The Unknowns by Patrick K. O'Donnell

Author:Patrick K. O'Donnell [O’Donnell, Patrick K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780802146298
Publisher: Grove Atlantic
Published: 2018-05-16T04:00:00+00:00

The Marines moved into Jaulny and took over the château that Body Bearer Saunders had liberated. The danger was not over. Shells continued to rain down on the town, taking their toll. A massive shell from a German heavy gun struck one corner of the castle, pulverizing two Marines. Earlier they had buried bodies of German soldiers killed around the property and put a suffering horse wounded by artillery out of its misery with a .45. Numbly, the burial party went back to work. The sergeant in command bellowed, “Hell, fellows, more work! We may as well bury them now; then we can go get a drink of water.”7 The men lifted the bodies of their comrades into the shell hole.

Eventually, the US Army, with the Marines and other Allied units, pursued the Germans to the base of the salient where they strongly dug in along the Hindenburg Line and successfully repelled several American thrusts.

It was an overwhelming victory for First Army. Over the course of four days, the Americans captured fifteen thousand German prisoners, along with hundreds of artillery pieces and machine guns, all while losing fewer than nine thousand of their own men. Publicly, Pershing expressed pleasure with the American army’s performance in its first battle fighting as a cohesive unit. “We gave ‘em a damn good licking, didn’t we?” he bragged.8 An independent American army was born, and would fight as such. Talk of breaking up the First Army and filtering American battalions into the French and British Armies finally died down.

Critically, the offensive sent the Germans into a state of disorder and confusion about where the American hammer wielded by First Army would fall next. Foch wanted to stay on the offensive to keep the Germans off balance and prevent them from recovering.

Saint Mihiel also brought to light many problems in how the AEF fought, particularly regarding coordination and logistics. (An American division was more than twice the size of the average French or German division, which at times could make them unwieldy.) Getting supplies and replacement troops to the front where they were needed had remained a nightmare during the offensive. Men on the front lines went without food and water while supply trucks sat stuck in traffic jams. Poor communication had resulted in units’ becoming lost and a lack of coordination between the artillery and the infantry. To solve the logistics problem that emanated from the French ports and the unloading of troops, munitions, and supplies, Pershing dispatched his favorite general, James Harbord. Command of the 2nd Division had also passed to Marine Major General John Archer Lejeune.

With no time to bask in the victory, the First Army, many of the Body Bearers, and Sergeant Younger now faced another enormous challenge. As a result of his deal with Foch, Pershing had committed to launching another major offensive. He had only two weeks to conduct the Herculean task of moving his army and artillery more than fifty miles north to the Meuse-Argonne.

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