Fond du Lac's Machinegunners: Company E in the First World War
by Jody Schmitz

Members of Company E, 2nd Wisconsin Infantry

Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, 1916

“‘Please will you let me see them go by, begged an old lady as she sought to elbow her way through the ranks of the spectators.’” She stated, “‘I’ve got a grandson who is going.’ Instantly men and women stepped aside and gave the boy’s grandmother a front position.” Many people in the crowd were affected by this display. “One man wiped a trace of tears from his eyes as the old lady feebly waved her handkerchief to an all soldierly looking lad who smiled back at her.” ¹

Such was the scene in Fond du Lac on August 7, 1917 as the town prepared to say goodbye to Company E, the first contingent of troops to be furnished by the city to join America’s Armed Forces in World War I. This National Guard Company of 150 men had no idea of the seriousness of the difficulties or of the danger that they were to face during their time overseas. Company E, given the designation the “Pride of Fond du Lac,” had a long road ahead of them. They were incorporated into the prestigious Rainbow Division, whose chief of staff, Douglas MacArthur, became one of the most famous leaders of World War II. They were given many chances to prove their bravery and skill in combat, and they were also the company that had the unfortunate distinction of suffering more casualties in the First World War than any other company from Wisconsin. ²

The success and patriotism displayed by Company E came as a surprise to many people who were not from Wisconsin for World War I lacked the decisive blow or dramatic event, such as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II, to rally the nation behind President Woodrow Wilson’s 1917 declaration of war, and the approach to war had been filled with controversy and debate. ³ Until 1917, Wilson had sought to maintain American neutrality in the conflict. Indeed, during 1916, Wilson had campaigned and was elected on a platform of “strict neutrality,” that is, he declared that the United States would be neutral in fact as well as in name. Wilson’s policy was reflected in his campaign slogan: “He kept us out of war.” Even after a German submarine torpedoed the British liner Lusitania in 1915, killing 128 Americans, Wilson still tried to maintain neutrality in the conflict for the United States.

After the British intercepted and turned over to the United States government a German message to Mexico, known as the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany had approached Mexico suggesting an alliance that could lead to return of the lands that Mexico had lost to the United States in the Mexican War, relations between Germany and the United States were severed. ⁴ The German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in January 1917 capped the shift in U.S. policy. Most Americans had few doubts about the course of action to take. On April 2, 1917, Wilson read a message before Congress, saying, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” On April 6, the United States Congress declared war on Germany.

In Wisconsin, however, people were less than enthusiastic about the war. In 1914, Wisconsin’s population was largely of German heritage. Along with German-Americans elsewhere, those living in Wisconsin received a shock when the United States entered the war. Many German-Americans across the nation had opposed entering the fighting, and they had preserved their cultural background through German-language newspapers that gave a different view of the war than the more pro-Allied English language press of the East coast. Many Wisconsin residents retained contacts with their ancestral home, and many knew the German language as well or better than English. Suddenly, the declaration of war brought suspicion of all things German. A sort of anti-German mania swept the country. The American Defense Society produced a notice stating that every person with a German name, “Unless known by years of Association to be absolutely loyal, should be treated as a potential spy.” So, while most German-Americans did not want to renounce their German heritage, regardless of their personal feelings about Kaiser Wilhelm II and the war, they realized that if they didn’t conceal their German ties from rabid super-patriots, they opened themselves up to charges that “they were Huns as bad as the Kaiser and his armies.” ⁵

According to Wisconsin historian Robert Nesbit, Wisconsin was perceived as a hotbed of what many people in the country considered “unpatriotic activity”. President Wilson demanded that Congress lay out a series of specific actions that were to be considered disloyal conduct. Congress responded with the Espionage Act. Residents of Wisconsin were charged with 92 cases of disloyalty under the Espionage Act, a much higher number than the residents of any other state. The list of offenses included 35 instances of criticizing United States policy, 36 of praising Germany, 32 of saying it was “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight,” 19 of criticizing the sale of war bonds, 17 of comments derogatory to the Allies, 15 of statements critical of drives for war charities, nine for negative remarks about wheatless and meatless days, and nine insults to the flag. ⁶

Nesbit states that most of these “disloyal acts” were remarks that were overheard in a local tavern or in personal conversation. Penalties for such crimes ranged from large fines to long sentences to the Federal Penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth. An example of such a “crime” is the story of a Madison druggist. He was fined $2000 when someone overheard him say that the Kaiser was a better friend to his people than was the United States government to its people. ⁷

The main voice advocating neutrality in the nation was Robert M. La Follette, a United States Senator from Wisconsin and founder of the Progressive Party. La Follete’s position was simple: He never strayed from Wilson’s original position of strict neutrality. According to LaFollette, no dispute in Europe should be of enough concern to force Americans to enter the war. ⁸ La Follette’s opposition to the war came from his belief that war would only further enrich the wealthy monopolists and manufacturers. Other than La Follette, only five other United States Senators voted against the Declaration of War. In the House of Representatives, nine of Wisconsin’s eleven congressmen also voted against entering the war. The Wisconsin congressional delegations’s voting record was interpreted by many in the rest of the United States to mean that the people of the state were not patriotic or trustworthy. ⁹

La Follette’s vocal record of opposition, combined with Wisconsin’s large German population, brought the state much unwanted attention at that time. The neighboring states of Illinois and Minnesota considered a boycott on all Wisconsin goods. A speaker at a war rally in the Eastern United States suggested that a Federal expedition be sent to rescue Americans interned in Wisconsin. Even the United States War Department expected to have to send troops into Wisconsin to keep the peace once war was declared. Hysteria over the possibility of domestic unrest was widespread. ¹⁰

Thus, Wisconsin fell victim to the general war hysteria that pitted neighbor against neighbor. Many Wisconsin residents of German descent took the easy course; they joined the outcry against everything German. ¹¹ Patriotic groups such as the Wisconsin Defense League and the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion were formed to help prove to the rest of the nation that Wisconsin was as loyal as any state in the Union. ¹²

As a testament to Wisconsinites national loyalty and perhaps a sign of the prevalence of war hysteria, the City of Monroe held an interesting vote. On April 3, the day after Wilson asked Congress for a Declaration of War, the people of Monroe persuaded the City Council to include a special referendum on the election ballet. The question read, “Under existing conditions, do you favor a Declaration of War by Congress? The vote totals were 954 against, and 94 in favor of the war. Three days later, after war was declared, Monroe residents held a well-attended mass meeting and a parade to show their support of the war.¹³

This was not an isolated incident. In Sheboygan, ballots in both English and German were distributed in churches throughout the area asking, “Shall the United States enter the European War?” The counting was stopped at 4,112 against and only 17 in favor, because Congress had declared war. ¹⁴

Given Wisconsin’s label of “disloyalty” and its elected representatives’ record of opposition to the war, many Americans would not have been surprised if Wisconsin had lagged in the war effort. This turned out not to be the case. Wisconsin was the first state to organize a “Little War Cabinet” that promoted wheatless and meatless days to conserve food, and Wisconsin farmers even upped their food production to supply the soldiers. Wisconsin oversubscribed every Liberty savings bond issue and was the first state to aid the dependents of soldiers. ¹⁵ Wisconsin was the first state to organize a State Council of Defense. Upon inspection of the Council of Defense, journalist Ray Stannard Baker reported, “You have in Wisconsin the best organized and most efficient, the most constructive, the most far-seeing defense league of any of the states I have visit.” ¹⁶

Once the war began, Wisconsin had tried to prove that it was as loyal as any other state in the Union. The people of Wisconsin had given when asked to supply money and food. But for all the State’s accomplishments and generosity, questions of how deep the loyalty ran still remained. What would happen when Wisconsin was called on to give more than money and food? Would the State, with its large German population, send soldiers to fight against a land and a people that held so many close ties to Wisconsinites? Were men from Wisconsin prepared to cross the ocean and battle the enemy?

The city of Fond du Lac considered itself to be patriotic. In the four Liberty Loan drives, Fond du Lac subscribed $8,919,500, an amount that went beyond the state’s quota for the area. While this was quite an accomplishment, the real pride of Fond du Lac was in the men whom the city sent overseas to fight the war. From a population of 54,000, the county of Fond du Lac sent more than 3,500 men to answer the nation’s call. Of those 3,500 soldiers, more than 2,500 were young men from the city of Fond du Lac itself. ¹⁷

At the outbreak of the war, people in Fond du Lac thought that they had one of the best units in the Wisconsin National Guard, Company E. ¹⁸ The Company received its call to active duty on August 6, 1917. On this morning, the one hundred and fifty-three men that made up the force, under the command of Captain Adelbert.R. Brunet, First Lieutenant John Smith, and Second Lieutenant Henry Vogt, took their first steps in a journey that would take them into a foreign land and a foreign war.

On that August morning, the headlines in The Daily Reporter read, “Fond du Lac Militia on Way to Front.” The story reported, “The war has come to Fond du Lac.” Thousands of citizens lined Marr, Fifth, and Main Streets and Forest Avenue to watch as the company marched slowly to the Northwestern depot where they were to be taken by train to Camp Douglass, located just south of Tomah. Acting on the request of Mayor J. F. Hohensee, practically all of the city’s stores remained closed until 9:30 in order to allow the clerks to attend the farewell parade. The Daily Reporter described the emotions of that day vividly by commenting that; “The scene portrayed was one of the most solemn depicted in the history of the city. The realization of the seriousness of the present struggle seemed to dawn on many people for the first time.”

The Daily Reporter also described the farewell the members of E Company received from the city on that day.

Then came the boys of Company E. Led by Captain A[delbert]. R. Brunet, they marched erect and in perfect step. Their appearance was the signal for handclapping, hat waving, and tears on the part of the throngs of people who lined the streets. A group of men brought their climbing gear and held choice seats at the top of a telegraph pole as to be able to see the men board the train. A final handshake or caress and all was over. Many who did not have relatives on the train were so impressed by the scenes that tears welled to their eyes. The reaction of the city to bidding their sons good-bye was quite. There was not much cheering, not many tears – there are emotions too deep for either. And through it all, the members of Company E, demonstrated their soldierliness by the manner in which they conducted themselves in the face of the general depression. A few dashed tears from their eyes as they waved to their friends or said final good-byes. But the boys were brave and kept smiling through it all.

The train that left from the Northwestern Station on time that morning at exactly 9:00 a.m. carried Company E and was followed by trains from Marinette and Appleton bearing the National Guard companies from those cities. All were on their way to Camp Douglass, Wisconsin, to prepare to join the American Expeditionary Force France. ¹⁹

Shortly after the arrival at the Badger mobilization camp, the three organizations were formally mustered into Federal service. Later that August, word was received from Washington that three Wisconsin Companies were to be formed into a machine gun battalion. This battalion was to be given the honor of being one of three such battalions in a National Guard unit to see service in France. Naturally, every command at Camp Douglass hoped that they would be one of the three companies to be designated, but the honor went to three companies from the Fox River Valley, Company E of Fond du Lac, Company F of Oshkosh, and Company G of Appleton. ²⁰ On August 16, 1917 Companies E, F, and G. were formally detached from the 2nd Wisconsin Infantry and became the 150th Machine Gun Battalion. ²¹ Each company had an authorized strength of one captain, two first lieutenants, three second lieutenants, and 172 enlisted men. The battalion was under the command of Major W.B. Hall, of Oconto, formerly a battalion commander in the 2nd Wisconsin.

Competition for the honor to be included in this National Guard division wasn’t limited to the troops at Camp Douglass. Another competition developed among individual states that wanted to be the first to send their National Guard units to fight in Europe. ²² The first National Guard Division to be sent overseas was the 26th “Yankee” Division, composed of soldiers from New England States. A second division was organized from National Guard units drawn from all over the country. The official reason given for organizing a division composed of units from 26 different states and the District of Columbia was to check the negative implications that might result from competition among state contingents of the guard and to minimize the impact the mobilization could have on any one state. Another advantage that was seen to accrue to a division created from units from 26 different states was that the War Department could select the commanders and the higher ranking officers of the division, whereas units from a single state would already possess their own commanders. Major Douglas MacArthur presented the plan to the Secretary of War; it was received positively, and it was swiftly approved. ²³

The flamboyant MacArthur wanted to command the new division. After campaigning vigorously for the job, he was named the new Chief of Staff of the Division and was given the rank of Colonel. At a news conference later, Colonel MacArthur described the unit by saying, “The 42nd Division stretches like a Rainbow from one end of America to the other.” The comment caught the attention and interest of those present, and the 42nd Division had the nickname by which it is best known – the Rainbow Division. ²⁴

Building the new American army that was to fight in France was a monumental task. The U.S. Army had no recent experience with large tactical units, and the War Department had only 213,557 troops available on April 6, 1917, including 80,446 National Guardsmen. The largest active unit was a regiment. ²⁵ Initially, four divisions could be formed and shipped to France, including one, the 1st, composed of regulars with a leavening of wartime volunteers, one, the 2nd, largely made up of regular army soldiers with some United States Marines, and two National Guard divisions, the 26th (Yankee) and 42nd (Rainbow) Divisions.

The same problems that existed for the U.S. Army as a whole existed for each of the new divisions. The first commander of the Rainbow Division was Major General William A. Mann. ²⁶ In early August, Mann realized that creating a division of more than 28,000 men might be easy to do on paper, but it was another matter to form the unit and train it for battle. Within a month, the order went out to the various units that were to compose the Rainbow Division to move from their respective camps to Camp Mills, New York, where their training as a division would begin. ²⁷ The division was constructed around four infantry regiments from New York, Ohio, Alabama, and Iowa. Units from other states provided additional infantry, machine gunners, trench mortars, artillerymen, ambulance drivers, field hospital workers, military police, engineers, signalmen, sanitary units, and ammunition transport and supply train troops.

Fond du Lac’s Company E combined with Oshkosh’s Company F and Appleton’s Company G to form the 150th Machine Gun Battalion, As Wisconsin’s contribution to the Rainbow Division, these troops were redesignated Companies A (Appleton), B (Fond du Lac’s Company E), and C (Oshokosh). In early September, the soldiers from these three companies were told to pack their belongings; in preparation to leave Camp Douglass, Wisconsin and head to Camp Mills, where they were to join the Rainbow Division. ²⁸ The train carrying Company C and the Battalion Headquarters departed from Camp Douglass on September 3, 1917, at 3:50 p.m., while an hour later the companies from Fond du Lac and Appleton departed on a second train.

The soldiers found Camp Mills windy, dusty, and cold. Upon arrival their arrival on September 5, the men of Company E learned that their training time at Camp Mills was to be short. General John J. Pershing wanted to get troops to France as soon as possible in order to show the world that America’s commitment to the war effort was sincere. ²⁹ By September 13, the last of the units comprising the division had arrived at Camp Mills.

The training the soldiers received at Camp Mills concentrated on three directives handed down from Colonel MacArthur. The first priority was to create discipline and unit cohesion. The second directive emphasized physical fitness, and the third was to “learn the school of the soldier,” which included lessons in drill, personal, hygiene, and maintenance of personal combat gear. This training was just the first component of what the men would learn in France. Once across the ocean, the men received more detailed training under French tutors with combat experience on the Western Front who could prepare them for fighting in the trenches. ³⁰ The role of the machine gunners was to use their rapid-firing weapons to provide fire support for the infantry on both defense and offense.

Standard equipment for American machine gunners before the war was the Benet-Mercié machine gun of 1909, used against Pancho Villa in Mexico but so complex to load that it could not be operated at night. ³¹ Other models adopted only after the American entry into the war included Vickers-Maxim and water-cooled .30 caliber Browning Model 1917 machine guns. ³² Unfortunately, another weapon authorized for use was a French design, the Chauchat, “probably one of the crudest, most unreliable and cheaply made guns ever to come into service.” ³³ At first, American troops in France were leargely dependent on European weapons, and 37,864 of these inferior guns were purchased between December 1917 and April 1918, enough to equip eighteen divisions but in fact only enough for nine, because fully half of the weapons were useless and were thrown away by the troops upon issue as so much scrap metal. Later in the war, the United States manufactured large numbers of Vickers, Lewis and Browning medium and light machine guns and automatic rifles. Between July and September 1918, 27,270 of these weapons were produced each month, more than twice the production of France and nearly three times that of Britain. Unfortunately, these weapons did not arrive in Europe until the war was over, and the American units remained equipped with the inferior Chaucat. ³⁴ No comments about satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their weapons found their way into letters home written by the men of Company E.

A typical day six-day week for the men of Company E while at Camp Mills began at 5:30 a.m. and ended at 4:30 p.m. Lights out for enlisted men was at 9:45 p.m. Initially, there was an effort to give the men Saturday night and part of Sunday off, but the sense of urgency to train the troops won out. By the end of September, the members of the Rainbow Division had been toughened each week by several ten-mile marches with full gear. ³⁵

During the night of October 18, 1917, the 42nd Infantry Division left Camp Mills for ships berthed at Hoboken, New Jersey, New York City, and Montreal, Canada. Company E was assigned to the Hoboken dock. They left for France that night, while the troops sent to Montreal left October 31st, and the troops dispatched to New York left November 3rd. To reach the Hoboken dock, Company E first boarded a train for the outskirts of New York City. From there, the men were ferried to the Hoboken docks, where they quietly boarded the transport ships and stayed there until the sunset of that day. ³⁶

Upon arrival on board ship at Hoboken, the soldiers of Company E were fed and given “safe arrival cards.” These cards were to be sent home to relatives after their arrival in France. The soldiers and their families were given no information about the troops’ location or their destination. Company E, together with the 150th Machine Gun Battalion, boarded the S.S. Covington. Once aboard, the soldiers were sent below deck and were only allowed back topside when they were no longer in sight of land. Once at sea, they rotated watches, looking for enemy torpedoes or submarines. ³⁷

Along with the S.S. Covington, five other ships, the S.S. President Lincoln, the S.S. President Grant, the S.S. Tendaron, the S.S. Pastoris, and the S.S. Mallory, set sail that same morning. The convoy was escorted by the cruiser U.S.S. Seattle and two destroyers, and was later joined by a refitted captured German raider. ³⁸

In a letter to his wife, dated October 29, Captain A. R. Brunet, still on board the ship, told of the trip across the Atlantic. “The trip has been a wonderful one across the ocean. It gets kind of tiresome toward the last. The company boys are in the best of health and surely have stood the trip fine. There has been none of the men sick, and in regards to myself I have stood it most wonderfully.” ³⁹ He went on to describe what the men thought of the ships and what life is like on board the vessel,

It was a most wonderful sight to our men to see the large battleships. ⁴⁰ The members of Company E had never seen such large transports. We have our work as usual to do each day. We drill three hours a day. The work on the battleships is just as we had on the campgrounds. We rise at 5:30 and retire at 10:30. I am very proud of my Company E men for being so brave and doing their work as they should.

Another, perhaps more realistic, description of the trip across came from M.V. Marrow, of North Fond du Lac, in a letter written home:

Had regular rough water, so rough that we could get only a sandwich and coffee. I laughed more than I have since I left home to see the men trying to stand up and eat. The boat would roll and one fellow would grab another and they would start slipping and would catch on every on they could reach. By the time they got across the mess hall there would be all the way from one to fifty, some would fall down and slide, and so on. About the time they would all be in a pile, the boat would roll the other way, and back they would come. I wasn’t sea sick, but there were a large number who were very sick. One day it was so rough that the men could not set up the tables and gave us our regular meal in our mess kit. It was up to us to find a place to sit down. It was like a bunch of mad dogs when we got started for the mess hall.

His feeling about the trip over were best summed up in the last line of his letter, “I don’t want to make any more trips across, after I once get home.”

The 42nd Division landed at St. Nazaire, France, November 1, 1917, having successfully completed the first phase of its war career. Some divisional units debarked at Brest, France, and Liverpool, England. Upon landing, the troops of the 42nd were sent into training in the Toul sector at Vaucoulers, in Lorraine, where the task was to turn the National Guard units into a unified divisional fighting machine. ⁴¹

The men of Company E found themselves immersed in a foreign land and culture. Sergeant Leo Moquin wrote home to his family discussing the wonders of the French culture.

Probably you imagine that things are selling cheap here in French stores but please listen to what I have to say. They just about charge double the price to American soldiers. Candies, chocolates, and everything that contains sugar can’t be touched with a franc (20 cents) and it’s only with about five francs that you can get a smell or a look in.

Sergeant Moquin also noted that there were differences in terminology between the Americans and the French,

What the French people call a forest, we wouldn’t call a good sized grove in a farmer’s back yard. They always speak of going in the forest after firewood. I imagined at first that it was something large, but when I found that I could walk through in less than a half hour, I soon changed my mind.

And as for the French women Moquin wrote, “They can talk about the French girls, but they haven’t anything over the American girls, as much as I have seen of them.”

The men of Company E spent their time at Vaucoulers from November 1 to December 11 in relative comfort at, as indicated in a letter from Lloyd Roy. He wrote of the company, “I wish you could see our company now, for you would not recognize half of them, they are all so fat and healthy. My clothes are too small for me now. The work is easy, and we have lots of time to ourselves.” Soon, all this comfort would change as men faced the reality of the war.

On December 11, the division received an unexpected order to move to La Fauche area. Upon arrival, the division received a warning order that they were to begin movement farther south to Rolampont beginning on December 26. By Christmas Day, France had received a great deal of snow. The hilly roads were glazed with ice, the wind was high, and the temperature was well below zero. The men’s next march was to be a long one. ⁴²

In retrospect, many of the members of the division considered this march to be one of the most trying and arduous events they experienced. The troops took four days to cover about eight miles. After their intense physical training at Camp Mills, this march should have presented no great problem for the Division; however, the circumstances in France made the march hellish. The men of Company E marched along with their division through blinding snowstorms, in the severe cold, on roads that were deep with snow. The men made this march in the same uniforms that they had been wearing since their arrival in France, but now these uniforms were showing signs of wear. There were many men without overcoats, and gloves were rare. Most of the soldiers were not equipped with proper boots or with wool socks. ⁴³ In a letter to his wife, Captain A. R. Brunette relayed the condition of some of the men on the march.

Because of the condition of their shoes, the feet of some of the soldiers had grown so sore that they could not wear any at all. Instead they wrapped them in burlap and rags and marched on the sharp icy roads with their heavy packs. Their condition was unbelievable…There was not a sufficient number of ambulances to pick up the stragglers, and for days they wandered along the roads, trying to catch up with their outfits.

The march was summed up by one soldier, limping along with his feet in rags, slipping and sliding under the weight of his pack, who commented; “Valley Forge – Hell! There ain’t no such animal.” ⁴⁴

The troops arrived at their new home, Rolampont, in January 20. In its new area, the division was spread out over a large territory consisting of small, scattered towns. This was to be the last stop before the division was moved up to the front line. The men worked with two battal ions of the 32nd French regiment to prepare themselves for combat. They learned the basics of trench warfare and took grenade and range practice. ⁴⁵

While the experienced French soldiers had a hand in training the Americans, it was Pershing’s directive that Americans maintain control over the direction of the training. In instructions sent to the 42nd Division, Pershing state, “The training of American troops must remain in the hands of American officers. Neither the French officers furnished to your division nor the French battalion commanders will be permitted by you to dictate methods of training.” ⁴⁶

Here, some notice must be taken of the role censors played in the letters being sent home by the men of Company E and the Rainbow Division. After the arduous journey that they men had just completed, Sergeant Leo Moquin was only allowed to pass on minimal information to his family at home. He glossed over the whole experience by saying; “We’ve changed stations since I wrote you folks last. Our company is scattered all over the village on the sides of hills.” All letters were forbidden to give away the location of the soldiers and were all marked “Somewhere in France.” Moquin also acknowledged this in his letter saying that, “Your son is getting to be a real soldier ‘somewhere in France’.”

An even more extreme example of the censor’s powers was in an excerpt from a letter written by another member of Company E, Ralph Bender. “The (censored) are worst of all, so the next time you are downtown buy a few pounds of (censored) and ship it over for it is impossible to get anything so as you can get rid of them over here.”

As members of Company E prepared for their inevitable trip to the front, it was obvious that they were experiencing conflicting emotions. A letter written by Benjamin Gerred stated that, “We are satisfied to the man and are training hard as we know we have a man sized job ahead of us, and we will all be there and fit for the job to. We are all anxious to get in and get a few Fritzes.” In the very next sentence of his letter, after showing just how eager his is to get a short at “the Kaiser,” he made a statement that summarized how all the men must have felt, “I am like a baseball player on third base, thinking of nothing but home.”

The soldiers had good reason to be homesick. Lieutenant Colonel D.D. Fairchild of the Medical Corps reported that over 80 percent of the men he saw had lice, and one-fourth of all the troops drilling had worn-out shoes, with rips and holes that let in the mud, wet, and cold. In response to Fairchild’s report, a number of new policies were introduced. The soldiers were to receive a shower every four days and there was to be time set aside every day for hygiene and foot care. ⁴⁷

Despite the harsh conditions they endured, the prevailing message, repeated over and over in the letters written by the men of Company E, was the sentiment that they wanted to get their shot at the Germans. Reginald Kilp, a member of Company E, wrote, “The old Co. E boys claim they are anxious to see how many “Boche’ they are capable of getting with their machine guns.” Typically statements of this “go out and get them” attitude soon were followed with statements of how much the men miss Fond du Lac, the people there, and their families. Almost all the letters home end with the observation that, more than anything, the men wanted mail.

Hugh M. Flannagan, a Lieutenant with Company E, wrote home to his mother frequently. As a Lieutenant, it was often his job to censor the mail written by his men. He testifies to the troop’s desire for letters from home:

There is something that runs through all of the letters [written by the men] and that is ‘write often.’ If there is one thing a soldiers enjoys more than getting mail, I don’t know what it is. The majority of men are 18-22 years old, most have never been away from home before in their lives. They get lonely and homesick, they get that ‘don’t give a darn’ in what happens in their looks and manner. It sure wonderful what a letter from home will do for these men.

While the members of Company E waited for their turn in the trenches, they had time to observe French life. As Reginald Kilp wrote,

There are many interesting sights and peculiarities of the French people, especially their ways of living. Wine is served with every meal. The women here are capable of doing work that some men in the states could not think of doing. This is the truth. Every morning you may see them traveling to town with a big basket strapped on their backs and later returning with it full of articles that are needed for existence.

The arrival of new uniforms and supplies signaled that the Rainbow infantry and the machine gunners would soon be on the front line. Rumors flew throughout Rolampont that the Americans would not occupy their own sector as Pershing wanted, but instead they would be divided between the British and the French.⁴⁸

The Rainbow Division, including Company E, was to move from its base in Rolampont to Luneville, approximately 100 miles away. The plan was to place one regiment with each division of the French VII Corps, then holding a sixteen-mile front. In a tremendous change of policy, American commanders were told that they would not be commanding their troops as originally ordered and emphasized by Pershing. The new order, issued February 15 by Major General Hunter Liggett stated:

The French commanders have been requested to require of you and your subordinates the actual preparation of order, but IN NO CASE will you or your brigade commanders give tactical orders or instructions DIRECT while serving with the French with whom rests in its entirety the responsibility for the tactical command. ⁴⁹

This new order was issued for two reasons. One reason is obvious: the French had more than three years’ experience fighting in the trenches. A second reason may have been that Pershing knew that men Like MacArthur wanted a chance to prove themselves in combat as leaders, and ambition might interfere with judgment for untried leaders. For a regular army soldier, decoration could lead to promotion and to a higher command. For these reasons, command was left to the French. ⁵⁰ But the order was clearly intended only to cover the period of initial training, for General Pershing consistently and fiercely resisted French and British proposals that his new army be utilized to reinforce existing French and British units in the line under their command. His view was that the new American Army must fight as a unit, under American commanders. ⁵¹

For the troops, the shift to the more active sector of the Western Front near Luneville resulted in more basic concerns. They wondered what it would be like in the trenches, what it would be like to face the Germans, and whether they would come out of the fighting alive?

Nevertheless, for Company E and the rest of the Rainbow Division, their arrival in Luneville was a welcome change of pace from life in Rolampont. The men had free time in the evening. As Corporal Guy Gross wrote to his brother;

For the first time we took a regular, old-fashioned interest in life again. We went to picture shows and restaurants. Some of us promenaded dumbly up and down with French girls. Some of us became engaged, we encountered our first ladies of the night since landing in France, and some of us had an introduction to sex with a capital S.

Reginald Kilp also wrote home about life in Luneville; however, he had a more chaste version of a soldier’s life in France that he relayed to his mother.

I have heard from different sources that the people in the states are worrying about the morals of the boys. I, myself, was under the impression when I was still in the states that France offered many temptations for the Sammies. This is not so now as the head of our army, General Pershing, has protected the boys from all these places. The American soldier can’t get anything to drink except a light wine and beer, which is more like flavored water. Another thing he can’t go into houses of ill fame. At all these places sentries are stationed to see that orders are enforced. The American soldier is subject to court martial if he disobeys these laws. The French people respect and fear the laws so they will not take any chances by breaking the orders. I firmly believe that Sammy is better morally in France than in the states.

One may only surmise which of these views more accurately reflected the reality of life for the American troops who had arrived in a foreign country for the first time and, for many of them, had their first taste of an unfamiliar culture.

On February 18, 1918, Company E was at last ordered to the front line where they would enter the trenches. Under the tutelage of four French divisions, the neophyte troops received careful and sound instruction in the details of their new life on ‘the line’ and in the trenches. ⁵² Life in the trenches for the soldiers of the company was a revelation. In a letter to his brother, Private Charles Willet observed,

We are at present in the trenches and it sure is some place. It keeps you busy ducking around out of the way of shrapnel as it is flying all the time. We have a good place to sleep in, it is called a dug out and is from thirty to sixty feet under the ground with all modern improvements, even to running water. There are five of us in one hole and last night we were awakened by a loud noise. By the way, the rats over here are the size of a big cat at home. One of these fell into the water and that was what woke us up.

Another description of the way in which the men viewed their life in the trenches came from George Gerred. He wrote from ‘Hotel de Dugout’,

It is damp and cold here in the dugout and the sun is shining, so I guess I will hit [sic] for the trenches or ‘No Man’s Land’. Well, the Huns just started a bombardment, so I had to duck into the trenches. It is pretty unhandy writing here, but they will quit in a minute so I can crawl out back into the sun. Damn the Boches, won’t even let a fellow write a letter, just tried to crawl out and a snipe [sic] took a shot at me. If I were to stand in one place ten minutes and let him snipe, the chances are I would not be any worse off than I am right now. They are certainly poor shots for being at it so long.

Gerred ends his letter with, “Well, don’t worry, as there is not much more danger here than there would be in Fondy on one of those ‘Lightless Nights’.”

In general, life in the trenches was extremely unpleasant. A young lieutenant from the 83rd Brigade, of which Company E was a part, recalled his first day on the front line.

As French intelligence was examining the body of a dead German soldier to find documents and to confirm the dead man’s unit for order of battle information, the young officer became so violently ill that he staggered back to the dugout where he was still overwhelmed by the smells of death, unwashed bodies, human excrement, rotting equipment, and spoiling food. ⁵³

Soon, the men would learn that the trenches were not as safe as Fondy. Rumors had begun to circulate that by March 21, the 42nd Division would be out of the Luneville trenches and would be sent to another quiet area to evaluate its performance and to begin training for its next combat experience. Pershing had decided that, after one month of practice with the French, the Rainbow Division would be sent back to Rolampont. But the events of March 21 forced the General to change his decision. ⁵⁴

Company E had the unfortunate distinction of being in the trenches on March 21, 1918, the date the Germans launched their major spring offensive designed to end the war. The collapse of Russia late in 1917 had permitted the Germans to shift a million soldiers from the Eastern Front to France, and this now gave the Germans numerical superiority in that theater for the first time since 1914. General Ludendorff planned a rapid series of attacks that would use rapid bombardments, extensive employment of poison gas, and new infiltration tactics to break through the Allied lines drive the British back to the sea, capture Paris, and bring the war to an end before, he believed, the Americans could intervene effectively. ⁵⁵

Every soldier was needed to stop the Germans, who had broken through the British lines, and this included the small number of American divisions that had arrived in France. For the first time, on March 21, although it fortunately was not in the path of the great German offensive, Company E was hit with a mustard gas attack. Favored by an ideal breeze blowing across the front, mustard and chlorine gas disabled entire units. Most of the Company E casualties resulted from exposure to the chemical agents. ⁵⁶

Corporal T. Edward Sullivan related his first hand account of that gas attack.

On the evening of March 21st a detail[,] of which I was one, was dispatched to secure some equipment some distance from our quarters. The objective point was reached O.K. At that we could see the ill-fated country from our quarters. On our return enemy gas shells were heard falling to our rear[,] gradually they crept closer to us, until we were caught in the very midst of the dandiest barrage of gas shells and shrapnel you ever heard of. Sergt. [sic] Moquin and I took care of a wounded soldier, a member of another company, dressed his wounds the best we knew how in the growing darkness, while shells were exploding about us. It seemed as if they would curl themselves about your neck, in and out of your legs and then break right at your feet. The three of us were separated from the rest of the detail, every man for himself in a case like that. We had adjusted our gas masks when the gas was first noticed. How we prayed that we might be saved, all this time the shell fire continued after throwing up dirt over us. Our wounded companion, although his wound was a ragged tear just below the knee, was a plucky lad, never uttered one word of complaint, while we were carrying him and you can easily imagine how ruggedly that was. I gave him the cross that was attached to my rosary. After a time, about an hour and a half, the enemy tired of shelling our position. Sergeant [sic] Leo Moquin and I hurried our new friend into a passing ambulance on its way to a camp hospital. I have heard from time to time that he is doing fine.

Another account of the gas attack came from Corporal Guy Cross in a letter dated March 31.

I was gassed while at the front. At about 5:30 o’clock one night the first part of last week, the Germans started shelling us pretty heavy with gas shells, and kept it up continually until 9:00 o’clock. We wore our gas masks all through the bombardment, but as they are tiresome things to wear, we removed them shortly afterward. It had rained somewhat during the day and the ground was damp which has a great tendency to hold the gases. There were a couple of Frenchman in the dugout who said they didn’t think there was enough gas to hurt anything, but it turned out they were badly mistaken, they were gassed too. We got orders about midnight to leave our positions which we did at once, moving about a mile away where we laid by the roadside until morning. I couldn’t rest as my eyes were commenced to smart something fierce and by morning I was as blind as a bat and had to be led to the auto that took us to the hospital. I was unable to see at all for four days but can see almost as good as ever now, thanks to our Red Cross Nurses. My face and the lower part of my body is burned somewhat but is coming along dandy. About sixty of the boys of old Company E were gassed.

After spending a month in the trenches under French tutelage, Company E had learned several lessons. They learned how to live in a combat environment where everyday tasks were performed accompanied by the threat of death. They learned to trust each other, and they learned to help each other. That was the only way to survive in the trenches. ⁵⁷ At the same time, they had not lost the enthusiasm and naive exuberance that made them so attractive to both the British and French as potential replacements for the depleted and cynical ranks of armies that had been fighting in the trenches for more than three years.⁵⁸

On March 23, the day after the gas attack that crippled Company E, along with other companies of the division, General MacArthur gave the order that the troops were to have four days to rest to clean their equipment and to prepare to move to the Baccarat Area. ⁵⁹ Baccarat was considered to be a quiet sector, as had been Luneville, but the difference was that Baccarat was to be turned over to the Americans completely. No longer would the soldiers have the benefit of the experienced French soldiers to guide them. The men of Company E and the Rainbow Division would not receive the additional training that had originally been planned. The 42nd Division would not leave the line for anything, except for an occasional rest and refitting, until the end of the war. ⁶⁰

The march from Luneville to Baccarat was much easier on the men than the previous march from Rolampont to Luneville. They had only spring rains to deal with instead of the blustering cold and inadequate clothing of the previous December. ⁶¹

The 42nd Division took over the sector of Baccarat on April 1, 1918, relieving the 128th French Division. From this point on, the employment of the 42nd Division was controlled by the developments on the Western Front. The German attack on March 21 had been powerful enough that the VIIth French Corps had to shift its strength elsewhere, forcing the 42nd to hold its own sector without French support earlier than had been planned. ⁶²

By now the Rainbow Division, a typical double-strength American division, had been divided into two self-contained fighting units, the 83rd Brigade and the 84th Brigade. The 83rd Brigade, of which Company E was a part, was headquartered in the town of Merviller, while the 84th Brigade was headquartered in the town of Neufmaison. ⁶³ The front covered by these two brigades was 16 kilometers long and had, except for the previous month, been quiet ever since the Germans had overrun it in the first hours of the war, only to be driven back by the French. It consisted of numerous small towns and villages, as well as the larger towns of Badonviller and Baccarat. The sector was considered the hinge for the entire Alsatian front, for if held by the Germans, the main line of supplies to Alsace would be cut off. ⁶⁴

As the Rainbow Division got settled into the trenches at Baccarat, a system for rotation of troops was set up. The rotation was based on an eight-day cycle, with a full rotation of troops being completed every twenty-four days. This meant that Company E spent sixteen days buried in the trenches and then enjoyed eight days rest in the rear of the trenches. During their eight days in the rear, the soldiers were allowed to go into the local towns for a break from trench life. Most men used their leave to visit the city of Baccarat or the large town of Bardonviller. These towns had changed during the war. Once beautiful tourist towns, they now were overrun with cheap bars and prostitutes. While they were posted to the Baccarat Sector, venereal disease rates among the men increased, according to Wisconsin National Guard physician James Frew. ⁶⁵

The men of Company E found time in their new home of Baccarat to digest all that had happened to them since they first entered the trenches in February. Lieutenant John Smith wrote a letter home dated April 3, 1918 that spoke volumes as to the mindset of the company.

We have only just come out of our first time in the trenches. Of course, we consider ourselves veterans now, but still realize that there is much to learn. It is a big game, and a man’s game all of the way through. There is a heap of personal satisfaction in knowing that I have the stuff in me to go through with it. There is always a doubt in a fellow’s mind just how he will act the first time in, and when he finds out that he isn’t killed unless he is hit, and that it doesn’t seem to make much difference anyway, it makes him feel pretty good to know that instead of dreading the next time he is actually looking forward to it. Nevertheless, they can stop this little old war any time that they want to as far as we are concerned, but the longer we stay the more we learn and the more we learn is going to make it just that much rougher for Bill [Kaiser Wilhelm] and that is just what we want. Unless he lies down like a yellow dog, he is going to get one grand trimming and I am glad that I am here to help do it.

Lester Ormsby, a bugler in the company also echoed the sentiment found in Lieutenant Smith’s letter, about the company “looking forward to” being in the trenches.

We are not in the trenches at present but expect to be shortly. It is very common to go to the trenches now, as we are quite used to it. The first time we went in it was sort of hard for us, but since then everything is different. You may think I’m strange, but I tell you I would rather be in the trenches than out, but it is a fact and most of the boys feel the same about it. Of course, it is nice to be out of them for a short time to realize what life is, but you are always looking for the day when you will get back and give it to the enemy. The sooner we do that the sooner we will get back home where life is worth living.

Ormsby’s letter also acknowledged that however they felt about life in the trenches, what these soldiers wanted more than anything else was to be at home with their families.

In the second part of his letter, Ormsby went on to describe ‘No Man’s Land,’ what the soldiers called the land between Allied and German trenches.In the second part of his letter, Ormsby went on to describe ‘No Man’s Land,’ what the soldiers called the land between Allied and German trenches.

From our front line trenches you can look across No Man’s Land and see the barbed wire entanglements and the German Front lines. Believe me it does look fierce. The big American guns have blown everything to pieces in the German lines. Where there were woods it is now all clear as though a knife had cut them down.

Private Lyle Harris also sent home an account of what is was like to look out from the trenches into this area.

Let me try to give you a little description of No Man’s Land. Between the two trenches there is just about six hundred billion rolls of barbed wire while the ground looks as though someone had started to dig basements for houses or walls. There might be a tree or bush where the Germans do their sniping.

On a morning in early May, the Germans let loose another gas attack on Company E. This time they used a projector that hurled gas-filled bombs at the soldiers. The fumes from the bombs turned the leaves of the trees white. The gas barrage was so intense that when one landed near a soldier, the explosion blew his mask off, and he suffocated. ⁶⁶

Lieutenant van Dolsen, a surgeon with the 83rd Brigade, later said that nothing in medical school or at Luneville had trained him to operate on wounded soldiers whose clothes and skin were so covered with gas that he had to wear a gas mask while operating. The Rainbow Division suffered many losses that day, nearly a hundred men who were killed outright from the projector assault. ⁶⁷

Company E suffered a disproportionately high rate of loss in this attack. A letter from Private George Duwe addressed this loss of life.

I suppose when the news came to Fondy about our losses in the company that the people nearly went mad. Well we were in luck not to have more. The boys received a bunch of names in the papers listed as seriously wounded. They had a little hard luck, but we will have all of them back, except those whom the Lord has called.

And with all of the wisdom of a seasoned veteran of war, Duwe ended his letter with, “It is all in the game you know. As long as a fellow does right he has no reason to fear death.”

As the Germans increased their gas attacks, it became vital for the Rainbow Division staff to do something to protect their men in the trenches. Once the soldiers left the first two lines of the trenches, they had a tendency not to wear their gas masks. To counter this action, the order was handed down that all members of the division must carry their gas masks at all times, and that shaving was to be required everyday, except for a mustache, because facial hair prevented the mask from sealing tightly to the face. The soldiers of the Rainbow Division were required to deploy the masks in “alert position,” which meant that they hung from the neck and rested on the chest. ⁶⁸

In June 1918 rumors began to fly that the 42nd Division was to be relieved by the 77th Division. By this time the situation on the sectors where the 42nd Division had operated since February, first at Luneville and then at Baccarat, had become quiet. The quiet proved to be a source of restlessness for soldiers of the Division, and many men hoped that they would be transferred to another front. Soon the men got their wish. After four months in the front lines, the longest unbroken period of time spent in the trenches by any American Division, the 42nd left the trenches of Baccarat to the 77th. Only two American Divisions spent more time in Europe than the Rainbow Division: the 1st Division, nicknamed the “Big Red One,” and the National Guard’s 26th, “Yankee” Division. ⁶⁹ The time the troops spent at Baccarat had been long and trying, but as they marched toward a new battlefield they felt, according to General MacArthur, like “first-class combat troops.” ⁷⁰

Company E accompanied the rest of the Rainbow Division in the movement from Baccarat to the Champagne front. The troops were able to make the four-day march through French country that was untouched by the war. ⁷¹ It was June now, and Company E, along with the rest of the Rainbow Division, were experienced fighters.

The mission of the 42nd Division in Champagne was to be a defensive one. The French commander in charge was General Henri Gouraud, a one-armed general with a bushy beard. The Rainbow Division’s first impression of General Gouraud was not favorable. Upon hearing that his reinforcements had arrived in Champagne, Gouraud and his driver immediately left their headquarters and raced to the division’s position. Rounding a corner, Gouraud’s car hit something. Gouraud had found the Rainbow Division and had hit the first soldier that he came across. Gouraud was quoted as saying, after the incident, “This is a fine kettle of fish. General Pershing assigns me to the Rainbow Division for reinforcements, and voilá, the first man to fall is knocked senseless by my own automobile.” ⁷² Despite his first meeting with the soldiers of the 42nd, Gouraud and the American troops took a liking to each other. The Rainbow Division was the only American division to fight in General Gouraud’s army. ⁷³

The Rainbow Division expected to remain on the defensive in Champagne. Gouraud believed that the Germans would strike Champagne, with their primary objective the city of Chalons. Once Chalon was taken, the Germans could then launch a full-scale attack toward the city of Paris. Gouraud told MacArthur that he had no intention of allowing this, even if every French soldier and American soldier under his command perished. ⁷⁴

Gouraud assigned the Rainbow Division to the 21st Army Corps under General Pierre Naulin. Gouraud’s battle plan called for the front line trenches to be abandoned, except for a few platoons of French soldiers who would stay to deceive the Germans into believing that the trenches were occupied. This trench was known as the sacrificial trench. The Germans would then fire their first artillery shells into the nearly empty trenches. As the Germans advanced beyond the sacrificial trench, they would pass through a minefield and razor wire and into the first line of trenches, where infantry supported by artillery would be waiting. Behind the sacrificial trench and the first trench was the second trench, and that was where the Rainbow Division was stationed. ⁷⁵

The 42nd had its own battle plan for holding their area. The two brigades, with the 83rd to the left and the 84th to the right, each held equal sections of ground. Company E as part of the 83rd brigade and the 150th machine gun battalion, had a tremendously important part to play in the defense. Their orders were to support three battalions, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 165th and the 3rd Battalion of Ohio’s 166th, with machine gun fire. ⁷⁶

As the armies waited for the German attack, General Gouraud’s orders were simple, as seen in his July 7th address to the French and American soldiers:

We may be attacked at any moment. You all know that a defensive battle was never engaged under more favorable conditions. We are awake and on our guard. You will fight on a terrain that you have transformed by your work and your perseverance into a redoubtable fortress. The bombardment will be terrible. You will stand without weakness. The assault will be fierce, in a cloud of smoke, dust and gas. But your positions and your armament are formidable. In your breasts beat the brave and strong hearts of free men. None shall look to the rear; none shall yield a step. Each shall have but on thought: to kill a-plenty, until they have had their fill. Therefore, your General says to you: You will break this assault and it will be a happy day. ⁷⁷

For an entire week, the suspense of the impending attack continued. Finally, on July 14th, the Rainbow Division, including Company E, received the telephone call with the signal FRANÇOIS 570. This signal meant that a general German attack on a wide front was expected to begin, and all troops were ordered to take their battle stations. The alert went out, and the soldiers prepared for the fight. Members of Company E checked their guns and their ammunition again to make sure that, when the assault came, they would be ready. ⁷⁸

A few minutes after midnight on July 15th, the Germans attacked. They let loose explosives and gas, but, luckily, most of it fell into the lightly-held sacrificial trench, just as planned. ⁷⁹ The bombardment lasted until dawn, and then fell off considerably. The German infantry, mainly Prussians, advanced toward the sacrificial trench, where some of the French who had occupied it as decoys were still alive. The Germans crossed the trench and advanced directly into the minefield where they were met by fire from the soldiers in the first trench. Seven waves of Germans hit the second line, and each time the Americans and the French threw them back. By late afternoon, the German tide had receded, and the American and French troops moved into the sacrificial trench. But the fighting was not over. ⁸⁰

During the evening, the French learned from German prisoners and from captured documents that there was to be another assault the following day, July 16th. From these documents and prisoners, the Allies also learned the exact time of the next attack, 4:00 a.m. Armed with this information, they prepared to counter the German attack. ⁸¹

Beginning at 4:15, the French and American divisions fired their artillery at the German lines. Despite the barrage, the Germans moved forward in wave after wave. Recoiling from the defense, the Germans tried to work around the points of major resistance, but they were denied. Each time they launched another assault there was less and less effort and energy put into it. ⁸² It became obvious that the Germans had spent their force in the previous day. After ten hours, the infantry attacks died out, and the two-day Battle of Champagne was at an end. Company E and the rest of the Rainbow Division had helped to deal the Germans a powerful blow. ⁸³

The win wasn’t without cost. Sixteen hundred Rainbow soldiers were either killed or wounded in the battle for what became known as “Lousy Champagne,” lousy because of all the casualties suffered by the Division. The 150th Machine Gun Battalion lost several men, although none from Fond du Lac was killed. In a display of heroic courage, as reported by James Frew, the Battalion’s doctor, Private Walter Melchoir of the 150th Machine Gun Battalion, after seeing his machine gun destroyed and his friends all dead or wounded grabbed a rifle and rushed to a company of the 165th to fight as an infantryman. He did not survive the battle. ⁸⁴

In describing the Battle of Champagne, Private Myron Hammer wrote,

That was the battle in which we met the Prussian Guards. They were the best the Kaiser had. The French were in front of us and if they were unable to hold, they were to fall back. When we saw the French uniforms coming back, we thought they were the French retreating and it was not until they were almost in the trenches that we recognized them as the Huns. They were good fighters, but we piled them up.

On July 18 the 42nd began to leave the line. The members of E Company came out of the Champagne defensive with a new sense of confidence, a healthy relationship with the French, and with a renewed hatred of the Germans. As alluded to in Private Hammer’s letter, some of this new hatred resulted from the Germans having approached the American lines dressed in French uniforms that they had taken from the dead in the sacrificial trench. ⁸⁵

The 42nd said goodbye to General Gouraud and listened to rumors that they were to spend some time resting before being sent to another front. While the troops enjoyed

The Western Front, July 15, 1918

their well-deserved rest, on July 18 the first of the great Allied offensives of 1918 had begun. The order came on July 20 that the 42nd was to join the French 6th Army for operations on the Marne. The Division was headed for Chateau Thierry where they had heard stories that the Yankee Division was “being bled to death.” ⁸⁶

Company E and the Rainbow Division had gained experience and had only received light casualties fighting in Luneville and Baccarat, but their numbers had been considerably depleted in the fighting at Champagne, but now they had to brace themselves to face what General MacArthur later called, “six of the bitterest days and nights of the war for the Rainbow.” ⁸⁷

By late July 1918, the German offensives on the Western Front had died out. The Allied counterattack was on its way. The French and Americans soon cut the Soissons-Chateau Thierry road, which was the main German supply route. As the Germans began to withdraw, they left some troops behind in old farmhouses that had been turned into heavily armed forts that had to be taken one by one. The 42nd was stationed in an area that was covered with these large farms, woods, open fields, small towns, with the Ourcq River running through it. This was a different world of fighting for men of the Rainbow Division who were used to fighting defensive battles in the trenches. ⁸⁸ For the first time, Company E would be fighting in an open area and engaged in offensive warfare.

The operation of the Rainbow Division was again divided into two, with each brigade, the 84th and 83rd, relieving different troops. Company E’s brigade had replaced the 170th Infantry Regiment of the French 167th Division. That division was a familiar one, having fought with the 42nd at Luneville. ⁸⁹

While the 84th Brigade was involved in heavy fighting at the Croix Rouge Farm and in taking the city of Sergy, Company E and the rest of the 83rd Brigade received their orders to take the Meurcy Farm, less than a mile from the Ourcq River. ⁹⁰

Both the 84th and the 83rd brigades suffered tremendous casualties taking these two farms and the city of Sergy. Realizing the seriousness of the manpower situation within the 42nd, the Division soon received two battalions of reinforcements from the 4th Infantry Division to bolster their numbers for their next offensive. ⁹¹

The Rainbow Division formed up again as a whole in the city of Sergy, just east of the Ourcq River. Early in the morning of July 29, the Germans counterattacked Sergy and drove the 42nd back to the river. At 8:30 a.m., the Rainbow Division counter-attacked and retook the city of Sergy. That was not the only success the Rainbow had that day. By the end of the day the division had finally taken the towns that overlooked the Ourcq River. There was no time to celebrate, for beyond their position, the division could see a set of new obstacles, the Foret de Nesles and two stone farmhouses, well fortified by German troops. ⁹²

The machine gunners of the division were sent to lay heavy fire upon these three objectives. In this drive, the 150th Machine Gun Battalion, of which Company E was a part, was in continuous action for eight days. During those eight days, the 150th attacked skillfully prepared positions. They also captured great stores of arms and ammunition. They succeeded in driving the enemy back over 15 kilometers. This drive won the 150th the distinction of being one of the best machine gun battalions of the American Expeditionary Force. ⁹³

Lester Ormsby wrote an account of the experiences of Company E during the offensive of Chateau Thierry.

We have been chasing the Germans pretty hard of late. I don’t think this war can last very much longer from the way they are falling back. Every time we go in, there is a big number killed and if it keeps on as it is there won’t be any more of them. At any rate, we are driving them back to beat the band and if they don’t soon give up there won’t be any more Germany. We have been so close behind the Germans while they are retreating that half of them were falling over themselves either from getting shot or falling over their own feet, they were making them go so fast. I guess that sounds good doesn’t it? We have been in towns that the Germans had been occupying only a few moments before we arrived. The Huns had gone so quickly that they left pretty nearly everything they had. The Americans made quick work of it, eating everything that the Huns had left in their canteens and stores. Nearly all of the boys have German souvenirs. I have a German cap which I intend to send you the first change I get. Also have an officer’s sword but that I will keep as long as I can’t send it.

Early in the morning of August 4, General Menoher of the 42nd Division wrote to request that the Rainbow be sent “to a rest area in order to recuperate, reconstitute, reequip, and amalgamate the replacements it is to receive.” The division desperately needed this rest. Six thousand men in the division, nearly a quarter of its effective strength, had been lost during this battle, compared with the 2,000 previously lost in Champagne. Menoher’s request was granted, and the 77th Infantry Division was soon on its way to relieve the beaten-up Rainbow Division. In his letter Menoher requested that the Division be granted four to six weeks of rest. This was not possible, because plans were already being made for the St. Mihiel offensive, which would require the participation of the 42nd.⁹⁴

St. Mihiel represented the first coordinated offensive operations by the independent American Army that General “Black Jack” Pershing had fought so long to maintain in the face of British and French efforts to incorporate his men piecemeal into their armies. ⁹⁵ Pershing’s plan was to attack both faces of the German salient.

September 12, 1918, found the 42nd in the heart of the St. Mihiel drive. At one o’clock on that day, a violent rainstorm broke over the land, and at almost the same moment, the preparatory artillery fire began. The battle proved to be quite a feat for the Allies. Tanks followed the soldiers across the barbed wire lines, but because of the heavy rainfall, the tanks had a hard time crossing the rough terrain of No Man’s Land. The Rainbow Division alone thrust forward on the line of the enemy until noon on September 13, at which time all of the Rainbow Division’s objectives had been taken. The St. Mihiel operation progressed so rapidly that the planners were surprised. In less than 29 hours, the Division had advanced 19 kilometers behind enemy lines, creating a new front. ⁹⁶ The Germans had been caught while evacuating the salient, and most of the German troops engaged were not first-rate. Nonetheless, as General Pershing noted, “The St. Mihiel victory probably did more than any single operation in the war to encourage the tired Allies.” ⁹⁷

Private J. K. Bragg wrote a letter describing Company E’s part in the St. Mihiel drive. His letter, dated September 17, began,

On the morning of (censored) our Division was given the fun of starting (censored) with orders to drive the Huns out of their first and second line positions. This we did in less than thirty-six hours. The drive began by our artillery firing on the German’s trenches, followed two hours later by a machine gun barrage by us and the rest of the divisional machine guns for about half an hour. The while our artillery was still banging away at the Huns we went over the top and at the Germans, we never stopped for anything but our wind, of course we had to duck a few shells but that is all in the fun. A great many Americans took place in the drive. In our catch we surrounded a big hill before the Huns could get out, making a whole division of Deutsch surrender – guns and all. I am going to send you a button that I took off a Hun that had the nerve to get in my way.

St. Mihiel did not see the same loss of life that the Rainbow experienced after Champagne. In fact, St. Mihiel was not costly in terms of casualties sustained by the 42nd Division. This battle was the first time that members of the Rainbow Division saw the beginning of a break in German morale. Members of the Division reported that the German soldiers, mostly just boys, simply surrendered without a fight. A member of the 42nd from Iowa reported that one night he saw someone whom he took to be a member of his company. He called out asking for a cigarette, and suddenly he had five German soldiers surrendering to him.⁹⁸

After a period of rest from September 16 to 30, Company E, along with the rest of the division, was transferred from St. Mihiel to the Argonne Forest. Genral Pershing had agreed to commit his American Army to an offensive in that area as part of Allied plans for a general offensive to bring the war to an end. Why Pershing had agreed to attack in the Argonne is unclear. The Germans had been in occupation of the area since 1914 and had turned a natural defensive postion into a labyrinth of steel, concrete, and barbed wire fortifications punctuated with carefully sited machine guns. And behind this front lay the Kriemhilde section of the Hindenburg Line. But since he had agreed to attack anywhere, so long as it was as a separate American Army, General Pershing had no real rejoinder, and perhaps assigning the Americans to this terrible sector was a final French revenge for Pershing’s earlier refusal to allow individual American regiments to fill depleted French ranks. ⁹⁹

The battle, which had been launched with almost breathtaking rapidity in planning, considering the months that had been required to get ready for the great offensives of 1916 and 1917, quickly bogged down into a disorganized series of small-unit actions, with staff work failing to maintain coordination among divisions. French General Pétain observed that “The Americans are good. Their soldiers have great dash, but the whole organization is clumsy.” ¹⁰⁰ The Americans quickly lost the advantage of overwhelming numerical superiority in the tangle of lanes, trenches, and strong points. Encouraged by Pershing, individual divisions competed to be the first to reach Sedan, producing farce in the midst of tragedy when soldiers of the U.S. 1st Division took the commander of the Rainbow Division prisoner! ¹⁰¹ Company E was in the thick of the fighting in this region from the end September until the Armistice was signed and hostilities ended on November 11, 1918. ¹⁰²

Corporal Ralph Granger was one of the members of Company E who was reported missing action during the Rainbow’s drive in the Argonne Forest, but his case had a happy outcome. He wrote to tell his parents about the chain of events in the forest that day that led to him being reported missing.

It was the second morning we were advancing, during the drive in the Argonne, and had gone about 500 yards with the machine gun fire so heavy we were given orders to get in shell holes, of which there were plenty. I lay there for twelve hours and the Huns were planting them in as thick as hair on a dog’s back. I got enough gas that day to bake a dozen pies. When it got dark I crawled out, the company had been relieved and a couple of fellows took me down to the first aid station where they gave me some stuff for the gas. I couldn’t find out where the company was located so I stayed around the town all night. The next day about 2 or 3 o’clock I found the company.

During the final drive, the Division was subjected to heavy enemy fire as it approached Sedan, which the Germans had to hold at all costs, as its rail lines dominated the supply line for much of the front. The Germans held on to the last, quitting only when the Allied troops got to the town line. The Rainbow Division pushed up to the outskirts of the town and then gave way to French troops. A French Division took the lead and occupied the town as the 42nd started back toward a rest area. On the march to the rest area, they heard the news of the Armistice. ¹⁰³

News that should have been received with joy was instead met initially with skepticism, for the men had fallen victim to unfounded rumors of peace before, But that night, when they saw unprotected fires in the open fields, something never before allowed, they finally realized the truth of the report. ¹⁰⁴ In a letter home, Lieutenant Vogt of Company E wrote about the reaction the soldiers had upon learning of peace. “The boys were too tired to celebrate on Armistice Day. They had more concern about sleep than celebrating. We rested for a few days in an open field, all the buildings in the area having been leveled by the big guns.”

The Rainbow Division was chosen to enter Germany as part of the army of occupation. The troops began their march into Germany by crossing through Belgium on November 21, into Luxemburg on November 23, and then finally marched into Germany on December 3. ¹⁰⁵ The soldiers of Company E were part of the Division that marched into Germany. Ben Gerred, a member of Company E, wrote a letter home from “Somewhere in Belgium” describing the way American soldiers were greeted by the Belgian people.

I wish that you could see the difference in the other people on this side. I suppose you have noticed the new headline. We crossed the line this morning with the band playing, the Belgian people waving flags and hollering, ‘Vive L’America’ we sure got a hearty welcome. My squad and I slept in a house with a Belgian family and they kept the light burning until 11 o’clock. The lady of the house told us that it was the longest she had had the light lit in four years. We were the first Americans in the town. They sure are a bunch of fine people and give the Americans great credit.

Gerred continued his letter the next day from ‘Somewhere in Luxemburg’.

We got in here last night. The people are O.K. A few of us are sleeping in a room which the family here used as a living room and it is a fine place. The man of the house tells us that the Boche soldiers did not mind going to the front so much but they didn’t want to fight opposite the American soldiers.

Gerred also expressed the sentiment that most of the soldiers of Company E serving in the army of occupation must have felt.

Thank Goodness the big show is over and as quick as they get things arranged we will be home with our feet under the table and eating a piece of mother’s home made pie. I don’t believe I will want to see any more of the world that I have seen and will see before I get home.

From December 15, 1918 until April 17, 1919, when they boarded the ship Pretoria and headed for home, Company E remained in the army of occupation in the Ahrweiler region of Germany, near Koblenz. During that time, two of its members died of pneumonia, probably due to the influenza epidemic. It had been nearly two years since the day when the boys of the company had left Fond du Lac to “make the world safe for democracy.” The soldiers of Company E proved that soldiers from Wisconsin were as loyal and brave as soldiers from any state in the Union. As part of the Rainbow Division, the soldiers of Company E had gained a remarkable reputation for gallantry, but at a terrific cost. No company from Wisconsin suffered more casualties than Company E. ¹⁰⁶ The soldiers were in action in the Luneville sector of Lorraine February 21-March 23, 1918, in Baccarat sector of Lorraine March 31-June 21, 1918, in Champagne July 4-July 17. 1918, in the Aisne-Marne Offensive September 12-16, 1918, the St. Mihiel Offensive September 12-16, 1918, at Woevre (Verdun) September 17-30, 1918, in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive October 7-November 1 and November 5-10, 1918, twelve major actions in all. It is their bravery which earned them the title, “The Pride of Fond du Lac.”

1 - Fond du Lac Daily Reporter, August 8, 1917. return

2 - The 150th Machine Gun Battalion “Roll of Honor,” an admittedly incomplete internet compilation of deaths in the unit, lists 87 members of the unit’s four companies as having been killed in action or died from wounds or disease. Of these individuals, 26 were members of company E. Company D (previously Company I, 4th Pennsylvania Infantry), a Reading Pennsylvania National Guard unit resassigned from the 149th Machine Gun Battalion to the 150th on March 16, 1918, also suffered 26 deaths. Company F (Oshkosh) lost 17 members, and Company G (Appleton) had 16 killed in action or died of wounds or disease. Statistics on members of the unit who were wounded are not available. See http://www.d-2-128.org/history/ww1/150mgbn (link no longer functioning 3/25/2008) return

3 - Robert Carrington Nesbit and William F. Thompson, Wisconsin: A History (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2nd Edition, 1990), 441. return

4 - See Barbara Tuchman, The Zimmermann Telegram, (New York: Ballantine Books, 1966). return

5 - Richard Nelson Current, Wisconsin, A Bicentennial History (New York: Norton Publishing, 1977). 54-55. return

6 - Nesbit and Thompson, 498. return

7 - Nesbit and Thompson, 499. return

8 - Nesbit and Thompson, 442. return

9 - Larry Gara, A Short History of Wisconsin (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin Press, 1962), 211-212. return

10 - Edwin J. Gross, “War Hysteria,” in The Badger State: A Documentary History of Wisconsin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns Publishing, 1979), 413-414. return

11 - Nesbit and Thompson, 447. return

12 - David H. Shannon, “Wisconsin in the War.” The Badger State: A documentary History of Wisconsin (Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns Publishing, 1979), 356-357. return

13 - Shannon, 398. return

14 - Shannon, 398-399. return

15 - Shannon, 399. return

16 - Gara, 214. Ray Stannard Baker (1870-1946) was an investigative journalist who wrote for McClure’s Magazine and, after 1906, the American Magazine, which he played a role in founding. return

17 - Fond du Lac’s Part in the World War. Compiled by The Wisconsin News (Federal Printing Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1921), 3-4. return

18 - Fond du Lac’s Part in the World War, 3. return

19 - Ivan Spears, “Wisconsin in the Rainbow Division,” The Milwaukee Sunday Sentinel, April 27, 1919. return

20 - Spears. return

21 - The companies were redesignated: Company G became Company A, E became B, and F became C. The battalion was attached to the 83rd infantry brigade of the 42nd division. The original designation “Company E” is used throughout this essay. return

22 - History of the 42nd Infantry Division www.grunts.net/42ndid.html (link no longer functioning 11/20/2006). return

23 - James J. Cooke, The Rainbow Division in the Great War (Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1994), 5-6. Unless otherwise noted, this description of the Rainbow Division’s movements is drawn from two sources. One is Walter B. Wolf’s Brief Story of the Rainbow Division (New York: Rand McNally Co., 1919). Wolf was a member of the Rainbow Division during World War I. He wrote his account at the suggestion of the Division Commander in order that it might be available to each member of the Division upon their return home. The book contains an overview of the Division’s movements throughout the war and many interesting and occasionally gruesome pictures, such as a battlefield strewn with dead soldiers and a German dispatch dog entangled in barbed wire. Because his book is written from the point of view of a returning soldier, and because his audience also was returning soldiers, it mixes facts with patriotic fervor. The second source is James Cooke’s book, a much more recent publication that is a more comprehensive and objective study of the Rainbow Division. return

24 - 42nd Infantry Division www.dmna.state.ny.us/arng/42ndiv/42patch.html (link no longer functioning 11/20/2006) return

25 - Robert A. Doughty, Ira D. Gruber, et al, American Military History and the Evolution of Warfare in theWestern World (Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Co., 1996), 335. return

26 - Mann commanded the division from September 1917 to December 14, 1917. He was replaced by Major General Charles R. Menoher (December 14, 1917 to November 7, 1918) and Major General Charles D. Rhodes (November 7, 1918 to November 11, 1918). return

27 - Cooke, 7. return

28 - Spears. return

29 - Walter B. Wolf, Brief Story of the Rainbow Division (New York: Rand McNally Co., 1919), 5. return

30 - Cooke, 13 –15. return

31 - John Ellis, The Social History of the Machine Gun (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1975), 76. return

32 - James M. Morris, America’s Armed Forces: A History (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996), 182; Ellis, 74. See also Anthony Smith, Machine Gun: The Story of the Men and the Weapon that Changed the Face of War (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2003), 264-5. return

33 - F.W.A. Hobart, Pictorial History of the Machine Gun, quoted in Ellis, 40. return

34 - Ellis, 40, 76. General Pershing refused to issue the Browning automatic rifle to troops until the war was almost over because he was afraid the Germans might capture one and copy the design. return

35 - Cooke, 17. return

36 - Wolf, 7. return

37 - The Hoboken Port of Embarkation Staging Area. www.hempsteadplains.com/cmhobkn.htm (link no longer functioning 03/28/2007). return

38 - The S.S. Covington was torpedoed and sunk by a German Submarine on the return trip to the United States. The S.S. President Grant was forced by engine trouble in the Atlantic Ocean to return to the United States. The troops on this transport arrived by another ship at Liverpool and joined the rest of the 42nd Division. Wolf, 7. return

39 - All the soldiers’ letters home reproduced in this essay were originally printed in the Fond du Lac Daily Reporter. These clippings can be found collected together in three untitled scrapbooks at the Fond du Lac County Historical Society Adams House Collection. Unfortunately, the compiler neglected to record the dates of the newspapers from which the clippings were taken. return

40 - There were no battleships escorting Company E’s convoy. This error in Brunet’s letter probably resulted from the men never having seen large ships before and therefore not being able to make the distinction between a battleship and a cruiser or a destroyer. return

41 - Wolf, 7-8. return

42 - Wolf, 9-10. return

43 - Wolf, 10. return

44 - Wolf, 10. return

45 - Wolf, 11-12. return

46 - Cooke, 36. return

47 - Cooke, 43-44. return

48 - Cooke, 47. return

49 - Cooke, 48. return

50 - Cooke, 48. return

51- Robert Leckie, The Wars of America (New York: HarperCollins, 1992), II, 637-8. return

52 - Wolf, 11. return

53 - Cooke, 60. return

54 - Wolf, 12. return

55 - On the German offensive, see Barrie Pitt, 1918: The Last Act (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1963). return

56 - Wolf, 13. return

57 - Cooke, 70. return

58 - Leckie, 637-8, 649. return

59 - Cooke, 70-71. return

60 - Cooke, 71. return

61 - Wolf, 14. return

62 - Wolf, 14-15. return

63 - “Camp Mills Garden City Long Island.” www.hemsteadplains.com/cm/cm/actv0.htm (link no longer functioning 11/20/2006). return

64 - Wolf, 15. return

65 - Cooke, 79. return

66 - Wolf, 17-18. return

67 - Cooke, 90. return

68 - Cooke, 90-91. return

69 - Cooke, 97. return

70 - Cooke, 93. return

71 - Wolf, 19. return

72 - Cooke, 98. return

73 - Wolf, 19. return

74 - Cooke, 101. return

75 - Cooke, 102-104. return

76 - Cooke, 104. return

77 - Wolf, 24. return

78 - Wolf, 24-25. return

79 - Cooke, 107. return

80 - Cooke, 109. return

81 - Wolf, 26. return

82 - Wolf, 27-28. return

83 - Cooke, 113. return

84 - Cooke, 108. return

85 - Cooke, 133. return

86 - Cooke, 113. return

87 - Cooke, 114. return

88 - Cooke, 120-121. return

89 - Cooke, 124. return

90 - Cooke, 125-126. return

91 - Cooke, 128. Six soldiers of the company were killed in action on July 28, its bloodiest day of fighting. return

92 - Cooke, 129. return

93 - Spears. return

94 - Cooke, 133. return

95 - Pershing had gained his nickname as a result of commanding the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a unit of Afircan American troops. return

96 - Cooke, 144. return

97 - General John J. Pershing, My Experiences in the World War (New York: Stokes, 1931), II, 273. return

98 - Cooke, 145. return

99 - Leckie, 652. return

100 - Quoted in Leckie, 653. See also Captain B. H. Liddell Hart, The Real War: 1914-1918 (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1930), 461-469. return

101 - Liddell Hart, 469. return

102 - Spears. Twelve of Company E’s battle deaths occurred during this period, four of them on Oct. 15. return

103 - “Forty-Second Division One of Best in France,” The Stars and Stripes, April 4, 1935. return

104 - “Company E Boys Would Enjoy Being Sent Home,” The Daily Reporter, February 18, 1919. return

105 - “Company E Boys Would Enjoy Being Sent Home,” The Daily Reporter, February 18, 1919. return

106 - Fond du Lac’s Part in the World War, Compiled by The Wisconsin News (Federal Printing Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1921). The Rainbow Division as a whole lost 2,713 dead, 13,292 wounded, and 102 taken prisoner. Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded to 205 of its soldiers, including two, posthumously, to members of Company E. return

Copyright Clarence B. Davis 2005. Marian College Press, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin 2005.
Electronic publication by Fond du Lac Public Library has been approved by Clarence B. Davis.

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