Evening star., 1925-05-24

| MERlCA'S participation in the
~ World War lasted a few days
~ more than Is months. For IL
4 \ months after the breaking of
relations with the central pow
| ers and the actual entry into the war,
| no American action took place on the
| battle front, except the occupation of
| a sector on two occa Sions by the LIST
Division, and the entry into line of the
| End, 26th and 42nd Divisions for train
ing purposes. AS consequence, only
one date in the whole course Of our
participation obtained a real oppor-
| tunity to shine on two occasions, and
| 1t is safe to state that, If America
| were given to naming streets for
dates, as do our French friends, May
| 2S would be we'll remembered by
\ now in many communities.
Two of the really momentous hap
penings of our share of the war fell
on May %. A reversal on either occa-
sion would have spelled disaster to our
| cause, and might have had. would
| have had, a serious effect on the win
ming of the war. The happenings were
! just a year apart. the first event oc-
curing in 1917 and the second in 1918.
| Neither was heralded beforehand, be-
cause it was necessary to keep the ad-
| vance information out of the hands of
| the central powers, and more especial
1
On May %, 1917, Maj. Gen. (as he
was them John j. Pershing, together
| with about 125 officers, Army field
| clerk, non-commissioned officers and
| men, sailed out of New York harbor
| bound for England. and, eventually,
France, the forerunners of the Ameri-
| can expeditionary force, that force
which was to be the deciding factor in
| the final outcome of the war. The
| steamship selected was the Baltic, of
| the White Star Line. and every eff
| fort was made to keep the fact of
Gen. Pershing's sailing from the pub
| lic These efforts were successful, and
1t was not until the voyage had been
completed that news of it reached the
| world 1t is probable that, had the
German high command known of this
| trip in advance, every effort would
have been made to sink the Baltic.
And the torpedo that found her as
| target would have been the most
profitable shot Of the whole war, for
| it would have made all of the diff
| ference in the world both as to Amerl-
cas- participation and the number or
| troops that would lave been sent
| abroad, and in the actual direction or
those troops after they arrived In
France. Included in Gen. Pershing s
party were some of the foremost fig
ures in the American Army as 1t took
it's place on the battle line.
A quick review of the personnel
that went over on the Baltic reveals
the following names of men who are
we'll known in Washington, and who
held key positions in the A. E. F.:
Mai. Gen. John L. Hines, chief of staff
of the Army, who was then a major
and adjutant general Gen. Hines dur
| ing the campaign commanded the
18th Infantry and the 1st Infantry
Brigade of the 1st Division, the 4th
Division and the Sd Corps, the only
officer to go from regimental COM
| mand to corps command In the
| A. E. FL; Maj. Gen. Dennis E. Nolan,
deputy chief of staff of the Army,
then a major of infantry, destined
to become G-2, or the Military Intel
ligence of the A. E. F.; Brig. Gen. Fox
| Conner, who became Ga, or Opera
| tions of the A. E. F., and who Is
now one of the assistant chiefs Of
staff of the War Department general
staff; Brig. Gen. Samuel d. Rocken-
bach, now commanding the District
of Washington, but then a major, and
slated for command of the tank forces
of the A. E. F.; Maj. Gen. E. M.
Lewis, now in Hawaii, and recently
the defender of the islands against
the attack of the combined sea forces
of the United States in the great war
game of 1925; Maj. Gen. Andre w.
Brewster, commanding general of the
1st Corps Area, with headquarters In
Boston, but then a colonel who be-
came inspector general of the A. E. F.
Brig. Gen. Benjamin Alvord, who was
the first adjutant general of the
A. E. F., and who now lives in
Washington, retired from the Army;
Maj Gen. George o. Squier, who was
chief signal officer of the A. E. F., and
who now lives in Washington, having
retired as a major general after four
years service as chief signal officer
of the Army; Maj. Gen. Merritte w.
Ireland. then a colonel, Medical Corps,
who became surgeon general of the
A. E. F., and is now surgeon gen.
eral of the Army; Maj. Gen. Walter
general of the A. E. F., and who re-
Gently retired from the Army after
having been judge advocate general
of the Army for four years.
x X X X
IWHAT a prize for a German sub
w marine to hang up! But the
| voyage of Gen. Pershing was kept Sc
cret, not wholly because of the safe
guards placed about the channels of
news in those days, but because the
distinguished officer, who had recently
commanded the punitive expedition
into Mexico after Pancho Villa, and
who had won his spurs before that IN
the Philippine Islands, was not re-
garded as being worthy of constant
espionage by the multitude of German
spies in and around Washington in
the early days Of 1917. The directors
of the spy system had accurately esti
mated the condition of the War De
partment, headed as it was by a man
who was counted as pacifist. and
who had as his chief of staff one OF
the Oldest officers in the Army, both
in years and length of service. The
Germans believed that there were no
plans in existence to meet the situa
ton that had arisen; that there would
be a great amount of delay due to the
more or less confusing ideas known to
exist among the officers of the General
Staff as it was then constituted; and
it was thoroughly believed blythe Ger
mans that no troops could be dis.
patched to France for months, If at
all. What the spies did not find out.