July 5, 1918: Don Martin tells a good war story, and reports on German propaganda

Don Martin diary entry for Friday, July 5, 1918: 

Went to airfield near Collumier. Got good story American fliers fighting with survivors Richthofen circus. Sent cable. Wrote two mail stories – one about the Marines, one on sidelights of the war.

            Don Martin got a great story about an American incursion behind the German line, which was published in the Paris Herald on July 6, 1918.(The story was also published in the New York Herald on July 7; see July 6 posting.)
AMERICANS BRING IN PRISONERS IN BROAD DAYLIGHT

Hazardous Trip into Enemy Lines and Return Is Made by Three Soldiers.

(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE HERALD.)

By DON MARTIN.

WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Friday. [July 5]

               Hundreds of stories of day raids, of day reconnaissances in places in the very shadow of death, of prowls through the enemy lines in inky darkness, have been told of the French and British during their long ordeal of war, but it is but seldom that one is heard of the Americans. Here is one which occurred on the Fourth. It concerns an American corporal and two privates. They were sent out on a day reconnaissance at a point where the American and German lines are about 1,000 feet apart.

               The three men crawled and dragged themselves through a patch of No Man's Land, which fortunately was covered with scrubby growths. They got by the German front line and continued back to learn as much as possible. About a quarter of a mile behind the line they came upon a small building. There was a faint noise inside.

               The three men entered and found themselves confronted with the most terror-stricken German they had ever seen. He was working at a telephone and paused in amazement. He was told to keep quiet and do as he was told, which he agreed to do. So glad was he to have his life spared that he volunteered information that there was another German downstairs. The corporal left one of his privates to guard the prisoner and with the second private went downstairs where they found the second enemy. He was frightened almost as badly as the other, but grasped the situation quickly and expressed complete willingness to do as the Americans ordered.

               So far everything was splendid, but the Americans had the hardest part of the task ahead of them. The corporal sent one of the privates back to the American lines to inform the company commander there that prisoners were on the way and to protect the return with machine-gun fire. The corporal waited half an hour, assuming that, in that period the private would he able to carry the message.

               At the end of that time he and his companion with their two German prisoners started on the perilous journey, first through a few hundred feet of the enemy territory and after that through No Man's Land in broad daylight.

               It was a difficult trip. German snipers apparently saw a movement as the four men crawled through the brush and grass, and presently bullets began spattering around the Americans. The fire grew hotter every moment, and it seemed certain that the German snipers would bring ruin to the whole expedition. When the situation seemed desperate the Americans told the Germans to get up and run as swiftly as possible toward the American lines. The Germans showed remarkable ability, and speed. The Americans waited a moment and plunged on behind them. All arrived safely.

               The Germans said the building which the Americans entered was to have been an observation post. Nearby was to have been a gun emplacement.

               The corporal was Randolph A. Shafer. The privates were John Kane and Alonzo Amendola.

               A small raid was made by the Americans in the Belleau Wood region on the night of the Fourth. A barrage was thrown and twenty men rushed into the German line immediately after it. They killed two Germans and brought back one, suffering no casualties themselves.

               Don Martin wrote a dispatch about German attempts to use propaganda on July 5. It was published in the Paris Herald on July 6, 1918 .

Germans Trying To Sow Discord 

Between Allies

(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE HERALD)

By DON MARTIN.

WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Friday. [July 5]

               Germans are now using propaganda to stir up misunderstanding between the French and British and to convince someone somewhere that the stories of German atrocities are pure inventions of the French and British authorities and press.

               More than a hundred small balloons, each carrying aloft a package containing hundreds of pamphlets were sent up on the Fourth of July. The pamphlets fell in a shower over the French and Americans north west of Château-Thierry. The Americans could not read the things, which are in French; The French, according to reports reaching me, laughed at the ridiculous efforts of the Germans and made bonfires of the pamphlets.

               The pamphlets are elaborately printed and illustrated. One contains a thousand bitter things which England in the past is alleged to have said about France. Apparently most of the quotations are pure German inventions. Another document purports to show the causes of the war. This, of course, paints Germany a lily white and all other nations a jet black. According to the articles, Germany not only did not commit any crime in Belgium, Serbia, France or Poland, but carried out a work of Christian charity in each of those places. Instead of destroying life she has saved it. She has been Samaritan, not a monster. She is misunderstood by the world. The pamphlets furnish an interesting sidelight on German psychology, on German misunderstanding of things which are instinctive with civilized, refined nations.

               There is significance in the German attempt to use propaganda at this critical period. When the tide of battle has been running most vigorously in the Huns' direction he has scoffed at propaganda and all kindred things, and has said with customary Teuton effrontery that "our arms will settle the war."