John J. Pershing - Movies, Bio & Filmography

Meet John J. Pershing
★ Acting🎥 6 films📅 1918–1964🔥 0
Also known as: John Pershing
Born in Laclede, Missouri, États-Unis
1860-09-13 (age 87 at death)
Died 1948-07-15
John Joseph Pershing est un général des armées des États-Unis, né le 13septembre1860 dans le Missouri et mort le 15juillet1948 à l'hôpital Walter Reed à Washington, D.C.. Il est le seul général, avec George Washington (à titre posthume en 1976), à avoir obtenu le grade de General of the Armies.

Pershing fut nommé au grade de major général et les États-Unis déclarèrent la guerre le 6 avril 1917 à l'Empire allemand de Guillaume II. Quatre semaines après l'entrée en guerre des États-Unis, Pershing reçut un télégramme de son beau-père, le sénateur Warren, qui lui demandait comment il parlait le français. John répondit qu'il le parlait couramment. Quelques jours plus tard, il reçut une lettre du sénateur. Celui-ci l'informait que le secrétaire à la Guerre, Newton D. Baker, l'avait consulté au sujet du général qui devrait être envoyé en France. Un nouveau télégramme du major général Hugh L. Scott convoqua Pershing à Washington où ce dernier apprit sa nomination au commandement de l'AEF.   

Après l'armistice, Pershing, continua son projet de structuration de l'armée. En 1919, le Congrès lui décerna le titre de General of the Armies des États-Unis. Il reste à ce jour l'officier le plus haut gradé qui ait jamais servi dans l'armée des États-Unis. Son seul prédécesseur à ce grade est Washington qui l'a obtenu à titre posthume.

Un char de combat, le M26 Pershing ainsi qu'un missile balistique, le MGM-31 Pershing, ont été baptisés par l'armée américaine en son honneur.From Wikipedia
John Joseph Pershing (13 September 1860 – 15 July 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was an American army general, educator, and founder of the Pershing Rifles. He served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) during World War I from 1917 to 1920. In addition to leading the AEF to victory in World War I, Pershing served as a mentor to many in the generation of generals who led the United States Army during World War II, including George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Lesley J. McNair, George S. Patton, and Douglas MacArthur.
During his command in World War I, Pershing resisted British and French demands that American forces be integrated with their armies, essentially as replacement units, and insisted that the AEF would operate as a single unit under his command, although some American units fought under British and Australian command, notably in the Battle of Hamel and the breaching of the Hindenburg Line at St Quentin Canal, precipitating the final German collapse. Pershing also allowed (at that time segregated) American all-black units to be integrated with the French Army.
Pershing's soldiers first saw serious battle at Cantigny, Chateau-Thierry, and Belleau Wood on 1–26 June 1918, and Soissons on 18–22 July 1918. To speed up the arrival of American troops, they embarked for France leaving heavy equipment behind, and used British and French tanks, artillery, airplanes and other munitions. In September 1918 at St. Mihiel, the First Army was directly under Pershing's command; it overwhelmed the salient – the encroachment into Allied territory – that the German Army had held for three years. For the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Pershing shifted roughly 600,000 American soldiers to the heavily defended forests of the Argonne, keeping his divisions engaged in hard fighting for 47 days, alongside the French. The Allied Hundred Days Offensive, of which the Argonne fighting was part, contributed to Germany calling for an armistice. Pershing was of the opinion that the war should continue and that all of Germany should be occupied in an effort to permanently destroy German militarism.
Pershing is the only American to be promoted in his own lifetime to General of the Armies, the highest possible rank in the United States Army. Allowed to select his own insignia, Pershing chose to continue using four stars in either silver or gold. Some of his tactics have been criticized both by other commanders at the time and by modern historians. His reliance on costly frontal assaults, long after other Allied armies had abandoned such tactics, has been blamed for causing unnecessarily high American casualties.
Pershing was also criticized by some historians for his actions on the day of armistice as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force. Pershing did not approve of the armistice, and despite knowing of the imminent ceasefire, he did not tell his commanders to suspend any new offensive actions or assaults in the final few hours of the war. In total, there were nearly 11,000 casualties (3,500 American), dead, missing, or injured during 11 November, the final day of the war, which exceeded the D-Day casualty counts of June 1944.  For instance, allied casualties on the first day of the D-Day invasion were 4,414 confirmed dead. Pershing and several subordinates were later questioned by Congress; Pershing maintained that he had followed the orders of his superior, Ferdinand Foch; Congress found that no one was culpable.
Full Wikipedia article →
Web: Not available
Highest Rated Films