El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1920-12-20

In War Time
LEAVES FROM AN
OVERSEAS NOTEBOOK
%


The Overseas Notebook contains a
l variety q material gathered by tbs editor
Of The Herald 10 Europe during the war
and after Excerpts VIII be published IN
this column daily during the next several
months Today'a lnEtalment continuing
the general narrative. relates experiences
hiel Salient
Il IS suggested that readers clip these
articles each day and paste them ll scrap
books they VIII not be reprinted and hack
numbers cannot Be supplied
| IT IS not intended, In printing these
1 notes, to attempt to make a histori-
cal sketch Of them The Notebook
Is simply a summary Of impressions.
recorded at the moment, and bnowl-
edge Of what was going on in the gen
eral field of action or in other areas
was extremely vague. But so that
readers may have some idea Of what
was going on there, thus giving the
/ daily notes some background which ]
I did not then possess, it is appropriate
I TO recall here that the cutting off of the
/ SAINT Mihiel Salient where the Ger
mans had held their positions immov-
l able Tor four years was the first all
/ American attack on a large scale in the
I war-the first movement of the newly
I organized First army as a tactical
{ unit.
Including reserves, corps and army
/ troops and auXiiaTies, some $4,000
! American troops were assembled for
I this action. However, only nine Ameri-
can divisions were in the front lines.
and one Of those did not participate in
the attack, merely holding the pivot
Of the great turning movement. Seven
american divisions were in line on the
south side Of the salient, two on the
west side. and these were to operate
the jaws' OF the great machine that
was planned TO cut of the salient,
while French colonial troops were to
hold and exert pressure at the point
OF the salient without advancing much
II any Thus something over 100000
men were in the. American divisions
charged with the actual assault.
The Goth division was assigned to
take the most formidable Of the enemy
defences, and at the same time the
Goth attacked on a wider front than
any other division engaged. Thus it
eveutuated that more than half Of all
the casualties sustained BY the entire
American First army in that battle
were sustained by the Goth division
alone.
The battle. proper lasted until the
evening Of the 18th of September, six
days, when the front line became l
stabilized but great activity con-
tinued, with many casualties. The Goth
division lost 524 killed and 1861
wounded and gassed on the Saint
Alihiel front, total battle casualties on I
that front 54S5 Gnciuding a very few !
uuWounded prisoners taken in raids I
The official report of the SAINT Alihiel I
] Ia L.
up 10 the time the line became stabi- Z
lied, and more than half of these were I
IN the Goth division.
The official report makes the fol- I
lowing comparisons with the battle OF 7.
Gettysburg=
saint 3Lihiel, Americans engaged. /
$4,000.
Gettysburg, Union men engaged, .
100000.
Artillery fire at SAINT 1Iihiel, III
100000 rounds in four hours.
Artillery fire at Gettysburg, 50 900 I
rounds in three DAYS by Union artillery. /
Thus It Is seen that the American /
artillery in preparing Tor the saint I
Mihiel attack fired as many rounds in I
eight minutes as the Union artillery /
At Gettysburg fired in three days-no 4
wonder IL made an impression
The guns within my hearing that 1
night, IN the aggregate all calibers, 1
must have averaged , discharges a I
second, 1900 a minute, 10000 an hour,
for four hours.
As a result Of the Saint Mihiel action,
the dangerous salient which had cut
into the allied lines deeply for four
long years was oblIterated, the great /
railway main line from Nerdun to Ioul
and Nancy was freed from enemy con-
troll, the German nam lines OF com
munication were seriously menaced,
a reorganization Of the
German plans Of defence, and Ameri-
can commanders and troops demon
stTated their ability 20 carry through
successfully an enormous Independent
operation
The detailed story Of the action in
all its complex phases IS available IN
various volumes, including official re-
ports and divisional histories. With
out attempting to traverse matters
that were not within my sphere Of OBJ
seryation or scope OF personal knowl-
edge at the time, ! shall proceed with
the Notes as written.
Is September lglS-ComparatiTely
quiet last night and this morning. All
last night and today our wounded and
German prisoner-Ut unded were coming
in TO our triage advance collecting
statiOni. Heavy artillery active. Our
planes up early. Cloudy morning and
rain Heavy firing III afternoon on our /
left front.
Night beginning : P. ~ heavy bonn +
1ardment, our own biggest guns firing
it frequent intervals at ranges varying /.
from 10 Is miles, without reply from
he Germans. Discharges shake earth
tremendously and houses rock and
shiver. Part Of time continuous roar, ,
partly a barrage and partly ]
destructive IRE. Our right wing makes I
important advance. Victory in the re-
zioa great one, seriously affecting ,
serman plans.
IL September l9lS-Bright, clear,
sunny, warm, yefreshing after a loig I
period Of storm, rain, mud, and chill
Air activity last night and today. 7
Action goes on all day at front de- /
ending and strengthening the lines.
German shell our ines and back !
Irsas continually. Work of clearing /
Isli goes on in constant fire. -Four c
II our ambulances shot up. Air battles &
II day. We have ten sausages lob e.,
ervation balloonsl up at one time. Our ;
men all in fine spirits and anxious to y
20 forward. We hear Of large successes
.long our front As I write the anti Z
.ircraft shells are filling the sky aud