September 12, 1918: The Battle of Saint-Mihiel begins, near the town of the same name, in the Meuse department of the Grand-Est region of France. A key battle in the Allied victory of World War I, it was the U.S. Army's 1st use of the term "D-Day." The "D" has only meant "Day," so the term is redundant.
General John J. Pershing of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) commanded 216,000 men, 2,900 artillery pieces, 144 tanks and 1,481 aircraft.
General Ernest Blondat commanded 48,000 French soldiers, along with 275 tanks. The opposing German commander was General Max von Galwitz, with 75,000 men.
The Germans surrendered on September 15, having 2,000 men killed and 15,000 others taken prisoner. The Americans lost 4,200. Two months later, on November 11, the Germans surrendered completely.
Among those under Pershing's command: Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur, Colonel George S. Patton Jr., and Captain Harry S Truman. All 3 men would prove to be key in World War II.
In addition to the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, various other events in World War II have been retroactively labeled "D-Days": November 8, 1942, for North Africa; September 3, 1943, the landing at Salerno, has been called "D-Day in Italy"; and June 15, 1944, the start of the Battle of Saipan, became known as "D-Day in the Pacific." The landing an Incheon, on September 15, 1950, has been called "Korea's D-Day."
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September 12, 1918 was a Thursday. The only major sports league in America was in baseball. And, because of the war, this one time, the season was cut short. The World Series actually ended the day before, with the Boston Red Sox beating the Chicago Cubs in Game 6. So there were no scores on this historic day.
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