New-York tribune., 1918-08-04
The American Soldier


General March told the newspaper cor
respondents in Washington on Wednes-
day that the Americans "hold the apex
Of the Allied drive"
On the same day The London Dail4
NoaPs correspondent on the Marne front
wrote:
Nobody can contemplate without pro-
found admiration the vigor and herois,n
with which the Americans have fought
in every stage of the battle.
If bravery were the only test for win
nIng our affections, then the Americans
merit the highest possible esteem But
1T is not bravery alone that has given
the Americans during the last ten days
their repeated successes Fiercely as
they fight, they nevertheless fight ntelli-
gently and profitably
On the same day General Degoutte,
commanding the Allied army which at
tackled the German salient from the
south, said to the American correspond
ents at his headquarters that the Amer
leans had fought and are now fighting
admirably, and that he used Americans
IN the same way as he used his best
French troops
These and many similar tributes leave
no doubt as to the quality of the Ameri
can soldiers now fighting in France.
They are new to the battle line. But
they have shown steadiness as we'll as
dash, coolness as we'll as ardor. The
palnstaklng effort of the German High
Command to emphasize the alleged raw
ness OF the American troops and to clas
sify them with the Algerians, Moroccans.
Tunisians and Senegalese from the
French dependencies is also tribute #,
the efficiency our American units have
shown in Foch's workmanlike and BRILL
rant counter offensive. If the German
High Command did not fear us it would
ignore US and would dismiss our effort
as negligible for the present That is
what 1t had previously instructed all
German newspaper writer's and military
critics to do
What is there about our military con-
tngent in France that makes it formida-
bic in spite of its uncompleted training
for battle? We all know what # IS IN
a sort Of Unconscious way. Our trooDs
have an enormous vitality They are
supple, eager and adaptable. They are
physically the flower of America. Man
for man, they are better than anv eo,al
body of Germans. The picked German
organizations may be a little better
trained for trench fighting, but thev
are much inferior in stamina. The
flower of the German youth has per
lshed. German divisions are composed
OF boys and middle-aged men, as well as
OF men between twenty-one and thirty
five. Germany is already robbinp the
cradle and the grave.
Our units are more homopeneous.
They are also more on edge, more fery
Every foreign observer has been i'm
pressed with the deadly earnestness with
which they are going about their busi-
ness--a trait a little alien to the Cont
mental soldier, who in most cases FIGHTS
SIMPLY as duty or as a matter Of
course. With our men war is still .
great adventure which appeals to the
imagination and kindles the pride Of
achievement. Americans carry some
thlng Of that desperate earnestness even
into their sports.
There is the moral equation. there
fore, as well as the physical. And both
tell IN our favor. We shall in the cnd
send vast numbers of men to Eurone
Our soldiers there will gradually become
veterans We shall probably have eyentu-
any the most powerful army on the
continent, because our man power is still
hardly touched. But we shall never have
men there surprising in all the elements
OF the true soldiers makeup those who
are now eloriously fighting in Cham.
pagne. What they have in physical
mental and moral quality is all their
own. What they lack is only the ont
ward finish, which almost anv soldier
can derive from battlefield experience