The exhibit on “The American Camps in Gièvres: 1917-1919” at the Museum of Sologne opens a door into one of the largest American logistics bases of the First World War.

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April 6, 1917:  The United States joined the war against Germany.Little prepared for war at this time, the country had no military service, and counted only 200,000 volunteer soldiers. A gigantic mobilization was called for:  recruitment, combat training, transporting an ever-growing expeditionary corps and its supplies to Europe. This exceedingly complex organization had to rely on camps, ports and railway stations built in France by the Americans. Among them, the immense hub base of Gièvres in the center of France received the first U.S. of the American Expeditionary Corps in August 1917. As the supply center for the U.S. Army, the General Intermediate Supply Depot, or G.I.S.D. in Gièvres included two marshalling yards for sorting supplies, a refrigerating factory (the second largest in the world), a petroleum depot, a workshop to assemble 200 locomotives, and several hundred stores.

The exhibit on “The American Camps in Gièvres: 1917-1919” at the Museum of Sologne opens a door into one of the largest American logistics bases of the First World War. A film, photographs, camp artifacts, special presentations and a giant model (10 m²!) bring the visitor into this unbelievable world of local history to discover and understand how these U.S. camps in Gièvres actually operated.