THEIR PRESENCE FELT
The exploits of American forces during the month of June, 1918, in the
Château-Thierry region of the Soissons-Rheims salient had a significance
of their own, which was not lost on their admiring Allies, nor on their
German foes. A new combatant, stripped and eager for action, had plunged
into tasks which would have taxed the hardened and more experienced
troops of France and Great Britain. Though confined to a small area, the
American achievements were sufficiently notable to prove that the
Americans had speedily become the equals of any other warriors on the
fighting fronts. In the numerous fights centering on Belleau Wood their
captures of Germans reached 1,000. A number of them belonged to the
crack Fifth German Guard Division, which includes the Queen Elizabeth
Regiment. There had been 1,200 Germans in the wood. With the exception
of the prisoners nearly all the rest were slain. The guard division
named was regarded as one of the kaiser's best body of fighters; but the
Americans were surprised to find their morale very low and that they
were no match for American vigor and audacity.
At the beginning of June, 1918, American troops stepped into a
seven-mile sector northwest of Château-Thierry and stopped the Germans,
at the very tip of their salient, from getting any nearer to Paris. More
than that, on a front of ten kilometers they hurled almost constant
blows, which advanced their line from two to four kilometers, all the
way inflicting heavy losses on the enemy, and taking some 1,500
prisoners. Of eleven distinct engagements the Americans won ten. They
kept eleven picked German divisions occupied, which might otherwise have
been used with telling effect elsewhere. There was no doubt at all that
the quality of the American fighters had proved a source of considerable
concern to the German High Command. An oft-repeated canard current in
France was to the effect that the Germans did not wish to punish the
Americans by sending their best troops against them, preferring not to
arouse the American spirit. Nevertheless, the kaiser had sent his most
famous battalions to try conclusions with the Americans, and they had
been beaten. Learning of the Americans' presence on the Marne, two crack
German divisions, the Fifth Guard and the Twenty-eighth, which had been
ordered elsewhere, were suddenly swung south to face the Americans.
Their arrival caused some wonderment among the French and American
officers. The Americans were a feared foe. A captured German officer
said these two divisions were on their way to the rear for a four
weeks' rest, to take part in another offensive, when suddenly they were
ordered to the front northwest of Château-Thierry, "in order to prevent
at all costs the Americans from being able to achieve success."
The examination of other prisoners, from the Twenty-eighth German
Division, elicited information which formed the subject of a French army
report.
"American assistance," this report observed, "which was underestimated
in Germany, because they doubted its value and its opportunity, worries
the German High Command more than it will admit. The officers themselves
recognize that among other causes it is the principal reason for which
Germany hastens to try to end the war and impose peace.
"In addition, the prisoners did not conceal their great surprise at the
training and quickness that the Americans have shown against them, nor
for the good work accomplished by the artillery, which for three days
engaged them, cutting off all food supplies and all reenforcements and
causing them very heavy losses--practically all of the officers and
twenty-five of the men were killed or wounded in a single infantry
company and twelve in a machine-gun section, of which the full quota was
seventeen men."
Testimony of a similar tenor was found in a letter taken from the dead
body of a German killed in Belleau Wood. It was written to his home
people and dated June 21, 1918.
"We are now in the battle front," it said, "and canteens dare not come
to us on account of the enemy, for the Americans are bombarding villages
fifteen kilometers behind the present front with long-range guns, and
you will know that canteen outfits and others who are lying in reserve
do not venture very far, for it is not pleasant to 'eat cherries' with
Americans. The reason for that is that they have not yet had much
experience. American divisions are still too fiery.
"We will also show the Americans how good we are, for day before
yesterday we bombarded them heavily with our gas. This had caused them
already great losses, for they are not yet sufficiently experienced with
gas bombardment. About 400 of us are lying around here.
"We have one corner of the wood and the Americans have the other corner.
That is not nice, for all of a sudden he rushes forward and one does not
know it beforehand. Therefore one must shoot at every little noise, for
one cannot trust them."
In the fighting round Château-Thierry a number of drafted men were
thrown into action to replace other units of the established army
forces. The latter were men of the regular army, the marine corps, and
the old national guard. All these had previous training under arms; and
many had been in actual combat in the Philippines, Haiti, Nicaragua, at
Vera Cruz, or on the trek into Mexico after Villa. But the drafted men
had had no such hardening prior to going into cantonments, where the
training, although severe and thorough, was not acquired under
conditions of actual warfare with an enemy at hand. The drafted men of
the new national army nevertheless went under fire before the kaiser's
picked hosts, not as raw recruits, but capable soldiers of mettle and
valor. They were more undisciplined, owing to the easy nature of
American life, than the young men of other nations; yet they readily
accustomed themselves to discipline. They were unfamiliar with war,
because of their country's immunity from its terrors; yet they were
equal to the emergency when it came.
The exploits of the marine corps in their swing from the original
American position to the Torcy-Bouresches-Château-Thierry line stand out
in strong relief. The massed efficiency of the rest of the American
forces was not the less conspicuous because of the marines'
achievements. That the latter acquired a certain prominence was perhaps
due to the fact that their daring and resourcefulness was never without
an element of the picturesque. They were stationed at the point nearest
to Paris to protect it; but they did not wait to be attacked. They chose
to take their offensive, which continued on their own initiative,
advancing beyond the object in view, and gained ground against
determined opposition. Their bravery was tempered by judgment, and their
steady progress and small losses showed that it was not marred by
recklessness.