Our right flank was protected by the Meuse, while our left embraced the Argonne Forest whose ravines, hills, and elaborate defense screened by dense thickets had been generally considered impregnable.  Our order of battle from right to left was the Third Corps from the Meuse to Malancourt, with the Thirty-third, Eightieth, and Fourth Divisions in line, and the Third Division as corps reserve; the Fifth Corps from Malancourt to Vauquois, with Seventy-ninth, Eighty-seventh, and Ninety-first Divisions in line, and the Thirty-second in corps reserve; and the First Corps, from Vauquois to Vienne le Chateau, with Thirty-fifth, Twenty-eighth, and Seventy-seventh Divisions in line, and the Ninety-second in corps reserve.  The Army reserve consisted of the First, Twenty-ninth, and Eighty-second Divisions.

[Sidenote:  Attack begins on September 25.]

[Sidenote:  Montfaucon is taken.]

On the night of September 25 our troops quietly took the place of the French who thinly held the line in this sector which had long been inactive.  In the attack which began on the 26th we drove through the barbed wire entanglements and the sea of shell craters across No Man’s Land, mastering all the first-line defenses.  Continuing on the 27th and 28th, against machine guns and artillery of an increasing number of enemy reserve divisions, we penetrated to a depth of from 3 to 7 miles, and took the village of Montfaucon and its commanding hill and Exermont, Gercourt, Cuisy, Septsarges, Malancourt, Ivoiry, Epinonville, Charpentry, Very, and other villages.  East of the Meuse one of our Divisions, which was with the Second Colonial French Corps, captured Marcheville and Rieville, giving further protection to the flank of our main body.  We had taken 10,000 prisoners, we had gained our point of forcing the battle into the open and were prepared for the enemy’s reaction, which was bound to come as he had good roads and ample railroad facilities for bringing up his artillery and reserves.

[Illustration:  FACSIMILE OF PERSHING’S SECRET BATTLE MAP SHOWN AT NATIONAL MUSEUM

There is on exhibition in the United States National Museum at Washington what is probably the most interesting and valuable single record of America’s part in the Great War—­General Pershing’s own secret battle map, transported here from his headquarters in France and set up in the museum exactly as it was there.

It was General Pershing’s own idea to have the map displayed to the public to show the people of the United States the actual military results obtained by their armies.  For instance, at the hour the armistice was signed the United States forces were holding 145 kilometers of front, of which 134 kilometers were active.  This is made plain on the map by the colored pins and tags by which the different allied and enemy armies are shown.