The Devils Lake world and inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1915-1920, 1918-09-18
ST. MIHIEL OPERATION IS CAR
RIED OUT EXACTLY ACCORD\
ING TO PROGRAM AT TRIFLING,
COST.
ENTIRE HUN REGIMENT
HERDED IN LIKE SHEEP

W dI Co1Il oIlOW NO Opc1dGlolA IlO1e pre-
,isely successful than that which the
in conjunction with the
French, have just carried through it's
prescribed phases.
The operation was sufficiently dar-
ing to raise doubts as to whether it
could possibly be concluded in the
time assigned to it without extremely
heavy losses. These doubts have been
set at rest. Indeed, from
the very earliest hours they have
been replaced by sheer expectant Won
der.
PRISONERS BARE PLIGHT.
It is true that the enemy did not !
offer the opposition expected of him,
but that was partly due to the per-
fection in the conception and e:t'cu-
tion Of the attack by which he was
stopped. We have now heard the tale
from prisoners of division calling to
division in vain for aid, little knowing
that the help it summoned was in even
mo1i, desperate need of assistance.
Prisoners have been taken from
seven different divisions-the Thir-
teenth Landwehr, the Thirty-fifth
Austro- Hungarian, the Tenth, One
Hundred and Ninety-seventh, the Sew
enty-seventh, the Two Hundred and
Fifty-ffth and the Three Hundred and
Seventh-and from Landstrum units.
They have all told the same tale of
surprise and vain appeals. If they got
any reply at all it was to hold on to
their sectors at all costs, when holding
on was virtually impossible,
VICTORY AT TRIFLiNG COST
1t was to this confusion that we
doubtless owe the very large number
of prisoners taken at such a trifling
cost, although the enemy was quite
ipnepared oh the whole to retire. Reg
mental officers captured are free in
their criticism of the incompetence of
, the higher commands for their lack Of
F.! foresight and practical Judgment. It
is da,nning indictment of the Chr
man organization.
Everywhere where the troops were
willing to fight-which was not everv-
where-they were frequently left in
such bad case by faulty laison work
that they had no option but to sur
render. One such amusing case oc-
CURED where an entire regiment with
- commander and his entire staff was
,'',red. It had been left with both
K; rs in the air and suddenly found
;'4e Americans on all four sides of it.
ROLL CALL TELLS STORY.
After surrendering, the commander
requested that his roll should be call
ed so that he might discover how
heavy had been his losses. When it
was called every one answered his
name but one officer and one private.
The commander then suggested that
his command was SO disconcertinglv
complete he should march it off in
whatever direction his captors desired.
So it came to pass that one was
met with the astounding spectacle Of
an entire German regiment marching
I, off the battlefield under it's own Off
GERS, guarded by few joyous but
1ldiculously inadequate troopers, who
looked with their cowboy seat in the
saddle and their reckless good humor
like highland drivers of bygone CEN
tury herding home drove of raided
cattle.
PlNCER MOVEMENT USED
The operation, to explain it in more
details, was of the pincer type al
ways used to nip off a salient. One
claw of the pincers zone twelve miles
thick rested on the Moselle at about
Pont-A-Mousson. The other, about
eight miles thick, rested on the
heights of the Meuse at Haudimount,
a little east of the river. The distance
to be filled up, between the claws of
the pincers was about thirty miles, and
the ground to be nipped off by them
would be about 200 sqaure miles.
1t was thus biggish sort of an op-
Grafton to be put through in two days
on sector that had been as stubborn
to impression as almost any ON the
whole front. But the operation has
been carried out, not only without a
hitch Of any kind, but in advance of
the schedule program and in weather
conditions that were unfavorable for
all arms, especially for the tanks and
aircraft.
TRIUMPH OVER OBSTACLES.
Yet, despite the sodden ground and
binding rain, then infantry has bee
supported throughout by the full
range Of its artillery and has tri-
umphed even though tank support
could not be afforded and though the
work of the airplanes, magnificent as
it was, could not apporach the effec-
tiveness that might have been attain
ed in fine weather.
The first days fighting saw the
southern claw Of the pincers advanced