The Press. Tuesday, June 23, 1918. The Americans at the Front.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16271, 23 July 1918, Page 6

The Press. Tuesday, June 23, 1918. The Americans at the Front.

General Maurice, in commenting on the May-June offensive, pointed 'out that the Allies, Broadly speaking, hatf found themselves in the situation in vhich thoy were in 1914. "Then we "had not made adequate preparations 'for tho struggle for national existence. The undeveloped asset of the •' Entento was the military power of "the British Empire, and it was a " question of holding on until our new A 1 armies could be equipped, trained, " and placed in the field. In 1918, " having again failed to make adequate "preparation to meet the situation " caused by the collapse of Russia, and " the massing of German troops in tho j " West, we are onco more holding on, "hut once more with an asset to develop: the military power of the "United States." That asset is now becoming a strong factor in the situation. We are hearing a good deal of the Americans nowadays, and if all goes well we shall hoar much more of them before the fend of the war. If they appear to be given undue prominence in tho current cables, as some people complain, it must be remembered that thoy are a new feature in the war, and as such naturally attract attention. But tho position they now occupy in our tsar news on this account will be theirs, |

we believe, by right of conquest before the war ends, and we should be proud to believe it. For, in spite of the United States being the melting-pot of tho nations, the majority of Americans trace back to British birth; In their prowess, and the promise which they give of greater deeds, we see tho old

blood proving itself in the great game of war. All the British correspondents—men who havo for threo years and more watched the fighters of more than half the world at work —speak most warmly of the American vanguard. The outstanding impression of the American military organisation recorded by one writer was "thorough"ness." Officers and men were out to learn, and were dedicating their keen intelligence to mastering tho lessons that the war has taught. So far from being bumptious and self-asser-tive, they assumed the role of humblo disciples of the veterans at tho front, anxious to learn from the hardly-won experience of the latter, and carrying on their intensified training with a willingness and zost that gave token of their determination to fit themselves for their task. Philip Gibbs, in one of his latest despatches, gives his impressions of somo of the Amorican advance guard—engineers, medical, and staff officers, and so on, "who sat "listening to the casual conversation "of English officers, and asked pene- " trating questions, a 9 men wanting to "know thiligs." He found them " enormously modest." very keen and alert and businesslike, quick to see the essential truth of things, "taking "it all seriously, making mental note 3 u at great speed, yet with an easy way " that made them good comrades at the "mess table, and with a sense of " humour refreshing in its incisiveness. "They explained that their army was "coming along, and we believed them. "They asked us not to be in too much "of a hurry, and wo said: 'That's all "right. We'll wait for you.' They " wanted us to understand that the " organisation involved in the training " and oquipping and transport of a "great army with a line of commnni- " cation- 3000 miles long was not " child's play, or the work of a few "months." And if, as many hold, the United States ought to have come into the war a year or two before she did — in which case it would probably all be over by this time—the Americans who are now fighting in France alongside our men and our Allies are not responsible for the delay in their arrival. They came as soon as they could, and, as one of them said, they are "in it "now with.both feet."