AMERICAN TROOPS.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1917, Page 5

AMERICAN TROOPS.

FIGHT WITH SUBMARINES. DEFEAT OP GERMAN PLANS. Washington, .Tuly 4. The American troops had a rousing welcome in .Paris. The boulevards were beflagged, and the men were pelted with wwquets. Mr. Joseph us Daniels, Secretary to the Navy, said he announced the arrival of the last of the American contingent with joy and relief. Tfc was now safe to disclose the dangers encountered, and'tell the complete story of peril and courage. The expedition was divided into contingents, each with naval escorts. The submarines attacked in force, although, owin„' to the darkness, it was impossible to count the U-boats. The convoy swept the seas with their searchlights, and answered the U-boats with a heavy fire, disorganising the discharge of torpedoes. It is not known how many torpedoes were launched, jbnt five were counted as they .passed the ships. When the second attack was made destroyers screened the transports. In addition to heavy shells, the American gunners used grenade* timed to explode under water, Apart from the U-boat known to have been sunk, wreckage* and oil were seen after another was shot in the periscope. Officials criticise the publication a week ago of the arrival of the troops in France, as all the transports had not then arrived. The last vessels were slow craft, carrying horses and supplies. The circumstances and the location of tho flrst dramatic submarine attack on the night of June 22 in the mid-Atlaniio is regarded as proof that the Germans knew the secrets of the expedition. It is expected that the troops will be shortly ready for the front. Marshal Jofl're, interviewed by the correspondent of the New York Times in Paris, praised the speed with which troops have been sent. He said i» was urgent that others should be sent, not only to fight, but to perform skilled work behind the lines. There is verv great gratification and enthusiasm in Washington and throughout America at the initial success of the expedition. The New York newspapers make a feature of the defeat of the submarines, which they niention as a brilliant American victory. They a"so comment upon the rapidity and exccllen?e of the transportation. The New York Times says:—"On this glorious Fourth of July America has inaugurated the war with Germany by two battles, both of them victorious." The New York World states that the U-tonts had prepared for a great slaughter. It was the greatest under-sea effort, and proved the. greatest U-boat de-