Early in the morning of 12 September 1918, nearly half a million American soldiers crouched in forward trench lines along a sixty five-kilometer section of the Western Front, waiting for the signal to advance. The target of the American-planned and American executed operation was a massive salient that had bedeviled the Allies since late 1914. Until this point in the World War, members of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) had not fought in a formation larger than a corps, and then only under French or British ...
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Early in the morning of 12 September 1918, nearly half a million American soldiers crouched in forward trench lines along a sixty five-kilometer section of the Western Front, waiting for the signal to advance. The target of the American-planned and American executed operation was a massive salient that had bedeviled the Allies since late 1914. Until this point in the World War, members of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) had not fought in a formation larger than a corps, and then only under French or British leadership. Now, as part of the newly formed American First Army under the command of General John J. Pershing, they prepared to launch an operation that was, according to one historian, "America's first truly great modern battle." The four-day offensive would not only serve as a baptism of fire for the First Army but also demonstrate to the Allies and the Germans alike that the Americans were capable of operating as an independent command. The action showed how far the U.S. Army had progressed in its evolution from a frontier constabulary to a modern combined arms maneuver force, and it helped set the stage for the grand Allied offensive that would seize the initiative all along the Western Front and blaze a path toward ultimate victory in the war.
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