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    American Expeditionary Force: France, 1917–1918
    American Expeditionary Force: France, 1917–1918
    American Expeditionary Force: France, 1917–1918
    Ebook306 pages54 minutes

    American Expeditionary Force: France, 1917–1918

    By Jack Holroyd

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    About this ebook

    When the United States entered the war in April 1917 the belligerents were approaching exhaustion. It had been hoped by the Generals in both Britain and France that untold numbers of fresh troops would be assimilated into their respective commands. However, this idea was firmly resisted, America would field its own army alongside the Allies it would have its own section on the front line. Those with concerns that the untried divisions under General Pershing would fair badly against the seasoned German military machine were soon reassured as impressive victories were won by the newcomers. The book is split into eight chapters which deal with different pivotal moments during the First World War from the American perspective, from the reasons behind the American involvement in the war and initial training to the major battles at Cantigny, Chateau Thierry and St. Mihiel. This story is told in pictures gleaned from the official archives which were first published in 1920 and now presented for reexamination and public awareness in the Images of War series.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateOct 24, 2012
    ISBN9781783038138
    American Expeditionary Force: France, 1917–1918
    Author

    Jack Holroyd

    Jack Holroyd has been employed in printing and publishing for fifty years. His works several fictional titles, two books on aviation topics, five further titles on the First World War and one covering the actions of the SS Totenkopf Division in the invasion of France in May 1940.

    Read more from Jack Holroyd

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      Book preview

      American Expeditionary Force - Jack Holroyd

      First published in Great Britain in 2012 by

      PEN & SWORD MILITARY

      an imprint of

      Pen & Sword Books Ltd,

      47 Church Street, Barnsley,

      South Yorkshire.

      S70 2AS

      Copyright © Jack Holroyd, 2012

      ISBN 978 1 84884 877 1

      eISBN 978 1 78303 813 8

      The right of Jack Holroyd to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.

      Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI UK

      Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of

      Pen & Sword Aviation, Pen & Sword Maritime,

      Pen & Sword Military, Pen & Sword Select, Pen & Sword Military Classics,

      Leo Cooper, Wharncliffe Local History

      For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact:

      PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED

      47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England.

      E-mail: enquiries@pen-and-sword.co.uk

      Website: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

      Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter One

      ‘We Go To War’ – April 1917

      Chapter Two

      The Yanks Are Coming

      Chapter Three

      Training and Trench Fighting

      Chapter Four

      First Offensive Action – Cantigny

      Chapter Five

      Chateau Thierry

      Chapter Six

      St Mihiel

      Chapter Seven

      Meause-Argonne

      Chapter Eight

      Victory and Armistice

      Introduction

      CONFLICT ERUPTED IN EUROPE in August 1914 and the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, promptly declared America’s neutrality. Despite strong ties with Britain, Wilson was concerned about American citizens who had been born in Germany and Austria. Consequently he proposed an even-handed approach towards all the belligerent stating that it was to be maintained in both ‘thought and deed’. The President steadfastly held to his hope of a peaceful solution to the conflict despite the protestations of those convinced that events in Europe would inevitably draw America into the war. He was supported in his policy of non-involvement by some politicians who argued strongly in favour of the USA maintaining its isolationist policy. This included the pacifist pressure group, the American Union Against Militarism. In 1916, Wilson campaigned for re-election on a peace platform with the slogan ‘He kept us out of war’.

      Opinion against Germany hardened after the sinking of the Lusitania. William J. Bryan, the pacifist Secretary of State, resigned and Wilson replaced him with the pro-Allied Robert Lansing. At that time Wilson announced an increase in the size of the US armed forces. Of the 139 US citizens aboard Lusitania, 128 lost their lives, and there was massive outrage in Britain and America. The British felt that the Americans just had to declare war on Germany. However, US President Woodrow Wilson refused to overreact. He said at Philadelphia on 10 May 1915:‘There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.’ It would be two years before the United States declared war on the German government (not the German people).

      A drastic ploy was concocted by the Germans to ensure that America did not enter the war on the side of the Allies. They surmised that should the United States become embroiled in a fight on their own doorstep then likelihood of their intervention in the fighting in France would diminish. German Foreign Minister, Alfred Zimmerman, attempted to provoke Mexico and Japan into attacking the United States with the promise of German assistance after the fight with Russia was successfully ended. A message containing Zimmerman’s intent was decoded by the British and immediately sent to the US, further swaying the Americans to action.

      Due primarily to unrestricted submarine warfare conducted by Germany and the Zimmerman note, President Wilson asked Congress for permission to go to war, and on 6 April, 1917, congress officially declared it. President Wilson, along with many Americans, justified their involvement as: ‘an act of high principle and idealism…[and]…as a crusade to make the world safe for democracy’.

      With that declaration, and preliminary steps under way to put the nation on a war footing; delegations began to arrive. The first of these were the British and the French. Italian, Belgian and Japanese missions followed. The Senate and House passed the army draft bill which allowed for the calling up of ten million men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-one. The French and the British were asking for the immediate despatch of American troops to France. To comply with the clamour for help, the War Department announced that nine regiments of engineers would be raised immediately and shipped out. The President ordered the 1st Division of the regular standing army to France under command of Major-General Pershing.

      The 1st Division, American Expeditionary Force (AEF), landed in France in June 1917. The 2nd Division did not arrive until September and by 31 October 1917, the AEF only numbered 6,064 officers and 80,969 men. Nine months after war was declared there were 175,000 American troops in Europe. This was nowhere near the half a million plus that Britain had put into the fight in the same length of time in 1914. Consequently, despite her strength on paper, America was in no position to influence the Allied war activities in 1917.

      However, was America to blame for the lack of speed in her military build-up? Whereas Britain had spent time in 1914 planning for war and creating six divisions for the European campaign, America was all but starting from scratch. In peacetime, the American army only numbered 190,000 and they were spread across America. Now, with the declaration of war, these men had to move to the eastern seaboard where many camps had to be built to accommodate

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