Marne salient. This thrust was directed against the French Army commanded by General Gouraud. They planned to make this attack with a frontal thrust across the Marne in the Château-Thierry sector. The German plan was that of Ludendorff, and to it Von Hindenburg gave his approval. The strategy, like that of the thrust at Amiens, was to separate the French and American forces from the armies of the British. The German plan was to roll back the French and Americans southward and to pin the British in the territory north of the Somme. The German Crown Prince was nominally in command of this last great drive but Ludendorff pulled the strings of battle. It was estimated that forty-seven divisions were massed on the great Marne salient during this titanic operation. The maneuver was a desperate one but the case of the Germans required desperate measures. According to French estimates the losses of the German Army since the first drive of the year against Amiens up to the moment of commencing the latest Marne thrust, were between 700,000 and 1,000,000 With the inrush of American troops the scale of manpower had tipped to the side of the Allies. American shells had given to the Allies an even greater preponderance in munitions. men. Von Hindenburg and Ludendorff believed that the Americans could not be thrown into the line to the extent of their man-power because they had not been sufficiently trained in the war zone. They contended that the training in American camps was insufficient to prepare them for actual offensive and defensive work in the field. If that supposition were true, Foch had still no sufficient reserves to withstand a sudden onslaught. But the supposition was far afield. The Americans in France were far in excess of the German estimate and their training was far better than the German High Command supposed. General March, chief of the General Staff, announced that on July 1st, the 1st American Army Corps was organized, and on July 13th came the news that General Pershing had enough men and material to form three complete army corps. Each army corps numbered from 225,000 to 250,000 men, so that approximately 700,000 Americans were actually on the battlefront. The three corps were designated the 1st, 2d and 3d. The 1st was composed entirely of veteran troops including the 1st and 2d Divisions of regulars and the Marine Corps Brigade which had distinguished itself in the ChâteauThierry-Soissons sector. The complete composition of the three corps as given out by General March, was as follows: FIRST ARMY CORPS Temporarily commanded by Major-General Hunter Liggett. 1st (Regular Army) Division, commanded by Major-General Robert L. Bullard. 2d (Regular Army) Division, commanded by Major-General Omar Bundy, including marines. 26th (National Guard) Division, commanded by Major-General Clarence R. Edwards, composed of New England troops, many of whom had seen service on the Mexican border. This was the first national guard division sent to France. 42d (National Guard) Division, commanded by Major-General Charles T. Menoher, known as the Rainbow Division. 41st (National Guard) Division, commanded originally by MajorGeneral Hunter Liggett, composed of troops from the Pacific Coast States and known as the Sunset Division. 32d (National Guard) Division, commanded by Major-General William G. Haan, composed of troops from Michigan and Wisconsin. SECOND ARMY CORPS 77th (National Army) Division, commanded by Major-General George B. Duncon, composed of New York troops. This was the first national army division sent to France and to the front. 35th (National Guard) Division, commanded by Major-General W. M. Wright, composed of troops from Kansas and Missouri. 82d (National Army) Division, commanded by Major-General William P. Burnham, composed of troops from Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. 30th (National Guard) Division, commanded by Major-General George W. Reid, composed of troops from Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and the District of Columbia. 28th (National Guard) Division, commanded by Major-General Charles H. Muir, composed of troops from Pennsylvania. 4th (Regular Army) Division, commanded by Major-General George H. Cameron. THIRD ARMY CORPS 3d (Regular Army) Division, commanded by Major-General Joseph T. Dickman. 5th (Regular Army) Division, commanded by Major-General John E. McMahon. 78th (National Army) Division, commanded by Major-General J. N: McRae, composed of troops from Delaware and New York. 80th (National Army) Division, commanded by Major-General Adalbert Cronkhite, composed of troops from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. 33d (National Guard) Division, commanded by Major-General George Bell, composed of troops from Illinois. 27th (National Guard) Division, commanded by Major-General John F. O'Ryan, composed of troops from New York. The total number of officers and men in the army about the middle of July was approximately 2,200,000, distributed as follows: At the front with General Pershing.... 700,000 400,000 Training in France and England, or en route to Europe... Total.... 2,200,000 The Germans launched their final attack in the Marne salient on July 15th. It was a simultaneous effort directed against Gouraud with the cutting of the French lines at Châlons and Epernay in the Champagne region as an objective. The other phase of the attack was as has been said, directed against the Marne salient. But Gouraud was wide awake and waiting. By a miracle of intelligent efficiency the one-armed hero knew exactly the minute when the German assault would be launched. Notwithstanding the utmost secrecy with which the German artillery and infantry were made ready, and massed against Gouraud's front the French were prepared with a preponderance of men and munitions. With Gouraud was the spectacular 42d (Rainbow) Division of Americans. At the same time the attack against Gouraud was launched, the Germans smashed in the direction of Dormans and Château-Thierry. Here the Americans were massed in force. Pershing was as well informed and as ready as was Gouraud. The gigantic German effort, like a huge tidal wave, advanced behind an artillery barrage, skillfully laid and of intense fury. To the dismay of the German High Command there came an instant reply from the French and Americans. The artillery answer completely destroyed the effect of the German fire. Virtually every German gun was located and every mass of German infantry that swept forward behind the German barrage encountered a withering blast of machine gun and artillery fire. The experience was unprecedented in the history of the German troops. They faltered, wavered, dug themselves in, and retreated. Here and there small advances were made, but the effort was checked in its tracks. The plans of Ludendorff, Von Hindenburg and the Crown Prince were dashed to fragments and the back of Germany's last great offensive was broken. T CHAPTER XII AMERICA'S COUNTER-OFFENSIVE HE Germans were held in their tracks on the MarneAisne drive. There wasn't the slightest doubt about that. Two great objectives lay immediately before the Germans; Soissons and Rheims. Before Rheims the enemy's advance was broken off as a lance is splintered when it encounters a stone wall. In other directions the Germans encountered the same dauntless spirit. Here for the first time the citizen soldiers of the American Republic received their baptism of fire in the Great War. L and M Companies of the 109th, and B and C Companies of the 110th Regiments of the 28th Pennsylvania National Guard Division were in the very forefront of the allied defense south of Dormans. With them in the line of the Marne from Château-Thierry to Dormans were the 3d Division of American regulars and the 125th Division of French poilus. The Pennsylvania guardsmen had been prepared for battle by being brigaded with the British for two weeks. The four companies named with a combined strength of a thousand men were put into the front line with French units separating them. The tremendous German barrage preceding the enemy's advance commenced at midnight of July 14th. German shells poured like hailstones into all the front-line trenches of the Allies. Back of it came the infantry in a desperate effort to break through. Held along most of the line, the Germans managed to swing their pontoons across the Marne at Dormans and to send their hosts across and down the south bank at Château-Thierry. A terrific attack was immediately launched upon the 125th French Division which included the American National Guard units. More experienced and prudent in battle, the French units retreated in good order, leaving the four Pennsylvania companies isolated to hold the front line. As one |