On the Trail of the Hun - St. Mihiel Drive

William James Aylward's watercolor documents the American Expeditionary Forces during the St. Mihiel Offensive of September 1918. The composition captures supply wagons and troops advancing across a rural landscape, their path ascending toward distant encampments and villages. Aylward employs muted greens and earth tones to convey the scale of military movement across the French countryside. The brooding sky and muddy terrain emphasize the harsh conditions of trench warfare's final campaigns. Created as official war documentation, this work served contemporary newspapers and publications reporting on American forces' role in the Western Front's closing months.