The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1920-01-08
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Lest We Forget

The following is taken from the official
report of the Meuse-Argonne battle which
lasted Al Gays and was beyond compare
the greatest ever fought by American
troops, and there have been few, if any:
greater in the history of the world. Gen.
fershing in his report of Nov. 20, 1918,
said that the object was ''to draw the
best German divisions to our front and
consume them" Every available Ameri-
can division was thrown against the
enemy, and every available German d.
vision was thrown in to meet them:
The goal of the American attack was
the Sedan Mezieres railroad, the main
line of supply for the German forces on
the major part of the western front. If
this line were cut, a retirement on the
whole front would be forced. This re-
tirement would include, moreover, evac-
uation of the Briey iron fields, which the
Germans had been using to great advan-
tage to supplement their iron supply. The
defense of the positions threatened was
therefore of such Importance as to war;
rant the most desperate measures for re-
sistance. When the engagement was
evidently impending, the commander of
the German Fifth Army sent word to his
forces calling on them for unyielding re-
sistance and pointing out that defeat in
this engagement might mean disaster for
the fatberland
On the first day, the Goth of September,
and the next day or two after that, the
lines were considerably advanced. Then
the resistance became more stubborn.
Each side threw in more and more of its
man power until there were no more re-
serves. Many German divisions went
into action twice, and not a few three
times, until, through losses, they were
far under strength. All through the
month of October the attrition went on.
Foot by foot American troops pushed
back the best of the German divisions.
On November the last stage of the Of
fensive began. The enemy power began
J to break American troops forced their
way to the east bank of the Meuse To-
ward the north they made even more
rapid progress and in seven days reached
the outskirts of Sedan and cut the Sedan
Mezieres Railroad, making the German
line untenable.
In the meantime October 2 to 28) our
Second and Thirty-sixth Divisions had
been sent west to assist the French, who
were advancing in Champagne beside our
drive in the Argonne. The liaison de-
tachment between the two armies was
for time furnished by the Ninety second
Division.
In some ways the Meuse-Argonne Of
fers an interesting resemblance to the
Battle of the Wilderness, fought from
, May to IL. 1864, in the Civil War. Both
were fought over a terrain covered with
tangled woods and underbrush The Will
derness was regarded as a long battle,
marked by slow progress, against obsti-
nate resistance, with very avy casual
ties. Here the similarity ends. The
Meuse-Argonne lasted six times as long
as the Battle of the Wilderness. Twelve
times as many American troops were en-
gagged as were on the Union side. They
used in the action ten times as many
guns and fired about one hundred times
as many rounds of artillery ammunition.
The actual weight of the ammunition
| fired was greater than that used by the
Union forces during the entire Civil War.
Casualties were perhaps four times as
heavy as among the Northern troops in
the Battle of the Wilderness.