Sidelights on Negro Soldiers

by Charles H. Williams

On July 18 the 161st began to push the Germans back and to reoccupy the abandoned terrain. Two battalions of the 369th shared in this undertaking and continued in such operations until July 21, when the regiment took over and established the front line in the Calvaire sector north of Minaucourt. All three battalions suffered casualties in this offensive, the third suffering most because it was in the front line longest.

On July 23 the 369th occupied a sector between Butte de Mesnil and Main de Massiges under the most trying conditions. The enemy was constantly being pushed back, but during the process artillery and infantry combat hardly ceased for several days, and there was a constant rain of gas and high explosive shells on all sides. The sector held by the 369th had a front of a thousand meters, and the three battalions supported one another from the front line to the intermediate positions in the rear. Several raids were made each night by both sides and casualties occurred daily and nightly on the patrols and raids that were sent into “No Man’s Land.”

The regiment was at length relieved in this sector and it started for Camp St. Quen south of Châlons to get a long promised rest. It had been under fire continuously for 130 days. At this camp the other three Negro regiments serving with the French were supposed to be mobilized for the complete organization of the 93rd Division. Barracks were cleaned in expectation of these troops, but before they reached the camp the 369th, which had been resting less than a week, was ordered back to the front to resume its place in the 161st Division. It was placed in a sector west of and adjacent to the sector of Calvaire previously held. On its return to the division it replaced the 115th R. I., which was broken up and distributed among other French units. The new sector was the most active and deadly the regiment had held. There were constant raids and patrols and a continuous combat of artillery. The Germans here used the device of having several aeroplanes “loop the loop” over the French lines in the hope that men would come out and watch them. If they did a projector gas attack would be launched immediately.

One of the most furious attacks on the 367th was begun in such manner. The aeroplanes did the “loop the loop,” which was followed by two gas attacks separated only by seconds. Then a terrific artillery bombardment started, lasting forty minutes, during which time it was estimated that 9000 shells fell on the regiment. Twenty minutes after the lull of the big guns seven German infantry regiments charged over the top to drive the 369th from its trenches. The First Battalion, assisted by the machine-gun companies from the other two, met the assault with a steady, intensive, and continued fire until it broke down in front of the lines. At no point were the enemy able to enter the lines or capture any prisoners. Instead, the 369th Regiment captured prisoners who gave valuable and much needed information, and it was specially commended for its steadiness under fire in this engagement. In this sector the regiment lost a large number of officers and men and experienced its hardest fighting. On September 15 it was relieved by a French Fourragère regiment and taken to the rear to Somme Tourbe and Somme Bionne, where for eight days the men rested. Meanwhile they were taught the principles of open warfare in anticipation of the attack by the French and American armies which was launched September 25, 1918.

For this attack the infantry battalions in the division were placed in assault waves and commanded by their regimental officers. The artillery preparation for the attack lasted six hours and twenty-five minutes, with French and American guns of all sizes going at full blast. At the zero hour (5.25 A. M.) the Allied armies went over the top in one of the biggest offensives of the war. The French and Moroccan battalions on the left and right of the 369th contracted their fronts, thus leaving an opening between the French divisions; and the Third Battalion, commanded by Major Spencer, advanced on the left and established liaison with the Moroccans. On September 26 the two units captured the town of Ripont, a large number of prisoners and machine-guns, and advanced to the Dormois River, a distance of more than four kilometers. Heavy casualties resulted from this advance; several officers and men were killed, and Major Spencer himself was wounded six times. On the afternoon of the 27th Fountaine en Dormoise was captured and the regimental P. C. was established there. Further advance was held up for a while by barbed wire entanglements commanded by machine-gun nests, some of which were in concrete pill boxes. These, however, were finally captured. During the night the Second Battalion relieved the third in the front line, and by daylight on the 28th it was ordered to continue the attack with the two French battalions on its left and right. The artillery barrage for the third day’s attack was ineffective, and the assaulting battalion had to cut its way through wire and overcome machine-gun nests without artillery assistance. The day’s advance was 1000 meters over hills and ridges occupied and controlled by the enemy. On this day the battle was hottest around Bellevue Ridge and Bellevue Signal, with the contending forces trying to gain possession. After nightfall the French executed a brilliant flank movement with three battalions, including the second of the 369th, driving the enemy from all the trenches and terrain leading to the summit of the ridge. Dawn on the 29th found the enemy killed, captured, or driven from the ridge and the advance moving down the slopes toward the plains beyond to the town of Sechault, the next objective.

The First Battalion, commanded by Major Little, led this advance, entering the town and engaging in heavy fighting in the streets and in house to house combat, in an attempt to clear the town of enemy infantry and machine-gun nests. The battalion advanced through Sechault to the plains beyond, but withdrew for the night to make way for French artillery preparation for the continued advance, which began on the 30th through the woods of Petit Rosière and lasted until October 3. The regiment was again commended by the division general for the way in which it cleared Sechault of the enemy. The entire division halted to await the capture of the town because of its importance.

The Second and Third Battalions were sent in to relieve the first on October 3, but the regiment had suffered so many casualties in both officers and men that it was relieved with the 161st Division and carried in troop trains to Vitry-le-François. A little later it was transferred from Gouraud’s Fourth Army, where it had served during its offensives, to become a part of the 7th French Army.

The 369th entrained at Vitry-le-François for Belfort on October 12, reaching its destination on the 14th. Two days later it moved by trucks and forced marches to Thann in the Vosges Mountains, where the entire regiment was put in front line trenches in the Thur sector. This was comparatively quiet, and from October 16 to November 11 only six casualties occurred, including one officer.

The 369th Regiment played an important part in all the campaigns in which it participated, its efficiency increasing with every engagement. During the time that it was brigaded with the French the relations were most cordial; and during the last days of the September offensive the commanding general of the 161st Division attached it to his own two crack regiments because of its fighting qualities under fire. While there were difficulties of language, these were usually overcome by the assignment of efficient interpreters and the French officers were enthusiastic in their praise of the manner in which the regiment fought in all its battles.

After the Armistice the 161st Division became a part of the Second French Army of Occupation. The 369th was given the post of honor as advance guard in the Triumphal March of November 17, 1918, and led the Army of Occupation out of the mountains to the plains lying on the west bank of the Rhine River. Reaching Blodelsheim on the Rhine on the morning of November 18, it was the first unit of all the Allied armies to reach the goal toward which so many million men had struggled through four bloody years. The regiment occupied the towns of Blodelsheim, Fessenheim, and Balgan, which also included a pontoon bridge head and a ferry head. Meanwhile the municipal affairs of these towns were administered by the regimental commander and his troops, who also guarded the surrounding territory.