In 1917, Pershing received a long-awaited new task, the most important and arduous task of his life— to lead the American Expeditionary Force to Europe for World War I, to join forces with allies Britain and France against the Germans, and to "incidentally" take over the rule of the entire earth from the old world! Pershing's performance proved to live up to expectations. After coming to Europe, everything was exaggerated, full of Pershing's cold, ruthless but charismatic "hard school style". Before he set foot on the land of Europe, under the hype of the media, Pershing's "American-flavored Prussian" military style had already fascinated the whole of Europe, and in 1917, the first thing general Pershing did after arriving in Paris was very "literary style": the mausoleum of the Marquis de Lafayette. In front of the mausoleum of the Marquis of Lafayette, he famously said: "Lafayette, here we come". A simple sentence, meaningful... There are stories of the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolution, and the story of the United States' "Taoguang and Obscurity for more than a hundred years". In 1776, Lafayette came to the United States to help the United States in the War of Independence, and 141 years later, the American army came to France as the "savior" to fight alongside the French army and save the "old world" that gave birth to American civilization. Of course, just saying a few words that are full of "literary style" is not enough to make Pershing an American "god", and "god" can only be recognized by showing "miracles" after all. Fortunately, Pershing has both such an opportunity and such an ability. The United States was already the world's largest power in the world. But the United States was not yet a military power, and before World War I, the standing army of the United States was only 27,000 people. What Pershing brought to Europe at this time, in addition to a few capable officers, such as MacArthur, George Patton, and Marshall, was actually a group of "ragtag people" who had neither weapons nor combat experience. So after coming to Europe, Pershing did not immediately enter the battle, he had to train the American army strictly, because the American soldiers had never participated in such a super-large-scale war, and these German soldiers armed to the teeth were ten thousand times more difficult to deal with than the "Mexican thieves"! So Pershing sent all of his right-hand men to learn how to fight this "fashionable" war—how to maneuver modern artillery, how to operate military aircraft, how to fiddle with tanks.
At the same time, Pershing's training methods were extremely harsh, requiring his soldiers to be perfect and invincible, and to pay great attention to military appearance like himself, so American soldiers called their generals "fierce black jacks" behind their backs. Pre-war preparations were almost done, Pershing commanded the U.S. troops to rush to the front, by this time more than 2 million U.S. troops came to Europe, and rearmament with the most modern European weapons, which is an armed force unprecedented in The history of the United States, and it is Pershing who commands this force. In the Battle of Saint-Mière in September 1918, Pershing commanded 550,000 American troops and 110,000 French troops, supported by tanks, to launch a fierce attack on the German salient of Saint-Mière, in which Pershing destroyed more than 5,000 German troops, captured 16,000 people, and captured 450 artillery pieces. After pershing won successive victories, and finally won the final victory of the First World War together with Britain and France, Germany was forced to sign an armistice! However, Pershing did not approve of the so-called "armistice", and he hoped to continue to beat Germany until it was unconditionally surrendered, which undoubtedly added color to Pershing's tough guy image...
"Black Jack" Pershing led an unprecedentedly powerful U.S. army to win a war, which means that the Americans returned to their birthplace through Pershing, which is also the largest overseas dispatch in the history of the U.S. military at this time, so Pershing has an incomparable lofty status in the minds of ordinary Americans. In addition, Pershing's biggest advantage is seniority, the follow-up MacArthur, Marshall, Patton, Eshower and Bradley are all found and selected by Pershing, the U.S. military is also about seniority, his wave of people before and after MacArthur, Marshall and Eisenhower became the chief of staff of the U.S. Army, Bradley once served as the chairman of the U.S. Military Joint Conference, the small but famous George Barton was deeply loved by the American people, and MacArthur also served as the president of the West Point Military Academy, and Eisenhower was the last to enter the White House This is basically very rare in the history of a country. These later famous figures were emotionally respectful to their old superiors and mentors, and in fact, in each of them, they could find pershing's shadow to a greater or lesser extent, and this, in turn, further deepened Pershing's prestige in civilian, political and military circles - at this point, all the conditions for becoming an "American god" were met.
"Becoming a God"
Thus, in September 1919, when Pershing was awarded the honorary rank of "general of the armies" by the U.S. Congress (this rank was originally intended for Washington in 1799, there is no uniform translation, and the country sometimes translates to "Army Grand Admiral"), a "God of America" was born. In fact, there is a good reason why we regard receiving this honorary rank as Pershing's "canonization ceremony". The official U.S. interpretation of Pershing's rank is that "general of the armies" is the highest rank in the U.S. military, higher than other army ranks. So much so that in the decree that later created the "five-star general", a special provision was stipulated, which did not affect the status of "general of the armies". More importantly, Pershing is the only American general in the United States to receive this title before his death, and even washington himself was awarded an equivalent rank with higher qualifications after the U.S. Congress passed the Retrospective Congressional Act in 1976, which is enough to explain everything...
Finally, let's conclude this short article with an anecdote. As a living "god" who was put on the altar, the story of Pershing's great prestige in the MILITARY and political circles in the United States can be counted as Pershing's "intervention" in Marshall's appointment in 1943 during World War II. As mentioned earlier, Marshall was Pershing's old subordinate, and the two knew each other from the beginning of the First World War. In June 1917, Marshall set foot on French territory with the U.S. Army's First Division as a staff officer. Once, the headquarters of the Expeditionary Force issued a notice asking the First Division to conduct a military exercise, saying that the commander-in-chief, General Pershing, would personally inspect it. When the notice was given, neither Division Commander Seibert nor division chief of staff were present, so Marshall, acting chief of staff, designed and directed the exercise. After Reading the exercise, Pershing asked Commander Seibert to make a comment, and Seibert rushed back to the division headquarters almost at the same time as General Pershing, but he made a random speech, and the chief of staff's comments were not satisfactory, and General Pershing was greatly displeased and criticized Seibert fiercely. Marshall felt that Pershing's criticism was unfair, because he designed and directed the exercise, and he should be brave enough to stand up and explain the truth of the matter. But Marshall was only a captain officer, and he was not qualified to speak on such occasions at all, but the sense of justice made him overwhelmed by this, and he plucked up the courage to explain everything to General Pershing. Pershing did not know the captain in front of him who was talking to him, he looked at Marshall sternly, and all the generals and colonels standing around, everyone was stunned, not knowing how General Pershing would send this captain who was ignorant of current affairs. Pershing said coldly, "You should know that I have a lot of trouble right now." Marshall took Pershing's words and said, "Yes General, but we have some trouble every day, and we solve it before we go to bed that day." Seibert thanked Marshall deeply, but he, like the officers and men of the division, was worried that Marshall would be dismissed for confronting Pershing. But in the end, the result was dramatic, and Marshall was blessed.
Pershing admired Marshall's courage, integrity, and courage to take responsibility, so he quietly transferred Marshall's file, and then used the opportunity of the first division tour to talk to Marshall once, and then promoted Marshall to major and transferred to his side, and Marshall began to rise in the military circles. Both Pershing and Marshal Foch of France were amazed by Marshall's ability to do a good job, and his logistical organization management and staff work became a model for the American army, studied and cited by people. After the war, in the context of the massive reduction of the US Army, Marshall was difficult to promote, and it was Pershing's active recommendation that allowed Marshall to surpass a bunch of brigadier generals and major generals of prestige and seniority as chiefs of staff in the late 1930s, and was awarded the rank of permanent major general and temporary four-star general. It is precisely because Pershing has the grace of knowing Marshall that Marshall has been respectful to Pershing all his life, and at the same time holds the dual feelings of the old chief and his father. During World War II, Marshall's twice refused the rank of "Marshal" in 1943, largely because he did not want to surpass his mentor Pershing in his rank, and the highly respected "American God" was groaning on the sickbed of the Us Army Reed Hospital. Once, when Marshall went to visit his old boss at the Army Hospital, Pershing told Marshall that one day, Marshall would be like him and become a "special general in the U.S. Army." Marshall told General Pershing that there was only one Pershing in American history, and no one could surpass him in rank. This heartfelt conversation almost brought tears to General Pershing on his sickbed.
Soon, on the question of whether Marshall would be the supreme commander of the "Overlord" campaign, a storm was caused in the United States. Both Churchill and Stalin felt that Marshall was the most suitable candidate, but there were different opinions in the United States. President Roosevelt felt that Marshall should be given a chance to command the largest battle of the Anglo-American coalition in World War II, and he had already made a significant contribution to the country, and it would be unfair to Marshall not to give him such an opportunity to make a career on the battlefield. Of course, Marshall was more than willing to go, but he was not sure whether he would be able to play the role of a commanding officer rather than a staff officer. However, except for Secretary Stimson who strongly recommended Marshall to be the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, the other three members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff did not want Marshall to leave, fearing that the new Chief of Staff of the Army would be difficult to get along with. Some lawmakers and public opinion accused Roosevelt of moving Marshall away from Washington because he was jealous of Marshall's talent and prestige, but Roosevelt's determination seemed firm. In this case, Pershing, knowing full well that Marshall's talent lay in staff rather than in combat command, took the shot, and Pershing, who was ill, wrote a letter to Roosevelt. He said he was deeply disturbed to transfer Marshall to Britain to command the operations. Because the United States is fighting a global war that is far away, it needs the most talented people to be the chief of staff in order to implement strategic guidance wisely. He agreed with the military's insightful that no matter who holds the post of chief of staff, it is impossible to match Marshall's, so "I am convinced that marshall's transfer from Washington would be a fundamental and very serious mistake in our military policy." Because of General Pershing's great prestige, President Roosevelt attached great importance to the letter, not only respectfully returned a sincere letter to the old general, but also finally adopted General Pershing's suggestion, leaving Marshall in Washington and sending Eisenhower to Europe instead. Despite the fact that the wind and candle are in their prime, the influence of this "American god of war" is still visible.