Skip to main content

September 24, 1918: Don Martin reports resumption of German shelling

Don Martin diary entry for Tuesday, September 24, 1918: 
Stayed in again. Wrote about 600 words cable on the doughboy as a fighting man. Major Bulger, chief of press section, at six this afternoon told all the correspondents to be ready to start off on a three or four day trip at short notice. We cannot leave Nancy tonight or tomorrow. This means the Americans are to start an offensive somewhere probably west of Verdun. My opinion is it will be a big French offensive with the Americans co-operating. We have a vast army ready for business. Had dinner at Angleterre with Claire Kennimore of St. Louis, McNutt of Colliers and Boothboy of the Y.M.C.A.
          That was Don Martin’s last diary entry, written on Tuesday, September 24, 1918, in Nancy. Why he stopped and whether he wrote more that didn't survive, we do not know. It was then less than two weeks until his death.
     Don Martin's September 24 daily dispatch for Paris on developments at the front was brief. It was published in the Paris Herald on Wednesday, September 25.    
GERMANS OPEN FURIOUS FIRE 
ON AMEX FRONT
Artillery Bombardment Is the Most Intense
Since the Saint-Mihiel Victory
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Tuesday
                       Furious artillery engagements marked last night on a large part of the American front.
                       Beginning soon after midnight, an American raiding party started for the Germans’ region south of Preney. The outposts were abandoned but for a small section enclosed in a box barrage. There was considerable stiff fighting here for half an hour. The Americans took five prisoners and lost none.
                       The Germans opened up with the heaviest artillery fire since the Saint-Mihiel salient was cleared. The guns echoed for hours. Villages nineteen to twenty kilomètres back were shelled to-day by a six-inch gun.
       Also for Paris, Don Martin sent this somewhat confused brief report, which perhaps was shortened in its publication in the Paris Herald on Wednesday, September 25.
GERMAN-AMERICAN CAPTURED 
IN BALLOON BROUGHT DOWN
 (Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Tuesday
                       A German observation balloon was brought down over our lines by anti-aircraft guns. Both fliers are uninjured.

                       One is a German-American, who before the war was a dealer in motorcycles in Sixth avenue, New York.

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.