Evening Star Newspaper, January 22, 1931, Page 4

ITATIANS PRAISE * PERSHING STORY as Clear, Precise and Fair Record. By Oable to The Btar. ROME, Italy, January 22.—Gen. John J. Pershing’s memoirs, which are being published in the Corriere Della Sera, influential Milan daily, are being re- ceivea most favorably by Italians be- cause of the general's implication that Italy made an important contribution to_the allied victory. § K Last night's Lavoro Fascista sees this acknowledgment in the following state- ment of Gen. Pershing’s, when he is discussing the days just after America’s entry into the war in 1917: “We had no army and could not have one in less than a year's time. It was truly fortunate for the allles that the | central powers Gid not have enough forces on the western front to initiate & vigorous offensive.” “Yes,” continues Lavoro Fascista, “it was a real piece of fortune for France and Great Britain that we were not faced by the 60 divisions which in 1917 formed the Austrian Army, which were stretched out along the front from the THE EVENING STAR, "W My Experiences in the World War iyl American Chief Vi Gen. its Petain and Is Questioned Through Frenchman’s Error. FINDS OLD FRIEND OF DAYS IN JAPAN orbids Publication of| Portrait Because of Superstition Among| Comrades of Allies. River Stelvio to the sea in an effort to | resist the mighty thrusts of our army | in the Alps and on the rocky Carso. It | was truly fortunate that the Italians “ continued to pour out their blood in the dous batties of Carso and the 0 front to support the allies. “We are really grateful to Gen.| Pershing for having Tecognized the im- portance of our presence in the field, | even though such recognition is made | indirectly.” | Gen. Pershing’s commentary is gen- erally regarded in Italy as a clear and | precise statement of facts and one of the fairest of all the storles written by the great captains of the late war. | (Copyright, 1031.) GOLD FOUND IN MINE AMERICAN GAVE UP| Syrian, Induced to. Cancel Sale| After Farmer's Money Is Out, Makes Strike. By the Associ*ted Press. ALAMAE, Sonora, Mexico, January 22. | —L. S. Fatterson, an American | farmer, Who lived near Ciudad Obregon, | purchased an old mine, La Fronteriza, from a Syrian, Felipe de Iza, and went to work Jooking for gold. After six months, when all his money was gone, he decided to quit. He paid Iza & sum to cancel his contracts, and the Syrian took the mine back, Patter- son returning to the United States a| month ago. | Iza, curious to see how much work | Patterson had done, went to the mine | and, pecking gt a rock with a small | hammer, discovered a vein of gold which is paying off at the rate of $2,000 & ton. g Peféhing Earned Nickname Through Cavalry Service| “Black Jack” Bestowed by Cadets After Duties in Colored Regiment. g soquire the | dek?? - sections of the “How did Gen. nom de ‘guerre Blacl Newspapers -in all countrv. publishing Gen. Pershing’s “My | Experiences in the World War” have | been flooded with this inquiry in one | form or another. Often inquirers quote one or more of the various legends | which are given as the reason for the sobriquet, The legend most generally credited 15 based on the general's well known insistence on strict dicipline. ‘The mext-in-popular fayor is that while | on duty in the Philippines the en!rll" displayed all the devastating fighting | character of a black Jack. With the aim of getting the exact origin of the nickname, the question | ‘was submitted to Capt. George E. Adam- son, an intimate friend of the com- | mander in chief, as well as a member | of his staff. - Here is Capt. Adamson's explapation: “After he was graduated from West | Point, Gen. Pershing was assigned as | officer of the 10th Cavalry, a Negro | regiment. Later, he became instructor in tactics at West Point. The cadets | there nicknamed bim -‘Black Jack’ be- | cause of his service as an officer in the colored Cavalry unit, and the designa- tion of the cadets stuck to the general throughout his career.” | And that settles it (Copyrisht Nearly 6,000,000 pairs of leather foot- | wear were impofted into the United States in 1930, 1931) CHAPTER XI. N the organization of our Armies for | the World War it was evident that if any considerable numbers were to be sent abroad an additional | force would be needed over and| above the Regular Army and the Na-| tional Guard. | The War Department therefore es- tablished what was called the National Army, to be composed principally of men ‘who were to come into service through the draft. Most of the divisions | of the National Army were organized | in August and September, 1917. As the time approached to begin the | training of the smaller units it was found that after equipping the special | was little equipment left even for the additional men required to fill up the | National Guard. | Unfortunately, this made it necessary | to delay calling out men for the units | of the National Army. However, con- | siderable numbers were called into| service and proceeded with preliminary instruction, but the lack of equipment | seriously delayed their progress, ‘The development of the machine gun as an Infantry weapon, following the | expBfience of the Russo-Japanese War, had been carried to a high degree of perfection, especially in the German | Army, where its vajue was more fully appreciated than among the allies. Far Behind All Others. In this, as in every other line of preparation, we were far behind all others. The question of adopting types | of machine guns and automatic rifies for our Army had been discussed at | home for years and test after test had | been made, but the nearest approach | to a decision was an acrimonious dis- cussion in and out of the press between the Ordnance Department and certain inventors, with the result that when we entered the war no definite conclusion | had been reached that would warrant| the manufacture of machine guns in | quantity, and we were without the ad- | vantage of having made a start. Not | only were we without machine gun but our organization tables did not i numbers provided for by the enemy, | To equip our earlier divisions, es- | pecially in view of the possibility of | an emergency requiring our early entry | into the line, arrangements were made to purchase Hotchkiss machine guns | and Chauchat automatics from ihe | French. But, on account of delay in | deliveries, the instruction of our troops We visited several villages occupied ! OPers. in the use of these weapons was neces- sarily slowed down. considerably. Not- withstanding these handicaps, our ma- chine gun instruction reached a high degree of efficlency, and the most modern conception of the use of this Wweapon was taught in our schools. | At this time the production of the | Vickers machine gun was proceeding | slowly. With the adoption of the | Browning, following the tests in May, both the heavy for ground work and the light as an automatic rifle, their | manufacture was begun, although none | became available for use in battle until September, 1918. The Lewis machine gun, about which there had been so much controversy involving the Ord- nance Department and the inventor, | was not considered suitable as an auto- matic rifle, but was recommended for | airplanes. | Our earlier divisions were seriously handicapped in their preparation at | home for lack of machine guns for training. When it is recalled that each division at the beginning of the war was allowed only 92 machine guns and no automatic rifies, and that under our war erganization over 260 ma- chine guns and 768 automatic rifies were tequired, the result of delay in providing these guns needs no further comment, 1 Reviewing Infantry Division. y diary notes the following: Paris, Tuesday, August 21, 1917.— Visited billeting areas of 47th Prench and cur 1st Division with Gen. Petain on Sunday. LI Gen. John J. Pershing Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces “Inspected St. Dizier Regulating Sta- tion and witnessed French attack near Verdun yesterday. Visited French hos- | troops urgently needed in France there pital at Soully. “Returned this morning with M. Painleve, minister of war, on his train.” As I had accepted Gen. Petain’s in- vitation to see the French offensive that was to take place August 20, I motored to French general headquar- ters on the 18th, accompanied by Col. Palmer and Capt. Boyd, and after din- ner left with Gen. Petain and two or three members of his staff on his train for an inspection of French and Amer- ican troops the following day. We reached Gondrecourt the next mornihg and began the day with a review of the French 47th Infantry Division, which was paraded on @ prominent plateau near Houdelaincourt. This division had been in every seri- ous engagement of the war and its losses had been very heavy, as could be easily surmised from the youthful ap- pearance of the officers, most of whom had risen from the ranks to replace casualties among their seniors, Petain told them that because of its fine Tecord the division had been given the clal honor of assisting in the instruc- tion of the American 1st Division. Accompanied by Brig. Gen. Bundy, Col. Cruikshank and others, I tool Gen. Petain to ses some of our troops being trained in throwing grenades and in the use of the French automatic rifle. An amusing story was told us in connection with grenade instruction. One of the men insisted on throwing | his grenade immediately after setting slowly counted seven, which was neces- sary so the explosion would occur as the grenade reached its destination. After being cautioned several times by his officer, the man said: “Captain, I just can't hold these grenades any longer because I can feel them swelling in my hand.” by French and American troops. As we passed through our billets and sin- spected the kitchens, Petain particu- larly inquired about the components of our ration and the manner of cooking and serving meals. The French sol- diers were furnished wine in place of coffee provided for our men, and the allowances differed in other respects, ours continuing & ponent. But when it came to cooking, the French were ahead of us, although our men preferred our own to either the French or British ration. A Joke on Petain. In many cases on our tours with Gen. Petain we had to climb ladders to reach our billets in the hay mows. In one loft I happened to stand apart near & neatly made bunk and in the |dim light Gen. Petain mistook me for the sergeant in charge. He asked me how we liked -our billets, and & number of other questions about our life in France, which 1 answered respectfully, playing the part the best I could. He | did not know the difference until he was told by some of the amused mem- bers of his staff after we had descended Motoring to Souilly, the headquarters of the French second army, we met Gen. commanding _the , and Maj. commander of the e Gulllaumat, T e Gen, larger meat com- | Gen. Pershing takes a look at French troops. !nuond army, whose chief of staff ex- plained in detail the plan of the battle that was to take place next day. We | had luncheon with Gen. Fayolle, whom | |later I came to regard as one of the | ablest of the French generals. In ap- pearance he was rather frail, no longer young, but active and alert. On our visit to the military hospital at Souilly Gen. Petain decorated Mile. de Baye, & nurse, with the Croix de iGuBrre as she lay on a cot suffering | from & severe wound inflicted by a plece of shell two days before. When he told her who I was, she sald: “I am glad you are here, general, to see | how a French woman can suffer for her | count She was 50 happy,. however, | that I 'am sure that for the moment she had entirely forgotten her pain. agreeable surprise. Motoring to the command post of the XVI Corps, which conducted this offensive, I found an old | sociated later with America’s greatest of a supreme commander for the al- friend of Russo-Japanese War | Maj. Gen. Corvisart, in command. | viewed from his post the battlefield days, A Gen. | lay before us like a panorama, and | | with the sun at our backs we could | eastly follow the advancing French | lines, one particular unit under obser- | vation being the famous Foreign Legion, | in which I had become interested many years before from reading Ouida’s tale, “Under Two Flags.” Being entirely assured regarding the outcome of the battle, Corvisart and I dropped into reminiscence of our former service together in Manchuria. We had been military attaches in Japan servers, I inquired about Maj. Caviglia, the | Italian attache, and learned that he | was then a lieutenant general com- manding an army in Northern Italy. ‘We recalled that when we were with | the Japanese Army Caviglia used to wake us every morning singing Italian Maj. Bela de Dani, the Aus- trian, had been advanced to the same rank and position as Caviglia. Sir Ian Hamilton of Gallipoli fame, already held the rank of major eral when he was observer with the Japanese. Col. Fowke had become lieutenant gen- | eral and adjutant general of the British | forces. And so we ran through the list up to the German attaches. Capt. Hoffman had but recently succeeded Ludendorfl as chief of staff on the Russian front, and later became a general. I then asked about Maj. von Etzel, the senior German attache, and it was easy to an- battlefield and said: “I have just beaten him today. {1s commanding a division opposite me." : $75,000,000 Bombardment. | This attack of the second French Army, although made astride the Meuse | River, was directed principally against Hill Mort Homme and Hill 304, both | famous in the struggle of 1916. To de- stroy the wire entanglement and de- molish trenches, as & precaution against heavy losses, the infantry assault was preceded by four days' continuous bom- bardment, and relatively the amount of artillery ammunition expended exceed- |ed that of any previous engagement, its value being, as I remember it, some | $75,000,000. Personnel . We are proud of the per- | at the same time, both of us being as- | ticipate their use in anything like the |the fuse instead of waiting till he | signed to Gen. Kurokl's army as ob- | ticipate the reply as Corvisart, with a | smile of satisfaction, pointed to the‘ He | | ‘The proportion of the artillery force | as compared to the infantry in this bat- | tle was as 11 to 10. The firing attained such precision and volume that the German troops |in the forward positions were sub- merged, and the attacking infantry reached most of its objectives by night- fall the first day, making an advance of 5 kilometers and capturiog 6,000 I:pl,mthemnmmmhmtbefm 1 found it ‘mdst’ agrecble, as well as with Petain in t.lll: whic} ayed an pa; - ing neumr in command, was especially entertaining. As we drove about he spoke of the courage of his troops and of the tremendous losses they-had sus- tained. He pointed out the vast amount of road work, including the Vole Sacree from Bar-le-Duc to Verdun, rebuilt un- der his directions for constant movements of large bodies of troops and supplies necessary to maintain the defense. Comments Were Amusing. In lighter vein, his comments during this trip on French politiclans were amusing, f not always complimentary, | and he congratulated me many times on being so tar removed from political interference. One afternoon the con- versation drifted to painting, and he asked me how many times I had sat for Wy portrait. “Several times als ready,” I said. “The last one, which was very good, was done by a distin- guished artist by the name of Jonas | (English Jonah) for I'Tllustration.” Immediately he said: “Don't let them pubiish it! Don't do it! Every officer whose portrait by Jonas has appeared in that journal has beep relieved from | his_command.” Not that T am superstitious, quite the | cc-trary, but I immediately forbade the | puvlication of the portrait, and to this day it has never appeared. | From the time of Nivelle's failure in April the depression in the French armies had been so great that Petain, who succeeded him, had been content simply to hold the trenches, and no | French offensive operations of conse- | | quence had been attempted until this |one. From the moment of his assign- ment Petain began to build up the | shattered morale of his_armies and | | probably no officer in France could | | have performed the task so well. Petain's immense success in the de- | fense of Verdun had won for him the | confidence of the army and the coun- |try, and yet he remained the same | modest, unassuming character, consist- | | ent and conservative. He, perhaps bet- ter than any other, understood the tem- | perament of the French soldier, whom he handled with infinite patience and | tact. | Petain had visited some 90 divisions and impressed them with his personal- |ity and prestige. As his efforts began | to bear fruit, he concluded to try a lim- | ited operation, to be carried out by spe- | cially selected units. The preparations | for the attack, which we had just wit- prisoners. ‘The sector where the French attack | took place was to have a peculiar in- terest for me before the end of the war. My headquarters as commander of the First Army one year later occu- | pled the building in Soullly then used by Maj. Gen. Guillaumat, and the line reached by Corvisart's troops in this battle became our jump-off line in the | foot of the ground covered in this in- spection with Gen. Petain became as- effort in the war. S| After visiting the French install tions and the manifold activities car- ried on behind this front, with the shifting masses of combat troops and the thousands engaged in the services of supply and transportation, it seemed quite improbable that we should be able to marshal a sufficient army in time to nessed, were worked out in minute de- |tall and with the utmost secrecy, in | order to insure success, its avowed pur- pose being to stimulate the morale of both the army and the people. Petain himself and the ministry were much | pleased with the result. | It is my opinion that, under the cir- | cumstances, the selection of Petain to | | be commander in chief of the French | The following afternoon I had a most | peyse-Argonne battle. In fact, every armies, which was made by M. Pain- | | leve, had as important an effect on the | outcome of the war as the appointment | lied armies. Tomorrow: Pershing’s fight to.awaken | Britain to the necessity of providing us with ships. | | (Copyrignt, 1831, in all countries by the | | North American New: 11 World | | Hights reserved. intlu ng Reproduction in whole or in part prohib- ited.) LIEETIM FURNITURE Lifetime Suites that are so exceptiomally low priced. suites for every room, beautiful upholsteries and almost unending variety. Only WORLD EPIDEMIC FEARS DISPELLED Spread of Influenza Held Un- likely by Health Officials in Europe. 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The International Health Office re- ported that the influenza prevalence in Poland, which aroused ~considerable alarm last week, had definitely abated | but that the malady was still prevalent | in_ Franc: and Germany. i The situation in the United States | shows no developments to cause alarm. | For the week ending January 17, the last for which reports have been re- | ceived, there were 3,867 cases rcpnrted.‘ Don't E;t—luireisilippri;g | FALSE TEETH your false teeth drop or slip when talk, laugh or sneeze? noved ' and embarrassed nger. Fasteeth, & new sprinkle on _your plates. firm. Gives fine feeling of security and comfort. 'No gummy. gooey. pasty ta or feeling. Get Fasteeth today at L getts. Peoples or any other drug stor Advertisement. 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