Free Republic
Browse · Search
VetsCoR
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The FReeper Foxhole Remembers the Second Battle of the Marne (July - Sept, 1918) - June 15th, 2003
http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/2marne.htm ^ | Thread work by SAMWolf

Posted on 06/15/2003 4:20:23 AM PDT by snippy_about_it



Dear Lord,

There's a young man far from home,
called to serve his nation in time of war;
sent to defend our freedom
on some distant foreign shore.

We pray You keep him safe,
we pray You keep him strong,
we pray You send him safely home ...
for he's been away so long.

There's a young woman far from home,
serving her nation with pride.
Her step is strong, her step is sure,
there is courage in every stride.
We pray You keep her safe,
we pray You keep her strong,
we pray You send her safely home ...
for she's been away too long.

Bless those who await their safe return.
Bless those who mourn the lost.
Bless those who serve this country well,
no matter what the cost.

Author Unknown

.

FReepers from the The Foxhole
join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time.

.

.................................................................................................................................

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

Our Mission:

The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

To read previous Foxhole threads or
to add the Foxhole to your sidebar,
click on the books below.

Resource Links For Veterans


Click on the pix

Second Battle of the Marne


Background


The Second Battle of the Marne marked the turning of the tide in World War I. It began with the last German offensive of the conflict and was quickly followed by the first allied offensive victory of 1918. The American Expeditionary Force with over 250,000 men fighting under overall French command played key roles both in the initial defense and the later advances. In the Second Battle of Marne with 30,000 killed and wounded, the United States started suffering casualties on the enormous scale usually associated with the battles of the Great War.

In late May, the German high command had ordered a major offensive from the Chemin des Dames northeast of Paris towards the River Marne threatening both Paris and the Paris - Verdun rail link. The 2nd and 3rd divisions of the AEF helped defend along the Marne on either side of the river town of Chateau Thierry. What resulted was a rounded bulge in western front thirty miles wide at the base, extending south about 25 miles to its apex right at Chateau Thierry. With American encouragement, a plan evolved to eliminate this salient with a two pronged assault from the west and south.



In July, when it became clear that the Germans would renew their assault in the area, a decision was made to absorb the assault, let the enemy tire themselves, and then counterattack soon afterwards.

There were three distinct parts to the battle of the Marne and they will be discussed separately in this article. Since this piece was produced for the Doughboy Center, the emphasis will be on the American participation. French, British and Italian forces fought hard and in great numbers in this huge operation as well. Here is a summary of those three phases with some key dates:

Phase I: THE 5TH LUDENDORFF OFFENSIVE,
July 15-17, 1918


July 15
Three and one-half German Armies attack in the early morning. The 3rd Division of AEF makes a strategically important stand on the left end of the Marne River line.



July 17
German units occupy southern bank of Marne between Epernay and Chateau Thierry and advance their line 7 miles east of Reims.

Phase II: THE AISNE-MARNE COUNTER OFFENSIVE,
July 18 - August 17, 1918


July 18
French 10th and 6th Armies attack the salient from the west Tanks are used effectively and four American divisions lead a rapid advance. German high command decides to reinforce the salient to avoid a route.



July 19
American units south of Soissons start meeting fanatical resistance. German air force commands the air.

July 21
Second assault against the salient from the south. Five more AEF divisions would eventually be committed.

July 30-Aug 1
Battle before Sergy; Ourcq River line crossed.

Aug 4-22
Tenacious battle before Vesle River at Fismes and Fismette as German Army defends vigorously on the Vesle.

Phase III: THE OISE-AISNE OFFENSIVE,
AUGUST 18 - SEPTEMBER 16, 1918


Aug 18
French 10th Army launches major offensive near Soissons

Aug 28-Sep 2
US 32nd Division captures key town of Juvigny cutting the Soissons-St. Quentin road. Germans find Vesle line untenable and withdraw before River Aisne.



Sep 4
Vesle River crossed; US 28th & 77th Divisions advance.

Sep 16
Last full American division in sector [77th] relieved as the axis of the French and American offensive operations shifts east to the Champagne and Verdun sectors.

Phase I:

The 5th Ludendorff Offensive,
July 15-17, 1918


At midnight, July 14/15 the artillery crashed and the last German push of the war started. As predicted, it was a drive to get across the Marne [east of] Chateau-Thierry...[From Chateau-Thierry east were] the Third American Division...where they'd been ever since their machine gunners had come charging up the riverbank six weeks before. Then came another French outfit and next the pea-green Pennsylvania National Guard -- The 28th Division -- which had no line time even in a quiet sector. They were fed in by companies to fight with the French. Farther east {of Reims] there was the veteran 42nd Division, the Rainbow...That night and the next day the 38th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Division, made a stand that deserves to rank with the famous ones, and it won.



The 38th was in line just west of where the Surmelin River flows north into the Marne. The Surmelin runs northwest and down either side of its gentle valley there ran two good roads which went south into the main Paris highway. This was to be the main German track, the route by which guns were to move south and help exploit a breakthrough.

[Westpointer, Colonel Ulysses Grant McAlexander commanded the 38th.] Down by the [Marne] river he put Major Guy Row's 2nd Battalion. The 1st Battalion, only half strength, was farther back in the support, and the 3rd Battalion even deeper in reserve.

Along the river Row's men had three companies in line...from left to right -- each with two platoons dug in down on the riverbank, two more about three hundred and fifty yards back behind the embankment of the east-west Metz-Paris railroad. The railroad was raised up on a constructed embankment about nine feet high and so wide it was very difficult to fight from behind it.

The story continues with a firsthand description of the defense along the River Marne by Captain Jesse Woolridge of Major Rowe's battalion:

...Newly captured prisoners began to give real information - a grand offensive was to be made [where] the Marne was only about 50 yards wide...We had 600 yards of [this] front all to ourselves...[When it began] it seemed [the Germans] expected their artillery to eliminate all resistance...French Officers attached to our Brigade stated positively there was never a bombardment to equal it at Verdun.



At 3:30am the general fire ceased and their creeping barrage started - behind which at 40 yards only, mind you, they came - with more machine guns than I thought the German Army owned...

The enemy had to battle their way through the first platoon on the river bank - then they took on the second platoon on the forward edge of the railway where we had a thousand times the best of it - but the [Germans] gradually wiped it out. My third platoon [took] their place in desperate hand to hand fighting, in which some got through only to be picked up by the fourth platoon which was deployed simultaneously with the third...By the time they struck the fourth platoon they were all in and easy prey.

It's God's truth that one Company of American soldiers beat and routed a full regiment of picked shock troops of the German Army...At ten o'clock...the Germans were carrying back wounded and dead [from] the river bank and we in our exhaustion let them do it - they carried back all but six hundred which we counted later and fifty-two machine guns...We had started with 251 men and 5 lieutenants...I had left 51 men and 2 second lieutenants...

Capt. Jesse Woolridge, 38th Inf., 3rd Division


The German Commander quoted:

...All [German] divisions [along the Marne] achieved brilliant successes, with the exception of the one division on our right wing. This encountered American units! Here only did the Seventh Army, In the course of the first day of the offensive, confront serious difficulties. It met with the unexpectedly stubborn and active resistance of fresh American troops.



While the rest of the divisions of the Seventh Army succeeded in gaining ground and gaining tremendous booty, it proved impossible for us to move the right apex of our line, to the south of the Marne, into a position advantageous for the development of the ensuing fight. The check we thus received was one result of the stupendous fighting between our 10th Division of infantry and American troops...

Erich von Ludendorff, Quartermaster General




TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: aef; france; freeperfoxhole; michaeldobbs; secondmarne; veterans; wwi
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-46 next last
To: snippy_about_it; desertdog; BeAllYouCanBe
Looking good.

Thank you Karl for your service. We all hope you get home soon.
21 posted on 06/15/2003 8:41:28 AM PDT by SAMWolf (If you can't make it good, make it big.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: snippy_about_it
LOL! Hey! Where'd you get the picture of me and the kids?

Thanks Snippy!
22 posted on 06/15/2003 8:42:47 AM PDT by SAMWolf (If you can't make it good, make it big.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
mmmm. Chocolate.

I'll have just one and share the rest.

Help yourself. :)

23 posted on 06/15/2003 8:46:17 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
LOL! Hey! Where'd you get the picture of me and the kids?

LOL. The things I do while your away. :)

I'm just glad you didn't have 10, you'd be buried under there.

24 posted on 06/15/2003 8:48:39 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: snippy_about_it
Thanks. I'll take the dark chocolate.
25 posted on 06/15/2003 8:51:44 AM PDT by SAMWolf (If you can't make it good, make it big.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
I knew that. :)
26 posted on 06/15/2003 8:52:12 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 25 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf; All
TO UNCLE FRAN

Uncle Fran is my man...
he held my hand
when I was little...
He took pictures of me
with him on the USS Fogg, a Navy Destroyer,
World War II...

Your shipmates
believed, I was your daughter,
you didn't tell them different...

In 1944, as I learned to print
I printed you a letter...

That letter was destroyed
when the Fogg was torpedoed
and is buried at sea...
I have the V mail you sent
to Aunt Lydia, asking me for more letters...
Let's buy you a Sailor Suit , Navy Blue

When the war ended,
you came home and started
to rebuild your life on land again.
You and your girlfriend, (Aunt Lydia,
you always called her your girlfriend,
years didn't matter)....

You and she bought the house I now own.

Come on Nonie,
let's get an ice cream cone,
let's get your hair cut,
...you took me to a Barber Shop

Let's go smelt fishing, lake trout fishing,
Let's get a bike,
Let's teach you piano
and fractions
and poetry...
Robert Louis Stevenson...

Uncle Fran, never once did you say,
I Love You... you showed me...

Nonie...


27 posted on 06/15/2003 9:14:05 AM PDT by Soaring Feather (HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to ALL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: radu; snippy_about_it; LaDivaLoca; TEXOKIE; cherry_bomb88; Bethbg79; Do the Dew; Pippin; ...
Our Military Today
Fathers


Candy Thomas, center, from Memphis, Tenn., whose father, Stf. Sgt. Larry Sweet was killed during the Vietnam War, sits with her three daughters, from left to right: Hannah, 4; Abby, 5; and Mary Kate, 9; during a Father's Day memorial organized by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington Sunday, June 15, 2003. More than 1,000 roses were placed at the memorial to honor Vietnam and Iraq war casualties. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)


Five-year-old Abby Thomas, right, and her sister Hannah, 4, honor their grandfather Stf. Sgt. Larry Sweet and other fathers who were killed during the Vietnam War during a Father's Day memorial organized by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington Sunday, June 15, 2003. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)


Marine Cpl. Christopher Sullivan, left, of Manhattan, holds his 5- month-old son Christopher Lewis, while being kissed by his wife Tracy, center, as his father Angelo, right, aplauds Saturday, June 14, 2003, at Floyd Bennet Field in New York. 126 marines of the 6th Communications Battalion, including Sullivan, returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)


Lucas Terry holds his son Tyler, 4 months, after he met him for the first time after arriving home at Naval Air Station North Island in San Dieg


Raymond Hanna meets his 4-month-old daughter Antanae for the first time, while his son Anthony, 5, and Raymond Jr, 16, stand near him, at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego,


Maj. Pat Doherty (C), who is a pilot with the 336th Fighter Squadron of the 4th Fighter Wing based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina, is reunited with his family, including his wife Diana (L) and children Grace (in his arms), Maddie (in red shirt) and Brooke (far right) for the first time since being deployed as part of the U.S-led war with Iraq


28 posted on 06/15/2003 9:14:44 AM PDT by SAMWolf (If you can't make it good, make it big.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: bentfeather
Very nice feather. Very nice.
29 posted on 06/15/2003 9:17:57 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
SAM those are wonderful.
30 posted on 06/15/2003 9:18:17 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: snippy_about_it
Thank you.
31 posted on 06/15/2003 9:35:36 AM PDT by Soaring Feather (HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to ALL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: bentfeather
Nice tribute, Feather.
32 posted on 06/15/2003 9:36:51 AM PDT by SAMWolf (If you can't make it good, make it big.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: snippy_about_it
Yeah, Lot's of fathers are away from family this year.
33 posted on 06/15/2003 9:38:01 AM PDT by SAMWolf (If you can't make it good, make it big.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
Wonderful happy pictures Sam, thank you.
34 posted on 06/15/2003 9:38:03 AM PDT by Soaring Feather (HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to ALL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
Thanks SAM. I saw a beauty you did, too. :-)
35 posted on 06/15/2003 9:39:47 AM PDT by Soaring Feather (HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to ALL)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
That's a very nice tribute to your Dad SAM.


I bet your smile looks just like his.
36 posted on 06/15/2003 10:58:01 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: snippy_about_it

Thanks Snippy. I'm not sure if I have his smile or not, I don't smile a lot.
37 posted on 06/15/2003 11:48:33 AM PDT by SAMWolf (If you can't make it good, make it big.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
I don't smile a lot.

Arrghh!

38 posted on 06/15/2003 11:58:04 AM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: snippy_about_it
LOL! What can I say, not the touchy-feely-smiley type. ;-)
39 posted on 06/15/2003 12:00:25 PM PDT by SAMWolf (If you can't make it good, make it big.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: SAMWolf
LOL! We'll see....
40 posted on 06/15/2003 12:03:56 PM PDT by snippy_about_it (Pray for our Troops)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-46 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
VetsCoR
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson