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.

TH

CHAPTER XVI

GERMANY IN FULL RETREAT

HE master stroke of General Foch was now in full swing. 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

IN THE DEPTHS OF THE ARGONNE FOREST

A German observation post and abandoned gun, relics of the great battle. The ladders and platforms of this post were so perfectly camouflaged at the time of the attack that they were invisible at more than 500 yards while commanding the entire circle of hills and intervening ground over which the Americans advanced under concentrated machine-gun fire.

Rescuing a comrade from a shell-hole. The incessant rains that characterize a French winter turned the battle areas into mud wallows and the shell-holes into treacherous lakes of ooze more annoying to our soldiers than the Huns or even the "cooties," many of which the men declared wore service stripes.

after the crossing of the Ourcq was the capture and complete occupation of Juvigny Plateau, north of Soissons. This important strategic height was won on August 29th.

In the face of terrific pressure the Germans on all sectors of the western front maintained an orderly retreat. Harassed from the North Sea to Verdun they were still able at enormous cost in prisoners and material to maintain an unbroken front. The French and Americans captured thirty thousand prisoners and vast quantities of munitions. In the salient at Lys the British and Americans captured strategic strongholds in Merville and Mont Kemmel compelling the Germans to withdraw on a twenty-mile front.

American detachments operating in Belgium struck heavily north of Wytschaete on September 2d and captured Voormezeele. The British co-operated with the Americans to the south and captured Neuve Eglise. By September 9th, the Americans and British were in positions overlooking and dominating Wyteschaete, which later was evacuated.

The operations in Picardy from August 18th to September 18th made one long battle from Arras to Soissons. The 32d Division under General Mangin and the 27th and 30th Divisions co-operating with the 3d British Army under General Byng were formidable factors in this great movement. It was the 32d that figured most prominently in the defeat of the Germans on Juvigny Plateau. That defeat gave to Mangin a foothold which resulted in the formation of a new allied line extending from St. Gobain southward to the Aisne. That line ultimately forced the Germans from Laon and compelled the abandonment of all the German positions south of the Chemin des Dames.

The fighting of the 32d Division was so determined and impetuous that it earned among the French the title for the unit of "Les Terribles." Here from August 29th to September 3d on the heights of Juvigny the 32d fought four of General Von Schwerin's crack divisions and defeated them. More than two thousand prisoners were taken by the Americans and the division crashed through the German lines for a total penetration of four miles on a two-mile front. The village of Juvigny was overrun with a rush, and the railway