US Doughboy 1916-19

Osprey Warrior #79

by Thomas Hoff, Adam Hook (Illustrator)

Dedicated to the life of the average US soldier during World War I, this book follows the doughboy during the course of the war: from conscription, arrival at a training facility, transportation to Europe, and finally into combat in the trenches. The evolution of the US Army is discussed, and its organization, the tension between Pershing's desire for “open” warfare and the actual reality of trench warfare is examined in detail. Appearance, equipment and weaponry of the American soldier are all featured, along with vivid descriptions of day-to-day experiences and the shock of combat on the front.

Genres: History, World War I, Military History

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Erik Tolvstad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, pithy reference work in the usual Osprey format. I does a very respectable job on laying out the individual soldiers, induction, training(such as it was), equipment & uniforms, and trench life and warfare.

I used this book and the administratively focused "The American Expeditionary Forces of World War One" as useful references while reading other more general WW1 histories.

[Bruce Jenvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty focused account of the American Expeditionary Force in WWI. Oddly, it's was not as organized, nor as effective as the history books we read in high school would lead us to believe. But I did learn a lot. This book confirmed what a couple of the other books also drew as conclusions:
1. The war started and escalated not so much as by mutual treaty of defense (the old official answer) but because of a sense of obligation extended between the royal families of the warring countries... most of whom were no longer in power after the war. OK, there were treaties, but many were unspoken committments between members of the ruling class.

2. The reason for the long, drawnout stalemate of trench warfare was due to uneven developement of technology! While most did not put much emphasis on it before, the developement and deployment of the machine gun and heavy artillary played a major role in this war. Both sides dug in for survival, and trying to cross 'no man's land' between the trenches was suicide due to these new weapons. It wasn't until later in the war the rest of military technology would catch up with ways to cross no man's land and permanently capture the other army's trenches: The Tank, and precision aircraft bombing finally broke the stalemate and brought the war to an end.

We all talk about how terrible war is but this has become a forgotten war in many ways. We are outraged at the loss of life in Iraq and afganistan and worry about dozens and over years, hundreds and a few thousand soldiers. In WWI, 9 million people died in just 4 years. It was not unthinkable to have a single battle where 300,000 men died... on each side! The numbers are staggering! Good book to squarely focus on the American effort.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but brief overview of the U.S. Army in World War I, covering such things as training, equipment, and combat experience (although the pages covering equipment overlaps with the Men-at-Arms book). However, I'm not sure using a fictional composite character was really necessary.

[Cort Ockfen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea of the YMCA's involvement in the Great War and how they became known as soft entitled brats, behind the lines, selling cigarettes (when the soldiers expected them free, as a ration). I also learned about the Salvation Army, a much more respected organization with the troops.