On Friday, September
27, Don Martin was able to move to a more comfortable hotel, the Metz, best
hotel in Bar Le Duc.
Don Martin sent to New York on September 27 an extensive report relating in glowing terms the continued success of the American offensive.It was published in the New York Herald on Saturday,
September 28.
Big, Broad-Shouldered Men
from West Crush Germans
in Their ‘Make
Good’ Attack
Don Martin Tells Story of How Doughboys Went over
Top After Terrific Bombardment which Shattered Hun Defenses
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, Friday
Many thousand of prisoners and many guns of
all calibres have been captured by the American forces in their victorious
onward sweep northwest of Verdun. In addition to these losses the Germans have
suffered heavily in killed.
The French to-day are electrified by the
magnitude of the American victory and the Huns are staggering under the blow.
It was an American undertaking from the start
and as such it is continuing. It is important in many ways. It means that
another staggering blow has been struck the Germans.
And more, I am permitted to say that a great
mass of Americans now are in France ready to “carry on” until the conflict is
brought to a victorious termination—the end demanded by civilization.
The situation is bad for the enemy. Should the
German divisions west of the Meuse continue their flight northward it will mean
a loss of important railway lines and the consequent weakening of his defences
in the west.
General Pershing Planned Attack
Our advance everywhere west of the Meuse has
been uniform and swift. So far the operation has been perfect in conception and
execution. It will go down in history as one of the great American
offensives—under the personal direction of General Pershing and his staff, with
Marshal Foch advising. Every detail was worked out by General Pershing and his
all-American staff.
A drumfire bombardment preceded our second
day’s attack, which was launched at daybreak this morning. Throughout the night
our guns roared and the sky was red with flame. This fire continued until
morning, when our men, sweeping forward, compelled a still further retirement
of the enemy.
As soon as they went over the top the
Americans cleared the enemy concrete pits and machine-gun nests. The Americans
stormed intrenchments and swept through woods, capturing many Huns who were
bewildered by the very fury of the attack.
It was with a brilliance and dash equaling
that of the Marne and St.-Mihiel that the doughboys yesterday swept over miles
of German held territory northwest of Verdun, routing some of the best enemy
troops. Aided by tanks, the Americans dashed on relentlessly. Nothing could
stop them. They recaptured villages the Huns held for four years and forced the
Germans to evacuate supposed impregnable strongholds.
I have heard hundreds of narratives of the
valor of our troops from Kansas, Pennsylvania, Missouri and other States who
are fighting and defeating the best Prussian troops.
It was a furious artillery fire—a drum
fire—that fell on the Huns before our men went over the top. There was a roar
like that of continuous thunder and the sky was red with flashes of flame. This
artillery preparation began at half-past eleven o’clock Wednesday night and
lasted for five hours. It was heard for
more than twenty miles. At first our shells dropped in the German front lines,
and gradually they worked back through the enemy held territory, ploughing up
the earth, ripping up barbed wire entanglements and trenches.
During the early morning hours I saw our
soldiers in the trenches waiting the word to go over the top. The attitude of
our men was amazing. While waiting the “zero hour” they smoked cigarettes and
gossiped. Their only desire, their only aim was to make good.
I saw the start of our drive, waves of
infantry covering miles. I could see our men trotting along under cover of the
barrage, and after the barrage lifted I could see them leaping over the
excavations and shell holes.
Meanwhile the tanks lumbered on ahead of them
and our “heavies” boomed incessantly, hurling projectiles into the ranks of the
fleeing Hums and gas shells into woods and lowlands.
It was splendid to see the stalwart Westerners
in this attack. These soldiers long had been eager to show their mettle--to
show the world, and France in particular, what they could do. They are big,
broad shouldered men—men who do things.
When French tanks, manned by Americans, rolled
into Varennes the Huns took refuge in houses. Our infantry following the tanks
made short shift of it. The tanks cleaned up the machine gun nests and the infantry
engaged the Huns in hand to hand combat. Those not killed were taken prisoners.
The fighting there lasted only half an hour.
Americans Supreme in Air
Yesterday and to-day our doughboys fought with
the same courage and determination that others of our men showed at Belleau and
Cierges and other places when we fought shoulder to shoulder with the French.
Supremacy in the air was ours from the moment
the attack was launched, and this supremacy was attained with home made
airplanes. I saw as many as fifty airplanes, most of them of American
manufacture, in the air at one time. Many of them were Havilland “fours”
equipped with Liberty motors. They kept the air free for our observation
balloons and whenever a Boche appeared they were quick to attack him. Despite
this supremacy in the air, however, a mysterious Boche yesterday afternoon
managed to get through our air lines and, swooping down like a hawk, managed to
send two of our observation balloons to the earth in flames.
I entered Boureuilles a few hours after our
men had driven the enemy out of that village. As I passed through the principal
street I met some slightly wounded Americans on their way back to the surgical
dressing stations. One of them, evidently in considerable pain, mumbled this:--
"Kamerad, Kamerad!” They got me with
that ‘kamerad’ stuff.”
When I asked him what troubled him, he
told me that he had been shot by a Hun who had cried “Kamerad!” to him.
“I went after a Hun who had a
machine-gun,” he said. “He held up his hands and cried ‘Kamerad!’ and when I
advanced to make him a prisoner his gun began to sputter. I got three of his
bullets here in my arm, in my shoulder and in my leg,
“But my sergeant took care to see to it
that the Hun got his.”
Along the road in the vicinity of Boureuilles
I had an opportunity to see many things of interest. For a long time a greater
part of the country around Boureuilles was no man’s land. I saw shell holes
there sixty feet deep and filled with water, grass grown trenches and many
signs of the fighting that has been there for four years of war. Two hours
after out troops had swept it free of Germans I saw thousands of Americans at
work repairing the roads, and they sang merrily as they swung pick and shovel.
“It’s a long way to Berlin, but we’ll get
there just the same,” sang one of them, and when I asked him his name he said
he was Frank Hammacher, of Butte, Mont.
I saw prisoners passing in long lines to our
rear. Our men looked with curiosity at them, but I did not hear a word
disrespectful. Among these prisoners were men of all ages, some of them whose
hair was gray and others who were mere lads. All of them, however, appeared to
have been well fed.
Don Martin also sent to Paris on September 27 to Paris an extensive report published in the Paris Herald on Saturday,
September 28, 1918. Interesting is that he mentioned things not included in his New York dispatch--steady downpour of rain; strong resistance and desperate fighting in the Argonne--early indicators that the Argonne was going to be tough going for the Americans.
Germany’s Best Troops
Fail to Hold Up
Yanks
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Friday
Owing to the steady downpour of rain which
began early this morning and the mud and mist that made movement difficult,
coupled with the establishment by the Germans of new and strong machine-gun
clusters, the advance of the Americans, while continuing, was not so swift as
it was on Thursday.
The Germans are using some of their strongest
troops in their endeavor to prevent our advance, but notwithstanding this
advances were made at various points and new prisoners were brought in. As I
write the number of prisoners counted exceeds 8,000. One corps has taken 3,000
prisoners, many of whom belong to the Prussian Guard. One division captured
eight 150mm. guns, four of larger calibre, thirty-four machine-guns and fifteen
trench mortars. This haul was made in the region of Dannevoux.
The Americans met with strong resistance at
this point. An interesting story is told of a youthful member of a Western
division. It is impossible to give his name because he was injured, and the
rule of the censorship is that names be withheld till the relatives are
notified. This soldier was charging a machine-gun nest with a number of others.
All his comrades were wounded too severely to continue, but he went on to the
end of his journey and captured three Germans who did not say “kamerad.” But on
the way a bullet went through the boy’s steel helmet and coursed around his
forehead between the muscle and the skull, while another tore a nasty hole in
his shoulder. Despite these wounds he led his prisoners back to the nearest
point of detention, where he proudly turned them over to an officer. Then he
asked for a dressing station, so that he could have first aid and then return.
But he was not permitted to go back.
Enemy Lost Heart
The German losses do not appear to have been
particularly heavy in the early fighting. Prisoners say the American barrage
was terrific and besides making many victims it took the heart out of the
Germans, which accounts in a measure for the number of the enemy who gave
themselves up.
Information shows now that the Germans for
four days had been expecting an attack at some point. They had originally fixed
on September 25 as the date, in anticipation of which they withdrew many of
their forces from the front line and got back to stronger points. They have
four positions, so far as can be learned. Their fourth line of resistance is
well back from their present position and is called by the Germans “Kriemsilde
Stellung.” Here the Huns are preparing to meet any force that may be sent
against them. The units in the German line yesterday and to-day are among the
best troops. For instance, the Prussian Guard is supposed to be the best of
seven Guard divisions. It has been held in readiness for an attack in the Aire
Valley and arrived recently from the fighting around Laon. This unit was called
hurriedly to Belleau Wood last June, when the Marines made their famous charge.
Bavarian, Saxon and Jaeger divisions have been in the vicinity of the present
fighting. It is known that one Austro-Hungarian division was pitted against the
Americans.
First Taste of Warfare
During last evening the Americans dug
themselves in for the night, both as a protection against shells and against
the weather, which was threatening before it grew dark. Many of the lads had
their first taste of warfare under the drabbest conditions, but are
good-natured just the same. It would seem that nothing is sufficient to
discourage the boys, who feel that hardships are inevitable to war.
The American attack extends all the way from
the Meuse to the Argonne. The advance was almost uniform along the entire line.
Many villages were taken by storm. The German artillery, which was somnolent
all day on Thursday, opened up about ten o’clock on Thursday night and hurled
shrapnel and high explosives into all our back areas, causing inconvenience but
little damage. All day to-day shells have been falling.
It was possible yesterday to advance within a
hundred yards of the infantry and yet be exposed to little danger. In fact,
several correspondents, among them myself, went to points just back of the line
and close enough to hear the machine-guns of the enemy, yet heard not a single
shell. To-day an American general went on horseback over fields and shattered
roads to the very front. He was exposed at times, but made the journey in
safety. He said he desired to know the exact conditions on the front.
Desperate fighting was going on this afternoon
in the southern part of the Argonne forest. German machine-gun pits in the
forest, manned by Prussian troops, are trying to stay the Americans, who are
advancing slowly under a ceaseless fire from both sides. More than a score of
nests were wiped out. Patrols went well ahead of the infantry at various points,
and reported that the Germans are preparing an intense resistance everywhere.
The battle to date is a distinct American success, as is shown by the number of
prisoners and advances at points of the German line which were numbered among
the strongest.
Don Martin also wrote a dispatch for Paris relating stories he sent to New York. It was published in the Paris Herald on Sunday,
September 29, 1918.
Amex Soldier Tells Story
of Hun’s
Treachery
(Special Telegram to the Herald)
By DON MARTIN
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMIES, Friday
Entering Boureuilles a few hours after
the American troops had gone through the village I met a number of Americans
slightly wounded. One was limping along evidently in pain, mumbling, ”Kamerad,
Kamerad!” They got me with their ‘Kamerad, Kamerad.’” I asked him what the
trouble was, and he told me the story:--
“I went out after a Hun with a
machine-gun. He put up his hands and called ‘Kamerad.’ Well, why not? So I
said, ‘All right,’ and then his machine began to sputter. I got three bullets
in the shoulder, arm and leg, but a sergeant near by took care of that Hun. Oh,
well, I’ll be back soon.”
Another man I met was a sergeant from
North Dakota with a bullet wound in his arm. He said: “Did you see that officer
pass on a stretcher a minute ago? He’s my captain. Our tank broke down, and the
Boche got the range and blazed away until the captain was hit. I got hit, too,
but it’s not much. I’m the luckiest man in the A.E.F. We stuck to the tank till
she caught fire. Even then the captain thought we might still be able to make
her go, but the gas shells came and it was all off.”
I took a trip well into the territory
recovered and being just behind the advancing infantry had the opportunity to
see things of interest. The road from Neuvilly to Boureuilles is destroyed and
where a bridge was mined there is a hole sixty feet deep filled with water. On
the way through I passed thousands of American repairing trucks loaded with
crushed stone hardly two hours behind the advancing infantry. A youth working
at the pick was singing merrily “It’s a long way to Berlin, but we’ll go
there.” He said he was Frank Hammacher, of Butte, Mont. “T’ain’t much farther
from here to Berlin than from Butte to Seattle. Maybe it’s harder going, but
we’ll go.”
Within two hours after the Doughboys
had passed through on the heels of the Huns the engineers had completed rough
bridges over roads at points where they had been blown up by mines. I saw more
than 2,000 boys with pick and shovel plugging away, impervious to the constant
thunder of guns and the incessant rattle of machine-guns which the Boche was
firing from woods only a mile off.
German prisoners passed frequently in
long lines, and the Americans always stopped to gaze at them, for many had
never seen a Hun. In one instance 200 prisoners marched through a small village
where there were 500 negroes, who stared at the Boches with much curiosity. One
shouted: “Dat’s de way to do it—get ‘em by de bunch! I’m sore myself ‘cause dey
took me from home.”
The prisoners are of all ages, some
gray and unshaven; some are boys of seventeen. They are well fed. Sergeant
William M. Dunn, of Yankton, N.D., looked over and said: “Queer bunch! If only
we could chase the whole outfit into the open, it would finish quick.”
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