100 Years Ago - The American Army in Europe

The American Army in Europe

This week's chapter examines America's contribution, military unpreparedness, conscription of the nation, the American divisions, transport of the army, the first troops in France, reorganisation of the French ports, vast work of transport and supply, horses, staffs, artillery, aeroplanes, training, first operations, Cangny, Chateau Thierry, the Allied offensive, the Marne, July 18, 1918, St Mihiel, advance in the Argonne, march on Sedan, the Armistice, America's achievement

Nothing could well have been more different than the behaviour of the Australians and the Americans in action. The Australians were veterans who did their work cunningly and with a peculiar lounging carelessness which was characteristic of them: the Americans, on the other hand, were novices, immensely eager, who fought with a gripping earnestness and an intense desire to get to close quarters with the enemy

 

The United States and the war

The presence of American soldiers at the front will undoubtedly quicken the spirit of all the Allies and further depress the enemy

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-united-states-and-the-war-k3vgt56lw?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_20.06.2018%20USA%20(1)&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_3529182_118 June 5, 1917 Today ten million citizens of the United States are summoned by their country to register as soldiers in the cause of freedom. The Germans have been working hard to prevent them from answering the call. Demonstrations against the law and its enforcement have been organized and financed, but the result has been to fill “real Americans,” who include many millions of German origin, with disgust at the disloyal movement. The Balfour Mission has helped to open the eyes of many Americans as to the true significance for mankind of a German victory or a German peace, but the Germans themselves have taught the lesson, and continue to teach it best. The letter from the Chancellor to General von Gebsattel which we quoted the other day shows how utterly apart are the ideals of the two nations. The Chancellor, it will be remembered, paid homage to the services of the Pan-German League. What were the services he singled out for approbation? That in the years of peace before the war, when Germany was loud in protest of her devotion to peace, and was simulating homage to it at The Hague and in countless dispatches, speeches, and articles, devised to throw her intended dupes and victims off their guard, this League had “raised the national will to power, and had combated the theory of the brotherhood of peoples”. In other words, the Pan-German League in a season of peace laboured with all its strength against the very conception of international relationships which Americans most highly, prize and which is the ideal aim of President Wilson’s foreign policy. And it is the boundlessly aggressive war aims of this body which the Chancellor has promised to appreciate “after the complete overthrow of all our enemies.” Against these aims, and against the whole moral and political theory on which they are based, the Allies drew the sword, and America now draws it with them. Effective military help, it seems, may be expected earlier than was supposed. That will be a bitter disappointment to the Germans who have been assured that American aid could not reach the Allies until the conflict had been decided, just as they were again and again comforted by official and semi-official assurances that in no circumstances could a British conscript army be trained, and equipped in time. It is now probable, our Washington Correspondent tells us, that General Pershing’s Expeditionary Force will be promptly followed by from 100,000 to 120,000 men of the National Guard. They will be called up for Federal service next month, and as they correspond to our Territorials, and many of them have had the training of service oii the Mexican border, they will be fit to sail within a relatively short period. An equal number, it is thought, may be dispatched in the winter, so that when the recruits from the first conscription of 500,000 are ready for the field next year they will come to supplement some 250,000 trained troops who have preceded them under the Stars and Stripes. The presence of American soldiers at the front will undoubtedly quicken the spirit of all the Allies and further depress the enemy, while it will bring home to all citizens of the Republic with a new vividness their direct and immediate concern in the great struggle. The message from Petrograd which the distinguished Czech leader, Professor Masaryk, sends us, lays stress upon the importance of sending American troops to France. Thoroughly devoted, as he is, to the principles of democracy and of nationality, he does not shrink from telling the other Allies that they will be prudent not to expect the Russians to do more at present than to maintain their positions and to hold a certain number of the enemy on their fronts. The efforts of M Kerensky may result in far more satisfactory results, but it is safest not to go beyond this sober judgment. The Professor does not hesitate to draw from it the conclusion that “an American Army in France is necessary.” He is satisfied that its presence there and the energetic prosecution of the war on the other fronts will exercise’ a great and healthy influence upon the Russian Army and people. The peasantry, he assures us, who furnish the great bulk of the Army, are not pacifists. If they and many other Russians sde that the other Allies, including the Americans, refuse to listen to talk of a premature peace and to daily with what he calls “the abstract, “unpractical, political programme of pacifist visionaries,” the Russian masses, he believes, will rally to the common policy. The processions and prayers “for Russia in the present days of trial’” which thousands took part in in Petrograd on Sunday, may indicate that a new and very potent factor is entering into the Russian situation.

 

General Pershing's Army

The meeting between the American General in command of the transports and the French officers on the quay was of a most friendly character

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/general-pershings-army-zb85fx3gx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_20.06.2018%20USA%20(1)&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_3529182_118 June 28, 1917 A French port, June 27. The first units of American troops landed at a French port on Monday, after an uneventful voyage. Somewhere in France, June 26. The arrival of General Pershing in Paris was the first tangible sign of the intervention of the United States in the war, and today France is greeting the advanced guard of the great and splendidly organized Army which will follow its Chief in helping France and her Allies in their great effort to secure the triumph of civilization. There was a slight sea haze, presaging a glorious summer day, when the arrival of the American ships was signalled. Those privileged persons who knew what was going on passed along the deserted quays before the town clocks had struck six. The Port Commander’s launch put off at once with the French authorities and a number of American officers. The American ships were met a short distance out steaming towards the land, a veritable Armada of huge transports, whose black hulls showed clearly against the horizon, while the grey forms of their escorting destroyers were almost blotted out in the leaden-coloured sea. Dominating everything was an enormous American cruiser, with its peculiar upper works. The warships picked up their moorings with clockwork precision, and the transports were taken in charge by tugs, which towed them to their appointed berths. By this time the slight haze had disappeared and crowds began to gather as the great transports were slowly brought alongside the quays. On the stroke of 8 o’clock work ceased for a moment, and the troops came to the salute. Then there were resounding cheers from the transports, to which the populace responded with a right good will. Along the breakwater there were gangs of men who took no part in the demonstration of welcome - German prisoners, who gazed in open-mouthed astonishment at the spectacle. Each transport, as she made fast, was greeted with loud cheers, and the scenes of enthusiasm were repeated throughout the morning. The meeting between the American General in command of the transports and the French officers on the quay was of a most friendly character. The General, a veteran of the Cuban, Philippine and Mexican campaigns, was overwhelmed with questions as to how the voyage had passed, but even the blandishments of experienced interviewers could make him say nothing more than, “We left in fine weather, with a calm sea, and we have arrived on time. Nothing happened.” He added: “I am happy to be the commander of the first troops who will fight shoulder to shoulder with the heroes of the Marne and Verdun.” The General then left to inspect the camp where his men will be lodged. No time was lost in landing stores. Negro labourers rushed down the gangways, carrying tents, boxes of tinned meats, biscuits, sugar, &c, while the troops looked on from the decks. The men look in the pink of condition, and have made the best impression on the French

 

First US graves in France

"Here lie the first soldiers of the Republic of the United States to fall upon the soil of France in the cause of justice and liberty." https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/first-us-graves-in-france-7vmwzhn2v?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_118&utm_medium=email&utm_content=118_20.06.2018%20USA%20(1)&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_3529182_118 december 2, 1917 Directly behind the front line trenches took place on November 4 the funeral of three American soldiers, the first to give their lives for the cause of right. The scene, under a grey sky and with rain falling, was impressive. Three companies of infantry from the battalion to which the dead had belonged, American artillery detachments, and French infantry and artillery formed a hollow square round the three graves. At the head of each grave a small silk American flag flew in the wind, and during the entire ceremony salutes were fired — not the ordinary salute, but shell aimed at and landing in enemy lines at one-minute intervals. After the coffins had been lowered into the graves the general commanding the French division under which the American troops are being trained delivered an address: In the name of the -th Division, in the name of the French Army, and in the name of France, I bid farewell to Corporal Gresham, Private Enright, and Private Hay, of the 16th Infantry, United States Army. Of their own free will they had left their happy and prosperous country to come to France. They had taken their place by the side of France, and they have fallen facing the foe in a desperate hand-to-hand fight. Honour to them! Men! These graves, the first to be dug in our soil of France, at but a short distance from the enemy, are a mark of the mighty hand of our Allies, confirming the will of the people and the Army of the United States to fight with us to a finish. Therefore the death of this humble corporal and these two private soldiers appears to us in extraordinary grandeur. We ask that the mortal remains of these young men be left here, left for ever to France. We will, in the fullness of peace, inscribe indelibly upon their tombs: “Here lie the first soldiers of the Republic of the United States to fall upon the soil of France in the cause of justice and liberty.” And the passer-by will stop and uncover his head. Travellers from every Allied nation, from the United States, who, in reverence and heart, come to visit these battlefields of France, will go out of their way to visit these graves, and bring the tribute of respect and gratitude. Corporal Gresham. Private Enright, Private Hay, in the name of France, thank you. God receive your souls. Adieu.