Hundred Days : The Campaign That Ended World War I (9780465074907) by Lloyd Nick

Author:Lloyd, Nick [Lloyd, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780465074907
Publisher: Perseus Book Group

In the dark we tried to find roads that were no longer there, over grades, around shell holes and booby traps. Never knowing when an enemy shell would make a direct hit, and when it sometimes did it was goodbye for everyone. Ours was the heavy ammunition, 155s. 6 inch, weighing 80 lbs each. You can imagine what an explosion a truck load would make when hit. Once one of the drivers in my convoy got off to take a short walk to answer the call of nature, and his truck was hit in his absence.32

On the fourth day of the offensive the French Premier, Clemenceau, had, rather unwisely, decided to take a look for himself and ordered his chauffeur to drive up to Montfaucon. Needless to say, he did not reach his destination, but got stuck in massive logjams on the muddy roads leading up to it. Clemenceau was horrified at the scenes he had witnessed, complaining bitterly to Foch and muttering darkly about petitioning the President to replace Pershing.

On 29 September – the day the British would cross the Saint-Quentin canal – Pershing was forced to suspend active operations in the Meuse–Argonne. It was a bitter humiliation for a man who had long been convinced that only his army could unlock the stalemate on the Western Front. Indeed, it was rapidly becoming clear that a new approach, new tactics and new objectives would be needed if Pershing was to prevent his army from getting sucked into the kind of inconclusive and agonizing attritional struggle that he had long feared. A report by the Inspector-General of First Army revealed numerous problems, including a communication breakdown between units, and a shortage of rifles, gas masks and helmets. A lack of tank support compounded matters. The offensive had only been allocated 189 light French tanks; within ten days only eighteen were still functioning.33 Lacking the amount of firepower that the Allies were able to throw at enemy defences, and the sophisticated logistical system that supported it, the Americans were forced to rely on their manpower. Yet, as had been proved time and again, throwing men at barbed wire under fire would not do. This was tough; it made the Wilderness look like a walk in the park.

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