of the war, to carry through
offensive operations. They were fearless not merely because of natural
hardihood, but through ignorance of danger; they were fresh and
undefeated, physically and morally capable of undergoing the gruelling
punishment delivered by the rearguards of the retreating Germans; their
training had been primarily for open warfare. The same qualities were
essential for the arduous and deadly task of breaking the German line in
the Argonne, which was the finishing blow on the western battlefields.
The defects of the American armies have been emphasized by European
experts. They point especially to the faulty staff-work, apparent in the
Argonne particularly, which resulted in heavy losses. Staff-officers in
numerous instances seem to have been ill-trained and at times positively
unequal to the exigencies of the campaign. Mistakes in selection account
for this to some degree, for men were appointed who were not equipped
temperamentally or intellectually for the positions given them. Equally
frequent were mistakes in the distribution of staff-officers. It is a
notable fact, however, that such mistakes resulted from inexperience and
ignorance and not from the intrusion of politics. President Wilson
guaranteed to General Pershing complete immunity from the pleas of
politicians and in no war fought by the United States have political
factors played a rôle of such insignificance.
Finally, and aside from the fighting qualities of the rank and file and
certain defects of the higher command, the Americans represented numbers;
and without the tremendous numerical force transported to Europe in the
spring and summer, the plans of Foch could not have been completed. We
have the testimony of the Allied chiefs in June that without American
man-power they faced defeat. It is equally obvious that without the
1,390,000 American troops which, by November, had appeared on the
fighting line, the autumn of 1918 would not have witnessed the military
triumph of the Allies.