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World War I
Episode89

November 22, 2021

"I Will Hold": Soissons and the Battle That Bled the Corp

26:10
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This episode covers the Marines' brutal second day at Soissons. After the 5th Marines took heavy losses on day one, the 6th stepped up to face entrenched German divisions across open wheat fields with almost no cover. What followed was chaos: shattered units, mounting casualties, and desperate pushes just to stay alive. We track Marines like Cates, Overton, and Gulberg as they navigate the worst combat they've ever seen. By the end of the battle, more than half the 6th Regiment was gone, but the line held.

References

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  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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