America's War for Humanity Part 71

On October 4 the attack was renewed all along our front. The 3d Corps, tilting to the left, followed the Brieulles-Cunel Road; our 5th Corps took Gesnes, while the 1st 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 counterattacks challenged us at every point. On the 7th the 1st Corps captured Chatel-Chenery and continued along the river to Cornay. On the east of the Meuse sector one of the two divisions cooperating with the French, captured Consenvoye and the Haumont Woods. On the 9th the 5th Corps, in its progress up the Aire, took Fleville, and the 3d Corps, which had continuous fighting against odds, was working its way through Briueulles and Cunel. On the 10th we had cleared the Argonne Forest of the enemy.

It was now necessary to const.i.tute a second army, and on October 9 the immediate command of the First Army was turned over to Lieut.-Gen.

Hunter Liggett. The command of the Second Army, whose divisions occupied a sector in the Woevre, was given to Lieut.-Gen. Robert L. Bullard, who had been commander of the 1st Division and then of the 3d Corps.

Major-Gen. d.i.c.kman was transferred to the command of the 1st Corps, while the 5th Corps was placed under Major-Gen. Charles P. Summerall, who had recently commanded the 1st Division. Major-Gen. John L. Hines, who had gone rapidly up from regimental to division commander, was a.s.signed to the 3d 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 18 there was very fierce fighting in the Caures Woods east of the Meuse and in the Ormont Woods. On the 14th 1st Corps took St. Juvin, and the 5th Corps, in hand-to-hand encounters, entered the formidable Kriemhilde line, where the enemy had hoped to check us indefinitely. Later the 5th Corps penetrated further the Kriemhilde line, and the 1st Corps took Champignuelles 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 37th and 31st 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 a.s.signed to adjacent French corps. On October 31, in continuation of the Flanders offensive, they attacked and methodically broke down all enemy resistance. On Nov. 3 the 37th 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 91st 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 3d and 5th Corps pushed northward to the level of Bantheville. While we continued to press forward and throw back the enemy's violent counterattacks with great loss to him, a regrouping of our forces was under way for the final a.s.sault. Evidences of loss of morale by the enemy gave our men more confidence in attack and more fort.i.tude in enduring the fatigue of incessant effort and the hards.h.i.+ps of very inclement weather.

With comparatively well-rested divisions, the final advance in the Meuse-Argonne front was begun on November 1. 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 3d Corps took Ancrevlle, Doulcon and Andevanne, and the 5th Corps took Landres et St. Georges and pa.s.sed through successive lines of resistance to Bayonville and Chennery. On the 2d the 1st 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 1st Corps reached Authe and Chatillon-Sur-Bar, the 5th Corps, Fosse and Nouart, and the 3d Corps, Halles, penetrating the enemy's lines to a depth of twelve miles. Our large-caliber guns had advanced and were skilfully brought into position to fire upon the important lines at Montmedy, Longuyon and Conflans. Our 3d 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 1st 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 26 and November 6 we took 26, prisoners and 468 guns on this front. Our divisions engaged were the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 26th, 28th, 29th, 32d, 33d, 35th, 37th, 42d, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 82d, 89th, 90th and 91st. Many of our divisions remained in line for a length of time that requires nerves of steel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. The 1st, 5th, 26th, 77th, 80th, 89th, and 90th 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 10, the 3d, the 2d Colonial and the 17th 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 a.s.sure 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 11, 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.

RELATIONS WITH THE ALLIES

Cooperation among the Allies has at all times been most cordial. A far greater effort has been put forth by the allied armies and staffs to a.s.sist us than could have been expected. The French Government and Army have always stood ready to furnish us with supplies, equipment and transportation and to aid us in every way. In the towns and hamlets wherever our troops have been stationed or billeted the French people have everywhere received them more as relatives and intimate friends than as soldiers of a foreign army. For these things words are quite inadequate to express our grat.i.tude. There can be no doubt that the relations growing out of our a.s.sociations here a.s.sure a permanent friends.h.i.+p between the two peoples. Although we have not been so intimately a.s.sociated with the people of Great Britain, yet their troops and ours when thrown together have always warmly fraternized. The reception of those of our forces who have pa.s.sed through England and of those who have been stationed there has always been enthusiastic.

Altogether it has been deeply impressed upon us that the ties of language and blood bring the British and ourselves together completely and inseparably.

STRENGTH

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 18 are: Killed and wounded, 36,145; died of disease, 14,811; deaths uncla.s.sified, 2,204; wounded, 179,625; prisoners, 2,163; missing, 1,160. We have captured about 44, prisoners and 1,400 guns, howitzers and trench mortars.

[General Pers.h.i.+ng then highly praised the work of the General Staff, the Service of Supply, Medical Corps, Quartermaster Department, Ordnance Department, Signal Corps, Engineer Corps, and continued:]

Our aviators have no equals in daring or in fighting ability, and have left a record of courageous deeds that will ever remain a brilliant page in the annals of our army. While the Tank Corps has had limited opportunities, its personnel has responded gallantly on every possible occasion, and has shown courage of the highest order.

The navy in European waters has at all times most cordially aided the army, and it is most gratifying to report that there has never before been such perfect cooperation between these two branches of the service.

Finally, I pay supreme tribute to our officers and soldiers of the line.

When I think of their heroism, their patience under hards.h.i.+ps, 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 grat.i.tude of our country.

I am, Mr. Secretary, very respectfully,

JOHN J. PERs.h.i.+NG,

General, Commander-in-Chief,

American Expeditionary Forces.

To the Secretary of War.

CHAPTER x.x.xI

WHEN THE DAYS OF RECKONING DAWNED

_American Troops on All Fronts--Changes Come Fast and Furious--First Hun Cry for Peace--Virtue, Vice and Violence--Austria Surrenders--Opens Up the Dardanelles--Closing Days of Hohenzollern Reign--Killing of Tisza--Terms Prepared for Germany-- Armistice Signed by Germany_.

AMERICAN TROOPS ON ALL FRONTS

The collapse of Russia in 1917 had released vast bodies of German troops for service in France, but the calamities that overtook them on the French front were so destructive that insufficient man power was left to take care of the southeastern fronts, so that Serbia was enabled to inst.i.tute a new offensive, and with the aid of Greece, in a few days cut Bulgaria out of the German horde, pressed forward in Serbia, and pushed ahead through the Balkan regions. Meanwhile American strength was greatly augumented in the west and at the same time American troops appeared on the Murman coast in the north and Siberia on the Pacific east, on the Piave front in Italy, and at every other point where hostile strength was greatest or strategic advantage was to be gained by their presence.

Concurrently, the United States navy swept the western seas of Europe free of German submarines. Our naval forces were combined with those of Great Britain as the sea arm of a united command, under the joint name of the Grand Fleet; and American troop s.h.i.+ps landed newly trained American soldiers in France at the average number of about 250,000 a month--over 2,200,000 in little more than a year; at the same time helping to reopen in safety the lanes of ocean commerce by which the trade of our European allies was fully restored, German ports corked tight, and Germany thereby thrown back absolutely upon her own interior resources. Out of this vigorous and abundant American action emerged the conditions that insured a "Peace of Justice."

These things were the quick work of the latter part of 1917 and the campaigns of 1918. The achievement was gigantic, but it had no effect in taking attention or diverting action from those movements that offered at once an advantage to our common cause, while disintegrating the h.o.a.ry tyrannies of Central and Eastern Europe.

CHANGES COME FAST AND FURIOUS

Events in the field reacted with powerful effect upon autocratic Austria. The Austrian throne was built upon the backs of va.s.sal states, all of which had yielded thousands of emigrants to this country; and these transplanted peoples, having found freedom, proceeded to incite the countries of their origin to throw off their burdens and like Americans, be free to govern themselves.

The moment had come for Bohemia, Poland, and all Czecho-Slav and Jugo-Slav peoples to rise. The United States Government, in full sympathy with their yearnings, had received their representatives at Was.h.i.+ngton, had furnished funds as well as moral support to their provisional governments, had supported an independent Czecho-Slav army in Russia with American reinforcements, with clothing, arms, munitions, and supplies, and now, at exactly the right juncture, in August, 1918, recognized the Czecho-Slav as a cobelligerent power lawfully at war against the central empires.

FERDINAND FALLS FROM THE WAR WAGON

This was the push that brought the break. Germany still had her armies intact on the soil of other countries, and was a consolidated force, tired though not beaten. But the fat and filthy "Czar" Ferdinand of Bulgaria sat in voluntary exile, eating like bread the ashes of repentance, and mingling his drink with weeping; so that his country, yellow at best, and frightened by the fear of being done to as it had done by Serbia, quit abruptly, without shame, almost without firing a shot. With that defection the last wisp of Germany's long cherished dream of a boche Middle-Europe and a boche empire stretching from Berlin to Bagdad, faded forever. In October, 1918, Austria consented to a reconst.i.tuted independent Bohemian state, and with apparent readiness granted self-government to Hungary.

Meantime, in September and October, 1918, the American and allied armies chased the Germans from the coast and far into the interior of Belgium, the Belgian army, financed by the United States, taking part in that operation. Town after town, city after city in Belgium and France fell to the American and allied forces, so that the German government (October 27) addressed a note to the President of the United States asking him to intercede with our allies for an armistice and a conference for discussion of terms of peace. This led to four exchanges of notes, in which Germany's expressions were specious, and a.s.sumed a right to negotiate. The last of these notes was submitted by President Wilson to the allied council at Paris; and the council answered by referring the whole question of armistice to Marshal Foch and the allied military chiefs.

THE "CROOKED KAMERAD"

In those same months of September and October, 1918, Austria and Turkey made proffers of separate surrender. This was the logical sequence of a "crooked kamerad" peace-offensive inaugurated by Germany as soon as she found herself being rolled, helplessly, toward the Rhine. It was at once the most vicious game that her genius for the vicious had ever prompted, and it was put forward at the very time when the fourth liberty loan was in course of being floated.

Our soldiers on all fronts had often suffered through a trick of false surrender by German soldiers. It is best described by one of our boys who was lying on a table in a base hospital, waiting his turn to be operated upon, when he heard another who was being wheeled out from the operating room and was muttering through the ether fumes:

"Fired at me ten feet away, he did, point blank, and then he dropped his rifle and stuck up his hands and called me 'Kamerad'! Kamerad, the dirty crook! Didn't I stick 'im pritty, Bill"!

It had been a common thing on the western front for a group of boches to come running toward the American lines unarmed, with their hands in the air, crying "Kamerad! Kamerad!" And then, when our men went out to receive them, fall flat, to make way for a force of armed boches immediately behind them, who opened fire--plain murder as ever was done.

So it was a crooked Kamerad cry, a peace offensive intended to sing us to sleep, that Germany launched in September, 1918. Of a sudden, our newspapers were filled with what appeared to be straight news dispatches dated at Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm, London, Paris, Geneva, and even Berlin, telling tales (that were not so) of starvation and disaffection in Germany, or broken morale in the German armies, and riotous demonstrations demanding peace. The impression was immediate and came near to being disastrous.

Many urgent requests were being made just then for public help from America. The gigantic fourth loan, the needs of the Red Cross, the thousand and one things, big and little, that had to be taken care of, and the very earnest and pressing call for a sharper realization of war's awful facts, were being driven with might and main, all over the land; and all was going well.