. When Johnny comes marching home . ho have been living on themap for four years, have had that sharppoint in the front piercing our hearts as wellas our eyes all these long months. To thenorth and east the line had wavered, butSt. Mihiel held, and so long as it did noAllied offensive was possible between theArgonne and Lorraine. Early this month the most casual studentof the war maps could see that with theFrench at Les Eparges and the Americansat Pont aux Moussons, St. Mihiel was threat-ened with encirclement, and that its fall,either by evacuation or by a tremendousbattle, was inevitable. T
. When Johnny comes marching home . ho have been living on themap for four years, have had that sharppoint in the front piercing our hearts as wellas our eyes all these long months. To thenorth and east the line had wavered, butSt. Mihiel held, and so long as it did noAllied offensive was possible between theArgonne and Lorraine. Early this month the most casual studentof the war maps could see that with theFrench at Les Eparges and the Americansat Pont aux Moussons, St. Mihiel was threat-ened with encirclement, and that its fall,either by evacuation or by a tremendousbattle, was inevitable. The result was halfone, half the other — the Germans made afighting retreat, In which they got away agreat part of their big guns, but only at theexpense of much hard fighting. I have always told you that In this war weAmericans appear as a lucky people. Againthe times give It proof. There has beenonly one big battle of Chateau-Thierry, andonly one taking of St. Mihiel, and both arescheduled as great American victories, — [ 64 ]. When Johnny Comes Marching Home picturesque, decisive victories, which haveimpressed the French civilians as much as,if not more than, any other events in the war,except the rising up of Belgium. The battleof Chateau-Thierry and the fighting advanceup the Vesle were a series of hard-foughtbattles, with tragic ups and downs — thebaptism of fire of many of the boys from theStates. St. Mihiel, even more decisive, wasquick and sharp. The attack began at fouroclock in the morning of the I2th, and onthe morning of the next day we knew thatthe attacking armies — French and Ameri-cans— had joined hands east of St. Mihielthe night before. Cant you imagine the mo-ment when the two armies sighted eachother? I have not seen the French so stirredby anything since the war began. No onetalked of anything else, especially when theafternoon communique announced that theAmericans were already at Thiaucourt. Do you wonder that everybody speaks ofnothing but the
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
