ver his blow on the right flank of the German salient. The line
chosen for the Allied assault was located between a point south of
Soissons and Chateau-Thierry. It represented a front of some twenty-five
miles extending southward from the valley of the Aisne to the Marne.
Villers-Cotterets Forest was the key position for the Allies.

It was from out that forest that the full strength of the blow was to
be delivered. To make the blow effective at that most vital point,
Marshal Foch needed a strong and dependable assaulting force. He needed
three divisions of the hardest fighting soldiers that he could get. He
had a considerable army to select from. As Commander-in-Chief of all the
Allied armies, he was in command of all of the British army, all of the
French army, all of the American army, the Italian, the Belgian,--all of
the military forces of the Allied nations of the world. Marshal Foch's
command numbered eleven million bayonets.

The Commander-in-Chief had all of these veteran fighting men from which
he could select the three divisions necessary to deliver this blow upon
which the civilisation of the world depended.

The first division he chose was the Foreign Legion of the French army.
In four years of bloody fighting, the Foreign Legion, composed of
soldiers of fortune from every country in the world, had never been
absent in an attack. It had lived up thoroughly to its reputation as the
most fearless unit of shock troops in the French army.

And then for the other two divisions that were needed, Marshal Foch
selected, from all the eleven million men under his command, the First
and the Second Regular United States Army Divisions. The Second Division
included the immortal Brigade of United States Marines, that had covered
themselves with glory in the Bois de Belleau.

It was a great distinction for those two American divisions to have thus
been selected to play such a vital part in the entire war. It was an
honour that every officer and man in both divisions felt keenly.

I have in my map case a torn and much folded little piece of paper. I
received it that night of July 17th in Villers-Cotterets Forest. A
similar piece of paper was received by every officer in those two
American divisions. To me this piece of paper represents the order which
resulted in victory for the Allied world. It reads:

_Headquarters Third Army Corps American Expeditionary Forces_,

_France, July 17, 1918_

_Memoran