As commander of the american expeditionary force, general john j. pershing played a major role in the defeat of the germans in 1918. which of pershing's decisions would prove most important in guaranteeing the success of the aef? a. pershing staged a series of costly amphibious assaults on the german-held beaches in italy and france. b. pershing split his forces up and assigned his divisions to reinforce british and french troops at weak spots in the trenches. c. pershing followed the lead of the french and british commanders who had more experience in the "trench warfare" that was common in world war i. d. pershing refused to allow british and french units to use his soldiers as replacements and instead kept the aef operating as an independent army under his command.