These Forgotten American “Doughboys” Fought for the British in WWI

In a surprise attack on the Germans during the Battle of Hamel, the Doughboys performed fairly well.

Prior to the United States of America’s official entry into World War I, a considerable number of Americans volunteered for fighting service in either the British Commonwealth or French forces; the Lafayette Escadrille is a prime example of the latter.

However, it’s not particularly well-known that even after the United States officially joined the war effort, some U.S. Army units still served under Commonwealth command. In order to preserve the memory of these relatively forgotten “doughboys,” in 2008 Mitchell A. Yockelson wrote the book Borrowed Soldiers: Americans under British Command, 1918 (published by the University of Oklahoma Press).

On April 10, 2025, Yockelson discussed this book as the guest speaker of the Returned & Services League (RSL) of Australia, Washington Sub-Branch at the Embassy of Australia in Washington, DC.

Mitchell A. “Mitch” Yockelson Mini-Bio and Book Description

Mitch earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Frostburg State University in 1984. From there, he earned his master’s degree in history from George Mason University and his Ph.D. in military history from the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University. He has authored four other books and currently resides in Annapolis, Maryland, and works as an investigative archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Regarding Borrowed Soldiers, the foreword was written by the late John S.D. Eisenhower, the son of Dwight D. Eisenhower and the author of the excellent 2001 book Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I. The Amazon book description for Borrowed Soldiers reads in part:

“Mitchell A. Yockelson delivers a comprehensive study of the first time American and British soldiers fought together as a coalition force—more than twenty years before D-Day. He follows the two divisions that constituted II Corps, the 27th and 30th [Divisions], from the training camps of South Carolina to the bloody battlefields of Europe. Despite cultural differences, General Pershing’s misgivings, and the contrast between American eagerness and British exhaustion, the untested Yanks benefited from the experience of battle-toughened Tommies. Their combined forces contributed much to the Allied victory.”

Yockelson’s Main Presentation

RSL program chair Mario Mirarchi (himself the grandson of a doughboy) introduced Yockelson. During his opening remarks, Mitch stated:

“I decided late in life, in my late 40s, I wanted to do a Ph. D … and the person I was working for [at NARA], we sat down and talked some ideas. He said, ‘There’s a unique experience in 1918 of two American Army divisions that trained & fought with the British and British Imperial Forces during World War I. Nobody’s really dived much on this. That might be a topic.’ And the reason he came up with is: I decided to do my Ph. D in the UK. The reason I decided to do it in the UK is they were receptive to so-called ‘mature students’ [audience laughter]. In other words, they were going to allow me to do my Ph. D long-distance and to be able to keep my great job at the National Archives.”

Spatial limitations prevent me from being able to present the full breadth of the fascinating information that Yockelson conveyed from there, so I shall try to at least hit upon the points that stood out to me:

• Ypres/Flanders was where many American troops got their first taste of WWI combat.
• The doughboys hated British chow (not to mention drinking tea instead of coffee). They got along better with the Australians, who were more relaxed about rules and regulations such as saluting, uniform wear standards, etc. Meanwhile, the Aussies loved the Americans’ “cowboy” image and mythos.
• General Sir John Monash, who commanded the who commanded the Australian Corps, was Jewish, a rarity in the Commonwealth officer corps in that era.
• The Battle of Hamel on July 4, 1918 (America’s Independence Day, appropriately enough, was the first joint U.S.-Australian operation. In this surprise attack on the Germans, the Yanks performed fairly well.
• During the September 1918 assault on the Hindenburg Line, the 27th Division participated because of a lack of British manpower. Initially, the Yanks fared well, then ran afoul of the German fortifications. To make matters worse, the doughboys and the Aussies got “bunched up” in an effort to leap each other. However, on September 29, the Allies finally broke through the Hindenburg Line, as many of the Kaiser’s troops were only too happy to surrender after being worn down by four years’ worth of fighting.
• Many of the 27th and 30th’s killed in action were buried at the Somme American Cemetery and Memorial in Bony, France. This war marked the first use of dog tags by the U.S. Army, as well as the initial inspiration for the Gold Star Mothers.

Event Q&A Session

During the Q&A session, I asked Mitch about the veracity of firsthand accounts written by American expatriates in the Commonwealth forces, such as the classic sniper autobiography A Rifleman Went to War by Herbert W. McBride. Yockelson responded that he hadn’t yet read that particular book, but added this about similar books:

“They were, and they remain, pretty accurate. It’s their personal account. So, keeping in mind that they only know a small portion of what’s going on in the war. So they can’t tell you everything, they don’t know the commanding officers, what instructions they have, and what instructions they’re passing down, But I think, from a unique perspective, and you see this in other accounts of other wars like the American Civil War, where they didn’t know what [Gen. Ulysses S.] Grant was actually thinking, and so forth. But I would say it’s a reliable source.”

About the Author: Christian D. Orr

Christian D. Orr was previously a Senior Defense Editor for National Security Journal (NSJ) and 19FortyFive. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch, The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, and Simple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of the Naval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at the Old Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC) lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.

Image: Wikipedia.