Sidelights on Negro SoldiersWilliams, Charles H. (Charles Halston)
History
Sidelights on Negro Soldiers
Williams, Charles H. (Charles Halston)
World War, 1914-1918 -- Participation, African American
At the end of the first training period the regiment marched on June 12
and 13 to Morvillars, where it entrained for Ligny en Barrois (Meuse).
It then moved near the town of Bar-le-Duc in the department of the
Meuse. Here it was declared fit for active service, and on June 21
it was placed on the front line in a quiet sector in the St. Mihiel
district for fourteen days. Leaving for the Argonne on July 19, it was
placed in the Verdun sector on the plateau of Gorgia and at Hermont
and Mont des Allieux. At the last named place, on July 24, the first
casualty in action took place when Private Robert M. Lee of machine-gun
company No. 2 was killed. The only other operation except the usual
routine work was the raid of a Stokes mortar platoon, commanded by Lt.
Robert A. Wood, on August 4. This was in the sub-sector of Vauquois.
Three hundred rounds of ammunition were fired, the object being to fill
up the gaps of the artillery barrage.
On August 15 the 370th was placed at the disposal of General Mangin,
who was commander of the 10th Army and who ordered the regiment in
reserve along the Curcq River. From this position it was taken on
September 15 to the Soissons sector with the 59th Division in the area
of Vauxaillon with the Ailette Canal and Alizy Château as its strong
salients. The Third Battalion, commanded by Colonel Otis B. Duncan,
succeeded in taking the southern boundary of the canal. Four rifle
companies were detached with two French regiments and assisted in
taking Mont des Singes. The fighting was severe. The 370th was usually
in close support, but it also participated in several attacks, in all
of which the objectives were gained.
For the first time, on September 22, the regiment was given a full
sector extending from L’Écluse to a point 300 meters west of the
crossing of the Pinon Braucourt road. The First Battalion went into a
position on the Oise-Aisne Canal and the Farm Guilliminet, the Second
into a support position at Mont des Tombs and Les Tueries and the
slopes west of Antioche Farm, and the third into reserve at Tincelle
Farm. The headquarters company was stationed at Levilly and the supply
company at Monte Couve.
In the midst of the relief of the First and Second Battalions on the
front line during the night of September 27, an attack was ordered at
dawn. By the greatest effort the relief was completed and the Second
Battalion, which was ordered to work, began offensive operations.
These lasted three days. During the night, while the relief was being
conducted, there was considerable mixing of units. It was difficult to
maintain liaison and as a result one company advanced too far and a
number of casualties resulted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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