Don
Martin diary entry for Thursday, July 11, 1918:
Roamed around all day with [Edwin] James [New York Times] looking for
a copy of a German propaganda newspaper which says Hearst reflects real
American opinion of the war. Had luncheon with Lieutenant Feland of the
Marines. Wrote 200 word cable on the Hearst propaganda story. Everyone
mystified at the delay in the renewed German offensive.
A
short version of Don Martin’s report (Paris Herald July 11) on General Pershing
decorating marines with Distinguished Service Crosses was published in the New
York Herald on Friday, July 12, without the list of names.
HONOR
AMERICANS FOR
DISTINGUISHED
SERVICES IN WAR
Marines
and Heroes of Belleau Wood Receive Crosses for Brave Deeds
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,
Thursday [July 11]
On a beautiful spot on the
banks of the Marne River Distinguished Service Crosses have been bestowed on
121 Americans, many of whom were marines and heroes of Bouresches and Belleau
Wood.
Of the men who were decorated
there were only thirty-three present at the brilliant ceremony. Fifteen, to
whom the Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded, are dead, having fallen on
the field of battle. The rest are in hospitals.
An American general, who was
present, addressing the men, said that they had written a glorious page in the
history of their country. At the same time he admonished them never to forget
for what objects the United States entered the war.
Don
Martin’s report of the first use of gas shells by the Americans was published
in the Paris Herald on July 12.
AMERICANS DELUGE THE
GERMAN LINES WITH GAS SHELLS
Enemy
Attempts Counter Artillery Attack
and
Then Is Silent for Twenty-four Hours.
(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO
THE HERALD.)
By
DON MARTIN.
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Thursday.[July 11]
Germans attempted a raid early this morning
on the Americans north-west of Château-Thierry. Forty Germans crossed No Man's
Land, but were unable to penetrate our lines. Two of them were killed. The rest
dashed hack to their own line.
On Monday night the Americans to the
east of this point gave the German his first real dose of gas. A deluge of gas
shells was sent over during a period of two hours, and from reports reaching
our lines the Germans suffered heavily. For a short time after the deluge of shells
started the Germans attempted a counter-artillery attack, but their guns became
silent very soon and were not heard from for more than twenty-four hours.
The Germans have been lavish in their
use of gas along the American sectors. On the theory that the best way to treat
the Hun is to give him the same as he sends, the Americans decided to drench
his front lines and back areas with gas, and there is reason to believe that
this theory is a good one.
The German soldiers, it is known, are
now carrying a small package of a chemical which they use as an antidote for
gas.
On July 11 Don Martin updated
his report of the day before about Quentin Roosevelt, published in the Paris Herald
on July 12.
Quentin Roosevelt Mistook German For Amex Planes
(Special Telegram to the Paris Herald)
By Don Martin
With The American Army, Thursday.
It is now known
that Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt had a narrow escape from death on Tuesday
when he is believed to have brought down a Boche plane.
He was flying with
an American squadron when he lost his way. After a short time he saw what he
supposed were the Americans from whom he had strayed, and veered his course to
join them. He flew for some time in ignorance of the fact that his supposed
colleagues were Germans.
As soon as he made the discovery he began pumping away at one of them
with his machine-gun. The others turned to aid their companion, but Lieutenant
Roosevelt, seeing the odds against him turned his course homeward and escaped,
although bullets passed perilously near his plane.
Don Martin was able to report on another
unmailed letter, this one recovered from a dead German. It was published in the Paris
Herald on July 12.
German Soldier Tells Brother
“End” Is Still Far Off
(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO
THE HERALD.)
By
DON MARTIN.
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Thursday. [July
11]
Apparently there are some German soldiers
who are not certain the war will end this year. The following letter which was
taken from a dead German, having been written to him by his brother, also a
member of the German army, sheds new light on the attitude of some Germans:
"May
6, 1918.
"Dear
Fritz, I have received your letter of April 24 and thank you very much, and I
am glad to hear that you are again in a good sector and hope that you will stay
there long, because the end is still far off.
"I
also have moved further back on April 25. The quietest place that I have been
on the Western front is a small village by the name of Chambley. It is only two
hours' railroad ride from Metz. Here a food distribution centre is being
constructed. We are building a field railway and it is very hard work, but what
does one not do if one must do it. How long it will take, no one knows. It is
rumored that our division will be transferred but one cannot believe it,
because nobody knows it in advance.
"If
I cannot get away I would like to stay here very long, even if it is not very
easy work. I hope the parcel sending restriction will soon be removed, because
I have not had any butter for a long time and we are not fed very well here by
the food depot, because nothing has yet arrived. Therefore, the subsistence as
a whole is not very good.
"Franz
is in a recruit depot, but I do not know where he is. I believe in Belgium, where
he obtains good food. He has been schooled in the use of the machine-gun. They
are used to protect the artillery. He has already volunteered, but he is still
there, and I have written to him that he should stay there as long as possible
because here it is different than in Russia. He will too soon repent and much
prefer to do heavy fatigue and eat less, but maybe he thinks otherwise.
“I
had no letter from home since the 23rd, but yesterday one came. The grain has
been scratched together. Lena writes that the grain looks poor, and that we can
believe. However, I am glad, for a mediocre crop gives something, and that is
better than nothing. Now they can also have potatoes. There has been another
revision of cattle. Before Christmas my parents had to give up three heads; now
again they must release two, but when one observes how much meat a division
receives one need not wonder at this confiscation. Also the amount of hay and
straw that a division uses is surprising and one marvels from where it all
comes.
"We
are thinking this year of an end and now in the newspapers we read that England
and France are preparing for a winter campaign."
Don Martin mailed to New York a dispatch, dated July 11, about his interviews with German prisoners. It was published in the Sunday edition of the New York Herald on July 28.
DON MARTIN FINDS GERMAN PRISONERS A DOWNCAST LOT, CONCEDING AMERICANS
MAY BE THE DECISIVE FACTOR
By DON MARTIN
Special Correspondent of the Herald with the American Armies in France
[Special to the Herald]
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, July 11
More than three hundred German prisoners, among them six officers—a captain and five lieutenants—all Prussians, were standing or lounging in an orchard behind an American headquarters one morning recently when I called there. They had been captured the night before by a regiment of Americans who even without this achievement to their credit already had earned a reputation for valor and dash which has stirred all France.
These men were brought in from the Bois de Belleau and a stretch of woodland adjoining it. They were a motley looking crowd. There was here and there one with a look of kindness and intelligence in his eye, but by far the greater number looked like the very lowest order of human beings. After watching them and talking with them it was easy to understand how the Germans can commit the outrages which have marked their conduct since the beginning of the war. They are totally unlike the French, who are always neat in appearance and suave in manner, no matter whether they come from the congested cities or from the outlying regions. The Germans are no more like the Americans than a Hottentot is like an Albino. In captivity the majority of t hem are shrinking, cringing persons who express a readiness to tell all they know, but who, it is often learned, practice deceit whenever possible.
Prussians are Proud
The prisoners taken in the haul at Belleau probably are not representative of the great mass of German soldiers, but among them were, nevertheless, many privates and non-commissioned officers who are ranked among the best fighters Germany has. Of the three hundred prisoners I should say 125 were Prussians, and all were proud of it. They were insolent and swaggering even when treated with kindness. There were forty Alsatians, and they were obviously of a different type. All of them thanked the Americans for food given to them and said they were glad to be taken prisoner because they had been drafted from their homes to fight for a cause for which they have no sympathy.
More than a score of the Germans spoke English in a small way. I talked to all of them to get their point of view and found them, almost to a man, socialistic in their tendencies but devoted worshippers of the Kaiser and the German government. Here is what one man, about forty years old, who had been in Dublin and London, said:--
“We don’t want war, but we must fight, because if we don’t we shall lose all our country. We don’t want Belgium. We don’t want anything but just Germany, but the English and French expect to take that away from us, and so we are fighting.”
“No one wants to take your country away from you” I said to him, “That is the argument used by your Kaiser to keep you fighting. Why don’t you all quit fighting if you don’t want war?”
“We Can’t Stop”
“We have fought too long now and lost too many men. We can’t stop. It will all be over, though, in three months—maybe in August.”
“Has Germany particular hatred for American soldiers?”
“German soldiers like all soldiers. We like American soldiers.”
“Do you know why America came into the war?”
“To save England. It’s all money. France started to help Russia because Russia owes her so much money. Then England helped France because France owes her money, and then the United States came in because England owes her a lot and it would be all lost if England lost the war.”
That about epitomizes the mental attitude of the average illiterate German soldier toward the war. He has been fed on German propaganda, and the government has made every effort imaginable to keep him from getting information from outside.
I talked with a rough looing lieutenant toward whom several privates shot looks of hatred. “He’s a bad man,” said one afterward.
“Are you a Prussian,” I asked him.
“I am,” he said sternly in German.
“Do you expect Germany is going to win the war?”
“Of course she is, and she is going to win it this summer—maybe iin a few weeks.”
“Do you know how many soldiers the United States has here now?’”
“I understand there are 700,000.”
“Suppose American had a million men in the line, wouldn’t that insure the defeat of Germany?”
“A Million Men is Nothing”
He half scowled and half smiled.
“A million men is nothing. Americans can fight pretty good, but they have a great surprise coming to them soon. They’ll find out. Hindenburg is going to win this summer probably, but if he doesn’t he will win next year, and if not then the next year, and in ten years if he has to fight that long.”
“Will the people of Germany stand the war so long as that?”
“The German people want to win the war, and they know they will, America or no America.”
“Don’t the people in Germany realize that they must be wrong when practically al the civilized world is against them?”
He stuck his nose up in a highly impertinent way, partly at my audacity and partly at the suggestion that the civilized world is against Germany.
Two officers were being questioned by American intelligence officers when one of the Americans, in a perfectly polite way, said:--
“You know, don’t you, that the Americans are fighting a political war—that they are fighting the German government, not the German people?”
The three officers jumped to their feet like automatons and in unison said:--
“Da is eins” (“They are one”).
A young man who was for a time a waiter in a London hotel and who speaks fluent English said he was drafted to fight and is glad to be out of it.
“I’m going to the United States when the war is over,” he said. “I was intending to go there when the war started and I had to go to Germany.”
“Do the Germans think the Americans make pretty good fighters?” I asked.
He smiled.
“We know they do,” he replied.
“Do most of the Germans think they can win the war?”
“They did until the big offensive was stopped and they heard that Americans were landing in France at the rate of ten thousand a day. Now they don’t know what to think. Their officers, who are nearly all Prussians, tell them they must keep on fighting or be killed, and so we keep on fighting. They are getting tired and discouraged, but they won’t tell you so because they think their officers will hear of it and kill them when they go back after the war. They are ignorant, most of them.”
“Have the Germans lost many men since they began running up against the Americans?”
“Yes, your artillery fire has raised the devil with them. It never gives them any rest, and then when it is quiet the Americans keep shooting at them with machine guns.”
Fear Death After Capture
“Do the ignorant soldiers believe the Americans will kill them after they are taken prisoners?”
“Some of them believe it. They are told this by their officers so they will not surrender.”
One of the officers was in a hospital treated for a wound in the neck. He glanced at a newspaper—a European edition of the Herald—which a wounded American was reading nearby. A big headline told of the collapse of the Austrian offensive. The German officer leaned over in his eagerness to see what the words said, and he apparently was able to get a fair understanding.
“What do you think of the defeat of the Austrians by the Italians?” I asked him.
He asked for a translation of the leading words in the heading. Then he said:--
“That’s only lies printed to keep up the courage of the Italian, French and English people.”
It was astonishing to learn how little the Germans know of the actual developments of the war and how wedded they are to the belief that everything their own government tells them is true and everything stated by the Allies is false. Many of the prisoners believed that New York city had been partly destroyed by fire from German warships; that Philadelphia was in ruins; that nearly all the American transports had been sunk with all on board; that submarines had the American seaboard under a hard blockade and that England is a country of desolation and starvation. When I assured the simple minded Germans that their information was not only somewhat exaggerated but wholly wrong they shook their heads and inwardly branded me as an allied propagandist determined to hide the real truth from the poor “downtrodden German.”
I watched more than twenty German wounded treated in this quaint little hospital, the staff of which is made up of eminent surgeons. The Germans were treated in turn with the Americans and received just the same care precisely. They wee amazed at this. Some of them smoked cigarettes which the American attendants gave them. A few asked for food, saying they had not eaten in two and a half days because of the heavy artillery fire of the Americans, which prevented the bringing up of supplies. Bread and coffee were furnished and the soldiers ate ravenously.
It is a tribute to the honest dealing of the Americans that the orders given to every soldier is that not a single thing must be taken from a prisoner. All of his personal belongings are taken from him, but all are returned except notebooks, letters and such data as may contain information of use to the captors. When the three hundred prisoners of whom I write were marched to the orchard where they were to rest until the records of all were taken, an American officer in my presence said in the most fearsome tones:- “Any man who takes a single thing from one of these men will be court-martialed.”
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