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{ 175 } The army with the higher breaking point wins the decision. —gen. george c. marshall 8 verdun (neptune sector) —meuse-argonne the situation The sector assigned to the Yankee Division had very little, if anything, to commend itself. In fact, it was aptly named “Neptune,” in that it was near the far end of the main allied front, as was its namesake in the planetary alignment. After the horrific events of 1916, one could logically, but incorrectly, surmise that no further devastation was possible. Yet the sector continued to be a charnel house—a treeless, lifeless wasteland of hill and valley. Control of it was important to both sides. For the Germans, holding on to that sector at the hinge of the Meuse-Argonne front was essential for the protection of the rail and road lifelines with the Fatherland. The American high command itself referred to the entire Meuse-Argonne sector, including the “bitterly contested hills of Verdun,” as a “position of imposing natural strength . . . fortified by four years of labor designed to render it impregnable.” In addition, due to its location at virtual right angles to the American lines west of the Meuse, Boche artillery was able to range over the right flank of the Allied offensive in the Meuse-Argonne. For the Yankee Division, it would be a return to “position warfare.” For the French, the words of General Pétain—“They shall not pass!” —still echoed in the haunting voices of more than a quarter of a million ghostly poilus, many still buried beneath tons of shell-tilled soil. Verdun was sacred ground—the French knew it; the Yankees did as well. And if the New Englanders felt they were being left out of the “Big Show,” they did not fail to meet their obligation to both the living and the dead. 176 } chapter 8 As the 26th Division made its way toward Verdun, things on the Meuse-Argonne front had not been going as planned. The Allies had high hopes of a breakthrough as they launched a massive series of simultaneous attacks all along the line west of the Meuse. As we have seen, earlier in the summer, Pershing’s bargain with Foch permitted him to go forward with the attack at St. Mihiel, but left him with little margin to plan and execute an attack two weeks later in the Meuse-Argonne as part of the massive Allied offensive. The main thrust of the American First Army would be between the middle of the Argonne Forest in the west and the River Meuse on the east. Three corps consisting of three divisions each were to attack north toward Mézières situated on the vital German supply line (Carignan-Sedan-Mézières). Opposite the Americans was a succession of natural and man-made obstacles. The former consisted of a series of parallel ridges, the first dominated by Montfaucon, followed in turn by Romagne and Cunel, and finally, Bois de Barricourt and Bois de Bourgogne . If these were not enough, the Germans had constructed a parallel series of defensive lines with barbed wire, concrete bunkers, and machine guns sited to take maximum advantage of the terrain, and known collectively as the Hindenburg Line. Since he would not have the immediate use of his most experienced divisions, at least during the initial phase, Pershing took a calculated gamble and assigned the task to less experienced divisions, including their commanders. In his words, “It was thought reasonable to count on the vigor and the aggressive spirit of our troops to make up in a measure for their inexperience, but at the same time the fact was not overlooked that lack of technical skill might considerably reduce chances of complete success against well-organized resistance of experienced defenders.” In addition, due to the strength of the position, the German lines were relatively lightly held at this stage, a situation that would change when the enemy eventually determined that Metz was not an Allied objective. Thus, any temporary American advantage in numbers would soon evaporate as the German Army shifted its forces to meet the real threat in the MeuseArgonne . That is precisely what happened. The Americans had struck the well-prepared Hindenburg Line head on, and the losses in the untested divisions were very heavy. The principal attack had stalled at virtually all points. For example, after some initial success, the 35th Division came completely apart, and the 79th Division failed in its attempt...

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