History of the 305th Field Artillery/Reconnoitering in Front of Fismes
XVI
RECONNOITERING IN FRONT OF FISMES
The reconnaissance we made in the Fismes sector on August 14th was about as much like our Lorraine ones as a pleasant day is like a period of violent storm. Nor was it as agreeable as a reconnaissance made during an advance, for here we faced a semi-stabilized battle. The Huns could see our little party, and they had registered everything. Still all reconnaissances have one feature in common. They never work out exactly as one plans. They fail invariably to follow the pretty rules laid down by the books. At the front you mould technique to the demands of the moment, and to the necessity for quick results.
It is a matter of interest to preserve the field order that sent us into this, our costlicst battle. The reconnaissance was made in pursuance to its provisions. It follows:
Headquarters 77th Division, American E. F. 14 August, 1918.
FIELD ORDER NO. 23. MAPS: FERE-en-TARDENOIS 1:20.000 FISMES
1. The 4th Field Artillery Brigade will be relieved by the 152nd Field Arlillery Brigade on the nights of August 15-16 and 16-17, 1918, in compliance with G-3 order no. 31, 3rd Army Corps, 14 August. 1918.
2. The 305th Field Artillery will relieve the 16th Field Artillery, the 304th Field Artillery will relieve the 77th Field Artillery, the 306th Field Artillery will relieve the 13th Field Artillery, Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/226 Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/227 seen. Te dashed past parties of pioneers repairing roads that had been damaged by shell fire the previous night. In the stricken village ambulances stood outside a dis- tributing station, and on the ground were many stretchers, bearing forms, some still, some restless, each covered with a secretive issue blanket on which the wounded man's tin hat and gas mask rested. Ether and iodine cut the pervading chlorinc odor.
Brigade Headquarters was a one story building, originally a café or a rural hostelry. It was dilapidated. The dusty square in front of it was white with chloride sprinklings. Opposite, an arched gateway admitted to a large courtyard surrounded by stables and dwellings. Our party was herded in here and commanded to keep out of sight, because Hun planes were constantly passing overhead, expressing an impudeat curiosity. So we got as many horses as we could in the sheds, and kept the rest close to the walls. Then officers and enlisted men made themselves inconspicuous and awaited the result of the conference of field officers which continued in the reformed café across the street.
Every soldier, I think, has noticed that daylight acquires false qualities from one's own perceptions. To all of us there was an unnatural tone to that brilliant suil, strcakcd occasionally by enemy plancs. Perhaps another planet might have light like that. You heard men commenting about it with little laughs.
Restlessness grow upon us. Would the conference never end? A group of field officers came from headquarters. Their faces were serious. They glanced about uneasily. Some of them appeared a trifle undecided. They paused, forming little groups, to which representatives from our party attached themselves. Gossip drifted into the hot, restless courtyard. One of the batteries which the 305th was going to relieve, we heard, had had forty 
"We Curved up the Hill Past the Half Destroyed Romanesque Church"
casualties during a burst of harrassing fire the afternoon before. There was always harrassing fire it seemed, where we were going. Ve would have lo take up new positions, we said confidently. Back from the gossipping groups slipped the depressing word that there were no positions much better than the ones already occupied.
The Colonel came in. He said at first we would have to go forward from thal point on foot. Those of us who had studied the maps groaned, for the road went diagonally toward the front line. By it our positions were many miles away. The Colonel reconsidered. He talked again to some of the officers of the 4th. Doubtfully he decided we might ride as far as regimental headquarters with an interval of 200 meters between pairs.
No officer or man that took that ride cared much for it. We curved up the lill past the half destroyed Romanesque church, and turned into a main road on the crest. Thcre were, of course, no shell screens, and, to the left, we could look all the way to Jerry's temporary home. One of the men expressed the general emotion.
"I feel all undressed up here," he grinncd.
Everywheres along that road were nice fresh signs left by the enemy, pointing the way to dressing stations, to ration and ammunition dumps, to short cuts for the vari- ous villages. And there were nower French signs, regula- ting traffic, repeatedly calling attention to the exposed naturc of the highway.
In the vicinity of a small group of buildings ahcad large high cxplosive shells were vomiting blackly. We guessed that the group was Chartreuve Farm, the regimental head- quarters of the 16th Field Artillery.
We waited in a lane, behind the shelter of a wall until the rest of the party had come up, then burried across a courtyard into the farmı. Two or three habitable rooms down stairs were packed. The colonel and the majors Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/232 Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/233 Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/234 Page:History of the 305th field artillery (IA historyof305thfi01camp).pdf/235 shell fragments. They seemed to follow us wherever we went. They disturbed our consultations, and they hur. ried our walks, Even so it was nearly six o'clock before we got through and took the road home, dodging along the line of funk boles to Chery Chartreuve.
We noliced, as we walked, hot, dusty, and tired, through the town, a Y. M. C. A. canteen in a half ruined building. That place was to impress us less pleasantly later on, but now we greeted it with joy. Chalked across the door by some German was the legend:
"Hier wasser."
A big, cool looking pump stood inside, and the next room held a counter with chocolate, cakes, cigars, and cigarettes. We wandered on, refreshed, to Chartreuve Farm where our horses waited for us.
Regimental headquarters, we learned, would not remain there. There was a farm house a mile or so farther back-considerably safer to all appearances named La Tuillerie, Nesles Woods impressed us as exceedingly peaceful and remote from danger when we trotted in just before dusk. We smiled. Clearly the lesson of the previous night had not been wasted on those who had stayed in the woods that day, Let the Hun airmen come! The floor of the forest was fairly honey-combed with elaborate funk holes. Some were even covered with sheets of elephant iron. The 305th learned early the wisdom of taking every precaution possible, and undoubtedly, it is due to that habit that our casualty list is no greater.
We faced that night the Les Près Farm facts. We had to go there, and it was clear that, because of the amount of artillery already in and the nature of the terrain, there were no really good positions to be had. Those on the slope above the farm, however, probably could be improved on, and it was decided not to use more than two 
Colonel, Afterwards Brigadier General, Manus McCloskey, the Brigade Commander
of them, and that only temporarily. A, B, and C, how- ever, would start, at least, in the 16th emplacements. The communication experts were as troubled as battery com- manders. It was going to be a job to keep those lines working, and lack of equipment would have to be com- batted as well as shell fire.
"We've got to take our losses," everyone admitted, "but we can try to hold them down."
Those who had made the reconnaissance had brought back to Nesles Woods some stirring descriptions. In our bivouac no illusions remained, and each man went about the work of preparation with an extreme care, with a thorough understanding,
That day Major Miller replaced Captain Parramore, who had been invalided to a hospital, as regimental surgeon.
At dusk of the 15th the two pieces prescribed from each battery were ready to start. We had hoped by leaving early to dodge some of the night congestion on the roads. For those roads would be shelled.
'Keep your platoons moving," officers said with an effect of prayer.
Whips cracked, the horses strained forward. Our sections jolted out of the friendly and haggard forest.