Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-09-17
No Wonder Germany Quit
BY MAJOR FRANK @. MAHIN
or the Army Recruiting Station

A few days ago / was speaking
of the work, new In this late war, OF
battalion intelligence officers, and
the minute details they insisted
upon getting. The fact that all these
details were incorporated in re-
ports, and that these reports finally
went to Allied headquarters, raised
a question as to what possible use
the head of that great organization
could have for details first concern
ing a most minor and subordinate
part of the Allied Armies. You
know the saying, great trees from
little acorns grow" so 1t is IN this
case. Some apparently insignificant
incident might presage an event OF
the greatest import. For instance,
when raiding parties went into the
Boche lines for information, nothing
was too insignificant to notice, or
bring back. So it happened that
upon one occasion a man returned
with a postcard which he had taken
from the pocket of dead German.
The card had a picture OF some
little village, but no name of place
appeared. 1t also bore some writ
ing from a soldier to his brother.
No one would suppose that card
was of any use, but the orders were
that it should be forwarded with IN
telligence reports, and in Franco
one obeyed orders. At general head
quarters, examination lead to i'm
portant discoveries. The village was
identified as one in Belgium; the
writer spoke of being in certain
engagement, months past; the AL
ltes knew which German divisions
were then engaged, and also knew
where they were located, with one
exception; of that division they had
lost all trace, and for weeks had
been deeply concerned over lts 10
cation, since 1t was known TO be an
assault division, whose appearance
on the front always signified a bat
tie. Now, by elimination, its where
abouts were known. That DIVISION,
which had been at Chemin des
Danes. was now, way north in Bel
GUM. Because of this fact, special
efforts were made to secure infor-
nation in that section, and due 10
these efforts, adequate preparations
were made which enabled the Allies
there to repulse an attack, the sue
cess of which would nave had grave
results to our cause. In another Sec
tor. an officer saw a fash of light,
one afternoon, coming from a hill
side. On this hill there were no
trees or bushes, and apparently all
untouched growth of grass. Inc
light did not look like a renectlon
from glass or a similar surface, and
appeared for but a short interval. 1t
thoroughly aroused the officers
curiosity, and the next day, at about
the same time, he had the hillside
watched by a number of men, scat
tered in our lines. They discovered
n dozen or more of these light spots.
all appearing and disappearing at
about the same time. Further ILL
yestieation showed that the hill was
fairly honeycombed. The Boche had
| tunneled from his side of the hill;
| had dug a number of machine gun
pits, and had them perfectly con-
cealed, since the only openings lii
| the ground were in the grass, and
| Just large enough to shoot through.
| Undiscovered until an attack, those
guns could have worked havoc, had
our men attempted an advance. Tie
concealment was perfect, but Mr..
Boche failed to notice one detail. He
had not closed the entrance to tie
tunnel or his side of the hill, and at
a certain time the sunlight filtered
! through enough to make the light
| spots appear. An amusing incident
| is related of an English oversight.
! The Tommies had prepared per-
| feet imitation tree stump. hollow,
! to permit a man to stand in 1t, and
watch the Boche lines. 1t was to be
placed right out in No Mans Land,
and was carefully made, to conceal
it's artificiality. They were so alb
sorbed in the thing itself that they
wholly overlooked a detail in set
ting it up. They placed it where
no stump had been. The next day
the Boche put up sign saying:
How natural-an impudent En-
glish stump" To one such blundeI
on the part of the Allies, there were
ten on the part of the Boche; and
that contributed largely to their
downfall. 1t was the work of Intel
ligence" to spot such blunders or
the enemies part, and 1t was the old
story of two and two"-althousl
sometimes headquarters could
stretch 1t from four to six. A cob.
web once saved a king; here a post.
card perhaps saved the world.