The Bamberg herald. (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, December 26, 1918, Image 1
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i * 1
L . in mind that all snb
scriPtions to The Her
ft m j aid must now be paid
m a IZ_vJS. advance. This is the
^ ^ C*-^the law, and we will
: JlfllSS Hatttteg If?ntli
$2.00 Per Year in Advance. BAMBERG, S. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1918. Established in 1891.
* AMERICAN TE
WINS ARGC
/
___
\ Troops From South, East
f West Crash Through
f . of War's Most Nota
Doughboys Appeal
Bayonets Fixed
*
The following is trom tne siars
and Stripes:
The thick wall of German resist*
ance in Argonne against which the
k First American army had been hammering
since the last week in SepW
tember gave way with a crash on
November 1, and the Yankee troops,
who had gone stubbornly through
> . with more than a month of murder Sr.
'
ous, inch by inch, hammer and tongs
fighting, came at last into their reward.
To them at last came the heart
warming though somewhat fatiguing
experience of chasing the Germans as
fast as their trucks and their horses
and their legs \fould carry them.
Marshal Foch has sent General
Pershing the following telegram:
"Operations begun November 1 by
j the First American army have alI
ready assured, thanks to the valor
of the high command and to the
*? -[energy
and the bravery of the troops
results of the greatest importance.
I am happy to send you my warmest
congratulations on the success of
these operations."
By the end of the fourth day, with
increased resistance developed all
along the line, troops working along
the west bank of the Meuse were
throwing pontoon bridges across the
rain swollen river, under fire from
enemy guns perched on the palisades
I beyond, the fire of which wiped out
one of the four bridges. A brigade
:''u moved across in the darkness, and by
daylight of the fifth day a whole division
was operating on the eastern
| . heights.
On the sixth day the advance was
- * stiH going forward on both sides of
the Meuse.
Meanwhile, at the center, Beau',snont
with 500 good French citizens
. released, lay for behind the advance
'* - "v.* j '
of the Americans, who had moved
forward 25 kilometers since last Friday
morning and 45 kilometers since
the battle began on September 26.
jj ;. It was on last Friday morning,
when the eastern sky line was tinged
with the first promise of day, that
the* infantry moved forward for the
) third great assault of the Argonne
drive?moved forward after the
most stupendous artillery prepara/
tion in American history. It is not
V . enough to say tnat behind them the
i guns were wheel to wheel. The cannon
used in some areas could not all
?^lave been crowded in had they been
Sypf^pJaced wheel to wheel.
Snapshots of Whole Line.
XT?.* mino On/1 tanVe aXI H I
0 Jt-f- l\Ul UlClCi; &UU.O auu vuuuu .
airplanes helped, however. The very
earth and air and sky seemed in alliance
with the doughboys. For a
(f week the weather had been kinder
far than those of us who remembered
last fall in France had dared even to
hope. s k
For a week the winged cameras
had been hovering over the German
front, uncovering his every secret
and supplying to the high command
such a complete set of photographs
that the guns, by a few rays of merciless
firing, had been able, calmly
and . systematically, to wreck the
:4' ir enemy works, castering and decimat.
ing his reserves, harrying his train,
"bewildering his communications.,
p Now, on the morning of mornings,
with dry ground*under foot and a
pleasant warmth in the air, a low,
almost impenetrable ground mist
} overlay that devastated land, providing
for the onmoving infantry such a
screen as no merely human chemical
corps has yet been able to devise.
Shielded by that and preceded by a
barrage that was precise and flexible
beyond all our previous experience,
the doughboys went forward. Under
the avalanche of shells the Germans
? had vanished discretely underground:
no one could have stayed out and
lived. When the barrage moved on
and they emerged it was to find
all the surface of the earth in their
neighborhood in the possession of
young Americans in large numbers,
who came at them out of the mist
with bayonets ready for business.
St. Georges Goes First.
For the first few hourse?for the
first day in some places along the
front stretching from Grandprs to the
J
.
iAM WORK
)NNE BATTLE
, Southwest, and Central
German Lines in One
ible Engagements?
rOut of Mist With
i FoY Business.
Meuse?the resistance was bitter, the
outcome doubtful, the fighting nasty.
But one by one the bastions fell. The
foil n'oo Q+ (loftrcoc fnr nil
uioi iu iau nao u*.V4
their mazes of barbed wire and their
gd!?risons of gunners, so that within
an hour the excited observers were
reporting long columns of prisoners,
hundreds of them trotting back
through the mist to the waiting
cages.
Further to the west, Champigneulles
held out all day, and so did the
Bois des Loges, that sinister little
forest near Grandpre, which resisted
capture even after 30,000 rounds of
ammunition deluged its bristling
underbrush. But once this final line
of defenses fell, the way was clear,
and for the troops that had broken
through there remained only the task
of a breathless and exhilirating pursuit.
Some Resistance, to be sure, was
encountered all the way. Machine
gun rear guards there were, and not
me/ely these, but skillfully placed
and bravely manned batteries of
light artillery sprinkled through the
copses and ravines of Ardennes to
delay the pursuit, much as an escaping
man twitches a chair down behind
him for his pursuer to stumble
upon.
The Tricolor Reappears.
But the Americans pushed on at
full speed, capturing battery after
battery, reclaiming town after town,
inexpressibly heartened on their way
by the sight of brave, gray little tricolors
fluttering once more from the
windows of many a good French
home, which for four black years had
been forced to shelter comfort loving
German officers.
By the fourth day they had gone
more than 20 kilometers. Sedan
lay nearer than Montfaucon. Beaumont
was theirs, and they were
abreast of Stenay. As for the famous
Mezieres-Longuyon railway shuttle?artery
of the German occupation?it
was not merely within reach
of an occasional shell from a long
range gun. It was at the mercy of
our ordinary heavies.
As for the Kriemhilde line, that
formidable stretch of reinforced
crests to which the Germans had retired
early in October and from
which it had bfeen so desperately
hard to drive them?the Kriemhilde
line lay behind.
By the end of the secorid day it
was glowing with a thousand Yankee
campfires, and the troops settling
down there for even a few hours!
rest were scornfully described by
those in the line up beyond Buzancy
and Fosse as loafing in the S. O. S.
The American communique of November
3 wound up with this sentence;
"In addition to regulars, there
were in this attack divisions composed
of National army troops from
Texas and Oklahoma; from Kansas,
Missouri, Colorado and New Mexico;
from New York, from New Jersey,
Maryland and West Virginia; from
Maryland, the District of Columbia
and Virginia."
But the story of hte German retreat
from the Kriemhilde line has
not been fully told till the roll has
been called of all the divisions which
have fought in 'the Argonne since
September 26. For that advance
was but the third phase of the one
Datue, me Dattie nseir, 01 course,
but part of a greater battle extending
from Verdun to the border of the
Netherlands.
To some of the troops which had
shouldered part of the original burden
of the battle?to the New York
division, for instance, which had
driven the Germans foot by foot from
their strongholds in the evil old for- j
est of Argonne itself?fell now the
distinction of sharing in the final
pursuit as well. But others, who had 1
gone through with some of the most
bitter fighting of the war, were not
present in the line?did not happen
to be present in line?when the great
break came.
Chase, Not a Battle.
They shared, nevertheless in that
victory. When a wall, hammered a
dozen times by a battering ram,
4 .
UNPUBLISHED CASUALTIES.
Pershing Estimates Number Yet to
Come 66,892.
Washington, Dec. 19.?Casualties
of the American expeditionary forces
which have not been published, but
which have been announced officially
by Gen. Pershing, had been reduced
at noon December 18 to a total of
66,892. These, the War Department
announced today, were classified as
follows:
Major casualties, including killed
in action, died of wounds, died of j
disease and died of other causes, 1-,680;
wounded, 64,862; missing and
n - a
prisoners, oov. ,
A large proportion of the 64,8 62
names listed as wounded are minor
cases, it was said, many patients having
long since recovered and returned
to duty. Officials explained that
the total is really less, due to the fact
that Gen. Pershing's total--included
marine casualties of 1,202 killed and
more than 4,000 wounded, which al-j
ready have been published by the
marine corps headquarters here.
crumbles at the 13th blow, it can not
be said it was the 13th blow which j
brought it down. And it can be said
that if it had not been for certain
minor, little chronicled operations
which preceded the final thrust of
November 1?if it had not been, say,
for the wedges driven into the Kriembilde
line by the bloody fighting
which cleared Bantheville forest and
gave us^the hills of Chatillion and
Dame Marie, the drive which began
last Friday morning would not have
been made so easily and might not
have been made at all.
What followed for a few days,
when the break did come, was not a
battle at all. It was a wild and exuberant
chase. Its gait was breath
taking, it was impossiDie to Keep |
up with the doughboys; it was hard
enough in all conscience to keep
tabs on where they were in any given
hour. v
They were soon beyond reach of
the finest lenses set in the high
watchtower of Montfaucon. Telewires
could scarcely be strung fast
enough to keep check on them, and,
after all, runners have only legs. It
fell to the swift couriers of the air >
lanes to keep posted the generals
toiling, beaming but breathless, in
the doughboys' wake.
For the guns, they set a maddening
pace. All the first day there was
but one law of the highway: "Make
way for the guns?make way for
the guns." It was at once a war cry,
a traffic regulation and ,a gospel. By
8 o'clock of the first morning some
' the guns called it a day, packed
up and started forward.
They moved eight kilometers before
opening fire and then next
morning they had to take to the road
again. The artillery that started up
past Champigneulles, having left
half their guns behind and doubled
their horses for greater speed, hoped
at each cross roads to stop and resume
business. They never unhitched
for 48 hours.
Lost in the Pursuit.
A few wildcat guns kept apace
with thfl infnntrv hnastine- that, tliev
would make good with point blank
fire when their chance came. They
did make good, but some of these
loose pieces fell behind and were lost
in the chase.
"We'll just keep going," one captain
confided to the surrounding
traffic, "and when we catch up to
some doughboys, any doughboys,
we'll stop and help them out. However,"
he went on with some 'feeling,
"it's a little hard, now that they
seem to have issued each doughboy a
Ford car for his personal use."
The commander of the brigade
which took Buzancy and Authe?a
colonel who with his blankets on his
own back, clawed his way for 22
days through the forest of Argonne
at the snail's pace enforced on the
troops which cleared that jungle of
Germans and who now carries in his
pocket a cigarette case engraved, "In
memory of St. Juvin, October 15,
19IS"?must have felt, when his battalions
raced ahead of him through
Ardennes, that he had gone back to
his old cavalry days. From behind
there came from time to time the
plaintive cry of the commander of
another brigade:
"I have orders to leap frog you.
But, my God, how can I when I can't
catch up!"
For Buzancy, by the way, there
was a great race. Every unit knew
of its spacious chateau and aspired
to occupy it as headquarters. One
regimental P. C. did spend a night
there, but they were hustled out next
morning with biting inquiries as to
what they meant by staying so far
30th DIVISION CASUALTIES 7,023.
Figures Cover Period Up To November
23.?Home Lads in Division.
Washington, Dec. 16.?Gen. Pershing
cabled the War Department today
that practically complete reports
of deaths in action among the expeditionary
forces should reach the department
by December 20, and of severely
wounded by December 27.
Total casualties to November 23
in the Thirtieth division (North
Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee
National Guard) were given
as 7,623. The casualties were classified
as follows: Killed in action, 1,-1
168; died of wounds, 238; died erf
disease, 15; died of other causes, 5;
* ? ? -i - - ? -t < n 1 . a _ J
severely wounuea, 1,101; wuuiiueu,
degree undetermined, 805; slightly
wounded, 3,973; missing or captured,
193.
Gen. Pershing reported that the |
number of duplicated casualties discovered
in the central records' office
since November 27 frould not operate
to reduce the total for the entire expeditionary
forces, given in his summary
of that date as additional casualties
reported more than offset the
duplicates. In asking regarding the j
casualties in the Thirtieth division j
the department said there had been j
much apprehension here about the!
losses of this unit, which helped the
British army break the -amous Hindenburg
line.
behind the lines.
Of course, the kitchens felt it, the j
strain of that pursuit. Slum and cof-!
fee were brewing in transit, the driv-j
er lashing, the K. P. stoking, the j
coek stirring. One mountainous j
cook, the beginning and end of whose !
religion?which will get him to heaven?is
to carry hot food to the front
line, come what may, reinforced his
mules with a huge German horse and i
* - ? ' ?- - i-u-1 i.
tnen pusnea me Kucneii musi ui in*;;
way with human muscles. A hungry
passerby begged, a bit of Another
cook. "Sorry, Buddy, but I've just
sent the last drop forward." "Good,"
said the beggar.
That was the spirit of the pursuit.
One sergeant .was given a limber
loaded with well filled thermos cans.
"Here's some food for the doughboys.
They are miles and miles up
that way somewhere. Get it to them."
And he did, though his rig balked at
the last bridgeless stream and he had
to carry the cans on bis b^ck over
the last stretch.
Real War of Movement.
But only the message bearers can;
really tell the story. One of them j
would start forward with tidings
for a P. C. that had moved on sev- j
eral miles during the morning. Now, j
with night coming on, he would push j
on afoot, wriggling through stalled j
traffic that even a motorcycle could j
not penetrate, slipping in the mud, j
taking the wrong turning, using his j
last match to consult his map once j
more, getting back to the right road,:
groping his way forward and finally |
stumbling through the aarK to wnere
a crack of candle light, gleaming un- j
der the fiap of a gunny sack curtain,!
told him he had reached bis goal. |
"Here's a message for the brigade i
commander."
"Well, he ain't here. This is an j
engineer headquarters now. The bri-1
gade P. C. is up six kilometers ahead, i
Or at lea3t it was late this afternoon, j
There was some talk of its moving!
_ _ 9 9 i
on.
Here was war of movement with a
vengeance. And, after all, it is in
such a cross country battle as developed
in Argonne on November 1 that
the affiliation between all branches
of the service is strained and tested.
It is easy enough to maintain liaison
in trench warfare, it is another matter
when the battle line lurches forward
nine kilometers in a single day.
? * * *? i-1 ' - ?S il. A
Yet never nave an me arms ui iuc
First American Army shown better
team work than during the past
week. Artillery and infantry sang
each other's praises as they jogged
along together. The airplanes were
go-betweens, and when the guns
could not reach the receding enemy
line in time, the aircraft substituted
| for the guns, traveling back and forth
with loads of bombs.
Also, they bombed the main German
railway, hectored enough as it
was, with the sorry business of the
retreat. They bombed the railway
centers. At Montmedy on Tuesday,
for example, an expedition of 145 of
our planes wrought most gratifying
destructions. The overhead combats
were incessant. When it is reported
that during the first three days of the
fight we lost 29 planes in bringing
down 124, the whole story has not
been told. It should be added that
quite 90 per cent of these combats
(Continued on page 5, column 3.)
I
REDEEM YOUR WAE
To the Citizens of Bambe
I must again call your ;
enviable position our co'
redeeming our pledges m?
paign for War Savings,
county pride when we fou
first county in the United
quota, and that we ranked
ties of our State in the s
ita, but now we find tha
DEEMING our pledges t
?just four counties beloi
feel good.
Friends, as I see it, it w
us not to have pledged oi
large amounts and fail to
NAME AND HONOR 0]
STAKE! Other counties
saying: "You made a g
pledges, but we notice yoi
the goods!.'-'
I refuse to believe the
remain so.
Time is out December i
that your neighbor buys 1
J. CAJ
NEWSPAPERS AND THE WAR. j
Weekly and Semi-Weekly Publica-;
tions Suffered Most.
I
??? #1
The Republican publicity associa-1
tion, through the president, Hon.!
Jonathan Bourne, Jr., has given out j
the following statement from its j
Washington headquarter^:
"No other business has been bit,
harder by the war than the news-'
paper business, particularly in the'
smaller cities and country towns.
The larger metropolitan papers prob vl"
Inact ITln rin c 1Q17
&*\Jiy SUli<7X cu a v * t
more than 1,200 publications wentj
out of business. After making al- j
lowances for new papers started, it
appears that there #as a net loss of
62 dailies and 569 weeklies.
"The mortality statistics for 1918
will probably show as great a loss j
for the storage of paper, the in-!
creasing cost of all kinds of supplies, I
and the higher wages, together with j
the heavy call upon newspaper men I
for military service, have been more
severe this year than last.
"And one of the serious features
of the situation is that the people of j
the country probably do not realize I
that the most valuable portion of!
the press has .sustained the greater^
loss. Under popular government the j
country press, including not only j
the country weeklies, but the smaller j
dailies, is the real voice of the peo-!
pie. Editors of large metropolitan j
papers do not have and cannot have j
the close touch with the people that I
is a necessary incident of the life of j
the country editor. Just as Wash-;
ington is the poorest place in the
country to get in line on the political!
thought of the nation, so the big city j
newspaper office is the poorest place
to get a correct picture of nationalj
thought, either political or other-1
wise. The people of the United;
States should realize this, and should j
see to it that whatever else happens |
the country press shall be maintained j
"Freedom of speech and of the!
press is the first essential of a re- j
publican form of government, for the
representatives of the people cannot
know the thought and aspirations
and desires of their constituents unless
voiced through the mediumship
of the local press to which they have;
access either directly, through the
publication of communications, or indirectly
through the editors interpretation
of the reviews of his com-!
munity..
"The country press, including the
smaller dailies, represents the producing
element of our national life.
The large metropolitan press repre-[
sents the commercial factors. Justj
? 5" occonHd 1 nf I
ctis piUUUCHUU IS IUQ iiigt v>javut.Awt va
permanent prosperity, so the maintenance
of that portion of the press
that speaks for the producers is most
important.
"The metropolitan press has its
place in our national life and nobody
wishes it ill. The fact remains however,
that the vital interests of the
nation are most promptly and most
clearly represented and the thought
of the people most freely and most
courageously voiced by the country
press. The people of the country
may not see it now, but they will
some day realize that the large preponderance
of suspensions among the
weekly publications is a n^nace to
national welfare."
SAVINGS PLEDGE!
rg County:?
attention to the very un- unty
holds in regard to
ide during the June camIt
made us thrill with
nd that Bamberg was the
1 States to PLEDGE her
I second among the counimount
pledged per capit
in the matter or REve
rank FORTY-FIRST
ff us?it doesn't make us
ould have been better tor
ae cent than to pledge
buy them. THE GOOD
? OUR COUNTY IS AT
; are pointing to us and
reat hurrah over your
1 are not coming up with
people will allow this to
31st. Buy yours and see
lis!
LDWELL GUILDS,
County Chairman.
\
NOVEL LIQUOR SCHEME.
Bottles Are Shipped in Barrels of Tar
# To Georgia.
Cincinnati, Dec. 19.?According to
government agents, who today sealed
up a cellar here which they claim
contains a large amount of contraband
liq,uor, a wholesale bootlegging
establishment has been revealed.
With the arrest of ~avld Shaw of
Macon, Ga., the government men
claim to have put a stop to the shipnine
of $20.000 worth of whiskey a
month into Georgia. The manner in
which the liquor was shipped, according
to the government men, was in
the form of barrels of tar. A three
inch layer of tar was put in the bottom
of the barrel. Then a quantity
of bottled whiskey with the bottles
wrapped in wax paper to prevent
sticking, was put in. Tar was poured
in on these and the process repeated
until the barrel was filled, with the
three inches of tar on the top. Then
the barrel was sealed and shipped to
its destination, said by the pfficials
to be Macon, Ga.
FLU TAKES HEAVY TOLL.
Marlboro Man Loses Four Children
in Two Days.
Bennettsville, D *c. 11?.?Tii9 Influenza
epidemic is as-.uming alarming
proportions in Bcmettsville.
Robert Spears, a few miles South of
CnnnAt+crilla Inc* r\riSi nhil'1 SfltllT
UvliilUl lo v iv/cv vuv v**?a >w?vv?day.
two yesterday and one today, /
making four in two days from influenza
and pneumonia. Tncir ages
ranged from twelve to twenty yt ars.
Julian Stross, one of Bennettsville's
well-known young business
men, died today of pneumonia, following
an attack of influenza. He
was a son of Mr. and Mrs. L. Straus;-,
of this place. Since leaving school
he has been associated with his father
and brothers in business, making
one of the county's most reliable and
successful firms. He is survived by
his father and mother, three sisters
and four brothers; one brother, Dr.
D. D. Strauss, is now in France with
the American army.
Another death from the same
cause is that of John Foundas, a
young Greek who had not been here
very long, but had made a very favorable
impression on those who came
in contact with him.
?
Willie Told the Truth.
"Willie," demanded Mr. Smith
savagely of his offspring, "did you
eat any of those pears I left in the
cupboard?"
"Pa," answered the youthful
George Washington, "I cannot tell
a lie; I did not touch one."
The parent eyed the child wrath"
" 1 3? ?. It v. a ootr?/*
IUliy. IIU W is 11) no aoacu
sternly, "that I found three pear
cores in your bedroom and only one
pear left in the cupboard?"
William disolved rapidly toward
the garden gate. "Father," he said,
"that is the one I didn't touch."
Disappointing Papa.
Miss Prettikid?"But, father, he's
a man you can trust."
Her Pa?"Gracious, girl; what I
want is one I can borrow from."?
Indianapolis Star.