BOIS DE RAUX AND HILL 321 TAKEN
THE next morning severe machine gun opposition was encountered all along the division front. As there
was no set program for the day’s attack, infantry commanders called for artillery support as the centers
of resistance developed. In the sector of the 360th Infantry – whose fortunes will be considered first – it
was found that the principal volume of fire came from Hill 321, a very small, wooded eminence
immediately northeast of Villers-devant-Dun, and from Bois de Raux, a patch of woods, about half a
kilometer wide, which lay to the west of Hill 321. At 11:30 A. M. an hour’s artillery preparation was
ordered on these two positions preparatory to an attack. In the meantime the 3d Battalion, which had
spent the night on the corps objective, moved up and prepared to pass through the 2d Battalion.
About 1:30 P. M. the 3d Battalion moved against Bois de Raux and the 1st Battalion began its
attack on Hill 321. The 1st Battalion met with particularly bitter opposition. The little hill they had set
out to take was a solid nest of machine gunners who had been left in their positions to fight a rear-guard
action to the death. Obedient to command, these men in field-gray performed their work well, and many
of them died at their posts at the point of the bayonet. But, led on by the example of Major Morris, who,
despite his wounds, exposed himself to the deadly fire, and pointed out the enemy positions with the
walking-stick which he always carried, by 2:15 P. M. our men had captured the hill and were moving
further to the north.
Both the officers and men of Company A, which led this assault, displayed marked heroism.
The company commander, Captain Charles E. Delano, received a wound during the action and went to
the aid station to have it dressed. While at the aid station he received the news that Lieutenant George P.
Cole had been killed, that Lieutenant Harold H. Shear was seriously wounded, and that the company
was without an officer. He immediately started again for the front, but was killed on rejoining his
company. Even the 1st Sergeant was put out of action. But the company had been inspired by the fine
acts of courage of its officers, and continued the advance under the ranking sergeant, Robert J.
Moreland, even repelling a counter-attack after it passed Hill 321.
In the 2d Battalion Lieutenant Burr S. Weaver and Lieutenant Govan N. Stroman were wounded.
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