Overview

The stirring account of the Third U.S. Infantry Division in the Second Battle of the Marne. The stirring account of the Third U.S. Infantry Division in the Second Battle of the Marne-where the tide of World War I was finally turned... The soldiers of the Third U.S. Infantry Division in World War I were outnumbered and inexperienced young men facing hardened veterans, but their actions proved to be a turning point during the last German offensive of World War I. In stopping three German divisions from crossing the Marne River, these heroic American soldiers blocked the road to Paris east of Ch teau-Thierry, helped save the French capital and, in doing so, played a key role in turning the tide of the war. The Allies then began a counteroffensive that drove the enemy back to the Hindenburg Line, and four months later the war was over. Rock of the Marne follows the Third Division's Sixth Brigade, which took the brunt of the German attack. The officers, many of them West Pointers and elite Ivy Leaguers, fighting side-by-side with enlisted men-city dwellers and country boys, cowboys and coal miners who came from every corner of America along with newly planted immigrants from Europe-answered their country's call to duty. This is the gripping true account of one of the most important-yet least explored-battles of World War I. INCLUDES PHOTOS

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9780425275566

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Reviews

No one writes about World War I with more empathy and understanding than Stephen Harris. In Rock of the Marne, he achieves a new level of drama and significance. In their stand on the Marne, the raw Americans of the Third Infantry Division changed the history of the war, the history of Europe, even the history of the world. Harris brings this epochal event alive with breathtaking vividness and skill. Thomas Fleming, author of The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I A hundred years ago, the German Army was on the way to Paris. But on the Marne River, some 27,000 brave American doughboys of the Third Division thought otherwise. The resultant clash of arms decided the Great War. Author Stephen L. Harris puts you right in the middle of the action. He tells it like it was: good, bad, and ugly, from baby-faced machine-gunners and hard-bitten sergeants fighting for their lives to exhausted colonels and generals trying to sort it all out under fire. This is military history as its meant to be. Daniel P. Bolger, Lt. Gen. U.S. Army. Ret., author of Why We Lost: A General's Inside Account of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Stephen Harris has written a thrilling account of a critical, but mostly forgotten, battle of the Great War, which includes an unforgettable portrait of a magnificent American warrior, Col. Ulysses McAlexander. Michael Hanlon, First World War Editor and Publisher Praise for Duty, Honor, Privilege By tracking the Silk Stockings from enlistment through training, battle and triumphant return to New York, Harris makes an inarguable case that these sons of privilege did not flinch in duty or honor. Clear, well-detailed writing. David Hinckley, New York Daily News Stephen Harris has written both a soldier s story and a long overdue but bloody redemption of America s most unfairly maligned infantry regiment. Well researched, well written, and entertaining. Rod Paschall, author of The Defeat of Imperial Germany, 1917-1918 Praise for Harlem's Hell Fighters The story of James Reese Europe and the Hell Fighters is one of the best I know, and here it is told superbly. It is the story of bravery and courage, creativity and controversy, tragedy and transcendence. It reminds us, in nearly every line, of the extraordinary contributions African Americans have made not just to American life, but to the very essence of what it means to be an American. Ken Burns, award-winning documentary filmmaker Praise for Duffy s War If you never buy another book on Irish-American military history, get this one. It is magnificently written. Jack McCormack, Irish Edition

Author Information

Stephen L. Harris is a former newspaper and TV news editor, and currently American editor of the Journal of Olympic History. His articles have appeared in MHQ- The Quarterly Journal of Military History, American Legion magazine, Yankee and Missouri Life among others. He is the author of a trilogy of nonfiction books about New York City's National Guard regiments in World War I- Duty, Honor, Privilege- New York's Silk Stocking Regiment and the Breaking of the Hindenburg Line; Harlem's Hell Fighters- The African American 369th Regiment in World War I; and Duffy's War- Fr. Francis Duffy, Wild Bill Donovan and the Irish Fighting 69th in World War I. He holds a degree in English from Trinity College, Burlington, Vermont, and studied creative writing at New York City's New School.

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