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Yanks : The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I

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GEN John D. Eisenhower (USMA'44)'s latest contribution to military history, YANKS, is a worthy addition to the libraries of anyone interested in World War I. As with his previous fine efforts (Bitter Woods, So Far From God, and Agent of Destiny), General Eisenhower's literary skills make for an "easy" read. The book is editorially well-written. More importantly for military historians, the book is exhaustively researched; drawing on numerous official sources and private papers. The book is extensively footnoted and has an impressive bibliography including several recent efforts on World War I. The book contains the all-important maps critical for understanding and "seeing" the numerous battles which are vividly portrayed. The book also offers numerous photographs drawn from official sources and individuals.

The book offers a good balance of official history combined with narration of the individuals' contributions to the US involvement in "The War to End All Wars." General Eisenhower offers his insights into the U.S. Army, the combat commanders, the conduct of the war and the personalities involved in the political struggle among the Allies concerning the U.S. effort.

In sum, a fine effort.

Yanks is an interesting, well-written account of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in France during the First World War. Eisenhower, a retired brigadier general and son of the president, provides a broad-brush summary of American participation in the war that will certainly satisfy the general reader. However, given the number of other books on this same subject, Yanks offers nothing of unique value. The author adds nothing to his "epic story" that distinguishes it from other books on this subject. The narrative is far too generalized for readers with greater background in the First World War, and omits too much to classify as a comprehensive history of even its own subject, the AEF.

Yanks consists of three major sections that cover the creation of the AEF, the AEF's initial battles in France and the AEF's independent operations. The narrative itself consists of 23 short chapters, which are well supported by 16 maps. A brief appendix on US mobilization, notes and bibliography conclude the volume. The author has invested considerable research in this work and there are no significant historical errors. Much of the author's focus is on General Pershing, commander of the AEF, and in fact this book might have been called, "General Pershings' War." Most of the narrative focuses on high-level leaders and operations, although the author takes the time to point out the contributions of fighting men like Alvin C. York and Sam Woodfill. Eisenhower's descriptions of the St Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne operations are succinct but accurate.

The biggest problem with Yanks - and one that greatly reduces its value - is that it really only covers the American divisions that fought directly under General Pershing's command. While the author acknowledges that ten US divisions fought under Allied control, he says virtually nothing about their contributions. The list of omitted units in this account of the AEF is incredible. The US 2nd Corps (27th and 30th Divisions), which spent the entire war under British command in Flanders and the Somme while suffering 16,000 combat casualties, is only briefly mentioned in one sentence. The American 37th and 91st Divisions, which fought with the Franco-Belgian army, are also barely mentioned. The capture of Blanc Mont by the US 2nd and 36th Divisions while assigned to the French 4th Army (and suffered 7,800 casualties) is only mentioned in a terse footnote. Furthermore, the author tends to over-focus on regular units like the 1st Infantry Division and fails to mention some National Guard units that participated in the final Meuse-Argonne offensive; the 29th Division is never mentioned once in these even though it was in the battle. Nor is US participation in other theaters mentioned; the operations of the 332nd Infantry Regiment in Italy in July-November 1918 and the 339th Infantry Regiment in Russia in September 1918 are never mentioned. Furthermore, the author omits virtually all mention of the contributions of supporting arms, such as artillery, engineers, signal, chemical and aviation. Based on this account, the reader would not be aware that there were 42 American artillery brigades in France by the end of the war. While the author includes photos of American aces Eddie Rickenbacker and Frank Luke, neither their accomplishments nor units are mentioned in the narrative. Indeed, brief mention of Patton and Billy Mitchell suffices for the author's coverage of the tank and air corps in the AEF. Due to these numerous omissions, Yanks only scratches the surface in its coverage of the AEF.

Another big problem with Yanks is that the author never spends much effort detailing important aspects of the US war effort that directly affected the build-up of the AEF. For example, the issue of armaments production is glossed over but the US failure to produce any significant quantities of artillery, tanks or aircraft was a major impediment. While the author notes Pershing's disdain that the British used only 9 weeks for basic training for their own troops, he fails to detail US training methods or explain how many virtually untrained troops were committed to battle in the Meuse-Argonne. A book like this desperately needs appendices covering order of battle, dates units arrived in France, a more detailed break-down of casualties, etc. Unfortunately, Yanks is about 50% shorter than it needs to be and the author should have made a greater effort to cover more than just the highlights of the AEF.

Finally, Yanks is rather weak on analysis. Major questions, like how great was the role of the AEF in the final victory, are barely addressed. The author might have mentioned that US troops held 83 miles of the Western Front at the armistice - less than the French but more than the Commonwealth armies. The author should also have mentioned that the ten US divisions that served under Allied command were spearheading the final Allied offensives in Champagne and Flanders. Europeans who want to minimize the AEF's role by suggesting that the St Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne operations were sideshows should not be allowed to ignore all these other operations that Eisenhower allows to slip through the cracks of his broad-brush. The author tends to make some odd generalized linkages between the First and Second World War, particularly when he suggests that if the Allies had listened to Pershing and refused an armistice in November 1918 that the Second World War might have been avoided. This is patently absurd. If Pershing had gotten his way, the war would have extended well into 1919 with an invasion of Germany, with the result still an Allied victory. It is hard to see how more casualties with the same result could have prevented the rise of the Nazis in a defeated Germany. Finally, the whole issue of independent American formations versus coalition operations is never really addressed, but is still relevant today.

While history can often make for dry reading material, John D. Eisenhower, does an admirable job of making the story of the United States Army in World War I readable. The author provides numerous details that flesh out the bare skeleton provided by other authors. He covers the buildup of forces, including a generous section on the logistics of moving to Europe and supplying it once it arrived. Eisenhower, also, offers valuable information and insights on the American Expeditionary Force, from senior figures like Pershing and Harbord to early views of Patton and MacArthur. Eisenhower's coverage of the battles and conflicts involving the US Army are not comprehensive, and you have to wonder if they were really meant to be, or meant as examples from which the reader can infer the details of other battles not covered. The coverage of the political/command battles provides another facet of the US involvement missed by many other books.

As any serious reader of history knows, you cannot get the whole story from any one book or author. In order to get a balanced and comprehensive view of history, the reader must look to multiple sources. This book makes an excellent companion to John Keegan's The First World War, providing a missing piece. It provides a source of balance and detail that Keegan neglects. However, it is not the be all and end all of the story; there are still plenty of missing pieces.
P-)

In the 'Author's Note' Brigadier General Eisenhower says that "I have not attempted to give a rounded picture of the whole war,...."
The General certainly was true to his word. A superfluous overview is given with a bias of a regular army officer in describing actions of RA units. Like John Pershing, BG Eisenhower exhibits a definite favoritism to the 1st Infantry Division. Were no other US divisions involved?
Then again, the maps included are incomplete, leaving much to be desired. The most important map in the book on p.211 is flat out wrong!
Finally BG Eisenhower mentions the effects of the Spanish Flu on German troops and the bout that Gen. Pershing suffered. He should have discussed the debilitating effects is had on US troops and the replacement system.
Scout the used bookstores for Stallings' "The Doughboys." The reader would be better served.

The author notes that the United States entered WWI in 1917 with only 200,000 men in the Army. The U.S. Army had to be multiplied many times to be of any value in Europe, where the Allies had nearly four million men on the Western Front and the Germans about 2.5 million. Politics early became a factor in America's entry into WWI; French Marshall Joffre supported a separate American army in France while the British appealed for Americans to fill up combat depleted British units.

Major General Pershing was selected to command American forces in France, left for Europe with his staff in May 1917 and began the gargantuan task of organizing the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), covering a multitude of requirements, including arrival ports, rail transportation, communications, equipment, supplies and most important the training of American troops in modern warfare. The text notes that Pershing and his chief-of-staff Harbord in France "were inventing the General Staff in the modern sense...."

The text describes the development of the AEF noting the general staff organization Pershing created was derived from observations he made as an attaché to the Japanese army in Manchuria in 1905. American officers, assisted by British and French officers, trained AEF divisions in modern warfare. In their first combat, American troops performed well in October 1917 at Seicheprey. However, the French command made sure that the American troops participated strictly under French control. Eisenhower outlines the political problems the AEF and Pershing faced throughout the war. The British continued to want the AEF to be replacements within their ranks while the French wanted American divisions to be under French command.

The book's emphasis is on the problems of command and organization. Unified command of British and French troops was not attained until March 1918 with Ferdinand Foch appointed Supreme Commander. Pershing believed the intent of the unified command was to maintain Allied units using American troops as replacements. However, Pershing with President Wilson's support, preserved the AEF as a separate command.

The text outlines the AEF's battles, as American troops became a major factor in the war. The AEF performed well and the 3rd Division earned the nickname "The rock of the Marne." In July 1918 Pershing organized the AEF 1st Army, with the 1st Army being assigned the task of reducing the St. Mihiel salient. After a second AEF Army was organized with Pershing in command of both armies, Pershing was on a level with his French and British counterparts. The Argonne became the critical battle for the AEF as the defeat of Germany became eminent while bloody combat continued.

President Wilson rejected Germany's first peace feeler refusing to deal with the Kaiser or speak for the Allies. With combat continuing, the book outlines the events that ultimately lead to an Armistice. Eisenhower writes that Pershing felt "There can be no conclusion to this war until Germany is brought to her knees." The author observes "History would seem to have vindicated General Pershing in his protests against granting Germany an armistice...." However, "The governments of France, Britain and Italy, aware of the feelings in their respective countries, would never condone continuing the fighting any longer than necessary." Politics prevailed and the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918. With the war ended the AEF was demobilized.

The text observes, "The creation, training, supplying and employment of the AEF had been a remarkable feat. From a force of only 200,000 officers and men.... In 1917, American had raised an army of over four million, of whom half had crossed the Atlantic." The book observes "Pershing's AEF was the first modern Army the United States ever fielded, and the Army of the Second World War was less different from the AEF than the AEF was from the Army that preceded it." The book further notes "Perhaps even more important in the development of a modern army was Pershing's creation of a vast and elaborate supply system that was called Services of Supply in 1917-1918 and Communications Zone (Com-Z) in 1944-1945.

The text relates that George Patton and the AEF developed modern tank warfare doctrine, and notes "The airplane was no longer a novelty; it made a real difference whether one side or the other enjoyed air supremacy in a given sector." Also important, service in the AEF trained many future American WWII senior officers such as George C. Marshall, Douglas MacArthur and George Patton.

The author notes, "One question is still debated: how important was the AEF to winning of the First World War? It is generally agreed that the threat of the growing power of the AEF, projected into 1919, was critical in convincing the German high command that the war could not be won." In conclusion, Eisenhower makes the interesting assertion "If the United States had not entered the war-or had elected not to send an expeditionary force abroad-there would never have been a Second World War, Germany would have won the first one."

This book will appeal to those interested in 20th century history.

I have become somewhat of a WWI aficianado over the past several years, and just returned from a trip along the WWI Western Front in Belgium and France. In Cantigny, we were introduced to the village collection of WWI artifacts maintained by the Mayor. He displayed to us a picture of John Eisenhower with him, when Mr. Eisenhower visited Cantigny several years prior. My traveling companions and I did not realize that Mr. Eisenhower was researching his book at the time. One of my traveling companions happened to run accross the book later, after our return to the States.

I found this book to be one of the best references for the particulars of U.S. action in WWI; including being very frank about where mistakes were made. The description of the Marne Battle (where the U.S. Army picked up the sobriquet "Rock of the Marne") is not to be missed.

The author provides a view of US participation in WWI from the standpoint of a profesional staff officer. There is very little action/blood and guts. Instead the author concentrates on the performance of the Army leaders - what they did and why they did it. It is a history of the AEF from a mature perspective.

I personally found the book refreshing as it gave me a new view of the personalities involved with the AEF and ultimately with the leadership of the US Army in WWII. It provides a background of the organization of the US Army from WWI through to the present time.

As the dust jacket states, "The achievements of the United States (Army) during (World War I), often underrated by military historians, were in fact remarkable, and they turned the tide of the conflict". This book describes how the US Army's famed American Expeditionary Force (AEF) under General Pershing came to play a decisive role in concluding the war on the Western Front on terms favorable to the Allies.

It was fascinating to learn that the general staff organization created by Pershing in WWI, derived from observations he made as an attaché to the Japanese army in Manchuria in 1905 (!), is still used by the US Army today. Furthermore, as Eisenhower points out in his epilogue, the hugely successful US Army of World War II would not have been possible without the organization and skills developed by the AEF in 1917-18, when future WWII Army Chief of Staff George Marshall was a Lt. Colonel responsible for operations planning in the AEF.

However, I do not agree [that]...this is a well written book. While I enjoyed learning about the accomplishments of the AEF and its effect on the United States' subsequent victories in WWII, in my opinion the story is told in a tedious manner. Much of the text is devoted to describing the attributes of relatively obscure colonels and generals and dozens of leadership shuffles among them at the regimental, brigade and division level. Military actions are described in difficult-to-follow chronologies that provide no "feel" for the action. Little detail and specific data are provided to illustrate how the remarkable feats of mobilization, training, transportation and communications were actually accomplished. And in a strange departure from the predominant, colorless descriptions from the command-point-of-view, toward the book's end Eisenhower inserts, randomly, a few battlefield recollections from two low-ranking soldiers in the style of Stephen Ambrose's GI-view of WWII, Citizen Soldier.

This book encourages me to read more about the AEF because I don’t feel Yanks tells the story of the AEF either as completely or colorfully as it deserves to be told.

The first time I read this book, I did not enjoy it very much because I had only a passing familiarity with the events of World War I. But, I read it again after reading Keegan's "The First World War" and I found it to be a very good book about the US participation in World War I. It explains very well in an appropriate level of detail our role in that conflict, which Keegan does not because of his broad approach and our limited role. It has terrific tactical maps and explains battles quite well. It also focuses on the logistics buildup and identifies the role played in the war by Marshall, Patton, and others. I very much recommend the book.

If you want to know what was "Over There" this is the book for you. Now when I say over there I am not talking about recent wars. I am talking about the first "Big One", World War One. This book focuses on just the American involvement in the war. I think all to often Americans forget about the heroic sacrifice of those people and of their contribution to the country we still reap benefits from.

The story of the dough boys is quite extraordinary. This book brings just a little bit of that story to life. The book will give the reader a good broad understanding of what the Army did in the war. You get a good review of the events and some of the personalities involved in the story. There is more to the tale than just General Pershing.

The story is really something incredible. When Congress declared war in 1917 the Army, all parts active, reserve, National Guard was just only 200,000 people spread out all over the world. The Army grew in a mere 18 months to a force of 4 million. Such growth in such a short period of time really exceeds the World War Two story. The biggest unit the Army operated in the field with prior to the war was maybe a regiment of a few thousand. By the end of the war Pershing had Armies operating in the field. While this is happening there was an on going war and strong Allied pressure to dismember the Army to fit their agenda. One man, General Pershing had to make sense of all of this and guide actions towards victory. This book gives you a good understanding of just what he did.

Also in the story you see other things. Any military history fan will see some familiar names in the script. The big wigs of World War II, Marshall, MacArthur, Patton all got their start in World War One. You can see how the experiences of one war shaped how they fought in the next.

So if you want to see what was behind the George Cohan song "Over There" get this book. It is an enjoyable read.