GENERAL PERSHING’S FAREWELL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16590, 12 November 1919, Page 4

GENERAL PERSHING’S FAREWELL.

I S. .. I AMERICA’S PART IN THE WAR. r| , T j A TRIUMPH OF ORGANISATION. i _____ j '®| BREST, Sept. 1. i General Pershing arrived here this ! morning, and was received by Marshal i Foch. A guard of honour, with band j and colours, was mounted at tho rail--1 way station. General Pershing 'em- ! barked on board the I-eviathan, while j the crowds which had assembled at the 0 Arsenal cheered him vociferously.— is ■ Router. THE ARMY’S RECORD. j n • On April 6, 1017, Congress declared; 5 | that a state of War Existed with Ger- j j many. j General Pershing was then on the ! Mexican frontier, where a few .months 1 i previously he had led a .small force in- i r 1 to tile lulls of Chihuahua in a fruitless - | search for the same Villa who is even 1 now a source of concern to more than | ono nation. But two months prei viously General Frederick Funston, tho ; most brilliant of American soldiers, | had died at an early age in service on J tile Mexican frontier, and his mantle 1 j descended on .Major-General Pershing ! (ns ho then was). Within two months ■ | General Pershing was in Europe with . ; tho nucleus of tho Great American Exj petitionary Force. I Those were small days for the A.ineri- | , cans in Europe, and it was November, j 1917, before the force reached the toi tal of 100.000 men. But those first I comers were all picked men from the j regular army or the National Guard. ; In America, in the meantime, how- ! ever, the draft law had como into cf- i ' feet, and the pick of America’s mani hood was being di died into shape in ; large camps which had been built at I various points. In France, too, the ■ foundations wore being laid for the or- ' gnnisution necessary to utilise those ] who were to follow. Huge docks were . • i built, miles of railway were laid, maf chine shops and .storage depots wore ■ ' constructed, anil training camps laid out. By tlic end of tho year five divisions had reached France—the Frst and Second Divisions of Regulars, tho 26th , Division from the New England States, 1 and the “Rainbow” and “Sunset” Divi- ■ i sions, which included tho pick of the j National Guard, which is America’s . ! volunteer army. I i By the end of October, 1917, the ! i first Americans had entered tho line in quiet sections in the Vosges, while j in November American engineers were j caught in tiic vigorous German assault j which followed our surprise tank vie- . j tory at Cambrai. Throughout the win- ; tor months a steady stream of Americans crossed to Europe. 1 On March 21, 1918, the storm of the German offensive broke. In those dark j days, when the worst seemed to he in store for the Allies. General Pershing, 1 at the direction of President Wilson, placed all the troops under his command, then numbering about 313,000, . at tho disposal of Marshal Foch, who ; • became supreme Allied commander , i about the same time. Mr. Baker. Secretary of War, was I then on a tour of inspection in France, 1 ! and his return to America brought a , j sudden change. In March, 1918,_70.000 ' j American soldiers crossed to France. In April the number was increased to . : 120,000; in June it reached 300,000, < j and each following month that figure i 1 was reached until the armistice was • i I signed. There were then in Franco \ 1 | 2,053,347 men. of whom 1,338,163 were ; j fighting troops. . i ! During the summer of 191 S Amen- 1 ; can troops were on trial in Europe, j The. huge army, so hastily brought to- ' < j gether, and formed largely of inexperi- . j eneed soldiers, with but a brief course i lof training, faced tho ordeal well, and ' iin their first encounter with the enemy i | side by side with British and French soldier’s tho American soldiers won eomj meudation as first-class fighting men. THE LAST GERMAN EFFORT. ! ; 1 On' July 15 the Germans made their ; < Inst desperate onslaught on the Marne. , i Here six' American divisions were ; f thrown into th dine at Chatoau-Thiorry ; t to stay tho enemy’s advance. Within ’ three days the “drive” had been check- • f ed, and’Marshal Foch was enabled to ] launch a counter-offensive, in which tho i Americans played a vigorous part, j straightening out tho salient between ■ r Soissons and Rheims. From that time on the story was t ono of ABied attack and German re-, t treat, and the Americans bore their ; I full share. . . i J The First American Array, which had : 1 been organised during the summer, on j n ■September 12, under tho direct com- | £ maud of General Persliing, launched an j attack on tho salient of St. MihieJ, | d which tlie Germans had held during : o four of fierce warfare. AVitbin j d 21 hours the entire salient was gone, ■ t and the line straightened out, thus re-‘ 1< lioving the pressure which the Gcr- j h •nuns liad so exorcised in the vi-! cin'tv of Verdun. Various American i o detachments wore at this time render- i ii ing valuable support on tho British and j a Italian fronts. A more ambitious military operation Ji was next undertaken by tho American c Army. Advancing along the west bank if of tho Meuse their objective was the 11 piercing of tho railway from Valoil- p ciconcs*to Metz, tho British co-operat- r. ins at the same time from the north, t! Tlie advance was slow and stubbornly ci contested, but the Americans oontimi- a' ed to press on steadily—2B divisions in d all being finally engaged. ti On November 7 Sedan was reached and the German supply line cut. Tho a meeting of French and American troops tl on this historic spot signalised a do- p feat for tho Germans more decisive and li humiliating fhan that the Germans themselves had inflicted on the French on the same ground 47 years before.

Since the armistice American, troops have been steadily returning homo. Over 2.000,000 have gone back to bo demobilised, and only 5,000 remain to bold the bridgehead on the Khino at Coblenz, in the occupied territory. The losses of the American Expeditionary Force up to November IS were; Killed ■'iodGO Wounded 171),625 Missing 1,1(30 Prisoners 2,163 Total 1 236,108

The .American Army has certainly been a marvel of organisation. Composed of men who by birth hare represented practically every nation in tho world, the American forces have displayed a unity of purpose and loyalty which prove a real love of country. General Pershing, who has been promoted to the rank of full general, as also has General Peyton O. Match, tho Chief of Staff at Washington, returns from Europe, where lie has won the respect of all with whom ho has been associated, and it may bpi that he returns to his former task of chasing Villa.