Don Martin
diary entry for Saturday, August 10, 1918:
Went out with Ruhl of Colliers. Took pictures etc. Went to
Fère-en-Tardenois by way of Lizy, Coincy etc. Talked with some of the lumbermen
and Indians in the 32nd division. They did some wonderful fighting. Cabled
about 300 words.
Don Martin wrote another dispatch about his interviews with German prisoners, dated Saturday August 10. It was published in the Paris
Herald on Sunday, August 11.
“ON TO PARIS” TALK
CEASES AMONG GERMANS
Escaped Frenchman Tells “Herald” Correspondent Enemy Is in Demoralized
State
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By Don Martin
With The American Armies, Saturday.
Germans
counter-attacked three times last night and to-day along the Vesle in the
vicinity of Fismes. The Americans repulsed them each time. In the last attack
the Germans were not only driven back, but were completely outfought, the
results being that the Americans took eighty prisoners. The Americans at
various points made frequent raids into the enemy lines, but did not attempt to
advance the American line north of the Vesle.
The Germans
are very evidently preparing to make a vigorous resistance from the Vesle
north, but the impression prevails nevertheless that the Germans are figuring
on withdrawing from the Vesle when the pressure from the French and Americans
becomes acute.
The German
prisoners were mostly Grenadiers, and were in first-class condition. Most of
them are young and stalwart and very evidently are of the best German troops.
Ten of the Germans were injured, one of them seriously. All were treated at an
American station, after which they were taken to a hospital.
I asked one
of the prisoners—a dealer in electrical supplies when there is no war—if it is
true that the German soldiers actually believe the Americans are so bloodthirsty
that they never take prisoners. He said German officers try to instill this
belief into the minds of the soldiers, but that few believe it, although, he
added, with a shake of his head, “American soldiers fight pretty hard.” Some of
the prisoners said they had been in the line only a few hours when they were
taken. Others said that if they were sure the Americans would not kill,
thousands of the Germans would give themselves up, because they are sick of the
war.
Not Sure of Winning
Now
Asked if the
Germans expect they can win the war, the most intelligent of the prisoners with
whom I talked said:--
“We don’t
know. We thought the war would be over this year, but now it won’t. We don’t
know what is going on except where we are. I know of the retreat from the
Marne, because I was in the army that retreated.”
One prisoner
had a diary. On a day soon after the Franco-American offensive was well under
way, he wrote a lament over things in general, and concluded with the phrase,
“Good-bye, Rheims.”
Two French
soldiers who were captured by the Germans on May 27 escaped and entered the
American lines yesterday. They tell interesting stories of the treatment
accorded them and of the situation generally among the Germans, so far as they
were able to observe it. The Frenchmen are Henri G----. a metal worker, of
Saint-Nazaire, and Alfred M----, of Paris. They, with several others, cut the
wire around their prison five nights ago and started for their own lines. Some
of the French were overtaken. G---- and M---- walked when it was dark, hiding
when it was daylight, and about two o’clock this morning, in the Fismes region,
started across the Vesle. They attracted the attention of an American, who,
instead of firing at them, gave chase. The French soldiers stopped, and
convinced him that they were friendly. They were astounded to learn that Allied
soldiers had reached the Vesle.
How They Treat
Captives
I talked with
the Frenchmen this afternoon at an American headquarters. They say the Germans
treated them very badly, compelling then to work till they were too weary to
stand; that the Germans gave them hardly enough food to keep body and soul
together; that one or two prisoners die each day in prison from weakness caused
by lack of proper food; that 250 grammes of bread, some weak beetroot soup and
a teaspoonful of marmalade was their daily allowance; that the German keepers
strike prisoners with sticks for the most common and trifling offences, and
that the rations of the German soldiers have been cut down in order that food
may be sent to Austria, where there are, they declared, according to reports,
sinister mumblings from a discontented people.
G---- said
that the German losses since the big German offensive started on July 14 have
been exceedingly heavy. He saw five or six hospital trains pass each day
through the village of Laorin. Cattle cars were being used, he said, to haul
the wounded.
Before the
Franco-American offensive started the Germans talked haughtily of their
oncoming march to Paris, but since then he states that the Germans where he was
seemed to be in a demoralized state and were silent regarding the “On to
Paris!” advance.
G---- says he
saw one prisoner killed by German guards. He was guilty only of a mild breach
of discipline. G---- says also that the Germans boasted that they had burned
French crops in many sections.
Don Martin reported that he visited the grave of Quentin Roosevelt, dated Saturday August 10. The dispatch was published in
the Paris Herald on Monday, August 12:
Amexes Carefully Tend the
Grave of Quentin
Roosevelt
(Special Telegram to the Paris Herald)
By Don Martin
With The
American Armies, Saturday.
It is now
confirmed in official records that Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt, son of
America’s distinguished citizen and former President, is buried about a quarter
of a mile north of the village of Chamery. I saw the grave today. It is within
a few yards of the charred remains of the machine in which he was flying when
he was attacked by Boche aviators.
The crude
marker which the Germans had placed upon his resting place has been
removed and in its place is a decent marker, delicately inscribed: --
“First
Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt, Air Service U.S.A., killed in action July, 1918.”
The German
epitaph read: “Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt, buried by the Germans, July 14,
1918.”
At the
head of the grave is a bouquet of wax roses to which is attached a card
reading: “Miss Evangeline Booth, Commander Salvation Army, 120 West
Forty-fourth street, New York City.”
There is no doubt, officers say, that the
body reposing in the grave on a little eminence which is part of a magnificent
panorama, which but a short time ago was the scene of bloody fighting between
the Americans and the Huns, is that of Lieutenant Roosevelt. When they were
convinced of it Americans, acting under the direction of Lieutenant A. J.
Lytle, suitably laid out the spot, encircled it with wire and placed thereon a
proper marker. A sentry was then stationed at the grave. A diagram and sketch
was made showing the exact location of the spot and the place where the young
Lieutenant fell. It has been sent to Theodore Roosevelt at Oyster Bay.
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