Private John Gall
John Gall was born in Passaic, New Jersey on June 27th, 1892 to Michael Gall and Mary (Maria) Arvai, both Austro-Hungarian immigrants. Shortly after giving birth to John, the Gall family relocated to Allegheny, Pennsylvania where he would attend a new school and continue his education. After graduation, John moved back to New Jersey to work as a millhand at New Jersey Worsted Spinning Co while a World War consumed the world abroad, including his parents place of birth. The United States formally entered the war in April of 1917 and John signed up for the draft. Nearly a year passed before he was finally called into service on April 1st, 1918 due to the rapid need for soldiers to bring American units up to full wartime strength. One such unit was the 78th Infantry Division, located at Camp Dix, New Jersey. New draftees from the surrounding area were quickly transported to the division, including Private Gall who was assigned to Battery F, 308th Field Artillery Regiment. Training was increased substantially due to having enough soldiers to warrant an overseas deployment in the future, however those who arrived in April only had about a month of training before the division was ordered to the Port of Embarkation to go overseas.
Private Gall’s Battery F boarded the Cedric on May 26th, 1918 and left the very next day for Liverpool, England. The convoy was escorted by destroyers to protect them from enemy submarines, and they did their job well as no ships were sunk or damaged by the time they arrived at their destination on June 8th. While the infantry regiments of the division disembarked and assembled at Folkstone, Private Gall and the artillery regiments quickly crossed the English Channel, landed at the Port of Le Havre, and marched to Camp de Meucon. Here, they met their French allies, who for the next eight weeks would teach them how to operate French 75 mm artillery pieces. Once training was completed, the 308th Field Artillery was quickly moved to the Toul Sector to support the 90th Infantry Division near Pont a Mousson. Unfortunately, the regiment was spotted while marching to their positions and were severely shelled by the Germans, causing multiple casualties. Nevertheless, Private Gall and the 308th Artillery arrived on August 28th, and on September 6th, moved forward to new positions closer to the enemy line in preparation for the St Mihiel Offensive. The attack had been meticulously planned with the goal of crushing the St Mihiel salient and pushing onwards to the city of Metz. |
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St Mihiel Offensive
On the night of September 11th, Private Gall’s 308th Artillery received their orders and the next morning began firing the massive preliminary bombardment set on softening up the German lines to start the offensive. At 5:00 AM, the bombardment ceased and the 308th Field Artillery immediately began firing a rolling barrage to cover the advance of the 90th Infantry Division, who crushed the weakly defended enemy positions. Later on, Private Gall and his regiment were commended by the infantry for how effective the rolling barrage was, saying “it was clock-like in precision and...they had no difficulty in advancing under it.” With the enemy now in full retreat and completely out of range of their 75 mm guns, the 308th Field Artillery moved in front of the Bois le Pretre between the 14th and 16th of September. By then, the St Mihiel Offensive had been completed with enormous success, and the regiment moved once again to the Mamey Sector with the 90th Infantry Division to continue supporting their operations.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
On October 4th, the artillery regiments rejoined the 78th Division to become the First Army Reserve for the massive Meuse Argonne Offensive which had already been underway for nearly a week. Private Gall and the 308th Artillery began their journey to the Futeau region, but due to the lack of animals needed to properly move all the artillery pieces, the men were overwhelmed with work and quickly became fatigued. Nevertheless, they plowed ahead and reached where the infantry were camped on October 10th. Six days later, the division relieved the 77th Division which held a line south of the Aire River and through Chevieres, St Juvin, and a ridge near Sommerance. Immediately, the division was committed to the attack on the town of Grandpre and the Bois de Loges, with Private Gall’s 308th Artillery firing into the town in support of the infantry.
For the next few days, they fired rolling barrages to cover the advances and pummeled enemy positions in Grand Pre, Bois de Bourgogne, Bellejoyeuse Ferme, Ferme des Loges, and the Bois des Loges. After days of bitter fighting and heavy casualties, Grandpre was finally captured and the division pushed partially into the Bois de Bourgogne in preparation for the November 1st attack across the Aire River. Prior to the attack, Private Gall and the artillery regiments fired forty thousand rounds of gas shells into the Bourgogne Woods to make it inaccessible and therefore able to be bypassed. Two hours prior to the attack, the artillery was put to work once again and fired ten thousand rounds into the Bois de Loges to soften up the line. Finally, the attack began under a rolling barrage and was immediately met with heavy resistance from enemy machine gunners and artillery. The infantry dug in until the 155th Brigade routed the German machine gunners from the Bois de Loges, and the attack resumed. The men were making great progress until they reached a road located in the woods. Here, murderous machine gun fire halted any possibilities of advancing further. By the end of the day, the attacking brigades had been reduced to regiment strength and were in urgent need of replacements. Thankfully, progress was made the next day by surrounding regiments who later captured the town of Verrieres, but the 78th Division continued experiencing fierce enemy resistance from the German rear guard, especially on November 4th, which took time to be carefully removed. During the next few days, Les Petites Armoises and Tanney were captured until the division was finally relieved on the 6th by the 42nd Infantry Division. However, Private Gall’s 153rd Artillery Brigade stayed behind to support the 42nd Division as they continued attacking the enemy positions until the Armistice was called on November 11th, 1918, effectively ending the war.
After rejoining the 78th Division, the 308th Field Artillery remained in Europe for the occupation for a few more months until Private Gall boarded the Pasadena on April 26th, 1919 to return home. After landing in New York on May 14th, Gall was finally discharged on May 26th, 1919 after a year in the Army. Settling back in New Jersey, John returned to his previous job at the New Jersey Worsted Spinning Company and became an avid stamp and postcard collector, keeping in touch with people from around the world in places such as Egypt, England, and France, and became fluent in five languages. Later on, he became a supervisor at Gara Mills in Patterson, New Jersey and married Victoria Jablonski. John would unfortunately pass away on July 26th, 1983 in Passaic, New Jersey and is buried at Lodi Cemetery.
On the night of September 11th, Private Gall’s 308th Artillery received their orders and the next morning began firing the massive preliminary bombardment set on softening up the German lines to start the offensive. At 5:00 AM, the bombardment ceased and the 308th Field Artillery immediately began firing a rolling barrage to cover the advance of the 90th Infantry Division, who crushed the weakly defended enemy positions. Later on, Private Gall and his regiment were commended by the infantry for how effective the rolling barrage was, saying “it was clock-like in precision and...they had no difficulty in advancing under it.” With the enemy now in full retreat and completely out of range of their 75 mm guns, the 308th Field Artillery moved in front of the Bois le Pretre between the 14th and 16th of September. By then, the St Mihiel Offensive had been completed with enormous success, and the regiment moved once again to the Mamey Sector with the 90th Infantry Division to continue supporting their operations.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive
On October 4th, the artillery regiments rejoined the 78th Division to become the First Army Reserve for the massive Meuse Argonne Offensive which had already been underway for nearly a week. Private Gall and the 308th Artillery began their journey to the Futeau region, but due to the lack of animals needed to properly move all the artillery pieces, the men were overwhelmed with work and quickly became fatigued. Nevertheless, they plowed ahead and reached where the infantry were camped on October 10th. Six days later, the division relieved the 77th Division which held a line south of the Aire River and through Chevieres, St Juvin, and a ridge near Sommerance. Immediately, the division was committed to the attack on the town of Grandpre and the Bois de Loges, with Private Gall’s 308th Artillery firing into the town in support of the infantry.
For the next few days, they fired rolling barrages to cover the advances and pummeled enemy positions in Grand Pre, Bois de Bourgogne, Bellejoyeuse Ferme, Ferme des Loges, and the Bois des Loges. After days of bitter fighting and heavy casualties, Grandpre was finally captured and the division pushed partially into the Bois de Bourgogne in preparation for the November 1st attack across the Aire River. Prior to the attack, Private Gall and the artillery regiments fired forty thousand rounds of gas shells into the Bourgogne Woods to make it inaccessible and therefore able to be bypassed. Two hours prior to the attack, the artillery was put to work once again and fired ten thousand rounds into the Bois de Loges to soften up the line. Finally, the attack began under a rolling barrage and was immediately met with heavy resistance from enemy machine gunners and artillery. The infantry dug in until the 155th Brigade routed the German machine gunners from the Bois de Loges, and the attack resumed. The men were making great progress until they reached a road located in the woods. Here, murderous machine gun fire halted any possibilities of advancing further. By the end of the day, the attacking brigades had been reduced to regiment strength and were in urgent need of replacements. Thankfully, progress was made the next day by surrounding regiments who later captured the town of Verrieres, but the 78th Division continued experiencing fierce enemy resistance from the German rear guard, especially on November 4th, which took time to be carefully removed. During the next few days, Les Petites Armoises and Tanney were captured until the division was finally relieved on the 6th by the 42nd Infantry Division. However, Private Gall’s 153rd Artillery Brigade stayed behind to support the 42nd Division as they continued attacking the enemy positions until the Armistice was called on November 11th, 1918, effectively ending the war.
After rejoining the 78th Division, the 308th Field Artillery remained in Europe for the occupation for a few more months until Private Gall boarded the Pasadena on April 26th, 1919 to return home. After landing in New York on May 14th, Gall was finally discharged on May 26th, 1919 after a year in the Army. Settling back in New Jersey, John returned to his previous job at the New Jersey Worsted Spinning Company and became an avid stamp and postcard collector, keeping in touch with people from around the world in places such as Egypt, England, and France, and became fluent in five languages. Later on, he became a supervisor at Gara Mills in Patterson, New Jersey and married Victoria Jablonski. John would unfortunately pass away on July 26th, 1983 in Passaic, New Jersey and is buried at Lodi Cemetery.