American Armies and Battlefields in Europe 533

Chapter xv MISCELLANEOUS HE American Battle Monuments The size or type of the map illustrating Commission was created by Con- any particular operation in no way indi- Tgress in 1923. In carrying out its cates the importance of the operation; task of commeroorating the services of the clearness was the only governing factor. American forces in Europe during the The 1, 200,000 maps at the ends of W or ld W ar the Commission erected a ppro- Chapters II, III, IV and V have been priate memorials abroad, improved the placed there with the idea that while the eight military cemeteries there and in this tourist is reading the text or following the volume records the vital part American tour of a chapter he will keep the map at soldiers and sailors played in bringing the the end unfolded, available for reference. war to an early and successful conclusion. As a general rule, only the locations of Ail dates which appear in this book are headquarters of corps and divisions from inclusive. For instance, when a period which active operations were directed is stated as November 7-9 it includes more than three days are mentioned in ail three days, i. e., November 7, 8 and 9. the text. Those who desire more com- The date giYen for the relief in the plete information on the subject can find front Jine of one division by another is it in the two volumes published officially that when the command of the sector by the Historical Section, Army W ar passed to the division entering the line. College, entitled "Order of Battle of the In the few instances where no date of United States Land Forces in the W orld passage of command could be found it War, American Expeditionary Forces". was assumed that command passed as AU casualty figures are derived from directed in the field orders and when th0 official records of the W ar Department and field orders did not specify the time it include only the killed and wounded in was assumed that the command passed action and those who died of wounds re- upon the completion of the relief of the ceived in action. They exclude ail missing last front-line unit of the division. in action, captured and sick. In all cases, When units of a division entered the except on page 515, casualties are given line for training, the date of entry into only for the periods units actually served the line is that when the first unit went in the front line. In the tables at the ends into the front line; the date used for the of the various chapters, the casualties of termination of this service is that when units which served temporarily attached the last unit of the division left the line. to the difierent divisions are given by On the maps and sketches all dates on separate figures. The casualties which the battle lines refer to midnight of the appear on page 515 are from the Report day in question unless otherwise indicated. of the Secretary of War for 1926, with the For example, if the date September 26 addition of the Marine Corps and the Navy appears on a battle line, it means the line casualties. These figures do not include was there at midnight of September 26. the casualties of the attached units. The unit boundaries shown on the small This text embodies the results of a very sketches are those prescribed in official exhaustive study made by the Commis- field orders. On al! maps which use sion, using data from German and other colored areas or stippling to show ground sources concerning the location of the gained, the field order boundaries are clis- Hindenburg Line in the Meuse-Argonne regarded and each color or type of stippling region. Unless otherwise indicated the part shows the ground actually passed over by of tbat position deseribed in the text and the troops of the organization concerned. on the maps is its main line of resistance. (519) 520 MISCELLANEOUS Information concerning French roads: The roads in France are numbered. National highways are the best roads and are designated by the letter "N" followed by a numeral; for example, N- 3 is the National Highway No. 3. Departmental roads, corresponding to state roads in the United States, are designated by the letters "G. C." or "G. C. D." and a number; for example, G. C. 6 or G. C. D. 6. These also are good roads and rank just below the national highways. The letters "I. C." and "V. O." indicate local roads. The main difference in ail these roads is in width rather than in the character of the surface. National roads are wide, run comparatively straight, and are marked so they are easy to follow, whereas local roads are narrow, very winding, and in general have not many road signs. Typical 2d Division Battlefi eld Marker Ail roads except poor ones have along- side them a stone post at each kilometer. Medal of Honor citations have been That part of the post facing the road used freely because these citations give a bears a number and the designation of vivid picture of the hardest part of the the road, such as N- 3 or G. C. 6. The fighting. At one place or another in the sides of the posts generally give the name book information is given concerning the of the next large village or town and the citations of each of the 94 men awarded distance to it. Small posts about 8 the Army Congressional Medal of Honor. inches high usually mark each tenth of AB the majority of these men were in the a kilometer between successive posts. infantry, the branch of service has been Roads change the numbering of their indicated in the text only in case the sol- kilometer posts, given on the side facing dier was in some other branch of the army. the road, at each departmental boundary. The classification in this text of the Conversion of rneters and kilometers: front-line service of American divisions 1 kilometer 0.62137 mile into battle and sector service is the same 1 mile 1.6093 kilometers as given in General Ortler No. 16, War 1 meter 39.37 inches Department, 1921, and its amendments. 1.09 yards French maps and guide books: 1 yard 0.9144 meter There are on sale in France and Belgium A simple rule for roughly converting excellent road maps and inexpensive kilometers to miles is to multiply the guidebooks, written in English, giving number of kilometers by 0.6. To change complete, up-to-date information concern- from miles to kilometers do the opposite ing roads, hotels, restaurants and objects and <livide the number of miles by 0.6. of some historical interest. These books The graphie scales below can be used and maps will be found of great value for conversion purposes where distances while making a tour of the battlefields. shorter than 20 kilometers are involved: 0 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Kilome ters 0 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 11 12 12.5 Miles MJSCELLANEOUS 521 The requirements for these medals are not always strictly en- forced. In general, ait those who served in the area bounded by the f o11 owing (all towns are inclusive) are eli- gible for the Verdun medal: Conflans-en - Jarnisy, Thiaucourt, Montsec, St. Mihiel, Noyers, Ste. Mene- hould and to the north as far as the Armistice line. The area prescribed for the St. Information fo r use on described tours : Mihiel medal is roughly as follows: Pont-à- On the described tours road direc- Mousson, Ménil-la-Tour, Ligny-en-Bar- tions have been given where there is a rois, Souilly, Les Eparges and Vandières. possibility that the tourist might go No general area has been prescribed for astray. At junctions where no road eligibility for the Château-Thierry medal. instructions are given the tourist should, of course, continue straight ahead. Typical lst Division Batrlefi eld Monument The speedometer distances recorded by automobiles vary greatly and those recorded by the same car under different conditions, such as wet and dry weather, are not the same. These points are mentioned so that too much reliance will not be placed on speedometer readings. At the stops the tourist is told to face in a certa;n direction and the account of the operations is given with respect to that facing. The meanings of the various expressions used to indicate the different directions are illustrated by the sketch located on the upper part of this page. Medals i sued by the cities of Verdun, St. Mihiel and Château-Thierry: The cities of Verdun, St. Mihiel and Château-Thierry have issued special medals which are available to all American veterans who served in the general vicinity of these cities during the war. These meda!s may be obtained by writing and sending some proof of service in the Amer- ican Army and in the region to the mayors of the cities concerned, who will plaC'e the letter in the proper bands. A small fee is charged for the cost of the medal. AMERICAN WORLD \VAR MEMORIALS I EUROPE ERECTED BY AGENCIES OTHER THAN THE UNITED STATES GOVER MENT N addition to the memorials erected by which were erected by agencies other than I the United States Government there those of the United States Government.

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