"Timely Red Cross Help Saved the Day in Italy"

"IT is not too much to say that a considerable part of the credit for the successful Italian 
offensive this Spring should go to the American Red Cross. . . . The offensive was made possible 
only by the wonderful work which the Americans did in Italy last Winter. . . . The work must have 
been enormously expensive, but it was worth many times what it cost, by its remarkable effect on 
the morale, not only of the people at home, but of the men at the front."

- Colonel John Buchan, one of the Directors of the British Ministry of Information.

Throughout the Fall of 1917 German propaganda had honey-combed the morale of Italy. The spirit
of a great and proud nation was almost broken.

The great Teutonic drive on the Austrian front, made easier by the budding of those seeds of distrust
and discontent, was filling all Italy with homeless, starving and despairing refugees.

That was the crisis that took the American Red Cross to Italy. From that moment its activities
have never ceased.

Within a few hours after the arrival of the first Red Cross men in Rome last November, more than
12,000 refugees from the Venetian plains had been fed with warm, nourishing food - the babies had
milk - and all were provided with warm blankets.

Rolling canteens were dispatched to the front at once in numbers, each one capable of feeding 800 to
1,000 men a day.

More than 267,000 packages were distributed to the soldiers - socks, chocolate, cigarettes and other
useful things to cheer up the men in the trenches.

Hospitals were established - the wounded were given proper care.

Canteens and rest rooms brought needed comforts to traveling soldiers.

Homes were provided for refugees. The children were sent to health centers. More than 13,000 children
were cared for in 82 nurseries.

Relief was distributed to more than 400,000 needy families of soldiers.

Such quickness in getting into action caused the wildest enthusiasm among Italy's troops. IT WAS
A COMPLETE UPROOTING OF THE SEEDS OF GERMAN PROPAGANDA - ITALY WAS AT ONCE CONVINCED THAT AMERICA WAS 
AN ALLY AND WAS GOING TO HER AID.

That result was definitely accomplished by those first Red Cross representatives that went to Italy.

Soon, as a result of Red Cross work among the civil population, letters to the soldiers at the front
contained happy news, glad tidings. Instead of privations and suffering, those letters bore a message of
happiness and comfort among the folks at home.

The effect was magical. THE ITALIAN ARMIES WERE MADE OVER ALMOST IN A NIGHT. They became machines of steel. 
The great Austrian defeat of this year is, MUST BE, a part of the splendid work of the American Red Cross - 
both in the war zone and in the homes of the soldiers who were fighting.

Nearly $8,000,000 was expended till the first of July.

More than $12,000,000 more will be used to December 31st of this year to carry on the wonderful
work which already has such an excellent start and which has borne such remarkable fruits.

In all of Italy there is no institution, no organization, which is held in such reverence, which has 
accomplished such a record of achievement in so short a time.

The work will continue. It is cementing the relations between the United States and Italy in a bond
which will be as effective as even the actual participation of American troops on the Italian front.

BULLETIN No. 2
- issued by the War Council of the American Red Cross, to show the American people how their generous 
contributions are being expended in the interest of humanity.