The following citation in Fifth Army Corps General Orders No. 26, dated November 20, 1918, gives a further description of these operations: The Second Division, in line at the launching of the attack, broke through the strong enemy resistance, and, leading the advance, drove forward in a fast and determined pursuit of the enemy, who, despite new divisions hastily thrown in, was driven back everywhere on its front. This division drove the enemy across the Meuse, and under heavy fire and against stubborn resistance, built bridges and established itself on the heights. The cessation of hostilities found this division holding strong positions across the Meuse and ready for a continuation of the advance. An order of the Second Division, dated November 5, 1918, reading in part as follows, tells what occurred subsequent to the first day’s attack: During the night of November 2-3 the Second Division moved forward overcoming the resistance of the enemy’s advanced elements, and at 6 a. m., it attacked and seized the enemy’s line of defense on the ridge southeast of Vaux-en-Dieulet. Late in the afternoon, the enemy, having reorganized his line on the border of Belval Forest, was again attacked and defeated. After nightfall and in a heavy rain, the advanced elements of the division pressed forward through the forest, and occupied a position on the heights south of Beaumont, 8 kilometers in advance of the divisions on our right and left. During the night of November 4-5, the division again pressed forward, occupied Beaumont and Letanne and threw the enemy on its front across the Meuse. An order of the Second Division, dated November 12, 1918, describing the historic crossing of the Meuse River on the night before the armistice became operative, reads as follows: 1. On the night of November 10, heroic deeds were done by heroic men. In the face of a heavy artillery and withering machine gun fire, the Second Engineers threw two foot bridges across the Meuse and the first and second battalions of the Fifth Marines crossed resolutely and unflinchingly to the east bank and carried out their mission. 2. In the last battle of the war, as in all others in which this division has participated, it enforced its will on the enemy. The commanding general of the Fifth Army Corps has this to say about the crossing of the Meuse by the Marines, who were assisted by the Artillery, Engineers, and other troops of the Second Division: Especially I desire to commend the division for the crowning feat of its advance in crossing the Meuse River in face of heavy concentrated enemy machine gun fire, and in driving the enemy’s troops before it, and in firmly establishing itself upon the heights covering the desired bridgehead. This feat will stand among the most memorable of the campaign. With reference to the crossing of the Meuse River the American commander in chief reported as follows: