USA > Tennessee > Knox County > Knox County in the World War, 1917-1919 > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52
September 17 the regiment again broke camp and moved to the village of Lavoye, twenty kilometers southwest of the devasted city of Verdun. After a short stay there, headquarters were moved to Fleury-sur-Aire, where for the next thirty days the regiment hauled ammunition for the Second French Army, to which it had been attached for the Oise-Aisne offensive. The work of the companies was done principally in the vicinity of Verdun. This was a month of severe hardships, of work by day and by night.
116
The regiment was relieved from duty with the Second French Army on Octo- ber 17 and immediately assigned to the Fifth Army Corps of the American First Army. The battle of the Argonne Forest was then in full swing and, day after day, night after night, the companies of the regiment were constantly on the road hauling ammunition to our batteries artillery which were slowly blasting a way forward for the infantry. Often times these trips were of sixty to seventy-two hours duration and were always made under continuous shell fire and unspeakable hardships. Rain fell almost constantly and the trucks, being coverless, gave no protection from the constant downpour.
By November 4 the American army had advanced so far north that it became necessary to move camp near the one-time village of Very, and finally to the village of Gesnes, about 35 kilometers northwest of the city of Verdun and in the very heart of the upper Argonne. During the last stages of the Meuse-Ar- gonne drive many Second Corps boys dauntlessly ran their trucks through shell fire in plain view of the enemy gunners, and on one occasion a few trucks out- distanced the infantry and unloaded cases of shells at the edge of the village of Beauclaire while the Germans yet occupied the town. One detachment of Second Corps trucks advanced with the artillery to the edge of the city of Sedan. Their forward movement was only stopped by the signing of the armistice.
All kinds of rumors were circulated after November 11 as to what would be done with the Second Corps Park. They ranged from the statement that the regiment would go into Germany as a part of the Army of Occupation, to the report that it would return immediately to parade in Washington on Christmas day. What it did do for the next two months was to haul salvage of every sort and description from off the battlefields to the numerous points of concentration. The greater part of this work lay on the old Verdun battlefield, a devastated area so wasted, so dead, so barren after a four-year scourge of hell-fire that it had become a combined desert and charnel house. For awhile the hauling of hand grenades was the chief occupation, but after one truck load blew up, the regiment was relieved from further hauling of these dangerous little missiles.
Finally, orders came to depart and on January 20 the Second Corps Park entrained at Dun-sur-Meuse for Brest, which was reached January 23 after sixty-eight hours of travel in box cars too crowded to lie down and with the weather very wintry. After two weeks of suspense, the regiment became a skeleton organization of 76 men and the remainder transferred to Brest Casual Companies 239, 240, 241, 242, and 243. As casual companies, some men were used as truck drivers, some as military police, others as stevedores and mechanics, while others drew special duty with the Motor Transport Corps. This lasted until May, 1919, when all were relieved, supposedly to depart for home. How- ever, after three weeks' labor with pick and shovel, building a railroad, all were restored to their original status and once more took up the old duties. Early in July, though, the glad day finally arrived when the last member of the or- ganization bade a final farewell to the shores of France and soon arrived home after one year's foreign service well done.
117
-
"RETURN OF OUR VICTORY FLEET"
American dreadnaughts, returning from European waters, sailed up the New York harbor in battle formation in April, 1919.
118
OUR NAVY IN THE WAR
The hundreds of Knox Countians, who cast their lot with the navy and went to sea during the world war, made the same splendid record and wrote as glo- rious a page in local history as their brothers who chose the army and fought the Huns on land. They ably upheld the traditions established a half century ago by Farragut and Maynard as the guardians of our flag upon the trackless paths of the ocean. Theirs was not so spectacular a task, nor did they receive the pub- licity and prominence which other branches of the service did. Yet the two million soldiers, who sailed to France under the convoy of our fleet, know the relentless vigil and the hourly peril that the men of the navy underwent that our armies, with the food and equipment for them, might reach the battle line in safety.
For nineteen months they braved the dangers of the sea upon battleships and cruisers, submarines and merchantmen. They stood guard with the English at the mouth of the Kiel Canal to await the appearance of the German fleet for battle, they hunted the seas upon destroyers and chasers to ferret out the hostile submarines, they manned the transport vessels that plied the Atlantic in trans- porting our troops to France. There was little relief or rest for them, for their vessels were at sea the great majority of the time. They were ever under the shadow of death from the monsters that lurked beneath the waters.
The navy was the one department of our government which was ready for action when war was declared. Within a few hours after the passage of the war resolution, Admiral Sims was gathering a fleet of destroyers and preparing to sail for Queenstown, England. In less than a month they were on guard duty in European waters. It is worthy of more than passing comment that in all the criticism and vituperation, which flooded the nation in its mad frenzy to get ready adequately for the war, and in the series of investigations which followed its close, there was never any abuse or evil said of the navy. It went through the trying period without scandal or investigation. Its efficiency was so thorough that no partisan or political attack was made upon it.
Of the varied work which our navy did during the war, perhaps the greatest and most effectual was in the convoy and transportation of troops and supplies to Europe. While the English merchant marine gave great assistance by fur- nishing the vessels for a great deal of this work, the larger part of it was done by our own navy. This was work of the most vital nature, for the cries and pleas of our allies for more, more men in the spring and summer of 1918 were insistent. Defeat stared them in the face unless they had more divisions to check the German onslaughts. Every sea-going vessel that our government owned, which was not absolutely needed in some other phase of work, was manned by the men of the navy and put into the transportation service.
The convoy system, which was worked out as a means of avoiding the heavy losses of the British, who sent out ships alone upon the sea to become the prey of the submarines, consisted of collecting several troop or cargo vessels into a group, sailing from the same port at the same time. There were usually a dozen or more of these craft which put to sea as a unit, and which followed a well known lane across the ocean. Cruisers and the older battleships protected them from German raiders, while a flotilla of destroyers met them when they entered the danger zone and guarded them against submarine attack. If the submarines dared to appear in their midst, the transports scattered to avoid making them- selves targets, but the fighting craft attacked with guns and depth bombs. After several encounters, in which they learned the system of defense that had been adopted, the submarines became more wary of attack upon these groups and con-
119
fined their attention more and more to unprotected vessels on the high seas. The fear, which swept over the American people at the beginning of the war because of the submarine terror, gradually subsided as every transport vessel bound for France with troops arrived there in safety.
That not a single ship of the hundreds, which transported two million men to France, was torpedoed while eastward bound, and that only three-the President Lincoln, the Antilles, and the Covington-were sunk on return trips to America, is eloquent proof of the success of the convoy system and of the vigilance exerted by our cruisers and destroyers against would-be attackers. The submarine peril, which reached its apex about the time this nation entered the war, steadily declined thereafter. Our own losses at sea were insignificant in proportion to the amount of tonnage that was exposed in the nineteen months of our participation in the war to the attacks of the submarines. While complete figures are not available, statistics for several months indicate that the sinkings of all American vessels by mines and torpedoes were somewhat less than one per cent of our tonnage.
While a part of our fleet was guarding transport and cargo vessels, the rest of it was waging an active, offensive warfare on the submarines upon the high seas and around the channel ports, standing guard with the British fleet at the mouth of the Kiel Canal, planting mines in the strategic areas in the North or Mediterranean Seas, or patrolling our long coast line against hostile attacks. Only three fighting ships were lost as a result of enemy action. They were the Alcedo, a converted yacht; the Jacoh Jones, a converted torpedo boat destroyer; and the San Diego, a cruiser. None of the larger and heavier battle ships were injured.
Some of the most effective, as well as the most dangerous work done by our navy was in the laying of mines. These made a great barrier against the escape of the German fleet and the slipping out of an occasional raider to prey upon commerce. The seas between Norway and Scotland, which were the main outlet, were planted with thousands of mines by special mine layers. To the south, the American navy had another force of vessels which cooperated with the British in sweeping the English Channel of these menaces to the safety of transport ships.
On land the navy's activities were not inconsiderable. No unit or branch of the service showed greater bravery or won more laurels during the war than the men of the marine corps. Their deeds at Belleau Woods, Bouresches, Soissons, St. Mihiel and in the Argonne Forest have been told in song and story. The personnel of this peculiar branch of the navy, which is trained for both land and sea duty, was of the very highest. They proved their valor on field after field of battle. Their defense of Belleau Woods is one of the epics of the war. Of the eight thousand who were picked for service in France, more than a half were killed or wounded.
The most notable need of our army in France was artillery. The French fur- nished General Pershing with the lighter calibers, but there was a deficiency of heavy, long range guns. The ordnance department of the navy came to the rescue by designing and constructing a battery of 14-inch rifles, shipping them across the seas cn special mounts, and transporting them across France to the American front on special cars. They threw a projectile weighing 1400 pounds and had a range of about 20 miles. They were used with great effect in bom- barding towns and strong points far in the rear of the German lines. Their military effect was far superior to that of the German "Big Berthas," which ter- rified Paris. In spite of their tremendous size and weight, they were thoroughly mobile and capable of being moved on short notice to other parts of the front.
120
In the execution of the innumerable demands made upon it by the require- ments of the war, the navy underwent an expansion and growth almost in pro- portion to that of the army. The number of officers was increased from 4,376 to 10,409, the enlisted personnel from 62,667 to 216,968. The men and officers, who were members of the naval reserve in time of peace, also were called to active duty during the war. The number of officers was enlarged from 877 to 21,622, while the personnel of the enlisted men was raised to 289,639, of whom about 8,000 were women.
At the close of the war, our navy had 40 battleships of the first-class, 32 cruisers, 125 destroyers, 17 torpedo boats, 68 submarines, 303 submarine chasers, 79 mine planters and sweepers, 56 yachts on patrol duty, 33 gunboats, 8 monitors, and a few other ships used for special duties. Furthermore, our navy was man- ning 50 troop transports, 230 cargo transports, 50 patrol vessels, and 175 barges. The total number of ships operated at the end of the war was about 2,000, as compared with 250 when the war begun.
Our navy had moved from third into second place among the naval powers of the world, displacing Germany and ranking next to England. With the additions made in the few months following the war as the result of construction begun before that time, the gap that separated us in naval strength from first place upon the seas was cut down materially.
121
38056
"A CLOSE-UP VIEW"
The photographer who took this picture at such short range, was in another plane above this one.
38530
38509
"FLYING IN FORMATION"
These American aeroplanes are out for a practice spin. The photograph was taken by a member of the group from another plane.
122
OUR AIR SERVICE
The glamor of the aeroplane drew scores of the young men of Knox County into its service during the world war. The fascination of the air, the thrill of spectacular combat high above the battle lines, the prospect of long flights far into enemy territory, the glory and fame with which the successful aviator was crowned, made a strong appeal to the young American with strong nerve and hardy constitution.
That only two-Lieut. McGhee Tyson and Lieut. Claude O. Lowe-lost their lives of the scores of Knox Countians who risked them, either as pilots or as ob- servers, speaks for the safety of this apparently very hazardous branch of the service. Lieut. Tyson, who was in the naval aviation branch, made his sacrifice in a flight off the French coast, while Lieut. Lowe was killed in the smash of his plane at Arcadia, Florida.
While some got across and into action, the majority of the Knox County men in the air service suffered the same misfortune as the larger number of those who enlisted in the air department-they were still in the United States when the armistice came on November 11, 1918. Some of them were at the port, ready to sail. This failure to reach Europe was no fault of theirs, for statistics show that of the qualified flying officers, less than one in three left the United States. Sufficient service planes had not been produced to equip the flyers who were al- ready in France, not to speak of the thousands on this side who were aching to meet the Huns.
The air program of the United States went through a multitude of vicissitudes, of bright promises and bitter disappointments before it became stabilized and was finally put upon an efficient war basis. Because of the lack of planes, our airmen did not become an active, decisive force in the air until the last two months of the war. When war was declared in April, 1917, the United States government had 55 serviceable planes, all of which were obsolete as compared with foreign models, and entirely unsuited to war conditions. Congress at once appropriated $600,000,000 for our air program. The confident prediction was made through newspapers and magazines that the United States would have 10,000 planes on the battle front in a year, a force sufficient to drive the Germans down and give the allies an overwhelming superiority.
The program, however, received jolt after jolt. German spies in factories held up quantity production of training planes and ruined all of a certain model, making its ahandonment necessary. Divided management and a change in direc- tors of the whole air program further complicated the situation. A great deal of time was necessary in making tests and fitting the foreign designs to our 12-cyl- inder Liberty Motor, which proved our chief contribution to aviation. Diffi- culty was encountered in getting out the great quantity of spruce, fir, linen and other materials that are necessary in the construction of planes. Due to these and a great number of other difficulties, spring of 1918 came before the kinks in the air program were smoothed out and factories settled down to turn out planes and engines on a quantity basis.
After much experimenting and consultation with English and French aviation officials, it was decided to concentrate American production of a quantity scale on four types of machines: (1) the De Havilland observation and bombing plane; (2) the Handley-Page night bomber; (3) the Caproni bomber; (4) the Bristol fighting plane. Only the first was produced in quantity before the end of the war. Equipped with the Liberty Motor, it proved the fastest observation plane on the western front. About 700 were used in actual warfare, nearly 2000 more were in France, and 1100 were being turned out monthly at home
123
when the armistice came. Two new models of planes, the Le Pere two-seater fighter and the Martin bomber, were developed and under tests made better per- formances than any known machines of their class. Neither was completed nor produced in quantity for use on the front. Liberty motors were manufactured much faster than planes. About 13,500 were accepted from the factories up to the time of the armistice, 4435 of these being shipped overseas for use. The British and French recognized the superiority of this engine and made contracts for large numbers of them.
American flyers, organized into strictly American squadrons, got their first real chance on the front in April, 1918, when two observation and one pursuit group, comprising about 35 planes, were assigned a definite sector. Their success was so immediate and thorough that the French readily turned over more planes to the Americans and the sector was widened considerably. In May, the number of American squadrons was increased to 9; in June to 14, in July to 15, in August, when the De Havillands began to arrive from America, to 25; in September to 30; in October to 42, and in November to 45 complete squadrons. In the early months, all of our squadrons were equipped with foreign planes, principally French. This continued until August 10, 1918, when the first American manu- factured planes were put on the front. The supply grew rapidly in the next three months, and on the day of the armistice 667 of the 2698 planes our aviators were using were of American construction.
The first large air operation in which our squadrons took part was the St. Mihiel attack, for which General Pershing assembled the most formidable air force that was gathered during the war for a battle. French, British and En- glish contributed some of their very best fighting squadrons. Our aviators, who were about one-third of the whole force employed, were organized into 12 pur- suit, 12 observation and 3 bombing squadrons. We also had 15 balloon companies in operation. The American supremacy in the air during the two days of the attack was very decided. The enemy planes were kept on the ground largely, while ours went far behind the lines, located the German reserves, spotted am- munition dumps and enemy concentrations, and directed the long range artillery fire.
In the long struggle of six weeks in the battle of the Argonne Forest, which followed, American aviation was put to its most severe test. A great deal of the French and English aviation, which was loaned for the St. Mihiel operation, was withdrawn for use with their armies, but our increased production of planes somewhat made up for this loss. There was bitter fighting for the control of the air. The Germans drew to this front more than a proportionate amount of their very best planes and pilots. So vital an attack called forth their very best. Losses were heavy on both sides, but the enemy got the worst of it by a large edge. The American bombing, pursuit and observation squadrons did excellent work, getting far behind the German lines, bombarding day and night their lines of communication and ammunition dumps, and swooping down to the attack of any concentration of troops in the rear.
The test of battle showed the individual superiority of the Americans in the air. The Germans, during the few months which American aviators participated in the war, brought down 357 of our planes, while our aviators put 755 of the Hun machines out of commission. On the day of the armistice, there were 45 American squadrons, 1238 American flying officers and 740 service planes operated by them on the front. About 2500 flying officers were in reserve, while 7000 others in the United States lacked but a short specialized course of being equipped for battle duty. Had the war continued until the spring of 1919, the American air force in numbers and in equipment would have been far superior to that of any nation on either side. It would have been independent of all aid and ready to re- pay our allies for the generous assistance they rendered ns while our air program was getting under way.
124
GENERAL ROBERT EMMET CALLAN
Graduating from West Point in 1896, General Callan saw service in the Spanish-American War as a lieutenant. He rose step by step until he had reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1917, being stationed in the Philippine Islands as chief of staff. On the outbreak of war, he asked to be sent to France on active duty.
He sailed in command of the 63rd Regiment, Coast Artillery Corps, on March 24, 1918. After participation in the Second Battle of the Marne, he was made brigadier-general and put in command of the 33rd Brigade, C. A. C. He was relieved of this to become head of the great artillery training school at La Borne, France, where eight regiments were trained at a time.
General Callan was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by General Pershing on June 12, 1919, and later the Cross of the Crown of Italy from the Italian Government.
-
125
SOUS TO CHILE
Watronville
Ville- en .Wucvres
Hennemont
sous. Pared Allamont-
St. Marcel
AVille ju: \ run
Gravelotte o
Montigny~
Pareid
Pintheville
Mais la- Tuur
Rezonville
51 Goeben:
Haudiomont
mles
Harville
Moulotte
Hannonville au-Passage O
Vionville
FORTIFIED AREA OF METZ
Villers- Sous- Rouchanapat Mont-
Frenes
&Latour- en.Wocare
Tronville
sou -- lus.Coles
.Marcheville
Mesnil-
Butgnéville St. Hilaire
Puxieuy
Jouy-
Sur-Seille
s-les-Coles
Champlon
ches
9)Augny
Pouilly
Jonville
Buxieres
sur-Mu-ellel Dornot9
Combres
0
Mouill
St. Regel
Woel
Lachauseed
Hagerille
sous-le -- Coles
Avillers
26.
"Thillot-O
Ist
Dampvitoux/
Dommartin- 6St. Julien; les-Gorze Ja-t houssee
aville
Marieulles
.42 /1
.89
Villecey sur-Mad
des-Palameix 1
1
0
sur- Mosel
1
/Dompierre- RQ aux-D'ois
Hattonville 42
89 ammes
11
·Vittonville
LouvignyE
Bouxieres-
Sur-Spiller
90
Candieres
Cheminot
Creue
89
"Thiaucourt
Villers-
Bannon court
Lamarche 42
Bouillonville
en.Hay
Vilogo -Norroy
82
90
82.5
Heminvil
Eply
Spada
Heudicourt
Dompcevrin
1
et Mareran
5
grey- Den-Haye
Savonnieres? en- Woevre
Maizerais
Rem
frauville en-Haye
Montauville
Atton
les Paroches/ 4
Woinville
Chauvoncourt
ST.MIHIEL
Lahayville
89
Mamey O
42
Lironville
Ft.du Camp Romains
Varnevilleb
Marvoisin
Loupmont
11
Auvray- Vet. Marvoisin
d Bislech Nan-Os Meuse Sur - Merce
Beaumont
-
Koeur la-Petite
St. Agnant
Brasseitte
Numbers'indicate Divisions in Line
+ Tramwa 42 1.89 1.26
Marbotte
Fide (Liouville
Hamonville
Reproduced by permission of The Literary Digest
Railroads -++++ SCALE OF MILES 2
KILOMETERS
1 5
AnsouvilleO
Liouville
Villers,
Dompierre
Sen- Houre
Chatel-
METZ
מוהוחזיה,!
Sey
Ronvaux
;Jussy"
Riaville a Maizeray
Labeuville
Flavigny
Magny sur Seille
Bonzee
Marly
Tresauvaux 9
Sponville
les-Eparges 5 D.I.C.
Noncourt- 26 Templiers
oCoins
Perbeuville
Corny
B Fey
HannoFR
** pSEPT. 140
Chambley
26
Rupt- Ven-Woevre
DEcantH
Pournos la-Chetive
Dommartin la-Montague
sous-lee.Cotes St. Mauriceds sous-les-gutes
26
SEPT. 18%
1
Charey
Ragny
devant le l'unt
St. Befat-
Rembercourt- sur Mad
89
Preny
Manligny
Fi.de Troyon
5
2.1
Champs
Lacroix- sur- Meuse
Bency'
SEPT. 15
Lamorville Lavigneville
Menits
Chaillon
RM
Pannes
5
Senon ville
forville, sur Seille
Varvinay
Vonsal Essey-
Euvezin
con Montrichard
Maizey
Regnieville-
Ft.des Paroches
SEPT. 12 PM
Buxerulles
St. Boussant
MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE OFFENSIVE OF
&Limey
৳ Montsec
Richecourty
Seicheprey
AST
O
Engraved from Map Accompanying Report of the Commander in Chief. November 20, 1918
LEGEND
American Daily Lines of Advanre French Colonial Troops Enemy Delences
Mandres- Raus-4 Jours
PBernecourt ay . Pres
Onville Rambucourt
Grosrouvres 20
Broussey- Ben-Wuer red
EPI.
Port sur-Spille
8Mousson
Pont-a-Mousson
Buxieres
en- 1 od
Rouvfois- Q sur. Meye
SEPT.18-
1 Seyzey
Hattonchatel Vigneulles- les ijaftonchatel
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.