Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1920-07-08
Those in Towns Around CobIenz
Had No Part in Trouble in
Ruhr District.
OCCUPY 80 TOWNS IN ALL
American Forces in Germany Consist
Of 769 Officers and 1929 Men
CobIenz Is Headquarters
of Yankee Army.

New YOrk.-There are still Ameri
can troops In Germany. We had al
most forgotten this fact until Doctor
kapp strobe into the days news and
vanished. Strikes, bloodshed and re-
bellion followed in rapid succession.
German government troops entered
the Ruhr district and Foch moved
forward across the neutral zone. We
read that the American forces in Ger
many, like the British, will hold to
their bridgehead.
With it's center at Coblenz the
American bridgehead forms, the mill
tary occupation district along the
course of the Rhine, between the Brit
/ ish to the north and the French to the
south. The town of Frankfort, re-
| Gently occupied by the French, lies In
German territory just beyond the neu-
trail zone which rims the French
| bridgehead, and is only so kilometers
south of American divisional head
quarters.
Since the recent red uprisings,
Katherine Gay. formerly attached to
an artillery division, tells the New
York Post, American-occupied terri
tory has been surrounded by disorder,
but the American chief of staff at
Coblenz has kept strictly to his state
ment that he has no concern with af-
fairs outside his jurisdiction. Atten-
ton may be focused at any moment, |
however, on the district held by Amer |
lean forces if German communists |
can-occupled territory as they have |
recently done in British territory |
after the failure of their revolt in the !
Ruhr valley.
At CobIenz.
The American forces in Germany to-
day consists of 100 officers and 1920
men, inclusive of 10 officers and 173
men stationed at the port of Antwerp,
Belgium. They occupy, all told, SO
towns. A year ago there were some
six divisions holding this same terri
tory. and every little town In the
bridgehead carried its quota of Amer
leans. Indeed 1t often seemed as If
there were more American soldiers
than German civilians in the hill coun-
try. Even CObenZ, city of Rhine
wines and gayety. appeared for the
moment Amercanized. Coblenz today
garrisons less than 400 American Off
GERS and about 1900 men. Andernach,
former headquarters of the third d.
vision, has the next largest garrison,
l61 officers and 4,046 men.
Most of US on this side Of the wa E
er have hazy mental picture Of
Cobenz and have, perhaps, seen a
or two of Andernach. But
If the villages along the neutral zone,
he tiny towns that to most Of our re-
urned soldiers mean Germany" we
ave not the slightest conception. |
they are alike In size and appearance,
hese hundreds of hamlets, and save
or the fact that Paumbach is Protes-
uarter kilometer distant, Is Catholic,
,hen you have known one Rhineland
alley YOU know them ALL Here the
emaining 5000 or so of our men are
without doubt, to the
'ildest of army rumors, marching on
;erlin one day, Withdrawing to Paris
he next. but never failing to find
Dme imaginative tale with which to
pason the "slum'' when "chow" call
lows We can find them by the sim.
lie process Of alightlng from the train
{ Coblenz, and, with few formalities
( a military nature. "hopplng truck" Y
nund for the outposts.
Within American Lines.
Rafting eastward across the little
pntoon bridge which spans the Rhine
rectly IN front NJ the American army
at Cobenz. our battered
ord swings again to the north under ia
10 shadow of OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES high, wi
lie darkness he seeks the security OF ph
lie village street A goodly number OF of