In this section we encounter the ugly business of combat activities and the weaponry and tactical maneuvers behind them. We examine several actions in France, on the Western Front, which was the main theater for U.S. (and, indeed, the European powers’) combat involvement. The first two documents included here paint the scene, as it were, by describing 1) what had been left of parts of France following an early German pullback, and 2) how the residents of Paris had been terrified by the so-called Paris Gun, a long-range siege gun capable of firing shells a distance of over 75 miles (albeit with marginal accuracy). Also examined is the first major battle involving U.S. forces, the Battle of Cantigny, and, separately, the last major German offensive, the Second Battle of the Marne. In between these is an account of the U.S. Marines fighting in the Battle of Belleau Wood, one of the most ferocious confrontations in the war.

In this section we encounter the ugly business of combat activities and the weaponry and tactical maneuvers behind them. We examine several actions in France, on the Western Front, which was the main theater for U.S. (and, indeed, the European powers’) combat involvement. The first two documents included here paint the scene, as it were, by describing 1) what had been left of parts of France following an early German pullback, and 2) how the residents of Paris had been terrified by the so-called Paris Gun, a long-range siege gun capable of firing shells a distance of over 75 miles (albeit with marginal accuracy). Also examined is the first major battle involving U.S. forces, the Battle of Cantigny, and, separately, the last major German offensive, the Second Battle of the Marne. In between these is an account of the U.S. Marines fighting in the Battle of Belleau Wood, one of the most ferocious confrontations in the war.