The Delta of the Triple Elevens

by William Elmer Bachman

It was Thanksgiving week when Battery D arrived in Blancheville. The auto convoy deposited the battery paraphernalia in the vicinity of the old stone church and graveyard that stood along the main highway as the landmark and chief building of the village. Nearby stood the only other building of import--a stone structure that housed a pool of water in the manner of the ancients. This was the public pool where the women of the village came to do the family washing, as the village was deprived of the natural advantages of a river. Watering troughs surrounded this wash-house on two sides. Twice daily the cattle and live-stock from all the village barns were led to this watering place. Water for drinking purposes was also supplied the village from a special fountain on the exterior side opposite the water troughs.

Mud was the chief characteristic of Blancheville. It was a farming community of unusual quietude. Plenty of barns and roosts were found in which to billet the battery. The natives were very hospitable. They readily chased out the cows and the chickens to make room for the Americans. The boys lived next door to animal nature. In one billet an adjacent room housed the live stock and it was not uncommon to have slumbers awakened by the cow walking into the sleeping quarters of the troops.

While in Blancheville the boys got used to the largest of the French rat species. During the hours of the night they traveled flat-footed over the faces and forms of sleeping soldiers, also played havoc with all soldier equipment stored in the billet. It may sound like myth, but it is a fact that a rat in one billet dragged an army mess kit across the floor--they were some rats.

On the road opposite the church stood an old, one-story stone building that was built in its present form, eight hundred years ago. The roof was overgrown with moss and one corner had started to crumble in from old age. In this building Corporals James Cataldo and Michael A. Tito, the battery barbers, set up a barber shop. They did good business after they were able to convince the battery in general that the roof would not cave in for another hundred years.

The first day in Blancheville was spent in parking the guns and caissons, digging Latrines and the usual duties attendant upon establishing a new battery home. It was also a job in itself to make some semblance at getting some of the billets cleaned up and half fit to sleep in.

Reveille for the first few mornings was at 8 o'clock. Thursday, November 28th, was an off day for the outfit, except those on K. P., who got an extra job in preparing a battery Thanksgiving spread. The day was spent by the idle mostly in hiking over the roads and visiting some of the nearby villages where the other units of the regiment were quartered. Regimental Headquarters, Headquarters Company, Supply Company, Battery C, and the Medical detachment were at Andelot, about four kilos from Blancheville. The 2nd Battalion Hqrs. and E Battery were at Cirey-les-Mareilles; A Battery was at Vignes; Battery B at Montot, and F Battery at Mareilles.

The town of Andelot, built in the shape of an amphitheatre on the slope which forms the base of the hill of Monteclair, is situated on the banks of the little river Rognon, 21 kilometers from Chaumont, seat of the Department of Haute Marne.

On this hill of Monteclair, on which there was a strong-castle during the years 101 to 44 B. C., Caesar established a camp. Under Constantine (306 A. D.) Andelot became the seat of a province. A Court of Champagne fortified the position of Monteclair (440 A. D.). On the 28th of November, 587, the treaty of Andelot was made between Gontran, King of Burgundy, and Cnideberft, King of Austrasia, who was accompanied by his mother, Brunehaut.

In 871 A. D., Andelot became the seat of a county, which was broken up in the course of the tenth century, and which was a dependency of the Duke of Lorraine. From 1201 to 1253 the fortifications of Monteclair were strengthened and enlarged, the town was beautified and surrounded by walls, which were demolished in 1279. Andelot became the seat of a prefecture of which Domremy, the birthplace of Joan of Arc, was a part.

In 1356 and again in 1431 Monteclair was taken by the English. It was returned to France in 1434. In 1523 a German army occupied Andelot and the castle of Monteclair for a short time. There followed famine and pestilence. Francis I, King of France (1494 to 1547) repaired the fortifications and ordered a great amount of work to be done on the fortress. During the religious wars (1337 to 1453) Andelot was taken and re-taken by the Catholics and Protestants, its church was burned and its bells melted down. Monteclair came again under the authority of the King in 1594.