Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-23
.CHAUMONT ARMY
HOME OF CHIEF
OF THE YANKEES
President Goes There on
Christmas Eve; to Rest
Camp on Christmas

Chaumont, to which President Will
son purposes going on Christmas
eve, thence to a rest camp, where he
will spend Christmas with troops of
the American Army of Occupation, is
the home of the general headquarters
of the American Expeditionry Forces.
Until now it has been taboo and
the whereabouts of &c. H. O." one
of the secrets of the war.
There lives the commander-in-
chief and in the buildings of the
French garrison is housed the Of
fees of the general staff and all the
auxiliary organizations that go with
1.-THE nerve center of the army.
A city of normally about fifteen thou
sand inhabitants, Chaumont lies on
the Eastern railway lines. 163 miles
east of Paris. 1t was formerly the
capital of Bassigny and is now the
capital OF the Department of the
Haute Marne.
Like most of the older cities of
France, Chaumont seems to have been
founded on a site Of strategic defen-
sive value. 1t crowns a high pla-
teau between the Marne and the
Suize and from the walls and towers
of the old city is a wonderful view
of the valley of the Marne, here the
river being hardly as wide as the
Marne canal that flows beside 1t be-
tween its popular bordered banks.
Northward over the narrow vale OF
the SuiZe the view takes in a wide
sweep of rolling forest crowned hills.
General headquarters were removed
from Paris to Chaumont in Septem-
Der of last year, Chaumont being Sc
lected after q careful search of avail
able locations. 1t lies in the center
of what was the American training
area, every camp as well as the Toul
sector in which the American forces
first saw battle, and all the lines
from Toul eastward where we were
located, being within reach by motor.
The French post occupied as head
quarters offices is typical of French
garrisons. Three long four-story,
red tile rooted barracks form three
sides of great quadrangle facing
wide avenue. A group of lesser
buildings and the customary iron
fence and ornamental gates is the
remaining boundary. On either gate
post flies the Tricolor and the Stars
and Stripes.
Sentries pace their posts on every
hand, the quadrangle is filled with
hurrying officers and orderlies and
clerks hands flash in salute, bugles
Co.
the various military events and per-
iods of the day. staff cars and motor
cycles roll in and out and now and
then the sentry at the gate stiffens
even more rigidly and brings his
piece up with more snap when a
great olive drab car, shining like
a yacht, slides in, the scarlet tab on
the wind shield with four white stars
signifying the commander-in-c chief.
Frequently the generals car ap-
proaches unheralded and so swiftly.
that the sentry's cry of. Turn out
the guard" is too late and the COM
mander-in-chief is gone before the
guard can tumble from the guard
house.
Until last spring General Pershing
made his residence in a large villa
near headquarters. He soon found,
however. that so near the workshop
of the army he could not have the
quiet and lack of intrusion necessary
to his growing responsibilities and
he removed in May last to a beautf-
full chateau about five miles from
town. Here, in great rambling
castle situated In the Marne valley
among groves and wide sunlit lawns
he lived with his personal staff. Con-
nected by telephone with every dlvl-
sional, corps and army headquarters,
his own offices in Chaumont and with
Paris he did his work there when
not with the army.
Chaumont itself has become almost
Americanized by the presence of the
headquarters. It's little hotels are
always crowded with officers. 1t has
been very hospitble to the American
occupation. Nearly every home with
a spare room is thrown open as a
billet for officers and many of the
finest residences have been taken
over entirely by the hundreds of
messes. In many of them the Off
GERS have installed electricity and
bathrooms and in some cases central
heating plants and with French SER
wants live comfortably. almost lux
uriously as measured in military
terms. Hundreds less fortunate or
lacking in rank take their chances
on whatever billet may be found in
the crowded town where a bed is al
ways at premium.