Tag: 71st Infantry Brigade

An Unlikely Journey

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

“You should hear some of the big shells whistle over. Makes you get ‘gully low.’” E.P. Taylor of Supply Company, 142nd Infantry, wrote to his family. He continued, “You good folks back home, no matter how many descriptions you read, can have no idea of the destruction and slaughter going on and of what an infantry man has to go through.”

On October 29, 1918, the 142nd Infantry Regiment marched away from the front line after twenty-three days in harm’s way. Buried where they fell were over 180 of their comrades, four unidentified. In addition, over six hundred wounded in the 142nd made their absence felt. Battalions looked like companies.  The men wore the same clothes they entered the line wearing.

Graves of 142nd Infantry soldiers near Saint-Etienne

As they made their way back through the old battlefields, the 36th Division passed through the old Hindenburg Line, which the French captured at the beginning of the battle over four weeks ago. Before that, it had been the front line for over three years. James McCan wrote home, “We crossed what used to be the Hindenburg Line and such a sight I never saw before or since. There was not a tree or even a bunch of grass living for four miles across it.”

After spending the night at Camp Montpellier near Suippes, the 36th moved southeast toward the Argonne Forest, where an American-French group of armies was waging a colossal battle with the retreating Germans. However, the German armies would abandon a fortified line only to withdraw to another.

March to the Argonne

On October 30th, the 36th Division was on the march again and passed into control of the First American Army. In other words, they were no longer under French command. That day the division marched about fifteen miles and camped at Valmy. Moreover, the next day they marched eleven miles, to Dommartin-sur-Yevre, and took a day off. They were about to enter the Argonne Forest, the western boundary of the American battle zone. Two American armies and one French army were slowly advancing in this zone. John J. Pershing, Commanding General of American Forces, planned for his armies to seize important rail transport hubs behind German lines. If he succeeded, Germany would have to quit France and lose the war. (Read more about the Meuse-Argonne Offensive here.)

Louppy-le-Petit before the war

On November 2nd, the 36th entered the Argonne Forest, marching twelve miles to Les Charmontois. At this time, the division was passed from the American First Army to the Second Army, where they were assigned to VII Corps. The Second Army, with its six divisions, was going to attack in the direction of Metz, a fortified city and transportation center. As a result, the 36th Division was scheduled to leave for the front on November 11th, 1918.

While the marching was tough for the men, many of whom were still recovering, on November 3rd the 36th Division marched another fifteen miles. As they marched, they began to hear the distant roar of artillery fire again. Many of them arrived at their destination that day. That is to say, at the villages near Bar-le-Duc, just back of the front lines. In seven days of marching, the 36th Division had traveled over seventy-eight miles.

Louppy-le-Petit

The division was allowed two days to rest. The 142nd Infantry Regiment was quartered in and around the tiny village of Louppy-le-Petit. The area around Bar-le-Duc was just recently vacated by the 1st Infantry Division, the ‘Big Red One’. The 1st Division had been in the fighting since day six of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, and was recuperating around Bar-le-Duc after heavy losses. Now they were back in the battle; and the 36th Division would soon follow.

Replacement soldiers for the 36th Division were already arriving. Most of the replacements were from the 34th Infantry Division. The 34th was made up of National Guard units from Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, as well as North and South Dakota. These plainsmen trained at Camp Cody, New Mexico, and the Southwesterners of the 36th learned to like them. Moreover, the new men were well trained, and their morale was good.

Damaged church in Louppy-le-Petit

Captain Ethan Simpson of H Company, wounded on October 8th near Saint-Etienne, returned to his men on November 4th. In addition, others returned to the 142nd from the hospital or from their assignments away from the battlefield. These officers and men, who had missed the fighting, were most eager to see the regiment back in action. However the rest of the men, who had seen it, were not as enthusiastic.

New uniforms and boots arrived. Consequently soldiers were able to change clothes, many of them for the first time in a month. What they took off wasn’t worth saving; so piles of old ruined clothing had to be trucked away. New weapons and equipment were arriving every day.

Training again

From November 6th the men were drilling again. Veterans of the Champagne front used best practices from combat to improve the training. They used every hour of daylight to train. But on November 7th came news that the German government was asking for a cease-fire. Many of the men didn’t believe it. The French people in Louppy-le-Petit sadly shook their heads, saying the war has been going on for over four years, how many times we have heard these rumors?

For six days the men trained and grew once again into a fighting force. More men were returning from the hospital. Soldiers were gaining confidence in their mission. The 36th Division was on track to be in the combat area once more on Thursday, November 14.

On Sunday, November 10th, the division paused to remember those who had died. There were memorial services in each unit, spread out as they were across the countryside. Soldiers in the 142nd stood in a solemn vigil as each of the names were read at the service. They had been away from combat for nearly two weeks now. But they knew they might return to battle. So the men took a moment to meditate on those desperate moments in battle and the loss of so many brothers in arms.

O.K. Farrell’s stripes

Promoted

On that same day, Color Sergeant O. K. Farrell of Headquarters Company was promoted three ranks to the highest enlisted rank in the army, Regimental Sergeant Major. As Color Sergeant, he led a small platoon of Headquarters men who ran the Regimental office. Since there were two Color Sergeants, they probably each worked twelve hours every day. Now O. K. Farrell was the ranking NCO at Headquarters Company. He’d just turned twenty-two when he was promoted.

It was an unlikely journey for the men of the 36th Infantry and for O. K. Farrell. Unlikely for the division that so soon they were combat veterans, now heading back into battle. Unlikely for Farrell, now promoted to the top. However, his superiors would have seen that he was superlatively well organized and hardworking. His job before the war in the Superintendent’s Office at the Santa Fe Railroad prepared him marvelously for administering a 24/7 operations nerve center of a fighting force. To end the war, Farrell and the 36th were ready to go the distance once more.

O.K. Farrell’s promotion

In Harm’s Way

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

By 5:30 p.m. on October 27, 1918 it was dark. Men of the 36th Infantry Division unpacked their pickaxes and shovels and started digging. They had just seized Forêt-Ferme, a series of German strongholds along the Ardennes canal and Aisne river. However, the German defenders were taken completely by surprise; nearly two hundred had surrendered. Enemy artillery fell on Forêt-Ferme sporadically, but darkness hindered the Germans’ aim. So the men dug in and were protected by daybreak.

The hill had been taken by 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment and 3rd Battalion, 142nd Infantry Regiment. 3rd Battalion, 142nd was commanded by Captain Steve Lillard, who led L Company at Saint-Étienne. Lillard moved up from L Company to 3rd Battalion just three days before, because of his leadership and calmness under fire at Saint-Étienne. With experience of that battle as his guide, Captain Lillard made sure his men were prepared and that artillery support was on target.

German POWs in line at a 36th Division field kitchen, October 1918

The last day

German shelling resumed the next morning, October 28th. The men who had captured Forêt-Ferme held for thirty-six hours while waiting to be relieved from the line. German artillery had little effect this time but waiting was all the worse for those expecting to leave combat. Lillard wrote that “all of our supporting troops, including the artillery were withdrawn and we were left to the mercy of the German artillery with French infantry to support us and with French artillery to give excuses for not firing when we called upon them to do so.”

So, the men stayed in their holes, watched, and waited. First Lieutenant F.W. Mogford of the 142nd Infantry wrote about the enemy: “He is a curious rascal and tries all kinds of tricks. First he would shell us with high explosive, if that didn’t do much harm he would give us gas, and then combine the two. Occasionally his air planes would drop enough German propaganda to furnish us with reading material for several hours, such as it was. The 164th French Infantry relieved us during the night of Oct. 28th. Then the hardened Texas boys and Indians began their march back to safety.”

Ambulance Section, 141st Infantry Regiment

Medical Men

Close to the action were the medical men of the 36th Division. Each regiment was equipped with an Ambulance section and a Field Hospital company. In addition to these, each regiment also had First Aidmen who would treat wounded men in battle conditions. For the assault on Forêt-Ferme, 3rd Battalion, 142nd Infantry set up its Aid Station in Méry, a tiny village about two kilometers from the fighting. Aidmen would carry the wounded to the Aid Station there, and then another kilometer to the Regimental Aid Station at Chouffilly. Ambulances were there at Chouffilly to evacuate more severely wounded men.

Four Ambulance sections of the 36th Division were joined by United States Army Ambulance Service section No. 586. The 36th Division located its four Field Hospitals in the Leffincourt – Dricourt area, about eight miles away. Ambulances would wait near Dricourt until one left the Aid Station in Méry, then an Ambulance would move to replace it. The most seriously wounded men were evacuated to Evacuation Hospital No. 3, Mobile Hospital No. 7, and Evacuation Hospital No. 5, all near Suippes, about 22 miles away. It was hazardous work: On October 9th, a direct hit on an Aid Station killed seven 143rd Infantry Aidmen.

The way out

As early as October 27th, the 143rd Infantry Regiment and other elements of the 36th Infantry Division began to pull out of position on the front line. These soldiers spent the night of the 27th in Machault, about seven miles from the front. In addition, the 144th Infantry and parts of the 141st and 142nd Regiments pulled out on the 28th, marching to the south. On their way some of the men were able to stop by Saint-Étienne, where they had fought just two and-a-half weeks before. For men of the 142nd, it was a chance to see the graves of 144 of their comrades and to reacquaint themselves with the exact place and circumstance of their deaths.

Withdrawing soldiers spent the night of October 28th just south of Somme-Py, where the 36th first entered the combat area on September 6th. After three weeks, the surviving veterans of the 36th noticed how thin their ranks had become. Now they were out of harm’s way, they were relieved to be off the line.

Withdrawal

At Forêt-Ferme, soldiers of the 141st and 142nd Infantry were relieved by the French around 3:30 a.m. on October 29th. Within the hour they marched out, having spent 23 days in harm’s way. They marched several miles to trucks the French provided, and were transported through Saint-Étienne to Somme-Py. From there they made their way to Camp Montpellier, a bivouac between Souain and Suippes.

There wasn’t much to Camp Montpellier; just some barns and haysheds. No straw, but for many of the men it was their first night under a roof in three weeks. Just to have a warm meal and a campfire began what was, for the men of the 36th Division, an unlikely journey away from the front.

Forêt-Ferme

Peter Larsen1 Comment

By October 22nd, 1918, the 36th U.S. Infantry Division was anticipating its relief. It had spent two weeks on the front and had advanced over thirteen miles. The 36th had suffered over two thousand casualties. A planned attack over the Aisne River, where the 36th Division was located, was postponed.

Meanwhile, over twenty miles away, a larger battle roiled the French countryside. The Argonne Forest area was witness to what is still the largest land battle in U.S. military history. The battle was entering its fifth week and was chewing up American and French divisions almost as fast as they could enter the fray.

The 36th Division was needed in the Meuse-Argonne. To get there, they would have to finish their fight in the Champagne area.

142nd Infantry map of battlefield

Forest Farm

The 71st Brigade of the 36th Infantry Division (141st and 142nd Infantry Regiments, plus the 132nd Machine Gun Battalion) moved into a new position on the night of October 18. This position was directly in front of a German outpost on the south side of the Aisne River. It was the only German presence on the south side of the river for miles. Two previous attempts by the French 73rd Infantry Division to seize the position had only minimal success. German observers in the outpost could direct artillery with deadly effect. For example on October 22nd, a shell burst near the 142nd Infantry Headquarters, killing three men.

The German position was well defended. They had cut down trees to improve their field of fire around the hilltop on the south side of the Aisne. Three bands of barbed wire, each about twenty feet thick separated them from the Allies. A trench line ran most of the way across the German outpost, which was located on a U-shaped area marked by a bend in the river. In addition to the trench, there were concrete bunkers and some cannon. More than thirty machine guns defended the hilltop. Across the river, German artillery could hit any spot for miles around.

On October 23rd, the 71st Brigade was formally ordered to take the hill, known as Forêt-Ferme, or “Forest Farm”. It was to be their last action on the Champagne front before their relief. As a result, leaders of all the units devoted themselves to preparing.

Making preparations

Bitter experience was the reason for their hard work now. Two weeks before, the 71st Brigade went into battle with next to no preparation and endured horrendous casualties. Firstly, there was scant advance warning of the attack. In addition, artillery was mostly ineffective, and French tank support was a disaster. That they succeeded at all on October 8-10 was because, as U.S. Marine private Elton Macklin (who was there) observed,

“They were green untried troops who charged in reckless ignorance and won. They paid a price in taking Saint-Étienne.”

Therefore maps were copied and passed around. Company commanders instructed their platoon leaders. Each soldier knew his job and the job of the guy next to him. Weapons like the Browning Automatic Rifle were given to men in the first wave. Soldiers in the outpost holes kept close watch on the Germans, some of whom were just sixty yards away.

Preparing the way for the attack was the artillery. The U.S. 2nd Artillery Brigade had every foot of Forêt-Ferme dialed in. French artillery was on hand to harass German artillery across the river. When the attack began, many targets would be shelled. As a result, the Germans would not be sure of the real objective. In addition, the Brigade’s Mortar Battery was moved into the trenches near the front line. Men from the U.S. 2nd Engineers with large wire cutters embedded with each of the assault battalions.

Standoff

As preparations were made, opposing forces were still locked in a standoff along the river. German artillery strikes just opposite Forêt-Ferme increased when the Americans replaced the French there. As a result, American gunners in the 2nd Artillery, using captured German cannon, sent over the gas shells the Germans left behind. Incensed at being given a dose of their own medicine, the Germans lobbed shell after shell of mustard gas on the Americans on October 26th. The Americans were by this point experienced in gas warfare. Clouds of the yellowish gas in open fields could be avoided. The chemical, which spread after the explosion and penetrated clothes before turning into a gas, was more dangerous. The Germans sent over so many gas shells that villages near the front were spattered with the orange-yellow chemical.

Waiting

On October 27th, Americans were withdrawn from their listening posts. They would be too close to the Germans once the attack began. The day was sunny and clear. Assault troops had moved forward into the front line before sunrise that day. Throughout the 27th they remained there, lying still and waiting. German positions were closely watched, looking for any changes in their routine. There were none. In the late afternoon, five German planes flew over American lines. Nothing they saw caused alarm.

Four o’clock, and it started to grow dark over the Aisne river valley. Still nothing changed. If the Germans were paying attention, they might have noticed that the observation balloon opposite Forêt-Ferme was not reeled in, as it had been every day, promptly at 4:05 p.m.

At 4:10 p.m. a single cannon fired from the Allied side. It signaled the beginning of a devastating barrage into the German position. Artillery shells hit all along the German side of the river. Smoke shells made a black curtain around the bend in the river. The mortar battery started firing. French artillery pounded German observation posts on the hills across from Forêt-Ferme. German artillery opened on the Allies but, for once, it was scattered and ineffective.

Attack

At 4:30 p.m. the American barrage shifted forward, and Americans were out of their trenches. Engineers with wire cutters in their hands and rifles slung on their backs crawled forward. They worked on cutting strands of barbed wire while soldiers crept forward. American machine guns kept up fire just above the heads of assaulting troops.

American soldiers cleared the first belt of wire. German machine guns were silent, their crews dead or hiding in bunkers. Smoke screens kept German artillery from firing accurately. As the assault wave reached the second belt of wire, follow-up troops were already advancing behind them.

Artillery was still falling on the German main line. American soldiers, keeping their space, were advancing just out of range of the explosives. Men moved forward as a unit and did not lose formation. Likewise, the support wave kept its distance from the assault wave. It may have looked like an exercise, but it was no exercise. German shells were hitting the battlefield. Some men in the 142nd Infantry were hit by American shells that inexplicably fell short while they left their foxholes.

Moving up the hill

Meanwhile, the second belt of barbed wire was crossed. American machine gunners kept firing over the heads of the assaulting wave. In addition, American shells were pounding the main German line as they advanced. Lieutenant Ben Chastaine remarked they were practically “leaning against it” when the assault troops crossed the last barrier before the German trench line. The barrage moved forward.

With bayonets fixed and grenades at the ready, men of the 71st Brigade leapt into the trenches. Fire teams moved through the maze, searching every corner. Machine gun teams carried their weapons forward through the wire barriers to set up closer to the concrete bunkers at the top. Meanwhile, assault troops carefully made their way through the trenches to the bunker exits, while others moved past to other objectives.

German soldiers exited the bunkers expecting to return to the trenches when instead they stared down rifle barrels. Immediately, they lifted their hands and called out, “Kamerad!” They were caught completely by surprise. Some German machine gun nests behind the main line fired on the attackers, but these were surrounded and silenced in short order.

Rilly-aux-Oies after the battle

Exploitation

As instructed, American patrols advanced past the dugouts toward the village of Rilly-aux-Oies and the river. They found no Germans there, but discovered the bridge over the Aisne had been blown. Patrols combed the riverside for stragglers and brought back twenty-seven prisoners.

German artillery reaching the hill was infrequent and inaccurate, thanks to the smoke screens. Teams of American soldiers were clearing out the last of the bunkers, and one soldier wrote that:

“The first Germans I saw were coming out of a dugout yelling ‘Kamerad’ at every breath, so I picked up a few German hand grenades, which we call potato mashers, and when I come to a dug-out would pull the string and throw a couple in. If any one was at home, they had a hard day.”

As the last of the bunkers was being cleared a German runner made a break down the hill toward Rilly. The battalion intelligence officer had a shotgun and winged him, and he was made prisoner. His documents were very helpful at Brigade Headquarters.

Aftermath

The Americans had been up against a battalion of the 9th Colberg Grenadier Regiment, part of the 3rd Prussian Guards Division. They were considered a first-rate outfit, but the men in American custody seemed relieved to have been captured.

Not so lucky were their commanding officer and the artillery officer, dead along with nearly fifty other defenders. Moreover, one hundred ninety-four Germans were captured. The battalion was smashed.

American losses were fourteen killed and thirty-six wounded. National Guard troops from the Southwest had met a well protected enemy and routed him. Four of the German prisoners were officers. After interrogation, they were asked if they had anything to say. One spoke up and wanted to know, “What nationality were the telephone men?”

(Read more about Native American code talkers here.)

Codetalkers

Peter Larsen1 Comment

In October 1918 Allied forces and the German army faced each other in a tense standoff along the Aisne river in northeast France. Near the devastated towns of Attigny and Givry, the American 36th Division held the south side of the Aisne. The 36th was at the time part of the French Fourth Army. The French wanted to advance, but German defenses on the north side of the river were strong enough to give any attacker pause. There were rows of barbed wire and machine gun nests along the riverbank. Behind these defenses the Germans were building concrete bunkers and a trench system. Every day French and American troops received artillery hits from German long range guns; sometimes in the thousands.

In the meantime, the Germans had to be moved out of one outpost on the south side of the river.

Assault on the Loop

The Aisne river runs east – west through the Ardennes region of France until it reaches Attigny, where it curves around a hill and then runs to the southeast. On a map, the loop in the river looks like an inverted “U”. When the Germans retreated over the Aisne on October 12, they remained on this hill south of the river.

If the Fourth Army were going to get over the Aisne, it would have to first evict the Germans from the hill. Two attempts by the French 73rd Division resulted in minimal gains. As a result, the American 71st Infantry Brigade (141st and 142nd Infantry Regiments, plus the 132nd Machine Gun Battalion) moved in front of the loop on the night of October 22-23. The 71st began to plan their assault.

A communications problem

The best way to plan an assault is to keep the enemy in the dark about what you are about to do. This was difficult for the Americans because they were in a river valley with the Germans. Almost everything was in plain sight of the enemy. Even small movements during daylight would attract artillery fire. When Allied forces occupied the area, they reused the field telephone wires left behind by the Germans. Using the existing system saved time, but now commanders wondered if the Germans were listening in to their conversations.

American commanders tried a test: each regiment was given the location of a fictional ammunition dump over field telephone. In half an hour the location was pounded by German artillery. Now that they knew their field telephone communications were insecure, what was the solution? Messages carried by runners were slow and dangerous. Many runners became casualties in combat; and messages could take hours to arrive. As commanders in the 36th Division deliberated the answer, one captain at 142nd Infantry headquarters stepped outside to hear two men in HQ Company speaking in their native language, Choctaw. And he had an idea.

Company E, 142nd Infantry in France

American Indians join the war

Oklahoma became the forty-sixth state in 1907. Decades before, what became Oklahoma was set aside by the Federal Government as Indian Territory. As late as 1890, one in four people living in Oklahoma Territory was Native American, about 65,000. Oklahoma still had a substantial Native American population by 1917. About two-thirds were U.S. citizens. The remaining one-third were citizens of one of over thirty tribal nations in Oklahoma.

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, thousands of American Indians and Native Alaskans volunteered to serve. Many volunteers in Oklahoma joined the National Guard. This included both U.S. and non-U.S. citizens.

When the Oklahoma and Texas Guards merged into the 36th Infantry Division, several organizations in the 36th had multiple American Indians in the ranks. For example, E Company, 142nd Infantry was almost entirely American Indian; over 200 members. The reason for this was that the 142nd Infantry was itself a merger of a Texas unit and one from Oklahoma. Another Oklahoma outfit with several Native Americans as members was the 1st Squadron, Oklahoma Cavalry. The 1st Squadron became the 111th Ammunition Train when it joined the 36th Division.

About 12,500 American Indians and Native Alaskans served in American uniform in World War I. Though it is impossible to be exact, researchers and family members have now identified over six hundred American Indians who were members of the 36th Infantry Division at least for part of its World War I service. (See more about the effort to document their heritage here.)

Code talkers of the 36th. Left to right: Solomon Bond Lewis, Mitchell Bobb, James Edwards, Calvin Wilson, Joseph Davenport, and Captain Elijah Horner at Camp Merritt in 1919.

Secure communications

While planning to attack the Germans, leaders in the 142nd Infantry developed the idea to carry out voice communications exclusively in Choctaw. Their commanding officer, Colonel A.W. Bloor, reasoned that “there was hardly one chance in a million that Fritz could translate these dialects.” Two American Indian officers of the 142nd Infantry, possibly Lieutenants Templeton Black and Ben Cloud, formed a group of “Code Talkers”.

Adapting their native language to the realities of Twentieth-Century warfare took some imagination and discipline. The men agreed that code for “regiment” would be “tribe”; similarly “machine gun” would be “little gun shoot fast”. Having worked out every military term they would likely encounter, the Code Talkers dispersed. In a very short period, there was a Code Talker at the phone in every command post from brigade to regiment to battalion to company levels.

It was time to test the plan in action. In preparation for the attack, it was necessary to move two companies of the 142nd Infantry closer to where the attack was to begin. The Germans were watchful; any clue from telephone intercepts could expose the operation. On the night of October 26th, 1918, two companies from 2nd Battalion slid out of their position and moved closer to the front. The Germans did not notice anything. After that, the Code Talkers would have to handle communications for a furious battle, just hours away.

Innovations in action changed the battlefield to the advantage of American Expeditionary Forces in 1918. Almost simultaneously, a number of American Indians used their skills as Code Talkers. These include men in the U.S. 3rd, 30th, 32nd, 36th and 90th Infantry Divisions in France. Their example would show the way to the World War II U.S. Marine Code Talkers.

“I’ll face you!”

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

Mid-October 1918 had American and German forces facing each other in an uneasy standoff. The Germans were dug in on the north side of the Aisne river in the Champagne region of France. The Americans were on the south bank, with the French Fourth Army. The French wanted an attack across the river around the town of Attigny. But the Germans had blown up all the bridges. Rows of barbed wire and machine gun pits lined the German side. Getting across the Aisne required a strong force, and a plan.

Commanders, including the American one, were working on it. With the American 36th Division was the 2nd U.S. Engineer Regiment. The Engineers had their work cut out for them: First of all, they had to repair up to forty miles of roads to get men and supplies to the front line. Second, the Germans had left a narrow-gauge rail network in ruins when they retreated. Repairing the railroad would help bring ammunition and supplies to the men at the front. Also, the Engineers had to work out how to get soldiers across the Ardennes canal and the river in a surprise attack.

Floating Foot Bridge for crossing the Aisne. Built by Co. "F" 2d U.S. Engineers.

Engineers get to work

The Germans had left behind lots of finished lumber, so the Engineers got to work. The goal was to build portable but sturdy footbridges to get the men over. Engineers built a number of bridges and tested them. The designs were ingenious but using them in combat was going to be no picnic. (More about the 2nd Engineers with the 36th can be found here.) The Aisne river valley was a war zone, with hundreds to over a thousand artillery explosions every day. Machine gun fire crossed a deadly no-man’s land. Snipers active on both sides made it risky to leave shelter during daylight.

Refugees

When the Americans fought for ruined towns like Saint-Étienne, they were abandoned. This was not the case when the Allies advanced farther into German-held territory. The towns of Attigny, Givry and others had a civilian population, now liberated after four years. Now that Attigny and Givry were wrecked by fire and shelling, civilian refugees had gathered in nearby Sainte Vaubourg. About 1,200 French civilians, mainly elderly and children with their mothers were trapped by artillery fire. They hung white sheets from every building in Sainte Vaubourg, which seemed to work.

Allied forces worked together to evacuate them. A column of trucks arrived to take the refugees south toward safety. However, as they were leaving German artillery struck the column and some of the civilians were injured. A first-aid station was also hit, despite its prominent red cross marking.

French children and 36th Infantry Division Medical Corps Man.

Reconnaissance

If the Allies were going to attack over the river, they would need to know what was on the other side. Both sides hid themselves during daylight but commanders wanted to know German strength just over the riverbank. Once again they turned to First Lieutenant Donald McLennan, scout officer in the 142nd Infantry. Just days earlier, Lt. McLennan had led a patrol over the river, capturing two German prisoners. Returning to 1st Battalion headquarters after another night patrol on the front line, McLennan received orders for a risky daytime operation. McLennan continues,

“I explained that I had just got in from reconnaissance and told them of German locations, and that it was my belief that we could not cross. It did not change the order. I called for volunteers and Ted Watrous and ‘Red’ Smith, who had served me so well on a former occasion, stepped out, also Corporal Allie Gammill and Buster Stinson. I told them what was wanted also informed them as to what I knew of the conditions. I instructed them to go to the old mill and take observations but under no circumstance try to cross the canal, but wait for me.”

While the patrol made their way to the observation post by the canal, McLennan received confirmation of the order. He gathered a support team of ten riflemen and started for the canal with Watrous, Gammill, Stinson and Smith.

Attigny: General view after the war.
Attigny with a view toward the Ardennes canal and Aisne river

Crossover

“When we arrived at the canal I told the men I would go ahead, and when I fell to go back and report that we had contact. We worked cautiously trying to get a small raft, and finally got some men across. We were just starting to advance a little when the Germans opened up. I stooped over and the man behind me was shot in the shoulder, another across the forehead.”

McLennan’s patrol had been observed as it crossed over. Now Germans were coming across no-man’s land between the river and the canal to block their escape. McLennan ordered the surviving members of his patrol to withdraw. Then he stepped out in full view of the enemy and emptied his M1911 Colt at them. He walked backwards, still firing at the advancing Germans. “We’re going back,” McLennan called out, “but I’ll face you!”

First Lieutenant McLennan and Private Lester “Red” Smith miraculously got across under covering fire from his team on the south side of the canal. But McLennan was right about making patrols in daylight. He lamented,

“Ted Watrous and Corporal Gammill were killed and Stinson captured before we could get away. I returned to Headquarters and told them we were in contact.”

Unit Crest of the 142nd Infantry Regiment
Unit Crest of the 142nd Infantry Regiment

A new motto

For his actions at Attigny on October 21, 1918, First Lieutenant Donald J. McLennan was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in action. When the unit crest of the 142nd Infantry Regiment was created after the war, the Steeple from Saint-Étienne, the Aisne River, and the words “I’ll Face You” symbolized the service and sacrifice of Southwesterners on the fields of France.

Private First Class Ted Watrous and Corporal Samuel A. Gammill were never found. They are remembered on the Tablets of the Missing at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, located on ground liberated by American forces in 1918. More about America’s Missing in Action and the efforts to locate and remember them can be found here.

Pursuit

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

After five days in the combat area, troops of the 71st Brigade made way for the 72nd Brigade. The advance of the 72nd Brigade (143rd and 144th Infantry Regiments, plus the 133rd Machine Gun Battalion) brought the U.S. 36th Division to the edge of the Aisne River in northeast France. Taking the lead on October 11, 1918, the 72nd Brigade advanced from Saint-Étienne unhindered for nearly two kilometers. Halfway between Saint-Étienne and Machault, advance guards of the 144th Infantry received machine gun fire from a small German force. At about the same time, a German spotter plane appeared and artillery began to hit near the troops, causing some casualties in the 144th. German artillery also landed on two abandoned ammunition dumps, causing them to explode.

The advance continues

In the confusion of the explosions, some of the German machine gunners retreated to nearby Machault. On the other hand, the ones who remained were killed in the American advance. As they neared Machault, troops were once again under machine gun fire, this time from the town. Germans had put their guns in the upper floors of some houses there to get the best shot. As the Americans began to work their way around the town, German cannon opened up again. But this time German shells fell on the town as well as outside, and the machine gunners fled.

Machault had been used by the Germans since 1914 to store and move ammunition and supplies to the old front line, about eight miles to the south. Some of the town had been burned by the Germans in an effort to destroy their stores. Just north of the town, in Mont-Saint-Rémy, rows and rows of German artillery shells, lumber and railroad equipment were discovered the next day by the 72nd Brigade and the French 73rd Division. Later, the worth of the German materials left behind at Mont-Saint-Rémy was estimated conservatively at ten million 1918 U. S. Dollars (about $171 million in 2020).

Toward the Aisne

By October 12th, the 2nd U.S. Artillery Brigade had also moved forward. Consequently, American artillerymen began a duel with the Germans, moving their cannon daily to avoid a counter-strike. The same day, American forces reached the crest of the Aisne valley. From here the whole district along the Aisne River and beyond it was clearly visible. However by going down into the valley, the Americans were also seen by the Germans. Leading forces of the 72nd Brigade made their way toward the banks of the Aisne late on the 12th.

Attigny

The largest town in this area is Attigny, on the Aisne River. The Ardennes canal, parallel to the river, made Attigny a center for moving supplies to the old Hindenburg line. A railroad line also passed through Attigny from the northwest. A French cavalry patrol approached the town and found the Germans had set parts of it on fire. They had also done this to Machault and several other towns as they retreated. As they crossed to the north side of the Aisne, the Germans likewise dynamited all the bridges across the river and canal.

But the fires failed to ignite gunpowder and ammunition stores left in Attigny. The next day, October 13th, American patrols entered the town. In addition, they found the Germans had cut down the trees on the south side of the river. This gave them a clear field of fire from the north side. American soldiers approaching the riverbank found the other side protected by German machine guns and their artillery, as usual, accurate. They started taking casualties. In short, the Germans had stopped retreating.

German artillery had a clear view of the American side of the valley, as was seen when American troops moved into the area in force on October 13th. Advancing in the open in daylight, a German barrage hit the 144th Infantry hard; wounding 181 men and killing twenty-eight. As a result, the main American force stayed three or four kilometers away from the river. The zone near the river was guarded by smaller outposts of men spread wide and hidden from sight.

The loop

On the right of the American force and directly in front of the French 73rd Division the Aisne bent northward and, reversing, bent to the southeast. Inside this loop was a town, Rilly-aux-Oies, and a hill covered by farmland. The Germans had retreated to this hill and fortified it, their only outpost on the southern side of the Aisne for miles.

Late on October 13th the rest of the 36th Division arrived at the American front line. Leading forces from the 141st and 142nd Infantry and the 132nd Machine Gun Battalion quietly made their way toward the riverbank. The 141st Infantry was on the extreme right near the French 73rd Division. On October 14th, a patrol from the 141st surprised a German outpost on the river loop and captured six soldiers and four light machine guns.

Stalemate

American and French forces were in a stalemate with the Germans. If the Germans retreated, the Allies must advance. But how to know if the Germans are retreating if one cannot see them? As a result, American and French commanders ordered patrols to observe the German side of the river. Sometimes patrols were ordered into the German line to grab prisoners and gain intelligence. The riverbank was well defended by German machine guns: it was a dangerous game.

Patrols

On the night of October 16, patrols from the 141st and 143rd made their way over the canal and river and snatched two prisoners each. Division headquarters found the German POWs were full of useful information. Likewise the next night a patrol organized by 1st Lieutenant Donald McLennan, scout officer in the 142nd Infantry, made its way toward the canal.

Lt. McLennan had a force of about twenty men, which he felt was too large. After placing most of them on the friendly side of the canal to watch for the enemy, he left to visit the French outpost nearby. He explained his mission to the French soldiers as best he could. In other words, McLennan did not want to be fired upon by an ally on the front line. He returned to his men and picked just three others, Privates Ted Watrous, Lester ‘Red’ Smith and Claude Pierce of C Company.

Destroyed bridge over the Aisne, 1918

Enemy territory

McLennan led the patrol across the Ardennes canal into no-man’s land between the canal and the river. Americans had observed sixteen German machine guns in the vicinity. From time to time they would open fire on the small strip of land. Quietly, McLennan found a rickety footbridge across the river and soon enough they were on the German side.

Making their way through dense undergrowth by the river, PFC Ted Watrous motioned to the others that he had found the enemy. Watrous and Smith rushed a foxhole; McClennan came up behind them. McLennan continues:

“I jumped into a small fox hole for a moment and saw two Germans lying off to one side. One of the boys had already shot the smaller one through the arm, I think. The big fellow was no good and showed no nerve and made no resistance. They were too scared to fight I guess, and maybe they thought I had a whole company with me. I didn’t know if we could make it back or not for just a little in front of us they were cracking down pretty lively by that time.”

“Had a notion to cool the big fellow, but I was afraid that with the reckless shooting that was going on they might kill the other and then I would be without a prisoner. So we took a back track and shoved them along in front of us. They let on as though they could not swim but we threw them in and they made it to the planks all right. We got away without any casualty, but how it happened is beyond my understanding. So we returned, the order had been carried out and I delivered two prisoners.”

Daybreak

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

The American front line near Saint-Étienne was about to change. The 71st Brigade of the 36th Infantry Division had been on the attack for three days. After heavy casualties, it had lost the ability to advance further. The 72nd Brigade was on the way. Because of the distance and the danger of the battlefield, getting to the fight would take time.

On October 10th, 1918, soldiers from the 72nd Brigade were on the battlefield. Getting all the way to front was a challenge because it was hard to find. Now that the Germans saw them arriving, it got a lot harder. A tremendous artillery barrage greeted the 36th Division as it moved into place. Hits registered miles behind the American front line. The 142nd Infantry Regiment, now in control of the village of Saint-Étienne and across the flat landscape all the way to Barton’s Hill a kilometer away, would have to hold on for one more night.

As evening faded into night, the Germans continued firing flares into the sky. The flares would light up the night as they slowly descended by a tiny parachute. This would give enough light to expose anyone unlucky enough to be outside his shelter. But as the night wore on, the flares grew more infrequent. The night before, soldiers on the American side also saw large fires, three of them, behind German lines. Artillery shells came down on the American line as always, but less often.

The village of Saint Etienne viewed from Barton’s Hill

October 11

In the predawn light, it was necessary to go out there to see what was happening on the German line. Several patrols of 142nd soldiers carefully made their way out of their foxholes and toward the enemy. One patrol came back to their unit in front of the village having heard a man cry out for help in English. It could be a German trap. In the morning mist, two Americans ventured in the direction of the voice.

After a short but intense period of silence the two men returned, supporting between them Private William Schaeffer from Company A. Private Schaeffer had been hit in the knee three days before, on October 8, the first day of the attack. When the Germans counterattacked, he was unable to make it back to the American line. Schaeffer hid in various places until his canteen was dry. As he crawled toward his comrades, he was close enough he could hear Germans speaking to each other.

As the sun rose on October 11th, machine gun fire from the German side ceased for the first time. It was a cold morning and still misty, therefore the enemy could not be seen. More patrols set out toward the German line. They returned with the news that the outposts were empty.

The 71st Brigade, 141st and 142nd Regiments and a Machine Gun battalion, stood down. Just three days before, they had been untested in combat. Since then they had experienced ferocity, violence and privation that had chewed up the veteran division they replaced. Now they were being replaced by the 72nd Brigade.

The cost

It was time to call the roll of survivors. Leaders of battalions set up posts on different parts of the battlefield and each soldier made his way to his own company. Men of the same company who had not seen each other in days were reunited. In every gathering the weight of what just occurred was almost too much to bear. Two company commanders were killed. Seven Lieutenants were killed. Several companies had all their officers killed or wounded.

One hundred sixty enlisted men and ten officers of the 142nd Infantry were killed in that first engagement. The regiment was 40% understrength when it went into battle. This was due to illness and transfers. In addition to the dead, six hundred thirty-five men were wounded or missing. At least four of the missing were taken prisoner. As they gathered at their battalion outposts, battalions looked like companies. Some companies were headed by sergeants.

Reorganizing the men took all day on October 11th, as the 72nd Brigade moved forward to look for the retreating Germans. As men gathered and new leaders were assigned, food and supplies were moved forward. The division’s cook wagons arrived, and the men sat down to their first warm food since breakfast on October 6. In a quiet to which they couldn’t yet adjust, the 142nd regiment slept on the battlefield once more.

U.S. Army Rolling Kitchen

Leaving Saint-Étienne

On October 12th the regiment buried their dead. As the men searched the battlefield, their loss was magnified by the remembrance of each friend and neighbor laid to rest in the fields of France. Marines and Engineers from the U.S. Second Division were among the dead and men from their units were able to give their comrades a respectful burial.

Although the battle of Saint-Étienne was over, war continued. Men of the 142nd joined the mass of their division marching north toward Germany’s industrial heartland. Because they occupied the battlefield, the Americans could consider themselves the victors. But it was at a terrible cost. Germany, which invaded France to protect that heartland, moved out in an orderly retreat. They too had won something, if only time. The cost to them had been great as well.

The German withdrawal had been comprehensive. Units began retreating days before October 11th. Artillery had rolled back under the cover of heavier guns far to the rear. Soldiers of the 72nd Brigade only encountered a small residual force after advancing two kilometers north of Saint-Étienne. By the end of the first day they had overtaken Machault, four miles to the north. There the Germans had burned their stores, the fires the Americans had seen two nights before.

The Aisne

The men of the 142nd followed the American advance on October 12th and had reached the vicinity of Dricourt, about seven miles away from Saint-Étienne. Late in the day, the cook wagons were in place and the men were able to get a hot meal. Although now it was raining, the 142nd Infantry made shelter as best they could in a stand of pine trees and stayed the night.

On October 13th the 142nd marched about eight more miles toward the new front line. The Germans had retreated fifteen miles to the north bank of the Aisne River, near Attigny. The river and the Ardennes Canal, which ran parallel to the Aisne, was the new front line. The men of the 142nd were once again in range of German artillery, firing shots at random at the countryside. As night approached, the men moved toward the river. It was still raining, but by midnight the leading units of the 142nd Infantry had made their way to the banks of the Aisne. What the enemy was up to on the other side, no one knew.

No Man’s Land

Peter LarsenLeave a comment

As darkness fell on October 8, 1918, soldiers of the 142nd Infantry regiment experienced the in-betweenness of the front line. At their current strength, they couldn’t advance. Because they were exposed to enemy fire, they couldn’t easily retreat. After a day of intense fighting, American forces had captured the town of Saint-Étienne and the German line of defenses that ran through it. Now, they were anticipating a counterattack.

German forces did counterattack earlier in the day, in the late afternoon. Soldiers of the 142nd under Captain Thomas Barton withdrew to the wooded hill about 600 yards from Saint-Étienne and dug in. The Germans gained some ground, but their counterattack was halted. Americans were hoping for support from their own artillery, but during the whole battle it was underwhelming.

A battalion of French tanks began the day with them; but coordination was poor between the French tankers and American infantrymen. The tanks did not keep up with the attack, and some of the machines were picked off by German artillery. When the tank battalion’s commander was killed, the tanks withdrew from the fight.

The first night

So it was left to the men on the new front line to dig in and hold. Everything was improvised; shell craters became shelters. Evening did not bring silence or comfort. The Americans were still taking artillery and small arms fire through the night. Temperatures dropped to freezing. Each soldier had one day’s ration when he started out two days before. Now, all their food and water were gone. Runners sent back to get food and supplies were under fire the whole way.

Exhausted by their introduction to combat, hungry soldiers curled up in their foxholes amid the shellfire and actually slept. Others kept guard as American and German patrols crawled across no man’s land to learn the disposition of their enemy. Doughboys who missed the signal to retreat tried to crawl back to the American line. However, several of these were picked up by German patrols and made prisoners.  

Just before light on October 9th, men came up with crates filled with canned food. Frost covered the ground. Limbs were stiff and fingers were numb. If the Germans were going to attack, now would be the time. Shortly after dawn the American line experienced a furious shelling for about thirty minutes. But it seemed the enemy was not going to do more than fire at them with their cannon.

Barton’s Hill viewed from Saint Etienne

The next day

Now it was the 142nd’s turn. Behind the lines an ad hoc collection of the regiment’s reserve was formed. This included units who had gotten lost on the first day and individuals who had lost contact with their unit. At approximately 10:30 a.m. this force set out to reach the new front line. Reaching it under heavy fire, they forged ahead toward the German line. By this point German explosives and poison gas were overwhelming and the attack gained about 200 yards.

What followed was a sustained barrage of German artillery, made more accurate by German spotter aircraft. They still held a line of trenches about one thousand yards north of Saint-Étienne.

The second night

It grew dark once more, the second night. Once again, soldiers improved their makeshift defenses and thought of eating and drinking. Food and supplies were two miles back, and it took all night for small groups of men to carry them forward. The men who had advanced during the day found their position untenable. Reinforcements moved out of their foxholes and covered their retreat to the line established the night before.

Since the Americans could not move forward, did the Germans know it? And wasn’t this the perfect time for them to attack? This was on the mind of every doughboy hugging the earth around Saint-Étienne. During the cold night they strengthened their defenses, and dug deeper. Signalmen came up stringing telephone wire for better communication. Wounded men were carried back to the aid station. Men lay still in the cold and listened. They didn’t hear the German army getting ready to come down on their hasty fortifications. Instead they looked forward and saw large fires behind the German lines, three of them. German flares lit up the sky constantly. The men kept on their guard.

The top of Barton’s Hill

October 10th

By morning some food and water had reached the front line. The day brought orders for the First Battalion of the 142nd to move into the village and relieve soldiers and marines from the U.S. 2nd Division who had been holding it. The Second was moving out of the area after nine days of the most intense fighting. Saint-Étienne was closely observed by the Germans, and soldiers from First Battalion would have to slip in while under fire.

First the soldiers had to cross open land to reach town. Crawling forward in small groups, they sought foxholes and drainage ditches to cover their advance. The men moved into the village and spaced themselves, taking advantage of any protection nearby. Buildings, piles of rubble and shell holes provided shelter once the Germans caught sight of any movement. To relieve the men defending the cemetery posed another problem: it was out in the open. While every gun appeared to fire at them, First Battalion men would carefully time their dash toward the cemetery. Although German artillery was dialed in to every square foot of the village, they never shelled their own cemetery.

Saint Etienne after the battle

Under fire

As First Battalion men occupied the trenches in the cemetery, soldiers of Third Battalion also made their way under heavy fire through Saint-Étienne. Their destination was the front line north of town across the Arnes riverbed. This was the American position closest to the fourth line of German fortifications and it was very well defended.

Lieutenant Ben Chastaine of A Company recalls an order from behind the lines that contact be made with the enemy who was entrenched just ahead. The officer who got the order picked six men and they carefully made their way out of their holes and toward the German line. Chastaine continues:

“Crawling over every foot of the way the patrol made its way along a shallow ditch at the side of the road for a considerable distance in “no-man’s-land.” Suddenly from both sides and in front the little group became the target of the enemy snipers. Bullets in a perfect hail left the officer and four of his men on the ground while the other two made their way back as best they could. There was all the contact desired.”

For Extraordinary Heroism

Peter Larsen2 Comments

In the predawn hours of October 8, 1918, Captain Ethan Simpson prepared his men to attack. He tried to get more ammunition and grenades for H Company, 142nd Infantry. He also sent out patrols to make sure the enemy was not about to attack. In the dark of night Captain Simpson himself crossed the front line with a Marine guide to see what the Germans were up to. When two Germans appeared to see Simpson, his companion let loose with a shotgun and they both made tracks back to their foxholes.

It was getting light. Captain Simpson was summoned to Battalion HQ for orders, where he learned that they would attack in a matter of minutes. His company would be on the right side of his regiment; the 141st Infantry would be advancing on his right. Likewise, Captain Thomas Barton’s G Company was on his left. Sixty to one hundred yards ahead of him was a stand of trees, and the enemy.

Ethan A. Simpson was a citizen soldier who had joined the army ten years earlier. Also, he had been an officer for nine years. In civilian life he was a lawyer in Clarendon, Texas, where he had recruited a company of volunteers in 1917. Some of those Panhandle men were still with him.

U.S. World War One Bond Drive Poster of type seen by H Company in Texas

After an American and French artillery barrage that fell mostly off-target, H Company went over the top. The woods in front of H Company lit up with muzzle flashes from machine guns. As he advanced into the trees, Captain Simpson was hit by two bullets fired from a tree above him. But Simpson was able to find the German gunner and shot him dead. Finally, the wounded Captain was carried back to the American line.

Samuel M. Sampler

Corporal Sam Sampler was born in Decatur, Texas. He had lived in Oklahoma, but enlisted in the old 7th Texas Infantry in Quanah. On October 8th, Sampler was in Captain Simpson’s H Company when he saw Simpson and two other officers in the company hit by gunfire. As a result, H Company was halted by machine guns at the top of Hill 160. Nevertheless, Corporal Sampler took some German grenades and made his way around the nearest machine gun nest. His third grenade hit home and killed two of the gunners, silencing the machine gun. Consequently twenty-eight of the enemy surrendered and the American attack continued.

Barton's Hill Captured and Held by H Company of the 142nd Infantry. About 800 Yards in Front of St. Etienne

Harold L. Turner

Corporal Harold Turner of Seminole, Oklahoma, enlisted in the old 1st Oklahoma Infantry in Wewoka. On October 8th he was in F Company, 142nd Infantry on the attack just behind H Company. His company commander being wounded, Turner and his sergeant organized a platoon of runners, signalmen and battalion scouts. Advancing though enemy fire, Turner soon found himself with just four men unhurt. Four enemy machine guns were twenty-five yards away. When they shifted their fire away from his men, Corporal Turner charged them with his bayonet. Consequently, Turner captured the machine guns and their fifty-man crew.

For Extraordinary Heroism

For his actions on October 8th, 1918 near Saint-Étienne, Captain Ethan A. Simpson was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

For their actions on October 8th, 1918 near Saint-Étienne, Corporals Samuel M. Sampler and Harold L. Turner were awarded the nation’s highest award for heroism, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Only ninety-six Medals of Honor were awarded to ground soldiers and marines in World War I.

Learn more about the battle on the 8th of October:

In the face of the enemy

Conspicuous Gallantry and Intrepidity

Resources

Texas Military Forces Museum: The 71st Brigade at St. Etienne

Conspicuous Gallantry and Intrepidity

Peter Larsen2 Comments

By his wristwatch, Captain Steve Lillard of Decatur, Texas went over the top at 5:35 a.m. on October 8th. Lillard commanded L Company, 142nd Infantry. As part of 3rd Battalion, his command would support the men of 2nd Battalion who had attacked the German line just a few minutes before. As part of the second wave of this attack, Lillard and his men might have waited for the men in the first wave to advance farther. But things were already not going to plan.

In a modern war, it’s never a good idea to crowd close together.

As for what was going wrong, Lillard would have noticed that the tanks had gotten off to a late start. Just the day before, the men of the 71st Brigade were heartened to see a bataillion of French tanks were joining them. The 142nd Infantry was supported by 6 tanks in the assault. But the first wave of infantry had advanced without them, and the tanks were following behind. Since part of the ground in front of them was wooded, naturally the tanks moved toward open ground. The Americans had never trained with tanks, and some of them were mistakenly shot by French tankers.

The church at Saint-Etienne near where the gallantry of the men was tested.

The attack on St. Etienne

While Captain Lillard saw men ahead of him drift toward the wooded hilltop to his right, he noticed a lot of machine gun fire coming from the town ahead to his left. He could hold his men back longer, which was the plan, or help the first wave by protecting their left side. Anyway, Lillard had to move because German artillery had found his position and was hitting it hard.

The attack on the morning of October 8th was intended to capture two lines of defense behind the famous Hindenburg Line. The Hindenburg Line had been taken on September 26th, but the Germans had built defenses in four layers behind it. Concrete machine gun posts called Pill Boxes, rows and rows of barbed wire and trenches stretched across the French countryside.

The last two lines were in the vicinity of Saint-Étienne, a ruin about one kilometer away. As men were carefully making their way through barbed wire entanglements, German machine guns shot many of them. Captain Lillard found two sergeants, Chester Roberts of L Company and Kelly Nail of I Company and ordered them to take out the guns. Roberts and Nail managed to get around the guns and silence them. Consequently their men captured seventeen machine guns and 112 Germans there. Sgt. Nail later found his uniform was full of bullet holes and his helmet had been shot through twice; but he was unharmed.

German pill box at the eastern end of St. Etienne the courageous men needed to take

In the town

By this point over two hours had passed. Troops from different units were intermixed and officers and NCOs were gathering leaderless men and taking them into the fight. More machine gun fire was coming from the town, including from the tower of the church. A shot from the one-pounder gun platoon put it out of business. Although the town was reported to be empty of Germans, it was found to be well defended. At the northwest edge of town was the Arnes, a stream beyond which the Germans were found to be in force. To the north and east, a German cemetery.

Meanwhile, lots of gunfire was coming from the cemetery. But artillery was crashing into the town, so American troops moved onto the cemetery. There they found the Germans in trenches. A platoon of Marines from the 2nd Division held the edge of town while the Southwesterners of the 36th Division tried to get closer to the Germans. They were able to approach the cemetery on the Germans’ right while others attacked head-on.

The Americans closed around the cemetery and fighting was hand to hand. But the enemy had little appetite for this kind of combat and the German survivors quickly surrendered. Having secured the cemetery, American soldiers and marines had captured the village of Saint-Étienne for good.

German strongpoint in St. Etienne
German strongpoint in St. Etienne

The attack slows

Soldiers and marines in Saint-Étienne found heavy German resistance on the other side of the stream. While the marines held on to the village, soldiers from the 142nd Infantry moved beyond the cemetery northeast along a road. This road connected Saint-Étienne with the next village, Semide, and taking it was the minimum objective of the attack.

Captain Lillard sent a patrol on the Semide road. Looking around him, he noted how few of the men he was leading had made it this far. Lillard was commanding what was left of several companies at this point, including his own L Company. His men advanced about two hundred yards on the Semide road, but found a German trench line. Having taken the third German line, the attackers had run into the fourth.

Likewise, while making their way along the road, men from Lillard’s command also found Captain Thomas Barton and his men advancing from Hill 160. It was late afternoon. As Captains Lillard and Barton were planning their next steps, a German counterattack formed on the right. As a result, the Americans withdrew to a line connecting Hill 160 and the town of Saint-Étienne.

Trench through the German Cemetery
Trench through the German Cemetery

Gallantry Rewarded

For their actions on October 8, 1918 at Saint-Étienne, Sgt. E. Kelly Nail and Sgt. Chester Roberts, both of Cleburne, Texas, were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action having captured seventeen machine guns and 112 prisoners, four officers among them.

Learn more about the battle on the 8th of October:

In the face of the enemy

For Extraordinary Heroism

Resources

Texas Military Forces Museum: The 71st Brigade at St. Etienne