Gunnison news-champion., 1920-01-23

"~'se'"1 1rs< tcay tuipoftaut- a.
American army VAS an accomplished
fact. and the enemy had felt its power.
No form Of propaganda could over
come the depressing effect on the
mornle OF the enemy Of this demon-
Stration Of our ability to organize q
large American force and drive u sue
cesSfully through his defen<es. II gave
our troops implicit confidence In their
superiority and raised their morale to
the highest pitch. For the first time
wire entarriements ceased TO be re-
garded as impossible barriers and
open-warfare training. which hnd been
20 urgently insisted upon. proved TO be
the correct doctrine. Our divisions
concluded the attack with such small
losses and In such high spirits that
without the usual rest they were Inn
meiiately available for employment 10
heavy nghtine In . new theater OF op-
erationA The strength of the frst
army 10 this hattie totsied approx
msteiy 100000 men. Of whom about
10000 were French.
immevabls since SStA.
The Aeuse-Argonne front had been
practically stabilized In September.
1914. and. except for minor fluctuations
during the German attacks on yertiun
In 1915 and the French countey ofYen-
sive 10 August. 1917. remained un.
changed until the American advance In
1918 The net result Of the four years'
struggle on this. ground was n German
defensive system OF unusual depth and
strength and wide zone OF utter dey-
astation. itself serious obstacle TO
offensive operations.
The strategicai Importance OF this
portion Of the line was second 10
none on the western front. All sup
plies and evacuauons Of the German
armies In northern France were de-
pendent upon two great railway sys-
tems-one IRthe north. passing through
Liege. while the other In the south.
with lines coming from Luxemburg.
Thlonville and Metz. had as its Vital
section the line Carignan- Sedan Mez-
ieres. No other important lines were
available to the enemy. as the noun
taInous masses Of the Ardennes made
the construction Of east and west lines
through that region impracticabie.
Begin Victorious Advance.
On the night Of September 25 the
nine divisions to lead In the attack
were depioyed between the Meuse
river and the western edge Of the Ar
Gonne forest. On the right vas the
Third corps. Major General Bullard
commanding. with the Thirty-third,
EightIeth and Fourth divisions In line !;
next came the Fifth corps. Major Gen.
erai Cameron commanding. with the
Seventy-ninth. Thirty-seventh and
NInety-first divisions: on the left was
the First corps. Major General LIggett
commanding. with the Thirty-hfth.
Twenty-eIghth and Seventy seventh d.
vision. Each corps had one division ID
reserve and the army held three dIvi.
sions As q general reserve. About
2.700 guns. lS0 small tanks. 142
manned by Americans. and 621 air
planes. 604 manned by Americans.
were concentrated to support the at.
tack Of the infantry. We thus had
superiority In guns and aviation. and
the enemy had no tanks.
Following three hours Of violent ar
illery fire Of preparation the infan.
try advanced mt $50 a. m. on Scptem-
ber 20. accompanied by tnnks. Dur.
ing the first two days Of the attack. be-
fore the enemy was able 10 bring up
his reserves. our troops made steady
progress through the network Of the
defenses. Montfsrcon was held tena-
ciOusly by the enemy and was not cap
tured until noon Of the second day.
The attack continued without In.
terruption. meeting six new divisions
which the enemy threw into FIRST line
before September .. He developed
. powerful machine gun defense sup
ported by teavy artillery fire. and
made frequent counter-attacks with
fresh troops. particularly on the
front Of the Twenty eighth and Thirty.
NTH divisions. These divisions had
taken varennes. Cheppy. Baulny and
Charpentry. and the line was within
two kilometers Of Apremont. We were
no longer engaged in . maneuver for
the pinching out Of salient. but were
necessarily committed, generally speak
Ing. to q direct frontal attack against
strong. hostile positions fully manned
BY q determined enemy.
At $50 a. M. October 4. the gen.
eral attack was renewed. The enemy
divisions on the ffont from Fresnes-en-
Woevre to the Argonne had increased
from ten In. nrst line to sixteen, and
Included some Of his best divisions.
The fighting was desperate and only
small advances were realized. except
BY the hrst division on the right Of
the First corps.
On the 7th the First corps. with the
Eighty-second division added. launched
strong attack toward Cornay. to
draw attention from the movement
east Of the Meuse and at the same
time ont a rk kho Y~~vnor v,c,ftt<,v. In