The Delta of the Triple Elevens

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During the night the towns of Jarnages and Montlucon were passed. The
train entered the Department of Allier, traveling Northeast, through
Commentry, Villefranche, le Montel and Moulins.

Daylight was breaking by the time Moulins was sighted. Stop was made
at Paray le Monial from 7:30 to 8 a. m., when breakfast was served
from the flat truck dining car.

The next day, November 15th, was spent traveling through a beautiful
stretch of country. The railroad ran almost parallel with the Boninoe
river, a branch of the Loire. Through pasture lands and farming
country, the road stretched along Palinges, Montceau, Changy, Beaune.
A lay-over for lunch was made at Nuits St. Georges at 1 p. m.

In the afternoon stop was made at Dijon, where the troops got a chance
to detrain and partake of refreshments that a corps of French Red
Cross workers served at the station.

Soon after leaving Dijon darkness fell upon the troop special. The sun
had not yet gone to rest. The famous tunnel between Sombernon and
Blaizy-Bas had been penetrated. This tunnel, on the road to Paris, may
be a note-worthy piece of engineering skill, but its designers
evidently never dreamed of a troop special of thirty or forty old box
cars, many with rust-corroded doors that could not be closed, whizzing
through; leaving the passengers to eat up the exhaust from the smoke
stacks of the locomotive.

At this time the troop train was headed Northwest, toward Paris, but
hopes of getting near Gay Paree were soon shattered. When Nuits sous
Ravieres was reached, switch over to another branch was made and the
direction then was Northeast, toward Chaumont, the A. E. F.
headquarters town.

Stop for night mess was made at Les Laumes, where orders were also
issued for the troops to get their packs ready as the outfit would
detrain in about three hours time.

A heavy frost developed that night and the troops almost froze in the
boxcars. After delay in getting started from Les Laumes the journey
continued over a considerable longer period than three hours. Laigne
and St. Colombre were passed and La Tracey, the detraining point, was
reached at 3 a. m., Saturday, November 16th, 1918.

Reveille was not sounded until 6 a. m. During the interim most of the
troops left the boxcars and built fires in the railroad yards, around
which they sought warmth during the early morning hours.

The hustle to get all the materiel from the flat trucks started at 6
o'clock. A section of a motor transportation corps was dispatched to
La Tracey to convey the regiment to its new billeting district. The
motor outfit was late in arriving, but finally start was made. Three
and four guns and caissons were attached to each truck, the truck
loaded with soldiers and packs, then for a thirty kilometer race
through the Marne Department in motorized artillery form. The last
detail did not leave La Tracey until 4 p. m.

The first details arrived at Ville sous La Ferte, a small village in
the Department of Aube. This village was the billeting center for the
2nd Battalion of the regiment. Regimental headquarters was established
at Clairvaux, four kilometers from Ville sous La Ferte. The 1st
Battalion went to Juvancourt, about a kilometer distant.

Farm lands and vineyards surrounded these villages. The inhabitants
were of the quiet peasant type. With nothing of interest and no form
of amusement, Ville sous La Ferte was a quiet place for Battery D. The
battery was divided among a score of barns, lofts, sheds and houses,
covering considerable length of a village street. A grist mill with
its water-wheel and mill-pond was situated near the building in which
the battery office was established. All formations were assembled in
the street in front of the battery office. Difficulty was experienced
during the stay at this place in getting the battery out at all
formations, especially those members who were billeted in the loft of
a barn at the extreme end of the battery street. As a remedy the
battery buglers were given the job of traversing the street each
morning and routing out the fellows.

It was mid-November. The days and evenings were getting damp and
chilly. Fires were comfortable things those days, but heating stoves
were unknown to the peasant homes of Ville sous La Ferte. The
houses were equipped with fire-places. The big question, however,
was to procure fuel. It was all the battery could do to get a supply
of wood from nearby woodlands to supply the needs of the battery
kitchen. At first the fellows started to make raids on the wood pile
that came in for the kitchen, but this soon had to be stopped under
necessity of suspension of the commissary department.

For many of the squads billeted in the barns and sheds there was no
chance for warmth as there were no fire-places. During the damp, cold
nights the only choice the inhabitants of those billets had was to
roll in and keep warm under the blankets.

To chop a tree down in the numbered forests of France was to commit a
crime, so the fellows who were in billets that did have fire places
faced a series of crimes to get wood. The inhabitants of such billets
took it upon themselves to devise ways and means to obtain fuel. The
occupants of one billet sent details out to root up old fence posts
from adjacent farm-lands; while in another instance eighteen men
housed in a billet borrowed several French wheel-barrows and at night
made a raid on a large pile of newly cut tree trunks which was located
a kilometer from the village.

The result of this night's work provided fuel and light for several
days in the billet of the raiding party. Light was another essential
feature. With candles selling as high as a franc apiece, letter
writing home was sadly neglected in many cases. So the receipt of an
extra letter written by the light of a log-blaze, kindled with wood
secured through great difficulty, has had to act as savoring
repentance for any misconduct employed in acquiring possession of the
means of light and heat.

The battery had among its equipment dozens of new horse-blankets. With
the exception of a few stray animals, no horses had been received by
the battery in France thus far. Several were in care of the outfit at
Ville sous La Ferte, where six horses caused as much stable detail
work as a complete battery of mounts occasioned at Camp Meade. The
main feature, moreover, was the distribution of the horse-blankets
among the troops in an effort to keep warm at night.

There was no room in Ville sous La Ferte to do any maneuvering, so the
guns and caissons were parked in a field and were not used during the
stay. The time of the soldier was employed in hikes and various forms
of athletics. Soccer developed as the leading sport and great rivalry
resulted in games that were played on furrowed ground of a large wheat
field.

War was over, so official orders again gave birth to Retreat
formation, which was held with much disciplinary ado in front of the
Hotel de Ville at 4:15 o'clock each afternoon. Guard mount was also
decreed and last, but not least, regimental reviews came into their
own with great official solemnity.

On Thursday, November 21st, a wild boar hunt that had been planned by
the battery, had to be called off. A regimental review was to be held
at Clairvaux that afternoon.

The 2nd Battalion formed at 1 p. m. and hiked to Clairvaux with colors
flying for the big review. A mix-up in giving commands "flunked" the
first attempt at passing in review. The entire ceremony of dignity had
to be executed a second time. Close order drill then came into its
own. The following day, November 22nd, the battalion again hiked to
Clairvaux, where another review was staged and the regiment kept at
battalion close-order drill until 4 o'clock.

Sunday, November 24th, reveille sounded at 6 o'clock. Orders were
given to make rolls preparatory to moving. When the soldiers were
ready to move the order was changed. It was discovered that the motor
trucks would not arrive until the following day.

The motor transportation squad was expected to arrive early on Monday
morning. It was 9 o'clock at night when they arrived. Departure was
delayed until next morning, but this did not keep back an order that
called the battery out in detail during a heavy rain at 9:30 Monday
night to pull the guns and caissons through the mud, from the field
where they had been parked to the road, so that they could be attached
to the motor trucks. There was a great tendency to "duck detail" that
night.

Ville sous La Ferte was finally left in the distance, Tuesday,
November 26th, at 10 o'clock. The soldiers and their packs had to pile
in the few motor trucks that were furnished. A few of the boys rode
the materiel attached to the trucks and had a wild ride. The rolling
kitchen of the battery, with ovens blazing away, covered the roads at
a fine clip behind a motor truck, with George Musial having his hands
full trying to manipulate the brake.

The trip continued through Maranville and Bricon. Chaumont was circled
about 4 o'clock and stop was made about twenty-one kilometers from
A. E. F. Headquarters, at a sleepy little hamlet of about fifty houses
and barns, called Blancheville.

[Illustration: A BATTERY D KITCHEN CREW
Photo Taken at Mess Tent at Camp La Courtine, France.]

[Illustration: GROUP OF BATTERY D SERGEANTS
Capts. Clarke, Smith, and Hall in foreground.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

MUD AND BLANCHEVILLE.

Blancheville, mud and mules are associated in memory of the holiday
season of 1918-19 that Battery D spent in France.

It was Thanksgiving week when Battery D arrived in Blancheville. The
auto convoy deposited the battery paraphernalia in the vicinity of the
old stone church and graveyard that stood along the main highway as
the landmark and chief building of the village. Nearby stood the only
other building of import--a stone structure that housed a pool of
water in the manner of the ancients. This was the public pool where
the women of the village came to do the family washing, as the village
was deprived of the natural advantages of a river. Watering troughs
surrounded this wash-house on two sides. Twice daily the cattle and
live-stock from all the village barns were led to this watering place.
Water for drinking purposes was also supplied the village from a
special fountain on the exterior side opposite the water troughs.

Mud was the chief characteristic of Blancheville. It was a farming
community of unusual quietude. Plenty of barns and roosts were found
in which to billet the battery. The natives were very hospitable. They
readily chased out the cows and the chickens to make room for the
Americans. The boys lived next door to animal nature. In one billet an
adjacent room housed the live stock and it was not uncommon to have
slumbers awakened by the cow walking into the sleeping quarters of the
troops.

While in Blancheville the boys got used to the largest of the French
rat species. During the hours of the night they traveled flat-footed
over the faces and forms of sleeping soldiers, also played havoc with
all soldier equipment stored in the billet. It may sound like myth,
but it is a fact that a rat in one billet dragged an army mess kit
across the floor--they were some rats.

On the road opposite the church stood an old, one-story stone building
that was built in its present form, eight hundred years ago. The roof
was overgrown with moss and one corner had started to crumble in from
old age. In this building Corporals James Cataldo and Michael A. Tito,
the battery barbers, set up a barber shop. They did good business
after they were able to convince the battery in general that the roof
would not cave in for another hundred years.

The first day in Blancheville was spent in parking the guns and
caissons, digging Latrines and the usual duties attendant upon
establishing a new battery home. It was also a job in itself to make
some semblance at getting some of the billets cleaned up and half fit
to sleep in.

Reveille for the first few mornings was at 8 o'clock. Thursday,
November 28th, was an off day for the outfit, except those on K. P.,
who got an extra job in preparing a battery Thanksgiving spread. The
day was spent by the idle mostly in hiking over the roads and visiting
some of the nearby villages where the other units of the regiment were
quartered. Regimental Headquarters, Headquarters Company, Supply
Company, Battery C, and the Medical detachment were at Andelot, about
four kilos from Blancheville. The 2nd Battalion Hqrs. and E Battery
were at Cirey-les-Mareilles; A Battery was at Vignes; Battery B at
Montot, and F Battery at Mareilles.

The town of Andelot, built in the shape of an amphitheatre on the
slope which forms the base of the hill of Monteclair, is situated on
the banks of the little river Rognon, 21 kilometers from Chaumont,
seat of the Department of Haute Marne.

On this hill of Monteclair, on which there was a strong-castle during
the years 101 to 44 B. C., Caesar established a camp. Under
Constantine (306 A. D.) Andelot became the seat of a province. A Court
of Champagne fortified the position of Monteclair (440 A. D.). On the
28th of November, 587, the treaty of Andelot was made between Gontran,
King of Burgundy, and Cnideberft, King of Austrasia, who was
accompanied by his mother, Brunehaut.

In 871 A. D., Andelot became the seat of a county, which was broken up
in the course of the tenth century, and which was a dependency of the
Duke of Lorraine. From 1201 to 1253 the fortifications of Monteclair
were strengthened and enlarged, the town was beautified and surrounded
by walls, which were demolished in 1279. Andelot became the seat of a
prefecture of which Domremy, the birthplace of Joan of Arc, was a
part.

In 1356 and again in 1431 Monteclair was taken by the English. It was
returned to France in 1434. In 1523 a German army occupied Andelot and
the castle of Monteclair for a short time. There followed famine and
pestilence. Francis I, King of France (1494 to 1547) repaired the
fortifications and ordered a great amount of work to be done on the
fortress. During the religious wars (1337 to 1453) Andelot was taken
and re-taken by the Catholics and Protestants, its church was
burned and its bells melted down. Monteclair came again under the
authority of the King in 1594.

The fortress of Monteclair was dismantled in 1635, and in the
following year the Germans devastated the town of Andelot. The
fortress was finally destroyed in 1697. From that time until the
present Monteclair and the towns in its vicinity have been rich in
souvenirs.

It was among these scenes Battery D idled the Thanksgiving day. At 5
p. m. a special feed was put on in the battery mess hall in general
celebration. The feasting was getting along nicely; everybody was
enjoying the menu of roast pig and prune pie and nuts and candy, when
it was suddenly discovered that a number of the candles used to light
the mess hall had suddenly disappeared. The aftermath was felt for
several days. A thorough search for the lost candles was instituted.
They could not be found. An official battery order was then
promulgated, stating that if the candles were not returned within a
certain time a very heavy battery guard would be put on for the
remainder of the stay in Blancheville.

About a half dozen candles had disappeared. When the ultimatum was
issued about two dozen candles of all sizes and descriptions were
returned to the battery kitchen. The guard never went on. Candles
continued to sell in Blancheville for fancy prices and the battery in
general suffered in its letter writing for the want of light at night.

Leather jerkins were first issued the battery at Blancheville on
November 29th, which was the signal for horses to be received. The
receipt of horses started a long and hard battle with the mud. To
multiply miseries mules played an important part in the life of the
battery. All told it is a long, muddy tale.

On Friday, December 6th, fourteen sick horses arrived in Blancheville
to be cared for by Battery D. The following day another consignment of
horses arrived. The majority of the animals were afflicted with the
mange. All had seen active service and were badly used up. Many
suffered from neglect, the troops having but little time for the
proper care of the animals while up in the front lines. Some were
minus pieces of their ears, which had been shot off in battle.

Two large, open artillery stables had been erected at Blancheville by
a previous contingent of troops, so Battery D had stable facilities.
The constant rain, however, soon played havoc with the ground in the
vicinity of the stables and it was not long after the horses were
received that the heavy traffic in the vicinity of the stables
created a regular sea of mud. Hip rubber boots were issued and it was
a grand battle with the mud each day. The animals had to be led
through the mud three times a day to the public water troughs in the
village.

Besides caring for the horses the time at Blancheville was spent in
hiking, at physical exercise and in the enjoyment of various forms of
athletics. The manual of the pistol again came into its own and the
guns were not neglected, as gun drill was finally returned to the
schedule.

At least once a week the battery hiked to Cirey les Mareilles, three
kilos distant, where the only bath house was located.

Thoughts of the Christmas season came to the battery at Blancheville
when the first Christmas boxes from the folks back home were received
during the second week in December. The boxes continued to arrive
until the festal holiday.

Sunday, December 15th, was payday for the soldiers in Blancheville.
This particular payday was of ill omen for the battery. A number of
the boys indulged too freely at the cafes in Chantraines, with a
to-be-regretted fracas resulting. A guard of military police was put
on at Chantraines following this escapade.

Monday, December 16th, thirty-five additional horses were received by
the battery. Considerable time was spent in getting the harness in
shape, especially the saddles, after which lessons in equitation were
again started, also a number of battery mounted hikes inaugurated.

Early in December announcement was made of a proposed horse convoy to
the Belgian border. The topic was discussed for many weeks, the
proposed trip having been scheduled and cancelled several times before
a convoy finally materialized. What the one hundred volunteers for
this convoy had to contend with during the trip is a tale of its own,
which must be related in terms of hardship, rain, mud, and mules.

CHAPTER XIX.

AN ADVENTUROUS CONVOY.

What could be more pleasant or soothing to an adventurous spirit than
a trip in the saddle through the scarred and devastated battle sector
along the Lorraine border? This is what appealed to the boys of
Battery D when announcement was made at Blancheville early in December
that one hundred men were wanted to accompany a horse convoy to Longwy
on the Belgian border. One hundred volunteers were asked for, and it
was not long before the required number was enlisted from the military
ranks.

The first convoy was to have left Blancheville on December 13th, but
at the eleventh hour the trip was cancelled. Various other dates were
set. Finally, on Wednesday night, December 18th, Capt. Smith assembled
the battery in the Y. M. C. A. tent that stood near the old church,
when announcement was made that the horse trip was to start on the
morrow and the names of the one hundred men who were to make the trip,
were called off.

In high spirits the volunteers made ready for the trip. Each man
packed a set of saddle bags; made ready a driver's roll with shelter
half and blankets. All the other individual equipment was gathered
together and left in the Y. M. C. A. tent, as rumor had it that the
regiment was soon to move to another billeting area and the order to
move might come when the horse convoy was on the road. Thus the extra
equipment was left with the remainder of the battery, on whose hands
evolved the task of remaining in Blancheville and caring for the
battery horses and doing the other detail work. The schedule worked
hardship both ways. There was more than enough work for those who
remained at the battery area, and those who volunteered for the convoy
were not long in realizing that they had a tough job on their hands.

The detail of one hundred men left Blancheville at 7:25 a. m.,
Thursday, December 19th, in five auto trucks. The trucks also conveyed
a saddle and equipment, also driver's roll, for each member of the
party.

The auto convoy proceeded through Chaumont; then came a pleasant ride
along the Marne river, passing through the towns of Luzy, Vesaignes,
Rolampont and Langres. Stop was made at the latter fortified town,
where the soldiers visited the town and procured refreshments. The
trip was continued and at 12:30 p. m. the party reached Remount No.
13. at Lux, situated about three kilometers beyond Is-sur-Tille.

In fighting the mud at Blancheville the battery members thought they
had struck the muddiest spot in France. Nothing could be muddier, they
thought. But this thought was soon shattered when the volunteer convoy
reached Lux. Perhaps it was due to the Remount being numbered 13, but
the mud that surrounded it is beyond adequate description.

It was raining heavily when the battery arrived at Lux. Slimy mud,
three feet thick in places, covered the territory of the remount.

The original order was for the detail from Battery D to remain at the
remount over Friday and start with the horses for the Belgian border
on Saturday morning. Arriving at the remount the battery detail was
housed in a sheet-iron barrack with corrugated sheet-iron bunks. And
everything was covered with mud.

Thursday night, while the detail lingered at the remount, official
orders came changing the plan for the convoy party. Instead of taking
horses to Longwy the detail was ordered to start the following morning
to return to the 311th Regiment with several hundred mules.

Friday morning, December 20th, reveille was held in the rain at 5:45
o'clock. Immediately after mess the auto trucks were loaded and made
ready for the trip. The detail, in charge of Capt. Smith, and
accompanied by Lieutenants Yeager and Bennett, ploughed through the
mud to the section of the remount that housed the horses the convoy
was to escort.

Each member of the convoy selected a horse to saddle. The animals were
of various spirits. Many of the battery detail were recruits who did
not have the lessons in equitation at Camp Meade that the older
members of the battery experienced. After considerable difficulty the
horses were saddled and the convoy assembled in a large field to
receive the consignment of mules.

Many of the horses had never been ridden in the saddle before, with
the result that a regular wild-west exhibition transpired on the
field. Riders were thrown from the saddle into the mud, but all the
boys had their nerve with them and stuck to the horses, bringing them
under control.

Lieut. Yeager was induced by the remount officers to saddle a large
and fiery stallion, but after a brave attempt on the part of Lieut.
Yeager to break and ride the stallion, during which the rider was
precipitated into a large, muddy pool and covered with mud from head
to foot, change had to be made for another animal, the stallion being
left behind when the convoy started.

When all was set with the detail mounted, the remount attaches trotted
out 237 mules, tied in series of three.

The mules were divided among the mounted men, each man getting three
mules to lead, besides having to manage the horse he was riding. All
the mules were frisky, having remained unworked for a considerable
period. There was great prancing around as the convoy assembled. The
mules, in many cases, started to pull one way and the horse pulled the
opposite. Many of the mules were tied up in various speed
combinations. Ones that were always on the run were coupled with ones
that did not know how to step lively, or else the horse of the mounted
party was either too fast or too slow for the trio of mules the driver
had to lead along.

At 9:30 a. m. the convoy got started on the road. The convoy consisted
of 96 mounted men leading 237 mules, the rolling kitchen drawn by four
mules, in charge of George Musial, who had the assistance of Cook
Burns and two K. P.'s in preparing meals enroute. Five auto trucks,
carrying the forage and picket-line equipment, formed the remainder of
the train.

Slowly the convoy proceeded over the mud-covered road leading from
Lux. At noon stop was made at Fontaine-Francais, where the animals
were watered in a stream and given nose-bags. Then the rolling kitchen
came along the road and hot slum and coffee was served to the horsemen
stretched out along the side of the road. It was against orders to tie
the animals anywhere while on the march. Each driver had to hold his
charges at rein's length with one hand, and attempt to eat the slum
with the other hand.

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