The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1919-03-01
Headquarters Fifth Division,
American Expeditsenary Forces,
- France Nuv. 18th. 1918.

| france, Nov. 18th, 1918.
General Orders NO. T3.
i. It is with pride and pleasure
that the Division Commander calls
the attention of the division to g.. @:
No. Al, 3rd Corps. Of November 9th,
1918, wherein the Corps Command
er cites the Fifth Division for Fore
ing, against the enemy in position, q
crossing Of the River Meuse near DUN
and near Brieul1es, building bridges
and swimming the river in the taee
of machine gun and artillery fire .flc
advancing some nine kiIometers III
the enemy's territory to the vicinity
Of Brandeville. This action fot only
uncovered the left flank Of the XVII.
French Corps and enabled that corps
to advance, but, broke the line Of re-
sistance OF the German army, and, hy
turning its position on the east bank
Of the Meuse. compelled its with
:drawaP and a letter Of November
I1th, 1918. from the Chief OF Stan,
fst ArIny, A. E. F., to the Comma nd
ing General, 3rd Corps, E.
wherein he states: t.The Army Com
mander has noticed with great pleas
ure and appreciation the excellent
work Of your corps in crossing the
Meuse River and clearing the heights
to the east OF the town Of Dun-ssir-
Meuse. He appreciates fully the diff
lcu1ties involved In this problem and
therefore realizes that the results at
tanned reflect great credit on .yonr
corps and the: divisions Included
therein
q. The 5th Division alone forced
the crossing and established the
bridgehead. It was afterwards joined
for a few days BY a regiment OF the
s2nd Division. For two days and
nights The division held a front OF
twenty kilometers against the enc.
ny ,1. on its front and both tanks. Not
content with this. t vent out Of its
sector on the north and took the town
of Mouzai and turned 1t oyer to the
goth Division. On the south, it; went
out of its sector and took Vilosnes,
enabling the French Division on It's
right to cross the river. s
8. In the thirty days preceding
the armistice, this division was Sc
riously engaged under she'll. rifle and
machine gun fire twenty-seven days.
In the past two: weeks, no day has
passed, that some town, wood, or
hill has not been wrested from the
enemy. In succession, the following
were captured ,Bois-des-Rappes,
Aincreville, Bois-de- ont,
Cfery-ie-G Grand, Clery-le--Petit, Brie-
ulles, Doulcon. Dunsur-Meuse,
,Liyiy, range of hills east Of the Mouse
forming the brtdgehead, Vilosness
Milly, Lion, .Murvaux, Fontaines,
Chateau Charmois, 1douzay.. Brande-
wife, Foret-de-Woevre, Jametz Re-
n1oiviIle, Louppy. A penetration OF
stwenty-one kilometers into the enc
ny's line was made, wrestling from
rim one hundred and ninety square
xilometers Of territory, and on an
nouncement of the arrnistice, the dl-
vision had a front Of . thirteen kilo-
meters, being ave kilometers in all
vance Of troops on its left and two
kilometers beyond troops on ITS
right. -,
4. Thirty-severi cannon. four hun
dred and sixty;-one machine guns,
and over nine hundred. prisoners
were captured. However. what the
division commander wishes most to
congratulate the division upon is its
constant driving at the enemy in
spite Of fatigue and shortage Of ra-
tons, being wet from swimming the
river and canal. or wading the
swamp of the Foret-de- Woevre. This
is a brilliant example of what the
American, soldier can do in an enner-
gency when he must go on to the
utmost extent Of his power. The Dl-
vision Commander is proud of the
work of the division. No division
could have accomplished more, and
every member Of the command
should be proud to belong to di-
vision which has SO brilliantly end
ed its record in the greatest war the
world has known.
H. E. Ely.
Major General, U. S. A, Command
ing.
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