Blanc Mont Ridge 1918 : Campaign : America's forgotten victory

Blanc Mont Ridge 1918 : Campaign : America's forgotten victory
ISBN: 9781472824967
Publication Date: 1 August 2018

The dominating Blanc Mont Ridge complex in the Champagne region of France was home to some of the most complex German defenses on the Western Front. Its heights offered artillery observation that made even approaching the ridge virtually suicidal.

Pessimistic about the ability of depleted and demoralized French units to capture the position, General Henri Gouraud was granted the use of two American divisions: the veteran 2nd "Indianhead" Division, including the 4th (Marine) Brigade, and the untested 36th "Arrowhead" Division of the Texas and Oklahoma National Guard.

This fully illustrated book describes this Allied offensive with American troops in the vanguard, and shows how despite the heavy losses it sustained to both manpower and supporting armor, they eventually forced the Germans to abandon most of the region in one of the largest withdrawals of the war.

About the Authors

A native of southeastern France, Romain V. Cansière has worked in the medicinal plant industry in France and South Africa. He currently works as a crop advisor for a cooperative of essential oil producers. Interested in the history of the US Marine Corps since his teenage years, Romain is the co-author of Tanks in Hell--A Marine Corps Tank Company on Tarawa, winner of the 2016 General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award for distinguished nonfiction.

A retired geologist and geophysicist, Oscar E. ("Ed") Gilbert has written for Osprey's Warrior, Battle Orders, and Campaign series, with concentration the history of the US Marine Corps and state militias in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. He is the author of a four-volume history of Marine Corps tank battalions, and the co-author of

Tanks in Hell and

True for the Cause of Liberty. Ed div...