Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-04

corps of Americans.
| Liggett's 1St Corps had taken its
place in line July 4 with the I'd d.
vision (Harbord), relieved on the 10th
by the 26th (Edwards), and French
division under it's direction. The corps
staff had been shaken down to the rou-
tine of its work and had become in
every respect an efficient group, per-
| forming its functions with the conf
dence and precision worthy OF the more
experienced STATS Of the allied armies.
During an inspection trip July II to
the headquarters Of the 1St Corps had
lunch with Gen. Hartford at Nanteun-
sur-Marne, where his division was rest
! ing. He told of Marine in his divi-
sion who had captured rs German
prisoners single-handed.
| I returned to Paris that day. My
diary notes the call of Miss Anne Nor
gan and Mrs. Dyke, who came to talk
Of their work in the devastated regions.
Trotsky Wanted Americans.
A further entry notes that one Of our
intelligence officers had obtained Ker-
ensky's views on the Russian situation,
which was still regarded by the allies
with much uncertainty. AS we have
seen, they had come to regard Russia
as q possible recruiting ground for the
German Armies, and various sugges-
| tons of ways and means to counteract
German influence had been made.
| Apropos the apprehenstons OF the
allies, it was not without interest to get
the views of Kerensky, who, in COM
mand of the Russian Armies, had at
one time met considerably temporary
success in attempting to stem the tide
| Of revolution.
The intelligence officer, who had known
Kerensky, met him in Paris and was
| told that TrotSky desired the interVen-
| ton Of American troops In Russia, to be
! landed in Vladivostok. Kerensky said
Trotsky was personally opposed to al
| lied intervention, and that II the Jap
anese participated it would meet with
| opposition, unless they should be pre-
ceded by American troops.
II Americans were accompanied by
| British and French troops, he said,
| both Lenin and Trotsky would inform
1 Russian peasants that allied forces had
! landed to deprive them Of their prop
erty and liberty. Kerensky charac-
| terized Lenin and Trotsky as being in
! the pay of Germans, and said that
4 the real governor of Russia was the
| German Ambassador.
Kerensky advised propaganda in
| favor of American aid and said all
Cossacks and 100000 CDechoslovaks
would Join them because the Russians
believed in the disinterested motives OF
| Americans in Europe. He suggested,
| however, that If we should intervene
the entry should be by way OF
Archangel.
Opposed Russian Project.
The question of sending troops to
Russia was also presented from anoth-
| err source When our Ambassador to
| Russia, David r. Francis, was in Paris
| in June, 1918, he strongly advocated
our intervention, and thought 100000
men would save the nation. He urged
me to recommend it, but was opposed
| in principle to any undertaking that
would deplete our strength in France.
! and thought such q diversion would
lead only to complications and would
| not affect that final result.
It was my belief that our task clearly
| lay on the western front and that we
| should have all we could do to beat
| the enemy there. But, as mentioned
later, allied forces were sent both 10
Archangel and Vladivostok.
There was too much of tendency
/ by the allied governments to send ex-
petitions here and there in pursuit
| Of political aims. They were prone to
! lose sight of the fundamental fact that
the real objective was the German
army. Once that was beaten, the po-
litical and naval power Of Germany
| would collapse.
My diary records:
"Chaumont, Sunday, July IA, 1918.
Had interesting talk with Mr.. John
Bass in Paris yesterday on Italian sit
uation. Gen. Rogers reports many
shortages in quartermaster supplies.
Had dinner at Provins with Gen.
Petain, who expects German advance
soon. Arrived at Chaumont late that
night.
Of Lycee and presented prizes. The
children of the school gave me beau
tiful volume, Episodes From the His
| tory Of France for my son, which we
shall long treasure We held reception
in the afternoon for civil and military
officials Possibility Of making pur-
chases in Japan discussed. Mail serv-
ice unsatisfactory, but difncult."
Relieved War Strain.
The celebration In Chaumont of the
French national holiday July IA, and
| similar occasions in which French and
| Americans joined, served not only to re-
lieve the strain Of this period Of the
| war, but gave us a closer and clearer
understanding of the French people and
| their hopes and fears.
| On this particular day, in 1918, their
spirits were high. "Liberte, Fraternite,
Egalite" are too often empty words that
| fail to inspire, but when uttered by a
people in the throes of war, with every
| thing at stake, the cry carries a special
appeal to patriotic instincts that only
those who have witnessed its effect can
fully realize.
The genuine gratitude they felt toward
US was manifest In a Thousand ways,
and the fraternal spirit on both sides
was dominant. ! have often thought
since that II we could but be guided
under all circumstances by the sincere
and sympathetic sentiments that then
so strongly united in common purpose
those who fought side by side, how
much 1t would mean to the people of
the world.
The prompt dispatch and delivery of
mail for the Army, as noted in my dairy,
difficult, yet its bearing on the morale
of the Army and the folk at home made
1t very important. AS far back as
June, 1917, the Postmaster General had
offered 10 aid in establishing an organ
ization to assist in handling the mail
for our forces and had sent over a SUI
perintendent and several assistants
While our numbers were still limited