as a carefully
weighed treatise on the fighting capacity of the United States Marines.
The document had the following heading:

_"Intelligence Officer of the Supreme Command at Army Headquarters,
Number 7, J. Number 3,528, Army Headquarters, June 17, 1917._

_"Second American Infantry Division._

_"Examination of Prisoners from the 5th, 6th, 9th and 23rd
Regiments, captured from June 5th to 14th, in the Bouresches
Sector."_

After setting forth all information gained, concerning the purpose of
attack and the arrival of the American units on the line, the German
Intelligence Report continues, as follows:

"The Second American Division may be classed as a very good
division, perhaps even as assault troops. The various attacks of
both regiments on Belleau Wood were carried out with dash and
recklessness. The moral effect of our firearms did not materially
check the advances of the enemy. The nerves of the Americans are
still unshaken.

"VALUE OF THE INDIVIDUAL--the individual soldiers are very good.
They are healthy, vigorous, and physically well-developed men, of
ages ranging from eighteen to twenty-eight, who at present lack only
necessary training to make them redoubtable opponents. The troops
are fresh and full of straightforward confidence. A remark of one of
the prisoners is indicative of their spirit: 'We kill or get
killed.'

"MORALE--the prisoners in general make an alert and pleasing
impression. Regarding military matters, however, they do not show
the slightest interest. Their superiors keep them purposely without
knowledge of the military subjects. For example, most of them have
never seen a map. They are no longer able to describe the villages
and roads through which they marched. Their idea of the organisation
of their unit is entirely confused. For example, one of them told us
that his brigade had six regiments and his division twenty-four.
They still regard the war from the point of view of the 'big
brother' who comes to help his hard-pressed brethren and is
therefore welcomed everywhere. A certain moral background is not
lacking. The majority of the prisoners simply took as a matter of
course that they have come to Europe to defend their country.

"Only a few of the troops are of pure American origin; the majority
is of German, Dutch and Italian parentage, but these semi-Americans,
almost all of whom were born in America and n