the deliberations of the War Council, and following the suggestion of
General Pershing, General Foch was made Commander-in-Chief of the Allied
Armies. General Foch was Commander of the French troops at Verdun and a
recognized authority on military strategy.

While the problem of solving the military phases of the situation was
being considered by the Allied War Council the Russian forces under
Kerensky and those under Trotzky, known as the Bolsheviki, clashed again
and again at Petrograd, Moscow and other points, and the hope of the
Allies as to any help from Russia sank. Germany entered into a peace
compact with Ukrainia, and the hand of the Kaiser was seen in the
Russian situation when officers of the German Army were reported in
Petrograd in conference with the representatives of the various Russian
factions. Russia suggested a separate armistice, or a separate peace,
against which both the U.S. and France protested.

The failure of the Russian Government to assume any degree of stability
made it possible for the Germans to withdraw many troops and transfer
them to the Italian and Western Fronts.

One result of the Allied War Council deliberations was to show the
necessity of rapid action on the part of the United States and get
troops into France so that they might take over a definite sector. While
it was estimated that several hundred thousand Americans were in France,
the necessity for a larger force was made apparent by the statement that
90 reserves are required for every 400 fighters on the line.

DROPPED THEIR TOOLS FOR RIFLES.

The first bitter attack in which American troops figured was when a
company of United States engineers, caught between cross-fires, dropped
their tools for rifles and joined the English troops in helping to
repulse the Germans near Cambrai.

A notable event in the progress of the war was the declaration of war
upon Austria by the U.S. on Dec. 8, 1917, Congress adopting a resolution
of war with but one dissenting vote.

Events which brought the seriousness of the war home to America began at
this point to occur rapidly. First the Torpedo Boat Destroyer Jacob
Jones was sunk in the war zone when nearly 30 men were reported lost.
This was followed shortly by a report to the War Department that 17
Americans caught in the cross-fire by the Germans at Cambrai were
missing or killed. The report of the sinking of the Alcedo, a patrol
boat, with the loss of several officers, was also r