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Published Under Auspices
of
National War Work Council
Y.M.C.A. of the United States
Vol. 1.
SECRETARY BAKER’S
WEEKLY REVIEW
British Dominate Flanders
Plain, the French Lines Un
broken and the Italian De
fenders Holding Firm, is the
Summary.
Washington, D. C.—What the beginning
of the new year finds at the battle fronts
is outlined by Secretary Baker in his
weekly review of military operations is
sued last night. In the west, he says,
the British dominate the Flanders plain
With a great wedge into the. principal
German line of defense at Cambrai, while
the French, with their own lines un
broken hold the key to the Daon area
through the capture of Chemin des
Dames. , ~
Italy, supported by the allies, is hold
ing firm while the enemy, battering in
vain for six weeks against the defenders
is busy preparng for a renewed offensve.
Os Russia the review merely says the
Germans are endeavoring to persuade
that country that they are eager to assist
in restoring normal conditions and that
the German embassy building at Petro
grad is being -made ready for occupancy.
While the operation of American troops
at the front has been confined to narrow
limits, the secretary says their presence
heartened the allies and increased
faith in final victory.
Th review for the week ending Decem
ber 31st follows in part:
•'The, military situation at the begining
of the new year is as follows:
“In the west the British in the Ypres
salient occupy the high ground of the
Paschendaele ridge and dominate the
Flanders plain.
“Their wedge in front of Cambrai,
though blunt, has ripped a great gap in
the principal German line of defense.
“The battle of Cambrai proved that
the German defensive positions could be
broken and taken. Though full advantage
was not take nos the taryy successes
gained by the British, nevertheles the
disaster to the German arms in this bat
tle was the most serious since the Marne.
“The French, by the capture of the
Chemin des Dames, have secured the
key to the Laon area. Their own line
of defense remains unshaken.
Our Own Forces.
"Detachments of our own forces have
engaged the enemy. While their opera
tions have been confined to narrow limits
their aid has been valuable and the pres
ence of American troops in the firing line
has heartened the allies to continue the
struggle with increased faith in final vic
t0 “During the period under review the
combat situation remained unchanged.
“Reports of the concentration of hos
tile troop masses in the west continue to
be received.
"As far as military operations tn the
west are concerned no events of more
than minor importance are reported. The
Germans have been busy re-grouping
their forces. , ,
"In the Italian theatre the enemy is
continuing his persistent offensive ope
rations in the mountain area.
"The Italians have hitherto held firm
and reaped the advantage of the success
gained last week when they recaptured
the valuable strategic terrain in the vi
cinity of Monte Asolone.
“The Austro-Germans operating in the
region of the Monte Asolone have been
busy readjusting their tactical disposi
tions and making further preparations
for a renewed offensive.
“The Austro-Hungarian general Staff
seem to fear that without full German
support it would not be a difficult prob
lem for the Italians, strangly reinforced
by French and British divisions, to turn
the tables on their invader.
Third Month in Italy.
"We are now entering upon the third
month of the battle for the mastery of
Venetia. Since November 9th the enemy
has been held up along the Piave. Dur
in gthe past six weeks no really decisive
success has been gained by the invaders.
They have battered in vain against the
staunch resistance of the Italians. .
“Reviewing the situation, it is revealed
that the first German successes in Italy
far exceeded their most sanguine hopes.
When they became deeply involved in the
Italian campaign they had no real broad
plan of invasion. The local advantages
won by Austro-German strategy were ex
panded from day to day as barriers which
they themselves believed would hold firm,
mvsteriously gave way. It is evident
from the repeated transfer of troops first
from the Trentino front to the Piave area
and later back again to the Trentine the
enemy was pursuing an opportunist plan
of campaign rather than following a well
rounded out and definite strategical ope
ration.
“An examination of the tactical dispo
sition of the enemy shows that when he
(Continued on page sixteen)
THE AUGUSTA HERALD
Edition for CAMP HANCOCK Augusta, Ga.
AUGUSTA WILL HAVE
SOLDIERS' CLUB
Citizens’ Committee Raises
Nearly Ten Thousand Dollars
in Few Days As Result of Talk
by H. B. Ehler.
As the result of an address by 11. B.
Ehler, of the war department commis
sion on training camp activities, at a
mass meeting of Augustans last week,
a citizens' committee is working hard
endeavoring to raise within the speci
fied ten days the sum of SIO,OOO, to
which the government will add $20,000
for the erection of a Soldiers’ Club.
Mr. Ehler made it plain that the war
department expected that Augusta
would raise the necessary amount and
during the course of his remarks, he
intimated that Augusta had not done
its full share for the welfare of the
soldiers when they go outside the camp
and referred to the presence of hun
dreds of soldiers on the streets on
Christmas Day, with apparently no
place to go. He praised the people
who have taken soldiers into their
home, but stated that it had affected
only a comparatively small number of
men.
Committees were appointed to can
vass the business men and citizens of
the city and by Tuesday, the fund had
grown to nearly SB,OOO, with many
branches of trade to be heard from,
it is an assured fact that Augustfi will
have a Soldiers’ Club in the near fu
ture, where bowling alleys, billiard
and pool tables, reading room and au
ditorium for theatricals and moving
pictures will be furnished. It will be
a home for the soldier when in the city
and will be a great addition to the ef
forts already put forth by the gener
ous-hearted people of Augusta for the
comfort and entertainment of her sol
dier guests.
BRITISH LOSSES LESS
THANJJER CENT
In a letter to Senator Willard Sauls
bury, written some time ago, Secretary
of War Baker cites the losses of the
British in France since the beginning
of the war as less than seven to every
one hundred men of the total men sent
to France. This includes those dying
in action and from wounds and will
bring encouragement to many who
have magnified the jesses on the west
ern front as being something frightful.
Here is the letter: .
War Department,
Washington, Nov. 10. 1917.
Hon. Willard Saulsbury,
U. S. Senate, Washington, D. C.
My Dear Senator:
The rumors to which you refer in
your letter have been called to my at
tention several times in the past few
weeks. I have ignored them because
all of us know that American people
are not children to be frightened out of
the path of duty we have chosen mere
ly for the reason that the duty is grim.
As we take the place that is our nat
ural heritage in the war for world
liberty, it is inevitable that many of
our sons and brothers will fall- How
heavy this sacrifice may be none of us
can foretell.
I am unable to give you in actual
numbers the figures which you ask.
Up to June Ist, the losses of the British
expeditionary forces in deaths in action
and deaths from wounds were about
seven per cent of the total of all men
sent to France since the beginning of
-the war. It may be added that the
ratio of this character today, because
of improved tactics and the swiftly
mounting allied superiority in artillery,
is less than seven to every hundred
men.
Cordially yours,
(Signed) NEWTON D. BAKER,
Secretary of War.
JANUARY 2, 1918.
HOW PERSHING’S MEN
OBSERVED CHRISTMAS
Corporal Plays Santa Claus in
Hangar. Presents for Children
With the American Army in France,
Tuesday, Dec. 25. —The American ex
peditionary force in France celebrated
Christmas in a howling snowstorm, which
continued all day. Despite the difficul
ties due to the storm few features of any
program were cancelled.
Even the celebration at the quarters of
the American air squadron was carried
out although a blinding snow swirled into
the hangar where a tree had been erect
ed for the children of a nearby village.
The Santa swooped down from clouds
dripping white and witli a pack on his
back stepped from an airplane much to
the delight of about one hundred small
children who huddled within the shelter of
the hangar.
It is doubtful that children anywhere
had ever seen sucli a sight. When the
youngsters had gathered at the hangar,
Santa Claus, who was an American cor
poral, got into a big machine at a nearby
hangar.
Whirr of Engine.
He flew off and fifteen minutes later
there was a whirr of engines over the
children’s heads and an airplane dropped
to the snow-covered field before them.
The children had been told that Santa
had abandoned his old ■ eigh for an air
plane but they did not be..eve it until they
saw him come down from the skies.
In all the units entertaining children,
each small guest received the present he
most desired. There were at least a
score of lafge community trees and many
smaller ones thlrzone where the presents
were distributed.
Efforts were made to carry out the
program of football games, but some of
these had to be cancelled when the snow
became too heavy. While the Christmas
dinner did not approach that of Thanks
giving because of lack of turkey and trim
mings the army managed to enjoy itself
cheerfully.
PRUSSIAN IS
FIEND IN UNIFORM
Private Peat Tells Camp Upton
Men Some Virile Facts.
Gassed and Hit.
"Two years in hell and back with a.
smile” is the way he’s billed. He didn't
leave the smile home when he visited
Camp Upton. It was there, likewise a
right arm which hung eloquently helpless.
The smile and the arm are Private Peat’s
—Lieut. Harold Peat, Fifteenth Canadian
Battalion, to be more official. "Private
Peat” is the name of a book he has writ
ten on the war. He talked to the 360th
Infantry in the Y. M. C. A. auditorium at
Camp Upton, andthrlll after thrill went
through the big audience as the pertly
smiling, nervously alert little chap—a tea
and coffee salesman before enlisting—
talked of war as it is somewhere.
Private Peat was in at the beginning
when things were worst, was gassed at
Ypres and later was hit in the shoulder
by an explosive shell which mussed up his
right lung. Here are some paragraphs
of things he said, which 77th Division men
might well insert in their Stetsons:
“When you get over there never throw
your rifle ‘down. It’s your mother, sister
and brother, and no one will go back on
his mother. Only the Hun throws away
his rifle. , , .
•‘lf the Germans couldn t lick one thm
line of French and English, what can they
do when the Stars and Stripes get in the
game? , . .
“Don't ‘grouse' and complain in your
letters home. Write cheerful stuff. After
all, you’re having a bully time.
‘‘Fighting showed us that without dis
cipline a soldier is not a soldier.
“The dark days of the war are over —
the days when we stared defeat in the
face.
“We’re fighting this war on the square
and we’ll win on the square. You don’t
know what faith this takes when you see
your pals crucified, your comrades tor
tured and with your own eyes you see
that the Prussian atrocities are real.
“You’ll find death and vermin and mud
in the trenches, but you’ll find other fine
things—fraternity, fellowship and good
cheer.
"When you have seen some of the real
things of war you’ll believet with me that
the Prussian was not made by our God,
but is a fiend in uniform.
"You'll one day be proud and happy
that you’ve gone into this thing like men,
and you’ll thank God you could beat those
Huns while your mothers are safe at
home.”
ARMY NEWS
FOR ARMY MEN
AND
THEIR HOME FOLKS
Y. M. C; A. TENT AT
REMOUNT STATION
Secretary Brewer Delighted
With Co-operation of Officers
and Men. Major Stryker Re
quested Service.
R. R. Brewer, Secretary.
Four miles from Camp Hancock and
nine miles from Augusta, in a beautiful
but isolated spot, about three hundred
men and a dozen officers constitute a
very important branch of the quarter
master’s department. Their day’s work
consists of treating, conditioning and
caring in every possible way for the
thousand horses necessary to camp Han
cock and other military stations. When
their day’s work is done they have no
place togo except to their barracks.
When Major G. L. Stryker arrived from
Newport News about a week ago to take
charge of the depot he immediately
sensed the need of a Y. M. C. A. He
appealed to Camp Secretary Tomlinson,
who immediately responded by erecting a
tent and placing a secretary in charge.
Officers and men alike rejoiced in this
addition to their life.
One officer, when introduced to the
secretary, said: “I know of no one more
welcome than a Y. M. C. A. secretary.”
This spirit of appreciation and eager co
operation on the part of both officers and
men promises good results for the fu
ture.
COLONEL SHANNON'S
RARE DISTINCTION
Commander of 111th Infantry
Only Officer Who Trained
Troops for Rainbow Division.
Col. E. C. Shannon, commander of the
llltli Infantry, composed of men of the
old 18th and 6th Regiments, has a rare
distinction among the officers of the 28th
Division. When the Rainbow Division
was formed, the only troops chosen from
Pennsylvania were in a battalion of the
old Fourth Infantry, formerly command
ed by Colonel Shannon, but now formed
into machine gun battalions.
The new commander of the One Hun
dred and Eleventh is reputed to be one
of the most skillful officers in the 28th
Division. He is 47 years of age and has
seen almost 29 years in the service of
Pennsylvania national guard. He was
in federal service in the Spanish-Amer
ican war from April 28, 1898, to Noveni
ver 16, 1898, and during that time took
part in the Porto Rican campaign under
Brigadier General C. T. O'Neill.
Colonel Shannon is outranked by only
two colonels in the division, Col. Geo. C.
Rickards of the One Hundred and
Twelfth Infantry and Col. W. S. McKee
of the One Hundred and Seventh Field
Artillery. According to-the guard cus
tom of reckoning seniority he is the sixth
sixth ranking colonel.
Entering the guard as a private on
April 14, 1889, Colonel Shannon passed
through all the non-commissioned grades
until he was elected second lieutenant of
Company C, Fourth Infantry, in June,
1893. He was advanced to first lieuten
ant in April, 1896, and to captain in Feb
ruary, 1898, which rank he held in the
Spanish-American war. He was made a
major on December 11, 1904, and later
advanced to colonel on April 12, 1915.
Colonel Shannon served as a sergeant
in bis regiment during the Homestead
riots in 1892.
When the Fourth Infantry was dis
membered here, he was appointed to
command the Headquarters Train and
Military Police, but was later transfer
red to the command of the One Hundred
and Eleventh Infantry, which he now
'holds.
FOR SALE
If any soldier in the 28th division
has an article to sell, or if something
has been lost or found, the columns
of Trench and Camp are open free of
charge. Perhaps some officers or en
listed men have articles of clothing
that have been debarred under military
orders. We shall be glad to open an
"Exchange” or ‘‘For Sale” or “Roorps
Wanted” column, without charge.
Whatever your needs, make them
known through Trench and Camp. Be
brief!
H
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No. 13