Battle Of The Argonne Forest Essay

The Battle of the Argonne Forest took place north of the town Verdun and began when the United States Army, backed up by the French, launched an assault on the German Army. This assault was led by General John Pershing and General Henri Gouraud and was part of an attack called the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, a very complex operation. The main goal of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive was to get a hold of the railroad hub at Sedan to break the rail net supporting the Germans in France and Flanders and induce the enemy’s withdraw from said territories. On September 25, 1918, ten American divisions of 26,000 men, organized in three corps, were ready to begin. General Pershing led the American Expeditionary Forces, with Henri Gouraud leading the French Fourth Army. By the next day, the attack had been done and was a success. The French captured five miles of enemy land and the Americans were able to advance by two miles. The battle halted for a short while in the beginning of October due to the American troops needing reinforcements, but started once again on October 4, 1918. Thirteen days later, the French had covered twenty miles on enemy land, reaching the Aisne River and by this time, the American Army was being commanded by Lt. General Hunter Liggett. …show more content…
Both armies advanced until the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. In the end, the United States and the French armies suffered a total of 188,000 casualties, and 100,000 Germans were wounded and killed. Overall, the Battle of the Argonne Forest, a brutal forty-seven-day fight, was a major part of World War I, resulting in an Allied victory worth the loss it caused to both sides. The battle will forever be remembered as the largest and greatest victory for the American Expeditionary Force in World War