Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts World War I Battle

The germans had occupied since 1914. To begin this story, here is a portion of a 1960 u. S. Army film that gives a brief sketch of the operation. In late july, 1918, general pershing created the First United States Army under his command. And immediate steps were taken to concentrate American Forces at one point on the line. That point was saintmihiel. The germans had held an area 25 miles since early in the war. Penetrating the allied lines 16 miles, it enabled the enemy to harass operations. More than half a million first army troops assembled for the task of crushing it out of existence. 15 infantry divisions were moved into position. By the end of the day on september 11, 1918, the first army was ready for its First Independent operations against the enemy. At dawn on the 12th, in a drizzling rain, the attack was launched. [gunfire] [explosions] for the enemy, saintmihiel was an unpleasant surprise. Within four days, the city was obliterated, and the americans were deployed along a new line. General pershing considered the victory a Birthday Gift to him on september 13. In a Statement Issued to the men, he said, this striking victory probably has done more than any single operation of the war to encourage the tired allies. Built on a high, isolated hill, this memorial commemorates the capture of saintmihiel by the american first army. Mitchell we are standing at the montsec memorial to commemorate the saintmihiel offensive. It was the first major battle by the americans as an independent force. It occurred from september 12 to september 16 of 1918. The battle itself strategically helped drive the germans from this area where they had been well entrenched since september of 1914. They created a bulge in the line, which was known as a salient. The attack was extremely important to american commander general john j. Pershing. Pershing had his sights set on saintmihiel since he first brought the americans over, but it was not until more than a year later when he had enough forces to actually launch this attack. The organization of the attack began in august of 1918. That is when general pershing formed american first army, the First Tactical unit independent of the french and british forces. Pershing met with ferdinand foch. Marshall foch was the commander of all the allied forces. Pershing had it into his mind to attack saintmihiel, using an extensive force of american troops. Foch originally agreed to this, but as foch started to plan a major offensive, he saw taking place in september of 1918, which would involve all the armies on the western front, he wanted pershing to either relinquish the saintmihiel attack or reduce it. Pershing was livid. They went at it in a number of meetings. Finally, the two of them compromised. It would be a reduced attack. The attack was set to take place on september 12 of 1918. However, the major offensive, which would eventually be the meuseargonne attack, was scheduled for two weeks later. This meant that as soon as pershing fought this operation, he would have to turn around and get ready to fight a much larger operation less than two weeks later. Charged with planning of the saintmihiel attack was his g3 george c. Marshall. Marshall sat down with a stack of maps and created the operational orders. Ultimately, 550,000 american troops launched the attack on september 12, four hours preceding the infantry, were more than 3000 french guns, manned by both french and american gunners. They fired at the german positions, including where we are standing, which is the high ground in the saintmihiel area, montsec. In front of me is a map created the American Battle Monument Commission when they established this entire monument here to commemorate the american offensive. It started again in the Early Morning hours of september 12, and you can follow the american advance. Directly in front of me is the monument that we are standing on. The americans swept through there, drove the germans from the high ground. They continued further north. To the right is a swampy area called the plane of the woevre. It was a sort of flooded area that had actually seen American Fighting back in april of 1918, involving the 26th Division Troops from the new england area. In front of me are these red lines, zigzagged. Those are actually french trenches the americans used for their jumpoff. It should be noted that the americans largely did not fight behind trenches. In this case the americans took over the trenches from the french. The french have been trying to attack the salient since 1914. Several major offenses in the area had failed, so the americans used these trenches, and you can see the zigzag pattern which is typical of a world war i trench. That way they were less in a target for the artillery. The americans jumped off early in the morning of september 12 and followed the northward advance, pushing through one village after another. So by the end of the 13th, they had occupied most of the salient. Germans who had withdrawn, stopped, and fought rearguard action. The fighting actually continued through september 16. But by that point, the americans had been successful and probably could have gone on further, where the germans had coal fields and mines they had used, but the battle plans said for them to stop once they found the objective, because now they had to fight the larger offensive in the meuseargonne region. Also in the battle were more than 1400 aircraft, the largest concentration of planes during the war. The americans flew many of them, but also they included french pilots, british pilots, and italian pilots. Billy mitchell, who was now promoted to temporary brigadier general, would lead the air attack in this area. When the attack launched, pershing or really no one had any idea what kind of success the americans would have, since this was their socalled baptism of fire. But the attack could not have gone off more beautifully. The weather was horrible, it was rainy, it was chilly. The americans launched the attack, heading north in this direction of where we are standing. Unbeknownst to them, the germans, who had occupied this whole salient, had begun a withdrawal, and they were starting to move their troops, but they did not move them quick enough. By the end of the day on the 12th, the americans reached not only the main objectives for that day, but many of the objectives for the following day. By midmorning of september 13, the whole salient had been liberated. There was sporadic fighting that went on through the 16th. It was also on the 13th of september that general pershing turned 58 years old. When news of the Great American victory reached the newspapers, he was touted as a Great American hero. Headlines around the world talked about pershing, the great liberator. And the french people were ecstatic. Many of them had to flee their homes in the villages that make up the saintmihiel salient and lived in barns and cellars outside with very little electricity. They had little food, many living by candlelight. Now they were free. And you can see from the images that the civilians were now allowed to come back to their homes. Many of them had not seen for the past three years. [video clip] now americas soldiers were moving to the beat of the muffled drums of history. Because they have fought so decisively as an integrated american force, they were moving in the long tradition of their country, a tradition stretching back across the flats of yorktown, through the Rolling Fields of gettysburg, up the rugged slopes of san juan hill. The man who had welded them into this integrated force had by noun may hit his own unique mark on the history of this time. , pershing was proving himself superb. To the men who knew him best by the nickname blackjack, he was no myth. He had confidence in then and they gave him their trust and respect. Are looking north from montsec, which is the high ground. Theas important that americans take montsec first because the germans were in range and they would have been villagesiberate the first, they would have been decimated by german artillery and machine gun fire. Taken, itntsec was was a rapid progression. Looking ahead north is the hattonchatel. Im standing in the village of hattonchatel. Skinner,n its named she was a wealthy socialite from holyoke, massachusetts who took to heart this village that had been destroyed by the germans. The germans had occupied it liberated and it was by the american 26th division made up of National Guard units from new england including massachusetts. She was a graduate of vassar college. She was the class president. Her family owned a textile company with the name of skinner. She had a passion for france. She came here during the war and then came back in 1919 and thats when she discovered this village. She decided that she needed to help out. She gave some of her own money including clothes to the citizens who had to move back here after the war in a decimated condition. Helped rebuild the village including the school im standing in front of. Im now walking through the here is a to my left plaque honoring miss bell skinner. Says she was called a godmother because she took care of the citizens of the village after the war and she was so concerned about the inhabitants. Courtyard, into the you get a magnificent view of the whole saintmihiel region. Directly in front of me is the montsec monument. We are west of the monument. It was placed by the American Battle Monuments Commission to commemorate the activities of the americans who liberated this village and many others like it beginning on september 12 of 1918. As the americans headed in this direction, they liberated villages one by one as the germans fled. Eventually new englanders reached patton chattel when the germans had left but there was still fighting in and around the village, much of it left totally in ruins. You are looking at a chateau that had been ruined during the war. When bell skinner came to hatton chattel to restore the village, she also bought and restored chateau. In 1928 in paris. Ruins of aing at the chateau in the heart of the saintmihiel. Division hadbow a rapidff and was advance, clearing out the regions as the germans fled. Donovan was in the Rainbow Division. Of the him as the head office of Strategic Services during world war ii. Donovan was in the thick of the fighting here. Hen he reached the village, came upon this chateau and this is where he established his headquarters. He would later write about what his experience was here coming to the chateau. Manor house which you see behind me, he found a cash in theable paintings courtyard. The germans were unable to carry it as they fled from the village. Donovan then toured the village where he encountered as he said poor people who for four years had been with the germans. The one i ate with had not been out of the side of the germans for four years. Every night after she prepared the meals, she had to retire to her seller. The night after she fed us, she put on her best skirt and went on to visit her neighbors. It was one of the most elaborate residences in this region. You can see by the photographs placed in front of the chateau that one time the manor house was beautifully and elaborately decorated. Father Francis Duffy who of course was a chaplain with the 42nd division new donovan quite well and described him as a man in his middle 30s. Very attractive in face and manner. After the battle of saintmihiel, the 42nd division would play a significant role during the offensive. The Rainbow Division during the operation tasked with taking one ,f the more difficult positions a major defensive line that was part of the hindenburg line. The battle would last for three days and many of the soldiers in the battalion would be severely wounded or killed over those three days of fighting. Be the recipient of the medal of honor a number of years after world war i ended. A few miles from the montsec american monument, the saintmihiel cemetery is the resting place of over 4000 americans who died in the region in 1918 and 1919. We visited the cemetery to talk to the u. S. Government employee who manages the cemetery and the montsec american monument. Are we actually on part of the saintmihiel battlefield . Behind you that the 89th division came to us and on the afternoon of the 12th of september, that front gate is where the 89th division dug their defensive divisions for the night. On the morning of the 13th they continued the assault going north. So we are actually on the land that the 89th fought on. Ofyou were here the 12th september 19 18 and looked west, you would be looking over the 42nd division. If you looked east, he would look at the second division. Men crossed this area and started their advance on the morning of the 13th at where the front gate is. 4001 hundred 53 soldiers lay here. Its basically a cemetery that was built, started after the war was over and it was a concentration cemetery. Soldiers from 10 kilometers south who did sweeps looking forritory are dead. When they would find them, they would bring them here and bury them in the temporary cemetery here. Thats how the cemetery started. The first men and women were. Uried here in april of 1919 to that was the same time the letters were going home. That createdtime that temporary cemetery. In that area behind me to the left was west where the temporary cemetery was first created. Choosehe families got to where the soldiers would be. , thats where all the soldiers were put in the caskets. 65 roughly were taken back to the United States. The American Battle Monuments Commission is the smallest entity of the u. S. Federal government. Everything that you see out here is paid for by the u. S. Taxpayer. In 1923. D the reason its not called the American Battle Cemeteries Association administration is because we are starting to create monuments to the soldiers and how they fought in world war i. The cemeteries came at a later period when they started figuring out that these cemeteries were going to be permanent. Into what weelded are today looking after the cemeteries. General pershing was basically the father of the a bmc. His fingerprints are still here today and he basically put down a lot of rules and regulations that we still live by today that control what we do. Pershinge things with was if you notice when you walk into an abmc cemetery, there is no segregation of the troops. Everyone is spaced out. He did not allow any difference with having a plot for officers or africanamerican soldiers. He didnt allow that separation. We get that a lot of where are the officers or where are the women. They are out there with everybody else. They are spread out. Plus whenint is there we created the world war i cemetery, he was the final yes or no if something worked. We have planting plan that tells were all these trees have to go. Look at the bottom corner and top corner and youll actually see pershings signature on it. If his signature is there, that is the golden rule. We do not violate that plan. So all the plans especially with rule. War i, thats the his name is something we go by. Every day there is a discussion about something. If a tree dies, we go to the planting plan. We look for his name and thats the one we look for. The cemetery from what we understand was actually purchased by the u. S. Government for attractive land that was going to be where the cemetery is at today. The u. S. Government purchased that from the homeowners. And then sold it back to the french government for one french frank. Actually french owned territory. Owned byd is actually the french government, but everything that is on the ground or the soldiers in the ground is owned by the u. S. Government. So there is an interesting perspective to look at it that if the u. S. Government ever , the landysentery goes back to the french. But all the buildings you see ise and Everything Else that here the crosses and everything are owned by the u. S. Government. It is that interesting agreement that we made in the french made for us so that we could have these beautiful historic locations for these men to rest peacefully. When the abmc was created, one of the reasons we were created is because the military units were crating monuments and they spread all over the battlefield. Created, theseas individual monuments were being put up in the middle of farmers fields to control that erroneous placement of monuments. The abmc was in charge of putting up large monuments to remember an army. Nobody from the United States had permission to put up a monument anywhere. The law was passed. You cant do this anymore. Control had very strong over what was going on. He actually was inspecting a monument of another piece of artwork that we have for the cemetery and looked in the very back of this studio and saw a giant cross with a soldier standing in front of it. And he talked to the artist and said, what is that. It was a discussion back and forth about what it was. He said im putting this up of one of the one of the mothers of the soldiers once this where her son died. Pershing said, no you are not. Thediscussion started with mom of the soldier. Footing basically put his down and said you are not putting the monument up so they started the discussion. What can we do with this piece of artwork. Where can we put it up. The final discussion was they can put this up inside the second metairie inside the cemetery where your son is buried. It cannot be a replica of your son, but you notice it is an officer. Same featureshe of it being an officer and it was donated by her and eventually the rights were signed over to us. This is the only piece of art given to the abmc. All the other pieces were created by the abmc. I want to show you where her son is buried. Was buriedre her son and the conversation went like this. You have to remember that what you see today was not the way it looked in the 1920s. Here. Ees werent other architectural features didnt exist. The mother wanted her son. Next to the flagpole. The flagpole sat where the eagle was. So we did do that. We came in and buried her son near the flagpole. Came in the 30s and restructured the cemetery, we kept our word to bury her son here. So this is where her