THE DALLAS POST, DALLAS, PA.,, FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1931
) Gen. John J. Pershing.
From painting by Joseph Cummings Chase in Paris. 1910.
rn es
My Experiences
mm the World War
By General John J. Pershing
Caprright, 1931, in all countries by the North American
. World rights reserved, including the
production in whole or part prohibited.
W.N.U.
Service
FIrST SEEKS Deller FOu:iawvii
It was then decided that the First
division should undertake to improve
its position. The Germans on its front
continued to hold the advantage of
higher ground, from which they were
able to inflict constant losses on our
troops while suffering little damage
themselves. Another reason was at
this moment the morale of the allies
required that American troops make
their appearance in battle.
The Cantigny sector at this time was
very active, with artillery fire unusu-
ally heavy, and the preparations for
the attack by the First division, which
had to be hastily made, were carried
out under great difficulty. Many cas-
ualties occurred during thé construe-
tion of jumping-off trenches, emplace-
ments and advance command posts.
The Twenty-eighth infantry, under
Col. Hanson E. Ely, designated for the
assault, was reinforced by machine
guns, engineers and other Special units.
Additional French artillery was sent to
assist the artillery brigade of the divis-
jon and particularly to suppress the
hostile batteries attempting to inter-
fere with the consolidation of the new
position after it should be captured.
Yanks Splendid Under Fire.
On the morning of May 28, after a
brief artillery preparation, the infan-
try advanced on a front of a mile and
a quarter. The village of Cantigny
‘and the adjacent heights were quickly
taken, relatively heavy casualties were
inflicted on the enemy and about 300
prisoners were captured. Our troops
behaved splendidly and suffered burt
slight loss in the actual attack
Events developing farther east, how-
ever, were seriously to complicate the
success. The German assault in force
against the French along the Chemin
des Dames, between Soissons and
Rheims, began on the morning of the
Twenty-seventh and was making dan-
gerous headway. By the morning of
the twenty-eighth the gains of the en-
emy were such that the French high
command was compelled to relieve
much of the reinforcing artillery be-
hind the First division and transfer it
to that front. g
The enemy's artillery within range
of Cantigny thus became superior to
ours and was able to concentrate a
terrific fire on the unsheltered troops
in the captured position. His reaction
against our troops was extremely vio-
lent and apparently he was determined
at all cost to counteract the excellent
effect the American success had pro-
duced upon the allies.
Under cover of heavy bombardment
a series of counterattacks were made
by the enemy, but our young infan-
trymen stood their ground and broke up
every attempt to dislodge them. The
regiment sustained severe casualties
from the large caliber shells poured
down upon it and had to be reinforced
by a battalion each from the Right-
eenth and Twenty-sixth regiments.
It was a matter of pride to the whole
A. E. F. that the troops of this divi-
sion, in their first battle, and in the
unusually trying situation that fol-
lowed, displayed the fortitude and
courage of veterans, held their gains |
and denied the enemy the slightest ad-
vantage.
U. S. Troops at Chateau Thierry.
The alarming situation had caused
General Petain to call on me on the
30th for American troops to be sent
to the region of Chateau Thierry. The
Third division (Dickman), then in
training near Chaumont, being . the
only division within reach, besides the
Second, was ordered to move north im-
mediately. Dickman started his mo
torized machine-gun battalion over the
road on the afternoon of May 30.. The
infantry and engineers entrained the
same night, and the division’s supply
trains marched overland.
The first element to reach Chateau
Thierry was the machine-gun battalion,
which arrived the afternoon of May 31
and immediately went into action
against the enemy, who then held the
half of the town north of the Marne.
By daylight on June 1 all available
guns had been provided with cover and
were in their positions, one company
with eight guns, and another with nine
guns about 500 yards to the east,
guarding the approaches to the rail-
When in trouble
with your car
call
v Frank Harter
Fernbrook, Pa.
Telephone 324
| General Foch, Lord Milner,
road bridge. From these positions they
repulsed all attempts by the Germans
to cross the Marne.
Meanwhile, as the infantry of the
division ‘came up on June 1 its bat:
talions were put into line to reinforce
the French from Chateau Thierry east
to Dormans. The conduct of the ma-
chine-gun battalion in this operation
was highly praised by General Petain
in a citation issued later.
Stopped German Drive on Paris.
The Second division (Bundy) May 30
was near Chaumont-en-Vixen and was
preparing to move northward the next
day for concentration near Beauvais
to relieve the First division at Can-
tigny. But its orders were changed
late that night, and the division, mov-
ing by motor trucks, was rushed to-
ward Maux, twenty miles northeast of
Paris. Reaching there, the leading ele-
ments were hurried forward in the di-
rection of Chateau Thierry. The roads
were crowded with French troops and
refugees. There was great confusion
among the rapidly retreating French
troops, many of them saying to our
men that all was lost.
The initial deployment of the Sec-
ond division was made by the Ninth
infantry and the Sixth regiment of ma-
rines June 1, across the Paris highway
at Lucy-le-Bocage, in front of Mont-
reuil-aux-Lions, supposedly in support
of two French divisions; but the
French had orders to fall back through
the American lines. In the early morn-
ing of June 2 the Twenty-third infan-
try, then on the left, was replaced by
the French One Hundred Sixty-seventh
division, and when reinforced by one
battalion of the Fifth marines, the
Fifth machine-gun battalion and some
engineers, it was deployed to the right
between the Sixth marines and the
Ninth infantry, to fill a gap in the
French line, and by June 5 the entire
division became engaged.
Considering that this was its first
experience in battle, this division made
a splendid defense, repulsed all Ger-
man attacks, and by its timely arrival
effectively stopped the German ad-
vance on Paris.
Bring Relief to French Poilu.
The sudden appearance and drama-
tic entrance of the Second and Third
divisions into the shattered and broken
fighting lines and their dash and cour-
age in battle produced a favorable ef-
fect upon the French poilu. It must
have been with a decided feeling of
relief that the worn and tired French
army, retreating before vastly superior
numbers, caught sight of Americans
arriving in trucks at Meaux and march-
ing thence on foot, hats off, hurrying
eagerly forward to battle. And the
Germans, who had been filled with
propaganda deprecating the American
effort and the quality of their train-
ing. must have been surprised and
doubtless rather disconcerted by meet-
ing strong resistance by Americans on
different portions of this active battle
front, especially when our troops ad-
| vanced at once to meet the attack in
open combat.
This defeat of the French furnished
the second striking confirmation of the
wisdom of training troops for open
warfare.
Replies to French Criticism.
After the success of our troops we
were in no mood to listen to self-ap-
pointed critics. M. Andre Tardiea
called on me upon my return to Paris
and undertook to point out that our
staff was inefficient .and offered criti-
cisms of our organization. As this was
something he could not possibly know
about, I replied that he had got an en-
tirely erroneous impression and that
our staff was-second to none in either
ability or efficiency.
I advised him that we had quite
enough of this sort of thing from the
French, either military or civilian, and
suggested that if his people would
cease troubling themselves so much
about our affairs and attend more
strictly to their own we should all get
along much better.
1 did not fail to appreciate M. Tar-
dieu’s ability and his helpfulness on
many occasions, but this constant in:
clination on the part of a certain ele
ment among the French to assume a
superiority that did not exist then or
at any later period, added to the at °
tempts of some of them to dictate, had
reached the limit.
CHAPTER XLII
The sixth session of the supreme
war council was convened June 1, 1918.
The important matter of further ship-
ment of American troops was taken
up.
As already indicated, it was my opin-
ion that neither the character of the
{ troops to be sent over nor their dispo-
, sition was within the province of the
council to decide, but that these ques-
tions should be determined according
to circumstances and after discussion
with the allies.
So I objected to their consideration
by the council, as such, and suggested
a meeting outside the council, which
was approved.
Accordingly, in the late afternoon,
dritish war
minister, General Weygand and I, with
Colonels Conner and Boyd, met in the |
premier’s room. General Foch began
by stating the serious conditicn of the
allies and proposed the continued ship-
ment from America of nothing but in-
fantry and machine-gun units in June |
and July, in effect 250,000 in each |
month. Every one realized the gravity
of the allied situation as strongly as
he did, but, as previously and per-
sistently contended by me, there were
two sides to the question.
Foch Becomes Excited.
I. was prepared to make some con-
cessions and stated my views, but
neither facts nor arguments seemed
to make any impression. General Foch
vositive
eSpevinity was very and
CS EERE
*
earnest, auu, tu, act, pecanme quite ex-
cited, waving his hands and repeating:
“The battle, the battle; nothing else
counts.”
With equal emphasis I urged that
we must build up our organization as
fast as possible to carry on the battle
to the end, and that our program had
been seriously interrupted by conces-
sions already made.
I called attention to the fact that
the railways all over France were on
the point of breaking down for lack of
efficient operators and of skilled work-
men to repair rolling stock; that our
ports would be hopelessly blocked un-
less we could improve the railways;
this his plan would leave us 200,000
men short to complete combat units
and fill up special organizations that
were absolutely necessary in the S. O.
S., and, finally, that the restriction of
our shipments to infantry and ma-
chine-gun units would be a very dan-
gerous and short-sighted policy.
To much of this he paid little or no
attention and replied that all these
things could be postponed.
Wanted Wilson Informed.
Graeme Thompson, British expert on
transportation and supply, came into
the room at this point with Mr. Lloyd
George and General Sir Henry Wilson,
and took part in the discussion. Mr.
Lloyd George said he thought Presi-
dent Wilson would be deeply interest-
ed. to get General Foch’s view of the
situation, and added that as America
had no prime minister present he
thought it would be inconvenient for
us to make a decision, but that this
subject should be brought before the
whole council. :
I, then called attention to a cable
from Secretary of War Baker, already
| quoted, showing that the President had
been much embarrassed by represen-
tations made to him personally by the
French and British ambassadors, and
had suggested that the matter might
be settled by a conference between
General Foch and myself. I poiuted
out that the cable did not mention
the supreme war council, and T again
stated my opposition to making the
subject one of general discussion by
all allied representatives and their
staffs.
I did not fail to point out further
that the President was trusting my
judgment in this matter. As nothing
was being accomplished and hoping’
the number of participants in the dis-
cussion might be limited, I proposed
we adjourn until the following day.
Pershing Again Answers Foch.
The next afternoon when we as-
sembled M. Clemenceau was waiting
for the rest of us, and instead of there
being fewer conferees the number had
increased. Not unlike the situation at
Abbeville a month before, everybody
was keyed up, and, as we had expect-
ed, the question had to be fought all
over again.
General Foch supported by M. Clem-
enceau’ and Lloyd George, wanted
nothing but infantry and machine guan-
ners in June and July, to which I was
strongly opposed, again insisting that
sufficient importance had not been at-
tached to my reasons for the necessity
of the auxiliary troops omitted in
June.
Foch resorted to his often-repeated
question whether I was willing to take
the risk, to which I replied very posi-
tively that T was ready to assume any
responsibility my proposal might en-
tail, but that I must have a greater
proportion of other troops to keep the
American organization from going to
sme =h,
Men Called in May Untrained.
Other objections, which the allies
“apparently overlooked, were that tue
untrained men called out in May coalg
not possibly be ready for service until
a considerable time after arrival, and
that neither the French nor the British
eould provide all the equipment and
land transportation they would need.
In accordance with my program, I was
willing to agree to the shipment of
fully trained infantry not needed for
the instruction of new drafts, but felt
that this point should be left to the
judgment of the secretary of war.
Mr. Lloyd George then concluded
that as a consequence July would be
a blank, and in a rather dejected tone
he said the allies were in a sense in
the hands of the United States. He
spoke of the generous and chivalrous
attitude of President Wilson, and said
all they could do was to acquaint him
with their needs ¢nd call upon him
to come to their zid, more particular-
ly to the aid of France at the period
of the most terrible extremity that she
had yet encountered. y
CHAPTER XLIV
Further conversation et the session
of the supreme war council showed
the uncertainty in the minds of the
allies. Prime Minister Lloyd George,
reverting to losses, said that before
the great German attack in May he
had been informed positively the Ger-
mans had only 400,000 replacements
left, and that now, after the most vio-
lent fighting, in which it was reported
the Germans had suffered very heavy
lossés, they still had more than 300,000
replacements.
The allies also had 800,000, but it
was now contended, he said, that the
British army was on the decline while
that of the enemy was not.
Mr. Lloyd George asked if that
could be cleared up, to which General
Foch replied that it was because the
enemy managed better, and he went
on to say that Germany, with a popu-
lation of 68,000,000 could maintain 204
divisions, while Great Britain, with
46,000,000 inhabitants, could keep up
only 43. It had been stated that the
British counted on keeping up 53 di-
visions, but that ten of them would
be practically: American.
Then, in response to a further ques-
tion by Mr. Lloyd George, General
Foch said he could not pretend to
say where Germany procured her re-
placements; possibly it might be from
prisoners returned from Russia.
Three Map Program.
After further argument on discrep-
ancies of various figures, and insist-
ence by General Foch that the number |
of divisions be maintained, the consid-
eration of the transportation of “Ameri-
can troops in June and July was re-
sumed. The discussion having reached
an impasse, it was suggested that Lord
Milner, British war minister, General
Foch and I should undertake to draw
up a program. :
In the consideration of the ques-
tion by us the point of my contention
was won when General Weygand, who
was Foch’s principal adviser, re
marked that it would be as well to
leave the new drafts to be trained at
home a month or so longer.
Although my arguments had failed
to make any impression on General
Foch, he at once approved Weygand’s
Suggestion.
PAGE THREE
Agreement on U. S. Troops.
With this out of the way we soon
drew up the agreement embodied in
the following cablegram sent to Wash=
ington June 2: :
“(a) For June: Tirst, absolute pri-
ority shall be given the transportation
of 170,000 combatant troops (viz., six
divisions without artillery, ammuni-
tion trains or supply trains, amount-
ing to 126,000 men and 44,000 replace-
ments for combat troops) ; second, 25,-
400 men for the service of railway, of
which 13,400 have been asked by the
French minister of transportation;
third, the balance to be troops of cate-
gories to be determined by the com-
mander in chief, American expedition-
ary forces. :
“(b) For July: First, absolute pri-
ority for the shipment of 140,000 com-
batant troops of the nature defined
above, four divisions minus artillery,
etc.,, amounting to 84,000 men plus 56,-
000 replacements; second, the balance
of the 250,000 to consist of troops to
be designated by the commander in
chief, American expeditionary forces.
‘“¢e) It is agreed that if available
tonnage in either month allows the
transportation of a larger number of
men than, 250,000 the excess tonnage:
will be employed in the transportation
of combat troops as defined above.
“(d) We recognize that the combat-
ant troops to be dispatched in July
may have to include troops with in-
sufficient training, but we consider the
present emergency to justify a tem-
porary and exceptional departure by
the United States from sound prin-
ciples of training, especially as a simi-
lar course is being followed by France
and Great Britain. (Signed)
“FOCH, MILNER, PERSHING.”
The prime ministers cabled Presi
dent Wilson expressing their thanks
for the promptness of American aid’
in the present emergency. .
Yanks at Chateau Thierry.
The Second and Third divisions, fac-
ing the Germans near Chateau!
Thierry, had made their places in line,
secure, giving heart to the French, who
were trying to stabilize their own po-!
sitions around the newly formed sal-
ient. We shall hear more of these two
divisions later. Although fully taken
for granted by all of us, it was nore
the less gratifying to see these divi-
sions, for the first time in the line,
acquit themselves so well.
En route to Chaumont we motored
eastward through Montmirail, passing
long columns of French refugees flee-
ing from their homes, many on foot,
men and women with bundles on their
backs, leading the smaller children,
driving their stock before them and
hauling in various types of conveyance
the few remaining worldly goods they
were able to take with them. Almost
indescribable were many similar
scenes as reported by our troops as
they came up to reinforce the retiring:
French.
It seemed to me then that if this
picture of civilization engaged in the,
persecution of innocent and unarmed
noncombatants, mostly women and’
children, could be brought home to all
peoples, reason would be forced upon’
rulers and governments where too
often their passions and ambitions as-
sume control.
As a result of the German successes
| against the French something akin to
a panic prevailed in Paris.
a million people left azz" =
Probahlz
anring
(Continued on page 6)
3
«LAST DAYS...
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY
$40,000 SALE AT
Greenwald's
4648 South Main Street, LUZERNE, PENNA.
HARDWARE .. PAINTS .. SUPPLIES
Everything must go. . Carpenter Supplies. . Plumbing Sup-
plies .. Household .. Hardware .. Paints .. Varnishes ..
Screen Doors. . Garden Tools .. Sporting Goods .. Bath-
ing Suits . . All Seasonable Goods.
®
Disston Saw
50-Ft. Garden
Alarm Clocks
14-In. Steel Stilson Wrench 79°
Hose.......
$3.50 Gal. Paint for...
$69.89
American Beauty Ele. Iron 5 Clothes Baskets
4 Hour Enamel for...
4-Ft. Step Ladders.
Iron Boards
BR
«
HTH
CEO EOE OE OOO
/
.