few hours after it was captured, and were greeted with hysterical enthusiasm. The inhabitants of the salient had been in the power of the Germans for four years, and were found to be absolutely ignorant of the events of history during those years. They had heard no news of relatives or of world happenings. Few beside women and children were found as practically every male had been forcibly removed. The Germans had made life a nightmare for the inhabitants, even boys from ten to sixteen years had been deported and the old people forced to work for the conquerors.

When the Germans retreated they were so taken by surprise that they only partially wrecked the town. They endeavord to carry off what they could, but much of their booty was recovered. Stone bridges across the Meuse had been destroyed and the roads to the town from the east were blocked by wire and gaping trenches so that it was very difficult to enter the town.

Seen from the outside the performance of the young and fresh American Army was a brilliant one. The intelligence officer of the high military command army detachment of the German Army describes it as follows: "The artillery preparation prior to the attack was well carried out. Their objectives were bombarded with good effect, and they were able to switch from one target to another in the minimum time and with remarkable accuracy. The co-ordination between the infantry and the artillery was faultless. If the infantry ran up against a machine-gun nest, they would immediately fall back, and very soon new artillery preparation would be directed on that point. A great many tanks were in readiness for the attack, but they were only used in very small numbers as the masses of infantry accomplished the victory."

The official statement given out by the German general staff was quite a contrast to this. It said: "We are now standing on our new lines which have been prepared. During the night the evacuation of the St. Mihiel salient, which was liable to encirclement, and which had been under consideration for some years, was completed without interference. In anticipation of the attack of the French and Americans we began evacuating the salient a few days ago."

The French and the English papers were full of enthusiasm, and American soldiers were idolized by the people of Paris who stopped them on the streets to grip their hands in congratulation for the victory. Marshal Foch telegraphed to General Pershing:

My dear General: The first American Army under your command on its first day won a magnificent victory by a maneuver as skilfully prepared as it was gallantly executed. I extend to you, as well as to the officers and troops under your command, my warmest compliments.

The American command, however, while triumphant, recognized that they still had much to learn and had not yet made a perfect American Army. In the first place it had been necessary to borrow much French artillery to carry out the artillery attack as desired. The airplane squadron was even less complete. Of the fourteen pursuit squadrons under General William Mitchell, eleven had been loaned by the French, and of the whole number of airplanes used only forty per cent were American.

In many details of the battle there had been blunders and mistakes. Traffic jams occurred preventing the artillery and transport from being in their proper positions. The infantry which had been equipped with colored panels to signal to the airplanes failed to use them. This, however, did not cause as much trouble as might have been expected as the stormy weather interfered with airplane work. Supply trains were sent along roads within an easy range of the German artillery, and to get through safely had to run the gauntlet of the German fire. But the army was so powerful that in spite of the rough edges of its performance, it carried all before it, and the new American staff was learning something hour by hour. The training they received at St. Mihiel stood them in good stead in the greater battle that was to

come.

The destruction of the St. Mihiel salient removed a menace to the city of Verdun, and released the French armies at that point for active offensive operations. It also liberated the railway line from Verdun to Nancy. Its moral effect was even more important. It showed that the Germans were weakening, and that the American Army from that time

on was to rank with the army of Haig and the army of Petain. However much the Germans tried to minimize the American victory, the fact remained that they were forced to leave in the hands of the victorious Americans the equivalent of two full divisions of troops, as well as an enormous amount of materials for the Allies to use against them, and that they had been compelled to destroy as much more. Paris was especially delighted that on the very day that General Pershing made his official report of the capture of the salient, the German Foreign Minister announced in Vienna that the American troops had as yet no military value. He spoke too soon.

Something should be said of the work of the French troops who were associated with the Americans in the battle of St. Mihiel. A distinguished French officer describing the battle from the French point of view said as follows: "It was one of the most successful operations of the whole war. The attack's object was to reduce the St. Mihiel salient. Well, that not only has been done, but the sides have been pinched so efficiently that the junction was effected in less than thirty hours, with a total bag of prisoners that, when all are rounded up, will exceed even thirteen thousand. The fact is that the boches were taken completely by surprise. They expected the attack, but didn't expect it so soon, and what's more, they never expected that it would be delivered with such dash and vigor.

"I cannot say too much of the conduct of the American troops. They were magnificent. From From Sunday last the enemy already had begun to move his heavier guns and material from the salient. As far as we are able to reckon he was just about starting his infantry withdrawal when Pershing struck at the psychological moment and caught the boche napping, and practically unsupported by artillery. It is hardly possible for me to give a better description of the operations save as concerns the French units.

"We had a few divisions engaged, one in the north region of Les Eparges, where fighting was so bloody in the first winter of the war, under the command of an American corps leader, and the remainder under French corps commanders, subordinate, of course, to general American direction.

These were grouped in the center of the salient, one on either side, to co-operate with the American drive on the flanks of the pocket.

"The American troops had the hardest task, as the enemy resisted stubbornly, in the fastnesses of the wooded and broken country known as Mountain Wood. We were rather fortunate as we encountered Austrians, whose value is less than the Germans. We took 2,300 of them, and fifty-seven officers on the first morning.

"The Americans on our left pushed on irresistibly and kept pace with us-the poilus said nothing could stop les Américains-which is the highest praise our veterans can give. So rapid was the advance that the cavalry patrols from the left joined hands with the forces from the right early Friday morning. Our unit on the right met some resistance from the strong positions of Apremont and Loupmont woods and Mont Sec, which they occupied by a turning movement from the north. But the boche was already packing up for his backward move, and seemed to have little stomach for the fight.

"In the center, St. Mihiel was taken by a turning movement, but the enemy had not waited. We entered the town early on Friday morning and are still busy cleaning the woods to the north where the boche stragglers and patrols are continually surrendering.

"In conclusion, I would like to say a word about the Franco-American aviators, to whom no small part of the success is due. We found, and nearly all the prisoners emphasized this point, that the machine-gun fire from the air against the convoys moving northward blocked the roads and certainly prevented the escape of a large part of the boche forces. We knew already what American aid was worth, but even the most optimistic hardly counted on victory like

this."

It might be added that the operations of the American cavalry were of even greater importance than those of the aviation squadrons in preventing the escape of the German convoys. The American use of cavalry, although only a small number were engaged, aided much in making the victory decisive.

CHAPTER XVI

GERMANY IN FULL RETREAT

HE master stroke of General Foch was now in full

Tswing. From the Belgian border to the end of the

line in the south the American and allied armies were driving forward. They had left behind definitely and forever the trenches in which they had battled for years, the bleak stretches of No Man's Land across which their raiding parties had ventured in the face of death.

The war had suddenly become one of motion. The deadlock of entrenchments had passed. The British dash along the Somme sector had been made possible because the combined American and French assault along the Oise, the Aisne, the Ourcq and the Vesle had been a surprise and a complete success. Now the little Belgian Army at last was avenging itself for the horrors visited upon their land when the Germans overran it in August, 1914. Five American divisions at various times engaged in the operations in Belgium and northern France. These were the 27th and 30th Divisions; elements of the 33d Division; and later the 27th and 91st Divisions, which were sent to Belgium in the last stages of the Ypres-Lys offensive, October 31st to November 11th.

Nor was the offensive in which Americans participated limited to the Belgian-French battle line. American troops to the number of twelve hundred were brigaded with Italians and participated in the decisive battle of Vittorio-Veneto, October 24th to November 4th, which terminated in the compete rout of the Austrian Army.

The Americans who co-operated with the French along the battlefront from Montdidier to Rheims were in constant action. The French were under command of Generals Mangin, Humbert, Albert, Debeney, Degoutte, Berthelot and De Mitry. General Pershing in person commanded the Americans. Most important of the earlier victories of the Americans