USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine county in the world war > Part 22
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 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
It was on board the Orduna that the enlisted men of the unit began their training as sol- diers. There had been no time to obtain and put on uniforms before sailing, so while the men were marching aboard in their civilian clothes great packing cases full of blouses and breeches, leggins and shoes and other equip- ment were being stowed on the lower decks.
Several days out at sea, while the medical officers were still busy distributing shots-in- the-arm, while seasickness was still more powerful than the top-sergeant, the unit was introduced to the ways of the supply sergeant
-and the recruit who had that job wished upon him had a hard time living down the memories of that first "issue" day. Clothing crates were knocked open and the men lined up to "take what you can get." The depot quartermaster at Philadelphia had thrown to- gether an assortment of sizes based on average Army requirements, so that Boy Scout sizes and 42-stouts predominated.
The transformation from civilian clothes into uniform under the circumstances out- raged the sartorial sense of 150 men, and it was only by days of exchanging that the av- erage appearance approached presentability.
Never was drilling done under more unusual circumstances. On tetering decks the entire command marched and counter-marched, first by squads, and then as a detachment. The proportion of men with at least a smattering of drill knowledge was so large that after seven days of continuous drilling the com- mander pronounced the unit as well drilled as the average recruit organization after three months.
All the time the Cunarder kept zig-zagging in her course, and the strain of the submarine menace was as obvious in the boat crew as among the military passengers. Then, with the real danger zone several days ahead, came an ominous order. By command of the British captain of the boat, all Americans in uniform must take them off and keep them off until the ship had met her convoy. In case the ship were torpedoed and those aboard had to abandon her, the Germans certainly would shell the lifeboats if they saw them filled with uniformed men, and the captain didn't want to take any chances of a new sea horror in which women civilian passengers might be victims.
So off came the uniforms. Followed hasty bargaining with the British sailors who al- ready had come into possession of scores of Yankee suits and shirts and civilian shoes, and the ship returned to the civilian aspect it had when it sailed from New York. About the same time, the captain of the ship gave orders that all bugling must stop.
A real jolt came, however, when the word was spread about the ship that the Germans had tried to lead the Orduna into a U-boat trap-that in order to escape, the ship had turned and was even then heading far north on her course. The Germans had sent a wire- less message, so the report was, purporting to arrange a meeting with the United States destroyer which was to convoy the Orduna to port. But they had slipped up. They had given the name of the destroyer as the "Wads- worth" and none of the British officers could
201
RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR
S. A. TITUS
T WM. THIESEN
COUNTY AND CITY ADMINISTRATIVE HEADS DURING THE WORLD WAR
S. A. Titus was chairman of the County Board and Mayor T. W. Thiesen was head of the City Government.
The lot of the public official during war time is not an enviable one. With public feelings running high, and every action subjected to the test of its value in winning the war, a decision by any responsible official was likely to be "viewed with alarm" by a large portion of the popu- lation, During the recent war, too, it was customary to cry "pro-German" at any who might entertain views con- trary to one's opinions. The county government was less in the limelight than the city, but even it had some trou- bles,
Mayor T. W. Thiesen was elected mayor of Racine in 1915 and re-elected in 1917. He had proven a very capa- ble executive and his administration had resulted in much constructive work on the part of the city government.
One of the first matters presented to him was the prob- lem of finding an office for Local Board No. 1, and he solved this by giving the draft board the use of his rooms in the city hall. A good deal of the mayor's business was transacted in the city hall corridors thereafter, During the war he was called upon daily by the relatives of men in service to obtain information regarding them, and it later became his duty to notify families of deceased soldi- ers of the deaths of these men. When the Transport Tus- cania was sunk, and it was known that Lieut. Salbreiter and several Racine ambulance company men were aboard, he was in communication with Washington day and night until definite information could be obtained regarding these soldiers. When notified of the death of Sargeant Hawley it took considerable work to locate his relatives, who were in Milwaukee.
Families of men in service appealed to him for all sorts of assistance, and on one occasion when two men called to the colors and dreaded leaving because their parents had no fuel in the house, the Mayor had to find a way to get it. He offered to give them half of the supply in his ·cellar but this was prohibited by the rules of the fuel ad- ministration and might open him to the "pro-German" accusation. Eventually he was able to divert to the de- sired goal a wagon load of coal intended for a friend of his who still had a ton or two on hand. Upon another occasion when the fuel administrator wanted all city teams for hauling coal, there was quite an argument as to whether it would be of any use to utilize them thus until they had been used to haul enough snow from the streets to allow coal wagons to travel. Finally the teams
were put to the job hauling snow, and then when the streets were clear the teams were turned over to the other job.
When the first thrift stamp campaign started, the state directors proposed that high school students conduct the drive. The boys and girls had just finished a drive for the Red Cross and Mayor Thiesen protested against keep- ing them from their studies again. He said that as it was desired to subscribe more than a million dollars it would be better to have an adult committee and he offered to take the chairmanship. The state officers would not give up their idea, however, and the school chilidren were enlisted. In the course of this, Mayor Thiesen was de- nounced as pro-German by a Milwaukee newspaper be- cause of his opposition to the scheme. It aroused lots of talk and much bitterness. However, the results vindicated his stand as it was necessary to get the grown-ups at work to make the campaign a success,
The mayor had other disagreeable experiences whenever the city outlined any policy, such as discontinuing con- struction, etc. Whatever decision touched the pocket- books of some class of people, gave cause for criticism and charges which sounded very bad in wartime. Mr. Thiesen's former residence in Germany made his position particularly difficult, and the fact that he was able to conclude his administration without doing anything which would subject him to criticism founded upon cool consid- eration of the circumstances is greatly to his credit.
One of his final acts as mayor was the supervising of the armistice celebration, and his responsibilities on that day were not light, in view of the exuberance of spirits of the citizens. As an example of the mayor's duties in those days, it is recalled that on the armistice day, he had to arrange for the departure of two draft contingents in the morning while he was also considering petitions of ministers and others asking that saloons be kept closed all day, Seeing no authority for closing the saloons, he delegated men to help keep the crowds moving all day and provide attractions to keep them outdoors. By night everyone was so tired from the long celebration that they went home shortly after the supper hour. The firts word of the signing of the armistice came to Mayor Thiesen in the form of a telegram from the Chicago Herald-Ex- aminer, and after he had verified it by a message from Washington he ordered all whistles to be blown and bells rung, This was at 4 a. m., November 11th.
202
RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR
find such a boat listed. Inquiries were made quietly among the Americans, and someone was found who thought that "Wadsworth" was the name of a boat to which a friend of his in the Navy had recently been assigned as purser. Then, in violation of Admiralty orders, the Orduna's wireless sending apparatus was unsealed and a message flashed out to the Wadsworth asking the name of her purser. Back came the answer, confirming the conjec- ture. The Orduna turned back into her course, and next morning, on the edge of the new graveyard of the Atlantic, the Wadsworth came bobbing over the horizon.
After landing in Liverpool on May 18, the men of Base Hospital No. 4 electrified little groups of English civilians by a rapid march through the streets from the dock to the York- shire and Lancashire railroad station, but the secrecy of the arrival was maintained until London newspapers were allowed briefly to note the occasion when the unit was given a tremendous welcoming at Blackpool, the At- lantic City of the British Isles.
During June a few combat troops arrived in France. These were small detachments of the Regular army. Eventually all the Regulars were organized into regiments and brigades in France and by adding a brigade of Marines, two divisions of about 20,000 men each, were organized. These were the First and Second divisions, the Marine brigade being a part of the Second. When the new tables of organiza- tion were prepared to make our units more like those of the French and British armies, other contingents were added, most of the new men being trained soldiers from National Guard divisions. The ultimate number of men included in a division was about 27,000. In- fantry companies were increased to 250 men. Ten companies constituted a regiment, and two regiments a brigade. A division consisted of two infantry brigades, one artillery brigade consisting of three regiments, a battalion of engineers, a signal corps battalion, a trench mortar company, a quartermaster company, two or three ambulance companies, a field hospital, medical detachments assigned to each combat regiment, machine gun companies, bakery companies, headquarters companies and a few other organizations necessary to making a division a self-supporting unit in the field. Balloon companies and aerial squadrons were occasionally attached to divisions but more often functioned in connection with corps or army headquarters. The same is true of rail- road and forestry regiments, intelligence de- partments, heavy artillery, mobile repair shops.
Corps organizations, including three or more
divisions, were perfected in the field in the spring of 1918. The American First army was in action as a unit in the late summer of 1918. The Second army was formed just before the armistice was signed, and was preparing for a drive through Lorraine. The size of a corps and an army was not a rigid matter. Gen- erally a corps included about 100,000 men, and an army might include from 300,000 to 500,000 or 600,000. All of these units were much larger than ever before in American history, and they were supposed to be kept in full strength by the providing of replacements as rapidly as the ranks of any company or reg- iment were depleted. This system was a vast improvement over former methods. In the Civil war, for instance, the normal strength of a company was 100 men and of a regiment, 1,000 men. But due to the depletion from death and disease, a company would often be in the field for months with only twenty-five or thirty men answering to roll call, and a reg- iment which had been in action a few times could seldom muster as many effectives as an infantry company had present continuously during the recent conflict.
.
The following table shows the rapidity with which American troops were moved to Eng- land and France during the World War:
1917
1918
May
1,543
Jan.
48,055
June
15,091
Feb.
49,239
July
12,876
March
85,710
Aug.
19,403
April
120,072
Sept.
33,588
May
247,714
Oct.
40,027
June
280,434
Nov.
23,722
July
311,359
Dec.
48,815
Aug.
286,375
Sept.
259,670
Oct.
184,063
Nov. 12,124
The war upset completely all the previous es- timates as to the length of time it requires army hostilities to train soldiers in large num- bers. While most military text books and critics had maintained that an efficient soldier required two years of intensive training, in this war the average American soldier who went to France received six months of training in the United States before he sailed and but two more months of training in France before he went into the battle line. This fact is deduced from a study of data on the training of the 1,400,000 men who actually fought in France. One month in a quiet sector before entering battle was also a part of the average experi- ence of America's fighting men.
The German drive that got fully under way
203
RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR
Divi-
1917
1918
sion
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
NOV
De
Jan Feb
Mar
Apr
Hay Jun Jul Aug Sep
Oct
1st
2nd
26th
42nd
41st
32ud
3rd
77th
5th
27th
35th
82nd
4th
28th 30th
33rd 80th 78th 83rd 92nd 89th 90th 37th 29th 91st 76th 79th 6th 36th 85th 7th 81st 88th
*
40th
39th 87th
86th 84th 34th
38th
31st 8th
Jul
Aug Sep Oct
NOV
Dec
Jan
Feb Mar
Apr May Jun Jul Ang
Sep
Oct N
1917
1918
Organization to arrival in France
From The War with Germany: A Statistical Summary." by Col. Lcon- ard P. Ayres, General Staff, U. S. A.
Arrival in France to entering line Entering line to active battle servico
Service as active combat division
War Record of A. E. F. Divisions-How long they trained, how long they fought : A comparative study of the character of service rendered by Regular, National Guard and National Army Divisions
204
RACINE COUNTY
IN THE WORLD WAR
in June, 1918, cut down the average training period of the American soldier. After the starting of the drive in March American divi- sions were rushed to France after they had been filled out with best trained men, no mat- ter where they could be obtained. Divisions called to France in July had to meet numerical shortages with men called to the colors in the spring. By November the average of training in the United States had been cut to four months, and the average for the whole five months preceding the armistice probably was five months.
After reaching France men on the average received two months' training before entering the front lines, but this period was cut greatly for men in certain divisions which were made replacement outfits. At replacement centers in France a part of the effort made to prevent untrained men being sent to the front consisted in picking out the less skilled and putting them through a ten-day course of intensive rifle and bayonet work.
The infantry soldier was trained in the di- vision, which was our typical combat unit. Training and sorting organizations of about 10,000 men, known as depot brigades, were also utilized, but as far as possible the recruits were put almost immediately into the divisions which were the organizations in which they would go into action.
Before the signing of the armistice there were trained and sent overseas forty-two American divisions. The training of twelve more was well advanced, and there were four others that were being organized. The plans on which the army was acting called for eighty divisions overseas before July, 1919, and 100 divisions by the end of that year.
To carry forward the training program, shelter was constructed in a few months for 1,800,000 men. For the national guard and national army divisions, sixteen camps and sixteen cantonments were built in America.
About 4,000,000 men served in the army of the United States during the war (April 6, 1917, to Nov. 11, 1918). The total of men serv- ing in the armed forces of the country, includ- ing the army and navy, the marine corps, and the other services, amounted to 4,800,000. It was almost true that among each 100 Ameri- can citizens five took up arms in defense of the country.
During the civil war 2,400,000 men served in the northern armies or in the navy. In that struggle ten in each 100 inhabitants of the northern states served as soldiers or sailors. The American effort in the war with Germany
may be compared with that of the northern states in the civil war by noting that in the present war we raised twice as many men in actual numbers, but that in proportion to the population we raised only half as many.
More than 500,000 came in through the regu- lar army. Almost 400,000 more, or nearly 10 per cent, entered through the National Guard. More than three-quarters of all came in through the selective service or National army enlistments. Of every 100 men ten were Na- tional guardsmen, thirteen were regulars and seventy-seven belonged to the national army, or would have if the services had not been consolidated and the distinctions wiped out on Aug. 7, 1918.
About 200,000 commissioned officers were re- quired for the army. Of this number, less than 9,000 were in the federal service at the beginning of the war. Of these, 5,791 were regulars and 3,199 were officers of the national guard in the federal service.
Figures show that of every six officers one had had previous military training in the regular army, the national guard, or the ranks. Three received the training for their commis- sions in the officers' training camps. The other two went from civilian life into the army with little or no military training. In this last group the majority were physicians, a few of them were ministers, and most of the rest were men of special business or technical equipment, who were taken into the supply service or staff corps.
When combat troops first arrived in France, it was deemed advisable to let them learn something about the methods used in this war, from actual observation. For this reason after each division had spent a couple of months in training camps to receive instruction from French and British officers, they generally were sent into comparatively quiet sectors in Alsace-Lorraine to get their first experience in the trenches. It was especially important that they learn how to execute relief of troops in trenches at night, and how to carry out raids and scouting expeditions through No Man's land. The Americans, most of whom had read everything ever written on these sub- jects and had practiced the movements in training camps, felt ready for any sort of battle after a few days of the trench experi- ence. Incidentally, most of them determined they never would remain stationary in those muddy, smelly, vermin-infested trenches if they could obtain permission to attack and advance the lines.
In the opinion of most impartial observers,
205
OSTEND
ANIEUPORT
GHENT
1
f YPRCS
O BRUSSELS
VARMENTIENES
. YPRES-LYS AUG 191 . NOV 11 DIVISIONS CHBAGED 27.30
DET MUMLO
37-91
LENS
AbRAS el
19
· CAMBRAI
. LIME.
AMIENSO
SOMME AUGS - NOV !!
DIVISIONS ENGAGED 27 SO-PART OF JJ
SEDACL.
OMONTDIDIER
LAON
MOYON
OISE-AISNE AUG. 18 - NOV 11
I Now
QHEIMS
VEROUN
OMETZ
AISNE-MARNE JULY 18 - AUG 6 DI VISIONS ENGAGED - 1-2-3 + 26-28-32 42
CHATEAU THIERRY
LINE
MEUSE - ARGONNE
SPEED - NOV 11
DIVISIONS
CHEAGED . 1-2-3-4-5-28 26-79-32-33-35-3P.42-77-78+79-80 82-84-90-91 (6 )M RESERVE)
ST MIHIEL
PARIS
SEPT IZ-16 ONVISIONS ENGAGED 1-2 4-5-26-2-82-89-90 (IN RESERVE 3-33-35-78-80 -91)
· TOUL
The various sectors in which American divisions operated, with locations, dates and participating divisions of the major offensives, styled the Ypres-Lys, Somme, Aisne-Marne, Oise- Aisne, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne.
RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR
LINE OF
LINE OF JULY 18
DIVISIONS ENGAGED 28-32-77
CANTIGNY
-
. MONS.
AON JO. SNIT
206
RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR
the American troops as individuals were ready to fight and win long before they were per- mitted to attempt it. High officers, particu- larly the European commanders, simply would not believe that soldiers could be made in such short time and they were terribly afraid that a defeat to the Americans might upset the growing morals of the Europeans, who were depending entirely upon our ultimate strength.
The newly commissioned American officers probably would have benefited from a longer course of training, but the line officers were generally able to handle small units efficiently in battle, and the intelligence of the American soldier was such that no such leadership was required for them as was needed in European armies.
Some American officers and detachments, particularly the higher staff officers, visited the various fronts during the summer of 1917, but it was October 21, 1917, when the first Yankee artillery and infantry took their places at the front as units, under the direction of French and British officers. They had "gone in" near Seicheprey, in a quiet sector. On January 19, 1918, the First division took over this Toul district as an exclusively American sector. On Sept. 12, 1918, the same division went over the top near the same spot at the beginning of the successful St. Mihiel battle.
In June, 1918, the Thirty-second division went into the trenches east of Belfort in Al- sace, and from that time on, the Alsacian sec- tor which had been ruled by Germany since 1871 became another American headquarters to hold during the war.
The First division was completely organized during the winter of 1917-18 and functioned as a combat division at Cantigny on May 28, when this town was captured from the Germans in a brief but bitter night battle. Previous to this it had been in one or two minor defensive operations. The Twenty-sixth division had repelled a German raid in strength at Seiche- prey in April. Scattering Yankee medical de- tachments had been with the British at the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.
Up to the first of June, 1918, the American casualty lists remained quite small, as neither side desired a battle during the winter, and while the Allies were waiting the completion of the American army the Germans were quiet- ly preparing for a huge offensive which they hoped would bring them victory early in 1918. For a time it seemed as if they might succeed.
The campaign of 1918 opened with the Ger- mans in possession of the offensive. In a series of five drives of unprecedented violence
the imperial great general staff sought to break the allied line and end the war. These five drives took place in five successive months, beginning in March. Each drive was so timed as to take advantage of the light of the moon for that month.
The first drive opened March 21, on a fifty mile front across the old battlefield of the Somme. In seventeen days of fighting the Germans advanced their lines beyond Moyen and Montdidier and were within twelve miles of the important railroad centers of Amiens with its great stores of British supplies. In this battle, also known as the Picardy offen- sive, British and French troops were engaged.
The attack upon Amiens had been but part- ly checked when the enemy struck again to the north in the Armentieres sector and ad- vanced seventeen miles up the valley of the Lys. A small number of Americans, serving with the British, participated in the Lys of- fensive.
For the next attack ( May 27) the Germans selected the French front along the Chemin des Dames, north of Aisne. The line from Rheims to a little east of Moyon was forced back. Soissons fell, and on May 31 the enemy had reached the Marne valley, down which he was advancing in the direction of Paris. At this critical moment our Second division, to- gether with elements of the Third and Twenty- eighth divisions, were thrown into the line. By blocking the German advance at Chateau- Thierry, they rendered great assistance in stop- ping perhaps the most dangerous of the Ger- man drives. The Second division not only halt- ed the enemy on its front, but also recaptured from him the strong tactical positions of Bour- esches, Belleau Wood and Vaux.
The enemy had by his offensive established two salients threatening Paris. He now sought to convert them into one by a fourth terrible blow delivered on a front of twenty-two miles from Montdidier and Noyon. The reinforced French army resisted firmly and the attack was halted for an initial advance of about six miles. Throughout this operation (June 9-15) the ex- treme left line of the salient was defended by our First division. Even before the drive he- gan the division had demonstrated the fighting qualities of our troops by capturing and hold- ing the town of Cantigny (May 28).
There followed a month of comparative quiet. during which the enemy reassembled his forces for the fifth onslaught. On July 15 he attacked simultaneously on both sides of Rheims, the eastern corner of the salient he had created in the Aisne drive. To the east
207
RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR
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.