176. Foch’s Great Counter Blow. Foch had been waiting for the Germans to use up their men and for the Americans to arrive in large numbers. The blow fell June 18. From the North Sea to Switzerland mighty cannon thundered; hundreds of tanks tore through barbed wire and over trenches; hundreds of airplanes led the advance, driving the German airplanes before them. Then came the onward charge of Frenchmen, Englishmen, Belgians, and Americans.

The Americans, now a distinct army led by General Pershing, rushed into the St. Mihiel region and in two days drove the best troops of Germany out of this well-f fortified place. Here, for the first time, the German generals learned that the American soldier, new to the battlefields of Europe, was a desperate fighter.

In the latter part of September the Americans drove boldly into the Argonne Forest. This was one of the hardest fields of battle in the war. It was a rough, halfmountainous country—the best place in the world for surprise attacks by the Germans. They made good use of it. But nothing could stop the American soldier. He charged the enemy, fought amid gas attacks, and drove the Germans up one slope, into a valley, and over another slope. Repeatedly companies and battalions were lost or surrounded, but they cut their way out. Sometimes they had pushed ahead so far that refreshment trains could not find them. Sometimes they were fed while lying in the mud, keeping the guns going at the enemy. Thousands upon thousands of our boys gave up their lives here in defense of liberty and democracy.

The German lines could not stand the pounding. They fell back and back toward the Rhine. They were broken in spirit, and their commander, General von Hindenburg, on October 30, 1918, sent "the white flag" to General Foch, asking for terms of peace.

177. The Downfall of Germany. The Kaiser Runs Away. The combined navies of the Allies had begun to make food very scarce in Germany. Her people were threatening to revolt. (See map)

The Kaiser’s dream of India had been shattered. The British had captured the Holy Land and had beaten the Turks in many battles. In September, Bulgaria, after a great defeat, quit fighting. Later, Turkey gave up. The Italians were driving the Austrians back relentlessly. Little hope was left the proud Kaiser.

In the midst of all their difficulties the Kaiser deserted his people and ran away to Holland on November 10.

On November 11 General Foch and the German delegates signed the Armistice and fighting ceased. By its terms Germany was to disband her army and surrender to the Allies vast quantities of her war materials, including cannon, warships, airplanes, railroads and material. The Allies were to occupy three points on the Rhine River. France occupied the two border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which Germany had taken from her in a former war (1870-1871). Italy was to have parts of Austria.

The allied nations sent their wise men to Paris to make a treaty of peace. President Wilson attended in person. He was the first American president to visit Europe, and was welcomed wherever he went. The time from January to May was spent in making a treaty. Germany signed the treaty in July.

178. New Things Used in This War. This war was not only the greatest the world has ever seen, but it used some things never before used in war. Submarines, the invention of an American, were not entirely new. But. they were made much larger and stronger than formerly. To catch them Americans built submarine chasers and invented the depth bomb (175). Airplanes, the invention of two Ohio boys, the Wrights, were used to bomb cities, scout over the enemy’s land, and send the information gathered, back to headquarters. Hydro-airplanes were used on the sea and tanks on the land. Telephones and telegraphs were widely used, and the wireless telegraphs also. It was not enough to put men in the firing line; dogs and pigeons were used, too, more widely than ever. Dogs were trained to find the dead and wounded. Pigeons were used to carry messages. No other war had seen such big guns or so many of them. The machine gun was brought to perfection. The "big Bertha" was one of the largest guns. It was invented by the Germans and could destroy the stoutest fortresses. Another German gun carried two bombs, one inside the other. When one bomb had gone many miles, it exploded a fresh charge which sent the other one on to the end. It was used against the people of Paris, some seventy miles away. We must not forget poisonous gas! What a terrible thing war is!

America had now repaid France the debt we owed since that famous day when Lafayette and Rochanbeau, standing beside Washington, had aided in forcing the surrender of Cornwallis. The people of France and America are better friends than ever before.

But, more than this, Americans learned that the Great Britain of to-day is ruled by. the very sentiments and democratic principles for which America struggled in "seventy-six." The two nations are the best of friends.

We went into the war to defend the democracy of the world. We got nothing from the war except, we hope, the good wishes of the world. Even Germany seems to have learned something about America it had not known before.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

The Leading Facts. 1. America owed France a longstanding debt of gratitude. 2. It was in the Balkan States that the World War began. 3. The Kaiser was overambitious and dreamed of world conquest. 4. The great war became a World War. 5. In September, 1914, the Allies won the first battle of the Marne. 6. Germany treated cruelly the countries she overran. 7. The British navy swept German shipping from the seas. 8. America had a hard time remaining neutral. 9. Germany caused trouble in America in various ways. 10. The "Lusitania" was sunk in May, 1915. 11. Germany, by submarine warfare, tried to bring England to her knees. 12. America entered the war in 1917. 13. The country, believing in the war, was aglow with patriotism. 14. In June, 1917, General Pershing and the first American troops landed in France. 15. The combined navies of the Allies helped to choke the life out of Germany. 16. The American troops were rushed to France as rapidly as possible, and between May and November, 1918, over two million American soldiers were transported across the Atlantic. 17. In June, Marshal Foch made his great attack. i8. The Germans, defeated from the North Sea to Switzerland, asked for an armistice on October 30. 19. President Wilson went to Europe to help make the treaty of peace.

Study Questions. 1. What old debt did we owe France? 2. How could so small a region as the Balkans cause a world war? 3. What made the Kaiser of Germany so puffed up? 4. Why did England join the Allies? 5. Picture the scenes of desolation in Poland, Belgium, and France. 6. What loss did Germany at once suffer from the English navy? 7. What countries joined Germany and Austria in the war? 8. What countries did not join either side, and how are they named? 9. Who invented the submarine? io. How did Germany use her submarines? 11. Why did Germany make war on the United States? 12. Why did Germany rejoice over the sinking of the "Lusitania"? 13. Was or was not Roosevelt for war? President Wilson? 14. Why did the route to the Orient seem to open to the Kaiser in 1916? 15. What caused America to go to war? What was her purpose in going to war? i6. Make a picture of the President before Congress, April 2, 1917. 17. Tell the story of how America prepared her army; her navy; her squadrons of fliers. 18. Picture the meeting at Mount Vernon. 19. Tell the story of a Liberty Loan campaign. 20. Tell how the French received Pershing. Why were they so happy? 21. Tell of the work of Admiral Sims and the navy. 22. How did the American and British fleets help to starve Germany? 23. Why did the German Kaiser ask for peace when everything was going his way? 24. What caused the last great drive by the Germans? 25 What was the grave danger of this drive? 26. How did America put over two million men in France between May and November? 27. Tell the story of Foch’s great drive. 28. Describe the battles of St. Mihiel and the Argonne. 29. Tell of Germany’s downfall. 30. Why did President Wilson go to Europe? 31. Discuss inventions in the war and add to the number given.

Suggested Readings. Dickinson, The European Anarchy; Seton-Watson, The War and Democracy; The War Reader (prose and poetry) Scribner’s; Dodson, Democracy and the War (speeches of Wilson to August, 1918); Powell and Hodgins, America and the League of Nations (speeches of Wilson in Europe); Lloyd George, The Great Crusade; Roosevelt,.America and the World War; Bond, Inventions of the Great War; Kelley, What America Did; Davison, The Red Cross in the War; Hill and Booth, The War Romance of the Salvation Army; Hendrick, "Red Cross Dogs," in Red Cross Magazine for February, 1917; "Pigeons in the War," in New York Times Current History for November, 1918, p. 237; "Preparations for a Battle," in New York Times Current History for November, 1918, pp. 235—236 McKinley, Collected Materials for the Study of the War (211 pages); War Cyclopedia, and Battle Line of Democracy (prose and poetry), Committee on Public Information, Washington.


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© 2001 by Lynn Waterman