Well here I am, sweating it
out and on my way home. We
left Illesheim Germany Wed. Oct. 10
in 40 & 8 boxcars. Gosh what
a ride. We arrived here in
France Friday afternoon about
3:00 oclock. It is somewhere
near Metz. We really have a
good place here. This Repple
Depple have the buildings that
were used by a French garrison
that worked at the Magnot [sic] line.
It is right near us. Most
Replacement Depots are so crowded
all you do is sweat out chow
lines. Not here. About 10 minutes
is all it takes to go through.
Yesterday we had steak for
dinner and today we had fried
chicken. Movies everynight.
We have been told we will
go from here on Thursday to the
P.O.E. Hope to be on the boat
shortly after that. One can never
tell though, now the Limey's
have taken there boats away.
Just the fellows with 70, 71, 72
and 73 points are in this group.
Well mother I hope to see you
soon. This may be my last
letter. Wish me good luck.
Love Ralph.
The next letter will be posted on October 18th.
Background Information (and comments):
- I learned something new - 40 & 8 boxcars and Repple Depple. I have also included information about the Maginot Line that Ralph referred to. Finally, I found a reasonable explanation for POE.
| Quarante et huit (Forty-and-eights) | |
|---|---|
Forty and Eights-style covered goods wagon in the U.S. Army Transportation Museum
| |
| Capacity | 40 men or 8 horses or 20 tonnes (19.7 long tons; 22.0 short tons) of supplies |
| Operator(s) | French Army and French railways |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 7.9 tonnes (7.8 long tons; 8.7 short tons) tare |
| Braking system(s) | Air |
| Coupling system | Buffers and chain |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) |
- Forty-and-eights (French: Quarante et huit, typically written 40/8 or 40&8) were French 4-wheel covered goods wagons designed to hold 40 men or eight horses. Introduced in the 1870s, they were drafted into military service by the French Army in both World Wars. They were also used by the occupying Germans during in World War II, followed by the Allies.
- A replacement depot in United States military terminology is a unit containing reserves or replacements for large front-line formations, such as field armies. As such, the term refers to formations similar to, but larger than, march battalions in other countries. The slang term "repple depple" came into common use in the US Army ...
- once a soldier was separated from his unit by wounds or illness, there was little chance of him returning to that unit. Instead, he was sent to a replacement depot, a repple-depple in Army slang.
- The Maginot Line, named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles, and weapon installations built by France in the 1930s to deter invasion by Germany and force them to move around the fortifications.
port of embarkation
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