From the World War I Centennial News Podcast

WW1 Then: September Roundtable

In September 14th's WW1 Centennial News Podcast, Episode 89, host Theo Mayer and regular contributors Mike Shuster and Dr. Ed Lengel discussed the Saint Mihiel Offensive, a huge moment for America and one of the decisive Allied blows against Germany. The following is a transcript of the podcast:

Theo Mayer: This week, 100 years ago, the big focus is on a transformative battle, especially for General John J. Pershing and his newly minted US First Army and the fledgling US Army Air Service, led by a guy named Billy Mitchell. And a new tank corp led by none other than George Patton. The story plays out near a town called Saint Mihiel, where Germany has long held a major salient.

yung Patton A young Colonel George Patton poses with a tank, 1918. Patton established himself as a top-flight tank commander during the U.S. attack on the Saint Mihiel Salient. Now, in military terms, a salient is a sort of triangular bulge that has been pushed deep into enemy territory. Germany captured the salient in the first three months of the war and has held it since October 1914. With that as a set up, let's jump into our centennial time machine and travel to the mid-days of September 1918. We're gonna open our exploration of the western front and the Battle at Saint Mihiel by turning to Mike Schuster, former NPR correspondent and the curator for the Great War Project blog.

Mike: Thank you, Theo. The headlines read, Huge American Presence on the Attack, German Morale Worse by the Day, A Sense of Looming Defeat, and this is special to the Great War Project.

The battle for the Saint Mihiel salient begins in earnest in mid-September a century ago. It is fierce and there is a great American presence in the effort to drive the Germans out of the bulge in their line in northern France. Historian Martin Gilbert reports, "When the battle began on September 12th, more than 200,000 American troops supported by 48,000 French moved forward in pouring rain along the 12 mile front." Then this startling fact: "During the advance the American gunners fired 100000 rounds of phosgene gas shells. According to historian Gilbert, 9000 Germans are incapacitated in this gas attack and 50 Germans are killed.

Much of this battle takes place in the air. "The largest ever number of aircraft were in combat", Gilbert reports, with nearly 1500 aircraft, American, French, Italian, Belgian, Portuguese taking part. They are under American command. The Germans had no way of matching these number or the freshness and zeal of the Americans, many of whom were in action for the first time. mitchell left pershing right Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell (left) and General John J. Pershing in an undated photograph

Within 48 hours, the Americans had captured 13000 prisoners and 200 guns. The German high command was astounded by the swift, initial American success, but the Americans too suffered in the battle for the Saint Mihiel salient. "The Americans,' reports historian Gilbert, "had not won their victory without considerable loss." The American dead from this battle numbers some 4500, but it nevertheless is a considerable strategic achievement, the straightening of the salient, that is the removal of the bulge in the line and the liberation of Saint Mihiel town itself were important achievements.

The salient, according to Gilbert, had been in German hands for four years. It had earlier resisted two French attacks. "It is as swift and neat an operation as any in the war," wrote the Manchester Guardian. And perhaps the most heartening of all its features is the proof it gives that the precision, skill, and imagination of American leadership is not inferior to the spirit of their troops. Gary Mead, as well as other historians points out that the Americans caught the Germans in retreat, but that doesn't lessen the significance of the victory at Saint Mihiel.

Certainly the Germans were none the better for their retreat. "Fortunate, they may have been", writes Mead, "in capturing the Germans in retreat, but this relatively bloodless victory was a remarkably useful morale boost for the Allies." It was also a serious psychological blow to the Germans, even though they were conducting an orderly retreat.

"The ceding of any ground in the coveted territory was a bitter blow," observes Gilbert. "The American soldiers had at last obtained the recognition they deserved." War historian John Keegan reports an ever-stronger American army was taking an increasingly important part in operations. "Morale on the German side was proving worse by the day. There was a sense of looming defeat among the German army along the front line, certainly caused in part by the sheer number of Americans arriving daily at the front."

Theo: Mike Schuster is the curator for the Great War Project blog. The link to his post is in the podcast notes. Continuing the story of the Battle of Saint Mihiel, we're joined by Dr. Edward Lengel. The name of this podcast segment is "America Emerges: Military Stories from World War I". And it couldn't be more appropriately titled as Ed provides a series of details and accounts from these dynamic days 100 years ago this week.

Ed: General John J. Pershing had finally achieved his dream. In August 1918, after months of dispersing his troops in the American Expeditionary Forces to fight under French and British command, he received permission to form the first US Army. For the first time, an American army would occupy its own section of the front and fight under Pershing's direct command. This army launched its first major action 100 years ago, on September 9th, 1918, the Battle of Saint Mihiel.

German forces had occupied the Saint Mihiel salient, so named after the village situated at it's tip, since 1914. It was located in eastern France, southeast of the legendary fortress of Verdun. For years, Allied leaders pondered plans to reduce the salient, but not until the late summer of 1918 did the project seem feasible, thanks to heavy German battlefield losses and the arrival of American troops and strength.

Pershing's plans were for a concentric attack against the salient by three American corps and one French corp. He also dictated the use of combined arms, including not just thousands of French and American crude artillery pieces, but tanks and planes as well. For the first time, Colonel George Patton would have the opportunity to lead American, but French-built tanks into action, while Colonel William "Billy" Mitchell coordinated the employment of some 1500 American, French, and British aircraft en masse. The major part of the fighting, though, would have to be carried out by the foot soldiers.

Marine private John E. Ausland, 55th company, witnessed the bombardment that began in the early morning of September 12th, perfectly timed with a massive thunderstorm, and he remembered this: "Along with artillery fire, gas shells, rockets of different colors, star shells exploding way up in the air. Shouting by men in the trenches behind us, wire cutters ahead of us in no man's land, cutting the tangled mass of wire. What a night. At dawn, whistles blew all along the line and the Marines slithered out of their muddy trenches to slog toward the German lines, with French tanks trying to keep pace alongside." US troops st mihiel A column of U.S. troops advances during the Saint Mihiel offensive, September 1918.

Corporal Horatio Rogers, serving with the 26th division's field artillery, described the scene that the advancing Americans found along the German front lines. "Everywhere were elaborate trench systems, concrete pill boxes, barbed wire entanglements and luxurious dugouts. The place abounded in sign boards, carefully printed in German letters. The destruction of our bombardment had been terrific. In fact, we had churned things up so badly that it was interfering with our own progress. There were great craters in the road being filled by our engineers with dead horses, rocks, broken wagons, and everything that came to hand."

The Germans ,who had been preparing plans of their own for abandoning the salient, were caught completely by surprise by the well-coordinated American attack. The front collapsed quickly, and although the Germans offered temporary resistance at certain points, the next few days went surprisingly easily for the Yanks.

There were even some comic scenes. Lieutenant Maury Maverick of the first division's 28th regiment, was riding through a forest at sundown on September 12th, trying to find a detour for some of its wagons stuck on the road, when he stumbled on a group of 26 German soldiers. "I was scared to death," Maverick remembered, "and nearly fell off my horse. My knees banged up against the horse. I think even the horse was scared. I expected to be shot full of holes, but the Germans threw down their arms, put up their hands and begged in the worst English I ever heard in Europe to save their lives." A 26th division patrol encountered a group of 200 Germans. "I guess they were more surprised than we were," remembered one American private, "because they all reached for the stars at once. We discovered that our capture included a German band, and we soon encouraged them to play the Star Spangled Banner and they did a pretty good job."

The doughboys quickly showed themselves the most avid souvenir hunters in all of Europe. Corporal Amos Wilder of the 26th division captured a German gunner and divested him of his more interesting possessions. "I buckled his belt around me," he recalled, "which contained his revolver and dagger with citation cord attached, and determined to bring them back to the states with me as souvenirs. Along with my own belt full of ammunition, I was pretty well weighted down and my hip bones were sore, but still I carried them. Had I known that two weeks later, two of my company were going to steal these souvenirs and sell them, I would not have carried them." us troops with captured German machine gun U.S. troops with captured German machine gun, September 1918.

By September 16th, the US First Army had captured the entire Saint Mihiel salient, suffering about 7000 casualties, claiming to have captured 16000 German soldiers and over 400 artillery pieces. It was a clear cut victory, and vastly increased confidence within the AEF, but maybe Pershing and his officers became too confident. The Meuse-Argonne offensive lay just ahead.

Theo: Dr. Lengel is an American military historian and our segment host for "America Emerges: Military Stories from World War I". We put a link in the podcast notes to Ed's post on the author's website.

The Saint Mihiel offensive marks a key moment for the war in the sky as well. It is the greatest air battle of World War I. Some 1476 Allied airplanes participate. Calculated to be a three to one advantage over the Germans, this massive air force is prepared in great secrecy. As of this week in 1918, this is the largest assembly of aviation assets the world has ever seen. It combines operation of air powers from the US, France, Italy, Great Britain and Portugal. For the most part, these Allied air sets are under a single command, the First US Army Air Service.

This largest air operation in history is entrusted to an obscure American colonel, William "Billy" Mitchell: a future superstar recognized for his vision of air power, but at this point someone with very limited combat experience, especially in comparison to his Allied counterparts. It is a war in the sky endeavor that will be studied for generations as a planning and execution model.

It's also the inaugural battle for a new plane. A number of US Army Air Service pilots are flying the new British De Haviland four, sporting the American-made Liberty motor. From the headlines of the New York Times, "Dateline, September 17, 1918. Headline: De Haviland fours meet battle test, show superior speed to German pursuit planes in Saint Mihiel fighting." A part of the story reads, "Airplanes driven by American-made Liberty motor played an important role in our reduction of the Saint Mihiel salient. Where the Liberty motor achieved the biggest success was in the development of speed against the German pursuit planes as this one instance illustrates, quote, 'Three of our De Haviland fours at an altitude of 6000 meters spy two German Fokkers. The Fokkers fled with the De Haviland machines after them. The American machines had better speed than the Germans and drew down on them. The Germans dove, our machines got one and the other escaped. This was the first battle performance of the American machines equipped with the Liberty motor and our air officers are enthusiastic over the results.'" Liberty powered DH 4 A Liberty engine-powered DH 4, the model flown by American pilots over Saint Mihiel

Meanwhile, back home, on the front page headlines of the official bulletin, the US government's daily War Gazette, the offensive at Saint Mihiel is recognized as a watershed moment for America in her prosecution of World War I. "Dateline, September 16, 1918. Headline: President thanks the army and France for victory and King George cables President Wilson his congratulations." And the story reads: "The White House, Washington DC, September 14, 1918. To General John J. Pershing American Expeditionary Forces France, please accept my warmest congratulations on the brilliant achievement of the Americans under your command. The boys have done what we expected of them and have done it in a way we most admire. We are deeply proud of them and their chief. Please convey to all concerned my grateful and affectionate thanks. President Woodrow Wilson."

In the same issue, "King George cables President Wilson his congratulations. The cable to President Wilson reads: To the President of the United States of America, on behalf of the British empire I heartily congratulate you on the brilliant achievement of the American and Allied troops under the leadership of General Pershing in the Saint Mihiel salient. The far reaching results secured by the successful operations which have marked the active intervention of the American army on a great scale under its own administration are the happiest augury for the complete and, I hope, not far distant future of the Allied cause. King George V."

Meanwhile, as the Germans retreat from the Saint Mihiel salient, the ongoing defeats of the Austro-Hungarian forces further to the south have prompted the imperial government of Austria-Hungary to reach out to President Wilson via the Swedish government, proposing a peace conference. America's reply comes on September 17th on the front page headlines of the official bulletin. "Dateline, September 17, 1918. Headline: US declines Austria's proposal for an unofficial peace conference." And the story reads: "The Secretary of State, New York's Robert Lansing, issues the following statement: I'm authorized by the President of the United States that the following will be the reply of this government to the Austro-Hungarian note proposing an unofficial conference of belligerence. The government of the United States feels that there is only one reply which can be made to the suggestion of the imperial Austro-Hungarian government. We have repeatedly and with entire candor stated the terms upon which the United States would consider peace. We will entertain no proposal for a conference upon the matter concerning upon which the government has made its position and purpose so plain." And with that, dear listeners, we're gonna leave 1918 and this dynamic, important, and in some ways exhilarating week in American history, but one that foreshadows some great challenges to come in the weeks ahead, in the War that Changed the World.