The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-24
Outdistanced All Other Posts in
the Drive for Berlin.
976, TAG TROOPS THAT WAY
First Bunch Arrived in NOvem-
Der, 1917, at the Port.
42,152 Soldiers Thru in "a
Hours Is the Record.
Copyright, 1919, by United Press.)

Brest, Feb. 24.-While every effort
is being strained here to get the boys
home as fast as possible, it is not
race. The reason is that Brest, having
outdistanced all other ports in the
great race for Berlin" has no seri-
Gus competitors in the race for
home.'
The race for Berlin" was between
Brest, Bordeaux, St. Nazaire. Havre,
Marseilles. Boulosne and Calais. 1t
began in November. 1917, and was de-
signed to show which port organiza
ton was the most efficient. Brest ac-
comp1ished eight weeks theoretical
work in forwarding troops and mater
| ial in six weeks and two days.
A Great Record, Made.
When the armistice was signed &c.
146 troops had passed thru this port.
The first arrived November, 1917, re-
quired seventeen days to discharge its
cargo. On May "a, 1918. sixteen boats
| arrived with 42,152 troops and all
| were discharged within twenty-four
hours. On July Is, $4,000 troops were
| discharged in twelve hours. The
Leviathan on it's first trip to Liverpool
the worlds greatest harbor-spent
| forty-two days there before its return
to America. On its second trip to
| Liverpool, it spent thirty days. She
arrived in Brest on May with S,842
| troops, discharged them, recoaled and
departed in eighty-one hours. The
| next day a British official arrived in
Brest to see if it were possible for the
| Americans to better Liverpoofs rec
| ord. He found the ship gone. Adj
| miral Sims received a message relating
| to the performance. thought there was
| a mistake and asked for verification-
| The confirmatOry message was re-
| ceived while he was in the office of a
British admiral He kicked his hat to
the ceiling and shouted. On its next
trip the Leviathan discharged 1O,9SS
| troops in twenty-nine hours and re-
coaled m forty-niTe and one-half
| hours.
This is the pleasanter side of Brest's
activities during the trying months,
when there was just one motive actual
ing the American army and the
| American people-to get the men to
| the front. These records were achieved
with totally inadequate facilities, in
sufficient lighters, tugs, trucks. cars
and lumber, and with roads in de-
II plorable shape.
In an Influenza Wave.
In August the city of Brest suffered
a. influenza epidemic. There were
many deaths among the French in
ma bitants, but the army'S Preca utions
prevented the disease from, spreading
| to- the troops working on the docks
and at Camp Pontanezzen. The same
was true when transports began arriv-
ing from America. bringing victims
of influenza and pneumonia. The first
of these ships were the Van Stueben
and the Louisville, which reached here
September q, 1918, with a hundred
dead and hundreds of sick aboard
One unforgettable night was that OF
October 49, when the Leviathan ar
rived with hundreds ill and many
dead. Brigadier General Butler
former colonel of the 18th marines
had just been given command. That
night he sent a thousand marines
a fn 11a dnfafr he 0d
sick men in their arms four miles to
Camp Pontanezzen, thru rain and mud
because there were not enough
stretchers. The general himself walk.