Don Martin diary entry for Friday, June 28, 1918:
Went with [Edwin] James [New York Times] to
the 2nd division. Stopped in Bazu. No shells falling. My finger is
better and my throat is better also. Had a pleasant chat with Cameron Mackenzie
of the London Chronicle, formerly editor of McClures. Wrote a long mail story
on German prisoners. I mailed it, with sketches by a dough boy. I also send by
mail a short story of the soldier’s funeral and a clipping on the Pat Donohue
story.
In a dispatch dated Friday, June 28, Don Martin recounts what the German newspapers are reporting about the battles at Belleau Wood and Torcy. It was published in
New York Herald on June 29.
AMERICANS HOLD 8
POSITIONS
ON WESTERN FRONT
ON WESTERN FRONT
General Pershing’s Forces Also Brigaded
with French at Vital Points
ALLIES ARE READY FOR GERMAN DRIVE
Premier Clemenceau
Praises Our Men
for Brilliant Work at Belleau Wood
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, Friday [June 28]
While the armies in France, numbering
millions of men, are preparing for the most titanic battle of the Great War, I
am permitted to say that the American forces under General Pershing now are
occupying eight important positions in the allied line.
American steel, backed by American valor
that has known no defeat, now stretches along the front, facing the enemy from
Alsace to Montdidier.
Americans are on three fronts in Alsace
today. Also they face the Boche at Montdidier and northwest of Château-Thierry,
at Toul and in Lorraine.
They are linked with the French at some of
the most vital points along the line and they rapidly are preparing to take
their places at other important positions at the front.
They are, as Secretary [Newton] Baker and [Chief of Staff] General [Peyton C.] March predicted, fairly swarming into France, surpassing the most optimistic
prophecy.
Praise from French Premier
Premier Clémenceau, in behalf of the French
nation, has paid another tribute to them. He referred to them as the heroes of
Belleau Wood. He thanked General Pershing and other officers of the American
Expeditionary Forces personally, and asked them to transmit to our men at the
front his warmest greetings and congratulations.
In the face of this – and the things the
American “doughboys” have been doing – German newspapers continue to try to
minimize the importance of the part they are doing here. They belittled the
Americans at Belleau Wood and declared that the insufficiency of their training
showed itself in their conduct in the field. The military critic of the Berliner
Tageblatt boastfully said that a German regiment almost destroyed an American
division, few of the Americans escaping death. He added that the American
artillery fire was inconsequential.
“The work of the Americans is shown in
mobile warfare,” General von Biebert was quoted as having said. “The
insufficiency of their tactical preparation soon was proved.”
Speaking of the fighting at Belleau Wood,
the Deutsche Tagezeitung said that the Americans were permitted to advance
until they became good targets, and then the artillery mowed them down, leaving
the ground filled high with dead. It declared that the newspapers which gave
the Americans credit for the victory at Belleau Wood did so to “strengthen the
spirit of restless France.” The American troops are incapable of independent
action, but always must have French commanders, it added.
German View Amuses Americans
These German newspaper comments were for
German consumption and are contained in the latest issues of the Berlin
newspapers to reach here. They have caused great amusement in the allied camps
and throughout all France, especially in the face of Premier Clémenceau’s
statement that the Americans at Belleau Wood showed plenty of initiative and
acted under their own direction in planning and executing the entire attack.
When Premier Clémenceau inspected the
Americans he made a deep impression on them. He speaks excellent English, and
many of the officers with whom he spoke were not a little embarrassed by his
praise of them and their men. He showed them that he was familiar with the
record of the brave soldiers, whom he referred to as the heroes of Bouresches
and Belleau. He declared that all France is proud of them and wants them to
know that they have justified their reputation and showed the same stuff that
characterized the men in blue whom he saw at Richmond in civil war times when
he witnessed Grant’s entrance into that city.
Cleaned Up at Torcy
The attempt of the German newspapers to hold
up the American troops to ridicule is in striking contrast to the statements
made by German prisoners who saw our men in action. They unqualifiedly declared
that the American soldiers are causing worry and dismay to the German
commanders.
Especially are these German press attacks
ridiculous when they are viewed in the light of what actually happened at
Belleau Wood, where in the last fight our forces virtually wiped out the enemy.
Not only does the German government and press
attempt to make their people believe that the Americans failed at Belleau Wood
but also at Torcy, where the completeness of our victory was not revealed until
to-day.
One of the most famous units of our forces
here cleaned the Hun out of Torcy last Tuesday [June 25]. The American artillery paved the way for the attack and
for thirteen hours sent a hail of steel into the German positions. Then with a
dash our men went at them.
When patrols examined the wood there and saw
the places where the Germans were entrenched they found hundreds of enemy dead
but not a sign of life. Now we are in complete control of this wood.
Hospital is Hun Target
I saw
hundreds of German prisoners marching into our prison camps back of the
American lines. I asked a German officer who was one of the prisoners what he
thought of it all.
“We know that you have a lot of men here,”
he told me, “but we will attend to them when the time comes.”
German batteries to-day shelled a French
village where an American Red Cross hospital is located. Apparently the enemy
is determined to hit this place. The hospital occupies an old church and
contains a few wounded Americans and a few wounded Germans. It has been an
important dressing station, and the Germans must know of it, for the aviators
flew over the village frequently in the last few days.
I was in this hospital when one of the
shells broke. Other projectiles fell at the end of the short street in which is
the hospital. The wounded men were hurriedly removed from
the hospital and carried into the fields near by. The surgeons were preparing
to move out of the place when many shells fell in nearby places but missed the
hospital.
Like the average German shelling, there was
much noise but little damage. The entire affair, however, was sufficient to
show the anger of the Germans and also that they are determined to wage against
the Americans their old-time barbarous warfare.
Since last Tuesday night’s assault the
German forces near Belleau Wood and near all American sectors have been quiet.
To-day it is hardly possible to go anywhere
in France without seeing American troops in training in the art of scientific
warfare. None of our troops are sent to the front until they are trained
perfectly. Our men learn quickly and are fast preparing to do their full share
in the rush of the Germans, which, it is expected, will be resumed soon.
When clashes between our men and the enemy
have occurred, the Germans have proved inferior. Now it is all open fighting,
which is the strong point of the Americans. It gives a chance for dash and
boldness, and in this they excel. Their way of fighting is a revelation to the
Germans.
Comments
Post a Comment