The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-07-09


Amiens, the capture Of which would
probably have made complete breach
between the French and British
armies.
In the moment of greatest stress.
when it seemed very doubtful whether
the German advance could be stopped
General Petain sent the following or
der to his armies:
"The enemy has hurled himself upon
MS in a supreme effort.
"He wants to separate us from the
English so as to open the way to Paris.
Cost what it may, he must be stopped.
"HOld your ground! Stand firm!
Our (American) comrades are arriv-
/ ing. All together you will throw your
selves upon the invader.
"The battle is on. Soldiers Of the
Marine, of the User and Of Verdun, !
call upon you. The fate of France
hangs in the balance"
The reports from the front gave an
extremely dark picture of disaster,
and I felt we should do everything pos
sihle to render assistance. 1t was to
offer General Petain such of our troops
as could be used that went to Com
piegne March %.
The generals customary confident
and nonchalant attitude was entirely
gone and he wore a very worried ex.
preston. l told him that for the mo-
ment should waive the idea Of form
ing the l corps and that any of our d.
visions that could be of service were
at his disposal. but with the qualify
ing remark that of course we should
look forward eventually to their as
sembly under their own commander.
March "a it developed that the
French divisions had received orders
that if the enemy continued his drive
in the direction of Amiens they were
to fall back so as to cover Paris. Mar
shall Haig. fearing that this would re-
suit in separating the two armies, at
once communicated the situation to
his government. This brought about
an important conference at Doullens
March &c between members of the
British and French governments, in
which it was decided that some au-
thority should be designated to co-or-
dinate the action of the two armies,
and General Foch was selected.
was not present at the Doullens
conference, but upon learning of its
action it seemed essential that General
Foch himself should know our desire
to do what we could to strengthen the
allies. The British loss was then esti-
mated at not less than 10000. re-
call meeting Lord Northcliffe March
"a and found him almost unable to
speak of it, so many of his friends had
lost relatives. The depression among
their people was probably worse than
at any other period Of the war.
Among the French there was much
anxiety as to the safety Of Paris and
there was talk of the government
having to move to Bordeaux again, as
1t had done in 1914. The allied lines
had not been stabilized and although
l had offered our troops to Petain it
seemed to me that it might be well to
make it emphatic that l was ready to
put into LATHE everything we could
muster. | had often thought of the
possibility of having to do this, and ]
went to find out the situation and let
General Foch know our attitude.
Gives Word to Foch.
As we entered General Foch's farm
house headquarters near .Clermont-sur-
Disc, Clemenceau, FOch, Petain and
Loucheur were intently studying a
map spread out on the table. The sit
uation was pointed out to me, showing
that already the British had used
thirty divisions and the French seven
teen against the Germans seventy
eight. 1t seemed to be the opinion that
the British Fifth army was getting back
on its feet and that the lines would
hold for the time being.
/ intimated that had come to see
General Foch and the others withdrew
into the yard, leaving US alone. i
told him that the Americans were
ready and anxious to do their part in
this crisis, that was willing to send
him any troops we had, and asked for
suggestions as to how we might help.
He was evidently very much touched
and in his enthusiasm took me by the
arm and without hesitation rushed me
out across the lawn to where the 9TH
ers stood, and asked me to repeat
what 1 had said to him.
They, of course, showed keen inter-
est especially NJ. Clemenceau, as I
told them what / had said to General
Foch. Colonel Boyd, my aid, was kind
enough to say that, under the inspira-
ton of the moment, my French was
spoken with 'fluency that could not
have mastered ten minutes before or
after.
Pershine's Offer Of Troops.
It appeared in the French papers
the next morning, although l feel GER
tain that 1t was written up in much
better French than actually used.
The English translation follows:
Il have come to tell you that the
American people would consider it a
great honor for our troops to be en-
gagged in the present battle; ask you
for this in their name and my own.
kb;, moment fboro M othor