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

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.