The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-07-04

= man our soldiers. who are the
1T 70 represent America In the bat
- for democracy. beg leave to ten
- 70 you, 70 the admiral, and to the
1 bqSy the hearty thanks Of the war
N9DAxtment and of the army. This
sQpdon0id achievement is an suspicious
-gB3MnrnE, ana II has oesn characs
s; eng11od throuGhout by the most cor
Dao1 and effective cooperation be-
tween the two military services
Cordially yours,
4 {WEnedl NEWTON u. BAKER
Travelled On slower npats.
The contingent which arrived in
Il France today. completing first move
Went of American troops overseas.
were the men who took passage in
! slower boats
Ii was for them the government fear
"a most. as their ships through lack
o. speed. were the most defenseIess
81 aNAlnst submarines, 1t Was for this
es40ason that the war and navy depart
4noafs have been In mental terror since
sleomature publication wss made sew
&eAl days ago by permission OF tine
Ereel committee on public Information
sk0k the arrival Of the frst continsents
80 troops,
And then there Is another th,ng--a
q *4eleus thing that an immediate IN
y veDtixAtion is TO delve into II reaches
sslate the very heart of the navy. Tor
6Sherwiee German submarines wou!d
not have been able to know thar
American troops were coming arc
would not hSG~ known the course they
were taking on the sea 80 rs TO he
able to lie in a blue water ambush Tor
them far outside the boundaries OF the
orcinary> danger gone.
How this information was obtained
hv whom and how II was sent TO GER
nav IN order that feet OF sub
marines might be sent out 70 waYiay
ana slaughter rts american troops ard
cas-, chill Of terror throughout the
American na,ior,--exampie Of German
{ frirhtfulness~--is what the !nvestiga~
y tipn is 70 determine
How smother fotilla ~ German
submarines could know the port.fnr
which the American ships were bound
4 n as to lie in the right s7ot within the
\ Submarine zone and attack another
Z tcntsnrpnt is further proof. accord
ing 10 me belief here tonight AZ
leak of government secrets which I'M
& perfls the life Of every American
sailor and soldier who salts the high
seas
yfreAamfral William Sims. in
command OF the American snlps IN
Furopesn waters. and Rear-AdmlraI
{ Albert Gleaves in direct command Of
ire DESTROYER fotilla are the men to
whom credit for bringing he Ameri-
can troops safely through must he
given. Behind the scenes is Rear
ADMIRAL Benson chief of corpora
tions. who planned out the entire eN-
nAdition ard every detail Of IT. He Is
the man rho told the others what
to do
And here is the story Of the whole
expedition. nov permitted 10 be pub
iisted for the FIRST time:
Moved With Utmost Secrecy.
The regulars aud marines. who
comprise the expsditionary force, were
moved from their various posts to the
seapoard with the utmost secrecy.
Not a word OF what was going on
vas printed anywhere Even men in
the service did not know their com
rades in the next tent we're gong
away or where they had gone after
they went
4 he force is made up Of trained
and seasoned men, the troopers, vet
Grams OF Mexico and Philippine ser
vice. the marines, men from the bat
tlefeld. Of Santo Domingo. Hayu.
and Cuba There also was sprlh-
king of recru,ts-volunteers for Euro
picked at their own request. There
men are mostly new in the marine
corps, They were moved to the sea l.
board and went aboard ships at sev-
eral Atlantic ports. II was known
along the water fronts OF several OF
the ports in question what was GO
ing on. hut the general public did
roe know and the censorship on all
cables was depended upon to pre-
e NJ ~ RI
reaching Germany After the troops
were at SEA their ships filled with
equipment Of all sorts-everythGng
they could possibly need from gas
masks 10 bully beef days went pass
withou, a word There was little
wirelessinG done; so that no German
station could PICK out OF the air a
e hint OF the movement or Judge BY
the radio waves the location % the
transports Each Of the transports
was conveyed ny warships The other
warships already in European waters
had beer notified by cable where To
meet the transports,
The army had laid itself out 70 give
the men everything in the shor Army
depots were practically stripped that
the frst armed force To carry the flag
to Europe might be Il. model contingent.
equipped TO the last word and fl and
4 READY TO take ftS place IN tFe tESncn
Hines
The Indersea Grenade.
The navy had gone 70 It's utmost N
provide every means n safety. The
nndersea grenade described by Score
tary Daniels was held in reserve for
just such an emergency rs that in
which II proved itself so effective II
In new v eapon Of oTense against the
submarine an American Offering 10
denocracy. The grenade WAS perfected.
~ IL said by the special naval consult
ing board. which has been al work on
methods to combat the submarine for
more than three months. The navy had
heard Of the first attack on life trans
ports while they were sim outside the
danger zone. That is why unheard OF
efforts were made to call back. to pre-
vent publication a any cost Of the re
: port from Paris or the arrival OF the
frst contingent. There were other con
fingeEts TO follow and their peril was
believed 10 be doubled by the publica
tion OF the report. BUT Il was TOO late
for action to he taken.
The committee on public informa