MID SHOT AND SHELL
IN TRENCH AND VALLEY--THE OPEN PLAIN--ON MOUNTAIN TOP--IN NO MAN'S
LAND--TWO CLASSES OF NEGRO SOLDIERS CONSIDERED--TRAINED GUARDSMEN AND
SELECTIVES--GALLANT 92ND DIVISION--RACE CAN BE PROUD OF IT--HAD SIX
HUNDRED NEGRO OFFICERS--SETS AT REST ALL DOUBTS--OPERATIONS OF THE
DIVISION--AT PONT A MOUSSON--GREAT BATTLE OF METZ--SOME
REFLECTIONS--CASUALTIES CONSIDERED
History, as made in France by the Negro soldier, falls naturally into
two divisions; that which was made by the bodies of troops which had an
organization prior to the war, and whether trained or not, could lay
claim to an understanding of the first principles of military science;
and that made by the raw selectives--the draft soldiers--to whom the art
of war was a closed book, something never considered as likely to affect
their scheme of life and never given more than a passing thought.
We have followed the first phase of it in the wonderful combat-records
of the colored National Guard, its volunteers and recruits. We have seen
them like a stone wall bearing the brunt of attack from the finest shock
troops of the Kaiser's Army. We have seen them undaunted by shot and
shell, advancing through the most terrific artillery fire up to that
time ever concentrated; rout those same troops, hold their ground and
even advance under the most powerful counter attack which the enemy
could deliver. We have followed them from trench to plain, to valley and
into the mountains and read the story of their battles under all those
varying conditions. We have pitied them in their trials, sympathized
with their wounded and ill, been saddened by their lists of dead and
finally have seen the survivors come home; have seen them cheered and
feted as no men of their race ever were cheered and feted before.
Much of the nation's pride in them was due to the fact that it knew them
as fighting men; at least as men who were organized for fighting
purposes before the war. When they marched away and sailed we had
confidence in them; were proud of their appearance, their spirit, their
willingness to serve. The country felt they would not fail to clothe
with luster their race and maintain the expectations of them. That they
fulfilled every expectation and more; had come back loaded with honors;
finer, manlier men than ever, increased the nation's pride in them.
Now we come to a contemplation of the other class; the men who knew
nothing of military life or military matters; who, most of them, wished
to serve but never dreamed of getting the opportunity. Many of them
employed in the cotton fields or residing in the remote corners of the
country, hardly knew there was a war in progress. Some of them realized
that events out of the ordinary were transpiring through the suddenly
increased demand for their labor and the higher wages offered them. But
that Uncle Sam would ever call them to serve in his army and even to go
far across seas to a shadowy--to them, far off land, among a strange
people; speaking a strange language, had never occurred to most of them
even in dreams.
Then all of a sudden came the draft summons. The call soon penetrated to
the farthest nooks of our great land; surprised, bewildered but happy,
the black legions began to form.
It already has been noted that with the exception of the 371st regiment,
which went to the 93rd Division, the selectives who saw service in the
fighting areas, were all in the 92nd Division. This was a complete
American division, brigaded with its own army, commanded through the
greater part of its service by Major General Ballou and towards the end
by Major General Martin.
While the 92nd Division as a whole, did not get into the heavy fighting
until the last two weeks of the war, individual units had a taste of it
earlier. Service which the division as a whole did see, was some of the
most severe of the war. The Negroes of the country may well be proud of
the organization, for its record was good all the way through and in the
heavy fighting was characterized by great gallantry and efficiency.
One of the outstanding features of the division was the fact that it had
about six hundred Negro commissioned officers. Its rank and file of
course, was composed exclusively of Negro soldiers. The fine record of
the division must forever set at rest any doubts concerning the ability
of Negro officers, and any questions about Negro soldiers following and
fighting under them. It was a splendid record all the way through, and
Negro officers rendered excellent service at all times and under the
most trying circumstances. Many of these officers, be it understood,
were entirely new to military life. Some had seen service in the
National Guard and some had come up from the ranks of the Regular Army,
but the majority of them were men taken from civilian life and trained
and graduated from the officer's training camps at Fort Des Moines, Camp
Taylor, Camp Hancock and Camp Pike. A few received commissions from the
officers' training schools in France.
The 92nd Division was composed of the 183rd Infantry Brigade, consisting
of the 365th and 366th Infantry Regiments and the 350th Machine Gun
Battalion; the 184th Infantry Brigade, composed of the 367th and 368th
Infantry Regiments and the 351st Machine Gun Battalion; the 167th
Artillery Brigade consisting of the 349th, 350th and 351st Artillery
Regiments; and the 349th Machine Gun Battalion, the 317th Trench Mortar
Battalion, the 317th Engineers' Regiment, the 317th Engineers' Train,
the 317th Ammunition Train, the 317th Supply Train, the 317th Train
Headquarters, the 92nd Military Police Company; and the Sanitary Train,
comprising the 365th, 366th 367th and 368th Field Hospital and Ambulance
Companies.
Briefly summarized, the operations of the 92nd Division may be stated
as follows: Arrived in France the summer of 1918. After the usual period
of intensive training in the back areas it was divided into several
groups for training alongside the French in front line trenches.
In August they took over a sector in the St. Die region near the
Lorraine border. September 2nd they repulsed an enemy raid at
LaFontenelle. On September 26th the division was a reserve of the First
Army Corps in the first phase of the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
On October 10th they moved to the Marbache sector in the vicinity of
Pont a Mousson. November 10th they advanced, reaching Bois Frehaut and
Bois Cheminot, capturing 710 prisoners. These positions were being
consolidated on November 11th when the armistice put an end to the
fighting. Of course there was fighting by some units of the division
from the time early in the summer when they went into the trenches.
When the Marbache sector was taken over by the 92nd Division, "No Man's
Land" was owned by the Germans and they were aggressively on the
offensive. They held Belie Farm, Bois de Tete D'Or, Bois Frehaut,
Voivrotte Farm, Voivrotte Woods, Bois Cheminot and Moulin Brook. Raids
and the aggressiveness of the patrols of the 92nd Division changed the
complexion of things speedily. They inflicted many casualties on the
Germans and took many prisoners.
Each of the places named above was raided by the doughty black men as
was also Epley, while their patrols penetrated north nearly to the east
and west line through Pagny. The Germans were driven north beyond
Frehaut and Voivrotte to Cheminot bridge. In their desperation they
tried to check the Americans by an attempt to destroy the bridge over
the Seille river. They succeeded in flooding a portion of the adjacent
country; these tactics demonstrating that they could not withstand the
Negro soldiers. West of the Seille river excellent results followed the
energetic offensive, the Germans losing heavily in killed, wounded and
prisoners. In nearly every instance the raids were conducted by Negro
line officers.
Up to this time the division as a whole, had never been in a major
battle. The only regiment in it that had seen a big engagement was the
368th infantry, which took part in the action in the Argonne Forest in
September.
The division's chance came in the great drive on Metz, just before the
end of the war. They were notified at 4 o'clock Sunday morning, November
10th. The motto "See it through" of the 367th infantry, known as the
"Buffaloes," echoed through the whole division.
They began their advance at 7 o'clock from Pont a Mousson. Before them
was a valley commanded by the heavy guns of Metz and by innumerable
nests of German machine guns. The Negroes seemed to realize that here
for the first time was the opportunity to show their mettle--that for
the first time they were going to battle as a division. A sense of race
pride seemed to stir and actuate every man. Here was a chance to show
what this great body, composed of cotton-field Negroes, of stevedores,
mechanics, general laborers, trades, professional men and those from all
walks of civilian life who but recently had taken up the profession of
arms, could do. An opportunity to enact a mighty role was upon them, and
they played it well.
Not only were the black infantry and machine gun units up at the front;
in the thickest of it, but the artillery--the 167th Brigade--was on the
line behaving like veterans. They laid down a barrage for the infantry
that was wonderfully effective. They established a reputation which has
been made by but few, among French, British or Americans, of laying down
a barrage that did not entrap; and fatally so, their own comrades.
It was a glorious day for the division. The casualty roll was heavy for
the sector was strongly fortified and the enemy made a most determined
resistance. Metz is considered by experts to be the strongest fortified
inland city in the world.
Indeed it is almost as strong, if not quite so, as Gibraltar or the
Dardanelles. But from the way the Americans hammered at it, military
authorities say that only the signing of the armistice prevented the
taking of it by assault. As it was, the close of fighting saw Negro
troops on German soil.
The fortitude and valor of the Negroes, especially in the action against
Metz, won them high praise from their commanding officers. Entire units
were decorated by the French with the Croix de Guerre. Fourteen Negro
officers and forty-three enlisted men were cited for bravery in action
and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Pershing. This is
a splendid showing considering that up to November 10th, 1918, the
greater portion of the division had to content itself with making daily
and nightly raids on the German front line trenches to harass the foe
and capture prisoners. This, however, required daring and courage and,
in some ways, was more trying and dangerous than being in a big
engagement. A total of 57 citations by the American military
authorities, besides honors bestowed by the French, is a splendid
showing for a division which won most of its honors during its first
great baptism of fire.
The casualties of the 92nd Division amounted to an aggregate of 1,511 of
all kinds. Six officers were killed in action and one died from wounds.
Among the non-commissioned officers and privates 103 were killed in
action, 50 died from wounds, 47 were missing in action and five were
taken prisoner. Forty enlisted men died from disease. Sixteen officers
and 543 enlisted men were wounded; thirty-nine officers and 661 enlisted
men were gassed. The number of gassed was unusually large, a reason
being, perhaps, that the men in the front line trenches were
exceptionally daring in making raids into the enemy's territory. One of
the main reliances of the Germans against these raids was poison gas, a
plentiful supply of which they kept on hand at all times, and which they
could utilize quickly and with great facility.
The small number in this division who were taken prisoner by the enemy
verifies the assertion made before that the Negro would sacrifice his
life or submit to deadly wounds rather than be captured. When only five
out of a total of about 30,000 fell into the Germans' hands alive, it
gives some idea of the desperate resistance they put up. Perhaps the
stories they had heard about the wanton slaughter of prisoners by the
Hun or the brutalities practiced on those who were permitted to live,
had something to do with the attitude of the Negroes against being
captured; but a more likely solution is that their very spirit to
advance and win and to accept death in preference to being conquered,
caused the small number in the prisoner list, and the large number in
the lists of other casualties.
Considering the desperate advance made by the 92nd Division from Pont a
Mousson the morning of November 10th, through a valley swept by the
tremendous guns of Metz and thousands of machine guns, the casualty list
really is slight.
Advancing over such dangerous ground to gain their objective, it appears
miraculous that the division was not wiped out, or at least did not
suffer more heavily than it did. An explanation of this seeming miracle
has been offered in the rapidity of the advance.
No two battles are ever fought alike. Offensives and defensives will be
planned along certain lines. Then will suddenly obtrude the element of
surprise or something that could not be foreseen or guarded against,
which will overturn the most carefully prepared plans.
No soldiers in the world were ever trained to a higher degree of
efficiency than the Germans. Mathematical precision ruled everywhere;
the ultimate detail had been considered; and all students of military
matters were forced to admit that they had reduced warfare seemingly, to
an exact science. But it was a mistake. The Germans were the victims of
surprise times innumerable. Some of the greatest events of the war,
notably the first defeat at the Marne in its strategic features, was a
complete surprise to them.
Everything about war, can, it seems, be reduced to a science except
strategy. Certain rules can be laid down governing strategy, but they do
not always work. Generally speaking, it is psychology; something which
exists in the other man's mind. To read the other man's mind or make a
good guess at it, defeats the most scientifically conceived strategy.
Napoleon outwitted the best military brains and was himself the greatest
strategist of his time, because he invariably departed from fixed
military customs and kept his opponent entirely at sea regarding what he
was doing or intended to do. Very seldom did he do the thing which his
enemy thought he would do; which seemed most likely and proper according
to military science. He thought and acted quickly in crises, relied
constantly on the element of surprise and invented new strategy on the
spur of the moment.
It was the big new strategy, the big new surprises, with which the
Germans found themselves unable to cope. The strategy of Foch which
developed in the offensive shortly after the battle of Chateau Thierry
in July and was well under way in the early part of August, was a
surprise to the Germans. Pershing surprised them in his St. Mihiel and
following operations, especially the battles of Argonne Forest, and had
a greater surprise in store for them in the Lorraine campaign had the
war continued.
Perhaps the Germans figured at Metz, that owing to the extreme
difficulty of the ground to be covered, their strong fortifications and
great gun power, any advance, especially of Negro troops, would be slow.
They accordingly timed their artillery action and their defensive
measures for a slow assault.
But they were surprised again. Officers could not hold back the Negro
fighters and German guns and soldiers could not stop them. They plunged
on to Preny and Pagny, and they rushed into the Bois Frehaut, and held
for thirty-six hours, this place from which picked Moroccan and
Senegalese troops were forced to retreat in ten minutes after they had
entered it. The Bois Frehaut was an inferno under the murderous fire of
the Germans. Holding it for thirty-six hours and remaining there until
hostilities ceased, it is surprising that the casualty list of the 92nd
Division did not amount to many times 1,511.
It is not intended to convey the impression that the Negroes were
entirely responsible for the victory before Metz. Many thousands of
white troops participated and fought just as valiantly. But this History
concerns itself with the operations of Negro soldiers and with bringing
out as many of the details of those operations as the records at this
time will supply.