Offensive at St. Mihiel

A detailed Summary of Offensive at St. Mihiel

The St. Mihiel Offensive began on September 12, 1918. It was the first operation of World War I performed and commanded solely by an American Army. The whole idea of the operation was to reduce the size of the German salient, a part of their battle line that jutted out towards allied territories. Though delayed at first by other occurring battles, the operation began on August 10, 1918 when the American First Army headquarters was set up.

August 30, 1918, the First Army, under the direction of General Pershing took command of the battle front between Port sur Sielle and Verdun (see Map 1). The battle line ran from East of Verdun, South to St. Mihiel and turned West to Port sur Sielle (see Map 1). The Area itself was mostly made up of plains with some spots of woods here and there. It was all fairly low ground with large ponds and swampy areas.

Holding the salient was a German force known as Army Detachment "C", commanded by General Fuchs. Which was composed of eight divisions and two brigades, with five divisions in reserve. In the Southern most part of the salient, the Germans occupied two hills: Loupmont and Montsec, (see map 2), which made excellent defensive positions for them, and gave the

When the order for withdrawal was given, General Fuchs believed that the American attack would take place later in the month. So a full withdrawal was ordered. So German Soldiers fighting rear guard were totally unprepared for any sort of attack and further more had to do so without the aid of any sort of fire support.

In any case, this battle showed that the American Army could handle any operation. It allowed the American Army to now take on large scale assignments and successfully fight the upcoming battles of Argone and after.

When leading elements reached the first line to attack, the Germans were already gone. The Germans had withdrawn earlier under the orders of General Fuchs. Fuchs somehow got the word that there was going to be an American attack, and because his German forces were being depleted, he thought it better to make the size of the area to be defended, smaller. So the initial close range artillery strikes did little to no good. Though some of the longer range artillery found it's way to withdrawing Germans.

General Pershing had now realized that the German forces were taking full advantage of this gap in between his forces. Pershing ordered his I and IV Corps to continue on, and for at least a Regiment from the V Corps to do the same. All in hopes to cut off the escape route.

The Americans were advancing quickly. Yet, by the end of the first day, there was still a 10 km between elements from the South and elements from the West. This gap was allowing Germans to freely slip past allied lines to safety.

Some common words found in the essay are:
American Army, Division Map, Haudimont Map, Bouillonville Map, Montsec Map, IV Corps, German Soldiers, Fuchs Fuchs, German Division, Mihiel Salient, map 2, american army, iv corps, st mihiel, division reserve, cut escape, map 1, southern salient, montsec map 2, battle battle, salient germans, port sur sielle, cut escape route, division reserve map, reserve map 2,

Approximate Word count = 1764
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History