Republican farmer., 1919-04-25
CHATEAU THIERRY VICTORY SAVED
 ALLIED CAUSE

l New York, April 24-According to 1 Col. R. H. c. Kelton of the general
 staff of the army, the repulse of the Boche at Chateau Thierry took place 1 when Allied morale was at it's lowest i ebb, when hope was almost gone, and 1 the victory there was nothing short 1 of miraculous in It's effect on all the l Entente soldiers. Colonel Kelton, who was at the time chief of staff of | the Third Division of the A. E. F. 1 and so in the thickest of the fighting. ! contributes his story of The Miracle 1 of Chateau Thierry'' to the May Cen
 tury.
 A series of disasters led up to Cha 1 teau Thierry. Russia had made a separate peace. likewise Roumania, Serbia had been overrun; the Italians
 were crushed and their front hal al | tered from an asset to a. liability. In l Colonel Kelton's words, '"The success | of the Germans in the big drive in | the North-Picardy in March, Fland- CTS in April-brough the Allied nor 1 ale lower than before, and Sir Dou- 1 glas Haig issued an order in which he said. we are fighting with our I'backs to the wall"
 1 ''The Chateau Thierry Drive oc- 1 cured in the last week of May. and i matters looked desperate. All the big 1 industrial concerns near Paris engag- 1 ed in the, manufacture of ammunition l and war material were moving their i plants to points south of Paris as i fast as available transportation would 1 permit. All government bureaus and all banks Iabored with records and ! cd and ready for flight at a moments notice The situation seemed hope 1 less to some and serious to all
 Finally on the evening of July 4, prisoners were captured who stated i that the attack would take place that
 very night at midnight. The front of l attack extended from the town of 1 Gland to the Montague de Rheims. Thus it happened that the Third United States Division stood in the l pathway of the Boche at the western l extremity of his attack while the 42nd ] Division occupied the centre of the sector The defense made by these
 two American Divisions on the 18th 1 of July was of critical importance and that of the Third Division is per 1 haps the more remarkable because 1t i had received no training in trench i sectors in France, and very little
 even in it's training area wholly out
 of contact with the enemy.
 s"The defeat of this German attack land the magnificent counter offensive 1 drive initiated on July IS may well i be called the demonstration of a mir acIe, for in those three days the i morale of all the Allies had been born anew. - The German high 1 Command was bewildered; they had counted it an easy step in their oper- ations toward Paris and ultimate vic 1 tory. HertIing, the German Chan | celIor, three days before his death stated he was convinced on July l
 1918, that the Allies would propose 1 peace before September He said | We expected grave events in Paris by the 18th of July. But on the 18th | the most optimistic of us knew that all was lost The history of the world was played out in those three days"
 .sAs the months of 1918 passed by, and only six divisions (of Americans) 1 were in France when the German of
 fensive opened. the opinion was often | expressed. and repeated, the -Ameri-
 cans are too late and hope was al most gone But when on July 16 the news was spread that green A1neri- can troops has succeeded in admin istering a crushing defeat to massed i Herman attack, the Allies suddenly found that instead of merely prom ise for the future, they had ready al their side the reality of the American 1 military strength. If unseasoned American troops could fight like that | then 25 divisions were available and the hope of victory and the will to
 conquer burned again with an un- ouenchable flame, for the war could still be won.