Skip to main content

September 17, 1918: Don Martin reports from under shelling in Thiaucourt

Don Martin diary entry for Tuesday, September 17, 1918: 
Stayed in Nancy. Had luncheon with Tom Johnson. Had trouble finding a place to eat. The city is packed with Americans. Wrote 1,000 words for New York. Had dinner at Angleterre. Later sat around with Jimmie Hopper [Colliers], [Carroll] McNutt [Colliers] waiting for the air raid alert but there was none. The operation in the Saint Mihiel salient is now completed. We have established a new line and the Germans have also.
                       Don Martin sent a full report (3,300 words) on his visit to the recaptured village of Thiaucourt to the Herald on September 17, which was published in the September 18 New York Herald.
BOYS FROM NEW YORK TAKE A RIDE AROUND THIAUCOURT JUST TO SEE 
THE ENEMY’S BIG SHELLS EXPLODE
Men Seem Wholly Indifferent To Danger
And View Bombardment As Spectacle
DON MARTIN SEES WHAT OUR GUNS DID
Wreckage On Roads Over Which Huns Retreated
Eloquent Testimony To Skill Of Artillery
By Don Martin,
Special Correspondent of the Herald
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES IN FRANCE, Tuesday
                       To-day I had another excellent opportunity to see how American soldiers act under shell fire. I was in the village of Thiaucourt, from which the Germans retreated last Friday night, when I heard the weird whistle of shells, followed by their loud crump, telling the Boche, in retreat from the St. Mihiel salient, had got his big guns emplaced well back of the Hindenburg line and was using them. The village of Thiaucourt, which normally has a population of about 3,000, now is filled with American soldiers.
                       The first shell from the Germans struck within two blocks of the Red Cross hospital, which formerly was the City Hall and which was used by the enemy as a hospital up to the time of their evacuation of the town. When I first saw it the German sign still was in front of the building. Now the hospital is  partly filled with American wounded who were engaged Friday forenoon in the advance around and capture of Thiaucourt.
                        When the first shell struck, German prisoners were carrying wounded from ambulances to the hospital. Other shells followed quickly, and the Germans at once started to run for shelter. Only by the sternest commands of our officers could they be made to resume their work. All those prisoners who were not so engaged were quick to find places where they thought they would be safe from the shells.
Indifferent To Bombardment
                        Indifferent to the danger of the enemy fire, our own men, however, halted not a second in their work, even when the shells were falling within a hundred feet of the hospital.
                        Despite the fact that the situation was at best somewhat disquieting, our surgeons there worked away as steadily and as nonchalantly as though they were in the operating rooms of their own hospitals at home, thousands of miles from the front. Meanwhile the enemy’s shelling was most severe and many of his projectiles struck buildings close to the hospital, shattering them and leaving great holes in the ground.
                        Not a single man in the marching lines of our soldiers passing through Thiaucourt was the least disturbed by the shells, and not one of them even looked as if he wanted to step out of the line to a place of greater safety. During the entire half hour that the strafing continued our men seemed to look on it all simply as an interesting spectacle.
                        At least 100 shells fell in the vicinity of the hospital, not without some casualties.
                       While the bombardment was in progress one of our ambulances reached the hospital with four wounded Americans, one of whom was a giant Texan, six feet two inches tall. Two German prisoner of small stature were assigned to help him from the ambulance to the hospital, as the Texan had a wound in one of his feet that prevented him walking. He put his arms around the prisoners’ shoulders and limped forward, a queer spectacle for onlookers. When some one remarked at it the Texan said: “They are doing the best they can. The whole trouble is that they are too short for me.”
Shell Strikes Close By
                       As he spoke a huge shell struck less than a block away from him, but it made no difference. Nothing could daunt him.
                       At the edge of the town I saw an old fashioned barouche similar to the open victorias we have in New York City streets. It was drawn by a very lean and aged horse and represented the entire world possessions of a refugee. On the driver’s seat was Benjamin H. Lewis, of Gould (a village in Upshur county), W. Va. In the barouche and as happy as two larks were J. A. Driscoll, of No. 22 Manhattan Avenue, New York city, and P. J. Sarkey, of No. 191 Collier street, Brooklyn. They were on rest leave and when I stopped them they told me that they were having a drive around the town to see the shells strike.
                       Not a man of this trio nor in the marching lines of our troops through Thiaucourt was injured by the shelling, although practically every one of them was sprinkled by dust and dirt from thrown up earth and crumbled masonry.
                        Lieutenant J. W. Lane, of No. 202 Manhattan avenue, New York city, was another of our men whom I saw in Thiaucourt. He was engaged as a balloon observer and went about his business during the bombardment as if it was nothing more than a rain shower.
                        “I do not believe in taking unnecessary chances, but with regard to shell fire I am beginning to look on it as do many of our soldiers,” he told me. “If a man’s name is on a shell, it will get him, and if its not, it won’t. So what’s the use worrying about it?”
                       The enemy now is shelling many of the towns and villages which they lost in their retreat northward and they are bombing freely, as they always do when they are angered. This shelling is taken to mean that the Germans have selected the place on which they intend to try to make a firm stand. This will be back of the Hindenburg line.
Huns Are Digging In
                        From points along our front this afternoon observation posts could see the Huns digging in in the region of Dommartin. Also they are digging trenches a kilometre in front of the old Hindenburg positions. However, there is no possibility that they will attempt to recover the terrain they have lost here, which now is permanently in the possession of the allies. This is conceded even by German officers who are in a position to know what is in the minds of men prominent in their armies.
                       The elaborate trench system of the Germans, their machine gun nests built on solid concrete, their mammoth, heavy gun emplacements and a thousand and one other features of fortification built to repulse an allied attack show conclusively that the Boche intended to defend to the last ditch the territory here that the American force recovered in the brief space of thirty-six hours.
                       To-day I visited many towns and villages of importance in the salient all the way from Pont-à-Mousson westward to St. Mihiel. I began where our attack started and motored far north in the salient. From Apremont I went to Richecourt, Loupemont, Essey, St. Baussant, Lahayville and many others that whenever they are mentioned will ever recall memories of American valor.
                       In some of these towns and villages there is to-day not a wall standing. In some of them conditions are as bad as in the Somme territory devastated by the Hun in four years of bitterest warfare. Indeed, in some cases, the destruction is worse than anything I saw in the Marne region.
Ruins Overgrown With Grass
                       A greater part of this destruction was the result of the German attacks four years ago and French attempts to recover the ground lost then. To-day many of the ruins are overgrown with grass. Many old churches are entirely wiped out.
                       Thiaucourt was damaged only slightly. Some of the roads thereabout – roads which were once famous for their beautiful fringes of poplars and cottonwoods, like those along the roadsides in the Dakota “Bad Lands”, are ruined, the trees gone, apparently having been cut down by the Germans three or four years ago and used  by them for timber purposes. At the very best it was a cruel mutilation of the beautiful things of nature.
                       For ten square miles of the territory through which I motored I saw a wilderness of barbed wire, weeds and torn up earth, with here and there a fine garden which had been planted by the Germans. The panorama on the whole, however, was the most dismal I ever saw–worse than that in the region north of Soissons, which was supposed to be one of the most ghastly on the face of the earth.
                       Every town and village here shows the effect of terrific fighting four years ago, when the Hun hordes invaded it, and added to this is the effect of the American and French artillery attacks last week. Our guns left many scars on the terrain. The earth was churned up for miles around, roads were torn to pieces and bridges destroyed. Assisted by our airplane bombers, our artillerists did much to harass the enemy as he fled northward over the roads.
                       In the region around Montsec I saw dungeons and caves in the mountains. There were electric light wires running into them and the floors were littered with personal articles and letters and papers which belonged to the Germans. Officers in these shelters lived in comparative luxury while allied shells pounded futilely over their heads.
Encircling The Heights
                       While the surface of these heights is dented by thousands of shell holes made by the guns, the caves and dungeons are undamaged. An inspection of this mountain shows that the Allies chose the only way of capturing the enormous pile of rock–by proceeding by way of an encircling movement.
                       Thousands of American engineers to-day are swarming over this region, and the landscape yesterday and to-day presented a scene of great activity. Thousands of men swarmed like ants over the terrain, burying German dead, repairing roads and cleaning away the debris from villages from which the Huns had fled.
                       The effect of our shelling of this area must have been very serious on the enemy troops. In one of the roads I saw a wagon standing undamaged, but by it horses lay dead and inside it were two dead Germans, victims of one of our shells. In another place I saw a smashed camion with six dead Germans around it. Scattered along the roads were scores of ammunition wagons, or, rather, fragments of ammunition wagons.
                       At a certain crossroads I saw another striking indication of the intense savagery of the fire. Mile after mile of retreating German troops must have passed the spot. Within a circle of fire five hundred feet in diameter there I counted three hundred shell holes of varying size. At the intersection of the roads the highways were completely wiped out.
                       The efficiency of our artillery explains one of the reasons why the tide of war has turned against Germany. Add to this artillery efficiency the tenacity of the American soldiers.
 “Terrify Their Enemies”
                       “I have been at war for four years and during that time I have fought men of every nationality in the allied armies, but I never saw soldiers begin a charge with such coolness as the Americans show,” a German officer who is one of our prisoners told me. “By their very coolness they simply terrify their enemies.”
                       I talked with one of the foremost British military experts about the same subject. He saw them on the Marne and came to see them in the first great military operation of their own. He watched the attack here from staff headquarters. This is what he afterward told me: “If I could criticise, I would. In fact, I would like to criticise good naturedly, because such criticism is helpful. There is no chance for criticism here. The St. Mihiel operation was perfect. Not a thing done could be improved upon, which means that the work of the General Staff and of the fighting men is wonderful. It is easy to understand why the tide turned definitely and swiftly in your favor.”
                       A singular thing in the spirit of thousands of Americans is that those of them who were not called on to take part in the fight, but were held in reserve, were greatly disappointed. I passed several hours with a division of stalwart men from the Far West who were disgruntled because they were not in the fight. “We want to lick somebody,” one of them said to me. “Sitting around here is bad for us. Give us fighting to do.”
                       As I write this American troops continue to whip up the vast woods that we have in their search for more Germans who may be hiding in them. Almost constantly our men are unearthing new supply dumps which the enemy left behind. These supplies and the capture by us of so many prisoners is the plainest kind of proof that the Huns have suffered another serious humiliation.
Treatment Of French Civilians
                       I have talked with hundreds of French civilians who were forced to live with the Germans in this territory for four years. Some of them told me that they were treated fairly well. Others said they were treated with Spartan sternness and some of them were compelled to supply a fixed quantity of food for German officers every day. Many of them were forced by their overlords to do various kinds of work.
                       An aged man who lived in Pannes told me that the German commandant in that village had said to him that the Kaiser would enter Paris in August of this year. This man added that when the Kaiser made his trip along the German lines last June, at the time of the  Hun advance, he stopped in Pannes and reviewed three divisions garrisoned there, telling them in an address that they were the best soldiers in the world; that they would conquer the Allies, including America, and would dictate the terms of peace.
                       He told me that a thousand times the German commandant in Pannes and other Germans there had declared that Germany was ordained to rule the world. He declared that the Huns were kind to the aged French when the German armies were victorious and that they were wolf like when their armies met with reverses. Indeed, I may say that this war has demonstrated that this is true of all Germans, except the ignorant privates, who are like wild men.
Predicts Early Allied Victory
                       A few days ago I saw 4,000 German prisoners captured in this salient lined up on a plateau. Among them were forty Prussian officers who were not of the supercilious kind. One of them, who had studied in England, spoke perfect English. I was permitted to ask him when he thought the war would end.  “Pretty soon,” he said. “I believe that it has got to end soon. Some of the soldiers, however, still believe that Germany can win, but with America in the war to my mind it is certain that the Entente will win. It is impossible for us to stand up against such force as you have. Our officers know that you have a million men in France and have millions more to back them up. What can we do against such odds?” 
                       This was the first that a real Prussian officer–and I have talked with many of them–would admit that the Entente will win the war. It shows a distinct change of heart since America got out of her swaddling clothes and donned the regalia of trained and daring warriors.
                       One of these captured Prussian officers had a fox terrier which he had carried through trench and patrol duty for a period of two years. He gave this terrier to an American officer as a souvenir.
                       Many amazing pictures were to be seen as the prisoners marched back through our lines. All of them were smiling. Many of them waved their hands to friends as though they had not seen them for years. Indeed, there was a waving of hats, as if it were a great family reunion or a crowd starting out on a holiday excursion.
                       Our home folks would be astonished if they could see American soldiers tuned for war. For several days the roads here have been filled with ammunition trains, supply trains, “goulash cannon” and all the paraphernalia of war. The lines of our soldiers would reach from Battery to Westchester. To-day I saw a thousand of them in a field eating luncheon. I asked some of them if they got enough to eat.   “Sure, we get plenty, and it is good, too,” they replied. “Take it from me, Uncle Sam feeds well, and that’s the way to keep us going. Napoleon knew what he was talking about when he said something about bellies and soldiers.”
                       In a village a kilometre from the front line, I talked with a dozen husky privates, some of whom were from the State of Washington and some from Missouri. They were in pursuit of the Huns. They declared that they had had a hard job finding them, but when they were found the enemy was in trenches, dugouts and woods with his hands up. “There can be no doubt that the German soldier is a great fighter when he is winning, but it looks to the bunch as if he has cracked around here,” one of them told me.
                       In a small village taken by us in this sector the village belle returned to her home after four years of exile. As soon as she returned to her native place a soldier to whom she was engaged found her and they were married.
                       It was a happy touch of romance in war time that the incident brought to this village. There was a wedding procession through the streets from the bride’s home to the village church. She wore a white gown and the bridegroom in uniform and men and women dressed in black walked solemnly behind them. Hundreds of American soldiers stood along the sidewalks and watched the procession pass.
Settling Down On Occupied Ground
                       With the Boche back on the old Hindenburg line, or back of it, the American troops now are settling down on the territory they have wrested from the enemy. The operation, it appears, has been finished. Following three feeble counter attacks last Saturday morning, for a moment it looked as if the enemy intended making a big thrust. Soon afterward, however, aerial observers reported that there was a heavy movement of German troops northeastward, where, it appears, the enemy is preparing a rugged and straight line of defence.
                       From forward observation positions we have seen more than a dozen fires on German ground. At this time it is impossible to tell what they mean. We know, however, that at least a dozen small villages have been burned to the ground by the Huns and everything in them destroyed.
                       American cavalry has taken a prominent part in repelling counter attacks  by the Germans. When the enemy attacked, our cavalry dashed among them and in every case the enemy troops turned and fled. Where cavalry mounts could not penetrate, the cavalrymen dismounted and pursued the fleeing Huns, killing and capturing many of them. 
                       The territory out of which we have driven the Germans here is much like the farming country of New England or any of the Eastern States. Much of it is wooded, with rolling hills. There are no rivers, creeks, canals. Most of it is in waste, because of the fact that it was neglected during the German occupation.
                       The Americans and French have moved their heavy guns forward into the newly occupied territory with amazing rapidity. It has, indeed, been a shock to the Huns, who are receiving no rest by day or night.
                       At Nonsard, Pannes, Limey and Regnierveille-en-Haye, the Germans had built huge dugouts and from these places their trenches could be seen winding in a zigzag course for miles across the rolling landscape. For a distance of ten miles one could see only traces of trenches in a wilderness of barbed wire, with here and there a concrete pill box. The hillsides presented the aspect of ancient Indian villages of communal houses dug into the rock and in which the Germans lived while they held this territory.
                       These strongholds were believed by the Germans to be bulwarks which nothing could break down. Our troops dispelled their illusion, and the clothing, fresh food and letters which we found there show the great haste with which the enemy withdrew. Wrecked cannons by the roadsides, trains of ammunition left standing on the narrow gauge railroads, the vast quantity of supplies and ammunition dumps that are miles long – all these things are good indications that the Huns again were taken by surprise.
        Don Martin followed up that dispatch with another about captured German documents and his visit ti Essey, which was also published in the New York Herald on September 18.
SOCIALISTS WORRY HUN COMMAND 
BY THEIR PROPAGANDA
Captured Documents Show Germany 
Disturbed By Spread Of Doctrines
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, Tuesday
                       That the German retreat from the St. Mihiel salient was even more precipitous than we at first imagined is now known, following the discovery of thousands of official documents which, in their haste to get away, the enemy left at their various headquarters. Also they left hundreds of thousands of blank cards that they use in making official reports and huge quantities of stationary that the Americans now find good use for.
                       It is evident from the things discovered by our men and from the records of the German Intelligence Department that the enemy is having his worries over conditions within Germany and with regard to the spread of socialistic propaganda throughout the German armies. Authors of pamphlets which I saw appeal to the German soldiers to remember that as soon as the present war is over the German government will try to militarize labor so that it can begin preparations for the next war, which, they declare, is sure to come.
                       These socialistic writers make no appeal to the German soldier to quit fighting. They ask them to be on their guard after the war in order to thwart the scheme of the men who now are wasting millions of lives and meanwhile facing disaster–to prevent these militaristic leaders from placing an iron yoke on the neck of German labor.
Mourning for late Sultan
                       We found an official copy of an order issued by the Kaiser just after the death of Mohammed V., Sultan of Turkey, who died on July 3 last, in which he called on all Germans in Turkey to wear mourning for a period of eight days and on all German soldiers in Europe to observe a period of mourning.
                       Scores of documents which we found relate to American units. One of them, dated on September 9, says: “Observations and reconnoisances fail to indicate that the Americans will make a big offensive, as reported, on both banks of the Moselle.” This is another instance where German efficiency failed.
                       One of the most interesting of all the pamphlets left by the Germans in their flight is entitled “How to cook weeds.” It gives a description of eight varieties of nutritious weeds and gives directions for making them palatable.
                        Americans were busy this afternoon restoring the town of Essey about five and a half kilometers southwest of Thiaucourt, which the enemy held only a few days ago. In one building there we found a complete mess outfit and the furniture used by a German general. There was a long table, elaborate and heavily carved chairs, a piano of German manufacture, china, glassware and tableware, also of German make; oatmeal, pickles, jams and spices.
                       When I entered the place I found quite an unusual scene. Private Albert W. Barker was standing at the piano singing in a fine tenor voice the old song, “Dear Old Pal of Mine.” Private Harry B. Adams, of Kansas City, Kan., played the piano accompaniment. Private Wells, who before entering the army was a professional singer, formed the third of the trio, while Captain J.E. Soper, formerly a physician of Minneapolis, and Private Stephen Berte, of No. 691 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, were interested listeners. Just as I entered the building Private Berte remarked that war was not so bad.
                       In the kitchen, transforming it for American use, were Privates George M. Hart, of Nyack; Preston Gre, of Hurtsboro, Ala.; James K. McDonald and Gaston A. Smith, also of Alabama, and Norman O. Smith, of Columbus Ohio. The fact that bombs had been dropped close to the building by German flyers the night before and even then German shells were falling near it troubled them not a bit.
        For Paris, Don Martin wrote on September 17 about successes in the air war, which was published in the Paris Herald on Wednesday, Sept 18.  
BRITISH AIR DREADNOUGHTS 
SOW HAVOC IN RHINE TOWNS; 
AMEX FLIER’S GREAT FEAT
Giant Handley-Page Aeroplanes Are Bombing Pulse Of German War Machine Day And Night—American Pilot Downs Three Enemy Planes, Fighting Against Big Odds
 (Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
With The American Armies, Tuesday.
              In the last week’s activity on their front the Americans have had scores of encounters with German planes, and have made an excellent score notwithstanding that they lost some machines. The enemy hurriedly brought a fleet of sixty aeroplanes to the American front, but despite this the French, with the Americans aiding them, maintained supremacy in the air.
              A lieutenant, whose name cannot be mentioned because he was injured, had a thrilling experience. He went up with a patrol and lost his way. He headed into the sun and was caught in an adverse wind. An enemy machine suddenly appeared and the two fought until the Hun went down in flames. The American, who was well over the enemy’s lines, was endangered by shrapnel.
              He was wheeling about trying to ascertain his whereabouts when ten enemy machines flew around him. He fought them all until two went to the ground, and escaped the others by diving into a cloud. He was directly on his way homeward, having found his location, when he was struck in the head by a piece of shrapnel. His official report says he remembers nothing after that. He was found by some American soldiers well back of his own line, after making a perfect landing, notwithstanding that he was unconscious.
              Lieutenant C. R. D. Olive with Lieutenant Furlow recently brought down three German planes in a fight which lasted half an hour. Lieutenants Carruthers and Harding also brought down a plane.
              British, American and Italian aviators are bombing Rhine towns and German cities 200 miles from our bases every day and night. Without a doubt the Huns are receiving a splendid dose of their own medicine. Great Handley-Page machines are flying constantly over German territory, dropping huge bombs on factories, railway yards, etc. They are doing terrible damage to property which the Germans need for war use. The great British machines are veritable air dreadnoughts.     
          Don Martin on September 17 also sent a  happy story to Paris, which was published in the Paris Herald on Wednesday, Sept 18.
St.-Mihiel Rejoices 
When 70 Young Frenchmen Return
 (Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
With The American Armies, Tuesday.
              There was great rejoicing in Saint-Mihiel to-day when about seventy young men, who had been carried out of the town to be used as workers in German factories, returned. They had been overtaken by the French and Americans at Vigneulles.
              The Germans had carried them along as rapidly as possible, but at Vigneulles left them behind, as they regarded them as a handicap to swift progress.

              The refugees arrived at Saint-Mihiel this afternoon. A great crowd greeted them. Their parents and relatives embraced them. It was all a very touching picture. The young men were hurriedly gathered together on the night of the American attack and torn away despite the pleadings of relatives.

Comments

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 France. The depth and beauty of character which drew these old and new

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

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 United States and the Entente Allies than at any other time since the very beginning of the war.