-Tribute to-
Sgt Willis L. Burnworth
Baccarat sector
August 4 - September 16, 1918
The 145th Infantry arrived at Brest, France, on June 22, 1918. The American Expeditionary Force in France at this time was engaged in training and construction work, with some units holding a quiet sector near Balfert, not far from the French-Swiss Frontier. The Regiment stayed in a Rest Camp outside Brest for three days. At 4:00 AM on Tuesday 25th they marched into Brest and were put in cattle-cars, forty in a car. Their route from Brest had led through the cities of Saint Brieuc, Le Mans, Orleans, Chatillon-sur-Loire, Nevers, Dijon and Is-sur-Tille, and on toward the Vosges Mountains. They arrived at 2:00 A.M. the morning of the 28th. From Saint Thiébault they marched the 4 miles to Goncourt (Bourmont Area, Haute-Marne).
Travel by train to Bourmont Area
After a couple of days of freedom they started the drill schedule on July 1st. They crowded the few weeks at Goncourt with incessant work, and consequently when they were ordered to move to the front on the twenty-third they were well trained and full of confidence.
On July 22, 1918 the Regiment was ordered with the 37th Division to the Baccarat Sector, in the Vosges Mountains about 30 miles southeast of Nancy. They left the village on July 23rd and went by train, passing Neuf-Chateau, Toul and Nancy, to Moyen were they were loaded in trucks and after a two-hour ride, which ended at the small town of Brû, two and a half kilometers from Rambervillers. There it was attached to the French VI Corps, French Eighteenth Army.
The evening of Friday, August 2nd, at 7:30 PM, they left Brû to enter the front lines for the first time. At the end of the first hour of hiking they halted at the village of Saint Benoit to rest. At Saint-Benoît-la-Chipotte they turned northward into the rough, wild southern ranges of the Vosges Mountains. During the day they rested in the hay lofts. In the evening they passed through the towns of Lachapelle and Bertrichamps and then entered the wild hills again, traveling in a general northeasterly direction to marche through Neufmaisons and Pexonne to Badonviller where they relieved the 77th Division.
They were now in the front line of the Baccarat Sector. During the first bit of front line service, they settled into the routine of front line troops: observing "Jerry's" movements, strengthening their positions, standing guard against surprise by night raids or gas attacks, caring for their guns and equipment, and sending out reconnoitering parties at night to the Infantry Outposts in No Man's Land. The main purpose of their presence here was to begin that “seasoning” which is necessary to the production of fighting troops. Compared with other sectors of the Western Front the Baccarat sector was very quiet. Activities here were confined to raids and patrols, desultory shelling, and aerial bombing raids. The principal business in this sector was to hold the line and to learn the trade of fighting.
Travel to Baccarat sector
Reference: Heaven, Hell or Hoboken by Ray N. Johnson
Peter Stassen
8 August 2015
