Don Martin diary entry for Saturday,
March 30, 1918:
Went to Chaumont
and saw [Newton] Baker, Secretary of War, and General Pershing. Had quite a talk with
Pershing, but he wouldn’t release it for publication. Hung around Chaumont for 4
hours with Junius Wood [Chicago Daily News] and [Edwin] James [New York Times]. Baker seems a weak person to be head of our
war department. Doesn’t know what is going on. Pershing is a “line one.” He
apparently knows situation on the front is serious. Says the 1st
division of our army will start for the real front on Wednesday. I wired Mr.
Bennett to make request for me to go with it.
The more I see here the more I realize how
infinitesimal our part in the war is and how different the present story might
be if Wilson had gone into the war, as he should have done, when the Lusitania
sank. All our soldiers in France wouldn’t last an hour in the furnace north and
east of Paris. Meantime Germans are starting new attack.
Weather rainy and cold.
Don Martin hand wrote a letter to Dorothy on March 30
from Neufchateau. It was his first report on what he was experiencing from
Neufchateau since the German offensive got under way.
Dorothy:
I’m not writing as frequently as I
did. There are two reasons: I am frequently off in queer little places where it
is impossible to write and here in the town where I am staying most of the time
– it is near Alsace – the room is so cold and the light so poor (as it is now,
by the way) that it is not easy to write.
Since your Dad left Paris he has been
where there is a distinct war atmosphere. For instance right now, with the rain
falling heavily, a steady stream of ponderous motor trucks is passing through
here, right in front of the hotel. It seems as if everything is on the move,
since the biggest battle of all started a week ago.
... I have seen a good deal of France
in a couple of weeks. I ride from 100 to 200 miles a day in an automobile.
Today I was at General Pershing’s Headquarters, which is a long way from the
battlefront. I had quite a talk with him. I also saw Secretary Baker at a
chateau nearby. Yesterday I was up at Verdun, of which you have read. I wasn’t
where the shells were falling but could hear the bombarding which goes on
incessantly. I have passed through dozens of towns which have been battered to pieces
and have seen a little of everything, including a peep into the trenches...
 |
| (National Archives photo no. 111-SC-10935, Chaumont, Apri 17, 1918) |
Just now everyone is worried over the
German attack. I don’t think it can be successful but there is just a chance
that it will be. If it fails the world will have to tip its hat to the French
again. We – the Americans – do not count and the British seem to lack the
genius and valor we all thought they still had. Still no one but the men
actually in charge of operations know what is being done so maybe the Germans
will be licked good as they ought to be.
I don’t know how long I shall stay
here. I may go up to the big battle but again I may not. It is very difficult
to get authorization. A hundred want it and only 6 can go. I fear I shall not
be one of the lucky ones.
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