America's Part in the World War - 1919

Front Cover, America's Part in the World War by Richard F. Beamish and Francis A. March, Ph.D., 1919. GGA Image ID # 1815b321a6

America’s Part in the World War: History of the Full Greatness Our Country’s Achievements. the Record of the Mobilization and Triumph of the Military, Naval, Industrial and Civilian Res0urces of the United States by Richard F. Beamish and Francis A. March, Ph.D. Introduction by General John J. Pershing Commander-in-chief American Expeditionary Forces. Illustrated with Official Photographs. Philadelphia-Chicago: the John C. Winston Company, Publishers.

Preface

America, peaceful, isolated and serene in the midst of international intrigues yet not embroiled in them, suddenly found itself in August, 1914, an international power.

Although it did not enter the World War until April 6,1917, its destiny was fixed when Gavrilo Prinzep on June 28, 1914, shot and killed the heir to the throne of Austria- Hungary and Sophia Chotek, his morganatic wife.

At first the web of circumstance binding the United States to the rest of the world as the consequence of that deed was gossamer fine. With German rapine in Belgium, the sinking of the unarmed Lusitania, the destruction of American lives and property through German plots and the growth of Teutonic militarism into a cloud that shadowed and menaced civilization, the filaments of the web grew into ropes and cables of steel drawing us irresistibly into the world conflict.

This book tells the story of that web and how America acquitted itself therein. Deeds are more eloquent than words. America’s entrance tipped the scales against Germany; but the decision came after England and her great colonies, heroic France, Belgium, Italy and Russia had held the Teutonic coalition to a stalemate on the blood-soaked fields of Europe.

America’s share in the triumph of an idealistic civilization over a militaristic autocracy is told in these pages in narrative form. Every deed that is recited, every sacrifice that is set forth finds its warrant in the official records of the Great War.

The reading of this book is urged by the head of the American Expeditionary Forces, General Pershing, as a patriotic privilege and duty upon every American.

The examples of those glorious dead whose blood hallows the wheat fields at Château-Thierry, the dark depths of Belleau Wood and the forest of the Argonne must create in generations of Americans yet to be born ideals of democracy and of sacrifice that will continue the United States of America in the van of civilization.

Authoritative documents and maps aid the reader in following the tremendous world changes achieved through America’s magnificent adventure in the cause of international liberty. Official photographs illuminate the text and carry the reader into the scenes where men’s souls were tried in the fiery crucible of war.

Letter From John J. Pershing To Mr. [Richard] Beamish Dated 9 May 1919 Accepting the Author's Request To Write an Introduction to the Upcoming Book, America's Part in the World War. GGA Image ID # 18163cb4e5

Contents

Introduction by General John J. Pershing

I. America Remakes the World
A Sword Unsheathed for Democracy’s Sake—Autocracies Crumble—Old Nations Disappear—New States Take Their Place—The Map of the World Torn Apart and Reshaped—America Strikes the Deciding Blow—Tribute of Marsha! Foch— The Return of General Pershing and the Famous First Division

II. Signs Before the Storm
Americans Caught in the Whirlpool of the World War—List of War Declarations and Severance of Diplomatic Relations—Attempts to Keep America Out of the War Unavailing—Torpedoing of American Vessels—The Diabolical Destruction of the Lusitania—Nation-wide Rage Aroused by Germany’s Ruthless Act

III. America Strikes
Germany Renews Submarine Warfare—Von Berastorff Sent Home—The German* Mexican Plot—Germany's Offenses Against the United States—President Wilson Calls the Nation to War—America United in Patriotism—Scenes Surrounding the Declaration of War

IV. Conscription of a Peaceful Nation
The Die Cast for Selective Service—How the Drafts were Made—The Greatest Nation in the World Under Arms

V. Transforming Citizens Into Soldiers
A Modern Miracle that was Enacted Almost Over Night—The Story of the Cantonments—The Lessons Learned in the Great War Applied in American Camps

VI. Before America’s Entrance
Survey of the Military Actions of the World War from August, 1914, to April, 1917—Invasion of Belgium—The Marne—The Aisne—Campaign in the East— Tannenberg—Neuve Chapelle and Ypres—Verdun—Japan takes Tsing-Tau— Italy’s Aid—The War in the Orient—-Gallipoli—Germany’s Lost Colonies—The Plight of Serbia and Romania—The Jutland Battle

VII. "Lafayette, We Are Here”
General Pershing and the First American Expeditionary Force Arrive in France— Doughboys Train in the Sector Made Sacred by Joan at Arc—Welcome of Our Troops in France and England

VIII. America’s Opening Gun
Troops from the United States Fire the First Shots and Suffer the First Casualties— Taking Over the Sector Northwest of Toul—American Engineers to the Rescue— Anxious Days When Hope Was at its Lowest Ebb—British and French Forced Bade by Great Enemy Drives—Germans Halt Before Amiens

IX. America’s First Attack
Cantigny Taken by Americans in a Surprise Attack—The Doughboy’s Baptism of Fire—Yankee Courage and Dash Tested—A Clean-Cut Victory That Came in the Allies’ Darkest Hour—London Prophesies “ Cantigny Will One Day Be Repeated a Thousand Fold”

X. America’s Glory at Château-Thierry
Stopping the German Rush Forty Miles From Paris—The Second Battle of the Marne, in Which the Yanks Outfought the Teutons—Marines and Regulars Strike at Château-Thierry and Neuilly—The Story that Will Live in Letters of Flame Forever—Routing the Huns from Bideau Wood and Bourraches—Secretary Daniela’ Tribute to the Marines

XI. America the Deciding Factor
More than One Million Troops in all Services Ready in France—Vaux Captured by Americans—The Back at Germany’s Great Offensive Broken—Composition of Three American Army Corps

XII. America’s Counter-Offensive
French and Americans Strike Hard on the Mame-Aisne Front—Teutons Driven Bad: Ten Miles—Germans Retreat to the Vesle—Allies Astride the Ourcq— Plisarais Recaptured—Fiâmes Evacuated by Enemy

XIII. The Allied Tide Sweeps On
French and Americana Cross the Vesle—British, under Haig, Drive Back the Enemy Many Miles—Montdidier Recaptured—Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth Divisions Smash the Hindenburg Line—Bapaume and Permute Fall—Americans and Australians Form Firm Friendship

XIV. American Army Organized
The American Expeditionary Forces Ready to Act Independently—Five Army Corps Planned, to be Welded Into One Great Army Under Command of General Pershing—Organization Upon the Most Modern Lines—Arrangement by Army Corps as Made Just Before the Grand Assault in the St. Mihiel Salient

XV. The Battle of St. Mihiel
America Strikes Alone—The Great Salient that Defied the French and British Wiped Out by the First American Army under Direct Command of General Pershing —America Accomplishes the Impossible Within a Few Hours—A Victory of American Dash and Efficiency—A Hundred and Fifty Square Miles Wrenched from German Hands—Foch Congratulates Pershing

XVI. Germany in Full Retreat
Thirty Thousand Prisoners and Vast Quantities of Munitions Captured by French and Americans—Germans in Panic Abandon Old Positions—American Divisions with the British in the Battle for the Possession of Cambrai and St. Quentin— Germany Begins to Totter when Bulgaria Sues for Peace—The Collapse of the Enemy in the Balkans

XVII. The Argonne: America’s Greatest Battle
The Natural Fortresses in German Hands Since 1914 are Stormed by Americans— A Forest Drenched with Blood—The Terrain Worse Than That of the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War—Dugouts of Permanent Concrete Construction, lighted with Electricity, Taken in the Irresistible Onslaught—Sergeant York’s Spectacular Exploit—The Lost Battalion—General Pershing’s Story of the Fighting—Forty- seven Days of Heroism and Sacrifice Rewarded

XVlII. Saving the Wounded and Sick
Medical Department of the United States Army makes a Glorious Record -- Fifteen percent of all American Doctors Enlist for Active Service—Caring for Mea in Camps and on the Battlefield—Fighting the Influenza Epidemic—Heroic Service of the Nurses—Reconstruction Work for Soldiers, Sailors and Marines—The American Army Hospital in France a Model City of Six Hundred Buildings

XIX. All America Mobilized
Commission on Training Camp Activities—The American Red Cross—Young Men’s Christian Association—Young Women’s Christian Association—Knights of Columbus—Jewish Welfare Board—Salvation Army—Colored Agencies

XX. American Women in the War
Women’s Advisory Committee—A Network Reaching Into Every American Home— Home Conservation Helps to Win the War—Food—Gardens—Registration of Women—Americanization Through Women’s Division on Patriotic Education- Women in the Liberty Loan Campaigns

XXI. The Navy in the War
Marvelous Expansion of Our Sea-Fighting Forces—America’s Destroyer Program— Manning Merchant Ships with Naval Guns and Crews—The American Navy Rushes to the North Sea—“We Are Ready Now”—Outwitting the German Submarines—Maintaining the Blockade—American Vessels Sunk by the Enemy— Commander Ghent's Graphic Story

XXII. The Story of the Marines
A Service That Makes the Highest Demands Upon Its Recruits—Activities—Honors —Casualties—Tributes from France—The Glorious Record Undimmed by Defeat .

XXIII. An Avalanche of Munitions
Powder—Shells—Poison Gas—T.N.T.—Guns—Sights and Fire Control Apparatus—The Machine Gun an American Invention—Rifle Production—Development of the Grenade—“Tanks”—America One Great Hive of War-Making Industry

XXIV. Fighting the War on American Farms
The Importance of the Farmer—Food a Winning Factor—The Tractor, Father of the “Tank”—The Food Administration—War Bread—Price Fixing—Meatless and Wheatless Days—“Every Garden a Munition Plant”

XXV. Supplies for Overseas
Transportation of the Army, its Munitions and other Supplies, Under the Efficient Direction of General March—American Transportation Genius Astonishes the World —President Wilson Assumes Control of the Railroads—Thousands of Motor Trucks Built for the Army—Over Four Hundred Locomotives and Six Thousand Freight Cars Shipped to France—French Roads Rebuilt from American Quarries— American Construction Work in France—Shipments of Troops and Cargo—Losses at Sea

XXVI. Goal and Gasoline Help to Win the War
Fixing the Price of Coal—Stimulating Production—The Fuel Administration— Workless Mondays—The Gasoline Shortage—Gasless Sundays

XXVII. A Bridge of Ships
The United States Comes to the Aid of the Despairing Allies with a Great Shipbuilding Program—Over a Billion Dollars Appropriated by Congress for Construction—Standardized and Fabricated Vessels—America Resumes its Maritime Importance—Hog Island and Other Great Yards Work Night and Day—Manning the Vast Fleet Prepared Under Direction of the Shipping Board

XXVIII. Death from the Sky
America, Mother of Aviation, Send Fliers to France Before the Arrival of the Doughboy—An Aviation Program that Terrified Germany—The Iafayette Escadrille—The Air Force at Château-Thierry, at St. Mihiel and the Argonne—Aerial Combat—The Liberty Motor—Airplane Armament—The Aces

XXIX. American Business Men in the War
Conscripting the Brains of the Republic—Dollar-a-Year Men—Council of National Defense—War Industries Board—National Research Council—Committee on Labor—Efficiency that Won the War

XXX. How America Raised Funds
America Lends Money with a Lavish Hand—Liberty Loans and War Saving Stamps—Treasury Certificates—Turning a Nation's Cost to Thrift

XXXI. Labor in the War
Patriotism Beyond Precedent—A Conference in Which Labor Pledged its Utmost Effort to Win the War—The Pledge Redeemed—Socialists, Loyal and Otherwise— Labor Adjustment Bureau—Labor Program of the Treaty of Peace

XXXII. American Heroes
Congressional Medals for the Fighting Men, the Highest Form of Recognition Established by the United States Government—Full List of the Valiant Soldiers, with Stories of their Deeds—Six Americana Win the Victoria Cross

XXXIII. With the Americans in Siberia
Battling Against Russian Bolshevist Troops—The Doughboy in the Blizzard-Swept Wastes of the Arctic Region—The Work of the Czechoslovaks—The Inside Story of the Russian Revolution—Execution of the Czar-Rise of Lenine and Trotsky—The Peace of Brest-Litovsk

XXXIV. Alien Property Seized
America’s First Alien Property Custodian—Transforming German Wealth in the United States Into American Shells—Unprecedented Confiscation of Millions of Dollars

XXXV. Paving the Way for an Armistice
The Central Powers, Facing Defeat, Plead for a Peace Conference—Austria- Hungary Makes the First Overture—America Returns a Flat Refusal—German Morale Breaks—Prince Max Becomes Chancellor, Displacing Von Herding— President Wilson’s Fourteen Points of Peace—The Five Points of His Liberty Loan Address

XXXVI. Victory in Sight
Grand-Pré and Clery-le-Grande Captured by Americans—Allies Strike in the North—Laon, La Fère, Lille, Douai, Bruges and Ostend Evacuated by the Enemy—Doughboys Sweep Over Fifty-Mile Front Above Verdun—Sedan the Last Battle-ground of the Yanks in the Great War—Canadians in Mona—Maubeuge Falls—The White Flag on the Balkan Front—Austria’s Emperor Abdicates— Germany’s Greatest Ally Collapses

XXXVII. Germany Surrenders
Prince Max Asks President Wilson to Conclude Peace on the Basis of Hi« Fourteen Points—Exchanges of Notes—President Finally Refers Germany to General Foch for Terms—Plenipotentiaries Arrive in France—False News of an Armistice Arouses Tremendous Celebration in the United States—Real Armistice Comes on November 11th—Abdication of the Kaiser

XXXVIII. With the Army of Occupation
Terms Imposed Upon the Central Powers—The Text of the Turkish Armistice—The Austrian Armistice—The German Armistice—The Kaiser's Great Fleet Interned by Allies and Scuttled by the Germans—The March of the American Army to the Rhine—Greeted by Thousands of Cheering People in Luxemburg—Americans Enter Germany December 1st—They Cross the Rhine on December 13th—Coblenz Bridgehead Occupied—Demobilization of American Forces—Berlin Newspaper Man Gives His Impressions of Americans in Occupied Territory

XXXIX. Aftermath of the War
Sale of Equipment and Property of the American Expeditionary Forces on French Soil—Disposal of Material Accumulated in Cantonments and Storehouses— Re-employment of Soldiers—Adjustment of Labor Conditions—Dr. Taylor's Report on Conditions in Europe—The High Cost of Living—The Air Route to Europe—Prohibition—America Emerges Serene Out of the Maelstrom of War

XL. The Treaty of Peace with Germany
The Historic Conference in Paris—President Wilson's Visit to Europe—The Signing of the Treaty at Versailles—Objections Raised to Some of the Clauses in America— Full Text of the Covenant of the League of Nations—What Germany Loses by the Treaty

XLI. The American Legion
Soldiers and Sailors of the World War Organize—Ideals for Which America Fought Preserved for Posterity

XLII. The Record of the Divisions
The Day-to-Day Story of Each American Division from the Moment of Organization Until the March to the Rhine or Demobilization—Composition of the Divisions —Regular Army, National Guard and National Army—Commanding Generals— Insignia—Advances and Captures—Casualties—Distinguished Service Crosses Awarded—Work of the Combat Divisions in Each Sector—Record of the Formation of Other Divisions Denied Action by the Surrender of the Enemy

Chronology of American Operations in France
Prepared by General Peyton C. March, and Included in His Report to the Secretary of War

Library of Congress Catalog Listing

• Personal name: Beamish, Richard J. (Richard Joseph), 1879-
• Main title: America's part in the world war; a history of the full greatness of our country's achievements; the record of the mobilization and triumph of the military, naval, industrial and civilian resources of the United States, by Richard J. Beamish and Francis A. March, PH.D.; introduction by General John J. Pershing; illustrated with official photographs.
• Published/Created: Philadelphia, Pa., Chicago, Ill., The John C. Winston company [c1919]
• Description: 3 p. l., ix-xvi, [2], 19-608 p. incl. illus., plates, ports., maps, facsim., diagrs. col. front., 3 col. pl. 24 cm.
• LC classification: D570 .B4
• Related names: March, Francis Andrew, 1863-1928, joint author.
• LC Subjects: World War, 1914-1918--United States.
• LCCN: 19017595
• Other system no.: (OCoLC)3499067
• Type of material: Book