Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 January 1919 — GERMANY MUST PAY HEAVILY [ARTICLE]

GERMANY MUST PAY HEAVILY

COLONEL GEORGE H. HEALEY SEVERELY CENSURES GERMAN CRUELTY. The following letter received from Colonel George H. Healey, former editor of the Rensselaer -Republican, now on the battle-scarred fields of France, is one of .the most interesting articles that we have read bearing upon the wreck and ruirt caused by Tlie inhuman Huns. r —------ The article is quite long and will be issue din installments .in the Daily. The regular article is preceded 'by a personal letter, in which he states that he lhad just seen and had a very pleasant 'talk with Leland Jessen, who is a private in the signal corps, being a telegraph operator at the 88th Div. headquarters at Gondrecourt, France. The following is the letter: Gondrecourt, France, ' Dec. 25, 1918. The Republican,— — —~ . Rensselaer, Indiana. Dear Friends:— For some time I have been thinking of writing to you, but my failure little to relate more than the observation of a peace-time .tourist Until recently I lhad never seen a shell hole that had net been constructed for the purpose of training Three days after the armistice was signed I started to school at La n gres, a quaint old city not so far in the rear of the St. Mihi e 1 sec to r.—At the conelusion of this school I had the good fortune to be one of a party of twenty officers to. take a personally conducted trip over some hundred miles of the battle front. .1 will, with your indulgence of space, undertake* to relate some of my observations. -I should have felt a keen ~ disappointment if I had been sent back to America without having visited these battlefields, but now, having seen some of the devastated cities and country, I find myself very anxious to get back home, forget the war and prepare to reenter business. It is said that only about fifteen per cent of the officers of the regular army ever got into the fighting. This is not official and is mentioned only to show that many were taken for the service of training and supply. This can be understood because of the great task of preparation, the numerous’schools, the tardiness of supplies and the vast amount of construction work, including barracks, store houses, railroads, wagon roads, etc. My personal disappointment was keen but military necessity , rides rough se n timent~and I learned while at the Langres school that many officers who had been in France for a year or more had also failed to hear the discharge of a gun in battle. By studying a German war map, visiting many points in the St. Mihlied and Verdun and Argo n ne sectors and then studying the map again I have a fairly clear idea of the things that happened in this omportant sector when‘the American first army started its offensive on Sept. 12th. I think about al Icivilians know what a “salient” is and realize what its weaknesses are. The defenders must diverge their fire, While the assailants can converge their fire on it. The narrower the salient the weaker it is. When one part of an assaulting fine moves further than another a salient occurs. The salient is difficult to defend and unless it includes territory of particular value the ground is generally abandoned unless the flanking ground can be taken. When the German army made its great advance in 1914 lit captured the city of S.t Mihiel but failed to capture Verdun, which lies to the northwest. The Germans, therefore, formed a sal'enit including St. Mihiel and the French found themselves almost surrounded at Verdun.. The St. Mihiel salient was some 25 kilmetres deep and quite pointed. The northern line oTthe Germans extended some ten or twelve kilometres east of V erdun and when about that distance north bent to the west and then to bhe south and then back to the west again until it was dangerously near Paris. That is another story, however. I hope to have an opportunity to visit the further west front some day. When the French made their first counter offensive they widened the salient about Verdun and narrowed it about Sit, Mihiel and the Hindenburg line was established and it was n ot until the spring of * 19*16 when the Germans made their persistent assault on Verdun that active fighting was again resume dthere. To Marshal Petail is given the credit for the successful defense of Verdun, the fall of wh'ch would have give nthe Germans a much better chance of getting to Paris. The St. Mihiel salient remained in the possession of the Germa n s and there yas a passive sector for a good many miles and a good many months. It was passive in the sense that no determined effort was made to advance. There was occasional shelling, occasional raids, active efforts ! to get information, 'but the Germans were sorely punished for their Verdun attack and Wanted "o more of it and enough troops in-to the St. Mihiel, salient to whip the Germans back. It is said that the- area came to be employed by both sides as an essembly place for troops. If one side