WWI: 91st division in France
Want to read more about Hugh “Chappie”
Roberts (26) service in the supply company in the 361st Infantry, 91 Division? Here is an interesting article I found while
researching the April 2015 RR&B Newsletter:
Rock Springs Miner, Friday 14 February 1919
MOVEMENTS IN DETAIL OF THE NINETY-FIRST
A
brief account f the 91st division in France follows, so that those
who have lost relatives or friends may, with the aid of a good map, trace their
principal movements:
The
transport carrying the 91st reach Southampton, England, on July 20,
1918. Next day they started across the
channel to France, reaching Cherbourg, almost opposite Southampton, early July
23. The men marched to a British camp
three miles from Cherbourg and there rested on week.
From
Cherbourg they traveled by train to St. Nazaire, near the mouth of the river Loire,
in northwest France. They remained there
one month.
They
then entrained for a new training area in eastern France, in the department of
the Haute Marne, some 20 miles southeast of Chaumont. A town called Montigney-le-Roi was the center
of this training area. The men were
billeted in small villages within a few miles of Montingny-le-Roi. They arrived there late in August and
received their last training preceding the battle.
On
Sept. 6 they began moving north. They
knew they were bound for the front, but did not know to what part of it. They were greatly keyed-up at the prospect of
getting into the fighting for which they had trained so long.
As
it turned out, the part of the front to which they proceeded was 100 miles
north of Montigny-le-Roi. Their fist
move was by train to Gondrecourt, which is in the extreme south end of the
department of the Meuse and is about 18 miles north of Neuf Chateau. From there to the front they marched, and
always at night, so that the Germans would be less apt to learn of their
coming. Meanwhile, also, numerous other
American divisions were marching up by night toward the front, for the great
drive in the Argonne was about to begin.
The
second stop was in the woods about 15 miles north of Gondrecourt, where the
division remained in the rain over Sunday.
The third was in another woods around the villages of Void and
Vacon. The fourth was in and around
Vavincourt. The men were now five miles
from the firing line. Vavincourt is four
miles northeast of Bar-le-Duc.
Most
of the places mentioned above and most of those mentioned in casualty reports,
are too small to appear on any but the best of French maps. The division’s journey from Montigny-le0Roi
to the front may be followed fairly well, however, by drawing a line on the map
from Montigny-le-Roi (a point, as stated, southeast of Chaumont), almost
straight north through Neufchateau, Bar0le0Duk, and Clermont. These last four towns are shown on nearly all
mpas.
The
men’s fifth stop was a series of villages ten miles back of the front, to
which, on pitch-dark night, they made a long march from Vavincourt. Thence they marched a couple of nights later
to a large woods directly back of the lines.
These woods are known in France as the Forest de Hesse. They are straight west of Verdun some 15
miles, and about 150 miles east of Paris.
The
91st reached the Hesse forest before dawn on the 21st of
September. The men put up their pup
tents. They were not allowed out of the
woods. Great trucks brought in their
food, and other supplies. Under cover of
night, and even by day, hundreds of guns were being moved up and put in
position. These guns were so cleverly
hidden that passersby on the forest roads could scarcely detect them. A mile ahead Frenchmen held the front line,
while another mile farther on were the Germans.
At this time that part of the front was very quiet and the camp was
disturbed but little by shells and had no causalities.
On
the evening of September 25th the men were ordered to “strip their
packs,” by which they knew they were about to go into battle. The writer watched many of them that night
and was struck by the determination on most of their faces. It was certain that the 91st was
about to do itself credit.
Early
that night the units began to move through the Hesse forest. Just before midnight they stopped behind the
front line. In the morning the French
were to step out, and the Americans were not only to step in, but to go
straight ahead.
East
of the 91st and west of it, other American divisions had taken their
places similarly in the long line. The
front was to extend over a 40 mile front.
It was a stretch from east of Verdun to west of the Argonne forest. There were some French to take part at the
east end and at the west end of this 40 miles, but mostly the line was
American.
Soon
after midnight on the night of the 25th a wonderful artillery
preparation began along the whole 40 miles.
Just as hundreds of guns of immense size, and hundreds of smaller size,
lay camouflaged behind the 91st, so other hundreds were roaring
behind each of the other divisions. The
volume of sound was amazing to those boys of Washington, Oregon, California,
Utah, Wyoming, Montana and other states that contributed men to this
division. They were in front of most of
the guns, but there were guns all around them.
For hours this went on, riddling the German positions for miles. \ The
hour was 5:30 a.m. That hour on the 26th
of September is a fateful one for hundreds of western parents. It was then the 91st went over the
top, and within a few days from that time, and within a few miles of the Forest
d Hesse, most of the men lost by the division in France had given their lives.
The
writer spoke to some of the men of the 340th as they went in. “Give ‘em hell, Buddy,” he said to one group;
and to another, “Go get ‘em, boys,” “You
bet I will.” came the answer. Not, “You
bet we will.” That was the spirit with
which the doughboys went in. Each seemed
to feel it was right up to him. The
faces confirmed it.
From
September 26 to October 4 the 91st fought magnificently. General headquarters congratulated it in a
telegram. Many of the men were too brave for the god of the army; in their
absence of fear they got wounds not always necessary; often they would not take
cover.
On
the 4th of October the division “came out,” another division
relieving it. It rested three days in a
woods from which it had recently driven the Germans. Then there was a call for two regiments and
the 361st and the 362nd infantry were sent, and fought
till Oct. 13. Meanwhile the rest of the
men had been drawn back by slow stages to the region of Bar-le-Duc and there
the 361st and 362nd joined them Oct. 15.
The
fighting of the division from Sept. 26 to Oct. 13 was principally near the folowing
(sic) villages, Cheppy, Very, Epinonville, Eclisfontaine, Avocourt,
Cieges, Gesnes and Charpentry. Only the
best maps show these villages, which are all tiny. They are only a few miles apart, and range
from 12 to 25 miles west, and slightly north, of Verdun. Jus to the southwest of the area is Varennes;
nine miles to the north is Romage; just at the northeast edge is
Montfaucon—these three places are shown on smaller maps.
In
these villages, in the numerous woods and thickets that lie between them, in
dugouts on sidehills (sic), and in ravines, the Germans made a most
determined resistance to the 91st.
They did not send out infantry to fight, but posted scores of rifle
snipers and machine gun men, many of whom would shoot until the Americans got
right to them, then would cry “kamerad.”
The country was rough nad (sic) hard to fight through, the advantage
being with the defender. Yet under such
conditions the men made mile after mile in spite of many causalities.
After
a short rest ten miles northwesterly from Bar-le-Duc, the division entrained
for Belgium. The entraining point was
Revigny (shown on most maps). The
destination was Roulers, in Belgium, 15 mies east of Ypres and 50 miles by rail
from Revigny. The men left Revigny Oct.
17.
From
Oct. 17 to 29 the men remained back of the Belgium front, in or near Roulers,
Issegehm and Ingelmunster. On the 29th
they began to go forward again. With the
old men now were several thousand new men, not from the country west of the
Rockies, but principally from Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, good men
likewise.
Orders were to attack at 5:30 a.m. Oct. 31 on a three and
one-half mile front, running roughly from the city of Waereghem to the hamlet
of Steinbrugge to the southeast. (Waereghem should appear on good maps of
Belgium.) The objective was the large
city of Audenarde, on the river Eschaut, ten miles to the east.
In
less than four days the division, aided by British on the right and the French
on the left, with other Americans in the left of the French, had driven the
last German beyond the river Eschaut. On
Nov. 4 the men were again relieved and sent back to billets 12 miles from
Audenarde.
There
they lay until Nov. 10. Then came orders
to go forward again, apparently for a third offensive.
The
third drive was not needed. At 5 a.m. of
Nov. 11, before the 91st could get into action, the German
government gave up.
The
home address of the writer is Seattle, Wash., care of the University of
Washington. He expects to be at the
university after august, 1919. If
further information is then desired, a letter will reach him there, and the
information will be furnished if he has it.
No inquiry should be addressed to the writer, or to the Red Cross,
regarding the location of a grave, however; all such inquiries should go to the
Grave Registration Service, United States Army, Washington, D.C.
Colin V. Dyment, Lt. A.R.C., 91st Division.
Published: Rock
Springs Miner, Friday 14 February 1919, accessed online at Wyoming Newspaper
Project
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