otected 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 Third Corps from the Meuse to
Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions in
line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from
Malancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and
Ninety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve;
and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with
Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, and
the Ninety-second in corps reserve. The Army reserve consisted of the
First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions.

[Sidenote: Attack begins on September 25.]

[Sidenote: Montfaucon is taken.]

On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the
French who thinly held the line in 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 defenses. 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 3 to 7 miles,
and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and Exermont,
Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinonville,
Charpentry, Very, and other villages. East of the Meuse one of our
Divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured
Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our
main body. We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of
forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy's
reaction, which was bound to come as he had good roads and ample
railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves.

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PERSHING'S SECRET BATTLE MAP SHOWN AT
NATIONAL MUSEUM

There is on exhibition in the United States National Museum at
Washington what is probably the most interesting and valuable single
record of America's part in the Great War--General Pershing's own secret
battle map, transported here from his headquarters in France and set up
in the museum exactly as it was there.

It was General Pershing's own idea to have the map displayed to the
public to show the people o