The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-02

barely meet the requirements of their own armies.
 It should be fully realized that the French government has always taken most liberal attitude, and has been most anxious to give us every possible assist ance in meeting our deficiencies in these as well as in other respects. Our de- pendence upon France for artillery, avia tion and tanks was, of course, due to the fact that our industries had not been exclusively devoted to military produc- ton. All credit is due to our own man ufacturers for their efforts to meet our requrments, as at the time the armistice was signed we were able to look forward to the early supply of practically all our necessities from our own factories.
 WELFARE OF THE TROOPS
 The welfare of the troops touches my responsibility as commander in chief to the mothers and fathers and kindred of the men who came to France in the inl- questionable period of youth. They could not have the privilege accorded Euro pean soldiers during their periods of leave of visiting their families and renewing their home ties. Fully relaxing that the standard of conduct that should be es- tablished for them must have a perma- nent influence on their lives and on the character of their future citizenship, the Red Cross, the Young Mems Christian as sociation, the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, and the Jewish Welfare board. as auXilaries in this work, were encouraged in every possible way. The fact that our soldiers, in land of diff ferent customs and languages, have borne themselves in a manner In keep ling with the cause for which they fought. is due not only to the efforts in thelr behalf, but much more to their high ideals, their discipline and their innate sense of self respect. It should be re- corded, however, that the members or these welfare societies have been untir- ing in their desire to be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of these representative men and women has given a new significance to the Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.
 During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions hao engaged the enemy in local com bats the r1ost important of which was Seicheprey by the Twenty-siXth on April 20. in the Toul sector, but none had participated in action as unit. The First division. Which had passed through the preliminary stages or training, had gone to the trenches for it's first period of instruction at the end of October, and by March 21, when
  gan. we had four divisions with eN- perience in the trenches, all of which were equal to any demands Of battle action The crisis which this offensive developed was such that our occupation of an Amerincan sector must be- post poned.
 On March 2S I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch who had been agreed upon as commander in chief of the al lied armies, all of our forces, to be used as he might decide. At his request the First division was transferred from the Toul sector to position in reserve at Chaumont zen -Nexin, As German su- perority in numbers required prompt action. an agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the allied pre- miers and commanders and myself on May by which British shipping was to transport 10 American divisions to the British army area, where they were to be trained and equipped, and addi- tional British shipping was to be pro- vided for as many divisions as possi- ble for use elsewhere.
 On April 26 the First division had gone into the line in the Montdider salient on the Picardy battle front Tac- tics had been suddenly revolutionized to those of open warfare and our men confident of the results of their training were eager for the test. On the morn ing of Max 2s this division attacked the commanding German position in it's front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny and all other ob- jectives which were organized, and held steadfastly against vicious counter at tacks and gallng artillery fire. All thought local, this brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it demonstrated our fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and also that the en- a n vincible.
 1.-The Germans Aisne offensive, which toward the River Marne and Paris and the allies faced crisis equally as grave as that of the Picardy offensive in March. Again every available man was placed at Marshal Fochs disposal and the Third division, which had just come from it's preliminary training area was hurried to the Marne. Its machine gun battalion pre- ceded the other units, and success 1 fully held the bridgehead at the Marne l opposite Chateau Thierry. The Second division, in reserve near Montdider l was sent by motor trucks and other | available transport to check the prog | ress of the enemy toward Paris. The | division attacked and retook the town | and railroad station at Bouresches and | held it's ground against the l enemy's best guard divisions. In the | battle of Belleau wood which followed | our men proved their superiority, and | gained strong tactical position with far greater loss to the enemy than to | ourselves. On July 1, befort the Second | was relieved, 1t captured the villaee