Existing comment:
3 East
Gen. John J. Pershing's Desk and Chair
Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, sat behind this desk at his headquarters in Chaumont, France.
On a wall map in the office (reproduced here because the original's too fragile to display), he plotted the movements of Allied and enemy troops along the notorious Western front.
In 1917, the United States joined France, Great Britain, Russia, and other allies in a war against Germany and the Central Powers that had been underway since 1914.
Allied commanders expected American troops to be integrated with their forces, but Pershing insisted that they remain independent and under his command. After nearly a year spent assembling equipping, and training a fighting force, Pershing deployed his Army.
American "doughboys" first blunted the German advance at Belleau Wood; then, followed the Second Battle of the Marne in the summer of 1918, began to push back the enemy line. Tens of thousands on both sides were killed or maimed by machine gun fire, poison gas, and unrelenting artillery fire, but U.S. troops continued to push back the enemy line. Germany agreed to an armistice on November 11, 1918. |