Kelly Miller's History of the World War for Human Rights Part 73

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.

THE OLD ILLINOIS 8th REGIMENT

THE TRAINING CAMP--THE BLACK DEVILS--THEY DIED THAT OUR REPUBLIC MAY LIVE--THE LAST SOLDIERS TO CEASE FIGHTING--TAKING THE BIT BETWEEN THEIR TEETH--THE HINDENBURG LINE COULD NOT STOP THEM--THEY CROSS THE AILETTE Ca.n.a.l--DESPERATE DEEDS OF DARING--ONE MAN ROUTS A MACHINE GUN CREW--THE BAND PLAYED ON--SUMMARY OF DEEDS OF THE ILLINOIS EIGHTH.

At the beautiful city of Rockford, Illinois, was located Camp Grant where thousands of Negro recruits gathered from cities and factories, farms and plantations of our country, were given the needed intensive training to fit them to sustain the glorious traditions of the American soldiers. We take pride in all our soldiers--never once did they retreat but carried Old Glory ever onward until the armistice of November 11, 1918.

"THE BLACK DEVILS"

The old Illinois 8th Regiment was one of these colored units which henceforth will be referred to whenever the heroic deeds of this war are mentioned. The Prussian guards gave them a name which tells us of the respect and fear they inspired. They were "The Black Devils." The guards were seasoned veterans who had partic.i.p.ated in the fiercest fighting of the war, yet these Negro heroes of the West did not falter before them.

They were brigaded with the choicest troops of France and fought by their side through the final stages of the war. By them they were given a name indicative of the respect and confidence, their soldierly bearing and actions inspired. To the French they were the "Partridges," the proudest game bird of Europe, and when the decimated ranks of the regiment paraded before cheering thousands on their return, there marched in their ranks, twenty-two men wearing the American Distinguished Service Cross while sixty-eight others were decorated with the French "Croix de Guerre."

THEY DIED THAT OUR REPUBLIC MIGHT LIVE

The regiment went to France with approximately 2,500 men from Chicago and Illinois; they came back with 1,260. Those figures convey an eloquent story of suffering and death. Nearly a hundred were killed in battle. They were sleeping on the sh.e.l.l scarred fields of France. Many others are enrolled in the great army of maimed heroes, who however, are facing the future with calm courage, though many of them are deprived of arms or limbs, or possess bodies cruelly disfigured by shot and sh.e.l.l, with physical health wrecked as a result of hards.h.i.+p in trenches, or deadly gas inhaled.

THE LAST SOLDIERS TO CEASE FIGHTING

The old 8th probably made the last capture of the war. The morning of November 11, they were with their French comrades in Belgium. The objective given them to attain that day was not arduous and so, having achieved the same, the boys simply kept on going. The French division commander sent a messenger to the Colonel in command to cease firing at 11 A.M., but by the time the messenger caught up with the rus.h.i.+ng troops it was ten minutes after the Huns had ceased firing on the Western front, and those colored boys were just putting the finis.h.i.+ng touches on one of the neatest captures of the war--a German army train of fifty wagons.

TAKING THE BIT BETWEEN THEIR TEETH

Their commander had one criticism to make which, however, will not be a mark against the old 8th: "My greatest difficulty was in keeping my boys from going on after they had obtained their objective," he complains.

The boys had formed the habit of "getting there" so strongly that inertia kept them going. Discipline in this respect seems to have been lacking among the American soldiers generally. We heard this same complaint at Chateau Thierry, at St. Mihiel and in the Argonne. These doughboys, like all genuine Americans, evidently believed it good policy while getting, to get enough.

FIRST AS WELL AS LAST

It will be noticed the 8th was among the last to quit doing things, but they were among the first to start things going. Laon is an important city of France about eighty miles northeast of Paris. For four long years it remained in German hands. Allied troops recaptured the town October 13, 1918. At the head of the column of troops entering the city was a colored sergeant of this regiment carrying a French flag while, not to be outdone in courtesy a French Sergeant walked beside him carrying the Stars and Stripes. The French people of Laon knelt by the roadside and kissed the hand of this colored sergeant of the 8th regiment. The torture of four years was over and they saw in this proud young soldier a representative of the Great Republic of the West rescuing France from the rapacious soldiers of Germany.

THE HINDENBURG LINE COULD NOT STOP THEM

The Hindenburg Line was the most celebrated battle line of history. It pa.s.sed through Laon, LaFere, St. Quentin, Cambrai and Lille, a total distance of about ninety miles. Every foot of that distance was fortified with such ma.s.sive trenches, supporting lines of trenches, and elaborate lines of wire entanglements that it was supposed to be impregnable. Nothing known to warfare ever equalled such strong defenses. Every avenue of approach was defended by machine guns and heavy artillery, and in the trenches and at easy supporting distances to the rear were ma.s.sed the best soldiers of Germany, yet that line was crossed by the Allies September 29 and 30 and the Illinois Negro regiment was among those that accomplished that feat.

THEY CROSS THE AILETTE Ca.n.a.l

To accomplish this they traversed an open ground through a German barrage fire. A barrage fire is such a focusing of shot and sh.e.l.l that it forms a veritable descending curtain of projectiles. Then when they crossed the open they came to the Ailette Ca.n.a.l, in which wire entanglements had been placed. Pontoon bridges were thrown across and so the Hindenburg Line was reached and crossed. The regiment had two hundred casualties as a result of that frightful but victorious advance.

The smas.h.i.+ng at that line was final notice to Germany that the end was at hand. Colored soldiers of this great republic with but a few months of training had forced their way up to and through the most strongly fortified military line in all history, against the desperate defense of veterans with years of experience, the supposed unconquerable soldiers of Germany.

DESPERATE DEEDS OF DARING

Where all with calm courage faced death it is almost out of place to mention individual cases, but some deeds of daring better ill.u.s.trate the desperate chances taken when duty called. One regimental surgeon went out in No Man's Land amid a hail of machine gun bullets--it seemed sure death to face guns sending a spray of bullets searching the entire area--and calmly attended wounded men where they lay knowing that probably every minute would be his last. One D.S.C. was bestowed on a private whose life had been sacrificed in the vain attempt to get a message through the inferno of fire. He was off duty at the time, but that did not matter. That message ought to go through. He was blown to pieces in the attempt. But when he failed another volunteer stepped forward. He was a Negro lad only eighteen years old. You would not have noticed him among the workers of Chicago, but in his veins flowed the blood of heroes. He got the message through but was killed trying to return.

ONE MAN ROUTS A MACHINE GUN CREW

The entire regiment was being held up because a machine gun was so favorably located for defense that it could incapacitate all who attempted to cross its line of fire. Then one lone lieutenant concluded that gun had done enough mischief, anyway what would one more life amount to? So he charged it single handed, and kindly fate as if in admiration of his daring decreed his safety. The gun was put out of action, the advance continued. Victory came. But let it be understood these instances simply ill.u.s.trate the spirit that enthused all. The officers were in the very thick of the fight, leading--not following--the men. In that battle twenty-seven officers were wounded the first two hours.

THE BAND PLAYED ON

The band of the "Black Devils" was justly celebrated. After the regiment returned to the state--after their part in the great victory was history--that band toured the United States, and delighted citizens bore testimony to the inspiring nature of its music. But the music amid the stern realities of war was no less helpful. The Colonel testified: "That band was everywhere. In the final pursuit when we had the Germans running back at the rate of thirty-five kilometers a day, that band with all its pack and instruments would keep right up with the troops." But if other duties seemed more pressing, the musicians were ready to do what they could. "Time and time again," continued the Colonel, "I asked its members to serve as stretcher bearers and every time they went right out where the fighting was the hottest and brought the wounded in."

After all the true criterion of service is to do what ever seems necessary and right to do, at the moment, not counting self. It is not so much great occasions that prove men but faithfulness in duty.

BORROWING HIS ORDERLY'S EYES

One captain found that while trenches were real life saving inventions, it required a good deal of time to traverse their windings when it was necessary to inspect his command. So he got a bicycle and raced up and down in front of his trenches taking short cuts across No Man's Land. Of course, the Germans in the opposite line all went gunning for this daring rider. Ordinarily it was death to expose oneself on No Man's Land, but fate made another exception in his case and they "never touched him," though they did ruin his fine bicycle by shooting out the spokes of its wheels. However, a mustard gas sh.e.l.l "got him" one day. He was temporarily blinded in addition to suffering excruciating pains. Did he temporarily retire? No, on the contrary, he borrowed his orderly's eyes, in other words had him lead him around, report on what he saw while the disabled captain issued necessary orders. No wonder this regiment acquired appreciative names from friend and foe.

WHERE THE FATE OF CIVILIZATION WAS DECIDED

That part of France where the great battles of the World War were fought has been the scene of battles in the past that profoundly influenced civilization. In the valley of the Somme nearly fifteen centuries ago, Clovis laid the foundation of French history by defeating the Romans in a world deciding battle at Soissons, and ten years later near the same place the German forces were utterly defeated by the same king. More than five centuries ago the great Battle of Crecy, between the English and French was fought, ending in a great victory for the Black Prince.

But none of the ancient battles equalled in importance the series of great victories won by the Allied force over those of Germany in 1918.

Modern civilization and medieval conceptions of government then met in conflict. The point we wish all to notice is, that Negro soldiers from America had a part in these great battles and so are ent.i.tled to recognition as among those that saved the modern world when threatened with an eclipse akin to the Dark Ages that supervened on the culture of early centuries.

FIELDS OF GLORY

It is well to bear in mind some of the crucial fields of glory where our Negro soldiers upheld the best traditions of our armies, such as Chateau Thierry, Belleau Woods, St. Mihiel and the Argonne. The Illinois 8th was conspicuous in many of these battles. In the Argonne against superior forces, amid a baptism of sh.e.l.l fire from hidden machine gunners, they advanced to victory. They can tell us of scenes where their comrades fell, torn by shrapnel, cruelly wounded, dying, yet with their last breath singing a s.n.a.t.c.h of the "Hymn of Freedom." They can tell of instances in which these dying heroes urged the survivors on. "Go, get them" was their parting words.

RETURN TO THE UNITED STATES

Following the armistice the regiment went to Brest, France, whence it sailed for the United States, February 2, 1919. Most of our cities had become accustomed to the enthusiastic greetings of returned soldiers.

None were given a more enthusiastic welcome than the old 8th Illinois.

Even New York, where most of returning soldiers land, grown so accustomed to marching soldiers just from Europe, stopped to pay signal respect to these Negro lads. On their arms were service stripes and in the pa.s.sing ranks were many whom France had delighted to honor. In Chicago the entire city paused in its business to shout words of welcome to those who had earlier served them in many forms--but had dropped all and faced death that Chicago, New York and our galaxy of states might be among the great democracies which "made the world safe for democracy."

THIS REGIMENT A REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL

We have mentioned the 8th Illinois especially because this regiment was gathered princ.i.p.ally from Chicago and the West. Let it be understood, however, that it is simply a representative regiment of Negro soldiers.

They deserve well of our country. They too crossed the seas and faced death with a smile. Why? Because their country called them. In the peaceful days of progress ahead we are sure they will ever remember the experiences of war and by acts and words continue to labor for the good of our country.

SUMMARY OF DEEDS OF THE ILLINOIS 8th

Let us sum up in an easily remembered form the work of this regiment in France: