United States Army, 37th Division

The Thirty-Seventh Division, American Expeditionary Force was organized at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, of National Guard troops from the State of Ohio in August of 1917 under the command of Major General Charles G. Treat. Major General Charles S. Farnsworth took command of the Division on May 8, 1918. On May 22, 1918, the Division moved to Camp Lee, Virginia. Here it completed its quota of officers and men. It then embarked for Europe, leaving New Jersey on June 15 and arriving in France on June 22. Six weeks were spent in Bourmont, France, where the Division received its final training. It moved into the Vosges Mountains, where it relieved the 77th American Division in the Baccarat Sector on August 4, remaining in the sector until September 16.

During the Meuse-Argonne Campaign, the Division was deployed in the woods between Ricicourt and Avocourt. On September 26, it pushed its way through the thick underbrush of the Bois de Montfaucon, capturing the town of Ivoiry and the west half of Montfaucon. On October 1 the Division was relieved and sent to the Pannes Sector, where it occupied the trenches until October 16.

The Division then moved into Belgium. On October 31 it broke the German position along the Courtrai-Ghent railroad and forced the enemy back to the Cruyshautem ridge. On November 1, it took this position and drove the Germans to the east bank of the Escaut River. On November 2, small parties of infantry swam the river under fire and improvised a foot bridge which allowed troops to move to the opposite bank. The infantry then rolled the enemy's line back for a considerable distance, and the Division's engineers constructed two bridges across the river.

On November 5, the Division was relieved by French troops. After three days rest, it moved 14 kilometers south of Ghent, on the west bank of the Escaut River at Syngem. Immediately across the river the Germans were entrenched on the Dickelvenne-Laethem-Saint Marie Heights. On the morning of the 10th, a battalion of infantry crossed the river and attacked the Heights. Sharp fighting delayed the construction of bridges east of Syngem, until three o'clock in the afternoon, when American troops pushed forward and broke the German resistance on the Heights. At the time of the Armistice, November 11, the 37th Division had advanced as far east as the villages of Dickels, Zwartenbroek, Keerkem, and Hundlegem.

The 37th Division captured a total of 1,502 German prisoners, 29 field pieces, and hundreds of machine guns and special weapons while serving in two defensive zones and three offensive sectors extending from the Vosges Mountains to the North Sea. It lost 704 killed and 4021 wounded. The Division left France in March 1919, and was demobilized between April 5th and May 16th.

From the guide to the United States Army, American Expeditionary Forces, 37th Division Records, Series III, 1917, (Western Reserve Historical Society)