New Britain herald., 1918-12-05

1 Fourth Corps, closing the salient and ! forming a new line west of Thiau l court of Vigneulles, and beyond Fresh eS- en- WOeVre.
 At the cost of only 1000 casual 1 ties, mostly light, we had taken 16, 900 1 prisoners and 443 guns, a great luan- 1 titv of material released the inhabi-
 tants of many villages from enemy I domination, and established our lines 1 in a position to threaten Metz. 1 This signal success of the Amer l ican First Army in it's first offensive
 was of prime importance. The Allies l found they had a formida ble army tC
 aid them, and the enemy learned fi-
 nally that he had one to reckon with"
 The report shows for the first time 1 officially that with this brilliantly ex- ecuted coup, General Pershing's men ] had cleared the way for the great ef- 1 fort of the allied and American {, forces to win a conclusive victory The American army moved at once l toward it's crowning achievement the battle of the Mouse
 i The general tells a dramatic story 1 of this mighty battle in three distinct l phases, beginning on the night of 1 Sept. 27, when Americans quickly took 1 the places of the French on the thin | ly held line of this long quiet sector. The attack opened on Sept 26J and the l Americans drove through entangle~ ments across No Mans Land to take all the enemy's first line positions Closing the chapter, General Pershing says:
 1 iuin SJ,o First Corps reached a point on the Mouse opposite Sedan, 25 miles from our line of departure. The strategicaI goal which was our highest hope was gained. We had cut the enemy's main line of manifestations and nothing but surrender or an armistice could save his army from complete dis aster.
 Tn all 40 enemy divisions had been used against us in the Mouse -Argonne battle. Between September 26 and November we took 26,O59 prisoners and 46S guns on this front Our di- visions engaged were the First, Sec ond, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Twenty sixth, Twenty eighth Twenty-ninth, Thirty-second, Thirty third, Thirty fifth, Thirty seventh, Forty-secoad. Seventy y-seventh, Seventy eighth, Sev- enty-ninth, Eightieth, Eighty-sec- ond, Eighty ninth, Ninetieth and Ninety first. Many of our divisions remained in line for a length of time that required nerves of steel, while others were sent in again after only a few days of rest. The First, Fifth. Twentysixth, Forty second, Seventy seventh, Eightieth, Eighty-ninth and Ninetieth were in the line twice. AL though some of the divisions were fighting their first battle, they soon became equal to the best
 The commander in chief does not lose sight of the divisions operating with French or British armies dur ing this time. He tells of the work of the Second corps, comprising the Twenty seventh and Thirtieth divi- sions in the British assault on the Hindenburg line where the St Quen- tin canal passes through a, tunnel; of how the Second and Thirty sixth di- visions got their chance in October by being assigned to aid the French in the drive from Rheims and of the splendid fighting of the 37th and 91st divisions sent to join the French army in Belgium.
 Over Two Million Overseas.
 Of the total strength of the expe- ditionary force, General Pershing re- ports;
 'There are in Europe altogether in culding a regim and some sanitary units with tho Italian army and the organizations at Murmansk, also in cluding those en route from. the states, approximately 2,053,347 men, less our losses. Of this total there are in France 1,33S, S,169 comhatant troops. Forty divisions have arrived, of which the infantry personnel of 10 have been used as replacements, leaving 30 divisions now in France organized into three armies of three corps each.'
 Of their equipment he says:
 "Our entry into the war found us with few of the auxiliaries necessary for it's conduct in the modern sense. Among our most important deicien- cies in material were artillery, avia- tion and tanks. In order to meet our requirements as rapidly as possible, we accepted the offer of the French government to provide us with the necessary artillery equipment of seventy -fives. one fifty-five millimeter howitzers and one fifty-fve G P F guns from their own factories for thirty divisions. The wisdom of this course is fully demonstrated by the