Don Martin diary entry for Wednesday, July 31, 1918:  Did not start out today till noon. Went with [Edwin] James [New York Times] as usual. Went to Marigny where we and other correspondents saw General [Jean] Degoutte, commander of Sixth French army. He told us he was proud to be general of an army in which are Americans. Said they make ultimate victory possible. Told us all plans of French for immediate future. Said Germans had planned to take both sides of the Marne and make that the path of their march to Paris. Saw him in a chateau which was built in the thirteenth century. Afterwards went to the corps headquarters but Col. Williams was out. Returned at five in the afternoon. Wrote considerable for Paris and about 500 words for New York.       Don Martin's report on the briefing by General Degoutte, dated Wednesday, July 31, was published in the Paris Herald on August 1. He was not allowed to name General Degoutte, but was allowed to name General Baillo

Don Martin diary entry for Tuesday, July 30, 1918:  Had a busy, exciting and thrilling day. Saw an air fight; visited the Bois de Chatelet and saw the big steel emplacement of the German gun which was used for remote firing, perhaps the bombarding of Paris; saw a cloud of gas rise nearby which caused everyone to put on his gas mask. We, in an automobile ( [Edwin] James [New York Times] and I), went at a 60-mile an- hour clip and just missed the cloud by a few hundred feet; but we had our masks on anyhow. Got a good story about the Prussian resistance to the American advance. The Americans are going ahead, but more slowly. Wrote 4500 word cable for New York on the big gun and about 1,200 on the general situation.       Don Martin wrote an extended dispatch, dated Wednesday, July 31, about the hard-fought battle to take the village of Sergy. It was published in the New York Herald on Thursday, August 1. OUR MEN FIGHT AS THEY PLAY FOOTBALL, SAYS DON MARTIN;  KEEP