July 28, 1918: Don Martin reports on the Americans as Ourcq River is crossed

Don Martin diary entry for Sunday, July 28, 1918: 

Got up at 7:30 o’clock. Went to Third division headquarters at Mon Pere; then to the 42^nd headquarters and Trugny; then to the 1^st corps in a chateau near Epieds. Got a good story about the Americans crossing the Ourcq. Returned at 6 p.m. Had a chicken dinner. Bought the chicken myself for 14 francs. Wrote 1,200 words for Paris and 1,500 words cable for New York about the crossing of the Ourcq.

        Don Martin's  dispatch, written Sunday night and dated Monday, about crossing the Ourcq was published in the New York Herald on Tuesday, July 30. 

AMERICANS PROVE THEIR METTLE AGAINST PICKED GERMAN TROOPS 

AT THE CROSSING OF THE OURCQ

Waded and Swam the River, 

Returning When Repulsed First Time

GERMANS IN TREES FIRED ON WOUNDED

Enemy Now at Ebb Tide, Can Never Reach Paris 

or Split Allied Armies

By DON MARTIN

Special Correspondent of the Herald with the American Armies in France

[Special to the Herald]

WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, Monday

           Pushing with dashing brilliance, rushing in the face of machine guns, driving whenever there was open fighting, causing high glee that Americans can advance against the Germans, they were the first to cross the Ourcq, which they waded and swam at daybreak. They were repelled at their first landing, but returned under a merciless rain of bullets from Germans mounted in trees.

            They rested an hour, stormed their way back and killed all the machine gunners and drove a detachment of infantry back. They continued three kilometres to the village of Sergy, which they took in a stiff fight. They took other villages also.

      Meanwhile French patrols were on the slopes overlooking Fere-en-Tardenois, which later was taken, French and American guns hammering the Germans there and pounding the roads which the Germans were using to get supplies to the men north.

         The conduct of the Americans, which bore a heavy part in the advance in this part of the Marne region, was splendid. They were not seasoned troops like the heroes of Belleau Wood, but they proved that all Americans are the same on the battlefield.

Fired on Litter Bearers

          I talked with a score of youths who crossed the Ourcq and without exception they said the German snipers in the trees fired on American wounded and also on litter bearers. Stories of this character are hard to verify, but I believe the Americans know, for they were in the most contested point of the fight north of the Ourcq.

        A New York chaplain organized a corps of litter bearers when many were killed or wounded by the snipers and machine gunners. He called for volunteers among the slightly wounded and the youths jumped at the chance to help. Fifty of them aided for three hours. They went to dangerous places rescuing many comrades. Some of the volunteers dropped from loss of blood and had to be rescued themselves. The chaplain is idolized by the regiment and the boys always speak in loving terms of his devotion and bravery.

          The retreat of the Germans across the Ourcq was a severe blow to them. Both military and civilian prisoners say the people at home will be troublesome when they learn that the army instead of being at Epernay or Chalons, where it was due a week ago, is back across the Ourcq, fleeing, even though in reasonably good order, back to the Vesle, or possibly to the Aisne.

       The developments of the last few days mark a critical period of the war. There is no doubt now that Germany is on the ebb tide. She is able with thirty divisions available for a new offensive to make a desperate attack, and her failure to rally during the last ten days, coupled with her forced, tumultuous retirement back thirty to fifty kilometres from Chalons and Epernay, her boasted objectives when she started the last offensive, is a sure demonstration that she now will never be able to reach Paris or split the French and British armies.

          This is the consensus of many with whom I talked a week ago. They were afraid then to be too optimistic, knowing the resourcefulness of Germany. Now it is different, owing to the fierceness of the attacks of the French and Americans, added to the vicious assaults of the British. The Soissons-Rheims front is shattered. The losses of more than a score of German divisions have reduced the Germans vitality so that she will be unable to attempt a giant move immediately—though able to intrench along the Vesle, the Aisne or elsewhere—to prevent a further immediate advance of the Allies.

                 That Germany is frightened and panicky is shown by the fact that she is taking regiments from various divisions and throwing them in here, there and everywhere. Until now she always kept her divisions intact and had plenty of fresh reserves. Foch has outgeneraled Hindenburg at a critical moment.

        Don Martin wrote another report on the successful American advance, dated Sunday, July 28. It was published in the New York Herald on Monday, July 29, 1918. 

Americans in Thick of Fight Along the Ourcq Outrun ‘Goulash’ Wagons

Men, In Spirit of Battle, Get Far Ahead of Their Cooks

HOW GROUP CAPTURED MACHINE GUN NEST

Crossed Road in Full Sight of Huns, 

Stormed Buildings, Bayoneted All of Enemy

By DON MARTIN

Special Correspondent of the Herald with the American Armies in France

[Special to the Herald]

WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, Sunday

        While France, knowing the potentiality of the German army, hesitates to claim too much, It is being realized everywhere now, ten days since the Franco-American offensive was started, that the allied advance has been one of the most brilliant and successful moves of the war. Certainly it has staggered Germany temporarily, sent fear into the hearts of the German soldiers and disorganized the German machinery.

        During Saturday night and Sunday morning the Huns, continuing their retreat from the Marne region, crossed the Ourcq River. There is no doubt the Germans are demoralized in this section. They are making desperate attempts to save their guns and supplies. The roads, however, are strewn with shells still in their cases and with all the paraphernalia of war. Occasionally we find a heavy gun that has been deserted.

        This morning I visited Fore de Fere, within a few kilometres of Fere-en-Tardenois. It was easy to see here how the artillery had played havoc with the retreating Huns. Great holes made the roads almost impassable, so that the only outlet for the Germans was the fields, through which they probably were forced to pass in a mass. Holes at frequent intervals formed graves in which sometimes three or four Germans could be seen. It may be an orderly retreat, but it is close to being disorderly.

        An American private, discussing the pursuit, said:--

    “The Germans are running so fast our goulash wagons can’t catch up with them.”

       “To-day I saw an American division staff working in a village occupied by the Germans. Yesterday and to-night it is moving again, going further to the north.

Taking a Machine Gun Nest

       The Americans were turned loose on the enemy at daybreak to-day. They plunged rapidly ahead, destroying the successive machine gun posts left as rear guards and came to a group of buildings which the Germans were occupying as a machine gun nest.

       It was a difficult task to surround the Germans who were commanding a road which was necessary for the Americans to cross. The boys talked it over and it seemed to be a setback to the advance, for crossing the road meant a considerable loss. Unanimously, however, they agreed to advance anyhow. With a wild yell they dashed across the road, routed the Huns from the buildings and fought the rest in the courtyard. They killed them all with bayonets. This is how the Americans fight.

       The Germans say the Americans are the most bloodthirsty of all the races they are fighting. The Americans just laugh and say the Germans have got a lot coming to them yet—that they have just got a sample of the Americans.

        During the morning I went to the zone of a regiment which is the front line and talked to a chaplain from New York who has been living in a dugout. He says the American soldiers are of rough but fine character and a fine quality of fighters.

      “I held funeral services over two men last night,” he said, “and read the service by moonlight. The boys were touched, but not saddened by the effect."

    "One of the men buried last night was a Middle Westerner, a fine type of American citizen. He was killed by shrapnel and when we found him he bore on his body a letter he had written but had not mailed to his wife, asking her to take are of his Sunday school class until he returned. Another boy was buried a day or so ago in the presence of his brother. They came from Indiana. The one who was left was sombre but not tearful as he saw the body lowered in the grave. When the service was over he said to me, “It’s up to me now to get six Huns. We decided to get at least three each, but now he’s gone.”

      The Germans are likely to start heavy operations soon in the estimation of officers I have talked with, though it is possible that the failure of their last attempt, coupled with the success of the Franco-American push, has demoralized them to such an extent that they will be unable to again strike a blow of any great strength. It looks as if the Allies have definitely turned the tide, though the Germans are not licked yet.

    When they do launch their next offensive the Germans may be expected to throw in their maximum strength for they realize something which the prisoner officers concede—America makes a German victory impossible if it is not attained before November.