Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/860

646 General History of Europe here all the battles in which they fought valiantly, side by side with the French or British, as the hosts of the enemy were rapidly pushed back. In the middle of September the Americans dis- tinguished themselves by taking the St. Mihiel salient and bring- ing their lines within range of the guns of the great German fortress of Metz. Reenforcing the British, they performed prodi- gies of valor in the capture of the St. Quentin canal tunnel far to the north, where thousands of lives were sacrificed. In the Argonne Forest, and especially in the capture of Sedan, on November 7, the United States troops played a conspicuous part. In the months from June to November, 1918, the battle casualties of the American expeditionary forces killed, wounded, missing, and prisoners amounted to about three hundred thousand. 1166. Conditions in Russia. On the other fronts the fortunes of war were turning in favor of the Allies. Germany, instead of being able to get supplies from demoralized Russia, met resistance at every point. The people of the Ukraine resented her domina- tion and began to look to the Allies to assist them in forming their new republic. In Finland civil war raged between the "White Guard" (Nationalist) and the "Red Guard" (Bolshevik), while English and American troops on the Murmansk coast to the north cooperated with the anti-Bolsheviki to oppose the extremists then in power. At Vladivostok, far away across Siberia, English, Japanese, and American forces landed with the object of working westward through Siberia and, -as they hoped, restoring order. Among the enemies of the Bolsheviki was a Czechoslovak army, composed of former Austrian subjects, who had deserted to fight in Russia for the Allies. 1167. Bulgaria capitulates (September 29, 1918). As a part of the great forward movement organized by General Foch, the combined Serbian, Greek, English, and French forces in the Balkans once more became active in Serbia and rapidly pushed back the Bulgarians, who, with the help of the Germans and Austrians, had overrun the country three years before. Neither Germany nor Austria were in a position to send aid to their ally,