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By Root 2416 0

from Washington. In May, General Peyton March had officially become army chief of staff. The confirmation had been strongly supported by Baker, the secretary sharing Pershing’s optimism that March would be the man who would cut through the woeful lack of energy that had plagued the General Staff since the beginning of the war. Almost immediately, March attempted to put his own imprint on the General Staff, and on Pershing’s command as well. Instead of increasing the efficiency of the General Staff’s operations, March began to push his influence across the Atlantic, insisting that Pershing’s independence be reined in. Worse, March believed he knew far more than Pershing what the AEF required in the way of supplies and equipment in France. For nearly eighteen months, Pershing’s frustrations over problems with supply had usually been directed at the unwillingness of the officials in Washington to perform their jobs. Pershing knew only one man who had the temperament to confront March with Pershing’s own no-nonsense aggressiveness: James Harbord. To Harbord’s dismay, Pershing pulled him out of the Second Division, replacing him with General John Lejeune. Harbord was then named head of the Service of Supply, the crucial arm of the AEF that was responsible for every aspect of transporting, equipping, and supplying Pershing’s army. Pershing knew that neither Baker nor President Wilson were likely to grant March as much authority as he wanted. But by manipulating the strings on the movement of men and equipment, March could have a much more meaningful and much more negative influence on the AEF than Pershing would tolerate. The one man perfectly suited to confront March at every turn was Harbord.

PARIS—AUGUST 5, 1918

For several days, Pershing had escorted Harbord and the other officers on a lengthy and detailed tour of the facilities that now provided the backbone of the American operations in France, allowing Harbord to appreciate how his new responsibility far exceeded the logistics of managing one combat division. Despite Harbord’s protests at being assigned to something other than a combat command, once they had made the complete tour, Pershing could see that the man was not only intrigued by the new challenge, but was already energizing himself for what lay ahead.

The SOS headquarters was located at Tours, and Harbord had been amazed that the offices there were manned by nearly seven thousand support personnel. Harbord was there now, establishing his own headquarters, familiarizing himself with the AEF’s organization. His new command would oversee departments that dealt with every aspect of life in the war zone, from Medical to Construction and Forestry, from the Quartermaster to the Motor Transport service, from Aviation and Ordnance, Railroads to the Office of Records. As they visited the various facilities, Pershing had been most impressed by the extraordinary display of American engineering at the port of Nazaire. Where once the ships carrying American men and supplies had been delayed and handled with rough indifference, now, the port had been enlarged, the wharves manned with more than two thousand American stevedores. Beyond the port itself, a storage depot had been created virtually from scratch, two thousand acres of warehouses and carefully organized storage spaces, connected by two hundred miles of railroad tracks, and just beyond, a camp equipped to house sixteen thousand newly arriving American troops. As well, the facility included an enormous hospital, where wounded soldiers were gathered for their journey home. Though every commander at every facility recognized that his efforts had been made possible only by the relentless energy of the commanding general and his tireless staff, Pershing could not hide his own emotions at the monumental display of sacrifice and duty shown by the enormous number of men who would never reap any glory on the battlefield.

PERSHING WAS EXHAUSTED, SANK INTO THE SOFT CHAIR IN HIS ROOM, staring at the massive arrangement of flowers that someone had placed in his room.