21 April 1918 -
Manfred Von Richthofen,
The Red Baron, was finally shot down here. On the night of August 8–9, 1918, as three Battalions of
Doughboys from the
33rd U.S. Infantry Division were joining the Allied offensive during the
Battle of Amiens, American
war poet Lieut.
John Allan Wyeth and Lieut. Thomas J. Cochrane were assigned to deliver sealed orders from Division HQ at
Molliens-au-Bois to the Field Headquarters of all three Battalions engaged in the attack. The location of each Battalion was unknown, but they were believed to be along the northern bank of the
Somme River, near the village of Sailly-le-Sec. Wyeth would later describe the mission in detail in his six interlinked
Chipilly Ridge sonnets. ==See also==