At around 7:30am, the 314th regiment passed through the ruins of the town of Malancourt with the 313th advancing through the the town's forest, both meeting limited resistance. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the American formations had gotten mixed up during the advance, with the men moving in small clusters instead of spread out and the reserve regiments intermingled with those in the lead. At 9:00am, the fog lifted and all hell broke loose. The German machine gunners, finally able to properly see their targets, ripped into the clustered groups of American infantry, wiping out those unfortunate enough to be chosen as targets.
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Ruins of Malancourt (Courtesy of Hathi Trust)[link]
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Golfe de Malancourt (Courtesy of Hathi Trust)[link]
"As if by prearranged signal, enemy machine guns, automatics and snipers located in trees, gullies, and bushes ahead and on the flanks, opened with a hot fusillade which filled the air with snaps, cracks and whines of flying lead."[5] |
Inexperienced in trench warfare, the 79th had accidentally bypassed numerous hidden bunkers and machine gun nests, especially the 314th within the town of Malancourt, which promptly opened up on their flanks and rear. At the same time, the 313th emerged from the Bois de Malancourt into the Golfe de Malancourt and was caught in the open and ripped apart by German machine guns above them at the edge of the Bois de Cuisy. Flamethrowers engulfed advancing troops in a fiery conflagration. The divisional history of the 79th states that the slaughter “was indescribable” and that German maps of the area marked 113 machine gun emplacements covering the Golfe.[3] By that time, the lead units of the 313th had been reduced to 300 out of 2000 men, mostly because many had gotten lost in the woods behind.[4]
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Chaos ensued, organization broke down as officers and NCOs were killed, and casualties mounted. The 79th’s regimental commanders were able to recognize the disorganization of their lines, but since the reserve formations were part of an entirely different brigade, a message to order the 158th hold off would have to make it all the way up to General Kuhn before it could be back passed down.[6] The engineers, who had been tasked with repairing roads behind the advance, were overwhelmed and the divisional artillery, supplies and ambulances got caught up in a massive traffic jam, meaning the infantry would get almost no artillery or logistical support for the rest of the day. The 214th Aero Squadron, which was meant to spot for the artillery, was unable to do so because the infantry neglected to use the signaling panels they had been provided for that purpose. This meant that the infantry was unable to get support from army artillery either.[7]
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Traffic Jam on the 79th's Supply Road (Courtesy of Gene Fax)
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French Renault FT-17 Tanks with American Troops Riding (Courtesy of Technological Advancements of WWI)
"A thrill went up my spine as I saw the tanks come out, strange lumbering creatures, crawling one after another, Indian file, rocking like ships in a heavy sea, but steadily creeping forward on their caterpillar feet toward the machine-gun nests hidden in the woods, that are their special prey."[10] |
Despite the disorganization, however, the 79th was still advancing. The infantry quickly began forming small groups with those around them and learned fast. They soon picked up on the importance of grenades for clearing out enemy positions and even began adopting the basics of fire and maneuver tactics, which remain the fundamentals of infantry doctrine to this day.[8]
It took 5 hours for the 313th, supported by French tanks, to cross the Golfe de Malancourt, a distance of less than a mile, and 4 more to clear the Bois de Cuisy. On the right, the 314th had managed to finally clear out Malancourt, but got bogged down just north of the town. Now well behind the rest of the 5th Corps and most of the First Army, General Pershing sent the 79th an angry message telling them they were “holding up the whole army.”[9] This message eventually made its way to Colonel Sweezy, commander of the 313th regiment, who reluctantly attempted one final assault. His men exhausted and darkness falling, the attack was soon called off and the fighting for the day came to a close. The 79th had failed to take its first day’s objectives and had suffered 13 officers and 211 men killed in the process.[11],* |