Goshen, N.Y. – Orange County Historian Johanna Yaun will host three informational sessions about a planned trip to Belgium and France this September 24th through October 2nd to honor the 40 County residents who died on the same day in 1918 during the Battle of the Hindenburg Line in World War I.
The informational sessions will be held at 6:30 p.m. on July 18th, August 15th and September 12th at the North Plank Tavern in Newburgh.
“These sessions will provide an opportunity to talk about the trip and answer any questions about logistics or traveling,” Yaun said. “The Battle of the Hindenburg Line is one of the most famous engagements that occurred during World War I. We are looking forward to memorializing the 40 soldiers who perished during the battle and I thank the North Plank Tavern for graciously offering us a table for this event.”
The tour will follow in the footsteps of the 107th New York Infantry Regiment and include visits to training camps, battlefields, cemeteries and memorials related to the local soldiers. The trip will end in Paris where guests will honor the 369th New York Regiment, the first African-American regiment to enter France. The evening will include live music and a light lecture on how New York’s “Harlem Hellfighters” sparked a jazz craze that swept Europe in the years after World War I.
The Hindenburg Line was a heavily fortified zone running several miles behind the active front between the north coast of France and Belgium. After an intense 56-hour-long attack, Allied forces breached the Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses, on September 29th, 1918. The 40 soldiers from Orange County that perished on September 29th, 1918 were members of the 107th New York Infantry Regiment. There were 995 total deaths from New York State on that day.
For more information, log onto centennialtour.grouptoursite.com or call Nicole Nazzaro (nnazzaro@orangecountygov.com) the County Historian’s Office at 360-6978.
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