The Réserve Mallet

The Field Service's Military Transport Sections

 

In Paris we found that the demand for ambulance drivers had temporarily slackened. We were urged, and many of us consented, to join the French military transport, in which our work would be not vastly different: while driving munition trucks we would retain our status of gentleman volunteers.

Malcolm Cowley. "Ambulance Service." Exile's Return. New York: Penguin, 1951 (1933)

 

No sooner had the United States entered the war officially, than the Field Service was called upon to help the Automobile Transportation Service of the French Army with non-medical transportation. In April of 1917, the Réserve Mallet was formed. In addition to driving ambulances, AFS volunteers would be chauffeuring trucks bringing military supplies and personnel to the front. Notably, one of the waves of volunteers serving in Réserve Mallet section TMU 526 was a group of high school graduates from Phillips Andover Academy --- underscoring the fact that a number of the drivers, such as Julian Green, were under 18 years of age! By autumn 1917, however, drivers were required to be over 18, as the Field Service came officially under the command of the American Expeditionary Forces ---- although continuing to serve the French Army in the field.

 

THEY CAME TO DRIVE AMBULANCES, BUT ...

When, at the moment of the entrance of the United States into the war, I asked of Mr. A. Piatt Andrew the aid of the American Field Service in forming some new transport sections, I was sure I should obtain the consent of the volunteers of this Service when they knew that they could there render service of the most necessary sort to France. Our Automobile Service at that time was deficient in drivers, so seriously deficient, in fact, that it was necessary to increase, at any price, our means of transport, in order that we might be sure of responding to the needs of the armies which were about to assume the offensive.

Less than a week after my request, a group of volunteers who had left their studies in America to enlist in the ambulance sections of the American Field Service, voluntarily agreed to become camion drivers, knowing that they would be confronted with great difficulties, but that they wouldbe immediately useful to the common cause. The first Section entered the Service in May 1917. Three months afterward, 800 American Field Service drivers formed the personnel of fourteen Sections, and our American Transport Reserve was established.

Commandant Doumenc, "Appreciation of the Services Rendered by the Personnel of the Réserve Mallet", in History of the American Field Service in France, "Friends of France," 1914-1917, Told by its Members. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920. Volume III.

 

Early in the spring of 1917, the French Automobile Service sent out an S.O.S. to the Field Service for men to drive the motor trucks in one of their largest and most active munition reserves. The appeal was so urgent that it could not be refused. Some of us were called in from our ambulance sections to undertake the organization of the new arm. The story of those first days, with their wonderful enthusiasm, their training, and their many ceremonies, has already been told in picture and written word in the war periodicals all over the world. Our purpose here is not to gloat over being the first armed Americans at the front, nor is it to apologize for leaving the work of mercy for which we came. It is rather to tell a bit of how we took up the new duty that came to us, and what befell during these wonderful days of the late summer and early fall of 1917.

To begin with, we went out with youth and strength and experience, for there was scarcely an American lad in France who did not know something about the automobile game; many played it as experts. And we found big-hearted horny-palmed, French territorials trying to man five-ton camions single-handed.Most of these men were from forty-five to sixty years of age, worn with three years of war-weariness; and many had never handled a piece of machinery more complicated than a one-blade plough. Our first amusement quickly passed into honest pity; and our first joy was that of bringing relief to these fine, gray-haired veterans-many of whom were released to go back to their farms or to military service less taxing strength and endurance.

Paul F. Cadman, (SSU8 & TMU133), in "Volunteer Days", in History of the American Field Service in France, "Friends of France," 1914-1917, Told by its Members. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920. Volume III.

 

THE CALIFORNIA SECTION

If the self-appointed task of the California Section has been an unspectacular and rather inglorious one, it has been none the less earnest, for the men have had at least the satisfaction of having done a man's work Through all the ups and downs and all the discouragements, which are bound to be met with in any service there was no losing sight of the common end we were all working for---victory.

The transporting of shells and ammunition may be a humble task, but it is a necessary one; and to carry some eighteen or twenty thousand shells up to the front in a single night has helped a little to defeat the Boches on the Chemin des Dames; for it was on the Aisne front that the California Section served, through the memorable summer and fall campaign of 1917.The members of the Section, wherever the fortunes of war have taken them, will always be glad to have been associated with the American Field Service in the "heyday" of its glory, and they will always be grateful for all that has been done for them by that organization. For it must never be forgotten that it was the American Field Service which did so much in the early days of the war, before the entrance of America, to keep alive and bright the flame of kindred spirit which has ever existed between the two great Republics. It is difficult for Americans at home to appreciate just what this active expression of all that America has sincerely and devotedly felt since the beginning, has meant to such a people as the French. Much as the American Field Service has actually accomplished in the field, this is by far its greatest contribution in the war.

 

THE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SECTION

Almost from the outbreak of war a number of Tech men were serving with the American Ambulance Service in France. One of them, Enos W. Curtin, '17, felt that the Institute should be represented not only by individuals but also by a Technology ambulance unit similar to those maintained by other colleges. He therefore arranged for a meeting at the Technology Club of New York, which was addressed by one of the members of the service. A subscription was taken up to equip a Technology unit and a bulletin was issued requesting donations to complete the amount

This bulletin came to the notice of Mrs. Edward Cunningham, who offered to contribute whatever might be necessary as a memorial to her husband. The amount proved comparatively small and Mrs. Cunningham did not feel that it was really a sufficient gift; she accordingly made arrangements, through Doctor MacLaurin, by which a complete ambulance was presented to the American Ambulance Service. This machine, Ambulance No. 754, which bore the inscription--"Given in memory of Edward Cunningham, M.I. T. 1891"-- was sent to France and for many months performed valuable service as a unit of Section 29.

On December 13, 1916, Leslie Buswell, an ambulance driver recently returned from France, gave an illustrated talk at the Institute entitled "Ambulance No. 10, " at the close of which he called for volunteers to join the Ambulance Service. Literature was also left in the office of the Technology Christian Association, and before long a number of undergraduates had become interested in the formation of a Technology unit.

The formation of such a unit was contrary to the Institute's policy as laid down by Doctor MacLaurin, and the organizers appear to have received little encouragement official or otherwise. Nevertheless men continued to enroll until the roster contained the twenty names required. Early in June a second meeting was held, at which Irving G. Hall, Jr., '18, was chosen head, and plans were laid for assembling the unit at New York.

The arrangements for establishing the Technology Club of Paris (see page 75) and the American University Union in Europe (see page 75) were just coming to a head, and many prominent Tech men were gathered in New York.On the evening of June 22 a farewell banquet was held, and among the distinguished guests and speakers were Maurice R. Scharff, '09, head of the Washington Technology Bureau; James P. Munroe '82, Van Rensselaer Lansingh, '98, Professor Nettleton, head of the English Department of the Sheffield Scientific School;I. W. Litchfield, '85, Professor H. C. Pearson, Louis Tracy the novelist, and Mrs. Edward Cunningham.

A day or two later the men sailed on the "Rochambeau " The roster at departure read as follows: H. B. Allen, '18, R. M. Allen, '16, F N Breed, '12, L. B. Cahill, '19, K. H. Day, '17, Dinsmore Ely, '18, E.P. Griesemerer, '20, I. G. Halt Jr, '18, R. J. Henderson, '19, F. W. Holmes, '16, F. L. Kline, '18, J. R. Milliken, '20, D. A. Reed, Jr., '18, G. W.Root, '19, F. B. Smith, Jr '17, D. G. Tarpley, '17, together with four men from another institution who had joined them on board the ship. E. N. Winslow, '18, followed on the next steamer and joined the unit in France.

On arrival in Paris it was found that ambulance drivers were no longer in demand; on the contrary drivers for trucks were very urgently needed;and that the American Field Service had been reorganized, with the intention of supplying this need rather than ambulance personnel. Smith and Ely objected to this change and resigned. Of Smith's record we have already spoken (seepage 77) and of Ely more will be said later (see page 162, also Roll of Honor). The remainder of the unit was now sent to a school for American camion drivers at Longpont and at the expiration of two weeks' training went to the front. Being too small to form a single company they served as replacements for the various companies of Section 526 of the famous Reserve Mallet. Although somewhat separated the men still saw one another frequently until October, 1917, when the Reserve Mallet was taken over by the American Army; the American Field Service was at this time disbanded.

The members were given opportunity to enlist in any branch of the service of the United States Army, and as a result the Technology Unit as such, was completely broken up. Of the original group six became members of the Motor Transport Corps, five entered the Air Service, one the Sanitary Corps, three the Engineer Corps, one the Tank Corps, one the French Artillery, one the Ordnance Corps, and one the United States Navy. Of one man we have no record.

During the period of active service between July 22 and the first of October, Section 526 was engaged in carrying munitions up to the Aisne sector, and hence its members can claim to have taken part in the offensives against Crayonelle and Fort Malmaison.

Technology's War Record, An interpretation of the contribution made by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, its staff, its former students and its undergraduates to the cause of the United States and the Allied Powers in the Great War, 1914-1919, published by the War Records Committee of the Alumni Association of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1920; pages 85-87.

 

THE ANDOVER SECTION

When General John J. Pershing and his staff stepped ashore in France on June 13, 1917, there was an Andover unit serving on the Western front.As a section of the American Field Service, the Andover men were driving five-ton Pierce Arrow trucks that transported shells for the renowned French 75's. Working at night without headlights, they carried their cargoes up to the batteries defending a sector of the Chemin des Dames. This was a vital part of the defense line which barred the road to Paris against the German Crown Prince and his elite divisions.

Andover was the only preparatory school that saw service on the Western front. We had gone to France that spring to drive ambulances. When we arrived in Paris, however, we were informed that the French army needed a mobile force of fast trucks to serve their 75's. The Réserve Mallet, to be composed entirely of American volunteers, was being formed for this job. The Cornell Section was already organized and ready to leave for the front.We agreed to join the Réserve Mallet.

Henry Cutler Wolfe, In My Time, A Medley of Reminiscences, Claude Fuess, ed, p 32.

 

CHAVIGNY FARMS AND LONGPONT

No history of Motor Transport will be complete which fails to mention Chavigny Farms and Longpont. To the Réserve Mallet and its members, Chavigny is of especial historical interest and importance, for it was here that the first Americans to enter the Réserve came in May 1917 and received their training. This was a month before the A.E.F. had landed forces in France.

Chavigny, to the French Army was a unique experiment attempted on the basis of the good work done by the American Field Service Ambulance Sections. Longpont and Chavigny to the American drivers will always be associated with learning to drill in French and to eat bread, and coffee for breakfast, real hardships in the early days.

Boche and Allied artillery have reduced to ruins the farmhouse and the courtyard would now prove more recalcitrant to drilling than it did in former days when wagons, camions and even stone walls had to be circumvented. Chavigny and Longpont partially ruined and destroyed by the Revolution were completely razed when the Boche recrossed the Chemin des Dames in July 1918.

American Field Service Bulletin, March 8, 1919, Mallet Réserve Number

 

SOISSONS

Midway, on that five-hundred-mile stretch of the western front, lies the city of Soissons, whose life of yesterday is still felt intensely in the things that yet remain among its ruins of the past. In its beautiful promenade grounds, "The Mall, " one of the most famous in France, were encamped during the summer and fall of 1917, four of the motor transport sections that were in the American Field Service, namely, Nos. 397, 210, 242, and 155. Approaching Soissons from Chavigny, where the Field Service camion drivers got their training, we look over the valley of the Aisne to the heights beyond, where the Germans dug themselves in, until driven out in April, 1917; and, from which heights, whenever an attack failed, they vented their spite by hurling shells into the city. For two years, before the spring of 1917, the Germans were only across the Aisne on the other side of the promenade ground, and their coarse gutturals could be heard from the south banks of the river.

Descending from the hill, we see the city lying in a curve of the Aisne; and, towering above it, the most conspicuous marks in the landscape, are the two towers of the old twelfth-century cathedral of Saint-Jean des Vignes, hedged about by the red-tiled houses of the town. While Soissons was not so badly damaged as its neighbor Reims, its sufferings under shellfire were severe. Every house seems to have been hit, though not so many were completely destroyed, until the Germans again swept over the city in June, 1918, and completed what they had left undone before. [...]

Such was the city where we were to live for many weeks, interesting enough to have passed whole days in doing nothing but wander about its ruins had there been time for such sight-seeing and dreaming. Unfortunately this was not the case; for, when we pitched camp at Soissons, the Chemin des Dames sector was one of the hottest on the front, and the hungry guns were ever howling for more food. Our camp lay on the south bank of the Aisne, just beyond the bridge called the Pont des Anglais, where an English machine-gunner had, in 1914, single-handed, cut up the German advance by playing his gun across the river. It was at that time that Madame Acherez performed the heroic work that won for her the war cross, in assuming the duties of mayor of the city, and remaining to take care of the people while the city was in the hands of the Germans.

When we arrived at Soissons, there were few or no people in the town;and we wound, in our camions, through the ruined streets, many of which were merely paths through piles of rubbish, and arrived at camp late one afternoon. Stately rows of elms adorned the park, sheltering us from the view of airmen; and underneath these trees were our remorques and the barracks in which we lived, while, along the macadamized road, which ran through the park to the band-stand at the other end, were our dining-hall and shacks, which the humor of the fellows had led them to designate as the "Ritz-Carleton" "Sherry's, " etc. The ateliers and workshops were at the other end of the ground, and the camions were parked in double lines a quarter of a mile or more long.

David Darrah (TMU 397), "Camion Sections at Soissons", in History of the American Field Service in France, "Friends of France," 1914-1917, Told by its Members. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920. Volume III.

 

HOW THE RÉSERVE MALLET WAS ORGANIZED

Briefly, the mechanical make-up of the Réserve was as follows:A central headquarters whose function was purely administrative, under which were three units known as Groupements, and each of which in turn was comprised of three groupes, of four sections each. [...] The groupes were the units of execution: that is, the units to which the orders were finally submitted to be carried out. Each groupe also maintained an atelier, or repair shop, to attend to minor repairs. Just as the Réserve was known by the name of the commanding officer, so were the groupements and groupes ---the official military number being seldom used. [...]

The first Americans who came to the Réserve Mallet were those volunteers of the American Field Service who arrived in the spring of 1917, within a month after America had declared war. These men, called by the French the "First American Belligerents," were recruited on an appeal by Commandant Doumenc, head of the French Automobile Service, through Lieutenant-Colonel A. Piatt Andrew. In all, about 800 of these men, who had crossed the Atlantic expecting to drive ambulances, responded to the appeal.

They manned one groupement completely, and one groupe of another. The groupement taken over was No. 9, or Groupement Périssée, which consisted of the Groupes Genin, TM526, Erhardt, TM133, and Meyer, TM184, all located at Jouaignes, Aisne [...] and the remainder of the men were sent to Soissons, where the Groupe Hémart was located.

Frank O. Robinson (TMU184), "The Réserve Mallet", in History of the American Field Service in France, "Friends of France," 1914-1917, Told by its Members. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920. Volume III.

 

The Réserve in a nutshell

The Réserve Mallet was the third of ten réserves

1 réserve = 3 groupements
1 groupement = 3 groupes
1 groupe = 4 sections

The Field Service provided drivers for one groupement plus one groupe of the Réserve No.3, known as the "Réserve Mallet", as follows:

Groupement No. 9 = Groupement Périssé (HQ in Jouaignes, Ainse)

Groupe Genin, TMU 526

section A      Cornell
section B      Andover
section C      Dartmouth
section D      miscellaneous

Groupe Erhardt, TMU 133

section E      California
section F      Princeton

Groupe Meyer, TMU 184

section G      Dartmouth
section H      Tufts
section I        Marietta
section M      Buffalo

Groupement No. ? (HQ in Soissons)

Groupe Hémart, TMU 397

section 397
section 210
section 242
section 155

Note: "TMU" was the counterpart of "SSU" in the French Army Automobile Service. The "U" stands for the American units (i.e., USA), while "TM" stands for Transport Militaire or Military Transport.

 

TMU PARADE, JULY 4, 1917

All was not work at the front, as can be seen from this account of a Fourth-of-July celebration in a town in the Aisne Departement. Credit for it must be given chiefly to Captain Genin, our French commander, a jolly good fellow, and one greatly interested in American customs. All during June, he had been hearing about nothing except the Fourth of July. At last, he decided that, at his own expense, we were to have a Fourth that should surpass those we had known in the States. And, after that, day by day, various articles arrived in the camp-live rabbits, narrow-gauge track, crates labelled" champagne, " cigarettes, flower-pots-about all of which there was some mystery and a great deal of speculation

The programme of the day itself began with a review, which was hardly different from some peacetime reviews in the States. The ten sections present were in the bad humor common to troops on inspection. And there was some cause, too; for every camion in Jouaignes had been on the road from five in the morning until eight the night before, while, even after that, there had been a great deal of cleaning and oiling to do in preparation for the rigid inspection that would be sure to come the next morning.

Section after section marched through the little gate into the field and arranged themselves in formation for review. A sharp Gardez-vous! rang out, and Captain Mallet, head of Mallet's Reserve of American Camion Drivers, entered the field, whereupon a square was formed, of which three sides were Americans and one side Frenchmen. Why the Frenchmen were there we were to find out later.

The American flag was waving proudly in the breeze, borne by a color-bearer, who shared with every American there a thrill of patriotism as each passing French officer paused to give the emblem a graceful salute.

The ceremonies began by Captain Mallet calling for the Croix de Guerre section to come forward. So forward they came, three-sun-beaten, war-worn French camion drivers, the youngest of whom must have been forty-five. Straight and erect, they marched from their rank and faced Captain Mallet, whom they saluted, and the ceremony of presentation began.

The citations for their deeds of bravery were read in French and the medals pinned on the proud-eyed veterans, with a warm handshake from Captain Mallet, and more from every officer, French and American, whom they passed on the way back to ranks. Then came some well-chosen remarks by Captain Mallet, his simple, dignified English appealing to every hearer. Not an eye but shone a little brighter, not a chin but was tilted a little higher, after these inspiring words. Captain Mallet, then and there, won the heart and hand of every American who heard him.

Then came the review by Captain Mallet. To the time of an Algerian drum corps, the only music of the occasion, column after column of shining helmets and red faces passed by the reviewing stand at "eyes right." What those dark-faced musicians were playing, nobody knew, but it was to the tune of "Yankee Doodle" and "Dixie" that the American feet kept time. In the middle of the long khaki lines came the color squad and the Stars and Stripes, which the French officers saluted, as it passed, with the dust-covered lines passing through the gate, bound for camp.

Malcolm Cowley (TMU526), "Fourth of July, 1917", in History of the American Field Service in France, "Friends of France," 1914-1917, Told by its Members. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920. Volume I.

 

ON THE ROAD

The going was difficult, and we slowed down gradually.At the point where we crossed the river, I found out later, an iron bridge and three of wood had been shot away in succession. At last, the crossing had been moved two hundred yards upstream. Of this fact the Boches were not yet informed; but, unfortunately, their fire was wild and was as apt to hit the new bridge as the old.

Even after the leading string-the first division of eight cars-had made its way over, there was some delay. And, as we waited, a heavy marmite burst in front of us and a little to the left. Some of the red-hot pieces fell very near and lay smoking in the road. Immediately the American craze for souvenirs came to the fore; and a half-dozen of the boys were racing for the fragments, and picking them up gingerly in their helmets.

We moved forward. Right by the bridge I saw something lying across the road. Bob, who was driving, swung out. As we passed, I turned a flashlight toward the obstruction. A middle-aged Territorial in the nondescript clothes of those old warriors, who serve as laborers along the front, was lying there in a little spot of bloody mud. A fragment of shell-probably from the very last- had torn a great hole in his side.

I turned the light away, and we went on in silence. . . Then other ruined villages we passed, and other marching troops; all the time, star-shells rose and flamed over the lines. I was not watching them much, however. I was remembering the man at the bridgehead. For after all, the dust and the galloping batteries, Soupir grand in its ruin, marching troops, and star-shells formed only the panoply of war, that middle-aged Territorial lying in his own blood was its immediate reality.

Malcolm Cowley (TMU 526), "On the Road with TMU 526", in History of the American Field Service in France, "Friends of France," 1914-1917, Told by its Members. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920. Volume I.

 

MILITARIZATION

As already stated, the United States Army authorities in the autumn of 1917 agreed to take over the camion sections which the Field Service had supplied to the French Army. They agreed also, after enlisting the Field Service men and commissioning the Field Service Officers, to recruit and multiply their sections by additions from the United States Army troops, and, most important of all, it was agreed that these sections would be left with the Mallet Reserve in the service of the French Army. The organization was thereafter to be officially designated as the American Mission, and Major (later Colonel) Gordon Robinson was placed in command of the American personnel.

[...]

Affairs were at this point when the German offensive began, on March 21, 1918. On March 16 shells had begun falling in Soissons and the bombardment grew more intense as the date for launching the offensive approached. The camps of the companies at Soissons had to be evacuated. The headquarters of the American Mission moved from Soissons to the Ferme de Chavigny on March 5. After this move came a period of intensely hard work for all the companies in the organization. It was American drivers on the trucks of the Mallet Reserve that hauled the French troops who made their startling appearance just in time to close the hole made in the English army back of Saint-Quentin. It was also these American drivers who transported the reserves of artillery which enabled the French troops to stop the advance of the Germans toward Compiègne. [...]

The men of the American Mission, Mallet Reserve, were in all the desperate fighting that checked the German drive across the Aisne and held them at Château-Thierry. They hauled American troops, of the 26th Division and Marines, to the lines about Château-Thierry and the battles in which they won so much glory.

Frank O. Robinson (TMU184), "Summary of the History of the Camion Service under the U.S. Army", in History of the American Field Service in France, "Friends of France," 1914-1917, Told by its Members. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1920. Volume III.

 

Postscript

THE PASSING OF THE MALLET'S RESERVE

Reserve Mallet in which many Americans of the old American Field Service did their bit last fall a year ago on the Chemin des Dames is now only a name.

Commandant Mallet its leader, has left the reserve and gone to India on a mission for the French government, and while the organization will still bear his name, to many of those in it who knew Major Mallet it will hardly be the same Reserve Mallet, with the Major gone.

The announcement that Major Mallet was to leave was made somewhat unexpectedly November 28. Officers of the Reserve gave a farewell dinner to him in Sedan on that date and presented him with a silver loving cup as a testimonial of their appreciation of his leadership during the severity and hardship which they and all the Reserve have known since last March.

Major Mallet sailed from Marseilles December 2. Capt. Langlois of the French army is now in command of the Reserve and be will be relieved shortly by Captain Pavillon.

AFS Bulletin, December 1918