A History of the 313th Field Artillery U.s.a.

Publisher Marketing: For the members of the 313th Regiment of Field Artillery, A. E. F., this book is primarily intended-it is a record of their organization and operations. It is not believed that these men will need a written history to preserve the memory of experiences which must be unforgettable. But it is thought that in years to come they will always find both pleasure and pride in recalling, through the stimulus of these pages, incidents of the days spent in the service of the A. E. F. whose clear recollection might otherwise become blurred by the passing years. There is much that a bare and unimaginative narrative of this sort does not tell of the regiment's life. It does tell of the days when the regiment was organized at Camp Lee during the autumn of 1917 and of the period of training throughout the following winter. It tells of the departure for France and the pleasant days spent in Redon in the summer of 1918. It records the participation in the greatest battles in which American troops have ever engaged. It shows that in the Meuse-Argonne it fought with six different divisions, and without relief or rest, for forty-seven days-a record for consecutive fighting that was excelled by no organization in the American army and was equalled, probably, only by the other regiments of the brigade. It tells of the return from the front and of the winter spent in the little villages of Argenteuil, Pacy and Ancy-le-Libre, of the preparations for homecoming and of the return to America. To every observant and thoughtful American who was not in the army the swift process whereby millions of men who had lived under conditions which were absolutely removed from all military experience or knowledge and which had emphasized the privilege of individual thought and action, were transformed into organized, trained and disciplined troops, must always remain one of the miracles of American endeavor. To the men who were the subject of this process the marvel was not so apparent. For them, the wonder of the result was lost sight of in the crowded days of its accomplishment. But thousands of persons who were not in the army find in this transformation one of the greatest wonders of the war. To them, it may be, that this volume will be of interest as the history of a typical American regiment of our great National Army. In reading this volume, which is but the bare record of the regiment's organization and operations, one is apt to overlook certain facts which constitute the real interest in the organization's history.