he molding together of all of the elements
of a great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our
own Service of Supply. The concentration for this operation, which was
to be a surprise, involved the movement, mostly at night, of
approximately 600,000 troops, and required for its success the most
careful attention to every detail.

[Illustration: Photograph]
Copyright Committee on Public Information.
THE AMERICAN COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF IN THE FIELD
Photograph of General John J. Pershing just after he had been
decorated with the Star and Ribbon of the Legion of Honor of France,
the highest decoration ever awarded an American soldier. General
Pershing was raised to a full generalship soon after his arrival in
France, an honor which has previously been held only by Washington,
Grant, Sherman and Sheridan.

[Illustration: Photograph]
NOTED AMERICAN GENERALS
General March is chief of staff of the American Army,
Lieutenant-Generals Liggett and Bullard commanded the First and Second
Armies respectively, and Major-Generals Wright and Read are corps
commanders.

The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army
artillery, with its personnel, and we were confident from the start of
our superiority over the enemy in guns of all calibers. Our heavy guns
were able to reach Metz and to interfere seriously with German rail
movements. The French Independent Air Force was placed under my command
which, together with the British bombing squadrons and our air forces,
gave us the largest assembly of aviation that had ever been engaged in
one operation on the western front.

From Les Eparges around the nose of the salient at St. Mihiel to the
Moselle River the line was roughly forty miles long and situated on
commanding ground greatly strengthened by artificial defenses. Our First
Corps (Eighty-second, Ninetieth, Fifth, and Second divisions) under
command of Major-General Hunter Liggett, restrung its right on
Pont-a-Mousson, with its left joining our Third Corps (the Eighty-ninth,
Forty-second, and First divisions), under Major-General Joseph T.
Dickman, in line to Xivray, were to swing in toward Vigneulles on the
pivot of the Moselle River for the initial assault. From Xivray to
Mouilly the Second Colonial French Corps was in line in the center and
our Fifth Corps, under command of Major-General George H. Cameron, with
our Twenty-sixth Division and a French division at