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

‘New war with Israel at any moment’, ‘still digging through rubble’

The news about Iran has taken an ominous tone in the last couple days. Here is some reporting and commentary.  Newsweek on August 18, 2025, reported that Yahya Rahim Safavi, senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said ‘ We are not in a ceasefire; we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation, or agreement has been written between us and the U.S. or Israel. A new war with Israel could break out at any moment .’  Yonah Jeremy Bob commented in The Jerusalem Post on August 19, 2025, that ‘ Khamenei can either “drink from the poisoned chalice” of diplomatic concessions … or face more airstrikes, possibly next time some targeting him directly ’.   Bob also noted that ‘ right now Iran is still digging through rubbl e’. The U.S. attacked Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan on June 22. Two months of digging. No surprise that there has been no public news about that.
Post a Comment
Read more

U.S. Sanctions, Middle East views

Trump’s special envoy Witkoff has hit the capitals again; in Tel Aviv Netanyahu probably told him to tell Trump that he will take over all of Gaza; in Moscow Putin probably told him to tell Trump that Ukraine will be destroyed and forget the sanctions. Witkoff didn’t get to number 3 on his list, Iran. But Trump played another ‘ getting to a deal ’ with Iran card, adding sanctions he can later get credit for removing. And the Middle East commentators are worriedly reacting to the Iran situation. Here are some highlights.  From Newsweek:       The U.S. announced on July 30 the largest Iran-related sanctions since 2018 , targeting entities and vessels linked to the country's petroleum sector: 20 oil firms, 5 vessel management companies, 1 wholesaler, and over 115 individuals in 17 countries and regions, including the U.K., Italy, Switzerland, India, the UAE and Hong Kong.       U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said: "Today's Depar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Assessing possible outcomes of the snapback mechanism

The initiation by the E3 of the 30-day snapback mechanism in the UN Security Council makes everything more difficult and there is great uncertainty about the outcome. Will it be peaceful with a new nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated by the U.S., endorsed by the UNSC and verified by IAEA, or will Iran withdraw from NPT with further military action by Israel and the U.S.?                 To perhaps shed a little light on what the outcome will be, here is my analysis of how the players - Iran, U.S. and E3 - may be assessing the acceptability of the range of outcomes. Four levels of acceptability were used: 1 Fully acceptable; 2 Less acceptable; 3 Just acceptable; and 4 Not acceptable. Four near term 30-day outcomes are listed, and two optimistic outcomes with an interim U.S.-Iran agreement reached within a 6-month extension.                 For the 30-day near term, the best outcome would b...
Post a Comment
Read more