The First Gas Attack
It was usually Fritz's intention to place a harassing barrage on any section of the line where he knew that a relief was being effected. But he was less watchful than usual when we went in.
U. S. Official Photo "Hotel de Barn"—Showing Barber Shop and Reading and Writing Rooms
The enemy awoke, however, three days later, on the morning of Monday, June 24th, and attacked our regimental outposts. In order to effectively prevent any assistance being rendered by the platoons stationed in St. Maurice, a heavy barrage was laid on the town beginning at 3:30 A.M. During the early part of the shelling the continual use of H. E.'s (high explosive shells), with an occasional gas shell, served to keep the men not only penned in their bomb-proof cellars, but also forced the continued use of gas masks. Gradually the H. E.'s were interspersed with gas shells until a point was reached where far more gas shells than high explosives fell into the town, resulting in a heavy blanket of phosgene, mustard, and lachrymatory gases settling over the position.
The barrage did not lift until 6:00 A.M. and when it did the platoons were forced to take a defensive position to guard against any possible success of the enemy.
During the night before the attack, the men had been digging until a late hour on a system of trench defense. This entailed a lack of sleep which, together with the continued wearing of the gas mask and the exposure endured immediately after the barrage, weakened their resistance to such an extent as to make them easy victims to the poisonous gases.
Seventy-nine men were forced to the hospital by the effects of the combined phosgene and mustard. Among them were our first sergeant, supply and mess sergeants, all but one of our cooks, and both mechanics, which left us decidedly crippled.
The shadow of our losses was deepened when we heard that Cook George Alberts, always popular, had died from gas inhaled while trying to prepare the company breakfast in a gas-filled kitchen. He was our first loss by death.
U. S. Official Photo
Shell-Proof Dugout—A Shelter in St. Maurice
An immediate result of our losses was the extra work shouldered by those who had escaped any of the serious effects. The men left in St. Maurice remained on constant guard until the Company was relieved several days later.
During the short rest period that followed, a reorganization of the Company was accomplished and we again entered the lines in July, taking over P. C.'s Hameau and Montreux, as before.