Don Martin diary entry for Tuesday, July 23, 1918:
Didn’t go out till afternoon. [F. J.]
Taylor of the U.P. went along with [Edwin] James [New York Times] and
me. Visited headquarters of the 6th French army in a chateau at
Marigny which has been badly damaged by shell fire. Then went to the
headquarter of the 26th division which are in a series of farm
buildings on Picardy Farm. Were occupied as a regimental headquarters by the
Germans three days ago. Roads congested with soldiers, wagons, camions,
artillery, mostly Americans in this region which is northwest of Château-Thierry. Rainy and muddy. Saw tons German foodstuffs, thousands German shells
which were abandoned in the hasty German retreat to escape being caught by the
pressing Franco-American-British lines. Never saw such wrecks as some of the
villages hereabouts are, especially Vaux, Torcy, Belleau, Etripilly. Germans
retreating rapidly. Americans and French chasing them. Germans sure to make a
stand soon when there will be a smashing battle. Germans may give allies a hard
blow but I think the allies will be able to hold. This is one of the greatest
crises of the war. It thwarts the plans of the Germans to start a gigantic
attack on a front before Paris. Wrote 1,000 words for Paris and about 600 for
New York. Censorship very strict. We can send nothing which can possibly give
the Germans knowledge of French plans.
Don Martin reported on the German retreat and the American role in a dispatch dated July 23, which was published in New York Herald on July 24.
Franco-Americans Clip Black Eagle’s Talons in Their Drive Across Marne
General Foch Is National Hero, Yankees Are Idolized,
Says Don Martin
HUNS ARE DEFINITELY PLACED ON DEFENCE
Feats of Bravery in Fighting Between Soissons
and Château-Thierry—A
Texas Unit’s Experience
By DON MARTIN
Special Correspondent
of the Herald with the American Armies in France
[Special Cable to the
Herald]
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, Tuesday
Germany’s only chances of possible victory have vanished.
Her failure to check the allied offensive up to this
date—the fifth day—is convincing. To-day she is a dwindling power of
resistance. Her failure to checkmate General Foch is proof that Von Hindenberg,
Ludendorff and other German militarists, whom the world once was led to believe
were the masters of strategy, are outmatched by the man who is the idol of
France and the chief of the allied armies.
The German armies under the Crown Prince are in a most
dangerous position. The French, British, Italians and Americans are bending the
German line southwest of Rheims, while the Franco-American forces are making a
deep gash in it south of Soissons.
It is likely that the allied advance on the entire
Soissons-Rheims salient soon will reach all its objectives.
Meanwhile the Germans are putting up a desperate resistance,
and Prussian, Bavarian and Saxon troops are being madly thrown into all
sections to meet the resistless charges of the Allies, who aim at pinching off
the salient, so that the enemy in the entire region will be enfolded.
Withdrawing South of Fismes
All the territory from Fismes southward to Château-Thierry
and the Marne is under evacuation by the enemy. Since Château-Thierry was
evacuated last Saturday night a score of villages directly north of that place
have been emptied of Hun forces. Indeed, the wholesale exodus of Germans in the
entire region south of Fismes appears imminent. General Foch is progressing in
this direction in spite of the violent opposition of the Germans in rear guard
actions, fought apparently to give time to the main enemy forces to establish a
new line on the Aisne.
There will be weeks perhaps before General Foch’s brilliant
operation, in which the American troops are having such a glorious part, comes
to an end. And with it goes the last enemy hope of capturing Epernay and
Chalons.
French patrols already have proceeded to points several
kilometres north of the Marne. They report that the Germans are gone from the
districts to which they penetrated.
The extent of the surprise to the enemy caused by the allied
attack has been disclosed by the prisoners, who have been coming back in
constant streams and who now number well above twenty thousand. They say that
the German troops were bewildered and that even their officers were frightened
at the intensity of the allied attack.
American Airmen Report Flight
American airplane observers with whom I talked to-day
corroborate these reports and say that there was pandemonium in the ranks of
the enemy when they felt our hammer blows. They added that there is a great
enemy rush northward of guns, soldiers and supply trains, and that they are
certain that the Huns are moving out of the salient and with no intention of
returning in the near future. That they are taking their big ordnance with them
is proved by the fact that the German heavies, which usually are bellowing at
American targets, were silent yesterday and to-day.
The next few days will be crucial, it is believed here. It
is regarded as almost certain that the boche will attempt counter attacks. That
he has many divisions available somewhere is known—divisions he intended to use
in his own offensive. Of these he used probably a score. The effectiveness of
the latter, however, has been destroyed, at least temporarily. The resultant
lowered morale of the Germans, brought about by the terrific slaughter of the
enemy by the French and Americans, has meant the drawing of the Hun’s talons.
Henceforth he will be forced to remain on the defensive
General Foch National Idol
The French are buoyed up with a magnificent hope. They heap
words of affection on General Foch and express their fondest admiration for the
Americans, who unquestionably are the idols of all France.
Paris Praises American Troops
The deeds of the American troops south of Soissons and along
the Marne are being printed in all the Paris newspapers, which comment on this
proof that the soldiers of the Western Republic are fighters equal to those of
any nation. When this is considered in the light of statements made a year ago,
or even as late as six months ago, it is realized that American participation
in the war is more than a potential, it is a vital factor. At first it was said
that the United States would not be able to have an army of any consequence in
the field in a year. It was then that Germany planned her supreme offensive
blow, which has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of her soldiers,
knowing that her only chance to win was in winning before American became a
power.
Now America is a factor. Perhaps she is THE factor that
thwarted Germany’s well laid plans, for American soldiers stood like stone
walls at points where a break in the line meant the gravest kind of a disaster
for the allied cause. Many of our men died, but none of them turned back. In
the battles they gave the most exalted examples of heroism and showed a valor
that was never excelled. Germany was balked in one of her grandest operations
while America was just beginning to show her strength.
If Germany is unable to drive her way to Paris now, what
will be her chances when American troops are in the front lines in double their
present number?
The opinion is general that while Germany is by no means
whipped and that her military machine remains undestroyed, she has passed the
zenith of her powers and is bound to slip steadily to defeat.
Americans “Get There”
Americans are fighting at various points at the front and
continue to reach all the goals set for them in their schedule of operations. A
French general, surveying the American record, said: --
“It is amazing how the American soldiers fight. If you tell
a hundred of them to take a building filled with blazing rifles, they will take
it. Perhaps only one or two of them would get there, but they would take the
building.
“It is hard to understand how it is that such spirits grow
amidst a nation which is devoted to peaceful life.”
Apropos of what this General said to me, I repeat another story
of a company of American soldiers that was cut off from its regiment. It was
essential that a message be sent to its commander, but to do this it was
necessary to cross a space two kilometres deep which was under a strong fire.
Four couriers started out with this message, but none of them returned.
Volunteers were asked for and the youngest, who was unknown to his comrades,
stepped out and said he would go.
He started with the despatch, and, froglike, jumped from
shell hole to shell hole. He was four hours covering the distance, but he
delivered the message and returned to his comrades, saving the company.
What the Texans Did
Another husky soldier who hails from Bowie, Texas, was one
of a detachment of twenty men who rushed and took a German gun in a piece of
wood, while bullets fell around them and some of them dropped. I heard the
story to-day.
“We advanced in the face of a savage fire from German
machine guns. A sergeant chum of mine was killed next to me and two comrades
whom I loved were knocked down. We kept going, however, and two of us reached
the Huns, who, seeing that they would be killed, shouted “Kamerad!” Then
Germans began to bob up in the woods. There were at least a dozen of them. They
had expected to get away while we captured one of them, I guess. None of those
Germans now are left.”
“Tough war,” I said.
“Yes,” he replied, “but remember, we have got to lick them.”
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