The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-09-25
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!. EVERY five DAYS
American Soldiers Now MobiIizing In
italy and Soon Will Be Fighting .
r on Grounds Of Caesars
SOME ANXIOUS DAYS FOR YANKs

on Grounds Of Caesars
SOME ANXIOUS DAYS FOR YANKs
Some Four Months Ago American
Troops Began to Move Up to
the Great Battle Line.
BY HARRY c. EVANS
WITH THE COLORS IN ITALY
Sept. 15-American soldiers are now
mobilizing in Italy and soon will be
fighting over the same ground that
the Caesars fought over before Chris,
was born, and over which Hannibal
and Napoleon led their victorious ar
mics.
Some four months ago, American
troops began to move up to the
French battle line in considerable
numbers. They came across the
English channel behind the British
who were being pushed backward
They broke camp all over France,
some of them taking over sectors on
the Alsatian and Lorraine fronts
others in large numbers coming up
behind the French on the Marne
From the Swiss to the Belgian from
tiers, all along that bloody front, there
were American troops. They stood
between the British army and the
channel, as the British were being
pushed back. They stood between the
French army and Paris as the French
were forced backward. Hundreds OF
thousands of our boys were moved in
to these two most important positions
against the possibility of a serious
defeat of either the British or the
French, or both. ~ 80 - ire
Anxious Days for Yanks
Hindenburg, confident Of success
was striking his hardest blows. Had
he succeeded in defeating our two
allies, then with his veterans, he
would have faced the untried soldiers
Of America. They would have receiv
ed the full shock of the Germans.
Those were anxious days for Ameri
cans in Paris and just back Of the
front, for we knew not but that our
boys would any day stand as practically
the only barrier to German DONNA
tion of the world. Counting our sol
diers the allies had fewer men than
the Germans. ~,
| Other things being equal numbers
are the decisive factor IN military
problems. General Foch. up to the
Epraaent time. IA has sSalNaya Tough
against superior numbers. The rule
as. stated, however, does not mean thai
OF numbers decides cam
paign necessarily in favor OF the su
perior power. 1t means that II arrna
ment and discipline and courage and
generalship. are equal on two sides
the side having the greatest numbers
in that particular field will have the
victory. Foch has won all his battles
on this plan. Notwithstanding on the
whole battle line at the first Marne
fight, the Germans were as five to
three, by concentrating superior mum
bers at a given point, Foch won the
battle.~ Let me give simple illustra
tion:
How Foch Fights.
Suppose five men are acting against
three. If those forces bear upon each
other equally, the five will defeat the
three. But if the five are SO badly
handled that they get arranged in
groups of two, two and one, and il
the three are so we'll handled that
they strike swiftly, at the first isola
ted two and defeat them, and then
strike the next isolated two and de-
feat them, the three will at the end ,.oi
the struggle, have only one to deal
with and the five will have been beat,
EN- by the three.
Foch's successes have been due. to
the fact that he has been able to
bring up a locally superior weight
against generally superior enemy in
the decisive time and at the decisive
place. ..t- -,
When he threw American troops In.
to the fight. they gave him the locally
superior weight at that particular time
and place. The thanks of the Ameri.
can people are due him that he did
not needlessly sacrifice his boys.
Our Boys Brought In.
The manner in which our men were
finally brought into the hardest bat.
tie Of the war is interesting. Foch
sure of himself and his own brave
troops, was not yet sure of the fresh
inexperienced troops from the United
States. It was Germany's belief that
it was impossible for soldiers untrain.
ed in the science of war, who do not
believe that might makes right or that
there is virtue in war, whose nations
ideal is peace-Germany believed that
it was impossible for such men to
make good soldiers in so short a time
and had publicly ridiculed them and
declared she did not fear, them. FOch
may have had some such idea, as in
deed many Americans had. At any
rate, Foch was as considerate OF our
boys as a father of his sons. When
his own French troops were being bat.
tered and beaten back, he did not put
our boys in. After training in camp
he moved them; toward the front
where they could hear the roar of ar
tillery. Next they came in behind the
veterans of the allies, where they
took over quiet sectors. Twice
when these quiet sectors were ser.
iously threatened he withdrew our
troops and put in his own veterans
1t was like teaching child to walk.
Yankees Stand the Attack.
Day after day the great general