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ALMOST A. W. O. L.Or the Major Who ForgotPalfBy 1st Sgt. James Jones, Co. *‘G,' 372nd Inf., Rad Hand Div.Dayton, Ohio, July 15, 1910. —I. was on the morning of Oct. 6, 1918, in the battle of the Champagne, when two of Co. G’s” well-known I ser geanta were made prisoners of wa by the Huns, and were rescued bj other members of the same company Our1 lines had been very well thinner out by the terrible downpour of thi ' Atnrtriaii 88 mm. cannons, and thi Germans decided to counter attacl and regain some of the ground the Daytori boys, along with the otherr had made them give up, through thlt; most desperate fighting of the drive Owing to the costly mistake o Capt. Swift (white) who replacer Capt. Robinson, (also white), as Bn Commander, by not establishing Uv proper comunicution with the othe units on his right and left flankr together with his listening in a V foot dug out, we were surrounded b. the enemy without a possible chanc. for escape.There was a heavy fog that hunt over our position on the morning Oct. 6. Our men had been wiped ou so fast thut were enforced by tw. French bnttalions, one on our righ and.one on our left. Our bnttalio: commander stayed so deep in his dug out he did not know what was goin; on in front, and while doing so, th • French learneii of the Germans' la to attack for the morning of Oetobe 0, and both moved back the distanci of 700 meters, leaving the 2nd Bn the 372nd in the soup. This was th. fault of Capt. Swift, who 'ailed t communicate with either of these bat talion commanders (French), whicl he should have done.1 wus out in an isolated shell-holi when the mistake was noticed, but not until day break did I discover Wi were not supported on either ou right or left. After crawling back our first lines I reported back I Capt. Swift that we were solated am I was Almost sure of .he enemy :nak ing a counter attack, which late proved to be a fact. Cupt. Swift !n quired of me, How did we become isolated? and I told Him of the absence of the French battalions on our 'eft and right. He threw up both hand: and replied, Oh, ny God, I have or-gotten to establish liaison with cithei of those units. What can I do?”It was too late to worry over spilt milk then. We hud to fight it out and fight like h—. which we did.After seeing nothing could be done to prevent the coming over of the enemy, I reported to Capt. Swift that 1 was going back to my post, but he never even came out of his dugoui yet, but when I emerged from hii quarters the fun had started. The Germans had come over. Private John Ellis, who was an automatic gunner, had trouble with his automatic rifle and it became jammed foi him, which made things very unplea' ant for him. I met him on the wav to report the enemy had broken through. After tell. g aim I had reported . i Capt. Swift he turned and reported Pack to his post. The battle kept up for 1 hours, but the heavy fog made it very difficult for the Germans to see where .hey were and also for the Americans. It was 30 diffi cult to Sgts. Elmer Neal ind Cornelius Oidwine that .hey walked right into the German patrol before they realized where they were. The German patrol took them prisoners and after Sgt. Neal asked .the leader of the patrol if he had any beer, which the leader replied in plain English, yes. Sgts. Kinnard, Stevenson, Corp. Cooper and others, learning of their capture, c^me to their rescue, and just about the lime that Sgt. Oidwine began to picture a sight-seeing trip in Berlin, .he voice of Sgt. Kinnard took the German sergeant by surprise rind lie threw down his arms and surrendered to the rescuers. This was the end of Sgts. Nea! and Old wine’s vision of Berlin.The patrol was taken prisoners and after Sgts. Stevenson, Kinnard, Oidwine, Neal, Corp. Cooper., privates Lem Smith, Ellis and others had enjoyed ihe good wine and other 'uncy drinks of the German patrol. The Germans were forced back to their former position r.nd the French battalions again took tin .lieir former ao sition, and all was well during the .rest of the day.■* This misluKe, dear reader, was only one of the thousands .hat were ,.iade by our officers (white), who replaced well-trained colored officers, who were taken from as in the time they were needed mostla;bo
Newspaper Details
The Dayton Forum
Dayton, Ohio, US
Fri, Aug 15, 1919
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Gina S.
USA 17 Jan 2025
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