World's War Events Volume II Part 44

[Sidenote: An advisory body.]

[Sidenote: Advisory function should not be impaired.]

[Sidenote: The council supplements the Cabinet.]

Legislation enacted on August 29, 1916, as a part of the National Defense Act provided for the creation of a Council of National Defense.

Shortly thereafter the council was organized, its advisory commission appointed, a director chosen, and its activities planned. It appropriately directed its first attention to the industrial situation of the country and, by the creation of committees representative of the princ.i.p.al industries, brought together a great store of information both as to our capacity for manufacture and as to the re-adaptations possible in an emergency for rapid production of supplies of military value.

Under the law of its creation, the Council of National Defense is not an executive body, its princ.i.p.al function being to supervise and direct investigations and make recommendations to the President and the heads of the executive departments with regard to a large variety of subjects.

The advisory commission is thus advisory to a body which is itself advisory, and the subordinate bodies authorized to be created are collectors of data upon which advice can be formulated. There was no intention on the part of Congress to subdivide the executive function, but rather to strengthen it by equipping it with carefully matured recommendations based upon adequate surveys of conditions. The extent of the council's powers has been sometimes misunderstood, with the result that it has been deemed an inapt instrument, and from time to time suggestions have been made looking to the donation to it of power to execute its conclusions. Whatever determination Congress may hereafter reach with regard to the bestowal of additional executive power and the creation of agencies for its exercise, the advisory function of the Council of National Defense ought not to be impaired, nor ought its usefulness to be left unrecognized. In the first place, the council brings together the heads of the departments ordinarily concerned in the industrial and commercial problems which affect the national defense and undoubtedly prevents duplications of work and overlappings of jurisdiction. It also makes available for the special problems of individual departments the results attained in other departments which have been called upon to examine the same problem from other points of view. In the second place, the council supplements the activities of the Cabinet under the direction of the President by bringing together in a committee, as it were, members of the Cabinet for the consideration of problems which, when maturely studied, can be presented for the President's judgment.

[Sidenote: The council directs the aroused spirit of the nation.]

[Sidenote: The General Munitions Board.]

[Sidenote: Field of priorities in transportation and supplies.]

With the declaration of a state of war, however, the usefulness of the Council of National Defense became instantly more obvious. The peace-time activities and interests of our people throughout the country surged toward Washington in an effort to a.s.similate themselves into the new scheme of things which, it was recognized, would call for widespread changes of occupation and interest. The Council of National Defense was the only national agency at all equipped to receive and direct this aroused spirit seeking appropriate modes of action, and it was admirably adapted to the task because among the members of the council were those Cabinet officers whose normal activities brought them into constant contact with all the varied peace-time activities of the people and who were, therefore, best qualified to judge the most useful opportunities in the new state of things for men and interests of which they respectively knew the normal relations. For the more specialized problems of the national defense, notably those dealing with the production of war materials, the council authorized the organization of subordinate bodies of experts, and the General Munitions Board grew naturally out of the necessities of the War and Navy Departments, which required not only the maximum production of existing munition-making industries in the country, but the creation of new capacity for production and its correlation with similar needs on the part of the foreign governments. The work done by the General Munitions Board was highly effective, but it was soon seen that its problem carried over into the field of transportation, that it was bound up with the question of priorities, and that it was itself divisible into the great and separate fields of raw material supply and the production of finished goods. With the growth of its necessary interests and the constant discovery of new relations it became necessary so to reorganize the General Munitions Board as both to enlarge its view and more definitely recognize its widespread relations.

[Sidenote: The War Industries Board.]

[Sidenote: Knowledge of war needs of the United States and Allies.]

[Sidenote: The Council of National Defense a natural center.]

Upon the advice of the Council of National Defense, the General Munitions Board was replaced by the War Industries Board, which consists of a chairman, a representative of the Army, a representative of the Navy, a representative of labor and the three members of the Allied Purchasing Commission through whom, under arrangements made with foreign Governments by the Secretary of the Treasury, the purchasing of allied goods in the United States is effected. This purchasing commission consists of three chairmen--one of priorities, one of raw materials, and one of finished products. By the presence of Army and Navy representatives, the needs of our own Government are brought to the common council table of the War Industries Board. The board is thus enabled to know all the war needs of our Government and the nations a.s.sociated with us in war, to measure their effect upon the industry of the country, to a.s.sign relative priorities in the order of serviceableness to the common cause, and to forecast both the supply of raw material and our capacity for completing its manufacture in such a way as to coordinate our entire industrial capacity, both with a view to its maximum efficiency and to its permanent effect upon the industrial condition of the country. Under legislation enacted by Congress, the President has committed certain definite problems to special agencies.

The food administration, the fuel administration, and the shipping problem being each in the hands of experts specially selected under appropriate enactments. In large part, these activities are separable from the general questions considered by the Council of National Defense and the War Industries Board, but there are necessary relations between them which it has been found quite simple to arrange by conference and consultation, and the Council of National Defense, with the Secretary of the Treasury added as an important councilor, has seemed the natural center around which to group these agencies so far as any common activity among them is desirable.

[Sidenote: The War Department indebted to the council.]

[Sidenote: Unremunerated service of able citizens.]

[Sidenote: Business confidence in the Government.]

In the meantime the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense and the council itself have continued to perform the original advisory functions committed to them by the National Defense Act. The War Department is glad to acknowledge its debt to the council and the commission. I refrain from specific enumeration of the services which the department has received through these agencies only because their number is infinite and their value obvious. The various supply committees created by the Supply Commission, the scientific resources placed at the disposal of the department, the organization of the medical profession, the cooperation of the transportation interests of the country, the splendid harmony which has been established in the field of labor, are all fruits of the actions of these bodies and notably of the Advisory Commission. It has been especially in connection with the activities of the council and the commission that we have been helped by the unremunerated service of citizens who bore no official relation to the Government but had expert knowledge of and experience with the industries of the country which it was necessary rapidly to summon into new uses. Through their influence, the trade rivalries and commercial compet.i.tions, stimulating and helpful in times of peace, have been subordinated to the paramount purpose of national service and the common good. They have not only created helpful relations for the present emergency but have established a new confidence in the Government on the part of business and perhaps have led to clearer judgments on the part of the Government in its dealings with the great organizations, both of labor and of capital, which form the industrial and commercial fabric of our society. The large temporary gain thus manifest is supplemented by permanent good; and in the reorganizations which take place when the war is over there will doubtless be a more conscious national purpose in business and a more conscious helpfulness toward business on the part of the Government.

[Sidenote: General Pershing goes to France.]

[Sidenote: The Navy transports troops without any loss.]

[Sidenote: Terminal facilities organized.]

[Sidenote: Cooperation of the Shipping Board.]

[Sidenote: Reserve equipment and food.]

As a result of the exchanges of views which took place between the military missions to the United States and our own Government, it was determined to begin at once the dispatch of an expeditionary force of the American Army to France. This has been done. General John J.

Pershing was selected as commander in chief and with his staff departed for France, to be followed shortly by the full division, consisting entirely of Regular Army troops. Immediately thereafter there was formed the so-called Rainbow Division, made up of National Guard units of many States scattered widely throughout the country. The purpose of its organization was to distribute the honor of early partic.i.p.ation in the war over a wide area and thus to satisfy in some part the eagerness of these State forces to be permitted to serve in Europe. The Marines, with their fine traditions and honorable history, were likewise recognized, and regiments of Marines were added to the first forces dispatched. It would, of course, be unwise to attempt any enumeration of the forces at this time overseas, but the Army and the country would not have me do less than express their admiration and appreciation of the splendid cooperation of the Navy, by means of which these expeditionary forces have been safely transported and have been enabled to traverse without loss the so-called danger zone infested by the stealthy and destructive submarine navy of the enemy. The organization and dispatch of the expeditionary force required the preparation of an elaborate transport system, involving not only the procurement of ships and their refitting for service as troop and cargo transports, but also extensive organizations of terminal facilities both in this country and France; and in order to surround the expeditionary force with every safeguard, a large surplus of supplies of every kind were immediately placed at their disposal in France. This placed an added burden upon the supply divisions of the department and explains in part some of the shortages, notably those of clothing, which have temporarily embarra.s.sed mobilization of troops at home, embarra.s.sments now happily pa.s.sed. In the organization of this transport the constant and helpful cooperation of the Shipping Board, the railroads, and those in control of warehousing, wharfing, lighterage, and other terminal facilities has been invaluable. Our activities in this regard have resulted in the transporting of an army to France fully equipped, with adequate reserves of equipment and subsistence, and with those large quant.i.ties of transportation appliances, motor vehicles, railroad construction supplies, and animals, all of which are necessary for the maintenance and effective operations of the force.

[Sidenote: Technical troops cooperate with British and French.]

The act authorizing the temporary increase of the military establishment empowered the department to create special organizations of technical troops. Under this provision railroad and stevedore regiments have been formed and special organizations of repair men and mechanics, some of which have proceeded to France and rendered service back of the British and French line in antic.i.p.ation of and training for their later service with the American Army. No complete descriptions of these activities can be permitted at this time, but the purpose of the department has been to provide from the first for the maintenance of our own military operations without adding to the burdens already borne by the British and French, and to render, incidentally, such a.s.sistance to the British and French Armies as could be rendered by technical troops in training in the theater of operations. By this means the United States has already rendered service of great value to the common cause, these technical troops having actually carried on operations for which they are designed in effective cooperation with the British and French Armies behind hotly contested battle fronts.

[Sidenote: The Red Cross organizes base hospital units.]

[Sidenote: Doctors and nurses aid British and French armies.]

[Sidenote: The medical profession rallies around the service.]

[Sidenote: Convalescent and reconstruction hospitals.]

[Sidenote: Physical fitness necessary for military service.]

Working in close a.s.sociation with the medical committee of the Council of National Defense and the Red Cross and in constant and helpful contact with the medical activities of the British, French, and other belligerents, the Surgeon General has built up the personnel of his department and taken over from the Red Cross completely organized base-hospital units and ambulance units, supplemented them by fresh organizations, procured great quant.i.ties of medical supplies and prepared on a generous scale to meet any demands of our Army in action.

Incidentally and in the course of this preparation, great numbers of base hospital organizations, ambulance units, and additional doctors and nurses have been placed at the disposal of the British and French armies, and are now in the field of actual war, ministering to the needs of our Allies. Indeed, the honor of first partic.i.p.ation by Americans in this war belongs to the Medical Department. In addition to all this preparation and activity, the Surgeon General's department has been charged with the responsibility for the study of defense against gas attack and the preparation of such gas masks and other appliances as can be devised to minimize its effects. The medical profession of the country has rallied around this service. The special laboratories of the great medical inst.i.tutions have devoted themselves to the study of problems of military medicine. New, effective, and expeditious surgical and medical procedures have been devised and the latest defensive and curative discoveries of medical science have been made available for the protection and restoration of our soldiers. Far-reaching activities have been conducted by the Medical Department here in America, involving the supervision of plans for great base hospitals in the camps and cantonments, the planning of convalescent and reconstruction hospitals for invalided soldiers and antic.i.p.atory organization wherever possible to supply relief to distress and sickness as it may arise. Moreover, the task of the Medical Department in connection with the new Army has been exacting. Rigid examinations have been conducted, in the first instance by the physicians connected with the exemption boards, but later at the camps, in order to eliminate from the ranks men whose physical condition did not justify their retention in the military service. Many of the rejections by the Medical Department have caused grief to high-spirited young men not conscious of physical weakness or defect, and perhaps having no weakness or defect which embarra.s.sed their usefulness in civilian occupation; but both the strength of the Army and justice to the men involved require that the test of fitness for military service should be the sole guide, and the judgments of the most expert physicians have been relied upon to give us an army composed of men of the highest possible physical efficiency.

The capture of Jerusalem by the British under Allenby on December 8th, 1917, sent a thrill throughout the civilized world. The deliverance of the Holy City from the Turks marked another great epoch in its history, which includes possession by a.s.syrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Turks. The entrance of the British troops into Jerusalem is described in the following narrative.

THE CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM

GENERAL E. H. H. ALLENBY

[Sidenote: General Allenby's instructions.]

When I took over the command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force at the end of June, 1917, I had received instructions to report on the conditions in which offensive operations against the Turkish Army on the Palestine front might be undertaken in the autumn or winter of 1917.

After visiting the front and consulting with the Commander of the Eastern Force, I submitted my appreciation and proposals in a telegram dispatched in the second week of July.

[Sidenote: Situation on the Palestine front.]

The main features of the situation on the Palestine front were then as follows:

The Turkish Army in Southern Palestine held a strong position extending from the sea at Gaza, roughly along the main Gaza-Beersheba Road to Beersheba. Gaza had been made into a strong modern fortress, heavily entrenched and wired, offering every facility for protracted defence.

The remainder of the enemy's line consisted of a series of strong localities, viz.: the Sihan group of works, the Atawineh group, the Baha group, the Abu Hareira-Arab el Teeaha trench system, and, finally, the works covering Beersheba. These groups of works were generally from 1,500 to 2,000 yards apart, except that the distance from the Hareira group to Beersheba was about 4 1/2 miles.

[Sidenote: Turks have good communications.]

The enemy's force was on a wide front, the distance from Gaza to Beersheba being about 30 miles; but his lateral communications were good, and any threatened point of the line could be very quickly reinforced.

My force was extended on a front of 22 miles, from the sea, opposite Gaza, to Gamli.

[Sidenote: Lack of water on the British front.]