When the United Stated finally went to war in April of 1917 its Army was not prepared to meet the challenges that awaited it on the battlefields of Europe. What America did have, which the rest of their allies lacked, was a source of manpower that seemed inexhaustible. Under the command of General John ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) raised an army of over 4 million men and was able to get half of that number sent to France by the time the war ended. The lack of suitable materiel was solved by borrowing heavy weapons and artillery from the French and British, who also trained their new allies in the ways of modern trench warfare.

The Americans finally got into the fight in October of 1917 seeing action all over the Western Front, and notably helped stop the final German offensive from reaching Paris in the battles of Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood in the summer of 1918. After the success of the Americans in these battles, Pershing lobbied hard for the AEF to be an independent American command in the field as opposed to being broken up and given piecemeal to the French and British armies as manpower to bolster worn out units already in the front line.

Having won his fight for a separate force, Pershing led the AEF into the offenses of Saint-Mihiel, and the hard fought Meuse-Argonne campaign. The influx of the fresh AEF came about just as the manpower of the Allies was nearly drained, it greatly contributed to the defeat of Imperial Germany.

THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS:

• 2x metal Browning Pistol Teams
• 2x metal Rifle Half-Platoons which contain:
  • 5x Springfield Rifle Teams
  • 2x VB Rifle Grenade Teams
  • 2x Chauchat MG Teams
  • 1x Flame-thrower Team
  • 1x 37mm mle 1916 Team
• 4x metal Hotchkiss HMG Teams
• 2x metal 76mm Stokes Trench Mortars
• 1x metal 75mm Field Gun
• 1x metal and resin Char Saint Chamond Tank
• 2x metal and resin Renault FT-17 Tanks
• 1x metal Sniper

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These miniatures are supplied unassembled and unpainted