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Peter Leibert's Page
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The War Experiences of My Father
George
Bowman Leibert, Jr
During 1996, I became interested in writing about my father's World War I experiences. I had done a lot of research about what might have happened and the more I read, the more I became confused. Two of my sisters had already done a lot of work trying to unravel the conflicting information that had been gathered by all of us. This is a document which records my opinion, as of March 1996, about what my father was exposed to during his "First World War" service in France with the United States Army. -
Peter J. Leibert The Search In my search for my father’s
connection with the First World War, I have recently read parts of a number of
books about the World War I Doughboys in Europe. My father, George Bowman Leibert, Jr., had served in that
war, but I knew little detail. Knowledge
coming directly from my Dad was limited because he died when I was 12, before I
had the normal opportunities to be a teen-age buddy with him.
His father and mother, his wife, and his three sisters are now long
deceased. Dads own death was on December 29, 1941 and was due to lung
cancer. His death was likely
earlier than it might have been because he had been gassed during battles of the
war. Mustard was widely used by
both sides during the latter years of WWI. One of the first things I
discovered in my research was that there is not any official history about the
war. At the time Woodrow Wilson
went to Paris for the post-war peace conference, he apparently set the tone for
his administration as Wilson never visited any of the nearby war sites.
All of the books I have read were written after the fact, some of them 20
or 30 years after the fact. America’s official
participation in World War I apparently began on April 2, 1917 as an act of
Congress. The raw American recruits
who were rushed to Europe were called the Doughboys. The name “Doughboys” was evidently derived from the
Texas-based Infantry who were often powdered white with the dust of the adobe
soil found along the Rio Grande. Hence,
the infantrymen were called “adobes” by mounted troops.
It was a short step to “dobies”, and the “Doughboys”. Two million American Doughboys eventually reached France. Dad was a relatively latecomer
to the war scene as he left the US during August 1918 and returned in September
1919. The war was declared over on
November 11, 1918. According to
information that my sister Nathalie Leibert Siegel furnished, my Dad served in
the “Semmedien Sector of France” from October 15, 1918 through November 4,
1918. He also served in the Somme-Aemse
Sector. Some of this information
was on his discharged papers and the rest was included in the newspaper article
about his death. The news item was
probably based on oral information furnished by my mother, Marie Nathalie
Goethals Leibert. In the order listed on his
discharge papers, my father was in Company A of the 145th machine gun
Battalion, the Company A of the 129th machine gun Battalion, and
finally assigned to Company A of the 138th Infantry.
According to two of the books I read, the 145th MGB was part
of the 40th Division, and the 129th MGB, as well as the
138th Infantry, was part of the 35th Division. THE MYSTERY OF WHERE DAD SERVED IN FRANCE The actual Sector(s) or
Salient(s) was a question to be answered as previous efforts to follow Dads path
through Europe never was fruitful, due to missing, conflicting, or erroneous
information. The only type of
reference I found related to the 40th Division identified it as a
Supply Division. This was confusing
to me because I could not understand why a Supply Division would have a
Battalion of machine gunners, much less the 3 Battalions of machine gunners that
the books listed. I had “heard” that Dad was
in an outfit of machine gun crews and that the other members of his gun crew had
been wiped out on two different occasions.
The reason I understood he was not killed was that he was an ammunition
runner and he was not present at the time the crews were wiped out.
Later, I had understood, he had been assigned to an infantry unit.
I can not remember who told me this and the only documents related to
Dads war experiences that I can recall having seen are Dads discharge paper and
his obituary write-up. Most books I read for this
research show that the 35th division was active during the latter
months of the war near Verdun. Verdun
is on the Eastern part of the French front line and is a long way from the Somme
River. The Somme River is just
South of Belgium and somewhat near San Quentin, France.
During the time my wife, Virginia, and I were in Europe during 1987, I
was under the impression that Dad had served near San Quentin.
Where and how I got that thought imbedded, I do not now know. I reviewed about a half dozen
books about the later portion of the war. Individually
the books did not say much about the Battalion level, but usually described
actions and movements at the next higher level - the Division.
Two of the books contained a cross reference between Battalions and
Divisions. They also listed what states the troops came from.
Of course, the books all included anecdotal stories about what the
decorated heroes did, and what the officers - Bird and above - did. There is a town named
Semmedieue, which is spelled Sommedieue elsewhere on a map in the same book.
(Page 164 of American Armies and Battlefields in Europe).
On a 1985 map I bought when I was in Europe it is Spelled Sommedieue.
This town was the site of the 35th Division headquarters
during October 15 through November 7, 1918.
This perhaps is the correct spelling of the Sectors mentioned on Dads
discharge papers and described in the early 1942 article of the Arlington Times
newspaper. Sommedieue is located a couple
of miles Southeast of Verdun and was conveniently near all of the sectors where
the 35th Division would have fought during the war.
Therefore, if Dad was assigned to the 35th Division during
this timeframe, he must have been located within the Sommedieue Sector in both
cases and neither near the Somme River nor San Quentin, which are 100 to 150
miles West of Verdun. I certainly did not come up
with all the answers, but I did learn this.
They killed a lot of people OVER THERE even in the latter days.
The total dead for the Americans was a little over 83,000 people during
the year and a half of declared war. THE DEPOT ISSUE Based on the timeframe Dad was
in France, his unit originally must have been treated as a “replacement”
troop. During my early readings
about the 40th Division, I saw that it was a “Depot” Division.
A Depot Division is part of the Services of Supply (SOS) command
(American Army in France, by Harbord). I
had assumed from this that Dad had worked in the Services of Supply, but after
later readings, I have concluded that actually he was in the 145th
machine gun Battalion of the 40th Division that was assigned to the
SOS as a pool of replacements troops. In one book, there were tables
showing arrival dates, casualties and the states from which the Divisions
originated. (American Armies and
Battlefields in Europe). These
tables show the headquarters of the 40th Division arriving on August
24, 1918. It came from the Western
states including California, Colorado, Utah Arizona and New Mexico. The 40th became the 6th Depot Division.
The statistics of the war show no casualties for the 40th
Division, which I consider, evidence that the Division never fought as a unit in
France, but its soldiers did. In the beginning of the big
American troop buildup, the replacement of personnel had been planned so that
each Army Corps would consist of four Combat, one Depot and One replacement
Divisions. The Depot Divisions,
which would have been part of the SOS command, was to receive replacements
directly from the United States, intended for Divisions, Corps and Army troops.
The replacement Division, under command of its own Corps Commander, would
receive replacements from the Depot Divisions, and furnish the replacement
directly to the units of the Corps as needed to fill vacancies.
(Page 474 of The American Army in France). This may not have been the
actual case as there was heavy action and losses during the late summer of 1918.
As a result of the need, six combat Divisions were broken up to serve as
replacements for other Divisions. They
were the 39th, the 40th, the 41st, the 76th,
the 83rd and the 85th Divisions.
They probably replaced troops at the Battalion level.
Very likely my father’s Battalion was transferred as a unit to the 35th
from the 40th Division as a replacement during the St. Mihiel action
and in preparation for the Meuse-Argonne offensive. In September and October, the
need for replacements during the battles in the St. Mihiel Sector, and the
Meuse-Argonne Sector became so imperative that combat Divisions in training
within the SOS were broken up for replacements. During mid September, the First Army received from SOS about
28,000 men in less than a week. (Page
480 of The American Army in France). There was an additional drain
on troops during the fall of 1918. Not
only were the hospitals beds being filled by wounded from the front, but also
large numbers of troops arriving from the states were coming down sick from the
influenza epidemic, and pneumonia. The
opportunity for acquiring disease on crowded transports was great and diseases
such as diphtheria, measles, mumps, epidemic diarrhea, influenza, pneumonia and
typhoid were wide spread. Pneumonia
caused more deaths than any other disease.
Most of these pneumonia cases were resulting as a complication of
influenza. DAD ARRIVES IN FRANCE The 35th Division
was shipped over during the May and June timeframe. That Division was in France before the time that my father
arrived. The 35th had
been assigned to the Alps area around Belfort when it first arrived and had been
moved North in early September to take part in the St. Mihiel operation.
Dad evidently arrived in late August or early September 1918 and was
eventually assigned to the 35th Division after that Division arrived
in the St. Mihiel region. The 35th Division
served as a reserved Division for the St. Mihiel operation and evidently was not
used. The St. Mihiel Salient lay
between the Meuse and the Moselle Rivers. Lines
connecting Verdun, St. Mihiel and Pont-a-Mousson roughly outlined the triangle
that comprised the St. Mihiel Salient. (Page 421 of The American Army in France). The fighting in the St. Mihiel
Salient occurred between September 12th and 16th, 1918 and
was the first big All-American-Army offensive of the war.
This battle was not considered by historians to be a difficult victory,
but was certainly a surprise to most by its massive size.
The battle became one of the great ones, as seen with the hindsight of
historical strategists. This St.
Mihiel Salient Battle completed what is reported in most books as the first
phase of the offensive. THE BATTLE SCENE During the middle of
September, Divisions were secretly being concentrated behind the Divisions
already in the battle of the St. Mihiel offense.
The movement of men and material was made entirely under cover of
darkness. Of the nine Divisions
starting the Meuse-Argonne offense, only five had seen service in offensive
combat. The 35th Division
is shown as being located at Vauquois as of September 21.
Vauquois is about 10 miles West of Verdun and 40 miles South of Sedan.
This area was in the Meuse-Argonne Battle Sector and the 35th
was status reported as being “IN THE SECTOR” from September 21 through 25,
1918. Upon arriving they were part
of the French 2nd Army, but were transferred to the American First
Army on September 22, 1918. During
those 5 days, near but not in the battle zone, the 35th Division had
100 casualties. From September 26 through
October 1, 1918, the 35th Division is shown as being “IN THE
BATTLE” within the vicinity of Cheppy and Baulny.
During those 5 days, the 35th Division had 6,008 casualties.
(Page 327 of American Armies and Battlefields in Europe). The reported purpose of the
offensive was to take control of the railroad center at Sedan.
This would eliminate the prime way for the Germans to get back to the
Rhine River, as the winter trails of the Ardennes Mountains were already not
easily passable. When the Meuse-Argonne Sector
attack started, the 35th Division was described as never yet having
been in battle. The First Corps,
consisting of 75,000 men in the 77th, the 28th and the 35th
Divisions, faced the Argonne Forest on September 26, 1918.
The 35th was on the West side of the Aire River.
On the right flank of the 35th was the 91st
Division of the Fifth Corps. This
was an operation of the First Army (American), Major General Hunter Liggett,
commanding. The 35th itself was of National Guard origin and
had been established in Kansas and Missouri.
General Peter E. Traub commanded it. The Argonne Forest was a dense
forest gashed by steep ridges and deep ravines, littered by the debris of many
storms, natural and man-made. The
forest was ten miles in length and consisted of jungle growth, rocky slopes,
cliffs, ravines, innumerable brooks and its terrain was shell-holed like the
moon. (Page 225 of The Doughboys).
Guns could not be driven through this region.
Very few roads existed with the Germans using railroads for their lateral
transit. (Page 437 of The American Army in France). The course of the Aire River
twisted North till it turned West to join the Aisne River after it outflanked
the Argonne Forest below Grandpre. The
terrain was just as difficult as the Argonne Forest. This area had the extra hazard of open spaces offering no
cover to the attackers. In
addition, the Germans had spent four years preparing their defenses.
The “First Position for the Defense” was mainly barbed wire and
sacrificial machine-guns units. Three
miles behind this line was the “Intermediate Position for the Defense”,
cannoned and fortified in depth from the Aisne River on the West to a fort on
the heights of the Meuse River. Unlike the battles of World
War II, the preparation for the Meuse-Argonne assault was implemented within a
matter of two weeks of frantic improvisation following the capture of St. Mihiel,
sixty miles away. Troops and
supplies began moving up by night over roads already drenched by fall rains, the
newest and greenest Divisions nearest the new front arriving first.
The placement was a matter of expedition.
Whatever Division was nearest a certain gap of the front was moved there
by the closest available route at top speed under the rain-soaked blanket of
night. (Page 226 of The Doughboys). East of the Aire River
apparently was the initial battleground for my father.
If my assumption is true that he was a replacement member of Company A of
the 129th machine gun battalion of the 35th division, then
my father would have started out in real battle at daybreak on September 26,
1918. Starting at 2:30am, there had
been three hours of bombardment by 2,700 guns.
A fixed and rolling barrage began at 5:30am.
There were 800 Allied and American planes dominating the skies during
this initial stage. “No Yank Division anywhere ever had a rougher baptism or
assignment. The Vauquois Heights on
the Line of Resistance was to be held at all costs to dispute the way to
Varennes on the Aire River. Moving
forward through the Aire Valley, the 35th was easily seen from the
heights and speedily punished as it scrambled through a maze of trenches…”
(Page 228 and 230 of The Doughboys). There were nine Divisions in
this All-American attack stretching from the Aisne River on the West, to the
Meuse River on the East. Each
Division consisted of about 25,000 men, more persons than a fair-sized city back
in the states. At that time only
340 cities in the US had more inhabitants then one of our war-strength
Divisions. In all, about a half
million soldiers moved forward that morning, but there were six additional
Divisions being held in reserve. THE MEUSE-ARGONNE BATTLE The 35th moved out
with their left flank on the heights of the East bank of the Aire River.
Their right flank was headed towards the high ground west of Monfaucon.
The morning of September 26th is described as having dense fog
during the morning, with a major network of wire, myriads of shell craters, deep
ravines and thick woods, which presented great difficulties. Except in front of Montfaucon
most of the Divisions made good headway that day. The 35th Division reached the German main line of
resistance on top of a hill at about 8:30am.
The next village was Cheppy, which was taken before nightfall. The 35th Division
made deep penetration along the Aire River while its left flank fought its way
forward about one mile into the Argonne Forest. Varennes and Cheppy were both taken that day.
The progress the first day was about equal to what was gained during the
next 5 days after the surprise element and the lost of artillery support was
realized. At least two of the 35th
received Congressional Medal of Honors (posthumously) for their efforts
that first day - Captain Alexander R. Skinker, and Private Nels Wold. The Division eventually gained
about five or six miles, capturing Baulney on September 27th,
Charpentry on September 28th, and Exermont on September 29th.
They had to give up Exermont during the next two days of counterattacks. On September 29 the attacks of
the First Army were energetically pushed against stiffer resistance, as the
Germans had reinforced the front line near there with 6 fresh Divisions.
This fighting was exceptionally bitter, the Germans making many severe
counterattacks and concentrated artillery bombardments.
During the day the ground gained and lost on this front by both sides was
about equal. Following this, there was
pause in the fighting as the Army regrouped after four days of terrific
fighting. Much of the heavy
artillery and many of the supplies could not be brought up until the roads were
rebuilt. (Page 210 of American
Armies and Battlefields in Europe). This
is when the 35th, the 37th, and the 79th
Divisions were relieved. The 35th was on its
way to becoming a first-class fighting outfit by September 30, having suffered
6,000 casualties and some line-shattering repulses from cross machine-gun fire
that wiped out its forward elements in several advances.
That afternoon, an American flier spotted a German counterattack
gathering in a woods about to make an oblique strike at one of the Battalions of
the 35th Division. The
pilot relayed the information to the intelligence group of the 35th
Division. A runner named Paul Shaffer,
who had been drafted to be a muleskinner, was given a message to carry to the
nearby battery. This is an extract
of what he told the Elks Club in Whittier, California about experiences he had
that day. “I set out on the run,
jumping into shell holes whenever I heard one with my name on it.
There probably has never been any blacksmith ever that ran so fast”,
according to Shaffer, and he “reached the battery in nothing flat, as muddy as
an alligator, all the skin off my nose”. Captain Harry S. Truman was
standing there at the battery, “his tin hat pushed on the back of his head,
directing salvos into some spot toward the Northeast”.
After reading the message Shaffer carried, Truman immediately had the
battery rotate to the Northwest and starting shouting ranges and giving
bearings. Soon the groups of
Germans at the edge of the woods were receiving shells from the Truman battery.
The counterattack never came about.
(Page 239 and 240 of The Doughboys). On the night of September 30,
the 1st Division relieved the 35th.
The 35th Division had advanced six miles and was losing
cohesion in some of its decimated battalions.
The 35th Division had been left in line too long for a green
Division. During those five days of
battle, the 35th had lost half of its infantry, killed or wounded.
It had gained twice as many miles as the other two Divisions in the First
Corps. However, the other two
Divisions were actually inside the Argonne Forest. The 35th was then
placed in a reserve status. On
October 4th, the 35th is shown as being held in reserve.
(Page 444 of The American Army in France).
The second phase of the battle is shown starting on October 4 and by that
time the 1st Division is reported as being in the place where the 35th
had been. At the time of the second
attack the 35th Division was listed as a reserve Division. The 77th Division,
located about a mile or two West of where the 35th had been involved,
is the outfit that had the famous “Lost Battalion”. Their predicament started on the morning of October 3rd
and they were rescued on October 7th, five days later.
Only 200 of the 600 men of this trapped Battalion walked out.
They really were not lost, but got trapped in a very tight area along
side a road inside the Argonne Forest. Between the 77th
and 35th Division was the 28th Division.
The 28th Division was partially relieved by the 82nd
Division that took over the forward parts of their area.
Private First Class Alvin C. York was in the 82nd Division.
On October 8, 1918, York had his turkey shoot. This is where he shot more than 15 Germans, starting with
those furthest away and working forward. In
that way the Germans became confused about where the shots were coming from.
Finally, these Germans gave up. On the way back with these
prisoners, York and the survivors of his squad captured some more Germans.
York and the squad he was part of, captured 132 prisoners, including five
officers, on that one outing. York
did almost all the shooting. This
happened at hill 223 that is about ¾ mile west of Exermont. The second phase of the
Meuse-Argonne battle occurred during most of the month of October and resulted
in approximately five miles of ground gained on that front.
By October 12, the Americans were holding more than 75 miles of the
Meuse-Argonne front and had over a million Doughboys in the Sector.
The third phase was kicked off on November 1, 1918.
By November 4th, the Germans were in full retreat across the
Meuse River. From September 26 through
October 16, the Americans had captured over 16,000 Germans. THE MANHEULLES AREA The 35th Division
was involved during the battle in the Manheulles area and West Moranville from
October 15 through November 7, 1918. That
Sector is East of Verdun and straight North of St. Mihiel.
In this area the 35th Division had 422 casualties.
(Page 164 of the American Armies and Battlefields in Europe). On November 7, 1918, the 81st
Division relieved the 35th on a line that ran along the heights of
the village Manheulles. (Page 153
of American Armies and Battlefields in Europe). THE CLOSING ASSIGNMENT FOR THE
35TH DIVISION On September 12, 1918, General
John J. Pershing created the Second Army. Major
General Robert L. Bullard was assigned as its commander.
Liggett and Bullard were both then promoted to Lieutenant Generals.
The Second Army was headquartered in Toul that is quite near Nancy in
Eastern France, Southeast of Verdun. It
does not appear that Dads outfit went immediately to the organization, as until
November there was only reference to the 26th, the 78th,
and the 89th Divisions as part of the Second Army.
(Page 449 of The American Army in France)’. At the end of the first week
of November, the 35th Division was assigned to Bullard’s Second
Army astride the Moselle River that was attempting to drive the Germans off the
Borne de Cornouiller. The Borne was
the Germans last chance of holding the East bank of the Moselle River.
If the Borne fell, there would be no line of communications back to Sedan
for the Germans and thousands of them would be trapped. EPILOGUE By the time November 11th
came around, the First Army had moved all the way to the Meuse River - about 40
miles in the Sector that originally was attacked by the 35th
Division. The First Army consisted
of 22 full Divisions and was supported by 6 French partial Divisions.
This force had engaged and decisively beaten 43 German full Division in
perhaps the strongest fortified defensive position that was taken by troops of
either contestant during the World War. The
Germans suffered an estimated lost of over 100,000 casualties.
The First Army had about 117,000 casualties during that battle. In 6 weeks, the First Army captured 26,000 prisoners, 874
cannons, 3,000 machine guns and great quantities of supplies, ammunition and
other material. During the entire war, the
American Doughboys suffered 52,947 troops killed and 202,628 injured. The headquarters of the 35th
Division had arrived in France on May 11, 1918. The outfit came from Missouri and Kansas and during the war
had 1,298 killed and 5,998 injured. The
35th and 40th are both shown as National Guard Divisions. In the case of the 40th
Division, their unit is shown with no days on the front line.
The 35th Division is shown as having spent 37 days “in
training” in Europe, having served 43 days “in sector”, 30 days “in
battle”, for a total of 110 days. They
captured 781 prisoners, lost 167 prisoners, and received 10,605 replacement
troops. (Page 516 of American Armies and Battlefields in Europe). The Meuse-Argonne battle is
billed in one book (the 1992 edition of American Armies and Battlefields in
Europe) as the greatest battle in American history. This Army of 600,000 soldiers had moved about 35 to 40 miles
all the way to Sedan after 43 days of continuous fighting.
It should be remembered that this book was originally written during the
1930’s, so the statement may not apply today. If the war had not ended on
November 11th, the 35th Division was one of six American
Divisions designated to take part in an offensive East of the Moselle River.
The American forces would have attacked in a Northeasterly direction from
the vicinity of Port-sur-Seille, East of the Moselle River.
This would have been under the command of the new American Second Army
and was scheduled to commence on November 14, 1918.
The American Divisions directed to take part on that section of the front
were already in movement toward their new positions when the Armistice became
effective. (Page 114 of American
Armies and Battlefields in Europe). |
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