The sun., 1918-12-05

officially that with this brilliantly exc
cuted coup Gen. Pershing's men had
cleared the way for the great effort
OF the allied and American forces to
win conclusive victory. The Ameri-
can army moved at once toward its
browning achievement, the battle of
the Mouse.
The General tells dramatic story
OF this mighty battle in three distinct
phases, beginning on the night OF Sep
TENDER &c, when Americans quickly
took the places OF the French on the
thinly held line OF this long quiet sec
tor. The attack opened on Septem-
Der 26, and the Americans drove
through entanglements, across No
Mans Land to take all the enemy's
first line positions. Closing the chap
ter Gen. Pershing says:
"On November 8 a division of the
First Corps reached a point on the
Mouse opposite Sedan. twenty-five
miles from our line OF departure. The
strategical goal. which was our high
est hope. was gained. We had cut the
eneny's main line of communications
and nothing but surrender or an ar
mistice could save his army from COM
plete disaster.
In all forty enemy divisions had
been used against us in the Meuse-Ar-
gonne battle. Between September 2e
and November we took &c, 059 prison.
ers and 46S guns on this front. Our di-
visions engaged were the First, Second.
Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty sixth,
eighth, Twenty ninth. Thirty
second, Thirty-third. Thirty-fifth, Thir-
ty-seventh, Forty-second. Seventy-sev-
enth, Seventy eighth, Seventy-ninth,
Eightieth. Eighty-second, Eighty
Einth, Ninetieth and Ninety-hrst Many
OF our divisions remained In line for
length Of time that required nerves
of steel, while others were sent in
again after only a few days of rest.
The First, Fifth, Twenty-sixth. For
ty-second, Seventy-seventh, Eishtietb
Eighty-ninth and Ninetieth were in the
line twice. Although some Of the d.
visions were fighting their first battle
they soon became equal to the best"
Praise for Brfgaded Troop.,
The Commander In Chief does not
lose sight Of the divisions operating
with French or British armies during
this time. He tells of the work of the
Second Corps. comprising the Twenty
seventh and Th!rtieth Divisions in the
British assault on the Hlndenburg line
where the st. Quentin Canal passes
through tunnel; OF how the Second
and Thirty-sixth Divisions got their
chance In October by being assigned TO
aid the French in the drive from
Rheims and Of the splendid fighting
Of the Thirty seventh and Ninety first
Divisions sent TO join the French army
in Belgium.
OF the total strength OF the Expe-
dictionary Force, Gen. Pershing re-
ports;
There are in Europe altogether in
GLIDING a regiment and some sanitary.
units with the italian army and the
organizations at Murmansk. also in
Guiding those en- route from the states,
approximately 2.053.347 men, less our
losses. or this total there are In
France 1,S3S,169 combatant troops.
Forty divisions have arrived, Of which
the infantry personnel OF ten have
been used as requirements. leaving
| thirty divisions now in France or
ganizcd into three armies iof three
corps each"
or their equipment he says:
Our entry into the war found us
with few OF the auxlliaries. necessary
for its conduct in the modern sense.
Among our most important defcien-
cies in material were artillery, avia-
ton and tanks. In order to meet our
requirements as rapidly as possible we
accepted the offer OF the French Gov
eminent to provide us with the neces-
sary artillery equipment
I'm aviation we we're in the same
situation, and here again the French
Government came to our a,d-until our
own aviation programme should he
under way. We obtained from the
French the necessary planes for train
ing our personnel. and they have pro-
vided US with total of 2676 pursuit,
observation and bombing planes The
, first airplanes received from home ar
rived in May, and altogether We have
received 1879. The first American
squadron completely equipped by
American production, including air
planes, crossed the German lines on
August I. 1918. AS to tanks, we were
also compelled 10 rely upon the
French. Here, however, we were less
fortunate, for the reason that the
French production colld barely meet
the requirements OF their own armies.
'Ali credit is due our own manu-
facturers for their efforts to meet our
requirements, as at the time the
armistice was signed we were able 10
look forward to the early supply OF
practically all our necessities from our
own factories"