Our part in the offensive began the night of the 25th of September.
Orders were received to move up to Bourelles as soon as it should become
dark. Camp was struck and supplies were stacked along side the road
before dark so that we would be able to find them when the time came.
A vast sense of relief settled down over every one as we realized that
the time which we had enlisted for, trained for, worked and waited for
was finally at hand, and that by morning we would be doing our work over
in the Boche trenches instead of on our own side of the line.
As soon as it was dark we got our stuff packed into the trucks and
packed ourselves in on top, mud and all, and started for Germany. The
roads were muddy and slippery and often the convoy was held up until a
truck could be pulled out of the ditch. No lights were allowed--the
roads were under shell fire and no chances were taken in showing troop
movements to the ever vigilant enemy aeroplanes. Several times we were
led astray, but finally, about midnight we arrived at Bourelles.
Here we unloaded the trucks behind the protection of a steep bank and
the men settled down on the rocks and grass for a few hours' rest, while
the cooks borrowed a fire and began to prepare soup for breakfast. We
did not secure much sleep. Jerry was sending over a few in search of
some of our "heavies," but it was these same heavy guns that most
disturbed our rest. The crack of these guns whipped across the valley
with such a force that the hills fairly shook. They were not firing very
fast but what they lacked in speed they made up in noise.
At 2:30 A. M. our fire opened up in earnest and the thought of being on
the receiving end of that terrific rain of steel was almost enough to
cause a little pity for the Germans--almost. With the coming of dawn the
artillery seemed to slacken and at 6:05 the doughboys went over the top.
Little could be seen through the haze and smoke by those who waited. We
could see the groups of airplanes go sailing overhead and the
elephant-shaped observation balloons move snail-like in a race to the
enemy lines. While the big guns were methodically sending over their
"messages of hate," here and there could be seen groups of horses
nibbling unconcernedly at the trampled grass, while their drivers were
wrapped up in shelter halves catching a well earned rest.
After a reconnaissance had been made, we received the order from our
Director of Ambulances, Maj. Wm. Gist, to advance. We piled into the
trucks again and started forward. The effects of Jerry's fire could now
be seen. The large shell holes, the demolished trees, the shattered
buildings, were beginning to make us realize that we were fighting some
force that had the power to fight back. We passed through several ruined
villages and finally reached Neuvilly, which was the end of the road for
motors at that time. Here we unloaded and were heavily equipped with
litters, packs, medicine belts and extra shell wound dressings.
The plan of operations was quite simple. The company was divided into
sections, each under an officer, and each section further divided into
litter squads of four men each. The non-coms were charged with locating
wounded and directing litter squads to them, and also with doing most of
the dressing. The wounded were to be gathered into groups located so
that ambulances could reach and evacuate them to the triage which was
established later in the day at Neuvilly, by Ambulance Company 138. The
entire company, less cooks, took to the field and the cooks, by trading
grub for transportation, managed to keep in touch with part of us part
of the time.
Lieut. Bates with his section covered the rear of the 137th Infantry
which was on the left. Lieut. Siberts with a detachment, bore to the
right, covering the 138th Infantry, while Lieut. Monteith, with his
detachment undertook to handle some wounded who were already coming into
the old position of the 138th Infantry. Lt. Speck with Sgt. Rowland and
a few men remained at Vacquois Hill and established a collecting station
for wounded there.
As the men marched thru the lines the evidences of the superhuman
struggle grew more and more. They could see dead horses, shattered
wagons and caissons, trampled and torn up wire entanglements, and
ambulances darting here and there. Groups of artillery were constantly
shifting about, advancing all the time.
In places we passed the long naval guns, some of them so hot that they
seemed to be fairly panting. Every clump of trees concealed a den of
seventy-fives or larger guns, and miles of deserted trenches were passed
through.
The work on hand was enough to keep all the men busy. Many German
prisoners were coming through by this time and each group helped by
carrying back wounded. Some of the German wounded were brought back in
this way by their comrades. By this time, also, a shortage of litters
began to be felt. The ambulances had not been able to get up owing to
the blocking of the roads by artillery which was moving forward. Towards
evening ambulances began to come in to Vacquois, and Hill No. 290. The
last load of wounded had been removed by about 4:00 A. M., the next
morning. Meanwhile, Lt. Siberts had reached Cheppy, close on the heels
of the victorious 138th Infantry and collected a large number of wounded
there.
In crossing the German trenches, we saw the effects of our artillery
barrage and the evidences of the fierce fighting that the doughboys were
doing. The ground was fairly pulverized. There were shell holes large
enough to drop houses into, and parts of the hills were seemingly
scalped and cast aside. Concrete dugouts were crushed as if they had
been made of cardboard, trenches were leveled and barbwire entanglements
were cut to pieces. The Germans had contested the ground inch by inch,
and we could see where groups of our men had been literally blown to
pieces--scenes that the boys will never forget. As we advanced further,
the evidences of the struggle were not so ghastly, although we were
passing the lifeless forms of many Kansas and Missouri boys mixed with
those of the drab uniforms of the enemy.
The field was sprinkled with shell holes whose burnt sides seem to have
been blasted by the touch of hell. Our artillery was crawling forward
and were blazing away from behind the shelter of clumps of bushes. The
doughboys were now moving so swiftly that the big guns could hardly keep
up.
As we neared Cheppy, we could see where the infantry boys had charged an
almost impregnable machine gun nest. About thirty men had been mowed
down in front of this position. At a cross roads, a big shell had landed
in the center of a collection of wounded doughboys, tearing them to
pieces. Gas had been used, but nothing could stop the boys from entering
Cheppy. The fierce struggle in this town had caused heavy casualties.
Ambulance Co. 138 having moved up the triage to Cheppy on the 28th, Lt.
Siberts started for Charpentry with his detachment. By the morning of
the second day, the entire company had reached Cheppy and we had a warm
meal, the first one in thirty-six hours. Lt. Siberts and his detachment
deserve a great deal of credit for the tremendous amount of work they
accomplished at Cheppy in an old abandoned dugout, where hundreds of
wounded were cared for under distressing and dangerous conditions.
Mr. Wesley R. Childs of the Y. M. C. A. came up to the station here with
chocolates and was of material assistance in directing a party of
walking wounded back to Neuvilly by the road through Verennes, which we
had been unable to explore before. During this time the action was in
view of the dressing station at times and the sound of the machine guns
made it plain that there would be much more work for us. The dressing
station at Cheppy was subjected to machine gun fire from hostile
airplanes several times but no casualties resulted. Mule drawn
ambulances from Ambulance Co. 140 arrived at the Cheppy station in the
morning of the 27th. Later, motor ambulances came up and the work of
evacuating went steadily on. There was very little rest for anyone.
On the 27th, Lt. Monteith with a detachment went forward to Very, and
established another collection point in some German dugouts there. The
next morning, evacuation of these wounded was begun by ambulances as the
congestion at Cheppy was somewhat relieved. Litter bearer squads worked
forward from Very in the direction of Charpentry and many wounded were
collected together and cared for pending the arrival of mule drawn
ambulances. In the meantime Ambulance Co. 137, and the dressing station
section of Ambulance Co. 140, had arrived by trucks at Charpentry. They
brought a large supply of dressings and other medical equipment and we
were able to replace the contents of our belts. The field from Very to
Charpentry was thus cleared, and by noon some of the advance squads had
reached Charpentry.
All three companies worked together at Charpentry under the direction of
Maj. Gist, and shared rations and supplies in common. The dressing
stations at Charpentry were located in old French barns and buildings
set around a sort of courtyard. They had served until a couple of days
before as the headquarters of the German division holding the sector.
After the place had been examined to make sure that no German souvenirs
in the way of hand grenades and shells had been hidden within, we
started fires and soon had some warm places for dressing the wounded. At
the south end were some empty buildings evidently used as store rooms
and an arched opening into the court. On the east side was a former
dwelling house which contained several rooms on the ground floor. All of
the second story had been shot away. On the north end was a large barn
which contained a small amount of engineering stores. The other side was
open and had a garden which contained vegetables for the Germans. This
spot was later used to bury some of the men who died in the dressing
station. Back from the east side there was a steep hill which contained
several excellent dugouts, some of which were used as dressing rooms. As
soon as the wounded were dressed they were placed in these empty rooms
to await transportation to the rear. These rooms were soon filled,
however, and it became necessary to place the men in the court yard on
litters or rubber blankets. The wind and rain added nothing to the
comfort of these poor chaps, but there was no murmur of complaint from
any of them. They were so exhausted from lack of sleep and food and
constant fighting, that they were able to sleep undisturbed either by
their wounds, or by the thunder of the guns all around.
Two batteries of seventy-fives, of the 129th Field Artillery took
position behind our station here, in such a way that their fire passed
directly over us. At each discharge, a shower of dust from the roofs of
the buildings would descend upon the wounded and workers alike. We had
some gas this day, but there were more alarms than gas. No shells fell
in our immediate vicinity as the dressing station was more or less
protected by the hill. Every one worked at top speed, as the wounded
were coming in so fast that it required the services of almost the
entire company to take care of them. Later in the afternoon a detachment
was sent to Baulney, and with the aid of some mule ambulances, cleared
the regimental station there of wounded. Later, motor ambulances began
to arrive and the wounded were started back toward the triage at Cheppy.
From this time on the evacuation was continuous, ambulances from
Ambulance Co. 41 and S. S. U. sections undertaking this work. Many
empty, returning ammunition trucks were also used. The trucks carried
the wounded, for the most part, to the old triage at Neuvilly, which had
been taken over by the field hospital companies. Those who were able to
walk, were started out on foot, as all available transportation was
required for recumbent cases. By morning of the 29th, the influx of
wounded having lessened somewhat, two bearer parties went forward, one
under Lt. Speck, and the other under Lt. Bates. Mule ambulances
accompanied these parties, the detachments coming under heavy fire and
some of the mules being killed. One of the drivers was mortally wounded.
These parties were out until about the middle of the afternoon. The work
of the bearers was the most laborious owing to the mud and the long
distances of the carries.
Information was received that the salient created by the attack was to
be protected by establishing the first line in the area being covered by
the bearers. The parties were, therefore, withdrawn to Charpentry. It
was during this operation that Pvt. Lloyd Richmond was wounded, while
remaining with wounded at Chaudron Farm. Upon arrival of the bearers at
Charpentry, their patients were loaded into ambulances, which, by this
time, had cleared the station there, since the location was becoming a
target for gas. Orders were received to move the station back to some
more sheltered position where the wounded could be kept in more
security. Ambulance companies were now ordered to Varennes. Lt. Siberts,
with a detachment of men, proceeded to Very, joining the company at
Varennes the next day.
In leaving Charpentry, the men were forced to run a gauntlet of high
explosives, gas and shrapnel. A rain of shells were pouring into the
valley in a desperate attempt to silence the American batteries. One of
the spectacular scenes of the drive occurred when a battery of French
artillery came crashing down the road, the gunners riding the
seventy-fives which were drawn by big trucks. The little men in blue
were leaning forward and gazing eagerly ahead to the nearby hill where
they afterwards whirled their guns into position and poured a murderous
fire, point blank, into the counter-attacking Germans. It was a little
incident that gave us a slight insight into the reason why the Germans
failed to crush France.
On arriving at Varennes, volunteers were called for to return to
Charpentry to take care of the wounded who might be expected, and to
relieve congestion in regimental stations, which had fallen back to that
place. Lt. Bates with 15 men and an equal number from Ambulance Co. 137,
were selected. This detachment had a very exciting and strenuous
forty-eight hours of work at Charpentry. During the first night wounded
were numerous and there was much hard and tiresome work carrying wounded
and loading out ambulances.
The 35th Division was now being relieved by the First Division, and we
received orders that we had been temporarily attached to that division
until their own Ambulance and Field Hospitals could get into action.
After being relieved from this duty, the company assembled at Neuvilly,
and left the next day for a rest.