The G-2 Branch
and Prisoner
Interrogation

On the right is an interesting read. Written twenty-one years after the war, journalist Thomas M. Johnson, who had covered the A.E.F. for The New York Sun, revealed all the tricks employed by the U.S Army Intelligence Service to get the most information out of every German prisoner they could get their hands on – and none of them involved breaking bones or shedding blood.

“And as for the Junker officers – eighty percent of the officers we captured told us things we wanted to know, such as where the 5th Guard Division lay in wait the first day of the Meuse-Argonne, and where the resistance line was being laid out. Many an American veteran today owes his life to blurting German prisoners.”

As a result of his sticktoitiveness, Colonel Willey Howell of the First Army’s G-2 department was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. Below is a quote from the citation:

“The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Colonel (Infantry) Willey Howell, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. As Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, of the 1st Army, Colonel Howell organized and directed the operations of this section during the entire operations of the 1st Army. The results achieved by him during the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne operations had a noted influence on the successes gained by the 1st Army and showed him to be an officer of sound judgment and marked ability.”

More about W.W. I prisoners of war can be read here