Mitchell Yockelson Transcripts.pdf

Mitchell Yockelson, Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing's Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I

Forty-Seven Days recounts the critical time in 1918 when the U.S. military proved itself to be more than worthy opponents to the Germans, and General Pershing a worldwide hero. Told from the perspective of Pershing and his replacement, General Liggett, and featuring some of our greatest personalities of the 20th century—MacArthur, Patton, Truman, George C. Marshall—Yockelson’s masterful telling is a critical look at how an untested group of American soldiers, and one exemplary leader, helped bring WWI to a close. Sponsored by the World War One Centennial Commission.

The Battle of the Meuse-Argonne stands as the deadliest clash in American history: More than a million untested American soldiers went up against a better-trained and -experienced German army, costing more 26,000 deaths and leaving nearly 100,000 wounded. Yet in 47 days of intense combat, those Americans pushed back the enemy and forced the Germans to surrender, bringing the First World War to an end—a feat the British and the French had not achieved after more than three years of fighting.

In Forty-Seven Days, historian Mitchell Yockelson tells how General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing’s exemplary leadership led to the unlikeliest of victories. Appointed commander of the American Expeditionary Forces by President Wilson, Pershing personally took command of the U.S. First Army until supplies ran low and the fighting ground to a stalemate.

Refusing to admit defeat, Pershing stepped aside and placed gutsy Lieutenant General Hunter Liggett in charge. While Pershing retained command, Liggett reorganized his new unit, resting and resupplying his men while instilling a confidence in the doughboys that drove them out of the trenches and across no-man’s-land.

Also explored are a cast of remarkable individuals, including America’s original fighter ace, Eddie Rickenbacker; Corporal Alvin York, a pacifist who nevertheless single-handedly killed more than 20 Germans and captured 132; artillery officer and future president Harry S. Truman; innovative tank commander George S. Patton; and Douglas MacArthur, the Great War’s most decorated soldier, who would command the American Army in the Pacific War and in Korea. 

Offering an abundance of new details and insight, Forty-Seven Days is the definitive account of the First Army’s hard-fought victory in World War I—and the revealing tale of how our military came of age in its most devastating battle. 

*Book description courtesy of NAL

MITCHELL YOCKELSON is recipient of the Army Historical Foundation’s Distinguished Writing Award, is an investigative archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, as well as a former professor of military history at the United States Naval Academy. He currently teaches at Norwich University. One of America’s foremost experts on the First World War, he holds a doctorate from the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University, in the United Kingdom.