The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1918-06-20
Must Get Huns
to Learn Plans
BY FRED S. FERGUSON


of the American forces in Picardy
knows what officers are in command
of the men whose road to Paris is
barred by Yankee fighters.
The American staff officers know
when the German soldiers have their
meals. when supplies are brought up,
how long each individual command
remains in the line. where their rest
| camps are, where their artillery is con
centrated. and in fact every detail of
the German organization
1t is the business Of the intelligence
department to find these things out.
But how does it do it2
The answer is the reason for raids.
Must Get Germans.
! Only Germans know the things that
the American staff must know for sue
cessful operation. The thing to do.
then, is get Germans. Raids, there
fore. are for but one purpose-to get
prisoners From the Identification
disc of a Boche prisoner and from pa
pers found in his pockets, his organi-
zation may be learned. Questioning
and cross-questioning will always
bring out further information, and if
there are several prisoners there is
usually at least one who is glad
enough to be out of the line to tell
everything he knows.
Raids have been especially f-e
quent by all of the armies since the
big offensive started, March 21. 1t
is highly important that the French,
British and American stats know if
there is any change in the Boche line.
Every German division must be kept
track of A change on one front
might mean the beginning of concen-
tration on another The intelligence
departments consequently demand
raids. raids. raids. Every scrap OF
information obtained from the pris
oners is carefully gone over. checked
up, and the German order of battle
confirmed or corrected.
get us Some Boches."
Soon after the start of the Boche
offensive, word came to American gen.
eral headquarters that it was highly
important to both the French and
British that certain information be OBJ
tanned by the Americans northwest
of Toul. General headquarters tele-
phoned the intelligence officers at the
front 1t was after p. m. when the
Il ~
gence officer, a major from Virginia.
called a lieutenant in frontline dug
out on the field telephone.
"G.H.Q. says it must have prison
ers' tout suit" he began. Got to
get them tonight and have them in
here by morning. Get busy"
IAN right" and the lieutenant sat
down to think it over.
Did He Get Them7
He started by calling on four men.
Then they blackened their faces and
hands with lamp black. crawled over
the parapet, through the wire. and
across No Mans Land. Crossing the
Boche wire. they dropped into the
German trench. grabbed four men
before they could fire shot or utter
cry, and hustled them back to the
American line. Within less than two
hours after he had received the order
the lieutenant called the major.
Those G.HQ. prisoners are on the
way down." he reported
That morning the Germans were
examined. and all information gotten
from them was transmitted TO head
quarters.
Silent Raid Now.
The raid which resembled an at
tack, and which prevailed early in
the spring, has now given way TO the
"silent raid" The old raids were pre-
ceded by violent artillery preparation
German batteries We're shelled, tren
ches demolished, wire blown up, and
box barrage put down on the trench
that was to be raided. The artillery
preparation lasted for from thirty min
utes TO an hour. Then. the infantry
went over behind a creeping bar
rage" Such raids were certain OF
success insofar as entering the enc
my lines was concerned. The box
barrage prevented Boche reinforce
ments coming up. and also held the
men in the trenches thus boxed in.
In many instances. however, the Bo-
che was found to have evacuated his
first. second and even third line po-