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followed the 3rd Cavalry Squadron through St. Menehould at 0545 hrs on the morning of the 31st of
August.
The Corps Headquarters continued its policy of establishing itself close behind the assault
echelons; and, while still at Louvois the Chief of Staff directed the Headquarters, Commandant, Lt. Col.
Napoleon A. Racicot, to reconnoiter for the next Command Post site as far east toward Verdun as
possible with a view to locating it at least east of Clermont. Colonel Racicot was further directed to
have a guide meet the Chief of Staff at dawn the next day at St. Menehould.
When Colonel Collier reached the rendezvous early next morning, no guide was present. He
found the main road leading to the east blocked by 20mm fire from an enemy group closing in behind
the leading combat elements of the 5th Infantry and the 7th Armored Divisions. In order not to delay the
installation of the vital signal communications, the forward Command Post was promptly established for
the night on the slopes of the Western exits of St. Menehould and a detachment from the 43rd Cavalry
Squadron, assembled nearby, was dispatched to clear the road to the east.
Later it was learned that Colonel Racicot and his group, following closely behind the attacking
echelons, had reached Clermont about dark and decided to bivouac there for the night.
About midnight a battalion of German infantry, escaping to the south from the Argonne Forest,
infiltrated into the town, terrorizing the inhabitants and engaging in a firefight at point-blank range with
a small group of XX Corps troops and attached groups bivouacing in a street of the town. Several
Corpsmen became casualties and several vehicles were lost, but the Germans finally moved on to rejoin
their main forces.
Colonel Racicot, not knowing that the guide sent to meet the Chief of Staff had become a
casualty, and not knowing about the emergency Command Post being established in St. Menehould, sent
back a message to the effect that he had not heard from Colonel Collier, and that it was believed that the
Chief of Staff was either killed or captured. Colonel Collier received this message while the new
Command Post was being established at St. Menehould.
Meanwhile racing columns of the 7th Armored Division, after knifing through the Argonne
Forest, swept into Verdun, seized the main city bridge and captured the town on August 31st.
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