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How It Looked To A Doughboy

Into the village of Cantigny we go. There remained nothing but ruins. We passed on through to the other side of the village. Here we encountered barbed wire entanglements but it was our good fortune to get through these without any mishap. But once across I notice that the boys are falling down fast. A shell burst about ten yards in front of me and the dirt from the explosion knocked me flat on my back. I got up again but could not see further than one hundred feet.

I heard someone yell "lay down." I knelt on one knee and wondered what would come next...We laid down and started to shoot and it was our good fortune that the second wave reached the place at this time. About twenty Dutchmen came out of the holes, threw down their rifles and stood with their hands up. The doughboys didn't pay any attention to this but started in to butcher and shoot them. One of the doughboys on the run stabbed a Dutchman and his bayonet went clear through him...

The German artillery was in action all the time...I stopped at a strong point and asked the boy in the trench if there was room for me to get in. "Don't ask for room, but get in before you get your [!#%&] shot off," a doughboy said...

We stayed there all that night and the next day, being relieved at two o'clock the following morning, taking position in the first line of reserve trenches. We ate a cooked dinner at eleven o'clock, that being the first meal we've had in three days.

Sgt. Boleslaw Suchocki, 28th Infantry, 1st Division
Unpublished Manuscript

'The Regiment distinguished itself by conducting the first offensive operations by US troops in WW I at Cantigny, where, in a viciously fought three-day battle, the 28th Infantry captured the town of Cantigny and then withstood five determined German counterattacks. Here the ‘Lions of Cantigny’ were born and the prestige of the American fighting man was upheld before the world.'

-- GlobalSecurity.Org

Hello SAM.

I met a WW1 vet on a bus ride once and he told me about the trench warfare, but being a foolish kid, I didn't pay much attention. I remember him because he had a little flask of wiskey and gave me a swig, lol.

Have a great day everyone!

THE 1st. U.S. DIVISION AT CANTIGNY, 27th. APRIL - 8th. July 1918--In face of the urgency created by the German offensive on the 21st March, 1918, General Pershing placed all his forces then available in Europe at the disposition of General Foch. Amongst these units, the 1st U.S. Division which, on the 5th April had been positioned in the region North of Paris, received on the 27th April, the responsibility for a sector to the West of Montdidier, in the 6th Corps of the French 1st Army. This was the first time, on an active battle front, that an American Division took up position.