I have directed the divisions of the General Staff concerned to study

and submit for your consideration a plan for the reorganization of our

army, which will take advantage of our experience in this war, which has

brought about many changes in organization of all arms of the service,

and has developed new arms not known when the war started. The Air

Service, the Tank Corps, the development of heavy mobile artillery, the

proper organization of divisions, corps, and armies, all will be set

forth in the scheme which will be submitted to you with the

recommendation that it be transmitted for the consideration of Congress.

The conduct of the American troops in France, their progressive

development in military experience and ability, the fine staff work, and

the modesty and gallantry of the individual soldier is a matter of pride

to all Americans. General Pershing and his command have earned the

thanks of the American people.

The work of General Tasker H. Bliss as military representative of the

War Department with the American Section of the Supreme War Council at

Versailles has been of the greatest value to the War Department.

I cannot close this report without making of record the appreciation of

the War Department of the work of the many trained and patriotic

officers of the army whom the destiny of war did not call to France.

These officers, forced to remain behind in the United States by the

imperative necessity of having trained men to keep the machine moving,

have kept up their work with such intelligence, zeal, and devotion to

duty as to show a high order of patriotism. The officers and men who

have not been able on account of the armistice to be transported to

France deserve also, with their comrades in France, the thanks of the

American people.

CHAPTER LVIII

GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STORY

[Footnote: From General Pershing's official report to the Secretary of

War. November 20, 1918]

Immediately upon receiving my orders I selected a small staff and

proceeded to Europe in order to become familiar with conditions at the

earliest possible moment.

The warmth of our reception in England and France was only equaled by

the readiness of the commanders-in-chief of the veteran armies of the

Allies and their staffs to place their experience at our disposal. In

consultation with them the most effective means of co-operation of

effort was considered. With French and British armies at their maximum

strength, and all efforts to dispossess the enemy from his firmly

intrenched positions in Belgium and France failed, it was necessary to

plan for an American force adequate to turn the scale in favor of the

Allies. Taking account of the strength of the central powers at that

time, the immensity of the problem which confronted us could hardly be

overestimated. The first requisite being an organization that could give

intelligent direction to effort, the formation of a General Staff

occupied my early attention.

GENERAL STAFF

A well-organized General Staff through which the commander exercises his

functions is essential to a successful modern army. However capable our

division, our battalion, and our companies as such, success would be

impossible without thoroughly coordinated endeavor. A General Staff

broadly organized and trained for war had not hitherto existed in our

army. Under the Commander-in-Chief, this staff must carry out the policy

and direct the details of administration, supply, preparation, and

operations of the army as a whole, with all special branches and bureaus

subject to its control. As models to aid us we had the veteran French

General Staff and the experience of the British who had similarly formed

an organization to meet the demands of a great army. By selecting from

each the features best adapted to our basic organization, and fortified

by our own early experience in the war, the development of our great

General Staff system was completed.

The General Staff is naturally divided into five groups, each with its

chief who is an assistant to the Chief of the General Staff. G. 1 is in

charge of organization and equipment of troops, replacements, tonnage,

priority of overseas shipment, the auxiliary welfare association and

cognate subjects; G. 2 has censorship, enemy intelligence, gathering and

disseminating information, preparation of maps, and all similar

subjects; G. 3 is charged with all strategic studies and plans, movement

of troops, and the supervision of combat operations; G. 4 coordinates

important questions of supply, construction, transport arrangements for

combat, and of the operations of the service of supply, and of

hospitalization and the evacuation of the sick and wounded; G. 5

supervises the various schools and has general direction and

coordination of education and training.

The first Chief of Staff was Col. (now Maj.-Gen.) James G. Harbord, who

was succeeded in March, 1918, by Maj.-Gen. James W. McAndrew. To these

officers, to the deputy chief of staff, and to the assistant chiefs of

staff, who, as heads of sections, aided them, great credit is due for

the results obtained not only in perfecting the General Staff

organization but in applying correct principles to the multiplicity of

problems that have arisen.

ORGANIZATION AND TRAINING

After a thorough consideration of allied organizations it was decided

that our combat division should consist of four regiments of infantry of

3,000 men, with three battalions to regiment and four companies of 250

men each to a battalion, and of an artillery brigade of three regiments,

a machine-gun battalion, an engineer regiment, a trench-mortar battery,

a signal battalion, wagon trains, and the headquarters staffs and

military police. These, with medical and other units, made a total of

over 28,000 men, or practically double the size of a French or German

division. Each corps would normally consist of six divisions--four

combat and one depot and one replacement division--and also two

regiments of cavalry, and each army of from three to five corps. With

four divisions fully trained, a corps could take over an American sector

with two divisions in line and two in reserve, with the depot and

replacement divisions prepared to fill the gaps in the ranks.

Our purpose was to prepare an integral American force, which should be

able to take the offensive in every respect. Accordingly, the

development of a self-reliant infantry by thorough drill in the use of

the rifle and in the tactics of open warfare was always uppermost. The

plan of training after arrival in France allowed 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....

ARTILLERY, AIRPLANES, AND TANKS

Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessary

for its conduct in the modern sense. Among our most important

deficiencies in material were artillery, aviation, and tanks. In order

to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer

of the French Government to provide us with the necessary artillery

equipment of seventy-fives, one fifty-five millimeter howitzers, and one

fifty-five G P F guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. The

wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the fact that, although

we soon began the manufacture of these classes of guns at home, there

were no guns of the calibers mentioned manufactured in America on our

front at the date the armistice was signed. The only guns of these types

produced at home thus far received in France are 109 seventy-five

millimeter guns.

In aviation we were in the same situation, and here again the French

Government came to our aid until our own aviation program should be

under way. We obtained from the French the necessary planes for training

our personnel, and they have provided us with a total of 2,676 pursuit,

observation, and bombing planes. The first airplanes received from home

arrived in May, and altogether we have received 1,379. The first

American squadron completely equipped by American production, including

airplanes, crossed the German lines on August 7, 1918. As to tanks, we

were also compelled to rely upon the French. Here, however, we were less

fortunate, for the reason that the French production could barely meet

the requirements of their own armies.

It should be fully realized that the French Government has always taken

a most liberal attitude and has been most anxious to give us every

possible assistance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as in

other respects. Our dependence upon France for artillery, aviation, and

tanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not been

exclusively devoted to military production. All credit is due our own

manufacturers for their efforts to meet our requirements, as at the time

the armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the early

supply of practically all our necessities from our own factories.

The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility, as

Commander-in-Chief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who

came to France in the impressionable period of youth. They could not

have the privilege accorded European soldiers during their periods of

leave of visiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully

realizing that the standard of conduct that should be established for

them must have a permanent influence in their lives and on the character

of their future citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian

Association, Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the Jewish

Welfare Board, as auxiliaries in this work, were encouraged in every

possible way. The fact that our soldiers, in a land of different customs

and language, have borne themselves in a manner in keeping with the

cause for which they fought, is due not only to the efforts in their

behalf but much more to other high ideals, their discipline, and their

innate sense of self-respect. It should be recorded, however, that the

members of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire to

be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of

these representative men and women has given a new significance to the

Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be

repaid.

COMBAT OPERATIONS

During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions had

engaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which was

Seicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20th, in the Toul sector, but

none had participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which had

passed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to the

trenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October and

by March 21st, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had four

divisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal to

any demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developed

was such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed.

On March 28th I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch, who had been

agreed upon as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies, all of our

forces to be used as he might decide. At his request the First division

was transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at

Chaumont en Vexin. As German superiority in numbers required prompt

action, an agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the

Allied premiers and commanders and myself on May 2d by which British

shipping was to transport ten American divisions to the British army

area, where they were to be trained and equipped, and additional British

shipping was to be provided for as many divisions as possible for use

elsewhere.

On April 26th the First Division had gone into the line in the

Montdidier salient on the Picardy battle front. Tactics had been

suddenly revolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident

of the results of their training, were eager for the test. On the

morning of May 28th this division attacked the commanding German

position in its front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny

and all other objectives, which were organized and held steadfastly

against vicious counter-attacks and galling artillery fire. Although

local, this brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it

demonstrated our fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and

also that the enemy's troops were not altogether invincible.

The Germans' Aisne offensive, which began on May 27th, had advanced

rapidly toward the River Marne and Paris, and the Allies faced a crisis

equally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again every

available man was placed at Marshal Foch's disposal, and the Third

Division, which had just come from its preliminary training in the

trenches, was hurried to the Marne. Its motorized machine-gun battalion

preceded the other units and successfully held the bridge-head at the

Marne, opposite Chateau-Thierry. The Second Division, in reserve near

Montdidier, was sent by motor trucks and other available transport to

check the progress of the enemy toward Paris. The division attacked and

retook the town and railroad station at Bouresches and sturdily held its

ground against the enemy's best guard divisions. In the battle of

Belleau Wood, which followed, our men proved their superiority and

gained a strong tactical position, with far greater loss to the enemy

than to ourselves. On July 1st, before the Second was relieved, it

captured the village of Vaux with most splendid precision.

Meanwhile our Second Corps, under Maj.-Gen. George W. Read, had been

organized for the command of our divisions with the British, which were

held back in training areas or assigned to second-line defenses. Five of

the ten divisions were withdrawn from the British area in June, three to

relieve divisions in Lorraine and the Vosges and two to the Paris area

to join the group of American divisions which stood between the city and

any farther advance of the enemy in that direction.

The great June-July troop movement from the States was well under way,

and, although these troops were to be given some preliminary training

before being put into action, their very presence warranted the use of

all the older divisions in the confidence that we did not lack reserves.

Elements of the Forty-second Division were in the line east of Rheims

against the German offensive of July 15th, and held their ground

unflinchingly. On the right flank of this offensive four companies of

the Twenty-eighth Division were in position in face of the advancing

waves of the German infantry. The Third Division was holding the bank of

the Marne from the bend east of the mouth of the Surmelin to the west of

Mezy, opposite Chateau-Thierry, where a large force of German infantry

sought to force a passage under support of powerful artillery

concentrations and under cover of smoke screens. A single regiment of

the Third wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our military annals

on this occasion. It prevented the crossing at certain points on its

front while, on either flank, the Germans, who had gained a footing,

pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the German

attacks with counter-attacks at critical points and succeeded in

throwing two German divisions into complete confusion, capturing 600

prisoners.

The great force of the German Chateau-Thierry offensive established the

deep Marne salient, but the enemy was taking chances, and the

vulnerability of this pocket to attack might be turned to his

disadvantage. Seizing this opportunity to support my conviction, every

division with any sort of training was made available for use in a

counter-offensive. The place of honor in the thrust toward Soissons on

July 18th was given to our First and Second divisions in company with

chosen French divisions. Without the usual brief warning of a

preliminary bombardment, the massed French and American artillery,

firing by the map, laid down its rolling barrage at dawn while the

infantry began its charge. The tactical handling of our troops under

these trying conditions was excellent throughout the action. The enemy

brought up large numbers of reserves and made a stubborn defense both

with machine guns and artillery, but through five days' fighting the

First Division continued to advance until it had gained the heights

above Soissons and captured the village of Berzy-le-sec. The Second

Division took Beau Repaire farm and Vierzy in a very rapid advance and

reached a position in front of Tigny at the end of its second day. These

two divisions captured 7,000 prisoners and over 100 pieces of artillery.

The Twenty-sixth Division, which, with a French division, was under

command of our First Corps, acted as a pivot of the movement toward

Soissons. On the 18th it took the village of Torcy while the Third

Division was crossing the Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy. The

Twenty-sixth attacked again on the 21st, and the enemy withdrew past the

Chateau-Thierry-Soissons road. The Third Division, continuing its

progress, took the heights of Mont St. Pere and the villages of

Charteves and Jaulgonne in the face of both machine-gun and artillery

fire.

On the 24th, after the Germans had fallen back from Trugny and Epieds,

our Forty-second Division, which had been brought over from the

Champagne, relieved the Twenty-sixth and, fighting its way through the

Foret de Fere, overwhelmed the nest of machine guns in its path. By the

27th it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth divisions

were already advancing, while the French divisions with which we were

co-operating were moving forward at other points.

The Third Division had made its advance into Roncheres Wood on the 29th

and was relieved for rest by a brigade of the Thirty-second. The

Forty-second and Thirty-second undertook the task of conquering the

heights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and the

Thirty-second capturing Hill 230, both American divisions joining in the

pursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of reducing

the salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-second was relieved by the

Fourth at Chery-Chartreuve, and the Thirty-second by the Twenty-eighth,

while the Seventy-seventh Division took up a position on the Vesle. The

operations of these divisions on the Vesle were under the Third Corps,

Maj.-Gen. Robert L. Bullard, commanding.

BATTLE OF ST. MIHIEL

With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward to the

concentration of our divisions in our own zone. In view of the

forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient, which had long

been planned as our first offensive action on a large scale, the First

Army was organized on August 10th under my personal command. While

American units had held different divisional and corps sectors along the

western front, there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons,

a distinct American sector; but, in view of the important parts the

American forces were now to play, it was necessary to take over a

permanent portion of the line. Accordingly, on August 30th, the line

beginning at Port sur Seille, east of the Moselle and extending to the

west through St. Mihiel, thence north to a point opposite Verdun, was

placed under my command. The American sector was afterwards extended

across the Meuse to the western edge of the Argonne Forest, and included

the Second Colonial French, which held the point of the salient, and the

Seventeenth French Corps, which occupied the heights above Verdun.

The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidable

defenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and of

corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the

location of hospitals, and the molding together of all of the elements

of a great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our

own Service of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was

to be a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of

approximately 600,000 troops, and required for its success the most

careful attention to every detail.

[Illustration: Photograph]

Copyright Committee on Public Information.

THE AMERICAN COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN THE FIELD

Photograph of General John J. Pershing just after he had been

decorated with the Star and Ribbon of the Legion of Honor of France,

the highest decoration ever awarded an American soldier. General

Pershing was raised to a full generalship soon after his arrival in

France, an honor which has previously been held only by Washington,

Grant, Sherman and Sheridan.

[Illustration: Photograph]

NOTED AMERICAN GENERALS

General March is chief of staff of the American Army,

Lieutenant-Generals Liggett and Bullard commanded the First and Second

Armies respectively, and Major-Generals Wright and Read are corps

commanders.

The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army

artillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start of

our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns

were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail

movements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my command

which, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces,

gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged in

one operation on the western front.

From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to the

Moselle River the line was roughly forty miles long and situated on

commanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our First

Corps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second divisions) under

command of Major-General Hunter Liggett, restrung its right on

Pont-a-Mousson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth,

Forty-second, and First divisions), under Major-General Joseph T.

Dickman, in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on the

pivot of the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray to

Mouilly the Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center and

our Fifth Corps, under command of Major-General George H. Cameron, with

our Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at the western base of

the salient, were to attack three difficult hills--Les Eparges, Combres,

and Amaramthe. Our First Corps had in reserve the Seventy-eighth

Division, our Fourth Corps the Third Division, and our First Army the

Thirty-fifth and Ninety-first Divisions, with the Eightieth and

Thirty-third available. It should be understood that our corps

organizations are very elastic, and that we have at no time had

permanent assignments of divisions to corps.

After four hours' artillery preparation, the seven American divisions in

the front line advanced at 5 A. M., on September 12th, assisted by a

limited number of tanks manned partly by Americans and partly by the

French. These divisions, accompanied by groups of wire cutters and

others armed with bangalore torpedoes, went through the successive bands

of barbed wire that protected the enemy's front line and support

trenches, in irresistible waves on schedule time, breaking down all

defense of an enemy demoralized by the great volume of our artillery

fire and our sudden approach out of the fog.

Our First Corps advanced to Thiaucourt, while our Fourth Corps curved

back to the southwest through Nonsard. The Second Colonial French Corps

made the slight advance required of it on very difficult ground, and the

Fifth Corps took its three ridges and repulsed a counter-attack. A rapid

march brought reserve regiments of a division of the Fifth Corps into

Vigneulles in the early morning, where it linked up with patrols of our

Fourth Corps, closing the salient and forming a new line west of

Thiaucourt to Vigneulles and beyond Fresnes-en-Woevre. At the cost of

only 7,000 casualties, mostly light, we had taken 16,000 prisoners and

443 guns, a great quantity of material, released the inhabitants of many

villages from enemy domination, and established our lines in a position

to threaten Metz. This signal success of the American First Army in its

first offensive was of prime importance. The Allies found they had a

formidable army to aid them, and the enemy learned finally that he had

one to reckon with.

MEUSE-ARGONNE OFFENSIVE, FIRST PHASE

On the day after we had taken the St. Mihiel salient, much of our corps

and army artillery which had operated at St. Mihiel, and our divisions

in reserve at other points, were already on the move toward the area

back of the line between the Meuse River and the western edge of the

forest of Argonne. With the exception of St. Mihiel, the old German

front line from Switzerland to the east of Rheims was still intact. In

the general attack all along the line, the operation assigned the

American army as the hinge of this Allied offensive was directed toward

the important railroad communications of the German armies through

Mezieres and Sedan. The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines

or the withdrawal of his forces with four years' accumulation of plants

and material would be dangerously imperiled.

The German army had as yet shown no demoralization and, while the mass

of its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions, and

notably its machine-gun defense, were exhibiting remarkable tactical

efficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully aware

of the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain that

he would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was planned

with as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with the

determination to use all our divisions in forcing decision. We expected

to draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume them while

the enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack should break

his line, which it was our firm purpose to do.

Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the

Argonne Forest whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened by

dense thickets had been generally considered impregnable. Our order of

battle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse to

Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth divisions in

line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from

Malancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and

Ninety-first divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve;

and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with

Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh divisions in line, and

the Ninety-second in corps reserve. The army reserve consisted of the

First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second divisions.

On the night of September 25th our troops quietly took the place of the

French who thinly held the line in this sector which had long been

inactive. In the attack which began on the 26th we drove through the

barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man's

Land, mastering the first-line defenses. Continuing on the 27th and

28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of

enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from three to seven

miles, and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and

Exermont, Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinonville,

Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of our

divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured

Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our

main body. We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of

forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy's

reaction, which was bound to come as he had good roads and ample

railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves.

In the chill rain of dark nights our engineers had to build new roads

across spongy, shell-torn areas, repair broken roads beyond No Man's

Land, and build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put

their shoulders to wheels and dragropes to bring their guns through the

mire in support of the infantry, now under the increasing fire of the

enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, but,

quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counter-attacks in strong

force, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quantities of gas.

From September 28th until October 4th we maintained the offensive

against patches of woods defended by snipers and continuous lines of

machine guns, and pushed forward our guns and transport, seizing

strategical points in preparation for further attacks.

OTHER UNITS WITH ALLIES

Other divisions attached to the Allied armies were doing their part. It

was the fortune of our Second Corps, composed of the Twenty-seventh and

Thirtieth divisions, which had remained with the British, to have a

place of honor in co-operation with the Australian Corps, on September

29th and October 1st, in the assault on the Hindenburg line where the

St. Quentin Canal passes through a tunnel under a ridge. The Thirtieth

Division speedily broke through the main line of defense for all its

objectives, while the Twenty-seventh pushed on impetuously through the

main line until some of its elements reached Gouy. In the midst of the

maze of trenches and shell craters and under cross-fire from machine

guns the other elements fought desperately against odds. In this and in

later actions, from October 6th to October 19th, our Second Corps

captured over 6,000 prisoners and advanced over thirteen miles. The

spirit and aggressiveness of these divisions have been highly praised by

the British army commander under whom they served.

On October 2d to 9th our Second and Thirty-sixth divisions were sent to

assist the French in an important attack against the old German

positions before Rheims. The Second conquered the complicated defense

works on their front against a persistent defense worthy of the grimmest

period of trench warfare and attacked the strongly held wooded hill of

Blanc Mont, which they captured in a second assault, sweeping over it

with consummate dash and skill. This division then repulsed strong

counter-attacks before the village and cemetery of Ste. Etienne and took

the town, forcing the Germans to fall back from before Rheims and yield

positions they had held since September, 1914. On October 9th the

Thirty-sixth Division relieved the Second and, in its first experience

under fire, withstood very severe artillery bombardment and rapidly took

up the pursuit of the enemy, now retiring behind the Aisne.

MEUSE-ARGONNE OFFENSIVE, SECOND PHASE

The Allied progress elsewhere cheered the efforts of our men in this

crucial contest as the German command threw in more and more first-class

troops to stop our advance. We made steady headway in the almost

impenetrable and strongly held Argonne Forest, for, despite this

reinforcement, it was our army that was doing the driving. Our aircraft

was increasing in skill and numbers and forcing the issue, and our

infantry and artillery were improving rapidly with each new experience.

The replacements fresh from home were put into exhausted divisions with

little time for training, but they had the advantage of serving beside

men who knew their business and who had almost become veterans over

night. The enemy had taken every advantage of the terrain, which

especially favored the defense, by a prodigal use of machine guns manned

by highly-trained veterans and by using his artillery at short ranges.

In the face of such strong frontal positions we should have been unable

to accomplish any progress according to previously accepted standards,

but I had every confidence in our aggressive tactics and the courage of

our troops.

On October 4th the attack was renewed all along our front. The Third

Corps tilting to the left followed the Brieulles-Cunel road; our Fifth

Corps took Gesnes while the First Corps advanced for over two miles

along the irregular valley of the Aire River and in the wooded hills of

the Argonne that bordered the river, used by the enemy with all his art

and weapons of defense. This sort of fighting continued against an enemy

striving to hold every foot of ground and whose very strong

counter-attacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the First Corps

captured Chatel-Chehery and continued along the river to Cornay. On the

east of Meuse sector one of the two divisions co-operating with the

French captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the Fifth

Corps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fleville, and the Third Corps,

which had continuous fighting against odds, was working its way through

Brieulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest of

the enemy.

It was now necessary to constitute a second army, and on October 9th the

immediate command of the First Army was turned over to

Lieutenant-General Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose

divisions occupied a sector in the Woevre, was given to

Lieutenant-General Robert L. Bullard, who had been commander of the

First Division and then of the Third Corps. Major-General Dickman was

transferred to the command of the First Corps, while the Fifth Corps was

placed under Major-General Charles P. Summerall, who had recently

commanded the First Division. Major-General John L. Hines, who had gone

rapidly up from regimental to division commander, was assigned to the

Third Corps. These four officers had been in France from the early days

of the expedition and had learned their lessons in the school of

practical warfare.

Our constant pressure against the enemy brought day by day more

prisoners, mostly survivors from machine-gun nests captured in fighting

at close quarters. On October 18th there was very fierce fighting in the

Caures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th the

First Corps took St. Juvin, and the Fifth Corps, in hand-to-hand

encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde line, where the enemy had

hoped to check us indefinitely. Later the Fifth Corps penetrated further

the Kriemhilde line, and the First Corps took Champigneulles and the

important town of Grandpre. Our dogged offensive was wearing down the

enemy, who continued desperately to throw his best troops against us,

thus weakening his line in front of our Allies and making their advance

less difficult.

DIVISIONS IN BELGIUM

Meanwhile we were not only able to continue the battle, but our

Thirty-seventh and Ninety-first divisions were hastily withdrawn from

our front and dispatched to help the French army in Belgium. Detraining

in the neighborhood of Ypres, these divisions advanced by rapid stages

to the fighting line and were assigned to adjacent French corps. On

October 31st, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked

and methodically broke down all enemy resistance. On November 3d the

Thirty-seventh had completed its mission in dividing the enemy across

the Escaut River and firmly established itself along the east bank

included in the division zone of action. By a clever flanking movement

troops of the Ninety-first Division captured Spitaals Bosschen, a

difficult wood extending across the central part of the division sector,

reached the Escaut, and penetrated into the town of Audenarde. These

divisions received high commendation from their corps commanders for

their dash and energy.

MEUSE ARGONNE--LAST PHASE

On the 23d the Third and Fifth corps pushed northward to the level of

Bantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back the

enemy's violent counter-attacks with great loss to him, a regrouping of

our forces was under way for the final assault. Evidences of loss of

morale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and more

fortitude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hardships

of very inclement weather.

With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in the

Meuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1st. Our increased artillery

force acquitted itself magnificently in support of the advance, and the

enemy broke before the determined infantry, which, by its persistent

fighting of the past weeks and the dash of this attack, had overcome his

will to resist. The Third Corps took Aincreville, Doulcon, and

Andevanne, and the Fifth Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pressed

through successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On

the 2d the First Corps joined in the movement, which now became an

impetuous onslaught that could not be stayed.

On the 3d advance troops surged forward in pursuit, some by motor

trucks, while the artillery pressed along the country roads close

behind. The First Corps reached Authe and Chatillon-Sur-Bar, the Fifth

Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and the Third Corps Halles, penetrating the

enemy's line to a depth of twelve miles. Our large caliber guns had

advanced and were skillfully brought into position to fire upon the

important lines at Montmedy, Longuyon, and Conflans. Our Third Corps

crossed the Meuse on the 5th and the other corps, in the full confidence

that the day was theirs, eagerly cleared the way of machine guns as they

swept northward, maintaining complete coordination throughout. On the

6th, a division of the First Corps reached a point on the Meuse opposite

Sedan, twenty-five miles from our line of departure. The strategical

goal which was our highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main

line of communications, and nothing but surrender or an armistice could

save his army from complete disaster.

In all forty enemy divisions had been used against us in the

Meuse-Argonne battle. Between September 26th and November 6th we took

26,059 prisoners and 468 guns on this front. Our divisions engaged were

the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth,

Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-seventh,

Forty-second, Seventy-seventh, Seventy-eighth, Seventy-ninth,

Eightieth, Eighty-second, Eighty-ninth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-first.

Many of our divisions remained in line for a length of time that

required nerves of steel, while others were sent in again after only a

few days of rest. The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth, Forty-second,

Seventy-seventh, Eightieth, Eighty-ninth, and Ninetieth were in the line

twice. Although some of the divisions were fighting their first battle,

they soon became equal to the best.

OPERATIONS EAST OF THE MEUSE

On the three days preceding November 10th, the Third, the Second

Colonial, and the Seventeenth French corps fought a difficult struggle

through the Meuse Hills south of Stenay and forced the enemy into the

plain. Meanwhile, my plans for further use of the American forces

contemplated an advance between the Meuse and the Moselle in the

direction of Longwy by the First Army, while, at the same time, the

Second Army should assure the offensive toward the rich coal fields of

Briey. These operations were to be followed by an offensive toward

Chateau-Salins east of the Moselle, thus isolating Metz. Accordingly,

attacks on the American front had been ordered and that of the Second

Army was in progress on the morning of November 11th, when instructions

were received that hostilities should cease at 11 o'clock A. M.

At this moment the line of the American sector, from right to left,

began at Port-Sur-Seille, thence across the Moselle to Vandieres and

through the Woevre to Bezonvaux in the foothills of the Meuse, thence

along to the foothills and through the northern edge of the Woevre

forests to the Meuse at Mouzay, thence along the Meuse connecting with

the French under Sedan....

There are in Europe altogether, including a regiment and some sanitary

units with the Italian army and the organizations at Murmansk, also

including those en route from the States, approximately 2,053,347 men,

less our losses. Of this total there are in France 1,338,169 combatant

troops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the infantry personnel of

ten have been used as replacements, leaving thirty divisions now in

France organized into three armies of three corps each.

The losses of the Americans up to November 18th are: Killed and wounded,

36,145; died of disease, 14,811; deaths unclassified, 2,204; wounded,

179,625; prisoners, 2,163; missing, 1,160. We have captured about 41,000

prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars....

Finally, 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.

CHAPTER LIX

PRESIDENT WILSON'S REVIEW OF THE WAR

On December 2, 1918, just prior to sailing for Europe to take part in

the Peace Conference, President Wilson addressed Congress, reviewing the

work of the American people, soldiers, sailors and civilians, in the

World War which had been brought to a successful conclusion on November

11th. His speech, in part, follows:

"The year that has elapsed since I last stood before you to fulfil my

constitutional duty to give to the Congress from time to time

information on the state of the Union has been so crowded with great

events, great processes and great results that I cannot hope to give you

an adequate picture of its transactions or of the far-reaching changes

which have been wrought in the life of our Nation and of the world. You

have yourselves witnessed these things, as I have. It is too soon to

assess them; and we who stand in the midst of them and are part of them

are less qualified than men of another generation will be to say what

they mean or even what they have been. But some great outstanding facts

are unmistakable and constitute in a sense part of the public business

with which it is our duty to deal. To state them is to set the stage for

the legislative and executive action which must grow out of them and

which we have yet to shape and determine.

"A year ago we had sent 145,918 men overseas. Since then we have sent

1,950,513, an average of 162,542 each month, the number in fact rising

in May last to 245,951, in June to 278,760, in July to 307,182 and

continuing to reach similar figures in August and September--in August

289,570 and in September 257,438. No such movement of troops ever took

place before, across 3,000 miles of sea, followed by adequate equipment

and supplies, and carried safely through extraordinary dangers of

attack, dangers which were alike strange and infinitely difficult to

guard against. In all this movement only 758 men were lost by enemy

attacks, 630 of whom were upon a single English transport which was sunk

near the Orkney Islands.

"I need not tell you what lay back of this great movement of men and

material. It is not invidious to say that back of it lay a supporting

organization of the industries of the country and of all its productive

activities more complete, more thorough in method and effective in

results, more spirited and unanimous in purpose and effort than any

other great belligerent had ever been able to effect. We profited

greatly by the experience of the nations which had already been engaged

for nearly three years in the exigent and exacting business, their every

resource and every proficiency taxed to the utmost. We were the pupils.

But we learned quickly and acted with a promptness and a readiness of

co-operation that justify our great pride that we were able to serve the

world with unparalleled energy and quick accomplishment.

"But it is not the physical scale and executive efficiency of

preparation, supply, equipment and dispatch that I would dwell upon, but

the mettle and quality of the officers and men we sent over and of the

sailors who kept the seas, and the spirit of the Nation that stood

behind them. No soldiers, or sailors, ever proved themselves more

quickly ready for the test of battle or acquitted themselves with more

splendid courage and achievement when put to the test. Those of us who

played some part in directing the great processes by which the war was

pushed irresistibly forward to the final triumph may now forget all that

and delight our thoughts with the story of what our men did. Their

officers understood the grim and exacting task they had undertaken and

performed with audacity, efficiency and unhesitating courage that touch

the story of convoy and battle with imperishable distinction at every

turn, whether the enterprise were great or small--from their chiefs,

Pershing and Sims, down to the youngest lieutenant; and their men were

worthy of them--such men as hardly need to be commanded, and go to their

terrible adventure blithely and with the quick intelligence of those who

know just what it is they would accomplish. I am proud to be the

fellow-countryman of men of such stuff and valor. Those of us who stayed

at home did our duty: the war could not have been won or the gallant men

who fought it given their opportunity to win it otherwise; but for many

a long day we shall think ourselves 'accursed we were not there, and

hold our manhoods cheap while any speaks that fought' with these at St.

Mihiel or Thierry. The memory of those days of triumphant battle will go

with these fortunate men to their graves; and each will have his

favorite memory. 'Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, but he'll

remember with advantages what feats he did that day!'

"What we all thank God for with deepest gratitude is that our men went

in force into the line of battle just at the critical moment, and threw

their fresh strength into the ranks of freedom in time to turn the whole

tide and sweep of the fateful struggle--turn it once for all, so that

henceforth it was back, back, back for their enemies, always back, never

again forward! After that it was only a scant four months before the

commanders of the central empires knew themselves beaten, and now their

very empires are in liquidation!

"And throughout it all how fine the spirit of the Nation was; what unity

of purpose, what untiring zeal! What elevation of purpose ran through

all its splendid display of strength, its untiring accomplishment. I

have said that those of us who stayed at home to do the work of

organization and supply will always wish that we had been with the men

whom we sustained by our labor; but we can never be ashamed. It has been

an inspiring thing to be here in the midst of fine men who had turned

aside from every private interest of their own and devoted the whole of

their trained capacity to the tasks that supplied the sinews of the

whole great undertaking! The patriotism, the unselfishness, the

thoroughgoing devotion and distinguished capacity that marked their

toilsome labors, day after day, month after month, have made them fit

mates and comrades of the men in the trenches and on the sea. And not

the men here in Washington only. They have but directed the vast

achievement. Throughout innumerable factories, upon innumerable farms,

in the depths of coal mines and iron mines and copper mines, wherever

the stuffs of industry were to be obtained and prepared, in the

shipyards, on the railways, at the docks, on the sea, in every labor

that was needed to sustain the battle lines men have vied with each

other to do their part and do it well. They can look any man-at-arms in

the face, and say, we also strove to win and gave the best that was in

us to make our fleets and armies sure of their triumph!

"And what shall we say of the women--of their instant intelligence,

quickening every task that they touched; their capacity for organization

and co-operation, which gave their action discipline and enhanced the

effectiveness of everything they attempted; their aptitude at tasks to

which they had never before set their hands; their utter

self-sacrificing alike in what they did and in what they gave? Their

contribution to the great result is beyond appraisal. They have added a

new luster to the annals of American womanhood.

"The least tribute we can pay them is to make them the equals of men in

political rights as they have proved themselves their equals in every

field of practical work they have entered, whether for themselves or for

their country. These great days of completed achievement would be sadly

marred were we to omit that act of justice. Besides the immense

practical services they have rendered, the women of the country have

been the moving spirits in the systematic economies by which our people

have voluntarily assisted to supply the suffering peoples of the world

and the armies upon every front with food and everything else that we

had that might serve the common cause. The details of such a story can

never be fully written, but we carry them at our hearts and thank God

that we can say we are the kinsmen of such.

"And now we are sure of the great triumph for which every sacrifice was

made. It has come, come in its completeness, and with the pride and

inspiration of these days of achievement quick within us we turn to the

tasks of peace again--a peace secure against the violence of

irresponsible monarchs and ambitious military coteries and made ready

for a new order, for new foundations of justice and fair dealing.

"We are about to give order and organization to this peace, not only for

ourselves, but for the other peoples of the world as well, so far as

they will suffer us to serve them. It is international justice that we

seek, not domestic safety merely.

"So far as our domestic affairs are concerned the problem of our return

to peace is a problem of economic and industrial readjustment. That

problem is less serious for us than it may turn out to be for the

nations which have suffered the disarrangements and the losses of war

longer than we. Our people, moreover, do not wait to be coached and led.

They know their own business, are quick and resourceful at every

readjustment, definite in purpose and self-reliant in action. Any

leading strings we might seek to put them in would speedily become

hopelessly tangled because they would pay no attention to them and go

their own way. All that we can do as their legislative and executive

servants is to mediate the process of change here, there and elsewhere

as we may. I have heard much counsel as to the plans that should be

formed and personally conducted to a happy consummation, but from no

quarter have I seen any general scheme of reconstruction emerge which I

thought it likely we could force our spirited businessmen and

self-reliant laborers to accept with due pliancy and obedience.

"While the war lasted we set up many agencies by which to direct the

industries of the country in the services it was necessary for them to

render, by which to make sure of an abundant supply of the materials

needed, by which to check undertakings that could for the time be

dispensed with and stimulate those that were most serviceable in war, by

which to gain for the purchasing departments of the government a certain

control over the prices of essential articles and materials, by which to

restrain trade with alien enemies, make the most of the available

shipping and systematize financial transactions, both public and

private, so that there would be no unnecessary conflict or confusion--by

which, in short, to put every material energy of the country in harness

to draw the common load and make of us one team in accomplishment of a

great task.

"But the moment we knew the armistice to have been signed we took the

harness off. Raw materials upon which the government had kept its hand

for fear there should not be enough for the industries that supplied the

armies have been released, and put into the general market again. Great

industrial plants whose whole output and machinery had been taken over

for the uses of the government have been set free to return to the uses

to which they were put before the war. It has not been possible to

remove so readily or so quickly the control of foodstuffs and of

shipping, because the world has still to be fed from our granaries and

the ships are still needed to send supplies to our men oversea and to

bring the men back as fast as the disturbed conditions on the other side

of the water permit; but even there restraints are being relaxed as much

as possible, and more and more as the weeks go by.

"Never before have there been agencies in existence in this country

which knew so much of the field of supply of labor, and of industry as

the War Industries Board, the War Trade Board, the Labor Department, the

Food Administration and the Fuel Administration have known since their

labors became thoroughly systematized; and they have not been isolated

agencies; they have been directed by men which represented the permanent

departments of the government and so have been the centers of unified

and co-operative action. It has been the policy of the Executive,

therefore, since the armistice was assured (which is in effect a

complete submission of the enemy) to put the knowledge of these bodies

at the disposal of the businessmen of the country and to offer their

intelligent mediation at every point and in every matter where it was

desired. It is surprising how fast the process of return to a peace

footing has moved in the three weeks since the fighting stopped. It

promises to outrun any inquiry that may be instituted and any aid that

may be offered. It will not be easy to direct it any better than it will

direct itself. The American business man is of quick initiative....

"I welcome this occasion to announce to the Congress my purpose to join

in Paris the representatives of the governments with which we have been

associated in the war against the Central Empires for the purpose of

discussing with them the main features of the treaty of peace. I realize

the great inconveniences that will attend my leaving the country,

particularly at this time, but the conclusion that it was my paramount

duty to go has been forced upon me by considerations which I hope will

seem as conclusive to you as they have seemed to me.

"The Allied governments have accepted the bases of peace which I

outlined to the Congress on the 8th of January last, as the Central

Empires also have, and very reasonably desire my personal counsel in

their interpretation and application, and it is highly desirable that I

should give it, in order that the sincere desire of our government to

contribute without selfish purpose of any kind to settlements that will

be of common benefit to all the nations concerned may be made fully

manifest. The peace settlements which are now to be agreed upon are of

transcendent importance both to us and to the rest of the world, and I

know of no business or interest which should take precedence of them.

The gallant men of our armed forces on land and sea have consciously

fought for the ideals which they knew to be the ideals of their country;

I have sought to express those ideals; they have accepted my statements

of them as the substance of their own thought and purpose, as the

associated governments have accepted them; I owe it to them to see to

it, so far as in me lies, that no false or mistaken interpretation is

put upon them, and no possible effort omitted to realize them. It is now

my duty to play my full part in making good what they offered their

life's blood to obtain. I can think of no call to service which could

transcend this....

"May I not hope, gentlemen of the Congress, that in the delicate tasks I

shall have to perform on the other side of the sea in my efforts truly

and faithfully to interpret the principles and purposes of the country

we love, I may have the encouragement and the added strength of your

united support? I realize the magnitude and difficulty of the duty I am

undertaking. I am poignantly aware of its grave responsibilities. I am

the servant of the Nation. I can have no private thought or purpose of

my own in performing such an errand. I go to give the best that is in me

to the common settlements which I must now assist in arriving at in

conference with the other working heads of the associated governments. I

shall count upon your friendly countenance and encouragement. I shall

not be inaccessible. The cables and the wireless will render me

available for any counselor service you may desire of me, and I shall be

happy in the thought that I am constantly in touch with the weighty

matters of domestic policy with which we shall have to deal. I shall

make my absence as brief as possible and shall hope to return with the

happy assurance that it has been possible to translate into action the

great ideals for which America has striven."

[Illustration: Photograph]

Copyright Harris and Ewing.

WOODROW WILSON

President of the United States during the whole course of the war and

Commander in-Chief of its army and navy. On November 11, 1918, he

signalized the end of the war in a proclamation in which he said:--"My

Fellow-Countrymen:--The armistice was signed this morning. Everything

for which America fought has been accomplished."

[Illustration: Photograph]

Copyright International Film Service.

WHEN IT WAS OVER "OVER THERE"

Victorious American troops arriving at New York after the signing of

the armistice.

Summarized Chronology of the War

1914

June

28.--Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to throne of

Austria-Hungary, and his wife at Sarajevo, Bosnia.

July

28.--Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.

29.--Russian mobilization ordered.

August

1.--Germany declares war on Russia.

1.--France orders mobilization.

2.--Germany demands free passage through Belgium.

3.--Germany declares war on France.

3.--Belgium rejects Germany's demand.

4.--Germany at war with Belgium. Troops under Gen. Von Kluck cross

border. Halted at Liege.

4.--Great Britain at war with Germany. Kitchener becomes Secretary of

War.

5.--President Wilson tenders good offices of United States in interests

of peace.

6.--Austria-Hungary at war with Russia.

7.--French forces invade Alsace. Gen. Joffre in supreme command of

French army.

7.--Montenegro at war with Austria.

7.--Great Britain's Expeditionary Force lands at Ostend, Calais and

Dunkirk.

8.--British seize German Togoland.

8.--Serbia at war with Germany.

8.--Portugal announces readiness to stand by alliance with England.

11.--German cruisers Goeben and Breslau enter Dardanelles and are

purchased by Turkey.

12.--Great Britain at war with Austria-Hungary.

12.--Montenegro at war with Germany.

17.--Belgian capital removed from Brussels to Antwerp.

19.--Canadian Parliament authorizes raising expeditionary force.

20.--Germans occupy Brussels.

23.--Japan at war with Germany. Begins attack on Tsingtau.

24.--Germans enter France near Lille.

25.--Austria at war with Japan.

26.--Louvain sacked and burned by Germans. Viviani becomes premier of

France.

28.--British fleet sinks three German cruisers and two destroyers off

Heligoland.

28.--Austria declares war on Belgium.

29.--Russians invest Konigsberg, East Prussia. New Zealanders seize

German Samoa.

30.--Amiens occupied by Germans.

31.--Russian army of invasion in East Prussia defeated at Tannenberg by

Germans under Von Hindenburg.

31.--St. Petersburg changed to Petrograd by imperial decree.

September

3.--Paris placed in state of siege; government transferred to Bordeaux.

3.--Lemberg, Gallicia, occupied by Russians.

4.--Germans occupy Rheims.

6-10.--Battle of Marne. Von Kluck is beaten by Gen. Joffre, and the

German army retreats from Paris to the Soissons-Rheims line.

10.--Emden, German cruiser, carries out raids in Bay of Bengal.

14.--French reoccupy Amiens and Rheims.

19.--British forces begin operations in Southwest Africa.

20.--Rheims cathedral shelled by Germans.

24.--Allies occupy Peronne.

25.--Australians seize German New Guinea.

28.--Anglo-French forces invade German colony of Kamerun.

29.--Antwerp bombardment begins.

October

2.--British Admiralty announces intention to mine North Sea areas.

6.--Japan seizes Marshall Islands in Pacific.

9.--Antwerp surrenders to Germans. Government removed to Ostend.

13.--British occupy Ypres.

14.--Canadian Expeditionary Force of 32,000 men lands at Plymouth.

15.--Germans occupy Ostend. Belgian government removed to Havre, France.

November

1.--Monmouth and Good Hope, British cruisers, are sunk by German

squadron off Chile under command of Admiral Von Spee.

5.--Great Britain and France declare war on Turkey.

5.--Cyprus annexed by Great Britain.

7.--German garrison of Tsingtau surrenders to Japanese.

9.--Emden, German cruiser, which had carried out raiding operations for

two months, is destroyed by Australian cruiser Sydney off the Cocos

Islands, southwest of Java.

16.--Prohibition of sale of intoxicants in Russia enforced.

27.--Czernowitz, capital of Bukowina, captured by Russians.

December

2.--Belgrade occupied by Austrians.

3.--Cracow bombarded by Russians.

8.--Off the Falkland Isles, British squadron under command of

Rear-Admiral Sturdee, sinks three of the German cruisers which had

destroyed the Good Hope and Monmouth on Nov. 1. The Dresden escapes.

14.--Austrians evacuate Belgrade.

16.--German squadron bombards Hartlepool, Scarborough and Whitby on east

coast of England.

23.--Siege of Cracow raised. Russians retire.

1915

January

24.--British fleet puts to flight a German squadron in North Sea and

sinks the battle cruiser Blucher.

28.--American bark, William P. Frye, sunk by German cruiser in South

Atlantic.

February

10.--Russians defeated by Germans in Battle of Masurian Lakes.

18.--German submarine "blockade" of British Isles begins.

25.--Allied fleet destroys outer forts of Dardanelles.

March

2.--Allied troops land at Kum-Kale, on Asiatic side of Dardanelles.

10.--British take Neuve Chapelle in Flanders battle.

14.--Dresden, German raiding cruiser, is sunk by British squadron off

the Chilean coast.

22.--Austrian fortress of Przmysl surrenders to Russians.

April

22.--Poison gas first used by Germans in attack on Canadians at Ypres,

Belgium.

May

1.--American steamer Gulflight torpedoed off Scilly Isles by German

submarine; 3 lives lost.

2.--British South Africa troops under General Botha capture Otymbingue,

German Southwest Africa.

7.--Germans capture Libau, Russian Baltic port.

7.--Lusitania, Cunard liner, sunk by German submarine off Kinsale Head,

Irish coast, with loss of 1152 lives; 102 Americans.

23.--Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary and begins invasion on a

60-mile front.

24.--American steamer Nebraskan torpedoed by German submarine off Irish

coast, but reaches Liverpool in safety.

31.--German Zeppelins bombard suburbs of London.

June

1.--Germany apologizes for attack on Gulflight and offers reparation.

3.--Austrians recapture Przmysl.

3.--British forces operating on Tigris capture Kut-el-Amara.

4-6.--German aircraft bombs English towns.

7.--Bryan, U. S. Secretary of State, resigns.

15.--Allied aircraft bombs Karlsruhe, Baden, in retaliation.

22.--Lemberg recaptured by Austrians.

26.--Montenegrins enter Scutari, Albania.

July

9.--German Southwest Africa surrenders to British South African troops

under Gen. Botha.

25.--American steamer, Leelanaw, Archangel to Belfast with flax,

torpedoed off Scotland.

31.--Baden bombarded by French aircraft.

August

5.--Warsaw captured by Germans.

6.--Ivangorod occupied by Austrians.

6.--Gallipoli Peninsula campaign enters a second stage with the

debarkation of a new force of British troops in Suvla Bay, on the west

of the peninsula.

8.--Russians defeat German fleet of 9 battleships and 12 cruisers at

entrance of Gulf of Riga.

19.--Arabic, White Star liner, sunk by submarine off Fastnet; 44 lives

lost; 2 Americans.

25.--Brest-Litovsk, Russian fortress, captured by Austro-Germans.

28.--Italians reach Cima Cista, northeast of Trent.

30.--British submarine attacks Constantinople and damages the Galata

Bridge.

31.--Lutsk, Russian fortress, captured by Austrians.

September

2.--Grodno, Russian fortress, occupied by Germans.

6.--Czar Nicholas of Russia assumes command of Russian armies. Grand

Duke Nicholas is transferred to the Caucasus.

15.--Pinsk occupied by Germans.

18.--Vilna evacuated by Russia.

24.--Lutsk recaptured by Russians.

25.--Allies open offensive on western front and occupy Lens.

27.--Lutsk again falls to Germans.

October

5.--Greece becomes political storm center. Franco-British force lands at

Salonika and Greek ministry resigns.

9.--Belgrade again occupied by Austro-Germans.

11.--Zaimis, new Greek premier, announces policy of armed neutrality.

12.--Edith Cavell, English nurse, shot by Germans for aiding British

prisoners to escape from Belgium.

13.--London bombarded by Zeppelins; 55 persons killed; 114 injured.

14.--Bulgaria at war with Serbia.

14.--Italians capture Pregasina, on the Trentino frontier.

15.--Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria.

17.--France at war with Bulgaria.

18.--Bulgarians cut the Nish-Sulonika railroad at Vranja.

19.--Italy and Russia at war with Bulgaria.

22.--Uskub occupied by Bulgarians.

28.--Pirot captured by Bulgarians.

29.--Briand becomes premier of France, succeeding Viviani.

November

5.--Nish, Serbian war capital, captured by Bulgarians.

9.--Ancona, Italian liner, torpedoed in Mediterranean.

17.--Anglo-French war council holds first meeting in Paris.

20.--Novibazar occupied by German troops.

22.--Ctesiphon, near Bagdad, captured by British forces in Asia Minor.

23.--Italians drive Austrians from positions on Carso Plateau.

24.--Serbian government transferred to Scutari, Albania.

December

1.--British Mesopotamian forces retire to Kut-el-Amara.

2.--Monastir evacuated by Serbians.

4.--Henry Ford, with large party of peace advocates, sails for Europe on

chartered steamer Oscar II, with the object of ending the war.

13.--Serbia in hands of enemy, Allied forces abandoning last positions

and retiring across Greek frontier.

15.--Gen. Sir Douglas Haig succeeds Field Marshal Sir John French as

Commander-in-Chief of British forces in France.

20.--Dardanelles expedition ends; British troops begin withdrawal from

positions on Suvla Bay and Gallipoli Peninsula.

22.--Henry Ford leaves his peace party at Christiania and returns to the

United States.

1916

January

11.--Greek island of Corfu occupied by French.

13.--Cettinje, capital of Montenegro, occupied by Austrians.

23.--Scutari, Albania, taken by Austrians.

29-31.--German Zeppelins bomb Paris and towns in England.

February

1.--Appam, British liner, is brought into Norfolk, Va., by German prize

crew.

10.--British conscription law goes into effect.

16.--Erzerum, in Turkish Armenia, captured by Russians under Grand Duke

Nicholas.

19.--Kamerun, German colony in Africa, conquered by British forces.

21.--Battle of Verdun begins. Germans take Haumont.

25.--Fort Douaumont falls to Germans in Verdun battle.

27.--Durazzo, Albania, occupied by Austrians.

March

5.--Moewe, German raider, reaches home port after a cruise of several

months.

9.--Germany declares war on Portugal on the latter's refusal to give up

seized ships.

15.--Austria-Hungary at war with Portugal.

24.--Sussex, French cross-channel steamer, with many Americans aboard,

sunk by submarine off Dieppe. No Americans lost.

31.--Melancourt taken by Germans in Verdun Battle.

April

18.--Trebizond, Turkish Black Sea port, captured by Russians.

19.--President Wilson publicly warns Germany not to pursue submarine

policy.

20.--Russian troops landed at Marseilles for service on French front.

24.--Irish rebellion begins in Dublin. Republic declared. Patrick Pearse

announced as first president.

29.--British force of 9000 men, under Gen. Townshend, besieged in

Kut-el-Amara, surrenders to Turks.

30.--Irish rebellion ends with unconditional surrender of Pearse and

other leaders, who are tried by court-martial and executed.

May

8.--Cymric, White Star liner, torpedoed off Irish coast.

14.--Italian positions penetrated by Austrians.

15.--Vimy Ridge gained by British.

26.--Bulgarians invade Greece and occupy forts on the Struma.

31.--Jutland naval battle; British and German fleets engaged; heavy

losses on both sides.

June

5.--Kitchener, British Secretary of War, loses his life when the cruiser

Hampshire, on which he was voyaging to Russia, is sunk off the Orkney

Islands, Scotland.

6.--Germans capture Fort Vaux in Verdun attack.

8.--Lutsk, Russian fortress, recaptured from Germans.

17.--Czernowitz, capital of Bukowina, occupied by Russians.

21.--Allies demand Greek demobilization.

27.--King Constantine orders demobilization of Greek army.

28.--Italians storm Monte Trappola, in the Trentino district.

July

1.--British and French attack north and south of the Somme.

9.--Deutschland, German submarine freight boat, lands at Baltimore, Md.

14.--British penetrate German second line, using cavalry.

15.--Longueval captured by British.

25.--Pozieres occupied by British.

30.--British and French advance between Delville Wood and the Somme.

August

3.--French recapture Fleury.

9.--Italians enter Goritzia.

10.--Stanislau occupied by Russians.

25.--Kavala, Greek seaport town, taken by Bulgarians.

27.--Roumania declares war on Austria-Hungary.

28.--Italy at war with Germany.

28.--Germany at war with Roumania.

30.--Roumanians advance into Transylvania.

31.--Bulgaria at war with Roumania. Turkey at war with Roumania.

September

2.--Bulgarian forces invade Roumania along the Dobrudja frontier.

13.--Italians defeat Austrians on the Carso.

15.--British capture Flers, Courcelette, and other German positions on

western front, using 'tanks.'

26.--Combles and Thiepval captured by British and French.

29.--Roumanians begin retreat from Transylvania.

October

24.--Fort Douaumont recaptured by French.

November

1.--Deutschland, German merchant submarine, arrives at New London,

Conn., on second voyage.

2.--Fort Vaux evacuated by Germans.

7.--Woodrow Wilson re-elected President of the United States.

13.--British advance along the Ancre.

19.--Monastir evacuated by Bulgarians and Germans.

21.--Britannic, mammoth British hospital ship, sunk by mine in Aegean

Sea.

22.--Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, dies. Succeeded by Charles I.

23.--German warships bombard English coast.

28.--Roumanian government is transferred to Jassy.

29.--Minnewaska, Atlantic transport liner, sunk by mine in

Mediterranean.

December

1.--Allied troops enter Athens to insist upon surrender of Greek arms

and munitions.

6.--Bucharest, capital of Roumania, captured by Austro-Germans.

7.--David Lloyd George succeeds Asquith as premier of England.

15.--French complete recapture of ground taken by Germans in Verdun

battle.

18.--President Wilson makes peace overtures to belligerents.

26.--Germany replies to President's note and suggests a peace

conference.

30.--French government on behalf of Entente Allies replies to President

Wilson's note and refuses to discuss peace till Germany agrees to give

'restitution, reparation and guarantees.'

1917

January

1.--Turkey declares its independence of suzerainty of European powers.

1.--Ivernia, Cunard liner, is sunk in Mediterranean.

22.--President Wilson suggests to the belligerents a 'peace without

victory.'

31.--Germany announces intention of sinking all vessels in war zone

around British Isles.

February

3.--United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany. Count Von

Bernstorff is handed his passports.

7.--California, Anchor liner, is sunk off Irish coast.

13.--Afric, White Star liner, sunk by submarine.

17.--British troops on the Ancre capture German positions.

25.--Laconia, Cunard liner, sunk off Irish coast.

26.--Kut-el-Amara recaptured from Turks by new British Mesopotamian

expedition under command of Gen. Sir Stanley Maude.

28.--United States government makes public a communication from Germany

to Mexico proposing an alliance, and offering as a reward the return of

Mexico's lost territory in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

28.--Submarine campaign of Germans results in the sinking of 134 vessels

during February.

March

3.--British advance on Bapaume.

3.--Mexico denies having received an offer from Germany suggesting an

alliance.

8.--Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin dies.

10.--Russian Czar suspends sittings of the Duma.

11.--Bagdad captured by British forces under Gen. Maude.

11.--Revolutionary movement starts in Petrograd.

14.--China breaks with Germany.

15.--Czar Nicholas abdicates. Prince Lvoff heads new cabinet.

17.--Bapaume falls to British. Roye and Lassigny occupied by French.

18.--Peronne, Chaulnes, Nesle and Noyon evacuated by Germans, who retire

on an 85-mile front.

18.--City of Memphis, Illinois, and Vigilancia, American ships,

torpedoed.

19.--Alexander Ribot becomes French premier, succeeding Briand.

21.--Healdton, American ship, bound from Philadelphia to Rotterdam, sunk

without warning; 21 men lost.

26-31.--British advance on Cambrai.

April

1.--Aztec, American armed ship, sunk in submarine zone.

5.--Missourian, American steamer, sunk in Mediterranean.

6.--United States declares war on Germany.

7.--Cuba and Panama at war with Germany.

8.--Austria-Hungary breaks with United States.

9.--Germans retreat before British on long front.

9.--Bolivia breaks with Germany.

13.--Vimy, Givenchy, Bailleul and positions about Lens taken by

Canadians.

20.--Turkey breaks with United States.

May

9.--Liberia breaks with Germany.

11.--Russian Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates demands peace

conference.

15.--Gen. Petain succeeds Gen. Nivelle as Commander-in-Chief of French

armies. Gen. Foch is appointed Chief of Staff.

16.--Bullecourt captured by British in the Arras battles.

17.--Honduras breaks with Germany.

18.--Conscription bill signed by President Wilson.

19.--Nicaragua breaks with Germany.

22-26.--Italians advance on the Carso.

June

4.--Senator Root arrives in Russia at head of commission appointed by

President.

5.--Registration day for new draft army in United States.

7.--Messines-Wytschaete ridge in English hands.

8.--Gen. Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of American expeditionary force,

arrives in England en route to France.

18.--Haiti breaks with Germany.

July

1.--Russians begin offensive in Gallicia, Kerensky, minister of war,

leading in person.

3.--American expeditionary force arrives in France.

6.--Canadian House of Commons passes Compulsory Military Service Bill.

12.--King Constantine of Greece abdicates in favor of his second son,

Alexander.

14.--Bethmann--Hollweg, German Chancellor, resigns; succeeded by Dr.

Georg Michaelis.

16--23.--Retreat of Russians on a front of 155 miles.

20.--Alexander Kerensky becomes Russian premier, succeeding Lvoff.

20.--Drawing of draft numbers for American conscript army begins.

22.--Siam at war with Germany and Austria.

24.--Austro-Germans retake Stanislau.

31.--Franco-British attack penetrates German lines on a 20-mile front.

August

1.--Pope Benedict XV makes plea for peace on a basis of no annexation,

no indemnity.

3.--Czernowitz captured by Austro-Germans.

7.--Liberia at war with Germany.

8.--Canadian Conscription Bill passes its third reading in Senate.

14.--China at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary.

15.--St. Quentin Cathedral destroyed by Germans.

15.--Canadian troops capture Hill 70, dominating Lens.

19.--Italians cross the Isonzo and take Austrian positions.

28.--Pope Benedict's peace plea rejected by President Wilson.

September

3.--Riga captured by Germans.

5.--New American National Army begins to assemble in the different

cantonments.

7.--Minnehaha, Atlantic Transport liner, sunk off Irish coast.

12.--Argentina dismisses Von Luxburg German minister, on charges of

improper conduct made public by United States government.

14.--Paul Painleve becomes French premier, succeeding Ribot.

16.--Russia proclaimed a republic by Kerensky.

20.--Costa Rica breaks with Germany.

21.--Gen. Tasker H. Bliss named Chief of Staff of the United States

Army.

25.--Guynemer, famous French flier, killed.

26.--Zonnebeke, Polygon Wood and Tower Hamlets, east of Ypres, taken by

British.

28.--William D. Haywood, secretary, and 100 members of the Industrial

Workers of the World arrested for sedition.

29.--Turkish Mesopotamian army, under Ahmed Bey, captured by British.

October

6.--Peru and Uruguay break with Germany.

9.--Poelcapelle and other German positions captured in Franco-British

attack.

12-16.--Oesel and Dago, Russian islands in Gulf of Riga, captured by

Germans.

17.--Antilles, American transport, westbound from France, sunk by

submarine; 67 lost.

18.--Moon Island, in the Gulf of Riga, taken by Germans.

23.--American troops in France fire their first shot in trench warfare.

23.--French advance northeast of Soissons.

24.--Austro-Germans begin great offensive on Italian positions.

25.--Italians retreat across the Isonzo and evacuate the Bainsizza

Plateau.

26.--Brazil at war with Germany.

27.--Goritzia recaptured by Austro-Germans.

30.--Michaelis, German Chancellor, resigns; succeeded by Count George F.

von Hertling.

31.--Italians retreat to the Tagliamento.

31.--Beersheba, in Palestine, occupied by British.

November

1.--Germans abandon position on Chemin des Dames.

3.--Americans in trenches suffer 20 casualties in German attacks.

5.--Italians abandon Tagliamento line and retire on a 93-mile front in

the Carnic Alps.

6.--Passchendaele captured by Canadians.

6.--British Mesopotamian forces reach Tekrit, 100 miles northwest of

Bagdad.

7.--The Russian Bolsheviki, led by Lenine and Trotzsky, seize Petrograd

and depose Kerensky.

8.--Gen. Diaz succeeds Gen. Cadorna as Commander-in-Chief of Italian

armies.

9.--Italians retreat to the Piave.

10.--Lenine becomes Premier of Russia, succeeding Kerensky.

15.--Georges Clemenceau becomes Premier of France, succeeding Painleve.

18.--Major General Maude, captor of Bagdad, dies in Mesopotamia.

21.--Ribecourt, Flesquieres, Havrincourt, Marcoing and other German

positions captured by British.

23.--Italians repulse Germans on the whole front from the Asiago Plateau

to the Brenta River.

24.--Cambrai menaced by British, who approach within three miles,

capturing Bourlon Wood.

December

1.--German East Africa reported completely conquered.

1.--Allies' Supreme War Council, representing the United States, France,

Great Britain and Italy, holds first meeting at Versailles.

3.--Russian Bolsheviki arrange armistice with Germans.

5.--British retire from Bourlon Wood, Graincourt and other positions

west of Cambrai.

6.--Jacob Jones, American destroyer, sunk by submarine in European

waters.

6.--Steamer Mont Blanc, loaded with munitions, explodes in collision

with the Imo in Halifax harbor: 1500 persons are killed.

7.--Finland declares independence.

8.--Jerusalem, held by the Turks for 673 years, surrenders to British,

under Gen. Allenby.

8.--Ecuador breaks with Germany.

10.--Panama at war with Austria-Hungary.

11.--United States at war with Austria-Hungary.

15.--Armistice signed between Germany and Russia at Brest-Litovsk.

17.--Coalition government of Sir Robert Borden is returned and

conscription confirmed in Canada.

1918

January

14.--Premier Clemenceau orders arrest of former Premier Caillaux on high

treason charge.

19.--American troops take over sector northwest of Toul.

29.--Italians capture Monte di val Belle.

February

1.--Argentine Minister of War recalls military attaches from Berlin and

Vienna.

6.--Tuscania, American transport, torpedoed off coast of Ireland: 101

lost.

22.--American troops in Chemin des Dames sector.

26.--British hospital ship, Glenart Castle, torpedoed.

27.--Japan proposes joint military operations with Allies in Siberia.

March

1.--Americans gain signal victory in salient north of Toul.

3.--Peace treaty between Bolshevik government of Russia and the Central

Powers signed at Brest-Litovsk.

4.--Treaty signed between Germany and Finland.

5.--Rumania signs preliminary treaty of peace with Central Powers.

9.--Russian capital moved from Petrograd to Moscow.

14.--Russo-German peace treaty ratified by All-Russian Congress of

Soviets at Moscow.

20.--President Wilson orders all Holland ships in American ports taken

over.

21.--Germans begin great drive on 50-mile front from Arras to La Fere.

Bombardment of Paris by German long-range gun from a distance of 76

miles.

24.--Peronne, Ham and Chauny evacuated by Allies.

25.--Bapaume and Nesle occupied by Germans.

29.--General Foch chosen Commander-in-Chief of all Allied forces.

April

5.--Japanese forces landed at Vladivostok.

9.--Second German drive begun in Flanders.

10.--First German drive halted before Amiens after maximum advance of 35

miles.

14.--United States Senator Stone, of Missouri, chairman of Committee on

Foreign Relations, dies.

15.--Second German drive halted before Ypres, after maximum advance of

10 miles.

16.--Bolo Pasha, Levantine resident in Paris executed for treason.

21.--Guatemala at War with Germany.

22.--Baron Von Richthofen, premier German flier, killed.

23.--British naval forces raid Zeebrugge in Belgium, German submarine

base, and block channel.

May

7.--Nicaragua at war with Germany and her allies.

19.--Major Raoul Lufberry, famous American aviator, killed.

24.--Costa Rica at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary.

27.--Third German drive begins or Aisne-Marne front of 30 miles between

Soissons and Rheims.

28.--Germans sweep on beyond the Chemin des Dames and cross the Vesle at

Fismes.

28.--Cantigny taken by Americans in local attack.

29.--Soissons evacuated by French.

31.--Marne River crossed by Germans, who reach Chateau Thierry, 40 miles

from Paris.

31.--President Lincoln, American transport, sunk.

June

2.--Schooner Edward H .Cole torpedoed by submarine off American coast.

3-6.--American marines and regulars check advance of Germans at Chateau

Thierry and Neuilly after maximum advance of Germans of 32 miles.

Beginning of American co-operation on major scale.

9-14.--German drive on Noyon-Montdidier front. Maximum advance, 5 miles.

15-24.--Austrian drive on Italian front ends in complete failure.

30.--American troops in France, in all departments of service, number

1,019,115.

July

1.--Vaux taken by Americans.

3.--Mohammed V, Sultan of Turkey, dies.

10.--Czecho-Slovaks, aided by Allies, take control of a long stretch of

the Trans-Siberian Railway.

12.--Berat, Austrian base in Albania, captured by Italians.

15.--Haiti at war with Germany.

15.--Stonewall defense of Chateau Thierry blocks new German drive on

Paris.

16.--Nicholas Romanoff, ex-Czar of Russia, executed at Yekaterinburg.

17.--Lieut. Quentin Roosevelt, youngest son of ex-President Roosevelt,

killed in aerial battle near Chateau Thierry.

18.--French and Americans begin counter offensive on Marne-Aisne front.

19.--San Diego, United States cruiser, sunk off Fire Island.

20.--Carpathia, Cunard liner, used as transport torpedoed off Irish

coast. It was the Carpathia that saved most of the survivors of the

Titanic in April, 1912.

20.--Justicia, giant liner used as troopship, is sunk off Irish coast.

21.--German submarine sinks three barges off Cape Cod.

23.--French take Oulchy-le-Chateau and drive the Germans back ten miles

between the Aisne and the Marne.

30.--Allies astride the Ourcq; Germans in full retreat to the Vesle.

August

1.--Sergeant Joyce Kilmer. American poet and critic, aged 31, dies in

battle.

2.--French troops recapture Soissons.

3.--President Wilson announces new policy regarding Russia and agrees to

cooperate with Great Britain, France and Japan in sending forces to

Murmansk, Archangel and Vladivostok.

3.--Allies sweep on between Soissons and Rheims, driving the enemy from

his base at Fismes and capturing the entire Aisne-Vesle front.

7.--Franco-American troops cross the Vesle.

8.--New Allied drive begun by Field Marshal Haig in Picardy, penetrating

enemy front 14 miles.

10.--Montdidier recaptured.

13.--Lassigny massif taken by French.

15.--Canadians capture Damery and Parvillers, northwest of Roye.

29.--Noyon and Bapaume fall in new Allied advance.

September

1.--Australians take Peronne.

1.--Americans fight for the first time on Belgian soil and capture

Voormezeele.

11.--Germans are driven back to the Hindenburg line which they held in

November, 1917.

12.--Registration day for new draft army of men between 18 and 45 in the

United States.

13.--Americans begin vigorous offense in St. Mihiel Sector on 40-mile

front.

14.--St. Mihiel recaptured from Germans. General Pershing announces

entire St. Mihiel salient erased, liberating more than 150 square miles

of French territory which had been in German hands since 1914.

20.--Nazareth occupied by British forces in Palestine under Gen.

Allenby.

23.--Bulgarian armies flee before combined attacks of British, Greek,

Serbian, Italian and French.

25.--British take 40,000 prisoners in Palestine offensive.

26.--Strumnitza, Bulgaria, occupied by Allies.

27.--Franco-Americans in drive from Rheims to Verdun take 30,000

prisoners.

28.--Belgians attack enemy from Ypres to North Sea, gaining four miles.

29.--Bulgaria surrenders to General d'Esperey, the Allied commander.

30.--British-Belgian advance reaches Roulers.

October

1.--St. Quentin, cornerstone of Hindenburg line, captured.

1.--Damascus occupied by British in Palestine campaign.

2.--Lens evacuated by Germans.

3.--Albania cleared of Austrians by Italians.

4.--Ferdinand, king of Bulgaria, abdicates; Boris succeeds

5.--Prince Maximilian new German Chancellor, pleads with President

Wilson to ask Allies for armistice.

7.--Berry-au-Bac taken by French.

8.--President Wilson asks whether German Chancellor speaks for people or

war lords.

9.--Cambrai in Allied hands.

10.--Leinster, passenger steamer, sunk in Irish Channel by submarine;

480 lives lost; final German atrocity at sea.

11.--Americans advance through Argonne forest.

12.--German foreign secretary, Solf, says plea for armistice is made in

name of German people; agrees to evacuate all foreign soil.

12.--Nish, in Serbia, occupied by Allies.

13.--Laon and La Fere abandoned by Germans.

13.--Grandpre captured by Americans after four days' battle.

14.--President Wilson refers Germans to General Foch for armistice

terms.

16.--Lille entered by British patrols.

17.--Ostend, German submarine base, taken by land and sea forces.

17.--Douai falls to Allies.

19.--Bruges and Zeebrugge taken by Belgians and British.

25.--Beginning of terrific Italian drive which nets 50,000 prisoners in

five days.

31.--Turkey surrenders; armistice takes effect at noon; conditions

include free passage of Dardanelles.

November

1.--Clery-le-Grand captured by American troops of First Army.

3.--Americans sweep ahead on 50-mile front above Verdun; enemy in full

retreat.

3.--Official reports announce capture of 362,350 Germans since July 15.

3.--Austria surrenders, signing armistice with Italy at 3 P. M. after

500,000 prisoners had been taken.

4.--Americans advance beyond Stenay and strike at Sedan.

7.--American Rainbow Division and parts of First Division enter suburbs

of Sedan.

8.--Heights south of Sedan seized by Americans.

9.--Maubeuge captured by Allies.

10.--Canadians take Mons in irresistible advance.

11.--Germany surrenders; armistice takes effect at 11 A. M. American

flag hoisted on Sedan front.