| American Expeditionary Forces | |
|---|---|
 G. H. Q. Distinctive Cloth Insignia | |
| Active | 1917–1920 |
| Disbanded | August 31, 1920 |
| Country |  United States |
| Branch | United States Army |
| Role | Command and control |
| Size | 2,057,675 men (1918) |
| General Headquarters | Chaumont,France |
| Nickname | AEF |
| Engagements | World War I and theAllied intervention in the Russian Civil War |
| Commanders | |
| Commander in Chief | General of the ArmiesJohn J. Pershing |
| Commander of theServices of Supply | Major GeneralJames Harbord |
| Chief of theArmy Air Service | Major GeneralMason M. Patrick |
TheAmerican Expeditionary Forces (AEF)[a] was a formation of theUnited States Armed Forces on theWestern Front duringWorld War I, composed mostly of units from theU.S. Army. The AEF was established on July 5, 1917, inChaumont,France under the command of then-major generalJohn J. Pershing. It fought alongsideFrench Army,British Army,Canadian Army,British Indian Army,New Zealand Army andAustralian Army units against theImperial German Army. A small number of AEF troops also fought alongsideItalian Army units in 1918 against theAustro-Hungarian Army. The AEF helped the French Army on the Western Front during theAisne Offensive (at theBattle of Château-Thierry andBattle of Belleau Wood) in the summer of 1918, and fought its major actions in theBattle of Saint-Mihiel and theMeuse-Argonne Offensive in the latter part of 1918.
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PresidentWoodrow Wilson initially planned to give command of the AEF to Gen.Frederick Funston, but after Funston's sudden death in February 1917, Wilson appointed Major GeneralJohn J. Pershing in May, and Pershing remained in command for the rest of the war. Pershing insisted that American soldiers be well-trained before going to Europe. As a result, few troops arrived before January 1918. In addition, Pershing insisted that the American force would not be used merely to fill gaps in the French and British armies, and he resisted European efforts to have U.S. troops deployed as individual replacements in depletedAllied units. This approach was not always well received by the western Allied leaders who distrusted the potential of an army lacking experience in large-scale warfare.[2][page needed] In addition, the British government tried to use its spare shipping as leverage to bring US soldiers under British operational control.
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By June 1917, only 14,000 American soldiers had arrived in France, and the AEF had only a minor participation at the front up to late October 1917, but by May 1918 over one million American troops were stationed in France, with half of them fighting on the front lines.[3] Since thetransport ships needed to bring American troops to Europe were scarce at the beginning, the U.S. Army pressed into service passenger liners, seized German ships, and borrowed Allied ships to transport American soldiers from theHoboken Port of Embarkation with facilities inNew York City andNew Jersey, and theNewport News Port of Embarkation inVirginia. The mobilization effort taxed the American military to the limit and required new organizational strategies and command structures to transport great numbers of troops and supplies quickly and efficiently. The French harbors ofBordeaux,La Pallice,Saint Nazaire, andBrest became the entry points into the French railway system that brought the American troops and their supplies to the Western Front. American engineers in France also built 82 new ship berths, nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of additional standard-gauge tracks, and over 100,000 miles (160,000 km) of telephone and telegraph lines.[2][page needed][4]
The first American troops, who were often called "Doughboys," landed in Europe in June 1917. The AEF did not participate at the front until October 23, 1917, when the1st Division fired the first American shell of the war toward German lines, although they participated only on a small scale. A group of regular soldiers and the first American division to arrive in France, enteredthe trenches nearNancy, France, inLorraine.[2][page needed]
I Corps was officially activated in France, under the AEF, from 15 January 1918. It included the 1st, 2nd, 26th, 32nd, 41st and 42nd Divisions. (4th Brigade, US Marine Corps, was included as part of 2nd Division.)II Corps was activated on 24 February,[5][date missing] by which time troop numbers justified it. Initially II Corps consisted of the 27th, 30th, 33rd, 78th and 80th Divisions.
In June 1918, many component infantry units from II Corps – commanded by Maj.-Gen.George W. Read – were attached to veteranBritish Army orAustralian Army units. This served two purposes: familiarizing the Americans with actual battlefield conditions in France, and temporarily reinforcing the British Empire units that were often severely-depleted in numbers, after more than three years of fighting. In fact, the first major operation in World War I to involve US troops concerned individual infantry platoons of the 33rd Division, which were attached to battalions of theAustralian Corps for theBattle of Hamel on the 4th of July. Their involvement was voluntary and occurred despite last-minute orders from AEF headquarters, that its troops should not take part in offensive operations led by non-US generals. Thus Hamel was historically significant as the first major offensive operation during the war to involve US infantry.
The AEF used French and British equipment. Particularly appreciated were the Frenchcanon de 75 modèle 1897, thecanon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider, and thecanon de 155mm GPF. American aviation units received theSPAD XIII andNieuport 28 fighters, and the U.S. Army tank corps used FrenchRenault FT light tanks. Pershing established facilities in France to train new arrivals with their new weapons.[6][page needed]By the end of 1917, four divisions were deployed in a large training area nearVerdun: the 1st Division, a regular army formation; the26th Division, aNational Guard division; the2nd Division, a combination of regular troops andU.S. Marines; and the42nd "Rainbow" Division, aNational Guard division made up of soldiers from nearly every state in the United States. The fifth division, the41st Division, was converted into a depot division nearTours.
Logistic operations were under the direction of Chicago bankerCharles G. Dawes, with the rank first of colonel and then brigadier general. Dawes reported directly to Gen. Pershing. Dawes recommended in May 1918 that the allies set up a joint logistics planning board, which was approved by the Allies in the form of theMilitary Board of Allied Supply (MBAS), which coordinated logistics and transportation on the Western and Italian fronts.[7]
Supporting the two million soldiers across the Atlantic Ocean was a massive logistical enterprise. In order to be successful, the Americans needed to create a coherent support structure with very little institutional knowledge. The AEF developed support network appropriate for the huge size of the American force. It rested upon theServices of Supply in the rear areas, with ports, railroads, depots, schools, maintenance facilities, bakeries, clothing repair shops (termed salvage), replacement depots, ice plants, and a wide variety of other activities.
The Services of Supply initiated support techniques that would last well into theCold War including forward maintenance, field cooking, graves registration (mortuary affairs), host nation support, motor transport, and morale services. The work of the logisticians enabled the success of the AEF and contributed to the emergence of the American Army as a modern fighting force.[8]
African Americans were drafted on the same basis aswhites and made up 13 percent of the draftees. By the end of the war, over 350,000 African-Americans had served in AEF units on the Western Front.[9] However, they were assigned to segregated units commanded by white officers. African-American troops were often subjected todiscrimination and harassment in the United States. In 1917, amutiny and riot erupted in Houston (Texas) involving 156 soldiers from the all-black24th Infantry Regiment. The incident occurred within a climate of overt racist hostility from members of the all-whiteHouston Police Department (HPD) against members of the local black community and black soldiers stationed atCamp Logan. Following an incident where police officers arrested and assaulted black soldiers, many of their comrades mutinied and marched to Houston. There they opened fire and killed eleven civilians (including a minor, Fred E. Winkler) and five policemen. Five soldiers also died, (four to friendly fire and one from suicide). In accordance with the military laws of the time, 118 soldiers were tried in threecourts-martial. A total of 110 were convicted, of whom 19 were executed and 63 were sentenced to life imprisonment.[10]
One fifth of the black soldiers sent to France saw combat, compared to two-thirds of the whites. They were three percent of AEF combat forces, and under two percent of battlefield fatalities.[11] "The mass of the colored drafted men cannot be used for combatant troops", said a General Staff report in 1918, and it recommended that "these colored drafted men be organized in reserve labor battalions." They handled unskilled labor tasks asstevedores in the Atlantic ports and common laborers at the camps and in the Services of the Rear in France.[12] The French, whose front-line troops were resisting combat duties to the point of mutiny, requested and received control of several regiments of black combat troops.[13] Kennedy reports "Units of the black92nd Division particularly suffered from poor preparation and the breakdown in command control. As the only black combat division, the 92nd Division entered the line with unique liabilities. It had been deliberately dispersed throughout several camps during its stateside training; some of its artillery units were summoned to France before they had completed their courses of instruction, and were never fully equipped until after the Armistice; nearly all its senior white officers scorned the men under their command and repeatedly asked to be transferred. The black enlisted men were frequently diverted from their already attenuated training opportunities in France in the summer of 1918 and put to work as stevedores and common laborers."[14]
The369th,370th,371st, and372nd Infantry Regiments (nominally the93d Division, but never consolidated as such) served with distinction under French command with French colonial units in front-line combat. The French did not harbor the same levels of disdain based on skin color and for many Americans of African descent it was a liberating and refreshing experience.[citation needed] These African-American soldiers wore American uniforms, some dating from the time of the Union Army, withFrench helmets and were armed with FrenchModel 1907/15 Berthier rifle manufactured byRemington Arms, rather than theM1903 Springfield orM1917 Enfield rifles issued to most American soldiers.[15] One of the most distinguished units was the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as theHarlem Hellfighters. The 369th was on the front lines for six months, longer than any other African-American regiment in the war. One hundred seventy-one members of the 369th were awarded theLegion of Merit.[16] One member of the 369th,SergeantHenry Johnson, was awarded theFrenchCroix de guerre,[17] and posthumously theMedal of Honor.[18][19]
At the beginning, during the spring of 1918, the four battle-ready U.S. divisions were deployed under French and British command to gain combat experience by defending relatively quiet sectors of their lines. After the first offensive action and American-led AEF victory on 28 May 1918 at theBattle of Cantigny,[21] by theU.S. 1st Division, and a similar local action by the2nd Division atBelleau Wood beginning 6 June, both while assigned under French Corps command, Pershing worked towards the deployment of an independent US field Army. The rest followed at an accelerating pace during the spring and summer of 1918. By June Americans were arriving in-theater at the rate of 10,000 a day; most of which entered training by British, Canadian and Australian battle-experienced officers and senior non-commissioned ranks. The training took a minimum of six weeks due to the inexperience of the servicemen.
The first offensive action by AEF units serving under non-American command was 1,000 men (four companies from the33d Division), with theAustralian Corps during theBattle of Hamel on 4 July 1918. (CorporalThomas A. Pope was awarded theMedal of Honor for this battle.) This battle took place under the overall command of the Australian Corps commander, Lt. Gen. SirJohn Monash. The Allied force in this battle combined artillery, armor, infantry, and air support (combined arms), which served as a blueprint for all subsequent Allied attacks, using "tanks".[22]
U.S. Army andMarine Corps troops played a key role in helping stop the German thrust towards Paris, during theSecond Battle of the Marne in June 1918 (at theBattle of Château-Thierry (1918) and theBattle of Belleau Wood). The first major and distinctly American offensive was the reduction of the Saint Mihiel salient during September 1918. During theBattle of Saint-Mihiel, Pershing commanded theU.S. First Army, composed of sevendivisions and more than 500,000 men, in the largest offensive operation ever undertaken by United States armed forces. This successful offensive was followed by theMeuse-Argonne offensive, lasting from September 26 to November 11, 1918, during which Pershing commanded more than one million American and French combatants. In these two military operations, Allied forces recovered more than 200 sq mi (488 km2) of French territory from the German army. By the time theWorld War I Armistice had suspended all combat on November 11, 1918, the American Expeditionary Forces had evolved into a modern, combat-tested army.[2][page needed]
Late in the war, American units ultimately fought in two other theaters at the request of the European powers. Pershing sent troops of the332d Infantry Regiment to Italy, and President Wilson agreed to send some troops, the27th and339th Infantry Regiments, to Russia.[23] These latter two were known as theAmerican Expeditionary Force Siberia,[24] and theAmerican Expeditionary Force North Russia.[25]
| Name | Photo | Date |
|---|---|---|
Commander-in-Chief | ||
| General of the ArmiesJohn J. Pershing |  | May 26, 1917 - Aug 31, 1920 |
Chief of Staff | ||
| Brigadier GeneralJames Harbord | .jpg) | May 26, 1917 - May 6, 1918 |
| Major GeneralJames W. McAndrew |  | May 6, 1918 - May 27, 1919 |
| Major GeneralJames Harbord | | May 27, 1919 - August 12, 1919 |
| Brigadier GeneralFox Conner |  | August 12, 1919 - August 31, 1920 |
Deputy Chief of Staff | ||
| Brigadier GeneralLeRoy Eltinge |  | May 1, 1918 - June 30, 1919 |
Assistant Chief of Staff, G1 (Administration) | ||
| Colonel James A. Logan Jr. | July 5, 1917 - August 19, 1918 | |
| Brigadier GeneralAvery D. Andrews | _2.jpg) | August 19, 1918 - April 23, 1919 |
| Colonel Charles S. Lincoln | April 23, 1919 - June 1, 1919 | |
Assistant Chief of Staff, G2 (Intelligence) | ||
| Brigadier GeneralDennis E. Nolan |  | July 5, 1917 - July 6, 1919 |
| Colonel Aristides Moreno | July 6, 1919 - August 15, 1920 | |
Assistant Chief of Staff, G3 (Operations) | ||
| ColonelJohn McAuley Palmer |  | July 5, 1917 - December 19, 1917 |
| Brigadier GeneralFox Conner | | December 19, 1917 - August 12, 1919 |
| Lieutenant Colonel Albert S. Keugle | August 12, 1919 - August 15, 1920 | |
Assistant Chief of Staff, G4 (Supply) | ||
| ColonelWilliam D. Connor |  | August 11, 1917 - April 30, 1918 |
| Brigadier GeneralGeorge Van Horn Moseley |  | April 30, 1918 - June 5, 1919 |
Assistant Chief of Staff, G5 (Training) | ||
| ColonelPaul B. Malone |  | August 11, 1917 - February 14, 1918 |
| Brigadier GeneralHarold B. Fiske |  | February 14, 1918 - July 10, 1919 |
Secretary of the General Staff | ||
| ColonelFrank R. McCoy | .jpg) | September 3, 1917 - May 1, 1918 |
| Lieutenant ColonelJames Lawton Collins |  | May 1, 1918 - October 23, 1918 |
| Lieutenant Colonel Thomas W. Hammond | October 23, 1918 - November 2, 1918 | |
| Lieutenant Colonel Albert S. Keugle | November 2, 1918 - December 10, 1918 | |
| Lieutenant Colonel Thomas W. Hammond | December 10, 1918 - December 28, 1918 | |
| ColonelJames Lawton Collins | | December 28, 1918 - July 25, 1919 |
Adjutant General | ||
| Brigadier GeneralBenjamin Alvord Jr. |  | May 26, 1917 - May 1, 1918 |
| Brigadier GeneralRobert C. Davis |  | May 1, 1918 - August 31, 1920 |
Judge Advocate | ||
| Brigadier GeneralWalter Augustus Bethel |  | May 26, 1917 - August 15, 1920 |
Inspector General | ||
| Major GeneralAndre W. Brewster | _(cropped).jpg) | May 26, 1917 - August 15, 1920 |
Chief Quartermaster | ||
| Colonel Daniel E. McCarthy | May 26, 1917 - August 13, 1917 | |
| Major GeneralHarry L. Rogers | .jpg) | August 13, 1917 - January 22, 1919 |
| Brigadier GeneralJohn M. Carson Jr. |  | January 22, 1919 - April 10, 1919 |
| Colonel John T. Knight | April 10, 1919 - August 31, 1919 | |
Chief Surgeon | ||
| Brigadier GeneralAlfred E. Bradley |  | May 26, 1917 - May 1, 1918 |
| Major GeneralMerritte W. Ireland |  | May 1, 1918 - October 10, 1918 |
| Brigadier GeneralWalter McCaw | _2.png) | October 10, 1918 - July 16, 1919 |
| Colonel Clarence J. Manly | July 16, 1919 - August 31, 1919 | |
Chief Ordnance Officer | ||
| Brigadier GeneralClarence C. Williams | .jpg) | May 26, 1917 - May 5, 1918 |
| Brigadier GeneralCharles B. Wheeler | _2.jpg) | May 5, 1918 - October 9, 1918 |
| Brigadier General John H. Rice | October 9, 1918 - August 13, 1919 | |
| Colonel Edwin D. Bricker | August 13, 1919 - August 31, 1919 | |
Chief Engineer Officer | ||
| Brigadier GeneralHarry Taylor |  | May 26, 1917 - July 11, 1918 |
| Major GeneralWilliam C. Langfitt |  | July 11, 1918 - July 16, 1919 |
| Colonel Thomas H. Jackson | July 16, 1919 - August 31, 1919 | |
Chief Signal Officer | ||
| Brigadier General Edgar Russel | May 26, 1917 - July 11, 1919 | |
| Colonel Roy H. Coles | July 11, 1919 - August 31, 1919 | |
Chief of Air Service | ||
| MajorTownsend F. Dodd |  | May 26, 1917 - June 30, 1917 |
| Lieutenant ColonelWilliam L. Mitchell |  | June 30, 1917 - August 26, 1917 |
| Brigadier GeneralWilliam L. Kenly |  | August 26, 1917 - November 27, 1917 |
| Brigadier GeneralBenjamin Foulois |  | November 27, 1917 - May 29, 1918 |
| Major GeneralMason Patrick |  | May 29, 1918 - August 31, 1919 |
Provost Marshal General | ||
| Lieutenant ColonelHanson E. Ely |  | July 20, 1917 - August 26, 1917 |
| Brigadier GeneralWilliam H. Allaire Jr. | .png) | August 26, 1917 - September 25, 1918 |
| Brigadier GeneralHarry H. Bandholtz |  | September 25, 1918 - August 31, 1919 |
General Purchasing Agent | ||
| Brigadier GeneralCharles G. Dawes | .jpg) | August 30, 1917 - June 30, 1919 |
Chief of Chemical Warfare Service | ||
| Brigadier GeneralAmos Fries |  | September 3, 1917 - November 29, 1918 |
| Colonel Edward N. Johnston | November 29, 1918 - July 5, 1919 | |
Director General of Transportation | ||
| Brigadier GeneralWilliam W. Atterbury |  | September 14, 1917 - May 16, 1919 |
| Brigadier GeneralFrank R. McCoy | | May 16, 1919 - August 4, 1919 |
| Brigadier GeneralSherwood Cheney | _with_Sherrill%2c_whom_he_will_succeed_as_Senior_Military_(...)_house_LCCN2016894193_(cropped).jpg) | August 4, 1919 - August 31, 1919 |
Director of Motor Transportation | ||
| Colonel Francis H. Pope | December 8, 1917 - July 9, 1918 | |
| Brigadier GeneralMeriwether L. Walker |  | July 9, 1918 - August 13, 1919 |
| Colonel Edgar S. Stayer | August 13, 1919 - August 31, 1919 | |
Chief of Tank Corps | ||
| Brigadier GeneralSamuel Rockenbach | _(cropped)_(cropped).jpg) | December 23, 1917 - May 24, 1919 |
Chief of Artillery | ||
| Major GeneralErnest Hinds | .jpg) | April 29, 1918 - June 12, 1919 |
The AEF sustained about 320,000 casualties: 53,402 battle deaths, 63,114 noncombat deaths and 204,000 wounded.[26] Relatively few men suffered actual injury from poison gas, although much larger numbers mistakenly thought that they had been exposed.[23] The1918 influenza pandemic in late 1918 raged in the U.S. and France, where it took the lives of more than 25,000 men with the AEF, while another 360,000 became gravely ill.[27]
After theArmistice of November 11, 1918 thousands of Americans were sent home and demobilized. On July 27, 1919, the number of soldiers discharged amounted to 3,028,487 members[28] of the military, and only 745,845 left in the American Expeditionary Forces.[29]
The AEF established the American Expeditionary Forces University atBeaune, complete with its own chapter ofPhi Beta Kappa.[30] Faculty includedWalter M. Chandler, aProgressive Party member and, later, aRepublican Party member of theU.S. House of Representatives from theState of New York. BotanistEdwin Blake Payson was also an instructor there.Rudolph Hjalmar Gjelsness served as librarian.
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