Here and
there there were little outbursts of cheering, but even those instances
were not on the immediate front.
Many of the French soldiers went about singing.
"Well, I don't know," drawled a lieutenant from Texas while the
artillery was sending its last challenge to the Germans, "but somehow I
can't help wondering if we have licked them enough."
The Germans were manifestly so glad over the cessation of hostilities
that they could not conceal their pleasure. Prisoners taken at Stenay
grinned with satisfaction. Their demeanor was in sharp contrast to that
of the American doughboys who took the matter philosophically and went
about their appointed tasks.
In the front line it was the same. The Americans were happy, but quiet.
They made no demonstrations. The Germans, on the other hand, were in a
regular hysteria of joy. They waited only until nightfall to set off
every rocket in their possession. In the evening the sky was ablaze with
red, green, blue and yellow flares all along the line.
Flags appeared like magic over the shell-torn buildings of Verdun,
French and American colors flying side by side.
In every village, even those from which the Germans had been driven,
there were flags and decorations which were brought up to the front by
the soldiers. In the villages back of the line there were impromptu
celebrations and the civilians in holiday spirit saluted the Americans,
shouting "the war is finished.
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