3rd Infantry Division at Chateau-Thierry

 

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Chateau-Thierry American Monument view of the Marne River valley

History becomes the great eraser.

What is past is past, and often lost to human memory when those who participated in the events are gone.

Americans in France

My grandfather, James Madison Pearson, arrived in France late in November of 1917 along with other soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force under the command of General Black Jack Pershing. He was initially with the 2nd Infantry Division. His unit was bivouacked near the French village of Graffigny-Chemin in the French province of Lorraine, in the region of the Vosges Mountains near the contested fortress of Verdun. Reorganization of the American units followed, and my grandfather became attached to the 3^rd Infantry Division, an officer of a machine gun brigade

Meuse-Argonne

The final battle of the war was the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in which my grandfather and his cousin, Varlourd Pearson participated, although with different units. Sergeant Varlourd Pearson serving with the 147^th Infantry Regiment, organized in Kansas, and made up of soldiers from the Kansas Reserves, drawn principally from Manhattan, Kansas, where many of the soldiers, like Varlourd had been attending school at Kansas State University. Tragically, Sergeant Pearson would die in action on the third day of battle.

He is buried in France.

Chateau-Thierry American Monument

 

Chateau-Thierry

I get ahead of myself. It is the earlier Battle of Chateau-Thierry of which I wish to speak.

A Silver Star, a campaign ribbon, a mention of Chateau-Thierry, a wounding, a family story of our grandfather nursed back to health by a French girl, Marguerite Chevallier Meine, who would later become his wife. These are the disconnected memories of a past that is now lost.

Battles are, for the most part, brief. Bombardment and infantry charges cost lives and material. Too soon, the units that advanced lose the coverage of artillery and become vulnerable to enemy artillery and coordinated counter-attacks. This problem is experience by both sides in war.

The Germans had taken advantage of the Russian exit from the war to send units from the Eastern Front to France, where they hoped an attack in advance of American participation in the war might be successful. General Ludendorf, who ordered the German offensive along the Marne toward Paris was partially correct. The new German units advanced 40 miles, reaching the Marne and taking Chateau-Thierry. But the Germans exceeded their artillery support and supply of ammunition. French resistance stiffened and untested American units were quickly thrown into action.

Machine gun units of the 3rd Division occupied the bridges along the Marne River that led in Chateau Thierry. Nevertheless, on June 1, the Germans advanced into Chateau-Thierry forcing a French and American retreat across the Marne.

This was to be the extent of the German advance.

On July 18^th, 1918, combined French and American units counter-attacked. Their offensive was directed at Soissons and Chateau-Thierry. By the 22^nd of July the counter-attack was spent. The Germans had retreated across the Marne, the Americans and French had recaptured Chateau-Thierry and both sides licked their wounds. The Germans would continue their retreat and consolidate their lines towards the Vesle River.

The lessons of history

What is the lesson of this largely forgotten battle? Some have compared the German attack along the Marne to Gettysburg. The attack cost both sides men and material, but for the Germans it was the last opportunity to achieve significant battlefield advantage before the wholesale introduction of American units.

In late September, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive on the part of the Allied Forces would prove that German defeat was a matter of time.

By November, the Germans signed the Armistice and the war was over.