The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-12-09

the American army. tOtallng S,0UO,OUJ letters, left France between November 26 and December ?. The previous weeks mail numbered 6.000,o00 letters The increase is believed to be due to the fathers letters" which the men port says, will stand as a monument to | both the army and the navy as the-great- est and most difficult troop transporting | effort which has eyer been conducted across seas. Up to November l, it is shown, 924,57S troops had been carried. . to France in American transports under American convoy with no losses outward | bound and only three vessels sunk on the way home. From November to the date. of the report, there had been 2S9 addi- | tional sailings of American troop and | supply ships, the average being about one ship every five hours.
 MARINES IN FRANCE
 Writing with the pride of the record | of the marine brigade in France, the | secretary shows that with only 5000 men of the corps engaged, the casualties numbered 69 officers and 152l men dead, IS officers and 2,4S5 seriously wounded, while but 57 marines are reported off, cially as captured by the enemy, Illus trating the desperate character of the fighting in which the brigade partici- pated and the fact that it was always advancing. <
 ITO the United Statesl marines MT. Daniels says, fighting side by side with jequally brave and equally courageous men l in the American army, to that faithful sea and land force of the navy, fell the honor of taking over the lines where the blow of the Prussian would strike the hardest, the line that was nearest to Paris and where, should a breach occur, all would be lost.
 ! "The world knows today that the United States marines, held that line; that they blocked the advance that was rolling on toward Paris at the rate of or ' miles a doy; that they Jnet the attack in American fashion and with American i herosim; that marines and soldiers of the American army threw back the crack guard divisions of Germany, broke their advance, and then, attacking, drove 'them back in the beginning of retreat that was not to end until the cease fir ing signal sounded for the end or the worlds greatest war.
 A striking picture of the fighting al
 Beleau wood, now renamed in honor of the marine brigade, is given. The place
 was a jungle filled with machine gun nests, the, secretary says impossible to reach with artillery or grenades.
 IN BELLEAU WOOD
 "There was only one way he con ,l tinues Ito wipe out these nests-by
 bayonet. And by this method were they l wiped out, for the United States marines,
 bare chested shouting their battle cry of 'E-e-e-e-e y-a-a-h-h-h yip! charged straight into the murderous fire from lthose guns, and won. Out of the number that charged, in more than one instance, only one would reach the, stronghold. There, with his bayonet as his only .weap- on he would either kill or capture the defenders of the nest, and then swing the gun about in it's position turn 1t against the remaining German positions
 in the forest.s
 In all the history of the marine corps there is no such battle as that one Tn Belleau wood The heroism and dogged-
 ness of that battle are unparalleled. l The report describes the laying of the
 North sea mine barrage, wholly an Amer
 iean enterprise. While there Is no way of
 ascertaining definitely what that 2oo-mile
 barrier did to enemy submarines, MT : l Daniels says there is reason to be- lieye that 10 U-boats "had ended thel;
 career at the barrage before the miuuie
 of October.H
 The building and manning of the l4- inch rifle naval batteries working with
 the iariales in France is also described lThere have been no equals in the fight ling of these highly mobile weapons with
 a range of 30 miles, the report says, add
 ing:
 "Briefly, >the American navy has de- signed built, and is now manning wlth
 bluejac ckets- specially trained for lanc
 service, the largest and most high pow i cred mobile land artillery in the world
 So successful have these guns peer
 hat additional orders for many more
 were requested before the armistiee'
 WORK OF DEPTH BOMB
 The depth bomb has proven the most effective means of combating the sup marines the report states, and 1t shows
 that American enterprise was responsl-
 ble for very largely increasing that CT
 fectiveness. The early 5O-pound charge
 bombs were crude and of low destructive force compared to the 3Oo-pound and coo7 ' pound charges now, being produced. Many allied ships have been equipped wlln lthese American improvements
 II Another ordnance development tha' , 1 is noted is the perfection Of lb-lncA rifles for all new battleships. Trey . will make these vessels, II IS salu the heaviest armed craft in the world with a broadside proiectile weight oi , 25 200 hounds Against 17S5S pounds for |, the pennss Ivania, the biggest aho .. most powerful craft now in commis-
 sion.
 The report emphasizes also in the
 record of small arms training uurlla the year, 40,000,000 having been fired
 without an accidents-due to careless , , ness. Since last July the e-naVy mas qualified 54147 marksmen, 2o,32. , , sharpshooters and 11,S67 expert rlfie-
 men. x '.Todaye the report says, "practicalli
 every combatant- ship IS able to organ ize a landing force of as many men as it can send ashore, With every mar
 a trained rlfleman and many of them
 trained machine gunners."
 To Capta E. P. Jessop, englneerina officer at the New York navy yard
 the report gives credit for having rec
 ommended the revolutionary practice
 of electric welding when repair of the
 dame ged German shipping was under
 taken. Careful estimates have showl tkat this one innovation saved l. months in time and s20,oo0, ,000N 1T money. while the ships thus made
 quickly available carried half mll' si lion soldiers to France.
 ELECTRIC DRIVE BATTLESHIP Another engineering achievement ol the year is ,the completion and test Ling of the first electric drive battle ship. thes- New sMexico. Despite ad
 verse; criticism which met the deter imitation to employ this mechanism of l battle craft. the report says, the New 5 Mexico has not only met every re ouirement but has spassed many Adai ) tional tests with the results that VI , ! this unique vessel the United Statt! , navy has a Sbattleship which has n' f peer in the worlds navies. not onls 1.-:. .l lA.,e. h