The American Military - A Narrative History

by Brad D. Lookingbill

  American Expeditionary Forces

  During the spring of 1917, British and French delegations to Washington D.C. delivered a blunt request: America must send troops immediately to the Western Front. Based upon the recommendation of Secretary Baker, Wilson asked Pershing, commander of the Army's Southern Department at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, to take charge of the American Expeditionary Forces – the AEF. They met only once, and the commander-in-chief said nothing to the general about the war. At the age of 56, Pershing assumed nearly autonomous control over organizing, training, supplying, and leading the “doughboys” in Europe.

  On May 28, 1917, Pershing and his staff of 191 set sail for Europe. After a few days in Great Britain, they journeyed to France. Conferring with General Henri-Philippe Pétain, the French commander, Pershing placed advance elements of the 1st Division in Lorraine, 120 miles southeast of Paris. To celebrate America's Independence Day, he allowed a battalion of the 16th Infantry Regiment to march in a Paris parade. Colonel Charles E. Stanton spoke on behalf of the commander, announcing to the crowd: “Lafayette, we are here!”

  That summer, Pershing orchestrated the buildup of the AEF from his headquarters at Chaumont. Saint-Nazaire, La Pallice, and Bassens became the main American ports for supplies, while Brest served as a debarkation port for most of Pershing's troops. In the American sector between Verdun and the Moselle River, his staff fixed upon eventually dislodging Germans from the railhead of Metz. Anticipating the launch of offensive operations, they asked the War Department to send “at least 1 million men by next May.” The War Department translated the request into a mobilization plan to send approximately 30 divisions with support – almost 1.4 million men – to Europe by 1919.

  The AEF began building multiple divisions with personnel from the regular Army, the National Guard, and the “inducted” Army. With the regular Army divisions numbered from 1 to 25, the National Guard divisions received numbers 26 through 75. The War Department assigned the higher numbers to those composed entirely of conscripts. Distinct from the smaller European formations at the time, the “square” division concept consisted of four infantry regiments organized into two brigades. In addition, they included two artillery regiments, an engineer regiment, a signal battalion, and supply and medical units for a grand total of 28,061 men per division. The Army formed 62 divisions before the war ended, though only 43 deployed overseas.

  Among the first Americans overseas, “flyboys” enhanced the aviation capabilities of the Army. Flocking to France even before the AEF disembarked, a cadre of volunteers formed the Lafayette Escadrille. The Army incorporated the seasoned pilots into the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps and referred to them unofficially as the Air Service. Though Pershing appointed General Mason D. Patrick, an engineer, to the senior post, Colonel William “Billy” Mitchell emerged as the air combat commander. Eventually, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker became America's most famous “ace” for shooting down 26 German planes. In support of Allied operations, AEF airmen conducted observation and reconnaissance missions to photograph enemy dispositions and movements.

  Europeans anxiously awaited the arrival of “two million cowboys,” but the AEF outfits did not match their expectations. American troops included German, Irish, Italian, Greek, Polish, Swedish, and Slavic immigrants fresh off the boats. Stereotyped as “instinctive” warriors with night vision and blood thirst, thousands of Native Americans dashed into action – nearly a third of all adult Indian males in the U.S. As a form of psychological warfare, the War Department even considered organizing “night raids with men camouflaged as Indians in full regalia.” Civil rights leaders urged African Americans to “close our ranks” by enlisting for service, though Jim Crow regulations imposed barriers at almost every turn. While approximately 200,000 black soldiers served overseas in the AEF, three-quarters of the segregated regiments performed hard labor in military camps. Whatever the promise of a “melting pot” Army, Americans assembled a patchwork of forces nearly from scratch.

  French and British commanders called for the “amalgamation” of forces into the existing structure of the European armies. However, Pershing refused to permit feeding them into the Allied lines under foreign flags. While maintaining the integrity of his command, he considered suggestions to disperse his troops to other sectors as an affront to national pride. Echoing the sentiments of the commander-in-chief, he insisted upon an “independent army” led by American officers. After all, the U.S. entered the war as an “associate power” rather than as an Allied nation. Following a series of tense negotiations over the “amalgamation” controversy, Pershing eventually permitted a handful of American units to serve as emergency reinforcements in the French and British trenches.

  Assessing the operations on the Western Front, Pershing scorned the “bite-and-hold” tactics that accompanied warfare in the trenches. Instead, he insisted that the AEF train for large-scale assaults with a tactical emphasis on rifle fire, artillery support, and individual initiative. Touting American superiority, he dismissed the Allied reluctance to engage in “open warfare” against German troops. Victory was achievable, he maintained, “by driving the enemy out into the open and engaging him in a war of movement.” While bolstering the Allied armies, Pershing's headquarters laid the groundwork for fighting the war the American way.

  Because gas attacks claimed many Allied casualties on the Western Front, Americans feared chemical weapons perhaps more than other munitions in the German arsenal. Only 30 miles from enemy lines, the AEF began distributing gas masks with a tight nose clip and uncomfortable mouthpiece based upon a British design. The Army soon established a separate Chemical Warfare Service to provide training and equipment. Nevertheless, over one-fourth of all American casualties by the end of the war resulted from gases delivered by artillery shells.

  With the logistical system of the Army in disarray, the War Department attempted to rush as many Americans as possible to France. General Tasker H. Bliss, who succeeded Scott as the Army Chief of Staff in late 1917, ramped up the training program, but Wilson sent him to the Supreme War Council in Versailles that November. General Peyton C. March became the new Chief of Staff in early 1918, when he began to overhaul the General Staff system for the entire Army. Unfortunately, the decisions made in Washington D.C often clashed with Pershing's views on the other side of the Atlantic.

  Throughout 1917, the Allies remained on the defensive in Europe. With Italian forces overrun by the Austrians, the Central Powers held the upper hand. Championing “peace, land, and bread,” the Bolshevik takeover in Russia later resulted in a separate treaty with Germany. The German high command began to concentrate the bulk of their forces along the Western Front, where they outnumbered the French and the British. While American gunners fired their first hostile shot of the war on October 23, the shelling, sniping, and raiding of the “Boches” shook their morale. The AEF persevered that winter, but General Robert Bullard, the new commander of the 1st Division, noted in his diary: “Alas, I think we came too late.”

  The Atlantic Lifeline

  Even though the accomplishments of the U.S. Navy seldom achieved great acclaim, maritime operations remained vital to the AEF. The “unrestricted” submarine warfare of Germany threatened to sever the transportation and communication links between the U.S. and the Allied Powers. Attempting to sink 600,000 tons of shipping per month, German U-boats maintained a torrid pace for attacks in 1917. Without the safe movement of American troops and supplies across the Atlantic Ocean, the armies of Great Britain and France faced doom.

  While president of the Naval War College, Admiral William S. Sims journeyed across the Atlantic in early 1917 to meet with British admirals in London. He encouraged the Royal Navy to focus on developing an elaborate convoy system, but prominent officers voiced opposition to his recommendation. After becoming the commander of U.S. naval forces operating in European waters, he insisted that the “mission of the Allies must be to force the submarines to give battle.” Instead of pat
rolling 3,000 miles of ocean, the convoy escorts – especially the destroyers – would wait for the enemy to come to them.

  By the summer of 1917, the first trans-Atlantic convoys began crossing the ocean with immediate success. As hundreds of vessels cruised together, the sinking rate for Allied shipping declined significantly. Without a convoy, the rate of loss was as high as 25 percent. By the end of the year, the rate had dropped to no more than 1 percent. Large quantities of grain, oil, and meat from the U.S. reached British and French lines just in time to avoid massive starvation or widespread mutiny. In fact, officials in Washington D.C. predicted boldly that “wheat will win the war.” To the delight of American merchantmen, German U-boats found it no easier to locate a convoy than to chase one ship sailing alone. If attacked, then the convoy escorts turned the tables on the underwater menace.

  Holding the civilian post from 1913 to 1921, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels favored convoying outside of British control. His ban on alcohol on board warships may have inspired the idiomatic phrase “Cup of Joe” for coffee. His Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William Benson, cherished a vision of America standing apart from the world with a battle fleet second to none. The Navy under their management grew to over 2,000 ships, which ranged in class from submarines to dreadnoughts.

  To man the fleet, the Navy Department amassed almost half a million personnel in uniform. The state-of-the-art machinery required a higher caliber of crews, who desired the vocational training and technical skills associated with naval careers. Over 11,000 female Yeomen, or “Yeomanettes,” served as secretaries, clerks, translators, draftsmen, recruiters, and nurses. Working at military installations in the U.S. and abroad, a few even designed camouflage to help protect the ships at sea. With the officer corps dedicated to the concept of a “big navy,” most of the fleet safeguarded American coasts, commerce, and transports. Under the U.S. flag, the sailors effectively kept the “doughboys” from swimming with the fishes.

  The U.S. desperately needed more transports, which prompted the creation of an emergency merchant fleet. Under the auspices of the War Shipping Board and Emergency Fleet Corporation, the federal government confiscated, purchased, and chartered 700 vessels. Ferrying men and supplies over long distances, the fleet swelled to 3 million tons while losing only 200,000 tons. Nevertheless, chronic shortages and conflicting priorities constantly plagued U.S. shipping during the first year of American belligerence.

  While suspending the capital ship-building program, the U.S. invested naval resources in anti-submarine warfare, or ASW. As the number of destroyers increased to 51, the construction time fell to just 70 days. With greater technical virtuosity, light cruisers reached speeds as fast as 29 knots while escorting convoys. A variety of surface ships hunted submarines using hydrophones and depth charges. As a pet project of Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, a “splinter fleet” of wooden sub-chasers began to probe offshore in search of German U-boats lurking near shipping lanes. By 1918, British and American vessels were sinking enemy submarines faster than German factories were able to build them.

  Meanwhile, the U.S. laid a mine barrage across the North Sea to block German access to the Atlantic. Owing to a superior design, American mines employed longer antennae better suited to detonation by electrical impulses. While sinking only four submarines, they damaged countless others and bedeviled the German crews. They forced most U-boats to operate closer to German bases, although several continued to maneuver around or under the barrage.

  Naval aviation contributed to the anti-submarine campaign, which included tactical bombings of German bases. At the beginning of the war, the Navy Department planned to build 700 aircraft. Eventually, they amassed more than 2,000 planes to conduct blocking operations. Navy and Marine pilots trained to strike targets in continental Europe, but the Northern Bombing Group operated only during the final weeks of the war. Performing reconnaissance and scouting missions with great success, aviators flew seaplanes, dirigibles, and British-built de Havilland biplanes on thousands of sorties against German U-boats.

  In a desperate move, German U-boats went to America to disrupt trans-Atlantic shipping. On June 2, 1918, they sank six vessels off the New Jersey coast, including the passenger steamer Carolina. For almost four months, they turned the nation's eastern shoreline into a war zone but never seriously impacted maritime commerce.

  Given the utter failure of “unrestricted” submarine warfare, the Germans did not successfully attack any convoys of transports. In fact, U.S. ships sped across the ocean with few delays. With cargo and men pouring into the Western Front, the Atlantic lifeline rescued the Allied armies from possible defeat by the Central Powers.

  No-Man's-Land

  What began as a war of rapid movement became a stalemate on the Western Front. From the winter of 1914 until the spring of 1918, most of the battles occurred between multiple parallel trenches zigzagging for 400 miles through Belgium and France. Accompanied by lice and rats, millions of soldiers lived in the muddy, filthy excavations. When daring to look over the top through periscopes, they saw the carnage of “no-man's-land” for hundreds of yards. Mine craters, metal shards, unexploded duds, and barbed wire scarred the desolate landscape between the opposing lines. The stench of rotting flesh and human excrement mingled in the air with chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gases. Time and again, massive firepower drove patrols back to the trenches with an unforgettable sense of futility and loss.

  Figure 10.3 World War I on the Western Front

  On March 21, 1918, the trenches along the Somme River fell to Ludendorff's “storm troopers,” who split a seam in the British and French lines. British forces rallied to prevent the capture of Amiens, while the German offensive stalled within weeks. In early April, another offensive struck a narrow front east of the Lys River to form a salient. Despite claiming a tactical victory, the Germans failed to sever the Allied armies as planned.

  Though narrowly averting disaster, the Allied leaders attempted to strengthen the combined armies with the appointment of a supreme commander. Accordingly, General Ferdinand Foch of France was tapped to “coordinate the action of all the Allied armies on the Western Front.” As a gesture of support, Pershing made a pledge: “Infantry, artillery, aviations, all that we have are yours; use them as you wish.” However, British Field Marshal Douglas Haig continued to lobby for the “amalgamation” of all available units within his army. “A better procedure,” Pershing countered, “would be for the Allies to amalgamate their weakened divisions into a lesser number and let the American divisions take their proper places in the line.” In exchange for British transportation, he offered Haig thousands of incoming troops from the U.S. for “training and service” near the front. Of course, the AEF commander insisted that they assemble in the British and French sectors under the Stars and Stripes.

  In the French sector near Saint-Mihiel, General Clarence R. Edwards commanded the 26th “Yankee” Division of the AEF on April 20. Following an enemy barrage of artillery shells, 1,200 German troops raided the village of Seicheprey. The defensive lines of the 26th Division broke immediately, while the American officers botched the counterattack. The AEF suffered 669 casualties, including 81 dead and 187 captured or missing in action.

  The “doughboys” of the AEF regained their footing at the village of Cantigny, a strong point held by the German army. Known as the “Big Red One,” Bullard's 1st Division defended 3 miles of trenches while preparing for an offensive mission. At dawn on May 28, Colonel Hanson Ely led the 28th Infantry Regiment on an assault that featured heavy artillery, machine guns, flamethrowers, mortars, tanks, and aircraft. They swept up a steep ridge to Cantigny, where the Americans secured the village against German counterattacks. The French largely abandoned the area to fight elsewhere, but divisional gunners under General Charles Summerall blasted the enemy with shell and shrapnel fire. Three days later, the intense combat ended with Ely's troops taking control of the heights. The Germans lost 800 dead a
nd another 755 wounded and captured, whereas the Americans counted 199 fatalities in addition to 667 wounded and captured. Although Cantigny smoldered in ruins, the AEF achieved its first victory on the battlefield.

  As the German army rolled toward the valley of the Marne, Pétain looked to the AEF for assistance near Château-Thierry, some 50 miles east of Paris. General Omar Bundy's 2nd Division held defensive positions astride the Paris–Metz highway west of the town. In addition to the Army regulars of the division, the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments formed a brigade under the command of General James G. Harbord. As U.S. forces assumed responsibility for holding the line near Hill 142, French troops retreated to the rear in early June. Marine Captain Lloyd Williams remarked: “Retreat? Hell, we just got here!” While absorbing an artillery barrage, Americans repulsed a series of German thrusts with marksmanship and determination. Before halting their advance, the Germans moved though the poppy fields into Belleau Wood. On June 6, the 1st Battalion of the 5th Marines took Hill 142, where a neatly dressed wave overwhelmed the enemy machine-gun positions.