Pershing was glad that the victory at the Battle of Cantagny was a testament to the capabilities of the U.S. Army, which provided a reliable proof of the subsequent independent battles of the U.S. Army, and made the U.S. Army's position in the coalition skyrocket. And politically, it also added weight to the United States' voice among the Entente countries. The only fly in the ointment was that the Battle of Cantagny was mixed with French troops, and the French tank forces played a non-negligible role. So Pershing's obsession has not gone away. However, Pershing did not wait long, and soon Pershing had the opportunity to prove the ability of the American army to fight independently.

Fast forward to the second half of 1918, and the initiative in the war shifted to the side of the Allies. In July, the Entente forces adopted Pershing's suggestion to switch from strategic defense to active offensive, and soon launched the Battles of Amiens and Saint-Miel. The U.S. 1st Army was tasked with the Battle of Saint-Mière, whose main task was to regain the Paris-Verdun-Nancy railway and to occupy an advantageous position for future operations. This was the first time that the US military carried out an independent operation after going to Europe.

Since 1914, the Germans have held a wedge-shaped salient between the Meuse and Moselle rivers south of Verdun to protect the key centers of the Metz and Briaer iron ore mines, a rich source of ore for German steelmaking. This salient was inserted sixteen miles into the right flank of France, cutting off both the Verdun-Türürdes and Paris-Nancy railways. The elimination of this salient is essential for any successful large-scale offensive in the defensive sector between the Meuse and the Argonne Forest, which has been selected as the next target. The liquidation of the German forces in the Saint-Miel salient was the first operation of the American forces under their own command.

When Sun Gan came to the front line of Saint-Miel with the First Army of the United States, the morale of the entire American army had never been so high, both the generals and the low-level soldiers thought that they would win the battle, and Sun Gan's assault battalion once again had a place to use.

When Sun Qian received the order, he was scratched by the local terrain.

Topographically, from the top of the salient Saint-Michael, it extends diagonally to the wooded highlands east of the Meuse, and to the south from Saint-Michael, to the highlands on both sides of the Moselle cross-cut. Between the highlands is the Wövfler plain, which is blocked by creeks, swamps, large ponds and patches of woodland, making it difficult to navigate, especially on rainy days.

Sun Gan received an order to reconnoiter the German defenses as clearly as possible before the American troops launched a formal attack. In the face of the order of the military headquarters, Sun Gan did not recklessly lead people directly to reconnoitre, he was very sensible, and after carefully studying the information provided by the coalition forces with his subordinates, he finally chose the Vofle Plain as the passage for the front reconnaissance, although it was full of dense streams, swamps, large ponds and patches of woodland. But Sun Gan went the opposite way and made the impossible possible. Sun Qian has full confidence that his team members can easily cope with these difficulties.

In actual action, Sun Gan's subordinates are indeed powerful, and they are not afraid of obstacles in the middle of the battlefield. After nearly a month of eating and sleeping in the open, the front-line reconnaissance and intelligence collection were quickly completed, and the suitable channel for the army was also discovered.

Based on the combination of Sun Gan's battlefield intelligence and the intelligence of the coalition forces, Pershing formulated a more rigorous plan. Although most of the participating U.S. troops had little combat experience, Pershing firmly believed that the U.S. troops were fighting and would definitely win the final victory. From Sun Gan's point of view, Pershing did indeed have proud capital, and the German army, which had become the end of the crossbow, was no longer the opponent of the Allied army in terms of manpower and material resources.

Pershing's final plan called for simultaneous advances on both sides, with the focus of the assault on the south. A diligent attack will be directed to the top of the salient. For a large-scale offensive, more than 550,000 American troops and 110,000 French troops were assembled. Of the three U.S. corps and nine additional divisions that participated in the offensive, two corps and nine divisions had no combat experience.

The Air Force amassed fifteen hundred aircraft, mostly supplied by the French and British, the largest ever assembled for an offensive. On both sides of the salient, about four hundred French tanks were concentrated. More than 3,000 artillery pieces and 3.3 million shells guaranteed that the attackers would use high-explosive charges to completely blow up the enemy's positions.

The German defence consisted of eight divisions and two brigades in the line of fire, as well as five divisions in reserve. Even when Pershing stressed painstaking secrecy, the Germans began to realize that the concentration of troops and supplies foreshadowed an offensive. Anticipating that the blow would be overwhelming, they gradually withdrew from the salient on 11 September.

At 6 a.m. on 12 September, the bombardment began from the south side of the salient. Three hours later, the second barrage of shooting began from the west. Despite all the efforts, the Germans were not completely exempt from the results of Pershing's own arrangement. U.S. engineering units took scriptures from Sun Gan's assault battalion and used special blasting canisters—long iron pipes filled with trinitro@methyl@benzene—to blast through rows of barbed wire. Other soldiers, armed with sharp wire cutters and axes, carved wide gaps in the dense barbed wire. Rolls of small squares of barbed wire for the protective padding of the advancing infantry were laid over the obstacles.

The fact that the attacking forces passed through the mess of barbed wire so quickly was unprecedented. The French were amazed by the use of American creativity in real combat. A few days later, hundreds of officers visited the site to learn how it was done. Pershing recalled: "One of the officers, after the survey, made a serious argument that the advantage of the Americans over the French was that they had long legs and big feet. As for the role of Sun Qian's assault battalion behind this, it was subconsciously hidden by Pershing, and the limelight could not be let out of the assault battalion, so it would be too big a blow to other troops, and everyone contributed to the assault battalion that did not participate in the frontal battle.

In order to cut off his opponent's retreat, Pershing ordered a two-way pincer forced advance. Within twenty-four hours, the 1st Division from the south and the 26th Division from the west met at the village of Venal. By evening, the salient had largely been captured. Just because of the previous agreement with Foch, the U.S. military was unable to advance on Mace.

In less than thirty hours of fighting, the Germans had 16,000 men captured, 450 artillery pieces captured and about 200 square miles of ground lost; The number of casualties among their soldiers is unknown. The total number of American casualties was 7,000.

Although there were some flaws in this victory, for example, after the German troops withdrew, the United States still fired a large number of artillery shells at the salient area, which was a pure waste, and it also exposed the shortcomings of the US military in the overall command, and the rigidity of the command system made Sun Gan, who was following the study, a little unbearable, but he was not in his position and did not seek his own politics, Sun Gan did not say much, but fortunately, Sun Qian's previous efforts in the assault battalion were not in vain, and the US army finally won the victory.

As for Pershing, his last obsession finally disappeared, and a smile appeared on his whole face, and at this moment, he finally proved the combat effectiveness of the US army, and the United States did not have to worry about its position in the Entente.