Battle of Seicheprey
These lines of poetry about the battle at Seicheprey were written by an anonymous soldier of the Yankee Division, to which the Connecticut men of the 102d Infantry who fought at Seicheprey belonged. The poem was mailed to The Hartford Courant by two Connecticut soldiers, and was printed by the newspaper just before the division returned to the United States after the war. On the 20th day of April, so the German general said, ''We must teach these Yankees a lesson, or else be beaten instead.'' So for years henceforth in Connecticut, you only need mention that day, And all hearts will thrill to hear it, for that is the date of Seicheprey. For the 102d Doughboys held the line in front of that town, When the German shock troops, 2,000 strong of the Prussian Guard, came down. We were only a pitiful handful, so the German general thought, Untrained militia, national guards, but he knew not how we fought. For all day long the Germans fell, their dead could not be reckoned, Ten to one is the best of odds, when that one is the Hundred and Second. Time and again they took the town, but found it a hard nut to crack, For Major Rau with a handful of men would promptly take it back. Chaplains, doctors, wounded and sick; not one of them lagged behind; Fought with grenades, clubs and fists, or anything they could find. It was then that ''Machine Gun'' Parker added new luster to his name; Working a machine gun for hours, 'til he had it as hot as a flame.
April 21,
1985 New York and Region Text These lines of poetry about the battle at Seicheprey were written by an anonymous soldier of the Yankee Division, to which the Connecticut men of the 102d Infantry who fought at Seicheprey belonged. The poem was mailed to The Hartford Courant by two Connecticut soldiers, and was printed by the newspaper just before the division returned to the United States after the war. On the 20th day of April, so the German general said, ''We must teach these Yankees a lesson, or else be beaten instead.'' So for years henceforth in Connecticut, you only need mention that day, And all hearts will thrill to hear it, for that is the date of Seicheprey. For the 102d Doughboys held the line in front of that town, When the German shock troops, 2,000 strong of the Prussian Guard, came down. We were only a pitiful handful, so the German general thought, Untrained militia, national guards, but he knew not how we fought. For all day long the Germans fell, their dead could not be reckoned, Ten to one is the best of odds, when that one is the Hundred and Second. Time and again they took the town, but found it a hard nut to crack, For Major Rau with a handful of men would promptly take it back. Chaplains, doctors, wounded and sick; not one of them lagged behind; Fought with grenades, clubs and fists, or anything they could find. It was then that ''Machine Gun'' Parker added new luster to his name; Working a machine gun for hours, 'til he had it as hot as a flame.
More on the Battle of Seicheprey:
At the
Battle of Seicheprey,
the
102nd Infantry
met the
crack German Guards in overwhelming strength and
stopped the German attack cold. At the start of
this attack, the Germans sent a raiding party to
kill or capture the Regimental Staff as they sat
down for supper in the town, two cooks from
Company A who were cooking for the staff,
spotted the Germans sneaking up to the building,
one cook threw boiling water at the raiders thus
giving the alarm, and another cook named Edward
Shaffer charged the Germans with his meat
cleaver killing two of them. The 102nd Infantry
Band who was providing security guard, killed or
captured the remaining German raiders saving the
staff who could coordinate the counter attack,
(A painting of this action hangs in the102nd
Infantry Museum in the New Haven Armory.) During
the counter attack Company A and Headquarters
Company 1st Battalion 102nd Infantry were
decorated by the French Government for this
action.
1918:
3,200 German troops, supported by a heavy
concentration of artillery, attack
Seicheprey in France, seeking a quick and
humiliating defeat on the American troops
stationed there.
470
sons of Connecticut,
commanded by Major George Rau, stand and
defend the town. In two days of hard
fighting, the Americans, initially forced to
concede the town, win it back and drive the
Germans from the surrounding woods. It is
America's first engagement, and first
victory,
in World War I. Liberty Bond sales soar as
news of the fight reaches the home front.
Courtesy of Dave Connelly 060917
Letter from a bloody battlefield in France
The following is part of a letter sent home by another Bristol soldier who fought and survived that battle as part of Bristol's Co. D. This soldier was Cpl. Charles Blanchard.
" I know by this time that you have heard of the big fight that we were engaged in with the "Boches" on the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. I can imagine how you felt when you heard of it but this letter will show you that I am safe and sound and came out without a scratch, although the chances seemed mighty slim at several stages of the game. A piece of shrapnel hit me in the side of my leg and tore a small hole in my pants. But, as it didn't hurt me at all, I saved the piece as a souvenir." "For about two hours and a half the "Boches" bombarded us with high explosives and gas shells. The concussion from the high explosives was so strong in our dugout that it was impossible to keep a candle lighted. We would no sooner touch the wick than concussion would snap it out. Well, after a continuing barrage of shell fire lasting until 5:30 in the morning they raised the barrage and started over on us in mass formation coming in on us from two or three different directions. They had us cornered and we saw at once that it was to be a fight for our lives". "I think there were to of us in the same dugout at the same time. We loaded, cocked and made everything ready to stand them off. It was not long to wait for they saw us and at least 20 proceeded to make corpses of us. We rushed them and fired a volley into their midts, dropping quite a number of them. They then let loose with a machine gun on us and so we took a more sheltered position". "Under the protection of their machine gun two of them made their way into the room next to us and spurted liquid fire. We at once took cover and so only one of us received a burn from it. That was the mess sergeant and his was a slight burn. Although the fire failed to get us, it set fire to the building and all over our supplies and we saw that we must get out or get burned and smothered to death". "We chose to take the chance of rushing them instead of being burned, and so, with our bayonets preceding we made a dash for the outside. They backed off and we got to the outside of the burning building. The bayonet is a great weapon against them as they will drop on their knees and beg, "Kamerad," a good share of the time. I know of one of our lads that had that experience but there is no "Kamerad" with us and so he simply ran the steel through the Hun's neck and finished him."
" Well by this time the town was pretty cleaned out and they had retreated over their own lines carrying a great number of their wounded with them. The rest of the day was hardly more than artillery dueling and so we just "stood to" and waited for them to show again."
An estimated 80 Americans lost their lives in the battle, 10 percent of them from Bristol, while an estimated 400 were wounded. The enemy had larger numbers lost".
/// Bob Montgomery is Bristol's official municipal historian. /// The Bristol Press, Tuesday, April 15, 2008.///
Courtesy of Dave Connelly 060917
Letter from a bloody battlefield in France
The following is part of a letter sent home by another Bristol soldier who fought and survived that battle as part of Bristol's Co. D. This soldier was Cpl. Charles Blanchard.
" I know by this time that you have heard of the big fight that we were engaged in with the "Boches" on the anniversary of the Battle of Lexington. I can imagine how you felt when you heard of it but this letter will show you that I am safe and sound and came out without a scratch, although the chances seemed mighty slim at several stages of the game. A piece of shrapnel hit me in the side of my leg and tore a small hole in my pants. But, as it didn't hurt me at all, I saved the piece as a souvenir." "For about two hours and a half the "Boches" bombarded us with high explosives and gas shells. The concussion from the high explosives was so strong in our dugout that it was impossible to keep a candle lighted. We would no sooner touch the wick than concussion would snap it out. Well, after a continuing barrage of shell fire lasting until 5:30 in the morning they raised the barrage and started over on us in mass formation coming in on us from two or three different directions. They had us cornered and we saw at once that it was to be a fight for our lives". "I think there were to of us in the same dugout at the same time. We loaded, cocked and made everything ready to stand them off. It was not long to wait for they saw us and at least 20 proceeded to make corpses of us. We rushed them and fired a volley into their midts, dropping quite a number of them. They then let loose with a machine gun on us and so we took a more sheltered position". "Under the protection of their machine gun two of them made their way into the room next to us and spurted liquid fire. We at once took cover and so only one of us received a burn from it. That was the mess sergeant and his was a slight burn. Although the fire failed to get us, it set fire to the building and all over our supplies and we saw that we must get out or get burned and smothered to death". "We chose to take the chance of rushing them instead of being burned, and so, with our bayonets preceding we made a dash for the outside. They backed off and we got to the outside of the burning building. The bayonet is a great weapon against them as they will drop on their knees and beg, "Kamerad," a good share of the time. I know of one of our lads that had that experience but there is no "Kamerad" with us and so he simply ran the steel through the Hun's neck and finished him."
" Well by this time the town was pretty cleaned out and they had retreated over their own lines carrying a great number of their wounded with them. The rest of the day was hardly more than artillery dueling and so we just "stood to" and waited for them to show again."
An estimated 80 Americans lost their lives in the battle, 10 percent of them from Bristol, while an estimated 400 were wounded. The enemy had larger numbers lost".
/// Bob Montgomery is Bristol's official municipal historian. /// The Bristol Press, Tuesday, April 15, 2008.///
