preciate the necessity of sacrificing everything to the
tonnage necessary to transport American soldiers to France. After long
hesitation they agreed to a pooling of Allied tonnage for this purpose.
Most of the Allied ships ultimately furnished the United States were
provided by the British, whose transports carried a million American
troops to France. French and Italian boats transported 112,000; our own
transports, 927,000.

Thus by relying largely upon the shipping assistance of our associates in
the war we were able to respond to the demands of General Pershing and,
later, Marshal Foch. And thus came about the extraordinary development of
our military programme from the thirty to the eighty and one hundred
division plans, which resulted in tremendous confusion, but which also
ultimately ensured Allied victory in 1918. Until the end of the year
1917, we had put into France only 195,000 troops, including 7500 marines,
an average of about 28,000 a month. From December to February the average
rose to 48,000; from March to May it was 149,000; and from June to August
it was 290,000 men a month. During the four months from May to August
inclusive, 1,117,000 American troops were transported to France.

Altogether about two million Americans were sent to France, without the
loss of a single man while under the escort of United States vessels. No
navy troop transports were torpedoed on east-bound trips although three
were sunk on the return trip with loss of 138 lives. To the American and
British navies must go the credit for carrying through this stupendous
feat, and in the work of assuring the safety of the troop transports the
navy of the United States may claim recognition for the larger share,
since 82 per cent of the escorts furnished were American cruisers and
destroyers. It was a nerve-racking and tantalizing experience--the troop
ships sailing in echelon formation, preceded, followed, and flanked by
destroyers; at night every glimmer of light eclipsed, the ships speeding
ahead in perfect blackness, each inch of the sea swept by watchful eyes
to discover the telltale ripple of a periscope or the trail of a torpedo,
gun crews on the alert, depth bombs ready. Nor was the crossing anything
like a vacation yachting cruise for the doughboys transported, packed as
they were like sardines two and three decks below the waterline, brought
up in shifts to catch a brief taste of fresh air, assailed at once by
homesickness, seasi