Not only did these
American soldiers hold the German onslaught where it was but, in a
sudden, fierce, resistless counter-thrust they drove back in defeat and
confusion the Prussian Guard, the Pommeranian Reserves, and smashed the
morale of that German division beyond hope of resurrection.
The news of that exploit sped from the Alps to the North Sea Coast,
through all the camps of the Allies, with incredible rapidity. "The
Americans have held the Germans. They can fight," ran the message. New
life came into the war-weary ranks of heroic poilus and into the
steel-hard armies of Great Britain. "The Americans are as good as the
best. There are millions of them, and millions more are coming," was
heard on every side. The transfusion of American blood came as magic
tonic, and from that glorious day there was never a doubt as to the
speedy defeat of Germany. From that day the German retreat dated. The
armistice signed on November 11, 1918, was merely the period finishing
the death sentence of German militarism, the first word of which was
uttered at Chateau-Thierry.
Germany's defiance to the world, her determination to force her will and
her "kultur" upon the democracies of earth, produced the conflict. She
called to her aid three sister autocracies: Turkey, a land ruled by the
whims of a long line of moody misanthropic monarchs; Bulgaria, the
traitor nation cast by its Teutonic king into a war in which its people
had no choice and little sympathy; Austria-Hungary, a congeries of races
in which a Teutonic minority ruled with an iron scepter.
Pages:
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36