ADVANCE-GUARD CROSSES AT SASSEY
THE 357th Infantry moved out first. The 1st Battalion’s leading unit started across the bridge about 5 P.
M. The 358th Infantry followed the 357th, and then came the 314th Field Artillery and Companies D
and F of the 315th Engineers, attached to the 179th Brigade, and one battalion of the 315th Field
Artillery Regiment. The brigade P. C. moved to Sassey at 6 P. M. The 3d Battalion, 358th Infantry, and
one battalion, 313th Field Artillery, were left near Côte 205 to guard the left flank of the Division. On
the afternoon of November 10 the 3d Battalion was ordered to cross at Villefranche and join the
regiment. But when General Allen decided to continue the attack on November 11 with the 180th
Brigade, further orders were sent to the 3d Battalion, stopping it for the night to billet in Villefranche.
The movement of the artillery up the Route Nationale was hampered by craters which had been
blown by the retreating Germans, by destroyed bridges, and by trees which had been felled across the
highway. These obstacles were quickly smoothed out by the engineers, and the road made passable by 2
this A. M., although prisoners stated that it had been calculated to delay the artillery at east forty-eight
hours.
During the night the 180th Brigade, in reserve, moved forward, and the next morning the 359th
Infantry crossed at Sassey and the 360th at Dun-sur-Meuse.
When the 1st Battalion, 357th Infantry, reached Mouzay, about midnight, the town was being
heavily shelled, and the troops were disposed in the safest places on the outskirts. Mouzay had been
entered on November 9 by troops of the 5th Division, who soon withdrew to operate further to the east
in the For
t du Woevre. By 3 A. M. of the 10th, brigade and both regimental P. C.’s were in Mouzay.
Colonel Hartmann, who had been gassed on September 21 but remained in command, went to
the hospital on the night of November 7, and was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel James Everington,
who was in turn succeeded on the morning of November 10 by Lieutenant-Colonel Waddill.
The news of the abdication of the Kaiser came at the moment that the Meuse was being crossed.
In a despatch from Berlin, the Imperial Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, published the statement: “The
Emperor and King has decided to abdicate the throne.”
The end of hostilities was now plainly in sight. Since the signing of the armistice with Bulgaria
on October 29, with Turkey on October 31, and with Austria-Hungary on November 4, the days of
further fighting had been numbered. The hope for peace, however, did not in any way slow down the
offensive. Rather, it was the universal desire to fight all the harder in order to deliver the knockout blow
as soon as possible.
Through the radio despatches sent out from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, picked up by division,
brigade and regimental radio sets, the progress of the armistice negotiations was followed with interest.
On November 7 the following message was received from Marshal Foch’s headquarters:
“If parliamentarians present themselves at any point on the front to submit request to Marshal
Foch, they will be stopped at the front line division. This division will immediately inform Marshal
Foch of their status and the object of their mission. They will be detained at the division until Marshal
Foch has made known his reply.”
However, the delegates did not come our way At 10:30 P. M., November 7, the plenipotentiaries
 |
 |
 |