And they thought we wouldn't fight Part 45

The fighting in the wood was fierce and b.l.o.o.d.y, but it was more to the liking of our men than the rushes across fire-swept fields. Our men went to work with the bayonet. And for six hours they literally carved their way through four kilometres of the forest. Before ten o'clock the next morning, our lines lay to the north of the woods.

In consolidating the gains in the woods, our men surrounded in a small clearing some three hundred of the enemy who refused to surrender.

American squads advanced with the bayonet from all sides. The Germans were fighting for their lives. Only three remained to accept the ignominy of capture.

Our forward progress continued and by August 4th the Germans were withdrawing across the Vesle River. The immediate objective that presented itself to the Americans was the important German supply depot at Fismes. It was in and around Fismes that some of the bloodiest fighting in the second battle of the Marne took place. The capture of Fismes was the crowning achievement of one American division that so distinguished itself as to be made the subject of a special report to the French General Headquarters by the French army in which the Americans fought. In part, the report read:

"On Aug. 4th the infantry combats were localized with terrible fury.

The outskirts of Fismes were solidly held by the Germans, where their advance groups were difficult to take. The Americans stormed them and reduced them with light mortars and thirty-sevens. They succeeded, though not without loss, and at the end of the day, thanks to this slow but sure tenacity, they were within one kilometre of Fismes and masters of Villes, Savoye and Chezelle Farm. All night long rains hindered their movements and rendered their following day's task more arduous. On their right the French had, by similar stages, conquered a series of woods and swamps of Meuniere Woods, to the east of St.

Gilles, and were on the plateau of Bonne Maison Farm. To the left another American unit had been able to advance upon the Vesle to the east of St. Thiebault.

"On Aug. 5th the artillery prepared for the attack on Fismes by a bombardment, well regulated, and the final a.s.sault was launched. The Americans penetrated into the village and then began the mean task of clearing the last point of resistance. That evening this task was almost completed. We held all the northern part of the village as far as Rheims road, and patrols were sent into the northern end of the village. Some even succeeded in crossing the Vesle, but were satisfied with making a reconnaissance, as the Germans still occupied the right bank of the river in great strength. All that was left to be accomplished was to complete the mopping up of Fismes and the strengthening of our positions to withstand an enemy counter attack.

"Such was the advance of one American division, which pushed the enemy forward from Roncheres on July 30th a distance of eighteen kilometres and crowned its successful advance with the capture of Fismes on Aug.

5th."

The German line on the Vesle river fell shortly after the capture of Fismes. The enemy was forced to fall back to his next natural line of defence on the Aisne. Between the Vesle and the Aisne, the Americans a.s.sisted the French in the application of such persistent pressure that the enemy's stubborn resistance was overcome and in many places he was forced to withdraw before he had time to destroy his depots of supply.

On August 9th, General Degoutte, commanding the Sixth French Army, issued the following order:

"Before the great offensive of July 18th, the American troops, forming part of the 6th French Army, distinguished themselves by clearing the 'Brigade de Marine' Woods and the village of Vaux of the enemy and arresting his offensive on the Marne and at Fossoy.

"Since then they have taken the most glorious part in the second battle of the Marne, rivalling the French troops in ardour and valour.

"During twenty days of constant fighting they have freed numerous French villages and made, across a difficult country, an advance of forty kilometres, which has brought them to the Vesle.

"Their glorious marches are marked by names which will shine in future in the military history of the United States: Torcy, Belleau, Plateau d'Etrepilly, Epieds, Le Charmel, l'Ourcq, Seringeset Nesles, Sergy, La Vesle and Fismes.

"These young divisions, who saw fire for the first time, have shown themselves worthy of the old war traditions of the regular army. They have had the same burning desire to fight the Boche, the same discipline which sees that the order given by their commander is always executed, whatever the difficulties to be overcome and the sacrifices to be suffered.

"The magnificent results obtained are due to the energy and the skill of the commanders, to the bravery of the soldiers.

"I am proud to have commanded such troops."

Through the month of August and up to the first days of September, the Americans partic.i.p.ated in the important operations to the north of Soissons, where on August 29th they played a big part in the capture of the Juvigny Plateau.

In this fighting, which was marked by the desperate resistance of the enemy, the Americans were incorporated in the 10th French Army under the command of General Mangin. Violent counter attacks by German shock divisions failed to stem the persistent advances of our forces.

A large hill to the north of Juvigny const.i.tuted a key and supporting position for the enemy. In spite of the large number of machine guns concealed on its slopes, the Americans succeeded in establishing a line between the hill and the town. At the same time the American line extended itself around the other side of the hill. With the consummation of this enveloping movement, the hill was taken by a.s.sault.

On Labor Day, September 2nd, after bitterly engaging four German divisions for five days, the Americans advanced their lines to Terny-Sorny and the road running between Soissons and St. Quentin. This achievement, which was accomplished by driving the Germans back a depth of four miles on a two mile front, gave our forces a good position on the important plateau running to the north of the Aisne.

Our observation stations now commanded a view across the valley toward the famous Chemin des Dames which at one time had been a part of the Hindenburg line. Before the invasion of the German hordes, France possessed no fairer countryside than the valley of the Aisne. But the Germans, retreating, left behind them only wreckage and ashes and ruin.

The valley spread out before our lines was scarred with the shattered remains of what had once been peaceful farming communities. To the northwest there could be seen the spires above the city of Laon.

The American units which took part in this bitter fighting that had continued without a day's cessation since July 18th, were mentioned specifically in an order issued on August 27th by General Pershing. The order read:

"It fills me with pride to record in general orders a tribute to the service achievements of the First and Third Corps, comprising the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second and Forty-second Divisions of the American Expeditionary Forces.

"You came to the battlefield at a crucial hour for the Allied cause.

For almost four years the most formidable army the world has yet seen had pressed its invasion of France and stood threatening its capital.

At no time has that army been more powerful and menacing than when, on July 15th, it struck again to destroy in one great battle the brave men opposed to it and to enforce its brutal will upon the world and civilisation.

"Three days later in conjunction with our Allies you counter-attacked.

The Allied armies gained a brilliant victory that marks the turning point of the war. You did more than to give the Allies the support to which, as a nation, our faith was pledged. You proved that our altruism, our pacific spirit, and our sense of justice have not blunted our virility or our courage.

"You have shown that American initiative and energy are as fit for the tasks of war as for the pursuits of peace. You have justly won unstinted praise from our Allies and the eternal grat.i.tude of our countrymen.

"We have paid for our successes with the lives of many of our brave comrades. We shall cherish their memory always and claim for our history and literature their bravery, achievement and sacrifice.

"This order will be read to all organisations at the first a.s.sembly formations following its receipt.

"PERSHING."

August 10th marked a milestone in the military effort of the United States. On that day the organisation was completed of the First American Field Army. I have tried to show in this record how we began the organisation of our forces overseas. Our first troops to reach France were a.s.sociated in small units with the French. Soon our regiments began to reach the front under French Division Commanders. Then with the formation of American divisions, we went into the line under French corps commanders. Later still, American corps operated under French Army Commanders. Finally, our forces augmented by additional divisions and corps were organised into the First American Field Army.

Through these various stages of development, our forces had grown until on August 10th they had reached the stage where they became practically as independent an organisation as the British armies under Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig and the French armies under General Petain. From now on the American Army was to be on a par with the French Army and the British Army, all three of them under the sole direction of the Allied Generalissimo, Marshal Ferdinand Foch.

The personnel of this, the greatest single army that ever fought beneath the Stars and Stripes, is reproduced in the appendix. It might not be amiss to point out that an American division numbers thirty thousand men and that an American corps consists of six divisions and auxiliary troops, such as air squadrons, tank sections, and heavy artillery, which bring the strength of an American army corps to between 225,000 and 250,000 men. By the 1st of September, the United States of America had five such army corps in the field, martialling a strength of about one and one-half million bayonets. General Pershing was in command of this group of armies which comprised the First American Field Army.

It was from these forces that General Pershing selected the strong units which he personally commanded in the first major operation of the First American Field Army as an independent unit in France. That operation was the beginning of the Pershing push toward the Rhine--it was the Battle of St. Mihiel.

It was a great achievement. It signalised the full development of our forces from small emergency units that had reached the front less than a year before, to the now powerful group of armies, fighting under their own flag, their own generals, and their own staffs.

The important material results of the Battle of St. Mihiel are most susceptible to civilian as well as military comprehension. The St.

Mihiel salient had long const.i.tuted a pet threat of the enemy. The Germans called it a dagger pointed at the heart of eastern France. For three years the enemy occupying it had successfully resisted all efforts of the Allies to oust them.

The salient was shaped like a triangle. The apex of the triangle--the point of the dagger--thrusting southward, rested on the town of St.

Mihiel, on the river Meuse. The western flank of the triangle extended northward from St. Mihiel to points beyond Verdun. The eastern flank of the triangle extended in a northeasterly direction toward Pont-a-Mousson. It was the strongest position held by the Germans in Lorraine--if not on the entire front.

The geographical formation of the salient was an invitation for the application of a pincers operation. The point of leverage of the opposing jaws of the pincers was, most naturally, the apex of the triangle at St. Mihiel.

One claw of the pincers--a claw some eight miles thick, bit into the east side of the salient near Pont-a-Mousson on the west bank of the Moselle River. The other claw of the pincers was about eight miles thick and it bit into the western flank of the salient in the vicinity of the little town of Haudiomont, on the heights of the Meuse and just a little distance to the east of the Meuse River.

The distance across that part of the salient through which the pincer's claws were biting was about thirty miles, and the area which would be included in the bite would be almost a hundred and seventy-five square miles. This, indeed, was a major operation.

The battle began at one o'clock on the morning of September 12th, when the concentrated ordnance of the heaviest American artillery in France opened a preparatory fire of unprecedented intensity.

At five o'clock in the dim dawn of that September morning, our infantry waves leaped from their trenches and moved forward to the a.s.sault. The claw of the pincers on the eastern flank of the salient began to bite in.

One hour later the claw of the pincers on the western flank of the salient began to move forward.

On the east, our men went forward on the run over ground that we had looked upon with envious eyes from the day that the first American troops reached the front. Before noon we had taken the villages of Lahayville, St. Baussant, Vilcey and the Bois de Mortmare and we were still advancing. By nightfall, our lines were still on the move beyond Essey and we were holding the important town of Thiaucourt and claimed Villers sur Penny for our own.

The seemingly impregnable fortress of Mont Sec had been surrounded, our tanks had cleared the way through Pannes, we had taken Nonsard and the towns of Woinville and Buxieres had fallen into our hands.