America's Deadliest Battle: Meuse-Argonne, 1918

Modern War Studies

by Robert H. Ferrell

American fighting men had never seen the likes of it before. The great battle of the Meuse-Argonne was the costliest conflict in American history, with 26,000 men killed and tens of thousands wounded. Involving 1.2 million American troops over 47 days, it ended on November 11-what we now know as Armistice Day-and brought an end to World War I, but at a great price. Distinguished historian Robert Ferrell now looks back at this monumental struggle to create the definitive study of the battle-and to determine just what made it so deadly. Ferrell reexamines factors in the war that many historians have chosen to disregard. He points first to the failure of the Wilson administration to mobilize the country for war. American industry had not been prepared to produce the weaponry or transport ships needed by our military, and the War Department-with outmoded concepts of battle shaped by the Spanish-American War-shared equal blame in failing to train American soldiers for a radically new type of warfare. Once in France, undertrained American doughboys were forced to learn how to conduct mobile warfare through bloody experience. Ferrell assesses the soldiers' lack of skill in the use of artillery, the absence of tactics for taking on enemy machine gun nests, and the reluctance of American officers to use poison gas-even though by 1918 it had become a staple of warfare. In all of these areas, the German army held the upper hand. Ferrell relates how, during the last days of the Meuse-Argonne, the American divisions had finally learned up-to-date tactics, and their final attack on November 1 is now seen as a triumph of military art. Yet even as the armistice was being negotiated, some American officers-many of whom had never before commanded men in battle-continued to spur their troops on, wasting more lives in an attempt to take new ground mere hours before the settlement. Besides the U.S. shortcomings in mobilization and tactics, Ferrell points to the greatest failure of all: the failure to learn from the experience, as after the armistice the U.S. Army retreated to its prewar mindset. Enhanced by more than four dozen maps and photographs, America's Deadliest Battle is a riveting revisit to the forests of France that reminds us of the costs of World War I-and of the shadow that it cast on the twentieth century.

Genres: World War I, History, Military History, Nonfiction

208 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2007

About the author

Robert Hugh Ferrell was an American historian and author of several books on Harry S. Truman and the diplomatic history of the United States. He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during the Second World War and was an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He received a B.S. in Education from Bowling Green State University in 1946 and a PhD from Yale University in 1951, where he worked under the direction of Samuel Flagg Bemis and his dissertation won the John Addison Porter Prize. He went on to win the 1952 Beer Prize for his first book, Peace In Their Time, a study of the making of the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

He taught for many years at Indiana University in Bloomington, starting as an Assistant Professor in 1953 and rising to Distinguished Professor of History in 1974. He has held several notable visiting professorships, including Yale University in 1955 and the Naval War College in 1974.

Reviews

[Spectre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am looking at a Certificate displayed in my home that reads "Columbia Gives to Her Son the Accolade of the New Chivarlry of Humanity" that was presented to my Grandfather who "Served with Honor in the World War and was Wounded in Action" serving with the 313th Infantry 79th Infantry Division From 1917-18 having returned home early due to his wounds. He never spoke much about his service except for the gas attack that left him for dead and it took an observant orderly to discover that he was alive so it was of personal interest that I read this book in order to get a feeling as to his service. The author describes in detail the campaign that cost 26,277 American lives and was fought right up to the hour of the November 11, 1918 Armistice. The author pulled no punches as he described the unreadiness of the country's military and industrial base for the war and the inability (or unwillingness) of the Wilson Administration to provide the leadership to properly train, equip, transport, and provide our soldiers and Marines for combat. He also critiqued the performance of many of the U.S. Generals in the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) as they "muddled" their way through the war with inadequately trained soldiers relying on obsolete battlefield tactics. To the credit of General Pershing, his "last minute" reorganization led to the spectacular breakout of the AEF in November 1918.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

For History 380

[Jack London · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite its clunky subtitle, this is a very penetrating and scholarly work written by a professor at Indiana University. With solid support in the military records, Ferrell demonstrates that the United States was not ready to enter World War I in April, 1917, and continued to be not ready until after the war, at the cost of 117,000 deaths and twice that many wounded, almost half of which were sustained in the last six weeks of the war when most American troops went into combat for the first time. Forgotten today by most Americans, the Meuse – Argonne remains the largest battle in American military history, with more than 1,200,000 doughboys in combat. It was so large that every household knew, personally, someone who fought there, most of whom had been trained for bayonet warfare in what they soon were to learn was a war of machine guns and artillery. The book is a riveting 100 watts. If you detest military history, American history, or the relentless grind of confusing combat, this book is so well written that it still is a solid 90 watts. One century after the launch of the First Great War, this book reminds us that, sadly, we have forgotten why we went, in the words of the camp tune of the day, over there.

- See more at: http://jwlbooks.com/jack-london-revie...

[David Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ferrell's book was a logically-organized read on what I personally believe is the least-known campaign in American military history. My key takeaway is the Meuse-Argonne Campaign's relevance to today: mobilization and tactics. During WW1, the American muscle was flexed and likely generated the success needed. However, following the war, little was done to move forward with the military as an institution. Now, after an era of persistent conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq, similar characteristics begin to unfold, in both manning and tactics.

I like how the book is organized, from pre-war through post-war. However, several vignettes felt short or misplaced in the greater context. The maps helped, but like most military history, the reader needs context to know what they're looking for. The book touched from the tactical to operational to strategic levels of war with varying degrees of detail.

For the size of the book, 156 pages, I knew I wouldn't be getting a deep-dive. A few other recent books capture that level and the page counts are clear indicators. That said, "America's Deadliest Battle" is a great, and recommended read for those with a limited knowledge of the Meuse-Argonne Campaign.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm rather unsure how to rate this book. It is a very thorough (and well written) study of the American Expeditionary Force, its formation and training, the equipment used, etc. If I was rating based solely on the above, I'd probably give it four stars.

However, the author almost completely and totally ignores the Germans; he doesn't even mention the identity of the units or commanders fighting the Americans. Nor does he discuss how the Germans tried to counter the American offensive, the tactics they used or where they tried to set up a new defensive position. Also, the author doesn't mention the formation of the U.S. Second Army or the transformation of the A.E.F. into an army group. An order of battle would have been helpful, too.

[Hartley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best explained work about Americans effort in WW1