A panoramic look at how US troops prepared for World War I

In a section of the National Archives dedicated to historic panoramic photos, there’s an odd selection of wide images that show the troops and trainees who would soon deploy to France as America joined World War I. (Panoramics are obviously wide photos, so you may need to turn your device sideways and/or zoom in to see all the detail in the photos.)

Our first entry shows soldiers of the 331st Machine Gun Battalion performing exercises at Camp Grant in Rockford, Illinois. Army physical training was overhauled with the publication of the new U.S. Army Manual of Physical Training in 1914 which emphasized four pillars: general health and bodily vigor; muscular strength and endurance; self-reliance; and smartness, activity, and precision.

This photo shows engineers of the 109th Engineers in June 1918 as they trained at Gila Forest Camp, New Mexico. It’s unlikely the men made it to France in time for the fighting, but training like this allowed U.S. forces to overcome the trench works and other defenses of Germany as they pushed east and liberated France.

Company H of the 347th Infantry pose in Camp Dix, New Jersey, in January 1919. During the war, men like this rotated into position on the lines or, during major offensives, were sent against German defenders en masse, hitting machine-gun nests with grenades and bodies to ensure victory. After the war, they were sent into Germany as an army of occupation to ensure the terms of the armistice and the peace treaty were followed.

Read the entire article on the We Are The Mighty web site here:

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