Gunnison news-champion., 1920-01-16
Raised Delicate ouessIsna

Raised Delicate ouessisna
The various proposals during these
conferences regarding priority Of ship
ment. often very insistent. raised Ques.
lions that were not only most difiicult
but most delicate. On the one hand.
there was a critical situation which
must be met by Immediate action.
while. on the other hand. any priority
accorded q particular arm necessarily
postponed the formation Of distinc-
tive American fighting force and the
means to supply II. Such . force was.
In my opinion. absolutely necessary to
win the war. A few OF the allied rep
resen,atives became convinced that the
American services Of supply should not
be neglected hui should be developed
IN the common interest. The success
Of our divisions during May and June
demonstrated fully that II was not
necessary to draft Americans under
foreign flags In order TO utilize Amer.
lean manhood most effectively.
When. on March n. 1918. the Ger.
man army on the western front hegnn
its series Of ofensives. II was by far
the most formidable force the world
had ever seen. In fighting men and
guns II had n great superiority. Out
this was Of less importance than the
advantage In morale. In experience. In
training for mobile warfare. and In
unity Of command Ever since the col.
lapse Of tn. Russian armies and The
crisis on the Italian front In the fall
Of 1917. German armies were being as.
sembled and trained for the grca, cnm
paign which was to end the war before
Americas effort could be brought to
bear. Germany's best troops. her most
successful generals and all the expert.
ence gained in three years Of war were
wobiIized for the supreme effort.
The first blow fell on the right Of
the British armies. including the juno
dou OF the British and French f0rces.
Only the prompt cooperation OF the
French and British general headquar-
ters stemmed the tide. The reason for
this objective was obvious. anJ strik.
ingiy Illustrated the necessity for hav-
Ing some one with sufficient authority
over all the allied armies to meet such
an emergency.
Ressrvss Wsrs Lacking
The lack Of complete cooperation
among the allies on the western front
had been>appreciated and the question
Of preparation to meet q crisis had
already received attention BY the 80.
preme war council. a plan had been
adopted BY which each Of the allies
would furnish q certain number Of d.
visions for general reserve to be un-
Ger the direction Of the military repre-
sentatives Of the supreme war council.
Of which Gen. Foch was then the
senior member. But when the time
came to meet the German offensive In
March these reserves were not found
svstlshte s~4s the oisr salted
The situation resulted In . con
ference for the Immediate considefa-
tion Of the question Of having an al-
He'd commander in chief. After much
discussion. during which my view fa.
vOring such action was clearly stated.
an agreement was reached and Gen
eral Foch was selected. His appelnt-
ment n such was made April 3 and
was approved for the United States
By the president on April 10.
The grave crisis precipitated by the
Arst German offensive caused me 10
make hurried visit to General Foch's
headquarters nj Bombon. during which
al our c0mhafant forces were placed
at his disposal. The acceptance Of
this offer meant the dispersion Of our
troops along the allied front and .
consequent delay In building up dis.
tinctive American force in lorrs me.
but the serious situation Of the allies
demanded this divergence from our
plans.
On March q approximately 100000
American troops had reached France.
Four combat divisions. equivalent In
strength to eight French Or British
divisions. were available.
Tsek cantIsny hssshfa
On April . the FfrSt division -
Meved two French divisions on the
front near Monfdidief aud on May Is
captured the important observation
stations on the heights Of Cantigny
with splendId dash. Preach artillery.
aviation. tanks and Aame throwera
aided n the stack. bit msst q this
rreneh assistance vas withdrawn ne
6ure the Sompletioe q the operation
n opdsr to- meet the snemy's new Of
1susive Launched My q % ChataaH
1hiesry. The enemy reaction against
sqr trosDs At Caniigny was extremely