Post by RaVeN on Mar 2, 2007 16:42:25 GMT -5
In July 1918 the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) was assigned its first great mission of World War I; the reduction of the St. Mihiel salient on the famed western front.
The salient was a V in the German line approximately 35 miles wide at its base and 15 at its apex.1 The salient had been formed in September 1914 as part of the German attempt to envelop the fortress of Verdun.
It had remained a troublesome bulge in the line for over four years and all attempts to eliminate it had been futile. General John Pershing, Commander of the AEF had insisted that the Americans be given
an independent portion of the front. Up until this point American forces had seen battle only as a portion of larger British or French armies. Thus, St. Mihiel would be the first great test of American troops
as well as the mettle of their General.
St. Mihiel was also the greatest air battle of the Great War. Some 1476 allied air planes would participate in the offensive; the largest assembly of aviation assets the world had ever seen to that time.
2 They would be opposed by some 500 German aircraft in the four days of the battle (12-16 Sept 1918).3 Moreover, St. Mihiel was significant because of the combined operation of air forces
from the US, France, Italy, Great Britain and Portugal. For the most part, allied air assets were under a single command, the First US Army Air Service.
