Omaha daily bee., 1919-06-15

| udySs
There were chateaux in La-Ferte-
sous-J ouarre, and broad roads shad-
ed with mighty trees; the weather
was warm and the air sweet and
sparkling like old wine. And il
you had luck you got a hot bath
and hair cut; and if you were an
officer with an automobile, you
could steal into Paris and grab off
a couple of fancy meals and see the
places where the bright lights used
to be-
| But La-Ferte-sous-J ouarre with
Paris in touring distance was too
Igood to last On August II the
division was loaded into cars
marked "Hommes 40, Chevaux g.
land rolled off to the Bourmont area
1t was booked for a period of in
tensive training"
! Bourmont was on the road be-
tween Langres and Neufchateau
where the people were friendly and
the food pretty plentiful. You could
buy extras for the mess, like creamy
old caembert and-well, especially
creamy old caembert-at moder-
ate prices. It was beautiful coun-
try, too-hilly and green, and for
dignity of proportions, prodigality
Of distribution and richness of scent,
| its manure heaps were the finest the
Rainbow division had seen.
Officers Shifted About.
Here, beyond the sound of guns
far the first time since February, the
Rainbow reveled in the nearest
thing to rest that it had during
the whole of its career in France.
All it had to do was study every
branch of open warfare, with special
emphasis on the attacking of ma
chine-gun nests by advancing in
fantry accompanied by machine
guns and light artillery. On the
Oureq, it had rehearsed this thing
for six days with more or less as
sistance toward the achievement OF
proficiency by the half of the flow
er OF the German army. But here
it got a polish, an expertness that
proved valuable later on.
The division stayed in Bourmont
until August so. Immediately after
the battle of the Ourcq, while it was
still in reserve important changes
had taken place in staff and in the
line.
Col. Douglass Macarthur the
chief Of staff, had been made brig
adier-general and put in command
OF. the 84th Infantry brigade, COM
prising the Alabama and Iowa in
fantry regiments, and the Georgia
machine-gun battalion. Lieut. Col.
William N. Hughes had been pro-
NOTED from the position of G-3, or
divisional chief of operations, to
chief of staff. Major Grayson M.
P. Murphy became G-3. Capt. Rob
ert J. Gill, commander of the Trench
Mortar battery from Maryland, was
promoted to the grade of major and
became Gil, or assistant chief OF
staff, succeeding COL J. w. Bea-
cham. Maj. Stanley M. Rumbough,
adjutant- of the Saith brigade, and
Capt Walter G. Wolf, assistant to
G-3, changed places.
Gap in Ranks Filled.
/ Requirements, those freshly arriv-
ed, untried soldiers at whose advent
the veteran survivors of hard battles
look askance, and without whom no
division could continue its career as
a division, came to the Rainbow in
great numbers. The gaps in the
ranks were filled. Lost and battle
Scared equipment was replaced by
new, up-to-date fighting material.
The Rainbow division, in sort Of
new Camp. Mills, having found its
fighting spirit in the field, now was
being made ver-getting its second
wind, so to speak.
| For great things were in the air.
Other divisions besides the Rainbow
were coming into this Bourmont
area-most of them veterans also
| for intensive training, requirements
and new equipment. It was the
gathering Of the First American
army. The helter-skelter group OF
American divisions likely to be
Thrown into the line anywhere wa;
a thing of the past. On the sol
| of France a real army had been
born to the United States. The
Rainbow division was part Of it.
j Greater still. this army was about
| to start, on its own initiative and re-
! sponsibility, without help or counsel
| from the armies of the other allies,
an offensive against the German
| line. The Rainbow division was to
| be in It.
| It was strange fact, but it is
actually fact. that the French civil
lians told the American soldiers
labout this offensive before they
heard it from their own command
ers. They even professed to know
accurately where the thrust was to
be made. They said it would be
made at St. Mihiel and they were
right.
| The first American army was 60
ling to try to repeat in the old Lor-
rainA salient what had inst han