The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1919-07-11
H0N EASTERN OHIO SOLDIERS
PLAYED BIC ROLE IN WINNING
GREAT VICTORY FOR THE ALLIES

| Under the heading The Yanks IN
Italy Scared Austrian Army with Bluff
, tho Stars and Stripes. tho Official publ
, cation of the American EXpcditionary
Force in France. in one Of its latest
issues tells the story Of how constant
= moving of 4 small group was used TO de-
! CciVc the AuStrO-(icrnan forces as TO
, tho real extent Of III" reInforccments
! sent to Italy in 1915 by General PERISH
, ing. For one thing. Il single American
regiment Of infantry. the 32rd regiment,
made up Of eastern Ohio boys hundreds
! Of whom hailed from Belmont and JEFF
! fcrson counties was made 10 appear. as
! far ~ tho AuStrians were concerned, as
an entire division from the a. E. +. in
1 France
Tho Austrian dream bubble" says
the stars and Stripes burst at the now
historic battle Of tho Nittorio-Ncncto.
= which rang down the curtain on the
I MittclCuropa myth on the 18th of the last
memorable November. On that interest
/ ing occasion of tho collapse Of the East
! crn line tho Austrian hnrdcs beat II for
the tail timber behind a scrap Of white
rIE and double goose stepped II TO the
tune If Tho YankS Arc Coming. Tho
Yanks sure enough were coming too. but
IN" funny part Of IT was that there were
no enough Of them to make tank town
holiday parade.
/ No amount Of jaw -hrcaking German
, cloqucnc" Easscd out by bowling mad
kommandanturs could convince tho Aus
trian men of tho line that there weren't
| at lcas; 100000 devil hounds armed TO
tho teeth. heading due north by cast to
, SC" for themselves. doubtless. how Vienna
! bread is made in its homo town. And
! thereby hangs Il tale, for. at this point
| tho Yank got away with the biggest
| game OF bluff of tho war. though. to be
sure. it's not called bluff now. but
'Camoufiagc.' II was a good joke and
well put across.
Instead Of their being a half-dozcn
: toughcned olivc-drab divisions in the
! front arOa-as the cncmy's intelligence
service is said TO have rcportcd--there
! was only ono solitary American rcEi-
/ mcnt in tho whole wedge Of the allied
drive. Three regular companies. a nero
, handful. but they had a rep. The Aus
| trianS had got wind of how the line on
; tho western front was hcing tied into
all sorts " knots by the mon they
thought couldn't fight and that news
promptly discounted their chances of
! eyer rCCaining the offensive in their
| own theatre of tho war.
| "Rcports wore coming in thick and
| fast that every road leading up To the
! Italian line was infested with q. D.-clad
/ soldiers. The Italians. English and
! French wcrc moro or less known quaint
, tics. but this new clement was some
| thing to sit up about and take MOTTO" Of.
! And they were divisions strong-so
| what was tn" use"
| The Allied Intelligence ScrviC" was
no slourh in tho game. II reported very
! soon H." effect upon Austrian morale
! mad" by tho presence Of 'AmcrICanl' in
! tho opposing line. Tho right dope. there
: for. was evidently 10 keep up thu inn
preston that the dou Ehhoys were thcr"
! in goodly numbers and all prepared 10
! play II strong.
! $50 the 3%2nd infantry regiment was
! split UP into platoous and the next few
days Ind nights they Gloriously did thci"
! hit by hiking. The groups Of forty or
: fifty mon were scattered among n dozen
} towns near tho line and when tho enemy
scout planes flew over to observe. the
, signal was given for Il general move Of
/ the various groups toward tho front.
, The movement was purpNScly poorly
! hidden. Nature helped in carrying tho
/ stunt through successfully. for the ltal-
! ian ruaIs ~ the section w"r lined on
/ either sid" with low irc"s and brush.
Single file along half mile Of each OF
, these ronds went the easily identified
! American soldiers. To tho observer
! above. either on tho distant mountain
! peak or in tho low-flying planes the ono
| man visible was the end man OF tho
| ilr---thut meant n young army OF the
road.
! AT night. tired. footsOrc and weary,
! but still plugging ElonE tn" plato"n5
hIKcd it back over the sam" road. WITH
Il few hours sleep and an intricate dis
! guiSc such rs n lightning change from
, campaign hats 10 overseas. or from rain
coats with"vt packs TO hlOusrS with
packs. tho slowly trudgcd along. single
1 file up tho ro3d in the general direction
Of the line IN IN" broad daylIEht-to the
{ Cncmy'S eyes n brand-ncw army.
Tho camOuflaE" movement was SO
we'll put across that tho Italians them
! selves began to think that 1T least half
Of the A. l.. +. had come over from
Franco. TIL" English. who wcr" there in
large numbers. fell for it also. II can
well be believed that il worked good re-
suits in tina; way ny injecting pep into
those veterans for the last grand drive.
so badly were tho AustrianS scared
10y the Italians and tho rommics and III"
, potluS and the CamouflagCd Nanks. and
all that when tho morning Of the glor-
ious 4tE-of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS they were
running 50 fast on the retreat that tho
: Allied troops that followed in close par
suit had Ia b. supplied by airplanos as
nothing else could keep up with them"
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