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World War I
Episode88

November 15, 2021

The Long March to Soissons

The Long March to Soissons
26:02
Listen on Apple Spotify

This episode picks up after Belleau Wood, as the Marines shift from defense to offense in the Aisne-Marne Offensive. With hard-won respect from Army and Allied commanders, the 4th Marine Brigade joined the push to crush Germany's last major offensive. Planning was a mess. Units were scattered, orders came late, and Marines headed into battle with missing gear and barely any water. Still, they hit the line right on time, under cover of a short but brutal artillery barrage. A chaotic, multi-national charge follows through open fields, tangled forests, and fortified German positions. It's Belleau Wood all over again, just bigger.

References

  1. Antrim, R. P. (2016). Where the Marines Fought in France. Wentworth Press.
  2. Clark, G. B. (2015). The Fourth Marine Brigade in World War I: Battalion Histories Based on Official Documents. United States: McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers.
  3. Cowing, K. F. (2021). Dear Folks at Home: The Glorious Story of the United States Marine in France as Told By Their Letters from the Battlefield (First Edition). Houghton Mifflin.
  4. Cunningham, A. A. USMC. "Value of Aviation to the Corps." 4rine Corps Gazette, y. 5, no. 3 (Sep 1920), pp. 221-233.
  5. Curtis, L. C. T. J. (1993). History of the Sixth Machine Gun Battalion, Fourth Brigade, U.S. Marines Second Division and its participation in the Great War. (Second Edition). Brass Hat, 1993.
  6. Dyer, W. A., Catlin, A. W. (1919). "With the Help of God and a Few Marines,". United States: Doubleday, Page.
  7. Flagg, J. M. (2021). Roses and buckshot (3rd ed.). G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
  8. Gibbons, F. P. (2021). And They Thought We Wouldn’t Fight: Wounded - How it Feels to Be Shot (in First World War Centenary Prose Collection Vol. I ). IDB Productions.
  9. Harbord, J. G. (1925). Leaves from a War Diary. United States: Dodd, Mead.
  10. Jones, W. K. (1987). A Brief History of the 6th Marines. United States: History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marines Corps.
  11. Lanham, C. T. (1934). Infantry in Battle. United States: Infantry journal, Incorporated.
  12. Marines., U. S. (2021). With the United States Marines at Paris Island Training Station: A Pictorial Souvenir. N.P., c. 2000.
  13. Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. (1931). United States: Center of Military History, U.S. Army.
  14. Roger M. Emmons. "The First Marine Aviation Force." Cross and Cockade Journal, y. 6, no. 2 (summer 1965)
  15. Simmons, E. H. (2014). Through the Wheat: The U.S. Marines in World War I. United States: Naval Institute Press.
  16. Strott, G. G. (1947). The Medical Department of the United States Navy with the Army and Marine Corps in France in World War I: Its Functions and Employment. United States: (n.p.).
  17. Tuchman, B. W. (2021). The Guns of August: The Pulitzer Prize-Winning Classic About the Outbreak of World War I by Barbara W. Tuchman (2004–08-03). Presidio Press.
  18. United States Army in the World War, 1917-1919: Military operations of the American Expeditionary Forces. (1990). United States: Center of Military History, U.S. Army.
  19. Wilson, H. B. (2016). An Account of the Operations of the American Navy in France During the War with Germany. United States: Bibliolife DBA of Bibilio Bazaar II LLC.

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