I met to submit this last week on the 100th anniversary of the battle, but the bright light that was the Kavanaugh Hearings made it a bad time to bring up anything else.
100 years ago this past September 26, the US launched the Meuse-Argonne offensive. 1.2 million Americans attacked German positions in this WWI battle. It was the first battle that the Americans planned and mostly carried out. Though the French and Siamese would add troops (enough so that the French would sustain 70,000 killed/wounded/missing/captured.
But the attack was mostly American. For scale, the current US active duty military is roughly 1.3 million. So almost every soldier, sailor, marine, and airman today would make up the force we used in this one battle. More for scale, the US committed about 700,000 men to the Battle of the Bulge. Meuse Argonne was the deadliest US battle in history. Over 26,000 Americans would die. By comparison, the US deaths in the Bulge were just over 19,000 and about 12,500 in Okinawa.
Pershing had been working hard for a US battle. He firmly believed in the men under his command, and he wanted to prove to the British and French that he was right. Our allies wanted US troops folded into their commands as opposed to fighting under an American flag. Undoubtedly Pershing was right on this front, who can imagine Americans fighting well under a French or British flag.
At the same point, we made some real rookie mistakes caused by our belief we knew better. We tried tactics the allies had long given up on, based on the thought the American soldier was superior. We actually lost ground in some locations on day one. But we learned. And as the battle went on, we started making really impressive gains. The war would end on November 11. Pershing was pushing hard to get as much ground as he could right up until the end. It seems Pershing had a belief we needed to convincingly defeat the Germans or they would come back again.
The only reason I am writing this is that this was a defining battle for the US military. Though it started poorly, it gained momentum. Fresh, enthusiastic Americans were a real problem for the tired German army. I believe this offensive greatly hastened the German surrender. Most experts expected the war to end mid-1919. This was our first battle on the European continent, against the militaries of old.
All that said, the size and the importance, there was very little coverage of the battle’s anniversary. For many reasons, WW1 is unknown to Americans. In Europe WW1 is still widely known, almost on par with WW2. In America though, WW1 and Korea were massive wars that occupy part of a shelf in the local library. Perhaps fewer books on both than on D-Day alone. But the US suffered 116,000 killed in WW1 and 36,000 in Korea. I don’t think the veterans of those two wars have ever received their due. Of course there are no WW1 veterans left alive. But in their memory, below is the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. It did not turn out to be the war to end all wars, but that failure is on humanity's flaws and not on them.
100 years ago this past September 26, the US launched the Meuse-Argonne offensive. 1.2 million Americans attacked German positions in this WWI battle. It was the first battle that the Americans planned and mostly carried out. Though the French and Siamese would add troops (enough so that the French would sustain 70,000 killed/wounded/missing/captured.
But the attack was mostly American. For scale, the current US active duty military is roughly 1.3 million. So almost every soldier, sailor, marine, and airman today would make up the force we used in this one battle. More for scale, the US committed about 700,000 men to the Battle of the Bulge. Meuse Argonne was the deadliest US battle in history. Over 26,000 Americans would die. By comparison, the US deaths in the Bulge were just over 19,000 and about 12,500 in Okinawa.
Pershing had been working hard for a US battle. He firmly believed in the men under his command, and he wanted to prove to the British and French that he was right. Our allies wanted US troops folded into their commands as opposed to fighting under an American flag. Undoubtedly Pershing was right on this front, who can imagine Americans fighting well under a French or British flag.
At the same point, we made some real rookie mistakes caused by our belief we knew better. We tried tactics the allies had long given up on, based on the thought the American soldier was superior. We actually lost ground in some locations on day one. But we learned. And as the battle went on, we started making really impressive gains. The war would end on November 11. Pershing was pushing hard to get as much ground as he could right up until the end. It seems Pershing had a belief we needed to convincingly defeat the Germans or they would come back again.
The only reason I am writing this is that this was a defining battle for the US military. Though it started poorly, it gained momentum. Fresh, enthusiastic Americans were a real problem for the tired German army. I believe this offensive greatly hastened the German surrender. Most experts expected the war to end mid-1919. This was our first battle on the European continent, against the militaries of old.
All that said, the size and the importance, there was very little coverage of the battle’s anniversary. For many reasons, WW1 is unknown to Americans. In Europe WW1 is still widely known, almost on par with WW2. In America though, WW1 and Korea were massive wars that occupy part of a shelf in the local library. Perhaps fewer books on both than on D-Day alone. But the US suffered 116,000 killed in WW1 and 36,000 in Korea. I don’t think the veterans of those two wars have ever received their due. Of course there are no WW1 veterans left alive. But in their memory, below is the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. It did not turn out to be the war to end all wars, but that failure is on humanity's flaws and not on them.