Part 1

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- Illustration captions in {brackets} have been added by the transcriber for reader convenience.

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COMPANY B 307th INFANTRY

ITS HISTORY HONOR ROLL COMPANY ROSTER

Sept., 1917 [Illustration: AEF] May, 1919

_Compiled by_ Julius Klausner, Jr. 1920

============================================================= Upton * Flanders * Vosges * Lorraine * Vesle * Argonne * Home =============================================================

And remembering, we shall always seek to justify the self-sacrifice made by those companions who trained with us and fought with us but whom by virtue of their supreme service, we returned without.

They died, but being dead, live on, and their spirits beckon us to strive toward that for which they died.

The flag was their shrine--the fields of France their tomb--and they shall ever be wreathed with God's great glory.

Major-General Robert Alexander to Company B

GREETINGS!

I am very glad that Company B--307th Infantry is putting into this form the many memories of the Great War which remain with those of us who participated therein as bright spots in our path through life.

The work done by the 77th Division was most notable and in that work Company B--307th Infantry took full part and contributed its full share. The record of the Company is one of which any organization might well be extremely proud. It took part in the operations in the Vosges; on the line of the Vesle; and in the advance from the Vesle to the Aisne--the 77th Division being the _only_ American division to reach the latter river. In the Argonne-Meuse Offensive which brought the war to a successful conclusion, the Company, with its Regiment, Brigade, and Division, played a noteworthy part. The battle losses incurred by Company B and the battle honors conferred upon members thereof speak for themselves.

Not the least of the Company's exploits was that which, culminating on the evening of October 7th, 1918, brought relief to the long-beleaguered Battalion under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles W. Whittlesey--the so-called "Lost" Battalion.

The officer to whom was granted the supreme honor of sharing with you as your Divisional Commander the toils, the dangers, and the honors of that supreme campaign salutes you! No Commander could ask more loyal support from his comrades of all ranks than was freely given me. For your future careers in civil life or wherever Fortune may lay your paths, you will carry with you my sincere best wishes and my affectionate regard. The qualities of courage, fidelity, and loyalty displayed by you during your service as soldiers will be, I am sure, at the disposal of your Country as well in Peace as they were in War.

============================================================= Upton * Flanders * Vosges * Lorraine * Vesle * Argonne * Home =============================================================

THE HISTORY OF COMPANY B

307th INFANTRY

Camp Upton--September 10th to April 5th

Invited--all of us. And we trooped down Yaphank-way, out on Long Island, as tho bound for a picnic. Which, for a week, it was. Then we were brought up short. On September 17, 1917, the 77th Division came to life. One of the first units to be organized within the division was Company B--307th Infantry, formed also on September 17th.

Immediately we were on paper as a regular unit, we quickly took semblance of a military organization. Under the leadership of Captain Blanton Barrett, 1st Lieutenant Alexander D. B. Pratt, and 2d Lieutenants Philip Cheney and Everett A. Butterfield, we were gradually whipped into an efficient machine. Corporals were made and unmade--sergeants came and went--and we were drilled, drilled, drilled.

We had exchanged our hair mattresses for straw, our china for tin, our homes for barracks, and they made us like it. At first we occupied but one building,--a rambling two-story affair having bunk rooms on all the upper floor. The lower floor was given over to kitchen, mess hall, and recreation room. The recreation room, however, was short lived, for as we grew in numbers it became necessary to fill it with bunks. And then, when we had grown to full strength--two hundred and fifty officers and men--we overflowed into another barracks of which we occupied half of both upper and lower floors.

The advantages of a billiard table, a piano, and a talking machine were ours. We supported a miniature barber shop and a tailor. Talent we had a-plenty, and we ran our own shows.

But we drilled, drilled, drilled. And we had schools--lots of 'em. When we were not doing the "school of the soldier", we attended bayonet school. The "school of the squad" divided time with gas instruction. The study of the automatic rifle was complicated, but so was the "school of the platoon". We practiced the manual of arms and learned how to throw hand grenades. Little by little we were perfected in the art of thinking, and knowing, and doing, the right thing at the right time.

Early in 1918 we felt ready. On Washington's Birthday our division paraded down Fifth Avenue a complete fighting machine. We were prepared for the next move and the cheers of the crowds had barely died when it came.

Upton to France--April 6th to April 20th

On the night of April 5th we were ordered to roll packs. We stacked our bunks and drew ammunition. And we were posted on a vigil of waiting. April 6th, 1918, Saturday, was the first anniversary of America's declaration of war. At two-thirty on that morning, in an air pleasantly crisp and flooded with moonlight, we marched to the railroad and entrained. Leaving Camp Upton at three-fifteen, we pulled into Long Island City just in time to be greeted by the usual six o'clock factory whistles.

A waiting ferry engulfed our battalion and we were transported down the East River, around the Battery, and up the Hudson to Pier 59, at the foot of West Eighteenth Street, Manhattan. A methodical transfer was accomplished from the squat and stunted ferry to the gigantic but little known _Justicia_.

While still under process of construction in the shipyards at Belfast, in Ireland, for the Holland American Line, the _Statendam_ was commandeered by Great Britain at the beginning of the European war and was operated as a transport under the name _Justicia_ by the White Star Line. She was at the time the fifth largest vessel afloat and that she was the especial prey of the German undersea navy is indicated by the fact that a submarine attacked her on a subsequent trip from England to the United States, on July 20th, and after a dramatic engagement lasting some twenty-four hours, she was sunk. Fourteen of a crew of seven hundred were lost.

All day men and equipment poured onto the decks and into the hold of the giant transport. Our entire regiment and one battalion of the 308th Infantry were quartered between decks. Next morning, before reveille, the _Justicia_ slipped quietly down New York Bay, thru Ambrose Channel, and into the Atlantic.

B Company had no quarters _de luxe_. We were crowded into small space--Section K--far down on D deck, with sleeping hammocks slung over our mess tables. And our mess, served by the British, was a sorry series of meals. We were compelled to wear during the day, and to sleep with during the night, ungainly life preservers. But discomforts were subordinated to the interest in our new surroundings. The mysteries of the big ship, its spotless engine-room, the intricacies of navigation, the precautions against possible attack,--all held us.

On leaving New York we pursued a northerly course, and at nine o'clock that night anchor was dropped in lower Bedford Bay, at Halifax. Early next morning we steamed up into the inner harbor and before us lay the sadly devastated city of Halifax. Immense areas of the city had been totally destroyed by the explosion resulting from the collision between a Belgian relief ship and one bearing a cargo of explosives.

That day and the next, while waiting for our convoy to assemble, was spent in practicing with lowered boats.

Late on the afternoon of April 9th our convoy of ten passenger and cargo ships passed out of the harbor, sped by the cheers of the crews of two American battleships. We were escorted by _U. S. S. St. Louis_ and _H. M. S. Victoria_.

Boat drill, a well-ordered scramble for life boats, took place twice daily. Each morning we indulged in strenuous setting-up exercises in order that we might remain in trim. Practice with depth bombs and smoke screens helped to relieve the tedium of the long trip.

As we neared our unknown destination, our escort was increased by ten British torpedo boat destroyers. Veritable sea dogs they were, darting every which-way, breasting wave after wave, ever watchful for the tricky Hun.

And then, on Friday. April 19th, land! Just a ridge above the horizon--the blue hills of Wales--but already we could feel in our imaginations the solidity which our unsailorly legs had missed.

As the day waned we sighted the lighthouse at the mouth of the River Mersey. With cheers of relief we were permitted to doff our bulky life belts. Just before dusk we entered the Mersey, passing closely by the beautiful seaside resort of New Brighton.

Forging up the river we reached Liverpool and, at nine o'clock that evening, after almost fourteen days afloat, our transport was moored. The city, as we saw it from the decks of the _Justicia_, lay quietly, with lights beginning to twinkle in the increasing gloom.

One by one the companies formed and debarked, and at 11:15 P.M. B Company marched down the gang plank, thru half-lighted sheds, into those curious side-door railway cars so peculiar to Europe. Exactly at midnight our train pulled out of Liverpool. At 3:00 A.M. a short stop for hot coffee was made at Rugby. We passed thru the outskirts of London at 6:00 A.M. and at nine-twenty the train rolled into the terminal at Dover.

The private yacht of Belgium's Queen Elizabeth had been pressed into service as a cross-channel ferry and in this royal craft, under escort of destroyers, aeroplanes, and dirigibles, we crossed to Calais in an hour and thirty-five minutes. The crossing was enlivened when two riflemen of the crew took to firing at mines that endangered our passage.

Picardy and Flanders--April 20th to June 10th

Once in Calais we found that we divided honors with Company C of our regiment in being the first two National Army companies to land in France, having debarked on French soil April 20, 1918.

That night we experienced our first real touch of war. Sheltered in tents in British Rest Camp No. 6, we received a call of welcome from a squadron of Jerry aeroplanes. A truly thrilling reception it was, with the thunder of Hun bombs alternating with the "ping!" of British anti-aircraft guns,--and thru it all the "pat-pat" of a multitude of machine guns. But best of all, there were no casualties.

Next day we spent in adding to our equipment gas masks and trench helmets and we exchanged our American Enfield rifles for British Enfields,--lighter, shorter pieces having a magazine capacity of ten rounds of ammunition.

April 23d introduced us to the famous little "_40 hommes--8 chevaux_" box-cars of the French. A three-hour journey in these brought us to the British base at Audruicq. Our first real hike started from here and ended at Zouafques, a little village in Picardy. We occupied some of the best sheep-pens, cattle stalls, and hen roosts in town and during our five-week stay we became really comfortable inhabitants.

Zouafques proved to be a sort of military high school, where we polished our elementary knowledge of tactics. Our "noncoms" were sent to specialized schools in scouting, sniping, musketry, automatic rifles, grenades, and infantry tactics. The instruction, as well as the food and equipment, was distinctly British.

Five weeks of this work and we took our next step trench-ward. Hiking from Zouafques at 1.30 A.M., May 13th, we entrained _a la chevaux_ at Audruicq. A day's journey _via_ Calais, Boulogne, Etaps, and Doullens brought us to Mondrecourt, in Flanders. Then an almost heartbreaking hike thru Pas to the war-worn village of Couin.

Our assimilation by the British forces became most complete when we found ourselves brigaded with a battalion of the Lancashire Fusileers of the 125th British Brigade. Our position was in reserve of the British lines north of Amiens and southwest of Arras.

Here another five weeks of training gave us the right to work alone. Once again we traded rifles, retrieving our American guns, and on June 6th we started on a three-day march. Thru Gezaincourt, Bernaville, Ailly le-Haut Clocher, to Pont Remy, where we entrained.

Vosges and the Lorraine--June 11th to August 7th

Two days by rail, _via_ Amiens, Versailles, Bar-le-Duc, and Nancy, and we detrained on June 11th at Thaon, in the Vosges. Then an intermittent hike, with stops at Longchamps, Destord, and Menil, passing thru Rambervillers and Baccarat, to Vacqueville, in the Lorraine.

A stirring incident occurred _en route_ when we passed the boys of the old Sixty-Ninth New York Regiment. Brooklyn hailed Brooklyn; Harlem called to Harlem; Bronx met Bronx. It was a breath of home to the already veteran Sixty-Ninth and more than a cheering welcome to us.

We shared Vacqueville with a battalion of the Alabama regiment of the 42d "Rainbow" Division. Advance parties were sent into the lines to acquaint themselves with the position which we were to take over. And in the dead of night, on June 20th-21st, Company B took over that part of the line between Ancerviller and Badonviller designated as P. C. (post commandant) Hameau and P. C. Montreux.

The first and second platoons of our Company held a position in the Grand Bois (Big Woods), a section of forest southeast of Ancerviller. The second and third platoons and Company headquarters occupied the ruined village of St. Maurice. St. Maurice was a part of the line at this point and had been subjected at different times to severe shelling. Only bare skeletons of the buildings remained and any nook or cranny between sections of walls and under a bit of roof was used as shelter. Deserted cellars had been bolstered, reinforced, and barricaded so that they would serve as shell-proof protection in the event of attack.

The First Gas Attack

It was usually Fritz's intention to place a harassing barrage on any section of the line where he knew that a relief was being effected. But he was less watchful than usual when we went in.

The enemy awoke, however, three days later, on the morning of Monday, June 24th, and attacked our regimental outposts. In order to effectively prevent any assistance being rendered by the platoons stationed in St. Maurice, a heavy barrage was laid on the town beginning at 3:30 A.M. During the early part of the shelling the continual use of H. E.'s (high explosive shells), with an occasional gas shell, served to keep the men not only penned in their bomb-proof cellars, but also forced the continued use of gas masks. Gradually the H. E.'s were interspersed with gas shells until a point was reached where far more gas shells than high explosives fell into the town, resulting in a heavy blanket of phosgene, mustard, and lachrymatory gases settling over the position.

The barrage did not lift until 6:00 A.M. and when it did the platoons were forced to take a defensive position to guard against any possible success of the enemy.

During the night before the attack, the men had been digging until a late hour on a system of trench defense. This entailed a lack of sleep which, together with the continued wearing of the gas mask and the exposure endured immediately after the barrage, weakened their resistance to such an extent as to make them easy victims to the poisonous gases.

Seventy-nine men were forced to the hospital by the effects of the combined phosgene and mustard. Among them were our first sergeant, supply and mess sergeants, all but one of our cooks, and both mechanics, which left us decidedly crippled.

The shadow of our losses was deepened when we heard that Cook George Alberts, always popular, had died from gas inhaled while trying to prepare the company breakfast in a gas-filled kitchen. He was our first loss by death.

An immediate result of our losses was the extra work shouldered by those who had escaped any of the serious effects. The men left in St. Maurice remained on constant guard until the Company was relieved several days later.

During the short rest period that followed, a reorganization of the Company was accomplished and we again entered the lines in July, taking over P. C.'s Hameau and Montreux, as before.

The Daylight Raid

On Sunday, July 21st, a patrol of fifty-two men from our Company, accompanied by two medical first-aid men, engaged in a raid on the German trenches at two-thirty in the afternoon. The party advanced on the enemy lines in single file, divided in four groups which were respectively commanded by Sergeant Todd, Captain Barrett, Sergeant Bromback and Lieutenant Mohlke.

The intent was to surprise the enemy with a daylight raid and thereby obtain information thru capture and observation. But either thru knowledge or by chance, the Germans had prepared against this maneuver and the surprise was reversed.

Waiting until our patrol was fairly within their lines, and then partially surrounding them, the enemy centered upon our men a deadly fire of rifles, machine guns, and grenades. The raiders fought valiantly in return but were outnumbered four to one. After an hour's fighting, seventeen of our party, including Captain Barrett, lay dead, and sixteen were captured. Of the twenty-one who returned, thirteen were wounded. We were informed by two German prisoners captured a few days later that seventeen Germans had been killed.

The loss sustained in this daylight raid occasioned considerable comment, chiefly because it was generally believed that Captain Barrett had misread his orders,--that the time for action had really read 2:30 A.M. instead of 2:30 P.M. This, however, is quite untrue, inasmuch as all the Company officers, as well as the supply sergeant and company clerk, were conversant with the orders. Captain Barrett's immediate battalion and regimental superiors were present at or near the time of action and possessed full knowledge of the entire plan.

The defeat was caused solely by the lack of the intended element of surprise. Whether or not the enemy had possession of our plans, and if they had possession, how they obtained it, is something we shall never know.

A telegram was received by the Divisional Commander from General Headquarters to the effect that the entire action had been investigated and found creditable.

The casualties suffered from the raid, together with those resulting from the gas attack of June 24th, so depleted the Company as to make an immediate relief imperative and that same night Company L took over our sector.

A subsequent reorganization of the entire regiment distributed the men of the various companies so that all would have an equal strength. Our numbers were so few that we lost none of our men in this process but instead received increases not only from many of the other companies, but also from the 76th New England Division.

As tribute to those men whom we had lost, a Company B mass was held at the Catholic Church in Vacqueville at which Chaplain Father Walsh of our battalion officiated. The entire strength of the Company was present.

Another rest and another turn up front, after which the entire division was relieved by the 37th Ohio and Kentucky Division. Once again we crossed the Vosges, halting for three days at Seranville. Leaving there, we bivouaced for a night in the Foret de Charmes and entrained at Charmes next morning, August 7th, at dawn.

From the Vesle to the Aisne--August 10th to September 15th

Two days later, August 10th, we took transport on an immense train of motor trucks--"lorries" we called them, after the English. They were driven by Indo-Chinese serving under the French. After nine cramped but interesting hours--we passed thru Chateau-Thierry--our trip ended at Fere en Tardenois. For three days we camped in a small wood and then we moved to a position supporting the attack on Fismes. We were stationed in the Bois de la Pissotti, adjoining the Foret de Nesle. While there we were engaged in digging a series of reserve trenches near Mont-sur-Courville.

On August 28th the battalion moved around Chery-Chartreuve to a position east of Le Pres Farm. September 1st we again shifted, this time crossing the Vesle and relieving the Third Battalion, just east of Bazoches. Here we repulsed a raiding party, inflicting heavy losses upon the enemy. We were then moved to a ravine, which gave us the opportunity of taking a two-day rest.

Our next move brought us to face with the enemy just south of Merval, where we took a position in an exposed field, our only protection being the individual "funk holes" which had been deserted by the retreating German troops.

After three days of little water and practically no food, at 5:30 on the afternoon of September 8th--still brilliant daylight--we crawled from our funk holes and, each squad in single file in formation known as "squad columns", we advanced against German artillery in an effort to straighten the line. As we reached the outskirts of Merval we were subjected to an intense barrage of H. E.'s, suffering the loss of four men killed and five injured.

No gain was made by this sortie and we drew back to our funk-hole position awaiting further developments.

Early on the morning of September 14th, supported by a barrage laid down by combined American, French, and Italian artillery, we attacked the enemy position that lay on the far side of the Ravine Merval.