Don
Martin diary entry for Thursday, August 8, 1918:
Stayed in again today. Wrote another long mail story of about 3,000
words on the Huns as vandals. I told about the châteaux the Germans have
mutilated and of the private homes in Chateau- Thierry and other places which
the Germans defiled. At half past six in the evening took an automobile with [Edwin] James [New York Times], Bailey of the London Mail, Ferguson of the U.P. and went to Paris to
attend a dinner given to Floyd Gibbons and Martin Green who are leaving for
America. I stayed but a short time because I saw that the crowd was a cheap one
and furthermore they had given me a seat which was about the worst in the
place. Went to the Hotel de Crillon and went to bad early. Franco-British
offensive started today southeast of Amiens and is progressing satisfactorily.
Don Martin wrote four dispatches dated Thursday, August 8, two for New York and two for Paris. One lengthy one was published in the New York
Herald on Friday, August 9, 1918.
BIG GUNS REACH THE VESLE LINE AND HAMMER CEASELESSLY AT THE HUN POSITIONS ON NORTH BANK
Don Martin, Near Fismes, Sees Preparation for Battering Down Defence
NEW BULLET USED BY ENEMY IS DISCOVERED
Intended for Work Against Tanks, It is six Inches Long by Half Inch in
Diameter
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
To-day I went to the hills
overlooking the Vesle River, and from points of observation there I could see
the new German positions north of the stream. The sharp staccato of machine
guns on either side of the Vesle seemed to punctuate and then blend into the
mighty chorus of the big guns. Below me a detachment of our engineers were at
work on the river bank, and they labored there oblivious to the rain of steel
around them, threatening death where they stood.
With the German retreat halted, at
least for the moment, on the heights north of the river, the fighting to-day
was largely in the nature of artillery duels, in which the Franco-American
artillerists gave the enemy much more than the Huns sent over. There was very
little infantry work, except that by our patrols, but there was active machine
gun duelling across the Vesle, with our men occupying strong positions on the
south side of the river and the enemy on the north. Meanwhile there was always
the bellowing chorus of rage by the artillery on either side of the stream.
Big Guns Are Arriving
With wonderful speed the
Franco-American forces are bringing their great guns northward and are giving
the Huns no rest by day or night.
On a trip to a point close to
Fismes I saw many evidences of the extreme haste with which the allied advance
caused the Germans to retreat northward. An officer told me that the enemy left
behind him about fifty million dollars’ worth of supplies. I saw scores of
camions and thousands of wagon wheels. In the machine shops which the Huns had
built I saw huge pieces of machinery and alongside them were immense cranes.
Abandoned villages which the
Germans momentarily occupied and from which they turned to dash northward are
complete wrecks. They are to-day striking evidences of the savagery of the fire
of the Franco-American artillery, which in its fury is unprecedented in the
annals of warfare. Everywhere throughout this area it is clear that the utmost
skill of the Germans was necessary to get their defeated army out of the claws
of the allied pincers.
The damage to the region between
the Ourcq and the Vesle is enormous. I motored through a score of tiny villages
there, many of which formerly had about one hundred inhabitants. To-day they
are only heaps of masonry and jagged walls.
Despite the wreckage, aged men,
women and children are returning to them. As they looked on the ruins I saw
many of these aged couples sadly shake their heads and murmur what has become
the national phrase of the people of the devastated regions of France:--
“C’est la guerre!”
Americans Clearing Up Debris
In this connection I may say that
the Americans are doing their part toward the rehabilitation of this devastated
region. Indeed, they are working in swarms of hundreds each, and with pick and
shovel they are fast transforming chaos into some degree of cleanliness and
order.
Here in this region one expects to
see the peasants plunged into the very depth of grief and to see them weep at
the sight of their old homes in ruins. They exhibit the most wonderful
fortitude and courage, and always do they set about at once, when they have
returned to their home places, to build again with painstaking care and
characteristic industry the old homes which the Huns in his ruthlessness tore
down. Their spirits will not brook that there remain on the land a single stain
left by the hand of the Boche Cain.
This afternoon I saw an amusing
picture. It was at a place within two miles of the Vesle. The spot was being
bombarded by the Germans in an attempt to locate our batteries. The shells were
falling in a field about a hundred yards from a tiny lake, where twenty poilus
were fishing. These poilus paid no more attention to the spray of Boche steel
than they would have paid to singing birds in the trees near by.
Many tales of heroism have come out
of this war. Many more of such tales will come. One of the latest of them,
however, relates to six American machine gunners. I am not at this time
permitted to mention their names.
Tale of American Heroism
While the American forces were
holding Seringes the Germans put down a tremendous barrage that swept the
village. An order was issued by the commander to evacuate the positions in the
place and to retire to the edge of the village and await there the end of the
bombardment.
For several hours our men remained
at the edge of the village, and while there were surprised to hear at brief
intervals between the explosions of enemy shells the sputtering of machine guns
within Seringes, and they could not understand it.
Seven hours after they had
evacuated the centre of the village they marched back and took up their old
positions. There they found six American privates, all machine gunners, who had
stuck there the whole time, the muzzles of their little death dealing weapons
pointed down the main street, close to the very entrance to the village.
Indeed, their guns commanded this entrance, the only one by which the enemy
could come in. When the German fire would decline for a moment they would open
up with their guns, thus giving the enemy the impression that the place was
strongly held and occupied by a full garrison.
Meanwhile enemy shells were
striking all around them, and despite the fact that one of them was injured
slightly, they stuck manfully to their job.
The commanding officer, when he saw
them, smiled at their cool courage. He asked them why they did it. One of the
privates, who seemed to act as the boss of the crew, replied:--
“We thought that we might as well
stick here and give the Huns a nose full if they tried to get in again.”
It was not a daredevil spirit in
them that prompted them to do this. It was just a sample of the American
determination to win.
American troops have just brought
in a new type of bullet which the enemy is using against our tanks. These
bullets are six inches long and half an inch in diameter.
Statements just made by German
prisoners captured by Americans in the fighting along the Vesle are to the
effect that the enemy commanders received orders to retire to the heights back
of the Vesle River. These orders bore dates which showed that for a time at
least the enemy had abandoned any intention of making a firm resistance south
of the Aisne.
The fighting in the Vesle region,
where the American forces played an important part, was vicious. It was the
first time the enemy received a real bitter dose of our pet machine gun fire.
Our men kept him back to the northern edge of the woods while our engineers
finished bridges across the stream. These bridges built and the barrage which our
artillery had maintained ended, our troops dashed across the river while the
Germans opened up on them with machine guns. In spite of them the American troops
forged ahead and made the crossing.
The duel of machine guns here
lasted half an hour. After this the enemy, who had been on the northern bank,
was quiet. Our forces now occupied these positions and they are holding them as
I write.
May Retire From Vesle
It is most difficult to tell what
the enemy is intending. It would be a mistake to believe he is unable to make a
furious smash at some point in the line. The opinion of experts, however, is
that he is certain to be forced back from the Vesle to the Aisne. This also is
indicated as the destination of the German forces in view of the fact that the
enemy has used only light artillery during the last three days, with only
occasional blasts from a single battery of heavies. He probably even now is
moving his heavy artillery to the hills north of the Aisne.
I have just learned of another
incident which again illustrates the bravery of the American troops. Some of
our men were at the edge of a wood. Across a field five hundred feet wide was
another wood where the Germans were heavily intrenched. The Americans knew that
they were facing machine guns and they were eager to locate these enemy nests
so that they could turn their own guns loose on them. The only way to do it was
to draw the enemy’s fire.
The captain of one company asked
for volunteers who would go into the open and instantly every man of his company
offered to go. Three of them were chosen and they went out in broad daylight
and into the open field.
Instantly German machine guns
blazed away at them from five points. Two of the three volunteers dropped dead
and the third was seriously wounded.
But the American machine gunners
had gotten the range of the enemy and his positions and our guns swept them.
They silenced the Germans and then our men went across the field. They took
possession of the wood.
The second published in the New York
Herald on Friday, August 9, 1918, was a short one.
GERMANY ORGANIZING ARMY OF HALF MILLION TO GUARD RHINE
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
Documents which have come into the
possession of the allied military authorities tell of the creation by Germany
of a special army of defence composed of half a million men whose purpose it
will be to guard the Rhine line when the German border is threatened.
The suggestion contained in the
documents, which seem far fetched, but which are regards as authentic, is that
the Germans expect the Americans some day to attack the Rhine country in
tremendous force.
It proposes that this army of a
half million men shall be composed of the cream of the enemy’s present forces
and shall be commanded by picked officers.
The first dispatch for Paris was filled with numbers of the recent German losses. It was published in the Paris
Herald on August 9.
LOSSES OF GERMANS IN RECENT FIGHTING EXTREMELY HIGH
Documents Found Show Certain Units Lost One Third of Men the First Day
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By Don Martin
With The American Armies, Thursday.
It
is now known that German losses since the German offensive started, on July 15,
have been extremely heavy, in fact staggering. This is conclusively shown in
documents captured from German officers and supported by statements made by
German officers and other prisoners.
Although
it is impossible to give exact information, the documents afford interesting
light on the subject.
According
to the enemy’s plan, thirteen divisions were to have been sufficient to break
through the French lines between the Ardre and the Marne and to cross the Marne
between Dormans and Château-Thierry. As a matter of fact, the Germans have used
on this part of the battlefront seventeen divisions and in the end will be
forced to fall back beyond the Vesle. From various documents, it is possible to
give an idea of the enemy’s losses in the sector between the Marne and Rheims.
One division, made up of “crack troops” was
engaged on the front between the Marne and Rheims on July 20. It did not take
part in the offensive, but was thrown in to stop the pressure of French troops
in the valley of the Ardre. On the first day, according to prisoners, one of
the regiments of the division lost one-third of its effectives. The third
battalion of this regiment on July 21 made the following report on its
effectiveness: 9th company, one officer, six noncoms, 40 men; 10th
company, one officer, ten non-coms, 62 men; 11th company, one
officer, seven non-coms, 44 men; machine-gun company, two officers, seven
non-coms, 46 men; minnenwerfer detachment, one officer, five non-coms, 23 men.
Loss of One Company
On
July 22, the following day, the commander of the 10th company
reported that he had been reduced to 35 men. On July 23 the commander of the 12th
company reported that as no one was left in the 7th company he had
taken command of the 12th, which at the time consisted of three
non-coms and 26 men.
In
the other battalions of the regiment the situation was similar. In the 2nd
battalion, the 7th company no longer existed. In the 1st
battalion the 4th company had been reduced to 33 men, and the 2nd
and 3rd companies were non-existent and the 1st company
was reduced to almost nothing. The 1st machine-gun company had only
three machine-guns left.
Another
regiment of this division was not in a better situation. According to
prisoners, from July 20 to 23 it had lost 60 to 75 per cent of its effectives.
The
case of another division shows still further what was the extent of the enemy
losses. On July 24 one regiment of this division was compelled to form three
companies of its three battalions. Despite this, the regiment, instead of being
relieved, had to be put back in line.
There
is nothing to show that the situation of these two divisions is exceptional.
The above figures are given because they have been obtained in great part from
documents captured from the enemy.
In
still another division, in one regiment, 3rd battalion, the
companies had about 80 combatants each before the regiment was engaged. These
figures included a large proportion of nineteen-year-old boys. As a result of losses
the effectives were reduced by half up to July 29. In the first battalion of
another regiment there were only 30 combatants per company. In the 2nd
and 3rd battalions the situation was no better. The 2nd
Company, for instance, which had 95 combatants on July 15, was reduced to 50 by
the 22nd and from that time to July 19 lost 50 per cent of its men.
An
order signed by General van Boehn, says:--
“The
relief and the reconstruction of a division which is fatigued and reduced in
effectives is naturally desirable but very often it cannot be done. In any
case, this does not prevent the unit from doing everything that is possible to
maintain its combative value and to fight to the best of its ability with
reduced effectives. It is a duty of its leaders to ask everything that is
desirable of their men, but it is a much greater duty to obtain the best
results with the effectives at hand, whatever may be the difficulty of the
task.”
Troops Greatly Fatigued
Practically
all German orders captured, whether from commanders of companies, battalions or
regiments, insist upon the extreme fatigue of the troops, their losses and the
impossibility of maintaining liaison on account of such losses, for the reason
that two companies or two battalions are necessary to hold the line formerly
occupied by one.
According
to a deserter from the 4th Guard Division, the sappers of the
division had received particular orders from their general, Prince von
Finckenstein, and the bombers from their lieutenant Muller to destroy
everything during the retreat, particularly the châteaux and all the houses of good
appearance.
The
order for a retreat, according to prisoners, was joyously received by most of
the troops, especially by the Saxons, who expressed the hope that, “This last
failure will hasten peace.”
The second, published in the Paris
Herald on August 9, was a short one about American fighting at the Vesle River.
AMERICANS REPULSE ATTACKS
OF ENEMY ALONG THE VESLE
Effective Resistance Made to Efforts to Push Amex from North Bank
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By Don Martin
With The American Armies, Thursday.
Germans made several attempts last
night and to-day to dislodge the Americans from their positions on the north
bank of the Vesle in the vicinity of Fismes, but were repulsed. There were
three attacks by the Germans, all of which were met with violent and effective
resistance. The German losses were considerable.
There was a constant interchange
of artillery fire and machine-gun blasts, but the positions remained
stationary. The Germans used their artillery last night and to-day with added
briskness, but there was no indication that their heavy weapons have stopped
for more than a brief period in what is presumably a trek back to the Aisne.
More evidences of the wantonness
and barbarism of the Hun were furnished to-day, when an American aviator was
found unburied beside his wrecked machine, his clothing having been stripped
from him and even his identification tag having been torn from his neck. He was
found in the vicinity of Dormans. He disappeared on July 14 and was identified
to-day by his cap, which was found under the ruins of his machine.
News of the new Franco-British
offensive southeast of Amiens was heard with deep interest by Americans
everywhere. No one of course knows what is in store for the Boche, but the
newest offensive, following on the heels of the Franco-American thrust,
indicates to the Americans that the Boche is to be kept busy.
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