The Delta of the Triple Elevens Part 1

The Delta of the Triple Elevens.

by William Elmer Bachman.

FOREWORD.

"You're in the Army now."

"So this is France!"

Oft I heard these phrases repeated as more and more the realization dawned, first at Camp Meade, Md., and later overseas, that war seemed mostly drudgery with only the personal satisfaction of doing one's duty and that Sunny France was rainy most of the time.

The memory of Battery D, 311th U. S. F. A., will never fade in utter oblivion in the minds of its members. 'Tis a strange fancy of nature, however, gradually to forget many of the a.s.sociations and circ.u.mstances of sombre hue as the silver linings appear in our respective clouds of life in greater radiance as each day finds us drifting farther from ties of camp life.

Soldiers, who once enjoyed the comradeship of camp life, where they made many acquaintances and mayhap friends, are now scattered in all walks of civilian life. While their minds are yet alive with facts and figures, time always effaces concrete absorptions. The time will come when a printed record of Battery D will be a joyous reminder.

With these facts in mind I have endeavored to set forth a history of the events of the battery and the names and addresses of those who belonged.

The records are true to fact and figure, being compilations of my diaries, note-books and address alb.u.m, all verified with utmost care before publication.

In future years when the ex-service men and their friends glance over this volume, if a moment of pleasant reminiscence is added, this book will have fully served its purpose.

WILLIAM ELMER BACHMAN, 1920. Hazleton, Penna.

PREFATORY NOTE.

An effort has been made in this volume to state as concisely and clearly as possible the main events connected with the History of Battery D.

To recount in print every specific incident connected with the life of the organization, or to attempt a military biographical sketch of every battery member, would require many volumes.

My soldier-comrade readers will, no doubt, recall many instances which could have been included in this volume with marked appropriateness.

The selection of the material, however, has been with utmost consideration and for the expressed purpose of having the complete narrative give the non-military reader a general view of the conditions and experiences that fell to the lot of the average unit in the United States Army in service in this country and overseas.

Grateful acknowledgment is due to those who aided in the verification of all material used. Many of the battery members made suggestions that have been embodied in the text.

To A. Ernest Shafer, D. C., and Conrad A. Balliet, of Hazleton, Penna., belongs credit for information supplied covering periods when the author was on detached service from the battery. To Dr. Shafer acknowledgment is also due for the use of photographs from which a number of the ill.u.s.trations have been reproduced.

From Prof. Fred H. Bachman, C. A. C., of Hazleton, Penna., who read over the ma.n.u.script, many valuable suggestions were received.

W. E. B.

Hazleton, Penna., 1920.

CHAPTER I.

SOURCES OF THE DELTA.

Official records in the archives of the War Department at Washington will preserve for future posterity the record of Battery D, of the 311th United States Field Artillery.

In those records there is written deep and indelibly the date of May 30th, 1919, as the date of Battery D's official demobilization. The history of Battery D, therefore, can be definitely terminated, but a more difficult task is presented in establishing a point of inception.

The development of Battery D was gradual--like a tiny stream, flowing on in its course, converging with the 311th Regimental, 154th Brigade, and 79th Division tides until it reached the sea of war-tossed Europe; there to flow and ebb; finally to lose its ident.i.ty in the ocean of official discharge.

The Egyptians of old traversed the course of their river Nile, from its indefinite sources along the water-sheds of its plateaux and mountains, and, upon arriving at its mouth they found a tract of land enclosed by the diverging branches of the river's mouth and the Mediterranean seacoast, and traversed by other branches of the river.

This triangular tract represented the Greek letter "Delta," a word which civilization later adopted as a coinage of adequate description.

Fine silt, brought down in suspension by a muddy river and deposited to form the Delta when the river reaches the sea, acc.u.mulates from many sources.

In similar light the silt of circ.u.mstances that resulted in the formation of the Delta of the Triple Elevens, acc.u.mulated from many sources, the very nucleus transpiring on June 28, 1914, when the heir to the Austrian throne, the archduke of Austria, and his wife, were a.s.sa.s.sinated at Sarajevo, in the Austrian province of Bosnia, by a Serbian student.

Austria immediately demanded reparation from Serbia. Serbia declared herself willing to accede to all of Austria's demands, but refused to sacrifice her national honor. Austria thereby took the pretext to renew a quarrel that had been going on for centuries.

Long diplomatic discussions resulted--culminating on July 28, 1914, with a declaration of war by Austria against Serbia. This, so to speak, opened the flood-gates, letting loose the mighty river of blood and slaughter that flowed over all Europe.

The days that followed added new sensations and thrills to every life. The river of war flowed nearer our own peaceful sh.o.r.es as the days pa.s.sed and the news dispatches brought us the intelligence of Germany's declaration of relentless submarine warfare and the subsequent announcement of the United States' diplomatic break with Germany.

Momentum was gained as reports of disaster and wilful acts followed with increasing rapidity. The sinking of American vessels disclosed a ruthlessness of method that was gravely condemned in President Wilson's message of armed-neutrality, only to be followed by acts of more wilful import--finally evoking the proclamation, April 6, 1917, declaring a state of war in existence between the United States and the Imperial German government.

Clear and loud war's alarm rang throughout the United States. All activity centered in the selection of a vast army to aid in the great fight for democracy. Plans were promulgated with decision and preciseness. On June 5th, 1917, ten millions of Americans between the ages of 21 and 31 years, among the number being several hundred who were later to become a.s.sociated with Battery D, of the 311th F. A., registered for military service.

The war department issued an order, July 13, 1917, calling into military service 678,000 men, to be selected from the number who registered on June 5th. Days of conjecture followed. Who would be called first?

July 20th brought forth the greatest lottery of all time. The drawing of number 258 by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker started the list of selective drawings to determine the order of eligibility of the young men in the 4,557 selective districts in the United States.

War's preparations moved rapidly. Selective service boards, with due deliberation, made ready for the organization of the selective contingents. While the boards toiled and the eligible young men went through the process of examination, resulting in acceptance or rejection, officials of the war department were planning the camps.

Battery D and the 311th Field Artillery were in the stages of organization but plans of military housing had to mature before the young men who were to form the organization, could be inducted into service, thereby bringing to official light The Delta of the Triple Elevens.

CHAPTER II.

A CAMP BELCHED FORTH.

On that eventful day in 1914, when the war clouds broke over Europe, the farmers of Anne Arundel county, Maryland, in the then peaceful land of the United States, toiled with their ploughshares under the glisten of the bright sun; content with their lot of producing more than half of the tomato crop of the country; content to harvest their abundant crops of strawberries and cuc.u.mbers and corn, to say nothing of the wonderful orchards of apples and pears, and not forgetting the wild vegetation of sweet potatoes.

The peaceful, pastoral life in the heart of Maryland, however, was destined to be disturbed. A vast American army was needed and the vast army, then in the process of organization, needed an abode for training. Battery D and the 311th Field Artillery was organized on paper soon after the call for 678,000 selected service men was decided upon. The personnel of the new organization was being determined by the selective service boards. Officers to command the organization were under intensive instruction at Fort Niagara, New York. All that was needed to bring the organization into official military being was a point of concentration.