Evening star., 1928-02-12
CHAPTER vi.

~ ERSHING had won his private
war with the British ant
ssn Ssnf1 to s5; sse ns and @eaSsn nSS he he Sat
fought for--an American arm!
under American command, operating
independent on its own front. Oul
allies had been insistent on thelr pro-
gram to use the Americans as replace,
n,ants for their own armies and mac
not heen willing to let us enter the
war as a separate national organlza'
tion Clemenceau. premier OF france
had even gone so far as TO caDie &c
PRESIDENT wilson that Pershing "coulo
not get along" with the Frencn CON-
manders. To them, we were amateurs
at this game of war and not W ut
co,s,dered seriously as soldiers exCep'
,,naer French or English armies. !hey
,.rn,,nsed To use our strength Witnou'
sivirc us any part in the war wnicl
oioht rebound to our national cIea.;
"Black Jack" Pershing had oeIlni.t
program of his own and ne IouE.i'
for It with the same qulet tenaSns
which was later to end the war wiz, .t,n
he VAS allowed to exercise II Oh VIZ
Germans He felt personal fespo..s,,
bilitv for the men who nao loiiomeS =,
him IN france anu AN "",
- onserve that responsibility himself
II. rnew his men. what they expected
~ him and what he might eXpec. Oh
them-and in his mind placing 'heil
,,,dor foreign command was no part
of his responsibility:
The st, Mihiel salient was a spear :
head driven deep into the Frehch Iii'.s ..s
southeast of Verdun. II nad oeen n,
Cerman hands since the first weeks OF
the war in 1914: French attacks mao
ta;led n make any impression on the
German position and now In Septem-
her 1919 It still stood as possloie
German "take-off" for another attempt
n hreak the allied defense on the west
front.
Pershing's First Task.
Reluctantly Foch gave Pershing the
,ask of reducing the ST. Mihiel salient
nerhaps in the belief that failure 70
accomplish this difficult task mlgnt
lead To Pershing's recall and our ac'
centance of allied command.
.As shown in the accompanying map
the airdrome Of the Isl Pursui'
C;roun was n few miles cast OF Rem
b,-court within striking distance OF the
calient and faced its western front
Mai. Marr now commanded the 94th
Aero Squadron. Maj. Peterson the 9otn,
our old friend. Jimmy Meissner. the
147th and Capt A. A. Grant the 21tn,
of which last the taw-headed Frank
Luke was not always tractaoie
member.
We nave already told how Frank
Luke ranged over the lines on Septem-
her u. the day OF Pershing's attack
He wasn't the only American In the
air. IN spite of the bad flying weather
At noon Rickenbacker and Reed Cham
hers took to the air on volunteer
natroI over the s~ene of the battle.
whose roar filled the countryside, As
they passed over the Metz highway thev
saw that 1t was packed with German
trains and troops .hurrying to the rear
Guns. ammunition. stores and men
we're in rapid flight and signs OF con-
fusion were already visible. Although
the American attack had been under
wav only a few hours. both faces of the
salient had caved In and large part
of the German army was In dancer
q. being surrounded and captured. The
two fivers were treated 10 the rare sight
OF a German army In full retreat.
Diving down over the road. Rick"
and Chambers emptied their machine
guns into the horses and men OF
toyo ro3,,r.r of artillery throwing the