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1918 - Premiers prisonniers allemands de la 37ème division américaine
 

Billets and bullets of 37 division : cartoons and ragtime
Don Palmer - Jack Kons
1919

First Prisoners

Ohio had hardly stepped into the front line trenches in the Baccarat Sector when volunteers from the 147th Infantry, eager to see the difference between a German who admitted it and the German-Americans who camouflaged themselves behind steins of beer and pinochle boards, went crawling over the top into “No Man's Land.”
It so happened that for many weeks four Germans had been enjoying life in a P. P. (Petit Post). The sector was a quiet one and in their dull minds was to remain a quiet one. They were squatting very comfortably on the ground discussing the world (as a part of Germany) and arguing as to their share in the division of Cincinnati, Milwaukee and St. Louis when those cities were captured by Wilhelm and his squad of submarines.
One had visions of turning the breweries in Cincinnati into Krupp works for the final attack against Mars. He did not know that Ohio had gone dry and soft drinks were the still among those whose blood ran like water. Dreams of “der Vaterland” and home sunk into their brains.
When in this state of happy intoxication they were rudely awakened by “dough boys” from Ohio who prodded them in the ribs as they yelled “Kamerad” to notify the other hound dogs further back in the trenches. Back across “No Man's Land” they were marched to be surrounded by curious soldiers as soon as they struck the “duck boards” in the American lines.
They were the first prisoners taken by the 37th Division on the morning of August 2, 1918 and were from the 40th Ersatz Regiment, 96th German Division. They were captured near the village of Ancerviller in Alsace-Lorraine.

La photographie des quatre prisonniers allemands (et de la patrouille américaine ayant procédé à cette capture près d'Ancerviller) est sans doute celle présentée à l'article 1918 - Photographies de la 37^ème division américaine, et reproduite ci-dessous. Il est d'ailleurs aussi fort probable que cette capture soit non celle du 2, mais du 5 août, effectuée au Hameau d'Ancerviller.