Into the Fight, April-June 1918

Into the Fight, April-June 1918, is the fourth installment of the U.S. Army Campaigns of World War I series, covering the American Expeditionary Forces- role in countering the German spring offensives of March-June 1918. The arrival of the American forces on the Western Front in early 1918 coincided with a series of major German pushes intended to break through the Allied lines.

The crisis of the German offensives provided an opening for multiple American divisions to enter the lines. They worked with British and French units to resist the German advances, took command of their own sectors of the front, and increasingly engaged in their own offensive operations.

The narrative of this volume spans the brutal fighting at Cantigny, Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and Vaux, where the inexperienced and untried American soldiers and marines received their first exposure to the grim realities of combat. Yet as the actions of these early campaigns show, both allies and enemies soon learned that the Americans who reached the front in the spring of 1918 were willing and able to fight with the grit and determination needed to achieve victory.

Related products:

World War I resources collection

The Legacy of Belleau Wood: 100 Years of Making Marines and Winning Battles, An Anthology

Other products produced by the United States Army, Center of Military History(CMH)