OUR OWN SECTOR
THE Luneville sector was merely a sort of postgraduate school of
warfare, but shortly after the beginning of 1918 the American Army took
over a part of the line for its very own. This sector was gradually
enlarged. By the middle of April the Americans were holding more than
twenty miles. The sector lay due north of Toul and extended very roughly
from Saint-Mihiel to Pont-a-Mousson. Later other sections of front were
given over to the Americans at various points on the Allied line.
Perhaps there was not quite the same thrill in the march to the Toul
sector as in the earlier movement to the trenches of the Luneville line.
After all, even the limited service which the men had received gave them
something of the spirit of veterans. Then, too, the movement was less of
an adventure. Motor-trucks were few and most of the men marched all the
way over roads that were icy. The troops stood up splendidly under the
marching test and under the rigorous conditions of housing which were
necessary on the march. They had learned to take the weather of France
in the same easy, inconsequential way they took the language.
For a second time the German spy system fell a good deal short of its
reputed omniscience. Seemingly, the enemy was not forewarned of the
coming of the Americans. Despite the fact that the troops were tired
from their long march, the relief was carried out without a hitch. Toul
had been regarded as a comparatively quiet sector, and, while it never
did blaze up into major actions during the early months of 1918, it was
hardly a rest-camp. It was, as the phrase goes, "locally active." Few
parts of the front were enlivened with as many raids and minor thrusts,
and No Man's Land was the scene of constant patrol encounters, which
lost nothing in spirit, even if they bulked small in size and
importance.
It is probable that the Germans had no ambitious offensive plans in
regard to the Toul sector. They tried, however, to keep the Americans at
that point so busy and so harassed that it would be impossible for
Pershing to send men to help stem the drives against the French and the
English. The failure of this plan will be shown in the later chapters.
Before going on to take up in some detail the life of the men in the
Toul sector, it is necessary to record a casualty suffered by
Major-General Leonard Wood. While inspecting the French lines General
Wood was wounded in the arm when a French gun exploded. Five French
soldiers were killed and Lieutenant-Colonel Charles E. Kilbourne and
Major Kenyon A. Joyce, who accompanied General Wood, were slightly
wounded. Wood returned to America shortly after the accident, and did
not have the privilege of coming back to France with the division he had
trained. But for all that he had a unique distinction. Leonard Wood was
the first American major-general to earn the right to a wounded stripe.
The German artillery was active along the Toul front and the percentage
of losses, while small, was higher than it had been in the Luneville
trenches. Of course, the American artillery was not inactive. It had a
deal of practice during the early days of February. The Germans
attempted to ambush a patrol on the 19th and failed, and on the next
night a sizable raid broke down under a barrage which was promptly
furnished by the American batteries in response to signals from the
trench which the Germans were attempting to isolate.
The first job for America did not come on the Toul sector, but near the
Chemin-des-Dames. American artillery had already shown proficiency in
this sector by laying down a barrage for the French, who took a small
height near Tahure. Hilaire Belloc referred to this action as "small in
extent but of high historical importance." The importance consisted in
the fact that for the first time American artillerymen had an
opportunity of rolling a barrage ahead of an attacking force. They
showed their ability to solve the rather difficult timing problems
involved. Certain historical importance, then, must be given to the
action of February 23, when an American raiding-party in conjunction
with the French penetrated a few hundred yards into the German lines and
captured two German officers, twenty men, and a machine-gun. This
little action should not be forgotten, because it was practically the
first success of the Americans. It gave some indication of the efficient
help which Pershing's men were to give later on in Foch's great
counter-attack which drove the Germans across the Marne.
It is interesting to know that every man in the American battalion
stationed on the Chemin-des-Dames volunteered for the raid. Of this
number only twenty-six were picked. There were approximately three times
as many French in the party, and it must be remembered that the affair
was strictly a French "show." The raid was carefully planned and
rehearsals were held back of the line, over country similar to that
which the Americans would cross in the raid. At 5.30 in the morning the
barrage began and it continued for an hour with guns of many calibres
having their say. The attack was timed almost identically with the
relief in the German trenches and the Boches were caught unawares. The
fact that a shell made a direct hit on a big dugout did not tend to
improve German morale. The little party of Americans had already cut
2,999 miles and some yards from the distance which separated their
country from the war, and they were anxious to cover the remaining
distance. Their French companions set them the example of not running
into their own barrage. Poilus and doughboys jumped into the enemy
trench together. There was a little sharp hand-to-hand fighting, but not
a great deal, as the German officers ordered their men to give ground.
The group of prisoners were captured almost in a body. Further
researches along communicating trenches and into dugouts failed to yield
any more.
Attackers and prisoners started back for their own lines on schedule
time. The German artillery tried to cut them off. One shell wounded five
of the Germans and six Frenchmen, but the American contingent was
fortunate enough to escape without a single casualty. The French
expressed themselves as well pleased with the conduct of their pupils.
They said that the Americans had approached the barrage too closely once
or twice, but this was not remarkable, as it was the first time American
infantry had advanced behind a screen of shell fire. Their inexperience
also excused their tendency to go a little too far after the German
trench-line had been reached.
On February 26 the Americans on the Toul front had their first
experience with a serious gas attack. Of course, gas-shells had been
thrown at them before, but this was the first time they had been
subjected to a steady bombardment. Some of the men were not sufficiently
cautious. A few were slow in getting their masks on and others took
theirs off too soon. The result was that five men were killed and fifty
or sixty injured by the gas. Two days later the Americans on the
Chemin-des-Dames were heavily attacked, but the Germans were driven off.
March found the Toul sector receiving more attention than usual from the
Germans. The Germans made a strong thrust on the morning of March 1. The
raid was a failure, as three German prisoners remained in American hands
and many Germans were killed. Gas did not prove as effective as on the
last occasion. The doughboys were quick to put on their masks and as
soon as the bombardment ended they waited for the attacking-party and
swept them with machine-guns. About 240 Germans participated in the
attack. Some succeeded in entering the American first-line trench, but
they were expelled after a little sharp fighting. An American captain
who tried to cut off the German retreat by waylaying the raiders as they
started back for their own lines was killed. On the same day a raid
against the Chemin-des-Dames position failed. The Germans left four
prisoners.
Two days after the attempted Toul raid Premier Clemenceau visited the
American sector and awarded the Croix de Guerre with palm to two
lieutenants, two sergeants, and two privates. The premier, who knows
American inhibitions just as well as he knows the language, departed a
little from established customs in awarding the medals. Nobody was
kissed. Instead Clemenceau patted the doughboys on the shoulder and
said: "That's the way to do it." One soldier was late in arriving, and
he seemed to be much afraid that this might cost him his cross, but the
premier handed it to him with a smile. "You were on time the other
morning," he said. "That's enough." In an official note Clemenceau
described the action of the Americans as follows: "It was a very fine
success, reflecting great honor on the tenacity of the American infantry
and the accuracy of the artillery fire."
The Americans made a number of raids during March, but the Germans were
holding their front lines loosely, and usually abandoned them when
attacked, which made it difficult to get prisoners. An incident which
stands out occurred on March 7, when a lone sentry succeeded in
repulsing a German patrol practically unaided. He was fortunate enough
to kill the only officer with his first shot. This took the heart out of
the Germans. The lone American was shooting so fast that they did not
realize he was a solitary defender, and they fled. On March 14 American
troops made their first territorial gain, but it can hardly be classed
as an offensive. Some enemy trenches northeast of Badonviller, in the
Luneville sector, were abandoned by the Germans because they had been
pretty thoroughly smashed up by American artillery fire. These trenches
were consolidated with the American position.
April saw the first full-scale engagement in which American troops took
part at Seicheprey, but earlier in the month there was some spirited
fighting by Americans. Poilus and doughboys repelled an attack in the
Apremont Forest on April 12. The American elements of the defending
force took twenty-two prisoners. The German attack was renewed the next
day, but the Franco-American forces dislodged the Germans by a vigorous
counter-attack, after they had gained a foothold in the first-line
trenches. The biggest attack yet attempted on the Toul front occurred on
April 14. Picked troops from four German companies, numbering some 400
men, were sent forward to attack after an unusually heavy bombardment.
The Germans were known to have had 64 men killed, and 11 were taken
prisoner.
Numerous stories, more or less authentic, were circulated after this
engagement. One which is well vouched for concerns a young Italian who
met eight Germans in a communicating trench and killed one and captured
three. The remaining four found safety in flight. The youngster turned
his prisoners over to a sergeant and asked for a match. "I'll give you
a match if you'll bring me another German," said the non-commissioned
officer. The little Italian was a literal man and he wanted the match
very much. He went back over the parapet, and in five minutes he
returned escorting quite a large German, who was crying: "Kamerad."
While American soldiers on the front were gaining experience, which
stood them in good stead at Seicheprey and later at Cantigny, great
progress was made in the organization of the American forces. Late in
the spring the first field-army was formed. This army was composed of
two army corps each made up of one Regular Army division, one National
Army division, and one division of National Guard. Major-General Hunter
Liggett became the first field-army commander of the overseas forces,
and it was his men who covered themselves with so much distinction in
the great counter-blows of July.