Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-27
Continued from Fifth Page


like gentlemen, IN a good cause-their countrys
A cosmopolitan lot, for as one of their leaders
saws Counter espionage work required officers
who were diplomatic tactful, discreet and had
a knowledge of the French language, people
and customs. Fortunately, excellent material
was found among Americans who had resided
or Travelled abroad The operation Of
secret service requires constant attention to
duty and to details. 1t calls for a large num-
Der of Investigations, a good many OF winch
lead to satisfactory solution. Every item OF
information received must be carefully ana
lyzed,y weighed and connected up. This means
a great deal of drudgery. But withal If the
Sighting troops feel that they are protected
from the enemy agents by an efficient counter
espionage service, those engaged in the work
are fully repaid for their efforts"
This work was directed largely from the oftice
in the old French barracks at American G.
H @. in Chaumont by little group OF officers
more or less experienced in secret service work.
One of those Col. William 0. Reed, now
dead an old comrade of Gen. Pershing. The
two departments of espionage and counter
espionage spying and spy chasing, were headed
most of the time by two unusual men, Lieut..
Coils. N w. Campanole and Aristides Moreno,
short, nimble, dark. of Savoyard and Spanish
descent, masters of q half dozen languages
each, in which they might with triumphant
safety transact business when visited by less
accomplished newspaper correspondents. Both
had been in Gen. Pershing's secret service in
Mexico.
THEIR executive officer, Maj. J. S. S. Rich
ardson, was former newspaper man who
before we entered the war, helped the British
secret service chase German spies and was one
of a volunteer secret service among New York
newspaper men, Since most of GIBBS secret
work was counter espionage. this article con-
Siders spy chasing.
The object of counter espionage in the
A. E. F. was to spread net over Europe that
would catch German spies already behind our
lines and prevent others from getting there.
American counter espionage had two power
ful arms, the Silent Watchers and the l. P.
Silent Watchers was not of course, an Of
fetal name, but it describes what they did Forty
or fifty thousand of them played in the A Z. F.
a double role, outwardly soldiers like any Others
drilling, hiking, fighting, but unlike the others.
never relaxing eyes, ears wits in their search
for spies and traitors in their midst. Their UNI
sung service as heavy as it was unsupported
It brought to none privilege nor reward; to noS
a few wounds, sickness and death, for they
shared every hardship and went over the Top
with the rest.
Throughout the A. E. F.. roughly to every
platoon, to every group of 60 men, there waS
Silent Watcher. Nobody knew of his ex-
istence except one officer in his company to
whom he reported. This officer in turn reported
ganzation reached in officer of the
division headquarters staff who, in turn,
ported directly to 0-2-B at Chaumont. The
ganization had only one purpose, and usually
stuck to it, to detect spying and disloyalty. ST.
lent Watchers were not supposed to report vio-
lation of regulations, lax morals, even crime.
Although German-Americans as a class be-
haved Splendidly and proved themselves more
American than German not all were so. Nor
were all connected with the dual monarchy loyal
to their adopted country. Some of them hated
the Army they were drafted into which found
itself confronted with situation unparalleled
in any allied nation. In the nth Division alone,
the polyglot New York City draft division 800
men were weeded out and left behind through
the Silent Watchers
TT sometimes hard to detect just what
they sought. The most dangerous men were
not those OF German Austrian birth
descent who became conscientious directors or
asked non -combatant duty, but those who
sought combatant duty and even promotion
Many such were transferred, lest the safety of
their comrades in battle be departed. The
policy was to take no chances, but to transfer
suspects without waiting for positive proofs An
ounce of prevention was worth a pound Of
cure. Nor could the Silent Watchers reveal
themselves or their organization by testifying
in co.:rt
: certain New York Congressman unwit-
tngly helped in wedding out undesirables from
the nth Division, by sending its commander
bales Of rubber stamp-signed letters asking soft
Jobs for constituents with German connections.
The jobs they got were sometimes on the rock
pile-but they did not go to France.
The system worked well in the divisions
that IL extended to the whole A. E. F. serv-
ices of supply, ports replacement centers, hos
pitfalls thereby covering every uniformed Amer
lean in France or England
It was the Silent Watchers who got the Ger
man sergeant and his stolen cookbook the nigh
before Cantigny Barely in time their suspicious
had been aroused The Silent Watchers diScov-
cred movement To stir race hatred among