Americans: To the Trenches and Over the Top 627mere presence boosted French
and British morale.
Pershing insisted on maintain-
ing his troops as independent
units; he would not allow them to
be filtered into the Allied armies as
reinforcements. This was part of a
perhaps unfortunate general policy
that reflected America’s isolation-
ism. (Wilson always referred to the
other nations fighting Germany as
“associates,” not as “allies.”)
In March 1918 the Germans
launched a great spring offen-
sive, their armies strengthened
by thousands of veterans who
had been freed from the eastern
front by the collapse of Russia.
By late May they had reached a
point on the Marne River near
the town of Château-Thierry,
only fifty miles from Paris. Early
in June the AEF fought its first
major engagements, driving the
Germans back from Château-
Thierry and Belleau Wood.
In this fighting only about
27,500 Americans saw action,
and they suffered appalling
losses. Nevertheless, when the
Germans advanced again in the
direction of the Marne in mid-
July, 85,000 Americans were in
the lines that withstood their charge. Then, in the
major turning point of the war, the Allied armies
counterattacked. Some 270,000 Americans partici-
pated, helping to flatten the German bulge between
Reims and Soissons. By late August the American
First Army, 500,000 strong, was poised before the
Saint-Mihiel bulge, a deep extension of the German
lines southeast of Verdun. On September 12 this
army, buttressed by French troops, struck and in two
days wiped out the salient.
Late in September began the greatest American
engagement of the war. No fewer than 1.2 million
doughboys plunged into the Argonne Forest. For
over a month of indescribable horror they inched
ahead through the tangle of the Argonne and the for-
midable defenses of the Hindenburg line, while to the
west, French and British armies staged similar drives.
In this one offensive the AEF suffered 120,000 casu-
alties. Finally, on November 1, they broke the
German center and raced toward the vital Sedan-
Mézières railroad. On November 11, with Allied
armies advancing on all fronts, the Germans signed
the armistice, ending the fighting.ParisBelleau WoodCantignyChâteau-
Thierry
St. MihielVerdunBrusselsYpresLUXEMBOURGSWITZERLANDBELGIUMNETHERLANDSFRANCEGERMANYMeuse-
ArgonneNorth SeaSo
mm
eR
.Se
ine
R.Rh
in
e
R.MeuseR.Ma
rne
R.Western Front, March 1918
German offensive, spring 1918
Armistice line, Novemder 11, 1918
German offensive
U.S.-supported Allied counteroffensive,
summer and fall, 1918EnglishChan
ne
lThe Western Front, 1918The Germans launched their great offensive in the spring and
summer of 1918 with the goal of taking Paris. American troops helped hold the line at Château-
Thierry and Belleau Woods. Several months later, a half million American soldiers participated in
the counteroffensive that drove the Germans back to the Meuse River.
300,000 tons. The decision to send merchant ships
across the Atlantic in convoys screened by destroyers
made the reduction possible. Checking the U-boats
was essential because of the need to transport
American troops to Europe. Slightly more than
2 million soldiers made the voyage safely. Those who
crossed on fast ocean liners were in little danger as
long as the vessel maintained high speed and fol-
lowed a zigzag course, a lesson learned from the
Lusitania, whose captain had neglected both pre-
cautions. Those who traveled on slower troop trans-
ports benefited from the protection of destroyers
and also from the fact that the Germans concen-
trated on attacking supply ships. They continued to
believe that inexperienced American soldiers would
not be a major factor in the war.
The first units of the American Expeditionary
Force (AEF), elements of the regular army com-
manded by General John J. Pershing, reached Paris
on Independence Day, 1917. They took up posi-
tions on the front near Verdun in October. Not until
the spring of 1918, however, did the “doughboys”
play a significant role in the fighting, though their