New-York tribune., 1918-08-25
$4,000 Fighting Americans Are
Landed in France at One Time
thirteen Transports With Convoy of Ten Destroyers Make
Record Trip Overseas, Despite Efforts of Submarines
as Part of Steady Stream to Pershing Army

Correspondence Of The Associated Press)
AMERICAN PORT, WESTERN
FRANCE, July 31.-Twelvc o'clock at
night, all lights out ihore and af1oat,
heavy rain squalls sweeping out to sea,
and this great port dark and silent as
the latest fleet of American transports
ard convoys-thirteen monster ships,
ten destroyers, $4,000 fighting men
and 5000 crew-creeps in from the At
lantic.
With an American army escort we
had climbed to high point on the sea
front to get a glimpse of this first
process in the gigantic military migra-
tlon from America to Europe, the
greatest the world has ever known, and
then to follow it, step by step, as it's
vast and intricate activities unfolded.
up to the arrival OF the men on the
fighting front.
Wireless Signals Coming
The wireless station had received a
cipher message giving warning of the
approach of the fleet. 1t had been
hoped the arrival would be in daylight,
with flags flying, bands playing and the
sun shining as the American fighting
men got their first glimpse of Europe.
But this was no dress parade. said the
admiral, and there was no time for
stage effects
And so, at midnight, in the rain and
darkness, with signal lights showing
for the first time since they left the
other side. the huge fotila moved III
long line Of lights to the sheltered
roadstead. There was the creak of
windlass and chains as the anchors
gripped.
And yet this midnight arrival in the
darkness and rain is only one of the
steady succession of great armadas
coming every three and four davs in
the colossal American military influx
which Secretary Baker gives at 275 900
men for single month These $4,000
men just in are the population of
good sized city, twice as many men
as we sent to Cuba for the Spanish
American war; about half the force
Napoleon had at Waterloo when the
destinies of Europe were in the scale.
And while this is one of the record
debarkments, yet it is only small
part of that mighty stream coming in
from the West. 1t is the unprece-
dented magnitude of such a military
movement across the ocean, in the
face of submarines, that has thrilled
the Allied world and broken the spirit
of the adversary.
Arrival Is Stirring
1t was stirring scene in the harbor
the morning following as the trans
ports unloaded their $4,000 men The
sky had cleared and the huge hulls of
the transports loomed out of the mist
their tunnels putting black smoke, their
sides painted with fantastic camou-
fage. and their decks rising like ter
races crowded with khaki-clad Ameri-
cans in their broad -brimmed SOM
breros. The destroyers had drawn off
and were lying punched ten across.
They looked diminutive beside the big
ships, but their power showed in the
CLINT of guns and the long, lean build
like a greyhound stretched for action.
Further back were the French war
ships.
All about were innumerable small
craft, army and navy tugs. lighters.
launches and fotilla of fishing craft
with their nets hanging to dry like huge
sails of lace. Back Of this water scene
stretched the huge American ware
houses, sprung up like mushrooms until
the whole front was black with build
lngs and the skeletons of more build
ings. Already the lighters were along