July 29, 1918: Don Martin reports Americans 'fighting like demons', and interviews Congressmen at front
Don
Martin diary entry for Monday, July 29, 1918:
Spent most of the day motoring all over the country close to the line
trying to find various headquarters which move nearly every day. Got a splendid
story at the 42nd headquarters about Americans from New York City
and elsewhere – the Rainbow Division – meeting the Prussian Fourth Guard in the
vicinity of Sergy and capturing the village from them. The village changed
hands nine times but the Americans finally held it. I wrote about 1,200 words
for New York and considerable for Paris. Germans seem much upset by the allied
advance and especially by the wonderful showing made by the Americans.
Don Martin continued to report on Americans 'fighting like demons', as well as an interview with Congressmen at the front. Dated Tuesday, July 30, the dispatch was published in the New York Herald on July 31.
AMERICANS, FIGHTING LIKE DEMONS, PLAY HAVOC WITH KAISER’S BEST, TRANSFERRED FROM OTHER FRONTS
Finest of Prussian Guards and Bavarians
Thrown in Vain Into the Battle
GERMANS BROUGHT UP FROM LORRAINE ALSO
Members of Congress at Front Tell Don Martin Their Impressions of Valor of Americans
By DON MARTIN
Special Correspondent of the Herald with the American Armies in France
[Special to the Herald]
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, Tuesday
The best of the Prussian Guards and also of the Bavarians were hurled into the line in the vicinity of Fere-en-Tardenois to check the advance of the Americans, who vanquished all opposed to them. Germans training in Lorraine to participate in the German offensive were timed to start in August, but have entered the line near Sergy.
The Americans swept through the Prussians, who retaliated, used their bayonets, rifles, hand grenades and machine guns. The Americans fought like demons. Compelled to retire, they returned and retook the town.
Fighting was desperate all Sunday night. Yesterday the village was a bloody battleground. The Prussians were ordered to fight to the death. The Americans needed no orders and battles furiously. The German veterans, experienced and trained for years in modern warfare, were outfought.
From a distant hill with a powerful glass yesterday I saw the Americans start to charge the village, their ranks thinned by constant fighting. The boys left a ravine, dashed up the gentle slopes in the midst of artillery play by the enemy. Reaching the crest they encountered machine gun sprays, but continued and disappeared over the crest. I could see no more. The artillery on both sides stopped for fear of killing their own men in the village.
Then I returned to brigade headquarters awaiting messages. They arrived by couriers on motorcycles, who streaked the roads which were hammered constantly by German shells. One bore a note, hurriedly written by the officer in charge, which said:--
“Village changed hands for ninth time; Americans now in possession; will hold.”
That furnished the answer regarding the Americans’ ability to cope with the best Germany produces. They outfought and outkilled them.
Prussian Guard Shattered
Reports reaching here at night indicate that the Prussian Guard has been shattered and is useless for further work for a month. The significance of this lies in the fact that the best German soldiers have been hurriedly used to stay the Franco-American offensive and particularly had been thrown against sectors where Americans had gone ahead relentlessly, threatening a disaster to the Germans along the whole line.
The tenacity of the resistance by the Germans in this region is said to be due to the fact that they have huge stores of ammunition near by and also large guns which are there in preparation for the thunderous assaults which were thwarted by the Franco-American offensive. Tens of thousands of the heaviest shells are there, which the Germans are removing as rapidly as possible.
They left vast stores in the forests south of the Ourcq, where I saw with my own eyes rows of the biggest shells blocks long and six feet high. Here is one of the hundred stories of the Americans at Sergy and other places in the Ourcq region. Private (deleted), a Brooklyn law clerk, said:--
“In one platoon of fifty I was told to take a small building outside of the village of Sergy marked with a red cross. We started and the Germans hit us. Machine guns kept going. The captain suspected that machine guns were in the building we were seeking.
“Two of us reached our destination. The machine guns there were unmanned. We had orders to stay at our objective till relieved. We stuck nine hours and the Germans shot at us, their shells falling everywhere. That is why I am here.”
An officer from New York State was a shining example of the indomitable spirits of the wounded. He reached the Ourcq, was wounded a second time at the crossing, and was knocked unconscious north of the Ourcq.
Another private from Nebraska is in a hospital close to the line. A piece of shrapnel had been driven clear through his hand. The wound was serious, but he gritted his teeth and said, “Yank it out; no anaesthia for me. I want to get back at once.” It was impossible, and he was sent back for operation.
Americans’ Courage Tested
As the fires of war are testing the courage of the Americans one is thrilled with admiration in watching them. It is no exaggeration to say there are no finer soldiers in the world. They had plenty of opportunity this week to show their mettle. They have been in the worst places and seen the cesspools of war at its worst, but none have flinched. To-day I saw three thousand youngsters lying at the edge of a wood, with the enemy a kilometre away, waiting the word to start the charge, smoking cigarettes, napping, joking and actually betting which one would kill the most Huns before evening.
The French are bubbling with admiration of them, but are advising against their overintrepidity, which is magnificent but is uneconomic, especially in a war where numbers are equal to valor. There is a go-ahead spirit to the Americans, whether from Maine or California. They never fail to reach their goal, though the cost is heavy at times.
Members of Congress at Front
To-day close to the front I talked with Representative Clyde Kelly, of Pennsylvania; Thomas A. Chandler, of Oklahoma; Louis C. Cramton, of Michigan; Thaddeus H. Caraway, of Arkansas; John A. Elston, of California; and Joseph B. Thompson, of Oklahoma; also Fred K. Nielsen, of the State Department. They are getting acquainted with the war so they can discuss it understandingly on their return. They rode as far as possible by motor and then were escorted by a young lieutenant. They went where they saw Americans practically ready to enter battle, avoiding the shells striking in the fields.
I talked with Mr. Chandler, who said:--
“The boys are wonderful. They can’t be defeated. I wish the people at home would appreciate fully what they are doing and how nobly they are performing their duty. They will win the war. They are making a big start now. The Americans have made it possible to deliver a blow to the Hun.
“Now they will finish the job. We wouldn’t care if it cost America hundreds of billions. We can afford it, but it is terrible to see the splendid boys dying, which is inevitable in war.
“Tell the boys at home through the Herald that the spirit of ’76 is reincarnated on the fields of France.”
Bavarians as well as Prussians have been rushed to the German line north of the Ourcq. It is impossible to tell where the Germans will make a definite stand. Doubtless they will seek to hold the ridge of hills northeast of Fere-en-Tardenois, but the probability is they will go back to the Vesle. They are holding the line in the vicinity of Soissons and Rheims, which is essential to them; otherwise the armies in the vicinity of the Ourcq would be pocketed. There are picked troops at both ends of the German salient, which is gradually straightening, meaning that hundreds of thousands who might have been prisoners are escaping.
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