The Camden chronicle. (Camden, S.C.) 1888-1981, May 15, 1931, Image 3
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My Experiences
in the World War
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By Cteneral John J. Pershing <
PK^^4tS<ln
I CHAPTER IX
t j'arlH July 20, 1017, for a visit
letd Marshal Sir Douglas Halt:,
tittli commander In chief, whose
art era were In an old chateau
Idden away In a magnificent
at Heldlquea. I was accomt.y
Colonels Harhord and Alnd
Captain Button of my stair.
Unner the subject of conversuituiitlly
turned on the military
jn of the allied armies, our own
titular. They were keen to
ibout our arfny, Its organization
e, and the prospect? of our nut*
ooi>h in the field. Aa our active
patlon depended on many faciich
as training, equipment and
ig. my replies, of course, were
Ite and no doubt disappointing,
urn we asked many questions,
was especially Interesting .to
he importance of artillery eifl?d
by lta chief, Major General
who spoke of the difficulties
Had experienced in supplying
tlves with guns that matched
ejtny's. .
rring to their lack of artillery
beginning, General Birch said
was reason to believe that they
tally attained a superiority over
>rmans.
Real Teamwork kicking. - ?
Douglas told me some of the deif^Nlvelle's
unsuccessful attack
spring, how it was known fur
ide, beforehand and spoke parly
of ihe eoAapquoat ooHowhdJeon
among the French troops. Ali
he had placed himself under
f's commSbd $r these operahe
had, he suld, little confidence
> outcome from the start. He
Ktmmented on the failure of the
h to co-operate fully on yarlous
ons. His remarks entirely conthe
belief that 1 had long since
hat real teamwork between the
rmies was almost totally absent,
cely anything more strikingly
ised upon me our unpreparedthan
what 1 saw during a few
spent with General Trenchard
? British flying field, where we
IuueoSrd flyers doing every. I mag In hie
stunt, and saw planes of all
lasses, bombing, pursuit and observaod.
motors of different types and the
loroughly equipped repair shops.
The outstanding thing, however.'
ftlch it was gratifying to note later
n in our own aviation personnel, was
le incomparable spirit and aleirtnefis
f the young officers and the enlisted
ersonnel. Every man seemed to he
Isappointed when a flight of planes
epnrted for the front without him.
./^VV^L JJWJiWIli J . >_
i tfflqr mwt.'i' i j.isbml.
I (alt to* British lieadquartem
H. instructive, a* eve^pjOPP*^
in given us to study in tl mutetails
of their wtrUIU U*iaul,v
After similar studies j df sthe y
ystefn Irs selected from each^j
itures beiht suited to perfect
alanced staff for our own
'miial relations end good unlng
established betweeu ^r
Ilalg and myself and between^)
responding members of^jbtir
it! with a numbaaruT tatfd-"
ah officers with whom W? We,T?
have official dealings proved
vantngeou8. In London, , long
^ armistice. Sir Douglas, in an
iner speech, referred to this '
iich happened (during a period
sslon, and said that our timely
nee at his headquarters had
In them a strong- feeHeg-nfiess
for the future.
Meets Other Leaders.
tlary at this time noted the in,
Tmtiaatyrawy aa, i*ir* w
i breakfast yesterday at the
n with Lloyd George, H* Is
and energetic* and his a
conception of silled probTook
lunch with Mr. Bal^
^btaSir^e^rding* ?bU?- *
* ReprePentatirerof tts ts- *
allies wet for conference on *
rel situation. In the evening
ibot, the prims minister, gave
its dinner to offlclaIs attendconferesics.
^ ?r? "
*lay attended luncheon to alrepresenutlves
given by the
rtdsat and Mm*. Polncars at
Blyses -palace.
i conference this afternoon
mmmmmmmmmrna
with I'etaiu, Cudorna, Robertson
and Koch at tatter's office. Dlacussed
military plans, talked
about tonnage possibilities and'
shortage of personnel. All pcaalmistlc
and reserved.
James Ktlllmun. Just returned
from a touf of France, contlrms
reports of serious depression.
Situation Not Hopeful.
The meeting of the allied military
leaders July 26, which wus my first,
brought out little that wus hopeful.
The political {relations of the allies
were touched upon In a general way.
| but only so far as they might affect
the military situation. The most gignlflcant
recent event, of oourse. bad
been the crisis In Russia.
With reference to Amerlcau assistance,
I gave In detail the situation as
to our man power, Immediate and
prospect, especially In the light/Of the
latest plans of the ^department;' and
laid particular empbolite oiy the necessity
of additional Shipping. A
cablegram had just been received In
response to mine of July 6 In which I
had requested that at least a million
men reach France by tye following
spring.
This message, Indicating that the
I War department foresaw small chance
of gerurlngThe necessary towage, was
read to the conference In part as folI
lows:
"By using all shipping which Is now
In sight" for the purpose and which'
- wRf-hfr-avaHaWe-after month of lSto"
| vember, the plan proposes to transport
to Frunce by June 15, 1918, twenty-one
divisions, comprising about 420,000
men, together with auxiliary troops
and replacement trOops, line of communication
troops, and others, amounting
to 214.970 men, making a total of
034.975 men."
More Tonnage Needed.
Although short* of my recommendations,
even this schedule could be carried
out only by a very large increase
Of tonnage. The other members of
the conference were of the opinion
that if new adjustments could be made
there might be shipping for nlue or ten
of our divisions before spring. So for
the moment there did not seem to be
the slightest chance of transporting a
million men to France by the follow
JLng June. *
After canvassing {lie whole situation,
. the conference expressed the
unanimous opinion that a defensive
role should be adopted on all second- {
ary fronts. The British and French
representative* hoped that the surplus
troops resulting from this course
might be available to strengthen their
armies lq France and CJeniernl *Cadoriha.
of course, though the Italian
armies should have their share.
gjgjy'Sur-y - rrjrr."2:1
. CHAFER XT7~
About this time (July, 1017) disturbing
reports were submitted to me confidentially
by one of our naval officers
sent by Admiral 91ms from London.
.Calculations based upon tonnage
risasiw^ifoS. MajN June and July ..seem ed
. to coftftrm ^e cbnciuslQqji of a month
"previous" that there would soon b* in-"
SUfficlenf nlttpir-sbtpplnTrtpfh-to, i)rlnpr
over an American army of required
strength and that the allies would fjnd
it difficult to keep tip their food supply
from overseas.
The data presented by the naval
officer proved that If this rate of destruction
could not be reduced the war
\frotild be lost before we coqld Are a
This report was certainly most pes
slmlstlc, but it did not dispel sfcy con
0den?e4n the success of the ,plan.that
had been tested and was stout to be
Inaugurated of sending ship# over In
'ooayort nnder the protection or naval j
vessel#. .Additional destroyers! re-'
nrr r-rrr-Tr
-flfne targwy tBseeeeeo -such craft ui
..Eftropeso waters. ?n<J as ^ result the
activities of submarines had -been
W Need of Speed *vld?* ?
Tet for the time being ship construe
. tlon In Rrttlsh yjirds tontlnued belo?
losses and od^iWpplaiftonVd at heme
had -scarcely stopped wrangling aver
^-material# and type* All .'these facts
caused "everybody to realise the
*treme urgency of speed 'end that *?.
turn gars soma bops that the prospects
might soon become brighter.
II Wha uiy uoJi?r. vAfa (q the fac*
"f the heavy loeuee, thai with coot
?*?' whfiillm w<kr upfrt juo
agemeuf a nil distribution. (ha shipping
would t>a ample Car all purposes. This
would require, of course. (list It be
placed under 'some central authority,
but tha governments. esjucJally the
liritlsh, that controlled tuoal of It,
while apparently desirous of helping,
dto not aaarn Inclined to think they
could make any concessions They had
entered Into arrangements to assist 1
each other with shipping for foodstuffs,
but there wua uo such thing as pooling <
of allied tonnage for general purposes,
However, the discouraging reports
on the situation did niuke such an Impression
on the military leaders that
they suggested the possibility of pooling
all Hvailnhte shipping and accordingly
recomtqended a commission to
consider the question, with especial
reference to the transportation of the
American arihy.
Spies Qst Sailing Dates.
The success of submarine warfare
bad been lurgcly dependent upon advuuee
knowledge concerning movements
of vessels. As there was no
doubt that the sulllng dates of tuuch
of our shipping reached Germany
through spies, one way to reduce the
danger would be to close such sources
of Information.
In the beginning the practice by our
War department of transmitting secret
Information wgs extremely loose. The
data regarding sailing was, of course, !/
sent to my headquarters, but,at the
same time, or often before, It vms also
given to both French and British military
and naval attaches and missions
In Washington. They Immediately
transmitted the Information by cable
to their respective governments, with
the result that It usually became almost
common knowledge.
But there were other sources of Information
possessed by the enemy.
One message Intercepted by the
French, sent from some wireless station
In Spain to the German genera)
staff, announced the arrival of several
American vessels at Nantes and of'
10,000 American soldiers at' St. Na- 'J'
zalre, and also gave the routes tuken
by our transports.
Another, evidently Intended for submarines,
reported the departure of at;
convoy of transports from New York.
These and simllnr facts were cabled at
once to Admiral Sims and to Washington.
Leadership Big Problem.
Probably the most lmportaht factor
in building up on aggressive army is
the selection of leaders. Without sufDetent
leadership the finest Of'troops
may suffer defeat by inferior forces
skillfully led*
the following was my recommendation
to Secretary of War Baker:
"My observation of British and 1
French armies and most exacting ardu- fi!
ous service conditions at the front i;
i fully convince me that only pfllcera In ,,
full mental and physical vigor should. [i
be sept here. Contrary course means ,
certain inefficiency In our service and
vposslble later humiliation of officers
concerned. General officers must un- i
dergo extreme effort In personal supervision
of operations in trenches. Very
few British or French; division comraanders
over forty-flv$ qjrbrigadiers
over forty.
"We have too much at stake to risk
Inefficiency through mental or physical
defects. Strongly recommend condl
tlons be fully considered in making
high appointments and suggest tha:
no officer of whatever rank be sent
here for active service who is not
strong and robust in every particular..
Officers selected for appointment genoral
officer of line should be those
with experience In actively commanding
troops. Officers not fulfilling above
conditions can be usefully employed
at hon\.e training troops."
Little Effort aft Selection.
These recommendations were not altogether
followed at hoffie. In fact
very little effort seems to have been
made at selection, so that some officers
W? www.eaw* cufiiaiirUf W?WC
inefficiency should, have been well
i known, and others whose age and 9
physical condition were such as to disqualify,
them for strenuous service,,;
were given Important assignments.
r Most of them were known to me
and not a few who, under the rule of
seniority, were, commanders of regiments
and departments, had lacked
-the energy e*en; to Unin their commands
or themselves in battle, exercises,
here favorable opportunity' had.
been offered. -- *
^ Ttte4>ol!cy of the War department ;
from beglnn I n g to end seetaed to; be
to appoint "officers to "the higher grade,
according to seniority, with the Intention
of weeding out the Inefficient later
on. This appears to hove been the department'^
Idea of selection and the
result wps practically no selection at
all. After the appointment of such <
officers It was a slow process to elimiMtf.
~ ~ tha Training Area,
The First division was now well
Mtnl&tn Its training area In tha ration
dTGondrecourt, south of Bar-lel)uc.
Tha troops of tha division had
akaady established friendly relations
with the. French peasantry and-had
quickly adapted themselves ^, their
new mode of Ufa, w
^ A* tha natural consequence of the'
fiaanctal '-condition of the i frugal
French provincial, he was wont to
fityPfcjbyfifed presence of thf British
and ourselves, and the opeu-handed
payday, habits of the American^
to give some encouragement to flile'
inclination. As a result so
grew up later betwqeo our man and
their early friends.
-I* uU history 4 do not- believe there
has aver been un army on foreign soil
so considerate, and observant of the
rights and Interests of the people. The
iW? I '?? t,Vvv- v
' V - v .- " " 0 -1
peasant class made a strong appeal tor
every man in the army. Their simplicity,
their love of the soil and the
long hours of work In the fields bj( thef
old inen and women and young boys] I
and "girls remained the constant udmiration
of our soldiers. -* v 0
1 am Inclined to think, however, that
the excellent behavior of. the men. i&4
the first contingent, their rather on->,
military appearance In Ul-fltting unl-,
forma and their apparent lack. of tot-1
(mal discipline created the impression '
In the minds of the French officials'
that they were too kind-hearted to btft
come aggressive fighting troops.
^ At the conclusion^*? my Inspection
of'.(rations places Cbaumont was se?.f
lected a* the best site for;w general]
"p* pe^ur 4lne <3^
communication* to |he front and cenv
tceily placed as to probable /lectori dT
our. operations. The fine atone PegT
mental barracks became our headquarters
and we were able to obtain a rapid*
billeting accommodations in houses fbtr
til except the enlisted men, who were
provided with temporary barracks.
(Continued next week) jrf.
.. '
Hail Wrecks Houses ;,
** AM Injures Men;
Dillon, S. ia, IMay 7?<HM1
large as goose egg's fell about noon I1
today in the western part of Dillon
county. N. W. Garry, of Bingham j
reports seeing small limfbs of trees
torn off and holes knocked in tops.
of cars by the large ice bulls that
fell for several minutes. The ground
was <$>vered with ice. Little damage.
was done to crops according to re-1
ports. * I
- -Heports from Ki$45y's Cross Roads
section of Dillon county state that
si* lumbermen working'*in the woods
ifvere , knocked unconscious by the
large hail stoUes today about noon.
Weather hoarding was torn off the J
side of an old house and some ryet<
crops were literally driven into the ,
^ivwrar" ,* nv trail oivxracr ryrvic r
large as goose eggs and hit the
ground with such (force that they
bounced two feet into the air.
MUe. Friedel Haerlin, following tho
assertion of a popular German hewSt
paper that she <was, "the prettiest girl)
in the world," received 1,120 proposals
of marriage in a single week??
100 per day.
. ..Not a divoroe complaint or an inv
tention to imirry .was filed at Boise,'
Idaho, Wednesday, the first day ot)j
which th^..state's new .90-daydiyarce
law and 6-day intention to marry laW
became effective. 'v'
; ~ ' 11 ]
M"J _LL.JL 'I ' J l1The
Illinois house of representative*
an Tuesday passed 'without opposition,
i resolution calling Oil congress to
stlhmit the question of repeal of the
L<8th aimendment to the legislatures of
the 48 states. and"Bent it to the senate.
- ; ?
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Graeral Contractors
1 r ''*X> ' . . ,
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Phone 386 Camden, 8. C.
Estimates Furnished on All
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' Floors Sanded on Request
^r ; .
i ?
Lieut. Commander Glen Kldeton,
wealthy 3riti?h adventurer and speed
flier, with a passenger 'were killed in r
South Africa, Tuesday when the
plane in which they were speeding0
north crashed due to a broken wing. \
. Three sheriffs and 15 deputies arrested
four (bandits near Tahleqush,
Ok la., Wednesday after a pistol battle
in -which no one was hurt. The bandits
were found at <a tourist camp
and were wunted on suspicion of having
robbed a bank at Leslie,/ Ark.
: ^ 1 ?
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FOR CORNS AND CALLOUSBS
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DeKalb Pharmacy?Phone ft
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Our ANOHOit UHE Mute TRUCK COVERS (tarpaulin*)
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Our repoir *lio? U fo?jd <>f .(tending to nil kind* of
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