Churches of the East: The ruins of of Saint Albain Nazaire, France.

Churches of the East: The ruins of of Saint Albain Nazaire, France.:

The ruins of of Saint Albain Nazaire, France.

The 16th Century "Old Church" at St. Albain Naizaire in France stands as a silent reminder of the violence of World War One.  The church was destroyed by the French Army to keep it from being used by the Germans as an observation post in 1914.

Following the war, locals elected not to rebuilt the church and leave it as a monument to the tragedy of the war.

All photographs by MKTH.

Some Gave All: Joffre Memorial, Paris France

Some Gave All: Joffre Memorial, Paris France:

Joffre Memorial, Paris France

This is the memorial to Joseph Joffre, who was commander of the French forces in World War One from the start of the war into 1916.  While he was basically promoted up out of that position in 1916, his early leadership in the war was responsible for the French being able to stop the tide of the German advance.

Some Gave All: Monument to Charles Peguy, Villaroy, Île-de-France, France

Monument to Charles Peguy, Villaroy, Île-de-France, France.

We've already mentioned Charles Peguy in a prior post on Le Grande Tombe de Villaroy.  Here's a nearby monument to Peguy himself.



Peguy is a celebrated French poet who, as already noted, lost his life in the battle noted.  He's an interesting character having gone from being an atheist to deeply believing, but quixotically non observant Catholic.  This monument is in his honor.

Some Gave All: Statue of Maréchal Gallieni at La Musée de la Gran...

Some Gave All: Statue of Maréchal Gallieni at La Musée de la Gran...: This is a statue of Marshall Joseph Gallieni at the Museum of the Great War in Meaux, France. Gallieni was a Corsican (of Corsican and ...

Some Gave All: Parisian Railway Workers Memorial, Paris France

Some Gave All: Parisian Railway Workers Memorial, Paris France: A memorial to Parisian railway workers for World War One.  Photo by MKTH.

Some Gave All: Le Grande Tombe de Villaroy, Île-de-France, France...

Some Gave All: Le Grande Tombe de Villaroy, Île-de-France, France...: This monument in the Île-de-France region of France marks an ossuary which contains the remains of, among others, French poet Charles Peg...

November 22, 1918. King Albert returns home, the Allies march towards Germany

Third day of armistice movement.  Supply Train of the 1st Bn, 59th Infantry, Moyeuvre La Grande, Lorraine

French troops entering Brussels for King Albert's review.

Countdown on the Great War, November 6, 1918. Americans switch horses in the middle of the stream, Wyomingites vote to go dry, French and Americans take Sedan, the Kaiser urged to go.

1.  It happened the day prior, November 5, 1918, but on this day the news of the Republican landslide that swept the nation hit the press, including the Wyoming press, where GOP candidates swept the field.

The news was surprising in some ways.  Wilson had done nationally, as had the Democrats, in recent elections, following the Republican civil war that had caused the party to split.  But something about the war changed everything, as wars do, and even though Americans had solidly backed the war effort, or at least most Americans had, going into the peace they were rejecting the President and his party.

Even Robert Carey Jr. was benefiting from the Republican rise. Carey had been the subject of a lot of reporting in the Fall as Governor Houx had offered him the command of the Wyoming National Guard and he'd declined, and then belatedly accepted after that position had been filled (as it was, the Wyoming National Guard, like many Guard units, didn't not go to Europe as a single unit anyhow).  In an era in which people publicly shamed "shirkers" that Carey was able to politically survive this decision is really remarkable.  Indeed, as Carey was only forty years old in 1918, his declination is in fact somewhat inexcusable.  No matter, Houx went down in the election.

And this would matter in the upcoming effort to secure a peace. Wilson had outlined his vision in his Fourteen Points.  Would a GOP Congress support it?  As would be seen, it wouldn't.

And that wasn't the only big election news.

Wyomingites also voted to go dry, voting two to one in favor of the Constitutional amendment to bring in Prohibition.

2.  The leader of the Reichstag urged Kaiser Wilhelm II to abdicate, in favor of a new monarch, seeing the only alternative to be the success of a socialist revolution.

3.  The American and French armies took Sedan and the surrounding territory.  The French army too Rethel and Vervins. The Canadian army entered Belgium.  Foch assigns the American Army to advance into Lorraine.

4.  The Polish Soviet of Delegates, obviously styling themselves after the Soviets of the USSR, established the Provisional People's Government with Ignacy Daszynski as Prime Minister. As a body, it would exist only an additional week until it turned over its duties to Jozef Pilsudski, famous Polish revolutionary leader, who was newly freed from German imprisonment.  On the same day, polish peasants led by Communist Tomasz Dabal took control of Tarnobrzeg Galicia and proclaimed it an independent republic.

5. The Dutch cargo ship Bernisse struck a mine and sank.

6. The Kiel rebellion begins to spread wildly to various German cities. 

Countdown on the Great War, November 5, 1918. Heroism in the U.S. Army, Poland starts to form, German submarines hit again.

African American infantryman marching near Verdun, November 5, 1918.

1. The Allies inform Germany that negotiations may begin on the basis of President Wilson's Fourteen Points but that contact must be established through Marshall Foch.

2. Cpt. Marcellus H. Chiles engages in actions for which he would be awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor.  His citation reads:

When his battalion, of which he had just taken command, was halted by machinegun fire from the front and left flank, he picked up the rifle of a dead soldier and, calling on his men to follow led the advance across a stream, waist deep, in the face of the machinegun fire. Upon reaching the opposite bank this gallant officer was seriously wounded in the abdomen by a sniper, but before permitting himself to be evacuated he made complete arrangements for turning over his command to the next senior officer, and under the inspiration of his fearless leadership his battalion reached its objective. Capt. Chiles died shortly after reaching the hospital.

 Chiles entered the service from Denver Colorado.

 

Cpt. Chiles.

3.  The BEF cleared the Mormal Forest and the Canadians and British crossed the Grand Hornelle.

4.  The French take Chateau Porcien.

6. The Germans commence a retreat from the Meuse to Conde but order that the American Army is to be prevented from advancing north of Verdun.

7.  Enlisted sailors kill three officers and the captain of the battleship Koenig in the Baltic when they try to keep the sailors from hoisting a red flag as the sailors rebellion becomes increasing a radical Socialist one.  All German ships remaining in Kiel have the red flag hoisted on them on this day.

8.  The first Polish Soviet of Delegates meets to discuss establishing a Polish state. 

9.  The Lake Harris, an American armed merchant ship, was beached off of Lands End after a fire fight with a German submarine.  On the same day the Italian sailing ship Stavnos was sunk by the UC-74.

10.  Republicans win both houses of Congress by slim margins.  Due to the lack of instant reporting, however, you won't see any newspapers of today's date reporting that, as that would have to wait until the next day.

Countdown on the Great War, November 4, 1918: The last major battle on the Western Front and the Kiel Mutiny grows.

 New Zealanders scale the Sabre-Oise Canal wall in their last major action of World War One.  NOte that in this painting at least the officer at the bottom of the stairs is carrying a German P.08 and the one at the top appears to be as well.

1.  The British and French forces capture the Sambre-Oise, Le Qesnoy, and the towns of Guise  and Origney en Thierache in a series of abbltes known as the Battle of Sabmre, Second Battle of Guise and the Battle of Thierache.  Resistance was serious and heavy, but uneven, by the Germans and the British lost 1,150 men in the crossing of the canal.  Included in the causalities was the then unknown poet Wilfred Owen, whose poetry was actually not published until many years later.

The battles, featuring English, Canadian and New Zealand troops on the British side, French troops, and a few American troops, involved 28 Allied Divisions.  It was the last major battle for the Allies.  Following the battle Allied forces began to advance up to five miles per day.

This does not mean, however, that fighting had halted.  The Germans continued to resist, and sometimes stoutly.  And in the Meuse region the river had not yet been crossed.

2. American and French forces take Stenay and Dun sure Meuse

3. The Allies occupied the Tirol in Austria pursuant to the Armistice of Villa Giusti.  The Austrians further withdrew from Montenegro.

4.   German reservists were deployed to Kiel to put down the sailor's rebellion but large numbers of them joined the uprising upon reaching the city.  By the day's end the number of men declaring allegiance to the revolution number 40,000 and they issued fourteen demands upon the German government. The demands did not, interestingly, include the end of the monarchy, but they did demand that further defensive measures in the war not include bloodshed, which was tantamount to demanding a surrender.

5.  A massive late war dogfight over the western front occurred when forty German aircraft attacked nine British Sopwith Camels of No. 65 Squadron southeast of Ghent.  The British No. 204 Squadron joined the fight resulting in the loss of twenty two German aircraft.

6.  The Glacian region of Komancza (Eastern Lemko) declared itself a state with the intent of uniting itself to the West Ukranian People's Republic.  It would become part of Poland at the end of the Polish Ukranian War and today is part of Poland, Ukraine and Slovakia.

7.  The British ship War Roach collided with a mine and had to be beached off of Port Said, Egypt.

Countdown on the Great War, October 16, 1918. British advance everywhere, Dumas struck by lightening, the Kaiser abdicates?, Flu advances.

The front as to Belgium and part of France, October 16, 1918.

1.  The British crossed the Lys.

2.  The British occupied Homs, Lebanon.

3.  The Allies took Durres, Albania.

4.  German submarines sunk the cargo ships Pentwyn and War Council while the British sunk the German submarine UB 90.  The American SS Dumaru, nearly new wooden steamship, was struck by lightening off of Guam and her cargo of munitions caught fire.  Her crew evacuated two two lifeboats and a raft, with the five passengers of the raft being rescued several days later.  One lifeboat drifted to the Philippines over a course of three weeks. The other badly provisioned lifeboat had to resort to cannibalism of the dead in order for the survivors to live.

SS Dumaru

5.  Wild rumors of the Kaiser abdicating and Germany capitulating were starting to circulate.

6.  The Flu Epidemic was undeniable.

The Cheyenne State Leader was correct in this assessment of the Spanish Flu.

Hmmm, do these two newspapers seem rather similar?  Must have been a morning and evening edition of the same newspaper.  Both were reporting that the Flu Epidemic had become just that in the state.

Countdown on the Great War. October 14, 1918. Saying no to the Boche, Sinkings in the Atlantic, Americans resume the offensive in the Meuse Argonne and the British in Flanders.

Camp Funston, Kansas, which some believe if the locus of the origin of the Spanish Flu.

1.  The Battle of Courtrai commences in which the Groupe d'Armees des Flanders, made up of twelve Belgian, ten British and six French divisions under the command of King Albert I of Belgian attacked German forces in the hopes of continuing the Allied advance as far as possible before the oncoming winter made further advances impossible.  It was still anticiapted at the time that the war would drag into 1919.

British forces found, to their expectation, that the Germans offered much reduced resistance and they had achived all of their objectives, reaching the Scheldt, by the 22nd.

The Germans were basically collapsing while still offering resistance.  The nearness to a complete German disaster was not apparent, but it was coming.

2. The U.S. resumes the offensive in the Meuse Argonne with assaults near Montfaucon.

Senencourt (Muese) France. "Kamerad," a figure by the soldiers in the yard of the American Red Cross Canteen at Senencourt. The Red Cross girls are, from left to right: Miss Louise Adams of 10 Arlington Place, Brooklyn, N.Y.; Miss Alice Birdall, of 310 Third Ave. Reselle Ave., N.J.; and Miss Gertrude Nichols, #849 West Galen Street, Butte, Montana; Capt. Beverly Rautoul of #17 Winter Street, Salem, Mass., and Private Geo. St. Clair Preston, both of the American Red Cross Evacuation Hospital #8, are on the extreme left

3.  The air wing of the United States Marine Corps engaged in its first all Marine air action by bombing Pitthem, Belgium.  Marines Ralph Talbot and gunner Robert Guy Robinson won the Medal of Honor for heroism associated with holding off German air attacks on their Airco bomber when they became separated and had to return to attempt to return to their base alone.

Airco DH4, which was used in the tactical role.

4.  The provisional government for Czechoslovakia formed.


5.  The U-139 attacked the Portoguese steamer Sao Miguel and its escort the Portuguese Navy trawler NRP Augusto de Castilho on the Action of 14 October 1918.  The trawler was lightly armed and while it fought for several hours, it was actually outgunned by the submarine and surrendered to it, and was thereafter scuttled by the German submariners.  The engagement is regarded as the only high seas naval battle of the Great War to take place in the North Atlantic.

On the same day, German submarines sank the Bayard, a French fishing vessel, the Stifinder, a Norwegian barque, which was scuttled due an engagement with the U-152 and the British passenger ship Dundalk, with the loss of 21 lives.  The German minsweeper SMS M22 was sunk by mines.

6.

Countdown on the Great War: October 5, 1918.

1.  Vranje, Serbia, liberated from the Austrian control by French and Serbian forces.

2.  Australians capture Monbrehain.

3. Germans scuttle U-boats stationed in Belgium.

4.  Cpt. Eddie Grant killed in action.

5.  Sgt. Michaal B. Ellis undertakes actions that result in his being awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

74, W.D., 1919.
Citation: During the entire day’s engagement he operated far in advance of the first wave of his company, voluntarily undertaking most dangerous missions and single-handedly attacking and reducing machinegun nests. Flanking one emplacement, he killed 2 of the enemy with rifle fire and captured 17 others. Later he single-handedly advanced under heavy fire and captured 27 prisoners, including 2 officers and 6 machineguns, which had been holding up the advance of the company. The captured officers indicated the locations of 4 other machineguns, and he in turn captured these, together with their crews, at all times showing marked heroism and fearlessness.

The 100 Days Offensive, Meuse Argonne Second Phase: October 4 through October 28, 1918.

U.S. Marines, part of the U.S. 2nd Division, advancing during the Meuse Argonne Campaign.

We just read about the "Lost Battalion" yesterday. Could we really be on to a new phase?

Yes, while that drama was playing out, and would continue to, the American offensive would enter its next phase.

The second phase of the offensive began on this day.  All of the original divisions assigned the primary assault role in the first phase of the offensive were rotated out in favor of fresh divisions, the result being that the 91st, 79, 37, and 35th of the U.S. V Corps were replaced by the 32nd, 3d, and 1st Divisions.  These were not, of course, the only American divisions committed to the attack by any means, but rather the primary assault divisions.

The 1st Division, which we've read about here earlier, breached the German lines with a advance a little shorter of two miles (that being a big advance in the context of the conditions).  This gave rise in part to the Lost Battalion episode we've already read about, although as already noted the events that gave rise to that episode commenced on October 2. 

This phase of the assault was very bloody from an American prospect and it featured high American casualties.  The effort resulted in a breach of the local section of the Hindenburg line during the Battle of Montfaucon on October 14 through 17, resulting in the clearing of the Argonne Forest and an advance of ten miles. The French Army advanced even further, clearing 20 miles.

The second phase is well remembered by students of the American contribution to World War One.  The American Army was bloodied but showed itself of sustaining loss and advancing against stout German opposition. Having said that, there are real reasons to doubt that the American manner of fighting would have continued on had the Germans not ultimately collapsed in early November.  The loss rates sustained by the American Army were appalling and due, in no small part, to the troops being green and therefore willing to sustain them in a manner which the various European combatants no longer were.

The 100 Days: Fifth Battle of Ypres. September 28 to October 2, 1918.

On this day in 1918 the Groupe d'Armees des Flanders, a combined British, Belgian and French command, launched an assault at 05:30 after a three hour artillery bombardment, oer a wide front near Ypres.

The assault yielded immediate successes.  Many well known locations that featured heavy fighting earlier in the war, such as Passchendaele, were regained.  The advance continued on through October 2 when the Germans brought up reinforcements and the Allies outran their supplies, and therefore halted.

Showing the direction of things to come, the British and Belgian forces received 15,000 rations by air. That is, air drop.  They were parachuted in.

The battle, like the earlier one at Passchendaele, freakishly featured a lot of rain.

The 100 Days: The Meuse-Agronne Offensive. September 26, 1918-November 11, 1918. Phase I (September 26 through October 3, 1918).

On this day in 1918 the U.S. Army launched its most significant, and final, offensive of the Great War.  The action would last from this day until the last day of the war.

Troops of the 23d Infantry firing a 37 mm trench gun during the Meuse Argonne Offensive.

The stage had been set for the effort in the argument that Gen. Pershing and Field Marshall Foch had some weeks back, which we earlier detailed here.  At that time, Foch had wanted Pershing to abandon the planned assault on St. Mihiel in favor of an attack upon Metz.  Pershing had resisted as this would have made the U.S. Army subordinate to a French effort, but he did agree, and indeed developed, an alternative plan which called for a rapid redeployment of US forces in a new direction. That change in direction required the U.S. to redirect its forces at a right angle and cover 60 miles in short order, which was amazingly accomplished.  The resulting offensive was massive in scale, involving 1,200,000 men on the US side, including French and Siamese troops, and it remains the costliest battle in American history.

D Day for the offensive started with a massive artillery bombardment which expended more ordnance in three hours than the U.S. had expended during the entire Civil War.  The cost of the bombardment amounted to an expenditure of $1,000,000 per minute.   The ground assault commenced at 05:30 on this day with the V and III Corps making their objectives but the with those assigned to the 79th and 28th Divisions failing to meet theirs, and the 91st division being compelled to withdraw from Epionville.  On the following day, the 27th, most of the 1st Army was stalled, although the 79th did manage to capture its objective of Montfaucon d'Agronne.

On the 29th the Germans committed an additional six divisions and they staged a local counter attack.  The 35th Division was so strongly countered that it was effectively destroyed and had to be withdrawn from combat although certainly elements would be redeployed.  Adjacent French units also faced stiff opposition but managed to make greater gains, in part due to the terrain.

French Legion in St. Louis, Missouri., Sept. 26, 1918

American Troops under British and French Command in the Great War.

Yesterday I noted that the US 32nd Division was, at this point, advancing under French command.

They weren't alone.

It's really popular to imagine that General Pershing insisted that the US have its own Army in the field and that he was universally successful. So when Americans marched into battle in France, they did so exclusively under overall U.S. command.

That's a myth.

Indeed, we've already seen here recently that the U.S. First Army was only formed in August and that it only took over the St. Michel Sector on August 30.  But Americans had already been in heavy combat for weeks prior to that as individual divisions were placed under higher foreign commands by necessity.

And that hadn't stopped due to the First Army being formed.

The U.S. 33d and 80th Divisions were part of the British Fourth Army and had been fighting with the British as part of the Second Battle of the Somme, which we've read about here a bit.  The American II Corps was also part of the British Fourth Army and would be up until late October, 1918, by which time it had suffered 11,500 casualties under British command.  

In other words, the II Corps fought under the British Fourth Army until the end of the war as a practical matter with one final U.S. Division remaining under official British command at the war's end.

The 92nd and 93d Divisions, which were made up of black enlisted men, fought the entire war under French command.  The American III Corps was part of the French Sixth Army until mid September, when its two divisions became part of the U.S. First Army. 

In October the 37th and 91st Divisions were attached, by Pershing, to French Army of Belgium, at Foch's request.

All of this is significant in that the role of the U.S. Army is subject to a double set of myths, one being that the U.S. Army fought the whole war under American command and the other being that the US role was minimal.  In fact, while there did come to become a U.S. First Army, U.S. divisions served under French and British command in numbers that became significant during the German 1918 Spring Offensive and throughout the 100 Days Offensive.  While after the formation of the U.S. First Army, American command of its troops in the field became extensive, there was never a day when there were not U.S. soldiers under British and French command, and they were needed.

The 100 Days: Foch and Pershing Argue and the American Army takes over the St. Mihiel Sector

Pershing and Foch shaking hands in 1918, as Pershing was departing to return to the United States.

And they didn't resolve their dispute either.

The dispute was about a planned upcoming American offensive. Following Soissons, the U.S. First Army was formed which gave the US an independent army in the field, must like the British Expeditionary Force.  The US, in other words, was ready to fight on its own.  

And it had planned an offensive which contemplated the strategic situation at the time planning commenced.  The problem was, however, that it no longer did, and Foch, the Supreme Allied Commander, knew it.

Pershing's plan, developed before the recent Allied advances had become so successful, called for the U.S. First Army to advance straight north from its positions on a broad front towards Sedan.  In other words, truly straight north, towards Belgium.  It made sense when first conceived of.

Foch, on the other hand, wanted to scrap that and have the U.S. Army, with a French contingent, close a salient sought of Verdun and take a hard right towards the German city of Metz, and take it.  Foch would have had the U.S. Army swing right.

Foch was right.

That would have meant, however, that the U.S. Army would not have been operating fully independent.  Pershing wouldn't have that.

The argument was not resolved.  It was heated.  Most American historians give Pershing credit for sticking to his guns and thereby making certain that the U.S. Army would be an independent one.

But, in reality, the proposed line of advance that Pershing wanted was now obsolete due to the spectacular recent advances of the British Expeditionary Force.  Foch's plan, however, was strategically dynamic and would have put the Allies right into a German city.

Foch was right.

On the same day, in spite of the argument, the American 1st Army took over the St. Mihiel Sector.