Don
Martin diary entry for Friday, August 30, 1918:
Went to the 32nd division headquarters with Smith [Chicago
Tribune] who is a very fine chap. Hung around the headquarters for a couple of
hours. Stopped at a hospital near the Foret Villers Cotteret on the way back.
Took lunch with us. Returned at 6:30. Wrote a cable of about 500 words.
Don Martin's August 30 cable for New York was an upbeat report on American action. It was published
in the New York Herald on August 31.
Americans, Eager to Fight, Charge Foe as Soon as They Reach the Front
After Hike
Doughboys Strike Hard
When They Relieve Tired French North of Soissons
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, Friday
Brilliant operations by the
Americans north of Soissons have characterized the fighting on this sector.
North of Soissons, in cooperation with the French, Americans charged the enemy
three hours after they reached the first line trenches. They took many
prisoners and machine guns.
In one of these local operations
they took 132 Huns. It was one of the swiftest moves our men have made. A small
unit was sent to join General Mangin’s army and after a long march they emerged
from the woods just before daybreak, relieving French, who were greatly fatigued.
The relief was completed at four
o-clock in the morning, and three hours later—before our men hardly had time to
find themselves—the Seventh Prussians opposite were astonished to find
Americans in front of them. They thought the French were too wearied to
continue on the offensive, and they counted on making a stinging counter
attack.
Americans Eager to Fight
In the midst of this Prussian dream
the Franco-American artillery began the fiercest barrage the Huns had known in
weeks. Out of the shadow of this rain of shrapnel appeared the Americans.
“Our men dashed up the hollow,”
said a colonel, speaking of the operation. ”They were eager to get into the
fight again.”
The barrage had barely lifted over
the first line when the Americans bounded over the top and through the fields
on a two kilometer front. The Huns had 200 machine guns scattered among a three
kilometer front, some of which, when our men got to them, were found unmanned.
They were captured by the Americans. In the meantime, however, many machine
guns in the German line had been destroyed by the Huns before they retreated.
The German losses were heavy.
Prisoners said the thunderous barrage put down by the French and American guns
struck terror to them. The Americans killed many with the bayonet and forced
others to flee.
Meanwhile the advance of the
Americans made possible a further advance of the French.
The striking feature of the
American participation in this sector was in the complete surprise of their
attack. Add to this the very savage fire of the Franco-American artillery and
you will understand better the effect of it on the demoralized Huns.
To-day I made a trip along the battle
front in the region of Soissons. The presence of the Americans there was a
surprise to every one, including the French, who cheered them wildly when they
saw the khaki-clad men march into the line.
The British and French tanks
assisted the Americans materially.
To-day miles back of the Soissons
region the great guns of the Franco-Americans are belching forth a stream of leaden
death, but the German guns are quiet. Not more than a dozen enemy shells fell
to-day in an area ten miles square. The Huns evidently are moving their heavy
artillery back to prevent it being taken.
It is well, however, to remember
that the enemy still has a tremendous army, which is able to undertake a
formidable defensive.
All along the Vesle front the Huns
are using airplanes to make machine gun attacks on our infantry lines. An
instance of this was shown a few days ago, when the enemy used fifty airplanes
to swoop down on our lines, which he pelted with machine gun bullets.
Interestingly, in Don Martin's daily report for Paris on August 30, he mentions Juvigny, where the tough battle was occurring. He also reports on his visit to a nearby hospital. The dispatch was published in the Paris Herald on August
31.
American Guns, Firing at Nearly
Point-Blank Range, Are Harassing German Machine-Gunners at
Juvigny
Adversaries, Facing Each Other on Either
Side
of Railway, Keep Up Hot Duel
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
With the American
Armies, Friday
Americans in the region of Juvigny,
north of Soissons, passed most of last night and to-day in a machine-gun duel
with the enemy. The Americans are on one side of the railway, to the east of
the village, and the Germans are on the other. The Germans all this forenoon
kept up a constant sputter of machine0gun fire and the Americans replied
whenever a target was offered, and at the same time bombarded the German
position with small field-guns which had been brought well up toward the front.
They were so close, in fact, that they were fired with practically no
elevation.
The fighting was brisk to the right
of the Americans, where the French made a good advance in the face of
persistent resistance. The French were confronted with a seemingly unbroken
line of machine-guns, but they scattered the crews with artillery fire and
rushed the nests, killing many Germans and capturing a considerable number.
I talked with many of the Americans
and found them all to be in good spirits. One of them said with a smile:--
“They fed us two hot meals during
last night—beefsteak and stew—and we were hoping we would get word to drive the
Boche back. With two good meals a man is in fit condition to fight.”
Austrian in A.E.F.
In a hospital close by I saw an
Austrian, a volunteer American soldier, who perhaps holds the record in the
matter of machine-gun bullet wounds. There were twenty-two in all, two in the
muscles of the neck, four in one arm and eight in the other and several in
various other parts of his body. None of them is serious. Asked if he relished
the idea of fighting the Germans, he said:--
“I’d walk ten miles to fight a
Boche any time. As for fighting Austria, I would rather not now, but if she
turns her soldiers against the Americans, she’s in the same boat with the Huns
and can expect the same treatment.”
Most of the Americans wounded in
the fighting north of Soissons are but slightly hurt. A majority of the men
have wounds in the legs. They are a curious lot, full of humor, despite their
pain and suffering, and indifferent to the horrors of war, though they come
fresh from battle and know the immediate future will find them again under the rain
of fire. Here is a story, the truth of which is vouched for by a prominent
American surgeon:--
A husky private from the lumber
woods of the Northwest was brought in with a fractured leg. It was very
painful. To set it a sturdy attendant was directed to pull from the knee and
another to pull from the ankle. After they had pulled a few seconds, the
private, without even wincing, said:--
“Say, if you can’t decide which one
is entitled to me, why don’t you get the dice and shake for it?”
“Kamerad” Uses White Flag
A German who was taken prisoner was
found to have in his pocket a tiny white flag. He had made it in a most
ingenious manner. The soldier who had taken him prisoner explained that the Hun
waved the flag. When the German was asked about the incident, he said:--
“American no verstehe kamerad, but
verstehe comme ça,” whereupon the German waved his small flag.
I talked with a young private from
Portland, Ore., who is but seventeen years of age. He had been slightly gassed.
He said he had been in the army for a year and had been in several battles.
“I thought I’d get in and do my
bit,” he said. “These Huns are a fine lot! I was lying in a hospital yesterday
when a Boche aeroplane flew over. He flew way down and must have seen it was a
hospital. Fifteen minutes later a shell struck the place, wounding everyone
over again and killing two. I don’t understand how I am alive.”
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