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50 Army Hist. 1 (2000)

handle is hein.milandgov/aryhsy0050 and id is 1 raw text is: ARMY HISTORY THE PROFESSIONAL BULLETIN OFARrMIY HISTORY PB-20--0-3 (No. 50) Washington, D.C. Summer-Fall 2000 In Search of York: Man, Myth & Legend By Taylor V. Beattie with Ronald Bowman What you did vas the greatest thing ever accomplished by any soldier of any of the armies of Europe. Marshal Ferdinand Foch, awarding the Croix de Guerre with palm to Sgt. Alvin C. York 24ApriI 1919 The men of the 2d Battalion, 328 Infantry Regiment, 82 Division, had spent a cold, wet, and miserable October day in a drainage ditch along the Varennes-Fldville road, a few kilometers shy ofFhdville. With some trepidation they watched as a sister unit to the w est struggled to take the heights of Hill 223 overlookmg the town of Chatel-Chehery at the edge of the Argonne forest in northeastern France. All in all it could have been worse; they were resting now, and that beat the hell out of walking. Tired, scratchy eyes stared as the violent drama unfolded before them. The scene was reminiscent of a bad summer thunderstorm back home, at once spectacular and frightening. Flashes of light flickered across a cloud-darkened hill, silhouetting the tin hats of American soldiers scrambling up and about the slope with bayonets fixed. A rib- vibrating caa-rump of detonation followed these flashes of light. As in a thunderstorm, the closer the storm, the shorter the time from flash to bang. Small arms fire punctuated the damp air. The Germans were putting up a good fight, but the men of the 82 (All- American) Division were giving it back and more. The American First Army was on the offensive in the Meuse-Argonne, a critical piece of the final Allied drive of the war directed by the French commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch. This was largest land offensive to date in this war, and the men of the 82 Division were about to make some history. Night fell, but the flashes of light from the small arms fire persisted. Eventually word filtered down the drainage ditch to prepare to move up the hill, now in American hands. In the distance somewhere beyond the hill a machine gun rattled. The 328 needed to get to the top of the hill and into position in order to attack across the valley to the north and west. The division's objective was to take the Decauville railroad, a narrow - Sergeant York wearing the Medal of Honor Ma 1919 (Signal Corps photo)

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