Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-05-08

But the railway traffic was only
part, or the irresistable flood Of
weapons OF destruction and men that
was flowing TO the north. On each
lside OF the track. along the roads,
were other professions OF lorries,
proceeding under their own power
Many Of these carried the deadly
t5's' 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 attack or de-
Tense where the task Is hardest.
Every one Of these men, every
gun that | saw on that Monday after
noon had been Withdrawn from thei
front elsewhere since the preceding
Friday night. March 22, when the
disaster occurred Here and there
along the main road that was NOV
ing platform Of motor transport, I
saw tumbled In the ditch, lorry.
| II had developed engine trouble,
perhaps some trlfliug ailment that
the driver could fix In three minutes.
NO matter-into the ditch II must
go. The orders now are that the
column, flowing for more than a
hundred miles, must never stop; al
ready the left hand side OF the road
IL occupied by empty lorries which
| have made one trip and are coming
back for fresh loads There is no
room for u uach,nc 10 draw aside
TO halt FOR moment means endless
confusion, Wheh' lorry breaks
down, there Is one inyariable rule. ~
on tho road 10 Nerdun: the Poilus
! pile out, grab rails from fence,
or any convenient nearby emergency
lever and pry the lorry. gun and all |
! into the ditch Later, when the |
rush is over, the salvage corps Will |
come along.
The flow OF trains laden with ssn-,I
non, shells equipment, field kit
chens. coptinued. The roads were
| filed. as before, with the endless
chain OF lorries Already / could |
see that most OF the available small !
gums, had gone up, for there were
more infantry In the lorries on the |
/ trucks and. ms the day wore on, and |
II tried with very poor success To
where was situated head
quarters | was anxious to attain, the |
| heavy guns had their turn. Big |
! fellows. specially mounted In trucks !
too large for tho lorrles. but soon !
to make their voices heard from
! far in the rear, smashing up the |
German lines Of communication and |
bringing wholesale death 10 masses
OF troops whose plnces Of concenrra- |
tion would be signalled by our
aviOus
| German air scouts. OF course, had |
! informed their masters long since OF !
this endless parade from oil the quiet |
sectors of the front, along the few |
main roads and the one great rail-
/ IN thn pf hatIia |
IL, is n great tribute to the suprem
acy OF the air held by tho French !
that these rich targets were not Mt
tackled in daylight, on the other side |
| OF the lines, French and British |
machines rained death and panic |
among the German divisions and ar
ltllerymen, flowing In similar streams
to the plains OF Picardy.
But at night the great Gotha
bombing machines, for once aban-
doning for legitimate military objec-
| ltiyes their game of terroriZing the,t
women and children OF London and
Paris, came in hordes and scattered
bombs along the railway and among
the transport. At Chalons sur Marine
n great junction where ] spent some
time. found ecene OF ruin about
the station, smouldering piles OF
stores, still burning freight cars.
twisted tracks and yawning holes
among tho sidtngs.N For four nights
from that Friday when the great
movement from the front began,
Gothas had been bombing Chalans
There was scventy-five OF them, MILL
tary policeman told me, the night
before | was there; civilians in the
town were killed, the station was
knocked about, but the flow OF
trains I have described to the) zone
OF battle was not Interrupted by the
whole raid for more than half an
hour.
The Gothas came in waves. No
sooner had dozen machines, sweep
ing along tho tracks hundred feet
or so above the ground. their en-
sines sounding like hundred
throshing machines going at once,
dropped their bombs and made Oft.
than new group arrived. But the
devoted French territorlais kept at
work; some were killed and injured,
but were they not under fire?
at was my baptism OF fire." said
an old man to me proudly, "for
am too old for tho trenches And
am glad TO have risked my life, |"
like the young ones"
II would not surprise the officer
In charge OF those men II few
Croix dc Guerre arc distrihated
among them; for repairing railway
tracks under fire, running blazing
cars with explosives coptents onto1
sidings, Is not work for faint hearts
They kept the line open all night,
amid the hombardments, the long,
dark trains puffed through Chalons.
and the scene at Chalons was re-
peated on smaller scale at many
other stations behind the front
Meanwhile Parisians and Londoners.
peerinE up AT the motionless clouds
aboutn the full moon. said:
TITS queer the Gothas aren't raid. r
ing us tonight" /
There are many things | saw and
heard behind the front In these last
few days, that | would like to tell /
but may not yet. the main impress. n
sion produced on my mind II an alb {
solute confidence that whatever V
fighting may come this summer we Is
arc now safe from disaster. under b
the protection of the marvellous h
French staff, with its genius for war 4
and organization. Many things the u
French have done that our officers II
have not understood many things {
about French methods they have not Il
perhaps liked, but an army must q
be iudEed hV results and the wOrk n