Don Martin diary entry for Thursday, July 4, 1918:
With Lieut. Hartzell, [Edwin] James [New York Times] went to Paris to
see the Fourth of July celebration. Saw the marines march down the Champs
Elysees. Had luncheon at Cafe de Paris with James and Cameron Mackenzie [London Chronicle]. Left
Paris at 5 o’clock by automobile to return to Meaux. Was invited to motor up to
Amiens to see Lloyd George review an American division but decided it was wiser
to return to our own front.
Once American troops began to land in
France, it was recognized that reporting on what was happening to American
troops as they fought in France could be a major factor in maintaining the
support for American involvement in the war as the losses rose. Don Martin
played his part fully. An example is his “plea”
to Americans to “tip your hats” on
American Independence Day, which, as he noted in his diary, he
wrote on Tuesday, July 2. It was published in the New York Herald on July 4,
highlighted in a special text box.
BARE HEADS TO FREEDOM'S CRUSADERS,
DON MARTIN'S PLEA FROM BATTLE FRONT
[Special
Cable to the Herald.]
BY DON MARTIN
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE
In celebrating Independence Day in
the United States, do not forget to pay a tribute to the men who are fighting
for that independence thousands of miles froth home. They have had an
opportunity to show their mettle, and they have demonstrated that they are of
the same stuff as their fathers in '61 and of their ancestors who made
Independence Day the greatest of all days--the most solemn occasion in American
life.
I have seen Americans from all parts of our
nation in the front line and away back of these lines. Every one of them is
doing his "bit," and all of them are animated by the same spirit. All
of them are serving for one purpose—to make Independence Day a day that will be
observed by the whole civilized world.
Tip your hats to the units which
already have had their baptism of fire—which have been in the inferno of
artillery, where the thunder of big guns is punctuated by the metallic rattle
of rapid firers.
Casualties have been inevitable, but our men
have shown a valor that is worthy of the very highest traditions of the United
States army.
In this connection I need only to mention the
names of Bouresches and Belleau Wood, of Torcy and Vaux. There our soldiers
added brilliant chapters to the history of American warfare.
Some of them were only in their teens. None of
them had ever seen such warfare. All of them entered the maelstrom with the
calmness and coolness of tried veterans. They made records which are already
earning rewards of honorable distinction.
What was true of them will be true of
all our men, for every man in our armies is made of the same stuff, all cast in
the same mould.
Everywhere in France July 4 will be
celebrated. Statesmen, generals and men who are distinguished in all spheres of
French life are eager to make the day one that will long be remembered
throughout France. Further, it will furnish another enduring link in the chain
which unites the two countries—the United States and France.
A year ago America was generous
with promises sincerely made. Now she has to her credit brilliant achievements
in the field of battle. Further, she has convinced France that all her promises
will be fulfilled.
So tip the hat to the men who are
far from home fighting for freedom, whose courage and determination will not be
wanting to make America a vital factor in establishing an independence day for
all the world.
Don Martin reported on a failed German attempt to retake Vaux and on American victories in the air. This dispatch was published
in the New York Herald on Friday, July 5.
AUSTRALIANS
AND AMERICANS ROUT GERMANS IN SURPRISE ATTACK SOUTH OF THE SOMME
Don Martin Describes
Failure of the Germans
to Recapture Vaux
AMERICAN BARRAGE
DECIMATED THE FOE
Aviators Took Part in
Battle,
Bringing
Down Several of the Famous “Richthofen Circus”
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, Thursday [July
4]
The attempt by the Germans to
recapture a part of the area wrested from them by the American forces on Monday
was thwarted by our artillery, which with the same deadly accuracy and
consistency as in previous fighting, wiped out the Huns' advancing lines and
forced the enemy to retreat with what remaining platoons survived our fire.
I can say that our forces are ready to successfully
meet any new effort the Germans may make to advance their lines or to retake
territory on the sectors held by the American troops.
The counter attack was begun by the
Germans on Tuesday night, when a regiment of the enemy rushed through the fields
in the direction of the Bois de la Roche. The Americans were waiting to meet
them, but in this instance their readiness was unnecessary. A signal of the
attack was flashed to our artillery and our guns let loose a tornado of shrapnel
and high explosive shells.
Barrage
Caught Retreating Foe
Star shells then showed us the
effects of our artillery fire. As they lit up the battle area we were able to
observe the decimated ranks of the enemy as they wavered and fell back. Many
dead lay on the ground where they had fallen, mowed down by the tremendous
barrage sent across by the American artillery, which caught the retreating
lines of the enemy as they fell back in the direction of their own lines in
panic.
Following this repulse of the enemy
four hours of peace settled over the Bois de la Roche, except for the
occasional sound of a bursting shell or the flash of a big gun from our
positions. Not a German reached the wood.
Then suddenly the big guns of the Boche
opened up and there followed a violent shelling of our lines. The American
soldiers, however, were prepared for it
The defeat of this German regiment destroys
one enemy division at least temporarily. The first regiment engaged in the
attack on our new lines at Vaux was almost wiped out on Monday. Later the same
day another Boche regiment was annihilated by our shell fire. The third was
accounted for by our artillery fire on Tuesday.
Victories
in the Air
American aviators are active all
along this sector and have caused nothing less than panic among the enemy
flyers. Our flying squadron here has in three days brought down no less than
seven German aeroplanes. These are official figures. They have gone over the
German lines in thirty observation flights in that time. This, coupled with the
brilliance of the American artillery and infantry achievements, has given us a splendid
advantage over the enemy.
Americans everywhere have every
reason to feel proud of our young flyers here. Lieutenant Ralph O'Neill, of
Denver; Lieutenant J. H. Stephens, of New York city; Lieutenant K. L. Porter,
of Dowagiac, Mich.: Lieutenant Tyler Bronson, of New York city; Lieutenant Parry,
of Indianapolis, and Lieutenant McDermott, of Syracuse, who in the aerial
battle in the Château-Thierry sector yesterday engaged the rejuvenated "tango
circus" of Captain Baron Max von Richthofen and won a victory that is sure
to have a strong moral effect on the enemy flyers. It is now known that they
certainly sent four German aeroplanes crashing to the ground. This number may
be increased to six when the full result of the fight is known.
This combat was the most spectacular that
has occurred on the American front. It lasted just seventeen minutes. The enemy
aviators, who were most expert flyers in the German air service, were
outmanoeuvred from first to last.
The enemy "circus"' was
flying at two heights, as were the American aviators. Our top squadron was at
an altitude of four miles when their guns opened on the Germans, who were new
on this front and who had invaded it to “teach the Americans a lesson.”
Their tactics were skilful and were aimed
at luring our airmen on and upward until they could get in the rear of our
flyers.
By these tactics they confidently
expected to be able to win a victory. But in this they did not make an adequate
estimate of the ability and resourcefulness of our men.
The fight occurred ten miles back of the
German lines. Clever work on the part of our aviators at once put them in
advantageous positions. Early in the fight four German aeroplanes were hit.
They folded and dropped like plummets.
I talked with Lieutenant Tyler Bronson,
a wealthy New York city man, who was in the combat Ha has proved himself an
excellent flyer.
"I am confident that we ran into the
Boelke-Richthofen circus,” Lieutenant Bronson told me. "The bodies of
their aeroplanes were painted black; the heads and tails red. They tried many
clever manoevres to keep us guessing and to impress us with the fact that they
regarded us merely as amateurs.
"We realize that we are
amateurs, but we are learning fast. The Boche know this now. I got on the tail
of one and there I hung on until I finished him.
"Indeed, all our men did their
jobs with neatness and precision. For a time I thought that Lieutenant
McDermott was gone, but he succeeded in landing in our own lines with his wings
almost gone.
"Yes, there was much shooting by
both sides engaged in the combat."
Another instance of their individual bravery
was shown yesterday when Lieutenant McDermott chased a Boche flyer twenty miles
inside the German lines.
The present Richthofen “circus” is composed
of the most daring and highly trained flyers in the various enemy units according
to authentic information which has reached us. These enemy aviators and our own
flyers are likely to provide some thrilling scenes in the American sectors from
now on.
This much, however, can be said with
assurance, that our flyers already have proved their daring and excellence of
judgment. They fear nothing, not even the best of the enemy airmen.
--
-- -- -- --
Don
Martin on July 4 wrote again about the taking of Vaux, this time describing his
visit to the destroyed village. The lengthy dispatch was published in the New
York Herald on Friday July 5.
Village
of Vaux Is a Heap of Powdered Stone from Pounding of American Guns
Houses Battered Into
Debris, Streets Obliterated,
Its Captors Are Calmly
Enjoying Life Amid the Wreckage and
Almost
in Shadow of the New Boche Positions
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, Thursday [July
4]
I have just left ruined Vaux, which
was occupied by the American forces last Monday. There I was able to judge of
the destructive perfection of the fire of our artillerists. I could see it
everywhere in the ruins of the village.
There, too, I saw the soldiers who
were in the vanguard of the American forces that entered the place. Calmly are
they enjoying life there amid the wreckage and practically within the shadow of
the German lines that wind deviously along the curve of the nearby slope.
Standing on the ruins of old homes I looked
across the field and saw the German dead. Many of them lay in the grass over
which a destructive fire had swept and withered, and so close together did they
lie, many with their faces upward toward the blue summer sky, that one could
step from body to body without touching the ground. Away to the northward these
bodies stretched – along the line of the American barrage which caught the
enemy as he retreated from the village.
Before the Hun reached out his iron
hand to seize this fair France, Vaux was a village of six hundred inhabitants.
Then it consisted of a main street and six short cross streets. It was a
typical French village facing the main road. Its buildings were mainly in a
string—a solid row of them from the village church to the market place.
To-day these buildings are a pile of powdered
masonry. Twisted iron beams and timbers from old houses are piled high. Not a
house remains intact. Practically every one of them is leveled to the ground.
It is not possible to conjure up in
the imagination such a scene as wrecked Vaux presents. To understand it one
must necessarily have seen it. Also, it seems incredible that a single person
could have survived the savage pounding that our guns gave it. Yet when our
soldiers entered it they found its cellars filled with frightened, terror
stricken Germans. Like rats, many of the enemy had huddled in these cellars
while the guns within our lines belched forth destruction and sent a rain of
shells of all caliber against the shelters the enemy had sought out. So filled
with terror were the German soldiers there that when our men burst upon them
scarcely could the Boche throw up his hands and cry “Kamerade!”
Unable to Find Streets
I wandered amid the wreckage to try to
determine the lines of the old village and to find its nice peaceful streets. So
covered was the place with debris it was impossible for me to tell where the
streets had been or where had been the gardens with their flowers.
Throughout this war zone I have seen
scores of wrecked towns and villages, but never have I seen anything like Vaux.
And when I remember that the havoc shown here was done in two hours’
bombardment by American guns aimed by American artillerists I see in the
distance the final victory of civilization.
I stood on a pile of debris ten feet
high and asked my companion to show me the spot where the principal village
store had stood. He indicated a mass of crunched stone.
The destruction of Vaux is a terrible
thing to behold, but it is a tribute to the perfection of our artillery.
The French dislike nothing more than
to destroy their cities, towns, villages and homes. Yet the destruction of Vaux
was essential. The only way to oust the Hun was to shell him out. This we did
most effectively.
After what I saw here it was easy for
me to understand why the Germans, cooped up in the village cellars and
subjected to our terrific artillery fire, became frantic and were eager to
throw down their arms and surrender to our men. I dare say that there is no
place in the village ten feet square that was not struck by one of our shells
at some time during the bombardment. Many buildings were pierced a dozen times
by projectiles from our guns. Not only were the buildings demolished, but the
walls which edge the brook were razed as a result of the intensity and accuracy
of the American fire.
The destruction of Vaux by the guns
will make a sad story to many of its one time inhabitants. Weeks ago they fled
from their homes at the approach of the German hordes, and so hasty was their
flight that they could take only the most necessary of their belongings with
them. Everything else was left behind. Now these possessions are gone.
Village Familiar to
Americans
There are thousands of Americans,
too, who will learn with regret of the passing of this old village. It was a
familiar place to many American tourists who, while automobiling in the
vicinity of Paris stopped there or passed it on the Paris-Metz road, four and a
half kilometres from Château-Thierry.
Should they pass along this road now
they would find it vastly different from what it was. Too, they would find the
old railroad bridge with its notable architecture and masonry sadly dismantled.
Ordinarily the shelling of a village
leaves half its buildings untouched, but not at Vaux was this true. There,
something new to the Germans was shown in the intensity of American fire.
Indeed, it gave them something to think about.
In the fields approaching the village
was laid our first creeping barrage. There I saw the curving furrows made by
our guns, and all of them were identical distances apart. It was possible to
see the accuracy of the American fire as the great guns were raised point by
point and the rain of shrapnel fell at the direction of our brave artillerists.
Everything that I saw in the ruins of
Vaux and nearby fields was further evidence of this artillery efficiency, which
is bound to be a big factor in the war.
Not a shell fell in the neighborhood
of Vaux while I was there. The quiet of death had settled over the ruined
village. But less than a quarter of a mile away the enemy was lurking in his
trenches ready for sniping.
But the shock that he got from the
American guns has not worn off. Neither has he recovered from his fright or the
ordeal he passed through in Vaux.
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