USA > Nebraska > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 93
USA > Nebraska > Clay County > History of Hamilton and Clay counties, Nebraska, Vol. I > Part 93
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"The national guard will be the future military power of the United States, or it will be nothing," concluded Colonel Paul.
"I am confident that it will be the former, for records will prove that the guardsmen have passed the test and have come through the fire as fine as steel, as war's baptism can make of a soldier body."
Colonel Paul is staying at the home of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Ray Williams. 4908 Webster Street.
HISTORY OF CO. G, 355TH INFANTRY, 89TH DIVISION IN THE 7TH ARMY CORPS AND
ARMY OF OCCUPATION
Sergt. Joe Brehm
Just as the day was breaking on June 29, 1918, Co. G. Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Infantry arrived at Brechaville, France, its training area. Two days before, in leaving La Havre, our French disembarkation point, the men had been introduced to the European military system of transportation when they climbed into their railway carriages, the kind marked "Eight Cheveaux, forty Hommes." After one long night, a day, and half another night the train stopped at Laeffel de Grande and the company moved ont for Brechaville in true infantry style on foot.
A start on the wrong road, a long uphill grind with full packs at night, a question as to the town to be occupied by the second battalion with the consequent delay, and a guard order waiting for Company G upon its arrival, made the first impression unpleasant. Before many days, however, the company buckled down in earnest to its business of making soldiers. This was the first opportunity for real work. At Camp Funston, Company G, Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Infantry had been organized September 5, 1917, under command of Capt. Neville C. Fisher, but the enlisted strength, except non-commissioned officers later had been sent to other divisions as replacements. Less than a week before the company started to the point of embarkation it was filled with privates who had clothing and equip- ment hung on them like wraps on a hat rack in those last mad days in Kansas. The stay near New York was too short for drill. The trip across the Atlantic was notable only for the rumors of submarines off the Atlantic coast just before starting, and the training received during the stay in England was hardly worthy the name.
So in July, 1918, Co. G as a company learned practically all that it ever did about fighting Germans before it went to the trenches. And after our division once took the lines it never got out.
The training methods of Lieut. Mack V. Traynor, were slightly different from those of other company commanders. The result was noted by division inspector Lieut .- Col. (now Brigadier General) MeCovy when he gave the company the best
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
rating of any company in the battalion after a detailed inspection the latter part of the month. A series of interplatoon competitions was the incentive that often kept men and officers working long after drill hours.
From Brechaville the company traveled in trucks to Trondes on August 5th and on a narrow gauge railroad the following night to a reserve position in the Rehanne woods on the Toul sector. Moving to Ansauville, in support, the night of August ith, the company expected a rest, preparatory to its turn in the front line when the second battalion relieved the first, but events caused a change in the schedule. The Bosche put over a heavy gas attack that night and Company G was detailed to reinforce the front line. The order came just before noon August 8th, and required a daylight relief, something never before attempted in that sector according to officers of the eighty-second division, which had preceded the eighty-ninth on the line.
During the first part of the march to the front parallel dozens of ambulances, filled with wounded going to the rear passed the company-hardly a heartening sight on the first trip up to no-man's land. The last few hundred yards was made with gas masks on. Owing, perhaps, to the fortunate coincident that for some reason no Boche balloons were up that afternoon, the relief was made without loss. The third platoon, with details from the other three, were attached to A Company while Lieutenant Traynor and the remainder of the company went to D.
The company's first casualties resulted from mustard gas yet lurking in Jury Woods and low ground further south. The tour of duty was largely uneventful, however.
When the second battalion took its turn in the line the company was given a sector south of Seicheprey and east of the approach trench into the town. On August 15th Capt. Neville C. Fisher, returning to duty from a tactical school, resumed command of the company.
Reconnaissance patrols from the different platoons penetrated the enemy lines on several occasions during the tour, gaining valuable information for the intelli- gence section. The sector was improved, trenches deepened, obstructions re-enforced and observation posts constructed.
At dawn, August 19th, less than an hour after one of our patrols had returned, the Boche artillery laid down one of the worst bombardments which the company suffered during the war. The range was perfect on the front line and for sixty minutes the barrage seemed like a huge cloudless thunderstorm with lightning striking less than a rod away at every breath. A direct hit that morning killed Henry Osness, the first man in our company killed in action. No raid or infantry advance followed the hostile artillery preparation but had the Bosche come over he would have found our men at their posts ready for action.
The double "hitch" in the front line parallel ended August 22d when the battalion was relieved and marched back to Rehanne woods for a rest. On the following night trucks were provided and the remainder of the time spent in reserve was taken up by drill and maneuvers at Boug, France.
While at Ansauville in support from August 2d to August 7th, the company furnished a patrol for the brigade commander to reconnoiter the enemy trenehes in front of a part of the Three Hundred and Fifty-fourth Infantry sector. The German lines were penetrated successfully but while the patrol was returning to the friendly trenches it was caught under heavy artillery fire and Sergt. Carl Holz was
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
killed ; three men were wounded. The information desired-useful in planning the Saint Mihiel offensive-was obtained.
The second and last turn G Company took in the trenches started September 6th and ended the night of the Saint Mihiel drive, September 11-12th. From the time the fighting on the sectors occupied by the Eighty-ninth Division was in the open. During the final tour of trench duty part of the company drove off the first Boche patrol which attacked an outfit in the Three Hundred and Fifty-fifth Infan- try. Two platoons had been in an outpost position at Seicheprey and just before daylight on the morning of September 9th, a small raiding party closed in on the town from the northwest. The patrol was completely routed with but two of our men slightly wounded. The skirmish was with hand grenades and rifles and the Germans retreated so fast that they left enough souvenirs to start a small museum.
The night of September 11-12th is one of the high lights in the pictures which portray the history of Company G, Captain Fisher and a reconnaissance detail had gone on ahead to Bennecourt and Flirey to get the advance information on the company's part in the Saint Mihiel drive. Infantry from the Forty-second and First Divisions was scheduled to relieve the detachment at Seicheprey and allow it to march to Flirey where it was to form part of a reserve battalion when the Americans went over at 5 a. m. Part of the relief arrived early in the evening, but the platoon which took over the Seicheprey outpost was delayed by the mud and storm. Fully half the company was marching east on the Flirey road, there- fore, when at 5 a. m. the artillery barrage began, which seemed like the very world opening up. Man competed with nature that night-cannon flash against the oceans of water which fell from the skies, the roar of artillery against the rumble of thunder-and for a few hours man held his own reasonably well. That half of the men were not lost on the march is a wonder. Tanks, trucks, supply trains, a general's car here and there, and detachments from every branch of service were competing for the road space that night, but before zero hour the company was in place ready to push off.
If the world opened at 1 a. m. the universe yawned at five. The artillery bom- bardment was intensified, the airplanes went up, flares and fireworks lighted up the heavens, the smoke sereen was laid down, the machine guns began a barrage of their own-and the doughboys started north. After moving less than six hundred yards Company G had captured a machine gun which had been overlooked by the leading waves, and had taken its first prisoners. The company captured approxi- mately one hundred the first day. Then, with Fritzie on the run, the pursuit by day and digging of "foxholes" at night began. Euvasin, Boulionville were passed and the company halted north of Beney. Here for a few days we were attached to the third battalion. Straffing by artillery was an hourly occurrence and one German gun reached the company kitchen, wounding one of the cook's helpers and spoiling a perfectly good dinner.
No man in Company G will forget a battalion patrol in which the company participated, sent out to occupy Dempvitoux or to destroy enemy machine gun positions, if opposition were encountered. The latter mission was fulfilled. Neither will any man in the second or third platoons, picked by the major for patrol work under his personal command the following night, forget his experiences on that occasion. A small patrol was met and routed and several machine guns located.
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
On October 1st relief arrived at Beney and the company occupied reserve sectors around Boulionville until October 7th, hiking to Rehanne woods that day, and on to Beaumont October 8th. From there trucks carried. the company to Argonne sector, Recicourt being the destination. Captain Fisher was transferred to D Company, giving Lieutenant Traynor command of our company while near Boulionville.
General Order No. 108, Headquarters Eighty-ninth Division, dated 18th of December, 1918, in which the division commander reviews the work of his organi- zation overseas, has a peculiar interest for Company G men, because the only minor operation considered important enough to mention, relates so closely to this organization. This order contains the following statement: "After the Division relieved the Thirty-second American Division near Romange it cleaned up the . Bois de Banthville and won commendation of the Corps and Army." This task was accomplished by the second battalion of the Three Hundred and Fifty-fiftli Infantry and the first battalion of the Three Hundred and Fifty-sixth, our troops encountering the heavier fighting. Since the battalion commander later stated in the presence of his officers and non-commissioned officers that Company G is more entitled to credit for the success of the movement than any other company in the battalion, reference to the commendation by higher commanders is unnecessary to complete our history.
The second battalion relieved a support battalion of the Thirty-second Division near Epionville, October 13th, but six days later it moved to the Bantheville woods to prepare for the required advance. When the waves started forward the night of October 20-21st, G Company was in support and suffered heavily in casualties from German whizbangs and light artillery which opened when the American activity commenced. The troops halted for the night on the reserve slope of a hill not further than three hundred yards from the hostile guns. G Company was brought up close behind E and F companies at daylight and all dug in. Sneezing gas caused no little inconvenience while making the move.
Late in the morning the company was ordered to make the assault and closed in on the nest, the other three companies supporting. No sooner had the line started forward than the sharp deadly burst of fire from the hostile "Maxims" began. No artillery support was available and it soon became plain that the only way to take the guns was to take them. The men were equal to the emergency and the afternoon had not progressed far before welcome cries of "Kamerad" in- dicated the success of the undertaking was assured. "The machine guns were sent back, with seven prisoners. The other Boche were killed or chased out of the woods. One officer and thirty-nine men of our company were casualties at Bantheville. These few facts tell as much as a volume.
Early in the morning of October 22d the battalion was relieved by companies from the Three IFundred and Fifty-third Infantry and G Company went to support positions near Epionville to stay until the night of October 21st.
The above, which lasted until the armistice stopped hostilities on that fateful eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month started Hallowe'en night. We were near Gesenes when we started across the Meuse River from Inor, November 11th. For six days we went too fast for the kitchen to keep up and lived largely on reserve rations and cabbage and turnips out of German gardens. Unlike the situation during the Saint Mihiel offensive, feed was not available.
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
The battalion was supporting the first at Beanclair where G Company passed through a nasty barrage. That night a patrol, half of E Company and half of G Company, was detailed to occupy and hold Luzy. The task was so accomplished without finding Heine, though one of the fifty liberated civilians said that the last Boche detachment retreated only fifteen minutes before the Americans ar- rived. At Luzy G Company men for the first time saw unrestrained joy of the French town people, released from four years of slavery. The soldiers had no sooner been recognized as friends until the streets was filled with hysterical women, wondering children who had never before seen such strange uniforms, and feeble old men silently weeping or murmuring prayers of thanksgiving. Their meager stock of food was cooked up and forced on the hungry soldiers, whose meals had been few for many days and who were glad to borrow hot coffee and French bread until the army supplies caught up.
November 7th, the morning the company started on its last move before hos- tilities ceased, Lieut. Mack V. Traynor was wounded and evacuated, leaving the senior Lieutenant (Madden) in command.
Two nights before November 11th, one officer and four men volunteered and were taken on a particularly dangerous battalion patrol across the Meuse River. One man was missing in action that night.
When the armistice took effect Company G was on the first line sector just across the Meuse from Fritz, who was within sniping distance of the edge of the woods occupied by the battalion. The word reached our part of the line about thirty minutes after the time set for the ending of hostilities and it was received with surprisingly little demonstration. While Heine was dancing and drinking around huge bon-fires to tnnes furnished by an improvised band, our men were quietly drying their clothes, warming their hands at fires, which had been tabooed for so long, or perhaps writing letters to the home which now seemed nearer. A simple religious service of thanks was conducted by the chaplain helped impress the importance of the morning's events upon our minds. Seldom was America sung with such feeling as it was that morning, with only the dripping water of the trees as an accompaniment.
After a few days of inactivity and one day's work on a salvage detail the battalion marched back to Barriconrt, arriving November 14th. There available equipment was issued preparatory to the long march into Germany as part of the Army of Occupation.
The start was made November 24th with Steney as the first stop. We marched through strips of France and Belgium, across Luxemburg and into Germany. The detailed itinerary follows :
Steney, France, November 24th to 25th.
Sapogne, France, November 25th to 30th.
Dampicourt, Belgium, December 1st to 2d.
Bartringen, Luxemburg, December 2d to 3d.
Gonderingen, Luxemburg, December 3d to 4th.
Scheidgen, Luxemburg, December 4th to 6th.
Welschbiling, Germany, December 6th to ?th.
Spang, Germany, December 7th to 9th.
Auw, Germany, December 9th to 19th (Joe's Birthday).
At Auw, Eyll, Daufenbach and Cordel (one platoon in each town), the company
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HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY
did a ten days' tour of railroad guard duty. There too, the present company commander, Capt. Ira J. Barbour, joined us on December 11, 1919.
On December 19th we marched to Schweich and the following day came in trucks to our following station, Beurig. Here drill schedules, hikes, athletic events, target practice, games, etc., have kept our time well occupied.
Perhaps the event which Company G will remember longest in relation to Benrig is our Christmas dinner. Table service, a relief from the noon line, in itself a big treat, but when combined with the menu for that day, the result is ahnost past belief for the A. E. F. Roast pork, mashed potatoes, gravy, bread, butter, jam, home baked cookies, tarts, rice pudding, huge portions of peach pie, coffee, cigars, cigarettes and wine that is, cider-such a dinner wouldn't be sneeze at, even in the States, especially when we had music with every course and Major Campbell, Captain Fisher and Lieutenant Millikemp (two of the origi- nal Company G officers) and Chaplain Chiarre as guests of honor, each one was called on for a few remarks.
The personnel of the company is representative of the best manhood of Nebraska and other states of the Middle West. Only four court martial cases in a year and five months is a record worthy of any organization and shows that problems of discipline have never been a source of trouble. The company's accomplishments speak for themselves and every member may be proud of the fact that it played a vital, first hand part in subduing an army which threatened the peace and liberty of the world from August, 1914. to November 11. 1919.
HAMMOND PRESS W. .. CONKEY COMPANY CHICAGO
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