Photo By Lori Stewart | General Pershing (front row, center) and his staff in France. Col. Dennis Nolan is in...... read more read more
by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
28 MAY 1917
On 28 May 1917, General John J. Pershing, commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF), sailed to Europe aboard the British steamship Baltic to prepare for American involvement in the Great War. One of the 190 men accompanying General Pershing was Maj. (later Maj. Gen.) Dennis E. Nolan, whom Pershing had chosen to lead his intelligence organization.
When General Pershing took command of the AEF in early May 1917, he carefully considered candidates for his general staff positions, including what would be the Army’s first G-2. At the time, Major Nolan was nearing the end of an assignment that had him preparing products the War Department General Staff used for planning and mobilization purposes. It was the first intelligence-related position held by the 45-year-old infantryman and 1896 U.S. Military Academy graduate. Nolan’s previous assignments included service in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, command of a squadron of the 11th U.S. Volunteer Cavalry during the Philippine Insurrection, instructor of law and history at West Point, and director of Southern Luzon in the Philippines.
Although the two officers had first met while serving in the Philippines, Nolan was hardly anticipating a position on Pershing’s staff. Consequently, he described himself as “surprised and delighted” when he learned of his appointment as the AEF G-2. Two weeks later, on 28 May, he boarded the Baltic with Pershing and the rest of his general staff for the two-week transoceanic voyage to London and then on to Paris.
In France, Nolan divided his G-2 Section headquarters into four divisions. The Military Information Division produced finished intelligence reports and studies from multiple sources. It also had a radio intelligence element for cryptanalysis. The Secret Service Division supervised undercover collection and counterintelligence operations and included members of the Corps of Intelligence Police, the Army’s first permanent CI organization. [See "This Week in MI History" #2 13 August 1917] Nolan’s Topographic, Map Supply, and Sound and Flash Ranging Division had a wide variety of responsibilities that included coordinating the activities of the 29th Engineers who manned the AEF’s large map printing facility. Finally, the Censorship and Press Division conducted the named activities and also manned the AEF’s propaganda program and supervised the publication of the Stars and Stripes. [See "This Week in MI History" #78 8 February 1918]
While Nolan oversaw nearly 350 personnel in his headquarters, his divisions, especially the Military Information Division, depended on the intelligence officers appointed throughout the AEF’s tactical units. Tactical intelligence sections pushed intelligence up through higher headquarters to Nolan’s G-2 Section, which also pushed intelligence down to give lower echelons a broad picture of the enemy’s situation. The tactical units collected from a variety of sources at different echelons. These included traditional methods of patrolling, observation, prisoner interrogation, and document translation, but also newer sources like aerial observation, photographic interpretation, sound and flash ranging, and radio intelligence.
During the war, Nolan was promoted to brigadier general and received a Distinguished Service Cross for his ten-day command of the 55th Infantry Brigade, 28th Division, near Apremont, France. It was his leadership of the AEF G-2 Section, however, that brought him praise from the Army’s most senior leaders. Pershing awarded Nolan the Distinguished Service Medal, declaring “no army was better served by its intelligence bureau than our own.” Secretary of War Newton D. Baker also commended “the fidelity and intelligence with which General Nolan supplied [Pershing] eyes to penetrate the fog which clouds military actions.”
Later in his career, Nolan served as the War Department’s assistant chief of staff, G-2 [see "This Week in MI History" #3 20 August 1920 and #70 20 December 1920], and eventually retired as a major general in 1936, ending a forty-year military career.
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| Date Taken: | 05.29.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.30.2023 11:04 |
| Story ID: | 445752 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 38 |
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