Gallery
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NAMD = National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD
AHEC = Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA
Gallery
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General John J. Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces [standing portrait] (AHEC)- Major General George H. Cameron, commander of V Corps during the Montfaucon battle (NAMD)
- Major General Joseph E. Kuhn, commander of the 79th Division (AHEC)
- General Kuhn in conference with General Henri Claudel (in fur coat), commander of the French XVII Corps, and other French officers during the Heights of the Meuse battle. The 79th was part of Claudel’s corps at that time. (AHEC)
- Brigadier General William J. Nicholson, commander of the 157th Infantry Brigade [head & shoulders] (NAMD)
- Brigadier General Robert H. Noble, relieved of command of the 158th Infantry by Kuhn on September 27 (NAMD)
- Brigadier General Evan M. Johnson, commander of the 158th Infantry Brigade in the Heights of the Meuse (NAMD)
- Colonel Claude B. Sweezey, commander of the 313th Infantry Regiment (AHEC)
- Colonel Alden G. Knowles, commander of the 315th Infantry Regiment (AHEC)
- Colonel William H. Oury, commander of the 314th Infantry Regiment. Colonel Oury replaced General Noble as commander of the 158th Infantry Brigade during the Montfaucon attack (NAMD)
- Brigadier General Alfred W. Bjornstad, Chief of Staff of III Corps (left). General Bjornstad countermanded the order for the 4th Division to attack behind Montfaucon, a maneuver that might have changed the outcome of the battle. (NAMD)
- Captain Richard Feuardent (center), French observer with the 313th Infantry, and other members of the French mission.
- Private William Schellberg (AHEC)
- Corporal Oscar Lubchansky (collection of the author)
- Camp Meade under construction. The barracks were being built even as the first draftees of the 79th were arriving. (AHEC)
- Draftees on arrival at Camp Meade, 1918 (AHEC)
- Street scene, Camp Meade, April 1919 (AHEC)
- A white officer training black troops at Camp Meade. In reality, most black soldiers were used as stevedores or laborers.
- Troops in field maneuvers, Camp Meade (AHEC)
- Captured German pillbox at Haucourt (AHEC)
- Command post (PC) of the 79th Division between Malancourt and Montfaucon. General Kuhn occupied the dugout on the right. (NAMD)
- Soldiers of the 79th Division marching past the “Crown Prince’s observatory” (AHEC)
- Soldiers of Company E, 314th Infantry Regiment, with captured German machine guns (AHEC)
- Oblique aerial view of Montfaucon after its capture. Note the foxholes and tank tracks. (AHEC)
- View of Montfaucon from ground level one day after its capture (AHEC)
- Ruined church atop Montfaucon the day after the town’s capture (AHEC)
- Wrecked Renault tank on top of a German machine gun post, Madeleine Farm (AHEC)
- Wrecked limber and dead horse in a shell crater near Montfaucon (Barber, 304th Engineers, 1919)
- The roads in Avocourt a month after the capture of Montfaucon. The supply lines of three divisions converged on this junction during the assault. This is the labyrinth that Private Cain tried unsuccessfully to navigate in the dark during the battle. (AHEC)
- Crater left by a German mine that exploded on September 26 on the road north of Avocourt (AHEC)
- Traffic jam on the road passing through Esnes behind the front line of the 79th Division. Note the mixture of horse-drawn and motorized vehicles, none of them apparently moving.
- Men of the 304th Engineers tearing down walls of a ruined village behind the front. The rocks would be used in repairing the roads. (AHEC)
- General Nicholson conferring with an officer of the 55th Artillery Brigade outside the Brigade command post in the Troyon Sector (NAMD)
- Dugout used as the command post of the 157th Brigade, Troyon sector (AHEC)
- Company G, 313th Infantry, on training maneuvers in the Troyon sector (AHEC)
- Trenches occupied by the 79th at Vachereauville, General Kuhn’s headquarters during the Heights of the Meuse operation (AHEC)
- Water tank trucks arrive, November 13. The lack of water severely hampered the 79th at Montfaucon; in the Heights of the Meuse, they were much better supplied. (AHEC)
- German machine gun nest at Molleville Farm near Etraye. The body of an American soldier blocks one of the firing ports. (AHEC)
- Dead of the 79th Division near Molleville Farm (NAMD)
- German billets at Etraye captured by the 79th Division (AHEC)
- The ruins of Ville Devant Chaumont, the 79th Division’s furthest point of advance (AHEC)
- German guns captured by the 79th Division (NAMD)
- Hill 361, the position of the 79th Division at the Armistice (AHEC)
- The A.E.F. monument atop Montfaucon (author)
- Ruined German observation post atop Montfaucon (author)
- The American cemetery at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon. Among its 14,000 graves lie many of the dead of the 79th Division. (author)
- Ruins of the church on Montfaucon (author)
- Machine guns of the 79th on Hill 328 the day after the Armistice. Note the lack of trenches and barbed wire, as the Germans had been retreating rapidly. (AHEC)
- The band of the 315th Infantry celebrates the Armistice (AHEC)
- 155 mm howitzer of the 79th in action at Samogneux (AHEC)
- 304th Engineers build a ration dump near Samogneux (AHEC)
- First-aid station in the Bois de Consenvoye, 315th Infantry Regiment (AHEC)
- Thanksgiving Day parade of the 315th Infantry Regiment, Damvillers. Note the German prisoners in the left distance.
- American and French artillery observers on Montfaucon giving the range to the Bois des Ogons, September 28. (AHEC)
- Ruins of Montfaucon five days after its capture. (AHEC)
- A tired soldier will sleep anywhere. (AHEC)
