Racine county in the world war, Part 36

Author: Haight, Walter L
Publication date: c1920]
Publisher: [Racine, Western Prtg. & Lithographing Co.
Number of Pages: 612

USA > Wisconsin > Racine County > Racine county in the world war > Part 36

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good, and when a Y. M. C. A. man came along with some cigarettes I was feeling better than I had for a week.

It was two days later when I was carried back to Souilly and put on a crowded hospital train for shipment to the Bordeaux hospital section. There, in a nice bed in a base hos- pital, I remained for two months while the war ended and the army was starting to move again-one part toward home and the other to Germany.

As my wounds did not have any permanent bad results, I feel that I had a very interesting and, on the whole, enjoyable experience in the army. I missed the long period of training, and the long dreary siege of trench and field warfare that so many of our men underwent, and at the same time I saw a little of every- thing. I think that, on the whole, the army was well handled and cared for. I know the food was ample, even though the menu did not have much variety. In the field, the sol- diers usually were given fresh meat three or four times a week, and they had canned corn or tomatoes or beans once a day in addition to plenty-oh, a great plenty-of corned beef, corned beef hash and canned salmon. Bread was supplied whenever the wagons could make daily trips from the railhead to the field kitch- ens, and otherwise there was hard tack which was not so terribly hard. When the infantry was in the front lines, hot food was brought up once each night in containers which retained the heat. The kitchens and baggage were al- ways left at the rear. Danger was always present, but after a few days at the front, everyone gets used to this and doesn't worry over the possibility of getting hit. The longer one remains unscathed, the more confident he becomes of his immunity.

What impressed me as much as anything at

The roster of Co. K (see opposite page) contained the following: Many of the boys who were in K's ranks were later in the service of the U. S. army or navy.

Capt. Richard Drake, Capt. John T. Olson (promoted from 1st Lt. on July 5, 1917) ; 1st Lt. John H. Owens, 2d Lt. Fred C. Hanmerson.

1st Sgt. John E. Konnak, Q. M. Sgt. Fred M. Brooker, Sgts. Carl Hanson, Wm. Rodgers, R. P. Hammond, Thos. Kearney, Jr., Lee Archer, Elmer Durgin.

Corp. B. M. Kerr, V. H. Whaley, Elmer Durgin, Arthur Ehrlich, Kai H. Studt, W. F. Hogan, A. C. Hermes, C. C. Nelson, R. B. Gister, Louis M. Hass. Musicians Wm. Peterson, Clande Merrill. Nels Nelson. Articifier Geo. J. Henningfield.

Privates : Albert E. Anderson, Harold Avard, Frank L. Bahr, Johnson E. Baldwin, Thorwald M. Beck, Edwin C. Billings, John Beyer, Harold H. Bradley, Harry L. Cal- hoon, Frank Cooper, Hugh M. Costello, Robert Davis, Arthur Dixon, Robert Eagen, John H. Foxwell, Roman B. Gister, Arthur R. Glassow, Wm. L. Hager, Renhen H. Haase, Windlin M. Hasse, Albert C. Hermes, William F. Hogan, Richard Hughes, Fred C. Jacobson, Anid Jen- sen, Jens Jensen, Fred C. Klingmeyer, Milton J. Knob- lock. Henry A. Mayer, Albert C. Mickelson, Emil M

Miller, Charles A. Mosher. Charles C. Nelson, Nelson B. Nelson, Ole P. Nielson, Lonis Norup, Jas. T. Orr, Jno. H. Paap, Walter C. Peterson, John R. Powers, Leo. J. Red- mond. Charles Reynolds, Will H. Shafer, Chas. D. Saw- yer, C. A. Schumacker, Art. W. Simonson, Martin Singer, Harry C. Steinbuck, Leonard H. Tietz, Sofus Trolle, Louis Trolle, Claude Terrill, Clifford Terrill, Leopold Von Schil- ling, Peter J. Verheyn, Geo. H. Ward, Clar. P. Wiede- bach, Webster A. Anderson, Dwight Bartlett, M. Hamp- ton Bartlett. Alonzo D. Carpenter, Harry Chamberlin, Phillip T. Clancy, H. A. Fairbanks, F. E. Findley, J. J. Foley, Leo J. Funk, David Hanson, Louis M. Hass, Thos. Hellum, Roy F. Horn, Orvin Huppert, Arthur Janes, Burt Johnson, Ed. Kammenberg, Raymond E. Kaye, Matt E. Keefe, Dominic Lesento, Carl A. Mall. Martin Matson, Theo. Matson, Rowland H. Mears, Richard Mertins, Thos. Morgenson, Martin Nelson, Svend Nelson, Tolmar Nel- son, Victor C. Nelson, H. A. Olsen, John W. Owen, C. E. Peterson, George Peterson, Nels C. Peterson, Wm. Peter- son, Wm. L. Peterson, John Plemmons, Mikel P. Pors- gaard, Anthony Reis, Robert Reno, Robert Rickett, Robt. Rodgers, Thomas Rothwell, Arthur J. Schroeder, Elmer Slafter, K. H. Stadt, Harold Swenson. Geo. Wernicke, Frank J. Yetmar.

RACINE COUNTY IN THE WORLD WAR

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COMPANY K. 7th REGIMENT, WISCONSIN STATE GUARD, CAMP DOUGLAS, 1918

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the front was the almost universal bravery of members of the human race. Knowing that they were in constant danger of their lives, the American soldier almost without exception showed no sign of fear in battle, and I am told that the same is true of other nations. Men who, at home, would be afraid to climb a lad- der for fear of falling, perform the most as- tounding feats of bravery and think nothing of it.

There is not a man who served in France from Racine who, were he to do the same acts here that he did at the front, time and time again, would not be hailed as a hero worthy of public acclaim. In war, however, individual acts of heroism are lost sight of in the mass of them. In the brief time that I was in the Ar- gonne sector I saw engineers calmly building roads while enemy shells were bursting all around them. I saw artillerymen driving their teams forward over shell torn roads and across open fields while German aeroplanes raked their column with machine gun fire and hurled grenades upon them from the air, and the can- noneers of other batteries were serving their guns with missiles exploding in their vicinity constantly. Infantrymen wooed death in every form for days at a time and advanced to the mouths of machine guns and rifles, or charged against deadly bayonets, as though they were advancing in a game of football. Aviators flew across the lines to gather information knowing that they would be subjected to shell

fire as well as to attack from enemy avions, and that a comparatively minor injury to pilot or plane at thousands of feet above the ground would mean certain death. Ambulance drivers and crews of ammunition trucks faced death almost every hour while carrying on in their prosaic occupations. Yet not one man in a thousand ever seemed to hesitate in the least over the performance of all of his duty, or even more, on account of any personal danger.

The discomforts of war were more detested than its perils. Sleeping and marching in mud and rain, eating like animals, existing in holes by day and venturing forth at night on their missions of death; unwashed, unclean, lousy and often sick, the American soldier preferred the dangers of an attack to the miserable mo- notony of trench life and its comparative safe- ty. Artillerymen might go for weeks without washing their faces, but they kept their guns clean as a banquet table. Infantrymen might go without socks, but they always tried to have plenty of cartridges on hand. Canteens might get empty, but horses were watered if there was water to be had. "Let's win this damned war quick," was the motto, and as long as this objective seemed possible of at- tainment the American soldier was willing to undergo almost anything. They knew they were in France until it was over, and they asked nothing more than they be allowed to finish it. They had the chance, thanks to Per- shing's confidence in them, and did the job.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE END OF THE WAR

T HE signing of the armistice and the ces- sation of hostilities at 11 o'clock in the morning of Nov. 11, 1918, found the American troops active on all fronts and in several places preparing to attack the enemy line at 12 o'clock noon. The muddy, weary doughboys out in front; the sweating, swearing artillerymen at their backs, and the tireless engineers and ambulance drivers and teamsters along the roads had no heart to cheer the news when yelling couriers and low-flying aeroplanes finally brought the story of the end of the world's greatest war. Although the word was expected, it was doubted at first.' Rifles and cannons were kept hot from firing right up to 10:59 o'clock in expectation that this report would prove a hoax as one had on Nov. 7. Many a daring member of a patrol, feeling of the enemy lines, lost his life in the last half hour of the conflict.

At 11 o'clock the artillery was suddenly si- lenced, and the rattle of rifle and machine gun fire ceased permanently. There was a brief moment of joyful shouting and repartee, and then the vast majority of that great army which had accomplished the impossible laid down in the mud of France and had a real nice sleep. For many, it was the first undis- turbed rest in weeks.

Strict orders were issued against holding any communication with the enemy, and grin- ning Germans who walked toward their late foes with miniature flags of truce in their hands, were turned back by stern-faced sen- tries who showed an utter lack of cordiality.

On Nov. 12, the Commander-in-Chief, Gen- eral Pershing, issued the following proclama- tion to his troops:

"The enemy has capitulated. It is fitting that I address myself in thanks directly to the officers and soldiers of the American Expe- ditionary Forces who by their heroic efforts have made possible this glorious result.

"Our armies, hurriedly raised and hastily

trained, met a veteran enemy and by courage, discipline and skill always defeated hin. Without complaint you have endured inces- sant toil, privation and danger. You have seen many of your comrades make the supreme sacrifice that freedom may live.

"I thank you for the patience and courage with which you have endured. I congratulate you upon the splendid fruits of victory which your heroism and the blood of our gallant dead are now presenting to our nation. Your deeds will live forever on the most glorious pages of America's history.

"JOHN J. PERSHING."

For two or three days there was almost complete idleness along what had been the front. The troops, as soon as they were con- vinced that the war was really over, enjoyed complete relaxation for the first time since they donned a uniform. They played cards, "shot craps" and visited neighboring commands without fear of interruption. Then discipline began to tighten up again, and aside from their daily tasks the sole question of interest was, "When do we start for home?"

Sad to say, it was to be many a long week and month before most of them were able to wave their hands to the Statue of Liberty.

For two weeks the army in France presented the odd appearance of a huge combat organi- zation all fixed for battle but with nobody to fight.

All along the old battle line from Sedan down along the Meuse toward Verdun there glowed at night the embers of thousands of Yankee campfires. Cigarettes gleamed and voices were raised in songs and laughter where for four years it would have been folly to strike a match and treason to build a fire.

Reveille and retreat sounded across what had been No Man's land, and although the front was now termed a "rest area," fighting was replaced by such a continual round of drill, drill and more drill that the weary doughboy

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wondered if the old armistice was really all that it was cracked up to be. With all the horrors of war, there never was a soldier who would trade his place in the muddiest dugout in a shell swept sector for a camp where he would have to resume "squad east and west" for its "disciplinary value," as G. H. Q. loved to describe that jolly exercise, always pre- scribed for inmates of rest areas. Soldiers took comfort in the front and in battles be- cause while there they could dispense with the close order drill and strict observance of mili- tary courtesies which always reminded them that they were merely a cog in a great ma- chine.

One blessing of this post-armistice fortnight was the presence of the field kitchens in the midst of their units. Instead of sending cans full of food five miles to the hungry doughboys up ahead, the cooks brought their chariots right up to the advance positions on Nov. 12, and thereafter kept a never-ending stream of well earned flapjacks, hot slum and salmon pat- ties flowing to the proper destinations.

Nine divisions strong-the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 32nd, 42nd, 89th and 90th-the Third American Army began on the morning of Sunday, November 17, its march to the Rhine.

It was at 5:30 that the order "Forward, march" sounded along the American line from Mouzon to Thiaucourt-Mouzon on the Meuse just below Sedan and Thiaucourt down in the heart of what was once the St. Mihiel salient.

An hour or so earlier, the unfriendly notes of reveille had disturbed the chill November air and tumbled out of a myriad dugouts and pup tents a stamping, growling, cursing crew who damned the Kaiser and swore at Germany, but not one of whom could have been hired for love or money to go off on leave this day of days.

Indeed, for several days before the march be- gan, officers and men who had started forth so gaily on their long postponed leaves kept hurrying back of their own accord at the first inkling that their outfit had been among those nominated to keep a watch on the Rhine. Even men who, on the strength of the armistice, had decided to go AWOL for a day or so, would glean the good news at half-way towns like Bar-le-Duc or Châlons and come sneaking back as fast as their legs or hospitable trucks would carry them. Every one wanted to be among those present at what came in no time to be known as "The Party."

So, when the sun came up on the morning of the 17th it found them all marching in columns of squads along the highways that

lead to the frontier-plodding along and sing- ing as they went. And the song that they sang to Germany was a new version of an old favorite which broke ever and again into the familiar refrain, "The Yanks are coming, the Yanks are coming."

Ahead of them, as they ambled forward, stretched a country-side strewn with the things the Germans had been too hurried or too indifferent to carry along. In nearly every village, the streets were fairly littered with German guns, German helmets, German cart- ridge belts as though, when the armistice news came, they had been dropped then and there, never to be picked up again by German hands.

Whole platoons of American Infantry could be seen parading toward the frontier, each head adorned with a spiked German helmet. The souvenir market was glutted before sun- down of the first day, and lugers, which, a fortnight before, would have sold for any- where from 100 to 300 francs, could be had in exchange for one package of cigarettes.

Then there were big guns and an occasional truck abandoned in the haste of the great de- parture. One of these trucks was as empty as a ruined town, but on its tailboard the depart- ing enemy had hung this affable sign: "Help yourselfs."

Then, treasure trove of treasure troves, the advancing Americans found in the German hospitals some Yankee wounded. In the big hospital at Virton, for instance, the Germans had been obliged to leave behind some 400 men too seriously wounded to be moved-left them there with a full staff of surgeons and nurses to care for them-and among these were nine Americans. They had lain there, lonesome and helpless, for many weary days and nights. They woke on the morning of the 20th to find friendly Americans swarming around their beds, showering them with cigarettes and magazines.

And all along the way the men of the Third Army, moving forward unmolested as though on some easy practice march, were greeted and passed by an unending stream of refugees, thousands upon thousands of scantily clad, hungry, tired, happy refugees, prisoners of war, civilian prisoners, fugitive townsfolk, men, women and children, of all ages and all nationalities, thousands upon thousands of them pouring through the towns and villages already gay with French and American flags.

By Monday night the troops, having ad- vanced some 40 kilometers and reached the Luxembourg frontier, settled down for breath.

On Thursday morning the march was re-

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Photo by Billings

MEMBERS OF THE WARTIME COUNTY BOARD OF RACINE COUNTY

Top Row-Joseph Smerchek, Henry Caley, Harry Fischer, Knute Holland, Joseph Kristerins, Peter Moritz, J. H. Kamper, Thomas Skewes, Arthur Jackson. Second-Bernhard Rieser, W. J. Callender, M. H. Herzog, N. F. Anderson, Julias Jappe, Daniel Summers, Sofus Larson, Ernest Hofer, Otto A. Klein. Third-A. R. Laube, J. O. Pottinger, Peter Lane, Matt Laven, W. J. Bauman, Joseph Rueter, Thos. Piper, Henry Moers, Frank Patten, Henry Schulte. Bottom-L. G. Smith, A. Crane, Dist. Atty. A. R. Janecky, County Clerk H. Basinger, A. S. Titus, Miss Evangeline Evans, Highway Commissioner W. O. Thomas. Thos. Overson.

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sumed through Luxembourg, from the general line Etalle, Saint-Léger, Longwy, Audun-le- Romain, Briey.

When the Rhine was finally reached, and the Army of Occupation settled down for its long spell in Germany, all the attraction soon fled, for once again the old round of strict discipline, interminable drills and reviews, and orders forbidding fraternization with the enemy and almost any other form of amuse- ment were put into effect. While these vet- erans were keeping the watch on the Rhine, divisions which had come to France long after they had, were on their way home. Only the occasional furloughs to visit designated leave areas served to relieve the monotony. It was well along in the spring when the homesick lads of the "Ameroc" began to be relieved by newly recruited Regular army regiments, and turn their faces once more toward St. Nazaire, Brest, Bordeaux and home. It was the middle of the summer before the bulk of them had reached their native land.

Aside from the Army of Occupation, the divisions were moving out of France for America with considerable rapidity after Dec. 1. But there were many complications con- nected with the dissolution of the A. E. F. Vast quantities of stores were in France and these must be disposed of. As the Service of Supply had been built up from the Atlantic to the battle line, now it must be maintained clear to the Rhine and eventually abandoned from that end back to the sea. This meant picking up railroads and other government property, or arranging for their sale. Also, there were not many more ships available for the return trip than for the journey to France. The Navy could furnish some warships for the purpose, but the British government wanted its own transports to carry home its men from Australia, Canada and other colonies.

There were two very distinct periods of the A. E. F.'s homecoming. Until June, 1919 it came home as fast as boats could be gotten to- gether to carry it. From that time on it came home as fast as its work was done.

There was December after the armistice, month of rumor and indecision everywhere, with only a few thousand Yanks getting away. January saw budding hopes in every heart and nearly 200,000 men off for the homeland. February held January's pace. March began the upward sweep with 214,348 light packs and light hearts mounting the gang plank. April sent 289,112. May's 331,336 included the biggest home-coming week of all, the 14th to the 21st, when 126,392 put to sea. June, month

of brides and roses, capped the climax and won the record for troop movement, either to or from France, with total sailings of 358,315.

Right here it was that our ships proved to have worked themselves out or almost out of a job. In July the A. E. F., reduced to 350,000 really began to break up housekeeping. It was much easier to get ships than it was to pry men loose from the S. O. S. and the Rhine to fill them, and sailings slumped to 254,532. The last day of the month, however, saw the A. E. F. well down toward its last hundred thousand and the end of the long journey home in view.

The closing-out period of the A. E. F. really dates from the signing of the Peace Treaty by the Germans. Until that day and that hour, the A. E. F. as a fighting force, though great- ly reduced in numbers, had been painstakingly conserved in all its ability to contribute to the Allied art of persuasion had the Germans de- clined to sign. There were, to be exact, 190,- 473 Yanks that day on the Rhine ready to plunge forward at a minute's notice, and be- hind them from Coblenz to the sea were lines of communication and a service of supply prac- tically intact. Gièvres could have filled any requisition in three hours. There was on hand about a hundred days' supply of everything that would have been sustaining for our invad- ing forces and conducive to a German change of mind, including American ammunition just beginning to arrive in quantity.

But the Germans signed, and the A. E. F. close-out began. It took time to wind up the affairs of a partnership like the A. E. F. The Yanks who straggled home in July and August and who did it will say so.

By July 1 even the high spots on the old A. E. F. map were getting to be little dots. Chaumont was reduced to a little guard de- tachment of 200 and was prepared-and anxious-to move on Paris any day. St. Aig- nan-name that once spelled holy terror to thousands-had become an innocent and harm- less village of 75 officers and 775 enlisted men. Le Mans that had known its thousands and tens of thousands, killed cooties ten thousand times as many, sorted out boat loads-of sol- diers, not cooties-and sent them on their way exulting, had been pared down to 7,000 on June 25, and within the next 20 days dwindled away to nothing. Is-sur-Tille, not long since the busy forwarding station of everything from tanks to beans, was little more than a pile of boxes and crates with a little care-taker de- tachment perched around it-except for its vast German prison camp, and even there the

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folk of one nation were looking west, of the other as hopefully east. Gièvres, the greatest military supply depot in the world, had re- duced its force from 22,000 to 5,000 and was beginning to dispose of the 900,000 tons of food and clothing and equipment to France and the newly liberated countries of Europe. Romorantin, Orly and Issoudun, where the A. E. F. sprouted its wings, had been turned over to the French. Tours, the once proud capital of the S. O. S., had reduced its personnel from 14,000 to 8,000 and was preparing to vamoose to Paris (which it never did) sometime during the month. Bourges was to be among the last to cut its personnel, for it was still busy sort- ing cards. The battle of Paris itself about won, the evacuation of its 21,348 troops began on July 5, immediately after the great cele- bration of the Fourth.

During July both Bordeaux and St. Nazaire ceased to operate as American ports. Marseille and Le Havre had both been crossed off the A. E. F. map in June, so that Brest alone-Brest

of a million going and coming-was left dur- ing the closing out period as the American port of embarkation. St. Nazaire sent out her last transport July 22. It was the Kroonland, carrying 4,000 troops and General S. D. Rock- enback, commanding officer of the port, and his staff. It was at St. Nazaire that, more than two years before, the first of America's troops to reach France, units of the First Division, had landed.

Communication by American telegraph and telephone between Paris and Coblenz was im- possible for the first time since the period of occupation on July 23, and at about the same time the vast network of telegraph, telephone and radio lines which the American Signal Corps had built up in France was turned over to the French.

By September, 1918, practically all Ameri- can troops had left France excepting a hand- ful attached to headquarters of the quarter- master department. At last the war was really over for the American army.

CHAPTER XXIX

HOW WOUNDED MEN ARE CARED FOR IN WAR By DR. CARL O. SCHAEFER

H AVING been asked to explain the work- ings of the American army medical service and hospitals in war time, I find it necessary to state at the beginning that con- siderable variation existed in methods of evacuating battle victims. The methods de- pended upon the type of injury, the circum- stances under which it occurred, available transportation, the number of casualties to be dealt with and the important question of whether the combat organizations were at that time engaged in offensive or defensive opera- tions.

Obviously, an army in retreat cannot give the same sort of attention to wounded men that can be offered while an army is advancing and leaving its casualties behind it in a zone of comparative safety. American wounded men received better care, on the average, than the wounded of other armies because for the greater part of the time our units were ad- vancing when they were fighting at all. This fact also prevented many of our wounded men from being captured, and also enabled the Graves Registration service to identify and hury decently our own dead.

Perhaps the easiest way to explain the work- ing of the hospital system is to begin with a descripition of the organization itself, and then describe the "ideal" way of handling wounded; that is to say, the way they were handled when circumstances permitted.

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Racine county in the world war, Part 36

Author: Haight, Walter L Publication date: c1920] Publisher: [Racine, Western Prtg. & Lithographing Co. Number of Pages: 612

Author: Haight, Walter L
Publication date: c1920]
Publisher: [Racine, Western Prtg. & Lithographing Co.
Number of Pages: 612