OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs ETSU
Victory one of the 2018 season has been notched. However ,Tennessee's 59-3 shellacking of hapless ETSU seemed to raise as many questions as it answered. Seriously, folks, isn't Tennessee SUPPOSED to whip teams like ETSU? When a D-9 dozer squares off against a VW Beetle, isn't the Cat SUPPOSED to win? Tennessee's problem, and this dates back to last season, is that our behemoth has less than no confidence in its abilities. Last week, allusion was made to UT's ten-year voyage from perpetual top rankings to near irrelevance. Mud March, indeed.
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The French Sixth Army was melting away under the onslaught of Operation Blucher, the massive German offensive of the Spring of 1918. As part of the effort to stem the feldgrau tide, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) would be taking its first tentative offensive action of the war. On 12 April General Pershing had sent the following message to the Allied Supreme Commander, General Ferdinand Foch, "... I consider the 1st Division ready for active service. ... There is no reason why this division should not take its place actively wherever you desire to place it." Assigned to French VI Army Corps it went into line on 23 April just west of Montdidier.
The Doughboys of the "Big Red One" would be called on to make the debut attack and everyone (except, of course, the Germans) was determined that they would be successful. Under the energetic command of Maj. Gen. Robert L. Bullard, the division went about improving and strengthening its positions and rotating the regiments of its component First Brigade (16th and 18th Infantry Regiments) and Second Brigade (26th and 28th Infantry) into the lines. Even as they improved their defenses, Bullard and his staff began to look for an opportunity to launch an attack.
The 28th Infantry Regiment, commanded by Col. Hanson E. Ely, of Second Brigade faced a small salient in the line around the village of Cantigny. Divisional staff immediately began to formulate plans to take Cantigny, either alone or as part of a larger French operation. Cantigny sat atop a hill that offered an excellent perch for German artillery spotters and fire direction teams. The plan went through a number of modifications and permutations before finally solidifying as an attack by the 28th Infantry supported by French and American artillery and aviation units, French tanks and a French flamethrower section. The debut of the AEF as an offensive force on the Western Front would be a combined arms effort.
The cannons opened fire at 0445 on 28 May and the 28th jumped of at 0645. The assault went off like clockwork: the artillery was on target, the tanks on time and the airedales kept the German planes away. German opposition from the 271st and 272nd Regiments of the 82nd Division was ineffective due to the rolling barrage and interdiction fires by the 1st Division artillery and the close coordination of artillery, armor and infantry. By 0730 the 28th had reached all its objectives and was
consolidating its position.
The French wanted to withdraw their tanks and artillery. The Americans, feeling the situation at Cantigny well in hand, agreed. No sooner had the French departed than the Germans, following their doctrine, began artillery bombardment of the village and the American lines around it. The German 82nd Division began to launch counterattacks beginning at 0900 on the 29th. These counterattacks continued off and on until 1730 on the 30th.
Fortunately for the Americans the German division had been severely disrupted and the coordination between the infantry and artillery was not all it could have been. The 28th Regiment was, even so, stretched to its limits. Col. Ely sent message after message back requesting reinforcements, but German artillery and the continuing attacks made relief difficult. Finally, Ely had had enough. He picked up his field telephone at 2055 on the 29th and bluntly told 2nd Brigade HQ, "Front line pounded to hell and gone, and entire front line must be relieved tomorrow night or I will not be responsible."
The 16th Infantry came up on the 30th and as the battered doughboys of the 28th stumbled to the rear, the last German attacks finally petered out. Then the commanders got down to the business of "counting coup." The 28th had advanced between 300 and 1500 yards along a 2 kilometer front. The Germans lost 175 killed, 636 wounded and 488 missing mostly from the 271st Regiment. The Americans, under the savage artillery fire and counterattacks lost more heavily, 199 KIA, 852 WIA and 16 MIA. Mistakes, sometimes grievous, had been made. Logistics had been a disaster and American inexperience had made matters worse. Despite all the negatives, though, General Pershing's Army had notched its first win.
A single attack by a single regiment in a war that involved millions was not going to dramatically effect the outcome. It did, however, give the Germans something to think about. There were now over a million doughboys in France and that number was growing daily.
A change came over the doughboys as it does for all combat veterans, the survivors of Cantigny would never be the same again. Fellow doughboy, Marine Laurence Stallings, would later write, "The seriously wounded, looking at canvassed roofs crimsoned in the glare, unable to fight back, cursed all Germans. Woodrow Wilson had told them they were making war, not upon the German people, but only on Kaiser Bill and his coterie of villains. Doughboys had left America with an attitude of goodwill that was much frowned on by staff officers; all the doughboys in those tents had known Americans of German birth - the quizzical professor, dreamy musician, kindly doctor, the bartender of a friendly saloon. This attitude of goodwill was changing now; the fears of commanders vanished. ... Kaiser Bill and the War To End War were forgotten. Among the great passions that seized mankind, sometimes the thirst for revenge seemed to the doughboys the noblest."
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A single victory against a third-tier opponent does not, in any way, signal the resurrection of Tennessee's football fortunes. Teams infinitely more powerful than ETSU loom on the horizon. Plays and ploys that worked Saturday will not be as easy to replicate when teams stocked with All-Americans and All-SEC players are on the other side of the ball. But the process has to begin somewhere and why not with Saturday's win?
So how did the team do compared to the Maxims?
1. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
One could argue that showing up at Neyland on Saturday was ETSU's major error. However, it also has to be pointed out that at the end of the first canto, the Vols had eight rushes for (you may have seen this on the nightly traffic accident reports) NEGATIVE one yard. One yearns wistfully for the days of old when the Vol offensive line was dubbed the Tennessee Valley Authority.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
An oskie returned for a touchdown! I don't know what HeadVol Pruitt said to his troops during that rain delay, but it seemed to have gotten their attention.
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don’t let up … PUT ON MORE STEAM!
See above. After the first canto, a collective “uh oh” could be heard from Mountain City to Dyersburg. Fortunately, it was short-lived. I know from personal experience, though, that the boys down at Gus's will leave your sammich in the steamer a bit longer if you ask nicely.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Three passes covering fifty yards or more speaks to Guarantano having enough time to make those throws. This is offset by the knowledge that something close to 40% of Tennessee's passing yards came on those three plays.
5. Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
Still too much standing around waiting on somebody else to make the play for this Old Vol. The light at the end of tunnel is several younger players stepping up and playing like they care. Your Scribe did breathe a sigh after the Vols' first offensive touchdown as he, being the old O-Line type he is, noticed a rather flagrant hold during Jeremy Banks' one-yard run to the Checkerboards.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
Somewhere in Vol-halla George Cafego high-fived The Gen'rul after Marquill Osborne's blocked punt return for a touchdown. It's the first time they've had anything to celebrate in far too long.
7. Carry the fight to ETSU and keep it there for sixty minutes.
Definitely a tale of pre- and post-rain delay but, in the end the Vols got it done. ETSU was never really in the game after that blocked punt.
Like the AEF a century ago, the victory Saturday was no thing of beauty. It was more a matter of overwhelming force being applied to a minor objective than anything else. But a victory it was and hopefully it will set the stage for greater wins in bigger battles later on as lesson are learned and applied.
MAXOMG
© 2018 Keeping Your Stories Alive
Suggested Reading:
Henry Berry, Make the Kaiser Dance
Byron Farwell, Over There: The United States in the Great War
Laurence Stallings, The Doughboys
Doughboys of the 28th Infantry go "over the top" at Cantigny. Note the artillery bursts in the distance. (NARA)
And I love the “Vol-halla” analogy! 
