To conquer hell

September 30, 2018 7:52 AM

"The French have given us a hard nut to crack." One hundred years ago this week began the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest (1.2 million soldiers) and most costly (110,000+ casualties) American military campaign in history. Commanded by John Pershing (previously), the United States First Army attacked in the Verdun area (previously), aiming for Sedan. The successful offensive ended with the November 11th armistice that also concluded the First World War on the western front.

Participants who would be well known afterwards for subsequent careers included Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall.

Commander in Chief John Pershing reflects. Erich Ludendorff (who would resign command during the campaign) reflects. Notes from one veteran. Interview with a 107-year-old veteran.

On the Choctaw code talkers in the campaign.

The Lost Battalion.

Alvin York, initially a conscientious objector, and perhaps the most celebrated American soldier of WWI. (previously)

On the air war.

A contemporary map of the campaign.

Official films of the Signal Corps of the U.S. Army taken under action and service conditions (Archive.org). Another one. "Buffalo Soldiers"... Ambulance and machine gun units move forward near Belleville....

Indy Neidell: on the German defenses, on the American and nearby French attacks (previously).

A presentation by Patrick Mooney, Military Historian at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Presentation by Edward Lengel, author of To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918 (2009) (WorldCat).

On the campaign's region, by the American Battle Monuments Commission.

posted by doctornemo (6 comments total)

My grandfather was there as an ambulance driver. The Army had found out that he could drive (a rare skill in those days) so he ended up behind the wheel of a field ambulance. When me and one of my cousins asked him about the war he just said something to the effect of "you boys don't need to know what men are capable of doing to each other". He was damn proud of his service but you couldn't get a war story out of him.
posted by Ber at 8:42 AM on September 30, 2018 [16 favorites]

“We reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism".........
posted by lalochezia at 9:03 AM on September 30, 2018 [11 favorites]

The Thomas Fleming article makes a good case that Pershing was an incompetent incapable of realizing his incompetence and that the best thing that could possibly have happened was that one of his men had shot him and thereby saved tens of thousands of lives. That sort of casual contempt for soldiers' lives inspired a generation of English war poets, but evidently Americans were still too naive to realize that they were led by people incapable of caring whether they lived or of spending their lives judiciously and carefully if they had cared.


The General

“Good-morning, good-morning!” the General said
When we met him last week on our way to the line.
Now the soldiers he smiled at are most of 'em dead,
And we're cursing his staff for incompetent swine.
“He's a cheery old card,” grunted Harry to Jack
As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack.

But he did for them both by his plan of attack.

-- Siegfried Sassoon
posted by ckridge at 9:44 AM on September 30, 2018 [12 favorites]

he did for them both by his plan of attack

I've been watching The Great War on youtube since 2014, a week by week recap of the war 100 years ago. One striking thing is the significance of generalship. The gross, disgusting incompetence of Cadorna and Haig, wasting wave after wave of human lives in pointless slaughter, was not universal. The better generals on both sides were intelligently innovating. For example, Brusilov's idea of attacking suddenly all along the front line and reinforcing success inflicted a 2:1 casualty rate and briefly broke through. However, a 2:1 casualty rate meant losing 500 000 casualties to inflict 1 000 000 casualties on the enemy. The difference between a good general and a bad one was that a good general's soldiers would die en masse in a way that was not entirely futile.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
      In Flanders fields.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 11:47 AM on September 30, 2018 [6 favorites]

There's another, older Great War series on YT, which was a landmark 1964 BBC production that includes extensive interviews with participants - brass, grunts, survivors - from all sides. It has come under critique since it was made for privileging the UK point of view. It is unremittingly grim and as far as I know unsparingly factual. The series is interesting as well as it has a tone of barely-concealed rage which seems aligned with nineteen-sixties international antiwar activism. Most subsequent WW1 docs I have seen lean on it to one degree or another as essentially a primary source, since it is the work in which the clips were initially unearthed in the UK. I heartily recommend it, but I like watching hours of grim black and white documentary footage with the narration and tone of a trial in which Western Europe is found guilty. ymmv.
posted by mwhybark at 4:18 PM on September 30, 2018 [3 favorites]

My grandfather was there as well. He was gassed in an attack on his positions and spent a while in hospital before coming home.

He wouldn't ever talk about it afterwards, other than to joke that the reason he was bald was that my grandmother had pulled out his hair, and it was 'worse than being in the war' [read that last bit in a wry voice, you might get a sense of him:)] (He was actually very devoted to her) Fortunately, they had a long and happy retirement together.
posted by pjern at 6:43 AM on October 1, 2018