AMERICAN VICTORY AT ST. MIHIEL
_First Major Action by All American Army--Stories to Folks at
Home--Huns Carry Off Captive Women--Hell Has Cut Loose--
Major Tells His Story--Enormous Numbers of Guns and Tanks--
Over the Top at 5:30 A. M.--Texas and Oklahoma Troops Fight
in True Ranger Style--Our Colored Boys Win Credit._
The first major action by an all American army was that which began
before the St. Mihiel salient September 11, 1918. The Germans had
occupied that salient almost four years, and had built it into what they
believed to be an impregnable position. The Americans, under direct
command of General Pershing, reduced it in a three days' advance.
The salient was a huge bulge, almost twenty miles in depth, turning
southwest from Combres at the north base and Hattonville at the south
and looping down around the towns of St. Mihiel and Ailly. It was
powerfully held by masses of enemy troops.
General Pershing's army attacked from the west, south and east all the
way from Bouzee to Norroy, and by September 13th had pushed it back to a
straight line drawn from Combres to Hattonville. The French attacked at
Ailly, the apex of the salient as it was on September 11.
The entire operation was conducted with rapidity and with irresistible
energy. The dash and enthusiasm of the American soldiers astonished
and delighted the French and British as completely as it staggered the
Germans.
By September 13th the Americans had taken forty-seven towns and
villages, reduced the German front from forty miles to twenty, captured
the railway that connects Verdun with Commercy, opened the cities of
Nancy and Toul to the allies, and with the French and British on the
east, created a new battle front on a line running from Hattonville on
the west to Pagny on the east--Pagny being a town on the Moselle river,
at the German border.
The importance of this victory could hardly be overestimated. It opened
the way to and was followed up by the demolition of the whole German
line from the Swiss border to the North Sea, and hastened the great
German retreat. In the action itself, September 11 to 13, about 15,
Germans were taken prisoner by the Americans.
STORIES TO THE FOLKS BACK HOME
Sidelight stories of what happened in the St. Mihiel fight, mostly in
letters written home by men who were in it, go far toward showing how
completely the Germans were taken off their guard. Corp. Ray Fick of the
103d Infantry wrote home in this wise:
"We got into the woods and then kept on going until we reached a big
city where there was a brewery, but they had set fire to the whole city
before they left. We got some beer and wine just the same. It was a
little stale, but it was fine. The Huns' warehouses were all fixed for
the winter and the boys got cigars and cigarettes, but I was a little
too late to get in on it.
"The whole thing was very interesting all the way through. The Huns sure
did make themselves scarce in a hurry, but they kept many prisoners, a
troop train and an ammunition train.
"Cigarettes are scarce and we look for smokes all the time. The Red
Cross and the Salvation Army are the ones who look to our comforts. If
any one wants to give, tell them the Red Cross and the Salvation Army
are the ones to get it."
HUNS CARRY OFF CAPTIVE WOMEN
But Corporal Fick uncovers another Hun procedure that has no fun in it.
While the Huns lost no time in getting away from there, they took care
to carry off their captured women slaves.
"The women they have held captives for the last four years," he writes,
"were driven ahead of them, but they were brought back by the Americans.
Truckload after truckload passed us on the way, and they sure were happy
to be free again."
"HELL HAS CUT LOOSE"
Another soldier wrote to his father telling about the first day of
attack as he saw it:
"Hell has let loose. The woods are a mass of whistling shell and
shrapnel. Every time the big twelves go off the flash lights up the
entire camp like a flashlight picture, then the ground heaves and
tumbles like old Lake Michigan does on a stormy day.
"The infantry have cleared the top and have gone on far in advance,
almost outside of the range of fire. Our big objective has been wiped
off the map and our men are preparing to keep right on going after them
and backing up the doughboys who are doing such great work.
"I went up to the front last night on an ammunition caisson (which is
the only way to get up there) and saw the thing commence. It started
with one solitary gun of ours (a big one, too). Then the others joined
in on the chorus, and it has been steady ever since.
"When the doughboys were told that they were going over the top at the
zero hour, you never heard shouting to equal it; the Board of Trade on a
Monday morning was just a whisper in comparison.
"Dad, that is the general feeling of our boys over here--always waiting
to move up. I told a lad in one of the outfits that the artillery was
right back of them and would blow them through to the objective if they
did not make it, and he laughed and said, 'Hoboken by Christmas.' They
were all in the best of mood and roaring to go."
These letters are good specimens of the thousands that have come over
the sea. They not only give good sidelights on an event that will loom
large in history, but they show the indomitable cheer and high spirit of
our soldiers.
MAJOR TELLS HIS STORY
Concurrently with the action that originated at St. Mihiel on September
11, 1918, another great battle developed northwest of Verdun. It lasted
about three weeks, and is graphically described by Lt. Col. B.M.
Chipperfield (then a major) of the 23d Division. Lt. Col. Chipperfield
was a participant in as well as an eyewitness of the whole engagement.
Under date of September 29, 1918, the described it substantially as
follows, in a letter to a friend at home:
"For several days preparations had been in progress for the action that
began on Thursday, September 26th. The American troops were moved up
by night, jamming the roads with their advancing columns and transport
trains.
"Thousands and thousands of them," wrote Major Chipperfield, "trudged
along without a light and in almost quiet.
ENORMOUS NUMBERS OF GUNS
"Tanks and cannon and guns of all sorts, every kind of vehicle,
ambulance wagon, and transport passed in this continuous procession. It
seemed that there was no end to it, and one could not help but admire
the wonderful resources that had been gathered together by the United
States to help perform its part in this great struggle for freedom.
"I think the greatest collection of guns that has ever been gathered
together for participation in any conflict of the world was taken to the
front where the attack was about to be made. It is estimated there
were 6,000 of these guns, and the soldiers that were gathered together
numbered hundreds of thousands.
"These guns and soldiers were conducted to their places so secretly and
quietly that, although they marched many miles, the enemy did not even
know a small part of the strength and could only speculate what it all
meant.
UNDER ENFILADING FIRE
"In the arrangement of the plan of battle our division was on the
extreme right. Across the river was a German stronghold. Here there
were located a large quantity of artillery and many machine guns. Our
officers understood that it was going to be a difficult advance, for a
bridge had to be built across a creek, but everything in our division
went like clockwork. It had all been planned in advance, and the plan
was carried out exactly as made.
"It was arranged that at 11:30 o'clock on Thursday night the battle
was to begin. Before that time I had reached my destination at the
headquarters of the other division, and together with the rest of
the headquarters staff we were in a favorable place to watch the
commencement.
"At 11:25 it was silent as the grave, and the night was beautiful.
Precisely at 11:30 from every conceivable direction the great
bombardment commenced. In an instant the whole night was filled with a
roar and thunder and reverberation of the cannon from, every quarter.
The shriek and whistle and whine and clamor of the shells made a fearful
chorus as they were hurled in the direction of the field occupied by our
adversaries.
"From every quarter came the flash of the explosions, until the night
was lighted as bright as day. Signal rockets rose from every portion and
part of our lines and also from the enemy lines. It looked as though the
heavens were ablaze and raining fire. It was a scene which has probably
never been seen before upon any battlefield and may never be witnessed
again.
"Apparently this fierce bombardment took the enemy entirely by surprise
because our fire was so deadly and the extent so great that they could
only make uncertain reply. They seemed to be stupefied.
"For six hours this terrific bombardment continued. It is estimated
that each of the guns fired an average of three shots a minute and that
1,000,000 projectiles and charges of ammunition were used.
OVER THE TOP AT 5:30 A.M.
"As 5:30 approached the bombardment increased. The machine guns joined
in the chorus and a curtain of steel and fire was placed in front of our
troops and rained upon the guns and cannon of the enemy.
"After a brief period of this fire our men started over the top, and as
they did so they swept the enemy before them in their irresistible rush.
They advanced kilometer after kilometer. They could not be resisted or
stayed at any stage of the attack.
"Soon the prisoners commenced to come in, and they told of the terrific
effect that the great bombardment had upon the Germans. They said the
bombardment was so terrible that it disrupted their plans so that they
could not be carried out and that they could not resist the attack.
"Several times during the night I went out to witness the scene and as
long as life lasts it will be remembered.
ON DEAD MAN'S HILL
"Once when two of our regiments came over a hill and saw the
valley that lay before them being terrifically shelled by the cannon
and assailed by hail from the machine guns, the whole column was
seen to pause and a look of worry came over the faces of these men
that for just an instant was pitiful. They knew that ahead of them lay
death for many and it is not strange that for several seconds the
lines were held up, but then a look of fierce determination and of
courage took the place of the former expression and with a great
resolve and courage, dash, and daring, the lines shot forward at a
redoubled step and the determination to do or die was manifested in
every action.
"These machine guns were speedily put out of business, and
then the attack would go on. That portion of the lines that the
division of which I am a member was given for the purpose of the
attack, it was thought would take the entire day, but our division
was on its objective by early afternoon and had commenced to dig
in, from which position they could defy the Germans with impunity.
"While the attack was going on I went up to Dead Man's Hill.
This hill is the last word in the destructiveness of war.
"It is literally rent to atoms. Dugouts have been blown to
pieces. Hundreds of thousands of men had been killed in the earlier
battles before Verdun, and many of the bodies could not be reached
for burial, the place was so torn up."
OTHER PERSONAL GLIMPSES
Many other personal glimpses of the fighting come from officers and men.
One division was made up largely of Illinois regiments, among others the
3d Illinois Infantry, commanded by Col. John V. Clinnin. The position
held by these troops was vital to the entire advance, and it required
rapid action on the first day to reach the objective at the same time as
the other units.
Menomme creek is a little stream which is not shown on maps. It runs
eastward from the village of Septsarges to the Meuse. The stream holds
vivid memories for the Illinois infantry. It was there that it met the
most severe resistance, the Germans catching our men just as they were
relieving other young soldiers. The men fought their way down to the
creek. On the other side along the highway between Septsarge and
Dannevoux the Germans had entrenched themselves and were shelling the
road which the Americans had crossed. They were also using intrenched
machine guns at the edge of the woods.
"I heard bullets whistling overhead," said a wounded soldier in
a hospital. "We were lying near the edge of the creek at the time
and knew that a machine gun was shooting at us, so I just started out
and got it."
"Our colonel was right up there with us getting into line." said Private
Hiram E. Burnett. "One night when the shells were bursting all around
and several men were wounded the colonel went over the top just like any
of us."
The Bois des Forges has been a battle ground since the war began, with
trenches in front and miles of barbed wire, machine gun nests and
concrete pillboxes inside. A frontal attack on such a stronghold
apparently meant suicide, but the Illinois men, led by Col. Sanborn and
Col. Abel Davis, took it so neatly and quickly that they bagged nearly
1,000 soldiers, fifteen officers, twenty-six guns ranging from 105s
down, 126 machine guns, twenty-one flatcars, two rolling kitchens, an
ambulance and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
"We were looking for you in front," said a captured German officer. "We
did not expect that you would come through the swamp and outflank us. We
did not think that any Yankee outfit was so foxy."
"A GREAT SHOW"
"It was a great show when we crossed that river and rushed on through
the woods, cleaning up machine gun nests," said Private Gray McKindy of
Woodstock, "The machine guns in the woods started throwing bullets as
soon as we reached the river. They thought they could stop us from going
up the opposite hill, but we did it and got every gun there."
Private Kenneth W. Steiger was one of those who went in on the second
night when his captain called for volunteers to make up a patrol.
Steiger became separated from the others in the darkness and ran into a
party of three Germans. Quickly covering them with his rifle he brought
all three back.
Private Bernard Snyder returned with prisoners before dark on the first
day. Making use of his ability to speak German, he induced a dozen
Germans to lay down their arms, pick up stretchers and carry American
wounded back five kilometers (three miles) to where ambulances were
waiting.
A FIGHTING CHAPLAIN
Lieut. Jorgen R. Enger, the chaplain of a Kansas-Missouri outfit,
carried the wounded for three days from the Montfaucon woods two miles
to the ambulance. Searching in the woods in the darkness one night with
shells bursting and bullets whistling he found a husky sergeant wounded
in the foot and growing weaker and weaker from loss of blood. The
chaplain shouldered the man and carried him back to a dressing station,
saving his life.
"I didn't think a chaplain would do a thing like that," said the
sergeant. "I would rather save you than save a general," replied the
chaplain.
When not searching for wounded hidden in the tangle of under-brush the
chaplain was busy helping the surgeons at a first aid dressing station.
"I never thought any clergyman would have the opportunities for doing
good such as I am haying," he said when I saw him.
Col. Eugene Houghton, Wisconsin, who was a British major until America
entered the war, distinguished himself by personally leading a unit of
New York men. According to them he escaped death repeatedly as by a
miracle.
"DESERT? NO, WANTED TO FIGHT"
Capt. Carl F. Laurer while assisting in the examination of German
prisoners, was surprised when an American prisoner was brought before
him. "Where do you belong?" asked the captain. "I am with an aerial
squadron in the south of France" replied the prisoner. "I walked
fourteen days to get here." "Did you desert?" asked Captain Lauer. "No,"
the man replied, "I want to fight. That is what I came to France for.
When I get home the folks will ask what I did in the war and when I
answer 'worked' they will say 'Why the devil didn't you fight?'" The
boy's wish was gratified and he was sent forward.
"We have everything good and plenty--rations, ammunition and other
things. It looks like a regular Sunday."
TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA TROOPS SHOW GREAT FIGHTING FORM
In this district, the 36th Division, made up of troops from Texas and
Oklahoma, veterans and raw recruits together, showed splendid fighting
form. They were under terrific shell fire day after day, but they met
several murderous attacks firmly, and drove the boches back in brilliant
counter attack, chasing them in true Ranger style. All these men showed
the same spirit that animated Roosevelt's renowned Rough Riders in the
war with Spain, so many of whom were Texas and Oklahoma men.
Reporting this fight, General Naulin, commanding the Corps of which the
2d and 36th Divisions were parts, said "the 36th Division, a recent
formation not yet completely organized, was ordered into line on the
night of October 6-7 to relieve, under conditions particularly delicate,
the 2d Division, and to dislodge the enemy from the crest north of St.
Etienne and throw him back to the Aisne. Although being under fire for
the first time, the young soldiers of Maj. Gen. W. R. Smith, rivaling in
combative spirit and tenacity the old and valiant regiment of General
LeJeune, accomplished all the tasks set for them." Every American knows
full well the bright record of the 2d Division of Infantry, the regulars
of which were composed of the 5th and 6th Marines and the 9th and 23rd
Infantry. These are the boys who stopped the Germans up in Belleau Wood
when the boches were headed for Paris and cocksure of getting there,
blandly unaware that they were goose-stepping toward an American
knock-out.
OUR COLORED TROOPS WIN CREDIT
American negro troops had a considerable share in the last few months of
fighting, and acquitted themselves in a highly creditable manner. They
were great trench diggers and trench fighters, and their endurance on
the march was a marvel to the allied armies. They were very popular with
the French people, who were delighted with their good nature and their
never-ceasing songs. Regular negro melodies these songs were, nearly all
of them of the camp-meeting variety--and sung with that choral beauty
which especially distinguishes all of their musical performances. The
negro notion of war and indifference to death was instanced in the case
where a white officer overheard one of them at the zero hour call out,
"Good night ol' world! Good mawin,' Mistah Jesus!" as he went over the
top.
"The colored boys," said Charles N. Wheeler, a distinguished
correspondent with the American armies, "are great fighters, and
are no better and no worse than any other group of American soldiers
in France, whatever the blood strain. They do take pardonable pride
in the fact that 'Mistah' Johnson, a colored boy, was the first American
soldier in France to be decorated for extraordinary bravery under
fire.
THEY CAN FIGHT AND SING
"The color line has about died out in the American army--in
France. They play together, sing their songs together--the blacks
and the white--and they go over the top together. They come back
together, too, the wounded, and there is no thought of the color of a
man's skin. They mix together on the convoy trains going up to the
front, and all sing together, sharing each other's dangers and their
joys. It is not an uncommon sight to see a crowd of white doughboys
around a piano in some 'Y' or Red Cross hut, singing to beat the band,
with a colored jass expert pounding the stuffing out of the piano. The
white boys enjoy immensely the wit of the colored comrades, and
many a bleak and drab day of privation and suffering is made a bit
brighter by the humor that comes spontaneously to the lips of the
'bronze boys.'
"The children of France love them. I suppose that is because
they wear American soldiers' uniforms. I have seen scores of white
children holding the hands of colored boys and trudging along on
the march with them or romping into their tents and sitting on their
knees and just exuding the affection that all the children of France
have for anything and everybody from the United States."