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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 1919)
-. . 10 B TlfE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: JUNE 1, 119. Paris turned Out and Showered Troops From Rainbow Division With Flowers and Kisses on Return From Champagne On Way to New Battle the Division, Selected From the Cream of All .of the Ameri can States, Hurries From Gruelling Fight Before Chalons Through Paris Suburbs and Hurls Itself Upon Huns Behind Dureg River; Effects Crossing In Face of Foes' Withering Fire. - - ' I . Ttilt, tha filth luitallmtat af tht HMory f Tha Raiabaw OMtlaa ay fUyaiaaa" 8. Tomtklpi. . tn wtth tht Battla at th Oana tha (let ntior affanilva aaretloa 11 tlM Avtiloa lata wliiebj tht Kaiapaw n tnrsw witnia a wmk anar it naa tiittrawi iron ma bnamaaaa mm. It It itonr al tht aaalnitln tl tht . a alary dttaaeraaiaa tttuth In Itt baaiaalaa. hat ftrrtti thrauih t tlorloui cotclutloii by tht mn wha had hurlta back tht fltrmaa attacks btfant Thii laittliaient stall with tna tint twt aayf . niniint aa tut ourea; tht ittry at tht battlt . Chaltnt. tll ka waelndad I Frlity'i Bet. By RAYMOND S. TOMPKINS. FIFTH INSTALLMENT. Paris w alive with the two great piece of newt of that decisive month of July, 1918 the successful defense before Chalons and the allied advance before Soissons. The Rainbow division, defenders of the Champagne, tasted swiftly of the rewards of heroes as they rolled) through Noity-le-Sec and passed on to more fighting. Coming by rail from Chalons, where long-range artillery reached ' hungrily even after the moving train, the division, in order to come to La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre, had to go close to Paris, for the German were in Chateau Thierry. Acclaimed as Heroes by Parisians. The 84th infantry brigade, tinker Rrig.-Gen. Robert A. Brown, took ihe sector of the 26th division, and " the S.id infantry brigade, tinder l!rig-Gen. Michael J. Lanihan, took the 167th division's sector: The 8-lih brigade, with the 168th (Iowa) ; snfl167th (Alabama) infantry reg iments liad the right of the divi- of riding around No Man's Land in fen automobile. i ional line, and the 83d brigade with . the 165th (New York) and 166th i Ohio) regiments, had the left. The artillery of the 26th division stayed in position to work with the ? u7th artillery brigade of the Rain- I'ow, commanded by Brig.-Gen. v George G. Gatley, Iowa's ow'ii, in ; action. ,. , ConTtng tip for the relief on July 24, 'the Rainbow division had marched to within two kilometers of the front line. Seeking for the point where they were to establish the post of command for the 168th - regiment, Colonel Bennett, Lieut- Col. Matt Tinley and the reginieii :al adjutant. Captain Van Order, ; performed that day the novel feat Noisy-le-See is a suburb of Paris, i. The; long trains that carried the E Rainbow rolled through there be. tween July 21, and 24. It was a beau i tiful day warm and mellow and wherever they could find holds for i lunds and feet, the men clung to I open flat cars, taking the air. Bridges icross the railroad yards were crowded with Parisians, mostly women and girls. For nearly four .years they had had no chance to ceU ebrate a victory, but now they had one,, and here, within sound" of their , voices, were the Americans, wlio had stopped the Germans in the Cham pagne. I'hey cheered wildly and threw kisses and flowers at the men in olive drab. The men cheered back; their spirits had returned, they had seen the worst of war; there was nothing they could not tackle now. It was good to be alive' on this .warm July morning, with Paris ;i '-fleering you as a conquering hero. This Was the "sort of stuff you read about." Couldn't Afford a Rest. It was thus the Rainbow division went toward the. Aisne-Marne of fensive' for what was to be the bloodiest battle of the outfit's his tory. FjSr at this tage of the war it was 'Tush while the pushing was good," and no 'division of soldiers with such reputations as the Rain bow for steadfastness and. valor could be permitted to rest while there were such possibilities of get ting the boche on the run; not even when that division had been in ac tual combat without rest since mid winter. On July 24-25, it was moving by camion from Le-Ferte-sous Jouarre to the vicinity of Epieds. The general situation around the beautiful Marne valley, which the men of the Rainbow were now see ing for the first time, was this: When the Germans had broken through in May and June they had bn finally stopped at the Marne. Their gains from Rheims to Chateau-Thierry and to Soissons made a salient reaching out and threat ening Paris. The German offensive of ' July 15, that the Rainbow had just helped to stop, extended down the east side of this salient to Chateau-Thierry. Down ' there the American Third division, supported by the 28th Pennsylvania national guardsmen had opposed a crossing east of Chateau-Thierry and con finecf the boche to a gain of a few miles near Fossoy. Allies Were Striking Back And now, wfth that drive definite ly halted. Marshal Foch on July 18 had" opened an attack on both sides and at the point of the Chateau Tfiierry salient. The Germans had gotten themselves into a pocket; they had ti'ied to broaden it and deepen it and failed. The day of the allies had come. The First and Second American divisions had made a surprise at tack south of Soissons. The Fourth !!!lfil!iliiI!!llfflli!IIH t 11 -7 division had exerted some pressure on the western side near Lizy. The enemy recrossed the River Marne before he was attacked by the Fourth division, wjiich followed him for eight kilometers, side by side with the 26th (Yankee) divi sion, (rhe 26th made the pivotal attack north of Chateau-Thierry. The rest of the attacking troops were French with a few British di visions south of and close to Rheims. It is likely that after the reverse of July 15 in the Champagne Lu dendorff realized that the Chateau Thierry salient was a menace to his army. But Foch had realized it quicker than he; vast quantities' erf stores had piled up in' there for itc in the advance on Paris, and they could not be removed and the salient evacuated before the allies were upon him. As the pocket " shrunk under LFoch's pressuret flie fronts of the hghting forces narrowed; it became practicable to take out of the line divisions that had been leading" the attack. So the 26th American di vision and thje 167th French division came out for a rest, and the Rain bow took over the job that both of them had been handling. .They .djdn.'t. do it purposely.. This had not been a battle area for as long a time as the sectors-the Rain bow was familiar with:, the land scape lacked the established insti tutions of rusty brown camouflage screens, old trench systems and fields of barbed wire. So the col onel, the lieutenant colonel and the adjutant looking for woods where the "P. C." would be,' suddenly found themselves in the neighborhood of new trenches. And when they had oriented themselves it dawned upon them that they were looking upon those trenches from the wrong side. They gof back without Waste motion and discovered they had gone about a kilometer too far to the north. This time the Rainbow division found its work cut out for it. So to speak, it was getting up into the war's higher seats of learninsr. hav ing left behind the standpattism ofl the Luneville and Baccarat sectors and the plain, old-fashiojed dogged ness of the Champagne. Now fits job was not merely to hold what ground it had. but to get more; not merely to outfight the Germans, but tooutwit them to demonstrate that they knew more about driving the boche b?.ck than the boche knew about standing fast. Boche Position Strong, And directly in front of the 167th and 168th infantry regiments, as the Rainbow took over the job from the Yankee division and the French. lay the boche in one of the finest little nests in France! They called it La Croix Rouge Ferme; it was in a clearing surrounded by forests on four sides, and a road ran diagonal ly through it from southeast to northwest. The far side df the road was lined with German machine guns; the woods on three sides were lined with'them, and ' you couldn't see them. " The division completed all its dis positions during the day and night, of July 25 and without wasting a moment of time the 168th attacked La Croix Rouge Ferme early on" the morning of the 26th. - Two platoons of F, company, com manded by Capt. Charles J. Casey, took it. . They discovered a little ditch leading up to it and. sneaking througli this in the morning mists, surprised the Germans killed . or captured -thenV and turned the ma chine guns.eastward upon the enemy in the woods. ...... 1 J AH that afternoon the wooded slopes around La Croix Rouge Ferme formed the ring in which a terrific battle went pn. .The men of the Rainbow Alabamians on the left of the farm, and Iowans on the' right had their first' experience with those withering blasts of machine-gun fire with which the Ger man army protected its masterly re treat during all the days' that followed.- , - -' Machine Guns By Thousands. The morale of the boche was still high as high as ever in fact. While Von Ludendorff would have liked to withdraw from the Chateau Thietry pocket at his own will, tak ing his ' supplies with him, he was nevertheless prepared to try to de lay even a dashing American effort to drive him out. . And- the begin ning and the en of his prepara tion was the """machine gun hun dreds and thousands- of machine guns with men behind them who knew the weapon and had high con4 fldence in it and no small amount ot courage in handling it. These things the battle for La Croix Rouge Ferme taught the Rainbow division at the outset of jts' participation in the Aisne-Marne offensive. These things it- had im pressed upon it again and a gain hour after hour in blood and death while it struggled, for new foot holds always farther northwards, through yellow wheat fields where death lurked and over ridges whose crimson' hue at evening was not always of the' sunset. . The Rainbow gave ground that 26m "of July; gave ground dcliber aely and retired, and it was -not the lesser part of' valor that they did. This new' thing in the war was dawning' upon them. They had captured a place and were basking in contentment, and then they had discovered that there was no con tentment because just beyond was the German and his machine gun and their newly won prize was his field of fire. Always it must be on, and on, with no end in sight except for the Germans or for them. Germans Evacuate Farm. But that night the Germans evacuated La Croix Douge Ferme. It was the key to the position on that line, and fhiding it untenable against the Americans they retired nearly six kilometers to a new de fensive line behind the Ourcq river. Here was a new situation an un pleasant one. Across the Ourcq opposite the Rainbow division was a great natural fortress, with the village of Sergy in the valley, backed by bare hills that sloped up to plateaus 80 meters high. On the east there was flank protection for the Germans , iii groups of small woodlands, and there was flank pro tection on the wes in a small creek called 'the Ru du Pont Brule. Meurcy Farm and more woodland lay in the valley pf ihis . creek near :ts junction with the-Ourcq, and farther up the creek was the village and chateau of Ncslcs. Farther to the right the village of Seringes commanded Meurcy Farrri and the Forest of Nesles was behind the village of that name. sIt was the tried, veteran army of Imperial Germany fighting des perately near the end of its fourth, year of superhuman "effort and ideally situated for defense against the new and untried soldiers from the United States, with no advan tage except freshness in the general matter, of war, and not much of that, considering the gruelling struggle in the Champagne. But the Rain bow division wejit to it. Ourcq Ran With Blood.V Over the six kilometers the Ger mans had given up after losing La Croix Rouge Ferme, the division moved with little, trouble, disposing easily of sacrifice detachments of machine gunners left behind to delay the; advance. . Only- at La Croix Blanche Ferme, northeast of La Croix Rouge Fcrmewas there any thing much resembling a battle. On fne night of July 27 the division re gained contact with the enemy's new line. Machine gun fire from the north bank of the Ourcq fell upon armored cars that were reconnoiter ing ahead of the infantry, and the columns halted for the night about a kilometer south of the little river. At dawn next morning the fight to crpss the Ourcq began. The Ger mans had blown up two bridge near Sergy; the stream was swollen with rains, to a width of 14 meters and a depth of four, and the men had to struggle through the little torrent. Machine guns opened on -them from Sergy directly in front and Meurcy farm on the flank, and the stream ran red with the blood of rhe Rain bow. The men of New' York's . 69th, commanded then by Col. Frank McCoy, got the first foothold on the" opposite bank, and before noon the other four regiments were coming over,- Ohioans of the 166tlj .o.n the extreme left, N'ew Yorkers next, then the Alabamians, of the 167th, and on the extreme right the 168th, from Iowa. . M Took Ssxgy by Storm. ... The struggle for Sergy and Meurcy Jarm lasted all How Motion Picture Stars Develop ing of July 29. Once on the enemy's side of thevOtircq, Colonel Screw's men from Alabama and Colonel Bennett's men from Iowa rushed Sergy and took it. They were swept back to the river bank by machine gun blasts from the woods on the left. They rallied, rushed the vil lage and this time ran into one of the best divisions in the German army, the Fourth Pussian guards. Americans who were at home then will remember the thrilling message of M. Andre Tardieu: "Today (or words to that effect) American sol diers met and defeated on the River THERE'S a little chap in Harry Carson's "The Unpardonable s Sin," who will bear watching. Some of these days his connection, with "The .Unpardonable, Sin." how he "horned into" the cast, and the manner in which he acquitted him self will answer some person s question as to just how the real stars of the motion picture screen are developed. The boy in question is Wesley Barry. He is one of California's younger "native sons." Los An geles. Cal., where "The Unpardon able Sin" was made, has for a very considerable portion of its popula tion people, who are actively en gaged in the production of motion pictures. Big studios by the score are located in the city or its sub urbs and many a debutante picks up her pin money by working as an "extra" when something out of the ordinary is being filmed. For this reason Wesley was only play ing true to form when he tried his luck around the studios, but a real gold spoon was thrust into his mouth when Marshall Neilan, the well-known director, who is ac credited with some of the biggest artistic successes ever given to the screen, decided that he showed real promise and took him under his protecting wing. Wesley had had a lot of inside tipe on "how to act" before the motion picture tamera, although his real opportunity, did not present itself until "The Unpar donable Sin" was put in. work and one of the "fattest" roles in ,the piece entrusted to his care. WesTey plays the part of a nrvy little American boy who has been "put right up against it" in Belgium dur ing the time of the German invasion. He had been a member of his Boy Scout organization back in Kansas and had learned his lessons in self reliance particularly well. Just how, in company with a chance ac quaintance from the Belgian branch of the same world-wide organiza tion, he managed to alleviate misery and suffering by matching his wits against the more stolid ones of some adults with the wrong point of view, provides a number of lighter scenes of the big photoplay pro duction. The Belgian Boy Scout is played bv Bobby Connellv, a youngster who, il is said, has spent ! fully a third of the waking hours ; ot Ins short lifetime before the motion picture camera, and has been starred in his own pictures. AT THE Blackstone Hotel an attractive'tollection of gowni will bo offered in the interest of the Italian auxiliary of Washing ton and Chicago. 'The proceeds are to be devoted to the father less children of Italy. Under the patronage of Countess Carminati and Madame Dianzino of Turin, Italy. Sale Lasts Until Tuesday Morning. Call on Madam Diansino, Ball Room, Blackstone Hotel I Ourcq the best troops of the Prus sian guard." American troops did defeat the...bet troops of the Prus sian guard, and it was of this battle and of the Rainbow division that M. Tardieu spoke that day. Germans Controlled Air. They defeated the Prussians but at what seemed then a terrible cost. Throughout the whole of July 28 the lines rolled back and forth. Now the Americans had Sergy; now the Germans had jt. To the right the 28th division fought fofHill 220; to the' left the 83rd brigade of the Rainbow struggled for Meurcy farm. Again, as in Champagne, the' Rainbow had to fight an air battle as well as a ground battle. Swarms of German combat planes were over them constantly, darting earthward and firing machine guns into them. All allied planes seem to have been driven from the sky; German air supremacy seetned complete. But as the Champagne had produced Cor poral Doty of the 165th as a stalker of bird-men, so the battle of the Ourcq produced a "ground ace" in Sergt. Frank Gardello, jr., of the same regiment's machine-gun com pany, who brought down two planes with one burst. 1 Blind Gives Three Plays. Jacksonville, III. Blind students at the State School for the Blind here participated in a recent entertain ment at which three plays were given. They staged the old one act plays entitled 'Thc Silver Lin ing," "Gfetna Green" and "Ashes of Roses." Part of the audience were blind. Witnesses who could see said the general interpretation of the persons portrayed were excel lent. The case with which the var ious entrances and exits and stage movements were accomplished was particularly commented on. HOTEL ROME Cjafeteria Management desires again to ex press its appreciation of . the patronage given daily. Its Sunday business has been beyond all expectation, , which demonstrates the fact that "A word to the wise is sufficient"; to-wit: Saving the wife as well as money and besides having a com plete change of cooking. ' , . y. Open Day and Night ROME MILLER. Bee Want Ads pay big profi,ti ta the people who read them. '. Roth were flvinc low. one Hi- that dav.N-ectl v over the other. Gardello's all night and throughout the morn- fire riddled the upper one and when it fell it landed squarely on the lower one. Both aviators were killed. Never before or since in the whole history- of the war was a similar feat perfoned. (Continued in The Bee Friday.) APOLLO THEATER 2th and Leaven worth SHIRLEY MASON in "THE WINNING ,-GIRL" and CHARLIE CHAPLIN in "SHANGHAID" NAZIMOVA IN "REVELATION" Mable Wagnall's Story "A ROSEBRUSH OF A THOUSAND YEARS" A Charming Story of the Awakening of the Soul of a Beautiful Pariiienne EMMA FRANCIS AND ARABS-Original Oriental Novelty GUS ERDMAN-The Singing Jester FLORIDA FOUR-Colored Quartette X STANLEY AND DALE-Nifty Stepper " FATTY ARBUCKLE COMEDY PATHE NEWS Starting TODAY Sains Management x TIlG Same Personeil as Rd same prices4 Lantern Special "MUSICAL SETTINGS BY Schiiuber's Augmented Symphony Orchestra IkGieatcst Story of the ai pictirizecf into the fctest ftotafidiiK the Screen has ever seen ! THE HOST WART nOIION-riCTURE EVENT THIS SEASON Five Shows Daily 1:15-3:15-5:15 7:15-9:15 DDipCCMats., 25c and 35c riUbL0Eves 25c to 50c A Few at 76c Boxes: $1.00 PLTJS WAR TAX -V. i5 S 3 1 ALL SEATS RESERVED FOR 7:15 SHOW yj Sat. and Sun. Mata. Same Price u Night. 1 RESERVE YOUR SEATS EARLY 1 ITE ARE ALREADY CROWDED EM UJoLXJ PHOTO -DRAMATIC EDUCTION of ALL TIME i 1 v An All Star Cast MattMoore-MaryAlden EdwmStOTS-llIace The Rotter Inxtinct mm "The Unpardonable Sin" can be compared only to the "Birth of a Nation" II. Y. Telegraph Thousands turned away at the Broadway last night Tl. Y. Times; May 3 MAJ. rupeot hughe Atoundinj? Story Birecied in Perron And the public'has acclaimed it by the rapturous thronbs ' that have f lotted to the theatres m every city in vhfch ft -has" been showib lyjiAlPli n lliyJiiViLb U. - "The Unpardonable Sin," at the Kinema last week, set a high water mark in motion pic ture exhibition in this city. Never before has a big prodiic- l: i i j. . ti uon Deen &nown to cause audi ences to be turned away in the If evening, but it is an established jj fact that thousands were un- j able to gain seats at the box of- fice, the "sold-out" sign staring S them in the face " jj Los Angeles Times I 1 "The Unpardonable Sin" lias H no equal. It will stand alone jj as the greatest motion picture j masterpiece for years to come. Chicago Tribune 1 Without question the great- i est picture ever presented here. San Francisco Call x II! V. .-V IIIIIIIlllIH lujimimmammmmmmammm i wammm