of the 26th Division of the U.S. Army
during World War I
| The History of the 103rd Regiment of the 26th Division of the U.S. Army during World War I |
| Table of Contents | ||
 |
in (LR,. Augusta, was to make Riavillv the (Venter of his attack, while a Battalion
of the lU2nl Infantry was to take K[;u·i·lu·ville. Colonel Bearss, lfilliul Infantry,
was in :·ouin1a1il of the two Battnlious. The 3rd Battalion, ll.31·l infantry was
to reinziin in its outpost position iu C.`R.. .\u;.;usta, and the 2nd Battalion, 103rd
Infantry in Divisional Reserve.
At lS:lJl o‘clock Field Orders No. 83, 2(ith Division were received and at 18:30
Field Orders X0. 133, Headquarters, 52nd Infantry Brigade 1·r·¢i·ivel. Fortu—
nately l\lzijor Hanson had happened to walk through the outpost positions several
days previously, for neither he nor his Company Comiuanders had any chance
to make a reconnaissancei AL 19:06 Major Hanson was sent the D day (Sept. 26)
and H hour (5 :30), also to arrange for his liaison oHicer to report to the Command-
ing ()flioer, lO2nd lnfanlry.
The roads were very slippery from 1·ec·nt rain, and tlwro were many bloelcs
along the roatls. lt was imiiossible to give the men the proper footl to take with
them and it. was {until midnight that the Divisional 'I`opog1·apl1icnl officer
tlelivvrutl to Major Héfnson, then in his arlvnncetl 1-’.C. at (`lnunplon, the neces-
sary maps for the Platoon Coininannlers. Luckily the moon name out, so it
greatly helped the stationing of the Troops along the parallel of xlepar-ture, The
enemy Artillery was very quiet, until after our artillery preparation started at
23:30 o’cl0ck, when there was fairly hcovy sln-lling lmttxeeu Saulx and Champlon
for about two hours, We had at few tzasualtivs. Many white and green 0ne—star
rockets were sent up by the enemy all along his line during the artillery prop-
aration.
At 5:30 the lst Battalion attateketl and no resistaumu was mot with nt; lirst. A
light enemy hzwrnge fell along the line soutlimsb of Clmniplon hut in the rear of
the attacking units. As it wus nc:n·ly two kilonietrrs to the objective, it was za,
long time before any int`ormnti0u could be received; und its the visibility was
almost nil, owing to the nmrninp.: fog and artillery, neitlwr oiu· ueroplunes or
observation posts could find out anything. At 7:38, huwz·v¤—r, our line seemed
to be lxet-weeu the coérrlinzites 48.4-57.7 and 49.5—57.4. At 7:45 our left seemed
to be leaving French HL. de Iicziuehznnp and to be moving east of town. A few
mon wm·r~ iu from of Trench Hauclinot, but were lying clown. .-\t 9:22 hcurd from
Major Ihmson that advance had been stopped by Machine Guns in front of
Riuville amd that Cuptuin Wood, C0. D, was trying to get around on the North·
western edge while Capt. Bonney (Co. C) advanced from the Southeast-. V isi-
bility very poor.
|
 |
| Original Version of Page |