77th and 28th Divisions in the Argonne


 

Sainte-Menehould

The 368th Regiment of the 92nd Division was adjacent to the 77th Division.  This all black unit was attached to the French army and attacked toward Binarville.  Pershing had commanded black troops earlier in his career, earning the nickname "Black Jack", which was considered derogatory.  Despite his past command, Pershing decided to mitigate potential race issues by attaching the 92nd Division to the French army.  The 368th Regiment had a difficult time in the Argonne and was withdrawn from the line and as a result the 92nd Division never fought together as a division.  

Here, the 367th Machine Gun Co, 92nd Division passes through St, Menehould en route to the front.




Maj Gen Robert Alexander, CO of 77th Division

Alexander was a true believer in Pershing's doctrine of the superiority of the rifleman, but he was unable to completely force this doctrine on his division.  

Facing difficult terrain, the division advanced two kilometers the first day, well behind the 28th Division to its right.



 

Valley in the Argonne leading to Varennes.  This was the beginning point of the advance made by 305th Regt Inf on Sept 26, 1918.  The hill to the left was held by German machine guns and the one on the right was held by Americans.  Ammunition trucks unloading in the foreground.




Sgt George Norman, Co C, 308th Infantry, 77th Division, just wounded, returning on foot to the ambulance in he rear.  Photograph illustrates character of ground the Americans have to fight their way over.  North of Le Four de Paris, Argonne Forest near La Chalade.




Four de Paris

As trench lines settled down in this area in 1914, the chateau, glassworks, and houses near Four de Paris were destroyed.  After the fighting ended, Schutz Group Photographers of Washington, D.C. took a panorama of the area, now available on the Library of Congress website, which I've tried to replicate.  The frontlines occupied by the 77th Division on September 21st were on the small ridge on the right half of the panorama with German defenses beyond to the north.  The 77th was an experienced division by this point, and it would be the only division to take part in the entire offensive without relief.

The 368th Regiment was just down the road, attached to the French army.

To the east of here, trenches and mine craters are well preserved.




Maj Gen Charles Muir, CO of 28th Division

In the 28th Division sector, over a thousand trees were cut down then wired up to conceal artillery.  When time came for the bombardment, the wires were cut.  The 111th and 112th Regiments attacked through the Argonne, making good progress over mine craters that had stymied the French for years until after about two kilometers when they encountered a more serious defense.





German Trenches

The Argonne abounds with remains of trenches and concrete structures from the war.  These trenches are to the rear of the German front lines at the Haute Chevauchee.





Haute Chevauchee - German Mine Crater

The Haute Chevauchee is about three and a half miles west of the contested ridge known as Butte Vauquois, and in July and September 1915 the German began attacking here in an effort to turn the French out of the Butte.  Once their efforts bogged down they resorted to mining, and the French followed suit.  From October 1915 to the end of June 1916, 223 mines were blown and tunnels were dug as deep as 40 to 45 meters underground.  By September 1917 both sides had given up major mining efforts.

The monument includes remembrances of Italian and Czechoslovak troops in addition to French ones.




In this map, the mine crater and monument are near the intersection of the west to east frontline and the north south line separating the 77th Division to the west from the 28th Division to the east.  Another trench line was roughly four tenths of a mile to the rear of the front, and three quarters of a mile behind the front was the Ravin du Genie, an area which has been restored to approximate its wartime appearance.





Ravin du Genie

Built by the French 1st Engineer Regiment in the shelter of a ravine, the facilities served to house men, store explosives, and prepare water and food.  A narrow gauge railroad allowed for easy transport of materials.  The Americans destroyed the facilities in preparation for the mobile warfare that they planned, but the area is now restored and is one of the great sites of the Great War.   
 



A walking trail starts near the road, visible on the right side of the panorama.  Prominent in the center is a camoflauged shelter for a 75mm field gun and to the left of it a field shelter for artillery ammunition.  

Next, we'll walk along the trail at left.



Shelter for artillerymen




Drinking water storage




A .60 meter gauge rail line was installed, a system originally designed for the harvesting of sugar beets on wet land.  A photo on display on site shows cars being pulled by three horses.




In July 1915, a grenade dept exploded here, forming this crater.




A communication trench goes forward to the fighting positions.




This is a shelter destroyed by the American army in late September 1918.  The shelter had been excavated out of relatively easy to dig sedimentary rock and a concrete roof was built supported by wooden posts bolted to the floor and supported by iron girders.  This design proved effective against German artillery.




Drills were used to destroy another shelter.




At center and left are restored albri, or shelters.  At right are destroyed albri.  At far right is a chimney from a structure at a lower level.


 

Powder Magazine




 

We've now hiked to the bottom of the ravine.   Stairs lead back up the ridge to see more shelters.




View from atop the steps.




This wartime water tower was converted from a small 14th century oratory which, in turn, had been built on a much older pagan site.





Walking further up from the bottom of the ravine we come to a small concrete structure, a water tank destroyed by a storm in 1999.  To the right of it is a stable used for the horses that served the narrow guage railroad.






Down the trail on the left of the panorama you can see the stables.  Closer is a light colored concrete water tank.  Drinking water was chlorinated.  At right is a cuisine, a kitchen, built in 1917 - before this mobile cuisines were used.  






This is an infirmary were the wounded were kept before evacuation further back.














Crown Prince Bunker

The Germans built shelters for rest and recreation purposes behind the lines.  A group of four shelters linked by trenches includes the Abris du Kronprinz, decorated for its presumed most famous occupant, the Crown Prince Wilhelm.  On September 28th, American troops captured the area and renamed it Camp Mahaut.




Panoramas made after the war by the Washington DC bases Schultz Group show some of the German facilities that were overrun by American troops in the Argonne.

Caption reads, "Concrete bombproof dugouts of the German army operating in the Argonne Forest behind frontline positions east of Le Four de Paris."






Caption reads, "German position of resistance in the Argonne Forest, artillery and machine gun nest captured by the American forces, 1918."





Facing hilly forest land, the 77th Division was not expected to advance quickly, rather the advance on both sides of the Argonne was expected to force the Germans from the forest.  The division lagged behind those in more open country to the east and continued to do so.
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