Marine Corps Heroes 1918 Meuse-Argonne (Marine Corps Biographical Encyclopedia Book 7) Kindle Edition

The Marine Corps heritage extends beyond its formal history to encompass its traditions, its culture, and most importantly, the stories of its Marines. Like the previous four volumes, this volume is about the junior officers and enlisted Marines who provide the bulk of that heritage. This volume continues the stories of World War I Marine Corps heroes that began in Volume IV, Marine Corps Heroes 1918 Toulon and Belleau Wood; and continued in Volume V, Marine Corps Heroes 1918 Soissons and St. Mihiel, and Volume VI, Marine Corps Heroes 1918 Blanc Mont. It covers the Fourth Marine Brigade’s battles during the Meuse-Argonne offensive that ended the fighting in World War I with an armistice that took effect on 11 November 1918. The volume concludes with the brigade’s participation in the occupation of defeated Germany, and the redeployment of all Marine forces from France and Germany in the summer and autumn of 1919.The Fourth Brigade entered the final phase of the Meuse-Argonne offensive three weeks after the 10-day battle for Blanc Mont. Its leadership was battle-tested, and its combat veterans had mastered the art of fighting the German Army in open warfare. However, its battalions were understrength because there was a shortage of replacements to fill their depleted ranks after the savage Blanc Mont fighting. On 1 November, after a two-hour artillery barrage, the brigade advanced against light opposition by demoralized German forces. Weakened by influenza, the Marines led the final American attack to break though the Hindenburg line, the last German defensive belt west of the Rhine River; and compel the German Army to cease fighting, agree to an armistice, and withdraw east of the Rhine River On the last night of the war, 10-11 November, the First and Second Battalions of the Fifth Marines conducted a controversial—some would argue senseless—assault crossing of the Meuse River and continued to fight for hours after the armistice was signed, advancing further than any other unit of the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in France. As Major General John A. Lejeune wrote in his memoirs, “So it happened that although the Marines were not the first to fight in the World War, they were the last to stop fighting.”Lieutenant General Leo D. Hermle, commander of the Sixth Marines on Iceland, and assistant division commander of the Second Marine Division at Tarawa and the Fifth Marine Division at Iwo Jima, is the only historically significant Marine in this volume. The other 38 Marine heroes in this volume were “ordinary” and long-forgotten men who performed extraordinary acts of heroism in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Their stories need to be told and added to the heritage of the Marine Corps. Read more