Don
Martin diary entry for Tuesday, August 13, 1918:
Went out alone. Took my camera and took 20 pictures. Had luncheon with
Major Stebbins of the 3rd Corps about a mile outside Coulange. Got
back early. Wrote nothing. Everyone now talking about moving from Meaux. The
Americans expect soon to put on a big operation in the St. Mihiel region and I
expect we will all be moving to Nancy very soon. The front here is very quiet.
The Germans are resisting and neither the French nor the Americans are making
any great attempt to push on farther north.
Here is Don Martin's dispatch dated Tuesday, August 13, about the escaped British prisoners, said in his August 12 diary entry to be 600 words - it was 1,100 words! It was published in the New York Herald on
Wednesday on August 14.
HUN HATE VENTED ON THE AMERICANS HELD AS CAPTIVES
Prisoners Brutally Treated, Say Two Englishmen
Who Have Escaped
By DON MARTIN
Special Correspondent
of the Herald with the American Armies in France
[Special to the
Herald]
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, Tuesday
Germany is conducting a widespread propaganda among the neutral nations
to the effect that the Americans kill and maltreat the wounded and refuse to
take prisoners. At the same time she is treating the American wounded
inhumanely, making them the special object of her hatred. The Americans are in
possession of a document of recent date showing that the Germans are telling the
neutrals in various countries that we are barbarians or worse. All these “Made
in Germany” documents which are widely circulated are false and steps have been
taken already to convince neutrals of this fact. The first real story of recent
date showing the actual condition of prisoners in Germany came to light to-day.
Two British soldiers, Corporal Purvis, a bank clerk, and Isaac White,
intelligent men and prisoners since May 27, escaped a week ago and came into
the American lines this morning. I saw them soon after their arrival and talked
with them. They are remarkable chaps, cool and apparently unbiased and they
tell a straightforward tale of what they saw, experienced and heard. Here are
some of their statements:--
Four thousand British prisoners, with a thousand Russians, were used to
build the German railway system south of the Aisne and below the Vesle. The
Russians were supposed to have been released under the reciprocative agreement
for the release by Russia of German prisoners in the east.
The Germans have changed the signs which formerly read, “God Straffe
England.” and now they read, “God Straffe America.”
German soldiers are looting and sending home the food and comfort
articles in some of the parcels sent from England, France and America to men
held prisoner.
Germany Near
Starvation
Germany is near starvation.
Germany made her offensive of May 27 with the expectation of scaring
the Allies into peace and now is continuing the fight in the hope that a break
of luck will turn the battle in her favor.
Paper bandages are being used in the hospitals.
English and French aerial bombers are causing fierce damage and havoc
and a reign of terror in the Rhine country.
While the stories of escaped prisoners are often exaggerated Purvis and
White are odd types. In an hour’s talk soon after they reached brigade
headquarters I was convinced they are truthful, observing and accurate, and
consequently their story is worth repeating.
White collapsed with exhaustion soon after reaching our lines, and
Purvis, while a giant in strength, is weak from his hardships. He lost forty
pounds since he was captured. He said:--
“All I ask is to be put in charge of a hut at Preston, England.
Ordinarily I am a man of kindly, Christian instincts, but I would like to take
charge of a bunch of German prisoners. It is foolish to say there are some good
Huns. Maybe that is true, but I never saw one. They are all the same. They
insult, abuse and kill their prisoners, never giving a thought to world
opinion. If they had their way we would
all be left to starve.
“Here is an example of our menu—Breakfast, pint of coffee made from
hawthorne berries; at two o’clock in the afternoon, vegetable soup made from
dried vegetables; at six o’clock, a pint of coffee and three-quarters of a
pound of black bread. That is a day’s food. Men can’t live on such a diet. In
six months more I would have been dead.”
Germans Get “Wind Up”
“The Germans get “wind up” at the thought of Americans. You are the
especial object of their hatred now. Six months ago it was England.
“The Russian prisoners are treated like brothers now by the Boche. The
French have the next best treatment and the English next. Your country will be
startled when it learns the inhumanity with which your own wounded are being
treated.
“The military situation for the Huns seems to be serious. Trains filled
with wounded have been passing endlessly in the last few weeks. We did not know
the extent of the Marne retreat, but we knew the Germans had suffered badly. They
are talking now of the possibility of a propaganda drive to compel the neutrals
to break with the Allies and make a situation out of which a German peace could
be engineered.
“I heard plenty of comment that convinces me the Americans have the
Germans worried. They thought they would walk through the Americans like they
would through children, and they haven’t recovered yet from their surprise.”
Purvis threatened to eat the soap that was handed to him. He said it
was the first he had seen since he was captured. He was a prisoner at Ramecourt
and was forced to work from daylight to dark and sleep in vermin infested
quarters. It is a wonder he is alive, and many, who went through his experience
are not.
Purvis’ story held deep interest for the Americans. It fits well with
the stories of escaped French prisoners.
Purvis and White arrived in the region of the Vesle before dawn. They
were not aware that the Americans were there. When they arrived the Americans
and Germans were attacking. They wore suits the color of the German uniform and
approached an American in the darkness. They grappled with him and took his
rifle. The American was small and Purvis a giant, but the American knocked
Purvis down with his fist and seized his rife. In the course of the scrimmage
he swore a good American oath and Purvis knew him them for an American. The doughboy
offered the Englishmen cigarettes and a drink of water and they walked away to
H.Q. arm in arm.
The Germans are in the worst situation they have found themselves yet,
with the loss of the initiative, which now has been intensified by Marshal
Foch’s smashing blow in Picardy. The Germans are prepared to resist further
here if they are attacked, but the three gigantic railway systems on which they
relied to transport their army anywhere overnight largely are in the possession
of the Allies. This is an extremely severe loss to the Germans, and it is the
conclusion of Purvis and White after their trip made through enemy country that
the whole territory will be reclaimed up to the Chemin des Dames.
I am able to say the Germans made a remarkable retreat, though they
lost a tremendous amount of material. Three weeks ago the turning point of the
war was reached. The tide is setting now against Germany. That this prediction
is accurate every one is agreed. Germany is not licked yet, but it is only a
question of time when the Allies will be able to deliver the knockout blow, and
the time is not far distant, some believe, though the peace flags will not be
waving this year.
Here is a second version for Paris of the escaped British prisoners story, also dated Tuesday, August 13. There are some interesting differences with the New York version. This was published in the Paris Herald on Wednesday, August 14.
“STRAFE
AMERICA” IS CHIEF SLOGAN OF BAFFLED BOCHE
Escaped British
Prisoners Say Prussian Guard’s Failure
Against Amexes
Surprised Foe
(Special Telegram to the Paris Herald)
By Don Martin
With The American
Armies, Tuesday.
It is not only
“Strafe England” now; it is also “Strafe America.” According to two English
prisoners the Germans are irritated because they were unable to sweep the
Americans easily out of their path as they moved laboriously, but, they
believed, surely, on the way to Paris.
Many
interesting things were related by Corporal Charles Purvis and Private Isaac
White, highly intelligent British soldiers. Some of them are:--
The Germans
left wounded prisoners, among them Americans, unattended for seven and eight
days, the result being that in some instances gangrene developed. In one case
death resulted.
How Foe Starves
Captives
The food of
all is insufficient and bad. One day’s rations, according to the British
escaped prisoners, consist of a pint of coffee, made of hawthorn berries, twice
a day; soup made of dried vegetable, and three-quarters of a pound of black
bread, made principally of potatoes. So scanty was the allowance that Purvis
and White were physical wrecks when they arrived within the American lines, and
they were unable to partake of a solid meal. They say that many prisoners die
of malnutrition and that all are in an emaciated state.
The lack of
food in Germany is nation-wide. The German soldiers in France, the Britishers
say, steal and save all the foodstuffs they can and send them back to the folks
at home. Parcels intended by loving friends and parents for prisoners in
Germany seldom reach their destination, but are confiscated by the Germans.
Purvis says
that the Germans, from what he heard them say time and time again, did not
expect to reach Paris when they began the May 27 phase of their big offensive.
They expected to make a big showing, and thus to frighten France into making
peace or breaking with her Allies. Failing in this, the Englishmen say, the Germans
continued in the hope that some whirl of fate would bring a peace which would
satisfy the German population.
An American
physician who was among the prisoners worked like a hero among the wounded, but
he was unable to attend to all. He collapsed from exhaustion.
Worried Over America
“The Germans are
worried over what America has done and is expected to do,” said Purvis. “It is
easy to see from their conversation that the Germans received a shock when they
learned that their Prussian guardsmen had been unable to walk through your
‘untrained’ Americans.”
Purvis was a
bank clerk before the war. He said it would be impossible to exaggerate the
cruelties of the Germans. He and White were taken prisoner during the later
days of May. They escaped a week ago and passed five nights walking and five
days hiding. They became separated, but singularly enough both crossed into the
American lines. Purvis waded the Vesle about the time the Germans were making
an attack. He wore a prisoner’s uniform of about the same hue as the German
soldiers’ uniform and was mistaken by an American for a Boche. The two engaged
in a struggle, Purvis assuming he was fighting a German. He had not even
dreamed that the Allies had come as far north as the Vesle. During a sort of
wrestling bout—it all took place in utter darkness—the American uttered a few
distinctly American idioms, and they convinced Purvis that he was in the hands
of a friend.
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