The Washington herald., 1918-05-05
Miracles Saved War When
Boche Broke British Line
Plans Upset by Unexpected Disaster that
Threatened Defeat, French Staff Moved
Like Lightning to Stop Ludendorff.

repair the breach that had been made
between their armies; second. TO bring
up fresh guns and troops TO stop the
German attempt to break through
again. The frst breach had been re-
paired. The second task. longer. hard
er and more bloody, was yet to accom-
piish.
\ It was on Friday afternoon. the
second day. that the o. o. g. signal
went up and down the front from the
sea to Switzerland. The Germans had
broken through the Fifth Army; that
meant. as every soldier knew. that
Ludendorff would strip his front and
throw every division he could bring up
into the gap; Amiens. the sea. Paris
scanned within the German grasp. More
than prodigies Of heroism from allied
soldiers were needed now; without
miracles Of transport greater than the
endless chain Of motor lorries from
Barbecue to verdun, the battle, and
France. would be lost.
So much Of the general situation a.
it stood on that Monday afternoon.
the NTH day Of the battle. when the
issue Of the war was trembling in the
scales; the movement Of troops and
guns from the quiet sectors OF the
front had begun. knew; but what 1
saw a-few hours after leaving Paris,
from my car window, and for days
thereafter. amazed me more than any
thing have seen In this war.
Ailitatary transport 10 notoriously
slow. Trains as q rule are continually
held up. wheeled traffic blocked. The
nearer one gets to the front, excepting
the last few miles behind the line, the
more congestion exists; to get guns,
placed under camouflage within view
| OF the enemy, out Of the zone Of fire
into safety on the roads behind is q
lengthy operation that in normal times
requires days; sometimes, IL heavy
guns are involved, weeks.
The s. o. s. passed along the front
on Friday afternoon. The crisis Of
Verdun, Of the Marne, had come again.
Three days later. looking out of the
window OF a great trunk railway that
runs behind much Of the front south
Of the Disc. watched with awe and
Thanksgiving train after train Of those
ridiculous toy engines. pulling the
funny little French fiat cars and box
| cars that Americans 30 laughed at,
once. The trains were running fast; a
good thirty miles an hour. and on a
headway OF not more than two
minutes.
Upon each Of the little flat cars
and there were thirty-hve or forty to
each train-stood o motor lorry. Out
OF the back Of one lorry in every
three poked the nose of a howitzer, or
a field gun. In each of these beside
their gun. were the helmeted Poilus
| who within q few hours would be
serving it against the enemy. The
other lorries were laden with caissons,
with extra supplies of shells. or with
wagons, fIled with supplies. spare
wheels strapped on their tops to make
repairs when shells should smash
them-wagons that could go forward
to the guns where motor traffic would
be made impossible by the enemy's
fire.
Nothing was forgotten, nothing was
lacking. As these trains reached rail-
head. the lorries were ready to roll
down into the road and OF to strength
| en- the barrier between the successful
enemy and the final victory that SEEM
ed SO near. The spectacle reminded me
Of specials running to q Yale-Harvard
game.
But the railway traffic was only part
of the irresistible flood OF weapons
OF destruction and men that was
flowing to the north. On each side OF
the track. along the roads, were other
professions OF lorries, proceeding un-
der their own power. Many OF these
carried the deadly seventy-hves that
have since mown down thousands OF
Germans; others were packed with
troops. the shock troops of the French
army, always kept in reserve for at
| tack or defense where the task is
hardest For FIVE hours, until dark
ness came and left my train, 1
watched this procession OF guns. Ior-
ries. and men going to repair the break
in the dyke
| Every one Of these men, every gun
that I saw on that Monday afternoon
had been withdrawn from the front
elsewhere since the preceding Friday
night. March :, when the disaster oc-
Cured. Here and there. along the
main road that was a moving plat
form Of motor transport, I saw. tum-
bled in the ditch. a lorry. 1t had
developed engine trouble. perhaps some
trifling ailment that the driver could
fix in three minutes. No matter-into
the ditch il must go. The orders now
are that the column. flowing for more
than a hundred miles, must never
stop: already. the left hand side of
the road is occupied by empty lorries
which have made one trip and are
coming back for fresh loads. There is
no room for q machine to draw aside;
to halt for a moment means endless
confusion. When q lorry breaks down,
there Is one invariable rule. as on the
road to Verdun; the Poilus pile out,
grab rails from q fence, or any con-
venient. nearby emergency lever, and
pry the lorry. gun and all, into the
ditch. Later, when the rush IN over,
salvage corps will come along.
Early in the war. the late Richard
Harding Davis wrote q famous de-
scription Of the march OF the German
hordes through Brussels; when on
Tuesday morning I came out Of my
little hotel BY the railway, after a
night much disturbed by proving
Gothas dropping their eggs along the
nearby arteries Of trafic, I remem-
bered Davis account of his amaze
ment, after watching the endless pro-
cessions Of ield-gray figures far into
the night, to find on looking from his
window in the morning the same river
Of men tramping through the streets
So it was here; The flow Of trains
laden with cannon, shells. equipment
field kitchens, continued. The roads
were filled. as before, with the end.
less chain Of lorries. Already could
see that most Of the available small
guns had gone up. for there were more
infantry in the lorries and on the
trucks: and. as the day wore on, anC
I tried with very poor success t.