OVERVIEW:
OUT TO WIN by Coningsby Dawson is a historical account first published in 1918. This book explores America's involvement in World War I, specifically focusing on the efforts and sacrifices made by American troops in France. The author, an Englishman who lived in the United States, shares his experiences and observations of American soldiers, their spirit, and the growing bond between America and its Allies during the war. The opening of the book introduces a reflection on the prevailing attitudes of various nations as they confront the realities of war. Dawson critiques those who spread discord between England and America, noting the importance of unity in the face of shared adversity. He describes the determination of American soldiers as they prepare to contribute to the Allied effort, emphasizing their commitment and the transformative power of their journey from civilians to engaged fighters. The author captures the essence of the American spirit during this tumultuous time, showcasing optimism, a sense of duty, and the desire for a just resolution, all while pledging not to withdraw until victory is achieved.
The following excerpt from OUT TO WIN is titled II. WE’VE GOT FOUR YEARS:
II. WE’VE GOT FOUR YEARS
The American troops have set words to one of their bugle calls.
These words are indicative of their spirit—of the calculated determination with
which they have faced up to their adventure: an adventure unparalleled for
magnitude in the history of their nation.
They fall into two ranks. They tell off from the right in fours.
"Move to the right in fours. Quick march," comes the order. The
bugles strike up. The men swing into column formation, heads erect and picking
up the step. To the song of the bugles, they chant words as they march.
"We've got four years to do this job. We've got four years to do this
job."
That is the spirit of America. Her soldiers give her four years,
but to judge from the scale of her preparations, she might be planning for
thirty.
America is out to win. I write this opening sentence in Paris,
where I am temporarily absent from my battery, that I may record the story
of America's efforts in France. My purpose is to prove with facts that America
is in the war to her last dollar, her last man, and for just as long as Germany
remains unrepentant. Her strength is unexpended; her spirit is un-war-weary. She has a more efficient manpower for her population than
any nation that has yet entered the arena of hostilities. Her resources are
continental rather than national; it is as though a new and undivided Europe
had sprung to arms in moral horror against Germany. She has this to add
fierceness to her soul—the reproach that she came in too late. That reproach is
being wiped out rapidly by the scarlet of self-imposed sacrifice. She did come
in late—for that very reason she will be the last of Germany's adversaries to
withdraw.
She did not want to come in at all. Many of her hundred million
population emigrated
to her shores out of hatred of militarism and to
escape from just such a hell as is now raging in Europe. At first it seemed a
far cry from Flanders to San Francisco. Philanthropy could stretch that far,
but not the risking of human lives. Moreover, the American nation is not
racially a unit; it is bound together by its ideal quest for peaceful and
democratic institutions. It was a difficult task for any government to
convince so remote a people that their destiny was being made molten in the
furnace of the Western Front; when once that truth was fully apprehended, the
diverse souls of America leapt up as one soul and declared for war. In so
doing, the people of the United States forewent the freedom from fear that they
had gained by their journey across the Atlantic; they turned back in their
tracks to smite again with renewed strength and redoubled hate the old brutal
Fee-Fo-Fum of despotism, from whose clutches they thought they had escaped.
America's is the case of The Terrible Meek; for two and a half
years she lulled Germany and astonished the Allies by her abnormal patience.
The most terrifying warriors in history have been peace-loving nations hounded
into hostility by outraged ideals. Certainly no nation was ever more
peace-loving than the American. To the boy of the Middle West, the fury of
kings must have read like a fairy tale. The appeal to armed force was a method
of compelling righteousness, which his entire training had taught him to view
with contempt as obsolete. Yet never has any nation mobilized its resources
more efficiently, on so titanic a scale, in so brief a space of time to
re-establish justice with armed force. The outraged ideal that achieved this
miracle was the denial by the Hun of the right of every man to personal
liberty and happiness.
Few people guessed that America would fling her weight so utterly
into the winning of the Allied cause. Those who knew her best thought it
scarcely possible. Germany, who believed she knew her, thought it least of all.
German statesmen argued that America had too much to lose by such a
decision—too little to gain; the task of transporting men and materials across
three thousand miles of ocean seemed insuperable; the differing traditions of
her population would make it impossible for her to concentrate her will in so
unusual a direction. Basing their arguments on knowledge of the deep-seated
selfishness of human nature, Hun statesmen were of the fixed opinion that no
amount of insult would compel America to take up the sword.
Two and a half years before, those same statesmen made the same
mistake with regard to Great Britain and her Dominions. The British were a race
of shopkeepers; no matter how chivalrous the call, nothing would persuade them
to jeopardize their moneybags. If they did for once leap across their counters
to become Sir Galahads, then the Dominions would seize that opportunity to
secure their own base safety and to fling the Mother Country out of doors. The
British gave these students of selfishness a surprise from which their
military machine has never recovered when the "Old Contemptibles"
held up the advance of the Hun legions and won for Europe a breathing space.
The Dominions gave them a second lesson in magnanimity when Canada's lads built
a wall with their bodies to block the drive at Ypres. America refuted them for
the third time when she proved her love of world liberty greater than her
affection for the dollar, bugling across the Atlantic her shrill challenge to
mailed bestiality. Germany has made the grave mistake of estimating human
nature at its lowest worth as she sees it reflected in her own face. In every
case, in her judgment of the two great Anglo-Saxon races, she has been at fault
through overemphasizing their capacity for baseness and underestimating their
capacity to respond to an ideal. It was an ideal that led the Pilgrim Fathers
westward; after more than two hundred years, it is an ideal that pilots their
sons home again, racing through danger zones in their steel-built greyhounds that
they may lay down their lives in France.
In view of the monumental stupidity of her diplomacy, Germany has
found it necessary to invent explanations. The form these have taken as regards
America has been the attributing of fresh low motives. Her object at first
was to prove to the world at large how very little difference America's
participation in hostilities would make. When America tacitly negated this theory by the energy with which she raised billions
and mobilized her industries, Hun propagandists, by an ingenious casuistry,
spread abroad the opinion that these mighty preparations were a colossal bluff
that would redound to Germany's advantage. They said that President Wilson had
bided his time so that his country might strut as a belligerent for only the
last six months and so obtain a voice in the peace negotiations. He did not
intend that America should fight and was only getting his armies ready so that
they might enforce peace when the Allies were exhausted and already counting on
Americans manning their trenches. Inasmuch as his country would neither have
sacrificed nor died, he would be willing to give Germany better terms;
therefore, America's apparent joining of the Allies was a camouflage that would
turn out an advantage to Germany. This lie, with variations, has spread beyond
the Rhine and gained currency in certain of the neutral nations.
Four days after President Wilson's declaration of war, the
Canadians captured Vimy Ridge. As the Hun prisoners came running like scared
rabbits through the shellfire, we used to question them as to conditions
on their side of the line. Almost the first question that was asked was,
"What do you think about the United States?" By far the most frequent
reply was, "We have submarines; the United States will make no
difference." The answer was so often in the same formula that it was
evident the men had been schooled in the opinion. It was only the rare man of
education who said, "It is bad—very bad; the worst mistake we have
made."
You can find the complete eBook edition of OUT TO WIN by Coningsby Dawson at: https://tinyurl.com/226yvw7y
Complete World War One works of author Cotter Bass and Moonsadow Publishing: https://tinyurl.com/4v68wcy8
Complete works of Cotter Bass and Moonshadow Publishing:
https://moonshadow-publishing-shop.fourthwall.com
Next time: THE RED BATTLE FLYER by Captain Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen (The Red Baron) . . . . .
Never miss a new Post! Scroll down to the lower left sidebar to enter your email address for your FREE subscription. You’ll get every new Post from ww1 FRAGMENTS sent straight to your inbox.
Comments