Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-08-13
NOT SHIELDING
WAR LOSSES
Casualties Expected to Be Large
Because of the Terrific
Fighting.
TROOPS WIDELY SCATTERED
Gen. Pershing Just Beginning to Get
Complete Data Which Will Be
cabled to the United States
as Soon as Possible.

washington, Aug. 5.-Exact infor.
nation as to the losses suffered by our
army in the present offensive will be
given the American people within a
few days.
General Pershing is beginning to get
complete data on casualties, which he
VIII cable to this country as soon as
possible. This announcement was
made by Secretary of War Baker.
Arrangements have been completed
oy the post Office department, which
now controls the telegraph and tele-
phone systems, and by the committee
on public information, for the prompt
transmission Of the reports to parents
ana relatives of men killed and in
Jured In the battle.
II is admitted at the war depart
ment that the daily casualty lists of
the past two weeks have not adequate
~ rejected our losses abroad. The
reason for this has been the difficulty
laced by General Pershing in collect
ing the information. The first list,
however, is practically ready for the
cable.
While our losses in the present Of
fenslVe are expected to be serious and
may even appear enormous to the cas-
ual observer, they are really only com
mensurate with the fighting now in
progress. They will be large because
OF the terrific fighting of the past two
weeks and also because of the large
number of American troops engaged
IN the conflict. Latest reports give
more than 100000 of our men along
the line of battle.
Our troops are widely scattered,
however, and when injured are re-
moved to the nearest base hospitals,
which may be our own, or the French
or the British. This, together with
other obstacles, was explained by Sec
rotary Baker as follows:
L have received cablegram from
General Pershing with regard to re-
ports of casualties. He points out that
our troops are still widely separated.
serving in many places, and that our
wounded are taken to French and
British hospitals as well as to our own,
causing the difficulty anG complication
In securing accurate information. In
addition to this, the troops are sep
arated from their records while in the
area of conflict and must depend upon
very inadequate and temporary tele-
graph lines which are subject to fire.
quent interruption and must, for the
most part, be devoted entirely to the
urgent business of the battle itself.
General Pershing assures me that
he is making every effort to collect
casualty lists, have them confirmed
and verified and that they will be
transmitted promptly"
The high-water mark in our casualty
lists thus far has not exceeded 300
names in a single day, and these lists
represent only the daily toll of aver
age warfare. The present battle, how
ever, according to General March,
chief of staff, has resolved itself into
q conflict wherein both sides "are try
ing to kill as many of each other as
possible"
There is no disposition in the war
department, though, to attempt to
keep the truth of our losses from the
American people. On the contrary,
every effort has been made to let them
know it. 1t was to correct the false
impression in some parts of the coun-
try that we were shielding losses that
caused Secretary Baker to cable Gen
eral Pershing. requesting all inforrna-
ton possible concerning our recent
and present casualties.