Blanc Mont Ridge

As an amateur historian I am constantly learning about the 2nd Division. The following excerpt from 'Records' Volume 4 told me a great deal about the quality and character of the officers and enlisted men. Not to mention the task before them. What an insight!

Fine work that out there. That was a hard job. Neville is going to put the 6th out in front of you. Neville is going to relieve you by the 6th, then you can get back and reorganize and let your men get some rest. It is kind of quiet since they pinched those Boche. That was the finest thing that was pulled off. They were shooting up everybody all the way back from SOMME PY, artillery, trains, the place in the rear of the ridge was streamed with artillery. Everybody that came up there thought that they had been in a machine gun nest.

Any of your officers killed? Heely - and Captain Hulbert.

General Gouraud was here yesterday afternoon with the Corps Commander, and I told the General I didn't think much of the advance forward of the ridge out into a salient, but he said that was what forced the retreat of the whole German Army east of REIMS. They are retreating from REIMS to the east. I told him we suffered a lot and he said the threat against ST. ETIENNE line forced their retreat; that that was the last line they had. They are retreating from the REIMS mountains all the way here. The extreme west Corps are advancing, which never moved before. They are advancing 5 or 6 kilometers across the trench positions and the Boche are falling back now. They stopped us all right, but the taking of that ridge and starting forward is what pushed them off the line. Tell them all that; that their holding all last night and yesterday was imperative. Last night, particularly. If you had fallen back before the Boche he would have thought he got your goat, and if you stick your heels in the ground you got his goat. He is not shooting us up, is he? I think he is gone. I think he just beat it. If we fell back he would have kept right at it. Our outfit just forced the retreat of the whole Boche Army. That i[s] what General Gouraud said, and the Corps commander in his order this morning said so. Tell them all - all the men, what I think; what we all think of them. There was a gap there, and this nest was passed by. The marines cleaned it up this morning. Schuler did it. You know him. He did it in cooperation with some French of General Bernard's 170th Division. They helped to do it without any orders at all, just because they saw the job and helped. The result was we captured 4 officers, 209 men, 75 machine guns, light and heavy; a good many trench mortars and a tractor truck, and all without any casualties on our part in that operation.

The General orders you also to call Drum up for him and tell him about how we have been getting along and tell him about that operation this morning, and tell him we are on the job. Our casualties have been pretty heavy, but we think when we count up it won't be quite as heavy as we think now. Then we find out exactly about them.

We have been trying to get the Corps through our engineer officer to put some men on this road where it passes the ridge, and repair it. This main road. Our engineers will pass into reserve today, and we have been working them on the road and working like the devil with them. Our engineer officer has been trying to get the Corps to get some assistance; in fixing that road taking charge of that point where it passes over the ridge. Those big shells on it. Has been unsuccessful. Asked me to see if you couldn't. It is the main road from SOUAIN to SOME PY, where it passes over the ridge about half way between - shell holes and mine craters to keep that in repair and fix it up.