In Harm's Way: Enemy Fire
For Some, the Enemy Too Soon
Charles Wagner was to sail for Europe as part of the 107th Ammunition Train in January 1918. The men would first set out from Waco over the Texas and Pacific Railway in troop trains, headed for Ft. Merritt in Tenafly, New Jersey. aFrom there they were to take ferries to the Hoboken piers and depart on the SS Tuscania.
Troops bound for World War I disembark the Tenafly ferry at Hoboken.
Wikipedia
The night before Wagner's Company was due to leave Camp MacArthur, however, a blizzard hit, marooning the men in their tents for several days. In Hoboken, the Tuscania left on schedule, carrying those Companies of the 107th that had departed earlier, and also soldiers from other units, last-minute fill-ins for the vacancies caused by the Texas snowstorm. During the voyage, the protection of the convoy and its escort was almost good enough - near the Hebrides, the vessel was torpedoed by U-boat UB-77. Of the 2,000 men on board, 210 lost their lives when the Tuscania sank.
In the meantime, Pvt. Wagner's Company had reached Hoboken. On February 1st it sailed on SS Orduna - but the names of a number of its men, including Charles Wagner, were crossed off the Passengers List before the ship could depart. A published history of the 107th alludes to some men being unable to travel because of "childhood diseases": mumps, chicken pox, and measles. The latter was especially dangerous; if untreated, it might lead to meningitis. Evidently, Wagner was one of those affected. A week later, he and a number of the others finally sailed on a third ship, SS Finland.
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No Place for the Faint of Heart
Ship after ship, U.S. Army units kept arriving in France. There were additional months of training with new weapons, and in July, the first 1,000,000 battle-ready Americans finally moved to the Front. The U.S.Q.M.C. laid out its routes and set up its depots. The Supply Trains began their perilous grind along the Front, and they had a new cargo to haul. After years of combat, the trenches were rife with lice. Hence the birth of the "Sanitation Train," which brought spray nozzles, hoses, and tanker trucks filled with de-lousing chemicals to the fighting men.
It was hard for the Trains to avoid enemy fire for long. Artillery shells perforated the roadways; biplanes occasionally flew overhead and strafed people on the ground. At night, crews might reluctantly decide to sleep under their vehicles, as the enemy knew where their quarters were, and sometimes shelled them. Per Charles Wagner's entry on the list of passengers sailing from Hoboken, he was part of Company E, which the history of the 107th describes as a "Horsed Company" (i.e., not a "Motor Company"). Horse-drawn wagons slowly bringing ammunition to the Front must have been very attractive targets indeed for enemy gunners.
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