Pershing heavily relied on frontal assaults, a tactic the French, British, and Germans had learned were not efficacious in modern trench warfare. Despite battlefield success, Pershing’s offensive tactics were not without some censure. Allies carped at the amateurish organization and procedures, but veteran German observers were dismayed by the fresh valor of Pershing’s men.” (ANB). In mid-September 1917, Pershing led AEF and French troops, recapturing territory that had been held by the Germans for three years. declared war on Germany and President Woodrow Wilson appointed Pershing to command the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). Pershing (1860-1948) spanned such varied milieu as pursuing Pancho Villa at the Texas-Mexican border and leading Allied and U.S. Like many towns in western Europe in the first half of the twentieth century, its name became widely known not for any attribute of its native soil, but rather for the blood spilled thereon. The town of Saint-Mihiel is in northeastern France on the right bank of the Meuse River 22 miles (35 km) south-southeast of Verdun. The Battle of Saint-Mihiel, which took place in mid-September 1918, was an Allied victory and the first U.S.-led offensive of the First World War. Crease wear primarily attributes to having long been neatly folded. Condition is very good, complete with only mild age-toning. It is printed at 1:100,000 scale in blue, red, and gray illustrating “American Daily Lines of Advance” and “French Colonial Troops” as well as “Enemy Defences” with numbers that “Indicate Divisions in Line”. Pershing’s signature on the war-map of a battlefront when and where he affected the fate and borders of nations viscerally tethers this artifact to the history it documents. Examples of this map reside in the Library of Congress and the National Museum of the World War, but this is the only copy we find signed thus. Just above the title and legend the map is signed in two lines in black ink “John J. MIHIEL SALIENT To Accompany Report of The Commander In Chief, November 20, 1918”. Army 1918”, this map is titled “MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE OFFENSIVE OF THE ST. “Printed at Base Printing Plant, 29th Engineers, U.S. This extraordinary map of the First World War’s first U.S.-led offensive was signed in the field by the man who commanded the victory – General John J. France: Printed at Base Printing Plant, 29th Engineers, U.S.

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