WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.160 I want you to close your eyes for a second. Well, 00:00:02.279 --> 00:00:04.339 assuming you aren't driving and just imagine 00:00:04.339 --> 00:00:06.679 this landscape. It's not a pretty picture. No, 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:08.740 it's not. You are standing in the middle of the 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:12.300 French countryside, but it is completely unrecognizable. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:16.579 It's been churned into this this absolute chaos 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:21.199 of knee deep freezing. It's just a miserable 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:24.460 slurry. Exactly. And the air around you is literally 00:00:24.460 --> 00:00:26.859 shaking with the sputtering, roaring engines 00:00:26.859 --> 00:00:28.739 of these early mechanical tanks. And they're 00:00:28.739 --> 00:00:31.579 struggling. Yeah. These massive metal beasts 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:34.020 are fighting just to move forward a single inch. 00:00:34.579 --> 00:00:37.939 Then you look up. The sky is completely darkened 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:40.340 by the largest armada of aircraft the world had 00:00:40.340 --> 00:00:42.479 ever seen up to that point. Which is just an 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:44.240 incredible visual. It really is. Welcome back 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:46.280 to the Deep Dive. Especially, Taylor, just for 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:48.280 you, the learner. We are so glad you're here 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:50.490 with us today. That imagery you just laid out 00:00:50.490 --> 00:00:53.990 perfectly captures the sheer environmental and 00:00:53.990 --> 00:00:56.170 mechanical friction of our mission today. We 00:00:56.170 --> 00:00:59.689 are exploring the 1918 Battle of Samael. Right. 00:00:59.869 --> 00:01:02.130 And our source material today is a comprehensive 00:01:02.130 --> 00:01:05.290 Whippipedia article detailing the battle. The 00:01:05.290 --> 00:01:07.590 mission of this deep dive is to explore the U 00:01:07.590 --> 00:01:10.390 .S. Army's first major World War I offensive. 00:01:10.609 --> 00:01:13.530 A huge milestone. Absolutely. We're going to 00:01:13.530 --> 00:01:16.109 understand the sheer logistical nightmare of 00:01:16.109 --> 00:01:19.030 this specific battlefield. And most importantly, 00:01:19.170 --> 00:01:21.709 we're going to extract leadership and strategic 00:01:21.709 --> 00:01:24.390 lessons that actually apply to your own life, 00:01:24.510 --> 00:01:27.359 even far outside of military history. because, 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:30.299 you know, history rarely gives us sterile laboratory 00:01:30.299 --> 00:01:33.459 environments. It's about human psychology, stretching 00:01:33.459 --> 00:01:36.060 organizations to their breaking point and seeing 00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:40.040 what happens when a perfect plan violently collides 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:42.439 with reality. Yeah. And just to show how massive 00:01:42.439 --> 00:01:44.900 a grip this battle has on our imagination, it's 00:01:44.900 --> 00:01:46.859 deeply embedded in pop culture. Oh, definitely. 00:01:46.980 --> 00:01:50.180 Like it was the climax of the 1927 silent film 00:01:50.180 --> 00:01:53.260 Wings, which won the very first Academy Award 00:01:53.260 --> 00:01:55.340 for Best Picture. Wow. I didn't realize that. 00:01:55.530 --> 00:01:58.409 Yeah. And it's even inspiring art today. There's 00:01:58.409 --> 00:02:00.750 a modern death metal song by the band Cannon 00:02:00.750 --> 00:02:03.549 and Fiber called the Yankee Division March that's 00:02:03.549 --> 00:02:05.890 all about this specific offensive. It just has 00:02:05.890 --> 00:02:09.330 this lasting grip. Okay, let's unpack this. Strategically 00:02:09.330 --> 00:02:12.090 speaking, what made this specific piece of land 00:02:12.090 --> 00:02:15.229 so critical? So the geography here is everything. 00:02:15.310 --> 00:02:18.250 We are looking at the Samahel salient. Salient 00:02:18.250 --> 00:02:19.930 meaning a bulge in the lines, right? Exactly. 00:02:20.069 --> 00:02:23.210 A bulge projecting out. For years, this German 00:02:23.210 --> 00:02:25.349 -held salient had acted like a dagger thrust 00:02:25.349 --> 00:02:28.270 deep into the French lines. It completely blocked 00:02:28.270 --> 00:02:30.710 the vital rail networks and communications between 00:02:30.710 --> 00:02:33.229 the French cities of Nancy and Verdun. So it 00:02:33.229 --> 00:02:35.930 was a massive choke point. A critical one. And 00:02:35.930 --> 00:02:38.150 the Germans had held onto it with absolute tenacity 00:02:38.150 --> 00:02:40.650 since 1914. Which means the French forces had 00:02:40.650 --> 00:02:42.449 already spent years just throwing themselves 00:02:42.449 --> 00:02:44.789 at this position before the Americans even showed 00:02:44.789 --> 00:02:47.370 up. Oh, the psychological toll was staggering. 00:02:47.949 --> 00:02:50.669 The area had this brutal, heartbreaking history. 00:02:51.189 --> 00:02:53.129 French troops had suffered immensely trying to 00:02:53.129 --> 00:02:55.750 reduce it. In places like the Apremont Forest 00:02:55.750 --> 00:02:58.229 and the spot grimly known as the Burn Forest, 00:02:58.770 --> 00:03:00.810 the fighting was intimate and largely futile. 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:03.919 That's terrifying. It was. There's this haunting 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:07.500 quote from 1915. During a desperate French defense 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:10.139 where a unit was isolated and taking catastrophic 00:03:10.139 --> 00:03:13.759 casualties, a French sub -officer shouted, des 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:17.759 boules morts. Which translates to dead men. Arise. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:22.020 Dead men arise. Wow. That just paints such a 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:24.259 vivid picture of the desperation. You're stepping 00:03:24.259 --> 00:03:26.599 into a graveyard before your own offensive even 00:03:26.599 --> 00:03:28.960 starts. It speaks directly to the weight of the 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:32.500 land. And that's the exact map General John G. 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:36.199 Sershing is staring at in late 1918. He decides 00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:38.139 this is where the American forces will make their 00:03:38.139 --> 00:03:40.319 mark. And his goal is pretty ambitious. Very. 00:03:40.509 --> 00:03:43.050 He wanted to break the German lines, clear out 00:03:43.050 --> 00:03:45.090 those restricted rail and road communications 00:03:45.090 --> 00:03:48.009 into Verdun, and then capture the highly fortified 00:03:48.009 --> 00:03:50.870 German city of Metz. But Pershing had to fight 00:03:50.870 --> 00:03:53.289 his own allies just to try this, didn't he? He 00:03:53.289 --> 00:03:55.949 did. Supreme Allied Commander Marshall Foch was 00:03:55.949 --> 00:03:58.349 not keen on this. He wanted the Americans pieced 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:00.629 out into existing French and British units. Right. 00:04:00.650 --> 00:04:02.710 But Pershing firmly believed in an independent 00:04:02.710 --> 00:04:05.650 American -led hammer blow. He eventually convinced 00:04:05.650 --> 00:04:08.530 Foch to allow the attack. So he gets the green 00:04:08.530 --> 00:04:12.099 light. The troops move into position, but as 00:04:12.099 --> 00:04:14.800 always happens, the brilliant plan runs into 00:04:14.800 --> 00:04:17.860 the weather. The Great Equalizer. The operations 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:21.000 order literally read, visibility, heavy driving, 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:24.420 wind and rain, roads, very muddy. Very muddy 00:04:24.420 --> 00:04:26.500 feels like the understatement of the century. 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:29.480 Oh, entirely. It had been raining for five straight 00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:32.720 days. The ground was virtually impassable. Men 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:35.420 were sinking knee deep into freezing water. They 00:04:35.420 --> 00:04:37.399 were getting trench foot before the trenches 00:04:37.399 --> 00:04:40.420 were even dug. Just a gelatinous soup. Imagine 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:42.160 trying to coordinate an attack when you can't 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:45.769 even pull your boots out of the mud. But amidst 00:04:45.769 --> 00:04:47.810 all this misery, here's where it gets really 00:04:47.810 --> 00:04:50.850 interesting. There was a massive operational 00:04:50.850 --> 00:04:53.629 leak. Astonishingly massive. A Swiss newspaper 00:04:53.629 --> 00:04:56.389 actually published the exact date, the exact 00:04:56.389 --> 00:04:58.970 time, and the duration of the Allied preparatory 00:04:58.970 --> 00:05:01.149 barrage. It was sitting on public newsstands. 00:05:01.189 --> 00:05:02.910 Anyone could read it. You'd think that would 00:05:02.910 --> 00:05:05.410 cancel the whole operation, walking into an ambush 00:05:05.410 --> 00:05:07.769 like that. What's fascinating here is that the 00:05:07.769 --> 00:05:09.790 Germans didn't launch a massive counterattack. 00:05:10.189 --> 00:05:12.850 They severely lacked the manpower and heavy firepower. 00:05:13.160 --> 00:05:16.120 facing other allied offenses to the north, they 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:18.740 made a very pragmatic decision. They just left. 00:05:18.980 --> 00:05:22.040 Yes. On September 8th, days before the attack, 00:05:22.459 --> 00:05:25.240 the Germans actually ordered an evacuation. Their 00:05:25.240 --> 00:05:27.920 plan was to systematically pull back to the Hindenburg 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:31.139 Line. The Allies later found the written order 00:05:31.139 --> 00:05:33.879 addressed to Army Group Kalawitz. Okay, I want 00:05:33.879 --> 00:05:35.939 to pause and connect this directly to you, the 00:05:35.939 --> 00:05:39.360 listener. Think about how often in life or in 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:41.819 business you brace yourself for this massive 00:05:41.819 --> 00:05:44.800 resistance. You build up your defenses, you prepare 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.579 for a brutal fight, only to step into the room 00:05:47.579 --> 00:05:49.959 and realize the opposition has already packed 00:05:49.959 --> 00:05:52.259 up. We expend so much energy fighting ghosts. 00:05:52.660 --> 00:05:54.660 Exactly. Unaware that the landscape has already 00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:57.800 shifted. It's a profound parallel. But to even 00:05:57.800 --> 00:05:59.879 get the American forces to that starting line, 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:01.920 they had to invent a new framework for time. 00:06:02.259 --> 00:06:05.209 Yes. This is a huge piece of trivia. This battle 00:06:05.209 --> 00:06:07.329 marked the very first time the Americans used 00:06:07.329 --> 00:06:09.910 the terms D -Day and H -hour. Right. Why did 00:06:09.910 --> 00:06:12.230 they need those specific terms then? Because 00:06:12.230 --> 00:06:15.009 of the sheer complexity. You're coordinating 00:06:15.009 --> 00:06:18.610 hundreds of thousands of infantry, tanks, artillery 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:21.089 and aircraft across different sectors. You can't 00:06:21.089 --> 00:06:23.089 just say attack on Tuesday morning. Too much 00:06:23.089 --> 00:06:25.449 room for error. Exactly. You need a universal 00:06:25.449 --> 00:06:28.699 zero point. D -Day is the unnamed day, and H 00:06:28.699 --> 00:06:31.259 -hour is the exact minute. And for Saint -Mihal, 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:34.100 H -hour was set for 5 .30 a .m. on September 00:06:34.100 --> 00:06:37.879 12. And when 5 .30 hit, the armor started rolling. 00:06:38.620 --> 00:06:41.879 They had an incredible 419 tanks in total. Which 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:44.360 is mind -blowing for World War I. That included 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:48.180 144 American crewed Renault NFTs plus French 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:51.180 tanks. The Renault FT really defined the modern 00:06:51.180 --> 00:06:54.019 tank layout. But the environment was completely 00:06:54.019 --> 00:06:55.939 hostile to them. Because of the mud we talked 00:06:55.939 --> 00:06:58.160 about. Right. Freezing rainwater leaked straight 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:00.660 into the engines wrecking them. Or they just 00:07:00.660 --> 00:07:03.259 sank up to their axles and became immovable targets. 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:05.459 Fighting the earth itself. And commanding these 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:07.660 American tank brigades was a young lieutenant 00:07:07.660 --> 00:07:10.160 colonel named George S. Patton Jr. Who was not 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:12.439 about to let a little mud stop him. How did he 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:14.879 handle his tanks just getting swallowed by the 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:17.899 ground? By leading from the absolute front. The 00:07:17.899 --> 00:07:20.660 pre -planned formations disintegrated, so Patton 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:22.779 was physically out on the battlefield exposed 00:07:22.779 --> 00:07:25.680 to fire. He was rallying disorganized infantry 00:07:25.680 --> 00:07:28.120 and trying to physically unstick his tanks. He 00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:30.600 was practically a foot soldier. He was. And he 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:33.439 actually got wounded doing it shot in the thigh 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:36.379 while getting tanks forward. He earned a distinguished 00:07:36.379 --> 00:07:39.389 service cross for his heroism there. Wow. So 00:07:39.389 --> 00:07:41.310 while the tanks are sinking below, the airspace 00:07:41.310 --> 00:07:43.970 above is making history too. Unprecedented history. 00:07:44.129 --> 00:07:45.790 Right, you have the numbers. What was the scale 00:07:45.790 --> 00:07:50.329 of the Aramada? We are talking 1 ,481 aircraft. 00:07:50.470 --> 00:07:53.250 That is massive. It was the largest air operation 00:07:53.250 --> 00:07:56.230 of the entire war, overseen by U .S. Army Air 00:07:56.230 --> 00:07:59.069 Service Chief Mason Patrick and French General 00:07:59.069 --> 00:08:02.310 Duval. They had pursued planes, observation planes, 00:08:02.550 --> 00:08:04.250 day and night bombers. And this wasn't just for 00:08:04.250 --> 00:08:06.709 show, right? This fundamentally changed how air 00:08:06.709 --> 00:08:09.259 power was used. It established the crucial concepts 00:08:09.259 --> 00:08:11.800 of modern air warfare. They proved the necessity 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:14.480 of air superiority, blinding the enemy's reconnaissance. 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:17.420 And they demonstrated close air support, actually 00:08:17.420 --> 00:08:19.980 strafing trenches to help the infantry. OK, so 00:08:19.980 --> 00:08:22.120 you have infantry in the mud, tanks grinding 00:08:22.120 --> 00:08:25.120 forward, planes screwing overhead. How on earth 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:27.720 did Pershing orchestrate all this? If we connect 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:30.600 this to the bigger picture, Pershing used classic 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:33.440 pincer movement. Squeezing from both sides. Precisely. 00:08:33.769 --> 00:08:36.970 The U .S. I and IV Corps attacked the south and 00:08:36.970 --> 00:08:39.789 southeast faces of the salient. The V Corps hit 00:08:39.789 --> 00:08:43.070 the west face. And at the apex, the very tip 00:08:43.070 --> 00:08:47.049 of the bulge, the French II Colonial Corps launched 00:08:47.049 --> 00:08:50.129 a holding attack. Pin the Germans in place. Exactly. 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:53.070 The goal was for the American forces from the 00:08:53.070 --> 00:08:55.730 east and west to pinch through the salient and 00:08:55.730 --> 00:08:58.409 meet in the French village of Vigno. And it was 00:08:58.409 --> 00:09:00.509 wildly successful. I mean, the American I Corps 00:09:00.509 --> 00:09:02.870 hit its first day's objective before noon. They 00:09:02.870 --> 00:09:05.230 moved incredibly fast. By the morning of September 00:09:05.230 --> 00:09:07.690 13th, the 1st Division from the East linked up 00:09:07.690 --> 00:09:10.210 with the 26th Division from the West. The trap 00:09:10.210 --> 00:09:13.370 shut. And the French took 4 ,000 prisoners at 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:17.070 the apex. But that speed, that wild success exposes 00:09:17.070 --> 00:09:19.070 a critical paradox of this battle. What do you 00:09:19.070 --> 00:09:21.610 mean? The success was almost too great. Remember, 00:09:21.629 --> 00:09:24.629 they were advancing against retreating, disorganized 00:09:24.629 --> 00:09:28.009 Germans. So the Americans moved so fast that 00:09:28.009 --> 00:09:30.490 they left their own logistics behind. Oh, because 00:09:30.490 --> 00:09:32.750 the roads were destroyed. Right. Their heavy 00:09:32.750 --> 00:09:35.169 artillery and their food supplies were just stuck 00:09:35.169 --> 00:09:37.750 in the mud miles behind them. They outran their 00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:40.029 own lifelines. I want to throw this to you listening 00:09:40.029 --> 00:09:43.570 right now. How do you handle a situation where 00:09:43.570 --> 00:09:46.909 your success outpaces your infrastructure? When 00:09:46.909 --> 00:09:49.409 you launch a project or advance your career so 00:09:49.409 --> 00:09:52.370 fast that you literally leave your own support 00:09:52.370 --> 00:09:55.190 systems behind? It's a really dangerous place 00:09:55.190 --> 00:09:57.889 to be. It's incredibly dangerous. Advancing without 00:09:57.889 --> 00:10:00.769 supply lines leaves you wide open to a counterattack. 00:10:00.889 --> 00:10:02.970 So why didn't it fall apart? Largely because 00:10:02.970 --> 00:10:05.409 of the leadership. General Pershing's thoroughly 00:10:05.409 --> 00:10:08.090 detailed operations order, his combined arms 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:10.590 approach, integrating the infantry, the tanks, 00:10:10.730 --> 00:10:13.350 the aircraft, held the chaos together. And he 00:10:13.350 --> 00:10:15.450 had some serious talent managing that chaos. 00:10:15.570 --> 00:10:18.149 Yeah, he did. He heavily relied on a young major 00:10:18.149 --> 00:10:20.889 to manage the complex movement of troops and 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:23.600 supplies through that nightmare. That major was 00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:25.659 George Marshall. The future architect of the 00:10:25.659 --> 00:10:27.580 Marshall Plan, cutting his teeth in the mud. 00:10:28.320 --> 00:10:30.740 But planning is only half the battle. You also 00:10:30.740 --> 00:10:33.779 need that audacity in the field. Small unit commanders 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:36.460 like Patton and Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur, 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:39.059 they had to lead from the front lines to ease 00:10:39.059 --> 00:10:41.899 the chaos when communications broke down. And 00:10:41.899 --> 00:10:44.159 the concentration of future leaders there is 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:46.860 just staggering. Oh, here's one last historical 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:49.620 Easter egg I have to drop. There was an American 00:10:49.620 --> 00:10:54.019 captain commanding Battery D of the 129th Field 00:10:54.019 --> 00:10:56.080 Artillery Regiment during this muddy battle. 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:58.840 A very famous captain. None other than future 00:10:58.840 --> 00:11:01.379 U .S. President Harry Truman. It's a literal 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:03.519 who's who of the 20th century. It really is. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:06.019 So they have all this talent. They spring the 00:11:06.019 --> 00:11:09.399 trap. They capture 15 ,000 German prisoners and 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:12.659 450 guns. But they don't go all the way to Mets 00:11:12.659 --> 00:11:15.440 like Pershing wanted. Why the halt? Marshal Sock 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:18.220 stepped in. He halted Pershing to redirect those 00:11:18.220 --> 00:11:20.840 troops towards Sedan and Miziere for the upcoming 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:23.559 use Argonne offensive. The salient was cleared. 00:11:23.879 --> 00:11:27.500 And for Fok, that was enough. So what does this 00:11:27.500 --> 00:11:30.080 all mean? When we look back at the Battle of 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:32.600 Samael, it was a proving ground for the U .S. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:35.759 military. It demonstrated the staggering potential 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:38.820 of combined arms. It showed the value of detailed 00:11:38.820 --> 00:11:42.460 planning mixed with frontline audacity. And honestly, 00:11:42.700 --> 00:11:44.659 it proved the absolute nightmare of logistical 00:11:44.659 --> 00:11:47.000 supply in the mud. Absolutely. And while it's 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:49.440 important to focus on the tactical victory, we 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:51.279 always need to step back and look at the human 00:11:51.279 --> 00:11:54.299 cost impartially. The numbers are sobering. They 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:57.620 are. The Allies suffered roughly 7 ,000 casualties. 00:11:58.259 --> 00:12:02.179 The Germans suffered 22 ,500 casualties. It reminds 00:12:02.179 --> 00:12:04.799 us of the brutal mechanical devastation of World 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:07.039 War I, regardless of which side of the trench 00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:09.840 you stood on. Yeah, the human toll is just staggering. 00:12:10.139 --> 00:12:12.340 It is. And it raises an important question to 00:12:12.340 --> 00:12:15.389 leave on. The Allied forces captured 15 ,000 00:12:15.389 --> 00:12:17.789 prisoners, and they advanced so fast they outran 00:12:17.789 --> 00:12:20.009 their own food and artillery in the mud. Right. 00:12:20.169 --> 00:12:22.309 If Marshal Foch hadn't ordered them to halt for 00:12:22.309 --> 00:12:25.490 the Musargon offensive, would this rapid unsupported 00:12:25.490 --> 00:12:27.789 advance toward Metz have led to a decisive early 00:12:27.789 --> 00:12:30.690 victory? Or would the lack of supplies have turned 00:12:30.690 --> 00:12:33.029 their greatest triumph into a catastrophic trap? 00:12:33.330 --> 00:12:36.230 That is a brilliant question to succeed so wildly 00:12:36.230 --> 00:12:38.289 that you walk right into your own destruction. 00:12:38.450 --> 00:12:41.159 I love that. To our learner, thank you so much 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:43.220 for joining us on this deep dive into the sources 00:12:43.220 --> 00:12:46.059 today. Keep questioning, keep learning, and stay 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:46.620 curious.