List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in the Argonne

Introduction
This article takes over where List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Champagne-Ardennes left off. Moving east from the Champagne region we reach that part of the Western Front that crosses the Argonne Forest which was undoubtedly one of the most difficult parts to either defend or attack. The forest itself was thick and impenetrable and between 1914 and 1915, neither German nor French Armies could take and hold the area in its entirety and in an area roughly seven miles wide and two miles deep some 150,000 men were to die in the daily encounters which punctuated those two years. By 1915/1916, the Germans had fortified their part of the area with elaborate underground bunkers and defence structures. Indeed so secure was the area by then that the Germans tended to use it as a rest area for their soldiers. In 1918, it was the American Army, after their baptism and success at St.Mihiel, who were allocated the sector and from the initial bombardment on 26 September 1918 it was to prove an enormous challenge for the relatively untested troops from America. By the end of September the Americans had advanced some ten miles but it would take another month to clear the Germans from the Argonne area and over the period the Americans were to leave over 26,000 men dead and almost 100,000 wounded. There are many American monuments and memorials in this area, as well as those relating to the French and German armies. At Cheppey, at Varennes-en-Argonne, at the Bois de la Gruerie, at Vauquois and Montfaucon we are reminded of the suffering and sacrifices made.

To explore this area leave Ste Menehould and take the N3 in the direction of Verdun, passing through La Grange aux Bois and Les Islettes before arriving in Clermont-en-Argonne and from there take the D946 and head north to Boureilles. Boureilles has a splendid "Monument aux Morts" and the road is well signposted so look for a reference to the Butte de Vauquois and the American Memorial and Cemetery.

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive in September 1918 was part of the Allied effort to force the Germans to retreat and hopefully move them out of France and plans included taking maximum advantage of the arrival of the American Expeditionary Force under General Pershing. After four years of fighting, European soldiers were understandably exhausted, but the arrival of the U.S. Forces gave the Allies fresh troops and importantly a numerical superiority. Until the last great German offensive of 15 July was successfully repulsed and a successful U.S.-French counter-offensive was launched at Soissons on 18 July the Germans had made significant advances in 1918 but now they were on the defensive and the Allied task was to now keep them so.

The U.S.First Army had already been successfully employed in the St Mihiel sector and eliminated the German salient there and the Allied plan was to now mount a major offensive of which St Mihiel had only been an appetiser.

As part of this major offensive the Americans were allocated the area between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River. This was a key area for the Germans. The lateral communications between German forces east and west of the Meuse were in this area and the Germans were heavily dependent upon two rail lines that converged in the vicinity of Sedan which lay just 35 miles from the front line. The nature of the terrain over which the Americans were to fight was ideal for defence and conversely difficult to attack. On one side was the heavily wooded and tangled Argonne Forest and the Aire River which presented natural obstacles and on the other the Meuse River and the Heights of the Meuse from which the Germans could observe the battlefield and cover it with artillery fire

Between the Aire and the Meuse Rivers there were a series of ridges that afforded excellent observation. First there was the hill at Montfaucon, behind that the Heights of Romagne and Cunel and beyond these were the Barricourt Heights and to protect this vitally important area, the Germans had established defensive positions some 10 to 12 miles deep.

The plans were for the 600,000 man strong U.S.First Army to attack northward with nine divisions in the line and five in reserve, these supported by 2,700 pieces of artillery, 189 tanks, and 821 aircraft. The attack would take pace along a fifteen to twenty mile wide corridor bounded by the Meuse River on the east and the dense Argonne Forest and the Aire River on the west.

The Germans had occupied the area for years and in that time had developed an elaborate defensive system of four fortified lines with a dense network of wire entanglements, machine-gun positions, and concrete fighting posts. In between these trench lines, the Germans had added a series of strong points in the woods and knolls. With five divisions on the line and another seven in reserve, French General Philippe Petain believed that the German defenses were so strong that the Americans would do well if they managed to reach one of their first objectives, the town of Montfaucon, located a few miles behind enemy lines, before winter. At 5:30 A.M. on September 26, 1918, after a three-hour artillery bombardment, Pershing launched his attack.

Despite heavy fog, rugged terrain, and the network of barbed wire, American Soldiers quickly overran the Germans’ forward positions but thereafter progress was slow with heavy rains having turned the terrain to mud, bogging down tanks and artillery and slowing resupply efforts. The Germans used the delay to bring in reinforcements, and German artillery rained down fire from the heights of the Meuse and the Argonne Forest. The advance became a continuous series of bloody, hard-fought engagements and of the nine U.S. divisions used in the initial assault, only three had any significant combat experience. Indeed the 79th Division had only been in France for seven weeks.

Despite these problems, by 30 September, the First Army had managed to advance as far as six miles into the German lines in some places,  fighting through some of the strongest positions on the Western Front and capturing 9,000 prisoners and large amounts of supplies and equipment.

As the battle progressed, Pershing began to reorganize the First Army, rotating three battle-hardened divisions into the line to relieve some of the less experienced units. The Germans also strengthened their position, adding six new divisions, bringing their total to eleven.

On October 4, the First Army renewed the attack. The fighting was especially severe but the critical high grounds remained in German hands. As new American divisions were rotated into line, the Germans continued their reinforcement efforts; and by October 6, they had twenty-seven divisions in the area.

By the third week of October, the First Army had penetrated the third German defensive line and were able at last to clear the Argonne. Pershing reorganized the AEF, creating the Second Army under General Robert L. Bullard. Pershing later placed General Hunter Liggett in charge of the First Army, in order to focus his own attention on larger strategic issues.

To prepare for the second phase of the offensive, Liggett ordered a series of limited attacks to keep the pressure on the Germans while his battle-weary men reequipped and recuperated and by the end of October, the 1st Army was ready for the next general attack.

On November 1, Liggett’s First Army attacked north, toward the Meuse River. Over the next several days, the First Army advanced as fast as it could move artillery and supplies forward. At one point, the advance was so rapid that it ran off the AEF headquarters’ maps. By November 4, the Americans had achieved their objective and the German army was in full retreat on both sides of the Meuse and three days later the heights overlooking Sedan were taken and the U.S. First Army was able to gain domination over the German railroad communications there.

One week later the Armistice was signed, and World War I was over. Almost 1.25 million American troops had participated during the course of the 47-day campaign. American casualties were high—over 117,000—but the results were impressive. The U.S.First Army had driven forty-three German divisions back about thirty miles over some of the most difficult terrain and most heavily fortified positions on the Western Front, while inflicting over 120,000 casualties. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was the greatest American battle of the First World War and In six weeks the AEF lost 26,277 killed and 95,786 wounded.



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