The Americans did not give a great deal of thought to morale, in the sense of fighting spirit. Generals in all armies as a matter of faith and national pride believe that their soldiers are naturally endowed with courage. The younger American soldier was buoyed up by his national self-confidence, and the older by the memories of a war which for them had ended quickly in a glorious victory for American arms, or so it was perceived. Unlike the British, there was no folk-memory of the murderous attrition of 1916 and 1917: the AEF had emerged from the war in 1918 with its belief in unlimited objectives and aggression unshaken.

wrote Dominick Graham and Shelford Bidwell in their book Coalitions, Politicians and Generals.

And then there was the American politicisation of their generals. These were a potent mix that would drive the American war effort – but where did it drive it?

Tag words: General John Pershing ; AEF ; American Expeditionary Force; World War I; Dominick Graham; Shelford Bidwell; Coalitions, Politicians and Generals; Battle of Amiens; General John Monash; Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Blamey; Brent D Taylor; Chief of the United States Army; General George Catlett Marshall; Field-Marshal Sir John Dill; Chief of the Imperial General Staff; CIGS; Churchill; American Constitution; Roosevelt; Congress; Alan Brooke; Alanbrooke;