Map & Compass

[Guest John Orfei]

I have read that the Argonne Forest was a thick as Belleau Wood, however, much larger. A member of the AEF described it in the following terms;"The forest resembled Manhattan(New York) in size and shape, The Americans(AEF) were beginning on 14th Street. The density of the forest meant that cohesive action between units was impossible; even most infantry's supporting weapons were of little use. The Argonne battle therefore degenerated into a series of small unit actions in which each battalion fought its own little war."My question - Many officers did lead their troops by map and compass, however,many compasses would have gone awry because of steel fragment embedded in the woods and ground from former battles(1914)interfering with the accuracy of the compasses and as a consequence some units would became more separated than usually. Was this a common occurrence in such a labyrinth with using a map and compass? Or did Officers or NCO use difference variation of Point to Point Orienteering. Unlike today when troops can use Global Positioning Systems(GPS) to pinpoint their location.

Regards, John

[Somme1916]

John, many of the military training areas we use today in the US were once artillery impact areas or bombing ranges from conflicts gone by so it is very possible that my compass could have been affected in a similar manner and I just never knew it. What I can attest to is one of the old tried and true paratrooper mottoes about war: “March to the sound of the guns and kill anyone who isn’t dressed like you.”

Based on my simulated combat experience I was always too excited to get a really good compass bearing so I lead my men into the fight more often than not by the “march to the guns” method. A general sense of direction, combined with some good terrain association and a solid pace count got me where we needed to be.

Now considering many of the troops in these WW1 battles were subject to real shellfire, gas attacks etc while moving up I can only speculate that they used much the same method. I’m also sure they used every trick anyone in their outfits knew about getting from one place to another. Sending out parties to scout ahead, terrain association, etc.

Historically fights in thick woods and in cities usually degenerate into small unit actions, Vietnam, the Pacific Island Campaigns, Stalingrad, the battle of the Wilderness in the American Civil War are great examples of this. The same thing still happens today. Radios and GPSs help but thick vegetation, weather conditions, bad batteries and orbit times disrupt the signals from the satellites quite frequently. So if you’re not in a desert or on a grassy plain a lot of times you end up with the old map and compass in the end anyway. Technology is great, when it works.

Now this is what amazes me about the Great War, finding your way to where you need to be in a trench system, in the dark, with flooded communication trenches and a half informed guide. Whew! How they ever got to the right bit of trench amazes me a lot more than moving through the woods but then again I grew up in a heavily timbered area in the US so the forest was my playground.

All the best,

Jon

[Guest John Orfei]

Jon, It's been a while since I heard that rallying cry "March to the sound of the guns and kill anyone who isn't dressed like you" It reminds me of a journal - Lieutenant Kurt Hesse (an adjutant of the 5th Grenadier Regiment) who wrote "Never have I seen so many dead men, never such frightful battle scenes..The American had nerve; we must give him credit for that- but he also displayed a savage roughness. The Americans kill everybody- was a cry of terror of July 15th, which for a long time stuck in the bones of our men."

He was writing about the men of the 3rd Division(The Rock of the Marne)

However, my question (which you did answer) did land navigation prove to be a major problem to troopers during this conflict (ex;night patrol w/ points en route, culminating in reconnaissance of house a distance away bad maps or poor set of coordinates) and that only describing problems that may be encountered with a small or middle size village.

I was hoping to hear(and still may) what other action(s) or place(s) did this happen at? I wanted to find out what actions the troops took to overcome this hurdle. But the answer may be that cohesive action between units degenerated into small unit action in which each unit fought its own little war.

When I did my military service, I found land navigation very taxing and challenging and that was over twenty years ago. Just a sidebar-the military group I joined got it's nickname in this conflict which was Teufel Hunden

Regards, John

[paul guthrie]

A good friend of mine, now dead, and a West Point graduate named a fine race horse Sound Of Cannons! What a great name for a hard charging Kentucky thoroughbred!