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<'T/4 l^^-e**'-"■•'»"
day, we boarded an old side-wheeler and crossed the English channel, resting in
an erect posture.
We had it "soft" at Castelnau de Medoc, France, the best billet in the quaint
little French village being ours. It was a magnificient old chateau, at one time
the home of a marquis. The grounds, fully ten acres, were enclosed by a stone
wall. Immediately behind the chateau was a concrete swimming pool, which
afforded us an excellent plunge and at the same time a most necessary bath,
a real luxury in France and quite out of the ordinary.
The training at Castelnau consisted mostly of long tiresome hikes on the hot
dusty roads, intended to harden the men for the front. "Non-coms." were
instructed in the French methods and the "75 m.m." piece.
On August 4th we entered Camp de Souge and began intensive training on
the "75 m.m." piece. The men worked hard, and to the surprise of the French
instructors, commenced service firing at the end of the first week, which ended
four weeks later with a brigade barrage.
On that memorable day, September 14th, we loaded at the rail head, leaving
the sand and hot days, and started for "somewhere on the front." Although
we were again traveling French style we were fairly comfortable, as we at least
had room to stretch out. Arriving at Toul we found that we were to take up a
position near Beney in the old St. Mihiel sector.
Our first active service order was, "Keep to the right of the road." From
Toul to the front the area was most intensely interesting. We saw for the first
time what we had read about so often, barbed wire and trenches running in every
direction as far as the eye could see, immense stores of munitions, guns, wagons,
and hospital equipment abandoned by the recently retreating "Hun" as spoils
of war. At every turn in the road we fully expected to encounter the enemy in
full force, for it seemed that we must be close to Germany.
On September 18th we reached Pannes, and received news of the first casualties
of the regiment. Not an exactly cheering reception. Passing on, we established
our first echelon on the Lamarche road two kilometers from Pannes. Then we
began to speed up. Shortly after dusk we loaded all necessary equipment and
materiel on the gun sections and set out with dubious minds to occupy our first
position, which proved to be the last position also. "No smoking or talking;
gas masks alert" were the orders. We did not need to have the orders repeated.
The noise of the guns sounded unnecessarily close, we not knowing where we
were going. However, we successfully rounded that "Dead Man's Corner",
better known as the Beney crossroads, and hurried into position eight hundred
meters on the road to St. Benoit. We fired our first barrage at three hours that
same night. After four hours of steady firing the infantry began to move back
with prisoners, a sign of a successful raid.
I Jf.
—no—
Object Description
| Title | Regimental history, Three Hundred and Forty-First Field Artillery : Eighty-Ninth Division of the National Army : organized September, nineteen-seventeen, demobilized June, nineteen-nineteen. |
| Collection Name | World War I Unit Histories |
| Subject.LCSH | United States. -- Army. -- Field Artillery, 341st. -- History; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories -- United States; ; United States. Army. Division, 89th (1917-1942); |
| Subject.Local |
World War I 89th Division 341st Field Artillery |
| Description | World War I account and register of soldiers in the 341st Field Artillery, 89th Division. Includes soldiers' names and addresses, as well as some photographs. |
| Creator | Randel, Harry E. |
| Publisher | Kansas City, Mo. : Printed by Union Bank Note Co., [1920] |
| Date | 1920 |
| Date.Digital | 2012 |
| Type | Books and Pamphlets |
| Format | JPG2000 |
| Accession Number | 80.84.26 |
| Language | eng |
| Contributing Institution | National World War I Museum and Memorial |
| Rights | All images are in the public domain. |
| Copy Request | Contact National World War I Museum Archivist Jonathan Casey at 816-888-8121 or jcasey@theworldwar.org |
| Note | Some blank pages have not been digitized, resulting in variations in pagination. |
Description
| Title | Page 110 |
| Transcript | <'T/4 l^^-e**'-"■•'»" day, we boarded an old side-wheeler and crossed the English channel, resting in an erect posture. We had it "soft" at Castelnau de Medoc, France, the best billet in the quaint little French village being ours. It was a magnificient old chateau, at one time the home of a marquis. The grounds, fully ten acres, were enclosed by a stone wall. Immediately behind the chateau was a concrete swimming pool, which afforded us an excellent plunge and at the same time a most necessary bath, a real luxury in France and quite out of the ordinary. The training at Castelnau consisted mostly of long tiresome hikes on the hot dusty roads, intended to harden the men for the front. "Non-coms." were instructed in the French methods and the "75 m.m." piece. On August 4th we entered Camp de Souge and began intensive training on the "75 m.m." piece. The men worked hard, and to the surprise of the French instructors, commenced service firing at the end of the first week, which ended four weeks later with a brigade barrage. On that memorable day, September 14th, we loaded at the rail head, leaving the sand and hot days, and started for "somewhere on the front." Although we were again traveling French style we were fairly comfortable, as we at least had room to stretch out. Arriving at Toul we found that we were to take up a position near Beney in the old St. Mihiel sector. Our first active service order was, "Keep to the right of the road." From Toul to the front the area was most intensely interesting. We saw for the first time what we had read about so often, barbed wire and trenches running in every direction as far as the eye could see, immense stores of munitions, guns, wagons, and hospital equipment abandoned by the recently retreating "Hun" as spoils of war. At every turn in the road we fully expected to encounter the enemy in full force, for it seemed that we must be close to Germany. On September 18th we reached Pannes, and received news of the first casualties of the regiment. Not an exactly cheering reception. Passing on, we established our first echelon on the Lamarche road two kilometers from Pannes. Then we began to speed up. Shortly after dusk we loaded all necessary equipment and materiel on the gun sections and set out with dubious minds to occupy our first position, which proved to be the last position also. "No smoking or talking; gas masks alert" were the orders. We did not need to have the orders repeated. The noise of the guns sounded unnecessarily close, we not knowing where we were going. However, we successfully rounded that "Dead Man's Corner", better known as the Beney crossroads, and hurried into position eight hundred meters on the road to St. Benoit. We fired our first barrage at three hours that same night. After four hours of steady firing the infantry began to move back with prisoners, a sign of a successful raid. I Jf. —no— |
| Identifier | RH341FA89_0111.tif |
