Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-12-16
The American Job in 1918.

Gen. Pershings report to Secretary
Baker. outlining the record of the
American expeditionary force, pays a
very high tribute to the valor and the
capacity of the men who went over
seas from this country. This report
should be read in every part of the
country as token of the appreciation
the government feels for the sacrifices
and services of the American citizens
who responded to the call to duty.
Though modestly refraining from
the direct assertion that the American
troops formed the decisive factor in
the war, Gen. Pefshing in his report
gives ample evidence that such was
the case. 1t is not for our command
Iers or our soldiers, however, to assert
this. 1t rests with others to judge the
part which the American forces played
in the great victory Of 1918. Such a
one has only lately come forward with
testimony on this point. Maj. Gen.
Sir F. Maurice, formerly director of
military operations of the British
staff, has in a work entitled, "The Last
Four Months; How the War Was
WOn." reviewed the story Of Foch's
wonderful campaign that drove the
Germans to the point of surrender.
In his summary of the causes Of vic
tory, paying tribute to Foch's great
genius, he says:
81 doubt If, even after the second
battle of the Marine, there was a sim
gle allied general who believed that
it would be possible for a great Ameri
can Army to force its way triumphant
ly through the German lines. Many
of the American divisions who fought
in those last battles which brought us
victory went into action with little
or no experience of trenches and none
at all of the hell on earth which con-
stitutes a modern battle.
Neither the American generals NOR the
American stats had had experience in
fitting together the numerous parts of
the military machine or in handling
large bodies OF troops. For all these
reasons q great attack by American
troops against intact German defenses
on the most difficult part of the front
was bold experiment. It was one
thing to obliterate the st. Mihiel sail
ent in thirty hours, to stop the Ger
man rush at the Marine, or even to
drive the Germans from the Marine to
the Vesle in cooperation with allied
troops. 1t was quite another matter
to fight continuously on a front of
some twenty miles for close on fifty
days, through line after line of Ger
man trenches, in a battle which en-
tailed the employment of nearly three
quarters of million American troops.
1t was done because America placed
the pick Of her splendid manhood in
the field, and that manhood went ahead
at the job in front of it without count
ing the cost. BY doing its Job it gave
US victory in 1915"
In Gen. .Pershing's report is a sum.
mary of how that job was done. 1t
makes a thrilling story, though the de-
tails are only sketehed and the broad
outlines alone can be given. Every
American soldier who went overseas
contributed to the result, whether he
was in the front lines, or was in re.
serve. or was in training. or was do,
ing ono Of the numberless things that
had to be done behind the lines and
at the ports and on the seas to enable
Pershing's men to 60 through tho Ar
gonne and break the hinge of the Ger
man line in those last fatsful weeks.