The Story of the Great War, Volume 7: American Food and Ships

In Short

This seventh volume of a grand contemporary chronicle captures the crucial turning points of World War I between late 1917 and mid-1918. It details the exhausting, mud-soaked trench combat along the Western Front, the sudden collapse and revolutionary upheaval of Tsarist Russia, and the dramatic Austro-German drive into northern Italy. Amid these crises, the narrative shifts toward the total mobilization of the United States—focusing not only on raw military recruits, but on the massive industrial engine of food, fuel, and shipping required to sustain the Allied cause. As the German High Command launches its desperate final offensives in France, fresh American divisions enter the lines to tip the balance at Belleau Wood, Seringes, and the Marne. It stands as an immediate, highly detailed historical record written while the outcomes were still fresh.

The Story

The narrative opens along the Western Front in late 1917, where British and French forces wage a punishing war of attrition. Around Ypres, Lens, and Verdun, armies battle for scraps of devastated terrain. The French clear key observation points like Hill 304, while Haig’s troops push through relentless rains and mud toward the Bellevue Spur and Passchendaele. German forces, dug into elaborate networks of underground tunnels and reinforced cellars, counterattack with artillery, gas, and flame throwers. Every yard gained comes at a terrible cost in lives, yet Allied gunners steadily enfilade German strongholds, forcing tactical retreats along the Chemin-des-Dames.

Simultaneously, the strategic landscape shatters in the East. Imperial Russia disintegrates under the weight of political upheaval. The provisional government of Alexander Kerensky fails to hold the nation together as General Kornilov’s aborted march on Petrograd exposes deep fractures. The Bolsheviki quickly seize power, besieging the Winter Palace and issuing sweeping revolutionary decrees. Led by Lenin and Trotzky, the new regime seeks an immediate end to hostilities, initiating peace parleys at Brest-Litovsk. The Central Powers exploit Russia’s internal chaotic state, dismembering former imperial territories, recognizing an independent Ukrainian Republic to secure grain, and enforcing brutal territorial concessions. Russia's exit allows Germany to transfer vast armies westward for a decisive blow.

As Russia falls away, the conflict expands into other critical theaters. In Italy, Austro-German armies smash through the Isonzo line, triggering a disastrous Italian retreat down to the Piave River and flooding Venetian roads with fleeing soldiers and refugees. In the Middle East, British, Welsh, and Allied forces push through torrential rains and rocky terrain to outflank Ottoman positions, taking Beersheba, Hebron, and ultimately isolating and capturing the ancient city of Jerusalem. Maritime routes remain a fierce battleground as German U-boats wage unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking Allied and neutral shipping from the Irish coast to Africa, while naval raids attempt to neutralize submarine bases.

The central axis of the volume, however, is the entry of the United States into the conflict. Transforming from a neutral nation into a fully mobilized belligerent, America organizes a massive industrial and civilian effort. Training camps pop up across the country to transform raw recruits into disciplined trench fighters through intensive drill, Swedish exercises, and mock field fortifications. Simultaneously, the nation mobilizes its agriculture, fuel, and shipyards, recognizing that food and transport are as vital to victory as artillery.

The narrative reaches its climax during the spring and summer German offensives of 1918. Desperate to win before American strength fully arrives, German generals launch massive drives toward Amiens and across the Marne. American troops—initially viewed by German commanders as green and unproven—are thrown directly into the thick of battle alongside French and British veterans. At Gouzeaucourt, unarmed American engineers drop their shovels to fight with rifles; at Picardy, Belleau Wood, and Seringes, American infantry face down seasoned German units in fierce hand-to-hand combat. By shattering enemy pontoon bridges on the Marne and mounting ferocious counteroffensives, the Allied forces halt the German advance, permanently erasing the enemy salient and turning the tide of the war.

How It Unfolds

The attrition at Verdun and Ypres French troops charge through heavy artillery fire to capture Hill 304 and clear German observation posts commanding the Meuse valley. Meanwhile, British and Canadian forces struggle through torrential rain, mud, and subterranean networks of concrete bunkers around Passchendaele and Lens.

Russia falls to revolution Political instability culminates in the collapse of Kerensky’s provisional government and the Bolshevik rise to power. Lenin and Trotzky dismantle the old state structure, publish secret treaties, and open peace negotiations with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk while the empire fragments into separate republics.

Disaster on the Isonzo, triumph in Palestine Austro-German forces break the Italian lines, forcing a chaotic, retreat back to the Piave River. Farther south, British and Allied columns navigate mountain mists and mud-clogged roads to capture Jerusalem and secure the surrounding region from Ottoman control.

Mobilizing the American industrial machine The United States prepares for total war by establishing intensive sixteen-week training camps for its troops while expanding shipbuilding, fuel distribution, and food conservation. American non-combatants and engineers rapidly adapt, occasionally trading tools for rifles when caught in enemy raids.

Halting the final German offensive The German High Command throws dozens of elite divisions into a massive offensive across the Marne and Picardy in a bid to force peace. Allied forces, now heavily reinforced by fiercely aggressive American units, hold their ground, destroy enemy pontoon bridges, and push the frontline back toward Fismes.

The People

• Alexander Kerensky: The head of the Russian Provisional Government who struggles to maintain authority between military rivalries and radical uprisings, ultimately losing control of the nation during the Bolshevik revolution.
• General Kornilov: The peasant-born Russian commander whose attempted march on Petrograd and subsequent arrest deepen the political chaos, accelerating the downfall of the provisional state.
• Leon Trotzky: The lead Bolshevik negotiator at Brest-Litovsk who uses peace parleys as a platform for revolutionary propaganda, attempting to resist harsh German territorial demands without a functional army behind him.
• General Haig: The commander of the British forces on the Western Front who repeatedly launches heavy offensives in Flanders, driving his men through mud and machine-gun fire to wear down enemy positions.
• General Pétain: The French commander who orchestrates methodical counterattacks at Verdun and along the Aisne, later integrating American units into crucial defensive lines along the Marne.
• General Pershing: The leader of the American Expeditionary Forces who oversees the integration of raw American divisions into active frontline sectors in Picardy and along the Marne salient.
• Secretary Baker: The United States Secretary of War who defends the rapid deployment, equipment logistics, and training camp conditions of the expanding National Army before Congressional committees.

In Its Own Voice

"They exchanged their picks and shovels for rifles and cartridges and fought with the English. Many died thus bravely, arms in hand, before the invader."

This commendation from the French Government highlights how American civilian engineers and pioneers suddenly found themselves thrust into direct combat during the surprise attack west of Cambrai.

"The platoon, commanded by a lieutenant, was the fighting unit in trench operations, and upon the lieutenants was therefore imposed the responsibility of training less than company units in order to effect an intimate and sympathetic cooperation between officers and men..."

This description of state-side training camps reveals the shift toward small-unit tactics designed specifically to survive the deadly realities of European trench warfare.

"The fierce uproar suddenly gave place to a strange silence as man grappled with man. Only the clash of steel on steel and the groans of the stricken could be heard."

This passage captures the desperate, close-quarters combat at Seringes, where American troops closed in on Prussian positions to clear the village bayonet to bayonet.

What It's Really About

Beneath its coverage of troop movements and battlefield tactics, this text explores the total nature of modern industrial warfare. It argues that victories in the twentieth century are not secured by bravery on the frontline alone, but by a nation's entire infrastructure. The text contrasts the political and economic collapse of imperial structures—most notably the disintegration of Russia under economic ruin and social division—with the immense organizational capacity of newly mobilized societies.

The volume demonstrates how logistical factors like tonnage loss to U-boats, wheat production in the Ukraine, fuel distribution, and emergency training courses directly dictate tactical outcomes on the battlefield. It highlights the transformation of warfare into a contest of endurance, where raw materials, supply lines, and industrial output hold just as much weight as infantry tactics.

Why Read It Today

This text offers a raw, unfiltered contemporary perspective on one of history's pivotal moments. Unlike modern retrospectives written with decades of hindsight, this volume reads with the urgency of a live record, capturing how the war felt to observers in 1919 while the outcomes were still settling. Military historians and general readers alike will appreciate the meticulous detail given to lesser-known aspects of the conflict, such as the logistics of American camp training and the intricate political maneuvering during the Russian collapse.

Readers should be prepared for a dense, highly detailed journalistic style characteristic of early twentieth-century historical documentation. The narrative relies heavily on official dispatches, communiqué extracts, and military reports, which can occasionally make the pacing feel deliberate and exhaustive. However, this prose is balanced by vivid battlefield descriptions and human touches—such as soldiers carrying cherished letters, dice, and spare socks into the trenches of Picardy. It remains a fascinating artifact for anyone seeking to understand how total war reshaped global logistics, nations, and human lives.