| Description |
viii, 360 pages, 8 unnumbered plates : illustrations, maps, portraits ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-345) and index. |
| Contents |
Prelude: a speech -- Let 'em comes -- The advance guard -- Must not fail -- Adventure of war -- Life and death -- Marshall's 1st plan -- A hellish clamor -- Zero hour -- Second wave -- We took the hill -- A pack of bumblebees -- Ignore the bullets -- Half crazy, temporarily insane -- The world is watching -- Novelty of silence -- Final determined effort -- Epilogue: until we meet again. |
| Summary |
At first light on Tuesday, May 28, 1918, waves of American riflemen from the U.S. Army's 1st Division climbed from their trenches, charged across the shell-scarred French dirt of no-man's land, and captured the hilltop village of Cantigny from the grips of the German Army. Those who survived the enemy machine guns and hand-to-hand fighting held on for the next two days and nights in shallow foxholes under the sting of mustard gas and crushing steel of artillery fire. Thirteen months after the United States officially entered World War I, these 3,500 soldiers were the first 'doughboys" to enter the fight. The operation, the first American attack supported by tanks, airplanes, and modern artillery, was ordered by the leader of the America's forces in Europe, General John "Black Jack" Pershing, and planned by a young staff officer, Lieutenant Colonel George C. Marshall, who would lead the Army in World War II twenty-six years later. Drawing on the letters, diaries, and reports of the men themselves, Matthew J. Davenport's First Over There tells the inspiring, untold story of these soldiers and their journey to victory on the Western Front in the Battle of Cantigny. The first American battle of the "war to end all wars" would mark not only its first victory abroad but also the birth of its modern Army. |
| Subject |
United States. Army. Infantry Division, 1st.
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Cantigny, Battle of, Cantigny, France, 1918.
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World War, 1914-1918.
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| Added Title |
Attack on Cantigny, America's first battle of World War I. |
| ISBN |
9781250056443 (hardcover) |
|
1250056446 (hardcover) |
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