July 19-26, 1918: "A hurricane of fire, small arms, machine guns and artillery."

by Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

The 42nd Division Monument at the Croix Rouge Farm, Fere en Tardenois, France.  Photo by Maj. William Carraway

With the German offensive in the Champagne region blunted, Marshall Ferdinand Foch was at last able to launch a counter offensive to reduce the Marne salient. Accordingly, attacks by the French and 1st American Division to the west had pushed German forces and isolated those forces along the Marne River where the American 4th and 26 Divisions were also vigorously pressing forward with French divisions. By July 23, the Germans had begun to retire to a new line of defense along the Ourcq River[i] leaving behind enemy machine gun squads and rear-guard units tasked with protecting the German redeployment and harassing the advancing Allies.

June 24-July 18, 1918: “We will surely do our damndest over here,” The Champagne Defensive

by Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

From March 21 to June 15, 1918 the German Army had launched four offensives along the Western Front in a final effort to break the stalemate of trench warfare, drive the British Expeditionary Force from the continent and compel the French to sue for peace. The Germans met with early success during Operations Michael and Georgette, but the tactical victories and terrain captured did not translate to strategic victory. By June 15, the Germans had opened two salients in the Western Front. The Marne salient extended from Soissons in the west to Rheims in the east and plunged south to within 40 miles of Paris to the banks of the Marne River and the town of Chateau Thierry. The effects of the spring offensives and creation of the salients meant that the German Army now had a longer line to defend with fewer men. Recognizing this, and expecting another German offensive, General Ferdinand Foch, Supreme Allied Commander, began drawing additional forces to the Marne Salient and awaited the opportunity to launch a counteroffensive.

The Marne Salient, July 1918. Image credit firstworldwar.com

May 26-June 23, 1918: “The war will be ended by the first of 1919.”

by Captain William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

As dawn broke on May 26, 1918, more than two months had passed since the 151st Machine Gun Battalion had suffered a casualty. The Soldiers in front line positions looked forward to relief. Company A and B remained in position in the front lines with the 167th Infantry Regiment at Neuviller while Company C and D remained on duty with the 168th at Ville Negre. The men of Company D were rotating out of front line positions that evening and would be replaced in the line by the machine gun company of the 168th Infantry Regiment after a front-line tour of more than two weeks. Just days before Companies C and D had repelled German probing attacks and dodged strafing fire from a low flying German plane.[i]

Map of the Baccarat Sector. Americans All: The Rainbow at War., F. J. Heer Printing Company, 1936, 228A

May 1918: “Trust In God. Hold Your Head High and Fly the Service Flag.”

by Captain William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

By May, the grim reality of trench warfare had set in for the men of the 151st Machine Gun Battalion. In the two and a half months the 151st spent occupying the relatively quiet Baccarat sector they were exposed to regular direct and indirect fire as well as gas attacks and probing actions. Life in the trenches was unsanitary, boring and terrifying.

Letters from home provided the only relief from the dull routine and tense waiting while reminding the Soldiers that a world existed outside the scarred landscape of France. Corporal Robert Gober Burton’s aunt Mary Eulalia Gober wrote frequently to him and the other Soldiers in the 151st from Monroe, Ga. One of the Monroe Soldiers, Sgt. Tom Hensler, wrote back:

In the Trenches

Gas-proof shelters for dressing stations, near Badonviller, Baccarat Sector,
April 29, 1918. Photo from The Medical Department of the United States Army
in the World War, 1925.

April 28, 1918

Mrs. W. H. Nunnally

Monroe, Ga,

My very dear Mrs. Nunnally

Received your card yesterday and was glad to know that there was still one in my old home town that hadn’t forgotten me altogether.

The Georgia Volunteers in the Spanish American War

by Captain William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

On April 25, 1898, the United Stated declared war on Spain following the destruction of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor. The Treaty of Paris ended the war December 10, 1898. The conflict sandwiched between those dates would be referred to by Col. Theodore Roosevelt as a “splendid little war.” Indeed, the Spanish American War is in large part remembered for the flourish of Roosevelt’s Rough Riders who fought side-by side with the African American Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry Regiment at Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill. The war marked the emergence of the United States as an international power. Victory granted the United States the Spanish colonies of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam and heralded the political rise of Theodore Roosevelt and the progressive movement. But despite the glory of Roosevelt’s “crowded hour,” the Spanish American War would have a deleterious effect on many of the Citizen Soldiers from Georgia who volunteered for service.

Brig. Gen. Phill G. Byrd. Georgia's Adjutant
General, 1900. Georgia Guard
History Archives

On October 17, 1900, the report of the Adjutant General of the State of Georgia for 1899 to 1900 was delivered to Georgia Governor Allen D. Candler. Brigadier General Phill G. Byrd, Adjutant General of the Georgia State Troops, in his foreword to the Governor noted: “…on January 1st, 1899, because of the demoralization growing out of the Spanish-American War, and other causes, the State Troops had become so badly disorganized as to exist in name only.” It is worth exploring what events caused the great demoralization the adjutant general lamented. What organizational ennui befell the Georgia State Troops as a result of their involvement in the Spanish American War?

Background

As 1898 dawned, the modern concept of the National Guard was in its infancy. In Georgia, the military establishment was known as the Georgia Volunteers and would be known thus until a December 21, 1899 act changed the name to the Georgia State Troops. The Volunteers had an authorized strength of more than 12,000 men, but an organized strength of less than 5,000. The Volunteers were organized into six regiments and four battalions of infantry; one regiment, one battalion (not squadron) and one troop of cavalry; three batteries of artillery, a machine gun battery and four companies of Naval Reserve Artillery. African American Citizen Soldiers constituted  three of the infantry battalions, one troop of cavalry and one battery of artillery in the then segregated Volunteer structure.

April 1918, Back to Baccarat: “They are putting our names down in history it looks like.”

by Captain William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

When the units of the 42nd Division pulled out of the trenches March 23, 1918 they were initially dispatched for further training in the Rolamport area. (MWW, 91) These orders were countermanded due to the spring German offensive and the 151st MGB instead marched to Badmenil March 28, 1918. They did not have long to wait. On March 30th, the 151st received orders to move with its supported units to new positions in the Baccarat Sector. Major Cooper Winn established battalion headquarters at Neufmaison with the 84th Brigade HQ while Company A and B marched with the 167th Infantry Regiment and took up support by fire positions at Vacqueville. From there, they rotated into front line positions near Neuviller or Grand Bois. Companies C and D, moving with the 168th Infantry moved to Pexonne and entered front line positions in Badonvillier and Village Negre.

Upon arriving in Vacqueville, Cpl. Robert Burton humorously advised his family about life in the trenches in spring.

March, 1918, First Contact: “The Boche haven’t got me yet!!”

by Captain William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

On March 7, Private Robert Addleton stepped through the door of his home at 6 Holt Avenue in Macon for the first time in more than six months. He was the first member of the 151st Machine Gun Battalion to return from the war. After enlisting April 17, 1917, Addleton had traveled to France with the battalion and ultimately to within 10 miles of the Western Front. Mere days before the 151st entered the front-line trenches, it was discovered that Addleton had been underage at the time of his enlistment. He was sent home with an honorable discharge. While his comrades were overseas receiving their baptism of fire, Addleton went back to work at the Willingham Cotton Mills in Macon. 

Somewhere in France (The trenches near Ancervillier)

March 14, 1918

My dearest daddy,

Your letter received today. I was surely glad to hear from you. I am getting along well and fine. Tom Hensler is getting along just as nicely as can be. So is (Private Weymon Guthrie, Company B; Pvt. Leonard Chandler, Company B) and old Moore (Emory Moore, Company C.) You couldn’t kill him. Tom is just as full of life as ever, keeps you laughing all the time. (Sergeant Ed Williamson, Company A) is with us now. He rejoined us about a month ago I suppose. I was as glad to see him as if he had been my own brother.

Corporal Robert G. Burton’s March 14th letter offers a reassuring version of the war in which he and his fellow soldiers are happy and in high spirits. Perhaps knowing that any correspondence sent home would be widely distributed among family members and shared with the local paper, Burton provides no hint of his location or the fact that Soldiers of his unit had been in the trenches for nearly a week. in the Luneville and Baccarat sectors.

Sectors in the Vosges Front, 1918. Map by Capt. William Carraway from
American Battle Monuments Commission data.