Destruction of Enemy Traps and Mines

Abstract : A week or so after the armistice, the 304th Engineers were visited by a staff officer from G. H. Q., .a Colonel of Engineers. Regimental headquarters were still on Samogneux Hill, along the Meuse and north of Verdun some 11 or 12 kilometers. It was here on this barren and muddy slope that the regiment had dug in on November 1, and it was here that regimental headquarters stayed until December 26, the day after that memorable Christmas of 1918. The staff officer had under his arm a great roll of maps, American, French and German. These were unfolded, and then ensued a long conference which included general instructions and details for the clearing of several extensive areas of enemy traps and mines, as well as removing (policing) from these designated areas duds, grenades, flares and, in short, every article of an explosive or dangerous nature. The Colonel s orders were explicit, direct, and definite. The task was uncanny and, to the mind of a man with troops, unwise and a hazard unnecessary for our men to undertake. However, war is war, and orders are orders; so, with due dispatch, the regiment went to its task. The orders covered the removal of traps, mines, duds, mined dugouts, etc., in three major areas and five minor areas, all known to be intensively organized by this means of defense and generally shown on the captured German maps with more or less accuracy. These maps, both German and French, would, in some cases, show traps and mines which did not exist but, more frequently, whole series of traps, which had never been plotted on the maps, would be discovered. In the first case, it was assumed that it had been planned to place mines in a certain location for certain defense purposes and, for lack of time, labor, or other reason, the scheme or location had been neglected or abandoned.