Father Duffy's story

by Francis Patrick Duffy

The battalion rushed down and across the Ourcq without a casualty. There was one German gun which commanded the little bridge and which could have caused great losses, but the gunners were daunted by the resolute advance of our men, as they knew that no matter how many they might kill, they could not themselves escape, so they threw up their hands and surrendered.

Companies E and F rushed over the little bridge and through the river and up the slope of the hill towards Seringes and Bois Colas. Here Captain Charles Baker of Company E was badly wounded in the neck and shoulder, one of his best Sergeants, Michael Lynch, was killed, and the bold Steve Derrig got a mortal wound. (Long afterwards we learned with deep and universal regret that Captain Baker died of his wounds.)

Company F on the left had the place of danger, as their route lay straight up the hill and over the flats, to skirt the village of Seringes, the village itself being allotted to the Ohios when they could take their place in the line. Since they had been unavoidably detained and the French were still working in their business-like fashion at the task of getting Fere en Tardenois ready for capture, Kelly’s left flank was bound to be in the air with the prospects of worse to come if he got far enough forward to have it pass the village, which was giving trouble enough while in front.

He sent messengers to Company E on his right to see whether Bois Colas was rid of the enemy, for if it were strongly held, his men would be simply fighting down a lane into a trap. Jim Quigley of Company E had been in there already and Jim came around to report that the woods was not held by the Germans. Later Captain Prout sent a party into the wood and Lieutenant Conners, commanding E Company, took possession of it up to its northern edge. Kelly’s men had meanwhile been going forward in spite of Artillery and Machine Gun fire, until they found a spot from which they could effectively retaliate. This was a cutting in the roadway between Fere en Tardenois and the north edge of Bois Colas. The shelter it gave was not very great, but Lieutenant Frank Marsh had his automatic and rifle men lined up in the ditch, happy to get a shot at the foe that had been sending death amongst them. In the advance they had lost Frank Connaughton, Charles Fox and Michael Campbell, and later on Charles Caplinger, Harry Jennings and John J. McGloin. While holding the road other good men were killed. Matt Wynne, who was known to the whole regiment; Frank Divine, Lawrence Brennan, Alfred O’Neill, Sergeant Thomas Erb and Eugene Doty were mortally wounded, and also Harry Mansfield and Charles Melsa.

Kelly with his headquarters group, 1st Sergeant Joseph Blake, Sergeant John P. Mahon, Corporals Long and Finnegan, Harris and McLean and also Lieutenant Ogle had his post at the crest of the hill where he could watch the fortunes of his forward detachment. Finding them hard pressed he got two automatics from the Ohios, who had now crossed the river and were forming under the bank, and sent Long and Finnegan for reinforcements from his own Battalion. Colonel Anderson ordered them sent, and detachments from all three Companies proceeded through Bois Colas and started working forward to support the right flank of the F Company men. In this operation Company E lost Thomas Cullen, Philip Ford, Edward Fuld, Frank O’Meara, Louis Hazelton, Louis Cohen, John Costello, Michael Breen, Emmett Bingham, Corporal Gus Winter (hit carrying Cullen in), and Corporal John Cronin, the saint of the Company (who had gone as a volunteer), and whose body lay when I came to bury him the nearest to the enemy of any soldier of ours. Not far from Cronin’s body lay four men of Company H, John T. McCarthy, Patrick Reynolds, George Smith and Thomas Hayes. G Company lost John Conroy, Floyd Graham, and Edmund Reardon. Patrick Scanlan, whose brother Dan I had buried at Baccarat, was wounded this day, but stuck to his Company to meet his death the day following, as did James Higgins of the same Company. Of the two guides from Company F, Long was wounded and the heroic John Finnegan fought his last fight.

It was evident to anybody that a further advance without careful artillery preparation was impossible. Like the 3rd Battalion on the other hill across this valley, they had reached the level approach to the strong defenses in the village and along the southern edge of the forest. It was an artillery job. And any infantry commander who would send his men across that open space would deserve a court martial. The difficulty for both battalions arose from the alacrity with which they had obeyed the orders from above which sent them across the Ourcq on a bayonet charge against a fleeing foe. They had followed the orders, and overcoming the first resistance of the enemy, they found themselves opposed to the main line of defense with practically nobody else, French or American, on their side of the river. Their flanks unsupported, to go forward would be to hand the Germans a couple of geese to pluck, and as there were no means of communication with the distant artillery except runners, that arm of the service could not act without grave danger of shooting up its own side.

The Ohios meanwhile had pushed their way up to have their share in the battle. But since they had been considered as a support regiment, they naturally thought they were coming to relieve the New Yorkers, and officers and men announced that supposed fact to the groups of our men. Anderson stormed around when he heard of it and Kelly and Prout were disgusted, but they finally accepted the situation of falling back into a support position when orders came to make it final. After their struggles in the battle less than two weeks before the second battalion deserved a comparative rest from the toil of fighting. They withdrew to the northern edge of the Ourcq, where they supported the advance of the 1st Battalion the next day. Later the same day they formed a connecting link with the Alabamas on our right. The losses of the battalion in the remaining days of the fight were few in comparison. John McGeary of G was killed while saving the wounded of Company H. Sergeant James P. Robinson and Thomas Bugler were killed by shell fire and also Arthur Baia of Company E. On July 30th, while providing for the needs of men in line, two Sergeants of Company F, Charles Denon and Charles D. Echeverria, were killed, and Lieutenant Smith and Thomas Kelleher of the same company seriously wounded. While engaged in a similar task the First Sergeant of Company H, Daniel O’Neill, whose brother, William, had been killed in Champagne, was mortally wounded, leaving only one of that famous trio still alive.

THE BATTLE FIELD OF THE OURCQ

It was between nine and ten in the morning that Major Donovan’s battalion had reached the river, and not long after midday the relief of the 3rd Battalion was practically complete. Major Donovan brought into line with him three Companies, A, B and C. Company D, which had been on the hill since early morning, was told that it could retire with the 3rd Battalion. It had suffered losses, though not so severe as the other companies. The platoons on the left of the line had occupied Meurcy Farm with Company K. On the right the headquarters group and one platoon under Lieutenants Connelly and Daly had performed a very neat job of infiltration. There was a group of German machine guns in a clump of trees some distance beyond the right flank of our battalion, which was exceedingly annoying. So Connelly took his detachment far to the right, shielded by the bank of the river road, and led them up a gully into the rear of the Germans, driving them out by rifle fire and hand grenades. Two of his men, James Hayes and Harry Silver, an automatic rifle team, occupied a lone outpost which was attacked by the enemy. Silver was mortally hit, but kept on working his rifle till it dropped from his hands. Hayes grasped it and kept up the fight till he was wounded and taken prisoner.