Evening Star Newspaper, March 21, 1931, Page 4

" A—4 LUDENDOREF LAUDS STAND OF PERSHING German General Says He Was “Perfectly Right” in Insisting on Separate Army. BY AGATHA BULLITT GRABISCH. BERLIN, March 21 (N.ANA)— Gen. Ludendorff, to whom I submitted the memoirs of Gen. John J. Pershing, gave me the following considered opin- fon on the book: “PFrom a military standpoint, Gen. Pershing was perfectly right in his in- sisténce that American soldiers should build up a scparate army. The pro- posal to merge American troops in the English and French Armies is but evi- dence of the mechanical conception of the English and French leaders in the war. “Of course, American machine guns could be used by the English and French, Armies, but it would have becn a grave military errcr not to have formed the American soldiers into their own separate units. The soldier is not & machine. “Gen. Pershing has here given proof of his sound military judgment. Also, his conception in regard to offensive warfare s absolutely sound. War can :nly be decided by taking the aggres- ve. Might Have Spared Bloodshed. “I also fully understand and appre- ciate Gen. Pershing’s attitude in regard to the necessity of preparedness on America’s part, and it may be that bloodshed might have been spared thereby. Naturally, it would have been & tremendous handicap for us if Amer- 4ca had been able to throw strong forces sgainst us in 1917. That goes without saying. “Gen. Pershing wanted exactly the same thing for his country that I wanted for mine. Before the war the military forces of Germany and Aus- tria-Hungary fell far short of what they might have been. Universal conscrip- tion in Germany existed only on paper. France enlisted 82 per cent of her able- bodied men, Germany only 54. So it happened that France, with a popula- tion of about 20,000,000 less than Ger- many, had an army approximately as &s ours, Germany, at the out- break of the war, had about 5,000,000 sble-bodied men untrained. “I regarded this tremendous neglect of man pover as a direct provocation to France and Russia to make an attack on us. It was a stimulus toward war and untold bloodshed. “As & colonel in the general staff I pealously endeavored to induce Ger- many to use her man power in defense of our country. In my opinion it was the best way to prevent the war that was threatening. I was not successful. Through this neglect Germany unques- tionsbly was responsible for provoking the enemy to an attack, but this re- sponsibility is exactly the opposite from what Gen. Pershing would indicate. If Germany had winted war, surely she would have increased her military forces in view of the stupendous prep- arations being made by France and Russia in peace time, and would have insisted on Austria-Hungary doing like- Says Neutrality Violated. “I would beg Gen. Pershing_also to bear constantly in mind the Euro- pean situation. Germany lies with open frontiers surrounded by hostile coun- tries. These hostile countries are strong military powers which immediately on mobilization can invade Germany. Her geographical position is ‘entirely differ- ent from thit of the United States, which is separated by the ocean from possible oppcnents, having as neighbors only Canada and Mexico. “But if Gen. Pershing believes that America would hive preserved neutral rights by early preparedness he over- looks certain cardinal facts. America violated her own neutrality by equip- ping our enemy with ammunition and war material {0 an enormous extent. America’s attitude from the very begin- ning of the war was hostile to us and favorable to the entente. We knew per- fectly well she would enter the war as soom as it became apparent that the fortunes of war were inclining toward victory for us. President Wilson ad- mitted as much in 1919; surely Gen. Pershing will admit it ncw. “Moreover, America did not enter the war in February, 1917, when Germany declared int-nsified submarine warfare, but held off till April, when, owing to the Russian revolution and our suc- cesses in submarine warfare, Germap victory seemed probable. Toward the end of March, 1917, Admiral Jellicoe characterized 'the situaticn foreibly enough when he said England could not hold out longer than Autumn. Ge submarine warfare was e military necessity. have been sheer folly for Germany to leave unused a part of her defensive forces, her submarines, faced as she was with the tremendous numerical superiority of her opponents as well as land’s illegal blockade, against which America never seriously protested. Gen. Pershing is soldier enough to ap- preciate this. Justifies Belgian Policy. “As regards the neutrality of Bel- glum, I should be glad if Gen. Pershing would make a careful study of th Anglo-Be] n from th viewpoint of a sc and commander In 1906 Belgium conciuded, with the knowledge of Franc’, the Anglo-Belgian convention, whic Army, under cer use Belgium as a say, pr 1914 act “We of the g the slightest doubt as to Be) lation of own though we were not at that informed of the d-tails of t t The co-operation ! staff were not i stafls had by no tention. Hence, was first violat not by Germa “Moreover I Gen. Pershing of the trality committed b: by the United = Greece and Ho! soldier and com that our m & to remind ns of neu- tente; yes, toward Gen. Pershing as is bound to know m was & the into to> come git our every bound by In other neutral d 14 places on Germany that she wish-d I fear he ssion he should at | literature of h torian, Prof. F: Justly come sions. Denies War Guilt. “Rere I only wish to recall to Gen. Perghing’s mind that German mobiliza- tion took place considerably later than Russian, and Germany's formal dec- laration’ of war on Russia, although it may well be regarded as a fatal po- litical error, is in no way an indica- tion of a German ‘lust for war.' “That the German government showed during the war its earnest will for peace is documented by the peace offer of the German Emperor on De- cember 12, 1916, in which it is clearly stated ‘the central powers have no de- sire to annihilate or crush their op- ponents.’ “Purther, July 17, 1917, the German tag, considering the Pope's pro- It would | . but | Army Once More. | TROOP SHIPMENTS FALL BEHIND PLAN Secretary Baker Details Lloyd George’s Plea for U. S. Soldiers to Serve With British. ' ~ to receive a proposal by Marshal Foch, brought to my headquarters October 1 by Gen. ‘Weygand, to insert the French 2d Armj between the American 1st and the French 4th Armies. It was suggested that the 2d Army {chould take over those divisions from the left of our 1st Army that were in and near the Argonne Forest, lea ing the rest of the army under my command. CHAPTER LXI ITH the first phase of the Meuse - Argonne offensive completed, I would accelerate the advance. The proposal was similar to the one pre- sented by Foch cn August 30, which was rejected so positively that I thought the matter settled once for all. Clemenceau’s Hand Seen. Just what prompted the idea I was never able to learn, but I surmised that Clemenceau had suggested or directed some such action. Clemenceau could not have had much knowledge of mili- tary situations or of operations, and he “probably measured success by the number of kilometers gained In & given time, regardless of the terrain or the stubbornness with which it was defended. He assumed, however, to judge in such matters as though he were quite competent to do so. He apparently had a notion that his position as French prime minister and head of the Supreme War Council gave him au- thority over Foch. But the allied com- mander was chosen by the govern- ments concerned and was responsible to them jointly. He realized, no doubt, that his position was entirely de- pendent upon the unanimous support of the governments which had chosen him. That is to say, if any one of them, including his own, had objected to him as allied commander in chief his_tenure would have been at an end. The proposition Weygand submitted was not sound because the different ent and the advantages they affordsd the defense could best be overcome by a force under one control. Another ob- jection was that there was only one road leading to the part of our front which was proposed for the French 2d Army, and an attempt to use it for the supply of two different armies would have resulted.in many compli- cations. Moreover, the marshal, as usual, overlooked the fact that our men seriously objected to service in the French Army and would not serve in it with the same enthusiasm as in their own. 1 pointed out these objections to Wey- gand and told him that the change would, in my opinion, retard instead of increase allied speed. He left with the reply disapproving the plan, sent by letter, seemed to settle the matter. Supplies Fall Behind. My diary at this point records: “Souilly, Thursday, October 3, 1918 Claudel came yesterday to receive in- structions about proposed attack. (Gen. Claudel commanded the French 17th Corps at Verdun, which formed a part of the American 1st Army). Sent le ter to Secretary Baker. “Minor engagements have occurred since S:ptember 20. Captured posi- tions being consolidated. “This afternoon saw corps command- ers about the attack tomorrow. rapidly improving and conditions better. “Serious situation as to motor trans- port again cabled to Washington. Shortage in tonnage reducing supplies to danger point. The French have agreed to import locomotives and turn over cars made for them in the United States. Atterbury has cabled FPelton complete rail requirements.” We were woefully deficlent in motor | transportation now that we had under- {taken large operations, although the shipment of motor vehicles had been repeatedly urged upon the War Dpart- ment. Once more we were Almost wholly dependent upon the French for land transport to move our troops and handle about half of our ammunition supply. To carry on operations we Had | almost’ to strip the S. O. S. of trucks, {and this seriously interfered with work iat the base ports, with construction | projects at other points and with sup- | ply of troops in general. | The shortage of ambulances to move the sick and wounded was critical, and | we were compelled to borrow 15 Amer- ican smbulance sections from Italy. But we had reached the point where we were no longer able to borrow. Given Little Encouragement. This condition was not easy to recon- cile with the suggestion from Washing- ton & short time before that motor transportation be largely substituted for horses. All these facts were pointed out 7| plainly to the War Department, but we | received little or no encouragement. Ac- |cording to_the department's detailed | program of “shipments, the best we could expect in the near future was about one-fifth of our require- The promise to ship us 10,000 {motor vehicles in October was only partially fulfilled. | In locomotives and cars the situation | continued much the same and came to such a pass that the French said th could do no more. They offered to im- port for us as many locomotives s could be produced in excess of our | monthly program, the non-fulfillment of which had left us short, and to turn over sufficient _cars _manufactured on posal for peace, passed a peace Teso- lution for a peace without annexations or_contributions “Again, in September, 1917, the Ger- {man foreign minister received far- | reaching instructions for peace nego- tiations on the basis of the evacuation and complete restoration of Belglum But all endeavors toward peace were | thwarted by the desire of the entente | ccmpletely to crush Germany. Gen. Per- shing himself gives confirmation of this fact in his statement: ‘We must not let the people listen to rumors that the Germans are rcady to make peace unt§l Germany is completely crushed.’ “Unfortunately, these peace sugges- | tfons in the midst of the war weakened | the German spirit of resistance. In addition, the leaders of the German Socialist party, after having achieved in March, 1917, their first war aim, the overthrow of Russian czardom, worked solely for their second war aim, the annihilation of the German Empire through the sabotaging of victory. Therefore 1 do not see how Gen. Per- shing can believe that German So- cialists could have worked to break the war will of the entente.” (Copyright, 1931, by North arican New: aoer Alliamees {Clemencean’s Hand Seen| in Foch’s Attempt to| Break Up American| was surprised | | Foch's idea seemed to be that this | features of that front were interdepend- | view that I was right, and my formal | Roads | THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, My Experiences in the World War BY GEN. JOHN J. PERSHING, Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces. | Hurrying the fleeing Germans along. Battery C, 108th Pield Artillery (formerly 2d Regiment Field Artillery and 1st Cav- alry, Pennsylvania National Guard), firing a salvo after the retreating enemy in the Meuse-Argonne engagement. D. C, SATURDAY, Planof Attack of First ArmyOct! e———— off line —=XXX%— Army Boundary —xxx— Corps Boundary Front e reached by Oct 1719 === ====Front line reached by Nov.1.1918 Arrows indicate direction and weight of principal attacks: —s Attack begunOct 4| ~==~Attack begunOct.I7 Arabic numerals indicate Divisions Roman numerals indicate Corps | their order to bring monthly shipments | up_to 7.500. | Considering questions of supply, we | were always forced back to the subject | of shipping. Our tonnage allotments were not keeping up to our increasing | demands. In July, for instance, we were allotted 475,000 tons, against my | request for 750,000, and we received | 438,000 tons. It was the same in Au- gust, when we were allotted 700,000 | tons and received 511,000, and, on the | basis of receipts for the first two weeks of September, it was probable we would Tun some 200,000 tons short that month. | The situation was so grave that in my cable setting forth the deficiencies I |said, “Unless supplies are furnished when and as called for our armies will cease to operate.” To aggravate matters, shipments seemed haphazard. For finstance, in| August 50,000 excess tons of quarter- master supplies were sent of which we | had a surplus, and in that month the | | shipments showed a deficiency of 50,- | 000 tons pertaining to the transporta- tion department and motor transport. | In cabling this to Washington I stated, | “You must prepare to ship supplies we request Instead of shipping excessive amounts of supplies of which we have | a due proportion.” Threatened Disaster. It was next to impossible to consider | | with complacency & situation which | |left us not only short of supplies but almost without modern means to move our armies. When a nation is forced |into war without preparation, neither men nor equipment are at once forth- coming_and time is required to de- | velop the flow of all that is needed, | | which is difficult because of the pres- | | sure for haste from all quarters. | Yet after nearly 18 months of war it | | would be reasonable to expect that the | organization at home would have been | more nearly able to provide adequate | | equipment and supplies and to handle | | shipments more systematically. It was fortunate, indeed, that we were not | | operating alone, for the failure to meet | our demands would long since have | | caused us serlous trouble, if not ir- | | reparable disaster. | | 'There was hope, however, of some im- |provement in the tonnage situation. When Secretary Baker came back from England to be with us at the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne battle he brought the welcome news that he had suc- ceeded in getting an allotment of 200,- 000 tons of shipping from the British, on the condition that we should help them out later in the shipment of cereals if it should become necessary. | He cabled President Wilson asking approval of an agreement he wished to meake with Lord Reading that there | would be no diversion of tonnage from the amount needed for the maintenance | of our forces in Europe if we would agree to co-operate with the allies by | using our tonnage for their supply pro- grams as their needs should become | paramount. With the prospect of having this additional amount of tonnage available at once, the situation began to look more hopeful. The arrivals of personnel were not keeping up with the 80 division pro- gram, even as construed in Washing- fon. 'Our contention was that these 80 | divisions should be combat troops and that in addition we should have a cor- | responding number for the various units connected with the S. O. S., but Wash- ington took another view. At any rate, for the forces then in France there was needed to balance the command 129.- 000 Army troops, 93,000 corps troops, 83,000 S. O. 8. troops and 65,000 re- | placements. | 3,000,000 Men Seen Limit. In order to make definite plans for the future, it was necessary for us to have the troops for the various pur- poses in due proportion. However, it was evident from the correspondence that, in the opinion of the War Depart- ment, 3,000,000 men would be the high- est number that could be trained, trans- | ported and supplied. | Under date of Octobr 2 Secretary Baker, who was now about to leave for | home, wrote me at length on shipping and other matters of great interest. Re- ferring to events at a dinner in London, his letter is quoted here, in part: | | ““Mr. Lioyd George said he had some- | thing which he felt it very important | [to say to me. and to say with great | frankness. We all kept quiet and he | talked. 1 should say, for half an hour | withoiit_interruption. I cannot_repro- | | | l\ Just Think of lt— | The Star delivered to your | | door every evening and Sunday morning &t 1%c per day and 5c Sunday. Can you afford to be without this service at this cost? Telephone National 5000 and de- livery will start at once. | duce verbally what he sald, but in ef- | fect it was this: “That the British had brought over | from the United States an enormous number of troops in the firm expecta- tion_that they would be trained with | the British and would assist the British in their Flanders fighting. That they had gone to great lengths to supply and equip our troops and finally had some | 10 divisions of them about ready to en- | gage in confiict and included in Sir WooDWARD & LoTHROP Benchmade Footwear For Easter Costumes Douglas Haig's plans of attack, when | suddenly the five best trained divisions | were taken away just at the time they | would have been of most service with | Haig’s troops. “That later, of the five divisions then with the British, three were taken away, | and that he was informed that | other two came near being taken away, %0 that the effect of the whole busine: | expect the American Army as such to| was that for all their pains and sacri- fices for training our troops there and 10™ U™ F aND G STrEETS ) N ‘ and spike heel. $]3.50 WoMzN's Snoes, THIRD FLOOR. For the Blue Costume—blue kid four-eyelet oxfords, trimmed with blue lizard, hand-sewed Cuban heel. $]3.50 For the Black Costume—black mat kid strap pump, trimmed with gray Rajah lizard, For the Brown Costume—brown kid pump, with brown watersnake; turned sole a MARCH 21, 1931. 1 equipping them they had gotten no good out of them whatever, and that the American troops had not been of any service to the British. That at one time, when some American troops were about to go into action with the British, per- emptory orders had been issued that they should not go into action, as they were not adequately tramed. Surprised by Attitude. “From this he went on to say that he was_earnestly desirous for opportunity of the American and British soldiers to fraternize. He felt that large issues to the future peace of the world depended u‘)on the American and British peo- ples understanding one another, and that much the best hope of such an un- derstanding grew out of intermingling our soldiers so they could learn to know one another, but that it seemled to him that there was some influence at work to monopolize American soldiers for the assistance of the French and to keep them from the association of the Brit- ish. “I replied that I was profoundly sur- prised at the feeling he expressed, since Lord Reading and I had quite definitely understood in Washington, and our un- derstanding had been set up in a memorandum, of which a copy had been sent to him, that the American trcops brought over by the British were expe- dited because of the lack of reserves by the British and French, which would be made up by August 1. “That I had stated to Lord Reading and put into the memorandum that these American troops assigned for training with the British were to be subject to your call at any time at your discretion and that their training and use was constantly to be such as you di- rected. I had therefore no thought that there could be any ground for mis- understanding your right to take the American trcops at any time you want- ed them. “I pointed out that the President and I had repeatedly, both verbally and in writing, insisted that the American Army as such was the thing we were trying to create. That we had no in- tention of feeding our soldiers into the French or British army, and intended %o have an American Army in exactly the same sense that Great Britain had a British army and France a French arm: 'hat we all recognized the right of Marshal Foch to send divisions of Amer- icans or French or British from one Pan of the line to another for particu- ar operations or to create a composite reserve which would have troops of all three nations for use as reserves, bus with that exception American troops in Prance were as completely under your control as British troops in France were under the control of Sir Douglas Halg. Gave No Assurances. “The conversation left on my mind a very strong feeling that Lloyi George frankly wants Americans to remain with the British, both as a stimulus and for the fraternization which he de- scribes, and that he is very suspicious that the French are desiring to mo- nopolize the Americans and so come out of the war as our principal friends with- out there having been real opportunity for co-operation and understanding be- tween the British and Americans. “I, of course, gave him no assurances whatever, and when he asked me what expectations I thought he ought to have about the use of American troops I re- plied shortly that { thought he ought to exist in the same sense as the British Army, and to be used there as a whole or by the detachment of divisions here | and there wherever the largest good could be accomplished for the cause in n}fi 1judgmenc of the commander in ‘The Secretary's letter impressed me, as did almost every communication re- ceived from him, with his earnest pur- pose to do everything possible for our success. His desire to aid in the solu- tion of the muititude of problems which confronted me, shis clear comprchension of their magnitude, his sympathy, his infinite tact and understln;inl, ‘were of BLUE BLACK BROWN piped with gray kid; turned sole and spike Also in black. hand-sewed turned sole strap and details of hand sewed; nd Cuban heels, $[2.50 FARM FEDERATION HEAD MAPS CREED Edward A. 0’Neal, Alabama Resident, Asks Equality for Agriculturists. By the Assoclated Press. CHICAGO, March 21.—“That big man from the South,” as Edward As- bury O'Neal is called in the American Farm Bureau Federation, proclaimed yesterday his creed for agriculture, “T wouldn't say the agricultural sit- uation is improving in this country,” the newly-elected president of the Farm Bureau from Montgomery, Ala., said, “but I will say this: The American farmer is chronically optimistic and a most unselfish individual. FParm or- ganizations have been exceedingly modest by comparison with many other groups in asking for Government aid We ask for equality but no special favors. And I'm for non-partisan legis- lation on the farmers' problems.” Heads 1,250,000 Farmers. The new leader of an organization of 1,250,000 farmers is a tall grey-hair- ed, blue-eyed man of 55 years, distin- guished by his hearty laugh, which t never deserts him during the dullest | qualities that served to lighten my bur- den and inspire loyalty to his direction of America’s military effort No American general in the field ever received the perfect support accorded me by Mr. Baker. His attitude through- out the war, in so far as it concerned me personally and the Army in France, was 2 model for the guidance of future Sec- retarfes in such an emergency. ‘Tomorrow—The second phase of the Meuse-Argonne. (Copyright, 1931, 1 countries b; North American Newspaper Alliance r rights reserved, including the Scandanavian. Reproduction in whole or in part prohibited.) Wooepwarp & L Lo uT™r directors’ meeting. For seven years he has been vice president of the Farm Bureau ‘and chairman of its resolu- tion and legislative committees. “I've been a farmer all my life,” he sald. “My 3,000-acre farm at was the first Alabama land deeded by Au;horfly of President Andrew .vua.—.‘_—-: under a grant signed by Henry y and John Quincy Adams. “I studled law at Washington and | Lee University, but never practiced. | Only public office I ever held was road overseer and that was by appointment. I own no stocks. I was the first head of the Lauderdale County Farm Bu- Teau in 1921 and I've been dent o:‘lhe. Alabama Farm Bureau for eight years.” Lives Near Shoals Dam. O'Neal's country home is 2 miles from Muscle Shoals dam and he has ente: | tained Henry Ford. congressional lead: ers and others interested in the con- troversial legislation on the power plant there. Only today the Farm Bureau direc- tors referred to a special committee the problem of drawing up & plan to operate Muscle Shoals as a subsidiary of the bureau. C. E. Hearst of Des Moines, vice president, was named chairman. Others were Willlam H. Set~ tle, Indianapolis; C. R. White, Ionis, N.'Y., and E. C. Smith of Tilinofs. | " O'Neal is proud of a master farmer's | medal awarded him in 1927 for distin- | guished service in farm leadership. He is president of the Alabama Farm Bu- reau’s Subsidiary Co-operatives on Mu- tual Supply, Finance and Cotton. Grandson of Governors. “Alabama was the first State in the | old South to co-ordinate its farm or- ganizations and various co-operatives, and Cullman County,” here his voice | betrayed his pride, “has the third | largest membership of any county farm bureau in the country. And the | State Bureau did $17,000,000 in busi- last year with a 1.3 per cent | overhead.” O’Neal is a grandson and a nephys | of two Alabama Governors, Gen. Rd ward Asbury O'Neal, his namesake ged Emmett O'Neal, both of whom zer=el two terms. He has two sons, one g las | student, and a daughter, also in college. In doing most kinds of cleaning work | it s well to remember that hot water removes dirt from 2 to 20 times faster than cold water. OTHROP anD G SR Science Has Discovered Your Fur s Will Be Safest in Fumigation Storage Vaults This process is the surest method of absolutely ridding a garment of all moth or vermin life. The moth, larvae and moth eggs are entirely destroyed, not merely held dormant as in the old cold storage process. In our new storage vaults, furs are protected by chemical fumigation, instead of refrigeration— soiled linings which rot not deteriorate further ture of a “chemical” vault. at low temperatures do in the normal tempera- Make certain your furs and garments are completely protected Entrust them to the “Perfect Fur Protection™ offered by our Chemical Fumigation Fur Vaults. Cleaning—Remodeling— Repairing Furs should be cleaned before being placed in storage. Here they wil moderate cost. If you | be expertly cleaned at desire, the necessary fur repairing or remodeling will be done by our capable furriers. Estimates gladly given. The Charges for Storage 3% is charged on the first $200 valuation. 1% is charged on the excess of $200. additional valuation in $2 minimum charge on coats, suits and’other garments. $1 minimum charge on muffs, scarfs, gloves and other small fur or fur-tr immed pieces. Phone District 5300 and wa will call promptly PR S10RAGE OFFICE, THIRD FLOOR. WOODWARD 107 1™ F am & LoTHROP 0 G Starers For Easter— us Religio Pictures’ The Light of the World, $3.50 This beautiful picture by C. Bosseron Chambers is very appropriate for Easter gifts. One of our many religious pictures for the church or home. Metal Miniatures of “The Light of'‘the World,” with easel or metal ring for hanging, $1.50. Larger size pictures, $6. 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