Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-02-04
GOV. allen SAYS
us. Government.
is ''EVASIVE"
War Department Would Have
Us Forget Thousands Of
Manned Soldiers, Charges
Kansas Executive. e

Topeka, Kan, Feb. Sin a state
ment issued tonight commenting on
the figures given out by General
March, chief of staff, Saturday, re-
garding major casualties, Governor
Allen charged that the War depart
ment is "evasive and vague" He
also charged that the War depart
ment knew when it issued the state
ment that uniformed people would
conclude this was a full statement
of the casualties.
"The War department" says the
Statement would have It's forget
the thousands of MANNED and Grip
pied, a few OF whom are. now COM
ing home-but many of whom are
suffering in the hospitals of France.
1T has attempted to divert atten-
ton from the real situation by CALI
ing attention to the fact that the
dead and missing in the Thirty-ffth
division are only 1888 and that
this division suffered less than some
other divisions. Why was it not
frank in saying this division lost
practically all of these 1881 in one
engagement while other divisions
with which it compares the Thirty
fifth were in several heavy engage
ments? Why did the department
neglect to mention that, in addition
to these 1888, more than 5000
wounded were in the casualty list
of the Thirty-ffth division?"
Governor Allen again charged that
the losses were due to lack of aerial
protection, shortage of transporta-
ton and other inadequacies Of ma
chinery.
Lack of Protection.
Cali citizens of the country realize
that heavy casualties were inevitable
and the report, which is gradually
being uncovered, reveals the fact
that our gloomiest expectations
were more than realized, /" the gov
ornor says in conclusion. Il be-
lieve that thousands of men were
lost because there was lack of pro-
lection in the air, shortage of trans
portation which would have made
effective artillery support possible
at all stages of the battle and other
inadequacies of machinery which
sent the American army into that
gloomy forest fighting the best
equipped army in the world with
little except infantry arms.
"These facts are we'll known at
Washington and are we'll known to
officers and men who are coming
home. There is no reason for any
controversy over facts. The coun-
try is entitled to the truth. Why
does the War department withhold
it,"
Transportation Limited.
The governor, in his statement,
referred to the report of the di-
vision officer in charge of the teriage
of the Thirty-hfth division, stating
that it revealed that 6,30l wounded
men passed through his teriage,
nearly 5000 of whom were from the
Thirty-hfth division. This officer,
the statement says, says the trans
portation was so limited that, with
out waiting for ambulances, trucks
belonging to other divisions and to
the French were used to send wound
ed men of the Thirty-ffth division
straight through from the advance
dressing stations to the evacuation
hospitals without passing through
the Thirty-hfth division teriage.
This report, the statement further
says, discloses that the unexpectedly
heavy rush of casualties made it
necessary for men to lie upon the
ground in the mud without filters or
blankets and that the unexpected
shortage of transportation made it
impossible to teriage all the men,
hence the report of nearly 5000 does
not include them all.