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.

On the Border with Pershing.

Trump has announced his plan for stopping the Mexican invasion force at the border: 5,000 troops, denial of asylum status (they can spend years fighting that in court) and lots of barbed wire.

There's ample precedent for this.

We'd once again like to point out that when the Great War began, almost the entire US Army and National Guard was deployed on the southern border.

In fact when Poncho Villa attacked Columbus New Mexico, the 13th Infantry kicked his ass and chased him back into Mexico where they kicked his ass again.

Read all about it in Pershing in Command, Chapter I: A Frontier Constabulary.

Pershing in Command

Pershing in Command is available on Kindle, KU and softcover. Today marks the first of our re-postings of the videos we did on Pershing and the AEF.

Part I: Pershing and the United States Army in 1917:

*We're no longer represented by Anne Tannenbaum

Pershing in Command...

...is available.

A history of General John J Pershing and the AEF.

When the United States entered the Great War, John J Pershing was chasing Mexican bandits and the US Army was a constabulary of frontier cavalrymen.

In a year Pershing transformed that constabulary into a modern army ready to strike the decisive blow against the Kaiser's war machine.

Through force of will and with the backing of Washington Pershing built an army in his image, counting on 'open warfare' tactics to win where the British and French has lost.

Chapter I: A Frontier Constabulary
The army in 1917, the Philippines, Poncho Villa
-Chapter II: Legacies
The Civil War and the American mind
-Chapter III: The Man Pershing
Laclede, young Pershing, West Point, the frontier, law school
-Chapter IV: Frustration and Ennui
Pershing’s vision, open warfare, The AEF arrives in France, training camps, quiet sectors
-Chapter V: The Bureaucratic Struggle
The battle for an American army, crisis on the Marne, the April conference
-Chapter VI: On the Marne Salient
The AEF’s first battles, Rock of the Marne, Cantigny, Belleau Wood, Soissons
-Chapter VII: Slug up the Marne, Lessons Learned the Hard Way
The Marne, the Ourcq, the Vesle
-Chapter VIII: False Victory at St. Mihiel
The 1st Army goes into action
- Chapter IX: The Meuse-Argonne, Pershing
The battle from 26 September till 16 October
-Chapter X: The Meuse-Argonne, Liggett
Liggett saves the battle, reorganization, change in tactics, the 1 November attack
-Conclusion

Pershing fades away, MacArthur, Patton, Marshall