Meuse-Argonne Offensive, << myooz ahr GAHN, >> was the largest American battle of World War I (1914-1918). On Sept. 26, 1918, the United States First Army launched an attack on the center of the German line on the Western Front in northern France. The Western Front was a battlefront that stretched across Belgium and northeastern France. The battle takes its name from the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest, two major features of the battlefield. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive lasted until the war’s end on November 11. It was a crucial part of the final Allied push that forced Germany’s surrender. However, the battle was extremely costly. More American soldiers died in the offensive than in any other battle in American history. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive is also known as the Battle of the Argonne Forest.
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was massive and complex, yet it was planned, organized, and launched within a period of about three weeks. Colonel George C. Marshall—who later served as chief of staff of the U.S. Army during World War II (1939-1945)—directed the movement of more than 600,000 soldiers, 2,700 guns, 800 aircraft, and nearly 300 tanks to the Meuse-Argonne front. Under the command of General John J. Pershing, the soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.), known as doughboys, attacked along a line stretching east from the Argonne Forest. Some units from the French Fourth Army also fought under American command. At the same time, the main body of the French Fourth Army, along with some American units under French command, began an offensive west of the Argonne Forest. The goal of these coordinated offensives was to reach the railroad hub at Sedan and cut off supplies to the German troops fighting in Belgium and northern France.
On the morning of Sept. 26, 1918, the American offensive began with a three-hour artillery bombardment (full-scale attack by large guns) on German targets. The troops then moved forward on a 20-mile (32-kilometer) front. They attacked through rough, hilly terrain that had been heavily fortified over the previous four years by the German army. Their movement was slow and dangerous. The soldiers faced constant rifle and machine gun fire, as well as poison gas, shrapnel (shells filled with steel pellets), and high explosive artillery shells. For nearly a week, the First Army pushed forward, suffering heavy losses. The Americans captured the Montfaucon heights—a key strategic position—before German reinforcements finally stopped the assault.
On Oct. 4, 1918, the attack resumed along a front that by then stretched more than 25 miles (40 kilometers). Hundreds of thousands of American and French assault troops led the way, supported by vast numbers in the artillery and air, engineering, medical, and supply corps. Among the many officers involved in the fighting were future generals George S. Patton, Jr., and Douglas MacArthur, as well as future U.S. president Harry S. Truman. During the fighting, Corporal Alvin York captured 132 Germans. Captain Eddie Grant, a former major league baseball player, died of wounds on October 9. Grant had been part of a mission to rescue the so-called “Lost Battalion,” a unit of the U.S. 77th Division that became trapped behind enemy lines in early October.
On Nov. 1, 1918, the U.S. Army launched the final phase of the offensive, advancing on a front that by then extended more than 30 miles (50 kilometers). The combat continued until 11 a.m. on November 11. That day, the Germans accepted the armistice terms demanded by the Allies, ending the war.
About 1.2 million American soldiers participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. According to official statistics, in just six weeks, the A.E.F. suffered 95,786 wounded and 26,277 killed—nearly one-half of all the Americans killed in combat during all of World War I. The German Army took heavy losses too—roughly 126,000 killed, wounded, missing, and captured. Many thousands of French troops were also lost.
The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial sits now on ground taken by the U.S. 32nd Infantry Division near the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France. It holds more American graves than any other military cemetery in Europe. The bodies of about 28,000 men and women were buried there in 1918. About half were later returned home, but 14,246 remain.
