Don
Martin diary entry for Tuesday, July 9, 1918:
Went out alone. Went to Second division, then to the Twenty-eighth
division headquarters in a hunting chateau east of La Ferte. Got good story of
what Americans did in a small battle. Wrote short cable.
Don Martin got to see captured unmailed letters from German prisoners and on July 9 wrote a dispatch about three of them, which was published in the Paris Herald on
July 10.
PRISONERS’ MAIL TAKEN BY AMEXES
IS ENLIGHTENING
"Here There Is a Terrible Mix-Up Because We Are
Faced by Americans."
(SPECIAL TELEGRAM TO
THE HERALD.)
By
DON MARTIN.
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Tuesday. [July
9]
From German prisoners taken by the Americans
more than 200 unposted letters recently came into the possession of officers of
the American army. Some of them contained information which the authorities
were glad to get. Many contained stories of hardships at home as well as on the
battlefront. A few sounded the keynote of Prussianism—of victory and the
achievement of all the German aims. Some indicated a constantly weakening morale
of the Germans in the fighting line. By far the greater majority show that the
German hope of complete victory has steadily waned and that the German soldier
is tired of war. In none was there any suggestion that the Germans are contrite
after their four years of savagery and rapine.
While conditions in Germany are
very evidently not satisfactory to the civil population, and while the
privations are wearying some of the folks at home, it is a fair assumption from
the statements contained in the letters that Germany is by no means as badly
off as the world was led to believe and that she is able to continue the war
for a long time if she wills.
The letters which I have been
permitted to see were written during the closing days of June. The soldiers had
done their writing at odd moments, and in most instances the letters were
incomplete. Here are parts of them: —
"Here there is a terrible
mix-up because we have Americans directly opposite us. The Frenchmen have
already made stone piles out of our place. At night they always come over and
try to penetrate our lines, which you have often read in the papers. I am
northwest of Château-Thierry, the village which I have underlined on the map.
But as long as my machine-gun still works they will not get near me. They will
have to hop along like frogs in the grass when a mowing machine approaches.
"This night there was lots
doing again, but they did not succeed in accomplishing anything. Nothing but
dead and bloody noses did they receive. There is no use of thinking of any
sleep at night. It is now almost three weeks that we have never closed an eye
during the night, and during the day it is about the same, which is a colossal
hardship.
"At the beginning we had
plenty of potatoes and meat. As long as they lasted we killed off cows and
goats, but now that has come to an end. It is also difficult to cook because
the houses are all destroyed, and as soon as the enemy sees any smoke or
firelight the artillery starts an awful racket. So we will have to get along as
best we can. The food which we receive from the rolling kitchens is miserable.
I really do not know what the end will be to all of these efforts.
"I am also looking anxiously
toward the time when we will be relieved here, because there is no heritage to
be sought in the woods beyond. It is awful misery when one must see that all of
these nice things which the people have patiently gathered by hard labor of their
ten fingers are kicked around and all shot up and broken to pieces. When I look
at it in this light it makes me sad—"
Only
One Left of His Squad.
A letter from Private —, of the — German
Division (I have the name, but it is not to be used), says: —
"I am now on another front,
where the main offensive took place, near Château-Thierry, on the Marne. I
received a postal to-day from my brother. Now we have two soldiers in the
family. I hope he will not have to go to the front.
"Here all sorts of things are
happening. You cannot imagine it. Of my squad I am the only one left. The
others are all wounded or dead, and, believe me, I wish that all this nonsense
would soon come to an end, because we all have a noseful. It is terrible to see
all that has been destroyed and how much wheat and corn is trodden under foot.
We have had plenty of wine to drink, but even that was connected with great danger
to life. We have to carry the wine in sprinkling cans to the front trench.
"If you could only come once
and see how everything has been destroyed and knocked to pieces. We live mostly
in holes. I believe that I will soon obtain a leave, for I have already been a
soldier for ten months, which is a long time. But what good does it do when one
has to wait until one's turn, and that may be a long way off?"
Here is an extract from a third
letter written by a private in the — German regiment: —
"There is no thought of
leave because we have had such great losses. Half of my company has been put
out of action because we are now in a very bad position apparently. If this
misery would only end!"
The destruction of crops and
property, which the authors so feelingly describe, is all, it should be noted,
taking place in France. There has been no devastation in Germany and the Germans
are responsible for all the desolation in the war-stricken zones of France.
Don
Martin wrote a dispatch on July 9 with more details about the American fighting
on July 6. It was published in the New York Herald on Wednesday, July 10.
HOW AMERICANS AIDED FRENCH
IN MARNE SECTOR
Instances of Individual Prowess in
Battle
Related by Don Martin
SERGEANT AS GUNNER COVERS THE ADVANCE
Private Dubosky Climbs a Tree to Find
Hun Sniper
and Bayonets His Man
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, Tuesday [July
9]
I now am permitted to give more
details of the part played by the American volunteers, who fought shoulder to shoulder
with the French last Saturday [July 6] in the Marne sector. Their conduct in
this engagement brought enthusiastic tributes to them from their French
companions in arms.
Sergeant William H. Felix, after the crew of an automatic rifle has been disabled, took possession of the gun. Calling to a private to bring up ammunition to it, he said: --
Sergeant William H. Felix, after the crew of an automatic rifle has been disabled, took possession of the gun. Calling to a private to bring up ammunition to it, he said: --
“Follow with the ammunition; I
will do the rest.”
Supplied with cartridges by the
private, Sergeant Felix planted himself in the rushes in front of the American
trench and covered the advance of the balance of the platoon. His act was one
of the bravest that has been recorded in this fighting.
Another instance of bravery shown by
our men was when a detachment of privates led by corporals attacked and
destroyed a heavy machine gun.
Many privates have been commended by
their officers for courageously attacking enemy machine gun positions in trees
and routing the gunners.
I now am able to say that Private
Michael Dubosky, who climbed a tree after one of these German machine gunners,
bayonetted him despite the fact that the enemy was protected by an armor.
The ferocity of the attack of the
Americans and the French was shown in a statement by a German prisoner who was
a member of a group of thirty-eight captured by a lieutenant.
“Thirty-eight men is all that is
left of my entire company,” he said.
An American private told me a weird
story of a part of the fighting. He said that he had shot a German machine
gunner whom he saw in a tree. After firing six shots at him he was sure he had
struck his man. When the deluge of machine bullets had ceased, he climbed the
tree to see what had happened to the man he had shot. When he reached the
silenced gun, he found the enemy tied to the branches. He was not a prisoner
made secure to the gun. He was firmly tied there so that he would not fall out
after he had been killed.
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