American Expeditionary Forces: Pershing, Dawes's Supply Lines and the Flu

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When the United States declared war on Germany in spring 1917, its army barely existed, and only about 14,000 U.S. soldiers had reached France by June. Exhausted British and French commanders wanted to amalgamate American battalions into their own brigades, but General John J. Pershing insisted on an independent American army, required at least six weeks of training under Allied veterans and endured threats over shipping. Chicago banker Charles G. Dawes ran the Services of Supply, building 82 ship berths, about 1,000 miles of standard gauge railroad and over 100,000 miles of telegraph and telephone lines, along with mobile repair shops and graves registration.

The AEF fought largely with French 75mm and 155mm guns, SPAD XIII fighters and Renault FT tanks. Over 350,000 African Americans served in a segregated force, most assigned to labor, while the 369th, 370th, 371st and 372nd regiments fought under French command. Americans learned combined arms tactics at Hamel under Australian General John Monash on July 4, 1918, then Pershing led over 500,000 men against the St. Mihiel salient and moved to the Meuse-Argonne offensive. The AEF suffered about 320,000 casualties, with 53,402 killed in combat and over 63,000 dead from other causes.

• A 1918 General Staff report stated that Black draftees should not be used as combat troops.
• After the 1917 Houston riot, 118 soldiers of the 24th Infantry were court-martialed and 19 were executed.
• Sergeant Henry Johnson won the Croix de Guerre, and the Medal of Honor came decades later, posthumously.
• Influenza killed over 25,000 AEF troops and sickened 360,000, far outpacing deaths from poison gas.
• Awaiting ships home, soldiers could study at an AEF University in France with its own Phi Beta Kappa chapter.