=248. Battle of the Argonne.= Many large battles were fought by the Americans, besides the smaller clashes that occurred. The greatest one was in the Argonne Forest. This was a half-mountainous, woody country, much of which was covered with underbrush. The Germans had fortified it strongly. Besides their great cannon, they had filled the Argonne with nests of machine guns, placing them in gullies and behind trees, stumps, and rocks, for protection. Here too, they had their best fighting men. The battle started on September 26. This was the most bloody fighting of the war. Companies and regiments were cut off and lost for a time. The Germans were bound to hold the forest, and the Americans were bound to win it. Gradually the Germans were forced back, thousands were captured, and thousands more were killed. They could not stem the American tide. After many days of hard fighting in which the Americans proved themselves fully equal to the best shock troops of the German army, victory fell to the better army. [Sidenote: =Allied victories on all fronts=] The storm was just breaking loose on Germany. The combined navy of the Allies was choking out her life in spite of the submarines. The English in Asia were capturing the strongholds of the Turks, and the Italians now were gaining against the Austrians. Calamities came fast. Bulgaria, an ally of Germany, surrendered. Turkey followed. The hungry people of Germany began to plot revolution against their rulers, and the armies were retreating toward the Rhine. =249. The Kaiser Runs Away.= Seeing that his cause was lost, the German ruler, the Kaiser, gave up his throne and fled to Holland. The German generals agreed to an armistice November 11, 1918, by which they gave up much fighting material and moved back many miles across the Rhine into their own land. [Sidenote: =The bravery of ordinary men=] =250. American Soldiers in Battle.= The American doughboys were splendid fighters. The officers had to check the rash daring of their men, they did not need to urge them forward. The Americans were drilled in methods of attack rather than defense, from the start. A joking comment was made that it took only half as long to train American troops as it did others, because they only had to be taught to go one way. The ordinary American showed what courage lay behind the quiet round of his peace-time life. Our soldiers were clean and full of high spirits, and they were keyed to the most stubborn efforts by knowing that they were not fighting in a selfish cause. They "fraternized" famously with the French children of the villages. [Sidenote: =Work of the Peace Conference=] =251. The Treaty of Peace.= After the armistice, the nations which had won the victory planned to meet at Paris to make a treaty of peace. President Wilson went over to France to take part in this meeting.