As the Army expanded during its wartime mobilization, Cronkhite was appointed to command the 80th Division, an organization created with draftees from Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. He organized and trained the division at Camp Lee, Virginia, and led it to France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces. He remained in command during the division's 1918 combat operations, including the First Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.