World War I: The Belfort Ruse

The main burden for carrying out the deception fell on Colonel Conger’s shoulders. His success with the ruse could be measured in several ways. One indication would be if American troops obtained the element of surprise during their initial assault against the St. Mihiel salient. That condition, however, could be the result of German laxity. A better criterion of success would be if Conger could lure the Germans into reinforcing their defensive lines in front of Belfort. A third criterion would be even more indicative of a well-executed ruse. What if Conger’s scheme enticed the Germans to diminish their forces in the St. Mihiel salient in order to reinforce their units in the Belfort Gap? That would be all the Americans hoped for. Much depended on how Conger would carry out his duties–but even more depended on the German reaction.

Conger began planning the deception on August 26-27, unaware that his adversaries had already reached several important decisions about the St. Mihiel salient. On the other side of the wire, the Germans had changed commanders. Lieutenant General von Fuchs had taken over Army Detachment C, which opposed a considerable portion of the French Fourth Army and Pershing’s newly formed U.S. First Army. The chief of staff of Army Detachment C, Maj. Gen. Baron Otto von Ledebur, had long been concerned about the St. Mihiel salient and urged his new commander to make a drastic change. Earlier in the year, during the planning for Ludendorff’s spring campaign, St. Mihiel had been considered as a possible launch area for one of the German offensives. When the possibility was discussed with Ludendorff, however, it was determined that the salient was too narrow to conceal a large buildup of forces prior to an attack. Ledebur then decided that the bulge could be abandoned, thereby shortening the front assigned to Army Detachment C. The chief of staff was persuasive, and by late August, as Conger was working on his deception plan, Fuchs was planning to withdraw his command from the St. Mihiel salient.

The German preparations, however, came to naught on the first day of September. Army Detachment C received a bulletin from the German supreme command citing indications of a major American attack along both banks of the Moselle River. In reality, the Americans planned their offensive to strike about five miles west of the Moselle. The German intelligence staff had correctly determined that a U.S. assault was imminent and surmised the general area for Pershing’s attack. But they did not have the date or the precise point of attack. Furthermore, the warning from supreme command implied that Metz was the probable American objective, which was dead wrong. The U.S. plan was for a limited offensive, the goal of which was to reduce the salient and then rapidly shift forces farther to the west for another, larger offensive in the Meuse-Argonne region. So, in the murky world of deception, Conger labored on, not knowing what the enemy knew.

Ludendorff’s reaction was somewhat unexpected by the German front-line commanders. Despite their considered judgment, he refused to evacuate the St. Mihiel salient and in fact reinforced Army Detachment C and the command on its eastern flank, the Nineteenth Army. The German 123rd Division was rushed forward later on September 1. Fuchs was then told that both the Eighty-eighth and the 107th Divisions were on the way. In addition, another division was entrained, new artillery units were assigned to Fuchs, and an additional pursuit squadron was deployed. Even more aircraft and their crews were subsequently added. These reinforcements brought the number of divisions available to Fuchs up to eleven, seven on line in or near the salient and four in reserve. The reserve divisions were largely deployed astride the Moselle River, where the September 1 intelligence warning indicated they should be assigned.

Up to this point, Fuchs was making the recommendations concerning the St. Mihiel sector and Ludendorff was making the decisions, but another German general was involved in the process. General Max von Gallwitz, Fuchs’ immediate superior, commanded Army Group Gallwitz, the intermediate headquarters between Army Detachment C and the German high command. Gallwitz was very concerned about the defenses of Metz. Much of the artillery defending this historic fortress had recently been removed from the environs of the city, and the general feared that his enemies were aware of this disturbing fact. On September 3, he advised the German supreme command that there was no front-line activity pointing to a major Allied offensive on Army Detachment C. He then asked for clarification: Was the St. Mihiel salient to be evacuated in the event of a light attack? Was it to be evacuated under heavy attack? In light of Ludendorff’s reinforcements, one could not be certain of the supreme command’s actual intent. Gallwitz got his answer the next day: Hold the salient against a light push; evacuate under heavy pressure. Ludendorff, the man Conger would have to deceive, did not intend to make a gift of the St. Mihiel salient. The Americans would have to fight for it.

No one doubted Maj. Gen. Omar Bundy’s courage. He had fought with distinction against the Crow and Sioux Indians in the 1880s and ’90s. Cited for bravery in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, the West Pointer went on to lead a column against the fierce Moro warriors in the Philippines in 1906. Serving on the Western Front with the First Division during 1917, Bundy had been promoted and took command of the U.S. Second Infantry Division in November of that year. The fifty-six-year-old general, however, struck one observer as being typical of the meticulous post commander–another way of saying that Bundy did not possess the qualities required to command a modern twenty-eight-thousand-man U.S. fighting division–and Black Jack Pershing had an unerring instinct for divining deficiencies in his division commanders. On June 9, 1918, a week after the Second Division was rushed forward to blunt a massive German attack, Pershing confided in his diary: Bundy disappoints me. He lacks the grasp. I shall relieve him at the first opportunity. In a manner of speaking, Bundy was history. The old Indian fighter was eased out within a few days and given command of the Sixth Corps, a reception and training headquarters. Omar Bundy would play no direct role in the forthcoming St. Mihiel offensive, but unwittingly he would have a supporting part in the drama.

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