Up to the latter date only one attempt was made to retake the town—the attack of November 17-20, 1914, during which a French unit succeeded in occupying the suburb of Chauvoncourt, but was forced to retire as the Germans had mined this section.
The Franco-American offensive of September, 1918, finally cleared St. Mihiel.
PANORAMIC SKETCH OF THE ST. MIHIEL REGION, SHOWING THE FRONT LINE UNTIL SEPT. 12, 1918
General Pershing, in the disposition of his forces, generously arranged that a French regiment, the 25th Colonial, should have the honour of being the first to enter St. Mihiel. The Prime Minister’s son, Captain Michel Clémenceau, was among those who marched into the town.
On the whole the town had suffered little. The bridges had been blown up, trenches cut up the streets, and a German narrow-gauge railway ran through the town. The monument of 1870, “Aux Morts pour la Patrie,” was damaged. As everywhere else, all copper had been removed, the machinery had disappeared or had been broken, while the optical-glass factory and the copper foundry had ceased to exist.
On Friday, September 13, General Pershing, accompanied by General Pétain and Mr. Baker, American Secretary of State for War, visited St. Mihiel. The next day President Poincaré, in his turn, paid homage to the valiant city.