"The tactics of trench warfare had devolved into a genocidal meat grinder, into which Pershing had no intention of feeding Americans even if it would have meant eventual victory by attrition. Instead, he advocated maneuver warfare. The problem was that he first had to prove that U.S. soldiers could fight effectively against massed troops supported by murderous machine-gun fire and backed by relentless heavy artillery. Only a Don Quixote would dream of prevailing against those odds. Pershing needed a battlefield that offered at least some temporary room for maneuver. The opportunity arose during the Aisne-Marne offensive, especially at Cantigny, Reims, and Belleau Wood."
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Military leaders from the United StatesEpiscopalians from the United StatesLawyers from the United StatesMemoirists from the United StatesPeople from Missouri
Original Language: English
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Sources
George M. Hall, The Fifth Star: High Command in an Era of Global War (1994), p. 30
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_J._Pershing
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John J. Pershing
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