Meuse-Argonne Offensive

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Meuse-Argonne Offensive
Part of the Western Front (World War I)
Map of the area, 1918.
Date September 26 –November 11, 1918 Location Argonne Forest, France Result Allied Victory
Belligerents
France  United States	German Empire
Commanders
Henri Gouraud John J. Pershing Hunter Liggett	Georg von der Marwitz
Strength
French Fourth Army American Expeditionary Force	German Fifth Army
Casualties and losses
125,000 total	90,000-120,000 total

v • d • e Western Front Liège – Frontiers – 1st Marne – Antwerp – Race to the Sea – 1st Ypres – 1st Champagne – 2nd Ypres – 2nd Artois – 2nd Champagne – Loos – 3rd Artois – Verdun – Somme – Arras – 2nd Aisne – Messines – 3rd Ypres – Cambrai – Michael – 2nd Marne – Hundred Days

v • d • e Hundred Days Offensive Amiens – 2nd Somme – Mont St. Quentin – Arras – Havrincourt – St.-Mihiel – Épehy – Canal du Nord – St. Quentin Canal – 5th Ypres – Meuse-Argonne – Courtai – Selle – 2nd Sambre

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also called the Battle of the Argonne Forest, was a part of the final Allied offensive of World War I that stretched along the entire western front. The whole offensive was planned by Marshall Ferdinand Foch to breach the Hindenburg line and ultimately force the opposing German forces to capitulate. The big September/October Allied breakthroughs (north, centre and south) 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 (also known as the Hundred Days Offensive) by the Allies on the Western front. The Meuse-Argonne offensive also involved troops from France, while France, Britain and its dominion/commonwealth armies (mainly Canada, Australia and New Zealand), and Belgium contributed to major battles in other sectors across the whole front.

The French and British armies' ability to fight unbroken over the whole four years of the war in what amounted to a bloody stalemate is credited by some historians with breaking the spirit of the German Army on the Western Front. The Grand Offensive, including 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 on November 11. On September 26, the Americans began their strike towards Sedan in the south; British and Belgian divisions drove towards Ghent (Belgium) on the 27th, and then British and French armies attacked across northern France on the 28th. 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 offensive, shared by the U.S. forces with the French 4th Army on the left (as shown on the accompanying map and armistice), was the biggest operation and victory of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in World War I. The bulk of the AEF had not gone into action until 1918. 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 (e.g. the 92nd Division at the onset of the battle) serving under French officers and some French troops (e.g. XVII Corps during the second phase) receiving U.S. orders at various points.

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 26 September and 11 November 1918. Of the battles that constituted the Grand Offensive, this is the one best remembered in the U.S. However, even from a U.S.-centric perspective^[who?], another interesting feature of the Grand Offensive was that in one sector far to the north, U.S. troops of the 27th and 30th divisions of the II Corps AEF fought in a spearhead attack on the Hindenburg Line directly alongside exhausted veteran Australian divisions of the Australian Corps of the First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF).^[1] With artillery and British tanks, the combined three-nation force, despite some early setbacks, attacked and captured their objectives (including Montbrehain village) along a six-kilometre section of the Line between Bellicourt and Vendhuille, which was centred around an underground section of the St Quentin Canal and came to be known as the Battle of St. Quentin Canal. Of the two battles involving U.S. troops in the Grand Offensive, this was the more immediately significant in terms of the overall result as the capture of the heights above the Beaurevoir Line by October 10 marked a complete breach in the Hindenburg Line.^[2] That was precisely the goal of the overall offensive as masterminded by Marshall Foch. The victory at the Battle of St. Quentin Canal seems largely forgotten in the U.S., despite the American input, probably because unlike at St. Quentin, a distinct part of the Meuse-Argonne frontline (to the right of the French) was all-American.

Contents 1 Opposing forces (Argonne; southern) 2 Objective 3 First phase: September 26 to October 3 4 Second phase: October 4 to October 28 5 Third phase: October 26 to November 10 6 The battle's place in history 7 See also 8 References

[edit] Opposing forces (Argonne; southern)

The American forces consisted initially of fifteen divisions of the U.S. First Army commanded by General John J. Pershing until October 16 and then by Lt. General Hunter Liggett.^[3] The logistics were planned and directed by Col. George Marshall. The French forces next to them consisted of 31 divisions including the 4th Army under Henri Gouraud, a veteran of the Dardanelles where he had lost an arm in battle, and who knew the 4th Army well as he had led it for most of 1916 before taking its command again in July 1917. 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 (tanks, artillery, aircraft) was provided by the European Allies. For the Meuse-Argonne front alone, this represented 2,780 artillery pieces, 380 tanks and 840 planes. As the battle progressed, both the Americans and the French brought in reinforcements. Eventually, 22 American divisions would participate in the battle at one time or another, representing two full field armies.^[4] Other French forces involved included the 2nd Colonial Corps, under Henri Edouard Claudel, which had also fought alongside the AEF at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel earlier in September 1918.

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 would have high morale, while conversely divisions that that were just on the western front had poor morale. Resistance grew to approximately 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.

[edit] Objective

The objective was the capture of the railroad hub at Sedan which would break the rail net supporting the German Army in France and Flanders.

[edit] First phase: September 26 to October 3

The American attack began at 5:30 a.m. 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 was virtually ground to a halt by formidable German resistance, and the 91st "Wild West" Division was compelled to evacuate the village of Épinonville though it advanced eight kilometers. The green 37th "Buckeye" Division failed to capture Montfaucon d'Argonne. The subsequent day, September 27 most of 1st Army failed to make any gains. The 79th Division finally captured Montfaucon and the 35th "Sante Fe" Division captured the village of Baulny, Hill 218, and Charpentry. 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. 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 General 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."^[5] The German counterattack had shattered so much of the 35th Division, a comparatively poorly trained and led division 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.^[6][7] The adjacent French offensive met temporary confusion when one of its generals died. The initial progress of the French forces was thus slower, but they withstood the change of German tactics more uniformly and would eventually overtake the U.S. forces nearby.

[edit] Second phase: October 4 to October 28

The second phase of the battle began on 4 October, during which time all of the original phase one assault divisions of the U.S. I and V Corps were replaced by divisions from reserve. The Americans launched a series of costly frontal assaults that finally broke through the main German defences (the Kriemhilde Stellung of the Hindenburg Line) between 14-17 October. It was during the opening of this operation, on October 8, that Corporal (later Sergeant) Alvin York made his famous capture of 132 German prisoners.^[8] The French forces advanced faster still during this period.

[edit] Third phase: October 26 to November 10

By October 31 the Americans had advanced fifteen kilometers and had finally cleared the Argonne Forest. On their left the French had advanced thirty kilometers, reaching the River Aisne. The American forces reorganized into two armies. The First, led by General Ligett, would continue to move to the Carignan-Sedan-Mezieres Railroad. The Second Army, led by Lieutenant General Robert L. Bullard, was directed to move eastward towards Metz. The two U.S. armies faced portions of 31 German divisions during this phase. The American troops captured German defenses at Buzancy, allowing French troops to cross the River Aisne from whence they rushed forward. In the final days, the French forces conquered the immediate objective, Sedan and its critical railroad hub, on November 6 and American forces captured surrounding hills.

[edit] The battle's place in history

Although the Meuse-Argonne was "probably the bloodiest single battle in U.S. history", in the sense that it had the largest number of U.S. dead in a single battle,^[9] it is little remembered today in the U.S. Its battleground memorials are neglected by most American visitors to Europe, though Europeans pay more attention to them and other World War I battlegrounds and memorials. The battle also hailed the debut of the Browning Automatic Rifle in combat, with both the US and France using them significantly for the first time in battle.^[10] According to the American view^[who?], the battle's pressure on the Germans was an important factor in their agreeing to the armistice: "Until the last, this battle had worried German commanders most; unlike other sectors of the front, here they had little space short of a vital objective that they could afford to trade for time."^[11]

[edit] See also

• American Order of Battle Meuse-Argonne Offensive

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Battle of the Argonne Forest

• Ferrell,Robert H."America's Deadliest Battle:The Meuse Argonne,1918."Lawrence: University press of Kansas,2007

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