On september 12th, 19, 18 the American Expeditionary force launched their First Independent operation of world war i. We travel to northeastern france to visit a few locations and learn about a battle in a town just inside of bulge that the germans had occupied since 1914. To begin the story, here is a portion of a 1960 u. S. Army film that gives a brief sketch of the operation. In late july, 1918, pushing created the First United States Army under his command. Immediate steps were taken to concentrate American Forces on one point on the line. That point was saintmihiel. Had held a since early in the war penetrating the allied lines, 60 miles it enabled that enemy to harass operations. More than half 1 million first army troops assembled for the task to crushing it out of existence. 15 divisions were moved into division. By the end of the day, on september 11th, 1918, the first army was ready for its First Independent operation against the enemy. At dawn on the 12th, drizzling rain, th