America's Deadliest Battle Analysis

After my reading of Robert Ferrell’s America’s Deadliest Battle, I was capable of grasping an understanding of the American Expeditionary Force’s preparation for their battle against Germany in 1918, in addition to assessing the quality of some of the officers and men within the AEF, and some of the actions that displayed the weaknesses and strengths of the AEF as well. Additionally, I will be touching basis on other measures that gave the battle at the Meuse-Argonne its name as “America’s deadliest battle,” and discussing my overall opinion on America’s fighting ability in World War I. The minute war was declared, the U.S. army made an attempt to mobilize the troops. The drained British and French troops, very much needed the relief offered
by the American troops. In 1917, General John J. Pershing was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to remain in command during the entire war, in addition to the American Expeditionary Forces. Pershing and his team soon realized how unprepared the United States were to transport hefty numbers of soldiers and necessary gear to the front, where provisions, equipment, and trained armed forces were all in minimal supply. Pershing was persistent about training the American soldiers before venturing off to Europe. Even the transport vessels that were needed to bring American troops to Europe were limited. The army apprehended German ships, and borrowed Allied ships to mobilize American soldiers from New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. Most of the training time for the American troops, went towards a familiar term referred from the book as “trench warfare, the kind of war that had prevailed on the Western front since the first weeks of 1914” (pg. 15). Some members of the AEF, saw some of the training tactics to be a waste of time, such as the “bayonets.” Referred to as, “the most overrated weapons of the war…” (pg. 15). The AEF surgeons, witnessed no wounds from the bayonets. The surgeons claimed the attacking troops would not be able to get close enough to the enemy to use them. Pershing wanted to go about the training using his own tactics. General John J. Pershing deserved admiration for his training tactics. The books notes, “no one could have done better or even as well” (pg. 17). After reading back over Ferrell’s book, I noticed a term that caught my attention, known as, “doughboys.” It was term used to identify the U.S. infantrymen, especially the ones in World War I. I also noticed one of the most serious problems facing the War Department in 1917, was the location of sufficient officers to fill the requirements of the divisions that were to be performed for foreign affairs, for example, overseas. Yes, the military draft may have supplied the men, however the soldiers were still short on shelter, clothing, armory, training, etc. As I mentioned before there were not enough officers, nor was there time to train the men efficiently. To lessen the problem, the War Department established a number of training camps for qualified applicants at various military posts and universities. Clothes for the men also had to be provided. There were many who soldiers had to wait patiently for their full ration of clothing and equipment. Even the production of ammunition, and other military equipment fell short. The quality of the officers and the infantrymen, appeared not to be poor, but not entirely prepared. Pershing tried his best to prepare his men in any way that he could. The American Expeditionary Force did display some strengths, and some of them were the American offensive at Meuse-Argonne played a significant role in abruptly and unexpectedly ending the war in November 1918.
Although General Gallwitz, commander of the German troops and defender of the Meuse-Argonne triangle, was critical of the tactics of the AEF, he was astonished by the display of American strength that was present during this intense battle. Another strength for the AEF was the amount of infantrymen they had within their force. They had well over thousands of men and that included the troops as well. The AEF also had a huge amount of weaponry, such as machine guns, poison gas, combat aircraft, and other weapons born of the Industrial Revolution. Some weaknesses of the AEF were the weakness in their mobilization. The U.S. lacked some means of transportation, for instance ships, they had to seize ships from the Germans and their Allies lent them a few ships as well. Another weakness that the American Expeditionary Force had was the lack of training the American forces had been given. Pershing estimated that the United States would need to have at least 24 divisions on the western front for the Allies to have a chance to stop the expected German attack. At the time, few the U.S. held out much hope that the Americans could meet this
need.