The Delta of the Triple Elevens
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William Elmer Bachman >> The Delta of the Triple Elevens
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11 [Transcriber's notes: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected
(e.g. gunnner for gunner), recurrent misspelling of the author haven't
(e.g. Montlucon for Montlucon, canvass for canvases, incidently for
incidentally, paraphanelia for paraphernalia, calesthenics for
calisthenic, etc...).
Chapter III: The word "by" has been changed to "from" (partially sheltered
from the Southern sun).
Chapter XVII: The spelling of Sommbernont has been changed to Sombernon.
Chapter XX: The word casual has been changed to casualty
(sent him home as a casualty).
Chapter XXV: It is not clear if the printed word is trained or roamed
(where he last trained/roamed).
Definitions:
Cootie: Noun US: a head-louse (Macquarie Online Dictionnary - Book
of slang).]
THE DELTA OF THE
TRIPLE ELEVENS
THE HISTORY OF
BATTERY D, 311th FIELD ARTILLERY
UNITED STATES ARMY,
AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES
[Illustration]
By
WILLIAM ELMER BACHMAN
Standard-Sentinel Print
Hazleton, Pa.
1920
COPYRIGHT 1920
BY
WILLIAM ELMER BACHMAN
[Illustration: GROUP PHOTO OF BATTERY D. 311th F. A.
Taken at Benoite Vaux, France, March 14, 1919. Reproduced from the
Official Photo taken by the Photographic Section of the Signal Corps,
U. S. A.]
To
The memory of our pals
whom we buried in France
This Book
Is Dedicated
[Illustration: WILLIAM E. BACHMAN
ARMY RECORD.
Inducted into service at Hazleton, Penna., November 1st, 1917. Sent
to Camp Meade, Md., November 2nd, 1917, and assigned as Private to
Battery D, 311th Field Artillery. Received rank of Private First
Class, February 4th, 1918. Placed on detached service, May 18th, 1918,
and assigned as Battery Clerk, First Provisional Battery, Fourth
Officers' Training School, Camp Meade. Rejoined Battery D June 27th,
1918, and accompanied outfit to France. Assigned to attend Camouflage
School at Camp La Courtine, September 30th, 1918, and qualified as
artillery camouflager. On October 3rd, 1918, was registered, through
Major A. L. James. Jr., Chief G-2-D, G. H. Q., A. E. F., with the
American Press Section, 10 Rue St. Anne, Paris, which registration
carried grant to write for publication in the United States. Remained
with battery until March 7th, 1919, when selected to attend the
A. E. F. University, at Beaune, Cote D'Or. Rejoined battery at St.
Nazaire May 1st, 1919. Discharged at Camp Dix, N. J., June 4th, 1919.]
FOREWORD.
"You're in the Army now."
"So this is France!"
Oft I heard these phrases repeated as more and more the realization
dawned, first at Camp Meade, Md., and later overseas, that war seemed
mostly drudgery with only the personal satisfaction of doing one's
duty and that Sunny France was rainy most of the time.
The memory of Battery D, 311th U. S. F. A., will never fade in utter
oblivion in the minds of its members. 'Tis a strange fancy of nature,
however, gradually to forget many of the associations and
circumstances of sombre hue as the silver linings appear in our
respective clouds of life in greater radiance as each day finds us
drifting farther from ties of camp life.
Soldiers, who once enjoyed the comradeship of camp life, where they
made many acquaintances and mayhap friends, are now scattered in all
walks of civilian life. While their minds are yet alive with facts and
figures, time always effaces concrete absorptions. The time will come
when a printed record of Battery D will be a joyous reminder.
With these facts in mind I have endeavored to set forth a history of
the events of the battery and the names and addresses of those who
belonged.
The records are true to fact and figure, being compilations of my
diaries, note-books and address album, all verified with utmost care
before publication.
In future years when the ex-service men and their friends glance over
this volume, if a moment of pleasant reminiscence is added, this book
will have fully served its purpose.
WILLIAM ELMER BACHMAN,
1920. Hazleton, Penna.
PREFATORY NOTE.
An effort has been made in this volume to state as concisely and
clearly as possible the main events connected with the History of
Battery D.
To recount in print every specific incident connected with the life of
the organization, or to attempt a military biographical sketch of
every battery member, would require many volumes.
My soldier-comrade readers will, no doubt, recall many instances which
could have been included in this volume with marked appropriateness.
The selection of the material, however, has been with utmost
consideration and for the expressed purpose of having the complete
narrative give the non-military reader a general view of the
conditions and experiences that fell to the lot of the average unit in
the United States Army in service in this country and overseas.
Grateful acknowledgment is due to those who aided in the verification
of all material used. Many of the battery members made suggestions
that have been embodied in the text.
To A. Ernest Shafer, D. C., and Conrad A. Balliet, of Hazleton,
Penna., belongs credit for information supplied covering periods when
the author was on detached service from the battery. To Dr. Shafer
acknowledgment is also due for the use of photographs from which a
number of the illustrations have been reproduced.
From Prof. Fred H. Bachman, C. A. C., of Hazleton, Penna., who read
over the manuscript, many valuable suggestions were received.
W. E. B.
Hazleton, Penna., 1920.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
SOURCES OF THE DELTA
World Events--The Nucleus--Declaration of War. U. S.
Joins--Selective Service Plans.
CHAPTER II.
A CAMP BELCHED FORTH
Selection of Camp Meade Site--Cantonment Construction
Building Progresses--Home Leaving Preparations.
CHAPTER III.
"YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW"
Officers at Fort Niagara--Assignment of Officers
Barrack org.--New Soldiers Arrive.
CHAPTER IV.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Description of Barracks--A Day's Routine--Getting
Catalogued--Inoculations and Drills--Soldiers Arrive
and Leave.
CHAPTER V.
LEARNING TO BE A SOLDIER
First Non-Commissioned Personnel--Effects of
Transfers--Schools--Hikes--Athletics--Idle Hours.
CHAPTER VI.
FLEETING HOURS OF LEAVE
Holiday Season Approaches--Thanksgiving Feast Practice
Marches--Barrack 0103--Christmas 1917.
CHAPTER VII.
WELL GROOMED BY DETAIL
Stable Police--Inspections--Staff Changes.
CHAPTER VIII.
BATTERY PROGRESS
Formal Retreat--Quarantine--Celebration--Rumors. Baltimore
Parade--West Elkridge Hike.
CHAPTER IX.
FAREWELL TO CAMP MEADE
Getting Ready--Advance Detail--Departure.
CHAPTER X.
ABOARD THE S. S. MORVADA
Set-Sailing--Coastland Appears--Halifax Harbor--Convoy
Assembles.
CHAPTER XI.
DODGING SUBMARINES
Ocean Journey Starts--Transport Life--Sub Scares. Destroyers
Delayed--Battle With Subs.
CHAPTER XII.
A ROYAL WELSH RECEPTION
Barry, South Wales--Parade--His Majesty's Letter. English
Rail Journey.
CHAPTER XIII.
A BRITISH REST CAMP
Crowded Tenting--English Mess--A Rainy Hike. Off for
Southampton--Flight Across the Channel.
CHAPTER XIV.
"SO THIS IS FRANCE!"
Cherbourg--A Battery Bath--Side-Door Pullmans. Montmorillon.
CHAPTER XV.
WHITE TROOPS INVADE MONTMORILLON
Racial Difficulties--French Billets--Impressions. The
Gartempe.
CHAPTER XVI.
ACTIVE TRAINING AT LA COURTINE
To La Courtine--French Artillery Camp--Russian Revolt--Life
on the Range--Sickness--Casualties.
CHAPTER XVII.
NOVEMBER 11th AT LA COURTINE
November 7th--November 11th--Celebration--Farewell
Banquet--Ville Sous La Ferte--Fuel Details--Delayed Departure.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MUD AND BLANCHEVILLE
Mud and Rats--Historic Monteclair--Thanksgiving 1918--Candle
Mystery--Sick Horses Arrive.
CHAPTER XIX.
AN ADVENTUROUS CONVOY
Belgian Trip Proposed--100 Volunteers--Remount 13--Convoying
Mules--Christmas 1918.
CHAPTER XX.
ON THE ROAD TO BENOITE VAUX
Anxious to Join Division--First Service Stripe--A. E. F. Leave
Centers--Mounted Hikes--Overland to Benoite Vaux.
CHAPTER XXI.
WAR ORPHANS AND HORSE SHOWS
Two Battery Mascots--Battalion and Regimental Shows--Division
and Corps Shows--More Personnel Changes--Maneuvres--More
Sickness and Casualties.
CHAPTER XXII.
HOMEWARD BOUND
Boncourt--Cirey les Mareilles--Divisional Review. Camp
Montoir--St. Nazaire--Edward Luckenbach--New York--Camp
Dix--Home.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE LORRAINE CROSS
Story of the Seventy-Ninth Divisional Insignia.
CHAPTER XXIV.
BATTERY D HONOR ROLL
Names of Those Who Died and Graves Where Buried.
CHAPTER XXV.
"ONE OF US"
Tribute to Private First Class Joseph A. Loughran.
CHAPTER XXVI.
IN MEMORIAM
In Memory of Departed Comrades.
CHAPTER XXVII.
FIRST BATTERY D STAFF
First Commissioned and Non-Commissioned Personnel.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
BATTERY D OFFICERS
Complete List of Officers Associated With the Battery.
CHAPTER XIX.
ROSTER OF BATTERY D
List of Names That Comprised the Sailing List of the U. S. S.
Edward Luckenbach.
CHAPTER XXX.
RECORD OF BATTERY TRANSFERS
Those Who Gained Commissions--List of Men Transferred to Other
Organizations.
CHAPTER XXXI.
PERSONALITIES
A Few Battery Reflections.
CHAPTER XXXII.
A FEW GENERAL ORDERS
Messages From Several of the Officers.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MEMORABLE DATES
Calendar of Battery's Eventful Dates.
LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRODUCTIONS.
Group Photo of Battery D
William Elmer Bachman
Albert L. Smith
David A. Reed
Perry E. Hall
Sidney F. Bennett
C. D. Bailey
Frank J. Hamilton
Third Class French Coach
Side-Door Pullman Special
Interior of French Box Car
A Real American Special
Montmorillon Station
Montmorillon Street Scene
Entrance to Camp La Courtine
American Y. M. C. A. at Camp La Courtine
A Battery D Kitchen Crew
Group of Battery D Sergeants
Battery D on the Road
Aboard The Edward Luckenbach
At Bush Terminal
Serving Battery Mess Along the Road
Battery D on the Road
Lorraine Cross
Joseph A. Loughran
Cemetery at La Courtine
Horace J. Fardon
Grave of William Reynolds
Barrack at Camp La Courtine
CHAPTER I.
SOURCES OF THE DELTA.
Official records in the archives of the War Department at Washington
will preserve for future posterity the record of Battery D, of the
311th United States Field Artillery.
In those records there is written deep and indelibly the date of May
30th, 1919, as the date of Battery D's official demobilization. The
history of Battery D, therefore, can be definitely terminated, but a
more difficult task is presented in establishing a point of inception.
The development of Battery D was gradual--like a tiny stream, flowing
on in its course, converging with the 311th Regimental, 154th Brigade,
and 79th Division tides until it reached the sea of war-tossed Europe;
there to flow and ebb; finally to lose its identity in the ocean of
official discharge.
The Egyptians of old traversed the course of their river Nile, from
its indefinite sources along the water-sheds of its plateaux and
mountains, and, upon arriving at its mouth they found a tract of land
enclosed by the diverging branches of the river's mouth and the
Mediterranean seacoast, and traversed by other branches of the river.
This triangular tract represented the Greek letter "Delta," a word
which civilization later adopted as a coinage of adequate description.
Fine silt, brought down in suspension by a muddy river and deposited
to form the Delta when the river reaches the sea, accumulates from
many sources.
In similar light the silt of circumstances that resulted in the
formation of the Delta of the Triple Elevens, accumulated from many
sources, the very nucleus transpiring on June 28, 1914, when the heir
to the Austrian throne, the archduke of Austria, and his wife, were
assassinated at Sarajevo, in the Austrian province of Bosnia, by a
Serbian student.
Austria immediately demanded reparation from Serbia. Serbia declared
herself willing to accede to all of Austria's demands, but refused to
sacrifice her national honor. Austria thereby took the pretext to
renew a quarrel that had been going on for centuries.
Long diplomatic discussions resulted--culminating on July 28, 1914,
with a declaration of war by Austria against Serbia. This, so to
speak, opened the flood-gates, letting loose the mighty river of blood
and slaughter that flowed over all Europe.
The days that followed added new sensations and thrills to
every life. The river of war flowed nearer our own peaceful shores as
the days passed and the news dispatches brought us the intelligence of
Germany's declaration of relentless submarine warfare and the
subsequent announcement of the United States' diplomatic break with
Germany.
Momentum was gained as reports of disaster and wilful acts followed
with increasing rapidity. The sinking of American vessels disclosed a
ruthlessness of method that was gravely condemned in President
Wilson's message of armed-neutrality, only to be followed by acts of
more wilful import--finally evoking the proclamation, April 6, 1917,
declaring a state of war in existence between the United States and
the Imperial German government.
Clear and loud war's alarm rang throughout the United States. All
activity centered in the selection of a vast army to aid in the great
fight for democracy. Plans were promulgated with decision and
preciseness. On June 5th, 1917, ten millions of Americans between the
ages of 21 and 31 years, among the number being several hundred who
were later to become associated with Battery D, of the 311th F. A.,
registered for military service.
The war department issued an order, July 13, 1917, calling into
military service 678,000 men, to be selected from the number who
registered on June 5th. Days of conjecture followed. Who would be
called first?
July 20th brought forth the greatest lottery of all time. The drawing
of number 258 by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker started the list of
selective drawings to determine the order of eligibility of the young
men in the 4,557 selective districts in the United States.
War's preparations moved rapidly. Selective service boards, with due
deliberation, made ready for the organization of the selective
contingents. While the boards toiled and the eligible young men went
through the process of examination, resulting in acceptance or
rejection, officials of the war department were planning the camps.
Battery D and the 311th Field Artillery were in the stages of
organization but plans of military housing had to mature before the
young men who were to form the organization, could be inducted into
service, thereby bringing to official light The Delta of the Triple
Elevens.
CHAPTER II.
A CAMP BELCHED FORTH.
On that eventful day in 1914, when the war clouds broke over Europe,
the farmers of Anne Arundel county, Maryland, in the then peaceful
land of the United States, toiled with their ploughshares under the
glisten of the bright sun; content with their lot of producing more
than half of the tomato crop of the country; content to harvest their
abundant crops of strawberries and cucumbers and corn, to say nothing
of the wonderful orchards of apples and pears, and not forgetting the
wild vegetation of sweet potatoes.
The peaceful, pastoral life in the heart of Maryland, however, was
destined to be disturbed. A vast American army was needed and the vast
army, then in the process of organization, needed an abode for
training. Battery D and the 311th Field Artillery was organized on
paper soon after the call for 678,000 selected service men was decided
upon. The personnel of the new organization was being determined by
the selective service boards. Officers to command the organization
were under intensive instruction at Fort Niagara, New York. All that
was needed to bring the organization into official military being was
a point of concentration.
The task of locating sites for the sixteen army cantonments, decreed
to birth throughout the United States, presented many difficulties.
What could be more natural, however, than the fertile farm lands of
Anne Arundel county, almost within shadow of the National Capital, to
be selected as the site of a cantonment to be named after General
George Gordon Meade?
Territory in the immediate vicinity of Admiral and Disney was the
ideal selection: ideal because the territory is only eighteen miles
from Baltimore, the metropolis of the South; one hundred miles from
Philadelphia, the principal city of the State which was to furnish
most of the recruits; and twenty-two miles from Washington, the
Capital of the Nation.
Situated between the heart of the South and the heart of the Nation,
Camp Meade is easily accessible by rail. Ease of access through
mail-line facilities, was a necessity for transportation of building
materials and supplies before and during construction. The same
facilities furnished the transportation for the large bodies of troops
that were sent to and from the camp; also assured the cantonment its
daily supply of rations.
Admiral Junction furnished adequate railroad yard for the camp.
The Baltimore and Ohio railroad station is at Disney, about one-half
mile west of Admiral; while the Pennsylvania Railroad junction on the
main line between Baltimore and Washington is at Odenton, about one
and one-half miles east of Admiral. Naval Academy Junction is near
Odenton and is the changing point on the electric line between the two
chief cities. The magic-like upbuild of the cantonment, moreover, was
the signal for the extension of the electric line to encircle the very
center of the big military city, thus adding an additional link of
convenience.
Camp Meade having been officially decided upon as the home of the 79th
Division, a sanitary engineer, a town planner, and an army officer,
representing the commanding general, were named to meet on the ground,
where they inspected the location, estimated its difficulties, and
then proceeded to make a survey in the quickest way possible, calling
upon local engineers for assistance and asking for several railroad
engineering corps.
The town-planner, or landscape architect, then drew the plans for the
cantonment, laying it out to conform with the topography of the
location and taking into consideration railroad trackage, roads,
drainage, and the like. Given the site it was the job of the
town-planner to distribute the necessary buildings and grounds of a
typical cantonment as shown in type plans.
The general design for the camp was prepared by Harlan P. Kelsey, of
"city beautiful" fame, who was one of the experts called on by the war
department to aid the government in the emergency of preparing for
war.
After the town-planner came Major Ralph F. Proctor, of Baltimore, Md.,
who on July 2nd, 1917, as constructing quartermaster, look charge of
the task of building the cantonment. Standing on the porch of a little
frame-house situated on a knoll, set in the midst of a pine forest,
Major Proctor gave the order that set saw and axe in motion; saws and
axes manned by fifteen thousand workmen, consecrated to the task of
throwing up a war-time city in record time.
Chips flew high and trees were felled and soon the knoll belched forth
a group of buildings, fringed by the pine of the forest--to be
dedicated as divisional headquarters--around which, with speed
none-the-less magic-like, land encircling was cleared and buildings
and parade grounds sprang up in quick succession.
The dawn of September month saw over one thousand wooden barracks
erected on the ground, most of which were spacious enough to provide
sleeping quarters for about two hundred and fifty men; also hundreds
of other buildings ready to be occupied for administrative purposes.
While workmen of all trades diligently plied their hands to the work
of constructing the cantonment, hundreds of young men were getting
ready to leave their homes on September 5th, as the van-guard of the
40,000 who were in the course of time to report to Camp Meade for
military duty. The cantonment, however, was not fully prepared to
receive them and while the first contingent of Battery D men were
inducted into service on September 5th, the cantonment was not deemed
sufficiently ready to receive them until almost two weeks later.
[Illustration: *CAPT. ALBERT L. SMITH*]
ARMY RECORD.
Discharged from the National Guard of Pennsylvania, First Troop,
Philadelphia City Cavalry, after seven years of service, to enter
First Officers' Training Camp at Camp Niagara, N. Y., May 8th, 1917.
Commissioned Captain, Field Artillery Reserve, August 15th, 1917, and
ordered to report to Camp Meade, Md., August 29th, 1917. Placed in
command of Battery D, 311th Field Artillery. Accompanied battery to
France and remained with outfit until ordered to Paris on temporary
duty in the Inspector General's Department, February, 1919. Rejoined
regiment to become Regimental Adjutant May 6th, 1919. Discharged at
Camp Dix, N. J., May 30th, 1919.]
CHAPTER III.
YOU'RE IN THE ARMY NOW.
At Fort Niagara, situated on the bleak shores of the River Niagara,
New York State, the nucleus of the first commissioned personnel of
Battery D assembled, after enlistment, during the month of May, 1917,
and began a course of intensive training at the First Officers'
Training School, finally to be commissioned on August 15th in the
Field Artillery Reserve.
On August 13th, pursuant to authority contained in a telegram from the
Adjutant General of the Army, a detachment of the Reserve Officers
from the Second Battery at Fort Niagara were ordered to active duty
with the New National Army, proceeding to and reporting in person not
later than August 29th to the Commanding General, Camp Meade, for
duty.
A day's brief span after their arrival at Camp Meade--while the
officers, who were the first of the new army units on the scene of
training, were busily engaged in dragging their brand new camp
paraphernalia over the hot sands of July-time Meade,--the dirt and
sand mingling freely with the perspiration occasioned by the broiling
sun,--to their first assigned barracks in B block, an order arrived on
August 30th, assigning the officers to the various batteries,
headquarters, supply company, or regimental staff of the 311th Field
Artillery, that was to be housed in O block of the cantonment.
Captain Albert L. Smith, of Philadelphia, Pa., was placed in command
of Battery D. Other assignments to Battery D included: First
Lieutenant Arthur H. McGill, of New Castle, Pa.; Second Lieutenant
Hugh M. Clarke, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Robert S.
Campbell, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Frank F. Yeager, of
Philadelphia, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Frank J. Hamilton, of
Philadelphia, Pa.; Second Lieutenant Berkley Courtney, of Fullerton,
Md.
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles G. Mortimer was placed in command of the
regiment on August 28, 1917. He remained in command until January 17,
1918, when Colonel Raymond W. Briggs was assigned as regimental
commander. Both are old army men and were well trained for the post of
command. On March 31st, Col. Briggs, who had been in France and
returned to take command of the 311th, was again relieved of command,
being transferred to another outfit to prepare for overseas duty a
second time. Lieut. Col. Mortimer had charge until June 10th,
1918, when he was promoted to Colonel, remaining in command
until the regiment was mustered out of service.
Major David A. Reed, of Pittsburgh, Pa., was placed in command of the
2nd Battalion of the 311th at organization and remained with the
outfit until put on detached service in France after the signing of
the armistice. Major Herbert B. Hayden, a West Point cadet, was
assigned to the command of the 1st Battalion of the regiment. When
time to depart for overseas came he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel
of the regiment. Capt. Wood, of Battery A, was made Major of the 1st
Battalion and First-Lieut. Arthur McGill, of Battery D, was placed in
command of Battery A. Later he was given the rank of captain.
Major-General Joseph E. Kuhn was commanding officer of the 79th
Division and Brigadier General Andrew Hero, Jr., commanded the 154th
Field Artillery Brigade.
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