The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-08-20
CHAPTER XVIII

| larger program OF one hunQred Qlvl-
sions to be completed by July, 1919.
CHAPTER XVIII
Republication and completion Of
three corps headquarters and staff or
CARNATIONS occupied my attention the
last week of June, 1918.
Twelve of our divisions were then
| either in line or in reserve behind the
French, five were in training in rear
Of the British army. Of those with
the French, seven were concentrated
in the vicinity of Villers- Cotterets and
Chateau-Thierry, between the French
front and Paris.
The British seemed to think the
French unduly nervous about the safe
ty of Paris, and that Foch was hold
ing a greater proportion of American
troops behind the French lines than
necessary. They believed there was a
strong probability of another attack
against their front, and felt General
Foch was not paying enough attention
to their situation. However, they
probably did not realize that coun-
teroffensive was contemplated on this
front should the occasion present it.
self.
Corps Headquarters Organized.
The First corps headquarters, Or
! ganized in January under Maj. Gen.
Hunter Liggett, with Col. Malin Craig
as chief of staff, had become smooth
ly working machine ready for active
service anywhere, but events had
moved so swiftly there had been no
opportunity for the assembly Of d.
visions. With the increasing size Of
our army it was evident that greater
number of divisions would be able to
take part in operations at earlier
dates than we had thought possible.
Consequently, the organization of the
| Second, Third and Fourth corps head
quarters was at once completed.
The Second corps, Maj. Gen. George
Read commanding, with Col. George
Simonds as chief of staff, and limit
ed number of staff officers. was charged
with matters of administration and
| command pertaining to the divisions
behind the British front. The Third
corps, temporarily under Maj. Gen.
William NJ. Wright, Col. Alfred Born
stad, chief of staff, continued to super
wise training of divisions serving in
| the Vosges area. The Fourth corps
was temporarily under the corps chief
Of staff, Col. Stuart Heintzelman, with
headquarters at Toul. By the actual
constitution Of these corps they were
expected soon to become efficient
enough to handle units in operations.
French Hospitals Deficient.
! As to hospitals, when our troops be-
! came suddenly engaged in the Cha
| teau-Thierry region we had to rely
largely upon the assistance Of the
French to care for our wounded. AL
though they had given us every assur-
ance that hospital arrangements for
those operations would be complete,
and without question did their best, it
! was only through the mobile hospitals
we had organized that we were able
to give our casualties proper attention.
In extenuation of the French fail
ure to take care of our casualties prop
erly it must be said that when the
| Germans swept over the Chemin des
Danes to Chateau-Thierry the French
lost $4,000 beds, included in some of
their best equipped hospitals. We had
fol- hot NTH
limited transportation found it diff
cult to supplement the scant French
| facilities. In fact, the situation as to
| hospital accommodations for our
| troops was about to reach a critical
stage.
In this connection a cable was actu-
! ally submitted by Mr.. Casper Whitney
from the New York Tribune which was
| scathing in it's denunciation of our
| medical department. The censor i'm
sentatives at my headquarters, and
| General Ireland, the chief surgeon, re-
uuested an investigation. which was at
once carried out by the chief of the
inspector generals corps, General
| Brewster. Mr.. Whitney was asked to
be present at all the hearings, and
when the actual facts were brought
out, showing the efficiency of the medi-
cal department, he was most apollo
getic and thereafter was an enthusi-
astic supporter Of the wisdom of the
censorship.
| Enurth Of Univ Qhseruance