In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

CHAPTER Who Broke the 14Hindenburg Line? The Thirtieth Division—Abbéville Agreement—Plan of Operation—How It Came Out—Citations. We know that the Hindenburg Line, the last stand of the Germans, was broken by a concerted Allied drive along the entire front. Some one organization, however, had to be the first to get through, and there has been some little rivalry as to just which organization that first one was. Among the contenders for this honor was the Thirtieth American Division, and it was because of this that I had a peculiar interest in the crossing of the St. Quentin canal. The Thirtieth Division The Thirtieth Division was composed of National Guard units from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. It was said to be the most AllAmerican division in France because it was organized in a section of the country where there is a smaller percentage of foreign born than in any other part of the United States. In this division, sons of Confederate soldiers showed the same mettle that their fathers had shown upon the battle fields of Virginia. South Carolina’s regiment, the 118th, in seven days’ fighting, won more Medals of Honor than any other American regiment throughout the entire period of the war. Elsewhere, South Carolina’s list of Distinguished Service Crosses showed the heroism of her sons in eighteen different infantry regiments and twelve organizations of other arms including the Marines, engineers, medical, ordnance, air service, etc. Her list of general officers and of Distinguished Service Medals showed her sons to have rendered Exceptionally Meritorious and Distinguished Service in connection with every important activity of the war. Being myself a South Carolinian and the son of a Confederate soldier, I take pride in these things and particularly in the accomplishment of the South Carolina troops of the Thirtieth Division at the breaking of the Hindenburg Line. Who Broke the Hindenburg Line? 113 The Abbéville Agreement In glorifying the deeds of America, however, we must not overdo it. There is sufficient glory in our actual accomplishments, and we blind ourselves by extravagant claims that cannot be justified. Whatever glory attaches to America at the breaking of the Hindenburg Line, attaches to the individual soldiers and to the officers who commanded them. No particular credit is due to our organization or methods because, as will be seen below, we were woefully deficient in these matters. Under a series of agreements between Lord Milner1 and General Pershing, which I have conveniently grouped under the general designation, the Abbéville Agreement, the British undertook to speed up the American troop shipments by furnishing transportation for American infantry and machine gun units only, leaving the artillery and auxiliary troops for later consideration.2 This change of program started in May and added a million men to Pershing ’s forces in the spring and early summer of 1918, but resulted in having many of the American units without an organization essential to the conduct of independent action. Among these units was the Second American Corps (Read) consisting of the Twenty-seventh and Thirtieth American Divisions. These divisions contained no American regiments except infantry. The artillery was provided by the British and the Australians. So also there was no corps artillery, no engineer troops, [and] no aviation. All these deficiencies were supplied by the British. Moreover, this American corps operated under an Australian corps located in its immediate rear. General Situation It will be remembered that in their big push beginning March 21st, the German armies had swept down the valley of the Somme. The British Army (Fifth) standing in their path had been annihilated, and the advance had not been stopped until it reached the important railroad center of Amiens. On August 8th—Ludendorff’s Blackest Day of the War—the British had attacked the western face of this salient and had pushed the Germans back across the Gateway of the Vermandois to the main Hindenburg Line, which at this point ran due north from St. Quentin to Cambrai, Douai, and Lille. On the night of September 23–24, the American Corps entered the British line as part of Rawlinson’s Fourth Army and on the left of the 46th British Division whose crossing of the St. Quentin canal was described in the preceding chapter.3 Along the front of the sector occupied by the Americans, the country was gently rolling and open with a fairly well defined ridge running parallel...

Share