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Show DOUGHBO Y ' OR DEVIL DOGWHO SA VEDDAYFOR 'TTsTa Cwrorisbt li'in. by Pub.te LMser Co. ' I machine gunners ou ,h e oth ' death with their bare "" ti ( The lortunes of the ,,.. , t' and the Second Engi,, " tcrtwincd that as iong ''e " corps lasts it will h ne ""ri, ( soft spot for tbe engin k'Ula1 .f as few inl'uutrv uutl ts 'KMI' They never failed Wh V? '4 Dick ami they were ,.,, 1 "( , the infantry brigade, the k , l AVe used to wouder i ""'"'a ff sector if it would be safe , J"' 7"OU can't start a scrap between a doughboy and a marine as to who bore the brunt of the fighting in France, t-ome folks have been doing their very bc.::t to stir up a controversy between the "te-ufel hunrlen'' ami the United States infantry as to "who saved Paris," or "who turned the Hun at the Marne," or "who was' first into Sedan," etc., etc. As a result some have been led to believe that ''with the help of God and a few marines" the world was saved at its darkest hour. Still others hold the "doughboys" and the "leathernecks" were the whole show. Asa matter mat-ter of fact the stage of Amercia is big enough to hold them all God bless 'ern! and there are laurel wreaths enough for ail the heroes. As much as he loves "first to fight" the marine loves "fair play." Here is the proof, a story from one of the "teufel hur.den's" officers who was through the thick of it, and who here shows how the scene-shifting censor was responsible for tne circumstances that gave the marines the best of it a year ago, and not a zealous U. S. M. C. press agent. It not only clears up a lot of false impressions as to "who was who over there," but fairly gives credit where credit belongs, and, as such, is a worthy contribution to the history of America's participation in the world war. and day through, barrages, mud aud fog. and those battalions were fed up with biking. The corps commander faced one battalion and told them in so many words: ".Men of the Second Division, the enemy hold the heights across the .Mouse. Tonight wc will attaik, cross the Mouse, storm the heights aud take a railroad." It was sail news, but a buck private, w heu be caught the full import of the speech, iaid to his buddy in a stage whisper that has since rolled o er most of the A. E. F. , "Holy Smoke, Kill, we're going to take a railroad!" Of course we got atl that was coming to us in the Belleau Woods lighting aud, as I have said, wo got some credit that was not coming to us, aud the marine brigade pulled off some shows By LT. COL. I jAK 1 2JO. THE Marine Brigade, officially known as the fourth Brigade of the Second Division, did not win the vnr or do other mylhi'-al things that well-meaning admirers of tiie corps have nt times credited them with. . They did not take Cantigny iu May, for we were (lien at rest behind the lines. Colonel Ely's doughbos of the veleran first Division took Cantigny. Wo were uot the tiist Amerieau troops to cross the Ourcq Kiver, and os a matter of fact never saw the Ourcq. The marines did uot capture A'aux in the lighting of the. Chateau Thierry sector. The Third Brigade of our division, di-vision, the Ninth and Twenty-third Infantry, In-fantry, mopped up that town just before the division left the sector. AVe did not enter .Sedan last November, No-vember, although a couple of us paid live franes each for a hot cognac iu Sedan and were glad to get it at any K. ISVANS, V. S. M. C. announced from G. H. Q. to hearten the British aud the French with the knowledge that the Amerieau troops were not only dependable, but capable of the same high standard of fighting that they had shown iu three years of war. And when that censorship was lifted, even to the extent of mentioning platoon officers who had distinguished themselves iu the marine brigade, the American newspaper correspondents naturally made the most of it. It would have been the same if any other brigade, be it one of regulars, like the First Brigade of the First Division, or a National Na-tional Guard brigade of the Tweuty-eighth Tweuty-eighth Division, or a National Army price last January, aud aii Ku.'t Side Traitress served it after v.e bud tried soldier French ou ber. T am mention iug Can tig n v, Vau.t, Ibe Oumj and Sedan simply because those places have been voven iuto the btory of the murines in France. But the Btories of the tightiug and the illustrated illus-trated supplements that ran the mail barrage and filtered through to us woeks after all those places were wrested wrest-ed from the Boche did credit us with their change of masters. 1 recall one " i ' f t, r " 'A troops to cross the Ourcq Kiver, and I -t course we got atl that was coming os a matter of fact never saw the liavP bCn th 6ame iE 0the1' brigall' ' J ta s j 1'"'llrau Wu0lls fif i be it oue of regulars, like the I irst CO. aud, as I have said, we got some credit I I OUrf'Q' Brigade of the First Division, or a Na- ijT A( was' uot con,ine lo ' aud ,ue . The marines did not capture A'aui (r marine brigade pulled off some shows sT tinual (iiiard brigade of the fweutv- Ah hi I .V 1 I 1 in the lighting of the Chateau Thierry . , , . . .. ,. , , Hl ! iW Zy M' eighth Division, or a National Army I I.Y YxH' "" )U hector. 'J'he Third Brigade of our di- I ( vA j jtf I vision, the Ninth and Twenty-third In- I . WltAy I H fautry, mopped up that town just before "V I I rbxyJ '- AVe did not enter Sedan last No- fl IV) 11 If ST I ' vember, although a couple of us paid fJW Wxf 1 TT? f - aud'llTerearba8"'116' ' live .franes each for a hot cognac in VXfcVffl JfS I ill - "meu S fr nolL Sedan and were glad to get it at any XSiJ I III JL ' ll,n su'1,01't o Twelfth yj HHH-aS? , ,. , , TlJ g- rSk 5r -.4 yf Lr lAt XX J?-?X-J' amiss. The .division first went into t, ganaut regiment -e. soldier French on her. "S Sw Ul yfSf lhc liue a miles south of Verdun "'d"B. d'VisiUal r am mentioning Cantigny, V.UI. gSv W. VbfZ- on March 15, 101S, and when T left it Our d,v.S,on battle cry ,vaS "Wb,,,- the Ourcy aud Sedan simply because C? V fr J ffisZf1 I I on I'tvmber 20, the chief Jf staff, "be best s broUlen'li those places have been woven into the glRr--y v JJ. If N J" t General I'reston Brown, announced "JkLi ht "U story of the marines in France. But W V" 7 been oT ftT " otteZ . j" br fade of the Seventv-seventh Divi- V- si "?7 VV 0 V? I I I beon out of the range of she Hire less ... , . hl' the stories of the tight ug and the illus- u"de t "e seventy seventd uivi VyV 1 VL W I 'S. r I II I u,., thi,. ,ioT . i .i mau ,n ,be anne brigade ever m t , ,' Hon bad been rushed up to that dan- , A 5 I s v sS I If, " ty days ln tbose Mx lnouths- Chateau Thierrv itself muil . , trated supplements that ran the mail gerong pace jn the , U(, done Vv jjf jXjj 2 I NS. ( , - u Ma' 14 thc divisioD a a slice w slued TIT I barrage aud filtered through to us the same. f i I 5 Lk V U 1 area to refit and re-entered the line on nef"" ? Cbatea Th' V ' weeks after all those places were wrest- AVhen the first papers from Paris fl j k V W t ' Chateau Thierry front June 1 stay- membel t lha .JZ Z ' cd from the Boche did credit us with P to us we were as much as- V AWJ Vv 1 1 j J n ' WTbef tbe TaDkf !eau Woods were officially known uS" , . , , founded as we were delimited and for wWfeVf A Q'V JfT 1 f if I ill 1 1 f I i i 1 Division took over. On July IS and 19, i , . . ( their change of masters. 1 recall one " efXck" lip A v N fff M with the Moroccan Division, including rind iXe b, t U . lines acclaiming the work of the ma- WV J J fl XN C WlIIW tbe famous Foreign Legioa. aud the T7t ib7 oftZZZ r rines. AVe used to send them out to W V 4 ' ' WWW First divMou. .the counter-offensive t cto '1 ' , X the fighting men, and more than once VWV it 'Mll M vtk H UwlffMwtff W"8 '" uear Soi0- T ouf b h ' nef " f' - 1 our field phone to V - Wf f 7 fT M , C. I 1 fcome battalion commander who was W A " V ffllIWj troops for the first time in the history , , ", e " w 1 ont there with his back to the wal,. WAW V of the A E F and advanced six 2. ( J with every company officer in oue of v NMA . V, WMwIWMI nnles ,n s,te of terrific losses. brigade. Yet we were never Dear!'.! fN ' bis pet companies wiped out in the VV -3 SMMil liW Rehearsing for St. Mihiel than that. It is well to remember tki " - V day's work, and no sign of relief for k? ' WWr'WSw In August the division entered the ere were two distinct operations il ? f men who were literally dead on their V WA1 C- ff jM 4VA rout-au Alousson line a comnlrative the Chateau Thierry sector. One bega, -5 feet and facing another terrific barrage U IV fW,A' etf area U fa o red on June 1, n , p " - I ' or a counter-attack from the kaiser's . A ' fftWWWl tal tb M 1 lr to mon hs ' PP e French, who f iibJ Si , . ... ' , NV A . IT Vi sil -55t' ir !' pify- "S extent of scrupulously observin- the by our mtdntty the hist week in July, ... seemed to bo an impossible task. tsX i-'iK V. V" X 1 S V V V fl f 5 ft fj J iZr-vwVyi t,l-Hul oi sci u.juiousij oo..ernn me Tl , . K , , , ., - s x V I " W S V VHM'o, -aXYS bathing hours undisturbed by shells. The second operation began July 15 ji - . ' , Vaux and the Ourcq XA? ? A 1 v f Yt'fjlx There we had one company in line at a part of the great counter-otoa, , ( , s , ' Jl U Then, when the purpose of that dra- Crr t, X V t " fa VV (104M a time, and the post of command of the launched by General Foeh from Kbeinn; X J , - I' matic lifting of the veil bad served, its ft , Hllfl llV i(X Vl J feV JW-s-1 K3 company was an attractive chateau. to boissons. A e were not in that, ta- - i purpose, and divisions that had just ? ASYLil V ' Wl ( fVffe From that idyllic spot the division w'e were thrown into the line mfro.1, f s 1 landed were wild to get up into the Afc' J", W- iV XW J dropped back below Toul to rehearse of A illers-Cotterets. I mention dusbtji I . ' 1 line and show the Boche that they were A S l' Jr VAv V X 1 CsL A for the St. Mihiel drive aud went over cause it has been stated that Ge.e.J . I', . i every bit as good as the marine brigade. 1 V V the top on September 1L, the Ninth rershing s report on that operati, , o j the veil was lowered. But as a result, Nl 1) VC J" ?4V F T au1 Twenty-third Infantry taking all never inentioned the marines kai-, ,-4 when a correspondent cabled home a ST VS' JS- WV2L objec-tives nine hours after jumping off, rail, enough, for we were fights w, ' guarded reference to the fact that a uuit TOv ' ' VTVss. K VW aud the marine brigade then pushing the Ireuch and the I-irst Division set. LT. COL. FRANK E. EVANS that had distinguished itself on the O" ' , . . t ' T'f Jfr ? J K out as far as a spur of the Hinden- ei'al n!cs t0 the northwest on Jul, 1 , U. S. Marine Corps veteran, who Chateau Thierry front hud captured E"- S'" Ov IX j-'-- -?V'L -"'ff5r' Wis 'Svjs r burg Line iu the exploitation of the and 10' , J ' tells of battles "Devil Dogs" Vaux in masterly style, aud was not 2 , .V V H' S , " V 1 " !0 " succ-ess. The Seventy-eighth Division Cc"ea W,oods,.js "rk " fought and those they did not able to say that it was the Third Brig- k" i . . ' I -rV, V N V ' 25 relieved and again we went back to the woods, entirely different from otW:;: fight In France a( Vaul wont down t0 tUc uredit of J, ' ' C - )a0 tfo .'7 -v.'f Toul area, to leave it the last days of P"" f s la that part of - the marines. It was the same when W N r VWt VIAI September for tbe Champagne. The country. The Boche picked nn illustrated supplement showing a half the 0urcq wa8 crosst.d Dy a divisi(m TtX OT( lXj!iWVM I, 'TT1 ond was the only American division b,s operations when the gt. page picture of Bouresches and another that had from tbe inception of its entry ' V, ' X C i'lt t- K ftl with General Gouraud until relieved battalions filed in there early in Jun , of A'aux taken from au airplane after iuto the line distinguished itself, and 3S ,MAl 1 'V' ' V- J ' V-U X'i October 0 by the Thirty-sixth Division, to drop back shattered and broke.. I- their capture, and the caption of each there were other times when similar iv'r,?V' , , ' The marine brigade was detached soon tlZT was to he effect that the marines bad -feronces were made to a unit. Then r J J . ' ' afterward to serve Ce French again in Z htk a places witi, tbe name of the marines crept into the l.i &fS?r f J5&a!V-,. 'tiil5!-i;k V' fVj:sf an operation designed to push over a """"' "u , -j captured them. Lieutenant Robertson, headlines and appeared under the pip- I 'ejT ' I 13' 7 T - t V x bridgehead. On the eve of this opera- tre"' undersiwth and "ppmi rat of the Ninth Company, Sixth Marines, tares of towns that fell iu the onward J "5 " k , - - iSSJ nX .T-C t tion it was called off and tbe division s jnnjleJ country, -i1'!".. w ith twent v odd men, took Bouresches on advance of American troops. (f J? J 4 $ was hurried in camions to the Argonne. rock ledf es and tbe " :: June ti, but we never saw Vaux, which AVe had a tine brigade; wc thought jB? ' f ' fZjffl 6 There it junU-,d off, relieving the Hain- was on the extreme right of our divi- il the best U, France, and there 1 C 'vl t ' D,V,Sl0"' NVe'"bCfr fr0m with field of fire in all direction, I, was not a brigade over there that didn't ' $f I T r " k. Yk W fS VX Landres-ct-St. George, and fought un- b,uu b"Ctu:'' think it was the best, and that's as it l J 'V i J Vi til the whistle blew at 11 o'clock Degoutte's Famous Order j- In B dhaii AN'oods tbould be. But no marine worthy of ' Wt&KJjjjP J X'Vv on the morning of November 11. The j vjsi,ed it last January and ti;. There is no bodv of officers and men the name did not, and does not, regret L 11 ,1 SXlX't t 4 V division is now in the army of occupa- wheat fields that were red with mofs' ,i , , w.k- y f n, ,h. tbal-other outfits, doing equally valiant P'l V Vf Wr Je H V W tion just to the west of Coblenz. than poppies last June have been lt who more deepl v ui..t that thee ieato .ervice. suffering equally cruel losses S I? V ' It would be difficult to tell where vested bv the few thrifty Freacn V were credited to the ma.Mie brigade than were -v-bbed temporarily of their laurels' I) V f ".t, ' V the Second Division bad its hardest have one back l0 Lucy-le-BocaK :- those of the marine brigade, but we or that the necessity for a rigid ecu- I 'A f I A ' fighting. Belleau AVoods will always Bouresches and Torcy. On its flank -' were helpless u, the matter, and no one s0,.suip prevented .at the time the I - ' 4 XX<f be identified with the marines. Ter- are ueat sraVevards filled with marinet ; i.-gi-cts more that we were credited witn knowledge ot their deeds. And all the ? "V W f) W tonally I would prefer that the name anJ just beT0Ild U those of the VanW . them to the uetriment oi the splendid more credit is due those divisions that V- AU ' XA of Chateau Thierry be dropped so far Divifliou who left their dead bbin outnts that captured Cantigny, too did r.ot have the seasoning that the f as the marines are concerned and that w hen th,e Julv offensive was launctei nux and crossed the Ourcq. Asa First, Second, Twenty-sixth and Forty f ?t for it be substituted the name of Bel- But to the French it is no looser tt , matter ot fact we never knew of tuose second Divisions had before they were S t JA " feST leau Woods. AVe were iu the Chateau rtois de Belleau. The order issued l i.ij.istices to other uutlits until they had ttrowu Jmo a- hig offensive The " ' Wj Thierrv sector, just as we were iu the Geueral Dcgoutte changed all that be.u chronicled and then sometimes Thirty -sixth for instance, a Texan out- "'.iggK fzSl&T St Mihil sector, without actually . JlD1? 30i j.H8. wh(?B it changed ill', weeks alter the credit was wrongly fit, relieved uurs in the Champagne early SA . tighling on the immediate front of St. the Bois de la Brigade de Marine. Ot ; Placed. in October in the drive that forever trl'tptf h dO&A Mihiel. Other outfits distinguished press agent certainly was not at wol. The explanation, howver, ,s simple. freed Kheims of the Bo.-he menace ,4k ?Sf ' T W . themselves on the Chateau Thierry front lben, for 'it was a week after the ot. The army has often twitted us with the The Second never fought under greater 'ff v both in June and July, but our work was promulgated before the mar; fact that we had a remarkably versatile odds or over more difficult terrain f J$ there was bounded by Belleau AVoods. brigade received it. aud active press agent, sometimes iu but they had been in the line for the Wl-? ' It was tbe scene of nand-to-hand fight- lts tvue translation read .as folio'-: sorrow, sometuncs m virtuous ind.g- best part of six months. The relief was JtJ. ing for weeks and the losses were never " rmv H. Q., June 30, ltHS. ' nation and at other tunes with good- a particularly delicate one, but the under DO per cent. 'With Armv Staff. about which comparatively nothing is Rnowu. So a brief recital of what tbe Second Division has done aud the marine brigade is an integral part of the Indian Head Division may not be amiss. The .division first vent into the Hue a few miles south of A'erdun ou March 15, 191$, aud when T left it on September 20, the chief of staff. General Preston Browu, auuouuced that since March 15 the division had been out of tbe range of sbellfire less than thirty days in tbose six months. On May 14 the division went to a rest area to refit aud re-entered the line on the Chateau Thierry front Juue 1. staying stay-ing there until July 7. when the Yankee Division took over. On July IS and 19, with the Moroccan Division, including the famous Foreign Legion, and the First division, the counter-offensive was launched near. Soissons. The two American divisions operated as shock troops for the first time in the history ot the A. E. F. and advanced six miles in spite of terrific losses. Rehearsing for St. Mihiel In August the division entered the Pout-au-Mousson line, a comparative rest area in a favored spot ou the -banks of the Moselle, where for mouths the Boche and French troops, with true Continental politeness, had observed the amenities of modern warfare to the extent of scrupulously observing the bathing hours undisturbed by shells. There we bad one company in line at a time, and the post of command of the company was an attractive chateau. From that idyllic spot the division dropped back below Toul to rehearse for the St. Mihiel drive and went over the top ou September 12. the Ninth and Twenty-third Infantry taking all objectives nine hours after jumping off, aud the marine brigade then pushing out as far as a spur of the Hinden-burg Hinden-burg Liue iu the exploitation of the success. The Seventy-eighth Division relieved and again we went bad: to the Toul area, to leave it the last days of September for tbe Champagne. The tjecoud was the only American division with General Gouraud until relieved October 9 by the Thirty-sixth Division. The marine brigade was detached soon afterward to serve Ce French again in an operation designed to push over a bridgehead. On the eve of this operation opera-tion it was called off aud the division was hurried in camions to the Argonne. There it jumped off, relieving the Rainbow Rain-bow Division, on November 1. from Landves-et-St. George, and fought until un-til the whistle blew at 11 o'clock on the morning of November 11. The division is now iu the army of occupation occupa-tion just to the west of Coblenz. It would be difficult to tell where the Second Division bad its hardest fighting. Belleau AAToods will always be identified with the marines. Personally Per-sonally I would prefer that the name of Chateau Thierry be dropped so far as tbe marines are concerned and that for it be substituted the name of Belleau Bel-leau Woods. AA'e were iu the Chateau Thierry sector, just as we were ju the Sit. Mihiel t-eotor. without uctually fighting on the immediate front of St. Mihiel. Other outfits distinguished themselves on the Chateau Thierry front both in June and July, but our work there was bounded by Belleau Woods. It was tbe scene of band-to-haud fighting fight-ing for weeks and the losses were never an American barrage. After' V(rilai and (he real baptism of tire in Kell. oods the men asked for nothing bJ than the support of the Twelfth v'i i teeuth aud Seventeenth Field Art'ilU. AVhile we had the work assi JeJ ' cleaning up those woods the Ninth an i Twenty-third infantry were assigned tt the dogged task of holding their li! without advancing, and they held it f 3 weeks under heavy artillery punishn,,, ; until they got their chance at YMl. :oI And throughout the campaign we fougi 5 side by side with them and were pro to have two such gallant regiment ; wearing the same divisional device Our division battle cry was "What have we hold." AVe were broth era-in"'' arms in the best sense of the word Harking back again to Chateaf:'S Thierry, not one ofSeer or enlistj :- ' man in the marine brigade ever (j E Chateau Thierry itself until after ti V armistice was signed. AVhen the 111 rines speak of Chateau Thierry re ". member that the maps we used at Bel . leau AA'oods were officially known as ti ' Chateau Thierry maps. Chatear" Thierry was printed in large black let" ters at the top of that map, for th covered that sector. The extreme rigb of our brigade, the nearest to the tow("J of Chateau Thierry, was nine kilomttercr: to the west of the town. Gateu.v Thierry is synonymous with the maniq.. brigade. Yet w e were never neare "... than that. It is well to remember fnj! there were two distinct operations ii '" the Chateau Thierry sector. One begat -s' ou June 1, when we took our positiol -in support of the French, who fell bad- j through our liurs two days later. Thai "; operation ended with the capture oj :! A'aux. two miles to the west of Chateau, : by our infantry the first week in July, ... The second operation began July IS at ., a part of the great couuter-offensivi " launched by General Foch from Kheimt "' to Soissons. AVe were not in that, for ' we were thrown into the line in front -? of A'illcrs-Cotterets. I mention this be-. cause it has been stated that General:' Pershing's report on that oberatiot uever mentioned the marines. Natn-rally Natn-rally enough, for we were fighting wit! r; tbe French aud the First Division set. ' eral miles to the northwest 011 July 1) , and 19. I Belleau Woods is a reniarkabli -woods, entirely different from otW:. patches of woods iu thnt part of tii-country. tii-country. The Boche picked an idea: base for his operations when the grs) ; battalions fiied in there early in June .;' to drop back shattered and broken. I., is hook -shaped, about three kiloraettn-across kiloraettn-across and two deep. It is seared V, ravines aud as thick iu places with" trees, undergrowth and tripping vine ; as jungled country. AH through it rea sharp rock ledges and the ledges a ravines gave the Boche a superlatir , fortress for machine-gun emplacement . with field of fire iu all directions, j, Degoutte's Famous Order I visited it last January and ti;. wheat fields that were red with oofs than poppies last June have been bar ': vested by the few thrifty French vdi; have gone back to Lucy-le-Bocag( Bouresches and Torcy. On its flank -are neat graveyards filled with mariner, and just beyond it those of the VanW. Division who left their dead bfliin-when bfliin-when th,e July offensive was launch But to the French it is no looser tt Bois de Belleau. The order issued l-Geueral l-Geueral Dcgoutte changed all that t -June 30, 191$. when it changed it I the Bois de la Brigade de Marine. Ot press agent certainly was not at wot. then, for it was a week after the or v was promulgated before tbe miil brigade received it. Its true translation read as follow! -"Array H. Q., Juue 30, 191S. .. "With Army Staff. ; G9;;o-2 'Order "In view of the brilliant conduct .-the .-the Fourth Brigade of tbe Secol United States Division, which uM spirited tight took Bouresches and t important strongpoint of Belleau float stubbornly defended by a large eneo , force, the general commanding t . Sixth Army orders that henceforth, all official papers, the Bois de Bella ; shall be named 'Bois de la Brigade-Marine.' Brigade-Marine.' ' "DIVISION GENERAL DEGOL'TT "Commanding Sixth An.r-' Naturally officers aud men return! from France, full of pride iu their ou : fits, are apt to sound the praises . their outfits. An absence of such pn ;. would argue lack of esprit. V e t our part iu licking the Boche at a en cal time. AVe had the cpi-ertuuil . But n'o marine ever wished that na ; ural and pardonable pride to be 00 strued as a boast that we saved lrt av more than did the ether Amenc units that stepped the gap a' brigade of the Seventy-seventh Division Divi-sion had been rushed up to that dangerous dan-gerous place in tbe line, aud had done the same. AVhen the first papers from Paris came up to us we were as much astounded as-tounded as we were delighted, aud for days they came with their black headlines head-lines acclaiming the work of the ma-riues. ma-riues. AA'e used to send them out to the fighting men, aud more than once when I talked over our field phone to some battalion commander who was out there with his back to the wall, with every company officer in oue of his pet companies wiped out in the day's work, and no sign of relief for men who were literally dead ou their feet aud facing another terrific barrage or a counter-attack from the kaiser's guard troops. I read him the. beadliues to show that the people at home were following our fortunes day by day, aud it bucked him ap to carry ou what seemed to bo an impossible task. Vaux and the Ourcq Then, when the purpose of that dramatic dra-matic lifting of the veil bad served,, its purpose, and divisions that had just lauded were wild to get up iuto the liue and show the Boche that they were every bit as good as the marine brigade, the veil was lowered. But as a result, when a correspondent cabled home a guarded reference to the fact that a uuit that had distinguished itself on the Chateau Thierry front bud captured A'aux in masterly style, aud was uot able to say that it was the Third Brigade, Brig-ade, A'aux went down to the credit of the marines. It was the same when the Ourcq was crossed by a division that had from the inception of its entry into the liue distinguished itself, and there were other times when similur references were made to a unit. Then tbe name of the marines crept iuto the headlines aud appeared under the pictures pic-tures of towns that fell iu the onward advance of American troops. AVe had a fine brigade; wc thought it was the best iu France, and there was uot a brigade over there that didu't think it. was the best, and that's as it Lbould be. But no uiariuo worthy of tin; name did uot, and does not, regret that other outfits, doing equally valiaut service, suffering equally cruel losses, were iv-bbcd temporarily of their laurels, or that the necessity for a rigid censorship cen-sorship prevented .at the time the knowledge ot their deeds. And all the more credit is due those divisions that did r.ot. have the seasoning that the First, Second, Twenty-sixth and Forty -second Divisions had before they were throwu into a ' big offensive. The Thirty-sixth for instance, a Texan outfit, out-fit, relieved ours in the Champagne early iu October in the drive that forever freed Kheims of the Boche menace. The Secoud never- fought under greater odds or over more difficult terrain but they had been in the line for the best part of six mouths. The relief was a particularly delicate oue, but the Thirty-sixth, absolutely untried iu buttle, pulled it off like veterans, and when tbe old cry of "Let's go!" went down the Texan line they let go with a vengeance and made oue of the greatest great-est advances of the war. Loyally and Optimism From the First Division, the daddv of th em all, down to the last division that vent iuto the liue, they were all so splendid that it taks a braver man th an a medal of houor mau, or a A'ic-toria A'ic-toria Cross man, or a Medaille Militaire muu, to discriminate. And iu the final analysis, the one that you heard at any point of the line or where the combat com-bat troops were in rest, the two bij factors that made the American tinny invincible were the lads uuder the tin hats, fresh from the desk or the factory or the farm, and tbe platoon leaders, ; ouugsters barely out of tbtir teens, and civil life, and that's where the backbone of the American divisions reared itself. .nd it was the ame, I am sure, in -.'.he oilier divisions as it was iu the LT. COL. FRANK E. EVANS U. S. Marine Corps veteran, who tells of battles "Devil Dogs" fought and those they did not fight In France illustrated supplement showing a half page picture of Bouresches and another of A'aux taken from an airplane after their capture, und the caption of each was to the effect that the marines, had captured them. Lieuteuaut Kobertsou, of the Ninth Compauy, Sixth Marines, w ith twenty odd men. took Bouresches ou Juue ti, but we never saw A'aux, which was on the extreme right of our 'division 'divi-sion sector. In B-'Ilcau AVoods There is uo body of officers and men w ho more deeply regret that these feats were credited to the ma,-iue brigade than those of the marine brigade, but we were helpless iu the matter, and no one ivgi-cts more that we were credited with them to the detriment of the- splendid outiits that captured Cantigny, took Vnux and crossed the Ourcq. As a matter ot fact wc never knew of those i,-!j.isti-es to other outfits until t'uey had Get-ii chronicled aud then sometimes weeks ai'ler the credit was wrongly placed. The explanation, howver. is simple. The urmy has often twitted us with the fact that we had a remarkably versatile aud active press agent, sometimes iu borrow, sometimes iu virtuous indignation, indig-nation, and at other times with good-natured good-natured raillery. AVe didu't pack a pr-.-s agent around, aud if we had had one it would have been a problem, witli our limiti'd transportation, to tax the be-t brain of the general staff bow to give him and his typewriter a lift from phiee to place in our French travels. The policy of G. H. Q. to avoid tbe mention of units or localities so that the Boche would be kept iu the dark as, niueli as possible as to the dispositiou -nt troops was uubrokcu until we attacked at-tacked the enemy in the Behau AVoods ou June ti and after sanguinary fighting fight-ing took Bouresches and gained a foot-bold foot-bold in those woods from which Boche counter-attacks could uot dislodge us, and the dangerous salient iu the Cha-i'-au ThTry sector last Juue had been i ffe-ctively broken. There was only one i..au in France, v.'bo could lift tbe cen-t.oivhip cen-t.oivhip veil at that time and that, of eour.-e, was General Pershing. He did lift it because it was the psyehologi-ial psyehologi-ial time to lift it. The news that the mariue brigade hrjd not only stopped ,e..-t that ih! Bwlie hod, but that iv'-nn-l also throwu him back two kilo- uncler uu per ccui. "Bloody Soissons" sjoisseus, for its brief ..period of two days, was equally bloody, aud one battalion. bat-talion. Major Hughes's, of the Sixth Marines, went into that show with 1000 men and came out with less than 200. The storming of the Blanc Mont Fudge in the Champagne was probably tbe finest military feat to the credit of the Second Division. The night before the armistice the losses were as heavy os at any time, and in none of our scraps, after we left the A'erdun sector iu May, did we escape vith-less than 50 per ceut casualties. Taut uight two companies of the Ninth Infantry and tbe Second Engineers immortalized themselves, and General Le.ieune's fine order to the division began with this tribute to them: "Heroic men have done heroic deeds!" They laid bridges across the Meuse Bier undaunted by direct artillery aud machine - gnu tire that, was simply murderous. The Fifth Marines, under Colonel l.oguu Fcland, were the first to cro:s. The lending waves even threw away their ritfis lo doughboy brigade, and the doughboy brigade swore by the leatherneck brigade, brig-ade, and both brigades were serene iu the belief that the artillery brigade was the finest lot of artillerymen that ever put down a barrage. 1 remember though, fairly early in the game, when another outfit was relieving us, that one of their doughboys took it for granted that, as in the old days, every artilleryman looked down on a doughboy dough-boy just as every doughboy patronised an artilleryman. Oue of our artillery caissons was lumbering by aud naturally natur-ally the unsuspecting doughboy rallied on artillerymm. consoling him over the fact that they had to send up a fresh, outfit to relieve a sad lot of marines. That artilleryman was oh" the caisson iu a fiath aud wiped out the insult tc his division with a left-hander ou the point of the chin. And back of that loyalty, that optimistic op-timistic belief that at any time an American soldier could like a do2"u Boche, was the unquenchable humor thai was a big fartor iu the ouward sweep "f the nnnv. The! sense of hll- glossed over the ache at the heart over the loss of au officer who had been a father and mother, or tbe more personal per-sonal oue wheu a inau left his buddie behind under a simple cross fashioned from the wreck of a bard bread box with his name, uuit and identification number punched into a rude disc of tin with a nail. Losses of Seveuly Per Ceut After our brigade pulled out of the Soissons show in the middle of July, with the battalion losses running us high es 70 per cent, we weut into rest billets near Paris for a week. Then we had orders we thought it might be the line Or it might be a new billetiug areu. All ve knew was that we were going somewhere some-where near Toul. AA'e were uot far from Toul W"hen we stopped at a village. A new division was iu there. AVe knew it because they were still wearing the old campaign hat. Just ahead of the officers' car was our headquarters company, which had been thrown in th- line as. au infantry company at S'.-r-i'ons, aud hud been badly shot uo. out from the platform to a couple of marines who were seated ou the floor of a "forty hommes-huit chevaux" side door Pullman : "AATiat out tit is that':" "Sixth Marines." A short silence and then, "Where are you from?" "Down Soissons way," -vas the laconic la-conic answer. Another break in the erbal barrage and then, "Anything doing down there?" "Sure," came the cheerful answer. "Killed a man there last week." And again, when the eorpo commander com-mander addressed the battalions of the Second Division on November 10. to explain tbe object of the attack scheduled sched-uled for the eveniuf! before the armistice. armi-stice. Fresh from the Champagne under un-der General Gourand, where it bad broken the German line, the division had been hurried in camions aud jumped jump-ed off for a gaiu of i ix kilometers ou November 1, and for the first time in the war the oliicial Boehe communique, the next day anm-unced tha. the !eir!i. line had been broken. Then came th. |
