A series of disorderly actions
At the end of September, the A.E.F. trampled. The rear roads were hopelessly blocked. And the only three access roads to the front were, all three, exposed to German fire.
Poorly supplied, the Allied troops did not benefit from the support of their artillery either. since it could not advance.
Colonel Carl Penner, of the 120th Field Artillery Regiment, failed to advance his 75 mm guns to the front; According to him, it was a big mistake to have wanted to cram so many units into such a small space.
During their advance towards the Kriemhilde line, the Americans lost many men, more than 20,000, due to epidemics of influenza, the weather having been particularly cold and wet during the first two weeks of the battle. During this time, on the German side, they managed to unite nine complete divisions and part of three others.
Pershing fixed the attack on the Kriemhilde line for October 4 at 05:25. clear the escarpments which dominated the valley of the Aire. Liggett, who was however to show a remarkable tactical sense, could not do anything against the 1st and 5th Prussian divisions of the Guards. Machine guns, barbed wire, gas and shells decimated the American units and in particular the heroic 1st division.
On October 4, at 1 p.m., the 3rd Battalion of the 16th Regiment had only two officers and 240 men left, out of an initial strength of 20 officers and 800 men.
Lieutenant Maury Maverick, of the 28th Infantry Regiment, writes:“We were simply in a big black space, streaked with red and yellow streaks; in the sky giants roared, tore, whirled and roared again. Maverick, who was wounded that day, remembers the explosion of a shell:“You hear a huge shrill whistle, then a tremendous banging that seems to have to dismantle you. Its intensity is such that it penetrates the heart and the brain, and shreds your every nerve. »
During the attack led by Liggett, a battalion of the 308th Infantry Regiment of the 77th Division had been surrounded near the Moulin de Charlevaux on October 2. The division having been unable to re-establish contact with him, he was cut off from everything, without food or ammunition, exposed to repeated German attacks. Its situation seemed so desperate that it was only referred to as the "lost battalion".
Its commander, Major Charles Whittlesay, refused to surrender, however, despite repeated German offers. He held out for six long days, until the division was finally able to break the encirclement and reach the position held fiercely by the survivors of the battalion:194 men out of 600.
Princess Blücher, an Englishwoman married to a German and living in Berlin, expressed her amazement at "the way Germany had always curiously underestimated the danger coming from America".
Bullard's attack on the heights of Cunel was also progressing very slowly and with very heavy casualties:
1366 men of the 3rd Division were killed in this battle alone. Lt. Frederic T. Edwards described the morning of October 5 thus:It's not yet nine o'clock. There has been a thick fog all night, which the sun is trying to break through. The surrounding woods are covered in a bluish mist; and we have to constantly rub the ends of our fingers to try to warm them up...”
He was killed later that day by a 77mm shell burst