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Argonne offensive - The First World War - September 1918

Having succeeded in pushing the German troops back in the offensives at Albert the Allied generals wanted to maintain the momentum and hopefully break through the German lines. Now the American forces and resources were available in increasingly large numbers a major offensive was planned for the Argonne region.

This offensive was to be quite unique for the First World War. The Allied plans included the use of Tanks, aircraft, artillery and infantry in a coordinated push forward: a tactic much more common in the battles of the Second World War.

A massive force of some 400,000 American soldiers along with British forces, 500+ aircraft and over 300 tanks assembled on a 50 mile front. The initial offensive suffered from the fact that so many of the troops had not been given sufficient time to recover from the long and arduous journey to the front, progress was slow and the offensive petered out after just 3 days with heavy casualties for the Americans (Some 100,000 casualties were suffered by the Americans in the this campaign).

After a short period of regrouping and rest the offensive was relaunched with much more success, over 20 miles was gained between October 4th and the signing of the Armistice on November 11th.