everest losses, has proved incapable of
stemming the onslaught of our troops, fighting for liberty side by
side with French, British and Italian veterans. In the course of
the operations, 8,400 prisoners and 133 guns have been captured by
our men alone. Our troops have taken Fismes by assault and hold the
south bank of the Vesle in this section."

On August 8, the British and French launched an offensive in Picardy,
pressed forward about seven miles on a front of 20 miles, astride the
river Somme and captured several towns and 10,000 prisoners. It was in
this engagement that the hard fighting at Chipilly Ridge occurred, in
which the Americans so ably assisted, notably former National Guardsmen
from Chicago and vicinity. Montdidier was taken by the French August 10.
The British also continued to advance and by the 11th the Allies had
captured 36,000 prisoners and more than 500 guns. A French attack August
19-20 on the Oise-Aisne front, netted 8,000 prisoners and liberated many
towns. On the 21st Lassigny was taken by the French. This was the
cornerstone of the German position south of the Avre river. On August 29
the Americans won the important battle of Guvigny. By September 2 the
Germans were retreating on a front of 130 miles, from Ypres south to
Noyon. By the 9th the Germans had been driven back to the original
Hindenburg line, where their resistance began to strengthen.

On September 12 the American army, led by General Pershing, won a great
battle in the attack on and wiping out of the famous St. Mihiel salient.
This victory forced the enemy back upon the Wotan-Hindenburg line, with
the French paralleling him from Verdun to the Moselle. Pershing's forces
continued fighting steadily, wearing out the Germans by steady pressure.
On September 26 the Americans began another offensive along a front of
20 miles from the Meuse river westward through the Argonne forest. This
developed into one of the bloodiest battles of the war for the
Americans. On September 29 American and British troops smashed through
the Hindenburg line at its strongest point between Cambrai and St.
Quentin. British troops entered the suburbs of Cambrai and outflanked
St. Quentin. Twenty-two thousand prisoners and more than 300 guns were
captured. Meanwhile the Belgians tore a great hole in the German line,
ten miles from the North sea, running from Dixmude southward.

On October 3 the French launched three drives, one north