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Text originally published in 1925 under the same title.
Arcole Publishing 2018, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.
Publishers Note
Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.
We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.
LEAVES FROM A WAR DIARY
BY
MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES G. HARBORD
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION
The Leaves From a War Diary were intended for the eyes of one woman, the wife of one soldier and daughter of another. Under the censorship they could not be sent through the mail and they were written from time to time when I would hear of some friend returning home from France who was willing to deliver them to my wife. There was then no thought of their publication. Their appearance now in this volume is dedicated to Emma Ovenshine Harbord, for whose responsive and understanding mind they were written.
J. G. H
FOREWORD
One day late in July, 1918, the Chief of Staff of the American Expeditionary Force at Chaumont gave me an order addressed to the Commanding General S.O.S. authorizing him to give me every assistance in the preparation of a series of magazine articles about his branch of the service. As he handed it over he said: The C. in . is making a change which you will discover when you reach Tours.
Two days later I presented the order to Major-General Harbord. It was the first that he received in his new capacity as chief of the Services of Supplythe army behind the army. Such was my introduction to the man whom it was my good fortune to encounter in varying and dramatic circumstances throughout these remaining months that decided the war of wars.
I intrude this personal experience to show how I met the author of this illuminating book, and incidentally to indicate my intimacy with one phase of the great work he performed in France. During the three preceding years I had followed the far-flung Allied fighting front that stretched from the bleak waters of the North Sea down to the sun-lit shores of the Adriatic. My particular work had been to study supply systems and more especially the British Army Service Corps.
When I reached the S.O.S. I was able to appraise it by the seasoned and experienced standards of the Allied units that had been going and expanding concerns from the moment the world saw red in 1914. What General Harbord achieved was a miracle of service and efficiency. We had originally planned to send half a million men overseas. He was ultimately called upon to feed, transport, and supply generally, four times that number.
It was a performance that somewhat paralleled in detail and difficulty the building of the Panama Canal but over a wider area. Like that huge gash across the Isthmus, it dramatized the spirit, courage, and capacity of the American race. The inspiration of the kindling record that the S.O.S. wrote into the annals of the most stupendous of all conflicts was the example set by the man at the head.
General Harbord brought to his service in France a long and honorable record as fighting man. Nor did he depart from this tradition as his brilliant and all-too-brief command of the famous Second Division attests. Here he differed from his colleagues in the other armies notably the late General Sir John S. Cowans, who was Quartermaster General of the British forces. Most of these men had been trained and operated solely in supply. General Harbord, on the other hand, is the line officer who proved his mettle as administrator as well.
This book was originally written in the form of a diary not intended for outside eyes. It therefore embodies a wealth of intimate and nave comment. Combined with this is a deep insight into the men and conditions that marked an epoch. The revelations are rich and not without permanent significance. Best of all they disclose the vision and character of a soldier as modest as he is capable. What follows is a genuine contribution to the history of the world war.
ISAAC F. MARCOSSON
CHAUMONT
CHAUMONT est une petite ville propre et coquette btie lextrmit dun plateau assez lev qui vient se terminer au confluent de la Marne et de la Suize. Ce nest pas, comme le dit M. Elyse Reclus, une ville essentiellement bourgeoise, sans industrie et sans commerce, car sous ce rapport elle a fait de rapides progrs, A part la vieille ville, le reste est anim et commerant, et notre chef-lieu acquiert chaque jour plus dimportance grce aux chemins de fer.
See monuments sont: la Tour Hautefeuille ou Donjon, btiment carr du XI e sicle qui touche au Palais de Justice et sert de prison; lglise St, Jean Baptiste dont le portail, les clochers et la grande nef appartiennent au XIII e sicle, les chapelles latrales au XV e , et le chur au XVI e . Le magnifique spulcre quon y admire date du milieu du XV e sicle. LHtel de Ville et la Prfecture sont modernes.
Chaumont possde un muse, un lyce, une cole normale de garons et une de filles, des casernes et de jolies promenades (le Boulingrin). A lentre de la promenade qui se trouve prs de la gare (magnifiques avenues de tilleuls), on a lev rcemment une statue Philippe Lebon de Brachay, qui dcouvrit les proprits du gaz dclairage.
Les Chaumontais sont sympathiques et affables. Parmi les hommes clbres ns Chaumont, nous devons citer lvque de Senlis, Guillaume Rose, 15421602, un des promoteurs de la Lique; le pote Pierre Lemoyne, 16021672; le sculpteur Edm Bouchardan, 16981762; le duc Decrs, amiral et ministre de la marine sous le Premier Empire, 17611820; le comte de Damremont, tu au sige de Constantine, 17831837.
ILLUSTRATIONS
General John J. Pershing
General PtainGeneral Pershing
The Ogden Mills Residence at 73 Rue de Varenne, Paris
Charles G. Dawes
General Pershings Office, Chaumont
General Harbord and Staff, Marine Brigade
Chteau-Thierry (map)
La Loge Farm, Hdqrs. Marine Brigade near Bois de Belleau
The Hunting Lodge at the Northern Tip of the Bois de Belleau
White Boulders Where the Marines Met the Hun in the Bois de Belleau
General Mangin
Group at Tours, September 1918
Generals Harbord and Dawes
