Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1919-03-10

tration at Verdun and while il was
fighting its way northward till it |
gained it's objection and cut the Sc
dan Maquieres railway by the 18th of |
November last vert duplicated here /
Sunday, Capt. J. NJ. Ganey of New |
London, surgeon with the seth heavy !
artillery regiment, told his audience !
Sunday afternoon when he spoke be- |
fore Rev. Daniel Mullen assembly, |
Fourth degree, Knights of Columbus, |
at an open meeting held in the couE- |
ell rooms in the Sunlight building.
Such pouring driving rain as Nor
witch had nearly all day Sunday was
what General Pershing's men fought
through, Capt. Ganev said. and was of
great value to the army in its con-
.entration period for it absolutely pre-
vented German airplane observation,
with the result that the American at
tack in the Ferdun region was a cont
piete surprise to the enemy.
Capt. Ganey gave an inside story Of
what modern war meant to the 56th,
stripped of all its glamor and romance,
no thrilling orders to charge, no bands
TO cheer them OH, not an American nag
seen, from beginning TO end, nothing
but the grim, terrible, earnest fighting
lit which the American army paid
fearful toll fighting over territory that
the French said was impossible. But
where the French said nothing could
be done, the Americans went forward
seven kilomettrs the first day and
maintained thereafter an average adj
vance of one and one-half miles per
| day. At no time SWere the Germans
able to make a successful stand. once
| the American soldiers got started.
Capt. Ganey devoted q few words
to Brest and said that camp was fully
| !, Il + 1iof,r 4
stated that the governor of Kansas
was right in saying that division of
Kansas and Missouri troops had been
slaughtered. They were. said Capt
Ganev for they were sent in absolutely
without any military support.
John NJ. Lee, fourth degree deputy
| for Connecticut, introduced Capt. Ga
ney, who he mentioned incidentally
lad been cited for decoration for his
work overseas with the army.
Story of the 56tl,.
Just year ago this month, said
Captain Ganey, the seth regiment was
transported from Fishers Island TO
New London with great secrecy at
night, and the next day was aboard a
transport that landed them at Brest on
the 9TH of April. We We're marched
to a camp once used by Napoleon-no
beds, no lights. no heat. After two
days there, we Went to the training
area near Vichy and We're given the
6-inch modern French rifles, an ad-
nirable weapon with an accurate
range of II miles. The course of train
was no intention of throwing the
American army into action in any
numbers until the summer of 1919.
But in July conditions became diff
ferent and it is only speaking the
truth to say that if the Americans had
not been there as they were, the wal
would have ended far differently. Such
is the opinion of all who have beer
over there. The Germans would have
undoubtedly taken Paris. The French
We're conceding this. The English were
, fighting with their backs to the wal
for the channel ports, The only cues
ton was. What after Paris? The
French were not only in retreat, they
We're in a roGt, every road damned full
of French troops falling back for the
stand after Paris.
Then it was decided to send in the
Americans as stop-gap, and as {
stop-gap only. 1t was not though
they would amount to any more thar
that The Second division was select
ed. half marines and half regulars, anC
waded in and absolutely stopped aht
turned back the German tide, but Yer!
few of that $4,000 came out
At this time also the seth got 1t:
| orders to move. 1t seemed as if thu
whole world was on the move. road
, and railroads damned with troops anC
paraphernalia of war. We detraineC
at La Ferte, II miles south of Chateau
Thierry. three trains of $50 fiat ant
! ~ IT,
ing in a binding rain and the tasl
was to get all unloaded and hid ava,
in a wood five miles off before day
light. The night before a German
: bombing raid had leveled every build
ing in the freight yard. 1t was moth
: ing short of marvellous the work thos
= untried American soldiers did il
handling those 17-ton guns and thei
IS horse power tractors, weighing al
most as much as the guns.
f 1t was no well laid plan that settle
: the war, said Captain Ganey, but jus
4 the sheer individual brains and bray
cry of the untried soldiers.
BY that time the Germans had re
f treated "A miles and the 56th coul
not we'll be used in flying column
q and so the 56th was given the task @
+ clearing up Belleau wood. 1t was thei
! first sight of a battlefield, a scene @
: absolute DISSOLUTION, and the America
dead so thick that they had to NOV
+ | the bodies to find a place to lie dow
= when it came time to sleep at nigh
. On the t4th of August they got thei
? order to move up and it was then the
- first experienced the personal DANCE
q of what they We're in. They wer
4 caught at night at a crossroads by th
- German fire. The first shell landed lC
yards away, the second so yards neare
voy. Till o'clock in the morning the
: and the third mixed up the whole cor
y were under constant shelltire. Whe
= daylight came it seemed as if they ha
y been through Il whole lifetime,
: The position that the regiment too
l. said Captain Ganey, was along II
e Nesle river, with the Germans il
# trenched on a plateau across the va
ley, from which the 18th was to blai
a them out. The position was one Whel
= the men of the seth had Il view of IL
~ whole valley and could see the infantr
. moving up to the attacks and the poo
struggling remnants coming back Whe
!, they were relieved. Eighteen men can
!, back out of one company, y out
! another BY the first of Septemb
"a the Germans had been driven back
y the Chemin des Danes, where it W;
= decided to let them stay.
Ill Then began the organization OF u
u American First army, 100000 stron
- for the Verdun drive. The rumor W;
that the attack was to be in the To
E sector, but this was probably a lit
: camoufiage, circulated to see ii son
:, of it might not leak through TO Il
;, Germans While at Nesle river, Cal
=, tain Ganey said, they were bomb
" regularly every night by the Gsrns
airplanes, which had complete maste
of the air. They came at night an.
way, and in the daytime if they fe
Y like it. The anti-aircFaft defen
e seemed TO have no effect upon them.