Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1920-02-06

made it's first appearance In battle at
this time, while the Fourth division
took up the task of the Forty-second
division and advanced with the Thirty
second to the Vesle river, where, on
Aug. 6, the operation for the reduc-
ton of the Marine salient terminated.
In the hard fighting from July Is to
Aug. 6 the Germans were not only
halted in their advance, but we're
driven back from the Marine to the
Vesle and committed wholly to the
defensive. The force of American
arms had been brought to bear in time
to enable the last offensive Of the en-
envy to be crushed.
The First and Third corps now held
a continuous front of II kilometers
along the Vesle. On Aug. IL the Seven
ty-seventh division relieved the Fourth
division on the First corps front, and
the following day the Twenty-eighth
relieved the Thirty-second division in
the Third corps, while from Aug. 6 to
Aug. 10 the Sixth infantry brigade of
the Third division held a sector on the
river line. The transfer of the First
corps to the Woevre was ordered at
this time, and the control of this front
was turned over to the Third corps.
On August Is Gen. Petain began an
offensive between Rheims and the
Disc. Our Third corps participated in
this operation, crossing the Vesle on
Sept. 4 with the Twenty-eighth and
Seventy-seventh divisions and over
coming stubborn opposition on the pla-
teau south of the Aisne, which was
reached by the Seventy-seventh on
Sept. Z. Two days later the Third
corps was transferred to the region
Of Verdun, the Seventy-seventh divi-
sion remaining in line on the Aisne riv-
er until Sept. II.
The Thirty-second division, upon its
relief from the battle on the Vesle,
Joined French corps north of Sois-
sons and attacked from Aug. % to
81, capturing Juvigny after some
particularly desperate fighting and
reaching the Chauny-Soissons road.
On the British front two regiments
Of the Thirty-third division partici-
pated in an attack on Hamel, July 4,
and again on Aug. as an incident of
the allied offensive against the Amiens
salient. One of these regiments took
Gressaire wood and Chipilly ridge,
capturing 700 prisoners and consider
able material.
Emergency Had Passed.
The. counter offensives against the
Marne salient in July and against the
Amiens salient in August had gained
such an advantage that it was ap-
parent that the emergency, which JUS
titled the dispersion Of our divisions,
had passed. The moment was propi-
tious for assembling our divisions. The
formation of the army in the Chateau
Thiery region and it's early transfer
to the sector of the Woevre, which
was to extend from Nomeny, east of
the Moselle, to north of st. Mihiel, was
therefore decided upon by Marshal
Foch and myself on Aug. 9, and the de-
tails were arranged with Gen. Petain
later on the same Gay.
At Bombon, on July "a, there was
conference of all commanders in chief
for the purpose of considering allied
operations. Each presented proposals
for the employment of the armies IN
der his command and these formed
the basis of future cooperation of
the allies 1t was emphatically deter
mined that the allied attitude should
be to maintain the offensive. AS the
first operation of the American army,
the reduction Of the salient of st.
Mihiel was to be undertaken as soon
as the necessary troops and material
could be made available.
On Aug. 20, b further discussion with
Marshal Foch was held at my head
quarters at Ligny-en-Barrois. At this
meeting it was proposed by Marshal
Foch that the general operations as
far as the American army was con-
cerned should be carried out in detail
by:
e(a) An attack between the Meuse
and the Argonne by the Second French
LILY, AOAuAOASCO ~ AAO" AOuA W Oh
American divisions.
.(b) A French-American attack, ex-
tending from the Argonne west to the
Souain road, to be executed on the
right by an American army astride
the Aisne and on the left by the
Fourth French army.
To carry out these attacks the ten |
to eleven American divisions suggested |
for the St. Mihiel operation and the |
four to six for the Second French army
would leave eight to ten divisions for !
an American army on the Aisne. 1t |
was proposed that the st. Mihiel op- |
GRAFTON should be initiated on Sept. 10 !
and the other two on Sept. Is and 20,
The plan suggested for the Amer
lean participation in these operations
wac not acceptable to me, because it
would require the immediate separa-
lion of the recently formed first Amer
can army into several groups, main
y to assist French armies. This was