American troops parade in Paris, July 4, 1918.

American Troops in Parade — Paris — 4th of July 1918 A.P.



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Thursday, July 4, 1918

"On July 4, [1918,] American Independence Day, as the culmination of a nation-wide shipbuilding 'crusade' to build transport ships for the needs of the Western Front, ninety-five ships were launched in American shipyards, seventeen of them in San Francisco. That day, President Wilson declared in a speech at Mount Vernon that the Allies had four main aims: the 'destruction of arbitrary power', national self-determination, national morality to be like individual morality, and the establishment of a peace organisation to prevent war.

American troops were in action [on] the Somme on July 4, alongside the Australians, when more than a mile of ground was gained, the village of Hamel was captured, and 1,472 German soldiers were taken prisoner. It was during this attack that the first airborne supply to troops in battle took place, when British aircraft dropped 100,000 rounds of ammunition to the Australian machine gunners."

Quotation Context

After four German offensives in 1918, the last ending on June 16, the Allies were anticipating a fifth. It would come on July 15. The Somme River sector had seen the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and Operation Michael, the first of the 1918 German offensives.

Source

The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 437, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994

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1918-07-04, Paris 1918-07-04, 1918, July, Independence Day,