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Forty-seven days : how Pershing's warriors came of age to defeat the German Army in World War I / Mitchell Yockelson.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, New York : NAL Caliber/New American Library, [2016]Copyright date: ©2016Description: ix, 390 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780451466952
  • 0451466950
Other title:
  • 47 days
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • D570 .Y63 2016
Contents:
Black Jack -- First Army is born -- St. Mihiel -- Preparing for America's greatest battle -- On with the battle -- Advance! -- Behind the lines -- No progress -- Fighting in the Argonne -- There is much fighting ahead -- Regrouping First Army -- Resuming the attack -- Now we are making headway -- The end is near -- First Army has come of age -- The battle will be over today.
Summary: The Battle of the Meuse-Argonne is the deadliest clash in American history: more than a million untested American soldiers went up against a better-trained and experienced German army, resulting in more than twenty-six thousand deaths and leaving nearly a hundred thousand wounded. Yet in forty-seven days of intense combat, these Americans forced the Germans to surrender, bringing the First World War to an end. Historian Mitchell Yockelson tells how General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing’s exemplary leadership led to the unlikeliest of victories.
Holdings
Item type Current library Collection Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Non-Fiction Davis (Central) Library Non-Fiction Non-Fiction 940.434 YOC 1 Available T00607341
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Battle of the Muese-Argonne was the deadliest clash in American history. More than a million untested American soldiers went up against a better-trained and more experienced German Army, costing over 26,000 deaths and nearly a hundred thousand wounded. In Forty-Seven Days, historian Mitchell Yockelson tells how General John J. Black Jack' Pershing's exemplary leadership led to the unlikeliest of victories.'

Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-379) and index.

Black Jack -- First Army is born -- St. Mihiel -- Preparing for America's greatest battle -- On with the battle -- Advance! -- Behind the lines -- No progress -- Fighting in the Argonne -- There is much fighting ahead -- Regrouping First Army -- Resuming the attack -- Now we are making headway -- The end is near -- First Army has come of age -- The battle will be over today.

The Battle of the Meuse-Argonne is the deadliest clash in American history: more than a million untested American soldiers went up against a better-trained and experienced German army, resulting in more than twenty-six thousand deaths and leaving nearly a hundred thousand wounded. Yet in forty-seven days of intense combat, these Americans forced the Germans to surrender, bringing the First World War to an end. Historian Mitchell Yockelson tells how General John J. “Black Jack” Pershing’s exemplary leadership led to the unlikeliest of victories.

5 15

WWI

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Kirkus Book Review

A spotlight on Gen. John Pershing's First Army at a pivotal moment in the war of attrition against the Germans. Mired in trench warfare in Flanders and northern France since the beginning of the war in 1914, the French and British could not break through German lines until the Americans, lately but decisively, joined the fight. Historian and National Archives archivist Yockelson (Military History/U.S. Naval Academy; Grant: Savior of the Union, 2012, etc.) looks at these key months, from Sept. 26 until Armistice Day on Nov. 11, when Pershing honed his vast First Army for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, between the Meuse River and the dense Argonne Forest. Working from his headquarters at Chaumont, on the upper Marne River, Pershing had to convince the savvy French commanders that the American Expeditionary Force needed to remain independent from the Allied forces, even though they would be trained under the foreign commanders. Hence, the American First Army was born, at a force of 230,000 men, with Pershing as its commander. He first set his sights on the strategic St. Mihiel Salient, supported by French tanks and arsenal and American Air Force derring-do led by pilots Billy Mitchell and Eddie Rickenbacker. Taking the Germans off guard, the doughboys seized previously occupied towns and villages before facing three fortified obstructions of the Hindenburg Lineeach named for witches from the operas of Richard Wagner. The French-British-American aim was to surround the German army and press toward Sedan, cutting the German-run rail lines. Yockelson moves by increments through the intricate phases of Pershing's ultimate victory, which he achieved despite the greenness of his doughboys. He does a sharp job filling in the military details and fleshing out the biographies of the legendary figures who would feature prominently in the next great conflagration: Patton, Marshall, MacArthur, Donovan, etc. An accessible, elucidating study by a knowledgeable expert. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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