Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-12-05

0eCtOT. Inc .att6Ck opened on sept.
rs and the Americans drove through
entanslements. across No-nan's-Land
to take all the enemy's first line posi-
tons. Closing tho chapter. General
Pershtng'st says:
"On November 6 a division Of h
First Corps reached q point on the
Mouse opposite Sedan, Is, miles from
our lin OF departure. The strategic
al 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 ave his army from complete
disaster. '
I'm all 40 enemy divisions had been.
battle. Between September Is and
November s we took 2S.05s prisoners
and 1858 guns on this front. Our d.
visions engaged were the First, Sec
ond. Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty
sixth, Twenty eighth, Twenty-ninth,
Th~irty-second, Thirty-third, Thirty
fifth. Thirty-seventh, F~orty-second,
Seventy-seventh,. Seyenty-eishth. Sew
e~nty-ninth, Eightieth. Eighty-second,
Eghty-ninth, Nipetieth and Ninety
first. Many of our divisions remained
CURED nerves Of steel, while others
were SEM in again after only a few
days Of rest. The First, Fifth. Twen-
ty-sixth, F~orty-second. Seventy-sev-
enth, Eightieth. Eighty-ninth and
Ninetieth were in the line twice. AL
though some OF the divisions vel
fighting their, first battle, they soon
became equal to the best"
Over Two Milton OverseaA.
The commander-in-chief does not
lose sight of the divisions Operating
with French of British armies during
this time. He tells Of the work Of
the Second corps, comprising tho
Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth divi-
sions in the British assault OIL the
Hindenburg line, where the st. QUEEN
tin canal passes through a tunnel; of
how the Second and Thirty-si1th d.
being ~asztgned to aid the French in
the drive from Rheims and of the
splendid fighting Of the 37th and s1st
divisions sent to join the French army
In Belgium.
OF the total strength Of the Expe-
dictionary Force, General Pershing re-
ports:
There are in Europe altogether,
including a regiment and some sani-
tary units with the Italian army and
the organizations at Murmansk, also
including those en- route from the
States, approximately 2,o53,347 men.
are in France 1,33s,169 combatant
troops. Forty divisions have arrived,
of which the infantry personnel Of 10
have been used as requirements.
leaving 80 divisions now in France
organized into three armies Of three
EACH"
OF their equipment he says:
"Our entry into the val found US
with few of the auxiliaries necessary
for it's conduct in the modern sense.
Among our most important deficien-
cies In material were artillery( avia-
ton and tanks. In order to meet our
we accepted the offer of the French
government, to provide us with the
necessary artillery equipment Of sew
enty-fves. one ffty-fve millimeter
howitzers, and M ffty-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
VI CIV OAAA SAAN>
far received in France are 100 seven
ty-five millimeter guns.
I'm aviation we We're in the same
situation, and here again the French
government came to our aid until ouI
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 pur-
suit, observation and bombing planes
The first airplanes received from home
arrived in May, and altogether We
have received 1879. The rst Ameri-
can squadron completely equipped by
! American production, including air
planes, crossed the German lines OF
August Z, 1918. AS to tanks, we wer.
also compelled to rely upon tn
French. Here, however, we were les
fortunate, for the 81 that tn,
French production could barely NEE
ut should be fully realized that tn
French government has always takel
a most liberal attitude and has bee,
most anxious to give US every possibl,
assistance in meeting our deficiencie
In these as well as in other respects
Our dependence upon France for ar
tillery, aviation and tanks was, o
course, due to the fact that our in
dustries had not been exclusively de
voted to military production. Al
credit is due our W manufacturer,
for their efforts to meet requirements
as at the time the armistice, wa!
signed We were able to look forward
to the early supply Of practically al
our necessities from our own factor
ies."