The Delta of the Triple Elevens Part 11

The 2nd Battalion formed at 1 p. m. and hiked to Clairvaux with colors flying for the big review. A mix-up in giving commands "flunked" the first attempt at pa.s.sing in review. The entire ceremony of dignity had to be executed a second time. Close order drill then came into its own. The following day, November 22nd, the battalion again hiked to Clairvaux, where another review was staged and the regiment kept at battalion close-order drill until 4 o'clock.

Sunday, November 24th, reveille sounded at 6 o'clock. Orders were given to make rolls preparatory to moving. When the soldiers were ready to move the order was changed. It was discovered that the motor trucks would not arrive until the following day.

The motor transportation squad was expected to arrive early on Monday morning. It was 9 o'clock at night when they arrived. Departure was delayed until next morning, but this did not keep back an order that called the battery out in detail during a heavy rain at 9:30 Monday night to pull the guns and caissons through the mud, from the field where they had been parked to the road, so that they could be attached to the motor trucks. There was a great tendency to "duck detail" that night.

Ville sous La Ferte was finally left in the distance, Tuesday, November 26th, at 10 o'clock. The soldiers and their packs had to pile in the few motor trucks that were furnished. A few of the boys rode the materiel attached to the trucks and had a wild ride. The rolling kitchen of the battery, with ovens blazing away, covered the roads at a fine clip behind a motor truck, with George Musial having his hands full trying to manipulate the brake.

The trip continued through Maranville and Bricon. Chaumont was circled about 4 o'clock and stop was made about twenty-one kilometers from A. E. F. Headquarters, at a sleepy little hamlet of about fifty houses and barns, called Blancheville.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A BATTERY D KITCHEN CREW Photo Taken at Mess Tent at Camp La Courtine, France.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: GROUP OF BATTERY D SERGEANTS Capts. Clarke, Smith, and Hall in foreground.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

MUD AND BLANCHEVILLE.

Blancheville, mud and mules are a.s.sociated in memory of the holiday season of 1918-19 that Battery D spent in France.

It was Thanksgiving week when Battery D arrived in Blancheville. The auto convoy deposited the battery paraphernalia in the vicinity of the old stone church and graveyard that stood along the main highway as the landmark and chief building of the village. Nearby stood the only other building of import--a stone structure that housed a pool of water in the manner of the ancients. This was the public pool where the women of the village came to do the family washing, as the village was deprived of the natural advantages of a river. Watering troughs surrounded this wash-house on two sides. Twice daily the cattle and live-stock from all the village barns were led to this watering place.

Water for drinking purposes was also supplied the village from a special fountain on the exterior side opposite the water troughs.

Mud was the chief characteristic of Blancheville. It was a farming community of unusual quietude. Plenty of barns and roosts were found in which to billet the battery. The natives were very hospitable. They readily chased out the cows and the chickens to make room for the Americans. The boys lived next door to animal nature. In one billet an adjacent room housed the live stock and it was not uncommon to have slumbers awakened by the cow walking into the sleeping quarters of the troops.

While in Blancheville the boys got used to the largest of the French rat species. During the hours of the night they traveled flat-footed over the faces and forms of sleeping soldiers, also played havoc with all soldier equipment stored in the billet. It may sound like myth, but it is a fact that a rat in one billet dragged an army mess kit across the floor--they were some rats.

On the road opposite the church stood an old, one-story stone building that was built in its present form, eight hundred years ago. The roof was overgrown with moss and one corner had started to crumble in from old age. In this building Corporals James Cataldo and Michael A. t.i.to, the battery barbers, set up a barber shop. They did good business after they were able to convince the battery in general that the roof would not cave in for another hundred years.

The first day in Blancheville was spent in parking the guns and caissons, digging Latrines and the usual duties attendant upon establishing a new battery home. It was also a job in itself to make some semblance at getting some of the billets cleaned up and half fit to sleep in.

Reveille for the first few mornings was at 8 o'clock. Thursday, November 28th, was an off day for the outfit, except those on K. P., who got an extra job in preparing a battery Thanksgiving spread. The day was spent by the idle mostly in hiking over the roads and visiting some of the nearby villages where the other units of the regiment were quartered. Regimental Headquarters, Headquarters Company, Supply Company, Battery C, and the Medical detachment were at Andelot, about four kilos from Blancheville. The 2nd Battalion Hqrs. and E Battery were at Cirey-les-Mareilles; A Battery was at Vignes; Battery B at Montot, and F Battery at Mareilles.

The town of Andelot, built in the shape of an amphitheatre on the slope which forms the base of the hill of Monteclair, is situated on the banks of the little river Rognon, 21 kilometers from Chaumont, seat of the Department of Haute Marne.

On this hill of Monteclair, on which there was a strong-castle during the years 101 to 44 B. C., Caesar established a camp. Under Constantine (306 A. D.) Andelot became the seat of a province. A Court of Champagne fortified the position of Monteclair (440 A. D.). On the 28th of November, 587, the treaty of Andelot was made between Gontran, King of Burgundy, and Cnideberft, King of Austrasia, who was accompanied by his mother, Brunehaut.

In 871 A. D., Andelot became the seat of a county, which was broken up in the course of the tenth century, and which was a dependency of the Duke of Lorraine. From 1201 to 1253 the fortifications of Monteclair were strengthened and enlarged, the town was beautified and surrounded by walls, which were demolished in 1279. Andelot became the seat of a prefecture of which Domremy, the birthplace of Joan of Arc, was a part.

In 1356 and again in 1431 Monteclair was taken by the English. It was returned to France in 1434. In 1523 a German army occupied Andelot and the castle of Monteclair for a short time. There followed famine and pestilence. Francis I, King of France (1494 to 1547) repaired the fortifications and ordered a great amount of work to be done on the fortress. During the religious wars (1337 to 1453) Andelot was taken and re-taken by the Catholics and Protestants, its church was burned and its bells melted down. Monteclair came again under the authority of the King in 1594.

The fortress of Monteclair was dismantled in 1635, and in the following year the Germans devastated the town of Andelot. The fortress was finally destroyed in 1697. From that time until the present Monteclair and the towns in its vicinity have been rich in souvenirs.

It was among these scenes Battery D idled the Thanksgiving day. At 5 p. m. a special feed was put on in the battery mess hall in general celebration. The feasting was getting along nicely; everybody was enjoying the menu of roast pig and prune pie and nuts and candy, when it was suddenly discovered that a number of the candles used to light the mess hall had suddenly disappeared. The aftermath was felt for several days. A thorough search for the lost candles was inst.i.tuted.

They could not be found. An official battery order was then promulgated, stating that if the candles were not returned within a certain time a very heavy battery guard would be put on for the remainder of the stay in Blancheville.

About a half dozen candles had disappeared. When the ultimatum was issued about two dozen candles of all sizes and descriptions were returned to the battery kitchen. The guard never went on. Candles continued to sell in Blancheville for fancy prices and the battery in general suffered in its letter writing for the want of light at night.

Leather jerkins were first issued the battery at Blancheville on November 29th, which was the signal for horses to be received. The receipt of horses started a long and hard battle with the mud. To multiply miseries mules played an important part in the life of the battery. All told it is a long, muddy tale.

On Friday, December 6th, fourteen sick horses arrived in Blancheville to be cared for by Battery D. The following day another consignment of horses arrived. The majority of the animals were afflicted with the mange. All had seen active service and were badly used up. Many suffered from neglect, the troops having but little time for the proper care of the animals while up in the front lines. Some were minus pieces of their ears, which had been shot off in battle.

Two large, open artillery stables had been erected at Blancheville by a previous contingent of troops, so Battery D had stable facilities.

The constant rain, however, soon played havoc with the ground in the vicinity of the stables and it was not long after the horses were received that the heavy traffic in the vicinity of the stables created a regular sea of mud. Hip rubber boots were issued and it was a grand battle with the mud each day. The animals had to be led through the mud three times a day to the public water troughs in the village.

Besides caring for the horses the time at Blancheville was spent in hiking, at physical exercise and in the enjoyment of various forms of athletics. The manual of the pistol again came into its own and the guns were not neglected, as gun drill was finally returned to the schedule.

At least once a week the battery hiked to Cirey les Mareilles, three kilos distant, where the only bath house was located.

Thoughts of the Christmas season came to the battery at Blancheville when the first Christmas boxes from the folks back home were received during the second week in December. The boxes continued to arrive until the festal holiday.

Sunday, December 15th, was payday for the soldiers in Blancheville.

This particular payday was of ill omen for the battery. A number of the boys indulged too freely at the cafes in Chantraines, with a to-be-regretted fracas resulting. A guard of military police was put on at Chantraines following this escapade.

Monday, December 16th, thirty-five additional horses were received by the battery. Considerable time was spent in getting the harness in shape, especially the saddles, after which lessons in equitation were again started, also a number of battery mounted hikes inaugurated.

Early in December announcement was made of a proposed horse convoy to the Belgian border. The topic was discussed for many weeks, the proposed trip having been scheduled and cancelled several times before a convoy finally materialized. What the one hundred volunteers for this convoy had to contend with during the trip is a tale of its own, which must be related in terms of hardship, rain, mud, and mules.

CHAPTER XIX.

AN ADVENTUROUS CONVOY.

What could be more pleasant or soothing to an adventurous spirit than a trip in the saddle through the scarred and devastated battle sector along the Lorraine border? This is what appealed to the boys of Battery D when announcement was made at Blancheville early in December that one hundred men were wanted to accompany a horse convoy to Longwy on the Belgian border. One hundred volunteers were asked for, and it was not long before the required number was enlisted from the military ranks.

The first convoy was to have left Blancheville on December 13th, but at the eleventh hour the trip was cancelled. Various other dates were set. Finally, on Wednesday night, December 18th, Capt. Smith a.s.sembled the battery in the Y. M. C. A. tent that stood near the old church, when announcement was made that the horse trip was to start on the morrow and the names of the one hundred men who were to make the trip, were called off.

In high spirits the volunteers made ready for the trip. Each man packed a set of saddle bags; made ready a driver's roll with shelter half and blankets. All the other individual equipment was gathered together and left in the Y. M. C. A. tent, as rumor had it that the regiment was soon to move to another billeting area and the order to move might come when the horse convoy was on the road. Thus the extra equipment was left with the remainder of the battery, on whose hands evolved the task of remaining in Blancheville and caring for the battery horses and doing the other detail work. The schedule worked hardship both ways. There was more than enough work for those who remained at the battery area, and those who volunteered for the convoy were not long in realizing that they had a tough job on their hands.

The detail of one hundred men left Blancheville at 7:25 a. m., Thursday, December 19th, in five auto trucks. The trucks also conveyed a saddle and equipment, also driver's roll, for each member of the party.

The auto convoy proceeded through Chaumont; then came a pleasant ride along the Marne river, pa.s.sing through the towns of Luzy, Vesaignes, Rolampont and Langres. Stop was made at the latter fortified town, where the soldiers visited the town and procured refreshments. The trip was continued and at 12:30 p. m. the party reached Remount No.

13. at Lux, situated about three kilometers beyond Is-sur-Tille.

In fighting the mud at Blancheville the battery members thought they had struck the muddiest spot in France. Nothing could be muddier, they thought. But this thought was soon shattered when the volunteer convoy reached Lux. Perhaps it was due to the Remount being numbered 13, but the mud that surrounded it is beyond adequate description.

It was raining heavily when the battery arrived at Lux. Slimy mud, three feet thick in places, covered the territory of the remount.

The original order was for the detail from Battery D to remain at the remount over Friday and start with the horses for the Belgian border on Sat.u.r.day morning. Arriving at the remount the battery detail was housed in a sheet-iron barrack with corrugated sheet-iron bunks. And everything was covered with mud.

Thursday night, while the detail lingered at the remount, official orders came changing the plan for the convoy party. Instead of taking horses to Longwy the detail was ordered to start the following morning to return to the 311th Regiment with several hundred mules.