than a necessity; it was a torture, as was soon evinced when twenty-six
men stretched themselves out on the board floor of the tent for the
seeming purpose of sleeping. Extra blankets had been drawn from the
quartermaster, which, combined with the blankets the soldier carried
in his pack, furnished mattress and coverings for the sweet but hard
repose. No blue-print diagram was furnished as to how the sleeping
space was to be allotted in twenty-six portions; with the result that
one fellow was awakened out of a sweet dream of eating pie and cake,
to find his buddy's feet pushing him in the face.
Reveille sounded at C Camp Woodley at 7:20 o'clock on the morning of
August 1st, when Battery D received its first taste of British mess.
Details of varied description were furnished from the battery roster,
while the battery spent most of the first day in camp trying to figure
out the English system of mess. The outfit was assigned places at
tables, by squads, in mess-tents. Two from each squad were delegated a
committee to go to the kitchen and bring on the chow.
For breakfast the committee brought back an iron-bound kettle of
oatmeal; another kettle of prunes and a quantity of bread. The system
then was one of "help yourself and pass it on," which was all right
for the fellow at the head of the table, but the fellows on the
opposite end had to do the figuring.
The same procedure was followed at noon when slum was served. Night
mess in England invariably was cheese and tea and jam, which was
always good as far as it went. The entire 311th regiment was served
from one kitchen. It was good fortune that the Americans had
individual mess kits with them and that there occurred no sanitary
inspections of said eating utensils while in C Camp where fifteen
hundred mess kits were washed in a two by four bucket.
During the first day in an English camp many of the soldiers slipped
past the M. P.'s and made their way to the town; a quaint market town
and municipal borough, numbering almost 4,000 inhabitants, in the New
Forest Parliamentary division of Hampshire. As far as sight seeing,
the only thing of interest in the town was an old abbey. Cafes were
numerous, while English ale signs were more numerous.
An American Y. M. C. A. was housed under canvas at Camp Woodley. The
workers in charge prepared a royal entertainment, while the regimental
band gave a concert the second night of the soldiers' stay in
camp. Members of a Romsey dramatic club furnished the entertainment.
Towards the close the band struck up, "The Star Spangled Banner,"
then, "God Save the King." The Romsey entertainers started to sing
their National Anthem, while the Americans joined in with, "My Country
'Tis of Thee." All that was needed to complete the effect of the Babel
scene was John J. Jlosky and Otto Skirkie to sing, "Down Where the
Green River Flows."
Reveille for Friday, August 2nd, had been set for 7:30 a. m. All heads
were awakened by the bugle at 6:45 o'clock that morning. No one in
Battery D stirred. The impression was that the call was for another
outfit. Six fifty-five found First Sergeant James J. Farrell going
from tent to tent to find out the cause of the silence. Then there was
great hustling to get out in line and many a woolen puttee was missing
that morning.
The day was destined to be a rough one. It was raining at reveille
call and still raining when call was sounded at 9:30 o'clock for a
hike. The hike was started and continued for three miles, so did the
rain. The longer the soldiers walked the faster it rained. The scenery
was beautiful through the stretch of pleasantly situated country in
the rich valley of the Test. Picturesque English homesteads, set amid
hedges and roses, with moss-overgrown thatched roofs, dotted the
wayside. At a cross-roads the battery halted for rest. Along the road
came a baker's wagon. There was a raid on its gingerbread cookies. The
bakerman reaped a harvest of good American quarters for every three
cookies he handed out.
Drenched through slicker, et al. the soldiers retraced their step to
Camp Woodley, the beauties of the flowery countryside being lost to a
majority by the far-soaking rain. When Lieut. Hugh Clarke dismissed
the watery battery admonition was added for everybody to change to dry
clothing. But, alas, the advice was far better than expedient. The
only clothes the soldiers possessed at the time were wet on their
backs. Their extra uniform and clothing was in their barrack-bags,
which had not been seen since leaving Camp Meade. No fire was
available. The only open course was to let the clothes dry on the
back. The boys of Battery D spent a very lonely afternoon, sitting in
the tents, with wet clothes. And, it continued raining on the outside.
When the battery drew individual rations, consisting of one can of
corned-beef; a hunk of cheese; a box of hard bread and a can of jam,
at 9:30 o'clock, Saturday morning, August 3rd, the sun was shining
and the day was waxing warm. Under full pack the command started for
the seaport of Southampton.
Romsey is seven miles Northwest of Southampton by the London and
Southwest railway, but the 311th did not take the L. & S. W. The
hob-nail limited was the official troop train and the route covered
nine miles by winding road.
It was on this hike that "Corona" became lost. David B. Koenig, the
battery clerk, was the chaperon of "Corona." But he could not carry
her all the way, so the boys took turns at carrying the precious
thing. During one of the rest-halts, however, some one left poor
little "Corona" lay by the roadside. When her disappearance was
discovered it was necessary for Lieut. Clarke to hike back several
miles and find the lost. "Corona" was the battery typewriter.
Southampton was reached at 12:30 o'clock. Stop was made at the British
rest camp at the Commons where refreshments, in addition to the cheese
and jam rations, were secured at the British Y. M. C. A. canteen. At 2
p. m. that day it started to rain and at 2:15 the regiment resumed its
march and reached the docks at 3:15 o'clock.
It was a regiment of tired soldiers who sat on their packs in the big
warehouse pier at Southampton waiting for word to go up the gang-plank
of the vessel that was to take them across the English Channel.
"The King Edward" was the name of the channel-going vessel that drew
alongside the pier late in the afternoon. It was a cute-looking boat,
just big enough to transport Battery D across the channel in comfort.
At 6:30 p. m., Battery D and 1200 other members of the 311th were
loaded on the King Edward. Everybody had a pleasant time. No space
went to waste, whatever. Some tried to sleep during the long night
that ensued while standing against a post and others tried to strap
themselves to the ceiling with their cartridge belts. In general the
scene was like unto a large meat-cooler in a butcher shop, with the
exception that the ship furnished life-preservers instead of
meat-hooks and the temperature was the extreme of zero.
Convoyed by several destroyers with piercing search lights, which
scanned the same waters that held the dead of the Hospitalship
Walrilda, which was torpedoed in the English Channel while conveying
wounded back to England, the King Edward started on its dash across
the channel at 8:30 p. m., on the night of the day that the Walrilda
met its fate.
The troops huddled together in the small hatches of the King
Edward did not have much thought where they were or whither bound.
They did not recall at the time that they were passing the Isle of
Wight and the spot in the English Channel that witnessed the defeat of
the Armada in the same month, back in the year 1588.
Sufficient unto the night was the misery thereof. Sea sickness came
over quite a few, which was duly abetted by the stifling air. Those
near the hatch-ways were fortunate in getting to the deck rails when
their inner recesses were most severely tempest-tossed. Those who were
hemmed in on all sides by human forms, who lay stretched on the
stairs, in hallways, benches and wherever there was an inch of space,
had a difficult time when they attempted to find a passage way through
the closely matted carpet of humanity.
Col. C. G. Mortimer, the regimental commander, came down from his
station on the deck and found it well-nigh impossible to get through
the corridor of the forward saloon.
Through the hours of the long night the King Edward was convoyed
across the channel at a speed nearing 25 knots an hour. Early morning
of Sunday, August 4th, drew the King Edward near the shores of
Northern France. At 2 p. m. the ship approached a harbor, but it was
not until daylight that those on board could see a sign on a warehouse
of a pier, bearing the name Cherbourg.
CHAPTER XIV.
SO THIS IS FRANCE!
"So this is France!"
For the first time the boys of Battery D repeated this phrase in all
its reality as they stood upon elevated ground in the vicinity of the
British Rest Camp at Cherbourg and viewed the vista of harbor, four
miles distant, where, from the gang-plank of the King Edward they set
foot on French soil on Sunday morning, August 4th, at 8 o'clock.
The panorama presented the naval and commercial harbors, from which
Cherbourg, the seaport of Northwestern France, derives its chief
importance. The eye can see the three main basins, cut out of the
rock, with an area of fifty-five acres, which forms the naval harbor
and to which are connected dry-docks; the yards where the largest
ships in the French navy are constructed; magazines and the various
workshops required for an arsenal of the French navy.
A glance about reveals surrounding hills, in which batteries are
located in fortification of the works and the town.
A second glance toward the harbor shows a large naval hospital close
to the water's-edge, at the mouth of the Divette, on a small bay at
the apex of the indentation formed by the Northern shore of the
Peninsula of Cotentin. There is also at the mouth of Divette, the
commercial harbor, connecting with the sea by a channel. This harbor
consists of two parts, an outer harbor and an inner basin. Outside
these harbors is the triangular bay, which forms the road-stead of
Cherbourg.
The bay is admirably sheltered by the land on three sides, while on
the North it is sheltered by a large breakwater, which is protected
and leaves passage for vessels. The passages are guarded by forts
placed on islands intervening between the breakwater and the mainland,
and themselves united to the mainland by breakwaters.
Glimpses of the town of Cherbourg which the boys received as they
hiked the four miles from the docks to the rest camp, through narrow
and crooked streets, revealed no buildings of special interest, apart
from the church of La Trinite dating from the 15th century; a statue
of the painter J. F. Millet, born near Cherbourg, stands in the public
gardens and there is an equestrian statue of Napoleon I in the square
named after him. After reaching the rest camp the soldiers were
unable to get down to the town again, although they had been told that
the Hotel de Ville housed a rich collection of paintings.
It was at 10 a. m. when the regiment arrived at the British Rest Camp
at Cherbourg. Halt was made on a large parade ground in front of a
Y. M. C. A. hut. The boys stretched themselves on the ground while
search was instituted for the area the outfit was to occupy at its
second rest camp.
Rest had just been commanded a few minutes when the command to
"fall-in" was sounded. Everybody hustled to their feet, shouldered the
heavy pack and awaited the next order.
"About-Face" was ordered. And the regiment obeyed. "Rest" was next.
This was the first time in the history of the battery that it was
necessary to shoulder packs to execute an about-face.
The camp consisted of dome-shaped, sheet-iron barracks and tented
areas. After an hour's wait Battery D was assigned to the 13th row of
Section C of the tented area. Tents were pyramid in shape. Fourteen
men were crowded into each tent that was originally intended for
eight.
By laying in wheel formation, with fourteen pairs of feet meeting at
the center pole, the boys rested themselves on the board floors of the
tents that night. There was no room for packcarriers and other
paraphanelia in the tents. Most of the soldiers deposited their excess
luggage on the outside. About midnight it started to rain. There was a
scurry to get the equipment in out of the rain, which also disturbed
the sweet slumbers as water trickled in under the canvass or else came
through leaks in the roof.
Reveille sounded at 5:30 the next morning. Orders were given for packs
to be rolled preparatory to moving. A move was made from Section C to
row 19 of D Section of the same tented area. The remainder of the
morning was set apart for Battery D to take a bath. The soldiers' bath
had been a negligible quantity since leaving Camp Meade, with the
exception of some few who attempted to work up a lather with salt
water on the Morvada. To the boys, therefore, the prospect of a good
bath was hailed with delight.
No dressing room was attached to the bathhouse that was situated at
one end of the Cherbourg rest camp. Therefore the boys had to make
ready for the bath in their tents. With slickers and shoes on the
battery lined up and marched to the bathhouse, while the rain came
down and the wind was wont to play with the flaps of the raincoats, as
a battery of bare-legs was exposed to the elements.
Arrived at the bathhouse, it was discovered that the showers would
accommodate eight at one time. The first squad in line went into the
water sanctum, while everybody else waited their turn on the outside.
The showers consisted of three half-inch pipes suspended from the
ceiling. There were three lengths of pipe, each length being
perforated at two places to emit the shower of water. The perforations
comprised about four holes, each hole about one-sixteenth of an inch
in diameter.
The first eight who entered the bathhouse were eager to get under the
showers and consequently did not glance about to inspect the equipment
of the room. The eight soldiers braced themselves under the showers
and yelled for the man in charge to turn on the water. Instead of
being washed away by the force of the current, as the firmly braced
attitude of each gave evidence that such was to be the case, the
opening wide of the flood-gates let four needle-like streams of water
descend upon each figure.
The eight took the bath good-naturedly and as they passed out of the
bathhouse, making room for the next eight to enter, they passed word
along the end of the waiting line to the effect that it would be just
as expedient to take off the slicker and stand out in the rain, that
was still falling.
The same evening orders to leave the rest camp came forth. At 6 p. m.
the regiment was assembled on the parade ground and soon started its
march back over the four miles, through Cherbourg, to the railroad
yards of the Ouest-Etat railway, which skirted the docks.
Arrived there at 7:45 p. m., sections of French trains were assembled
ready to receive the soldiers. This assemblage of coaches was of
infinitely greater variety than those of English ownership. Third
class coaches were in evidence, but of greater import were the box
cars containing the inscription, "40 Hommes or 8 Chevaux."
Forty men or eight horses may have been the official capacity but when
forty soldiers with equipment C were assigned to such a car to spend
the night and several succeeding nights, all that was needed to make
sardines was a little oil.
Several sections of the battery were fortunate in securing third-class
accommodations, but the remainder prepared to settle themselves in the
box cars, the majority of which cars turned out to have flat wheels as
the journey started.
Daylight remained abroad for the first two hours of the journey;
while the cars jolted over the rails the boys sang and kept alive the
spirit. Then came darkness. No lights in the car. Forty men stretched
out in a small box-car. Incidently it might be added that a French
box-car is about one-half the size of similar type of car used on the
railroads in the United States. It wasn't fair to kick your buddy in
the face or get on his ear. The night, however, gradually wore on and
the towns of Valognes, Isigny and Manche St. Lo, were passed. Thence
out of the Manche department, through the railroad center at Vire, in
Calvados, the special, with its side-door Pullmans, rolled on, enroute
through Flers, Coutenne and Pre during the early hours of the morning
of August 6th. Daylight dawned as Alencon was reached and at 11:30 a.
m., Le Mans loomed in sight. A half-hour's ride from Le Mans and an
half-hour lay-over was ordered. The troops were allowed to alight for
the time. A supply of iron rations was also furnished each car from
the supply car of the special.
The next stop was made at Tours from 6 to 8 p. m. A short lay-over was
also made at Poitiers at 11 p. m. The troop special was then nearing
its destination. But few on board were aware that at the end of the
next thirty-four kilometers was Montmorillon, in the department of
Vienne, which was to be the stopping off place of Battery D for a stay
of several weeks.
The troop special of thirty-five coaches and box cars, pulled into the
station at Montmorillon at 1 a. m.; all was quiet about the station. A
majority of the soldiers were too tired to care about location. They
slumbered on as best they could in their box-car berths, while the
special was pulled in on a siding, to remain until daylight when the
order to detrain was to be issued.
[Illustration: MONTMORILLON STATION
Where Battery D Detrained in France After Leaving British Rest Camp
at Cherbourg.]
[Illustration: MONTMORILLON STREET SCENE
Building Marked X was Billet for Half of the Battery During the First
Month Spent on French Soil.]
CHAPTER XV.
WHITE TROOPS INVADE MONTMORILLON.
Dotted with quaint architecture of 12th and 13th century Romanesque
and Gothic design, the hills of Vienne department, France, cradle the
crystal-clear and drowsy-moving waters of the Gartempe, a river, which
in its course winds through the town of Montmorillon, where four
thousand French peasantry, on August 7th, received their first lesson
in American cosmopolitism.
Montmorillon, where the boys of Battery D were billeted for the first
time in the midst of the French people; where they received their
first impressions on French life and mannerisms, lives in memory of
the boys as the prettiest, cleanest and most-comfortable place of any
the outfit visited during its sojourn in France.
Despite the fact that a feeling of strained hospitality attended the
reception of the 311th Artillery, the first body of white American
troops to visit Montmorillon, the cloud of suspicion was soon lifted
and four weeks of smiling August sunshine days, undarkened by
rainclouds, were spent along the banks of the Gartempe.
When the 311th troops alighted from the troop special early on the
morning of their arrival, the station and avenues of approach to the
town were guarded by American negro M. P.'s, members of the 164th
Artillery Brigade, who had arrived in the town several weeks previous
and had made themselves at home with the natives.
The 311th was not in Montmorillon many days before the explanation of
the half-hearted reception came to light. An element of negro troops
had started the story on its rounds among the guileless French
peasants that the white troops, who had just arrived, comprised the
"Scum of America," and that they (the negroes) were the real
Americans; the whites being the so-called "American Indians." As the
flames of gossip spread from tongue to tongue, admonition was added
that the white arrivals were dangerous and corrupt and the French
should refrain from associating with the new arrivals.
Thus there was created an intense and bitter racial feeling that
loomed gigantic and threatened open racial hostilities as the white
and colored American troops traveled the same streets of a foreign
village; were admitted to the same cafes and vied with each other for
the friendship of the French populace.
Street fights were not infrequent, while scenes in cafes were
enacted wherein white refused to sit in the same room with colored
troops or vice-versa.
Persisting in their set standard of chivalry, the element of the white
soldiers often took it as ordained to induce the French demoiselles to
leave the company of their opposite in blood. Many of the colored
troops were equally persistent, with the result that the breach of
ill-feeling gaped bigger, until official cognizance came to bear.
Within a short time the 164th Brigade was withdrawn from Montmorillon,
leaving the 311th to commence its active and intensive course of
training on foreign soil.
On August 7th, the day of the 311th's arrival, the troops waited at
the station for several hours while the billeting officers were
locating billets throughout the town. Iron rations were partaken of at
the station and everybody was glad that battery mess outfits would
soon set up shop and the American Q. M. system of rationing would be
resumed.
The march through the town to the various assigned billeting districts
was started from the station at 9:30 o'clock. The batteries of the
regiment were scattered in various billets throughout the town. Every
vacant house, barn or shed that possibly could be pressed into
service, was designated as a billet for the troops.
Battery D continued its march through the town; across the cement
bridge over the Gartempe; into an octagon-shaped intersection of
public streets, lined with several three-story buildings, the
principal one of which gave evidence of being a cafe and bore the
sign, "Cafe du Commerce."
Opposite the bridge, the route was along Rue de Strasburg, where, in
the rear of the Cafe du Commerce, Battery D halted before a
three-story stone structure that bore signs of having been vacated for
many years.
The area billeting officer produced a large key, threw open the door
and half the battery was ushered inside. It immediately fell their
task to brush the cow-webs from the ceilings; gather up the fallen
plaster from the floor; sweep out several years' accumulation of dirt
and dust; while the old-fashioned shutters were pried open for the
first time in many years and the sunshine streamed into the rooms, to
drive away, to some degree, the mustiness of environment.
The other half of the battery was directed to a barn structure
about a block distant from the first battery abode. Clean-up
activities of similar nature were instituted in the barn.
About 3 o'clock that afternoon the barrack bags of the regiment were
received and distributed to the soldiers. The bags had been in transit
ever since leaving Camp Meade.
Arrangements were made with several French farmers to bring a quantity
of straw to the public square, where the soldiers, later in the
afternoon, filled their bed ticks. It was on a tick of straw, thrown
on the floor of the old dilapidated, vacated house, that one hundred
of the battery spent their nights of sleep in Montmorillon while the
other half occupied similar beds on the upper-lofts of the barn.
There were no formations the morning after arrival. The battery men
spent most of the time about town. It was strange to observe the
peasantry hobbling along in their wooden shoes, the flopping of the
loose footwear at the heels beating a rhythmic clap, clap on the
cobblestone pave.
Each day brought new scenes of peasant life. Quaintly and slowly oxen
under yoke were used on the streets to haul the farmers' grain to the
large public square, where, under the scorching sun the farmer and his
helpers toiled with hand flailers, thrashing the grain. Strange
looking carts, drawn by donkeys with large ears, vied with the
ox-carts for supremacy of traffic.
Along the river's edge were located public places for clothes-washing.
The peasant whose house adjoined the river had a private place at the
water's-edge where the family washing was done. The river served as a
huge tub for the entire community, the women carrying their wash to
the river, where, kneeling at special devised wash-boards, garments
were rubbed and paddled until they shown immaculate.
Washing was greatly increased at the river when the 311th came to
town. The hundreds of soldiers sought out washer-women. The peasant
women welcomed the opportunity of earning a few francs doing American
washing. The more active of the washer-women spent entire days washing
at the river for the soldiers. At first one franc was a standard price
for having a week's laundry done, but as days passed and business
became brisker, rates went up to two, five and in some instances
higher.
To the Americans the town of Montmorillon, as was the case of most of
the ancient towns visited in France, presented an impression of
isolation. Houses built during the 12th century with their high walls
surrounding and barricaded entrances, were greatly in evidence; houses
of such nature, history records, as furnishing protection in the days
when feudalism fought at spear-points. The stages and wages of war
advanced with the centuries, but not so with the ancient French town;
where the peasants live content with no sewerage or drainage system;
content to pursue the antiquated customs. To be thrown in the midst of
this 12th century environment was productive of lasting impressions on
the part of the American troops who were suddenly transplanted from a
land of 20th century civilization and advancement, to an old and
foreign soil.
The first night the 311th was in Montmorillon fire broke out in "The
Baines," an ornate and modern French homestead near the Cafe du
Commerce. Several officers of the 311th regiment had secured quarters
in the Baines. They were forced to vacate by the fire. Bucket brigades
was the only fire protection the prefecture afforded its citizenry.
The fire drew a large crowd of the new soldiers, a score of whom took
active charge of fighting the blaze; giving the Frenchmen a real
exhibition in the art of bucket-brigade fire extinction.
Time, however, was not to view French scenery. Training activity was
the official topic of interest. It was decreed that instruction in the
school of the soldier should begin immediately. Fifty per cent of the
regiment comprised new recruits, who had been assigned to the outfit
previous to departure from Camp Meade. It was necessary to begin the
training at the beginning.
Out from the town, among the open farm lands, a large grain field was
secured as a drill field for the battery. It required a thirty-five
minute hike from the battery billeting area to reach the drill field.
This hike was in order every morning and afternoon. The time on the
drill field was spent in learning the rudiments in much the same
manner as the training was started and progressed with the first
recruits at Camp Meade.
When 4 o'clock of each afternoon came, the order was established for a
swim in the river as the parting day's rejuvenator. Montmorillon was
the only place in France where the battery got frequent baths.
Saturday morning for the troops at Montmorillon was generally inspection
time. Inspections were held on the public plaza. Showdown inspections
were as exacting as Camp Meade days. Saturday afternoon and Sunday
were days of rest for those who were lucky enough to escape detail.
Regimental services were held in the public square on Sunday mornings,
while many of the soldiers visited the curious, two-storied chapel of
octagonal form and Romanesque style, that was built in the 12th
century, in which services were still conducted. The chapel is
connected with the ecclesiastical seminary that occupies a building
that was formerly an Augustinian convent.
The Church of the Notre Dame is another ancient landmark of
Montmorillon that held interest for the Americans. It, also, is a 12th
century building, built on a high slope, with its chapel undermined
with a series of catacombs. Trips of inspection to these subalterean
chambers, where the worship of the early ages was conducted, were
numerous and interesting to the soldiers.
Various schools for instruction of the officers of the regiment were
established at Montmorillon. A detachment of new officers from the
Saumur school arrived in town to take charge of the training work
while the regular officers attended the schools. Second Lieut. Sidney
F. Bennett of Derby, Vermont, was assigned to Battery D at this time
and was given plenty of work in supervising the morning drill and
battery instructions. Lieut. Bennett immediately won great favor among
the men. He varied his periods of drill and training with athletics.
"O'Grady," "Crow and Crane," "Belt 'Round the ring," and numerous
other sport contests were indulged in with great vim.
A battery kitchen, utilizing the field range, was set up in close
proximity to the two battery billets. Here the boys lined up with
their mess-kits three times a day. They sat out in the narrow French
street as they appeased their appetites. Gone were the mess hall
tables of Camp Meade days. Gone were the cots of Camp Meade memory.
Cheer was added, however, when mail from the United States and home
began to reach the outfit. The first despatch of mail to reach Battery
D overseas was at Montmorillon on August 13th.
Then on August 14th came the first overseas payday. The battery
members were paid with an addition of ten per cent for foreign
service. The first pay was in French currency, the rate of exchange at
the time being 5:45 francs to the American dollar.
When French peasants toiled a whole day for several francs and when
the pay of the French soldier was not equalling one franc a day,
the French, when the American private was paid $33 a month in
179.85 francs, gained the idea that all Americans were millionaires.
The result was the establishment of two standards of price in French
shops; one price for the French and a higher price for the Americans.
Souvenir postcards sold anywhere from 10 centimes to five francs
apiece. In the matter of fruits, peaches commanded one franc for three
during the peach season; apples sold two for one franc; while tomatoes
that should have sold for one franc a basket, brought one franc for
five.
The soldiers were allowed to be on the streets until 9 o'clock each
night. Many spent their money freely. The wine shops did a thriving
business and as is usual in large crowds, the element was present that
was not satisfied with sampling the large assortment of wine-vintages
but indulged in Cognac. Strict disciplinary measures were immediately
adopted. Several of the first offenders, none of whom, however, were
from Battery D ranks, were reduced in rank at a public battalion
formation on the public square.
The cognac proclivities of the few endangered the privileges of the
many in having freedom to visit in the town at night. Battery
punishment was inflicted at times, which constituted carrying a full
pack on the back at drill formation or for a certain period after
drill hours.
Toward the latter part of August steps were taken to organize a
battery commander's detail. Lieut. Hugh M. Clarke took charge of the
instruction work. Special instruction was started in map and road
sketching, orientation and signal work. The battery in general was
also put through a strenuous course in the use of the semaphore and
the wigwag.
On August 21st the regiment passed in review on the large regimental
drill ground, under a burning sun. The swim in the river at the close
of that day was especially inviting.
While in Montmorillon Lieut. Sidney F. Bennett instituted a series of
battalion and regimental setting-up exercises. Calesthenics, to the
music of the regimental band, was the feature of the exercises.
The long hike to the grain field drill ground was abandoned after two
weeks and the village plaza was used for drill purposes. About this
time several French army sergeants were attached to the regiment and
instruction in gun pit construction was started. Details were kept
busy for several days digging gun pits near the regimental drill
grounds, but before the job was fully completed orders came for
the regiment to leave Montmorillon.
Present day reminiscences vouch for the fact that the stay in
Montmorillon was most pleasant. The weather had been ideal throughout
the month of August. Except for a detachment from the regiment who
replaced the negro M. P.'s no guard duty was necessary in the town.
During the first week of September, 1918, however, all that the boys
had to compare their lots and life in Montmorillon with was Camp Meade
regime. In the light of this comparison many expressed words of
approval that the outfit was finally getting away from such a horrid
place. Those who failed to see the good points of Montmorillon,
moreover, were without knowledge of what the future held in store for
the outfit in its journey through France.
CHAPTER XVI.
ACTIVE TRAINING AT LA COURTINE.
La Courtine, a village in the Department of Creuse, France, is
surrounded by hilly country, the very nature of the hills affording
ideal artillery range. La Courtine, therefore, was the site of a
French artillery camp for many years.
The village is divided into two parts; that which is gathered around a
progressive looking station, and part is on a hill, which part is
called Hightown. Both parts are confined to one street, replete with
bars and cafes.
It was to La Courtine that the 311th was bound after leaving
Montmorillon. The French had turned the artillery camp over to the
Americans and thither the 311th regiment was sent to get active and
intense training in range fire with the use of the French 75's.
The troop special assigned to the regiment upon leaving Montmorillon
was made up of box cars, many of which had recently been used to
transport crude oil, evinced by the oil on the floor of the cars. Onto
every box car was loaded anywhere from 36 to 50 soldiers and a supply
of iron-rations for the trip.
Montmorillon was last seen at 10 a. m., September 4th, when the trip
of box cars began to jolt and bang and back and switch over the rails,
with the troops aboard making the best of the situation, reclining on
straw that had been secured to partly cover the crude oil.
The route was through Dorat, Gueter, Busseau and Feletin. La Courtine
was reached at 9 o'clock. As per usual the first few sections of the
battery were left at the station as a baggage detail, while the
remainder of the battery marched through the village to the camp on
the outskirts.
The camp consisted of concrete barracks, with no lights at night and a
majority of the windows broken. The floor and ceiling, however, was
solid, which, at least, meant dry shelter during the nights of
France's rainy season, soon to be experienced.
Besides having a majority of the window panes broken, the barracks
bore marks of having been the target for machine-gun bullets. The
exterior walls were pitted with holes. Battery D was not in camp long
before the members knew the story of the Russian revolt that had been
staged at La Courtine during the days of Russia's exit from the war.
When Russia withdrew from the fighting Camp La Courtine sheltered
Russian troops. When the crash came part of the Russian army encamped
there revolted against a portion that sought to remain loyal to
France. The result was battle. The revolutionists fortified the
surrounding hills with machine-guns and opened fire on the barracks of
the camp below. Many Russians were slain in the revolt and lie buried
in a cemetery in the camp. The revolt was finally suppressed by a
detachment of French cavalry dispatched to the scene.
Sleeping quarters at Camp La Courtine contained bunks made of two-inch
plank, on which the Americans used their bed-ticks filled with straw.
Battery kitchens were set up the morning after arrival. The kitchens
were located under a tented roof. Mess was enjoyed by the soldiers out
in the open, as there was no mess hall for Battery D.
Except a slight rain the first day at Montmorillon, the four weeks
spent by the outfit in Vienne Department were weeks of sunshine
without a single day of rain, save the slight shower on the day of
arrival. It was the declining days of the French dry-season. Advent of
the outfit at La Courtine was with the rainy season. It rained the
first night in camp and it kept raining almost continuously during the
two months the battery spent at range practice.
The weather, however, affected no training schedules. The first days
at La Courtine were given over to hours of intensive exercise, drill
and instruction in all lines of artillery work. Specialty schools were
started in orientation, telephone, radio, machine-gunners, etc.
It was at La Courtine that Bill Brennan and Joe Loskill, who
accompanied the advance detail of the regiment to France, rejoined the
battery. They had arrived at La Courtine several weeks previous to
attend the machine-gun school. The machine-gunners, who left the
battery at Montmorillon to attend the school, were also at La Courtine
when the battery arrived.
Instruction was continued from early morning until nightfall. A large
Russian cannon was discharged in the camp each morning at 5 o'clock,
also at retreat time each night. Reveille was a daily formation but,
as was the case at Montmorillon, retreat was suspended during the
months the war continued. All energy was devoted to essential
war-training formations.
Camp La Courtine housed a large and well-equipped American Y. M. C. A.,
presided over by a large and capable staff of secretaries. To a
majority of the troops the Y. M. C. A. furnished greater inducement
for an evening's entertainment than did the numerous wineshops
down town, that always stood open and ready to receive the cash of the
American soldiers.
On September 10th matériel began to arrive for the regiment. Within a
few days the regiment was equipped with French artillery equipment,
the field pieces being the famous French 75 millimetre guns.
It was the first time that a majority of the boys of the regiment ever
came in contact with a 75. During the period of training at Camp
Meade, Md., U. S. A., the old members of Battery D spent eight months
in learning the 3-inch American field gun. It was an entirely new
proposition when equipped with 75's and ordered to range practice.
Instruction was also started in equitation and harnessing. French
artillery harness presented many new problems to the Americans. Many a
soldier became highly exasperated in a vain attempt to untangle a set
of French harness.
About twenty horses were furnished the regiment at La Courtine.
Several motor trucks were also supplied, whereby sufficient traction
was secured to drag the guns out among the surrounding hills for
actual firing practice.
Battery D was not long in getting acquainted with the French 75's. On
September 16th, just a brief span after the first instruction on the
mechanism of the gun, the boys fired the first salvos on the range at
La Courtine.
September 19th was the beginning of what was almost incessant work on
the range. Rolling out at 5 a. m., the boys toiled on the range
through the rain and mud, returning to barracks at 6:30 p. m.
Training continued in intensity. September 30th was one of the days
reveille sounded at 4:30 a. m. The weather was miserable--rainy,
windy, dreary. The battery left the barracks at day-break and hiked to
the range with field-packs, to sleep in pup tents on range grounds, to
be on hand early the following morning.
Gas masks and steel helmets were additional implements of war issued
to the soldiers at La Courtine. Then followed hour after hour of gas
instruction. Gas masks were carried by the battery on all hikes and
drill formations. Besides adjusting the mask a countless number of
times a day, a regimental order made it mandatory that the masks be
worn for at least one-half hour continuously each day.
Influenza struck the regiment while encamped at La Courtine early
in October. On October 5th, the camp Y. M. C. A. was closed under
quarantine. The quarantine in the regiment was accompanied by strict
daily inspections. The barrack squad rooms were thoroughly cleaned and
disinfected each day and all blankets were taken out for a daily
airing.
There was a plentiful supply of ammunition at La Courtine. The battery
spent the days at range practice when thousands of dollars worth of
shells were fired at a great variety of targets from several different
battery positions that were established.
While the battery was fitting itself at range practice, specialists
were qualifying in all the attendant duties of artillery work. Toward
the last of October it looked as though the outfit would soon see
active service, as perfection in firing was rapidly being reached.
On October 15th the battery camouflage detail, headed by Sergeant Leo
Delaney, of Pittston, Penna., began the construction of camouflaged
gun positions on the range, after which Battery D participated in the
firing of a brigade problem.
Several days previous, October 11th, William Reynolds, of Pottsville,
Penna., was killed when acting as No. 1 man of the first gun crew, in
charge of Sergeant James Duffy, of Parsons, Penna. Standing in the
rear of the piece, Sergeant Duffy had given the command to fire. The
execution of the command was immediately followed by an explosion in
the gun's tube, a portion of steel flying and striking Private
Reynolds, almost decapitating him. Nicholas Young, of Pottsville,
Penna., acting as Number 2 man on the gun-crew, sustained a compound
fracture of the leg. Gunner-Corporal John Chardell, of Hazleton,
Penna., sustained injuries about the body which confined him to the
camp hospital for several weeks.
Private Reynolds was buried in the American cemetery at Camp La
Courtine on Saturday, October 12th, at 2 p. m., with military honors.
This first casualty overseas awakened a new cord of sympathy among the
battery members and it was with thoughtful determination they turned
from the grave of their departed comrade and went back to their tasks
of preparing for active war.
Training was continued amid rumors of early departure for active
battle sectors. As early as October 10th orders were received for the
outfit to prepare to move. Supply wagons, etc., were immediately
packed. Days passed, but no transportation was in sight. Each day
the boys looked for an order to entrain, but the R. T. O.'s were not
heard from.
Thrilling news of the final stages of the drives reached the boys
through the Paris editions of the New York Herald and Chicago Tribune,
that were sold in the camp each day. The news enthused the soldiers
and thrilled them with the desire to move forward and get in on the
grand finale. They had toiled early and late, in all kinds of weather,
to learn how, and it is natural to presume that a red-blooded soldier
yearned the opportunity to make use of that knowledge acquired with
such sacrifice and toil.
While waiting orders to move the battery took up a new position on the
range. A brigade firing problem including a night barrage was fired on
October 21st, with the signal details at work with signal rockets.
The brigade problem, which was the last firing the battery did in
France, ended on October 30th with the laying down of a defensive
barrage. The problem required twenty-four consecutive hours.
On October 28th, First Lieutenant C. D. Bailey joined the battery at
La Courtine. Lieut. Bailey was formerly of the ambulance service of
the French army and the S. S. U., No. 5. and at that time, he was the
only man in the regiment entitled to wear a French decoration.
Meanwhile the outfit was packed up in the main, and was ready to move
at short notice. With the approach of November the boys thought their
movement was assured and plans were laid for a "feed," consisting of a
pig-roast, to be held on November 2nd.
Late in the afternoon of November 2nd death claimed First-Sergeant
James J. Farrell, of Parsons, Penna., who died a victim of pneumonia.
Sergeant Farrell, who was a regular army service man, was buried at La
Courtine on Monday, November 4th.
The same day, November 4th, another battery member was claimed in
death by Influenza. He was Private Horace Fardon, of Paterson, N. J.,
who was buried on November 5th. That evening at 6:55 o'clock Private
First-Class Joseph A. Loughran, of Hazleton, Penna., fell a victim to
pneumonia. Private Loughran was buried alongside Private Fardon, on
the morning of November 6th.
Besides paying last military honors to their departed comrades the
boys spent the days previous to the cessation of the fighting on the
pistol range, developing their proficiency with side-arms.
On the evening of Wednesday, November 6th, a battery entertainment
was staged in the auditorium of the camp Y. M. C. A. A mock trial was
the feature of the entertainment.
On one of the trips to the pistol range, on November 5th, Private
William Van Campen, of Ridgewood, N. J., walked into a loaded hand
grenade, which he kicked. The resultant explosion caught him in the
knee and incapacitated him on the hospital list. Corporal James F.
Kelly, of Plains, Penna., almost collided with a grenade on the same
trip.
An order was issued, November 9th, for front-line packs to be rolled;
transportation was in sight. The inevitable delay resulted, however.
All transportation facilities were busy hauling ammunition to the
front where the Allies were giving the Germans the rain of fire that
caused them to think seriously and quick about an armistice.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO CAMP LA COURTINE, FRANCE
Road Leading from the Village Street to the Artillery Camp. The Scene of
the Armistice Celebration.]
[Illustration: AMERICAN Y. M. C. A. AT CAMP LA COURTINE
Officers' Mess Hall of French Camp Used as a Recreational Center by the
American Army.]
CHAPTER XVII.
NOVEMBER ELEVENTH AT LA COURTINE.
November 11th, 1918, was a memorable day to the populace of La
Courtine, France, as was the case in every hamlet, village, town or
city in the world, when the news was flashed that Germany had accepted
the terms of an Allied armistice and that fighting was to cease at 11
a. m. that day. The armistice that ended the World War was signed at 5
a. m., Paris time, and hostilities ceased six hours later, which was 6
o'clock Washington time.
The American troops encamped at La Courtine this eventful time
received the tidings with great joy. The roads leading from the camp
to the village were crowded with soldiers who paraded up and down in
hysterical good humor. The crowds thronged into the village where the
one main street was ablaze with celebration. The French populace were
out to celebrate with the Americans. The cafes did a land office
business. Wine flowed freely. The French kissed the Americans in some
instances as the celebrators swayed through the street. The band was
out. The crowds shouted, yelled, sang and cut-up all kinds of antics.
The scene, however, was similar to that enacted everywhere throughout
the Allied world. The end of the fighting was officially announced and
everybody was glad. The same hysterical good humor swayed the crowds
at La Courtine that prompted like celebrations throughout the United
States.
Great as was the enthusiasm and celebration of November 11th, the big
gusto of celebration had been spent at La Courtine, as was the case
everywhere else, on Thursday evening, November 7th, when a premature
and unofficial announcement of the armistice was made.
Battery D spent the afternoon of November 7th on the pistol range.
About 5 o'clock the news quickly spread that a bulletin announcing the
end of the fighting had been posted at the Y. M. C. A. The bulletin
was up only a short time when it was removed, with the explanation
that it was unofficial, also contradicted.
But the anxious hearers, as was the case everywhere, wanted no
denials. The enthusiasm of the hour made people speak of the thing
which they had been hoping for as though it had come true.
Consequently the enthusiasm led to celebration.
It was a gala night in La Courtine. The days following brought sober
realization that the end had not yet come. Stern realities of war
loomed big in Battery D circles on Saturday, November 9th, when a
front-line pack inspection was in order.
A quiet Sunday followed, then, at noon on Monday, November 11th, came
the authentic news of the armistice signing. Joyous celebration
started immediately and assumed its peak during the afternoon when
special passes were issued to the soldiers to visit in the village.
The celebration continued until late at night.
Official recognition of the news was thundered from the cannon at Camp
La Courtine at retreat, when a royal salute of twenty-one guns was
fired.
The following day was also an off day for Battery D. Passes to visit
the town were issued to half the outfit from reveille to 3 p. m.,
while the other fifty per cent were given the privilege from 3 p. m.
until 11 p. m.
Word was received that the regiment was to entrain at La Courtine on
November 14th. Preparations were immediately made for a farewell
banquet. After great preparation by the cooks and the K. P.'s, the
banquet was staged at 6 o'clock on November 13th, with stewed chicken
as the mainstay of the menu. A number of the Y. M. C. A. girls were
guests at the banquet.
Thursday, November 14th, the regiment had the task of getting its
matériel to the station at La Courtine for transportation by rail to a
new billeting area of France. No one could guess where it was to be or
what the future held in store for the troops in the way of service and
training during the months that were sure to intervene before it was a
question of homeward bound.
The regiment was well supplied with matériel, but had no horses. A
number of motor trucks were sought out to haul the heavier of the
supply wagons. It was necessary for the soldiers to furnish the power
to drag the guns and caissons from the camp to the station, a distance
of over a mile.
The matériel was loaded on flat cars at the station. Then the soldiers
were ushered to side-door Pullmans once again. Bed ticks were not
emptied of their straw before leaving camp. Thus the soldiers entered
the box cars with their bed ticks as a mattress to recline on the
floor of the car.
The first section of flat cars and box cars with Battery D left La
Courtine at 2:30 o'clock. Another seeing France by box-car trip was
on.
An improvement in mess enroute was experienced during this trip.
A flat car was used for the rolling kitchen. Hot meals were prepared
in transit. Back over the same route, through Feletin and Abusson, to
the junction point at Busseau, the troop special proceeded, reaching
the junction at 6:30 o'clock when mess call was sounded. Here the
first section of the train waited until 8:27 for the arrival of the
second section at the junction point.
It was dark when the trip was resumed. Deprived by the darkness from
sight-seeing privileges, all that remained for the troops to do was to
stretch out on the floor and try to sleep. The nights were long and
dark while traveling in a French box car.
During the night the towns of Jarnages and Montlucon were passed. The
train entered the Department of Allier, traveling Northeast, through
Commentry, Villefranche, le Montel and Moulins.
Daylight was breaking by the time Moulins was sighted. Stop was made
at Paray le Monial from 7:30 to 8 a. m., when breakfast was served
from the flat truck dining car.
The next day, November 15th, was spent traveling through a beautiful
stretch of country. The railroad ran almost parallel with the Boninoe
river, a branch of the Loire. Through pasture lands and farming
country, the road stretched along Palinges, Montceau, Changy, Beaune.
A lay-over for lunch was made at Nuits St. Georges at 1 p. m.
In the afternoon stop was made at Dijon, where the troops got a chance
to detrain and partake of refreshments that a corps of French Red
Cross workers served at the station.
Soon after leaving Dijon darkness fell upon the troop special. The sun
had not yet gone to rest. The famous tunnel between Sombernon and
Blaizy-Bas had been penetrated. This tunnel, on the road to Paris, may
be a note-worthy piece of engineering skill, but its designers
evidently never dreamed of a troop special of thirty or forty old box
cars, many with rust-corroded doors that could not be closed, whizzing
through; leaving the passengers to eat up the exhaust from the smoke
stacks of the locomotive.
At this time the troop train was headed Northwest, toward Paris, but
hopes of getting near Gay Paree were soon shattered. When Nuits sous
Ravieres was reached, switch over to another branch was made and the
direction then was Northeast, toward Chaumont, the A. E. F.
headquarters town.
Stop for night mess was made at Les Laumes, where orders were also
issued for the troops to get their packs ready as the outfit would
detrain in about three hours time.
A heavy frost developed that night and the troops almost froze in the
boxcars. After delay in getting started from Les Laumes the journey
continued over a considerable longer period than three hours. Laigne
and St. Colombre were passed and La Tracey, the detraining point, was
reached at 3 a. m., Saturday, November 16th, 1918.
Reveille was not sounded until 6 a. m. During the interim most of the
troops left the boxcars and built fires in the railroad yards, around
which they sought warmth during the early morning hours.
The hustle to get all the matériel from the flat trucks started at 6
o'clock. A section of a motor transportation corps was dispatched to
La Tracey to convey the regiment to its new billeting district. The
motor outfit was late in arriving, but finally start was made. Three
and four guns and caissons were attached to each truck, the truck
loaded with soldiers and packs, then for a thirty kilometer race
through the Marne Department in motorized artillery form. The last
detail did not leave La Tracey until 4 p. m.
The first details arrived at Ville sous La Ferte, a small village in
the Department of Aube. This village was the billeting center for the
2nd Battalion of the regiment. Regimental headquarters was established
at Clairvaux, four kilometers from Ville sous La Ferte. The 1st
Battalion went to Juvancourt, about a kilometer distant.
Farm lands and vineyards surrounded these villages. The inhabitants
were of the quiet peasant type. With nothing of interest and no form
of amusement, Ville sous La Ferte was a quiet place for Battery D. The
battery was divided among a score of barns, lofts, sheds and houses,
covering considerable length of a village street. A grist mill with
its water-wheel and mill-pond was situated near the building in which
the battery office was established. All formations were assembled in
the street in front of the battery office. Difficulty was experienced
during the stay at this place in getting the battery out at all
formations, especially those members who were billeted in the loft of
a barn at the extreme end of the battery street. As a remedy the
battery buglers were given the job of traversing the street each
morning and routing out the fellows.
It was mid-November. The days and evenings were getting damp and
chilly. Fires were comfortable things those days, but heating stoves
were unknown to the peasant homes of Ville sous La Ferte. The
houses were equipped with fire-places. The big question, however,
was to procure fuel. It was all the battery could do to get a supply
of wood from nearby woodlands to supply the needs of the battery
kitchen. At first the fellows started to make raids on the wood pile
that came in for the kitchen, but this soon had to be stopped under
necessity of suspension of the commissary department.
For many of the squads billeted in the barns and sheds there was no
chance for warmth as there were no fire-places. During the damp, cold
nights the only choice the inhabitants of those billets had was to
roll in and keep warm under the blankets.
To chop a tree down in the numbered forests of France was to commit a
crime, so the fellows who were in billets that did have fire places
faced a series of crimes to get wood. The inhabitants of such billets
took it upon themselves to devise ways and means to obtain fuel. The
occupants of one billet sent details out to root up old fence posts
from adjacent farm-lands; while in another instance eighteen men
housed in a billet borrowed several French wheel-barrows and at night
made a raid on a large pile of newly cut tree trunks which was located
a kilometer from the village.
The result of this night's work provided fuel and light for several
days in the billet of the raiding party. Light was another essential
feature. With candles selling as high as a franc apiece, letter
writing home was sadly neglected in many cases. So the receipt of an
extra letter written by the light of a log-blaze, kindled with wood
secured through great difficulty, has had to act as savoring
repentance for any misconduct employed in acquiring possession of the
means of light and heat.
The battery had among its equipment dozens of new horse-blankets. With
the exception of a few stray animals, no horses had been received by
the battery in France thus far. Several were in care of the outfit at
Ville sous La Ferte, where six horses caused as much stable detail
work as a complete battery of mounts occasioned at Camp Meade. The
main feature, moreover, was the distribution of the horse-blankets
among the troops in an effort to keep warm at night.
There was no room in Ville sous La Ferte to do any maneuvering, so the
guns and caissons were parked in a field and were not used during the
stay. The time of the soldier was employed in hikes and various forms
of athletics. Soccer developed as the leading sport and great rivalry
resulted in games that were played on furrowed ground of a large wheat
field.
War was over, so official orders again gave birth to Retreat
formation, which was held with much disciplinary ado in front of the
Hotel de Ville at 4:15 o'clock each afternoon. Guard mount was also
decreed and last, but not least, regimental reviews came into their
own with great official solemnity.
On Thursday, November 21st, a wild boar hunt that had been planned by
the battery, had to be called off. A regimental review was to be held
at Clairvaux that afternoon.
The 2nd Battalion formed at 1 p. m. and hiked to Clairvaux with colors
flying for the big review. A mix-up in giving commands "flunked" the
first attempt at passing in review. The entire ceremony of dignity had
to be executed a second time. Close order drill then came into its
own. The following day, November 22nd, the battalion again hiked to
Clairvaux, where another review was staged and the regiment kept at
battalion close-order drill until 4 o'clock.
Sunday, November 24th, reveille sounded at 6 o'clock. Orders were
given to make rolls preparatory to moving. When the soldiers were
ready to move the order was changed. It was discovered that the motor
trucks would not arrive until the following day.
The motor transportation squad was expected to arrive early on Monday
morning. It was 9 o'clock at night when they arrived. Departure was
delayed until next morning, but this did not keep back an order that
called the battery out in detail during a heavy rain at 9:30 Monday
night to pull the guns and caissons through the mud, from the field
where they had been parked to the road, so that they could be attached
to the motor trucks. There was a great tendency to "duck detail" that
night.
Ville sous La Ferte was finally left in the distance, Tuesday,
November 26th, at 10 o'clock. The soldiers and their packs had to pile
in the few motor trucks that were furnished. A few of the boys rode
the matériel attached to the trucks and had a wild ride. The rolling
kitchen of the battery, with ovens blazing away, covered the roads at
a fine clip behind a motor truck, with George Musial having his hands
full trying to manipulate the brake.
The trip continued through Maranville and Bricon. Chaumont was circled
about 4 o'clock and stop was made about twenty-one kilometers from
A. E. F. Headquarters, at a sleepy little hamlet of about fifty houses
and barns, called Blancheville.
[Illustration: A BATTERY D KITCHEN CREW
Photo Taken at Mess Tent at Camp La Courtine, France.]
[Illustration: GROUP OF BATTERY D SERGEANTS
Capts. Clarke, Smith, and Hall in foreground.]
CHAPTER XVIII.
MUD AND BLANCHEVILLE.
Blancheville, mud and mules are associated in memory of the holiday
season of 1918-19 that Battery D spent in France.
It was Thanksgiving week when Battery D arrived in Blancheville. The
auto convoy deposited the battery paraphernalia in the vicinity of the
old stone church and graveyard that stood along the main highway as
the landmark and chief building of the village. Nearby stood the only
other building of import--a stone structure that housed a pool of
water in the manner of the ancients. This was the public pool where
the women of the village came to do the family washing, as the village
was deprived of the natural advantages of a river. Watering troughs
surrounded this wash-house on two sides. Twice daily the cattle and
live-stock from all the village barns were led to this watering place.
Water for drinking purposes was also supplied the village from a
special fountain on the exterior side opposite the water troughs.
Mud was the chief characteristic of Blancheville. It was a farming
community of unusual quietude. Plenty of barns and roosts were found
in which to billet the battery. The natives were very hospitable. They
readily chased out the cows and the chickens to make room for the
Americans. The boys lived next door to animal nature. In one billet an
adjacent room housed the live stock and it was not uncommon to have
slumbers awakened by the cow walking into the sleeping quarters of the
troops.
While in Blancheville the boys got used to the largest of the French
rat species. During the hours of the night they traveled flat-footed
over the faces and forms of sleeping soldiers, also played havoc with
all soldier equipment stored in the billet. It may sound like myth,
but it is a fact that a rat in one billet dragged an army mess kit
across the floor--they were some rats.
On the road opposite the church stood an old, one-story stone building
that was built in its present form, eight hundred years ago. The roof
was overgrown with moss and one corner had started to crumble in from
old age. In this building Corporals James Cataldo and Michael A. Tito,
the battery barbers, set up a barber shop. They did good business
after they were able to convince the battery in general that the roof
would not cave in for another hundred years.
The first day in Blancheville was spent in parking the guns and
caissons, digging Latrines and the usual duties attendant upon
establishing a new battery home. It was also a job in itself to make
some semblance at getting some of the billets cleaned up and half fit
to sleep in.
Reveille for the first few mornings was at 8 o'clock. Thursday,
November 28th, was an off day for the outfit, except those on K. P.,
who got an extra job in preparing a battery Thanksgiving spread. The
day was spent by the idle mostly in hiking over the roads and visiting
some of the nearby villages where the other units of the regiment were
quartered. Regimental Headquarters, Headquarters Company, Supply
Company, Battery C, and the Medical detachment were at Andelot, about
four kilos from Blancheville. The 2nd Battalion Hqrs. and E Battery
were at Cirey-les-Mareilles; A Battery was at Vignes; Battery B at
Montot, and F Battery at Mareilles.
The town of Andelot, built in the shape of an amphitheatre on the
slope which forms the base of the hill of Monteclair, is situated on
the banks of the little river Rognon, 21 kilometers from Chaumont,
seat of the Department of Haute Marne.
On this hill of Monteclair, on which there was a strong-castle during
the years 101 to 44 B. C., Caesar established a camp. Under
Constantine (306 A. D.) Andelot became the seat of a province. A Court
of Champagne fortified the position of Monteclair (440 A. D.). On the
28th of November, 587, the treaty of Andelot was made between Gontran,
King of Burgundy, and Cnideberft, King of Austrasia, who was
accompanied by his mother, Brunehaut.
In 871 A. D., Andelot became the seat of a county, which was broken up
in the course of the tenth century, and which was a dependency of the
Duke of Lorraine. From 1201 to 1253 the fortifications of Monteclair
were strengthened and enlarged, the town was beautified and surrounded
by walls, which were demolished in 1279. Andelot became the seat of a
prefecture of which Domremy, the birthplace of Joan of Arc, was a
part.
In 1356 and again in 1431 Monteclair was taken by the English. It was
returned to France in 1434. In 1523 a German army occupied Andelot and
the castle of Monteclair for a short time. There followed famine and
pestilence. Francis I, King of France (1494 to 1547) repaired the
fortifications and ordered a great amount of work to be done on the
fortress. During the religious wars (1337 to 1453) Andelot was taken
and re-taken by the Catholics and Protestants, its church was
burned and its bells melted down. Monteclair came again under the
authority of the King in 1594.
The fortress of Monteclair was dismantled in 1635, and in the
following year the Germans devastated the town of Andelot. The
fortress was finally destroyed in 1697. From that time until the
present Monteclair and the towns in its vicinity have been rich in
souvenirs.
It was among these scenes Battery D idled the Thanksgiving day. At 5
p. m. a special feed was put on in the battery mess hall in general
celebration. The feasting was getting along nicely; everybody was
enjoying the menu of roast pig and prune pie and nuts and candy, when
it was suddenly discovered that a number of the candles used to light
the mess hall had suddenly disappeared. The aftermath was felt for
several days. A thorough search for the lost candles was instituted.
They could not be found. An official battery order was then
promulgated, stating that if the candles were not returned within a
certain time a very heavy battery guard would be put on for the
remainder of the stay in Blancheville.
About a half dozen candles had disappeared. When the ultimatum was
issued about two dozen candles of all sizes and descriptions were
returned to the battery kitchen. The guard never went on. Candles
continued to sell in Blancheville for fancy prices and the battery in
general suffered in its letter writing for the want of light at night.
Leather jerkins were first issued the battery at Blancheville on
November 29th, which was the signal for horses to be received. The
receipt of horses started a long and hard battle with the mud. To
multiply miseries mules played an important part in the life of the
battery. All told it is a long, muddy tale.
On Friday, December 6th, fourteen sick horses arrived in Blancheville
to be cared for by Battery D. The following day another consignment of
horses arrived. The majority of the animals were afflicted with the
mange. All had seen active service and were badly used up. Many
suffered from neglect, the troops having but little time for the
proper care of the animals while up in the front lines. Some were
minus pieces of their ears, which had been shot off in battle.
Two large, open artillery stables had been erected at Blancheville by
a previous contingent of troops, so Battery D had stable facilities.
The constant rain, however, soon played havoc with the ground in the
vicinity of the stables and it was not long after the horses were
received that the heavy traffic in the vicinity of the stables
created a regular sea of mud. Hip rubber boots were issued and it was
a grand battle with the mud each day. The animals had to be led
through the mud three times a day to the public water troughs in the
village.
Besides caring for the horses the time at Blancheville was spent in
hiking, at physical exercise and in the enjoyment of various forms of
athletics. The manual of the pistol again came into its own and the
guns were not neglected, as gun drill was finally returned to the
schedule.
At least once a week the battery hiked to Cirey les Mareilles, three
kilos distant, where the only bath house was located.
Thoughts of the Christmas season came to the battery at Blancheville
when the first Christmas boxes from the folks back home were received
during the second week in December. The boxes continued to arrive
until the festal holiday.
Sunday, December 15th, was payday for the soldiers in Blancheville.
This particular payday was of ill omen for the battery. A number of
the boys indulged too freely at the cafes in Chantraines, with a
to-be-regretted fracas resulting. A guard of military police was put
on at Chantraines following this escapade.
Monday, December 16th, thirty-five additional horses were received by
the battery. Considerable time was spent in getting the harness in
shape, especially the saddles, after which lessons in equitation were
again started, also a number of battery mounted hikes inaugurated.
Early in December announcement was made of a proposed horse convoy to
the Belgian border. The topic was discussed for many weeks, the
proposed trip having been scheduled and cancelled several times before
a convoy finally materialized. What the one hundred volunteers for
this convoy had to contend with during the trip is a tale of its own,
which must be related in terms of hardship, rain, mud, and mules.
CHAPTER XIX.
AN ADVENTUROUS CONVOY.
What could be more pleasant or soothing to an adventurous spirit than
a trip in the saddle through the scarred and devastated battle sector
along the Lorraine border? This is what appealed to the boys of
Battery D when announcement was made at Blancheville early in December
that one hundred men were wanted to accompany a horse convoy to Longwy
on the Belgian border. One hundred volunteers were asked for, and it
was not long before the required number was enlisted from the military
ranks.
The first convoy was to have left Blancheville on December 13th, but
at the eleventh hour the trip was cancelled. Various other dates were
set. Finally, on Wednesday night, December 18th, Capt. Smith assembled
the battery in the Y. M. C. A. tent that stood near the old church,
when announcement was made that the horse trip was to start on the
morrow and the names of the one hundred men who were to make the trip,
were called off.
In high spirits the volunteers made ready for the trip. Each man
packed a set of saddle bags; made ready a driver's roll with shelter
half and blankets. All the other individual equipment was gathered
together and left in the Y. M. C. A. tent, as rumor had it that the
regiment was soon to move to another billeting area and the order to
move might come when the horse convoy was on the road. Thus the extra
equipment was left with the remainder of the battery, on whose hands
evolved the task of remaining in Blancheville and caring for the
battery horses and doing the other detail work. The schedule worked
hardship both ways. There was more than enough work for those who
remained at the battery area, and those who volunteered for the convoy
were not long in realizing that they had a tough job on their hands.
The detail of one hundred men left Blancheville at 7:25 a. m.,
Thursday, December 19th, in five auto trucks. The trucks also conveyed
a saddle and equipment, also driver's roll, for each member of the
party.
The auto convoy proceeded through Chaumont; then came a pleasant ride
along the Marne river, passing through the towns of Luzy, Vesaignes,
Rolampont and Langres. Stop was made at the latter fortified town,
where the soldiers visited the town and procured refreshments. The
trip was continued and at 12:30 p. m. the party reached Remount No.
13. at Lux, situated about three kilometers beyond Is-sur-Tille.
In fighting the mud at Blancheville the battery members thought they
had struck the muddiest spot in France. Nothing could be muddier, they
thought. But this thought was soon shattered when the volunteer convoy
reached Lux. Perhaps it was due to the Remount being numbered 13, but
the mud that surrounded it is beyond adequate description.
It was raining heavily when the battery arrived at Lux. Slimy mud,
three feet thick in places, covered the territory of the remount.
The original order was for the detail from Battery D to remain at the
remount over Friday and start with the horses for the Belgian border
on Saturday morning. Arriving at the remount the battery detail was
housed in a sheet-iron barrack with corrugated sheet-iron bunks. And
everything was covered with mud.
Thursday night, while the detail lingered at the remount, official
orders came changing the plan for the convoy party. Instead of taking
horses to Longwy the detail was ordered to start the following morning
to return to the 311th Regiment with several hundred mules.
Friday morning, December 20th, reveille was held in the rain at 5:45
o'clock. Immediately after mess the auto trucks were loaded and made
ready for the trip. The detail, in charge of Capt. Smith, and
accompanied by Lieutenants Yeager and Bennett, ploughed through the
mud to the section of the remount that housed the horses the convoy
was to escort.
Each member of the convoy selected a horse to saddle. The animals were
of various spirits. Many of the battery detail were recruits who did
not have the lessons in equitation at Camp Meade that the older
members of the battery experienced. After considerable difficulty the
horses were saddled and the convoy assembled in a large field to
receive the consignment of mules.
Many of the horses had never been ridden in the saddle before, with
the result that a regular wild-west exhibition transpired on the
field. Riders were thrown from the saddle into the mud, but all the
boys had their nerve with them and stuck to the horses, bringing them
under control.
Lieut. Yeager was induced by the remount officers to saddle a large
and fiery stallion, but after a brave attempt on the part of Lieut.
Yeager to break and ride the stallion, during which the rider was
precipitated into a large, muddy pool and covered with mud from head
to foot, change had to be made for another animal, the stallion being
left behind when the convoy started.
When all was set with the detail mounted, the remount attaches trotted
out 237 mules, tied in series of three.
The mules were divided among the mounted men, each man getting three
mules to lead, besides having to manage the horse he was riding. All
the mules were frisky, having remained unworked for a considerable
period. There was great prancing around as the convoy assembled. The
mules, in many cases, started to pull one way and the horse pulled the
opposite. Many of the mules were tied up in various speed
combinations. Ones that were always on the run were coupled with ones
that did not know how to step lively, or else the horse of the mounted
party was either too fast or too slow for the trio of mules the driver
had to lead along.
At 9:30 a. m. the convoy got started on the road. The convoy consisted
of 96 mounted men leading 237 mules, the rolling kitchen drawn by four
mules, in charge of George Musial, who had the assistance of Cook
Burns and two K. P.'s in preparing meals enroute. Five auto trucks,
carrying the forage and picket-line equipment, formed the remainder of
the train.
Slowly the convoy proceeded over the mud-covered road leading from
Lux. At noon stop was made at Fontaine-Francais, where the animals
were watered in a stream and given nose-bags. Then the rolling kitchen
came along the road and hot slum and coffee was served to the horsemen
stretched out along the side of the road. It was against orders to tie
the animals anywhere while on the march. Each driver had to hold his
charges at rein's length with one hand, and attempt to eat the slum
with the other hand.
After a two and one-half hour lay-over the march was resumed, a
distance of thirty kilometers having been set for the day. The route
was through Montigny in the afternoon and at 5:15 p. m., under a cover
of darkness the convoy reached Champlitte. Through the town the road
stretched, past a large chateau, then came a long hill, down which the
horses and mules galloped, wild with hunger and fatigue. It was a dark
night and difficulty was experienced in keeping to the unknown road.
In making the descent of the hill leading from Champlitte several
riders and mules almost struck the edge of the elevated road and had a
narrow escape from going mounted over a precipice.
It was about 6 p. m. when stop was made at the base of the hilly
road, where orders to remain for the night were issued. There were no
stable accommodations, or nothing ready to receive the animals. A
picket line had to be erected in a muddy ravine. The animals had to be
led to a nearby stream and watered by bucket as there was no shallow
approach to the stream. As the animals were watered and lead to the
hastily thrown up picket-lines they began to bite and kick each other.
A miniature stampede resulted until the several hundred nose-bags were
adjusted and hay shook out along the picket line. Then all horses and
mules had to be blanketed for the night. The detail secured the
blankets from the auto trucks and started the task, which took
considerable time and which was finally accomplished at the risk of
life and limb. A limited amount of picket line had been erected and
the mules especially were tied in very close proximity. To get between
them and blanket the frisky jacks was to dodge bites and hoofs in all
directions.
Mud was kicked up in all directions while the animals were receiving
attention. It was a tired, muddy and dirty lot of soldiers that
finished their tasks at the picket line at 11:30 p. m., and started to
march up the dark hill to Champlitte; to the old chateau that was to
house the troops for the night. It was midnight when the troops got
something to eat from the rolling kitchen. Then they stretched out on
the floors of the old chateau to rest for the night.
Next morning was Saturday. It was decided that the convoy would remain
over at Champlitte and rest for the day. There was but little rest,
however, as everybody was kept busy caring for the horses and mules;
watering, feeding and grooming being in order. When it came to
grooming the mud was caked thick on all hides.
It rained Saturday night. The guard detail at the picket line had a
merry time chasing mules that broke loose and started to roam over
adjacent hills.
All hands were up and on the job at the picket line at 5:30 a. m.,
Sunday morning, December 22nd. It was 8:30 o'clock before all sections
were watered and fed, the picket lines packed in the trucks and things
made ready to start. With the sections lined up on the road ready to
start, count of the mules was taken and it was discovered that five
were missing. An hour's wait resulted until all mules were present and
accounted for.
The drive continued through the rain, until 11:30 p. m., when the town
of Pierrefitte was reached. Detailed work in throwing up a picket
line in the yard of an old chateau and duties equally as strenuous and
similar to the first night's stop at Champlitte, were in order until
all the animals were cared for. Bean soup was served for the battery
mess and the night spent in the chateau.
During the night the rain turned into a sleet storm, attended by a
strong wind. The wind and the sleet caused a stampede at the picket
line. Morning found the picket lines completely demolished, and horses
and mules roamed all over the lot. They were tied in all shapes and
forms, the halter shanks being twisted in knots galore.
The battery men were up and doing at 5:15 Monday morning. It was 10 a.
m. before all the animals were captured and tied up properly. The
first section got started on the march shortly after 10 o'clock.
Sleet, rain and snow continued to fall during the day. Through large
expanses of open road, the convoy journeyed. The sleet drove in the
faces of the mules, causing them to gallop at top speed. The riders
had their strength severely tried and tested in keeping the situation
under control.
Stop was made about 3 kilos from the town of Bourbonne where the
animals were watered at a stream. The convoy entered Bourbonne at 3:30
p. m. and found to its great joy that the town housed an American army
veterinarian section and had stable accommodations. The stable
facilities lightened the work of the convoy and it was 5 o'clock when
the men went to the town to seek quarters for the night. The large
auditorium of the American Y. M. C. A. had been scheduled as the place
of abode for the night. When the outfit applied for admission a
conflict of dates was brought to light. It took great persuasive
force, bordering close unto mob rule, before the officious officer in
charge of the Y. M. C. A. was induced to allow the tired and muddy
party to break in upon the quietude of the few sections of troops
occupying part of the Y. M. C. A. for the night.
Before the convoy resumed the journey on Tuesday morning, December
24th, army veterinarians examined all animals in the convoy party.
Many loose shoes had to be fixed by the blacksmiths, while twenty-two
of the horses showed symptoms of lameness else had developed sores
that barred them from continuing the journey. The veterinarian section
also took over a number of the sound horses and mules.
The first sections got started from Bourbonne at 9 a. m. Twenty-six of
the men, under Capt. Smith, were detailed to take the lame horses to a
nearby remount and exchange them for sound animals. It was 11:30
when the detail of twenty-six left Bourbonne with the thought of
overtaking the remainder of the convoy.
The main convoy rode hard all day. It was the day before Christmas and
it was raining. Stop was made for the night at Clefmont, where stable
accommodations were secured for the horses, while the mules had to be
picketed.
The detail of twenty-six that was following had difficulty in finding
the road the convoy had taken. It was dark when Clefmont was reached.
The main detail had sent out a guard with a lantern to locate Capt.
Smith and his detail, but the guard got on the wrong road; leaving the
detail with Capt. Smith passing out Clefmont in the blackness of the
night. By a stroke of luck, however, inquiries from French peasants
finally steered the lost detail on the road where the advance guard
with the lantern was located.
After caring for the horses the convoy spent Christmas eve in an old,
dirty, combination barn and dwelling. Reclining on bunches of live
straw that was found in the building, the soldiers dreamt of Christmas
eve back home, wishing they were there, instead of where they were.
Christmas morning, Wednesday, December 25th, dawned clear and cold.
Clefmont was left behind at 9 a. m., when the soldiers determined to
drive hard so that the trip could be terminated by noon. The route lay
through Longchamp. As the morning wore on a snow storm developed.
Through the snow the riders pressed on, until 1 p. m., when
Cirey-les-Mareilles was reached. Orders were to leave the majority of
the animals at Cirey. A detail of Battery E men were on hand to meet
the convoy and assist in caring for the animals at that point.
Relieved of their charges, the members of Battery D secured auto
trucks to take them to Blancheville. It was a relief to get washed and
cleaned up, as there was very little washing and shaving done during
the five days on the road. It was a pleasure, also, to be back at the
old stamping ground. And, to think it was Christmas. A few peaceful
hours during the afternoon and evening were enjoyed by the convoy
detail. A large amount of mail had accumulated while the men were on
the road. It was Christmas mail, in which cheering words were received
from the home folks. Christmas boxes despatched through the Red Cross
came into their own. It was a rejuvenated bunch that partook of
Christmas dinner in the battery's old mess hall at Blancheville at 5
o'clock that night.
[Illustration: BATTERY D ON THE ROAD
Passing Through a French Village.]
[Illustration: ABOARD THE EDW. LUCKENBACH
Battery D Homeward Bound.]
[Illustration: AT BUSH TERMINAL, BROOKLYN
Home. At Last.]
CHAPTER XX.
ON THE ROAD TO BENOITE VAUX.
During the month of January it was reported in official circles that
the 154th Artillery Brigade was to accompany the 79th Division into
Germany as a unit of the Army of Occupation. The artillerymen were
enthused with the prospects of joining their division and getting in
the midst of the big scenery. The movement, however, never
materialized. The outfit was forced to bear a disappointment like unto
the shattering of expectations of getting in on the finale of the
fighting.
As has been recorded, as early as October, 1918, the instructors had
decided that the 311th artillery was in a position to take up active
front-line duties. Several weeks previous the infantry and machine-gun
regiments of the 79th Division had entered the fight and made their
famous attack on Montfaucon, one of the most difficult positions to
take in the Argonne sector. Twenty-seventh Division artillery had
furnished the support at Montfaucon. The 79th Division artillerymen
were eager to replace them and aid in the fighting of the division
along the Meuse river.
After the holiday season Battery D spent its time in Blancheville with
mounted hikes forming the mainstay of the schedule. Each day the
outfit looked for orders to join the division and proceed to German
territory.
The horses and mules brought to the regiment by the convoy, were
distributed to the various batteries. Driver squads were immediately
reorganized and great preparation attended all the hikes.
The latter part of January an official order was issued citing the
individual members of Battery D as entitled to wear a gold service
chevron, an indication of six months service on foreign soil. With the
award of the gold stripe came the selection of the Lorraine Cross as
the divisional insignia and the granting of leaves of absence to visit
the beauty spots of France, with Paris included in the schedule as a
possible three-day leave center. The first men left the battery on a
fourteen day leave, at Blancheville. A waiting list was established
and passes were issued in order of application. During the remainder
of the battery's stay in France names were on the leave list.
The famous Mediterranean Riviera was the favorite leave center,
although St. Malo and Grenoble were cited in official division
orders. Many of the members of Battery D got the opportunity to
spend a vacation in the Southern part of France, where the land is
sheltered by the mountains from the North winds, and lit and warmed by
a resplendent sun in a sky, the azure of which is seldom dulled by
clouds. Nice, Monaco with its Monte Carlo and a trip across the
Italian border near Menton, were included in the majority of the leave
itineraries. While en route to the Southern clime it was customary for
the soldier on leave to mistake trains; get on the wrong train and
find himself landed in the City of Paris. This, in most cases, was the
only opportunity the majority had of seeing the French metropolis,
although a number of three-day leaves to the capital city were granted
battery men.
Leave privileges in the A. E. F. kept the French railroads busy. The
demand for furloughs became so popular that troop specials to the
leave centers came into being and opportunity of individual travel was
curtailed. Scores, however, took advantage of the troop specials to
the land of vacation ease.
While Battery D was in Blancheville Lieut. Hugh M. Clarke was
transferred to the Supply Company of the regiment and Lieutenant Leo
C. Julian, of Lakeland, Fla., was attached to the battery.
The horses were the main care of the battery. Forage was scarce, which
caused the animals to become mean-tempered as they gnawed at the
hay-racks and discovered that about one pound of hay had to do each
horse a day while the forage scarcity lasted.
Many of the battery members received severe kicks while attending to
stable duties. The most serious injury through a kick was inflicted
upon Private Frederick M. Bowen, of E. Rutherford, N. J., who was sent
to the Base Hospital at Rimaucourt with injuries that separated him
from the outfit and sent him home as a casualty.
When the hikes became a daily occurrence at Blancheville stable duties
were set for the entire battery to share in. Watering and feeding was
done immediately after reveille was dismissed each morning.
On January 3rd the battery was ordered to pack everything to take to
the road. The rolling kitchen accompanied the battery caravan that
left Blancheville to return again to the village after a 7 kilometer
hike. A similar hike was held the day following, when it was announced
the regiment was to move forward and join the division for the trip
into occupation territory. The same day a detail of five men were
were dispatched to the new billeting area to make ready the new
battery location.
It was decided that the battery would proceed to the new area by
taking to the road in march-order. The battery was ordered to be ready
to move by January 9th.
On January 8th another hike with everything packed was accomplished,
the outfit getting back to Blancheville at 12:30 p. m. All the
matériel was left out along the road leading from the village that
night, so all that was needed for an early start the following morning
was for the horses to be hitched to the guns, caissons and
supply-wagons.
The battery left Blancheville at 7:30 a. m., Thursday, January 9th,
proceeding to Andelot where the entire regiment assembled on the road
for the journey. A detail of men were left at Blancheville to cleanup;
overtaking the outfit later on single mount.
After leaving Andelot the route was through Vignes and Busson; halt
for noon-mess was made at the latter place. A distance of 22
kilometers was set for the day's journey, terminating at the village
of Epizon, which was reached at 3:30 p. m. The regiment parked its
matériel and established its picket line in a large grain field, then
had to wait for two hours until the supply train brought up the
forage. The battery men found sleeping quarters for the night in the
barns and sheds of the village.
The outfit was astir at 4:45 o'clock the next morning and was moving
on the road at 8:30 a. m. Stop was made at noon at Soulaincourt, where
the 311th passed the 211th motorized French artillery regiment, going
in the opposite direction along the narrow road. In the afternoon the
regiment passed through the town of Montiers and went into park for
the night at 6 p. m., at Morley. The village furnished an abundance of
haylofts for the artillerymen to crawl into the straw for the night.
Saturday, January 11th, found the regiment ready to resume the journey
at 7:15 a. m. The trip continued through Le Bouchon, Serenier and
Stainville, the latter place being the noon-mess stopover junction.
Here the train of horses were watered by bucket. During the afternoon
Bazincourt, Haironville, and Bullon were invaded in order. The horses
were watered in the community watering trough in the village of
Combles at 3:30 p. m., after which the regiment proceeded to Veel and
stopped for the night. It rained heavy during the night, but the
outfit was fortunate in locating a number of army barracks in the village
that furnished a night's shelter.
Sunday, January 12th, it was raining when the troops answered reveille
at 5 o'clock. The rain turned into snow an hour later when the
regiment was ready to resume the journey. Under a canopy of snow the
troops passed through the city of Bar Le Duc. After leaving Naives in
the distance, stop was made at noon at Le Petit Rumont.
The cannoneers were forced to walk a great part of the distance. They
were also compelled to wear their field shoes on the march instead of
the rubber boots which the drivers wore. They trudged along the slushy
road with wet feet, while it grew colder and more miserable. It was
welcome relief when camp was ordered for the night at Violette and the
troops assigned to old hospital barracks for the night.
A farming community, named Benoite Vaux, in the Department of Meuse,
about twenty-five kilometers from the celebrated American battle
sector of Saint Mihiel, was selected as the new billeting district for
the regiment. Benoite Vaux was reached at noon on Monday, January
13th, after the regiment had been on the road for the day since 8 a.
m., passing through Belrain, Pierrefitte and Courouve.
Benoite Vaux was a quiet hamlet of a score of peasant homes and an old
stone church. The 2nd Battalion was stationed in and about the town;
Battery D was assigned to barracks that formerly were used as a French
army hospital. The 1st Battalion was scattered here and there on the
hills and in the woods outside the village.
CHAPTER XXI.
WAR ORPHANS AND HORSE SHOWS.
Almost every outfit of the A. E. F., in France, adopted a mascot--a
real, live mascot, to be sure; not out of mere pet fancy, but the
natural outcrop of the American spirit of benevolence. Through the
Bureau of War Orphans of the American Red Cross, units of the A. E. F.
made contributions to the Adoption Fund for French War Orphans. The
aid in each case was administered by the Red Cross to the welfare of
an orphan.
The members of Battery D adopted little four-year-old Denise Ferron
during the month of February, 1919, as their mascot, and, by
additional contributions a ward was selected in memory of First
Sergeant James J. Farrell. The second ward was three-year-old Georges
Lemoine, who was much in need of assistance.
Denise Ferron, with brown eyes and brown hair, was born April 25,
1914, the daughter of Madame Vve Ferron, of Fericy, Seine et Marne,
France.
Mr. and Mrs. Ferron had just established a butcher shop when war came
on. The father was then mobilized at the first call. He went to the
front where he was wounded. In 1916 at Verdun, he held the Croix de
Guerre and was mortally wounded in April, 1918.
When he joined his regiment his wife was left with no resources,
having given all of their earnings for the purchase of the butcher
shop. The difficulty to find meat and some one to help her, forced her
to give up her business.
She had another child, Simonne, who was born July 8, 1917. This
blonde, grey eyed brother of Denise was cared for by another A. E. F.
unit. As her children were too small, Mme. Ferron was not able to take
any work and her only means of support was a military allocation
amounting to 105 francs monthly.
Although his body rests in the American military cemetery at La
Courtine, France, the memory of James J. Farrell is revered in unison
by all who knew him and the family of Vve Memoine, Ville Billy, St.
Lunaire, Ille et Vilaine, France, who have come to know him in spirit
since the youngest son, Georges, was adopted. Georges Lemoine was born
February 1, 1915. He had five other brothers and sisters, viz; Pierre,
Louis, Marie, Marcelle and Anna, the oldest 15 and the youngest 6
years.
These children were in a truly lamentable plight. Their father was
a farmer but on such a small scale that what he got from his small
piece of land was insufficient for the needs of his family. He was
conscripted but sent back because he was the father of six children.
He had never been strong, and during the prolonged stay at the front
tuberculosis developed, from which he died on May 18, 1917.
Unfortunately his wife contracted this terrible illness. But before
she realized her plight she had taken over a neighboring farm, for she
was anxious to shoulder her burden as well as possible. This overtaxed
her strength and hastened her decline.
These are passing incidents of the period the battery spent in Benoite
Vaux. Other incidents of import to the battery were the erection of
stables and the conduct of horse shows.
When the outfit arrived at Benoite Vaux there were stable
accommodations for some of the batteries encamped out in the woods but
Battery D, stationed in the village, was without accommodation for the
horses. For the first few weeks of the stay the horses were kept out
in the open on picket lines. The weather and the mud became very
severe and temporary stables were secured in a wooded section near
where Battery C was stationed. These stables were about two kilometers
from the battery billets. While the horses were stabled there the
soldiers had to hike the two kilometers three times a day and drive
the horses to the watering troughs in the center of the village.
Orders were soon issued for the battery to build stables in the
woodland on the opposite side of the road from the battery quarters.
The ground selected as the site was very muddy. The first duty,
therefore, was the opening of a stone quarry and the hauling of many
loads of cracked stone to form the base of the new stable. Between the
work of building the stables and preparing for the horse shows, the
time of the troops at Benoite Vaux was well occupied.