The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-02

a French division, was under command | or our First corps, acted as pivot of
 the movement toward SoisSpns. On the
 18th it took the village of ~Torcy, while
 the Third division was crossing the
 Marne in pursuit of the retiring enemy.
 The Twenty-sixth attacked again on the
 Fist, and the enemy withdrew past the Chateau-Thierry- -Soissons road. The Third division continuing it's progress.
 took the heights of Mont St. Pere and the ! villages of Charteves and Jaulgonne in | the face of both machine gun and artil- | lery fire.
 | sOn the 24thi after the Germans had fallen back from Trugny and Epiede. our Forty-second division. which had been brought over from the Champagne, re- lieved the Twenty-sixth. and, fighting it's way through the Forest de Fere, over- whelmed the nests of machine guns in it's path. By the Eth it had reached the Ourcq, whence the Third and Fourth di- visions were already advancing while the French divisions with which we were CO., operating were moving forward at other points,
 The Third division had made it's ad- vance into Roncheres wood on the 29th, and was relieved for rest by brigade of the Thirty second. The Forty-second and Thirty second undertook the task of conquering the heights beyond Cierges, the Forty-second capturing Sergy and the Thirty-second capturing Hill 230. both American divisions joining in the rapid pursuit of the enemy to the Vesle, and thus the operation of reducing the salient was finished. Meanwhile the Forty-sec- ond was relieved by the Fourth at Cherry Chartreuye, and the Thirty-second by the Twenty eighth, while the Seventy-seventh division took up position on the Vesle The operations of these divisions on the NHynra 1rr,Ia Gen. Robert l.. Bullard commanding
 BATTLE OF ST. -MIHIEL
 With the reduction of the Marne salient we could look forward toAthe concentra- ton of our divisions in our own zone In view of the forthcoming operation against the St. Mihiel salient. which bad long been planned as our first offensive acton on large scale, the First army was organized on August 16 under my personal command. While American units had held different divisional and corps sectors all along the western front. there had not been up to this time, for obvious reasons, distinct American sec tor but in view of the important part the American forces were now to play it was necessary to take over permanent DOT tion of the line. Accordingly, on August 50, the line beginning at Port-sur- Seille, east of the Moselle and ex- tending to the west through St Mihiel thence north to point opposite Verdun, was placed under my command The American sector was afterWard ex- tended across the Mouse to the western edge of the Argonne forest, and included the Second Colonial French corps which held the point of the salient, and the seventeenth French corps which occupied the heights above Verdun
 The preparation for a complicated op- eration against the formidable defenses in front of us included the. assembling Of divisions, and of corps and army artil- lery, transport aircraft, tanks, ambu- lances, the location of hospitals and the moulding together of all the elements of a great modern army, with it's own raiiheads, supplied directly by our own service of supply. The concentration for this operation which was to be a sur prise, involved the movement mostly at night of approximately 600,00O troops, and required for it's success the most care ful attention to every detail.
 The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army artillery, with it's personnel, and we were confident rom the start of our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibres. Our heavy guns were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail movements ~eThe French Independent air force was placed under my command which, together with the British bomb- ing squadrons and our own air forces, gave us the largest assembly of aviators that had ever been engaged in one op- eration on the western front.
 From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient of St. Mihiel to the Mo-