1042 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Dizicr, which saved this important nucleus of roads and 

 railways and enabled us to prevent the Boche from reach 

 ing the Marne from above Vitry-le-Francois. 



To the west the army of von Kluck, seeking to isolate 

 the bulk of the French army in front of the capital and 

 thinking to enter Paris without striking a blow, appeared 

 to forget the dense defensive screen constituted by the 

 forests of Villers-Cotterets and of Compiegne. Thanks 

 to this the army of Manoury accomplished its rapid move- 

 ment and fell upon the left flank of the German army. 

 Paris, one can say without exaggeration, was saved the 

 first time by its forests. 



It is thanks to these again in July, 1918, that Marshal 

 Foch, supporting himself on the projections of the forest 

 of Villers-Cotterets and of Campiegne worked out the 

 offensive that later developed into the brilliant victory 

 that we admire today, and that gave our arms the decision 

 in this unforgettable campaign. The great forests of Retz 

 (Villers-Cotterets) and Guise (Compiegne) advanced 

 bastions in the defense of the entrenched camp of Paris 



If we look at things from the point of view of the 

 enemy, we see that the important forests of Saint-Gobain 

 permitted him to retard the victorious advance of our 

 troops and to defend the important stronghold of Laon, 

 which made a deeper and deeper pocket in our steadily 

 advancing line. In front of Mangin's army the German 

 retreat was favored by the wooded nature of the country 

 which is covered by a dense screen of forest. The move- 

 ment of transportable material and of enemy units was 

 well protected by the shade of our forests, behind which 

 the Boche found a protective shelter. And if one stops 

 to look at the map, without which one may easily go 

 astray, he will find between the Sambre and the Moselle 

 the immense screen of forests which succeeded in 1914 

 in masking the concentration of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th 

 German armies. 



According to General Malleterre : "North of the Oise, 

 the Serre, and the Aisne, the forests of Mormal, Nouvion, 

 Richeval, Signy Mazarin, Saint-Pierre Mont, and Dieulet, 

 the woods of the northern Argonne to the north of 



*.. 



A WOODED SECTION OF THE BRITISH FRONT IN FLANDERS 



Here is a photograph which shows the effect of sustained shell fire on a section of wooded country. It shows British troops advancing over newly 



captured ground from which the Huns have been driven by artillery fire. 



permitted the Generalissimo and his lieutenants to 

 mass fresh divisions and important groups of artillery 

 out of sight of the enemy's aviators. The latter sought 

 to jump the gap at Soissons between Compiegne and 

 Villers-Cotterets. From the forests of Compiegne, of 

 Pierrefonds, and of Villers-Cotterets our counter attacks 

 issued in force, consciously supported by artillery well 

 secreted from all indiscreet reconnaissance. Paris was 

 saved again! The capital may well be grateful to the 

 forests that surround it. 



Grandpre, then to the east of the Meuse the forest of 

 Woevre, the woods of Damvillers and the forest of 

 Moyeuvre, surrounding Briey, form an almost continu- 

 ous cover on the accentuated hills. The great wooded 

 region of the Ardennes shows itself in the north, between 

 the Sambre and the Meuse, as an extended mass of 

 sombre woods the forests of Trelon and Saint Michel. 

 East of the Meuse the forests spreads out indefinitely 

 over the vast plateau of the Ardennes up to Moselle. 

 Mons, Maubeuge, Mezieres, Sedan, Montmedy, Longwy, 



