had
been fighting, immediately returned to their base, and resumed work
laying out trenches. General Rawlinson, Commander of the British army at
that point, sent the commanding officer of the Americans engaged, the
following letter:

The army Commander wishes to record officially his appreciation of the
excellent work your regiment has done in assisting the British army to
resist the enemy's powerful offensive during the last ten days. I fully
realize that it has been largely due to your assistance that the enemy
has been checked, and I rely on you to assist us still further during
the few days that are still to come before I shall be able to relieve
you in the line. I consider your work in the line to be greatly enhanced
by the fact that for six weeks previous to your taking your place in the
front line your men had been working at such high pressure erecting
heavy bridges on the Somme. My best congratulations and warm thanks to
all.
RAWLINSON.

The demoralization of General Gough's Fifth army, which had thus left an
eight-mile gap on the left, and which had been saved at that point by
General Carey, permitted also the opening of another gap between its
right wing and the Sixth French army. Here General Fayolle did with
organized troops what Carey had done with his volunteers further north.
The reason for the success of both Carey and Fayolle appears to have
been that the German armies had been so thoroughly battered that they
were unable to take advantage of the situation. Their regiments had been
mixed up, their officers had been separated from their men in the rush
of the attack, and before they could recover the opportunity was lost.

The first days of April saw the end of the drive toward Amiens. The
Germans claimed the capture of ninety thousand prisoners and one
thousand three hundred guns. They had penetrated into the Allies'
territory in some points a distance of thirty-five miles. Their new line
extended southwest from Arras beyond Albert to the west of Moreuil,
which is about nine miles south of Amiens, and then went on west of
Pierrepont and Montdidier, curving out at Noyon to the region of the
Oise.

The first part of April was a comparative calm, when suddenly there
developed the second drive of the German offensive. This drive was not
so extensive as the first one, and its object appeared to be to break
through the British forces in Flanders and reach the Channel ports. It
resulted in a salient