The Meuse-Argonne

Meuse-Argonne: A Decisive Battle

On 26 September 1918, the Allies began their final large-scale offensive of World War I. One hundred twenty-three British, French, Belgian and American divisions, and an additional 57 in reserve, participated. By this time in September the German Army had almost been pushed back to their main defensive positions along the original Western Front in 1914. Forty-seven days of terrible fighting finally led to the Armistice, ending 4 years of horrific struggle.

Fresh from its victory at St. Mihiel and having established itself as an independent fighting force, the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F) readied for what would be its largest and costliest battle. The long-held German stronghold between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River was the final test for American troops. Running through the 32 kilometer wide American sector was Germany’s Hindenburg Line, a highly fortified series of defenses, built up over the previous four years and long considered impregnable. It included multiple trench lines, concrete pillboxes, massive barbed wire obstacles, and heavy machine guns nests strategically placed to lure soldiers into kill zones. Also in the American sector was Montfaucon, a 340 meter hill centrally located in the Meuse-Argonne valley where the main thrust of the attack would come. This fortified hill provided the Germans with an exceptional vantage point to observe and adjust artillery fire, making the area particularly deadly for American troops.

The initial battle began on 26 September at 0530 hours, following a three-hour artillery barrage. American forces initially caught the Germans, who assumed the attack would be toward Metz as an extension of operations at St. Mihiel, off-guard. The attack started well as most troops found the German first line abandoned or sparsely defended. Portions of the First Army reached their first day objectives, but the central prong of the attack on Montfaucon did not. This delay gave the Germans time to move reinforcements to the front in time to slow American advances. By 30 September, four days into the attack, the Germans had managed to stop most of the American assault, even forcing some troops to retreat. Using this opportunity to reorganize, from 1-4 October the First Army brought reinforcements to the front and moved fresh divisions into the line and resupplied units remaining in the fight. During this time the Germans worked to keep the Allies off balance and disrupt activities as much as possible by shelling the American lines with both high explosives and gas.

The Big Red One finally attacked the morning of 4 October with the mission to move north of the Montrebeau woods overlooking Exermont from the south, then the south edge of Fleville and finally to a line running east to west one mile north of Fleville. Alongside the First Division advanced the 28th and 77th Divisions as part of I Corps. After 5 minutes of preparatory artillery fire, the infantry regiments of the First Division moved out at 0525 hours under a rolling barrage. The Division’s four infantry regiments deployed in a line; moving forward they experienced differing levels of resistance. From 1 October to 11 October the Division moved slowly forward, enduring artillery barrages, gas attacks, and excruciatingly difficult fighting that cost it 7,803 killed and wounded. This toll was the highest overall casualty rate of any American unit fighting in the Meuse-Argonne. At the end of 11 October the Division was holding a line running from the St. Juvin-Fleville road to the northern edge of the Bois De Romagne, just outside the German stronghold Kriemhilde Stellung.

The 16th Infantry takes Fleville

On 4 October the mission of the 16th Infantry Regiment of the First Division was to take the village of Fleville, which was located at an Aire River crossing on the western edge of the First Division sector. Occupying the village would secure the Division’s western flank. The morning of the attack, the 16th Infantry regiment withstood a devastating German artillery barrage of both gas and high explosive shells that inflicted 192 casualties before the assault began. At 0525 the Americans countered with their own artillery barrage of high explosives with smoke rounds to provide cover for the advancing infantry. Under this cover, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, 16th Infantry went over the top while the 1st Battalion was held in reserve. As the doughboys began their assault, they were quickly met with heavy machine gun fire from units of the German 5th Guards Division. The deadly ground over which they fought was a series of ridges and valleys running east to west, which provided little cover for the advancing infantry and deadly fields of fire favorable to the defending Germans. The 16th continued to move forward under withering fire, suffering heavy casualties in fields already littered with the dead of the 35th Division, which had briefly held the ground only a few days before.

The Division was relieved by the 42nd Division on 12 October to rest, receive and train nearly 8,000 replacements to get back to fighting strength. They stayed in the rear until 31 October when they moved into position near the front in case they were needed. They did not go back in the line until 5 November. The Division attacked toward Mouzan on 6 November, covering 6 kilometers and taking a Meuse River crossing. It was here the Division ended its combat experience of the First World War.
The final action of the war began on 1 November, with a frontal attack heading north and east with the end goal of the Meuse River. The plan worked well. The Germans could not muster a strong defense as their army crumbled. By 4 November American troops had crossed the Meuse River and continued pressing forward toward the city of Sedan. American forces stopped just short of taking the historic city. More than 26,000 Americans were killed and over 120,000 were wounded in what the Americans came to call the Meuse-Argonne Campaign. The battle is still the largest in both manpower and loss in American military history.