Pershing in Command: A study of the American Expeditionary Force in the Great War

by William Stroock

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 A Frontier Constabulary The army in 1917, the Philippines, Poncho VillaChapter Legacies The Civil War and the American mindChapter The Man Pershing Laclede, young Pershing, West Point, the frontier, law schoolChapter Frustration and Ennui Pershing’s vision, open warfare, The AEF arrives in France, training camps, quiet sectorsChapter The Bureaucratic Struggle The battle for an American army, crisis on the Marne, the April conferenceChapter On the Marne Salient The AEF’s first battles, Rock of the Marne, Cantigny, Belleau Wood, SoissonsChapter Slug up the Marne, Lessons Learned the Hard Way, The Marne, the Ourcq, the VesleChapter False Victory at St. Mihiel The 1st Army goes into actionChapter The Meuse-Argonne, Pershing, The battle from 26 September till 16 OctoberChapter The Meuse-Argonne, Liggett saves the battle, reorganization, change in tactics, the 1 November attack -Conclusion Pershing fades away, MacArthur, Patton, Marshall

238 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 25, 2018

Reviews

[Urey Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the AEF in World War I, its creation, deployment and year in combat. The title implies a command study of Pershing during the war, but the bulk of the narrative is a battle history with a primary focus on the various American commanders, and their influences, broadly, on the course of American operations. I had hoped for more Pershing - his presence in the narrative is not as in depth as the title would lead us to think. That said, his success in retaining the AEF as an army independent of the French and British forces was hard won. The high level machinations of our allies attempting to disperse and amalgamate US forces among and within their forces was relentless, and Pershing, as perhaps only a Pershing could, stood fast against it. This is touched on vividly as it occurred, again and again, but as with the rest of the book, not in depth. The battle history is similarly an overview - seldom venturing below the division level of fighting and maneuvering, with some brigade level actions and an occasional battalion level action. The best value in this book is as a starting point to acquaint an interested reader with the unprecedented difficulty of creating, training, transporting, organizing and fighting a three-million strong army out of literally nothing... starting from what was effectively a 300,000 man colonial occupation force. All credit to General Pershing for this stupendous feat, in the face of adamant and relentless pressure to merely feed manpower into French and British armies, and despite the doctrinal mistakes that led to unnecessarily high casualties among American troops. But they learned - they changed, albeit slowly - and they prevailed.

As an aside, the short introduction puts the American experience and World War I into context, and does so in such a compelling and evocative manner as to make the reader impatient to read more. What a perfect introduction and invitation into the subject matter!

[Bruce Sandmeyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superbly Written History

William Stroock has written a fast paced history of the American Expeditionary Force from WW1. The book presents the formation and battles of the army so the reader understands the vast undertaking of literally building an army from scratch and turning it into a battle hardened force. The author weaves together a profile of the leaders of the AEF so the reader can understand the unique personalities that shaped the army and the stories of the legendary units that were the teeth of that army. Stroock takes the reader into battle with the AEF and describes in clear and fast paced writing the epic stories of their battles with Germany. A fascinating aspect of the book was the politics in the Allied camp between the USA, France and England. WW1 is not a heavily covered topic in this country even though it was a titanic struggle that shaped the 20th century. William Stroock expertly covers this country's role in the conflict. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the topic. It is a very well written book and a fascinating look at the subject.