Don
Martin diary entry for Friday, August 2, 1918:
Went to Paris today. Nearly all the correspondents went. It was a rainy
day and indications were it would be quiet along the front. Tried on a new coat
at Cook & Co.’s; it was too small. Went to the office and read the papers
up to July 16. Returned on the 5:25 train. Wrote about 400 words for Paris and
a cable of about 700 words for New York. Germans still retreating. Are doing a
good job. If we were writing about a retreat of our own we would call it one of
the most skillful in history. They are almost back to the Vesle. Looks as if
they would keep on going till they get to the Aisne.
'A remarkable display of heroism' by American troops was related in full by Don Martin in a dispatch, dated Friday, August 2, and published in the New
York Herald on August 3, 1918
AMERICANS HIT LINE
IN CIERGES WOODS 6 TIMES
Charged Again and
Again Into Forest
Only To Be Thrown
Back by Vicious Machine Gun Fire
BOCHE GUNNERS HELD IN
TREES BY STRAPS
Thrilling Picture of
Stretcher Bearer Who Carried on Although Badly Wounded
HUNS ARE ALL KILLED,
MOST BY THE BAYONET
“We’re Ready,” Said
Yankees
When Told of the Task Ahead of Them
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, Friday
The story of how the Americans
captured the Bois de Cierges and the small southwestern tip of the Bois de
Meuniere, northwest of Roncheres, will go down in history as one of our army’s
most valorous deeds. The Germans had transformed a wooded section of five acres
in extent into a beehive of machine guns. The hundred or more trees each
concealed at least five gunners and seven infantry men in support. The same
Prussian division was fighting to the north of there also when the Americans
started to take a spot which it was necessary for them to hold if they expected
to force the Huns out of the Meuniere Wood.
The Americans in this sector belong
to a division which has a large number of Indians and also many lumbermen on
its rolls. All of these men are giants in strength. I saw at least a hundred,
none of whom was less than six foot tall, and every one able to strangle a
German with his bare hands. They had been in several fights, but never in one
as furious as this. In three days of fighting they advanced several thousand
yards and left the fields strewn with Boche dead.
Told that the Cierges Wood would be
their biggest job, they smiled and said, “We’re ready.” They crawled on their
bellies to a wheat field, through which they approached the woods. They knew
what awaited them there.
The Boches in their machine gun
eeries spotted the waving wheat and turned on their guns. The Americans rose
and in an instant started in a dash for the woods. They entered it. A few fell.
For half an hour they fought desperately, but they were unable to dislodge the
enemy gunners from the trees, so they returned through the field out of range
of the machine guns. When the Germans saw this turn in affairs they signaled
their artillery, which began to play around the Americans.
After a few minutes rest they
rushed the woods a second time and there engaged in another desperate fight
with the Huns, who were there with an enlarged force awaiting the arrival of
the Americans. The fight lasted half an hour, when the Americans retreated to
cover again. They waited for a reasonable time and then started a third attack.
Once more they were forced to retreat to cover. Again and again this was
continued, the Germans constantly playing their machine guns wherever the
Americans were supposed to be, while their artillery was spattering the field
with high explosives.
Six Times the Wood was Stormed
Six times the Americans plunged
into the woods and altogether five hundred men stayed there. The sixth time it
happened there were sounds as though of nightmare. The story was told to me by
a husky American whom I found in a hospital with a bullet in his neck. He
said:--
“The Germans were hidden in the
trees protected by a sort of armor. We surrounded them and blazed away with our
automatic rifles till all the Germans were killed. There were no prisoners and
no shouts of ‘Kamerad’. The American officers did their job skillfully, keeping
the men separated in going around the gun positions. The German infantrymen
fought [...] seemed terrified and we swept madly over the retreating Huns.”
At the north edge of the Meuniere
Wood the Germans had prepared a position
which held up the Americans, but
the capture of the Cierges nest was a masterpiece. This was admitted by the
French.
A little while later I talked with
a military observer, an American, who had watched the battle from an
observation post close by. I am able to quote him without using his name.
“It was a magnificent spectacle, a
remarkable display of heroism,” he said. “The boys went in like they were
playing football. They drew back repeatedly, rallied and attacked the harder.
Some toppled over and I could see the litter bearers, in the midst of smoke,
dust and bullets, brave death and carry off the wounded as calmly as if on a
mimic battlefield. I saw a litter bearer fall. A comrade bent over the wounded
man, who soon raised himself up on his elbow, then gradually stood and picked
up the handles of his stretcher. Disregarding his wound, he continued his
journey. Bullets were flying everywhere, and shrapnel, too. The bravery of that
bearer was the most impressive thing I have ever seen. I found myself
unconsciously cheering and rooting like a fan at a football game. I was
actually clapping my hands when I saw him go slower and slower. He was still
moving, however, and then he disappeared in a ravine.
Humans Could Fight No Better
“These Americans fought as well as
it is possible for human beings to fight. They were practically all
six-footers, and all of them were young and fresh in spite of all they had
undergone. They never lost their formation or their nerve. I could see their
movements as plain as if I had been standing on the Metropolitan Tower watching
the throngs in Madison square.
“The boys conducted themselves like
veterans. They were a bit rough, perhaps, but they are all right. I could hear
a chorus of profanity at times in the interruptions in the gunfire when the
Germans attempted to get behind the Americans, who killed them all, mostly with
the bayonet, I hate to say, too. There has been praise for the Americans, but
words are insufficient to describe their courage and coolness in conditions
which would unnerve the bravest men.”
In the midst of the fighting in
Cierges Wood a detachment of a hundred Germans stole from the woods and crept
into a field behind it. The Americans began to attack instantly. A sergeant led
his men in the attack, and this little force finished the job in ten minutes,
with every German dead or seriously wounded. The Americans, diverted for only a
moment, then returned to the fight with their comrades. A score of machine guns
were captured, and it was found that the Germans, dead in the trees, were held
to their places by straps which they used to support themselves while they were
operating their weapons.
Cost Huns 2,000 Men
A German officer who was captured
said that when the Germans took the woods in 1914 they lost two thousand men
and in their fight with the Americans the loss was the same.
This American unit had a stiff
fight outside some German sandbag barricades, machine guns against machine
guns. The Huns continued to hold the ground till the Americans, not to be
stopped, drew nearer and then dashed into the Bois.
At Grimpettes the same Americans
had a vicious set-to with the Boche and were again successful. Here, two hours
ago, I saw a message written on a torn fragment of a letter and sent by runner
in the midst of the strife. It reached the battalion commander and
said:--“Certain to clear the woods to-night.” It referred to the Bois de
Cierges. The prophecy was right. I read a score of messages some sent by
pigeon, some by airplane and some by runners, all keeping the headquarters of
the regiment informed of developments, and practically all of them end with the
phrase: “Morale fine, spirit high.”
Coming back I met a surgeon at a
first aid station who said that of fifty men there he heard only one squeal,
and that one was a German who yelled when the tetanus serum was injected.
An American who was decidedly gloomy over the loss of his sergeant
stripes, which were taken from him for some slight breach of discipline while
he was on reserve, entered the dressing station with his arm shattered. He held
it out to the surgeon proudly, despite the pain. “That gets me a stripe no
court martial can remove,” he said.
Pushing the Line Forward
While a unit southwest of Sergy was
battling with brilliance, another of the same division that took Sergy and
Seringes was pushing the line forward a few hundred yards in the face of the
toughest resistance. They started early on Thursday toward hill No. 220 and
advanced three quarters of a kilometre by Thursday afternoon, when they
encountered more Prussian Guards. It was inevitable that the advance would be
retarded, because they were approaching points where the Germans were able to
mass troops and play their artillery, which now is mounted far back of the
line. It seems certain that the first big clash with the Germans will come at
the edge of the forest of Nesles. German troops and tanks can be seen, and
there are trenches with wire under preparation for resistance. The American
artillery, many miles back, is hurling shrapnel and high explosives into the
Nesles Forest, making it hot for the Germans. The observers saw a huge pile of
ammunition explode with flames and smoke shooting a thousand feet high.
Many units of the Americans have
been in the battle to date and from them it is possible to measure the
potentiality of the whole army. It is limitless. Men of every class and grade
have been tried and none has been found wanting. The Pacific coast, Maine,
Texas, the Rockies, the South, Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Chicago, St.
Louis; men of German, Italian, Greek, Irish, Polish and Austrian descent—all
have been in the maelstrom and all have been wonderful. It is possible to say
positively now that when her vast numbers are learned and when the American
army begins functioning as a whole it will make life a delirium for the Boche.
It is true that the dash and high spirit of the men might result in reckless
sacrifice, and probably has to some extent, but this is being rectified. The
boys are learning swiftly. Their dash and spirit are the things which are
baffling and demoralizing the Boche.
For the time being the casualties
may seem heavy to the folks back home, but it must be remembered that sixty
percent of the casualties will be back in the line soon. Wounds heal quickly
because the physical condition of the men is perfect.
The advance of the Allies in the
near future is likely to be at a snail’s pace, for the Germans are getting into
positions to give battle the entire way back to the Vesle. If compelled to
retire from there it is impossible to forecast what will happen. There are many
possibilities. The Germans will seek to surprise the Allies, but they are
having difficulty in finding a spot where the Allies will be unable to check
them after a reasonable time. Nevertheless a most thunderous assault seems
certain.
The German demoralization is more
widespread than it first was thought. Saxon prisoners say they are tired of the
war and want to quit. They say others of the German peoples feel the same way,
but it is well to take a grain of salt with such statements. Nevertheless, the
Germans are in the tightest place since the beginning of the war. The Allies
are strengthening their forces daily. The prisoners I just referred to assert a
company of Saxons has refused to fight the Americans, and the opinion is
spreading that the German army, especially since the Prussian Guard was torn to
shreds, regards the Americans as daredevils, ferocious and powerful.
 |
| From Paris Herald, August 3, 1918 |
Two smaller reports on the retreating Germans were published in the Paris
Herald on August 3.
FRANCO-AMERICAN FORCES, PENETRATING FOREST,
FIND ENEMY HAS SUDDENLY FLED
Germans Are Wrecking
Villages in Their Retreat
and Abandoning Huge
Ammunition Supplies—
Stand on the Vesle
Would Mean Loss of Half of the Territory Previously Gained
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By Don Martin
With The American Armies, Friday.
Wrecking villages in their retreat, the Germans last night
and to-day have been retiring to a new line of defense, presumably to the plateau
southeast of Soissons and to the heights south of the Vesle.
French and American troops last
night and to –day were in close pursuit, but were not able to get in immediate
contact with anything by scattering groups of Germans, who were easily disposed
of. The fighting was less severe than on any day since the German offensive
started on July 15. In fact, the German resistance was not strong.
French and Americans penetrated a forest where the Germans
were known to have massed troops and stored great quantities of ammunition. The
German had hurriedly removed all the ammunition possible—leaving considerable,
however—and the troops had gone north.
Points well north of Fere-en-Tardenois were reached and held.
French patrols were well north of Ville-en-Tardenois.
Everywhere there were evidences of a hurried German retreat,
but few indications of disorder. Pressure of the Allies at the eastern and
western extremities of the salient from which the Germans have been escaping
undoubtedly caused the Germans to shift their programme overnight and to get
back to a line which they no doubt have carefully prepared.
Villages were set on fire by the retreating Huns, and as much
material damage as possible was done to them. It seems a fair inference that in
their backward march, they are leaving behind all hope of ever getting in the
Marne region again.
The Americans had a few rearguard skirmishes in which they
either killed or captured the Huns encountered. They were expecting resistance
in the forests, but found their way unhampered except for a vagrant shell now
and then. The Germans apparently had moved their artillery well north.
Should the Germans retreat as far as the Vesle, which they
may do, it will mean that they have lost half the territory they gained in
their Chemin-des-Dames offensive, which started on May 27. It does not in any
sense mean that the German has suffered a crushing blow, but it does mean that
from this time on his fight will very likely be a defensive rather than an
offensive one. He will no doubt be able in five or six weeks to make another
offensive with divisions which by that time will have recuperated from the
exhaustion of the last few weeks, but it would hardly seem that he can ever
deliver another offensive like that begun on March 21.
And meanwhile, with the Americans steadily taking their
places in the line—and arriving from America thousands every day—the outlook
for the Hun must be anything but rosy.
And the second, also published
in the Paris Herald on August 3.
Fere-en-Tardenois Is Badly Wrecked
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By Don Martin
With The American Armies, Friday.
Americans were in Fere-en-Tardenois this afternoon clearing
the debris from the streets. The village is badly wrecked. It was shelled
almost constantly for three days, and few buildings escaped being hit. In some
of the streets masonry was piled six and seven feet high. There were
indications that the Germans left very hurriedly. They left a large quantity of
supplies and ammunition.
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