During the advance the strength of Companies I and K became so depleted that both L
and M wore moved up into the line. Here Lieutenant Burr S. Weaver was shot through the knee
and finger. Until he was evacuated his conduct under fire continued to be especially
conspicuous.
By 2 o’clock in the afternoon Major Allen’s men had swept the Germans completely
from the woods, and had pressed half a kilometer forward.
The second battalion maintained close contact with the two units in the front line. It was
while doing work of this nature that Lieutenant Govan N. Stroman was wounded.
A resume of the accomplishments of the regiment during these first two days of
November gives, concisely, a true picture of the blow delivered the enemy. The Freya Stullung
had been pierced and then torn wide open. Fifteen officers and 680 men of the German army
had bean captured, as we11 as a considerable amount of artillery and many machine guns. The
majority of these prisoners was taken by the third battalion, although the second battalion’s catch
North of Andevanne alone amounted to 210 men. It is not an exaggeration to say that the
fighting in which the first battalion took part was of too desperate a character to permit the taking
of prisoners by either ride.
Included in the heavy ordnance captured was one 210 Howitzer, two 105’s, four 77’s and
64 machine guns.
Among the information secured from the big gun batteries taken was a chart showing the
exact location of Colonel Price’s post of command in the Bois de Bantheville. It had been
reported to the battery apparently by an aviator, and that it was accurately charted had been
attested previous to this.
The men in the line companies of the regiment were generous in their praise, during those
days, of the work of the auxiliary companies and the supporting machine gun and artillery units.
It has previously been stated that the regimental machine gun company was continually with the
assault battalion, so constantly on the move, in fact, that there was little time to halt and fire. But
it remained for Sergeant Hiram Hucherson, and his platoon, to establish a record for consecutive
jumps. This platoon had gone forward with Company D as combat liaison with the 89th
Division on the morning of November 1st, and that afternoon it again moved up when Company
D joined in the assault. Its third advance was with the infantry against Hill 321. Sergeant
Putnam Harrington placed one section of his machine guns into the line with the advance
infantry troops on the afternoon of November 2nd. Private James Francis and the two remaining
men of his squad, to the command of which he succeeded when his corporal was killed, were
sent to join Company A after Captain DeLario had been killed. That these men not only
succeeded in reporting themselves but actually dragged a gun, a tripod and five boxes of
ammunition across that battlefield, is a feat that is bound to astound even a veteran machine
Gunner. Sergeant Herbert Milton is another non-commissioned officer of the machine gun
company who received commendation from his battalion commander for the manner in which be
kept his guns up in the advance.
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