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 Regiment of the 77th Division
World War  I

1917 - 1919
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F O R E W O R D

                                                                                               Robert Alexander
                                                         Major-General,  U. S. Army,
                                                                                                                Commanding 77th Division
23rd September,    1919

    It may be said that the history of the Regiment dates from 14th May, 1917.  On that day, there gathered together at Plattsburgh, N. Y., the hundred or more men who, under the command of Captain William H. Sage Jr.  (Corps of Engineers U.S.A.) formed the 15th N. Y. Company (also Engineers of the Civil War) of the first officers' training camp.   By the middle of June, 1917, this Company had increased in strength to 150 men, most of them experienced engineers, but without previous military training.  The company then moved to Washington, D.C. (American University Camp), and about three weeks later to Belvoir, Va.  (afterwards called Camp A.A. Humphreys),  where it remained and continued its training under Captain Sage until 14th August, 1917.  Practically all the men of the Company were then commissioned in the Engineer Officers' Reserve Corps, ranking from Second Lieutenants to and including Majors, and the official existence of the 15th N. Y. Company came to an end.
        The purpose of the camps at Washington and Belvoir, as well as at Plattsburgh, was to train civilians to be officers.  Many of the candidates for commissions in the Engineer Officers Reserve corps had no previous military experience.  At the American University Camp and at Belvoir, special stress was laid upon the mastery of war time engineering problems and the technique of an engineer regiment.  Many subjects were taught intensively and all candidates were earnest in their work and eager to learn quickly and thoroughly..........

        An American division at full strength in 1918 was made up of two brigades of infantry, each brigade consisting of two regiments of about 3,600 men each.  There was also a brigade of Artillery, consisting of two regiments of light field artillery and one regiment of heavy artillery.  Three machine gun battalions were also assigned to each division, one for each brigade and one as a divisional reserve.  In addition, a division included one regiment of combat engineers, armed as infantry, one battalion of signal corps and various trains, such as supply, ammunition, engineer and sanitary trains.

        The two infantry brigades of the division were generally in the front line abreast of each other.  An engineer regiment was divided into two battalions, each of three companies and for the purpose of cooperation with the infantry, one engineer battalion was attached to each infantry brigade...........
        As to the duties of combat engineers, they are many and vary with the military situation.  The motto of the military engineer should be, "Communications ready on time."  This motto applies particularly to mobile warfare, the constant efforts of the engineers.
        Roads must be made passable, bridges must be repaired and built, paths cut, signs posted, etc.  Anything which will assist the movement of the infantry and the artillery is properly the duty of the engineers...........
 
 

        On 25th August 1917, Colonel, Clarence O. Sherrill, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., reported as Commanding Officer, 302nd Engineers, to the then commanding General, 77th Division, Major general J. Franklin Bell, at Camp Upton.  This was the first official act in the history of the regiment.  On the 27th of august the officers selected from the 15th N. Y. Company reported to Colonel Sherrill at Barracks J-1, Camp Upton.......
        The remainder of August and early september, 1917 at camp Upton passed quietly until the drafts of men began to arrive............
        On 15th september, 1917, the first draft of men was received by the regiment.  these recruits were assigned in a body to company "B", and included many men with previous military experience, a considerable number of whom were later commissioned.  There were one hundred men in this first draft, all drawn from the first two thousand recruits assigned to Camp Upton,  the contribution of New York City to the great National Army...........
        Many and varied problems immediately confronted the Regiment.  Not only was it necessary to clothe and equip our recruits and instruct them in the rudiments of military science required of every unit in the division, but it was also necessary to assume at once the responsibility for a large part of the engineering work of the entire camp.  Thanks to the foresight and energy of Colonel Sherrill, this latter work was coordinated with and became the most valuable part of our training as engineer soldiers.  For instance, it was necessary to clear drill grounds of stumps and underbrush.  The engineers not only cleared their own splendid parade but supervised the work for all other units in the Division.   The drudgery of stump pulling in the early days of October, 1917, seemed foreign to the work of soldiers.  But the "Wilderness of Camp Upton" was a fitting prelude to the No Man's Land on the Vasle and the dense thickets of the Argonne Forest.  On such hard work, done faithfully and under difficulties, was laid the foundation of our future success.........
        So too, was the work "on the hill."  The building of the road to Division Hq., on a height near the center of Camp Upton, presented many practical problems in timber construction, crib work and bridge building.   This task was undertaken by the engineers and carried on to successful completion, in spite of the bitter cold and cutting winds of the late Fall and Winter.   Long will the men who worked there remember the hardships of that task, hardships, actually greater than any they experienced later in France............
        Looking back now at our special training at camp Upton, one is struck with the great difference between the war as it had been up to that time, and the war that the Regiment actually experienced.  Many of the specialties that were practiced at Camp Upton were entirely abandoned during the following months in Europe. (Nothing new here as in 1945 the 488th left it's floating bridge equipment on the runway at Camp Lucky Strike.  This bridge material had been carefully and laboriously packaged at Camp Polk and laboriously hauled to New Orleans and loaded on ships and at LeHavre laboriously unloaded and trucked to Camp Lucky Strike where it was laboriously unloaded and stored on the runway there.  And there it was left, and where it still may be for all I know, when we went to Brussels to pick up Bailey Bridge equipment and the 488th became a Bailey Bridge Company)      Fortunately in our training, the fundamentals of military science were not overlooked.  Later when actually in the field, the Regiment never failed to meet a situation squarely, and always solved its problems on time..........

      The special trains carrying the Regiment from Camp Upton arrived at Austoria, Long Island, about day light of 29th March.  The men and baggage were immediately ferried around the south end of Manhattan Island to a Cunard dock on the Hudson.  This was the farewell view of New York's familiar landmarks, for later when the R.M.S. Carmania, which was to carry the regiment across the Atlantic, sailed down New York Bay, all soldiers were ordered below decks........
        A convoy of four ships assembled at Halifax.  The old British cruiser, King Alfred, was assigned as the convoying warship.  Leaving Halifax on the 2nd April, 1918, the convoy proceeded leisurely across the Atlantic.  The course was secret, but amateur navigators kept us well advised of our location.  These advice's unhappily did not agree, varying at one time from Azores to Iceland.  The weather was wonderfully mild and the sea calm.............
        No exciting event occurred until the night of April 10th.  The Carmania with her convoy, had at dusk entered the submarine danger zone and had been joined by British destroyers.  During the evening, these agile foxes of the sea had scented submarines........    We on board were soon to hear our first sound of actual war......  We heard several such bombs that night, so were all keyed up to the experience of the following morning..............
        Captain Edward B. Simmons, CO. "D", O.D. was on deck about 8:30 A.M., when one of the destroyers nearby dropped two depth bombs.  At about the same instant captain Simmons and others saw what they supposed to be the bubbling wake of a torpedo shoot under the forward quarter of the Carmania.  (In reality the ship had crossed the wake of the torpedo.)  Almost immediately there was a heavy explosion at the stern of the King Alfred, which was then steaming along about three hundred yards to our starboard.  The damage to the King Alfred rendered the warship temporarily un-seaworthy.  Consequently she left our convoy and steamed into Londonderry, Ireland.........
        No further incident of moment occurred during this voyage.  The Carmania docked in Liverpool early on the morning of the 12th of April.  The Regiment did not debark, however until the morning of the 13th.  On the night of the 12th  - 13th, German Zeppelin made one of their longest recorded raids across England and dropped bombs within twelve miles of Liverpool, plainly within earshot of us all............
        Bright and early on the 13th of April, the Regiment marched from the Carmania to the several railroad yards in Liverpool and quickly entrained...............
        At Dover the Regiment spent the night quartered in the chill Barracks of Dover castle...............
        Thus it was that we saw England in eight hours!.................
        During the day of the 14th of April, the Regiment was transported across the English Channel to Calais.  Many wished for the mythical Calais Dover tunnel for the Channel was particularly boisterous.

THE BACCARAT SECTOR

The Baccarat Sector took its name from the city of Baccarat on the Meurthe River near Luneville.  Baccarat was a pleasing little city several miles back of the front lines, rarely in 1918 disturbed by the sounds of war.  In 1914, the city had been over run by the Boches who, who however, occupied it for only a few days.  It was soon recovered by the French with only about one third of its best houses gutted by fire and shell.........
        The front line in this sector was only a few miles from the Alsatian border and had been stabilized for nearly four years..........    By the summer of 1918, both the Germans and the French considered the eastern sectors as "quite", and aside from occasional raids to identify the opposing divisions , little fighting took place.  Although at this time the Baccarat sector was actually held by an American division, it was under the control of a French corps, and strict orders had been given not to engage in aggressive warfare..........
        Toward the end of July, 1918, rumors to the effect that the 77th Division was to be relieved by the 37th Division became more and more persistent..............
        During its stay of approximately two months in this Sector, the training of the Regiment for active operations had continued without pause, so that by the 1st of August it was considered as ready for any duties in the field.  Indeed the whole 77th Division was fortunate in having been able so gradually to approach real war, and to have received such thorough training before assignment to an active fighting front.

       From the 6th to the 8th August, 1918, the regiment entrained at Bayon and Blainville (Meurthe et Moselle), and after a trip of about twenty hours by rail, detrained at Coulommiers (Seine et Marne), and adjoining villages about thirty miles east of Paris and twenty miles southwest of Chateau-Thierry.
        On the 10th of August the Regiment was transported by French trucks through Chateau-Thierry and Fere-en-Tardenois to bivouac in the Forest of Nesles, just east of the village of Seringes (Aisne)  Regimental Hq. were in a ruined farm house at the eastern limits of Seringes................
        For the engineers the Vesle Sector was very different from that of Baccarat.  Not only were the engineer troops much nearer the fighting front, participating in its many activities, but conditions of life were fundamentally changed.  All companies, except Co. "C" and Co. "D", were bivouacked in woods or on hillsides, and existence was very primitive.  Danger from shells and gas was ever present.  Sleep was disturbed by artillery fire, which was almost incessant.................
        The change from the quiet sector of Baccarat to the great activity of the Velse front brought with it a striking change in the duties of the combat engineers.  Dugouts were no longer even thought of;  wire and trenches sank into secondary importance.  The principal work of the engineers became "communications" which translated, meant bridges and roads.   BRIDGES!  What recollections that one word brings to the mind of every man in the regiment!
BRIDGES,  where so many of our brave comrades fell!  From the Velse to the Meuse, every operation of the Regiment seemed to lead as inevitably as death to one thing  BRIDGES.   Much other useful work was done, but, in retrospect, everything else seems to fade into insignificance in comparison with the building of foot bridges in front of the infantry, or of artillery bridges just behind them...................
        When American troops reached the heights north of the Vesle and looked toward the south they appreciated thoroughly the excellent opportunities which the elevation had afforded the enemy during the preceding month for observation of the movements of American troops.  No further explanation was needed for the uncanny accuracy of the Boche artillery.
        On the 13th of september, the 77th Division was relieved by the 8th Italian Division.  The Regiment moved back into the woods near Mareuil en Dole, and spent a few days there resting and salvaging thousands of dollars worth of war material.
        It was expected that the division was now to be given a rest.  Indeed, the  activities of the preceding month had included many grueling experiences, having been spent mostly upon a stationary front, which had not been organized with cover.  the tremendous losses of the infantry in the exposed valley of the Vesle tell a story which need no further elaboration.
        Most of the 77th Division consider the Vesle Sector the worst that was encountered by the Division, but during this period of extreme danger and important missions successfully accomplished, the training of the troops was completed.  They had been tested, and had not been found wanting.  When the banks of the Vesle were forever left behind them, they had graduated into the ranks of the (then) few thoroughly trained American divisions.

   For the 77th Division and the 302nd Engineers the first phase of the Argonne-Meuse Battle lasted from the 26th of September to the 10th of October.  During this time the line moved forward from the "jump off" at le Four de Paris and La Harazee to the Aire River, in front of Marcq.  Many noteworthy incidents took place during these two weeks of battle................
        The battle line of the Division advanced slowly until the 1st. of October.  From the 1st to the 9th there was practically no movement.  It was during this period that Major Whittlesey of the 308th Infantry became detached from his brigade with several hundred men, was surrounded by the Boches, refused to surrender, and fought off all attacks until relieved by our advancing infantry on the evening of the 7th.
        Meanwhile, the Engineers were busy repairing the very poor roads of the forest, and rebuilding the narrow-gauge railroads that had been abandoned by the Germans.  The area in the rear of the 154th Brigade did not at this time contain a single road on which to bring up supplies or evacuated the wounded.  The 2nd Battalion of the 302nd Engineers was operating in this area, and the orders were given that the French narrow-gauge railroad near La Harazee be connected up with the German narrow-gauge system in the forest.  This work was carried on with such energy and spirit that by the 2nd of October, the advance infantry was supplied with food and ammunition, and the wounded were evacuated over this hastily organized railway.  The grades were so steep and the roadbed so rough that it was impossible to use locomotives (and none were available), so the traction was supplied by the U.S. Army mule, all animals that could possibly be spared being mobilized for this work..............
        The 1st Battalion was at this time busily engaged in keeping the vitally important le Four de Paris Road in condition for heavy traffic and in repairing the German narrow-gauge railroads in its area.  This system was connected with the 2nd Battalion south of Bagatelle, but because of the lack of locomotives it was not used by the Americans until later.............
        It was noticeable that the enemy engineers made very few demolition's of any kind in the forest itself.  Hardly a road blowout was attempted except at la Besogne.  Even the railroads were injured only by shell fire.  It seemed strange at the time, but was explained later by the very extensive demolition's north of the Aire which sere encountered between the 1st of November and the Armistice.  All the enemy engineers had doubtless been withdrawn for this work, while his infantry was fighting the Americans south of the Aire.............
        As has already been suggested, everything in the Engineer's life seemed to lead to bridges.  So it was, that on the 10th of October the advance of the 77th Division brought it south of the Aire River between Grandpre and Chevieres.   The dreary monotony of the road work in the Argonne Forest was instantly changed for the far more interesting and dangerous work of bridging the Aire.   The river was somewhat wider than the Vesle , but it was ford able in places.  These fords it was the duty of the Engineers to find..............
        Starting at 8:00 P.M., 14th of October, Captain Howrey with details from all companies of the 1st Battalion attempted to build an artillery bridge across the Aire between Marcq and St. Juvin.  Material for this bridge was carried to the bridge site by hand for a distance of about oneself kilometer from a large engineer dump which had been discovered by Lt. Glenn of Co. "B" while on a reconnaissance on the morning of the 13th.  Heavy bombardment prevented the completion of this bridge.  About twenty men were wounded during this operation.
        On the morning of the 15th, Captain Crawford with fresh details from the companies of the 1st. Battalion, took over this artillery bridge work.  The site was changed by Major Per-Lee to a demolished German pile bridge near St. Juvin.  Work on rebuilding this bridge continued for eight hours under heavy shell fire including much gas.  The bridge was completed at 4:00 P.M. on the 15th of October.............

   From he middle of October until 1st of November, the American battle line advanced very little.  This was due, not to the inability to go forward, but to the very great difficulty of bringing up supplies.  For a distance of many miles in the rear of the front, the heavy traffic and the rainy weather had wrought havoc with the roads.  The railroads had not been brought forward so far as had been anticipated.  A renewal of the attack was planned however, and the usual artillery preparations were made.  Large numbers of guns were brought forward and great supplies of ammunition were accumulated.  The 77th Division relieved the 78th Division toward the end of October taking over the same line that it had held earlier in the month.
        American troops held the line at all points north of the Aire, so that bridging work could be carried on in comparative safety.  For expected attack, preparations were made similar to those preceding the drive of 26th of September.  The front to be attacked by the 77th Division,  however, was much narrower and was covered by the 153rd Brigade alone.  This meant that the 1st Battalion of the Engineers was to be in the attack.  Co. "A" and Co. "B" each supplied one platoon to accompany the first line infantry.  The remainder of the 1st Battalion was assigned to certain roads, which were to be temporarily repaired as fast as the enemy was driven back............

    On the evening of 10th, of November runners were sent out by Regimental HQ. announcing that the Armistice had been signed effective at 11 A.M. on the 11th, and that dangerous work would stop forthwith.........
        To the troops the news of the cessation of hostilities came with stunning force.  There was none of the jubilation which might have been expected.  It did not seem possible that all was over, that never again would be heard the song of the shell or the twang of the bullet.  As stoically as they had faced danger and hardship, they now accepted the peace...............
        December was spent mostly in drill.  The War being over, it was apparently of the utmost importance that the Engineers become expert infantrymen.  So the different companies "snapped into it" and out of it, daily in the mud and cold rain of the most miserable of months.............
        Toward the end of december it was discovered that while the Engineers were so engaged in perfecting their drill and military etiquette, the roads in the divisional area had decidedly gone to pot.   Due to the constant rain the roads had softened and the United States Army truck did the rest.  Large holes appeared every where in the once magnificent highways, and the Regiment was given orders to fix them up forthwith.  This job sound easy, but it must be realized that the roads in the divisional area were several hundred miles in length.  The working force of the Regiment , was scarcely more than 1,200 men.  tools were scarce, material scarcer and the weather atrocious.
        Then was seen the phenomenon of rapid road deterioration in an area containing over 20,000 practically idle men.  It was physically impossible for the men of the Regiment to keep all the roads even superficially repaired.  Colonel Geister, realizing the situation, obtained orders from General Alexander that the troops in each village, infantry, artillery or what not, were to keep their own roads in repair, and that Engineer non-commissioned officers be sent to all the villages to supervise the road work.  This plan worked so well that later it was adopted by most of the other American divisions, who found themselves in the same plight as the 77th.
        In January 1919, most of the organization property was turned over to the various supply depots; only individual property was retained.  This was in anticipation of the hoped for homecoming.  Early in February, orders were received for a move to the Le Mans area.  Le Mans was the center of the area west of Paris, which was used by the American Army for preparation for embarkation to the United States.  The orders were received with the enthusiasm they deserved.  Quick work was made of the preparations, and on the early morning of the 10th of February, the Regiment entrained at Latrecey.  The day was very cold and cheerless.  A most uncomfortable trip of nearly 72 hours followed................
        On the 17th April, 1919, the final French entrainment took place.  For the last time were the men crowded forty to a car in the little French freight cars;  for the last time, were the discomforts of this kind of traveling to be experienced.  The Regiment arrived at Brest on the 18th and 19th of April.  The weather for a great wonder was good.  Camp Pontanezon might not be all that the philanthropic at home desired, but it looked good to us............
      The Nieuw Amsterdam sailed from Brest on the afternoon of the 23rd of April.  A fine voyage of ten days brought the Regiment to New York on the 2nd of May.  Who will describe the sensations of the men as the Statue of Liberty hove in sight?  (Except for the haunting consciousness of the comrades left behind,) no greater happiness could be experienced.

THE  END

       Once in America, the dissolution of the Regiment was very rapid.  Proceeding from Hoboken, the Regiment traveled to Camp Mills, Long Island, there to await the parade of the 77th Division.  This parade was held on the 6th of May in New York City.  The men marched in quadruple columns of four at a brisk pace up fifth Avenue from Washington Square to the northern boundary of Central Park amidst the cheers of friends and relatives who rejoiced at having them home safely once more.
        After the parade the Regiment was split up, the major portion going to Camp Upton for demobilization..........
        On Saturday, the 12th of May, the men were paid off.  After last handshaking's, they boarded the trains for New York.  The Regiment formally ceased to be at 6:00 P.M. the same date.