What Happened at Cierges?

Cierges Today, Les Jomblets Wood in Distance

Every unit that saw action in France during the war, fought actions that would forever be uniquely associated with them. The Marine Brigade at Belleau Wood is the most famous example. It appears in every history of the war. Many such operations, though, don't make it into the general history books but are remembered mostly by the veterans who served there and their families. A good example of this is a little village six miles north of the River Marne.

"Mopping Up Cierges" by Wallace Morgan

The 32nd National Guard Division moved into the line of advance for the Second Battle of the Marne on 30 July 1918. Its initial task was to work in collaboration with  the Pennsylvanians of the 28th Division.  The following day the 127th Infantry of the 32nd Division captured a little village in a hollow named Cierges at about 1400 hrs. They continued on and attempted to capture Les Jomblets Wood and Bellevue Farm on the heights just north of the village. They were forced by heavy hostile fire to fall back from that wood.

"Destroyed Boche Ammunition Dump at Cierges"
by George Mathews Harding

On the next day, in an attack made in the early morning, the division captured Les Jomblets and established itself about half a mile farther on. There the troops repulsed a counterattack made shortly after daybreak. About  0900., however, they were driven back by a fierce German counterattack supported by artillery.  That afternoon Les Jombles  was finally taken and held by the 32nd

Division as the result of two separate regimental assaults. 

Although there's no breakout of the casualties attributable to the fighting around Cierges, they were a significant part of the 4,500 killed and wounded the division suffered for the nine days it was in the line, from 30 July to 7 August. Afterward the French nicknamed the 32nd Division Les Terribles and requested they remain in the sector when the other American units were reassigned.

As Cierges Appeared in 1918 by Earnest Peixotto

Cierges was a small action but remembered long afterward for the intensity of the fighting by the veterans of the division.  Two items of interest drew my attention to the fight at Cierges. In October, the division would capture a village with a similar name Cierges-sous-Montfaucon during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. This caused some confusion on the battlefield tours I used to lead. Also, for some reason, Cierges drew the attention of the AEF's official war artists, so I was able to use their work in illustrating this article.