USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume II > Part 2
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In February a hostess house was opened, under the direction of Miss Bertha M. Loheed, for the convenience of visiting members of soldiers' families. A severe winter was experienced, and training in the practice system of trenches involved some hardship. Naturally some of the boys wrote home about this, and the Division Commander began to receive letters from uneasy parents suggesting that their par- ticular boys were not strong constitutionally and might succumb under the rigors of training. At one time rumor was current in New York that one or more soldiers had been frozen to death while on duty in camp trenches. The boys were cautioned against sending out reports upon which rumors might be based, as a matter of morale, and exagger- ation ceased. There were twenty-two bands in camp, and concerts added to the pleasure of camp life. A professional band was organized from the bands of the 27th Division to play on special occasions, and performed in Spartanburg, Asheville, and other places. Later a similar band was organized from the musicians of the corps and army troops. In March, 1918, about 1,200 replacements were received and distributed among the units of the division, these being drafted men. Following an order from the commander, they were welcomed warmly. Toward the end of the training period the physical excellence of the command
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was remarkable, and the men had fastened themselves securely in the hearts of the people of Spartanburg.
The training of the division at camp was thorough. There was a grenade school, a bayonet fighting and physical training school, a mus- ketry school, an automatic arms school, a machine-gun school, a one- pounder school, a Stokes mortar school, a gas defense school, a camou- flage school, an engineer's school, a sniping, patrolling and reconnais- sance school, a transportation school, a liaison and communication school, a school of equitation, and schools for bands and field music, for teamsters, horseshoers, and packers. Two complete infantry ranges of one hundred targets each were constructed by soldier labor, the range including firing lines, open and trench, up to 1,000 yards. The field artillery had an unlimited supply of ammunition and were firing almost constantly under all kinds of terrain and weather conditions. There were barrage exercises, followed by open war exercises, and in fact every practice that would tend to educate the men in the emer- gencies of actual warfare.
Movement Overseas-The movement of the division overseas be- gan with the departure of the detachment called the advance party, consisting of the major general and a staff. This party left Camp Wadsworth on April 29th, and on May 1st sailed from Hoboken in the "Great Northern." Brigadier-General Robert E. I. Michie, 53rd Infantry Brigade, was left in charge of the division. The trip on the "Great Northern" was uneventful except for regular drills for prompt abandonment of ship, and for one or two submarine scares. The ship had no escort until she arrived near the coast of France, when three destroyers were met, and accompanied her to the harbor of Brest. Various units of the division followed on the "President Lincoln," the "Kartz," the "Pocahontas," the "Susquehanna," the "Antigone," the "Calamares," the "Madawaska," and the "President Grant." The field artillery and trains were the last elements to leave Camp Wadsworth, it being necessary to rush the infantry first. On most of the ships more than a hundred soldiers were kept constantly on duty watching for submarines. Their various posts of observation were connected by telephone with a central station. As a suggestion of the zeal with which the boys discharged this duty, the commander writes: "If a tin can bobbed on the crest of a wave the officer at the central station would receive a stream of reports of an approaching submarine. Gun crews fore and aft would prepare for action. The troops would be roused from their diversion to severe points of vantage from which to watch the coming battle, soon, however, to return to their normal occupations when the true cause of alarm was understood. After a few incidents of this character it became more difficult to stimulate the interest of the
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men in these alarms concerning enemy submarines. Some transports, however, were subjected to actual submarine attack." But these at- tacks were ineffective, and the submarines were reported as sunk. Aboard the larger ships attempts were made to publish papers. Most ships had printing presses and arrangements were made to publish wireless news and ship gossip. One of these publications was "The Sea Serpent," aboard the "Calamares," its subtitle, "A Mid-Atlantic Issue of the Gas Attack and Rio Grande Rattler," being the name of the paper published at Camp Wadsworth. At the head of this sheet the weather forecast was: "Dry-Until We Reach France." An an- nouncement concerning the uniform of troops was: "Uniform-Life Belts Day and Night." Another paper published aboard one of the transports was the "Mid-Ocean Comin' Thru," and one published on the "President Lincoln" was "The Rail-Splitter."
The stay of the troops at their various points of debarkation was short. Until May 27th no information had been received by the di- vision commander a's to where the division would be sent, but on that day it was ordered to entrain for the British area north of the Somme, for service with the British army. The trip from Brest to the Rue Area occupied two days and two nights because rail lines farther east had been taken by the Germans or were interrupted by exposure to hostile fire as a result of the German advance. The trip was the first introduction of the boys to the French railway rolling stock, every box car of which was labelled "40 hommes-8 chevaux." Later this phrase, with modifications, became a part of the language known as soldier French. With every rumor or change of station during the service in France came the anxious inquiry of one soldier to another, "Do we bus it or hoof it?" And often the answer was "neither. We homme it and chevaux it." One day a certain company of the 106th Infantry was as- signed a number of French box cars. A lad, tired after a ten-kilometer hike, saw a sign "40 hommes-8 chevaux." Looking at his new resting place he exclaimed : "By golly! Forty homes and no place to sleep."
At the Front-The first introduction to war was the sound of hostile airplanes heard at night when the troop trains reached the vicinity of Rouen. Farther on, and near Abbéville, several of the commands had their first experience with the night bombing raids of the enemy.
As soon as any beam of light touched the enemy plane the latter became immediately visible, seeming in the reflected rays to be a thing of silver. When this happened there was instantaneous action from the ground, for every "Archie," as the anti-aircraft cannon were called in the British army, was turned loose with shrapnel and bullets at the fast-moving target. Seldom were the searchlight beams able to keep on the target for more than a fraction of a minute, for the hostile aviator dived or turned so rapidly that his aerial gymnastics, combined with his high speed, enabled him to keep in the dark most of the time. Frequently, while
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the men were watching this new and exciting spectacle, they would see a sudden and tremendous flash of brilliant light on the ground followed by a great explosion and a rocking of the earth. This happened when a hostile plane dropped a heavy bomb. Frequently also when the hostile aviator was in doubt as to whether he was over his target, he would drop a parachute supporting a powerful calcium light which was ignited automatically after falling a given distance. This light, as it floated towards the earth, illuminated the surface of the ground so that the aviator could recognize objects that might be characteristic of the locality, thus being enabled to drop his bombs with accuracy. Later, as the troop trains moved north from Abbeville, they could hear the continued grumbling of the guns at the front. In this fashion, and with the nights punctuated by such occurrences, the units of the division moved from the ports of debarkation to the Rue Area.
For many years that portion of the division stationed in New York City had paraded on Memorial Day in honor of the dead of the Civil and Spanish-American wars, and it seemed strange to the officers and men to pass that day without rendering this honor. . Thus a parade in commemoration was arranged. In Rue such units of the 107th as were billeted there or in the vicinity paraded and were reviewed by the divi- sion commander, the mayor of the city, and Colonel Willard C. Fiske was the regimental commander, the nucleus of the command being the old Seventh Regiment. The townspeople were highly appreciative of the appearance of the paraders, who were noted for their fine physique and the precision of their movements.
Although thoroughly trained as they had been, it was found neces- sary for the division to train again in the use of the British type of material and armament. Thus the division moved to an area adapted for training, and engaged in exercises best adapted to bring it up to the minute in method and skill, the division considered to be in reserve. The interest of officers and men was keen as day by day they came in contact immediately behind the lines with the great and polyglot army of the British then engaged in the greatest struggle in history. The famous regiments of the British army were seen as they marched to or from the front, rested in their billeting areas, or engaged in training exercises-English, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh troops, with the soldiers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, detachments of the Indian army, South Africans, Fiji Islanders, West Indians, and large num- bers of Chinese coolies. Close by also were Portuguese, French, and Russian troops, as well as large groups of German prisoners employed in various ways. Under orders the 27th was affiliated with the 66th British Division, a unit of the Third British army under General Sir Julian Byng. The 66th British Division had not more than 2,000 officers and men left, and these were distributed among the units of the 27th Division to assist the latter to an acquaintance with British methods of administration and supply, to give advice and make sug- gestions concerning training, and generally to aid in preparations to
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meet the enemy. The British officers and the Americans at once entered into close fellowship, although there were embarrassing moments owing to the differing customs in the social methods of the differing com- mands natural to their separate schooling. Time, however, brought perfect concord, and such incidents as had at first brought embar- rassment became subjects of amusement at messes of British and Amer- ican officers, who chaffed each other over earlier experiences and the relative merits of their national customs. The British custom is to wage war seemingly by an endless array of mysterious initials. Some idea of the intricacies of British military conversation may be gathered from the following language employed by a British officer in giving an American officer an account of his recent doings :
Yes, I have been out here for quite a bit. I came over as a subaltern in the 6th Don Aac. Directly I got here I was given a rather cushy job. You see I had to inspect property. I visited a lot of places of the R. A. M. C., but hardly was I on the way with this work when I got a chit from G. O. C., R. F. A., of the 4th Don Aac. who asked me if I would care for a billet with him. You see he knew I was a gunner. As a matter of fact, what I was really interested in were the Tock Emmas, with the Emma G.'s as second choice, but I felt I did not know enough about them and dreaded the school work. You are not with the Tock Emmas by any chance, are you?
The Americans did not know at the time that the Tock Emmas were the Trench Mortars. In British army language a gunner is an artillery- man. G. O. C., R. F. A. is the General Officer Commanding, Royal Field Artillery, and the R. A. M. C., the Royal Army Medical Corps. And so on down the line.
When Marshall Foch received his commission as General-in-Chief of all the Armies, one of his first orders was to direct the transfer of American troops in the British area to other localities. Field Marshal Haig, after protest, was allowed to retain two American divisions, and he selected the 27th and 30th divisions. The other American divi- sions soon left the area, but not before the 33rd Division, also a Na- tional Guard organization, largely from Illinois, had won distinction with the Australian Corps at Hamel. It was the first action in which American troops had taken part, and their conduct was watched with keen interest. After the action, a British officer came to the 27th Di- vision headquarters elated. He was asked by the Americans: "Did they make good?" The British officer replied: "I asked that identical question a moment ago over the 'phone to the Australian headquarters, and the Australian officer's reply was: 'The Yanks are certainly good fighters, but, my God! They are rough!' " This, coming from an Australian, was praise indeed. This incident was the origin of the widely-circulated story about the roughness of American troops in battle.
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It is believed that one of the determining factors in the selection of the 27th Division for continued service with the British was the im- pression gained by Field Marshal Haig when he inspected and re- viewed a detachment of the division during the first week in June near Rue, on the coast. The detachment consisted of the 107th Infantry and the fourteen machine-gun companies of the division. "The officers and men," writes General O'Ryan, "by their soldierly appearance, excep- tional physical fitness, and steadiness in ranks, presented an appear- ance sufficient to stir the blood of any soldier, and the Field Marshal, upon completing the inspection, and as he walked with the writer towards the point from which he was to take the review, expressed his admiration of the appearance presented by these troops. As with per- fect precision they swung by, the Field Marshal turned to the writer and said : 'My, but these are seasoned troops! This is certainly no war- raised division ! What magnificent chaps they are!' "
As the troops got under way for review, one of several aviators who had been circling about overhead, in a spirit of deviltry shot his plane toward the ground at a point behind the column, and at a height of not more than six or eight feet above the points of the bayonets, flew at high speed and with a deafening roar from the rear to the head of the column and then high into the air. It was a severe test of discipline to have this cyclone which could not be seen by the men until it had passed approach them from the rear, and so close to their heads, but not a head on the marching column moved, and so far as could be seen, not an eye turned. The Field Marshal criticized the action of the aviator, but was warm in approval of the discipline shown by the troops.
On June 16th the division was ordered to leave the Rue area and proceed to the St. Valery area, south of the Somme, but the stay was but for a few days, the plan being to later move to the vicinity of Doul- lens, in support of the Third British Army, under General Byng, and on June 21st the troops were again on the march. The troops found the new area covered an attractive stretch of country west of Arras, a destroyed city still held by the British. During the time the divi- sion was in this area it was subjected to the constant bombing at night by enemy planes. One bomb was dropped back of the division com- månder's billet among the animals of the 105th Infantry, cutting off the legs of a number of horses and mules. A soldier of the 105th Infantry, asleep in an escort wagon, was not injured, although the wheels of the wagon were damaged. On July 2nd General Pershing paid the divi- sion a visit of inspection. While here the division commander was in- vited to witness an attack by two British battalions against the Ger- man position near Bouzin Court, in the vicinity of Albert. The attack
to tager forreal I Byen
MAJOR-GENERAL O'RYAN (Sketched on the field by John Singer Sargent)
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was a success, and the opportunity to observe and informally to par- ticipate in British operations of this character prior to actual partici- pation of the 27th Division in similar engagements was valuable in ex- perience. Other such opportunities were furnished by the British. The division had engaged in reconnaissance of the defensive sector it was to take over in the event of enemy attack, and had practiced actual oc- cupation of the line. The division was soon ordered sent for service with the 2nd British army, then holding an important part of the line in Flanders, and the movement to that point began July 3rd. Enemy bombing was very active. In the village of Nieurlet one night an enemy plane made a direct hit on a barn in which one of the companies of the 106th Machine Gun Battalion was billeted. The barn was crowded with sleeping soldiers, of whom one was killed and about twenty wounded. The building was shattered, and it was miraculous that there were not more fatalities. The main body of the division had arrived in the new area on July 4th, but there was no formal celebration of the day, as many of the units were on the march while others were estab- lishing themselves. A number of the regiments, however, held games in order that the day might not pass unnoticed.
Relieving the British-The 27th and 30th American Divisions had been pushed up into Flanders in support of the 2nd British Army at a critical time, as the English were then facing the advancing enemy with their backs to the sea, and the sea was not far away. The stay of the division at Oudezeele was made interesting. Although the village was within range of the bigger German guns, and the region was bombed nightly by German airplanes, the village life went on normally. The inhabitants spoke French indifferently, but Flemish fluently. Crops were cultivated in every direction. The war was regarded by the mass of the people as an unauthorized interference with their farming ac- tivities. It was not uncommon to see old men, women, and even boys and girls hoeing and working in the fields almost on the edge of the heavily-shelled area where it was impossible for anything but weeds to grow. When shells fell very close they took cover as best they could until conditions prompted them to continue their work.
When the 27th Division arrived in the area of Steenevoorde in the advance it had become a deserted city. The Germans had shelled it constantly. The roads which the division had to take were kept under constant shell fire by the enemy. Various units of the division were advanced. The 27th Division was assigned to the 19th British Corps, and the 30th American Division, which had been assigned to the 2nd British Corps, adjoining on the north, had the task of further preparing for defense the East Poperinghe line, and of occupying and holding it in the event of attack. The 19th British Corps was commanded by
Bronx-29
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Lieutenant-General Sir Herbert Watts. After inspecting the 27th Divi- sion, he expressed the greatest confidence in its ability to hold the line to which it had been assigned. General O'Ryan refers to Watts as "a young man about seventy years of age. He looked young, rode his horse as a young man would ride, covered his corps areas with the thoroughness and industry of a young man, and his mind and manners were those of a young man, for he was receptive, optimistic, quick to think and to act."
On August 15th notification was received that the 27th would relieve the 6th British Division in its sector on the front line on the 21st. This was effectced without material incident. During most of the time that the battalions of the 27th were operating with the 6th and 41st British Divisions in the front line they were opposed by an Alsatian division. The Americans had been very aggressive in patrolling "No Man's Land," and had prevented much activity on the part of the enemy. About the time the men of the 27th took over the front line the Alsatian Division was relieved by the 8th Prussian Division, a very excellent organization from a military standpoint, and this division immediately undertook aggressively to secure identification of the organizations at their front. Accordingly at five o'clock on the morning of August 22d, the Prus- sians put down a heavy minnenwerfer barrage on a section of the front line held by Company L of the 107th Infantry. Out in front of this company was a small detachment of seven or eight men under Corporal Charles R. Henderson, located in two connected shell holes. Having sought to demoralize the defense by severe bombardment, the enemy pushed out two flanking machine-gun groups, which immediately went into action to cover the dash at their centre group, which was composed of about forty raiders. In the face of this strong force, which was but a short distance in advance, Corporal Henderson's detachment stood fast, and those who had not been put out of action by the barrage opened fire with their rifles and later supplemented this with grenades. The attack broke down with severe loss to the raiders, who also suffered from the supporting fire of the remainder of Corporal Henderson's company, which was commanded by Captain Fancher Nicoll. Of the seven or eight men who thus gallantly held their ground and inflicted these casualties on the enemy but two remained uninjured. The others were either killed or wounded.
Not soon will the survivors of the division forget such names as Scherpenberg, The Bund, La Clytte, Scottish Wood, Ridge Wood, Gordon Farm, Milky Way, Hallebast Corners, Indus Farm, Gretna Farm, Ouderdom, Reninghelst, Busseboom, Anjou Farm, Walker Farm, Hague Farm, Long Barn, and Remy Siding, writes General O'Ryan, every relief on its way forward, every detachment of troops coming out, messengers, runners, carrying parties and supervising officers going forward and returning, at one time or another passed through or visited most of
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these places during their service on the Flanders front. All will remember the ghastly nights with the pyrotechnic display which marked the actual front, the constant banging of our own eighteen pounders as they barked from some unexpected place past which men were picking their muddy way, the deeper roar of the heavier guns as they flashed their missiles into the night, the throbbing of the enemy bombers overhead, the barking of the "Archies" as with the aid of searchlights and supplemented by the usually fruitless hammer-tapping of the machine-guns they sought to bring down the enemy planes. But most enduring of all will be the memory of those nights the enemy shells came down on the roadways at important crossings like Hallebast Corners, Ouderdom, and Busse- boom, when the enemy sought to harass our troops.
Now came the battle of Vierstraat Ridge, upon which the 53d In- fantry Brigade advanced, August 31st at 11.30 A. M., and patrols of the 2d Battalion, 105th Infantry, advanced through the 3d Battalion of that regiment commanded by Captain Stanley Bulkley. In this attack the 53d Infantry Brigade advanced with the 106th Infantry on the right and the 105th on the left. The 30th American Division on the left was called upon to make a short advance for the purpose of taking the vil- lage of Voormezelle, and this division acted as a pivot while the 27th moved forward. Correspondingly the advance of the 105th Infantry was to extend from this pivot and conform to the greater advance to be made by the 105th Infantry on its right. The 105th advanced success- fully and consolidated their position and the 106th advanced in their sector and occupied and consolidated the enemy trenches. The attack of the 106th covered a greater depth than that of the 105th. By 5 P. M. both regiments were consolidating the new line, both had captured a number of prisoners and considerable booty in the way of machine-guns, anti-tank rifles, grenades, ammunition, and other supplies. The follow- ing day the 105th held their position while the 106th advanced until their line ran due north and south. The enemy defense strengthened, but both regiments advanced. The 106th took Chinese Trench, but were subjected to a severe enemy fire. The casualties were such that Captain Sullivan of Company M withdrew the troops under his im- mediate command for a short distance and the enemy regained the trench. After artillery preparation the trench was regained and held by parts of the 106th Infantry, which by hard fighting on the same day, advanced to the line of railway near the foot of Wytchaete Bridge. The divisional line was advanced and secured September 2d. The attitude of officers and men in this first major operation of the division showed confidence, and perhaps too much of the latter. Orders from the 19th Corps prohibited the use of a barrage and directed that the advance be made with the front covered by patrols pushed well out. The patrols came under the fire of snipers and light machine gunners who had been left in a position to inflict casualties. General O'Ryan comments upon the conduct of these Germans, who, "except toward
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