XII
CONSOLIDATING IN LORRAINE
The second battalion followed close on the heels of the first. Major Wanvig and his staff arrived in Baccarat with Battery D at midnight July 10th. Battery E came in on the morning of the 11th, and Battery T that after- noon. Major Wanvig established his echelon near the Supply and Headquarters Companies in the woods above Bertrichamps.
The major with Lieutenant Fenn, his acting adjutant, Lieutenant Church, acting telephone officer, and Captains Starbuck, Storer, and Mitchell, commanding the three batteries, made his reconnaissance on July 12th.
These reconnaissances for the relief of the French, as has been said, all shared the same surprises and the same hospitality. The conditions the Second Battalion found, however, differed in some ways from those met by the First. To begin with the French group had only two batteries in position. It was decided to place Balleries D and E in their emplacements. A new position was chosen for Battery I to the right of the Neuf Maisons-Vacquerville road.
The group command post was in Vacquerville, a pleasant little village which shell fire had spared. Major Wanvig moved into the Frenchmen's quarters and offices. Scotland was the inherited name of the command post and Godfrin of the battalion observatory.
Here, too, the question of observation offered no perfect answer. Godfrin was not better than Nenette, nor had it
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