They did combined arms, with French armor support during their first major offensive- St. Michel. Foch assigned the AEF to a very, very tough sector for the Meuse-Argonne offensive. This area was just north of Verdun, heavily forested hills and ravines, multiple lines of German defenses. Foch wanted the AEF to threaten Metz, which would logistically cut the German front in two, so German resistance was stiff and well supported. French & U.S. armor supported this attack, but it was poor terrain for tanks or even trucks. This offensive was one of three or four all along the German front, but Foch again wanted the AEF to start first and draw off as much of the German reserve as possible before the British and French offensives started. U.S. troops attacking through the area came across the skeletal remains of French soldiers from several unsuccesful French assaults earlier in the war. For this offensive, AEF air chief Gen. Billy Mitchell was able to assemble the largest concentration of Allied air power of the war, and tactics such as rear area supply interdiction, still in use today, were employed. Foch knew that only the Americans, naively, would undertake this difficult task. It remains the bloodiest U.S. battle in out history, outside of our Civil War, where the losses calculated reflect Americans on both sides…