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30th Division: "Old Hickory"

Above: Signal Headquarters, 60th Brigade, 30th Division, near Premont, France, October 7, 1918. Click on image for a larger view.

The 30th Division initially comprised National Guard units from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Its name, "Old Hickory Division," honored President Andrew Jackson, who had connections with all three states. The division garnered several distinctions in the war: it was the first to break the German Hindenburg Line on the Cambrai-St. Quentin front, and its soldiers were awarded more Congressional Medals of Honor than those in any other American division.

Most of the 30th Division soldiers had just returned from the U.S.-Mexican border when the division was called into federal service on July 25, 1917. It was ordered to Camp Sevier, near Greenville, South Carolina, to prepare for war. In October a contingent of draftees arrived to increase the division to full wartime strength of about 27,000 men.

In May 1918 the division traveled to New York and soon left for Europe. After a two-week voyage, the division landed in England, and then departed for France. The 30th Division was assigned to the American 2nd Corps, and attached to the British Army. In June 1918 the division underwent extensive combat training under British supervision, and exchanged American for British equipment and firearms.

"Over There"

3rd Infantry Regiment on state capitol grounds May 9, 1918.

Above: 3rd Infantry Regiment(120th Inf. Reg. 30th Div.) on State Capitol grounds, May 9, 1918. Click on image for a larger view.

On July 2, 1918, the 30th Division was sent to the British 2nd Army in Belgium. On August 16, "Old Hickory" replaced British troops on the front in the trenches near Ypres. While there the division attacked and captured German positions with a loss of 37 dead and 128 wounded.

On September 3, the division withdrew from the front and transferred to the British 4th Army. By September 25, the 30th Division held its position opposite the German Hindenberg Line near Bellicourt, France. On the night of September 27, the 119th and 120th infantry regiments (formerly the 2nd and 3rd North Carolina, respectively), moved into the front lines.

"Old Hickory" Breaks through the Hindenburg Line

Military Collection. World War I. Private Collections. Box 66. Joseph H. Pratt Papers. Operations of the Thirtieth Division, Old Hickory, booklet, n.d.

Above: "The Tale of the Comet" sketch. Click on image for a larger view.

At 5:50 A.M. on September 29, the 119th and 120th infantry regiments went "over the top" supported by British tanks against the enemy lines. Despite high casualties, the 30th Division broke through the Hindenburg Line. By that afternoon, Australian troops passed through the 30th Division and carried on the attack. The attack made by the 30th Division was a tremendous success. The division was credited as the first to break the Hindenburg Line. In addition to a large cache of enemy arms and equipment captured, about 47 German officers and 1,432 soldiers were taken prisoner. For these spoils and the 3,000-yard advance made against enemy lines, the division suffered about 3,000 casualties. This was the greatest loss for North Carolina since the Civil War.

The next day the division was pulled out of the battle, but "Old Hickory" returned to the front on October 5. The 30th Division engaged in severe fighting off and on until October 19, when it received orders to withdraw from combat for the last time. From July through October, the division suffered 1,641 killed, 6,774 wounded, 198 missing, and 27 taken prisoner, for a total of 8,415 losses.

For the remainder of October and until the cease-fire ended the fighting on November 11, 1918, the 30th Division was being reorganized. After the war it remained in France and was not part of the Army of Occupation. In April 1919 the 30th Division soldiers were sent home and discharged.

Note: The 30th Division overview was written by R. Jackson Marshall III, North Carolina Museum of History historian. Read more about the soldiers of the "Old Hickory" division in Marshall's book, Memories of World War I: North Carolina Doughboys on the Western Front (Raleigh: Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1998).

The 30th Division's insignia consists of a blue 'O' for Old and a blue 'H' for Hickory on a red background. The Roman numeral XXX is in the 'H' to represent the 30th Division. In World War II the insignia was turned to better display the H.

Related information:

Read about the 105th Engineers, 30th Division here.

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105th Engineers, 30th Division

Above: "Plan for layout of small shelters," July 1918, Ypres Front, Belgium, 105th Engineers Regiment, 30th Division. Joseph H. Pratt Papers. Click on image for a larger view.

The 105th Regiment of Engineers served in the 30th "Old Hickory" Division as a combat engineer regiment. Over 75 percent of the soldiers in the 105th claimed North Carolina as their home state. The regiment trained at Camp Sevier, South Carolina, for eight months before arriving in France in June 1918. The 105th constructed trenches, shell- and splinter-proof shelters, roads, bridges, buildings, forward water stations, and miles upon miles of barbed wire. The engineers often worked under artillery fire when constructing defensive structures on the East and West Poperighe Trench systems near Ypres, Belgium, near Mount Kemmel, Belgium, the canal sector along the Belgium and French border, and on the Hindenburg Line near Bellicourt, France.

The engineers' duties also included performing gas attacks, and the removal of explosive "booby" traps and mines.

Gas Attack

The 105th Engineers launched several gas attacks against the Germans. On August 26, 1918, near Ypres, Belgium, fifty men from Company F and several men from the 120th Infantry, 30th Division, became victims of their own gas. Unfortunately for the soldiers of the 30th Division, the wind did not sufficiently carry the gas across the German lines and a gas "backlash" encroached upon the American soldiers. The soldiers had their gas masks ready, but the combination of fear, panic, barbed wire, and German machine-gun fire resulted in the death of three soldiers in the 105th and twenty casualties in the 120th Infantry Regiment. Read about the incident in the following primary documents below.

Gas Attack of August 26th. Click on the image to read the document.

Secret: Report on Gas Attack. Click on the image to read the document.

"Booby Traps"

Colonel Joseph Hyde Pratt. 105th Engineers, 30th Division.

Above: Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt, 105th Engineers, 30th Division.

Removing booby traps and mines left behind by enemy troops proved to be one of the 105th Engineers' most dangerous responsibilities. Booby traps are explosive devices that are hidden or disguised bombs that detonate when activated by pressure or movement. These devices could be activated in various ways, such as stepping on a pressure trigger, or by moving a shovel, book, or helmet that soldiers wanted for souvenirs.

Colonel Pratt, 105th Engineers, 30th Division, wrote in his diary about the clever traps left by the Germans:

"We are constantly on the lookout for mines and Booby Traps. The Hun is very ingenious and nothing is too devilish for him. This past summer when he withdrew from a certain place, he left a pond that had all the appearance of having been used as a swimming place, even had a spring [diving] board in place. A party of Australians came to the pond and got ready to go swimming. The first two dove in but did not come up. Their companions went in after them and found they had been spiked. The Germans had placed upright spikes in the bottom of the swimming pool. A party of our men started to bury a German; as they lifted the body an explosion took place and two of our men were killed. They had used the body to make a "booby trap." We do not bury German dead except on the battlefield, and then only after testing them. The German apparently does everything that will make the rest of the world hate him and desire his destruction." -October 10, 1918. Diary of Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt, page 185.

On October 18, 1918, Colonel Pratt wrote in his diary about another booby trap:

"Today A Company, which was working on the mines and Booby traps, found what was thought to be a mine in the church at St. Martin Reviere. Captain Brooks, who was in charge of the work, took out 300 pounds of Perdite from the church steeple. It was afterwards discovered that this charge of explosive was connected by wires and explosive caps with the front part of the church, and so arranged that when anybody knelt at the altar the Perdite would be exploded. This is one of the most malicious Booby traps we have found." -Diary of Col. Joseph Hyde Pratt, page 193.

To learn what Colonel Pratt meant by "Hun" go to the Index.

To learn more about "Booby Traps" read the army intelligence reports below:

"Summary of Intelligence, September 21 to September 27, 1918." Click on the image to read the document.

"German Traps and Mines," Circular No. 4. Click on the image to read the document.