Skip to main content

April 11, 1918 - Don Martin returns to Paris via Chaumont


Don Martin diary entry for Thursday, April 11, 1918: 
Traveling. Traveling – all the time. Back to Paris today. Rode as far as Chaumont with Major Riggs and McKenna, a Canadian correspondent. Took the train at Chaumont. Got in Paris at 11 and went to the Hotel Crillon and to bed.  
Weather sun shining.
      Don Martin went by auto to Chaumont-en-Bassigny, where  AEF General Headquarters was established on September 1, 1917. The town was a main railroad node.
      Don Martin missed the award of the Croix de Guerre in Chaumont on April 11 to Lt. Dwight C. Hardin, 2nd Field Battery, who received the first such award and was the first officer wounded, earlier in the month. 
(National Archives photo no. 111-SC-10917, Chaumont, April 11, 1918)   
      Don Martin cabled a second writeup of the encounter of American forces near Toul, probably from Neufchateau before he left for Paris. It was published in the New York Herald on Friday, April 12, 1918.
AMERICAN BATTERIES DEAL DEATH TO PREPARED GERMAN ATTACK ON FRONT LINES NORTHWEST OF TOUL
By DON MARTIN
[Special cable to the Herald]
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE, Thursday
        Prompt and effective fire of the American batteries yesterday frustrated a carefully prepared attack of the Germans on the American sector northwest of Toul.
        Two Germans were captured, one of whom died from his wounds. The prisoners said a force of eight hundred men rehearsed the attack on the sector but were stunned by the severity of the American fire.
        Preceding the advance the German artillery laid down a tremendous barrage. The American batteries responded quickly and reached their maximum fire the instant when the hostile German infantry attacked.
        The attack might have been serious but for the alacrity of the American answer. No Americans were lost.
        This attack may be regarded as part of the programme of the Germans to attack the American forces while the big drive is on against the British and allied armies in the vicinity of Amiens. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 14, 1918: Don Martin’s funeral service in Paris

        A funeral service for Don Martin was held in Paris on Sunday, October 13, 1918, at the American Church, rue de Berri. The New York Herald published this report on Monday, October 14, 1918. MANY FRIENDS AT CHURCH SERVICE FOR DON MARTIN Simplicity and Sincerity of Character of “Herald” Writer, Theme of Dr. Goodrich’s Sermon                     Funeral services for Don Martin were held yesterday afternoon in the American Church in the rue de Berri. They were simple and impressive. Before the pulpit rested the coffin, over which was spread the American flag. Floral offerings were arranged around it. Flat against the wall behind the pulpit were two American flags and the tricolor, and on either side were standards of these two emblems. Uniforms of the United States army predominated in the gathering of 200 persons composed of friends Mr. Martin had known for years at home and friends he had made in Fr...
2 comments
Read more

Welcome to Don Martin blog on Armistice Centennial Day

Welcome to the World War I Centennial Don Martin daily blog, on Armistice Centennial day, November 11, 2018. Don Martin was a noted war correspondent reporting on the American Expeditionary Forces in France in 1918. Regrettably he died of Spanish influenza in Paris on October 7,1918, while covering the Argonne Forest offensive. He missed the joy of the Armistice by a month. Beginning on December 7, 2017, this blog has chronicled each day what Don Martin wrote one hundred years earlier – in his diary, in his letters home, and in his multitude of dispatches published in the Herald newspaper, both the New York and the European (Paris) editions. The blog, for the several days following his death, recounts the many tributes published, his funeral in Paris and his trip back to his final resting place at his home in Silver Creek, New York. To access the daily blogs, click on the three red lines at top right, then in the fold-down menu, click on Archive. There are 316 blogs from D...
1 comment
Read more

September 30, 1918: Don Martin assesses war situation, and visits recaptured Varennes

           On Monday, September 30, Don Martin sent a cable sent to the New York Herald beginning with his review of the war situation in France, and then reporting on his day at the front in and around Varennes-en-Argonne. It was published on Tuesday, October 1. ENEMY EXHAUSTED BY FOCH STRATEGY OF VARIED BLOWS Enemy Forces Bewildered  and Never Quite Certain of Plan of Defence 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, Monday                  Competent observers who long feared to believe their own convictions are now fully convinced that Germany is in a most serious predicament – not only because of her desertion by Bulgaria, but because of the general military situation on the Western front. To-day this situation is far more favorable to the Unit...
1 comment
Read more