Web Extra! Until recently, ACG readers had to wait two issues to find out the solution to our popular You Command Combat Decision Games. Now we are posting the historical outcome and analysis at ArmchairGeneral.com shortly after the respective due date for submissions of Reader Solutions. Here is the outcome for You Command CDG #34, “Cantigny, 1918" September 2009 issue..

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The September 2009 issue of Armchair General® presented the Combat Decision Game “Cantigny, 1918.” This CDG placed readers in the role of Lieutenant Colonel George C. Marshall, operations officer (G3) for the 1st U.S. Infantry Division. Marshall’s mission was to develop a detailed plan of attack for the American Expeditionary Force’s first major offensive combat operation against the German army on World War I’s Western Front. If successful, the attack at Cantigny would prove AEF commander General “Black Jack” Pershing’s adamant assertion that U.S. troops fighting in an “American” army was the best employment of AEF troops, despite persistent Allied demands that U.S. Soldiers be parceled out to British and French commands. Thus Pershing’s hopes rested largely on Marshall’s planning ability.

Lt. Col. George Marshall’s plan called for all three battalions to attack abreast, with the U.S. infantrymen following closely behind the rolling artillery barrage. The Americans penetrated up to 1,500 yards past the German front line, captured Cantigny, and held most of their gains against strong enemy counterattacks.

HISTORICAL OUTCOME The 1st Infantry Division – “Exhibit A,” as Marshall and other staff members referred to the division to emphasize Pershing’s obsessive interest in it – was a massive, infantry-heavy unit twice the size of any British, French or German division. Organized as a “square division” – two infantry brigades of two regiments each, plus an artillery brigade – and mustering nearly 28,000 men, the 1st Division epitomized both the strengths and the weaknesses of the American Army in France: Pershing’s fresh AEF troops brought enthusiasm and heartily welcomed combat power to the war-weary Allied cause, yet they lacked skilled leaders, extensive training, combat experience, and a robust, smoothly functioning logistical support structure.

At this stage of U.S. participation in World War I combat, a particularly troubling deficiency was that AEF units lacked the massive artillery fire support available to British and French – and German – formations. To amass sufficient artillery fire support for success in Western Front offensives, U.S. units had to “borrow” from other Allied commands. For the AEF’s May 1918 Cantigny attack, Marshall relied heavily on borrowed French artillery. French commanders, however, could demand that their artillery be returned to their control whenever their tactical situations warranted it. Thus it was imperative that the 1st Division’s attack at Cantigny adhere to Marshall’s timetable to quickly seize and consolidate the division’s objectives, lest German counterattacks overwhelm American units deprived of French artillery.

At 4:45 a.m. on May 28, Marshall’s plan was implemented as 400 French and American artillery pieces opened up against the Germans defending the Cantigny sector. For nearly two hours Allied shells pummeled front-line trenches and the enemy batteries behind them. At 6:40 a.m. whistles sounded all along the line of the 1st Division’s 28th Infantry Regiment, signaling the order for 6,000 U.S. Soldiers to go “over the top” and commence the AEF’s first major infantry assault of the war. Led by a rolling barrage, the Americans attacked with all three battalions abreast (Course of Action One) across the barren, shell-pocked No Man’s Land and, greatly aided by attached French tanks, overran the ruined town. Although the 3d Battalion to the north and the 1st Battalion to the south found progress against the stiffening German resistance difficult, the 2d Battalion in the center penetrated to a depth of 1,500 yards.

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