Nov. 4th: At 5:00 A. M. we started for Authe, after the heartrending procedure of passing a battalion of the 308th Infantry lined up for a hot meal. We went through Authe to Brieulles under fairly heavy shell fire where the road had been blown up, six mines having been placed at a bridge and we were forced to make a long detour through a swamp. From there we proceeded to Les Petites Armoises as the advanced guard of the Brigade. It was a gruelling hike and considering the condition of the men, the spirit shown was remarkable, and we halted south of the town only four men less than we had left Germond with in the morning. Artillery was quite active there and we witnessed some wonderful work by German batteries and an airplane in destroying a group of buildings to the west of us.
On entering the town we were greeted by delighted civilians who had been under German rule for four years and who gave us some atrocious black bread covered with lard which almost tasted good. They also warned us that the enemy had a machine gun nest to the north of the village.
After deploying we started up the hill, and soon as scouts appeared above the crest machine guns opened up on them. In the subsequent reconnaissance Privates Sullivan and Burchell were killed by machine gun fire. One gun was located about 300 meters in front of us and in an effort to flank its position the right of the company was deployed along the crest of the hill, and was in position to rush it, but it was cut off by fire from the flank. After three attempts Sgt. White brought the left flank to a similar position only to have the advance halted by another machine gun. As it seemed impossible to advance without auxiliary weapons the company was withdrawn and dug in half way down the hill. “D” company established contact on our left but there was nothing on our right but German machine guns. Corporal Miller led a patrol in an effort to put the guns out of action, but was unsuccessful because of the covering fire from other guns and the openness of the country. About 3:00 P. M. two airplanes arrived and one by his near presence causing a Boche plane to retire, dropped a message which said “There are Boche machine guns in a shell hole 200 meters to your front.” This information was somewhat superfluous, but the affair was interesting. The other plane, endeavoring to locate Company “D” flew too low and landed on a hill about 500 yards in front of our line. The aviator unhurt got out of the machine and in spite of the hails of our outpost he headed for Germany and was seen no more. The plane was dragged by the enemy to a point north of Tannay and demolished. About 5:00 P. M. Boche artillery opened up and played a steady stream of fire on the town, and by no means neglected our position. A strong point made up of men from Company “C” was scarcely located in their new position when a shell severely wounded two of their men. The loss of our First Aid Man who was killed by a shell early in the evening greatly handicapped the evacuation of the wounded.
From 5:00 P. M. to 1:00 A. M. there was a perfect hail of shells and machine gun bullets while enemy airplanes dropped bombs on the town itself. Corporal Peter did excellent work during this time keeping the outposts organized. Casualties—killed 5, wounded 9.
Nov. 5th: About 3:30 A. M. the enemy machine guns pulled out and at 5:00 A. M. the company retired to les Petites Armoises for breakfast and then went on to Tannay. After reconnaissance by the Battalion a patrol of 30 men was called for to establish a strong point in a patch of woods northwest of the town. An effort was also to be made to obtain liaison with units on our right. The first platoon was called upon and though practically exhausted they responded promptly and went up to take their position. Lt. Gardenier with three runners went on until contact was established with the 165th Infantry just north of Sy. Sgt. Ahearn meanwhile, finding no opposition in the woods designated, pushed his jaded men to the edge of the Bois de Mont Diens, about two kilometers further on and began to exchange courtesies with a lonely machine gunner. To this detachment belongs the distinction of being the unit of the 78th Division nearest Germany when the relief came.
When the 166th Infantry had leapfrogged us at 3:30 P. M., the company pulled back into Tannay at 4:15 P. M. just in time to begin hiking back. It was raining again, and it was a dismal hike to Les Petites Armoises where no billets were available, and the only alternative was Brieulles, 7 kilometers further on. Over a road pitted with shell holes, filled with troops, transport and artillery headed in the opposite direction, the company plodded on, arriving at Brieulles about midnight. A conservative estimate of the distance covered by the first platoon that day is thirty kilometers and all under the most trying conditions. On reaching Brieulles we shared a church with “C” company and while some sat up and others stood crowded into corners, everybody slept. We left Brieulles at 5:00 A. M. and hiked to Authe where, Nov. 6th, a hot breakfast put new life in the company, which was fortunate, because though we did not know it at the start, there were twenty-two gruelling kilometers in front of us. After hiking continuously until 5:30 P. M. we reached La Folie Ferme and stayed the night in these familiar haunts.
Nov. 7th: Packs were slung and we were on the move early in the morning and after hiking until 4:00 P. M. we were presented with a soaked, battered section of the Argonne not far from Appremont, and told to make ourselves comfortable. We were doing the best we could when there was an unholy din and a fireworks display, owing to a signal corps outfit hearing “Officially” that the war was over. We mistook it for a German air raid, however, so we did not derive much comfort therefrom. But it is worthy of notice because it was the beginning of the greatest conglomeration of rumors in the history of civilized warfare.
Nov. 8th: It took most of the day trying to follow out the order to make ourselves comfortable and we were just beginning to accomplish this when on the morning of November 9th we pulled out and hiked to Florent, remaining there the following day. Lt. Gartley, who had joined on November 8th, assisted the company commander in re-acquainting the jaded doughboys with the intricacies of the manual of arms and that evening the pearly notes of “Retreat” and The Star Spangled Banner made us feel nearly civilized again. The rumors were still running high.
Nov. 11th: On this historic day the 1st Battalion celebrated by taking its longest hike of the Meuse-Argonne Campaign. We moved from Florent to Varimont, a distance of twenty-nine good long kilometers. While we were passing through Ste Menehould, the French papers with gigantic headlines “C’EST SIGNE” were shown us and we passed innumerable grinning French men and women repeating over and over again the words which were like music to our ears—“la Guerre Finie.”
We arrived at Varimont about 5:00 P. M. nearly exhausted and resumed back area existence at once.