REAR AREAS SHELLED
NOT only the troops actually in the front line, but the rear areas as well, were subjected during this
period to intermittent bombardment which took its daily toll. The Bois des Rappes and the area around
Madeleine Farm were favorite targets. The 1st Battalion, 358th Infantry, in support of the 3d Battalion,
suffered heavily from this fire. Lieutenant (later Captain) J. P. Woods and Lieutenant Haley G.
Heavenhill were wounded by shrapnel; the woods continually reeked with “yellow and blue cross” gas,
and Lieutenant Ralph D. Walker, the sole remaining officer of Company D, was overcome and
evacuated. On October 25, when the battalion was moving to the northern edge of the Bois des Rappes
to support the 3d Battalion more closely, a shell dropped directly in front of Lieutenant Samson B.
Brasher, Company A, killing him and his orderly, Private James F. Matlock.
Nor was life still further to the rear any more pleasant. The headquarters of the 180th Brigade, in
Nantillois, were continually shelled; Lieutenant John H. Byrd, assistant adjutant being severely wounded
by a shell fragment while eating lunch. The Montfaucon-Nantillois-Cunel road was constantly harassed,
particularly in the vicinity of the junction of the Nantillois-Cunel and the Nantillois-Cierges roads.
There were ammunition and food dumps near this junction. Field Hospital No. 360, which was also in
this neighborhood, suffered from the searching artillery fire on October 25. A shell passed through one
ward tent and demolished two other ward tents. Two men were killed, a sergeant was mortally
wounded, Lieutenant Lee Woodward and twelve enlisted men were seriously wounded, and four other
men were slightly injured.
The 90th Division chaplains, with the aid of details furnished by infantry and engineer units,
undertook the work of burying the scores of dead of the 4th and 5th Divisions. Which had suffered very
heavily in the severe fighting in this region. There were corpses in all parts of the divisional sector,
particularly in the Bois des Rappes. The burials were carried on despite the constant shelling. While
engaged in this duty, Chaplain Charles D. Priest was mortally wounded by the explosion of a shell near
him on October 27. He was buried at Rampont on October 30 by the Division chaplain. Chaplains F. A.
Magee, 357th Infantry, and Milles F. Hoon, 358th Infantry, were wounded about the same time.
Chaplain Priest was known as one of the bravest men of the Division, and was posthumously
awarded the D. S. C. On one occasion he buried a man in a position enfiladed by a German one-
pounder. After two burial squads had been driven from the work, Chaplain Priest himself shouldered
the tools and went out and dug the grave, placed the body in its resting-place with a short service,
covered it over, and returned to our lines. The one-pounder dug holes in the ground all around the
chaplain but he stuck to his work.
Despite the severity of the fighting which marked the establishing of our line north of
Bantheville, the operations were only a prelude to the general attack on the army front on November 1.
The 180th Brigade was chosen to make this attack for the Division.
All corps orders during this period directed the Division to “improve its position in preparation
for further attack.” On October 28 was issued the corps field order outlining the attack, big preparations
for which were already under way. By this time the 179th Brigade was pretty well spent. Only eight
officers remained in the 1st Battalion, 357th Infantry, and some companies were so badly reduced that it
was necessary to consolidate them. October 31 proved to be “D minus one day” – that is, one day
before the big attack.
The 180th Brigade, which was to deliver the attack, was brought into line the night of October
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