Soupir, St. Mard and Cys-la-Commune, the latter two south of the Aisne, were visited by the men during the next two days. Some of the officers also made the trip to the neighboring towns. Lieutenants Nelson and Paton, returning from a purchasing expedition and failing to find the road leading across the bridge, commandeered a raft which failed them in mid-stream and their supplies were resting on the bottom of the river when they succeeded in reaching the bank.
On their second trip to the lines, made on the night of the 27th, the Company officers decided it would be necessary to pass through the cave, and after a long struggle through twisted paths, barbed wire, broken trench timbers and mud worse than ordinary because of a recent fall of snow, the men reached their assigned positions.
With the exception of a raid conducted by the French in coöperation with members of the 101st Infantry Regiment, on the left of the Company positions, followed by intermittent bombardments of retaliation by both sides, the second shift in the trenches for the members of old Troop A was uneventful. Routine duties continued until Friday, March 8, when French soldiers relieved them and they returned to billets at Chavonne. The Hun's farewell was enthusiastic, high explosives and gas shells expressing his hatred for the new units in the line. A bombing squadron bound for Paris passed above the men as they trudged back through Ostel and gas shells were so numerous that much of the trip was made with the masks adjusted.
In preparation for eventualities, the French authorities were constructing defensive positions protected by barbed wire for several miles to the rear of the lines they then occupied. It was into some of these just to the rear of American batteries near Ostel that part of D Company was sent on the day following its relief from the front line. Life at these posts was ideal, duties were cut to a minimum, food was brought in plentiful quantities to the doors of the dugouts, and with pay day on the Wednesday following the relief, French canteens were liberally patronized. Excellent weather prevailed during the rest of the stay in this sector and when the Battalion left Chavonne for Braisne March 18 impressions concerning the character of war were of a high nature for the Company had passed through its training period with no casualties and but few real hardships.
On the march from Chavonne to Braisne, the men again passed through Vailly, following the same road it had covered in making the trip to the lines. All along the way were evidences that the thrifty French were making every attempt to cultivate all available land. Most of the fields the Hun had held for nearly four years up to the preceding fall were green with new crops and cattle grazed among the mazes of barbed wire both armies had left in their haste. Braisne seen for the first time during daylight bore few of the scars of war, for the retreat first of the French and then of the German armies had been precipitous in this particular region.
Leaving at 11:30 that night the train moved out in the rain always in evidence when D Company was moving. Travelling all the following day the troops were detrained at Brienne le Chateau in the department of the Aube, about one hundred miles from Neufchateau, where the march to Vesaignes sous Lafauche for that mythical rest began in the usual drizzle. The journey ended for that day when the Company arrived at La Chaise, where quarters for all the men were taken in a large barn. Twelve kilometers to Ville sur Terre finished the task for the next day and this quiet little village was made the scene of deeply felt orations delivered by Sergeant Curtiss and Maiden to the crowd in the village square on varied topics, the spirits of the entire Company apparently bolstered by purchases in the cafés. Two more days here and the Battalion again moved under orders to participate in a war game which German successes on the British front were soon to cancel.
Through Thil, Nully, Blumery to Dommartin le St. Pere the men trudged on a twenty-one kilometer march Saturday, March 23. Conversation with people at that place revealed that it was being used by the French as a refuge for many of the peasants driven from their homes near the Belgian border. Sunday's trip was to Nomecourt, a distance of thirteen kilometers. The following day the route lay through Joinville and Poissons to Maconcourt. The next day twelve kilometers more found the Battalion in Chambroncourt and Wednesday, March 27, Vesaignes sous Lafauche with its fleeting promise of a rest came into view, completing a hike which had required six marching days and during which over sixty-five miles had been covered.
The journey had not been tiresome, for the weather had been favorable with the exception of two days. The beauties of France, hidden by shell holes and barbed wire in the vicinity of the lines and mud and snow during the Company's early training period, had begun to be evident in the smiling countryside which greeted the men on their trip. Fields were either green with new crops or brown where the earth had been freshly plowed, trees were showing the bright green of new leaves and the white roads in excellent repair which traversed the entire section seemed as ribbons binding together the tiny villages snuggled in the nooks among the hills, with neatly trimmed hedges and backgrounds of stately poplars along the banks of the little streams, producing an impression of peace and love in contrast with the hate and destruction of the front.
Assigned to barracks on the edge of the town, D Company proceeded to the task of unpacking barracks bags and settling down for a stay. This was rudely interrupted within two days when the smashing attacks of the Hun hordes against the British had met with such success that General Foch, in command of the Allied armies, found it necessary to use all available reserves. To this end the 102d Machine Gun Battalion, with the rest of the 26th Division, was ordered to the sector northwest of Toul as a relief for the 1st Division, which, with its record of nearly three months training in the lines, was needed where serious activity was impending.