Articles from The U.S. Army Study
Here is another account from The Enemy Order of Battle report (1919) – on this page two experienced German veterans recalled their unit’s battles with the American infantry:
American soldiers took big chances and [did so] irrespective of any danger.
Their Reckless Abandon (U.S. Army Study, 1919) Read More »
Here is a page from The Enemy Order of Battle report (1919) by the subsection of the same name that was an arm of the U.S. Army General Staff. The report tells of Baccarat, a portion of the Western Front during the later part of the war that was quiet, by mutual agreement between the French and Germans – until the U.S. Army took their place in the French position – and then all Hell broke loose.
Intent on Battle (U.S. Army Report, 1919) Read More »
General Karl Wilhelm Georg August von Einem (1853 – 1934), commander of the German Third Army (1914 – 1919) granted a short interview to a member of the U.S. Army General Staff concerning his observations regarding the American Army.
High Praise from a German General (U.S. Army Study, 1919) Read More »
An assortment of opinions gleaned from various interviews with German soldiers who all made remarks about the naked aggressiveness shared by the A.E.F.:
The French would not advance unless sure of gaining their objectives while the American infantry would dash in regardless of all obstacles and that while they gained their objectives they would often do so with heavy loss of life.
The Aggressive (U.S. Army Study, 1919) Read More »
Immediately after the war General Pershing put the boys in the Army Intelligence Section to work compiling hundreds of pages worth of information concerning what the German Army thought of their American counterparts. It was concluded that, by enlarge, the Germans were afraid of the Doughboys – seeing them as recklessly brave, and unpredictably aggressive – provided with all the food they could want and kitted out with sensible and efficient equipment, the Germans begrudgingly learned not to underestimate their pugnacious enemies from across the sea.
However, the Germans learned just as quickly not to overestimate the American soldier when he was a prisoner of war: the Doughboys were believed to have been defiant, ill-mannered, cheeky and when required to work or salute German officers they would simply refuse.
The report was declassified in 1990.
Click here to read an article about the sexually-transmitted diseases among the American Army of W.W. I…
Americans Made Bad Prisoners (U.S. Army Archive, 1919) Read More »
