In this context, raiding for prisoners was intelligence work. A captured American soldier could be interrogated for information about unit strength, positions, morale, and plans. Knowing what American units were arriving and where they were positioned would help the German command plan future operations. The specific Argonne sector in May 1918 was part of the German Army’s intelligence picture as it assessed the Allied positions.
The German raiding party at Outpost 20 was therefore not simply harassing; it was attempting to acquire information through the standard method of prisoner capture. The specific outpost — at a bridge, forward of the main line — was a logical target precisely because it was isolated enough to be surprised.
What Johnson and Roberts prevented was the capture of at least one of them — both, as it turned out. They also prevented the intelligence breach that such a capture would have represented. The military significance of the action extended beyond the personal survival of two soldiers; it was a successful defense of an intelligence vulnerability.
## The American Expeditionary Forces’ “Secret Information” Memo
The document that the American Expeditionary Forces issued to French officers regarding the treatment of Black American soldiers — the document that historians have called the “Secret Information Concerning Black American Troops” — is one of the most telling pieces of documentary evidence about the AEF’s racial policies.
The document, issued in August 1918, instructed French officers on how to treat Black American soldiers in ways consistent with American racial customs. It asked French officers not to treat Black soldiers as equals, not to shake hands with them, not to eat with them, and not to publicly praise them in ways that might give them ideas about their social standing relative to white Americans.