James Taub Profile picture
Jul 8, 2022 9 tweets 6 min read Read on X
Why are there so many #WWI memorials in #KansasCity ? Outside of our own @TheWWImuseum, there are dozens, small and large covering KS and MO. A lot of it has to do with the 5-day experience of the 35th Division in Sept 1918. Let's look at it through KC newspapers of the time. 🧵
Over the course of that time, the 35th would suffer more casualties than all units on Omaha Beach on #Dday combined. As a National Guard formation, it came under criticism for its performance from regular officers. Politicians in MO and KS eventually became involved.
On both sides of the state line, questions arose. Particularly from Kansas governor Henry Justin Allen, who pressured the War Department for answers.
The accusations made by Allen (who had served with the Division) was that limited artillery, tank, and air support had meant that their men were sent to fight and die on their own.
Many within the 35th itself felt that by raising accusations the honor of Missouri, Kansas, and the Division had been stained both by the Army and by Allen. All were in agreement that the casualties of the division needed to be answered for.
General Traub, the CO of the 35th came under criticism from politicians and the men of the division. Just days before the offensive he relieved his brigade and regimental commanders. The confusion was horrific as men who'd never seen each other now commanded troops under fire.
The accusations eventually made their way to full congressional hearings, as the Army and War Department defended their actions in the Argonne while criticizing the complaints of KS and MO politicians as well as their troops.
Kansas City, MO, and KS all felt the need to show the world what their men had suffered during and after the fighting in 1918. Memorials to #WWI dot our landscape like few other places in the US. There are always deeper meanings behind memorialization. I believe the 35th is ours.
In 04 a book called 'Collapse at Meuse-Argonne: The Failure of the Missouri-Kansas Division' was written. It gives a good overview but does not present a very concise argument. It's a small work that has issues and lacks greater context or comparison. A starting point nonetheless

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More from @TaubHistory

Jul 27, 2022
🧵In a lot of American histories of #WWI campaigns, we hear of complaints that the French moved too slowly, causing undue casualties. A prime case study of that is the 1st and 2nd Division at Soissons. A recent history stated of the 19 July attack of the 6th Marines that;... Image
"The final hindrance for the 6th Marines was perhaps the most important. Once again, the 1st Moroccan Division, tasked with the mission of protecting the Marines’ left flank, failed to advance, as did the 38th Division on the right.
This combination of dire news meant that the #USMC and French tankers were attacking without coordinated artillery or air support, or support on either flank; moving across open wheat fields with little or no cover..."
Read 11 tweets
Jun 3, 2022
"Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"
🧵👇
The famous words were spoken by Cpt. Williams to a French officer as his #Marines arrived on Hill 142. What he was most likely witnessing was the withdrawal of the @152eRI from Belleau Wood. What was actually happening?

Image via @ecpa_d ImageImage
"A Belleau les heures sont graves. Tout cède devant Attila, Mais le vieux Quinze-Deux est là. La vague meurt devant ses braves."

The #152eRI was going to push the Germans back out of Torcy and Belleau. In the Regimental HQ (PC) the phone rang. Colonel Meilhan picked it up. Image
"It's understood, my general. We will do our best.

General Michel, the division commander, had just the 152e to go on the counter-attack. More than anyone else, Colonel Meilhan knew that his regiment was at the end of its tether...
Read 11 tweets

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