FOREST TROOPS LOANED 357 



find expression in a degree of caution and control which the impatient 

 Yankee could not understand. The whole French attitude toward the 

 war was different from our own. Wars come and pass, in every genera- 

 tion, but forests remain as a vital element in national economy. 



Notwithstanding procedure that was often cumbersome and delays 

 that were often vexatious, notwithstanding restrictions that at times 

 seemed petty and unnecessary, the American Army, first and last, was 

 amply supplied with timber from the French forests. At no time were 

 the operations of the forest engineers seriously handicapped either by 

 lack of timber or by the requirements which governed its removal. The 

 slowness and conservatism of the French administrative machinery was 

 offset largely by the extraordinary ability and personal force of in- 

 dividual French forest officers. It is to these men who quickly grasped 

 the requirements of the American Army and the American manner of 

 doing things and who found a way through nearly every difficulty that 

 the success in obtaining the standing timber needed for our operations 

 in France was largely due. 



FOREST TROOPS LOANED TO FRENCH AND BRITISH ARMIES 



One of the first acts of the American Government after entering the 

 war was to promise a regiment of lumbermen to the British Army.* 

 Shortly after another regiment was assured tentatively to the French 

 Army, a promise later confirmed and enlarged by the Commander-in- 

 Chief of the Expeditionary Force. The enormous increase in the size 

 of the American forces in France subsequently determined upon, with 

 their corresponding demands for timber, made it impossible to fulfill 

 these agreements until after a fair start had been made toward supplying 

 our own troops with the material essential to their initial operations in 

 France. 



In February, 1918, however, it was possible to assign a battalion of 

 forest troops to each of the French and British forces. The battaUon 

 loaned to the French arrived and was established at operations selected 

 by the Inspector General of the French Timber Service in March, 1918. 

 It functioned as an American unit in all respects except that its forests 

 were provided by the French Government and its products were furnished 

 directly to the French Army. This battalion operated for French re- 

 quirements until February 1, 1919, cutting over 13,000,000 feet of 

 sawed material, 125,000 pieces of round products, and 46,000 cubic 

 meters of fuel wood. Its work elicited the warmest praise from the 

 French Government. 



The battalion assigned to the British Army was torpedoed on the 

 transport Tuscania and was unable to begin lumber manufacture in 



