World War I letters to his family of Colonel Hugh W. Ogden, Divisional Judge Advocate, 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division, A.E.F. One of the first American divisions to reach the battlefields of the Western Front in November 1917, the Rainbow Division first saw action fighting alongside the French in February 1918. The division played a notable role in six major campaigns, including the Battle of Champagne in July 1918, in addition to fighting at Chateau-Thierry, St. Mihiel, Verdun and the Argonne. With the armistice the Rainbow Division was assigned German occupation duties. Its service officially came to an end in May 1919. Ogden describes in great detail his administrative and staff duties, ceremonial and social functions, life behind the lines and wartime conditions in the French towns and countryside, and his visits to the front lines.
