Don Martin diary entry for Thursday, September 12, 1918:
Got up at 3:30. With [Edwin] James [New York Times] and [Carroll] McNutt [Colliers] went
out to see the barrage. Had wonderful view of it. It was still going at
daylight. Visited various headquarters. Returned at 11 to write a story for New
York. Went out again at 3 and returned at six. Wrote long cable for New York.
Has been busiest day I can remember. Americans took the Huns by surprise. Are
driving them back.
Don Martin cabled to New York on September 12 a glowing report of Day 1 of the American offensive at St. Mihiel. It was published in the New York
Herald on Friday, September 13.
ST. MIHIEL,
8,000 PRISONERS
AND MANY TOWNS TAKEN
IN PERSHING’S FIRST BIG OFFENSIVE
ALONG A
FORTY MILE FRONT
BIG GUNS, TANKS
AND AIRPLANES HELP IN A SMASHING OFFENSIVE ON WIDE FRONT BELOW VERDUN
Attack Made On
The South And West Simultaneously, The Battle Covering Nearly Forty Miles From
Pont-A-Mousson, On The Moselle, To Moranville, On The Meuse.
FIRST AMERICAN
ARMY STRIKES UNDER DIRECTION OF GENERAL PERSHING
Don Martin Sends
Graphic Account Of The Battle, Which He Witnessed, Telling How The Men Went
Over The Top And Reached Their Objectives
FRENCH,
CO-OPERATING IN CENTRE, CAPTURE TOWN OF ST. MIHIEL
Many Villages
Taken, Carrier Pigeons Returning With News Of Victory And Hundreds Of Prisoners
Captured, While American Losses Are Reported To Be Small
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, Thursday
The First
American Army, under the immediate direction of General Pershing, launched a
vigorous offensive in the region of the St. Mihiel salient, south of Verdun, at
day-light today. By noon all its objectives were reached all along the line from
Pont-a-Mousson on the Moselle River, to a point north of Moranville, about ten
miles southeast of Verdun. The attack was along a front of about sixty
kilometres (nearly forty miles).
The American attack followed a heavy bombardment by our artillery. I was
permitted to see this bombardment and later the rolling barrage. Then I got a
glimpse of the American troops as they went over the top.
The Germans, who had been expecting an attack by the Americans, but who
did not know when and where it would be launched, were simply paralyzed by the
great force of our artillery preparation. Indeed, our guns simply pulverized
the enemy’s front line and tore great holes in the earth many miles back of
their lines.
Greatest
American effort
The attack was the greatest military undertaking the American army has
ever attempted and our forces are carrying it through splendidly.
American infantrymen swept threw many villages, which they cleaned up
swiftly. French tanks, manned by Americans, preceded our infantry at several
places along the line of attack, and they completed the terror of the Germans,
who, as I write this, are battling on solid ground but are compelled to
retreat.
When I left the front to file this despatch our forces had gained
several kilometres of ground from the enemy.
French soldiers, co-operating with the Americans, are fighting under
command of General Pershing. They are fighting with the same brilliance and
dash as the Americans.
Our forces early took Mont Sec, east of St. Mihiel, a position which
commands miles of surrounding terrain. Its possession by us releases important
railroad lines.
The strongest kind of pressure was brought against the enemy at both
ends of the salient, and, as I have said, a tremendous bombardment and intense
barrage was put down by our guns, which opened up on the enemy at one o’clock
this morning. I have seen many bombardments and barrages, but I never saw any
which for intensity and destructiveness equaled these. They were gorgeous, if
such an adjective may be used to describe such a grand horror and destruction.
For a distance of twenty miles the whole horizon was aglare with flashes
of our guns, with red and white signals and flares that burned for ten minutes.
Rockets shot into the air and spilled great streams of flame; there was a
tremendous, a deafening, roar of great guns. Indeed, the cannonading continued
for four hours. It was the greatest massing of artillery that his part of
France ever knew.
Our rolling barrage started at five o’clock this morning, four hours
after our bombardment started. Immediately our men went over the top. From a
point close up to the front line I saw our men start ahead along the five miles
of trenches and watched them enter the woods, firing constantly as they
advanced at spots where the Huns were supposed to be lodged, but the enemy,
terror stricken, had abandoned the front line.
For a few moments, the enemy clung to his second line of defence, a
kilometre back of the first line, but he was quickly routed out by our men as
they rushed victoriously forward. Throughout all the fighting, the American
soldiers were businesslike and went at the Hun in true American fashion.
Objectives
reached
Thirty minutes after our men went over the top a carrier pigeon returned
with the first message from them. Commanding officers never for a moment had
doubted the ability of our men to reach their objectives, but they were eager
to hear any good news. This first message told them what they had confidently
expected, that our forces had reached their first objectives.
Soon afterwards a
second message said that German prisoners were on their way back and that among
them were enemy officers.
 |
| 18th Infantry, Machine Gun Battalion at St. Baussant National Archive Photo No. 111-SC-20936 |
When these prisoners reached our lines they said that they had expected
an attack somewhere on the line but were uncertain where it would be. They
added that the German high command had placed good divisions in the line,
scattering them where they would be best placed to defend the front. This
caused no surprise, as our soldiers had suspected that the German troops
opposing us on this sector are among the best the enemy has.
 |
| German prisoners on Day 1 of St.-Mihiel salient offensiveNational Archive Photo No. 111-SC-20917 |
Notwithstanding the resistance of the Germans, which was stubborn at
certain places, the American losses have been small so far. This is in face of
the fact that many of our units engaged in this biggest effort to-day were in
the front line for the first time.
Reports received at headquarters say that our men showed the same
tenacity as that displayed by our troops which were distinguished in the
fighting last July on the Marne.
The Americans and the French have complete mastery in the air. When our
attack was started a dozen airplanes appeared. At no time during the fighting
to-day were there less than a dozen of them hovering over the lines and pouring
machine gun fire and dropping bombs on enemy positions. Not a single Boche
flyer was seen.
While our observation airplanes peered into the German lines, our
bombers swooped down close to the earth and dropped tons of high explosives on
the retreating enemy forces, causing terrific damage and losses to the Germans.
Optimistic reports of the first day’s
fighting are most gratifying. The American troops are eager to do their full
share in the great offensive which is shattering the German morale.
 |
| from New York Herald, September 15, 1918 |
On Thursday, September 12, the New York Herald published on page 1 a photo titled “DON MARTIN AT THE GRAVE OF LIEUTENANT QUENTIN ROOSEVELT,” with the following text:-
The photograph shows Don Martin, New York Herald correspondent with the American armies, at the grave of Lieutenant Quentin Roosevelt, near the tiny village of Chamery. The lieutenant was buried within a few yards of his wrecked machine and, as Mr. Martin cabled, the Germans placed a wooden cross over the mound of earth, reading, “Buried by the Germans,” As soon as the Americans and French regained the terrain they enclosed the sacred spot with white birch saplings, the Salvation Army sent a floral wreath and soldiers quartered in the neighborhood went by thousands to pay their respects to the young hero’s resting place. A photograph and a diagram, made by American engineers, were sent to Colonel Roosevelt, in Oyster Bay. The above photograph is one of many taken by Mr. Martin at the American battle front which, with a thrilling story of what our soldiers are doing “over there,” will be reproduced in next Sunday’s Herald.
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