The AEF Training Area: Gondrecourt and Demange-aux-Eaux

When the American Expeditionary Forces began arriving in France in the summer of 1917, General Pershing established a vast training area in the rolling countryside of the Meuse department in the Lorraine region of northeastern France. The area was centered around the towns of Gondrecourt-le-Château, Neufchâteau, and Chaumont, well behind the front lines but close enough for troops to rotate in and out of the trenches.

Demange-aux-Eaux, a small village near Gondrecourt, is where Margaret Sheldon and the Salvation Army established one of their first huts in late 1917. The village hosted elements of the U.S. 1st Division (“The Big Red One”), which was the first American division to arrive in France and the first to see combat.

The training area was a world of mud, cold, marching, and drilling. American soldiers — many of whom had never been outside their home state — found themselves in a foreign land, learning trench warfare techniques from French and British veterans. Margaret’s diary entries from October through December 1917 paint a vivid picture of this period: the excitement of being in France mixed with the harsh realities of military life, homesickness, and the ever-present knowledge that the front was just miles away.

The Lorraine training area remained a major AEF hub throughout the war. Even as American forces moved to other sectors for major operations, new divisions continued to arrive and train in this region.

Location

View Demange-aux-Eaux on Google Maps | View Gondrecourt-le-Château on Google Maps

Further Reading

• Library of Congress. (n.d.). The American Expeditionary Forces. Library of Congress Digital Collections.
• First Division Museum. (n.d.). About the 1st Infantry Division. First Division Museum at Cantigny.
• National Archives. (n.d.). World War I records. National Archives and Records Administration.