m ■''^''i«j'*'" \ Ai.i(-"»Nr II 'j ii>««>cA J(7 >cc 1 CHAPTER VIL Lorraine, WE were fortunate in being assigned to the Lorraine front, Baccarat sector, for our initiation into war, for it is a beautiful land. Quaint villages nestling among the symmetrical hills, with the Vosges piercing the horizon in the dis- tance, made an unforgettable picture. We expected to begin killing Huns as soon as we were in position, but that was far from the case. The days before March first, when we fired our first shot, were days of toil. We learned the stationary trench- warfare game from the start by digging ourselves in, being careful to keep our posi- tions camouflaged at all times so that the Hun aviators might not detect us, for as the saying is, a battery seen is a battery lost. From sunrise to sunset we dug, dug, dug and camouflaged. One officer was death on camouflage, and one day he went so far as to order the men to carry snow for that pur- pose, but though our hands had become blistered and our backs stiff, we were ac- 51 RAINBOW HOOSIER complishing something. Our dugouts, gun pits and ammunition dumps were about completed when we were honored by a visit from the Commander-in-Chief. It was at the noon hour while we were eating mess that three large cars came up the road and stopped in the rear of our gun positions. The door of the first car was opened and out stepped General Pershing. His appearance could not disappoint the most ardent hero worshipper, for he is of fine physique, of towering height and of commanding presence, and, in fact, he is the ideal military figure referred to by the ex- pression, "Every inch a soldier." He strode up to the mess line and spoke to the private who was getting his mess kit filled. We were surprised at the plain words which came from the lips of this man who held the destinies of us all in his hands, yet we had no occasion for it, because he is sim- ply the incarnation of the spirit of our democracy and an example of the equal op- portunities our country offers, for his fa- ther was a section boss. After all, the greater a man is the more common he is and the less frills he uses. He asked the 52 LORRAINE private how the food was and how he liked army life. Then he inspected our newly constructed gun pits and dugouts, with which he was well satisfied. After Pershing's visit we all looked to the future with greater confidence and went to work with greater enthusiasm; in fact, the only fellow who wasn't better off was the private who told the General that he was getting plenty to eat. He was so much in awe of the man that he forgot all about the days when we worked hard on insufficient rations, consisting mainly of corn willie. However, we chafed under the monotony of trench life even after we began hurling the big shells into the Hun lines. Ameri- cans are not satisfied with standing still but always want to carry the fight to the enemy. We fully understood now why the war had been prolonged so long and we prayed for sufficient Yankees to come across so that we could show them some American wild- west warfare. We had progressed from the state of mind of spectators and wanted to show the world what we could do. In justice to the French I must say that later campaigns changed our attitude to- 53 RAINBOW HOOSIER ward this sort of quiet sectors, for there were times when we would have welcomed a little rest in one of them. At the time America entered the war, neither side had enough troops to permit them to take units from the front for purposes of resting them up. Instead, these quiet sectors served the purpose. Trench warfare was not the method of fighting desired by either side. It was a necessary evil, because neither side had sufficient forces, above the enemy's strength, for maneuvering. We saw some wonderful French soldiers on the front, but after all, the finest of them were beneath the sod, and that is why the American forces became the decisive factor in the war. Though we chafed under this monotony, none of us today are sorry that we passed through these experiences which the com- batants had endured for more than three years of fighting. We would not have com- prehended the methods of this sort of sta- bilized warfare had we not experienced it ourselves. A peculiarity of this sort of war is its zones of activity. The country was com- 54 LORRAINE paratively quiet before the zone of war was reached. Then, as the number of shell-torn towns and devastated regions increased, the activity also increased. Ambulances, trucks, motor cars and motorcycles whizzed along the roads. Even the country roads resem- bled city streets in the quantity of traffic. All these arteries of travel eventually led to the front line trenches, where signs of hu- man life were seldom seen, being screened by camouflage. Shells burst on every hand there, while aeroplanes flew overhead, but humans were seen only when attacks were launched. When we took over the Baccarat sector, there seemed to be some sort of gentleman's agreement between the French and Ger- mans to keep it safe and quiet. When one side would decide to put over a few shrap- nel of H.E.'s, the enemy would be given time to hunt their dugouts and wait until the spasm was over. Then the other side would return the compliment, while the first mentioned enemy reclined in their safe dug- outs. So when the Yankees made this their sector both the Boche and French were scandaHzed at seeing their party broken up. 55 RAIISBOW HOOSIER "Somebody was going to get hurt," it was true, and though we suffered casualties, the Boche got the bad end of the deal. We not only put over several shells to Fritz's one, but our doughboys made his life miserable by mighty raids. These regi- ments from New York, Ohio, Iowa and Ala- bama, backed up by our guns, took com- plete control of No Man's land, even erect- ing signs uncompHmentary to Fritz, and telling him that it wasn't no man's land but that it belonged to the Yanks. During this stage of the war the activity along the entire front consisted of local raids. On March 9th the division executed a coup de main, which later was heralded in the press as one of the first American victories. There was five hours of artillery preparation starting at 1:05 P. M. The in- fantry went over the top at 5:30 P. M., at- tacking the enemy trenches with a loss of only two killed and thirty-six wounded. This was the first time that Americans had oc- cupied German trenches. On March 17th the regiment suffered its first casualty when the third battalion, P.C., in Bois Champagne, was shelled by the en- 56 LORRAINE emy. At this time Private Orla Archey had a leg blown off. But next day Privates Yates, Glass and Fabain v^ere seriously wounded and Sergeant Hughes sustained lighter wounds. Soon after this the men were awarded the Croix de Guerre. The heaviest casualties, however, were suffered by Battery E, the first of May, when sev- enty-five men were gassed, none proving fatal, luckily. To avoid a repetition of this, May 15th the regiment fired 27,000 rounds, preventing a projector gas attack of the enemy by destroying his projectors. The largest attack in which the regiment participated in Lorraine was the raid of May first, second and third. At 1 :30 A. M. the guns of all calibers began an intense cannonading of the enemy positions. Col- onel Tyndall had ninety-two guns in his plan of employment, or seventeen French batteries in addition to the 150th F.A. This being the largest attack in which we had participated, we were greatly impressed and on the second day, in a spare moment, I wrote the following: "Aeroplanes fly above us, an observation balloon is up to our right and our guns are booming and 57 RAINBOW HOOSIER jarring the earth. I am sitting on the edge of an old trench from which the Huns were driven earher in the war, and there were wooden crosses nearby, some bearing only the word, ^Allemand,' others having the tri- color nailed to them with the words *La Patria' and the name of the fallen hero painted beneath. These are signs of the past. Boche shells bursting in our territory remind us of that. But from this hillcrest I can see that we are returning ten to one. "What a beautiful land to be torn by war ! Quaint villages are nestling among Lor- raine hills. The villages are in ruins but it is spring and in spite of Mars, mother na- ture has clothed the hills with verdant growth; wild flowers are springing up and forests are donning their spring foliage. In the distance the peaks of the Vosges pierce the clouds. And here we are, men, mutilat- ing, scarring, hurting you, for what ? After all, you, beautiful land, are the creation of the same all-powered force which gave us life, and our suffering is as great as yours. We are mutilating you and ourselves for principles and ideals worthy of Him of Nazareth. 58 LORRAINE "Evening is spreading its black mantle over the scene but the glare from the guns is only accentuated. There is a flash, a roar, smoke pours from the muzzle of our engine of destruction. Soon with the glasses we can see through the dusk the burst of the high explosive shells in the German lines. Night has come, rockets illumine their own brilliant courses over No Man's land and star shells hang for a moment in the air casting a stunning light, of a brightness even surpassing daylight. "As a picture it would all be beautiful and romantic, at the guns it is work. The gun crews are sweating, their energies, minds, muscles, applied to the work of ramming shells into the breach of cannon, pulling the lanyard, which releases the firing pin, whereupon the projectile goes hurling to- ward Germany. In the front lines the doughboys are anxiously awaiting the zero hour when they will ^go over the top'." On the third day the doughboys went over at daylight and penetrated far into the Boche reserve lines, where some prisoners were captured, but the work of the artillery was so effective that most of the Huns they 59 RAINBOW UOOSIER saw were corpses and the trenches and dug- outs were completely destroyed. This oper- ation was augury for the future. It was the first illustration of the spirit and prin- ciple which made the Rainbow Division so successful in every battle. That principle was co-operation. Every unit worked to- gether and there was born mutual respect and confidence between them. We thought our doughboys the greatest soldiers in the world and they in turn sang the praises of the artillery. I have asked doughboys if they wouldn't like artillery better than infantry and have always received an answer, "No, boy, you can have your place back of us, where the big ones bust and make holes big enough to build a house in, but, believe me. Til stay in the front lines and take my chance with the rifle and machine-gun bullets." Of course, the front lines are bombarded by artillery at times, but for the most part artillery sends and receives many more shells than the doughboys get. The data for artillery was figured from maps; however, complete accuracy could not be attained without observation. Ob- 60 LORRAINE servation posts are situated in any place where a good view of enemy territory can be obtained. They may be on a hill in the rear of the guns but more often are in front and sometimes are in the front lines or even in No Man's land, being always concealed from enemy sight. The observer goes to the O.P., directs his binoculars toward the tar- get and by telephone orders the battery to fire. A typical conversation would run as follows : O.P.: "Is battery ready to fire?" Battery Position: "Battery ready to fire." O.P.: "Fire." Battery Position: "On the way." Perhaps the explosion of the projectile would be to the right of the target. Then the observer would perhaps change the data. O.P.: "Left five, elevation the same." Battery Position: "On the way." The shell strikes directly in front of the target, hence is short and the elevation is increased. Then the target is hit and fire for destruction is given. Not all of our time was spent dosing the Huns with shells. Inspections were regular 61 RAINBOW HOOSIER occurrences, especially at the horse line, where horses, wagons, harness and rifles had to be kept spick and span, the expres- sion, "Inspections will win the war," was a product of these days. Pay day came once a month, sometimes, and then the old army game held its sway for a time. Afternoon passes were sometimes given the drivers, and at such times Baccarat was visited. However, the greatest side attraction of the war proved to be the cooties. Some soldiers who claim to have been at the front have said that one gets used to cooties, but that is not so. They are such staunch friends that it is almost impossible to get rid of them without a complete change of equip- ment being made. We also had some trou- ble with trench fever and scabies, which were carried or caused by them. Of course, if one was sick he could get medical atten- tion, which meant a couple of C. C. pills, usually. So few if any United States soldiers had ever been subjected to such a life, yet it was surprising how quickly they adapted themselves and accepted it as a matter of course. All soldiers usually have a grouch 62 LORRAINE and complain, but never for one instance do they hesitate or slacken in their duty. It is only in the silent hour in deep meditation does he let his mind revert to better things. It is then that home and memories of moth- er comes back to him. When a boy^s task is light and his surroundings pleasant, he may forget, but when hardships and danger come, it is then that home and mother looms up before him. It is the hardship, turmoil, dangers, death and destruction of war that makes our sol- diers realize and appreciate what the veter- ans of the Civil War went through, so it was Declaration Day at home that inspired a soldier boy to write his grandmother the following letter: In the Trenches, Somewhere in France. Dearest Grandma — No doubt you are ob- serving Memorial Day as usual, honoring the soldiers of our country and decorating the graves of those who have crossed the Great Divide. We at the front can not pause from our task of pouring shells into the Boches, but our minds must revert to 63 RAINBOW IIOOSIER the olct heroes of the Nation, who furnish us the ideal example of patriotism and the inspiration which makes us proud and ready to serve the flag. So when we suffer re- verses and the outlook seems black, we will be buoyed up by their example and recall that America has been and always will be victorious. A nation lives largely in the past, its history is its living face. Before we entered the war the Germans called us 'Idiotic Yankees'' and ''Lifeless Money Bags.'' We turned to our history and be- came confident again that these w^ere lies, and when the time came we could depend upon our citizens as of old. The example that I have always tried to live up to is Grandpa, because he not only did his duty always, but lead a clean life while doing it. He made me want to be a soldier by his stories of the war when I was a child at his knee, but with it all there was a great dread in my heart, for I did not have confidence in myself. I wondered what I would do if the U. S. would fight another war. Would I volunteer or w^ould I try to keep out of it? Life is sweet to every young man, and it would be much easier to stay at home than 64 LORRAINE to don a uniform ; would mean trials, hard- ships and, perhaps death. So when I en- listed I felt happier than ever before be- cause I had conquered the fear of myself and acted as I knew grandpa would have acted. In memory of him and of thousands others like him, I am going to gather some wild flowers today and will put them on the graves marked by plain wooden crosses of some soldiers who lie in the open field in the rear of our gun position, in that way I can pay tribute to our heroes of the past, just as you do at home. At eleven o'clock, on the evening of June nineteenth, the regiment said farewell to the Lorraine front. General Duport, com- manding the sixth French army corps, with which we had served, cited the division in general orders to its "fine military qualities, offensive ardor and services rendered" dur- ing our hundred-and-ten-day occupation of the sector. ir ioiq 6th Army Corps. ^^^'^ ^^^^ ^^> 1^^^' Staff. First Bureau No. 3243-1. GENERAL ORDERS No. 50. At the moment when the 42d U.S. Divi- RAINBOW HOOSIER sion is leaving the Lorraine front, the Com- manding General of the 6th Army Corps desires to do homage to the fine military qualities which it has continuously exhib- ited, and to the services which it has ren- dered in the Baccarat Sector. The offensive ardor, the scene for the util- ization and the organization of terrain as for the liaison of the arms, the spirit of method, the discipline shown by all its of- ficers and men, the inspiration animating them, prove that at the first call, they can henceforth take a glorious place in the new line of battle. The Commanding General of the 6th Army Corps expresses his deepest grati- tude to the 42d Division for its precious collaboration; he particularly thanks the distinguished commander of this division. General Menoher, the officers under his or- ders and his staff so brilliantly directed by Colonel McArthur. It is with a sincere regret that the entire 6th Army Corps sees the 42d Division de- part. But the bonds of affectionate com- radeship which have been formed here will not be broken; for us, in faithful memory, 66 LORRAINE are united the living and the dead of the Rainbow Division, those v^ho are leaving for hard combats and those who, after hav- ing nobly sacrificed their lives on the land of the east, not rest there, guarded over piously by France. These sentiments of warm esteem will be still more deeply affirmed during the impending struggles where the fate of Free people is to be decided. May our units, side by side, contribute valiantly to the triumph of Justice and Right. GENERAL DUPORT, Comxmanding the 6th Army Corps. (Signed) DUPORT. 67 1 .hr^ >^^k;^/_Mi v»# »^V'~' ft .1 ! ^v wi^:^ % '^J \i \ (MIAITKR VIII. liiliiiKI l<> \' icloifi, (IS l*(frl of F