SUTTON Travels: Australia and World War I

01 January 2019

American Memorial Meuse Argonne France

The largest number of American soldiers in Europe are buried at this site.

The soldiers died during the Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I and total 14,246.

Video of the Memorial

On site are a memorial, cemetery, and visitor center, which was reopened in 2016.

Inside the visitor center

Some of the soldiers remain here but others were buried in the US.

Historical note

The Meuse–Argonne offensive took place during World War I and was a major part of the final Allied offensive along the entire Western Front. It began on September 26, 1918, and continued until the Armistice of November 11, 1918, lasting a total of 47 days¹. During this offensive, more than 700 Allied tanks advanced against German positions in the Argonne Forest and along the Meuse River after a six-hour-long bombardment². It involved a massive force of 1.2 million French, Siamese, and American soldiers, making it the largest in United States military history. Unfortunately, it also resulted in over 350,000 casualties, including 28,000 German lives, 26,277 American lives, and an unknown number of French lives. The inexperience of many troops, early-phase tactics, and the global influenza outbreak ("Spanish flu") contributed to the severity of American losses during this campaign¹. The Meuse–Argonne offensive was a significant engagement for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and played a crucial role in bringing World War I to an end¹.

Sources: Conversation with Copilot, 5/26/2024

(1) Meuse–Argonne offensive - Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meuse%E2%80%93Argonne_offensive.

(2) Meuse-Argonne offensive opens | September 26, 1918 | HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/meuse-argonne-offensive-opens.

(3) Meuse-Argonne Offensive in World War I - ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/world-war-i-meuse-argonne-offensive-2361406.

(4) Meuse-Argonne Offensive - Military History - Oxford Bibliographies. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/abstract/document/obo-9780199791279/obo-9780199791279-0038.xml.

US website link

My World War I Travels

Guide to World War I in France

Guide to World War I in Belgium

Connections

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Here are some more photos

Private Johnson

Private Beaver

11 December 2018

The Windmill—Pozières France

The Windmill—Pozières, France is an area of the Somme important to Australians who sacrificed so many here in 1916 during the seven weeks Battle of the Somme.

Of the 23,000 Australian Imperial Force casualties, 6,700 died.