OneManGang
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Tennessee vs The Maxims vs Arkansas
DATE: 5 October 2024
PLACE: Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Fayetteville, AR
ATTENDANCE: 75,573
FINAL SCORE: Tennessee 14 Arkansas 19
“Victory has a thousand fathers but defeat is an orphan to all,” - John F. Kennedy
Last week, Vol fans were like kids on a sugar high. The Vols looked unstoppable and the Arkansas Razorbacks should feel fortunate that Tennessee allowed them to be on the same field with them.
What none of us realized was the harbingers of disaster were there in the second half of the tilt at Norman. IN the second half, the high-flying Tennessee offense was grounded amid concerns that the Vol offensive line couldn't seem to be able to keep the Little Sisters of the Poor from taking shots at Vol QB Nico Iamaleava. They went from being an aggressive keep the other guy guessing style to something resembling a B1G Bo Schembeckler “three yards and cloud of dust” attack. Vol fans told themselves this was a good thing as it protected Nico and besides Tennessee had a comfortable lead. To coin a phrase, we were whistling past the graveyard.
Longtime followers of these musings will recall that your fearless scribe would bemoan a trend he called “The Incredible Disappearing Vol Defense.” Saturday we were treated to the other side of that: The Incredible Disappearing Vol Offense.
As Saturday dawned, we Vol fans were reassured. Tennessee's two starting tackles would be back and all would be right with the world.
Somehow, after two weeks of preparation for an SEC foe, the Vols came out flat, no fire, no passion and the Hog defense teed off off on Nico. Time after time, UT offensive series died aborning with procedure penalties that snuffed therm.
Does nobody in the Athletics Department own a set of speakers? Yes the crowd was loud, but, hell's bells, the BACKGROUND noise at Neyland is pretty damned loud too. Do the Vols not prepare for crowd noise? Are the linemen not coached that if they can't hear the snap count to watch the damned ball? Tennessee was penalized ten times Saturday and EIGHT of those were procedure calls!
Apparently, the coaches and players spent two weeks patting themselves on the back and thinking that all UT had to was roll the ball out on the field at Fayetteville, collect the win and book passage to Playoff Land.
Boys and girls, it doesn't work like that in the SEC. Just ask Alabama, or Mizzou.
Let's get right into the football action, although I'm not sure why.
Tennessee's offense couldn't get out of its own way.
The Pigs kicked a field goal.
End of 1st Quarter
Score: Tennessee 0 Arkansas 3
Tennessee's defense stood tall in the second quarter, but the offense still was stuck in the Oklahoma City Airport.
End of 2nd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 0 Arkansas 3
The Vol offense finally got on track and rode Dylan Sampson to two touchdowns.
The Pigs promptly drove 75 yards to a touchdown.
The Vol defense stood tall and throttled the Hogs, and then ...
End of 3rd Quarter
Score: Tennessee 14 Arkansas 10
On the very first play of the 4th canto Arky was punting when UT's Jonathan Ross decided it would be a good idea to take a swipe at the punter's head as he went by.
A later roughing the passer call kept the Swine on the field and they kicked a field goal.The Vol lead was ONE.
Tennessee could have built on those two successful drives BUT procedure penalties endedthat idea.
The Pigs drove and scored with 1:17 left.
Nico ran out of bounds as the horn sounded and that was that.
Bacon was made allover the Hog Farm that night.
Final Score
Tennessee 14 Arkansas 19
********
Blanc Mont Ridge
Blanc Mont Ridge
In the course of researching this topic I had a brain storm: why not check and see if my friend Mike Cunha at the Battles of the First World War podcasts (I've done two of them) had something on Blanc Mont? Boy, did he!
By the end of September, 1918, the “regulars,” the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Divisions among others, were the core of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). These were veteran outfits that had already written their own chapters in American military history at places like Cantigny, Belleau Wood, Chateau Thierry, Soissons and St. Mihiel. In addition there were National Guard and “National Army” (draftee) divisions like the 26th (PA NG) and the 42nd that had proven to be fully the equals of their regular comrades,
In mid- to late September, 1918, in fits and starts, the Germans were being pushed back all along the front.
They didn't go willingly.
The French began to focus on the Champagne Region which led to the ancient city of Rheims (Reims). From a tactical standpoint, Champagne is flat - as in Oklahoma flat. The whole thing is dominated by a ridge poking up about 600 feet called Blanc Mont (White Mountain - a generous description) due to the white chalk rock that is exposed when the slightest digging is done there.
The Germans had taken Blanc Mont in 1914 and had quickly grasped the tactical advantage of the position. They spent the next four years fortifying the ridge and putting observation and artillery fire-control positions on it. The French had been trying the whole time to retake it but since anything moving for miles in any direction was under direct German observation they were repeatedly thrown back with crippling losses.
In September, 1918, the French decided to attack once again, but due to reasons that will soon become evident, knew they needed help. They asked AEF commander John Pershing for help. He committed the veteran US 2nd Division and the newly arrived 36th Division (OK National Guard) to French 4thArmy.
They spent the last days of September in reserve. However it soon became obvious the French attacks were bogging down and it would soon be the Americans' turn.
The 2nd Division was a hybrid. It had the normal four infantry regiments grouped into two brigades and an artillery brigade of three regiments, two with75mm field guns and one of 155mm howitzers. It was the brigades that were different. The 3rd Brigade was made up of Army Regulars.
The 4th Brigade was made up of the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments. So the call went out. The Marine Corps in 1917 was small enough that its individual companies were numbered: 49th Company, 67th Company, etc. When they were incorporated into the Army formations, they were given letters (i.e,. A Company and so forth) The Marines insisted on using the numerical designations while official Army records use the letters. It's enough to cause the diligent researcher to reach for antacids.
Marine Captain John W. Thomason penned this tribute to comrades in the 2nd Division: It is a pleasure to record that they found good company in the army. The 2d Division (U.S. Regular was the official designation) was composed of the 9th and 23d Infantry, two old regiments with names from all our wars in their battle flags. … It was a division distinguished by the quality of dash and animated by an especial pride of service.… And, although it paid heavily in casualties for the things it did– in five months about 100 percent – the 2d Division never lost its professional character.
That character had been tested before and not found wanting. In the opening days of October it would be tested yet again.
As the 2nd Division moved out of reserve and up to the line, Its commander, Marine General John A. LeJeune, got his orders: take Blanc Mont.
The French wanted LeJeune to launch his attack on 2 October. LeJeune, with much of his division still in transit, told them to stuff it and said he'd go on the third.
There was a small wooded rise in the center of the division's sector, the Bois de la Vipere, studded with trench mortars and machine guns. LeJeune deployed his brigades with the 3rd on the right and the 4th on the left. The brigades. after a preliminary artillery bombardment from over 300 American and French guns would then move out behind a “creeping” barrage with the shells landing 300 meters ahead of the troops then lifting after five minutes to move another 100 meters and so on. The brigades would each commit one regiment in a column of battalions with a dozen French Renault tanks between them. He split the brigades to go around the rise. They would meet up at the crest of Mont Blancand dig in, cutting off the Germans. The 9th Infantry would lead the 3rd Brigade. The 4th Brigade tapped the 6th Marines for this.
For the 6th Marines, the order of advance would be 2nd Battalion, 12 Renaults,1st Battalion, 12 more Renaults and finally 3rd Battalion. The 5th Marines would follow on to take care of any problems.
The French would advance on either side of the division to secure the flanks. On the 4th Brigade's left was a trench system on another small rise called the “Essen Hook.” The hook came from the way the trenches curvedback and machine guns there could sweep the 6th Marines.
In the 78th Company, Pvt. John Kelly rushed forward through the shell bursts to a German machine gun position. He shot the gunner with his .45 andthen tossed in a grenade, jumped in the hole, and captured the crew.
Fro his Medal of Honor Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division, in action with the enemy at Blanc Mont Ridge, France, 3 October 1918. Pvt. Kelly ran through our own barrage a hundred yards in advance ofthe front line and attacked an enemy machine-gun nest, killing the gunner with a grenade, shooting another member of the crew with hispistol, and returning through the barrage with eight prisoners.
As the advance rolled on another 78th Company Marine, Corporal John Pruitt led three other Marines against two machine guns raking the company.
From his MoH citation: For extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving with the 78th Company, 6th Regiment, 2d Division, in action with the enemy at Blanc Mont Ridge, France, 3 October 1918. Cpl. Pruitt, singlehandedly attacked two machine guns, capturing themand killing two of the enemy. He then captured 40 prisoners in adugout nearby. This gallant soldier was killed soon afterward by shellfire while he was sniping at the enemy.
Behind a hurricane of artillery firing HE and smoke and with the aid of the tanks, the Marines stormed their way up the slope and the first elements of the 6th Marines occupied the top of Blanc Mont by 0830. This in no way meant the battle was over. As more elements of the regiment came up and fought their way up, the 5th Marines followed. The French 21st Division had not made much progress and a yawning gap was opening on the left flank. Also the Germans had retaken the Essen Hook and were pouring machine gun fire into the Americans. Finally the 17th Company was sent to knock out the Hook. Using every weapon at their command, they did so and handed the position to the French who showed up soon after the shooting stopped.
As dusk fell on the 3rd, there were still several German positions onthe crest that would have to be taken the next day.
Everybody understood just what an opportunity the seizure of Blanc Mont meant and orders shot forth to continue the advance down the back slope and seize a lower hill beyond overlooking the key roads supplying theGerman front.
Orders went out in the wee hours from Division and Corps stating the attack would be renewed on the 4th at a time to be determined.
The 5th Marines, through some weird circumstance, received orders that designated H Hour for the attack to be 0600, Nobody in any headquarters has ever come up with an adequate explanation of how this occurred. The order wasn't received until after 0400 and the regiment worked to get ready to jump off on schedule.
When the 5th attacked at 0600, the rest of the 2nd Division was caught flat-footed. There was no artillery, no tanks, no air cover and nobody else moved out to support them. The neighboring 6th Marines watched this unfold, but lacking orders didn't move.
They stepped off into a fire storm, despite this the 5th gained ground. They advanced in a column of battalions. The 3rd Battalion was in the lead. It was led by Major Henry Larsen. Next was the 2nd Battalion under Major Robert Messersmith. Finally 1st Battalion under the redoubtable Major George Hamilton, who has won his spurs as a company commander at Belleau Wood before being wounded, was in support ready to exploit any gains.
Despite heavy resistance Larsen's men made progress but the Marine advance came to resemble a finger stuck into a hornet's nest of Germans. Casualties were heavy but eventually the Marines of the 3rd managed to put some Germans to fly. The Marines pursued them.
Marine Elton Mackin described it: The fury of their rush, coupled with the sight of running quarry led them on. The way led down a gentle slope and the hunting was good. …They were in their element – the Yankee style of fighting amid the trees.
The line broke into scattered groups all pressing forward. In vicious little geadly packs, they kept going. While the fever of the attack lasted , discipline was forgotten in the urge to hunt and kill. …the men had gone too far afield.
The wily German had drawn his troops away to either side as the hunters ran down their quarry and now Heinie had the remnant of a marine battalion in a long, narrow belt of woods, with the slope and stubbled field behind them. It was a place for men to die … exposed to fire from three sides … It was a deadly place. With good reason did the hundred-odd survivors who came out of there name it in their memory “The Box.”
At about 1300 Larsen sent a message back begging for help. The 2nd Battalion began to move toward them but found themselves being lashed by the Germans that had nearly wiped out the 1st. Survivors of the 3rd made their way toward 2nd. Now the German aircraft made an appearance strafing the Marines and adding even more casualties to those being inflicted by artillery and machine guns. After an advance of about 200 meters Captain DeWitt Peck of the 55th Co. was hit in the neck. All of his platoon commanders had been hit or killed. To stay where they were meant certain death. He gave the order, “Fall back!” fully realizing that the Marine Corps took a dim view of retreat, but he really had no choice.
Things rapidly went out of control. Too many officers were down, too many Marines were down and still the German fire lashed them. The 2nd Btn. broke, the panic aided by the survivors of 3rd Btn., fallingback as well. The withdrawal became a rout. The fleeing Marines were chased by German machine guns, planes and artillery.
Major Hamilton had ordered his battalion forward to help cover the left flank. The Germans shot them down. Hamilton maintained control though even as the remnants of the other two battalions appeared to his front fleeing something deadly behind them. He was appalled to see Messersmith and a couple of other officers actually leading way toward him. Hamilton and his officers placed themselves in front of the retreating Marines and shouted orders to halt and dig in. Finally, Hamilton had to pull his pistol and threaten to kill any man who kept running.
It worked.
As quickly as it had started the panic stopped and the survivors began to form a line on Hamilton's right.
The cost had been horrific. At 1800, 1st Btn. held its evening roll call. The morning roll call had showed roughly 800 officers and men. This one showed 168 men and 12 officers. Survivors from the other battalions drifted in for the rest of the night. Morning roll call revealed a shocking truth: Overall, the 5th Marines had lost 1097 casualties, somewhere in the vicinity of 40 per cent losses.
Unknown to the Marines, the German Crown Prince, commanding the Army Group facing them had realized that the loss of Blanc Mont had rendered their positions untenable and ordered a withdrawal to begin on the 5th.
The long delayed attack by the 6th Marines took place on the morning of 5th. In spite of the withdrawal order, the Germans were still there in strength and resisted mightily. However the 6th was able to press its attack, supported by artillery and pushed the Germans back.
The3rd Brigade came up on the right and over the next several days, until relieved by the 36th Division, the 2nd Division kept pushing the Germans back.
As the tale of the disaster on the 4th made its way through the Division command structure, 4th Brigade commander, Wendell Neville, and General LeJeune realized just how badly they had screwed up. To this day, the official records barely mention what happened and the command breakdown that made it worse. Maj. Messersmith made a convenient scapegoat and was eventually relieved of command, and the incident was quietly buried with only letters and memoirs by men of the 5thMarines to chronicle what happened.
John LeJeune (1920-29) and Wendell Neville (1929-30) both ascended to be Commandants of the Marine Corps.
John Thomason wrote later, They had hurled the Boche from Blanc Mont and freed the sacred city of Rheims. They had paid a price hideous even for this war. And they were spent. If there was any thought in those hanging heads it was food and rest.”
Marine runner Elton Mackin would write bitterly, “Little crosses stand above the dead.... They seldom stand alone. Men see to that.”
*******
So, how did the Vols do against The Maxims?
1. Theteam that makes the fewest mistakes will win.
All those procedure penalties and the two defensive miscues handed the game to the Swine.
2. Play for and make the breaks. When one comes your way … SCORE!
Opportunity after opportunity was squandered by the Vols Saturday night. The Genrul would have been most displeased.
3. If at first the game – or the breaks – go against you, don't let up… PUT ON MORE STEAM!
No extra steam. Just cold cuts. Dylan Sampson did his part and his body language at the post game presser showed his frustration.
4. Protect our kickers, our quarterback, our lead and our ballgame.
Note to HeadVol Heupel: we get it. Nico is our franchise player and you want to protect him. However, trying to turn him into a Peyton Manning-style drop back passer is turning a phenomenal quarterback into one who is just adequate. Turn him loose and let him play his game!
5.Ball! Oskie! Cover, block, cut and slice, pursue and gang tackle … THIS IS THE WINNING EDGE.
No turnovers and 434 yrds by the Pigs spells failure.
6. Press the kicking game. Here is where the breaks are made.
One play. One measly little slap.
7, Carry the fight to Arkansas and keep it there for sixty minutes.
Two drives in the third quarter does not equal 60 minutes. Thank you verymuch.
Suggested Reading
GeorgeB. Clark, Devil Dogs: Fighting Marines of World War I
James P. Gregory, A Calamity of Errors: The Untold Story of the 5th Marine Regiment at Blanc Mont Ridge, 4 October 1918. Marine Corps History. Winter, 2021
Elton E. Mackin, Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die.
James Carl Nelson, I Will Hold: The Story of USMC Legend Clifton Cates.
LTC Peter F. Owen, USMC (Ret.) and LTC John Swift, USMC (Ret), A Hideous Price: The 4th Brigade at Blanc Mont, 2-10 October 1918.
Col.Oliver Spaulding, USA, and Col. John Womack, USA, The Second Division American Expeditionary Force in France, 1917 –1919.
Capt. John W. Thomason, USMC, Fix Bayonets!
Blanc Mont Ridge. Painting by George Harding (Navy History and Heritage Command)
