February 2, 1918 - Submarine Menace Waning

Don Martin diary entry for Saturday, February 2, 1918: 
Spent all the afternoon in the office. Arthur Elliot Sproul of N.Y. came in and told me all about Russia. He left there 2 weeks ago. Had dinner at Simpson’s with some Canadians. Met a captain who told us about battles of Vimy and Lens; also a young private, who is now a lieutenant who is going back home with his right arm useless. Went to office for a short time in evening and returned early to the hotel. Got Herald of Jan 18 which contained the first of my stories. It was signed.

Weather damp, foggy + streets muddy.

      Don Martin wrote and cabled a dispatch on that wet Saturday about improvements in countering the submarine menace, and about the state of the Western war front. It was published in New York Herald on Sunday, February 3, 1918.

AIR AND SUBMARINE ACTION TO ATTEND BIG GERMAN DRIVE

American Front Established in West and Italians Closing Gate to Plains

[Special to the Herald]

Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet Street, London, Saturday

     With the echo in one’s ear of bursting bombs and anti-aircraft gunfire in the most death dealing raid since last June, it is easy to ascribe undue prominence to aerial warfare in the expected German drive. Nevertheless, taken in connection with the raid on Paris and the previous attacks on Dunkirk and Calais, the conclusion has been reached here that these assaults by air indicate the main direction the offensive will take.

     While the fliers spy out the way toward Calais and Paris, submarines are expected to crowd the Channel and French coast, preventing the arrival of British reinforcements and of American troops further south. In this, however, the Germans are doomed to disappointment, for notwithstanding the increased sinkings last week the monthly total has been decreasing ever since last April.

Submarine Menace Waning

     The power of the submarines is certainly waning, though occasionally it may flare up into some unusual burst of frightfulness.  It is credibly reported here that at least fifteen more German submarines are destroyed every month than the Huns are constructing. The figures are thirty-seven or thirty-eight captured or sunk monthly, while it is estimated that only twenty-two are being built.

     One of the foremost German naval critics, Captain Persius himself, has no illusions on this score. In an annual review of the naval warfare in the Berliner Tageblatt he pictures the future as gloomy, accounting for the failure of the allied navies to attack the U-boat bases in force by the fact that the submarines do not endanger allied shipping enough to make desperate measures necessary. On the other hand, aerial attacks on these bases are becoming more frequent, especially on Zeebrugge.

America to the Front

     Secretary Baker’s statement that 1,500,000 Americans will be sent to France this year in addition to the considerable force there now, and the Man Power bill before [British] Parliament, which is expected to raise 450,000 men, are likely to fully offset whatever troops Germany can bring from Russia to the Western front, which, according to military authorities here, will raise the German strength to nearly three millions.

     The “American front” now appears to be definitely established, and one may speak of it more freely without encountering the wrath of the censor. Occupying part of the French line hitherto rather quiet, it is expected that it will hereafter become a special objective for German raids. Since that of last Wednesday, however, there has been only one feeble intimation of attack reported, fog enveloping the whole sector.

     American aviators have taken part in bombing attacks during the week behind enemy lines in connection with French expeditions; and the French also bombarded airdromes from which the raiders that attacked Paris were said to have flown. The British were more active still, dropping bombs on Roulers, Menin and other places behind the front and bringing down several German machines.

Italian Successes

     Italy’s northern front was the scene of the chief military movements this week, the Italians gaining an important success west of the Brenta River and effectually closing another gate through which the Austrians hoped to reach the Venetian Plain. 

     The extreme advance of the Italians is marked by the head of the Melago Valley. The net result is a small salient pointed northwest up the Frenzela Valley. The success has greatly encouraged the Italian army and, indeed, the whole nation, troops from all sections, even Sardinia, participating in the attack, which caused enormous losses to the Austrians.