September 12, 1918: St. Mihiel: The 1st "D-Day"

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. 

July 18, 1918: The Second Battle of the Marne

July 18, 1918: The Second Battle of the Marne is won by the Allies. It soon becomes clear that what we now call World War I has been won by them as well.

With Russia out of "The Great War," The German Empire, suffering mutinies within its Army and economic strife at home, was able to throw all of its forces at the Western Front. As with the First Battle of the Marne, nearly 4 years earlier, they had gotten within cannon range of the French capital of Paris on July 15. The French and British commanders were desperate.

But, as George M. Cohan said, the Yanks were coming. More than 250,000 Americans were rushed into combat. This battle would feature 52 German divisions, under the command of Field Marshal Erich Ludendorff, against 58 Allied divisions, under the command of Field Marshal Ferdinand Foch -- 44 of them French, 4 of them British, 2 of them Italian (Italy had switched sides in this war); and 8 of them American, under the command of General John J. Pershing, and fresh, rather than battle-weary.

They met at Dormans, about 17 miles east of Nogentel, the site of the First Battle of the Marne, and 80 miles east of central Paris. After 3 days, the result: The Germans lost 137,000 men; the French, 95,000; the British, 16,000; the Americans, 12,000; and the Italians, 9,000. That's 269,000 men dead in roughly 3 days: 137,000 German, 132,000 Allied. Death-wise, it was just about a stalemate. But the Allies also captured 29,000 German prisoners.

Ludendorff later said that the American troops were "decisive." And Chancellor Georg, Count von Hertling, who would resign in disgrace on September 30 -- and die the following January 4, at the age of 75 -- wrote:

At the beginning of July 1918, I was convinced... that before the first of September our adversaries would send us peace proposals... On the 18th even the most optimistic among us knew that all was lost. The history of the world was played out in three days.

Even the overall German commander, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, admitted that the American troops made the difference between winning and losing the war. By the time Hindenburg died in 1934, his successor as Chancellor of Germany would say that the real reason that Germany lost was a "stab in the back" by Communists and Jews. That Chancellor's name was Adolf Hitler. He lied.

Also on this day, the RMS Carpathia, the rescuer of the Titanic's survivors in 1912, was herself sunk, and not by nature: She was torpedoed by the German imperial navy off the southern coast of Ireland. Incredibly, while 5 crewmen died in the initial explosion, the other 218 people on board -- including civilians, as she was still a cruise ship, heading from Liverpool to Boston -- all survived.

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July 18, 1918 was a Thursday. On that day, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Mveso, in what was then the Cape Province of the Union of South Africa. Imagine that George Washington and Muhammad Ali were the same person, in the modern world. And that we had lost the Revolution. And he was imprisoned. And then, a generation later, because of people who still believed in his ideals, there was a new revolution, and he was released, and, with him leading it, we had won. That's Mandela.

He is so big a figure of history, it required Idris Elba to play him when young, and Sidney Poitier and Morgan Freeman to play him when old.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees and the Detroit Tigers played a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds, due to a rainout the day before. The Tigers won the opener, 4-1. Bill James outpitched Herb Thormahlen. Ty Cobb went 0-for-2, but drew a walk and had an RBI on a groundout. He left the game with an injury, and didn't play in the nightcap.

Trailing that game 2-0 going to the bottom of the 9th, the Yankees got doubles from Ray Caldwell (normally a pitcher but playing center field that day), Wally Pipp and Ping Bodie, sending the game to extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, they got singles from Roxy Walters, Frank Gilhooley, Caldwell and, in spite of his nickname, Frank "Home Run" Baker, and won, 3-2. Ray Keating was the winning pitcher, in relief of Joseph Finneran.

* The New York Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-5 at Robison Field in St. Louis. Rogers Hornsby entered the game due to another Cardinal's injury, and went 2-for-3.

* The Brooklyn Robins beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at at Weeghman Park in Chicago. Zack Wheat went 3-for-7. The ballpark was renamed Cubs Park in 1920, and Wrigley Field in 1926. The Brooklyn team became the Dodgers in 1911, then the Robins in 1914 in honor of manager Wilbert Robinson, and then the Dodgers again after he was fired after the 1931 season.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Dave Davenport outpitched Lore Bader. George Sisler went 1-for-4. Babe Ruth went 0-for-3 with a walk, and had an RBI on a groundout.

* Another rain-forced doubleheader was played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia, but were also rained out. This one was also made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Chicago White Sox won the 1st game, 3-1. The Philadelphia Athletics won the 2nd game, 4-3. Over the 2 games, Eddie Collins, the former A's star now playing 2nd base for the White Sox, went 3-for-8. Shoeless Joe Jackson didn't play in either game: He was working in a shipyard as World War I duty.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 5-1 at National Park in Washington Park. (It was renamed Griffith Stadium in 1922.) Stan Coveleski outpitched Jim Shaw. Tris Speaker went 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Senators Pitching legend Walter Johnson appeared as a pinch-hitter, but did not reach base.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. In the top of the 13th inning, Ed Burns bunted, and pitcher Cy Slapnicka threw the ball away, allowing Gavvy Cravath to score. Both pitchers, Slapnicka of the Bucs and Elmer Jacobs of the Phils, went the distance. Slapnicka would later become a scout for the Cleveland Indians, discovering Hall of Fame pitchers Bob Feller and Bob Lemon.

* And the Boston Braves and the Cincinnati Reds were rained out at Redland Field in Cincinnati. (It was renamed Crosley Field in 1934.) The game was made up as part of a doubleheader 3 days later. The Braves won the 1st game, 5-2. The Reds won the 2nd game, 7-3.

March 8, 1916: Pancho Villa's Raid on Columbus, New Mexico

March 8, 1916: Pancho Villa crosses from Mexico into New Mexico, and attacks the town of Columbus, 3 miles north of the border. It remains the last land invasion of the United States of America.

Mexico had been in a state of revolution since 1910. In 1914, 9 U.S. sailors came ashore at the Mexican port city of Veracruz to secure supplies, and were detained by Mexican forces. The Mexican government refused to release them, and, despite the country being in a state of revolution and civil war, all the factions united against the U.S.

President Woodrow Wilson sent troops to Veracruz, under the command of Admiral Henry T. Mayo, and taking the city turned out to be easy. The occupation lasted 6 months, and led to the fall of President Victoriano Huerta. But this led to a renewal of the hatred of Americans by Mexicans, originally stoked by the Mexican-American War of 1846 and 1847.

José Doroteo Arango Arámbula was born on June 5, 1878 in San Juan del Río, in the State of Durango. He began calling himself Francisco Villa, taking his grandfather's surname, although it's not clear where the nickname "Pancho" came from. His friends called him "La Cucaracha" (The Cockroach), but he would he would eventually be called the Lion of the North, the Centaur of the North, and the Mexican Napoleon.

He became a key figure in the movement that forced out President Porfirio Diaz. But when the next President, Francisco Madero, was ousted by General Victoriano Huerta in 1913, Villa led the Constitutionalist Army against him.

But, as so often happens, after the revolution, the victors split, between the forces of Villa and Venustiano Carranza. The U.S. government aided the Carranza government against Villa in the Second Battle of Agua Prieta in November 1915. Villa lost, and most of his army left him.

Angry over this, on March 8, 1916, he took what he had left, crossed the border into Columbus, New Mexico -- New Mexico had only gained Statehood 4 years earlier -- and raided an American military outpost manned by the 13th U.S. Cavalry, because he needed weapons. In so doing, 8 American soldiers and 10 civilians were killed. But 67 of Villa's men were killed, and 7 were captured. He got the weapons he needed, but, in terms of manpower, he was considerably worse off.

But, like George Washington, he knew he wasn't the best of generals, but was a savvy politician. He gave interviews to foreign journalists, including John Reed, whose fame now rests on his reporting on the Bolshevik Revolution. He had film cameras follow him, and allowing the films to be sent to Hollywood and released, with the label "And starring Pancho Villa as himself." In 2003, that became the title of a film about Villa, starring Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.

The raid led to another American invasion of Mexico, which became known as the Punitive Expedition. While failing to capture Villa, it sent him into hiding, leading to his downfall. It was also a convenient warmup for the U.S. Army for fighting in World War I, especially since its commander was General John J. Pershing. "Black Jack" would go on to command U.S. troops in Europe in World War I. General George S. Patton, then a Lieutenant, credited much of his later career to having served on this Expedition.

Cartoon by Clifford Berryman for The Washington Star

In 1920, Carranza was ousted from power, and the new President, Adolfo de la Huerta, offered Villa a deal: Amnesty and a landed estate, if he would retire from politics. He took it. But on July 20, 1923, while visiting Parral, in the State of Chihuahua, he was assassinated in his car, a 1919 Dodge, probably on the orders of the next President, Álvaro Obregón, who still saw him as a threat. Supposedly, Villa's last words were, "Don't let it end like this. Tell them I said something."

After his death he was excluded from the pantheon of revolutionary heroes until the Sonoran generals Obregón and Calles, whom he battled during the Revolution, were gone from the political stage. Villa's exclusion from the official narrative of the Revolution might have contributed to his continued posthumous popular acclaim. He was celebrated during the Revolution and long afterward by corridos, films about his life, and novels by prominent writers. In 1976, his remains were reburied in the Monument to the Revolution in Mexico City in a huge public ceremony.

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March 8, 1916 was a Wednesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was in the off-season. Professional basketball didn't really exist.

This was before the National Hockey League, but there was a National Hockey Association, from which only the Montreal Canadiens survive today, although a new Ottawa Senators team took up the name of an NHA/NHL franchise that went out of business in 1934; and a Pacific Coast Hockey Association, from which no teams survive.

The PCHA wrapped up its season on February 25. Two games were played in the NHA on this day. The Toronto Blueshirts beat the Montreal Wanderers, 3-2 at the Montreal Arena. And the Ottawa Senators beat the Quebec Bulldogs, 8-5 at the Ottawa Arena.