it and straight in everything, and pure and clean through
and through. Let us set for ourselves a standard so high that it will
be a glory to live up to it and add a new laurel to the crown of
America. My affectionate confidence goes with you in every battle and
every test. God keep and guide you!"

WOODROW WILSON.

THE CAPTURE OF DUN

After the Americans had cleared the Saint Mihiel salient, Marshal Foch
gave them a task which was probably the most difficult and dangerous of
the whole war. They were to move north and west along the Meuse River
through the Argonne forest to Sedan. There they would cut one of the
two main communication lines of the Germans, the loss of which would
mean to them disaster and rout.

Just before the signing of the armistice on November 11, the Americans
reached Sedan after fighting from September 26 over an almost
impassable country with few roads and against the strongest forces the
Germans could muster. For four years the Germans had been fortifying
this part of the line in every possible way, for they realized the
danger to them of a successful advance along the Meuse from Verdun to
Sedan. The railroad through Mezieres, Sedan, and Montmedy was called
in a German order "our life artery." To cut it meant death to the
German army.

The Argonne forest is a very dense growth of trees and underbrush
covering a chain of hills running north and south. It is very
difficult for a large army to advance and be supplied with food and
munitions without good roads over which to move, and all the roads in
this region are poor and, with very few exceptions, run east and west.

The Americans, twenty-one divisions or about 750,000 men, took part in
the action. They were obliged to move through the valleys above which,
on the hillsides, the Germans had stationed innumerable machine guns
and light artillery.

"It was bitter fighting in the woods, brush and ravines, over a region
perfectly registered and plotted by the enemy, where his guns, big and
little, could be used with the greatest efficiency. The original nine
American divisions in some cases were kept in the line over three
consecutive weeks. The American reserves were then thrown in until
every division not engaged on another part of the line had been put in
action.

"It is a fact commented on with pride by the American commanders and
complimented by the allies that seven of these divisions that drove
their way through th