In 1976, the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States, Congress passed a proposal to posthumously award George Washington, the founding father of the United States, the "Grand Admiral of the United States of America," thus giving him a higher rank than any other American general.
Prior to that, the holder of the highest U.S. military rank was John Joseph Pershing, who was awarded the rank of "six-star general" in 1919.
Speaking of Pershing, some people may feel that they are not very impressed, which is not surprising, first, General Pershing's most brilliant moment was in the First World War and before, and secondly because of his low-key and stable personality, he devoted himself to the battle, and immediately after the end of the war, he chose to return to the field after unloading his armor and did not take the road of politics like others.
However, low profile does not mean mediocrity, and General Pershing's strength is absolutely unquestionable. To take the simplest example, Patton's name is also well-known in the jianghu, but do you know? Patton was originally cultivated by Pershing.
Pershing, born in 1860, experienced the most painful period of American society, the smoke of the Civil War has not yet dissipated, and an unprecedented economic crisis has swept through American society, and Pershing, who lives at the bottom of society, has the idea of joining the military since he was a child. After that, the young Pershing applied for the West Point Military Academy, received a four-year military education, and after graduating from the military academy in 1886, he embarked on the battlefield as he wished, and began his decades-long career as a horseman.
Pershing can almost be described as a "war machine", from the beginning of the Western War with the Native Indians in 1886, to the War of Maritime Supremacy with Spain in 1898, to the Philippine War in 1899, and to the stationing of northeast China in 1904 to investigate the situation between Russia and Japan, and finally to 1917, when he led an expedition to Europe to defeat the Allied bloc.
Of course, what really brought him to the peak of honor was his brilliance on the European battlefield at the end of World War I.
On April 16, 1917, the United States, which had always maintained a neutral stance, began to declare war on the Allies after making its war fortunes. Two million American expeditionary forces were sent to the European theater, and the most suitable commander was Pershing, the first-line superstar of the military at that time. Just six months later, Germany announced its unconditional surrender, and World War I ended in the victory of the Entente Group.
Although the United States entered the war at the end of the war, and Germany was already at the end of the crossbow, no one can deny the role of the United States in helping to promote it. In addition to helping the United States get a share of the post-war distribution of benefits, Pershing himself became the only six-star general in the United States Army, which can be described as a complete merit.
However, some people have also questioned: the strength of the US military is there, even if the commander at that time is not Pershing, the US military will still win, so how to prove Pershing's superior ability?
Perhaps, the following story can answer this question.
In fact, in the early battles with the German army, the US army has almost no advantage to speak of, although the German army's losses are very large, but the strong dragon is difficult to suppress the snake, the US army is limited by the lack of equipment and supplies, the war situation is not optimistic.
During a positional inspection, Pershing found that the soldiers were digging trenches vigorously, and because the soil was hard and difficult to excavate, coupled with the severe attrition of the troops, the soldiers looked tired. After pershing observed, he gave an order to the intelligence officer and then told everyone to go back to sleep.
Although the soldiers did not know what medicine was sold in Pershing's gourd, such an order was tantamount to a manna descending from heaven, and they could not wait to go back to sleep. In the middle of the night, Pershing ordered an emergency assembly, and all the members withdrew from the position overnight and returned to the position the next morning. And guess what? The soil on the position was all turned over, and it was not as hard as it was at the beginning.
So, what happened that night?
It turned out that Pershing had the intelligence services send a piece of false information and deliberately intercepted it by the Germans, falsely claiming that the company planned to temporarily evacuate tonight, while heavy weapons and ammunition were buried under the ground and would be collected later.
It did turn out exactly as Pershing had expected, and the Germans, who lacked ammunition, rushed to the position overnight to dig up after intercepting the intelligence. Of course, there is nothing here but hard dirt. The American troops who returned to their positions the next morning saved a lot of effort.
From this small story, it is enough to see that the reason why General Pershing has been able to stand on the battlefield for decades is inseparable from his excellent strategic vision and superior tactical wisdom.
After all, the name of this "six-star admiral" is not in vain.
History Inn Author: Mizuki