Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-02-28
Tho Char and the wheat

GOVERNOR of Kansas who went to
"a war as Y. NJ. c. A. worker, came back
to this country to toll the people OF the
United States and of Kansas that their sons
wore slaughtered in France through the in
efficiency Of their commanders and the in
| sufIicency OF their supplies. His recital, re-
peated in detail before the Senate Military
Affairs Committee. dealt specifically with the
fortunes, or misfortunes, he described
them, Of the men Of the Thirty-ifth Army
Division, composed of Kansas and Missouri
National Guard troops. Ho told with great
detail how, in the battle OF the Argonne,
the men were 'butchered'' by the fire of their
own artillery; how the German aircraft in
preponderating force kept always over the
American boys, and how for days dough-
boys were without necessary supplies. Alto
gether it was a sorry picture he drew Of this
| force, and though tho country had been led
to believe that it did a heroic job in this
Argonne fight, 1t was uncomfortable that this
State Governor would have sepsatonally
disparaged the efficiency Of the command
| unless he had carefully weighed and sifted
his information.
Then the Senate committee heard the story
OF General Peter Il. Traub, the man who
| commanded this division, and how different
story was told by the official records he
produced! division consists Of 1880 men,
Far from being cut to pieces, as Governor
Allen gave us to understand, the total cas-
| ualtics OF this division were Ass, of which
ST. were killed or died OF wounds-not an
| 1nconsiderable number when 1t is considered
that this magnificent body OF American cap.
tured in the battle OF the Argonne a position
which the allies had been trying for four
| years to gain. General Traub denied cato
gorically the charge that any OF his men
had been killed by the fro Of American ar
| tillery, and, with the records available to
sustain him. he denied that his division had
| lacked for clothing or proper food To the
| charge that his division did not have sui
| fcent artillery. he was able to show that
! his artillery predominated in force aud num-
bers over that Of the enemy. Only once, he
said, did he call for artillery aid when it
| was not Immediately forthcoming and then
terrain conditions made it impossible to move
| up the heavy guns as quickly as needed
TO the charge that tho German air force
| predominatcd he showed that sometimes
| it did, and sometimes the control was
with the allies. Very sensibly he observed
that in order to have had preponderance
of aircraft at all times. the allies would have
| had to have force Of $4,000 machines
always in the air. AS to the general ability
| of his troops. he quoted this from a paper
taken from captured German officer: eff
|
have the same fighting qualities as those we
have been up against. tho German game is
lost"
General Traub told his story with the
preciseness of regular army officer, but with
an unconceaed admiration for the boys he
! commanded and with whom he fought in the
very front lines during the heat of that fear
| ful battle. Governor Allen, as Y. M. C. A
worker. was some miles behind the fighting
zone, and necessarily dependent on hearsay
| for information to what was going on
| What a pity it is that without adequate
! knowledge, he should have permitted him
| self, even for the brief time that his sem
| sational account went uncontradicted to have
furnished so grievously the record of this
| command!
Yet upon such evidence SO much of the
criticism OF the War Department and OF the
! army is based.