ms was still intact.
In the general attack all along the line, the operation assigned the
American Army as the hinge of this allied offensive was directed toward
the important railroad communications of the German armies through
Mezieres and Sedan. The enemy must hold fast to this part of his lines
or the withdrawal of his forces with four years' accumulation of plants
and material would be dangerously imperiled.

The German Army had as yet shown no demoralization, and, while the mass
of its troops had suffered in morale, its first-class divisions, and
notably its machine-gun defense, were exhibiting remarkable tactical
efficiency as well as courage. The German General Staff was fully aware
of the consequences of a success on the Meuse-Argonne line. Certain that
he would do everything in his power to oppose us, the action was
planned with as much secrecy as possible and was undertaken with the
determination to use all our divisions in forcing decision. We expected
to draw the best German divisions to our front and to consume them while
the enemy was held under grave apprehension lest our attack should break
his line, which it was our firm purpose to do.

Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the
Argonne Forest, whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense, screened by
dense thickets, had been generally considered impregnable. Our order of
battle from right to left was the 3d Corps from the Meuse to Malancourt,
with the 33d, 80th and 4th Divisions in line, and the 3d Division as
corps reserve; the 5th Corps from Malancourt to Vauquois, with 79th,
87th and 91st Divisions in line, and the 32d in corps reserve, and the
1st Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with 35th, 28th and
77th Divisions in line, and the 92d in corps reserve. The army reserve
consisted of the 1st, 29th and 82d Divisions.

On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the
French, who thinly held the line of this sector, which had long been
inactive. In the attack which began on the 26th we drove through the
barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man's
Land, mastering all the first-line defences. Continuing on the 27th and
28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of
enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from three to seven
miles and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and
Exermont, Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Mala