American forces fought for three weeks during the bloody and costly Meuse-Argonne Offensive. They suffered 100,000 casualties to reach the objectives that were planned for the first day of fighting.
One of those objectives was a large, well-defended hill. Douglas MacArthur was ordered to either capture it or spend 5,000 lives in the failure. MacArthur took the challenge, promising his name would be on that list if he failed.
MacArthur was a brigadier general at the time. After being passed over for promotion, he was in command of the 84th Infantry Brigade, and he and his men had already fought viciously from September 26, 1918, to early October.
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MacArthur had led some of their attacks, including a daring nighttime raid, from the front. That assault earned him nominations for what would become his sixth and seventh Silver Stars.
“Give Me Châtillon”
But the 84th was moved up to a division at Côte de Châtillon, a large hill that dominated the surrounding terrain. MacArthur assessed that it was the center of German fortifications in the area. He carefully laid his plans for attack, and as he was finishing up, his new corps commander visited him in his tent.
Maj. Gen. Charles Pelot Summerall and MacArthur were old friends and shared a cup of coffee. Summerall stood to leave after he was done. Before departing, he told MacArthur, “Give me Châtillon, MacArthur, or turn in a list of 5,000 casualties.”
That surprising order highlighted the dire straits the American Expeditionary Forces were in. Their first offensive in the Meuse the month before had gone very well, but America still had to prove itself to its allies. And Germany was close to winning the war before America entered it. Russia had fallen out of the war, and the French people were weary after more than four years of fighting on their soil.
Summerall and the other senior generals were willing to do nearly anything to prove that America was a real power on the world stage and to punish Germany for sinking U.S. ships.
But MacArthur was no slouch, either.
MacArthur Didn’t Lack for Confidence
Remember that in less than a month of fighting before this meeting, he had earned himself nominations for two more Silver Stars. Though MacArthur’s response later embarrassed him, he told Summerall, “All right, General. We’ll take it, or my name will head the list.”
To paraphrase, “I will come back with that hill or on it.”
On October 14, MacArthur began his attack with “my Alabama cotton growers on my left, my Iowa farmers on my right,” as he referred to the National Guard forces under his command. The 83rd Infantry Brigade, made up mostly of New York and Ohio units, fought bravely beside the 84th. It took three days.
“Little units of our men crawled and sneaked and side-slipped forward from one bit of cover to another. Death, cold and remorseless, whistled and sang its way through our ranks. But like the arms of a giant pincer my Alabama and Iowa National Guardsmen closed in from both sides. Officers fell and sergeants leaped to command. Companies dwindled to platoons and corporals took over.”
Mission Accomplished
Côte de Châtillon fell to American hands late on October 16. MacArthur led from the front, and he later received the Distinguished Service Cross for his great courage “in rallying broken lines and in reforming attacks, thereby making victory possible.”
The Germans counterattacked ferociously, but MacArthur and his men held on, and the hills nearby quickly fell to American forces. The 42nd Infantry Division, of which the 83rd and 84th were a part, was temporarily relieved from front-line duty on October 18.
The two brigades suffered 3,000 casualties taking the hill.
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