I count on you that it may always be the same every time he dares to attack you; and with all my heart of a soldier, I thank you.
Gouraud.
21ST ARMY CORPS,
July 17, 1918.
170TH DIVISION,
General BERNARD, Commanding par interim the 170th Division.
To the Commanding General of the 42nd U. S. Inf. Division.
The Commanding General of the 170th Infantry Division desires to express to the Commanding General of the 42nd U. S. Infantry Division his keen admiration for the courage and bravery of which the American Battalions of the 83rd Brigade have given proof in the course of the hard fighting of the 15th and 16th of July, 1918, as also for the effectiveness of the artillery fire of the 42nd U. S. Infantry Division.
In these two days the troops of the United States by their tenacity, largely aided their French comrades in breaking the repeated assaults of the 7th Reserve Division, the 1st Infantry Division and the Dismounted Cavalry Guard Division of the Germans: these latter two divisions are among the best of Germany.
According to the order captured on the German officers made prisoner, their Staff wished to take Chalon-sur-Marne on the evening of July 16th, but it had reckoned without the valor of the American and French combatants, who told them with machine gun, rifle and cannon shots that they would not pass.
The Commanding General of the 170th Infantry Division is therefore particularly proud to observe that in mingling their blood gloriously on the Battlefield of Champagne, the Americans and the French of today are continuing the magnificent traditions established a century and a half ago by Washington and Lafayette; it is with this sentiment that he salutes the Noble Flag of the United States in thinking of the final Victory.