The Daylight Raid
On Sunday, July 21st, a patrol of fifty-two men from our Company, accompanied by two medical first-aid men, engaged in a raid on the German trenches at two-thirty in the afternoon. The party advanced on the enemy lines in single file, divided in four groups which were respectively commanded by Sergeant Todd, Captain Barrett, Sergeant Bromback and Lieutenant Mohlke.
The intent was to surprise the enemy with a daylight raid and thereby obtain information thru capture and observation. But either thru knowledge or by chance, the Germans had prepared against this maneuver and the surprise was reversed.
Waiting until our patrol was fairly within their lines, and then partially surrounding them, the enemy centered upon our men a deadly fire of rifles, machine guns, and grenades. The raiders fought valiantly in return but were outnumbered four to one. After an hour's fighting, seventeen of our party, including Captain Barrett, lay dead, and sixteen were captured. Of the twenty-one who returned, thirteen were wounded. We were informed by two German prisoners captured a few days later that seventeen Germans had been killed.
The loss sustained in this daylight raid occasioned considerable comment, chiefly because it was generally believed that Captain Barrett had misread his orders,—that the time for action had really read 2:30 A.M. instead of 2:30 P.M. This, however, is quite untrue, inasmuch as all the Company officers, as well as the supply sergeant and company clerk, were conversant with the orders. Captain Barrett's immediate battalion and regimental superiors were present at or near the time of action and possessed full knowledge of the entire plan.
The defeat was caused solely by the lack of the intended element of surprise. Whether or not the enemy had possession of our plans, and if they had possession, how they obtained it, is something we shall never know.
A telegram was received by the Divisional Commander from General Headquarters to the effect that the entire action had been investigated and found creditable.
The casualties suffered from the raid, together with those resulting from the gas attack of June 24th, so depleted the Company as to make an immediate relief imperative and that same night Company L took over our sector.
A subsequent reorganization of the entire regiment distributed the men of the various companies so that all would have an equal strength. Our numbers were so few that we lost none of our men in this process but instead received increases not only from many of the other companies, but also from the 76th New England Division.
As tribute to those men whom we had lost, a Company B mass was held at the Catholic Church in Vacqueville at which Chaplain Father Walsh of our battalion officiated. The entire strength of the Company was present.
Another rest and another turn up front, after which the entire division was relieved by the 37th Ohio and Kentucky Division. Once again we crossed the Vosges, halting for three days at Seranville. Leaving there, we bivouaced for a night in the Forêt de Charmes and entrained at Charmes next morning, August 7th, at dawn.
