Evening star., 1919-09-28


Meuse-Arsonne operation it was the
only army on either side of the
hriny lire which would have faced
such a trial. They faced it, more
over. under conditions which made 1t
much more dificult than it would
have been for any other army, for
IT was their first really great battle.
ST. Mihiel had been q local operation.
brilliant. but with strictly limited
was something different. 1t has been
compared to the battle Of the Wilder
ness. but there were no machine guns
ut the Wilderness.
Contour Favored Defense.
1t is necessary to see the country
to appreciate what the task was. By
comparison, the rest OF the line, west
except in the vosges are there so
many forests. which supplied cover
Tor German machine gun nests and de-
tense organizations. Thickets. swamps,
rivers, even hills sometimes ap-
preaching mountains in height-these
From September 26 to November
we struggled on through line of de-
fense after line. systems and support
positions. 1t was the sort Of pound
ing which other armies had taken. In
their turn. Our men did not hight
better. more sturdily than the Brit
ish. nor the French two or three
years before, than the Germans at
Eerdun; but the point is that there
should be an army in Europe willing
to fight this way when the war was
entering its fifth year.
st. Mihiel a Picnic.
The spirit of our Army was even
more remarkable than its endurance.
It was young Army. a green Army.
II had known no terrible casualties;
81: Mihiel had been a picnic. with
only 1000 killed and wounded. Only
the 1st and I'd Divisions had known
casualties such as the British ex-
peditionary army had endured at
xpres And, young and fresh. it flung
itseh upon weary troopss some of the
visions. trained by nve campaigns,
having shared in many victories. and
It wore them out. 1t did more than
wear out its opponents; it's spirit
communicated itself to the neigh
do not suppose there IL any one
who will maintain that Gen. Pershing
is as great q strategist as Marshal
Foch, that his military achievements
can be compared with those of Petain,
whatever might have been the case
had the war lasted another two years
AS for the Meuse-Argonne, great a.
1t was as .. battle, and - q contribu-
tion 10 the common cause. it will
hardly rank with the first Marne in
history, not win Pershing's share in it
compare with Joffre's part in the
1914 campaign. Yet Pershine under
French OF British could or did and
his decision to create an All-American
Army, IN Independent army, was, de-
spite the criticism Of the moment, in
my Judgment a sound and wise de-
cision-
Americas Important Part.
May. 1918. when the decision was
made WAS a time when it was no
lcnssr s. good ,a.jne 5udsmsnnt sn to put & fresh
and French. except ~ the immediate
necessity required. That necessity
was over by the end of July. Our
troops had been loyalty turned over
to our allies. they had fought under
strengfh-the main strength-neces-
sary TO turn the tide and restore the
offensive to the common cause. The
dan9er was over. Moreover, before
July 1t had been Pershing who had
understood the Immediate value Of
al8. SBI0C0 G1OVP2s VAASAtoAv .
value and persuaded doubtful allies
to make the trial. which ended so
successfully.
Legends are hard to destroy and
the story Of the saving Of Paris" by
the Cd Division. with something less
share of the Sd Division in these
days Of lighting, VIII probably sur
yiye for q long time But my judg-
ment is that the decisive contrtbu-
tion of America will be dxed In his
tory as the help rendered which made
the counter offensive Of July IL pos
sible and successful.
Had Conspicuous Part
In this fghtins the 1st and I'd di-
visions had the most conspicuous
mart. but the I'd and 42d helped stop
the German attack which preceded
the counter offensive, while the 4th.
&sth, x2Sth and 32d shared In the OF
fensiye. For America 1t was q battle
three or four times as costly as st.
Nihiei; for Germany 1t was a defeat
Q thousand times more costly.
Again. II one hears in America more
than Of vierzy and Bercy-le-Sec. one
bears in Europe. and particularly
among the Englishmen. far more OF
Bellfncourt and the Sheldt tunnel
flghting than of all other engage
ments. The achievement OF the 9th
and the 30th in the Hindenburg line
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 In
line smashed straight through the re-
doubtabie Hindenburg line and left 1t
far behind in the closing days OF
september, and in October the same
divisions fought with equal gallantry
on the same sector.
Statistics Of A. z. =.
Meaaured by statistics the American