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Robert Howard Gamble Robert Howard Gamble(1893-1918)2nd Lieut. 11th InfantryU.S. 5th DivisionDuring the Great War[all thumbnail imageson these three pages are click-able for more detail] Robert Howard Gamble was born January17, 1893 in Narberth, Pennsylvania, into a familywhich had contributed soldiers and officers to every war in America'shistory. Twenty-five years later, early in the morning of September12, 1918, 2nd Lieutenant Robert Gamble would end his life charginga German machine-gun in the American attack at St. Mihiel. Itwas two months before the armistice concluding the War to EndAll Wars.Gamble was an energetic, frolicsome youth. His great-niecerecounted that as a teenager he often climbed a tree in the Gamble'sHaverford, Pennsylvania backyard, to sneak a cigar. When his mothercaught him, Mrs. Gamble used to scold her six foot three inchson: "you'll stunt your growth."Gamble went to prep school at Andover where he was in the K.O.A.Society. He is listed as an alumnus of the Andover class of 1911,but actually left in 1910 with his studies incomplete, to enrollat Yale.At Yale Gamble played on the soccer team all four years. Hissenior year his teammates voted him Captain. He was a member ofAlpha Delta Phi, and evidently enjoyed fraternity life a littletoo much since he neglected his studies and lingered on the vergeof expulsion.His father Dr. Gamble called the President of the PhiladelphiaGas Company, and asked for the toughest, most horrific summerjob the company had. Dr. Gamble said he intended that his sonwould "learn what it is like to earn a living." YoungRobert spent that summer humping radiators on his back, sellingthem door-to-door in Kensington, a stultifyingly hot, smelly,dangerous, remote section of Philadelphia.The first evening Robert arrived home sweaty and exhaustedand collapsed in a chair unable to speak, just as his mother cameflowing downstairs, dressed for dinner."You will stand up when your mother enters the room,"commanded his father, "And you will make conversation withher. You should ask what kind of day she's had."The next semester Robert's performance at Yale improved considerably.After graduation Gamble spent a summer in training at the PlattsburgMilitary Camp. Then he took a job in the freight office of thePennsylvania Railroad.After America's declaration of war in the Spring of 1917, onAugust 27, 1917 Gamble enlisted and entered Officers' TrainingCamp at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. Upon completion of the course hewas offered the choice of a billet as a 1st Lieutenant in theNational Army, or as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Regular Army. Hechose the latter expecting it would get him to France sooner. RobertH.Gamble is listed in the Official History of the Fifth Division(from which much of the following chronology is drawn) as havingjoined Company A of the11th Infantry, 10th Brigade, 5thDivision,U.S. Expeditionary Forces, in December 1917. It indicateshe served with the Division at Anould, St. Die, and finally inthe St. Mihiel Operation.The Division began forming in November 1917 as part of an urgentmilitary build-up precipitated by what writer James Hallas called"President Wilson's three years of hand-wringing neutralityand neglect of the nation's military."On April 1, 1918 the Division was ordered to Europe. LieutenantGamble's 11th Infantry regiment sailed for Liverpool. Accordingto the Division History "England was wild over American troopsand hailed them unreservedly as the coming saviors of the Alliedcause." By train they crossed to Southampton and from there"the rough Channel crossing was made to Le Havre."The 11th Infantry arrived in France May 8th. "The atmosphereof France was a shock after the cheer of England. Everyone worethe funeral-air. Those days of April and May were grave and menacingto the French, for the Germans had launched their last great offensivethat was to win or lose the war." Aseach unit arrived, immediately they began intensive training intrench warfare under French instructors. Training was interruptedon May 18th, when the11th Infantry assembled on a field near Soulainesto receive the gift of its regimental standard. The Marquis deDompiere, a descendent of the Duc de Rochambeau who fought inthe American Revolutionary War (along with one of Gamble'sforebears) gave a speech. The 11th Infantry received its officialstandard bearing the inscription "From the sons of the Frenchchampions of American liberty to the American champions for Franceand Humanity."After an inspection in late May by General Pershing, Commander-in-Chiefof the American Expeditionary Forces, the 5th Division was declaredready for the front. Theirfirst assignment was the Anould sector near Vosges, where the"only activities were patrolling and raiding by the infantryand occasional harassing fire by the artillery." Combat groupswere amalgamated half French, half American. The trenches weresettled and permanent, concrete reinforced, and pocked with deepsubterranean dugout shelters. Positions had been stationary solong that "the camouflage was that of nature: observationposts, battery positions and machine gun nests were overgrownand hidden by moss, vines, and bushes." Each side had mappedout exactly the location of the others' roads and trenches andif any activity showed they "were promptly subjected to heavyshelling." Here the 5th Division took their first casualtieswhen German artillery killed private Joseph Kanieski and woundedCaptain M.W. Clark.A picture from this time shows a grinning Lt. Gamble in frontof his dugout with his gas mask hanging around his neck, standingjauntily propped against a cane whittled with a viper spiralingtoward the handle. Discoveringthat there were new and presumably gullible troops in the area,the Germans bombarded the Americans with propaganda. It had nodiscernible effect. According to the Division History "severalweeks' occupation of the trenches, with constant patrolling ofNo Man's Land and frequent sharp encounters with the enemy, benefitedthe Division. The men had developed esprit-de-corps and theirmorale was high."Lt. Gamble's letters home aboutthis time indicate a cheerful self-confidence. On July 8, 1918he penciled a note reassuring his mother that things were quiet,and that with little to do he was getting the opportunity to learn"the habits and worth of each one of my men." "Itdoesn't take long here," he said. He also reported that hewasn't getting much sleep in his dugout, not because of the Germansbut because of nightly raids on his supply of bacon, by rats.On July 11th 1918 Lt. Gamble described duty in the trenchesin another letter tohis sister Eleanor Gamble [James] known affectionately as"Nell:"  There isn't a bit more news of interest to write about from here--because I have been located in this little two by four dugout for the last ten days and haven't seen anything of the world except a glimpse now and then of the sky through the trees. I'm awake all night and get what sleep I can during the day time which often isn't very much. We have had fine weather up until yesterday when it started in to rain and has been raining ever since in such a way that it doesn't look like it knows how to stop. The result is everything is full of mud and we are all pretty well soaked. [After commenting on a spate of weddings back home, Lt. Gamble's letter teases]: "[y]ou needn't fear about me and les belles filles over here as I haven't seen one for over a month and don't expect to anymore because from now on as I think we will be in parts where they don't dwell for the rest of our time. There is one over in America that I think a great deal of and one of these days I will tell you all about her. Now don't get excited because there isn't any cause to and you can rest assured that all the future Mrs. Rbt. G.'s will be the best in the U.S.A."The letter also recounts a recent mission: "I don't knowwhether I told the family of my experience at riding horsebackover here or not. Anyway one afternoon I had to ride about tenmiles out and reconnoiter a road and then return and make a report.I managed to do it but you can bet I made the old nag take iteasy. Because I found when he started to trot I would always becoming down as he was coming up and it wasn't too pleasant."While an upbeat letter overall, there is a hint of somber foreboding."Tell Dad that from time to time I am going to send backmoney and find that there is little use for it over here and alittle goes a long way. Do whenever any comes either put it awayor use it as he sees fit--first of all I want him to pay my insurancepremiums out of it. I want him to do this now and also take outwhatever I owe him."Gamble's letter concludes: Well little Nell, I see I'm getting to the bottom of this page and as paper is scarce and there isn't much news that I can write about I think I will stop. Write more often as letters from home are the most looked for and most appreciated thing a soldier in France can have. Goodness and loads of love to all the family and remember me to all the newlyweds etc. Your brother, Bob PS. You all will probably get an avalanche of letters about this time but its just because siting alone in a dugout isn't much fun and it takes you away from present conditions RHGAfter they were relieved at Vosges the 5th Division was nextordered to St. Die with the 11th Infantry Regiment sent to Ban-de-Sapt.Here, on August 17th their first attack occurred, against a Germansalient (bulge in the lines) at Frapelle. H-hour was 4:00a.m.The Division History suggests "[e]vidently the enemy wasprepared for the attack, for his counter-barrage came down uponthe departure trench at exactly 4:06a.m. and caught the second,third and fourth waves. With considerable losses the troops passedthrough the heavy and accurate barrage toward their objectives." Althoughthe American assault at Frapelle succeeded, over the next threedays the Germans retaliated with a massive bombardment saturatingthe newly-won territory with high explosive and salvos of mustardgas. "The wooded areas, overgrown with thick underbrush andfilled with depressions were drenched with fumes," and despiteprecautions men were gassed "when reliefs and working partieshad to pass through the deep ravines and valleys leading acrosswhat had been No Man's Land, which were full of mustard gas allthe time.""Frapelle was the first operation of any kind that theDivision had engaged in, and the men went through it splendidly,like veteran troops. They had advanced undaunted in the face ofan intense and accurate barrage and then remained in the new positionssubjected for three days and nights to constant artillery fireand continuous danger from gas. The casualties were rather severe,amounting to sixteen percent of the troops engaged."The Germans who had previously viewed the raw American troopswith skepticism, paid them the compliment of nicknaming them "Teufelhunden"[Devil-dogs]. continue |
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