The only extended campaign American soldiers fought as an independent force during the first world war was the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Launched in late September 1918 as part of the final allied offensive on the western front, it was the largest and most deadly campaign the US army had ever fought.
Research suggests the American soldiers were inadequately trained and ineffective. Hastily mobilised and poorly led, they suffered a disproportionately heavy toll of dead and wounded. Yet the American correspondents who reported on the campaign praised the performance of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) as bold and heroic.
