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OBLITERATED BY THE AMERICANS IN SEPTEMBER, 1918
At first the resistance of the Germans, without being tame, was not actually stiff, and the doughboys were able to sweep toward the second line of any position without difficulty. There, however, the Germans began to defend themselves sharply, which delayed, but did not stop the American advance. The attack was made in two waves and carried the American forces a distance of about five miles.
CHATEAU-THIERRY, FIELD OF GLORY 555
The next day the attack continued, and General Pershing's dispatch stated: "In the St. Mihiel sector we have achieved further successes. The junction of our troops advancing from the south of the sector with those advancing from the west has given us possession of the whole salient to points twelve miles northeast of St. Mihiel, and has resulted in the capture of many prisoners. Forced back by our steady advance the enemy is retiring, and is destroying large quantities of material as he goes. The number of prisoners counted has risen to 13,300. Our line now includes Herbeville, Thillet, Hattonville, St. Benoit, Xammes, Jaulny, Thiaucourt and Vieville."

The salient was wiped out, and the St. Mihiel front reduced from forty to twenty miles. Secretary Newton D. Baker, accom­panied by Generals Pershing and Petain, visited St. Mihiel a few hours after its capture. They walked through the streets of the city, and heard many stories of the long German occupation.

As the attack proceeded it became more and more evident that the German defense had lost heart. Thousands of them surrendered, declaring they did not care to fight any more. It was also noted that a surprisingly large number of officers were among those captured. The only serious resistance was to the attack south of Fresnes, which was obviously for the purpose of protecting the German retreat.

The first American regiment stationed in the St. Mihiel sector was the 370th Infantry, formerly the Eighth Illinois, a Negro regiment officered entirely by soldiers of that race. This regiment was one of the three that occupied a sector at Verdun when a penetration there by the Germans would have been disastrous to the Allied cause.

The St. Mihiel salient had no great military value to the Ger­mans, and was probably held by them from a sentimental motive. It represented the desperate efforts made by the Crown Prince in his early drive against Verdun. Its destruction, however, was of great importance to the French. It was not only a removal of a menace to the French citizens of Verdun, but it released the French armies at that point for active offensive operation. It also liber­ated the railway line from Verdun to Nancy, which was of the utmost value to General Pershing and the French armies to his left. It also later developed that the French command regarded the reduction of the St. Mihiel salient as the corner stone of a great encircling movement aimed at the German fortress of Metz. The moral effect of its reduction was also notable as it was one more sign of the weakening of the Germans.

556 HISTORY OF THE WORLD WAR

HOW THE ST. MIHIEL SALIENT LOOKED SHORTLY AFTER THE ASSAULT BEGAN