Forest of Argonne

The Forest of Argonne is a long strip of rocky mountain and wild woodland in north-eastern France, approximately 200 km (120 mi) east of Paris, France. In 1792 Charles François Dumouriez outmaneuvered the invading forces of the Duke of Brunswick in the forest before the Battle of Valmy.

Location of Forest of Argonne in north-eastern France.
Forest of Argonne in 1915.
Forest of Argonne in a valley near Chatel-Chéhéry, France, where Sgt. Henry Johnson, known after his heroic battle as the Black Death, and Sgt. Alvin C. York fought in World War I.

During World War I, the forest again became the site of intense military action. Bitter fighting between German and Allied units took place here in autumn and winter 1914, summer 1915 and autumn 1918. During the Meuse–Argonne offensive (1918), several United States Army soldiers earned the Medal of Honor there, including Colonel Nelson Miles Holderman, Major Charles White Whittlesey, Sergeant Alvin C. York – most of them part of the "Lost Battalion", and William Henry Johnson a.k.a. "Black Death".

The World War I Montfaucon American Monument consists of a large granite Doric column, surmounted by a statue symbolic of Liberty. The monument is located twenty miles northwest of Verdun. It is not far from the Meuse–Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial.[1]

Points of interest

See also

References
  1. American Battle Monuments Commission: Montfaucon monument Archived 2008-09-16 at the Wayback Machine.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Argonne`, Forest of" . The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne.

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