The Americans in the Great War

In Short

Published in 1920 by the French tire manufacturer Michelin & Cie, this illustrated volume serves as both an operational military history and an practical battlefield guidebook. It details the September 1918 offensive in which American forces under General John J. Pershing eliminated the strategic Saint-Mihiel salient created by German armies in 1914. Blending tactical breakdowns with step-by-step driving itineraries, the text guides travelers through destroyed villages, fortified woods, and liberated cities like Pont-à-Mousson and Metz, documenting both recent wartime devastation and centuries of regional cultural heritage.

The Story

The volume begins with a tactical historical overview of the Saint-Mihiel sector, detailing how German forces under General von Strantz established a deep wedge into French territory in September 1914. After reducing the Meuse Heights forts into heaps of debris and capturing Saint-Mihiel, the enemy formed a persistent salient that threatened Verdun and outflanked French defensive positions for four years. The narrative shifts to September 1918, when General Pershing massed an offensive force of over 216,000 Americans supported by French troops. Despite German attempts to execute a controlled withdrawal, the coordinated multi-corps attack—launched early on September 12 following a four-hour bombardment—swiftly pinched out the salient, capturing key objectives ahead of schedule and liberating Saint-Mihiel on September 12.

Following this historical framing, the book transitions into an immersive, multi-day touring itinerary designed for postwar visitors navigating the scarred landscapes of Lorraine. The first day leads drivers through heavily contested terrain, including the Senoux Hill along the Calonne Trench and the battered height of Les Éparges, where years of mine and shell warfare left little more than blackened tree stumps and concrete blockhouses. The route traverses ruined villages like Fresnes-en-Woëvre, Apremont, and Heudicourt, stopping at historic sites such as Hattonchâtel before ending in Saint-Mihiel. Here, the narrative details the harsh four-year German occupation, marked by forced labor, heavy fines, and pillaging, which ended when French and American commanders visited the freed city alongside Allied leaders.

Subsequent itineraries take the reader from Commercy through the blood-soaked ground of Prêtre Wood—dubbed by the enemy "The Wood of Death"—to Pont-à-Mousson, detailing its Renaissance architecture, its university history, and its endurance under persistent shelling. The journey culminates in Metz, where the book moves from military movements to urban exploration. It recounts the ancient Celtic and Roman origins of Metz, its medieval prosperity, and its annexations, framing the city's 1918 return to France as the fulfillment of a long-held national dream. The tour concludes with detailed walks past the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne, the Place d'Armes, and civic monuments, before sending travelers on the road toward Étain and Verdun.

How It Unfolds

The salient forms In September 1914, German armies breach the Meuse Heights, battering surrounding fortifications into rubble and securing a strategic wedge at Saint-Mihiel. Despite desperate French counterattacks along the Meuse and around Chauvoncourt, the front lines lock into place for four years.

Pershing strikes On September 12, 1918, General Pershing launches a massive, meticulously timed offensive utilizing four army corps to pinch out the salient. Advancing through dense fog behind heavy tank support and wire-cutters, American and French forces rapidly collapse the German defensive pocket.

Traversing the shattered hills The guidebook directs motorists through former front lines, descending into devastated zones like the Senoux Hill and Les Éparges. Viewers encounter landscapes dominated by blackened stumps, concrete command posts, deep dugouts, and roadside military cemeteries.

Liberation of Saint-Mihiel Tourists arrive in Saint-Mihiel, exploring its seven natural cliff formations, historic Benedictine abbey, and town center. The narrative records the suffering of residents under German military rule and the triumph of the Allied entry led by French and American leaders.

Struggles in the Wood of Death Moving eastward toward Pont-à-Mousson, the itinerary explores Prêtre Wood, site of relentless close-quarters fighting between late 1914 and mid-1915. The text records the brutal sap-mining, trench raids, and constant bombardments that turned the forest into a mass grave.

Arrival in historic Metz The tour enters Metz, detailing its transformation from an ancient Roman center to a heavily fortified city. The guide examines civic landmarks, including the Gothic Cathedral of Saint-Étienne and the Esplanade, celebrating its reunion with France after decades of foreign rule.

The People

• General John J. Pershing: Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces who organizes and directs the September 1918 offensive. He seeks to prove the operational independence and effectiveness of his troops by amassing a force three times larger than Grant's Army of the Potomac to rapidly erase the Saint-Mihiel salient.
• General von Strantz: German commander who leads the initial September 1914 drive from Metz across the Meuse Heights. He successfully establishes the deep defensive wedge at Saint-Mihiel and fortifies the surrounding high ground to resist French counter-offensives.
• Marshal de Belle-Isle: 18th-century Governor of Metz who reshapes the city's central layout. Facing bureaucratic delays from local canons and sheriffs while attempting to create the Place d'Armes, he calls out the military garrison to excavate the site overnight by torchlight.
• The French Marine and Chasseur Gunners: Defensive troops stationed in the forested sectors who endure relentless heavy artillery bombardments. Cut off from communication and under direct infantry assault, they man their guns at point-blank range alongside reinforcing Chasseurs and Moroccan brigades to hold crucial lines.

In Its Own Voice

"Accompanied by soldiers whose duty it was to cut the barbed wire, and by men armed with 'bangalore torpedoes,' the Americans advanced in successive waves."

The text highlights the grueling, specialized tactical operations required to breach the heavily fortified German trench lines during the initial morning assault of the 1918 offensive.

"From this point to where the destroyed road to Eparges begins the forest consists of little more than blackened shell-torn tree-stumps."

Describing the immediate visual impact of the battlefield along the Calonne Trench, the guide provides clear, unvarnished spatial observations for visiting motorists.

"Beloved town of Metz, your nightmare is over—France returns and opens her arms to you!"

The volume captures the intense patriotic emotion surrounding the end of the war by recording the official address delivered in the liberated city following the armistice.

What It's Really About

At its core, the volume is a project of memory and physical witness. It serves to document exact military geography while the physical traces of the war remain raw and visible across the French landscape. Beyond detailing troop movements, orders of battle, and artillery barrages, the text frames the Great War as a defense of civilization deeply intertwined with historical heritage. By juxtaposing modern concrete blockhouses and shell-pocked forests with ancient Roman aqueducts, medieval cloisters, and Renaissance architecture, the book argues that the Allied victory was not merely a conquest of ground, but the preservation of centuries of human culture and regional identity from destruction.

Why Read It Today

Modern readers interested in military history, historical geography, or early 20th-century travel culture will find this guidebook compelling. Written immediately after the Armistice of 1918, it offers a rare, contemporaneous look at the battlefields before time and reconstruction softened their edges. Reading it feels like sitting in the passenger seat of an early touring car, map in hand, watching a traumatized yet resilient landscape pass by.

The prose is direct, factual, and restrained, avoiding excessive hyperbole in favor of clear logistical details, historical dates, and practical driving advice. The text does require patience with its functional guidebook structure—it frequently alternates between high-level operational analysis, detailed lists of destroyed property, and precise road turnouts. Yet this strict adherence to place and detail is precisely what makes the volume so enduring. It preserves an exact snapshot of post-World War I Lorraine, where fresh American graves sat beside ancient French churches, offering an authentic document of remembrance, architecture, and war.