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terrain. All of these would prove useful to an extent in France, but key elements of
movement and maneuver that were needed for success in battle were mostly absent from

the training at Camp Lewis. Even after the division leadership returned from touring the

battlefields in France, there were no significant adjustments in the training of movement

and maneuver. The combat formations exercised were outdated and not used in France.

Turnover of personnel caused units to continually focus, and re-focus, on basic individual

skills. However, there is little evidence that the leadership tried to train at any higher

level, even though many knew the reality of Europe was much more complex. As a

result, the division would have even more to learn in France before it could be successful

in combat.

Fires

Perhaps the most neglected subject during the training at Camp Lewis was the

integration of fires. The division’s 166th Artillery Brigade deployed to France with the

91st division, but it did not see any action. Instead, the 91st Division was augmented with

other AEF and French artillery units during its operations in Europe. In France, the

artillery units required more extensive training than the infantry and the 166th remained

in training throughout the fall of 1918. Therefore, this paper will focus more on how well

the division trained and conducted fires integration within the infantry regiments. At

Camp Lewis, this training was extremely limited. Artillery training is rarely mentioned in

any OTC training plans or at the infantry unit level. The 166th Artillery received limited

training internally, some from foreign officers, but did not have the required equipment to

38 Diary of Charles Benedict Jr.

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