Trench and camp. ([Admiral, Md.) 1917-1919, 1919-01-02
GEN. NICHOLSON COMES
BACK FROM FRANCE
He Praises Col. Sweeney and Says
S13th Losses Were Not
Excessive.

Brig. Gen. William J. Nicholson,
commander of the 18th Infantry
Brigade, which comprises the 313th
'Baltimore's own" and 314th regi-
ments and the 311th Machine Gun
Battery, arrived in New York yester-
day, according to dispatch from a
staff correspondent of the Sun who
talked with General Nicholson in the
Hotel Waldorf last night.
II wish that 1 could meet every
mother and father In Baltimore who
had son in France" was one of the
first things Gen. Nicholson said. 'and
tell them how their boys covered
themselves with q glory that will
make their families proud of them
for generations. They had one Of the
most difficult tasks of the war; they
went through some of the worst fight
ing OF the war, and they won VIC
tories that were astounding"
Could Not Give Figures.
This Immediately gave rise to a
question about the many reports of a
more or less wild nature that have
been circulated about casualties in
the 313th. Gen. Nicholson. of
SOuASC, 10 IIOI dl lIDeTIy TO give the
figures as to the killed and wounded
in "Baltimore's Own" He did say,
however, that the intensity Of the
machine-gun fighting through which
the 313th had passed in those days
from September 26 to September 80
was such as to make it obvious that
the losses would not be the same as
IN ordinary trench warfare. But he
did not regard the regiments
casualty as more than normal for
troops that had stormed and taken a
position which had been regarded as
impregnable.
Those Maryland and Pennsylvania
fellows, with but relatively little
training, went at Montfaucon in a
way that took the French officers
who were with US completely by sur
prise Our boys from Camp Meade
unquestionably were right up to the
scratch with the French veterans
and some persons thought they
fought even better than the French.
But there really was no room nor de-
sire to draw comparisons. The Meade
men held the center of the line and
the French were hanking them.
Both would be given their OBJ
jectives when the fighting began
and they were able to keep pretty
well together. If the French were
behind at one hour they were up with
our boys the next, and when the OBJ
1ectives or the day were taken both
French and Americans were together
again.
Found $50 Machine-Gun Nests.
'The little town itself, which had
long since been laid in ruins, had
served IN the earlier fighting as the
observation point of the crown prince
In directing the German offensives.
1t was on a height, and was literally
Iull or machine-gun nests. The 313th
found $50 Of these nests when the
town was finally captured. The Sec
also made the fighting more hazard
GUS and more difficult. In fact it was
about the most bitter~fighting that it
is possible to conceive"
Gen. Nicholson paused for a moment
as III rehearsing the scene in his
mind. He himself was right up at
the front during the offensive, and
the remembrance must, therefore,
have been vivid one.
BY God" he exclaimed, impulsively
and there. was reverence in the way
he said 1.-THE people in Baltimore
and Philadelphia ought to be proud of
those boys"
What was true of the Montfaucon
offensive was true Of the offensive in
which the Camp Meade troops were
engaged six weeks later around Ver-
dun. There, too. Gen. Nicholson says,
they were in the thickest part of
1t and bore the brunt of some Of the
heaviest fighting.
Always Equal to Tasks.
Always" he said, they were equal
to the tasks, however severe, that
were imposed upon them. They were
among the best of Americas best, and
among the best Of the Franco-Amer-
lean best also"
The general was plainly full of
pride over what his men had achieved
and it was manifestly "a genuine
pleasure for him to dwell upon the
superior showing which the Mary
land-trained men had made.
I'VE remained in the Verdun sector
until the very end" he said I'VE were
fighting the best fight that was in US
until the hour of IL came on NoVem-
Der II, and the order was given to
cease firing. The German resistance
did not weaken for a moment. OF
course, we knew the night before
that the fighting was to end the next
Germans would have stopped fighting
on our front at 6 o'clock on the even
ing of November 10 If we had sig
nified our willingness to the same. But
the order from headquarters was for
II am. on November II. The watches
of all the officers along our front
were co-ordinated well in advance,
and on the very second of the eleventh
hour the order to cease firing was
sounded. We knew even before the
armistice was sought that the Ger
mans would have to stop very soon."
We Mustn't Be So Wasteful.
Froro 4Ja CIavaIond pIa;r noa1ar