The American soldier

The First World War is often said to have been the most deadly conflict of the last century, both in terms of civilian and military victims. This terrible confrontation will be at the heart of a large number of ceremonies organised in 2018 to celebrate the end of the conflict.

The war of position that followed the war of movement plunged its various protagonists into a hell of « steel stonings » amidst the trenches and the no man's lands, whose costly victories - often for an advance of just a few hundred feet - made no real change to the course of events. Change came when the American army joined the war in April 1917, boosting the morale of existing troops - exhausted by long years of war - and offering a new momentum to the offensive. Initially a small and poorly equipped force of 135,000 men, the American army was rapidly transformed into an expeditionary force which, by the end of the conflict, comprised 2 million men. Thanks to the industrial effort that America alone was capable of, and to the Doughboys' fighting spirit, the outcome of the battle took an immediate turn in favour of the Allies. Although he did not have equivalent military experience, or even the same equipment or weapons as his British and French counterparts - by their side the hardy, brave and fighting American soldier familiarised himself very quickly with the terrain and rapidly learned the combat techniques required by this new war.

The subject of this short book is a non-exhaustive study of the American soldier's equipment and his commitment within the American Expeditionary Forces in France in 1917-18.