Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-02-08
DEVELOPMENT OF NUMEROUS DRAMATIC
PHRASES AND SLOGANS CAUSED LARGELY
BY WAR AND CRISIS IN BIG BATTLES

/ New York.-The war has devel-
oped numerous dramatic phrases,
slogans, terSe epigrams OF laconic
statements. Looking back over the
perspective of four years of fight
ing it appears that the majority of
| these grew out of tense crises n
battle or marked historic moments
when the fate of nations hung IN
| the balance.
Take, for example. the slogan,
| 'They shall not pass" During the
tremendous fighting in front OF
Verdun, when the Germans made
their great desperate drive to brea x
| through the French battle lines in
1916, this saying passed from lip 20
| lip among the French soldiers gath
cred there in a long-draWn battle to
| check the terrific onslaught OF the
! Germans. How it originated is not
| clear. Some have attributed it TO
| Marshal Joffre, others 20 Marshal
Petain, who was in command OF
the French fighting forces at Yer
dun. Others believe the saying
originated with the men in the
ranks At any rate, they adopted
| it and for months while the Ger
mans vainly threw their battaIions
upon the stubbornly defended forts
around the French city, the sayinS,
They shall not pass became Fhe
watchword at Verdun. And they
did not pass.
! To Americans the sententious ut
terance OF Genera! Pcrshing when
| he placed a wreath on the tomb Of
Lafayette in the Picpus cemeter='
/ in Paris conveyed a significance
and an inspiration. Lafayette. We
are here" was all he said, but In
/ the American as well as to tna
| Frenchman it was better than ora
tory. 1t meant to the America,
We are here for business and our
business is to fight" 1t thrilled the
/ hearts of General PershiDg's peO-
pie at home and the mOdesty Of il
filled them with a glow of satisfac-
/ ton.
/ Another dramatic phrase which
stirred the patriotism of the Amer
lean people was that attributed 10
an American commander at Cha
teau Thierry when he responded TO
the advice of French command rs
+ ra.-eat S. declaring "Tnc
I American Jag has been cOmpe ID
to EctiEs mis- S uuoTiU-o he. We
are going to counter attach" tt So
statements have le-L attributed tC
both Major General Robert L. Bui-
lard and to Major General Omar
Bundy. Some observers have re-
garded this incident as the turning
point of the war From that time
the Americans advanced. The vic
tory of Chateau Thierry followed
and thereafter the German army re-
treated.
Vice Admiral William S. Sims,
commanding the American naval
forces in European waters, was
asked, when the first Yankee war
ships arrived in England early in
May, 1917, when will you be ready
for business?" He replied, We can
start at once. We made our prep
arations on the way over"
There was a dramatic moment, a
great crisis in the worlds history,
when General Pershing placed the
American army under the command
of the then General FOch. who had
just been made commander of all
the allied forces, but none of the
phrases that General Pershing used
were widely quoted as epigrammat-
ic. One which might so have been
selected was the words, "All that
we have are yours. Dispose of
them as you will"
The retort of Major Charles Whit
tlesey, commander of the lost bat
talon" of the American army in
the Argonne forest, when the Ger
mans surrounded his isolated com
mand and their commander de-
manded it's surrender, was one of
the wars historic phrases. Go to
hell" he replied.