The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-10-01
Continued from last issue)
CHAPTER LVlII

The Meuse-Argonne offensive opened
the morning of September &c. To call
II battle may be misnomer, yet II
was a battle, the greatest, most pro-
longed in American history. Through
AZ days we were engaged in a per.
sistent struggle with the enemy to
smash through his defenses.
The attack started on front of "a
miles, which gradually extended until
the enemy was being actively assailed
from the Argonne forest to the Mo-
selle river. 80 miles.
In all more than 100000 were en-
ployed and the attack was driven 80
miles to the north and IA miles to the
northeast before the armistice termi-
mated hostilities.
The outstanding fact that desire
to emphasize is that, once started, the
battle was maintained continuously,
aggressively and relentlessly to the
end.
All difficulties were overridden in
one tremendous sustained effort to
terminate the war then and there In
q victorious manner.
Battle Opens FavorabIy.
After three hours violent artillery
preparation the attack began at 80
a. m. At the same time, to divert the
enemy's attention elsewhere, local
raids and demonstrations were made
on the Meuse-Moselle front. The
French Fourth army (Gouraud), to
our left on the west of the Argonne
forest. began it's attack half an hour
later.
The battle opened favorably. Our
attack at that particular place and at
that time evidently came as a sur
prise to the enemy, and our troops
were enabled quickly to overrun his
forward positions.
The vast network of undestroyed
barbed wire, the deep ravines, dense
woods and heavy fog made it difficult
to coordinate the movements of the
assaulting infantry, especially of some
divisions in battle for the first time,
yet the advance throughout was ex-
tremely vigorous.
The Third corps (Bullard), nearest
the Mouse, carried the enemy's Sec
ond position before dark. The Thirty
third division (BelD, wheeling to the
right as it advanced, occupied the west
bank Of the Meuse to protect the
FORCES, with its difficult terrain and
strong machine gun defenses, was car
ried in splendid fashion.
The right of the Eightieth division
(Cronkite) had by noon cleared the
Bots Jure in the face of heavy ma
north of Dannevoux. On it's left, after
an all-day fight, the division forced its
way through the strong positions on
hill 262 and reached the northern
slopes of that hill.
The Fourth division (Hines), on the
left of the Eightieth, took Septarges
and firmly established itself in the
woods to the north. It was abreast
Of Nantillois and it's left was more
than a mile beyond Montfaucon, but
through some misinterpretation Of the
orders by the Third corps the oppor-
4. tunity to capture Montfaucon that day
was lost. Three counter-attacks
against the division during the after
noon were broken up.
Fifth Corps Falls Short.
In the center the Fifth corps CCam-
eron), with the exception Of the Nine
ty-first division (Johnston) on its left,
fell short Of its detectives.
The Seventy-ninth division (Kuhn),
on the right Of the corps, took Malan-
court, but in the open ground beyond
encountered considerable opposition,
and the advanced elements were not
in position before Montfaucon until
late afternoon. The attack of the d.
vision launched against this strong
point early in the evening was met by
the fire of artillery and machine guns
from the southern slopes of the hill,
which held up further progress.
The Thirty-seventh division (Farns-
WORTHY, in the center of the Fifth
corps, after overcoming heavy ma
chine-gun fire, pushed through the
the Bots de Montfaucon, and it's at
tacks in the afternoon carried the line
up to and west Of Montfaucon. The
left of its line, facing stiff opposition,
cleaned up the woods in its front and
established itself just south of IVORY.
The Ninety-frst division (Johnston)
overcame strong initial resistance and
advanced rapidly to Epinonville, which
it entered but did not hold. Crossing
into the sector Of the Thirty-fifth d.
vision, during the day it occupied
Very.
First Corps Makes Progress.
On the left of the army the First
corps Uiggett) made excellent prog
ress. The Thirty-fifth division (Traub)
cleverly captured the strong position
of Vauquois and took Cheppy against
stubborn opposition. Elements of the
division reached the corps objective
east of Charpentry, but were soon
withdrawn to line west of Very. On
the left the division captured that part
of Varennes east of the Aire river,
but was held up between Varennes
and Cheppy. At this time fresh