On Sunday, July 21st, a patrol of fifty-two men from our Company,
accompanied by two medical first-aid men, engaged in a raid on the
German trenches at two-thirty in the afternoon. The party advanced on
the enemy lines in single file, divided in four groups which were
respectively commanded by Sergeant Todd, Captain Barrett, Sergeant
Bromback and Lieutenant Mohlke.
The intent was to surprise the enemy with a daylight raid and thereby
obtain information thru capture and observation. But either thru
knowledge or by chance, the Germans had prepared against this maneuver
and the surprise was reversed.
Waiting until our patrol was fairly within their lines, and then
partially surrounding them, the enemy centered upon our men a deadly
fire of rifles, machine guns, and grenades. The raiders fought valiantly
in return but were outnumbered four to one. After an hour's fighting,
seventeen of our party, including Captain Barrett, lay dead, and sixteen
were captured. Of the twenty-one who returned, thirteen were wounded. We
were informed by two German prisoners captured a few days later that
seventeen Germans had been killed.
The loss sustained in this daylight raid occasioned considerable
comment, chiefly because it was generally believed that Captain Barrett
had misread his orders,--that the time for action had really read 2:30
A.M. instead of 2:30 P.M. This, however, is quite untrue, inasmuch as
all the Company officers, as well as the supply sergeant and company
clerk, were conversant with the orders. Captain Barrett's immediate
battalion and regimental superiors were present at or near the time of
action and possessed full knowledge of the entire plan.
The defeat was caused solely by the lack of the intended element of
surprise. Whether or not the enemy had possession of our plans, and if
they had possession, how they obtained it, is something we shall never
know.
[Illustration: _The Baccarat Sector, Showing St. Maurice and the
Grand Bois_]
A telegram was received by the Divisional Commander from General
Headquarters to the effect that the entire action had been investigated
and found creditable.
The casualties suffered from the raid, together with those resulting
from the gas attack of June 24th, so depleted the Company as to make an
immediate relief imperative and that same night Company L took over our
sector.
A subsequent reorganization of the entire regiment distributed the men
of the various companies so that all would have an equal strength. Our
numbers were so few that we lost none of our men in this process but
instead received increases not only from many of the other companies,
but also from the 76th New England Division.
As tribute to those men whom we had lost, a Company B mass was held at
the Catholic Church in Vacqueville at which Chaplain Father Walsh of
our battalion officiated. The entire strength of the Company was
present.
Another rest and another turn up front, after which the entire division
was relieved by the 37th Ohio and Kentucky Division. Once again we
crossed the Vosges, halting for three days at Seranville. Leaving there,
we bivouaced for a night in the Foret de Charmes and entrained at
Charmes next morning, August 7th, at dawn.