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The Air Service at the Argonne-Meuse
by
Brigadier-General William Mitchell

The Saint Mihiel battle had been brought to a successful termination. Fifteen thousand German and Austrian prisoners filled our temporary detention camps. Cannon, transport, and booty of all kinds were brought in from every side. Our losses had been almost negligible, both in the air and on the ground, because we had taken the Germans by surprise. Not that they were fooled about where our attack would take place, but they were completely bewildered as to the exact time and method. They thought that we would be several days later, but, so rapid had been our concentration and so effectually had we kept them out of the air, that their ordinary information system was behind time in its operations.

Our new army had worked very well on its first trial; now it was up to us to hit the Germans at their vital points - the Argonne-Meuse front. It involved of from sixty to one hundred miles in a straight line. All moves had to be made under cover of night by the infantry and artillery, while the aeroplanes moved either very early in the morning or just at evening to conceal themselves.

Nothing approaching the size of the American First Army had ever operated in the Verdun area, and there were grave fears that this force could not possibly be supplied. Our staff was so confident that it could be supplied that they proposed attacking within a week after the conclusion of the operations at Saint Mihiel.

Under these conditions, it is not difficult to see what a problem confronted the Air Service. An entire new set of aerodromes had to be built, in very rough and uneven ground; all the hangars moved and erected; a complete new telephone system of hundreds of miles of wire for the Air