Pershing was not a traitor.
Baker, Haig, and Wilson all agreed that "Pershing is unreliable" and "he might reveal the plan to Shire."
Therefore, they considered removing Pershing and replacing him with someone more obedient and cooperative as the commander of the American Expeditionary Force.
However, the US Army, having just entered the war, clearly had no more suitable candidate than Pershing, and they were worried that removing the established and accomplished Pershing without any reason would provoke resistance from the US Army or impact morale.
As a result, they came up with a "win-win" solution.
One day, Haig approached Pershing:
"Brigadier General, we need to implement a secret plan."
"In this plan, the British and American forces will retreat under the attack of the Germans, but it's not a real retreat; rather, it's a strategy to concentrate them in the plain areas for annihilation."
