University Press of Kansas 4th Marine Brigade at Belleau Wood and Soissons: History and Battlefield Guide

"The Marines of the Fourth Brigade, one of two infantry brigades of the Second Division, US Army, carried out the major effort of the Marine Corps in Europe during World War I. The Marines' triumph in the Battles of Belleau Wood and Soissons-in June and July of 1918, respectively-is one of the greatest in Marine Corps history, and was so important to an eventual Allied victory in World War I that the only memorial in Europe dedicated to United States Marines commemorates Belleau Wood. Rather than using atop-down approach, Mike Miller draws on letters, diaries, memoirs, and interviews of Marines on the ground, resulting in a vivid and personal reconstruction of the battles. In addition to the extensive use of primary documents, this account puts equal emphasis on the Battle of Soissons, which is often neglected in other accounts. While Belleau Wood is rightly remembered as an engagement in which Marines fought with determination to clear out the Germans, it was at the Battle of Soissons that Allied forces overturned the Germans at last and turned the tide of the war. Miller amplifies the narrative with tour stops including GPS coordinates so readers visiting the sites or those in remote locations can see for themselves the terrain and other features of the battles."-- The battles of Belleau Wood and Soissons in June and July of 1918 marked a turning point in World War I and in the stature of the US Marine Corps, whose fighting proved so critical in repelling the Germans that the French would later rename Belleau "Bois de la Brigade de Marine." In this book J. Michael Miller, a historian of the Marine Corps and veteran chronicler of battle, takes us to the battlefields of Belleau Wood and Soissons, immersing us in the experience of a single brigade of marines at the forefront of the fighting. Through a close-up look at the doughboys' singular impact on Allied victory in 1918, his work illuminates America's bloody sacrifice during World War I.The 4th Marine Brigade at Belleau Wood and Soissons for the first time treats these two battles as one campaign and demonstrates why it is impossible to fully understand one without the other. Miller outlines the company and platoon levels of combat throughout the campaign, establishing a basic tactical understanding of the fighting; he also draws on letters, diaries, memoirs, and interviews to create a vivid and personal reconstruction of the battles. His use of French and German sources, also a first, adds unprecedented insights to this boots-on-the-ground account. The book includes detailed mapping of both battlefields, with a thirty-six-stop guide linking the text with the actual terrain. For each of these stops Miller gives GPS coordinates to provide a virtual tour of the sites he discusses.With its strategic overview and ground-level perspective, Miller's work suggests a new interpretation and offers a new experience of an iconic moment in American military history--and in the story of the Marine Corps. The 4th Marine Brigade at Belleau Wood and Soissons illuminates America's bloody sacrifice during World War I, following a single brigade of Marines to measure the impact of the US entry into the war and contribution to ultimate victory. Autorid: J. Michael Miller, Richard P. Mills