Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-24

TIME sixth session of the supreme
war council was convened JUNE
l, 1918. The important matter
Il Of further shipment Of American
troops was taken up.
AS already indicated 1t was m!
opinion that neither the character o.
| the troops to be sent over nor theil
disposition was within the province o,
the council to decide, but that thest
questions should be determined by our
selves according to circumstances anC
after discussion with the allies.
So / objected to their consideration
by the council as such and suggested
meeting outside the council, which wal
approved.
Accordingly, in the late afternoon
Gen. Foch, Lord Miner, British wal
minister; Gen. Weygand and I, witt
Coils. Conner and Boyd, met In tbs
prime minister's room. Gen. Foch be.
gan by stating the serious condition oi
the allies and proposed the continued
shipment from America Of nothing but
infantry and machine gun units in june
and July-in effect, $50 900 each month
Every one realized the gravity Of tht
i allied situation as strongly as he did
but as previously and persistently con.
tended by me, there were two sides Il
the question.
Foch Becomes Excited.
was prepared to make some conces.
sions and stated my views, but neither
facts nor arguments seemed to make
any impression. Gen. Foch especially
was very positive and earnest. and. in
fact, became quite excited. waving his
hands and repeating, The battle, the
battle; nothing else counts"
81 ~Re IAt Nrya
must build up our organization as fast
as possible to carry on the battle to the
end and that our program had been
seriously interrupted by concessions
already made.
called attention to the fact that
the railways all over France were or
the point Of breaking down for lack OF
efficient operators and of skilled work
men to repair rolling stock; that our
ports would be hopelessly blocked unless
we could improve the railways; that his
plan would leave us 200, 900 men short
to complete combat units and fill UP
special organizations that were abso-
lutely necessary In the 8. o. s., and,
finally, that the restriction Of our ship
ments to infantry and machine gun
unite would be very dangerous and
shoFt-sighted policy.
To much Of this he paid little or nc
attention and replied that all things
could be postponed.
Mr.. Graeme Thompson, British ex-
pert on transportation and supply, came
Into the room at this point with Mr.
Lloyd George and Gen. Sir Henry VII
son and took part in the discussion. Mr.
Thompson said, with emphasis, that II
would be a very serious mistake not
to send over $4,000 men to repair roll
ing stock and otherwise build up our
rail transportation system, and he went
on to describe the rundown condition
Of the railways.
Our Organization Criticized.
His views seemed to have no more
effect on the French attitude than II
they had not been uttered. The fact Is
as already stated elsewhere, That none
of the French officials had more than
a vague conception of the tremendous
difficulties of our problem.
At this stage 1t was necessary TO con-
fess that this emergency had not been
foreseen and that 1t would be impoS-
sible for US to ship over as many M
fantry and machine-gun troops as the
allies wished, because June 80 we should
have left at home only 10000 Of such
troops with the necessary training:
Gen. Foch used this as the basis OF
criticism of our organization, asserting
that we did not have enough infantry
in proportion to other troops, failing
entirely to appreciate our requirements
for the service of supply and transpor-
tation and for the artillery, engineers
and other combat troops as well.
It Is pertinent to remark here that
notwithstanding my urgent recon-
mendations for q large increase in the
number of drafts, the War Department
continued UP to May TO call out onH
an average of 10000 per month. Con-
seouently, the supply Of trained men
had run short In an emergency tnat re-
quired the shipment OF ESQ 70 SV w.
600 per month. During May 373,0OC
men had been drafted. Most OF them
received little training before their ar
rival in France, where too often the
training had to be completed py the
costly experience of battle.
Continuing the conference, Mr.. Lloyc
George said he thought President WI.
son would be deeply interested TO gel
Gen. Focf's view of the situation, ano
added that as America had no prime
minister present he thought 1t wouio
be inconveAient for US TO make oeGl-
sion. but that this subject should q
brought before the whole council.
Matter mp TO Pershing.
then called attention TO q cable
from Secretary of War Baker, ALREADY
quoted, showing that the President hao
been very much embarrassed by repre-
sensations made to him personally bJ
the French and British Amoassaoors
and had suggested that the matter
might be settled by q conference be.
tween Gen. Foch and myself. pointed
out that the cable did not mention thu
Supreme War Council, and ] agar
stated my opposition TO making thc
subject one Of general discussion by al
allied representatives and their STAINS.
I did not fail to point out further
that the President was trusting ms
Judgment in this matter. AS nothinf
was being accomplished, and hopint
the number of participants IN the dis
cussion might be limited, / proposed w
adjourn until the following day.
The next afternoon, when we as.
sembled, M Clemenceau was waiting fol
the rest Of us, and instead Of there be-
| ing fewer conferees the number had In
creased Not unlike the situation a.
Abbeville a month before, everybody wal
| keyed I'D, and, as we expected, thu
| question had to be fought all over again
Gen. Pooh. supported by M. Clemen'
ceau and Lloyd George. wanted nothing
but infantry and machine gunners II
| June and July, to which / was strongl!
opposed again insisting that suf1cien
importance had not been attached h
my reasons for the necessity Of thi
auxiliary troops omitted In June.
In Hands Of United States.
Foch resorted TO his often.repeatet
question whether was willing to tax
the risk to which replied very posi-
lively that ! was ready TO assume an,
responsibility my proposal might entail
but that must have q greater propor