DIVISIONAL SECTOR WIDENED
THE divisional sector was twice widened: first, to the right, by taking over from the 82d Division, on the
night of September 16-17, all territory to the Moselle River. The night of September 18-19, the 82d
Division was relieved by the 69th (French ) Division. On October 4 the 78th Division, on the left, was
withdrawn from the line, and its sector was divided between the 89th and 90th Divisions. This relief
was effected by withdrawing the 358th Infantry from line and moving the regiment to the west to relieve
the entire 156th Brigade, while the 357th Infantry and the 359th Infantry closed in and made connection,
each of the latter two regiments taking over a part of the old 358th Infantry’s line. This relief extended
the Division front to a point about a kilometer and a half south of Rembercourt, approximately eleven
kilometers on a straight line from Vandieres, the right flank (and much more than eleven kilometers if
all the bends in the line were considered).
With this extension, the Division sector included the town of Viéville-en-Haye and the Bois
d’Heiche and Bois la Haie l’Ev
que. The 358th Infantry moved to the new area and made the relief
during the daytime, the men filtering in small numbers across the open space north of Viéville.
The night of the 4th the 153d Field Artillery Brigade was relieved so that it could join its
division, the 78th, and proceed to the Meuse-Argonne front. Its mission was taken over by the 5th Field
Artillery Brigade, most of the young officers of which were from Texas. The 19th Field Artillery
Regiment was in liaison with the 180th Brigade, and the 20th Field Artillery Regiment supported the
179th Brigade.
On September 29 and October 6 the depleted ranks of the organizations were partially filled by
replacements, approximately 1000 men arriving from depot divisions on each of those dates. On three
other occasions the Division had received replacements, once at Aignay-le-Duc (300 on August 2) and
twice at Villers-en-Haye before the attack (255 on August 30 and 400 on September 5).
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