Skip to main content

April 3, 1918 - Visit to Gen. Edwards, 26th Division, and to prisoner camp

Don Martin diary entry for Wednesday, April 3, 1918: 
Went with [Edwin] James [New York Times] to Menil la Tour to see the 26th Division which has come there to replace the 1st. Watched an observation balloon crew operate. Went to Boucq where General [Clarence Ransom] Edwards [Commander, 26th Division] is quartered in a chateau about 800 years old. 
Gen. Clarence Ransom Edwards in 1917

Gave a French interpreter named Maillot a ride back. Stopped for an hour on way back in a prison camp. Went all through it. Talked with prisoners who have been astonished at passing miles and miles of Americans. “Who will win the war?” I asked a young prisoner. “I am a German,” he said. Cabled couple stories to N.Y. and couple to Paris also to be relayed. Got no reply from Bennett regarding getting accredited. In evening at club sat for several hours with Ray Carroll [Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger], Floyd Gibbons [Chicago Tribune], Jeremy Cobb, Martin Green [New York Evening World], [Bairns father] and several officers.
Armies quiet in Picardy. 

Weather pleasant – 1st one in some time.

  In the coming several months, there would be general recognition that the ‘big four’ American war correspondents were Ray Carroll of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, Floyd Gibbons of the Chicago Tribune, Martin Green of the New York Evening World and Don Martin of the New York Herald.  April 3 might have been the first time the four of them were together.

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