Albany daily democrat., January 01, 1920, Page 11, Image 11

GENERAL PERSHING'S OWN STORY
OF OPERATIONS OF AMERICAN
TROOPS DURING THE WORLD WAR
Commander in Chief of Expeditionary Forces Submits
; Special Report to Secretary Baker Fate of
Central Povvors Decided by Work of
the United States Army.
I FOCH ADMITTED ALLIES WERE FACING DEFEAT
First and Second Divisions, In Company With French Moroccan
Troops, Attacked on July 18 Without Preliminary Bombard'
mint, Smashed Through the German Lines, Overwhelmed
' 4 Both Infantry and Artillery, and Cut the Enemy's Communica
tions, Compelling a General Retreat From the Marne and
Starting the Military Collapse Which Forced Germany to Sue
ior reace. ,
Washington. Tn final report of
Gen. John J. I'ershliig aa commander
In chief of Hit Ainerlcao expeditionary
fane In KumiHi was made public by
I ho , secretary of war. Oen. I'mlilng
eaye In effect, allliouih not In terms,
that the Amerl- n amy won Ilia wur.
"II was ibis ainrii of determination
animating every American anldler."
General I'aralilni. referring In Ilia
alcuse-Argnnn liatllo. "ihiit limit II
Inipnesllde for Ilia eneiuy to oiu:ntalu
th strusule until I'.MO."
Tha report In In mora Important de
tails la at follows:
In order thai (ha reasons for mnny
Important decisions reached In tha
early history of lha American expe
ditionary force may ba mora clearly
hderstood and tha trua alua of tha
American alfort more fully epprece
ated. It la daalrabla to have In mind
tha main went leading np lo the.
tlma of oar entry Into tha war.
1114 AlthouKh tha German drive
of 11114 had fulled In Ita Immediate
purpose, yt her analee had inade
Vary Important galna, (Surinan form
era In complete possession of llnl
glum and occupied rich Induatrlnl re
(lone of northern K ranee, embracing
one-fourteenth of her population and
alwut three fourths of her coal and
Iron. Tha Oenunn armlea held a
tron.ly fortirled Una W miles In
length, atrelrliliig from the Swiss
border to N leu port on Ilia English
chauiial; her (roopa were wllhlu furty.
tight nillea of t'arla and lha Inltlallva
remained In German hands.
In lha east Ilia nipldliy of lha Rua
Ian mobilisation forced Germany,
even before tha hntlla of Marne.. lo
aend troops to that frontier, but Ihe
close of 114 found lha Ituaalan arm
ies ejected from Kast I'ruaala anil
driven back on Wanutw.
The entry of Turkey Into the war.
barauae of Ilia moral effect upon Ihe
Moslem world and Ihe Immediate con
atunt threat crented against allied
Coniiiiiinlratlnna with the Far Kual.
led lo an effort by the allies In tha
direction of Ihe Dardanelles.
Allise Helped by Italy.
Itnly Joined the allies In May
and gave their cause new atreiiRth.
bul the effect was more or less offset
when Ilulgnrls entered on the aide o'
the central powers.
Tha threatening situation on the
Itusslnn from and In the llnlknna was
till auch thai Gcrinuuy wna compelled
to exert an Immediate offensive effort
In those directions and to muiutulu
only a defensive attitude on lha west
ern front. Gorman arms achieved a
striking series of successes In Ihe vicin
ity of the Mnxurlan lakes and In
Gnllets. rapturing Warsaw, Urost-U-tovsk
and Vllna. The central powers
overran Kurhlu and Montenegro. Mean
while the Italian armlea forced Aus
tria to ate approximately one-half her
strength against them.
In Ihe weal (he French and Hrlt
lah launched offensives which cost Ihe
German armlea considerable loss; bul
the uhjectlves were limited and the
effect was Incnl. The Dardanelles ex
pedition, having fulled In Hit mission,
was withdrawn In January. In Meso
potamia the allied operations had not
been eucceasful. Although Ihe British
fleet bad established Its superiority on
the sea. yel the German submnrlne
blockade bad developed Into serious
menace to silled shipping.
Russia Still Powerful. ' '
Kit Germany no doubt believed
that her advantage on the eastern
front st the cloto of 1115 again war
ranted sn offensive In the west, and
ber attack against Verdun was ac
cordingly Isunehed In the spring of
1010. But Russia was not yet beaten,
nd early In Jane, sided st the sunie
time by the threat of an Italian offen
sive Id the weat, aha began the great
drive Id Osllcls that proved so dis
astrous to Austria.
Roumsnla, having entered on the
side of the allies, undertook a proml
log offensive against Austria. The Brit
ish and. French armies attscked along
the Homme. Germany quickly returned
to the defensive In the weat, and Id
September Initiated a campaign In the
ast which, before the close of 1016.
proved unfortunate for Russia aa well
as Roumanla.
Spring, ef 1917 Retaining on the
astern front the forces considered
sufficient for the flnal conquest of Rus
sia. Germany prepared to aid Austria
10 an offensive nsalnat Italy. Mean
- "'fx.'"
while the Russlsn revolution was well
under way. and by Ihe mid summer
of 101T the flnal collapse of that gov
ernment was almost certain.
The relatively low strength of the
German forces on the western from
led the allies, with much confidence,
lo attempt a decision on this from ;
but the losses were very heavy and
the effort signally failed. Tbe fullur
caused a serious reaction, estieclally
on French morale, both In Ihe army
snd throughout the country, nnd at
tempts to carry out extensive or com
bined operations were Indefinitely sus
pended. tank Millions ef Tens.
In the Bve months ending Jane 80
German submarines had accomplished
the destruction of more than SiVJ.oOO
tone of allied shipping. During three
years Germany bad seen practically all
ber offensives except Verdun crowned
with success. Her battle lines were
held on foreign Boll and aha bad with
atood every allied attack since tbe
Marne. The German general staff
could now foresee the complete elim
ination of Russia, Ihe possibility of de
feating Italy before the end of the
year and. Anally, Ihe campaign of 111 18
against the French and llrlilsh on the
weatern front which might terminate
the war.
It cannot be aald thai German bopea
of final victory were extravagaut.
either aa viewed at that time or aa
viewed lo Ihe light of history. Finan
cial problems of Ihe allies were dlOV
cult, supplies were becoming exhaust
ed and their armlea bad suffered tre
mendous losses. Discouragement ex
isted not only among Ihe civil popula
tion but throughout the armies ss well.
8uch was the allied morale that,
although their superiority on the west
ern front during Ihe laat half of 1010
and during 11)17 amounted to 20 per
cent, only local attacks could be under
taken, and their effect proved wholly
Insufficient sgnlnsi the German de
fonee. Allied resources In man power
at borne were low and there waa little
prsoct of materially Increasing their
armed strength, even In Ihe face of ihe
piobablllty of having practically 11
whole military strength of the Central
foe ere against them lu the spring of
una
This wsa the state of affairs that ex
isted when we entered the war. While
our sctlou gave the allies much encour
agement, yet thla waa Unimrnry, and
s review of conditions mnde It appar
ent thai America niusi make a supreme
material effort aa soon aa possible.
After duly considering the tonnage pos
sibilities I rnhled the following to
Washington on July 0. 101T:
"I'lniis should contemplate sending
over at leu at l.OtKi.Ofsl men by next
May. A general organisation project
covering as far aa possible the person
nel of nil combat, staff ami adminis
trative units, v. us forwarded lo Wash
1 Ingtoa on July II. In thla I elated:
Needed 1,000.000 Men.
"It la evident that a force of ah.ittl
1 .(XKI.OOO la the amnllest unit which In
modern war will be a complete, well
balanced and lndeHudt-nt fighting or-
ganlaatlon. flow ever. It must be
equally clear thai the adoption of thla
site force as a basis of study should
not be construed ss representing the
maximum force which should be sent
to or which will be needed In France.
It Is taken as the force which may be
expected to reach France In time for
an offensive In 1018, and aa a unit and
basis of organisation. Plana Air the
future should be baaed, especially In
reference to the manufacture of artil
lery, aviation and other material, on
three times this force I. s, at least
8,000,000 men."
Resolved en an Offenalvs,
Before developing plan for a line of
communications It was necessary to
decide upon the probable sector of the
front for Ihe eventual employment of a
distinctive American force. Our mis
sion waa offensive and It was essential
to make plans for striking tbe enemy
where n definite military . decision
could he gained. While the allied
armies had endeavored to maintain the
offensive. Ihe British, In order to guard
the channel porta, were committed to
operations In Flanders snd the French
to the portion of the front protecting
Paris. Both lacked troops to operate
elsewhere on a large scale,
Tn the east the great fortified dis
trict east of Verdun and around Mats i
menaced central France, protected lha
most exposed portion of the Genoso
Hue of communications. hut between
Huts aud Sedan, mid covered Hie
llrley Iron region. finri w li the en
emy obtained Ihe grwutur part of Hie
Iron required for munitions and ma
terial. The coal fields easl of Mvts
were also covered by these same de
fenses. A dis-p aihance east of Mela,
or Hie capture of Hie llrley region, by
threatening the Invasion of rich Ger
man territory III Ihe Moselle valley
aud the Hour buslu. thus curia ling
ber supply of roiil or Iron, Would have
a decisive effect In forcing a with
drawal of German troops from north
ern France. The military and eco
nomic alt us lion of Hie enemy, there
fore. Indicated 1-orrsln aa Ihe field
promising Ihe most fruitful results foi
Ihe employment of our smiles.
The complexity of trench life had
enormously Increased Hie tonnage of
supplies required by troops. Not only
waa It a question of providing food,
but enormous qiiuntlllea of munitions
sod material were needed. I'pon the
rullroade of Franc fell Hie burden of
meeting theebeavy demands of the
3.3.W allied combatants (hen eti
gagtd, If Ihe American army was to
have an ludepeudt-ul snd flexible sys
tem It could nut use Hie Hues behind
the llrltlh Itelglum from nor those
In rear of Ihe French front covering
Parts.
Chose the 'Southern Porta.
Tbe problem confronting the Amer
lean extiedllloiiary forces waa then to
euperlliipo IIS rail roiniiiiinlcutloiis
ou those of France where there would
he the feast posslblu dlslurluiiice to
Ihe arteries of supply of Hie two great
nllled armies already in Hie Held. The
I lines selected, therefore, were tho
leading from Ihe nmipiinillvi ly un
used South Atlantic p.irts of Fraure
lo ihe northeast, where It was believ
ed the American armle could he em
plo)cd lo Ihe best advantage.
For all practical puriiose Hie Amer
ican expeditionary forces were based
on the American contlniuil. Three thou
sand mlleS of ocean to cross, with the
growing submarine menace confront
ing Us. Hie quantity of ship tonnage
thai would lie available then un
known, end s Hue of communications
by land 400 miles long from French
pone to our probable from presented
difficulties that seemed almost Insur
mountable as compared with those of
our allies.
In providing for the storage and dis
tribution of reserve soppllea an al
lowance of 43 days In the base sec
tions was planned, with ltd days In tha
Intermediate section, and 1ft daya In
the advance section. After the safe
ty of our aea transmrt was practical
ly assured. Ihle was reduced Ui a total
of 4.1 days, distributed proportionate
ly. When the armistice waa signed all
projects for construction had been
completed and supplies were on hand
to meet the needs of I.nooimo men.
whllo further plans for necessary con
struction and for Ihe supply of an ad
ditional 2.000.000 were well under
way.
Our Own Fighting Ooetrlna.
A similar scheme waa adopted In
August, 11117. for our armlea. In which
the Importance of teaching through
out onr force s sound fighting doc
trine of our own wna emphasised. It
provided for troop training In all units
up to Include divisions. Corps cen
ters of Instruction fur noncommission
ed officers and unit commanders of
sll snus were established. The army
and corps schools graduated 21.XMI
noncommissioned officers and 13,010
officer.
fending ihe organisation and devel
opment of our own schools, a large
number of our officer were aenl tn
renters of Instruction of tbe silled
smiles. Tbe training of our earlier
divisions was begun In close assort
stlnn with the French divisions, under
conditions set forth In (he following
paragraph on divisional training:
Trench warfare naturally given
prominence to Hie defensive a op
posed to the offensive. To guard
against this; the basis of Instruction
should be essentially the offensive
both In spirit and In practice. The
defensive la accepted only to prepare
for future offensive."
The long period of trench warfare
had so Impressed Itself upon the
French nnd British Hint they had al
most entirely dlsensed with training
for open warfare. It was lo avoid
Ibis result In our army nnd to encour
age the offensive spirit that Ihe fol
lowing was published In October. 1017:
"The above methods to be employed
must remain or become distinctly our
own.
"All Instruction must contemplate
the asstuiiptlnn of a vigorous offen
sive. This purpose will he empha
sised In every phase of tralnlug nutll
It becomes a settled habit of thought.
"The rill- and the bayonet are the 1
principal weapons of Ihe Infantry sol-
dter. He will be trained to a high
degree of skill as a marksman, both
on the target rang and la Held firing. I
Aa aggressive spirit must be devel-;
oped nntll Ihe soldier feels himself, as
a bayonet fighter. Invincible In battle.
"All officers and soldiers should real-.
Is that at no time In our history has
discipline been so Important ; therefore.
discipline or me nignesi onier must ne
exacted at all times. The standards
for the American army will be those of
Weat Point. The rigid attention, up
right bearing, attention to detail, un
complaining obedience to Instructions
required of the cadet will be required
of every officer and soldier of our
armies lo Franc."
Unfortunately many divisions did
nol recelv the requisite amount of
systematic training before leaving the
slates and complete preparation of
such units for battle was thus often
seriously delayed.
(To ba Continued)
HIGHWAY GARAGE
IN NEW QUARTERS
Bright Prospect for Busi
ness in Coming Year Seen
by Company
Quartered in on of tha finest gar
age buildings in western Oregon, the
Highway Garage faces the new year
with prospects for a most prosperous
business. Their new two-story brick
building at Second and Baker street
was constructed at a cost of about
f 18,000 and is ample to take care of
the needs of the business fur years to
come. ,
The Highwsy Garage, Inc.. is com
posed of Elmer Archibald, president;
E. K. Anderson, vice-president, and
A. J. Rousseau, secretary and man
ager. Mr. Rousseau was in the auto
mobile business In Albany before the
war but sold out and enlisted in the
chemical warfare service of the U.
8. army and won his commission as
Second Lieutenant Messrs. Archi
bald snd Anderson are well known
Linn county men, having been engag
ed in the farming- and stock business
for many years.
The Hudson, Essex snd Reo cr.rj
sre hsndled by this agency and the
motor truck line is represented by the
Standard and Reo trucks. Handicap
ped last season by a late start and
lack of aJequate quarters, the com
pany reports thst they are satisfied
with the business done, but that the
coming year will see a great increase
in their volume of business.
MURPHY MOTOR
COMPANY GROWS
One of the substantial and success
ful businessmen of Albsny who has
located here in recent yeara is C. H.
w i . i , : : : . L I
j aiurpny, inr live wire in ie mic wi
Buick and Chevrolet automobiles and
li. M. v,. ana nevroiei irucss.
Mr. Murphy came to Albany about
18 months ago from Lebanon where
he had been engaged in the hardware
business and the farming game. He
purchased the Buick and Chevrolet
agency from"J. L. Irvin and has built
up a flourishing business during the
brief time he has been identified with
Albany interests.
Mr. Murphy will in a short time
hsve one of the best automobile build
ings in the state at the corner of Ells
worth and Second streets, and will
then be in a position to serve the
automobile trade in the most modern
way.
IS
Albany Lumber
Company
"A Home Institution"
H When building a
H lumber comes from a
H
B High Grade Siding and Finishing Lumber and Building Materials of all g
H Rinds.
Albany
J.J. BARRETT, Pres.
RECORDERS FEES SHOW INCREASE
IN LINN REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS
That Linn county is on the map in
a buaineaa way ia indicated by the
large sale of farm lands and town
property as shown by the records of
the county recorder during the last
yesr.
Th,e fees received by this office have
surpassed the amount received for
any one year for many years. The
number of houses sold in Albsny and
other towns of tbe county during the
last six months will exceed the num
ber sold in the but equal number of
years.
The abstract offices of Albsny have
been congested with work for several
months, sll of which indicates that
DAY MOTOR CO.
ENJOYSGROWTHI
Overland and Nash Agency
is One of Largest in
This Territory
Starting in Albany in 1918 with
the Overland line, the Day Motor
Company has built up one of the,
largest automobile businesses in this j
part of the Willamette Valley. Earl
B. Day, formerly in the banking bus-'
iness in Lebanon, purchased the bus-j
iness conducted by A. J. Rousseau at
the time the Utter enlisted in the U.
S. Army. 1
Last spring he added the Nash Six
auto to his line, in addition to carry-,
ing the Federal truck and Federal f
tires, being distributor for the latter
in this territory.
Last July the Day Motor Company
was incorporated with Mr. Day as
president," Clarence Colline vice-presi
dent and Kenneth Carter, secretary-j
treasurer. The latter are both well
known Albany men, having spent mosi
of their lives in this vicinity. Mr.
Collins served as" a lieutenant in the
ammunition supply department of the
coast artillery during the war and
saw active service in France.
Recently the company has added
the Mack truck to its list and expects
to push this product hard during the
coming year. The repair department
has also been enlarged and three
men are now employed in this work.
A new building is being construct
ed for the company at Second and
Ellsworth streets, and it is expected
that it will be ready for occupancy in
the early spring. It will be modern
in every respect snd a credit to the
city. ' -
new home or a building of any
local mill.
WE MANUFACTURE
.. ...
Phone Us Your Orders
Lumber Company
iHwrnmiamiimimMraimii
llllUllllUIWUIIlllllHIHllliUlll
the county has received new life and
that the dwelling houses and fama
of the country are to be occupied by
families who are here to make thoir
homes and assist in developing the
natural resources of the country and
to develop business along all legitim
ate lines.
The creameries, the fruit canneries
and the milk eondensary business, es
'tablished here the last few months,
are the highest index of the faith the
people have in the future of a county
that has long been designated as a
"gem in the smiling valley of opportunity."
RALSTON MOTOR
CO. SUCCESSFUL
Coming Year Looks Even
More Prosperous to J,
Ralston and Son
M.
One of Albany's most prosperous '
automobile firms is the Ralston Motor
Company conducted at Seventh and
Lyon streets by J. M. Ralston and
son. Rolls Ralston. Mr. Ralston en
tered the automobile business when
he Joined W. W. Crawford in the
Ford agency in 1908. This partner
ship continued until 1915 when Mr.
Crawford took the Ford agency and
located in new quarters snd Mr. Ral
ston retained the agency for tha
Dodge Bros, motor cars. Tbe same
year Rolls Ralston was taken into the
firm.
Last summer construction was
started on a new garage building and
it was ready for occupancy in Sep
tember. It is one of the most modern
and convenient buildings of ita kind
in the city and affords ample oppor
tunity for the display of 'cars.
The Mitchell Six and the Velie Six
cars are also included in the line of
motors and the agency for the Gar
ford truck has just been taken on .
A carload of Garfords will be here
in a short time, the first that have
been shown in this city. In addition,
the firm carries a full line of automo
bile accessories and supplies, being:
distributors for the Republic tire and
the Philadelphia Diamond Grid bat
tery. Like the other dealers the Ralston
Motor Company has had a most suc
cessful year and is making big plans
for 1920.
kind, see that your g
. -
, -
ALEX ROSS, Mgr.
I
i
liuuiililliiumilii