page_title: John J. Pershing
section_title: Pancho Villa and Mexico
hierarchical_section_title: John J. Pershing / Pancho Villa and Mexico
caption_attribution_description: English: Generals Obregon, Villa and Pershing meet at Ft Bliss, TX (1). Immediately behind Pershing on the left is his aide Lt. George S. Patton. Español: Los generales Obregón, Villa y Pershing en Fort Bliss, TX
context_page_description: General of the Armies John Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing GCB was a senior United States Army officer. He served most famously as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front in World War I, 1917–18.
  Pershing rejected British and French demands that American forces be integrated with their armies, and insisted that the AEF would operate as a single unit under his command, although some American divisions fought under British command, and he also allowed all-black units to be integrated with the French army.
  Pershing's soldiers first saw serious battle at Cantigny, Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Soissons. 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.
context_section_description: On December 20, 1913, Pershing received orders to take command of the 8th Brigade at the Presidio in San Francisco. With tensions running high on the border between the United States and Mexico, the brigade was deployed to Fort Bliss, Texas on April 24, 1914, arriving there on the 27th.
caption: Generals Obregón, Villa, and Pershing, August 1914. A year later, Pershing's wife and three of his children died, and Villa sent him condolences. Six months later, Pershing chased Villa in Mexico.
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