Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1919-02-02
Some May Be Found When
Troops Return From France,
but Fate of Majority May
Always Remain Mystery,
TOTAL DEATHS NOW
MORE THAN 100000
Tables Do Not Furnish Names
of Men Other Than Those
Hurt in Battle and Therefore
Are Not Complete,

10. MORNING JOURNAL SPECIAL tKAssp ~,Rst
Washington. Feb l.---Official tables
OF the major battle casualties of the
American forces in France was made
public today by General March, chief
of staff, show that approximately To-
600 men remain wholly unaccounted
for nearly three months after the end
ing Of hostiltes. The deaths missing
and known prisoners are tabulated up
to January 10, for each of the thirty
eombatant divisions of General Per-
shing's army. The total is 56, 5g2, OF
whom 17,434 are classified as missing
or captured. An appended statement
shows that only 1890 prisoners had
been checked up as returned and l1S
died in captivity.
Some portion of the great body of
missing men may be located as the
return of the army thins out the
American army in France. Indications
are, however, that the majority OF the
10000 finally will be added to the roll
of honor shown in the tables of those
killed or died of wounds, now record
ed as 39,15S men.
To that figure also must be added
1,551 men of the marine brigade, fig
! ures for which, not carried in the ta-
bles were obtained from official
sources. This brings the grand aggre-
gate of deaths from battles up to 4O,-
709 on returns estimated officially to
be 95 per cent complete As figures
on missing and prisoners Of the ma
rines are lacking, the number of unao-
counted for which finally will be ad-
lea to the roll of the dead cannot be
accurately estimated.
Error Il Adm tied.
The army tables, however give
total of 1859 men missing in action,
and 2.7S5 known prisoners making
up the 17,434 missing or captured.
The army rolls record 1918 American
military prisoners accounted for. Ad-
mittedly there are many possibilities
of error, but the statement says it is
anticipated that the indicated unac-
counted for list of 12,516 will be
brought down to less than 10000
The tables do not furnish any data
as to the wounded or deaths other
than those resulting directly from bat
tie. A new estimate. of the complete
figures on American casualties is
therefore not complete. 1t is signifi-
can't however, that up to tonight, the
war department has published the
names of 43,SS2 men killed or died of
wounds as against 39,15S shown in the
95 per cent tables. The difference is
made up by the additional returns
since the tables were closed January
TO-
On November 27, General Pershing
estimated that his total killed and
wounded had been published up to
tonight. compared with November
estimated total of 1896. OF those
missing in action 1878 have been
published against the estimated 14,260
total and compared with the 17,434
missing and prisoners shown in today's
tables.
Department Explanation.
The war departments explanation
of the tables follows:
THE following casualties are tab
u1ation of casualty cables received
through January TO- They give totals
of the casualties which put soldier
permanently out of action. They do
not include wounded figures, as the
lists of those slightly wounded are still
incomplete
'The totals given are about 95 per
cent complete for each division. Field
signal battalions, ambulance COM
panies and trains are not included in
the tabulaton of the divisions.
'The records of units outside of di-
visions will be available in few days.
This addition will have relatively
small effect on the totals here given"
Infantry Bears Brunt.
Examination of the losses by regi-
ments shows clearly that the brunt
of the fighting fell on the infantry.
In every division which got into ac-
| ton. losses were many times greater,
even proportionately to the strength
| of the units. than those of the artii-
| lery, machine gun battalions, trench
| mortar batteries or engineers, A
score of regiments lost fully one-third
of the full strength of 300 men kill
| ed, died of wounds, missing and pris-
oners. When figures on the wounded
are available. officers believe the
| total casualty in several regiments
may equal the full strength.
The artillery regiments escaped
with relatively light losses. In some
cases machine gun battalions suffered
severely and there are a number of
the divisional engineer regiments that
paid a heavy toll for their place in
the front lines.
The first regular division. built up
out of the original force General Per-
SHlng took TO France, suffered the
heaviest casualty with total of 524S
recorded in today's tables. This di-
vision was first to reach the lire and
was almost constantly in action until
the end. A striking feature (of the
table is the losses of the Twenty
eighth pennsylvania nationag guard)
division. which stands second in the
list with a total of $3.50 casualties.
The records of the TWf nty-sixth
New England national s+ ,ard), the
Twenty seventh and Sever -y-seventh.
both New York divisions \ he Thirty
second, the famous 1orty- second
tRainbow), and the Seventh ninth
tPennsylvallia, Maryland and District
- - S>r>eN~e~~