Effectivement, les sources de documents sont l'essentiel de la recherche mais faut il les avoir découvert, traduit et se souvenir des éléments pour les retranscrire sur le forum.
Je viens de découvrir les photos de grandpré sur le livre de l'armée américaine :
voici le texte en anglais :
The enemy had not yielded St. Juvin, however. On the night of the 14th, no less than six barrages
were poured into St. Juvin and the valley south of the village and continuous harassing fire of
artillery, trench mortars and machine guns swept the positions of our troops in the vicinity of the
town. A great deal of the enemy's fire fell on our rear hues and caught the divisional reserve in
the valley at La Besogne, inflicting twenty-five casualties among the machine gunners of the divisional
machine-gun battalion, held in reserve at that point. In the morning over came the counterattack.
A severe fight ensued, but St. Juvin stayed in our hands.
The same kind of business was going on at the left of our line with the 307th and the 308th handing
out the goods. St. Juvin without Grand-Pre was a condition not to be tolerated.
On the 14th, the 308th threw one battalion across the Aire
to the east of Grand-Pre, with its right resting at La Lairesse and
its left at Chevieres. The mission of this force was to move by
the left and cut the enemy's communications in the east, thus
assisting in the operations against St. Juvin
then under way. This mission it proceeded
to carry out on the morning of the 14th.
Meanwhile the main attack against Grand-Pre
was preparing.
The divisional artillery, which had established an observation post, directed the fire of its
155's with unerring accuracy into the town. From point of vantage on the hill in Bois de Negremont,
our machine guns and 37 mm. poured their fire into it. With this protection, and under the
cover of rifle and Chauchat fire which distracted the enemy's attention, two platoons of Co. B, 307th,
waded the river unobserved by the Germans and reached the island south of the town. Foot
bridges were constructed, and soon the balance of the 1st Battalion gained the island. During the
night, they were joined by Company I. At daybreak of the 15th, we attacked. Company D encircled
the town from the west. Company A rushed in on the left and Company C on the right.
Company B remained in support just south of the village. The Americans came on them from all
sides, and the Germans broke and fled into the hifls to the north, leaving 1 officer, 2 N. C. O.'s,
eight light and two heavy machine guns to be gathered up by A and C companies, when they
mopped up the town. Grand-Pre was ours.
Thus ended the "Wilderness Campaign." That night, the Liberty Division was relieved on
the Grand-Pre-St. Juvin front by the 78th Division of the American Army. Both brigades were
drawn back, the l.SSd to Camp de Bouzon and the 154th to the vicinity of Chene Tendu and Abri
du Crochet. After three weary weeks of constant fighting and exposure, rest had come. The
thought of baths and shaves and clean clothing to replace the itching, tattered rags they were
wearing, filled every tired, grimy soldier with joy. Gaunt faces grew cheerful at the idea of food
in plenty to fill out the hollows and build up strength that was nearly spent. Spirits needed no
bracing. They had been put through the fire and come out fine steel.
In their struggle through twenty-two kilometers of dense woods and across the Aire, fighting
against five German divisions, the 77th Division had taken, beside the vast territory included in
the forest itself, the towns of Chevieres, Marcq, St. Juvin and Grand-Pre, and captured ten cannons,
155 machine guns and 631 prisoners, the latter including 12 officers. The cost had been heavy.
Our casualties included 24 officers and 537 men killed, and 98 officers and 3,038 men wounded and
missing.
This was the story of the Argonne—the undertaking, the preparation, the attack, the pursuit,
the victory. The victory won by the men of the 77th Division was a moral as well as a physical
victory. They had shown to the world that the soldiers of America's National Army, in endurance,
aggressiveness and spirit, were the equal of any soldiers on the Western front. With the tenacity
of a pack of beagles, they had routed the snarhng Boche tiger from the wilderness he had grown to
consider forever his own. They had given a pull to the bell that was sounding the knell of German
hopes. They had proved to Germany that Americans could accomplish the impossible. They had
captured the FOREST OF ARGONNE!
Maintenant il va falloir traduire ce texte!!
Bonne soirée
Gregory
