Building the Force That Would Win the Pacific

From the ridges of Blanc Mont to the jungles of China, this chapter follows the Marines as they emerge from the Great War hardened and transformed. It opens on the blood-soaked hills of France, where the Corps shattered German lines at Blanc Mont and the Meuse, then traces their return to a nation eager for peace but uncertain of their purpose. In the decades between wars, the Marines rebuilt themselves on football fields, in classrooms, and on ponies at Peking. They forged doctrine, studied war, and turned lessons from Haiti and France into the blueprint for amphibious victory. By the eve of World War II, they had become a force unlike any in history and ready for the storm to come.