The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1919-07-10
CHATEAU.THIERRY MIRACLE.
Kertling Expected Grave Events III
Paris Before July Is.

Miracle of Chateau Thierry,' by Col.
r. H. C. Kelton of the General staff
at Washington, formerly chief of staff
of the Third Division. Although a
large part of the facts that are
brought out in this article are familiar
to the majority of us in one form or
another. Colonel kelton has present.
ed them so graphically and brought
out their significance so clearly that
it is believed that everyone in the
division will be interested in reading
the account. We are, therefore,
printing certain parts Of it.
Chateau Thierry was an emergen-
cy; it had no part whatever in the
plans prepared by the general staff
of the American expeditionary forces
or in the original French scheme for
the entry of the American forces upon
the Western front.
On May "a, on the eve of the Ger
man drive ,at Chateau Thierry we
find the American divisions then in
France widely scattered, and more
than half of them outside of the geo.
graphical, and even the supply, limits
Of the intended American sector, so
that French and British regulating
stations and railroads had largely to
be used by the American service of
supply, a procedure which increased
the problems and perplexities of the
American general staff.
Americans Meet Crisis.
On May 27, however, it was no
longer a question as to which divis-
ions had completed training accord
ing to any adopted schedule; it was
dire emergency and question as to
what troops of any class were :. all
able for Chateau Thierry. The two
American units nearest to that point,
the Second and Third Divisions, were
rushed without delay and with the
speediest means of transportation to
the point of danger in order to stop
the drive./
The result of the German attack
the morning of May 27 was a rude
and startling surprise to the allied
headquarters. In four days, or on
the evening of May 80, the leading
elements of the German troops were
at Chateau Thierry, and on the fol-
lowing day the ,Boche stated in his
communique: eve stand along the
Marne." No greater measure of self
satisfaction was ever reflected in his
pompous announcements than in this,
It was a big advance, nearly 40 miles
in four days, and included a general
attack within that period.
But on this same fourth day at
Chateau Thierry the German troops
found a small American fighting unit,
the Seventh Machine Gun Battalion
of the Third United States Division,
which had come distance OF ITO
miles in 80 hours by motor transport,
and the Boche failed to cross the
Marne.
For 72 hours the Seventh Machine
Gun Battalion successfully contested
the crossing, and by the second day
of June the Third United States Di-
vision was in position along the river
from Chateau Thierry to the east for
a distance of about IL miles.
Here are the positions of the
American divisions that played the
critical role in the operations at
Chateau Thierry early in July, or
seven days before the final offensiveI
of the German forces in the present
war:
The First and Second Divisions in
reserve to the west of the Chateau
Thierry salient; the Third and Twen-
ty-sixth Divisions in front line Sec
tors to the east and west respectively
of the town of Chateau Thierry it.
self; the Forty-second Division in
front line sector to the east of
Rheims; the Fourth and Twenty
eighth Divisions in support positions
south of Chateau Thierry; and the
Thirty-second Division arriving near
Coloumiers from it's previous station
in the Vosges.
Boche Plans Disclosed.
For several weeks the evidence had
been accumulating of a German at
tack that would extend the Chateau
Thierry salient south of the Marne
and widen it toward the east, in or
der finally to effect the capture of
Rheims and oyerrun the terrain to
the southeast perhaps as far as Chal-
onc