The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-21


were taken into consideration. These
results were the penetration OF the
enemys iir es a distance of five and q
half miles, the capture Of one thous-
and prisoners and twenty-four can
non and forty-fivo machine guns.
The fighting was In the open al
most all the time. General Traub
said. In fact, he regarded the position
held by the Thir ~ fifth, as the most
exposed en- the battle lire, He said
the best information he could get
was that the division lost eco killed
and $500 wounded. The large ma
jority were only slightly wounded.
lie compared this with Grants loss
Of 1000 men Ia ten minr,es at Cold
Harhor. which accomplished nothing,
while we accomplished q very great
DEAR he declared.
The charges that the Germans
dominated tho sir throughout the
battle cannot be sustained General
Traub declared. OF course, he said
1t WAS impossible to prevent indi-
vidual planes rickiing through tho
allied air defense. and he described
how for nearly half an hour he was
unaer the fire OF boche aerial ma
shine gunner, but escaped unhurt
Whenever German planes cAme over
and we cent back for our planes to
drive them off. they Invariably
came he said.
| Whence Came The ShcilA
! When Representative Campbell
asked specifically about the report
that men of the Thirty-fiflh were
killed by their own artillery fire, and
that an officer sent back the word
for Gods sake, lergthen the bar
rage" General Traub replied that
he was I'm tina, barrage and that pos
sibiy q half dozen shells fell on the
hill whore the Americans were.
But they were not from American
lEuns' he declared. He asked to be
excused from going further into the
natter, but minated very plainly
that the mistake was made BY other
allied gunners than Americans. He
tdid not say, and was not asked the
ldirect question whether any of the
shells killed any Americans
AS tG charges that the men were
not properly clad, were poorly fed and
that the wounded were allowed to lie
flor hours. General Traub assured the
fcommittee that everything was done
that 1t WAS humanity possible to do.
l'I assure you thai In the A. 4. r.. the
wound4a and sick received the first
consideration and the best Gro that
was possible under the ctrcuR-
stancca.' no said.
General Traub praised tne courage
and spirit of the men OF Kansas and
Missouri under his command Never
was there a finer body Of men any
where than I had tbs honor to com
Inland. They were q wonderful lot 81
jsoldiers who asked only TO know
what to do. and they did It and did
az well'' he said.
| OF General Pershing. his staff and
1.-THE common soldier, General TrAuh
said:
The winning OF this war was
/ a most stupendous task for which
tho country was unpr opareA
The way the thing has been
handled by General Pershing and
i his staff will DO a marvel for all
time. They have done their work
in most marvellous fashion. What
the American people ought to do
Ia To sing paens Of praise to the
American soldier for what he has
done
THAT IN what this COMMITTEES
ought 70 be doing. instead Of
listening to tho criticism OF civil
ians who know nothing about Il
and who make them for purely
political reason6' declared Rep
resentAtive Cantweil Of kentucky.
I General Traub said tina. 10 far
as he was concerned. he cared
nothing for tho criticism. and that
his only protest against them was
| because they might lead '|Sorne
~ a. ~