Former Czar Nicholas of Russia was executed by the Bolsheviki in July, 1918, having been held as a prisoner since his dethronement.

[Illustration:  BATTLE LINE ON THE WESTERN FRONT AUGUST 21,

Shaded portions of map show territory gained by American and Allied troops during July and August, 1918.  Most of the territory gained by the Germans in their 1918 offensive was recaptured by the Allies before September 1, 1918.]

CHAPTER III

AMERICANS AT CHATEAU THIERRY

Personal Accounts of Battle—­Gas and Shell Shock—­Marines Under Fire—­Americans Can Fight and Yell—­Getting to the Front Under Difficulties—­The Big Day Dawns—­The Shells Come Fast—­A Funeral at the Front—­Impression of a French Lieutenant—­ Keeping the Germans on the Run._

The name of Chateau Thierry will be long remembered in the United States, for it was there the American fighting quality was for the first time clearly impressed upon the Germans, to their immense astonishment, and with far-reaching effect.  The German people and the German army had been told that the United States had no army, navy, or fighting quality; that the talk of an American army in Europe was “Yankee bluff,” and nothing more; that even if we could raise an army we could not send it across the ocean, first because we had no ships, second because if we had ships the submarines of Germany would surely sink them.  Yet here at Chateau Thierry they were confronted by United States troops and soundly beaten.

That effect upon the Germans was in itself of tremendous significance; but the historic effect was greater, and will grow in importance with the passage of time, for it is a fact, unperceived by onlooking nations at the moment, that it was the turning point of the war; and that the turning was accomplished by troops of a nation that hated war and was supposed to be incapable of military development; and that these troops had met and whipped the choicest troops of a power that above all things was military, that had assumed proprietary rights in the art of war, and believed itself invincible.

Late in February, 1918, General Ludendorff had told a Berlin newspaper correspondent that on the first of April he would be in Paris.  It was inconceivable to the Germans that with the thorough preparation of a mighty army for an offensive that by sheer weight of numbers should drive through an opposition twenty times as strong as that which then confronted them, they could not with ease push in between the French and British forces, thrust straight through to Paris (as a spectacular performance rather than a vital military operation), and then walk over to the channel ports of France and bring both France and England to a plea for mercy.

From the 21st of March until along in May, 1918, it looked as though they might succeed.  That is, to anyone unaware of the strategy of Marshal Foch, who sold terrain by the foot for awful prices in German lives, and held an unbroken front until such time as American forces could be brought into action, instead of wearing out his reserves and weakening his power for an offensive.