The 7th Machine Gun Battalion at Chateau-Thierry
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Paul Taylor Funkhouser
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The 7th Machine Gun Battalion at Chateau-Thierry
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THE MIRACLE OF CHATEAU-THIERRY
by Col. R. H. C. Kelton, General Staff, U.S.A., Century Magazine, May, 1919.
Chateau-Thierry was an emergency; it had no part whatever in the plans
prepared by the general staff of the American Expeditionary Forces or in
the original French scheme for the entry of the American forces upon the
Western front.
The result of the German attack on the morning of May 27th was a rude and
startling surprise to the Allied headquarters. In four days, or on the
evening of May 30th, the leading elements of the German troops were at
Chateau-Thierry, and on the following day the Boche stated in his communique,
"We stand on the Marne." No greater measure of self-satisfaction was ever
reflected in his pompous announcements than this.
But on this same fourth day at Chateau-Thierry the German troops found a
small American fighting unit, the 7th Machine Gun Battalion of the 3rd U.S.
Division, which had come a distance of 110 miles in thirty hours by motor
transport, and the Boche failed to cross the Marne.
For seventy-two hours the 7th Machine-Gun Battalion successfully contested
the crossing, and by the second day of June the 3rd U.S. Division was in
position along the river from Chateau-Thierry to the east for a distance
of twelve miles. ... it signified the fact that the tide of military fortune
had turned at that point, and that we had taken the measure of the Boche,
and were no longer anxious as to the final result.
"The Miracle of Chateau-Thierry", by Col. R. H. C. Kelton,
General Staff, U.S.A., Century Magazine, May, 1919, p. 99.
HOW DOUGH-BOYS AND MARINES BEAT THE HUN
IN AND NEAR CHATEAU-THIERRY
"A Dough-boy Corporal and Runner", Literary Digest, May 17, 1919.
I left the States in April (1918) as a member of the 7th Infantry, 3rd
Division ... and was with that organization through the Marne campaign.
As a dough-boy, it appears to me that the marines have received glory at
our expense. The whole Marne campaign has by many writers been credited to
them. Unquestionably, the marines did exceptional work in France, and we
dough-boys are proud of them. ... We feel that ... they did not do it all.
And I am sure the marines do not feel that way about it...
Marines is a word to conjure with, and the conjuring has gone far. So I
have concluded that newspaper and magazine writers, and not the marines,
are responsible for this one-sided applause... Indeed I have read somewhere
that..."marines" would pass the censor while "9th", "23rd" or
"38th Infantry"
would not. But I have never read that the censors would line out or blot
out "dough-boys".
I believe that it was on May 30th that the first battalion of the 7th
Infantry (3rd Div.) entrained for the front...two days later we detrained
late in the afternoon at Montmirail. That night began a fatiguing march
to the front. About midnight we camped in a grove of a chateau at Conde
Brie. Near by our own batteries were thundering, and now and then we
would hear the whine and the roar of a position-searching Boche shell.
Although this was our first introduction to enemy fire of any kind we
were too dead tired and worn out to be even nervous. Early the next
morning I was up and about...
Before the chateau I found a dust-covered dispatch-rider. He had just
come from near Chateau-Thierry. I imagine I conversed with him fully ten
minutes and the summarized substance of what he told me was that the
motorized Machine-Gun Battalion of the 3rd was holding the bridgehead
against tremendous odds, with practically no infantry support, and that
the infantry units of the 3rd were hourly expected to get into position
east of Chateau-Thierry, those of the 2nd Division on the west.
I am confident that I am correct in saying that for hours, and unassisted,
that the Machine-Gun Battalion of the 3rd held the Boche at Chateau-Thierry.
The 3rd Infantry units were soon in position along the Marne, and the Boche
drove no further on that sector.
"A Dough-boy Corporal and Runner", Literary Digest, May 17, 1919, page 68 (73).
DOUGH-BOYS, AND NOT MARINES WON AT CHATEAU-THIERRY
Literary Digest, April 19, 1919.
It was the dough-boys, and not the marines, it appears, who stopped the
Hun at Chateau-Thierry, on his last and nearest advance towards Paris.
Credit for that feat has heretofore usually been bestowed on the United
States Marines, although they have never claimed it and have plenty of
glory without it. Now comes the machine-gun battalion of the Third
Division and lays claim to the honor...in the fight at Chateau-Thierry
which will probably go on record as the turning-point of the war, the
marines were in the rear, and it was the doughty machine-gunners who
turned the trick...
In recognition of their exploits at Chateau-Thierry the colors of the
7th Machine-Gun Battalion have been decorated with the Croix de Guerre,
and the battalion was cited by Marshal Petain, of France...
The 7th Machine-Gun Battalion has, therefore, added a brilliant page to
the history of an already famous and historic place in France, and the
members of this battalion can be proud of the fact that they prevented the
crossing over the Marne, defeating the enemy at a most critical time in
the history of this great war. When we read of this, the second battle of
the Marne, which took place in the middle of July, 1918, we record the
valiant fighting by units of the Third Division. Only two divisions of the
American Army ever fought on the Marne, namely: the Third Division and the
Twenty-eighth Division, the latter unit attached to the Third Division and
to the French during the third battle of the Marne.
Literary Digest, April 19, 1919, page 83.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF REVIEWS YANKS ON RHINE,
MARNE DIVISION IN LINE
Stars and Stripes, Paris, March 28, 1919.
...There was a cold rain falling when inspection started, but General Pershing
didn't let it interfere with his work. Up and down the infantry he went,
scrutinizing closely, commending here, criticizing there... He took a good
look at the machine gunners, the battalion which alone of all the units
in the A.E.F. can declare that it fought the Germans in the streets of
Chateau-Thierry.
Stars and Stripes, (Paris) March 28, 1919.
A FRENCH APPRECIATION
"Watch on the Rhine", Official Paper of Army of Occupation, Coblenz, Germany.
The 7th Machine-Gun Battalion, being motorized, traveled overland in small
Ford trucks from its training area in the vicinity of Chateau Villain, and
reached Chateau-Thierry late in the afternoon on May 31. Positions were
immediately taken up in that historic city, part of which was already
occupied by the enemy. After a thorough reconnaissance each company was
given a mission. The general mission was to repulse any at tempt of the
enemy to advance on Chateau-Thierry by the bridges entering the city.
About one o'clock in the morning of June 2 a detachment of this battalion
was forced from its position on the north side of the river and fell back
across the large bridge. In the mean time the enemy had formed in considerable
strength on the north end of the bridge and attempted to enter into
Chateau-Thierry. This bridge was then blown up and caused the immediate
failure of the enemy attack.
General Marchand, commanding the 10th French Colonial Division made the
following statement after the action:
" On May 31, the 7th Machine-Gun Battalion, U. S. A., had
just arrived with its automobiles. It installed itself in
a cantonment to the south of Chateau-Thierry.
"At 3:30 P.M. the enemy threatened to take Chateau-Thierry,
attempting to flank the town on our left, where an opening
had occurred.
"The unit was immediately thrown into Chateau-Thierry
at the same time as a Colonial Infantry Battalion which was
in the same cantonment with it.
"Immediately the American reinforced the entire bridge,
especially at the approaches of the bridge. Their courage and
skill as marksmen evoked the admiration of all.
"Crushed by our fire, the enemy hesitated and, as a result of
counter attacks, vigorously supported by the American machine
guns, they were thrown beyond the edges of the town.
"Chateau-Thierry remained entirely in our hands.
"The American machine guns held the south bank. They formed
a protection for the withdrawal of the troops retiring from
the northern section for the purpose of crossing the bridge
prior to its destruction.
"Here again the courage of the Americans was beyond all praise.
The Colonials themselves, though accustomed to acts of
bravery, were struck by the wonderful morale in the face
of fire, the impossibility and the extraordinary sang-froid
of their allies.
"In a combat in the street and at night, where coolness is one
of the principal military virtues, the Americans only could
play the role. Their watchfulness never failed them and with
their machine guns playing upon the roads of entrance and the
destroyed bridges and foot-bridges, they prevented any repairs
by the enemy.
"The losses of the 7th Machine-Gun Battalion, U.S.A. had been
heavy, but not out of proportion to the great services they rendered
nor to the bloody losses which they inflicted on the Boches.
"They will be relieved at the same time as the French troops,
at the side of whom they fought (this evening). The French
Command, knowing their just pride, feared they would have
humiliated these valiant troops if they had offered them rest
sooner than their French companions in the fight.
"The episode of Chateau-Thierry will remain one of the very
fine deeds of this war. It is a pleasure for all of us to
certify that our valiant allies with us participated in this
event - our bonds of affection and of confidence will be
strengthened by the same pride which we share in common.
"At the present time the Germans, without doubt severely tested,
dare not remain in the northern part of Chateau-Thierry,
which, however, we no longer occupy. The bullets which the
American guns are sending do not give the Boche any taste to
take up a residence there.
"Watch on the Rhine", Official paper of Army of Occupation, Coblenz, Germany.
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1918 - HOW VICTORY WAS WON -
FOCH ON THE DEFENSIVE
By Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice, Chief of Operations of the British Army.
McClure Newspaper Syndicate, July, 1919.
... The weak and weary allied divisions were overwhelmed, and the
German Crown Prince drove through to the Marne, where his further
progress was just checked in time by the arrival at Chateau-Thierry
of a machine gun battalion (the 7th) of the 3rd American division,
followed almost immediately by the remainder of the division.
This German drive brought the enemy within forty miles of Paris, and
was a rude shock both to Foch and the French people...
McClure Newspaper Syndicate, July, 1919.
[TOP]FATHER O'REILLY TELLS OF THE WORK OF THE THIRD IN FRANCE
Literary Digest, September 13, 1919.
The 3rd Division, a so-called Regular Army Division in spite of the fact
that it was composed almost altogether of the same sort of material which
made up the National Army Divisions, got back home the other day, bearing
its honors thick upon it. One of its chaplains, the Rev. Father Frank M.
O'Reilly, of the 76th Field Artillery, is now in a New York hospital
recuperating from wounds and gassing received during the most strenuous
days of the war. "The 3rd Division, which played a vital part in
the great throw-back around Chateau Thierry, has received all too little
recognition here at home," said Chaplain O'Reilly, by way of welcoming his
old comrades in arms. "The cause is simple, and in memorializing the
veterans now returning to their native land with depleted ranks I do not
desire to detract any of the hard-won glory from the 1st and 2nd Divisions."
To a reporter from the New York Evening Sun, Father O'Reilly gave this
account of the history of the 3rd Division in France:
The principal cause for so little information about the fighting of the
3rd Division was that strict censorship maintained by the Army over the
naming of units in the cable dispatches home. It was known to all that
the first men to get into action, "Pershing's Own," were the doughboys
of the 1st Division. Thus, they were identified in a way from the start,
first to land and first to fight. Of the 2nd Division little was heard
during the fighting except the exploits of the marines, who could be mentioned
collectively by name. Thus the story of its exploits passed the censor,
and the "devil dogs" received their due credit.
But the battling 3rd Division had no press representatives with it; it
was simply a combat division of the Regular Army, although the replacements
from other branches of the Army brought National Guardsmen and National Army
(drafted men) into it.
It was the 7th Machine Gun Battalion of the 3rd Division which rode 110
miles on motor trucks and with only 1,000 men held the bridgehead at
Chateau-Thierry for seventy-two hours, preventing the crossing of the
Hun. On June 3, 1918, the 3rd Division was rushed into position along
the Marne from Chateau Thierry eastward for a distance of twelve miles,
with the 2nd Division-just back in America-holding the line westward
from Chateau Thierry for eight miles. Meanwhile, the marines were in
Belleau Wood, with the 23rd Infantry between them and the town - and the
Germans were checked.
The 3rd Division was the only American division between Chateau-Thierry
and Reims to feel the shock of the German attack, made by three German
divisions, the 10th and 36th Infantry and the 10th Landwehr, who made
the assault at Jaulgonne, in a space held by a little more than half the
3rd Division. The Germans were almost annihilated. When the Germans
attempted crossing in boats our doughboys came from No Man's Land to the
river, and "playing baseball," hurled showers of hand grenades upon the enemy.
Captured maps and plans showed that the Germans had been certain of crossing
the river by noon of the first day. The 3rd Division did not budge an inch,
and that night no Germans, save dead ones, remained in front of the 3rd
Division on the south side of the River Marne. All three Hun divisions
were captured or wiped out.
The French on our right fell back, leaving our flank exposed. Our telephone
and telegraph wires had been cut by spies, as shown by the scraped insulation
observed later, and our division was physically disorganized. The Germans
mocked us by sending messages from airplanes, but the 3rd Division never
turned back.
That was the occasion of General Alexander's famous message to the French
command: "Unless totally annihilated, I shall not retreat-and then I
can't." With rest and replacements the 3rd Division crossed the Marne on
July 20, and on July 20 by 4 o'clock in the afternoon was in control of
the headwaters of the Ourcq. On August 4 the Vesle was reached and the
Chateau Thierry salient was history-and the burial place of hundreds of
"never-say-die" Yankee boys.
That is the story of the 3rd Division's great contribution to the debacle.
Newspaper men were with the National Army divisions and with the Old
Guard units. Our battle gave pre-mature birth to the 1st American Army
and produced our great American commanders. General Dickman, later commander
of the 3rd Army, or Army of Occupation, was placed in command of the 3rd
Division shortly after this battle.
The "quick on the trigger" repulse given the Huns by the 3rd Division
before the 1st and 2nd (temporarily in reserve) could come up, declares
Father O'Reilly, "saved Paris and prevented the ending of the war
right there - in July, 1918. Let the American people remember this about
the gallant and unsung 3rd Division!" He continues:
In these after-war days, when each nation is claiming the credit of winning
the war, it is well to consider the conditions of the Allies at the time of
the 3rd Division's great stand. I was there and understand intimately the
attitude of the various nationalities. A chaplain has more privilege of
travel and conversation than either officer or enlisted man.
"The English-and I heard their own feelings expressed by men of all
ranks-were, indeed, 'with their backs to the wall.' The shibboleth of the
French, expressed on all sides and in my hearing was: 'The American are
too late.' Instead of six months' training the men of the 3rd Division
were thrown into combat after a few weeks, and, minus their artillery,
which had been sent back to America because of an accident at sea, they
showed to the surprised Germans, and still more astounded Allies, what
'green' troops could do.
"The 1st and 26th Divisions had six months' training; the 2nd had three
months of it; while the 3rd, facing the first great battle brunt, had a
few weeks of infantry work at Chateau-Villain. The artillery had the use
of unfamiliar ordnance for six weeks' practice.
"A captured German officer said: 'The American idiots - shoot at them
and they charge you. Kill them - and they keep on coming.'"
Literary Digest, Sept. 13, 1919 (page 93).
RECONSTRUCTING A FAMOUS BRIDGE
Leslie's Weekly, September 6, 1919
The old bridge that once spanned the Marne River at Chateau-Thierry, and
but a bullet-scarred portion of which still remains standing, is to be
reconstructed. The work, which is now under way, is to be done with funds
contributed by citizens of this country. That such should be the case
seems fitting, for not only was it either in or near the tiny war-torn
French city that many of our soldiers immortalized themselves, but it
was actually our own American troops who destroyed the fine old structure.
Just a little more than one year ago - on the night of May 31-June 1, to
be exact - the members of the motorized machine gun battalion of our Third
Division, operating with their French Allies, in a last - and successful -
endeavor to check the furious German attacks on Chateau-Thierry, blew up
the bridge which they were defending. On Aug. 10, while many French and
American notables looked on, Major General Robert L. Howze laid the first
stone of the new structure, the cost of which will be met by the American
Society for the Relief of Devastated France.
Leslie's Weekly, September 6, 1919
Source:
Funkhouser Memorial
c. 1920
pp. 263-270
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September 18, 2000