The Soissons victory was costly – 700 men were killed or wounded. Soissons was taken by the 1st Division in July 1918. The 28th was thereafter named the "Black Lions of Cantigny." įirst Division monument on the Meuse-Argonne Battlefield, France. It was the first American victory of the war. The 28th Infantry Regiment attacked the town, and within 45 minutes captured it along with 250 German soldiers. To the division's front lay the small village of Cantigny, situated on the high ground overlooking a forested countryside. In reaction to this thrust, the division moved into the Picardy Sector to bolster the exhausted French First Army. Two days later, the 2nd Battalion of the 16th Infantry suffered the first American casualties of the war.īy April 1918, the German Army had pushed to within 40 miles (64 km) of Paris. On the morning of 23 October, the first American shell of the war was fired toward German lines by a First Division artillery unit. The total authorized strength of this new TO&E was 27,120 officers and enlisted men. On 8 August 1917, the 1st Division adopted the "square" Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E), which specified two organic infantry brigades of two infantry regiments each one engineer regiment one signal battalion one machine gun battalion one field artillery brigade of three field artillery regiments, and a complete division train. Summerall, commander of the 1st Division, inspecting doughboys of the 16th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 1st Division, in France, September 7, 1918. Pershing, Commander'in-Chief of the AEF, and Major General Charles P. Upon arrival in France, the division, less its artillery, was assembled in the First (Gondrecourt) training area, and the artillery was at Le Valdahon. After a brief stay in rest camps, the troops in England proceeded to France, landing at Le Havre. Throughout the remainder of the year, the rest of the division followed, landing at St. The first units sailed from New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey, on 14 June 1917. Coe, who later served as Chief of Coast Artillery, was the division's first chief of staff. Patton, who served as the first headquarters commandant for the American Expeditionary Forces, oversaw much of the arrangements for the movement of the 1st Division to France, and their organization in-country. The total authorized strength of this TO&E was 18,919 officers and enlisted men. The original table of organization and equipment (TO&E) included two organic infantry brigades of two infantry regiments each, one engineer battalion one signal battalion one trench mortar battery one field artillery brigade of three field artillery regiments one air squadron and a full division train. Sibert, from Army units then in service on the Mexico–United States border and at various Army posts throughout the United States. Subdued shoulder sleeve insignia, worn on ACUĪ few weeks after the American entry into World War I, the First Expeditionary Division, later designated the 1st Infantry Division, was constituted on, in the Regular Army, and was organized on 8 June 1917, at Fort Jay, on Governors Island in New York harbor under the command of Brigadier General William L. Duty First!Ĭommand Sergeant Major Christopher L.
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