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A BRIEF HISTORY OF APPLETON'S "OLD COMPANY G"

(Co. A, 150th Machine Gun Battalion)

by LIEUTENANT ALLAN B. ELLIS

Page 14

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and Nonsard. From here I went to Machine Gun School by rail at Langres on the 26th of September, arriving at Langres the 27th.

        Left Langres October 27th by rail. Arrived St. Dizier 28th. Slept until 10:00 a.m. Left that evening by rail. Arrived in the morning of the 29th at Clermont, northeast of Verdun and went by truck to Battalion Headquarters in a springhouse near Apremont that evening and spent the night there. The Battalion had moved here about the 15th by camion and foot after having done a second trick on front line near St. Benoit.

        On the morning of the 30th I moved forward to Captain Graef's advanced P.C., he commanding the Battalion since the 27th of September. This was located on a hill known as Cote de Maldah about a kilometer south of Landres St. Georges. The brigade had been through hell here before we arrived, but we enjoyed our part in the attack of November 1st (as machine gunners), which consisted in assisting in a perfect hell of a barrage. Later we had the pleasure of learning that "the artillery drove the Huns out of their dugouts and the machine guns drove them back in", and still later moved from the Sedan front back over the ground which had been traversed by the barrage and found it to be as full of shell holes as the moon is of craters and every tree marked with machine gun bullets.

        Immediately after the barrage ceased (it lasted from 3:30 until 5:55) we packed up and fell back—mighty glad to do so too. Two days in a fox hole was bad enough and the Battalion had been there 21 and the weather very nasty. We bivouaced near the spring house at Apremont the 1st and 2nd marching on the 3rd to Verpel via Fleville, St. Juvin and Champigneulle on the 4th to a ferme west of Brieulles via Thenorgues, Briquenay, Germont, Authe, Brieulles and Authe. We had to counter march through Authe on account of the road leading to our original destination (beyond Brieulles) had been blown out where a ravine had been filled, some of the mine-craters being as big as a house.

On the 5th we passed through the 78th Division and began our advance on Sedan, passing through Brieulles and bivouacing in a ravine in the Bois de Mont Dieu. Did no firing the first day but went into position three times. The second day, 6th, I was assigned to the 168th (69th N.Y.) as liaison officer and think I mentioned some of my experiences in a previous letter. We passed through Maisoncelle and Bulson, the advance line running through Ferme St. Quentin. I went back to the company and slept in a little grove east of Historia Ferme. The best fun I had that day was sniping at two groups of Huns with a Springfield, range 1200 yards, and making 'em hunt cover. The scuts had two guns mounted right under a white flag in a group of deserted hangars. We had come to accept the white flag as an indication of the presence of civilians and not of surrender, but the crime is in my eyes even greater. However, we made 'em hunt their holes.

        On the 7th the drive on Sedan ended. I moved the Company to Ferme St. Quentin, where they shelled us. Capt. Combs was reconnoitering. Fell back a bit and later moved my platoon forward and had the satisfaction of using my two guns and three German Maxims in driving out a gang of Huns. Later relieved Lt. Crawhall on Hill 252, in easy rifle shot of Sedan. Spent the night there, nasty place, will tell you about it when I get home.

        Next day, Nov. 8, the 150th French relieved us, we marched to a bivouac southeast of Maisoncelle passing through Chaumont, Bulson and Maisoncelle. the 29th we marched to Le Petite Armoises via Maisoncelle, Chemery and Tannay, on the 10th to Fontenoy via Brieulles and St. Pierremont.

        Nov. 11 we marched to Thenorgues via Bar and Buzancy. Here we learned that evening of the signing of the armistice and our choice as one of the Divisions of the Army of Occupation.

 

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