CHAPTER XXIV

AMERICAN FORCES ABROAD DURING 1917

WE

E have already spoken of the excellent work done by the American Navy in foreign waters. The number of merchant vessels sunk by the submarines of Germany was very large, but it had fallen far short of the total which the kaiser's government had expected. During 1917 four million five hundred thousand tons were sunk, but the shipyards of America and the Allied countries were humming with activity, and there seemed every prospect that these losses, great as they were, would be made up.

Over three hundred American war-ships of all sorts were sent abroad, manned by seventy-five thousand men. The great battle-ships joined the British fleet, thus still further increasing the odds against Germany, while destroyers and cruisers. were employed to guard the transports which carried troops to France. As a result, only three American troop-ships were sunk by enemy submarines, and these were on their way home from France, so that the losses in men were very small. Many stations were built on the French coast from which American seaplanes operated, patrolling the waters off shore and guarding the incoming

transports from submarine attack. Admiral Sims, in command of the naval forces abroad, and Admiral Rodman, in charge of the United States battle-ship fleet, won the admiration of the Allied commanders by their efficient coöperation. It was due largely to these officers that the construction of a mine barrier across the North Sea between Scotland and Norway was begun. The German sea-going submarines were obliged to take this route in passing from their home ports to the ocean, and it was decided to stop them by placing in their path a barrier of explosive mines. Special mines were designed for this purpose, and the construction of one hundred thousand was begun. When the war ended, eighty-five thousand of these mines had already been made and sent abroad, and within a short time it would have been impossible for German U-boats to have left the North Sea by this route.

The Marine Corps of the navy did splendid work ashore in France. The exploits of these fighting men will be mentioned later. In every respect the United States Navy proved ready and efficient, and its record during the war was one of which every American should feel proud.

The work of the army began with the arrival in France of General Pershing and his staff. They were quickly followed by a regiment of engineers, which reached port late in June. By the end of October there were many United States troops in

France, and on the twenty-sixth of that month they first entered the trenches and began their training in actual warfare.

It was well known to military men, both in the United States and abroad, that long-continued training was necessary, in order that troops might become familiar with the intricate details of trench warfare. The use of bombs, trench mortars, and the like, the construction of dugouts and shelters, the conducting of night raids, defense against gasattacks, patrol work, all the details of this highly specialized form of warfare, were new to the American soldier, and could be learned only by actual experience. No matter how well drilled troops might be, this experience was necessary if trench warfare was to keep up, and one of the problems which confronted General Pershing and his staff was that of securing this experience for the American soldiers in the shortest possible time, in order that they might take their places in the line beside the veterans of England, France, and the other Allied countries.

The first shot fired by American troops against the Germans was sent across the lines on October 27, from a French 75-millimeter gun manned by United States artillerymen. Field-guns of this type were being manufactured in American plants, but special machinery for their construction had first to be built, and progress in turning them out was necessarily very slow. For this reason the