This week's assigned web log is paid for in part by: The Battle of Chateau-Thierry.
The Battle of Chateau-Thierry
On July 18th of 1918, the Americans and French commenced an offensive force against the German locations, which was potentially the first made by the Allied Powers in nearly a year. The movement was to counteract the Germans recent 13 mile advancement, which is the single largest advancement in a day since 1914. The battle took place on a 40-km front, ranging from Fontenoy to Chateau-Thierry. The Germans had started a drive of its own a few days before and later encountered the Americans, whom caught Germany off-guard. Plenty of fighting had taken place in Cheateau-Thierry, a pleasant city of 15,000, with much help from the Americans.
This is a picture of Chateau-Thierry, a town where this battle was obviously featured.
The American and French forces captured the towns of Torcy, Bois de Belleau, Bois de Givry and Montairs in a mere six hours. Captured German prisoners openly admitted that the invasions were complete suprises. Meanwhile, other American and French troops charged the front near Courchamps and eventually captured the town and eighteen guns from the defending Germans.
After such a busy day, stories of heroism circulated, most notably of Sergeant J. F. Brown. He had been in charge of a detachment of eleven men who were being approached by hundreds of Germans. He ordered his group to scatter, and he hid in the woods. After the enemies passed, he looked to find himselft and his Captain safely alone. Since their own trenches were being invaded by Germans, they decided to attempt to kill all of them and reclaim their turf.
They crept up on their lines only to see two his machine guns being manned. The Captain was killed after charging the first, but Brown killed the lone soldier with his automatic rifle.
This is a Browning Automatic Rifle ("BAR"), which may have been similar to the gun used by Sergeant J. F. Brown in his treacherous battles.
An American Corporal revealed himself from the woods, and together he and Brown attacked the second German machine gun, Brown taking out all three. Subsequent to hearing all the racket, Brown's crew appeared, ready to fight. Brown steered them to a spot where many Germans could be spotted in an American trench. He had his crew be arranged from twelve positions, surrounding the trench. They all fired until their weapons were too hot to hold. Thinking they were being attacked by a copious number of American troops, the Germans surrendered. The soldiers disarmed over 100 German troops, and killed a whopping 159 soldiers amongst the thirteen of them.
According to written sources of soldiers present in the "Great War," this battle really swung the momentum in the favor of the allies. 'How?', you may ask. Well, the week of the battle started with Germany on the move towards the Allies' fronts, but after the war, Germany ended up on the defensive side of the war.
Personally, I think this battle was very important, although you may have never heard of it. It really changed the nature of the war, both physically and mentally. After this battle, the Allies were much more confident that they could win the World War One.
This picture depicts the Chateau-Thierry War, and the caption proves my point
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Thierry.html
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_chateau_thierry1918.html
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