Having been inducted into the firing line, the 26th had no surcease,
but took part in every subsequent battle up to the signing of the
armistice, missing the promised rest, time after time, owing to the
exigencies of the campaigns. And according to the complaint of a
captured German lieutenant, they did not always play the game right. On
one occasion the moment an enemy barrage was lifted, a body of Yankees
darted ahead and actually nabbed some of the advancing Huns, the
lieutenant included. He sputteringly said in reproach of these tactics,
“They should not have been where they were. They were coming right
through our own barrage, and might have been wiped out.”
That the Americans were so apt to be “where they shouldn’t have been”
was greatly disconcerting to the Huns more than once. They did things
in such an unconventional way, acting so much on individual initiative
that they frequently spoiled the precise calculations of the German
machine. The French had greater appreciation of the Yankee method. The
commanding officer of the 32nd French said this of the 26th:
“I salute its colors and thank it for the splendid services it has
rendered here to the common cause. Under the distinguished command of
their chief, General Edwards, the high-spirited soldiers of the Yankee
Division have taught the enemy some bitter lessons at Bois Brulé,
at Seicheprey, at Xivray Marvoisin; they have taught him to realize
the staunch vigor of the sons of the great republic fighting for the
world’s freedom.”
The division was also in the Château-Thierry battle. Mr. Le Due writes:
“On the 9th the fighting on this new field began. The Boche, in the
early morning, swept down into Vaux and established machine-gun posts.
“‘You’ve got to drive those (censored) out of there or we’ll be the
laughing-stock of the division,’ was the word sent out by Colonel
Logan. And so the driving began.
“That fight for Vaux will be long remembered—a picturesque fight,
with groups of men rushing here and there, cleaning up snipers and
machine-gunners, rushing hostile positions; overhead the roar of the
American barrage, below the hum of countless machine guns. The clean-up
was thorough.
“Three days later Foch’s famous counter-offensive began—on July 18, at
4:25 in the morning.
“The night before, at ten o’clock, a terrific thunder-storm had broken.
Lightning flashed and rain fell in sheets. But in the morning there
came a clearing, and when the fated hour approached there was a rosy
flush on the morning sky. Commanders wore an anxious look. A surprise
had been planned, and a clear day was not to their liking. But just
before the time set a heavy mist began to descend. All was well.
“A gun spoke; then the roar from a hundred, a thousand iron-throated
messengers of death. The creeping barrage had opened. The infantry was
to attack simultaneously.
“The Yanks moved forward on the left, pivoting upon their own right,
held by the 101st, in front of Vaux. The 102d came next; but it was the
boys of the 103d and 104th, on the left, that did the early fighting.
“‘We are in Torcy,’ was the first message sent back. Then came a delay.
A hitch had taken place; but by nine o’clock Bouresches, Belleau, and
Givry were in the hands of the Yankees.
[Illustration:
_Drawn by Joseph Cummings Chase._