In this spirit, it is true, that the great tide in the allied fortunes which began at Château-Thierry and swept higher and higher until the Germans had been smashed in the second battle of the Marne, did put a new complexion on the war. The battle definitely robbed the German offensive of its threat. Paris was saved, in all human probability, from ever coming into danger again during the course of the war. Nevertheless, it is far-fetched to take the attitude that the war had already been won early in August. It was evident by this time that the German Army had suffered a great defeat. Perhaps a great disaster would be better. And yet other armies have suffered great disasters and grown again to power and success. The plight of the Germans was certainly little worse than that of the Italians after the German offensive, and yet everybody knows that the Italian Army came back from that defeat to final victory. Morale is subject to miracles, and soldiers can be born again. There might have been combinations of circumstances which would have permitted the German Army to recover from its fearful defeat and find again its old arrogance and confidence. Only it had no rest. It is fitting, then, that the men of all the armies who completed the downfall of the Germans in the marvellous campaigns at the close of the year 1918 should have due credit. Their work was also decisive. No one can tell what would have happened to the German Army if it had not been subjected to the steady pounding of the allied armies. No attempt will be made here to estimate the relative importance of the work done by the various allied armies in the closing campaigns of the war. This is an interesting, although somewhat ungrateful, task for military experts. In this account we are dealing simply with the fortunes of the American Army. It might not be amiss to suggest that the final victories of the war were won by team-play, and that in such combinations of effort the praise should go to all, just as the labor does. There need be no controversy, however, about the battle of St. Mihiel. This was an American action. It was under the command of General Pershing himself, and his forces were made up almost entirely of Americans. The French acted in an advisory capacity, and we were dependent, in part, upon them for certain material. General Pershing in his official report says: "The French were generous in giving us assistance in corps and army artillery, with its personnel." We were also under obligation to the French for tanks, but here they were not able to assist us so liberally, because they had barely enough tanks for their own use. One of the surprising features of the St. Mihiel victory is that it was achieved with comparatively slight tank preparation.