June 13, 1918 - Don Martin under shelling while covering front

Don Martin diary entry for Thursday, June 13, 1918: 

Went to the 2^nd and 3^rd divisions. Had a narrow escape from a big shell which ripped up the road just before our auto got to the spot. Another struck even closer. We speeded up our auto and got by without difficulty. While we were at the headquarters of the Marines on the Château-Thierry road shells struck all around. This is about 5 or 6 miles from Château-Thierry which the Germans occupy. We got back at 4:30 p.m. Saw a new division of Americans – the 4^th. They have been in France but a month but are on their way to the front line. They are fine looking boys. I feel sorry for them. They have no idea what an inferno they will soon be in. Wrote 700 words for New York on the Marines.

            Don Martin reported on what he learned from interviewing German prisoners in a dispatch dated June 13 and published in the New York Herald on June 14, 1918.

GERMAN GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE ONE AND BOTH MUST BE DEFEATED, KAISER’S OFFICERS TELL CAPTORS

They Declare Nation is Thoroughly United in Prosecution of War

SOLDIERS EAGER TO GET OUT OF FIGHT

Don Martin Talks with Prisoners and Obtains Testimony of Brilliant American Artillery Work

By DON MARTIN.

Special Correspondent of the Herald with the American Armies in France.

[Special Cable to the Herald.]

AMERICAN FRONT IN FRANCE Thursday. [Jun 13]

                 With approximately a thousand prisoners to their credit in less than a week, the Americans near the Marne had their first night of quiet and peace. The Boche line opposite is shattered for the time being. The prisoners say their men are terrified by the vigor of the American assaults and that new troops are coming up to reinforce those which have suffered staggering losses during the four nights of the battle. The point held by the Americans, one of the most vital on the whole line, is just northwest of Château-Thierry, where the Germans made their greatest advance toward Paris.

                 To-day I had a rather remarkable experience. I was permitted to spend hours among the Hun prisoners who have been captured by the Americans. They were lounging about an orchard on a gentle hillside a few kilometres from the fighting line. Sentries were standing guard and the booming guns from the never ending artillery duel were plainly audible. The prisoners formed the largest group captured at one point by the Allies in many weeks. One by one they were being taken into a building, where they were interrogated in a most considerate manner by two American officers who speak excellent German. This building is surrounded by mowing machines and repairs for them, waiting to soon clean the neighboring fields, which are blooming with a fat harvest.

A Thought for Americans

                In this building I saw an incident which should make the folks at home give careful thought to the argument that we are not fighting the German people but only the German government.

               A snappy German lieutenant was being questioned. Seated beside him were two other German officers. One of the American officers said: -- “You know America is fighting a political war only. We are not fighting the German people, but only the German government." Till then acquiescent, modest and apologetic, the officer jumped to his feet, clicked his heels and came to attention. The other two instantly did the same. The three declared in chorus: -- “Das ist eins,” meaning, “they are one.”

           From others of the prisoners I learned beyond question that the German people and the German government are identical. This may furnish a somewhat startling and discouraging revelation to those Americans who are taught to believe that the German people are law abiding and honorable and are fighting only because they are compelled to fight.

           Many of the prisoners speak excellent English. Several of them say they expect to go to America after the war and some say they will go to China rather than return to Germany.

            They are a strange lot. Some are sincere, some evidently are unreliable. All of them complain of their treatment by the government and declare they are tired of the war. They say their officers inform them they must fight to the death because capture by English or American soldiers means certain death. They say also that the whole army is fighting blindly, not knowing what awaits, but sure the war must end this autumn either in a German victory or a retirement of the German army from France.

              A German who was a writer in London before the war said he had been forced into the army. I asked him if the Germans believed the Americans couldn’t fight and he smiled. Several others understanding some English also smiled.  “We know they can fight,” he said.

           The first thing the Huns do when surrounded is to throw away their helmets. Then they smile with satisfaction, because they are through with the war.

              Of four hundred prisoners taken by the Americans on Tuesday night the great majority were about nineteen years of age. They say they were drafted in November and put in the front line in April. They have been fighting without rest since May 27 and their casualties were light until the American artillery reached them; then they were mowed down by the thousands.

              An astonishing tale was told to me by one youngster who was glad to be a prisoner.

          “Officers came to my house and demanded me last November,” he said. “My parents protested and told them I was only seventeen. The officers said they lied. There was a quarrel and the officers killed them both, then they took me for the army.”

Types of the Prisoners

             The intelligence of the soldiers is low and their spirit is worse. Their uniforms are worn, but their physical condition is good. It was evident from my conversations that the government is keeping information from the soldiers and is staking everything on the present drive. The men say there is no feeling against America, because they know she was forced into the war by England.

            In appearance the soldiers are about the lowest class of Americans aliens. All of them are fed well and are treated by the Americans the same as ordinary creatures in the same circumstances.

            The latest battle furnishes a glowing chapter in the history of our heroic boys. Belleau Wood and the neighboring territory, which we captured a couple days ago and now hold securely, is one of the most vital spots in the Hun drive on Paris. The exploits of our soldiers in capturing the wood, which was a hornet’s nest of machine guns, completely surrounding it, forcing the surrender of whole platoons of Germans, it was a remarkable achievement and the boldness and quickness of the operation were responsible for the splendid success which was brought about with comparatively infinitesimal losses to the Americans. Our success here has been a great stimulus to the entire American forces on the front and also is serving as a splendid tonic to the allied army everywhere by demonstrating the kind of stuff Americans are made of.

      Also on June 13 Don Martin wrote a story about a visiting New York politician. It was published in the Paris Herald on June 16 1918.

SENATOR COTILLO CONFIDENT

ITALY WILL STAND FIRM

By DON MARTIN.

AMERICAN FRONT, Thursday. [June 13]

Senator Salvatore A. Cotillo, New York (1922)

            Senator Salvatore A. Cotillo, of New York, was a visitor to the American front to-day. He has been named as a representative of the United States to visit Italy to tell the people of that country what the United States has done, and is doing, in the war, and to convince the Italian people that the United States stands ready to help Italy in any way possible, either in a moral way or by sending American soldiers to fight side by side with her.

               "The United States," said Senator Cotillo, "is in this war heart and soul. It will not stop till the war is won. Italy is bearing her part manfully and patriotically also and will continue to do so. Germany had had powerful influences at work in Italy; in fact, Germany, long before the war, had sought to establish her influence in Italy, and the United States is perhaps the one nation which can aid Italy by it's moral support.

              "Italy loves America, and when it is fully realized by the people there that the United States is ready to do for Italy what it is doing for the other nations there will be no doubt as to what Italy will do. She will do her full part. She is just as great a lover of liberty as any nation on earth, as America knows, and none of the Allies is more determined than she that Germany shall, and must, be crushed."

              Senator Cotillo, who is typical of the Italian American who has become a factor in American affairs, is on his way to Rome. He was in England, where he conferred with one of the leading statesmen and has had interviews with many notable persons of distinction in Paris. He is a lawyer in New York and one of the Democratic leaders in the State Senate.