El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-09-30

to fight this way when the war was
entering its fifth year.
st. HIihiel n Picnic.
The spirit OF our army was even
more remarkable than its endurance
It was a young army, a green army,
IL had known no terrible Casualties
st. aIihiel had been a picnic, with only
1000 killed and wounded only the
First and Second divisions had known
casualties such as the British eXpedi-
tiOnary army had endured at Ypres.
And young and fresh IL flung itself
upon weary troops, some OF the best
troops in the world. good divisions
trained by five campaigns, having
shared in many victories, and II wore
them out It did more than wear out
its opponents, its spirit communicated
itself TO the neighboring allies.
do not suppose there is anyone
who viii maintain that Gen. Pershing
is as great a strategist as marshal
Foch, that his military achievements
can be compared with that Of Petain'
whatever might have been the case
had the war lasted another two years.
As for the Meuse-Argonne, great as il
was as a battle and as contribution 10
the common cause, il will hardly rank
with the first Marine in history, or
viii Pershing's share in II compare
with Joffre's part in the 1914 cam
own army far better than the French
OF British could or did and his de-
cision to create an all-American army,
an independent army was. despite the
criticism OF the moment, in my judg-
ment a sound and wise decision
Pershina Understands Value.
Nay, 1918, when the decision was
made, was a time when II was no
longer good Judgment to put fresh
American troops with weary British
ard French, except as the immediate
necessity required. That necessity
was over by the end OF July. Our
troops had been Loyalty turned over
10 our allies. they had fought under
allied generals and supplied the
strength, the main strength necessary
TO turn the tide and restore the often
sive 10 the common cause The dan
ger was over. Moreover, before July
II had been Pershing who had under
stood the immediate value Of his
green troops. their offensive value
and persuaded doubtful allies to make
the trial which ended so successfully.
Legends are hard 70 destroy and the
story Of the Saving Of Paris" by the
Second division. with something less
than deserved recognition of the share
Of the Third division in these days Of
fighting. will probably survive for a
long time. But my judgment is that
will be fixed in history as the help
rendered which made the counter Of
fensive Of July IS possible and sue
cessfuL In this fighting the First
and Second divisions had the most
conspicuous part. but the Third and
And helped stop the German attack
which preceded the counter offensive
while the Fourth, 10th, 2Sth and
32nd shared in the offensive Fol
America it was a battle three or foul
times as costly as st. Mihiel, for Ger
many it was a defeat a thousand
times more costly
Smash Hinden5urg Line.
Again. if one hears in America more
OF Chateau Thierry and BelleaI
woods than Of Very and Bercy-le-
Sec, one hears in Europe. and partic-
ularly among Englishmen, far more
of Bellicourt and the Scheldt Tune
fighting than OF all other engage
ments. The achievement Of the 27tf
and the 30th in the Hindenburg lin'
suffers from the fact It was a detail
in a British operation and American
attention was fixed upon American
troops fighting as an army in Lor
raine Yet America and Australia II
l line smashed straight through the re
doubtable Hindenburg line and left j
far behind in the closing days OF Sep
/ TENDER and IN October the same divis
Z
the same sector.
Measured by statistics the Amer
{ lean expeditionary army took 63,00l
prisoners and lost 1000. It's killed
numbered $4,000, its wounded 236,000
The total loss thus was 100000 with
very slight deductions; this loss rep
resents the casualties from May. wheI
the First went into action in the VI
cinity Of Cantigny, south Of America
until November u, six months OF
fighting, then Since we were attack
ing and the Germans defending pre-
pared positions, we doubtless suffered
greater losses in killed and wounded
but hardly more than would be bal
anced by our excess in prisoners. II
addition we took 1873 cannon and, 81
far as know. did not lose a single
piece. And when the war stopped. we
were only beginning. by the mex
spring we should have had more
troops in line than the Germans could
possibly have mustered.
In Three Big Battles.
Apart from the engagements OF sep
arate divisions. the First at Cantigny
the Second at Belleau Woods and the
Third at Chateau Thierry. with sim
liar operations on the part OF the
9th and 30th at the Hindenburg line
north OF St Quentin, the 32nd at Ju-
vigny, the 37th and 91st in Flanders
etc we fought IN three battles. that
OF the second Marine where we had
eight divisions. under French hiEf
command. St. AIihiel where we en-
gagged nine divisions and had six in