Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-20
Il Dark Figure in
Amer1can Uniform
Tried to Sneak Into
No Man s Land ON
E0e Of Cantigny
Battle; Had lie
Escaped, Germans
WouAHave Been
Prepared TO Meet
lYanks, but Secret
agents WereLying
I'M -Waiting.
and Ready for HIS
Break.
HAD THE GERMANS WITH
DR4WN?-
PERSHINC TOOK NO CHANGES.

CO it 1oaS that SaDed the EDes of thousands
OF American doughboys that dark, rainy
September morning II gears ago UIlen they
aDiped out the st. Mitiel salient in the first
independent American attack OF the World Wsr.
But for Ga they Mould haze attacked without
the terrific preliminary artillery bombGrdnsent
that for four preceding hours had blasted a
path though German barbed Dire, trenches aud
concrete duooutS, Smothered German artillery
and machine guns
1t came about in this ioQy: The artillery
preparation had been planned far ahead. Three
thousand cdnnons, great and small, Dere as
sembled to fire million shells before single
doughboy jumped of. For a time on the day
before the battle Gen. Pershing seriously con-
sidered- 9,Utng up. the preliminary bombardnsent
firing only rolling barrage the infantry
advanced The reason iDdS simple-it looked as
If the Germans had gone, evacuated the salient
Late in the afternoon, Just teU hours before
the bombardment a0aS to start; &c reported:
"The Germans haze not withdrawn, They are
still there"
Gen. Pershing turned to the telephone
"OrdeTs for the artillery preparation stand"
he said
At o'clock in the morning, 5000 guns
crashed. At O'Clock. after four thunderous
hours. whistles shrflled along the 40-mile line
and 10000 infantry scrambled oper the top
A fetO hours later CO laid upon Gen Pershino's
desk captured order marked "Streng Geheinl'
shouting that the German infantry had not
aOithdra,Un, and that ,oten our artillery prepard-
ton fell, SaUe for one small sector, they tDeTe
still in their trenches.
No matter tUhat prisoners or uUiators said the
Germans aoere still in the salient To attack
without artillery preparation iDds not safe. The
7aetos meant that to Gen. Pershing and to Maj.
Gen. d. E. Nolan, chief OF Intelligence of
the A. E. F.
CO is Army talk for "IntelliCence" iDIich
means finding out aUtGt the other fellotU is up
to, one OF the most fascinating OF military arts
This hitherto untold incident of st. Mittel is
one OF many that serDe to illustrate the work.
angs OF CO and the vttal part it played i,s
a0,nning the A. E. F.'s battles. for reallu the
A. E. F. aods pretty good at it.
Yes, dear old Uncle Sam with his innocent
chin wI.iskerS could 1noue in mysterious ,oaps
his wonders to perform.
EDITORS NOTE This is one of a series of true
suor Sa us es In the
Ameriean secret agents otherwise the Information Is
~ the night of May 81, 1918, German
lookouts crouched in the ruined
n French village of Cantigny felt as
~ cheerful as one can feel in the front
line across no mans land. The Amer
lean trenches seemed quiet. Even their ex-
uberant artillery was almost silent. That day
the Crown Prince had surprised Foch, the new
allied geperaliSsimo, and broken through the
French and British line on the Chemin des
Danes, headed toward Paris good day!
Germany might yet win before too many Ameri-
cans came Tonight their First Division across
no mans land seemed subdued. A perfect eve
ming.
'Stille nacht heilige nacht." hummed gray
feldwebel, smoking contentedly a dropping
cherry pipe whose glow his hand hid. Sud-
denly the pipe dropped from his lips and he
leaned forward, every nerve and muscle tight,
ready to give the alarm. In the darkness where
the American front line trenches were he had
seen spurts of fame heard shots Now he heard
q cry. Then silence.
Was war das?" companion asked hurrying
up. Both stared and listened, but they saw
nothing, heard nothing. Minutes passed More