The first party of American Engineers to arrive on the British front, 1917 (b/w photo)

‘We mean business, believe me’. The first party of American Engineers to arrive on the British front, 1917. Photograph, World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), 1917. Major-General John Pershing’s American Expeditionary Force (AEF) began arriving in France during the second half of 1917 and by May 1918 there were around half a million American soldiers present. They played a key role in resisting the German Spring offensive on the Western Front and took part in the subsequent Allied counter-offensive. By the end of the war the AEF had suffered around 360,000 casualties, including 116,000 dead. From an album of 54 photographs that belonged to Mr Herbert Cawthorne who served with a Canadian regiment during World War One.