On May 28, 1918, the U.S. Army’s 1st Infantry Division, famously known as the Big Red One, launched a fierce assault to capture the French town of Cantigny from a deeply entrenched German army. Commanded by General Robert Lee Bullard, this was the first independent, large-scale American offensive of World War I. The hard-fought victory proved to skeptical European allies that American troops possessed the tactical skill and fierce bravery required to win on the Western Front.
