Skip to main content

August 15, 1918: Don Martin's day trip to a 'quiet' front

Don Martin diary entry for Thursday, August 15, 1918: 
Went out with [Edwin] James [New York Times]. Visited the 1st corps headquarters at Coulange; got no luncheon and came back by a road south of the Marne. Wrote about 500 word cable for New York. Correspondents now told they must keep writing from here so the Germans will not suspect that we are liable to break out somewhere else. We are to stay here for ten days and then go to Nancy. Word came this afternoon for the correspondents to go to Chaumont tomorrow to attend an important conference at G.H.Q. General Pershing wants to talk to us.
           Don Martin wrote a short report for Paris on his day trip to the front, dated Thursday, August 15,which was published in the Paris Herald on Friday, August 16.
German Bombing Planes 
Fly Over American Centres
Drop Explosives Where They Think Troops Are Quartered – Vesle Positions Strengthened
(Special Telegram to the Paris Herald)
By Don Martin
With The American Armies, Thursday.
             During the last few nights Germans have been attempting to do with bombing planes what they ordinarily do with their heavy artillery. More than a dozen large bombers flew over the American back areas last night and the night before and dropped aerial torpedoes where they supposed troops were quartered. The performance began about ten o’clock on Tuesday night and continued until daylight. Last night there were fewer enemy planes about.
                 There has been practically no infantry action along that part of the Vesle, which has been the scene of keenest American activity. The Germans have, as I stated several days ago, strengthened their positions on the heights north of Vesle and are determined to hold there for a while – presumably until they have perfected a position farther north. Their artillery has been comparatively quiet.
               In the village of Fismette, opposite Fismes, there has been a good deal of sniping and machine-gun firing. The Germans are in one end of the village, the Americans in the other. The result is that the four or five principal streets are swept with machine-gun fire whenever soldiers are seen, and snipers are taking pot shots at every soldier who is foolish enough to stand still for more than a second.
                Fismette has been a lively place for several days and artillery has left it alone because of the presence of both Germans and Americans.

                To-day I took a trip practically up to the eminence overlooking Fismes. Everywhere I found that the Germans left behind millions of dollars’ worth of supplies and ammunition and that they unquestionably intended to remain south of the Vesle until the end of the war.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

October 14, 1918: Don Martin’s funeral service in Paris

        A funeral service for Don Martin was held in Paris on Sunday, October 13, 1918, at the American Church, rue de Berri. The New York Herald published this report on Monday, October 14, 1918. MANY FRIENDS AT CHURCH SERVICE FOR DON MARTIN Simplicity and Sincerity of Character of “Herald” Writer, Theme of Dr. Goodrich’s Sermon                     Funeral services for Don Martin were held yesterday afternoon in the American Church in the rue de Berri. They were simple and impressive. Before the pulpit rested the coffin, over which was spread the American flag. Floral offerings were arranged around it. Flat against the wall behind the pulpit were two American flags and the tricolor, and on either side were standards of these two emblems. Uniforms of the United States army predominated in the gathering of 200 persons composed of friends Mr. Martin had known for years at home and friends he had made in Fr...
2 comments
Read more

Welcome to Don Martin blog on Armistice Centennial Day

Welcome to the World War I Centennial Don Martin daily blog, on Armistice Centennial day, November 11, 2018. Don Martin was a noted war correspondent reporting on the American Expeditionary Forces in France in 1918. Regrettably he died of Spanish influenza in Paris on October 7,1918, while covering the Argonne Forest offensive. He missed the joy of the Armistice by a month. Beginning on December 7, 2017, this blog has chronicled each day what Don Martin wrote one hundred years earlier – in his diary, in his letters home, and in his multitude of dispatches published in the Herald newspaper, both the New York and the European (Paris) editions. The blog, for the several days following his death, recounts the many tributes published, his funeral in Paris and his trip back to his final resting place at his home in Silver Creek, New York. To access the daily blogs, click on the three red lines at top right, then in the fold-down menu, click on Archive. There are 316 blogs from D...
1 comment
Read more

September 30, 1918: Don Martin assesses war situation, and visits recaptured Varennes

           On Monday, September 30, Don Martin sent a cable sent to the New York Herald beginning with his review of the war situation in France, and then reporting on his day at the front in and around Varennes-en-Argonne. It was published on Tuesday, October 1. ENEMY EXHAUSTED BY FOCH STRATEGY OF VARIED BLOWS Enemy Forces Bewildered  and Never Quite Certain of Plan of Defence 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, Monday                  Competent observers who long feared to believe their own convictions are now fully convinced that Germany is in a most serious predicament – not only because of her desertion by Bulgaria, but because of the general military situation on the Western front. To-day this situation is far more favorable to the Unit...
1 comment
Read more