Skip to main content

September 2, 1918: Don Martin sees ruins of Soissons

Don Martin diary entry for Monday, September 2, 1918: 
Went to the 32nd division with [Edwin] James [New York Times]. Brought [Caroll] McNutt [Colliers] back in our car. Came back through Soissons which is in ruins. Only front wall of the cathedral is standing. While we were there about 50 guns in and around Soissons began a barrage to blaze a way for the advance by the Moroccans who have gone in the line in place of the Americans. Wrote cable for N.Y.
     Published in the New York Herald on Tuesday, September 3, 1918.
AMERICANS HURL GERMANS NORTH FROM JUVIGNY
Whole Countryside Behind Hun Lines Ablaze with Burning Munition Dumps
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
           In a splendid dash forward the American forces operating north of Soissons have pushed away ahead of Juvigny and have captured many prisoners. They have started the Huns on their probably retreat to the Chemin des Dames.
         Our stalwart troops drove everything ahead of them, despite the fact that the Germans pitted their crack troops. The Huns are everywhere unable to check our victorious onrush.
           The sky to-night is lit up with fires caused by the enemy burning his ammunition dumps and supplies as he retreats northward.

           Our losses are small. Many Germans were killed.
        This illustration, published in the Paris Herald on September 1, gives a graphic image of what the fighting was like.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Don Martin, Soldier of the Pen – Introduction

This daily blog has the ambition to bring back to life WWI war correspondent Don Martin,   and to make a contribution to the history of American journalism as a contribution to the centennial celebration of the Great War. It is written for the one-hundredth anniversary of Don Martin's death and the end of the Great War, World War I.   The Great War, which began in August 1914, finally ended in November 1918, just a month after Don Martin’s death from Spanish influenza in France. Much has been written about World War I and the eventual important involvement of the United States. The American public did not go joyfully into this far-off conflict. There was strong opposition to sending an army, and President Woodrow Wilson’s narrow reelection victory in 1916 was helped by the slogan “ He kept us out of the war.”   When Wilson changed his mind in 1917, the United States Committee on Public Education was set up to engage Americans in supporting the war. It carried out ...

Don Martin selected to become leading American war correspondent

  The New York Herald, for which Don Martin worked, was founded in 1835  by the inventive editor   James Gordon Bennett . He influenced the entire American press by pioneering more-aggressive methods of gathering news: he developed the interview as a reporting technique, hired foreign correspondents, and gave emphasis to coverage of the arts and cultural events. Under Bennett’s direction the   Herald   developed a style of reporting that was sensational in emphasis, and high-spirited in tone. The   Herald   had a larger staff and published more news than any other New York City newspaper of its day.  He managed to “outdo his rivals, increase his circulation, prestige and advertising, and make himself – and then his son – one of the richest men in the United States.”     James Gordon Bennett, Jr., born in 1841, grew up erratic and eccentric. He was elected Commodore of the New York Yacht Club, a name often used in referring t...

May 29, 2025 -- Expected Israeli attack

The New York Times reported: U.S. officials were concerned Israel could decide to strike Iran with little warning and said U.S. intelligence estimated that Israel could mount an attack on Iran in as little as seven hours.  The bombing of the enrichment facilities at Fordow and Natanz will use the largest conventional bombs, so-called MOAB “Mother of All Bombs.” The destruction will be enormous; it is probable that any personnel in those facilities will be killed or injured.   Therefore, no IAEA inspectors should be at the nuclear facilities in Iran at the time of the bombing. Assuring the physical safety of IAEA inspectors becomes its Director General’s highest priority.   I would like to see the Israeli government commit that the IAEA Director General will receive advance notice of bombing so that Agency inspectors can move to safe locations inside or out of the country.  An Australian colleague, retired nonproliferation lawyer diplomat, informed me that t...