Don
Martin diary entry for Saturday, August 31, 1918:
With Smith [Chicago Tribune] and [Edwin] James [New York Times] went to
the 32nd headquarters. There was not much of a story. The Americans
advanced and took the village of Juvigny. I stopped at the hospital and talked
with some of the men who had been in the Juvigny fight. They are all from
northern Wisconsin and Michigan. Wrote about 900 words cable.
Published
in the New York Herald on Sept 1.
Americans Advance on Germans to Northwest of Soissons in Face of Vicious Fire of Many Machine Guns
FRENCH SHOCK TROOPS
AID IN GREAT ATTACK
Aim of General Pershing in New Terrific Assault
Is to Demoralize the
Enemy
HUNS MAKE FIRM STAND
Many Americans of German Descent
Show Loyalty in Desperate Fighting
By DON MARTIN
Special Correspondent of the Herald with the American Armies in France
[Special to the
Herald]
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, Saturday
In spite of desperate resistance of
the Germans northwest of Soissons, a point where it is essential that the Huns
check the advance or make a wholesale retirement, the Americans have advanced
in the face of a vicious machine gun fire for a considerable distance. The
Americans in the assault fought side by side with a crack division of French
shock troops which aided in forcing the Germans back.
The operation is one of the most
important of the master strokes of General Foch in hastening the complete
demoralization of the Germans, who now are summoning the maximum of their power
to stem the tide of a reverse. Selection of the American unit for the role of
shock troops at this vital point is a further tribute of the French to the
Americans.
Wilderness of Shell Craters
This morning I saw the crack French
troops swinging forward to take their place in the line. It was a stirring
sight to see the same men who have gone through repeated crises fighting again
on the bloody spot which has figured so importantly in the history of the war.
Since the beginning of the German offensive on March 21 the place has become a
wilderness of shell craters and snarled wire—a waste, without trees or other
vegetation. The whole looks the same as the average reader would expect No
Man’s Land to look. There are miles of trenches wriggling through the seared
landscape and roads undulating and rutty as a result of the shell fire which
has been intermittent for years.
The Americans are seeing for the
first time the hopeless desolation of war, villages which have become masses of
powdered masonry, levelled by the Germans as they advanced. The French and
Americans put the finish on the region as they advanced. For many miles it
might be called No Man’s Land. It will be years before the region will be able
to return to normal conditions.
Americans Show Coolness
Scurrying, leaping, crawling over
such a landscape, the Americans whom it was my privilege to see at a distance
as they advanced up against the German lines met the dogged resistance with
dash and brilliance, plunging at the machine gun operators with the same
coolness with which they entered the battlefield. The German prisoners admitted
to me that the appearance of the Americans was a stunning surprise. They were
told by their officers that the French opposite were fatigued and unable to
attack. They expected a respite. Then at daybreak the Americans leaped as deer
across the torn terrain.
It is interesting to note that many
Americans in this attack were of German ancestry. When I asked a German officer
prisoner what he thought of this he shrugged and said he didn’t believe it. I
talked to many Americans of German ancestry before and after the fight to-day.
One of them was Chris Nehmer, of Ontonagon, Mich., a farmer of twenty-two
years.
“I am sure my parents were born in Germany,”
he said, “and most of the boys in my company are the same. But we’re good
Americans all right. I volunteered and am glad to be here. Some think it is
best to change their names, not satisfied with proving their Americanism by
fighting. Take it from me that Chris Nehmer will fight to the finish against
the Huns who are friends of the dirty Kaiser.”
German American—Kills Huns
Another, Fred Bosna, of Grand
Rapids, Mich., has this to say:--
“The Huns hurt us some, but I guess
we handed them the most. I guess they know now that Americans can fight, and
German-Americans also. I was assigned to a tough job—to capture a machine gun.
Two of my companions were nipped. I sneaked around and killed three Huns who
were manning the machine gun and brought the gun back.”
I talked to a dozen of such men who
had been sent back for relief after the first shock assault. They were a
wonderful lot, anxious to get back at the front again.
The American losses were
comparatively small. I talked to some surgeons from Milwaukee who were in a
cave working underground on their cases night and day.
“There are few serious cases,” one
told me. “Many of them are from machine gun bullets and I should say fifty
percent of them are able to get back at it in two weeks. All are eager to
return. I never saw a lot like them. Of 150 cases not one asked me to be
careful, and they stood the stiff pain, too.”
Tanks Play Important Part
The French tanks took an important
part in the attack with the Americans. I saw the report of a French officer in
charge of the detachment. It is a remarkable document as illustrating the
devotion, bravery and modesty of the French. It said, apropos of Thursday’s
action:--
“We pushed forward toward the north
of Juvigny at six forty-five and saw three tanks returning with their turrets
perforated and three sergeants wounded, all seriously, in the head. Then I saw
the lieutenant, also wounded in the head. He was walking with his conductor
bringing back the tanks’ pierced turrets. I gave orders to advance and the
lieutenant advanced his section after reserves had replaced the wounded men. I
received a shot in the elbow and returned to the cave, giving orders to
reassemble at eight o’clock. I got the report of the sergeant. It said that two
tanks had been broken down and three others destroyed by shells and that his
conductor had been killed and burned in the tank. I shall continue to command
as long as possible. If hurt the sergeant, who is unwounded, will take command
and bring the tanks immediately into position. If he is wounded another
sergeant will take command.”
The Germans are using an eight foot
rifle with an inch cartridge against the tanks.
Gallantry of the French
The American soldiers cannot well
overlook the dash and gallantry of the French who in the present offensive are
writing a magnificent chapter to French military heroism.
Last night I witnessed at close
distance the cannonading of the German positions. The sky was aflame for miles
with blotches of red everywhere as a result of the conflagrations caused by the
French-American shells breaking in the German dumps. Troops were seen moving silently
through the fields at the edge of the woods, thus avoiding the main highways,
which were shelled by the Germans intermittently. The night was black, except
for the screech of the shells and the bellow of the great guns. And now and
then the sweet melody of a nightingale was heard from the trees.
Published in the Paris Herald on
September 1.
American Troops, Surprising Enemy,
Brilliantly Capture Juvigny Village
Grenades and Bayonets Speedily Subdue
Resisting Germans—Others Surrender in Groups
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
With the American
Armies, Saturday
Juvigny has been captured by the
Americans. It is a village north of Soissons, which was shelled savagely by the
French and Americans, and which is now being furiously shelled by the Germans.
There were approximately 1,000 Germans in Juvigny when the Americans entered.
About 250 were taken prisoner and the rest were either killed or wounded. It
was a clean, complete job. The Americans are holding it and there seems to be
no likelihood at present that the Huns will attempt to recapture it.
When the Americans entered on Friday
night the Germans had taken refuge in the cellars and in the caves which
undermine the village. Some of the soldiers resisted and were attended to
quickly with grenades and bayonets. Others surrendered in groups. There was
some street fighting—the kind of fighting the Americans who compose the unit
capturing Juvigny like.
The village was taken in an operation
which came partly as a surprise to the Boche. One battalion was assigned to
charge a German machine-gun position near the railway tracks to the northeast
of the village, and another battalion was told to go more to the east and to take
the village from the rear. Both battalions performed their tasks on time. The
first attack was made at half-past three o’clock on Friday afternoon and the
second at seven o’clock. The evening attack resulted in the capture of the
village. Now the American line is well outside the village where the soldiers
have dug in to await instructions.
A German sniper concealed himself in a
housetop and harassed the Americans for an hour. Ten soldiers were told to put
an end to him. They returned in half an hour. No more sniper’s bullets were
heard.
German Shell Kills Germans
A large German shell, at six o’clock
this morning, fell among sleeping German prisoners, killing four outright,
injuring two so badly they died in a short time and severely or seriously
wounding eighteen others. The prisoners had been brought in by Americans three
hours before from the battlefields near Juvigny and were left to rest in what
was regarded as safe as any spot in the battle area. They were closely packed
together, and the wonder is that more were not killed.
There was a world of excitement in the
vicinity. The Germans fled in all directions. Many rushed to a place not far
distant, where a detachment of Americans was in camp. Others rushed into open
spaces. The thought immediately spread among the straggling Americans that in
some strange way the Boche had broken through the line and had advanced well
within the American lines. As a result several impromptu skirmishes occurred,
but with no casualties. The situation was quickly explained.
The Germans were horror-stricken. They
at first expressed the belief that the Americans had led them into a trap, but
they quickly realized that such was not the case. Then they cursed the Kaiser
and his military advisers and said the Germans had purposely hurled a shell in
their midst to punish them for surrendering. Many of those wounded will
probably die.
The prisoners were brought in from the
region north of Juvigny and from Juvigny village, where many of them were taken
from the caves which undermine the entire region. The Germans are all young men
and belong to one of the best German combat divisions. They said that their
losses had been very heavy; but the actual strength of many companies is down
to sixty to seventy men; that artillery fire has caused havoc in their back
areas and badly damaged their artillery. The only remaining members of one
company—twenty-four men--were taken prisoners.
The American unit which began fighting
with the French north and northwest of Soissons two days ago made an assault
upon the Germans yesterday afternoon, making a short advance. In the evening,
following a furious barrage, they reattacked, driving the Germans back farther
and taking a large number of prisoners. Early this morning they launched their
third attack and dug in, making an advance of slightly less than two kilomètres
since yesterday afternoon.
The Germans fought stubbornly, but
almost exclusively with machine-guns. Several hundred machine-guns have been
used in the resistance against the Americans in this section. A corporal found
a map on a dead German sergeant showing the location of more than twenty
machine-guns. The American artillery soon pounded the emplacements to pieces
and killed practically all the gunners. The German losses were heavy all around
Juvigny.
An American corporal, when asked by a
visitor how the Americans acted when they started out to capture machine-guns,
said, “I can only tell you this. The sergeant in charge of my bunch said, as we
climbed out of the foxholes: ‘Come on, boys, we’re the hard-boiled birds who’ll
clean the Boche to a finish.’ We just kept going. Some of the boys got winged,
but most of us got through. These Boches have got a notion that they can lay
low, let us pass, fire on us from behind and then shout ‘Kamerade.’ They tried
it on us yesterday and to-day.”
Mother’s Advice to Her Son
The morale of the troops captured by the
Americans yesterday and to-day is just ordinary. Some of the Germans—the older
ones—said they would prefer to be back with their men, while many said they were
glad to be prisoners. One youngster said the last thing his mother said to him
was: “If you get a chance to surrender to the Americans, do it.” He then asked
when he would be taken to New York. Others wondered if they would be sent to
America.
In the Vosges early this morning the
Boche bombarded American advance posts with artillery, trench mortars and then
came across with a detachment of about forty men. Instantly ten Americans
emerged from a dugout, which had been caved in by shells, and attacked the
soldiers, killing one, whose body still lies about twenty feet in front of the
American trenches. As soon as the Boche machine-guns cease their spatter, the
Hun’s body will be brought in and buried. In the same sector, in the fading
daylight yesterday, a reconnaissance patrol went out. It was at once fired on
with gas. After advancing 150 yards most of the men became ill from slight
inhalations of the poison and paused. Their patrol leader went on alone, cut
his way through four belts of wire, threw grenades and blew up an observation
post. The enemy sent up a signal bringing down a storm of artillery on the lone
American, who calmly retraced his steps. He gathered his patrol together, and
all returned without a single casualty.
In the Voivre the Boche was active last
night with machine-guns. Snipers were also busy.
Published in the Paris Herald on
September 1.
AMERICAN AVIATORS SUCCESSFULLY BOMB
ENEMY RAILROADS
Conflans and Dommary-Baroncourt Are
Heavily Attacked—Many Hits Are Observed
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
With the American
Armies, Saturday
American bombers yesterday made
three successful flights, dropping bombs on Boche communications. This morning
the American bombers attacked Conflans, dropping a ton and a half of explosives
on the railroad yards. At noon yesterday they flew to Longuyon, where the
atmospheric conditions were bad. They proceeded to Dommary-Baroncourt and
dropped a ton of bombs on the railroad yards. Eight explosions were noted among
warehouses and cars. In the evening they again attacked Conflans, placing
forty-two bombs on the railroad yards and warehouses.
Three enemy planes followed the
bombers, but did not attack. All the American machines returned safely.
On Wednesday American airmen
attacked a Boche and drove him away from a French observation balloon.
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