hout in the least detracting from the
just fame of other Allied commanders--as Pershing, Haig, Allenby, Diaz
and others. When the war opened, Germany had much to say about her
unconquerable army; her generals were supposed to be superior in a
military way to any others. The war showed that other soldiers were just
as brave, other generals just as able. The fetish of German military
invincibility was early overthrown.

AMERICAN ASSISTANCE.

No American can read the story of the part America took in the war
without experiencing a glow of patriotic feeling. Every Allied nation
can say the same thing. We came late into the struggle, but no nation in
history ever made such wonderful preparation for war as did our country
in the eighteen months that elapsed from the declaration of war to the
signing of the armistice. Our preparations in France, representing only
a part of our total effort, were on such an enormous scale, that neutral
nations--as Sweden and Spain--sent trusted officials to investigate if
it were possibly true that America was making such colossal
preparations; could it be that men by the hundreds of thousands were
disembarking on European soil every week? Were such forces drilled? Were
supplies sent them? It was almost unbelievable. Surely, it must be
American brag. They came, they saw, they departed convinced but in
bewildered wonderment. It was the slowly growing realization of what
this preparation meant that spurred Germany on during the early summer
of 1918. But it was too late. Already the handwriting of defeat was
outlining in letters of fire on the wall.

AGAIN THE MARNE.

May 27, 1918, the Germans opened a drive towards Paris. It resulted in a
deep bulge in the line from Rheims west to Soissons, once more the
German line in that section had reached the Marne. It was a time of
great anxiety in the Allied world. The German tide was rolling on about
seven miles a day toward Paris about fifty miles distant to the
southwest. The German commanders felt sure of success and were talking
about the "strong German peace" they would enforce. The war minister
assured the Reichstag that they must exact at least $50,000,000,000 as
indemnity, while their economic writers devised an elaborate plan
whereby all the trade of the world was to pay tribute to Germany. It
was another case of "Thus far and no farther."

CHATEAU THIERRY.

Chateau Thierry was a thriving city, about 6,000 in population, on the
Marn