Omaha daily bee., 1918-12-05


strong tactical position, with far
greater loss to the enemy than to
ourselves. On July /, before the
Second was relieved, it captured the
village of Vaux with most splendid
precision.
Meanwhile our Second corps,
under Maj. Gen. George w. Read,
had been organized for the COM
mand of our divisions with the Brit
ish, which were held back in train
ing areas or assigned to second-line
defenses. Five of the ten divisions
were withdrawn from the British
area in June, three to relieve divi-
sions in Lorraine and the Vosges
and two to the Paris area to join
the group of American divisions
which stood between the city and
any farther advance of the enemy
in that direction"
Regiment Gains Fame.
By that time the great >tide Of
American troops movements to
France was in full swing and the
older divisions could be used freely
The Forty-second, in line east of
Rheims, faced the German assault of
July IS and ''held their ground I'M
finchingly"; on the right flank four
companies of the Twenty-eighth d.
vision faced advancing waves of
German infantry" and the Third di-
vision held the Marine line opposite
Chateau Thierry against powerful
artillery and infantry attack. "A
single regiment. of the Third wrote
one Of the most brilliant pages in
our military annals of this occa-
sion," General Pershing says. 1T
prevented the crossing at certain
points on its front while, on either
flank, the Germans who had gained
a footing, pressed forward. Our
men firing in three directions, met
the German attacks with counter
attacks at critical points and sue
ceeded in throwing two German di-
visions into complete confusion,
Cdplui ing OOo pllSOllcIS.
Thus was the stage set for the
counter-o offensive which, beginning
with the smashing of the enemy's
Marine salient, brought overwhelm-
ing victory to the allies and the
United States in the eventful
months that have followed. The in
timation is strong that General Per-
shing's advice helped Marshal Foch
to reach his decision to strike.
Preliminaries Abandoned.
"The great force of the German
Chateau Thierry offensive estab-
lished the deep Marine salient, but
the enemy was taking chances, and
the vulnerability of this pocket to
attack might be turned to his dis
advantage. Selling this opportunity
to support my conviction, every di-
vision with any sort of training was
made available for use in counter
offensive. The place of honor in
tho thrust toward scissors on July
l8 was given to Our First and Sec
ond divisions in company with
chosen French divisions.
without the usual brief warning
of a preliminary bombardment, the
massed French and American artil
lery, firing by the map, laid down its
rolling barrage at dawn while the
infantry began its charge. The tao
teal handling of our troops under
these trying conditions was excel
lent throughout the action. The
enemy brought up large numbers
of reserves and made a stubborn
defense both with machine guns and
artillery, but through five days
fighting the First division continued
to advance until it had gained the
heights above Scissors and captur-
ed the village of Berzy-le-Sec. The
Second division took Beau Repaire
farm and Very in a very rapid
advance and reached a position in
front of Tigny at the end of its
second day. These two divisions
captured 1000 prisoners and over
100 pieces of artillery"
All Ar Forces Combine.
The report describes in some de-
tail the work of completing the re-
duction of the salient mentioning
the operations of the Twenty-sixth.
Third, Forth, Forty-second, Thirty
second and Twenty-eighth divisions
With the situation on the Marine
front thus relieved, General PERISH
ing writes, he could turn to the or
ganization of the First American
army and the reduction of the St.
Mihiel salient, long planned as the
initial purely American enterprise
A troop concentration, aided by
generous contributions of artillery
and air units by the French, began,
involving the movement, mostly at
night, of 100000 men. A sector
reaching from Port sur Seille, east
of the Moselle, westward through
St. Mihiel to Verdun and later en-
larged to carry it to the edge of
the Forest of Argonne, was taken
over, the Second Colonial French
holding the tip of the salient oppo-
site St. Mihiel, and the French
Seventeenth corps, on the heights
above Verdun being transferred to
General Pershing's command.
The combined French, British and
American air forces modified for
the battle, the report says, was the
IL