"It Would Unnerve the Bravest of Men to Go Thru a Place Like That"

Lester Allen McPheron was a soldier with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. His journal describes in detail his experiences on the front lines at the end of the war (specifically Oct. 22- Nov. 11). In his reflections from November 1st, McPheron describes going "over the top" on the front lines, describing the constant shelling from the Germans as they moved forward into no-mans land. This shelling often forced the soldiers to take cover in shell holes to avoid being killed. On his movement forward, McPheron saw many dead soldiers, which he writes was a common sight that people got used to when in no-mans land, and the troops continued into the area that had been held by the Germans. McPheron's journal goes into great detail about his experiences from Nov. 1- Nov. 11 and the things he saw while participating in the Allies final push before the end of the war.

 

[…] the maj said we will have to go now for we have to go at 4:30 at all costs. Very well said the Sgt so on we went thru that awful shell fire, our platoon was on the left and we sure had a Sgt who had plenty of nerve and that is what one had to have in a case of this kind. Every step we took some poor boy fell either dead our [sic] wounded and believe it would unnerve the bravest of men to go thru a place like that was that morning. It was not a surprise to see your pal or comrade with his head blown off and in lots of cases a shell would kill 6 or 8 men and there they would lay on a pile torn beyond recognition […] It was an awful sight to see that morning the ground was almost covered with dead and wounded from both sides. […] By this time the German prisoners had begun to come in by the 100’s some were wounded and able to walk and others badly wounded and had to be carried by there [sic] comrades, they carried there [sic] wounded in a blanket with a pole run thru and the ends tied together it was a pitiful sight to see, some were only boys and some old men[.] One of our men was eating by the side of the road and he let a piece of bread fall on the ground and a German prisoner passing saw it and pointed at it[.] the Yank picked it up and threw it into the bunch of prisoners and I thought they were going to fight over it that was how hungry they were[.] […] There were dead horses laying all over the ground and the smell was not very pleasant- going on a little farther we came to where the Germans had their dugouts and here the dead Huns were laying thick some torn all apart and some looked as if they had died a natural death some were in dug outs when a shell had hit and killed them in bunches. I passed one dead German who was laying on his side and it looked like he had tried raise (sic) up when death overtook him[.] […]

Citation: Lester Allen McPheron Journal. Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, Minnesota. P1789