orded, however, that the
members of these welfare societies have been untiring in their desire to
be of real service to our officers and men. The patriotic devotion of
these representative men and women has given a new significance to the
Golden Rule, and we owe to them a debt of gratitude that can never be
repaid.

COMBAT OPERATIONS

During our periods of training in the trenches some of our divisions had
engaged the enemy in local combats, the most important of which was
Seicheprey by the Twenty-sixth on April 20th, in the Toul sector, but
none had participated in action as a unit. The First Division, which had
passed through the preliminary stages of training, had gone to the
trenches for its first period of instruction at the end of October and
by March 21st, when the German offensive in Picardy began, we had four
divisions with experience in the trenches, all of which were equal to
any demands of battle action. The crisis which this offensive developed
was such that our occupation of an American sector must be postponed.

On March 28th I placed at the disposal of Marshal Foch, who had been
agreed upon as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies, all of our
forces to be used as he might decide. At his request the First division
was transferred from the Toul sector to a position in reserve at
Chaumont en Vexin. As German superiority in numbers required prompt
action, an agreement was reached at the Abbeville conference of the
Allied premiers and commanders and myself on May 2d by which British
shipping was to transport ten American divisions to the British army
area, where they were to be trained and equipped, and additional British
shipping was to be provided for as many divisions as possible for use
elsewhere.

On April 26th the First Division had gone into the line in the
Montdidier salient on the Picardy battle front. Tactics had been
suddenly revolutionized to those of open warfare, and our men, confident
of the results of their training, were eager for the test. On the
morning of May 28th this division attacked the commanding German
position in its front, taking with splendid dash the town of Cantigny
and all other objectives, which were organized and held steadfastly
against vicious counter-attacks and galling artillery fire. Although
local, this brilliant action had an electrical effect, as it
demonstrated our fighting qualities under extreme battle conditions, and
also that the enemy's troops were not