James A Pratt III Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 I just finished up reading the book "The Remains of company D". A fine book i might add. In the US attack on the town of Cantigny in May 1918 it mentions them being supported by French Flame and tank units. Something not mentioned in a lot of US accounts of the battle. Does anyone know which french flame and Tank units were involved? There is a picture of some French Schneider CA 1 with US troops supposedly in this battle but i am not sure if it was taken during this action. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 I just finished up reading the book "The Remains of company D". A fine book i might add. In the US attack on the town of Cantigny in May 1918 it mentions them being supported by French Flame and tank units. Something not mentioned in a lot of US accounts of the battle. Does anyone know which french flame and Tank units were involved? There is a picture of some French Schneider CA 1 with US troops supposedly in this battle but i am not sure if it was taken during this action. Thanks in advance. James, There is a very good Forum thread - " Photos of WW1 Flamethrowers French and German " - it was posted 26 May 2011. Regards, Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 James, The American First Division Museum at Cantigny gives a report on the battle for Cantigny, in which they actually mention 12 French Schneider tanks taking part. " The purpose of the attack was limited to securing Cantigny and the central portion of the Cantigny plateau, an advantageous position that yielded excellent observation to whichever side held it. The assault was planned to seize the plateau with a single regiment, its three battalions attacking abreast, each in its own zone. The center battalion would be reinforced by a group of twelve French Schneider tanks and would have the primary task of clearing the main German position in the village of Cantigny itself and then advancing beyond the village. The battalion to the north would protect the left flank of the main attack and the battalion to the south would clear the southern edge of the village before moving into place to prevent a German counterattack from the southeast. The attack would depend on surprise and weight of artillery. Timed to occur near daybreak, it was to be preceded by only an hour of intense preparatory artillery fires before a rolling barrage and the tanks led the assaulting infantry across no man’s land. The attack on the morning of 28 May proceeded much as planned. At 5:45 AM, as an early morning haze wafted over the battlefield, the preparation fires struck throughout the attack area. Just before 6:45 AM, the Schneider tanks clanked slowly forward from their positions in the Valle de Coullemelle to cross the American trenches at pre-selected traverses. French aircraft swarmed ahead. The 75-mm gun barrage shifted onto the line of departure, roiled and blasted there for three minutes, and then moved grimly east. All along the line, amid whistles and shouts barely audible over the din of artillery, mortars and machineguns, doughboys of the 28th Infantry Regiment grunted up from their trenches, hefting their extra ammunition, grenades, rations, flares, shovels and assorted kit, and formed into squad lines, bayonets fixed, to follow the rolling barrage. Much to everyone’s surprise and relief, they met spotty resistance. The tanks could not enter Cantigny itself through the rubble but quickly eliminated several machinegun positions west and north of the village. With a few tanks stalled or stuck in shell holes, all battalions reported to have reached the objective line by 7:20 AM. " Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 Map/Plan of the battle for Cantigny May 28, 1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 James, Here is a photograph from an American WW1 book published in 1919. The caption for the photograph is " Actual photo of American Machine Gun Troops operating from German Second Line in Great Cantigny Advance ". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 I have some photos of this as well I can post when on my computer. I have recently been researching an Americacn casualty from the first day at Cantigny so I have a fair amount of stuff on this now... Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 As promised, some photos of French flamethrower troops in action at Cantigny (and a few other related photos). I may have a book which mentions which French units there were...let me check. Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 Insignia of the American 1st Division - known as " The Big Red One ". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 Daniel's photographs are excellent, and show not only the French using flamethrowers, but in photo #4, the French Schneider tanks in action. Leo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 2 March , 2012 Share Posted 2 March , 2012 Some tidbits from this site: America In The First World War The French offered that support in the form of 4 Bns of heavy Arty (A Bn is equivalent to our modern British Arty Regt). including 280mm, 220mm 155mm and 240mm guns. About 250 guns of all calibres are eventually detailed in support of the attack. These guns will provide a bombardment from H-1, much of it mustard gas on the German rear areas. Additionally the French provided a Bn of trench artillery, 12 Schneider medium tanks of the French 5th Tank Group, A platoon of Schilt flame throwers and 12 French machine guns firing from the left flank of the attack for 24 hours. "B" Bn,, supported by the twelve Schneider tanks of Captain Noscereau's Fifth Group, and the three Schilt flame-thrower teams cleared Cantigny village itself. Those Germans in dugouts not killed by grenades were incinerated or suffocated by the flame teams. The tanks moved to the North edge of the village to cover against counter attack while the Americans dug in. The Platoon of flame throwers from the French army advanced into Cantigny with the second wave of B Bn to clean out any remaining bunkers. Ah, I found my book: "History of the First division during the world war, 1917-1919, Volume 1". Check out the pages relating to the lead-up and conduct of the assault...good information there. It references the presence and participation of the French 152nd Infantry Division. History of the First Division During The World War Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 Cantigny May 28, 1918. The American caption reads :- " U.S. doughboys, likely the 2nd wave of 2d Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, go over the top to begin the attack on Cantigny early on the morning of 28 May, 1918. The rolling barrage is visible on the horizon with what appear to be soldiers of the first wave. The soldier just emerging from the trench is armed with a rifle grenade launcher. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 The American caption reads :- " 28th Infantry doughboys rehearse battle drills with French Schneider tanks prior to the battle for Cantigny. " This photograph again confirms the involvement of the French Schneider tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 American caption reads :- " A group of 28th Infantry doughboys relax after being relieved from the front lines around Cantigny, 31 May 1918. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 American caption reads :- " Col. Hanson E. Ely, commander of the 28th Infantry Regiment, stands with some of his headquarters staff on 24 April 1918, the day the 1st Division arrived in the Cantigny sector. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 Part of the battle report reads :- " In the center, the 2d Battalion, 28th Infantry, had the primary task of clearing Cantigny, aided by Company D of the 1st Battalion, which cleared the southern edge and the revaine to the south. The Battalion scheme called for Companies E, F, and H to advance on line, with Company H passing through the center of the village. Company H was to suppress enemy resistance and move quickly through the village to the objective line beyond, leaving the village itself to Company G and its attached French flamethrower teams, following in trail. The preparatory barrage drove the German defenders into the deep cellars and bunkers in the village, from where they resisted after Companies H and D had passed through. As the battalion command group approached the village between Companies H and G, battalion commander LTC Robert J. Maxey went down with a mortal wound. Shortly after Maxey was hit, the Company G commander, CPT Clarence R. Heubner, arrived on the scene abd assumed command of the battalion. Company G and the flamethrowers went to work on the remaining pockets of German resistance, killing many and forcing the capture of 100 more. " The photograph shows CPT Clarence R. Heubner ( shown as LT.COL ) Commander, Company G, 28th Infantry Regiment, who assumed command of 2d Battalion, 28th Infantry, at Cantigny after the battalion's commander was killed in action. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ph0ebus Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 Here's a photo of Sergeant Carl R. Sohncke, 28th Infantry Regiment, killed in action at Cantigny May 28, 1918: My thread on Carl can be read here: Carl R. Sohncke -Daniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 Battle for Cantigny - May 28, 1918. Photo taken after the battle, showing the French Tank Commandent Capt. Emile Noscereau, with 2 American liaison officers, and French Tank Corps officers and men alongside one of the Schneider tanks which took part in the battle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire Fusilier Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 Battle for Cantigny - May 28, 1918. Photo shows American troops and French Schneider tank in action at Cantigny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom W. Posted 3 March , 2012 Share Posted 3 March , 2012 I just finished up reading the book "The Remains of company D". A fine book i might add. In the US attack on the town of Cantigny in May 1918 it mentions them being supported by French Flame and tank units. Something not mentioned in a lot of US accounts of the battle. Does anyone know which french flame and Tank units were involved? There is a picture of some French Schneider CA 1 with US troops supposedly in this battle but i am not sure if it was taken during this action. Thanks in advance. The platoon of French flamethrowers can't be identified, because most of the unit diaries don't cover the date. The two unit diaries that cover May 28, 1918, both show that the particular company wasn't involved. It would've been a platoon from the 1st Regiment of Engineers (1er Régiment du Génie), 40th Battalion; since the 6th and 7th Companies are eliminated, the platoon would have been from 40/1, 40/2, 40/3, 40/4, or 40/5. I've never been able to find an American document that identifies the specific French flamethrower company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baushawat Posted 24 August , 2022 Share Posted 24 August , 2022 On 03/03/2012 at 04:22, Tom W. said: The platoon of French flamethrowers can't be identified, because most of the unit diaries don't cover the date. The two unit diaries that cover May 28, 1918, both show that the particular company wasn't involved. It would've been a platoon from the 1st Regiment of Engineers (1er Régiment du Génie), 40th Battalion; since the 6th and 7th Companies are eliminated, the platoon would have been from 40/1, 40/2, 40/3, 40/4, or 40/5. I've never been able to find an American document that identifies the specific French flamethrower company. Sorry for necroposting, but since I have found additional details about the attack, I can provide more information about the French flamethrower unit involved that will perhaps help future visitors. According to its unit history, compagnie 40/2 from the 21ème régiment du génie (not 1st, the flamethrower companies were transferred from the 1st to the 21st engineers regiment on April 1st 1918) is the one that participated in the assault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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