american history
the
american expeditionary force
*on the western front,
the british lost over 600,000 and the germans over 500,000 in the
battle of the somme (actually a five-month campaign in 1916)—58,000
british casualties in the first day alone, and the french lost 315,000
and the and germans lost over 282,343 in the battle of verdun (a
seven-month campaign in 1916), and nothing was decided by either of
them.
*the east, being too large for proper trench warfare was a more mobile
front, but just as bad. the russians had so few supplies that the
army sent three out of four into battle unarmed, telling them to pick
up weapons from the dead. the decisive battle is often considered
to be tannenberg in 1914. the russians split their army, hoping
to trap and destroy the german army, but the germans distracted one
russian army and defeated the other, so that the first had to retreat.
*despite victories in the east, the war was going badly for the central
powers—it was bleeding them dry and starving their people to
death. by 1917 germany had a plan, however:
1. take russia out of the war
2. take britain out of the war
3. capture paris
*to knock out russia, the germans found an exiled communist agitator
named vladimir lenin and snuck him into moscow. with german money
and support, he organised the people, who were opposed to the war and
the harsh rule of tsar nicholas ii romanov. the russian
revolution succeeded in 1917, and soon the communists, led by the
bolshevik faction, came to power. they killed the entire romanov
family, including jimmy the spaniel. more importantly, from
germany’s point of view, lenin and the new union of soviet socialist
republics negotiated a separate peace through the treaty of
brest-litovsk in early 1918.
*germany also blockaded britain with u-boats, preventing food being
imported from the rest of the empire. they also bombed britain
with zeppelins. this nearly starved britain, so that some
politicians there considered ending the war. to get americans
past the blockade, all ships began travelling in convoys—a group of
unarmed troop ships or merchant ships surrounded by destroyers, torpedo
boats, and other ships built to fight submarines.
*with russia out of the war, troops from the eastern front were moved
to the west and thrown into an all-out attack on paris, led by
storm-troopers carrying sacks of grenades, submachine guns,
flamethrowers, and other weapons meant for shock tactics. the
french army, worn out after verdun and years of war, suffered massive
mutinies and many units--sometimes whole divisions—would not fight back.
*in 1918 it looked as if paris would fall and the central powers would
win.
*however, in 1917 the american expeditionary force had arrived with
14,000 doughboys. the general of the armies, ‘black jack’ john
pershing, said ‘lafayette, we are here.’ by 1918 over a million
americans were in france.
*the aef was not especially well-trained or well-equipped, and the
americans were not significantly better soldiers than their
enemies. however, they were ready to fight, not worn out by three
years of war and bitterness.
*re-enforced by the
aef, the allies stopped
the attack on paris.
the
aef was involved in the defence of the marne river at
château-thierry, the first major battle for
americans, and at belleau wood,
where the us marine corps fought so hard and lost so many men that
afterwards
the french government gave the land to the united states.
the defence of the marne stopped the germans
for good.
*the allies counter-attacked along the meuse river and in the argonne
forest. this offensive began on 26 september, 1918, and would be
the last of the war.
*the meuse-argonne is famous for its heroism among the eager american
troops. the most decorated soldier of the war was sergeant alvin
york, a backwoodsman from fentress county, tennessee. his
family’s farm was poor, and he had to supplement their diet by hunting,
and became a crack shot. a devout christian after changing his
ways following the death of a friend in a bar fight, he opposed the war
and did not want to go, but was not drafted and not let out as a
conscientious objector. on 8 october, 1918, his patrol was
ordered to destroy a machine gun nest. unable to do so, most of
the unit hid, but york, the sharpshooter, picked off 25 machine-gunners
the unit hid, but york, the sharpshooter, picked off 25 machine-gunners
at 50 or 60 yards, and then captured 132 other germans. he
received, among other decorations, the medal of honor, becoming the
most decorated american soldier of the war.
*in another instance, one american battalion was ordered to take a
german position and hold it with two other units. this battalion
took its objective, but the units with it did not, and the battalion
was trapped. their communication lines were cut, and no-one knew
where they were. the allied artillery even began to accidentally
bombard them. the only way they had to communicate with
headquarters with was the battalion’s carrier pigeons. all they
sent were shot down by the germans, until they were down to the last,
which was also shot, but survived to fly home to stop the allied
bombardment. most of the battalion was killed, but it never
surrendered and was eventually rescued. more important, it
distracted the germans long enough for the allies to push farther
through the german lines in the meuse-argonne offensive.
*by november, 1918, the germans had had enough, and on 11 november,
1918, the fighting ended with an armistice.
1918, the fighting ended with an armistice.