Now from the colby military writers symposium in vermont, retired colonel Robert Dalessandro describes strategies countries developed during world war i. Good morning. Good morning. And for those of you new to the occasion for this session, welcome to the 22nd annual colby military write is sim bose yum. This year we embark on a multiyear discussion of world war i. As one continuous half century of hostility. We call this years installment, won the war, lost the war. Centennial legacy of world war i, to establish this symposium theme to suggest its direction. This morning it is my particular honor to introduce colonel Robert Dalessandro. Connell Robert Dalessandro, is among relatively small group of world war i historians in america today, having written extensively on American Expeditionary force in the great war. Currently, colonel dalessandro is acting secretary of the American BattleMonument Commission and former director of the United States army center of military history. Colonel dalessandros special interests is suggested by his celebrated publications include military insignia, especially as worn by the officers and men of the American Expeditionary force, and the africanamerican soldier. His book, organization and insignia of the American Expeditionary forces, 191723, received the Army HistoricalFoundation Award for excellence in writing, which, okay, of particular note to officers on active duty is his Army Officers guide, which he continues to edit. Among his favorite hobbies leading battlefield tours to historical site in the United States and europe. This morning colonel dalessandro will speak to us on the american extraordinary force in france. [inaudible]. Yeah. So on behalf of the colby military writers symposium and norwich university, we welcome connell Robert Dalessandro. [applause] so thanks for the kind introduction and i got to tell you, it is great to be here. I feel like ive never this is my first time at norwich but i feel very connected to this place because on three separate occasions i worked for general sullivan. So i had to hear about norwich quite a bit and much like the cadets here now, i often heard about it at very odd hours of the night or early, early, morning, so it is a pleasure to be here and im very excited to be able to talk to you a little bit about the aef. I did use the word extraordinary for a very specific reason. I was talking i walk from the podium. I always feel trapped back there. Keep my back to the wall. Im always asked, always, always, always, and im sure jennifers heard this as well, why are you interested in world war i . People ask me about it all the time. You know what did a good person like you get involved in world war i for . The truth of the matters it comes down to the reason that i love being here today with young students. And its because i want you to take a look at this photograph. This photograph was taken in washington, d. C. , at Union Station and taken in 1919 if i remember. Doesnt say it on it but it is at the end of the war. You see in the photograph a mother just beaming because her sons back from the war, and he is holding a baby and you see his brother there, the sailor and the wife looking on, of the guy who is returning. And this picture totally explains why world war i is important to this nation and everybody in the room. This is my world war i Centennial Commission pitch. That woman, the mother, that woman is probably the child of a Civil War Veteran, would be my gut on her. And, that soldier, holding the baby, that baby, by the way, is a member of the greatest generation. That soldier, was born in an age of horse and wagons. He probably had not traveled before he went overseas with the American Expeditionary forces, he probably hadnt traveled much out of the county he was born in, even though he is coming into Union Station in washington at this point. And that person, that was born in the age of horse and wagon, who could speak to a Civil War Veteran is probably going to pass away in the age of jet travel. I want you to think about that for a minute. Frank buckles passed away in this decade, the last known world war i veteran. Think about the world that that person grew up in, and how america changed in that persons life in so, so many ways. And this isnt really the pitch in my talk but i want you to think about the importance of world war i in our daily lives. When we entered world war i, we thought that women were way too fragile to be in combat, let alone in industry at home in any way. Probably what would happen is a woman would have some nervous issue if we put her in a factory or if we put her in a situation where she was near combat. We thought about africanamericans. Okay, 300 some odd years of slavery for an africanamerican. How can we count on this person to fight for america . A person that has been told their whole life what to do . They cant think for themselves. What if they get into a situation where their leaders are dead . Hypenated americans. Some 20 of the American Expeditionary force, theyre immigrants. What if we put these people in a line, are they going to be loyal to america or germany . What if theyre irish . Are they going to be fighting for the british . Well, thankfully, everyone of these prejudices were smashed by the war. Sure, it is going to be a long road to civil rights but women acquit themselves well in world war i. Africanamericans, when given chances and many of them are, many of them will be in labor positions there, acquit themselves wonderfully. When you take two million some odd people, army allin, Armed Services were about four million people, if you were mobilized, but we get two million over there and change when you count the American Red Cross and all volunteer organizations. When you take two million some odd people and pluck them from that county, i love to say, the town of chitlin switch, west virginia, put them on a train and pass through new york and paris, see london, some see italy. And come back, you forever alter the fabric of society. I think that is why these people are important. When you stick your toe into the worlds stage, there isnt any going back. You know you can have the isolationist movement and you can do other things, but the truth of the matter is, there is no going back once we get in the war. These are the people, that guy, is the person who opened an american century, birthed the greatest generation and set up the world that we live in. If you dont believe world war i is important after that get out. I dont even want to talk to you anymore, im finished, but you will have to stay here if you want any credit. That is my openinger on this, i want to talk about how that American Expeditionary force shaped america by the way it built the world we live in. Anyone going to be associated with the army, everything that you know in the army comes out of this. We had a wonderful discussion about this doing the question and answer if we have to. Just a quick, this is my very quick refresher for nonworld war i people in the room. There is the world. This is one of my National Park service maps i come out with. Were plucking a new book i did, plugging world war i for the National Park service. This is what the world look like before we enter. Italy came in on side of the allies. You have blocs of nations. What is going on before we get there. This is i can loot quickest review of world war i history ever. The plan to quickly resolve world war i ends. When the plan fails, held up in belgium too long, the british, bef, british Expeditionary Force deploys. Western front stablizes. The all quiet on the western front period. Eastern front going toward germanys favor during the war. We go to the soft under bellly of europe if you will, the dardanelless in this particular case. That doesnt work out. Verdun proved to be costly fights for both the french and british. Meanwhile back in the United States, it is mexico. There is trouble on the mexican border. By the way this is a very interesting sidebar. Ill tell you when raids occur on the mexican border, our u. S. Intelligence services are convinced that the germans have their hand in them, long before the Zimmerman Telegram appears. So it is really an interesting thing because number one, talking about prejudices before the war, its generally believed in the Intelligence Services that the mexicans cant pull anything off on the mechanic can border, they need real supervision. That real supervision is germans and there germany is behind everything going on down there and fixation of on mexico. By 17 the french are on the breaking point. That is a moment to talk about. So in 1 117, the germ 17 germans realize the that the nights is probably coming in. United states didnt do much. Theyre only involved in the last months of the war, essentially, 47 days of combat, depending on the big push and how youre counting but, america doesnt do much. Well that is not totally true. Were the biggest supplier of the british in world war i. Britain spends most of its war budget in the u. S. In fact one of my favorite hobbies on battlefield walking if you walk out on the somm you will find a nose cap in the field of an 18pounders because of number of shells fired there. I will give you even odds you pick one of those up when you look at it, it is stamped alcoa or made in the u. S. That shell was fired in july of 1916. We didnt have americans that far north. We had them slightly south but no american fired that round. So that is Proof Positive that americans supplying the allies. And shes leaning toward that way. So, there is this huge risk gamble needs to be taken, you can cut the ally supply lines, okay, my slides dont want to cooperate. You can either cut the allied supply lines, i got a wonderful picture here of a ship sinking. I need help. You can cut the allied supply lines and risk that the United States will enter the war in favor of the allies, or you can do nothing. So thank you. I love that shot. It is National Archives shot. This is the kind of thing, by the way, at that really evokes a lot of feeling in the United States, maritime nation. You got the guy about to jump off the ship. There is, nothing worse than people jumping off ships and ill tell you the other thing i did not make a copy of it, there is a very famous poser is of the sinking of the lusitania, it was the first thing i thought when the president gave his speech. It is very famous poster of a woman and she is sinking into the atlantic. You know her hair is beautiful and her hair is kind of floating like a mermaid in the sea. She has in her arms, this little beautiful baby. And, of course that is perishing with her. Boy, did that play on american consciousness. We dont enter the war because of the lusitania through a lot of political maneuvering but the truth of the matter is, these posters and jennifer spoke about them in her section, evoked so much passion, that poster was one of the ones that really helped change americas view of how the war was going. But, if you think about it, if you were germany and willing to resume unrestricted warfare, submarine warfare, youve got a reason and the reason is if the United States does come into the war, if we declare war you have to have opportunity. It has to be worth your time. I mean, in other words you just dont resume unrestricted submarine warfare you will do it and your sub captains are mad because theyre not doing anything. You will do it because the risk gives you rewarded. The risk and rewarded is, that you can conquer on the western front, you can bring the french and the british to the stable on the western front before the United States can mobilize. And the germans decide that they can do that. Of course its a bad decision but, i like to say, that a lot of this comes from the fact. Well talk about it in a minute, a lot of this comes from the fact that look at 1918, the spring of 1918 when the germans think the u. S. Will be able to start getting troops over there as a moment of opportunity for the germans. We had people over there before, looking at it seriously and you have to make a couple assumptions. What is the force . What is the compose of, what does it look like . I love my second bullet. Im often accused of hating the battle of belleau wood in france but im getting ahead of myself. I hate the battle of belleau wood because marines got credit for it. Purging was so angry at the marines, a Single Service got credit for the battle of belleau wood that he took some pretty drastic action, summarily removing marine corps officers, army formations. And we cant combine the marines and army and navy, and a point made in the last two talks, and the secretary armys office, and how many people do you need people behind that action, if you look at the next war, or the spanishamerican war. It is about one to 4. Every trigger, every person shooting at a german, or four people. Moving bullets and picking them up off the battlefield. You are close, 20 to one. There are one to 32. It looks haphazard but if you think about it we are not fighting in the United States so everything that is american seems to be transloading, has to be shipped somewhere in the state, usually in new york, norfork and one of the big hubs over there and put it on the rails, get it off the ship, what we call trendline, sent to the front. You have a huge logistical operation that you have to run. The discussion is what should the detail be . That creates a brandnew Organization Called the sos service and supply. There is not such a thing in military history. Not to this extent. It assumes the rails work, you see it . Purging aside the million by the end of 18, and there are 300,000 hanging around if you look at that 300,000. The United States like the even numbers. We need 100 divisions. 100 divisions would be. It is decided that how you array those, i find it very interesting and this is one of the points i want to make the future Army Officers, they take the army to build its essentially Current Force Structure in world war i. One single Army Division i singe eve of world war i, the racing National Guard divisions and the incursion. They set it up just like this. Regular Army Divisions, what does that mean, they are not regular Army Divisions. They will be mostly draftees. And and good news to be a lieutenant. The bottom line is it is a regular army person. When you do world war i genealogy you can never figure this out. Going from corporal to Sergeant Major overnight. And National Guard units. The National Guard units and pull them regionally into divisions. And regular army officer on top of that division. The hardest fighting divisions of world war i, the sixth division. It is from this area, created a National Guard unit from massachusetts, connecticut, maine, new hampshire, they put a guy named Clarence Edwards in charge of it, to the congressional delegation up here. They going to combat, the office into 100 series offense but they are very much linked to the National Guard heritage. You can supplement them with draftees and the core of the National Guard, people who have been starving serving in the state militia. National armies moved the new deal, 7699, that is drafting and the office those people from a new program in new york, harrison, that would produce offices quickly and candidate School Program and other College Graduates that will align into the Training Corps and again, you are seeing regular army offices but the National Army regionally arranged in a weird set of situations where the War Department comes up and the 76 comes from the area around pennsylvania, 77 from new york. Too hard to understand. So then, of course, if you were here this morning, this is taken apart wonderfully, you have a Selective Service, at the morning lecture the point was made very well, the number of people you need to invest, for a lot of different reasons. The most compelling is the conversation in the United States that we shouldnt be in this at all to begin with. Who would listen to george washington, the interesting thing about Selective Service or the draft, it is as close to universal as ever will be. The bottom line is africanamericans need to register and they can be drafted, generates an entire different conversation about who needs to be in the war. Some of us think a lot alike. This wa