The Way of Duty, Honor, Country by Charles Pelot Summerall Timothy K. Nenninger

Author:Charles Pelot Summerall, Timothy K. Nenninger [Charles Pelot Summerall, Timothy K. Nenninger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780813126180
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2010-10-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

The Adriatic and Peace

When the Fourth Corps was demobilized, I was transferred to Koblenz. But I had been warned that I soon was to go to Warsaw as head of a mission to Poland. But then one afternoon I received a telegram to report to the American Commission to Negotiate Peace at the Quai d'Orsay1 in Paris the next morning at nine o'clock. I drove nearly all night and reported as directed. The members of the commission were seated at a long table. Mr. Wilson gave no sign of recognition. M. Clemenceau said that the commission wanted me to proceed at once to Fiume as a member of an inter-Allied commission [the Inter-Allied Commission of Inquiry on Fiume] to adjust the conflict between the French and the Italian troops at that place. I was given no funds or assistance. I took an American and a French aide and my orderly, Sergeant William M. Steamer.2

The train was to leave late in the afternoon for Venice. During the morning, I received an invitation from a lady I did not know to a tea at the Ritz Hotel. As soon as I spoke to her, she introduced me to an attractive young Italian naval officer, Commander Bartolucci.3 He at once asked if he could talk to me about Fiume. I told him that I did not wish to discuss it as I wanted to hear the case with an open mind. He then asked me to accept some documents, which I did. At the train station, Bartolucci appeared and said that his admiral in Paris told him to accompany me to Venice and be of any service to me. I found the French general Naulin, a member of the commission, on the train. Bartolucci asked me to dine with him on the train. I told him that I would do so if he also invited the French general, which he did. At Padua and other places, Italian officers came to the train to bring the compliments and offer the services of the local commanders.

As we approached Venice, Bartolucci said that a royal barge would meet me and take me to the hotel. I told him that I would accept only if he also took the French general and his staff. We went along the canals to the Grand Hotel. After dinner, a group of Italian officers escorted and surrounded us to prevent us from being attacked in St. Mark's Square. The crowds were very hostile. Bartoluc-ci said that an Italian destroyer would take me to Fiume. I told him that he must also take the French general and his staff. No provision had been made for us by the American navy. When we disembarked at the dock in Fiume, I was conducted by Bartolucci to an Italian car through thousands of Italian soldiers and civilians. As soon as I was seated, a stick thrown through the front of the limousine struck me in the chest. I pretended not to notice it. The crowd was very hostile.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.