GREATEST FEAT IN HISTORY

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 41, 16 August 1918, Page 11

GREATEST FEAT IN HISTORY

AMERICAN ARM"? IN FRANCE,

Now thftt) h k offl«iftlly stated there are 700,000 American soldiers in Franco, newspapers may Bay .something upon that subject (writes the London correspondent of Melbourne Argus, under date 14th June), For months past United States troops have been arriving at Liverpool or the south-western ports. Most of them have been hurried accross the country by train, and landed somewhere in Normandy, Though several thousand have remained for certain branches of training in this country, there was such a desire to keep their movements secret that.few people had any knowledge of their whereabouts, This will, excuse some of the dissatisfaction which is said to exist Eimong Americans respecting the lukewarmness of the reception of their solriiers, There was no lack of pilblic goodwill, but there was lack of knowledge about their movements. The censorship would permit nothing to be printed about the goings or comings of the Americans, their training, or their camp lifo in England, Now that 700,000 are safe in France there is les'i reticence. Perhaps the most remarkable fact to ba not«d respecting ihis expedition is that such anenoi-mous)army has been brought all the way fron America add landed in France with the loss of fewer than 50 lives. That circumstance is another illustration of the measure of Germany's bluff respecting the activities of her. "U-boats. A very large proportion of these 700,000 men have traversed England by train, B.nd without a single accident. In the course of one night 17 trains full of American soldiers passed through only one of our suburban stations. During the past five weeks 250 trains of these men travelled through the same station. Some of the other railway lines were equally busy. Now that the public are permitted to speak.in more than a whisper about the pr-Jsence of Americana in our midst a committee of well-known men lias been formed to entertain Amer;can soldiers. Entertainment-rooms are being erected in American rest camp The whole of St. James's-square is occupied by one such camp, controlled by the Y.M.O.A. There are to be American nights at the National Sporting Club, baseball is to be allowed in Hyde Park, local committees are to be provided to entertain Americans, and bands will be provided at some of the ports of debark ation. It is part of the scheme to make this country an American "Blighty" for officers and soldiers who are on leave They cannot possibly go all the way to the United States for their brief holiday The work already done by the Amen cans in France to prepare the way foi the great host that is now pouring into that country is marvellous, judged even by the American standard of. enterprise Since the first detachment of Engineers landed in France, not quite a year ago, a vast programme has been carried out Hundreds of miles of railway conimum cition have been laid over a great stretch of France. A splendid line of docks and warehouses has been constructed at whit was once an insignificant port. Theie are railway yards with a trackage of 200 miles, immense motor parks, large assembly shops where motor-cars landed in parts can be put together, rest camps, remount camps, rest camps for negro stevedores', and a group of hospitals for 20,000 men is rapidly approaching com pletion. There are also a vast artillery camp and several flying Schools. I have said nothing of the storehouses, petrol ;md oil depots, repair shops, ordnance shops, tank assembling parks, accommo dation for negroes, Chinese, German pris oners, and huts for soldiers. There aie several square miles covered by works of this sort where a year ago was open country. Nothing has beeli accomplished on such a scale in the world's history. We English people are learning a good deal through the experiences of this great war. Here in this little bit of America is a great lesson in organisation