Combat· World War I
Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge
Blanc Mont Ridge was a dominant, heavily fortified hill in the Champagne region that the Germans had held and improved for years.
The French had been stalled in front of it, so the 2d Division, with its 4th Marine Brigade, was attached to the French Fourth Army to take it. General Lejeune promised the ridge could be seized if his division was kept together and not split apart. The Marines attacked behind a carefully planned rolling barrage, climbing the slopes into machine gun nests, bunkers, and trench lines. They drove the Germans off the high ground but ended up in an exposed salient, fighting off counterattacks from three sides while the French caught up on the flanks. Clearing the wooded summit took several days of hard, costly assaults. Taking the ridge helped force a wide German retreat and freed the city of Reims.
Podcast episodes on World War I
Record no. 98