Thursday, September 12, 1918 Too busy last ten days to keep up my diary. Great attack coming. More guns than ever I saw. Have been night and day spotting heavy guns etc. Think the attack will come tonight if rain stops. General Pershing and the American army were primarily behind the operations to reduce the…
Friday, March 22, 1918 Went to Bar-le-Duc. Got up 5:15 a.m., got there at 9:30 a.m. Ordered uniform and got measured. Cost 260 francs. Horrid journey on slim gauge. Ate dinner Commerce Hotel 18 francs. Got back 9:00 p.m. German offensive started 5:00 a.m. against the British front. Heavy artillery action against Verdun but no attack yet. Gas came…
War has been described as “interminable monotony punctuated by moments of sheer terror.” The boredom of late September and October 1917 is evident in these diary entries, where mail from home is the high point and nearly always the final mention of the day. Tuesday, September 25, 1917 No papers received or mail for two…
The Lafayette Squadron was a small group of American flyers that had originally seen combat in Mexico, flying for the revolutionary armies. They were among the first Americans to see action in the First World War, many of them flying with the squadron since its inception. The group was authorized by the French Air Department…
On September 11 the 13th Engineers moved to Fleury-sur-Aire, near Verdun, which was to be their headquarters for the next twenty months. Tuesday, September 11, 1917 Up 5:00 a.m. Moving today. Breakfast, packed up, left Châlons 11:00 a.m. over Eastern railway. Went south to St. Dizier, then headed north to Fleury. Arrived Fleury 9:00 p.m. Just on the…