AEF Article

Military Heritage Magazine got one of my old AEF articles up on the website.

As the fateful day drew to a close, the exhausted soldiers of the German 25th and 82nd Reserve Divisions huddled in their trenches. It was May 30, 1918, and for the past two days the Germans had battled elements of the American 1st Division for control of the small village of Cantigny and its environs. Before them the virgin ground had been churned, the town shot up, and its cemetery turned into a ghoulish battlefield of broken headstones and protruding coffins. While the Americans had given ground, they had not broken, and they had repulsed every assault the experienced Germans mounted. Over the course of the battle, the Americans had whittled the 82nd Reserve Division down to 2,500 effective personnel. The Battle of Cantigny, the first major assault of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front in World War I, proved that Americans “would both fight and stick,” said Maj. Gen. Robert Lee Bullard, commander of the 1st Division.

Enjoy.

Those interested can purchase a copy of Pershing in Command via the link at right.

The AEF 100 Years On

Pershing's grand offensive into the Rhine and Saar valleys would have begun 100 years ago today.

Everything he'd been working for built up to this point.

Pershing was now an army group commander on par with Haig and Petain. In the north General Hunter Liggett's First Army had cleared the Meuse Argonne and established several bridgeheads on the east bank of the river. In the south General Robert Lee Bullard's Second Army had steadily pushed east across the Meuse Heights. Before the Second Army lay the Woevre Plain and the fortress city of Metz. As word of the armistice reached his headquarters at Chaumont Pershing was dispatching five divisions to reinforce Bullard for his drive on the city.

Alas it was not to be. 

Pershing's grand offensive that never was. He speculated about what might have been till the of his days.

Meuse-Argonne 100 Years Ago

100 years ago today the AEF launched its final offensive in the Meuse-Argonne.

Pershing split the AEF in two, forming the American 2nd Army under General Robert Lee Bullard which was then establishing a foothold on the east bank of the Meuse and laying the groundwork for an effort toward Metz.

In the meantime General Hunter Liggett commanded the American 1st Army on the west bank, twelve divisions in all.

Liggett had spent the previous two weeks resting and reorganizing his battered army.  By the time he was finished the 1st Army was ready and molded into a professional, battle hardened, fighting force. When Liggett attacked he broke the German line and sent them running northeast for the safety of the east bank of the Meuse.

Pershing in Command

When we originally wrote Pershing in Command we planned on a narrative broken up by chapters describing some aspect of the AEF. These chapters covered things like the Civil War's legacy, the army in 1917, the young Pershing, the 79th Division at Montfaucon and the 89th Division.

After going through the MS we think these chapters distract from the narrative and should be removed. Tis' better to get to A to B to C without delay, no? That leaves us with a quandary. These chapters made Pershing in Command somewhat different than other histories. Without them, what's the point?

Here's the clean chapter list:

Intro
11/11/11
The Old Army
Early Battles
The Bureaucratic 
Slug up the Marne
St Mihiel
Meuse-Argonne: John J Pershing
Meuse-Argonne: Hunter Ligget
Conclusions

We must contemplate this upon the Tree of Woe.

Video: AEF, the First Fights

New Youtube video.

Pershing and the AEF arrive in France

Tuesday Tally: Be All That You Can Be Edition

The top Armies in American History:

The Army of the Mexican War: In the north, this army marched into parched, desolate country and defeated Mexican forces on their home turf. Zachary Taylor  was a fine, solid sort. On the coast, Winfield Scott marched his troops deep into hostile territory, lived off the land and took their capitol.

The Army of Northern Virginia: While it had suffered devastating losses at the brigade and regimental commander lever, the ANV was filled with tough, grizzled vets accustomed to hard living. Robert E. Lee was a master of maneuver, understood that he had to always hold the initiative, and did so being being almost impossibly aggressive.

The Army of the West: Sherman's mirror image veterans, tough, Midwestern used to hard living. They had come through some ferocious battles: Shiloh, Chickamauga, Chattanooga, etc...and could live off the land. They actually seemed to enjoy the March to the Sea. General Sherman was a brilliant tactician,out-maneuvering the CSA in the Atlanta campaign.

The Army of Desert Storm: General Schwarzkopf was the US Army's culmination of maneuver and air-land battle doctrine. He led the best trained, equipped and motivated troops in U.S. military history.

And the worst:

The Continental Army: Lost more than it won. Badly supplied, had a habit of melting away in the winter time and usually filled with the dregs of Colonial society.

The American Expeditionary Force: Faulty training, 'open warfare' doctrine got a lot of men killed, organized in massive, hard to maneuver, harder to supply 28,000 man divisions. Pershing was wrong about almost everything.

The army of the Korean War, 1950: under-trained and equipped and living the high life in Japan.

The 1970's Army: Suffering tremendous morale problems after Vietnam, wracked by drugs and racial issues, using equipment that dated back to the 1950s. Couldn't have stopped the Soviets. The army of Harold Ramis and Bill Murray.

Honorable Mention:

The National Army 1898-1902: 75,000 men recruited specifically to fight  the Philippine Insurgency. Led by officers with vast experience fighting Indians and administering conquered territory, both Indian and Confederate. Armed with the highly accurate Krag Rifle.