Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-06
Relieve French Colonial Troops
January 20, Forming First
American Front.
UNIT SMALL, BUT TRAINED
BY HERBERT COREY.

been four years at wal oeip S
stamped out IN the first year. but Ser
bia has more men fighting on the hills
of Macedonia than the United states
has in France after being ten months
at war. Nevertheless we have 'front.'
We are in line at last
Because this is to be story OF
day which will be remembered IN Amer
lean history. l propose to write II WITH
out fapdoodie and flag waving, II
can. 1t would be an easy matter 10
write it il Fourth of July style. IL
story of events, and yet make pam
through all that story the pride 1eit
in the youngsters who went into the
trenches yesterday
Started Trench Training in October
It is impossible TO indicate upon what
point in the French line The American
troops have been stationed Because
it seems to me that a recent statement
by Mr. Secretary of War Baker to the
effect that I'VE have fighting army
in France" may be miSconStrued IN
the United States as it has been IN
France. l wish to make this pTeArni-
nary statement:
In october a small detachment of
, American troops was sent into the
French trenches to be trained IN trench
warfare
The Germans raided their, trenches
There is no evidence that they knew
they were raiding American trenches
The affair was one of the petty ATTACKS
that take place every night on some
point of the front
Shortly afterward the Americans
were withdrawn from the trenches.
Approximately two months passed
during which no Americans We're IN
the trenches at any point on the front
An American engineer regiment WORK
ed with the British and during TINS
period was caught in the German at
tack at the Cambria break through
other American engineer regiments
have been with the French in the
Verdun sector and have been more or
less constantly under fire there
But none of our soldiers were in the
trenches until last night. They moved
In about o'clock, relieving some
French colonial troops
o. S. Unit Under French Orders.
To be technically accurate. the United
States has not even yet a front of
its own in France. The men who are
in line now make part of French
army. Although they are under the
GERS the unit is subject to the orders
of the general of the French army.
The British army made its entrance
IN trench warfare in France under
from Mons. in which so large a part
of the British professional army was
wiped out. a new army was haStlly
thrown together to aid the French to
hold the line.
This formed a part of a French army
for a time, in that II was under the COM
mand of a French general The arrange
rnent was only temporary one, however.
AS soon as the British were able to send
enough men to France to create an indie
pendent army separate command was
set up. Precisely the same thing will be
done with the American forces
For the time being the liaison between
the French and the American forces will
be very close When the men went into
the trenches last night they found French
officers waiting for them
Officers to Guide Newcomers.
Each French company which was re-
fieved left behind one commissioned and
two non-commissioned officers to guide
the newcomers
This is usual when troops who are new
to the sector are sent in zen relieve" The
officers who wait behind inform the new
arrivals on the peculiarities of the enemy
opposite and of the terrain. Sometimes
the German troops may be BavarianS, who
have liking for storning at night.
Sometimes they are PruSsianS, the stiff
est and hardest fighting men in the Ger
man army, but so thoroughly disciplined
that initiative has been crushed out of
them If they begin a charge they may
be depended on to carry out that charge
to the bitter end But IL new trick can
be played upon them it breaks them up
They are especially helpless If their Off
GERS are shot down
The officers left behind are there to in
struct the incomers on the kinks Of the
no mans land, which lies between the
two lines of wire One sees almost moth
l~e T0h he n ret
day of watching under such conditions.
LINES Of wire. shell holes, earth piles,
perhaps bodies-in the distance the brown
line of enemy trenches
Learning mo Mans Land"
The second day the watcher sees more.
and with each succeeding day vision is
granted to him His memory becomes
Photographic II the leg of the particu-
larly unpleasant corpse ten feet to the
right of the shell hole near the "dud'
shell seems to have changed position
Perhaps the corpse is now the ca
moufaged shelter of sniper or of a
closeup observer. The watcher be-
comos familiar with the very blades of
men are kept in the front-line trenches
ten or twelve days sometimes-until
physical WEAKNESS forces their with
d-awaL They have become specialists
forty feet of uptorn ground.
The company officers will remain with
, the Americans but a day or two By
that time the strangers may be sup
posed to have become sufficiently ia
miffar with no mans land to do their
own watching The case is different
with the artillery French observers
and gunner officers VIII remain with
the American guns for at least a week
and perhaps two.
Enemy Known as Jerry
The same reason may be assigned.
however The Americans moving into
a new sector, are not familiar with the
ranges and marks, although several of
their officers have been studying the
ground for days past. The French
officers will wait until their new aids
have become tolerably well acquainted
with the best way to drop shells on
Jerry.
~Fritzie- is passe, by the way. No
well informed soldier ever speaks of
the enemy as "Fritzie- Jerry is his
name today.
The Americans are solely responsible
for their sector, both for the trench
holding and the artillery. They have
been told how to do it by the French.
and il there are better soldiers than the
French they have not been developed in
this war. War cannot be taught by
slate and book. however No doubt the
Americans will make mistakes and mis-
takes are paid for in blood. All the
other armies have made mistakes
But an education is quickly gained
under such conditions. If there is
ISrral lin Sctr4 he