Part 9

The news of the landing produced much excitement in the Bolshevist headquarters in Moscow. In spite of the statement of the allied diplomats that the act was a purely local affair of no political importance, the Bolsheviki construed it as the beginning of the rumored Japanese invasion. A statement issued by the Commissaries on April 6 declared that the killing of the Japanese soldier was part of a prearranged scheme, and that "Japan had started a campaign against the Soviet Republic." The following day the Izvestia spoke of the invasion as the continuation of "the crusade against revolutionary Russia" begun by imperialistic Germany. In a speech at Moscow on April 8 Premier Lenine said: "It is possible that after a short time, perhaps even within a few days, we shall have to declare war on Japan." Two days later it was reported that the Russian Government had requested Germany to permit the postponement of the demobilization of the Russian Army in view of the Japanese landing at Vladivostok.

On April 11 the Consular Corps of Vladivostok officially informed the local Zemstvo that the landing of allied sailors had been made necessary by conditions of anarchy in the port, and that the troops would be withdrawn as soon as order had been restored.

On March 16 the American Ambassador, Mr. Francis, made the following statement:

The Soviet Government and the Soviet press are giving too much importance to the landing of these marines, which has no political significance, but merely was a police precaution taken by the Japanese Admiral on his own responsibility for the protection of Japanese life and property in Vladivostok, and the Japanese Admiral, Kato, so informed the American Admiral, Knight, and the American Consul, Caldwell, in Vladivostok. My impression is that the landing of the British marines was pursuant to the request of the British Consul for the protection of the British Consulate and British subjects in Vladivostok, which he anticipated would possibly be jeopardized by the unrest which might result from the Japanese landing.

The American Consul did not ask protection from the American cruiser in Vladivostok Harbor, and consequently no American marines were landed. This, together with the fact that the French Consul at Vladivostok made no request for protection from the British, American, or Japanese cruisers in the harbor, unquestionably demonstrates that the landing of allied troops is not a concerted action between the Allies.

The Czar's Loyalty to the Allies

An Autograph Letter

A letter written by Nicholas II. to President Poincaré in the Spring of 1916 has recently been made public. Its interest lies in its expression of absolute loyalty to the Allies. It is as follows:

DEAR AND EXALTED FRIEND: At a moment when France and Russia are more closely bound than ever in the unprecedented struggle of which they are supporting the weight with their faithful allies, it has been a great pleasure to me to see the arrival of members of the French Government in Russia. I have had much pleasure in once again meeting M. Viviani, whom I already know, and in recalling the last interview that I had with you. At the time our one idea was to insure the peaceful development of our two countries, while the enemy was already preparing his attack against the peace of Europe in the hope of securing the hegemony of the world. It also gives me great pleasure to meet M. Albert Thomas, the Minister of Munitions, whose talents have rendered such great services to his country and to the cause of the Allies.

Having always attached great importance to an intimate collaboration between the two Governments, I attach even greater importance to this collaboration at the present time, now that we are thoroughly determined only to disarm by common agreement after gaining the final victory. It is therefore more necessary to co-ordinate our effort in order that our common action may be more effective. It is unquestionable that each of the Allies is animated by a single desire--that of placing its fullest effort at the disposal of the common cause.

It is with this desire that my Government and my officers have devotedly studied, in association with members of the French Government, the methods that should be taken to insure that the greatest possible assistance should be given to our various allies. I hope, consequently, that M. Viviani and M. Thomas will leave here with the absolute conviction that so far as it is materially possible Russia will hesitate before no sacrifice to insure the triumph of the allied cause at the earliest possible moment. My warmest wishes are that our united efforts may soon be crowned with the most striking success, and I am anxious to express to you my admiration of France, which has covered itself with fresh glory in the heroic defense of Verdun.

Pershing's Army Under General Foch

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 action 228 Killed or prisoner 1 Killed by accident 181 Died of disease 867 Lost at sea 237 Died of wounds 69 Civilians 7 Gas attack, suicide, executed, unknown causes 42 ----- Total deaths 1,632

Wounded 1,606 Captured 43 Missing 30 ----- Total of all casualties 3,311

Our War Machine in New Phases

Month Ended April 18, 1918

The outstanding feature of America's part in the war during the past month has been the placing at the disposal of General Foch, the allied Generalissimo, all the men and resources of the United States now available in France. At home preparations were hastened to call up at least another 150,000 men under the draft law to replace those sent from the training camps to France.

The navy is now represented in the war zone by 150 vessels, including battleships, under the command of Admiral Sims.

Drastic changes have been made in various branches of the War Department. The Ordnance Department and Quartermaster Corps have been brought more into line with the requirements of supplying the armies at home and abroad. The Senate Military Affairs Committee has investigated the serious delay in aircraft production, and in a majority report severely criticised the work of the Signal Corps, under which the Aviation Section is organized. The War Industries Board has been reshaped, and its Chairman, Mr. Baruch, has been given very extensive powers.

The crisis which arose out of the shipbuilding program has been passed, and our 150 shipyards are accelerating the rate of production of new ships. Dutch ships in American ports aggregating 500,000 tons have been seized, and 200,000 tons of Japanese shipping has been received by agreement.

The railroads under Government control are becoming more closely adapted to the needs of wartime distribution. Several important coastwise steamship lines have been taken over and placed under the Director General of Railroads.

The food situation still demands strict conservation, and it is recognized that America will have to submit to greater sacrifices in view of the ever-growing world shortage.

Labor questions have been engaging the serious attention of the Government and Congress. The diversion of working people to industries where they are most needed for war purposes, and legislation to prevent strikes have been under consideration. In addition to the different war industries properly so-called, a large amount of labor is now necessary for agriculture, so as to plant the largest possible crop and to harvest it in the Fall.

To finance the war, and incidentally mark the beginning of the nation's second year in the war, subscriptions were opened on April 6 for the Third Liberty Loan of $3,000,000,000 at 4¼ per cent. These bonds are nonconvertible and will mature in ten years.

WAR DEPARTMENT'S GROWTH

The experience gained by officers who have been serving with General Pershing's army in France is becoming an influence in every one of the widely ramified branches of the War Department, while Secretary Baker's visit abroad to get first-hand knowledge of the requirements of the American expeditionary force has been fertile in new ideas.

One of the signs of the growth of the War Department is the appointment of a third Assistant Secretary of War. For this position Frederick P. Keppel, Dean of Columbia University, New York, was selected by the President. On April 12 the appointment was unanimously recommended by the Senate Military Committee. The nomination of E. R. Stettinius as an Assistant Secretary had already been confirmed. Dr. Keppel's duties include the supervision of the nonmilitary activities of the soldiers, their personal welfare and comfort, both at home and abroad.

To improve the work of the General Staff at Washington General Pershing, it was announced on April 12, is sending home certain officers who have become familiar with staff work at the front, and also some practical aviation experts to aid in solving the difficulties which have arisen in the production of aircraft. Other officers include representatives of the Quartermaster Corps who have acquired experience under modern war conditions in France. In this way a greater measure of co-ordination with the army in France is being obtained.

An order issued by General March, Acting Chief of Staff, on April 12, consolidated the Division of Storage and Traffic with the Division of Purchases and Supplies, the one division to be known as the Division of Purchase, Storage, and Traffic. The division was placed under Major Gen. Goethals, who continued to serve as Assistant Chief of Staff and Acting Quartermaster General. Brig. Gen. Palmer E. Pierce, who has been a member of the War Industries Board and of the War Council created by Secretary Baker, was made Director of Purchases in January, 1918, but under this scheme of reorganization it was announced that while remaining on duty with the War Industries Board he would give up his post as Director of Purchases and Supplies. His successor, under Major Gen. Goethals, was Colonel Hugh S. Johnston, who has been General Crowder's right-hand man in the office of the Provost Marshal General.

TWO BILLIONS FOR GUNS

There have also been important changes in the Ordnance Department, it being announced on April 8 that Brig. Gen. Charles B. Wheeler, who recently succeeded Major Gen. William Crozier as head of the Ordnance Department of the Army with the title of Acting Chief of Ordnance, had been succeeded by Brig. Gen. C. C. Williams, Chief Ordnance Officer with the American expeditionary force in France. General Williams was ordered to return to Washington to take up the duties of Active Chief of Ordnance.

A summary of the work of the Gun Division, Bureau of Ordnance, prepared for the Secretary of War, shows that it has been necessary to equip sixteen large plants for the manufacture of mobile artillery and that the total program of the Gun Division calls for an expenditure of approximately $2,000,000,000. At the outbreak of the war the Gun Division was composed of three officers and seven civilians. At the end of 1917 it had approximately 500 officers and 3,500 civilians, since increased to 1,500 officers and more than 10,000 civilians. The Ordnance Department has also established a comprehensive repair service for artillery, motor vehicles, and other equipment.