The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1920-07-09
Those in Towns Around CobIenZ
Had No Part in Trouble in
Ruhr District.
OCCUPY 90 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 IT, neutral zone We
read that the American forces in Ger
many, like the British, will hold to
their bridgehead.
With its center at CobIenz the
American bTidgehead 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 fred" uprisngs,
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
seek refuge and internment in Ameri-
can-occupied 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 1929
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, it often seemed as if
there were more American soldiers
than German civilians in the hill coun-
try. Even Coblenz. city of Rhine
wines and gayety, appeared for the
moment Americanized. Coblenz today
garrisOns less than 400 American Off
GERS and about 1900 men. Andernach,
former headquarters of the third di-
vision, has the next largest garrison,
161 officers and 4,O46 men.
Most of US on this side of the wa
ter have a hazy mental picture of
Coblenz and have. perhaps. seen a
or two of Andernach. But
of the villages along the neutral zone,
the tiny towns that to most of our re
turned soldiers mean Germany" we
have not the slightest conception. |
They are alike in size and appearance |
these hundreds of hamlets, and save
for the fact that Paumbach is Protes-
tant. while its neighbor. Ransbach. a |
quarter kilometer distant, is Catholic, |
when you have known one Rhineland /
valley you know them all. Here the /
5000 or so of our men are I
without doubt, TO the /
widest of army rumors. marching on I
Berlin one day, Withdrawing TO Paris
the next. but never failing TO find
some imaginative tale with which to
season the "sIum" when "chow" call
blows. We can find them by the sim
pie process of alighting from the train
1T CobIenz, and. with a few formalities
Of military nature, hopping truck"
pound for the outposts.
Within American Lines.
Rattling8 eastward across the little
1ontoon bridge which spans the Rhine
directly in front of the American army
headquarters at Coblenz. our battered
Ford swings again TO the north under
he shadow of Ehrenbreftstein's high
he darkness he seeks. the security of
he village street. A goodly number OF