Don Martin diary entry for Saturday, January 12, 1918: Talked to Baird about a telegram I got from Bennett last night. Bennett is a “nut” all right. He says he wants “not political generalities but fresh news, interviews, arrivals at hotels, etc.” Fresh news by mail in these times of uncertain mails! I can see where I have a fine row with the old imbecile. However I shall humor him along. Baird will have to get the hotel news and I will get some real interviews. Met Judd Welliver and went with him to tea at the home of Casson sisters – 4 of them and nice girls too – at Herne Hill. They tried to play old American songs and how they murdered them! Their singing is almost as bad as Welliver’s and he ought to be arrested. Got my first letter from Dorothy and it is a splendid one.
Weather pleasant.
Don Martin cabled to New York an article published in the New York Herald on Sunday, January 13, 1918 about action on the St. Mihiel salient in northeastern France. Little could he imagine that he would cover the taking of the St Mihiel salient by American forces in September of 1918.
FRENCH VICTORY IN ST. MIHIEL SALIENT SHIFTS FIGHTING
Principal Action of Week Takes Place in the Direction of Metz
[Special Cable to the Herald]
Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet Street, London, Saturday
There is one point of the western front—and only one—where the Germans have gained and still hold more ground than they had after being pushed back to the Aisne in consequence of the battle of the Marne. This is a small area east of St. Mihiel and southwest of Metz, where the most brilliant action of the week took pace.
The French inflicted a stinging blow to the Germans in this sector, killing or capturing every occupant of the first and second enemy lines and carrying off a large number of machine guns and trench mortars. It was one of the most brilliant and successful moves of the French since the victory on the Aisne front last October, and yet it has been overlooked comparatively, owing to the absorption of the pubic in the conflicting reports of the Russian situation and peace talk following the different statements of war aims.
French Attack a Surprise
There are evidences of more activity in this region leading some of the military critics here to predict that it soon will be the scene of most active fighting. At one time the French had advanced along the little brook called Rupt de Mad and from their foremost lines had begun to shell the outlying forts of Metz with their long range guns. But that was long ago, and since then the little salient the French hold close to Pagny has been obliterated and their line now runs almost due east from Ailly on the Meuse, just below St. Mihiel, to Foy-en-Haye, where it turns abruptly southeast toward Alsace-Lorraine.
In this hitherto rather quiet sector the French foreign legionaries and sharpshooters started out from the trenches before Flirey early on Tuesday morning, and almost before the Huns were aware of their presence they has crossed the first two lines and penetrated the German positions along a mile front to a depth of half a mile. The raid was a great success, the French taking 178 prisoners, among whom were 19 officers, and losing not more than a dozen men themselves, while German dead thickly strewed the ground they had covered.
Germans Caught in Dugouts
The brief official reports give a very inadequate idea of the gallantry and dash with which this movement was carried out. All the German defences were destroyed and their dugouts bombed before their guns could get into action. It was a complete surprise, the Germans evidently looking for an attack further west in the Ailly wood, which had been the scene of a minor engagement a few days previously.
North of St. Mihiel, too, there has been some local fighting, which may be a prelude to a more determined effort to oust the Germans from the salient which juts across the Meuse and to anticipate any Hun drive by making an advance toward Metz. British and French airmen have been dropping bombs recently on enemy communications in this region.
The base of this salient along the Verdun-Toul road is about fifteen miles long, and thence to its apex across the Meuse it is about the same distance. The ground held by the Germans on the west bank is in a tongue of land formed by a bend of the river about a mile wide. It has been very strongly fortified and has been pronounced impregnable to direct attack.
Huns Repulsed Near Bullecourt
Further west on the British end of the line, the Germans have been trying in vain to bite another piece out of the salient created by General Byng in his drive on Cambria a few weeks ago. Their attacks on the southern corner of this area between La Vaquerie and Gonnelieu having failed, they transferred their assaults to the northern end, where the British occupy the old Hindenburg line between Bullecourt and Quéant.
They succeeded at first in capturing a trench sap in the advanced line of communication, paying for it by an exceedingly heavy loss in killed and wounded. The survivors held the position less than twenty-four hours, the British organizing a counter attack and recapturing it. Two days later they succeeded in gaining another footing in the trenches east of Bullecourt, but fared even worse, being ejected after a few hours and leaving some of their men behind as prisoners.
Major operations are held up by freezing temperatures and deep snow which renders many of the roads impassable. The temperature has been low all the week, and there has been a succession of snowstorms, with only a brief thaw. The weather has been the most trying since the first winter of the war, and both armies, perforce, are waiting for spring.
Allies’ Confidence Grows
As time goes on the Allies’ confidence of being able to withstand any attack is steadily increasing. General Haig’s statement that 131 German divisions were engaged and defeated last year by less than half that number of British has dispelled any lingering superstitious awe of the strength or efficiency of the German military machine. Then, too, the estimate of critics regarding the number of men obtainable by the Huns from the Russian front—which had run all the way from 500,000 to 750,000—has been greatly reduced.
Definite statements by German prisoners, which have been checked up, show that since early October less than 125,000 men have been transferred to the west. German prisoners taken by the British during last year are officially stated to have numbered 114,544. French captures bring this figure up to 200,000 at the very least. Thus, without counting their superior losses in killed and wounded, the Germans are 75,000 short.
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