“We got shelled quite a little by Fritz, one of my men got wounded. The first drive we all made came after this morning. The 28th Inf made a drive at Cantigny. I was a first aid man. I dressed wounded and rescued wounded and dead. Lost both of my canteens of water by a French tank going over the hole I was in so had to go without water for 2 hrs. All I got was a little from the dough boys. Fritz sure shelled us and counterattacked. Fritz counterattacked a lot. Sent over lots of gas. Sure was an awful day. I spend a lot of my time digging in.”

Entries of May 28th and 29th, 1918 from the diary of
Pfc. Vernon L. Scobie, Ambulance Co. 2

Courtesy of the
Colonel Robert R. McCormick Research Center

Above: A bird’s-eye view of the battlefield at Cantigny. Artillery, whose presence is marked by the numerous holes from constant shelling, was a dominant offensive tool during the battle. Signal Corps Photograph courtesy of the Colonel Robert R. McCormick Center