On the afternoon of the 14th of September the 1st and 2nd Battalions stormed and captured a
wooded hill north of Vilcey covering about five square kilometers and known as the Bois des
Vencheres. The objective first given was Preny but was later changed to a midway point, to the Les
Huit Chemins. In this engagement the 94th Regiment of Infantry, an organization from Hanover was
dispersed. Although composed of men older than those who had opposed the troops on the first day,
they gave the Yankees a brand of fighting more to their liking. Snipers and machine gunners stuck to
their posts until killed. Prisoners said their orders had been to hold the hill. The 1st Battalion suffered
very heavily very early in the evening. One shell which killed Captain Sam Craig in command, and
wounded Lieutenants Albert Sergeant and DeWitt Mullett, deprived Company A of all its officers at the
commencement of its advance.
Darkness found the two battalions in the heart of the forest. Detachments of Germans and
Americans all over the forest fought continuously during the night, and American outposts killed and
captured many. One detachment of 40 men was captured by a small American outpost. This small body
was trying to return to the Hindenburg line, the main body of Germans having returned to the
Hindenburg line at nightfall. American patrols quickly mopped up the enemy detachments who
remained in the woods the next morning, September 15th, and the line was extended to include the
northern edge of the forest. A battery each of 77's and 150 caliber guns and many minenwerfers and
machine guns were the personal trophies of the 2nd Battalion in this action. Following this fight the 2nd
Battalion withdrew to an immediate support position in the Bois des Vencheres, leaving the newly taken
position to be garrisoned by the 1st Battalion.
The territory gained in these two raids had been strongly held by the enemy during the past four
years of the war, and the dugouts were fitted out with all kinds of conveniences, feather beds, electric
lights, and good walks. It was very evident that the Germans intended to spend the winter in this
concrete city, and as one would look at the concrete emplacements in the trench system he would
wonder how it was possible for men thus entrenched to be driven out.
After the capture of the Bois de Vencheres, the regiment continued to organize its position, and
patrolling was very active. The enemy seemed very nervous and on the slightest provocation would
send over a barrage. Whenever our patrols would enter “No Man’s Land” the enemy would nearly
always light up the heavens with his flares and open up with machine guns. Again and again the enemy
would throw over a box barrage but did not penetrate the line although it was held as thinly as fifteen
men per 300 yards of forest. The woods in the sector were very dense and at no place could one see
more than 50 yards ahead except along the paths and trails well known to the enemy and continually
under artillery and machine gun fire. The next several days were spent in reorganizing the various
companies, though still holding their positions. The equipment was salvaged, ammunition and grenades
stocked up, and time was taken to eat, something most of the men through necessity had neglected for
several days. In spite of steady artillery and airplane fire which was undergone and small but regular
casualties, the morale of the entire regiment was heightened rather than lowered.
During the advance of the Regiment September 12th, 13th, and 14th, the Regimental Band under
the direction of Chaplain Miles E. Hoon, collected and buried the dead with appropriate though brief
ceremony. The lines becoming stabilized on 15th September searching parties from the Reserve and
Support Battalions, in addition to the Band, were organized and the entire section of the advance was
covered searching out the dead, assembling them in previously selected places where Christian burial
with appropriate ceremony was given all. The enemy’s dead was also collected by these searching
parties and given proper burial, and the German War Office notified through Military Channels, giving
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