1917 America Enters the War
1917
Things were changing. Commanders changed as did German tactics. The Germans had gone for unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to break the British Blockades of the German ports. Again, while nothing was happening on from the Allies side on the Western Front the Germans continued strengthening their defences. This new defensive system was known to the Allies as the Hindenburg Line and to the Germans as the Siegfried Line. This area lay well behind the front and was protected by a dead zone of flattened houses and poisoned wells. With this defence the Germans considered that Germany could not be taken from the West and it allowed more soldiers to be released for duty elsewhere.
The Germans warned the USA, on 2 April 1917, of “imminent” resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare. This meant that all ships on the high seas, except “Central Powers” ships were fair game to the submarines, without warning.
On 2 April 1917 President Woodrow Wilson, of the USA, delivered a war message to the US Senate, and on the 6th of April 1917 the USA declared War on Germany.
At Arras, Battle was commenced on 9 April with a barrage by nearly 3000 Allied guns, lasting for 5 day. The Allied armies advanced and the Canadians captured Vimy Ridge. However, there was no breakthrough and the battle ended on 4 May 1917. This battle yielded very little other than another 250,000 British, French, Dominion and German casualties.
The Americans Join the War
On the 6th of April 1917 the Americans declared war on Germany. The first shots of the war, by the Americans, were on 19 April when the USS Magnolia sank a German U Boat.
American assistance to the Allies was slow in coming. At this stage they had no army, no artillery and therefore had to start from scratch. It would take months to build the armaments, conscript the men and ship them to France.
At the end of May 1917, General John Pershing, the Commander of the American Expeditionary Force, left for France with a very small staff. By June some 9.6 Million men had registered for Military Service. During that month 14000 American troops arrived in France. On arrival at Loraine, for training, they had only two tanks, and for Artillery, had to rely on the French for guns and gunners. On 2 November 1917 an American Infantry Battalion takes over from French soldiers in Barthelemont. Next morning the Germans attacked an outpost of the Battalion, killing three Americans, taking 12 prisoners and leaving the surviving Americans in shock. An inquiry was held and the conclusion was that the Americans were not yet sufficiently trained to take their place on the line and should be removed until properly trained.
