American Troops in France Brigaded With French and British Units for the Great Battle in Picardy

General Pershing, in a cablegram to General March, Acting Chief of Staff, announced on March 29, 1918, that the American expeditionary force in France had been placed at the disposal of General Foch, the allied Generalissimo. The message read:

Have made all our resources available, and our divisions will be used if and when needed. French are in fine spirits, and both armies seem confident.

(Signed) PERSHING.

General Pershing had called on General Foch at Headquarters on the previous day, March 28, and made the offer of American troops. His words were reported by the Paris newspaper, L'Information, as follows:

"I come to say to you that the American people would hold it a great honor for our troops were they engaged in the present battle. I ask it of you, in my name and in that of the American people. There is at this moment no other question than that of fighting. Infantry, artillery, aviation—all that we have are yours to dispose of as you will. Others are coming which are as numerous as will be necessary. I have come to say to you that the American people would be proud to be engaged in the greatest battle in history."

In a statement given out at the American Headquarters in France on March 30, Secretary Baker said:

"I am delighted at General Pershing's prompt and effective action in placing all the American troops and facilities at the disposal of the Allies in the present situation. It will meet with hearty approval in the United States, where the people desire their expeditionary forces to be of the utmost service in the common cause. I have visited all the American troops in France, some of them recently, and had an opportunity to observe the enthusiasm with which officers and men received the announcement that they would be used in the present conflict. One regiment to which the announcement was made spontaneously broke into cheers."

THE OFFER ACCEPTED

General Foch placed General Pershing's offer before the French war council at the front, which included Premier Clemenceau, French Commander Pétain, and Louis Loucheur, Minister of Munitions. An official note, issued in Paris on March 31, dealing with the operation of American troops with the French and British, said:

The French Government has decided to accede to the desire expressed by General Pershing in the name of the United States Government. The American troops will fight side by side with the British and French troops and the Star-Spangled Banner will float beside the French and English flags in the plains of Picardy.

Further information showing that the time had come for the active participation of the American Army in the new campaign was contained in the following British official announcement, issued in London on April 1:

As a result of communications which have passed between the Prime Minister [Lloyd George] and President Wilson; of deliberations between Secretary Baker, who visited London a few days ago, and the Prime Minister, Mr. Balfour, and Lord Derby, and consultations in France, in which General Pershing and General Bliss participated, important decisions have been come to by which large forces of trained men in the American Army can be brought to the assistance of the Allies in the present struggle.

The Government of our great Western ally is not only sending large numbers of American battalions to Europe during the coming critical months, but has agreed to such of its regiments as cannot be used in divisions of their own being brigaded with French and British units so long as the necessity lasts.

By this means troops which are not yet sufficiently trained to fight as divisions and army corps will form part of seasoned divisions until such time as they have completed their training and General Pershing wishes to withdraw them in order to build up the American Army.

Arrangements for the transportation of these additional forces are now being completed.

Throughout these discussions President Wilson has shown the greatest anxiety to do everything possible to assist the Allies and has left nothing undone which could contribute thereto.

This decision, however, of vital importance as it will be to the maintenance of the allied strength in the next few months, will in no way diminish the need for those further measures for raising fresh troops at home, to which reference already has been made. It is announced at once because the Prime Minister feels that the singleness of purpose with which the United States have made this immediate and, indeed, indispensable contribution toward the triumph of the allied cause should be clearly recognized by the British people.

The action of the United States in thus merging its troops with the other armies was hailed with gratitude and praise by the press and official spokesmen of all the Entente nations.

The first mention of Americans in the battle of Picardy was contained in the War Department's weekly review of the war situation, issued on April 7. American transport sections, it said, had taken an active part in the battle, and the American Aviation Section was co-operating with the British.

THE FIGHTING ENGINEERS

American engineers also took part in the battle, particularly during the first days of the German offensive. Three companies belonging to two regiments of the American Railway Engineers were reported in the German War Office statement as operating in the areas of Chauny and the Crozat Canal. This statement was confirmed in a report from General Pershing to the Acting Chief of Staff at Washington. The Americans had been working in the rear lines with Canadian engineers, under Canadian command. When the German attack came, they threw down their tools and seized the weapons with which they had been armed for some months, and formed themselves into a fighting unit. The Germans came on, and finally reached the positions where the Americans were waiting. The number of the engineers was comparatively small. They had no intention of retreating, however, and were bent upon killing all the Germans possible.

As the first enemy wave advanced, the American forces let them come until they were within certain range: then opened fire, pouring in a storm of bullets. Gaps appeared in the advancing lines at many places, but the German waves came on, without firing a single shot. The Americans were unable to understand these tactics. By this time their weapons were so hot that they could not be used effectively, and the enemy was close, so that the engineers retired, fighting, took up another position, then turned and began operations again. A British officer who witnessed the engagement is reported to have said: "They held on by their teeth until the last moment, inflicting terrific casualties on the enemy. Then they moved back and waited for the Germans, and repeated the performance." By the time the engineers reached a place somewhere near Noyon they were nearly exhausted and almost without equipment. There they had a chance to rest and re-equip.

On the sectors where American troops had been stationed before the decision to place them at the disposal of General Foch intensive training operations in the front-line trenches, with artillery fire and raiding of the enemy's positions, had been proceeding along much the same lines as during the previous month. A dispatch dated April 3 reported that American troops on a certain sector other than that in the region of Toul had been subjected to an extraordinarily heavy gas attack.

With the acceptance of the American offer to join in the battle of Picardy, troops began to be withdrawn from the sectors thus far occupied and from the American training camps in France, and hurried as rapidly as possible to points where the French and British required reinforcements.

Casualty lists showed that the Rainbow Division, (composed of troops from nearly every State in the Union,) the first of the National Guard divisions to cross the Atlantic, had been engaged in the fighting. The 150th Machine Gun Battalion, made up of guardsmen from the old 2d Wisconsin Infantry, had suffered heavily; of the sixty-eight men named as severely wounded in one list fifty-six were identified as members of the Wisconsin machine-gun unit.

AMERICAN WAR CROSSES

General Pershing approved, according to an announcement on March 19, the awarding of the first American military crosses for extraordinary heroism. The recipients were Lieutenant John O. Green, Sergeant William Norton, and Sergeant Patrick Walsh. The crosses were awarded for "extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy." The exploits of these men were described by the General commanding their division as follows:

I recommend that the Distinguished Service Cross be awarded to the officer and men named hereafter, who distinguished themselves by acts of extraordinary heroism.

Lieutenant Green, while in a dugout, having been wounded by an enemy hand grenade, was summoned to surrender. He refused to do so. Returning the fire of the enemy, he wounded one and pursued the hostile party.

Sergeant Norton, finding himself in a dugout surrounded by the enemy, into which a grenade had just been thrown, refused to surrender, and made a bold dash outside, killing one of his assailants. By so doing he saved the company's log book.

Sergeant Walsh followed his company commander to the first lines in spite of a severe barrage. The Captain being killed, he assumed command of the group and attacked a superior force of the enemy, inflicting severe loss upon them. Though of advanced age he refused to leave the front.

To these recommendations General Pershing appended his approval. Lieutenant Green and Sergeants Norton and Walsh had all previously received the French War Cross, Norton and Walsh being decorated personally by Premier Clemenceau on March 3.

Mr. Baker, Secretary of War, during a visit to the front-line trenches held by American troops, insisted upon going through a sap to a listening post. Peeping over the parapet into No Man's Land, he expressed his sensations in the words: "Now I am on the frontier of freedom." On the return journey from the trenches a German shell burst within less than fifty yards of Mr. Baker's motor car, hit a roadside dugout, and tore out a large crater.

TOTAL CASUALTIES

For nearly a week in the beginning of April no casualty lists were issued by the War Department, owing to a cablegram from the Secretary of War prescribing the following rules for handling publicity of matters pertaining to troops and operations:

First—All matters pertaining to events, persons, policies, or operations abroad will only be officially given out from the headquarters, American Expeditionary Force in France.

Second—Similar matters affecting forces at home will be given out from the War Department.

Suppression of the casualty lists aroused criticism throughout the country, and on April 9 the War Department, acting on cabled instructions from Mr. Baker, resumed issuing the daily list. The summarized totals up to April 11 were:

DEATHS
Killed in action228
Killed or prisoner1
Killed by accident181
Died of disease867
Lost at sea237
Died of wounds69
Civilians7
Gas attack, suicide, executed,
unknown causes42
——
Total deaths1,632
Wounded1,606
Captured43
Missing30
——
Total of all casualties3,311