Meuse–Argonne offensive
The Meuse–Argonne offensive was a major part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire Western Front. It was fought from September 26, 1918, until the Armistice of November 11, 1918, a total of 47 days. The Meuse–Argonne offensive was the largest in United States military history, involving 1.2 million American soldiers. It is the second deadliest battle in American history, resulting in over 350,000 casualties including 28,000 German lives, 26,277 American lives and an unknown number of French lives. U.S. losses were worsened by the inexperience of many of the troops, the tactics used during the early phases of the operation and the widespread onset of the global influenza outbreak called the "Spanish flu".
Meuse–Argonne was the principal engagement of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. It was one of a series of Allied attacks known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which brought the war to an end.
It was the largest and bloodiest operation of World War I for the AEF even if, given the scale of other battles on the Western Front, its size was limited and the operation itself secondary as it was far from the main offensive axis.
Overview
The logistic prelude to the Meuse attack was planned by then U.S. Colonel George Marshall who managed to move American units to the front after the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. The September/October Allied breakthroughs across the length of the Hindenburg Line – including the Battle of the Argonne Forest – are now lumped together as part of what is generally remembered as the Grand Offensive by the Allies on the Western Front. The Meuse–Argonne offensive also involved troops from France, while the rest of the Allies, including France, Britain and its dominion and imperial armies, and Belgium contributed to major battles in other sectors across the whole front.After the main 1918 German offensive that began well for them but ended with the disaster of Reims in front of the French army, The French and British armies launched "The Grand Offensive" or the "100 days offensive", systematically pushing back a German army whose efficiency was decreasing rapidly. British, French, and Belgian advances in the north, along with the French–American advances around the Argonne forest, is in turn credited for leading directly to the Armistice of November 11, 1918.
On September 26, the Americans began their strike north toward Sedan. The next day, British and Belgian divisions drove toward Ghent. British and French armies attacked across northern France on September 28. The scale of the overall offensive, bolstered by the fresh and eager but largely untried and inexperienced U.S. troops, signaled renewed vigor among the Allies and sharply dimmed German hopes for victory.
The Meuse–Argonne battle was the largest frontline commitment of troops by the U.S. Army in World War I, and also its deadliest. Command was coordinated, with some U.S. troops attached and serving under French command.
The main U.S. effort of the Meuse–Argonne offensive took place in the Verdun Sector, immediately north and northwest of the town of Verdun, between September 26 and November 11, 1918. Far to the north, U.S. troops of the 27th and 30th divisions of the II Corps AEF fought under British command in a spearhead attack on the Hindenburg Line with 12 British and Australian divisions, and directly alongside the exhausted veteran divisions of the Australian Corps of the First Australian Imperial Force. With artillery and British tanks, the combined three-nation force, despite some early setbacks, attacked and captured their objectives along a six-kilometer section of the Line between Bellicourt and Vendhuille, which was centered around an underground section of the St. Quentin Canal and came to be known as the Battle of St. Quentin Canal. Although the capture of the heights above the Beaurevoir Line by October 10, marking a complete breach in the Hindenburg Line, was arguably of greater immediate significance, the important U.S. contribution to the victory at the St. Quentin Canal is less well remembered in the United States than Meuse–Argonne.
Prelude
Opposing forces
The American forces initially consisted of 15 divisions of the U.S. First Army commanded by General John J. Pershing until October 16 and then by Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett. The logistics were planned and directed by then Colonel George C. Marshall. The French forces next to them consisted of 31 divisions, including the Fourth Army and the Fifth Army. The U.S. divisions of the AEF were oversized, being up to twice the size of other Allies' battle-depleted divisions upon arrival, but the French and other Allied divisions had been partly replenished prior to the Grand Offensive, so both the U.S. and French contributions in troops were considerable. Most of the heavy equipment was provided by the Allies. For the Meuse–Argonne front alone, this represented 2,780 artillery pieces, 380 tanks, and 840 planes.Concerning armored support, the 35th Division was completed by the 1st Tank Brigade with 127 American-crewed Renault FT light tank and 28 French-crewed Schneider medium tanks. The 3d US Tank brigade with 250 French-crewed tank was also involved supporting the V Corps. The 37th and 79th Division were augmented with a French tank regiment and 2 groups of medium tank. The 91st Division was augmented with a equivalent force.
As the battle progressed, both the Americans and the French brought in reinforcements. Eventually, 22 American divisions participated in the battle at one time or another, representing two full field armies. Other French forces involved included the :fr:2e Corps d'Armée Colonial|2nd Colonial Corps, under Henri Claudel, which had also fought alongside the AEF at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel earlier in September 1918.
, Commander in Chief of the American Expeditionary Forces
, Commander of First Army
The opposing forces were wholly German. During this period of the war, German divisions procured only 50 percent or less of their initial strength. The 117th Division, which opposed the U.S. 79th Division during the offensive's first phase, had only 3,300 men in its ranks. Morale varied among German units. For example, divisions that served on the Eastern front had high morale, while conversely divisions that had been on the Western front had poor morale. Resistance grew to approximately 200,000–450,000 German troops from the Fifth Army of Group Gallwitz commanded by General Georg von der Marwitz. The Americans estimated that they opposed parts of 44 German divisions overall, though many fewer at any one time.
Objective
The Allied objective was the capture of the railway hub at Sedan that would break the railway network supporting the German Army in France and Flanders.Battle
First phase (September 26 – October 4, 1918)
"During the three hours preceding H hour, the Allies expended more ammunition than both sides managed to fire throughout the four years of the American Civil War| Civil War. The cost was later calculated to have been $180 million, or $1 million per minute." The American attack began at 05:30 on September 26 with mixed results. The V and III Corps met most of their objectives, but the 79th Division failed to capture Montfaucon, the 28th "Keystone" Division's attack virtually ground to a halt due to formidable German resistance, and the 91st "Wild West" Division was compelled to evacuate the village of Épinonville though it advanced. The inexperienced 37th "Buckeye" Division failed to capture Montfaucon d'Argonne.The subsequent day, September 27 most of the 1st Army failed to make any gains. The 79th Division finally captured Montfaucon and the 35th "Santa Fe" Division captured the village of Baulny, Hill 218, and Charpentry, placing the division forward of adjacent units. On September 29, six extra German divisions were deployed to oppose the American attack, with the 5th Guards and 52nd Division counterattacking the 35th Division, which had run out of food and ammunition during the attack. The Germans initially made significant gains, but were barely repulsed by the 35th Division's 110th Engineers, 128th Machine Gun Battalion, and Harry Truman's Battery D, 129th Field Artillery. In the words of Pershing, "We were no longer engaged in a maneuver for the pinching out of a salient, but were necessarily committed, generally speaking, to a direct frontal attack against strong, hostile positions fully manned by a determined enemy."
The German counterattack had shattered so much of the 35th Division—a poorly led division, most of whose key leaders had been replaced shortly before the attack, made up of National Guard units from Missouri and Kansas—that it had to be relieved early, though remnants of the division subsequently reentered the battle. Part of the adjacent French attack met temporary confusion when one of its generals died. Nevertheless, it was able to advance, penetrating deeply into the German lines, especially around Somme-Py and northwest of Reims. The initial progress of the French forces was thus faster than the gained by the adjacent American units, though the French units were fighting in a more open terrain, which is an easier terrain from which to attack.