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{
    "localId": "17343226",
    "label": "The Memoirs of Sergeant Verne Chaney",
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{
    "id": "17343226",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17343226",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "The Memoirs of Sergeant Verne Chaney",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/17343226",
    "collections": [
        "Verne E. Chaney Papers",
        "Subject Files"
    ],
    "subjects": [
        "Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972",
        "Spina, Frank E., 1887-1972",
        "Klemm, Karl D., 1880-",
        "Wooldridge, Glenwood F., 1893-1977",
        "Pershing, John J. (John Joseph), 1860-1948",
        "Thacher, John H., 1872-1960",
        "Miles, John L., 1878-1961",
        "Soldiers",
        "World War, 1914-1918",
        "Artillery"
    ],
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            "logicalDate": "1919-01-01",
            "year": 1919
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    "seq": 25,
    "pageIndex": 0,
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    "ocrText": "25\nIt was the next day work was begun moving our pup tents down by the\nguns. The battery was layed and work begun on our trail pit, and digging a\ntrench for shelter against shellfire. We were assigned the mission of\nreducing barbed wire and then follow up with a creeping barrage.67 For two\ndays there was constant aerial activity and German observation ballons\nmade it necessary to stay closely under cover. And for two nights they used\na \"searching out\" fire all thru the woods we were in, and at times they came\nwithin fifty yards of us. They must have suspicioned something going on but\ncouldn't locate it. 68 During the night hours we accumulated 3000 rounds of\nshells and like number of fuses. The woods all around us was fairly bristling\nwith guns. And all plans were made for a possible successful counter attack.\nOn the night of Sept. 25th all was set for a five hour barrage.\nOur time was set at 4:30 a.m. Sept. 26th. The night before, our doughboys\npassed our position and were on their way to go over at daylight the next\nmorning. They were enthusiastic and anxious to go, each saying that he\ndidn't have time to take any prisoners.69 It was at 11 o'clock that night that\nthe firing started on our left. It was some sight. The flashes of hundreds of\nguns thru the darkness, that light up the horizon like a huge fire. The\nenemy's flares and star shells only added to its greatness. And as the hours\nwent past the flashes and roar became more distinct, as the line of fire was\nGy\nTRUMAN\nKennedy E ARCHIVES & \"NATIONAL ADMIN\nRECORE\n67\nDestroying strung barbed wire, is at best a difficult process. Wire offered very little resistance to\nthe shock wave from the high explosive shells. It was difficult to blast holes or lanes in the belts of wire laid\nforward of the trenches. It was estimated 500 rounds from a 75mm could open a gap 15 feet wide and 30 feet\nlong. Huge quantities of shell was necessary to reduce adequate amounts of wire permitting an infantry attack.\nThe end result was always the same, the terrain was by then so tortured, blasted, cratered and slick with mud\nthat it was almost impossible to cross on foot, and of course all surprise was lost.\n68\nA \"searching out\" barrage is random firing in specific areas. The purpose is to probe for an enemy\nconcentrations or draw return fire. If successful in drawing a response, a full barrage is then laid down.\n69\nfour\nThe Doughboys were from the three infantry regiments of the 35th Division, Sergeant Chaney's\ndivision."
}