The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-05-02
CHATEAU THIERRY
Name as Understood has Been Given
to Series of Operations Which
Began in 1918

oNS1h Ii A1AO
A statement from The Watch-on-
the-Rhine, a weekly paper published
by the soldiers Of the Sd division, to
the effect that the Marines had not
fought in Chateau Thierry, was re-
printed in the New York Times.
Letters from Marines have contra
dicted the assertion vigorously. One
of the writer's tells of having lost a
leg in the Chateau Thierry fight.
| Another called attention to the great
number of marine casualties at Cha
teauThierry.
AS a matter of fact, both sides to
the controversy are right. The con-
fusion is cleared up by brief state
ment by Lieut.. Col. Frederick Pal
mer, who was official observer for
General Pershing. The uncertainty
rests, he points out, upon an ambl-
! guilty in our use of the name of Cha
| teauT hierry.
"The name Chateau Thierry, as we
understand it in, this country, is given
to series of operations, which, in
a military sense, would be called the
operations for the defense and reduc--
ton of the Marine salient" Lieut.. Col.
Palmer said. "These operations be-
gan, as far as American troops were
concerned, on May 80, 1918, when the
machine gun battalion of the Sd div
lsion crossed the bridge from the
south bank of the Marine into the
town of Chateau-Thierry for rear
guard action, eventually withdrawing
to the south bank, where it defended
the bridge.
"These operations closed practical
ly with the occupation of the south
bank of the Vesle River early in Aug
ust. The only time that American
troops ever fought in Chateau-Thier-
nv itself was when the machine gun
battalion was briefly engaged there.
Chateau Thierry was retaken by the
French without any fighting OF any
consequence in the town itself, which
lies in the lap of hills on the bank OF
the Marine. When the hills were tax
en- the town automatically fell. We
helped to take the hills.
"The mistake correspondents have
made is due to the association of the
name Chateau-T hierry with all the
operations l have mentioned The
Marine Brigade as part of the I'd re-
gular division went into position, al
ter forced marches in defense OF the
Chateau Thierry road, on June 2, and
in the ensuing month fought the bat
tie of Belleau Woods and took the
town of Bouresches. The Marine Bril-
gade, again a part of the I'd division,
took part in the immortal drive to-
ward Scissors, July 1921, which was
the turn of the tide against the Ger
mans, and which began the reduction
Of the Marine salient"
Evidently the marines, though not
in the town of ChateauThierry, were
in the general operations known by
the name of the town. In this fight
ing 100000 American troops were en-
gagged. 1t lasted from May 80 to
August 5, and the casualties number
ed $4,000. 1t would make things much
clearer, Col. Palmer declares, if these
operations were known not by the
name of ChateauThierry, but as the
battle Of the Marine salient.
A letter has been received from
Maj. Gen. George Barnett, Comman-
dant United States Marine Corps, in
closing extracts from official cable
grams and reports sent by General
Pershing to the War Department i'll
regard to the activities of the 18th
Brigade of Marines, consisting of the
9Th and 9Th Regiments and the 9th
Machine Gun Battalion, in action near
Chateau hierry on June IS. Gen
cral Barnett writes:
'FTo the best of my knowledge, no
marine has ever claimed to have been
actually within the town of Chateau
Thierry, but their great fight, which
took place at Belleau Wood, is in the
Chateau Thierry sector, and one point
of the line which they held is only
about three miles distant from the
town of Chateau-Thierry itself The
original news of the fighting in Bel
leau Wood and its vicinity was passed
officially by the army censors, and the
extracts from the official records, etc,
which | am enclosing are strictly of
fetal, the originals being on file at
these headquarters.
Among the cablegrams enclosed are
the following citations of members of
the Marine Brigade to whom the Dis
tinguished Service Cross was award
ed from a communique from General
Pershing, July 2, 1918,