<P> The first American troops, who were often called "Doughboys", landed in Europe in June 1917 . However the AEF did not participate at the front until October 21, 1917, when the 1st Division fired the first American shell of the war toward German lines, although they participated only on a small scale . A group of regular soldiers and the first American division to arrive in France, entered the trenches near Nancy, France, in Lorraine . </P> <P> The AEF used French and British equipment . Particularly appreciated were the French canon de 75 modèle 1897, the canon de 155 C modèle 1917 Schneider, and the canon de 155mm GPF . American aviation units received the SPAD XIII and Nieuport 28 fighters, and the U.S. Army tank corps used French Renault FT light tanks . Pershing established facilities in France to train new arrivals with their new weapons . By the end of 1917, four divisions were deployed in a large training area near Verdun: the 1st Division, a regular army formation; the 26th Division, a National Guard division; the 2nd Division, a combination of regular troops and U.S. Marines; and the 42nd "Rainbow" Division, a National Guard division made up of soldiers from nearly every state in the United States . The fifth division, the 41st Division, was converted into a depot division near Tours . </P> <P> At the beginning, during the Spring of 1918, the four battle - ready U.S. divisions were deployed under French and British command to gain combat experience by defending relatively quiet sectors of their lines . After the first offensive action and American - led AEF victory on 28 May 1918 at the Battle of Cantigny, by the U.S. 1st Division, and a similar local action by the 2nd Division at Belleau Wood beginning 6 June, both while assigned under French Corps command, Pershing worked towards the deployment of an independent US field Army . The rest followed at an accelerating pace during the spring and summer of 1918 . By June Americans were arriving in - theater at the rate of 10,000 a day; most of which entered training by British, Canadian and Australian battle - experienced officers and senior non-commissioned ranks . The training took a minimum of six weeks due to the inexperience of the servicemen . </P> <P> The first offensive action by AEF units serving under non-American command was 1,000 men (four companies from the 33d Division AEF), with the Australian Corps during the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918 . (Corporal Thomas A. Pope was awarded the Medal of Honor for this battle .) This battle took place under the overall command of the Australian Corps commander, Lt. Gen. Sir John Monash . The Allied force in this battle combined artillery, armor, infantry, and air support (Combined arms), which served as a blueprint for all subsequent Allied attacks, using "tanks". </P>

Explain how the convoy system and american expeditionary force helped lead the allies to victory