The War Department received reports on May 21 which showed that the
first of the field armies had been organized and was in service in
France. The army, composed of two army corps, each made up of one
regular army, one National Guard, and one National Army division, was
placed under the temporary command of Major Gen. Hunter Liggett, the
senior Major General then in foreign service. General Liggett was
selected to command the first army corps organized in France, and
this corps, with that temporarily commanded by Major Gen. Charles T.
Menoher, made up the first field army, the total strength of which
was almost 200,000 men. By June 14 the American forces in France had
become so numerous that General Foch had informed General Pershing
that it was desirable to maintain them as purely American units. This
fact was communicated to the House Military Affairs Committee by the
War Council at Washington. In accordance with this policy two full
American divisions were engaged in the fighting in the Château-Thierry
sector. The Secretary of War told the committee that General Foch was
gradually decreasing the number of Americans brigaded with the French
and British, and thereby increasing the American unit.
Official announcements made at Washington showed that approximately
half a million soldiers had landed in France since the German drive
began on March 21, 1918, and that Americans held no more than fifty
miles of the whole western front. One element of Pershing's mobile
forces, by direction of General Foch, guarded the way at the apex of
the whole German wedge near Montdidier. Cantigny, which was captured
by these forces, was very close to the point of maximum penetration
achieved by the enemy after nearly three months of desperate fighting.
The total casualties sustained by the American Expeditionary Forces
from the beginning of American participation in the war up to June 17,
1918, is shown in the following figures issued by the War Department at
Washington:
Deaths. Total.
Killed in action 881
Lost at sea 291
Died of wounds 364
Accident and other causes 422
Died of disease 1,234
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Total deaths 3,192
Wounded 4,547
Missing, including prisoners 346
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Grand total 8,085