The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-18
GOvERMOR ALLEN
tCuuttuued rom 1saxN Cne,A


THE responsibility for tho lack of
material lay with whatever source was
under obligation To supply it. THIS
shortage Of airplanes II one Of the
mysteries OF the airplane service.
The Argonne forest was the battle
for which we had been preparing for
manths. when we came to It we did
not have the machinery. 1t seemed
snefftciency that characterized the
whole army over there. Whenever
YOU touched anything, II fell down,
except one thing--the raw men ma
terial, which was all right"
Governor Allen said the aircraft did
pot arrive sp4 49, th~ t,jvtsjon fqpghf
wnn ~frcn1lt orunkncr,' he afsos 0e-
ciared mat they were CONSTANTLY 'btry-
ing French horses at $500 each land
they were not ut to do the work"
A letter written by n major whose
name was withheld was read. saying
the casualties in his battalion wee
40 per cent The governor took sharp
issue with statements by Secretary
Baker and General March. chief of
stan. that the Thirty-ffth's casualties
were no heavier than those Of other
divisions.
1T should be noted that this six
day battle was the only one I'm which
other divisions enumerated had been
in many other fights" ne said
Governor Allen said the division
casualties during the battle lasting six
days and FIVE nights, from September
26 to october 2, were about 1000, OF
whom 1873 were dead or missing.
Replying to a statement BY General
March that there were 12e airplanes
in the battle, Governor Allen said that
II so. they covered a twenty-two-mile
front and many naturally would be
on the ground. Anyway. he said,
there were not enough planes at any
point to do any good.
After reading from orders issued
by Major General Peter r. Traub.
who commanded the division, Gov
ernor Alien said:
These orders show the common
dation OF men OF the infantry who
went forward against artillery. ma
chine guns, grenades and tanks"
From the same orders. he showed
how the 10th engineers had held a
position in the front line for several
days. although not supposed to be
organized for infantry duty.
From a letter written by n lieu
tenant-colcnel. Governor Allen read:
Our artillery Are failed US and
did not support US after tho ffrst
few hours We fought the German
artillery. machine guns, hand gren-
AIDES, &C. with our service rifies only
We should have been trained to fight
material with material
He also read from n letter written
by first sergeant who wrote that
the artillery support was useless after
the first four and a half hotfrs. due to
lack Of horses to bring UP the guns.
Most Of the horses the sergeant wrote.
were not fit for use and could be seen
dying along the roads. The letter also
said that the Germans dominated the
air.
Governor Allen laid before the
committee report signed by Cap
tain Truman. written at intervals
during the battle and a copy Of which
he forwarded to his wife. through
whom 1t became public. That part
written on September 20 declared that
the division was suffering losses from
Its own artillery Are. which was fall
ing short. 1t read:
During the entire day our troops
were continually pelted with our own
artillery. Our own artillery was more
destructive to our men than to the
enemy. Our airp1anes have been of
little use to us in combating enemy
planes. / have sent i've different
messages to the artillery this morning
TO iengthen our range 1t In doing
more to undermine our morale than
anything else There In not q tele-
phone In the organization. no signal
flares left and we have no way to
communicate except by runner. Our
regiment has not more than 1000
men left"
The regiment In question went in
with the full strength OF 5000 Gov
ernor Allen commented.
An official report OF Lieutenant
Colonel r. g. Peck, inspector general
of the corps, OF which the thirty-fffth
was a part, estimating that the total
shortage OF horses in the division was
-,703 and declaring the ammunition
trains were practically immobile be-
cause of lack OF transportation was
read by the governor.
The statement OF an ofllcer Of the
18TH that his regiment went In with
$500 men and eighty mine officers and
came out within 1929 men and eigh-
teen officers was repeated to the com.
nittee by Governor Allen. He also
quoted Captain Harry r. Hoffman. OF