Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, AUG. 6, 1931. A NEW WAR BOOK.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 210, 6 August 1931, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. THURSDAY, AUG. 6, 1931. A NEW WAR BOOK.

It was, perhaps, inevitable that General Pershing- should place on record his experiences in the World W T ar as the leader of the American Expeditionary Eorce. His narrative was published several weeks ago and, because of its derogatory references to the British and other Allied troops, caused a painful impression. “Allied man power,” he states, “rapidly dwindled to a dangerous degree,” while he refers to their morale as “having almost reached the breaking point.” The accuracy of these statements was immediatly challenged; and they were shown to be a gross exaggeration of the situation which existed on the Western Front. As with the British and French troops, who had borne the brunt of the heavy fighting from the dark days of August, 1914, until the United States entered the conflict in 1917, the morale of the new American soldiers was excellent. That was but natural. The British and French were tired, but they were far from worn out or beaten as General Pershing alleges their state to have been. “Training with these troops is detrimental,” he also says in his ungenerous and derogatory style, and “association with the Allies has had a bad effect on our men.” One of the first in England to take General Pershing to tack was Sir Eric Geddes, who, in a very restrained letter to the Daily Express, provides documentary evidence proving the utter absurdity of the American General’s statements. Sir Eric Geddes, who was Director General of Transportation to the British Armies in France during the War, like every other Britisher has done, freely admits the importance of the entry of the United States into the World War, and says that neither the British nor their Allies would for a moment depreciate in any way the moral and material support which it gave us. “Sometimes, however, especially after the passage of years, views change,” he proceeds, “and recollections become distorted; but documents do not change.”

In Sir Eric Geddes’ possession —a gift from Earl Haig—is an official map of the Western Front showing the position on September 25, 1918, two days before the Hindenberg Line was broken at Cambrai on September 27-29, “and that,” he says, “was the end of the War.” This map was reproduced by the London journal. At .that time the First and Second American Armies were under the direct command, of General Pershing. The First Army was in the St. Miliiel Sector. Comprising eight divisions, reinforced by three French divisions, it faced nine mixed enemy divisions with six tired divisions in support. To its left was the Second Army of thirteen divi-

I sions, with the support of four j French divisions, against whom the Germans had ranged only six divisions, with but two in support. The British Army held the line opposite Cambrai and, as the map shows, the Germans had assembled as many of their divisions as possible as a tight wedge to prevent their ranks being broken. Yet two days later the British troops, whose morale, General Pershing says, “had almost reached the breaking point,” had smashed through the Hindenburg Line and “that was the end of the War.” To the American students of their country’s share in the Great War, which no one in authority in Britain has ever attempted to belittle, General Pershing’s book will be the most important and authoritative narrative. Pride in their troops’ achievement is their rightful possession, but it should not blind them to the achievements of the British and French. Lord Haig’s map, however, is a full and sufficient reply to the American statements. The German was a brave and resourceful enemy, highly trained in the art of war. The divisions he ranged before the British illustrate his prescience of the_ danger to his line. Yet, as the Daily Express says, “these tired, down at the heel old crocks known as the British Armj' smashed the impregnable Cambrai line.”