History - America WWI?

J

John S

New member
would you agree that as time went on during WWI. after America joined the war, that the American troops became more effective
 
Yes, that is the way with armies and war. They get better as time passes. The US Army got better training and was made ready for the 1918 Campaign in Europe. They were also able to help train newer units as they arrived because of Pershing's insistence on there being a separate US Army instead of them being used as replacements for lot French and British Soldiers as Foch wanted to d at the start of the US Deployment..
 
Yes, of course. Once they had seen some combat, American troops became less intimidated by German tactical superiority. Specifically, American troops in time learned to combine their various arms (machine guns, artillery, airplanes, etc...) more efficiently. With experience, troops also learned the basics of firepower & movement and also adopted the German innovation of infiltration tactics. Finally, Americans along with the allies, learned how to coordinate their infantry tactics with those of tanks, which allowed mass breaches of German fixed positions.
 
you're referring to the "doughboys", yes once America declared war on Germany for sinking their supply ships, they were transferred to France, unloaded and began training for 14 months before they were assigned any actuyal fighting. Even thus, their first assignment was to take a forested area the Germans had recently acquired that could be a potential passage way to get into Paris. The US Marine Corp was given the assignment to take the area at the cost of about 10,000 casualties. Even with such casualties the Germans felt a major blow to their desire to continue fighting against an enemy that just entered the war....they were exhausted at that point. But to answer your question, yes they got better over time and gaining experience.
 
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