Evening journal., 1918-02-04
WITHHELD Details
OF TlGOPS At FL.O..l
War Department Viii Ado
Nothing TO Announcement
Passed by French Censcr
OF MORAL VALUE
TO FRENCH PEOPLE

WAsHINGTO.a Feb s.-There is no
denial ln War Department circles thai
American troops in Franco are occupy
ing a sector OF the Lorraine front
While the department would not au-
ihorize a statement on the matter, the
official attitude was connrmatory OF
the announcement from France.
Sec. eia.y Baker has cons silently re-
fused 20 maze any statement roga ding
the position Of the American forces 30
France. Several days ago 10 was
stated in high Official circles, i'm a
wholly autho. itotlve but nevertheless
Informal way, that American forces
hal tanen permanent position In the
trenches on the French ont, and that
they Were there other than for train
ing purposes, but beyond this no Wa
Department official would CO.
secretary Bakers position Is that ali
announcements relative 10 the pariicu-
lar sccio Of the line held by Ameri-
cans should come from the headquar-
ters Of General Persh.ng, who. on the
scene OF battle. naturally IS the best
Judge Of what should be authorized
for publication respecting his forces
The department officials feel that they
cannot so beyond the statements au-
thorized at General Pc shings head
quarters, and under this policy they
refrained tonight from commenting or
the dispatch that our soldiers were in
a sector on the Lorraine front. beyond
saying that II the dispatch was passeo
by the censor, and the censo~ gave nc
more facts, there must have been
good reason for Withholding further
details
Ever since American forces went into
I the trenches for training there hav.
been indication that pat II not an o.
/ the Lorraine section OF the line would
be taken over by our men The sentl
mental and moral value Of placine tn
/ American forces along the Lorrain
/ front IS great IN The minds Of III
/ French people on account of the ma
/ t'onal aspiration Of the + ench for tho
recovery Of the lost provinces of Al
SAGE and Lorraine There arc also
good military reasons why the Ameri~
can forces shoull be stationed alone
/ the Lorraine front which, until the,
were placed in their stations there
was described as "a quiet sector Of
the front"
f The Lorraine front Is the section OF
the French line nearest TO Germany
/ The American forces were first placed
In the Lorraine sector in October. They
were sent there for training On the
evening Of November t3 they had their
FIRST taste Of battle: a German raidine
narty made a descent on a part OF the
line near the point where the Marne-
Rhine Canal passes from The vicinity Of
Nancy. France, across the frontier q
the Rhine az Strassburg, IN the Lorrain'
section Of Germany.
The German General Staf knew tina
the American forces were In the Rhine
Nfarne Canal sec or Of the LORRAINE
front before it was even hinted h'
Washinrton that men had been sen
into thst part ~ the trenches for train
inr The raid Of November i3 was care
fully plsnned. and the Americans werN
cut on from relief by the heavy bar
rage in the rear The men Killed IN thi
section were the FIRST members Of Per
shinr's fo~ce 60 lose their lives in ac
ton in France Some were killed
o'he~s wounded. and some captu~ed
When the prisoners were taken ini'
Ge-r1anv it was announced In Be~l'1
that they had been taken st a noin
near the intersection ~ the Rhine
Meme Canal end 7 o~rsine f~on'ier
This CONTINGENT was not necessarily
sent m thai mart ~ the line for nerma
, mont duty There: they we've unde~coin'
f~anch traininr under actual wan c0udi
tions Afte~ the raid on 'he Ame~ical
. rosition on fhc F~anch f~ont lest Thn~s
dav mo-ning. Ianuarv 20 70 was adn't
TOD that the Ame-icons were occunvin
that secfo~ as p battle station. and no
sor t~aininS The RAID on January 3
was similar 70 the ono Of November i3
* before. the American soldiers we~
c,,t or bv ba-rsre. two ho'nq KILLED
fo,,~ injured ard some cariu~ed.
The action ~ fhe censo~ IN F"9nce fl
ne~niitinq rvhrcation Of the fac' th8
American forces a~e now occnnvinT
secfor of the o~~aine f~ont Is held he~
10 grow ont of the realization thaI
d esrecisllv since at least one Ame"ic'
y soidie~ was cartu~ed in the raid Of las
; Thu~sdav. 'he Ce~r'ans must know tha
Ame-ica-e are fohting, not alone train
q ms. in this sector