The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1919-10-30
TRICK
E10[5 GERMANS
ON WAR FRONT
,,,ru THE AMERICAN FORCES

NJ war are coming to Hight
Alma 10 time as each side tells
a,orv one OF the most success
~, ~ them was practiced by Amerl-
,orces in tho Mouse-hrBonne
.n,,Io last fall when the last great
.,,,ed offensive was Mt. It's height
,.ow Switzerland to tho sea. An
Imaginary army conceived by II
hordful OF American Junior officers
wos "thrown into the field" over
.,sbt and for days FIVE crack Ger
nan divisions Just east or Vordun
4, the Etain region were kept on
,ho,r toes momcntarily expecting an
attack which never materializea.
Al n dinner table in n Coblenz
,,fe overlooking the Rhine. an
American intelligence officer recent
" told the story Of the creation OF
,bs mythical army" as II was
called. It appears that the Germans
were expecting an attack In the
Etain sector ut any time. and the
Americans knew II; but at that
nbase OF the game the First United
States army was devoting it's ener-
gies to driving the enemy out OF tho
Areonne forest and the hill coun-
,rv on either side. So the mythical
army was created. In preference to II
real division, requiring many mon.
10 convince the German commander
that Il would not be wise to weaken
,be Etain front to the benefit OF the
Meuse- -Argonne front, where des-
perate battle was proceeding.
Five fresh divisions had been
placed by the Germans on the Etain
line. These constituted their last
and finest reservoir of available d.
visions. The Americans realized
that the minute the Germans decided
that this was not danger point,
any or all Of the five divisions could
be withdrawn, replaced by exhausted
and fragmentary divisions coming
from battle fronts. and that the ap-
pearance OF the fresh troops in line
west OF the Meuse would have a tre-
mendous effect on the American Of
iensive.
The TX army" was assigned to a
front from Bezonvaux to Fresnes.
From the morning OF October %
until Just previous to the armistice
this army "functioned." Captain
Charles H. Matx. Of Hubbard Woods,
Illinois, was commsnder-in-c chief.
Captain William II. Dearden. OF
Springfield, Mass. and Washington.
D. c.. was chief OF star. Lieutenant
John H. Graham. OF Lexington, Va.
vas chief OF troop movements;
Captain o. W. Neidert was In charge
Of i. or administration; and Lieu
tenant II. T. Griswold, OF Oyd Lynne.
Conn.,. was chief of artillery. The
staff Of the X army we're all men,
bers Of the intelligence section OF
the First army and of course, before
the beginning Of operations, had Sc
cured the consent of their chief, Col
onel Wiley Howell.
The wireless and the telephone
we're freely used to convince the
Germans that the Americans were
preparing for an attack in the Etain
sector. To make sure that the Ger
mans would be able to break into"
the code used, the Americans fur
nished them with satisfactory key.
One wireless station of the X army
was established in a Clump OF woods
near Nerdun and was christened
headquarters of the X army" This
station functioned until the end of
the game, all orders to the army
gong out from this place by wire
iess' Soon after the station began
working the Germans located its
Whereabouts and frequently shelled
"o "oous ana vicinity, apparently
IN hopes of breaking up the radio of
this latest annoyance.
The X army also had a portable
raaio station, which moved about
ana represented itself as a different
station every day or two.
The sector in which the X army
was at work was directly under
eommand of the Thirty-third
french corps, and the rowing wire
iFSS station caused considerable ex-!
''oment among the French soldiers
10 II sent messages to make the en-
|'my believe that several fresh Am
e''Oah divisions had moved into the
''ea The French, unaware of the
pans of the X army STAFF, at times
'Aousht the Americans had lost all
0"se OF reason and on several oc-
ea''ohs so reported the wireless
pants.
-"e hrst message from. the X
my headquarters was general
|uespatch to all wireless stations in