The Lamar register., 1919-12-31

desperate battle Of our history. and
the burden Of command was too heavy
FOR single commander and stan
Therefore on October IL thar portion
of our front extending from Port-sur
Seille. east of the Moselle, to Fresnes-
en-Woevre, southeast Of verdun. was
transferred to the newly constituted
Second army with Lieut.. Gen. Robert
l.. Bullard In command under whom
1t began preparations for the exten.
sion OF operations to the east in the
direction Of Briey and Metz. On Oc
tober l6 the command of the Firsi
army was transferred to Lieut.. Gen
Hunter Liggett. and my advance head
quarters was established at Ligny-en-
Barrois, from which the command OF
the group of American armies was ex-
ercised.
Summarizing the material results
which had been attained by the First
army by the end OF October we had
met an increasing number Of Ger
many's best divisions. rising from ~
in line and reserve on September 26
to 81 on October 81; the enemy's elnb-
orntely prepared positions. Including
the iiindenburg line, In our front had
been broken; the almost impu ssnhle
Argonne forest was In our hands; an
advance Of 81 kilometers had been ef.
fected; $4,000 prisoners, 800 cannon.
1000 machine guns and mass Of ma
terial captured; and the great railway
artery through CariEnan to Sedan was
now seriously threatened.
On the morning Of November
three army corps were In line between
the Meuse river and the Bois de Bour-
gogne. Preceded by two hours of vIo-
lent artillery preparation the Infantry
advanced, closely followed by accom-
panying guns"
By nightfall the Fifth corps In the
center. had realized an advance Of nl-
most nine kilometers. to the Bots lie
Ia Folie. and had completed the cap
ture of the heights OF Bnrricourt.
while the Third corps on the right,
had captured Aincreville and Ande-
vanne. our troops had broken through
the enemy's last defense. captured his
artillery positions and had precipi-
tated n retreat of the German forces
about to be isolated In the forest
north of Grandpre.
The following day the advance con
tinued toward Sedan with increasing
swiftness
Munitions.
Our entry into the war found us
with few of the suXiliaries necessary
for Its conduct In the modern sense.
The task OF the ordnance department
In supplying artillery was especially
difilcult. In order to meet our require
ments as rapidly as possible we sc-
cepted the offer OF the French govern
ment to supply us with the artillery
equipment OF 75s. 1855 nm. howitzers
and 1855 @. X. r. guns from their own
factories for 30 divisions. The wis
dom OF this course was fully demon
strated by the fact that although We
soon began the manufacture OF these
classes OF guns at home there were
no guns of American manufacture Of
the calibers mentioned on our front at
the date Of the armlstIcs.
The only guns OF these types pro
duced at home which reached France
before the cessation OF hostilities were
100 rs MN. guns.
In addition "a s-Inch howItzers from
the United States reached our front
and were In use when the srmistics
was signed. Eight l4-inch naval guns
of American manufacture were set up
on railroad mounts. and most OF these
were successfully employed on the
Meuse-Argonn- front under the Ell
cIent direction of Admiral Plunkett OF
the navy.
Aviation.
In aviation we were entirely de
pendent upon our allies. and here
again the French government came to
our aid until our own program could
be set under way. Without going into
complete discussion OF aviation ma
terlal IL will be sufficient to state that
1t was with great difficulty that We OBJ
tanned equipment even for training.
As for up-to-date combat planes. the
development at home was slow and
we had to rely upon the French. who
provided US with total of 2.676 pur-
suit. observation and bombing ma
chimes.
The first airplane received from
home arrived in May. and altogether
we received 1879 planes OF the De
Haviland type. The first American
..