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On this date, June 2...
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BJ Omanson
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Jun 08, 2001 06:06 PDT
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On this date, June 2, in the year...
1918: By sunrise, all battalion machine gun companies are in
position, supporting the brigade infantry all along the line. At 8.30
a.m., the Germans attack Bouresches and Triangle Farm, but are
repulsed by heavy machine gun fire from 81st and 77th Companies. The
Germans, at this point, take refuge in Belleau Wood. Six guns of 81st
Company are withdrawn to reinforce the line further west and 77th
Company extends its own line to the left. About midday, new artillery
apparently having been brought up, German shell fire suddenly
increases in intensity. The battalion P.C., just southeast of Lucy in
a field near Montigivrault-la-Petit Ferme, is destroyed and
re-established in an old wash-house at nearby Montigivrault-le-Grande
Ferme.
Under heavy shellfire, H.D. Supply Train is ordered to change its
position from Pyramide Ferme to Ferme Paris. At the same time,
Appenheimer and the teamsters of 77th Company change position as well.
Appenheimer writes: "Leave at noon and hike till night and camp at
(_______)." This brief notation is perhaps the only record of the
movement of the 77th Company supply train on this date, and it reveals
nothing of their destination. They would move back from the line
(more or less to the southwest) a sufficient distance to place
themselves somewhat out of shellfire, and would also probably be
concerned to be somewhat in the vicinity of their company in the Bois
des Clerembaults. Another consideration would be to remain in some
proximity to Pyramide Ferme, which had just been designated the ration
and supply distribution point for the entire brigade. At this time,
almost none of the brigade's supply trains had yet arrived, so the 4th
Brigade was ordered to collect rations and ammunition directly from
the divisional supply train (wagons or trucks) which would travel to
Pyramide from the railhead at Montreuil for that purpose. All of
these considerations, then, suggest that Appenheimer & the 77th
Company supply train changed their position by no more than a very few
kilometers. That it took them half a day to make this move is an
indication, not of distance, but of the continued state of severe
congestion and confusion which existed throughout the area. Whatever
their destination, it is highly probable that they made their camp
finally in a wood, so as to avoid detection from the air, completely
dominated by German observation planes and balloons.
1919: AR Appenheimer still at Quantico, Virginia.
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