



Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)








[Illustration: _From a painting by F. C. Yohn._

The battle of Seicheprey.

"All through the night the artillerymen sent their shells, encasing
themselves in gas masks." (_Page_ 225)]




_AMERICA IN THE WAR_

OUR ARMY AT THE FRONT

BY

HEYWOOD BROUN

FORMERLY CORRESPONDENT FOR THE "NEW YORK TRIBUNE" WITH THE
AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE

ILLUSTRATED

NEW YORK

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1922

COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Printed in the United States of America




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                          PAGE

I. THE LANDING OF PERSHING          1

II. "VIVE PAIR-SHANG!"             11

III. THE FIRST DIVISION LANDS      29

IV. THE FOURTH OF JULY             44

V. WHAT THEY LIVED IN              53

VI. GETTING THEIR STRIDE           66

VII. SPEEDING UP                   81

VIII. BACK WITH THE BIG GUNS       96

IX. THE EYES OF THE ARMY          107

X. THE SCHOOLS FOR OFFICERS       117

XI. SOME DISTINGUISHED VISITORS   124

XII. THE MEN WHO DID EVERYTHING   134

XIII. BEHIND THE LINES            145

XIV. FRANCE AND THE MEDICOES      158

XV. IN CHARGE OF MORALE           168

XVI. INTO THE TRENCHES            177

XVII. OUR OWN SECTOR              189

XVIII. A CIVILIAN VISITOR         200

XIX. A FAMOUS GESTURE             212

XX. THE FIRST TWO BATTLES         224

XXI. TEUFEL-HUNDEN                237

XXII. THE ARMY OF MANOEUVRE       248

XXIII. ST. MIHIEL                 266

XXIV. MEUSE-ARGONNE BEGINS        279

XXV. CEASE FIRING                 291

GENERAL PERSHING'S REPORT         301




ILLUSTRATIONS

The battle of Seicheprey                              _Frontispiece_

                                                        FACING PAGE

General Pershing in Paris, July, 1917                            16

Buglers of the Alpine Chasseurs, assisted by their military
band, entertaining American soldiers of the First
Division                                                         64

U. S. locomotive-assembling yards in France                     154

Red Cross Hospital at Neuilly, formerly the American
Ambulance Hospital                                              166

Secretary Baker riding on flat car during his tour of inspection
of the American Expeditionary Forces                            202

U. S. Marines in readiness to march to the front                244

The capture of Sergy                                            262




OUR ARMY AT THE FRONT

CHAPTER I

THE LANDING OF PERSHING


A ship warped into an English port. Along her decks were lines of
soldiers, of high and low degree, all in khaki. From the shore end of
her gang-plank other lines of soldiers spread out like fan-sticks, some
in khaki, some in the two blues of land and sea fighters. Decorating the
fan-sticks were the scarlet and gold of staff-officers, the blue and
gold of naval officers, the yellow and gold of land officers, and the
black of a few distinguished civilians.

At the end of one shore-line of khaki one rigid private stood out from
the rest, holding for dear life to a massive white goat. The goat was
the most celebrated mascot in the British Army, and this was an affair
of priceless consequence, but that was no sign the goat intended to
behave himself, and the private was responsible.

Weaving through this picture of military precision, three little groups
of men waited restlessly to get aboard the ship. One was the lord mayor
of the port city, his gilt chains of office blazing in the forenoon
brightness, with his staff; another was the half-dozen or so of
distinguished statesmen, diplomats, and military heroes bringing formal
welcome to England; the third was the war correspondents and reporters
from the London newspapers.

The waiting was too keen and anxious for talk. Excitement raced from man
to man.

For the ship was the _Baltic_. The time was the morning of June 8, 1917.
The event was the landing of John J. Pershing, commander of America's
Expeditionary Force. And the soldiers with him were the herald of
America's coming--the holding of her drive with an outpost.

When the grandchildren of those soldiers learn that date in their
history lessons it is safe to assume that all its historical
significance will be fairly worked out and articulate.

It is equally safe to say that in the moment of its happening few if
any of its participants, even the most consequential and far-seeing, had
a personal sense of making history. Of all the pies that one may not
both eat and have, the foremost is that very taking part in a great
occasion. All the fun of it is being got by the man who stays at home
and reads the newspapers, undistracted by the press of practical matters
in hand.

True, for the landing of General Pershing there was the color of
soldiery, the blare of brass bands, the ring of great names among the
welcomers. There was, of course, the overtone picture of a great
chieftain, marching in advance of a great army, come to foreign lands to
add their might to what, with their coming, was then a world in arms.
The future might see, blended with the gray hulk of the _Baltic_, the
shadowy shape of the _Mayflower