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A History of Pittsburg and Western Pennsylvania Troops in the War
By John V. Hanlon (Copyright 1919 by The Pittsburg Press)
Chapter IV
(The Pittsburg Press, Sunday, Jan. 26, 1919, pages 62-63)
Names in this chapter: Martz, Floto, Mullen, McLain, Kemp, LaViolette,
McFadden, Bennet, Wolf
SECOND PHASE OF BATTLE OF THE MARNE, IN WHICH PITTSBURG AND WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
REGIMENTS DRIVE THE HUN BACK TO RIVER, STARTING HIM ON THE LONG RETREAT
NORTHWARD.
Company C of the One Hundred and Tenth had about the
same experience as Company B of the same regiment when the four Pennsylvania
companies were cut off and surrounded at the opening of the Battle of the Marne.
Only about half the men returned to the regiment. Capt. Truxel and Lieuts.
Wilbur Schell and Samuel C. Crouse were surrounded by greatly superior forces
and taken prisoner with a little group of their men. But they did not give up
until they were convinced that it was utterly impossible to fight their way out;
that to continue their struggle meant death for all of them and nothing
substantial to be gained by the sacrifice.
Corp. Alva Martz, of Glencoe, was standing on the south
band of the Marne in charge of a working part of five privates who were engaged
in stringing wire entanglements when the German offense was launched. Martz
quickly called to his men to take cover and they dropped into shell holes. The
wire had not been broken by the German cannonade at that point where they were
concealed and the kaiser’s hordes swept around and past them. Then they were
completely cut off from their comrades.
They carefully crept from shell hole to shell hole
until they approached a woods. Then Martz ordered bayonets fixed and with a
hearty yell the squad charged the Germans between them and the woods. The enemy
believing they were attacked in force on their flank gave way and the little
group was able to make the cover of the woods in safety.
For more than two hours Martz and his companions worked
their way through the forest. At times they had to fight desperately when they
met groups of the enemy. They were hunting for the place where they believed
their company had been stationed but the company was not there. Suddenly they
glimpsed American uniforms through the foliage and they thought they had come up
with the company. However, it was only Sergt. Robert Floto, of Meyersdale of
their own company, with half a dozen men.
Sergt. Floto assumed command of the entire group and
they pressed on. They met up with another American and he was fighting mad and
on the verge of tears because the six other lads who had been with him were
suddenly cut off by a part of Boches and taken prisoner. He had seen his
comrades led off towards the river by tow Hun officers.
TO THE RESCUE!
Martz thought they ought to try to do something to
release the six prisoners, so with the permission of Sergt. Floto he selected
John J. Mullen, of Philadelphia, to go along and set out on the dangerous
mission. All of the men wanted to go but Martz insisted it was a job for only
two men. Mullen was a former guardsman but was now a selected man and had been
sent from Camp Meade several months before to help fill up the company.
Corp. Martz and Mullen then set out to locate their
comrades who were being marched to the rear by the Huns. Although surrounded by
a goodly part of the crown prince’s crack troops they never faltered, being
sustained in their undertaking by the firm conviction that they could turn the
trick. They half crawled through the thick woods and finally came upon the party
marching single file on a path between the trees.
On German officer was in the lead of the convoy and
another was bringing up the rear. Martz and Mullen decided the best plan would
be to ambush the party and so they circled around until they were close to a
point where the officers with their prisoners would have to pass.
Martz told Mullen to take the officer in the lead while
he would look after the one in the rear. Both Martz and Mullen were rated as
marksmen. They took careful aim and at a nod from Martz their rifles cracked
simultaneously. Both Hun officers dropped dead in their tracks. The little band
of prisoners were almost stunned with surprise to find that they were no longer
guarded and they peered anxiously into the foliage from whence came the shots.
Martz and Mullen stepped forward and motioned for them to get under cover.
There was no time for thanks or congratulations.
A THRILLING EXPERIENCE
Then the little party hurried back the way they had
come, the rescued men arming themselves with rifles and ammunition from the dead
lying in the woods. Martz and his men soon rejoined Sergt. Floto and the party
now being of more formidable size started to march back towards the American and
French lines. The Germans were broken up into little groups by this time so the
Americans didn’t bother about trying to hide. They marched boldly as a
belligerent force, not hunting fight, but moving not a step to avoid one.
A few hours later the party met up with another group
under the command of Capt. Charles L. McLain, of Indiana, who took command.
Capt. McLain put a stop to the rush through the Hun-infested wood by daylight
and ordered the men to hide until nightfall. Capt. McLain said that a rear guard
was necessary and so Corp. Martz and Mullen promptly volunteered for this
dangerous duty.
After nightfall the party was able to make the
regimental lines without further adventure. The men had been out for 36 hours in
that caldron of gas and machine gun and artillery fire.
The two companies from the eastern part of the state
fared little better than the Western Pennsylvanians for they went through
practically the same experiences. Separated into little groups by the sudden
rush of the Germans and not having been apprised of the withdrawal of the French
they were soon surrounded and began to battle their way back towards the new
line of defense.
Many of the officers of these two companies were either
killed or taken prisoner as well as many of the enlisted men, and they endured
all that their fellows in the two western companies did.
CAPT. McLAIN DECORATED
The easterners gradually drifted back to the regimental
lines in small squads under the shadow of night and the four companies were so
depleted that it was decided to form them into one company until replacements
were received.
Capt. McLain was later cited in official orders and
decorated for his part in the affair. In awarding the distinguished service
medal the official communication of the war department set forth:
“Capt. Charles L. McLain, One Hundred and Tenth
Infantry, for repeated acts of extraordinary heroism in action on the Marne
river, France, July 15, 1918, and at Apremont, France, Sep. 29, 1918. Capt.
McLain was an observer with the French when the enemy attack on the Marne river
was started July 15, 1918. All the officers of an infantry company having been
killed or wounded, he voluntarily reorganized the remainder of the company and
successfully fought his way through the enemy, upon two occasions being badly
gassed. At Apremont, Sept. 29, when his own company had reached its objective,
Capt. McLain, finding that another company was without officers, voluntarily
assumed command of it and lest the first wave. In so doing Capt. McLain was
wounded, but he continued in action until the objective was reached.”
During those long weary hours of carnage while the
Pittsburgers and Western Pennsylvanians, belonging to the companies which were
out in front, were bravely standing off the German hordes and fighting their way
back to the lines, the Pennsylvania regiments continued to endure the storm of
shells. The men were under a terrible nerve strain, and long for an opportunity
to experience the excitement of combat in order to relieve the tension.
Finally they saw they French come filtering through the
woods before the m and they looked eagerly for sight of their comrades who were
out there. As the French continued to pass and they did not see any of the
members of the four companies it was realized that they must be having a hard
time and it was at this stage of the battle that Col. Kemp, of the One Hundred
and Tenth exclaimed: “I wonder what is happening to my poor boys out there.”
Shortly before daybreak the vanguard of the Prussians
reached the edge of the woods and when the men on watch saw the gray-clad
figures slinking around among the trees they immediately opened fire. This was
the first sight of the enemy for the most of the soldiers from Pittsburgh and
Western Pennsylvania. Within a few hours sufficient of the enemy had assembled
along the fringe of wood to form a line and presently the waves came forward in
an effort to take our trenches.
MADE THE GERMANS RUN
But our boys poured into those advancing lines such a
concentration of rifle, machine gun, and artillery fire that the first wave just
seemed to wither away. No force could withstand that terrific storm of steel for
long, The following waves slackened their pace, hesitated and finally broke and
ran for the cover of the woods.
It was then that the Pennsylvanians discovered that the Germans were not
invincible; that despite the boasted perfection of his military machine the Hun
could not stand the gaff if it were given to him with sufficient force. The
breaking up of this attack gave to the men that degree of confidence and
self-reliance which they later exemplified on many a bloody field. They knew
they were unbeatable, for had not they broken up a charge by the Prussian
guards.
But the Germans returned to the assault and time and
time again attempted to rush the trenches. Numbers of the enemy having gained
the wheat fields out in front between the trenches and the wood, attempted to
use the waving wheat as a protection whereby they could crawl up to the
trenches. Our boys saw the move and whole platoons volunteered to meet them at
their own game.
BATTLE IN WHEAT FIELD
The Pennsylvanians who were permitted to go crawled out
into the wheat and then ensued a game of hide and seek with the Americans and
Germans stalking each other much as big game is stalked, flat on their faces in
the growing grain. It was just such fighting as the American loves for there is
something he has inherited from his pioneer ancestors which gives him skill in
such work. The Germans were no match for our boys at this game and scores of
them remained behind after the tide of battle had passed with the spires of
grain whispering and nodding a requiem over them.
The crown prince’s forces kept up their attacks with
characteristic stubbornness and officers could be seen here and there mingling
with the German soldiers, beating and kicking them to force them forward in the
face of the murderous fire.
It was during this phase of the battle that some of our
boys saw a mutiny take place in the German lines. Several of the German soldiers
resenting this rough treatment turned on an officer and literally jabbed him
full of holes with their bayonets. For their troubles they were pumped full of
lead by other officers with automatics. It was evident then that the Germans
were disappointed at not having attained their objectives and that as a result
their morale was ebbing.
During this almost continuous game of attack and
repulse the old “Fighting Tenth” had been withstanding the brunt of the battle
and the Germans had been gradually gnawing into its lines. Then occurred one of
the most dramatic incidents of the conflict.
WHAT A PIGEON BROUGHT
The men had been in constant action for 24 hours
without food or sleep and they were indeed on the verge of exhaustion. Workers
attached to the various welfare societies brought the only relief in the shape
of chocolates, cigarets and other bits of comfort. They had established a
headquarters in a dugout in the side of a low bluff facing away from the enemy.
Among these workers was the Rev. Francis A. LaViolette, of Seattle, Wash.,
attached to the Y.M.C.A. He was taking a few minutes rest in the dugout after
his strenuous labors when he heard the flutter of wings at the entrance and
found a tired and frightened pigeon. The bird had a little metal case attached
to its leg in which was a message. It was written in German and the minister
believing that it might contain important enemy information rushed it to
headquarters.
The message was translated and to the astonishment of
the officers it was a cry of desperation from the Germans, to their reserve
forces in the rear. It said that, unless reinforcements were sent at once, the
German line at that point would be forced to retire. There were grave fears
right at that time that the Germans would be able to break through to Paris and
this was indeed cheering news. The pigeon had become lost in the murk and had
delivered its message on the wrong side of the fighting front.
Rapidly this news was sent down the line and in half an
hour tanks, artillery and thousands of French troops were rushing to the point
where the Germans were in distress. With this assistance and the knowledge
contained in the message which the pigeon brought our boys advanced and hurled
the enemy back.
FORCE BIG HUN RETREAT
On the right of our line Germans had been able to
thrust forward strong local attacks reaching St. Agnan, and La
Chapelle-Manthodon. St. Agnan, three miles south of the nearest spot on the
Marne, was the farthest south the Germans ever advanced. Our boys almost
immediately and with the assistance of French Chasseurs (Blue Devils) launched a
counter attack which drove the enemy pell mell out of the villages and started
him on his long retreat. From that time on the Pittsburgers and Western
Pennsylvanians gave the Hun no respite. They followed him and hounded him and
slaughtered him until they finally gave him the sleep-inducing blow at the
Battle of the Meuse.
During this fighting our boys learned that that their
British instructors had told them was true – the Hun hates and fears the bayonet
more than any other weapon of warfare. So they didn’t do any firing when they
had a chance to use the cold steel. The Huns had already had several tastes of
American fighting such as they never expected to experience and when they saw
that long line of bristling bayonets backed up by grin determined faces they
didn’t wait to be tickled with the points.
It was very evident that the Germans had been shorn of their old time confidence
and with many of their men fleeing in panic rather than come to grips with the
Pennsylvanians there was little chance for their officers to stem our charge and
so the enemy fell back rapidly to the Marne.
In following up this retreat of the Germans our men
also learned that the Hun will fight in masses, but split him up into little
groups and he becomes the worst sort of a coward. If one happens to be left
alone there is no fight in him. They learned, too, in this advance the truth of
the oft repeated charge that Germans chain their men to machine guns so that
they cannot escape and are thus forced to hinder the advance of the enemy and
make his losses as heavy as possible.
Here is the way Pittsburgers and Western Pennsylvanians came
forward when Columbia asked for men to carry forward the Starry Banner. Hundreds
of men being sworn into service of the U.S at Memorial Hall.
MACHINE GUN NESTS
Frequently our men found it necessary to clean out
these nests. They would sneak up on the Germans until close enough to make a
sudden rush and then up would go the hands of the machine gunners and they would
bleat out “American, kamerads! kamerads!” But whether the chained gunners were
accorded any mercy depended on the individuals who happened to be in the group
that captured them. Very often they were given the bayonet as a protest against
such tactics, but occasionally they were released from their chains and sent to
the rear as prisoners.
Our men suffered numerous casualties by being too eager
to keep at the heels of the retreating Hun. Some of the Germans would hide in
the woods and after the Pennsylvanians had passed would suddenly pour in on them
a murderous machine gun fire from the rear. Snipers concealed in trees were also
very annoying. In scores of instances our men found machine guns and gunners
both tied in trees, so that neither could fall.
There were other instances of Huns playing dead until
the Americans had passed and then rising up and firing at them from the rear.
That is an old trick, but allied soldiers who tried it early in the war
discovered the Germans countered it by having men come along after the advancing
troops bayoneting everybody on the field to make sure all were dead. However,
the Germans did not fear to attempt this trick when facing the Americans because
they felt sure the soldiers of Uncle Sam would never bayonet wounded men or dead
bodies.
Sergt. Charles McFadden, of Philadelphia, had an
experience with one of these Huns who was “playing possum.” The German was in a
shell pit and apparently dead. He notice that the eyes were closed so tightly
that the man was “squinting” from the effort and he became suspicious. McFadden
gave the German a vicious jab in the leg with his bayonet with the result that
the “possum” leaped to his feet with a yell.
The German seized the rifle from the astonished
American’s hand and threw it up to fire, but before he could pull the trigger
McFadden’s companion shot him.
HOW THE HUN FOUGHT
At one point the One Hundred and Tenth not only forced
the Germans back to the Marne, but across it. This was below Fossoy. However,
the Germans were now under the protection of their artillery which layed down
such an intense fire that our men were obliged to get back under cover. The men
had tasted victory and were loath to go, but they fell back slowly, unpressed by
the Germans, to their former positions.
On this surge towards the Marne the Pennsylvanians
began to get real first-hand evidence of Hun methods of fighting – the kind of
thing that turned three-fourths of the world into active enemies of them and
their way, and sickened the soul of all who learned what creatures in the image
of man can do.
In the advance between Messy, Mouline and
Courtemont-Varennes they came on machine gun nests with their comrades who had
been taken prisoners earlier in the day tied out in front so that they would
fall first victims to their friend’s fire should an attack be made on the
gunners. Men told with tears running down their cheeks how these brave lads
seeing the advancing Americans shouted to them:
“Shoot! Shoot! Don’t stop for us!”
They say airplanes painted with the French colors fly
low and drop bombs where they believed our batteries to be stationed and also
pour machine gun fire into our infantry. The Germans mingled a quantity of gas
shells with their explosive shells during the attempt to stop our advance and
this caused no little inconvenience for our men because they were obliged to
wear gas masks practically all the time.
Any person who had ever donned one of these
contrivances knows how unpleasant it is for although it protects against the
deadly fumes nevertheless it is very difficult to see and breathe in and the air
is impregnated with the chemicals used to remove the gas. The Germans also used
flame on our men for many returned to the rear with burns upon their faces,
hands and bodies. Some had their clothes burned entirely off and others reeled
along like drunken men almost blind. As the Americans approached the Huns to
give battle the latter would turn the valve in the nozzles of these contrivances
and a spurt of flame, often 30 feet in length would leap forth.
A FATAL ENCOUNTER
During one part of the battle a part of the old
Eighteenth of Pittsburg, confronted a small wood which the French believed
masked a strong machine gun nest. A patrol of volunteers and some men selected
by the officers and in command of a French lieutenant started out to ascertain
just what was in the wood. There were 12 men and the lieutenant in the party.
Private Joseph Bennet, of Gulph Mills, was one of the 12.
Advancing with the greatest care and with their line to
more than normal skirmish distance the approached the wood, but there was no
sign of life. When closer they say the boy of an American soldier propped up
against a tree. The French officer signaled for the men to close in toward this
point. As they did so four machine guns concealed by the Hunnish ghouls behind
the body of the American raked the line of approaching men with terrific fire.
Every man in that party except Bennet was killed instantly. Bennet fired one
shot and saw one of the boches plunge forward from his hiding place. Then a
stream of machine gun bullets struck his rifle and destroyed it.
Bennet quickly dropped to the ground and dragging
himself to the body of the dead lieutenant secured a number of smoke bombs with
which the lieutenant had intended to signal the result of his expedition. Bennet
heaved them over in front of the nest and created such a dense cloud of smoke
that he was able to stand up. Then he advanced and threw hand grenades into the
position killing the remaining three Germans.
For this deed Bennet was awarded the Distinguished
Service Medal. He also had another experience of an unusual sort when in company
with Private Joseph Wolf, of Pottstown, he spied a boche sniper in a tree. He
was just drawing a bead on an American officer when Bennet picked him off. In
falling the body dislodged a second German, Bennet was watching the little
[unreadable] had not lowered his rifle. The live German fell directly on the
point of his gun, impaling himself on the bayonet. The force of the blow almost
dropped the big American, who tipped the scales at about 200 pounds.
TURNING POINT OF THE WAR
Our boys did not realize until later the importance of
their success in driving the enemy back to the Marne, but the allied commanders
knew. Gen. Pershing in an order to the troops declared that it was the turning
point of the war. He said:
“It fills me with pride to forward in general orders a
tribute to the service achievements of the First and Third corps, comprising the
First, Second, Third, Fourth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-eighth, Thirty-second and
Forty-second divisions. You came to the battlefield at a crucial hour for the
allied cause. For almost four years the most formidable army the world has yet
seen had pressed its invasion of France and stood threatening the capital. On
July 15, it struck to destroy in one great battle the brave men opposed to it
and to enforce its brutal will upon the world and civilization. Three days
later, in conjunction with our allies, you counter-attacked. The allied armies
gained a brilliant victory that marks the turning point of the war.”
Our men also received copies of a great London daily
newspaper containing a pleasing estimate of their prowess:
“The feature of the battle on which the eyes of the
world are fixed, and those of the enemy with particular intentness, is the
conduct of the American troops. The magnificent counter-attacks in which the
Americans flung back the Germans on the Marne, after they had crossed, was much
more than the outstanding event of the fighting. It was one of the historical
incidents of the whole war in its moral significance.”
Other cheering news which was passed down through the
various ranks from headquarters was to the effect that our intelligence officers
had secured from the body of a dead German intelligence officer a report which
he had prepared for German great headquarters on the fighting qualities of the
Americans. He had written that their morale was not yet broken, that they were
young and vigorous soldiers and nearly, if not quite, the caliber of shock
troops, needing only more experience to make them so.
THE GREAT RETREAT STARTS
After the Germans had been pushed back to the Marne
they made another attempt to move eastward along the banks of the river near
Epernay. The checking of this move fell chiefly to the French troops. But all
the time the enemy kept up a continuous, vindictive bombardment on the trenches
occupied by the soldiers from Pittsburg and Western Pennsylvania, without any
apparent purpose but to shake that splendid morale of which their intelligence
officer had written.
The regiments marched off southward from the rest
billets for a few miles and then turned sharply to the west, thus passing around
a district which was still being shelled heavily by the German artillery. The
enemy was attempting to hold back the Pennsylvanians until they could get their
own materials out of the Chateau-Thierry salient.
After again reaching the Marne, which turns sharply
south at Chateau-Thierry the regiments made camp and received contingents of
replacement troops to fill up the now depleted ranks. The four companies which
had suffered so severely at the Marne battle July 15 and had later been formed
into one company were again separated and brought up to their regular strength.
They were practically new organizations after these replacements were completed.
The new men were made welcome and proved to be excellent soldier material
although very few of them were from Pennsylvania.
July 24, the regiments resumed their march. Their
course lay along the road paralleling the railroad line between Paris and
Chateau-Thierry. It followed the river rather closely except for its numerous
bends. Our boys had heard much of the Chateau-Thierry and were hoping to get a
look at the town where the Marines and some other American troops had written
history, but they were only able to get glimpses of it from the far side of the
river.
The night of July 24, the regiments camped in the woods
along the Marne and the men had their first experience with enemy airplane
night-raiders. Certain units of the Pennsylvania regiments had been sent out to
guard bridges across the river and about 3 o’clock in the morning the Germans
attempted to bomb and destroy these bridges in order further to retard the
advance of our troops. However, the air defense was too quick for them and the
boche fled before the air barrage put up by our big guns
EVENING ACTIVE IN AIR
The regiments remained in camp all the next day and the
next night they were again visited by enemy airmen attempting to blow up the
bridges. This time the boche flyers were able to get over the bridges and drop
bombs and about all the men on guard could do was to seek cover hurriedly.
However, the aim of the German was not good and they were only successful in
slightly wrecking the bridge.
Early on the morning of July 26 the regiments started
in a northeasterly direction with orders to reach contact with the enemy as soon
as possible and to drive on through the center of the Marne pocket. The One
Hundred and Twelfth regiment had come up by this time and had engaged in some
desperate fighting with German rear guards in the vicinity of Chateau-Thierry.
When the Franco-American offensive from Soissons to Bussiares, on the western
side of the pocket, began to compel a German retreat from the Marne the old
Sixteenth N.P.G. was right on their heels. The One Hundred and Eleventh and One
Hundred and Tenth regiments were close behind and soon all three came in contact
with the enemy.
The Germans were depending on machine gun nests to
retard the progress of the Pennsylvanians and orders were issued to beware of
every spot that might shelter a sniper or machine gun. To offset this danger the
regiments deployed into skirmish lines with advanced patrols and every know
precaution was taken to prevent the men from being surprised by parties of
Germans left behind with these deadly weapons.
The Germans were also using gas shells and much of the
time the men were forced to suffer the inconveniences incident to wearing the
gas masks. Enemy aircraft circled overhead, but were prevented from getting
close enough to do damage by our own airmen who continually patrolled the areas
over our troop. What bombs enemy placed were able to drop did no damage because
of the fact that our men were scattered out in the skirmish formation.
By night our men rested in the forests and secured what
little sleep was possible. They managed to evade the vigilance of the enemy
airmen and thus were not subjected to concentrated artillery fire, but the
continual thunder of the guns and the bursting of an occasional shell in the
woods didn’t allow them much chance to slumber, although they were grateful for
the rest after the strenuous activities of the day.
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