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Contact Info
Home Town Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
Last Address Winter Park, Florida
Date of Passing Aug 01, 1967
Location of Interment Arlington National Cemetery (VLM) - Arlington, Virginia
From Arlington National Cemetery: Lewis Hyde Brereton Lieutenant General, United States Air Force LIEUTENANT GENERAL LEWIS H. BRERETON Retired Sept. 1, 1948, Died August 1, 1967 Lewis Hyde Brereton was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1890. He attended St. John's College, Annapolis, Maryland; entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1907, and graduated in June 1911. He resigned as an ensign, and was appointed a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps of the Regular Army on August 17, 1911. After a year's service in the Coast Artillery Corps, he was detailed in September 1912 to the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, and received flying training at the Signal Corps Aviation School at San Diego, California, qualifying as a military aviator on March 27, 1913. In July 1916, he was transferred to the Second Field Artillery, while serving in the Philippines. He was re-detailed to the Signal Corps, and assigned to duty with the Second Aero Squadron in the Philippine Islands in January 1917. Returning to the United States in March 1917, he was assigned to duty in Washington, D.C., in the Office of the Aviation Section as chief signal officer. He went overseas in October 1917, and the following March was placed in command of the 12th Aero Squadron, one of the first American flying units on the front. During this time he carried out extensive operations in both the Toul and Luneville sectors. He took part in the attack at Vaux in July 1918, and on July 5 became chief of aviation, First Army Corps. He took command of the Corps Observation Wing immediately preceding the St. Mihiel operations, and in October 1918, became operations officer on the staff of the chief of Air Service of the American Expeditionary Forces. He continued in this capacity until the cessation of hostilities, when he was appointed chief of staff, Headquarters Air Service of the Third Army. Upon his return to the United States in February 1919, he was on duty in the Office of the Director of Air Service in Washington as chief of the Operations Division, Training and Operations Group, until December 1919, when he returned to France for duty as air attache at the American Embassy in Paris. In August 1922, he was assigned to Kelly Field, Texas, where he served successively as commanding officer of the Tenth School Group; assistant commandant of the Advanced Flying School; director of attack training, and president of the board on attack aviation. In September 1924, he assumed his duties as instructor at the Air Corps Tactical School at Langley Field, Va., and in June of the following year became commanding officer of the Second Bombardment Group at Langley Field. In August 1927 he entered the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, from which he graduated the following June. He was then appointed commanding officer of the 88th Observation Squadron at Post Field, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and Air Service instructor at the Field Artillery School. Ordered to duty in Panama in August 1931, he became commanding officer of France Field and the Sixth Composite Group, commanding officer of the Panama Air Depot and air officer of the Panama Canal Department successively. In July 1935, he became an instructor at the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and served as such until June 1959. From July 1939 to October 1940, he was on duty at Barksdale Field, Louisiana, as base commander, and then was assigned to command the 17th Bombardment Wing, General Headquarters Air Force, with station at Savannah, Georgia. In July 1941, he was assigned to command the Third Air Force at Tampa, Florida. Upon the outbreak of World War II, he commanded the Far East Air Force in the Philippines Islands. In January 1942, he was designated air commander-in-chief of the Allied Air Forces on the staff of General Wavell, with station in Java, in addition to his duties as commander of the Fifth Air Force. He organized and commanded the Tenth Air Force in India in March 1942. In June he was designated commander of the Middle East Air Force, later designated the Ninth Air Force. He assumed command of the U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East in February 1945, in addition to his other duties. In October 1943, he relinquished this command serving thereafter as commanding general of the Ninth Air Force in the European theater of operations. In August 1944, he was assigned to command the First Allied Airborne Army and served in the European theater of operations until the capitulation of Germany in May 1945. He then returned to the United States for assignment to Air Force headquarters at Washington, and in July 1945, was assigned to command the Third Air Force at Tampa, Florida. In January 1946, he was named commanding general of the First Air Force at Mitchel Field, New York. The following month he was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of War at Washington. In July 1947, he was relieved from duty with the Office of the Secretary of War, and assigned to the Military Liaison Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington. He returned to Air Force headquarters in June 1948, to become secretary general of the Air Board. For conspicuous overseas service in World War I, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Purple Heart. He received the Croix de Guerre with two palms from the French Government, which further rewarded him by making him an Officer of the Legion of Honor. Other honors conferred upon him were Commander, First Class, Order of Danilo I, awarded by the Montenegrin Government, and the award of Chevalier, Order of Albert of Belgium; the Victor Medal with six stars, Army of Occupation. During World War II, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal and the Bronze Star Medal. His World War II foreign decorations include the Order of Orange and Nassau Commander Cross by the Netherlands Government (December 1942); the Order of Companion of the Bath by the British Government (June 1942); the Legion of Honor, Rank of Commander, and Croix de Guerre with Palm by the French Government (January 1945); and the Order of Polonia Restituta Commander Cross with Star by the Polish Government (May 1945). A 1911 graduate of the Naval Academy, when Japan attacked in the Pacific in December 1941, he was commander of U.S. Far East Air Forces, based in the Philippines. What had been described as a breakdown in communications with MacArthur's Headquarters enabled the enemy to catch Brereton's Luzon-based B-17s on the ground and the bulk of his force was destroyed. After serving in the defense of the Philippines, he assumed command of the Middle East Air Forces, which later became the 9th Air Force. Acheiving the rank of Lieutenant General in April 1944, he commanded the 9th when it raided Ploesti, Rummania, and remained with it until August 1944, at which time he took over the 1st Allied Airborne Army. He is buried in Section 7 of Arlington National Cemetery. BRERETON, LEWIS HYDE Major (Air Service), U.S. Army Pilot, Corps Observation Wing, Air Service, A.E.F. Date of Action: September 12, 1918 General Orders No. 15, W.D., 1919 Citation: The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Lewis Hyde Brereton, Major (Air Service), U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action over Thiaucourt, France, September 12, 1918. Major Brereton, together with an observer, voluntarily and pursuant to a request for special mission, left his airdrome, crossed the enemy lines over Lironville, and proceeded to Thiaucourt. In spite of poor visibility, which forced them to fly at a very low altitude, and in spite of intense and accurate antiaircraft fire they maintained their flight along their course and obtained valuable information. Over Thiaucourt they were suddenly attacked by four enemy monoplane Fokkers. Maneuvering his machine so that is observer could obtain a good field of fire, he entered into combat. His observer's guns becoming jammed, he withdrew until the jam was cleared, when he returned to the combat. His observer then becoming wounded, he coolly made a landing within friendly lines, although followed down by the enemy to within 25 meters of the ground. By this act he made himself an inspiration and example to all the members of his command.
World War I/Meuse-Argonne Campaign
From Month/Year
September / 1918
To Month/Year
November / 1918
Description Meuse-Argonne, 26 September - 11 November 1918. At the end of August Marshal Foch had submitted plane to the national commanders for a final offensive along the entire Western Front, with the objective of driving the enemy out of France before winter and ending the war in the spring of 1919. The basis for his optimism was the success of Allied attacks all along the front in August. Furthermore, he pointed out, the Allies already had active operations in progress between the Moselle and Meuse, the Oise and Aisne, and on the Somme and Lys Rivers. Foch acknowledged that the Germans could stave off immediate defeat by an orderly evacuation combined with destruction of materiel and communications. Therefore the overall aim of the fall offensive would be to prevent a step-by-step enemy retirement. As Foch anticipated, the Germans eventually contributed to the success of his strategy. Their High Command could not bring itself to sacrifice the huge stores collected behind the front lines, and so delayed the withdrawal of its armies.
Foch's great offensive, planned to begin in the last week of September, called for a gigantic pincers movement with the objective of capturing Aulnoye and Mézières, the two key junctions in the lateral rail system behind the German front. Lose of either of these junctions would hamper seriously the German withdrawal. Despite grumbling from the English that they lacked the necessary manpower, a chiefly British army was assigned the teak of driving toward Aulnoye. The A.E.F. was designated for the southern arm of the pincers, the thrust on Mézières. Simultaneously the Belgian-French-British army group in Flanders would drive toward Ghent, and the French armies in the Oise-Aisne region would exert pressure all along their front to lend support to the pincers attack.
Pershing decided to strike his heaviest blow in a zone about 20 miles wide between the Heights of the Meuse on the east and the western edge of the high, rough, and densely wooded Argonne Forest. This is difficult terrain, broken by a central north-south ridge that dominates the valleys of the Meuse and Aire Rivers. Three heavily fortified places-Montfaucon, Cunel, and Barricourt-as well as numerous strong points barred the way to penetration of the elaborate German defenses in depth that extended behind the entire front. This fortified system consisted of three main defense lines backed up by a fourth line less well-constructed. Pershing hoped to launch an attack with enough momentum to drive through these lines into the open area beyond, where his troops could then strike at the exposed German flanks and, in a coordinated drive with the French Fourth Army coming up on the left, could cut the Sedan- Mézières railroad.
The task of assembling troops in the concentration area between Verdun and the Argonne was complicated by the fact that many American unite were currently engaged in the St. Mihiel battle. Some 600,000 Americans had to be moved into the Argonne sector while 220,000 French moved out. Responsibility for solving this tricky logistical problem fell to Col. George C. Marshall, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3 (Operations), First Army. In the ten-day period after St. Mihiel the necessary troop movements were accomplished, but many untried divisions had to be placed in the vanguard of the attacking forces.
On the 20-mile Meuse-Argonne front where the main American attack w to be made, Pershing disposed three corps side by side, each with three divisions in line and one in corps reserve. In the center was the V Corps (from right to left the 79th, 37th, and 91st Divisions with the 32d in reserve), which would strike the decisive blow. On the right was the III Corps (from right to left the 33d, 80th, and 4th Divisions with the 3d in reserve), which would move up the west aide of the Meuse. On the left was the I Corps (from right to left the 35th, 28th, and 77th Divisions with the 92d in reserve), which would advance parallel to the French Fourth Army on its left. Eastward across the Meuse the American front extended in direct line some 60 miles; this sector was held by two French Corps (IV and II Colonial) and the American IV Corps in the St. Mihiel sector. Pershing had available to support his offensive nearly 4000 guns, two-thirds manned by American artillerymen; 190 light French tanks, mostly with American personnel; and some 820 aircraft, 600 of them flown by Americans.
The Meuse-Argonne Offensive falls into three phases. During the initial phase (26 September-3-October) the First Army advanced through most of the southern Meuse-Argonne region, captured enemy strong points, seized the first two German defense lines, and then stalled before the third line. Failure of tank support, a difficult supply situation, and the inexperience of American troops all contributed to checking its advance.
In the second phase (4-31 October) the First Army, after the inexperienced divisions had been replaced by veteran units, slowly ground its way through the third German line. The enemy was forced to throw in reserves, drawn from other parts of the front, thus aiding the Allied advances elsewhere. In the face of a stubborn defense, American gains were limited and casualties were severe, especially as a result of the newly devised enemy tactic of attacking frontline troops with airplanes. First Army air unite retaliated with bombing raids which broke up German preparations for counterattacks. By the end of October the enemy had been cleared from the Argonne and First Army troops were through the German main positions. Two notable incidents of this phase of the campaign were the fight of the "Lost Battalion" of the 77th Division (2-7 October), and the feat of Corp. (later Sgt.) Alvin C. York, who single-handedly killed 15 Germans and captured 132 on 8 October.
In mid-October the organization of the Second Army was completed, at Toul in the St. Mihiel sector, to provide means for better control of the lengthening American front and solutions of the diverse tactical problems that it presented. Pershing assumed command of the new army group thus formed.
Before the third and final phase (1-11 November) of the offensive got under way, many of the exhausted divisions of the First Army were replaced, roads were built or repaired, supply was improved, and most Allied units serving with the A.E.F. were withdrawn. On 1 November First Army units began the assault of the now strengthened German fourth line of defense. Penetration was rapid and spectacular. The V Corps in the center advanced about six miles the first day, compelling the German units west of the Meuse to withdraw hurriedly. On 4 November the III Corps forced a crossing of the Meuse and advanced northeast toward Montmédy. Elements of the V Corps occupied the heights opposite Sedan on 7 November, thus finally accomplishing the First Army's chief mission-denial of the Sedan- Mézières railroad to the Germans. Marshal Foch, at this juncture, shifted the First Army left boundary eastward so that the French Fourth Army might capture Sedan, which had fallen to the Prussians in 1870. American units were closing up along the Mouse and, east of the river, were advancing toward Montmédy, Briny, and Metz, when hostilities ended on 11 November.
General Pershing authorized the results of the Meuse-Argonne Campaign, the greatest battle in American history up to that time, in his Final Report: "Between September 26 and November 11, 22 American and 4 French divisions, on the front extending from southeast of Verdun to the Argonne Forest, had engaged and decisively beaten 47 different German divisions, representing 25 percent of the enemy's entire divisional strength on the western front.
The First Army suffered a loss of about 117,000 in killed and wounded. It captured 26,000 prisoners, 847 cannon, 3,000 machineguns, and large quantities of material." More than 1,200,000 Americans had taken part in the 47-day campaign.
