VANGUARD OF VAST FORCE.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 14635, 19 June 1918, Page 4

VANGUARD OF VAST FORCE.

•AMERICAN TROOPS IN THOUSANDS: THRONG ROADS OF FRANCE.

• ; (By Philip Gibbs.— Received by mail). ; War Correspondent' Headquarters, May, 21.—^Americans are out here on the- roads of Fraiice, thousands of them. ■ . W4 fe^el still s'af ei' now because they are here and the power and spirit of the giteat nation of the Western World are visibly before our eyes. The British, .who' have seen nearly four years of this ' frightful strife, the men who have fought all that time against Unequal 1 odds,' against a strength which never, _• seemed to weaken, however great ■ "/their "' Victories or their sacrifice, agauist an enemy who, m .the. last phase, threw all. vh'ftj;: : weight, against the. British; to an- : nihilate them if he" Could, now realise " . tHat there, behind them, is a vast', fresh', : fighttng force which must destroy, foi' : ever, German - hopes of world mastery, : '.'with '''or M-ithout another long spell ot , oStrife. Perhaps not without Inany more ' great battles' m which Amei-ican soldiers will fight along side the British and French., These new comrades are here to help' 'settle this dreadful business; m ". favor of those who believe m the liber- ' ties' 'Af'EJuroiie and- ma human society ..governed by other powers than brutality ahd fear. ..""'[" !' I- met ''some of these advance guards ; arid! "fciimd ' them enormously modest, : as ' they -stood face to f nee with a loca) technique. , to V which they were strange, ; among "other men who. had learned 1 it b^T painful lessons. I found them also very keen and alert and . businesslike, qiiriok to,-see;- the. essential truth of things', taHng it ■ a]l',seriously, making mental * notes at great speed, yet with an easy t . way ihat .made . them,, good comrades at the -mess ' table, and with a sense , of humor Refreshing m its incisiveness, they , .explained that their. army, was coming aloijg, . ., and we .'. believed them. They asHecJ. .us- not to be m £oo much oF a httrry. They wanted us to understand, ..andVe were not too dmpatiejnV to Ainderstand; thai the. organisation involved m - .the < trainmg and equipping and trahs-,.pprtt,pf'a-.great army with a line.of.com- ! .munication v 3COO miles long was not ; ;; plsiy or the work of a few months^ 'In - t|ie Cambria fighting on November 30 of last year, I met a crowd , -of - ; American engineers, who were quick to get into action, they .were within/ reach,, of i^-, They were not "supposed tQ ; J?e fightingMen> but: they made them- " * selves so> Wh«n the battle, lines''suddenly closed ahout them and shells ffell • around .their 'engines and,, trucks and the flSetmkns started -sniping at' close range, ...they borrowed^ some rifles and, took part ' m the' counter-attacks without guards. Others, surrounded by the erienjy, fought . their through and laughed -at ,this Qfuefei* adventure afterward and, were. ipleasiSi \yhen 1 the B^-itishV said : "W^ll do'heC^O'ld sports. '>We coiild do ' .^lth'a 1 htwdred thousand l'bf youi" a long v time' the enemy has • Btfibyedi Himself up with^ the hope 'that ■ itfie' 'Americans '.wouldt heyer get across, N6ir ii big army' of them is across here, witji <; the. French and here i the British-- 'and the enemy is anxious and alarjdied.* , ■ . HeM s cause f Or 1 di'ead . I have se'eri AJh^CTican troops about "roads and m the vttlagesj behind' the lines training : with some ohe'o'f'Hihe British' units, learning laCest methbfls^from some of the British ? offic^fs,"working, out their own ideas and .\a&bptitig- anything ; that' is good m .our . system; A oi*' the'Frencir, 'and T'am' certain .; tW United States armies will be a most , Jortfiidiible factor m the struglgle "ahead. TJfeir mUteriar and manhood' is "splendid, remind me a good deal of the. Cjafiadilns, because many of tliem, like ' the Canadians theniselyes, .are nieh who l/KaV"© led outdoor lives, 'who ! haVe been T.the'tr. own; masters of life m the ! open „ and!; 'have 'kept '•their 'end up 'alifeng ; Other ' sturdy and independent • men. ■'.Tha't^'the ra^r maierial- of "which ti.W best 'soldiers are.niode, and there '■!» . ifc Jotj of 11 it , m the 5 ,"• •American >I b'a?ttalioii(3i' ' ■JEhe?' r mVn''^roiri^tHe citiesi a,nd all the '" gfceftt- £6^'n& s^f the' .United States have - a> ?^tfality tiiat- is" not Tess, go^'di"'- They ' .hfeVfe,- 1 alertness of mmd I ,' 'quickness,': 6f ufideips^anding-arfcr ■&' pefsohal' nihdepena\ence of spirit 'ifhich! 1 , oftly ■Viee'cisV train- . in^'and etsperifehce ta «o.nve'rt :i it into the htgHe&f iola'ierjy : instincts arid .they' start fresh?* Ora*cers*«nd' nieh start' fresh \vithout hampering traditions; bl(3-fashioned : methods and^ea tape: ? '• '.'•"" :'t ; ' .^li^is^likely they -will*- ! Jsr^uce' r go6d ■ cal^ms^f men 1 vs 1 these ha^e'befen d'iiteed' <ii(t / ; fef Canadlfiin jot^-n'alisi^, law--yers andj ■ .tnianess frieVi, imS AusWalian schoolmasters^ architects and farmers. Hieir highest command, :so far i*, df' couiire, made iip largely of professional soldiers wlib "studied at West Point, -arid ..•■M^Ve* handled 1 tfroopa m the'^neld long iij&bre ' |thisr ytar. They form the' intel.lfectaal^nucleu's of aii enormous org.ipisatio*t J whidi includes- the best business .; lirtfltis.- •of 'the:' United) 'Stktes. r ' In the ratios "are-- men of all' classes^ and types: There' are^private Soldiers in 1 the 1 Airier* i&iit^di*v%ions How here in 1 France, who graduated at Harvard, and others who of labor. 'or sons of employers.' ancfc I am ttild that m their trai'fthig' camps at home it was not unusual to see 1 one of them driving' by \rt a RdllsißiOyce 'car'- with a' respectful saliite-to air officer who walked afodt. 1 ' In the course of training, men with superior \ or 'sp^efcial c l^nbwledfee wilFtinapu'DteiJl^ be weeded out and re- -. Indeed 1 , that is al- ' read^beirig ddtfe, 'and'btmjrwiise'it "Would v be ll^' waste -ofMead^NWpi^ut for all that" r 'the Urn" tJed' States' arm* ; is on an ■ essentially democratic basis like the armies of : Frarfce. 1 •'"-'■• ', v -.'•' ": The American 'ohief. of Vstaff 'impressed ; me vjSi^ much by Ws fine simplicity of thought' and speech and by his courtesy «if" manner. All these officers are witho'irt illusions about the war. f They know the price- that ; must be 'paid; for Victory, t>he 'daily, toll of- its ordinary routine, the . stiiettgth' arid; Skill of the enemy. /They krtoW theii' 'men hkve much ;to lekrn' and . nhich. to Siiffer. They pay aVhigh tribute p{' praise to "the British, who through tneee 'years 'have faced all the stress and '• storm of the war with v&y patient. courigfe,"but' they are confident that before ( very ; -lohgY the 'American diyisions m France - Will pass the test that h!as .."■ befen set'by those 1 of Fraiice and Eriglarid^hdi there 1 is not a man among the . British 1 r ftere who does not share thht ddn^fdencfe to the uttermost. ' Fo,r niy part; t find' it hard to; believe tliat when we Ha\'e checked the enemy's next ' thrust, 1 ;Gernian rulers and people ■BrilV'-'wiiit for America's annies „' to ad- ■:■ vdtice against them' arid chiille'nge' them • to "more than a year of slaughter^ If ftHey do. that',- then, indeed, are they ' etrfcTceh with iriadness by 1 the godis, and ? there is no hopfefor them./ ' *