Research Catalog

Title

To conquer hell : the Meuse-Argonne, 1918 / Edward G. Lengel.

Author

Lengel, Edward G.

Publication

New York : H. Holt, 2008.

Supplementary Content

• Contributor biographical information
• Publisher description

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiv, 491 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps; 25 cm

Summary

"On September 26, 1918, more than one million American soldiers prepared to assault the German-held Meuse-Argonne region of France. Their commander, General John J. Pershing, believed in the superiority of American "guts" over barbed wire, machine guns, massed artillery, and poison gas. In thirty-six hours, he said, the Doughboys would crack the German defenses and open the road to Berlin. Six weeks later, after savage fighting across swamps, forests, towns, and rugged hills, the battle finally ended with the signing of the armistice that concluded the First World War. The Meuse-Argonne had fallenat the cost of more than 120,000 American casualties, including 26,000 dead. In the bloodiest battle the country had ever seen, an entire generation of young Americans had been transformed forever," "To Conquer Hell is gripping in its accounts of combat, studded with portraits of remarkable soldiers like Pershing, Harry Truman, George Patton, Alvin York, Douglas MacArthur, and many other less well known soldiers, and authoritative in its presentation of the big picture. It is military history of the first rank and, incredibly, the first in-depth account of this fascinating and important battle."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• World War, 1914-1918 > Campaigns > Meuse River Valley
• Argonne, Battle of the, France, 1918
• United States > Army > History > World War, 1914-1918

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [459]-471) and index.

Contents

Ch. 1. "All the Promotion in the World Would Make No Difference Now" / John J. Pershing -- Ch. 2. The Cult of the Attack -- Ch. 3. "Right or Wrong, My Country" -- Ch. 4. "Retreat, Hell. We Just Got Here" -- Ch. 5. "An Independent American Army" -- Ch. 6. "Here Is the Golden Dream"; The Meuse-Argonne -- Ch. 7. "The Only Way to Begin Is to Commence" -- Phase One: September 26-30 -- Ch. 8. "You Boys Are My Kind. Now Let's Go In!" September 26 -- Ch. 9. "We Began to Realize What Artillery Really Meant." September 27 -- Ch. 10. "Words Can Never Describe It, Nor Is the Mind Imaginative Enough to Conceive It." September 28 -- Ch. 11. "There Were Very Few Heroes That Morning." September 29 -- Ch. 12. Relief September 30 -- Phase Two: October 4-6 -- Ch. 13. "God Damn It, Don't You Know We're Going Over the Top." October 4 -- Ch. 14. The Lost Battalion: "Our Mission Is to Hold This Position at All Costs" -- Ch. 15. "Just Plain Murder." October 5 235 -- Ch. 16. "It Is Not a Dishonorable Deed to Give Up." October 6 -- Phase Three: October 7-11 -- Ch. 17. "Their Faces Told the Whole Story of Their Fight." October 7 -- Ch. 18. "York, I Hear You Have Captured the Whole Damned German Army." October 8 -- Ch. 19. "We Are Going to Have a Very Hard Day." October 9 -- Ch. 20. Beyond the Argonne. October 10 -- Ch. 21. Last Gasp. October 11 -- Phase Four: October 12-15 -- Ch. 22. "Like the Heat from a Blast-Furnace Door." October 12-13 -- Ch. 23. "The Best Day's Work." October 14 -- Ch. 24. "There Are Times When Even General Officers Have to Be Expendable." October 15 -- Phase Five October 16-31 -- Ch. 25. "Large Bodies Move Slowly, Though with Great Momentum When They Start" -- Victory: November 1-11 -- Conclusion: "When I Get Back, You Can Wager I Will Be a Home Loving Man"

ISBN

• 9780805079319
• 0805079319

LCCN

• 2007024461
• 40015023601

OCLC

• 144331736
• ocn144331736
• SCSB-5387671

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries