MOVE TO BLERCOURT AREA
UPON coming out of the Puvenelle sector, every one eagerly looked forward to an opportunity to rest,
wash, clean up, and obtain badly needed clothes and equipment. The men who stumbled along, half
asleep after nights of front line duty, down the smooth Dieulouard road, which extended straight as an
arrow, but apparently for an interminable distance toward Toul, heard the sounds of the guns gradually
becoming fainter, and they dreamed of soft beds of straw in some French barn at Domgermain or Pagny-
sur-Meuse, where they could stretch out and sleep forever.
But this was not the time to rest. The American High Command, fully acquainted with the
factors which were rapidly weakening the enemy resistance, had determined not to lose a minute, and
were pressing the attack in the Meuse-Argonne sector with every available resource. The 90th Division,
which had proved its capabilities in the St. Mihiel attack, had been withdrawn, not to rest, but to take
station at the “post of honor” on the Meuse. Therefore, before the last units had reached the staging area
west of Toul, orders were received to move by “bus” to a region west of Verdun.
A bus is a sort of truck fitted with two long benches, and is designed to carry fifteen men. The
busses were formed in a long train, which moved from station to station under orders of the French C. R.
A. (Automobile Regulating Commission), exactly similar to a railway. On October 13 the 179th
Brigade was moved to the new area, passing over the famous Verdun-Bar-le-Duc highway, one of the
best roads in France, which was the sole route for supplies in the Verdun defense after all railways were
cut by Boche artillery.
Sudden changes in the military situation brought about three different changes of orders
regarding the destination of this brigade during the period of eight hours that it was en route. But the
busses finally came to a standstill near Blercourt, new division headquarters, on the Verdun-Chalons
road, twelve kilometers west of Verdun, where the troops “debussed” – that is, climbed off the trucks as
fast as their stiff legs would allow them. As this entire region is crowded with barracks constructed by
the French during and after the fight for Verdun, accommodations for the brigade were found in the Bois
de Sivry, just north of Blercourt, and every man was able to sleep dry, despite the fact that the rain,
which had already lasted for weeks, was still coming down in torrents and the entire region was one sea
of mud.
Then there came another change of orders. Busses first intended to move the remainder of the
Division were diverted to transport the 91st and 37th United States Divisions to the French front in
Belgium, to follow up the successes there, and it was not until October 16 that the 180th Brigade arrived
and was billeted in barracks at Jouy, Rampont and neighboring camps. In the meantime, the motor and
horse transport of the Division, which had come overland in two separate convoys, had arrived on the
scene.
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