Don
Martin diary entry for Monday, April 1, 1918:
Went to Menil la Tour and Ansauville with [Edwin] James [New York Times]. Visited several
interesting spots en route and passed miles and miles of Americans, some moving
from the big battle front and some to relieve others. Was within couple miles
of the front, but saw no excitement as action temporarily is all on the big
front. Information is a bit more encouraging.
Got back to Neufchateau at 5:30.
Wrote two stories for Paris and N.Y. Got letter from Dorothy. Says one of her
wisdom teeth has been pulled but she says not a word whether it hurt. Had
dinner with Junius Wood [Chicago Daily News], George Patullo [Saturday Evening Post], Lincoln Eyre [New York World] and Sam Johnson.
 |
| (National Archives photo no. 111-SC-10353, Menil-la-Tour, April 1, 1918) |
Weather miserable –
rainy but not cold.
Don
Martin cabled a second report of his interview with Secretary Baker,
complementing his article published in the New York Herald on March 31. This
was published on Monday, April 1, 1918.In it, he trumpets the Paris Herald's success with the American forces.
BAKER TELLS CONFIDANT
ALLIES WILL WIN BATTLE
Army’s Joy at Getting Into Conflict Increases His
Optimism
By DON MARTIN
[Special
Despatch to the Herald via Commercial Cable Company’s System]
AMERICAN FRONT in France, Sunday (delayed)
Newton D. Baker, America’s Secretary of
War, is not at all alarmed by the situation resulting from the German drive. He
became even more confidant when he saw the joy with which officers and men of
the American army received the news that they were to join the French and
British in the great battle.
Mr. Baker had just finished a long
conference, with General Pershing in the library of a chateau where the
American staff makes its headquarters, when he saw me. He had commended General
Pershing for offering the support of the American forces to General Foch and
was very much pleased.
Anxious to Return to America
The Secretary is anxious to return to
Washington to make quickly available the information he has gathered. He said
he had been accorded exceptional opportunities to see the war situation in all
its phases, and it is quite proper to state that he is confident of the
outcome.
After the Germans began their drive, Mr.
Baker was along the British front and saw the refugees streaming away from
villages taken by the enemy.
At a point where his automobile stopped
for a railroad crossing he saw in an ambulance two nurses whom he took to be
Americans.
“I told them I felt it almost my duty to
speak to American women in such circumstances,” said Mr. Baker.
“Well, we’re not Americans; we’re English,
but it amounts to the same thing,” they replied.
The Secretary added that he constantly met
the same spirit along the front.
The Herald Carries First News
The
first information the American soldiers had that they were to be used in the
gigantic conflict raging north and east of Paris was contained in the European
edition of the New York HERALD, and when bundles of that newspaper reached the
various American camps there was a tremendous demand for them by officers and
men.
The troops broke into cheers, joined hands
and danced around like children. They wanted nothing more. The only
disappointment will be among those troops that are not sent into the battle
with the French and British.
It has not
been announced to them just what they are to do, but it is known that they will
play a much more important role than hitherto. It is probable that those
American troops that have had months of intensive training at the front will be
employed in the battle, and it is certain they will welcome the opportunity.
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