Meuse-Argonne Offensive - The Battle's Place in History

The Battle's Place in History

Although the Meuse-Argonne was "probably the bloodiest single battle in U.S. history," in the sense that it had the largest number of U.S. dead in a single battle, the battle is largely forgotten in the United States, and the Argonne war cemetery is largely ignored by tourists. The battle also hailed the debut of the Browning Automatic Rifle in combat, with both the US and France using them significantly for the first time in battle. According to the American view, the battle's pressure on the Germans was an important factor in their agreeing to the armistice: "Until the last, this battle had worried German commanders most; unlike other sectors of the front, here they had little space short of a vital objective that they could afford to trade for time." Many historians have since begun to debate the legitimacy of this claim, with many believing that the Meuse-Argonne offensive was simply a diversion from greater Allied offensives and successes elsewhere.