OneManGang
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2004
- Messages
- 2,038
- Likes
- 9,674
Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Alabama
For all my faithful readers who live in the Nashville area, or if you will be visiting Music City during the weekend of 6-7 November: Come join me at the kickoff for Tennessee's commemoration of the Centennial of World War I. There will be events in three separate venues. The link below has details. All events are open and free to the public. Your Humble Scribe will be a featured presenter delivering a lecture on Tennesseans who served in other armies before the United States entered the War in April, 1917. My lecture will be in the Auditorium of the Tennessee State Museum at 2pm on the 7th.
Tennessee Great War Commission
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming ...
Butch Jones took his Team 119 to Tuscaloosa to face the Mighty Integral of the SEC. Nick Saban's Alabamians are tough, they are hot and they are lucky which is a championship formula anywhere. The outcome came down to the ability of kickers to make field goals. Unfortunately, the yips which have bedeviled Aaron Medley for the entire season chose Saturday to manifest themselves with such force that the Orange-clad faithful were left making reference to the old adage regarding the southern end of a northbound male bovine and a double bass viol.
Tennessee is on its way back to football respectability, but is not quite there yet. Alabama has been ranked in the top ten for eight of the last ten seasons and has racked up three national championships in the same time period. Tennessee's manifest shortcomings over the same period have been the subject of much wailing and gnashing of teeth here on VolNation and on sports radio shows across the Volunteer State.
Nick Saban was named Head Mahout in 2007. Tennessee has had FOUR Head Vols since then, including Saban's own Offensive Coordinator whose departure from Knoxville led to a run on mattresses and lighter fluid.
Our Beloved Vols may have lost but they did not get beat.
Better days are ahead.
---
The village of Bellicourt sits atop the nose of a nondescript ridge in northern France. However, the ridge it sits upon is rather remarkable. In a feat of early nineteenth century engineering, the St. Quentin Canal, a project undertaken on the orders of Napoleon to improve water communications, runs through a tunnel under that part of the ridge. The tunnel features masonry walls and concrete entrances. The tunnel is about three miles long and stretches from Bellicourt in the south to Bony in the North.
In late September, 1918, the St. Quentin Canal had been worked into a massive and deep fortified area on the Western Front known as the Hindenburg Line, named for the Chief of the German General Staff. The point where the line left the banks of the canal and went over the nose of the ridge in front of Bellicourt was an obvious weakness. They made this apparent weakness into a strength and fortified the area west of Bony and Bellicourt so extensively that they believed nobody, not even Sir Henry Rawlinson, the hero of the Somme, would be foolish enough to attack there. The Germans sealed the entrances to the tunnel itself with concrete and steel and, using a number of barges inside, converted it into a vast barracks impervious to any artillery fire. They then dug connecting tunnels to key points on the surface so troops could be sent there without being exposed to fire.
It was a defensive line like no other. Capt. Reese Amis of the 30th Division recalled that the Hindenburg Line had been, fortified accordingly with all the ingenuity and Deviltry of the Hun. It featured concrete bunkers and machine-gun nests and miles of trenches behind thousands of acres of barbed-wire entanglements.
Five British divisions had tried to take Bellicourt. All five had failed. Gen. Rawlinson now turned to his Americans. He had two divisions of Yanks at his disposal plus an Australian Corps. The Aussies were widely regarded as some of the finest assault troops in France and the Americans had manpower the likes of which the British hadn't seen since 1914. They would do nicely. The true nature of fighting on the Western Front would surely knock those cocksure Americans down a peg or two. It was all good.
The US Army's 27th Division (New York National Guard) and the 30th Division would lead the assault. The 30th was formed from the Tennessee (117th Infantry Regiment), South Carolina (118th Infantry) and North Carolina (119th and 120th Infantries) National Guard units. The needs of the service being what they were, Tennesseans found themselves assigned to serve with the Palmettos and Tar Heels and vice-versa.
Two boys from the Volunteer State in the 119th Infantry waited for the preliminary barrage to lift and go Over the Top and commence the attack. It was the early morning of 29 September. Sergeant Joe Adkison of C Company and First Sergeant Milo Lemert in G Company steadied their men and waited. C Company was on the far right of the line and actually faced the canal itself rather than the ridge.
At the appointed hour, whistles blew up and down the line and the Americans left their trenches and moved out. The last bit of the British cannonade had contained smoke shells. Major Nate Callen of the 117th stated later, The ground mists, so prevalent in this section of the country, began to rise and within 15 minutes nothing over six feet from one could been seen. Nothing could be heard but a roar, nothing could be seen.
Sgt. Adkison led his men down the steep embankment toward the canal. If the mist and smoke lifted they would be under fire from not only the far bank but also from those d*mned machine guns sited in the tunnel entrance to his left. Adkison did not hesitate, holding his rifle and equipment high, he swam the frigid canal and his platoon did likewise.
Sgt. Joseph B. Adkison. (Tennessee State Library and Archives)
On the far bank now, the Germans began to get wise to what was going on and woke up. Sgt. Adkison's platoon soon came under fire from one particularly stubborn nest and after several minutes of kissing the ground and seeing his buddies get hit the young man who hailed from Egypt, Tennessee in Haywood County just north of Memphis, decided just as Ed Talley, Alvin York, Buck Karnes and Calvin Ward would a week later, that enough was BY GOD enough and charged the Germans.
When he reached the machine gun he KICKED the 150lb gun into the hole pinning the three Germans manning the infernal weapon under it and took them prisoner. When the rest of the platoon caught up with him, they found him prodding the Germans into turning the gun around to open fire on their own positions.
From his Medal of Honor Citation: When murderous machinegun fire at a range of 50 yards had made it impossible for his platoon to advance, and had caused the platoon to take cover, Sergeant. Adkison alone, with the greatest intrepidity, rushed across the 50 yards of open ground directly into the face of the hostile machinegun, kicked the gun from the parapet into the enemy trench, and at the point of the bayonet captured the 3 men manning the gun. The gallantry and quick decision of this soldier enabled the platoon to resume its advance.
Joe Adkison returned home and lived quietly in Atoka, Tennessee just down the road from Munford High School which would produce Vol legend Johnnie Jones who was Tennessee's first thousand-yard rusher. Joe died in 1965 and sleeps in the churchyard of the Salem Presbyterian Church in Atoka.
Off to the left, 1st Sgt. Lemert's boys were in a similar sticky wicket. The only difference was that his boys were facing a series of machine gun nests. 1st Sgt. Lemert had been born in Marshalltown, Iowa. He attended Kansas State University and later moved to Crossville where he settled down and worked his farm alongside his beloved wife, Nellie.
In July, Milo wrote to his Mama, "I am a pretty good soldier and am proud of it....As for me I can shut my eyes an dream such sweet dreams of Tenn. that I am sure I will have to be chained in heaven if I do get bumped off in No mans Land."
Milo Lemert. (CMoH Convention)
Using a rifle, grenades, and more guts than any three men should have, Lemert charged four German nests in turn, knocking them out. He fell on the parapet of the fourth.
From his Medal of Honor citation: Seeing that the left flank of his company was held up, he located the enemy machinegun emplacement, which had been causing heavy casualties. In the face of heavy fire he rushed it single-handed, killing the entire crew with grenades. Continuing along the enemy trench in advance of the company, he reached another emplacement, which he also charged, silencing the gun with grenades. A third machinegun emplacement opened up on him from the left and with similar skill and bravery he destroyed this also. Later, in company with another sergeant, he attacked a fourth machinegun nest, being killed as he reached the parapet of the emplacement. His courageous action in destroying in turn 4 enemy machinegun nests prevented many casualties among his company and very materially aided in achieving the objective.
His beloved Nellie accepted the Medal on his behalf.
His brother and fellow 119th soldier, Nathan, wrote to their mother, "There is no use to grieve, tho Mama...He died like a man and hero. No one can die a braver death than he did...Every man in the company loved him and would do anything for him...His last words were, I am finished, boys, give them hell....I helped bury him. We put him with the rest of our boys who were killed."
If you can read that without a lump in the throat, you need help.
17 April 1918 found career sailor Ship's Cook 3rd Class Jesse Whitfield Covington, also of Egypt, Tennessee, aboard the destroyer USS Stewart escorting an ammunition ship, the steamer Florence H carrying a load of smokeless powder destined for the artillery.
The Florence H vanished in a titanic internal explosion which scattered men and flaming boxes of powder all over the place. Seeing one man in particular distress and ignoring the exploding boxes, Jesse Covington jumped into the water and saved the man's life.
From his Medal of Honor citation: For extraordinary heroism following (the) internal explosion of the Florence H. The sea in the vicinity of wreckage was covered by a mass of boxes of smokeless powder, which were repeatedly exploding. Jesse W. Covington, of the U.S.S. Stewart, plunged overboard to rescue a survivor who was surrounded by powder boxes and too exhausted to help himself, fully realizing that similar powder boxes in the vicinity were continually exploding and that he was thereby risking his life in saving the life of this man.
Jesse Whitfield Covington later in life. (US Navy)
Chief Steward Covington retired from the Navy in 1935. He slipped his earthly moorings in 1966 and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Portsmouth, Virginia.
At the end of the movie The Bridges at Toko-Ri James Michener's fictional Admiral asks the question, Where do we get such men?
I don't know either, but I am awed and forever thankful that we do.
---
The 2015 edition of the Tennessee Volunteers took Alabama to the limit Saturday but still came up short. This will change. One takeaway from this is that over the last several decades the Vol-Crimson Tide series has been rather streaky in that both teams tend to reel off consecutive victories over the other for a period of years.
Better days are ahead.
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
It wasn't so much the number of errors on the part of Tennessee that lead to this loss, it was the timing. In order to prevail in Tuscaloosa, any team has to play near error-free football. Our young Vols simply aren't there yet.
But they will be. They will be.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way SCORE!
I'm not real sure if 50-plus yard field goal attempts count as being in scoring position but it was what was available.
3. If at first the game or the breaks go against you, dont let up PUT ON MORE STEAM!
Given the general trend of the Alabama series of late, the Boys in Orange should have lost by double-digits. They did not. Granted, Coach Sabin, in a tip of the hat, called off the elephants on the Tennessee five as time expired. But the score stands.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Tennessee's patchwork offensive line is sort of like the Little Girl with the Little Curl. When they are good they are very, very, good. But when they are bad ...
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
Joshua Dobbs continued to inspire his troops and kept Tennessee in the game.
TV shot of the day: there was a Tennessee fan in the stands at Bryant-Denny wearing an astronaut's helmet.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
0-3 on field goals. Not good enough. Not nearly. If young Medley had hit even two of those cigars would have been lit from Memphis to Mountain City.
7. Carry the fight to Alabama and keep it there for sixty minutes.
On the dot, but it still wasn't enough.
Head Vol Jones stated bluntly after the game that at Tennessee there is no such thing as a moral victory. Another couple of recruiting classes like his first three and the Alabamians will be talking of such things.
Better days are ahead.
Brick by Brick, Baby!
MAXOMG
Suggested Reading:
Capt. Reese Amis (editor), Knox County in the World War
Captain Nathaniel Callan, The 30th Division In the Attack on the Hindenburg Line Near Bellicourt September 23-29, 1918 Paper prepared for the Company Officers Course, Fort Benning
Elmer Murphy and Robert Thomas, The Thirtieth Division in the World War
© 2015
Keeping Your Stories Alive
Last edited:
