The 100 Days Offensive, Meuse Argonne Second Phase: October 4 through October 28, 1918.

U.S. Marines, part of the U.S. 2nd Division, advancing during the Meuse Argonne Campaign.

We just read about the "Lost Battalion" yesterday. Could we really be on to a new phase?

Yes, while that drama was playing out, and would continue to, the American offensive would enter its next phase.

The second phase of the offensive began on this day.  All of the original divisions assigned the primary assault role in the first phase of the offensive were rotated out in favor of fresh divisions, the result being that the 91st, 79, 37, and 35th of the U.S. V Corps were replaced by the 32nd, 3d, and 1st Divisions.  These were not, of course, the only American divisions committed to the attack by any means, but rather the primary assault divisions.

The 1st Division, which we've read about here earlier, breached the German lines with a advance a little shorter of two miles (that being a big advance in the context of the conditions).  This gave rise in part to the Lost Battalion episode we've already read about, although as already noted the events that gave rise to that episode commenced on October 2. 

This phase of the assault was very bloody from an American prospect and it featured high American casualties.  The effort resulted in a breach of the local section of the Hindenburg line during the Battle of Montfaucon on October 14 through 17, resulting in the clearing of the Argonne Forest and an advance of ten miles. The French Army advanced even further, clearing 20 miles.

The second phase is well remembered by students of the American contribution to World War One.  The American Army was bloodied but showed itself of sustaining loss and advancing against stout German opposition. Having said that, there are real reasons to doubt that the American manner of fighting would have continued on had the Germans not ultimately collapsed in early November.  The loss rates sustained by the American Army were appalling and due, in no small part, to the troops being green and therefore willing to sustain them in a manner which the various European combatants no longer were.

Countdown on the Great War: October 3, 1918

1.  Prince Max of Baden, head of the German government, sends his first note to Woodrow Wilson seeking peace.  It stated:

Berlin, October 3, 1918.
The German government requests that the President of the United States of America take the initiative in bringing about peace, that he inform all the belligerent states of this request, and that he invite them to send plenipotentiaries for purposes of beginning negotiations. The German government accepts as the basis for peace negotiations the program stated by the President of the United States in his speech to Congress of January 8, 1918, and in his subsequent pronouncements, particularly in his speech of September 27.
In order to avoid further bloodshed, the German government requests the immediate conclusion of an armistice on land, at sea, and in the air.
Signed: Max, Prince of Baden, Chancellor 

Price Faisal, the field head of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire and later unfortunate King of Iraq.

2.  The Arab Revolt enters Damascus.

3.  The "Pursuit to Haritan" rapid advance in the Middle East commences.

4.  The U.S. Army's 2nd and 36th Divisions commence the Battle of Blanc Mount Ridge in the Champagne region of France which would lead to its clearing.

5.  King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria abdicates his thrown.

Roads to the Great War: 100 Years Ago: One of the Great Wars Most Iconic ...

Roads to the Great War: 100 Years Ago: One of the Great Wars Most Iconic ...: The bridge in the photo above still stands across the St. Quentin Canal, just south of the village of Riqueval where the canal emerges...

100 Days Offensive: Meuse Argonne, the drama of the "Lost Battalion". October 2-8, 1918.

 Members of the Lost Battalion following their relief.

The dramatic story of the "Lost Battalion" is one of the most remembered, and perhaps most mythologized, stories of the American participation in the Great War.

On this day the U.S. 77th and the 92nd Divisions launched an assault on the Argonne.  This was done under a series of orders that had issued earlier, with the issues for this sector of the Allied assault being subject to a fairly unrealistic no retreat order, which read:

It is again impressed upon every officer and man of this command that ground once captured must under no circumstances be given up in the absence of direct, positive, and formal orders to do so emanating from these headquarters. Troops occupying ground must be supported against counterattack and all gains held. It is a favorite trick of the Boche to spread confusion...by calling out "retire" or "fall back." If, in action, any such command is heard officers and men may be sure that it is given by the enemy. Whoever gives such a command is a traitor and it is the duty of any officer or man who is loyal to his country and who hears such an order given to shoot the offender upon the spot. "WE ARE NOT GOING BACK BUT FORWARD!" –General Alexander.

 Maj. Gen. Robert Alexander who issued the no retreat order to the 77th Division.  A naive order that was not followed by other units in this episode. . . nor should it have been.  Alexander had started off his service as an enlisted man after quioxtically enlisting in the U.S. Army as a private following obtaing admission to the bar in 1886.  He rose as an enlisted man rapidly before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1889.

Units of the 77th Division ultimately involved in the episode were given their final order very early in the morning of this day, October 2.  Maj. Charles Whittlesey* and Spanish American War veteran Cpt. George G. McMurtry**, both Wall Street lawyers in the heavily New Yorker 77th Division were assigned tasks with the objective of the Binarville-LaViergette Road and ordered companies D and F of their unit, the 1-308th Infantry, to remain the along the western ridge along their advance to contain enemy opposition.  Two remaining battalions, the 1st and the 2nd of the 308th, were to proceed to Hill 198 and complete a flanking maneuver on German forces located there.

The fighting took place all day until French forces nearby were the recipients of a huge German counteract on Whittlesey's left flakn while the American on his right received a huge counterattack on his right.  This left the 308th outflanked unbeknownst to them as the continued to advance on Hill 198.  They took the hill and then realized that they were surrounded, in effect, through their advance.*  Whittlesey had no way to know what the situation was at that point  but surmised that either supporting units had not advanced as far as they had or had retreated, which he thought was contrary to the naive orders the 77th had otherwise been given.  By late night they were effectively surrounded.  Their situation was suspected by the surrounded unit but not fully appreciated, but hte failure of runners to return the following morning reinforced their slow realization that their situation had become desperate.  Efforts to inform higher headquarters through the use of carrier pigeons, a standard practice of hte time, was undertaken.  The unit fell under Allied artillery fire which was successfully called off by just that means, as a pigeon named Cher Ami, the surrounded units last, flew through and delivered the message about the unit being under friendly fire.

The surrounded men held off against fierce German attacks over the next several days.  German demands to surrender were not responded to.  Efforts of the 77th Division to relief the pocket were unsuccessful at great costs.  The U.S. ultimately shifted different divisions in to fight the relief effort, and the Germans responded in kind, ultimately even deploying Storm Troopers in the effort.  Finally, the 77th effected relief on October 8.

 Cpt. Eddie Grant.

The direct costs were enormous in context. Of the over 500 men who were part of the original  U.S. assaulting force only 194 came out without injury.  197 were killed. Huge losses were taken in the effort to relief the surrounded unti beyond that.  Eight Medals of Honor were awarded to members of the trapped formation, including those to Whittlesey, McMurtry and Cpt. Nelson Holderman.  Cpt. Eddie Grant, a former Major League Baseball player, was killed in one of the relief efforts resulting in a plaque in his honor in New York's Polo Grounds.***

 Lt. Col. Charles Whittlesey shortly after the relief of his command.

Whittlesey never really recovered from the trauma of the affair.  His performance while the unit was trapped was exemplary but psychologically it can be maintained that he was a fragile character unsuited for combat and perhaps for his career. He was a pallbearer for the Tomb of the Unknowns in 1921 and left for a cruise to Cuba only shortly thereafter.  After dining with the captain and being reported to be in good spirits, he simply disappeared, with the strong suspicion being that he jump overboard at sea.

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*Whittlesey as a Harvard educated lawyer with a patrician air but had been born to working class roots.  His father had been a Pennsylvania logger.  Perhaps for this reason Whittleseay was a member of the Socialist Party at one time early on, before that party had become fully radical, at which time he resigned in disgust. He was always a sensitive personality who had trouble to some extent with that even prior to the war in this early legal practice.

**McMurtry had been a member of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the Rough Riders, during the Spanish American War and would become a millionaire investor as well as a Harvard educated lawyer following that war.  He was one of the most experienced soldiers in the unit at the time of these events.

***Grant was yet another Harvard lawyer, having obtained a law degree in 1909.  He had retired as a professional baseball player in 1915 and had opened up a law practice in thereafter in Boston.

The 100 Days. Battle of St. Quentin Canal. September 29 to October 10, 1918

British troops being addressed by Gen J. V. Campbell at the Riqueval Bridge over the St. Q

When we last read about this action, the U.S. 27th and U.S. 30th Divisions had gone into action on September 27 to try to take part of the Hindenburg Line in preparation for an assault on a longer piece of the line scheduled for this day.

And on this day, the larger ball got rolling.

On this day 30 British Empire Divisions and two American Divisions went into action in this region against 39 Divisions.  In spite of being a much smaller force, the U.S. Army would take over half the Allied causalities in the effort before it was done; in an effort that is paradoxically primarily remembered as a British Empire, or more precisely Australian, effort.

The British Empire forces commenced the battle with their largest artillery bombardment of World War One, firing over 1,000,000 shells.  Among the munitions that were used, the British fired mustard gas rounds for the first time, targeting German headquarters and artillery units with chemical weapons.

American and Australian troops at the Bellicourt Tunnel.

The two American divisions lead off the attack, followed by Australian divisions, and backed by British tanks, with the objective of breaking through the Beaurevoir Line.  The U.S. 27th Division, however, met with stout German resistance and in fact one regiment of the 27th, the 107th Infantry, sustained the highest casualties of any American regiment in a single day for the war.  The Australians, who were to have "leap frogged" over the Americans after they took the initial objectives, then committed by necessity with the American objectives untaken.  The 30th Division, however, did better.  Nonetheless, American failures in the battle basically lead the Australians to take over and lead to enduring debates about the quality of the American Army in the attack, with Monash attributing its failures to it being green.  That their contribution to its ultimate success was real, however, was never debated.

While this was going on the Australians committed near the Bellicourt Tunnel where tanks were not available in strength due to losses that had already occurred.  The British also then committed as well as the U.S. 30th Division, which overall performed well in the battle.  Fierce Allied artillery close support contributed to the assault and after a large scale effort the Canal was taken.  Fighting continued on through October 10, but the much depleted Australian Corps was withdrawn on October 5, it ranks much thinned due to combat attrition and the Spanish Flu.  It would not be recommitted prior to November 11 and therefore its role in the fighting ceased on that date.

The 100 Days: Fifth Battle of Ypres. September 28 to October 2, 1918.

On this day in 1918 the Groupe d'Armees des Flanders, a combined British, Belgian and French command, launched an assault at 05:30 after a three hour artillery bombardment, oer a wide front near Ypres.

The assault yielded immediate successes.  Many well known locations that featured heavy fighting earlier in the war, such as Passchendaele, were regained.  The advance continued on through October 2 when the Germans brought up reinforcements and the Allies outran their supplies, and therefore halted.

Showing the direction of things to come, the British and Belgian forces received 15,000 rations by air. That is, air drop.  They were parachuted in.

The battle, like the earlier one at Passchendaele, freakishly featured a lot of rain.

The 100 Days. Battle of St. Quentin Canal. The American 27th and 30th Divisions go into action. September 27, 1918.

Infantryman of the U.S. 30th Division with German prisoners on September 30, 1918.  Note that they are equipped with British SMLE rifles.  American soldiers assigned to British commands were equipped with British small arms.

St. Quentin as a place name has featured prominently in the newspaper headlines that have appeared here in the past couple of weeks.  Obviously it was a strategic point on the line that the British were hoping to crack.

Most histories of this battle have it commencing on October 29, 1918, but in reality it started today when the U.S. II Corps, which was attached to the British forces, commenced an assault on the northern section of the Hindenburg Line in order to attempt to position the British forces for the assault that was scheduled for two days later.  The II Corps remained part of the British forces and while made up of two divisions was the numerical equivalent of four British or Empire Divisions..

The overall assault had been assigned to Australian Genral Monash, whose earlier efforts in recent weeks had been uniformly successful and indeed quite inventive.  Monash was not happy with the assignment however as the Australians felt that they were being overused and there was serious dissension in Australian ranks.  Monash's feelings on the matter, however, were addressed by the assignment of the U.S. II Corps, made up of two large divisions (the equivalent of four British divisions) to his command.  Field Marshall Haig had opposed the use of the U.S. troops for the assault on the northern part of the line as he felt that they were too green, but British Gen. Rawlinson convinced him to give it a go on the basis that the Germans in the area, which had previously been the subject of an unsuccessful British attack, were now weakened and likely to collapse.

Haig's misgivings proved correct and the American assault failed.  This resulted in a request from Monash to postpone the September 29 planned attack but the request was refused.  We'll rejoin this story, accordingly, on the 29th.

The 100 Days Offensive: Pershing writes a letter. August 31, 1918.

General Pershing, following the events of yesterday, wrote Marshall Foch a lengthy memorandum on this day in 1918.

The memorandum was mostly a recap of the arguments that Pershing had set out the previous day in his face to face argument with Foch.  It contained, however, a concession.  Pershing thought the original planned offensive at St. Mihel could include a change in direction following its original objective without pausing.

That concession would prove key to breaking the impasse.

The 100 Days Offensive: The 27th and 30th Divisions fight the Battle of Vierstaat Ridge

On U.S. 27th Division and the U.S. 30th Division, attached to the British Second Army when it appeared that the Germans had abandoned Mount Kemel in front of them.  They were supported by the British 34th Division.  The advance soon demonstrated that while the Germans had in large withdrawn, they had left behind machineguns to cover their withdrawal in dug in positions.  These slowed the Allied advance but the Americans none the less took their objections by 17:30.

Insignia of the 27th Division.

The attack resumed the following morning at 07:00 and carried through September 3.

The 27th Division was a unit made up entirely of New York National Guardsmen, making it one of three U.S. Divisions that were comprised of National Guardsmen entirely from a single state.  At the time of the battle of Vierstaat Ridge it was commanded by John F. O'Ryan, a New York City lawyer who had been in the New York National Guard since 1900.

John F. O'Ryan.

After World War One he pursued commercial pursuits and was active in protesting the German treatment of the Jews as early as 1933.

Shoulder patch of the 30th Division.

The 30th Division was also a National Guard Division, and had originally been designated the 9th Division after being mustered and assembled.  it was made up of National Guardsmen from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee.  It was commanded at this time by Maj. Gen. Edward Mann Lewis, a career office in the U.S. Army.

Maj. Gen. Edward Mann Lewis.

American Troops under British and French Command in the Great War.

Yesterday I noted that the US 32nd Division was, at this point, advancing under French command.

They weren't alone.

It's really popular to imagine that General Pershing insisted that the US have its own Army in the field and that he was universally successful. So when Americans marched into battle in France, they did so exclusively under overall U.S. command.

That's a myth.

Indeed, we've already seen here recently that the U.S. First Army was only formed in August and that it only took over the St. Michel Sector on August 30.  But Americans had already been in heavy combat for weeks prior to that as individual divisions were placed under higher foreign commands by necessity.

And that hadn't stopped due to the First Army being formed.

The U.S. 33d and 80th Divisions were part of the British Fourth Army and had been fighting with the British as part of the Second Battle of the Somme, which we've read about here a bit.  The American II Corps was also part of the British Fourth Army and would be up until late October, 1918, by which time it had suffered 11,500 casualties under British command.  

In other words, the II Corps fought under the British Fourth Army until the end of the war as a practical matter with one final U.S. Division remaining under official British command at the war's end.

The 92nd and 93d Divisions, which were made up of black enlisted men, fought the entire war under French command.  The American III Corps was part of the French Sixth Army until mid September, when its two divisions became part of the U.S. First Army. 

In October the 37th and 91st Divisions were attached, by Pershing, to French Army of Belgium, at Foch's request.

All of this is significant in that the role of the U.S. Army is subject to a double set of myths, one being that the U.S. Army fought the whole war under American command and the other being that the US role was minimal.  In fact, while there did come to become a U.S. First Army, U.S. divisions served under French and British command in numbers that became significant during the German 1918 Spring Offensive and throughout the 100 Days Offensive.  While after the formation of the U.S. First Army, American command of its troops in the field became extensive, there was never a day when there were not U.S. soldiers under British and French command, and they were needed.

The 100 Days Offensive: The Battle of Mont Saint Quentin. August 31, 1918

On this day in 1918 under-strength Australian forces followed up on a failed front attack on German forces on the  Somme by charging up Mont St. Quentin. The bravado took the Germans by surprise who surrendered in large numbers which allowed the Germans to continue to the main German line and cross the Somme.

The Australians were pushed off the hill in a German counteroffensive but did hand on just below the summit which allowed them to retake it on September 1.

The 100 Days: Foch and Pershing Argue and the American Army takes over the St. Mihiel Sector

Pershing and Foch shaking hands in 1918, as Pershing was departing to return to the United States.

And they didn't resolve their dispute either.

The dispute was about a planned upcoming American offensive. Following Soissons, the U.S. First Army was formed which gave the US an independent army in the field, must like the British Expeditionary Force.  The US, in other words, was ready to fight on its own.  

And it had planned an offensive which contemplated the strategic situation at the time planning commenced.  The problem was, however, that it no longer did, and Foch, the Supreme Allied Commander, knew it.

Pershing's plan, developed before the recent Allied advances had become so successful, called for the U.S. First Army to advance straight north from its positions on a broad front towards Sedan.  In other words, truly straight north, towards Belgium.  It made sense when first conceived of.

Foch, on the other hand, wanted to scrap that and have the U.S. Army, with a French contingent, close a salient sought of Verdun and take a hard right towards the German city of Metz, and take it.  Foch would have had the U.S. Army swing right.

Foch was right.

That would have meant, however, that the U.S. Army would not have been operating fully independent.  Pershing wouldn't have that.

The argument was not resolved.  It was heated.  Most American historians give Pershing credit for sticking to his guns and thereby making certain that the U.S. Army would be an independent one.

But, in reality, the proposed line of advance that Pershing wanted was now obsolete due to the spectacular recent advances of the British Expeditionary Force.  Foch's plan, however, was strategically dynamic and would have put the Allies right into a German city.

Foch was right.

On the same day, in spite of the argument, the American 1st Army took over the St. Mihiel Sector.

The 100 Days Offensive: The 32nd Division takes Juvigny

Insignia of the 32nd Division.

If you've been reading the posts here (and I know that darned few do), you will have been reading a fair amount the British Expeditionary Force, which comprised of units from all of the British Empire, advancing on the Allied left flank.

At the same time, you will have been reading of French advances, although I have not posted any of the campaigns in detail. Suffice it to say, the French were advancing as well, as the headlines indicated.

On this day, the U.S. 32nd Division, which was part of the French Tenth Army, took Juvigny, a strategically important location in the line of the French advance.  The 32nd was a National Guard comprised unit made up of units from Wisconsin and Michigan.  The unit compelled the Germans to withdraw in their sector and on September 9 the 32nd would become part of the U.S. First Army.

Juvigny is not a battle that's thought much of today, but the accomplishment of the 32nd was significant.  Moreover, the event demonstrates that while the U.S. First Army had only come into existence on this day, US units were engaged in the 100 Days Offensive already, attached to French and British commands.

The 100 Days Offensive: The Battle of Albert concludes

On this day in 1918 the Battle of Albert, part of the Second Battle of the Somme, concluded with the Anglo American capture of Albert and Arras.

The battle, the third by that name, was part of the Battle of Bapaume.

The 100 Days: The Second Battle of the Somme commences.

The Casper Daily Tribune for August 21, 1918, which also noted the results of the prior day's primary election.

On this day in 1918, the British resumed advancing, after having halted to regroup and reorganize.

New Zealnders during the Battle of Bapaume in a scene that could easily be mistaken for one from the Second World War.

The offensive resumed with a New Zealand assault at Bapaume, part of the Second Battle of the Somme, in what is known as the Second Battle of Bapaume.  The first day's assault was successful but the following day was slow, which was to characterize the overall progress in the region over the next several days. The Kiwis were continually on the assault, but the battle did not feature the breakthroughs seen earlier in the 100 Days Offensive.  The effort lasted through September 3, with the town being taken on September 29.  That was only a phase of the massive large scale offensive, however.

Bapaume on August 30, 1918.

The town of Albert was taken during the resumed offensive on its second day, August 22.  The British forces expanded the assault thereafter with what is referred to as the Second Battle of Arras on August 26.  Bapaume was taken by the Kiwis on August 29.  The Australians crossed the Somme on August 31 and then fought the Germans and broke through their lines at Battle of Mont S. Quentin and the Battle of Peronne.  Australian advances between August 31 and September 4 were regarded by General Henry Rawlinson as the greatest military achievement of the war.

British Whippet tank, August 1918.

The Canadians Corps seized control of the western edge of the Hindenburg Line on September 2, with British forces participating.  Following this came the famous Battle of St. Quentin Canal which would feature all of the Anglo American forces under Australian General John Monash.  Cambrai would follow that.

Laramie Boomerang for August 21, 1918, also noting that Carey and Houx were advancing to the general election.

Things were clearly starting to fold in for the Germans.

The New York Herald, August 21, 1918.

German prisoners bringing in wounded soldiers and captured machine guns during the third Battle of the Albert, near Courcelles, France, August 21, 1918

The open air kitchen used by German prisoners while a new mess hall and kitchen is being erected Camp Miramas, near Marseilles, France. August 19, 1918.

The 100 Days: Haig says no to Foch and the Offensive at Amiens stops. August 15, 1918

 Sir Douglas Haig.

Field Marshall Haig, on this date, refused an order from Field Marshall Foch to continue the advance at Amiens.

By this point in the battle Haig was having logistical problems and his order was sound.  Rather than advance further, he chose to halt to reorganize his forces, which consisted of the British Third Army and U.S. Army II Corps in order to prepare them for a new offensive.

The 100 Days. The Battle of Amiens. August 8-13, 1918. The Black Day of the German Army.

On this day in 1918 the beginning of the final campaign of World War One began with the commencement of the Battle of Amiens.

"August 8, 1918", showing German troops marching into captivity.

Readers here have been reading about the combined Allied attack at Soissons.  That counteroffensive could be regarded in some ways as the commencement of the Allied advances that would result in the November 1918 termination of the war, but it was in truth a local counteroffensive, on a massive scale, designed to reduce a salient that had been created by the German advances in their 1918 Spring Offensive. This was distinctly different in that it was the commencement of a large scale Allied campaign designed to do the very thing the German 1918 Spring; bring the war to a successful conclusion.

The plan to attack at Amiens was first proposed on July 23 after the successful initial stages of the Franco American assault of Soissons.  Unlike Soissons, which had been a Franco American effort with British support, this effort would be a combined British Empire (Canadian, British and Australian) and French effort.

The initial assault plan followed on lessons that had been learned by the Australian assault at Hamel, which featured American combat troops as well, and which is regarded as the first real combined arms assault of the modern type.  The assault featured large-scale use of armor and no pre assault bombardment, but instead immediate artillery support at the time of the attack.  That attack commenced at 0420 in dense fog.

On this day, seven British divisions, supported in the north by the American 33d Division, launched that attack and achieved complete surprise.  German reaction was quite slow as a result.  By the end of the day Empire forces and French forces were both engaged and the Germans sustained 30,000 losses of all types.  The losses were so severe that Eric Ludendorff later characterized the day as the "the Black Day the German Army."

Hindenburg, on left as viewed, and Ludendorff.

Ludendorff's observation came not because of his lamenting the fate of the German's on the field, but because huge numbers of German soldiers simply gave up and surrendered.  It was a Black Day, as the honor of the army, in his viewed, was tainted.  And indeed, German moral was simply destroyed, although not just by this day alone.  German troops refused to rally and yelled back to their officers that they were "prolonging the war".  They also yelled at reserves coming into the line that they were "Blacklegs" (strike breakers).  The German army had simply broken.

The attack continued the next two days, but without the spectacular successes of the first day.  Allied advances continued but support problems developed with contested roads and with infantry units outrunning their artillery support.  Marshall Foch, given the advances, requested that British Field Marshall Haig continue the offensive but Haig declined, given the problems he was facing of this type, and the operation halted on August 13.

By the end of the attack the German lines had significantly contracted and they had sustained a loss of 75,000 men which they could ill afford to lose. Tellingly, 50,000 of those losses were due to men surrendering.  The Allies had lost 44,000 men, of which approximately half were British Empire forces and half French.  The offensive didn't end the war, but it did indicate that something new was going on. The German Army, which had nearly won the war a few weeks over, has so strained its own soldiers that they were basically done.  Only the extraordinary discipline present in the German military overall kept the war from concluding in the summer of 1918, not that the Allies were expecting that to occur.