attack, claiming the destruction of one U-boat, and in a score of metropolitan dailies appeared interviews with sailors, hospital apprentices, officers, etc., all thrilling in their description of the sea battle. On July 20th The New York Tribune, a paper most horrified by our "fake," published a letter received from a private in France in which these statements were made:
The Dutch must have known we were coming, because they took their first crack at night, before the destroyers joined up with the fleet. It was about eleven o'clock and dark, but there was some phosphorus in the water and it was easy to see the bubbles from the torpedoes. The "subs" took two shots at one transport. They didn't miss her much. The "subs" got busy and shot at five other boats. They missed them all, but it was close squeaking all right. It was sort of bad that night because the destroyers didn't meet up with the fleet until the morning. They put a smoke screen around the transports and went out after the "subs." One of our ships got one spotted close and nailed her after she dodged. That was pretty neat. She nailed her 'way down under the water. We got the "sub" all right. There was more than oil came up.
Most delightful contribution of all was this report that the Associated Press itself sent out:
Halifax, N. S., July 25th.—British sailors arriving here to-day, who claim to have been among crews of vessels in the vicinity of the transports which conveyed the first American troops to France, say they were credibly informed that German submarines made a concentrated attack and were beaten off, with a loss of six U-boats, only one submarine escaping.
The sailors said they were within three miles of the transports and witnessed heavy and continuous fire. The men were on three former Dutch vessels which had been taken over by the British government and were on their way to Europe.
The very papers, however, that carried sensational and even lurid accounts of the battle in their news
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