THE ADVANCE ON BAALON
A VIEW of the terrain is essential to an understanding of the operations of the 357th Infantry. The town
of Baalon, the immediate objective of the regiment, was situated in the valley of the ravine of a creek
which flowed northward into the Chiers, about three and a half kilometers northeast of Mouzay and the
same distance east of Stenay. A ridge running from northwest to southeast hides Baalon from both
Stenay and Mouzay. The part of this ridge between Baalon and Mouzay is covered by a wood called
Bois du Chenois. On the open part of the ridge between Stenay and Baalon were a German aviation
field and Jardinelle Farm.
When the 1st Battalion, 357th Infantry, reached Mouzay, it was ordered to remain there in
reserve, at the same time sending out patrols to connect with the 5th Division in the For
t de Woevre.
To the 3d Battalion, supported by the 2d Battalion, was assigned the task of taking Baalon. Captain
Hopkins, battalion commander, was knocked down by a shell at Mouzay, fragments of the same shell
striking Captain Leister, Company K, in the leg, causing the loss of the limb. 1st Lieutenant Frank J.
Lindsey, battalion intelligence officer, took command, and during the night led his men along the
Mouzay-Baalon road, by daybreak reaching the center of the Bois du Chenois. Shortly before eight
o’clock the battalion P. C., while moving forward, was near this road at the edge of the woods
overlooking Baalon. This position was observed by the Germans and was immediately fired on. A shell
struck in the center of the group. Lieutenant Paul O. Pretre, regimental intelligence officer, was killed,
and Captain Robert S. Marx, regimental operations officer, who had been sent to take command of this
battalion, was severely wounded. Lieutenant W. B. Johnson, battalion adjutant, was wounded, and the
battalion sergeant-major and corporal observer were killed.
Shortly before nine o’clock the 2d Battalion received orders to assist the 358th Infantry’s attack
on Stenay by advancing against Aviation Hill, but at 9:50 o’clock this was changed, and the mission of
the 357th Infantry was given as pushing on toward Montmédy with all energy and speed. In the
meantime the 3d Battalion was having great difficulty in taking Baalon. A patrol which succeeded in
entering the town was driven out by superior numbers, and all attempts to cross the ravine south of the
town were defeated by machine gun fire from the opposite bank.
Lieutenant-Colonel Waddill now planned the maneuver as follows: Artillery fire was put on
Baalon and vicinity from 10:30 to 12 o’clock; then the 2d Battalion was to capture Jardinelle Farm and
advance on Baalon from the northwest; the 3d Battalion to go forward again when the 2d Battalion had
succeeded in its mission. By clever maneuvering, Major Lammons had the farm in his possession by
2:40 o’clock, and was going on when instructions were received that the 2d and 3d Battalions would
hold the high ground which overlooked Baalon.
The 3d Battalion would have run short of ammunition during these operations had it not been for
the bravery of eleven men of Company D, 315th Engineers which had been attached to the brigade in
the movement forward. These men volunteered to carry the boxes forward, and succeeded in delivering
them after crossing two and a half kilometers in the face of artillery and machine gun fire. The work of
the 179th Brigade, November 10, was summed up in the official communique of G. H. Q. for that
evening as follows: “Troops of the 1st Army reached the southern outskirts of Stenay and occupied Bois
du Chenois, south of Baalon’’
The Division had given the order to the 179th Brigade to hold the ground it had captured, with
the intention of passing through the 180th Brigade, which was to renew the attack at daybreak in the
direction of Montmédy. This order was issued about eleven o’clock on the night of the 10th. Further
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