The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-01-15
Give the Thirtieth its Due.
(News and Courier.)

(News and Courier.)
The News and Courier has called at
tention several times to the fact that
the Thirtieth Division has not received
the recognition which is it's due, bat
the present is an appropriate moment
to take up the matter again. The Brit
ish government has just issued the
report of Field Marshal Haig on oper-
ations from the end Of April to the
close of hostilities, and this report OF
the British commander shows that tire
men of the Thirtieth Division were
the first allied troops to break
through the Hindenburg line in tn.
vitality important operations IN la.e
September between st. Quentin and
Cambria. AS the London Daily News
points out, the first mention Of a
break-through contained in the Fielu
Marshals report comes in the course
Of his account Of the events Of Sep
tember 20 in which he says: North
Of Bellenglise, the Thirtieth (North
Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee.
and District of Columoia) American
Division, Major General E. M. Lewis,
having broken through the deep de
fenses Of the Hindenburg line, storm
ed Bellicourt and seized Nauroy."
That break-through north Of Bel
lenglise was not only one of the most
heroic episodes Of the whole allied Of
fensive but it was also one Of the most
important in it's consequences. Ihe
smashing of the Hindenburg line at
this point was hailed at the time as
a victory oI the largest import and
subsequent developments fully con-
firmed this view. It weakened the
whole German defensive system both
nortnward and southward and was
one of the principal factors in bring
ing about the ultimate dislocation OF
the whole German line northward to
the coast and in making possible the
decisive advance of the American
First Army to the neighborhood Of
Sedan.
Yet outside Of the States whose men
composed the Thirtieth, there are
mparatively few Americans who
know what that division did. Even
here in South Carolina we do not yet
know the full story. The Thirtieth
was not with the main American
army. Together with the Twenty
seventh Division, it was brigaded with
the British BY far the greater part
! of what has been written in this coun-
try about American achievement in
| France concerns the operations of the
| main American army. These have
been celebrated. as they fully deserT-
ed to be. from one end of the coun-
try to the other, whereas the no less
brilliant and no less important vic
| tories Of the American divisions bri-
geded with the British. one of which,
our own Thirtieth, made the first
breach in the famous Hindenbure
line, are scarcely known at all to the
American people at large.
The United States government
ought to compile and give to the coun-
try a detailed account Of the opera
tions Of the American units that
fought under Haig. Their achieve
ments were just as splendid ans just
as important as those of the Anleri-
can units that fought under Pershing;
and their losses We're probably pro-
portionately heavier. The British
commanders report, setting forth Of
fcially the great part played by oul
men in one Of the most vital opera
tions of the war. opens the way for a
full and authoritative official nara
tive by the United States government
of the work of the American divisions
which fought on the British front