Sidney D. Light's WWI Diary, Postcards & Letters, 329th Battery Book Accounts

After eight weeks training at Cöetquidan we were in shape for the front. "B" Battery, incidentally, did its full share to help the 329th make the best qualification record of any American regiment up to that time. On October 22nd, having loaded everything on the caissons and escort wagons, we marched to Guer, transferred the material to flat cars and stowed ourselves in side-door Pullmans for another two-day trip. On October 24th we arrived at Andelot and hiked to Manois, where we stayed four days. It was here that Mess Sergeant Bill Holzer sent out his famous wood detail. They came back with a skinny apple tree which subsequently cost us fifty francs and beaucoup explaining to an irate Frenchman.

Next we marched to Rimaucort where we entrained for Domgermain. We arrived there late at night and considered ourselves lucky to find some empty sand bags on which to sleep. The following night we witnessed an attempted air raid on the hospitals near Domgermain. After several attempts Jerry’s planes were driven off. While here we drew another gun to take the place of the one destroyed by the explosion. A big British Handley Page which alighted near there for gasoline was the subject of much curious gaze.

We left Domgermain in the afternoon and that was the last hike we took in daylight until the armistice was signed. After passing through Toul we struck the main highway leading to the front. We now began to hear the rumble of big guns in the distance and could see flashes of light away on the horizon. After many weary hours of marching we turned off the main road to the left and were just able to make out the word Lagney on the signboard. This was our last night in an inhabited town before reaching the front. We were so footsore and weary that we were mighty glad of a night’s rest, be it in a barn or house, on a bed or on the floor. Lights were now added to the already long list of things we had to do without as they might assist the enemy in locating us. The next evening we continued our march after a very hasty supper.

The road from now on was packed with a constant stream of trucks, autos and ambulances going to and from the front. Along side the road was a narrow-gauge railroad for carrying ammunition up to the lines. On and on we marched through village and hamlet. The night was dark and we could just make out bare walls but we were told that they had once been villages before Hun shell fire wrecked them. Here and there between the villages we could distinguish camouflage erected to protect traffic from enemy observation.

At last the word was passed down that we were to turn off into a field. We were warned to look out for shell holes. In this field we pitched shelter tents and got a few hours sleep. Before turning in we were told that everything would have to be concealed in the woods near by before daylight. Accordingly about 4:00 a.m. we struck tents, hitched in and pulled the material into the woods known as the Bois de Mort Mare.

This day we had an opportunity to explore a little and, as the Germans had only been driven out of these woods a short while before, we found many things of interest—dug-outs made of concrete and steel, ammunition, narrow-gauge tracks running in all directions and also a number of American graves.

On November 2nd in the early morning, Captain Frazier and Corporal Ackerman mounted their horses and set out to reconnoitre for our gun positions. It is needless to say that a thrill went through all of us at the new—for we would soon be taking an active part in the big show. We were kept in touch with the outside world by a Red Cross auto which brought us papers every day, such as the English "Daily Mail" and the Paris edition of the "New York Herald." There papers were distributed free to the boys and it was some treat to get them.

Upon the return of Captain Frazier and Corporal Ackerman the order was given for four gun squads and the battery commanders’ detail to get ready at once as we were to go into position that night. What a night it was, too, dark and damp and dreary! The ground was just a mass of greasy mud and it took all the strength of the men as well as the horses to get the guns and caissons out of the woods. There was Ikey Klein joking as usual and Bustance having a terrible time fixing his horse’s gas mask. "Mess Kit Mike" had all his work cut out, making his hands obey his wishes and his teeth beat a continuous tattoo. The whole outfit was keyed up to concert pitch and that trip will live in our memories as long as memory lasts.

We passed through some heaps of wreckage which had once been towns and here and there could detect evidences of human habitation from slivers of light escaping through cracks in the walls. Finally we came to the ruined town of Thiaucourt. We had to stop and turn around after crossing the wrong bridge and were glad we did as Jerry started dropping shells there not 15 minutes later. At last we were halted in front of what was to be our first gun position. As we stood there we heard a gas alarm and in double quick time had our gas masks on, realizing suddenly that "drill-time" was a thing of the past and that from now on a gas alarm meant business. We also heard the big boche shells, facetiously known as "G.I.Cans," whining by on their way to Thiaucout, where we had been a short time before.

Unless a man has done it himself it is hard to realize what a difficult proposition getting a battery into a new position on a pitch black night is. We sure had our share of difficulties but acting under Captains Frazier’s excellent instructions, and Lieutenant Curtiss’s co-operation, we got located in very reasonable time. Lieutenant Goble gave his personal opinion of the war when one of the teams got angled up in a mass of barbed wire. It took some time to extricate them but they were unhurt and all the damage done was a broken pole on the limber.

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To read "One Way Road' click here