Map of the Western Front in early September 1918 showing the American divisions in position in the American Sector. The Americans reduced the St. Mihiel sector in an offensive beginning on September 12. The dotted line shows the limit of the German advance from March to July prior to the Allied offensives that had retaken all their gains. From The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas.
Western Front, September, 1918Showing American Divisions in position in the American Zone.
"I definitely fixed the time schedule for the general offensive from the Meuse to the North Sea:September 26th—A Franco-American attack between the Suippe and the Meuse.September 27th—An attack by the British First and Third armies in the general direction of Cambrai.September 28th—An attack by the Flanders Group of Armies between the sea and the Lys, under the command of the King of the Belgians.September 29th—An attack by the British Fourth Army, supported by the French First Army, in the direction of Busigny."
Allied Commander-in Chief Ferdinand Foch's summary of his planned offensives at the end of September, 1918. The Meuse River flows east of Verdun. The Franco-American attack of the 26th would be the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The British offensive of the First Battle of Cambrai in November, 1917 had demonstrated how successful tanks could be. Foch and Albert, King of the Belgians, had agreed on the creation of the Flanders Army Group on September 9. It included the Belgian Army, the British Second Army, and the French 7th Army Corps and 2nd Cavalry Corps under the command of Albert. In his Pyrrhic Victory, Robert Doughty dates Foch's decision as September 23. In his Memoirs Foch writes only that he determined the schedule after a tour of inspection from September 19 to 22.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, page 408, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
1918-09-22, 1918, September, Cambrai, Flanders Group, Flanders Army Group, Lys, Lys River, Albert, Busigny, Western Front September 1918
