Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1918-12-08
and the Davis 63,01i5.

without the loss of enemy action of | single eastbound transport, This &C.,
 complishment, the report says. will stand as monument to both the army
 and the navy as the greatest and most difficult troop transporting effort which has ever been conducted across seas. Up to November 1, it is shown 924,57S troops had been carried to France in American transports under American convoy with no losses out ward bound and only. three vessels sunk on the road home. From Novem- Der to the date of the report, there l had been 2S9 additional sailings of American troop and supply ships, the l average being about one ship every five hours.
 Writing with pride of the record of the marine brigade in France, the Secretary shows that with only 5000 men of the corps engaged, the casual l ties numbered 69 officers and 1,531 l men dead. 78 officers and 2,435 ser iouslyq wounded while 57 marines are reported officially as captured by the enemy Illustrating the desperate char l acter of the fighting in which the bri- gade participated and the fact that it was always advancing.
 "The the United States Marines," Mr. Daniels says, fighting side by side with equally brave and equally courageous men in the American Ar my, 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 Paris and where, | should a breach occur, all would be 1 lost.
 "The world knows today that the i United States Marines held that line; | that they blocked the advance that was rolling toward Paris at a rate of 6 or miles a day that they met the attack in American fashion and with American heroism; that Marines and soldiers of the American Army threw back the crack guard divisions of Ger many broke their advance. and then, attacking, drove them back in the be- | ginning of a retreat that was not to end until the cease firing signal sounded for the end of the worlds greatest war"
 A striking picture of the fighting at Belleau Wood, now renamed in honor : place was jungle filled with ma- chine gun nests, the Secretary says, ] impossible to reach with artillery or grenades.
 There was only one way" he con- tinues, ito wipe out these nests-by bayonet. And by this method were they wiped out, for United States Ma rines, bare chested. shouting their bat tie cry of 'E-e-e-e-e .y-a-a-h-h yip!' charged straight into the murderous fire from those 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.n. he would either kill or capture the de- lenders of the nest, and then swinging the gun about in it's position, turn 1t against the remaining German posi- tions in the forest.
 1 In all the history of the Marine Corps there is no such battle as that one in Belleau Wood. The herosm and doggedness of that battle are unpar- alleled."
 The report describes the laying of the North Sea mine lbarrage, wholly an American enterprise. While there
 is no way of ascertaining definitely what that 250 mile barrier did to ene- my submarines. MT. Daniels says that
 there is reason to believe that ten IT.
 boats "had ended their career at the
 barrage before the middle of October
 The building and manning of the 14-
 inch rifle naval batteries working with
 the armies in France is also describ-
 ed. There have been no equals in the fighting of these highly mobile wea- pons with range of 30 miles, the re- port says, adding:
 Briefly, the American Navy has designed, built, and is now manning
 with bluejackets specially trained for land service, the largest and most
 high-powered mobile land artillery in
 the world. So successfully have these
 guns been that additional orders for many more were requested before the
 armistice"
 The depth bomb has proven the
 most defective means of combating
 the submarines, the report states, and
 it shows that American enterprise
 was responsible for very largely in-
 creasing that effectiveness. The early
 50 pound charge bombs were crude lnd of low destructive force compar ed to the 300 pound and 600 p0unC charges now being produced. Many
 allied ships have been equipped witt these American Improvements, Another ordnance development tha is noted is the perfection of 16-incl , rifles for all new battleships. The! will make these vessels, 1t is said tho . heaviest armed craft in the world witl l a broadside projectile weight of 25, } 200 pounds against 17.50S pounds fol the Pennsylvania. the biggest ant } most powerful craft now in commits , sion.
 The report emphasizes also in thu
 record of small arms training durln. t the year, 40,000000 rounds having . been fired without an accident due t, 3 carelessness. Since last July the Nav. 9 has qualified 54,147 marksmen,; 23, I 222 sharpshooters and 11,S67 eXper 9 riflemen.
 Q Every Man Trained Rifleman. n To-day" the report says. practical