SAINT-MIHIEL

town, Meuse dpartement, Lorraine rgion, northeastern France. It lies on the right bank of the Meuse River, 22 miles (35 km) south-southeast of Verdun. The town grew around a Benedictine abbey, founded in 709. The abbey buildings (17th- and 18th-century) are now occupied mainly by a school and a library. The Churches of Saint-Michel and Saint-tienne have works by the 16th-century sculptor Ligier Richier, who was a native of the town. Though less important than the great fortress of Verdun, Saint-Mihiel was historically one of the fortified towns guarding the strategic line of the Meuse River on the approach to the Paris Basin from the east. The town was captured by the Germans in September 1914, at the beginning of World War I, and it was not retaken by the Allies until September 1918, in an offensive in which American troops under General John J. Pershing played an important role; this was the first major offensive by the U.S. Army in France. Pop. (1990) 5,367.