964 



AMERICAN FOR lis TRY 



with headquarters at Ncufchatcl had entire control of cutting fire wood for the ist and jnd American Armies, 

 this advanced section and of all the operations in the at the fighting front, with headquarters at Chauniont. 

 departments of the Vosges, Doubs, Cote d'Or and Aubc, These men, cutting hard-wood coppice, and using trans- 

 so that his work consisted of supplying all the requisitions portation on forty and sixty centimeter railroads, by 

 in the zone of active operations for the A. E. F. wagon truck or any other method of carriage available, 



The Eclaron mills were situated near some big amnui- and working always to get the wood cut as near the 

 iiition dumps and as the plant was run all day and all location of the troops as possible, managed to secure 

 night, being electrically lighted, it made a very good and maintain a daily production of about 3,000 cords of 

 target for the German bombers. The mills were bombed wood a day. This amount of wood sujjplied fuel for 

 several times but none of the workers were injured nor approximately 1,000,000 troops. 



was much damage done, and finally a real American trick The first mills used by the regiment when its first units 

 resulted in so misleading the German bombers that the reached France were French mills, but their daily pro- 

 danger was entirely overcome. This trick was devised by duction was so low that the units changed to American 



built mills as 

 soon as possi- 

 ble, and within 

 a few months 

 all of the mills 



Major Spencer 

 who, realizing 

 that the elec- 

 trically lighted 

 mill was a 

 b r i ght target 

 for the Ger- 

 man bombers, 

 ran electric 

 wires into the 

 heavy woods 

 for a distance 

 of one-third of 

 a mile from 

 the mill and in- 

 stalled a num- 

 ber of electric 

 lights on the 

 trees. When- 

 ever an alarm 

 of an air raid 

 came, the 

 lights of the 

 mill were ex- 

 tinguished ami 

 the lights 

 a m o n g the 

 trees one-third 

 of a mile from 

 the mill were 

 lighted by 

 s w i t ching on 

 the current and 

 were kept blaz- 

 ing while the 



Germans wasted bombs on iIrmii an( 

 only on sonic of the trees. 



Other mills up along tjic lighting 

 bombed frequently, but without serious damage. 



The amount of wood rc(iuircd by an army for fuel, in 

 winter especially, is not ajjprcciated by the civilian. For 

 instance, at the time the armistice was signed, Lieuten- 

 ant-Colonel A. S. Peck, assisted by Major R. J. Stuart, 

 Captain Donald Bruce, Captain Joseph Kittridge, Jr., 

 some twenty lieutenants and twenty sergeants of the 20th 

 had charge of 10,000 quartermaster troops, all colored, 



m o p e r a tion 

 were using ma- 

 c h i n ery sent 

 from the Unit- 

 ed States. 



At the time 

 the armistice 

 was signed, the 

 regiment had 

 e i g h t )' - o n e 

 lumber mills in 

 operation and 

 twelve more 

 being installed. 

 The average 

 \aiuc of these 

 plants was 

 $15,000 apiece 

 When I was in 

 France the sale 

 of these saw 

 mills and their 

 m a c h i n e ry, 

 which were of 

 course of no 

 further use to 

 the American 

 ,\ r m y , was 

 somewhat re- 

 tarded, if not 

 wlicilly prevented by army retl tape. As one officer inti- 

 mated, t (ingress is evidently afraid to trust an army 

 front were also officer to sell any army material, or so one might be led 

 to believe, as the Act regarding the sale of army material 

 provides that the sale price shall include not only the 

 original cost, but also the cost of installation. As a 

 result, many of the lumber mills will probably have to 

 be scrapped and sold as scrap, if the officers of the 20th 

 Regiment do not manage to get special permission to sell 

 them at the best prices they can obtain. 



The men of the regiment with whom 1 came in contact 



WE.WINc; SUPPORTS FOR SIDES OF TRENCHES 



This pliotograph slinws the manner in wliich bru.sll and small trees were used to prevent the cartli on tlic 

 sides of the trenches cavinR in. Great (jtiantities of these mats were used by the Germans as well as the 

 allied armies. 



iiillicted dania: 



