29th Infantry Division: A Short History of a Fighting Division

TURNER PUBLISHING COMPANY

The Front Line of Military History Books

P.O. Box 3101

Paducah, Kentucky 42002-3101

(502) 443-0121

Copyright © 1992. Turner Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the written consent of the Publisher.

29th Infantry Division, A Short History of a Fighting Division was compiled using available information. The Publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions.

29th Infantry Division, A Short History of a Fighting Division Staff:

Joseph M. Balkoski

Joseph H. Ewing, Author

Col Robert M. Miller (USA-Ret.)

Turner Publishing Company’s Staff:

Editor: Kelly O’Hara

Designer: Trevor W. Grantham

Library of Congress Catalog

Card Number: 90-071720

9781618587220

Printed in the United States of America.

Limited Edition. Additional books may be purchased from Turner Publishing Company.

An American wireman laying light W-130 telephone cable. (Courtesy of Military History Institute and Joseph Balkoski)

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Foreword

Preface

Introduction

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION - Long Ago Soldiering

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION - World War One 1917-1919

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION - World War Two 1941-1945

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION - Post-war Era (1946-Present)

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION - Blue and Gray Veterans

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION - Roster of Members

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION INDEX

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PUBLISHER’S MESSAGE

Foreword

When a proposal to publish this 29th Division history book was first made to me by Dave Turner at the Division association meeting in Akron, I thought it was a good idea. As the discussion developed, I thought it a great idea, for I saw it would do what our reunions do—recall old faces and old names, and stories of the wartime Division in compact and permanent form. And so during the progress of the reunion I agreed, as National Commander, to sponsor the project, and this action was approved by the executive committee.

The process to complete this manuscript required great time and attention. Just as our preparation to rescue France on June 6, 1944 took tremendous skill and fortitude, so did the compilation of our Division’s heritage. The addition of Joseph Ewing, 29th Infantry Division veteran and author of the original Division history of 29 Let’s Go!, gave us the opportunity to not only utilize the skills of a previously published author, but also take advantage of his personal experiences with the 29th Division. Even though the task seemed an almost impossible undertaking, Mr. Ewing plowed through the piles of information to create a book which will be treasured by all Blue and Gray veterans and their families. Colonel Robert Miller, present National Commander of the Division, also played a major role in seeing this book to completion. His enthusiasm and tenacity encouraged many members to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime publication. We are confident that this 29th Division History Book is exceptional and the end result well worth the wait.

The book’s manuscript has been seen in draft form by various members of the association, all of whom have had an opportunity to express their opinions as to the text, to make suggestions on content and style, and to point out mistakes and omissions where they occured. The author has expressed his appreciation for this assistance.

Let me say that I heartily endorse this work, which I feel is really about people more than about events, as so many of the stories and pictures, and the biographies will attest. I see it, even before printing, as a beautiful book. It should make a most appropriate and welcome gift for any 29ers who might not already have subscribed to it and for wives and sons and daughters of Blue and Gray veterans. I feel sure the reader will treasure its pages.

Milton Aliff

Past National Commander

29th Division Association

Preface

The 29th Infantry Division, activated in August 1917, was an Army National Guard Division composed of citizen-soldiers from Virginia, District of Columbia, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. Antecedent units from Virginia and Maryland go back to colonial times, the American Revolution, War of 1812 and the Civil War.

World War I, 1917-1919, saw us mobilized, and brought to war strength of 28, 830. We went to France and earned a hard-fighting record for ourselves in both trench and open warfare in Alsace and the Meuse-Argonne Campaigns.

Mobilized in February 1941 for World War II, the Division was comprised of units from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Reorganized as a triangular Division at war strength of 15,072; training vigorously stateside and for amphibious operations in England, the Division was selected as one of two assault Divisions to land on Omaha Beach in the great Allied amphibious assault at Normandy.

On D-Day 6 June 1944 the 29th Division stormed ashore on Omaha Beach to win a beachhead. During 11 months of combat, in four major campaigns: Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Central Europe, the Division suffered 19,814 casualties, killed, wounded and missing, not counting the casualties of attached units.

Post-war, the Division was inactivated in 1968. In 1985, the 29th Infantry Division (Light) was reactivated, made up of Army National Guard units from Maryland and Virginia, the only Light Division in the Reserve Componets. Strength: 10,500. Mission: To be moved anywhere in the world by air in five days, in 500 lifts.

Comrades, as history is a record of men and their actions, so are we a part of that history. We, you and I, are a living reminder of the history of our peoples of the United States of America, and representative of all our forebears who have gone before us.

Let us thank Him for the gift of life He made to us that we might live out our lives and let us not ever forget those who have gone before us.

So, the 29th Division, the esprit, the history, traditions, pride, our record, of service and sacrifice for the nation, continues . . . .

. . . 29, Let’s Go!

Robert M. Miller

National Commander

1990-1991

Introduction

It is indeed desirable to be well descended but the glory belongs to our ancestors—Plutarch

This will be a story of the 29th Infantry Division and its antecedent units. You could call it a history except that it will be lacking the details and thoroughness one should expect to find in a real history of a Division. To some readers, the World War II portion could be called a recollection. But to few readers are the World War I portions a recollection—because not many of us are that old.

Ancestral units of the 29th have histories reaching far back into the past, even pre-dating our Revolutionary War. All this very early history will only be touched upon here. But it will be worth reading, for it is good to know something about our military ancestors. Certainly some of the spiritual strength of our Division today derives from that distant past. The lines of descent of the 29th Division units, like all the Army’s fighting units, are preserved, protected and justified by the Department of the Army, which sets down requirements governing the transmission of an organization’s history. It is the final judge as to what history a unit may claim.

For a National Guard unit, the chief determinant in its history is its placement in a particular locality, where local pride is engendered. According to the Army this "history cannot be established and re-established at will; it cannot be granted or refused—it simply belongs." And so, while units of the 29th may change their size, their structure, or even their mission, their history remains. This history when it is known gives each of its members a sense of belonging to an organization bigger and more important than himself. And with this comes an appreciation of past glories, of battles won, of unit legends—all this too valuable to be lost in the forgetting or ignoring of our history.

And so we have this book—another instrument of reinforcing our identity as members—present or past—of the 29th Infantry Division.

Various books, manuscripts, documents and files have been referred to and drawn upon in compiling this outline narrative; and although sources are rarely given in the text, the bibliography lists works referred to in preparing this story.

To many readers it will be obvious that 29 Let’s Go, the history of the World War II Division, was drawn upon and generally followed in preparing the World War II portion. This should not be surprising, since the author of 29 Let’s Go is one and the same person as the writer of this narrative. I don’t pretend to have uncovered here any really significant new facts. Indeed the time allowed for preparing the manuscript never permitted it. But certain incidents not in 29 Let’s Go have been used here, and brief recollections of some World War II veterans have been introduced. The World War II portion is merely a streamlined account of the Division in that war.

Quite naturally this book cannot tell of each Bronze Star, Silver Star, or even Distinguished Service Cross won by Division members. There were simply too many. An award action is usually described to help explain a battle situation or to add more life to the story at a time when it appeared to be needed. These omissions must not be considered as slighting the soldier who performed outstandingly. The winners of battle awards were obviously brave and courageous men. Yet there is no absolute way of measuring the courage of any soldier. Indeed who is to say that the obscure rifleman in the third squad of the second platoon did not show a high level of courage by simply staying on the line and fighting when all influences and forces within him urged him to run.

Again, because of the requirements of space, the names of battalion and lower unit commanders are not usually mentioned. The changes of command were just too many and too frequent. And yet at some places here even a company commander or patrol leader might be mentioned by name to give reality to a story or to keep it human.

For the considerable help in assembling and writing this historical account I especially must thank Brigadier General Bernard Feingold (Retired), curator of the Maryland National Guard Military Historical Society Museum in Baltimore, Colonel Robert M. Miller (Retired), National Commander of the 29th Division Association, and Joseph M. Balkoski, author of Beyond the Beachhead and the History of the Maryland National Guard, 1634-1991. These men told me where to look, furnished reference material otherwise unobtainable, explained battlefield situations, and recalled me to personalities in the Division dimmed somewhat by the passing of time. I must also acknowledge the reading of the manuscript and the making of corrections and suggestions, which fell to the lot of the following 29ers: Colonel Miller, Mr. Balkoski, Frank Oberle, Association Chaplain, Milton L. Aliff, Past National Commander, John Robert Slaugther, compiler of recollections of soldiers of D Company, 116th and other units of that regiment, Norman Elmore, Allen Levin and Paul Calvert.

Also, it would be churly of me to omit grateful mention of the yeoman service provided by Jackie Ewing, who typed the manuscript, with its endless revisions, and corrected my spelling mistakes and awkward constructions.

As sure as tomorrow, it can be expected that some—perhaps a great many—readers will find places where our story does not match the facts as they understood them to be. These readers are encouraged to write to us (the 29th Division Association) about them. In doing this they may be helping to get the record straight by providing material for the Division’s archives and for any new history of the Blue and Gray that might be attempted in some distant future.

J. H. E.

Wheaton, Maryland

September 1991

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION

Long Ago Soldiering

227th F.A. Bn., 29th Inf. Div., group of officers at Okehampton, England, 1944. Photo is prior to D-Day. (L to R): Poulos, McAllister, (3 and 4?), Kules, Cline and Gifford. (Courtesy of John A. McAllister)

LONG AGO SOLDIERING

It all seems strange when you reflect on our early military forbears who fought so long ago in the forests of our colonial frontier, to see them responding to the govenor’s call to arms, and to watch the militia marching into the backwoods, each man with his own personal musket, to protect their frontier settlements against Indian depredations; or to confront the French and Indians in the Ohio Valley in battles we have all read about in our schoolbooks. These pictures survive indistinctly for us in the haze of history. And these men were related to us in the line of military descent, and hardly knowing them, we still claim them with pride.

The Division’s very earliest ancestral connection is the Augusta County Regiment, an outgrowth of Virginia’s Colonial Militia, formed on 3 November 1741 at Beverly’s Mill Place (later renamed Staunton). A company of this regiment fought a sharp action against the Delaware Indians in December 1742. In the French and Indian War, the regiment fought under George Washington at Fort Necessity, at Braddock’s Defeat, and at the capture of Fort Duquesne.

Later, the Virginia Regiment expanded into two complete regiments—the 1st and the 2d Colonel George Washington commanded the militia units which became the First Virginia Regiment; Patrick Henry commanded this regiment when it was reorganized in 1775.

The 176th Infantry stems from the First Virginia Regiment ( 1758). The 116th descends from the Second Virginia Regiment (1760). Both regiments fought in the Revolutionary War.

The 175th Infantry descends from the the first uniformed military company in Maryland, a group of 58 men of Baltimore Town which formed under the leadership of Mordicai Gist, a prominent Baltimore citizen, on 3 December 1774. The company became a part of the regiment of Maryland troops created by the Maryland Assembly (January 1776) as its first official contribution to George Washington’s Army. The regiment, named after its commander, Colonel William Smallwood, fought in the battles of Long Island, Harlem Heights, Ft. Washington and White Plains. At Long Island, Smallwood’s Battalion occupied the extreme right of the Continental Line and courageously held its position to cover the withdrawal of the major portion of the Patriot force to the defenses of Brooklyn Heights. Under the leadership of Mordicai Gist, it made repeated bayonet charges upon the victorious British to distract and delay them from pursing our retreating troops. George Washington, a witness to the bayonet charges, is said to have exclaimed, My God, what brave men must I lose today!

In a general regrouping of forces in the Continental Army in December 1776, Smallwood’s Regiment was absorbed into the Maryland Line, which was a part of the Continental Army for the remainder of the war, fighting at Trenton, Monmouth, Saratoga, Princeton, and Brandywine, and in the Carolinas at Eutaw Springs, Camden, Hobkirck Hill, Cowdens and Guilford Court House.

The 115th Infantry descends from the earliest frontier militia units formed in Western Maryland before the Revolutionary War. In August 1775, two companies, raised in Western Maryland, set out on a 550-mile march to Boston to augment the New England force besieging the city. Led by Michael Cresap and Thomas Price, these two companies stayed on to fight in Washington’s army until 1779, when they returned to frontier duty.

The Fifth Maryland Regiment was the only one of the 29th Division’s ancestor units to see battle in the War of 1812. At the Battle of Bladensburg, when the hastily assembled American militia turned in retreat at the approach of British regulars, Fifth Regiment alone held its ground and engaged the enemy in a spirited fight before withdrawing in the face of a numerically superior force. Later when the British fleet appeared off Baltimore and put infantry ashore, the Fifth Regiment joined in the successful defense of the city against Wellington’s Invincibles at Godly’s Wood. This was the land battle fought the morning after the bombardment of Fort McHenry, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the words of our national anthem.

29th In fantry Division forebears at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, revolutionary War engagement, 8 Sept. 1781. (Courtesy of Joseph M. Balkoski)

The Blue and the Gray

In the months following the election of President Lincoln in 1860, the Southern states, as generally expected, officially voted themselves out of the Union. But it was still uncertain what Maryland would do. Although she was a slave-holding state, she had taken no steps to seceed. Still Southern feeling was at a high level. When the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, enroute to join the Union Army in Washington, had to march through Baltimore streets to change trains, an angry pro-Southern mob attacked the marching troops, and in the ensuing fracas, four soldiers and 11 rioters were killed before the militia regrouped and proceeded to its Washington-bound train. This skirmish between soldier and civilian was soon to be memorialized in Maryland’s official state song, Maryland, My Maryland, which proclaims, The despot’s heel is on thy shore—His torch is at thy temple door,—Avenge the patriotic gore that flecked the streets of Baltimore..., the despot in this case being the Massachusetts Militia; the gore flecked on Baltimore streets, the blood shed by the local mob. It was a time for choosing sides, and so we find Maryland’s 5th and 53rd Regiments going South, there to be formed into the 1st Maryland (CSA) at Harpers Ferry. This converted regiment gained prominence as an elite unit during Stonewall Jackson’s Shenandoah Valley campaign, in the spring of 1862, but unable to replace the losses it sustained, it had to disband during the summer. When word of this situation reached Baltimore, Southern sentiment caused sufficient Maryland manpower to be raised to permit the forming of a new regiment. This was declared to be the 2d Maryland (CSA). This regiment served with Lee’s army from 1863 to 1865, seeing much action, including Gettysburg and Petersburg. It had but 63 survivors when Lee surrendered at Appomattox.

The Confederates 1st Maryland charges Pennsylvania troops at the Battle of Harrisonburg, 6 June 1862. (Courtesy of Joseph M. Balkoski)

Although some 20,000 Marylanders chose to fight for the Confederacy, 48,000 of her citizens served in the Union army. The best known Maryland regiment in federal service during the war was the 1st Maryland (US), organized by Colonel John Kenly, a veteran of the Mexican War. It suffered a severe defeat at Front Royal, Virginia (23 May 1862) when the 1st Maryland Infantry (CSA) surprised and attacked it while it guarded an outpost at the Manassas Gap Railroad. It was eventually enveloped, and 500 men were forced to surrender. It was during this battle that Colonel Kenly inspired his men by calling out to them Rally round the flag!—This cry survives today on the insignia of the present 115th Infantry.

The First Virginia Regiment (from which the 176th descended) became the First Regiment of Kemper’s Brigade, serving throughout the war. It was part of Lee’s army that surrendered at Appomattox. The 2d Virginia Regiment (from which the 116th descended) was one of the regiments of the Stonewall Brigade—one of the three regiments commanded by Stonewall Jackson at the First Battle of Bull Run.

Little in the way of military history was created by Maryland and Virginia Guard units in the Spanish American War, none of them being shipped to the combat theatre.

In the Mexican Border Campaign of 1916, National Guard units of Maryland and Virginia were mobilized and ordered to Texas, where they served seven months with little or no fighting to command their attention. However, they trained incessantly, gaining soldierly competence and experience, which was to prove extremely helpful in the months ahead.

29TH INFANTRY DIVISION

World War One 1917-1919

World War One and World War Two Veterans prepare to participate in the WWII Victory Parade, August 15, 1945. Included are Lawrence D. Payne, Floyd E. Ball, Willie B. Cobb, James D. Wimmer, William Duncan. World War One Veterans in civilian clothes are Lonza W. Jannay, Joe C. Stone and Beuford N. Eubank. (Courtesy of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation, Ltd.)

STATESIDE

When the United States declared war on Germany (6 April 1917) it could probably be said that Allied prospects were at their lowest ebb. In Russia the tsar had been overthrown, and revolutionary sentiment was spreading through the trenches of the Eastern Front. And in France, Nivelle’s unsuccessful end of the war offensive brought staggering casualties, precipitating a mutiny, which quickly spread to 54 French Divisions.

The War Department announced that units of the Guard would be grouped into all-guard Divisions; and the guardsmen from Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, and the District of Columbia would be assigned to a new Division to be known as the 29th. That Division came into being on 26 July 1917.

To conform to the British and French model, it was decided by the War Department that the soon-to-be-formed American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) would be constituted into corps, each of which would have two or more Divisions. The standard American Division, which was to be approximately 28,000, would become known as a square Division because it had four regiments organized into two brigades.

On 26 August 1917 Major General Charles G. Morton arrived at Camp McClellan, Alabama with his staff to assume command of the 29th. A West Pointer of the class of 1883, he had behind him two tours in the Philippines as well as command of the 10th Infantry Division and the 1st Maine Infantry, a tour as Inspector General of the Army, and had recently completed service on the Mexican border. Upon his arrival at Camp McClellan he was quoted as saying he intended to have discipline in the Division such as the Regular Army had never known and the National Guard had never imagined.

Camp McClellan occupied a rolling stretch of 19,000 acres of land in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the north-eastern part of Alabama. It bordered on the small city of Anniston.

During the summer Guard units were shipped to this new Army facility, there to await an uncertain future. There were rumors that dire things were in store for the old National Guard organizations and their identity.

Indeed there were. The long awaited overhaul of the Division, which took place 1 October, produced great changes. Existing Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and New Jersey units were formed into two new brigades—the 57th and 58th.

The 58th Brigade had the 115 Infantry (formed from Maryland’s 1st, 4th and 5th Regiments) and the 116th Infantry (formed from Virginia’s 1st, 2d, and 4th Regiments).

The 57th Brigade had the 113th Infantry (formed from the 1st, 2d, and 4th New Jersey Regiments) and the 114th Infantry (formed from the 3d and 5th New Jersey Regiments and the 1st Delaware Regiment).

The 54th Field Artillery Brigade had the 110th Field Artillery Regiment (from Maryland and the District of Columbia, the 111th Field Artillery Regiment (from Virginia), the 112th Heavy Field Artillery Regiment (from New Jersey), and the 104th Trench Mortar battery (from New Jersey).

29th Infantry Division K.P. s preparing mess.

Maj. Gen. Charles G. Morton, Commanding 29th Division.

Reorganization also created the 104th Field Signal Battalion, the 104th Engineer Regiment, the 104th Train Headquarters and Military Police, the 104th Ammunition Train, the 104th Motor Supply Train, the 104th Sanitary Train, and the 104th Engineer Train, and the Remount Depot.

It was at Camp McClellan that the nickname Blue and Gray was adopted by the Division, based on the historical fact that some of its component members fought on opposing sides during the Civil War. Later the monad, or the Korean symbol of life, became the Division’s official insignia.

When guardsmen began arriving in the camp August 1917, nearly 1,000 structures had been built, and yet it was still far from being complete. To help finish the job, the newly arrived men were sometimes put to work on the unfinished buildings, side by side with the high priced civilian workmen—an assignment they naturally disliked, aware as they were of the great disparity between their pay envelopes and those of the civilians.

In September General Morton with his chief-of-staff, an aide and an orderly, departed for a two-month reconnaissance of the battlefields of France, and in the interim Brigadier General W. C. Rafferty, commander of the 54th Brigade, took charge of the Division.

The first draftees arrived in early November, all of them from New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. The first contingent of about 1,000 was followed by 5,000 or more additional draftees late in May 1918.

When General Morton returned from France in mid-December, confidential instructions from the War Department indicated the Division would sail for overseas early in January 1918. However, based on later evidence, the 29th was considered not yet fit for combat. The Division history explained it by the disastrous interruptions and the unfavorable weather and noted also that during the general’s absence discipline had fallen flatly, drill schedules were demoralized, the military police were falling into lax ways, officers were staying out at night and things generally were in a sad state of affairs.

All this must have been shocking news to General Morton. And his renewed presence had an electric effect. He lit a fire under the Division. His presence pervaded the entire organization. His ideas of discipline before he went away were mild compared to what they were when he came back. There was grumbling of course, that he was carrying things too far. What difference did it make how a soldier laced his shoes? But the general’s thoughts on discipline were two fisted thoughts and any number of men were confined to quarters because they didn’t have their pocket flaps buttoned or their shoes laced the right way.

General Morton was a colorful person, with characteristics somewhat resembling those of General Charles H. Gerhardt of our World War II Division. It was said of him that he had relieved a colonel, a major, three captains, and two second lieutenants because he didn’t like the looks of their commands. One of the captains he got for chewing gum and the other for showing nervousness.

Without further research it cannot be said how the general felt about correspondents from various hometown newspapers who attached themselves to the Division. But it is known he became indignant at the Anniston Star, which, after promising to say nothing of his destination on leaving camp, headlined a story of his departure, coupling it with the news of other generals bound for overseas.

The hometown correspondents visited headquarters twice daily to be briefed on the releasable news of the Division by the second assistant chief of staff. The Division history records, They stood rigidly at attention and saluted vigorously whenever the general appeared.

General Morton established a system whereby men who were faithful in the performance of their duties were put in a Class A category. This classification entitled them to first consideration for furloughs and other privileges. Now, with the approaching Christmas (1917), the War Department announced a furlough policy permitting 20 percent of each command to go on furlough, the 20 percent to be chosen by lot. But later a supplementary War Department order reduced the authorized figure from 20 to five percent. As a result only Class A soldiers went on leave. This unexpected change resulted in about 1,500 men simply going AWOL for the holidays. On their return, they were promptly arrested, court martialed, and confined to the Division stockade.

As a part of the Division’s training, a complete system of trenches was dug, and occupied from time to time by various units. Dugouts for battalion, regimental, and brigade commanders were also constructed, as well as observation posts, and a complete system of trench communication was installed—all this to introduce the soldier to the overseas battlefield he was soon to enter.

Early in 1918, officers of the Division underwent physical examinations at Camp McClellan, those physically unfit, were weeded out. Generals were examined at the Army Medical School in Washington, and when in March a telegram brought the word that General Morton had not met the physical requirements for foreign service, it was a shock to the Division, then almost ready to ship out. But a few weeks later this medical finding was reversed, and the general returned to his command.

A serious blow to the Division’s organization and efficiency was the directed withdrawal of all officers and enlisted men of the old 1st Delaware Infantry, as well as all drafted men from the state of Delaware then belonging to organizations of the 29th Division These men were sent to Camp Dix, N.J., where they became pioneer infantry. As a result of the withdrawal of the Delaware troops, it became necessary to reorganize the 3d Battalion, of the 114th Infantry, for which purpose the men were drawn generally from other companies of that regiment.

There had been many indications that the Division was to move soon from Camp McClellan, but on 25 May it received definite orders to entrain for a point of embarkation, the date and time to be given later. So, on 1 June General Morton assembled all officers and non-commissioned officers at the hill behind the headquarters building and told them of the Division’s impending shipping order, and that he would never again be able to talk to them all at one time before they entered battle. He therefore spoke to the noncommissioned officers of the importance of their duties in battle and of the need for strict discipline, and demanded of them the most loyal obedience to their officers; he reminded them of the likelihood that some would have to assume the duties of an officer whenever casualties required it, etc. The talk had a powerful effect on the meeting. The general was seen as talking to them as soldiers he was leading, not driving. As a consequence the Division became a unit in spirit and fact to an extent never before realized or attained. General Morton and his staff left camp 5 June, arriving two days later at Newport News, and sailed 15 June on the USS Pastores.

The Division as a whole sailed for Europe in 12 ships, all but three departing from New York. Because they carried thousands of 29ers to the theatre of war, their names deserve at least to be set down for the record, which is hereby done as follows: Princess Matoika, Wilhelmina, Lenope, Covington, George Washington, Dante Alighieri, Finland, DeKalb, Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Medic, and the Pastoras, already noted. Six of the ships docked at Brest, two at St. Nazire, two at Bordeaux, and one in London.

Alsace

As the Division set sail for overseas, 29ers had no reason to fear that the war would be won before they could enter the line and fire a shot at the enemy—which had been the concern of some of the men back in Camp McClellan. The Bolsheviks in Russia had concluded a peace treaty with Germany, which quickly transferred its Divisions from the Eastern to the Western Front to try to win the war before Americans arrived in France in significant numbers.

Artillery observers in the trenches. (Courtesy of Joseph M. Balkoski)

In the spring of 1918 the Germans threw their full power against the British and French. The first of their great Spring Offensives was launched against the British in Picardy in the area of the Somme on a front of 50 miles. In a single week it had advanced 37 miles, practically destroying the British 5th Army. In early April they broke through the British lines in Flanders in the area of Armentieres, the town celebrated in song for its famous mademoiselle, and continued to advance over a three week period. The offensive in May against the French surpassed all expectations, penetrating 30 miles south to the Marne, and the French government prepared to flee Paris. Reserves from every quarter were rushed to the front, including the American 2d and 3d Divisions. Yet this offensive had hardly been halted when still another German drive followed in June, and another in July, both attempts to enlarge the great salient, already created. It was about this time when the 29th was arriving in France.

From their various debarkation ports, units of the Division moved by foot and rail to their designated training area at Champlitte, near the historic city of Chalons-sur-Marne, site of the repulse of Attila’s hordes in the fifth century.

It is interesting to read that the historian of the 115th Infantry was intrigued by the strange sights in Brittany enroute to Champlitte: The fields were well kept and surrounded by wide fences made by a combination of dirt and stone. They were overgrown with moss and bushes and decaying stumps of trees, showing they had stood there for centuries. It would be a full generation before these wide fences became significant to the Blue and Gray soldier in the hedgerow battles of 1944.

Gen. Pershing visits the Division at Montreux-Vieux.

The Division trained for two weeks at Champlitte and then moved across France by train to the province of Alsace at the very southeastern end of the Western Front near the Swiss border. This was the area of the Belfort Gap, the so-called Quiet Sector because of its relative inactivity. Here the 29th Division relieved the American 32d Division and billeted itself at Voldoie, within sound of the enemy’s guns.

By unspoken agreement, both the French and Germans made a practice of holding this portion of the front either with divisions made up of new troops or with troops who had been a long time in battle and were sent here for comparative rest and the receiving of replacements.

In accordance with Allied policy, the 29th went into line in small units, alongside of French units then occupying the general area. Since American Divisions were about twice the size of their French counterparts,the 29th took up positions held by the 151st and 53d French Divisions.

At this point it might be well to remember that this is World War I, and that the tables of organization and equipment were considerably different than they were in later years. For instance, each rifle company had six officers and 250 enlisted men, and was assigned two bicycles! Each infantry brigade had six stable sergeants, 14 horseshoers, 120 mechanics, six saddles, 182 wagoners, 142 riding horses, 624 draft mules and 20 riding mules, not to mention 84 bicycles, two five passenger motor cars, four motorcycles with sidecars and 50 ration and baggage wagons (for mules).

The infantry soldier carried the Springfield ’03 or Enfield rifle, with long bayonet, and wore the OD uniform with wrap leggings and the tin hat helmet. He carried his gas mask with him wherever he went for gas could be expected at almost any time.

The move of the Blue and Gray into the line began as soon as darkness fell on the night of 2 July 1918, H Company, 113th Infantry had the honor of being the first at the front. A member of the company recalled: ...For the five days and nights we were in the lines desultory firing continued all the time, but taking it all in all, it lived up to the name of a quiet sector....Our worst enemies in these trenches were the rats—dugouts, shelters and barracks were infested with them and many a hobnail was flung with a curse at these pests. To hear a flock of rats go scampering on the duckboards through the trenches at night was a sound which many a time got on a fellow’s nerve.

Other companies of the Division did not fare as easily as H-113 in their first test. Seeing or sensing that a new Division was opposite him, the enemy began a series of silent raids against the Division’s forward positions on 31 July. K Company of the 115th was one of the first attacked, as reported by the regimental historian: The time of the raid was the conventional time, the darkest part of morning just before dawn...the Boche was discovered about 4:45 a.m. as the section leaders...were posting their men. The Boche made a vicious attack with grenades mortally wounding Private Paul Hull...Sergeant Hoppe’s thumb was blown off and one of Sergeant Cadell’s eyes was shot out...Sergeant Hoppe, despite his wound, and Private Young bar, also wounded, leaped out of the trench and engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand contest...Two other men of K Company were killed and two wounded.

On 4 August the enemy raided again, striking at an isolated outpost held by L Company, 114th Infantry, killing one man, wounding three and taking four prisoners. Three days later, a working party of C Company, 104th Engineers, was caught in an ambush while clearing a field of fire. One man was killed, two wounded, and one both wounded and captured.

The following notes, extracted from