THE FIRST AMERICAN ARMY IN ATTACK

From General Pershing's Report.

IN destroying the St. Mihiel wedge, the American forces fought for the first time as a unit under their own commanders headed by General Pershing, who made this report to the War Department. The operation proved conclusively the fighting ability of American troops organized and acting independently on the offensive. Strategically, it vastly improved the Allied communications and restored to the Allies in that area the power to attack at any moment and in any direction. The St. Mihiel salient had been held by the Germans since September, 1914. Held now by our First Army, with other American armies at hand, the occupation of this region menaced the German front and threatened the Hindenburg Line.

As here reported, the American army numbered about 500,000 men, including 70,000 French, mainly colonials. Sixteen thousand prisoners, 443 guns and a mass of stores were taken at the expense of less than 7,000 casualties.

AT BOMBON on July 24 there was a conference of all the commanders-in-chief for the purpose of considering Allied operations. Each presented proposals for the employment of the armies under his command, and these formed the basis of future cooperation of the Allies. It was emphatically determined that the Allied attitude should be to maintain the offensive. At the first operation of the American army the reduction of the salient of St. Mihiel was to be undertaken as soon as the necessary troops and material could be made available. On account of the swampy nature of the country it was especially important that the movement be undertaken and finished before the fall rains should begin, which was usually about the middle of September.

Arrangements were concluded for successive relief of the American divisions, and the organization of the First American Army under my personal command was announced on August 10, with La Fertesous-Jouarre as headquarters. This army nominally assumed control of a portion of the Vesle front, although at the same time directions were given for its secret concentration in the St. Mihiel sector.

The force of American soldiers in France at that moment was sufficient to carry out this offensive, but they were dispersed along the front from Switzerland to the Channel. The three army corps headquarters to participate in the St. Mihiel attack were the 1st, 4th and 5th. The 1st was on the Vesle, the 4th at Toul and the 5th not yet completely organized. To assemble combat divisions and service troops and undertake a major operation within the short period available and with staffs so recently organized was an extremely difficult task. Our deficiencies in artillery, aviation and special troops, caused by the shipment of an undue proportion of infantry and machine guns during the summer, were largely met by the French.

The reduction of the St. Mihiel salient was important, as it would prevent the enemy from interrupting traffic on the Paris-Nancy Railroad by artillery fire and would free the railroad leading north through St. Mihiel to Verdun. It would also provide us with an advantageous base of departure for an attack against the Metz-Sedan railroad system, which was vital to the German armies west of Verdun, and against the Briey Iron Basin, which was necessary for the production of German armament and munitions.

The general plan was to make simultaneous attacks against the flanks of the salient. The ultimate objective was tentatively fixed as the general line Marieulles (east of the Moselle) heights south of Gorze-Mars in Tour-Etain. The operations contemplated the use of the western face of three or four American divisions, supported by the attack of six divisions of the Second French Army on their left, while seven American Divisions would attack on the southern face, and three French divisions would press the enemy at the tip of the salient. As the part to Le taken by the Second French Army would be closely related to the attack of the First American Army, General Petain placed all the French troops involved under my personal command.

By August 20 the concentration of the scattered divisions, corps, and army troops, of the quantities of supplies and munitions required, and the necessary construction of light railways and roads, were well under way.

On August 30 a further discussion with Marshal Foch was held at my headquarters at Ligny-en-Barrois. In view of the new successes of the French and British near Amiens and the continued favorable results toward the Chemin des Dames on the French front, it was now believed that the limited Allied offensive, which was to prepare for the campaign of 1919, might be carried further before the end of the year. At this meeting it was proposed by Marshal Foch that the general operations as far as the American army was concerned should be carried out in detail by :

(a) An attack between the Meuse and the Argonne by the Second French Army, reinforced by from four to six American divisions.

(b) A French-American attack, extending from the Argonne west to the Souain road, to be executed on the right by an American army astride the Aisne and on the left by the Fourth French Army.

To carry out these attacks the ten to eleven American divisions suggested for the St. Mihiel operation and the four to six for the Second French Army, would have eight to ten divisions for an American army on the Aisne. It was proposed that the St. Mihiel operation should be initiated on September 10, and the other two on September 15 and 20, respectively.

The plan suggested for the American participation in these operations was not acceptable to me because it would require the immediate separation of the recently formed First American Army into several groups, mainly to assist French armies. This was directly contrary to the principle of forming a distinct American army, for which my contention had been insistent. An enormous amount of preparation had already been made, a construction of roads, railroads, regulating stations and other installations looking to the use and supply of our armies on a particular front. The inherent disinclination of our troops to serve under Allied commanders would have grown and American morale would have suffered. My position was stated quite clearly that the strategical employment of the First Army as a unit would be undertaken where desired, but its disruption to carry out these proposals would not be entertained.

A further conference at Marshal Foch's headquarters was held on September 2, at which General Petain was present. After discussion the question of employing the American army as a unit was conceded. The essentials of the strategical decision previously arrived at provided that the advantageous situation of the Allies should be exploited to the utmost by vigorously continuing the general battle and extending it eastward to the Meuse. All the Allied armies were to be employed in a converging action. The British armies, supported by the left of the French armies, were to pursue the attack in the direction of Cambrai ; the center of the French armies, west of Rheims, would continue the actions already begun to drive the enemy beyond the Aisne; and the American army supported by the right of the French armies, would direct its attack on Sedan and Mezieres.

It should be recorded that although this general offensive was fully outlined at the conference no one present expressed the opinion that the final victory could be won in 1918. In fact, it was believed by the French High Command that the Meuse-Argonne attack could not be pushed much beyond Montfaucon before the arrival of winter would force a cessation of operations.