Recruiting, training, equipment and supply of this large force was a task without parallel in the history of the Corps. It was conducted with an energy and ability that reflected the utmost credit upon Marine Corps Headquarters--Major General George Barnett, Commandant; the Assistant Commandants, first General John A. Lejeune, afterwards Brigadier General Charles G. Long; Brigadier General Charles H. Lauchheimer, Adjutant and Inspector; Brigadier General George Richards, Paymaster; Brigadier General Charles L. McCawley, Quartermaster; and others on duty at posts and in the field. What they did in France was only one phase of the operations of the Marines. They were employed in practically every area in which the Navy operated--on battleships in the North Sea, on cruisers in the Asiatic; in Haiti, Santo Domingo and Cuba, and the isles of the Pacific. In fact, they claim the honor of firing the first shot of the war in the far distant island of Guam, where a Marine fired on a motor-launch which was trying to get to the German ship _Cormoran_ with the news of the declaration of war before an American naval officer could reach that vessel and demand its surrender. That was the only German vessel in our territorial waters which we did not get. Her crew blew her up, and a number of her officers and men went down with the vessel. Wherever they were, these Soldiers of the Sea, upon whom Uncle Sam has called so often when he had a duty to perform anywhere in the world--these men who, in many conflicts, have been the "first to land and first to fight"--served well and added fresh laurels to those so often won in the long history of the Corps. They may be pardoned for singing with a will their marching song: If the Army and the Navy ever look on Heaven's scenes, They will find the streets are guarded by United States Marines. CHAPTER XIX THE ANSWER TO THE 75-MILE GUN GERMAN LONG-DISTANCE FREAK STOPPED BOMBARDING PARIS WHEN NAVAL RAILWAY BATTERIES ARRIVED--MANNED BY NAVY CREWS, HUGE 14-INCH GUNS OPERATED WITH FRENCH AND AMERICAN ARMIES--ADMIRAL PLUNKETT IN COMMAND--MOST POWERFUL ARTILLERY USED BY ALLIES ON THE WESTERN FRONT. "Paris bombarded!" was the news that shocked the world on March 23, 1918. Two days before the Germans had begun their great drive for the Channel ports. Their armies to the north were breaking through the Allied defenses, taking one position after another. But their nearest lines were nearly seventy miles from Paris. No gun known would shoot half that distance. How could they be shelling the French capital?