OT - Michigan & The First World War
It's All Quiet on the Dennis Front tonight so I caught up on some war movies. I just finished 1917 (excellent film, btw) and I got the history bug so I looked up UM alumni in WW1 and stumbled onto this interesting bit of history on the 32nd Infantry Division - a blended Division of Michigan and Wisconsin recruits. From the Michigan.gov site:
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The Michigan Guard merged with members of the Wisconsin Guard to form the 32nd Infantry Division on July 18, 1917, with Michigan furnishing 8,000 troops of all arms. The 32nd was to write many glorious pages in American history in both world wars and become known world-wide as one of American's toughest fighting units.
The 32nd arrived in France in February 1918 and was the sixth division to join the Allied Expeditionary Force. Its units were the first American troops to set foot on German soil--in Alsace in May 1918. Advancing 19 kilometers in seven days, it captured Fismes in the Marne offensive. As the only American unit in General Mangin's famous 10th French Army, it fought in the Oise-Aisne offensive and helped break the German line which protected the Chemin de Dames.
Fighting continuously for 20-days and twice in the line in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the 32nd penetrated the Kriemhilde Stellung, crossed the Meuse and drove to the flank Metz.
As the front line element of the Third U.S. Army, soldiers of the 32nd marched 300 kilometers to the Rhine and occupied the center sector in the Colbenz bridgehead for four months, holding 63 towns and 400 square kilometers of territory. From May to November 1918, they were under fire and were allowed only 10 days in rest areas.
In three major offensives, the 32nd fought on five fronts, participating in the Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne and Meuse-Argonne offensives. Meeting and defeating 23 German divisions from which 2,153 prisoners were taken, the 32nd gained 38 kilometers in four attacks and repulsed every enemy counterattack.
Since much of the fighting on the Western Front for years took place over the same 5-10 kilometers of ground, with neither side being able to break the line of the other, it was a remarkable feat for the young Americans. The division was still in action east of the Meuse when the Armistice was finally signed.
The 32nd paid heavily for its victories. It suffered 14,000 casualties from all causes and was third in the number of battle deaths of any division in the Army.
The shoulder insignia worn by its soldiers--a Red Arrow--signifies that the division shot through every line the enemy threw before it. The French, high in their praise of the 32nd's accomplishments, gave it the name of "Les Terribles." More than 800 officers and enlisted men were decorated by the American, French, and Belgian governments.
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I'm looking forward to Jim repeating Michigan history and shooting through Kaiser Day/Ohio State's pitiful excuse for a line.
Cool story from history, they excelled --- the football analogy, the 32rd Division was putting up 50+ points per game in an era where everyone else had Ferentzian offenses that struggled to simply get into field goal position.
Road geek fact: US-12 in Michigan used to run from Ann Arbor to Saint Joseph to New Buffalo, roughly along the same path as present day I-94. Before I-94 was built, the entire stretch of US-12 was named the "Red Arrow Highway" in dedication to the 32rd Division.
Then I-94 got built and US-12 was moved to a more southerly route. So most of the name has gone away, but the "Red Arrow Highway" name remains in far SW Michigan (Berrien & Van Buren Counties).
Thanks for that info about the Red Arrow Highway. I've driven on and past that road my whole life without understanding the significance of its namesake.
Was in Kansas City earlier this summer and went to the WWI museum there. It is very impressive. I could have spent all day there but the kids were losing their minds after 3 hours so we had to jet. Will definitely go back if/when I’m in KC again. I learned a lot about “The Great War.” Highly recommend it if you’re in the area.
It's MUCH smaller scale, but pretty close to my house is a military museum at Cantigny, the former estate of Chicago Tribune publisher Robert McCormick. He was in the First Division in WW1, so the museum is dedicated to that outfit from WW1 through Iraq/Afghanistan. It's really, really well put together. We're about 25 miles west of Chicago if you're ever out in the DuPage burbs.
I think it's between the Civil war and WW1 for the worst wars to have been a soldier
I mean all wars suck, but there is something about trench warfare that I think I would have really hated, probably more from a mental standpoint, not to mention the routine use of chemical weapons.
I've never been to the Geneva Convention but I heard thry don't allow flamethrowers
Also true of the comic book conventions I've visited.
more sad odd facts..
During the Napoleonic wars, eight times more people in the British army died from disease than from battle wounds!
In the American civil war, two thirds of the estimated 660 000 deaths of soldiers were caused by pneumonia, typhoid, dysentery, and malaria. These diseases became known as the “third army”. Many of the Wisconsin guard were trained for the Civil War at Camp Randall which in part later became the site for UW's stadium.
As a son of a WWII vet, I will nominate WWII. Because of my dad, I know I could only imagine what happened in the Hurtgun Forest. By his account, he only had to endure 6 months of this:
Northwest Europe The 18th Infantry Regiment would experience almost eleven months of continual combat operations from the allied invasion of Normandy (June 6, 1944) to the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945. Among the many actions that the regiment participated in were Battle of Aachen, Battle of Hürtgen Forest, The Battle of the Bulge and crossing at the Remagen bridgehead 15–16 March 1945.
He was a replacement.
When he landed, they put him into position. There were so many dead bodies he had hard time reconciling if they were dead, or just sleeping. There was carnage everywhere. He imparted to me that he walked softly, just in case. He was on the front line (however you want to define that, because it varied from moment to moment), the first US soldier to cross into Bonn. Closing in on Berlin...
Everything I've read about Hürtgen Forest is that it was an absolute and total hell. Very very happy that I'll likely live my entire life and not know a damn thing about war outside of books and HistoryMarche on youtube.
I am with you here.
There was a bastard among the ranks that didn't like to be woken up when it was time to go. He had a bad disposition. Nobody wanted to wake him up. My dad was the old guy in the platoon. He was 25. He was a badass then (& even as an old man). Stood on that man's rifle, kicked him in the helmet & said "LETS GO!"
That guy didn't like it. Threatened to shoot my dad. In the food line within 5 minutes.
He was the original rooster, auburn hair & everything. Back then it was more about the burning freeze than stinging sweat. Freezing his ass off, starving, & being shot at makes me think, if only for posterity I can handle anything.
The British lost 20,000 KIA in one day at the Somme. The French lost 27,000 KIA at the Battle of the Frontiers KIA. Nothing the US has experienced in combat is comparable.
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-blueprint-for-armageddon-i/
Great podcast on the war. If you look hard enough you might find it free but it’s well worth the money if you pay for it
Thanks so much for this!
An excellent read. Thanks for this!!
Here's to maintaining our excellent ground offensive to grind our football enemies down, coupled with an improved and better-utilized air attack to keep our more formidable foes off-balance and guessing!!
Just returned from a trip out West that included Little Bighorn ( aka Custer's last stand).
Black Elk's following simple but powerful words of wisdom are on the visitor center walls:
" Know the power that is peace".