AMERICANS TURN WAR'S TIDE
BRILLIANT AMERICAN FIGHTING STOPS HUN ADVANCE--FRENCH AND BRITISH
INSPIRED--FAMOUS MARINES LEAD IN PICTURESQUE ATTACK--HALT GERMANS AT
CHATEAU-THIERRY--USED OPEN STYLE FIGHTING--THOUSANDS OF GERMANS
SLAIN--UNITED STATES TROOPS IN SIBERIA--NEW CONSCRIPTION BILL
PASSED--ALLIED SUCCESSES ON ALL FRONTS.
All history contains no greater story of bravery and heroism than that
which echoed around the world concerning the exploits of the American
soldiery in France as the war entered its fifth year.
Casting aside all precedent, ignoring the practices which had been
developed by the English, French and German commands during four years
of stubborn fighting, a little force of Americans--barely a handful, led
by the picturesque Marines--brought the Huns to a standstill in their
drive upon Paris and turned the tide of war.
Once again history repeated itself, for the Germans were turned back at
the beautiful river Marne, where the brave Americans and heroic French
smashed their lines. The spectacular event in which the Americans
participated was a mere incident of the great conflict raging across
France, but the story must ever be one of the outstanding features of
the war because of the effect it produced upon the whole situation.
In the struggle against the Huns the Belgian army had been reduced to
its lowest ebb; the manpower of France and England had been sapped by
constant call for reserves, and the Allied forces, while resisting and
fighting heroically, were without reserves to draw upon to effect a
decisive blow when the opportunity presented.
The German hordes had swept forward with hammer-like blows toward Paris
in what was a continuation of the giant offensive started in March. The
second movement was launched under the personal command of the German
Crown Prince on May 27, and was directed against four divisions of the
British troops and the Sixth French Army. Concentration was on a front
stretching from Soissons to Rheims, a distance of about 30 miles.
The Huns were driving on the entire front, but the Crown Prince with
crack troops was to have the honor for which he had long been
striving--that of crossing the famous Marne and taking Paris. His troops
had reached the river between Dormans and Chateau-Thierry at the very
spot where the Third German Army had swept across the stream on August
25, 1914. Paris was less than 50 miles away.
Here and there at other points the Germans had been held by the French
and English, but as part of the strategy of the French command the enemy
had been permitted to advance at this point through lines which would
cost him a terrible toll of lives. The French meantime were
concentrating on the enemy's flank with the hope of breaking through and
pocketing part of the Crown Prince's advancing forces.
Whatever the intent, the Germans were resisting the efforts to stop
them. The question was, where would the advance end? The answer was
furnished by America.
The enemy had attempted to broaden his Marne salient and had stretched
as far south as Chateau-Thierry. It is supposed his purpose was to
compel General Foch to meet shock with shock by throwing in his reserve
forces, since the German advance had then almost reached shelling
distance of Paris.
But the German command had not taken the Americans into their
calculations, for here the Prussians met Uncle Sam's fighting men and
their French supports and were smashed and thrown back.
Fighting in their own way, in the open, against superior forces, the
Marines and troops of the National American Army fought their way to
victory, routing the enemy and wresting from them positions absolutely
necessary to their further advance.
Immense forces of Germans had been thrown into the fray when the
American division, to which the Marines were attached, was ordered into
the breach. The bulk of the forces, called to help halt the Huns, were
hours away from the fighting front and were being brought up for the
purpose of holding a secondary position where they would take up the
fighting when the French fell back.
They had captured Cantigny after elaborate preparations under the
direction of the French, but here there were no preparations. The
American commanders wanted to attack the advancing enemy. The Allied
leaders doubted the ability of the Americans to stop the Boche in open
combat.
The American commanders pleaded to make war in their own way. Doubting,
yet hopeful, the Allied commanders gave consent. The Americans were
moved into position. There was no time for rest and they came forward
under forced draft, so to speak. Infantry, machine gun companies and
artillery swung into position and faced the enemy which aimed a blow at
the line where it was supported by the French on the left.
The Boche hordes swarmed across fields. The American gunners raked them
with hell's fire. The reputation of the Americans as sharpshooters and
marksmen was sustained. Under the most stressful circumstances and while
the French observers stood amazed, the Americans took careful aim and
shot as though at rifle practice. Every possible shot was made to tell.
The Germans wavered, then halted under the withering fire of machine
guns and rifle. On again they came, only to again be repulsed. The
ground was strewn with their dead and wounded. Then they began to break
and to crawl back to safer positions.
The enemy had been stopped but not driven. They had fallen back to
strong positions, the names of which must go down in history as scenes
of terrific fighting--Bouresches and Bois de Belleau--the latter a
wooded, rocky parcel of land on which German machine guns were
hidden--hundreds of them--while more than a thousand of the enemy's best
men were concealed in the thicket and underbrush and in the rocky
fissures.
The Americans drove into the wood and charged the stronghold. Sacrifice!
Yes, hundreds of brave young Americans died fighting, but not in vain.
American artillery swept the woods; little companies of men charged the
enemy machine-gun nests, silencing the guns and killing the operators or
taking them prisoners. There was no going forward in mass formation
under barrage or protecting curtain of fire, but out in the open the
Marines and infantrymen rushed on facing terrific fire.
Bois de Belleau was cleared of the Boche. Bouresches fell to the
Americans. The capture of the town was a repetition of the taking of the
first position. Machine guns protected the town everywhere. In cellar
windows, doorways and on roofs the Germans had set up their weapons. But
it was the old story--no hail of shot could stop the Americans. Almost
without sleep, unable to bring up supplies, the Americans had fought
four days with only canned foodstuffs to sustain them.
Stories of the fights are reminiscent of those in which American troops
engaged the Indians on the plains in the frontier days. Indeed American
Indians--children of the famous old Sioux and Chippewa tribes of Red
Men--acted as scouts for Uncle Sam in many of his troops' activities in
France, and the methods of the old Indian fighters proved too much for
the Germans.
It is estimated that 7000 were killed or wounded by the Americans in
this action, and that their prisoners numbered more than 1000. How
privates took command of squads and continued to outbattle the enemy
when officers were killed; how lone Americans or small groups of them
captured squads of Huns or annihilated them, are common stories of
heroism written into the official war records of the American
Expeditionary Forces in France, and sealed by medals of honor presented
to young Americans or confirmed by official words of commendation.
Let the words of General Pershing in an official order to his troops on
August 27, stand as part of the record:
"It fills me with pride to record in General Orders a tribute to the
service achievements of the First and Third Corps, comprising the First,
Second, Third, Fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second and
Forty-second Divisions of the American Expeditionary Forces.
"You came to the battlefield at a crucial hour for the Allied cause. For
almost four years the most formidable army the world has yet seen had
pressed its invasion of France and stood threatening its capital. At no
time has that army been more powerful and menacing than when, on July
15, it struck again to destroy in one great battle the brave men opposed
to it and to enforce its brutal will upon the world and civilization.
"Three days later, in conjunction with our Allies, you counter-attacked.
The Allied armies gained a brilliant victory that marks the turning
point of the war. You did more than to give the Allies the support to
which as a nation our faith was pledged.
"You proved that our altruism, our pacific spirit and our sense of
justice have not blunted our virility or our courage.
"You have shown that American initiative and energy are as fit for the
tasks of war as for the pursuits of peace. You have justly won unstinted
praise from our Allies and the eternal gratitude of our countrymen.
"We have paid for successes with the lives of many of our brave
comrades. We shall cherish their memory always and claim for our
history and literature their bravery, achievement and sacrifice.
"This order will be read to all organizations at the first assembly
formations following its receipt."
Aside from being largely responsible for stopping the Huns once again at
the Marne, the exploits of the Americans filled the French and English
with confidence, aroused their spirits and gave them renewed hope.
Incidentally their efforts and methods made apparent the value of
surprise attacks and quick blows in dealing with the stolid Huns.
The Allied commanders, quick to take advantage of the situation, gave
the enemy no chance to consolidate their positions. The unified forces
of Allies attacked with renewed energy all along the line, and the Huns
were forced back with a sweep that astonished the world.
By September 1, the Germans had lost practically all that they had
gained in their drive from March 21, and in many places they had been
driven back across the famous Hindenburg line, the furthest point of
retreat of the Germans in 1914, when they were forced back by General
Joffre from the Marne, and dug themselves into pit and trench. Dozens of
towns were taken and more than 120,000 prisoners were bagged.
Almost as spectacular in its effect on the minds of the French and
English, as was the demonstration of American fighting, was the work
accomplished in France in providing for the transportation and care of
the incoming troops. Here great docks, storage plants, training camps,
aviation schools, motor assembling plants, base hospitals and
reclamation establishments and railroads, built in less than a year and
still growing, represented an investment of $35,000,000 on the part of
the United States Government in August, 1918.
Early in May the number of Americans in France was about 500,000. That
this number should have been sent across the ocean within the space of
one year after America entered the war was regarded as a distinct
achievement, but by September it was officially announced that the
number had increased to 1,500,000.
Some of these were sent to the Italian front to help in the drive
against the Austrians, and about 15,000 troops from the Philippines were
sent by the United States into Siberia to give moral support to the
Czecho-Slovaks.
The decision to send troops to Siberia was by agreement with the
Japanese, and followed a statement issued by the United States on August
4, in which it was stated that "military action was admissable in Russia
only to render such protection and help as possible to the
Czecho-Slovaks against armed Austrian and German prisoners who were
attacking them, and to steady any efforts at self-government or
self-defense in which the Russians themselves may be willing to accept
assistance." It was stated that the troops were for guard duty, and
under the agreement with Japan, the only other country in a position to
act in Siberia, each nation sent a small force to Vladivostok.
The British, French and United States Governments gave recognition to
the Czecho-Slovaks as an Allied nation--a geographical, political and
military entity--with three armies, one in Siberia, one in Italy and one
in France, where they had been fighting with the Allies to crush the
Huns. The territory which the Czecho-Slovaks claim as their own to
govern independently comprises Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and Slavonika,
which lie between and are part of Austria-Hungary and Germany.
With the facilities for handling the troops abroad thoroughly organized
and the obvious necessity for furnishing greater manpower to bring about
an early defeat of Germany, the United States decided to increase the
scope of its conscription and to raise an army of 3,000,000 for
immediate service and adopted a new manpower bill which was passed by
Congress the last week in August and signed by President Wilson on
August 30.
The measure provided for the registration and drafting of all male
citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 years, allowing for deferred
classification of those engaged in essential work or having obligations
which made it impossible for them to render active military service.
Not only the Allied successes on the western front, but also those on
the Italian front and in the Balkans, where the French, Italians and
Greeks in Albania, with a million troops, advanced against the Germans,
Austrians and Turks, made apparent the necessity for further
concentration of manpower.
While losing ground on the western front and rapidly being forced to the
wall, Germany gave another spectacular twist to her military program by
carrying the war to America's doors. With her submarines she sank nearly
two score of ships, schooners, barges, tugs, and even a lightship,
within a few miles of New York, Boston, Norfolk, Charleston and the
Delaware Capes.
But while the U-boats were harassing, no effective assaults were made
against the ships which carried American troops abroad. In this
connection it should never be forgotten in the glamour of war that while
America performed wonders in getting her soldiers overseas, England
provided most of the ships, and that it was England's Navy which kept
the German Navy in check while America's war vessels and destroyers
convoyed the troopships and protected them from the submarines.