The Texas spirit of '17: a pictorial and biographical record of the gallant and courageous men from Ellis County who served in the Great War Page: 18 of 177
197 p., [4] leaves of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
the allied forces, and the official record of the War Department covering the entire American
activities has not yet been made public. The records below are compiled from various semiofficial
and authentic sources, and it is believed they are correct.
It was not until October, 191 7, that the first division, which landed after General Pershing,
in the spring of 1917, went into the trenches. Three other divisions, the 2nd, made up of two
regiments of regulars, the 7th and the 23rd, and two regiments of Marines; the 26th Division,
made up of the New England National Guard, and the 42nd, or Rainbow Division, which was
made up of Guard units from 26 states, had followed it. They were placed in quiet sectors,
which remained undisturbed by the Germans, and while they had received actual trench training,
still they had never been under fire, and their behavior under such fire was problematical;
Some small units had been attached to the French and British armies, under the leadership
of officers of these armies, and they had accredited themselves through their fighting.
Until March, 1918, no American unit had ever made a raid by itself.
The first action by an American unit was planned for the morning of March 4, 1918,
and was to be undertaken by a detachment of 150 men from the First Division, entrenched
in the St. Mihiel sector. Engineers were to crawl out over No Man's Land, and place torpedoes
under the German wire, to be blown up at an appointed time. A box barrage was to be
laid down, the infantry was to rush forward, taking as many prisoners as possible, and return
to the American lines. At the appointed time the raiders went over the top, but found the
German wire intact, due to the fact that the Engineers who were to find the German wire had
become lost in the darkness. While the result was disappointing it showed that the Ameri-cans
were willing to show their mettle.
The battle of Seicheprey was the next important step in the trench training of the American
forces, and was the first really large raid in which American casualties resulted. Seicheprey
is located on the southern side of the St. Mihiel sector. The raid was conducted by the
Germans opposite, and occurred on the morning of April 20th. The intention of the Germans
was to cross the two American trenches, enter the village, clean it up, and then return to the
second American trench and hold the same. The first trench was not occupied at the time of
the raid, and the second was held by three companies of the 102nd Infantry, who had orders
to hold the trench if attacked. There were two separate artillery attacks on the part of the
Germans, to which the American artillery replied, but no word could be obtained from the
troops. They had, however, been attacked and were forced to retreat to the southern edge
of the town. The Germans looted the town, occupied the second American trench, and inflicted
about 400 casualties in killed, wounded and missing. The Germans suffered 41 killed
and innumerable wounded. This was the first real touch of warfare, and while it was unfortunate,
it showed that the American troops could be depended upon to do their duty. The
training of an army under trench conditions could not be expected to be accomplished without
casualties, and this was part of that training. Even the successes during training were sometimes
high priced, the raid at Frapelle, conducted by the 5th Division in August, 1918, being
one of these. But each of these actions taught the Americans lessons which they were
not slow to profit by.
In the spring of 1918, the Germans decided to adopt a policy of open warfare, which
was along the lines of General Pershing's military strategy. Previous to this, trench warfare
had been the rule, with the result that there was no appreciable gain or loss of territory during
the preceding year of fighting. The use of large numbers of men, suddenly concentrated
at a given point, enabled the Germans to break through the trench system, as was demonstrated
when they broke through the Fifth British Army, and in a few days had reached within
artillery range of Amiens, an important railway point behind the British lines. One of the
immediate results of this reversal for the Allies was the offer of the American troops to the
French and British, and the abandonment of the plans for the formation of a distinctly American
Army in France, on which lines General Pershing had been working. There were about
15
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Army and Navy History Company. The Texas spirit of '17: a pictorial and biographical record of the gallant and courageous men from Ellis County who served in the Great War, book, 1919; Dallas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth20203/m1/18/: accessed March 29, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarrant County College NE, Heritage Room.