Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-07-15
YANK TROOPS
NEAR SCENE
OF FIGHTING
Those in Towns Around CobIenz
Had No Part in Trouble IN
Ruhr District.
OCCUPY 3S TOWNS IN kLL
American Forces in Germany Consist
of 769 Officers and 1929 Men,
Coblenz Is Headquarters
of Yankee Army.

New York.-1here are still Ameri-
can troops in Germany. We had al
most forgotten this fact until Doctor
Napp strobe into the days news and
vanished. Strikes. hloodshed 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 bridgehcad.
With its center at C0blenZ the
American bridgehead forms the mill
tary occupation district along the
course of the Rhine, between the Brit
jsh 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-
tral zone which rims the French
bridgehead. and is only so kilometers
south of American divisional head
quarters.
Since the rec0nt red" uprisings,
Katherine Gay, formerly attached to
an aItllery division. tells the New
York Post, Amcrican-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 769 officers and 1929
men, inclusive of 10 officers and 173
men stationed at the port of Antwerp,
Belgium. They occupy. all told, 30
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
tlldl HtIliIuH Wv III tiS iii'' '''''
try. Even Coblenz, city of Rhine
wines and gayety, appeared for the
moment AmericaniZed. CobenZ 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,
16l officers and 4,0l6 men.
% ,iy CT nj a.
ter have hazy mental picture of
Coblenz and have, perhaps, seen
photograph or two of Anderuach. 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 Faumbach Is Protes-
tant. while it's neighbor. RapSbach,-
quarter kilOmeter distant. is Catholic,
when YOU have known one Rhneland
valley you know them all. Here the
remaining 5000 or so of our men are
statloned-prey without doubt, to the
widest of army rumors, marching on
Berlin one day, withdrawing to Paris
the next but never failing to find
some imaginative tale with which to
season the "slum" when "chOw" call
blows. We can find them by the sim
pie process of alighting from the train
at COhlenZ, and with few fOrmalitieS
of military nature, "hopping truck
bound for the Outposts.
Within American Lines.
Rafting eastward across the little
pontoon bridge which spans the Rhine
directly in front Of the American army
headquarters at Coblenz, our battered
Ford swings again. TO the north under
the shadow of OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES high
rocky fortress, follows the river for a
kilometer or two and then begins tC
climb steadily to the northeast to the
hill country, the heart of the Ameri
can bridgehead.
There are no isolated farm houses
or dwellings of any description in this
pa,1 of the world-such a thing is un
dreamed Of Nor has the average lit
tie town the unsightly fringe of strag
Cling outposts with which the Ameri
| can village announces tra1lSltioi
from rural beauty to urban complex
ties. Our road, well mended by Ger
man labor under American supervi
sion. running through rich fields ant
velvety forest patches groomed to
faultless beauty, plunges us into thu
very heart of a Baumbach, Vielbach
Dernbach or Nentershausen with dan
gerous precipitancy; so dangerous, IL
fact, that were II not for the watchfu
mounted policemen who hold up
warning hand as we approach, the ia
talities among the children of our one
time enemy would be beyond all com
putting. h
These little towns. so compact AM
circumspect in appearance, house tn
farming population Of the Rhnelanc
They are a survival of feudal days
The farmer goes out boldly enough +
his fields In broad daylight, but wit
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