While at Vaubecourt we received word that we were to go to the front
again, and that news surprised us not a little, because of the fact that
we had only been out of the Argonne some two weeks.
On October 15th, the division occupied a new sector east of Verdun,
extending from near Fresnes to Eix. As usual, Ambulance Company 139 took
position near the front lines, to evacuate the division. On October
16th, headquarters of the company was located at Fontaine Brilliante, a
very beautifully situated triage near Somme-Dieue. This triage evidently
had been a most busy place during the great drive on Verdun in 1916.
Immense Red Crosses were painted on the tops of the various buildings,
and two very ingenious Red Crosses were constructed upon the hillside,
of small red and white stones. These were placed there to protect the
triage from Boche airplanes.
Immediately upon arrival at Fontaine Brilliante, Lt. Monteith, with a
detachment of twenty-six men, started to the front and established a
dressing station at Deramee. Two cooks were with the detachment, and a
kitchen was set up in the same building with the dressing station.
Rations were drawn from the first battalion of the 110th Engineers and
it was not a rare thing to have hot cakes for breakfast. In the kitchen
was a wire cage which could be locked, and which looked for all the
world like a large rat trap. One night the cooks had written several
letters to their wives and put them into this cage and locked it. The
rats, which had already carried away some very sizable articles,
including dippers, frying pans and what-nots, got the letters out of the
cage in some magic way that night, and to this day those two cooks are
marveling at the cleverness of French rats.
Litter and ambulance posts were placed at Tunis, Bellvue Farm and
Joffre. There were a few camps near, which were merely billeting places
for soldiers in reserve, and for supply organizations of the line
troops. They were all in easy shelling distance for the Germans, in
fact, Deramee was so close to the lines that one could hear the report
of the guns an instant before the shells would come over.
The forts around Verdun were very interesting. There were two within two
kilometres of Deramee, one named Fort Deramee, and the other Fort
Roselier. These forts were situated on points commanding a view of all
the surrounding country. They were neatly concealed from aerial
observation, and one might easily walk squarely into one before he
noticed it. They were most formidably constructed of reinforced
concrete, and were built deep into the ground. Some were encircled by a
moat over which were heavy draw bridges, and beyond the moat a mass of
barbed wire entanglements encircled the entire defense. There were over
forty of these forts around Verdun, all garrisoned by the French. A look
at these mighty bulwarks told at once why the Germans could not pass.
On October 8th, another section to the north, extending to Vaux, was
taken over by the division, and another dressing station, in charge of
Lt. Vardon with fifteen men, was established at Vaux. At first
dependence was placed upon four G. M. C. ambulances of Ambulance Co. 138
to do all of the evacuating, but later S. S. U. 526 was assigned for
this work. All cases were taken to Field Hospital 139, at Fontaine
Brilliante.
Some mention of the old battlefield near Vaux must be made. Fort Vaux
was taken by the Germans after a fierce and uninterrupted cannonading
lasting from March 12th to April 9th, 1916. Fort Avocourt and the
Mort-Homme also succumbed to the terrific onslaught of the Hun on April
10th. After five months of furious fighting, in which the Germans lost
over a half million men, the French retook these important positions.
Just back from the dressing station an eighth of a mile is a famous hill
of the Verdun battle. A look at this barren hill filled one with awe,
for there isn't a tree, not even a stump, standing, and not a square
foot of ground that has not been torn by shell fire. The ground is
simply pulverized. There are helmets (French and German), old rifles,
cart wheels, unexploded shells, clothing and most everything in the line
of war equipment lying around on the ground, just as it was left after
that terrible struggle. Bones of every part of the human body could be
found in almost any numbers. One could pick up a helmet with a skull in
it, or a shoe with the bones of a foot in it. Standing at the bottom of
this hill, one could look up at the head of the valley and see a German
battery, sitting just as it had been deserted after her defeat in 1916.
The wood that was brought in from the fallen timber was literally filled
with shrapnel.
The Vaux detail, when not busy, spent most of its time seeing the many
interesting places, even though at times it was a bit dangerous. From
the hill back of the dressing station one could see the Germans shelling
Ft. Douamont, two miles away. A very strange impression it left on one,
too. First the report of the German guns would be heard, and in an
instant the shell would burst near the fort, throwing dirt and rock high
into the air. Then the sound of the shell, which had already bursted,
could be heard going through the air.
While there were not many casualties through Vaux, over seven hundred
came through Deramee. The division had just been filled up with men who
had not been in France over a month or so, and who had not trained
longer than that in the States. The trenches of Verdun, which were
always filled with water and mud, seemed to be too much for them, and
many cases of influenza and pneumonia developed.
We had many gas cases, too, at Deramee. In one day a hundred and six gas
patients came through the dressing station. It was mostly mustard gas,
and the patients would come in by the ambulance load, temporarily blind
and feeling miserable. We could only bathe their eyes with a sodium
bi-carbonate solution, and use the sag-paste freely. During this rush
the only available ambulances were those of the S. S. U. 526, and the
drivers of that unit not being familiar with the roads, Corporals O'Dowd
and Bailey were kept busy guiding them around. We worked well after
midnight on that particular day before all the patients were evacuated.
The total number of gas patients numbered well over two hundred.
A sergeant and three men were stationed at Bellevue Ferme, a relay
station between Derame and Vaux. This station was situated on a hill
only a short distance from Verdun, and one could get a splendid view of
the old battered city from this place. There were eleven big naval guns
down below Bellevue on a narrow gage railway, and they surely made some
music when they fired. They drew fire from the Germans, too, but no
sooner would the Germans locate them than they were moved along the
track to another place.
Verdun was very close to the different stations, and many of us visited
the silent old city. One had only to take one look at that city to
realize that one of the mightiest struggles of human history took place
for its possession. Petain, the great French leader, won an immortal
place among military leaders for the defense of that city in 1916, and a
glance at the battlefield would convince one absolutely that he meant
those words "_On ne passe pas_." The cathedral in Verdun was badly
damaged; fourteen holes in one side of the building were counted and the
roof had three big gaps in it, and while the cathedral can be repaired,
yet its shell marks will be there forever. Another interesting thing
connected with Verdun is its underground city, capable of accommodating
forty-two thousand, and absolutely shell proof. The Germans shelled
Verdun regularly, dropping shells on certain crossroads and buildings at
exact intervals. One couldn't tarry in one place in that city, even if
he cared to, because an M. P. would firmly suggest "move along."
We were on the Verdun front when Austria capitulated, and were almost
fighting for newspapers in order to get the details. The question in
everyone's mind during our last days at Verdun was "How long will
Germany hold out?" We left Deramee on November 6th, having been relieved
by the "Wildcats," a division of soldiers not soon to be forgotten, and
we little knew that we had been on our last front.