As the US joined World War 1, their inexperienced troops and lack of military doctrine gave
Allied commanders scarce hope that they would turn the tide of a war in which Britain and
France were barely holding the line against a relentless German offensive, and Russia
had signed a separate peace treaty with the central powers.
Then, in the spring of 1918, the US military’s first-ever modern division was swiftly organized
to conduct the first American assault in the area in an attempt to capture Cantigny.
Despite the minor strategic importance of the French village, the stakes could not be
higher.
If the 1st Division failed at Cantigny, the consequences on the morale of the Allied forces
would be unmeasurable, the Germans would prove that the US troops were inferior, and the
world would perceive the US as not being ready to enter the big leagues of the world superpowers.
As the soldiers from the 1st Division prepared for the unprecedented assault against the
most potent military power in the world, they marveled at the sight of modern warfare operations,
tanks, and aircraft flying over them in a coordinated orchestra of destruction.
Little did they know that their actions that day would define the future of US military
warfare and set the stage for the end of the war…
A Need for Soldiers
From 1914 to the last months of 1917, the US had attempted to stay out of the European
conflict.
But as the Germans resumed unrestricted submarine warfare and tried to ally with Mexico to invade
the US, President Woodrow Wilson decided that they couldn’t remain neutral anymore.
Wilson then petitioned Congress to declare war on Germany knowing full well that the
US was not ready for such a daunting task.
Still, the Germans had revealed their plans to bring the war to North America, and the
recent exit of Russia from the conflict meant that Germany would soon be able to concentrate
even more military power on the already depleted French and German troops defending the western
front.
After the US entered the conflict, a special delegation of British and French diplomats
met with President Wilson and asked him to send American troops to France immediately.
Wilson responded by promising that he would have a division in France by June.
The delegation was ecstatic, but there was a significant issue with Woodrow’s promise:
the US didn’t have a single active division.
By then, the US only had very few regiments, and most of them were at the US-Mexico border
looking for Pancho Villa.
The Allies knew that the US had no military doctrine and a limited structure and believed
that if they attempted to define a major independent army overnight, it could turn into a complete
disaster that would not alleviate their current distress.
Furthermore, France and Britain practically begged the US authorities not to organize
their troops into an independent army.
Instead, the Allies asked for American troops to join the military structures of their already
experienced armies and serve as replacement soldiers for their fallen or depleted troops.
Suffice to say that the US was not keen on sending American men to fight under foreign
command, and they denied the proposal.
The US was joining the war on its own terms, and if that meant hastily defining what a
US division needed to be while on their way to France, so be it.
The 1st Division
The name of the 1st Division was chosen because President Wilson promised to the British and
the French that it would be the first permanently established modern division of the US Army.
In past conflicts, US commanders had used the term division, but they didn’t mean
much, as they often referred to regiment-sized forces and didn’t have a specific or replicable
structure.
The regiments that would give shape to the 1st Division were mainly serving in the US-Mexico
border at the time, and they were then drafted to the East Coast to be shipped to Europe.
The inexperienced soldiers went from hunting down small groups of outlaws in the Mexican
desert to facing off against the most powerful and experienced army in the world.
General John J. Pershing oversaw the Expeditionary Force sent to France, and the government also
tasked him with organizing the regiments he had taken into an operating division.
However, the dire situation in the Western front meant that Pershing had to do it as
he and the troops were already on the ship crossing the Atlantic.
The General then came up with a Square Division arrangement, meaning that the 1st US Division
would have the main body of two infantry brigades composed of two infantry regiments each.
In contrast to Britain and France, the US had the manpower to form square divisions;
European nations preferred smaller divisions to cover more ground and adequately protect
their extensive trenches, but the US military planned to go on the offensive right away.
Besides the two infantry brigades, the original iteration of the 1st Division included one
engineer battalion, one signal battalion, one trench mortar battery, one field artillery
brigade of three field artillery regiments, one air squadron, and an entire division train.
In total, 18,919 officers and enlisted men formed the division.
As the men arrived in Europe, the first order of business was to parade in; the French Army
desperately needed a morale boost and the urgent support of the Americans to continue
fighting.
As the Allies sent the 1st Division into the front line, they spent several months conducting
defensive operations and helping the Allies hold back German advances.
Meanwhile, more and more US troops arrived in France, and by 1918 the US had over 40
divisions ready to take the battle to the Germans.
The Battle
General Pershing soon assumed command of all the American troops in the western front,
and when the time came for the US to break off the prolonged trench stalemate, Pershing
chose the 1st Division as the unit fit for the task.
The Americans were to make their offensive debut by capturing the farming village of
Cantigny, which had recently been captured by the Germans, creating a bulge in the front
line that the US needed to push back.
Beyond representing a German advance, the village had no strategic value, but it was
considered a fitting location to attempt their first offensive.
Unfortunately for the American advance, the village was located on high ground surrounded
by forests, making it an excellent observation post for German artillery.
The stakes were through the roof, as Pershing knew that Cantigny could either start a massive
snowball effect of American victories, or it could be a significant disaster that demoralized
the already depleted Allies as well as the American troops.
The Germans knew this too, and they were determined to foil the first American offensive at any
cost; if they could repel them on their first assault, the world would see that the German
army was unrelenting.
On May 28, 1918, US soldiers from the 1st Division charged out of their trenches following
an hour-long artillery onslaught on the village.
Similarly, coordinated counter-battery fire had been directed at German artillery positions,
weakening their response capabilities.
As the troops descended on the village, an artillery rolling barrage that advanced 110
yards every two minutes was unleashed.
This was carefully designed to allow the troops to safely move behind the barrage while keeping
the Germans under fire and with limited visibility.
It would be the first time that US troops would use modern warfare tactics and artillery
in infantry and tank coordinated strikes.
Covered by the barrage, the 28th Infantry Regiment, two companies from the 18th Infantry
Regiment, three machine-gun companies, and a company of engineers rushed the village.
They surprised the entrenched Germans as they were covered from the artillery fire.
The assault was covered by the French, who provided air support, 368 heavy artillery
pieces, trench mortars, tanks, and flamethrowers.
The French tanks belonged to the French 5th Tank Battalion, and their primary purpose
was to neutralize German machine-gun positions while the American troops neutralized the
Germans in the trenches.
Thanks to the significant French support, the overwhelming number of American troops,
and the artillery tactics, the 1st Division advanced successfully behind the creeping
artillery barrage and captured the village in less than 30 minutes.
They then continued to their final objective roughly a half kilometer beyond the town.
The Counterstrike
The village’s capture had been straightforward, but the defense of newly gained territory
would be much more lethal than the initial assault.
The first German counterattack took place at 8:30am through the right side of the new
American defensive position.
It was easily repelled, but German artillery then bombarded the 28th Infantry for most
of the day, inflicting many casualties.
At 5:10pm, the first large-scale German counteroffensive was launched, and the American troops had
to reorganize by sending a company of the 1st Battalion of the 26th Infantry Regiment
commanded by Major Theodore Roosevelt Jr. to strengthen a weak spot in the American
line.
Another counterattack at 6:40pm was barely resisted by a combination of artillery and
infantry defensive fire, and brutal German attacks would continue for the next two days.
Still, the American soldiers held their positions until the Germans withdrew from the village.
The village’s defense cost the Americans about 1,600 casualties, and despite being
a tactically insignificant capture, it resulted in way too many losses.
Still, the victory in Cantigny would turn out to be a decisive moment in US military
history.
Not only did the US prove that they had an influential military doctrine and that they
could act as a powerful independent army, but they also showed the world that the American
army was a force to be reckoned with.
For the rest of the war, the American troops successfully took on the offensive leaving
the trench warfare behind and taking the fight to the Germans.
From then on, the 1st Division would play a key role in the US military’s success
for decades to come.
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