line of departure. The strategical goal which was our highest hope, was gained. We had cut the enemy's line of communications, and nothing but surrender or an armistice could save his army from complete dis

aster."

In the meantime, by Titanic struggles all along the line stretching from the American sector north to the sea, the French and the British, assisted in a few places by small detachments of American

of the line.

troops, pushed the Germans back day by day until on No- Other parts vember II, when fighting ceased, practically the whole of the strategically important Metz-Montmédy-Sedan-Mézières-Valenciennes Railroad, referred to by General Pershing, was in allied hands.

THE ARMISTICE

Armistice terms. The German

army and

The terms of the armistice, which brought about the end of hostilities at eleven A. M. on November 11, were secured by the Germans' coming into the allied lines under the white flag and asking for them. To prevent the Germans from renewing the war, they were required to surrender huge quantities of armament, ammunition, stores, railroad engines and cars, automobile trucks, air- navy. planes, tanks, and submarines. Her soldiers in the trenches were allowed to go home; allied prisoners in Germany were to be released, though the German prisoners in the allied countries were retained. On November 21, in the bright sunlight of the afternoon, 9 German battleships, 5 battle cruisers, and 7 light cruisers steamed silently into the Firth of Forth in Scotland to give themselves up. Led by a tiny British cruiser, they passed between a long line of 78 British and American ships of war drawn up in two-column formation, 33 battle ships, 9 battle cruisers, 5 cruisers and 31 light cruisers, the decks of all the allied ships stripped for action, their battle flags hoisted, ammunition for the big guns piled high, and every officer and man ready. It was the allied navies' greatest day. Also, under the terms of the armistice, the Allies stipulated that they should occupy all German territory west of the Rhine, together with bridgeheads to be established at Cologne, the future III. German headquarters of the English, at Coblenz which was to be the territory headquarters of the Americans, and at Mayence which the occupied. French made their headquarters, to a distance of 1834 miles about each city. On the east bank of the Rhine a neutral zone was to be marked off, 64 miles wide, between the armies of occupation and the German armies.

A MODERN ARMY

New

The introduction of one new method of warfare after another in the Course of the Great War startled the world. Trench warfare was developed to an extent before undreamed of; continuous methods of fighting day and night, winter and summer, was a phenomenon without precedent; while camouflage and periscopes, barrage

warfare.

fire, trench mortars, liquid fire, hand grenades, and helmets were new t terms in the annals of modern war.

The American invention, the airplane, furnished new eyes to the army, directed the fire of batteries at objects that the gunners could not see, took tell-tale photo

Airplanes.

graphs over enemy

lines, and dropped death-dealing bombs on their works. The American air service counted 58,000 men, possessed over 10,000 airplanes mainly of foreign manufacture, brought down over 900 enemy planes and lost over 260 of its own machines. In its ranks were sixty-five aces," flyers who brought down 5 or more enemy machines. Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker of Columbus, Ohio, the premier American ace, won 26 victories in the air.

The undersea warfare of the submarine, another American invention, was no less romantic but was rendered abominable by the practices of the Central Powers, and deserves to be dis

Submarines and tanks.

GENERAL JOHN J. PERSHING

carded forever. Tanks or land ships, huge moving steel fortresses capable of brushing aside trees and climbing steep inclines, were conceived of by English army experts after viewing the demonstration of an American farm tractor in Germany shortly before hostilities opened and were brought upon the battlefield as one of the surprises of the war.

Of poison gas, which the United States was manufacturing when the armistice came in larger quantities than were all the other belligerents

put together, an army expert says: "It is not apparent that Poison gas. the Germans started the war with the intention of using

poison gas, for they did not use it until April, 1915, and then, despite their boasted efficiency, they did not understand the effectiveness of the fiendish stuff they were using. Had they done so, history might make different reading to-day. For instance, when they first used gas, (it was chlorine with which they started on April 22nd, 1915,) they waited twenty-four hours before following up with a bayonet attack,

atta

ev

evidently fearful that the gas had not dissipated.

If the Germans

had attacked within an hour they would have taken Calais that day. There was nothing to stop them. . . . Had they made gas in sufficient quantity there can be no doubt that the war would have ended in their favor very early. There is no doubt in my mind that their inability to make gas in sufficient quantity accounts for their halt in their last great drive last summer (1918).”

Never has war been waged on such a colossal scale. General March, the American Chief of Staff, states that 7,354,000 men were killed or met their death from battle wounds, 1,700,000 Russians, 1,600,000 Losses. Germans, 1,305,000 Frenchmen, 800,000 Austrians, 706,000

Englishmen, 460,000 Italians, and 50,000 out of the 1,390,000 Americans who reached the firing line. Two million Americans were sent "across." In the four years of the American Civil War, according to The Historical Register of the Armies of the United States, the number of battle deaths in the Union Army of 2,325,000 was 110,000. Secretary of War Baker is authority for the statement that the mortality in camps brings the total number of deaths in all the armies, 1914-1918, up to 9,000,000.

THE ENLISTMENT OF THE ARMY

The selective draft.

The selective draft law, under which 24,000,000 men between the ages of 18 and 45 were enrolled for service, 2,800,000 actually mobilized, and 2,000,000 more held in immediate reserve, without friction and without any of the riots and bloodshed of the Civil War period, to fight an enemy 3,000 miles away in a foreign land, was the nation's "best performance" in the war, claims Provost Marshal General Crowder. The high honor in which the call to arms was regarded and the cheerful response of the men betokened an unselfishness and patriotism that were the admiration of the world. The nation itself was surprised at the spirit of unity, the readiness of all "to do their bit," of all but a few slackers and deserters who unfortunately in great crises always refuse to submit to the common judgment and to act for the common good. The vast man power of the nation was classified in accordance with military and industrial needs, to make a great army, to maintain the normal industrial life of the people, to speed up war time industries,

and to pave the way for an easy return of the men to their normal pur

suits after the war. There were no "substitutes," no tendering of money to the government in lieu of service; "work or fight" was the spirit of the hour. It was found that physical defects prevented one-sixth of those examined from rendering military service and that the physical powers of the average American begin to deteriorate soon after he reaches the age of 21; but it was also ascertained that the native born were of higher

physical standard than the foreign born. The Provost Marshal General and believes that the vital statistics of the draft will eventually be the means of saving more lives than were lost in the war.

The War

CARE OF THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS

Secondly, the same spirit of unselfish service planned and cared for the soldiers and sailors everywhere. The government constituted itself the biggest insurance company in the world, selling its policies Risk Bureau, for the lowest rates ever known. In a certain battle in France 70 marines met their death, of whom 57 were insured for $10,000, one for $8,000, and 12 for $5,000, a total obligation of $500,000 on the part of the United States. At the same time a young soldier died of pneumonia in a camp in New Jersey, and under his policy $10,000 went to his mother as beneficiary. By taking out the unique policies 4,000,000 soldiers and sailors stimulated their bravery, provided a sense of security for their dependents at home, and laid for themselves the foundations of thrift in later life if they survived. When peace came the government was carrying $37,000,000,000 worth of insurance, almost twice as much as all the private insurance companies of the United States put together. Generous compensations for injuries and disabilities were provided. Under an allotment system soldiers remitted to relatives and dependents at home many millions of dollars from their wages, which were highet than those paid to the soldiers of any other nationality.

"Without the aid of the American Red Cross the Army Medical Department could not have done its work," says Surgeon General Ireland.

The Red
Cross.

Millions of dressings and thousands of splints were given out. There were Red Cross hospitals in addition to the regular army hospitals, canteen service was furnished, the search for missing men was unremitting, letters were written to the families of those who were killed or wounded, over 1,500,000 French refugees were cared for, and in the United States the home service for soldiers' families in trouble was maintained. At Christmas time, 1917, 22,000,000 joined the Red Cross, and in 1919, 25,000,000. The tireless fingers of thousands of women turned out more than 10,000,000 sweaters, socks, mufflers, and wristlets, which were distributed to virtually every man in the service. The Junior Red Cross enlisted the intelligent and sympathetic support of millions of boys and girls in the public schools, and taught valuable lessons in patriotism.

The United

Nearly nine thousand workers, men and women, carried the War Work- red triangle of the Y. M. C. A., and others the same helpful spirit of the Y. W. C. A., the Knights of Columbus, the Salvation Army, the Jewish Welfare Board, the American Library Associa

ers.

Lavery

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