=No Equipment for Gas Troops.= About the first of December a cablegram was received from the United States stating that due to lack of equipment the various regiments of special engineers recently authorized, including the 30th (Gas and Flame) would not be organized until the spring of 1918. An urgent cablegram was then sent calling attention to the fact that gas troops were not service of supply troops but first line fighting troops, and consequently that they should be raised and trained in time to take the field with the first Americans going into the line. At this same time the 30th regiment was given early priority by the General Staff, A. E. F., on the priority lists for troop shipments from the United States. The raising of the first two companies was then continued under Colonel Atkisson at the American University in Washington. About January 15 word was received that the Headquarters of the regiment and the Headquarters of the First Battalion together with Companies A and B of the 30th Engineers (later the First Gas Regiment) were expected to arrive very soon. Some months prior General Foulkes, Chief of the British Gas Service in the field, had stated that he would be glad to have the gas troops assigned to him for training. It was agreed that the training should include operations in the front line for a time to enable the American Gas Troops to carry on gas operations independently of anyone else and with entire safety to themselves and the rest of the Army. Due to the fact that the British were occupying their gas school, the British General Headquarters were a little reluctant to take the American troops Feb. 1. However, General Foulkes made room for the American troops by moving his own troops out. He then placed his best officers in charge of their training and at all times did everything in his power to help the American Gas Troops learn the gas game and get sufficient supplies to operate with. Colonel Hartley, Assistant to General Foulkes, also did everything he could to help the American Gas Service. These two officers did more than any other foreign officers in France to enable the Chemical Warfare Service to make the success it did. =Second Battle of the Marne.= The Chief of the Gas Service, following a visit to the British Gas Headquarters, and the Headquarters of the American 2d Corps then operating with the British, arrived on the evening of July 17, 1918, at 1st Corps Headquarters at La Ferte sous Jouarre about 10 miles southeast of Château-Thierry.