Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-12-22
STRATEGIC OFFENSIVE IS SITE Of BEAUMONT
General Headquarters of Hante. Marne Moved There From Paris Last Sen.
 tember: Typical of French Garris0ns

| ChaumOnt, France, Nov. 20 (Corres-
 pondence of The Associated Press.)- This little city of the Haute Marne is
 the home of the General Headquarters of the American Expeditionary Forces. Until now it's mention has been taboo
 and the whereabouts of~G. H. O." one
 of the secrets of the war.
 Here lives the Chief and in the buildings of the French
 garrison is housed the officers of the General Staff and all the auxiliary or- ganizations that go with 1.-the nerve , center of the Army. A city of nor
 mally about fifteen thousand inhabi-
 tants. Chaumont lies on the Eastern
 Railway lines, 163 miles east of Paris.
 It was formerly the capital of Bassig-
 ny and is now the capital of the De- partment of the Haute Marne
 1 Like most of the older cities of
 France, Chaumont seems to have been founded on site of strateget- ic defensive value. It crowns high
 plateau between the Marne and the Suize and from the walls and tow CTS of the old city is wonderful view of the vally of the Marne, here
 the river being hardly as wide as the Marne canal that flows beside it between it's poplar bordered banks. Northward over the narrow vale of the Suize the view takes in wide sweep of rolling forest crowned hills
 General headquarters were remov- ed from Paris here in September of
 last year, Chaumont being selected after careful search of available To-
 cations. It lies in the center of l what was the American training aree, every camp as we'll as the Toul sec tor in which the American forces first saw battle, and all the line , sfrom Toul eastward where we were
 located, being within reach by motor.
 The French post occupied as Head
 quarters offices is typical of French garrisons. Three long, four story. red tile roofed barracks form three sides of a great quadrangle facing a wide avenue. A group of lesser
 buildings and the customary. On1 either gate post flies the Tricolor and
 the Stars and Stripes.
 Sentries pace their posts on every
 hand. the quadrangle is filled with
 hurrying officers and orderlies and
 clerks, hands flash in salute, bugles
 give their almost hourly calls for the
 various military events and periods
 of the day, staff cars and motor
 cycles roll in and out and now and
 then the sentry at the gate stiffens
 even more rigidly and brings his
 piece up with more snap when a
 great olive drab-car, shining like
 yacht, slides in, the earliest tab on the windshield with four white stars signifying the Commander-in-Chie Frequently the Generals car ap-
 breaches unheralded and so swiftly
 that the sentry's cry of Turn out the
 guard is too late and the Comfand- n-Chief is gone before the guard i can tumble from the guard house. Until last spring General Persh- ing made his residence in large vil- lage near headquarters He found however, that so near the workshop of the army he could not have the quiet and lack of intrusion necessary to his growing responsibilities and he removed in May last to a beautiful chateau about five miles from town | Here, in great rambling castle situ- ated in the Marne valley among groves and wide sunlit lawns, he lived with his personal staff. Connected by telephone with every divisional, corps
 and army headquarters, his own off cers in Chaumont and with Paris he did his work there when not with the army. | Chaumont itself has become almost Americanized by the presence of the, Headquarters. Its little hotels are ] always crowded with officers. It has been very hospitable to the American occupation. Nearly every home with a spare room is thrown open as a billet for officers and many of the
 finest residences have been taken
 over by the hundreds of masses. In many of them the officers have in-
 stalled electricity and bath rooms and in some cases central heating plants and with French servants live com fortablv, almost luxuriously as mea-
 sured in military terms. Hundreds
 less fortunate or lacking in rank take their chances on whatever billet may be found in the crowded town where bed is always at a premium.