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diff --git a/36292.txt b/36292.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..941bcf3 --- /dev/null +++ b/36292.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5240 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Average Americans, by Theodore Roosevelt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Average Americans + +Author: Theodore Roosevelt + +Release Date: May 31, 2011 [EBook #36292] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AVERAGE AMERICANS *** + + + + +Produced by Matthew Wheaton, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + [Illustration: Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt + From a photograph by Levey-Dhurmer] + + + + AVERAGE AMERICANS + + BY + THEODORE ROOSEVELT + LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, U. S. A. + + _ILLUSTRATED_ + + G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + NEW YORK AND LONDON + The Knickerbocker Press + 1919 + + + COPYRIGHT, 1919 + by + THEODORE ROOSEVELT + + + To + THE OFFICERS AND MEN + OF THE 26th INFANTRY + + + + +PREFACE + + + All our lives my father treated his sons and daughters as + companions. When we were not with him he wrote to us constantly. + Everything that we did we discussed with him whenever it was + possible. All his children tried to live up to his principles. + In the paragraphs from his letters below, he speaks often of the + citizens of this country as "our people." It is for all these, + equally with us, that the messages are intended. + + "New Year's greetings to you! This may or may not be, on the + whole, a happy New Year--almost certainly it will be in part at + least a New Year of sorrow--but at least you and your brothers + will be upborne by the self-reliant pride coming from having + played well and manfully a man's part when the great crisis + came, the great crisis that 'sifted out men's souls' and + winnowed the chaff from the grain."--_January 1, 1918._ + + "Large masses of people still vaguely feel that somehow I can + say something which will avoid all criticism of the government + and yet make the government instantly remedy everything that is + wrong; whereas in reality nothing now counts except the actual + doing of the work and that I am allowed to have no part in. + Generals Wood and Crowder have been denied the chance to render + service; appointments are made primarily on grounds of + seniority, which in war time is much like choosing Poets + Laureate on the same grounds."--_August 23, 1917._ + + "At last, after seven months, we are, like Mr. Snodgrass, 'going + to begin.' The National Guard regiments are just beginning to + start for their camps, and within the next two weeks I should + say that most of them would have started; and by the first of + September I believe that the first of the National Army will + begin to assemble in their camps.... I do nothing. Now and then, + when I can't help myself, I speak, for it is necessary to offset + in some measure the talk of the fools, traitors, pro-Germans, + and pacifists; but really what we need against these is action, + and that only the government can take. Words count for but + little when the 'drumming guns' have been waked."--_August 23, + 1917._ + + "The regular officers are fine fellows, but for any serious work + we should eliminate two thirds of the older men and a quarter of + the younger men, and use the remainder as a nucleus for, say, + three times their number of civilian officers. Except with a + comparatively small number, too long a stay in our army--with + its peculiar limitations--produces a rigidity of mind that + refuses to face the actual conditions of modern warfare. But the + wonder is that our army and navy have been able to survive in + any shape after five years of Baker and Daniels."--_September + 17, 1917._ + + "Along many lines of preparation the work here is now going + fairly fast--not much of a eulogy when we are in the ninth month + of the war. But there cannot be much speed when military + efficiency is subordinated to selfish personal politics, the + gratification of malice, and sheer wooden-headed + folly."--_October 14, 1917_. + + "The socialist vote [in the New York mayoralty election] was + rather ominous. Still, on the whole, it was only about one fifth + of the total vote. It included the extreme pacifist crowd, as + well as the vicious red-flag men, and masses of poor, ignorant + people who, for example, would say. 'He'll give us five-cent + milk,' which he could have given as readily as he could have + given the moon."--_November 7, 1917_. + + "Well, it's dreadful to have those we love go to the front; but + it is even worse when they are not allowed to go to the + front."--_Letter to Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., November 11, + 1917._ + + "Yesterday mother and I motored down to the draft camp at + Yaphank. First, I was immensely pleased with the type of the + men, and the officers are just as good as the average of young + West Pointers. I believe that in the end that army there will be + as fine a body of fighting men as any nation in the world could + desire to see under its banners. But there is still, after + nearly three months that they have been called out, some + shortage in warm clothes; there are modern rifles for only one + man in six; there are only about four guns to an artillery + brigade."--_November 19, 1917._ + + "Of course, the root of our trouble lies in our government's + attitude during the two and one half years preceding our entry + into the war, and its refusal now to make the matter one in + which all good citizens can join without regard to party, and + paying heed only to the larger interests of the country and of + mankind at large.... I now strike hands with any one who is + sound on Americanism and on speeding up the war and putting it + through to the finish; but we _ought_ to take heed of our + industrial and social matters too."--_Thanksgiving Day, 1917._ + + "There is little I can do here, except to try to speed up the + war; the failure to begin work on the cargo ships with the + utmost energy ten months ago was a grave misfortune."--_December + 23, 1917._ + + "The work of preparation here goes on slowly. I do my best to + speed it up; but I can only talk or write; and it is only the + doers who really count. The trouble is fundamental and twofold. + The administration has no conception of war needs or what war + means; and the American army has been so handled in time of + peace that the bulk of the men high up were sure to break down + in the event of war."--_January 6, 1918._ + + "Over here Senator Chamberlain's committee has forced some real + improvements in the work of the war department and the shipping + board. It is of course a wicked thing that a year was wasted in + delay and inefficiency. Substantially we are, as regards the + war, repeating what was done in 1812-15; there was then a + complete breakdown in the governmental work due to the pacifist + theories which had previously obtained, to inefficiency in the + public servants at Washington, and above all to the absolute + failure to prepare in advance. Yet there was much individual + energy, resourcefulness, and courage; much work by good + shipwrights; fine fighting of an individual and non-coherent + kind by ship captains and by occasional generals."--_March 10, + 1918._ + + "How I hate making speeches at such time as this, with you boys + all at the front! And I am not sure they do much good. But + _someone_ has to try to get things hurried up."--_March 14, + 1918._ + + "Wood testified fearlessly before the Senate committee, and the + country has been impressed and shocked by his telling (what of + course all well informed people already knew) that we had none + of our own airplanes or field guns and very few of our own + machine guns at the front."--_March 31, 1918._ + + "The great German drive has partially awakened our people to the + knowledge that we really are in a war. They still tend to + complacency about the 'enormous work that has been + accomplished'--in building home camps and the like--but there + really is an effort being made to hurry troops over, and + tardily, to hasten the building of ships, guns, and airplanes. + + "My own unimportant activities are, of course, steadily directed + toward endeavoring to speed up the war, by heartily backing + everything that is done zealously and efficiently, and by + calling sharp attention to luke-warmness and inefficiency when + they become so marked as to be dangerous."--_April 7, 1918._ + + "Of course, we are gravely concerned over the way the British + have been pushed back; and our people are really concerned over + the fact that after over a year of formal participation in the + war our army overseas is too small to be of great use."--_April + 14, 1918._ + + "The administration never moves unless it is forced by public + pressure and public pressure can as a rule only be obtained by + showing the public that we have failed in doing something we + should do; for as long as the public is fatuously content, the + administration lies back and does nothing."--_April 20, 1918._ + + "The people who wish me to write for them are divided between + the desire to have me speak out boldly, and the desire to have + me say nothing that will offend anybody--and cannot realize that + the two desires are incompatible."--_April 28, 1918._ + + "I spoke at Springfield to audiences whose enthusiastic + reception of warlike doctrine showed the steady progress of our + people in understanding what the war means."--_May 5, 1918._ + + "It is well to have had happiness, to have achieved the great + ends of life, when one must walk boldly and warily close to + death."--_May 12, 1918._ + + "We are really sending over large numbers of men now, and the + shipbuilding program is being rushed; but the situation as + regards field guns, machine guns, and airplanes continues very + bad. The administration never takes a step in advance until + literally flailed into it; and the entire cuckoo population of + the 'don't criticize the President' type play into the hands of + the pro-Germans, pacifists, and Hearst people, so that a premium + is put on our delay and inefficiency."--_May 12, 1918._ + + "The only way I can help in speeding up the war is by jarring + loose our governmental and popular conceit and complacency. I + point out our shortcomings with unsparing directness and lash + the boasting and the grandiloquent prophecies. + + "The trouble is that our people are ignorant of the situation + and that most of the leaders fear to tell the truth about + conditions. I only wish I carried more weight. Yet I think our + people are hardening in their determination to win the war, and + are beginning to ask for results."--_May 23, 1918._ + + "The war temper of the country is steadily hardening and so is + the feeling against all the pro-German agitators at + home."--_June 2, 1918._ + + "In every speech I devote a little time to the 'cut out the + boasting plea.' Of course I really do think that in spite of our + governmental shortcomings we are developing our + strength."--_June 26, 1918._ + + "On the Fourth of July I went down to Passaic, where three + quarters of the people are of foreign parentage, the mayor + himself being of German ancestry. I talked straightout + Americanism, of course, which was most enthusiastically + received; the mayor's two sons have enlisted in the navy, and + one has been promoted to being ensign. The war spirit of the + people is steadily rising."--_July 7, 1918._ + + "I, of course, absolutely agree with you as to the tremendous + difficulties and possible far-reaching changes we shall have to + face after this war. Either _fool Bourbonism_ or _fool + radicalism_ may land us unpleasantly near--say halfway + toward--the position in which Russia has been landed by the + alternation between Romanoffism and Bolshevism."--_July 15, + 1918._ + + "It is very bitter to me that all of you, the young, should be + facing death while I sit in ease and safety."--_July 21, 1918._ + + "I keep pegging away in the effort to hurry forward our work. We + now have enough troops in France to make us a ponderable element + in the situation."--_August 4, 1918._ + + "On Labor Day I spoke at Newburgh shipyard and spoke plainly of + the labor slackers and the unions that encourage them; and on + Lafayette Day, at the City Hall, I spoke of the kind of peace we + ought to have, and nailed to the mast the flag of Nationalism as + against Internationalism."--_September 9, 1918._ + + "The Germans have been given a staggering blow, and while I + _hope_ for peace by Xmas, I believe we should speed everything + to the limit on the assumption that next year will be the + crucial year."--_October 20, 1918._ + + "During the last week Wilson has been adroitly endeavoring to + get the Allies into the stage of note writing and peace + discussion with an only partially beaten and entirely + unconquered Germany. I have been backing up the men like Lodge + who have given utterance to the undoubtedly strong, but not + necessarily steady, American demand for unconditional surrender. + It is dreadful to have my sons face danger; but unless we put + this war through, _their sons may have to face worse danger--and + their daughters also_."--_October 27, 1918._ + + OYSTER BAY, August, 1919. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + PREFACE v + + CHAPTER + I.--BOYHOOD RECOLLECTIONS 1 + + II.--SINS OF THE FATHERS 21 + + III.--OVERSEAS 33 + + IV.--TRAINING IN FRANCE 48 + + V.--LIFE IN AN ARMY AREA 66 + + VI.--EARLY DAYS IN THE TRENCHES 82 + + VII.--MONTDIDIER 120 + + VIII.--SOISSONS 162 + + IX.--ST. MIHIEL AND THE ARGONNE 183 + + X.--THE LAST BATTLE 201 + + XI.--UP THE MOSELLE AND INTO CONQUERED GERMANY 217 + + XII.--AFTERWARDS 234 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + LIEUTENANT COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT _Frontispiece_ + From a portrait by Levey-Dhurmer + + COLONEL ROOSEVELT IN AMERICA TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL + ROOSEVELT IN FRANCE 20 + + A GROUP OF OFFICERS OF THE 1ST BATTALION, 26TH INFANTRY 24 + Haudivillers, April, 1917 + + BRIGADIER GENERAL FRANK A. PARKER, LIEUTENANT COLONEL + THEODORE ROOSEVELT, AND MRS. ROOSEVELT AT ROMAGNE 38 + + "CHOW" 58 + Drawn by Captain W. J. Aylward, A. E. F., 1918 + + BEFORE THE OFFENSIVE 78 + Drawn by Captain W. J. Aylward, A. E. F. + + THE SIGNAL CORPS AT WORK 86 + Drawn by Captain Harry E. Townsend, A. E. F. + + A TRENCH RAID 130 + Drawn by Captain George Harding, A. E. F., Montfaucon + + AN AIR RAID 172 + Drawn by Captain George Harding, A. E. F. August, 1918 + + THE RHINE AT COBLENZ 226 + Drawn by Captain Ernest Peixotto, A. E. F. + + THREE THEODORE ROOSEVELTS 240 + Copyright, Walter S. Shinn + + + + +AVERAGE AMERICANS + + + + +CHAPTER I + +BOYHOOD RECOLLECTIONS + + "'Tis education forms the common mind,-- + Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." + ALEXANDER POPE. + + +From the time when we were very little boys we were always interested in +military preparedness. My father believed very strongly in the necessity +of each boy being able and willing not only to look out for himself but +to look out for those near and dear to him. This gospel was preached to +us all from the time we were very, very small. A story, told in the +family of an incident which happened long before I can remember, +illustrated this. Father told me one day always to be willing to fight +anyone who insulted me. Shortly after this wails of grief arose from +the nursery. Mother ran upstairs and found my little brother Kermit +howling in a corner. When she demanded an explanation I told her that he +had insulted me by taking away some of my blocks, so I had hit him on +the head with a mechanical rabbit. + +Our little boy fights were discussed in detail with father. Although he +insisted on the willingness to fight, he was the first to object to and +punish anything that resembled bullying. We always told him everything, +as we knew he would give us a real and sympathetic interest. + +Funny incidents of these early combats stick in my mind. One day one of +my brothers came home from school very proud. He said he had had a fight +with a boy. When asked how the fight resulted he said he had won by +kicking the boy in the windpipe. Further investigation developed the +fact that the windpipe was the pit of the stomach. My brother felt that +it must be the windpipe, because when you kicked someone there he lost +his breath. I can remember father to this day explaining that no matter +how effective this method of attack was it was not considered +sportsmanlike to kick. + +Father and mother believed in robust righteousness. In the stories and +poems that they read us they always bore this in mind. _Pilgrim's +Progress_ and _The Battle Hymn of the Republic_ we knew when we were +very young. When father was dressing for dinner he used to teach us +poetry. I can remember memorizing all the most stirring parts of +Longfellow's _Saga of King Olaf_, _Sheridan's Ride_, and the _Sinking of +the Cumberland_. The gallant incidents in history were told us in such a +way that we never forgot them. In Washington, when father was civil +service commissioner, I often walked to the office with him. On the way +down he would talk history to me--not the dry history of dates and +charters, but the history where you yourself in your imagination could +assume the role of the principal actors, as every well-constructed boy +wishes to do when interested. During every battle we would stop and +father would draw out the full plan in the dust in the gutter with the +tip of his umbrella. + +When very little we saw a great many men serving in both the army and +navy. My father did not wish us to enter either of these services, +because he felt that there was so much to be done from a civilian +standpoint in this country. However, we were taught to regard the +services, as the quaint phraseology of the Court Martial Manual puts it, +as the "honorable profession of arms." We were constantly listening to +discussions on military matters, and there was always at least one +service rifle in the house. + +We spent our summers at Oyster Bay. There, in addition to our family, +were three other families of little Roosevelts. We were all taught +out-of-door life. We spent our days riding and shooting, wandering +through the woods, and playing out-of-door games. Underlying all this +was father's desire to have all of us children grow up manly and +clean-minded, with not only the desire but the ability to play our part +at the country's need. + +Father himself was our companion whenever he could get away from his +work. Many times he camped out with us on Lloyd's Neck, the only +"grown-up" of the party. We always regarded him as a great asset at +times like these. He could think up more delightful things to do than we +could in a "month of Sundays." In the evening, when the bacon that +sizzled in the frying-pan had been eaten, we gathered round the fire. +The wind soughed through the marsh grass, the waves rippled against the +shore, and father told us stories. Of the children who composed these +picnics, two died in service in this war, two were wounded, and all but +one volunteered, regardless of age, at the outbreak of hostilities. + +When we were all still little tadpoles, father went to the war with +Spain. We were too little, of course, to appreciate anything except the +glamour. When he decided to go, almost all his friends and advisers told +him he was making a mistake. Indeed, I think my mother was the only one +who felt he was doing right. In talking it over afterward, when I had +grown much older, father explained to me that in preaching self-defense +and willingness to fight for a proper cause, he could not be effective +if he refused to go when the opportunity came, and urged that "it was +different" in his case. He often said, "Ted, I would much rather explain +why I went to the war than why I did not." + +At school and at college father encouraged us to take part in the games +and sports. None of us were really good athletes--father himself was +not--but we all put into it all we had. He was just as much interested +in hearing what we had done on the second football team or class crew as +if we had been varsity stars. + +He always preached to us one maxim in particular: take all legitimate +chances in your favor when going into a contest. He used to enforce this +by telling us of a man with whom he had once been hunting. The man was +naturally a better walker than father. Father selected his shoes with +great care. The man did not. After the first few days father was always +able to outwalk and outhunt him just on this account. Father always went +over his equipment with the greatest care before going on a trip, and +this sort of thoroughness was imbued in all his sons. + +Long before the European war had broken over the world, father would +discuss with us military training and the necessity for every man being +able to take his part. + +I can remember him saying to me, "Ted, every man should defend his +country. It should not be a matter of choice, it should be a matter of +law. Taxes are levied by law. They are not optional. It is not permitted +for a man to say that it is against his religious beliefs to pay taxes, +or that he feels that it is an abrogation of his own personal freedom. +The blood tax is more important than the dollar tax. It should not +therefore be a voluntary contribution, but should be levied on all +alike." + +Father was much interested in General Wood's camps for the training of +the younger boys and was heartily in sympathy with them. Both Archie +and Quentin attended them. Quentin had a badly strained back at the +time, but that did not keep him from going. + +At the sinking of the _Lusitania_ a very keen realization of the gravity +of the situation was evident all over the country. A number of younger +men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five met together to talk +things over. In this group were Grenville Clarke, Philip A. Carroll, +Elihu Root, Jr., Cornelius W. Wickersham, J. Lloyd Derby, Kenneth P. +Budd, and Delancy K. Jay. They felt that it was only a question of time +until we would be called to the colors, and realized most keenly the +fact that it is one thing to be willing and quite another to be able to +take your part. They felt, as this war has shown, the lamentable +injustice and grievous loss that is entailed by putting against men who +are trained in the business of fighting untrained men who, no matter how +good their spirit and how great their courage, do not know the game. + +The outcome of the conference of these men was the decision to ask +General Wood if it would be possible for him to hold a training camp, +for men up to forty-five years, similar to those held for boys. With the +usual patriotism that characterizes him, General Wood said at once that +he would hold the camp even if they were able to get only twenty-five +men to attend. In the beginning, converts came slowly, but after a +campaign of personal solicitation, in which members of the original +group went individually to various cities in the vicinity of New York, +the movement got under way with such success that the first so-called +"Business Men's Plattsburg Camp" numbered about one thousand, and was +immediately followed by another nearly as large. + +At this time the average man did not know what military training and +service meant. The camp was composed of men of all types and all ages. +Many of them, too old for active service, had come as an earnest of +their belief and through the desire to teach by their actions as well as +by their preachings. Robert Bacon and John Purroy Mitchel attended this +camp, both of them men whose memory will always be treasured by those +who were fortunate enough to know them. + +We took it all very seriously. At one end of the company street you +would see two prominent middle-aged business men trying to do the manual +of arms properly, rain dripping off them, their faces set like the day +of judgment, crowned with grizzled hair. At the other would be Arthur +Woods, the Police Commissioner of New York, "boning" the infantry drill +regulations. George Wharton Pepper was promoted to sergeant, and was as +proud of it as of any of his achievements in civil life. Bishop Perry of +Rhode Island was named as color sergeant. + +Men who went to this Plattsburg camp had to pay their own money in order +to try to fit themselves to serve their country. No more undemocratic +arrangement could have been made for it placed beyond the power of the +men of small means, who form the body of the country, to get in advance +the knowledge necessary to act as an officer. Yet this was the only +course open to us. In the ensuing year these camps spread over the +country, and through them passed many thousands of men. Far over and +above their value from the standpoint of military training was their +educational value in national duty. A large percentage of the +commissioned officers on our country's roll of honor attended the +Plattsburg camps. + +These camps in themselves furnished the nucleus for the selection of the +commissioned personnel of the national army, and furnished, furthermore, +the system by which the great mass of our junior officers were chosen +and educated. Yet the movement was launched, not with the backing and +help of the national administration, but rather in spite of the national +administration. No official representing the administration visited +these early camps. Solely by private endeavor, therefore, arose the +system of selection of officers which enabled the army in this war, more +than any army this country has had in the past, to choose the men for +commissions with a keen regard for their ability, with a truer +democracy and less of political influence. On account of this movement +the town of Plattsburg is known from one coast to the other. + +During this first camp my father came up to address the men. Up to this +time, although he had spoken on universal military training, it had been +considered as such an unthinkable program that no one had paid any +attention. Two or three times people have asked me when my father first +became convinced of the necessity for universal training and service in +this nation. They have always been greatly surprised when I have +referred them back to a message to Congress written during his first +term as President, in which he suggested that the Swiss system of +training would be an advisable one to adopt in the United States. Many +years before this he had directed N. Carey Sawyer to investigate and +report on Switzerland's military policy. So little were people concerned +with it at that time that no comment of any sort was caused by either +act. + +The evening of my father's arrival at Plattsburg an orderly came and +directed me to report at headquarters, where my father was sitting in +conference. + +"Ted, I have decided to make a speech to-morrow in favor of universal +service," father said to me. "My good friends here, who believe in it as +much as I do, feel that the time is not ripe, that the country would not +understand it, and that it will merely provoke a storm of adverse +criticism. I have told them that although the country may criticize, and +although unquestionably a storm of attacks will be directed against me, +it must be done, because the country must begin thinking on the +subject." + +He spoke next day before the assembled students. The ring of serious +khaki-clad men seated on the parade ground, father speaking very +earnestly in the center, speaking until after dark, when he had to +finish by a lantern, is a clear picture to me. + +To many of them this exposition was the first they had ever heard on the +subject. Most of them up to this time had not been interested in it, +and had felt vaguely that compulsory military training and service was +synonymous with the German system and was not democratic. When France +and Switzerland were brought to their attention as democracies, as +efficient democracies, and as countries which had a thoroughly developed +system of universal military training, their eyes were opened and they +saw the matter in a new light. From this camp, directed in a large part +by my father's and General Wood's inspiration and ideas, grew a +nation-wide group of young men who felt the seriousness of the +situation, young men who realized we must take our part and who wished, +as one of my private soldiers put it to me, "At least to have a show for +their white alley" when the war broke. + +During the ensuing winter and summer in many parts of the country +enthusiasts were working, and many more camps were founded and carried +to a successful completion. Recognition of a mild sort was obtained +from the National Government. Not recognition which permitted men to go +as men should go in a democracy, to learn to serve their country, as +pupils of the country, at the country's expense, but at least as men +doing something which was not unrecognized and frowned on by their +government. + +Toward the winter of 1917 father talked ever increasingly to all of us +concerning his chance of being permitted to take a division or unit of +some sort to Europe. When war was declared he took this matter up +directly with the President. What happened is now history. He took his +disappointment as he took many other disappointments in his life. Often +after he had worked with all that was in him for something, when all +that could be done was done, he would say, "We have done all we can; the +result is now on the knees of the gods." + +Meanwhile he was constantly interested in and constantly talked with all +of us about what we were doing. At last, two months after we severed +diplomatic relations, training camps for officers were called into +being with enormous waste and inefficiency, and we ambled slowly toward +the training of an army and its commanding personnel. + +All of us except my brother Quentin left for Plattsburg. Quentin, on the +day before diplomatic relations were severed, had telephoned from +college to father to say he would go into the air service, where his +real ability as a mechanician stood him in good stead. Of the other +three, Kermit had had the least training from a purely military +standpoint, having been in South America during most of the time when we +had been working on the "Plattsburg movement." His ability and +experience, however, in other ways were greater, as in his hunting trips +in Africa and South America he had handled bodies of men in dangerous +situations. Archie had attended practically all the camps, and was +naturally a fine leader of men and a boy of great daring. + +At Plattsburg, Archie and I were fortunate enough to be put in the same +company. During the major part of the month we were there we were in +charge of the company. Our duty was to instruct potential officers in +the art of war which we ourselves did not know. We spent hours +wig-wagging and semaphoring. Neither of these methods of signaling did I +ever see used in action. + +In our "conference" periods the floor was opened for questions. The +conversation would be something like this: "What is light artillery?" +"Light artillery is the lighter branch of the artillery."--"That is all +very well, but define it further." Deep thought. "It is the artillery +carried by men and not by horses." One man asked in all solemnity once, +"Does blood rust steel more than water?" It is not necessary to add that +he never became an officer. + +We worked like nailers, but were always watching for the word that +troops were to be sent across. To all of us, from the beginning, it was +not a question of deciding whether we should go or not. We had been +brought up with the idea that, deplorable as war was, the only way when +it broke was to go. The only way to keep peace, a righteous peace, was +to be prepared and willing to fight. A splendid example of a fine family +record is given by Governor Manning's family, of South Carolina: seven +sons, all in service, and one paying the supreme sacrifice. + +"If we had a trained army like the Swiss, Germany would never dare +commit any offenses against us, and, furthermore, I believe it highly +possible that the entire war might have been avoided," was a statement +often made to me by father at the beginning of the war. + +At the end of the first three weeks we heard rumors that a small +expeditionary force was to be sent over immediately. We telephoned +father at Oyster Bay and asked him if he could help us get attached to +this expeditionary force. He said he would try, and succeeded in so far +as Archie and I were concerned, as we already had commissions in the +officers' reserve corps. We offered to go in the ranks, but General +Pershing said we would be of more value in the grades for which we held +commissions. Our excitement was intense when one day in an official +envelope from Washington we received a communication, "Subject--Foreign +Service." The communication was headed "Confidential," so we were forced +to keep all our jubilation to ourselves. Some ten days after we received +another communication, "Subject--Orders," and were directed to report to +the commanding general, port of embarkation, New York, "confidentially +by wire," at what date we would be ready to start. + +We both felt this was not the most expeditious way to proceed, but we +obeyed orders and telegraphed. We supplemented this, however, by taking +the next train and reporting in person at the same time the telegram +arrived, in case they could not decode our message. General Franklin +Bell was the commanding general, and he very kindly helped us get off at +once, and we left on the liner _Chicago_ for Bordeaux on June 18th. + +Our last few days in this country we spent with the family. Archie and I +went with our wives to Oyster Bay, where father, mother, and Quentin +were. My wife even then announced her intention of going to Europe in +some auxiliary branch, but she promised me she would not start without +my permission. The promise was evidently made in the Pickwickian sense, +as when I cabled her from Europe not to come the answer that I got was +the announcement of her arrival in Paris. There were six of our +immediate family in the American expeditionary forces--my wife, one +brother-in-law, Richard Derby, and we four brothers. Father, busy as he +was, during the entire time we were abroad wrote to each of us weekly, +and, when he physically could, in his own hand. + + [Illustration: COLONEL ROOSEVELT IN AMERICA TO LIEUTENANT COLONEL + ROOSEVELT IN FRANCE + + The last five years have made me bitterly conscious of the + shortcomings of our national character; but we Roosevelts are + Americans, and can never think of living anything else, and wouldn't + be anything else for any consideration on the face of the earth; a + man with our way of looking at things can no more change his country + than he can change his mother; and it is the business of each of us + to play the part of a good American and try to make things as much + better as possible. + + This means, at the moment, to try to speed up its war; to back its + army to the limit; and to support or criticize every public official + precisely according to whether he does or does not efficiently + support its war and the army.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SINS OF THE FATHERS + + "Sons of the sheltered city-- + Unmade, unhandled, unmeet-- + Ye pushed them raw to the battle + As ye picked them raw from the street. + And what did ye look, they should compass? + Warcraft learned in a breath, + Knowledge unto occasion + At the first far view of death?" + KIPLING. + + +While we were personally working at Plattsburg the national +administration, after a meandering course, in which much of the motion +was retrograde, had finally decided that to fight a war in France it was +necessary to send troops to that part of the world. Out of this +determination Pershing's force grew. + +Investigation of the condition of our military establishment indicated +that we had virtually nothing available. The best that could be done in +the way of an expeditionary force was to group two regiments of marines +and four regular regiments together and send them to Europe as the First +Division. So little attention and thought had been given to military +matters that when the First Division was originally grouped it consisted +of three brigades, not two. These brigades consisted of the Fifth and +Sixth Marines, Twenty-sixth and Twenty-eighth Infantry, and the +Sixteenth and Eighteenth Infantry. In the regiments themselves things +were in the same chaotic condition. Battalions contained three companies +of infantry and one machine-gun company each. This was an eleventh-hour +change from the old system of four companies of infantry, to which we +returned later in the year. We had, furthermore, up to this time, by our +tables of organization, companies of 152 men. These companies were +raised to 200 men, and still later became 250. + +As a matter of fact, the strength of these companies at the declaration +of war was somewhere around sixty. The 140 additional were obtained by +getting a percentage by transfer from other infantry regiments, and +filling in the balance with raw recruits who had just volunteered for +service. + +My own regiment, the Twenty-sixth Infantry, entrained early in June at +San Benito, Texas, and came to the port of embarkation, New York City. +The trip always stands out in my mind, although I did not join the +regiment until after it had arrived in Europe, because all through the +two years of war I was pestered by a paper which kept constantly turning +up concerning some $100 worth of ham and cheese that was supposed to +have been eaten by the men of the Twenty-sixth Infantry as they passed +through Houston. No one was ever able to furnish me with any information +as to it, but in the best approved military style the communication kept +circulating to and fro, indorsement after indorsement being added, +until, when I last saw it, January, 1919, after the war was finished, +there were some twenty-eight series of remarks, and no one was any the +wiser. + +A story that always appealed to me was told me by one of my officers, of +the time when the troop train was lying in the Jersey marshes waiting to +go on board ship. A very good officer, Arnold by name, had command of +one of the companies of the Twenty-sixth Infantry. A number of +lieutenants were sent from the training camps to join the First +Division. The military knowledge of the lieutenants consisted in the +main of a month at Plattsburg at their own expense, and a month for +which the government paid. The lieutenants, after getting to New York, +had their uniforms pressed and cleaned and their shoes beautifully +polished, feeling that at least they would look the part. They went out +to join the troops, who were lying in the cars, hot, dirty and +uncomfortable, after traveling for four days. Arnold was sitting with +his company, his blouse off, unshaven, with his feet on the seat in +front of him. One of the nice young lieutenants came in to report to him +looking, as the lieutenant himself told me afterward, like a fashionable +clothes advertisement, and knowing about as much about military matters +as a canary bird. + + 1 LT. EINAR H. GAUSTED wounded + 2 LT. GEORGE JACKSON killed May 28, '18 + 3 CAPT. AMIEL FREY " " 27, '18 + 4 LT. GROVER P. CATHER " " 28, '18 + 5 LT. CHARLES H. WEAVER wounded + 6 LT. WESLEY FREML killed June 29, '18 + 7 LT. JAMES M. BARRETT gassed + 8 LT. ROLAND W. ESTEY + 9 MAJOR THEODORE ROOSEVELT wounded + 10 LT. B. VANN + 11 LT. GEORGE P. GUSTAFSON killed June 6, '18 + 12 LT. TUVE J. FLODEN wounded + 13 LT. REXIE E. GILLIAM wounded + 14 LT. JOHN P. GAINES wounded + 15 LT. LEWIS TILLMAN + 16 LT. PERCY E. LE STOURGEON wounded + 17 LT. BROWN LEWIS wounded + 18 CAPT. HAMILTON K. FOSTER killed Oct. 2, '18 + 19 LT. PAUL R. CARUTHERS wounded + 20 LT. M. MORRIS ANDREWS + 21 LT. WILLIAM C. DABNEY wounded + 22 LT. DONALD H. GRANT + 23 CAPT. E. D. MORGAN + 24 LT. DENNIS H. SHILLEN wounded + 25 LT. HARRY DILLON killed Oct. 4, '18 + 26 LT. CHARLES RIDGELY + 27 LT. JOSEPH P. CARD + 28 LT. STEWART A. BAXTER wounded + 29 LT. THOMAS D. AMORY killed Oct. 3, '18 + 30 LT. THOMAS B. CORNELI + + [Illustration: A GROUP OF OFFICERS OF THE 1ST BATTALION, 26TH INFANTRY + Haudivillers. April, 1917] + +Arnold looked at him in a weary way, shook his head sadly and remarked +to the officer beside him, "We have only ourselves to blame for it." +Indeed, we were to blame for conditions, and such of us as were +fortunate enough to see service in Europe had the sins of our +unpreparedness brought before us in the most glaring light. + +Just how much training and experience were of value was everywhere +evident. In my opinion, all divisions sent over by this country were +approximately equal in intelligence and courage. There was, however, the +greatest difference between the veteran divisions and those which had +just arrived. Each division, after being given the same amount of +training and fighting, would show up much the same, but put a division +which had been fighting for six months alongside of one that had just +arrived, and in every detail you could see the difference. The men of +the newly arrived division were as courageous as the men of the old +division. Their intelligence was as good, but they did not know the +small things which come only with training and experience, and which, in +a close battle, make the difference between victory and defeat, the +difference between needless sacrifice and the sacrifice which brings +results. + +A great friend of mine, Colonel Frederick Palmer, put this to me very +clearly. He was observing the action of our troops in the Argonne and +came on a young lieutenant with a platoon of infantry. The lieutenant +was fidgeting and highly nervous. When Palmer came up he said, "Sir, +there is a machine gun on that hill. I don't know whether I should +attack it or whether I should wait until the troops on the right and +left arrive and force it out. I don't know whether it is killing my men +to no purpose whatever to advance. I don't know what to do. I am not +afraid. My men are not afraid." + +This man belonged to one of the newly arrived divisions. Given the +experience, he would have known exactly what to do. If he had been a +man of an older division and had seen sufficient service he would have +been doing what was necessary when Colonel Palmer arrived. + +The little tricks which come only with soldiering and training, which do +not appear in the accounts of the battles and are never found in the +citations for valor, are those which make the great difference. For +example, Napoleon has said that an army travels on its stomach. It is +often quoted and rarely understood, yet nothing is more true. The men +have had a hard day's fighting. They are wet, they are cold, they have +marched for a week, mostly at night, and are worn out. Can you get the +food forward to them? Can you get the food to them hot? If you can get +hot food forward to them you have increased the fighting efficiency of +these troops thirty per cent. + +Experienced troops get this food forward. A machine working on past +experience knows exactly what to do. The supply trains keep track of +their advance units and follow closely in their rear. During the +engagement the supply officers are planning where to put their rolling +kitchens and what routes can be used to get the supplies forward. +Meanwhile the echelons of supply in the rear are acting in the same +manner. One does not find in the drill-book that the way to keep coffee +and slum hot after it has left the rolling kitchens is to take out the +boilers with the food in them, wrap these boilers in old blankets, put +them on the two-wheeled machine-gun carts, which can go nearly anywhere, +and work forward to the troops in this way. This is just one instance, +one trick of the trade. It is something that only training and +experience can supply, and yet it is of most vital importance. I have +known divisions to help feed the more recently arrived divisions on +their right and left, when all have had the same facilities to start +with. I have known new troops, fighting by an older division, to be +forty hours without food when the men of the older division had been +eating every day. + +Right in the ranks of a regiment you could see the difference made by +training and experience. Look at a trained man alongside of a new +recruit just arrived for replacement. The trained man, at the end of the +day's fighting, will fix himself up a funk hole where he will be +reasonably safe from shell fragments, will cover himself with a blanket, +and will get some sleep. The recruit will expose himself unnecessarily, +will be continuously uncomfortable, and will not know how to take +advantage of whatever opportunity might arise to make himself more +comfortable. The result is that the value of the former is much greater +from a military standpoint, and the latter runs a far greater risk +physically from all standpoints. Moreover, when the test comes, as it +generally does, not in the beginning of the battle, but toward the +bitter end, when every last ounce that a man has in him is being called +on, the untrained man is not so apt to have the necessary vitality left +to do his work. + +Our equipment, for the same reason, during the early days of the war was +most impracticable. A notable example of this was the so-termed "iron +ration" carried on the men's backs. The meat component of this ration +was bacon. In certain types of fighting, those in which our army had +been principally engaged, this may have been best, but for the work in +Europe, it was absolutely impracticable. To begin with, bacon encourages +thirst, and thirst, where troops are fighting in many of the districts +in France, is almost impossible to satisfy. A canteen of water a day for +each man was all it was possible to provide. Furthermore, bacon has to +be cooked, and this again is often impracticable. About a year after the +beginning of the war, some of the older divisions adopted tinned beef, +which went among the men under the euphonious name of "monkey meat." + +To the average person in this country these things are not evident. They +read of battles, they read of the courage of the men, of the casualties, +of the glory. They do not appreciate the unnecessary sacrifices and the +unnecessary deaths and hardships entailed on us by our policies. + +It is all very well for someone comfortably ensconced in his swivel +chair in Washington to issue the statement that he glories in the fact +that we went into this war unprepared. It may be glorious for him, but +it is not glorious for those who fight the war, for those who pay the +price. The clap-trap statesmen of this type should be forced to go +themselves or at least have their sons, as guarantee of their good +faith, join the fighting forces. Needless to say, none of them did. + +Except for one instance, I do not believe there is a single male member +of the families of the administration who felt that his duty called him +to be where the fighting was, a single male member who heard a gun fired +in anger. I have heard some of these estimable gentlemen say they +considered it improper to use any influence to get to the front much +though they desired to do so. This type of observation is hypocritical. +No doubt the men who gave their lives, their eyes, their arms, or their +legs would feel deeply grieved to be robbed of this privilege. + +I have quoted above my father's statement that he would rather have +explained why he went to war than why he did not, for the benefit of +these gentlemen. I should think they would rather explain why they used +their influence to be where the danger was than why they did not. As my +father wrote me in June, 1918: "When the trumpet sounds for Armageddon, +only those win the undying honor and glory who stand where the danger is +sorest." + + + + +CHAPTER III + +OVERSEAS + + "Behind him lay the gray Azores, + Behind the gates of Hercules, + Before him not the ghosts of shores + Before him only shoreless seas." + JOAQUIN MILLER. + + +My brother and I sailed from New York for Bordeaux on June 18, 1917. One +little incident of the voyage always stands out in my mind. As we were +leaving the harbor, the decks crowded with passengers, everyone keyed up +to a high state of excitement, our flag was lowered for some reason. +While being lowered it blew from the halyards and fell into the water, +and as it fell one could hear everyone who saw it catch his breath, like +a great sob. + +The passenger list was polyglot. French returning from missions to the +United States, Red Cross workers, doctors, ambulance drivers, and a few +casual officers. We spent our time trying to improve our French to such +an extent that we could understand or be understood when speaking it +with others than Americans. Our teacher was Felix, a chauffeur. He had +already served in the artillery in the French army, finally finishing +the war as a captain in the same branch of the service in the United +States army. + +We touched the shore of France toward the end of June and, passing a few +outgoing ships and a couple of torpedoed vessels, steamed slowly up the +broad, tranquil estuary of the Garonne. In the town of Bordeaux all the +inhabitants were greatly excited about _Les Americaines_. We were the +first they had seen since the news had reached France that we were +sending troops, and as we drove through the multi-colored market the old +crones would get up and cackle their approval. + +To the average Frenchman who had always been accustomed to a sound +scheme of preparedness and trained men who could go to the colors for +immediate service, we were taken to be simply the first contingent of an +enormous army which would follow without interruption. The poor people +were bitterly disappointed when they found that the handful of untrained +men alluded to by our papers in this country as "the splendid little +regular army" represented all that we had available in the United +States, and that ten months would pass before a really appreciable +number of troops would arrive. + +From Bordeaux we went by train to Paris. In the train the same interest +in and excitement over us continued. The compartment was full of French +soldiers, who asked us all about our plans, the number of our troops and +when they would arrive. Outside it was a beautiful day, and the green, +well-cultivated fields and picturesque, quiet villages made it hard to +realize we were really in France, where the greatest war in history was +being fought. + +On reaching Paris we reported to General Pershing. He asked us what duty +we wished. We both replied, service with troops. He assigned my brother +at once to the Sixteenth Infantry, and ordered me to go with the advance +billeting detail to the Gondecourt area, where our troops were to train. + +Meanwhile the convoyed ships containing the troops had arrived at St. +Nazaire. On the way over officers and men had tried to do what they +could to prepare themselves. One of the officers told me he spent his +time learning the rules of land warfare for civilized nations as agreed +on by the Hague tribunal. Like the dodo, the mammoth, and international +law, these rules had long since become extinct. + +From St. Nazaire a battalion of the Sixteenth Infantry went to Paris and +paraded on the Fourth of July. The population went crazy over them. +Cheering crowds lined the streets, flowers were thrown at them, and I +think the men felt that France and war were not so bad after all. As a +side light on our efficiency in this parade the troops were marched in +column of squads because the men were so green that the officers were +afraid to adopt any formation where it was necessary to keep a longer +line properly dressed. + +Meanwhile three officers and I had left Paris and gone to Gondecourt. +The officers were General (then Colonel) McAlexander, who since made a +splendid record for himself when the Third Division turned the German +offensive of July 15, 1918, east of Chateau Thierry; General (then +Major) Leslie McNair, afterward head of the artillery department of the +training section; and Colonel Porter, of the medical corps. We knew +nothing about billeting. The sum total of my knowledge was a hazy idea +that it meant putting the men in spare beds in a town and that it was +prohibited by the Constitution of the United States. + +Toward evening we arrived at the little French village of Gondecourt. +The streets were decorated with flowers, and groups of little French +children ran to and fro shouting _Vive les Americaines_! We were met by +French officers and taken to the inn, a charming little brownstone +building, where French officers, soldiers and civilians mingled without +distinction. There the mayor of the town and the town major, who is +appointed in all zones of the army as the representative of the +military, came to call on us, and we started to get down to business. A +most difficult thing for our men to realize was the various formalities +through which one must go in working with the French. Many times real +trouble was caused because the Americans did not understand what a part +in French life _politesse_ plays. No conversation on military matters is +carried on by the French in the way we would. You do not go straight to +the point. Each participant first expresses himself on the virtues and +great deeds of the other, and after this the sordid matter of business +in hand is taken up. We were poorly equipped for this. Only McNair and I +spoke French at all, and ours was weird and awful to a degree. We had +both been taught by Americans after the best approved United States +method. + +The French town major with whom we dwelt was an old fellow, a veteran +of the war of 1870. He had an enormous white mustache. He "snorted like +a buffalo," and the one word that I always understood was +_parfaitement_, which he constantly used. + + [Illustration: BRIGADIER GENERAL FRANK A. PARKER, LIEUTENANT COLONEL + THEODORE ROOSEVELT, AND MRS. ROOSEVELT AT ROMAGNE] + +Right by this area was the birthplace of Jeanne d'Arc. The humble little +village, Domremy, is just like any of those in the surrounding country. +The house where she is supposed to have lived is rather smaller than its +neighbors. In many ways Jeanne d'Arc and this little village symbolize +France to me. France is France not on account of those who scintillate +in Paris, but on account of the humbler people, those whom the tourist +never sees, or if he does, forgets. France has no genius for politics. +Her Chamber of Deputies is composed of men who amount to little and who +do not share the national ideals and visions, but in the body of the +people you find that flaming and pure patriotism which counts no costs +when the fight is for France. The national impulse will exist as long as +there is a peasant left alive. + +The training area was composed of a number of towns with from 150 to 500 +civilian population. We ran from village to village in automobiles, +surprised and appalled by the number of men that the French military +were able to put in each. + +These small French villages in the north of France resemble nothing that +we have in our country. They are charming and picturesque, but various +features are lacking which to the well-ordered American mind causes +pain. To begin with, there is no system of plumbing. The village gets +all its water supply from the public fountains. This naturally makes a +bath an almost unknown luxury. Many times I have been asked by the +French peasants why I wanted a bath, and should it be winter, was I not +afraid I would be taken sick if I took one. Around these public +fountains the village life centers. There the chattering groups of women +and girls are always congregating. There the gossip of the countryside +originates and runs its course. There is rarely electric light in the +small towns, and enormous manure piles are in front of each house and +in the street. The houses themselves are a combination affair, barn and +house under the same roof. The other features that are always present +are the church and cafe. Even in the smallest town there are generally +charming chapels. The cafes are where the opinions of the French nation +are formed. + +The peasants who live in these villages have an immemorial custom behind +them in most of their actions. They have the careful attitude of an old +people, very difficult for our young and wasteful nation to understand. +Each stray bit of wood, each old piece of iron, is saved and laid aside +for future use. No great wasteful fires roar on the hearth, but rather a +few fagots, carefully measured to do just what is intended for them. + +The families have lived in the same spot for generations. Their roots +are very firmly in the ground. Individually they are a curious +combination of simplicity and shrewdness. One old woman with whom my +brother Archie was billeted in the town of Boviolles became quite a +friend of ours. We talked together in the evening, sitting by the great +fireplace, in which a little bit of a fire would be burning. She had +never in her life been farther than six or eight miles from the village +of Boviolles. To her Paris was as unreal as Colchis or Babylon to us. +She, in common with her country folk, looked forward to the arrival of +the American army, much in the way we would look forward to the arrival +of the Hottentots. In fact, when she heard we were coming to the +village, she at first decided to run away. To her the United States was +a wilderness inhabited by Indians and cowboys. We told her about New +York City and Chicago. We told her that New York was larger than Paris +and that neither of us had ever shot a bear there and no Indians +tomahawked people on the street. We explained to her that if you took +all the houses in the village and placed them one on top of another they +would not stand as high as some of our buildings. As a result, she felt +toward us much as the contemporaries of Marco Polo felt toward him--we +were amiable story-tellers and that was all. + +Once I introduced a French officer to Colonel William J. Donovan, of the +165th Infantry. In the course of my introduction I mentioned the fact +that Colonel Donovan came from Buffalo. After Donovan had gone, the +Frenchman remarked to me, "Buffalo is very wild, is it not?" I answered +him guardedly, "Not very." He explained, "But it is the place where you +hunt that great animal, is it not?" + +Something that struck me forcibly was the total lack of roving desire +among the peasants. Where they had been born, there they desired to live +and die. This you would see in the _poilu_ in the trenches, whose idea +always was to return home again to the house where he was born. + +There is also a very real democracy in the French army. This should be +borne in mind by all those who go about talking of the military +aristocracy which would be built up by universal service in this +country. In France I have seen sons of the most prominent families, the +descendants of the old _haute noblesse_, as privates or noncommissioned +officers. I also have seen in the little French villages a high officer +of the French army returning to his family for his leave, that family +being the humblest of peasants, living in a cottage of two rooms. I have +dined with a general, been introduced by him to the remainder of his +family, and found them privates and noncommissioned officers. + +The French sent to the Gondecourt area a division of the "Chasseurs +Alpins" to help train us. The chasseurs are a separate unit from the +French infantry and have their own particular customs. To begin with, +their military organization is slightly different, in that they do not +have regiments and the battalion forms the unit. Their uniforms are dark +blue with silver buttons, and they do not wear the ordinary French cap, +but have a dark-blue cloth _beret_, or tam-o'-shanter, with an Alpine +horn embroidered in silver as insignia. The corps is an old one and has +many traditions. Their pride is to consider themselves as quite apart +from the infantry; indeed, they feel highly insulted if you confuse the +two, although, to all intents and purposes, their work is identical. +They have songs of their own, some of them very uncomplimentary to the +infantry, and highly seasoned, according to our American ideas. They +have a custom when marching on parade of keeping a step about double the +time of the ordinary slow step. Their bugle corps, which they have +instead of our regimental brass bands, are very snappy and effective, +and the men have a trick of waving their bugles in unison before they +strike a note, which is very effective. They have no drums. These +quaint, squat, jovial, dark-haired fellows were billeted in the villages +all around our area. + +The billeting party, after working very hard and accomplishing very +little, divided the area up as the French suggested. In advance of the +remainder of our troops the battalion of the Sixteenth Infantry, which +paraded in Paris on the Fourth of July, arrived. We were all down at the +train to meet them, as was a battalion of the Chasseurs Alpins. They +came in the ordinary day coaches used in France. I remember hearing an +officer say that these were hard on the men. It was the last time that I +ever saw our troops travel in anything but box cars, and this +arrangement was made, I think, as a special compliment by the French +Government. + +A couple of days afterward came the Fourteenth of July. The French had a +parade, and our troops took part in it. The French troops came first +past the reviewing officers, who were both French and American. The +infantry of each battalion passed first, bayonets glittering, lines +smartly dressed; following them in turn the machine-gun companies, or +"jackass batteries," as they were called by our men, the mules finely +currycombed and the harness shining. Their bands, with the brass +trumpets, played snappily. Altogether they gave an appearance of +confident efficiency. Then came our troops--in column of squads. What +held good in Paris still held good--our splendidly trained little army +did not dare trust itself to take up platoon front. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +TRAINING IN FRANCE + + "I wish myself could talk to myself as I left 'im a year ago; + I could tell 'im a lot that would save 'im a lot in the things + that 'e ought to know. + When I think o' that ignorant barrack bird it almost makes me cry." + KIPLING. + + +A day or two after the Fourteenth of July review the rest of the troops +arrived and my personal fortune hung in the balance, as I was still +unattached. Colonel Duncan, afterward Major General Duncan, commander of +the Seventy-seventh and Eighty-second divisions, was then commanding the +Twenty-sixth Infantry. One of his majors had turned out to be +incompetent. He came to General Sibert and asked if he had an extra +major to whom he could give a try-out. + +"Yes," replied General Sibert. "Why not try Roosevelt?" + +"Send him along and I will see what he's good for," was Duncan's reply. + +I went that day, took command of my battalion the day after, and never +left the Twenty-sixth Infantry, except when wounded, until just before +coming back to this country after the war. + +Most of the Twenty-sixth Infantry was billeted in a town called +Demange-aux-Eaux, one of the largest in the area. By it flowed a +good-sized stream, a convenient bathtub for officers and men alike. We +started at once cleaning up places for the company kitchens, getting the +billets as comfortable as possible and selecting sites for drill +grounds. + +The men, who up to this time had been bewildered by the rapid changes, +now began to find themselves and make up to the French inhabitants. I +have seen time and time again a group composed of two or three _poilus_ +and two or three doughboys wandering down the street arm in arm, all +talking at once, neither nationality understanding the other and all +having a splendid time. The Americans' love for children asserted +itself and the men made fast friends with such youngsters as there were. +It is a sad fact that there are very few children in northern France. In +the evenings, after their drill was over, the men would sit in groups +with the women and children, talking and laughing. Sometimes some +particularly ambitious soldier would get a French dictionary and +laboriously endeavor to pick out, word by word, various sentences. +Others, feeling that the French had better learn our language rather +than we learn theirs, endeavored to instruct their new friends in +English. + +About this time that national institution of France, _vin ordinaire_, +was introduced to our men. The two types, _vin blanc_, white wine, and +_vin rouge_, red wine, were immediately christened _vin blink_ and _vin +rough_. The fact that this wine could be bought for a very small amount +caused much interest. Champagne also came well within the reach of +everyone's purse. To most of the men, champagne, up to this time, had +been something they read about, and was connected in their minds with +Broadway and plutocracy. It represented to them untold wealth completely +surrounded by stage beauties. Here, all of a sudden, they found +champagne something which could be bought by the poorest buck private. +This, in some cases, had a temporarily disastrous effect, for under +circumstances such as these a number of men might naturally feel that +they should lay in a sufficient supply of champagne to last them in +memory, if nothing else, through the rest of their lives. + +I remember particularly one of my men who dined almost exclusively on +champagne one evening and returned to his company with his sense of +honor perhaps slightly distorted and his common sense entirely lacking. +The company commander, Captain Arnold, of whom I spoke before, was +standing in front of his billet when this man appeared with his rifle on +his shoulder, saluted in the most correct military manner, and said, "I +desire the company commander's permission to shoot Private So-and-So, +who has made some very insulting remarks concerning the town in which I +lived in the United States." + +Trouble of all sorts, however, was very small considering the +circumstances, and decreased with every month the troops were in France. +We always found that the new men who arrived for replacements were the +ones who were most likely to overstep the bounds, and with them it was +generally the novelty rather than anything else. + +Then came the question of French money. We were all paid in francs. To +begin with, our soldiers received eight or ten times as much pay as the +average French soldier. This put them in the position of bloated +plutocrats. Then, too, none of us had very much idea of what French +money meant. Since the war the paper of which French money was made had +been of very inferior quality, and I know I personally felt that when I +could get anything concrete, such as a good dinner, in exchange for +these very dilapidated bits of paper, I had made a real bargain. The +soldiers, I am sure, were of the same opinion. Prices tripled wherever +we were in France. Indeed, I doubt if in all their existence the little +villages in our training area had ever had a tenth part of the money in +circulation that appeared just after pay day for the troops. + +Of course, the French overcharged our men. It's human nature to take as +much as you can get, and the French are human. One should remember, in +blaming them for this, that our troops, before sailing for France, were +overcharged by people in this country. When the doughboy wanted eggs, +for instance, he wanted them badly, and that was all there was to it. In +every company there was generally one good "crap shooter." What the +French did not get he got, and, contrary to the usual theory of +gamblers' money, he usually saved it. One of the trials of an officer is +the men's money. Before action, before any move, the men who have any +money always come to their C. O. and ask him to keep it for them. I +remember once an old sergeant came to me and asked me to keep two or +three thousand francs for him. I did. Next day he was A. W. O. L. He +had not wanted to keep the money for fear of spending it if he got +drunk. When he came back I tried him by court-martial, reduced him to +the ranks, and gave him back his money. + +During the twenty months that I spent in Europe I was serving with +troops virtually the entire time, commanding them in villages all +through the north of France, through Luxembourg and Germany, and in all +that period I never had one complaint from the inhabitants concerning +the treatment by our men of either women or children. When we went into +conquered territory we did not even consider it necessary to speak to +the men on this point, and our confidence was justified. Occasionally a +man and his wife would call on me and ask if Private "So-and-So" was +really a millionaire in America, as he had said, because, if so, they +thought it would be a good thing for him to marry their daughter. This +would, however, generally smooth itself out, as Private "So-and-So," as +a rule, had no intention of marrying their daughter, and they had no +intention of letting her marry him when they found out that the +statement concerning his family estates in America was, to put it +mildly, highly colored. Oddly enough, this is not as queer as one might +think. The company cook in one of the companies of our battalion +inherited, while in Europe, about $600,000. It never bothered him from +any standpoint. He still remained cook and cooked as well as ever. + +The average day's training was divided about as follows: First call +about 6 o'clock, an hour for breakfast and policing. After that, the +troops marched out to some drill ground, where they maneuvered all day, +taking their lunch there and returning late in the afternoon. Formal +retreat was then held, then supper, and by 10 o'clock taps sounded. The +American troops experienced a certain amount of difficulty in fixing on +satisfactory meeting grounds with the corresponding French units with +whom they were training. Our battalion, however, was fortunate, but +another battalion of our regiment had at periods to turn out before +daylight in order to make the march necessary to connect. + +This battalion during the early part of our training was billeted in the +same town. One day their first call sounded at somewhere around 4.15. A +good sergeant, Murphy by name, an old-timer who had been in the army +twenty-four years, had his platoon all in one billet. He heard the first +call, did not realize that it was not for him, and turned his platoon +out. By the time he had the platoon filing out he discovered his +mistake. At the same time he noticed that one of the men had not turned +out. Murphy was a strict disciplinarian and he took a squad from the +platoon and went in to find the man. The man explained that this was not +the correct call. Sergeant Murphy said that that made no difference, +that when a platoon was formed, the place for every man was with the +platoon, and, to the delight of the platoon and particularly the squad +which assisted him, escorted the recalcitrant sleeper out and dropped +him in the stream. + +Sergeant Murphy was the type of man who is always an asset to a command. +On the way to Europe he had been in charge of the kitchen police on +board the transport and here had earned himself the name of "Spuds" +Murphy. He was always faithful to whatever job he was detailed. When +things were breaking badly he could always be depended on to cheer the +men up by joking with them. He was an old fellow, bent and very gray, +and he was physically unable to stand a lot of the racket, so I used to +order him to stay behind with the kitchens when we went into action. One +night, when the troops were moving up to the front line, I was standing +by the side of the road checking off the platoons as they passed. I +thought I recognized one figure silhouetted against the gray sky. A +moment later I was positive when I heard, "Sure and if you feel that way +about the Gairmans there're as good as beat." + +"Sergeant Murphy?" + +"Sor-r?" + +"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to stay with the kitchens?" + +"But I didn't be thinkin' the Major would be wantin' me to stay coffee +coolin' all the time, so I just come up for a little visit with the +men." + +The actual training consisted of practice with the hand grenade, rifle +grenade, automatic rifle, rifle, and bayonet, and in trench digging. We +had a certain amount of difficulty merging the troops in with the +French. It was really very hard for men who did not speak the same +language to get anywhere. In addition to this, the French temperament is +so different from ours. They always felt that much could be learned by +our troops watching theirs. But the soldier doesn't learn by watching. +His eye doesn't teach his muscles service. The way to train men is by +physical exercise and explanation, not by simply watching others train. + +At one time an artillery demonstration was scheduled. In it we were to +see a rolling barrage illustrated and also destructive fire. The men +paid no attention at all to the bombardment. A company commander +described to me how the men lay down and rested when they got to the +maneuvers ground. + + [Illustration: "CHOW" + Drawn by Captain W. J. Aylward, A. E. F., 1918] + +"Whizz, Bill, hear that boy," casually remarked one, when the first +shell went over. "What was it you said?" + +An interesting sidelight on our military establishment is afforded by +the fact that on our arrival in France there was no one with the command +who had ever shot an automatic rifle, thrown a hand grenade, shot a +rifle grenade, used a trench mortar or a .37-millimeter gun. These were +all modern methods of waging warfare, yet none of our military had been +trained to the least degree in any of them. To all of us they were +absolutely new. The closest any of us came to any previous knowledge was +from occasional pictures we had seen in the illustrated reviews. + +The Major of the French battalion with whom we trained was named +Menacci. He was a Corsican by birth and looked like a stage pirate. He +had a long black beard, sparkling black eyes, and a great appearance of +ferocity, but was as gentle a soul as I have ever known. The topic that +interested him above all others was the question of marriage. He was +just like a young girl or boy and loved to be teased about it. A very +fine fellow called Beauclare assisted him. Beauclare was from the north +of France, tall and light-haired, and full of energy. He would strip off +his coat, throw grenades with the men, and join in the exercises with as +much enjoyment as anyone. + +Curiously enough, the good fellowship of the French made things rather +hard for many of us. The Chasseurs were as kind as could be, and I never +shall cease to respect the men with whom we trained, both as soldiers +and gentlemen. We, however, were trying by incessant work to overcome +the handicap of ignorance with which we had started, while they were out +of the line for a rest and naturally wished to enjoy themselves, have +parties, and relax. + +At one time we tried attaching noncommissioned officers from the French +units to ours. We hoped we could accomplish more this way. It did not +work well, however, except in one instance, in which the American +company became so fond of their French "noncom." that they did their +level best to keep him with them for the rest of the war. + +Toward the end of the training period, before the French left us, we had +a sort of official party for both our troops and the French troops. It +was held on our drill grounds and everyone had chow. The men and +officers really enjoyed this affair. Later we gave another party for the +French officers, who came and lunched with us. In the athletic sports +that afternoon we experienced some difficulty with the middleweight +boxing because Sergeant Ross, of B Company, was so much the best boxer +that we could find no one to put up a good fight against him. + +Among the other sports was a "salad" race, in which all the combatants +take off their shoes, piling them in the center of a circle. They line +up around the edges and, at the word "go," run forward, try to find +their own shoes, put them on, and lace them up. The man who first does +this wins. Of course, the contestants throw each other's shoes around, +which adds to the general mix-up, with the usual comic incidents. During +the meet a lieutenant rushed up to me before the tug of war was to be +staged, terribly excited, explaining that the best men in his company's +team for a tug of war were just going on guard. I hurried off to try to +change this and succeeded in mixing the guard up to such an extent that +it took the better part of a day to get it straightened out again. + +The French noncoms came over also and dined with our men, and one day +all of us went over to the French village and saw their sports, mule +races, pole vaulting, etc. Their officers' messes are very picturesque. +Every action is surrounded by custom. They rise in their snappy blue +uniforms and sing songs of previous battles and victories, and drink +toasts to long-dead leaders. + +It was at this time we developed our policy concerning punishment. Under +circumstances such as we were up against it was necessary to be severe, +for the good of all. No outfit but had the same percentage of offenders; +the draft took all alike, and any man who says he had no punishments in +his command is either a fool or a liar. We always considered, however, +that as far as possible, in minor offenses, it was better to avoid +court-martial. The summary court if much used indicates a poor or lazy +commander. Where possible we always handled situations as follows: +Private Blank is ordered to take his full pack on maneuvers, and does +not. His C. O. notices it at a halt. No charges are put in against him +for disobedience of orders. His pack is opened then and there and nice, +well-selected rocks are put in to take the place of the missing blankets +and shelter half. He resumes the march with these on his back and has to +keep up. + +One cold day the buglers, who are supposed to be having a liaison drill +while the rest of the brigade are maneuvering, decide to sneak off and +build a fire. They are discovered, and then and there are ordered to +climb to the top of a pine tree, where they are made to bugle in a cold +wind during the rest of the morning. + +These punishments serve two purposes--first, they check the offender, at +the moment he has committed the breach of discipline, and not only make +it very unpleasant for him, but also make him ridiculous in the eyes of +the other men. Second, they leave no stain on his record and let him +keep his money. + +It must not be taken from the above that I do not believe court-martial +necessary, for I most emphatically do in many cases. You often cannot +reach constant offenders by any other method. Also such offenses as +"theft," desertion, and serious insubordination can be dealt with +suitably by no other method. I believe in keeping all cases away from +the court when possible, but I also believe, when you do take them into +the courts, you should punish stringently. + +In addition to the numerous incidents where too severe penalties have +been imposed, there are many instances of unjustifiable leniency. This +is resented by all alike. I remember the comment which was caused among +all ranks by the pardoning of men convicted of having slept on their +posts. This pardoning sounds pretty and humane to those who have not +been in the fighting line, but where the lives of all depend on the +vigilance of that sentry, it is "a gray horse of another color." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LIFE IN AN ARMY AREA + + +The billeting of the men was a problem. As I mentioned before, the +constitution of the United States forbids billeting, taking as ground +for this action that when soldiers are placed under a private roof +constant friction is bound to arise. In Europe the masses of troops were +so great and the country so thickly settled that this method of caring +for the soldiers was of necessity the only one that could be adopted. In +the average French farm the houses have big barns attached to them. In +the barn on the ground floor are the pigs, cows, and numberless rabbits, +also farm implements, wagons, and the like. Up a shaky ladder, which had +been doing service for generations, is the hay-loft. + +There, among the hay, the soldiers are billeted and sleep. + +When we first came over, according to our best army traditions, cots +were brought for the men. We tried to fit these into the barns, but soon +found it impossible, and, after we had been there a certain length of +time, we turned them all in, and they were never again used by the +troops. Instead, we bought hay from the natives, spread it on the floor +of the loft, and the men slept on it. This sounds pleasant, but it isn't +as pleasant as it sounds. It is fairly good in summer, as the weather is +warm, the days are long, and the barn is generally full of cracks, which +let in the air, and you can get along quite well as to light. When +winter comes, however, the barns are freezing cold, and the men, after +their hard work in the rain, come back soaking wet. It gets dark early, +and the sun does not rise until late. On account of the hay the greatest +care must be used with lights. Smoking has to be strictly forbidden. You +have, therefore, at the end of the day tired, wet men, who have nowhere +to go except to their billets, and in the billets no light to speak of, +very little heat, and a strict prohibition against smoking. + +The officers, of course, fared better. They slept in the houses, and +generally got beds. Europeans do not like fresh air. They feel a good +deal like the gentleman in Stephen Leacock's story, who said he liked +fresh air, and believed you should open the windows and get in all you +could. Then you should shut the windows and keep it there. It would keep +for years. + +I have been in many rooms where the windows were nailed shut. The beds +also are rather remarkable. They are generally fitted with feather +mattresses and feather quilts. Very often they are arranged in a niche +in the wall like a closet, and have two doors, which the average +European, after getting into the bed, closes, thereby rendering it about +as airy and well ventilated as a coffin. + +I remember my own billet in one of the towns where we stopped. As I was +commanding officer, it was one of the best and was reasonably warm. It +was warm because the barnyard was next door, literally in the next room, +as all that separated me from a cow was a light deal door by the side of +the bed. The cow was tied to the door. When the cow slept I slept; but +if the cow passed a restless night I had all the opportunity I needed to +think over my past sins and future plans. In another town an excellent +billet was not used by the officers because over the bed were hung +photographs of all the various persons who had died in the house, taken +while they lay dead in that bed. + +Human nature is the same the world over, and we became very fond of some +of the persons with whom we were billeted, while others stole everything +that was left loose. One hoary old sinner, with whom I lived, quite +endeared herself to me by her evident simplicity and her gentleness of +manner, until I discovered one day that, under the aegis of the +commanding officer billeting there, she was illicitly selling cognac to +the soldiers. + +The struggle of certain sergeants with some of these French inhabitants +concerning the neatness of their various company kitchens or billets +always amused me. I remember a feud in one village which was carried on +between a little Frenchwoman and a sergeant called Murphy. Sergeant +Murphy liked everything spick and span. The French woman had lived all +her life where things were not, to put it mildly, according to Sergeant +Murphy's army-trained idea of sanitation. The rock that they finally +split on was the question of tin cans, old boxes, and egg-shells in +front of Sergeant Murphy's kitchen. I shall never forget coming around a +corner and seeing Sergeant Murphy, tall and dignified, the Frenchwoman +small and voluble, facing one another in front of his kitchen, she +chattering French without a break and he saying with great dignity, +"Ma'am, it is outrageous. It is the third time to-day that this stuff +has been taken away. I shall throw it in your back yard." He did, and +next morning the conflict was joined again. Although Murphy kept up the +struggle nobly, no impression was made on the Frenchwoman. + +Most generally, in France, the small French village contains about one +battalion of infantry. As a result, the battalion commander is post +commander, and to him all the woes of the various inhabitants as well as +the troubles of his own troops come. One complaint which filled me with +delight was made by a Frenchwoman. The basis of the complaint was that +my men, by laughing and talking in her barn, prevented her sheep and +pigs from getting a proper amount of sleep. + +A constantly recurring source of trouble were the rabbits. The rabbits +in all French country families are a sort of Lares and Penates. You find +them in hutches around the houses, wandering in the barns, hopping about +the kitchens, and, last but by no means least, in savory stews. I don't +maintain for a moment that none of my men ever took a rabbit; I simply +maintain that it would be a physical impossibility for these men to have +eaten the number of rabbits they were accused of eating. Every little +while in each town some peasant would come before me with a complaint, +the gist of which was that the men had eaten a dozen or so rabbits. With +great dignity I would say that I would have the matter investigated. The +man would then suggest that I come and count the rabbits in the village, +so that I would know if any were missing. I would explain in my best +French that from a long and accurate knowledge of rabbits, gathered +through years when, as a boy, I kept them in quantities, counting +rabbits one day did not mean that there would be the same number the +next day. + +Eventually we adopted the scheme of making some officer claim adjuster. +After this it was smooth sailing for me. I simply would tell the mayor +that Lieutenant Barrett would adjust the matter under dispute, and from +then on Lieutenant Barrett battled with the aggrieved. He told me once +he thought he was going to be murdered by a little woman, who kept an +inn, over a log of wood that the men had used for the company kitchen. +Several times persons offered to go shares with him on what he was able +to get for them from the government. + +In this part of France there was quite a little wild life. Sail-winged +hawks were constantly soaring over the meadows. Coveys of European +partridges were quite plentiful. Among the other birds the magpie and +the skylark were the most noticeable, the former ubiquitous with his +flamboyant contrast of black and white, the latter a constant source of +delight, with clear song and graceful spirals. The largest wild animal +was the boar. There were quite a number of these throughout the woods. +As a rule, they were not large, and there was, so far as I could find +out, no attempt made to preserve them. We would scare them up while +maneuvering. They are good eating, and occasionally we would organize a +hunt. The French Daniel Boone, of Boviolles, was a delightful old +fellow. When going on a hunt he would put on a bright blue coat, a green +hat, and sling a silver horn over his shoulders, resembling for all the +world the huntsman in _Slovenly Peter_. + +During August a number of the field officers were sent on their first +trip to the trenches. I was among them. We went by truck to Nancy, a +charming little city, known as the Paris of northern France. At this +time the Huns had not started their air raids on it, which drove much of +the population away and reduced the railroad station to ruins. Round it +cling many historic memories; near by was fought the battle between +Charles the Bold, of Burgundy, and Louis XI, in which feudalism was +struck its death blow; on the hills to the north the Kaiser stood at the +commencement of this war, when the German troops were flowing over +France, seemingly resistless. + +From Nancy we went to the Pont-a-Mousson sector, where we spent a day +with French officers of the corresponding grade. This was a rest sector, +and there was little to indicate that war was raging. Occasionally a +shell would whistle over, and if you exposed yourself too much some Hun +might take a shot at you with a rifle. + +Pont-a-Mousson, the little French village, was literally in the French +front lines, and yet a busy life was going on there. There I bought +cigarettes, and around the arcade of the central square business was +much as usual. A bridge spanned the river right by the town, where +everyone crossing was in plain view of the Germans. The French officers +explained to me that so long as only small parties crossed by it the +Germans paid no attention, but if columns of troops or trucks used it +shelling started at once. In the same way the French did not shell, +except under exceptional circumstances, the villages in the German +forward area. + +On a high hill overlooking Pont-a-Mousson were the ruins of an old +castle built by the De Guises. In old days it was the key to the ford +where the bridge now stands. It was being used as an observation post by +the French. I crawled up into its ivy-draped, crumbling tower, and +through a telescope looked far back of the German lines, where I saw +the enemy troops training in open order and two German officers on +horseback superintending. + +In the trenches where the soldiers were there were vermin and rats and +mud to the waist. There I made my first acquaintance with the now justly +famous "cootie." + +During this night I went on my first patrol. No Man's Land was very +broad, and deep fields of wire surrounded the trenches. The patrol +finished without incident. The only casualty in the vicinity while I was +on this front was a partridge, which was hit on the head by a fragment +of shell, and which the French major and I ate for dinner and enjoyed +very much. We returned to our training area by the same way we came. The +principal knowledge we had gained besides general atmosphere was +relative to the feeding of men in trenches. + +These were the primitive days of our army in France. We being the first +troops who had arrived, received a very large proportion of the +attention of General Pershing and his staff. The General once came out +to look over the Twenty-sixth Infantry, and stopped in front of the +redoubtable Sergeant Murphy and his platoon. Now, Sergeant Murphy could +stand with equanimity as high an officer as a colonel, but a general was +one too many. He was not afraid of a machine gun or a cannon, but a star +on a man's shoulder petrified him. After the General had watched for a +minute, the good sergeant had his platoon tied up in thirteen different +ways. The General spoke to him. That finished it; and if the General had +not left the field, I think Sergeant Murphy would have. + +With all of us comic incidents in plenty occurred. Our most notable +characteristic was our seriousness, and, running it a close second, our +ignorance. I remember one solemn private who threw a hand grenade from +his place in the trench. It hit the edge of the parapet and dropped back +again. He looked at it, remarked "Lord God," slipped in the mud, and sat +down on it just as it exploded. Fortunately for him it was one of the +light, tin-covered grenades, and beyond making sitting down an almost +impossible action for him for several days following he was +comparatively undamaged. Often the comic was tinged with the tragic. We +had men who endeavored to open grenades with a rock, with the usual +disastrous effects to all. + +Once Sergeant O'Rourke was training his men in throwing hand grenades. I +came up and watched them a minute. They were doing very well, and I +called, "Sergeant, your men are throwing these grenades excellently." +O'Rourke evidently felt there was danger of turning their heads by too +much praise. "Sor-r-r, that and sleep is all they can do well," he +replied. + +In order to get the men trained with the rifle, as we had no target +material, we used tin cans and rocks. A tin can is a particularly good +target; it makes such a nice noise when hit, and leaps about so. I liked +to shoot at them myself, and could well understand why they pleased the +soldiers. + +Why more persons were not killed in our practice I don't know, as the +whole division was in training in a limited space, all having rifle +practice, with no possibility of constructing satisfactory ranges. + + [Illustration: BEFORE THE OFFENSIVE + Drawn by Captain W. J. Aylward, A. E. F.] + +Some officers in another unit organized a rifle range in such a position +that the overs dropped gently where we were training. One eventually hit +my horse, but did not do much damage. + +Lieutenant Lyman S. Frazier, an excellent officer, who finished the war +as major of infantry, commanded the machine-gun company of my battalion. +He was very keen on indirect fire, but we could get little or no +information on it. One evening, however, he grouped his guns, made his +calculations as well as he could, and then fired a regular barrage. As +soon as the demonstration was over he galloped out as fast as he could +to the target, and found to his chagrin that only one shot had hit. +Where the other 10,000 odd went we never knew. + +We had many incidents that were really humorous with the men in the +guard mount. A young fellow, named Cobb, who lost his leg later in the +war, was standing guard early in his military career. A French girl +passed him in the dark. He challenged, "Who is there?" She replied, +"_Qu'est-ce qu'il dit?_" Young Cobb didn't know French, but he did know +that when in doubt on any subject you called the corporal of the guard. +So he shouted at the top of his voice, "Corporal of the guard, +queskidee!" + +We emphasized the manual of formal guard mount as a disciplinary +exercise. One of the regulations is that when the ranking officer in a +post passes the guardhouse, the sentry calls, "Turn out the +guard--commanding officer," and the guard is paraded. We had lived so +long by ourselves that although we sometimes had the colonel in the same +town, when we were in the Montdidier sector, I never could persuade them +to pay any attention to him. They had it firmly rooted in their minds +that the ceremony was for me and no one else. + +Occasionally a German airplane would come over and bomb the towns in the +area. This furnished a real element of excitement, as we had +anti-aircraft guns set up. The one trouble was that we could not tell at +night which was a German and which was a French plane, with the result +that if we should happen to hit one it was as likely that we would hit a +French one as not. We were saved this embarrassment by never hitting +one. Later, in the Montdidier sector, I remember hearing how, in a burst +of enthusiasm, the gun crew of one of our 75's had fired at an airplane, +and by some remarkable coincidence had torn a wing off and brought it +down. On rushing out to inspect it they found it contained a very +irascible Frenchman. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +EARLY DAYS IN THE TRENCHES + + "How strange a spectacle of human passions + Is yours all day beside the Arras road, + What mournful men concerned about their rations + When here at eve the limbers leave their load, + What twilight blasphemy, what horses' feet + Entangled with the meat, + What sudden hush when that machine gun sweeps + And flat as possible for men so round + The quartermasters may be seen in heaps, + While you sit by and chuckle, I'll be bound." + A. P. H. (_Punch_). + + +Early in October mysterious orders reached us to spend forty-eight hours +in some trenches we had dug on top of a hill close to the village, +simulating actual conditions as well as we could. At the same time a +battalion of each of the other three infantry regiments were similarly +instructed. The orders were so well worked out that we were convinced at +once that we were to go in the near future to the front. Everyone was +in a high state of excitement, and very happy that we were at last to +see action. + +The hilltop where we were to stay was covered by the remains of an old +Roman camp, commanding the two forks of the stream. We marched up the +following day over the remains of the old Roman road, and passed our +last short period training to meet the barbarians of the north, where +Caesar's legions, nearly two thousand years ago, trained for the same +purpose. Many features were lacking from the trenches on the hill, such +as dugouts, for example, but we felt we could get along without them, +and everything went happily and serenely the first day. + +We had the rolling kitchens and hospitals placed on the reverse slope in +the woods. Carrying parties brought the chow along a trench traced with +white tape to the troops, and they ate it without leaving their +positions. During the evening, however, "sunny France" had a relapse, +and a terrific rainstorm came on. It was bitterly cold, and a high wind +swept the hilltop. We were all soaked to the skin. + +The men either huddled against the side of a trench or stretched their +ponchos from parapet to parapet, and sat beneath them in a foot-deep +puddle of water. In making inspection I passed by a number of them that +night who looked as if they were perfectly willing to have the war end +right then. + +The company in reserve was occupying the territory around the old Roman +wall. They had dug some holes in it, and crawled into them to keep as +near dry as possible. Splendid so far as it went, but nearly disastrous, +for a message reached me saying that a first sergeant, the company +commander, the second in command and the company clerk had all been +buried by a cave-in. I ran back to see about them and found that they +had been extricated, and looked like animated mud-pies. + +One company commander during the middle of the second day started his +men digging trenches as deep as they could, so that at night when the +rain started again and the cold wind blew up they would have some place +to stay. They dug vigorously all day, but by night, when the rain came +down in torrents again, the trenches filled up like bath-tubs, and they +had to sit on the edge. + +After the maneuvers we received definite orders that we were to go to +the front. The equipment was checked and verified, and everything put in +apple-pie order. The trucks arrived; we got in and started, all of us +feeling that now at last we were to be real warriors. All day long the +truck train, stretching out along the road, jolted forward in a cloud of +dust. Toward evening we began to pass through the desolated area over +which the Hun had swept in 1914, and about five o'clock we detrucked at +a little town about fourteen miles behind the lines. + +Here we stayed a couple of days, while our reconnoitering details went +forward and familiarized themselves with the position. On the evening of +the second day the troops started forward. As usual, it was raining +cats and dogs, and our principal duty during the ten days we spent in +the sector was shoveling mud the color and consistency of melted +chocolate ice cream from cave-ins which constantly occurred in the +trench system. + +We were all very green and very earnest. The machine-gun company +arrived, bringing all its ammunition on the gun carts. The guns were +uncased and the carts sent to the rear with ammunition still on them, +leaving the guns with hardly a round. Only about five or ten shells were +fired daily by the German artillery against the portion of line we +occupied. One man was hit, our signal officer, Lieutenant Hardon, his +wound being very slight. The adjutant, when this happened, ran to tell +me, and we both went down and solemnly congratulated Hardon on having +the honor to be the first American officer hit while serving with +American troops. + +A number of ambitious members of the intelligence group sniped busily at +the German trenches. These were about a mile away, and though they +reported heavy casualties among the enemy, I believe that the wish was +father to the thought. + + [Illustration: THE SIGNAL CORPS AT WORK + Drawn by Captain Harry E. Townsend, A. E. F.] + +The French were on our right, and we had some very funny times with +them. One officer of mine was coming in after inspecting the wire and +ran into one of their sentries. + +"Qui est la?" called the sentry. + +My officer then gave in his best American what he had been told was the +French password. This was incomprehensible to the Frenchman, who +immediately replied by firing his rifle at him. The officer jumped up +and down and gave the password again. BLAM went the Frenchman's rifle +the second time. Nothing but the fact that the Frenchman regarded the +rifle more as a lead squirt rather than a weapon of accuracy prevented +him from being hit. The officer eventually got through by shouting +repeatedly at the top of his voice, "Vive les Americains!" + +At the end of the ten days we were relieved and hiked back veteran +troops, as we thought, to the training area. Our medical department, +not the department with the troops, but our higher medical department, +which dealt with papers rather than facts, sent at this time a +letter which I would give a lot to have now simply as a humorous +document. It was headed "General Order ----." It had at the top as +subject--"Pediculi." Pediculi is the polite medical name for lice. We +were instructed in the body that immediately on leaving the trenches all +men were to be inspected completely by the medical officer before they +were allowed to go to their billets. This involved the inspection by the +medical officer of some one thousand men. It furthermore necessitated +the inspection of these one thousand men between two and five in the +morning, in the dark. The order went on to say that where pediculi were +present all clothes were to be confiscated, finishing with the brief and +bland statement that thereupon new clothes were to be furnished +throughout. This to us, who had not had new clothes since we reached +France, to whom every garment was a valuable possession that could not +be replaced! However, we have no doubt that the medical officer felt +that he had done something splendid, and what is more, his paper record +was perfect in that, although what he demanded was impossible, he had +put it on paper, and, therefore, someone else was to blame for not +carrying it out. + +Our first Christmas in France was spent in the usual little French +village. The men had raised a fund to be used for the purpose of giving +a Christmas tree to the refugee children living in the vicinity, as well +as the native children. It was the first Christmas tree that the village +had seen and excitement was intense. The festivities were held in a mess +shack, and to them came nearly the entire population, though I gave +instructions to be sure that the children were taken care of before the +"grown-ups." The enlisted men ran the festivities themselves. + +Flickering candle-light cast shadows over Christmas greens and mistletoe +and the rough boards of the shack. A buzzing mass of French children and +adults crowded around the tree, and lean, weather-beaten American +sergeants gave out the presents. There were the usual horns and +crackers, and in a few minutes pandemonium had broken loose. The cure +was there, and the mayor, dressed in an antediluvian frock coat and top +hat. These two, at a given signal, succeeded in partially stilling the +tumult by making an equal noise themselves, and a little girl and boy +appeared with a large bouquet for me. First they made a little speech in +French, looking as cunning as possible. Each time they said "Mon +Commandant" they made a funny little bow. After giving me the bouquet +the little girl kissed me. Then the mayor spoke. Warned by the little +girl's action, I fended him off with the bouquet when he showed a +tendency to become affectionate. I then answered in my best French, +which I alone understood, and the festivities finished. + +Later in the evening the men gave a show, which they had arranged +themselves. It was really very good. Sergeant Frank Ross was +principally responsible, ably assisted by Privates Cooper, Neary, and +Smith. The humor was local soldier humor and absolutely clean. For +instance, the men always march with their extra pair of shoes strapped +on the outside of the pack. One man on the stage would say to the other: +"Say, Buddy, I call my pack my little O. D. baby. It wears shoes the +same size as mine, and I can't get the son of a gun to walk a step." + +During the play the sergeant of the guard came in to me and said, "Sir, +there has been a little disturbance. Sergeant Withis of B Company says C +Company men have been picking on him; but, sir, there are three C +Company men at the infirmary and Withis is all right." + +The day, however, on the whole, was a success and it speaks well for the +men, for of all the Christmas dinner that our papers talked so much +about, practically nothing but a few nuts and raisins reached us. + +One old regular sergeant of C Company, Baird by name, discovered at this +time a novel use for the gas mask. The old fellow had been in service +for many years, and though a fine and gallant soldier, he was long past +his prime physically. He always reminded me of Kipling's description of +Akela the gray wolf, when he says that "Akela was very old and gray, and +he walked as though he were made of wood." Baird was a great man on +paper work, and believed in having his company files in tiptop shape. +Facilities were a little poor. One bitter day he tried to make some +reports. First he tried in the barn, where his hands became so cold he +couldn't write. Then he tried in the kitchen, and his eyes got so full +of smoke he couldn't see. At last we found him sitting in the kitchen +with his gas mask on making his reports, writing in comfort. + +We were joined at this time by Major Atkins of the Salvation Army, an +exceptionally fine character. He stayed with us during most of the time +we were in Europe. He was courageous under fire, felt that where the men +went he wished to go, and was a splendid influence with them. Whatever +he could do he always did with a whole heart. + +Before the war I felt that the Salvation Army was composed of a +well-meaning lot of cranks. Now what help I can give them is theirs. My +feelings are well illustrated by a conversation I overheard between two +soldiers. One said, "Say, Bill, before this war I used to think it good +fun to kid the Salvation Army. Now I'll bust any feller on the bean with +a brick if I see him botherin' them." + +Early in January we were told that replacements were arriving to bring +up our companies to 250 in strength. When the men arrived we planned to +be there on time to get our fair share. Two old sergeants, Studal and +Shultz, went down and helped pick the recruits, working from detachment +to detachment trying to shift the best material into our detail. The men +were, on the whole, a fine lot, but their knowledge of military matters +was absolutely nil. A large percentage had never shot any firearms, and +still a larger percentage had never shot the service rifle. One man +turned up with a service record on which was nothing except "Mennonite, +objects to bearing arms." Incidentally he made an excellent soldier, and +was killed while fighting gallantly near Montdidier. Another man had +partial paralysis of one side. When the medical officer asked him if he +had been examined before he said, "No, sir; just drafted." Still another +had an arm so stiffened that he could hardly bend his elbow. When the +medical officer tried to send him to the rear he protested. We let him +stay. He became an automatic rifle gunner, and was later killed. + +One westerner, from Montana I believe, called Blalock, finished the war +as first sergeant in Company D, after a very distinguished record. +Another young fellow, Aug by name, was a real estate man from +Sacramento. I noticed him first when he was detailed as my orderly. +Later he was cited for gallantry twice, and eventually sent to the +officers' school, where he got a commission, and asked to be returned to +the fighting troops. He fell in action just before the armistice. +Private "Bill" Margeas was a Greek who came with this lot. He was shot +through the chest at Montdidier, and later ran away from the hospital +and got back before Soissons. He came in to report to me. I had been +near him when he had been hit before. + +"Margeas," I said, "you're in no shape to carry a pack." + +"No, sir," said he, "but I can carry a rifle all right." + +He was killed later in the Argonne. + +Two Chinamen, Young and Chew, drafted from San Francisco, were also in +this lot. They were with my headquarters all during the war. + +These replacements had absolutely no conception of military etiquette. +They wanted to do what was right, but they didn't know anything. When +one man from a western National Guard regiment--incidentally he was a +German by birth--came up to me with a message from his company +commander, he would always begin with, "Say." One time I asked him when +he was born and he told me in 1848, which impressed me as being a +slight overstatement. Subsequent investigation proved that 1878 was the +year. Incidentally he fought very gallantly, and was fortunate enough to +get through the war, being with the regiment when I left it in Germany. + +One huge fellow called Swanson, from North Dakota, turned up. Swanson +was a fine soldier in every way, but the government had not figured on a +man of Swanson's size. Never when he was in my command were we able to +get a blouse to fit him. He turned out on parade, went to the trenches, +and appeared on all other occasions in a ragged brown sweater. + +Some of the men we got could not speak English. One squad in particular +we had to form in such a fashion that the corporal could act as +interpreter. Once turning around a corner I came upon a group of four or +five soldiers. All of them except one saluted properly. He merely +grinned in a good-natured, friendly fashion. I started to read him the +riot act, asking why he thought he was different from the rest of the +men, what he meant by it, did he put himself in a class by himself, and +so forth. About half way through one of the other men interrupted me. + +"Sir," he said, "that guy there he don't understand English." We found +someone who could speak his language, had the matter explained to him, +and found it was simply that he did not understand. He wanted to do what +was right and he wanted to play the game. + +These replacements had very long hair and looked very shabby. One of the +first things we did was to have their hair cut. There are many reasons +why troops should keep their hair cut. It looks neater for one thing, +but, far more important, it is sanitary, and where baths are few and far +between short hair makes a great difference. Each company has a barber. +Therefore the excitement was at fever pitch once in Company B when +Loreno, its barber, deserted and got to Italy, taking with him the +barber tools. As a result they used mule clippers for some time. + +The men took great pride in the good name of their organization. One +man, who afterward proved himself an excellent soldier and a good +American, came to us through the draft with no idea of loyalty to the +flag, and with no real feeling for the country of any sort. He tried to +desert twice, but we caught him both times, although on the last +occasion he got as far as Marseilles. During the trial, while the court +was sitting, he became frightened and broke away from the sentry who had +him in charge. The alarm sounded for the guard, which immediately +started out through the dark and rain on the jump. Then, without any +orders, the escaped prisoner's own company turned out to help them, not +because they had to, but because they felt he was hurting their company +record. + +"What is it, Bill?" I heard one man call. + +"Aw, it's that guy Blank who's been giving Company B a black eye. He's +beat it again, and we're going out to get him." + +About this time we were issued gas masks for the first time, thus +furnishing us with another weapon, or means, of warfare about which we +knew nothing. There was a small, active individual with glasses from +general headquarters who was supposed to be our instructor. He used to +give us long lectures on gas, in which he told us when gas had first +been used in the past (I believe by the Greeks), how it had been +employed in the beginning of the war, what gases had been used, and what +their chemical components were. He told us at great length how to +protect ourselves against the gas cloud, and then informed us that cloud +gas was not used any longer. Later he took up the deadly effects of +mustard gas, and how we must immediately put on the gas masks when gas +was evident. + +Toward the end of the lecture a deeply interested officer asked him how +one could detect gas when it was present in dangerous quantities. He +didn't know; so we left the lecture with full information as to obsolete +methods of using gas, with full information as to its chemical +components and effects, but with no information as to how to detect it +when it was present in dangerous quantities. + +To try to put interest in the work and make it less hard on the men, we +organized competitions in everything--competitions for the best platoon +billet, competitions for the best platoon in close order drill, bayonet, +etc. The prizes were almost negligible. Sometimes it would simply be +that the victorious platoon was excused from some formation, but the men +took to it like a duck to water. + +The officers became fully as keen as the men. I never shall forget the +company commanders who, together with myself, formed the judges. They +would always start off by saying in an airy manner it was for the good +of the entire organization, and that they personally did not care +whether their company won or not, provided the battalion was benefited. +As soon as the contest was under way, however, all was different, and it +generally narrowed down to my doing all the judging. They would come up +and protest the standing in competitions in the official bulletin for +all the world as if they were managers of a big league baseball team. + +About this time we organized a drum and bugle corps. This corps got so +it could render very loudly and very badly a number of French and +American tunes. We used it on all our long marches and maneuvers. We +used it for reveille in the morning, for retreat in the evening, for +close-order drill and all ceremonies. The men got so they thought a good +deal of it, and frequently when marching through towns the troops would +call out, "How about that band?" The doughboy likes to show off. I know, +myself, that I always got a thrill of conscious pride going through a +town, the troops marching at attention, colors flying, bugles playing, +drums beating, and the women and children standing on the streets and +shouting. + +We had, in addition to this early training, long days spent in +maneuvers. I disapproved heartily of these maneuvers at the time, +looking at them from the point of view of battalion commander, who +feels that any attempt on the part of the higher command to have +maneuvers on a large scale is wasting valuable time that might be +employed by him to better advantage. I am sure now that General Fiske, +the head of the American training section, was right when he prescribed +them and that the maneuvers contributed greatly to the ability of the +First Division to keep in contact when it struck the line. The necessity +for them, of course, was based on the fact that, great as was the +ignorance of our junior officers, it was comparatively far less than the +ignorance of our higher command and staff. These maneuvers were bitter +work for the soldiers who would be out all day, insufficiently clad and +insufficiently fed. Often a bloody trail was left in the snow by the men +who at this time had virtually no boots. We used to call it Indian +warfare and say we were chasing the last of the Mohicans over the Ligny +sector. + +About this time we began to work into some complicated trench maneuvers. +These were the ones the men liked. They threw hand grenades, fired +trench mortars, and had a general Fourth of July celebration. + +Once we had a maneuver of this kind before General Pershing. The company +officers were lined up and afterward were asked their opinion as to how +the men had conducted themselves. The first one to answer was a game +little fellow named Wortley from Los Angeles, who was afterward killed. +He said that he thought everything went off very well and he didn't +think he had anything to criticize. The next lieutenant said that he +thought that a few men of his company had got a little mixed up. This +was a cheerful point of view for him to have, for, as a matter of fact, +two thirds of his company had gone astray. His company had been selected +to deliver a flank attack over the top, but when this took place it +consisted of one lieutenant and two privates. The mistake, however, was +never noticed. + +Indeed, the generals and suchlike who come to maneuvers can rarely +criticize the efforts of the company and field officers, as they are +not conversant with the handling of small units. Their presence at +maneuvers is largely a question of morale. I remember during an exercise +a higher officer, a very fine man to whom I afterward became devoted +turned to me and said: "Have a trench raid." + +"When, sir?" I asked. + +"Immediately." + +Now, any junior officer knows that a trench raid cannot be staged the +way you can fire a rocket. It has to be thought out in every detail and +all concerned have to be familiarized with all phases of the plan in so +far as it is possible. I got two very good lieutenants and, hastily +outlining the situation, told them to go ahead. They made their plans in +five minutes. I got some hand grenades for them and they gave a lively +imitation. The trenches they raided did not exist, but were simply +marked by tape on the ground. They did very well considering the +circumstances, but the higher officer remarked to the assembled officers +on its completion that he didn't know anything about raids, but this +one did not appeal to him. It took all concerned quite a while to get +over their feeling about this criticism. + +During this period we heard of Bangler torpedoes. These torpedoes are +long sections of tin tubing loaded with high explosive and are used for +tearing up the enemy wire in order that the raiding party may get +through into the trenches. Nothing of the kind was to be had from our +people, but we obtained permission to send someone to try to get one +from the various French ammunition dumps near by. Lieutenant Ridgely, my +adjutant, went. He turned up after a hectic day with some long sections +of stovepipe and a number of little tin cases. He explained that he had +been unable to get the torpedoes, but that he had got some stovepipe and +some very deadly explosive and perhaps we could make one. + +The next day we set out to follow his plan and two afternoons later +completed our experiment, and gave an exhibition before the assembled +officers of the brigade. The raiding party were picked men, whom I +considered among the best in the battalion. They all crawled out through +the assumed "No Man's Land," holding on to one another's heels and +endeavoring to look just as businesslike as possible. Their faces were +blackened and they carried trench knives and hand grenades. The party +which was to set off the torpedo lighted it, poked it under the wire, +then leaped up and dashed through the gap in the wire to the trenches +where the enemy were supposed to be. On account of the amateur +workmanship, only a part of the charge went off, and I never shall +forget my horror when I saw the party of my picked men galloping +gallantly through the gap over this smoking, unexploded charge. I had +visions of having to reorganize the battalion the next day. Fortunately +the charge did not go off and all worked out well. + +Later we started a good deal of work at night, realizing how difficult +it was for men to find their way and how necessary it was for them to +get used to working in the dark. This training the men enjoyed. It was +all in the nature of a competition. Reconnaissance patrols would be +started out to see how near they could approach to the dummy trenches +without detection. In the dummy trenches other groups, with flares, +etc., would keep a strict watch. Combat patrols would go out two at a +time, each looking for the other. I recall one night when two patrols +ran into one another suddenly. One of the privates was so overcome with +zeal when he saw the supposed enemy that he made as pretty a lunge with +his bayonet as I have ever seen and stabbed through both cheeks of the +man opposite him. + +During the entire time we were in France we trained much along the lines +indicated in the previous paragraphs, except that as we became veterans +we naturally became more conversant with the correct methods of +instruction. For trained troops who are leaving the line it is my +opinion that two points should be stressed above the rest--one is +close-order drill and the other rifle practice. In the First Battalion +we were particularly fortunate in this period in having with us Captain +Amel Frey and Lieutenants Freml and Gillian, all three of whom had +served as N.C.O.'s in the regular Army. They understood close-order +work, the service rifle, and the handling of men, and to them a large +part of the early training is ascribable. + +The next point in the line to which we went was the Toul sector. This +was much more lively than Arracourt, and here we had our first real +taste of war. No Man's Land was not more than fifty to one hundred yards +in width at many places. The whole terrain had been occupied for three +years, and, as there had been many slight changes of position, abandoned +trenches, filled half full of mud and wire, ran everywhere. Originally +the front had been held with a large number of troops, but when we took +it over, these had been reduced to such an extent that now one company +would hold a kilometer in width. The line of support was furthermore +about one kilometer in the rear. It was winter and snow and sleet and +mud formed an ever-present trio. As always in trench warfare, the night +was the time of activity. During the day everything was quiet; in +walking through the trenches all one would meet was an occasional +sentry. + +This night work was hard on the new men, for it is easy to see things at +night even if you are an old soldier. If you are a recruit, you just +can't help seeing them. + +"Well, Major, it's like this," was the way Sergeant Rose, an old-timer, +put it to me when I was speaking to him in the front-line trenches one +night. "I'm an old soldier, but when I stand and look out over this +trench long enough, the first thing I know, those posts with the wire +attached to them begin to do squads right and squads left, and if I +ain't careful, I have to shoot them to keep them from charging this +trench." + +Private Jones would imagine he saw a German patrol approaching him, fire +all his hand grenades at them, and send in a report to the effect that +he had repulsed a raid and that there were three or four dead Germans +lying in front of his part of the line. Investigation would prove that +an old stump or a sandbag had received all his attention. + +The division had fairly heavy casualties in this sector. The Germans +staged a couple of raids. Also there were heavy artillery actions very +frequently. Generally these would start around three o'clock in the +morning. First would come the preliminary strafing. During it the higher +command would call up and ask what was going on, to which you replied N. +T. R.--(nothing to report). Then the shelling would commence in earnest +and all connections would go out at once. From then on, runners were the +only method of communication until everything was over. One could never +be sure that each strafing was not the preliminary to an assault. +Strafing like this was very picturesque. Generally I got into position +where I could see as much of the front as I could. It is possible to +guess by the intensity of shelling just what is getting ready, while +hand grenades and rifle fire mean that an attack is taking place. First +a few flashes can be seen, which increase until on all sides you see the +bursts of the shrapnel and the noise becomes deafening. Then it +gradually dies away and a thick acrid cloud of smoke lies over +everything. + +During one of these actions a runner came in to report that the captain +of the right flank company had been severely hit. The second in command +had not, in my opinion, had quite enough experience, so I sent my scout +officer back with the runner to take command. They got to a bit of +trench where shells were falling thick. + +"Lieutenant, you wait here while I see if we can get through," said the +runner to the officer. + +"Why should you go rather than me?" asked the lieutenant. + +"Well," came the reply, "you see you are going to command the company. +I'm just a runner. They can get lots more of me." + +A very good sergeant of mine, Ross by name, had his hand blown off in +this sector. + +He was making a reconnaissance with a view to a patrol, when a German +trench mortar shell that had been imbedded in the parapet went off under +his hand. As he passed me he simply said: "Major, I am awfully sorry to +leave you this early before the real game begins." + +Here we captured our first German prisoner. I doubt whether any German +will ever be as precious to any of us as this man was. We had patrolled +quite a good deal, but the Germans had either stopped patrolling in the +sector in front of us or we were unfortunate in not running into any of +them. We felt at last that the only way to get a prisoner was to go over +to the German trenches and pull one out. + +One night Lieutenant Christian Holmes, Sergeants Murphy, McCormack, +Samari (born in southern Italy), and Leonard, who was called Scotty and +who spoke with a pronounced Irish brogue, were designated to raid a +listening post. They crawled on their bellies across No Man's Land, got +through the maze of wire, and ran right on top of a German listening +post. A prisoner was what they wanted, so Lieutenant Holmes, who was +leading the party, leaped upon one of the two Germans and locked him in +a tight embrace. The German's partner thereupon endeavored to bayonet +Lieutenant Holmes, who was struggling in two feet of water with his +captive, but was prevented by a timely thrust from Sergeant Murphy's +bayonet. They seized the German, who was shrieking "Kamerad" at the top +of his lungs, and dragged him back across No Man's Land at the double. + +When they came in with him we were as pleased as Punch. Indeed, we +hardly wanted to let him go to the rear, as we had a distinct feeling +more or less that we wanted to keep him to look at. He was a young, +scrawny fellow, and gave us much information concerning the troops +opposite us. Lieutenant Holmes and Sergeant Murphy received the +Distinguished Service Cross for this work; and well deserved it, for +they showed the way and did a really hard job. Holmes told me afterward +that they had all agreed that they would not come back until they had +got their prisoner. They had decided that if they did not find him in +the first front-line trenches they would go back as far as necessary, +but they were going to find him or not come back. + +We began here also for the first time to play with that most elusive of +all military amusements, the code. In order that the Germans, in +listening in on our telephone conversations, might not know what we were +about, everything was put in code or cipher. The high command issued to +us the Napoleon code. The Napoleon code is written entirely in French. +Only a few of us could read French, with the result that only a few +could send messages. General Hines, then colonel of the Sixteenth +Infantry, realized that this was a poor idea, so he made up a code of +his own. This code went by the name of the Cauliflower Code, and the +commanding officer, his adjutant, etc., in every place were given +distinctive names. + +Conversation ran something like this--"Hello, hello, I want Hannibal. +Hannibal is not there? Give me Brains. Brains, this is the King of +Essex talking. Sunflower. No balloons, tomatoes, asparagus. No, No. I +said _no_ balloons! Oh, damn. My kitchens haven't come. Have them sent +up." + +When we received rush orders to leave this sector, I tried to mobilize +my wagon truck by telephone. The supply officers all went by the name of +Sarah in the code. I would start off, "Hello, hello. This is the King of +Essex talking. I want little Sarah. Little Sarah Van." Lieutenant Van, +my supply officer, would reply from the other side, "Hello, hello, is +this the King of Essex talking?" "It is." "Well, Major Roosevelt," then +the connection would be cut. After much labor I got him again. I had +just begun, "Balloons, radishes, carrots" when we were cut off again. +The next time we got the connection we said what we had to say in plain +English and quickly. + +One evening just after we had arrived in the front-line trenches, after +a rest in the support position, the telephone buzzed. The adjutant +leaped to it. "Yes, this is Blank. What is it? Yes, yes. The Napoleon +code." And then for some thirty minutes, during which time the trench +telephone ceased to work, was cut off, or simply went dead, the Adjutant +took down a long string of numbers. At the end of that period he had a +sheet of paper in front of him which looked for all the world like the +financial statement of a large bank. He rushed to our portfolio where +the sector papers were kept, yanked them out, ran over them in a hurry, +and then turned to me with a blank look of grief: "Sorry, sir, we have +left the code behind." We thought for a moment, then called back the +sender, and said, "Sir, we have forgotten our code." He remarked +blithely from the other end, "If the message had been an important one, +I would not have sent it in code. I'll give it to you when I see you +to-night." + +Our first real experience with gas came in this sector. As I said +before, we had been taught how to put on and take off our gas masks, +how gas was used by the ancients, what methods had been used and +abandoned in the present war, what the chemical components were, what +the effects were, but not how to detect it when it was present in +dangerous quantities. The result was that everyone was thoroughly +apprehensive of gas and afraid he would not be able to detect it. We had +all sorts of nice little appliances in the trenches to give the alarm. +They consisted of bells, gongs, Klaxon horns, and beautiful rockets that +burst in a green flare. A nervous sentry would be pacing to and fro. It +would be wet and lonely and he would think of what unpleasant things he +had been told happened to the men who were gassed. A shell would burst +near him. "By George, that smells queer," he would think. He would sniff +again. "No question about it, that must be gas!" and blam! would go the +gas alarm. Then from one end of the line to the other gongs and horns +would sound and green rockets would streak across the sky and platoon +after platoon would wearily encase itself in gas masks. One night I +stood in the reserve position and watched a celebration of this sort. It +looked and sounded like a witches' sabbath. + +After a certain amount of this we worked into a practical knowledge of +gas. We found that there were only two methods of attack we had to fear: +one was by cylinders thrown by projectors, and the other by gas shelling +by the enemy artillery. With the former, an attack was often detected +before it took place by our intelligence, and it was possible to tell by +a flare that showed up along the horizon on the discharge of the +projectors when the attack commenced. With the latter, after a little +practice, it was perfectly simple to tell a gas shell from a H. E. +shell, as it made a sound like a dud. The difficulty with both types of +attack was not so much in getting the gas masks on in time, as there was +always plenty of time for that, but rather in holding heavily gassed +areas, where burns and trouble of all sorts were almost impossible to +avoid. + +It was in this Toul sector on March 11th that my brother Archie was +severely wounded. The Huns were strafing heavily and an attack by them +was expected. He was redisposing his men when he was hit by a shell and +badly wounded both in the left arm and left leg. Major A. W. Kenner, M. +C., and Sergeant Hood were shelled by the Germans while they were moving +out the wounded, among them my brother, when, because of the stretchers +they were carrying, they had to walk over the top and not through some +bad bits of trench. To Major A. W. Kenner, M. C., and Captain E. D. +Morgan, M. R. C., is due great credit, not only in this operation, but +in all the work to come. They never shrank from danger or hardship and +their actions were at all times an inspiration to those around them. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +MONTDIDIER + + "And horror is not from terrible things--men torn to rags by + a shell, + And the whole trench swimming in blood and slush, like a Butcher's + shop in Hell; + It's silence and night and the smell of the dead that shake a man to + the soul, + From Misery Farm to Dead Man's Death on a nil report patrol." + KNIGHT-ADKIN. + + +By the end of March we were veteran troops. + +All during the latter part of the month rumor had been rife about the +proposed German drive. After nearly four years of war, Germany had +crushed Russia, Rumania, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania; had +dealt Italy a staggering blow, and was about to assume the offensive in +France. On March 28th the blow fell, the allied line staggered and +split, and the Germans poured through the gap. + +The news reached us, and at the same time came orders to prepare for an +immediate move. At once the Twenty-sixth American Division moved up in +our rear, and with hardly any time for reconnaissance they took over +from us. My battalion moved out and marched twelve kilometers to the +rear; the last units checked in to where our trains were to meet us at +about 5 A.M., and by 6 A.M. we were on the march again to the vicinity +of Toul, where the division was concentrating. + +Here we were told that we were to be thrown into the path of the German +advance. By this time all types of rumor were current. We heard of the +Englishman Cary's remarkable feat, how he collected cooks, engineers, +labor troops from the retreating forces, formed them into a fighting +unit, and stood against the German advance, and how his brigade grew up +over night. Cary, because of this feat, became, from captain in the Q. +M. C., general of infantry. We heard of the thirty-six hours during +which all contact was lost between the French left and the English +right, when a French cavalry division was brought in trucks from the +rear of the line and thrown into the gap, and on the morning of the +second day reported that they believed they had established contact with +the English. + +The next few days all was excitement. We formed the men and gave out our +first decorations to Lieutenant Holmes and Sergeant Murphy. At the same +time we told them all that we knew of our plans. They were delighted. +Men do not like sitting in trenches day in and day out, and being killed +and mangled without ever seeing the enemy, and this promised a fight +where the enemy would be in sight. + +We had a large, rough shack where we were able to have all the officers +of the battalion for mess. Lieutenant Gustafson, an Illinois boy, who +had, in civilian life, been a head waiter at summer hotels, managed the +mess. We had some good voices among the officers, and every night after +dinner there was singing. + +Our supply officer, meanwhile, was annexing everything in sight for the +battalion in the most approved fashion. One time his right-hand man, +Sergeant Wheeler, passed by some tethered mules which belonged to a +green regiment. He hopped off the ration cart he was riding, caught +them, and tied them behind the cart. A mile down the road some one came +pounding after them. + +"Hey! Where are you going with those mules?" Wheeler was equal to the +occasion. "Are them your mules? Well, what do you mean by leaving them +loose by the road? I had to get out and catch them. I have a good mind +to report you to the M. P. for this." Eventually Wheeler compromised by +warning the man, and giving one of the mules back to him. + +Then the trains arrived. We had never traveled on a regular military +train before. A military train is made up to carry a battalion of +infantry; box cars holding about forty men or eight animals each, and +flat cars for wagons, kitchens, etc. We entrained safely and got off +all right, though we were hurried at the last by a message saying the +schedule given us was wrong, and our train left one half hour earlier +than indicated. + +We creaked off toward the southwest. We didn't know where we were going, +but by this time we had all become philosophical and self-sufficient and +believed that if the train dropped us somewhere far away from the rest +of the division, we would manage to get along by ourselves without too +much trouble. + +After a day's travel we stopped at a little station. The only thing that +we had to identify us was a long yellow ticket scratched all over with +minute directions, which none of us could read. Here I was informed by a +French guard that this was the regulating station and the American +regulating officer was waiting to see me. I hopped off the train and ran +back, finding Colonel Hjalmar Erickson, who afterward became a very dear +friend of mine and later commanded the regiment. He was busy trying to +figure things out with the French _chef de la gare_, an effort +complicated by his inability to speak French. + +"My lord, Major, why aren't you the Seventh Field Artillery?" was +Colonel Erickson's greeting. + +As he was giving me the plans and maps I heard a whoop from the train +outside. I ran to the door and found that, for some reason, best known +to himself, the French engineer had started up again and my battalion +was rapidly disappearing down the track. I started on the dead run after +them. Fortunately some of the officers saw what was happening, and by +force of arms succeeded in persuading the engineer to stop the train. + +That night we detrained a couple of days' march from Chaumont-en-Vexin, +where division headquarters were to be. We hiked through a beautiful +peaceful country, the most lovely we had yet seen in France, billeting +for the night in a little town where a whole company of mine slept in an +old chateau. At Chaumont we stayed for some few days, maneuvering while +the division was being fully assembled. + +From Chaumont we marched north for four days to the Montdidier sector. I +never shall forget this march. Spring was on the land, the trees were +budding, wild flowers covered the ground, the birds were singing. Our +dusty brown column wound up hill and down, through patches of woods and +little villages. By us, all day, toward the south streamed the French +refugees from villages threatened, or already taken, by the Hun. Heavy +home-made wagons trundled past, drawn by every kind of animal, and piled +high with hay and farm produce, furniture, and odds and ends of +household belongings. Tramping beside them or riding on them were women +and children, most of them dazed and with a haunted look in their faces. +Sometimes the wagons would be halted and their occupants squatted by the +road, cooking a scanty meal from what they had with them. + +To us in this country, thanks to Providence, not to our own forethought +or character, this description is only so many words. Unless one has +seen it, it is impossible to visualize the battered village, the column +of refugees that starts at each great battle and streams ceaselessly +toward Paris and southern France, the apple orchards and gardens torn +beyond recognition, the desolation and destruction seemingly impossible +of reparation. + +Nothing would have been better for our countrymen and women than for +each and every one of them to have spent some time in the war zone. When +I think of men of the type of Bryan and Ford, when I think of their +self-satisfied lives of ease, when I think of what they did to permit +disaster and death to threaten this country, it makes me wonder more +than ever at the long-suffering kindness of humanity which permits such +as they still to enjoy the benefits of citizenship in this great land +which they have so signally failed to serve. + +When we took over the Montdidier sector it was not, nor did it ever +become, the type found in the parts of the front where warfare had been +going on without movement for more than three years. Trenches were +shallow and scanty, and dugouts were almost lacking. Indeed, from this +time on, with one exception, the division never held an established +sector. The line at Montdidier had been established shortly after the +break-through by the Germans, by a French territorial division which was +marching north, expecting to relieve some friendly troops in front of +it. They suddenly encountered, head on, the German columns that were +marching south. Both sides deployed, went into position, and dug in +where they were. The First Division took over from these troops. + +The first morning we were in the Montdidier sector the Huns shelled us +heavily. Immediately after they raided a part of our front line held by +a platoon of D Company, commanded by Lieutenant Dabney, a very good +fellow from Louisville, Ky. The Germans were repulsed with loss. We +suffered no casualties ourselves except from the German bombardment. The +next evening we picked up the body of the German sergeant commanding +the party, whom we had killed. + +We staged a very successful raid ourselves at about this time. The +raiding party was composed of eighty-five men of D Company, under the +command of Lieutenant Freml. The section of German trenches selected as +the objective of the operation lay in a little wood about one hundred +yards from our front line. Our patrols had reported that this part of +the German line was particularly heavily held. In the first light of the +half dawn the raiding party worked up into position, passing by through +the mist like black shadows. At the agreed time our artillery came down +with both the heavies and the 75's, and the patch of woods was enveloped +in clouds of smoke through which the bursts of the H. E. showed like +flashes of lightning. In ten minutes the guns lifted and formed a box +barrage, and the raiding party went over. So rapid was the whole +maneuver that the German defensive barrage did not come down until +after the raiding party had reached the enemy trenches. + +The enemy trenches were found, as had been expected, full of Germans. +Most of them were in dugouts or funk holes, and did not make a severe +resistance. "Come out of there," the man in charge of the particular +detail for that part of the trench would call down the dugout. If the +Huns came out, they were taken prisoner. If they did not, a couple of +incendiary grenades were thrown down the dugout and our men moved on. + +We captured, in all, thirty-three prisoners, of whom one was an officer, +and probably killed and wounded as many more. Our losses were one killed +and five slightly wounded. Unfortunately the one man killed was +Lieutenant Freml, the raid leader, who fell in a hand-to-hand combat. +Freml was an old Regular Army sergeant and had fought in the Philippine +Islands. After this war he was planning to return and establish a +chicken farm. He always kept his head no matter what the circumstances +were and his solutions for situations that arose were always practical. +His men were devoted to him and would follow him anywhere. + + [Illustration: A TRENCH RAID + Drawn by Captain George Harding, A. E. F., + Montfaucon] + +The men returned in high excitement and fine spirits. This was the most +successful minor operation we had had so far. I was with the raiding +party when it jumped off and then went to the point where they were to +check in as they got back. There were four parties in all. As each +returned with its collection of prisoners, the first thing that the +officer or sergeant in command asked was, "Sir, did any of the rest get +any more prisoners than we did?" When I told one of them, Lieutenant +Ridgely, that another party had brought in two more prisoners than he +had, he wanted to go back at once and get some more himself. + +A very gallant fellow, Bradley, my liaison sergeant, asked and was +granted permission to go on the raid. He turned up at the checking-in +point driving three Germans in front of him, his rifle over his +shoulder, the bayonet covered with blood and a German helmet hanging +from the end. As he passed I said, "Bradley, I see you have a new +bonnet." He turned to me with a beaming smile and answered, "Why, Major, +I heard that Mrs. Roosevelt wanted a German helmet and this was such a +nice one that I stuck the man who had it on." Poor Bradley was, I +believe, killed in the battle of Soissons, though I never have been able +to get positive information. + +A curious instance of the way a man will carry one impression from an +order in his mind and one only was given by this raid. Before the +operation started I had given particular instructions to the effect that +I wanted prisoners and papers. This is literally what the party brought +back, lots of prisoners and papers of all sorts. They took the crews of +two machine guns but did not bring the guns back--that was not included +in the instructions. The company which made this raid was composed of +raw recruits who had never had even the most rudimentary kind of +military training until their arrival in Europe some five months before +this date. They were of all walks in life and all extractions. Many did +not even speak the English tongue with ease. + +It was in this sector that the First Division staged the first American +attack when the town of Cantigny was taken. The attack was made by the +Twenty-eighth Infantry. My battalion, although not actually engaged in +the assault, was in support and took over the extreme right of the line +after the assault. It also helped in repelling counter-attacks delivered +by the Germans and in consolidating the position. Just preceding the +Cantigny show the Germans strafed and gassed very heavily the positions +held by us. I suspect that this was due to a certain amount of +additional movement in the sector coincident with moving the troops into +position for the attack. + +After gassing us and strafing us heavily a raid in considerable force +was sent over by the Germans. It was repulsed with heavy loss, leaving a +number of prisoners in our hands. A Company took the brunt of this, the +platoon commanded by Lieutenant Andrews doing particularly well. Just +after the repulse of the German attack I was up watching the right of +the line, which was in trenches out in the open. The German machine guns +and sharpshooters were very active. One of our men was lying behind the +parapet. He had his helmet hooked on the end of his rifle and kept +shoving it over the top. The Germans would fire at it. Then he would +flag a miss for them by waving it to and fro in the same way the flag is +waved for a miss when practice on the rifle range is going on. + +Our own losses were due in large part to the German artillery fire. In +this operation a number of our most gallant old-timers were killed. +Captain Frey, second in command of the battalion, was shot twice through +the stomach while leading reenforcements to his front line. When the +stretcher bearers carried him by me, he shook my hand, said "good-by," +and was carried away to the rear. After they had moved him a short +distance he lifted himself up, saluted, said in a loud voice, "Sergeant, +dismiss the company," and died. Sergeant Dennis Sullivan, Sergeant +O'Rourke, and Sergeant McCormick, not to mention many, many others, were +killed or received mortal wounds at this time. + +The Cantigny operation was a success. We took and held the town, or +rather the spot where the town had been, for it would be an exaggeration +to say it was even a ruin. It was literally beaten flat. This piece of +land had seen the German invaders for the last time. We learned a +valuable lesson also, namely, not to make the disposition of the men too +thick. In this operation we did, and this, and the fact that our +objective was necessarily limited in depth, caused us casualties, as the +enemy artillery was not reached and opened on us before we had time to +dig in and consolidate the position we had taken. + +Not all our operations were necessarily as successful as the ones I have +mentioned above. Raids were organized and drew blanks. At times orders +would reach us so late that it was exceedingly difficult to attempt +their execution with much chance of success. For example, one night a +message reached me that a prisoner was wanted for identification +purposes by morning. + +As I recall, it happened as follows: The telephone buzzed; I answered, +and the message came over the wire somewhat in this fashion: "Hello, +hello, is this Hannibal? Hannibal, there is a friend we have back in the +country [the brigadier general] who is very fond of radishes +[prisoners]. He wants one for breakfast to-morrow morning without fail." +This reached me at about ten or eleven o'clock. The raid had to be +executed before daylight. In the meantime the plans had to be made, the +company commander notified, the raiding party chosen, and all ranks +instructed. Add to this that everything had to be done during the dark +and you will see what a difficult proposition it was. + +I got hold of the company commander, got the men organized, telephoned +to the artillery, and asked for five minutes' preparation fire on a +certain point, joined the raiding party and went forward with it. Then +the first of a string of misfortunes happened. On account of the hurry +and the difficulty of transmission, the artillery mistook the cooerdinate +and fired three hundred meters too short, with the result that an +effective bit of preparation fire was wasted on my own raiding party. By +the time this preparatory firing upon our own raiding party was over, +the Germans naturally understood that something was happening, for why +would we strafe our own front-line trenches to no purpose? The result +was that when the raid went over, every machine gun in the area was +watching for them. They got to the opposing wire, ran into cross-fire, +and, after various casualties, found it entirely impossible to get by +the enemy wire, and worked their way back. + +As they were working back a senior sergeant, Yarborough by name, was +sitting in a shell hole, machine-gun bullets singing by him, checking +his party as it came in. Lieutenant Ridgely, who had been with the +party, came up to him. As he crawled along, Yarborough said to him: +"Lieutenant, this reminds me of a story. There was once a guy who +decided to commit suicide by hanging himself. Just about the time he +done a good job of it the rope broke. He was sitting up on the floor +afterward when I came in, a-rubbing his neck, and when he saw me, all he +said was, 'Gee, but that was dangerous.'" + +During this period the German Chateau-Thierry drive was made, again +scoring a clean break-through. The Second Division, which was coming up +to our rear to relieve us, was switched and thrown in front of the +enemy. Shortly after the Huns attacked toward the town of Compiegne, in +an endeavor to straighten out the reentrant in their lines with its apex +at Soissons. This latter attack passed by on our right flank. + +We, of course, got little but rumor. In the trenches you are only +vitally concerned with what happens on your immediate right and left. +What goes on ten kilometers away you know little about, and generally +are so busy that you care less. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil +thereof," is a proverb that holds good in the line. In this last +instance we were more interested because we believed that as a result of +this attack the next point to stand a hammering would be where we were +holding. Our policy, which held good through the war, was developed and +put into action at this time. The orders were, all troops should resist +to the last on the ground on which they stood. All movement should be +from the rear forward and not to the rear. Whenever an element in the +front line got in trouble, the elements immediately in the rear would +counter-attack. This extended in depth back until it reached the +division reserve, which, as our general put it, "would move up with him +in command, and after that, replacements would be necessary." + +During the time when the Huns were making their Chateau-Thierry drive, +Blalock, afterward sergeant of D Company, distinguished himself by a +rather remarkable piece of marksmanship. Noticing a pigeon fluttering +over the trench, he drew his automatic pistol and killed it on the wing. +The bird turned out to be a carrier pigeon loosed by one of the +attacking regiments the Germans were using in their drive toward the +Marne, and carried a message giving its position as twelve kilometers +deeper in France than our higher command realized. At the same time it +identified a division that we had not heard of for three months, and +indicated by the fact that it was signed by a captain who was commanding +the regiment that the Germans were finding it difficult to replace the +losses among their officers. + +Instances occurred constantly which showed the spirit of both officers +and men. A recruit, arriving one night as a replacement, got there just +in time for a heavy strafing that the Germans were delivering. A +dud--that is a shell that does not go off--went through the side of the +dugout and took both of his legs off above the knees. These duds are +very hot, and this one cauterized the wounds and the man did not bleed +to death at once. The platoon leader, seeing that something had gone +wrong on the right, went over to look and found the man propped up +against the side of the trench. When he arrived, Kraakmo, the private, +looked up at him and said, "Lieutenant, you have lost a hell of a good +soldier." + +Another time, when we were moving forward to reenforce a threatened part +of the line, a sergeant called O'Rourke was hit and badly wounded. As he +fell I turned around and said: "Well, O'Rourke, they've got you." "They +have sir," he answered, "but we have had a damned good time." + +Sergeant Steidel of A Company was a fine up-standing soldier and won the +D. S. C. and the Medaille Militaire. He used to stay with me as my own +personal bodyguard when I was away for any reason from headquarters. +Steidel was afraid of nothing. He was always willing and always +clear-headed. When I wanted a report of an exact situation, Steidel was +the man whom I could send to get it. We used to have daylight patrols. +One day a patrol of green men went out to obtain certain information. +They were stampeded by something and came back into the part of the +trench where Steidel was. He went out alone as an example to them, and +came back with the information. + +Lieutenant Baxter, whom I have mentioned before, and a private called +Upton patrolled across an almost impossible shell-beaten area to +establish connection with the battalion on our left. They both went out +cheerfully, and both, by some streak of luck, got back unhurt. Baxter, +on returning, reported to ask if there was any other duty of a like +nature that he could undertake right away. + +One night, when we were shifting a company from support to a position on +our left flank, a heavy bombardment came on. A number of the men were +killed and wounded while moving up. One sergeant, by the name of +Nestowicz, born in Germany, was badly hit and left for dead. I was +standing in the bushes on the side of the valley waiting for reports +when I saw this man moving unsteadily toward me. I asked him what the +matter was, and he replied that he had been hit, his company had gone +on and left him, and he had come up to ask me where he could find them. +I said, "Hadn't you better go to the first aid, sergeant?" He said, "No +sir, I am not hit that bad and I want to go back to my company. It looks +as if they'd need me." + +Sergeant Dobbs, of B Company, badly wounded by a hand grenade, wrote me +a letter, saying that he was well enough to come back, but the doctors +would not let him come, and could not I do something about it. I took a +chance and wrote, telling the medical authorities I would give him light +work if they let him come back to the outfit. Dobbs turned up, was +wounded again, and the last I heard of him was a letter written in late +October, saying that he had never had the opportunity to thank me for +getting him back. Mind you, getting him back merely meant, in his case, +giving him the chance to get shot up again before he was thoroughly +cured of his first wound. He finished by saying that he was in bad +trouble now, as part of his nose had gone the last time he was wounded +and they would not even keep him in France, but were sending him back to +the United States. His last line was the hope that he would get well +soon so he could get back to the outfit. + +There was a young fellow called Fenessey from Rochester, New York, in B +Company. He was being educated for the Catholic priesthood. As soon as +war was declared he enlisted and came over with the regiment. He did +well and was a good man to have around the command because of his +earnestness and humor. He was eventually made corporal of an +automatic-rifle squad. His rifle was placed in the tip of a small patch +of wood guarding a little valley that ran back toward the center of our +position. These valleys were important, as down them the Germans +generally delivered thrusts. The Huns, one morning, strafed heavily our +position. Fenessey's automatic rifle was destroyed and he was hard hit, +his right arm torn off and his right side mangled. Fenessey knew he was +dying. The strafing stopped, the first-aid men worked in, and Fenessey +was carried to the rear. They heard him mumble something, listened +carefully, and found he wished to be taken to his company commander. +They carried him back to Lieutenant Holmes. When he saw Lieutenant +Holmes, he said: "Sir, my automatic rifle has been destroyed. I think +the company commander should send one up immediately to take its place." +Fenessey died ten minutes later. + +Quick promotion, unfortunately not in rank, simply in responsibility, +occurred all the time. Of the four infantry company commanders which had +started, only one was surviving when we left this sector. In each case a +lieutenant took command of the company and did it in the finest shape +possible. Lieutenants Cathers and Jackson were killed here at the head +of their platoons, and Lieutenants Smith and Gustafson died from the +effect of wounds. Lieutenant Freml, who was killed in a raid, had +numerous narrow escapes. + +I remember one time we were going together over the top on a +reconnoitering party preparatory to redisposition of the troops. Freml +had as his personal orderly a very bright little Jew from San +Francisco--Drabkin by name, who had kept a junk-shop. The little fellow +seemed to run true to former training, for he always went around +festooned with pistols, "blinkers," notebooks, and everything +conceivable. A shell hit beside them, Freml being between this man and +the shell. Freml was untouched, but the man was torn to pieces. + +One young fellow seemed, for a while, to bear a sort of charmed life. +Unfortunately this did not last, and he was killed in the battle of +Soissons. He was very proud of the things that had happened to him. One +night, while I was inspecting the front trenches, he said to me, "Major, +I have been buried by shells twice to-day. The last time I only had one +arm sticking out so they could find me. All the other men in the dugout +have been killed and I ain't even been scratched." + +It was here that Lieutenant Ridgely earned for himself the nickname of +the idiot strategist, which he went by for a long while in the +battalion. The Huns were putting up a pretty lively demonstration on our +left. A message reached me that they were attacking. I made my +preparations to counter-attack, if necessary, and sent runners to the +various units concerned to advise them of this plan. The runner who was +bringing the message to Ridgely's platoon lost it in the shuffle. +Runners are made to repeat messages verbally to take care of +contingencies just like this. However, this does not always work, and +when he got to Ridgely, the only message he could remember was, "The +Major orders you to counter-attack, and help the troops on our left." + +It seemed a pretty forlorn business to counter-attack with one platoon, +but neither Ridgely nor the platoon considered this was anything which +really concerned them. They hastily formed up and moved to the left. +They got over and found that the Germans had been successfully repulsed +and that they were among our own troops. The Captain in charge of the +company told Ridgely to go back. Ridgely thought for a moment and said, +"No, my Major's orders were to counter-attack to assist the troops on +the left," and it was only with difficulty that they persuaded him that +he must not stage a little private adventure then and there against the +German lines. + +In this sector we experienced our most severe gas attacks. It is a +thoroughly unpleasant thing to hear gas shells coming over in quantity. +Often an attack begins much as follows: It draws toward morning; the +digging parties file back toward their positions. Suddenly shelling +begins to increase in volume. Private Bill Smith notes a sort of a +warbling sound overhead and remarks to Private Bill Jones, "Gee, Bill, +they're gassing us." Next, reports come in from various sections that +they are gassing Fontaine Woods, Cantigny Woods, and the valley between. +You stand out on some point of vantage and listen to the shells singing +over and bursting. As day dawns you see a thick gray mist spreading +itself through the valley. The men have slipped on their gas masks. The +question now is, what's up? Just meanness on the part of the Huns, or is +it part of some ulterior design to straighten the salient and nip off +the two points of woods we are holding? How heavy is the gassing to be? +How quickly will the wind carry it away? A thousand and one other +questions. + +You send your gas officer up to test. You go up yourself and generally +know as much as the gas officer. Our general experience was that the +first gas casualties we had were the gas officers. You decide that, as +nothing has developed up to this time, it is probable that if any attack +is planned by the Huns it is not intended to take place this morning. +You get your men out of the heavily gassed areas and try to determine +where is the best place for them to be well protected, to cover +practically the same territory, and not to be too much exposed to the +gas. By this time they have been sweating in their gas masks for three +hours or more with the usual number of fools and accidents contributing +to the casualties. You carefully redispose them while a desultory +bombardment by the Germans adds to the general joy of life. You get them +redisposed. The wind changes, the gas is carried to the position where +they are. You have to change them again. To add to the general +complications, the chow which was brought up last night is spoiled. It +has been in the gassed area and the men must go hungry until the next +evening. You come back to your dugout and find that in some mysterious +way the gas has gone down into the dugout, so you prop yourself in the +corner of the trench and carry on from there. Altogether it is a happy +and joyful occasion. Your one consolation rests in the fact that your +artillery is now earnestly engaged in retaliating on their infantry. + +Speaking of artillery, there is one thing that always used to fill us, +the infantry, with woe and grief. A paper would come up, reading, +"Nothing to report on the (blank) sector except severe artillery +duels." "Severe artillery duels" to the uninitiated means that the +opposing artillery fights one with the other. This, however, is not the +custom. Your artillery shells their infantry hard and then their +artillery shells your infantry hard. This is an artillery duel. The +infantry is on the receiving end in both cases. + +Our artillery was particularly good. General Summerall, who commanded, I +have been told, preached to his men that the primary duty of that arm +was to help the infantry, and that to do this properly in all war of +movement they should follow the advancing troops as closely as possible. +Once I saw a battery of the Seventh F. A. wheel up and go into action +not more than two hundred yards from the front line. We, on our part, +endeavored to call uselessly on the artillery as little as possible. + +At times our own artillery would drop a few "shorts" into us but this is +unavoidable and the infantry felt too strongly what had been done for +them to pay much attention. + +In one of the German dugouts we captured, a lieutenant told me he found +a sign reading, "We fear no one but God and our own artillery." + +Sector materiel is something that always adds interest to the life of +the officers in trench warfare. Sector materiel consists of all +varieties of articles, from tins of bully beef and rusty grenades to +quantities of grubby, illegible orders and lists, and mangled maps. +These remain in the sector and are turned over by each unit to the next +succeeding. Theoretically a careful inventory is made and each +individual article checked each time. + +Moreover, to keep the higher command satisfied, there must be +maps--legions of maps. These maps do not have to be accurate. Indeed, +they cannot possibly be accurate, but they must be beautifully marked in +red, blue, yellow, and green with a pretty "legend" attached. The higher +command never knows if the maps are correct, but they do know if they +are not beautifully marked. In each sector there must be, first, a map +indicating where all the trenches are. You, as commanding officer, are +probably the only person who knows and you are too busy to put them +down. Then there must also be maps indicating work in progress. Very +generally they like a map to be turned in every day showing what work +has been done during the night. How they expect anyone to do this is +beyond anyone who has done it. Further, maps must show abandoned +trenches; still further, there must be what is known to the high command +as maps indicating "alternate gas positions." "Alternate gas positions" +are impossible to indicate. Everything depends on which way the wind is +blowing and what place is gassed. But the higher command wants these +maps and it is simpler to placate them than to fight with them. I had a +fine artillery liaison officer, called Chandler. He had had some +training in topography and he kindly agreed to take over the map +question. When a message came up from the rear demanding a map showing +alternate gas position, he would get out his stack of blue pencils and +make, with exquisite care, the nicest and most symmetrical blue lines. +He would number them in black, arrange a margin between, putting green +marks and yellow marks and red marks for other units; fold them up and +send them back. It was quite simple for him. He did not have to consult +anyone, it wasn't necessary to reconnoiter the ground; the map would go +in with the morning report and all would be happy. + +Another sport indulged in by the higher command was to change the main +line of defense and re-allot the defense system of the sector. To be +really qualified to do this, you should on no account have any knowledge +of the actual terrain. Indeed, I think in all my experience I never +received a defense map from the higher command where the individual +making the map had been over the ground. All that you do, if you are the +higher command, is to get a beautiful large scale map, draw broad lines +across it and then dotted lines to indicate boundaries. For nearly a +month I defended a sector where the map was entirely wrong. Two patches +of woods were represented as in a valley, whereas they were on a hill. +This worried neither the higher command nor me. The higher command did +not know that the map was wrong; they had sent me their beautiful little +plans. I sent them equally beautiful ones without debating the matter, +and all were satisfied. + +I remember one general who commanded the brigade of which I was a +member. His hobby was switch lines. A switch line is simply a trench +running approximately perpendicular to the front, where a defensive +position can be taken up in case the enemy breaks through on the right +or left and whereby you form a defensive flank. The old boy would come +up, solemn as a judge, and ask me where my switch lines were to be put. +With equal solemnity I would explain to him. After talking for a half an +hour he would ask confidentially, "Major, what is a switch line?" With +equal solemnity I would explain to him and conversation would cease. +Three days thereafter we would go through the same thing again. The old +fellow had heard someone talking about a switch line once and somehow +felt that it counted a hundred in game to have one. + +Another indoor sport of the high command was a report for plans of +defense. A plan of defense consisted of maps and long screeds indicating +just where counter-attacks were to be launched when parts of the front +line were taken by the enemy. They were beautiful things, pages and +pages long. They were as gay in color as Joseph's proverbial coat, and +when things broke, circumstances were always such that you did something +entirely different from any of the plans. + +Still another sport was patrol reports and patrolling. The patrols were, +according to instructions, arranged for by the higher command because +the higher command knew nothing and could know nothing of the particular +details that govern in any individual section of the front. They would +send down to the battalion commander and demand statements, for their +revision, as to what his patrols were to be for the night, when they +were to go out, what they were to do, etc. The battalion commander would +send them his patrol sheet and then by the above-mentioned code they +would endeavor to confer with him and debate the advisability of certain +of his actions. Again experience taught the way out. You agreed with +everything they said, and did what you originally intended. Next day +they would want a map indicating exactly the points traversed by the +patrol. Knee-deep in water in a filthy dugout, your adjutant or +intelligence officer would make them this map. The map, like most maps, +was for decorative purposes. No patrol wandering in a pitch-black night +in the rain, stumbling on dead men, snarling itself in wire, lying flat +on its bellies when the Hun flares shot up, could possibly tell exactly +where it had gone. This was, happily, not known to the higher command, +so they rested in blissful ignorance. + +I cannot leave the question of maps without discussing the all-absorbing +topic of cooerdinates. A cooerdinate is a group of numbers which indicate +an exact point on the map. If you have firmly got the system in your +head, you can find the point accurately on the map. Any man, however, +who thinks he can go and sit on a cooerdinate on the actual ground is +either a lunatic or belongs to the higher command. Incidentally, in +demanding reports of patrols, alternate gas positions, etc., the order +usually, reads, "Battalion commander will furnish reports with +cooerdinates." + +When I was recovering from a wound in my leg, I attended for two weeks +our staff college. This college was well conceived and did excellent +work, but nowhere were more evident the grievous faults of our +unpreparedness. A good staff officer should have had practical +experience with troops. If he has not had this experience he takes the +thumb rules too literally and does not realize that they are simply +rules to govern in general. We had practically no officers with this +experience. The result was that the students, good fellows, most of them +men who had never been in action, attached too much importance to the +figures and did not realize it was the theory that was important. +Infantry, according to staff problems, always marches four kilometers an +hour. March graphics are drawn with columns which clear points, with +three hundred meters to spare between them and the head of the next +column after both columns have marched ten kilometers to the point of +junction. No account is taken of the fact that rarely, if ever, does +infantry exceed in rate of march three and one half kilometers under the +ordinary conditions prevailing in France, and that bad weather, bad +roads, etc., bring it to three kilometers. What a commanding officer of +troops must bear in mind is not simply getting his troops to a given +point, but getting them to that given point in such shape that they are +able to perform the task set them when they arrive. Furthermore, roads +given on the map are accepted with the sublime faith of a child. I +remember once having my regiment on the march for twelve hours because +the trail on which we had all been ordered to proceed necessitated the +men going single file, and the infantry of a division single file +stretches out indefinitely. + +Our troops had now begun to arrive in France in large numbers. It was +more than a year after the commencement of the war before this was +effected. The inability of our national administration to bring itself +to the point where it considered patriotism as above politics was +largely responsible for this. Every move forward toward the active +pushing of the war was the result of the pressure of the people on +Washington. When I say that our troops were coming across in large +numbers, let it be borne in mind that, though the men did come, +munitions and weapons of war did not. The Browning automatic rifle, for +example, to my mind one of the greatest weapons developed by the war, +was invented in the United States in the summer of 1917. When the war +finished it had just been placed for the first time in the hands of a +limited number of our divisions; my division, the First, never had them +until a month after the armistice. We used the old French chauchat, a +very inferior weapon. None of our airplanes had come, and the death of +many of our young men was directly traceable to this, as they, of +necessity, used inferior machines. Our cannon was and remained French +and its ammunition was French. Our troops were at times issued British +uniforms and many of the men objected strenuously to wearing them on +account of the buttons with the crown stamped on them. Our supply of +boots, up to and including the march into Germany, was composed in part +of British boots. These boots had a low instep and caused much foot +trouble. These are facts that no amount of words can cover, no speeches +explain away. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +SOISSONS + + "And drunk delight of battle with my peers, + Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy." + TENNYSON. + + +Early in July rumors reached us that we were going to be relieved. At +first we did not attach any importance to this, as we had heard many +rumors of a like nature during the months we had been in the sector. At +last, however, the French officers came up to reconnoiter, and we knew +it was true. We were relieved and marched back to some little village +near the old French town of Beauvais. Everyone was as happy as a king. +Here we heard that the plan was to form a corps of the Second Division +and our division, train and recruit them for a month, and make an +offensive with us some time late in August or September. General +Bullard, our division commander who had been, in turn, colonel of the +Twenty-eighth Infantry, brigadier general commanding the Second Brigade, +and division commander, was to be corps commander. This pleased us very +much, as we had great confidence in him. + +We had been in these villages only for a few days when orders reached us +to entruck and proceed to some towns only a short distance from Paris. +This appealed to us all, for if we were going to train and rest for a +month, no more delightful place could be chosen for one and all than the +vicinity of Paris. + +The buses arrived and all night we jolted southwest through the forest +of Chantilly. By morning we arrived and detrucked and the brown columns +wound through the fresh green landscape to the charming little gray +stone towns. The town where we were to stay was called Ver. It was built +on rolling country and its gray cobble-paved streets twisted and wound +up hill and down through a maze of picturesque gray houses in whose +doors well-dressed, bright-cheeked women and children stood watching +us. On the hill were the remains of an old wall and chateau, and at the +foot, through a broad meadow shaded with trees, a fair-sized brook +rippled. Jean Jacques Rousseau lived and wrote there. How he could have +been such a hypocrite and have lived in such a charming place is more +than I can see. + +The men were delighted. "Say, Buddie, this is some town; look at that +stream!"--"Bonne billets."--"Let's fight the rest of the war here"--were +some of the remarks I heard as the column swung in. + +Everything was ideal. The stream above mentioned furnished a bathtub for +the command. We had had no opportunity for about two months to +thoroughly bathe, as we had been on active work the entire time, and you +can imagine in just what condition we were. To put it in the words of +one of my company commanders, "The command was as lousy as pet coons." +The first day we spent in orienting ourselves, getting the kitchens +arranged and the billets comfortable. Meanwhile the troops were down +bathing in the stream, to the admiring interest of the French +inhabitants, who lined the bridge. To our staid Americans the +unconventional attitude of interest in bathing troops displayed by the +French inhabitants of all ages and both sexes was a source of constant +embarrassment. I have known a platoon sergeant to guide his men to quite +a distant point to take their baths. When I asked him why, he replied, +"Sir, it isn't decent with all them frogs looking on." + +That evening, at officers' meeting, everyone was on the crest of the +wave, "sitting on the world," as the doughboy puts it. The officers +established their mess in various houses, and I remember to this day +Lieutenant Kern, as gallant an officer as ever it was my pleasure to +know, who was mortally wounded some three days from this time, telling +me that they had the prettiest French girl in all of France as a +waitress at his company mess and that they were all going to give her +lessons in English. We talked over training and made all arrangements +for a long stay. The only dissenting voice was that of the medical +officer, Captain E. D. Morgan. He, Cassandra-like, prophesied that the +town was too nice and we would be moved soon. + +Next morning, while I was out going over the village, selecting drill +grounds and planning the schedule, a motorcycle orderly arrived and +handed me a message which read, "You will be prepared to entruck your +battalion at two this afternoon." This meant no rest for us. We realized +that a move on our part now meant one thing and one thing only, that +something serious had arisen, and that we were going in again. Rumor had +been rife for two or three days past that the big Hun offensive was +about to start again. In the army, among the front-line troops, +practically all you get is rumor about what is happening daily. Where +the rumor starts from it is impossible to say, but it travels like +lightning. Officers' call was sounded, and when they had assembled, I +read them the order and told them it was my opinion we were going into a +big battle right away. The men were immediately assembled and told the +same thing. We always felt that all information possible should be given +to the men. Instead of the command being downcast at the idea of leaving +their well-deserved rest, their spirits rose. Immediately bustle and +preparation was evident everywhere in the town. + +By one o'clock the truck train was creaking into place on the road. +Oddly enough the truck train was made up of White trucks, made in +Cleveland, with Indo-Chinese drivers and was under the command of a +French officer. The troops filed by in columns of twos toward the +entrucking point. The men were laughing and joking. "They can't do +without us now, Bill." "Say, Nick, look over there" (pointing toward a +grave yard), "them's the rest billets of this battalion, and that" +(indicating a rather imposing tomb) "is the battalion headquarters." +Many of them were singing the national anthem of the doughboy, _Hail! +Hail! the Gang's All Here._ + +I got into the automobile of the French commander of the train, taking +with me Lieutenant Kern, as he was pretty well played out and I wanted +to spare him as much as possible. The French train commander had no idea +what our ultimate destination was. All he knew was a route for about +sixty kilometers, at the end of which he was to report for further +orders at a little town. As we ran up and down the column of trucks +checking the train to make sure that all units were present and all +properly loaded, the men were singing and cheering. + +As all afternoon we jolted northward through clouds of dust, rumors came +in picked up from French officers on the roadside. The Hun had attacked +in force east and west of Rheims in a desperate attempt to break the +French army in two. East of Rheims they had met with a stone-wall +resistance by Gouraud's army and been hurled back with heavy loss. West +of Rheims their attack had been more successful, and they were reported +to have broken through, crossed the Marne, and to be now moving on +Chalons. + +As night fell the jolting truck train pressed ever farther north. At +the regulating station, by the shaded flare of an electric torch, we got +our orders: we were to proceed to Palesne. We guessed on receiving them +what our mission was. We were pushing straight north into the reentrant +into the German lines, at the peak of which was Soissons. Our +destination was a large wood. We realized that we were probably to form +part of an offensive to be made against the Hun right flank, which +should have as its object, first, by pressure at this point, to stop the +attack on Chalons; second, if it was possible, to penetrate far enough +to force the evacuation of the Chateau-Thierry salient by threatening +their lines of communication. In the early dawn the troops detrucked, +sloshed through the mud, and bivouacked in the woods. Every care +possible was taken to get the troops under cover of the woods and the +trucks away before daylight in order to avoid any possible chance of +observation by the Germans. + +All day we became more certain that our guess as to our probable mission +was correct. We heard that the Foreign Legion and the Second American +Division had come up on our right. We knew that our division, the +Foreign Legion, and the Second Division, would not be concentrated at +the same point if it did not mean a real offensive. + +Soon after the orders for the attack were given us. Apparently the idea +was to stake all on one throw. Marshal Foch had decided on a +counter-offensive in this part and had delegated to General Mangin, +commander of the French army, the task of putting it into execution. +Mangin desired to make this offensive, if possible, a complete surprise. +All care was used that no unnecessary movement took place among our +troops in the back area. We were not to take over the position from the +French troops holding the front line, as was generally customary for the +attacking troops before an action, but rather to march up on the night +of the offensive and attack through them. Fortunately, from the point of +view of secrecy, the night before the attack it rained cats and dogs. +The infantry slogged through the mud, up roads cut to pieces by trucks +and over trails ankle deep in water. The artillery skittered and +strained into place. The tanks clanked and rattled up, breaking the +columns and tearing up what was left of the road. It was so dark you +could hardly see your hand before your face. + +As a part of the element of surprise there was to be but a short period +of preparatory bombardment. The artillery was to fire what the French +call "the fire of destruction" for five minutes on the front line, and +then to move to the next objective. This bombardment was to commence at +4.30, and at 4.35 the men were to go over the top. + +The troops all reached the position safely by about 4 o'clock. Our +position lay along the edge of a rugged and steep ravine. The rain had +stopped and the first faint pink of the early summer morning lighted the +sky. Absolute silence hung over everything, broken only by the +twittering of birds. Suddenly out of the stillness, without the warning +of a preliminary shot, our artillery opened with a crash. All along the +horizon, silhouetted against the pale pink of the early dawn, was the +tufted smoke of high explosive shells, and the burst of shrapnel showed +in flashes like the spitting of a broken electric wire in a hailstorm. +After the bombardment had been going on for two or three minutes, D +company, on the right, became impatient and wanted to attack, and I +heard the men begin to call, "Let's go, let's go!" + +At 4.35 the infantry went over. The surprise was complete. Germans were +killed in their dugouts half dressed. One of the units of the division +captured a colonel and his staff still in his dugout. So rapid was the +advance on the first day that the German advance batteries were taken. +The French cavalry followed up our advance, looking for a break-through. +By night all the objectives were taken and the troops bivouacked in the +captured position. During the night Hun airplanes flew low over us +dropping flares and throwing small bombs. Next morning the attack +started again. We ran into much machine-gun fire. "Only those who have +danced to its music can know what the mitrailleuse means." + + [Illustration: AN AIR RAID + Drawn by Captain George Harding, A. E. F., August, + 1918] + +The Germans now rushed up all the reserves they could to hold this +threatened point. On the second day we took prisoners from four Hun +divisions in front of the regiment. One prisoner told us he had marched +twenty-four kilometers during the preceding night. For five days the +advance continued, until the final objective was taken and we held the +Chateau-Thierry-Soissons railroad and the Germans ordered a general +retreat. I was not fortunate enough to see the last half of this battle, +as I was wounded. I heard about it, however, from men who had been all +through it. + +Our casualties were very heavy. At the end of the battle, companies in +some cases came out commanded by corporals, and battalions by second +lieutenants. In the battle the regiment lost most of the men that built +it up. + +Colonel Hamilton A. Smith, as fine an officer and as true a gentleman +as I have ever known, was killed by machine-gun fire while he was +verifying his outpost line. Major McCloud, a veteran of the Philippines +who had served with the British for three years, was killed on the +second day. I have somewhere a note written by him to me shortly before +his death. He was on the left, where heavy resistance was being +encountered. I had just sent him a message advising him that I was +attacking in the direction of Ploisy. His answer, which was brought by a +wounded runner, read: "My staff are all either killed or wounded. Will +attack toward the northeast against machine-gun nests. Good hunting!" + +Lieutenant Colonel Elliott was killed by shell fire. Captain J. H. +Holmes, a gallant young South Carolinian, was killed. He left in the +United States, a young wife and a baby he had never seen. Captains Mood, +Hamel, and Richards were killed. Lieutenant Kern, of whom I spoke +before, was mortally wounded while gallantly leading his company. +Lieutenant Clarke died in the hospital from the effect of his wounds a +few days later. Clarke was a big, strapping fellow who feared nothing. +Once he remarked to me: "Yes, it is a messy damn war, sir, but it's the +only one we've got and I guess we have got to make the best of it." +These are only a few of those who fell. Both Major Compton and Major +Travis were wounded. + +The Twenty-sixth Infantry was brought out of the fight, when it was +relieved, by Lieutenant Colonel (then Captain) Barnwell Rhett Legge, of +South Carolina. Colonel Legge started the war as a second lieutenant. +When I first knew him he was adjutant of the Third Battalion. Later he +took a company and commanded it during the early fighting. He was then +made adjutant of the regiment, and two or three times I recall his +asking the Colonel to let him go back with his company. Captain Frey, +killed earlier, who was originally my senior company commander, thought +very highly of him and used to "josh" him continually. Once Legge took +out a raiding party and captured a German prisoner fifty-four years +old. Frey never let him hear the last of it, asking him if he considered +it a sportsmanlike proceeding to take a man of that age, and saying that +a man who would do such a thing would shoot quail on the ground and +catch a trout with a worm. All during my service in Europe, Legge served +with me. During the latter part he was my second in command in the +regiment. I have seen him under all circumstances. He was always cool +and decided. No mission was too difficult for him to undertake. His +ability as a troop leader was of the highest order. In my opinion no man +of his age has a better war record. + +An amusing incident occurred in Lieutenant Baxter's platoon during the +battle. The men were advancing to the attack perhaps a couple of hundred +yards from the Germans. They were moving forward in squad columns as +they were going through a valley where they were defiladed from +machine-gun fire, though the enemy was firing on them with its +artillery. Suddenly Baxter heard rifle fire behind him. He wheeled +around and saw that a rabbit had jumped up in front of the left of the +platoon and the men were firing at it. + +The worst strain of the battle came during the last two days when +casualties had been so heavy as to take off many of the field officers +and most of the company commanders, when the remnants of the regiments +pressed forward and captured Berzy-le-Sec and the railroad. It is always +more difficult for the juniors in a battle like this, for they generally +do not know what is at stake. General Frank Parker told me how, during +the fourth day, when battalions of eight hundred men had shrunk to a +hundred and it looked as if the division would be wiped out, and even he +was wondering whether we were not losing the efficiency of the division +without getting a compensatory gain, General C. P. Summerall, the +division commander, came to his headquarters and said: "General, the +German high command has ordered the first general retreat since the +first battle of the Marne." + +General Summerall took command of the division just before Soissons, +when General Bullard was given the corps. He had previously commanded +the artillery of the division. The division always regarded him as their +own particular general. He was known by the nickname of "Sitting Bull." +He is, in my opinion, one of the few really great troop leaders +developed by us during the war. At this battle General Summerall is +reported to have made a statement which was often quoted in the +division. Some staff officer from the corps had asked him if, after the +very heavy casualties we had received, we were capable of making another +attack. He replied: "Sir, when the First Division has only two men left +they will be echeloned in depth and attacking toward Berlin." + +Beside the First Division, the Foreign Legion and the Second Division +were meeting the same type of work and suffering the same losses. No +finer fighting units existed than these two. A very real compliment that +was paid the Second Division was the fact that the rank and file of our +division was always glad when circumstances ordained that the divisions +should fight side by side. I have often heard the junior officers +discussing it. + +The division was relieved by the Seaforth and Gordon Highlanders. When I +was going to the rear, wounded, I passed their advancing columns. They +were a fine set of men--tall, broad-shouldered, and fit looking. They, +too, were in high spirits. The morale of the Allies had changed within +twenty-four hours. They felt, and rightly, that the Hun had been turned. +Never from this moment to the end of the war did it change. + +This Highland division showed its appreciation of the American division +by the following order that was sent to our higher command: + + Headquarters 1st Division, + AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, + + FRANCE, August 4th, 1918. + + General Order + No. 42. + + The following is published for the information of all concerned as + evidence of the appreciation of the 15th Scottish Division of such + assistance as this Division may have rendered them upon their + taking over the sector from us in the recent operation south of + Soissons: + + 15th Scottish Division No. G-705 24-7-18 + + To General Officers Commanding, + FIRST AMERICAN DIVISION. + + I would like on behalf of all ranks of the 15th Division to express + to you personally, and to your staff, and to all our comrades in + your splendid Division, our most sincere thanks for all that has + been done to help us in a difficult situation. + + During many instances of taking over which we have experienced in + the war we have never received such assistance, and that rendered + on a most generous scale. In spite of its magnificent success in + the recent fighting, your Division must have been feeling the + strain of operations, accentuated by very heavy casualties, yet we + could discern no symptom of fatigue when it came to a question of + adding to it by making our task easier. + + To your artillery commander (Col. Holbrook) and his Staff, and to + the units under his command, our special thanks are due. Without + hesitation when he saw our awkward predicament as to artillery + support the guns of your Division denied themselves relief in order + to assist us in an attack. This attack was only partly successful, + but the artillery support was entirely so. + + Without the help of Colonel Mabee and his establishment of + ambulance cars, I have no hesitation in saying that at least four + hundred of our wounded would still be on our hands in this area. + + The 15th Scottish Division desires me to say that our hope is that + we may have opportunity of rendering some slight return to the + First American Division for all the latter has done for us, and + further that we may yet find ourselves shoulder to shoulder + defeating the enemy in what we hope is the final stage of this war. + + Signed: H. L. REED, + _Major General_ + _Comdg. 15th Scottish Div._ + + By Command of Major General Summerall: + H. K. LOUGHRY, + _Major, F. A. N. A._, + _Div. Adjt._ + +The Highlanders cheered as the wounded Americans passed by them. One +lieutenant called out to me, "How far have you gone?" I answered, "About +six kilometers." "Good," he said. "We'll go another six." + +After the battle the division was withdrawn to near Paris. Many of the +officers came to see me, where I was laid up with a bullet through the +leg. Major A. W. Kenner, the regimental surgeon, who had again +distinguished himself by his gallantry, and Captain Legge were both in, +looking little the worse for the wear. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +ST. MIHIEL AND THE ARGONNE + + "'Millions of ages have come and gone,' + The sergeant said as we held his hand; + 'They have passed like the mist of the early dawn + Since I left my home in that far-off land.'" + IRONQUILL. + + +During the next couple of months, while I was laid up with my wound, the +regiment first went to a rest sector near Pont-a-Mousson. There +replacements reached them, wounded men returned, and they gradually +worked up to their full strength again. + +They enjoyed themselves fully. It was one of those sectors so common on +the east of the Western Front where by tacit agreement little action +took place. The nature of the country and its distance from the great +centers of France made many parts of the front impracticable for an +offensive either by the Hun or ourselves. In these sectors a division +such as ours, worn by hard fighting, or a division of green or old men, +held the line, a handful of men on each side occupying long stretches. A +few shells would come whistling over during the day and that was all. + +Everybody used to look back on their pleasant times in this sector. They +got fresh fish by the thoroughly illegal method of throwing hand +grenades in some near-by ponds, while fresh berries were plentiful even +in the front line. It was midsummer and the weather was pleasantly warm. +Altogether, if you had to be at war, it was about as comfortable as +possible. + +An odd incident of this period occurred to a recruit who was sent out +the first night to a listening post. In the listening post was a box on +which the guard sat. At some time during the previous night the Germans +had crept up and put a bomb under this box. After looking around a +little the recruit felt tired and sat down on the box. A violent +explosion followed. Right away a patrol worked out from our lines to +see what had happened. When they got there they looked carefully through +every ditch or clump of bushes in the vicinity, but they could not find +a trace of the man. He was reported as dead, blown to bits. On the march +up into Germany that missing recruit reported back to the regiment on +his return from a German prison camp. Instead of being blown to pieces +he had simply been blown into the German lines. When he came to, he was +being carried to the rear on a stretcher, and he spent the rest of the +war as a prisoner, little the worse for wear, except for a few scars. + +Shortly after this the St. Mihiel operation took place. The plan was to +nip off the salient by a simultaneous attack on both sides. Our division +was the left flank unit of the forces attacking on the right of the +salient, being charged with the mission of making a juncture with the +Twenty-sixth Division, which was the right unit of the forces attacking +on the left of the salient. The resistance was so slight that the +operation partook of the nature of a maneuver rather than a battle. Our +losses were practically nil. A large number of prisoners were captured +and a considerable amount of materiel. The reason for this was that the +Germans had determined to abandon the position and were in full retreat +when we attacked. They had been misinformed by their spies, however, and +started their movement about twenty-four hours too late. + +The men had a fine time in this attack. While they had been in the Toul +sector a high hill, called Mount Sec, behind the German lines, had given +them a lot of trouble. From it the Germans had been virtually able to +look into our trenches. In the attack they not only took this hill, but +left it far in the rear. Our unit captured a German officers' mess, +including the cook and a fine pig. They promptly made the cook kill the +pig and prepare him for their dinner, which they thoroughly enjoyed. + +At another time a German company kitchen came up in the night to one of +our outposts to ask him directions. When they found out their mistake +it was too late, and they were promptly conducted to one of our very +hungry companies. + +The value of the St. Mihiel operation to our army was considerable. It +gave our staffs an opportunity to make mistakes which were not too +terribly costly. We fell down particularly on the question of handling +our road traffic. The artillery and the trains in many instances became +hopelessly jammed on the largely destroyed road. Each unit commander +with laudable desire to get forward would do anything to accomplish that +purpose--double back or cut across country. The result was, of course, a +hopeless tangle. This alone would have prevented us carrying on a +further attack, as no army can run away from its echelons of supply. + +Immediately on the completion of the attacks the First Division, in +company with a number of others, was withdrawn from the line and moved +west by marching to a position of readiness for the Argonne offensive, +which was to take place in a couple of weeks. The march was made mainly +by night, as every endeavor was being used to make a surprise attack. +The troops bivouacked in the woods, keeping under cover during the day. + +The battle was a fierce one. During the first day the Americans made a +clean break through, but the lack of training showed and they were +unable to exploit their success properly. The various units became +dislocated and orders could not be transmitted. The men were gallant, +but gallantry is no use when you do not get orders and when supplies do +not come up. As a result the Germans were able to gather themselves, and +what might have been a rout became a fierce rear-guard action which +lasted for more than a month. + +The First Division was held in army reserve and thrown in to take a +particularly hard bit of territory. They were in eleven days in all and +took all their objectives. As a result they were cited individually by +General Pershing in General Orders No. 201. This order--I believe the +only one of its kind issued during the war--follows: + + G. H. Q. + AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, + + FRANCE, Nov. 10, 1918. + + General Orders + No. 201. + + 1. The Commander in Chief desires to make of record in the General + Orders of the American Expeditionary Forces his extreme + satisfaction with the conduct of the officers and soldiers of the + First Division in its advance west of the Meuse between October 4th + and 11th, 1918. During this period the division gained a distance + of seven kilometers over a country which presented not only + remarkable facilities for enemy defense but also great difficulties + of terrain for the operation of our troops. + + 2. The division met with resistance from elements of eight hostile + divisions, most of which were first-class troops and some of which + were completely rested. The enemy chose to defend its position to + the death, and the fighting was always of the most desperate kind. + Throughout the operations the officers and men of the division + displayed the highest type of courage, fortitude, and + self-sacrificing devotion to duty. In addition to many enemy + killed, the division captured one thousand four hundred and seven + of the enemy, thirteen 77-mm. field guns, ten trench mortars, and + numerous machine guns and stores. + + 3. The success of the division in driving a deep advance into the + enemy's territory enabled an assault to be made on the left by the + neighboring division against the northeastern portion of the Forest + of Argonne, and enabled the First Division to advance to the right + and outflank the enemy's position in front of the division on that + flank. + + 4. The Commander in Chief has noted in this division a special + pride of service and a high state of morale, never broken by + hardship nor battle. + + 5. This order will be read to all organizations at the first + assembly formation after its receipt. (14790-A-306.) + + By Command of General Pershing: + + JAMES W. MCANDREW, + _Chief of Staff_. + + Official: + + ROBERT C. DAVIS, + _Adjutant General_. + +The losses again were very heavy, nearly as heavy as at Soissons. It was +in this battle Lieutenant T. D. Amory was killed while making a daring +patrol. Amory was a gallant young fellow, not more than twenty-two or +twenty-three years of age. He had originally been intelligence officer +for my battalion and had been quite badly wounded by a shell fragment in +the Montdidier sector. As soon as he was cured he reported back to the +regiment and took up his old work as scout officer. When the division +took over, contact had been lost with the enemy. A patrol was +accordingly sent out at once, for it was possible that an attack would +be ordered in the morning. Lieutenant Amory was given forty men and went +out. Signal-corps men were put with him to carry a telephone. It turned +out that the Germans were holding strong points rather than a continuous +line of front. On account of this and the darkness he filtered through +without finding them and unobserved by them. The first word his +battalion commander received was a telephone message from the +signal-sergeant, saying: "We have advanced about one and one half +kilometers and there is no sign of the enemy. The Germans have opened on +us from the right flank." Then: "They are firing on us from three sides. +I believe we are surrounded." And, last: "Lieutenant Amory has just +been shot through the head and killed." + +Captain Foster and Captain Wortley also were killed at this time, +besides many other gallant officers and men. Foster when he died was but +twenty-two years old. When he came over with the division, he was +nothing but a curly-headed boy. In the year and a half that he spent in +France he turned from a boy into a man. He was afraid of nothing and had +a rarer virtue in that he was always in good spirits. He had been hit +once before at Soissons. He had been platoon leader and adjutant. Later, +on the death of the company commander, Captain Frey, he had taken +command of a company. He, like Lieutenant Amory, was shot through the +head by a machine gun. + +Wortley was an older man and had always been ambitious to join the +regular army. He had served an enlistment in the regulars and had been a +sergeant. Later at the Leavenworth School he had received his +commission. Wortley also had been wounded at Soissons. + +Major Youell described to me a personal incident of this battle, which +illustrates very well the dull leathery mind that everyone gets after a +certain amount of bitter fighting and fatigue. As commander of the +Second Battalion he had received orders for an attack. He was not sure +of his objectives. He got out his very best prismatic compass, which he +valued more than any of his other possessions, as it was virtually +impossible to replace it, sighted carefully, determined the direction of +the attack, ordered the advance, put the compass on the ground, and +walked off, leaving it there. When he next thought of it the compass was +gone for good. + +Another captain we had was thoroughly courageous personally, but he had +one very bad fault. He could not keep his men under control. Once after +an attack his battalion commander was checking up to see if the +objectives were taken and all units in place. He found the objectives +were taken all right, but that, in the instance of this one company, the +company itself was missing! On the objective was sitting simply the +company commander and his headquarters group. The rest of the company +had missed its direction advancing through a wood and got lost. + +I remember this same company commander in another action. We had been +advancing behind tanks, which had all been disabled by direct fire from +the Germans. I went forward to where he was lying with a handful of men +by one of these tanks. I said to him, "Captain, where is your company?" +He said, "I don't know, sir; but the Germans are there." He knew where +the enemy were and was perfectly game to go on and attack them with his +eight or nine men. + +Colonel Hjalmar Erickson was commander of the Twenty-sixth Infantry +during this action. He was a fine troop leader and a powerful man +physically. During a battle the higher command naturally want to know +what is going on at the front. It is very difficult for the officer at +the front to furnish these details; often he is busy, sometimes he knows +nothing to tell. Once, during the first Argonne battle, the higher +command called upon Erickson. Nothing was happening, but Erickson was +equal to the occasion. + +"Yes, yes, everything is fine. What has happened? Our heavies have just +started firing and it sounds good," was Erickson's reassuring message. + +Meanwhile I had been given a Class B rating and detailed as an +instructor at the school of the line at Langres. After I had been there +a short while I saw an officer from the First Division and told him I +was awfully anxious to get back and felt quite up to field work again. A +few days after that General Parker called up some of the commanding +officers in the college on the telephone. I had one obstacle to +overcome. I still had to walk with a cane, and, although this did not +really make any difference to me from a physical standpoint, it was a +question if I could get the medical department to pass me as Class A. We +decided that the best way to do was to take the bull by the horns and go +anyhow. I said good-by to the college one night and went with Major +Gowenlock, of the division staff, directly back to the division. I was +technically A. W. O. L. for a couple of weeks, but they don't +court-martial you for A. W. O. L. if you go in the right direction, and +my orders came through all right. On reporting to General Frank Parker, +who was commanding the division, he assigned me to the command of my own +regiment. When my orders finally came to the school directing me to +report to C. G., of the First Division, for assignment to duty, I was +commanding the regiment in battle. + +At about this time three cavalry troopers reported to the Twenty-sixth +Infantry. They said they came from towns where they had been on military +police duty. They stated that they had heard from a man in a hospital +that the First Division was having a lot of fighting and so they had +gone A. W. O. L. to join it. They were attached to one of the companies, +and a letter was sent through regular channels saying that they were +excellent men and we wanted their transfer to a combatant branch of the +service. We phrased it this way in order to tease one of our higher +command who belonged to the cavalry. A long while later, as I recall, an +answer came back directing me to send the men back to their outfit, but +they were all either killed or wounded at that time. + +After the division was relieved from the Argonne it went into rest +billets near the town of Ligny, there to rest and receive replacements +before returning into the same battle. Advantage was taken of this brief +period of rest to give leave to some of the enlisted personnel and +officers. This was the first leave most of them had had since they had +been in France. Captain Shipley Thomas took the men under his command to +their area. He described to me on his return how on the way down all the +men would talk about was: "Do you remember how we got that machine-gun +nest? That was where McPherson got his." "Do you remember how Lieutenant +Baxter and Sergeant Dobbs got those seventy-sevens by outflanking and +surprising them?" + +By the time they had been at the Y. M. C. A. Leave Area twenty-four +hours they had forgotten all this. For seven days they had a fine time +and their point of view changed entirely. As the train carried them +north through France, when they stopped at a station they would lean out +of the windows and inveigle some unsuspecting M. P. close to the train. +They would ask him with much earnestness what it was like at the front, +explaining to him meanwhile that they were members of the Arkansas +Balloon Corps, and when he got near enough throw soda-water bottles at +his head. Later an indignant epistle reached me demanding an explanation +and directing "an investigation to fix the responsibility." A commanding +officer should know a great many things unofficially, and in this case +my knowledge was all of an unofficial nature, so I was able with a clear +conscience to indorse it back with the suggestion that they investigate +some other unit. + +Captain J. B. Card, Captain Richards, and some other of the officers +were given leave. They started immediately for Nice. While they were +traveling down we received orders that we were to go back into the +battle, so wires were awaiting them when they got off the train to +report back to their units immediately. They made a good connection and +spent only three hours at Nice. They reported back smiling and thought +it was a good joke on themselves. + +General C. P. Summerall had been promoted to the command of a corps and +General Frank Parker given command of the division. General Parker was +also one of the First Division's own officers. Before getting the +division he had in turn commanded the Eighteenth Infantry and the First +Brigade. He had a fine theory for soldiering. Summarized briefly, it was +that the way to handle troops was to explain to them, in so far as +possible, all that was to take place and the importance of the actions +of each individual man. He had all his officers out with the men as much +as possible. He had them all emphasize to the private the importance of +his individual intelligent action. This is a fine creed for a commanding +officer, as it helps to give him the confidence of his men. Obedience is +absolutely necessary in a soldier, but unintelligent obedience is not +nearly as valuable as intelligent obedience given with confidence in the +man who issues the order. It is intelligent comprehension of the aims of +an order that lends most to its proper execution. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAST BATTLE + + "The giant grows blind in his fury and spite, + One blow on the forehead will finish the fight." + HOLMES. + + +Hardly had the new replacements, some 1800 in all, learned to what +company they belonged, when our definite orders reached us. The trucks +arrived and we rattled off toward the front. We detrucked and bivouacked +for a couple of days in a big wood while our supply trains came up. The +weather, fortunately, was crisp and cool and bivouacking was really +pleasant. What our mission was we did not know, but as we were to be in +General Summerall's corps we were sure there would be plenty of fighting +to go around. + +General Summerall himself came and spoke to each of the infantry +regiments. The regiment was formed in a three-sided square and he spoke +from the blank side. + +Almost immediately our orders arrived to move up. As usual we moved at +night. The weather repented of its gentleness and cold heavy rain +started. The roads were gone, the nights black, the columns splashed +through mud with truck trains, with supplies for the troops ahead of us, +crisscrossing and jamming by us. We passed the barren zone that had been +No Man's Land for four years and was now again France. + +Early in the morning in a heavy mist we reached another patch of woods +just in rear of where the line was. Here we gained contact with the +Second Division that was ahead of us. They attacked the same day and +again we received orders to follow them. On this night the maps played +us a trick, for a road well marked turned out to be a little wood trail. +All night long we moved down it single file to get forward a bare seven +kilometers. A wood trail in the rain is bad enough for the first man +that moves over it, but it is almost impassable for the three +thousandth man when his turn comes. We got through, however, and by +morning the regiment was in place. The road was clogged with a stream of +transports of all kinds--trucks, wagon trains, tanks, and tractors, +double banked and stuck. Occasionally, passing by them on foot, you +would hear some general's aide spluttering in his limousine at the delay +and wet. + +Through this our supply train was brought forward by Captains Scott and +Card and Lieutenant Cook with the uncanny ability to accomplish the +seemingly impossible which had stood us in good stead many times. +Indeed, the train beat the infantry and when we arrived, we found them +there banked beside the road, with the kitchens smoking, and the food +spreading a comforting aroma through the rain-rotted woods. Orders were +received to march to Landreville. We gave the men hot chow and put the +column in motion as soon as they had finished. The sun came out and +dried us off and we felt more cheerful. + +Still following in the wake of the victorious Second Division, we +passed through the desolate, war-battered little town of Landreville. +There, to my intense astonishment, I suddenly came on my brother, +Kermit, and my brother-in-law, Richard Derby, who was chief surgeon of +the Second Division. My brother Kermit had transferred to the American +army from the British, had finished his course at an artillery school, +and was now reporting to the First Division for duty. Seeing them so +unexpectedly was one of the most delightful surprises. + +We went into position at Landreville and sent out patrols, which +immediately gained contact with the marines in our front, who were +preparing to attack next day. + +That night my brother and I sat in a ruined shed, regimental +headquarters, surrounded by dead Germans and Americans, and talked over +all kinds of family affairs. + +Again the following night, as the Second Division's attack had been +successful, we moved forward. Again it rained. Next morning we were +bivouacked in the Bois de la Folie, but before evening were on the +march again to another position. By the time we had reached this +position, orders came to move forward again and we went into position in +woods just south of Beaumont. Here the Colonel of the Ninth Infantry and +I had headquarters together in an old farmhouse that had been used by +the Germans as a prisoners' cage. It was surrounded by wire and filthy +beyond description. + +Here we got orders that we were to take over from the division on the +left of the Second Division and attack in the morning. By this time the +troops had marched practically five nights in succession and also two of +the days. Speaking of this, there is a military phrase which has always +irritated me. It appears in all accounts of big battles. It is, "At this +point fresh troops were thrown into action." There is no such thing as +"throwing fresh troops" into action. By the time the troops get into +action they have marched night after night and are thoroughly tired. + +The correct phrase should be, "troops that have suffered no +casualties." For example, that night my three majors, Legge, Frazier, +and Youell, all of them young men not more than twenty-eight years old, +came in to get their orders for the attack. We all sat down on wooden +benches in the cellar. Something happened which made it necessary for me +to change part of my orders. Making the changes did not take more than +five minutes in all. By the time I was through, all three of them had +fallen asleep where they sat. + +After receiving the orders, I got in touch with the Second Division, and +I want to say that when the next war comes I hope my side partners will +be of the same type. Colonel Robert Van Horn, an old friend of mine, was +commanding the Twenty-third Infantry, which was to be on the right +flank. I was to attack with two battalions in line and one in support, +my right flank on Beaumont, my left following a road that led north to +Mouzon. Together Van Horn and I worked out our plans and arranged for +the connections we wished to make. He had been fighting then for a +number of days, but was just as keen to continue as a schoolboy in a +game of football. + +That night again sunny France justified her reputation and for the fifth +day in succession it rained. The troops moved forward and with the easy +precision of veterans found their positions, got their direction, and +checked in as in place at the moment of attack. + +At 5.35 in a heavy mist they went over the top. The Hun had, by this +time, lost all his fight and we advanced for seven or eight kilometers +to our objectives, Mouzon and Ville Montry. By 6.00 in the evening the +sector was cleared, the troops established on the objectives, and the +advanced elements fighting in Mouzon. + +Two of the German prisoners who were brought back early this day, an +officer and his orderly, were nothing more than boys. They said they had +been retreating for days and that they were so tired that they had not +woke up until some of the Americans had prodded them with a bayonet. + +It was in this attack that, among others, one of the medical officers, +Lieutenant Skillirs, was killed. Like most of our medical officers, he +followed his work with absolute disregard for his personal safety. He +was hit by a shell toward the end of the attack while crossing the +shelled area to help some wounded. + +At 8 o'clock we received word that we were to withdraw from the sector +we had taken and march into a position from which we should attack Sedan +next morning. The Seventy-seventh Division was to extend its right and +occupy the sector we were leaving. Word was sent to the majors to +collect their commands and assemble them at a given point. All honor +again to our supply company. They were there close in the rear of us and +worked forward food to the men. At this time, with the men as tired as +they were, it was of vital importance. + +I received my detailed orders from General F. C. Marshall at a little +half-burned farm. + +By 8 o'clock the officers and men, who had marched and fought without +stopping for twenty-four hours, were again assembled and moving west on +the Beaumont-Stornay road. All night long the men plowed like mud-caked +specters through the dark, some staggering as they walked. Once we had +to move single file through our artillery, which was to follow in our +rear. Often we had to take detours, as the Germans had mined the road. +At one place a bridge over a stream was gone and the whole division had +to cross over single file. Everyone had reached the last stages of +exhaustion. Captain Dye, a corking good officer, fainted on the march, +lay unconscious in the mud for an hour, came to, and joined his company +before the morning attack. Major Frazier, while riding at the head of +his battalion, fell asleep on his horse and rolled off. + +As I rode up and down the column I watched the men. Most of them were so +tired that they said but little. Occasionally, however, I would run on +to some of the old men, laughing and joking as usual. I remember hearing +a sergeant, who was closing the rear of one platoon, say, "Ooh, la, +la!" + +"What is it, sergeant, aren't you getting enough exercise?" I said to +him. + +"Exercise, is it, sir? It's not the exercise I'm worried with, but I do +be afraid that them Germans are better runners than we are! Faith, to +get them is like trying to catch a flea under your thumb." + +Another time I passed an old sergeant called Johnson, at one of the +five-minute rests. + +"Sir," asked Johnson, "when do we hit 'em?" + +"I'm not sure, sergeant," I said, "but I think about a kilometer and a +half from here." + +"That's good," Johnson replied. "If we can once get them and do 'em up +proper they will let us have a rest." + +Johnson voiced there the sentiments of the rank and file. They had been +set a task and it never entered into their calculations that they could +not do the task. They wanted to do it, do it well, and then have their +rest. + +In the morning we passed through a French unit at Omicourt and started +our attack. By afternoon we were on the heights overlooking Sedan, where +word reached us to halt our attack. Shortly after we were told to +withdraw, turning over to the French. We found later that it was +considered wise that the French should take Sedan on account of the +large sentimental value attached to it because of the German victory +there in the war of 1870. + +I waited in the sector until the troops had checked back, and then +followed them to Chemery, where we were to spend the night. When I +arrived I found the three battalion commanders sleeping in the stalls of +a stable. As I came in one sat up and said: "Sir, I never knew until +this minute what a lucky animal a horse is." + +A characteristic incident of the new spirit occurred in this attack. +Lieutenant Leck of E Company was assigned the task of occupying the town +of Villemontry with a platoon. After severe hand-to-hand fighting on the +streets he succeeded. The rapidity of the attack prevented the Germans +from carrying off some French girls with them. The town was under heavy +fire and the runner who was sent with the message directing the +withdrawal and the march on Sedan was killed before he reached them. +After the relieving unit arrived a message was sent to Leck that his +regiment had withdrawn. He replied that the First Division never gave up +conquered ground and he would hold the town until he received word from +his proper commander. + +The next day we moved to the south and east. The plan of the higher +command, I have been informed, was to throw the First, Second, +Thirty-second, and Forty-second Divisions across the Meuse in an attack +on Metz, to assign no objectives but to let the rivalry in the divisions +determine the depth of the advance. + +All through the last ten days vague rumors had been reaching us +concerning a proposed armistice. None of us really believed there was +anything in them. This was largely on account of the fact that during +the year and a half we had grown so accustomed to war that we could not +imagine peace. Besides, we felt that terms that would be in any way +acceptable to us would not be even given a hearing by the Germans. We +felt also that we had them on the run and we wanted to go in and finish +them. As a matter of fact, we didn't give much thought to it anyhow. We +had almost as much as we could do finishing the job we had in hand. + +On the march one day I heard one man discussing with the other members +of his squad. He finished his remarks by saying, "I hope those damned +politicians don't spoil this perfectly good victory we are winning." + +As we were moving back a day later an engineer officer rode up to me +from the rear and told me he had just come from Second Division +headquarters, where they had announced that the armistice had been +signed and all hostilities were to cease at 11 o'clock that morning. I +sent back word to the men. It was announced up and down the column and a +few scattering cheers were all that greeted it. I don't think it really +got through their heads what had happened. I know it had not got through +mine. + +That night we stopped in the Bois de la Folie, and for the first time +the men began to realize what had happened. Fires were lit all over. +Around them men were gathered, singing songs and telling stories. It was +very picturesque: the battered woods, the flaming fires, and the brown, +mud-caked soldiers. The contrast was doubly great, as until that time no +fires were lighted by the troops when anywhere near the front lines. +German airplanes always came over and as the men expressed it, "laid +eggs wherever they saw a light." + +The first thing that really brought it home to me personally was when a +little military chauffeur came up through the dark and said, "Colonel, +Mrs. Roosevelt is waiting in the car at the corner." + +I knew that no women had been anywhere near the front the day before. I +realized that this really meant that the war was over. The car came up +and skidded around in the deep mud. Mrs. Roosevelt was there in a pair +of rubber boots. She had somehow managed to come because she wished to +say good-by to me and return to our children in the United States now +that the fighting was over. I went back with her some ten kilometers to +a tent where some Y. M. C. A. men were giving out chocolates, crackers, +etc. + +All the way back through the night the sky was lit by the fires of the +men. On every side rockets were going up, like a Fourth of July +celebration. Gas signals and barrage signals flashed over the tree tops. +The whole thing seemed hardly possible. + +Although we had been there in France only a year and a half, it seemed +as if the war had lasted interminably. It seemed as if it always had +been and always would be with us. All our plans had been based on an +indefinite continuation. I had been rather an optimist, and yet I did +not consider the possibility of a cessation of hostilities before the +following autumn. Much of the quaint philosophy of the French had sunk +into our hearts and insensibly became a part of us--the philosophy which +had its creed in the expression _C'est la guerre_. To them and to us +_C'est la guerre_ had much the significance of "All in the day's work." +Like them, we treated _apres la guerre_ as something in the nature of +"castles in Spain." + +So the war finished, so our part in the fighting came to an end; a page +of the world's history was turned and we moved south to Verdun to +prepare for our march into conquered Germany. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +UP THE MOSELLE AND INTO CONQUERED GERMANY + + "Judex ergo cum sedebit + Quidquid latet, apparebit + Nil, inultum remanebit." + CELANO. + + +The Third Army, which was to march into Germany as the army of +occupation, was all in place on the 15th of November. My regiment was +bivouacked in what had once been a wood, northeast of shell-shattered +Verdun. The bleakest of bleak north winds whistled over the hilltops, +whirling the gray dust in clouds. The men huddled around fires or +burrowed into cracks in the hillside. Here we prepared as well as we +could for our move forward. + +Before dawn on the 17th of November, the infantry advanced in two +parallel columns. By sunrise we were over the German lines and the +brown columns were winding down the white, dusty roads through villages +long beaten out of the semblance of human habitation by the shells. +Gazing back down the column, the thought that always struck uppermost +was the realization of strength. The infantry column moves slowly, but +the latent power in the close mass of marching men is very impressive. +The only thing I know which compares with it in suggestion of power is a +line of great gray dreadnaughts lunging across the water. + +At one village a young French soldier, who had been riding on a bicycle +by our column, stopped sadly before three crumbling walls. It was all +that was left of his home. His father, the mayor of the village, had +lived there. His mother had died in Germany and he did not know what had +become of his father. + +By night we were out of the uninhabited parts and were reaching the +freed French villages. Here we found starving men, women, and children +whom we helped out from our none-too-plentiful rations. These people +were pathetic. They seemed to have lost the power to rejoice. They +looked at us from their doors with lackluster eyes and apparent +indifference. One woman told me that the Germans as they left her house +had told her they would be back soon. I asked her if she believed it, +and she simply shrugged her shoulders. + +Next morning we were on the march again. All day long, past our +advancing columns, streamed the prisoners whom the Germans had been +working in the coal mines. They were French, Italian, Russian, and +Rumanian, desperately emaciated for the most part and still wearing +their old uniforms. Sometimes they dragged behind them little carts +containing the possessions of two or three of them. Often I stopped them +and questioned them, but whether they were French or not they seemed to +have one idea, and one only--to put as many miles between them and +Germany as possible. + +We had sent back to where our baggage was stored while we were at Verdun +and brought up our colors and our band. Now we put them at the head of +the column and went forward with band playing and colors flying. + +The farther we got from where the front line had been, the better was +the condition of the inhabitants. Now we began to see the first signs of +rejoicing. News would reach the authorities in villages that we were +coming some time before we arrived. They would throw arches of flowers +over the streets through which we marched. Groups of little girls would +run by the side of the column, giving bouquets to the men. Cheering +crowds would gather on the sides of the road. + +The doughboy had a beautiful time. The doughboy loves marching to music, +with flags flying and the populace cheering. He is very human and is +fond of showing off. For some reason or other there is a current belief +in this country that the average American does not like parades, +decorations, etc. This is just bosh. The average American is just as +keen for such things as anyone else. He likes to put on a pretty ribbon +and come home and be admired by the young ladies. I know I like to put +on my decorations for my wife. + +In every little town where we spent the night a ceremony of some sort +took place. Generally the townspeople made us an American flag and +presented it to us. I have some of these flags stowed away at this +moment. They were made with the help of old dictionaries. Sometimes +these dictionaries were very old and the American flag of one hundred +years ago would be the one copied. At one village we were presented with +a flag with fifty stars. The donor explained that he had been in the +United States and knew we had forty-eight and that the two extra were +for Alsace and Lorraine. + +Once, while we were at mess in the evening, with great ceremony it was +announced that a committee of young ladies desired to wait on me. I +bowed to the girdle and said, "Will they come in?" They trooped in, +peasant girls from fourteen to twenty years old, dressed in their +Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and headed by the mayor's daughter. They +had a flag with them. First, one of them made an elaborate speech, in +which we were hailed as the sons of Lafayette and George Washington, a +slight historical inaccuracy. Then I replied, calling upon the names of +Joan of Arc, Henry of Navarre, and others, and then the spokeslady, to +the intense delight of my staff, stepped forward and kissed me on both +cheeks. At another time a large, corpulent, much-bewhiskered mayor +endeavored to enact the same ceremony, but forewarned is forearmed, and +I evaded him. + +In a short time we came to the Duchy of Luxembourg and marched over the +border. Everywhere here also we were met with open arms. The streets +were jammed as we marched through the villages. All the world and his +wife were there and greeted us as "Comrades glorious" and "Victors." + +We sent forward, as was customary, a detail of officers to make sure +that billeting accommodations were forthcoming and that everything would +be as comfortable as possible for the men. When I arrived, slightly in +advance of the troops, the first thing I saw was a procession of +townfolk approaching. At its head was a band which might, for all the +world, have come out of the comic opera. Following the band were pompous +gentlemen in frock coats and top hats, carrying bouquets of gorgeous +flowers done up with ribbons, and making up the body of the procession +were people of every age, both sexes, and every grade in society. I +realized they were heading for me, and with great dignity descended from +the dinky little side car in which I had been traveling. Major Legge and +Lieutenant Ridgely here joined me and explained that a ceremony of +welcome was to take place, and I was to represent the United States! We +three lined up solemnly while the Luxembourgers formed a semicircle +around us. The ceremony was, first, the presentation speech; second, the +keys of the city and armfuls of bouquets, and, third, a cheer for +America; and then the band played. We none of us knew the Luxembourg +national anthem, but felt that this must be it, so we stood at attention +with great solemnity and saluted while it was sounding. When it was +finished the mayor started it off again with a cheer for France and the +same supposedly national anthem. Again we stood at attention. We went +through this same ceremony for six of the Allies, when fortunately the +troops came up and terminated it. Later I found that the tune they +played and to which we had been rendering the formal compliment was the +air of a popular song. The warm welcome would have impressed me more had +I not been certain it had been accorded equally to the Germans when they +marched through. + +Meanwhile the Eighteenth Infantry of our division had passed on our left +flank through the city of Luxembourg. That day I ran down with a couple +of officers to watch them parade. It was the first time I had ever been +in Luxembourg. The city is very picturesque. It is built on the side of +a rocky gorge, and on one jutting pinnacle of rock are the remains of +the feudal castle where a medieval emperor of Germany was born. The fete +amused me very much. I felt as if I were living in George Barr +McCutcheon's _Graustark_. The Luxembourg army was drawn up to receive +our troops, all the men being present, 150 sum total. What they lacked +in numbers they made up in gorgeousness. Never have I seen such +beautiful uniforms, so many colors, so much gold lace, and such absurdly +antiquated rifles. The populace had a beautiful time. They are +mercantile by temperament. They realized that a reign of plenty was +coming; that the American goose that lays the golden eggs would be in +their midst and that money would flow as the changeless current of their +own Moselle River. + +A couple of days' march farther and we reached the banks of the Moselle. +Here we spent four or five days while the troops cleaned up and rested +in three small towns. The regimental band played for different units +every day. Everything moved smoothly. The inhabitants were gentle and +kindly. Indeed, they were so effective in their kindness that one of the +second battalion headquarters cooks, called "Chops," came to grief. +First, he drank all of their wine he could get, then, in an inspired +spirit of generosity, cooked and turned over to his new friends the +turkey which, with much labor, had been secured for the officers' +Thanksgiving dinner. His generosity was sadly misunderstood by his +commanding officer, for he was returned to duty with the mule train from +which he had come. + +On the fifth of December we resumed the march and crossed the Moselle +into conquered Germany. From this time on a new element was added to the +chances of campaigning. Our maps were perfectly impossible. You never +could tell where bridges were and where there were simply ferries. Once +we ran our column directly into a pocket. The map showed what looked +like a bridge. We were not allowed to scout ahead, and the interpreter's +questions seemed to confirm its existence. When we got there we found a +ferry that accommodated only sixteen men at a time and we had to double +on our tracks. On these maps, also, the roads all looked good. The first +day's march in Germany we nearly lost the supply train on account of +this, as a seemingly good highway ended in a marsh. + + [Illustration: THE RHINE AT COBLENZ + Drawn by Captain Ernest Peixotto, A. E. F.] + +That night we billeted for the first time in German territory. +Regimental headquarters were in the country house of a German officer. +On the news of our advance he had fled farther north, but, with the +characteristic affectation of his class, telephoned, on our arrival, +saying he regretted that he would not be there to receive us and hoped +that we would be comfortable. Next morning he telephoned again, sending +a message to the effect that if any of his servants had not done +everything for our comfort would we please report the matter to him +immediately in order that he might punish the offender. + +All the next day we moved up the banks of the winding Moselle through +Treves, where relics of the old Roman buildings frowned down on us as we +passed. At night we stopped in another German house, from which the +German officer had not fled. He was a lieutenant colonel and had waited +to receive us, prepared to be butler or anything we demanded. + +A real indication of the character of the German soldier was given by +the terror of the women at our approach. It was clear that they expected +any outrage. On account of this, on arriving in each town, when I would +call the burgomaster to give him the instructions concerning the +behavior of the townspeople, I would finish up by directing him to +announce to all women and children that they need have no fear +concerning the actions of any American soldier, that we were Americans, +not Germans. I had my interpreter see that it was given out in this +form. + +Day after day we followed the river or made short cuts inland. As we +marched along, on hilltops on either side, silhouetted against the sky, +austere and dignified, were the crumbling brown-rock towers of medieval +castles. These castles were destroyed more than two centuries before by +Louis XIV as he marched by the same route. On either side of the river +the slopes rose abruptly. They were covered with vineyards, apparently +growing from the brown shale. Once, when we passed through the city of +Berncastle, in the early morning, when the mist choked the valley, I +looked up and saw on the peak that overhung the town, touched by the +morning sun, the old keep framed in the white mist like a cameo set in +mother-of-pearl. Time and again some Hun farmer would stop me and take +me through a cow-shed to see the marble remains of some Roman bath or +villa, the name of whose owner had long since vanished in the mists of +time. + +An odd incident of this march occurred when Lieutenant Barrett was +ordered by me to go and instruct a German soldier we were passing +concerning certain of our regulations. When Barrett reported back, he +told me the man had come from his own home town in Indiana. + +One thing that struck us all as we left France and reached Germany was +the number of children. In France children are rare. Each community you +passed you felt was composed of grown people. In Germany the streets +were full of them--healthy-looking little rascals, pink-cheeked and +well-nourished, wearing diminutive gray-blue uniforms like those of the +German soldier. Little machine gunners, the men used to call them, for +they looked like so many small replicas of those men we had been killing +and who had killed us. Immediately upon the proclamation going out that +the children would be in no way molested, these little rascals swarmed +over everything. Nothing could satisfy their curiosity. + +After weaving our way up the river valley and over the hills, one early +December morning we found ourselves winding down from the surrounding +hills toward the Rhine. As we swung around a rocky corner, the whole +panorama lay before us--the gables and steeples of the town of Boppard +with, as a background, the broad, undisturbed silver Rhine. On we wound +down the rocky slope into the city, the flag flying at the head of the +column. That night I formed the entire regiment in line on the terraced +water front facing the river and, with the band playing _The +Star-Spangled Banner_, stood retreat. + +We waited here a day and then marched down the river to Coblenz. On +this march we passed through one village, with old gates, little jutting +houses carved and painted in bright colors, unchanged sixteenth-century +Europe. Next was another village, factory towers smoking, great brick +buildings filled with machinery, plain little board houses for the +workmen, the epitome of modernism. + +The night of December 12th we billeted at Coblenz. Next morning, at +seven o'clock, the First Division in two columns crossed the Rhine, the +first of the American troops. As the head of the column reached the +center of the bridge and I looked at massive Ehrenbreitstein and up and +down the historic river, I felt this truly marked the end of an era. + +Two days more brought us to the end of the bridgehead, where we were to +take up our position. Division headquarters were in quite a large town +called Montabaur, a name supposed to have been brought back with the +early crusaders, _i. e._, Mount Tabor. Two castles overlooked the town, +one in ruins, the other still used as an administrative building by the +town authorities. The regiment was scattered through the surrounding +small country villages. + +Quarters for the men were good in comparison with what they had been +used to. We were able to get washing facilities, food came up regularly, +and now, for the first time, proper equipment. The men really enjoyed +themselves for the first week or so. We had no trouble with +fraternization. Our men had seen too many of their friends and relations +killed to care to have anything to do with their late enemies. Like true +Americans, they played with the children and flirted with the women +whenever opportunity offered, but I never remember seeing any attempt to +become familiar with the men. + +Now that the work of fighting was over, uppermost in everyone's mind was +the thought, "When do we get home?" The minuteman wanted to go back to +ordinary life and his family. Time and again when I first returned to +this country people would ask me what I thought the soldiers thought of +this or that public question. I always replied truthfully that the men +were so busy thinking about what a good place the United States was, how +much better in their opinion than any of the European countries they had +been to, that all they were interested in was, when will that transport +leave. + +In January I was ordered to Paris on sick leave. Shortly after, I sailed +for home on the _Mauretania_ and saw the mass of New York lift on the +horizon, where my three children, who had practically forgotten me, were +waiting. So ends the active participation of an average American with +average Americans in the war. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +AFTERWARDS + + "When old John Burns, a practical man, + Shouldered his rifle, unbent his brows, + And then went back to his bees and cows." + BRET HARTE. + + +The war is important to us in this country for what it accomplished +directly: namely, it crushed the brutal military power of Germany, which +threatened our ideal of civilization. We are, however, primarily +civilians, not soldiers, and we are now going back to our "jobs," +whatever they may be. For this reason I consider more important and more +far-reaching than the military victory the lessons that it taught us and +the effects it had on our citizens who participated. We must profit by +these lessons and preserve the impulses that have been given to our +people. If we do this the war will not simply be history, a past issue, +a good job well finished; it will be a force that will be felt in this +country through the generations to come for righteousness and a truer +Americanism. + +The first and most evident lesson taught us was the effect of being +ill-prepared. We permitted in the past a policy which substituted fine +words for fine deeds, the pen and the voice for action. We, in the past, +contented ourselves with sounding platitudes; we allowed our sloth to +approve them under the misnomer of idealism. We allowed ourselves to be +switched from the hard realities by glittering phrases. We sowed the +wind and we reaped the whirlwind. As a result hundreds of millions have +been spent to no purpose and blood has been shed unnecessarily. Those +who were in this country saw daily the evidences of inefficiency and the +coincident waste of the public moneys. Those who went to Europe saw +blood shed unnecessarily through lack of supplies, inefficient +organization, and untrained leadership. At no times did our equipment +compare favorably with that of either of our major Allies. At all times +in Europe we were to a greater or less extent equipped by them. + +Much as we are to blame for permitting these conditions to arise in the +past, we will be doubly so if in the future we let half-baked theorists +and sinister demagogues lead us again into a like neglect. We will be +guilty of bringing down upon the heads of our children the same +punishments that we have suffered. Indeed, we will probably bring down +more upon them, as we by pure good fortune escaped the maximum penalties +that were due us. + +It was our good fortune that we were permitted, under the sheltering +forces of the Allies, slowly to prepare ourselves after we had declared +war, until, after about a year, we were in a condition which enabled us +to join in the conflict. Next time in all probability there will be +neither England nor France standing between us and the enemy armies and +giving us nearly a year leeway before we have to fight. I am proud to be +an American, I am proud of the actions of the citizens of the country, +I am proud to be a citizen of a country which has fought a war, not with +the aid of, but in spite of, its national administration. My pride in +the actions of the rank and file of the country is offset only by my +shame at being represented in the world by the present administration. + +As is usually the case, those who are responsible in a large measure for +conditions have suffered least. The average American man or woman has +borne the brunt and paid the price. Those nearest and dearest to the men +mostly responsible have been, like the Kaiser's sons, too valuable to +risk near the battle. A prominent Socialist deputy of France who had +advocated disarmament went with the first troops. He was wounded, and +when dying said he was thankful it had been permitted him to atone with +his life for his errors in the past. I admire a man of that type of +honesty and courage. + +Honor where honor is due. Honor to the people of the United States for +their actions after the beginning of this war. + +Blame where blame is due. Blame to the citizens of the United States for +their easy indolence which permitted them to support for their high +offices men who neither thought straight nor were manly enough to share +in the penalties for their mistakes. + +We had the lesson of unpreparedness illustrated so that we all can +understand it. We must not now content ourselves with admitting we were +wrong. That does not get us any further forward. We must adopt measures +to see that it does not occur again. The policy that I believe is +necessary to this end is compulsory training. This is not, to my mind, +simply a military question. It is an educational question, educational +in the broadest sense of the term. The question of most vital importance +to a democracy, and for which we always work, is to create equal +opportunity for every man and woman; to raise in every way possible the +type of the average citizen. It is from this point of view that I +believe most strongly in universal training. + +We have adopted in this war the policy of compulsory military service. +We have used it as a military war-time measure. To get the peace-time +economic value we should have its complement, compulsory training in +time of peace. One of the obstacles to this, in the mind of the average +citizen, is the creation of a military caste. This is no doubt a danger, +and a real danger, but it is not an insurmountable danger. In France and +in Switzerland it has been surmounted. There is no military caste in +either country. There is no desire for war among the citizens of these +countries. No one can say that France by her aggressive action drove +Germany to the war. No one can say that on account of military training +Switzerland plunged into the war. The first country saved herself from +the domination of the German military caste by compulsory training. The +second country by the same means saved herself entirely from war, for +unquestionably Germany chose Belgium to rape on account of her +defenselessness. Both France and Switzerland are democracies, real +democracies in deed and thought. + +This danger of fostering a military caste, in my opinion, can be met by +a proper handling of the scheme. The whole matter of training should be +directly under the control of a general staff. This general staff should +not be composed, as in Germany, simply of military men. Military +training, to my mind, is only a part of the training necessary. On the +general staff the military should be simply an element. In addition to +them there should be prominent educators, representatives of labor, +prominent employers of labor, representatives of the farming interests, +and members of our legislative bodies, the House and Senate. Such a +staff would prohibit once and for all the question of a military caste. +Such a staff would obtain the correct balance between the purely +military and the obviously more important educational side. The +complicated adjustments of interests would be safeguarded. The economic +question would be properly handled. + +Some of the benefits are obvious. First, when the country is called upon +to defend itself, competent, trained men will step forward into the +ranks. Over and above them will be a mechanism conserving the +sacrifices, making possible the just reward in victory of gallantry and +self-sacrifice. Your boy will go out and you will feel that what can be +done will be done. You go yourself and you know you will get a show for +your white alley. You don't mind sitting into a game where there is an +even break, but you hate to be forced to draw cards when you know they +are stacked against you. + + [Illustration: THREE THEODORE ROOSEVELTS + Copyright, Walter S. Shinn] + +Second, the physical welfare of our young men would be immeasurably +helped. Let us face the cold facts. In this war nearly half of the men +of military age were refused admission to the service for physical +defects. They were below par from the standpoint of the physician. +Compulsory training should be organized in such a way as to pay +particular attention to just this feature. No man would be exempt from +compulsory training on account of physical defects. Special +organizations should be created to handle men of this kind. Specialists +should be put in charge. These specialists year after year would devote +their entire time to working with men of just this kind and would add +enormously to the country economically by this work. + +Third. The knowledge of sanitation and simple hygienic rules, to be +concrete, the care of teeth, the feet, the digestion, and a thousand and +one things of this nature, should be taught to the many men who up to +this time would have had no opportunity to learn. For the person who +lives where every modern convenience surrounds him it is difficult to +believe the conditions which exist in sections of the country. Let him +go to the poor sections of any great city, let him go to the mountain +districts of Tennessee or of North Carolina. He will see at once that +the men from these districts will be infinitely benefited by this +education. + +Fourth. The democratization would be very beneficial to all alike. All +would receive the same treatment, and all classes, all grades in +society, would be mixed. The educational value from this alone would be +very great. Everyone would get new ideas, a broader outlook on life, and +a more complete understanding of this country. Our public schools do not +embrace all classes and do not cover the situation as generally as they +should. It is a rare thing for the sons of the wealthy to go to the +public schools. Compulsory training would be a very real benefit to +them. + +To sum up, from an economic standpoint alone, compulsory training would +be of untold benefit. The economic unit of the community is the +individual. By training and developing the individual you develop the +economic assets. The small loss in time from a money-earning aspect +would be ten times compensated by the increased efficiency after +training. From a moral standpoint the individual would be broadened by +contact, trained in fundamentals and self-discipline, and have one of +the surest foundations of clean thought and clean action, a healthy +body. So much for the lesson of unpreparedness and what I believe we +should do to remedy it. + +One of the first effects on the men who served was democratization. By +the draft call all classes and grades of society were drawn into the +service. After reaching the service, in so far as possible they were +advanced into positions of responsibility without fear or favor. The +effort was directed toward finding the men most suited for the +individual job. The result was, in most instances, as close a +reproduction of a real democracy as is possible. + +In my regiment there were many instances of this fact. One of my +lieutenants, a gallant young fellow, was a waiter in civilian life, a +captain was a chauffeur. On the other hand, many men serving in the +ranks came from professions ranking high in the scale in civilian life. + +A lieutenant once spoke to me after an action saying that when he was +leading his platoon back from the battle one of his privates asked him a +question. The question was so intelligent and so well thought out that +the lieutenant said to him: "What were you before the war?" The reply +was, "City editor of the Cleveland _Plain Dealer_." + +Another private, serving as a runner in one of the company headquarters, +was an ex-state senator from the State of Washington. These are isolated +instances of what was taking place the army over--the waiter and +chauffeur as officers and the lawyer and newspaper editor as privates. +Ability to take responsibility in the present, not previous conditions, +was what they were judged by. Surely associations of this sort will +breed sympathy and understanding for the future. Surely these will aid +the country to approach its problems without class bias. + +Another effect was the idea of service to the country. To most of us, up +to the time of the war, the country was a rather indefinite affair which +had done something for us and which we expected to do more for us in the +future. We had given but little thought to what we should do for the +country. During the war every man in the service did something for his +country. He now is in the position of a man who has bought a share of +stock in a company. He is interested in seeing the country run right and +is willing to give more service. The idea that we must endeavor to +approach in the United States is to create a condition where as close to +our entire population as possible has a vested interest in the country. +In a certain way this has been supplied to the service men by what they +have done for the country. + +The most important effect, to my mind, was the Americanization. Those +who served became straight Americans, one hundred per cent. Americans +and nothing else. + +The regiment was composed of as good a cross section of the United +States as you could get. The men came from all sections of the country +and from all walks of life. + +Selected at random from men who one time or another served at my +headquarters are the following: Sergeants Braun, Schultz, Cramer, and +Corporal Schwarz were born and educated in Germany, and no gallanter or +better Americans fought in our army. Sergeant Braun was awarded the +Distinguished Service Cross. Corporal Schwarz gave his life. + +Sergeant Samari and Privates Belacca, Kalava, and Rano were born in +Italy. Samari particularly distinguished himself by his gallantry, +although all were gallant. + +The Sergeants Murphy, mainstays of their particular organizations; +Hennessy, of gallant memory; Leonard, Magee, and O'Rourke were, I +believe, born in Ireland. All of the men reflected credit on this, their +country. + +Sergeant Hansrodoc, born in Greece, was promoted from private and served +from beginning to end. + +Sergeants Masonis, Crapahousky, and Zablimisky were born in Poland. + +Sergeant Mosleson and Privates Brenner and Drabkin were of Jewish +extraction. One of them is dead; each of the others has been twice +wounded. + +Sergeants Major Lamb and Sneaton and Corporals Brown and Glover were of +straight English extraction. Corporal Le Boeuf is of French-Canadian +extraction. These are only some of the names that occur to me. In the +regiment at large the range was greater. + +All of these men were straight Americans and nothing else. All of these +men thought of themselves as Americans. Once I heard one of the men in +conversation outside my headquarters. He had been born in a foreign +country. He didn't like the way that country was doing in the war. He +alluded to the citizens of that country, the country of his birth, as +"them cold-footed rascals." It never even occurred to him that there was +anything funny in this. He thought of himself as an American, the men to +whom he was talking thought of him as an American. + +An excellent soldier born in Germany was brought back to me one day as +we were advancing into the lines. The officer in charge reported that +the man had been caught talking to German prisoners, which was something +strictly forbidden. He appeared before me. I knew him to be a good sort +and said to him, "What is the matter, how did this come about?" He said, +"Well, sir, I know I should not have done it and I won't do it again, +but I suddenly saw in that batch of prisoners someone from the town +where I was born." This man was killed in action shortly afterward +fighting for this country. + +I have been told of a leave train sent to Italy with American soldiers +born in Italy on it in order that they might see their people. Doubt was +expressed in the minds of the higher command as to whether it was an +advisable move, inasmuch as it was thought probable that many of the men +would overstay their leave or possibly try to desert and stay there. Not +one man out of the 1200 did either. An officer who talked with these men +on their return said that conversations ran much like this: "Cipiloni, +have a fine time on your leave?" "Yes, sir." "See your family?" "Yes, +sir." "Get back in time all right?" "Yes, sir, got back to the train +fourteen hours before it left, sir. I was afraid, sir, if I missed this +train, I might get left behind when the division started for home." + +When replacements came to us, some of them could not even speak +English. After they had been with the troops two or three months the +same men would not only be speaking English, but would speak it by +preference. I have seen two Italians, born in the same district in +Italy, laboriously conversing with one another in English rather than +use the tongue to which they were born, with which they were naturally +much more familiar. + +From these and many other reasons, the army is the least of this +country's fears as far as Bolshevism and its kindred anarchies are +concerned. All over the country you will find the service men keen to +put down demonstrations of this sort. They are keen of their own accord, +not prompted by anyone. The other day I was in a city where a Bolshevist +meeting had been broken up by some service men. I knew one of the men +who was concerned in this. I asked him how it occurred. He said. "Why, +sir, it was this way. I was talking to some of the fellows down at the +W. C. C. S. and a guy says to us, 'They've got a red-flag meeting on +for to-night.' I said to some of the men, 'That ain't the flag we know +anything about, or fought for. Let's go down and bust them birds up.'" + +The service man feels that this is his country. His first and foremost +concern is for the United States. He wants the institutions of this +country to stand. He has given himself, and where one has given of one's +self the interest is deepest. He has bought a share of stock of the +United States. As a stockholder he intends to do what he can to see that +the concern is run properly. + +In order to keep alive and active this spirit of sturdy loyalty, a +vested interest of some type obtained by his own labor should be aimed +at for every one of as many citizens as possible. This country will have +to move forward with a program of sane, constructive, carefully +thought-out liberalism. + +It may be necessary in doing this to modify or change certain things in +this community in the future, but the service man, I believe, intends, +as far as he is able, to see that those changes and modifications are +carried out in such a way as will not destroy or injure the national +fabric and institutions. + +Again, first, last, and always, the service man is an American! + + +THE END + + + + +_A Selection from the Catalogue of_ + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +Complete Catalogues sent on application + + +"Wade in, Sanitary!" + +The Story of a Division Surgeon in France + + By + Richard Derby + Lt.-Col. M. C., U. S. A., Division Surgeon, Second Division + +This is a surgeon's story of the war--of that life and death humanly +dramatic portion of the war in which the doctors in khaki played their +great part. + +The book is far more than a mere account of war experiences. It is the +first complete and authoritative picture of the struggle from the +surgeon's side. Though non-technical in style and thoroughly popular, it +points out many of the lessons of the war from the medical standpoint of +interest to every physician and every thinking citizen. + +To after the war literature the book is a highly valuable addition of +absorbing interest. + + +The Yankee in the British Zone + + By + Captain Ewen C. MacVeagh + and + Lieutenant Lee D. Brown + +How did Tommy Atkins and the Yank get on? How did they impress each +other? What did they learn about each other? + +That is what this book answers. It is not a war book; it is rather a +study in the psychology of the average man, British and American; and it +is the first intimate story of the Anglo-American relations. + +Written by two trained observers it sets forth a wealth of anecdotes, +many grotesquely funny, and illustrative "human interest" stories and +incidents. + + +"I WAS THERE" + +WITH THE YANKS IN FRANCE + + By + C. Le Roy Baldridge + +300 sketches made on the spot while the author was a camion driver with +the French Army, and later after he had joined the A. E. F. He was also +the official artist of _The Stars and Stripes_. "Not the least of the +paper's achievements," says the _N. Y. Eve. Post_, "is the repute it won +for an excellent artist--Mr. Baldridge." + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +New York London + + +The Story of the American Legion + + By + Lieut. George S. Wheat + + _12º, 13 Illustrations_ + +First of a most important series, which will contain from year to year a +complete record of the "G. A. R. of the Great War." This first volume +treats fully of the original formation of an organization that is +potentially the most far-reaching influence in America to-day. + +G. P. Putnam's Sons + +New York London + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Average Americans, by Theodore Roosevelt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AVERAGE AMERICANS *** + +***** This file should be named 36292.txt or 36292.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/2/9/36292/ + +Produced by Matthew Wheaton, Greg Bergquist and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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