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World War I · Western Front · September 26 – November 11, 1918
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive
In the last 47 days of the war, more than a million American soldiers attacked through the hills and thick forest between the Argonne and the Meuse River. It was the largest and deadliest battle in American history up to that time, and it was still raging when the guns fell silent at 11 a.m. on November 11, 1918.
Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces
Quick facts
The Meuse-Argonne at a glance
| When | September 26 to November 11, 1918 (47 days) | |
| Where | Between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River, northwest of Verdun, France | |
| Sides | United States and France vs. Germany | |
| U.S. leaders | Gen. John J. Pershing; Lt. Gen. Hunter Liggett (First Army from Oct. 16) | |
| German leaders | Gen. Max von Gallwitz; Crown Prince Wilhelm’s army group | |
| U.S. troops | About 1.2 million Americans took part | |
| U.S. losses | 26,277 killed and about 96,000 wounded | |
| Result | Allied victory; the Americans reached the heights above Sedan before the Armistice |
The big picture in 30 seconds
Why the Meuse-Argonne matters
- It is still the deadliest battle in U.S. history for American troops.
- It proved the U.S. Army could fight as a large, independent force.
- Together with British and French attacks, it forced Germany to seek an armistice.
- Many future leaders served there, including Harry Truman, George Patton and Douglas MacArthur.
1.2 million
American soldiers
26,277
Americans killed
47 days
until the Armistice
20 miles
wide front, forest to river
The road to the Argonne
America’s army takes the field
The United States declared war in April 1917 with a small army. By the summer of 1918 American divisions were arriving in France at about 10,000 men a day. General Pershing resisted British and French demands to feed his men into their armies as replacements, and insisted on an American army fighting under its own commanders. After helping stop the German drives at Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood in June, the new U.S. First Army won its first big battle at St. Mihiel on September 12–16.
Allied supreme commander Ferdinand Foch planned a series of great attacks all along the front. The Americans were given the hardest ground: wooded hills and ridges that the Germans had fortified for four years with several defensive lines. Pershing’s staff, led by Col. George C. Marshall, moved some 600,000 men and their guns 60 miles from St. Mihiel in about two weeks, mostly at night.
Where it happened
A natural fortress
The 20-mile-wide sector ran from the dense Argonne Forest in the west to the Meuse River in the east. In the middle rose the hill of Montfaucon, the German observation post. Behind it lay three German defensive lines, the strongest being the Kriemhilde Stellung, part of the Hindenburg Line. The goal was the railway at Sedan that supplied the German armies.
Simplified map. The Americans attacked north between the Argonne Forest and the Meuse River toward Sedan.
How the battle unfolded
Forty-seven days of fighting
The offensive came in three phases, with the Americans learning hard lessons as they went.
Nine U.S. divisions attack after a three-hour bombardment. Montfaucon falls on September 27, but traffic jams, rain and German reserves stall the advance.
Fierce fighting in the Argonne and on the heights east of the Meuse. The 42nd “Rainbow” Division takes the Côte de Châtillon on October 16, cracking the Kriemhilde line.
A well-planned attack on November 1 breaks the last German line. American troops race north and by November 7 can shell the Sedan railway.
The Armistice takes effect. Fighting continued until the last minute; Pvt. Henry Gunther is often named as the last American killed, at 10:59 a.m.
Heroes of the Argonne
The Lost Battalion and Sergeant York
On October 2, about 550 men of the 77th Division under Maj. Charles Whittlesey pushed deep into the Argonne Forest and were cut off. For five days they held out in a ravine without food, short of water and under constant attack, and they were even shelled by their own artillery until a carrier pigeon, Cher Ami, got a message through. When relief arrived on October 7, only about 190 could walk out. Whittlesey refused every call to surrender and received the Medal of Honor.
On October 8, nearby, Cpl. Alvin York of Tennessee, once a conscientious objector, led a small patrol that silenced a nest of machine guns and captured 132 Germans. Promoted to sergeant, he became the most famous American soldier of the war.
The Harlem Hellfighters
West of the Argonne, the African American 369th Infantry fought under French command, since the U.S. Army would not let Black soldiers serve in its combat divisions alongside white troops. On September 29 they captured the village of Séchault. The regiment spent 191 days in combat, longer than any other American unit, and France awarded it the Croix de Guerre.
Commanders and soldiers
Commanders and soldiers
Why it mattered
America comes of age as a military power
The Meuse-Argonne was costly and at times badly managed, but it tied down dozens of German divisions at the moment Germany’s armies were cracking everywhere. It showed that the United States could raise, train, ship and lead an army of more than a million men in under two years, and it made America a power to be reckoned with in the peace that followed.
“The armistice was signed this morning. Everything for which America fought has been accomplished.”
President Woodrow Wilson
Statement to the American people, November 11, 1918
The American side
Industry, Immigration and WWI
The draft, the home front and the war’s impact on American life are covered on our U.S. History era page.
Go deeper
Books and sources
- To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918, by Edward G. Lengel (2008)
- Sergeant York: His Own Life Story and War Diary, ed. Tom Skeyhill (1928)
- The Doughboys, by Laurence Stallings (1963)
- More recommended books