This is the

CBS I in the world. I'm John Bachelor. Nick Lloyd is here and his new book is the Western Front.

History of the Great War, 1914 and 1918. It is June of 1917. A cavalryman in high shiny boots with a stiff collar, drab olive, arrives in Paris to celebration cheering from the from the rooftops. His name is

Pershing a couple of months before he was riding horses in Mexico and was in Texas in the heat of the of the Texas summer.

And because he spoke French and because his commander died of a heart attack right

before, Wilson called him up, President Wilson beckoned him to say,

I'm sending you the head of the American Expeditionary Force, because in April of

1917, Wilson and the Congress declared war on Germany and Austria.

And Pershing arrives without an army.

There were only 113,000 men in the army when Pershing was riding around in Mexico seeking

Pancho Villa.

He's without an army, but he's going to bring an army with him.

And what they want is amalgamation.

Let's term on this because amalgamation will not work.

Pershing's ideas, we're going to fight alone.

Nick, a hundred years later, is Pershing right or is Fosch right? Should they have all been put together?

No, I think Pershing is right. I think, you know, the amalgamation, when America enters the war in April,

1917, the French said, look, you know, you don't really know how to fight,

you don't have the equipment, why don't you just give us your manpower?

Because that's your strongest asset and we will train them.

They'll work in our divisions and this will be a way that we can essentially re-energize and we can win.

And understandably the Americans say, well, no, you're say well no you know you perhaps don't have the best record of not killing your own troops so actually no

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