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DALLAS POST, DALLAS, PA., FRIDAY, MAY 29. 1931
PAGE SEVEN
My Experiences
In the World War
(Continued from page 3)
‘ward amalgamation of our troops with
the British he gave me his support in
later conferences. When we saw the
British representatives for further
talks at Versailles January 29, 1918,
all thelr arguments were met frankly
and squarely. After they had present-
ed their case Prime Minister Lloyd
George asked Bliss for his views, to
which he replied: :
“Pershing will speak for us and
whatever he says with regard to the
disposition of the American troops will
have my approval.”
An agreement was then signed by
Mr. Lloyd George, General Maurice
and myself as set fortn in the follow-
ing copy of the memorandum submit-
ted and lated cabled to Washington:
“In order to meet the situation as
presented by Sir William Robertson
and hasten the arrival and training of
troops, it is proposed that the British
government use the avallable sea
transportation in question for bring-
ing over-the personnel of entire divi-
sions under the following conditions:
“1. That the infantry and auxiliary
troops of these divisions be trained
with British divisions by battalions,
under such plan as may be agreed
upon. :
‘2. That the artillery be trained un-
der American direction in the use of
French material as at present.
“8. That the higher commanders
and staff officers be assigned for train-
ing and experience with corresponding
units of the British army.
“4, That when sufficiently trained,
these battalions be reformed into regi-
ments and that when the artillery is
fully trained all the units comprising
each division be united under their
own officers for service.
“5. That the above plan be carried
out without interference with the plans
now in operation for bringing over
American forces.
“8. That question of supply be ar-
ranged by agreement ‘between the Brit-
ish and American commanders in chief.
“7. That question of arms and equip-
ment be settled in similar manner.”
War Council Meets Again.
The supreme war council began its
third session January 30. At the open-
ing session Mr. Lloyd George made a
statement in some detail of the situa-
tion on the sllied fronts. He then
spoke of the large number of casual-
ties the allies had suffered during 1917
and in a very peinted manner declared
that the costly offensives had pro-
duced no tangible results. But in-
stead, he said, the allies now found
themselves short of man power at a
critical perlod of the war. His sharp
criticism was evidently directed at Sir
Douglas Haig and General Robertson,
‘but neither was given an opportunity
to reply.
The military representatives pre-
sented a Joint note with reference to
military policy, as directed at the De-
cember meeting; and the opinion given
wag identical with that of the confer-
ence at Compiegne January 24 and
also in August at the meeting in Paris.
except that the campaign under Gen:
eral Allenby, then in progress in Pal-
estine, should continue. It will be re-
called that these two informal confer-
ences of commanders in chief had con-
cluded that the allies should remain on
The danger on the western front lay
in the continuous increase of the Ger-
man forces and in their ability to con-
centrate in turn against the French
and British, and as neither had suffi.
clent reserves of their own it was
clear that unless some arrangement
could be made between them for bet-
ter. co-ordination and support the war
might easily be lost before the Ameri-
cans should arrive.
Pian Allied Reserve.
The study of this problem by the
military representatives led to another
Joint note which proposed a plan for
the organization of a general allied
reserve, It provided that the British,
“French and Italian armies should each
set apart a certain number of divisions
to constitute this reserve, which would
be called into action only in a great
emergency. The discussion of this
question became acrimonious. Haig
and Petain both pointed out that they
would be short of divisions very goon
in case of severe fighting and present:
ed figures on the subject that were
very disturbing.
But the council’s scheme was cut
and dried. The recommendations set
forth in the note were adopted then
_and there by the council. The general
-reserve was created and its control
was placed under an executive war
board to consist of Generals Foch, rep-
resenting the French, chairman; Bliss,
the Americans; Cadorna, the Italians,
and a British general officer to be
named.
At this meeting Mr. Lloyd George
designated Gen. Sir Henry Wilson as
the British representative, to the very
evident disappointment of General
Robertson, who was present at the ses-
sion. The selection of Wilson was re-
garded by the British high command
and the war office as open disapproval
of their conduct of the war.
Winter of 1917-18 Most Severe.
It has been sald that the winter of
1917-18 was the most severe of the
war. The cold was at times so intense
as to make the generally unheated
houses, barns and lofts used as billets
nearly uninhabitable. The glcom of
short days and long nights in the iso-
lated and largely depopulated French
villages can hardly be described.
Then, as we have seen, there was
aiso a shortage of heavy winter cloth-
ing, although frequent cables early in
the fall had called attention to the
probability of a deficiency. No doubt
the demands were greater than the
quartermaster department could meet,
but the relatively small number of
troops in France going through the
winter under actual war conditions
should have been given first consider-
ation,
Much of the clothing that we re-
ceived for our troops looked to be
shoddy, and, being light and thin, of
course offered insufficient protection.
The deficiencies were met in part by
purchases from the British, although
our men did not take kindly to the
idea of wearing the uniform of anoth-
er nation, and it was with consider-
able protest and chagrin that they did
so until our own could be supplied.
To the credit of our officers and men
be it said that they generally ignored
adverse conditions, and, barring some
irritation at French methods and occa-
sionally at our own, they kept at their
tasks with commendable determina-
tion. Looking back over the different
phases of the war I regard that win-
ter, with its difficulties, anxieties and
apprehension for the future, as the
most trying perivd of them all.
maferials remained haphazard and not
at all in the proportions needed.
It continued apparent that my
recommendations were net accepted in
an altogether unhesitating spirit of
helpfulness and that the serious need
for executive leadership back home
had not been met.
months had elapsed since our entry
into the war and that we were just
barely ready with one division of 25,
000 men.
My diary shows the following ‘nota-
tions:
« Chaumont, Wednesday, March
6, 1918.—Heavy German raid re-
pulsed by First division Friday
morning. The enemy also raided
the Twenty-sixth division lnes
and were driven off. ;
Went te Ligny-en-Barrios Sun-
day to meet M. Clemenceau, who
_ came to congratulate the First
division on success repulsing raid.
Met General Debeney, who was
enthusiastic over conduct of our
men. Spent the night at First di-
vision headquarters.
Motored to Langres with Har-
bord Monday to speak at opening
of second session of general staff
college. Germans made raid om
Forty-second division that morn-
ing. =
Upon conclusion of this inspection
of the First division 1 considered it
ready to take the offensive at any
time. It had been eight months in
France, with varied experiences in
training, had occupied an independent
position in the St. Mihiel sector and
had made several successful trench
raids. Generals Duncan and Buck had
their infantry brigades in efficlent
shape and Summerall had carried the
training of the artillery brigade to a
high degree.
Finds Wounded Cheerful.
The front occupied by the One Hun-
dred Sixty-eighth regiment, near Ba-
donvillers, had been under a severe ar-
tillery attack on the fourth and a
trench mortar platoon had been almost
completely destroyed. The French
army commander congratulated Gen-
eral Menoher on the way in which our
troops repulsed this raid. After an in-
spection of the different regiments of
the division and a visit to the scene
of this action, I went to the hospital to
see the wounded.
They were all very cheerful, espe-
cially a young officer, Lieut. A. W.
Terrel, Fifty-first artillery regiment,
who had lost a leg. He said that he
wanted to stay through to the end of
the war, and hoped he cou!d -find
something to do as a clerk. All these
first’ contacts with the enemy were rel-
atively small affairs, of course, but
they furnished many examples of what
we could expect of the American sol-
dier: :
My diary notes this:
Paris, Sunday, March 10, 1918.—
Spent Thursday morning with
Kernan, Langfitt and Atterbury
and made adjustments in port and
railway construction and manage-
ment. Visited Camp dé Mallly,
where seacoast artillery is having
splendid training under General
Coe.
On Friday visited Edwards’
Twenty-sixth division serving on
Chemin des Dames under General
Maud’huy, the French corps com-
mander. Arrived in Paris late at
night during airplane attack.
Branch of judge advocate gen-
eral’s office established at my
the defensive on all fronts until the ;
Americans should arrive in sufficient
force to warrant the offensive.
ae See No End of War Until 1919.
he joint note was approved as the
cision of the council, with the under-
tanding, as suggested by the French,
that no white troops should be sent
from France to Palestine. It was decid-
edly the opinion of M. Clemenceau and
of all others present who expressed
themselves that the war could not be
ended until 1919, when the American
army, it was thought, would reach its
maximum strength.
The allied forces at the moment
were superior in all active fronts, ex-
cept in the Balkans, but the Greek mo-
bilization, when completed, would add
sufficient strength to giva the allies the
advantage there also. The American
strength was then negligible, but the
prospect was that we should have a
few divisions ready for service by
June, and by September possibly ‘sev-
‘tenteen or the equivalent of thirty-
fopr French divisions. °
LOCATION AMERICAN DIVISIONS |
JULY 18,1918
CHAPTER XXIX
At the ports in France the amount of
freight discharged in January, 1918,
was more encouraging, being about
two-fifths ag much as during the pre-
ceding seven months. The rate of dis-
charge was accelerated to some extent
by the better distribution of our trans-
ports by the navy. More construction
material was being delivered where it
was needed for port works and the fu-
ture was somewhat clarified in this re-
spect by the arrival of additional log-
ging machinery.
During the month there was also an
increase in troop shipments, including
some elements of the Thirty-second
(Haan's) division, with 20,000 men for
the service of supply. By the end of
January approximately 120.000 combat
troops, 34,000 engineer troops and 61,-
000 others for the service of supply
were in France. Although promising,
this was only the merest start, as we
were still*far behind our schedule.
It mi@t be added, however, that the
incre in the arrivals of men and
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headquarters.
Upon Colonel Bradley’s report of
thirty-day medical supplies on hand,
sent urgent cable requesting immediate
shipments. Cabled disapproval of sug-
gestion by Mr. Paderewski for organi-
zation of division of men with Polish
antecedents. Secretary of War Baker
landed at Brest today.
French Train U. 8S. Cooks.
Major General Maud’huy spoke with
considerable enthusiasm of the men
and of the officers of the Twenty-sixth
division, below regimental command-
ers, and especially praised their con-
duct of trench raids. He compliment-
ed General Traub, one of the brigade
commanders, but was of the opinion
that the higher officers, generally,
needed more experience to make them
efficient. American troops that served
with General Maud’huy held him in
high esteem. He was scrupulous re-
garding their instruction, to which he
gave special attention.
He was very solicitous of the wel-
fare of our troops. even zoing so far
“paring good things to eat.”
as to Interest himself in the prepara-
tion of their food by detailing French
cooks to teach ours the art. When I
expressed my appreciation of his ae-
tion, he sald: “Xou know, we are a
nation of cooks and we delight in pre-
After their
instruction the cooks in these units
did better, thanks to the initiative of
this fine old French general, :
Many of the cooks of the old army
became experts and the men in early
days in the West fared better as a rule
than our men in France, where the
cooks lacked experience. ‘Personal
supervision by officers and the estab-
lishment of. cooking schools brought
improvement in due course. However,
there is little doubt that much of the
intestinal trouble in our divisions dur
ing the early part of their service
abroad was caused by poorly cooked
food. :
Secretary Baker Arrives.
Secretary Baker arrived at Brest
March 10, as my diary showed, and I
met him and his party in Paris the
next. morning. The secretary’s party
consisted of Maj. Gen. W. M. Black,
chief of engineers; Lieut. Col. M. L.
Brett, Commander R. D. White of the
navy,.and Ralph Hayes, his secretary.
It was essential that the secretary
receive every opportunity to inspect
our whole layout, from the front areas
to the services of supply, that he might
become familiar with plans, observe
the progress made toward their com-
pletion, and obtain first-hand informa.
tion of our requirements, all of which
he was especially anxious to do. Leav-
ing Paris Mareh 12 we inspected our
most important ports, depots, hos-
pitals, regulating stations, motor parks
My diary notes the following:
Chaumont, Monday, February 18,
1918.—General Foch and Major
General Weygand visited head-
quarters Thursday, had luncheon
with us and examined the general
staff organization. Captain Todd,
director of naval construction,
came to confer regarding wireless
stations at Bordeaux.
Left Friday, spent Saturday and
Sunday visiting First division in
Ansauville sector; inspected in-
fantry in front-line trenches and
the, artillery. Called on General
Debeney, French First army.
Returned this morning, stopping
at aviation park, Colombey-les-
Belles, Maj. Arthur Page com-
manding.. Camouflage work ex-
ceptionally well done. Passed
through Miracourt to see General
de Castelnau, who speaks highly
nf our troops.
Fock Cold to U. S. Problems.
As General" Foch, then chief of the
French general staff, had shown some
surprise when at the allied meeting at
Compiegne in January I teld of the de-
lays and difficulties we were having at
the ports and in the operation of rail-
ways,I Invited him to make a visit to
my headquarters, hoping to put him
in touch with our activities.
We had already reached a state of
development that confirmed the sound-
ness of our organization and could
forecast its ability to meet all require-
ments. I went with him to the various
sections of the general staff and while
he expressed no opinion about what he
saw, his aide and spokesman, General
Weygand, a staff officer of experience,
was very complimentary.
Foch never seemed interested when
I talked with him of our problems and
I doubt whether he ever thought, knew
or ‘cared much about organization or
questions of transportation and supply.
He was essentially a student and a
teacher of history and strategy.
“Treated Like Mendicants.”
There continued to be considerable
cause to find fault with the. attitude
and methods of French bureau
officials. :
Apropos the experience of many of
our officers, I recall that one of the
most efficient on duty at a very impor-
tant port once said to me:
“General, the trouble is that these
subordirate French officials in imme-
diate charge are either so hide-bound
or “else so conceited that it would be
as easy to convince a Greek statue as
to make one of them understand. How
Pershing in Tin Hat.
in the world it happens, sir, that we
do so well I do not see.
“Here we have come 3,000 miles to
help them and yet we are treated like
mendicants on the street corner hold-
ing a tin cup for passing pennies.
“I know, sir, that co-operation is
necessary if we hope to win the war
but it requires an excessive effort on
our part, with more failures than oth-
erwise to our credit.”
This was harsh comment, but there
were times in the experience of most
officers when it seemed to fit the case
fairly well.
(Continued Next Week)
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